Scottish Highlands...

Landscape photography is one of my favourite interest. The opportunity to visit Scotland is definitely not to be missed, especially to an outdoor or photography enthusiast. When we were studying in Edinburgh, we got the chance to travel north, to the Isle Of Skye. I couldn't believe my eyes as the highlands were just simply breathtaking. We didn't really mind the unpredictable and cold Scottish weather. I just love it.

The fact that we studied geography during our foundation programme, it made my understanding and appreciation towards the British isle geological formation even better. On many semester holidays to the Highlands, I explained to other fellow Malaysians on how the Scottish landscape was shaped and created from the glaciation process.

I want to visit this place again one day. How can you stand looking at these pictures. I feel like packing my bags already.....

"Next stop...TTDI..."

It won't be long until we hear this announcement on the LRT. Great news today as the new Kota Damansara-Cheras LRT line is set to be in operation by 2012. I imagine how I would be able to commute to my office in Bangsar. I don't know where this station would be located in TTDI, but I think the most suitable area would be somewhere close to Aminuddin Baki area. Hahaha. It would be great if we, the residences could have some say on this (Mafeitz, you see how this 'tv' project can play a role here, national news-local perspectives!).

Hopefully, this new LRT line will help alleviate traffic congestion surrounding the One-Utama area. As the train runs on electricity, and knowing that it will run through the most densely populated area in Klang Valley, substantial reduction in carbon emission from private transportation can be expected.

By 2012 they say...we shall wait and see...

I don't know whether the authority realise this or not but we could actually trade the carbon savings from this project in the carbon exchange. Estimate how many vehicles we expect to be off the road and measure the tonnage of carbon emission savings per year. We can sell carbon credits to heavily industrialised countries who would want to offset their carbon surplus.

If the government wants to go 'green', which I think would be very popular in the wake of global oil price increase, they can be actively involve in carbon trading. Tie every development project that has an impact in carbon reduction and start to measure the savings. If we are daring enough, we can extend this model to every citizens of Malaysia, not just to the public and corporate sectors. Imagine if each one of us has a Carbon Account that can later be converted into money. The lesser the consumption of carbon emitting energy, the more carbon credit can be converted into money.

With carbon trading, money does grow on trees!

Today, most government's conservation model is based more on penalties by way of reducing subsidies. The lower income group suffers and it's politically unpopular. I say it is time that we develop a reward system. A reward system that encourages people to reduce carbon emissions. A system that links citizens account to the state level account. Accumulated Carbon credits traded by the government in the global exchange can be distributed back to the citizens. So the more credits that you accumulate, more rewards you can get from the government.

How on earth are we going to implement this model when simple solution like giving subsidies to the right group of people is already difficult. But this is a reward system you see. Not to penalise. It works just like the tax system, but only this time the citizens can redeem their carbon credits for money. To accumulate credits, keep receipts from usage of public transportation or purchases of recycled items or any items that conserve energy, plant more trees and don't own vehicle that uses petrol. These are just examples. It's a sweetener for everyone so support and ideas will come in drove on how best to implement this model.

The time is right because the oil price is not going to go down. I foresee that the carbon exchange would one day be as important as the stock exchange. It's a bold measure but if it comes true, our economy can be shaped and driven by using renewable resources. So wherever our country's next stop is in managing our energy needs, I hope it includes carbon trading.

I Slept The Whole Day....

Yesterday I was like recovering from a jet lagged. Since Friday, we have been busy with Linda's nikah and bersanding ceremony which ended late Saturday. So on Sunday, I was totally flat. I slept the whole day. When I woke up in the evening, I didn't know what day it was! Perghhh..penat gile! Everybody was glad that the ceremony is finally over... I will blog about the wedding later..Oh yess.. After much consideration, I decided to sing a song that night! hahahaha..what an experience! I will post on youtube later!

Mad Rush For 1.92....Where's the solution?

Heard the news about the petrol price hike today. It is official. Tomorrow, 5th Of June 2008, we would be paying 78 sen more per litre of petrol. Like any other car owner in the country, I rushed to the nearest petrol station to fill up the tank. My last 1.92. I'm glad that I did this early because at around 6pm today, traffic at petrol stations were really congested.

the scene at Mobil station taman tun...

My next full tank will cost me about RM47 more. Multiply that by 5, that's RM234 more a month. Times that by 12 months, that's like RM2,808 a year. The cash rebate that I will be given later is RM625 a year. My question is, what about the ripple effects? Wouldn't it result in increase in other prices of goods and services too??

So how to do? Definitely have to change lifestyle. Cycling to work suddenly doesn't sound so ridiculous does it? Personally, I say let the petrol price increase. Let it sky rocket. It is the only way that we can wean ourselves from this addiction. The addiction to oil. Dr Jude said that despite the fact that we are in the 21st century, we are still dependent on stone age technology. He's referring to how our ancient ancestors discovered fire through striking stones and generate spark. Today we use spark plug to ignite gasoline in our engines. We have tremendous advancement in engine development but we still use stone age combustion technology, hence our addiction to fossil fuel.

I simply don't understand why there is little effort in developing and commercialising alternative and sustainable source of energy. Is it too costly? That's what I always heard. It could be costly, but our dependence on fossil fuel has cost us even dearly. You have to take into account carbon emission/global warming effects, political and social economic imbalances and the worst is the cost of human life from the so called war collateral damages. It is far more costly than the cost of developing and supplying alternative energy sources.

I don't deny the role of oil in developing the world economy. In fact, the World War II was won by the Allies simply because they have better control on oil supply to power their war machines. That's why the German's submarine U-Boat targeted merchant ships carrying supplies. The alliance depended on the Americans for oil and it was the major factor why they won the world war. Just to highlight the value of oil in the past.

Today however, it's a different story. We depended far too long on fossil fuel. It's hard to understand why there is no proper transition plan from using oil to other alternatives. I guess people always go where the money is isn't it? Where there is demand, there will be supply. And when there's lack of supply to meet demand, price will go up. Bring in the speculators into the equation, you get havoc. Speculators make money out of people's misery. I say we stop the demand.

With the prevailing condition, people will start to do things differently. They will start to accept things which is beyond their norms or culture. I would really want to push for this Telecommuting concept. It's a concept to encourage people to work from home. With broadband, we only need to go out to work only when it is necessary. Other than that, we can have internal meetings or discussions via web conference. Files and documents can be shared through secured network from the comfort of our home. Lesser travelling means reduction in business operations costs as well as improving our environment through the reduction of carbon footprint. Workers can spend more time at home and be closer to their family too.

working from home...saves money, time and improve productivity

Looking at our current situation today, Telecommuting is an important and timely value proposition that Broadband can give. I believe that the government should take the leadership. Act as an example and the others will follow. If the government succeeded in implementing this concept, they can also trade carbon savings in the Carbon Credit Exchange under the Kyoto Protocol. My bos Dr Jude believes in this strongly and I agree with him.

give telecommuting the green light....

Let the price increase. It's a bitter pill to swallow but who says curing addiction would be easy? Malaysians addiction is worst because it is being subsidised by our generous government. So the pill is not only bitter, but could be acidic to some. We have been subsidised for too long. We have to adapt. This is a stick approach and I'm taking it positively. I'm sacrificing for my son and my grandson's future. I'm doing my part. Come to think of it, now is the chance for Proton to come out with 'Green' cars. As a company that flies the national flag, they can work with the government to make this 'green' car project a reality. Be the first country in the world that has an active engagement between the public and private sector to commercialise fossil fuel independent cars. Perhaps using palm oil. It's not so hard isn't it? What's stopping them? Puzzling....

To China..On A Bicycle?

I stumbled upon this news today, about a senior citizen's attempt to cycle for 9,000km to China from KL. He wanted to make it in time for the Beijing Olympics! You can read about his journey which he updates on his blog.

Now I don't know whether this news was just a coincidence or not, but it came after Mafeitz wrote something about our childhood. About us being adventurous, pushing ourselves to the limit. Today, I can hardly believe that we have actually cycled to Subang Parade from Tmn Tun! We were daring, considering that we were just in our early teens. I can't wait to tell this story to my kids (when they are 13). I don't think they will believe it either. There was no digital camera at that time. If not, I would have taken plenty of pictures! All that memory is locked up in our heads.

Now this guy, a 66 years old veteran is about to face the toughest challenge in his life. At his age, he's going to travel to China and back on his bicycle for 80 days.

"Age should never be a factor, as long as you have the right kind of spirit and passion, you should pursue your dreams. I want the younger generation to be inspired by this" said Adnan.

Yes sir I'm inspired! But to me, age IS a factor. A factor that would push you even further. We havent got much time left isnt it? As far as the body can take it, just push it. So to my friends, how about it? Another trip on the bicycle perhaps? Need to go beyond subang parade or titiwangsa for that matter! Should we wait until we retire??

Atuk Chik On Facebook!!

Hahaha...I'm speechless! My grandmother is on Facebook! Atuk, welcome aboard!!

This is wonderful. Perhaps now I'm feeling what my grandchildren will feel in the future. Being able to get in touch with your grandparent in the Cyberworld is something that we never thought of before. I don't think this will give you the excuse to visit them less. On the contrary, it made me missed her even more! Based on her Facebook status, she's currently in Kota Damansara at my auntie's place. Would love to see her before she goes back to Kluang.

Broadband has a very important application went it comes to health care especially to the elderly. Remote monitoring, sensing and diagnostic can provide great benefits to clinical practises. With Bluetooth and Wifi coverages, my grandmother's health condition can be monitored from a distance. Any abnormality in her body temperature and heart rate, can be feedback and we can attend to her conditions immediately. Imagine if we can receive SMS or email telling us about our loved ones condition? "Your Atuk's body temperature today is...NORMAL..Heart rate NORMAL..". Simple information like this can make you smile the whole day.

Cucu : "Atuk, Atuk demam ke?Saya dapat SMS kata Suhu Atuk tinggi ni?"

Atuk: "Tak ada lah..Atuk kat dapur ni..tengak kacau(masak) HARISA!"...

Cucu: "Ooooooooooohhhh"

Visit By PT Telkom...

Group photo, Menara TMentrance - (picture taken by Bukhari)

About two weeks ago, we had visitors from PT Telkom, Indonesia. PT Telkom is the incumbent operator and currently the biggest, based on number of subscribers (close to 50 million subs). They came here to look at how TM manages their fixed line businesses in the face of stiff competition from other operators. People who came were VPs led by Pak Nyoman, Telkom's Consumer Director . For two days, we met people from Costing, Pricing, Product House and Billing learning and exchanging ideas. We were honoured went we get to meet Dato' Zam who shared TM's success stories. He provided insights, the do's and the dont's in turning around fixed line business.

I must say that I'm very impressed with TM's hospitality. The guests were overwhelmed not just because TM was a good host, but they were very generous in sharing their experiences. In many ways, I think both sides benefited from this. I would like to thank my staff from Telsoft, Bukhari and Hafiz for coordinating this whole visit. Very well organised. Great job guys!

Telsoft's office..(picture taken by Hafiz)

"Handphones more dangerous than smoking"

This was reported in The Star website today. He should expand his research on other wireless devices namely Bluetooth, WiFi, Wimax, etc.. They could be our No.1 killer disease one day! Please use your fixed line whenever possible.

Wednesday May 28, 2008 MYT 4:52:32 PM
CAP: Handphones more dangerous than smoking
By ANN TAN

GEORGE TOWN: Handphones can be more damaging to health than smoking, the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) said.

CAP president SM Mohamed Idris said research by award-winning neurosurgeon Professor Dr Vini Gautam Khurana from the United States had indicated that using mobile phones for more than 10 years could double the risk of brain cancer.

Prof Khurana, who has received 14 awards over the past 16 years and has published more than three dozen scientific papers, had conducted a 15-month "critical review" of the link between mobile phones and malignant brain tumours.

The subject in the study were heavy mobile phone users who had relied on handphones for at least 10 years. "Previous studies which found no evidence of a link between mobile use and an increased risk of cancer often did not include enough long-term mobile phone users in their study samples," Mohamed Idris said.

Prof Khurana found that cancer takes at least a decade to develop."The incidence of malignant brain tumours and associated death rate will be observed to rise globally within a decade from now, by which time it may be far too late to intervene medically," Prof Khurana said in his report.

Prof Khurana said smoking kills some five million people worldwide each year, but three billion people now use mobile phones worldwide and the number is growing daily.

Mohamed Idris said children who used mobile phones were at greater risk because they were more susceptible to the radiation than adults.

"Parents should not allow their children to use mobile phones and consumers should use the speakerphone function, so that the phone is held more than 20cm away from the head. Use landlines whenever possible," he said.

CAP also urged the Government to take appropriate measures to address the fact that mobile phones could represent a public health time bomb.

"Government should use the mass media and run campaigns to educate and warn the public of the dangers of radiation exposure from mobile phones," Mohamed Idris said.

Prof Khurana has posted the results of his findings on www.brain-surgery.us and his research paper is currently being peer-reviewed for publication in a scientific journal.

A Conversation...

I had this cool conversation with Raidi last weekend. I just popped this question for him:

Abah: Raidi, bila Raidi nak sunat?

Raidi: December nanti boleh tak?

I kept quiet. More like shocked. I honestly expect Raidi not to answer this question at all. Maybe he doesn't know what's waiting for him?? If he really understands what he's saying, then he answered the question like a man. We'll see how it goes this December!

"I'd rather have a root canal"....

"What's your excuse not to do your scaling every six months?"...

"How old you are now? Your last visit to my clinic was when you're 15!"...

"Now you know why you need to do scaling every 6 months"...

I just kept silence as the dentist repeatedly made those points to me today. I was at his clinic this afternoon and as you might guessed already, it wasn't a scheduled visit. I've been having this toothache for the past couple of days and I just couldn't bare the pain any longer. It hurts and I couldn't sleep at night, concentrate on my work and I can't chew my food well. After taking some pain killers, I went to see this dentist in Tmn Tun. I randomly chose a clinic and to my surprise, I had my name registered there before! More than 15 years ago! Hahaha... Talk about fate...

"You have to decide now, either do a root canal or a tooth extraction" the dentist said, obviously referring to this tooth decay that I have. I asked him further about the options and I decided to go for root canal treatment. He proceeded with the 1st treatment, drilling and filling the unhealthy tooth. It wasn't really painful and I thought the pills that I took earlier at the office helped to reduce the pain further. I have to come back for 2 more follow up visits before the dentist can crown the treated tooth.

An apple a day, keeps dentists away..

I don't know which one is more painful. To suffer from root canal or to know the estimated cost for this therapy? I'd rather suffer from root canal! Haiyaaaa...It cost me a bomb! I guess that's the price I have to pay for not visiting the dentist regularly. Now I'm contemplating whether I should crown all my teeth. It is so expensive! I need to do more research on this. Maybe go to India where the cost could be 10 times lower than Malaysia..hehehe

Hyperconnectivity = Hypertension

I've been blogging about how the world today is so connected in the cyber world. To many, hyperconnectivity brings about phenomenal advancement in product innovation. They call this hyperdifferentiation. Some even believe that it could impact civilisation like how the industrial revolution was sparked by the discovery of steam and petrol engine.

The Netizens, an always 'on' society, continuously sifting through the cyber world, creating, editing and exchanging information transcending race and cultures. Being informed, we allow ourselves to evolve in a more efficient way. We have been innovating before but the speed that we are doing it today is mind boggling. We're transforming society to be collaborators as we've witnessed how state and corporate level policies are being influenced by the people's vote. Democracy are at it's best when decisions are made bottom up.

The world at light speed. Can our mind and body cope with this?

Add mobility with connectivity, you get information exchange in a ubiquitous way. It's a powerful combination. Imagine a world that can be updated at the same time. It gives new and profound meaning to the cause and effect equation. Are we in a brink of a perfect economy? An economy that lives on perfect information exchange?

There's 2 sides of the coin for hyperconnectivity. One side says that it enables K-Economy. However, government's and corporate bodies are increasingly worried about cyber security. The threat is real as it can cripple the economy. But my worry is more on social security. We are witnessing today how the news on oil and food crisis are affecting the world. I believe that this threat could somehow be blown out of proportion. Interested parties could manipulate the situation by creating uncertainties in the market place. With hyperconnectivity, these negative sentiments can infiltrate the mindset of people in a much more effective way. Any sort of crisis can ring alarm bells in people's mind. It heightens anxiety and it could stress up the market. It's a dangerous and most effective propaganda tool.

Today's effort are concentrated more on reducing cyber threat rather than content censorship. People say that there should be freedom of expression in the cyber community which I totally agree. What I don't agree is when people use it for their own gain by manipulating and exploiting others. Freedom of expression is good, but it is those who does this irresponsibly that should be controlled. We need a system or a framework that authenticate contents. Just like how job placement services requires job seekers to authenticate their resume before being posted on the Internet.

How can we achieve this? Certainly, it requires strong political and corporate leadership. Companies like Google and Yahoo should show more responsibility and sharpen their effort on content authentication. What we need is someone or some framework to help net community to choose between fact or fiction materials. Web space like Wikipedia is a great source of information and knowledge as contents are continuously being updated and edited by readers themselves. But the fact is, they are not being authenticated by the correct authorities. I think Wiki should be more honest and start to provide authentication services for their content.

Anytime, anywhere communication....the promise of a digital world..

Uncertainty and anxiety leads to greater risk. And there's a high price to pay for this risk. Hyperconnectivity will force the world to work in unison. The problem is, countries are at their different wealth and social maturity level. It is in my opinion that poor countries will have no time or opportunity to learn from the developed economy as the world is already acting as one. They can never catch up and I'm afraid that they will always be under developed. The rich becomes richer and the poor becomes poorer. Hyperconnectivity will reveal capitalism's ugly face.

I have no doubt on the benefits of the true connected world. I just hope that in our quest to achieve these outcome, there must be mechanisms for check and balance. Connectivity will bring about new business models in the commercial world. Social and political engagement will be taken to a new level too. Thus, we need to continuously review our capability in managing these changes. Not just looking at the technology, but every other aspects the technology impacts on; financial, legislation and especially our social fabric. If we are honest in our quest, we can evolve human race to the next civilisation plateau or move up the value chain in a sustainable way.

Champions Of Europe...Again!

TDM Quits UMNO...

What a shocker! For someone who has been with the party for a long time, his decision to quit UMNO took everyone in the country by surprise! Perhaps he wanted to tell the whole world too. His announcement was made concurrently with the 2008 WCIT in KL today. Delegates from 88 countries meet up in the capital city for what is known as the Olympics for IT. Refer to Tun's blog for his unofficial announcement: http://www.chedet.com/2008/05/pengumuman-keluar-dari-umno.html

Cherating Lagi??

I didn't know what got into me last weekend when I took the kids for a trip to Cherating, again. I woke up on Sunday and I simply decided that I wanted to go to Kuantan. After picking up Raidi from his tuition in the afternoon, myself, Raidi and Zidani headed straight to the east coast leaving behind Ayu. She was busy preparing for her sister's wedding. There we were again, on a very familiar trip, just the three of us. The kids were excited and they didn't really mind the long trip as they slept almost the whole journey. We arrived at Cherating after 2 1/2 hours and checked-in into this little resort. As expected, we had the whole resort to ourselves yet again!

We went to the beach and the kids love playing with the sand. At last we flew the kite that Raidi bought long time ago. He bought it just in case we hit the beach again someday. After the beach, we jumped into the swimming pool. For this trip, I forced Zidani to join us in the pool. He usually sit by the side as he's quite afraid of the water. Not this time I told him. So I literally dragged him into the pool and he enjoyed it in the end.

At 5pm the same day, we head back to KL. So that's 5 hours of driving in a Mazda 6 (Zoom-Zoom factor), about 2 hours of play time with the kids in an empty resort (quality time) and we suffered for couple of days from sunburn (no sacrifice no victory!). But the satisfying smile on our faces? Priceless...Worth it...

Wedding Singer???

On the 6th of June, my sister in-law Linda will be getting married. Her dinner reception will be held at the Dewan Komuniti TTDI. Preparations are under way and everyone are busy doing their part. On that day, I have the task to put up road signage leading to the hall. I was given another task though and I'm still thinking about it.

Linda and Ayu requested me to sing a song in front of all the wedding guest. Me? Singing in a formal wedding reception? Have they gone mad? Are they willing to take the risk that I'm going to spoil the function? Ayu told me that the MC will keep on calling my name until I take the microphone and sing. They said they want 'Anuar Zain' to make an appearance that night! hahahah..tolong laahh..eee tak kuasa. You are talking about a wedding here, not a KTV session! Haaiiyaa..But could it be an interesting experience to Blog about later?? HHmm...I have to think first...gelabah aahh

No Astro?? No Problem...Youtube Kan Ada...

It's been more than a month for us living without watching Astro. The boys have been watching cartoon on DVD alternating with the mother. Who says we can't live without Astro? I myself finding it quite an experience spending more time watching contents from the Internet. And that explains why I'm actively blogging again!!!

I can't wait until this country has another broadcaster besides Astro. Like any other monopoly companies, profiteering is their one and only ambition. Often, customers are forced to accept whatever level of service provided as there's no other alternatives to choose. True that most of the content already belongs to Atsro, to me, this is not an issue. Content is the important pulling factor, but other differentiating strategies can be deployed to be competitive. I wish that movies, sitcoms or programmes could be on-demand so that I can watch whatever I want and whenever I want. I don't want Astro to control my daily schedule but instead, I want to have control on the programmes. We, the customers determine what and when we want to see from TV. The technology to do this is already here and I think TM is conducting some trials with some of their customers in Penang. With IPTV (an IP based TV platform), the experience of watching TV would be more interactive and personalised.

The Americans seems to have everything in abundance, including time to watch TV....

Like any other industry in Malaysia, the government's role is to ensure that the long term interest of the end users are met. Usually, to do this, government tends to break down monopolies to create competition with the intention of improving quality of service and keeping prices low (but not necessarily affordable). In Malaysia, when the government liberalised the telecommunication industry way back in mid 90's, we saw how other players came into the picture and compete for customers. We Malaysian benefited substantially. Although I do have some reservation in this, but in general, today we are constantly being offered and bombarded with attractive call prices and packages. However, for too long, we are being choked with basic voice and sms offers.

My question is, how can the government effectively create the same competitive market in the satellite broadcasting industry. Some might argue that the market is too small for other players to co-exist and the infrastructure cost would be astronomical for the new entrant. Well, there's one obvious solution for this barrier of entry. Tell Astro to open up their network and let other players leased their capacities. New entrants wouldn't have to invest huge money for infrastructure but instead leased unused capacities from Astro. As for content, I think there's enough out there to feed viewers appetite. Malaysia has the most diverse viewing profile compared to other countries. Multi ethnicity and religious background brings about different content viewing preferences.

There's a need for content to be more specialise and specific to meet different market segment requirements. The future of media business is to sell more of less. Today, if I want to watch big movie hits, I've got plenty of options to do so including Astro. But if I want to watch something very specialise and specific like how to play badminton like a pro, I would go to youtube. Youtube is an example of how future of business should be. Selling more of less. Even when there's only a single viewer, the video is still on the cyber-shelf to be viewed.

Are we ready for triple play services?

I'm blogging about this tonight because I think we seriously need a competitor for Astro. The fact that I can't choose any other satellite broadcaster, democratically, it's like denying my rights to 'vote'. To beat a monopoly, the new entrants would require assistance from the government. The government must provide market and regulatory mechanism that creates a level playing field for the broadcasters. However, it is crucial that they only do this with the customer's interest in mind. I hope that the convergence between TV and IP services would happen fast enough to break the dominance of satellite broadcasting in Malaysia. Just Imagine when the current Astro decoder is replaced with your computer's CPU as your lifestyle changing technology. The value it can create for the business community is immense as customer's interaction and engagement would be taken to a new level.

Until the arrival of this new media, I need to find my Astro card. We still haven't found it. If I call Astro for a new replacement card, I'll be charged for it for sure. But so far without Astro, no problem for me at least. I'll just stick to youtube while the kids are happy watching Transformers movies and cartoon repeatedly. We have many cartoon version of Transformers collection by the way. Gosshh..I'm surprised how this missing card inspired me to blog!!

The Devil Drives Mazda??....Arrghhhhhh

I saw an M6 being test driven in PJ today. It was a white 2.5litre sedan(like the one in these pictures) driven by a young chinese lad. I was standing by the roadside when suddenly this new M6 passed by the taxi stand. I couldn't believe my eyes as the car looks way sexier in reality. I cursed myself for not to wait another year to get my hands behind the steering wheel. If I ever want a car that really stands out from the crowd and have heads turning its way, this M6 would be on top my list. An absolute stunner! The zoom-zoom factor is very much alive in me...

p/s: My current M6 is less then 12 months old...Please God, don't tempt me this way...Anybody who wants to go for a test drive, call me pls!!

We Are The Champ10ns!

One down, one to go. It was a glorious day for MU as they won the Premier League title for the 10th time. It went down right to the wire, as MU needed to win the last game of the season to secure the title. I'm very pleased with the result as the team played very well this year. They mixed style with strength. They've got substance and the desire to win trophies. I was expecting a treble this year but looking at the level of competitiveness of the sport today, it is always going to be difficult. The modern game is very tactical and you need to create your own luck to win games.

Congratulations to all MU fans out there. One down and one to go! Next stop, Moscow...

Mother's Day..

I would like to wish all mother's out there a happy mother's day. To Mak and Mommy, I love you very much. You have been very patience with your kids. Nothing that I can do that can ever repay your sacrifices. To Ayu, thank you for being such a caring mother to the kids. There's room for improvement though, hehehe. I know, same goes to me. To my grandmother, I miss you always. Every time I see you, I feel so much love. You're definitely my soft spot. Last but not least, to mother nature. I think the world can be a better place if everyone starts to treat this planet like their own mother. What's the point of calling this place mother nature when we treat her like rubbish?? Hhmm...

Attn: Raidi...

I want to share something. Actually this posting is dedicated to my son Raidi. I hope you will read this one day and understand how I feel. You just turned 8 last week while I'm writing this today. But already you are facing lots of challenges. I'm somewhat surprised by your level of maturity in accepting your responsibilities. You are facing greater challenges not just because you have competitive school friends, not just because of high expectations to perform from your parents, not just because you oftently get confusing instructions from everyone, not just because you are living in the multimedia world and I think your senses are working overtime. But you are also facing the fact that you have a brother that seems to absorb all the attention in the world. Plus, you have parents that comes back home late everyday.

You seemed to be very understanding about Zidani's condition as you don't react negatively whenever Zidani's having his tantrum. I thank you for this. But I missed watching you grow and become the 8 year old boy today. This is my regret. All the attention that I gave to your brother, I felt that you always get less from me. You grew up too fast for me to catch up with you, especially when Zidani is stealing all the attention. But you care for your brother and I can somehow sense that you understand the meaning of sacrifice. Being able to do this at your age, I salute you Raidi. I just want you to know that we do care for you, that we are not neglecting you in anyway.

I hope you will grow up as a responsible boy. Abah only hope and pray for the best. It's a tough world out there and I'm making sure that you are prepared to face the challenges. Respect the elderly and always care for the needy. Have a lot of patience in your life. With your brother Zidani we really need to be patience. He needs our support and understanding. If you think it's difficult for us to go through all this, imagine how it is more difficult for Zidani. It must be very confusing and frustrating for him as he tries hard to cope with us. But I believe he'll do just fine if we just love him a little bit more. He needs the extra attention. I'm glad to know that you understand our situation. Again I want to say thank you for being so understanding. I'm proud of you Zulkarnain Raidi and I always will.

They Don't Care...

I always have this question in my mind. Looking at how oil price has its impact to the human race. Why are we so dependent on this source of energy? Why arent there any alternatives? Why is it so difficult for us to start commercialising renewable, eco-friendly and sustainable energy sources. Oil price is sky rocketing. I wonder how the underdeveloped world is coping with this. Looking at current scenario, even the Americans are feeling the impact. What else the poor countries? Who benefits from all this? Halliburton's stock price reached unprecedented level the moment the American's invaded Iraq. Is it right for me to say that oil & gas producers and military contractors are gainig from all this? Let's not even mention carbon emission and its impact to the environment.

I hoped and thought that Oil companies are seriously looking into this matter. That they are seriously looking at alternative sources. And I thought that they have started to do this long time ago. I was wrong. Read this article below....

Friday May 2, 2008
Rockefeller family calls for change at ExxonMobil

NEW YORK: Members of the Rockefeller family are calling on ExxonMobil Corp to make governance changes and increase spending on alternative fuels, sharpening the focus on the company’s practices as oil soars close to US$120.

John D. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Co in 1870 and it became a precursor to ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil is the world’s largest publicly traded oil company based on market capitalisation and is a favourite target of consumer advocate groups and politicians unhappy with record prices for oil and gas and their effect on the environment.

Fifteen descendants of the oil baron are involved in four shareholder resolutions seeking changes at Exxon, including dividing the CEO and chairmanship positions held by Rex Tillerson. Peter O’Neill, great-great grandson of Rockefeller, said 66 of the 78 adult Rockefellers currently supported their stance. Exxon posted the largest ever annual profit by a US company last year and its first quarter results were expected to top US$11 billion and perhaps set a new record.
But the Rockefellers said the company was too focused on short-term windfalls. They said the company’s reluctance to invest in alternative energy could result in lost profits down the road.
Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, great granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller and a Tufts University economist, called on Exxon to reconnect with the forward-looking vision of her great grandfather.

“Kerosene was the alternative energy of its day,” Goodwin said. “Part of John D. Rockefeller’s genius was in recognising early the need and opportunity for a transition to a better, cheaper and cleaner fuel.”

The group, which also seeks to establish a task force to study the consequences of global warming on poor economies, called on Exxon to reduce greenhouse gas emission at its own operations and adopt a renewable energy policy. Exxon said it supports the Rockefellers' right to use the shareholder proposal process to make the family’s views known to other stakeholders.
The company has asked shareholders not to support the proposals and said it believes the most effective leadership structure for the current company is for Tillerson to serve as both chairman and CEO.

It is unclear how many shares the Rockefeller family controls. Exxon was able to identify 12 of the 15 Rockefellers associated with the shareholder resolution and said they collectively own around 332,000 of the company’s 5.4 billion shares – or about 0.006% of outstanding shares.
The company downplayed the importance of the Rockefellers backing the split.

“We’re focused on maximizing the return to the shareholder and profitability,” said Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers. “Members of the Rockefeller family are well known for their relationship with the company’s founder. But we have 2.5 million individual shareholders.”About 40% of the company’s shareholders voted for the non-binding proposal to split the chairman and CEO positions last year.

Political scrutiny on Exxon has also increased as oil and gasoline prices have soared. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both pointed to Exxon’s record 2007 earnings as a symbol of an oil industry run amok. Both candidates are in favour of repealing tax breaks that have been enjoyed by oil companies.

“Last year, Exxon Mobil made US$40 billion in profits. So you paid through the roof and they made out like bandits,” Clinton said earlier this week in North Carolina. “Middle class families are paying too much and oil companies are not paying their fair share.” Analysts noted that, even in a non-election year, it is never easy when oil companies make record profits. “Politicans see Exxon and they see dollar signs. They see it as an untapped resource,” Oppenheimer & Co analyst Fadel Gheit. He noted the record profits have pleased many shareholders.Exxon “must be hiding under their pile of cash,” he added.
Exxon’s annual meeting is scheduled for May 28. – Reuters

Moscow, Here We Come!

After the final whistle, MU won 1-0 on aggregate...

Eto? Messi? Henry? Deco? Big names aren't they? Barca threw in everything that night but MU defended well at home. We're just one step closer to European glory. It was the second leg of the semi final and from what I've heard it was a nail bitting match. Yes, I didn't get to watch the live telecast. We misplaced the new Astro smart card and until today, we couldn't watch Astro. It was an important game and I'm still dissapointed not being able to watch it. Thank God they won. I better replace the card before the final match next month. Oh yes, to Liverpool fans out there, you'll never walk alone. Chelsea might accompany you later! hehehe

Up..up..and awaaayy....Schoey's brilliant 30 yards goal...

Dr M aka Che Det the Blogger...

At last, Tun started his own blog today (www.chedet.com). Welcome aboard sir! One should not underestimate the power of media democratisation. I wonder who's taking care of his blog though? Hhmm..

Blogging For Money...

I'm impressed. A full time housewife is also a professional blogger. Samantha Yeap, a 36 year old mother of two earns money from advertising through her blog at myorganiclife.blogspot.com. Her story was published in The Star newspaper today http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/4/27/sundaymetro/20972501&sec=SundayMetro.

“What gives me so much satisfaction is that I am able to do and say what I want in my blog (within moral and ethical boundaries, of course). I am under nobody’s rule,” said Samantha. This is a good example of self regulation and being a responsible blogger. She can sit in front of the computer until 4 to 5 o'clock in the morning and write about everything from cooking and how to prevent white hair.

What amazes me more is how people can really be a fan of certain blog sites. They are loyal surfers and reading blogs are like food for their soul. See how strong this new media influences our society. The pen is mightier than the sword they said. Now we can say that the keyboard is mightier than the pen! Amazing really.

Flat Battery, Birthday, Leaky Water Pipes, 3 Stiches, Michael Bollocks!.

Absolute Bollocks!... Saturday was a bad day for me. I was supposed to celebrate Raidi's 8th Birthday but too many mishaps occured. It started with my car battery went dead. I got stuck at Menara Telekom and had to wait for my mechanic to come and replace the dead battery. The battery is less than 12 months old, still under warranty. So I'm going to claim from C&C for the replacement cost. Then, at home that evening, the water pipe in the bathtroom suddenly burst! Rushed to the hardware store and came back to do some plumbing work. Raidi and Zidani were running around and I did warned them about the slippery floor. As I was working, MU & Chelsea match was live on Astro and I'm not supposed to miss that game and you know why. Ayu was away in Korea so I had to look after the kids.

Just after I finished with the plumbing work, as I was about to sit infront of the TV, I heard a loud thud near the bathroom followed by Zidani's harrowing scream. He was really in pain. Raidi quickly told me that Zidani slipped and fell backward hitting his head on the floor. I quickly rub my hand on his head trying to ease the pain and I was shocked to see my palm covered with blood! At that time Zidani was still crying and kept on saying sakit, sakit, while pointing his finger to his head. Blood started to run down his left ear and at that point I knew I had to take him to the clinic. I saw a deep gash on the left side of his head and I thought the wound require some stitches. Rightly so, at the clinic, Zidani had 3 stiches on his head. We had to held him down on the bed as he was frantically trying to escape. Zidani has an allergy to doctors due to some traumatic experience when he was still a baby. Alhamdulillah, Dr Suraya managed to stich up his wound. I'm sure this will add to Zidani's list of traumatic experience with doctors. He is only 6 years old but I'm amazed with his strength. Three adults had to held him while the doctor calmly finished her job. We head back home and after putting Zidani to bed, I got to watch the football match.

It was the game where MU needed to win to clinch the premier league title. Things were going well untill the 86th minute. Chelsea was given a penalty kick when the ref spotted Carrick handling the ball inside the penalty box. TV replays didn't clearly show Carrick handled the ball. It wasn't MU's night and they had to concede defeat after two goal line clearance by Chelsea in the dying minutes. So now it's down to the wire and the team has another crucial game this coming Tueday. Please la..don't fumble when it matters. MU's game suddenly dropped couple of notches.

Happy 8th birthday Raidi! Inspite of all this mishaps, We will celebrate your birthday on Sunday after Mama comes back from Korea. And yes, as promised, you will get your Optimus Prime robot.

KL-Singapore High Speed Train?...What about High Speed Broadband?

The proposed high speed train project between KL-Singapore had been shelved, though not indefinitely I believe. Number of reasons behind this decision. According to the press, it's too deep for the govt's pocket. This new mode of transport could cut railway travelling time between KL and Singapore to just 90 minutes. But it would cost a bomb and it is uncertain whether there will be enough passengers to use it. Plus, I'm sure there's plenty of political reasons behind it.

I wonder how our Bullet Train would look like?

I think instead of building new infrastructure, they could use the Subang Airport as a gateway for the SG-KL route. This is much cheaper and perhaps if we can fly out from Subang, it could match the total travelling time with the bullet train. In other words, the current transport infrastructure is sufficient to serve both country's requirement. Alternatively, I feel we should link up with Indonesia instead. That's where the future market is. With Indonesia's huge population and growth potential, there would be plenty of trade opportunities. We should build bridges and tunnels to connect both countries.

YTL's MD, Francis Yeoh said in the AFP that this new rail link could save government tens of billions of ringgit in fuel subsidies in the long run. This suggest that the track will be electrify and he hopes to capture passengers who are road users. If this is what he stands for, I have a better option for him. He is harping on reducing gov't fuel subsidies. He intend to reduce the number of private vehicles on the road which will lead to lower fuel consumption and carbon emission. My question is why limit to south bound road users? By introducing the train, we will only remove private vehicle that travels between this two destinations. From the total number of South bound commuters, how many are actually directly driving to Singapore?

If he really wants to help gov't to reduce fuel subsidies he could do this via Teleworking. Being a corporate body, YTL can work together with the government and be the champion of Teleworking. YTL is one of the 4 Wimax operators in the country and they can really capitalise on this technology via Teleworking solutions. If they do this properly, we can see drastic reduction of road vehicles as people only meet up at their work place when necessary. They can hold meetings and discussions from their home using broadband. Teleworking is seen as a solution for traffic congestion. Imagine the amount of carbon emission that we can save? People say this is a cultural thing as many don't really fancy the idea of working from home. That is why it is even more important for gov't or corporate figures to take the lead and adopt this concept. It requires strong political and cultural will for this concept to take off.

Fiber strands that connects the world....

So do we really need high speed train to Singapore? Personally, the answer would be yes if I want to go shopping. I'm sure they don't have baggage limit like they have in the airline industry. But for normal or social commuters, current transportation is adequate. As for business travellers, flying seems to be the best choice. But if we really think about it, do we really need to travel when we are so connected in the cyberworld? I think there's alot broadband can offer than just being a place for web browsing. With enough bandwidth, hyper connectivity can make the world truely a global production floor with everyone acting in unison.

p/s: I don't want bullet train to Singapore because people will not stop over at Kluang Station and have kopi and roti bakar...Yumm Yummm

Thank You Tevez....

Thank you for being at the right place and at the right time. Your leveller against Blackburn could be the decisive goal for MU this season. I knew the game was going to be difficult. That's always the case whenever they are up against teams coached by an ex-player.

Next week will be one of the most challenging period for MU. Semi final game with Barca and the title deciding fixture against Chelsea within the span of 7 days. I know I should believe in the team but sometimes, it can give me the jitters. I guess that's the reality of the game. It's football and players do make mistake. After great performances over the season, I just hope they don't fumble when it matters.

Busy busy busy and busy...

Looking at the number of my blog postings this year, it could only tell one thing. I'm busy with work. Every time I go back home, I got to entertain the household. When the kids are asleep, I watch Astro or read some books.

Things that I want to blog now is quite a heavy topic. Lately, my mind had been thinking. Thinking about things that I can do to change the world (perrgghh..macam bagus). But seriously, until I can let it out, I won't feel satisfied.

I don't know, its just that too many news going around about climate change, security, corruption, world food crisis...etc. I wonder what kind of a world that our kids will live in in the future. What makes me want to do so much is because the industry that I'm working in. Telecommunication is the enabler of information exchange. When you get to see how telecommunication impacts the economy, politics and even climate change, it makes me want to push so much ideas that can slowly but surely change the reality. I believe that the era that we live in is the era of being informed. Anxiety and uncertainty are usually brought about when there is lack of information. Lacking in information only generates risk and there's a high price to pay for the uncertainty. Soaring oil prices are due to speculative outcomes based on current events, food crisis are probably due to booming demand from China and India and the volatile climate adds to the variable. Just to cite some examples.

There should be better coordination among major food producers that could have avoided this crisis. Nobody saw it coming kaa? I'm sure somebody must have seen the warning signs but everybody seems to ignore it. When the world is already so connected, there should be more active engagement between industries, governments and the citizens. It is no longer the time when you just look at yourself and try to fulfill your own country's need. Humanity cannot afford to be selfish if we want to strive to reach the next equilibrium point. What better way to enable equitable and sustainable growth among nations then to continuously engage with each other, exchanging critical information and coordinating efforts based on informed judgement. We can do this efficiently if we embrace the power of ubiquitous communication. People say that two heads are better than one. What if we can connect 6 billion heads?

With prevailing crisis, who benefits from all this? Does the benefit reach the poor? I bet in the case of food crisis, the middle men gets most of the profits! So the rich becomes richer, and the poor becomes poorer. Not equitable at all and definitely unsustainable.

An informed society is a pre-requisite to knowledge based economy. The challenge is how do we differentiate between information based on facts and Hollywood. So many stories came out from the internet during the last GE but nobody could validate or verify them. Even if one can deny the accusations, who can validate that too? Taking this question aside, the value that the internet connectivity can potentially create should be measured beyond the economic boundries. It's about how it enables the speeding up of innovation cycle. When the innovation wheel spins faster, we can get to our desired destination sooner. We just need some check and balance to ensure the destination or vision that our civilisation is heading to is shared and embrace by all humanity. So please, reach out, speak out, collaborate and engage.

Haiya...I found myself a topic to write for my thesis..heheehe.. But first, I got to sign up for a post graduate course laa!

Sabah Trip..

Last week, I attended a meeting cum workshop in Kota Kinabalu. It was organised by the Costing group from TM. The visit was part of the awareness programme on the service costing approach that TM is adopting. Unlike other network costing methodology, this framework has a direct link to value creation. It could help the company to position it self as a value creator rather than just becoming a sales channel for equipment suppliers to the customers.

The visit was an eye opener. We get to discuss on real operational and strategic issues for the state with HSBB being the focul subject. We had the opportunity to visit some of TM's site equipment. This helps to give greater appreciation towards the business as it provides the substance. Most of the time we only get to model the equipment in the cyber world.

This is where the Customer's Access Network crossed connect with the Core Network...

I came back from KK with running nose and a bad sore throat. Maybe I had too much seafood. The flight back to KL was full with people sneezing and coughing, spreading out viruses. I felt more like being strapped in a sick bay rather than in an aircraft!

Look at the size of those Udang!

Long Weekend It Was...

It's Sunday and i'm currently at the office with the kids. Decided to drop by the office and did some house keeping which is long overdue. Plenty of documents to file in and knowing how bad I am at documentation, I just had to do this on weekends avoiding the normal weekdays 'distractions'.

During the CNY holidays, we took the kids to the Cherating beach. What was supposed to be a 2 hours drive I ended up driving for 4 hours to Cherating. The traffic was crawling from Batu Cave right to the Karak toll highway. It took us nearly 2 hours to reach the East Coast highway toll plaza. I wanted to go to this little resort along the Kuantan-Kemaman east coast road but unfortunately, it was full. I didnt expect it to be full as the last time we went there for a day trip, it was empty! We were the only guest then and we had the swimming pool and the beach to ourselves. So instead, we head down to the beach next to this resort. Me and the boys had a great time and Zidani this time wasn't afraid to play in the water. Ayu and Momy picknicked by the beach enjoying the south china sea seabreeze.

We head back to KL at about 6pm after we stopped by this stall eating Keropok Lekor and fried rice. Slightly after 2 hours of driving we reached KL and the kids spent the night at their Wan's place.

There is something about the east coast that makes me sooo want to come over again and again. Especially terengganu, it makes me feel like home. The beach, food and the laidback lifestyle fits me well. My dream is to have beach house somewhere along the Merang beach near Kuala Terengganu. I know it's only a dream because for Ayu to live there, I need to build a 'Pavillion' grade shopping mall nearby. If not she will be mati kutu. So I guess, occasional visits to the east coast is a good compromise.

Mazda 6 2nd Generation...

Wow! I'm speechless! Don't know when this car is going to be available in Malaysia, but I better start saving money for the downpayment. The current 6 is already an absolute beuty on the road. The ride and handling is one of the best that I've experience so far and I'm pretty sure I will accumulate high mileage with the car. The higher the mileage, the lower the ownership cost per kilometre. And that applies to any vehicle.

See more pictures here http://paultan.org/archives/2007/09/07/2008-mazda-6-2nd-generation-zoom-zoom/#more-5093