Sharing No. 005: How To Make An Attractive City

Eid ul-Fitr 1436 Hijriah

Fun, Less Fun, Not Fun At All

A friend recently shared a link on analogies used by high school students in English essays and I couldn't help but chuckled at some of the analogies. It is a damn creative uses of paradoxes, really. I have always regard those people that can fill the entire room with laughter as social geniuses. They're born with the talent for seeing paradoxes in life and deliver them, literally right on the face and survive without receiving punches on their faces.

In written form, however, I could see certain traits that enable the writers to tickle our mind. Apart from deliberate use of paradoxes, parables are often deployed, where two seemingly unrelated situations are fused together, focusing on the similar qualities of subject matters, both are often at the end of the two extremes, which I would identify as parables of joke. The parables used are often tweaked to reflect daily mundane things that are morphed to a whole new level through clever usage of opposite extremes, unlike the other form of parables, which I identify as parables of wisdom, a highly philosophical English parables, which are mostly revolve within the same plane and sanitised. The parables of joke usually contain ironies to further aggravate the surprise element in a particular parable.

Understanding Verbal Irony

Understanding Situational Irony 

However, the good nature of human seems to discount more morally serious paradoxes as no laughing matter. It is a good thing that generally, we don't take it too kindly the degeneration of other people's suffering or outright humiliation and pass it on as jokes. Such jokes are usually frown upon and no one would be sensible enough to laugh at it. There are such parables passed around but it somehow become some sort of barometer of the state of mind. It could even blow up to become a national issue, such as the case when a school teacher from a northern Malaysian state of Kedah (Wikipedia | Kedah Darul Aman), jokingly told the non-Muslims pupils in his school to eat inside the toilet but don't go to the extent of drinking their own urine (Malaysia's The Star | Teacher Allegedly Says Non-Muslim Pupils Can Drink Own Urine) (The Daily Mail UK | Malaysian School Fire-Bombed During Ramadan As Students Told To Drink Own Urine). When it reached the newsstand, the headline reads the teacher asked the pupils to drink their own urine. Nonetheless, not all could stomach this matter as a joke and it brought up a plethora of news reporting imposition of Islamic values on non-Muslims. The Kedah's drink-your-own-urine case is a classic manifestation of an ice breaking game that I played when I entered high school back in 1994, known as Chinese whispers (Wikipedia | Chinese Whispers), played at a grander scale with potential legal and social repercussions. There jokers, you've been warned...!

With passage of time, words could also undergo transformation and carry different connotation. In 2004, a local non-governmental organisation, Pioneer Force of Indian Muslims (APIM) (Bahasa Malaysia | Angkatan Pelopor India Muslim (APIM) filed a legal suit against Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and 5 others for the inclusion of the word 'keling' in the Third Edition of Kamus Dewan (Wikipedia | Kamus Dewan) as it was deemed derogatory to the Indian community (Kosmo! | Istilah 'Keling' Dibenarkan Dalam Kamus Dewan). The legal suit seek to remove the word from the Kamus Dewan, rendering it officially non-existent.

The word 'keling' has been in use in Malaysia for hundreds of years and there are places in Malaysia where the word 'keling' is in use such as Tanjung Kling in Melaka (Wikipedia | Tanjung Kling) and Kapitan Keling Mosque (Wikipedia | Kapitan Keling Mosque) in Penang. From the horse's mouth itself, i.e. the Kamus Dewan, the word is defined (and loosely translated) as:

keling III 1. An empire of Kalinga and Telingana on the Indian peninsula of Coromandel, well-known for its sailors and merchants who came to Southeast Asia in as early as the third century 2. Traders from Kalinga and Telingana 3. Indian of Islamic faith

Tanjung Kling beach in Melaka, Malaysia (Image Source)

Kapitan Keling Mosque" by Mohammed Al-Naser (Image Source)

It was recorded that beginning 1960 - 1963, the word 'keling' started to be used to refer to Indians generally in a derogatory manner while reference to the Indian Muslims changed to another term, 'mamak". By far, Malaysians have been using the word 'mamak' to refer to the stalls that offers halal food, mostly operating 24 hours. However, this may also go down the way of 'keling' as recently, there have been movements to curb the use of the term 'mamak' as it is considered, yet again, derogatory to the Indian Muslims (Utusan Online | Komuniti India Muslim Bantah Guna Nama 'Mamak'). I was like, seriously? Are they suffering from some sort of identity crisis (The Malaysian Insider | Kami Tidak Masuk Melayu)? It is really a serious issue for the Indian Muslim community as much as it is a serious issue for all Malaysians.

As I write further, it is becoming more stressful to read a host of issues affecting us. I just want to lighten the mood now and have fun with the analogies below. May the Chuckle be with you:

1. When she tried to sing, it sounded like a walrus giving birth to farm equipment.
2. Her eyes twinkled, like the mustache of a man with a cold.
3. She was like a magnet; attractive from the back, repulsive from the front.
4. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
5. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room temperature Canadian beef.
6. She had him like a toenail stuck in a shag carpet.
7. The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object.
8. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had two sides gentle compressed by a Thigh Master.
9. Her eyes were like the stars, not because they twinkle, but because they were so far apart.
10. His career was blowing up like a man with a broken metal detector walking through an active minefield.
11. The sun was below the watery horizon, like a diabetic grandma easing into a warm salt bath.
12. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes at 7.00 PM instead of 7.30 PM.
13. It was as easy as taking candy from a diabetic man who no longer wishes to eat candy.
14. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes before it throws up.
15. Their love burned with the fiery intensity of a urinary tract infection.
16. It's basically an illusion and no different than if I were to imagine something else, like Batman riding a flying toaster.
17. If it was any colder. it would be like being in a place that is a little colder than it is here.
18. Joy fills her heart like a silent but deadly fart fills a room with no windows.
19. The bird flew gracefully into the air like a man stepping on a landmine in zero gravity.
20. He felt confused. As confused as a homeless man on house arrest.
21. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM.
22. His thought tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
23. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
24. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
25. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.
26. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
27. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
28. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
29. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
30. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6.36 PM travelling at 55 miles per hour, the other from Topeka at 4.19 PM at a speed of 35 miles per hour.
31. They lived in a typical suburban neighbourhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
32. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
33. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.
34. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long it had rusted shut.
35. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
36. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
37. The younger fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
38. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
39. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.
40. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

To access original sources, click here for No. 1 to 21 and click here for No. 22 to 40.

From Faizdickie, a Malaysian Instagrammer (Instagram | @faizdickie)

Memanglah time raya semua orang digalakkan ziarah menziarahi tapi tolonglah peka dengan putaran waktu oi. Contohnya sedara kau sorang ni. Orang lain bila datang beraya, setakat makan, borak kejap then beransur. Tapi diaaaa takk! Siap bermigrasi kat rumah kau! Haha Memula makan kuih, lepas tu disaji pulak ketupat. Lepas abis ketupat dimintak pulak teh panas. Mulut pulak tak henti bercerita daripada kisah gosip Rita Rudaini sampailah skandal 1MDB! Haha Tak reti nak berambus ke oi! Haha #komiksengal #kaklehabunting #cikyam #pakleman. Haha bersedialah time raya nanti mesti akan ada tetamu gini. Tetamu lain dah keluar masuk 17 kali tapi dia still tak reti-reti nak blah. Even bila kau keluar kata-kata keramat 'so lepas ni kau pergi rumah siapa plak?' Tetap dia tak faham hint lalu dia buat bodoh jee! Haha Wahai #villagepeople sekalian jangan buat perangai gini okey. Kalau tuan rumah dah mula jawab 'aah' 'itulah' or 'betul la tu' time kau berborak ngan dia, maknanya dia dah malas nak layan kau lettew! Haha Silalah pepandai bawak diri okey. Jangan masuk dalam selimut dorang plak! Haha

A video posted by Faizdickie (@faizdickievp) on Jul 13, 2015 at 8:27am PDT

OPPO Kono Ekau Ni, Jang...?* (What's Wrong With You, Dude...?)

*Minangkabau slang

Last Sunday, July 12, an incident that threaten to morphed into a full-blown, free-for-all brawl occurred at OPPO Mobile Outlet in Low Yat Plaza, Kuala Lumpur. What was purely a case of a customer feeling shortchanged by OPPO Mobile staff turn to be an all-out brawl that took racial dimension.

This is not the first time cases like this takes on a racial dimension. A brawl in a KFC Outlet in i-City, Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan in 2012 pitted two racial groups over a long waiting queue for chicken. The recent church burning (racial?) over 'Allah' wrangling between Muslims and Christians in 2009 and 'Angry Pig' joining the fray by landing in mosques seems to add to the air of tension.

I don't want to talk much about 'OPPO jadi' (what happened) at Low Yat Plaza on July 12. Nor I want to straightened out whatever perception towards any individual race. As written by Adibah Amin in her introductory note of Lydia Teh's "Honk! If You're Malaysian", the typical stereotype of Malaysian races can be summarised as below:

"If you're not LAZY, you're not MALAY. If you don't CHEAT, you're not CHINESE. If you don't DRINK, you're not INDIAN..."

Whoever read this, don't deny that you never have this thought, even in a passing. And don't go riot over the statement above just yet. I haven't finished, not just yet. I just don't associate drinking with Indians until I read the book above. See how my innocent mind was polluted...!

My friends have been venting out their frustration over the incident in Facebook. While there is nothing wrong for them to vent out their anger and frustration over the incident from both side of the divide, the finger-pointing can be quite unsettling. However, I could see similarities between the two sides, the groups that were parties to the brawl and those who hold the 'far' view, either too far to the left or too far to the right. Their similarity is they're what we call the millennial generation. They're highly opinionated, confident and critical. Whether it is rightly or wrongly, that besides the point for them.

At one point, I was 'arguing' with a millennial about Bill Gates and new Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella. I clearly stated that Bill Gates is no longer involved in day-to-day affairs of Microsoft but this millennial keep insisting that Bill Gates must be consulted before hand in whatever decisions Satya Nadella make. Fortunately Bill Gates didn't hire this millennial, otherwise he couldn't retire peacefully as someone would continuously bugging him over pen or pencil! And I let the millennial 'win' the argument. Too childish to win it anyway.

I have to draw a distinction between the Malay millennials and the Chinese millennials though. These two groups evolved to be at the other side of the spectrum. For instance, when I went to the clubs at Jalan P. Ramlee, the Malays would be hanging out across the road from the club and the Chinese would be at the other side of the road, going into the club. The Malays were hanging out across the road, seemingly shunning the clubs, not because they are members of a religious organisation, no. My best guess, they can't spend like the cool kids.Entry to the club already cost a minimum of RM 50 and if you spend more on liquor, that is going to set you back a few hundred, assuming, you're paying everything all by yourself. The only 'free' thing they can do is to watch those sexy ladies in the club and salivate outside. It sounds degrading but it happened! I am Malay myself, you know (but I went into the clubs la...)

The point I am trying to get at is how these two groups can evolve so far apart. And my strong conviction would point out to the obvious. EDUCATION!

OUR FLAWED SCHOOL SYSTEM AND TRUST DEFICIT

We often hear suggestions to look down south to our neighbour, Singapore when it comes to education. However, most of us are more than happy to overlook the fact that in Singapore, they don't have separate system for different 'mother tongue'. Mother tongue study is included as part of the education syllabus without necessitating the need to have a separate school to achieve the objective of mother tongue study. Even to share common facilities were vehemently opposed to, fearing of losing the school character. Remember Sekolah Wawasan? God knows what sort of character the group of educationists are trying to keep so much. Guess the school character is far more important than national unity.

Our community support to this divide-and-rule strategy is clearly toeing the line of the power-that-be or power-to-be even. It is far easier to lord over divided people than a united nation. Having gone through the divide-and-rule factories, with national schools are turning more Islamic due to the absence of non-Muslims, hence lack the check-and-balance, the divide is wider than ever before. And guess what? The trust deficit will be passed on so no amount of sincere effort to unify the people through education would be sufficient. The curriculum is so flawed that a Chinese or Indian students graduating from national schools could not write or speak their own mother tongue! That's what I call injustice at the expense of our national unity.

I could write more of this as unity in education is my strong conviction. However, my view is of minority. Racial clashes will continue to happen from time to time and stereotyping will not ceased. I close my post with an excerpt from Adibah Amin's introductory notes:

"...I am CHINESE but I am no CHEAT. My friend's INDIAN but he's no DRINK. Another is MALAY but he's no SLOB. CHINESE, INDIAN, MALAY or OTHERS, we're who we make ourselves to be. Not the stereotypes we're made out to be. But if we don't buck the trend, we'll forever be stamped..."

Don't let our unity shines through posters. Live our unity as one (Image Source)

The Mystical Economics Of Fuel: What Goes Up, Don't Seems To Want To Come Down

FUEL PRICE HIKE

On July 1, the Malaysian Government announced the new revised retail price for RON 95 and RON 97. The full retail prices are indicated below:

• RON 95: 10 sen increase to RM 2.15 per litre (exclusive GST)
• RON 97: 20 sen increase to RM 2.55 per litre (inclusive GST)
• Diesel: Unchanged at RM 2.05 per litre (exclusive GST)
• Euro 5 diesel: Unchanged at RM 2.15 per litre (exclusive GST)

le queue up at petrol station to refuel their tanks in Petaling Jaya. The Malaysian Insider pic by Najjua Zulkefli, September 3, 2013 - See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/upset-malaysians-dismiss-putrajaya-cash-handout-believe-fuel-price-hike-pre#sthash.zFJejk6x.dpuf

Thing of the past? The Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism will no longer announce the fuel price changes beginning July 2015. People queue up at petrol station to refuel their tanks in Petaling Jaya on 3 September 2013. Picture by Najjua Zulkefli The Malaysian Insider (Image Source)

The increase somehow caught me by surprise as the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism has announced that they will no longer pre-empt with notices any fuel price increase in the future. Somehow, the price increase caused uneasiness among the masses as the people have been dangling with the prospect of another increase in toll charges.

PARKING RATE HIKE IN PUBLIKA

Publika in Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The new parking rate will be enforced middle of July 2015 (Image Source)

On top of that, most of the people I've been talking to are expecting the prices of goods to go up as well. My Buddy recently complained that the management of Publika, an up-scale shopping mall located within the vicinity of the affluent Sri Hartamas neighbourhood, has announced new maximum rate for their car parking facility to RM 20 daily with overnight charges of RM 35. Little wonder why we're not among the top 10 shopping cities as compiled by the Travel Channel and Huffington Post this year. Never mind, we can take consolation, at least for now, that we have at No. 5 and No. 9 spots respectively, two of the top 10 largest shopping malls in the world by gross leaseable area (1Utama Shopping Complex and Mid Valley Megamall). 

1Utama Shopping Complex (Image Source)

Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur (Image Source)

OK, back to the car parking issue. My Buddy hasn't purchased the season pass as it's pretty pointless to pay for something without guarantee. Despite paying for the season pass, my Buddy is still being subjected to the ebbing of the parking bays. At times, getting an empty bay is snappy, some other times, not so. Facing with ever increasing cost of living, I could understand my Buddy's situation. I was jobless for three months with people's mercy as my currency. I could really feel first hand the pinch of joblessness and without any financial guarantee hedging me from going under.

TRADERS' GROUSES

The funny thing is, we would always hear grouses from the traders about their operation cost being squeezed as the direct result of fuel price increase. However, when the fuel price come down, they claimed that their operation cost is high. Sometimes, I do think that Malaysian manufacturers are not really concern their role in promoting high income for Malaysians. 

In one of our workshops held in Johor Bahru, an economist proposed to reduce our dependency on unskilled workers by going for automation. Afterall, the southern region is looking to achieve a projected population of 3 million by 2025 and looking at current situation, Johor Bahru will probably be a city of 3 million people (as outlined in the Comprehensive Development Plan 2025), mainly doing labour intensive jobs and it is likely that the majority of them will not be Malaysians.

IS THIS THE MAIN CULPRIT?

Beginning early this year, Johor State Government has imposed indefinitely, a moratorium period for application of new serviced apartment projects. Currently, Johor Bahru suffered from a property glut. The current housing stock would last for the next 30 or 40 years and already, property prices are matching prices in Kuala Lumpur, boosted mainly by Singaporean purchasers.

This eventually lead to the gist of my posting; fuel prices doesn't affect much our cost of living. Except for Paya Terubong in Penang, this one particular thing has not gone down at all. It's property prices. 

Physical development void of humanity? I personally think KL has no soul. Its soul has died long ago (Image Source)

Of course, this is what I thought. In order to help demonstrate my conviction, from today onwards, I shall be reporting on property market scenario based on the report produced by the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC). Nowadays, land and houses are being treated as commodity and instruments of investment without any consideration of its impact to the people that really need a roof above their head and land under their feet.

Extremists Among Us: Huge Hindu, Buddhist Statues Against Islam, Ex-Judge Says

From MalaysianDigest.com, Malaysians were given an epileptic shock, yet again, when on 17 April 2014, the online news portal carried a report with the subject above as its main header. The original article can be seen here. The report was also picked up by Jihad Watch (seen here), an organisation based in the United States, established by Robert Spencer.

The report by Malaysia Digest quoted a former Malaysian judge, Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah as saying "the huge statues at a Hindu temple in Batu Caves and Buddhist temple in Penang are an affront to Islam as the religion forbids idolatry".

Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah, a former Malaysian Court of Appeal judge (Image Source)

Before I proceed, I would like to quote the Quran, Islamic Holy Book:

Say: O disbelievers! I worship not that which ye worship. Nor worship ye that which I worship. And I shall not worship that which ye worship. Nor will ye worship that which I worship. Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion - Chapter 109, Verses 1 - 6

The above chapter, titled Suratul Kafiroon (The Disbelievers, Atheists) was commanded down to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. at the height of Muslim persecution in Mecca. Owing to tribal kinship, the Meccans were hoping to reach a compromise with Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. by offering him whatever he desire to have, money, power, women, etc.The tribal chiefs even proposed to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. some sort like a God exchange, I worship yours, you worship mine program for a year period. This Chapter was sent down as a rebuttal to the tribal chiefs' proposal. Allah s.w.t. has conveyed to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., He could make everyone turn to Him in worship, if He so chooses.

This chapter is as plain as it is. In any case of continuity, I shall quote one more Chapter to complement Chapter 109:

By (the Token of) Time (through the ages),Verily Man is in loss, Except such as have Faith, and do righteous deeds, and (join together) in the mutual teaching of Truth, and of Patience and Constancy - Chapter 103, Verses 1 - 3

I personally find this Chapter 103 as quite perplexing because this is one Chapter that Allah s.w.t. talk about time and swear by it and we're at loss. And I don't just look at it literally. I am pretty sure this Chapter hold something molre than just a statement. OK, let's get back on track, shall we?

Upon a little digging, I could hardly believe that Chapter 109, taken off-tangent to suit someone's whim and fancy, could be used to justify murder perpetrated by extreme element of our society (Click here to read the extreme version of interpretation, which I totally disagree!). To me, this Chapter is Muslim diplomacy at its best! (Click here for another interpretation of Chapter 109)

Now, one Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah turned livid by the following structure:

Goddess of Mercy Statue, Kek Lok Si Temple, Penang, Malaysia (Image Source)

Lord Murugan, Hindu Warrior God Statue, Batu Caves, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia (Image Source)

And some of Muslims that I know, scared of this more than he/she scared of Allah s.w.t. that they skipped prayers! That's 1 syirk-point against Allah s.w.t. already!

Unknown ghost (Image Source)

Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah further added that "with such a huge statue, you’re showing that your religion is all mighty and powerful". What about Muslims who build big, gigantic mosques that only fills up on Friday? The majority of faithfuls, regardless of their religions (one of the Big 5 or the Star Trek religion), revered their religion as their own way of life as much as we Muslims value our own way that may seems strange to them. So much so, the statement by this former judge was taken to further exemplify Islamic intolerance, to validate the perception of Islamic spread by sword, giving ammunition to the opponent of Islam to demonise the religion. He claimed that, "when non-Muslims build such big idols, it hurts people’s feelings", That's perceptive and a personal one at it! I've come close to Kuan Yin statue and was blanketed under its shadow, yet I am not a Buddhist. I've been to St. Anne Church in Penang, even went into its confession room and mass hall, and I believe in Jesus but I am not a Christian.

It seems that modern-day Muslims prefer the simple way out to fight temptation around them by imposing their own constricted notion of faith, faith so brittle a mere sight of pig could probably cause them to go and performed the ritual cleansing.That is really shameful of them.

I end this post with this one very moving video...

Sharing No. 004: Life After Default: Malaysia’s Tips For Greece

On July 5, the Greeks went to cast their vote in a referendum called upon by Greek Prime Minister, Mr. Alexis Tsipras. The referendum was called as negotiators failed to bridge the gaps between Greece and her international creditors, namely the European Community (EC), European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The referendum question was:

"Should the two-part comprehensive proposal that the EU Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund submitted to the June 25 Eurogroup meeting, be accepted?"

61.31% of Greek voters choose to reject the proposal. For graphical presentation of the Greek financial crisis, click here. For full link to the news page, click here.

However, this is not what I want to highlight in this posting. I am sharing with you an interview session with Tun Mahathir Mohamed, regarding our own experience during 1998 financial crisis. This hypothetical interview was conducted by Andy Mukherjee, a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. In my opinion, it is worth preserving:

As Reported By Andy Mukherjee. Click here for the original article.

   

As he prepares for a referendum that could determine Greece’s future in the euro zone, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras could seek some inspiration from Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s leader during the 1998 financial crisis. Breakingviews imagines a conversation between the two.

Alexis Tsipras (AT): Good afternoon Dr Mahathir. Thank you for taking my call.
Mahathir Mohammed (MM): It’s good to hear from you Mr. Tsipras. Allow me to congratulate you on your brinksmanship. You’ve surely outdone me, but I’m a little scared you have gone too far.

AT: Have no fears. The Germans will fall into line after the Greek people reject the creditors’ preposterous offer on Sunday.
MM: If that’s the case, then why are you calling?

AT: Nobel laureates like Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz keep telling me Greece would be better off quitting the single currency and returning to the drachma. You were in a similar boat in 1998, when you pegged your currency after a steep devaluation and rejected the International Monetary Fund. What’s your advice?
MM: Well, I wouldn’t start from here. Though we suffered a recession it was nothing like the 26 percent drop in GDP that your country has endured in the last seven years. Besides, our external debt was 49 percent of GDP in 1998; yours is almost five times as large. It was relatively easy for me to reject the IMF’s advice because we didn’t need their money.

AT: Is it the situation hopeless for Greece?
MM: Not entirely. Your current account has swung into surplus. If you stop paying off your international debt, you could thumb your nose at foreign creditors and run a self-sufficient economy on drachmas.

AT: What should we do with the new currency?
MM: Fix it at a low rate against the euro. I imposed capital controls after all the money that wanted to leave Malaysia had already fled. Then I pegged the currency against the U.S. dollar, and we enjoyed an export boom.

AT: We don’t have much to export, but we do have tourism.
MM: Yes, and it’s your golden goose. Your creditors initially wanted to slap a 23 percent value-added tax on hotels. That was too much for tourists paying in euros. But they’ll hardly notice when they’re settling the bill in devalued drachmas. Besides, you’ll need money to fix the banks.

AT: Do we have to? We’ve managed to ignore the problem for five years.
MM: True, but only with the help of the European Central Bank. Besides, the last time I checked, Greek banks were closed. We realised that recapitalising Malaysian banks would cost 12 percent of GDP, and made the money available swiftly. Did I bail out some cronies in the process? You’ll have to ask my enemies.

AT: This is all very helpful. What about fiscal policy?
MM: It should be expansionary. You have had creditors breathing down your neck, demanding large primary surpluses in a shrinking economy. My Finance Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, had turned equally austere. He went into 1998 targeting a fiscal surplus. That’s the kind of lunacy IMF used to preach in those days.

AT: Wait until you meet Wolfgang Schaeuble.
MM: I take no pleasure in your misery. But like yours, our economy needed stimulus, not pain. So I sacked Anwar, and started running big budget deficits. I dropped the capital controls, and creditors returned. Today, foreigners own 29 percent of our sovereign debt.

AT: Hang on, didn’t you send your finance minister to jail?
MM: I did, and I don’t regret it. Dissent at that crucial time could have been costly. I don’t think you need to lock up Yanis Varoufakis. Though it would be interesting to see how he copes with a “prisoners’ dilemma” in real life.

AT: Thank you very much for your time Dr Mahathir. Is there anything you want to ask me?
MM: Just one question. What exchange rate did you have in mind for the new drachma? I’ve always fancied owning a small Greek island.

AT: Let’s see what happens on Sunday first.
MM: Yes, it’s important to respect the democratic process.

All Rise...!

Yeah, all rise and now, we're being served with the news report of a proposal by highway concessionaires on the possible increase in toll rate. On 12 June, the news of the proposed hike was leaked out (all hail the whistle blower!), prompting Malaysia's embattled Prime Minister, Mr. Najib Razak to label the whistle blower's action as a 'betrayal of trust' (The Malay Mail | click here). Just for the record, whoever is the whistle blower, he/she should be commended for bringing to light this matter as it is obviously of interest to the public. For an Administration that claimed to be putting people's first, the act of betrayal is brazen and of highest order due to the secret nature of the proposal. Indeed, no decision has been made, however Mr. Najib Administration is clearly feeling the heat as evident in contradictory and half-baked statements coming out from Putrajaya concerning various issues of the day. I bet one day felt like a thousand years for Putrajaya folks now.

One of the prominent transport planner in the Klang Valley, whom I used to work with before, was quoted recently that "instead of paying compensation, the Government should buy over the highways" (The Star | click here). That sounds like a great idea, right? However, as much as the Government could take over the highways, it is not the Government's business of running the operation of a highway. They would screw everything up! See how 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) could chalk up RM 42,000,000,000.00 (see how much zeros this figure have!) debt within 5 years operation. Government should concentrate on its core business, which is to administer the country.

What kind of love affairs that we have when it comes to tolled highways? It is a chain of, to put it rather strongly, daylight robberies. The most critical element of planning the transportation network of a city is multi-modal connectivity. This is a fact that most planners acknowledged and feel compel to incorporate into our design. At this point, we're facing a catch 22 situation. Why? Let's for the sake of argument, introduce two groups, drivers and operators.

© Isaac Rizard Graphics 2015

On one side, drivers would demand improvement. How much improvement these drivers need? What sort of improvement they demand? Efficiency? Punctuality? Comfort? As a rule of thumb, Malaysian town planners use a walking distance of 400 metres from a transit station. Why 400 metres, only God knows because it seems that Malaysians are not even willing to walk half of that distance. Given our erratic weather at any given time of the year as it could get very hot or very 'wet', to get to the nearest transit station would be a huge challenge. And I am talking from my own experience as shown below.

© Isaac Rizard Graphics 2015

The Google Earth extract above shows the location of the nearest bus stops for Flora Damansara residences, located at Jalan PJU 8/8. There are two options for Flora Damansara residents if they choose to take a bus. However, none of the options are located with 400 metres walking distance at all as the nearest stop is located 2.2 kilometres away. Flora Damansara is a densely built low and medium cost housing area, home to approximately 21,000 people, with transient community forms the majority of residents in the area. Sadly, bus service do not ply this area and taxi drivers dreaded to venture into the neighbourhood due uneven, hilly and crampy road. Instead, the bus service covers the more affluent Damansara Perdana area, whose residents are more than happy to flash around their expensive cars than taking the bus.

In the nutshell, it is a missed opportunity and it reflects poor planning. No emphasis is given to the public transportation network. It necessitates car ownership, which is evident by the sheer number of overcrowded parking stations throughout Klang Valley. A comprehensive township planning that takes into account long term commuting needs is sorely and urgently needed. 

With improvement in the method of providing transportation services within an area, including distance from their homes, route treatment and population catchment, mobility dependency on public transportation would be increasing, thus helping to reduce the number of cars on the road and eventually, tolled highways won't be needed, at least not in the immediate future or within the existing spatial context.

Sharing No. 003: The Complex Geometry Of Islamic Design

This video explore the complexity of Islamic geometric design.The video is presented by Eric Broug.

Lesson By: Eric Broug
Animation By: TED-Ed
Click here for full lesson at TED-Ed

Town Planning And You

Imagine this, one fine morning, a teacher ask the pupils about their ambitions. I am pretty sure the answer won't differ much from 30 years ago. Most pupils would say they wanna a doctor, a pilot, an architect and an engineer. A town planner? Nay, you should go buy 4D if you come across a town planner as the answer. However, who get to decide where road gonna lead to? Who get to decide the location of the schools, community halls and sewerage treatment plant? Why the completion of Damansara - Puchong Expressway bring about so much development? Who got the insight to foresee things 5, 10, 20 years down the road?

Damansara - Puchong Highway, Selangor Darul Ehsan Malaysia (Image Source)

Town planning is an ancient art of arranging different usage and function of a city. When I told some of my friends about what I do, first thing that they ask me was, "Ehh, how come KL's planning very bad one...?" I could only smiled back at them and blame it on the British! We shall talk about KL some other time.

The heart of Kuala Lumpur, Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) (Image Source)

What I want to emphasis here is the intimacy, in which urban and regional planning govern our lives. It is important for us to understand the implication of urban planning to our socioeconomic development and well-being.

In Malaysia, the practice of urban and regional planning is regulated through the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 (Act 172). A town planner is a professional who is governed by the provisions under the Town Planners Act 1995 (Act 538). One huge draw back for this profession is that we have no professional title, unlike engineers (Ir.), land and quantity surveyor (Sr.) and architects (Ar.). I envision town planners to adopt Pl. or Pr. but in a particular Chinese dialect (can't remember which one) Pl. would bring an obscene connotation while Pr. doesn't sound unique at all. Well, I guess town planners won't have any honorific title for a while.

I shall parted ways with the links to the two Acts aforementioned for your guide and reference.

• Town and Country Planning Act 1976 (Act 172) English | Bahasa Malaysia
• Town Planners Act 1995 (Act 538) English | Bahasa Malaysia

Sharing No. 002: Population Pyramids: Powerful Predictors Of The Future

The following video explains about the population pyramid, one of the important tools for urban planners to do their future projection. This video is presented by Kim Preshoff.

Lesson By: Kim Preshoff
Animation By: TED-Ed
Click here for full lesson at TED-Ed

Sharing No. 001: Urbanisation And The Evolution Of Cities Across 10,000 Years

The following video summarises the history of urbanisation and evolution of cities across the world. It's quite refreshing to see this sort of presentation related to our life in the city. This video is presented by Vance Kite.

Lesson By: Vance Kite
Animation By: ATMG Studio
Click here for full lesson at TED-Ed

A New Beginning, A New Job

Finally, I have thrown the previous blog in the annals of history. Looking back to the things that I used to write, I couldn't help but to feel as if I could scream at the writer, which was obviously me. I could dissect my own writings and tear it apart with ease.

I have left the Company after 7 years. Throughout the years, I have gained immeasurable troves of knowledge. However, year after year, I have started to feel too comfortable for my own good. Then, having associates that lacked emotional quotient (EQ) didn't help either. It hastened my decision to move on and shake up my entire career.

My decision to quit was made amidst the perception that the economy run as usual as I didn't detect any signs of recession whatsoever. The implementation of Good and Services Tax beginning April 2015 didn't seemed to factor much as hiring process could not possibly be affected by GST. And that was when I got it all messed up, big time.

I was jobless for 3 months and my entire savings, which was not that much anyway, depleted by May 2015. This was the time when I have to produce my portfolio for submission to all prospective employers. The first wave of employment application was sent out in early May and the second wave started about two weeks later. I have even utilised Jobstreet, my previous contacts, friends and what not. Then, the first interview came end of June and I was given the offer letter on 1 July.

I am still adjusting myself to the new environment. It'll take time but I am looking forward to greater heights.