The Bawang Fiasco

     Its been almost a week after the Bawani fiasco and I've heard quite a few things about it which gave me the impression that I already know what happened in UUM. Which is why I J\just watched the video. I'm a little late with my 2 cents.

Bawani The Mamak

     First of all, Ms Bawani's tone was impolite and at times she was shouting. I think she didnt know how to turn on the microphone or that it was already on. I do not agree with her body language and the manner/choice of words that she used. Too harsh for a public forum and shows a depressing lack of education for a University students.

    Speaking up is good for Malaysians cause we tend to shut the fuck up a wee bit too often. But to speak up in the way that Bawani has, I would prefer that people who run's their mouth faster than their brain can think should just shut the fuck up. Ms Sharifah is right when she deplored that Ms Bawani needs to learn respect.

Ms Sharifah The Mamak

    Which is related to the 9 'listen' that everyone is talking about. You see, she was trying to speak to an undergraduate which is maybe 10-20 years her junior. But Ms Bawani just kept on rolling refusing to back down. What she should have done was to keep quiet and listen to Ms Sharifah's reply and if she is as smart as she was trying to appear from reading prepared notes on a sheet of paper proceed to formulate a riposte to Ms Sharifah's reply. THAT would earn my respect.

    Malaysia do not provide free education because our education is already very cheap. And with loans from ptptn which charges a yearly interest rate of a measly 1%, poor people are more than capable of funding for their child's education. Those countries that she named are oil-rich or mineral rich countries with zero political flexibility and or freedom. Cuba? really? Fidel Castro? Venezuela's Hugo Chavez?

     The thing is and I'll be honest with you. Malaysia cannot afford free education because we dump most of our money into oil subsidies. Paying RM1.90/litre when the world is paying RM3 or more /litre. Click here for a list of world prices acquried from the World Bank. 

     You know what.  I say we should remove the subsidies, spend the billions on improving our national transportation system so that people can use it. Then the roads will be less congested and less hazardous with old cars breaking down in the middle of the road. And the spare change, we'll use it provide free education. Because government schools yearly fee of RM100+ is a much heavier burden than petrol costs.

    I know because I spent 6 years in a government school paying on average RM115 per year.

    Ms Sharifah however has also proven that she lack the professionalism and a mature mentality to handle sticky situations. Comparing real-human problems to problems faced by animals is just ridiculous and she could be certain that it will be taken out of context as it has happened.

    Furthermore, why shouldnt we compare ourselves to nations around the world? Why should we be satisfied and just accept whatever we are given or provided? I say that we should and we need to use them as a measuring stick to see where we stand in this world and how we are going to improve on our current situation. By first knowing and identifying the areas slacking in comparison, only then can we take action.

    On the political matter that Ms Bawani brought up about 'Bersih' and Ms Sharifah's strong reply. Both parties have their own views and in their respective position were both correct. However, due to the heat of the argument neither of them was able to recognize it. Yes, Bersih is legal. Yes, Ambiga is 'Pencetus Demokrasi  Demonstrasi' or Igniter of Demonstration to loosely translate. Okay i'll admit, I dont know how to transalte Pencetus Demonstrasi to English. =\

    Both are right, she didnt say Ambiga promoted anarchy or the cessation of government, Ms Sharifah strongly pointed out that she thinks that Ambiga incites demonstrations and in a Democratic country, the right to protest or demonstrate is enshrined in the constitution. But it is the government and not the constitution which passed the law that political gatherings of 3 persons or more is illegal. 

    I think they're shooting up the wrong tree.

    So this fiasco has caused much kopitiam palavers that If all those engaged were to focus their minds on solving national problems such as lousy roads, rubbish clogged drains and the politically explosive topic of Water, I think we will be having much less problems than animals.

Disclaimer : The title is intentional.

  

     

 

Gunung Tahan

So we are all locked and loaded. Conquering Mt Tahan from the 24th Jan to 28th Jan. The 10 of us will do in 5 days what people do in a week or more.Our adventure will begin with a 3-car convoy to Jerantut where we will spend a night before beginning this expedition.

We have decided to take the most challenging of the 2 routes. Victorians being victorians, our balls are the same size as our brains.


Merapoh-Kuala Tahan trail, easier of the 2 will take about 32km of trek with an estimated time of 15.5 hours. Too easy.

Introducin the Kuala Tahan-Gunung Tahan trail,

DESTINATIONS	DISTANCE	TIME
MT TAHAN TO PADANG	7	4
PADANG TO G.RESKET	3	3
G.RESKET TO G.TANGGA 15	2.5	1
G.TANGGA 15 TO G.PANGKIN	1.5	1
G.PANGKIN TO G.PONDOK DUA	2	1
G.PONDOK DUA TO KUALA TEKU	5	3
KUALA TEKU TO KUALA PUTEH	7	3
KUALA PUTEH TO G.RAJAH	4	1
G.RAJAH TO KUALA MELANTAI	9	6
KUALA MELANTAI TO KUALA TAHAN	12	3
TOTAL	53	26

Total estimated distance of 53km climbing 26 peaks and crossing 7 rivers. total trek time was estimated to be 26 hours to be completed in 4 days. This is not for the faint heart or weak or unfit.




It'll cost us about RM500 per person for a minimum pax of 10. We would have to spend additional money on gear and necessary items like food and torchlights. The RM500 however is already inclusive of some 'light' food and a tent which can fit 2. As we do not know how 'light' by 'light' It could be just a piece of bread for lunch? We've decided to load our bags to the average of 20kg per person on food.

I kid.

Danny did tell us that from what he researched, 20kg per bag IS the average for all the trekkers going up Gunung Tahan. Imagine lugging 20kg of weights trekking for 4 hours at the first go. And maybe 19kg after the interval. That's no easy feat.

But talking is more losers. Now all each of us can do is train, man up and aim to reach the peak. Because we aint accepting anything less. The names of the participants:

will be exposed on my return post.

Visualizing

With a power outage for my building at work a couple of days back, I went back to my floor at Wisma supposedly to take a new pencil from my secretary but also to get some cold air over my skin. I ended up spending an hour and half back there chatting. Those seniors are rather free to entertain me.

So I was talking to this senior eng. and I have alot of respect for this fella not because he says fuck in front of me but because he appears to know what he's doing and he doesnt mind spending time with me. Although he  enjoys screwing me when I work slow or take shortcuts.

I still remember his question of 10 uses for lean concrete. To be honest, I still cant come up with 10.

As we were chit chatting he asked me and a colleague what do we see ourselves in the future. Naturally I would share but I felt a tad uncomfortable out in the open. I just said the thing at the back of my head, "not an engineer I suppose, maybe in business."

Without a second pass and he told me I should get out of Technip because I'm in the wrong field. Four mths at work and im told to fuck off already. Sighhhh..... But when my colleague said he wanted to get IR. He hinted a slight disappointment and sighed why should he work so hard just for a title?

Now that rang bells around my head. Are titles really important? Or maybe a sense of fulfilment and accomplishment in your job outweighs the cost of your signature? The path that I need to tread is becoming a little clearer and maybe I'll decide to go through with it all out. It's been ages since I expired all my energy on something. Maybe my life is worth the effort. Its time to start visualizing.