Super Budget Airline?

These pictures have been going round:

Looks real, but hard to believe.

Wary of Black T-shirts?

Just got back from car service and was given a black T-shirt, with compliments from Castrol for using Magnatec. I jokingly asked the serviceman, 'is it Raja Petra's?' It has Castrol's logo with the word 'Professional' below it.

The picture below is of a T-shirt which is supposed to be a brilliant design to help any traveller in a country where he does not speak the language. He can just point to what he is looking for and the local should be able to show him where.

But do you think the police can tell the difference, if you were in a crowd wearing RPK's?

The following letter (got it from Malaysia Today) sums it best when describing the response from the public:

TEE FOR TERROR
Posted by Super Admin
Sunday, 19 October 2008 00:00

People avert their eyes. The sight was anathema to them. A chance glance causes a sharp wincing pain. The telltale warning sign is a quick blink and a sharp turn of the head. If accosted longer, the accosted shifts weight from left to right leg, right to left leg a few times. The person is wont to clear his throat, constricting his voice box to a high negative neighing as no clear words are formed at the start – brain rearranging data to give a plausible reply.

Next, the more seriously afflicted ones. These are the ones who categorically purse their lips already steeling their resolve to show their non-consent. Extending their arms in a rigid line to ward off the offending article as if a closer contact would bring about a disease so severe, it is best to sound their displeasure from a safe distance.

It gets worse, of course as things are wont to do, get worse before they either get better or spiral into a vortex of absolute disaster. Now this lot, I have observed, mount the offensive as their best form of defense.

Their facial expression contorts to one of extreme righteousness. Their body language follows suit. Watch carefully. Arms folded, brows knit, forehead a maze of furrows. This is usually followed by right index finger out to wag one to death.

You cringe and wait for final blow. As your ears brace to ring, you will hear: `What, you want to get the ISA ah ?’, ` Police will take you to lock-up and there you will languish forever’. The more geographically inclined will say, ` If you want to go to Kamunting you go but I don’t want to go…’

There is another group. Riddled by fear, they say nothing, do nothing, see nothing and see through you ( it is a weird feeling as you start to pinch your arm because you clearly smiled and asked them a question but they have convinced you that short of walking through your person, they did NOT see you, NOT hear, NOT know in fact that you are in their face) and walk away leaving you feeling invisible, nothing, fractionally less than the mite in your mattress.

And I am not talking about the FRU here. Or some menacing force from Planet Alien. Or some instrument designed to extract excruciating pain. Or some terror power best left unexplained.

Perhaps I have misjudged it. Perhaps it is a power afterall.

Perhaps some of these people need to fight off their own fear by whipping something else to shreds. Something that each of them knows deep in their hearts bear a message that is noble, true and right. Something they are afraid of because they are really afraid of themselves.

Have you bought your Free RPK Tshirt ? Are you wearing it? If not, dare I ask why?
(Malgal was helping sell RPK t-shirts and in turn, has richly experienced a huge range of Malaysian behaviours.)

Oh Malaysia, Land of Prejudice

I am like William Poster who came out from his house one day and found billboards all over the place with ‘Bill Posters will be prosecuted’ and he was so paranoid that he dares not come out of his house.

That we are reminded of our racial origin and what to expect from that is so well known that it is second nature to us, when filling in forms for any purpose; when in school, higher institutions of learning and at work.

Now, we have to be careful what colour T-shirt we wear in case the police are given orders to look out for some ‘trouble-makers’ wearing certain colour. There is already a law on assembly of people, which require permit, and we are not talking about large numbers, just a handful. So it is at the discretion of the mighty police and the ‘rule by law’ Home Minister. His power craziness includes banning an opposition leader from 5 km from Parliament; arresting him before the time given was up; and arresting a journalist ‘for her own safety’; just to give some examples of his judgment.

The latest news was a big joke in town: "A police beat base located in the Chow Kit area of downtown Kuala Lumpur has been shut down because the “presence of criminals could make it unsafe” for police officers." (Well! The presence of criminals makes it unsafe for the rest of us too but guess we can't rely on the police?) Marina Mahathir's comment in brackets.

According to Lim Kit Siang, there are crises in confidence in IGP, AG, judiciary, ACA, PM, DPM, well, just about every pillar of society. For the latest – the appointment of Zaki as CJ, he even asked if ‘it is the last nail in coffin of Abdullah’s judicial reform’.

It is like completing a jigsaw puzzle favouring the ruling party. Under such circumstances, the headline ‘Rulers defend social contract’ adds as icing to their cake. We are effectively warned not to question too much.

For those who question Anwar’s list of MPs, if they were unable to understand the complexities involved in ensuring a smooth take-over, then I would say they are being naïve. He has to consider the insecurity of the Rulers. If those on the list were merely from Sabah and Sarawak, it would effectively put the non-Malays or non-Muslim MPs in the majority.

Unusual tales of affairs

The 1st Affair: (Tell the truth and she won't believe it.)
A married man was having an affair with his secretary.

One day they went her place and made love all afternoon. Exhausted, they fell asleep and woke up at 8 pm. The man hurriedly dressed and told his lover to take his shoes outside and rub them in the grass and dirt. He put on his shoes and drove home.

'Where have you been?' his wife demanded.

'I can't lie to you,' he replied, 'I'm having an affair with my secretary. We had sex all afternoon.'

'You lying bastard! You've been playing golf!'

The 2nd Affair: (The truths hurt, not sure which one more)
A middle-aged couple had two beautiful daughters but always talked about having a son. They decided to try one last time for the son they always wanted. The wife got pregnant and delivered a healthy baby boy.

The joyful father rushed to the nursery to see his new son. He was horrified at the ugliest child he had ever seen. He told his wife, 'There's no way I can be the father of this baby. Look at the two beautiful daughters I fathered! Have you been fooling around behind my back?'

The wife smiled sweetly and replied, 'Not this time!'

The 3rd Affair: (Natural reaction gave it away)
A mortician was working late one night He examined the body of Mr. Schwartz, about to be cremated, and made a startling discovery. Schwartz had the largest private part he had ever seen!

'I'm sorry Mr. Schwartz,' the mortician commented, 'I can't allow you to be cremated with such an impressive private part. It must be saved for posterity.' So, he removed it, stuffed it into his briefcase, and took it home.

'I have to show you something you won't believe,' he said to his wife, opening his briefcase.

'My God!' the wife exclaimed, 'Schwartz is dead?!?!'

The 4th Affair: (Same trick)
A woman was in bed with her lover when she heard her husband opening the front door.

'Hurry,' she said, 'stand in the corner.' She rubbed baby oil all over him, then dusted him with talcum powder. 'Don't move until I tell you,' she said. 'Pretend you're a statue.'

'What's this?' the husband inquired as he entered the room.

'Oh it's a statue.' she replied. 'The Smiths bought one and I liked it so much I got one for us, too.'

No more was said, not even when they went to bed.

Around 2 am the husband got up, went to the kitchen and returned with a sandwich and a beer.

'Here,' he said to the statue, 'have this. I stood like that for two days at the Smiths and nobody offered me a damned thing.'

The 5th Affair: (Another form of revenge)
A man walked into a cafe, went to the bar and ordered a beer.

'Certainly, Sir, that'll be one cent.'

'One Cent?' the man thought. He glanced at the menu and asked, 'How much for a nice juicy steak and a bottle of wine?'

'A nickel,' the barman replied.

'A nickel?' exclaimed the man 'Where's the guy who owns this place?'

The bartender replied, 'Upstairs, with my wife.'

The man asked, 'What's he doing upstairs with your wife?'

The bartender replied, 'The same thing I'm doing to his business down here.'

The 6th Affair: (Quiet revenge)
Jake was dying. His wife sat at the bedside.

He looked up and said weakly, 'I have something I must confess.'

'There's no need to,' his wife replied.

'No,' he insisted, 'I want to die in peace. I slept with your sister, your best friend, her best friend, and your mother!'

'I know, I know,' she replied. 'Now just rest and let the poison work.'

Last but not least: (Woman's sixth sense)
A man called home to his wife and said, 'Darling, I have been asked to go fishing up in Canada with my boss & several of his friends. We'll be gone for a week. This is a good opportunity for me to get that promotion I've been wanting, so could you please pack enough clothes for a week and set out my rod and fishing box, we're leaving from the office & I will swing by the house to pick my things up'

'Oh! Please pack my new blue silk pyjamas.'

The wife thinks this sounds a bit fishy but being the good wife she is, did exactly what her husband asked.

The following weekend he came home a little tired but otherwise looking good.

The wife welcomed him home and asked if he caught many fish?

He said, 'Yes! Lots of salmons, some bluegills, and a few swordfishes. But why didn't you pack my new blue silk pyjamas like I asked you to do?'

The wife replied, 'I did, dear. They're in your fishing box!'

My take on Mansor Puteh's take in Rocky's Bru

I wish to refer to Mansor Puteh’s letter ‘Defamation Suits - ISA of the Opposition?’ published in Rocky's Bru.

Mansor’s main point of contention is that he is against any form of action which stifles freedom of expression, which by his definition, should be absolute, otherwise there is no freedom of expression. In his own words:
‘Freedom of the press and of expression do not have their limits. If there are limits, then there is no such freedoms in the first place.’

Therefore, again in his own words,

“Suing anyone for RM30 million is serious business by any account. It is aimed to put the person who loses the case in permanent disability and castration much like the persons who are in detention under the ISA.

Therefore, by anyone’s rough calculations there is no difference in the ISA than filing a defamation suit.”

With due respect to Mansor Puteh, who wrote some very good articles, like the one on universities which I even keep for future reference, I cannot agree with him on this.

There is this public perception that Utusan Malaysia is a mouthpiece of Umno, much like The Star is that of MCA, regardless of how they deny it, as their actions time and again have proven.

I am glad, Mansor states that his letter is not in support of Utusan Malaysia, as there are enough evidence to suggest that the claims against Teresa were baseless and could be malicious, though some might disagree.

Assuming there is a concerted effort to discredit Teresa and to muster support along racist and religious lines, what avenue is there for Teresa to defend herself? Practically all the mainstream media are under BN’s control, not to mention the other authorities like police and judiciary, which are perceived to be less than independent. What are the chances of Teresa’s legal action against UM, under the circumstances? It would have been different if the government were to take action against oppositionists, like in Singapore, which effectively shut up some criticisms when they were made bankrupts. But in this case, it was Teresa against a corporation, shouldn’t we leave it to the courts to decide if she has a case against it?

Mansor should try and put himself in her situation, which for his sensitivity and creativity, it should not be too difficult.

As to "What if their party is able to form the federal government...", I think he has jumped the gun there.

I actually wrote a short comment in Rocky's Bru, referring to one of Mansor’s articles (subject of which I have forgotten) in Malaysia Today and that the resulting comments were fast and furious against him, so much so it was taken off by the editor soon after. I have looked through the list of comments in Rocky's blog but could not find mine. So much for freedom of expression, even if Rocky thought my comments were feeble.

What I was trying to suggest in that comment was that Mansor himself wrote something really ‘out of character’ which attracted so much fierce and unsavoury comments and the editor (Raja Petra?) took it off. So where was the freedom of expression then? Truth be told, I did not like some of the unsavoury comments which I found to be offensive then, but going by Mansor’s total freedom of expression which he expects, shouldn’t he face all the criticisms thrown at him then?

Excerpts of his letter:
rocky's bru
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2008
Not in support of Utusan Malaysia
Defamation Suits - ISA of the Opposition?A letter from Mansor Bin Puteh

"Where are they, the liberals and democrats amongst the Malaysia, especially those who have been vocal to the point of annoyance and who demand these freedoms?

And where is the National Union of Journalists or NUJ? When is its president, Norlida Daud going to ‘ambush’ Teresa Kok and Karpal Singh to demand that they withdraw their suits against anyone or to stop using the defamation suits as the ‘ISA’ of the opposition?

What if their party is able to form the federal government, don’t you think that they, too, would want to take such drastic and even ‘draconian’ actions against anyone who do not write or speak like them?

Suing anyone for RM30 million is serious business by any account. It is aimed to put the person who loses the case in permanent disability and castration much like the persons who are in detention under the ISA.

Therefore, by anyone’s rough calculations there is no difference in the ISA than filing a defamation suit.
Now it seems that the opposition only has the defamation suits to use and they are using them to their full advantage and to get wide publicity which they could otherwise not get, unless if they go around to put up road signs in Mandarin or Tamil, a habit that they decided to stop with the arrest of the three under the last ISA roundout.

But if they come to power and are able to introduce new laws will they not want to ban anyone from filing defamation suits since it is against the spirit of the freedom of the press and of expression?
Look at America or the United Kingdom and many other countries in the West, or for that matter, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, for instance; how many of the national leaders from both sides, have instituted defamation suits against anyone?

I was speechless again when I heard on television that there is one opposition member of parliament who said that freedom of the press has its limits! Was he serious?

There is no such thing. Freedom of the press and of expression do not have their limits. If there are limits, then there is no such freedoms in the first place.

They cannot say that and expect anyone else to respect them for their stand; it’s the weird form of the freedom of the press and of expression.

Let’s hope once they have cleared this that they would want to bring out their candles and light them outside of the Utusan office in Jalan Chan Sow Lin.

I do subscribe to the freedom of the press and of expression, especially those whose skins have become so thick that cutting them with razor blades would not hurt them at all.

In fact, they won’t even mind to show the scars, that they can get from the cuts as a ‘badge of honor’; the more scars they have the better their reputation is.

There is no such a thing as a bad or negative publicity.

If those who had lost in any elections including those in the party had any real ‘reputation’, they would not stayed in politics, having lost in the elections even once before.

Yet, with their ‘thick skin’ and being so shameless, they still pursued."