A Moral Lesson for our mighty BN?

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realised what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Moral to the story:

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Remember the 5 simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred! - Forgive;

2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happen;

3. Live simply and appreciate what you have;

4. Give more; and

5. Expect less.

NOW ...Enough of that crap. The donkey later came back, and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON: When you do something wrong, and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you.

I think this should be a moral lesson for BN, in the next general election!
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Six hours in Amcorp Mall?

Yes, we did that on Sunday, day after our son's wedding. Our two daughters went there earlier, and the younger one left for an assignment while the other shopped while waiting for us to join her.

The wedding reminded me of our wedding and I remembered my best man had told me before, to inform him if around so that we could meet up. Meanwhile, while looking around, I saw an old wooden deck chair similar to ours, which in turn was almost the same as one used by my father before. From Rm450, I bargained to Rm300, knowing the wood work needs attention and the rattan needs replacement. Lingam said he could take it to B1 and when I am ready to give him a call to load it into our car. I actually loaded it and went back to B2 to park at the same space! When my best man arrived, we were not ready to leave so he said he would park his car and look for us at Kar Fei Dian (kopitiam in Mandarin). My wife has not met him for many years, if not mistaken, since his wedding in 1987! Yet, as she was walking towards the loo and he was coming in from the entrance, she pointed at him and said, 'You haven't changed! I can still recognize you!'

I was glad Cheng was with us and I introduced her and she got to chat with him, because with his years of experience in our government service, I could see them interacting in a meaningful discussion. His first degree was in International Relations (Cheng did Politics and International Relations), and his Masters was in Urban Planning (Cheng did Social Policy Analysis), and now Cheng is doing Ethnic Segregation in The Nederlands for her PhD. His wife was with EPU in the PM's department and is a PhD holder. So any question from him or Cheng to him was answered in a relevant manner, unlike the usual small talk when meeting parents' friend for the first time.

What I find most interesting was Cheng's lament that though she had yet to need information from Malaysia, she had friends who did research on Malaysia. The main complaints were: either information was unavailable for one reason or other, or having obtained the information you are told that the research papers could not be published!

I can still remember my friend's lament many years ago, about the fact that he did International Relations because he wanted to be in the diplomatic service with the chance of being posted overseas, but till he retired, he had never been given the chance!

Anyway, Cheng had an appointment with friends and she left, leaving us to have dinner and a chance to continue our chat in Amcorp Mall. It was a spur of the moment decision to call up my ex-college mate and we were to discover later that my son and younger daughter were disappointed as they were expecting us to have dinner together!


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Microsoft's monopolistic tendency rears its ugly head again?

Microsoft became a household name when personal computers were made available to almost everybody in the world. Computers started off as huge machines the size of refrigerators which had to be housed in air-conditioned rooms, with memory size laughable by today's standards and which could not even compare with mobile phones. If I can still remember correctly, my first personal computer, an Apple II clone had only 64k memory!

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that Bill Gates became the world's richest man mainly because every computer sold worldwide needed the one and only operating system, Windows, provided by his Microsoft Corp. The following report which was forwarded by my friend seems to suggest Microsoft is trying to have a similar money-making arrangement with Android manufacturers because of their increasingly popular product. Android has already captured more than half of all new sales of smartphones and tablets.

Google: Microsoft trying to “extort” money from Android manufacturers

Google has just commented on today’s news about Samsung agreeing to pay licensing fees to Microsoft for every Android device it sells, claiming that it’s simply Microsoft trying to cover its failures in the mobile world by planning to “extort” money from hardware makers out of spite.
Here’s the Google quote, from TechCrunch:

“This is the same tactic we’ve seen time and again from Microsoft. Failing to succeed in the smartphone market, they are resorting to legal measures to extort profit from others’ achievements and hinder the pace of innovation. We remain focused on building new technology and supporting Android partners”

And as much as we’d like to agree, we somehow doubt Samsung would hand Microsoft money unless its legal people told them it was 100% necessary.

So it seems Android is as “free” for the hardware makers as the phones it runs on are “free” to us – free for your initial contract, then an annoying monthly fee…
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My short and simple speech at Beng's wedding dinner

Together with my wife, Siew Phin, we wish all of you here a very pleasant good evening. Thank you all for making time to celebrate with us on this happy occasion of my son's wedding. There are a number of you who came from afar, like my daughters from Maastricht and Dubai; my nephew Benny from Riyahd, Dr. Lau from Australia; Mr and Mrs. Law from Sarawak; Govin and Venni from JB, Dr. Yee and Dr. Lee and her nephew, Wei Bing from Ipoh; Leh Koi and her husband, Choy from Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands; and Ah Lee and his wife from Ayer Tawar. Thank you all again, whether from near or far, for your distinguished presence.

The groom, Beng Kiat, is the eldest of our three children, our only son, and the first to get married. We Hokiens will describe us as having 'tan chin koo'! which when translated into English means 'Waited very long'! Hakkas will describe that as 'ten hau kiew'. This serves as a hint to Beng Kiat's two sisters, Cheng Boon and Cheng Yee.

Beng Kiat was born in UK. Yet, he chose to study in Australia because most of his friends were heading in that direction. After a few years of working in KL, he realized that being born in UK has a special privilege, that of 'Right of Abode'. This is similar to PR status with which the holder is entitled to live and work in UK, without the need to apply for a work permit. When he returned to UK to look for a job, at Heathrow Airport, he realized he had joined the wrong queue - which was meant for foreigners! He was considered British!

Anyway, at the time, I said that if history were to repeat itself, within months he would have found his 'soul mate' in UK. But it was not meant to be. He worked for more than 4 years, without finding anyone suitable. The UK economy was in the doldrums and his British colleagues were getting notices to quit. He saw the writing on the wall. When he was back on holiday, he was asked to go for an interview by a friend. When he got back to UK, he was offered the KL job.

To cut a long story short, instead of finding his soul mate within months in UK, it turned out that he found his within months in KL! Apparently, both of them were watching a World Cup football match in a pub... and Cupid did it! I do believe in affinity and fate.

To Dorothy, welcome to our Ong family. To her parents, Mr and Mrs Tan, we are very pleased to have you as our in-laws or 'Shin Jia' in Hainanese. I could have met them when I was a trainee with Merlin Hotel in 1971!

I take this opportunity to wish both Beng and Dot a very happy and long lasting marriage. They have to improve on our present 35 years. Beng chose March 3 for their wedding registration, which was the same date as ours. Having the wedding dinner tonight in Jaya 33 (Oriental Pavilion) therefore has its special significance and I wish to thank Frank Lau for making it possible. He did it his way!

I also wish to take this opportunity to thank our relatives and Beng's friends for their assistance in making his wedding event a great success.

Thank you all for your attention. Please feel welcome, enjoy the dinner and drinks, and have a nice evening!

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Had been busy with son's wedding in PJ.

Renovation to the house just before the wedding created problems of sorting out the finishing touches and cleaning up the mess left by the contractors.

Most of the decisions relating to the wedding were made by Beng and we seemed to be there to play our roles as parents of the groom. I did not know the bridal car until the day before the wedding when he showed me a picture of a Perak registered Bentley! The other three cars were one Alphard and two Estimas, to avoid congestion in the busy one-way road in Section 14. So it was to my horror when Beng's uncle took the remote control and decided to close the gate as the bridal car was about to enter the car porch, meant to make things difficult, like what the bride's girl friends used to do when the groom came for her! Later, when asked about how they felt, the bride said she was more concerned about holding up other people's cars following them. Later as events unfolded, I realized different people have different opinions as to what customary rites should be followed. My daughter Cheng said when her turn comes, she would have a simple wedding with minimum fuss!

My decision to take along my mixer-amplifier and two speakers and a DVD player was a good one as I was able to give them a surprise when I played a CD pre-recorded with the wedding tune and an English and a Chinese wedding song which provided the right atmosphere.

During the pre-wedding buffet, two nephews Shaun and Fung brought their electric guitars and amplifiers and with my bass guitar, we jammed for a while. Later with my friend KC, who showed them his guitar riffs playing Samba Pati. I bet he enjoyed that too. Fung was not given a chance to show off his riffs simply because two old chaps were not familiar with his type of music. I could have arranged for my friend's drums kit but being host, I knew it would be too much trouble and I would be too busy. There was always the concern about noise pollution in a residential area. Even with my jamming with them, I felt guilty for neglecting our guests. The next day, in the afternoon, Shaun stayed behind to jam with me while two beauticians were giving my two daughters a make-over! He really enjoyed the two jam sessions.

I was told this return journey of the couple (after a short round trip on the day of marriage) made it unnecessary for the customary 'fun sum chiu' which the traditional bride had to visit her parents after 3 days of married life!
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