Fuel Fool

Oh shoot...I have no more money!

When I bought my Proton Saga back in 1992, it cost me RM49.50 to fill her up from empty. My wife’s Kenari, bought in 2003 cost RM48.00 to fill up from empty. My Naza Ria cost me RM95.00 to fill up when I bought it in 2004.

Now a full tank from empty for my Saga would cost me RM86.40; RM76.00 for my wife’s Kenari; and RM144.00 for my Naza Ria. That is a whopping 74.5% increase over the last 14 years or a 5.32% hike per annum.

And they say the present level can only be maintained until December 2006.

Sigh!

Tioman 2006: Monsoon Ended?

Big One! Big One!
One of the waves that was going to hit the speedboat broadside.

Little guy
Critter at Roger Wreck

Another one
Critter at Roger Wreck

Let's get outta here!
The instance I asked this guy for his driver’s license, he fled.

Two Years Ago

Sunset from Kuah taken using my Casio Exilim EX-MX2

Two years ago my colleagues Muaazam and Alice, and I were stationed in Langkawi for four months overseeing some installation works at and around the Alor Star Tower and Langkawi. There was a day when there was a bad storm up north while we were at the top of Alor Star Tower.

When we got back to Kuah, this was what I saw on the way back to our apartment.

Such a beautiful sight.

Clean Toilets

Clean public toilets is something a Malaysian would put high on his/her wishlist. On the last trip to Koh Lipe, I was in a hurry to pay the public toilet at Pakbara a visit, having had two pieces of roti canai with sambal. I remember wanting to ask the van driver to stop near a bush somewhere so I could help whatever that was growing there, grow better.

Anyway, I made it safely to the Pakbara jetty and hurriedly looked for the public toilet. I know that Thais are generally very clean and cultured people, compared to Malaysians…but a public toilet could be a different story altogether. I was wrong. Below are pictures of the public toilet taken at 1.00pm local time (when ferry and passenger traffic was high):

The squat toilet sans flush systemThe urinal bowl...spanking clean

Guess what…it was a ten-year old girl looking after the toilets.

I could sleep in it. That is my standard.

This Face I See…

My daughter Nisaa - 27th January 2006

The face I see everyday before I leave for work, and every night before I sleep. She’s a big girl now; very playful, cute, and naughty.

And she is one of the seven reasons I step into this stupid office every single day…

How Long Can A Man Survive?

More than those in my pocket

How long can a man survive without food?

Several weeks. A person who has more fat in the body should be able to survive longer than those who do not. Simply because the body will break down the fat and protein (from muscles) to survive. However, the person will be weaker as the body is literally digesting itself.

How long can a man survive without water?

Eight to ten days.

How long can a man survive without money?

Depends on who’s looking for him. Usually, not long.

Boycott Calls

I received this today:

“ATTENTION! You all heard what that magazine in Denmark has published. It’s making fun of our beloved PROPHET MUHAMMAD (SAW) by drawing pictures of him and describing him as a terrorist. Moreover they refused to apologize because they considered it a practice of freedom and democracy. I ask you all to put your hands with other MUSLIMS and boycott the Denmark’s products. 1.6 billion Muslims could really slap the economy in Denmark. Please copy this text and forward this text to as many Muslims as possible Via Email via SMS Via Scrap…..I ask all of u, Muslims…Cant u spare one hour in order to spread this message among Muslims …ASAP? REMEMBER THE PROPHET (SAW) MIGHT ASK YOU ONE DAY WHAT DID YOU DO WHEN THEY MADE FUN OF ME? HOW DID YOU DEFEND ME?????”

Before I start, let me reiterate my position that as a moderate Muslim, I am deeply offended by those caricatures.

Firstly, Muhammad PBUH is a mere human. He is only above the rest because he was chosen by Allah the Almighty as His messenger to educate mankind and steer them back to the right path. Muhammad PBUH, during his lifetime, was all for peace and harmony. The only times he went to war was to defend the religion when the odds were against them. Since he is a mere human, I don’t think it will be his job to ask any of us what have we done to defend him. My question is, is boycott THE way to defend Muhammad’s image?

57% of Denmark’s trades are with the EU, Norway, Sweden, Japan, US, UK, Germany and the Eastern European countries. There are more than 200 US-owned companies operating in Denmark, exporting goods to the US. The Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) only has 56 members, and only a handful of that has more than 90% muslim population. So a boycott of Danish goods is only going to hurt the Danish people whose jobs depend on these trades that involve muslim nations. Even if the Danish government can be brought down, it will not change the character of the Danish press and what they stand for. Boycotts and sanctions only bring misery to the innocent: as evident in Iraq, Libya and Cuba. it strengthens the resolve of the governments and the people who support them.

The muslims should go back to the root of the cause: what made the cartoonists depict Muhammad PBUH as the teacher of terror, which is in contrary to what moderate muslims know? It is due to the fact that we, the moderate muslims, allow extremism to grow unchecked, and this in turn metamorphosised into full-grown terrorism (or freedom fighting, depending on the perspective you’re at it looking from). So what do the non-Muslims then think about the bombings of civilians, old folks, women, children, unarmed combattants etc? Only one thing: Islam spells terror. Therefore it must be fought without sparing any dime.

Did Muhammad PBUH not forbid Muslims from waging war against women, children, old folks, unarmed enemy combattants? Did Muhammad PBUH and his soldiers walk back to Madinatul Munawarah as their prisoners rode on camel and horsebacks? Did they also not harm any of those prisoners? After those prisoners who could read and write have taught the muslims how to read and write, they were released and sent back to Mecca. That, is the conduct of war in Islam. And in one of my previous postings, I wrote about how Muhammad PBUH forbade his men from taking revenge against the Christians under their charge after the Romans had attacked their positions, but instead ordered his men to help the Christians to rebuild or repair their places of worship.

If Muhammad PBUH has any right to enquire any of us after the end of the world, he would probably ask, “What have you done to spread the word of Islam and what it stands for?” Or, “Why did you allow your brothers and sisters desecrate the sanctity of Islam, and created more enemies of Islam?”

My solution to this would be to educate both the Islamists who aren’t Muslims, and those who are non-believers of Islam, on what Islam is, and what Islam stands for. After all, God created all of us different so we could learn from each other. With that comes understanding and tolerance.

That is how I would defend the Islam that Muhammad PBUH had brought from Allah the Almighty.

And to all, an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind in the end.

How Deep?

You can see me at that depth!

How deep are the waters around Malaysia? A study in 1998 shows that the deepest part of the Malacca Strait is 105m. I’d believe this as the IJN Myoko (a Japanese heavy cruiser) was scuttled off the Selangor coast (it was towed out from Port Klang) after WW2 and now sits in 90m depth.

And contrary to popular beliefs, the waters off Sipadan DOES NOT hold the deepest of waters within Malaysia’s EEZ.

So where are the deepest waters located? Following are where the deepest waters are located, according to a Sedimentological Properties of Malaysian EEZ conducted by the Marine Department back in 1998:

Peninsular Malaysia: West Coast

5.66N 99E (around 140km WNW off Muka Head, Penang). Depth: 105m

6.16N 98.5E (around 135km WSW off Telaga Harbour, Langkawi). Depth: 103m

Peninsular Malaysia: East Coast

4.816N 105.25E (around 192km NW off Salang, Tioman). Depth: 73m

Sabah/Sarawak

6.82N 112.08E (around 442km WNW off Kota Kinabalu). Depth: 2009m

5.68N 113.08E (around 240km WNW off Labuan). Depth: 2352m

5.83N 110.95E (around 478km WNW off Labuan). Depth: they didn’t reach the bottom when the 3000m cable ran out.

Latest Weather Condition

The following is weather for various locations for this Friday through Sunday (17th Feb 2006-19th Feb 2006):

Perhentian/Redang: Friday through Sunday – isolated rain. Wave height: 1.5-2.5m

Tioman: Friday through Sunday – isolated rain. Wave height: 1.5-2.5m

Mantanani: Friday and Saturday – cloudy. Sunday – sunny. Wave height: 1.5-2.5m

Cabinet Reshuffle

Latest Cabinet Reshuffle

JPM –
Menteri : Datuk Effendi Norwawi (ganti tempat Tok Pa)
Timbalan: Datuk Abdul Rahman Sulaiman

Penerangan:
Menteri – Datuk Zainuddin Maidin
Timbalan- Datuk Chia Kwang Chye

Kewangan:
Timbalan: Datuk Dr. Awang Adek

KKDN:
Timbalan: Datuk Mohd. Johari Baharum
Timbalan: Datuk Fu Ah Kiow

KHEDN:
Menteri: Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad (ganti Azmi Khalid)

Kem. Wilayah Persekutuan:
Menteri : Datuk Zulhasnan Rafique
Timbalan: Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop

Pengajian Tinggi:
Menteri : Datuk Mustapa Mohamad
Timbalan: Datuk Ong Tee Keat

Sumber Asli dan Alam Sekitar:
Menteri : Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid (ganti Adenan Satem)

Pelancongan
Menteri : Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor (ganti Leo Micheal Toyad)
Timbalan: Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai (ganti Ahmad Zahid Hamidi)

Kementerian-Kementerian Yang Berubah Timbalan dan Setiausaha Parlimen:

MITI
Timbalan: Ng Lip Yong

Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani
Timbalan: Datuk Mah Siew Keong

KBS
Timbalan: Datuk Liow Tiong Lai

Pelajaran
Timbalan: Datuk Noh Omar

Luar Bandar dan Wilayah
Timbalan: Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman

Perladangan dan Komoditi
Setiausaha Parlimen: Datuk Senator Vijayaratnam

Luar Negara
Setiausaha Parlimen: Shabery Chik