On solving the public transportation system,
There have been many suggestions but most include planning done by the government and operation or something by government. Since when did the government become an expert in public transportation. Conspicuously missing are the opinions the many thousands of people who make sure hundreds of thousands of school children reach school and back on an almost daily basis, the operators of school buses. This is one of the few areas that the free market is allow to work itself out and as you can see thousands reach school and home on time at affordable prices and it rarely ever fails. How much more can you for a public transport system. From the aunty who has an extra space in her car to the company with many buses they can tell you a thing or two about competitive pricing, punctuality, route routing, and other details that only many years in the industry will that bureacrats with MBA's don't learn from business schools.
These operators know that if they don't use the most efficient route, don't come on time, don't charge the lowest price possible, don't have comfortable buses(as in the mind of the consumer), have buses that breakdown or if they are too greedy and try to cover too many stops of routes the end up not serving the customer well and they will lose money because they always have competttion to take the business away from them. This is something that bus companies who have monopoly of a route will never understand.
So instead of spending millions to research the best possible routes and pump money in why not just use the knowledge and expertise that is already there. Ah Heng the 'bas sekolah' man knows where the most kids who take his bus lives. And so he will also know where people most likely take public trasnport live and where they want to go.
So the solution: Anyone who wants to be involved in the business after being registered they can and there should absolutely no government telling of where they should go or any intervention at all. They only follow the money because the money is where the consumers are.

On pharmaceutical companies,
We like to complain of biopiracy when a pharmaceutical company uses the knowledge of a local, who just so happened to discover the medicinal properties of a plant because he sat on it, to identify the the active chemical compound, look for an efficient way to mass produce it, hire clinicians to initiate first phase and all the subsequent phases of clinical research, buld factories to make sure the drug reaches all and basically psend many millions to to produce something that is effective most of the time and prove that it is not just from the placebo affect. I don't there is great injustice if that person only got twenty cents because he merely sat on it compared to amount of other work put in.
Same thing with oil and tin if it was not for the Brits coming in and showing us how to use it would probably still sit int he ground. Alright exaggeration, sure the tin would have been used to make decorative objects of no significant value compared to its anti-corrosive properties used in the canning industry which enabled food to be stored for a long time.
If we are so worried about biopiracy( in fact it is not) adn so confident of Tongkat Ali and all the rest why don't we don't take half the money meant for the new palace complex and set up a pharmaceutical company that explore the potential with all the latest equipment. Since we have the manpower but not the infrastructure. And if the enterpirse fail well at least the research centre which will be of greater use to more people than a palace for a precious few. Tourist? Come on, if they wanted to see palaces and castles they would have gone to Europe where there are better-designed, maintained, authentic and actually ancient palaces with rich histories. A research centre may produce soemthing one day, a place never will unless by stroke of luck the next Einstein is pbron there but in a world of probability success with the research centre( part of the pharmaceutical company) is more likely.

On books and culture,
Malaysian complain that books are too expensive. Instead of seeing this as a problem we should look at it as opportunity and a niche. Instead of the government pumping money to subsidise books (though I support tax rebate for buying books however the money shouldn't tax in the first place. When money goes to the government then comes back to you some of it is lost because of postage and administration cost so it actually a waste). This is what they should do take some of the money and use it as loan money to set two or three competing press. This press will print books by local authors and university professors. I am sure because it is locally printed and the cost of living and wage demands of the professors are so much lower it would be easier to produce textbooks that are cheaper for the local undergraduate.
Given the choice I think people would prefer to own an original rather than photostated copies of the originals if the original is only marginally more expensive. The competition between presses will ensure they get the best writers and offer value for money to the consumer and since it is a loan it will ensure the people taking it will work hard as they have to repay the government. And why is that so because it is a potentially lucrative business that require quite a large capital. I would prefer to have it raised in the market but then again Malaysians aren't exactly informed investors and quite risk averse. So if government intervention is needed it is here but then again it is limited. It basically involves loaning the money and asking it back and the rest of the of the time the government can shove it.
How sure are you Guo Jeng that it will work? Well if you look at Sasbadi, Preston, Pelangi, and Fajar Bakti..you will realise that these guys produced books that have virtually displaced government sanctioned textbooks even the teachers don't use the official textbook anymore..it is only used as a reference as to what the syllabus is. And why is this? This is because these books are better. Another reason why there should be less government intervention. People always choose the best for themselves and do not need the government to tell what to buy. They should scrap the official textbooks and just publish booklets as to what is needs to be convered for the exams. Save money for everyone. The only losers are the cronies with the government contracts.
I just wonder why don't they publish textbooks for the local undergraduate. It is something they can go into? Is it there is no market? Or do the undergraduates only read powerpoint presentations of their lecturers which is plagiarise from some western textbook?
But this globalization isn't it? Easy access to foreign textbooks and knowledge. Where is the complaint about cultural imperialism? Superior cultures deserve to subjugate inferior ones. In fact inferior ones should be discarded and the best of superior ones minus their weaknesses be absorbed. There is no such thing as traditional culture that is essential to identity. Look at Japanese and Korean culture absorbing Chinese culture to the environment and needs. It doesn't make their culture any less unique or original. In fact they have expanded and improve on certain aspects and in turn it has influenced the mainland. Defending inferior cultures because it is traditional is for the feeble. Though what constitute superior culture wshould be vigourously debated and not be dictated and it only in the arguments and debates that weaknesses and strenght can be identified.

What is Malaysia's rank currently in football?
Currently we are 152. What does this mean? Well it means Rwanda a nation that experienced genocide and has one doctor per one hundred thousand people is ranked higher than us at 121. I am not saying football rankings is more important than healthcare but shouldn't it mean that with superior healthcare our athletes should be healthier and have superior performance? By the way Rwanda's population is about 9 million only. Iraq at number 83 is a wartorn country or at least that is what the media want us to believe. What does this mean? Does it mean the United States of America have to invade us for out teams to improve? We are definitely richer than most of the countries that is ranked above us so what is our problem?
I am led to believe it is too much government intervention. Who controls the the Football teams playing in the Malaysian League? The State Football associations. In fact most of the football players can be considered civil servants. If you look at the powerhouses fo the world from Brazil to the most lucrative league in the world they have free competition. Anyone can form a football club and if you play well you can progress from the Confederation League all the way to the Premiership and if you don't do well you will be relegated. Look at the MyTeam which came so close to beating the national under-21. What is more remarkable is they have only been playing together for a month and they are amateurs who work by day as a roti canai seller or something. Who do they consist of? The best Shebby and Jason can find. No regard for race, politics, or connection. Sadly the momentum is lost but we should more teams like Myteam and they can play in a whatever league they want.
For those who are race-conscious and are worried that if we allow people to form the teams they want wouldn't it affect the muhibbah spirit. Well I have news for you. In a competitive league where money is important to the owner and victory to the fans there is no place for preferential treatment or any prejudice. Even if you start with an all-Chinese team reality will set in and before long just to satisfy both fans and owner, it will only consist of the best. No Arsenal fan will complain about the team being mostly African or Frenchmen of African descent no matter how rascist they are off the pitch. They only want to win and the players play their best because their rice bowl depend on it. Look at the M league the players still get paid no matter how empty the stadium. In England their pay is the a function of stadium attendance and number of people who watch them on television.
Well you may say that with all these money flooding in it cause the high stake sort of environment that lead to diving. Well the problem can be solved first by breaking tradition and allowing referees to assisted by video replay and most importantly when the fans will have nothing to do with it. That is they are more interested in seeing smooth play than winning. However if they don't that is their choice it is their money and time and not yours. If you don't like it go and go select a league that plays more to your idea of the spirit of the game probably the Somalian National League or something where they play not for nmoney but for the love of the game( You have to really love it, it is banned under pains of death in Mogadishu). I believe a Maradona will emerge and no matter how hard he is tackled he can still run and score a goal and when that happens men of greater talent will stop diving.
Well then what about all those teams with big money won't they crowd out the smaller ones. My answer to that is Malaysia will take quite a bit of time to reach that level but when we do reach that level it is important that we maintain a free entry into leagues. That is to say anyone who can get 10 other persons to play with him regularly will not be hindered in trying to join a league and if there be a thousand team then they shall play off one another to get promotion up to the third then second and finally premier league. This is situation is of course impossible as there are only a certain number of people good enough to play and has that amount of dedication and before you know it all the teams will be merging to make up for each other's lack and you come up with better teams. Even small teams if they train their youth well can become big money teams. Arsene Wenger spent a fraction of what Chelsea does and now all his young players are maturing and they will worth more than when he bought them. He can then either sell them so he can buy other big name players or retain them until they are of no use to use they sell them off for still a tidy profit. This economic situation forces teams to find their niche and if they can't afford open market transfer than they will stop neglecting the youth training. In the end Abrahamovitch doesn't have infinite resources and soon you will be seeing more Wenger style investment which can only bring good as it develops the younger talent.
As to foreign players I don't care if the team is one hundred percent foreign. It will make the locals work harder for a place.
Are the players payed too much? NO WAY. They are payed that much because the owners feel it is worth it and why? This is because the owners make a profit from the fans but are the fans complaining? No they are not. If they feel exploited they can stop going to matches as no one forces them to buy season tickets. Like I say the players pay is a function of attendance and if they fans say their performance is worth their time and money who am I to argue with the masses. When the fans i.e. the consumer is tired of diving let me tell you the diving will stop becasue no matter how many rules there are always ways around it. HTe acting just get better because there is an incentive to. Man work because not for the joy of it but for the incentive positive or otherwise.

What is this debate about wearing veils?
I believe it is a crime against humanity that BEAUTIFUL women wear the veil. Even if they want to they should be stopped. As for the ugly ones when they wear the veil they are doing us a favour. So let us make a law: BEAUTIFUL women who wear the veil and butt ugly ones who don't will be punished severely including death for the ugly ones.

Here are some ideas that was originally typed for the viewing pleausre of edmond,
titled quite unimagitively ideas for edmond.....but life is about the exchange of ideas...isn't it?
Ideas for Edmond
In this world we need ideas and they must be written down and also be discussed so that all may learn: those who heard the idea and those who originated it. Discussion either convince the originator the error or convinces him that he is essentially but must be spurred to improve upon the argument so that he may convince more than one. Below are merely seedlings that hopefully be watered and expanded upon.
For many years the government has been trying to get people to recycle but the problem is people don’t do it even millions is spend on education. There is no motivation. In psychology we learn that positive reinforcement is one of the most effective ways of changing human behaviour, followed by negative reinforcement. To devise a successful recycle scheme one look no further than the old newspaper man. Even if it is only one ringgit for one months worth of newspaper people separate the rest of their trash from newspapers. There is money from cans but people deemed the petrol to bring it to the recycling centre is not worth the money. It must be made worth their time but of course that are people already separating cans in the dumpsite so that problem is settled but 70% of the trash is organic and that is what make most of the garbage stink. If we create a market for all these stuff people will collect and pay money like the old newspaper man and residents will separate it because they can make money. How much that will be determined by market forces and sometimes market forces dictate a not good enough price and this is where government come in by using its vast resources it can use the land that could have been wasted as landfill and use it to make compost. At the end of the day all projects must self-sustaining after a short period of say five years or be heading towards that. The compost will sell. At the same time chaff can be bought from farmers who burn it more to get rid of it. This will reduce pollution. We barter it with our produced compost or just use cold hard cash. Market economics to solve a daily problem.
Christians need to idealogues that is people who write down radical ideas and influence people for good. If we don’t do it, some Marx, Lenin, or Stalin will do it. They aren’t the smartest people but they are willing to give all for their ideology. If we believe in Christianity so much why aren’t we as dedicated to it as these are to their ideology.
I am not a prophet but it is possible to use human knowledge to achieve wisdom as though one is an oracle of God like Achitophel. Using human knowledge, I predict that the three gorge dam will fail and there will be floods, the Beijing Olympics will raise the unrest all around the rural areas, great floods on the Yangtze, people will rise up and few Chinese divisions will mutiny and the Communist will rule no more by 2020. An attempt to invade Taiwan might be made but will fail.
Humans seek creature comfort but to be a leader one must be able to rise above basic instincts of man instinct is not to serve but Jesus the greatest shall be the servant of all. Imagine the head of a country that does not a retinue of servant but one servant so he can concentrate on his work and dictate a million policies with out being disturbed.why so many concubines when we have strength for only one. Cost is much lower. Why live in a place when a 7 by 6 would be a bed big in enough. Much has been made a king needs glory but what is his glory except for his people healthy strong and safe and all man reaching his full potential. This is utopia but if we have a leader that cares not for his own enrichment and all that is safe is passed back to the people than truly he will be a servant of all and then a true leader.
1.3 million Arabs in Israel against 4.5 million refugees. Guess who had the higher standard of living?
People want to help all the time but most of the time is not efficient or sustainable. Therefore there should be a new approach to humanitarian aid. One of the examples is the Grameen bank. They required their borrowers to pay back their loans with interest so as to be sustainable and so other people can take loans. We must be aware just because you are poor doesn’t give you a pass for a free lunch. We must be willing to help but they in turn must do their part so that others can be helped. Anyway humanitarian organizations should be audited and compete with one another to provide the best and most efficient services. They should avoid duplication and merge so as to have the force of number. Guderian once said that you hit a man with your fist and not with your fingers spread.
Most Christians treat the call to missions as an opt in thing but it should really be opt out. The ration of people serving should be at least 1 out of twelve just the tribe of Levi was one out of twelve. I think this is the perfect ratio as it is just sustainable by the rest of the tribes. So obviously when the number serving is less than one in twelve there is a large number that is not answering their call.
Independent Sabah Sarawak will be a possibility and it can overtake the Peninsular in a short time. The reason why Singapore won out is the hemorrhage to talents there. Imagine if the Borneo states are independent and implement more free market reforms and less discriminatory policies there will loads of talent flowing there. Anyway in the predicted overthrow of the Communist and the ensuing anarchy, it will be a perfect place for the refugees. How do we do it? 300 good men are all that is needed. Doctors, teachers, engineers all posted in the interior making lives better and there will be voted into power in no time and then after preparations and seeking support for the intelligentsia in the west and also politicians call for UN referendum and then declare independence and we can give all the devil’s excrement to the Peninsular.
Have you heard of von Zizendorff? He was a rich man that gave most if not all his wealth for the extension of the kingdom of course he administered himself so that it will not go into the pockets of greedy individuals or misguided building funds.
Not many know of Zizendorff..While it is most preaching is from the Bible but preaching should be supplemented by study of the WHOLE Bible, church history and also doctrine. Not many know of their doctrine.
When one is said to be called to mission why must one think of sacrifice and suffering. If he goes alone to the middle of nowhere I guess it will be that. But if he goes as a team in a group of maybe 150 people consisting of teachers, engineers and, doctors, preachers of whatever tentmakers and their spouses not only are they more effective and cover more of the needs of the community but they able to fight loneliness and lack companionship while they adjust to the local population and of course their children will then qualify to attend the FDL University so that they will not lose out.
Here re some ideas for Proton. There are many people who can have money for something more than a bike but less than a kancil. Bike is 7K kancil. 24K. There is a gap of 17K why isn’t anyone exploiting this niche. Build a vehicle with which is safer, more powerful and more seating than a bike but less than an ordinary car….I am sure there is a market for people….the whole idea is to provide for that need. I am sure people in a family of 4 will prefer that to a bike if they can’t afford a kancil.

I believe that people should be able to reap,
the work and effort they put into work and therefore i believe in capitalism and pure comtpetition...which is not only good for everyone to excel but for the loser he knows that is not the real place that he belongs....but then again they good and hardworking people who never seem to get a break like the rubber tappers who work really hard but never seem to be able to better the lives of their love ones..so in effect we must temper capitalism with compassion..how much and where we draw the line I leave it to the economists though some might argue that rubber tappers should quit and do something else..what else? Another problewith capitalism is that is that some people with power and influence and monewill use it so that they don't have to compete like the car parts supplier who bribe the car manufacturer's..so if playing filed is not level..and how is the poor guy with superior technology and work going to survive...this is where we need a referee..he will never be perfect but it will be much better than no referee...this is then the use of of governmentent..their duty is to ensure a level playing field..other than that they don't intervene....the referee don't kick the ball into the goal..he just runs around and thires to intervene as little as possible and get out of the way but will do it if it is necessary.....if a referee can do it..why is it so hard for elected government do it?

heh,
controlling the price of sugar? ridiculous..on one hand you are trying to get mamaks to reduce the sugar they put in their products and people to take less sugar so that there will be less cases of diabetes and on the other you are trying to keep the price of sugar artificially low....sure it wins elections but who is going to pay for health care when half the nation is diabetic?...the quickest way to reduce the amount of sugar in products and help people live a healthier lifestyle is to make something more expensive...like with cigarettes and alcohol... if they use this rationale to impose sin taxes why can't they just let market forces determine the price of sugar...why intervene to bring down the price of something that is bad for health? Sugar is definitely killing more people than cigarettes but of course lung cancer is a more glamourous disease...the worse thing is they are killed slowly so the health cost is high..whereas in lung cancer you are dead within the year....when sugar is more expensive people will use less sugar and innovative mooncake makers will won't be making mooncakes that are toos weet and before you know it they will be making mooncake for diabetics so those poor old folks won't miss out on the fun.

Hello I am back,
It has been a while...I am quite lazy to blog but I thought I better keep the thing going.....just a thing about character...in the papers a few days ago a Malaysian-born neurosurgeon was arrested for bribery....man you must be pretty smart to become a neurosurgeon in the US..it is competitive..but no matter how smart you are in the end...you can't excape from greed...and many people do stupid things because of greed...kind of sad to know parents nowadays are pushing excellence instudies and performance instead of the building the of character...give an honest man of average intelligence any day over one thousand corrupt geniuses.

After a long long while I am back,
But as I have predicted it turns out that blogging was just another fad for me. It promised to make my voice heard but the number of silly advertisements that I got far out numbered the comments and most of them are from friends anyway. Not that this detracts from the validity of their comments but I don't think my views are going to get far this way. I will have to go back to trying to get myself published which is the only realistic way of doing it.
Thought scame and go and the penalty for not putting them down is you forget them.
The thing that I have been thinking about on lately is seeking the truth and the fact the "Quod Est Veritas" should be everyone'e warcry. Sure we need to do the things to survive but in our psare time we spend some of it seeking the truth. For many imporant things we just take it for granted. We just assume that it is true without investigating it. We may not have the time to verify everything but at least in the most imporant things such as "is Jesus God?"
Christians that take it for granted but Paul says we must work out our salvation. We must ask ourselves do we truly believe? PEople who brush over this often will have faith crises when they are older when it will be much much worse. PEople who have it younger then to resolve it in a happy way though not always. In the end the illustration is chicken pox. If you get it when you are young you might die but it is not as worse as whne you are old.
Some non-Christian just only look at the points against that is not even thougth up and judge by themselves and take it as as true. They have delegated the most imporant duty of seeking the truth to others but even the smartest makie mistakes and one should not delegate this because in the end if one makes a mistake at least one doesn't have to regret delegating this duty even though we enjoy blaming others.
There are many to barriers to truth. Now I will not confined it to discussion about Jesus but the truth can be seeked everywhere and in its own way it is important. It can serious questions like is the universe expanding or collapsing to the best nasi lemak to be found in Kedah. Though the consequences are different but what is perceive as the truth will guide us in our decision making. Not all questions should be pursued with full effort.
The danger is lies can be seen as truth. Lies can masquerade as truth, truth can be misrepresented, the truth be seen as the lie. Whatever the situation the truth is not found and because of that wrong decisions are made. Is a foetus a human life? The answer will determine how we approach the issue of abortion. Even our own eyes can mislead us and witnesses may not be truth. But what differentiate the truth from lies is there is evidence but even in this respect even lies can have "evidence".
In the end we must weigh up everything and to do this we must not be intellectually lazy but strive to consider BOTH sides of the argument and rebuttals to it and make a judgement for ourselves.
Consider the Iraq war. Was it right to invade? I have study the arguments on both sides carefully and at the end of it I support the war but that is not the point. The point is we can see a lot of people taking either position without first determining the arguments on both sides. They just take a default position such as all wars are wrong. My father whom I greatly resepct is a pacifist and I respect him for that because in his eyes and from his analysis of hisotry except for a few exceptions institutions brought about by wars in genral don't stand the test of time. He will compare Malaysia's independence gained by negotiation to Indonesia's which was gained by violence and how both countries subsequently turn out. I would disagree because though force is not always good but sometimes it is necessary. The Khmer Rouge would have gone on killing had Vietnam not invaded Cambodia. Yet Vietnam was never called an imperialist nation though they occupied Cambodia for over 12 years before there were any elections. SO we are both right force was the lesser of two evil but up till today Cambodia is still in the grips of Hun Sen who was allied to the Vietnamese.
History in the end can be the judge whether the was was right or not and the picture will not be pretty. We like to gloss over it but the truth is nothing is perfect and there will be flaws but if greater good comes out of it then I think it is only fair we judge it as correct. However even then we have a problem. We do not know it will turn out and history have shown us that to invade there is a problem not to invade there is a problem. In the end we realise of man's endeavour is in vian and Death devour us all. In the end all we have is the Truth. What is the Truth? IS the truth is there will be reincarnation and amn will get according to his deeds in the next life or is the truth is God is in control and and if we can hypothetically follow his perfect will then all will be solved. Then it leads to a conumdrum: what is his will? And again again it is a crazy thing to explore and much of the ills stem from sincerely mistaken people deluded into thinking they are doing the Almighty's will.
Back to history;can only be so much of a guide. I think the gist of the matter is please investigate and study both isde of the argument so that if history prove you wrong at least you can have the cold comfort of not saying anything daft like " Iraq was much better under Saddam" for the simple reason reason he is a Sunni. Have you read a Shiite or Kurd talk like this lately?