Circumcision Circumvents

Fellow Comrades,

Finally, a news piece that most Muslims and Jews can smile about. As it turns out, circumcised men are half as likely to contract the AIDS virus from heterosexual sex. However, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) official Dr. Kevin M. De Cock, circumcision is "not a magic bullet, but a potentially important prevention". Clearly he wasn't that impressed at the notion of surgery on his surnamesake. Another interesting quote from the article about the benefits of circumcision was said by HIV specialist Daniel Halperin,"It prevents S.T.D.'s, it's seen as cleaner, sex is better, women like it. I predict that a lot of men who can't afford private clinics will start clamoring for it". Thaaaaaat's right. Yet, there are still those circumcised men out there who wants to decircumcise. There's even an organisation dedicated towards their cause called The National Organization of Restoring Men (NORM). Most of these men claim that since it's part of their body, then they deserve to have a say in whether they should be circumcised or not. I say, without your parents, you wouldn't even have your body to begin with. Among the devices availabe to be used for restoration, which NORM's website claim to be "low cost, non-commercial devices", are Baby Bottle Nipple, "Musical" devices, "Tug Ahoy", et cetera. I can't go on without cringing myself to full "restoration", so I might as well stop here.

On a more somber note, two people who have made our world a much happier place to live have died in the past week. On 13 December, Peter Boyle, better known as Frank Barone of Everybody Loves Raymond, died at age 71. Today, Joseph Barbera of Hanna-Barbera Studios, passed away at 95. Both of them have entertained and made many of us laugh plenty of times. Rest in peace fellas. That's all for now folks.

Godspeed,
Fadli

Chasing Chavez

Fellow comrades,

Pak Lah will be arriving in Venezuela tomorrow on a three-day official visit. Supposedly, the main motive of his visit is to “pave the way” for Malaysian businessmen to do business there. Even before Pak Lah land, 300 entrepreneurs are already eager to get their hands on some Venezuelan bolivars. Petronas, Boustead Holdings, Golden Hope, Ranhill, and, get this, Pos Malaysia. That’s right, POS MALAYSIA! Through personal experience, I can say that this particular company epitomizes inefficiency. What, are the Venezuelans getting their mails too fast nowadays? Are they begging to have their mails lost? Are they imploring to have their bills sent after the due date?

Anyways, I guess it wouldn’t hurt our relationship with other Western countries that Pak Lah is forging closer ties with Venezuela. Heck, even the U.S. is “thawing” their icy-cold relationship. I guess they figured out that since President Chavez will be holding on to that title a tad longer, they might as well be nice to him now. Considering the chaos in Iraq right now and the logistical nightmare faced in transporting oil out of the country, it would be better to have the flow of oil from Venezuela undisturbed.

It turns out that we’ve had a modest, and I do mean modest, trading link with Venezuela. In 2005, the volume of two-way trade between Malaysia and Venezuela amounted to USD$22.5 million. Surprisingly, Malaysia has the upper-hand in trade balance. We’ve actually been exporting more products to Venezuela (here, I’m picturing Hugo Chavez wearing his bright red beret, handsome red military jacket and checkered kain pelikat, with a smile on his face). Seriously though, we’ve actually been sending of our rubber and electronic goods over there. However, they’ve been facing problems in dealing with Malaysia due to “forgery of certificates of origin of footwear import and shipment delays”. There’s been very little investment between Malaysia and Venezuela. We’ve invested in a medical products wholesaler in the state of Zulia. What do we get in return? A salsa discotheque in Federal Hotel KL (now I’m picturing Hugo Chavez with the kain pelikat dancing to salsa beats, still with that smile on his face). You can check all of this out here.

I’m sure that one of the most sought after investment opportunity in Venezuela is on its oil reserves. President Chavez himself has invited Petronas to explore its oil and gas reserve and also partner with its national oil company, PDVSA. The last time President Chavez was here, he expounded how much he would like to help Malaysia. Among his quotable quotes were “If Malaysia doesn't have the land to plant (palm) anymore, Venezuela has it” and “Don't worry Malaysia. As a brother, we can help you explore and find oil. If you don't have oil (anymore) ... it will be provided for by Venezuela”. Never in my short life have I heard another head of state promise such aid to Malaysia. Of course, one can always be skeptical of his words. But for a man of his stature to expound such notions in public, I would grant him quite a degree of trust. No wonder we were willing to support Venezuela in their bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council. All in all, I wish the best of luck to Pak Lah and President Chavez. Hasta Siempre! That’s all for now, folks.

Godspeed,
Fadli

To the one who knows F and S ; )

Bagaimanakan ku mula
Dan apakah kata-kata
Yang indah untuk diabadikan
Tiap wajah berkisah
Tiap madah bererti
Manakah ilhamku

Cahaya di matamu
Senyum di bibirmu
mengukir seribu tanda pertanyaan
Mungkinkah kau jua dalam kerinduan
Di saat begini aku merindukan

Berhelai-helai surat
Terbiar di depanku
Tak dapat aku utuskan
Ku ramas semua
Dan ku buangkan
Jauh dari pandangan

Lalu aku kesal
Ku kumpul semula
Tak dapat ku nyatakan apa yang ku rasa
Jika engkau tahu di dalam hatiku
Mungkinkah kau sahut jeritan batinku

Dengarkanlah panggilanku
Dengarkanlah lagu untukmu
Angin lalu kau sampaikan
Rasa rindu yang membara
Kepadanya

Warna-warna cintaku
Kian pudar bersama
Malam yang gelap gelita
Entahkan kau rasakan
Apa yang aku rasa
Atau kau tak endah

Tapi ku percaya
Semua telah tertulis
Dan niat suciku takkan disiakan
Dan di suatu masa
Di hari yang indah
Ku hulur tanganku
Lalu kau terima...

God Save The...

Fellow comrades,

The 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan of Terengganu Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, was crowned earlier today (check it out here: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Wednesday/Frontpage/20061213074823/Article/index_html). The streets remained calm and people went along with their businesses as usual. Some are probably oblivious to the fact that we have a new head of state. In my view, His Highness's subjects would've probably paid more attention had today been declared a public holiday. The citizens could've stayed at home and watched the live telecast of the coronation ceremony, which was the first time I was able to watch it myself. I found out a few weeks ago that the new Agong went to Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and then furthered his studies at the United States International University-Europe, which changed its name to Alliant International University (check it out here: http://www.alliant.edu/wps/wcm/connect/website). The Agong received a degree in International Relations there. To my knowledge, the Agong is the first prominent Malaysian who has a degree in IR. As an IR student myself, I am somewhat happy that the current head of state had to deal with the intricacies of international politics before. From what I've experienced, students of the Humanities are open-minded, thoughtful and very critical thinkers. Sadly, I couldn't say the same for most of the students of more rigid, objective and drier fields of knowledge.

The United Nations are sponsoring two events in Kuala Lumpur aimed at supporting the Palestinians. They are the UN Asian Meeting in Support of the Rights of the Palestinian People (on 15 and 16 December) and the UN Forum of Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People (on 17 December). I am glad that they are having such forums in order to discuss the best way to help the Palestinians. The meetings will feature several NGO representatives, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Assembly, Member of the Knesset, Member of the European Parliament and many more. However, the conferences seem to be open only to members of NGOs (check it out here: http://www.un.org/Depts/dpa/ngo/calendar.htm). In my view, conferences such as these should be open for public viewing. The various ideas and thoughts on the Palestinian issue will be able to enhance the knowledge of Malaysians and put fire in their bellies for them to realise that they can do something about it. Rather than waste their bloody time with this: http://mstar.com.my/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.article.Article_61789779-c0a85062-13e6f830-1514ed18.

That's all for now folks.

Godspeed,
Fadli

Who's gonna drive you home?

Fellow comrades,

"We are bad drivers" screams the New Straits Times headline today (check it out at http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Tuesday/Frontpage-/20061212075715/Article/index_html) The 'we' part encompasses all Malaysians. Obviously, it's a hyperbole. Not all Malaysian drivers are bad. Only most of them are. Just today, as I was reversing my car from a parking space, a motorcycle carrying two helmet-less persons of subnormal intelligence almost rammed into the left-side of my car as they ran through a "No Entry" sign on another road. They managed to swerve just centimetres away from my car's boot and evade what could've been a fatal accident on their part. Honestly though, I wish it had happened. Just two more imbeciles gone; nobody would miss them. If there's one thing that makes me depressed coming back for the holidays, it's the Malaysian drivers. It doesn't matter what they're driving. A survey conducted in Britain found that owners of BMWs are the worst (check it out at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/06/nbmw06.xml). Not here. Malaysians, or more precisely most of them, are bent towards breaking every traffic law there is no matter what they're driving. The sight of them double parking, running through traffic lights and, particularly, changing lanes without signalling makes me cringe. It makes me wonder how come most Australians, especially Canberrans, are the complete opposite. Where else can you find motorists stopping at red lights at 2a.m. in a secluded road with no other car in sight? One thing I notice is how they are willing, almost eager, to let you pass through first, with a smile on their face and a wave of their hand. All you have to do is return the gesture to show some gratitude. In Malaysia, what you get if you're passing through is the other car inching ever closer as you try your best to squeeze in front of it. The driver in the other car will readily frown and, if his hands are not busy holding a handphone or a cigarette or both, gesture obscenely. All you have to do is smile and wave at him, lest you return his gesture which will result in you becoming part of the statistics: 70 killed in 880 accidents a day. A study conducted by the Quality Planning Corporation found that in the United States, students are the worst drivers. They top the list as being involved in the most accidents and also receiving the most speeding tickets. Although architects are also in the top five in both lists (check it out here http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/30/pf/autos/bad_drivers/index.htm). What, are they all trying to help their brothers "break" out of "prison" now?

The solutions suggested by so-called professionals are to review instructions at driving schools, reduce licence fees, extend minimum hours required driving before the test and to teach them defensive driving. None of this will ensure a lasting impact on bad drivers. Once they get their licenses, they'll forget everything they learned in driving school. My solution is this: harsher punishments and more enforcement. Put it simply, "fear" is the keyword here. Malaysians need to be frightened. Did you say "civil liberties"? You must be Australian or from some other modern, Western, developed country. I guess it's hard for you to fathom, but the fear of God needs to be instilled into the minds of most of my backward, Eastern, developing countrymen for them to abide the law. It's up to the legislators and officers of the law to threaten them. Say you'll ban them from driving, or you'll take their cars, or you'll put them away where the sun don't shine. Anything that will make them think thrice, do it. A smile and a friendly gesture while doing so wouldn't hurt. That's all for now, folks.


Godspeed,
Fadli

My First Post

My name's Fadli. I was born on 24 August 2006. I hail from Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. I'm currently spending my holidays at home after another year of hectic study. I am pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce degree (majoring in International Business and International Relations) at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. My interests include Politics, History and pro-Wrestling among other things.

As I write these words, Kofi Annan has just finished his farewell speech as the United Nations Secretary-General. After ten years of service, the man is stepping down to give way to Ban Ki-moon to take up the post. In my humble opinion, his speech was well-worded, strong and very concise. He stated five principles which he believe is essential to be followed by his successor and others: collective responsibility, global solidarity, rule of law, mutual accountability and multilateralism. Of course, his principles will just remain mere words should it not be taken up by anyone. From what little I know of him, Mr. Annan has shown the virtues of a true diplomat: cool, calm and contented even at the worse of times. Even when mocked, he can maintain his posture and sometimes show his wit. This is apparent when told of the United States Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton's comment that "nobody sang Kumbaya" during a private dinner attended by him and Annan at the White House recently. Mr. Annan's reply after being told of the comment: "But does he know how to sing it?".

As CNN ran a montage of Mr. Annan's ten years as Secretary-General, a few seconds of inaudible footage of his swearing-in by a man wearing the traditional Malay garb consisting of the Baju Melayu, Songkok and Sampin caught my eyes. Was that really a Malaysian swearing him in as Secretary-General of the United Nations? If this was so, what an honour that must have been for the ambassador of my country to be given the responsibility of doing so.

If there's one question which I would like to have the answer to, it is this: Where does Malaysia stand in the eyes of the world? I have seen my country playing prominent roles before being important members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), et cetera. Yet, I still wonder how Malaysia is perceived by its neighbours near and far. Is Malaysia seen as a model Islamic country as espoused by its leaders? Is Malaysia seen as an indispensable part of its region? Or is Malaysia seen as just another Third World country whose views and positions on international issues can be ignored without any severe repercussions?

Hence, I have decided to start this blog. I just thought it would be nice if I could use it as an avenue to let off some steam should I feel the need to, which is quite frequent considering the news items that bother me everyday. That's all for now. Thank you for reading this.


Godspeed,
Fadli