religious corruption

a news broke last week that officers in a quasi-religious agency which handles pilgrimage, asked for money in return for express pilgrimage. what the heck! coincidently, two weeks ago a colleague in my office proudly told that he has relative in the agency that might lend his hand. my response at that point was, what a corruption.

all this reminds me to a phrase in a film directed by our country most coveted film director, "you are SO corrupted!". it's not only corrupted, but SO corrupted.

1001 Arabian Nights - superficial

when I was a kid, 1001 Arabian Nights story was one of my favourites. among the many stories, there is one particular that I'm repeatedly keep on telling to my kids.

the story is about one wise king's aide. one day he got an invitation to a wedding party. on that particular day, he went to the party dressing moderately. everyone ignored him. he went back home and changed into his best attire. he went back to the same party and no surprised, everybody is now wanted to be with him. the punch line in the story was that, he started to pouring foods and drinks into his dress. when asked he answered "I was here before but no body noticed me. but when I came back with a better attire, everybody wanted to be with me. it's not me who you want to be with, but my attire.so let the dress get the foods".

understand, everyone?

Greece and the bankrupted democracy II

well, the government of Greece is still holding ground. and the PM had proposed a unity government in facing the situation. let's see how the people of a country which gave us democracy will do that, when even the parliament is split into two factions. let's hope that we can learn more from these people, again. let's see how the people of Greece is going to face the economic difficulties without giving off their identity and dignity. watch and learn...

Greece and the bankrupted democracy

Greece is one of the earliest great civilisation. they teach us several things such as democracy. I wonder, if democracy could be used to destroy the very core of the system, the people. let say, the austerity plan put forward by the government is genuinely for the country's good. let say, the people of Greece reject the plan. as the result, the country goes 'bankrupt'. I don't know what happened next. but if eventually the people suffer, then the democracy, from my opinion, should failed. we have seen the failure of communism, the breakdown in the financial system and several other incidents. now is democracy failing?

from the rich Empire and pioneer of democracy, could Greece goes bankrupt and show us the failure of democracy? may be there is another system of government which is better. search for it. it is already here.

water

above is the picture of a river. the location of the lake is in the one of the less populous state in our country. but already there were several water shortages incidents in several of our states including the second smallest state. I still remember a river in my village which was crystal clear. you can still catch that kind of scenery but you'll need to get to the upper stream of the river. the very important aspect of our life, water, is rapidly polluted and depleted by no others but us.

foreign powers

to date, many foreign leaders flocked to Libya for whatever reasons. but I think of a friend. today's friends, most of them, are there only when we are in power or wealth. you will lose friends when you lose power and wealth. true friends are difficult to find nowadays. in fact, true human being is difficult to find. what we can see are 'walking machines' with only 'things' in mind.

england on fire

so what triggered fire in england? racial cards?

Japan, 'nuclear energy free' society

so finally the Japanese revealed its policy on nuclear energy - 'will reduce Japan's reliance on nuclear power, aiming at creating a society that will not rely on atomic power generation'. and the Japan prime minister has even promised to challenge the 'conventional belief' that nuclear energy is safe. but so far I've yet to see how are they going to just do that. I believe I've wrote on this last time. come on Japanese, show the world how will you do it so that the rest of us can learn. 

Direct Democracy: 'The Third Wave', Alvin Toffler

fascinating! the politicians in the US could only agreed to disagree. in Egypt, street demonstration kicking again. anti-Muammar Gadaffi in Libya had one of their top leader killed. in Turkey, top brass of all three branches of army, whom they called themselves defender of the constitution, resigned en mass. in my country, we lose some of our land and waters to our neighbour. I wonder if all these have anything to do with what people really want. leaders have always say what they do is what the people want.

then I remember the term 'direct democracy' I read in 'The Third Wave'by Alvin Toffler 30 years ago. with all the social and technological advancement, can't the idea put into practice? or is it practical in the first place? remember that some of previous civilizations did some kind of the idea.

'to be or not to be'
- c 1600

basic food

oh no, not again. my country is now plague by news of basic food shortage. the story keep on surfacing every now and then and I don't really know why. this kind of situation is unheard while I'm young, when our GDP per capita is 1/4 of it is now. what is happening here?

Norway's tragedy

from the day the tragedy happened until now, media have painted the incident as 'attack to the core of Norwegian values' - freedom. so the road to freedom has a price. and having the freedom too has a price? who put that price.

people of Norway, I hope that you just be strong and persistent. it's all in your hand whether to give in or keep on.

regards,
human

cat

is cat part of environment or another living thing that need space to live?

Japan, nuclear waste and sunflower

so they are planning to plant as much sunflower as they can. it's a symbolic, they said. after renouncing 'live by principle' axiom, I believe what we should do is more effort and thinking to minimise what ever risk we face. why symbolic? this kind of thing reminds me to my previous boss who always said he's talking in symbolic and expecting people to understand. what the meaning of that? could he just got straight to the point instead of 'symbolism' which people may not understand due to 'poor or stupid symbolism'.

living cost

there is a spat right now in my country about one particular paid-tv station which wanted to increase their monthly subscription fee. it appears to be that the government has say in the subscription cost. that's new to me. I thought the tv station as a private entity can do whatever they want.

the last time the station raised their fee was also contested by the subscribers. but the station won and people has to pay. we are too attached to the entertainment that we could no longer live without it. now few 'consumer organisations' are also making noise about the raise. "let us boycott the station", they said. huh...

I didn't subscribe the channel. for me it's sort of luxury. I remember one story about a house belongs to an old women was luckily didn't brought to earth by fire. I went to the house the next day after the incident. there were also few locals. some of them asked about the help from a government department on making good her home. her answer was stunning. she said "they came. but upon seeing the satellite dish antennae, the officer decided that the woman (and his son, who live with her at that time) is not eligible for the help. the family has paid-tv channel". it was sort of a joke but I kind of agree on the statement of the government officer!

nevertheless, let the station increase the fee. let only the people who has excessive money subscribe it. let the people with less money lose the channel so that they can sleep early and ready for work tomorrow morning. let the kids of this less fortunate family have more time to read books and interact with their parents. let us back to time when that box named tv didn't control much of our time. let it be.

let it be, by the beatles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdopMqrftXs

my daughter's wish II

this is a picture of the entrance to the old palace of ruler in one of the states. the gate must have been there for centuries and witnessed to million of events: good or bad. some of the events are well documented in the palace (now museum, opens to public). there was one particular event exhibited in the museum which attracted my attention. it was a royal event happened in the early 20th century. the event was subsequently critised in the mid 20th century by an influential politician.

but I'm happy that though the event was painted as bad half a century after it was conducted, the museum still displays them. this is despite that the royalty is still around. now that is what I call speak the truth. tell the truth even it is bitter. currently local people are again subjected to incite. I don't really want to write about their intention but why incite? I have my daughter's wish to fulfill. if this incite flame into bigger event then can I fulfill her wish?

don't they have children of their own?

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: 0.03 kg

public amenities II

I was again went to the capital city hence the silence of my blog. above is the latest picture of one of the most important transportation for commoners - bus terminal. the last time I went there was about 2 years ago, the situation was the same as 10 years ago (while I'm still studying in the city). it's now fully air-conditioned and no more the fume from buses get into the terminal.

the terminal was built 35 years ago and only now the commoners have the feeling of being in comfortable as in an airport! the whole waiting lounge is air-conditioned. the fume from buses exhaust is no more get into the terminal. there is no more foreign-operated food outlets and no more young men hunting for customers (which occasionally bogus). the floor is now cleaner than previous and the bus counters' staffs seemed more happy. the bus berth area (basement) is now more sparkling and there is also a working exhaust system to suck out fumes. last time, whenever I went down to the berth area, I always feel to throw out.

from what I leaned from a kiosk operator inside the operator, the rent of their outlets are now increased. and I also told that buses heading to south are now have their own, separate terminal. so their sales dropped. however from my opinion, as users, the separation is a good move. last time it was packed with people. once I witness a young women was hit by a man by a crash helmet. the women passed out. then two men came and dragged the women out from the place. a man tried to help but was warned by the hit-man that it was a family matter. yes, there was a police bit. but may be because of the situation, crowded, hot, uncomfortable, chaotic, etc., the incident was just another happening in such area.

finally, the commoners get some good facilities. of course after 35 years!

public amenities

its has been a few days from my last posting. I was in capital city for an official business. the city has more than 1 million population in an area of less then 250 km square. I studied undergraduate there about 20 years ago. however during my visit few days ago I'm shocked.

the picture above is the pedestrian walkway for commoners. below it, on the right, is a major road. above is the line of light rail transit (LRT) and a major highway. you can see the LRT at the top, right hand side. this dark and dirty walkway connects the LRT station to the other side of the LRT lane and highway. it quite remote and I could see there was not a single bulb is installed along the pathway.

of course, at least there is a walkway for a commoner. at least ...

GREENHOUSE GAS RELEASED: 0.117 kg