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Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Happy Merdeka Day

The past 2 years have been a very interesting for me. Besides the changes in my personal life (like getting married), I have also started to be more concerned about our beloved country - Malaysia. This also means more visits to Malaysia Today (one of the very few sources of real information, in my humble opinion).

It has been many, many years since I sang Negaraku or even read out the Rukunegara. I think the last time I did both was way back in my schooling days. With the National Day just around the corner, and with the WEE Meng Chee issue, I thought it would be nice to re-visit at least one of it - our Rukunegara. Our Rukunegara (National Principles) from www.gov.my:

Bahawasanya, Negara kita Malaysia mendukung cita-cita hendak:
Mencapai perpaduan yang lebih erat di kalangan seluruh masyarakatnya; memelihara satu cara hidup demokratik; mencipta satu masyarakat yang adil di mana kemakmuran negara akan dinikmati bersama secara adil dan saksama; menjamin satu cara yang liberal terhadap tradisi-tradisi kebudayaannya yang kaya dan berbagai corak; membina satu masyarakat progresif yang akan menggunakan sains dan teknologi moden.

Maka kami rakyat Malaysia berikrar akan menumpukan seluruh tenaga dan usaha kami untuk mencapai cita-cita tersebut berdasarkan atas prinsip-prinsip yang berikut:

• Kepercayaan kepada Tuhan
• Kesetiaan kepada Raja dan Negara
• Keluhuran Perlembagaan
• Kedaulatan Undang-Undang
• Kesopanan dan Kesusilaan

Looking at the five principles every Malaysian should uphold, it is interesting to note the second principle, which states that we should be loyal to king and country. Hmmm... No where is it stated anything about political parties. :)

Many years ago, I used to ask myself why should we have Agong or even Sultans? They seemed nothing more than troublemakers. But over the past few months, I am beginning to see why we should have the Sultans and Agongs. They are a symbol. A symbol that goes all the way back to the Kesultanan Melaka time. Removing them would be like forgetting our past and is definitely not something we have all been thought to do - forget our roots and our past.

Anyway, it seems a wind of change is blowing. If in the past, Their Royal Highnesses seemed uncaring and distant, things look set to change. Their Royal Highnesses seem to be more vocal now. They are now listening more attentively to the people, have the people's well-being in mind and they are getting more involved in state affairs, which I think is a very good thing. Take for example the case of the Port Klang assemblyman Zakaria.

So for this year's National Day celebration, I would like to pay a tribute to Their Royal Highnesses by wearing yellow on that day as suggested in Malaysia Today. It will be my sign of support for Their Royal Highnesses. And to quote RPK:

By wearing yellow on Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day, we hope to send a signal to the government of Abdullah Badawi that there is a limit to the people’s patience. This is a peaceful and non-violent show of support for his Majesty The Yang di-Pertuan Agong and his brother rulers to uphold the constitutional oath to defend the people of Malaysia, the sanctity of its government and our laws. This is a not a rebellion but a reassertion of our rights as the citizens of this country. We want to show the Prime Minister, his family, and cronies, that the country is not for sale. We stand united in believing that it is still not too late to save our country.

I don't think I can find a flag to fly in real world, but here's one that I will be flying on my website (flag image 'borrowed' from Malaysia Today -- please let me know if this flag cannot be used on this site).

Kesetiaan kepada Raja dan Negara - Loyalty to King and Country
Happy Merdeka Day! Here's to 50 years and the many more to come. And I hope to see you all wear yellow on that day! :)



...can you all feel the breeze -- the wind of change?

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

A sneak preview

Been busy working on a template for Wordpress. Yes, I will be using Wordpress to power my www.adriantai.com website. Decided not to use ProEdition for now though I will miss some of its functions like forms, etc...

I managed to import a few posts from this site to use as 'demo'. This is how it will look. Decided to copy almost everything possible from this theme... GREEN. Still need to clean up some parts of the CSS codes and should be ready by this weekend.

Click here to check out the demo site.

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Website dillema

My website is down again. Some stupid setup problem has been causing some problems with a few folders. Decided to reinstall and things are not getting any better.

Very tempted to ditch the software I'm using right now (Pro Edition) and going for WordPress instead. I actually like Pro Edition, but it just seems a bit buggy...

How la...

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

X-Files Malaysia?

If you think politics is boring and a topic only the senior citizens should care about, think again. I'm sure the 'exposure' Malaysia Today has got over the past few weeks in newspapers, etc would made people even more curious as to what is published there. I think somehow RPK is happy about the free advertisement his website is getting.

I started visiting Malaysia Today regularly about a year ago when I received one of his articles in my mailbox. I Googled a bit and finally found his site. Since then, I have been hooked.

I have to say that at times, I really find it hard to believe some of the articles there. I mean, they could easily pass off as a script for an episode of X-Files!

Lesbian politicians? See A comedy of errors. A Menteri Besar running away with the Sultan's daughter? Read See you in hell Muhamad son of Muhamad. Want to know what's being suggested for our Merdeka Celebrations? Check this out Malaysia bodoh....sorry, I mean boleh.

And I always thought politics was a really boring thing in Malaysia. Anyway, spotted on my car...

We walk with Malaysia Today
Whether the articles in Malaysia-Today are to be believed 100% or not, one thing is for sure, they are an interesting read and do provoke us into thinking further...

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Monday, August 13, 2007

Fireworks display at Setia Alam

I was in Setia Alam over the weekend for the FREE Sally YEH concert. The concert was nice with Sally belting out about 10 songs. Managed to also meet up with a few SARA forumers.

The concert ended with fireworks display. No matter how many times I have see the fireworks display, I just can't seem to get enough of it. Here are some photos of the fireworks taken on my Sony Ericsson K618i. Had to shrink the photos else it looks really grainy.





I personally think Setia Alam will be a wonderful place to call my home. And it will be come 2008... :)

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Friday, August 10, 2007

The office

Most of us actually spend a lot of time in the office... Sometimes even more than the time we spend at home. A typical day for me starts at 7am. I leave my house by around 745am and I usually get home only by 8 or 9pm. That's more than 12 hours. Minus one hour of lunch and about two hours of commuting time, it is still 10 hours of my day spent in the office.

This also means I see my colleagues about 10hours every day!

For someone with my schedule, I end up with really very little time for my wife and my family. Actually, because everyone in my family has got their own activities and schedule, sometimes I don't even see them for days!

Anyway, the point is... 10 hours can be a lot of time. Over the span of almost 6 years, sometimes we can become more than just colleagues. For me, my colleagues have become the people I have been so accustomed to seeing everyday... It would just feel weird not seeing them. Some have seen me 'grow'... From a meat-eater to a vegetarian... To getting 'attached' and finally getting married. Along the way, I have learnt a lot from my colleagues. They have thought me how to be a better person.

It will be with a very, very heavy heart when I leave...

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Wednesday, August 08, 2007

More changes...

A French author, François de la Rochefoucauld, once said,
“The only thing constant in life is change”

Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying,
"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes"

I would say...
"The only thing certain in life is change, death and taxes"

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