Why can't we be free from corruption in high places? Why can't we have a better police force and less crime?

The answers are quite interesting after I have done a survey of 10 people at my workplace.
1) We cannot solve everything because we have limited resources – so no money, no talk, no action. Question: Where have all the money gone? Well, the people thought the money went to expensive & expansive projects like Angkasawan, buying overpriced utensils & equipment at govt depts & agencies, Sports facility in London, trips of makan angin sambil belajar by bureaucrats, spouses and cronies subsidised by taxpayers
2) We have short memory so no one wants to deal with the history. Unsolved crimes like Altantunya is best buried and forgotten because they were some colourful, less savoury and infamous characters involved. So we buried our heads in the sand and talk about other stuff happening elsewhere – like England League Football, F1 Grand Prix, Stylo Fashion – just as a cover up for our inability of dealing with unpleasantness. Instead we hang onto these mottos “don’t rock the boat, nanti semua tenggelam” atau jangan cakap nanti kena saman pasal slander.
3) We are selfish in our outlook – only thinking for ourselves. It is all about me:
a. Hmm, what is in it for me?
b. Why should I be nice to you? What do I get in return?
c. What can I do – I do not have time nor resources to handle these issues.
d. I am in hurry, please get out of the way.
e. Haven’t I done enough already with my income tax contributions? The government should take care of these, why ask me?
f. These things like the poor people are always with us since Merdeka, so we cannot get rid of them wah. So many have tried but not successful.
g. We have been living like these for decades, so I do not think we can tackle crime effectively like some country down south (Singapore). Even Singaporeans cannot find their Mas Selamat, so what gives?
h. We cannot carry fire arms to protect ourselves. In United States, citizens can arm themselves to their teeth and shoot anyone who invade their privacy or step into their house. Yeah, everyone wants a pistol or shotgun, by then.
4) A case of lethargic because as leaders come and leaders go, the problem remains the same – high and unsolved crimes hanging around us like bad smell. Better to publish sobbing stories about crooks that got away than waste my time thinking of how the authorities are supposed to do their job of making our country safer.
5) A better pay and retention program for the police and security forces in our county may stem off the heat for awhile. However with the cost of living on the increase, I am not sure if we pay our police enough and care for their families when something happened. How much do we treasure lives in Malaysia? Only when a cop dies then we nangis and say nice things about our fallen heroes. Do we have a program to take care of the dead cop’s family and children needs? Only a lump sum of money was paid and that was supposed to last them another 10 or 15 years? Wake up everyone, we do not know how to take care of our law enforcers and people who put their lives on the line to protect us. So how do we impress on these people to take care of our security and protect us while we sleep and go about our daily lives? Who will take up policing as a career? My mother said “Choi, you wanna die young ar?” when I suggested I want to take a trial programme at the nearby police training workshop. Our mentality has to change, we need to remunerate and take care of our law enforcement officers for life because they dedicated their lives for us. Life is precious, no matter who you are.
6) We shift the responsibility to others – like polis, rukun tetangga, council, jabatan and kementerian. Why don’t we meet as concerned parents, neighbours, tenants, colleagues, customers, etc and unite our energy to find ways to make our lives safer and alert others to trouble spots? Why harp on these issues in a blog but do nothing at the grass root? I have raised this issue with an opposition MP who won at a recent 2008 election. He was too busy attending to his new duties to make time to response to me. So back to the drawing board. I think we masing-masing have to take up the initiative to protect ourselves and take time to investigate ways to improve our security. We must gather as a group to make things happen. Depending on the local police will not work because these police officers are under resourced, over work, underpaid and as long as no one dies, they will not respond quickly to you. So baik kita berdikari dan bertanggungjawab.

Why Chilvary is Dead in our Urban Cities?

Chivalry or what is left of our bits of good manners have gradually "disappear" from our modern society. If you go to the kampong, you can find good manners are aplenty from the makcik at the kedai runcit to the ah pak at the coconut drink stall. The problem with our so called “urban living” is that
1) we tend to copy western lifestyle excessively without considering the needs of others and those who are less fortunate than us
2) we tend to think selfishly of our needs only. It is all about me.
3) We love to surround ourselves with people who are the same class as ourselves – wealth, education, possessions, etc. We shy away from people who belong to the lower class – when we go to public areas, men and women tend to mingle with those they can identify with. What about those we do not know or are less fortunate? We are blind to these.
4) We put up a mask of false pretences – like we care when others pointed out to us. Are we still in school that we need to be told how to behave civilly? Well, we are still immature that we cannot be considerate of others. When I board the bus or LRT, I always back away and let people sit while I watch people behave selfishly towards the elderly, the pregnant mothers, mothers with young toddlers and etc. This is what we called living with first class infrastructure but with third class mentality. Oh, we even dirty the public toilets and wrecked the public bins because we can and we do not own it –like a bunch of delinquents we are. I captured these images every time I landed at PuduRaya, Masjid Jamek, Central Market, Chinatown and Jln TAR. What is to become of us even though we are more affluent and educated and connected to the outside world than our ancestors?
5) Alas our manners need review and “checking”. We can be courteous pending on who is looking at us. If orang putih are around us, than we go high almighty, putting on our best behaviour and show off our English and good graces. Once we are with our own kind, our good manners just flew out of the window and our mind goes wandering – hmm, what is in for me to be nice to you?
6) we think that to be courteous is invented overseas and alien to our culture. So beat it.
7) we tend to think that to be nice takes lots of effort - like trials and errors on how to say "Hi, how are you today?" or "Let me get that door for you" or "Sorry, I step on your foot". So jual mahal and pretend you did not see the other guy and march off like nothing has happened. Even ppl these days lack good manners not to sneeze openly in public or farted in the bus and LRT. Yes, they do and they stink but hey, life is made for living, not complaining.
So, everyone, take a deep breath and let live. I find the study of human behaviour very interesting as it changes with times- this is called cultural analysis or social psychology. Take time to read these and try some experiment next time you see these behaviours.
Live and let live – time is too short to harp on these shortcomings.

Gout - what is the culprit now?

Gout is quite common among adults in Malaysia. It is caused by a variety of factors which I am sure your doctor would have informed you. I had gout 20 years ago when I was busy working in the Sabah rural areas as marketing research officer. It hit me when I was just preparing to start on a month long work into the interiors of Ranau/Telupid. Oh, it was so painful it brought tears to my eyes. I could not walk unaided, I had to limp to my car so I could go to the clinic. The doctor gave me a jab to relieve the swelling on my toes on my right foot. I had to wear slippers that day. Being an office worker, I never wore slippers when I ventured outside my house. The pain went away after 40 minutes or so. Then I was given some tablets for diuretics – so that I could pass urine more frequently. Meanwhile, I was informed not to partake the following food items – alcohol, seafood (esp prawns, squids, lobster, stingray, oysters, etc), red meat and high protein meals. It was hard because I just had a party the night before at the local hotel eating butter garlic prawns. That was the culprit that triggered off my gout. What happened to you? Did you consume high protein food/meal recently? I decided I better improve my diet and lifestyle being sedentary and always sitting in the office. I started a life of sports, walking, eating more fruits, vegetables than meat, reduce alcohol and caffeine, less sugar, less salt and less seafood and more fish into my diet and everyday living. Ever since that episode, I have been gout free and more involved in life with my outdoor lifestyle. How about you? After you have recovered from this episode, could you spare to have 30 minutes for brisk walking or go to exercise in the park? Then when you are confident, try to participate in regular sports - badminton or soccer or just brisk walking around the taman. Also please review your eating habits, too.