The Gloomy Reality

What constitute to a successful Hari Raya? Is it the food? Baju raya? Duit Raya? or have Hari Raya robbed us and failed us big time?

Aidilfitri in the last few years is becoming much  lesser expected. In contrast, it was the best thing in life to anticipate. At time when i was a little boy, tirelessly running around the house and crash-sitting near my mother, panting, as she irons out and hung the new cloths in the wardrobe. I was doing projected accounting, anticipating how much I would accumulate duit raya from pak long, pak ngah, pak ciks and whole other uncles from both mother and father sides. A high probability of additional duit rayas through visiting clients or businessman as they come by my house ( through the time when my father act as branch manager at now defunct Bank Bumiputra ), uh oh, hampers, loads of hampers that we had to dedicate a whole room for hamper back in those days.  

What causes anticipation to dampen heat of Hari Raya this time? Its a dreaded situation to witness as you realized that everything comes with a (overinflated ) price tag. In the wake of gloomy job prospect, house price that aggregately takes 10 years clean salaries and mostly ever-shrinking goal post for striking a wedding date; aidilfitri celebration would have downscaled for my generation and the next generation to come. 

To participate and to outsize the previous hari raya is hurting the wallet and just a matter of ego polishing of the Malay idiosyncrasies  of 'bigger is better' that persisted since the age of Tok Kadok.  And like everyone, which had not being born into this world as badan kebajikan, opportunist suck us bone dry in name of Hari Raya; baju kurung tailor, kuih raya baker and meat butcher,with a similar tone successfully persuaded us that prices has gone up, and buying them is a necessity to show some celebratory respect marking the end of ramadhan. Come Syawal, a call for victory against mortal desire, we may just fall back into the hands of enemy we were trying to stave off  

Piece of monies

I cannot fathom the idea that Aidilfitri is vastly becoming a exposition of material prestige. A ceremony targeted for rapid commercialization that far eclipse its once collectively understood occasion for family reunion joy and long nights of ketupat preparation. On a side note, commercialization is a disease which had long necrotized Chrismas celebration in the West. The half month bonus (correct me if im wrong ) for government servant that CUEPACS succeeded to teat-squeeze from the nation coffers is just timely ahead of election. You know, the power-that-be cannot afford to say no, when nation accounting department justified it’s a definitive no. 

Having their ears hearing the rumbles of the ground, the business people had long sets their eyes on these bonus monies - they concluded that its natural for them to have a fair share, jack up the price to make it trickle down to their pockets. Private sector where my father work? they had not gained much, private companies are all about cut costs and efficiency, to find that holy grail of efficiency, they might sponsor a scientific study of maximum work load a person can do before passing out - out of their liability . Thus, Hari Raya actually drains the financial resources that never gained a notch throughout the month of Ramadhan. Primary concern regarding my father approaching retirement in coming months had bugged me to think what kind of Hari Raya would in years to come?  

Ziarah (visiting)  is one routinely done during aidilfitri but imagine those with low salaries counting their coins and calculate the mileage every liter of petrol could bring - plagued by worrying the car might have stalled mid-way through the journey. The toll discount offers wouldn’t be much of a blessing, when more tolls are popping up next to one existing. Malaysian gambled a lot in terms of penny pinching, large families would be fitted inside a sedan, almost asphalt kissing overloaded sedans scattered the highways. Thus, its a ticking time bomb when for a country that does not have a scraping programs and reliable car costs four years of untouched graduates salary. 

Meat, kerisik and santan - all essentials for rendang, is either downsized or replaced with other economically viable food like laksa. Perhaps, Aidilfitri these days gravitate towards facebook and twitter exposition, to see whose got the shiniest 2K colour baju raya or whose got the cutest siblings. Technology can intervene in many ways; almost everybody saw it coming, if anybody recalls the days of Nokia 3310, the then youngster tentatively remain buried in the sofa sharing the ringtone composition code of the blaring monophonic speaker; today, a child would smirk at the smell of kerosene from a pelita, and remained euthanized by the effects of swiping their fingers on tablet computers.

Trimming Down   

Its well understood, as we crept into the realm of competitiveness, Hari Raya celebration shall brace for downscaling. Just get what we can afford or if you don't love it, do not celebrate at all, just enough with little well wishing and ampun maaf, like we always do in other aspect of life: ala kadar. We should begin to plant the seed of subculture which adaptively shed the need for nostalgias and tone down celebrations like Hari Raya to a day or two and then its back to work. Accept it, its getting costlier. This shall be known on to our children and down the history books where the Malays are those who used to slug out seven days and seven nights to party like a rockstar for occasions like kenduri kahwin and hari raya.    

On a last note, I hope the seniors would be much more understanding in dire situations and the screwed-up generation that we belonged. We are the generation that might popped up in the wrong place; Malaysia as a country trapped in middle income crisis and its national capital being run by Myanmar and Bangladeshis - worst, wrong time, when population had perched over 7 billion level. We are the generation which bosses/employer are laughing out loud at job seekers that kept asking for more ( alas , its prostitutes trademark to basically 'asks for more' ), so please, seniors, do avoid asking what work we are doing ( as most graduates too hop so many jobs and remain unemployed ) and laugh a little lesser when you lectured us that rezeki would flow like piped water as soon as we got married - we do listen, we got nothing but time to listen, but these days, actions, cannot be more earth shattering when you are broke, jobless and limping our way out of the mess. 

The mess who created? It would be another topic to begin with, but for now, we shall begin enthuastically try to wrap our head around the idea 'to earn more, we need to work hard', lets see if working hard really rewards us in Malaysia.

The Red Notification

Social networking given us the exposure that we never thought we had before. Gone are the old days where an appearance in local television, you’ll call each and every one of your friend to remind them about your impending appearance. Timing has to be perfect and you expect everyone punctually be at their couch sipping coffee or munching any sorts tid bits to witness your grand appearance, now, the internet offers a time wrap ability where you conveniently press play, rewind and even more, share!

Social networking delivered not only as a stage to voice out, but it served as a news source. It’s a brand-less news outlet, thus, its truly a ‘peoples’ channel which the people become the journalist. The people’s news can be as accurate and quicker than that conventional type. Now, that collective voice can be tracked through ‘trending’, anything that gets people talking, it will top out the chart. And we can forget the wrath of television channel hidden agendas forced into our mind on daily basis.

You can say goodbye to the television. The idiot box is ripe for a makeover, more realistically thrown off the cliff into a lombong ( mining pond ), the television in my rented apartment is longing for a touch and had been long sleeping under a warmth of dust blanket, and those millennium babies that saw one of these idiot boxes though the screen is touchable and interactive by all means.

Thus social network had tastefully feed our hunger for entertainment. We now know what your hipster friend is listening so you can be hip as well. Those new bands who thought they would die without a record contract now can operate on their own as promotion is done virtually free virally, and distribution? Thank whom? Thank those social networks.

Social networking is not a new thing, those 80s and early 90s baby cannot deny the original ‘facebook’ is literally a ‘facebook’. It’s a physical book that is being passed around and penned down with biodata, favourite food drinks, movies and books – and for those rare occurrences – with full colour photographs! Whoa! Now social network had travelled into a new paper-less realm, beginning with Friendster followed by MySpace and learning through its predecessor mistakes, Facebook lives until today to become one of the world most valuable brands that trades on people personal information which is voluntarily given.

Social networking is becoming the extended version of ourselves. Lacking in touch with our extended self can be detrimental – some may feel ‘incomplete’ for neglecting their virtual presence. That red notification signal has some hypnotizing effect that makes us want to click them. We feel rewarded, happy and wanted by any or some way.  

Off the grid

Some are bold enough to live ‘off-the-grid’. Just like how we heard people living money-free inside an RV or dedicating oneself to become vegetarian, some had the guts to reject social network and firmly stood their ground regardless the thousand advantage proponents of social networking are throwing at them.

Social networking is akin to waters to thread in, you have to be skillful where the current is and what the tide tells. In dangerous water infested with falsehood, fear, uncertainty and doubt ( FUD ) we can be easily swayed by emotions. At the comfort of our living room, we feel confident to speak or share as we will. At the same time we feel sheltered from any consequences from the thing that we speak or share.

We may be swayed to believe that a Middle-eastern leader army just beheaded a child from an unverified photo, a famous cookie brand in Malaysia knowingly uses lard in its food manufacturing, a river had become a dumping ground for a rare-earth plant. All these FUD that exploit our unwavering concern in matters such as children, religion and rights. And we felt responsible to share them without the responsibility to verify its truth or question them.  

With social networking, we have become more susceptible to pigeonhole our friends into circles. Of those circle, we generally had the liberal circle where we allow them to view our private photos being half drunk at a club. The conservative circle had been restricted from having those privileges due to the comments and critiques they might throw at our face. Social networking had inherited the mechanism of distorted realism where oneself become truthful with selective audience. Others are just wayang.

Social network spawn a syndrome which is clinically untreatable – the TMI (too-much-information) syndrome where oneself had to share everything, from the meals they about to ingest to a pair of cute socks they worn and those messages from their phones. From that on, people are carried away to announce every personal decision they made to the whole world. We are not taught in school about what is networking and personal sharing, clearly the lines had been blurred.  

Its not the people fault anyway, social networking likes them. Plus, there is continuous demand for this kind of information. Just be careful because this readily available information can possibly bite back. It’s a matter of time – sooner or later.

Looking forward to the end of this era some had started the social network death watch. A ticking clock which foresees the demise of Facebook to the likes of MySpace and Friendster. Facebook dead? Maybe, someday…but social network is here to stay, for as long as people hunger and keep fishing for attention, the red notification retains its hypnotizing power in a different reincarnation, shapes and form.

The Freak Show

rarities, oddities, defects and such. Like human physical, the mankind emotion is full of them

There is a notion amongst moviegoers. “I want to go to cinemas and have a good time” Good time can come in several pleasant combination; a short line of  ques, problem-free ticket purchase online, a great company of friends and loved ones and warm popcorns that are not pre-packed and left to cool down along the counter. In short, a good time at cinema is a movie that does not tire your brain digesting it. It as easy as “happily living ever after” or “good triumph over evil”

Amongst the actor, they are more likely to take up good, positive and protagonist characters onto their portfolio. It poses fewer challenges. A good character does a stoic sympathetic face, It attracts good karma and garners admiration by fans. No actors/actresses badly want a prostitute, pimp or gambler role on the silver screen. Bad, for most actors is the third entity in love triangle, but not to such badassery of mentioned above roles. Off camera, there is no fear of living and being associated with bad character they brought. Its play safe.

Amongst the director they want to do an easy-to-digest movie. Like baby food, movies should be fluid and quick to pass the throat and into stomach, so that the next can be fed more and more and more. Directors dislike( in my words, failed ) to articulate characters in a subliminal way – so a gangster must obviously spoken “ lu, gua, lu, gua “ and a businessman must have emphasis on scene where they chaired meetings and discuss about selling stocks and arranging meeting with fictitious Mr.Yamamoto from Japan.

Producers choose to fund “feel good” movie. At this time of writing, feel good movies can assert itself as escapism cum fairy tale. Like the recurring theme of poor god-loving tudung girl marrying a filthy rich man but along the way, a jealous girl tries to wreck the relationship and you’ll shed a few tears before the epic ending. Suggestive titles like Dhia, Levender, Elysa, April, Qaseh and a whole lot of contemporary feminine names pulls young girls with identity clout to say “hey, this film is like a mirror to my life! Lets watch it!” adds the variety to this subgenre.

Sponsors are more likely to contribute their merchandise/product to movies that convey positive messages in it. Besides, what would a product be any good if they pour sponsorship upon actors which played the role of a , say… a pimp, a gambler or a prostitute. On a bright side, even though it made them look more pimpy and first class prostitute respectively, still, a no-go. Definitely, a clothing company wouldn’t want people saying “ Yeah! This is what a pimp/hoes/hustler use “

Is Malaysian films that FUBAR ?

I got that skeptical look from my father. “ What a bad film title!? “, he hasn’t watched Malay even Malaysian movies since forever. He is a keen movie goer. The recent title was Dream House starring Daniel Craig, which is a lukewarm Hollywood product (I admit,I watched it too). I persuaded further to convince him to watch this film, I even said it had artistic flavors of arwah Yasmin Ahmad – Plus, Syafie Naswip is amongst the cast, " Syafie Nas what...? "my father again gave me the skeptical and uncertainty look. Even the versatile late filmmaker cannot leverage the film that it’s no typical Malay movie made by someone awarded Professor Madya.

I do not even have assurance that the film would be good, I only relied on scarcely available movie reviews. I defy the old saying ‘never judge a book by its cover’, im utterly convinced by the film poster which is plain minimalistic but well thought out ( coming from architecture background, less is absolutely more )

Finally he let himself in, the whole family watched the movie at a cinema in Seberang Prai. We remained seated for the next 100 minutes, thus, exiting the cinema, we did not say much. Until at one moment my dad mentioned one of the strings of praise for the movie “ Watching Fauzi Nawawi playing a pimp is likeable! He really knows how to act! ”

Along the way back to Sungai Petani, he kept non-verbatim mentioning lines from the movie like “minta berkat” ( a scene where Shaheizy Sam being cynical to his new boss )   “ Ad! Jahanam kereta aku “ ( again Am scolded his brother spontaneously went on fire inside confinement of a wreck Saga )“ Anak kalau kecil kecil memang comel, bila dah besar, baru tau “ ( Am confronts Hawa after she refuses to sell her father-less baby to a syndicate), we laughed calling back the fragments of the film scene that still vividly runs in our mind.

On serious note, he praised the humanity aspect which is portrayed by Ad, the character which regularly visits an old prostitute and believed (or might have) been his mother. The theme and portrayal of the modus operand of human trafficking. The heavy subject which became the spotlight, and the intricate, scene by scene that unwrap the storyline very delightfully albeit with a help of thinking until the ending credits ( bet, who would like to do thinking inside a cinema? A library is probably the better place to do so ) .

My Malay-cinemaphobic dad gives 8 out of 10 rating for Songlap. Thats impressive. Isn’t that eye opening for him?

Leaving Normalcy At The Door

Songlap is a movie that will never eclipse, even, matched the collection made by Osman Alis Ombak Rindu also playing along currently. Judging by the attendees of the cinema that day (Saturday) , Songlap might not recover their filming budget of RM1.5 million. But Songlap successfully distanced itself from other archetypical Malay (yes, im tired of using the word typical ) as a brave realist sociocritique movie. It did more than distance, but joins a niche distinct class of its own following the footsteps of Perempuan Jalang dan … )

On socioritique alone, a film cannot fascinate. Songlap cannot achieve this without a combination of chemically compatible cast, intuition-defying storytelling , witty scripts and daring filming methods. Front lined by triple-S ( Shaheizy, Syafie and Sara Ali ), these actors really packed a punch to provide consistent drive force to the film. Shaheizy Sam which I started to notify how startling his acting when he played a blind man in a teledrama years ago, never disappoints. Sam move to never let ( or he got tired )‘Metrowealth’ encapsulate him and sucking him dry on recurring stagnant themes , is definitely a smart move. What recurring theme? Well, a hint, In Songlap, his character, Am, owns a car to spin around Yipee! Syafie Naswip acting has found new leash of life after the departure of Yasmin Ahmad. Sara Ali ,an architecture degree holder in real life, effectively plays the moody post-natal mother of child born out of wedlock

Secondary ensemble, includes Normah Damanhuri which played an old hoes and takes rm30 per half hour of feel good session, he is accompanied with Chipun, a pimp that would woo men and women to visit his red lit little ‘happy house’, he is brilliantly played by Fauzi Nawawi. Eliza Wong played Mama, a women that runs the baby mill house and his strings of Chinese staff that forged documents through Photoshop CS5, cooks and manage the house. Omar Abdullah plays a father that shamelessly raped his daughters ( yes, raped two daughter to get that animalistic libido done )

Intuition defying is best described when audience actually nodded or bemoans oh! and ah! at certain important juncture of the story. I was led to believe the story would be going somewhere, but as the seam connects, it turns out to be the other way around. Yet it still floats and maintains my keen to follow-on till finishing, nothing of the misleading crap that makes you want to walk out of cinema.

Finding dark and tight corners in KL for filming to realize the sinful nature of the film theme is a technical challenge. In Songlap there are no Japanese sport cars burning its rubbers on Dataran Merdeka or exploding upon crash, the focus of cinematographer is  simply human emotions – and to capture the dynamics of human emotion from stressed, to fear, to hopelessness, to the expensive 'I-don’t-know what to say’ face is priceless. Added doing scenes during night time? Clearly a humongous challenge there. No wonder even Professor Madya like to do daytime scene and having comedian-actor ensemble to do….., what else…., comedies, because that’s the challenges befitting the title Professor Madya.

Effendee Mazlan and Fariza Azlina Isahak are penggiat seni that have closed the 2011 chapter of Malaysian film industry with an eye opener, for those who chooses to still take the dreamboat washed by ombaks and gelora, that’s their choice. We cannot line them up and force them to watch something as realist as SONGLAP. Life is not all about sugar, SONGLAP hits me like a freak show, A freak show would have weird human oddities, defects and abnormalities for display – oddly enough SONGLAP had drawn similar projection of the ugly heads of whats life and how people got through it, felt as good as reading Shahnon Ahmad Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan, A.Samad Said Salina and Abdullah Hussein IMAM .


 I did walk out of cinema hall feeling good after all.

The Atelier #1: Scaling Back and Staying Relevant in Architecture

Welcome to 'The Atélier', a series of blog entry I specially made for thoughts on architecture. On this pilot entry, I shall describe in layman terms the harsh reality architecture as a career. And the vast possibility when architecture embodied as a 'spirit'. Nothing spooky okay.

Welcome to architecture. A career where its participant would aim for the stars. If you doesn’t come from an architecture background, names like Mies Van Der Rohe, Rem Koolhaas, Santiago Calatrava and Antonio Gaudi would sprung series of mental imagery of buildings you commonly see in magazines or places you have visited before. By the way, those architects are some of legends which had carved their names in the architecture constellation – something like sailors do when compass doesn’t exist. We look up to them when we are lost, but it seems most of us never admitted we are forever lost

But times have changed, and as the architecture field gets crowded, your chance to carve a name in the constellation becomes faded. The architecture field has not become a field of passion, but extreme competition, client demands, cut costs and dog eats dog cannibalistic scene. Architects would work to extreme hours next to nothing, sight of blankets and toothbrush at workplace is nothing uncommon. It pays barely pays your bills and emerging architects overtook you from behind fleecing your clients with further ridiculously lower prices for such valuable design advisory you had your neurons spark for with the help of caffeine.

Present economic volatility had construction industry halted or slowed down to a snail pace. Malaysia is no more in its glorious boom seen in mid 80s. Construction is guaranteed the first to be affected and even get out of the clout. I fondly remembers my lecturer saying “ a sign of healthy economy is shown through the construction industry “. Even so, when times are good, your client would never forgets the discounts given when you scrambled for living during hard times, so, the struggle becomes a vicious cycle and balancing act on a tight rope of karma and luck.

Architecture firms are getting much more like hypermarkets. Only big firms seems to cut the deal and mopped the floor clean, if they employ you, they pay you real cheap, you are taxed for being in a well-known firms.  While the smaller firms folds or survives on unique idiosyncrasies that majority of people wouldn’t seen it necessary.

But amidst the frustration the real world doesn’t give a F of your superb green design or poetic aesthetic light-coming-through-a-froghole features, there is no need to throw off the hat. Architecture is a versatile knowledge. It lets you swerve and maneuver with plenty of room keeping your mental faculty occupied and your hard earned college credits relevant. Architecture spirit simply doesn’t quit on us. It’s a matter of we quitting on them.

Alternative careers for architects are endless. I always picture Architecture as an accumulation of several branches from the tree of knowledge. We learn to articulate our ideas ( mostly bullshitting thou ), so we are naturally public speakers and happily accept offers to give any fiery speeches at a rally. We learn how to sketch, so we can utilize that and illustrate wonderful things ( and probably gets into someone pants, I mean, their pockets). We calculate things, our calculus mastery is somehow superior, few notches behind engineers, but, yah, still commendable. We learn to read people minds, we learn to understand the current trends and most importantly -  we design.

Identity by design

Design is always something which people disregard. Nissan, as a case, had suppressed its car designers in turn for cut costs with awful plastic and interior upholstery selection. Nissan nearly went bankrupt when Charles Ghosn, the new CEO, had given designers more freedom in designing and material selection and Nissan fortunes began to turn.  

Apple Inc. the makers of iMac, iPod, iPhone and other i-whatever-devices had similar blunt decision to disregard design. Before Steve Jobs were at the helm, a corporate trained leader was at the top, telling designers to forgo their wet dreams and instead ordering manufacturer to boost up production. Their products failed to sell and had been stockpiling like an old junk. Apple was at terminal stage when Old Steve Jobs took over.

Steve Jobs, being an innovator at heart recognizes design as part of product and subsequently, company identity. In 1998, we saw the candy colored iMacs, from then on; Apple design has been simply stunning and refreshing. The rest is history.

The rooms are there for us, there are people who attentively listens and humanely considers what we do to an extent that doesn’t diminish our creative flair. The Architecture spirit is never confined to the design-follows-budget stigma. Architects like Hijjas Kasturi who had come to great heights locally finds time in to designing watches, lifts and yatches. Why such figure wants to scale back to designing petty stuff that people rarely use? Has he lost his prestige? 

Nah, IHMO, Its because the spirit of architecture roams everywhere, architects can wake up at 4 in the morning and went to the drawing table just to sketch an eclectic space inside a home. Nobody stops them, because ideas comes like a squall or gust and goes away quickly.

Arkitek Kampung

Scaling back of our dreams means we don’t have to murder our Architecture spirit. Instead of licking the floors at big firms and envisioning to construct the next  300 floor towers, try looking at the community level. Architecture can contribute a lot to the society by improving the existing spaces. It doesn’t mean an excavated clear ground is always our playground, present spaces can be our canvas of creativity.  May it be a kindergarten, taska, wet market, 4 footers, 6 footers or Sunday flee market, these spaces desperate for an architect’s Midas touch.

Architecture also needs perception change with people unfamiliar with them. Parents expect us to design multistory complex for a multinational companies whatsoever and laughing our way to the bank with millions, while it seems viable ideally, the contrasting reality seeks architects to dedicate their energy in a different way. In college, I was though about simple installations, a panel or mirrors or just string encompassed in-a-way to concentrate certain qualities of a site – the genius loci, blending and respecting what came earlier to the place - this is the next of architecture.

 The imagery of heavy pile driver and noisy bulldozer chasing like cats and mouse on-site should be applied with much more opacity to it. Architecture now is no longer an all-out intrusion but a tacit intervention, just like Glenn Murcutt quote “Touching the earth lightly ”

Architects were also given task to give a new leash of life onto old building. Cities like Malacca, Penang and KL has plenty of pre-merdeka building that needs restoration to retain their beauty and historical value. There also might be a fine-tasted financier who would want to turn old walls into exciting place for candlelight dinners. We, architects, can step up to the plate.

Architects can be a bona-fide superhero. When crimes arise in densely populated cities, it’s the responsibility of architects to help the society out. We change the existing landscape from crime prone to something safer and better for people. Little changes like straightening of streets and installation of lamp posts make a huge difference!

In short, these hard times had architects arrested for upward growth, but who cares, we grow sideways. We reconsider and explore new possibilities and keep the architecture spirit (yes, architecture is a spirit, not profession ) relevant throughout times.

The Entrusted

Entrusted to the boarding centre, the cats were left for a week to starve and die. Now, we humans in Malaysia, how much longer can we entrust those we entrusted ?

Recent news headline sees a cat boarding centre had neglected their promise which had caused 13cats dead. They had shattered and infuriate many cat owners which had trusted them wholeheartedly to take care of their cats while they went on for festive holiday season in various parts of the nation. No words can describe how shaken these pet lovers had felt, in return, the alleged owners of the pet boarding service offered an apology citing they were shorthanded, plus, they wanted to sue pet owners responsible for breaking into their premises in order to rescue the distressed pets.

Between broken premises and broken promises. Which one has a higher magnitude? Don’t need to be shock with the outcome. Amidst the ruckus of pointing fingers and blame game, one direction had struck me: the tax collector

I recently found the wise words of Mohandas Gandhi: “One can measure the greatness and the moral progress of a nation by looking at how it treats its animals”. It is no less true in this case when we failed to provide good treatment onto animals, which are non-talking beings, it would imply mankind would simply treated as bad, or borderline bad, nothing beyond satisfactory, excellent would be farfetched – this is all cukup makan.

Difference between a ‘food’ and ‘real food’

Cukup makan mentality exists in bazaar Ramadhan. No, its not about the food portion where it is just too little. We petite Asians do not eat huge serving portions like fellow Arab, European or Americans. It’s a hurting to walk at the stalls seeing foods were prepared in reluctant and somewhat deceitful . Unethical business practice like putting too much ice instead of juices are widely spoken for years, but we had been a slave to cukup makan culture that we surrender and swallow after all these types of food. Going to bazaar ramadhan is akin to looking for a speck of diamonds in a teaspoon of sands – it takes both sides of brain to precisely calculate and abstractly judge. Well, some may argue food preference is something very subjective. But take a stranger to a bazaar, and let them pick the food randomly. There will be an undoubted sense that the poor stranger would end up forcing untasteful food down his/her throat rather than feeling satisfied.

The usual Malay response would not favor much the ‘customer first’ etymology taught in business school worldwide, instead we go the emotional way “ kalau nak sedap buatlah sendiri makanan yang nak makan tu”, while no one utter that, the action speaks louder than word, if hard proof is needed, then, look forth on food poisoning cases nationwide during Ramadhan. If I were to pass on a RM5 note on a meal, I expect it to be good, well prepared and tasty for my buka puasa. I do not expect anything bombastic with an exquisite garnishing or lavish content. I have idea how hotel food tastes like, and when I stepped to a bazaar ramadhan, I knew I wanted a real food which that suits my bujang and single status. (Yes, if I had a wife or girlfriend, I’ll asks her to cook )

My RM5 note is undervalued in bazaar ramadhan. My RM5 plastic tear-free note would compensate the worker time, energy and cover the basic material spend on those food. I entrusted them with my RM5, but its too little for them. Recycled oil, old vegetables, bland, half cooked, greasy - the seller don’t care “kalau engkau tak nak beli, ramai lagi datang nak beli “What I get is food. Edible but, its just a food. But I sought ‘real food’

Where can I find real food? I instead went to Carrefour and bought some lamb shoulder and grilled them to well-done tenderness, I bought pastas and made ala-carbonara and Alhamdulillah, I cooked a dozen time for both buka puasa and sahur I had this year. I got my ‘real food’, but there is a price to pay for that.

Robbed

If I’m shortchanged of my RM5 by reluctant bazaar ramadhan operators, how about those who pay taxes by the thousands ringgits per year. The citizens which entrusted other by the thousand ringgit. Do they feel shortchanged ( or worst, robbed? ). The answer is very apparent about what perception floating in the air regarding of our ‘tax collector’ and ‘how the money made use’.

Take for instance, tuition centres. We…pardon me, I mean.. tax collectors dedicate a lot on education expenditure every year. Indeed, when you travel around, many new schools are being built. existing schools is busy undergoing extension and erection of new blocks, with new classrooms comes new tables and chairs, new appliances, laptops and textbooks given out, likely iPad would be given out in near future. Teachers are being trained and re-trained annually without exhaustion and syllabus were being reviewed almost every time the minister responsible changes. Big words are being used like ‘transformasi’ ‘perubahan’ ‘anjakan’ ‘berprestasi tinggi’ ‘bestari’ etc, etc. which makes a lovely headlines

But parents still has the urgency to send their children to tuition centre because what their children get in school is considered ‘insufficient’. Although tuition centre doesn’t replace school as a prime avenue to get taught, tuition cannot be dismissed altogether. It seems school and tuition co-exists with an irony that tuition centre teachers mostly school teachers too.

Malaysian kids could claim valuable time doing outdoors, bonding with family or doing something outside-the-schema – but instead when the school system failed to address this, the classroom hours extended into the night, in the form of tuition; with 8pm to 10pm classes, weekends eats up by more tuition and further intensive tuition towards the last minute. It has been ingrained within the minds of parents nowadays, similar to the bazaar ramadhan eulogy, “ kalau mahu yang sedap, buatlah sendiri”. You get ‘education’ and shut up, be thankful of that. Forget ‘real education’ and whatever it meant.

You have to swallow that a school is not responsible for academic excellence, incapable on its own of turning a child into an all-rounder, and if so, they don’t mean to sculpt your children to become outstanding, superior or distinguishing –teachers are there not to seek your child talent and refine them, they have strict schedule to complete. Unless, if you want so, please do spend more that you have paid with your tax, send them to intensive tuition centres or private schools which uses special syllabuses.

Robbed Again

Security is another apparent area where we got robbed. Housing areas in Klang Valley and other big town had similar sight of one-man guardhouse with roadblocks, what they’ll do is asks for your MyKad number – a nuisance during rush hour or during festivities where your relatives comes over– then, after obtaining your ID, they’ll let you pass and bury themselves in the guardhouse equipped with a FM radio. These guards, usually Bangladeshis or Nepalese, need wages, their wages were not borne by the tax collector, instead, tax payer had to cough additional money to pay directly to these guard.

Additional money were spend installing trident grills and other scary contraception that block the drains and other openings from any walking and talking organism. Give and take no chance, and the next thing they realized is they are living in the safety of their own prison, surrounded by these intimidating hardscapes of walls, barriers, gates and roadblocks replacing the green lungs and landscape.

A minister holding this portfolio, previously responsible for the education, loves making statistical headlines in the news. Powerful and confidence-inducing words like ‘improvements’ ‘extra personnel’ ‘crime reduction’ ‘mobile stations’ litter the daily, when something tangible are much comforting rather than rhetoric. Acid splasher, raided mamak stalls and snatch thieves; these would put a dim to our days and days ahead.

Like Apple Inc. announcing new products in San Fran with Steve Jobs looking all casual. You all know how Steve Jobs would begin his presentation boasting about numbers. Millions, thousands, hundreds in pie charts, graphs, quotations. Once in six months or so, a convention hall is rented and open for public to announce these claims in a eventful ways . ‘improvements’ ‘extra personnel’ ‘crime reduction’ ‘mobile stations’ … sorry, the safety of our citizen is not a matter of Applesque reality distorting presentations. Serious change is needed.

Back to Gandhi wise words: “One can measure the greatness and the moral progress of a nation by looking at how it treats its animals”. Logic is animals couldn’t speak, and if they were given certain rights and protected properly, it’s a guarantee, humans can go beyond that. But what we have witnessed here, animals are left to rot by persons which had been entrusted, and humans sooner or later may fell to that state of despair where its fine to rot, a green light given by the people we entrust. Today, our level is borderline – cukup makan. and who cares, we are not aiming to be a great nation after all.

The Proton Saga

remember when the first iPod was a little inferior mp3 player without a FM-tuner? Well, tables have turned biotches!

It bemuses me to see somewhere in July 2009 Proton releases a variant of second generation Proton Saga called Saga SE (Special Edition, I assume). I stumbled upon its printed ad where a man looks on to the readers. With his spiky Korean-esque hairstyle, beside him is the same man, with the same shirt and staring the same way at the readers only difference donning an overgrown shades. The punchline of this printed ad is “ Tampak Perbezaannya! “ ( which means noticeable difference )

Never mind, the differences. No doubt, It exists in a littlest form. Proton Saga SE prominent change was the black painted roof to mimic a panoramic roofed cars. And screamed “ Tampak Perbezaannya! “

Seems like Proton has thrown a blanket of sarcasm onto itself; akin to spitting in the air only to see the spit landed back in its face. Moving back in time, the first-generation Proton Saga has been a subject of discreet yet strong criticism, one thing is for sure: Proton likes selling 18 year old models. In a desperate bid to push old models for people to swallow, little cosmetics modifications were made. Such as brushed metal gearknobs, larger circumference air-cond vent for our warm tropical weather, futuristic designer dashboards, aggressive fog lights, and a more contemporary ‘Saga’ badge at the butt. The above mentioned ‘features’ lined up the Proton Saga catalogue to woo potential buyers. Other car manufacturer had their catalogue brimmed with real engineering-backed features that literally bubbles salesperson mouth with automotive knowledge to the bleeding edge, if I may say.

Of course, Its hard to build a car, or introduce practical automotive innovation nevertheless, to market it effectively. If making cars were such an easy business, people would have made it in their backyards. But the national carmaker messy line up of models seems like Proton is taking its shot in the dark of the vast vehicle market. Mid-sizes hatchback like Gen.2 has to share market spaces with Waja and Persona sedan. The Satria Neo two-doors compete with Savvy fighting for the young. They wanted to make utility vehicle (discontinued Arena a.k.a Jumbuck ),they had an executive vehicle ( Perdana ) they wanted to initiate in-house performance tuning arm ( R3 ) and they enrolled themselves in rallies of different categories all over the world. What is Proton trying to relay to us with all this?

It was the introduction of the MPV Exora that I began to realize that Proton could possibly reemerge as a small but significant car manufacturer in the world by targeting the value-seeking family-oriented motor transportation.

Sweet Spot Strategy

When AirAsia started offering low fares flight, we wondered how AirAsia is going to pay its pilot? Stewardess and its staffers? Initially we had a paradigm of air travel being reserved for the affluent. Not forgetting pilots and their handsome wages. Did they use fourth-hand aircraft that would split into two in mid-air? Did they pay drop-out pilots that lacked training? Do they use rethreaded aircraft tyres?

As time passes, we become comfortable and convinced with the word ‘now everyone can flies’. Travelling with airasia is casual slippers and Bermuda, undiscriminating, had turned a blind eye to the how-much-you-earn factor. Minus the frills yet people can still say ‘ tak adalah cikai sangat naik AirAsia’

At first MAS did not respond to this model. Perhaps they perceive the future of airtravel is a two layer strata of executive high-end experience and low-budget airlift. Advantage is never on AirAsia side, they were initially denied to some travel routes, had scarce aircraft and uses the cheaper less architecturally versatile LCCT which nobody would upload to Facebook.

But things turned out differently. MAS had a series of financial hiccups requiring several management shuffling and administration changes. They had to sell off their building in Jalan Raja Laut. On the other hand, Airasia thrives and continued to expand. Today, although not being told, by guesstimating, AirAsia could be several times bigger than MAS and would eat the latter any time.

Airasia must have figured out the sweet spot of air travelers. They delivered the basic services demanded and cut/lessen the icing off to offer a noticeable better deal than the national carrier. But vital to this success is to sell it in volumes. Very large volume.

In a scenario where great competition involves between two or more company, a strategy seems likely the light out of the dark tunnel. The sweet spot strategy. We all knew like AirAsia, Proton had little to less advantage in its side. Proton is ages behind to compete with the likes of Porsche with its vast hall of fame of automotive innovation starting from Dr. Ferdinand Porsche (whom designed tank turrets for breakfast). Nevertheless to challenge Subaru or Mitsubishi with their mean blazing fast all-wheel driven performance cars engineered gram by gram.

Proton should consider sweet spotting the car market. And by all means, Malaysian market if it’s feasible enough. Make a vehicle that people needed the most, design it wisely, price it nicely, dedicate their engineers to this model, update it frequently and push it with volume. One particular candidate is the second generation Saga. Particularly the Saga FL.

Why is the second-gen Saga is the best? Because Proton branded Saga as the ‘peoples car’ hence it suppose to behave like one. It is suitably sized for a young family of two kids with ample space for bags during balik kampung, equipped with adequate 1600cc of engine displacement that guzzle octane prudently, modestly designed to agitate a Kancil, reliability from wiper to electric windows and attractively priced. With these factors, Proton can push this single model in large volumes and probably crawl out of the red.

In fact, the amazing rollout of Saga FL had pushed Proton sales numbers over Perodua sales!

Proton doesn’t have to feel ashamed with lacking its in-house performance tuning arm. A miniscule of motor vehicle user would be such enthusiast to morph their vehicle into a mean machine of highway dominator. Proton can drop models that isn’t necessary to its aspiration making better returns.. If we assume Malaysian thirst for nimble city transporter, a ‘peoples car’, and a spacious large family vehicle ( plus, affordability applied to all subsequently ) then Savvy, Saga and Exora would be great to start off. Lacking of models? Roll out face-lifts say, every 8 months and replacement every 24months and people would flock Proton showroom like Apple store.

Make the entry generous

For almost every company, the entry level product is the eye opener. The closest approach for first impression. It’s a segment where car manufacturers can be generous to people who seek value, run for their money, bang for buck or whatever you may call it in marketing mumbo-jumbo. It’s usually much affordable product in the line-up. Think entry level for first time car buyers. Think Honda City, Think Toyota Vios, Think Mazda2. In order to create brand following, the entry level model is great place to start.

Proton offering comes in the form of Saga. Proton gave the production name of Saga as BLM or Base-line model, thus imply its target market segment. Currently on its second generation, the Saga FL (referring to facelift) bares a remarkable new facade. The introduction of Saga FLX proves that Proton commitment to lure this market segment. The FLX offers a real engineering-backed feature through the inclusion of CVT ( Continuous Variable Transmission ) Powertrain – which no other models had to offer, except the Mitsubishi Lancer-derived Inspira.

CVT, in laymen terms, offers a smoother transmission through variation of pulley diameter. In other words gear change is adjusted according to your driving style. If you’re hard pedaling a delay in gear shifts are made to deliver more powah. If you’re cruising, a different gear ratio is engaged to keep fuel consumption at minimum. Im glad, these are much more deserving automotive features rather than USB Ports, skirting or chrome-like lining on air-con vent holes. And that’s an X-factor of Saga FLX, a pleasant addition to the Proton entry level model.

Kudos to Proton, and if they are really aggressive to bring out more to Saga, they might have a winner model here. Roll it, wrap it and let the people say “Tak adalah cikai sangat Proton Saga”

The Brave New World

Cikgu Shidah, Milano Evans, 100 Apology Tweet and Rebecca Black – these are real people presented to you, they emerged and made a pass into your life. Internet life is fun and beneficial, but like real life they are risks involved and big brothers frantically watches you in ways creepier than you can never imagine.

I can’t help thinking about those people who instilled such high hopes doing broadcasting in the yesteryears, to break into the television world was such a tight and closed loop of beautifulpeople and rich man, you know the 1990s images of The Bold and Beautiful. Things definitely changed, people which had zero broadcasting backgrounds ( perhaps, without the ‘package’) however successfully broad casted their creative ideas, thoughts and showmanship with higher viewership- remember Cikgu Shidah and her rendition of Shakiras’ waka-waka?

Then we had come to the ‘Rebecca Black Effect’ that light heartedly proven to be a successful failure. Such failures were so epic that people celebrate them for whatever idiocy or despicability it embeds. Yet, her millions of view is a testament that people approves (if not really wanted) such things. People never felt vindicated by bleeding their eyes out of the television programming did to the masses once in their prime monopolistic moment – all they need to do in this internet era is press stop and move onto other videos, yeah, they can drop a comments too.

Few days back, the appearance of Milano Evans ( not her real name) puts a stroke of laughter in our life seeing a 14 year old girl blogged admitting she is not virgin anymore ( seriously, in a place like Malaysia). Luckily our community had long been/never been a Taliban mindset, her nose had been spared. Milano Evans put up a resistance of her admittance. Response ranges from supporting her staunch feminism and rights to control the usage of her reproductive organs to the way she liked it, to those who regarded her outspokenness is quite foolish when other girls would have lost their virginity but remained hush hush and some quarters had prayed to God so that she will be “shown the light”. Oh yeah, the baulk of commentators were swearing to do unworldly harms towards her. Me? I remained at the sidewalk as observer to this unraveling ruckus.

Then, there is the 100 tweet of apology story. It happened here. An activist, who tweets about a company HR policy being unfair towards his pregnant friend which were then working ewith that particular company. The company, BluInc Media, publisher of Malaysian Female magazine reached a settlement for him to write a hundred tweet apologizing to avoid defamation suit. He successfully reached 100 tweets within 3 days and gathered much support from the followers. With that, we ponder on what kind of law and order internet shall have? Can it become a beacon of truth which spreads fact which are sensitive for certain organization, such as his employer if they did do some unjust. Or would internet become an anarchist nation, with varying rules for each states? Who could rule and moderate internet? Why it should be moderated? Define Internet abuse? Does internet abuse exist? An endless circle of cat and rat games that extent to religion with fellow Muslim asking - when someone tweet they are in a mosque, does that constitute to ‘riak’? (doing of things for publicity)

Life on show, like its nobody business

As an architecture student, I firmly believe that value of properties would be indirectly set by the amount of foursquare check-ins. The more check-ins, the higher market value a property shall gain. This makes sense as they are reliable piece of data, highly accurate and happily contributed by the participant itself. Imagine you and me; we were a partner intended to open a café, we would very much seeking strategic location that could cater to as many potential customers as possible. We could just skimmed the data of where the people love to hang out. Forget the handing out of questionnaire in public spaces, just a waste of tree.

Or perhaps that café would only serve lunch. Then, I would skim the foursquare check-ins, I shall specifically look at which place the crowd would be during lunch time. Bam! There I have it, a spot for restaurant perfect for lunch seeking monsters.

This can be applied to anything specific. A gay bar, a hair saloon or a caviar selling al-fresco diner; these are target specific requirements. Where Gays usually hangs out? Where do caviar lover gather? To detect where are they heading to is impossible ( if breaking privacy law) unless, when they willingly check-in through mobile apps like foursquare –doing it willingly telling everyone where they are without breaking into somebody privy life ( did I just took the word from Mark Zuckerberg? )

But how do we know those people are Homosexual? High Income? Or vanity obsessed? Well, the dynamics of data collection through mobile apps is not rocket science or hypnotic magic. Gay people may openly admit their sexual orientation through social networks, even if they don’t, the pages they liked, the celebrities they followed and websites they visited, music they listens and movies they watched – these all combined can determine your gayness in some way.

You may ask does Google dedicate its staff to stalk 24/7 and determine gay people. No. These are what we called ‘algorithms’. When gay people, for instance (no discrimination intended), often visits particular websites which if many of them do, at a sustained rate, it creates a pattern. Other examples; book lovers would often watch movies that were adapted from books and drops by Google to read those reviews; while petrol heads watch automobile related reviews on YouTube – all of these searches are registered for each computer thus it provides a pattern, when Google knows you read too much books of a particular author or obsessed with cars of specific make, their advertisements were tuned according to your searches. Again, simple non-rocket science thing.

High Income people, how could you find them online? We used to judge them by the cars that they owned, but generally people are getting lesser on the road. There is a mobile apps which updates your Facebook profile with credit card purchase. Once you swiped the plastics the data is instantly uploaded and appears for your friends to envy: “John/Jane Doe had purchased a Zara Type X Jeans @ Pavilion KL at RMxxx.xx “, these are regarded as something fun for people who allowed them (for me its snobbish and showing off), yet, for Google it’s a valuable data. They encourage you to do so, these data of purchases you made through credit card will determine not only your affluence, but your purchase habit (and your low IQ and enthuastic show-offing). Google can sell these data to other jeans maker like Guess, or brands alike that you are willing to spend a bomb on jeans pants alone.

Relationship status, Credit card purchases and daily ranting, all can appear for public consumption anytime, anywhere. With all these, comes the issue of privacy. In a brave new world where people had happily exposes personal things akin to being in a birthday suit strolling along nude beach. We share too much on the net that it had no ceiling to all these. Of course, Internet is about volatility you change whenever you want when we enter different phases of life where you no longer want to be ‘nude’. But your old life of being carefree ‘nude’ still lingers in the internet realm. That’s when nasyid singer past life photos can leak and reveal their shocking past, which people dig this.

But, above all these paranoia of internet privacy, concerns of internet reputation and freedom of speech. Google, Facebook and Apple loves what we do on the internet right now. Sharing of information when you regard your life is akin to an hour of telefilm. The three tech giants skimmed through your internet behavior and status updates and iPhone SMS inbox to study you like you are a lab rat. When you think its nobody business to tell people what you eat, wear or whom you’re with – the three giants made your data as their business.

A week of foursquare check-ins is sufficient for them to create a pattern of your behavior and predict almost accurately where you would be next. Employer skimmed through profiles to screen possible workers, so they wouldn’t employ a chap like the one would defame its own HR department. The internet is a scary place to be in, if you know how things works inside them.