Screenshots

With the last stocking stuffed...

Let's keep the beautiful yuletide stories and legends alive.

Post Office restaurant, Leura, Blue Mountains NSW | Jeff Ooi

Imagine Santa Claus as someone who took it upon himself to fulfill the dreams of many a kid around the world, that he will ride the reindeer sledge to deliver Christmas presents in snowy weather, year after year, Christmas after Christmas. The little girls and boys just need to be good the whole year round, think of the sacrifices of Jesus on Silent Night, and they will wake up to a stuffed stocking placed by their bedside.

It's summer in the Blue Mountains and the sun sets way after 7pm. I was waiting for dinner at the Post Office restaurant at the beautiful little town called Leura, and this Santa in solitude struck me.

I was looking at the last parcel of the Christmas present that Santa must have kept for someone dear to us.

Could it be for Obama so that the US auto industry can be saved with the US$17.4 billion bail-out that Bush will hand over to him next month, and that in return, the whole world doesn't have to go broke in bailing out US in the year to come?

Merry Christmas everyone!

Heritage & Eco Tours

UPDATED VERSION, with random pictures. Life had been like a treadmill since September 2007 for me since I made up my mind to participate in the political struggle as a Malaysian. There seemed to be no starting and ending point with the daily mind work and manoeuvres at the grassroot networking level. In short, life has been really tough for myself and my family as we don't see each other as much as before.

December is the time to reflect on the year past, withdraw oneself from the daily hustle-bustle, and to refresh and recharge. So I thought.

In the end, I chose to make a two-week tour of three Unesco World Heritage sites in Australia, two of which I had visited before, in the 1990s during my post-grad days, and two of which are essentially eco-tourism marvels I had failed to discover beyond their visible beings. Hopefully, I can share the real-life experiences in immersing oneself in a World Heritage setting to contribute a detached perspective to Penang's George Town that has now been so cluttered with opinions dispensed by so many I-know-bests in town.

With the help of my friends at Gem Travels & Tours Sdn Bhd, I was showered with hospitality of various kinds. Tourism New South Wales, through its Singapore and Sydney offices, had been kind to host me in Sydney, and the inside of the Sydney Opera House (listed in 2007), and the Blue Mountains (listed in 2000). I also decided to self-pay for an extension to Tasmania to savour the beauty of Bruny Island, a haven for eco-tourism, and the Tasmanian Wilderness (listed in 1982 and 1989).

Here's a calm-before-the-storm image of the Kettering Jetty, overlooking Bruny Island backdropped against the unpredictable four-seasons-in-a-day weather in Tasmania.

Kettering Jetty, Tasmania | Jeff Ooi

To be kind to my family, we assembled at Queensland after I had completed my version of world heritage and eco tours. There were lessons for all of us to immerse in the culture of conservation of endangered animals as we enjoyed the presentation among by-standers in the crowds paying tribute to the late Steve 'Crikey' Irwin.

Seaworld, Gold Coast, Queensland | Jeff Ooi

Australian Zoo, Beerwah, Queensland | Jeff Ooi

Seaworld, Gold Coast, Queensland | Jeff Ooi

Australian Zoo, Beerwah, Queensland | Jeff Ooi

And this time, I am travelling without the aid of a notebook computer and Internet. (The itch in me is that I needed to rent a 60-minute slot to upload this blog entry, just to inform you of my online absence.)

Real World Issues

On the mundane side, I had the opportunity to study several issues currently haunting the Kevin Rudd administration, notably about Australia's attempt to filter the Internet, retreating from an election rhetoric in setting targets to reduce carbon emission that caused global warming, Australia's controversial tender process in building a national broadband network that excludes dominant incumbent Telstra, and private/public-run higher education centres whose revenues are no plagued by slowing economy.

I also found some time to take a look at the high definition TV (HDTV) currently available on four free-to-air stations.

The gadgets that kept me in company on this trip is the brand new 8mp smart phone LG Renoir (LC910), courtesy LG Malaysia; Blackberry Bold, which I have been reviewing fro the last three months, courtesy Celcom; and Garmin nüvi® 770 GPS unit, an upgraded version of the one I used in Jelutong some ten months ago during the GE2008.

Railway, Scenic World, Blue Mountains NSW | Selena Ooi

There are lots of pictures -- though I am severely crippled because sluggish Nikon Malaysia couldn't service my D3 in time before I left, and I was restricted to the single body of D300 and changing lenses is such a nuisance. Besides the travelogue pictures, the endearing moments had been meeting up old friends (AK Chan, Allan Francis in Melbourne, all Malaysia's Brain-drains) and new ones (Ong, Shubul and Kaarina in Tasmania) and Shaina in Leura.

In Tasmania, I was showered with the first-time-in-my-life opportunity to capture a full, double-layer rainbow on camera. It was about 10km after Swansea, a serene fishing town nestling on the Great Oyster Bay, heading towards Hobart. I didn't have time to dry the lens as the rain kept dropping and the rainbow in the setting sun disappeared in a quick two-minute. (Been there done that, I am looking forward to the promised bowl of gold in 2009 ;-)

Ten kilometres from Swansea, on the way to Hobart | Jeff Ooi

I deeply regret that, due to time constraints, I had to come back for the Unesco-listed Tasmanian Wilderness some other time. The steam-engine train is still chucking away with puffing smokes, waiting for me there in Strahan.

Oh yes, there is a George Town in Tasmania, off Launceston. I made it a point to go there because there is a 1833 lighthouse standing at the cape of Low Head, and I had always been infatuated with historical lighthouses (see here and here). Can't miss!

George Town, Tamar River Valley, Tasmania | Jeff Ooi

Low Head lighthouse, George Town, Tasmania | Jeff Ooi

Be that as it may, there were most enriching moments throughout the tour as it enabled me to stop building bubble castles about what to do with a World Heritage listing, like Penang's George Town (listed in 2008) that tends to give you mixed feelings when opinions about its future cluttered the present.

We gotta go out there, see how the rest of world goes round. And get real.

See you in 2009.

Rush-it bills

Systemic reforms in Malaysia?

The sleeping beauty seldom makes his appearance to occupy the Prime Minister's seat in the Parliament these days. However, he appeared today to table two bills for first reading at the Dewan Rakyat at 11.45am, namely the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission Bill and Judicial Appointment Commission Bill.

Subsequently, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abd Aziz tabled four other bills, also for first reading in the Dewan Rakyat. The bills are Pensions (Amendment Bill), Statutory and Local Authorities Pensions (Amendment) Bill, Pensions Adjustment (Amendment) Bill and Judges' Remuneration (Amendment) Bill.

Not surprisingly, another of the PM's 2004 election pledges named Special Complaints Commission (SCC) -- the watered-down version of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) bill where a draft of which was prepared by the Royal Commission -- did not see the light of day for it to be tabled any time soon in the Parliament.

Out-going

The outgoing Umno president, who usurps the role of the country's current Prime Minister, told the House that the second and third reading of both the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission Bill and Judicial Appointment Commission Bill would be held in this Parliament session which would end on Dec 18, and the Bill given to us Members of Parliament says the Act will come into operation on January 1, 2009. Let's keep our fingers crossed that they won't be rushed through like the DNA Bill.

Will the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission Bill be tailored after Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) as has been touted by the spin-doctors embedded within the mainstream press, and become just as effective as the Hong Kong model? Let's take a look at the principal objects of the Act:

( a ) To promote the integrity and accountability of public and private sector administration by constituting an independent and accountable anti-corruption body; and

( b ) to educate public authorities, public officials and members of the public about corruption and its detrimental effects of public and private sector administration and on the community.

To me, what is glaringly missing in the principal objects of the Act are the words 'ERADICATION OF CORRUPTION'.

That this Act is formulated just to PROMOTE integrity and accountability, and to EDUCATE the potential corrupts is simply pathetic. Where are the snarling fangs to bite the corrupts?

Corruption in Umno politics and all other levels of the system had been so endemic and paralysing that is there any idiots out there who still need further education about the ills of the Big C?

After V, it's time for D... ( 2 )

September 16, the date touted for a post-GE2008 regime change that did not happen, had come and gone.

I had anticipated for a Pakatan Rakyat shadow cabinet to be formed soon after the Parliament sessions resumed after the long puasa and hari raya break in October. The parliamentary Opposition has the burden of parading its team to the electorate that it has the ability and capacity to run the country anytime it happens.

Anwar Ibrahim has long been postured as the Prime Minister-in-waiting. It's not counting the eggs before they are hatched, but what is more important to Malaysians is that there must be a Cabinet-in-Waiting, that he has a credible team that can run this country better than BN.

That, too, did not happen.

November 28, the day DAP Penang held its Victory Dinner, a loose coalition of NGOs calling themselves Civil Society Organizations issued a joint statement, saying it's time for a PR Shadow Cabinet. Excerpts:

We, the undersigned civil society groups call upon the Pakatan Rakyat to set up a shadow cabinet as soon as possible. Positioning himself as the prime minister-in-waiting, Anwar Ibrahim must present his team of ministers-in-waiting not later than his rival Najib Razak announces his line-up in March.

Shadow cabinet is a common feature in Westminster democracy as it indicates the opposition's readiness to take over the governing task if the incumbent government is defeated in a parliamentary no-confidence vote or an election.

We hold that there are three compelling reasons for the Pakatan Rakyat to announce its line-up as soon as possible.

First, it facilitates division of labour amongst PR parliamentarians and provides stronger check and balance to BN frontbenchers. The public has no idea at the moment now which PR parliamentarian can speak authoritatively on a particular policy domain like labour, education or environment. Such assignment of portfolio would enhance the participation of civil society and individual citizens in public policy formulation.

Secondly, a shadow cabinet also helps to consolidate the policy position of PR component parties. It results in responsibility on the part of the frontbenchers to persuade all the parties to sign up to some common positions. This would reduce public confusion which often happens now when the parties contradict each other in public.

Thirdly, a shadow cabinet can help both synchronize some common policies of the five PR-ruled states and coordinate the federal and state branches of PR coalition. Malaysians deserve to know PR policies on preservation of water catchment area, on access to public information, on local elections, etc. Institutionalized consultation between shadow ministers and state governments would work better than a party-based Menteri Besar Council.

We call upon Anwar Ibrahim to make formation of shadow cabinet his top priority from now to March 2009. Nearly nine month after the March elections, Pakatan Rakyat which has vowed to take over the federal executive power via crossover of BN parliamentarians must now be prepared to show that they are not only interested to govern, but able to do so.

Over the weekend, the PKR -- the backbone of Pakatan Rakyat in which Anwar leads, de facto sans de jure -- celebrated its first national congress after GE2008. The posturing was once again stressed on the possibility of Pakatan Rakyat forming the Federal Government in “the shortest possible time,” stating that it was "not a question of 'when' but that it involved the people".

When the euphoria subsides, truthfully, I still feel that after V (for Victory, not vendetta) it's time for D (for Delivery, not Delinquency in good governance).

This is my second posting from Hong Kong. The weather is chilly, and the soul is calm. Detaching oneself temporarily from homeland, we see things from a different perspective.

After V, it's time for D

I sensed euphoria of GE2008 is thinning out in Penang, and that's a good thing for all of us to get down to the serious work of delivery for the promises made.

DAP Penang made a clean sweep of the 7 parliamentary and 19 state seats in GE2008 on March 8. It went on to form a coalition government with PKR, with support from PAS to dictate a 29 vs 11 majority in the state legislative assembly.

Eight months later, on November 28, DAP Penang organised a mammoth "Victory Dinner" (sic) of over 1,000 tables of 10 pax each to attribute it to the Penang people who gave it a strong, not-to-be-questioned mandate to run the state. Earlier, a similar mammoth dinner of over 500 tables, all paid for by the diners, was held in October in Seberang Prai.

It was a sold-out, as Penangites on both sides of the channel put money where the mouth is, and bought the dinner tickets generously.

Image downloaded from Kwong Wah Yit Poh

As expected, a "Victory Dinner" warrants a victory speech, or victory speeches by key speakers. It was not dissimilar on November 28. In fact, reference was made to Barack Obama in those speeches, that change is possible, and Yes We Can.

It's on this context of a 'victory speech in a victory dinner' that I sensed the euphoria of GE2008 is thinning out in DAP Penang. It is a good thing as this fading euphoria comes early, and the leaders must quickly adjust themselves, this blogger included, to cut the crap on rhetoric and get on to work to make Penang again.

The day after the Victory Dinner, I received an enlightening email from Penangite which I feel pertinent to share with my readers and my leaders. The thoughts are critical but well-intended. If it pricked, it's because as the Chinese saying goes, good medicine normally leaves a bitter taste on the mouth.

The email writer also wanted me to forward the Obama Victory Speech (Transcript here, Video here) to my leaders for them to ponder.

Even on the sideline of the Nov 28, several level-headed DAP supporters walked up to me to forewarn me of the lacklustre rapport our DAP Yang Berhormats have with the people in two of the most hard-fought parliamentary constituencies where several state assemblymen got thought largely due to the pro-Opposition swing.

Generally, I feel after V (for Victory, not vendetta) it's time for D (for Delivery, not Delinquency in good governance).

Penang-based newspaper Kwong Wah Yit Poh has a well-intended leader the day after (Nov 29): 以民为本，鸿基万年.

Read on, the email is published verbatim below.

Continue reading "After V, it's time for D" »

Post-Mahathirism... The Case of Royal Families

Flashback: Constitutional Crisis 1993. Dr Mahathir was then the Prime Minister.

An outcome of the 1993 Constitutional Crisis was that Article 181 of the Federal Constitution was amended.

With the amendment, the Malay Rulers can be charged on any personal wrongdoing, outside of their role and duties as a Ruler. However, the charges cannot be carried out in a normal court of law, but in a Special Tribunal under the purview of the Council of Rulers.

At the same time, Article 181 guarantees the sovereignty, rights, powers and jurisdictions of each Malay Ruler within their respective states. They also cannot be charged in a court of law in their official capacities as a Ruler.

In Malaysian history book, Mahathir is credited as the main political force that managed to clipped the wings of the Malay Rulers and allow the concept of Constitutional Monarchy to thrive.

Flash forward to the present Abdullah and pre-Najib era.

Several instances in recent months, quoted K Baradan in The Star, indicate that the Malay Rulers are prepared to play more than a ceremonial role and exert authority. More so after the GE2008 political tsunami, where elected political authority is weak and indecisive.

'Exerting Royal authority'

Take the case of the Royal houses of Selangor and Perak. In bold manner, they intervened and baulked with the National Fatwa Council over the tomboy and yoga issues.

Muslim conservatives behind the edicts (fatwa) must be in for a shock.

The Sultan of Selangor made it clear that nobody, including the fatwa council, should usurp his authority as head of Islam in his state. The Sultan hoped that future edicts affecting the public would be referred to the Conference of Rulers before an announcement is made.

Similarly, an earlier statement that Perak would adopt the fatwa had to be immediately retracted when the state's Royal Family dispensed that royal consent is needed before the fatwa could be adopted.

If you recall, the Perak Royal Family had also intervened in the removal of the head of the State Islamic Religious Department, Jamry Sury in May, after the Pakatan Rakyat state government came about.

The state adhered to the Sultan's orders and immediately re-reinstated Jamry to the post.

'Restore full sovereignty'

Yesterday, the Royal Family of Negeri Sembilan pushed the envelope further so that rulers could exert their new-found authority in other areas.

The Regent of Negri Sembilan, Tunku Naquiyuddin Tuanku Ja’afar, has called for royal immunity to be reinstated so the constitutional monarchy can be restored to its full sovereignty.

He said that if the Ruler were to exercise his duties in a fair, just and impartial manner to protect the Federal Constitution, his sovereignty needed to be protected too. As such, the Regent was quoted as saying that, the restoration would enable the constitutional monarchy to play a more fitting role in the 21st century as guardian of the Federal Constitution.

To be consistent, The Regent of Negri Sembilan also joined his royal brothers in Perak and Selangor and proposed that the National Fatwa Council consult the Conference of Rulers before issuing edicts in future.

'Turning in his grave'

Unlike Mozart, Mahathir is very much alive in behind-curtain politics these days, so we can't use the idiomatic expression 'turning in his grave' to describe the current situation about the constitutional authority of the Malay Rulers that visibly illustrates concerted attempts to return to pre-1993 version of Federal Constitution.

But Malaysians will have to rise to the occasion where the Malay Rulers are poised to be "the 21st century guardian of the Federal Constitution".

As democracy matures globally, we can see that any new amendments to Article 181 of the Federal Constitution must be done through the Parliament.

The power of such amendments hence lies in the hands of the Members of the Parliament. I didn't at all know, if the Malay Rulers push hard and if it indeed happens, I was in for this in my life time.

Viva America!... The case of shitty banks

Bail-out is not a unique and "truly Asia" phenomenon. USA hawks it now.

Several hours ago, ahead of the opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange, news broke that the U.S. government has bailed out Citigroup Inc. by agreeing to shoulder most of the potential losses on US$306 billion of high risk assets, besides injecting US$20 billion of new capital, and thus making the biggest rescue of a bank yet.

The rescue of the Citigroup also signifies the latest government effort to contain a widening financial meltdown that has earlier caused the bankruptcies of companies including Bear Stearns Cos, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and Washington Mutual Inc.

Vikram Punditry aside, analysts told Financial Times that the Citigroup crisis has been brewing for 10 years!

Read BBC News on "The rise and fall of Citigroup", and the (early) quotation of the day:

"With these transactions, the U.S. government is taking the actions necessary to strengthen the financial system and protect U.S. taxpayers and the U.S. economy."

Not forgetting the recent rescue of the AIG, where the government takes stake-holding in private concerns, the rescue of Citigroup remarkably further signifies Capitalist America has effectively embraced socialism.

Cantonese says Keng!

Viva America!... The case of sick Detroit

Credibility is a virtue hard to keep, as can be measured from the conduct of the CEOs of USA's Big Three automakers.

November 18, nine days away from Thanksgiving, they flew from Detroit to Washington D.C. to tell the Congress that the auto industry is running out of cash and it needs US$25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy.

Their pleas got drowned as their lifestyle came under spotlight scrutiny.

Talking about jet-setting in style, not even First Class is good enough for the three CEOs -- Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler -- ranked in terms of size of assets and market share. All three flew in corporate jets to DC.

Wagoner flew in GM's US$36 million luxury aircraft, and he boldly told the members of Congress that his company is burning through cash, and US$10-12 billion of the US$25 billion rescue money should go to GM alone.

According to media reports, Wagoner's private jet trip to Washington cost his ailing company an estimated US$20,000 round-trip. In comparison, seats on Northwest Airlines flight 2364 from Detroit to Washington were going online for US$288 coach and US$837 first class.

Number of the Big Three, Ford CEO Mulally, his corporate jet is a perk included for both he and his wife as part of his employment contract along with a US$28 million salary last year. Mulally actually lives in Seattle, not Detroit. So the company jet has to take him home and back on weekends.

Mulaly told the Congree that he had cut expenses, laid-off 51,000 workers in the past three years, and closed 17 plants.

But Ford continues to operate a fleet of eight private jets for its executives.

Kena hammered, GM quickly decided to return two of its leased private jets, something that jettisons the saying, 'wings clipped'.

However, the CEOs have reasons to fly in private jets. It's to "ensure their security for insurance reasons, and to save valuable time" in travels.

US$25 billion rescue? Gaya mesti ada when you're begging for money!

Laka-leke in Indonesia

My economic-political agenda aside, Indonesia portrays a serene kind of unity in cultural diversity from east to west of the archipelago, and pictures not of the touristic kinds are out there for your to savour.

Here are just a quickie of some shots in a set of 11 images that I used to present at Pesta Blogger 2008 in Jakarta yesterday -- glimpses of Indonesia through the creative licenses tagged to my lenses, biased or otherwise.

In three cities...

Bali

The routine rites before the start of Kecak Dance, Uluwatu, Bali

Jogjakarta

A young Dalang performing the Jogjakarta 'wayang kulit' version of Ramayana at a mini theatre above a silverware gallery

Jakarta

A mobile hawker moving up his vantage point to greet and feed workers at the Sunda Kelapa harbour

The full set of the collection, in slightly higher resolution, are available in my travelogue gallery, or my Flickr, so that you can view the images in better details. However, optimum quality originals in TIFF must seek my copyrights clearance before I lose track of my IPR (Intellectual property rights) ;-)

More images are still lying idle in the harddisk and I certainly gotta find time to process them before recent memory fades away.

Laka-leke means "in the middle of somewhere" in Balinese.

Lippo's Globe

When The Point took to the streets in 2006 as Indonesia's second national English daily, nobody thought it could survive long. It had no editorial direction, its distribution network was bad, and it had no deep pockets.

No one was proven wrong. One year after I have blogged about it, The Point is no more.

Yesterday, I was holding for the first time a copy of the Jakarta Globe, its 9th day of publication.

With the tagline 'Great Stories, Global News', the Jakarta Globe runs six days a week in 48 full colour pages packed in three sections -- main news & My Jakarta metro news, Business & Sports, and Life & Times. Cover price is Rp 8,500, which costs Rp3,500 more than Jakarta Post.

Full-page full-colour advertisements from notable brandnames like LG, Master Card and in-house placements by Lippo Group of companies have dotted the print run.

As a serious photographer, I like the way the Globe places emphasis in photo-journalism in the same league as South China Morning Post and Straits Times Singapore. In fact more, the centre-spread of Life & Times section is devoted to a pictorial feature, named "Eyewitness", comprisng several images reminiscing the LIFE magazine era.

After decades of complacency, I reckon the dominant Jakarta Post finally meets its perfect rival. The editor at the Post had better start keeping track of the Globe. I don't think the Post, with its 28-page configuration including the classified and news and features befitting the appetite of a village paper, could match the Globe in terms of width and depth in content. And content is king, as can be seen in most Bahasa Indonesia news and business dailies.

Interesting, the Jakarta Globe is linked to James Riady of the Lippo Group, a personality T. Ananda Krishnan's deceased ASTRO operations in Indonesia are at odds with.

(According to Indonesia's Investor Daily yesterday (Page 7, National & Politics), satellite TV subscribers in Surabaya who are left uncompensated subsequent to unilateral service termination are ganging up to hurl ASTRO to a class action registered under No. 671/Pdt.G/2008 with the Pengadilan Negeri, dated November 18, 2008.)

I hope Editor-in-Chief Wim Tangkilisan and CEO Marshall Cooper will stay the course and keep the Globe growing. With its English-speaking populace on the increase, and its expatriate business communuty forever expanding, Indonesia deserves a far better English daily than what it has now.

All the best!