Belated Wesak Entry

Cleaning my old boxes and I found my childhood love letters/diaries. :D Here is one that somehow related to Wesak. ;)

A friend once asked me, "What is the importance of Wesak (to you – the intended question)?" She thought I was an alim (devout) Buddhist.

"Holiday of course! And the feast!" I answered merrily. :D And she raised one eyebrow.

End of story.

That happened when I was 9-year-old. My (pretty) friend was 10-year-old mixed Malay-Kadazan. So you see, had she asked that question to me now I would have answered differently. BTW, I had a crush on her at that time. You know who you are. ;)

Don't want to take your time reading this crap. Have a nice day, and a meaningful (belated) Wesak Day. ;)

Not a Perakian but...

Watched NTV7 7PM news the other day about Courtroom bickering regarding who the "real" Perak's Menteri Besar should be. NTV news gave these two lists (provided by the respective counsel) for comparison:

NTV7: On why DS Nizar should be MB?

1. DUN not yet dissolved.
2. He has not resigned yet.
3. No vote of "unconfidence" made towards him.

NTV7: On why DDr Zambry should be MB?

1. Forgotten. Too long to be committed into my poor memory...
2. Forgotten. Too long to be committed into my poor memory...
3. Forgotten. Too long to be committed into my poor memory...

Basically, what NTV7 news tried to explain, I think, was (from various other sources):

1. PR had 28 ADUNs, BN had 28 ADUNs, the 3 Bebas were “partiless” BN supporters.
2. DS Nizar didn't gain the confidence of the majority, because [repeat no. 1].
3. The Sultan "expected" DS Nizar to resign, because [repeat no. 2].
4. The Sultan had chosen another to be MB, so [repeat no. 3].
5. It was considered disloyalty not to resign because [repeat no. 4].

Why can't NTV7 make simple person like me to understand? :D Ah, perhaps I'm plain stupid, not to mention demented! Of course, how could I NOT realize that?! ;)

BTW, where's the “Against the Constitution” part? *blur* :S Ah, perhaps it was hidden in the “forgotten” part...

---

Probably unrelated news:
Perak’s day of infamy and bedlam
Nizar claim today's sitting 'null and void'
What does the standoff in Perak mean?

[UPDATED May 11, 2009] High Court ruled DS Nizar was real MB but DDr Zambry could appeal.

[UPDATED May 12, 2009] DDr Zambry succeeded in appealing for a stay on the High Court rule in his favour. So DS Nizar may become unreal MB?

Your queue is...

The text reads:
Your queue is 1526.
Current number is 1257.
Please be seated. You'll be served after a while.

Went to Pos Malaysia the other day. When I arrived there was were perhaps 30-40 people only. Thought I was having hallucination looking at the queue number. Ah well, "Perhaps I'll come back after half an hour." (I thought.) Came back later, the number just moved about 20-something. Decided to come back one hour later, but then the number only moved 50-something. So, I put my slip for others. Konon-kononlah good samaritan. :D

Actually, I'm was pissed off. ;)

[Update] Decided to put Kay Leaf's comment here. ;)

KL wrote: Haha... so good business the pos office...

KY replied: Sure, very good business. :D The other counters were ... "occupied" with other "duties". The lone functioning counter staff was doing her job as fast and efficient and polite as she (humanly) able. ;)

[Added May 11, 09] Angel Bear commented: u should see if there is any invincible words that says "tidak payah tunggu, bagus kau pulang."

Hahaha. That was funny. ;)

[Added May 12, 09] DeePo said: usually i will makan first and have my hot coffee...since my head is almost explode wait for it...sambil mnyumpah seranah......hahaha

KY: I did exactly that, er, the sumpah seranah (curses) part. :D

An Unforgettable Experience by Michelle Cham

Read this in Daily Express (May 4, 2009), Express Child section (page 15). Written by a brilliant secondary 2 Michelle Cham. She won the first price of, er, perhaps story writing contest, for the entry with this essay. :D So I put it here (obviously without permission) for you to share. ;)

An Unforgettable Experience by Michelle Cham

Experience is a hard teacher as she gives the test first, the lesson afterward. And I surely had an experience – an unforgettable experience.

It was the end of May coming to June when we were having our school holidays. My friend came to sleepover with me one night. Before we got onto bed, I climbed up onto the table trying to grab two blankets from the top of huge, tall wardrobe.

As I was grabbing the blankets, my friend sat on my bed when she suddenly saw a cockcroach on the floor. She screamed out loud and held on my legs tightly. She was trembling in fear. She then knocked on the edge of the table when the cockcroach went near her. That was then I fell onto the floor. Ouch! What a terrible pain! I was sent to the hospital soon after that.

I was in the hospital for about two days as I had strained my back and broken my left knee. One morning, a little girl came into my room. She sat on my bed, introducing herself, “Hello I’m Lily from room 205 just next to yours. May I know your name, please?”

I looked at her frowning and rolling my eyes. She then looked around and spotted my my patient card on the table. “So, hello, Annie. Nice meeting you and what a nice name you have,” she said.

She asked me to wait for her before rushing out of the room and at that time, my mother had just arrived to visit me. Not long after, the little girl stood by the door, knocking on it. “Can I come in?” she asked while peeping her head into my room. My mother was about to allowed her when I replied rudely. “Can’t you see that I’m busy talking to my mother?”

She then spoke in low voice, “I love drawing but nobody has ever drawn with me. Can you draw with me later?”

I was annoyed and replied, “Better not as I’m going to be busy for the whole day. Furthermore, I hate drawing.” “Oh, sorry for the disturbance then.” She then left my room sadly with her head down looking at her box of crayons.

My mother was giving me a certain look which she always did whenever I had made a mistake. She was about to say something when I interrupted, “I’ll apologize to her tomorrow. I’ll draw her a card of apology. But I’m tired now. I’ll do it tomorrow.” And a smile wiped across my mothers face.

The next day, I woke up early to get my drawing done. I took the card and went to Lily’s room next door. I opened the door silently and was surprised to see people packing up the bags. I asked surprisingly, “Is Lily here?” One of the people shook his head sadly and answered, “I’m her father. She passed away last night due to cancer.”

My jaw dropped. And I immediately asked, “Cancer? Since when?” “Lily has had cancer for three months already. Uh, are you Annie?” I nodded. “She left this for you,” he said and handed to me a piece of paper with a drawing attached. I read the words on the paper:

Give me the eyes of an owl,
To look at you everyday, every night.
Give me the ears of a giant,
To listen carefully to everything you talk about.
Give me the heart of a friend,
For me to touch, for me to understand,
The true meaning of friendship.

From dearest Lily

Tears were rolling down my cheeks as I went out of the room and hid at a corner. I cried loudly as the pain in my hear deepens. Every friend is a chance to open your heart, but whether you take it or not is your own decision. Therefore friendship is a test. I learnt that friendship is what people always talk about but friends give it the meaning, the definition.

No More Foreign Workers for Service Sectors

[Warning: This is a hearsay. Unless someone tell me it's official then I'll remove this heading.]

"TAWAU: Employers who are applying to hire foreign workers are told to forget their intention apply for local workers instead. This is because the Labour Department (Tawau) will no longer issue the letter of certification confirming the utilisation of JCS (Job Clearing System) for employers in service sectors and thus denied them the permission to recruit foreign workers."

The letter of confirmation on JCS utilization is only one of the requirements for recruiting foreign workers. To understand more, please read this news article.

What is considered Service Sectors? This is taken from handouts from Immigration Department.
Restoran / Kedai Kopi
Pemborong & Pembekal
Kontraktor yang tidak mempunyai Lesen CIDB
Perniagaan yang tidak mempunyai Lesen Pengilang
Rumah Kebajikan (Levi RM600)
Pulau Peranginan (yang digazet sebagai Pulau / Pusat Peranginan)
Recycle (Barangan Logam, Lusuh, terpakai)
Pencucian & Pembersihan (Hanya bagi yang mempunyai Tender)
Rumah Ibadah (Tokong / Gereja bagi Tukang Kebun)

However, the source didn’t specify whether all or only certain service sectors are involved in the decision (not to issue letter of confirmation).

Misunderstood

Should I tell her or not? Hmm. Nope! Can’t bear the embarrassment. :D

The other day I got a “frantic” SMS from my “potential” GF. :D Said she was stranded somewhere. So I asked her if she’s alone and if she’s still there. She said she’s with her sis (half relieved already) and they “WERE” waiting for cab.

I didn’t ask further, borrowed my uncle’s car and drove straight to her place. En route there I SMSed her to wait for me. No respond after 5 minutes. I was getting worrier (I was worried already.)

Drove top speed and reached the place but no one was there. I was worried sick! Called her hand phone, no reply. Then suddenly, she SMSed, “I'm at home. Where are you?”

I SMSed back, “Oh, I thought you’re stranded here!”

“No! I said we WERE stranded. Now, where are you?”

“Home!”

“Good night then.”

“Good night.”

Ah, just another boring story. Well, at least she’s safe. :D

Dear Dato' Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein (nothing really, just a question of rumour about Immigration Department's Irregularity)

[UPDATED: 02 May]
Bernama reported (1 May):

The Cabinet has decided to defer temporarily the implementation of the foreign worker levy hike, Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr. S.Subramaniam said.

"The Cabinet felt that it was not the right time to implement the levy hike on foreign workers due to the uncertain economic situation,"

"With this decision, the implementation of the doubling of levy payment for foreign workers will be deferred temporarily until the economy improves," he said.

My comment: Then my request considered scrapped for now. ;)

[UPDATED: 25 April]
The news is confirmed already. Daily Express reported (25 April) in a very small paragraph:

"Meanwhile, in a statement the levy for foreign workers in the services, agriculture and factories sector will be increased effective May 1, this year."

However, the "rumour" of the different levy increase between the two agriculture sectors are still the same. If someone can correct me I'll be happy to add it here. ;)

[ORIGINAL POST]
First of all, allow me to congratulate Dato’ Seri on your appointment as Minister of Home Affairs Ministry. It is hoped that you will do as excellent as or better than the previous administration.

Now, to the task. I heard a “rumour” that spreads like wildfire. Nothing scandalous or mind-boggling really. (No, not like the bribery investigation of the department director/s.) Just that the last time when the then DPM (now PM) presented the Mini Budget (Financial Stimulus), he said ONLY the foreign worker’s levy for service sector would be raised (and 100% at that) which causes much furore from the service sectors especially from the restaurant owners.

The “rumour” I heard indicated that NOT ONLY the foreign worker levy from service sector would be increased 100% but also from and [KY: Edited 24 April] the manufacture sector and but also from [KY:Added 24 April] SMALL SCALE (less than 100 acres) AGRICULTURE sector. Starting 1st May 2009, all foreign worker employers from those sectors mentioned were needed to pay additional 100% the cost of levy aside from the usual fees. Exceptions were given to the construction and LARGE SCALE (100 acres or larger) AGRICULTURE sectors.

I am not against the notion that the employers should employ local instead of foreign workers. However, I would like to quote from an employer, Mr YS:

“Kalau pekerja tempatan boleh diharap kami tak bising punya. Ini! Baru kerja dua bulan sudah berhenti!” (If local workers can be depended then we have no qualm one. This! Just after a couple of months work they quit already!)

No, if I know Mr YS well, he isn’t the one who treat his worker badly. In fact, he rewards his workers by their work performance, accordingly and generously, even more so if the workers are local. According to another employer, Mr G, not all but most of the available meagre numbers of (former) local workers actually:

1. Demand more wages.
2. Demand more day off.
3. Do less work (less productive).
4. Have habit to disappear once supervisor is away.
5. Have habit to steal from employers.

Well, I could add more, but I’m sure you see what I mean. I know there are some fair employers (and unfair ones at that) and hardworking local workers out there. However, the case of bad impression of the local workers is not something that can be overlooked or brushed away. Okay, I’m straying from the main question.

The point is, if the department wanted to (according to that “rumour”) double the levy for hiring foreign workers, they should be FAIR to all. Supposedly you ask, “How unfair?” I suppose I can provide you with a table for comparison (based on Tawau Immigration Department Fee):

Sector	Usual Fee (RM)			Additional Fee (RM)	Total (RM)	Percentage Increase
	Levy	Pass	Process
Agriculture (Small-scale)	360.00	60.00	10.00	360.00	790.00	45.57%
Agriculture (Large-scale)	540.00	60.00	10.00	-	610.00	-
Construction	960.00	60.00	50.00	-	1,070.00	-
Manufacture	960.00	60.00	50.00	960.00	2,030.00	47.29%
Service	1,440.00	60.00	50.00	1,400.00	2,950.00	47.46%

If you can see from the table, all 3 double levy sectors have increase of at least 45% cost. However, please check between the two different scale agricultural sectors. The small-scale agriculture employers need to pay MORE than their large-scale agriculture “counterpart”. Talk about helping small time/scale agriculture! Sorry if I appear to be “shouting”. ;)

So, Dato' Seri, since Immigration Department is under your Ministry, can you confirm or deny this irregularity (with explanation how this “rumour” arise if it’s okay with you), and possibly (if confirmed that is), can you influent to have them fixed/amended (fairly), or postponed (which is preferable)?

Thank you for taking your time to look into this insignificant inquiry.

KY (An insignificant voter) ;)