“Why do so much since its just a trial unit? Send it back la. Wasting money only.”
“Aiyoh.. is it worth all that trouble just to test the product?”
Well you get the idea. My friends were asking me why would I want to do ’so much’ and why I need to ‘trouble’ myself to such extent just to get a trial device which I need to return back later. And also, why I need to waste my money paying for this and that just to get the clearance.
Money. Well, WOMWorld Nokia has agreed to pay for all the related charges so I don’t have to pay any, but that is beside the point.
The point is, you guys are asking the wrong question. The question should be;
‘Why this particular customs officer makes it hard for me just to get a trial device?’
‘Why he created so much troubles and unnecessary problems just for ONE TRIAL device?’
My dear friends seemed to suggest that the best solution is to give in. Sorry but I have to disagree. If by giving in to such ridiculous request is a solution, then indirectly I am helping to keep this kind vicious cycle in perpetual. We always blame the system every now and then but we choose to do nothing when given the chance to do so.
And why is the tendency to blame the victim eh? Just like how some people blame rape victim for walking alone, dressing sexily or provocatively etc, snatch victims for bringing the handbag, walking on the wrong side of the road or just being ‘careless’?
Well I may not be exactly a victim here, more like a disgruntled customer/citizen wanting to be treated fairly but you get my point on ‘blaming the victim/helpless’ mentality prevalent among some Malaysians.
Allow me to sidetrack a bit and touch on a favourite topic among Malaysians. Corruption. Since I have so many comments directly or indirectly hinting the possible element of corruption in my dealing with the customs, I think it is only fair for me to write a little bit on that.
Malaysians love to paint the many enforcement units as a corrupted bunch of scums. To be fair, Malaysians also play a big part in making them as such. We are guilty if we bitch about the system and do nothing when given the chance but keep feeding the system, indirectly or directly.
The analogy is simple. If I ask and you don’t give, there is no deal, right? Morality is relative here, who is more guilty – the giver or the taker – is up for debate the point is both are guilty of the act. It is a vicious cycle and people are making their decision to keep it in existence with every actions they would take without them realising it or not.
Back to the complicated, troublesome customs procedures I need to go through to get my N900. Did I ask for, or want to have such complicated procedures, troubles and problems to go through just for a trial device? Who creates the problems and troubles in the 1st place? Did I not comply to the necessary requests and yet was given a hard time by the officer?
Of course, given choice I would just sleep at home and let it go. Hell I would not go to work if I am given the absolute freedom and liberty to choose. But, I need to. I am fighter, I would like to think as such. It is a waste of my good education *cough cough* if I don’t put it to good use. We should do our little bit of fights and not letting bullies trampling us with no resistance at all. Keeping silence, is not always the best option. It is only apt for me to share these wise words to decribe political apathy;
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me–
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
(A popular poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller)
To be honest, it is actually not so much a trouble for me to make few calls, surfing some websites, checking up the related acts and procedures and then explaining things in a understandable language so that the relevant people can weigh in my side of the story and judge things as it is.
Thank you my good friends for the concern. I love you people and I also expect more of myself. And I think I just killed more people with the length of this post. Reading is good for you, people~!
ps: With my awesome negotiation skills *grins*, who knows I may get the device after I trial it?
I just came back from watching EPL football games with my friends. I’m still wide awake, so I thought that why don’t I pent down something for this God forsaken blog.
My life is really in a mess this month. Never before I have such amount of bad things happened to me in just a short period of my life. Yes, I’ve been through a lot in my short life span of 26 years especially the past 5 years, but this month takes the cake, really. Starting from early of the month until yesterday, I was constantly bombarded by unwanted incidents and encountered bad mojos.
Some of you may aware of the latest mishap happened to me. I was involved in a car accident yesterday. I went to friend’s place for his open house invitation yesterday then proceeded to Al Fresco to have some drinks with friends, then went back home. I was quite sleepy so I drove a little bit faster than usual. My mobile phone battery was dead as well. While making a turn at this one roundabout, I accelerated along the straight road and wasn’t aware of a Pajero 4WD in my lane suddenly slowing down. Probably the driver was stopping by for God knows the reason why .
I hit on the brake when I saw the 4WD, but I realised it was too late before I would hit the 4WD with my driving speed. In that split second, I swerved to the left side of the road hoping I could stop at the green area. Apparently I was a bit too fast, my car moved forward and knocked the lamp post and stopped. If not for the lamp post, I would end up in the roadside drain.
I came out and inspected my car. Oh shit, the damage to car was quite serious. The front skirt came off and flew few metres away from the car. The left tyre burst, the radiator wreaked together with the both front lamps. The front part of the car was smashed in and down, I couldn’t even lift the hood up. I couldn’t call anyone with my mobile phone because its battery was dead, so I just stood there until a car stopped by and it turned out the guy was from a repair workshop. Cut the story short, he sent me back home with his car and asked his workshop to tow my car away.
I must thank the unseen, invisible divine forces for protecting me and keeping me alive. This is the 2nd time I involved in a considerably serious, which could be a fatal, life threatening accident but I escaped with not a single scratch this time. My previous accident happened when I was working in Puchong, Selangor where I was knocked down in my motorbike by a lorry. I narrated the incident here, complete with diagrams and everything
I was involved in a messy affair early of this month, which the person threatened to harm me for some misunderstanding and paranoia on his part, then I had problem with my eyes, my phone dropped and damaged to the extent it is still working poorly but somehow bearable, something happened back home where a member of the family disappointed me again with his actions, my blog was down and I screwed up during the simple upgrade to the blog platform, which wiped out most of the uploaded data for the past few months. Before my accident last night, I went to withdraw some money and while I checked the balance for my another bank using the ATM card, it was suddenly swallowed by the machine. I am emotionally exhausted with my personal relationship, where some complications appearing at some point.
Despite all this, I am glad I am still taking it all in a stride and just shrugged it off and just assumed that bad luck demon is making its visit. Just bear with me with my whiny posts, status updates and tweets for the time being. I’m grateful to have good people around me taking care of me and offering helps when I need them and for that I say thanks!
Life will be definitely better after this. When you hit rock bottom, there’s no other way but to go up, right? This is just a phase that I need to overcome in order to appreciate good things in life better. Wish my the best and all the lucks please Off to sleep now, you guys take care!
ps: Thanks to many friends who called and sent messages, dropping comments asking me of my situation when they received the news. I’m good and hey here I am writingsomething for you guys to read hehe…
First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my Muslim friends:
“Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir Batin.”
Me wishing 1Malaysia -- Selamat 1HariRaya, Ketupat Didahulukan, Rendang Diutamakan. Erk, stammered a bit at the first part because, I’m a bit allergic to this ‘1′ thing *chuckles*
I’m sorry I didn’t extend my Raya greeting earlier but Raya is for the whole month of Syawal and today is only the 4th day of Raya, right? I just came back from a long weekend at my hometown, Sarikei. I went back on Thursday morning with Goolooloo tagging along. She was dropping by Sibu to see her beloved boyfriend.
We started our ‘balik kampung’ journey at 6am, reached Sibu around 11am. The road was pretty clear so I had the road all for myself, all the way up. That explained the 5 hours drive from Miri-Sibu. I stopped for lunch in Sibu before continuing my journey to Sarikei.
I spent my time in Sarikei like how I normally do it when I’m back home. Pigging on food, (my puasa effort during the fasting month went down the drain), watching tv and meeting some friends.
Oh, I met up with Alice’s bro in Sarikei. It was kinda funny. I was having my kampua at Hiek Lik Cafe when I saw a familiar looking guy came in with a red helmet on his hand, sat down across me and ordered what else but kampua.
Infamous kampua at Hiek Lik Cafe. Arguable the best kampua in Sarikei No, kampua is not kolo mee. Kampua > Kolo Mee. HAHA! (Image source: S-blog)
I didn’t go and greet the guy because I was unsure and there wasn’t any telling sign that the guy would know me. So, I gobbled down my tasty kampua and went back home. When I checked my Facebook status:
“Bongkersz Bong is having kampua at Hiek Lik cafe. Yum Yum.” 19 September at 11:31 via Selective Twitter Status
I saw a comment:
“Jimmy Ling oi taukeh!!!!!i think i saw u this morning but i wasn’t sure if it was u! are u still in sarikei? pergi lim teh?” 19 September at 12:05
He gave me his phone number and we met for breakfast cum lunch at Glory Cafe the next day. Hey nice meeting you mate! All the best for your future undertakings! *wink!*
I’ll just end this post with some photos of food only available in Sarikei!
Roti Kahwin at Aik Seng Cafe. Your tiny puny Roti Kahwin is a no match against our awesome Roti Kahwin *smugs* Even our burgers are bigger than yours! Bwahahahahahahaha! (image source: S-blog)
ps: I just realised that, instead of putting up ketupat or rendang photos, I put up a photo of kampua with char siew (barbecued pork meat). *sweats*. Please don’t get offended. Photos are for illustration purpose only hehe.
pss: I was busy visiting houses with my partners in crime. Let’s see if there are awesome photos for me to put up on this blog later.
I am having a problem. I have no idea what to write on this blog, but I want to write. I can’t find anything that I feel the urge to write about, lately. I spent these few days, every now and then reading my old posts, and I noticed that I normally write out of frustrations and anger.
Probably, after so long, I am kinda get used and become immune to those feelings now that I don’t feel like venting it out anymore. I think the word is ‘conditioned’.
Rodz: Hey man, nice blog u got here. Enjoy reading your post, like the way u wrote it all. I juz started entering the blogging world so i think i need to read more from... on About
Eyes Wide open: Thanks for the heads up, Bong! Would really appreciate if you could campaign for the EM voices to BANGKIT as we really want to hear from... on Bangkitlah Malaysia!
drumsticks: my mum asked me if it was you who appeared in the newspaper. lol. she knew i have a friend name bongkersz. : ) you’re famous! on Pimped by The Star!
And I think I just killed more people with the length of this post. Reading is good for you, people~!
