How do I start? I was on Twitter and I saw @abe_ame replied to the tweet by the @theTAPIR on this “Ralph Breaks the Internet movie” review saying “when I grow  up, I want to be able to write as well as this dude.” I saw @theTAPIR’s tweet this afternoon and I even replied him that I was going to watch the movie later. But I didn’t pay attention who wrote the review. So I clicked it again just now. It is TheVisitorQ who is on a roll it seems, churning out post after post (in fact he wrote two posts on the 24th November) revisiting his old blog after six years away. Didn’t know you have a blog, TheVisitorQ!

One click led to another, after reading few posts and just amazed at how good he is at framing his words (what, anthropomorphic? I’ll just pretend I know what that means), here I am. Just shy a few days from my 36th birthday, trying to construct some sentences on my phone for my 1st blog post in here. And I think I finally figured it out. Those years I spent blogging furiously and why I could not continue to do so after social media came along.

One of it was due to the nature of my job. I was working in remote locations with limited access to internet connectivity so I could not write and post with ease. And I was on the move a lot, traveling to work sites. You see, blogging takes a lot of effort for me and to do a proper blog post I would be on my computer arranging sentences, formatting, transferring, searching and editing photos, videos and all that work. Truth to be told I used to have plenty of time just sitting in front of the computer with proper internet connection. The time when I wrote so many blog posts? It was during those many long office hours, less productive on my work but very productive on my blog.

But with Twitter and Facebook  you don’t have to write a lot. Twitter limited your tweet just to 140 characters back then and only recently changed it to 320 characters. (I don’t actually know the exact number but just from the top of my hand that is the figure.) Best of all, everything you can just do from your phone even with just bare minimum internet access. So slowly I just wrote less on my blog, more on Twitter and Facebook and it just became a habit after a while. And after keeping it half dead for many years, one year I just stopped renewing the domain and hosting. Died a slow, unevenful death like how most deaths are. Well, I think I was in some jungle so I couldn’t be bothered about it. And you know what? I got my old laptop repaired last few days. That laptop I bought just before I came to Indonesia for work. The screen cracked, I probably accidentally sat on it because I forgot I put in on my bed that one time and I didn’t send it for repair for many years. Anyway I got it repaired the other day, set it up in my room and then it hit me.

I have been doing all my internet browsing and online activities mostly on my phone. I only use my laptop for work, that is to type up some reports, doing some spreadsheets. Not actually having that arrangement purposefully all this while but that’s just how things fall in place. Routine. Habit. You stick to what is easier and simpler after a while. It feels damn weird to be back surfing on a bigger screen and I even tweeted that it’s been a while since I tweeted not from my pbone. Been a while since I listened to songs from my laptop.

So because of all these “reasons”, I just lost my mojo. I tried few times trying to get back to it and guess what, I spent time writing blog posts on my phone. It is not a pleasant thing to do. I can tell you that blogging from phone is damn tiring and in no time you would get carpal tunnel syndrome if you have it already. My thumb is hurting already from tapping (yes tapping not typing) so many words.

I need to go to sleep now, so I shall stop here for now.  Hopefully I can find my writing mojo again, by doing things differently and not repeating the same patterns like what written above. Let’s see if this blog will get updated more often in the future! I am also encouraged by few fellow old bloggers who suddenly are back writing again and I knew that after reading their Facebook posts and tweets. Ha!

1. What are the top three issues facing Sarawak at the moment?

2. What key issue will most impact on your vote on in the forthcoming state election?

3. Will the issues at Federal level have any impact here on the Sarawak election?

4. What would you like the political parties to do about these three issues?

I was asked the above questions today as part of a short interview.

Here is my long answer.

Three key issues facing Sarawak at this moment.

1. Bread and butter issues.

Yes, after 52 years of independence and under the governance of the great and wonderful Barisan Nasional government, we are still grappling with bread and butter issues. And this bread and butter issues will spill over to other pertinent issues which are interrelated like public infrastructure and development issues, access to basic utilities like water and power, good roads and bridges, affordable health services and good education and cost of living. Oh, poverty and inequality as well. We can frame all these issues under the bread and butter issues.

2. Autonomy

Autonomy. State powers. Empowering the state for participation and decision making process when it comes to state affairs. It goes back to the Malaysian Agreement 1963 signed during the formation of Malaysia, and Sarawak being one of the willing signatory with mutually agreed terms and conditions to safeguard the interests of the state. This is actually getting traction after all the Sarawak for Sarawakians call and many Sarawakians feel that Sarawak is being shortchanged by the Federal Government in areas like job opportunities and career advancement for the locals in state agencies and public offices, oil royalty, budget allocations and lack of consultation with the state when it comes to policies decided at the Federal level for state affairs. But I feel that this is just a carrot by Adenan for the middle class, urban voters because the idea of autonomy is so attractive to them. As a result, they focus more on this and less on other issues on national level they typically more concerned on.”As least he is doing it for the best of Sarawakians”, you are hearing that now. Sarawak or Malaysia? Sarawak is part of Malaysia. Do not get confused.

3. Corruption, mismanagement, incompetence, leakages, wastage, regressive, repressive, divisive and stupid policies, the whole issue of good governance. Actually all the corruption, mismanagement, incompetence, leakages, regressive, repressive, divisive and stupid policies can be resolved with good governance. Can add in Native Customary Rights Land issue somewhere here as well. Heck, all the other issues above, the whole bread and butter issues and call for greater state autonomy can be solved with good governance. We will come to this later, in a bit.

Key issue that will most impact my vote in the forthcoming state election will be issue number 3. Good governance. With good and responsible government, leaders that care and honest in doing their jobs, right people in public offices, institutions and agencies to safeguard our interests, we will have less of these issues.

We cannot eliminate all the bread and butter issues, nor the abuse of trust and promises, corruption, mismanagement, wastage, regressive, repressive and stupid policies because this is not an ideal world. But we will have very less of these problems we are facing now.

Why are we still focusing on bread and butter issues after 52 years under BN? We praise BN come every election when they dish out instant noodles allocations and pork barreling for new roads, schools, hospitals, funds, donations and all other goodies. Shouldn’t these things been done all this while and not during election time? Why the Pan Borneo Expressway planning and construction takes so long to be realised? Incompetence? Is it we do not have the money and resources to do it? Why all the big infrastructure projects only given to the certain same companies? Corruption? Where is our oil, palm oil and timber money? Mismanagement? Why the gap between the poor and rich is so big in Sarawak? What the state leaders have been doing all this while, to allow erosion of our state powers that we need to make a stand and negotiate for it now? Why didn’t they fight for it before? Have they been sleeping on the job?

Will the issues at the Federal level have any impact here on the Sarawak election? Sadly, from my observation, the issues at the Federal level will not have very much impact here except for the urban voters. It is only good for coffee shop talk.

1MDB? Adenan Satem is fast to distance himself from the issue saying it has nothing to so with Sarawak and that is a smart political move. Because it should matter. All the things that happened in Federal will affect us in Sarawak because we don not live in isolation. Goods and Services Tax, that was decided at the Federal level and pretty damn sure that is affecting the people of Sarawak now. The 1MDB scandal implicating the very person this state government is supporting and dealing with, how is that not affecting us? The decision to use Tabung Haji money to ‘bail out’ 1MDB, how is that not affecting people in Sarawak who have deposits in Tabung Haji? And that was decided at what level? The appointment of the AG that also has his hands in the Allah and bible issue, that is not affecting us here? The appointment of the next Bank Governor, that doesn’t concern the people of Sarawak?

We have been fed lies and disinformation that issues happening at the Federal level will have no impact to the state of Sarawak. Do you pay tax to the government? Do you send your kids to schools, universites here? Do you buy car and house here? Do you live and work here? It is still Sarawak, Malaysia. Unless we go for Republic of Sarawak.

Lastly, what would you like the political parties to do about these three issues? Nothing. But I want the people to start questioning. And take charge. Take ownership of this state and country. Be a responsible citizen and carry out your due duties. Question everything. Be a learned and educated voter. Look for consistency when judging a person or any entity. Match talks with actions. And vote wisely this coming election. Give yourself a chance to make it right.

#GiveYourselfAChance

Tags: Adenan, Malaysia, Politics, Sarawak, State Election

I am going to be 33 in another week. 30th of November. Time sure flies. My 3rd birthday in the jungle of Kalimantan, Indonesia. Just another day for me, maybe a spike of wall messages on my Facebook and mentions on Twitter. Calls and text messages? Nah people don’t do that anymore. So 33 is middle age or what? Just in case I need a reason to blame all the stupid things I did or going to do on mid-life crisis.

Funny sometimes I feel like I have a lot of things to write about but when I get to it, nothing seems to come out. You need to keep on writing to keep it flowing I guess. Even when you are just writing craps and not making any sense.  Nowadays everything is in bite size, (or it is bit size? See,  my grammar also gone into the drain) we hardly can express ourselves more than few lines of words.

I had the chance to be an interviewer last Monday.  It was for the hiring of management trainees in preparing of the upcoming oil mill. I was one of the 3 panel interviewer. About 16 candidates, all fresh graduates registered for the sessions and we interviewed them in a group of 4 persons. This was actually the first time I sat as an interviewer in a formal interview session. I must say I was impressed with the quality of the fresh graduates who came for the interview. Almost all of them dressed impeccably for it and shown great confidence in expressing themselves and communicating throughout the session. The common ‘theme’ that I got was for them to be given a chance at the job. None of them talked or brought up the issue of salary or benefits even when the session was open for questions to them. I could feel their passion and sincerity, have no choice but accepting them for their infectious enthusiasm and eagerness to prove themselves. Just so long as they are given the chance to do so. We concluded the session after shortlisted ten of them, eight males and two females.

I wonder if I did as good when I started out as a fresh graduate. But I certainly grateful for the opportunity given to start as a junior engineer with a consultancy firm in Puchong,  Selangor. I learnt so much in my short three and half year there.

We should not be too hard on the fresh graduates or young people looking for an opportunity to prove themselves. Some employers demand too much of fresh graduates, not realising they were young, inexperienced and naive once. Life is tough for anyone starting out. Give them a chance.

Bersih is not about rhetoric.

What Bersih wants? You know. I know. A lot of people know. So it is very clear what Bersih wants.

Yes, Bersih wants a clean government. Bersih wants free and fair elections. Now, Bersih also wants to “save the economy.”

Why Bersih wants these? For the lack of vocabulary, #BetterNation heh.

And how to achieve all these? The specifics of it? May I direct you to some of the recommendations made by Bersih.

Bersih’s 10 institutional reforms:

1. Electoral reform 2. Making the Election Commission a constitutional party answerable to Parliament 3. Barring Prime Minister from simultaneously holding the office of Finance Minister 4. Parliamentary Reform 5. Making MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) answerable to Parliament 6. Separating Attorney General from the role of Public Prosecutor 7. Freedom of Information laws at Federal and State levels 8. Public declaration of Ministers and senior government servants’ assets 9. Repeal of/Amendments to draconian laws

10. Establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC)

If all these recommendations by Bersih are accepted and carried out, we should be able to achieve the two main “wants” mentioned earlier.  The 3rd “want” is just the after thought of the other two.

But, really HOW to get all these recommendations done? Through a rally? Heck, rally is just a process. A referendum of collective voices and opinions. To unite and organise people with shared objectives. Really, a rally is one of the simplest mean for common folks to voice out when every other avenue is either being closed down or being bullied into submission. I don’t think people are so naive to think just through rallies we would able to achieve all we want.

The “hows” to achieve all above although is clear and appears to be easy as spelt out in the recommendations, yet it is not quite clear (confusing, but yeah..) because the lack of any result to show. The journey is still a long and windy one, even for an optimist. Especially when this is going to be the 4th edition of Bersih since its first rally on 10th November 2007. What Bersih has really achieved since then? Indelible ink? More awareness? More noise? Really, to be honest not much in measurable results when you compare with the recommendations mentioned earlier.

But that is because we have a very stubborn and irresponsible government in place. Many promises were made, not many were met. All the structural changes recommended to achieve the main objective of Bersih – free and fair election yet to be made. Election Commission is still not reporting to the parliament. Political funding yet to be regulated. Delineation, very minimal to none have been carried out.

So we are stuck with the same old play. Yes it is silly to keep doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. But what choice do we have for now? Do you have better and workable ideas? By all means, do it. Just don’t ridicule the persistence of Bersih supporters.

Because at this stage we are still only concern about “what.” And “why.”

Why we want a free and fair elections? So we hopefully will get a clean government  in the process when we have free and fair elections.

When we have a clean government, hopefully we will have a government that actually cares about the economy, that will listen to the voice of the people who put them in office and will implement measures and policies to the benefit of better economy and all.

How Bersih want to achieve all this? Well before that, does Bersih have a consistent and big enough voice to get things done as what they want? As what you and I want if we all support its objectives and fights. Because if we don’t have a consistent and big enough support to pressure the power to be to carry out the recommendations for all the things we want and why, no point we go talking about how now.

We must remember that Bersih is nothing but a pressure group with its main objective is for electoral reforms. Bersih is not the policy maker. To burden Bersih with all the how to get this and that done, shouldn’t these questions be asked to those who actually can make it happen? Ask the bloody government. Ask the bloody Election Commission. Ask the bloody Prime Minister who is having a chokehold over the whole cabinet and everything that moves (maybe some already dead, unfortunately) in this land.

There are so many things to do, a lot of it have to be in place before what we want can happen. Do we expect to have all the answers before we want to be a part of anything? You already knew the what and why. You want to know the how as well? Bloody hell, go play your game with your cheat codes and walk-through guide don’t you?

We want to save the economy, save the nation and shit, but before all that can happen, we need to restore the confidence and strengthen the institutions we entrust to safeguard our interests, foremost. And I have lost confidence in all the major institutions we entrusted to safeguard our interests, to do its sacred jobs because all are falling apart due to political interference. Look at how much power the Prime Minister and its office wield over the Attorney General’s Chamber, Malaysian  Royal Police, Anti Corruption Agency, judiciary, the submissive cabinet and by extension the parliament by holding some balls just enough to make it a lame duck parliament eg. balls of the Speaker of the House of Representatives?

What else common folk like me do other than voting come every rigged-election and making noise on the social media that soon-to-be-regulated-and-clamped-down? This government is making a mockery of its mandate day in day out, hell no I have not and will never give my vote to anyone to abuse the governance system, public institutions and ruin the nation like what is happening now.

So, you be damned if people want to walk the streets with the like minded to show their displeasure with the government and the system. The most important of all, to throw their support for Bersih in its fights for electoral reforms.

For free and fair elections.

For clean government.

For me, I just need these two reasons. How many do you need?

Tags: BERSIH, Bersih4, Better Nation, Clean Government, Free and Fair Elections, Institutional Reforms, Malaysia, Politics, Thoughts

The uncle is directing passengers to the sections following their destinations. When you already have big signs just in front of the entrance. Yet there many who stopped and asked him which section to go.

Redundancy.  That is why some people never learn to pay extra attention.  What a waste of productivity. Then again, maybe this is a way to “create jobs”.

Good morning.

It is another week before Chinese New Year and I am already easing into it (read: lazy at work).

So it’s been 1 year and 9 months working in Indonesia for me. I am enjoying the experience so far. My life is pretty simple here. Morning going to work at 7am local time (an hour behind Malaysia) for  5 hours 12pm, break for 2 hours and then continue at 2pm for  another  3 hours. Saturday half day work. Usually after work go for  a short run or doing whatever to sweat myself out for about 30 mins, then have dinner and doing whatever  is there to be done to occupy myself until bedtime.

Before they put some limitation on the usage of internet, still can waste time on the internet. Now, just relying on the personal data plan, the speed is painfully slow. Just to send a tweet also taking forever. You would in such god forsaken place they’ll ensure certain things that keep you insane, like being connected to the family and friends via simple technology like the internet would be taken care well eh? Well, some people just don’t have any cow sense of anything. Limitation of internet service during working hours is fine to curb abuse, but after office hours? Playing kuku all night also sien lah.

I didn’t make time to write about my 2014 like I usually do at the starting of a new year, as a recap when I was still active blogging. Uh, people still use the word blogging nowadays?

My 2014 was uneventful, well with my time spent most in the jungle, what do you expect? Health wise I think I am doing good, I weigh and look better than the heydays. I manage to keep my weight at 72-74kg and ensuring that I don’t grow back my tummy. I have been monitoring my body stats, the usual glucose, cholesterol, uric acid and everything is pretty good, hope to keep that this year. Introduced more greens in my food intake and cut down on the processed food and carbs. Why the decision to be so health conscious of late? Well, one thing is that the results from all that makes me feel better about myself. I can’t wrap my head around the fact I am only 32 and feeling old and crap. Late 2012, at 88kg or so I was feeling like crap.

My late father passed away because of cancer in 2011, and my younger brother us unexpectedly in 2012 and I think those 2 events subconsciously influenced me to take a better care of myself on order to be able to take care of my loved ones and to enjoy better things in life.. No money can buy you good health, when it is too late. Career wise, I am doing better than before and that is progress so that’s all that matters. Most important thing is to be appreciated for the work you done and the your value as part of the organisation. And for rat racer like us, we measure that in simplest terms possible, money and support.

Oh ya, Adam is growing up fast. He is 17 months now and the last time I went back he was busy showing off his vocab. I hope to be able to spend more time with him. I am going back almost every 2 months, it is some sort of gentlemen deal between me and my boss. I will not give anyone a rat’s ass when it comes to my entitlements and personal time with my family. I have been down that road, and no amount of hard work or money worth the time spent with your loved ones. Money can find. If cannot find as much as you like it to be, then have to  live as much as it can provide you with.

But I have learned that one important thing in life is to have choice. You need to have choices in the things you do in order not to sell yourself short, so don’t limit your choices. Make and open yourself to more choices.

Till next time. Good night.

Hey there! This is me writing the first post for this blog in 2014, close to 3 months late. My last post was in last year July 30th, so it has been almost 8 months since I have written anything for this blog. What an achievement, not. Let’s see, what has changed since then? Well…

“I am your father, Adam.” Yes, I finally can use that line from now on, when necessary. Meet Adam Encharang Bong Wei Keat. He was born on 24th August 2013. He is going to be 7-month old next week. Damn, time flies.

I only get to see him every 2 months or so since I started working here in Kalimantan Tengah. I feel bad when I think about it. Hopefully this will not go like this for long. Dread to think that I will miss out all the good times with him.

I think I can now pass as a local when speaking on the phone but still too good looking in real life to be an Indonesian bwahahaha!. I kid. I kid. Life is pretty mundane here. Morning 7am to 12am, 2pm to 4pm go to work. Stay in office or go to site, walk around, pick up some calls. Don’t really screw people here to get things done, so being tactful when asking for anything is a must. And you wait. And wait. And repeat. And wait.  Then after work go for a short run or pretend to do anything that can be considered as exercise. After dinner, movie time. Or reading some books. Or wasting time on Twitter, which I am very good at. Repeat from Monday to Saturday. Sunday if lazy stay in the room, watch movies, read books, on Twitter again. Or else go to Banjarmasin city, 3.5 hours away. Waste time at the only hypermall in town then back to the estate usually already 9-10pm local time. Repeat.

Work not really that much different from what I did in my previous workplace. I enjoy the work and the challenges. Sometimes a little frustrated when things not moving as fast as I want it to be. Was used to get things moving faster back home. Then again, I pretty much had the full authority running things back then. Here, there are more ladders to climb. There are still many more things to do, I think I will stay put for the time being. The perks are good.

Eh, why am I talking about work. I should talk about anything but work. I have good news, for myself. I am so much lighter now since I started running in November 2012, and pretty much maintain the current weight at 72-74kg for quite a while now. I was weighed 88kg when I started. I was running consistently every week when I was in Miri and Kuching and was so happy I could make it a habit. More so that I “suddenly’ got to know few friends who are into running as well. Every Saturday 5am we went for a long run. Lost the tempo a little after coming to Indonesia mostly due to boredom running alone. I am no Forrest Gump, man. And the Runkeeper also not working well here. Not sure why the GPS is not working, so I cannot track my run. I thought it was my phone, but I have changed few phones since I came here and still the problem persists. So I just do my 3km or so run every alternate evening. Longer on the weekend when I feel fat. I hope I can keep this habit for long.

I also wish to get back my writing habit. Nowadays writing in spurts on Twitter or Facebook status, making me lazy and dumb when it comes to writing. Things on Twitter also getting dull, people picking fights over the silliest thing. Politics is no longer ‘fresh’, especially when you understand that some things will not change, or it will take time to change. We are still not getting our basics right. Bickering for the sake of it, both the opposition and the establishment. I am especially disappointed with the opposition for sticking to the same old tune just like what its counterpart doing, so it is a never ending and long, boring tango. Well, disappointed with the opposition doesn’t make me a fan of the establishment either. I myself noticed that I have toned down my political craps, straying away from those serious discussions and sticking to hahaha stupid jibes and snarky sarcastic remarks for both sides of the divide. Same old faces, same old ways of doing thing it is just insane expecting different result out of it. Or, maybe I am just getting old. Pffft.

Till next post.

p/s: I hope they find the MH370 soon.

pp/s: Just how many of you still reading this blog?