Can't Poor People Have Nice Things?

A dark-skinned man walked to the cashier holding a bag of  what looks like "siam super special" rice. He meekly asks the cashier - "Berapa?" (Malay for "how much?"). The cashier glared at him for a bit before snatching the bag scanning the bar code. 

"Emfatfuloe..", Gibberish was being uttered by the cashier with her head faced down and not the least bit interested in making eye contact with the man, it was as if deliberately not wanting to talk to him. From where I could stand, I could see the price - RM 42.50. Holy Grapefruit! - That's pricey for a bag of 10 kg rice. Then again, I'm more used to the lower price range of local white rice; the extravagant prices of "higher end" rice such as brown rice have little appeal to one who strives to thrift like me. 

"Empat puluh dua ringgit lima puluh sen!" (Malay for RM42.50) the cashier raised her voice, which shocked both myself and the dark-skinned man. It was as if she was annoyed. With the bag of rice in his hand, he retreats away from from the cashier. 

I have then begun a ride on a roller coaster of assumptions in his head - "Things are getting more and more expensive, and my pay is not increasing" - "Can't poor people have nice things?" - "I know I don't belong here, but do you have to raise your voice like that? Treat me less than human?" - "Well, at least things here are better than back home".

Review - Mandela's Way by Richard Stengel

Richard Stengel seems to suggest that being a hypocrite is being worse than a being a contradict - which is what Mandela seems to be in his eyes, for at least being a contradict is human, and being a hypocrite stoops you a level lower because you are perfectly aware of your contradictory actions. For the sake of simplicity I'll write down the 'lessons' that appealed most.

Time and time again we see this value, perhaps told in a different fashion and in a different light; courage. And in the book it is iterated that courage is not the absence of fear but putting up a front of valour even though you're (rhetorically) wetting your pants. Also along this vein, Mandela who is conscious about first impressions, is very particular when it comes to 'looking the part'. Trying to reconcile with the sentiments of a leader, it would be shallow to judge someone on first impression, but the harsh reality is that everyone does it, and that first few seconds imprints the image of the man in one's mind and last almost indefinitely. With that in mind, Mandela justifies splurging on fancy clothes and putting up a courages front when meeting with important people.

I also found that while Mandela endorses 'Seeing the Good in Others' and is like a personal mantra to enrich one's view in life, realistically, it only gets yourself hurt when you're too trusting in someone else that you do not see their hidden agenda. Mandela also admits to have been betrayed but never ceasing to see the good in others.

As the old saying goes, 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer'. Mandela adheres to this almost strictly, except with a slight tweak - he keeps enemies close (one example is when he placed a member of the opposition in the cabinet so he can have close tabs on him) but at the cost of unwaveringly distancing himself from friends and family (due to the course of his work, he would justify). It would also seem that Mandela is down with using others as tools to reach his goal (while the goal of a better nation is noble, the means where he admits using others to reach the goal begs the question of morality), namely using people like de Clerk and speaking Afrikaans to gain the support from the other side.

I found the chapters of 'Lead from the Front' and 'Lead from the Back' almost identical, save for slight change in wordings - essentially advocating to know when to be at the front to lead and knowing when to step back and watch seeds of leadership come to fruition.

Mandela was a fan of gray areas - for a yes-or-no question, more often than not, he'll reply with a 'maybe', 'it's both' or something to that effect. Mandela appreciates that the two extremes are certain, but at times can be too harsh, and prefers to accept that for most problems, there is always a bit of both.

The final lesson is called 'Find Your Own Garden', and to Mandela, it was taken quite literally. While imprisoned, after months of protocol, he finally managed to have a plot of land by his cell to plant vegetables (mainly to supplement his and the diet of other prisoners with veggies together with the cornmeal and occasional slab of meat they would have). Tending to his garden while in prison also gave him a lot of time to think and strategize where he claims to have found peace. While not all of us have spare soil for gardening, he urges people to find things they really love most and indulge in it, at least for a moment in a day to escape from the harsh reality of the world. One may argue that this move is no different than running away from one's problems but who's to judge?

All-in-all a mediocre book which gave insights to what Mandela is like from the perspective of Richard Stengel while dipping one's toes into the realm of African politics.

A Bluetooth Speaker Review

As one who loves (listening to) music, it is not surprising that I would try to get my hands on a quality speaker. As such it's high time I made a review of a bluetooth speaker.

And here it is...

The Samsung DA-F61 Bluetooth Speaker! 

It has a sleek design with clean curves and nothing too fancy, which is exactly what someone like me would go for in a hand-held product. The speaker is also surprisingly light, weighing around 1kg, which gives points in portability and won't strain your pockets (or bags) too much.

The speaker emits crisp and refined sounds along with a good balance of treble, mids and trebles. It’s able to go fairly loud, tricking your ears into thinking they’re listening to a larger sound system.

It has a surprisingly long battery life - up to 10 hours upon being fully charged. Long battery life is almost a must if you expect to leave the device on while you are engrossed with whatever you are engaged in. 

The price of the product may be a bit steep, but when you pay gold you do indeed get gold ;)

Rating: 5/5

The Moral Molecule and The Grand Design

Here's a review of two books I've read.


Paul J. Zak - The Moral Molecule - 2/5


He intended to draw a correlation between trust, happiness and morality; citing all could be increased with a single hormone - oxytocin. The first experiment called the 'Trust Game' involved using money to test morality - but alas this itself may fail because someone (or their parents) who is filthy rich may not play the game right, ignoring the limitations of money and screw people over for the fun of it (taking into account that a number of volunteers were students of an ivy league alma mater).


It is highly doubtful though that a moral person can be a happy person, as a psychopath who gets a kick (happiness) from killing but is certainly not moral in the eyes of the society. A person who thinks twice about helping a stranger (trust) is not necessarily a bad person (immoral), he just wants to ensure the safety of himself as well taking measures from becoming a victim of fraud. However, high trust did correspond to high happiness (which was common in religious people, according to his rounds of experimentation) but it can be argued that this happiness (or high) is an illusion, as the spike increase in oxytocin can also be observed by those who have taken euphoric drugs like ecstasy.


A lukewarm attempt to simplify the morality in humans but alas contains many contradictions and gaping questions to the actual relationship between the hormone and morality per se - analogies and experiments seem to be too simplistic and appears to lack sound scientific principles.




Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow - The Grand Design - 4.5/5


The author deals with one of the biggest questions ever asked in three areas making cross-references between religious, philosophical as well as scientific methods; What is the meaning of life? Beginning with the the existence of free-will, the author traverses into the realm of realities, alternate histories, Young's double slit experiment, particle physics, early-universe physics, apparent miracles (among other things) and last but not least, the Grand Design.


Whether or not THE answer is M-Theory or not, the author seemed to advocate and glossed over M-Theory and String Theory very much towards the middle of the book but did not give it a proper treatment that it deserves, given how the parameters were set up leading to this, at the end of the book.


The book is generally an easy read, partly because it uses everyday examples to explain convoluted scientific principles, and partly due to (rather) simple language. You'll also learn a lot from this book whether your field of expertise is quantum physics or not (though for the former, this would more likely be basics refresher - a 101 of sorts).

This is How Democracy Dies

It’s been almost 24 hours since the announcement of the elections. Much feeling of anger has subsided, but much of it remains, the feeling we all have against cheaters linger, namely the party who herald themselves with the logo of a balance scale. What are the identifiable problems, possible solutions and conclusive analysis that can be made? 

Problems:

1. Demarcated ballot papers rendering it null and void. In Kajang (my polling station) my friend and requested for a change when a dot was clearly at the end of the name of the PKR candidate (coincidence?). She then requested for a change but was then denied by the officer there. What gives? Putting this stained ballot paper would be as good as not coming to vote then.

2. As confirmed by the Bangladesh embassy, large influx of Bangladeshis were reported coming to Malaysia when offered to be Malaysian citizens (supposedly given money to be given blue IC’s and allowed them to vote).

3. Wasted God-knows-how-much on indelible ink which could have been easily removed with commercial cleaning agents in minutes. Should have used this money to buy more cows right?   

4. SPR and the police are obviously the puppets of the government. SPR is meant to be neutral body and clearly must have been given some fat bribes to be able to allow all this fuckery. The police are to be loyal to the country - not the government (who thinks money grows from trees).

5. Recounting takes 30 minutes at most. It took almost 5 hours. Wanna count till next General Elections is it?

6. Blackout and a wild ballot box appears. Wow. What is this - Pokemon ar!?

7. Active populist policies (inevitably swaying in votes from rural areas which happens to cross-over with many of the less-educated populace) - strengthening the  East Coast for the federal government

8. Biased state-controlled media reporting the elections were done to give the impression that the elections were done fairly. Tell that to my hairy ass.

Solution:

1. The next time you can take pictures of ballot papers. It seems ‘illegal’, but it can be tendered as admissible evidence. Long story short, the reliability of such evidence is not affected. On the flip side, we have an unfair committee grabbing us by the balls, giving us marked ballot papers when we can’t change. That can’t be right.

2. Hard to counter on a personal level. What CAN be done is raising awareness among the people and halting foreigners from being able to vote in OUR General Elections.

3. We need a better solution (get it?) than indelible ink. Either get a stronger formula or scrap this colossal waste of funds.

4. It’s gonna cost a lot, but SPR has gotta go. Abolish the bloody body and get foreign observers.There are too many members of the SPR who have (or may have) ties with the federal government.

5. and 6. Once again, difficult to manage on a personal level - perhaps we can have international bodies to intervene (such as the United Nations). With this, the federal government  are no different from Afghanistan warlords, ruling in whatever way suits them fancy. Surely cheating in an election is somewhat criminal! Having the dear PM face ICJ sounds like too good of an offer to refuse. Worse case scenario - we can impose economic sanctions ala Myanmar (back then that is).

7. This, is circular argument that is difficult to break (discussed in conclusion)

8. Force the privatisations of media giants. Ambik kau.

Conclusive analysis: In response to 7. Our federal government clearly does not care about the welfare of the rakyat. If they did, they would have gone for long term solutions when it came to improving the quality of life of the people (such as improving the education system. Me thinks, the reason for the short term plans (i.e. cash handouts especially via BR1M) are executed is because they are compelling incentives for the lower income bracket as well as for those staying in rural areas. They are content with these extra funds.

Uprooting poverty can best be done by providing better education, which in turn allows to better demand jobs and better pay, which allows a better lifestyle. One is is given more and better informed choices in life decisions and will better vote for policies that have a long term kick.

Comparing cash handouts and better education, obviously better education reduces poverty in the long run. SO WHY STICK TO CASH HANDOUTS? Me thinks to have the rural supporters support the federal government, satisfying them for the short term to secure their votes undermines retaliation from the rural areas. It seems, for fear of uprising from rural areas if they were more educated, the federal government can control that area and secure Parliamentary seats. Hence, this is exactly what I meant when the federal government does not give two shits about how your lifestyle becomes (whether you are poor or uneducated), as long as they remain in power.

The circular argument is this - to change populist policies (and fairer distribution of wealth) is to change the members of the parliament (to ones who have brains), but in order to change members of parliament, populist policies need to be changed to educate the people on the need for long term reform, etc.  

Changing your profile picture to black is merely one of the many things that can be done

On the bright side (or in this case, dark side) PR won more seats than 2008. And although the federal government played dirty, yet they could not win by a landslide.

Can it be like the end of the film of V for Vendetta, the Big Ben (in a local context, that could very well be Dataran Merdeka) explodes with the accompaniment of the 1812 Overture.

And this is how democracy dies - with a thunderous applause?

Time is Nigh

Do you want to see the country fall into bankruptcy with the currently inefficient budget?
Do you want Malaysia to remain the top few in the global corruption index?
Do you want to see more laundering of monies for cow farms and rings?
Do you want science and maths in schools to be taught in Malay?
Do you want to see Muhyiddin be our next Prime Minister?

If Democracy could speak, she would cringe and spit at Malaysia for having the same single sided federal government for the past 50 years or so, for unfair elections and for having biased state-controlled media, i.e. for ridiculing and demonising protest for free and fair elections.  (Democracy is not the ONLY way a country can run, bur that's a another discussion for another day)

Some people think I talk too much, but I'd rather voice my opinion and be a part of a change rather than sit idly by complain or even pretend to ignore what is going on around me.

For fuck sake - exercise your right and VOTE (if you are capable of doing so)

I write here as a very concerned and worried member of the society.

Anyone with common sense can tell you that if you truly intend to eradicate poverty from a large cross-section of the society, one of the best ways would be through education - producing better graduates who have better bargaining power and can request for improved wage in which allows them to afford more to improve standard of living.

What is happening as per status quo, is a short term solution with cash handouts immediately eating up the funds of the government. It doesn't solve anything in the long run, and eventually the recipients of the cash assistance will be looking for other means to earn more.

When weighing both sides of the scale to see which solution is better, it is clearly submitted that cash handouts are a poor choice. So why execute such a plan in the first place?

Two theories come to mind:

1) In order to apply for these cash handouts, one needs to opt in and provide certain personal information to the government. Although a plethora of information is made accessible by the MyKad, the government insists on more information by applicants. What gives? In can be inferred that the confirmation of information of the applicants can and very well be used by the government in the future to keep records on who has received what kind of help by the government - allowing them to deny or reject future assistance depending on  how much has been allocated to the said applicant.

Such a move can be seen as a 'ration' system of sorts. Ergo, obtaining assistance from the government may actually deny future dealings with the government or assistance from them.

2) The allocation is clearly a desperate move to receive votes of the less educated and fall within the classification of poverty. Even if this is not the reasoning, it can be inferred that in the coming general election, it is highly possible for the government to pull a 'George Bush' on the Opposition party; leaving a nation in a mountain of debt especially after the sudden allocation of financial assistance. If anything, it is a win-win for the government, if they win, it allows them to stay in power, otherwise they know the Opposition party is going to have a helluva time picking up the pieces and attempt to restore a broken state.

Just yesterday, it was announced that a rather large number of armed forces, police and civil service personnel would be receiving handsome perks and increments. While appearing as an attempt to fish for votes, it also falls neatly in the ambit of the second theory as just forwarded.

Change can be done via the ballot box. But apparently the ballot box looks like it has been tampered here and there, leading a 'democratic' state with the *same* party in power for the past 50 years. Something's gotta go, and it's more than that cross I will place in the ballot box, of course, with a very strong assumption it won't be ripped into shreds before being accounted for.