Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Power of the Tongue

Words have the power to motivate or destroy, energize or deflate, inspire or create despair. Many successful executives can remember the time their father failed to give affirmation to them as a child. The result was either overachievement to prove their worth, or under achievement to prove he was right.

Many a wife has lost her ability to love because of a critical husband. Many a husband has left a marriage because of words of disrespect and ungratefulness. Stories abound regarding the power of words. There are just as many stories of those who have been encouraged, challenged, and comforted with words that made a difference in their lives.

Jesus knew the power of words. He used parables to convey His principles of the Kingdom of God. He used words of forgiveness and mercy. He used words to challenge. He used words to inspire His disciples to miraculous faith.

Do your words give life? Do they inspire and challenge others to greatness? Who does God want you to encourage through your words today? Affirm someone close to you today.

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. - Proverbs 18:21
Power of the Tongue by Os Hillman
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At times I was not careful with my tongue too. Lash out then regret on the consequences...sigh!
Tags: Power of the Tongue, Kingdom of God, Parables, Proverbs

Humour to Start Your Day

Blessing in Disguise
Ponder the Kansas farm couple who are sleeping early one morning when a tornado roars over their farmhouse. It lifts the roof off, picks up the bed the farmer and his wife are sleeping in, and sets them gently in the next county.The wife begins to cry.'Don't be scared, dear,' her husband says,'We are not hurt.'The woman continues to cry,'I am not scared,' she says between sobs.'I am crying because I am happy. This is the first time in ten years we've been out together.'

Woman's Logic
Over dinner, a woman said to her husband, 'I met this horrible and rude man downtown this morning and right away I knew he was a troublemaker.
He started to insult me; he used really bad language, he even threatened me!'
'How did you meet this fellow?' He asked, very concerned.
She said, 'Well, we met by accident; I hit him with the car.'

Patient
Marvin murmurs, 'I hv not got a psychiatrist for the simple reason that if he listened to me long enough, he might become disturbed.'

And Food for Thought ...

Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj's vision for 'Malaya' (Malaysia)
'Whatever others may do, and however hard we may have to fight, we will stand by the ideals, and the principled democracy. We are determined to create a new nation, evolving our own personalities, maintaining our Malayan (Malaysian) way of life, defending our Parliamentary democracy, and upholding the principle that the state is made for men and not men for the state.'
Tags: Funny, Humour, Jokes, Kansas, Tornado, Psychiatrist, Malaya, Malayan

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Better Being a Malaysian Government Servant

As worldwide property markets are slowing down, particularly in USA and England and some parts of Europe, the Malaysian property market is still trumping high.

The Malaysian property market has seen a record buy by the YTL Group for a piece of land at Jalan Stonor, near the remarkable Petronas Twin Towers. The piece of land measuring only 0.4 hectare fetched a price of RM2,000 per square feet.

At the same time, the Malaysian government is making the housing allocation for their staff an envy throughout the whole world. Much envy even for Malaysians too.

Government servants will get to enjoy housing allocation of around RM5.8 billion (US$1.8 billion) for a total 23,000 units of staff quarters. The government staff working in the Putrajaya government administrative capital area would get to enjoy such accommodation in stages till year 2010.

Let's break it down in details:-
RM5,800,000,000 divided by 23,000 units = RM252,174 per unit.

Many people working in the private sector could only dream about such accommodation at this value.

That's the value for each unit that the government will provide for at least 23,000 families. First of all, are there 23,000 government staff working at the Putrajaya government administrative capital area?

That could be the total workforce and irrespective of rankings, each staff would get such a huge allocation? And the government was telling the public to change our lifestyle (to a more modest one) since cost of living was getting out of control. Was this expenditure justified?

Or was the government given an invoice which has been hiked up without knowing the actual costs behind it or the government was so lousy in negotiating for a good price or blatantly allowing such expenditure even though it was at sky high prices?

And this was only in Putrajaya. Wait till the government annouces for the rest of the government workforce throughout the country. Estimated workforce, if not mistaken, was around 900,000. If we follow the average unit price, it would cost the government - 900,000 x RM252,174 = RM226,956,600,000.00.

In case your eyes can't read the many zeros, it's RM226.9 billion.
Tags: Malaysian Government Servant, Putrajaya, Malaysian Property Market, YTL Group, Jalan Stonor, Petronas Twin Towers

Night Out Permission Slip

When a man goes out for a gathering with his own friends, guys for that matter, a man has to submit an application to his wife.
When it come to the wife's turn to go out with her girl friends, the wife too will submit an application to her husband, fair isn't it?

The Malaysia-Darfur Connection

Malaysia must stop supporting the genocidal government in Khartoum, Sudan.
By Sally Ong

April 13, named “Global Day for Darfur”, marks the fifth anniversary of the genocide in Darfur, a western region of Sudan. Since the conflict in Darfur erupted in 2003, at least 200,000 people have died and more than 2.3 million people have been displaced from their homes. Most of the displaced Darfuris are now living in refugee camps in neighboring Chad and in a network of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Darfur.

Although the conflict began five years ago, it has its roots in decades of neglect, oppression, drought and small-scale conflicts in Darfur. The current crisis began when two rebel groups attacked the central government in Khartoum. The two groups represented agrarian farmers who are mostly “non-Arab black African” Muslims from different tribes. In response to the rebel movement, the Khartoum government increased arms and support to local tribal and other militias, who later became known as the Janjaweed. Members of the Janjaweed are mostly “Arab black African” Muslims who herd cattle, camels and other livestock. Janjaweed mean “devils on horseback” and are thus named because members of the militia would arrive on horseback to systematically murder, torture and rape hundreds and thousands of Darfuris. In addition, armed bands of Janjaweed have destroyed food and water supplies, effectively wiping out entire villages.

Malaysia is, unfortunately, complicit in the genocide. We are currently the second largest investor in Sudan after China, and thus funding Khartoum’s genocidal activities. Petronas, Malaysia’s state owned oil company, is a major player in Sudan’s oil industry. As of April 2007, Petronas had invested approximately RM 4.8 billion (or US$1.45 billion) in Sudan. Petronas’ involvement has also facilitated significant investment of other Malaysian companies in Sudan. Ranhill Berhad, Muhibbah Engineering Berhad, Kencana Petroleum Berhad, Kejuruteraan Samudra Timur Bhd, Scomi Group Berhad and PECD Berhad are other Malaysian companies that have major stakes in Sudan’s oil industry.

All these companies have been identified by Sudan Divestment Taskforce, a U.S. based non-profit, as companies with highly problematic practices in Sudan. They are thus labeled because their business dealings 1) involve engagement with the Government of Sudan, 2) provide little to no benefit to the disadvantaged populations of Sudan and 3) may be inadvertently contributing to the government’s genocidal capacity.

Because of these business dealings, Malaysia has also strengthened bilateral relations with Sudan. Malaysia has provided military assistance and political protection to Sudan. A memorandum of understanding between the two countries signed in February 2004 included an agreement to cooperate on military matters. Although Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has expressed concern about the conflict in Darfur, he has not called for increased pressure on the Government of Sudan. Instead, he appealed to Muslim world leaders to provide help to the Sudanese government. When he visited Sudan in April 2007, Pak Lah also urged western governments not to impose sanctions on Sudan.

Malaysia’s involvement in the killings in Darfur, whether direct or indirect, is shameful and must stop. The Malaysian government must use its economic leverage to pressure the Sudanese government to stop the killing and destruction of Darfuri lives. Malaysian owned companies in Sudan should also do the honorable thing and withdraw completely from Sudan if Khartoum refuses to restore peace to Darfur.

I urge all concerned Malaysians to protest our government’s role in empowering Khartoum. To learn about the lives of displaced Darfuris, please visit here, a website with videos and journal entries posted by volunteers who visited sites in Darfur and Chad. Lim Yuen-Ling, a Malaysian, visited refugee camps in Chad last year as a volunteer for Stop Genocide Now. To sign an online petition asking the Malaysian government to unequivocally oppose the genocide, please visit here.

No one should have to die because of our economic interests. How many more thousands of people must die before we will speak up?
Tags: Africa, Sudan, Darfur, Global Day for Darfur, Darfuris, Janjaweed, Devils on Horseback, Sudan Divestment Taskforce, Stop Genocide Now, Genocide, Internally Displaced Persons, Non-Arab Black African, Arab Black African

Monday, April 14, 2008

Ministry Trip to Malacca

On Saturday morning, waited for a banker to drop by at my house to discuss further on a home loan. Yeah, they can make home calls now. Getting lots of good proposals despite the financial meltdown elsewhere in the world.

Thereafter, rushed to the foodcourt for lunch with friends before moving out to church to meet the rest for a trip to Malacca, a church ministry work. Left church around 2.25pm.

Drove the church van down, cruising at the speed of 80km/hr to 90km/hr. Can't push further otherwise everyone would have to get out to push the van later on, all the way to Malacca. An old van but still usable. Just need to know how to handle it. After the interchange to Bukit Mahkota, an accident occured between a pick-up truck and a car on the fast lane. Guessed the highway operators pulled both the vehicles to the emergency lanes for further investigations and to allow the traffic to move on. Was stucked there for about 30 minutes.

Later on, heavy downpour but not as bad till we can't see the road ahead. Could still move on smoothly.

We reached our Malacca church outreach close to 5pm. Our senior pastor who was there on Friday told us to grab our dinner before our performance later on.

Good thing there was a pasar malam (night market) just across the road from the church. Six cars (incl. mine) made our way to Malacca and we swarmed the pasar malam.
My Malacca church's main santuary.
At the end of the service, the church deacons, the pastor-in-charge and our senior pastor cut a cake to celebrate the church outreach's 12th anniversary.
Thereafter and as usual when we are down in Malacca, off to the Portuguese settlement for our supper? dinner? meal? Whatever. The moment I got down from my van where we parked the nearest to the stalls, we were swarmed by restaurant operators/staff.

Restaurant operator: "Sir, sir, come we have table ready for you"
Me: Oh, wait first. Need to ask my friends. (They went straight to my friends in the van)
Restaurant operator: "Sir, sir, come we have table ready for you"
Me: Not only them. We have five other cars. There! (pointing at the rest of the gang)

When I turned my head towards my other gang members, they were also swarmed by other restaurant operators/staff ................ just when I wanted to fend off this few of them.



We still need to stand around as one or two of our guys were still haggling over the price. Who can offer the lowest, there we will go.
They wanted to put us here which was near the restaurant that won the tender to serve us. That was restaurant no. 6, can't remember the name.
But we wanted that spot, nearer to the beach instead of near the car park area.
The only stall which was opened selling handicrafts.

Finished our meals around 12.30am and dreaded that meal as it would mean late arrival back in Kuala Lumpur. Well, the five cars zoomed off to Kuala Lumpur leaving my van behind. Light downpour halfway back. Dislike travelling in night time though no traffic. Looks like we were the only vehicle that kept to the speed limit. Almost every single car, lorry and bus overtook us.

We celebrated when we overtook a Kancil much much later on. yeahhhhhhhh, it was boring so we have to keep ourselves sane. Reached home at 3am.

On Sunday morning, I was struck with a terrible migraine and only woke up at 1pm. Totally knocked out. Missed church in the process. The migraine only went off just before I went for dinner. What a day.

My neighbour said that the migraine went off just nice for the coming Man United vs. Arsenal game later on. Blogged about this when I was watching the game actually. And Man United won yet again (Man United won 2-1). Four more games to go and the cheers of the English Premier League champion is getting nearer.
Tags: Malacca, Pasar Malam, Night Market, Portuguese Settlement, Ministry Trip

Friday, April 11, 2008

Coconut Tree Personality Test

There is a very, very tall coconut tree, and there are 4 animals:-

King Kong,

Ape,

Orang Utan;

and a Monkey.

They have a competition to see which animal is the fastest to get the banana.

Who do you guess will win? Your answer will reflect your personality.

Try and answer within 30 seconds.

Got your answer? Scroll down to see the analysis.
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If your answer is ....

Orang Utan = dull

Ape = foolish

Monkey = idiot

King Kong = stupid


Why ?????

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Coconut tree, doesn't have bananas .........??

It's obvious you're stressed by your work. It's Friday today, have a good rest this weekend!
Tags: Jokes, Funny, Humour, Stress, Coconut Tree, Orang Utan, Ape, Monkey, King Kong

Pattaya International Fireworks Festival

Pattaya is definitely firing up its presence internationally. Covid19 has hit many nations really hard and Pattaya wasn't exempted from ...