Disclaimer:
This is a personal blog and should be taken as such. So don't sue me if what I write pisses you off. Or if I write lies. Or if I give maladvice. Or if you fail to read through my sarcasm. Et cetera.
I like stalkers.
Is it in bad taste to quote one's self?
"The greatest of debaters are not only the most eloquent -- they are the most bruised, the most resilient, the strongest of heart." -- Andrew Loh
Quotes "How many times have you chickened out?" - Qu Hsueh Ming
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." - Albert Einstein
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
"Affirmative action is something the good don't need and the bad don't deserve" - A wise man
"The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the Nation's greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us." - John F. Kennedy
"The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were." - John F. Kennedy
"I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." - James A. Baldwin
"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is but a broken winged bird that cannot fly." - Langston Hughes
"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." - Sir Winston Churchill
"Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?" - Alfred Lord Tennyson
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." - John Calvin Coolidge
"We will either find a way or make one." - Hannibal
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"For evil to triumph, it is only necessary for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
"War begins in the minds of men, and it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must first be constructed." - UNESCO Constitution
"The proper study of mankind is man." - Alexander Pope
"My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death." - Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens): A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
"Patriotism is to support your country all the time and your government when it deserves it" - Mark Twain
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw
"Democracy is a system ensuring that the people are governed no better than they deserve." - George Bernard Shaw
"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." -- Noam Chomsky
"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell
"When the people fear the government, you have tyranny. When the government fears the people, you have freedom." - Thomas Paine
"I sense a learning: that much dumber people than you end up in charge. Look at the way things are. I'm no fucken genius or anything, but these spazzos are in charge of my every twitch. What I'm starting to think is maybe only the dumb are safe in this world, the ones who roam with the herd, without thinking about every little thing. But see me? I have to think about every little fucken thing." - Vernon God Little, Act II
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was put on the defensive when he was asked a wide range of thorny questions by students during a forum today.
MCPX
Students queried the prime minister after he had delivered his keynote address at the Malaysian Student Leaders Summit at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, with questions including:
• In achieving 2020, are we on schedule?
• I wish to join the civil service, but the civil service doesn't seem to be colour blind. What will be done to redeem the image of the civil service?
• Will there be more public debates between the cabinet members and the opposition on government policies?
• What is the role of the government in holistic development?
• You have called yourself colour blind, but what is your view on our quota system? It is still more racial rather than community- based. Secondly, what is your views on protecting minorities rather than majorities?
• I want to know how do you feel about promises that you have not kept. I don't want to know what you're going to do, but I want to know how you feel, towards us, the people you are responsible for. (Pinkpau got balls hahaha!)
Vision 2020
Many of the questions were met with loud applause from the floor and often drew smiles from Abdullah along with Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein who was seated next to him.
On Vision 2020 - a plan for Malaysia to achieve developed nation status - Abdullah said that Malaysia would meet the target provided that an annual growth rate of six percent is achieved.
"(But) we have problems now, due to increase in the price of oil and inflation," said Abdullah, adding that the government has allocated large amounts of money to meet the target.
"We are determined to fight and we must not give up", he added.
One student urged Abdullah to take action against "irresponsible politicians" for making irresponsible comments, to which the prime minister replied that he would "correct" such errant politicians.
He said that he would continue to remind politicians to exercise restraint and moderation.
Unkept promises
On the civil service, Abdullah said that the government was progressively making changes to make the civil service reflective of the composition of society.
He agreed that there was not enough non-Malays in certain sectors of the civil service but the government had created other mechanisms to allow non-Malay participation.
"For example, we have the Anti-Inflation Council. We make sure that the members come from the private sector and also members who are non-Malays," said Abdullah, adding that the government wants the council to be multi-racial.
He said that more of such institutions would be established to ensure that government policies are not being designed by one racial group.
On unkept promises, Abdullah said that the Barisan Nasional 2004 election manifesto was not designed with a five-year time frame, but a plan towards Vision 2020.
"It doesn't matter whether I will be around or not," he said, adding that the government has already established a plan to implement the election promises.
He cites reforming the Anti-Corruption Agency and the judiciary as among examples of promises which are in the midst of being fulfilled.
Abdullah said that it takes time to change the attitude of the people in order for the government to fulfil its agenda to encouraging transparency, accountability and openness.
"I'm not saying this as an excuse … social changes do take time as opposed to physical and structural changes," he added. Speech topic
However, Abdullah's response to the question of the government's role in holistic development drew the loudest reaction from the floor.
The student said the topic was something which Abdullah did not address in his speech, drawing loud applause from the floor.
Following this, Abdullah sought a clarification from the student who posed the question, apparently oblivious that the topic for his keynote address listed in the event's itinerary was Holistic Development and the role of the Government.
"Holistic apa?… Where did I say so in my speech? Are you looking at it? Oh, you are (referring) to the title of my speech!" exclaimed Abdullah, leading to laughter, applause and then loud murmurs from the 500-odd participants.
He did not touch on the intended topic during his keynote address but instead delivered a 40-minute off-the-cuff address to the students on a wide range of topics.
The prime minister cut short the session and did not attend the scheduled press conference after the event as he has to catch a 5pm flight to Sarawak.
KUALA
LUMPUR: Despite his hectic schedule, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
took time off to address a large group of college and university
students at a hotel here.
The Prime Minister made full use of the weekend opportunity as he stressed on the importance of maintaining national unity.
“I grew up in a 100% Malay environment but when I went to school, I made a lot of friends of all races.
“I used to go to my Chinese friend's house and his mother would ask me, 'Abdullah, lu ciak liao?' which means 'have you eaten?'“ Abdullah said, recalling his younger days.
He also took questions from the floor at the session. The following is an excerpt of the Q&A session.
Question:
Since it is our generation which will become the country's future
leaders, are we in your opinion on schedule to achieve Vision 2020?
Abdullah
answered: If our growth can be maintained at 6%, then we are on
schedule. But now we may not achieve 6% because of the increase in fuel
prices. We have allocated lots of money to achieve this but now the
prices of building materials have also gone up steeply and this has
also affected our development budget. There is inflation and the rakyat is certainly not happy. Such is the situation at the moment. But we have to continue to fight.
Q: There are some irresponsible politicians out there making irresponsible statements. What is your view on this?
A:
We hear from both sides of the political divide about irresponsible
politicians – from the Government and the Opposition, too. But we have
to comment through replies in Parliament and via our manifesto. ... We
must keep on reminding everyone that if they want Malaysia to be a
country that is peaceful, there must be restraint. We have to be
moderate and we hope that there will be people who will listen and
remind others that this is what we want to do.
Q: To be honest, the civil service does not seem to be very colour blind. Do you have any plans to review the civil service?
A:
I know you're not happy with the situation that seems to have more
Malays. We're now progressively making a lot of changes to be more
representative in the nation's civil service. We're also aware that
there may not be enough non-Malays at certain levels.
But today,
we have created a mechanism, for instance, the anti-inflation council.
We ensure that we have members from the private sector, who are
non-Malays from high executive positions, to participate in the
council. We want the council to be multi-racial.
Q:How do you feel about the promises that you have made to us but haven't kept?
A:
My intention is to implement what I promised. When I introduced my
manifesto in 2004, that manifesto outlined many things. It's not only
for the first five years but meant to go on right up to Vision 2020.
We've started (working) on it, and we're determined to achieve the
objectives, the law and mechanisms that need to be introduced, this has
to be done. I'm aware that the reform of the judiciary and the ACA has
not been done.
That was one of the promises I made. For the
commission of the ACA, that has been decided upon. The subject will be
debated in the next Parliament session and I hope that it will get the
okay from Parliament. At the same time, the introduction of the
Judicial Commission has been announced and it was one of the things we
wished to do.
The reform of the police force has already started
but we still have one or two more things that we need to look into, so
we'll continue with that. The reform of the financial and education
sectors has already started. There are challenges we have to face. I've
chosen a very important agenda, which is transparency and
accountability.
It is not easy because you have to change
people's attitudes, you have to inculcate new values and make social
changes because it is important for the future of Malaysia.
They say that you must go on a Bosphorus tour every time you visit Istanbul.
They don't lie.
Some rococo palace (Dolmabahce?) that I didn't visit.
I think this is Besiktas.
Rumeli Hisari.
It was built in 2 months? by Mehmet II al-Fatih (the Conqueror) before taking Constantinople (Old City) on the European side of Istanbul.
Some suspension bridge spanning the Bosphorus that was the longest in the world at some point.
The strait-side mansions of the rich.
I got off at Anadolu Hisari.
So Turkey is divided into the European side (Trachea) and the Asian side (Anatolia or Anadolu in Turkish).
Here I had real squid for the first time in my life.
Calamari is not meant to be chewy.
Fresh calamari is as easy to chew as tofu and is orgasmic. oh em gee.
The Turkish military again. Ubiquitous.
Turkish coffee is rich and thick and strong. And I was fleeced because the fucking idiot charged me 3 lira for it and I was too stupid to complain.
These kids (who were selling drinks and snacks) were so cute! After I took their picture and showed it to them they were like tesukkur (thank you) hahaha. And it was I who was supposed to thank them.
The hisari (fortress) of Anadolu Hisari. Was a pirate? based that controlled the Bosphorus for some time?
I motioned for this kid to dive from the boat for me to take a picture and he dived from the second level of the boat to make a bigger impression. Hehehehehe.
Some other rococo palace that I also didn't visit.
Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia and the Blue (Sultanahmet) Mosque.
Topkapi
Suleimaniye Mosque
Galata Tower overlooking Galata Bridge which spans the Golden Horn.
The evil eye was all over Istanbul.
I'm starting to buy all my stuff from kids because 1) they're cute and 2) I think they could use the money more than the adults.
This kid sold me 1kg of huge, sweet, amazing cherries for 2.50 lira -- one of the best best bestest buys in my life. Given that cherries are like RM 7 per 100 grams in Malaysia.
And after the Bosphorus tour I took a walk into Central Istanbul.
The Aqueduct of Valens
Not very well preserved, I must say; many historical monuments in Istanbul are but walls in playgrounds against which to kick footballs.
Pistachios! Again, fresh, better-tasting pistachios than anything I've had.
A packet of this was only 2 lira (because it was in a non-touristy area) and was amazing. Should've gotten more.
So I went to Kumkapi again to find those cute kids and their 25 kurus stuffed midyes but thez weren't there anymore and I was super duper sad! :(
But the following pictures were worth the train ticket back.
This is how a typical Turkish staircase looks. Super steep.
The Turks are a very colourful people. Both ways.
No other nation has embraced the colour purple as fully, as holistically as the Turks.
Especially the men.
Kinda like a national colour.
And today I visited Topkapi Sarayi (Palace), once the abode of the Turkish Sultans.
Topkapi Palace has one of the funny "i"s where it's actually an "uh" sound.
Topkapi Gates
Hagia Irene
My favourite picture from the batch.
Tower of Justice
Eunuchs. Fake, of course.
The Dewan was where the cabinet met when summoned by the Sultan.
Very pretty.
The Ottomans were a gunpowder empire.
Asian tourists and the circumcision room.
Again, sexy arches.
Part of its newer additions are in the Franco-European style. Which I thought detracted from the pretty Turkish architecture.
These are the ruins of the famed sea walls of Constantinople which helped it survive centuries of invasions. They are part of a larger system of fortifications, the most famous of which are the double walls of Constantinople (thank you Age of Empires).
Topkapi Palace overlooks the Bosporus and the Golden Horn, the latter of which was protected from naval incursions by the placement of a golden chain during Byzantine times (also AOE).
The police are ubiquitous in Istanbul, but you're forbidden to take pictures of them when they're with their weapons.
The highlight of my day at Topkapi was when I read that Topkapi also housed some of the holiest Islamic relics in the world.
And so they apparently had Muhammad's tooth and a part of his beard.
Also the swords of Muhammad, Abu Bakr, Umar al-Khattab, Uthman bin Affan, Ali bin Abu Talib, (and more interestingly) Khalid al-Walid and David.
I also visited the Topkapi Harem.
The Sultan's quarters
Bathtub.
After the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, the ornateness was getting boring and rather annoying.
Said swimming pool.
I think this picture accurately portrays life in the Harem: locked into luxury.
Ayasofya
Hagia Sophia, silhouette-ish.
Misir = corn in Turkish, and I think this is because Egypt was (and still is) very agricultural during Ottoman times.
The roasted (chest)nuts to the side weren't all that great.
After Topkapi I went to Kumkapi (kapi = gate) by the Sea of Marmara.
They even wear purple while fishing.
Turkish tea
So I had Balik Ekmek (balik=fish, ekmek=bread)
And my favourite Turkish food of all time -- midye.
Midye = stuffed mussels (with rice and other stuff). At first I was a bit hesitant to try it because you know it's seafood and I'm a tourist and they're selling it at stalls right beside the road so it might be dirty and all.
But in the end I decided what the heck.
And because it was so good and the kids were so cute and it was only 25 kurus per midye I had eight of them.
And my stomach was invulnerable.
Also Istanbul does not have any trashcans.
At first I thought that it was merely a coincidence with London, but after confirming with some locals, both cities have the same rationale for this policy. Both London and Istanbul have had not-so-pleasant experience with (terrorist) bombings; the former with the IRA and the latter with the Kurdish Workers' Party.
Hence.
I also watched these kids play football.
So after my seafood romp I took a train back to the Victorian Sirkeci Train Station...
... and passed by these tanks.
The Turkish army is loved by some, hated by many, and maintains a Big Brother-like prescence in Turkish cities and politics.
I also jumped onto a moving tram.
:)
It was not because I was intent on breaking the law; rather, I got off on the wrong stop.
And so I was walking behind the tram when these local kids beckoned me to jump on board.
And so I did lah.
And later Umut and I went out with some of his friends and watched the horrendous Turkey-Portugal game from a bar on Istiklal Street. According to Turkish newspapers the next day, Turkey not only lost in terms of goals, but also in terms of goalposts scored.
On unkept promises, Abdullah said that the Barisan Nasional 2004 election manifesto was not designed with a five-year time frame, but a plan towards Vision 2020.
