Lousy Forum.....

A few weeks ago, our lecturer, Mr Terry asked us to attend a forum about children with special needs. According to him, we could learn a lot about the children with special needs from the forum and it would help to prepare us when we take that course at the coming semester. At that time, I was quite interested with the forum because I could legitimately skip work on that day. Erm, I mean I could learn a lot from that forum. : p

The forum was held on the previous day, 29th November 2008. It was supposed to be held after our last Moral Studies class at 2 p.m. On that day, we had to present our moral assignment and hand in our journal to be marked by our lecturer, Mr Michael. We didn’t even break a sweat during our presentation as I think most of us were already immune with the pressure from our previous assignments. Compared to our previous assignments, this was nothing to us. That weren’t anything special about the presentation, so I’m not going to elaborate about it. By the time class ends, all of us felt super relieved as though a 5 tonne burden has just been lifted of our back. Now, we feel as though we could fly.

Before:


After:


After class ends, I went to have lunch with Jian Shi, Xinzi and Rachel WSF. Jian Shi proposed we go to eat fried kuey teow at the stall near our college. We have always wanted to try the “char kuey teow” at that stall. The fragrant smell of “char kuey teow” from the stall has always been very tempting. Before we went there, Jian Shi and I have to listen to Xinzi and Rachel argue for 5 minutes about eating at that stall. ~Sigh~, women, always so complicated. They should learn from men, simple and decisive.

Jian Shi and I ordered 2 big plates of char kuey teow for ourselves while Xinzi and Rachel ordered a big plate to share. The fried kuey teow was really delicious with generous amount of lap cheong and shrimps. (Sorry, forgot to take picture). However, we still have doubts about eating at that stall. If you look carefully around the stall, the hygiene of the stall is terrible. There’s even a carcass of a rat near the place we sit. I was regretted about ordering the grass jelly water. The grass jelly which is used to prepare drinks was kept in an open plastic bag, being exposed to all sorts of pollutants and micro organisms. By the time, I realised that, it was too late. When I ate and drank the food prepared, I kept on hoping in my heart, “Oh, please no diarrhoea, no diarrhoea, no diarrhoea!!!!” Phew, luckily nothing happened to me after that meal. It’s waste for the owner to operate his stall at such a dirty place. If they opened their stall at a coffee shop or a food court, I’m sure they would have more customers. One thing is for sure, I won’t be going back to that stall again. Here’s a picture of them eating:


Jian Shi (looking discontented): Why do I have to eat at such a low class place?


Rachel: No, I haven't put on my cosmetics

While we're eating we overheard what Xinzi talked on the phone.

Xinzi: Aiya, no need to bank in the money la. I still got a lot of money.
Xinzi: Ha! You didn't sell the share aaa! Now, the world is facing a terrible recession.
Xinzi: Faster sell all the shares that I have! If not, I'll lose millions!
Xinzi: Don't worry, I still got a few millions in my Swiss account.
Xinzi: I just bought a genuine hand-crafted Gucci Handbag last week.
Xinzi: See, I'm fine here. So, you don't need to worry.

(She didn't say that of course. I was just kidding)

After we ate our lunch, we went back to college while Rachel went home. On our way back to the college, we spotted a beautiful white BMW which has a modified body kit. We were so mesmerised by the beauty of the car before we spotted something.


Noticed something weird?

Look carefully

Holy crap! What kind of ominous number plat is that! Who in the world would be stupid enough to buy that kind of number and install it at his car! The beauty of car is tarnished by the 4 figures at the number plat.


"die die die die"

For those who don’t know Cantonese or Mandarin, the number 4 is pronounced as “sei” in Cantonese and “se” in mandarin which resembles the word die in both dialects. Therefore, the number plat also meant “die die die die”.

At 2 p.m., we registered our names, paid RM5 and went to the forum. We were having high expectations towards the forum as many professionals who are experienced and have Masters Certificates in the ECE field would be attending the forum. It was a mistake that we regretted dearly later. The forum began with an introduction speech from Dr.Lim Boon Hock who has a doctorate in “Children with Special Needs”. During his speech, he mentioned that all of us should share our resources together during the forum to revamp the education for children with special needs. That phrase made us even more excited. However, as the forum continued further, we felt something’s amiss. The forum was starting to become like an advertisement for Malaysia Care centres and other preschool centres, and the parliament where they debate about new laws and policies for ECE. They kept on talking about how preschool centres should be set up, what kind of law should be enforced, how children with special needs shouldn’t be segregated and other topics that we have learned when took our Foundation course last semester.

In the midst of the discussion, I raised up my hand to ask for some advice on how to manage a child with special needs at my centre. To my surprise, my question was rejected. They said that what I’m asking was irrelevant to the goal of the forum. Goal? What goal? You didn’t say anything about the goal of the forum in the brochure! You just mentioned that the forum was about children with special needs. You even put “No Children Left Behind”. So, how was my question irrelevant to the topic discussed in the forum? I asked how I can modify my lessons so that the child wouldn’t be left out from my class. Wasn’t he the one who said that we should share our resources to revamp the education for children with special needs? By refusing to answer my question, wasn’t he contradicting himself?

We were so disappointed with the forum that we decided to run away after tea break. During, tea break, we ate some of the food prepared to fill our stomach. Besides, we did pay RM5 for the forum. Jian Shi didn’t waste any time in attacking the food. He took as many sandwiches and curry puffs that he could so that he could get back the RM5 he paid. We didn’t think that he was serious when we joked that we should eat a RM5 amount of food to avenge the money that we lost before running away.

Moral of the story: Ask for more information directly from the organizers before attending any forums in the future.

Finally....Our "Angkasawan" Project Is Succesful!!!

Yahoooo!!! We have finally succeeded in launching our “Angkasawan” programme by launching our fuel price and inflation rate into outer space. Our fuel price and inflation rate skyrocketed so high within such a short time that even we are able to feel the scorching heat in our hearts. That's right! The scorching heat which infuriates us so much that we want to burn down the federal government.



I think most of us have already known that the cost of living most revolves around the price of the crude oil. This is because petroleum and diesel are one of the essential materials needed to operate our daily operations and businesses. For example, we need natural gas for cooking, petroleum and diesel to operate vehicles, bitumen for making road pavements, etc. Whenever the price of crude oil increases, the cost of living will also increase. Therefore, we can conclude that our cost of living is almost directly proportional to the price of crude oil. That means that the higher the price of crude oil, the higher is the cost of living. Price of Crude Oil : Cost of Living.



The several increments in the price of oil over these few years have certainly caused a significant impact in our daily life. The price of crude oil has increased in a meagre amount each time the government decided to do so. Therefore, we only felt the impact of the increments as something similar to a mosquito bite. However, as these meagre increments started to build up, the harmless mosquito bites have begun to develop into a malignant tumour which is beginning to threaten our lifestyles.

After several increments in the price of crude oil by the government, we are starting to feel the impact of the increment especially by the low and middle-class wage earners. Almost all the price of the items essential for us to survive such as grocery items, electricity and water has increased significantly. Services which rely greatly on petroleum or diesel to operate such as bus and taxi fares, aviation fares, and lorry services have also increased. Since the cost of transporting people and goods has increased, the cost to operate the business will also increase. This will then lead to the increase of price of goods and raw materials. When the price of raw materials increases, other products that are made from these raw materials will also become more expensive. To simplify the situations, the changes in crude oil will set off a series of chain reaction that will eventually affect the consumers.

Each time the government decides to increase the price of petroleum and diesel, they will pacify the anger of the public by blaming the volatility of the global price of crude oil. However, I’m still not convinced by how the increase in the global price can affect Malaysia which is a net-exporter of crude oil. These are the list of things which still puzzle me now and what I believe most Malaysians are also wondering about.

1. If Malaysia is a net-exporter of crude oil, then Petronas will gain more profit by being able to sell crude oil to foreign countries at a higher price due to the increase in the global price of crude oil. Am I right?



2. If Petronas maintains the price of domestic petroleum and diesel, Petronas should still be able to garner a higher profit despite the rise in the global price of crude oil. It’s is logical because if Petronas can make a profit by selling domestic petroleum and diesel at a lower price before, why can’t it do the same thing now? There isn’t any significant increase in the cost of production of petroleum, is there?



3. Therefore, the statement issued by the government saying that Petronas will go bust if the government continues to subsidies the price of petroleum and diesel is false, isn’t it?
   
   
4. Why do you think that Najib said that the government would go bankrupt if they lower the price of domestic petroleum and diesel as what the opposition party proclaimed they would do if they won in the general election? Do you think what he said is true?
   
   
5. If Malaysia truly is an oil-producing country, why does it depend on the global price of crude oil when it is selling petroleum and diesel to its own people? We are not importing crude oil from foreign countries.
   
   
6. Malaysia is an oil-producing country. So, it should be able to determine the price of its own crude oil when it comes to selling it domestically, am I right? (“This is my oil. So, I can sell at what price I want”)



7. Does the government want to increase the price of the domestic petroleum and diesel simply because it does not have sufficient funds in order to complete the billion-ringgit project that was planned initially such as the Iskandar Development Region and the construction of a second bridge connecting Penang and Kedah? Is it due to the mismanagement of funds? For example, the opposition MPs at Kedah who are now questioning the former MPs on how did the allocation fund of RM80million for a year is used up in merely a few months.
   

In an attempt to alleviate the impact of rise in petroleum and diesel prices, the government set up a few measures which I think are quite useless. They promised that vehicles with a certain engine capacity will get a rebate when they pay their road tax at the end of the year. They will also be given a reduction in road tax. Even so, consumers are only able to get these benefits when they pay their road tax after a year when their road taxes expire. How does the government expect us to survive one year with the inflation rate so high? The government also advised us to change our lifestyles in order to assimilate with the rising cost of living. Well, they don’t have to worry about this matter because we do it even if they don’t tell us too. The question is how many times the government wants us to change our lifestyle. How many times to we need we need to degrade our lifestyles? Most of us are already quite impoverished from the beginning. Do they want us to change our lifestyles until we have to eat yam as our staple food like what happened when the Japanese subjugated Malaya? The cost of living and owning a car is so high now. By the time, I graduate and procured my diploma, I might need to resort to cycling as my main means of transportation. The minimum wage for degree holders now would not be sufficient for a decent lifestyle in a few years time.




Pheeww, luckily the government did not really proceed with the "Angkasawan" plan. That would cost us a few more billions which would lead to a higher increment of the petroleum and diesel price. Now, I welcome anybody to come and answer the questions on this post. In fact, I challenged anyone who is able to do so, especially the government to answer those mind-boggling questions that have been puzzling me. I heard that the government have even set up an IT team to answer all the allegations placed by bloggers. Now would be a good time for them to start working if you want the people to vote for you in the future. This is not something to be treated with levity as this is about our standard of living which is now deteriorating. So, what if the economy is getting better. That only means that the rich is getting richer but the poor is getting poorer. If that happens, then the New Economy Policy has failed. The non-bumiputras would have been marginalised for nothing.