Roaring Forties

May 24 – David Beckham is undisputedly the best known footballer on the planet where he is known more for his off field exploits, for his fashion sense, for Posh Spice, for his move to the US of A but for football fans, he definitely is one of the best distance kickers in the world.  

David Beckham proved that he still has it in him at 33 years old when he scored a goal against Kansas City from 70 yards out last Saturday.

For an equally stunning goal from the halfway line, check out the goal when he was playing for Manchester United more than a decade ago on 17 August 1996 against Wimbledon.  

May 23 – The International Court of Justice ruled that Singapore had sovereignty over Pulau Batu Puteh or Pedra Branca and the Malaysian politicians are having a field day turning the whole issue into a fully blown political debacle. The local media is painting the picture that Malaysia had lost what was rightfully Malaysia’s and publised a lot of negative comments bashing the government for their failure to defend our territory.

The local media had failed to present an indepth study of the ICJ findings (attached) which I wish to summarise as follows;

Basically in a nutshell, the ICJ had reasoned from various historical writings, treaties and letters, that the Sultanate of Johor was the original owner in the 16th century. This meant that ICJ rejected Singapore’s claim that Pedra Branca was terra nullius (belonged to no one) and that in 1847 when the British took ownership by building the Horsburgh Lighthouse.

However, the ICJ found that the activities carried out by Singapore in the latter half of the 20th century which included investigation into marine accidents in the waters around Pedra Branca, control of visits to the island, reclamation plans and the installation of communications equipment were carried out as “titre de souverain” or as a manner to be carried by a responsible owner.

The ICJ also noted that there was no protest at all from the Malaysian side against any of the activities except for the installation of military equipment.

Most important of all, a 1953 letter from the Johor Acting State Secretary informed the colonial authorities in Singapore that Johor did not claim ownership over Pedra Branca. That’s letter basically sealed and delivered the ownership to Singapore.

The 16 judges of the ICJ voted 12 to 4 in Singapore’s favour.

The ICJ awarded the Middle Rocks to Malaysia as there were no “titre de souverain” activities at all from Singapore at any time.

I find that ICJ had been very fair in their award. We had a very weak case to start with without any solid evidence except for claims that there was a letter that the British asked Johor for permission to build a lighthouse and to make matters worse, we submitted some doctored photos of the island which make it looked nearer to the mainland Johor than it actually was.

With the long term presence which Singapore had on that piece of rock, with no protest from our side for them being there and with the 1953 letter from the Johor giving up our rights versus our thin air arguments, the outcome was quite clear.

Why politicise and fight over something that we have given up some 50 years ago?

Let’s move on.

May 21 – Manchester United became the Champions of Europe after overcoming Chelsea in a classic Champions League Finals.

No words could describe the beautiful game.

Check out the highlights of the game posted by an avid fan, gleniu.

May 18 – Been there and done it but decided to make another visit to Kuala Selangor last Sunday.

On the way, we decided to check out Pantai Remis.

We found Pantai Remis to be crowded, its waters murky and the beach lined with granite rocks which were put in artifically (can’t think of any reasons for it except to prevent beach erosion). Unless you desperately need some dose of sea air, there is really no reason to go to Pantai Remis.

We then proceed to historic Bukit Malawati where two brightly coloured trains ferry visitors up the hill to a couple of museums,  a lighthouse and remants of an old fort. 

What we find in abundance on Bukit Malawati are the monkeys

People feeding the monkeys

More monkeys

Monkeys manning the cannons

But most of all, the place was absolutely packed with  human kind.

The only peaceful and serene scene was to look into the trees.

After lingering around for about two hours, taking in the sights and the sounds, we have decided that we had enough, we proceeded to the fishing village by the river side looking for serenity and we were faced with the weekend crowds again.

There are three restaurants along the river named River View Restaurant, Jeti Restaurant and Kuala Sungai Restaurant. They all are along the river side and offer the river ambience but they are all equally packed. My recommendation would be the River View Restaurant as it was the original one that I have went to many years ago before the crowd started to get out of hand.

The only silver lining from my visit to the fishing village were two little kids who were fishing oblivious to the crowd. The scene looked like what a fishing village should look like.

We then proceeded to Kampung Kuantan, the famous spot for the fireflies. We were there 7.45 pm and we were faced an extreme long queue for the boat ride to see the fire flies. The crowd was about 150 in number and each boat at RM 40 each could only accommodate 4 persons. We didn’t want to wait to see how long it took to clear a crowd of 150.

Lesson for the day is not to visit Kuala Selangor on a holiday or weekend.

We called it quits and drove to Kapar town for our dinner.

May 19 – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced his resignation from UMNO in a decision which may have shocked many but his resignation comes with the condition that he will rejoin UMNO if Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi quits as the PM and the UMNO President. This is nothing more than a political stunt for himself and for personal glory.

It is no secret that UMNO is ailing, especially in light of the 12th General Election Results. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s move is calculated in which he can claim full credit when we see the end of the reign of Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi whose days are really numbered.

If Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi resigns now, he will be sending the message that one man, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, can determine the entire leadership of the country.

The only thing that Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi can do and should do is call for an early UNMO Election and resolved the party’s leadership problem once and for all.

As a concerned Rakyat, I really do not want to see the whole country being dragged down all these political moves.

The skies are blue with speckles of white clouds.

The birds are gliding in circles, crying out their joy aloud.

On the wall scrambled spiders of all kinds.

Up and down the well they go, looking for prey to find.

Beneath me, lies water still, deep, dark and cold.

At the bottom, are what’s left of the dead, I was told.

I have been here clinging on to the walls for time to pass.

Hanging on dearly to safety for as long as it last.

I want to reach out for the skies but how do I let go.

For I may fall into the water and may never rise from below.

Sometimes the skies turns grey and the rains comes pouring down.

The waters surges upwards and many will be drowned.

I have been safe all this while as the water hasn’t reached me.

But I am stuck to the walls and am never really free.

Do I let go and reached for the skies where the birds fly.

Or do I stay where I am safe until the day I die.

May 11 – It was a perfect ending for the 2007/2008 English Premier League season when Ryan Giggs befittingly scored the second goal which killed off Wigan’s resistance, handed the 10^th English Premier League title in 15 years to Manchester United and crushed Chelsea’s hopes, all at the same time. No one deserved the honour more than Giggs who had dedicated the last 17 years of his life for football at Old Trafford.

Manchester United has become one of the most disliked club because of their success. Die hard Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea fans would all wish for success for any teams other than Manchester United. Sour grapes fans would insist that the referee of the Wigan match, Steve Bennett handed the title to the Red Devils when he gave away a controversial penalty which Cristiano Ronaldo converted, failed to send off Paul Scholes in a bad challenge and denied Wigan a penalty when Rio Ferdinand appeared to have deflected the ball with his upper arm.

Come on! Get real. The decisions may have been disputable but Manchester United won the championship fair and square. Giggs’ goal was undisputable and the way Manchester United played throughout the season proved that they are the deserving champions.

Manchester United

Accumulated more points than any other team – total 87 points

• 2 points more than Chelsea
• 4 points more than Arsenal
• 11 points more than Liverpool

Scored more goals than any other teams - total 80 goals

• 6 goals more than Arsenal
• 13 goals more than Liverpool
• 15 goals more than Chelsea

Conceded the least goals – only 22 goals

• 4 goals less than Chelsea
• 6 goals less than Liverpool
• 9 goals less than Arsenal

Won more games than any other teams – total 27 games

• 2 games more than Chelsea
• 3 games more than Arsenal
• 6 games more than Liverpool

Manchester United has proven without a single doubt that they were better than any of the three pretenders.

10 championship titles in 16 years. Now that is something that separates the real champions from the pretenders.

Heard of an interesting anecdote yesterday about a boss from hell.

A friend of mine reported directly to a CEO of a foreign owned company and this CEO insisted on reports, reports and reports all the time. My friend Bob who was the General Manager ended doing reports till the wee hours of the night in addition to his day to day duties of managing the manufacturing concern.

It got to a breaking point and Bob decided to hire a staff specifically to do the reports. The poor new guy was thrown into the deep end to face the insane CEO from hell. The new guy did reports after reports and the CEO kept rejecting them and asking him to redo.

Finally, the new guy summoned the courage to confront the CEO.

The new guy said “I am so sorry. This is the third time you are rejecting this particular report. I am really sorry but I do not know what you want. Can you please tell me exactly what you want and I can do the report according to what you want”

The CEO said “How would I know what I want? You are the expert in reports. It is your responsibility to do the reports. Please do something that will satisfy what I want.” 

The poor new guy went back to doing his reports.

Bob has left the company since and the CEO from hell has also left.

What happened to the poor ‘not so new’ guy?

The new CEO told him, “What nonsense reports? Why so many reports? No need all these stupid reports.”

NST picture by Afendi Mohamed

May 10 – In a shocking graphic reminder of the rising crime rate,  the NST reported that Lee Hui Fun was found unconsious with at least four stab wounds at 9.40 a.m. in Cheras. Police believed that Ms. Lee was attacked on her way to work and her missing handbag prompted the police to suspect that it was the result of a robbery.

Ms. Lee was reported to be in stable condition in HUKM but remained unconsious. I do pray for her full recovery. It is really senseless for a person to be hurt for a handbag or any other reasons.

The graphic reminder spells the sad state of the ruling party who put all their efforts in curbing the opposition with the Sedition Acts and debates over nonsensical issues in the Parliament when issues of public concern remained unaddressed.

What the Rakyat wants is a concrete action plan in combating and reducing the crime rate, not political squabbling which does nothing but waste public funds.

While on the subject of stupid people, my stupid dog owner encounter made me recalled an equally hilarious encounter way back while I was still living in Seremban.

I was chilling out at Andrew’s place in Ngee Yan Garden with Ronen when we saw the opposite neighbour’s kid (probably about eight years old then) happily swinging along in his swing at the side of the porch when his learner driver elder sister arrived at the house from her driving practice and was trying to back the car into the porch. She had been going back and forth trying to get the car aligned while her brother was happily swinging away.

Ronen was commenting, “What a bad driver! She will probably hit her brother soon”.

Like the true words from a psychic, the poor girl backed straight into her brother’s swing. The swing collapsed while he did a back flip and landed between the swing and the car.

The mum came rushing out of the house and started screaming at the little kid. Instead of checking whether he was hurt, she hurled abuses at him on why was he sitting at the swing. Didn’t he see her sister driving in? It was as if his presence at the swing caused the accident. The mum did not say a word to her daughter. Luckily for the kid, he escaped without a scratch.

The three of us were laughing like monkeys across the road at the moronic antics of the mum.

On an after thought, if you were the poor kid, what sort of values would you grow up with. Imagine being scolded for being an innocent bystander while the person who caused the accident was not even reprimanded? So what exactly is right and what is wrong?