It's already 3.24am and I can't sleep... Hmm...
I've had a horrible night but that is not what I keep thinking about. I am at a crossroad in my life and whichever path I take,it will change my life forever. Dramatic right?
Well.. some decisions don't make much difference, like where we are having lunch today. Others make a whole lot of difference. For example, taking the 4pm bus back to kl today was a huge mistake which ends with me being home 9.5hrs later tired, fatigued and plain pissed off while if I had taken then 8pm bus and ended up arriving earlier at 1230, I would've had a chance to catch up with my very faraway friend, Ping Ping!
I would've also had dinner in penang..instead of in rawang at 230am =.=
see?life changing because I now have banned Plusliner from my life
Sigh
Think think think
Super sien
I had dragging things out. I hate dragging my feet. I feel so tired playing games by myself. Self inflict torture.
Ugh
This post is going nowhere. I have so many things to say but I can't find the strength to write or even where to begin.
I think the new song by Taylor Swift entitled Never Grow Up says it all...
Things and the way the world works
Posted by 1n$aTiab13 Adventurer at 1:01 PM | Wednesday, September 15, 2010Things just don't turn out the way we plan them. They never do, do they?
In every phase of my life, I keep wanting to move faster. I want to quickly finish with this hurdle, ready to face the next. No, I'm not in war. I just could never wait to grow up. Even now, when I wish for nothing more than to turn back time and relive my childhood and have my innocence back, I can't wait to be at a point in my life where I have already established myself. I am happily in a rut and just going through a steady pace. I often wonder if I ever appear as uncertain, as panicky and as ruffled as I was feeling then. I often wondered if I really had a poker face whenever I wanted to put on one... It's interesting where ones mind tend to wonder about when left unattended haha.
So many things happen in our daily lives. I am already at my last semester of my degree. It feels as if I just started my degree!
3years feels short and somesay it is, compared to a lifespan but when you sit down and think about it, a lot happens, even if we are talking about a month.
Life is like the English weather. Out of the blue, it starts pouring. Or the wind picks up and starts hurling shit at you. Like all weathers though, the wind has to die down someday, the cloud will have to giveway to the Sun and each will have to take turns being the current weather.
Just like life, no one really remembers what weather we had last Wednesday. It was just another day
Yesterday the love of my life got on a plane and moved to a little island 300km away from me. Growing Up STINKS!
But what can you do? Each person has their own dream, their own goals in life, their own path to follow. Being in a relationship means somehow, your paths crossed and have been parallel for awhile haha.
Sometimes the two paths continue to be parallel,sometimes they divert again. Paths constantly change. New ones pop up everywhere everyday. Some are worth to be extended back to being parallel, some are not even worth a bridge.
What were we talking about again?Haha. Too many metaphors spoils the soup. Or was it cooks?
I have always seen my life in terms of chapters. Like a book. *im such a geek...i cant be helped*
Im currently in my 4th chapter. A very long chapter. It ends when I retire from work. Everything else is just progress.*Love that line from Lost*
Its going to be a longgggg chapter. When it ends,means Im in my Conclusion chapter d..... that chapter can wait. I haven't lived my life yet.
I realize that we can redefine ourselves 100 times over and still we would be able to redefine ourselves again. Not just as individuals but also as a society.
Did anyone esle notice the shift in sequence of life stages?
It is becoming clearer and clearer to me. It used to be after being teenagers, offsprings get paired up for marriage, have kids, then career comes along, then car, then house followed by the next generation.
Nowadays, it is dating, then career,buy car, buy house then marriage followed by kids. Having kids is now optional lols.
The shift is so subtle you dont really notice it....
things change.....times change....
I read an article saying that the shift of power is going strong for Women to be the dominant race.... I have been saying that that is just logical because we are 75% of the population but as we can see, in Malaysia most women are confined to being a wife and mother role. Career is just something to keep us "occupied".
After reading the article, the facts are there but I feel that the change is progressing too slow.. Feminist? Im nt trying to say that women should rule the world while the men stay at home *wouldnt that be nice haha* but if we look at the history of the sexes, men were empowered simply cos they outnumbered us... and now...
as they say, majority rules....
Seriously, what was the topic I wanted to blog about? Oh well..ramblings of a lost soul I guess haha
Well, last week was a very interesting week. It contained many of my first times haha. First time experiences lah.
Started with my mummy coming down to KL for 3days. I went to stay with her for 2 nights in Puduraya. Now I know that hehe, Puduraya only jams when Pudu is in business! Else, the roads are SOOOO empty. WOOHOO!
Went to eat at Petaling Street. Interesting food they have there. Also, the prices arent that expensive. Ancasa Hotel is not a bad hotel. Kinda nice except that the shower is from the ceiling. =.= Who places a shower on the ceiling? I wasnt taking a shower, it was more like raining on me! Sometimes, I dont know what these designers are thinking.
Work was exhausting. Nowadays my life is basically wake up, drive an hour, work 12hrs, drive an hour, eat, shower, then sleep 8hours. Rinse and repeat. Sigh.
I am learning something new which is actually very interesting. Everyday I go to work and learn something new. I am the last batch of interns to start work so I am the newbie. Honestly, being the lost lamb isnt a nice feeling but warm helpful collegues sure make a vast difference.
My dearest Wee Nee Chan so happened came into town too! for the week =)
We had some fun, didnt we?
She came down on Tuesday but I couldnt meet her cos I work in Damansara Uptown and was heading to Puduraya while she was living in Sunway Tower Hotel. Nono...... damn far, wrong direction and JAM!!!!!! So she had to go kai kai on her own for the first nighr here. Sorry sayang!!!
Wednesday was the first time I drove to Cheras. The plan was for Howard to pick Wee Nee up from work,come pick me up then head for Cheras where we will meet Tricia for the longest pasar malam! Sounds simple and interesting eh? Well....
The first mistake was NOT to lock urself out of a car while waiting for someone. In the middle of nowhere. With the car's spare key miles away. Mistake no1. So my sweet coworker was kind enough to take me to them where my car was locked and the key in the ignition so that i can open d car with my spare.Whew.
Mistake no2: NEVER NEVER NEVER go to Cheras after work. Never head toward Subang either. Avoid ALTOGETHER. Oh my gawd the traffic was brutal on my nerves and my clutch stepping leg. Really. By the time we got to Cheras, frankly, all mood has evaporated. Still, twas great to see Tricia *who gave us BIG HUGS and bought us Stinky Tofu* The Stinky Tofu actually taste not bad...haha. Ya ya it smells like the sewage. and yes your mouth smells like it after you eat. Honestly speaking, I didnt notice that it reminds me of the sewage til people keep saying it. So, shhhh..... enjoy and lets not gross one another out.
Despite being so excited about the longest pasar malam and etc, we managed to only walk 1/5th of the entire length haha. I was very tired. Sorry guys! After that, we drove back to Sunway. Instead of just dropping Wee Nee off, we ended up crashing with her haha cos it was so late and I was so tired. My sweet collegue ended up fetching me to work 2 days in a row because she lives somewhere near Sunway.
Wee Nee got a free upgrade from the hotel into a studio room and wasnt it luxurious!
I have never seen a hotel room which provides an roomy bathroom equipped with all sorts of toiletries. It also comes with a full size fridge, oven, wine glasses, brandy glasses,pots and pans, rice cooker, hotpan stove,plates and cutleries. LOL.
If i paid so much for a room, I certainly would not be those who would buy raw ingredients to cook my meals in the room but there you go.
Thursday was much better day. Plan was like the day before but this time we were heading for The Curve. Wee Nee wanted to see Ikea haha. We ended up buying a few items but thanks to our carelessness, I think we overpaid certain items. Oh well..... lesson learnt. Wee Nee was leaving on friday tho... =( so we bought some junk food then went back to the hotel to hangout haha. Ended up watching The Proposal. We didnt know Thursday night was ladies night else we wudve went to MOS!!! Ive been wanting to go.... smokefree club sounds like an idea very appealing to me. Those who know me knows how much I detest that cancer causing smoke!
At long last, Friday was here!
Howard found a nice little place at Singapore which he thought would be a good place to rent. He even paid the deposit on the spot because he liked the owner so much! The only snag is that the owner is only available that weekend for him to move in. So Saturday bright and early we had to drive down to Singapore from Rawang. Too bright, too early. haha. Saturdays are for sleeping!
Anyhoo, we drove down and it was a pleasant ride. About an hour into the ride, the sun went into hiding and never came out til the next day. I could not be more grateful. Met up with Ahma and my uncle,untie and my cousin for dinner. Ahma recently had some swelling on her hand. I supppose old age comes with many 'gifts'.
His landlord wasnt in the whole day so we had to wait til he was at home before we could go over and get the key to move in. Around 10 plus he finally called and said that he was home. Jurong East is not hard to find. In fact, I find the Singapore roads easy to drive but Howard did mention something which I've noticed for awhile now but didnt mention: Singapore roads are all curvy. Hahaha. U may still be going straight, but actually u have to turn almost at a 90 degree turn haha. Can be quite confusing if it is your first time. Howard read the map wrong a couple of times because when he goes straight, he is actually turning left haha. I didnt know he did not understand until after a few mistakes hehe. We also realized something else... Singaporeans only abide by the Speedlimit when they know there is a speed camera waiting for them. HAHAHAHA. More often than not, we are d only car which is driving below speed limit while cars zoom pass us at F1 speed hahaha.
After unpacking (bringing essential things from the car to the house) both of us crash til morning. Howard again, ignored my deathly threats and woke me up before 11 =.=
He proceeded to carry half the things up from the car, dragged me out of bed to carry the big box.
He needed some stuff so we went to the nearest Ikea to get his table haha. We saw it in KL but it was quite silly to be carrying something 300km when we could buy it at the same price 10km away...
After setting the table and desktop up, we left for Rawang!
A word of advice:
Anyone who in the future wants to drive down to Singapore, PLEASE TAKE THE SECOND LINK! I had to pay an extra rm4 but it was smooth all the way. On our way back, Howard decided that nothing is better than traffic so he tried Woodlands. OMG we were stuck for an hour, moving only across the bridge! Dont even get me started on the queue at both customs, before and after the customs, and the horrible and long road acros JB. The rm4 was a very very good investment.
Travelling on the Highway was an interesting experience. Its also very fatiguing. I wont do it again if I can help it but it was an unexpected touch to the end of a very busy week. An interesting week nonetheless
There are some days that are horrible... There are days that keeps you at the edge of a tight rope... then there are days where you don't want to remember at all. Today is that dayThis entry can go on and on and on... but i rather not. Reliving it as I type just makes it worse.
Life sucks. Nuff said
End of a Chapter, start of a New....
Posted by 1n$aTiab13 Adventurer at 8:38 PM | Sunday, June 27, 2010Well... I guess this is it. Today is my last day at Malacca as a resident, student and an end of a chapter. A 3-year wonderful chapter. Sure, Ive had many ups and more downs than I care for but each has left me imprints that will never go away. So many friends, so many experiences to take away.
Moving to Malacca was my first time being alone. Independent of my parents. Freedom at last. Freedom comes in a price. One that fortunately I could afford..... to think that I used to travel 12hours both ways on weekends twice a month! Now I don't even do once every 4weeks....Growth haha
Malacca is also where I met the love of my life.... and another lifelong best friend. I wished I got to know many more people than I did... language was a barrier..and also, shyness haha. I know..... cant tell eh? most people just think I'm arrogant...but actually I cant really speak to strangers haha. Prefer to listen.
The amount of experiences and the amount of First (first time) experiences is equivalent to half my life staying in Penang. I am forever grateful for all that I've learned and all that I've met.
Saturday I will be moving to KL... Officially start work on Monday.... another new chapter of my life, another adventure. Again I leave everything that is familiar and close to me to face total strangers and new environment.
Being a creature of habit, this is definitely out of my comfort zone. Wish me luck!
Being a daredevil, adventures are my favourite thrills.
Hmm...has it really been that long?
Posted by 1n$aTiab13 Adventurer at 8:35 PM | Monday, May 31, 20101010 days. Lol i was away on 1000th day so I shall blog today. Haha.
Wow. I know this is both our first relationship so we share the first of everything together but it still amazes me every time we hit a milestone. 1st month, 100th day, 6th months, 1st year anniversary, Valentine's, 2 yaer anniversary, now 1010th!
I can't say 1000 cos.... well that day has passed lol. Our 1000th day together was the day I travelled back from Penang to Malacca so... that was a good day ^ ^ Hey it was also Perly's birthday!!!! Lolness.
In our many many days together, you have always been there for me, cared for me, Loved me, Patient with me (VERYYYY), treated me like a princess, let me have my way, most of the time. You made sure I was happy and whenever I wasn't, you would be sad too. You have become such a big part of my life, I wondered how I ever was happy before I met you. I guess what I never felt I really don't miss. Now that I have tasted how life is with you, it sucks that you are leaving soon.
Does anyone believe in long-distance relationship? Do they really work? Or is it just a bluff we tell ourselves until we are no longer so attached to the other person in order to deal with the inevitable? Somesay I think too much. Somesay I am just being logical because I know myself so well. Somesay love is made of much stronger stuff than what I give it credit for. Somesay it's just all me.
Love is overrated. Hollywood is overrated. Everywhere you look, you can't help but see love being enterprised. Every 2 minutes on the television there will be something about love. Every movie, every series has a love story. Even action movies, gore movies, horror, haunted.... everything!
Actually it's not that Long distance don't work. It does. It's just different kind of relationship. Even when both parties remain faithful and honest, people change over time. Loneliness is a bitch. The effort to stay in contact is exhausting not to mention an expense.
I guess it's all about expectations... and sacrifice. Of course, trust is a must.
I've been going over it in my head time and time and time again until it's driving me a little nuts. There really is no point, is there? Thinking about it doesn't make it easier. Not thinking about it...makes me dream about it haha.
I guess it's time to grow up,or man up, whichever works. Being adult is tough work. Not many want to do it but most of us just... do it.
Fate is a nice person to blame, eh? Anything gone wrong, Fate's fault. Any missed opportunities, Fate again. Something gone right? Oh it must be Luck. lol.
Poor Fate.
When you first said that you wanted to migrate for 7years, I thought that you must be mad to think that I would wait that long. Then funny thing happened. A simple question lead me to realize that although we have been together for almost 3 years, it doesn't seem so long. Time flies. So perhaps 7 years won't feel that long too. There is still the fact that I am not the person I was 3 years ago and I will not be the same person I am today compared to 7 years later. Neither will you be. So, the question of surviving the dreaded LDR is still unanswered but I will say this: Come back to me as fast as you can.I ask nothing from you, only that you are with me
Wow. Finally I am home.....HOME!
Home for only the next month. Home for the past 3 years. Another place where I can call home. But this is for another blog. Today's post is about something else. Today is about my most recent long and fun holiday! At first I was afraid I couldn't pull it off but...hehe.... I did it!
The adventure started on Sunday (23rd May 2010) at the wee hours of 7am. 730am bus to Bukit Jalil which is the worst bustop I've ever went to if I may add. We arrived at 9am. Due to miscalculation, we had to wait until 1030am for the Genting bus. Which was a long wait since the place was shabby and non air-conditioned. Time finally crawled past and we boarded the bus. Napped a little and I arrived at the cable car station around 1130am. The queue for the cable car was .... lengthy to say the least. Twas entertaining tho... haha. Ho Chiak was on the tv and there were 2 clowns making balloons for kids nonstop. As hard as I tried to get a poodle, there is always a kid around to take it from under my nose. Sad.....
We checked in to the hotel immediately. This is my second time staying in Theme Park Hotel. It is of course bigger than First World but my, everything is so much further! Since Victor Wong has never been to the Genting before, we decided to show him around first. We took many pictures, checked out Coffee Terrace (this place and I go way back...hehe). Anyway, the first day was just about kai kai.... take pic..... and visiting my first Genting Casino. For dinner we tried this Steamboat place. It was an all you can eat so... the boys went a little nuts.... and regretted it haha. Nobody wanted to listen to me.....
The next day, we started the day early with buffet breakfast at 7am lol. Then went back up to snooze a little while waiting for 9am to come. Roller Coasters here I come! Victor is already 25years old but he has never been on a roller coaster hehe..... Imagine the fun we had with him. The Spinner was his first ride. Although its a harmless ride....hehe Victor was terrified...It left him wanting more tho haha. We went after the Cyclone next and then.... Corkscrew!!!
It was a blast. If we wana do something, go for the extreme right? We put victor in the front seat with me and Howard haha. By the end of that ride, Victor was a convert. He is now an adrenaline junkie hehe. We saved the best for last: Spaceshot. Me, Victor and Howard were strapped on facing our hotel. All the way up and all the way down me and victor screamed AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! haha. It was fun. When we landed, all Howard managed was Oh Fuck! It's such a party pooper when someone holds all the excitement inside. Since we were early, for the first time we didnt have to queue for any of those rides! We were always a minute ahead of a throng of tourist from India. My god, after we played, the length of the line will deter anyone except first timers lol. Since we did not have to queue (hehe), we were done by 11am. Some rules have changed since I last came.... for instance, the bumper cars and the 4D shows are no longer included in the Outdoor ticket. NO FAIR!!!! For the first time I went to Genting and did not bump any cars, did not watch and 4D movies. T_T
Since it was early, me and Howard decided to explore the souvenir shops. There are now a lot of new shops added since I last went to Genting. All of them are unique special skills hehe. If I had money, I would've bought them all but I don't so... I will just stand and watch. Many of them come from China. Guess back there they are just one in 6million but here, they are the first Ive seen. After that we went back for a nap and round 2 of the Outdoor games hehe.
Dinnertime came soon enough. =) The part of the day Ive been looking forward to. We were heading to Coffee Terrace!! Perhaps I will include the pictures later when they are ready but for now, let's just say it is the best international buffet ever! Really, it is international. There is a corner for everything and in that corner, the best of that cuisine. They have also added entertainment for us diners that previously wasn't there. They added bellydancers. I assure you, nobody was looking at their food when they were eating. Especially the guys lol. Typical male.
There was not much to do in Genting at night so we basically ended our nights in various casinos. Going into casinos with friends are fun. In the end some of us break even, some of us lost a little. It is all for the fun of it actually. In fact, just standing by and watching people play is facinating enough. These buggers will bet 800 on some number, win 800, and then lose it all on the next hand. Amazing. These players don't feel a thing when they win. Or when they lose. To them, it is just chips haha.
The 3rd day came to Genting soon enough. I was the most reluctant to leave because despite everything, Genting is still as cold as I last went 3years ago. The weather was marvelous. When it rained, WOW. We reluctantly said our goodbyes and checked out. Making our way back to Bukit Jalil was rough. The bus driver apparently did not learned that when there is a bump, you slow down. Lousy. But we all made it back in one piece, we said goodbye to Victor and Lisa for they are heading back to Malacca. I wont be seeing Victor for a long time now cos he just moved to Shah Alam and I won't be back in time to see him off. The holiday was a sweet way to end things tho ^ ^
Me and Howard made our way to Rawang via KTM (longggg way) where Perly was waiting for us ^^ Somewhere between enjoying the cold wind and pulling sheets from each other when sleeping in Genting, I caught a cold. So I was not in the best of shape to be travelling but I soldiered on. Mr Peh cooked for me that night. I must say, cooking skills run in the family. It was a very nice meal. We got to see my new home, for the next 2years at least, how it is like and how will I be living. There is now a double-decker bed in Perly's room. I get the bottom bunk! We stayed in the first night, just watching tv. I got really hooked on some tvb, again haha.
The next day Perly took us out Kai kai. I had the best char siu wan tan mee outside her house! and then we head to Ikea. We managed to get presents for the wedding which me and Howard will be attending on Friday. Perly provided me with a bed and a table but no chair, mattress, cupboard. So I found myself the most comfortable chair from Ikea under rm50! I was tired so instead of going out, we ate in Perly's house again. My nose and headache was killing me, I had a fever. Mr Peh coincidently, cooked porridge! Ngam sai ler...... hehe. Again, dinner was superb. I have a feeling I am going to love staying in Perly's house....hehehehehe. After dinner though I felt better. So we went to pay Mei Mei a visit! She just landed from Hong Kong the previous day. Mei Mei lives in Kepong, which isn't very far away but the way to her house....my gawd. Lols. After we hung out at her place for awhile, Mei Mei took us to a nightspot that is called the WaterFront. Kinda kool place. We went for nice dessert afterwards before we sent her home.
The third day me and Howard were suppose to travel to Nelson's place via KTM again but we decided to spend the day with Perly first. I was very reluctant but I knew when to give in. I kept my pride and asked for Perly to stop by some place for me to buy Panadol. You see, for me falling sick is a sign of weakness and taking medicine is a sign of defeat lol. Ive tried everything to make it go away but usually you don't heal when you are travelling and going out all the time and having fun. So I bought Activefast and wow, it works. One of the advantages of not always taking medicine is that a low dose will be enough to cure ya. So despite being an adult, 1 ActiveFast was enough to keep the fever/ sore throat / sniffles away for 4hours and I didn't feel sleepy. We went to have some chinese food which was cheap but the portion was enough to feed 2.5 me. lols. My shoe opened its mouth...so we bought a shoe glue to keep it shut. Then we went back home and played Mahjong for the next....3hours hehe. Perly then sent us to the KTM. I forgot it was a thursday, day before the long weekend, so we had a horrible time at the KTM. It was 5pm. Rush Hour. WHOA. The amount of people. You really see the worst side of people. Really. Anyway, we arrived in Klang, almost in one full piece (I'm sure some of me got squished out and left behind) and Nelson was there to greet us. Like a gentleman he was, he introduced Syvia to us, his soon to be 6 year long gf, for the first time. Took him long enough. We went to Kim Gary where he bought us dinner. We crashed at his place and went straight to bed. Tired.
The next day started very slowly and built up pretty fast. It was the eve of Syvia's eldest sisters wedding. The reason we were invited was because Howard was asked to be the official photogapher for the whole event and I was there as his date. As per customary, the bride side will have it's celebration on the eve and the groom on the wedding itself. Since she is the eldest and the first of 4 siblings to get married, the father of the bride went all out to celebrate. The lunch was deliciously prepared by all members of the family, we went errand running with Syvia and Nelson (Syvia is the maid of honor and Nelson is the best man) (It's like a wedding rehearsal for them lol) the whole afternoon. When all was done, we got to go back to Nelson's to rest an hour or two before getting ready for dinner. The dinner was held in a local restaurant. SIXTY SEVEN tables! That's a lot of celebrating. Howard was very busy, the bride was stunningly beautiful, the food was marvelous (I never knew that Klang was a food haven but now I am fully aware), there was a lot of booze going around but I didn't touch any. The night was awesome. Me and Howard learnt a very eye opening lesson though. Planning a wedding is terrifying. So much so that... you don't want to do it anymore lol. Everything that can go wrong, does. Haha.
The next day started really early. 7am early. We were all in a daze.... but when you see 5 girls sitting in the kitchen,scheming, you know something no good is up. They were planning the games to play when the groom arrives to pick up his bride lol. Oh the things they made them do..... VERY amusing. Finally he got in the house. Then there is the games they made them play to get the door open. hahaha. After the door is open, he gets to look at his bride.... There is more games to play before he can bring her down to be married. Lmao. According to Hokkien people, the point of you crossing over from being single to being married is the tea ceremony. That was a nice thing to witness. After that, we all had to go over to the groom side to perform the tea ceremony again. Then we were all dismissed to go home and rest. Nothing spells long day without a disaster. Nelson went through a porthole and came out with a punctured tire. Haha. Thank god for spare tires. Oh another lesson to learn: Men move SLOWWWWWWWWWW in a situation. All fivr of us present have never changed a tire in our life before but man, those two males cud shake a leg! They were so slow until I got fed up and took over. At least I was trying to be fast.... -.-
We all went back and took a nap...tiring lol. My fever all but left me with a little sniffles when I wake up. That night dinner was no longer the bride's side hosting so we were all just guest. It was all the way at Bukit Jalil, some golf course. Took us an hour to get there. The place was nice. Syvia's sister is a Taoist but the groom is a Christian. I am not sure which one but there were 3 Pastors in that wedding. It was my first Christian wedding and also my first fusion wedding lol. The ceremony usually done in the church was to be performed before dinner. That's the point of transition for the Christian from single to married. So I watched.... and again, it was educational lol. The food was not as excellent as the night before but it was still delicious. We sat together, had a good time. All the kids in the family treats Nelson like their personal toy haha. They were beginning to mess with Howard too. It was cute. When the night ended, all was relieved and happy. Happy because everything has gone according to plan,it had been a joyous occasion and relieved cos finally all can sleep until kingdom come and no one is allowed to wake anyone else up haha.
The next day was Sunday. We were gonna take a bus from Klang to Malacca. Syvia's dad wanted to buy us Bak Kut Teh for breakfast (they have it for breakfast *gasp!*). So we joined them and went straight to Klang Sentral but alas! all tickets sold out until 430pm. What to do? We went back to Nelson's and played Rummy hehe. It was fun. Finally we left and head home....Malacca.... it didn't end there though. Howard wanted to dinner at MMU korner, that's where I had my first Cheese Wan Tan Mee and Mai called me. She was stranded at Sentral with no bus to go home with. So I went down to pick her up..... and FINALLY, my week was over. WHEW
It had been a long long LONG week. It had been an eventful week to say the least. I've learnt a lot of lessons, gained many many experiences and a few new friends. Heck, I was around Syvia's elaborated family for nearly 48 straight hours, I am actually missing them now lols.
Oh one more thing, her grandma taught me what Go Fish the card game is lol.
All in all, it was a great week.
Colebrook Equation - A simple Excel Macro to solve this implicit equation
Posted by Reign226 at 5:13 AM | Labels: Engineering Wednesday, May 19, 2010Excel has several methods of solving for implicit equations, which is what the Colebrook Equation is, used for calculating the Darcy friction factor, which is then used with another equation in order to get the pressure drop due to turbulent flow in a pipe.
The first is by turning on the Iterate option inside the Excel worksheet then using circular references (eg the equation refers to itself) and iterating such that the values converge. It can however cause some problems if the values DON'T converge or zero errors. Dismally, as the calculations involved with Colebrook is quite sensitive, it's necessary to change the default settings so that changes between iterations have a low maximum value (in the region of 1e-6). Crucially, changing the values of ANY cells causes the spreadsheet to recalculate all the information, and in a large spreadsheet, editing can quickly become a pain especially with the increased sensitivity requirements.
Another method is via nesting, whereby you design the equation such that the results of one is nested into the same equation. However, designing such an equation is not trivial especially using computer systems (parentheses quickly become a pain), although the process is relatively straightforward. The advantage of this is that you do it once and never have to go back and do it again, and you are limited only by how tenacious you are in nesting the equations (after about 5 or 6, it gets really long). The advantages are that you can iterate exactly how many times you need, and that it's hardcoded into Excel as an equation, so no problems with recalculating or error when moving the file around.
Finally, a simpler method has been devised by Diddler Clamond, written in a paper called Efficient Resolution of the Colebrook Equation. This relatively recent paper (2009) outlines a simple algorithm that produces, in the words of the author himself, extremely accurate results (around machine precision). The trick of the equation relies on two magical numbers, 0.123968186335418 and -0.779397488455682, of which the specific derivation can be found in the paper. Its a statistical method and seems to work really well, and quickly solves the equation.
The macro is:
Function Colebrook(R As Double, K As Double) As Double
Dim X1 As Double, X2 As Double, F As Double, E As Double
X1 = K * R * 0.123968186335418
X2 = Log(R) - 0.779397488455682
F = X2 - 0.2
E = (Log(X1 + F) + F - X2) / (1 + X1 + F)
F = F - (1 + X1 + F + 0.5 * E) * E * (X1 + F) / (1 + X1 + F + E * (1 + E / 3))
E = (Log(X1 + F) + F - X2) / (1 + X1 + F)
F = F - (1 + X1 + F + 0.5 * E) * E * (X1 + F) / (1 + X1 + F + E * (1 + E / 3))
F = 1.15129254649702 / F
Colebrook = F * F
End FunctionSimply insert this into your Excel worksheet and you can call up the function =Colebrook(Re, Rel.Roughness) and it automatically returns the Friction Factor. Note that the values of Re and Rel.Roughness needs to be in the Double format, otherwise the macro will scream.
In my tests with the equation, it seems to be very accurate as the author claims. Using values of Re = 165000 and Rel.Roughness as 0.00453, the traditional Iterative method gets the results as 0.030097679 while the statistical method yields 0.030097700. Not bad for a simple two-step iterative statistical method, and you will definitely see this being applied into numerical and CAD/CAE systems very soon, especially those simulating pipelines where millions of the equations are being calculated, and the small processing savings of an improved algorithm will quickly add up over the course of the simulation.
Definitely a much improved method to get the F.F compared to traditional ways of either using the GoalSeek Excel function (the least efficient process, thus not discussed here) or, gasp, the trial and error method. Click Here to Read More..
FYP disaster ahead
Posted by Reign226 at 11:47 AM | Labels: Melaka, Ramblings Thursday, March 4, 2010It's 3am and I'm still up trying to figure out my project. In retrospect, I think I may have made some bad decisions but unfortunately, the benefits of hindsight always come too late.
Initially I had hoped to do modeling of acoustic emissions on board of a jackup engine room using data from my previous intern company at Keppel FELS. At the time it seemed like a good idea but when I got back to Melaka, I was worried about how I would approach the problem as noise and acoustics was never taught in my syllabus. Even though I did some reading in the holidays regarding the problem, I wasn't confident that the project would be doable within the timeframe given.
Thus I switched to design of an offshore floating wind structure. At the time it was already almost deadline for submission of final year project title so I didn't really understand the whole contract, as it were, before signing on the dotted line. This single most important decision was made in haste and with the title secured, the next task of gathering information on the problem came next.
I settled on using ANSYS as the software to perform my analysis. Specifically, the ANSYS website gave a glowing review of their ASAS offshore module which seemed to do everything that I required so I thought the whole thing was just a matter of putting together the model and running it through the CAE platform.
Wrong approach. Turns out ANSYS ASAS has practically ZERO available information on how to actually use the module. No supplied tutorials (although ANSYS bundled extensive tutorials for their CFD and Structural modules) and zero guide online on how to use ASAS effectively killed the software. Using it was a nightmare, because when you started the ASAS solver, all there is was just a window prompting you to input your data file. I tried converting a model from ANSYS APDL to ASAS (using a cryptic macro hidden deep within ANSYS's help system) but it didn't get me very far. However, ANSYS happily promotes their 3 day training course for using ASAS, and I suspect it will cost a pretty penny to attend.
I briefly flirted with the idea of setting up an analysis using pipe59 element as it came together with wave loading capabilities built into the element. However it was unsuitable for my design which was a suction caisson.
Next up I tried using ANSYS AQWA for modelling, and it's a more promising approach with the new AQWAWB interface very useful in setting up a 3D model. However, I ran into problems with trying to "cut the model at the waterline using a plane", as one of the requirements for importing a model to be analyzed. I have absolutely no idea what that line means, and I tried cutting the model but I end up important 2 separate bodies into the software, whereas it required 1 body with 2 portions. So that's another dead end.
The next step is to try ANSYS V12.1, with a more complete integration of AQWA into the Workbench, supposedly this will alleviate the problem of passing models into AQWA properly. I suspect however, that this will be far from easy, and even after that, AQWAWB is only capable of doing a surface diffraction analysis, the output of which would be a time-domain pressure reading which has to then be imported into Mechanical-Structural so that I can perform the analysis on the force impact on the structure.
The irony of it all is that my original idea of doing an acoustic analysis turns out to be as easy as setting up Acoustic modeling as the option in the Workbench then specifying the domain to be meshed and finally inputting the noise source parameters. Of course, interpretation of the data would be harder, but at least that's 75% of the project done right there.
The main problem faced by the project is how to accurately perform wave loading on my model. ASAS is capable of both PM and JONSWAP wave loads, but to replicate the loads in standard ANSYS is damn near impossible (even with pipe59), at least with my understanding, while AQWA and ASAS might as well be a black box due to the lack of any proper documentation on how to use the software. I suspect both of them rely heavily on using hand-massaged text files as input, and I salute the engineers dealing with these two softwares. It reminds me of the days when I use to create websites by hand using nothing more than Textpad, imagination, and hitting lots of Ctrl+R keys.
Rawang-KL Trip: Rawang Beansprout Chicken Rice, Honeymoon Dessert
Posted by Reign226 at 10:59 PM | Labels: food, Kuala Lumpur Friday, February 12, 2010A few days before CNY weekend, Perly offered to take Vivien and me on a trip to her hometown in Rawang for a few days before Vivien returns to Penang. We visited a HUGE park where people were flying kites, had EXCELLENT Thai Food from authentic Thai cooks, AWESOME Rawang Bean Sprout Chicken Rice and KILLER dessert at Honeymoon Dessert. It was a very enjoyable trip and I can't wait to go there again =)
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Rakuzen All You Can Eat Buffet Review
Posted by Reign226 at 8:49 AM | Labels: buffet, food, Kuala Lumpur Monday, February 1, 2010 |
| From Blog Posts |
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Over the holidays, I have the pleasure of visiting Penang yet again and this time I was invited by Vivien's relatives from Australia for a buffet feast at Penang's Hotel Equatorial. With a new DSLR in hand, here is my wonderful experience there.
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| From Blog Posts |
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Traitors for leaving the country?
Posted by Reign226 at 6:13 AM | Labels: politics Monday, January 25, 2010Malaysian politicians sometimes can say the darndest of things. Actually no, they do it ALL the time, and we can just review the Hansard of Parliment proceedings to see every single details. In fact, they should collect all the stuff Malaysian politicians say and archive it so that the future generation knows what kind of people they are electing into office.
First was the 'Information Minister', also popularly known as the Minister of Misinformation and in Twitterverse as #yorais. This guy blames Twitter and Facebook as evil tools used by the West to brainwash the public. Even our dearest Prime Minister, whom I have a high regard to, often make such racist and deplorable remarks that makes you realize just how human we all are. Let's just say he said something to the tune of the Jews should have suffered more and that Hitler should have 'done the job' right.
The latest minister to utter words of questionable quality is our second finance minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni, who criticized Malaysians for leaving Malaysia and insinuated that it is tantamount to betrayal of the country and the sacrifices made by our forefathers.
So far so good right? But wait, he continues:
“You and me, our children, we build our lives here and we have our homes
here. This is our homeland. I get very sad when I hear we have people migrating
to foreign shores. To me, this is wrong.
“Our forefathers have come here,
many years ago, bearing much hardship and deprivation. Why did they endure this?
Because they believed that their future generations will reap the fruits of
having to live on this blessed land,”
“There is much here to strive for, there are many reasons to stay. Our fathersWhat the dear finance minister fail to acknowledge is that of the 300,000 Malaysians that emigrate yearly, it is not due to attractive or 'pull' factors that facilitate this decision. It's not easy for a person to leave his own country for another. It is actually a very, very hard decision because it is a land that you grew up in and to leave behind all your friends, family and posessions into the unknown is at the very least a scary endaevour. But yet despite this, many continue to do so in droves, with professionals making up the majority of the statistics. This can be due to no other reason than the 'push' factor.
have given up so much and they went through so much. Surely, our complaints are
merely discomfort compared to their sacrifices.
“Let us build our future in
this homeland of ours and work hard together to make things better,”
Malaysians are sick of the politics that continue to be played.
Malaysians are sick of the corruption in the country.
Malaysians are sick of the lack of a clear leadership for the country.
Malaysians are sick of the lack of equality and unity in the country.
With the way the current administration is running things and with the power of the Internet, more and more Malaysians are waking up from their dream into an ugly reality where they realize that the nation now faces so many different challenges, and instead of a willingness to face them, we are beset by series after series of scandals involving the people that walk in the corridors of power.
RPK made an eloquent defense of the emigrants by bringing parallels of the current situation to one faced by the Prophet Muhammad when he emigrated to greener lands to escape persecution, oppression and injustice. Malaysia is a young country and many of its citizens are migrants, even Tun Mahathir who's father was actually from India. So what's with all the racial slurs against your fellow immigrants?
I end now with a story by on Ice Cream Seller who is now residing in Australia:
To Deputy Minister Husni,
A story (true) in response to your statement about emigration by ingrates.
Sometime in 1980, when I was a final year student in London, I had a very short teleconversation with my father. In those days, there were no call cards, Skype or the like and calls were expensive. He had a very simple message - "Dont come home, Son".
Now almost 30 years on, I see where he was coming from.
He advised me to stay on in the UK or if I found the weather not to my liking, told me to go to Australia - even if it meant that I may eventually marry a "white girl" as he put it. I was 23 and marriage was certainly not on my mind.
He was a 'pendatang'. This pendatang however secured a scholarship to study in Raffles College (the pre-cursor to the University of Malaya) and served some 30-odd years in various senior teaching positions culminating with the last few years in the Malay College. Amongst his students - a list of past and present ministers and opposition figures.
I didnt heed his advice till last year and spent the last 28 years in Malaysia. However, it became increasingly untenable to work here without compromising my values, integrity and conscience.
Why did he advise me such?
With hindsight, I saw his foresight. As an educationist, he saw we were heading to be another Ceylon (from where he was sent when orphaned), Burma, Philippines and in today's scenario, Zimbabwe.
He saw what the outcome would be when we mess up education with politics.
He saw that religion would be a divisive factor in years to come (he even encouraged me to learn Jawi as a 9 year old).
He believed that in a country like this, mixed marriages would help cement society.
He saw in some of our leaders of yesterday that even in their youth, they had unbridled cunning and only needed an opening to exploit that trait.
He saw in some of his students potential to be PM but said that would never be because they were "too smart for UMNO's liking".
He saw that given our racial demographics, religion would be used as a means to ensure the survival of a particular group.
He believed that eventually, the Malays would have a class war amongst themselves.
He said that even amongst the Malays, many of the English educated would opt to live away from Malaysia.
He told me promotions won't necessarily be given for competence. These are usually won in the Clubs (read political party today) and over a few drinks. Being a bit of an introvert myself, he encouraged me to join clubs, associations and play sports and travel. He said honesty doesn't necessarily pay in this world but still better to be honest and live with dignity.
Our home was (at different times) home to 3 delinquent Chinese boys - sent by the Juvenile court. He volunteered to take them in. Add to that a few other Indian boys. Though not my mother tongue, I spoke to my parents in Malay till I was about 10. We took in a Chinese lady injured during the war and she lived with us for about 40 years till she died. My father referred to her as his mother in law. I thought she was my grandmother even though my mother was not Chinese!!
By the late 70s and early 80s, he saw that this scenario would not likely repeat in the years to come. When he died in 1982, we were pleasantly surprised to see some of his students (by then in their 50s) come from different states for his funeral. One told me that it was my father that made sure he spoke flawless English and another told me how my father would bring the 6th Formers home from the hostel and used our home for dinner and to teach them social graces - including dancing (taught by my mother). Partners were arranged from the convent school with the blessings of the headmistress!!!
29 years on, I view his foresight through the same prism and now agonise as to whether I should tell my children the same. For now, I am allowing my eldest to pursue his tertiary education overseas. Maybe when he finishes, he may not be as shortsighted as I was. Pray God grant him wisdom and vision.
Last year, I resigned from my job, returned the company car and driver, said goodbye to my executive package and moved to Australia where I now live with no maid, no driver, no Audi 2.8, no golf, no teh tarik seessions, no bonus etc but am rediscovering humanity running a humble ice cream shop.
Sometimes we learn very late.
An ice-cream seller Click Here to Read More..
Malaysia's FX movement 'bizzare'. Sign of the rot deepening?
Posted by Reign226 at 6:42 AM | Friday, January 22, 2010SHAH ALAM: Malaysia’s once strong foreign exchange reserve is bordering on collapse, according to a UBS Securities Asia Limited report. It says that in 2009, Malaysia experienced the biggest foreign exchange reserve losses among Asian countries.
It says official reserves fell by more than one-quarter on a valuation-adjusted basis.
Describing the situation as bizarre, it notes that Malaysia used to have the largest current account surplus in Asia–at around 17% of GDP.
“Over the past 12 months, Malaysian reserves nearly collapsed” while neighbours like Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China “have seen sizeable increases,” it says.
It says foreign capital outflows from Malaysia in the last year was nearly 50 percent of its GDP.
“When we measure implied net flows using the same rough methodology as in used on Russia, the numbers are simply stunning. [Malaysia showed] peak outflows of nearly 50% of GDP,” it says, noting that the outflow was larger than anything witnessed in the world of emerging markets (EM).
The report also says Malaysia over the past 12 months recorded one of the biggest base money contractions in the entire EM world.
It asserts that recent outflows were “far, far bigger than those Malaysia experienced in the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.”
The full report follows:
Malaysia–Another Bizarre Story
Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not understood. — Henry Miller
What it means
After last year’s series of notes on EM countries with “bizarre” money and credit behavior (Chile, Kazakhstan and Vietnam, see Tales of the Bizarre, EM Daily, 4-6 November 2009), we need to add one more to the list: the very strange case of Malaysia.
Question: which Asian country had the biggest FX reserve losses in 2009? The answer is Malaysia, and by a very wide margin; we estimate that official reserves fell by well more than one-quarter on a valuation-adjusted basis. Why is this bizarre? Well, in the first place because Malaysia runs a current account surplus – and not just a mild surplus but rather the largest in Asia, around 17% of GDP. Other structural surplus neighbors like China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand have all seen sizeable increases in FX reserves over the past 12 months … and yet Malaysian reserves nearly collapsed.
How did this happen? In short, Malaysia must have seen massive foreign capital outflows – and sure enough, when we measure implied net flows using the same rough methodology as in our note on Russia earlier in the week (Watching Money in Russia, EM Daily, 5 January 2010), the numbers are simply stunning: peak outflows of nearly 50% of GDP, i.e., more than twice as large as in the “capital flight” case of Russia and many orders of magnitude larger than anything witnessed in the average EM country (Chart 2).1 In fact, the
recent outflows are far, far bigger than those Malaysia experienced in the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis (Chart 3).
It gets stranger. Unlike Russia, Ukraine, the Gulf states or other recent EM capital flight economies, Malaysia didn’t see any net external inflows in the run-up to the current crisis. Indeed, Malaysia has not recorded a year of positive net capital inflows since 1997, i.e., there wasn’t exactly a large pool of “hot” money parked onshore waiting to leave. Nonetheless, as shown in the above charts, capital is apparently still leaving Malaysia in large quantities as of the latest data points – long after most other emerging countries began to see net inflows again.
1 Implied capital flows in Chart 2 are defined as the difference between valuation-adjusted FX reserve accumulation and the current account balance. Flows in Chart 3 are defined as the difference between the overall balance of payments and the current account balance.
Nor, in contrast to all the above-named economies (and in contrast to Eastern Europe in general), did Malaysia have any noticeable increase in domestic leverage – both broad money M2 and bank credit actually declined as a share of GDP since the beginning of the decade.
So where on earth did the outflows come from?
Certainly not local deposits. Unlike Russia, Ukraine or other CIS economies, there was no outflow from the domestic deposit base; M2 growth in Malaysia is still very comfortably positive, in sharp contrast to the Russian figures we published a few days ago (Chart 4).
And this despite a massive, unprecedented decline in high-powered “base” money, as shown in Chart 4. Indeed, over the past 12 months Malaysia recorded one of the biggest base money contractions in the entire EM world, matched only by the Baltic states (Chart 5). This is in part because the Malaysian central bank responded with a sharp drop in reserve requirements to keep banks liquid … but still, we can’t help but note that the domestic financial system seems uniquely unaffected by apparent capital outflows.
In fact, perhaps the most surprising feature of the economy is that interest rates have fallen steadily. In 1997-98, with much lower ex-post outflow pressures, Malaysian short-term interest rates skyrocketed into the high teens; last year the same thing happened in some other countries with strong outflows pressures. Meanwhile, during 2009 Malaysian rates settled in comfortably at around 2% per annum and show no signs of rising substantially any time soon. What is going on? How do we square this circle? To be honest, we’re not really sure – but we strongly suggest the interested reader turn to ASEAN economist Ed Teather for further answers. For additional information on Malaysia, Ed Teather can be reached at edward.teather@ubs.com.
A pretty grim outlook on our foreign exchange. With such a low position, isn't our currency rendered vulnerable to attack ala Soros's run with asian currencies during 1997? We wouldn't have enough 'ammunition' to shore up the Ringgit and it will just turn into an ugly battle of attrition.
But regardless, the article is quite jargon-y. Anybody with financial insight care to decipher it for the rest of us?
TRANSCRIPT OF A SPEECH MADE BY THE PRIME MINISTER, MR. LEE KUAN YEW, AT THE SREE NARAYANA MISSION IN SEMBAWANG ON 12TH SEPTEMBER, 1965.
Mr. Chairman, friends,
I want to say how delighted I am this morning to be able to join you in presenting these scholarships to 10 students, $100/- each, and not only to Indian students. The money probably came all from Indians because they are members of your Mission but the scholarships are also being given to Malays and to Chinese too.
It is these little gestures which make for harmony and understanding. I remember reading not so long ago about some special scholarships they were going to name after one of their leaders in Malaya, and they were going to get everybody to contribute, but the scholarships were only for one group. It makes life a rather difficult and trying business. But that is now no longer our business: we cannot interfere. We mind our own affairs.
But I say, neverthless, as Dr. Ismail has said in Canberra -- and he is an honest man who said that one day these two territories will come back again, but under very different circumstances and different conditions. And he was an honest man to say that if Singapore remained in Malaysia, there would be language and race riots in 1967. He said that -- I did not say that. He said that and it was reported in Canberra. I got the newspapers sent back to me. Because Singapore was setting the example in tolerance, multi-lingualism, multi-racialism; a multi-regligious, multi-cultural society. And there are some people whose grasp of history is somewhat limited and they are the people who shout these slogans: " One race, one language, one religion" It worries me. I think they ought to see the optician and put on their glasses. Then they will know there are many races, racial groups, but one nationality. I think they ought to see the ear specialist because obviously, their
ears are not hearing properly. Or, they will know that we speak many languages. And they will know that today Sunday, Christians go to church: Friday, Malays go to their mosques: Indians have Thaipusam, Deepavali and their ceremonial occasions; so with Buddhists, so with Seventh Day Adventists, on a Saturday. And what is wrong about that?
We will set the example. This country belongs to all of us. We made this country from nothing, from mud-flats. It is man, human skill, human effort which made this possible. You came, you worked -- for yourselves, yes. But in the process, your forefathers and my forefathers who came here: we built this civilization.
It is one of the few cities in Asia where you can get anything you want. You pick up the telephone: it works; and it not only works internally. You can pick up the telephone and speak to Delhi, London, Tokyo, Canberra ---anywhere you want. Do you think you can do that just by shouting slogans? You can get the best in any of the hotels in meal. European food? You can get the best in any one of the hotels in town. Chinese food? What kind do you like? There is Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew. Indian food? There are South Indian, North Indian: anything you like. Malay food? You like Sumatran food, nasi padang? Where else in the world can you get this?
And I say, we will progress. I was sad not because Singapore was going to suffer: No. I was sad because by this separation, we could not help millions of our own people, our own countrymen in Malaya, in Sabah and Sarawak to progress with us. That was why I was sad. We could not help them any more.
They have now got to help themselves. They have got to throw up their own leaders and they have got to take a stand. We cannot interfere. Here in Singapore, in ten years, Geyland Serai will be another and better Queens town all the shacks will be demolished. I say that for Singapore because I do not think Singapore is boasting when it says it can do it. It will do it. But do you think in ten years, the kampongs in Malaya will have Queens towns? I do not think so.
If you want that, then you must have the thrust, the ideas, the dynamism, the push, the tolerance of each other. That is why I was sad for them who are our people. Not just Chinese and Chinese, Indians and Indians. They are many Malays here.
Half of our police force comes from Malaya. Their familes are left behind there. They will be quartered; they will live in modern civilised conditions. Their families will come down here and they will want to stay with them, and we will have to say "No" because there is a limit to what we can absorb. We have only got 214 square miles. It is a cruel thing to do this. But it has to be done, some people wanted it this way. We could have helped them emerge, but it was not be to be.
But I say to you : Here we make the model multi-racial society. This is not a country that belongs to any single community: it belongs to all of us. You helped built it; your fathers, your grandfathers helped build this, There was no naval base here, and it is not the British who built it. It was your labour, your father's labour which built that.. My (great) grandfather come here and built. Yes, he came here looking for his fortune, but he stayed -- my grandfather was born here.
Over 100 years ago, this was a mud-flat, swamp. Today, this a modern city. Ten years from now, this will be a metropolis. Never fear.
Some people think that just because we are a small place, they can put the screws on us. It is not so easy. We are a small place in size, and geography. But in the quality of the men, the administration, the organisation, the mettle in a people, the fibre therefore, don't try. That is why we got booted out. If they could have just squeezed us like an orange and squeezed the juice out, I think the juice would have been squeezed out of us, and all the goodness would have been sucked away. But it was a bit harder, wasn't it? It was more like the durian.
You try and squeeze it, your hand gets hurt. And so they say, "Right, throw out the durain." But inside the durian is a very useful ingredient, high protein. And we will progress.
40 percent more than 40 percent of the purchasing power of the whole of Malaysia is in Singapore. We may be 20% of the population of Malaysia, but purchasing power, the capacity to buy goods like microphone, clocks, drinks, fans, lights, television, transistors: the money is here because here they work. And if people do not want that 40% -- 44% market -- well, that is their business. We want to open the market with them, buy if they do not want it we will make our own soap ... We are buying soap from Petaling Jaya: Lux. You know, it is
always advertised on TV: Lever Brothers. It is no harm, we buy the soap: It is good for them; it is good for us. We can make motor-cars together for the whole of Malaysia. And never forget, if it came to the point then Lever brothers may have to set up a soap factory here, because after all, nearly half the sales are in Singapore.
You ask the Straits Times: what percentage of their newspaper is sold in Singapore? True, we are only two-million. But we have the highest literacy rate in the whole of Asia. Nearly half of Straits Times, if not more, is sold here. Here, everybody buys a copy. There, may be one kampong buys one copy and everybody looks at it. It is true. We are talking now in terms of hard cash; the hard facts of life. And if people wants to be hard to us, then we have got to survive. And we can keep this market to ourselves. But this is all shortsighted. Let us throw our eyes over the horizon into the future. What does our Dr. Ismail say: This will come back again. But under very different circumstances and ifferent conditions.
You know and I know that anybody who says, "Go back to Malaysia on the same circumstances". Will be called a lunatic; isn't it? We were patient; we were tolerant. We put with it hoping that they would see the light. But we had to be firm. We could not give in. So, as a result we are out.
History is a long process of attrition. It will go on. And one day, it will come back together. You see, this is not like a map and you can take a pair of scissors and cut off Singapore and then take it and paste it in the South Pacific and forget about it. It is not possible. This is part of the mainland of the continent of Asia. And that Causeway .... You know, the Japanese blew it up; it was still rebuilt. It is part of history; and you are part of history. You are part of this place as much as I am; as much as Inche Othman Wok, my colleague, is; and I say that is the way it will be in the end.
Finally, may I congratulate you for having made progress since I last visited your mission in 1963, and especially commend you for having made a symbolic gesture in giving scholarships not just to Indians. But Indians who contributed to the Narayana Mission took this money and gave it to Malay and Chinese students as well. In that way, we must prosper.
And I guarantee you this: there will be a Constitution which we will get re-drawn in which minority rights .... You know, it is very easy in Singapore for people to stand up and if you talk, "One race, one language, one religion," there will be a lot trouble, you know. We do not want that sort of thing. That is stupidity. So we are going to get the Chief Justice of India, Australia, New Zealand and a few others together with our own Chief Justice and a few of our eminent lawyers to draft "entrenched" clauses .... You know, "entrenched": no
government can just cancel the clauses. Entrenched, and enforcible.
If anybody thinks he is being discriminated against either for a flat or a scholarship or a job or for social welfare relief because of race, or language or religion, he can go to the court, take out a writ; and if he proves that it was because of discrimination on the ground of race, language, religion, culture, then the court will have to enforce the Constitution and ensure minority rights.
We are an equal society. You are equal to me; I am equal to you. Nobody is more equal than others. In some places, they say, "we are all equal." But what they mean is they are more equal, you see -- which makes life very difficult. But here, when we say "equal", we really mean it. We do not have to do it in Singapore. But we are thinking in terms of 100, 200 years, 1,000 years. You must help them emerge. And there is only one way: education and economist thrust.
And with those words, I wish you all peace, prosperity in Singapore.
Thank you.
