I remember that some years back, maybe…I saw (on tv) some MPs dozzing off in Parliament, and the Parliament was not really full. Then I thought, maybe those MPs are really tired and bored or they will only attend sessions that are related to them..that was Parliament to me during those days.

And I grew up, see more, understand more… then later on I thought..shoudn’t  they ( MPs) sit in every session to debate and decide on every single issues and matters that can better the country to benefit the people? Then I thought, is OK lah, they are all busy people, as long as they return to Parliament to sit in their own session and raise good issues to affect the policies, that is good enough.

The 8pm news on TV yesterday was shocking, and following to that the PM calls for the live tele-cast to be stopped. I couldn’t believe my eyes to see the way our elected MPs are behaving in Parliament. It appeared to be worse than in the market! God Help us and then help them!

I see no relevance in stopping the live-telecast. I hope that the live-telecast will go on. It will be an eye-opener for everyone, to see which MP is working hard for the people, to see which MP is relevant to the country and for the people, to see which MP is of MP quality, to see which MP will quarrel like a standard 3 kid, to see which MP will make sexist remark,  racist remark..etc etc… And then only people like me will know whether our votes have gone to the right candidate.

Don’t worry, there is always room for improvement. Although we cannot undo what we have done wrong, but what we can do is to learn from our mistakes and make sure that we do not do it ever again!

Perhaps we shouldn’t blame our MPs but ourselves who put them in Parliament…Aiyh.

Scenario 1:
Restaurant X @ Cheras

The (Malay/Indonesian looking) waitress taking orders from me and my mom, speaking malay and cantonese, writing chinese as she took down our order. She is from Jawa and has been here for 3 years.

Scenario 2:
Carrefour

When asked if they sell coloured stickers in English and later in malay, he said: I Bangladesh. No talk….

Scenario 3:
X Cafe @ Cheras

All waiters are from Bangladesh. They only know how to take orders by writing down the numbers and understand no other requests other than that.

Scenario 4:
KLCC

East Asian cleaner + Burmese/ Myanmar security guards at the parking lots/ lifts.

East Asian cleaners take over KLCC after 10 pm.

Scenario 5:
Pudu area and Petaling Street area are full with foreign workers on Sundays.

Scenario 6:
Bangkok International Airport

Some hundreds of Bangladeshi taking a flight to KLIA. They all carried the same hand luggage, wearing the same Tshirt. Could they be our construction workers or security guards?

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I see foreign workers everywhere in every segment of the industry. From servicing to security to food and hygiene sector, they are everywhere and in every corner, all the time!

‘THERE are some two million foreign workers, of whom half are believed to be illegal immigrants.’ reported in NST Online early this month.

We have so many of them because locals do not want to take up those jobs or there are so many of them? Sometimes I wonder what is the real and absolute cause of the great influx of foreign workers in this country. Are they here due to political reasons or they are here because they have no jobs in their country? Or they are here because without them, we have no development, no service and no security?

Gone be the days when we can speak to anyone on the street using at least one of the 3 main languages. We now need to learn sign languages and perhaps learn how to identify which are legal and which are not.

What say you to that?

Prominent Bloggers, Columnists and Journalists who sat on the panel were Jeff Ooi, Marina Mahathir, Sonia Randhawa, R. Nadeswaran (Citizen-Nades), Ahirudin Atan (RockyBru), Tian Chua, Tony Pua, and Raja Petra!

Exciting speeches, sharing of experiences, and even frustrations amogst those who attended and spoke on the forum set the mood for the evening.

Speakers were then being asked to comment on whether the media environment under the present Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration is more open and liberal compared to the previous administration under Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Disecting the question above, can we summarise the question to Is the media environment more FREE under the current administration compared to the former premier’s?

Discussing about the freedom of speech and freedom of expression, I sometimes wonder if we are ready to exercise these rights and be responsible of what we say, and what we write?

Some argue that life is governed by an imaginary power and irresistible influence that provides a fixed pattern and predetermined timeline of events which control the existence of every individual under the sun. This is the so called Destiny, which is recognised as inevitable and unchangeable by nature. This belief, is also known as ‘Fatalism’ and obviously based on the belief that there is a natural order of things in the universe.

‘Que Sara Sara, whatever will be, will be…the future’s not ours to see…’ Those who believe in fate take it as the Divine will. There are views that God determined in advance the destiny of every soul, which no mortal had the power to question.

People usually resign to the inevitable and the unseen hands that predetermine the course of events in their lives for comfort when it comes to difficult moments in life. Fatalist, believes in the theory that nothing human can possibly change in one’s future.

Some says, that life, is just a matter of choice.

This saying finds support in the belief that human have the power to choose their own deeds. Simply because men are endowed with free will.

Free will pronounces that the fate of an individual is determined by the way he chooses to be or not to be, to do or not to do. One must be responsible for things one does, for every choices made, and for his own condition, circumstances, state of affairs and even the effect of his thoughts and deeds on others and the world he lives in.

With free will, an act that produces a negative consequence, or the reverse of it, is attributed to the workings of the universal principle of cause and effect, also known as Karma.

Karma is said to be the sum of all that an individual did, is currently doing and will do. Hence, everyone is responsible for his own life and the pain of the others, being the sum effect of all deeds he actively created, past or present, including future experiences.

Lives certainly are not simply governed by fate, neither is it determined only by choice.

The existence of life per se is a glorious mystery. Human intervention has yet to explain that when one’s life would end after it began. Fate or destiny seem to be the nearest, of not the only, rationalization for this.

When an individual starts to recognise, and act on, his free will, everything that happens in his life is then the result of his exercise of the power of choice. The law of cause and effect then processes his thoughts and deeds in the natural order of things. And thus whatever he sows, he reaps.

To live life then is a matter of choice. But until when is a matter of fate.

DO live life to the fullest before it is too late.

My confidant wrote: ………..the influx of migrants………. and I thought, right! I will share  my thoughts on this topic.

The fact that the Malaysian government welcome’d'/’s’ foreign migrants and grant them Red IC( so as to legitimise them to stay and later on voting rights) have worried us that those immigrants will one day conquer and take over our beloved homeland. Not forgetting that the rise of social security problems today caused by illegal immigrants is alarming us all.

I, 3rd generation of Malaysian Chinese, so called Anak Malaysia, am just as worried as my fellow friends from the Indian community. Why and what are we worrying about then? We have blue IC, we have voting rights, and we get to go to school, we all say so…

According to the Human Rights Watch, Malaysia is one of the largest importer of labor in Asia, taking over a million workers, of which more than 160,000 are hired as domestic helpers. ( The Sun, 2000)

Thinking about the thousands of foreign workers who make up most of the ‘human capital’ for the domestic helpers’ market, the construction sites, and today, even in the food and hotel industry; we see them working hard, in a multi-racial country when there isn’t a common language that they can communicate in.

And, we can see foreign Medical Doctors working as specialist in hospitals, Lecturers in Education Institutions  etc. This group of professionals speak good English, they get to bring their whole family here, and most importantly, they contribute to the K-economy, and they help us compete in the global race.

So how do we feel about having almost 10-12% of the population made up of foreigners? Aren’t we worried that these people will have a share of what is supposed to belongst to us today and later vote our government out one day, and later have a new government of their own?

In the lush of globalisation, do we appreciate this influx of foreign workers ( skilled and unskilled), an asset or a liability to us all ? Do we view this as a Brain Gain, to some extent?

Perhaps we should all work hand-in-hand to create a real Malaysia, only for us, the true Anak Malaysia.