While you are enjoying your food at home, think of
other places that you can have your meal ...
While you may imagine all these themed restaurants around the world, you may not be able to imagine that a Malaysian school has taken the concept to a greater height by actually setting up a 'canteen' within a real bathroom/changing room in a school, Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Pristana, Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia.
Surprisingly, the school's facebook page did not highlight or mention this highly creative way of having a meal for the students. However, it has been reported that presumably the teachers and parents/guardians of students also had their 'buka puasa' or breaking fast in the 'canteen' recently. It was unclear if the 'buka puasa' or breaking fast event was one-off or a daily affair during the Ramadhan or fasting month.
It was indeed very interesting to see how the school's teachers, parents/guardians and students were so supportive of the idea of eating their meals in this 'canteen' within a real bathroom/changing room.
The excitement of eating in this 'canteen' is perhaps heightened by the fact that this bathroom/changing room 'canteen' is situated right next to the school's toilet. Their entrance doors are literally located side by side. Tandas is a Malay language for toilet. Seri Mawar is the name of the toilet. The below picture is enlarged for better visibility of location.
There are several strangely themed restaurants around the world. You may have come across a toilet themed restaurant in Taiwan, called Modern Toilet. This restaurant is popular with locals and tourists in Taipei. The same restaurant by Modern Toilet can be found in Japan, Hong Kong and China.
Although Modern Toilet's concept is popular, it is just a toilet themed restaurant and not an actual restaurant situated within a real toilet. The concept of an actual canteen situated within a real bathroom/changing room is far more fascinating. We must remember that this bathroom/changing room 'canteen' is located right next to a real toilet too.
This bathroom/changing room 'canteen' idea by the school's the headmaster, Mohamad Nasir Mohd Nor is ingenuously creative. He was instrumental in setting up this bathroom/changing room 'canteen'. One might be curious if he practiced what he preached at home by eating his meals at home in toilet or bathroom. Mohamad Nasir's creativity may soon earn him a lecturer post in Malaysian very own LimKokWing University of Creative Technology. It is perhaps his active political involvement that has given him the edge in his creativity. His creativity has however not gotten the same support from his political allies.
I reckon that this bathroom/changing room 'canteen' is definitely one of the top 10 unique places to eat in the world. What do you think?
It is exciting to read the below article by Reuters which is not about Najib Tun Razak but it points to several of his characters. My humble opinion of what the below article has prompted me on the traits of Najib. Let me elaborate on the 4 broad traits that I gather.
NON-REFORMIST OR 'TRANSFORMER'-
There had been so many discussions among Najib and his advisers on what should be done in Malaysia just before Najib became a prime minister in Malaysia. Najib came out with New Economic Model (NEM) as his reform agenda. The whole grand plan launched with much fanfare has pretty much disappeared today. NEM is no longer mentioned in any mainstream media.
Najib recently gave out RM500 to voters right before the country's general election, which was dressed up glamorously by public relation firm and called BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia). He also set up sundry shops which have political branding and are called KR1M (Kedai Runcit 1Malaysia). These sundry shops are heavily subsidized by Najib's govt but most of the subsidy went to the retailer group, Mydin, as opposed to the people. It suddenly appeared that BR1M and KR1M were transformational development in Malaysian economy. At least, that was what the public relation firm of Najib wanted the people to believe. 'Promises fulfilled' apparently. I can not recall that BR1M and KR1M were part of NEM or any economic programme.
CORRUPT-
As the Prime Minister of the country for 4 years, Najib seemed powerless when it came to fighting corruption despite his repeated calls to tackle corruption. Najib has not got a history of being 'CLEAN'. His newly created flagship governmental investment arm, 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd) has been reported to have siphoned RM7 billion into a Caymen Island '1MDB' company. One will naturally ask why would that be necessary? 1MDB has been raising money with Malaysian government guarantee and support incurring more debts for the country. According to international business news, Bloomberg, Golman Sach recently made a handsome USD500 million profit from raising USD3 billion for 1MDB. Who would disagree that the amount of profit is exorbitant?
More interestingly, Najib's brother, Nazir had 'told' his staff that CIMB Bank would never not allowed to lend money to 1MDB. Hence, they were not supposed to pursue 1MDB's fund raising even if the deals are extraordinarily lucrative. That much confident Nazir had for 1MDB. Nazir is the CEO of CIMB Bank, the 2nd largest bank in Malaysia. On the other hand Maybank, the largest bank in Malaysia, is known to be a big lender to 1MDB. Maybank's CEO, Abdul Wahid Omar, is widely known to be a political appointee. He has since joined Najib's recently announced cabinet as a minister.
INDECISIVE-
Najib has been a Prime Minister since 3 April 2009. He has not still been able to decide what role should he play for this country. Najib's indecisiveness has kept Malaysians in the dark as to whether he is a liberal reformist
or just another UMNO hardline leader. He appears to be both most of the
time. He talked about racial harmony among the people but he supported PERKASA, a racist organization at the same time. Najib recently wrongly accused Chinese voters in Malaysia for causing the drop in seats won by his BN (Barisan Nasional) coalition, which was termed Chinese Tsunami. The real cause was the drop of supports by better informed urban folks using modern social media against rural folks who still relied on govt media. Various statistics have proven this point. Najib's fickle minded claim did not earn him much credit.
CROWD PLEASER-
Najib is very serious in getting votes during an election. We just need to look at the speedy implementation of BR1M and KR1M to know that. He is known to have said 'You help me, I help you' to voters before agreeing to allocate govt funds to the constituency during a Parliamentary by-election. However, it is less clear when we try to see the principles that he believes in or his improvement plans for Malaysia going forward. Implementing some property and physical infrastructure projects in the country
is far from improving or achieving better socioeconomic conditions of
Malaysians. These are mostly over-priced projects awarded to UMNO's cronies without open tender.
You can watch the 'You help me, I help you' live speech from the below video starting from 50 seconds onwards. He also made reference to the same 'You help me, I help you' deal made in a previous by-election.
In order to appease his crowd, Najib says different things in different venues. He often contradict himself within days of making a statement. While the mainstream media has avoided highlighting his inconsistency, his flip-flops or U-turns are still glaring to Malaysians.
Do you agree with my impression of the below article on Najib?
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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s divisive election has left a bitter taste for
millions of people that risks creating a long-term problem of legitimacy for
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
The outrage was clear at a busy intersection across from one of Kuala
Lumpur’s fanciest shopping malls, where a huge poster of Najib and his deputy
had been defaced — a rare display of public disrespect in the Southeast Asian
nation.
One of the scrawled comments poked fun at the unconvincing share of the
votes won by Najib’s ruling coalition in its May 5 election victory: “47
percent PM,” it said.
“If you don’t like it, you can leave,” mocked another, alluding to a comment
by Najib’s new home minister that those unhappy with the result — and the
electoral system that produced it — should pack up and emigrate.
The tense political atmosphere threatens to prolong policy uncertainty that
investors hoped the polls would put to rest, as Najib braces for a possible
leadership challenge and the opposition mounts a noisy campaign to contest the
result.
By securing 60 percent of parliamentary seats with less than 50 percent of
the popular vote, the BN’s victory has served to expose starkly the unfairness
of a gerrymandered electoral system that is also prone to cheating and bias.
That has galvanized the opposition, led by former deputy prime minister
Anwar Ibrahim, into holding a series of big rallies as it refuses to accept the
result and prepares legal action to challenge the outcome in nearly 30
close-run seats.
Disgruntled Malaysians have submitted over 220,000 signatures to the White
House online petition page, exceeding the number required for a response from
President Barack Obama.
In response, divisions have appeared in Umno, the main party in the ruling
coalition — in power since independence from Britain in 1957.
Hardliners have urged a crackdown on dissent and blamed minority ethnic
Chinese voters for deserting the ruling coalition. That has raised racial
tensions in a country whose ethnic Malay majority dominates politics and enjoys
special privileges to offset what its leaders see as its disadvantaged position
compared to relatively wealthy ethnic Chinese.
Reformers have urged Najib to press ahead with social and economic reforms
to blunt the opposition’s appeal and address the concerns of discontented young
and urban voters. That includes many ethnic Malays who voted for the
opposition.
“Every day Najib sees angry Malaysians on the Internet. It is not an easy
thing to swallow,” said a senior government official who declined to be
identified. “There are people in his cabinet asking for a crackdown and there
are others asking for him to brandish his reformist side.”
The hard liners appeared to gain ground last week when police used the
colonial-era Sedition Act to detain three opposition politicians and activists
and charged a student with inciting unrest.
The three arrested were later released after a court rejected the police
remand order, but could still face charges.
Najib is under pressure from Umno conservatives such as Dr Mahathir Mohamad,
who served as prime minister for 22 years, to show a tougher side ahead of a
leadership election that could be held as early as August. At least until then,
planned reforms such as steps to widen Malaysia’s tax base and reduce heavy
food and fuel subsidies are likely to stay on hold.
“Najib is not in a very strong position,” Mahathir told reporters in Tokyo
on Saturday, saying there was a risk that his majority could be weakened
further if some ruling coalition politician defected to the opposition.
“When you are concerned about that, the focus on development, economy and
all that will be affected. That is Najib’s problem.”
Fraud claims
The opposition has yet to present clear evidence of widespread fraud, but
Reuters interviews with 15 polling agents give an indication of why many
Malaysians have lost faith in an electoral system that clearly favours the
governing coalition.
A majority said that officials of the Election Commission (EC), which is
part of the Prime Minister’s Department, did not follow procedures or were
ill-equipped to oversee the polls.
“Some, not all, officials were not trained enough or did not have the
experience to determine what was a spoiled vote,” said a counting agent in the
Segamat parliamentary seat in southern Johor state, where the BN candidate won
by a slim 1,200 majority with 950 votes deemed as spoiled.
“I cannot speculate on whether it was deliberate but there was quite a bit
of incompetence,” said the agent, who declined to be identified due to the
sensitivity of the issue.
Anwar’s three-party alliance says it has evidence that BN officials bought
votes with cash and transported immigrants granted citizenship on shaky grounds
to vote in areas with close races.
While its legal action, due to be filed with courts around the end of May,
is unlikely to succeed, it will keep the electoral fraud issue in the spotlight
for months ahead.
In Selangor state near Kuala Lumpur, a Reuters examination found at least
2,000 voters had identity cards deemed “dubious” by a commission of inquiry in
Sabah. That commission is investigating longstanding allegations that the
ruling coalition handed out citizenship for votes to immigrants.
The government denies the fraud claims, accusing the opposition of being
sore losers and of trying to stir up an Arab Spring style revolt. The EC says
it took a tough approach in eradicating possible fraud in the electoral rolls.
“The opposition did not lose because of election rigging, it lost because
they did not get the vote,” EC chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof told Reuters.
Deep concerns over the integrity of Malaysia’s elections are nothing new.
The government has been shaken by huge street rallies in recent years organized
by the influential Bersih movement that has called for sweeping reforms,
including a clean-up of the electoral roll and equal access to media.
After a violent police response to a 2011 rally, Najib burnished his reform
credentials by rolling back some draconian security laws and introducing
limited electoral reforms.
Reform dilemma
Bersih says those reforms did not go far enough, and is refusing to recognize
the election results until it has verified hundreds of allegations of fraud in
a “people’s tribunal”. It has previously highlighted instances of voters over
120 years of age and hundreds of voters living at a single address.
Likely far more influential than fraud are electoral boundaries that have
been manipulated over the years to favour the BN. Pro-opposition constituencies
in urban areas have up to nine times the number of voters than pro-government
seats.
The opposition won just 89 seats in the 222-seat parliament, despite winning
more than 51 percent of the vote.
“Najib won on malapportionment rather than his policies to eradicate
corruption and reform the economy as voters felt he wasn’t sincere,” said Ooi
Kee Beng, Singapore-based deputy director of the Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies.
Najib, the 59-year-old son of a former prime minister, is unlikely to
countenance deeper electoral reforms, a move that could be political suicide
for the BN.
Reformists within Umno are urging him, however, to ignore calls for a
security crackdown and push ahead with steps to tackle corruption and make the
ruling coalition more appealing to urban and ethnic Chinese voters who have
deserted it.
“Of course the debate on whether we are truly a majority government will go
on. But we can gain respect from the people,” said Saifuddin Abdullah, a
prominent reformist who is a member Umno’s Supreme Council.
Someone that I know has found a Malaysian Identification Card (I/C). He is eager to return it to the rightful owner of the I/C. Malaysian media and authority have not been helpful. He somehow managed to get some help from a Taiwanese TV station. Its friendly gesture of putting the I/C in the news was nice but understandably inadequate in Malaysia. Please spread this around. Do you know the owner of this I/C? Is he one of your friend? Please help...
Papaya son/of Cabbage (name translation)
Little did we know that there is actually a genetic relationship between papaya and cabbage. While you are busy helping to find the owner of this I/C, I have attached a complimentary music video clip and a cartoon below to keep you entertained.
P/S: Please inform me if there is any infringement of copyright, The video or cartoon will be taken down immediately. There is no intention to lie, cheat or to be a copycat.
Do you know the impact of corruption, abuse of power
and injusticeson Malaysia?
CORRUPTION
Malaysia comes out at the top of bribery table in the world in 2012. That made Malaysia world No.1 in corruption!! We are world champion??! This is not badminton that we are talking about. It is corruption! Corruption has unfortunately become a lifestyle of ruling regime, Barisan Nasional (BN) which is led by UMNO. Cost of doing business due to bribery in Malaysia today is worse than Indonesia, Philippines, China, India or Mexico.
You can ask any Malaysians on the streets. Many of them will be able to tell you about abuse of power and injustices against the following deceased persons.
All of the above died of mysterious death. Neither the ruling regime or government institutions could provide simple and direct approach to solving these unfortunate incidences. Autopsies and findings by coroner's court or royal commission of inquiry have not been sensible or acceptable to the Malaysian public. The inquest into Teoh Beng Hock's death was in fact inexplicably hilarious. You can further click on their names above to know more about alleged abuse of power and injustices.
Nurul Izzah
Nurul Izzah is currently a prominent leader in opposition party. She was also one of the victim of abuse of power and injustices. She went through torturous and very difficult years as a youth when her father, Anwar Ibrahim was arrested and charged for sodomy in 1999. Her experience has made her more passionate and firm to uphold justice for everyone in Malaysia. Anwar was subsequently acquitted in 2004 by the Federal Court of Malaysia. Anwar was again charged for sodomy in 2010 and was again acquitted in 2012 by the High Court.
A simple way of explaining how corruption, abuse of power and injustices can happen at the same time in a country can be found here.
WHAT DO WE HAVE NOW?
What do we have after 50 years of corruption, abuse of power and injustices? A summary of key situations that Malaysians are facing today:
Debt of Malaysia doubled to RM502 billion in 2012 from RM274 billion in 2008 . The country debt has always been below or around RM200 billion prior to 2008. Najib took over the leadership of BN ruling in 2009. It is suspected that the additional debts were mostly raised to pay for some exorbitantly over-priced government contracts. Najib is known to have a preference to award government contracts to his friends, and to Syed Mokhtar or his related companies.
Incomplete information on government's full debt. BN government exclude hidden debts that are called contingent liabilities from its total debt calculation. These hidden debts that the government has guaranteed to pay off on behalf of some corporate entities in the event that these corporates' default is estimated to be at RM117 billion in 2011. Hence, total national debt obligations could be at 619 billion. With the hidden debts, Malaysian government total debt has exceeded the 55% statutory maximum limit. Najib's administration has regrettably played with creative hidden debts by adopting off-balance sheet-borrowings to cover up the actual total debt obligations. Possibly efforts to hide the country's total debt have become so complicated that Bank Negara reports themselves carry inconsistencies in Malaysia's total debt. BN goverment has raised the maximum debt limit from 40% of GDP in 2003 to the present 55% in 2009. This shows a lack of BN government's discipline in adhering to Malaysia's maximum debt.
Financial watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI) reported that a total of RM880 billion of funds were illegally transferred out of the country between 2001 and 2010. That made Malaysia world's No.1 or the highest in illegal capital flights per capita basis! Illegal capital flights could possibly be a result of corruption activities in Malaysia. In illegal capital flights, Malaysia is ahead of China, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Thailand and Philippines.
When it comes to income disparity or income difference between the rich and poor, Malaysia is No. 3 in Asia, and No. 1 in Southeast Asia! In Asia, we are only behind Micronesia and Papua New Guinea. Again, Malaysia is worse than all our neighbors including Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, China and India.
Malaysia has not faired well in the field of education either. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, said that our education system
is better than that of the US, UK and Germany. It is another claim that Malaysians find it hard to believe. Malaysia turned out to be the “worst-performing country” in the latest international mathematics and science survey, by Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011. Malaysian students were the only ones among all those in the 59 countries tested who suffered the biggest drop in scores for every component in both subjects between 1999 and 2011. The TIMSS
results confirms the 2009 PISA study that Malaysian students are 3 years
behind the international average and half of our students do not have an
aptitude and command of knowledge of science and mathematics. Without a strong foundation in science and mathematics, it does not seem that BN government is serious about the progress of Malaysia into a developed nation. Hence, Vision 2020 by BN is more of a political propaganda than a real executable plan.
When we look at the above issues that are facing this country, one can agree that BN government for the past 50 years have failed to bring Malaysia forward. We have been stagnant or even gone backward in many aspects. At the current momentum, Malaysia may end up as a bankrupt but still under-developed country in another 5 years. We will certainly not become a developed nation by 2020.
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM OUR NEIGHBORS?
Let's look at the impact of a corrupt and abusive regime on a country. We evaluate the situations once faced by our neighbors:
Philippines
Philippines was under the regime of Ferdinand Marcos for 21 years from 1965 to 1986. During which time, there were wide spread corruption, abuse of power and injustices reported. Marcos went into exile in 1986. Philippines regained democracy but reforms were hampered by national debt, government corruption, lack of finances, etc. Philippines had 4 different Presidents after that, namely Corozon Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, before Benigno Aquino III took over in 2010. This country went through no less than 20 years of difficult economic development before regaining robust economic growth in recent years. It is not wrong to say that 21 years of corrupt and abusive Marcos rule had setback Philippines for another 20 years in lackluster economic development. Philippines provides a good example of what corruption, abuse of power and injustices can do to a country.
Indonesia
Indonesia was under Suharto rule for 30 years from 1968 to 1998. Indonesia suffered incidences of corruption, abuse of power and injustices during the period of the authoritarian rule by Suharto despite that country's economic growth. Since Suharto's resignation in 1998, Indonesian political and governmental structures have undergone major reforms. During the reforms, Indonesia continued to face economic instability, political changes, social unrest,corruption, etc. Indonesia was subsequently ruled by 3 different Presidents, namely Bacharuddin Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri, before Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took over in 2004. Indonesia did not enjoy good economic growth for 10 years after the end of Suharto's regime. Suharto's rule is a testimony that widespread corruption, abuse of power and injustices can hamper economic growth of a country even if there were some favorable economic policies. The collapse of Suharto's corrupt and abusive authoritarian regime further held back Indonesia for another 10 years in good economic development.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
If there is any lesson that we can learn from our neighbors, we must learn not allow a regime that is corrupt, abusive and indulge in injustices to persist. We must end it as quickly as we can. The implications are big if they persist.
Look at what Marcos's 21 years have done to Philippines. The country needed another 20 years to recover from the damage. It is not wrong to say that 2 generations of Filipino livelihood were lost to Marcos even after he went into exile.
Look at how Suharto's 30 years have caused problems to Indonesia. The country needed another 10 years to recover from the damage. Suharto arguably had many good economic policies then, but his corruption, abuse of power and injustices eroded and negated those policies. Indonesia further lost one generation of people's livelihood to Suharto despite his resignation.
The situation of Malaysia is bad now. Our rankings internationally can be stated as follows:
1st in the world in bribery table for 2012.
1st in the world for illegal funds outflow from the country on per capita basis for the last decade.
3rd in Asia, and 1st in Southeast Asia in income disparity or income difference between the rich and poor. We are worse than Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, etc.
Malaysia is now the “worst-performing country” in the latest international mathematics and science survey, TIMSS 2011. Malaysian students today are 3 years
behind the international average of science and mathematics. Our younger generations are getting less competitive internationally and regionally in Southeast Asia.
Our national debts have effectively gone passed the permissible 55% of GDP. This country is overly indebted. BN incurred the debt on our behalf. The rest of Malaysians and their next generations will have to pay back eventually.
We have a government that plays so hard with statistics to look good that we are now ranking better than Singapore in crime rates. Singapore is well known for low crime rate in the world. It is unthinkable today that Malaysia is safer than Singapore.
The list can go on including issues on stagnation of income etc., but the message is very clear here.
Malaysia needs a change for better. Our world No. 1 status is for wrong reasons. These reasons are the result years of corruption, abuse of power and injustices perpetrated by BN and UMNO. Hence, Malaysians are not asking for change for the sake of changing. This change is needed after 50 years of BN rule that has deteriorated our international and regional competitiveness. BN has shown their incapability of change. Despite losing their customarily held 2/3 majority in Parliament in 2008, BN has not become better. From the problems faced by Malaysians now, we can see that the BN government have in fact become more corrupt and more abusive in ruling Malaysia since 2008. Should Malaysians be able to effect a change of goverment this year in General Election 13 (GE13), we will probably need 5 - 10 years to recover from the damage done by BN and UMNO, looking at the experience of Indonesia and Philippines. Should BN retain power for another term of 5 years, Malaysia may possibly need 10 -20 years to recover from the more dire damage done by BN and UMNO, assuming Malaysians manage to change government in General Election 14 (GE14). Losing one generation of livelihood is bad enough. We simply cant afford to lose 2 generations of Malaysian livelihood. By GE14, Malaysia may lack financial resources and may not be able to borrow any further to improve the situations and implement changes in the country. What I fear most is that there may be chaos even before GE14. The poor will have become too poor. The severe poverty level will longer be acceptable to them. They may take to the streets. Social unrest and chaos may happen. The new government after GE14 will have limited options to improve the conditions of the people and the country. We can learn about these implications from the history of Philippines and Indonesia. To all good Malaysians out there, we simply do not have time. Malaysia is in need of a better government now. The time is now. If you believe in stability of country, there is more reason for you to vote for a change on 5th May 2013. ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU, ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY ON 5TH MAY 2013, OUR GE 13. We only have 2 options to choose today. We either vote Pakatan Rakyat
(PR) into power to better manage this country as per their promise, or we allow BN and UMNO to worsen our country's situation, competitiveness, and possibly causing chaos and social unrest by GE14. PR have shown competence in administrating the state of Penang and Selangor. Despite having control over Malaysian Attorney-General and Judiciary, BN federal government has not been able to successfully institute any case against PR administration or their key leaders on corruption, abuse of power or injustices in Penang and Selangor. That is a sign that PR state governments have been clean and fair. That is really what our country needs most right now. A clean and fair government at federal level. The time is now. This is it!
The below videos are further evidence of intolerable corruption of BN government in Malaysia.:
I have added a new video above as the below video has been removed.
