THE FADING PASSION

Once I had a deep passion in a hobby called Amateur Radio. I knew about it in the 1960's and encountered with live people a few years later. Amateur Radio is a hobby where a licensed person can talk with each other using a radio equipment thru the air wave. It is free to talk but a licensee must pay an annual license fee. During those days amateurs were made up of wise people including King and Ministers, scientists and astronauts and with laymen of high caliber and full of respects. I was lucky to be able to communicate with a Prince, scientists, congressman and Hollywood actors.

The members were kept on a high standard in demeanor either by the standing of the social status and professionalism or by the degree of difficulty in obtaining the license. One has to pass a Radio Examination and a Morse Code test to qualify and has to pass a security check. Because of the high class of those hams there came to understanding among themselves on practices not laid in the radio regulations. People did not speak on religion and politics. There were practices called the Gentlemen's Agreement.

The radio enthusiasts who did not get their license were called SWL ( Short Wave Listeners ) and the licensees were known as HAMS. SWL would learn the practices and procedures by listening. SWLs keep a logbook to record the stations they heard.

Many people keen to join a hobby but they were hindered by the test which was held in English and the Morse test. Both of these need education and ability to learn. People who organize and train themselves in learning Morse codes were modifying their behaviors without their knowledge. It was in fact an advantage to the hobby because it kept the standard up and barred away the people not cut for the hobby. It could filtered out people of undesired characters.

Every evening there were groups of Malaysian hams shit chatting on the air. It had been a real fun when much could be learnt from the conversation.

In 1982 I went to USA to study. That was the time when the personal computers came into market. I bought one Texas Instrument and learnt programming by myself. I went to Mall to read and try the BASIC codes. I was so absorb with personal computer so much so I forget ham radio. Until I came home I was still with the technology till 2002.

One day when I entered my store I saw my old transceiver. Fixing back the antenna and switching on the rig I heard my two old friends talking. A day later another friend came to my house and said he got a ham ticket already. His name is Hanafi. Hanafi informed me of the happenings in the last 15 years or so. He told me about those hams to passed away, and the new licensees, and the repeaters. I wanted to know more about 2 meter and went to Hatyai to buy a small handy.

I was very shocked to hear things I never heard before. Everyone mention QRX to sign. Several people were using each call sign. Pirates stations were everywhere. There were stories of thefts and people misusing other department's repeaters. Later I heard more and more funny stories. Now the SOP went down the mud. We hear stations name as XXZ , HBG etc without suffixes. Ham radio had gone haywire.

One ham said that anybody can be a ham. It is everyone's right regardless whether he is a criminal or a mafia. It just don't fit my thinking. I would not want a pusher or an addict to be in my group. Put it this way now we can put pushers, addicts, gangsters, bully etc in any school and government offices, and parliament as people's representatives.

Further monitoring the hams on radio band, things are not getting better. Even frequencies for Bulan Sabit  is misused by the hams. Hence the passion for the hobby is fading slowly day by day. Doris Day in her song said 'What will be will be...'

28/11/2010 

BIG COMPANY PRODUCE RUDE AND ARROGANT PEOPLE

I am going to start with Proton Tiara. Many years ago I applied for a car loan. Because Proton was almost a new company and the government was trying to help the new entrepreneur I went to a Tiara distributor. A lady attended me. I said I wanted a Tiara with a government loan. Immediately she turned me down. To  me it was funny. They turned down what God was offering them. The Malays called it Rezeki. They wanted me to get their loan.

The next one was streamyx. My encounter with streamyx was only with the slow service. When I called the officer I herad him talking while eating something. Certainly it very rude. He said he would send someone to look at it. Soon enough someone came and did something and charged me for RM80.00 . When the streamyx was slow I had to pay to the company. Then many other people complained and complained. Now many people are looking for some other providers.

MAS was one of the most bittered experience. Soon after my son boarded a plane to USA I remembered about the cassette with Malaysian songs. I request it to be sent to my son in the plane. They said it was impossible and not even one willing to help sending it to the plane. The plane was to depart about 1 hour later. I cursed MAS and prayed that one day it would go bankrupt and the sombong workers suffer severely

Another experience while I was in one Proton shop. I brought a wheel chair to test whether it could enter the car booth. One lady said, " cannot test." Again as usual I cursed the lady and pray so that she would suffer and Proton would go bankrupt. A few month later it was reported one proton company is eating another company. That lady was eaten together.

Last time I went to Maxis at Pacific Supermarket. At that place there is one Malay lady whose face was not appeal to me. Never smile and look ugly. When I approached her to buy an iPhone I did not get a friendly response. I was not happy with her. Today I went again to ask some other question. Unfortunately she was there. I went to one other girl. But the girl refered to her. Truly I saw evil in her face. And she did not sound friendly at all. She asked me to go to other Maxis to ask.

Big companies employ or produce rude and arrogant staffs. You can find them almost anywhere. At SADA, the water agency Kedah, is another hostile worker. And SADA is real evil formed under UMNO government. I was trying to think good about UMNO but I keep on meeting with rude people.

I know that BN won't fall because of it's plan and strategy, lies or not, crooked or not. The Ministers do not want to go away. Unlike the West where people can experiment with different kind of government. But with the on going to evil things and the will of God anything can happen.

Isn't Maxis and a few other agencies get the big support of the government ?

05/12/2010

SMVAS@HOTMAIL.COM

Many email addresses have stories behind them. Mine was smvas@hotmail.com . smvas is a short form for Sekolah Menengah Vokasional Alor Setar ( Vocational Secondary School ) . I was workhool.ing in that school for 20 tears beginning from 1980 to 2000. In the late 1990's the school name was changed to smtjs ( Sekolah Menengah Teknik Jlan Stadium ) Jalan Stadium Technical School. I retired in 2003 and sontinue to hold on to smvas@hotmail.com until recently when I found hotmail was never a secure server. Havkers broke into like nobody's business.

One of my students arranged so that I would be able to come on the face book. She and her husband created an account for me with hm.smvas which I guessed that hm means a Head Master and smvas carries the school name. The smvas remain foot.

2010 was another year interesting year when SMTJS returned to the old status and name smvas. You just type smvas in the search engine you will see many listings, which indicate the spirit and the pride of the school still remain. I have more pride on the school than the school I studied before i.e Sultan Abdul Hamid College. I find the pride of the school lies in the quality of the students. Our vocational students were not like the collegeans. They were considered as outcasts by their former schools.

Today some are highly successful and very independent and self reliance. Some are millionaires. The email is not without meaning and sense. It carries a history with it, of pride and disgust, of hate and distrust. It reminded many of us the non-engineers who were looked down as pariah and being kicked out of the system. It brought the memory of human tragedy.

02/12/2010

GOING TO KUALA LUMPUR FOR IPHONE4

I paid a booking fee for an iPhone4 in town. Each day I was told it did not arrive. I was told to wait for the phone call when it arrive. It could very well be 3 or 4 months. A few days ago a lady told me that it was on the way and I went to make a cash withdrawal for the payment. I was saddened by the news it does not come yet. I spent the money lavishly on other things until my balance was just enough for me to buy some rfid card readers and 200 units of the Rfid cards.

The chat on Facebook informed me that there were plenty of iPhone4 available in Kuala Lumpur. I asked my student to ask around. Her husband, also my student, told me there were plenty. So I decide to go to Kuala Lumpur on the 1st December. It will be tomorrow morning by Air Asia and will be back by car with my student probably in the evening the same day.

One person who sells cell phone told me he would prefer to buy a normal phone which can do better job and cheaper. He said the normal phone can communicate with any other phone but the iPhone only with it's family. Many others gave me the same arguments. It is true the price of the iPhone will come down. It is only about usd600, which means about RM2200. Today some vendors are pushing it out for more than RM4 K.

But I remember one towkey said to me that we don't know what can happen to us the next day. No point in hoarding and keeping money for your kids to enjoy. Use them while you can. Is it not true ? That could be the reason why people rushed for the phone until they are out of stock. A few told me that they are enjoying the toy and very happy to own it.

My pocket is really empty now. I have to wait for another 20 days before I get my pension. Right now I have just enough for the remaining days. Air Asia costs me only RM125 one way. My student will be waiting at the airport. I am not sure whether to bring my laptop along. If I do when will I use it ? Without it the travel will be very much lighter.

Why must everything has to be in Kuala Lumpur ? At time we the out of town people think we are very pariah. When motorcars with KL plates are in town these people drive like hell, overtake on the left and right even in town and small roads. At time I am of the thought that people of KL are like what USA think of Taliban. All the money making machines like Maxis, Digi and Celcom are in KL. To go to one extreme KL could be called a sin city.

My humble apology to the people in KL. If you don't think we are Pariah do advise your friends to drive slowly in kampong town like Alor Setar.

01/12/2010

BAD CITIZENS

Can people in a country live in peace and tranquility without rules and law ? Once we can leave our bags and belongings anywhere without being attended, and sleep with windows open and doors unlock. The prisons were still empty then. But today not only the unattended properties can be robbed, those on your body can also be snatched. Yesterday a school Principal told me about a break in in her school. I immediately made a quick conclusion that there were students who are sitting for the SPM examination.

Young boys and girls started to steal in the supermarkets and break in into houses. How many bad citizens are we producing each day ? You can imagine when they grow up and join politics and join the work places. Try to imagine a nation being run by a group of gangsters l how will they behave and what will they do ?

Bad citizens is not our Malaysian affair. It is the affair of the whole world. The jails in the United States are not filled with Muslim Arabs but with  Blacks and Whites. The police force is expected to protect the public not the politicians or criminals.

What made bad a citizen ? It is the state of mind of a person, greed for a little money or greater wealth. Scientists are studying the working of human minds. Generally we say that thieves, robbers, cheaters, bullies, rapers, gangsters, drug pushers and people who have no respect towards the public and other criminals are bad citizens. There is no different between a bag snatcher and  a high profile politician who swindled people's money. People who accept corruption is similar to a national traitor.

It is quite interesting to know the percentage of bad people in each country so that we can compare what sort of culture producing what kind of people. And we can compare the most effective government running  a country.

Society had been leaving the task of producing good citizen to schools. Schools were once to run the education system but today the role has been changed to teaching. Ministers are saying that manners and discipline is the responsibility of the parents. Hence teachers prefer to merely teach rather than advising or punishing the students who sleep in classroom, who play truant, did not do their homework or refuse to study. We stress on human right and individual freedom.

It is the society who produce bad citizens. It is the society who are paying for it.

30/11/2010

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM ME ?

Every time I met my students I would be fired with an identical question. "Cikgu, you are still strong. Is your health OK ? " Many a time I talked to myself and asked similar question. What do they expect to see me as ? Sickly and helpless ? Need to walk with assistance ? Move around with the wheel chair ?

In Ipoh one young man approached me telling that he browsed my web page and surprised that I still write computer software at my age. Why should he be surprised ? Another person asked, "Are you still crazy with the iPhone4 ?" . Even my kid scolded me for switching off the ASTRO decoder. I tried to read what's in their minds.

The mind of elderly people can be still strong in analyzing events, computing the causes and effects and able to solve complicated problems. They may look old and slow in movement but they are sharp in their thinking. Forgetfulness is not a factor of age but a disease.

I always hope the younger people would think better and wiser, talking facts with accuracy, able to analyze events and consequences, and plan far ahead for the future. But sadly enough I saw them taking and selling drugs, running away from homes and schools and cannot think straight. I always follow their discussions and arguments on the public media to see how mature they are.

At my age I still travel alone local and overseas. I know how to find my way. What more with the aid of the numerous modern gadgets like the GPS and the internet. My wife always fear that I would get lost even in Kulim. She wanted person to accompany me. I told her that if I can maneuver  myself in USA, what is Kulim ? When I joined the tour group I walked faster with my backpack than those younger people. I would be with the tour leader in front and they were far behind.

The other day I took my laptop to complete a visual basic project at one food stall. A few people were looking at me. I guessed they were thinking only young people play with laptop computers. If they have looked at the screen they might have not understand what they saw. And probably they would be wondering what this old man doing.

In China old folks are given chance to study in the university. The Chinese believe in their resourcefulness. The retired nuclear scientist still contribute at the university at a very old age. Castro had surpassed several American President and still an important person in Cuba. The German former Nazis were capable enough to set up an empire in South America and changed their profiles.

People of the younger generations are causing great horror to the world.

 29/11/2010