Sunday, October 30, 2011
Materialism at the cost of Morals & Ethics? Is it worth it?
As would most people who read about the case of Yue Yue, I was mortified and till today, cannot understand how people could be so cruel and cold.
Yue Yue, 2 years old girl, was run over twice on October 13th 2011 in city of Foshan, China. A video posted on Youtube shows over a dozen people walked by and simply ignored her. It was a scrap picker who stopped and finally helped the poor girl. Many in China said that they are burnt by previous extortion cases against Good Samaritans, hence many would understand why people passing would just ignore the dying little girl. Some even accused the scrap picker to be a lime-light seeker.
“I’ll bet if it was the new iPhone laying in the middle of the road, people would be diving out of windows trying to save it from being run over,” wrote one blogger. This is so sad but it's so true. Has the search for $$ and materialism replaced the sense and value of humanity? Though what happened in China is very extreme, we see the same issues throughout the world.
A not so distant example is Abdul Hamid, young Malaysian student in UK who was robbed by youngsters pretending to help him during the London riot.
In Singapore last week, my husband was driving into Singapore and saw an accident involving a motorist on AYE. Ian stopped and got out of the car to help a motorist who was thrown off his bike. The motorist was injured (his leg was bleeding, but luckily he was not too seriously injured) and was distraught. The car behind Ian's car started to horn even though he could clearly see what was going on. Nobody else bothered to help.
This bystander effect happens everywhere, not just China. I really hope that no matter where we are, we take a moment to internalise, learn from this and not fall victim to the bystander effect. Help others in need, as Michael Jackson puts it "I'm starting with the man in the mirror".
Rest in peace, little angel, Yue Yue, your sacrifice serve as a strong wake up call to our society throughout this world.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Giving Iskandar a compelling edge - October 20, 2011
There is still much for Iskandar Malaysia to do if it is to fully achieve success.
The three areas of focus now are on making sure that:
(1) the planning and delivery model works;
(2) that safety and security is ensured; and
(3) that Iskandar's economic and regulatory framework remains independent, with consistent policies in place for the region to achieve long-term confidence and success.
My take on making it achieve full success:
- Ensure safety and security (most crucial) of residents and businesses in this area
- Provide highly skilled professionals and labour...case & point, house building & construction for example
- Ensure developers follow standards of maintaining its properties
- Improves customer service standards of both public and private sectors, make life easier in general, e.g. customer service of TM & TnB to help customers instead, be responsive and responsive.
Last but not least, DO NOT roll out the fingers scan immigration system and create 5 hours jam at causeways again :)
Giving Iskandar a compelling edge - October 20, 2011
The three areas of focus now are on making sure that:
(1) the planning and delivery model works;
(2) that safety and security is ensured; and
(3) that Iskandar's economic and regulatory framework remains independent, with consistent policies in place for the region to achieve long-term confidence and success.
My take on making it achieve full success:
- Ensure safety and security (most crucial) of residents and businesses in this area
- Provide highly skilled professionals and labour...case & point, house building & construction for example
- Ensure developers follow standards of maintaining its properties
- Improves customer service standards of both public and private sectors, make life easier in general, e.g. customer service of TM & TnB to help customers instead, be responsive and responsive.
Last but not least, DO NOT roll out the fingers scan immigration system and create 5 hours jam at causeways again :)
Giving Iskandar a compelling edge - October 20, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Consistent Leaks In The House
Just wanted to share some leaking problems that we are still facing in our house. We've reported it many times to the developer but all they have done was covered and painted over it. It's super annoying and I know that many neighbours are facing the same issues. Apart from continuously hassling the UEM customer service office, I'm wondering if anyone has successfully gotten UEM to fix these leak issues. Please do share your experience and thoughts.
Leaks on staircase landing wall
Leaks on guest bedroom's bathroom ceiling
Also, we found out that almost none of the windows are straight and the rendering on the walls are quite soft. Well, actually a lot of things in the house are not straight (from door frames, main entrance, etc) !!!!!!
We thought we could just drill and screw on timber blinds, but the rendering cracked so we had to screw in a length of aluminium angle to reinforce the top of the window opening which is anchored deep into the wall and then attach the Venetian timber blinds clip to the aluminium angle. The benefit of this is straight edge, less screws required to be counter sunk into the wall and we can attach any window finishing to the aluminium.
Leaks on staircase landing wall
 |  |
Leaks on guest bedroom's bathroom ceiling
 |
Also, we found out that almost none of the windows are straight and the rendering on the walls are quite soft. Well, actually a lot of things in the house are not straight (from door frames, main entrance, etc) !!!!!!
We thought we could just drill and screw on timber blinds, but the rendering cracked so we had to screw in a length of aluminium angle to reinforce the top of the window opening which is anchored deep into the wall and then attach the Venetian timber blinds clip to the aluminium angle. The benefit of this is straight edge, less screws required to be counter sunk into the wall and we can attach any window finishing to the aluminium.
If you're buying a house in Malaysia, do keep note of house defects and reputation of the developer. Even though this is a high end development, we still find challenges in getting the developer to be responsive and responsible in fixing defects. I have been told that this is very common here unfortunately. Hopefully things will improve (being optimistic) :)
Leading UK university for engineering and mathematics announces new international branch campus and full scholarships
University of Southampton has signed an agreement to establish a branch campus in the Iskandar region of Malaysia. Scheduled to open in 2012, the University of Southampton Malaysia Campus will initially offer undergraduate courses in engineering.
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