Current issues...to the Man in the Street...

A different perspective altogether today. Yup, abt current issues at hand. What matters to the common little guy...

And of great interest is this announcement in The Star today (Dec 5th)...a warning...from the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to Malaysians who continue to illegally download songs, videos and the like.

If you download material illegally from the Internet, be prepared to fork out a minimum fine of RM250,000.

Acc2 Deputy Minister Datuk S. Veerasingam : “We will also very soon make Internet download offenders our priority.” He also added that the maximum fine for downloading material illegally from the Internet was a whopping RM500,000.

Now, how many of you out there can afford to pay that kind of fine? Who will be the scapegoats of this new venture? Cos me feel pretty sure there is No way the govt can take action against each & everyone who is downloading such materials! A lot of hot air or what...?

And so we wait...again...

This (in Sun2Surf online) also caught my attention..dated Dec 4 :

Chairman of Asean's Eminent Persons Group (EPG) Tun Musa Hitam said as Asean now recognised this principle, it is important for governments to be more tolerant and positive towards feedback.
"I pose a choice to them. If you want to have good governance, democracy and human rights, you must be more tolerant and very positive to enable governments to get feedback , however bad, intense or critical, and use them to improve yourselves.
"That is a very important ingredient. If you are intolerant, democracy cannot work. Freedom has no meaning. You must be able to manage it," he told reporters

And he further added :

Musa said democratic governments must have the capacity to be tolerant enough and use all the criticisms for the common good of the community.
Otherwise, he said, it will be an anti-democratic system.

How true...

One other interesting so-called clarification by a Msian MP, as reported in Sun2Surf :

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 4, 2007): Syed Hood Syed Edros (BN- Parit Sulong) has defended his Oct 29 debate in the Dewan Rakyat (Parliament) in which he questioned the display of images of Jesus, Mary and crosses in mission schools.
"I was merely voicing the concerns of the public at large.

The "public"? Who is he trying to kid?
He even added :

Malaysia is a free country

Now what is he trying to say...? YOU tell me.

And worse still, such distressing news are on the increase...The Star Dec 5 :

Man jumps from building
JOHOR BARU: Despite efforts from firemen, a man jumped off a building and committed suicide.
Ting Bin Soon, 55, jumped from the 10th floor of the LKN building in Jalan Wong Ah Fook at 6.40pm despite repeated attempts to coax him down.

Another one here :

In MALACCA, a 56-year-old unemployed man committed suicide outside his home along a busy street in Banda Hilir here yesterday.
Teoh Cheng Liat, who was said to be a heavy drinker, told his wife at lunch that it would be his last meal.
He then hanged himself from a tree outside his house.

I, for one, has been & still is, very much against such means to an end. Life is precious. We have only but ONE life...given to us by God. At the same time, there is a need to understand what drives a person to that decision...to end his own life.
For a person to take his own life...to go much earlier than due to..., he must hv felt there was nothing left for him to live for...nothing at all! No care, No love from those who mean most to him. Life is now empty & meaningless. Only way out of his misery & suffering. Also removes the burden from those who view him as such. End his pain & theirs, too, in the process. A simple step. The light at the end of his tunnel, so to say.

Finally, on the home front, things appear to be improving esp as regards my other half's condition as mentioned yesterday. The med & the rest she had appeared to have good results. Thank God for that. Me was quite worried for a while then.

As for the sudden backfire/misfire of our ole junk, appears to be a 1 time affair. None this morning. Which is good news. Probably a minor hiccup? Just as in the case of my other half? Sincerely hope so. As many would say...it's fated. Or as Muslims view it...takdir la...

Weekend will soon be here & so will be our trip to Pg. Keeping my fingers tightly Xed for an incident-free & enjoyable time. Out of this OFH. A different scenario. Different atmosphere. Different ppl. A complete change. Feel we kinda need that. Bye!