MCA 2010 Election - a factual review, reminder.

MCA has been the largest association representing Chinese ethic group in Malaysia. Once upon a time, Malaysians were happy with the way it was. Then 308 happened and many Malaysians voted for a change. Almost the whole of MCA representatives went down the drain in that national election. Ong Ka Ting was the president then.

So MCA was forced to change and Ong Tee Keat was elected as the new President. Tee Keat has been well known as the closest match to 308 voting message - people wanted a leader who is genuine, honest and transparent to the public.

The funny thing is ... Chua has always been the suppose-to-be next leader even during Ka Ting's time. But he had a sex scandal that almost ruin his political career. However on the contrary, not only did the sex scandal didn't sentence him to death, he is climbing the ladder as usual, just a bit slower. So despite how one may think how trash and rubbish this guy is, one cannot ignore that Chua is one of the few leaders who know very well what is going on (environment) and understand human dynamics very well.

We don't know who is using his sex scandal to bring him down but from Chua's own reaction, he may have laid that responsibilities to Ka Ting's team. Although many people discredit sex scandal politician, MCA representatives may not necessary be. It appears that MCA has forgiven Chua and even pursue Chua to continue leading the party. Chua did not run for president position due to the sex scandal issue but he ran for the 2nd man and won the position rather easily.

After last election, Tee Keat and Chua became the talk of topics. Chua and Ka Ting were the two main forces in the party but both of them lost shine after 308 and let Tee Keat surface out from almost nowhere. Tee Keat and Chua became the 2 opposite forces in the party, but yet both of them occupy the top and 2nd top positions in the party. Hence practically Tee Keat ignored Chua and worked more with Liao. Tee Keat later found out that Liao was used by other people to influence Tee Keat's opinion upon Chua.

Jiang is also an experience politician but relatively low profile and only get more exposure recently that he is running for 2nd man position. It is generally accepted that Jiang will take down Liao without much fight if it were a 1 to 1 competition.

Then there are Young Men and Young Women associations under MCA. Led by Wei and Zhou respectively. Instead of supporting Tee Keat as a president, these two have been the supporting pillars to Liao. It is believed that Zhou is the main influence to Liao who in turn influence Tee Keat to dislike Chua. Wei on the other hand is suspicious of disliking Tee Keat exposing PKFZ corruption case. While Wei gets a lot of Young Men members support, Zhou has less support from her own members.

After Tee Keat became the president, his conflict with Chua worsen. Chua was even expel from the party once due to disciplinary action on his sex scandal issue. Tee Keat were accused of corruptions. An internal vote carried out on 10-10 hoping to solve Tee Keat and Chua's conflict but the result has rejected them both; more than half do not trust Tee Keat as president anymore and even more do not want Chua to be the 2nd man anymore. This was also when Liao's team intention was exposed - get rid of the top 2 men so that they can take over.

When Tee Keat personally over heard Zhou's talk behind him, Tee Keat teamed up with Chua to prevent Liao from taking over. Suddenly Liao's political position dropped from heaven to hell and hence demanding a re-election. It was finally Chua who made this re-election a reality while working and hiding under Tee Keat.

=== personality ===

Ka Ting + Liao teams are follower under BN which is also the main reason why they fail in 308 national election. This hasn't seem to change. This kind of passive-resource-sharing mechanism will work well during good economy's time but when there aren't enough to share, it can still go bad.

Tee Keat is still a lonely reform guy but totally lacking human dynamics. Hence 'most' of the people who work with or under him dislike him especially after Tee Keat became the president. You may be self center when you are alone but when you are leading a big group, you must be careful not to let your self center ruin the team. The keys are high EQ and communication skill which Tee Keat failed miserably. Tee Keat however has achieved significant progress in term of process and system improvements; not because he really did well but because NONE of the other leaders have done that.

Chua is almost the extreme opposite, he has high EQ and great communication skill. He has also been a master in disasters recovery. But I have never seen a single core improvement he has done in "process or system" but he sure has kept everyone around him happy. So unless you think process and systems are all about human too, then perhaps he is your perfect guy. Opps, almost perfect minus ethical or adultery image.

=== who will WIN ? ===

Its a choice among Painful System Reform (TK), Harmony Improvement (C) and Lets go back to where we were (KT). And its not about what you and I want. Its about what MCA representatives want ( about 2000+ of them ), either for themselves or for the people they represent.

Chua will win. While he may not get more than 50% support but his victory will be rather a stretch from his competitors. Perhaps more than 2 digits difference. While he himself is questionable in many ways but the team he put forward is no doubt the strongest.

=== now, me ! ===

I am a citizen, I am a Chinese and I am NOT a MCA representative. I can safely say that I represent more than 50% of the voices alike that we are hoping for Tee Keat to resume his last one year. For crying out loud, it was at first :

1. Chua chicken out did not run for president in the first place in last election. Get back in line and wait for the full term !

2. It was Liao who stir shit up between Chua and Tee Keat, Tee Keat was only guilty of naiveness if any.

3. Then it was Ka Ting who went behind Liao when Chua and Tee Keat's conflicts were 'solved' and stir up new shit !

So Ka Ting is behind me,

I sit with Tee Keat

and looking at Chua.

After note 23 March 11:50am : Just to be fair, each of the names above does not refer to the person himself but rather the name refers to his people, his team, his alliances etc. For example, Ka Ting himself didn't really plan the whole stir-shit thing on Liao. It was people who believed in him contributed most of the stirring acts instead, including Liao himself. Chua is really not a man who is capable of making any decision by 'himself', he always source for inputs from 360 degrees before he did something, that is why he is always the LAST to do something. So whatever claims above using his name really meant his people. Except for Tee Keat where most of the things mentioned above is pretty much himself.

LOST Last Supper vs Da Vinci

Below shows the pictures of last suppers.

Da Vinci's Last Supper

Lost Last Supper 1

Lost Last Supper 2

Lost Last Supper 3

Constants

• There are always 7 people to the right of Locke - Jack's side.
• There are always 7 to the left including Locke himself - James's side.
• There are always 7 people standing and 7 sitting
• There are always 3 people standing on James side and 4 people standing on Jack's side.
• Only 1 lady is always standing.
• Stand and sit positions are perfectly alternating.
• People who stands always stand, people who sits always sit.
• The background is staged, hence it NEVER change.
• Illana, Richard, Sayid never looks left. Jack, Sun, and Frank never look right.
• Locke always look front, never look left nor right.
• Only ladies were offered drink in Pic 3.

Variables

• Miles switched place with Claire and changed side too ( left to right vice versa ) on Pic 2
• Miles switched place with Hurley after switching back to Jack's side. Pic 1 vs 3.
• Ben and Sun switched place but still within the same side, right on Pic 2
• Some Dharma can drinks are missing in Pic 3
• Pic 3 has small team interaction ie. not everyone are doing the same thing.

There you go, that is the summary and category of my observation. What else did you observe ?

Cycles of Life - I Ching made simple.

The unit of YEAR is commonly used to identify cycle of time. Major weather change on earth basically repeats itself every 4 seasons, namely Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

Spring usually signifies the start of a year because plants start growing in Spring and trees turning green etc. Hence we can also use Wood to represent this cycle. Trees always start growing from their roots but we will never know exactly how tall a tree will grow. Hence this is a cycle where things get started without a clear definition of an end. Each of us start to walk out of our homes to enjoy fresh breeze. Normally only one person walk out of the door one at a time, hence this is a cycle of individualism.

Summer comes and it is the hottest time of the year. Hence we also use Fire to represent this cycle. Not only everybody are outdoor but everyone feel very excited and energetic too. People find it hard to just station at one place because it would be such a waste to the sunny days. We hop from one place to another instead. This is a cycle of team where many people do many things but seldom do we persist with focus. Much like a fire that spread fast burning from one spot to another without staying at one place too long; because it would have already finished burn off whatever that one location has.

Weather starts to turn cool in Autumn. Everyone are still out door but not as crazy as before. Our feet are back on ground preparing to go home. Earth is used to represent this cycle. We work together to accumulate what we need for the winter, much like the ants. This is a cycle of team where we work together to a closure.

Cold hits during Winter. Each of us stay at our own home. Everyone live their own lives with their own families. Just like hibernation, we try to stay put with what we gather during autumn and do not start too much new stuff. Its a cycle of individualism and closure where we don't want to start too many things. Metal, a symbolism of stable and no reaction, represent this cycle.

In these 4 seasons, we have a beginning and we have an end. So far that is only a straight line of event. In order to wrap the end to the beginning, making it a smooth cycle, we need a transition. The transition may take any form and flexible. It is both the beginning and the end, kind of philosophical. Water which can take any form is used to represent this transition cycle. This is a cycle beyond individualism or team, beyond initialization or completion, its a spiritual and philosophical cycle of why things are the way they are.

There you go, you have just get a grab of the main concept in The Book of Change or I Ching, a more than 2000 years old wisdom from China. You should also have no problem remembering the 5 basic elements of Wu Xing, Wood or tree for Spring, Fire for Summer, Earth for Autumn and Metal for Winter followed by Water as a transition before Wood(tree) grows again in Spring.

While this looks simple but application of this main concept alone can branches out many possibilities in real life. We will see if we have chances to get back on this topic with some real life examples ...

Walk from AIA building to Park Royal, Kuala Lumpur

I wonder why every time I travel to another country I always have fun walk around despite how long the road is or how hot the weather was; but I don't do that in the place I live in. I swear I saw many foreigners have a lot of fun walking around down town in Kuala Lumpur. So I guess I will just walk today ...

This is the view out of Bandaraya LRT station ( transit with KTM Bank Negara). Do you know we have a Da Vinci hotel right opposite Sogo ?

After paying my dues in AIA, I started walking 'behind' AIA building where Jalan Bukit Nenas is. The view of KL Tower is phenomenon from here, as it always has.

There is a school near by, I walked in and found one of the entrances to the reserve rain forest beneath KL Tower.

At the end of Jalan Bukit Nenas, I saw the Olympia building, where Jupiter Online's office is, my main online stock broker. Opposite is where KL Stock Exchange building ( below ).

Cross the road and do some zip zap toward Jalan Ceylon, I saw a school church with a nice garden. Would love to have some tea right this spot !

Most roads are nicely shaded. But its still very hot and humid.

This would the high light of my walk today. Have you ever seen a road sign that says,

"Dead End !

Ghosts NOT Allowed !" ?

Approaching the end reaching the heart of the city ( Jalan Alor ), right apposite some of the hottest bars and pubs, there is an abandon building. I saw some people sleeping in there. It seems rather comfortable and convenient that they can go out to work at night or beg ....

Wei Kee 鹅肉 （Roasted Goose）

Axian recommended this Goose dish in his TV show. As usual, I waited long enough to avoid any potential of long queues before I go and give it a try myself. Generally its NOT bad. But for the price, value for money is not there. Its still a great place to go once in a while. Its just not a typical hang out place for food.

Quarter Goose from MYR 42 to MYR 48.

And due to the limited parking spaces, I parked illegally and got a parking ticket that I have to pay MYR 50 or MYR 100 later ... another bad side experience that degrade this review :(

The Shop is called Wei Kee

Shop Number 50

instead of Chicken feet, this is Goose feet skin

The skin is kind of thicker but the sauce taste GREAT !

Here is the Roasted Goose, almost like a Duck

and taste like Duck too, except this particular one is very meaty

I LOVE IT !

Wei Kee's info @ FoodHunt

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The Amazing Race Asia | Asia AXN

The Amazing Race Asia | Asia AXN is ON again !! Application to get into Season 4 is due in 11 days by 22 March, 2010. If you are in or near Penang, you may also submit your application at the booth.

Date: Sunday, 21st March 2010
Venue: Central Atrium of Queensbay Mall, Penang
Time: Registration starts from 11am

Are you interested ? Will you be applying ? Who do you want to go with ?

facts on farts

In Search of ONE Theory for "Lost" ...

Close friends would know how obsessed I have been with Lost - a TV Show. Now that Season 6 is the last season on air, I find it as the last chance to come up with a theory before the show ends.

Although the most probable outcome is that there will NOT be a clear answer given and the best time to formulate a theory is after the show ended, ie. after collecting all the facts; but what could be more exciting than coming up with a theory to predict the future (show's ending) ?

But apparently there are already many theories around. Each theory would have gathered their own supporters and fans. When 2 different theories collide, the war is not any less than those political parties asking for votes. When such arguments arise in person, it is not uncommon that it ends with blood or lost of friendships. Non Lost fans may laugh at this silliness but all these are the reasons why Lost is not just one of those series.

How you would come up with a theory has also become important. Everyone watch the same show but everyone form their own opinions. Some classified theory as complicated formulas while others think a simple idea will do. The following would be how I think I should come up with a theory.

Observation -> Idea -> Hypothesis -> Theory

First, the show itself is used as a base. Meaning whatever shown in the show are considered as presented facts. The funny thing is that not all scenes are just pure facts. From time to time, producers of the show may purposely play tricks with the viewers and those scenes may become more than just facts, or more like a deceive. However, in this aspect, if you can't prove certain scene is a deceive, we will have to accept them as facts.

one of the weirdest pose I have ever seen

While all of us may have watched the same show but each of us may observe different things, usually that is affected by our own preference and past experience. Some may fancy more into Sci-Fi while others may remember the romance parts. Hence it is important to understand that what we observe may not be necessary facts. For example, "Ben said the Island moves in Time" could be a fact if Ben actually said that in the show while concluding the Island indeed move in Time is NOT a fact until we can prove that Ben really knows that and Ben is not lying.

With the clear understanding of 'margin of errors' stated above, you can start come up with explanation to your observations. Each of this form an idea. Sometimes it may take more than one idea to explain one phenomena while the other times one idea may be able to explain for multiple observation.

When you have a collection of ideas that do not conflict with each other, you have form a hypothesis. Usually some generalization on the group of ideas is needed to form a hypothesis. By this time, not only can you explain quite a lot of observations but the frequency of coming up with new idea should slowly decrease. A new idea will also become harder to be incorporated because it can't be conflicting with the existing hypothesis. When one hypothesis does collapse, you will need to form new hypothesis and re-exam all the observations again.

Finally when you think your hypothesis is strong enough, you would use it to explain ALL the other observations, including other people's observations. When your hypothesis can explain ALL observations, then it will become a theory if it can also predict what the outcome will be before a new observation is identified.

Evangeline Lilly stars as Kate in Lost