Watched this super movie over the weekend and i think everyone should watch this one.

Synopsis

Gadoh tells a story of a group of teenagers who fought each other along racial lines; a cycle of hatred and violence further escalated by their environment and school system.

What was to be a quick resolution to improve the school’s bad image, was taken as an opportunity for one teacher who believed that real change was possible. She ropes in the help of an old friend and reluctant maverick theater activist for this arduous task.

Is there hope amidst the cycle of discrimination that surrounds us? Its in the education system? Or is it our ignorance that is generating a dysfunctional new generation. Ponder about it, but watch Gadoh first!

Watch Gadoh for their story, and what it may very well tell us about ourselves.

Gadoh from Pusat KOMAS on Vimeo.

Its my last day in my twenties! Tomorrow there will be a new number that i would have to get my self familar too. Scary? Naa…im not bothered but its strage how time flew. It has been a really eventful 10 years! Many things have happened, new passions have been discovered, new people and lots of lessons!!

Time has thought me much and I’m not one that ponders on the past, they don’t call it the past for nothing isn’t it I’m glad i had the good people, the trash, the mistakes and yea..I’m glad!

It has been interesting 10 years and  i thank time for the lessons learnt! Its going to be a very very interesting next 10 years. New phase, new lessons and a whole new challenge!

Do you have the slightly older folks in your office telling to go and Xerox a letter for them? Or have you had your parents ask you to run to the grocer to go get some colgate? Brand loyalty was such a huge part of life at one point. It was so prevalent that we used to address certain products by a particular brand.

As a kid growing up, i always wanted a pair of Levi jeans. Or a Nokia mobile phone or my father who only read The Star and nothing else. The older folks had brand loyalty!! It was not even a situation where a certain product was a monopoly. If someone said that he/she is a ASTRO fan, dude…do we have a choice?

There are no right answers if someone asked if being loyal to a brand was good or bad in my view.

The younger generation to be honest done know what brand loyalty is. For instance i have been supporting Liverpool FC since i was 10 years old. It was my team for about 20 years now ,why? Because the team had pedigree, the team has history and I simply loved watching them play. Yes they maybe nothing compared to the old day but I’m staying put with my alliance of a sport i enjoy watching.

Now a football club that i follow does not impact my life or change anything in my life so i can afford to be loyal to a football club.Now a pair of jeans, well its money that’s coming out of my pocket for a piece of cloth that’s going to cover me. So ill buy something that i can afford, looks good and of decent quality.

Another scenario, should you be loyal to your bank? Well, if your bank provides you superb service with a sliding bad interest rates vs a new bank with great interest rates but not so good service, what would you do? Remain loyal??

With the consumer on the constant look out for the st value for money, loyalty in my view is slowly slipping. I think this is a good thing. This means more options being given to us as consumers and not getting stuck to something we are not the happiest with but stuck because we dont have a option.

Its the broadband situation! I use streamyx as my broadband provider at home. I pay RM88 for a 1mb line! I think that the speeds are horrible and i should not be paying that much for a internet service. I have lots of friends who live in Australia who tell me about the high speeds for such low prices. How low? 24Mbps for AUD$59.95. How about that!!

As a market leader streamyx should have ran with it, providing new services, innovating new go to markets etc but since they are slow and rubbish, i know most people are waiting for new provides to offer alternatives.

Its like alternative media that is getting so much mileage since its the worst kept secret that mainstream is dominated by a certain quarters.

I say, screw brand loyalty and go for a service or brand that offers you the best value for money. If there is a brand or provider who is more interested in your money, you should give them a opportunity to proove their worth! That will spur on more new ventures to emerge and ultimately the consumer benefiting from it!

Got this letter via email. Apparently written by a Malaysian who went abroad to seek opportnity for education despite have near perfect results in the school system. In a nation that has just voted their first African American President, is there discrimination.. Yes of course there is but as bad as here? Maybe not!

Have a read of the below article, i think it sums it up.

A Malaysian diaspora speaks up
I am a female Chinese Malaysian, living in the Washington DC area in the United States . I have read many of the letters that often talk about foreign countries when the writers have no real knowledge of actually living in those countries.

Many draw conclusions about what those countries are like after hearing it from someone else or by reading and hearing about them in the media or after four years in a college town in those countries.

I finished STPM with outstanding results from the prestigious St George’s Girls School in Penang . Did I get a university place from the Malaysian government? Nothing. With near perfect scores, I had nothing, while my Malay friends were getting offers to go overseas.

Even those with 2As got into university. I was so depressed. I was my parents last hope for getting the family out of poverty and at 18, I thought I had failed my parents. Today, I understand it was the Malaysian Government that had failed me and my family because of its discriminatory policies.

Fortunately, I did not give up and immediately did research at the Malaysian American Commission on Education Exchange (MACEE) to find a university in the US that would accept me and provide all the finances. My family and friends thought I was crazy, being the youngest of nine children of a very poor carpenter. Anything that required a fee was out of our reach.

Based on merit and my extracurricular activities of community service in secondary school, I received full tuition scholarship, work study, and grants to cover the four years at a highly competitive US university.

Often, I took 21 credits each semester, 15 credits each term while working 20 hours each week and maintaining a 3.5 CGPA. A couple of semesters, I also received division scholarships and worked as a TA (teaching assistant) on top of everything else.

For the work study, I worked as a custodian (yes, cleaning toilets), carpet layer, computer lab assistant, grounds keeping, librarian, painter, tour guide, etc. If you understand the US credit system, you will understand this is a heavy load.

Why did I do it? This is because I learnt as a young child from my parents that hard work is an opportunity, to give my best in everything, and to take pride in the work I do. I walked away with a double major and a minor with honours but most of all a great lesson in humility and a great respect for those who are forced to labour in so-called `blue collar’ positions.

Those of you who think you know all about Australia , US, or the West, think again. Unless you have really lived in these countries, i.e. paid a mortgage, paid taxes, taken part in elections, you do not understand the level of commitment and hard work it takes to be successful in these countries, not just for immigrants but for people who have lived here for generations.

These people are where they are today because of hard work. (Of course, I am not saying everyone in the US is hardworking. There is always the lazy lot which lives off of someone else’s hard work. Fortunately, they are the minority.)

Every single person, anywhere, should have the opportunity to succeed if they want to put in the effort and be accountable for their own actions. In the end, they should be able to reap what they sow.

It is bearable that opportunities are limited depending on how well-off financially one’s family is but when higher education opportunities are race-based, like it is in Malaysia ; it is downright cruel for those who see education as the only way out of poverty.

If you want to say discrimination is here in the US , yes, of course it is. Can you name a country where it doesn’t happen? But let me tell you one thing – if you go looking for it, you will find it. But in Malaysia , you don’t have to go look for it because it seeks you out, slaps you in your face every which way you turn, and is sanctioned by law!

Here in the US , my children have the same opportunity to go to school and learn just like their black, white, and immigrant friends. At school, they eat the same food, play the same games, are taught the same classes and when they are 18, they will still have the same opportunities.

Why would I want to bring my children back to Malaysia ? So they can suffer the state-sanctioned discrimination as the non-malays have for over 30 years?

As for being a slave in the foreign country, I am a happy ‘slave’ earning a good income as an IT project manager. I work five days a week; can talk bad about the president when I want to; argue about politics, race and religion openly; gather with more than 50 friends and family when I want (no permit needed) and I don’t worry about the police pulling me over because they say I ran the light when I didn’t.

For many years i celebrated Deepavali at KL. This year the drill was slightly different when i went to my better half’s hometown at Raub,Pahang. I was there for only a night but it would be nice to experience the festival with a twist of a “kampung feel” to it.

Im not going to go into details of my experience because I’m sure if your from Malaysia, you would know exactly what celebrating a festival in your hometowns like but I’m going to share some of the pictures that i toke while roaming around the nice piece of land right behind of the family home.

All images were taken with my Canon 1000d DSLR (EF 18-55mm kit lenses)and since I’m a rookie at photography with a DSLR, it was a very interesting experience as i tried some of the info i picked up from various websites. Let me know what you think and if you have comments, please do let me know!

I’ve put up about 5 other images below