Experience from Tony Pua vs Syabas Campaign

YB Tony Pua was sued for defamation by the Syabas and KL High Court has asked him to pay RM200k damages to Syabas plus the interest and all the cost incurred. (http://tonypua.blogspot.com/2012/06/tony-pua-ordered-to-pay-rm200000.html). 

With all that he is doing, there's really no reason that he should pay for fighting hard for the benefits of rakyat and voice out for us. Therefore, we (his assistants, interns and some in HQ)  have teamed up to raise fund for him to pay for this suit.  There were two separate campaigns we planned in order to raise this fund. One is a usual fund-raising dinner and the second one is a mass campaign with the theme of “RM1 for Water Rights: 100,000 Malaysians Support Tony Pua vs Syabas”. 

Implications of Corruption in Environmental Protections

SEDA (Sustainable Energy Development Authority Malaysia) recent scandal is not a big scale scandal from monetary perspective. However, for those who are concerned about global warming and mindful of our national carbon emission, it is definitely a piece of news that worth follow. 

To be fair to SEDA, let's first assume that there is no element of cronyism there, that is, it was just a matter of competency that SEDA did a series of wrong decisions in awarding the feed-in approval certificates to the wrong companies. If this is the case, my advice is, we better don't run the FiT system as the net effect to the environment may not be much better than business-as-usual case. 

Partisan or Non-Partisan?

I must admit that I have become more and more uncool. Many young and educated ones think that it's cool to be non-partisan, or rather, it's uncool to support a political party and it looks really 'old school' and ya, weird. 

For a long time, I was a non-partisan. Firstly, I really did not want to be seen radical and non-objective by my friends. Secondly, I had a hard time choosing which party to join. Truthfully speaking, all parties appeared to be evil to me; like many people say, voting is just choosing the less of 2 evils. The one thing we don't need is be an evil ourselves, right? 

Too risky to vote for PR?

Since I started to get more active in politics, many people around me start asking me many questions and one of the most interesting one is this: "isn't it too risky to vote for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to Putrajaya?" 

Why is it interesting? Because risk, unlike what everyone perceives, is not an adjective to trained engineers like me. When it comes to risk, we want to know how much risk? When it comes to making a decision that associated with risk, we want to know which option offers a lower risk. There is one exercise, like it or not, that engineers always have to do before running any operation called Risk Assessment Analysis. In this assessment, we define and quantify risk. 

 Risk = severity of a particular hazard  x likelihood of this happen

Entering into Politics - The Story Behind

"Why are you involved in politics?" I think this is the question my family members, friends, and many others will ask. 

It's a long story. I am writing this story today to make sure that, if ever, I forget what am I in politics for, it will serve as a reminder. 

投入政坛背后的故事

“为什么你参与政治?”这是家人朋友与其它身边人所问的问题。

说来话长，今天我撰写这故事，也是作为一旦我忘了参政的原因的一个提醒。

Cinque Terre

Last weekend I went to a trip with 7 course-mates and a friend in Cinque Terre, Italy. Actually, I first heard about this place only about 2 months ago when the idea of going for a class trip popped out in one of our class gathering at Anchor (a nice bar situated by the river side). Cinque Terre means 'five lands'. It was given the name because there are five villages around the area. We stayed in one of the villages called Riomaggiore (pronounced as Rio-ma-yo-re), which was a very small town...

This was definitely an unforgettable trip, both for the place and for the ppl whom I went with. I'll definitely miss the Mediterranean sea and the sunshine, the lovely villages, the cheese and wine, the yummy seafood pasta, and of course my amazing course-mates.

Here is a picture of Cinque Terre.... Isn't it beautiful?

Reminder of my favourite book

Well, I am escaping again!! This is yet another long sleepless night.

Google search reminded me yesterday that it was the birthday of the author of my favourite book -> The Little Prince. Since when did I start liking the book? Hmmm, long long long time ago.... the lines and pictures are so simple and yet so inspiring.... I am definitely going to read it again after I submit part of my thesis draft to the supervisor tomorrow!!! thinking of that gives me lots of motivation to continue my work!!

A phrase from the book that I really like is this: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." Although it is very "unengineer" and "unscientist", I believe that it is the heart that defines human being and differentiate us from the animals. (Well, I am definitely not a Darwinian advocate).

But I think I have been having more problem listening to my heart as I grow older. Many a time I've forgotten to ask what is in my heart before I draw a rational formulations to the considerations that I encounter in my life. Antoine de Saint-Exupery's birthday definitely reminded me to go back to my real self, to be simple, to listen more to the heart and to live life as I want it to be.....