writing uncensored

When people are "oversensitive" and take offence at anything they perceive as a slight or insult,then freedom to create without restraints and censorship becomes a hindrance to creatives from advertisements,animation,drama or novels.Malaysian creatives likke Tash Aw,Tan Twan Eng,Preeta Samasaran,directors like Tsai Ming Liang,writers like Huzir Sulaiman can thrive only in a foreign land.Then we claim them as Malaysians but far from the restrictions of the motherland,they have space to grow.Only Kee Thuan Chye could get away with We could F@$ you Mr Birch as it was satirising whitemen.
           I exhort readers and viewers to read between the lines as that which is left unsaid speaks volumes.Why dont we hear narratives about the Hindu Buddhist digs at Bujang Valley or did they know many parts of SEA were ruled by ancient kingdoms of Majapahit or by the Chola kings of southern India.We have to learn to dig up our own facts and not rely on books written by blinkered writers who can whitewash information.So why deny that the MPAJA had played a role to fight against the Japanese invaders who were victimising the Chinese? Why make the comfort women into "greedy prostitutes" when they were forced against their will to be sex slaves?
 History is written by victors so we need Howard Zinn to open our eyes to the suppressed story of Red Indians,the black slaves and etc.If we dont learn from history,we're doomed to repeat it.Keep the narratives of nuclear bomb victims alive so that before they release nuclear contaminated waste into surrounding oceans,the suffering of these victims serve as canaries in a cold mine.

inflation erodes purchasing power

Food and necessities are getting more costly than the rise in wages.
When oil subside is removed and oil price is floated according to market rate,the price of electricity,food,public transport and medicine will sky rocket and msian common folk quality of life will drop.Then water tariff go up and price of food will go up again.We also suffer when ringgit is devalued and price of food imported increases.
          I dont understand why locally grown fruit ,vegetable and fish is more expensive than imported ones despite many goods needing an approved permit to be imported into the nation.Fish like saba from Japan is cheaper than the ikan kembong,salmon is cheaper than ikan kurau and razor clam imported from Holland cheaper than the sabah ones.
          With block chain logistics,the source of food can be traced and contamination can be prevented unlike local wet markets that have poor refrigeration and food spoilage high.
            Good health is essential for a happy lifestyle.We need to introduce food nutrition and preparation to schoolchildren so that they dont suffer from obesity or food poisoning.We often hear how people eating at food catered for public functions have food poisoning or lack training in food storage.

I love rainy days

The haze has gone and the rainy season is back.There is negative ion on the air and its so calming.I love the sound of rain pitter patter on the window,a cool breeze chills the niteand I curl up in my arm chair reading "convenience store woman" by sayaka murata and chuckling at her observation.
            "The baby started to cry.Mysister hurriedly picked him up and tried to soothe him.What a lot of hassle I thought.I looked at the small knife we"d used to cut te cake still lying there on the table:if it was just a matter of making him quiet,it would be easy enough.
                  I love understated humour.Sayaka murata was a closet novelist working at small jobs in convenience stores while she kept on writing her narratives.really the experiencebenefitted herwriting as thecattention to details is reaistic and meticulous.
                 I love Japanese novelists especially yoko ogawa.

appreciate the ordinary day

It's when we keep our mind and eyes focused on the distant future that we forget to look around and appreciate the ordinary day.
  There's the mad rush to go to work that I didnt notice the sky was blue with wisps of white clouds.What! there is  no grey,haze blocking the sun.it rained lightly.How refreshing the rain smells after the smell of smoke .The mock orange blossoms emits a sweet scent and the small red lanterns are blooming in the vine as a small sunbird starts chirping.That's why happiness come in small doses.
         It need not be an earth trembling event that should wake us to the frail beauty of life.We can walk past the same spot 5 years in a row and never see the yellow blossoms on a tree at the corner.Suddenly you open your eyes to the beauty of an ordinary day when a life changing event like a car accident,a tsunami,

a cancer risk or earthquake threatens to completely turn your life upside down.That's when we realize the beauty of an ordinary day

Keep Earth green and clean

In bali rampant use of nonbiodegradable plastic is hearttbreaking to see plastic rubbish floating.Bali needs a better waste management system before its scenic beauty is marred by waste pollution.
  Its so much an uplifting experience to see herds of wild dolphins happily leaping out of the ocean.But sad to see grossly obese monkeys fed on junk food.A huge obese monkey with a big fat belly was happily munching on salty potato chips given by irresponsible tourists.I saw many overweight, apes too lazy to climb up trees to forage for food and taking easy way out by begging for food.

     The time spent in nature is soothing and calming.The salty tangy sea air,the glorious sunsets ,waves lashing the shore are what makes one feel so alive.After parasailing,I tried ocean walking and love sensation of fish nibbling the bread from my hands;I was thrilled to see clown fish and sea anemone.An unforgetabble experience.No time for river rafting or trekking as distances are far and schedule tight.Incredible to view kecak dance with 1,900 visitors from all corners of the world.here in Bali cultural ritual is a part of daily life as we view a thanksgiving ritual by Bedugul lake.Little packs of flowers are placed at altars.

isolation from the global institutions is shooting oneself on the foot

China made a mistake in the past with its closed door policy to isolate itselffrom foreign influences.It to a decline in scientific and technological innovations and lower standard of living.
              Realising it had to compete at international level,it decided to become a global palyer under Deng Xiao Peng's economic liberalization experiments in the special economic zones.
                In the 1990s,China under the leadership of Zhu RongJi wasdetermined to get into the WTO.Zhu famously said."I've prepared 100 coffins,99 for corrupt official and one for myself." It's hard to think of a more courageous statement.Clinton despite all his fine rhetoric about keeping the world open couldnt match Zhu's courage.
                 The fundamental reason that China and America have been goingb on in opposite directions is because the Chinese triedthe isolated Middle Kingdom" approach.it failed It made China weak.China now wants to engage the world and its international organizations.
              The contrasting attitudes of America and China to international treaties and conventions and international organizations may surprise a lay reader.Much of the international fabric that provided the foundation for these treaties and organizations rested on ideas generated in theUS.Yet China has a better track record than America in the field of ratifying international treaties and conventions as well as joining international organizations.China has signed and ratified international agreements the US has refused to sign or ratify including the Biodiversity Convention,The Kyoto Protocol on Climate,the Hazardous Wastes Convention,and the law of the Sea treaty.By contrast,while China has been embracing the WTO and opening itself up to more international trade,American policymakers have progressively turned away from the WTO even though the WTO is essentially an American creation.It has not ratified the TPP which Obama had been pushing as a multilateral trading system and oushing for unilateralism.
             America suffers from three systemic challenges:groupthink,the erosion of individual responsibility and an inability to see how its abuse of power has contributed to many of the problems it now confronts abroad.many Americans are oblivious to the structural failures within their system of governance(dominated by special interests,(their social contract)-characterised by a widening gap between rich and poor and their response to globalisation (increased protectionism)Deep structural reforms are necessary in America to avert an inevitable failure.Tom Friedman states "Our country faces  a big choice right now.We can either have a hard decade or a bad century"
                                            The Great Convergence
                                            Author"Kishore Mahbubani

Disposable income

Growth will be driven by domestic demand in future in China.Chart by OECD countries in 2017 compares a few industrialised nations middle class disposable incomes in 2017.Standing out is China's urban cities at more that 6.5 compared to Japan at  0.8,Germany at 1.7,the US at 2.3,the UK at negative0.2.The Chinese statistic between 2015 and 2030 sees a drastic rise by 2xin disposable incomes of the elite upper class from 3 to 7,the upper middle class and the middle class.Poverty in the low class is reduced a lot too.So growth can still be consumer driven in China.
           In developed nations,student loan,mortagage and car repayment and high medical burden cuts away the reserve of liquidity and disposable incomes of the middle class.
          The demand for electronic and cars will skyrocket when disposable incomes in rural regions of China increase.There is still inequality in distribution in urban areas like Shanghai,Beijing,Zhejiang and Guangzhou surpassing areas in Yunnan,Guishou and etc.
    Still there is need to look at household indebtedness figures before any conclusion can be made.