GE13

It’s finally over. This has got to be the longest election campaign ever. It feels like it started from 2009.

The results are out and like it or not, Barisan Nasional will govern Malaysia for another 5 years.

Here are some of my thoughts.

Rumours

I was really upset on the days leading up to polling day. So many rumours and inaccurate information regarding the voting procedures was floating around Facebook.

I’m not saying that everyone was wrong. I’m saying I was so confused with conflicting information.

People need to pause, think and perhaps verify the facts before clicking that share button.

Cheating allegations

In my opinion, it’s not so easy to cheat in terms of the vote count. After all, election observers from both political parties would have confirmed the votes.

If there was cheating going on, I don’t think PR would have won 7 more seats and retained 3 states. Especially not Selangor which BN wanted to win ‘at all costs’.

It remains to be seen if PR has gathered sufficient evidence to challenge the EC results. I hope they do, even though it’s unlikely to change anything.

Rallies and boycotts

Although I’m unhappy with the election results, I feel it’s time for politicians need to start doing the work we elected them to do.

The fact is that popular votes do not determine who wins the election in Malaysia. So stop saying democracy is dead. I actually think democracy is alive from the 80% voter turnout.

Having mass rallies every week could do more harm than good. First of all, you are not winning over any of the people who didn’t vote for PR. Second of all, you may actually lose some voters who don’t agree with mass rallies. Third, the rallies are quite vulnerable to troublemakers.

Recently there’s some NGOs who suggested taking power by revolution and force? OMG why need to take such extreme measures?

As for boycotts of certain companies, please remember there are ordinary people working in those companies. Ordinary people who hope their company have good sales, so they can enjoy better bonus or pay raise to cope with rising cost of living. Who do you think will suffer more? The millionaire tycoon boss, or the workers?

Racial remarks

My only comment is I hope people will stop fanning the flame.

Someone already said those remarks. Everyone already knows who said what. Everybody knows how to judge right or wrong. By sharing articles on the issue, you are spreading the hate and anger. Each time somebody reads it, the wound is reopened. The flame grows.

So just stop sharing such things that are of no benefit to anybody.

Moving forward

Flame shield: I’ve actually re-edited this post many times. Nowadays you can get flamed just for being critical of PR. Let me just clarify again that I’m a PR supporter. My only wish is for PR to do better in the next elections.

My suggestion for PR is to analyze why they didn’t win GE13. What were the causes for rural voters not voting for PR? For goodness sake please be humble enough to look at your own weakness instead of shifting the blame. I’d feel better if the PR leaders were busy preparing strategy for GE14 instead of conducting mass rallies.

I would like to see PKR, PAS & DAP form an official coalition with a single logo/flag and a single manifesto. Show the people how you will govern as a shadow cabinet with workable action plans and facts instead of criticizing government for the next five years.

As for my fellow PR supporters, please think of the consequences to your actions especially on blogs and social media. Stop making derogatory remarks because you can be considered racist too.

Read some pro-BN blogs. Yes some of the things you read may hurt or even be scary, but you need to understand their concerns and priorities. Most important of all, you get a view from both sides.

Let’s guard against being used by politicians (from both sides) for their gains. Let’s not go overboard in our behaviour until we seem over-zealous and desperate. Let’s be open to criticism so we can improve.

In short, let’s set the example for how we want BN supporters to behave if PR won the election. Would you want BN to hold mass rallies all over the country and cry to the western world that the EC was unfair?

In the end, life must go on in Malaysia. Life is more than PR or BN, more than race or religion.

P/S: I apologize if I sound ‘preachy’. You probably know more about politics than me, and I just wanted to share my (amateur) thoughts.

Plan B Paradigm Mall

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Last month Poey Chin and I had a rare opportunity to hang out at the mall because we both had a day off. We would usually try to catch a movie but there wasn’t anything good in the cinema.

Nowadays we visit Paradigm Mall quite a lot. At least once a week, but frequently twice a week. What to do? It’s so near our home haha.

At the beginning I was not so keen to go there. When it first opened there were so many problems such as missing signage, sewage smell, lack of rest areas and confusing elevators. Thankfully all that has been fixed.

There’s so much improvement now and so many restaurants have opened there.

One of the restaurants we wanted to try was Plan B because we saw a lot of interesting photos on Facebook.

We sat down at one of the middle tables near the counter and ordered our food. The servers were rather efficient. We were seated and attended to immediately.

They even brought us a (free) bottle of water. That’s a very nice gesture. Just for that alone, I would go back there.

We ordered a cup of coffee and it was nicely decorated with a heart and came with a biscoti at the side.

I ordered a club sandwich which was really good. The sandwich is a piece of grilled chicken with bacon and vegetables between slices of toast. The sides are deep fried potato / yam and a salad.

The chicken was juicy and moist and the portion was enough for a big eater like me.

Poey Chin ordered a soft shell crab pasta. The pasta and sauce was good and the highlight was the crab, It was deep fried, spicy and salty which made the dish really appetizing.

Oh God it was so long ago (and I admit I’m forgetful) so I can’t remember the prices, but it’s quite reasonable. The bill for our lunch was probably under RM50.

I enjoyed our dining experience though the servers could improve their communication and table-side skills. Our server wouldn’t make eye contact with us at all, and I saw another server actually fidgeting impatiently with his pen when another table was ordering. Maybe instead of fidgeting he could suggest some items for them to try.

But no big deal, because the food was delicious and reasonably priced.

Huggies Dry Pants: Change for Better Convenience (ADV)

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My two sons, Daryl and Caleb are both still wearing diapers. We go through packs of diapers every month so we’re always on the look out for the latest when it comes to diapers.

There are so many options out there. Just go to any hypermarket and there’s an entire aisle dedicated to diapers. They come in different types and have different prices from store-brands all the way to premium brands.

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Recently we had the chance to try Huggies Dry Pants for the first time.

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The unique selling points of Huggies Dry Pants are:

Keeps skin drier and healthier
100% breathable cover to help keep skin dry
Quick lock system to lock fluids to an absorbent core

All these features come together to help prevent diaper rash.

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Before I had kids, I always thought the worst thing about changing diapers is the smell and the yucky factor.

Now that I’ve changed thousands of diapers, I can tell you the worst thing is actually having an active child who keeps squirming around.

A simple diaper change that should take less than 30 seconds can drag on to minutes when you have an active baby. Sometimes I wish I had four arms when changing diapers.

Both Poey Chin and myself love the convenience of Huggies Dry Pants. It’s easier to get the diaper in place even when Caleb is twisting and turning.

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It’s usually even harder to change diapers for Daryl who can’t stay still. But this time we managed to get the diaper changed even with his constant movement.

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What I really appreciate about Huggies Dry Pants is how you can wear them at the front or back.

With other brands of diaper pants, we usually have to waste precious seconds hunting for the “back” label, then try to remember the correct side while baby is twisting around. Imagine trying to find the label in the dim night light or when we don’t have our glasses on.

Thankfully with Huggies Dry Pants we can avoid this hassle. The end result is a relieved parent and a happy child.

Caleb looks pretty comfortable in Huggies Dry Pants. The waist band fits snugly but isn’t too tight, so it doesn’t leave red marks on his skin.

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We can tell that he feels comfortable with the material because we don’t see him scratching or trying to pull off the diaper.

He just went around with his normal activities. Playing iPad.

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Playing and running around with Rachel and Daryl.

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Changing the diaper is pretty easy as well. All you need to do is the tear, change and release (koyak, salin dan lepas).

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It’s pretty easy to tear off the diaper. Just a quick tug is enough.

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Overall, we’re pretty happy with Huggies Dry Pants. It’s one of the easiest diapers to put on and change.

The diaper can easily hold more than 4 hours without any leakage. It’s not too tight and the diaper is comfortable. Caleb is pretty happy wearing Huggies Dry Pants.

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The special value pack is a pretty good deal. The price of one value pack is comparable to the price of a pack of non-pants diapers from other brands.

You can request some free diaper samples at the Huggies website.

Check out the Huggies Facebook page for the latest updates, events and contests.

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This blog post is sponsored by Huggies.

Homework

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Rachel doing homework

Well, Rachel has been going to kindergarten for two months now. I think she has gotten used to the routine by now.

She is enjoying herself with her friends and learning new things. When I come home from work, she’s so excited to tell me what she learned that day.

One of the things I can’t understand is the fact that she has homework.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like there’s a huge amount of homework or anything. Maybe one or two pages to practice writing Chinese characters.

But I’ve never had homework when I was in kindergarten. I’m sitting here for 10 minutes and I can’t recall any homework until I was in Standard 4. Maybe I had homework but I didn’t do it haha.

But seriously, I don’t remember any homework from kindergarten. I remember singing, painting, drawing patterns and doing craft.

Even in primary school, we didn’t have much home work because teacher would allocate some classroom time for doing exercises. Either we finished all our work books on the same day, or we would all hurry to finish before teacher walks into class haha.

Maybe it’s different if you’re studying in Chinese medium. Maybe all that repetitive writing is neccessary to help them remember how to write the words.

Poey Chin is already complaining that the standard of Chinese Rachel is learning is actually at primary level. I guess there’s a good and bad.

Good because Rachel seems to be coping well, and she will find it easier when she goes to Standard 1.

Bad because I’m not the type of parent who expects academic excellence from my kids the moment they step in school. I guess, I want them to enjoy their childhood learning, playing and exploring the things they love instead of filling their time with repetitive tasks.

Anyway I guess the idea is to build the discipline in them, that they have to take learning seriously. It’s great if homework can teach the kids to sit still for half an hour concentrating on a task.

It’s also a good way for we parents to keep track of what Rachel is learning in school.

I’m not anti-homework. I’m just observing how things have changed today compared to when I was young.

Huggies Change for Better Convenience Roadshow (ADV)