To Invest or To Tighten

Life's so much fun with all the decision making ability given to us by God. For Christians, it's known as the "free will" though some would argue otherwise.

From people to organisations, countries to churches, we all have learn to make the best & right decisions. This of course includes financial decisions, which is quite an exciting challenge!

As a Malaysian Chinese, we're often taught to be thrifty, to save as much as you can and only start to spend it when you have a comfort "buffer". In another words, it's to tigthen up to survive.

After spending a decade in Melbourne, I come to regconize the pattern of Caucasians governance in some sense. It's very obvious during the GFC, most of the governments adopted the strategy of investing for growth.

Stimulus packages, grants, tax reliefs, etc. All are aimed towards futures prosperity and not just the short term.

So, it's a little culture shock when we started to see the governments spending like crazy in times of crisis! Billions are poured in multiple industries just to keep it going while from our background, we would have been cutting expenses as much as we can.

Having said that, they also did some costs cutting measures to keep the ball rolling. Even with billions spent, without proper restructuring, it wouldn't last as well. Billions would end up like cents!

So, as a church, what can we learn from this GFC?

We need to continue to invest into the future by laying out plans and goals for the short, medium and long terms. Then we can work out budget around it to achieve those plans. By injecting the proper resources (human, funds, etc) into the right ministry will help the church to continue to grow.

At the same time, we need to evaluate on our current ministries. Which ministries that we can afford to temporary lay off or shut down. There's a saying, "All things are good, but not all things are right".

By properly channelling our resources, we can ensure greater works being done in the church ministries. These are the core ministries that our church can never neglect. These are:

1) Mission & Evangelism

2) Christian Education

3) Small Groups

4) Prayer

If we're not investing more resources in those core ministries, I'd like to know what else could be more important? Day-to-day church admins? Spending on technologies & equipments?

I know some might say, "let's get our books balance first then we can plan" or the ever famous "we will wait for God Himself to lead".

Let us remind ourselves that, God has initiated His works. Are we spiritually sensitive enough to feel it or how are we going to respond? keep on waiting?

I have a funny feeling that our belts are too tight now. Perhaps we should increase our belt size and start to invest on what's right? Let's not choke ourselves to death!

Comparisons With Improvements :)

Thanks to Nearmap, now I can have a look at my land from the comfort of my living room! Saving me about 80Km return trips each time just to have a look soils..and some rocks!

On 12/10/09

Latest on 13/11/09

The rocks have gotten less now...phew..good news! Hopefully everything will be cleared out soon! Waiting to see when the roads will be built!

Outsourcing

The world is moving in such a pace that if we decided to take a break, we'll be left behind. Gone are the days where we can play rabbit and take a nap while waiting for the slow tortoise to catch up.

However, being the leader of the pack, we need to examine our strengths and positions to ensure that we do not strecth ourselves too much. In IT terminology, we shouldn't be paying too much for tomorrow's technologies.

Today, outsourcing is a very good way of not strecthing ourselves to the limit and yet being able to be on top of our game!

Outsourcing - The procuring of services or products from an outside supplier or manufacturer in order to cut costs.

A good example of this is from SHA, where we outsourced our internet service to an outside provider.

The Internet service for the SHA buildings are good, but only if it was about 5 years ago! It isn't competitive enough to survive in the Internet market. Hence, our value added service to the students have declined by the years in this aspect. In fact, I felt ashamed to answer if prospective tenants and tenants asked me about the Internet packages that we offered.

However, recently we just found out that we have given the tender to a different company to provide the Internet service to all our buildings.. From a rough briefing today, it's certainly a huge leap forward in providing better services to the tenants.

By outsourcing this service, SHA managed to save costs up to roughly $700,000 of hardware investments upgrading each of our buildings. Not to mention the running costs, overheads, etc.

The new services provided will certainly enable SHA to again claim the statement of providing "discount high speed broadband Internet".

Without outsourcing, all these wouldn't have been possible as I just couldn't imagine our company investing more than half a million upgrading the IT equipments in all of our buildings! We would probably still be stuck with dial up internet if it wasn't for outsourcing.

It's definitely a good news for the occupants of MiCasa8 as we'll enjoy maximum benefits of the new Internet services soon! The plans are yet to be released but I guess it will be a whole lot better than what it is now.

They do not have to go through Telstra for the ridiculuously expensive phone line connection ($>300.00) anymore~! Yay~!

King Asa = Us?

Yesterday, while we were studying "Experiencing God", we were asked about King Asa's situations whether he was God centered or Self centered in 2 scenarios. Well, the answers are pretty obvious and you don't have to be a genius to figure it out.

Then suddenly a funny thought went through my mind. Before I get into that, let's have a quick history flashback on King Asa.

Basically, the first 35 years of his reign was all nice and good because he was reliant on the Lord.

2 Chron 14:11 Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, "LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you."


2 Chron 15:19 There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign.

After that, he started on rely on himself and his allies rather than the Lord.

2 Chron 16:2-3 Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the LORD's temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus.  "Let there be a treaty between me and you," he said, "as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me."

2 Chron 16:7-9 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: "Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen ? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war."

So my comparison is this:

We have always relied on the Lord from the day our church started back in 2000/01. Prayers have always been the driving force for us from doubling our members each year and to accomplish a near to impossible tasks (in everyone's else's mind) by forming a local church in 2007.

God was heavily sought after during those times but in the last few years, we seems to have forgotten our root and started relying more on ourselves. Prayer meeting numbers dropped significantly, ill-advised decisions were made, etc.

Even up to today (though I may not know the full picture yet), we have not been awaken yet. We all (especially LCEC members) knew that we're being told that we're going to be in charge of the 2013 Annual Conference. It's quite a big thing, it's almost like when King Asa was threatened by Baasha, King of Isreal.

While King Asa decided to seek help and support from Ben-Hadad, King of Aram; We seek help from Camberwell Church.

Instead of praying to God for directions and help, we are seeking financial help from our allies, Camberwell Church because everyone in CLMC (or 99%) believed that we can't do it by ourselves. As far as my limited knowledge knows, we're not doing anything else except waiting for an answer from Camberwell on whether to help us or not and the decision should by known by this year's AC around end of November.

Now, the question is, is this act God-centered or self-centered?

If this is a God-centered act, how so?

If this is a self-centered act, shouldn't we repent now and started praying hard and seek God's will? This could be the turning point for CLMC to come back to God in unity?

Or are we going to end up like King Asa?

2 Chron 16:12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians.

Anyway, those are just my observations and feel free to correct me if anything I said is wrong....:)

Mr Keris-Man - Employee of the year?

KPI, KPI, KPI...it has become such a normal term in Malaysia these days after the introduction of KPIs to Goverment departments.

Who is the hardest working man in Govt now? Well, most people might say Najib as he's not the sleeping PM but just saw this in the paper today.

PUTRAJAYA: The Home Minis­try has completed the mammoth task of clearing the backlog of over 140,000 applications for citizenship, entry permits and birth certificates — two months ahead of schedule.

It has processed 143,099 files — 32,927 citizenship, 16,812 entry permit (permanent residence) and 93,360 birth certificate applications — filed between 1997 and December 2006. More on The Star

 It seems the employee of the year award might just go to Mr Keris! He He!!

Nonetheless, hats off for this guy for clearing the backlog created over the years.

We also hope to see more improvements in his Ministry as well as speeding up or relax the requirement a bit for the process of foreign spouse PR applications, etc.

We're not expecting a jump in performance, but at least move faster than what BN has been moving for 50+ years!

Rocks?!?!

Was just curious about my block of land so I drove there to have a look personally last weekend. I was kinda annoyed to see so much rocks around the area.

Based on my estimation on site, the rocks are just right above my block of land! Not a happy chap!

So I tried street directory, google map statelite views but their photos are outdated. Then someone from Home One forum posted a link to view updated satelittle images. Guess what I found?

Yes.....a pile of rocks dumped on my land!! And this was about 3 weeks ago and more have been dumped since then.

I hope they'll clear all the rocks away before the land titles! Grr.....

The Comeback

Felt so good tonight to be able to hit some birdies! Haven't been playing for nearly 2 weeks now. It's sad that I might not be able to play for another 2 weeks again!

Sometimes the feelings just felt different after you stopped for a while and you pick it up again. It's almost like first love but not quite.

Perhaps that's why in our spiritual walk, there're ups and downs too. So when we were down, and after we got up, it felt so great!

So, don't feel bad if you're down, just remember to stand up from where you fall!

Looking forward to 2 weeks from now....another night of action packed badminton!!

Filter First

AGAIN, another blooper from BN's man. This time, Datuk Wira Ahmad Hamzah (Jasin-BN) who said the following:

Before the Auditor-General’s (AG) annual report is made public, the Government should filter it so that the country is not embarrassed by it.

“I support the AG’s report but what has happened now is that it gives a very bad impression and it is meloyakan (nauseating).

“If possible, the Government should filter the report before making it a public document,” he said on Tuesday during the Budget 2010 debate in Parliament

I guess he really doesn't understand what it means to be auditted or the audit process.

Instead of looking on how to improve and be honest about themselves, he wants the report to be "filtered". Alamak~!

Who would want to see a filtered audited report, especially being filtered by the person being audited? Doesn't make sense!

Be bold enough to accept your shortcomings and improve on it! Don't be a sissy! If you know what your Govt is doing is bringing shame to the country, GOOD!

ACT ON IT!

MACC, you can spend the next few years studying the report and investigate! Don't just try to cover up on Teoh's case and bully PR members.

MiCasa8 - Better Than Expected

As we near the end of the academic year, this normally means things are just going to get busier for us SHA! This year we sort of started earlier than previous years in doing what we normally would do, which is good news for those who are wanting to apply for SHA buildings.

Just a short update for all those people who are still interested and actively looking for MiCasa8's availability.

At the moment, I only have 7 apartments for rent for 2010. Yes, only 7!

The good news is, about another 100 or so students haven't confirmed their intention of vacating or renewing.

Phewww...? Not quite!!

I've just roughly checked through the figures, the numbers of renewing tenants outnumbered the number of vacating tenants by about 6:4.

So that means, roughly only another 40-50 apartments will become available for 2010.

Another bad news, I've tons of applications on my desk at the moment. Probably 80 or so?

You must be asking, "do I stand a chance? Is there a way to 'jump' the queue?".

Well, yes if your budget is over $300pw and No otherwise.

So good luck people! Be quick to secure it before it's all gone! Normally 2nd year building is the best! Not when it's brand new! :)

My advice to you all: when you apply, clearly state your budget!

MCA, Now MIC & Maybe CLMC?

Over the span for the past few weeks, we have witnessed a string of (by) elections & voting processes going on around us. It seems that everyone just loves the democratic process these days.

Recently it was the MCA Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) orchestrated by the sacked deputy president to try to bring down the president and climb back unto the ladder. Though he only barely "succeeded", at least he tore MCA into 2 parties now. Insiders are reporting a possible 3rd party in the leadership crisis too.

Now, the MIC also wants to bring down their president. Well, they versed it to sound more noble, to save MIC. Whatever the outcome is, one thing is for sure; There'll be even bigger divisions within MIC.

On the coming Sunday, CLMC will also have their annual Local Conference election for the stewards positions for next year. Instead of having the usual "fat heads" structures at the top, this year they have successfully reduced the number from about 16 to 9. 

Anyway will the election process have the same effects as MCA & MIC? Definitely not.

Why? Because we are not capable of pulling such feat yet! We're still young & naive. So will the voting process runs smoothly? Yes & No.

Yes, because everyone will vote very quickly and all seems efficiently handled.

No, because of our "naivety", most of us are irrational voters. So to know what irrational voters do, please read my previous March posting in my blog.

However, sometimes we need to compare our passion for the church to those members of MCA & MIC. At least they really want to do something for their respective parties, though some are for their selfish ambitions, especially those over zealous ones.

The honest question we need to ask ourselves is, do you love your church?

If yes, it's not too late to show it by voting rationally this coming Sunday, 25/10/09.

If not, I'd recommend you not to show up or even forfeit your membership. It's better to wash your hands off any blood that you may draw so you may still be innocent. Having said that, I hope you'd make a wiser decision instead of choosing this path.

Najib's Powerful Words

“I want to tell you that a lot of things don’t require monetary allocations. For example, changing from being lazy to become more hardworking,” said Najib.

Very brave in admitting their party are full of lazy bums, especially those benefited from the Govt's financial aids and special priviledges.

Not only the top level leadership needs to be more hardworking but the grassroot members!Can UMNO do it after their reform? It's still too early to tell but at least it's a sign forward.

Let's see how much followup works wil be done regarding this, not followup words.

Win - Win & Lose - Lose

Most successful businessmen would always want to achieve a win-win situation.

Most ordinary businessmen would always want to achieve a win-lose situation.

Most immature businessmen would always want try to achieve a win-lose situation but in actual fact, it's a lose-lose situation.

The same principle apply to politics and if we apply it to the news report below:

KUALA LUMPUR: Federal aid to the governments of opposition-ruled states should be reduced and be channelled directly to the people there, Selangor delegate Abdul Shukur Idrus said.


He said this was because opposition parties were getting mileage out of the socio-economic programmes in these states.


Abdul Shukur said the Pakatan Rakyat-ruled Selangor government gave RM1,000 to finance funeral arrangements to the people in the state while Umno provided RM300.

“The state government also provided RM1,500 to the elderly. The people in the state are talking about the opposition government giving aid to the people.

“Little do the people know that what the opposition government is giving comes from the Barisan Nasional Federal government,” he claimed when debating the president’s policy speech at the Umno General Assembly here on Friday.

Abdul Shukur said the Federal Government should reduce payments to the opposition state governments so that the people there could see which party provided greater assistance.More on The Star

Let's see what can we get:

Federal Govt gives to State Govt who then gives to the Rakyat (people). All good so it's definitely a win-win situation where everyone is happy. At least it shows the Federal Govt is fair, the State Govt is doing its' job in helping the needy and the Rakyat is taken care of.

Federal Govt stop giving to State Govt who then has to reduce aids for the Rakyat. The biggest loser is the Rakyat, State Govt cries foul & unfairness by Federal Govt. So the winner is actually State Govt while Federal Govt thinks they won but they've actually lost!

Federal Govt bypassing State Govt and go to the Rakyat directly. With all the incompetency & corruption practices by the previous BN State Govt, it's a lost cause anyway. So, it'll be a definite lose-lose situation to all parties.

That guy in UMNO is short sighted and a poor strategist. All he cares about is the credit and praises for the "good" works he has or trying to do. Exposing his immaturity to the public. Shame on him.

Instead of encouraging other BN states to do the same or better than the PR states, he wants to see those luckier Rakyat to suffer drawbacks in their lives. All for the sake of "credits".

I'm sure there're more funds allocated to the BN States, so the question is, what happened to the funds allocated to help the Rakyat? How are they using the funds?

Dear voters, please open your eyes and to see who you're voting for. Don't vote blindly!!

It's your future at stake!!

Las Vegas - Victorian version

In another act out of desperations, the Victorian Govt has again breached the trusts of fellow Victorians.

Premier John Brumby has opened the door for a second casino in Victoria - just five months after the Government ruled out such a move.

In May Gaming Minister Tony Robinson told ABC Radio that the Government had no intention of allowing a second casino. ''It is not the Government's policy to have a second casino in Victoria,'' he said. ''We have a set policy on that.''

But yesterday Mr Brumby signalled a big shift in Government policy on a second casino following a proposal for a new casino complex in Mildura. More on The Age

Definitely, a new casino would create heaps of jobs and investments, which in turn will also boost tourism to Mildura and stimulate the local business.

Similarly, Las Vegas was just a piece of deserted land where birds won't even lay eggs before the building boom. We cannot deny the facts that Casino can bring in "prosperity" and developments but the question is, at what price?

Sin City is one of the famous nicknames for Las Vegas due to the acceptance of "adult entertainment". Whom but those sinners themselves would want their city to be labeled as Sin City? A place where people defiled themselves, breaking the moral standard to the lowest ever, and have no respect for the Greater Authority.

Will Victoria has its' own Sin City in the future soon? Are we going to sacrifice an innocent City for the sake of money? It's game of Money vs Moral and it's very obvious that Mr Moral doesn't stand a chance in hell against Ms Money.

Do they REALLY care about our next generation well being? They might have jobs but they'll be morally corrupted. What good will it be then? We're just encouraging a future full of individualistic and selfish greed minded people to emerge on a path of no return.

Ethically, the casino should not be built or any casino for that fact. The moral price is just too high to be beared by future Victorians.

A city that neglect God will be doomed. We need to do our part in preventing this from happening!!

There're a lot more better ways to earn money! Stop defiling ourselves!

God have mercy upon us!

為下一代....Really?

When I was in my teens, I was flooded with the ideology of paving a better road for our next generation (為下一代). As I have grown out of my teenage years, I'm no longer very convinced with this ideology.

After a decade of observing my surroundings, my peers, my friends, my neighbours, and my community, I can only conclude that the ideology has bring more harm than good.

The ideology sort of started in the days where the Chinese are ruled by corrupted governments who would just suck every bit of money the peasants have at that time. So naturally, most Chinese are very poor and struggle to make ends meet. 

Hence came the ideas of "I've suffered enough! I don't wish to see my next generation suffers the same fate!". After that turning point, the Chinese are probably the most hardworking people in the world. Though they may not earn a lot but they work a whole lot more than others to save up savings for their kids to go to college, etc.

Gone are the days of reckoning, it should be a bright sunny day ahead! However, is it really so? Or the skies just turn gloomier & darker?

Just look around us. How lucky are those kids today? How pampered are the those kids today? How protected are those kids today? How terrible are those kids today?!

Parents have become slaves to their kids' demand. Filial piety is no longer a virtue but an added value for the parents if they "invested" right. Parents have become the genie, children is the Aladdin.

Many younger generations these days do not know how to be "a person". Their individualistic mindset together with the improper teachings from their parents have created a generations of useless spoilt brats.

Sadly, most Christians younger kids are not any better off too. Most of the Chinese parents mindset for the next generation is still very active in their mind. They don't care about the consequences or maybe I should say don't dare to accept the fact of reality of what they have transformed their children into.

I'm calling all young parents today to instill proper teachings to your kids in the early ages in order to restore order in the community. As it's written in the Book Of Proverbs:

Chapter 30: 
⁸ Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
       give me neither poverty nor riches,
       but give me only my daily bread.

 ⁹ Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
       and say, 'Who is the LORD ?'
       Or I may become poor and steal,
       and so dishonor the name of my God.

Let this be the guideline for everyone of us when deciding on how to help our next generations. We can start from ourselves before the situation becomes even worse than it already is.

Who Cares About Debts When We Have International Students?

Source: Herald Sun
Dated: 7/10/09

INTERNATIONAL students are the key to paying off Australia's debt and caring for its ageing population, a leading demographer says.


Bernard Salt says the country should be embracing international students and encouraging them to stay on after they finish their degrees.

Only 20,000 of the 400,000 international students who are educated in Australia every year migrate here, he said. But that number needs to increase in order to counteract the growing number of baby boomers leaving the workforce and paying less tax.


"We are not likely to raise the tax rate substantially," Mr Salt said.


"So this means we need more people who can pay taxes, and they can only come from overseas."


A student migration program would not only help Australia pay off its massive debt incurred as a result of the global economic downturn but would also ensure a steady stream of skilled migrants.


"International students represent an outstanding source of skilled migrants - they're young, educated and keen to become Australians," Mr Salt said.


The reputation of Australia's $15.5 billion international education industry was damaged earlier this year following a series of attacks on Indian students in Melbourne.


An independent review of the sector is being carried out by former federal Liberal MP Bruce Baird.


Mr Salt, who will deliver his message to the Australian International Education Conference in Sydney next week, said the nation needed to lift its game if it was to compete in the highly competitive international student market.

========================================================================

At least they're smart in getting the money in elsewhere rather than keep getting out of their own people!

We should learn!

Rental Pricing for MiCasa8 for 2010

MiCasa8 - The Best of the Best - Student Only Accommodation

Application for 2010 is now open!! The moment everyone has been waiting for...be QUICK or you'll regret it!!

Luxury studio and one bedroom apartments. The Ultimate in Student Accommdation.

Ideally located on the corner of Swanston and Pelham Street, Carlton; within walking distance to Melbourne University, RMIT and City Centre.

Parks, City Bath, Victoria Market; and Lygon Street Restaurants only minutes away, either walking or via tram at door.

This security entry complex of fully furnished units features a mix of studio and one bedroom apartments, most with balconies and city views.

Dual lift access to all floors.

Apartments comprise kitchen with gas cooking and microwave, each with modern private bathroom, study area, built in robe, air conditioning and heating.

Inventory includes all cutlery and crockery, bed, study desk and chair.

Flat screen TV in apartment and free Asian satellite channels.

Gas usage included in the rent.

Double bed in most apartments. However, only one student per apartment.

Communal laundry onsite, plus common lounge areas and bicycle storage.

Student discount High speed broadband internet connection available.

12 levels of 219 stylish and modern student apartments.


Price Ranges:
Level 1 - 2 = $250 per week to $325 per week for a twelve month lease.

Level 3 - 4 = $270 per week to $295 per week for a twelve month lease.

Level 5 - 6 = $290 per week to $305 per week for a twelve month lease.

Level 7 - 8 = $295 per week to $315 per week for a twelve month lease.

Level 9 - 10 =  $315 per week to $325 per week for a twelve month lease.
Level 11 - 12 = $325 per week to $340 per week for a twelve month lease.

Love Your Enemies.....R U Sure?!

Everytime you talked about Jesus, you cannot miss the part where He says "Love your enemies...". This is probably the hardest thing to be done here on earth yet this is a very clear instruction.

How applicable is it for us Christians today?

It's still very applicable if you asked me. However, it's so hard that nobody really cares about it anymore. Most people turn away instead of turning the other cheek!

Christians today should learn to love...

Their loved ones

Their families

Their friends

Their co-workers

Their church

before even thinking of trying to love their enemies. It's beyond our ability!~~

I myself is still learning this lesson but I need to learn how not to love myself too much that I neglected others...It's very hard!

Learning is a lifetime process but life is short so appreciate it while you can!

God gives me strength!

Give me the heart of compassion!

Let me be Your tool to bring love to this world!

Myki Rip Off - Beware

Stephen Drill
From: InfoChoice
September 20, 2009 12:00AM

UP to 60 per cent of the new myki transport ticket machines have been subjected
to vandalism or graffiti months before the system begins operation.

A Sunday Herald Sun survey of the new ticket machines found smashed, broken and
fire-bombed units across the network.

That comes as a flaw in the troubled myki ticketing system means passengers will be charged more than $2 extra per trip if the machines malfunction.

The myki system, $350 million over budget and three years late, will charge passengers the maximum price for a ticket if they do not scan off at the end of their trip.

But passengers cannot scan off if card readers are damaged.

The State Government admitted the problem and will set up a call centre to take complaints from overcharged passengers.

Passengers' accounts will then be changed to show the correct fares.

An inspection of the Pakenham, Werribee and Upfield train lines on Friday showed six in every 10 card readers has been vandalised, though the system is yet to start working.

The system is expected to begin on December 1, but the Government is yet to release a date.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder has slammed the fault, saying it is another example of the bungling that has dogged the myki system.

"If you are going to have an electronic ticketing system it needs to be foolproof and damage proof - this is neither. Thousands of commuters are going to be ripped off," he said.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said it
was unreasonable to expect passengers to have to make a call in order to be
charged the correct fare.

Stephen Moynihan, a spokesman for Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky confirmed myki would charge a higher fare if a passenger did not scan off, even if they couldn't due to damaged machines.

"So if that happens to someone they can call the call centre and get the extra charge taken off and credited to their account," he said.

A spokesman for myki, Jake Hatton, said vandalism was a problem across the public transport network.

"Unlike the old Metcard system, myki software will be able to tell when myki machines are down and this will allow the operator to get them fixed quickly," he said.

Myki is probably the worst ever project introduced by the Government. Failure to start on time, over budget, etc.


Now, it'll even charge a passanger more even if the passenger is not at fault! To get a bloody refund, you need to ring their call centre and will be lucky to be on hold for 30 minutes, if not more.

This is NOT acceptable and really shows how much the Govt cares about its' people.


They should NOT be charging passengers should any of the readers are faulty and they CAN tell which reader is faulty right away according to the Myki spokesperson.

Oh wait, they don't care about the passengers, they just want your money! GRRRrrrrr~~!~!~!~

KK Tragedy

KOTA KINABALU: A climber slipped and fell to his death when
trekking up Mount Kinabalu. Tan Tzu Hau, 31, from Inanam here, was found dead
5.5km from the Mesilau trail at about 2pm on Monday by a Sabah Parks porter.

Ranau district police chief Deputy Supt Suhaimy Hashim said that Tan was part of
a mixed group locals and peninsular Malaysians trekking up the mountain through
the Mesilau trail when the incident occurred. ''Tan was trailing behind the
group when he apparently slipped and fell.

No one knows exactly how he fell but a porter who was behind spotted his sprawled body beside the trail," Suhaimy said. He said the incident occurred near the Panar Laban rest house at the height of 3,270m of the 4,101m mountain.

''His body has been brought down to Ranau and we are waiting for the post mortem to be conducted, he said, adding that police did not suspect foul play as they believe it was a case of misadventure.

Masilau trail is second but tougher route to the mountain as
compared to the more popularly used Summit Trail or South Ride Trail.

Accidental deaths among climbers on Mount Kinabalu is relatively rare though they have been a few incidents with the last reported incident occurring in Aug 2001 when a British teenager Ellie James lost her way and was found dead on the mountain
nearly a week after she went missing.

We were just on this mountain a few weeks ago! Thank goodness we were OK.
God be with the victim's families and comfort them!

Sports Cancelled On 20/9

Just rang up Collingwood College to find out what went wrong yesterday and of course I get the expected answer.

The person in charge is on leave. The replacement thought that everyone has been informed. So they apologize for it.

Apology accepted. No problem but please don't do it again. :)

Anyway, just found out that this Sunday, our booking was cancelled too! And yes, nobody was planning to inform us as they thought we were told. Anyway, not going to make a fuss about it.

So guys, please note.

Sports on Sunday (20/9) is cancelled!

Back to normal on 27/9.

MiCasa8 - 2010

Google, google and still googling.

Due to popular demands from google search results looking for MiCasa8 for 2010, I'll let you guys into a few small inside news!

For those that have been looking for accomodation this year, you'd definetely learned a big lesson to start looking for places to stay before you go back for summer holiday. Hundreds of students were left without an apartment in MiCasa8 in 2009 hence took a less desirable accommodation.

Anyway, for those first year students coming to Melbourne, do heed my advice. Start your house hunting around Oct/Nov 09.

Rental price for MiCasa8 hasn't been confirmed yet as it's still too early. Having said that, we're expecting the pricing to be finalised in the next few weeks!

Vacancy rate is hard to predict at the moment but I'm guessing there'll probably be just about half the building vacating at the end of their tenancy. So the number is around 100 apartments. Most second year building only has renewal rate about 20% or so but MiCasa8 could be a different story.

There're currently about 40 renewal requests already and we still have a long way to go before the students finally decide on their plan for 2010.

Total apartments in MiCasa8 for rent is about 205.

NBA True Role Model

Just listen to his sharing....


A player after God's heart :)

Hope he'll continue to make big impacts in people's lives!

Racism After 9/11

Just when we thought the Western world would have learnt its lesson from 9/11 regarding respecting and treating other races/nations with respect, it seems most have forgotten about 9/11! Probably what people said is right, most westerners have poor memories when compared to Chinese! 8 years seems too long for them to remember the valuable lesson!

Today, we are unfortunately treated without respect and pushed to the junks! Just because we are a group of Asians (Malaysian Chinese to be exact), they didn't have to treat us like how they did today. It's totally uncalled for and it provokes racism hatred!

Here's what transpired in this eventful Sunday:

We have regular bookings for the large gym in Collingwood College every Sunday from 9.15am to 11.15am EVERY Sundays except public holiday. Today, when we got there, we found out that there were table tennis tables in the middle of the court but no one was around.

So we rang the caretaker to find out what's the issue there. Rang twice but no answer. Then we checked whether there're any notices saying there're events today, nothing to be found. So we assume it was from the day before and the people just didn't pack up properly.

We started our games. Then around 10am, a group of Westerners stormed in demanding that we leave the premises immediately and put their tables back on.

The first sentence the old lady said was:

"We're not being racist here but...."

Yeah right! Who would expect you to be racist in the first place except deep inside your racist heart & mind, you knew yourself as a racist pig?!

She then talked loudly as if we are all deafs or as old as her and couldn't hear properly. Asked us to leave immediately, said she's calling the principal, blah blah blah~~! All of us were just dumbfolded by her over reactions!

After that, 3 other gentlement took over the conversation and admitted it wasn't our fault nor theirs but rather the college's irresponsible handling of this matter. The college NEVER informed us of this. They should at least given us a week's notice.

We're deeply disappointed with the college but even more so to the racist treatment that we all received today! We today are victims of incompetency and racism!

Being nice Christians, of course we didn't make things hard for everyone. We packed up and put their stuff back on. Now here am I back home, posting this blog for your information so you'd becareful next time! :P

p/s: not all westerners are racist. Only some probably least educated ones!

Heavy Legs Rules?

Gone are the days where we used to think places like Camberwell, Box Hill, etc is a far away suburbs. Few years ago, most people would be complaining about how far it is to go to those suburbs and everyone is reluctant to go.

Today, the people that attended prayer meeting regularly are from Box Hill, Altona Meadows, and a couple from CBD and North Melbourne. Basically, 2 BH, 2 AM, 1/2 CBD, 1 NM.

The funny thing is, when we thought distance is a serious factor affecting numbers, today the longer the distance, the more constant the attendance????

The nearer the distance, the lack of commitments??

Where's the logic today??

Gone are the days where prayer meeting is having 30+ people.

Maybe organisers should evaluate sooner than later?

WTH Happened To "Go"

GO

Definition: To pass from one place to another; to be in motion; to be in a state not motionless or at rest; to proceed; to advance; to make progress; used, in various applications, of the movement of both animate and inanimate beings, by whatever means, and also of the movements of the mind; also figuratively applied.

I guess this is a simple word for everyone of us to understand the meaning of.

However, it's probably the least understood word for Christians. I guess the word "Go" doesn't exist in their minds or at least it can only be applied to circumstances which suit their comfort zone!

Sad but true.

One World, One Nation, One Race

Suddenly this thought popped into my mind this morning.

'If God were the One seperated human into different races, speaks different languages & dialects and eventually different countries evovled, are we human going against what God has designed by trying to create the One World, One Nation, One Race mentality?'

The European nation has started on a common currency called Euro, English as common language platform, etc.

There was a slogan previously saying 'our children are colour blind, let's keep it that way'. Young people don't know what it meant by racism.

Inter racial marriages are very common these days. Soon, we'll have a 'world' race. No more Chinese, Malay, Iban, AustRalian, etc etc.

So the thing is, if God made it this way, why are we making it that way?

Everything was good in the beginning but we screwed it. Young pure minds are being polluted by selfish politicians who played the racial cards.

The concept will fail. What's happening today is just a reminder that the end time is near. Human are trying to change the future but in vain.

We need to appreciate every minutes we have and start giving back to God.

Spring To Life

Can't believe it's already the 2nd day of Spring here in Melbourne! Time really flies!

Past 2 days have been quite sunny, which is good! Not too cold or not too hot! Excellent weather for relaxing!

Some flowers blossom in Spring, which made it beautiful to watch.

Can CLMC finally blossom too? After years of Autumn and dry spells?

We need more rain.

We need more sunlight.

We need God.

Denied, Detained & Deported

As most people would have already known, we flew back to M'sia on 12th night via Air Asia. The journey certainly didn't start off very well.

On our way to airport, we thought we were going to be late as we only left my place in Box Hill around 10.30pm. As we had to park in the long term parking, we didn't give allowance to wait for the bus to pick us up.

Luckily, driving right at the speed limit, we made it to the airport check in counter around 11.10pm. And thankfully for web check ins, we actually managed to jump the queues!

Anyway, after proceeding through immigration, my dear wife was thinking about buying gifts, magz, etc that she left our DSLR camera at security check! Luckily i asked her for it as i wanted to take some photos, otherwise we would need to buy a new one again!

Now comes the real nightmare of 'em all. The entry denied, the detention and the deportation.

As I cleared my immigration checkpoint in LCCT easily, my wife on the 'foreign passport' counter is still waiting for a stamp on her passport.

After a few minutes, the officer went away to speak to her manager. This is usually normal as her crap passport couldn't get her smoothly anywhere except East M'sia and Singapore!

This time, she was asked into the immgration office. This reminded me of the incident in Incheon, South Korea.

She was refused entry because she needs a visa to enter West M'sia and we never knew that previously. So we tried to negotiate our way through but the respond we got is 'hantar balik Melbourne'.

This sucks, we just spent 8 crappy hours on Air Asia X and we're not going to like another 8 hours of torture. We asked them whether we could call any embassy for help or internet to get information but all requests were denied.

They asked me to find ways myself to sort this out. Anyway, cut story short, i contacted my parents, my cousin, and friend in M'sia for help & most importantly prayer. We, well at least myself, just kept cool and remind YL to pray for way out.

After a while, the immi officers found out that YL is my wife and i'm a pure m'sian, they started to soften their hearts and try to look for ways to help us through this tiring ordeal.

In the end, they came up with the idea of deportation to Brunei as YL is a Bru PR. We were glad not to return to Melb again so stuff it, we're buying the ticket to Bru. They also provided both of us with lunch (other detainees don't get them), we were able to sit freely in their compound (others were confined into tiny room) and I can walk through security points without a pass! Haha!

However, costs us about RM860 for the ticket....OUCH! Not to mentioned about RM 450 worth of tickets not used (kl-miri, miri-lbg). It's no longer cheap, might as well fly with SIA or MAS. Better service and comfort!

We were at LCCT from 7am, we only left around 6.30pm. From it all started, we were on this experience for over 26 hours!

Nonetheless, we arrived safely to Brunei yesterday. Will be looking to see if the M'sian embassy is open today to get visa for our return ticket. Then heading back to Lbg in the afternoon.

HBK signing off from Brunei :p

My Last Session

This is it! My last badminton session in Melbourne...for the month of August :P

Need to play super hard tonight! Hopefully will be a fun night!

Hopefully get the chance to play in Limbang or Miri as well! Perhaps can try Uncle Kuek's indoor court! He He!!

Then I'll be off to M'sia for 2.5 weeks starting Wednesday night!

Watch this space for update & photos!

Roads To Recovery

With all the doom and gloom behind us, perhaps it's time to start paving the roads to recovery. Or is it really behind us yet? Hearing still quite lots of negative sentiments floating in the air. Confidence, satisfaction and efficiency level still at its' lowest ever since the beginning.

We have heard of talks of the first month, first 100 days or now nearing first 6 months and how things are progressing or should I say downgrading? It's fine and totally acceptable for the first 6 months on how things are doing. It's totally within expectations. No problem with that.

However, post 6 months period, no excuses are going to be accepted if we're still standing at where we were 6 months ago or worse off. Everyone must be accountable to God, be accountable to each others and be accountable to the community.

The privilege God has given us to be in the City of Melbourne is not to be taken for granted for. We were in the heart of the City during our golden days, now we're at a small corner of the City struggling to make our presence felt.

It's the time of the year to group our people ranging from the rich to the poor, from the smart to the not so smart, from the older groups to the younger groups. However, we don't need dogs and cats. We people who are willing to surrender themselves to God, who are willing to make sacrifices and who are teachable and obedient to God's Words.

It'll costs a lot of your personal private times, your hard earned money, your stomach and your mental state.

Roads of recovery needs to start with the people.

People need to adjust their current lifestyle.

It doesn't matter whether we only have 3 people who are willing to step up and offer themselves as living sacrifice because 10 people, we can change the world. 3 people we can change the church!

Other things we need to look into at this stage are Small group ministry, Mission & evangelism, and social concerns. Those should be the core ministries after rebuilding.

$11,000 deficit? I don't see it last very long if we're able to get on the road quick enough!

Filter Filth

Again, another controversy from the Malaysian Govt by proposing an Internet filter system to filter "undesirable websites.

Apparently, either they're ignorant or too optimistic, the filter system will NEVER work. Try look at Australia? Google the news.

First, the Internet is just too big. It's not like a piece of ball where you can easily cover it by a piece of cloth! Unless they're going to be blocking websites by countries in general? Having said that, it'll be blocking ANY websites, good or bad, which is of course stupid in its own.

Second, it's not viable. IF they are really the world smartest programmers and manage to block their undesired websites, imagine the costs of building the filter? Building a filter for the water is cheap and easy because you can see the source and filter from it. However, Internet has multiple sources like the number of sands on the beach! Try filtering that! The whole world will go broke before we can even filter 10%!

Third, it'll slow down the Internet. Filters means layers. The more layers the connection has to go through means an extra millisecond or tenths of a second gone per layer. It's not going to make a hell of a difference to Malaysia as its' broadband is like a tortoise anyway! Perhaps that's what the Govt wants to do? Get people away from the Internet so people can't get any news of the opposition parties?

Fourth, Communism in a democratic country. Censorship, Govt approved websites only, cover ups, etc are acts of a communist country or a dictator! It'll drive people to be a lot angrier with the Govt, drive investors away and create more harm than good.

However, BN's concern is to dumb the people, not just numb the people. They only want a nation of slaves submitting to themselves, feeding us with candies whenever opposition arises!

Enough is enough! It's time for a change!

Mouse in Pepsi!

Source: here
Date: 31/7/09


ORMOND BEACH - Federal officials are investigating what an Ormond Beach couple found in a can of Diet Pepsi last week: the remains of a possible rodent.

The Food and Drug Administration is testing the can, which Fred Denegri popped open on July 23 and drank, only later to discover what was inside.

"It was unreal," said his wife Amy Denegri, who became suspicious of the can when she couldn't shake out the thing inside.

"It's big enough that it wouldn't come out."

The Diet Pepsi can was one of the last to be consumed from three dozen cans that the Denegris bought at the Sam's Club in Daytona Beach.

Pepsi officials said Wednesday that they traced the can back to the manufacturing plant in Orlando and didn't find anything amiss with the company's quality controls and soda sampling.

"It is virtually impossible for this type of thing to happen in a production environment," said Pepsi spokesman Jeff Dahncke, "We run about 1,250 cans per minute on these production lines. Their speed, along with the rigorous quality control systems we have in place throughout our manufacturing process, give us great confidence in the quality and safety of our products."

Fred Denegri has long been a Pepsi fan and is something of a "addict" to Diet Pepsi, said his wife Amy.

The 55-year-old man had pulled out the can of soda to enjoy with his dinner at the couple's outdoor tiki bar.

He took the first sip and had an awful reaction to it, she said.

"I can't describe his face but if you think about what he just drank, you can imagine," she said. "He said, 'This doesn't taste right. I don't know. It's disgusting.' "

They poured out the soda and a "pink slimy thing" was the first piece to come out of the can. They peered inside and saw what they believe was a mouse, or what was left of it.

They called poison control, but Fred Denegri didn't become sick. An FDA official retrieved the can for further testing.

"We take all complaints seriously and are moving quickly to investigate it," said FDA spokeswoman Susan M. Cruzan.

In the meantime, the Denegris are surprised by their sudden notoriety. "We felt it needed to be out there, that the public should know," she said.

And Fred Denegri is still drinking Diet Pepsi. "We buy the bottles now, though. And he pours it into a glass," she said.

Down But Not Out Yet!

As expected, another crushing defeat tonight. I lost all my games again, so another 0-4.

The good thing is 3/4 of the matches are close games by just 3-5 points roughly. So it's a moral victory for myself!

Another way, got off for next Thursday. After that, I'll be away for 3 weeks namely 13th, 20th and 27th. Hopefully my game doesn't go downhill again!

Can't afford to!

I should be considering joining tougher social games but during "cost cutting" periods, it's hard to juggle between excellence and money!

Costs Cutting

It seems inevitable. To continue staying where I am now seems to be more likely than ever.

The rent i'm paying now is nearly $1600pcm. If I downgrade, i need a minimum 2 bedder. In any good location, i would need to pay about 1100-1500pcm.

The savings are not as much or worth the effort of moving, not to mention all other costs involved. All the connection fees, redirections costs, removalists, etc.

Some areas we looked at were in the West so public transport is poor and security is bad. I wouldn't dare to let my wife use trains especially in the evenings and nights. That'll be a big problem too as she doesn't have a drivers license yet.

So, it seems we have to squeze ourselves a bit to save the difference. Meaning less dining outside, electricity & water usage to be cut down by at least 30% and less badminton for me!

Let's see if we can save an extra $400pcm.

Bad news is we're going back soon so money will be spent. Hopefully the AUD will keep the momentum going upwards. Then I can save some from the exchange rates!

Maybe I need to hope for money coming out from the skies!

Aih...why am I so poor??????

How Early Is Early?

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today said that the Government is planning to include pre-school as part of the national education system. Also, English will be an important part of it. He claimed to be impressed with some students who can grasp basic English after one year in preschool. <--Duhh~~ Those with Philipino maids at home also can speak basic English lah!

Now, preschool is normally for 5 years old or younger. If this has become compulsory in the future, all kids will add another extra few years of studying! It depends on which defintion of preschool they're referring to? Child care education or kindergarden.

Most of my friends only ever started to learn English around Primary 3 or so in my days. I was lucky to start around Primary 1 because I went to a national school, not those Chinese or private school. However, I was unlucky to never learn Mandarin! Even so, we already find the schooling years are too long! I nearly gave up around Form 4. Luckily, I managed to finish a year of Foundation studies and 4 years of Uni. No thanks to Master or PhD, I'll give it a pass!

Personally, I'd prefer the preschool system not to be compulsory but rather a voluntary system. Going to preschool also means more expenses for the parents, though some would argue it as an investment of the future. However, with young parents struggling to make ends meet, making something compulsory without further study of the implication can be a disaster.

Financial problem will affect relationships problem, which will affect socio problems, etc etc.

After all, they're still young! Let them enjoy life! Give them a break! Don't turn them into "stupid" kids! <-- Or maybe that's their plan after all? Turn all kids into future BN slaves? *Grin*

Maybe another flip flop in the future? Wouldn't be surprised!

Conquering The Summit

In about a month's time, I'll be climbing the 4th highest mountain in Southeast Asia, Mount Kinabalu. It has been more than 10-15 years since I last step my foot on Sabah, I can't even remember anything except Pulau Manukan by name!

Anyway, I aim to take down one of M'sia toughest challenge this time. Failure is not an option! Just hope the weather will permit me to get to the top! To be the King of the world (dreaming~)!

Last Saturday was a good opportunity to play around with my SLR camera as I haven't been diligent enough to practise my skills lately. Though the nature of the shots are a lot different (actions/candid vs landscape/macro), hopefully I can take a few good shots! Quite disappointed with my shots on Saturday though. Nothing nice! LOL! Need to learn to have an eye for good shots!

My poor wife claims to be the Innocent victim to my lust for adventurous challenge! However, she has only "practised" once up to now. Running/walking 20 minutes on the treadmill! I'll keep you guys posted on how she's doing when we get up there! HAHA!

Diana encouraged her last night by telling her that she cried all the way up and down the mountain! LOL! Oh yeah, and could hardly walk a few days after that!

As for myself, didn't train for this as well. Just busy training for badminton games as I don't want to pummelled again in the weekly competitions! Won 2 matches last week, yay~! This week I'm facing probably the strongest opponents, looking at a 0-4 results. :(

Metcards Discount

Source: Metlink Melbourne
Date Published: Monday 20 July 2009

Want to get even more bang for your travelling buck?

From Sunday 26 July until midnight Saturday 8 August 2009, you'll receive a 5 per cent discount when you buy Value Metcards online.

Value Metcards are tickets which contain multiple rides at a bulk-purchase price. They include 10 x City Saver, 10 x 2 hour, 5 x Daily, 5 x Seniors Daily, Weekly, 5 x Weekend Daily and Monthly Metcards.

You can buy your Value Metcards at Metlink's online store.

Lone Ranger's Walk

Today marks the 6th rounds I've done walking and praying for RMIT students in the city. It all started after Bishop's sermon about more than a month ago.

I must say, it's not easy to continue doing what I'm currently doing especially if you don't have others to do it together with you. You always feel discouraged or being tempted to just give up.

However, as I do my rounds today, I saw our brothers from the RMIT Christian Unions sitting behind their setup desks promoting their club. There were 4 of them there but nobody approaches them or anything. Most people treated them as invincible, or should I say transparent as a better description?

It reminds me of the days when RMIT CCCF was still active! However, at least the Chinese students are always happy to see us and wondering what are we doing there! Perhaps they long to see something of their background!

Anyway, my heart just drowned when I see such a picture. The world today rejects the truth or doesn't want anything to do with the truth. It saddens me to see such things happening. As I look around the faces fo the students in the campus, I see smiles and laughter but are they truly joyful inside? What happens when the people besides them are gone? What happens after the curtain closes? What happens when the lights are turned off?

I felt the Holy Spirit is raising my conscience and sensitivity. It triggers me to do more and more for the students and people in the City of Melbourne. I hereby call all of you to step up your game! Let's not be the spectator or "kay lei fay", be the role players that God want you to be!

Let's do it together. It's a lot easier than doing it by yourselves. Come talk to me to see what can we do for the City of Melbourne!

^{Matthew9: 37} Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

Let us at least be the "few"! Let the Holy Spirit sets our hearts on fire!