Osama Bin Laden - His Death & The 9/11 Attack

Where were you when you saw this image of unimaginable terror?

I remember watching the unfolding of these tragic sequence of events, thousands of miles away from what would be later known as Ground Zero, in the relative safety of my parent's home in Taman Soga, Batu Pahat. I remember the tears running down my face as I saw the smoke spewing from the buildings.

I was barely out of my teens then, and such an introduction to world politics and terrorism left me cold and sad. One could barely imagine the confusion and fear of those who perished in the attack, and those who suffered the consequences thereafter.

The events of 9/11, in some ways, changed the world permanently, while in other ways, further cemented the deep seated chasms between countries, religions, politics. The invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the fall of the Taliban government, the hunt for Al Qaeda operatives and leaders, and the continuation of terrorist bombings such as in the London Underground and in the Madrid train systems all was to an extent influenced by the 9/11 attack. The Middle East Palestinian-Israel unrest have seen a certain measure of improvement in the peace process up till the fateful day. The so-perceived idealogical war between Islam and the Western continents was further exacerbated and terms like Islamaphobia and Infidels were thrust into everyday lingo.

Although Al-Qaeda have claimed responsibility (or some may say, take credit for) the attach, some have theorised that the attack was a conspiracy by the United States of America as an excuse to invade oil-rich countries or as a means for the Bush administration to gain political leverage in their re-election bid.

I choose not to focus on alternative theories, or whether or not there were gaps in the subsequent official investigation of the 9/11 attack issued by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.

Instead, the one thing that refuses to fade away as memories often do, are the stories of human bravery and sad final goodbyes that slowly emerge after the attack.

Stories of how one of the victims who were working in the building made one final call to his mother, amidst all the smoke and confusion, and reassuring her that he is on his way out of the building, only to have the conversation cut short by reasons no one will ever know, or how the crew and passengers of the plane that crash landed in an open field in Pennsylvania tried to retake control of the plane from the hijackers, stuck with me throughout the decade that passed since 9/11.

The reason why I am writing this, is I just read President Obama of the USA have announced the death of Osama Bin Laden after a covert US Navy Seal operation in one of the suburbs of Islamabad, Pakistan.

Honestly, I have mix feelings about the death of someone who may just top Adolf Hitler as one of the few human beings who have changed the course of mankind by despicable acts of mass murder and terrorism. To be precise, I am not entirely sure as to why there was not effort to capture him alive and to try him in either a US court, or the International Court of Justice. Maybe there were attempts to not harm him in the extraction operation, or maybe the US government have learned their lesson from the charade that is the Saddam Hussein trial and his subsequent execution.

It would be foolhardy to think that with the death of Osama Bin Laden, we will finally be closer to world peace. Even as I write now, there are reports that various bases of American operations have increased their security levels in anticipation of possible retaliation from Al-Qaeda.

The least that I can hope for is that with his death, it may bring some closure to the families of the victims of the 9/11 attack.

Sharing this world of ours not only among human beings, but also with mother nature and her various animal inhabitants have proven to not be easy. Natural disasters such as the Japanese, New Zealand,Haiti and China earthquakes, the 2004 South Asian boxing day tsunami kills hundreds of thousands of people and causes devastation that takes decades to repair and rebuild. Avoidable man made conflicts such as the ongoing civil war in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan and the unceasing fight between Israel and Palestine only adds to this toll on innocent human lives.

I pondered recently, if all the money, time and effort in the past 100 years that goes towards designing and manufacturing arms and weapons of mass destruction were instead channeled towards funding research in medicine and illness treatments, would we have cured cancer by now? Some of my friends weren't as hopeful as I am, and in our current global climate which favors killing each other in more and more methods and ways, and legitimising genocide by either executing genocide or turning a blind eye towards such atrocity, who can blame them for losing faith?

For an update on the death of Osama Bin Laden, please go to the following link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-clemons/bin-laden-dead_b_856094.html 

Energizer Night Race 2011

Running a sub-4 hour marathon is the same as planning a marathon for 10,000 people. Preparation counts as much as execution.

Although I have accomplished neither, it is my generations' core system of self belief that this lack of experience or qualification should not prevent me from commenting on the Energizer Night Race 2011 that was held in Sepang FI Circuit on 16 April.

What transpired that evening was a laundry list of things to avoid in the organising of any event. All event management companies should take heed of the following warnings. Those who do not will find themselves at the mercy of Facebook/Twitter-wielding mobs (or as one particular lady prefers to call them, "hooligans").

• Don't focus too much on the smokescreens and mirrors at the expense of the basics. The effort to bring in cheerleaders and fireworks could have been better spent on ensuring the safety, health and convenience of the runners are being well taken care of.
• Man the parking lots with reliable and trustworthy parking attendants. Having your car broken into after paying an exorbitant RM 10 to men in RELA uniforms is not any one's idea of a decent race.
• Have multiple entries and exits rather than the now infamously known "Tunnel of Death" would have reduced the risk of death by stampede or lack of oxygen to practically zero. On top of that, people would be more willing to queue without complains if they actually know what they are queuing for. Imagine being at the back of a static 500 meter queue and not being able to make out what is going on in front.
• Employ announcers who does not have the tendency to get on the nerves of the participants. Note to the lady of the mic, it's not what you said, it is HOW you say it. The tone that you used on the runners was rude and severely deficient in terms of a sense of professionalism. In addition, when you have PA systems all over the paddock area, having you yelling into the mic "all runners please come HERE" without telling us exactly where "here" is means as much as the free tampons to the male runners. Most importantly, don't piss off a 10,000 strong crowd and then announce over the PA system your name and mobile number. Not the wisest of decisions.
• Employ enough race marshals and volunteers. Overhearing a marshal scolding a runner "Do you know there are 10,000 of you and only a few of us" and not having the goodie bags prepared on time for the 5.5 KM runners does not say much about the organisers resource planning skills.
• Water! How can an organiser fail  so incredibly when it comes to the simplest part of the race? Do not use huge 1.5 L water bottles as runners tend to just grab the bottles while running. Have more than one water station throughout the track. Ensure that there is a sufficient supply of water for ALL categories of runners by the end of race.
• Don't close the rolling shutters when there are people standing UNDERNEATH said shutters.
• Most runners will complete their race within the qualifying time, but this doesn't mean that those who does not deserve to return to a paddock without an organiser, marshal or volunteer in sight! At least have the decency to ensure that all the runners are accounted for before packing up the canopies and leaving.

The actions (or the lack thereof) taken after the race were equally infuriating.

The organisers silence for an entire Sunday gave the opportunity for disgruntled participants to band together in a show of solidarity. Videos taken from handphones were quickly uploaded, and individuals identified as the faces of the race was tracked down and targeted in a barrage of humiliation, insults, and sometimes, wrongfully, I must add, veiled threats.

On Monday, major daily news media (both print and digital) picked up on the story and this was quickly followed up by general statements of apology from both Energizer and the event management company, Expose Media. What was interesting is that the companies' official press statements were at once contradicted by the personal posting of the Group Director of Expose Media, the aforementioned announcer. The following is her take on that night:

Facebook of the Group Director. All names and pictures have been blocked to avoid identification.

Note her insistence in continuing her categorisations of the participants as "this (sic) hooligans".

The PR mishaps continues with her statement reported in the Malay Mail that Exposure Media Sdn Bhd have lodged a police report, and are currently going through the Facebook accounts created by irate participants. Some have taken that as a threat that the company was searching for defamatory remarks on which a legal suit or further police report may be based on.

In the same daily, it was also revealed that the run was not registered with nor sanctioned by the Sports Commissioner. In defence of the lack of an approval, the Group Director have stated that the "event was not supposed to be sanctioned from the beginning" and that it was merely a "fun run". I for one would like to know how "fun run" is defined, when a race involves 10,000 participants with 4 different distances, and different categories including veterans participants, an event that attracted participants from other countries, and where the police had to provide assistance in crowd control.

Printscreen of The Malay Mail website

The response by the the Sport Commissioner's Office puzzled me as well, when they say they were "in the dark" and they were "unaware of the race" until the media approached them. Unbelievable, when this is the third consecutive year the night race have been held, and no small amount of money have been spent in advertising and promoting the event.

On Monday night, when the official results were announced on the website, participants were greeted with this:

21 KM "Official" results announced on Energizer Night Race 2011 website.

Multiple record breaking effort all in one night! I've been informed by experienced runners that such times are highly unlikely, especially for a "fun run", while others have commented that "they must have been fast because they were running on an F1 track". This could again be down to the incompetence of the organisers and failure of the technology that they are relying on. Still, announcing the results without validating it with common sense just indicates that they are no longer bothered, and would rather the whole episode be quickly forgotten.

At present, Energizer have announced that all registered participants will be fully refunded. The procedure for claiming for the refund will be released on 21 April, Thursday.

And if I may make a prediction, I would dare say that by this time next year, all will be forgotten and although there may not be another Energizer Night Race for sometime, some other race organiser will be have forgotten the lessons of April 16. Need I remind you that last year's edition of Energizer Night Race left much to be desired as well, and yet this year they were still able to register 10,000 participants. Another popular race held last year, the Standard Chartered Marathon was marred by one fatality among its participants amidst claims of slow emergency and medical response, and yet this has not stopped the marathon from being fully registered months before the race.

Back to ENR, what was supposed to be a one day event have drawn out to be a long tragic comedy of mismanagement, poor planing and execution, and hilarious face saving moves by both companies. I don't expect to hear the last of it and am eagerly awaiting for future developments which will provide more feed for this writer.

A Side Story to the Sorry Episode.

A male participant of the 11.5 KM race, who had, in the melee that broke out during the collection of goodies, medals and certificates, took off with ten medals meant for the 21 KM runners. Upon realising his mistakes, he went back to get more medals. He was stopped as the police have intervened by then.

The punchline of this story? He blogged about it.

He was roundly vilified by the other runners when his blog posting was shared on the "Boycott Energiser Night Race" Facebook account.

Extract of the unfortunate blog post.

In subsequent statements made by this blogger/participant, he said all the medals were redistributed to 21KM runners, whom he assured the rest of the participants, completed the race within the qualifying time. This claim of his was highly suspect, as he was unable to name the runners he distributed the medals to, although he continued in that same sentence that they were his friends and that they were all "veteran runners and have completed their runs previously under the cut off time of 3 hours".

I would like to give our blogger the benefit of doubt, though, as from his other blogposts, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy who in the midst of the chaos, made a wrong and cheeky decision.

Censorship on Radio

It was recently reported in various international news publications Lady Gaga had implored the youth of Malaysia to pull a Mahatma Gandhi against the prudish AMP Network, the country's biggest radio network operator, for the censorship of the singer's song, "Born This Way".

The line "No matter gay or bi, lesbian or transgendered life, I'm on the right track baby" have been rendered unintelligible by garbling the lyrics.

This is not the first time, nor shall it be the last, where our radio stations take the creative, albeit ill-advised, liberty in messing up songs in order not to offend the sensitivities our our infantile conservative society.

1. The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars

The second verse, where he sings about "meeting a nice girl, have some really nice sex" the word "sex" was scratched away, leaving young impressionable minds to wonder, "hm, what would make the nice girl he met goes, "Oh my gawd this is great!" ".

2. Need You Now by Lady Antebellum

In a country where 7 Eleven's are being raided for selling beer, I shouldn't be surprised that when Charles Kelly of Lady Antebellum sang about drowning his sorrows in the sweet sweet nectar of alcohol, it ends up being "Another shot of zing zing (I swear, it really sounds like this), can't stop looking at the door".

3. Raise Your Glass by Pink

In this party anthem for the underdogs and the freaks, there is a spoken part, "oh shit my glass is empty, that sucks". No prize for guessing which word ends up on the censors' floor. (Special mention also to her song "Fucking Perfect", or the Malaysian version, "Less Than Perfect", with the universally hated and feared phrase "the only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold BEER!".

4. Airplanes by BOB featuring Hayley Williams

This, strictly speaking, does not fall into the censorship category, and there is only one radio station guilty of this. The crime? Screwing up the song by extending Hayley's chorus at the expense of BOB's rap, in their demented and harebrained attempt to please the pop-loving masses.

Oh, and by the way, Zing Zing is our conservative way of saying "whisky". So load up on more of that zing zing (straight, preferably) before the next time your turn on your radio.

Why Malaysia Still Need Good Ol' US of A.

There have been plenty written about the setting up of an Australian rare-earth mineral refinery plant in Gebeng, Kuantan, the economical reasons behind the project, the environmental impact and many reassurances from the Government administration, as well as the rising voice of disapproval from the public.

I've also been told that an online petition have been set up to protest against this plant.

Many of the comments have ranged from those who are well educated in the sciences of geology and the risk posed by radioactive waste, to those who had the tragic fate of living through the Asian Rare Earth, Bukit Merah disaster in 1992.

(I've not seen any reports that termed this incident as a "disaster", but considering that it is linked to cases of leukemia, birth defects and costs $100 million to clean up, I am sticking to my description of it)

As I clearly do not fall into any of these 2 groups of people, commenting on the Gebeng plant from the environmental and human impact would be an exercise in futility, adding no value to point of views already shared by other more qualified people.

What compelled me to write this, though, is the fact that the Gebeng plant is slated for completion by this year.

This puzzled me. A $230 million plant which would be completed by this year would have broken ground at least a few years back, and permit for the construction even further back. However, this issue have only recently surfaced, with even a senior politician from the opposition party claiming that he only knew of the matter after reading the article on the New York Times! With public awareness of this issue increasing, it is no wonder that politicians who were previously blissfully ignorant of the construction of the plant until the publication of the said NYT article, have came out swinging, both for and against the Australian plant.

If not for the well written article by the NYT journalist, Keith Bradsher, the Malaysian public would have been none the wiser, and those who have benefited from this project either legally or illegally would have escaped the harsh spotlight now shone on them.

This have been the second time in mere months where Malaysia have been embarrassed by overseas media and/or regulatory bodies exposing impropriety and corruption.

Just recently, Telekom Malaysia's (and indirectly, the country's) reputation have been dragged through the mud, when officers of the national telecommunication company were implicated in a global investigation of Alcatel-Lucent's alleged practice of bribery to win contracts. Alcatel-Lucent paid $137 million to settle these charges with the US Justice Department and the SEC.

I dread to think what other Malaysian hidden "land mines" may be uncovered by other countries' "metal detectors" before our own authorities have the chance (or courage, and political neutrality, both seemingly lacking at present) to do so themselves.

Hate Post #2

This is another hate post. My only aim of writing this is to cement my reputation as a jerk and a cynical middle aged bitter man. If, however, this post helps make the world a less annoying place to live in, I would like to categorically state that that is not my intention at all.

(Note: If you find similarities between yourself and what you are about to read, chances are I AM refering to you.)

1. Parents of "we-are-not-married-yet" kid

There was an interview done by 89.9 BFM radio station of a young girl. In it, the girl's response to whether she thinks that sex education should be introduced in school was "No, I don't think it should be introduced because we are not married yet". It's as if being taught about sex in school is equivalent to having sex in school, and one needs to tie the knot before one can have any knowledge of the "horizontal tango". I don't blame her though, for she is much too young to have formed such ignorant opinions. The parents should be blamed, for either a lack of education or an overdose of religious hogwash brainwashing.

2. Lighting up in indoor restaurants

I really hate having smoked wantan noodles, smoked nasi lemak, or smoked teow chew porridge, but seeing how there is currently no law against smoking in non-air conditioned indoor restaurants, I know I am figthing a losing battle. What I fail to understand is how some people can smoke even in front of their toddlers.

3. People walking their dogs with empty hands

Picture this. A man, walking his Great Dane along the streets of his neighbours' houses, and while one hand is holding tightly to the leash, the other hand carries some plastic bag and a pair of tongs. This is an example of a responsible dog owner. The rest of you, I hope other people's dogs defecates in front of your car porch as karmaic payback.


4. Traffic reporters wannabes

It seems to be gaining popularity, taking a photo of the immobilised cars in front of you while you are stuck in peak period traffic congestion, and then immediately uploading it to your social media page. This seems like a slap in the face of our respected traffic police force, who would like nothing better than to slap these drivers back with summons for fiddling with their smartphones while on the road.

5. Racist radio advertisements.

I think the Government should haul up the assess of the people responsible for racially offensive radio adverts that stereotypes Malaysian Chinese (notice how I put "Malaysian" first? How PC) as having a substandard grasp of conversing in English. The many Phua Chu Kang poor sounding impersonations bespeaks the lack of originality and creativity in our Malaysian advertising house/radio stations, and makes my sepit eyes tremble and my yellow skin turning purple and red with rage.

Japan: Disaster Through The Lens

A young girl is photographed sitting by one of the many seismic fissures caused by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake. Her expression is one of anguish, despondency, and a seemingly inability to comprehend the reason behind such destruction.

She is barefooted, but beside her stands a pair of dusty heavy-duty boots. There are lines evident on both her calves, proof that just moments ago, she was wearing those boots.

Clothed in typical Japanese teenage fashion, with a faux fur coat, denim shorts and hair dyed red, under different circumstances, she would have been lost in a sea of other teenagers in shopping malls or themed cafes.

But these are not your usual days in Japan.

Behind her, fallen bricks and mortars of what used to be offices and homes serve as a reminder of the wrath and strength that Mother Nature possesses. In a matter of minutes, things that took years to build were reduced to mere rubbles.

To me, this photo symbolizes the loss of hope for a whole generation of young Japanese, many of whom may be too young to remember the Kobe earthquake in 1995. Whether or not this sense of despair is temporary, giving way to unity and optimism amongst the Japanese people which is much needed in the country's rebuilding effort, remains to be seen.

What is certain, is that this photo will prove to be the definitive image of this twin disaster, When the year ends, when it is time for newspapers and magazines to compile the year in pictures, and when Pulitzer prizes for featured photography is awarded, this photo will be in a select company of few others.

Best opening scenes in movies

With minimal dialogue, a captivating sequence of events which chronicled the romance and dreams of one Carl and Ellie, who met when they were kids, and parted only by death, accompanied by a musical score both heart-warming and heart-breaking, the Pixar animated movie "UP" proved that for a story to be successful, a strong opening scene to reel in the audience and set the tone for the rest of the movie is not something that can be compromised.The following are other movies with memorable opening scenes:

1. Star Trek (The Future Begins) (2009)

As the USS Kelvin's first officer, George Kirk had to sacrifice himself by steering the ship towards collision against the Romulan ship, Narada, not only in order to save the members of the ship who were being evacuated, but also his pregnant wife, Winona, who went into labor right about the time USS Kelvin was attacked.

Moments before collision, the background music faded from strong thumping bass to something softer, intentionally to coincide with George's final conversation with his wife via telecon, and him hearing the sound of crying of his baby that he will never meet, a baby that both George and Winona decided before George's heroic death, will be named James T. Kirk.

2. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

An ingeniously comical introduction to the iconic character played by Johny Depp, the pirate Jack Sparrow ("I believe there is a Captain somewhere in there"). His stance on top of the main mast of his ship seemed to convince the audience of the courage and fearlessness of a hard-bitten pirate, only to give way mere seconds later that this is going to be one-hell of a crazy-fun pirate when it is revealed his ship is fast sinking to the bottom of the sea. All this, and not a single word spoken. Genius.

3. The Dark Knight (2008)

When a group of highly trained and sophisticated bank robbers in clown masks starts killing each other during the heist, in an order determined by the Joker, each not aware that after killing one, another member of the robbery have been ordered to kill the one who just pulled the trigger. The revelation of the Joker (Heath Ledger) as the last standing robber, and the way he disposed of the Mafia-linked bank manager warns the audience that this is not going to be a run of the mill superhero movie.

4. Spiderman (2002)

This, I admit is a biased selection, and technically, what caught my attention was not even the opening scenes (which I've got no recollection of). What I remembered most was the level of excitement that built up quickly within me when the introductory credits started rolling, and the Danny Elfman score blasting through the cinema's speakers. I've read countless Spiderman comics as a teenager, and knowing that I'll be seeing a realistic CGI potrayal of my web slinging hero got me clenching my fist and biting my lips, my butt slightly elevated from the seat as I can't even sit still from anticipation.

I am sure there are countless other movies that grab you from the get-go, but for me personally, the above 5 movies (including Up) ranks as some of the best.