G.I. Joe Retaliation

I come watching this movie with high expectation but I felt a bit sad as I think it didn't delivered to my expectation.

Let's start with the good part first. The good point is that this movie is action-packed to the max. In fact, the ninja mountain fight scene is one of the most awesome fight scene I've ever seen. Bringing The Rock in was a good idea, he's such an charismatic and likeable guy. I think the producers copied the idea from Fast5, whereby adding The Rock took the franchise to another level. I like the part where the Rock cheated by using a machine gun with Duke and mostly, the "I hate ninjas" scene where the Rock and Snake Eyes locked on each other with guns. So you see, a lot of good scenes revolve around him. He can easily steals the scene, even from Bruce Willis.

The part where Zartan forced all Nations to fire all their nukes and detonating them was crazy yet brilliant. It sort of makes you think back, with all Nations wanting to safeguard their own interest, sometimes you really need drastic measures to save Earth to be Nuke-free.

Now for the bad part.Perhaps the movie was too focus on the action that it neglected the story line. This was suppose to be a continuation from G.I. Joe Rise of the Cobra. And yet, the movie didn't explain what happen some other characters from the 1st Movie, E.g. The Baroness, Ripcord, Scarlet.

Cobra Commander as Cobra's leader was not given enough role as a big part of screen time was given to Storm Shadow instead. I think the way they build up the story about the relationship between Duke, Baroness and Cobra Commander in Rise of Cobra was quite good. But then in this sequel, they just throw this part down the drain. No wonder Joseph Gordon Levitt didn't reprise his role.

Duke's death was like as if the actor asked for a raise and the Director decided to kill him off. It's sort of reverse climax to kill off the main character of the 1st movie. But even if you want to kill him off, I think he deserve a more epic, self-sacrificing death.

And then, when they reviewed that Zartan was actually the killer of Storm Shadow's Master was my most WTF moment in G.I. Joe history. That would mean that Zartan was very very old, secretly knows enough Ninja skills to teach Storm Shadow and he's doing it without Cobra's order as Cobra was not established yet! Yet another good storyline from the first movie throw the drain.

Another lacking thing in this sequel is the lack of high-tech weapon or vehicle, if compared to the first movie, as this is one of the most important features in G.I. Joe comics. In the first movie, we have Cobra Venom that eats steal, super soldier suit, underground vehicle driller..etc. Ok now I get it, because in this sequel, Destro the weapon specialist, was left in in prison, so no one was in charge of developing new cool weapons.

Then again, G.I. Joe is a multi characters movie and this sort of movie is hard to pull off as you need to give equal screen time for each character. I do look forward to a third sequel, but I hope that they would put more effort in the storyline.

Can I request to have the awesome mobile command centre in the next film?

my wish list for a better malaysia

After reading and listening to countless ceramahs about both PR and BN manisfesto, i thought of wanting to do my own wish list of what i hope the new ruling govt is able to achieve for a better malaysia.

1)Economy

Help to reduce the spiral cost of living, cost of house, cost of car, cost of petrol. Especially housing, which you spend your whole life paying for it.

Scrap  the Kedai 1Malaysia, Sarapan 1 Malaysia, we don’t need government to spend money to do something that create unfair competition to existing business owners. Instead, we should scrap out monopoly and under table business and let the market compete fairly and freely. Look at Digi,Maxis,Celcom competition, at the end, benefit the customers.

If Proton and MAS cannot compete, govt should not pump money to bail them. Let other companies that can provide good service with cheap price do the job.

2)Public Transport

Better public transport to reduce jam, more integrated bus-lrt route, easier access to public transport info, e.g. bus route made available on line, on bus stop, timely bus arrival, helpful website or mobile apps.

Increase the existing cabin size of LRT and MRT or add more trains.

3)Education System

Tamil and Chinese school should be recognized and given appropriate govt funds. But need to ensure BM and English is mandatory subject and also acts as a passing requirement. Should learn from each other, e.g. Chinese School good with maths. E.g. The Chinese schools association should teach other school how to teach better in maths. Each school can remain their own identity but more interaction should be done also. E.g. Indian school visit Malay school during hari raya event. Cultural exchange summer camp program etc for the youth to learn and appreciate each other’s culture.

Free govt uni level education. Entry to uni must be passed the merit. Ensure timely the quality of lecturers and relevance of subjects. We must improve and move up the global education ratings. Organize internship program for uni student so that easier for them to find employment. I think eventually all our govt uni should use English as the teaching language. Else our students can only compete locally, cannot compete with the world.

Scholarship given based on merit. Each time you hear news of straight A students unable to get scholarship, you think these smart student will work in Malaysia? We must secure local talents, then only we can continue more to attract oversea talent. The US and Singapore is a good example , a country that attract talent, because it is based on merit. You need good talents to run a good country.

English for Maths and Sains. Let’s face it, how much would you practise sains and maths in BM in workplace?

4)Educating Public

Eradicate biases knowledge->sarawakian don’t leave on tree, Kelantan Chinese under PAS rule no place to buy pork.

Must teach public about the truth of May 13, must learn and move on, don’t forever plague the people.

National Day parade should be celebrated at Sep16 instead of 31Aug.

Educate public on good financial habits.

4)Security and safety.

Increased salary of policeman to reduce the need of kopi-o. Train them and equip them better so that they can have a faster response time.

Army expenditure must be justified. Too many cases of brainless and over the top army purchase.

Add street lights where required and make sure to fix it quickly if spoiled.

Increase police patrolling. Heavier crime punishment and better enforcement.

Educate public on crime prevention. E.g. when going out for house for long holiday, when walking alone in street or car park…etc

5)Orang Asli status and rural development

They too are a part of Malaysia but have been neglected from the main stream for too long. Mainstream media only potrays Malays, Chinese, Indian.

More rural development projects. Access to water, electricity, school, medical, build roads, setup  agriculture. This beside helping the rural people, it also create more job opportunities, so that not everyone would need to look for job in KL. A well-managed farmer in US can earn more salary than an average office worker.

6) Increased oil royalties to state

The oil producing state like Terengganu, Sarawak remains among the poorest state in Malaysia. The increased royalties must be handled properly and declared public of its expenses, priority should be given to help the poor. By helping the poor means teaching them to fish and providing them the fishing equipment, not giving them the fish to eat only.

7)Environment Issues

More recycle center and bin collection, educate public, encourage private sector on green initiative project, shut down dangerous plant, lynas and raub, those excessive damps in Sarawak. Enforcement on illegal logging, the fines from the illegal logging should be use to plant back more trees.

Planting back more trees = reduce floods. To improve irrigation system in flood prone areas. Better if can prevent, rather than bearing the cost of the flood damages.

8) Government Admin

More transparent, show public the breakdown figures to implement new projects. Get public feedback before proceed to any big project.

More efficient, improve govt servant speed, get rid of lazy BN culture

More accessible, e.g. when road got hole,  call,sms,email launch complain, quickly fix it! e.g. take picture of road hole, email to local council.

All minister must declare their assets!

Say No to racism… minister that said something racist should be suspended and fine. Take out forms that require you to fill race.

A minister must have certain qualification or job experience in that particular field, e.g. education minister must have degree in education, been a teacher/headmaster before etc…because in BN, we see too many minister talking non-sense.

Should have more debate among governing and opposition. Like the TV broadcast in USA. So that both parties policy will be brought forward to the public and justified and also do let public ask question.

Government should find ways of not relying too much on foreign labour. E.g. encourage usage of advance machinery in construction and factory areas to reduce foreign labour.

All projects must be declared to public and done in stages. E.g we cannot suddenly announce to take out all tolls. The toll staff need time also to find jobs.

 

 

Of course, all the said above would be meaningless if we don't go to vote ourselves.  so guys and girls, remember to vote!

 

 

 

 

 

A more peaceful America, A more peaceful world

Obama's courage to set up more strict rules against firearms in the US is a brave move indeed. This is not the first time we've heard of gun killing in American school, but this is my first time that i see a American President having the guts to stand up on this issue and actually do something about it.

Some of you might wonder why after all this time, shouldn't this issue be raised a long long time ago? well, it is actually quite complicated. There are reasons why previous President didn't act against this issue. In fact, the reason is quite shameful and is deliberately not highlighted by media. You see, US is one of the biggest firearms producer and also one of the biggest consumer as well. These companies "donate" lots of money into election campaign, so it's like saying, "Hey, Mr President, if you come up with some fishy rules to ruin my business, kiss your funds good bye!". When you're running for the post of the most powerful person in the world, with such intense competition, it is hard to say no to these funds.

And thus, it began the vicious cycyle, firearms company pumps money in election, Presidents make sure firearms company interest is protected, firearms company make money, and pump money back into election again. Having stricker rules on firearms alone is not enough. The culture must change.

American has one culture which is very bad, the cowboy culture inherited since the wild wild west days. During those days, cowboys violated and moved into Native American Indian Lands. So conflicts are inevitable, so that's why everyhouse has a gun to "protect" themselves. When having a gun for self protection is justified by law and people have a culture of keeping firearms at home, thus the demand for firearms exist. When there's demand, there's supply. That's the natural laws of business. We cannot simply labeled firearms companies as the source of evil. It is the people, the consumer who "created" this company themselves. When there is no demand, the supplier would go out of business.

Hmm...if u look into this further, i think it's like a curse or karma. the European grabs and steal Native American Land, as a result, their future generation continue to cling on firearms in order for them to feel safe. So it is actually not easy to directly set up rules to completely ban firearms, they need to do it step by step, and it is not gonna be easy. They are still many people who protested against this stricker rules and still wants to have firearms, despite knowing the risk and the implication to the society.

Moving on... why does this title says a peaceful america will contribute to a more peaceful world? A few years ago, i watched a movie staring Nicholas Cage, called "Lord of War". It tells a story of an US underground arms dealer who sells firearms illegally to countries in conflict. This movie is really an eye opener as it gives you a glimpse of the darker side of US which probably the main media is pumped money to keep their mouth shut.

It does make sense if you think of it. US is one of the largest firearms producer. Firearms is made to kill, not for decoration. Peace is not good business for firearms, War is, Conflict is. Look at some of those dirt poor military controlled African countries, where do you think they get their firearms from? Do you think they have the technology to make firearms themselves?

To make things worse, the US keeps getting involved in other people's business and wage war with other countries, look at George W Bush admininstration, under him, he wage two wars, Afghan and Iraq. When there is war, the firearms make money again. Luckily GW Bush wouldn't be able to continue a 3rd term.

Luckily the next president Obama is not a warmonger, but a more grounded and more not-extreme crazy-thinking guy. GW Bush left the US in economic and politic shit when Obama took over, so they are many fixes and hardwork that needs to be done. Beside being able to give good speeches, Obama did live up to his "CHANGE" campaign through his actions. SALUTE! Hopefully it would pave up more paths to stricker gun rules in future. PEACE.

Lahad Datu Crisis

Recently some facebook users shared photos and commented that our Royal Malaysian Army is so poorly equipped that they need to take AirAsia to fly Lahad datu…. Before I jump on the wagon to share the news, I began to think why???

Is it our government’s military budget is misused or not enough? But then sometimes it is hard to prioritise distribution of funds for public usage or military usage, especially in era of peace. I believe they do have their own war plane, just that in emergency cases, if you want to transport troops faster to the warzone, anything will help, even taking commercial plane. By deploying troops faster to the field, they are able to protect more lives and halting the enemy’s advancement. Furthermore, these soldiers are going into a warzone not for vacation, for those unfortunate, it could be a one way ticket for them.



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When the Lahad Datu’s incident first hit the newsstand, there’s a rumour saying that the Sabah incursion is politically planned to delay the election, which I don’t think so. Because if this is a staged, you’ll be able to see our PM flew to Sabah the next day and appeared quickly to give a fiery speech in a soldier uniform with imprinted with One-Malaysia logo staging the PM is the hero publicity stunts.

But instead, I think the government reaction is a bit slow, sorry to say. As I think after the first landing, they should quickly send troops to occupy and surround the area. Instead, they even let the enemy advances into several different area, thus making more Sabahans lives at risk. The first week of negotiation I think is a complete BS. When you have armed men occupying your territory, do you still have the leisure to sit down teh-tarik and negotiate with them? The Malaysian Government should have DEMANDED that the armed men leave at once or face retaliation.

 I really think the Sulu Sultan claim on Sabah is a lost cause.

1) Sabah has been a part of Malaysia for 50years. A survey has been carried out during the formation and the people agreed to be part of Malaysia, not to be a part of Sulu.

2) The British has been paying money for acquiring Sabah to Sulu yearly, this is continued by the Malaysian government. It’s like you SOLD your house, but the new owner still pays you yearly rental, but then one day out of the blue you crash into their house and demanded your house to be returned to you! WTF logic is this?

3) If you want to make a claim like this, I think the more appropriate channel should is to bring the issue to international court. That’s what countries do when solving territory dispute. The moment you bring armed men to occupy another country’s territory, you’ve lost the respect for others and yourself, you no longer deserve the rights to negotiate terms. You would have just labelled yourself a terrorist.

One lucky thing is that the claim is not supported by the Philippine government itself, so at least it would not escalate further into an inter-country conflict. However I think that the Philippine government should put more pressure on the Sulu Sultan who’s currently reside in Manila. Someone needs to knock the fact into the head of Sulu Sultan that his claim is a lost cause and he should ordered the complete withdrawal of all forces at once. A leader who sends his men to a sure-lose battle with a sure-lose cause is a coward. If he withdraw his forces, at least he can be the leader that bite his own pride to prevent further bloodshed.

For the mess he’s caused, for the lives that was lost, the Sulu Sultan should be taken to court to be judged for his crimes. Death penalty may be out of question, as it may incur vengeance but at least he should take some responsibility for causing this mess. At the end of the day, he must sign a treaty to release the Sulu’s claim on Sabah and the Malaysian Government should stop paying money to them anymore.

Both Governments should proceed to do some long term collaboration projects to develop the poor and neglected Sulu states. Build more schools and build up the economy. Give the Sulu states reasons and opportunity to create more peace-loving and hardworking citizens. If there are more job opportunities back home, the Sulu people also wouldn’t flood to Sabah to look for job. Having tamed the Sulu states would also be a big relieve for the Manila Administration. At the end I believe this would be a win-win situation.

Let’s hope that the conflict can be resolved soon. PEACE.