Friday, October 29, 2010
Jeremiah needs a cold beer
It has been one disaster after another. It's now 9 pm on a Fri night. One speech to write before calling it a night. Time to find a temple in Jakarta to pray....
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Greece, Any One?
Jeremiah wants to go to Greece too, and wonders if he can away with it if he tries to justify the trip on the grounds that he wanted find out if Athens was in Greece.
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Indonesian House Team Off to Greece for Ethics Lessons
Jakarta Globe, 19 Oct 10
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-house-team-off-to-greece-for-ethics-lessons/402254
Apparently undeterred by harsh public criticism of lawmakers’ frivolous overseas visits, the House Ethics Council is planning a trip to Greece, to learn about legislative ethics from a country with an ancient history of democracy.
Nudirman Munir, deputy chairman of the council, said on Tuesday that his group had a list of questions that urgently needed answers, so he is heading a team of eight legislators and three staffers leaving on Saturday for Greece where they hope to find them.
Greece was chosen, he said, because “an ethics council has been used there since the time of ancient Rome.” Meanwhile, a trip overseas had to be taken because “the information can’t be accessed through the Internet,” he added.
Ancient Greece was famous for its pioneering philosophers and developing much of the framework for modern western ethics, starting from notions of virtue and physical strength and progressing to strength of character and nobility of mind.
The study and development of ethical values continued in the Roman Empire, which spread across Greece and into Asia.
“How to stop legislators from ranting or mocking others in a meeting, how to stay ethical and within regulations? Can a House Speaker dismiss a plenary meeting unilaterally? These are the questions that need to be answered, because to date, we have only used our feelings when it comes to things like these,” Nudirman said.
The Golkar legislator said the team would also delve into the Greek Parliament’s smoking regulations to see “whether they are allowed to smoke.” Nudirman said the ethics council wanted to learn from Greece whether or not it could dismiss legislators if they failed to answer summons, whether legislators could leave sessions after simply raising their hands and how foreign countries treated legal issues and policies, including the death penalty, “so we are not fooled by NGOs.”
Nudirman claimed the council had thoroughly prepared its materials for the Greece trip.
However, Gayus Lumbuun, chairman of the council, doubted the advantages of the visit and would not join it.
“I see almost no benefits of the planned visit,” he said, adding that as long as the ethics council did not include representatives from the People’s Conscience Party and the Great Indonesia Movement, “its decisions are not even legitimate.”
The Greece trip is the latest in a series of overseas “comparative study trips” by legislators that have been slammed as a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) said Rp 122 billion ($13.6 million) had been earmarked in the 2010 visit for lawmakers’ official overseas visits — 30 percent more than in 2009.
The reports produced, however, left much to be desired, Fitra said. One was merely a two-page description of the visit, while others contained basic information easily found on the Internet.
Ikrar Nusa Bakti, a political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), was skeptical of the visit.
“What kind of ethics do they want to learn about? If they want to learn ancient politics, then Greece is fine,” he said. “I don’t understand why should they go to Greece just to learn how to interrupt.
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Indonesian House Team Off to Greece for Ethics Lessons
Jakarta Globe, 19 Oct 10
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/indonesian-house-team-off-to-greece-for-ethics-lessons/402254
Apparently undeterred by harsh public criticism of lawmakers’ frivolous overseas visits, the House Ethics Council is planning a trip to Greece, to learn about legislative ethics from a country with an ancient history of democracy.
Nudirman Munir, deputy chairman of the council, said on Tuesday that his group had a list of questions that urgently needed answers, so he is heading a team of eight legislators and three staffers leaving on Saturday for Greece where they hope to find them.
Greece was chosen, he said, because “an ethics council has been used there since the time of ancient Rome.” Meanwhile, a trip overseas had to be taken because “the information can’t be accessed through the Internet,” he added.
Ancient Greece was famous for its pioneering philosophers and developing much of the framework for modern western ethics, starting from notions of virtue and physical strength and progressing to strength of character and nobility of mind.
The study and development of ethical values continued in the Roman Empire, which spread across Greece and into Asia.
“How to stop legislators from ranting or mocking others in a meeting, how to stay ethical and within regulations? Can a House Speaker dismiss a plenary meeting unilaterally? These are the questions that need to be answered, because to date, we have only used our feelings when it comes to things like these,” Nudirman said.
The Golkar legislator said the team would also delve into the Greek Parliament’s smoking regulations to see “whether they are allowed to smoke.” Nudirman said the ethics council wanted to learn from Greece whether or not it could dismiss legislators if they failed to answer summons, whether legislators could leave sessions after simply raising their hands and how foreign countries treated legal issues and policies, including the death penalty, “so we are not fooled by NGOs.”
Nudirman claimed the council had thoroughly prepared its materials for the Greece trip.
However, Gayus Lumbuun, chairman of the council, doubted the advantages of the visit and would not join it.
“I see almost no benefits of the planned visit,” he said, adding that as long as the ethics council did not include representatives from the People’s Conscience Party and the Great Indonesia Movement, “its decisions are not even legitimate.”
The Greece trip is the latest in a series of overseas “comparative study trips” by legislators that have been slammed as a waste of taxpayers’ money.
The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) said Rp 122 billion ($13.6 million) had been earmarked in the 2010 visit for lawmakers’ official overseas visits — 30 percent more than in 2009.
The reports produced, however, left much to be desired, Fitra said. One was merely a two-page description of the visit, while others contained basic information easily found on the Internet.
Ikrar Nusa Bakti, a political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), was skeptical of the visit.
“What kind of ethics do they want to learn about? If they want to learn ancient politics, then Greece is fine,” he said. “I don’t understand why should they go to Greece just to learn how to interrupt.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Music Dreamer Live! Cafe (爱琴海民歌餐厅）
Singaporeans are generally a fickle lot when it comes to dining and night life. Unsurprisingly, restaurants, cafes and night joints come and go with regular frequency. But tucked in a corner of the linkway between Millenia Walk and Marina Square is the venerable Music Dreamer Live! Cafe, which had been in existence even when Jeremiah was in Secondary School. It is a place where fledging local Chinese bands could perform, where friends could have a good time without burning the pocket, and a first date place for many who went to SAP schools.
Last Friday, when Jeremiah and his mates were weighing where to go for post-dinner drinks in the Marina Square area. The list narrowed down to Music Dreamer and Paulaner Brauhaus. Would they go for German beer and chill out in a nicely furnished restaurant/pub but with a somewhat pretentious crowd (that place has its fair share of SPGs)? Or they would head to a simpler place, with local bands brandishing Mandarin and Hokkien hits, freuqented only by heartlanders, serving no alocohol and only Asian tea/coffee drinks but in the process support the local music industry too?
Well, it was really a no-contest, for Jeremiah and his mates are 100% heartlanders at heart. And it is really heartlander joints like Music Dreamer that make up Singapore's cultural identity and heritage, not ersatz European joints.
Heartlands rulez. Majulah Singapura.
Last Friday, when Jeremiah and his mates were weighing where to go for post-dinner drinks in the Marina Square area. The list narrowed down to Music Dreamer and Paulaner Brauhaus. Would they go for German beer and chill out in a nicely furnished restaurant/pub but with a somewhat pretentious crowd (that place has its fair share of SPGs)? Or they would head to a simpler place, with local bands brandishing Mandarin and Hokkien hits, freuqented only by heartlanders, serving no alocohol and only Asian tea/coffee drinks but in the process support the local music industry too?
Well, it was really a no-contest, for Jeremiah and his mates are 100% heartlanders at heart. And it is really heartlander joints like Music Dreamer that make up Singapore's cultural identity and heritage, not ersatz European joints.
Heartlands rulez. Majulah Singapura.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
欠遍问答题
Jeremiah is likely to be out of action for a few days following his dental surgery in a few hours. Here's something for you to ponder in the meantime. The first person who answers correctly gets a prize.
A hungry wolf and a sheep were on the same MRT train platform. Why did the wolf not eat the sheep?
A hungry wolf and a sheep were on the same MRT train platform. Why did the wolf not eat the sheep?
City of Lights in China
Jeremiah's point-and-shoot Nikon didn't quite do justice to the amazing light-up in Xiamen, which was one of the best that Jeremiah had seen in Asia and indeed in the world. It was well-planned, well executed and not too tacky. It gave a certain vibrancy to the place, but did not overwhelm like the lights in Hong Kong. The nights in the inner lake area and on the shoreline were even prettier but alas Jeremiah did not have his camera with him then.
Sometimes one really needs to visit China to fathom the progress of China.
Watch out, Paris.
Sometimes one really needs to visit China to fathom the progress of China.
Watch out, Paris.
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| Even the Mac is tastefully lighted up |
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| 小吃街 |
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| Zhongshan Road, the premier shopping street |
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| Lighted up like a night club, this is actually an upmarket seafood stall |
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Asam Laksa in Bolehland
Back in KL for a leisure trip after a hiatus of eight years, lunch for Jeremiah today was a very delicious bowl of asam laksa. Unlike the laksa in Singapore that is curry-based, asam laksa uses fish paste and tarmarind that give the soup base a hot and sour flavour. Ordering the dish was not straight-forward at the Suria KLCC food court though.
Jeremiah: Aku mau satu mangkuk asam laksa ("I want a bowl of asam laksa")
Foodcourt staff: It is sour.
Jeremiah: Ya, asam. (A bit irritated, since asam means sour in Melayu)
Jeremiah: Aku mau satu mangkuk asam laksa ("I want a bowl of asam laksa")
Foodcourt staff: It is sour.
Jeremiah: Ya, asam. (A bit irritated, since asam means sour in Melayu)
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| Asam Laksa: RM 6.5 at the Suria KLCC food court |
Monday, October 4, 2010
Visit to the Hakka Homeland
On Day Two of his visit to Xiamen, Jeremiah visited the Hakka heartland of Yongding Township, best known for its tulou (土楼) or earthen buildings. It was a trip that Jeremiah had been looking forward to since his childhood, ever since his late grandfather gave him a PRC stamp in the late 1980s commemorating the tulou.
The journey by bus from Xiamen to Yongding took 3 hours (one way), but the long ride was definitely it. Fruit and tea plantations as well as mountain monasteries lining the highway make the journey a visual feast. Imagine a banana plantation that goes on and on for miles.
Tulou generally come in two forms - circular and squarish. Both function as clan residential buildings - it is not uncommon for up to four generations of 2000 Hakkas to live in one tuluo. Built with dried mud and supported by wooden beams and columns inside, tulou look deceptively simple but surprisingly can take up to 80 years to build. Usually consisting of four storeys, the first storey is used as a kitchen, the second as stores while the third and fourth are the sleeping quarters. The shape of the tulou supposedly facilitate its defence - the Hakkas were migrants to the Min region and were not on the best relations with the natives. Unfortunately, nowadays, tulou seem to be fighting a losing battle against modernity, with most young Hakka families eschewing the tulou for modern city life. One tulou that Jeremiah visited had a capacity of 200 families but only housed 4.
The journey by bus from Xiamen to Yongding took 3 hours (one way), but the long ride was definitely it. Fruit and tea plantations as well as mountain monasteries lining the highway make the journey a visual feast. Imagine a banana plantation that goes on and on for miles.
Tulou generally come in two forms - circular and squarish. Both function as clan residential buildings - it is not uncommon for up to four generations of 2000 Hakkas to live in one tuluo. Built with dried mud and supported by wooden beams and columns inside, tulou look deceptively simple but surprisingly can take up to 80 years to build. Usually consisting of four storeys, the first storey is used as a kitchen, the second as stores while the third and fourth are the sleeping quarters. The shape of the tulou supposedly facilitate its defence - the Hakkas were migrants to the Min region and were not on the best relations with the natives. Unfortunately, nowadays, tulou seem to be fighting a losing battle against modernity, with most young Hakka families eschewing the tulou for modern city life. One tulou that Jeremiah visited had a capacity of 200 families but only housed 4.
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| Bananas wrapped in plastic bags at this banana plantation to protect them from Typhoon Fanapi |
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| Small town along the way. Looks modern. |
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| The most famous and popular tuluo in Fujian |
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| Inside a tuluo |
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| Aerial view |
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| Chickens seeking shelter from the heat |
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