What's wrong with Undilah

My wife and I were on our way to work early this morning when we're tuned in to the 7.00am national news.

In simple terms the news talked about 'Undilah' video clip being BANNED and taken off-air.

I have not seen it on TV myself but the announcement of its immediate stoppage from being broadcasted irked me and that prompted a quick google session first thing in the morning. The reasoning by the Minister was lame, or, am I a 'lame duck' now for failing to understand that the "video clip offended certain segments of society"?

I'm not going to hurl comments here but I will let you read for yourself what the big guns have to say:

1. Rais said it offended certain segments of society
2. Contains anti-BN messages - claimed Kota Belud MP
3. The MCMC comes under fire from the 'stars' themselves. Now I get it!
4. MCMC says nothing to do with contents. Should've blocked it long ago if not approved.

We've had enough of what others said. Let's see in the following clip, which part of the play "offends" you:

My personal view is that it is something good. I'm also part of the society but I don't feel offended by the content of the clip. Now, where has the pledge to-express-yourself-freely-without-discrimination gone?

iPhone 5 Announcement, finally!

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October 4, 2011 @10.00am California

It'll actually be less than a week now for the official announcement of the new iPhone, shall I say, iPhone 5.

I was browsing through The iPhone 5 News Blog for my daily dose of news about iPhone today and was pleasantly surprised - or, should we be surprised anymore after the long wait - to read the headlines.

So, it's official. The Loop's Jim Dalrymple reported that he has been invited for the announcement as follows: "Let's Talk iPhone" October 4 at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif. campus. The event begin at 10:00 am PT.

Screen shot of The Loop's posting using my handset

Jim said he will be at the event, and will bring a live update of the announcements as they happen.

So let tune in to The Loop this Tuesday and get to hear it first hand; well almost.

Energy Efficient Singapore

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In my previous postings It Pays to Go Green and 5-Star Appliances and Rebates for You, I mentioned rebates of up to RM200 for energy-efficient appliances.

For the time being these rebates are for air-conditioners and refrigerators with 5-Star labels. This is one of the steps taken by Malaysia government towards wider usage of household appliances with high efficiency.

For Malaysia, energy-efficient equipment requirement is voluntary.

Singapore is a step further. The city state has imposed standards for minimum energy performance (MEPS) and it is now mandatory for exporters and manufacturers, including Malaysia, to comply with new standards if they want to continue selling these products there.

Among the specifications in these standards are types of goods, cooling capacity (in kW), minimum coefficient of performance, adjusted volume and maximum annual energy consumption (in kW).

What does that mean to our many manufacturing companies and consumers in Malaysia? A handful, both negatives and positives:

1. Higher production cost, product differentiation between export quality and 'local use'. Expect lower efficiency for local market. Remember, our carrots (rebates) are based on voluntary participation from manufacturers.
2. Accelerated acceptance of green technology. Manufacturers will now have to innovate to produce goods that are more efficient but cheaper in order to stay competitive.
3. Malaysia will have to come up with MEPS sooner than later. This should fulfill the government's pledge to reduce carbon emission.
   

My opinion: Incentives are good, it helps in many instances and no doubt it can spur the advancement of green technology on to certain feel-good level. But couple with regulatory measures, the pace of such growth will certainly be better.

Read about the imposition of new standards here.

United Move Clear

What a week of football for the BPL - to United fan that is!

Nani doing his trademark celebration after scoring a screamer.
Photo credit: soccernet/AP

Check out the other selected results from this week's fixtures (those that concerns the potential title contenders - M.United, M.City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspurs):

All of the other teams in the "Big Five" dropped points except for United.

For my English speaking friends and readers, that sums up my excitement for a fantastic week for Manchester United FC and the fans from all over the world.

Untuk rakan-rakan peminat bolasepak di Malaysia, izinkan saya kelentong sikit a.k.a trip macam pengulas sukan terkemuka Haji Hasbullah Awang, hehe.

90 minit pertemuan United dengan Chelsea yang dijangka menyajikan persembahan menarik nampaknya akan diingati sebagai yang sebaliknya. Apa tidaknya, lihat saja fakta-fakta berikut:

1. Rooney gagal menyempurnakan sepakan penalti
2. Torres yang berdepan dengan gawang kosong memilih untuk menguis bola ke kiri (blunder of the season lah kiranya)
3. Berbatov nampak masih 'berkarat' selepas gagal menjaringkan gol pada jarak 5 meter dari gawang dengan penjaga gol Chelsea sudah tertewas.
4. Dua gol United kelihatan offside tetapi ini tiada bezanya dengan jaringan Terry musim lalu di Stamford Bridge yang menyebabkan Chelsea menang tipis 1 - 0.
5. Rooney sepatutnya menjaringkan hattrick atau 4 gol.
6. Torres, seperti Rooney sepatutnya menjaringkan hattrick.

Apa-apa pun 3 matalah yang penting dan ini telah mengekalkan rekod 100% United dalam kempen musim ini. Musim masih panjang tetapi siapa mungkin yang tidak cemburu dengan permulaan hebat seperti ini?

Come On UNITED.....all the way now!

FEW Willing to Pay to go GREEN

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Only 1 in 5 Malaysian consumers are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products.

That is according to a global study by analysis firm Nielsen, and it's pretty low an appetite for greener products on our part.

According to Nielsen’s 2011 Global Online Environment and Sustainability Survey, 9 out of 10 Malaysian consumers show awareness and concern for environment pollution but 20% would actually be willing to pay more towards contributing to a greener world if it cost more to purchase environmentally friendly products.

There were 51 countries worldwide surveyed online and Malaysia ranked 9th in terms of consumer worries about the impact of air pollution and global warming. In this respect, Malaysians have shown good improvement compared to the last poll conducted in 2009. But being aware and concern is useless if they are not coupled with a commitment of sort, and this is where we are still lagging behind other countries.

What this means to the green industry is that this findings will have big implications for retailers and manufacturers looking to invest in environmentally-featured products to meet consumer needs.

I remember a quote by our State Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Masidi Manjun, "...that it is about time we start paying to view cultural shows and performances so that not only will our cultures be preserved but it will become a self-sufficient industry..." or thereabout, and I fully agree with him.

It is about time we pay a little more for eco-friendly products. Hopefully this, together with the incentives given by the government will bring down further the cost of producing such goods.

Read more about Nielsen's 2011 Global Online Survey here.

So there, for every five Malaysians out there, only one is willing to buy the more expensive green products. Could that person be you?

Happy Merdeka Day

Selamat menyambut ulang tahun kemerdekaan daripada penjajahan British. Deklarasi kemerdekaan pada 31 Ogos 1957 merujuk kepada bermulanya pemerintahan sendiri Persekutuan Tanah Melayu (Malaya).

Hari Malaysia pula merujuk kepada terbentuknya federasi Malaysia pada 16 September 1963 bilamana negeri-negeri Sabah, Sarawak dan Singapura bergabung dengan negeri-negeri di Semenanjung Tanah Melayu membentuk sebuah negara berdaulat - MALAYSIA.

Selepas itu negeri-negeri di Semenanjung Malaysia dikenali sebagai Malaysia Barat maakala Sabah dan dan Sarawak yang terletak di Pulau Borneo dikenali dengan pangilan Malaysia Timur.

Secara peribadi saya lebih suka istilah Malaysia sahaja berbanding panggilan-panggilan yang bersifat regionalisation. Tidak perlu beza-membezakan antara satu sama lain, kita kan satu Malaysia.

Many thanks to Uncle Google for putting up a nice banner of "Independence Day" on his landing page for Google Malaysia for a good few days until 31st August 2011. As you hover your mouse/cursor above the banner, you will notice a hyperlink and a click would bring you to search results on 'Malaysian Independence Day' news and updates.

This year's Merdeka Theme is "1 Malaysia, Transformasi Berjaya, Rakyat Sejahtera" (1 Malaysia, Transformation Success, People Peace)

Top: Landing page, Bottom: after a click. Note the double celebrations marked with 'Ketupat' and the 'Jalur Gemilang'


This year's Hari Raya Eid ul-Fitr coincides with the Merdeka Day celebration.

Selamat Hari Raya, selamat merayakannya kepada saudara-mara, sahabat-handai dan taulan Muslim dan keep safe ya.