MOSQUITOS

Malaria & Dengue

Firstly, do you know that its the female mosquitos that bite and sucks your blood?

Recently, the Ministry of Health released figures to show a rise in the incidence of dengue and that the government and the public have to play effective roles in containing a outbreak of dengue.

For centuries malaria had been equated with mosquitos. Quinine an extract from the bark of cinchona trees was the medicine to save lives. The drug came in many forms to counter malaria. In Malaysia during the early 1960s a drug maloprim was commonly consumed by the plantation workers to prevent malaria attacks. It was the duty of the plantation staff to ensure the workers under their charge regularly swallow the pills!! Of course there are other preventive measures lsuch as spraying with DDT insecticides which is now banned. To-day the most common preventive measures carried out by the health units is fogging with anti-mosquito insecticides.

It is interesting to note that in the 18th century the French Foreign Legionares (soldiers) in active service in North Africa had to take quinine to prevent malaria. And taking quinine is most distasteful. To make it more pleasant to consume a Frenchman, Joseph Dubonnet created a drink of wine mixed with quinine and other herbs and the wine/vermouth was called DUBONNET.This wine is now very popular even in North America. IS QUININE STILL ADDED ???

MCA CRISIS

MCA Circus III

The above caricature by Lat portrays vividly the MCA circus II.

There are indications that the show is coming to an end. The ring master has appeared and all the clowns, acrobats, actors and actresses have already appeared for the grand finale. And again the audience is waiting anxiously for the final performance which will be under the command of the ring master.

This time around there is no Tun Ghafar Baba but Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has taken over the role of putting MCA on track again. Hopefully, he will be spared the role of Acting MCA President to ensure that the greater unity plan, "GUP" is in place. The secret formula of resolving the crisis would be in place when the PM, Dato Seri Najib Razak returns.

Apparently, one of the components of the formula is to have fresh polls and let the delegates make their choice as indicated by CSL and LTL. This has caused everyone in the top leadership and CC members worried. The big question uppermost in their minds is whether they would be re-elected. Those who had lost previously will definitely take the opportunity of making a come back. All kinds of alignment and re-alignment will surface with the usual horse trading. Of course there will be lists of menu "Chai Tans". It will not be surprising that veterans, and "tok dalangs" will be seen playing a crucial role.

But what is most important is the MCA's availability of a team of leaders that can provide a strong leadership which can regain the respect, dignity and confidence of the people. Does MCA have the leaders who can be at par with the other top leaders of BN component parties particularly UMNO? For example, they should be able to command respect and support from the BN back benches instead of being ridiculed ?

As for maintaining cordiality and rapport with the Chinese community leaders the present crop of top leadership leaves much to be desired. The top Chinese community and business leaders made an attempt on 16/11/09 at a dinner to help resolve the crisis but to no avail. Whether any secret formula was put forward or not at the dinner was not known. The traditional spirit of elders of the Chinesese community assisting in resolving disputes was probably ignored. Consequently, the Chinese community and business leaders will ignore MCA and hence have no role to play in future.

In conclusion, will MCA continue to play an effective role in the government? Or will it merely portray Chinese representation in the government?

MCA CRISIS

MCA Circus II


The show continues with more clowns and jugglers appearing to entertain the audience. More faces of the third force are appearing like heavyweights, ex-Secretary General Ong Kah Chuan and featherweights like Tan Kah Choun. More faces may appear as the MCA drums beat louder. Whoever is the saviour of MCA the party must be seen to be able to save itself. If MCA cannot save itself from oblivion how can it represent the Chinese community and defend (forget about fighting) the rights and position.

Now it is an opportunity for all warring factions to sort out their problems together without begging for outside help. Show some pride and self respect and act accordingly without any attachments of self interests. Can you ???

Forget about the Brutus, the traitors, "boleh pakais" and "tak boleh pakais" but call for a truce. If more is being said the deeper is the grave being dug not only for the key players but also the party.

The following may be food for thought.

1. The loss by even 1 vote is a loss based on the principle of first past the post. So OTK you have lost a vote of no confidence although by a narrow margin. As it is not a 2/3 majority vote on a resolution to remove the President the question of resignation does not arise. In such circumstances the President cannot speak from a strong bargaining position and with great confidence. He will be ridiculed as had happened recently in Parliament when he was asked to quit his post as Minister.

2. OTK should therefore, stand for re-election as President and fight for his principles and what he believes in. There will be no problem in winning with a bigger majority if he is truthful, transparent and above all can provide the leadership so as to prove his foes wrong. Dato Paul Low from Transparency International is a fine example when he was re-elected as President.

3. As for CSL he should also seek re-election if he can command the respect and confidence of the delegates inspite of his scandals he will be able to retain his post.

4. The third force led by LTL has surfaced and his supporters are already known. However, the force behind the third have yet to be identified as they are still playing the "Tok Dalangs". There are still wild speculatons on their hidden agenda. If you are sincere they must explain themselves and tell all.

In conclusion, the elections must be held quickly to avoid the party's disintegration through their gimmicks and intrigues. All campaigning should be stopped as the leaders who are key players had already done their rounds.

It is up to the delegates who will be matured to choose wisely and act without blind loyalty so as to SAVE MCA.

Plantation - Chain of Command

Follow Instructions

As a young assistant working in the plantation in the middle of 1960s following instructions is the rule of the day. This is so if you are planting your future and the Company's future. It means the new planting or replanting of rubber and oil palms. The transfer of the planting material from the nursery and planting proper must be properly supervised to ensure a high success rate.

In those days rubber planting was done with seeds, budded stumps and stumped buddings. Stumped buddings in simple language are young rubber seedlings of 1.5 to 2 years old which are pulled out from the nursery and planted straight in the field. These seedlings are either bare rooted or the roots are intact with a clod of earth. During the preparation of the buddings which are of 7 to 12 feet high they are cut at a certain height.

The command from the immediate superior was to cut seedlings at 4 feet height. When he went on leave Big Chief, the Group Manager paid a visit to the nursery where the buddings were being prepared. He was furious when he saw the short rubber stumps and immediately instructed the contractor to cut them as high as possible which was about 7 feet. It was miserable to receive 2 different instructions. The solution was to seek advice from the Deputy Chief. A good compromise was reached, that is, minimum of 4 feet and a maximum of 7 feet. Actually, it should have been at the juxtoposition of the green wood and the brown wood above a whorl of buds.

Hence the plantings in field were of different heights, the lowest being identified with the 3rd. boss who was really short. The trees of average height belong to the Deputy Chief who also happened to be of medium height, whereas the tallest ones are identified with the Big Chief who was a six footer plus.

At the conclusion it was all smiles when the General Manager visited and exclaimed " Oh, what a fine planting - CHEERS !!"

BADGES

CAR BADGES

It is not uncommon to see all sorts of badges displayed on the grills, number plates, bumpers and windscreens of cars. They mean a lot to the car owners and to some people these attach a lot of meaning. In the 1950s and the 1960s the car badges were collectible items and most of them belong to motoring clubs, for example AAM, RAC. Today the badges displayed on cars can reveal the status of the owners, membership of the various clubs and associations. And this certainly conveys to the general public who the owners are. They maybe Royalty,Yang Berhormats, Yang Berbahagias, officers of Government Departments, state and federal awardees, members of prestigious clubs and associations.

At one time the Sultan of Selangor disallowed the display of badges with the state crest on cars. Certain car owners who feel that they are one above others even added the alphabets VVIP or VIP to their badges. As there is no law to ban the display of badges on cars, it becomes very decorative especially with more badges displayed. But one should not be fooled and be misled by the VVIPs as they are also another member of the rakyat enjoying the same rights and priveledges.

This then, leads to the "dog badges" that is hung from the neck. It tells the name of the person and the organisation he belongs to. While passing by a group of businessmen in lounge suits attending a conference and exhibition in KL, I overheard their conversation which was full of excitement and gusto. Suddenly, there were of cries of the FOUR LETTER words in Hokkien (KKK) and Cantonese (TTT). "Out of curiousity I turned around to catch a look at them. And lo and behold these "genteelmen" were wearing badges showing their names with large letterings VVIP. So I turned to my friend that the 'VVIP' may mean "very very ignorant punks".