These are the 3rd batch of posts I submitted to The Star Online's Citizen's Blog. Some were published in the hardcopy paper. Take time to look through, have a nice day!
Title: Resort manager's atrocious treatment of tourists
Content:
This past weekend I went on a college trip to the beautiful Pulau Redang. It was a great holiday, save for one very ugly incident that was utterly appalling and totally unnecessary. The whole group of my college trip members decided to go to the neighbouring chalet resort's, Redang Kalong, disco facility to relax.
When we all got there, the disco activities had not started, one of the managers cited that if any residents of their resort wanted it begun for the night then only will they begin the music spinning. So fair enough, the whole group waited around and chit chatted to while the time away.
Then the incident happened. One of the co-managers wasn't happy with our presence there and decided to pick a fight with us just to chase us away. Seeing the opportunity of some of the trip members smoking, he proceeded to shout at them to not dirty the floor mat with cigarette ash. All of us apologized to him and those who were smoking put out their cigarettes.
Seeing that that tactic didn't work, he proceeded to hustle us somemore, with a worker joining in when a righteous member said that they should not treat us this way as we are patrons to their premises.
One thing lead to another and he decided to bring more people to back him up, with workers appearing, with chairs in hand, ready to physically assault us. The main instigator even threatened us by saying: "You all don't want leave the island safely is it?!" All this while we have been apologizing and have not done anything to disrupt their resort's business, is this how they handle customers??
Throughout this whole episode, there were many of the resorts' residents looking on from the adjacent restaurant area. It left everyone wondering why the manager couldn't have told us to leave in a more civilized way if he didn't welcome us there at the facility.
This left a very bad image and marred an otherwise great vacation. Even worse was that most of my college trip entourage were international students from all parts of the world. Is this the way we want to portray our hospitality and to promote tourism through brutality?
Here's to hoping that such an incident does not happen again and most certainly we will not be going to Redang Kalong Resort again.
Title: Support our local-born artists
Content:
When it comes to education and the workforce there's brain drain and for a long while now, there is also talent drain. It comes as a disappointment when our very own talented Michael Wong (a.k.a. Guang Liang) has to resort to placing a condition in order to have a concert on home soil.
This should serve as a wake-up call that we should boost our support to local talent. To name a few would be Michael Wong (currently Taiwan-based), Fish Leong (also Taiwan-based), and Datuk Michelle Yeoh (US-based, made it big in Hong Kong), if that is not a drain of home-grown talent, i'm not sure what is.
There is no point in having more talent-themed reality contests if the local entertainment scene cannot sustain the amount of untapped potential that we have in our beloved country. Because of this, all of them had to move overseas to 'make it big'.
So why have more talent search gimicks when support is not given to the already established international artists? Anyhow, a big round of applause for Guang Liang's success on his latest album. Keep it up!
Title: Of giant rabbits, long-tailed toad and a one-eyed kitten (Published, Best of the Day)
Content:
Is this the preview of the future? Is this the next step in evolution? Of late we have been seeing news of unusual animals, animals that some people would call "freaks of nature". Be it Cy, the one-eyed kitten, Robert, the giant rabbit from Germany, or the long-tailed toad, found on our very own home-soil. However, think for a second, they could very be the by-products of our negligence!
Long have there been talk of the effects of industrialization on the environment. Of how our dumping of toxic waste or even normal trash has affected the very structural integrity of the eco-system. But now these stories of bizarre-looking animals could well be the evidence we need. Do we need a 2-headed dog with 2 tails or a 6-armed orang utan to be the wake-up call?
A step towards cleaning up our act and keeping the environment toxin-free would be to support the recycling culture and promote it as a nation-wide effort. One example that we should take notes from and follow would be the city of Taipei, Taiwan. Over there the recycling culture is strong where every person knows their responsibility.
There are recycling bins right next to the normal trash ones, and the amazing thing is nary will u find the wrong materials in the wrong bin. Not only that, the citizens ensure that their usual household rubbish is separated accordingly and collected several times a week.
That level of discipline is highly commendable and us Malaysians should emulate it. We must all do our part now to stop the deterioration of Earth. Let us bergotong-royong and strive to save Mother Nature!
Title: Tak Nak on the go is the way to go
Content:
It is encouraging to see steps being taken to educate the public on the ill-effects of smoking. Thumbs up to the government for drafting the Tabacco Control Bill, with a clause whereby effectively making each cigarette packet come printed with graphic reminders of what smoking does to the smoker.
Finally something is being done to revamp the Tak Nak campaign that has not been effective in deterring individuals from stopping their tabacco addiction. It was a good step forward when the tariff on tabacco was raised last year, making the packs of cigarettes heavier on smokers' wallets.
However since then, even with the higher price tag on smokes, there seems to be no significant difference on making them stop this activity that's detrimental not only to themselves but to their loved ones as well. That is why tariffs on tabacco products should be raised even more in the near future, if not immediately. It should make them rethink about lighting up again and rethink their priorities in life.
In the current world situation, hitting the economic aspect of the cigarettes is more effective in deterring than graphic images. This is because the public has more or less grown numb from all the blood, gore and violence featured over the years in media. Even so, it is a good first step in the right direction by the Health Ministry in placing effort on this issue.
As the saying goes, every journey has to begin with a first step.
Title: Better coverage for sports enthusiasts
Content:
In view of the upcoming FIFA Football World Cup 2006 in Germany, enthusiasts would be tuning in the world over to witness the biggest tournament for the most beautiful game broadcast live.
For a tournament of such scale, one can be reminded of the recent XVIIIth Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia and the Torino XXth Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
The coverage provided for the events mentioned was done superbly on satellite TV. Certain channels were dedicated specially for uninterrupted viewing pleasure, some up to 3 channels even.
Special commendation has to be given for the excellent coverage of the Olympic Winter Games this time round. It provided good knowledgeable exposure to sports that would otherwise be unknown to this part of the world, such as Curling, Luge, Nordic Combined and Skeleton.
Unfortunately satellite TV viewers got the better deal of the coverage, as there was minimal if any at all on public transmission. But do not despair, here's hoping that the FIFA World Cup 2006 will be given the same treatment of good extensive coverage, be it on satellite TV or public TV.
I'm sure footie enthusiasts would be on their edges of their seats in anticipation of which country's team would hoist the coveted World Cup of Football this time around.
Hmmm, may I suggest that a possible relief to employers' woes might just be the introduction of something like TiVo maybe?
Title: Playing games with the mind
Content:
When I saw the ad for the Malaysia Mental Literacy Games 2006, it reminded me of the multitude of other mind games in the world. There's chess, scrabble, sudoku, crossword puzzles, and many many more. In essence any game can be a mind game as long as it is able to challenge the person to use their brains actively and continuously.
The current craze is Sudoku, and thanks to The Star, the public is introduced to and provided a daily supply of puzzles to work on. There's books upon books sold now, rivalling crosswords. Even Tetris is getting a run for its money since electronic Sudoku entered the market. The simplicity of the game is the beauty of it, young and old can pick it up right away.
Even International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz has caught the Sudoku bug. For a good reason as all mind games have: to keep the brain fit and active. Like the body, the brain needs stimulus to keep it running and in tip top shape.
That is why mind games are able to keep forms of senile dementia, like Alzheimer's disease, at bay. Senior citizens should be encouraged to learn to participate in these mind game activities. It doesn't have to be puzzles or memory tests, even games like mahjong and card games are just as effective.
Some might think that card games are nothing more than outlets for gambling, but it is as challenging if not more than your daily sudoku puzzle. Be it playing card games like poker, bridge, gin rummy, to trading card games like Magic: The Gathering or VS Systems, each game is different from the next. The unpredictability adds to the depth of the game. Not only that, there is the social benefit in which you can interact with your opponents, a human factor.
There has been claims as bold as some games bring a mind sport. Rightfully so too, if I may add. 30 minutes, 3 times a week to go with your exercise routine would truly be a total body workout. So the next time you and your family are feeling bored, dust off that boardgame stashed away in the storeroom. From grandparents to grandchildren, age is no barrier towards achieving top mental well-being.
Obi-Kwan Kenobi, 2006
