Social Change 2.0

We had been reading the book Social Change 2.0 for our leadership class. I had only read the 1st three chapter. Basically the book interest me as it was wrote based on experiences. What I can conclude from the 1st three chapter is; to make changes, reputation is vital and if you do not have one, build one!

Our yound ones

Yesterday I had a chance to join the volunteer group at Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale. They were playing volleyball as a part of their recreation week when we came in. I will not really describe what happened during our visit as I can easily conclude it by saying very meaningful. However, I want to share my view on children.

As we all understand, children are tomorrow’s leaders (decision maker) and it is sad to know that not every child in this world is fortunate enough to have a decent life. I can’t blame anyone on that as even many adult is not having a decent life in this world. It’s a cruel world they says. Therefore, it is not something we can change in one day, but the changes can be made faster if everyone understand and play their role wisely. Helping hands for children can come in monetary, volunteerism, material donation and many more. Giving children good education is not enough as human being also need to be brought up with other moral values such as courtesy and so on. As America struggle to give every American a decent life, the third world country and developing country struggle more. The mentality of some people around the globe are just too cruel even for themselves. The greed to be wealthy and powerful never end but should never be a reason for discriminating our young ones.

A child mind should be develop in their earliest years and their creativity should never be stopped. Developing country and the third world country is struggling in providing infrastructure and human capital to do so. Improvements are undeniable. But how fast is it? When will we live in a equal world where opportunities are there for everyone? There need to be opportunities in the first place before anyone can blame the people on making bad choices. Billion dollars had been invested on children around the world since ages. However the changes are still far from satisfying as the involvement are not from everyone.

Right now I’m with 19 youth from Malaysia, Indonesia and The Philippine which I believe are great people which is very unique in their own way. Having to know them for the last 2 weeks I strongly believe that this group of people are made to make changes.

America.. Economy of scale. The luxury of choices!

I was a kid who was brought up in a country which used to be colonized by the Britain, had a chance to do a little bit of my primary school in the UK, studied in Malaysia which the academic system was quite similar to the British, and basically a lot of things in my life was about the British. Going to America was always one of the trips that I must make but I do not mind when as I strongly believe that I will at least step once on the land of the United States in my life. But I never imagine that it would be right now. =P

SUSI had given me the chance to be in the states and experience it not like most people will. Why do I say so? Imagine trying to cramp everything in 5 weeks and having program about America every single day. Even some American will enjoy something like this or they might get tired of it. Haha.

The journey itself from the other side of the world made me exhausted but it was worth every step. I would love to go for the details but I believe it better if you just read it from one of my Malaysia friend which is also in the program. They do a better job on that rather than I will. If you ever read my blog before, you will understand that I never really go into the details most of the time.

So what’s interesting about America? In my point of view, I’ll say that you will have the luxury of choices. You can enjoy a lot of stuff with a reasonable price according to your budget. As a very huge country that have a lot of purchasing power, America benefit from the economy of scale. Even the luxury good in the states is not as expensive as the one in Malaysia. For an example, buying Lamborghini or even a plane in the US will never be as much as expensive it would be in Malaysia. One of the reasons will be the economy of scale. With only 27 million populations, as a businessman, do you really thing that you can sell a lot of jet and luxury cars or even anything in a developing country as Malaysia? Certainly no. Jacking the price higher, some goods are being highly taxed by the government for various reasons.

I cannot imagine what will happen in Malaysia if the car price in the country is as same as the US. Maybe a lot more Malaysian will drive luxury cars such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce or a Maybach. That is not impossible! Hahahaha. Even with ridiculous price in Malaysia, there are people driving it around town and a lot of people driving Mercedes and BMW. The most important aspect for me will be the quality of cars that will be on the road of Malaysia as general. Maybe we can decrease the number of death on the Malaysian road if we have better quality of cars with whatever the price we are paying currently for a car in Malaysia. Bare with me, I love cars. =P Everyday goods are clearly cheaper and the quality of everything on the shelves wherever you go will definitely be as reasonable as the price you can get.

Love to talk more about a lot of other things but I’ll catch you up later.

Treatment for Drug Dependant....

An article I've written a few years back...

Drug dependant means a person who through the use of any dangerous drug undergoes a psychic and sometimes physical state which is characterised by behavioural and other responses including the compulsion to take the drug on a continuous or periodic basis in order to experience its psychic effect and to avoid the discomfort of its absence. Drug addiction is a treatable disorder but not easy where the treatment works to reduce drug intake and crimes committed by drug dependant. The concept is more treatment given, better the result.

The ultimate goal of all drug abuse treatment is to enable the patient to achieve lasting abstinence, but the immediate goals are to reduce drug use, improve the patient's ability to function, and minimize the medical and social complications of drug abuse. There are several types of drug abuse treatment programs. Short-term methods last less than 6 months and include residential therapy, medication therapy, and drug-free outpatient therapy. Longer term treatment may include, for example, methadone maintenance outpatient treatment for opiate addicts and residential therapeutic community treatment.

Methods of recovery from addiction to drugs vary widely according to the types of drugs involved, amount of drugs used, duration of the drug addiction, medical complications and the social needs of the individual. Treatment is just as important for the addicted individual as for the significant others in the addicted individuals sphere of contact. Determining the best type of recovery program for an addicted person depends on a number of factors, including: personality, drug(s) of addiction, concept of spirituality or religion, mental or physical illness, and local availability and affordability of programs

Each individual’s experience has quite personal and unique characteristics. It takes a trained professional, either a physician or therapist specializing in addictions, to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe the most appropriate treatment program. Drug addiction is much more complex than merely ‘too much drug use’. Drug and substance dependence is beyond the control of the user – he is no longer in control and does not have much choice in the matter of continuing use. Rehabilitation, then, is the path that leads to an effective treatment of drug use. Rehabilitation is the recovery of diminished capacities due to injury or illness. The word itself comes from the Latin prefix re meaning ‘again’, and root habilitates meaning ‘to inhabit’. Thus ‘rehabilitate’ literally means to inhabit yourself again – and that is the aim of rehabilitation: to return former capacities to the inflicted person.

Rehabilitation aims at more than ending drug use. As previously mentioned, rehabilitation cannot be a punishment for drug use. It must be the gradual process of ending dependence while also rehabilitating the patient into society. The rehab treatment center can be considered the umbrella in the stormy weathers. It cannot control the weather, but does shield and help the patient and family on their way through the tempest. A rehab center must be rigid in its aims to help the patient, but cannot be rigid in its process.

Rehabilitation comes in different kind of modules. Statistic and research had shown that the Abstinence approach which is taken by the Malaysian government currently has failed miserably and the time has come to shift to the Harm Reduction module advocated by NGOs and activists both local and abroad. Harm Reduction module has been proven successful in countries like Australia and Europe (use to apply the Abstinence module) in curbing drug abuse as well as checking the spread of HIV and other blood-borne diseases such as Hepatitis B and C.

Drug depending had become a major problems for a lot of nations in the world. Malaysian government should apply the best and the most suitable treatment towards the drug dependant in Malaysia. The current treatment seem outdated and not been use in other develop countries anymore as they believe that there are better module. Action should be taken and the module applied should be re-look.

Anyone up for an orchestra? =)

It have been a long time since I post anything in my blog. I was busy a lot of stuff lately.

Anyway, as everyone know, we have a lot of kind entertainment in our everyday life. However, I believe that not many people are into orchestra performance. If you are in KL, you should check out Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra in Dewan Filharmonik KLCC. It would be something different from your usual entertaiment such as clubbing, playing pool, bowling or watching movie in the cinema. I believe it is something that all of us should experience if we never did.

The facility of an orchestra hall is not available everywhere my friend. So, if you ever come around to hang out in Suria KLCC or anywhere at the surrounding area, try and check it out!

Some of us think that orchestra is juat plain expensive and only for the upper half of the public, but actually it is so not true! A ticket price sometimes are even as cheap as RM10! But please be reminded about the dress code. It is usually smart casual or a very formal attire for some performance. There are perfomances every weekend.

Eveyone can check out Malaysia Philharmonic Orchestra official webpage for more information;

http://www.mpo.com.my/

Seriously, RM10/20 is just too reasonable for a live performance of an orchestra!

Where do babies come from? =P

How would you answer that if a kid asks you? Haha. I read it in Life&Times, NST just now. An example of a good answer. =P

NST

Friday, January 15, 2010

Where do babies come from?

You know chicks come from eggs and plants come from seeds? Well, humans are very special because we come from egg and a seed.
The dad has the seed inside his body and the mum has the eggs in hers, and they give each other a massive cuddle because they love each other so much, and that amazing big hug is like two pieces of jigsaw fitting together, or two bits of Lego.
That way, the dad’s seed can meet the mum’s egg, and it makes a baby that will be born in nine months.

By Bel Mooney, Daily Mail advice columnist.

Malaysia.. religion, media and the people...

The whole country was shocked when the news about a few churches been vandalised.. But actually, I guess some of us sees it coming. It started off with the disputes about the use of 'Allah' and later on became a more serious problem. However, I sees it coming as 'something' that 'someone' will do to spark things up and make matter worst. Although a lot of ppl will assume that maybe some fanatic muslims did it, I dont really think so. It can actually be anyone that just want to make things get bad between the religions and races. We are having a 1 Malaysia campaign going on and something like this suddenly happened. Some might blame the Goverment, but actually the government is us! thats democracy. Are we, Malaysian, only play our role as a citizen by just voting? I believe it means much more than that to claim yourself as a good citizen. Play your role wisely my friends...

Sometime we need to put aside the media and put our own experiences as our term of reference. The main objective of media is to make money as that is their key for survival. If not, their company will 'roll their mat/rug' or Gulung Tikar. =P

Sometimes they are not even ethical as last week one of the local newspaper publish a photo of believed underage maid that burned down her employer house in Terengganu. Is it that hard to sensor a face? every other newspaper manage to do so but one newspaper, sadly a Malay newspaper, failed to do so.

Being practical and rational is the best thing that every Malaysian can do right now...

Happy New Year! Cheers! the RM100 priceless experience.. =P

Its 6th of January, hope its not to late for me to wish everyone a Happy New Year!
Hope that you guys have a great new year up ahead!

But anyway, whats so good about a new year? is it because of the new calendar that we sometimes get for free? the feel that we are leaving our mistakes in the past far away from us? or what? hahaha

People talk about new year resolution and stuff like that.. but to bad I'm not really the kind of guy that is into that kind of things. For me, live u life to the max every single second! do our best and we will never regret anything that we have done. Make the best out of everything. My principle; do my best, hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

What did I do on New Year's eve? I was on the bed sleeping! haha. Sorry for all the SMSes that I only replied the next day and all the calls that I didnt answer. I was just plain tired.. hehe.

The next day, I started my new year with something new. a pair of new car signals! (cannot change only the right one as the colour will differ, even a bit) haha. My car was bang by a guy without a license and the van that he drove didt even have a road tax. I was stopping at the traffic light as it was red to make a right turn and suddenly when it was green, the van on my left suddenly made a U turn. The back part of the van hit the right side of my car. What do you expect from a guy that dont even have a license and drive an old van? haha. He wanted to run a way but I over take him and block the van. It was something like a scene that we normally see on tv. =P

I went out of the car with another two friends, in the middle of the road, later approached the van. He came out and said "kenapa bang?" (whats up bro?). In my head I was like "Dude, u bang my car for god sake!". However, I just replied with "lets pull our car to the side to the nearby bus stop". Later on, the guy apologized. He said sorry and he was hoping that I dont launch a report as he doesnt have a license because he doesnt know how to read although he was 18.. I was not mad at all at that point as I do understand that accident happens.

Me and my friends ask him to call anyone that he knows to settle the problem. He said he doesnt know anyone except his boss because his family live in the kampung. I gave him a sweet and ask him to chill out.. offered my friend's cigarette for him to smoke..

Cut thing short, his Boss came with his wife (he said so). But they were just making me mad as the guy said that he only gonna give me RM100 for the damage. I was like, wattahell! its an original mercedes signal you talking about and my bumper were also scratched.. He said my car bumper can be easily polish and it will look new in no time. Polish? how the hell can you polish something that does not even have paint on it anymore?

Later, the couple start making stupid stories like; we are stupid, thats why we sell burgers..(btw, the van was a burger company's van) you should give us a chance, we are Malays, so we should help each other...
Yeah right, you let your driver drive without a license and you dont even pay road tax!
1Malaysia... =P

Not to make anything worse, as my friends were ready to beat up the guy and I was thinking of reaching to my 2 in a half feet steel pipe to start playing baseball that night, I decided to go to the police station. The guy promise to go together to the police station but they ran away half way. hahaha

And that was how I started my new year! hehe. Thank god, I felt so happy that I was able to controlled my anger.. I felt so human as this kindda stuff only happen to human, not angel or devils. (I'm not sure if an angel drive a car or satan wait for the lights to turn green, I dont think so)

I felt sorry for the driver that bang my car.. As a Malaysian, I felt very sad to find out and meet a countryman of mine who is illiterate and didnt get the chance to go to school as he need to make ends meet for his family. This is the future of Malaysia. Its 2010, a lot of Malaysian celebrate the New Year with happiness and fireworks here and there... we cheers our physical development, our cutting edge technology.. but at the same time, some of us are still living an unfortunate life...

Malaysian politicians.... I just wish that every single one of you can become a normal human being with human feeling. I'm bored of everything which is being politicize. Chill out! I dont mind you guys making millions, if at the same time you do what you are suppose to do and the people are not being neglected. I'm not pointing a finger to just one party, but instead I'm pointing all my fingers to everyone including myself. (Luckily I only have 20 fingers. =P) I know that politic is politic.. but sometimes we just need to know our limit. enough is enough. But, what is the limit?

I was never mad at the driver instead I pity him as I guess that he is soo gonna get it from his Boss. By the end of the day, I dont even get a single cent but I gain a priceless experience....

Thats my New Year experience, it was very intresting for me.. how was yours? =)