Malaysian Dream

Paul Chong

Monday 21 June 2021

Three score & four years ago, Tunku Abdul Rahman & his Alliance embarked on a “Merdeka Mission” to London to negotiate & secure independence for then Malaya from the British colonial master. For most of us, it was the beginning of a beautiful Malayan Dream . . . as to be released from the bond of British control & sheer exploitation.

However, in all fairness to the British colonial masters, they left behind a rich legacy in education & the rule of law.

The new nation rejoiced & cerebrated its Merdeka (Independence) on 31 August 1957 till today as Malaysia Day. The Federation of Malaysia officially came into being on 16 September 1963 following the amalgamation of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo (later renamed Sabah).

I am not about giving a history lecture here but we can learn from history & you can’t change history. Sensitive as it may be, the truth of it all with the present political woes must be told for the sake of the present & future generations. I shall speak the truth & shame the devil. There have been tremendous concealment & coverup of scenario & changing events.

The honeymoon was soon over the day the affable & much loved Father of the Nation Tunku Abdul Rahman was stabbed in the back & ousted by his Deputy PM Tun Hj. Abdul Razak (1922 – 1976), the father of Najib, the greatest financial crook in political history, who through the great financial heist 1MDB siphoned off billions of ringgit to enrich himself. To him “Cash is King”. No doubt an excellent disciple of Tun Dr. Mahathir. . . no small thief either during his 22-year reign as the Prime Minister. The wiry fox did a world of damage to Malaysia which time & space do not permit me to relate. He came back at age 92 as PM after the 14GE in 2018. Luckily or not, that tenure was short lived.

As said, the Malayan Dream was short upon the coming of Tun Hj. Abdul Razak. He was but a young lawyer when he went to London for Merdeka mission. He was a young PM in a hurry. He was suspected of having cancer & passed away at age 54. Well before that he had recalled his undergraduate son Najib back from higher studies in London & prepared him well for politics. 

He was the first Malaysian PM to have gone to China to cut off the Chinese traders & businesses from all direct trading links with China. Subsequently, all imports of Chinese products have to go through Pernas. With political power in hands of the Malays, all economic activities were swept away.

In the words of the then DPM Musa Hitam both political & economic woes rest entirely on the shoulders of the Chinese who were & are less politically involved concentrating mainly on the economic side of life. 

Tun Razak changed the whole inherited education system by switching the medium of instruction to Malay, a matter of national pride. Procedure in Parliament, the courts of law were all affected. He instituted the National Economic Plan (NEP) with special privileges & benefits to the Bumiputra Malays, the so-called “sons of the soil” . . . THIS TERM DOES APPLY TO OTHER RACES EVEN THOUGH BORN IN THE COUNTRY. It was proposed to help & eliminate the economic gap between the Malays & non-Malays for a period of 30 years, but the policy seems never ending. Civil services, banks & corporations, army & police are all monopolised by the Malays. Injustices & unfairness are too numerous to mention them all.

Can you imagine a country with an absolute CCN more famous the famed CNN news media. Here CCN stands for Corruption, Cronyism & Nepotism. MPs are all billionaires. How not to expect Tun Dr. Mahathir & Najib & their whole families not possessing all the ill begotten billions concealed in secret accounts overseas. The three Rs Policy of Race, Religion & Royalties must be eradicated. It’s absolutely detrimental to the nation’s growth & progress.

Presently, there are squabbles in Parliament over the illegal backdoor entry PM Mohyddin (now nicknamed Mahiaddin, a word with a bad connotation attached in the Cantonese dialect), unheeding to the Agong’s advice to step down as PM & reluctant to open Parliament for fear of losing his power. Now the loosely glued Perikatan Nasional coalition has been plunged into panic mode. Who knows what’s going to happen?

Malaysia is known as the “BolehLand”, anything goes. They amend the constitution like changing clothes. Everything is chaotic.

No country can endure with polarisation or being marginalised, or treated unfairly or unjustly. Sixty-four years spell enough is enough.

Let’s look at its ousted southern neighbour. On 9 August 1965, Singapore was ousted from Malaysia to become an independent and sovereign state. The truth of this is political . . . the fear of Lee Kuan Yew’s popularity as a very able leader & his proposal & campaign of the concept of “Malaysian Malaysia. The Malaysian Alliance Party would not be fearful of  being overcome by a greater number of Chinese. Lee Kuan Yew was moving too fast for the less able &      competitive Malay. Nevertheless, you only have to look at Singapore today, rich & prosperous, enjoying peace & harmony by all irrespective of colour, race or religion.

If Singapore without any natural resources like Malaysia can make it great, how come Malaysia is now becoming the poor cousin of its south east Asian neighbours & lagging far behind Singapore? 

Shame on you Malaysia. You could easily stand tall & unrighteous with a shining beacon to guide others along. Instead you are into a quagmire & who can come to drain the swamp? Can the Malaysian Dream be resurrected? Courage to face the truth would be the initial step. 

In the final analysis & in total fairness & justice to all the rakyat, & you be your own judge & jury, has the NEP (National Economic Policy) produced any positive tangible result? As an observer looming in from from outside, I can absolutely say in the negative:

1. Malay graduates from the numerous local universities are finding jobs as taxi drivers, delivery boys or couriers, waiters/waitressers
2. In small country like Malaysia there are  20 Public Universities (IPTA). Malaysia also has 60 Private Higher Education Institutions (IPTS) like Universiti Teknologi Petronass (UTP), Universiti Multi Media (MMU) and Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten). The issue here is most of them have doubtful accreditation. Students are being admitted like mushrooms.
3. Education ranking is the lowest in the Pacific rim.
4. The MPs are amending the nation Constitution like changing clothes. Semua boleh.
5. Unlike Indonesia, the government there is stressing on the study of English & Mandarin Chinese, two most important languages jn the changing world of trade & globalisation, Malaysia, clinging to national pride, will have no change in their educational policy.
6. All Policies are heavily entrenched in the abandoned South African style of apartheid creating more & more marginalisation & polarisation.
7. A nation of sheep led by blindness shapherds leading to a socio-economic & political quagmire. 

Suffice for me to mention just these few madnesses among the heap of matters that need to be sorted out.

WHAT MALAYSIA NEEDS IS AN ABLE LEADER LIKE NELSON MANDELA, MODI OR MAHATMA GANDHI, LEE KUAN YEW OR XI JINPING.

Viva Malaysian Dream!

NB: Please read my previous related article “Be A Shining Beacon”.

ASAP – Always Say A Prayer

Paul Chong                          Friday, 25 June 2021

Conventionally, the abbreviation ASAP is always taken to mean As Soon As Possible. In times like these with the prevailing pandemic Covid-19, seemingly unending & in fact claimed to become endemic, we have to learn to live with it. Singapore government has already making plans & policies to ensure safety & security for its people. No doubt other countries will in due course follow suit.

In times of crisis whom can you really trust. Nothing nor anybody!

Can we learn to live with it? We can if we trust God & He will not let you down. In God we trust. Always say a prayer . . . ASAP.

In times of crisis, stress & strain, set your heart right with God & He will carry you through. Also your thinking will be right, avoiding all the medical pitfalls, all the giant pharmaceuticals of profiteering & greed of  the rich & filty men behind the scene with the objective of enriching themselves rather than curing & saving helpless people. 

Perhaps this all men’s fault, & God has sent this pandemic as universal punishment. Men are definitely & progressively becoming more sinful. When will men ever learn from lessons in Biblical past?

As an encouragement to firm believers, herein below are some positive poetic lines to fortify you . . .

There’s work to do, deadlines to meet;

You’ve got no time to spare,

But as you hurry & scurry – 

ASAP – ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER.

In the midst of family chaos,

“Quality time” is rare

Do your best; let God do the rest –

ASAP – ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER.

It may seem like your worries

Are more than you bear

Slow down & take a breather –

ASAP – ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER.

God knows how stressful life is;

He wants to ease our cares,

And He’ll respond to all your needs

ASAP – ALWAYS SAY A PRAYER.

Prayer is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards, so let’s continue to pray for one another.

God Be With You. 

Have A Nice Day!

Notification

to all 

Interested Advertisers

25 December 2021

Seaso0n’s Greetings & Good Tidings fro0m “Down Under”.

Paul Chong, author/poet & million-hits blogger, has been approached by Balboa Press (A Division of Hay House)

to publish this blog with over 750 articles

of various interests.

The publisher quite unlike traditional publishers has worldwide distributions & circulations with the new technology of printing on demand to satisfy & service its customers.

I am offering a great opportunity for interested advertisers in promoting their products or services to pay just a one-off investment of only AUD500 for a permanent full page advertisement in 4 colours.

Space is limited. First come first served basis opportunity.

Send your one-off investment to 

NetBank Client Number: 74097725.

Advertisement materials to paul.chong33@gmail.com.

Richly drawn from a lifetime of experiences and age old wisdom, Paul Chong shares inspirational/motivational poems

‘Be A Star… Forget The Scar: With words of inspiration’ released

PERTH, Australia – “As an octogenarian writer/poet/blogger, my main objective is sharing and caring by writing a little book to pick you up when you are down,” Paul Chong states. It is for this reason he now releases “Be A Star… Forget The Scar: With words of inspiration”(published by Balboa Press AU).

Richly drawn from a lifetime of experiences and age old wisdom, this book shares Chong’s inspirational poems that are divided into topical sections. As one goes through life one needs to analyze and compartmentalize the phases and aspects of life to bring about realization and then adopt life’s philosophy in its proper perspective.

According to Liau Eng Siong, former deputy chairman of The Malaysian American Assurance and director/sr. vice president of the American International Assurance, “These poems are motivation, inspiration and romance on the beauty of God’s creation. I highly recommend all to read this book. The language and thoughts which produced this work is from the soul of a man who knows about life, and knows its awesomeness and challenge.” 

When asked what he wants readers to take away from the book, Chong answers, “Young and old, we all need motivation and inspiration, a kind of “motispiration” (my own coined word) which needs to be internalized, so that it’s always available on demand. Knowledge acquired from the conventional colleges or universities admittedly put you for a good start in life, but you are completely not prepared for the true life’s perils. To grow to progress is to change, thus the need to be adaptive, adjustable and adoptive.”

“Be A Star… Forget The Scar: With words of inspiration”

By Paul Chong

Softcover | 5.5 x 8.5in | 182 pages | ISBN 9781982291402

E-Book | 182 pages | ISBN 9781982291419

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Paul Chong, a graduate from Kirkby Teachers’ Training College, Liverpool, U.K. and later, the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, has been invariably involved in teaching, life insurance, real estate, delicatessen and travel business. In 2000, he obtained a post graduate diploma in Christian Ministry from the West Australian Bible College, preached briefly before calling it quits to a life of leisure and pleasure. He has travelled extensively in U.K. and Europe, China and the Asian Pacific region. He has been to the U.S., both East and West, including Canada. Now with a lifetime of experiences behind him, he plays golf, writes (both prose and poetry) and travels whenever and wherever.

Friends

We’ve been indoctrinated since young & believe that:

“Make new friends

But keep the old.

One is silver

The other is GOLD.”

You might ask

“What are friends for?”

Or

“When is the testing time 

for you top know

whether your friends are really GOLD!”

Proverb Quote: “A friend in need is a friend indeed”. What does it mean to you?

• Paul Chong – Author/Poet/Blogger
• Aspire to inspire before you expire

Lee Kuan Yew

Paul Chong       Friday 6 August 2021

Lee Kuan Yew when addressing an audience in Cambridge was  known to have said: “MacMillan your Prime Minister did not get a Double First in Cambridge, but I did”.

Cambridge was where Lee Kuan Yew topped his cohort with a rare double starred-first-class honours in law.

That put him up tops among all leaders of the world. His leadership is beyond all compare.

He was a young man in a hurry, always on the go, beaming with brilliant ideas. In 1959, at the age of 35, he led the PAP (People’s Action Party) 

 to victory in the Legislative Assembly elections and became Singapore’s first Prime Minister.

Lee Kuan Yew was the brilliant politician &  national leader who led Singapore from colony to nationhood, and served as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990. 

Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam College paid tribute to Mr Lee Kuan Yew, calling him the most significant statesman to graduate from the school.

He was born in 1923 in Singapore, studied at Raffles Institution & Raffles College, and proceeded to Cambridge to read for a law degree, graduating in 1949 with a double First Class and a star for “special distinction.” He returned to Singapore to practice law in the well known firm, Laycock and Ong.

He was the founder and Secretary General of the People’s Action Party (PAP) from 1954 to 1992. He entered politics as Legislative Assemblyman for the constituency of Tanjong Pagar in 1955. In 1959, at the age of 35, he led the PAP to victory in the Legislative Assembly elections and became Singapore’s first Prime Minister. In 1990, he retired from the Prime Ministership and was succeeded by Goh Chok Tong. Mr Lee became Senior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.

When his son Lee Siang Loong succeeded Goh Chok Tong as Prime Minister in 2004, Lee Kuan Yew served as the son’s Mentor without interfering in his son’s administration.

Lee Siang Loong is equally as bright as his father. The second son Siang Yang served as an army general, while his daughter Wei Ling is a specialist doctor. Lee Kuan Yew married Kwa Geok Choo, similarly brilliant, a Queen’s Scholar & the first Malayan woman to gain a First Class Honours at Cambridge, a feat she achieved in just two years. Together, they formed the legal practice of Lee & Lee.

I first saw Lee Kuan Yew  in person when he came to address us in 1963 at the University of Malaya in Pantai Valley, Kuala Lumpur. At the political forum & brain storming session which was chaired by Professor Wang Gungwu, Lee Kuan Yew showed his communication skill & towered above all other leaders & politicians. As a great communicator, he captured your mind, heart & soul . . . for he could easily & eloquently rattled off in English, Mandarin, Malay, Indian & Hokkien dialect. Professor Wang Gungwu, eloquent as he is, his style is more palatable to the academics.

In 1965, when the Federation of Malaysia under the UMNO leadership  ousted out Lee Kuan Yew from Malaysia, he literally cried . . . a cry more significantly for the fate of Malaysia. He knew then that the Malay leadership was pursuing a hidden racial agenda. Lee Kuan Yew was moving too fast & fast gaining popularity with his brilliant concept of “Malaysian Malaysia”. Politically, the Malay leadership foresaw this danger of movement against their hidden agenda, especially with added Chinese population of Singapore, the combined Chinese voids would be disastrous to the Malays. 

Now what is happening to Malaysia with a bunch of good for nothing politicians who are all thieves & crooks . . . the most notorious are Tun Dr Mahathir Kutty (his Indian father’s surname) & Najib of 1MDB heist.

Lee Kuan Yew over the Causeway built & developed the impoverished little island state without any natural resources developing a third world British colony to a first world economy . . . all achieved within one generation, a feat unsurpassed by any other nations globally. He was reputed to say either he amassed wealth as a leader or prosper Singapore as a nation. He forewent having his name in Forbes. 

People ask whether Lee Kuan Yew could work the same magic for America or India. Well directly or indirectly he was in some ways responsible for China phenomenal growth. When Deng Xiaoping visited Singapore in 1978, he was taken aback by the tiny nation’s prosperity. In the conversation that ensued between him & Lee Kuan Yew, the latter made it known that the Singaporeans were mainly descendants from the lowest strata of Chinese stock. The elite class who didn’t need to migrate all remained in China. If Singapore could achieve it, China could prove to be even greater. Well he rest is history.

Lee Kuan Yew’s ideas are many & enduring & they are all studied & put to practice through Lee Kuan Yew’s School of Public Policy, established under the capable chairmanship of Professor Wang Gungwu of National University of Singapore. The first Dean of the School Professor Kishore Mahbubani did a wonderful job. 

Lee Kuan Yew’s beacon is shinning brighter & brighter. His enduring ideas & policy will grow from strength to strength.

In conclusion, I would certainly urge you to watch & listen to Lee Kuan Yew on many available YouTube videos. Foreign journalists just love to interview him & how he would mock those foreign interviewers who thought they could trick him, got out of line or trying to put him in a spot.

Lee Kuan Yew’s name still lives on though he passed on at age 92 on 23 March 2015. He will always be remembered. Will there ever be another future like him? 

Ridiculous Commercial Roofing Services

Paul Chong     31 July 2021

Most retirees usually downsize to move to smaller dwelling units or the old folks homes. Consequently, they sell their homes, settle for smaller units & whatever excess fund they have they spend it on going for holidays.

Flipping the coin over, our Commonwealth Government these days is trying to encourage old folks to stay back in their own homes by providing home services & assistance. It really costs the government more to establish retirement homes. Towards this end. service providers are springing up in support of the scheme. Qualified old folks get help & assistance in gardening, domestic cleaning, laundry service, transport, shopping & home maintenance. Depending on your health conditions, those with more disabilities are placed on a higher level; of care & services getting all services for free.

At our present Level Two scheme we have to bear for some home services like roof restoration. I called up three roofing companies for quotes re some water leakage in one corner of our master bedroom. Most commercial companies are not interested in small jobs. Three of those I called are most impressive in their sales & service presentations . . . offering the latest technology in roof tiles & heat retention & resistance, colour of roof tiles & paint work. They even suggest to you to change the gutters & downpipes etc. To me, what’s not damaged should be left untouched.

The first sales representative said the whole work would require two or three days work, & if we allowed his company to put up an advertisement in front of our house, the project would cost us $26,000. We must however accept the offer there & then. I asked for a written quote that I might have the family’s decision. He refused & arrogantly closed his files & even seemed hostile saying that we would have to otherwise pay $35,000. Off he went . . . what arrogance!

The second guy proposed switching from the tiles tio metal roofing, guaranteed no leak for years to come. It would cost us only $29,000 & wise got to give him an immediate reply. I told him that money didn’t grow on trees, money must be spent wisely. Again, off he went.

The third guy was from a company as advertised in Kalamunda Shopping Centre. I phoned in for a quote. Weeks passed no one showed up. Finally, a six-footed of a guy showed up with his briefcase. He said he was the manager of the company & apologised for this long delay. He went up the roof for two minutes (just the front portion of the house. Upon coming down he said he had to change 50 roof tiles. How on earth he determined that without really lifting up the tiles & examining them? He said the whole project on that day’s special would be only $850.00. However, I had to decide rightaway. If he had to await my decision over the weekend, the price would be $11,500! Can you believe that? What can of a fool would I be to fall for such a move?

To cut short the story, we had the roof restoration done about 5 years ago & it only cost me a little over $4,000 with assurance to last for years.

All that is needed ids too replace some tiles in that corner of the house. A handyman or a young man could easily do that without any problem. As the owner, I am now fast the stage of climbing roof. Perhaps, God will send me an angel! 

SENIOR CITIZENS MUST BE HELKD IN HIGH ESTEEM, HONOURED & RESPECTED  & NOT TO BE TAKEN AS OLD FOOLS WHOM YOU CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF.

• 

Paul Chong      Wednesday 21 July 2021

Generally, it’s been said that a person is worth his/her weight in gold. The verified truism is certainly in terms of qualitative & quantitative value of the person’s time. You may realise it that time is truly a valuable asset. Job of Apple fame would have given his wealth away if he could find someone to replace him on his untimely death bed.

A young person at age 25 starting off on the threshold of life is worth more than a retiring old person. This assessment is based on quantitative aspect of time.

What about the qualitative aspect of time? A young person needs to be well prepared to brave life’s perils through education & training  in order to command a good start in life. An old person may still possess qualitative time, but its span would be much shorter.

How much are you worth is likened to a bar of iron. A basic iron bar is worth little, but when converted to steel, then its value increases manifold. That bar of iron into various articles with enhancing prices.

Time is a vey precious commodity. Untangible as it is, time us often wasted or taken for granted. All of us have 24 hours a day & 40 years of economic life ahead. Yet so many miss their financial boat. Don’t ever sell yourself short. Then don’t ever quit for as it’s said quitters never win & winners never quit.

Chinese has a saying: One inch of time is one inch of gold. This is the driving force that propel them to work both hard & smart. Chinese are most assiduous in their economic pursuits . . . never considering taking rest & holidays except the Spring Festival.

A country’s wealth is often based on its natural resources. Human resources are even more important. Without which you can’t manage the natural resources. Productivity comes with the input of labour. Time is your asset & it’s what & how you use it that counts.

Price Yourself Economically.

Think of the day when you fell in love

Of the many accomplishments because of love 

You could hardly wait for the sun to rise

Everyday you seemed to soar to the sky.

Love is powerful and a strong emotion

Thomas Edison fell in love with inventions

Luther Burbank thrived with plants

The Wright brothers took planes up to the sun.

What you set your heart on welcome true

Though initially you may appear to be a fool

Ford fell in love with engines and motor cars

See how his name lives on the the superstars.

Paul Chong

3rd July 1990

The Dynamics of Sales

Paul Chong         Sunday 18 July 2021

Usually a fixed salary job like teaching provides virtually no incentive for striving to perform better. You work for years & years getting a small annual increment.  Finally you reach your superscale when you are almost retiring.Often teachers who are ambitious  switch career & opt to pursue law study. Few ever thought of taking up sales as a career.

Why not? Conditions & circumstances may be different in other countries, through my own personal experience, people treat sales as a lowly career. It’s a career not requiring any special education or training. 

On the other hand, you must have often heard it that the sky’s the limit. This one line where your income is commensurate to your time & effort. The harder you work the more money you get. You are literary writing your pay check. You are the master of your own destiny.

This kind of unlimited income is particularly true with life insurance sales. There is however one snack. Your earnings are strictly on a commission basis plus bonus. There is no fixed income like a salary. Everything is based upon your performance. Such is the nature of your income you just got to learn to manage your money well.

Few people are cut for this line of sales. Life insurance agents come & go with an abundant turn over. Recruiting agents is a never ending task. You’d be lucky to get one good agent out of every ten recruits. As the manager, I used the power of money to motivate & getting new recruits . . . thrilled & motivated with the sight of seeing the 4 or 5 figured photocopied income cheques. What do you want working full-time, part-time or part-past-time.

It is said that a good life insurance agent will be able to sell refrigerators to the Eskimos. As an agent, your status is raised when you truly sell on the basis of needs . . . a replacement income for food & clothing, roof over the head, education for the young ones in the unfortunate event when the bread-winner is taken away untimely. 

Be sincere, empathetic & your sales pitch simple, for simplicity sells, complexity repels.

A final word, God gave you one mouth & two ears, so you should listen twice as much as you say. Listen with your heart, mind & soul. Emotion & compassion set to play against human logics. 

Life insurance sales is by far the toughest in the world, it’s like being challenged to sell coal to Newcastle.

See You At The Top!