If the Menteri Besar of Terengganu is to be believed, yes that is true.

Does that mean that we all, if we can afford it of course, better go out and buy Mercedes-Benzs, instead of the top-of-the range national car, despite the fact that its initial cost is double the national car’s?

Needless to say, this is a big slap to local car manufacturers: if leaders don’t have confidence in the national car, how about the masses?

It was reported that the Terengganu state government has purchased 14 units of the Mercedes E200 Kompressor costing RM245,000 each:

… to replace its fleet of Proton Perdana V6 Executives, which are a mere 4 years old.

Reasons given:

To cut cost in the long run: Proton Perdanas are not robust enough for continuous long-distance journeys, which is the norm for state executive councillors and senior officials. They are expensive to maintain, and the gear boxes are particularly vulnerable. Extensive repairs can cost RM50,000 within less than 2 years. In the long run, the Merc is cheaper to maintain and easier on the fuel. Of course, reading this, we wonder how the Perdana was driven.

High second hand market price: this one I dont think anybody could argue.

Still, this decision did not go down well with the top guns, where the Deputy Prime Minister was quoted to have said, in essence: everybody must use national cars. I use one and the PM uses one too.

Someone commented:

Well, If you really want to save cost, you can buy proton saga or myvi or any cheaper car. Let say, Kancil: really save cost! Why, it must be Mercedes E200 Kompressor??? They can’t sit in any non executive cars? We vote you to serve us with public money. Not to buy luxury cars and enjoy it! Dear public, do you will avoid or say don’t to any MP if they use Kancil or Viva? Than, why they need all this? Please don’t give Status as reason. Well, public is your boss. and we vote you to serve us.

What do you think? Should we all drive our old heap for a little while longer while we save up for that brand new SLK, all in the name of long-term cost savings?

It would seem that Sabah-born persons have a knack for the extraordinary. The latest is that a Sabah-born man’s brother-in-law is none other than Barack Obama, the US presidential hopeful.

Dr Konrad Ng, 34, assistant professor at the University of Hawaii married Obama’s half-sister Dr Maya Soetoro, 38 in 2003. They have a daughter Suhaila, 3.

The Ngs in May 2007

He has a PhD in Political Science, while she has a PhD in Education and teaches social studies at La Pietra Hawaii School for Girls.

Predictably, he’s done quite a few posts at Obama’s community blog.

Maya and Obama have the same mom, Ann Dunham.

Dr Ng’s father was born in Sandakan and his mother in Kudat. They are now Canadian citizens.

Ng said he “tries to visit Malaysia every few years.”

Well, how would Ng describe Obama?

He has a thorough understanding of the challenges we face and sound judgment on how we should address these challenges. Barack is a dedicated family man and cares deeply about transforming the world into a better place so that all families will have the same opportunities to do better. South-East Asia is a place of connection for him and a region that he understands well. It gave him numerous examples of alternative modes of communication and perspective.

Whatever it is, it’s not everyday that one gets to pose for family pictures like this with someone who could very well be America’s next president (Ng is at far right with Suhaila):

Source

Could easily be mistaken for another missing cash machine, but in fact the ATM wasn’t installed yet. Still I wonder why they switched the lights on? Could give the wrong impressions…

No more shouting, waving like mad or making silly noises vying for attention.

Now we all can have our dinners in peace.

Recently, I tried out my 4-year old son’s Ultraman watch, and almost forgot to take it off before heading off to work to attend a no-nonsense meeting:

Last month, as I usually do while making my way out of Kota Kinabalu International Airport after a business trip, I’d stop by one of those duty-free shops in search of chocolates.

That time I decided to buy this:

But when I opened it, the chocolates inside only took the following area:

The taste was ok lah, not spectacular.

Worse, I bought them in a bundle of 4, and cost me RM31+, meaning almost RM8 per box. Supposedly duty-free, locally made, 137g per box of chocs for almost RM8, you think this was reasonably priced?

Can people in Malaysia really spend RM30,000 PER WEEK on 4D lottery tickets? That like RM10K per draw, and equivalent to winning about 10 tickets first prize!

4 months after passing the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) in February, I went for the EC-Council Certified Security Analyst / Licensed Penetration Tester (ECSA/LPT) course 23-27th June 2008 (you need to pass CEH first before going for ECSA/LPT).

This is the most expensive training I have ever attended, at well over RM7,000 for 5 days.

My instructor was Semi Yulianto, senior technical trainer/ consultant, EC-Council’s Instructor of the Year 2008 for Asia Pacific and a regular feature at hacker conventions in the region. He’s got one of the longest certification lists I have ever seen (23), including MCT, MCSE, MCDBA, CCNP and CHFI.

Semi was born in Pontianak, Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The exam’s held Friday afternoon, takes 2 hours, 50 multiple-choice questions (A to D), online via Internet. Hence if Internet down, can’t take the exam. I passed the exam at 98%.

It seems that EC-Council Phileo Damansara Time.com internet connectivity is rather unstable, some innocuous sites appear to be blocked.

There’s no exam for the LPT, I was informed that I need to pay USD500 (not included in the ECSA training cost, renewable yearly) and submit my CV and letter of confirmation from the police stating I do not have any criminal record to EC-Council USA.

Apparently Malaysia has less than 10 ECSA/LPT practitioners now.

The market rate for LPT work in Malaysia is RM2,000 per day.

For those budding hackers out there, turn your passion into a career. Being a trainer can be a lucrative profession. Semi mentioned that he works 2 weeks a month and gets minimum RM14K per month. If he does other work, that’s extra. Plus he gets to travel frequently to countries in the region.

Spotted at The Gardens at Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur, a high-end shopping centre (read: everything is expensive there, hardly any people).

At first glance, there seems to be 2 types of urinal in the men’s public toilet:

But looking closer, the ones on the right are not urinals at all:

Could’ve been easily mistaken for one though, don’t you think?

Therefore, I think these types of sinks should never be installed at places where one would partake of the amber liquid…

Many bloggers have mentioned the second Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival which was held on the 21st of June 2008 at 1Borneo, that “Largest Lifestyle Hypermall” in Borneo, the 3rd largest island in the world.

It was a great event, and amongst others, the Aseana Percussion Unit showed how to please the crowd. First, get down from the stage and play your instrument among them:

Then take it one step further: give the audience members your instruments, get them up on stage and let them play, in essence let them be temporary bandmembers:

Surefire crowd-winning tactic.

Echoing what others have said, one could’ve seen the concert without even paying anything, and the view from the first floor’s even better than the RM50 seats. Heck, freeloaders had a better view of some of the performers than those in the most expensive seats!

So, for the third festival, you know what to do…

Anyway, on the same level as the concert is surely Kota Kinabalu’s most expensive public toilet, the so-called Platinum Club VIP Toilet, where you had to pay RM1 to enter.

Sure enough, there are aromatics and LCD screens inside, and sinks in every room:

One complaint: it ran out of toilet paper…