Too many women!

I cannot contain my enrage upon reading an article ('Cuepacs concerned about 'female dominance') on the online newspaper TheStar about the 'worrying trend of women dominance in decision making posts'. The article claimed that Cuepacs is anxious about the 'long-term implications on the progress and growth of the country'.

First thing: Everybody can make stupid, ridiculous decisions without careful thought and planning. Men do not qualify to exclude itself from the blame or responsibility at being wrong and at fault, neither does the opposite sex. Fullstop. This chauvinist who identified itself with the name Ahmad Shah Mohd Zin, a secretary-general of the concern Cuepacs, believes that gravity of making absurd conclusions and resolutions is greater if a woman hold the steering rather than a man. Such a claim should, at first, be corroborated with a firm, thorough, bullet-proof evidence that his assertion that women leaders hinder development more than their men counterparts. We have seen it through the looking glass of what, when, which, how our men commands, conducts themselves at the national level at late. Oh who can forget about the 'bocor' issue, sharp and loud cry of 'monkey' in the parliamentary sittings, derogatory remarks of 'pendatang' etc? And from whose mouths do such moronic verses echo? I don't have to add that some countrymen (and women) lauded such grotesquely comments coming from their men bosses. Yes, men.

Second thing: While they support that government quota on women as the principle players in charge of coordinating the best options available, why should we (men or women) approve of the quota in the first place? The best should be selected, and their sex should never be tipped as one's lack of leadership quality. Rather it should be embraced as one gives her/his best to take control and work as a team that is also consists of men and women having the same vision. Harping on the issue of gender inequality in certain sectors, this guy not only demerit 'itself' as a clueless leader but also a 'lapuk' (i cannot find a more sweeter insult) domineering boss. This guy see leader standards in a polarized way such that it distinctively attributes its own race superior judgement. I do not deny for once some men made some decisions that changed the entire course of history, but let us also recognize the equal, if not more contributions from mothers and daughters that empower nations across the globe. Why is it hard to understand that the combined effective improvement of the country comes from both men and women, and not exclusively from one sex? When more pressing issues should have been worked out together collectively, why are they so persistent about who's leading who when all have the same visions and goals?

Comment: I wonder if this guy can face the music if he's been put into women's shoes. Or even more drastically, that it's always been the environment that women take charge of anything and resolve everything, he was born into since the dinosaurs ancient time. Or maybe if the religion books state that the forbidden fruit was first touched by Adam, this guy would not be so critical and discriminating against women. Sigh..

Poetry in Motion

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,

if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

If... by Rudyard Kipling. A beautifully composed guidance..

The Name of the Rose

I'm reading this beautiful piece of literary fiction book of Umberto Eco 'The Name of The Rose'. While the book is categorized as fiction piece, it's actually based on real characters in history dated back to the 12th century. A story that is crafted with gorgeous words that captured the essence of the period, full of murderous thrills as well as engaging pursuit of the killers that led me to stay awake late at night to finish even just a couple more pages to feed my ecstasy to solve the mystery! I did warn you that it's going to be torturous read until you're in the final page of the book!

Well, since the entry title today had to do with fauna it's then more than befitting if I put some macro shots of plentiful of colorful flowers around anywhere in NZ. These photos mainly taken with Pentax DA f2.8 100mm, with some taken with my loyal Pentax SMC f1.4 50mm. Enjoy the smell of the spring (and sometime summer) spectrum around NZ!

(SMC f1.4 1/250) (DA f5.6 1/250) (DA f2.8 1/100)

(SMC f2.8 1/100) (DA f2.8 1/250)

happy new year!

and here's my first entry of the year...

glittering summer people!

just back from summer break, and boy wasn't it hard to unhook myself from the relaxing sun bathing on the beaches and barbeque fun!

so i decided to post some pictures from the summer break, taken with my loyal and reliable pentax k10d. i'm very much amazed with its capability to take about 300 pictures without leaving the battery dead flat. so here they go:

Cape Reinga at sunset (F22, 1/6)

Taputaputa Bay (F22, 1/60)Ahipara at sunset (F 8.0, 1/250)Whangarei Stream (F 22, 2 sec)

Faith without fear

The statement 'Faith without Fear' is indeed a powerful one. On my way to university recently I noticed the flyers lying around--'Islam Awareness Week'. I've been meaning to look this up over the Net many times, but only got the chance to read it after my teacher posted up this link, and I continue the quest reading up the materials from this website via Google search. It's a powerful enlightenment, fresh awakening as well as challenging my belief.
The material that I got hooked on afterwards is the section "Anti-muslim Writers". I was curious on what these writers have to say about Islam. While I do think that there are several writers listed are devout propagandists of anti-Islam, I see most of them however the true lovers of Islam and its teachings. Some of them, Tawfik Hamid, whose articles in particular 'When I asked my Muslim friend 'Why do you hate Jews?'' touched my heart and let me see how love can transcend the insurmountable unimaginable boundaries around us today. My friend, Muslim or non-Muslim, I encourage you to read up the websites and maybe see the new birth of reformed view of Islam.

Seeking refuge..

It has not been 2 months since I bought my second hand camera from one of my friends. It's Pentax K100D. To be honest, it's quite a bulky(and heavy too!) camera for a small girl like me to carry around. My first thought when deciding to buy the camera was "well, I'll get used to the weight!".

Indeed I've now. Apart from the weekly outing that I planned for pictures taking (weather dependent), and occasional outings outside of Auckland, I guess I'm not an active photographer just yet. Well, if you don't go out often, what will inspire you to take pictures anyway?!

Of my many friends who take pictures as a passionate hobby, it seems to me that landscape and street photographies are their favorite snapshots. Their pictures are mostly vivid with colors and lively too, and I absolutely fall for them! Their shots effects are contagious and tingling, they creates new persona each and every time you look at their pictures. Of course, some photoshop tips may help inducing the effects too, but great pictures if enhanced give greater pictures too!

My favourite shots will be flowers and floras. To me, they're beautiful as they are, and snapping them still is a very easy task. All that is needed is the amount of light that strikes the object of desire. Good amount of lighting, especially natural lighting, bring forth lively waves to the eyes of the audiences. It creates not only fantasy feeling, but also satisfaction over the many color blends as well as the innocence shots of these pretty little things.

With my current collection of lenses SMC Pentax f/1.4 50mm and SMC Pentax-F f/2.8 100 mm Macro, I should be able to upload some pretty pictures of the flowers found during the harsh winter season here in NZ soon.

To leave or not to leave

Some friends had posed this particular question to me numerous time: would you consider moving out of your home country? Leaving your home is not as simple as ABC, as some of you might know.
Lets face it. Migrating to some other country is more often than not considered "betraying" your country, depletes the country resources and often you're sneered at as a "traitor" by your fellow countrymen. You've got all the good reasons on why you'd want to be absorb into your new country, but some people just don't get it and hold firm to what they want to believe.
A question to be pondered by these pessimists is: Should we blame the others that are leaving the country for a better life? If our government cannot provide the environment and resources to these people to excel, why should we stop them from the attractions provided by the other governments?
You may argue, that by letting them being traitors, they're not participating in changing the system, but at the same time, keeping these individuals hindered them from going forward.
I see these pessimists as selfish and pathetic. Their attitudes towards migration out is blurred by disgust, and hence clouded their perception of apathy. Therefore, trying hard as we might to let them see the brighter picture of the whole situation will end up nowhere. We can talk until the cow comes home.
We must realized that all Malaysians, whether abroad or at home, can continue to have Malaysia at heart. In that, we hope that all parties can do what we can to bring change to our country. After all, leaving home is never an easy decision. One has to go through emotional stress, as well as letting go the good ole Malaysian food. All these were not done in a snap of a finger, and by putting more strain on the leaving individuals, we might lose not only their presence, but also their hearts.
So, you want to know my answer to my friends' question? I'd stay and work towards the betterment of our system back at home. And if it did not nudge the crook system even a bit after many attempts, maybe then only I'd look for other countries that welcome (not suppress) ideas and innovations.