Month: November 2010

A Gift of Life

Have you ever wondered how your life would end?

I have. I envisage myself living at a ripe old age with a close knit family. Perhaps I have some memoirs published for my grandchildren to read. Maybe I can turn all my blog posts into a book. But I can’t seem to find a WordPress plugin that does that. But I’ve seen someone turning their Facebook into a real book.

When Facebook becomes a book from Siavosh Zabeti on Vimeo.

I would like to die in my sleep and hopefully get to say goodbye to my love ones. I also hope to document my last few days before I die – just like my friend David Thong.

But I am sure what I wanted had been thought of by those who had demised before us. Many unfulfilled dreams remain unfulfilled and vanished upon death.

If my life ended early, I thought that I would at least do something good for the world before I leave. In doing so, I have decided to pledge my organs for donations. Basically, if I die, some one can have some of my body parts.

I have been told that some people believe that by donating your organs, you may lose certain organs in your next life. Well, if there is next life and if I were to lose them, so be it. It’s something for my next life to bother. In any event, a part of me still lives on.

Malaysia is extremely short of organ donors. Many unfortunate people are waiting for organs to survive.

If you would like to be an organ donor, you may now sign up online. Please visit http://www.agiftoflife.gov.my/v2/eng/register.php to pledge your organs today!

IT Law Forum @ KDU College of Law and Business on 12.11.2010

After 6 months of organising this event, the KL Bar Information Technology Committee’s efforts finally paid off. The number of participants were around 100 people which consists mostly lawyers.

The events leading to the forum were quite dramatic. First, we had problems finding speakers. I was in charge of finding speakers from the social media session. My thought was to find someone from the business, journalism and political sides to give their version of their story on how social media has impacted them. Malaysia Top 10 Hottest Blogger Niki Cheong and Nuffnang Nicholas Chay were kind enough to address the part on journalism and business respectively. My top choice for politics side was UMNO Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin. However, he did not respond to our invitation and didn’t even bother to send a reply. I even sent him two messages to his twitter!

I couldn’t think of another politician who is well verse with social media except for opposition party politicians. We invited YB Datuk #Yorais Yatim, Minister of Information to grace the opening hence I don’t think it is wise to invite an opposition politician. Furthermore, we already invited fellow DAP member, Jeff Ooi to speak in our previous forum.

Fortunately, Timothy Tiah hooked me with someone from DiGi and I managed to get Azizi Jennis to speak.

Then few days before the event, #Yorais informed us we couldn’t make it but fortunately, Deputy Minister II Senator Datuk Maglin Dennis D’Cruz came.

There were many other problems were encountered but I guess this is part and parcel of event management. We had to be very, very flexible with changes in plans.

We had a huge problem with our caterer as well. They came extremely later. The Deputy Minister came earlier than them! They served our VIP sandwiches that looked like as if it were pressed using their fingers. Their coffee was so sweet as if they were trying to give us diabetes.

There were also no water. I had to supply them with my own supply of mineral water (which I keep in my car).

The worst part was that one of the waiters spilled a tray of curry, which was supposed to be for lunch, on the floor -___- We had to get KDU College to provide us with a new dish.

In regards to the speakers, the KL Bar Blog’s blog entry below sums it up the best:

Three speakers spoke on the Censorship on Malaysian Internet and all three of them spoke against censorship; though Mr Jagdish Singh of the Internet Society did promote internet censorship to protect certain segment of society such as young Children. Mr Steven Gan of Malaysiakini gave a resounding speech from a Journalist’s point of view and impressed upon the delegates that Internet Censorship should not exist in Malaysia. Mr HR Dipendra, a lawyer but speaking in his capacity as part of the international Media Defence Group articulated his point for a non-censored internet to allow the Media on the Net to flourish.

The 2nd Session saw two heavyweights in Data Protection Law in the form of Professor Abu Bakar Munir of University Malaya and Professor Sonny Zulhuda of International Islamic University of Malaysia. They spoke on the recently passed Personal Data Protection Act 2010, currently waiting to be in operation. The two Professors shared many intricate and delicate views on the matter. Professor Abu Bakar Munir, in particular, had inside knowledge of the Act, as he was in fact part of the team who drafted the Act.Many delegates posed interesting and sometimes difficult questions to the two Professors. The replies from the Academicians were extremely helpful and clarified many anomalies of the Act.

After the lunch break; the Forum saw three giants on Social Media speaking. Representing Nuffnang was Mr Nicholas Chay whilst DiGi sent their Head of Online, Mr Azizi Jennis. The trio was completed by the famous Blogger Mr Niki Cheong.They spoke candidly of the growth of Social Media and how far Social Media may grow in Malaysia. All three of them appeared to take the view that Social Media will be a major player in the dissemination of information in future. There were also survey results which indicated that people seems to trust what is written on famous blogs more than what the advertisement says. This may suggest that the trend of advertisement in the future may vary on the Internet.


The KL Bar IT Committee 2010.


Press conference by Deputy Minister after the first session! Reporters crammed in a small room just to hear Deputy Minister speak.

This will be my last term serving the KL Bar IT Committee. It was great serving the KL Bar IT Committee as it was an eye opener and gave me plenty of opportunity and training. I will concentrate in the Bar Council Intellectual Property Committee next year – it takes up quite a lot of my time serving two committees.

Till next year!

Quick, throw your CDs away! There’s a roadblock!

I recently contributed an article on LoyarBurok, a prominent Malaysian BLawg, regarding the powers of the police and the enforcement division of the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry’s (now the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives And Consumerism. Some of you may have received the following emails below:

To all those CDs lover pls beware!

Please do not keep any pirated or burned CDs, DVDs, or VCDs in your car.

Police and Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs Ministry’s enforcement division in Malaysia have started the operation to search and fine anyone who keep pirated disc inside their car especially through road block at all main road and expressways.

If any pirated or burned disc found inside your car will be charged RM400 per disc. Example 30 discs found means the fine will be RM12,000.

This is real. Another friend of mine from Seagate, today during lunch time, 5 CD x RM400 = RM2,000

One of the Plexus colleague brother-in-law caught by Police due to pirated CD in the car on the way to town for lunch with his friend in the afternoon. One CD fined RM400.

Please disseminate this to all your friends who are driving in Malaysia

Fehmes lawyer Edmund Bon asked me to address this issue and I subsequently wrote a short article on it. It is published at this page.

For the past few months, an email has been circulating alleging that police and the enforcement division of the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry’s (now the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives And Consumerism) have started operations to search and fine anyone who keeps pirated discs inside their cars. The email alleges that these operations were carried out through roadblocks at main roads and expressways, and that persons caught in possession of pirated discs were fined RM400 per disc.

In fact, these stories have been circulating for some time now. A report in the Sun newspaper in April 2009 stated that the police set out roadblocks to nab anyone with pirated discs. However, the same report stated that the Ministry denied having such roadblocks being set up.

Whether or not such roadblocks have been set up, it leaves us with the question: Do the police or the Ministry have the power to search our vehicles for pirated discs?

Section 24 of the Police Act 1967 allows any police officer to stop and search without warrant any vehicle which he has reasonable grounds for suspecting is being used in the commission of any offence against any law in force. The Ministry has also authority to enter and search a vehicle without warrant provided that he has reasonable grounds for believing that delay in obtaining a search warrant would lead to the destruction of evidence.

Under section 41 of the Copyright Act 1987, it is an offence to possess, other than for private and domestic use, any infringing goods. Any person who has in his possession, custody or control three or more infringing copies of a work or recording in the same form is presumed to be in possession of such copies otherwise than for private or domestic use. This basically means that possession of a pirated disc for private and domestic use is allowed provided that the pirated disc do not exceed three or more copies of the same form.

The offence would attract a fine not less than RM2,000 and not more than RM20,000 for each infringing copy or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both.

Can the police or the Ministry stop and search your vehicle?

In short, for now, if the police or Ministry have reasonable grounds to think that you are distributing pirated goods, (e.g. if you’re suspected to be a pirated VCD/DVD seller), they can stop and search your vehicle. Otherwise, they have no authority to stop and search your vehicle for pirated discs.

This situation may soon change.

The Government recently announced plans to amend the Copyright Act 1987 to make it an offence to keep pirated goods, similar to the offence of possessing stolen goods. Although the Government has not announced the details of the amendment, such news is worrying. This basically means that anyone in possession of pirated goods is committing an offence. Hence, any police, with reasonable grounds that there are pirated goods in a vehicle, may stop and search the vehicle.

What if the driver had purchased genuine songs from the internet and had it copied into a CD? The driver would have to prove and explain that he had genuinely purchased the song.

If I had downloaded software, music or movies into my computer from the Internet, does the police or Ministry has the authority to enter my house and search my computer? Based on the proposed amendment, the police or Ministry has the authority to do so.

Guidelines to allow the authorities to stop and search a vehicle for pirated goods should be clearly spelled out and made available to the public. The public should be given the right to use or copy copyrighted materials for their private use. Certain levies or exemptions should be given to the public if they are in possession of pirated goods unintentionally.

An outright ban of unauthorised possession copyrighted materials will create fear and chaos to the country and society.

On another note, United Kingdom will be amending their copyright laws to make them fit for the internet age. According to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, the law could be relaxed to allow greater use of copyright material without the owner’s permission. (Read more here.

How unfortunate, while UK is moving forward with the Internet age, Malaysian IP laws are going backwards.

Bank Islam TAP Mobile Banking

[Advertorial]

Remember those days you have to line up at the bank to get your banking done? I hate the long queues and parking woes. Every time I’m in a line, I would imagine myself fighting would-be robbers in the bank. I doubt I would have survived if I did that :p

Life is much easier with internet banking nowadays. Gone were the days of long queues and wait. And with internet mobile banking, things are even better. Now, PayPay even accept cheques vide iPhone. All you need to do is take a picture of the cheque and send it to PayPal.

However, internet mobile banking has its limitation. It cannot work without the Internet and it only works on certain smartphones. Certain smartphones are unable to open bank websites.

Recently, Bank Islam launched a new mobile banking system called the Transact at Palm (TAP) i-service. TAP allows you to do mobile banking without using the internet and it works on any phones. Even my old school 8850!


I wonder if it will work on my Mum’s old NEC Primero. Cost RM3000 in those days yo..

To subscribe TAP, you must first be a Bank Islam account older. Thereafter, you need a mobile phone and a mobile service line. Any mobile operator is fine. Thereafter, head to the nearest Bank Islam branch to get it set up. That’s all!

TAP uses innovative smart card technology that displays a similar banking menu to ATM menu on user’s mobile phone, A screen that most customers are familiar with, thus take no hassles in remembering to keywords/commands or download applications.


Soon I can turn my iPad into a portable miniature ATM machine! (but this will only be applicable once TAP is available on Micro SIM).

At this juncture, TAP focuses on local services like payment of bills, mobile pre-paid top-ups and inter-bank money transfers, before expanding into international services. The second phase in providing international services such as remittance and money transfers will be provided in the second quarter of next year.

For more info visit Bank Islam’s TAP website!

Proton’s win at the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) 2010

If you haven’t the latest news, Malaysians have the highest number of friends in social networking sites. Finally, we are number 1 in something!

For the past few years, Malaysians have taken length to be top of their game.

For example, Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor who is Malaysia’s first astronaut capitalized on his fame by having his face appearing as a trade mark.

Then we have our very own handphone made by CSL but unfortunately called BLUEBERRY-I

One of our property developers may also be the first in introducing “ambassadresses” to bring patrons around their newly launched property.

And not forgetting, the owner of Pajero WGM340 who brought new meaning to the word “overboard”.

Recently, Proton brought us additional good news. I’m not talking about Proton Inspira but their recent win at the APRC.

Rejoining international rallying after a five-year break, PROTON’s return to the coveted Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) has paid off handsomely when it emerged second in the Manufacturer’s Championship in its first full season.

A one-two finish at the recently-concluded China Rally last weekend by Alister McRae and Chris Atkinson reaffirmed the Malaysian car manufacturer’s resolve, determination and competitiveness in the global rallying arena as it placed itself between the traditionally-dominant manufacturers Mitsubishi and Subaru.

Surprisingly, Satria Neo S2000 was used to race in APRC. Damn, I should have bought Satria Neo instead! Check out the video from the China rally.

Yet another Malaysia Boleh moment!

Malaysia’s Top Ten Hottest Bloggers

Few days ago, a client called me and said, “I didn’t know you’re a blogger! Saw you in a magazine!”.

-______-

I wouldn’t be so embarrassed if it was not a feature in Faces magazine as Malaysia’s Top 10 Hottest Bloggers.

My picture was shot at the bridge of G Tower. It was a small bar with great view of the city.

Before my shoot, I was interviewed and thereafter had make up put on me. My make up artist made me cry. I couldn’t stand having powder in my eyes!

Then I had hairspray all over my hair. I felt like Rosmah.


Rosmah’s Epic Hairstyle. Heh. Bad photoshop.

After hundred over shots of the same pose, we were done. I was the last person to be shot.

Tada! The end results.

There’s a picture of me in Alliance Bank You:nique credit card too!


The other 9 fellow bloggers are as follows:


No 1 Hottest Blogger in Malaysia, Niki Cheong & Ming


Joyce The Fairy & Cindy Tey


Proudduck & Zainal


Tziaa & me


Hanis & Kimberlycun

There are also small blurbs on what are their unusual reader reaction and most interesting post. Mine was this:


I couldn’t think what is my most interesting post hence I merely gave an example of an interesting post I posted (at the time of the interview). Didn’t know it will become THE most interesting post.

As for most unusual reader comment, some of my old readers would remember the commenter iloveu. You can read the post here. Man, I miss those good old days where my readers were interactive.


This is Hanis’ blurb on Most unusual reader reaction. Happened to me once.


Kimberlycun’s one is EPIC!! HAHAH

Lastly… a page on “What are the perks of being a blogger”.

Thanks to Nuffnang for nominating me!

Strongbow @ Boathouse, TTDI

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When I was in university, my favourite drink was the Snake Bite Black. It is a mixture of beer, cider and cranberry juice. I was told that the cider that they use is Strongbow cider.


This is me and my former classmate Cindy holding a pint of Snake Bite Black each..


This is Alan after few pints. GAHAHAH

Good old days!

My girlfriend is also a big fan of cider when she was studying in the UK.

However, when we were back in KL, we totally forgot about cider until we recently learned that Strongbow is available at our local pub, Boathouse!

We made a trip down to Boathouse on a Thursday night and ordered a pint of it.


A tall chilly pint of sweet apple cider mmmm.


Straight from the tap!

A sip of it immediately brought many memories. Especially the one during my birthday back in 2001. I had 4 pints of Snake Bite Black at my hall together with my classmates and this happened..


Those drinking snakebites or cider must control intake as drinking them quickly can result to being drunk and belligerent XD

Other than being a watering hole, Boathouse is also well known for its tasty pub food. I had this awesome Bangers and Mash.

If you’re wondering how Strongbow taste like, it’s like mildly sweet carbonated apple juice. It is made of fermented juices of apples. It is currently the best selling apple cider in the world and is currently imported from UK to Malaysia by GAB.


Gulp gulp gulp..

Other than Boathouse, Strongbow is now widely available in many other pubs such as Finnegan’s (Bangsar, Hartamas, Changkat BB, Mid Valley), Laundry Bar, Sid’s Pub, WIP and The Magnificent Fish & Chips Bar.

Nadeje Cafe @ Melaka

As mentioned in my earlier post, A and I headed to Nadeje cafe to try out their famous Mille Crepe.

According to my colleague, Nadeje has two outlets. One located in Dataran Pahlawan and another one in Plaza Mahkota. I was told that the latter is better but we decided to go to the former asQ it was convenient to us.

The outlet at Dataran Pahlawan is located on the 1st floor. We were greeted with a row of cakes consisting of a variety of Mille Crepe.

It was rather hot as the air condition of the cafe was down. The waiter guided us to a table with two flies perching on the table. We had to shoo the flies ourselves -___-

A asked whether there were any seat that is cooler. The lousy waiter said, “It’s all the same”.

Notwithstanding the lousy service and flies, we ordered a slice of banana chocolate mille crepe and also a slice of original mille crepe.

I must say that Nadeje’s mille crepe is not bad. Some people say that their mille crepe is better than the one served at Food Foundry. However, to me, they taste the same. Perhaps I should try the mille crepe in Plaza Mahkota before judging them. Or perhaps the quality of their mille crepe has deteriorated after the departure of their Chef, Amos. Read The Downfall of Nadeje Patisserie by JasonMumbles for more information.

The best mille crepe I tried so far in Malaysia is the one from Shangri-la Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. I’m not sure whether they serve it in one of the cafes in Shangri-la Hotel as I got the cake for free when I became a member of the Shangri-la Rewards Program. Their strawberry mille crepe was awesome!

Anyway, if you’re in Melaka and would like to try Mille crepe, the map to their outlets are below:

IT Law Forum on 12.11.2010

The IT Committee of the KL Bar, having organised two successful “mini” Forums on “Blogging & Defamation Law” and “Identity Theft in CyberSpace” in 2008, mooted a third Forum in 2009 but due to unforeseen circumstances, could not proceed with it. Intending to go beyond organising seasonal forums, the IT Committee embarked on this IT Law Forum some six months ago in the hope of making it an annual affair with the primary purpose of creating a platform for exchange of views and expansion of knowledge on areas of law related to IT.

This Forum, hosted at the KDU Law School, will see 3 topics being discussed. The opening topic concerns the discussion of imposing Internet Censorship in Malaysia. Borrowing the Chinese Government’s internet censorship’s nickname, ‘The Green Dam’, the topic is called, “The Green Dam – Internet Censorship…a Cat & Mouse Game?”. The principle discussion would be the legality of imposing such a “Dam” and the extent of censorship, if it ever happens in Malaysia. The IT Committee has long taken a stand that censorship on the internet is strongly disapproved. Instead, the appropriate approach would be to educate internet users on what should or should not be said on the Net. The speakers for this topic are Steven Gan of Malaysiakini, Jagdish Singh of Internet Society and H.R. Dipendra, an Advocate and Solicitor.

Another ‘hot’ topic up for discussion is the newly legislated Personal Data Protection Act. Professor Abu Bakar Munir of University Malaya, a leading academician on this area of law will be presenting his views on this new Act. It will be interesting to hear the views of the other delegates as well. This new Act has far reaching effects on the way Commercial businesses do their work and Professor Abu Bakar would be able to help elucidate on that.

The final topic will see a discussion on the future of Social Media. Recently, Newspapers in US and UK announced losses in advertising revenue. Advertisers now see the Social Media as an alternative place to advertise and this forum may discuss on that issue. The speakers would also likely discuss about the current status of social media in their industry and also the future of social media in Malaysia. This topic has attracted some top speakers, namely Nicholas Chay of Nuffnang, a social media advertising company with offices in Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Philippines, well known blogger cum journalist Niki Cheong from The Star Newspaper and Azizi Jennis, Head of Online of DiGi.

There will be an Opening Address by Y.B. Dato’ Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim, Minister of Information, Communication and Culture. Details of the Forum are:

Date
12 November 2010 (Friday)
Time
8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.
Venue
KDU University College
Section 13 Campus
76 Jalan University
46200 Petaling Jaya

RM50 per participant. Only 100 seats available. Registration must be accompanied with payment to guarantee your place and strictly on a first-come, first-served basis. Click here for the registration form.

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I will be moderating the Future of Social Media session. Space is running out hence please sign up as soon as possible!