Astro B.yond IPTV

Remember my Astro B.yond TVC Commercial shot last year?

After the launch of Astro B.yond and the launch of B.yond PVR (Personal Recording), Astro has launched the new Astro B.yond IPTV. Astro B.yond IPTV is a service that integrates regular/linear Astro channels with HD (High Definition), PVR (Personal Voice Recording) and Video On Demand, which also includes high-speed broadband and voice capabilities delivered via a fibre line powered by TIME. It comes with a top box with 500gigabytes capacity to store TV programmes.


Astro B.yond IPTV is brought by the partnership of Astro and TIME. Astro B.yond IPTV bring you the one and only line you’ll ever need with the best of 3 worlds in 1 service; Astro TV (HD, PVR, VOD), High Speed Fibre Broadband and Voice.

I was invited to their sneak preview at the newly opened Doubletree Hotel by Hilton.

In the sneak preview, we were shown features of the Astro B.yond IPTV. The PVR is one interesting feature. It allows you to record, pause live TV, rewind and forward a recorded programme. Series link is part of the PVR feature. It allows one to automatically record all episodes of a TV programme. Imagine being able to record all of Simpsons and Family Guy!


PVR menu

Unlike the IPTV of another telco, the PVR menu doesn’t lag. Surfing channel to channel is a breeze unlike the other IPTV. The other IPTV strangely takes some time to change channels.

The main highlight for me is their flexible broadband package. Lowest rate is RM128 for 3Mbps per month. Astro B.yond IPTV customers will be able to enjoy free high speed fibre broadband and VOD services until 30th June 2011. During the sneak preview, all pages were loaded at lightning speed!

Each Astro B.yond IPTV home will have a dedicated bandwidth of 100 Mbps, which is large enough to support 2 concurrent Astro B.yond boxes, each of them simultaneously recording up to 2 HD channels while watching either one of the HD channel or the recorded HD content and downloading the third VOD programme in HD, while leaving 30 Mbps, which is 30 times faster than the standard 1 Mbps, to support all connected devices such as laptops, tablet devices, mobile phones and games consoles on Wi-Fi within a single household.
Video on Demand (VOD) content is available on this IPTV platform. There will be a VOD library containing dramas, wellness and children series. The library will be expanded over time. It is now provided on complimentary basis until the second quarter of 2011. With VOD content, you may play any VOD content at any time and manage the playback of the show by pausing, forwarding and rewinding it at your convenience.

In view that the IPTV is provided by fibre, Astro service will not be affected by the rain. If you’re wondering why the old Astro services are affected by rain, this is because the transmission of content is by way of satellite. Once it starts raining, the signal between the satellite and your Astro dish will be affected by the rain.

VOD will also not affect your broadband speed as these services are provided via dedicated bandwidths for VOD.


Broadband packages

I was given an opportunity to try one of the test units of Astro B.yond IPTV at the venue. It is just like our normal Astro but with additional features. It now has more HD channels.

While playing with the test unit, I found this function.


Wow, you can logon to Twitter using Astro B.yond IPTV? This is interesting! TV and Twitter into one screen! However, this feature is still under testing and is not available yet. 🙁

Astro B.yond IPTV is now being rolled out in various parts of Malaysia. It is now in certain parts KL Golden Triangle, Bangsar and Sri Hartamas. You can check out Astro’s availability page.

For more information visit:

Website: http://www.astro.com.my/iptv/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Astro
Twitter: www.twitter.com/astroonline

Right to Privacy in Malaysia: Do we have it? – Part II

If you remember my article “Right to Privacy in Malaysia: Do we have it?” which was published in LoyarBurok, I just found out that it was picked up by well known online news portal Malaysian Insider. It’s a dream come true!

For everyone’s easy reading, I am reproducing my article below:-

If someone installs a CCTV in front of your house, can you stop him from doing so? If our Prime Minister sends his best wishes for the festive seasons to your email and mobile, is he invading your privacy? Whats the state of the right to privacy, and invasions of your privacy, in Malaysia?

Long story short, yes, our constitution recognises the right to privacy under article 5 of the constitution according to the recent Federal Court case of Sivarasa Rasiah v. Badan Peguam Malaysia & Anor [2010] 3 CLJ 507 at 519. Article 5(1) of the Constitution provides that “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty save in accordance with law.” According to Gopal Sri Ram FCJ (as then he was) in the Sivarasa case, the right to personal liberty includes the right to privacy.

What is a “right to privacy”?

The right to privacy is basically the right to be left alone and to live the private aspects of one’s life without being subjected to unwarranted, or undesired, publicity or public disclosure. It is also a right of an individual to seclude oneself or information about himself and thereby reveal himself selectively. For example, the right of being strip searched (and probably do some squats and get recorded see: squatgate).

Invasion of Privacy

However, althought the right to privacy provided by the Constitution, is there an actionable right against someone who invaded your privacy?

Notwithstanding the recognition of such right, such right may not be enforced by an individual against another private individual for the infringement of rights of the private individual as constitutional law (substantive or procedural) will take no cognisance of it (Beatrice Fernandez v. Sistem Penerbangan Malaysia & Anor [2004] 4 CLJ 403).

The tort of invasion of privacy is not a recognized tort under common law (Malone v MPC [1979] Ch 344; Kaye v Robertson [1991] FSR 62 (CA); Khorasandjian v Bush [1993] QB 727, 744 (CA); Wainwright v Home Office [2003] UKHL 53, [2003] All ER (D) 279 (Oct), House of Lords).

The tort of invasion of privacy is not recognized in Malaysia. This basically means that you cannot sue someone for invading your privacy.

The Malaysian High Court cases of Ultra Dimension Sdn. Bhd. v. Kook Wei Kuan [2004] 5 CLJ 285 and Lew Cher Phow @ Lew Cha Paw & 11 Ors v. Pua Yong Yong & Anor [2009] 1 LNS 1256 Johor Bahru High Court Civil Suit No. MT 4-22-510-2007 had held that invasion or violation of privacy is not a recognized tort or a cause of action in Malaysia. In the former case, the Plaintiffs failed in their action for invasion of privacy against the Defendant for taking a photograph of a group of kindergarten pupils, including the Plaintiffs child, at an open area outside the kindergarten and published it in two local newspapers. As for the latter case, the Plaintiffs failed in their application to restrain the Defendants from having a CCTV which faces their house and to remove the same.

Similarly in the High Court case of Dr Bernadine Malini Martin v. MPH Magazines Sdn Bhd & Ors [2006] 2 CLJ 1117, the Court again stated that invasion of privacy is not an actionable wrongdoing.

However, the Court of Appeal judgement of Maslinda Ishak v. Mohd Tahir Osman & Ors [2009] 6 CLJ 653 gave light to the tort of invasion of privacy. Some of you may recall the incident where a guest relations officer (GRO) was photographed easing herself in a truck by a volunteer reserve corps member (Rela) after the GRO was detained in a raid at a club in 2003. The GRO sued the Rela member, Director General of RELA, the Director of JAWI and the Government of Malaysia. She was granted damages for the wrongdoing. However, the case was not on point as to whether the tort of invasion of privacy is a recognized tort in Malaysia.


YB Elizabeth Wong, YB Dr Chua Soi Lek & Actress Nasha Aziz were all victims of privacy invasion.

The case of Lee Ewe Poh v Dr. Lim Teik Man & Anor [2010] 1 LNS 1162 is the first reported Malaysian case that recognizes the invasion of privacy as an actionable tort. In this case, the doctor had taken picture of the Plaintiff’s anus during a medical procedure without informing the Plaintiff. The doctor’s reason for taking such picture was for medical purpose and claimed that taking of photographs during the course of the medical procedure without the consent of the patient is an acceptable practice.

The Court of Appeal judgement of Maslinda Ishak was referred in the judgement of Lee Ewe Poh and the learned Judicial Commissioner relied on the said case to hold that invasion of privacy rights is actionable in Malaysia.

The Learned Judicial Commissioner held in the case of Lee Ewe Poh that (at page 6 of judgement):

The learned trial judge found for Maslinda Ishak against the 1st defendant but not against the other respondents for whom she appealed. The Court of Appeal allowed her appeal and held the respondents to be jointly and severally liable for the wrongful act of their agent as well as vicariously liable. Although Maslinda Ishak’s case is not directly on point, the fact remains that the High Court in so finding has departed from the old English law that invasion of privacy is not an actionable tort and our Court of Appeal indirectly, though this issue was not canvassed, seems to endorse such cause of action when the pleadings were specifically referred to and C.A. did not overrule invasion of privacy as a cause of action on ground that it is not one in line with the English law. Since such a cause of action has been accepted as a cause of action under our common law, it is thus permissible for a plaintiff to found his/her action on it. Drawing an analogy of this Court of Appeal case, I am inclined to hold the view that since our courts especially the Court of Appeal have accepted such an act to be a cause of action, it is thus actionable. The privacy right of a female in relation to her modesty, decency and dignity in the context of the high moral value existing in our society is her fundamental right in sustaining that high morality that is demanded of her and it ought to be entrenched. Hence, it is just right that our law should be sensitive to such rights. In the circumstances, Plaintiff in the instant case ought to be allowed to maintain such claim.

Both Maslinda Ishak and Lee Ewe Poh’s cases are in respect of women’s modesty. It will be interesting to see whether how our right to privacy would extend to. For example, will it extend someone’s surfing habits? If someone had recorded everything you serve on the Internet, would that be an invasion of privacy? (On an interesting note, Google does store your Google search keywords).

Lee Ewe Poh’s case is a High Court decision thus may not be followed by other courts of the same or higher jurisdiction. However, Sivarasa’s case was not referred in the decision of Lee Ewe Poh. With Sivarasa’s case, it will be interesting to see whether the recognition of tort of invasion of privacy will be strengthened by it.

Misuse of Private Information

The recognition of right to privacy in Sivarasa’s case may be a stepping stone to the expansion of the tort of breach of confidence to include “misuse of private information”, a term coined by Lord Nicholls in the House of Lords case of Campbell v. MGN Limited [2004] UKHL 22, in Malaysia. In this case, the House of Lords held that the publication of articles by the Mirror newspaper regarding well known model Naomi Campbell’s attendance at Narcotics Anonymous meetings and her efforts to overcome her addiction to drink and drugs was a misuse of private information. Basically, this tort protects information that is “private”. It affords respect for one aspect of an individual’s privacy.

Closing

If the tort of invasion of privacy or misuse of private information is recognised in Malaysia, this may be used as a remedy against those who had breached the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (which is not in force yet). The present Personal Data Protection Act 2010 does not provide for damages to data subjects for the breach of the said Act unlike the UK Data Protection Act 1988. With such torts, this may bridge the gaps in the Malaysian Personal Data Protection Act 2010.

The effect of the recognition of the privacy rights in Malaysia is far reaching. It may, in no particular order, affect the following:

  • Employees’ rights especially when it comes to employee monitoring;
  • Authorities’ right to conduct searches such as strip searches or search of a premise or vehicle;
  • Internet users’ rights such as the right to remain anonymous (note: bloggers have problem claiming anonymity pursuant to the case of The Author of a Blog v Times Newspapers Limited [2009] EWHC 1358 (QB) where the UK Court held that blogging is a public activity);
  • Details of relationships such as intimate details of partners including intimate pictures;
  • The right of the media to report news regarding individuals;
  • Rights of public figures such as politicians and celebrities; and
  • The position of the admissibility in Court proceedings of illegally obtained evidence which infringes’ an individual’s right to privacy

Well, if you ask me whether the Prime Minister has infringed your right to privacy or had committed misuse of private information, when he sent festive greetings (although I understand it is for good intention) to your emails or mobile phone, my answer is that, it will be an interesting test case in Malaysia!

The Haute Food Co @ Plaza Damas

Sui Lin recommended this place for its well known sandwiches. A and I made a trip down to The Haute Food Co at Plaza Damas.

It’s a small cafe with limited seats. Some seats are placed outside the cafe to accommodate customers. When we were there on a Saturday afternoon, the place was packed!

I ordered their roast beef sandwich and cafe latte. For their sandwiches, one can choose either white bread or rye bread.


Their latte was alright. Nothing to shout about. It’s a little bit too small. I still prefer Departure Lounge’s coffee.


Sandwich was awesome. Served with a generous serving of fresh salad on the side!

Dessert is highly recommended by many. Unfortunately, I was too full to have one when I was done with my meal.

The price of the meals is not cheap. My roast beef sandwich was RM13.50 and latte were RM8.50. But when it comes to food, I don’t skimp!


xes.cx approves!

Address
(H-0-2) next to the Mayland Management Office (not the sales office)
Block H, Plaza Damas
Ground Floor
60 Jalan Sri Hartamas
50480 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 0362013168
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Haute-Food-Co
Website: http://www.hautefoodco.com/
Open from 10am – 6pm : Closed on Tuesdays.

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House Burgled

Just as I was ranting on the state of our security in my last blogpost, my house got burgled on Friday morning (15 April 2011), probably around 12pm. No one was at home at that time and my Mum just stepped out for lunch.

When she came home, the front door was opened. The locks of my tenant, Mum and my room were broken. We lock each and every of our rooms for security reasons. I immediately rushed home from office and called our security guard to head to my house.

When I arrived, the guards were there checking the house. My mum’s room and my tenant’s room were open. My door was damaged but not opened.

I think the the thief had a hard time entering my room. There are two entrances to my room – one from the balcony and one from the living room. The thief broke one of the locks of my balcony door but he couldn’t get through my 40-years-old steel door. I could see the frustration he had breaking through this door from the ripped mosquito nets.

However, he somehow managed to enter my room by breaking the side of my living room door and squeezed into my room.

Only a small lock was breached (which is actually a dummy lock. It doesn’t lock properly).

When I came into my room, everything was in a mess, but I find my iPad, SLR, dSLR and PC still there! I wonder why they didn’t take them!

Nevertheless, I was so relieved especially when I see my PC still there. However, they took my old Nokia 8850, which doesnt work anymore!

Well, we are fortunate that no one was home when the break in occurred. I did found my parang (machete) in the garden. The thief could have taken it.

We lost cash, an identity card, my old 8850 Nokia (wtf) and our sense of security. I pay RM100 per month to have security guards patrolling our area but unfortunately they didn’t see the thieves.

We didn’t make any police report cause we think that it’s a waste of time. Nothing can be done to undo this. My only worry is that they will return – to take things that they did not take. I just emptied my house of all cash.

The only thing I want now is the Government improving security in Malaysia. Can you deliver Kerajaan Barisan Nasional????

Malaysian Crime Rate

After reading that our Home Minister announced that the crime index rate had dropped by 15.3% while street crime dropped a whopping 38.7% from the article “Dear Minister, lower crime rate my foot!“, my first Ah Beng reaction was, “WHERE GOT! SO MANY PEOPLE GOT ROBBED!”.

Snatch thefts and robberies are rampant nowadays. I had lunch with a group of friends few weeks ago and out of the 6 ladies on the table, 5 of them were either victims of snatch theft or robbery.

One of the most common snatch thief/robbery methods is to break a car’s passenger’s seat window when the car is at at stationery position e.g. at a traffic light. It happens so fast until most people can react to it. Check out the Youtube video:


You should read the comments to see how many people were also victims of such crime!

Some residents around my area have been working hard trying to protect our residential area. This have bore fruits. If you recall, I blogged about a would-be-robber who got caught by the securities guard at my area.

These residents have also taken a step forward by creating a social networking portal for residents to mingle and providing updates. The latest news is about some youths attacking our guards.

The guard at post Jalan Sepakat 6 saw some guys running into Jalan Sepakat 4 and alerted the other guard who was patrolling at Jalan Sepakat 8. Together they went to investigate and saw 2 guys in Jln 4 one was shirtless and both were barefooted. The guards asked them what they were doing there and without any notice they started hitting the guards. The guards then talkie (wireless) for help.

I received an alert on my talkie (wireless) at 1.15am that there were some guys attacking my guards. They (our guards) had ran off leaving their motorbikes there as the guys started breaking the motorsbikes. I rushed to Jalan sepakat 4 where the incident took place. Upon see us those guys ran off towards the flats opposite the 7-eleven. I had called the Police while I was rushing to site.

We gave chase and managed to catch one of the guys and handcuffed him. On the other side my supervisor also caught one guy near the 7-eleven but his friends came with WEAPONS and started to attack my supervisor, so he ran for his life.

I talkie to my guards and supervisors to come back to site (Jln sepakat 4) we took the bikes up to guard post and while we were there the Police arrived and as I was explaining to the police, another group of 8 to 10 guys came rushing at us with weapons and started hitting one of my supervisor IN FRONT OF THE POLICEMEN. The policemen asked them to stop but they did not, and that is when the policeman took out his gun and told them to stop or else he will shoot. The guys were very defiant and also challenged the police to shoot. I had no choice but to step in and protect my supervisor. The policeman called for backup and before the backup arrived the guys had left the place, and gathered at the mamak stall down the road.

The above incident was witnessed by Dr. Paul and Mr. Sean Oon who were there throughout the happening and also saw live action of the actual footage of the incident. I really appreciated them being there when we need the residents support.

Then recently, I saw this writeup posted on Facebook.

This is my sad story, a one really unforgetable moment in my life. Finally its my turn to experience an unfortunate event.

Yesterday, between 10.00 to 10.30am at Elite highway, i have been hijacked.

I make my way home from work place around 9.30, reached Cyberjaya toll around 9.50. I then take an exit to Shah Alam. Just about 50 metres after i take my left lane from the exit, i noticed one Mercedes E Class 240 from right lane behind me, take a closer range to me. At first, i dont bother, but then it came really near and wind down window on passenger side, i saw one Malay guy, with PDRM cap and long sleeve shirt look alike police traffic, ask me to pull aside. At that time, i was thinking, whether to run or not. If i run, im not sure if im fast enough to outrun them, or if they are real police, i would get shot, and if they are not real police, if they have gun, sure they can outrun me and put a bullet inside my head, so i make a stop.

The Malay guy on passenger side came down and approached me, i was still inside car at that moment. That guy ask me to came out. Thinking it was high profile police driving Merc, so i go out while shutting down the engine. That guy circulate my car and mention that this car was suspected as stolen car. I straight away deny it, and that guy ask me to follow him to police station, so i said OK, but before that i ask him one thing, where is your badge id? And then bad dream happen.

The guy suddenly grab my hand, try to cuff me with his handcuff, and try to drag me into the Merc, i struggle myself to get away as strong as i can, and drag that guy to opposite way. I managed to let myself go but the guy managed to confiscate my car key. I make no turn, run as fast as i can to opposite way of the highway while shouting and waiving hands for help, but no one make a stop, thinking it was real police try to catch me and i am the criminal!

After a while, i look back and saw the second guy, the driver, also Malay, came out, drive my car and gone with the Merc. After a while, one lorry reply my waiving and took me to nearest toll booth where i find one patrol car there, i end up until dawn at police station reporting everything.

I lost my car, my notebook, my phone, and nearly my life if i were successfully dragged into the car. I may end up like Susilawati case though.

The case has been classified as high profile crime, because robbing at daylight, in public, no mask on, and possible firearm involve. So guys, beware, my advice, always speeding, dont care about the speedtrap, your life is more importanr than the ticket that u have to pay

I think putting more policemen on the streets wouldn’t help much. These criminals would just move to places where policemen are hardly seen. Solving crime is more than putting policemen on the streets. It has to do with society as a whole.

It’s sad to know that street crime is not properly dealt with. Our politicians are busy fighting over sodomy case, sex tapes and irrelevant matters. Although some may that crime is attribute to certain races, to me, rampancy of crime is affected by the state of the society and also economy. Who wants to rob if the country is doing well?

Citizens have to resort to protecting themselves by setting up their own security teams and taking matters on their own hands. Nowadays we have no qualms in beating up or running over snatch thieves or robbers. Just like the snatch thief who had his penis crushed and detached.

With the general elections coming up, I hope voters show their dissatisfaction over this issue. My message is pretty simple. We vote politicians to run the country – while we are busy with our daily life.

If they don’t do a good job, we vote them out. Simple as that.

Cristang @ Avenue 8, PJ New Town

Richard Wee raved about the pork burger of this place to me since the day I know him. After a few years, I finally tried their famous pork burger with the LoyarBurok gang. Cristang pork burger is dubbed by many as the best pork burger in town.

One notably LoyarBurok participant was King Chai, who is one of the UKM4 gang. The UKM4 is a group of 4 University Kebangsaan Malaysia students who were arrested and are to face disciplinary proceedings under the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA). UUCA is, among others, a law prohibiting students from joining political parties or take part in political campaigns or protests. The UKM4 were accused of doing so and they are now challenging the constitutionally of the UUCA.You can read about their story here.

While the UKM4 are doing something to change lives at such a young age, I was partying, playing computer games and watching The Simpsons and South Park at their age. Dayum!

So anyway, immediately after settling down, I ordered the fehmes P7 pork burger also known as Petai burger. It didn’t take long for it to be served.


The patty was thick, meaty and juicy! It was topped with grilled back bacon and minced pork petai sambal! Absolutely delicious!


Cristang’s pork burgers are given a prefix “P” followed with a number. According to Richard, each number denotes the number of ingredients in the burger. If Gerald is around, you should ask him about each dish he has on the menu. Each dish is like an art. It’s a mixture of all sorts of ingredients and techniques!

On another note, if you’re thinking of asking for condiments to put on your burger, think again. It’s an insult to a Chef to have his customer putting condiments on his food. To him, the taste of his food is already perfect!

After our scrumptious burger, we had Oreo ice cream and buttercake.

The latter is fried with butter! Richard said it’s the “sure die dessert” whereas Gerald described it as “artery clogging something something die die fat fat something cake”. The buttercake was so sinful until it made Oreo ice cream like a bowl of salad!

Address
Jalan Sungai Jernih 8/1
Seksyen 8, 46050 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: 03-7956-7877
Facebook Page

OPERATING HOURS: Tuesdays to Sundays 11:00 am to 3:00 pm; 5:30pm to 11:00pm. Last call @ 10:30pm.
CLOSED ON MONDAYS

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