So it all began when our good old Prime Minister was being pressured to increase cigarette prices:

The Prime Minister last night outlined the looming threat of an ageing population, warning that the rising cost of health would outstrip the states’ ability to raise taxes within two decades.

Quit Victoria executive director Fiona Sharkey told The Australian Online today that lifting the price of cigarettes would save lives.

“It is the single biggest thing we can do to bring smoking down. It cuts consumption and it cuts the number of people who smoke,” she said.

Source: The Australian (25th January 2010)

And the results…

The excise increase, which will help fund the government’s health reforms, will be short of that required to lift the price of a packet of cigarettes to $20, as recommended by the government’s Preventative Health Taskforce.

There was speculation last night that the excise increase would add at least $2-$3 to a pack of 25.

And even more results…

From January 1, 2012, all brands of cigarettes will be sold in plain boxes. The boxes will be the same colour and carry large, graphic health warnings. The brand of the cigarette will appear in a small font. The font style and size, as well as the position of the brand will be uniform.

Source: SMH (29th April, 2010)

So to sum it up, the Australian government is fighting smoking by

1. Raising prices of all cigarettes to up to $20 (RM60!) per pack
2. Making all cigarette packaging plain

So let’s look at this objectively.

First of all, raising the prices to curb smoking seems to be one of the most inefficient methods ever. Not only do smokers have other options (such as rolling their own cigarettes or purchasing from illegal markets) but this ’solution’ will also have an negative effect on several non-smokers.

The first of which are shopkeepers of tobacconist stores or  convenience stores: I think it’s obvious that the profits of these stores along with their job security will be affected. Instead of stopping smokers, this will just make the majority of smokers turn to another source which is usually illegal and from an external market – It’s interesting how the Government has not looked at the effects of this decision on these small Australian businesses.

Another obvious issue is the matter of freedom of choice. Smoking can both be a social choice or a personal preference. It is not unheard of for a person to feel a sense of confidence with a cigarette in their hand, hence the social smoker. Nor is it a sin to enjoy the flavour of a cigarette. By using cost as a deterrent, the raised taxes on cigarettes seems to only be targeted on those with less money anyway.

Finally, this is like increasing the price of contraceptives to curb pre-marital sex – But the consequences of this are much more obvious, an uncontrollable increase in the population. Increased cigarette prices on the other hand, may not scream consequences immediately. But a smoker has two choices: (a) continue buying cigarettes at the new increased price; (b) stop smoking. With option (a), those that do not have much money will sacrifice their spending other everyday requirements (which can be food, drinks, leisure, etc.) hence the Government isn’t curbing and is rather punishing. Option (b) will result in smokers being forced to stop their addiction – Everyone knows that the most effective method of quitting smoking is when a personal choice is made. It is not up to anyone else to decide whether or not they should quit and by doing so, there will definitely be friction in this process. Being cut-off from this addiction will incur negative feelings such as stress, fatigue and/or frustration – Will this not affect the workforce of Australia?

The change to the packaging is just plain silly. It limits cigarette manufacturers from marketing their brands hence saving them money. The government feels that people smoke due to the colourful packing – Yet have they not realized that within the packaging, every cigarette looks practically the same (with the exception of Pall Mall having some designs on it)?

All in all, there are a lot of disadvantages in making this decision. The government has not considered several issues and I am sure that eventually these will come up.

Keep up the good work, Rudd. First the Internet Censor and now this. Why did I vote for you?

It was a busy day in the office when I received the mail from Company X. My application was being considered and I had an interview with someone from HR. I was ecstatic and excited to discover such wonderful news… Until the realization of my fear of that 3-syllable word of doom – “INTERVIEW”.

I had never been for a formal interview especially one involving applying for a job. With my academics not being that strong either, my first instinct was to flee… To decline the interview and tell myself that I “didn’t really want that job anyway”. Obviously the sensible part in me took over and I scheduled the interview 2 weeks later. These 2 weeks I decided would be long enough for preparation.

2 weeks down the road and I was in the lobby of Company X. I had done no practicing in front of the mirror, no memorization of great speeches nor any reading on interview skills or body language. The only thing I’d done was read about the company and it’s goals to show my interest.

Following the interviewer to the interview room led me to think of the numerous possible ways at which I could make an idiot of myself during this session

I answered nervously as she asked me questions on past situations where I had demonstrated my abilities and the decisions I made. All of the questions she asked, I had predicted – each of which I had already prepared rough answers for… Ofcourse things did not continue to go so well when she finally asked me one that I had no idea how to answer.

This was when I had a decision to make

1. Lie: It’s not hard to make up a story about a time in University. I am good at (but not proud of) lying too.
2. Be honest: Explain my inability to answer

When someone is nervous they tend to just blurt out a blatant lie or pure honesty. So, eventually the stress got to me…

“Honestly, I am unable to answer the question as I feel I lack the experience in what you have just asked about. However, I do know of a similar experience that may be appropriately considered…”

And then I told of a true story that was most aligned to her question. +points for honesty and +points for having another story that I could sell myself with.

It was from this point onwards that my confidence rose as I realised it wasn’t about being able to use big words or throwing in great stories that of me being the hero of the day. It was about explaining who I was and why I was suitable for the job – Yes, I’ve been told this before, but I never believed it… Companies suggest you to ‘be yourself’ in every interview because they ‘want to get to know you’ while the rebel in each of us will always be thinking  ”yeah right, they’ll never want me if I be myself”. Have we ever stopped to think that different companies genuinely look for different types of people?

So to sum it up, there is only one interview tip that I have:

Be honest and be yourself

Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard it all before. But take this as something coming from someone who experienced the true relief and boost of self confidence by telling the truth.

If you are honest, confidence will grow because you have nothing to be afraid of. If you are forced to say something negative about yourself then just be tactful in the way you say it. If being yourself results in your rejection then it just really might be that you weren’t suitable for the company. Some companies prefer those that have leadership skills while some prefer those that efficiently work alone; some companies prefer those that can solve problems quickly while others prefer those that can pull a problem apart and take their time to carefully decide on the solution.

Obviously with this tip I am assuming you are competent enough to dress formally, not to ramble when you answer questions and to have a great handshake – All “skills” that can be mastered in a day.

Good luck!

Quick Update:

Again, I have pretty much gone missing due to my lack of access to the Internet. I apologize if my post sounds extremely ‘professional’, I have been writing cover letters and answer job application questions so I’ve picked up this annoying habit – it’s temporary, don’t worry.

Anyway, I have recently moved to a much nicer suburb than Kingsford and am definitely enjoying the peaceful environment hence the lack of Internet. I still don’t really have Internet because I can’t find a network cable long enough to cable up my computer with the router.

Alright, Now it’s time for the post.

As I’m in my final year, this is around the time when me and my peers apply for graduate positions. Every time need to fill out a preference of area to work in when I apply for a graduate position it is always focused on IT pretty much because of my degree. Over the past 3 years I have thoroughly involved myself in Event Management and/or Marketing. At first it was for fun – to get myself some connections and free entry into clubs. However, now in my fourth year, I am waiting for my Industrial Training placement to finish so I can once again get involved. With the experience and exposure I have gained from my past involvements, I believe it’s time for me to bring something to Sydney. It has always been organizing or marketing an event to fulfill the purposes of others (which is most of the time, revenue) but now I think I want the be the one that makes the decisions so that I can finally bring something fresh and new to Sydney. I have waited for so many things to happen in Sydney, but now I just feel like it’s up to me to do it.

From my tone and the words I use, you can tell I am very ambitious with this project. And from there, I am sure you can tell where this is going… That’s right, the Crossroads…

Uh… No. Not that shitty movie. Something that explains the situation more clearly would be this:

Yeah, that’s me. Analysis of this image will tell you about the emphasis on decision making. I stand there at the crossroads staring into the horizons as I realize “Shit, I have to choose quickly. The Sun is setting and I need to find my way home”. That’s how I epitomize this situation – Me trying to find my way ‘home’ – a future of (at least mediocre) success.

So a war between Education vs. Interests, eh? Heck, don’t get me started on my education – I wanted to do Design of some sort when I was choosing my degree. But ‘they’ always know what’s best for you, right? Don’t get me wrong, IT is definitely the field that most suits me and I do like all that computer stuff, but it’s just not something I am passionate about.

What I hope to do is walk along both paths in parallel and hope that they meet. If they diverge, my choice will probably be with IT because I went through 4 years of studying to get that “paper with my name on it”.

I guess it’s too early to decide but these are just some thoughts I’ve been having.

So yes I have been away due to reasons I will explain in a sec’. I have been pretty much missing from the internet scene for about 4 weeks due to a problem that I was afraid would affect both my blog posts and general social networking posts.

I guess this is a weakness or flaw of mine. Being unable to hide my feelings (especially negative) in anything I write. This normally leads to a post failing to narrate what I intend it to and ending up as a post that rants like Kanye West with ADD. I’ve known this about myself hence the avoidance of the Internet as I really do like to keep my problems to myself instead of broadcasting them across the world like a socialite. I guess when I started blogging, deep down, I wanted to be a socialite of some sort – but with this characteristic I hold, I doubt that’ll ever happen.

Anyway, with the problem now resolved, I can finally talk about it. At the end of January, I took leave to go to Malaysia for Chinese New Year with my family and friends. Unfortunately, I went about getting approval for this leave in the most unprofessional and unintelligent way possible. The miscommunication then led to a confusion of my leave dates. When I didn’t show up for work, CCA tried to contact me – by this time I was eating my nasi lemak and shouting over the noise polluting modified Kancils in KL.

Due to my limited access to the Internet (and by limited I mean being unable to check my mail via my iPhone – technology pampers us so…), I checked my mail to find out my scholarship was suspended. After numerous attempts to clarify the issue, it was concluded that I could do nothing overseas. It had to wait till I came back to Sydney and attended a showcause meeting.

So that’s how I spent a lot of my holiday – thinking about this issue and dreading the worst.

I will skip the details and get to the results. The showcause meeting resulted in CCA taking me back. I have begun work again today and will be under probation for a month also due to what my manager has called ‘unsatisfactory performance’ – another rant, another day.

I cannot deny that I had heaps of fun in Malaysia thanks to my awesome family and friends. I also got to meet a lot of new people this time around that are all very worthy of my entourage (”nice people” in James-speak) and hope that they will welcome me into theirs. I would firstly like to apologize especially to those I just met if I came off whiney or depressed. I guarantee that behind that emoboy mask sits a cheerful and friendly little boy.

Thank you for reading. I know my absence was uncalled for but I do hope you will still return to learn more jah-mez!

See you soon.

Shouts to the infamous Khai Ron, shuffler Keith, badass Michelle, tomatoface Stacy, timid Jacqueline and what-a-small-world Jin Li. I definitely forgot some people and I apologize but I typed this up in the bus!

Chirring…

So what did I do on Australia Day (26th January)? After a long and intoxicating night of Karaoke at Mamba down on Sussex St., I woke up at about 4pm because of Serena panicking at the sound of someone knocking on my balcony sliding doors.

It was my brother equipped with a broom sweeping up the balcony and accidentally hitting the doors. It was less of a oops-sorry-to-wake-you kind of whack and seemed a lot more like a wake-up-and-help-me-you-lazy-prick kind.

I got up and grabbed a bucket – Me and my brother cleaned up the balcony for about 2 hours. I then was called to help a friend move stuff to his new house which (seeing as I am such a nice guy) me and Serena gladly obliged to. This took about an hour.

Did I mention it was actually our 1 month anniversary today? Hah, well, tired as hell we headed over to Bondi Junction for a Japanese dinner I had planned. Parking inside Westfield meant we had to walk a bit to get to the restaurant… Which was closed when we got there. F-M-L.

We finally ate at another Japanese restaurant nearby and had a feast.

As bad a day as it seemed, I got to spend the whole day with my girlfriend, which ultimately was what I wanted to do for our anniversary (even though we didn’t get to do anything that much special).

Happy Anniversary, dear

…Sorry, no photos – I am getting less cam-whore-y these days…

Although I do not have actual working experience in Malaysia, I have plenty of friends who do.

Let’s take one of my mates for example:

1. He wakes up at 5.30 AM to get ready and leave his house by 6.30 AM;
2. the drive is from Subang Jaya to KL city and due to jams, he gets to work between 7.30-8.30 AM;
3. sure, work starts at 9.00 AM but trying to get to work at 9.00 AM on the dot is impossible with the distance and the jams he has to travel through.
4. At work, he does plenty, there is hardly any social conversation between employees (unless they’re looking to get chucked out;
5. he finally gets off for lunch around 12-ish when he finishes whatever he’s on.
6. After an hour’s lunch, he works his butt off again till 6.00 PM if he’s lucky but usually gets off at 7.00 PM.

So that’s almost 12 hours spent on work – Ouch.

Now, in Australia, the typical (when I say typical, I refer to what is definitely the major population) day at work would involve the following:

1. Normally, it takes a max 1 hour to travel to work and with public transport it’s easy to consistently arrive at work around 9 AM;
2. after a little bit of e-mail checking/replying, it’s then common to grab a coffee with your fellow employees to catch up both on work matters and socially;
3. work starts again until 12 PM when you can head for lunch;
4. taking a full hour of lunch means you arrive back at 1 PM;
5. and after 4 more hours you can leave. Legally, 5 PM is the time all employees are allowed to leave – the slightly more ambitious may want to stay longer but again, this is referring to the major population.

So it’s pretty obvious that working life in Australia is more laid back and heck, more enjoyable. The sickie is what Aussies have dubbed as a day off work due to (supposed) illness and has become part of Australian culture. So much so that you can hear jokes that relate common Australian behaviour to it too – Kind of like those “Chinese are cheap” jokes you hear on Russell Peters, it’s offensive but you know it’s true.

The reason I am writing about this is due to this article, ”Australia’s biggest ever sickie”. Tomorrow (Tuesday, 26th of January) is Australia Day hence a public holiday and everyone seems to be pulling a sickie today (Monday) to get that 4-day weekend. How has pulling a sickie become Aussie culture when working life is so much better here in Oz’? In Malaysia, trying to take a sick leave so blatantly fake just to get a long weekend is asking to get sacked.

It’s disappointing to say that I think Aussies are really taking their job security for granted.

So I started Industrial Training Monday this week. Due to my very unstable sleeping patterns, I fell asleep the night before at 5am hopeful I would still be able to wake up at the planned 7.30am.

As I walked into the offices Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) predictably late and sleepy as hell, what were my first impressions of the place?

Let me begin by ‘Wow’ing you with the location. It’s less than 25 steps away from the bus stop and then there is the actual location. Based on the eastern side of Circular Quay, facing the Harbour Bridge, I snapped a quick photo from the entrance of the building.

Yes, this is a big deal to me, I think surroundings contribute plenty to work morale.

Follow this up with how I was given my laptop within the first 10 minutes of being there and my mood was really brightening up. The forms for my access pass were submitted by lunchtime too. Very efficient and prepared (considering they only found out I was coming last Friday). Work is slowly coming in, which is something new because at previous placements I’ve had to initially wait from a week up to a month for any work to do.

So what about benefits? Well, as I am pretty much the equivalent of a contractor, I don’t expect all the real benefits like insurance, retirement stuff, EPF, etc. Furthermore, being a student, the only things I look at are the physical benefits such as their stationary cupboard. Working at CCA, a refrigerator sits on each floor stocked with all sorts of Coca-Cola products and ofcourse, free of charge. There is also another large refrigerator beside it stocked with beer and padlocked shut – The magical padlock is opened every Friday evening and free beer is served. Screw the stationary.

I took this photo at the end of the day. Trust me, it’s all stocked up in the morning.

These tiny things are what keeps employees motivated. I don’t know but everything I have experienced in or heard of Malaysian working life is pretty bad. Any chance any Malaysians out there are reading this post in awe? Even though I haven’t even really mentioned the proper employee benefits, I’m a sucker for the minor details

So the first thing I heard from Ellie was how our Minister of Communication & Culture said some things about Malaysian Internet users. Article is below

KUALA LUMPUR: Telecommunication companies (telcos) should also give priority to content on culture and the development of human civilisation, said Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

He said this would further help stimulate the minds of Malaysians, more so this in this era of sophisticated and borderless communications, and was an aspect of content the telcos should address besides chasing profits.

“New applications like SMS, Yahoo Messenger, Twitter, ICQ, Skype and devices like the Blackberry and the like have made communications between humans easier and this has contributed to the development of civilisation and changed the landscape of communications universally, which before heavily depended on the telephone, telex, fax and the postal service,” he said.

He said this in his speech which was read out by his deputy Datuk Joseph Salang at the prize-giving ceremony for winners of the “Mobile Content Challenge 2009” contest, here on Tuesday.

According to Rais, owing to the ease of communication, certain aspects of culture, like language, might face challenges.

He said the truncating spellings used in SMSes could jeopardise the integrity of Bahasa Malaysia besides posing challenges to ethical issues in inter-personal relationships.

“There have been cases of consumers using SMS, MMS, chatrooms, Facebook and Twitter to spread rumours and with speed, spread hatred among people,” he said.

He said abuse of these applications should be addressed together by raising awareness on the ethics and proper norms of using sophistcated communition tools in this ultra-modern age.

Source: The Star

Basically, the Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim has stated two major problems sprouting out due to Malaysian usage of the Internet and the way in which technology continues to evolve:

1. Internet and telecommunication messaging is causing language deterioration
2. Due to the characteristics of technology today, it is easy to spread bad rumours

Now, I can see on Twitter how everyone is being mean to the minister after what he said. I did a quick search on Twitter for #yorais and here are some random posts:

conancat: #yorais will probably figure out how to read all these tweets today 40 years later.
xniquet: Rais Yatim is so old he has to stick his dick in the freezer to get it hard. #yorais
menj: Rais is so old he thinks a browser is someone who shops at the mall #yorais
reiko67: I ask my 16months old son “Please finish #yorais before you go chase cats” just now.
MissyCheerio: Rais is so ancient that the word “past”,”history” and “sejarah” hasn’t existed. #yorais (So not funny, lah)
smubblerz: Rais is so ancient he told Adam and Eve not to berkhalwat #yorais

Rais Yatim gonna kung fu the crap out of all you people on Twitter!

So, yeah, that’s what you get really. Attack a community that isn’t necessarily united but one that can easily communicate with one another. Even mention they can spread bad rumoursreal fast. It’s like telling a big bully that hitting people is not nice – What do you expect to happen right after that?

Anyway, let’s look at this a little bit more constructively (Don’t worry, I shall try my best not to bore you).

1. “sms cos probs wif lang 8===>”

The issue of Internet and SMS slang causing problems with languages (not just Bahasa Melayu) has been a debate for a while now. I have seen several articles on News.com.au about this and a quick Google will get you to a Helium.com debate entitled “Is text messaging causing the destruction of the English language?”. At the time of this post the debate votes were tallied at 166 (58%) Yes and 121 (42%) No – Nothing extremely definitive, but it is a hot debate topic today. If you read the articles there you will be able to see that there are some very good points on both sides and so it brings me to this: Rais Yatim does have a point. Continuous usage of truncated spellings can become a bad habit.

Why is there so much negativity against this? Why, because most of us (looking around my age group or above) didn’t grow up with Twitter and Facebook. At early stages we went to school and didn’t have much access to these telecommunication devices. Hence, we already knew what proper English was. What worries me is Generation Z – It is undeniable that this problem can occur even today, what about our future leaders?

2. “Stop Saying Bad Things About Me!”

Now, the part about spreading bad rumours is just about the stupidest thing I have heard of. Malaysians always liked gossip and drama. This bad habit of Malaysians has always been around and blaming technology instead of thanking it for enhancing our communication just doesn’t make sense. If there was a problem with rumours being spread out, it should not be blamed on the communication medium and instead the users itself are to blame. But what’s so mean about bad rumours? Everyone loves drama, it’s why paparazzi and E! Entertainment exists: Plainly human nature.

All in all, I have to partially agree what was stated about text messaging… But apart from that, it sounded like he was just talking out of his ass. Trying to stop bad rumours is pretty much censorship and I’m sure Malaysia isn’t a communist country… Is it?

Oh, oh, my turn!

#yorais is so old he spins his saggy man titties to make mini helicopter propellers so he can fly high and stop the evil that is online social networking.

Have you ever had one of those friends that went overseas and within a year came back with more than just souvenirs? I’m talking about those fake-accents. This is something I really dislike and can’t stand for. How does one become so immersed in their overseas home so much that they start to become a native?

I am 200% sure that I am not the only one who really can’t stand this… So what fuels this hate?

1. You’re Malaysian. Speak like one!
   As patriotic as this may sound, it’s probably the number one reason. You’ve spent most of your life in Malaysia and  you should never forget your roots. We’re proud to be Malaysian and our accent is one of the things that makes us unique – which brings us to our second point. I have friends from Australia who returned from a exchange in America with not a sign of American on them yet Malaysians who can grab an accent within a months stay overseas.
2. Are you ashamed of your accent?
   I’ll admit, Malaysian slang butchers the English language very harshly – But so what? Again, it is something we should be proud of and it’s not like we can’t control our slang. It’s not something to be ashamed of and by choosing another way of speaking (i.e. American, Aussie, etc.) you are just telling us how much superior you think those countries are. Why would you even do it? Is your personality not good enough for you to fit in with a group that you must attempt to sound like them? Yowch
3. You just sound weird
   Being there for such a short period of time, there is no way your accent will even sound at all believable. This is where my argument takes the cake. It’s just funny how all these crappy imitators think they are speaking plopah ingleesh.
4. Ignorance is not bliss
   The worst part is when you deny you have an accent when it’s so obvious (and fake). That’s when it annoys us all the most.
5. You think they understand you easier overseas?
   I am sure they understand you fine – Many people have said that Malaysians that speak without “Lah”s and all that slang sound American. Since America is the influence of almost the entire world due to their media, nobody should have a problem understanding your English. Besides, having to learn how to speak like others doesn’t mean you have to forget your roots.

I understand yes, there is a level of reasoning behind learning the accent of the country you go to – But around Malaysians, just stick to the Malaysian accent. It’s trully a lot more than just an accent.

This post is random and not intended towards anyone. If you are feel this post is directed at you, then I am glad that I have raised awareness of this issue.