Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Cows: The perennial Malaysian newsmaker Posted: 16 Nov 2011 04:43 PM PST Or how about hiring and training a team of expert masseurs? Apparently, the world-famous Kobe beef is so tender because each of the Japanese Wagyu cattle is pampered with daily massages. The idea here is that relaxed cows result in good beef. David Mathew, The Malaysian Insider Here are some facts about the humble cow. I have not tried this myself but apparently cows can be lead upstairs but not downstairs because their knees cannot bend properly to walk down. Also, cows spend six to eight hours eating each day. Finally, cows have excellent senses of hearing and smell. They can hear high and low frequencies better than humans, and can detect smells from as far away as 8km. From the infamous "cow head protest" in Shah Alam to the issue of the slaughtering of cows in schools and now to the maligned National Feedlot Centre project, it seems that cows are constantly in the news. So I thought it would be apt for everyone to get to know the cow a little better first. Moving on. According to the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) website, the National Feedlot Centre is the envisioned centre of production for beef and beef products in Malaysia. The website also helpfully points out that as a high-impact project under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, National Feedlot Centre project will be instrumental in attaining the 40 per cent self sufficiency in beef production by 2010. We are also told that the NFC's mission is to lead the industry in a manner that fosters excellence and integrity, improves the feedlot business environment and ensures the success of its community. So far, so good. Very inspiring. Reading this, one wishes the NFC all the best of luck. And for some time, NFC and its parent company, Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd, had luck on their side. That was the case until those pesky officers from the Auditor-General's office stopped by in March 2011 to determine if the project was being carried out appropriately and whether objectives were being met. Turns out, the answer was no. Instead of producing the targeted 8,000 cows in 2010, only 3,289 cows were produced. One of the main reasons cited was that the NFC had not carried out the mandated Entrepreneur Development Programme to train 130 satellite farm operators. There was another rather big problem. You see, cows eat grass. The audit visit however discovered that instead of grass, much of the National Feedlot Centre area is filled with acacia trees. All this, according to the audit report, was despite the fact that RM134.72 million had already been channelled to the NFC. Soon after the Auditor-General's Report was released, Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers raised hell, accusing the entire project of being effectively steeped in corruption and cronyism. Cue then the entrance of Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin who flew in to defend the project. In the face of accusations that the NFC had, via its sister company National Meat and Livestocks Corporation (NMLC), used RM10 million to buy a condo in Bangsar, Khairy responded in his blog to say that this was true. He however sought to justify the expenditure by saying that when the project was delayed due to no fault of the NFC, the management of the company had to make a decision as to what to do with the funds already channelled to it from a special borrowing account controlled by the Finance Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry. According to Khairy, the management decided that rather than leave the monies in a low-yield fixed deposit account, it would be more prudent to invest it in property. Khairy claims that this explanation is logical from a business standpoint. There is actually a word I'm looking for to describe this explanation. Oh yes, I remember now. It's actually two words — cow dung. Public money was pumped into the project for one purpose and that is to meet the National Beef Output Policy. The said policy had only two main objectives, namely to increase the number of cows and to increase the output of beef. Property investment was not one of the objectives and the government should not condone such things. Anyway, NFC's stated vision is to be a "premier world-class halal beef producer" and not a world-class halal beef producer-cum-part-time property investor during operational delays.
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| Yasmin Ahmad’s visual marijuana Posted: 16 Nov 2011 03:25 PM PST TV3 has named an award after her in recognition of new talent. But are her movies really that good? I know some of you really like the fact that it is about a Malay girl and a Chinese dude and fantasize about it. I do it as well, fantasizing about interracial inter…err… relationships. The thing is, though the preset of the whole story seems like a great idea, yet the movie itself, the scenes and plot feel fake. Zaidel Baharuddin, Free Malaysia Today Now before we go on, let me be very clear because it seems that some of you cannot seem to tell the difference. This article is about Yasmin Ahmad's movies and not Yasmin as an individual. I am pretty sure she is a lovely lady with a kind heart and God bless her soul. I have heard many good stories about her, so spare me new ones, I believe you already. We are here to talk about her films which many adore. So in the spirit of me being me, I am here to question that adoration which may in turn evoke some sense of insecurity in some. So yes, this is my disclaimer, so whatever you may claim later, I shall reserve the right to diss it. It started when I watched the recent "Anugerah Skrin 2011" hosted by TV3. Apart from the lousy emcees who managed to turn the whole event into one amazingly awkward night, I noticed that TV3 had a special award called "Anugerah Yasmin Ahmad" which was awarded to budding new talents. Not that there is anything wrong with that and indeed TV3 did give a good reason for it, but it got me wondering, are her movies that good? Because when I go to places where indie filmmakers and urban artsie-fartsie crowds congregate (urbanscapes sort) they seem to adore her movies quite a lot, especially Sepet. But here is the thing, to me Sepet really wasn't that good nor was Gubra. They seem simplistic and fake. I know some of you really like the fact that it is about a Malay girl and a Chinese dude and fantasize about it. I do it as well, fantasizing about interracial inter…err… relationships. The thing is, though the preset of the whole story seems like a great idea, yet the movie itself, the scenes and plot feel fake. Visual marijuana The scene is in Malaysia, a kampung nonetheless and we being the subject of what the movie is trying to potray should be able to relate to it. Growing up in a multiracial society and mingling with people of all colours and creed, I should be able to relate to the experiences in the movie or at least connect with the overall description at least. But I cannot help but feel the plastic atmosphere that surrounds the whole narrative. I felt like I was watching a propaganda movie but unlike North Korea, this one is filled with untold yearnings and dreams of a director who is altering the reality to fit her defenition of how things should be, it is like our reality is being overdosed with sugar, spice and everything nice. But isn't that what movies are all about, directors creating and realising the ideas and images they have inside their minds? That is true. However in the case of these two movies (Sepet and Gubra) rather than creating a whole new universe I get the feeling that the fantasy is being imposed upon me, rather that being built around me. Let me give you an example, a movie that I would describe as a fantasy being built around me would be something like Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland or Inglorious Basterds, we easily accept that this is the reality in which the director chooses to tell his story. On the other hand a movie where fantasy is being imposed upon the viewer would be your typical Bollywood films or something like Sivaji the Boss. Basically what most Bollywood movies do is to feed you with feel good fantasies on surroundings that otherwise would seem rather bleak and harsh, a visual marijuana one could say.
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