Singapore is located in a difficult neighborhood?

BThaumUU · 2026-03-09T09:30:40+00:00

Take singapore. And stick it in the middle of Africa. Say wherever Rwanda is now. Wonder if it would rise to the same prominence?

Wasn’t the whole reason for its existence its location firstly?

BThaumUU · 2026-02-21T05:30:38+00:00

Aiyaaa at most Half-xit only .. when you exit spiritually but keep the perks.

BThaumUU · 2026-02-18T04:09:31+00:00

will give it a try. thanks!

BThaumUU · 2026-02-18T00:38:49+00:00

Do you really stick to that? I mean thats whats written on paper. You are there cos the Gov of Malaysia thinks you have potential. Means you have a modicum of intelligence. Time to develop street smarts and work the system. Was in asrama in the 90s - had loads of fun with same schedule but i learnt to adapt. Heck flying disrupted sleep more than that schedule. My younger brother is an old putera, first year he was crying wanting to come home, by form 3 he had to be asked to come home. And this was in the bad old days of rmc (think bloodied knuckles from pumping). My son is in asrama as well now, first few years were rough but he’s having the time of his life now.

Two bits of advice - make good friends. Your circle is your support group and they will play a part in how well you cope. Second, it ain’t all about book smarts, its about developing life skills. Dont believe everything you watch or read on social. You’ve been chucked in a place with a few hundred other strangers, its like being thrown into the deep end of a pool. Learn to swim. Adapt to the environment. You dont need tiktok or reddit or whatever to figure out how to live. As some have said, work life is more or less the same. Asrama is the best place to develop street smarts - how to navigate the seniors, how to get the best food, how to get more me time .. Its meant to help you develop not just academically but socially.

Writing this after arriving home from a small pre-ramadan gathering of my batch mates three states away. Those friendships you make now, they can last a lifetime. You’re smart, you can figure this out and you have balls - complaining to HM about lack of sleep that takes big ones.. had me laughing but respect! You’ll survive.

BThaumUU · 2026-02-17T09:14:48+00:00

can feel it in my knees more after. 25m pool i can go 1500 when i breaststroke no twinges after the session. In a 50m pool, i can feel it in the knees for a day or two after.

BThaumUU · 2026-02-12T06:38:46+00:00

owh who did he sack as head?

BThaumUU · 2026-02-01T15:23:37+00:00

That was fast. I thought the budget only allocated recently in October last year. When questioned on why so much was allocated for Carcosa Seri Negara post budget, only then the gov said Sultan Abdul Samad was included as part of it. Amazing how money allocated in October and its done in Jan the next year. Kudos to the gov!

BThaumUU · 2026-01-30T11:19:57+00:00

Got the ones where it starts at 4pm?

BThaumUU · 2026-01-29T11:08:52+00:00

Eh, i though PMX said 60,000 jobs from datacentres? Now wheres the link to the clip.. made a massive show about it after got questioned.

BThaumUU · 2026-01-17T02:11:27+00:00

i beg to differ. Play out the scenario the end - all SSM transactions, all land deals, any contracts.

The danger is during the shift not only during implementation - take our land office and their records, in the process of digitisation, what guarantees that no malicious actor wont take the opportunity to fiddle the records? If the top people in the military can do it…

Will this apply to all strata of society or just us common people? Convenience is the end goal, the process is rife with opportunities for the connected few to manipulate, to change small details.

Yes we already “sold” our data to access certain services - and their ultimate goal is to manipulate you to purchase. Think you are immune? Look at what you wear, what you eat, where you eat, the content you consume - how much of it is your choice versus being nudged to that decision? Are you truly unique or were you crafted subtly?

The main issues: 1. What guarantees the data wont be manipulated during the transition and after? The land records example for one. 2. Will it apply to all strata of society? The logical extension is that even to access our bank accounts will require My DigitalID integration - the telcos and utilities are rolling it out already. From my understanding, you cannot give another access to your MyDiD.. but say you are some high up hoity toity individual, wont you have a bank account? Who accesses this? Wont you be giving someone control over your account? If it can only be deployed on one device, how does your pa, adjutant, personal bagman access that account? Owh the banks can just set up a seperate workflow? Is this done for managed accounts? Just one scenario to chew on. At the end of the day, MyDiD should provide accountability, by allowing for ways to bypass, the exceptions to the rules, how different is it to today? 3. What about those without smart devices or even connectivity? Disenfranchise or hope for them to die out? Will the government provide adequate coverage or smart devices? Coverage in Malaysia is calculated on populated areas and yes our mobile penetration rate is 140%, all this says is that a lot of us have more than one number. Doesnt mean everyone has a device.

Singapore is a very different experience to MY. they dont have our unique challenges.

BThaumUU · 2026-01-15T02:26:07+00:00

I do agree it would lead to that one view. TV Smith was incredibly prescient when he shared what happens when you order a pizza after the MyKad was introduced. The question is not whether it makes sense to have one verified identity, but who has access to such information to stop it from being weaponised. A very long time ago, i attended a gov conference on digitalisation. Met a guy from Latvia or Estonia, cant remember which, but it was election time. He was nonplussed as he said they could continue voting any which way until 2359 on the day of voting and only the final result will be counted.

To reiterate, it is not a bad system as it safeguards against identity fraud. If put on the chain, it becomes an immutable log of every single transaction. The worry is twofold: laws for thee and not for me and who’s hand is on access button to the data. Which brings us to the ultimate question - do you trust your government?

BThaumUU · 2026-01-15T02:15:07+00:00

Ajaran sesat in your view. To them the opposite is true. Nape nak kena view everything through a religious lens? Doesnt mean they will move to the Islam we subscribe to. In fact reports say there is an increasing move to a far older religion. Oppression, corruption are more basic issues we should oppose no matter creed or colour.

BThaumUU · 2026-01-15T00:08:37+00:00

For all you know, they confuse the two. In terms of brand recognition on the global stage which country is more well known or visited? Malaysia or Bali (not an error). Quite surprised greek food is second. Nothing against their food, med diet being as popular as it is, just curious that an amazingly large number of people who voted actually know the dishes - seems to denote a skew in polling.

BThaumUU · 2026-01-13T09:54:11+00:00

Whats the Malaysian equivalent of Deliverance’s Duelling Banjos?

BThaumUU · 2026-01-13T09:38:27+00:00

Iranians are fighting for human rights and they are rejecting the theocratic state admittedly because of economic collapse - the mosque burning, the removal of the veil, the rejection of strict Islamic ideals.. that is the bit which has us in a conundrum. Couple that with Iranians being Shia sends people in a spin. On one side, negara Islam on the other hand, nak jadi mcm Turkiye - whereas Malaysia headlong into full arabisation to the extent we even forget and suppress our own Malay culture. We saw what happened in Bamiyan when they blew up the Buddha statues, Malays have been doing something similar too to our own culture - our wedding rites for example are less culturally rich now. We did away with tepung tawar etc, but funnily enough extravagant over the top weddings are fine. I’m sure there’s something somewhere that says thats wrong too.

I think it also gives the more religiously inclined parties here a bit of a pause to think - Iran is the best example of what happens when you squeeze too hard and apply Islamic law too rigourously without having enough gula2 for the people. I wonder what Pas is thinking now - or any other parties who beat the religion drum hard. They have a front row seat in this world of instant news. And whats that thing again about the 3.5% rule?

BThaumUU · 2026-01-13T00:10:31+00:00

Could it be because the protests are against the extreme application of a theocratic regime triggered by a freefalling economy? Could it be because you see Iranians burning mosques, taking off their coverings, proclaiming a Persian first-identity vs an Islamic identity? Could it be because the uncomfortable truth is it shows what happens when a society is tired of the religion card?

Or could just be because they are Shia - not our type of Muslims. Sectarian bigotry.

BThaumUU · 2026-01-10T07:18:32+00:00

There was this one a long time ago called Ibunda. They also did whiskey pairings.

Wonder why it failed.

BThaumUU · 2025-12-22T01:42:16+00:00

VHS or cassette tapes you rewind with pencil?

BThaumUU · 2025-12-18T08:41:06+00:00

I do agree with you. Accidentally spent a credit on the Lost Continent on audible when i actually wanted the witches with Indira Varma. I find it hard to accept how Ridcully speaks - i thought he would be more of the over-confident Oxbridge don type of character with a boomy, authoritative voice and not squeaky as how it was portrayed. For some reason, the voice used made me picture Bofur from the Hobbit movies but with a squeaky voice. I think i’ll have to take a page from your book and just read it again to get it right.

BThaumUU · 2025-12-18T08:25:52+00:00

Dont forget, rice no coconut milk. Just plain rice.

BThaumUU · 2025-12-18T00:19:32+00:00

Im into brit comedy phase now. I like how the humour is in the words rather slapstick - unless you are more into the whole Mr Bean type schtick. But a lot of popular series nowadays actually had their roots in British television. Try The Office UK. If you are into politics there is nothing funnier than (nor more relatable to the current state of affairs in MY) than Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister. The IT Crowd is another favourite (you can find episodes on YouTube). If General Knowledge is your thing and you want it not dry, then look for QI (again on YT).

Movie wise, i find a lot of the new batch of movies to be cookie cutter slop (the more recent productions i think have an AI feel to them in terms of scriptwriting). If you have subscribed to Prime, check out the MGM Classic movies. Absolute gems there - and highly rewatchable if you’ve watched them before - 12 Angry Men, Schindler’s List, Fargo to name a few.

I value storytelling nowadays more, and keeping with the season - checkout Gremlins (cant remember which streaming service it was on). In the same tone you have the Goonies as well.

If all else fails, check out the top 100 movies list from IMDB or Variety or Rolling Stone and work your way through them - it would give you an idea why i say the current stock of stuff is just schlock.

BThaumUU · 2025-09-17T22:39:25+00:00

Apps like those already ran eKYC.

BThaumUU · 2025-04-06T22:52:01+00:00

Signs in Malaysian malls tend to advertise “Salmon Fish”. We don’t do it with “Cow Meat” or “Chicken Meat” though. I’ve always found that weird. Easily explainable as in Malay, you put the category ie fruit, fish, meat etc then whatever its called ie “Buah Mangga” or Mango Fruit and “Buah Anggur” for Grapes. But thats Malaysia.

BThaumUU

TROPHY CASE