William Cheng Turns 13 GE Seer

Looks like the business fraternity is now into the guessing game as well.

Not knowing the date for the GE is counter-productive to business development and growth in the country,so says William Cheng of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCIM).

He predicts it is too soon to expect the GE in May or June. The likely date according to William will be October.

By his musing, PM is away in the USA in June and July is the fasting month. No, not on Raya. So, by deduction-October.

He believes the earlier the elections is held the better for entrepreneurs. This is crucial as a new business climate may emerge after the elections which will allow business community to plan accordingly as early as possible.

As on outstanding issues, he said the NFC, Lynas, education and fair treatment to the Malaysian Chinese need to be addressed and solved quickly.

He also recommended that there must be a political will to stamp out corruption,improving public safety and security and checking runaway inflation.

Than you, William. You have covered most of the issues.

Any party who wants to be the next government ought to listen to their hearts and their minds.

We hope they do.

Menacing Music of the Night

The staging of the 25th Anniversary of the Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall in London was one momentous event.

Besides the haunting musical score and adorable nostalgic numbers, the showmanship was beyond words.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh, Sarah Brightman, Michael Crawford,Colm Wilkinson, Anthony Warlow, John Owen-Jones and Peter Jöback, Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo really made it a night to remember for connoisseurs of fine opera.

I enjoyed the DVD presentation of the event on 14 November 2011.

Watch it and be immersed in the magic of the most dramatic opera ever staged in modern performing arts.

The Dublin Woman Waiter

You would definitely recall the movie, "Victor, Victoria". In that movie, the Julie Andrews persona had to dress like a man to obtain employment to survive the harsh winter.

Here, we return to a similar premise in bleak 19th Century Dublin where a woman called Albert Nobbs worked as a male waiter in a hotel trying to save money to buy a tobacconist business.

Straight-faced Glenn Close is Albert and she put on one real mean disturbing performance.

The movie also exposes the possibility of an informal same sex marriage though not in the form it is occurring today.

An emotionally charged movie where in the end, there is little poetic justice as Albert, already savaged by typhoid fever, dies of grief and loss all his savings to the hotel proprietress.

Though Glenn put up a good performance here as Nobbs, she lost the Academy Award to the indomitable Meryl Streep.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

Imagine, these girls could even remember what they did to him and with him and are publicly proud of the escapades.

Taken for a Ride?

The perfunctory query.

That's all there was from a somewhat pipsqueak Bursa KL.

Absolutely little will they do except perhaps put out a note of caution.

And the big boys that are perhaps politically connected played the penny stocks till kingdom come if they could.

So, were you caught either selling it too low or being caught high and dry before the fall-out started?

I have many times and it leaves a bad taste in the mouth as you cussed the Bursa!

What were their platforms of play?

Last two months have seen action on Nicorp, Envair, Metronic Blobal, Ariantec Global, Ingens. Before that, remember Karambunai and Tri-cubes?

Woe to us minority retail players if we succumb to excessive speculation.

You may just lose your trousers and burn your buns!

13 GE-Temperature Rising

You can virtually feel the heat coming on in Malaysia.

Now that the Parliament Select Committee's Report of Election Reforms (PSC)has been passed in Parliament where the Pakatan Rakyat members walked out en masse, what could possibly go wrong?

Plenty.

Ambika and company now has decided to stage Bersih 3.0 as they are obviously unhappy with the Ongkili Report.

Now, after being told by the Dewan Rakyat Speaker in no uncertain terms that there is no such thing as a 'Minority Report' of the PSC, Cabinet,strangely, has taken cognizance of it and will look at the report submitted by the dissenting members of the PSC from the Pakatan bench.

Meanwhile,the glowing report cards of programme and project galore such as the ETP,EPP and a smorgasbord of other nomenclatures have been publicised.

Civil servants and pensioners are happy with a 13% salary and pension hike and many sections of the populace has been placated and pleased with cash dole-outs.

The Hua Zong is happy that the controversial non Chinese speaking monolingual teachers has been taken out of Chinese schools.

Except for the Christian issue,the controversial citizenship issue in Sabah, the Teoh Beng Hock unfinished episode,the Lynas project and the MRT imbroglio, it's all calm at the Putrajaya front.

However, the simmering tides are now felt coming in from the faraway courts of Paris-Will the DCNS trial spill beans of unknown or disastrous political quantity?

Untimely and uncanny.

Fears abound and desperate times called for desperate moves.

So, when do you think the GE will take place?

My guess-The heat is on.

Possibly August 2012 or earlier.

Now, who is having the last laugh?

It is not easy to control a class of students-students with raging hormones.

Where some boys with a high level of testosterone meet some pretty and cheeky girls in class and want to desperately engage and befriend them. The same goes for girls who wants to impress the boys.

The sad thing is this play of affection happens in a tuition class. It is not for the class teacher to discipline. If rules are broken, you cannot fully enforce them. Cash in the form of tuition fees is king. So, the teacher is walking on eggs here!

Even some words to tell them to behave will bring about potential drop in student attendance and they who will then migrate to other tuition centres who will tolerate their misbehaviour.

So, I was teaching in such a centre last year. The students were not interested in studying but 'making eyes' at each other. Believe me, peep pressure is strong.

When a popular girl or boy decides to leave, the whole chain gang follows.

I left the centre after my usual feedback with the centre's proprietor.

So, she hired a spanking new girl tutor to teach, hoping for magic to occur.

End result? Super noisy and uncontrollable class and potential heavy falling out comes June, July or August as the exams draws near?

So,who's gloating and having the last laugh?

I, of course!