Kindly Yours

  What a contrast, or more of the same? Nation I left behind: Malaysia with a population of around 33 million, turns 65 on 31 August 2022, given independence by Britain that long ago. 1.  Political leadership encouraging looking inwards. 2.   Society becoming more divisive over plural and religious diversity. 3.    Getting less competitive than its neighbours. 4.     Falling ranking significantly in corruption management and occurence, according to Transparency International. 5.     Rewriting and recognising history according to the view of the powers that are. 6.     De-emphasising the language of her past colonisers. 7. A federation that is showing cracks on its structure, although still with strong central control based on a sort of Westminster system. 8.   Rampant misuse of public monies, third party commissions from projects and socio-political enrichment of a few kleptocratic individuals. 9.    Increased empowerment of royalty in the governance, economic and cultural l

  When I had an unexpected electrical supply cut: I did not have wifi to phone the related electricity wholesale supplier for help. It was single digit temperatures outside during a winter night, so I learnt to appreciate when I could easily keep warm inside by the flick of a switch. I could not boil kettle water to make a hot drink for comfort - nor cook on the stove top. I had to depend on battery powered devices to shine a light in the dark. I had to just read a good book beside a solar garden light, as my electronic interface devices had run out of power - and there was no electricity to recharge the power banks. I had to take a cold shower and could not do the laundry. I could not open automatically operated doors, windows or gates. What do they always say, "Never put all your eggs in one place". You can still rely on your separate and independent sources of power, away from the commercial grid, if you have them.  As the population grows, as supply chains get d

  Since Covid management began, with all its downstream implications for labour availability, logistics supply and customer service, everyone has come across disruptions in accessibility. The rise of contactless transactions has encouraged scenarios where and when we receive no or little explanations for problems and poor service - and the frequent feeling that we just have to take it on the chin. In Australia, the  occurence of confronting climate disasters has coincided with the downside of Covid management since 2020.  As a nation, we over depend on manufactured stuff mostly from overseas. Although we have sufficient food production security, the society has only a few weeks of fuel supplies.  Over reliance on visitor and migrant labour for harvests also meant a  crisis when borders were shut down for months on end to minimise the spread of the Covid in 2020 and 2021 - but in 2022 most Covid infections spread like wildfire within domestic confines. Lettuce is now down to one dol

  When The War Came to my Reality. Aussies have long had this perception of battles taking place far away, fighting for freedom of peoples in other lands. Even if our continental island seems distant from the big troubles across the Northern Hemisphere, what happens when Australia takes its dutiful turn to host battles to be fought on behalf of its allies? Let us be all prepared for the physical, social and personal landscape suffered as collateral damage.  Politicians of different shades can still keep arguing with each other, but the reality for the rest of us at ground level must make us prepare ourselves for harrowing eventualities. Many things on our media, distracting us with irrelevant matters for so many years, will not matter anymore. Reality shows will be replaced by reality.   The pandemic will be pushed aside ( if it already has been) by the impact of intense failure of our logistics, energy supply, communications, food and economic grids.  A lack of national unity an

  So almost 30 months since the Covid pandemic began, downtown Sydney shows the intensity of lacking meaningful infrastructure, as it always has been. The attention seeking Crown Casino skyscraper at Barangaroo can be admired from road, ferry, train, yacht and more.  Its building height  can highlight the excesses of a city I once fell in love with and was proud of.  A city's pulse and reputation is not in having a questionable gambling centre, or new highways usable only by dishing out expensive tolls, but by the joy and purpose in the hearts and minds if its denizens. Sydney now is not a practical or user friendly place.  Its over commercial emphasis has superseded most other priorities.  It is not the quality of friendships, sense of security and ease of commute that defines Sydney, but the density of dwellings, making enough money to sustain livelihoods and self preoccupation that overwhelm a Sydneysider. Greater Sydney residents can be as totally varied and so different, de

  So I noticed the new packaging, smaller serves and higher prices charged. Just dropped by a mainstream supermarket, which does hold a duopoly advantage in a business sector vital to everyone's lives in a nation of around 25 million. Perhaps it is just me, but the increased processing of food is so obvious on their aisle shelves, as opposed to the more pleasing sight of natural produce. Ready made meals with more preservatives.  Bites and packages that utilise latest food technology but coldly hiding behind manufactured artificiality. Convenience emphasised with the furthest distance from the natural producer. So much sugar, so much salt and other chemicals.  Edibles over standardised in look and formula.  So many items looking like clones and fulfiling measurements that cater to logistical and cost imperatives, rather than appealing to our human instinctive need for variety. The inevitable self check out of the future is reinforced by the opening of only one cashier's a