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At around 12:30am on Tuesday, April 22nd 2008, I heard what sounded like a jet fighter flying just over my apartment. At first I didn’t make much of it but the sound lasted more than five minutes. I went outside and tried to find where the noise was coming from.

I found where the noise was coming from. A jet of gas is shooting up to the sky somewhere along a Petronas gas pipeline which is supplying to Singapore. The location of the leak is just before the Permas Jaya bridge (on the Permas Jaya side, near the Shell petrol station). I managed to shoot a video of the incident and uploaded it to YouTube.

Read the rest of Major Gas Pipeline Leak In Permas Jaya »

From last Friday to Sunday, PIKOM PC Fair came to town. On Saturday, I decided to check out the wares on sale. It wasn’t a case of casual booth-hopping. I was actually looking for a specific equipment; a fan and heatsink combo for my aging (but still useful) Athlon Thunderbird processor. The processor may be old, but it runs on the still pretty common Socket A architecture.

So there I was, just in time to see the doors open for the 100 or so early birds (not really that early since the fair starts at 11:00 am). Surely I can find the heatsink of my dreams, right?

Read the rest of Malaysian PC Fairs Are Not For Techies »

As I was cracking my head with yet another Crystal Reports formula, a colleague from the neighbouring department stormed into my office. She’s shouting something about earthquakes and evacuation.

Read the rest of Back Home Early, Thanks To An Earthquake »

Remember my earlier post about the petition for JB police to improve? Personally, over that time period, I’ve observed that the presence of the police force can be felt much, much more than usual.

Everytime I took a drive in town nowadays, I’ll always see a police car or officers on motorbikes patrolling the streets. Occasionally, a police helicopter would hover around town; at night, you can even see it beaming down a floodlight onto the darker areas of the city. Sometimes it makes me wonder, what was the helicopter doing before? Why didn’t the previous police leadership make full use of its resources?

Anyway, this grateful citizen of JB would like to thank the Malaysian Royal Police for the effort they’ve put in to make JB a much safer place. Let’s hope that they can continue with the sterling effort.

Of all the civil services in Malaysia, I respect the Royal Malaysian Police the most. They are an often under-appreciated group of professionals that help keep the peace and make life better for law-abiding citizens.

Nevertheless, the level of commercial crimes as well as violent crimes are beginning to become overwhelming for residents of Johor Bahru. Let me give a few examples;

For the past week or so, there were a few hit-and-rape cases around JB. Yes, you heard that right, hit-and-rape, not hit-and-run! The thing is, this was not a once off case. It happened a number of times just last week alone!

Commercial crimes is also on the rise. The one type of commercial crime that I’m trying to get widely publicised is scratch-and-win scams. Currently, the biggest scratch-and-win syndicate in Malaysia is Welley Corporation Sdn Bhd. They seem to be getting more and more active in Johor Bahru. Right now, they seem to be actively targeting Singaporean visitors. Is this part of the Visit Malaysia Year activities the government has in store for them?

With this in mind, I’ve signed a petition drafted by the Tiong-Hua Association of Johor Bahru. For those who can’t read Chinese or Bahasa Malaysia, here’s my translation of the text:

We feel that the peace and security in Johor Bahru is getting more precarious and the citizens are getting worried and restless. Therefore, we are signing this petition to communicate our concerns to the authorities. We hope that the Police focus more on this issue and put in their full effort in eradicating crime in order to regain the confidence of citizens

At the time of this post, almost 40,000 people have signed the online petition. I know that a paper petition drive is also concurrently taking place.

I urge everyone to please sign the petition. It is for a good cause. Even if you’re not from Johor Bahru, please show your support. Who knows, the next crime victim might be your friend or loved one.

Let’s let the Royal Malaysian Police know that with their recent pay rise comes big responsibilities. The Rakyat has spoken. Now the ball is in their court.