Category: Malaysia

Another Reason Not To Host In Malaysia

Would you register your blog if the Government ask you to? Although I rarely write about any sensitive issues related to the Government, I have to express myself on this one.

So now Malaysian Government is planning to make it compulsory for bloggers to register themselves. Here is an article from The Star: Bloggers may have to register

According to another this news in The Star Online, “… plan to register all bloggers using locally hosted websites …”. If this is true, I am not related anymore since I moved out from Malaysia hosting. So was my decision to move from Exabytes the correct decision to make?

We have to wait for the official announcement from the Government.

My opinion is that this is entirely not necessary. From what I see now the Government is creating another enemy, instead of embracing bloggers for a better country. Why can’t the Government take it as a challenge to make things better, or even take it as the voice of the people living in this country? There must always be a reason why people talk about bad about the Government, not only in Malaysia. A Malay proverb: Kalau tak ada angin takkan pokok bergoyang which means exactly that.

And really, this is the classic case of kerana nila setitik rosak susu sebelanga (because of one bad thing/person the entire group receives bad reputation).

So after this there should not be any question anymore why Malaysians do not host their website within the country. Not that the service is good anyway.

As usual I include the original news below in case the original article is no longer available.

Continue reading Another Reason Not To Host In Malaysia

McDonald’s Taman Equine

Last night (Sunday morning) at 2.50am my stomach started to rumble as I was staying up late to finish up some work. So I went to McDonald’s to get some food at the 24-hour drive thru. I arrived there exactly at 3.00am, and there were 3 cars ahead of me in the queue.

I didn’t expect anything weird until the first car in front still have not moved after 10 minutes. And 2 more cars arrived behind me. Not that I can reverse the car and get away or anything (although the thought did enter my mind). I turns out that I had to wait until 3.25am in the queue before it was my turn. Yes, 25 minutes in queue at McDonald’s drive thru.

After ordering (with very limited choice) I saw the supervisor was manning the drive thru counter while all of the other staff was playing around, taking drinks from the dispenser and do nothing. And the manager had to record orders on a paper. At first I thought they were on break or something until I decided to ask the supervisor why the hell did he write records on paper and does he have to do it every night? He said, “yes, we have to wait until the system turns back on in the morning to key in everything”.

Hmm… can’t the staff go around and pickup the food while the manager takes orders and record them? Beats me. I don’t know fast food business that well. I just eat them.

That’s a new lesson for me. If you’re starving in the middle of the night don’t go to McDonald’s. And I thought they had a perfect “system”. Quoting my entrepreneurship teacher in college:

Why McDonald’s can succeed in their business? They have a perfect system.

Yeah right 😉

WiMAX In Malaysia

Ok ok I know this is old news for most of you. I just can find this time to write a bit about it.

Technically speaking WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It is a common misconception to consider WiMAX and Wi-Fi as similar technologies. The fact that they both start with same letter and governed by IEEE standard 802x. makes them easier to be confused.

Wi-Fi, which most of us are familiar with and use everyday is targeted for short range access (10m) and is suitable for Intranet or hotspot coverage for a small area. It was never meant for ISPs to distribute Internet access. Wi-Fi uses unlicensed radio spectrum, otherwise you’ll need to apply for a license from MCMC each time you buy a wireless access point 😉

In the other hand, WiMAX can go up to 70km and is suitable for last mile/km distribution of Internet access from ISPs. The issue with licensing that we saw in the news is because WiMAX utilizes a licensed radio spectrum so not just anyone can operate a WiMAX access point.

Do take note, however all of the maximum ranges are still effected by the line-of-sight limitation so even if you live very near to a WiMAX access point but you live behind a hill you might not get the maximum 70Mbps speed that WiMAX can handle. That’s a nice pair of numbers – 70km/70Mbps.

Continue reading WiMAX In Malaysia

Frustration With Exabytes

Between 00:20 to 02:10 Malaysian time (16:20 to 18:10 GMT) the Apache service on the server hosting this site was down. I know that only Apache was down due to the fact that I can’t access the webites using the web browser but I can access FTP, SSH, SMTP, and POP. Here’s what I put inside the form for Exabytes technical support:

Hi

We can’t access the site using HTTP. Apache may be down. I can access FTP, SMTP, SSH, and POP. I realized that there was a problem with the network at the data center as described in https://support.exabytes.com/index.php?_m=news&_a=viewnews&newsid=209 but this problem will cause outages on all services, not only HTTP.

Just letting you know as you may not realize Apache is down.

Thank you.

And the reply I received surprised me:

Dear Ady,
At the moment, our network had high latency.
Our network engineers are currently working on this issue.
You may refer to:
https://support.exabytes.com/index.php?_m=news&_a=viewnews&newsid=209

If you have any enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact. Thank You.
Best Regards,
KM Chow
………………………………..
System Engineer,
Exa Bytes Network Sdn Bhd

With an excellent customer support record so far (at least for myself), I was surprised that this Engineer (?) can’t read well. He shouldn’t have repeated the URL I already mentioned. This somehow implies that the customer can’t read and the reply really looks like a template.

I am hosting at Exabytes Malaysia due to the fact that the customer support is fast, and my access to the server is very fast. But right now I am thinking of moving my blog elsewhere. Too bad some of other sites I host here must stay due to the fact that they are targeted to Malaysian customers and the access is fast.

Malaysian Bloggers Sued

Yes what you heard is right. Sued. Jeff Ooi and Rocky were served separately by a group of the same people for what else but the contents of their blogs.

I am very unfamiliar with law terms, and in the area itself so I am not going to comment much.

However seeing the situation I do feel that since this is now in legal proceedings, bloggers are being taken a lot seriously in Malaysia. I feel sorry for the fellow bloggers of course, but let’s not take this matter to the extreme. After all we are all professionals and can think on our own.

Hotel Grand Continental Kuantan

As I mentioned earlier, during the Christmas weekend we went to Kuantan, Pahang for business trip. Due to the late reservation, we were unable to get a decent hotel. Decent here means with a hotel with Internet connection inside the room 😉 Even our favorite, Swiss Garden Resort was fully booked.

So during the first day, 22nd to 23rd December we end up in the Hotel Grand Continental Kuantan, owned by Grand Hotels International. I believe it is a 3 star hotel but please correct me if I am wrong.

When I first arrived, I scanned for wifi availability and detected that TMNET Hotspot is in the lobby.

The hallway of this hotel is clean, but undecorated. That’s not really important as long as we have a place to stay.

Grand Continental Kuantan 7

Continue reading Hotel Grand Continental Kuantan

Be Careful In Cyberjaya

For those working/studying or doing whatever in Cyberjaya, please be careful if you make the illegal U-turn after exiting The Street Mall. If you can, do a U-turn somewhere else where it’s safe.

Yesterday night after dinner at Street Mall, I heard a loud bang. It turns out a Satria from the MMU stretch ran directly into a Waja making a U-turn. That Waja has just minutes before passed by me as I get to my car at The Street Mall.

To people driving from MMU side, come on la… slowly and be alert of cars making the U-turn. I know it’s illegal, but what’s the use of defending that you’re right when your car is all messed up. The Satria was indeed very fast as I heard the tires screech for a long time before the bang!

Nobody died, I think. The Waja ended up on the roadside and the Satria totally lost the front engine part – just imagine how hard the collision was!

Free Windows Vista

Last month, there was a radio commercial on Hitz.fm that promotes free upgrade to Windows Vista and I was fooled. Of course, it’s a commercial.

You get Windows Vista only if you buy a new PC with Windows XP now. For those currently using licensed Windows XP like me, you get nothing.

In fact, even now if you go and get yourself a new PC you’ll get Vista upgrade for free as stated here in Microsoft website. I am not sure whether this applies globally but I was brought to this page from Microsoft Malaysia.

I wonder if the final release is now available at Low Yat Plaza. I just want to take a look, nothing serious. I expect it to be more resource hungry and not suitable for my old hardware anyway.

Any of you have used Vista? Let me know of your opinion.

Malaysia OSS Master Plan Gets Truncated

As I thought. When the Government declared that they will favor open source for their IT needs I was thinking whether they have thoroughly analyzed their plan. What I can clearly see is that all they understand is the word FREE. No more, no less.

It was published on The Star Online on 5 December that the OSS Master Plan Gets Pruned. Indeed, they can’t simply disable or abort the plan so they removed a sentence. Originally it states:

OSS procurement should be based on merits, value for money, transparency, security and interoperability, as well as in accordance with the Government procurement policies and procedures. In situations where the advantages and disadvantages of OSS and proprietary software are equal, preference shall be given to OSS.

Now that the second line has been removed:

OSS procurement should be based on merits, value for money, transparency, security and interoperability, as well as in accordance with the Government procurement policies and procedures.

This effectively imply a new policy: neutrality.

As OSS is no longer preferred, the master plan is now useless. Very rarely OSS software can market themselves, and proprietary software have the big guns who can do marketing and sales for them.

The new sentence can also be applied to proprietary software, don’t you think? The sentence is there just to ensure existence of the master plan which is now obsolete.

Police At Work

Nothing much in this post, just sharing a photo of the police guys that caused me to be late today. Yes, I start work at 15:00.

The location is the freeway into Putrajaya from Puchong, just before the left turn to Putrajaya. Straight ahead are Dengkil and Cyberjaya. (This road is parallel with ERL lines).

Cyberjaya Cops

Nothing wrong with what they do, it’s their job, just pissed off a little with them 😉

4 lanes becoming 1 lane is too much even for this empty-most-of-the-time road.

Tun Dr Mahathir Warded at Institut Jantung Negara

Poor Tun. He’s now recovering from a mild heart attack in IJN. I heard the attack was following a Hari Raya open house party the previous night (the attack came on Thursday morning).

I am not going to comment about his political views or anything, especially for a man that is 3 times older than myself. But if I hear anything else about the issues with our current PM I will definitely think that he needs the rest after so many years working on developing Malaysia. It’s time for him to enjoy the rest of his life, with his family and friends…

Right, Tun? Hope you get well soon, and please take it easy.

Tun Dr Mahathir

Malaysia Prepaid War

The war has begun again. Yellow operator came out with www.thetruthaboutprepaid.com and the blue (purple?) operator came out with www.thetruthaboutprepaid.com.my. I wonder what the red operator will register.

For sure, the yellow operator must have some regrets for not registering the .com.my version of the domain.

While the yellow operator is being discreet about the domain it registered (or isn’t technical enough that a freelancer and an external company to handle such promotion):

Administrative Contact:
McCann Erickson (M) Sdn. Bhd
Sha Li Lim
Level 8, Menara IMC, 8, Jalan Sultan Ismail,
Kuala Lumpur, 50250
MY
Phone: +60.60327186118
Email: [email protected]

The blue operator doesn’t seem to care:

j [Technical Contact MYNIC Handle : CPC014868]
Celcom IT Security Management
Celcom (M) Berhad
16th Floor Menara Celcom
No 82, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz
50300 Kuala Lumpur
Wilayah Persekutuan
Malaysia
[email protected]
(Tel) 03-26883876
(Fax) 03-26810396

As long as there’s no gunshot or people dying because of this I’ll just sit out of the war zone and enjoy the fun. I’m using postpaid (with neither operator) anyway.

Don’t Play With Firecrackers

Every Raya, there will be boom, bangs everywhere. I know that have been a tradition, but is it really necessary? Furthermore, it’s not even a Malay tradition.

I can understand when Chinese lights up firecrackers, it’s their tradition since forever. It’s their belief. It’s their culture. In fact, I rarely see any Chinese lighting up firecrackers during nonsense hours and at 10.00pm when people are trying to sleep. Rarely. What I usually see is during Chinese New Year they have an event, invites lion dance groups, and light up long chains of firecrackers. That was fun especially it was always done during the day.

I was really pissed off last night when a Malay neighbour started firing up firecrackers, one by one and throwing them on the road in front of his house. This is because as you see today I have to work.

Don’t play with firecrackers or worst create homemade firecrackers. If you do, there’s a possibility you’ll end up like this or this or this.

The last news above – I saw this the news once during the early of Ramadhan that there was a case where a neighbour was killed by another angry neighbour because he played firecrackers. TV3 naughtily said “there’s a reason why the Government doesn’t allow you to play firecrackers”. 😉

Kedah state has organized anti-firecracker squads, but I wonder they succeeded in preventing people from playing firecrackers.

Be considerate. Be safe. Firecrackers can cause (1) deafness (2) blindness (3) burn injuries, (4) and a fire hazard to other people as well. If you want to burn down your bungalow it’s fine, but please consider other people if you live in linked houses (where walls are shared).

Last but not least:

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri
Maaf Zahir dan Batin

EON Hari Raya Song

Nostalgic… I can still remember this song which was introduced by EON during my primary school times. And that was in the 90s.

Hari Raya hari yang mulia,
Sungguh bererti kepada kita,
Tua muda miskin dan kaya,
Menyambutnya dengan gembira…

Berhati-hati di jalan raya,
Semoga anda selamat tiba,
Ucapan selamat hari raya,
Dari EON untuk semua…

Ucapan selamat hari raya,
Dari EON untuk semua…

It’s short, due to the fact that it was sung in a Hari Raya commercial produced by EON. I am not sure who wrote that song. But for those who were in the same era, for sure you can remember this song!

As I can’t find the original version of the video, here’s the new version of the song, performed by Akademi Fantasia participants. I guess the copyright is still with EON.

A Real Computer Expert, At Last

At last in yesterday’s edition of the articles about Internet Banking, the same newspaper as mentioned in the previous post interviewed Datuk Abdul Hamidy Abdul Hafiz, the chairman of the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM). In the interview, Datuk Hamidy explained about the problem like an expert. I am not sure about his background, but he sure know about it better than the “computer expert”.

Quote:

ABDUL HAMIDY: Phishing bukanlah satu trend. Ia merupakan satu penipuan dan tidak boleh dihentikan kerana ada sahaja orang yang hendak mencuba.

Tetapi kalau kita melihat cara phishing ini dia bukan hendak menembusi (penetrate) sistem bank, tetapi ingin menembusi sistem milik pelanggan. Ini bermakna, penipuan tersebut berlaku terhadap pelanggan yang masih kurang berpengetahuan mengenai keselamatan di Internet.

Maksud Datuk pelanggan yang tidak cekap menggunakan Internet.

ABDUL HAMIDY: Ya. Mereka yang masih tidak cekap menggunakan Internet.

Oleh kerana itu semua bank yang mempunyai kemudahan perbankan Internet sentiasa memberitahu peraturan dan langkah-langkah keselamatan.

Pelanggan kadangkala mengabaikan peraturan yang diberikan oleh pihak bank kerana menganggap peraturan itu terlalu panjang.

Kita berharap pelanggan akan membaca dan memahami peraturan yang telah disediakan. Kalau mereka (pelanggan) tidak faham mengenai peraturan atau langkah yang disediakan, mereka boleh menghubungi Pusat Pengurusan Pelanggan.

Original news: http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/…

This time I am short of time to translate anything. If you are interested just let me know.

As a summary, he said that the problem is not with banking website, but with the users’ Internet skills. Criminals are not attacking banking websites, but users. Right on target, Datuk.