Barat is not East, my friend

The photograph shown on the left is a floor directory signage at the new government office block located within the Johor State New Administrative Centre (JSNAC) in Nusajaya. The signmaker obviously has got his compass directions confused, or at least, doesn't know that Barat means West.

While we are at it, the second photograph is a signage at the lift lobby. The jawi spelling has a missing dot on the last letter. They also have not yet pasted the relevant numerals.

JSNAC maintenance crew should make a thorough inspection of all the signages before the general public spot more bloopers.

All the pics shown here were taken earlier today at my first visit to the new government offices. The whole JSNAC complex is basically still a work in progress although I can see that 4 main buildings have been completed. This include the State Assembly and the Menteri Besar's office.

One wing of the Government office building as viewed from the central courtyard. The other wing is a mirror-image

East wing viewed from the side

West wing viewed from the side

Unfortunate but lucky

The title of this post sounds a bit like a paradox but I’m the sort of guy who will always try to look for a positive thread when unfortunate things happen unexpectedly. An example of such a situation is when my car broke down while I was on my way to Kuantan last year (click here for the story). Yesterday, an incident happened that illustrates a similar situation.

Last night I took an express bus from Kuala Lumpur back to Johor Bahru. The bus left Puduraya Terminal promptly at 9.00 pm. Traffic was not heavy and we got out of the city and entered the highway smoothly.

We were about half an hour into the journey, just before Sg. Besi toll, when we heard a loud exploding sound. The bus began to shudder but the driver managed to control the situation and slowly brought the bus to a stop on the road shoulder.
He got off and investigated. The front left tyre had exploded.

I went down to have a look. Brand new tyre, the driver says. Just replaced three days ago. He wasn’t sure what caused the burst. Good thing he was driving around 70 km/h at the time.

And so we had to wait by the roadside, opposite Technology Park Malaysia, for the replacement bus (the 10.00pm from Puduraya) to come.

This mishap caused me to reach home much later than expected but at least I reached home. If the burst had occurred while the bus was traveling at high speed at a later stretch of the highway, things may have turned out even worse. This is what I mean about being unfortunate but lucky at the same time.

For the 4-D punters among you, the license plate of the bus is JJG 9507. But you buy it at your own risk, okay :-)

Local Indian curry beats American hamburger

The Star Online yesterday published a report about a legal battle between US fast food giant McDonald's and local restaurant McCurry. The Court of Appeal has ruled that McDonald's does not have exclusive rights to the `Mc' prefix and that no reasonable person would confuse the McCurry outlet with one run by the hamburger franchise.

Apparently in 2001, Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn Bhd, the local McD franchise holder, had sued McCurry Restaurant for trademark infringement. In 2006, the High Court ruled in favour of McDonald's and instructed McCurry to dropped the prefix. P. Suppiah, the owner of the Indian restaurant, duly complied by removing the `c' . But he did not give up and filed an appeal. This latest ruling means that Suppiah has won Round 2 and can reinsert the `c' on his restaurant signboard. Photo and full report from The Star Online -> here.

I am quite surprised that McDonald's went ahead with the suit in the first place. For a huge corporation that runs 185 restaurants in Malaysia, they feel threatened by a single shop that serves Indian cuisine. I am even more perplexed that the first round of judgement came out in McDonald's favour. The High Court judge is reported to have ruled that the `McCurry' name and the similar colours of the signboard would cause the general public to confuse the Indian restaurant with the fast-food joint. Wow... amazing.

McCurry Restaurant has its own website -> here. A background story of this legal battle and news of this latest win can be found there. Understandably, no such story is included in McDonald's Malaysia website.

I am happy for Mr. Suppiah for his win and applaud him for his fighting spirit. But this may not be the end of the story yet. The newspaper report closes with a line saying that McDonald's still have the right to appeal to the Federal Court.

I do hope that McDonald's decide to call it a day. If they still want to continue the fight, then I'll probably create online support for Mr. Suppiah. Not that I have any vested interest in McCurry Restaurant. I've never eaten there... heck, I've never even heard of the place before yesterday. But whenever I see an unfair fight, I'll always pitch in for the underdog.

It's so taxing

Being the perennial last-minute guy that I am, I've just managed to squeeze in my income tax returns by e-filing a few minutes ago. Luckily I could access the Inland Revenue Board's computers because the servers were jammed when I tried them yesterday.

I have just realised that we can now claim for deduction of expenses for sports equipment up to a maximum of RM300. This includes purchase of consumable sports items such as golf balls and shuttlecocks. Looks like I better resume playing badminton again this year.

I started posting in this month of April with a joke so maybe it's good to close with a joke too. This time, it is about an Irishman who meets his tax inspector.

Paddy and The Taxman

The Inland Revenue decides to audit Paddy, and summons him to an appointment with the most thorough Tax Inspector in the office. The Tax Inspector is not surprised when Paddy shows up with his solicitor.

The Tax Inspector says, "Well, sir, you have an extravagant lifestyle and no full-time employment, which you explain by saying that you win money gambling. I'm not sure the Inland Revenue finds that believable."

"I'm a great gambler, and I can prove it," says Paddy. "How about a demonstration?"

The Tax Inspector thinks for a moment and says, "Okay. You're on!"

Paddy says, "I'll bet you a thousand pounds that I can bite my own eye."

The Tax Inspector thinks a moment and says, "No way! It's a bet."

Paddy removes his glass eye and bites it.

The Tax Inspector's jaw drops.

Paddy says, "Now, I'll bet you two thousand pounds that I can bite my other eye."

The Tax Inspector can tell Paddy isn't blind, so he takes the bet.

Paddy removes his dentures and bites his good eye.

The stunned Tax Inspector now realises he has bet and lost three thousand quid, with Paddy's solicitor as a witness. He starts to get nervous.

"Would you like to go double or nothing?" Paddy asks. "I'll bet you six thousand pounds that I can stand on one side of your desk and pee into that rubbish bin on the other side, and never get a drop anywhere in between."

The Tax Inspector, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks carefully and decides there's no way Paddy can manage that stunt, so he agrees again.

Paddy stands beside the desk and unzips his trousers, but although he strains like hell, he can't make the stream reach the bin on the other side, so he pretty much urinates all over the Tax Inspector's desk.

The Tax Inspector leaps with joy, realising that he has just turned a major loss into a big win. But Paddy's solicitor moans and puts his head in his hands.

"Are you okay?" the Tax Inspector asks.

"Not really," says the solicitor. "This morning, when Paddy told me he'd been summoned for an audit, he bet me 10,000 pounds that he could come in here and pee all over your desk - and that you'd be happy about it!"

Why do secretaries get a week?

Why is it that secretaries get a week when everyone else gets recognition only for a day? We have Mother's Day and we have Father's Day. We have Labour Day, Teacher's Day, Children's Day, Warrior's Day and a day for lovers called Valentine's Day. Even our planet gets only a single day... Earth Day. But secretaries get a week! They must surely be a special group of people to deserve that.

I am prompted to write about this topic after seeing the pictures that a friend posted on her Facebook profile of the Secretaries Week Luncheon she attended last week. She got to go to the one hosted by Siti Nurhaliza.... hmm, lucky girl.

I attended a similar function two years ago. It was the one hosted by Malaysia's most popular male singer with that certain aura... Mawi. The company decided to buy a full table as a treat for the four secretaries, some of the senior admin staff plus some section heads. Initially, I had declined to go because I was just back from overseas posting and had tons of work to catch up on. But the section head that was meant to attend had to go somewhere else. My own secretary was pleading for me to come along so that the ticket would not go to waste and so I finally relented (err... sexytary ni semua memang ada skill memujuk, boleh cair you...).

Truth be told, I actually feel a bit uneasy to be in a room full of young and middle-aged ladies who are clamouring for the attention of a single young man. Quite unnerving. When Mawi came down from the stage to mingle with the audience, the rush of the women trying to shake his hand and take photos with him was extraordinary.

Mawi co-hosted the show with the petite and dynamic Indonesian singer named Rossa. The cross-dressing Dee compered the event. Overall, it was quite an entertaining afternoon. I have to give it to Mawi... the guy can actually sing and interact with his audience.

Secretaries Week luncheon shows are not cheap. Whoever thought of this event sure got it right. The one that I went to was sold out. I reckon that it is no different this year, economic crisis notwithstanding. Secretaries Week create a sort of dilemma for the bosses. Buying a ticket for your secretary to attend a luncheon show is expensive but if you do not do it, you risk being considered a cheapskate who is ungrateful for the work she has done.

Personally, I think this Secretaries Week thingy is overrated. I would rather reward my secretary with a special treat by taking her out to lunch or dinner where we can have the free time to talk about anything and everything other than work. This however, is not an easy thing to do... if your wife has a jealous streak. Doubly difficult if your secretary is married to a husband with a suspicious nature. So what I've mentioned is actually not good advice... please do not follow it ;-)