Hung on Corruption

Death penalty for corruption?

Anything can happen in China.

I wonder if the official would have been sentenced to death if China's international trade and reputation weren't at stake.

I guess someone has to sacrifice to uphold the honour of the country if the USFDA is breathing down one's neck.

Imagine if the entire population of the USA no longer buys toothpastes manufactured in China.

No wonder I have had customers who insist on knowing where certain medications were manufactured in, and refuse to buy products made in China.

Even after I tell them that pharmaceutical companies impose strict quality control measures on the manufacture of medications, regardless of the country they were manufactured in.

After reading this article, I now doubt the validity of my words.

Hung on Corruption

So Heiress It Is...

So Paris Hilton goes to jail, and gets back out again. It's not Monopoly, she doesn't have a "Get Out Of Jail" pass. It's reality, baby.

Seems as if an heiress is entitled to do anything she wants, even if it borders on a breach of law. What to do? The golden key hanging from her mouth also opens jail doors apparently.

Or does it? Seemingly the US population aren't too happy with her being sent home and put under house arrest (assuming that the over 400 emails and hundreds of phone calls from people around the States represent the true population and not just the people who are anti-Hilton administration), and she's now ordered back into jail.

So what next, Miss Hilton? The Simple Jail Life?

So Heiress It Is...

Fruits and Veges, Anyone?

More and more Malaysians are now aware that prevention is better than cure, and lifestyle changes go a long way in preventing many diseases. While I was waiting for my grandmother at the hospital, I was talking with this elderly lady who is afflicted with Type II diabetes - she told me that she has been watching her diet, and I was very impressed with the fact that she knew that Type II diabetes is caused in part by diet, and that she was doing something about it.

The Star newspaper published an article on 27/05/2007 (http://www.thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=/2007/5/27/health/17846417&sec=health) to highlight the importance of lifestyle changes in the prevention of many non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes).

While it seems that lifestyle changes are only relevant to people of a certain age-group - those whose risk of getting cardiovascular disease is high - the take-home message is that lifestyle changes are relevant to everyone of every age, gender, walks of life, even if you've already had a heart attack, or a stroke.

The question is not how much longer we can live, but how we would want to spend the rest of our lives.

Fruits and Veges, Anyone?

News On: Lebanese found guilty of intimidating lover's maid

I don't read the newspaper often, but when I do, the things that people do these days never cease to amaze me.

KT was reading the Star (a Malaysian newspaper) online today (Thursday 26/04/2007), and one of the articles that caught his attention, "Lebanese found guilty of intimidating lover's maid" was so noteworthy that I had to mention this on my blog, lest people think that I only talk about fish and other trivial matters (trivial not to me, but to the readers of my blog, if there are any :P).

"What is so extraordinary about this article?", you might ask. There's certainly nothing unusual about love affairs. It's the details surrounding the love affair that are unusual.

So there is this Lebanese sweets seller in Malaysia who had an affair with a married Chinese woman. Naturally, the husband found out about the affair. If he didn't, then there wouldn't be anything for the newspaper to harp about, is there? Unnaturally, the husband was not furious about the affair, or at least his sentiments are not of importance. It turns out that the Lebanese sweets seller was furious, at the Filipino maid, because he THOUGHT that the maid was responsible for ratting on him to the husband.

So what is a healthy 26-year old Lebanese male who cuckolds on another man to do with the sneaky Filipino maid? He sends her threat sms and phone calls. So much so that the Filipino maid said " Ano bayan??? I didn't even tell Sir about Madam's affair. Sir already knew a long time ago!!! I can't stand it any longer. I want to sue this Lebanese dude."

So there is the court. Naturally the Lebanese man had a counsel. So the counsel tells the court:

"Aiyah, what? Your honour, it's not my client's fault lah, he cannot help himself. He was born in Lebanon, you know? Lebanon is a hotspot for not only Lebanese cucumbers but also war, you know? Palestine? Israel? They give the Lebanese no chance to plant their cucumbers in peace. So of course lah my client was brought up to be aggressive lah, in Lebanon he has to protect himself against war mah, so when he came to Malaysia, he has to protect himself against a sneaky Filipino maid lah. Very fair what. My client is already very sorry lah, so forgive him lah, don't rotan him."

Fair indeed. The court must have taken pity on this man. He was fined RM 2,800 or 6 months in prison by default. Of course he sold enough sweets to pay off the fine.

The conclusion is if you want to commit crime and get away with it, you must get your lawyer to tell your sad story and hire a solo violinist to boot. Even terrorists can get away in Malaysia.

"My client has been ingrained with terrorist doctrines ever since he was young. Therefore, for him to bomb up a great part of KL is only fair given that he has terrorist notions."

Circular reasoning does work, you know.

News On: Lebanese found guilty of intimidating lover's maid