A 7pm appointment

There is a new item in my schedule now. Normally I don't watch long-winded drama involving family squabbles so I didn't watch Moonlight Resonance (溏心風暴之家好月圓) when it was first shown on Astro. But upon hearing that it won numerous awards, I have decided to watch every episode of it this time round on 8TV to see what the fuss is all about. So now on every weekday at 7pm since last week, I can be found glued to the TV watching Moonlight Resonance.

A new hobby

My spouse and I started this hobby together. Now he is the one diligently tending to it while I just provide emotional support.

Are you a good neighbour?

Today I saw and talked to my new neighbour for the first time. She has just received her keys to her place. Although it was just a short talk, I think she is a nice lady. She hopes to move in before Chinese New Year next year.

Speaking of neighbours, I found an interesting article on how to be a good neighbour. It states that:

"...taking the time to establish good terms with your neighbours has numerous benefits. The community will be friendlier, the neighbourhood safer, and the area a nicer and more comfortable place to live."

So are your neighbours your friends?

10 years ago...

...we celebrated your 29th birthday with a simple meal.

Now it's that time of year again.
Here's wishing you a very happy 39th birthday!

A workaholic nation?

The sentence below is a requirement that often appears in local job advertisements:

"Applicants must be willing to work extended hours and under tight deadlines"

What about Work-Life Balance?

Is it possible to have a well balanced life when local employers expect employees to work extended hours?

An article entitled "Spotlight on working time" published by The International Labour Organization (ILO) and issued in 2007 states that:

"Attempts to reduce hours in developing countries have been unsuccessful for various reasons, including the need of workers to work long hours simply to make ends meet, and the widespread use of overtime by employers in an effort to increase their enterprises’ output under conditions of low productivity."

It further states that:

"Among those countries with the highest incidence of long working hours for 2004–05 (defined as more than 48 hours per week), Peru topped the list at 50.9 per cent of workers, the Republic of Korea at 49.5 per cent, Thailand at 46.7 per cent (in the year 2000), and Pakistan at 44.4 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum, developed countries such as Norway, the Netherlands and France, as well as transition economies such as Hungary and Estonia, reported the lowest incidence of long hours."

It also mentions the proposal that decent working time arrangements need to fulfill five inter-connected criteria:

1. they should preserve health and safety;
2. be “family friendly”;
3. promote gender equality;
4. enhance productivity; and
5. facilitate worker choice and influence over working hours.

Well, Malaysia has its own Labour Law but how many of us are well versed with the Employment Act 1955 and what the regulation states about hours of work, overtime and work on rest day? Even if we are familiar with the Act, we will still obediently work long hours when our employers expect us to do so because .... well, I honestly do not know why ....

Pro-choice & Pro-life

I was watching an episode of Boston Legal the other day where a young girl seeks a judicial bypass so that she can get an abortion without parental approval since her mother refused to give her consent. I then looked up the terms pro-choice and pro-life on the web.

From the online merriam-webster dictionary, pro-choice (1975) just means "favoring the legalization of abortion" whereas pro-life (1971) means "opposed to abortion".

Then wikipedia on pro-choice and pro-life states that:

"Both "pro-choice" and "pro-life" are examples of political framing: they are terms which purposely try to define their philosophies in the best possible light, while by definition attempting to describe their opposition in the worst possible light ("Pro-choice" implies the alternative viewpoint is "anti-choice", while "pro-life" implies the alternative viewpoint is "pro-death" or "anti-life")".

The neutral terms to use are the terms “in favor of abortion rights” and “opposed to abortion rights”.

I also came across this informative webpage that summarises the abortion laws of most countries in the world. It has charts that show for what reasons and under what conditions abortion is legal in each country. The reasons it lists are:

Life: to save the life of the mother
Health: to preserve the physical health of the mother
Mental: to preserve the mental health of the mother
Rape: in cases of rape and incest
Defect: when the unborn child has medical problems or birth defects
Social: for social and/or economic reasons, (cannot afford to support a child)
Demand: available on demand, no reason need be given

From its tables, I am surprised to see that China and Singapore (1974 Termination of Pregnancy Act) have very liberal abortion law. For Malaysia, its penal code was amended in 1989 (Act A727 of 1989) to allow abortion in the first trimester if the woman's life or physical or mental health is endangered by the pregnancy.

For reference, I copied the following tables (please click on the charts for a larger image) from the webpage above as follows:


After my reading, I would not want to use the terms pro-choice and pro-life because while I am all for life, I am also very much in favour of women being given the choice to choose what they want to do with their lives and bodies. How about you?

Our very own tepui?

Open our eyes
and we shall see
the beauty that surrounds us