Buying books in Malaysia

Yesterday, I went to the Bookfest @ Malaysia that started yesterday at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC). Not too shabby. Was in and out in about 2 hours. Completed by collection of the "Kingbreaker, Kingmaker" 2-book series and the Godspeaker trilogy by Karen Miller.

None of the distributors showcased IT-related reference books though (well, none in English anyway), and that's what I was really looking for. Oh well, the good thing is that Kinokuniya is right up there in Suria KLCC. I found one of 2 reference books I was looking for. Guess I'll have to order them. It was in their system, but only because someone else has also placed an order for them. It's a whopping RM200. But it's still cheaper than getting it from Amazon obviously. MPH didn't list the book in their online search so I guess they don't carry it either (they only have a previous edition). While there, I completed yet another 2 series of fantasy trilogies, one FR and the other Eberron. Good. As usual, I'm very happy with Kinokuniya prices that are always at least RM2 or RM3 (sometimes more) cheaper than MPH and Popular. Too bad Kinokuniya is only in Suria KLCC (with its killer parking rates), despite carrying the most comprehensive collection of books for sale, and the best prices.

The Malays are cowards, says Utusan

The Malaysian Insider has published an article titled The Malays are cowards, says Utusan. The article apparently is a highly racist article that again wields the race issue as its weapon. Why does Utusan play up racial agendas so often? As usual, there's the standard set of accusations of usurpation of power and erosion of rights -- all very glaringly devoid of specific instances and of course, conveniently ignoring the "vice versa" part. Sad.

What's sadder is that our Deputy Prime Minister apparently supports the racist article. You wonder where he was when the infamous Ahmad Ismail uttered the racist remark that the Chinese in the country are immigrants and squatters (notice how, at the end of that section, Utusan Malaysia is yet again involved). Yuck. And for those who didn't know, the journalist who reported the remark was arrested and detained under ISA rather than the person who made the remark. Incredible no? Again, you wonder where our DPM was at that time, since he's supportive of the media's "right".

Why do Malaysians march?

Read the Sun's Why do Malaysians march?

Kematian Teoh timbulkan pelbagai spekulasi politik

I would suggest people read the article entitled "Kematian Teoh timbulkan pelbagai spekulasi politik" published by Berita Harian and gather their own impressions.

I just find it really baffling that Teoh Beng Hock's death under mysterious circumstances while under MACC custody (for an interview no less) can be insidiously written and turned into an anti-Malay affair. It's fine to accuse the opposition parties of trying to capitalise on the issue in an attempt to undermine the present government, but why mention race? Why must a major newspaper and supposed source of intellectual information in Malaysia fan racial sentiments? The irony is that the article is seemingly decrying racial sentiments - unfortunately, it's by being anti-anti-Malay.

It's also strange that when the whole country doesn't know exactly what happened to cause Teoh Beng Hock to fall out a window, the writer actually seems to imply that it was indeed just an accident (quote: Apabila mangsa kemalangan pula orang bukan Melayu, yang sebelumnya disiasat orang Melayu, bertambah hebatlah spekulasinya.).

Anyway, I don't think that was a very professionally written article - maybe it started off well-meaning, but I think the way it was concluded, and the fact that it was a major publication, made it even more damaging than all the hate messages on the internet. Don't take my word for it of course, just read, and draw your own conclusions.

Justice For Beng Hock

I join the demand for answers and a detailed explanation from MACC of the death of Beng Hock.

Experian Walk-In Interview #4

The fourth Experian walk-in interview is on the 25th of March this week. Yea, sorry for the short notice again :P It will start from 10am to 3pm on the 6th level of the Hilton Kuala Lumpur Hotel at KL Sentral.

The Testability Explorer

Anyone who needs some enlightenment, explanations, or examples on the concepts behind good testable code and dependency injection should definitely spend lots of time reading the blog posts of Miško Hevery. You can start with the following to trigger some light bulbs going off in your head:

• Guide: Writing Testable Code
  
• How to Think About the "new" Operator
  
• Singletons are Pathological Liars
  
• Application Wiring on Auto-Pilot
  
• Dependency Injection Myth: Reference Passing
  
• Static Methods are Death to Testability
  
• Flaw: Digging into Collaborators
  

Programming Sucks! Or At Least, It Ought To

Here's a nicely laid out read for the "creative" developer in us. When it comes to coding, it all really boils down to KISS.