Just a brief rundown of five of the most memorable cars that I have driven.

5. Ford Falcon XR8 - This test drive was memorable for several reasons. One, it was my first time driving in Australia. Second, for the first time in my life, a showroom actually gave me a test car without someone following. Suffice to say, Rayner and I had lots of fun with the car - 5.4 litres of raw Aussie V8 muscle.

4. BMW 545i - I still remember this test drive vividly. Driving along the National Science Centre highway, there was an X5 4.4i ahead of me. I let it build up a bit of a gap and then play catch up. I was slowly but steadily gaining on it, and the speedo reached 180kph at one point. Then a dumbass Kuntchill decided to come into the path of not one but two BMWs barrelling down the fastlane. Not the smartest thing to do. Fortunately, both of us were able to slow down on time, otherwise, it would have been spectacular.

3. BMW 325i - I still can't believe this happened to me, but it did. From some contest, I actually won myself a weekend with a BMW. Drove the car down to JB and back during that time. It was like any other BMW that I've driven, but the fact that I had it for a whole weekend never ceases to put a smile in my face.

2. Proton Wira 1.6XLi - Not any Wira 1.6, but the one and only BET 5404. That car was with me for the first three years of my driving life and she pretty much shaped me as a driver. What I liked about the car, she was a humble Wira, but she gets off the line really quick, and was super-smooth on highways. The fact that I still benchmark sub-2.0 cars against her shows how much of an impression she has left in me.

1. Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG - Never before in my life have I gotten this close to supercardom. Jarryd, who was with me in the car, estimated I hit 100kph from a standstill in about 5-6 seconds. The brilliant part of this car is that it is both brutal and civilised at the same time. It will murder anything less than a Ferrari F430 on a straight, but yet still practical enough to do the usual chores of a four-door sedan. The best part is that, it cost RM1.5m, and I drove it!

In any arena, be it sports or business, you can always find a pair of sides who are eternally at loggerheads with each other. You can find a few of these pairs in football: Arsenal-Tottenham, Manchester United-Liverpool, Real Madrid-Barcelona and Rangers-Celtic to name a few natural rivalries. Among universities, you have the branch campuses of Monash University and Nottingham University respectively in fierce competition with each other.

In the world of cars, no rivalry is fiercer than that of Mercedes-Benz and BMW. As a matter of fact, most petrol-heads on this planet can be classified as either a Mercedes person or a BMW person. The purchase of a luxury car usually boils down to the choice of Benz or Bimmer to those who refuse to consider the merits of a Volvo, Lexus or Audi.

I sit in the BMW camp, and from the perspective of a BMW fan, the demography of Mercedes buyers are hardly inspiring: Chinaman towkays who want a big car to show off, and wives of Chinaman towkays who want a big car to show off. It's sad, because there is a lot to admire in a Mercedes besides its badge.

For one, old Mercs are famous for their robust indestructible nature. Just look at the number of W124 E-Classes running on roads around the world. Then there's the S-Class which people always say is the prelude to what cars will be in ten years. As a rule, Mercedes always design their cars with an understated elegance: looking classy without trying too hard. There's also their engineering, which in my opinion, is second to none.

Of course, for the towkay who only wants the Mercedes to show off, this is all immaterial. The towkay will not see the point of the E55 AMG which looks so much like his much cheaper (and inferior) E200K. It takes a trained eye to spot the difference between an AMG tuned Merc and a run-of-the-mill variant. Watch out though, this one will blow you away.

This is because it is powered by a fire-breathing 5.5-litre V8 engine that punches out 476bhp worth of power and 517Nm of torque. To put things into perspective, a Lamborghini Gallardo outputs 520bhp and 510Nm. However, the Merc's styling keeps that firepower deceptively hidden as only the quad tail-pipes, the AMG rims and some badging distinguish it from the other E-Classes.

I was able to take one on a short drive today and I was simply blown away by the sheer driveability of the car. When you're in the mood, it has the brutal acceleration to entertain you, but when you're feeling a little more restrained, it's completely civilised. I have slight question marks on its handling though, but I'll need a longer test drive before I can seriously attack its credentials.

I have driven some pretty darn good cars before in my life, but this definitely tops the list. It was only a short drive, but for a mere mortal like me, it was more than enough. And having driven this one, the prospect of driving an M5 doesn't seem so unrealistic now.

Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG

Engine: 5439cc, V8
Max Power: 476bhp @ 6100rpm
Max Torque: 517Nm @ 4500rpm
Transmission: 5-speed auto
Weight: 1760kg
Top speed: 250kph (electronically limited)
0-100kph: 4.7
Length / Width / Height:
OTR Price: RM1.5M - the most expensive car I've ever driven!

Likes: Subtle clues to its true power - which is a lot!
Dislikes: Mercedes eccentric controls. Why can't they use a handbrake like everyone else?

Verdict: Blown away.

Every so often, I come across cars that were the consequence of inexplicable product planning. One example would be the Euro-spec Honda Civic. For some reason, the engineers decided to regress in their suspension design by going back to using a torsion beam in the rear. How bad is that? Even the Proton Iswara has independent rear suspension.

Still on Honda, the City has definitely one of the most well-designed interiors of a car money can buy. The spaciousness and practicality is second to none. It's ultra seats can fold in many ways and even make a single flat floor that goes all the way back to the boot. It's a very ingenius feature, but it was somehow omitted from the higher end VTEC model.

The newly launched Mitsubishi Lancer is billed in the ads as the Ultimate Sports Machine. Indeed it comes with good credentials: an excellent 2.0-litre engine, full body kit, and all the electronics you can think off, but no manual transmission. Strange decision, especially when you consider that the manual version is sold in Singapore.

There's also the age old Proton Wira, which most of us in Malaysia have driven at some point or another in our lives. The 1.6 and 1.8-litre models were great. Powerful and very well-equipped, a far cry from the underpowered 1.5 auto, which was sold with a 3-speed automatic transmission. People stopped selling 3-speeders back in the 1980s, when I was still in diapers.

Now, the Wira is finally phased out and replaced by the all-new Proton Persona 1.6. Actually, if you think of it, the Persona isn't really all-new. The name Persona was used for export market Wiras. The car, is basically a sedan version of the Gen.2 with a few improvements. And improved they did, in most areas.

In fact, for the most part, Proton got their act on the Persona spot on. From marketing to engineering, their performance this time can be deemed as excellent. Many complaints and issues from the Gen.2 and Waja were addressed with the Persona. The build quality and ergonomics, both arts that have eluded Proton recently, have improved leaps and bounds.

The Persona comes in three trim levels, Base-Line, Medium-Line and High-Line, which are pretty much self-descriptory. And here lies the biggest chink in the Persona's armour. Most of the goodies are packed in the H-Line, and that trim level is only available in automatic transmission. I want to know who was in charge of their product planning, because I am not the only person displeased that stick shifters will have to make do without ABS, EBD, passenger's airbag and rear disc brakes.

That's right, for the first time, a Proton 1.6-litre model does not offer rear discs as standard. Rear discs came standard with the Wira/Satria 1.6, Waja, Gen.2 and Neo, which is why I was shocked to hear that the Persona will be getting rear drums. It's disappointing, because that has really spoiled what is an excellent value for money package.

As mentioned earlier, the ergomic errors that were so persistent in the Waja and Gen.2 has been largely eliminated. The power window switches are placed within easy reach, unlike the Waja which requires you to contort your hands to activate the power windows. The door handles are also placed further backwards, which means you don't have to use as much force to close them. This may sound simple, but let me tell you this, ergonomics is an art which ensures that the user can operate the controls comfortably and effectively.

One thing that really impressed me was the use of pneumatic struts for the Persona's boot hinges. Unlike the C-shaped boot hinges on the Waja that eats into the boot's space, the Persona's pneumatic struts (a feature found in BMWs) save a lot of space and do not eat into the boot space at all. A very thoughtful addition.

The improved build quality over the Gen.2 and Waja is also evident. Well, at least the perceived quality has improved. This covers the feel of the materials and the feel when you open and close things. Unfortunately, the car I test drove today had a broken tachometer.

This brings us to the driving experience. The version I drove was the M-Line automatic. My previous experience driving the Campro engine mated to an automatic transmission was memorably bad. That car felt sluggish and unwilling to accelerate.

Proton claims that the Campro engine has once again been tweaked to alleviate its famous lack of low and midrange torque. However, a strong point of the Campro is that it's a very free-revving engine and it goes when the revs pick up. There is noticeable improvement, but the car still lags when powering out of corners. During the test route, I was able to hit 120kph on long road with slight bends and straights.

The ride and handling is good like any order post-Waja Proton, with good cornering accuracy and high-speed stability. Only the broken tacho and slightly lagging pick up marred an otherwise fun drive. Bear in mind that I went to this test drive after test driving the Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG (more on that in my next entry), so it's testament that the Persona doesn't feel too bad after that.

Well, for now, it looks like the Persona is going to be the model that saves Proton, and the sales figures certainly say so. For the most part, Proton seems to have finally gotten everything right with this model. Ultimately, only time will tell whether the Persona has what it takes to haul Proton out of its current rut. I only hope that the broken tacho I saw today was an exception rather than the norm.

Proton Persona M-Line

Engine: 1597cc, 4-cyl
Max Power: 110hp @ 6000rpm
Max Torque: 148Nm @ 4000rpm
Transmission: 4-speed auto
Weight: 1220kg
Top speed: -not quoted-
0-100kph: 14.3
Length / Width / Height: 4477mm / 1725mm / 1438mm
OTR Price: RM48.5k

Likes: Obvious improvements over Gen.2 and Waja
Dislikes: Rear disc brakes and manual transmission not offered in one package, and also that broken tacho.

Verdict: Good job by Proton. Now, only the manual H-Line left to complete the lineup.

The entries to this blog have dried up over the past couple of months due to my busy schedule.

Here are a few entries to make up.

Enjoy

Not long after Thierry Henry's departure to Barcelona, Arsenal fans are now hit by the news of another star departure. This time, it's Freddie Ljungberg to West Ham. Admittedly, this transfer shocked me much more than Thierry's departure because not too long ago, Arsenal had announced that Freddie was most likely staying, now he's gone.

Once again, like I did with Thierry before, I wish Freddie all the best at West Ham (except for their two league encounters with Arsenal) next season. In his tribute, I would like to recap some of his best moments with Arsenal.

Stunning debut (1998/9)
As far as Arsenal players go, I think none made a more sensational debut than Freddie. Donning Arsenal colours for the first time, Freddie struck a late goal to seal a superb 3-0 win for Arsenal against Manchester United.

More strikes against United (1999/2000)
For the second season running, Freddie netted against United at Highbury. Unfortunately though, Roy Keane's double strike gave United a comeback 2-1 win. Freddie struck again in the return leg at Old Trafford. This time United once again came back, but only managed a 1-1 draw.

Double strike against Lazio (2000/1)
I remember this match well. I was actually quite nervous about star-studded Lazio's visit to Highbury. It turned out that there was nothing to worry about, as Arsenal comfortably dominated them and secured an easy 2-0 win, with Freddie scoring twice.

Double strike against Juventus (2001/2)
Another double strike from Freddie disposes another Italian visitor to Highbury. This time, Juventus were humbled 3-1, with Henry getting the other.

Crucial strikes in 2001/2 Double winning season
Most Arsenal fans will say that the 2001/2 season was Freddie's best in Arsenal's colours, and there are many reasons why. First, there was his crucial equaliser en route to a 3-1 home win against Man Utd. Then there was the goal that put Arsenal 2-0 up at Anfield (a game that we eventually won 2-1), and many other strikes. He also played a big part in perhaps the most important goal all season: his 57th minute shot at Old Trafford was parried by Fabien Barthez straight to the path of Sylvain Wiltord who tapped the ball home and sealed the Double for Arsenal.

Seals FA Cup Final win against Chelsea (2001/2)
One season earlier, Freddie struck in the FA Cup final against Liverpool, but still finished on the losing side. This time, against Chelsea, he became the first player to score in back-to-back FA Cup finals with a stunning strike against Chelsea, sealing a 2-0 win after Ray Parlour opened the score with a stunner.

Scores in 5-1 away win at Inter Milan (2003/4)
Arsenal dominated the first half at the San Siro, but still entered halftime with the score at 1-1. However, almost immediately after the restart, Thierry Henry set Freddie up to restore Arsenal's lead, which then was stretched to 5-1 with three late strikes, one each by Thierry, Edu and Robert Pires.

Scores in FA Cup win at Bolton (2006/7)
Arsenal dominated the FA Cup replay at the Reebok stadium and looked set for a 1-0 win courtesy of Emmanuel Adebayor's first half strike. However, Gilberto's penalty miss proved costly as Bolton equalised late on. Freddie stepped up to restore Arsenal's lead before Julio Baptista missed Arsenal's second penalty of the night and Adebayor's second goal sealed a 3-1 extra time win.

Events over the past one month have led me to question the very sanity of people in this country and also, to an extent, around the world. Actually, it's not just events over the past one month, but ever since I have developed the awareness of all things going around me, I have been wondering what the hell is wrong with the people around us.

I have once remarked that the world will be a better place if more people think like, say, me. Of course, this comment was met with the fiercest objections from my friends because they think that rape cases will be on the rise because of raging hormones. All these were mentioned in jest, but on deeper thought, I think it would actually do the world a lot of good.

I am a horny bastard, yes, but I don't go around violating other people's modesties. My conscience sees to that. The worst I do, is yell foul language, which in the grand scheme of things, is pretty much harmless compared to launching a nuclear missile. Consider for a moment, if all the prominent leaders of the world were given my personality.

George W. won't be starting wars all over the place because he's too busy fucking. Osama bin Laden won't be sending suicide bombers around because he's too busy fucking. Heck, even if he wanted to, no one would bother, because everyone's too busy fucking. In short, no one would be fighting wars, because everyone's too busy fucking. The saying make love, not war is a very true one.

Back to reality though, that wonderful paradise of a world I described is not happening. Instead, what we have are talks of terrorism, corruption, and crime occupying the pages of our newspapers. On the local front, crime rate is continuing to rise. This is evidenced by the fact that not less than four people whom I personally know had a first hand encounter with criminals (fortunately small ones).

A month ago, a friend's family car was stolen and not heard from since. Then, not long after, my cousin was seriously injured in a futile attempt to stop someone from driving away with his company van. It was recovered eventually though. Recently, another friend was subjected to random harassment calls from a group of unknown people. He immediately changed numbers.

The most recent incident happened only several days ago. After having lunch with a group of friends in Sunway Pyramid, we headed back to the car park at the Pyramid Tower hotel. When we arrived at our car, a Perodua Kelisa, we found that the rear triangle mirror was smashed and the interior of the car to be a total mess. A Touch n Go card was the only thing missing.

At the same time, we found that there were at least four other cars, possibly more, all scattered around the same parking lot suffered the same fate. All had their windows smashed and lost some small belongings. The culprit(s) were only aiming the lower end cars, as the five cars that we know of were a Perodua Kenari, Hyundai Atos, Proton Wira and another Kelisa besides my friend's car. No doubt because these cars have simpler security systems to bypass.

I was also told that this was not the first time such an incident happen. Another car owner, who happened to walk past the group of car owners gathered at the crime scene, informed me (with photographic proof) that his car was also similarly smashed a month ago at the same parking lot. That the management wasn't going to assume responsibility was a given, but the fact that they continue charging people parking fees without taking action to warrant off future occurences is, in my opinion, absolutely farcical.

I believe that in Malaysia, we have insufficient laws and enforcement to protect the people from this kind of things. If you consider that there was a case in the US where a burglar successfully sued a houseowner when he got himself hurt breaking into someone's home, it's a bit sad that the said car owners will not be compensated for their losses.

Speaking of compensation, I am still waiting for mine from an accident that occured in 2004 on my old Proton Wira. In that incident, my car was hit by a bus, and not only was I not compensated, the mother fucker even threatened me. I just told him to fuck off and we went our ways. However, I made a police report and hoped to claim the bus' insurance.

Now, three years on, and after repeated visits to the police station, I am given the same bloody hogwash every time. There is no result to the investigation because the other party did not report the incident. WHAT THE FUCK? The whole problem, of course, lies in the fact that without an official result for the investigation, the insurance company will not compensate me. I simply find this unacceptable.

The police officer told me that right now, the said bus has been blacklisted, meaning, he won't be able to renew his bus license at the RTD. Even more bollocks, because I still see that fucking bus up and running once in a while. (Yes, I still recognise the bus.) However, he has said that I can go and sue the bus owner in court. Sure, for 600 bucks? That's a lot of hassle to go through for 600 bucks.

I find this whole affair unacceptable. How can that son of a bitch be let scott free while I am 600 bucks poorer? This is utterly ridiculous. That not withstanding, that bus and its driver is a road hazard, and threaten the safety of good drivers like you and me. He really ought to be arrested and put out of our roads.

All these events have shown me how good people like you and me are always drawing the short end of the stick while the bad guys are let scott free. How fucked up can it get?

The contents of this entry has been lying stagnant in the blog server for a week or so now, but better late than never. Here's my dedicated farewell post for Thierry Henry. All I can say is, Thanks Thierry for 8 good years. I wish you all the best in Barcelona, except if you play against Arsenal. =)

Here, I would like to recap the ten most memorable moments of Thierry's Arsenal career.

First goal for Arsenal against Southampton (1999/2000)
When Thierry Henry first signed for Arsenal, he cost a not insignificant amount of 10 million pounds. Ten games without a goal, I was quick to rule him out as a mistake. I was never happier to be proven wrong. His spectacular strike against Southampton was to be his first out of 226 stunning goals for Arsenal.

Scoop and volley goal against Manchester United at Highbury (2000/1)
Manchester United put up a dominant display against an Arsenal side deprived of the services of midfield general Patrick Vieira. However, they were undone by a moment of sheer genius from Thierry. Receiving a pass with his back facing goal, he scooped the ball up and unleashed a volley on the turn, beating United's stranded 'keeper Fabien Barthez. United defender, Denis Irwin, who was closing Thierry down at that time had no chance to even stop him.

Late double strike against Manchester United at Highbury (2001/2)
With about ten minutes to go, the teams were deadlocked at 1-1 in this early title showdown. However, Thierry settled the game when he cashed in on two goalkeeping howlers from Barthez to seal a well-deserved 3-1 win for Arsenal.

Scoring a hattrick away to AS Roma (2002/3)
Arsenal went into this match on the back of a poor away record in Europe. The poor run looked set to continue when Antonio Cassano fired the hosts to a fourth minute lead. Up stepped Thierry, whose hattrick give Arsenal a memorable come back win.

Helping Arsenal beat Inter Milan 5-1 away (2003/4)
The 2003/4 season saw Arsenal being drawn in the same group as Italian giants Inter Milan and Dynamo Kyiv. Poor results in the first three games (which included a 3-0 loss against the Italians at Highbury) saw Arsenal staring at group stage elimination. A 1-0 win against Kyiv at Highbury restored hope, but it was still a daunting task ahead with a visit to the San Siro looming. However, Arsenal pulled off the task with some style, destroying the Italians 5-1 with Thierry striking twice. One of his goals saw him make a complete fool out of Javier Zanetti and slotted the ball past Francesco Toldo. Arsenal didn't get very far in the Champions League that year, but this was easily Thierry's most memorable performance in Europe.

Scored hattrick in 4-2 win over Liverpool at Highbury (2003/4)
Having just been knocked out of both the Champions League and FA Cup, Arsenal's promising season appeared to be in tatters. Things got even worse during halftime of Liverpool's visit to Highbury, with Arsenal 2-1 down. However, almost immediately after the restart, Robert Pires equalised and Thierry went on to complete a hattrick and seal a memorable 4-2 win for Arsenal. Arsenal went on to complete the season unbeaten, winning the league in the process. Looking back, this match, along with the infamous away match at Old Trafford was a crucial turning point in that memorable season.

Named as captain of Arsenal (2005/6)
Patrick Vieira's departure for Juventus left not only a huge void in midfield, but also the responsibility of the captain's armband. There was never any doubt that it would go to Thierry.

Breaking Ian Wright's record of 185 goals for club (2005/6)
It was going to happen sooner or later. On 17 October 2005, Thierry's double strike against Sparta Prague in the Champions League put him ahead of Ian Wright as the club's all time top scorer.

Breaking Cliff Bastin's record of 150 league goals for club (2005/6)
On 1 February 2006, Thierry's strike against West Ham made him the club's record league goal scorer. Unfortunately, that match will be better remembered as Arsenal's last defeat at Highbury, with West Ham securing a shock 3-2 win.

Brilliant solo goal giving Arsenal 1-0 away win at Real Madrid (2005/6)
In 1980, Arsenal became the first English side to record an away win against Juventus. Fast forward 2006, Arsenal became the first English side to beat Real Madrid away. Thierry's solo strike immediately after the restart gave the Gunners a thoroughly deserved 1-0 win. 

Injury time winner against Manchester United at Emirates (2006/7)
Things were looking really bad for Arsenal with Man Utd holding on to a 1-0 lead well past the 80th minute. Then, with seven minutes left on the clock, Tomas Rosicky whipped in a cross from the right. Thierry let the ball run behind him and in came Robin van Persie to smash home the equaliser. Deep into injury time, Thierry rose the highest to power home Emmanuel Eboue's cross to ensure that Man Utd's first visit to the Emirates ended in defeat.

While we were on the subject of villains my previous post, I shall continue with my fascination of them today. Earlier today, I was watching an episode out of my MacGyver DVDs that I brought back from Penang several months ago. For those not in the know, the leading character of the show, Angus MacGyver is a know it all ex-something operative who uses his wits and extensive knowledge of science to trick his way out of sticky situations.

MacGyver, of 'Mac' as he is affectionately called, is what I would term the perfect man. He is extremely knowledgeable, witty, confident, kind and possesses almost any other virtue you can think of. To top it all, he does not smoke, do drugs or alcohol; and unlike heroes in the mold of Captain Kirk or Michael Knight, he does not bed each of his female guest star. In other words, he is a perfect gentleman.

Indeed, Mac is someone that most men (me included) should aspire to become. He feels strongly against the use of guns, and in many episodes, he is seen involving himself in various charity and green projects. While he does not hesitate to defend himself when needed, he also has the capacity to show considerable restraint towards his enemies, often making sure that his actions do no more than incapicitating them. There were many occasions that he stepped in between people in an argument stopping people from coming to blows. Indeed, it would take quite someone to get Mac to blow his top.

The episode that I just watched, titled 'The Challenge' was set around a place called the Challenger's Club something of a rehab shelter for problematic youngsters - ex-convicts, drug addicts, gangsters, the lot. On the list of guest stars was, a then very young, Cuba Gooding Jr. who played the character of Ray, one of the youths in the club.

Early in the episode, Ray was shown walking out of a store in into a van. As he sat in the van, the store owner, Larson and two of his men came out in baseball bats asking him to get out. The panicking Ray quickly started the van and drove off while the owner's two men gave chase. Larson himself then stopped a passing by police car and told him that a kid has driven off his van and he says he knows where they are going.

It was little surprise that Ray found his way into the Challenger's Club with the pursuing contingent not far behind. Ray was eventually handed to the police, but was then released on bail under Mac's custody. In the meanwhile, the owner of Challenger's, Booker was attempting to petition to the city council to provide them with funds to enable them to continue with their operations. Also present was Larson, who was trying to argue against that.

Larson has been extremely determined to shut down Challenger's for a long time coming, arguing that the youngsters that Booker harbours in there are a threat to society. Even though the council ruled in favour of Booker, Larson refused to give up and ordered his two henchmen to have Booker murdered in absolute cold blood. It was not shown how exactly Booker was killed, but the dialogue mentioned it was a method called the 'Columbian necktie' (I wouldn't Google that), and for those who don't know, Mac's reaction when he found the body should tell you how cruel a killing it was.

Throughout the episode, Larson never made clear as to why he was so determined to shut Challenger's down. He portrayed himself as a somewhat misguided but very determined person. There was no obvious benefit as to how shutting down Challenger's would benefit him or his operations. He seemed to be a villain placed in there for the sake of having a villain.

Finally, in the showdown, Mac confronted Larson and asked the usual question of "Why?" The reply answered it all, "Because he's black. Because he talked too much. I hate n*gg*s who talk too much. You know what you should do with these people? Drown them when they are first born. Saves everybody from a lot of trouble."

After that, for the first (and probably only) time ever, Mac lost his temper and was ready to smash Larson's skull, only to be stopped by, of all people, Ray, one of the targets of Larson's bigotry. Here, the whole point of the episode becomes clear. It was an attempt to convey a message of anti-racism.

Indeed, in a world as culturally diverse as ours, we simply have no room to accomodate such shallow-minded people who can't see beyond the colours of one's skin. The writers did a good job to evoke the viewer's disgust towards Larson's attitude. You will notice that prior to my writing of Mac and Larson's dialogue, I made no mention that the people in Challenger's were black. It was a deliberate omission on my part for it was an observation that somehow escaped me.

Although early in the show, Ray mentioned to Mac that black people and white people are subject to different sets of rules and treatment. The racial theme of the episode only played lightly on me until Larson's killer line slapped me in the face. His hatred had no reason, he was simply a racist.

Finally, when Mac was moments from actually smashing Larson's skull (something you and I would definitely do in place), in came Ray to stop him. It was a poignant moment, for it tells us that hatred, no matter how deep, has to eventually give way to forgiveness.

This post marks the beginning of a new fixture in this blog. Every once in a while, I will put out a Top Five list of my favourite things within a given subject. I have thought about this concept for a long time, and I have finally decided to go forward with it.

Today I am starting with my five of my favourite villains from various TVB series. The character of a villain is one that the audience loves to hate, and yet it is a necessary one for without a villain, there can be no hero. It takes very a special actor or actress to make the role of the villain work.

However, some artists assume the villain's role too convincingly to the point where they hurt their own careers, by being typecast. This post is also in someway a tribute to the brilliant performers below who made their characters so lovingly despicable.

5. Princess Chiu Yan - Perish in the Name of Love (Sonija Kwok)
A lot of my friends hate Sonija Kwok - and it is in no small part due to her absolutely convincing portrayal of Princess Chiu Yan, sister of the famous Ming Princess Cheung Ping. Throughout the show, Chiu Yan repeatedly betrayed her family despite them forgiving her at every round. At the end, she even betrayed her country, and even murdered her own mother. How despicable can you get?

4. Kelvin Kam - Secret of the Heart (Nick Cheung)
Nick Cheung's character of Kelvin, also known as Sai B, was switched at birth with the son of a rich man. Years later, the rich man found out about the whole story, and naturally wanted his own son back, beginning to sideline poor Sai B. He sees that the riches that he has grown accustomed to beginning to slip away, and plots against his adopted family to swallow their riches.

3. Ting Hai - Greed of Man (Adam Cheng)
The character of Ting Hai demonstrated Adam Cheng's immense acting talent. Before this, Cheng was never cast as a villain, although it was my very first time seeing him on screen. This remains his only portrayal as one to date. Actually Ting Hai was never actually a bad person, but views the world in a very different way than you and me. That, together with his stubborness and his violent tendencies made him a very dangerous man, although he wasn't the most evil character in the show, he was definitely the most frightening.

2. Cheung Man San - Big Family (Kenneth Tsang)
Anybody who has seen Kenneth Tsang knows that this man has a face tailor-made to be a villain. He has a kind of stare that just burns into you. His character of Cheung Man San left his home at a very young age when his father objected to his marriage. Much later in his life, with the inadvertent help of his son, Cheung Chun (played by Alex Man), Man San found his way back into his father's company and schemed his way to the top before unveiling to the world the hatred he has harboured against his father all these years. Not satisfied with condeming his father to death, he even pulled out a gun and shot his own son at the end of the show. Talk about sheer evil.

1. Tsui Ka Lap - Cold Blood Warm Heart (Gallen Lo)
This is the role that catapulted Gallen Lo to his star status today. At the beginning of the show, Tsui was portrayed as a police inspector. As the show progressed, his character became corrupt and ultimately evil. He was ruthless in disposing his enemies. There was a reason why Gallen won an award for this character.

I was going through the papers yesterday (Sunday, 10/6/2007) when I came across an interesting piece of writing from a fellow by the name of Tunku Abdul Aziz. The full length article can be found here. Although what's mentioned in the article is nothing that I do not know, I was still taken aback by it, not least because of how well he has put the situation.

Titled 'Corruption is not a victimless crime,' the article put the Malaysian Road Transport Department (RTD) under heavy scrutiny, one which I am very happy to back up. In his article, Tunku has put forward many facts that I have long since observed, but never quite managed to articulate and link.

Most importantly, he was spot on in saying that 'Many on our roads should not have been allowed near a car in the first place, let alone to drive it.' I am willing to wager that his 'many' equals to somewhere around ninety-percent. This is a mentality problem, one that has plagued the country for generations. People are all too willing to take shortcuts and cut corners to satisfy their own greed and needs. Why bother doing things right, when you can take the easy way out?

Consider that by paying a mere two hundred ringgit, you are guaranteed a driving license. It's very alarming when you consider that the state of affairs in the RTD today is pretty much similar to what it was before independence. That's fifty fucking (pardon my language) years of corruption, which means fifty years worth of incompetent ninkampoop drivers all over the streets.

The result, fatal accidents on a daily basis caused by mainly three groups of drivers 1) the impatient ones, 2) the inconsiderate ones and 3) incompetent ones. How did all these people get their driving licenses? They bought them of course and become a nuisance to good competent drivers like me. How I wish I can shoot them all.

I did a little Googling upon reading the article. First, I searched a list of all the most corrupted nations in the world. The 2006 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index  says that in the world, there are actually only 43 countries less corrupt than Malaysia. Our corruption levels, it seems are comparable to South Korea, Italy, the Czech Republic and Kuwait.

Transparency International ranks countries based on a composite index that goes from 0 (most corrupt) to 10 (least corrupt). Malaysia scored 5.0, which is a score that Transparency International considers as borderline serious corrupt. The optimists will consider it as good news that we are in the Top 50 of the least corrupt nations in the world, but the problem is for all to see: corruption is still too rampant here.

This is now beyond just the road, it's everywhere. Corruption compromises governments, and lets unscrupulous people gain an unfair advantage over the people. It's bad enough that you can buy yourself out of a summon with a RM50 note, but when you go to higher levels, millions of ringgit worth of tax payers money are being poured into undeserving pockets, most of them via substandard projects.

Just think of the leaking government buildings. They were obviously built at a cost far far lower than what they were paid for. Was the tender for the construction awarded to the best bidder, or was it awarded to someone's best friend? Then you also ask yourself, how did the building inspectors pass what was obviously a substandard building?

These are all questions worth asking, and it paints a gloomy picture on the state of our nation's affairs. However, I do see the silver lining in the dark clouds. Not too long ago, such an article wouldn't have found its way in a national daily. The first step towards a revolution is realisation. There may yet be hope for us all.