If during Christmas, we had daily appearance of Santa Claus in 1 Utama, for Chinese New Year, it is the daily appearance of the God of Prosperity (财神爷) at 7.30pm. The daily appearance is from 18 January to 10 February with the God of Prosperity delivering ang pows containing cash vouchers and sweets to shoppers.

Last night, I got an ang pow and managed to have a photo taken with the God of Prosperity.

Well, anyway, it’s 8 days left to Chinese New Year.

And now, the countdown is left with a single-digit number!

9 days to go to welcome to Lunar Year of the Rat!

A Chinese Traditional Musical Show performance was staged at 1 Utama last night as well as various other days in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebrations. The performers are from Regal Orchestra, a Petaling Jaya-based orchestra group with its office located in SS2. Four performers played on Chinese traditional musical instruments, playing various traditional Chinese New Year tunes which certainly creates a celebration atmosphere.

Chung Lern and Nian Ning’s families would like all families and friends of the victims, dead or alive, in the Slim River Bus Crash to come forward and join them in taking action against the bus company. Stand up to seek justice for these three innocent individuals, who were all so young and full of life.

If you have a blog, please call out to ANYONE who knows someone who survived or did not survive the crash to come forward to join the Lee family. Make a huge difference, make a huge fuss.

For now, you may contact Lee Chung Lern at chunglern@gmail.com or preferably on his handphone at 012-6670368.

A petition will always come into good use in times like these. We’ve yet to grasp the objectives of the petition but of course it would be forwarded to the bus company, the ministry of transport(nevermind, we can still try our luck) and being a tad bit ambitious, the prime minister.

We don’t want to disturb Chung Lern and Nian Ning’s family yet, but we’re trying to understand what are our objectives if a petition should be made. Please give us your suggestions and watch this space.

I don’t want to be seen as overly nosy in the business of someone I don’t know but I feel that the demise of these innocent lives were so uncalled for. I’m feeling my friend’s pain. It could’ve been me, I can’t stress that enough. This is the most that I can do.

For all you know, it could be me, just your average young bus rider wanting to go home.

The countdown now stands at 10 days. For most people, preparation for Chinese New Year is going into the final phase to welcome to big day! The balik kampung exodus for Chinese New Year will begin on Thursday, 31 January evening with some people travelling back on Thursday evening, night, Friday and Saturday. Many more will make their way back to their hometowns next week, with the peak traveling period on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. Ops Sikap will begin on 31 January until 14 February to nab traffic offenders during the festive season.

During the recent weekend, more interesting acrobatic performance at 1 Utama can be seen. Look at the two pictures below, balancing and rotating a vase and a leg of a 4-leg table feat!

There have been a series of tragic bus crashes in recent years, starting with the Merapoh bus tragedy in November 2003 and the recent Konsortium double-decker bus accident on the North-South Expressway near Behrang. In the latest crash, 2 passengers, Lee Nian Ning, 21 and Mohd Zailani Mustafa, 23 were killed on the spot while another passenger Pang Poon Eng, 20 died the following day in Ipoh Hospital. It is reported that the driver of the ill-fated bus, Ruslim Isa, 43, had 13 unpaid summonses dated back to 2000. How can such a driver be allowed to drive an express bus, putting every passengers’ lives at risk on such an irresponsible driver?

And reading The Star today, it is even sad to hear that one of the victims, Lee Nian Ning (pic), is an attractive and brilliant medical student in Australia who had a bright future, who would have one day be more of the many doctors around. May she and the other 2 young victims rest in peace.

How many more people must die before action is taken against irresponsible bus drivers who speed and drive recklessly? I have experienced many drivers of Konsortium express buses overtaking me when I am already traveling at the 110kph speed limit on the North-South Expressway. And I guess the bus must be travelling at at least 130kph when the speed limit for buses is strictly 90kph on expressways. There were also a few incidents when I was overtaking slower vehicles on the fast lane, a Konsortium bus trailing closely behind me flashing headlights, being so impatient to overtake! Perhaps the Road Transport Department (RTD) should place more plainclothes officers in Konsortium buses to nab these drivers.

Besides express buses, the authorities should also check on local stage buses as many drivers of RapidKL and Metrobus buses in the Klang Valley are driving recklessly along major Klang Valley expressways and even narrow neighborhood roads such as in SS2, Petaling Jaya. Please do something before more tragic accidents occur!