21: Betting addiction

!!!SPOILER AHEAD!!!

Last night after a disappointing Life paper I went to catch the movie called 21. It's about a boy, who is from a middle class family, pursuing his dream to go into Harvard Med School but he couldn't afford the $300,000 that he was slapped with. Thinking he will be fine for the scholarship interview, he was rejected initially for a big hole in him in terms of experience that he could tell and dazzle the Scholarship Head of Committee.

He was sucked into the Vegas life almost immediately after impressing a lecturer who orchastrated a group of students playing Black Jack in the casinos. He was so good with numbers (obviously I don't) he raked in $315,000 in only a few months... only to be ripped away from him after the lecturer betrayed him.

His counting prowess almost got him into a coma by the casino's head of surveillance and instead of being given the final blow that could easily explode his face, the guy asked him to go undercover and get him the ring-leader a.k.a Mickey the lecturer, who went missing for almost a decade without being punished with Anwar-like blow to the face.

N.B. For some reason counting cards is illegal in that casino though I think it's a gift.

The surveillance head named Cole Williams promised the boy he would be let free along with the money if Mickey got caught this time so that Cole could receive his long dued pensions in no time.

The boy succeeded on giving Mickey an experience he would never forget but he was not allowed to keep the money he won all night long that night.

Feeling dejected, he left the scene empty handed although scoring with the girl was somewhat I discourage because the girl left him alone in the casino before severe blows handsomely struck his face like a punching bag earlier.

"So what's the moral of the story?" I asked a friend.

"Gambling is harram." I answered the Q myself.

If you ask me, will I ever gamble in my life? The answer is No.

"That will go against my religion then. I'm a muslim and will forever be."

Although it was very intriguing to place some bets on Chelsea vs Man Utd last weekend where 10pounds of bet should have earned me 100pounds for the score 2-1 and playing fantasy premier league has been part of me, I still don't think it's necessary to gamble i.e. berjudi.

It seems nice to go to Vegas, and see some chics dancing with the poles, driving Gallardos, making money through Roullettes and Poker, but the probability of winning a stake is somewhat low. Risk adverse investor you can call me but without an appropriate information and model, I will not put in the money just like that.

I am a big fan of Poker. I play with my friends and on facebook without making any real money. $307100 in the 'bank' is only a meager compared to the leader board of $22mil in facebook. I win some, I lose some although the King of Comebacks tag will be taken quite humbly. But what I learn from poker is that you will not win everytime. The World Series of Poker Champions title have been changing quite volatily but between themselves I guess it's because they have the same textbook skills that they rely on.

So what about equities? Stocks? Are they harram too?

Well, the difference between gambling and stocks is the duration. There is a short duration for stocks but as for poker, if you lose, you lose. And even if it is 2 hours of playing, that is very short compared to stocks. Duration is important to see about the volatility of an asset. It may go down but it may go up again.

When you buy shares, you will be a part owner of the company and thus you don't lose anything. You will lose on the capital if the price drops. But it will also come up as long as the economy is in a stable condition.

But if you 'ante' a bet in the pot, you own nothing yet until your cards win you. If your money is determined by the cards, isn't that not a high stake to put your bets on?

Well there are skills in poker as you know but losing a lot of money could even cost you a fortune.

Or even your wife!

Imagine the fate of your wife will be decided on the river!!!

What about insder trading? Is it harram? Well any business dealings that is not fair is harram. Because other bidders don't get the same information as you do. If you don't believe in Islam, insider trading is still uneathical. It is simply because of the information that you obtained to buy shares. Don't tell me you are lucky to be in the investment department to buy shares but accountants and economists take insider trading as a serious offence.

It's OK if you are buying a new bungalow or a Dodge Viper I will be happy for you as I may/may not get the chace of a test drive but please do not brag on your unethical ka-ching making. It's not fair and you know it.

And thus insider trading is harram.

"It's ok. I won't go buy food or drinks so that it won't be part of me (menjadi darah daging)"

"I will buy some women as well because I don't cause people any harm. The Sufiah (not her real name) gets the money, I get the sex! She is still human know. She needs money eat you know. And it's not something that go into my body in fact I let something out!"

"I can go pay the bills or taxes with the harram money. They are taxing us like crazy how can I not use the betting money to hedge my outflows?"

These are some justifications that some so-called Muslims have been using to divert the conversation. Hello, you may not be buying pork or liquor but you know that is a bit cowardly way of making money.

I couldn't help more but to ask them to think or simply keeping myself quiet and pray that they will realise someday. Or just blog as a reminder to myself as well.

"So primarily, why Azrul, you are good at bets, but you don't play any?"

"Well, because I am a Muslim. I believe God knows everything and I don't want to be seen as a Muslim who does the opposite. Non-practice Muslim if you like. There are still a lot of room for improvement in me but it is simply my way of protecting my religion. To be a man with dignity and belief. Simple as that..."

"For 25 years I have been a Muslim of course 200pounds of betting win via Ladbroke will not change that. Not even a 200million of bribery... And that comes out from a person who is stingy and money loving as well!"

My prediction for the EPL: Man Utd to win although I was hoping any London Club to win this time.

Avram and Tal's visit no problem

Chelsea are set to be in Malaysia for their friendly match against the national team. The proposed event has sparked anger across some Muslims and I have failed to understand why.

There is no evidence that Avram Grant or Tal Ben Haim are of any threat to the national security and they could even be the voices of some minority Israelis who are opposing the war in the middle east. Their venture to self-improvise in the UK mingling with Londoners of different backgrounds have shown for sure that they will not carry hand grenades to bomb any mosques in Malaysia. If they were to be associated to the zionists, why are they making money in other countries?

Thus, I am calling all the people who are against the idea to have some senses a bit. They are going to Malaysia to make some money for and promoting the Chelsea brand for their part, and raise some football awareness in terms of quality among Malaysians at the same time for our benefit.

I am not a Chelsea fan though I would love to see them lift the title this year to show how dramatic EPL could be this time around, but I still believe there is no reason whatsoever to cause unrest by boycotting the event.

No no the "Jews are not ruling Chelsea football by proxy" if you Mahathir fans would want to take it that way. In fact, my prophets are Jews (notably Nabi Musa and Nabi Isa) and Allah was referring to the Jews who are trying to destroy Islam whom we can't befriend with.

i.e. Paul Wolfowitz that Anwar has admitted to be friends with.

i.e. The current and previous Israeli government (Zionists) who daily kill the innocents in Palestine.

I hope those people have some senses a bit. I'm sure Avram's fine despite his gloomy face week in and week out on the tele:

Cheer up, Avram! Mikael has done it!

Please?

There you go laddie! See, I told you he's harmless!

Arsenal have signed Ronaldinho

I'm proud to present you Arsenal's new signing for next season, Ronaldindon. Here's his press conference photo with the trademark gesture showing some love.

Although he is a bit too old for the improving team, Ronaldikin has vowed to bring some silverwares to the London club after a three-year barren trophyless seasons.

In an unrelated matter, I am urging Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim not to immorally allowing people jumping ships to crossover to Pakatan Rakyat in order to materialise their agenda to form a new Federal Government. This way, the BN voters in Sabah and Sarawak will feel cheated in the election and as far as I am concerned, Pakatan Rakyat is all about fairness and professionalism.

I hope he learns from his past mistakes not to be hasty on becoming the PM. Pakatan can prove their worth to the people if they can take good care of the 5 states they are currently ruling.

The recent reformations of the ACA and Malaysian judiciary by Pak Lah had made me feel delighted. Although I think it should have been done earlier after PRU2004, though however I am looking at the bright side like I always do.

"Bersangka baiklah terhadap saudara-saudara kamu. Namun berpada-padalah juga mengamalkan konsep husnuzon"

Fikir... selamatkah kita?

Hi guys,

Ya I know I said earlier that this blog will not be updated until I finish my final exams. While it is such a crucial time for me to study I find it very hard to stop writing it seems like I'm losing touch with the world outside.

Damn, I'm not good at lying. Lets just put it as I'm having a time off because there are a couple of things that had been playing in my mind recently so I had to share them with some readers.

It was fun having a late lunch yesterday with Soha, Jasveen, Yin Tse, Smoque, Jeff and long-time no-see-but-same-hair-as-always Min Hui. I was quite surprised however no one pointed out politics during our chit chats maybe we were busy catching up with each other.

But it's a shame I had to leave early and then only the big question was thrown out during coffee time when I was not around. I apologise for not being able to share my thoughts on those issues so hopefully I can say a few things here.

Lets start with my renewed relationship with Arsenal FC when they refunded half of our money for the Brazil and Sweden match. I was so skeptical that they would do anything about it after my complaint earlier (as posted in a previous entry) but I was particularly delighted with the way they diplomatically solved the problem to gain my trust. Respect is a thing that I cherish. And respect, I got from the Head of Ticketing. He apologised on the behalf of Arsenal FC and evidently I have done everything right until lady luck failed to smile on that day.

Lady luck also failed to even look at Theo Walcott whose magical 60-yard run got the leveller against Liverpool in the 2nd Leg Quarter Final of Champions League only to see a controversial penalty being given the other way.

"Braady hewwrr" (Sun Ji Hai's imaginative response towards him being penalised for a fair body contact with an opponent resulting a penalty).

Ok enough chit chat about football. I was contemplating studying earlier this morning and decided to write instead after my first ever visit to Raja Mongrel's blog, a so called more vocal, controversial and dodgy alter-ego of Raja Petra. He might or might not be Raja Petra himself somebody has to tell me.

www.rajamongrel.blogspot.com

"Tribute to Hindraf" and "Prostitutes Galore"

It was such a blow to my day as I was rebuilding my trust for alternative blogs and news since PRU12 until I saw some disturbing images of an Indian girl with semen all over her naked upper body from the blog. The site even claimed the pictures could be taken from our very own Port Dickson!

Big deal! 98% of men watch porn and almost 95% jerk themselves off with porn on their other hands!

But still, Malaysian bloggers being "sabul" website providers again? Give me a break! And to have so many people supporting some nasty and sarcastic comments with vulgar words been used is somewhat ridiculous but lets hope that these bloggers won't run for any political seats in the years to come.

I don't want my children to swear or watch naked Malaysian Indians or Blondies while getting to know the current politics at the age of 5 when bloggers like these are being idolised. Clearly controversies are fun to play but not like this dude. That's so not cool!

Haihh... This is a deja-vu. I remember backing a certain Mr Nice Guy for some of his anti-corruption manifestos (while admitting all along no one is indispensable) when he turned out to be a political disaster from a steady government (which implies steady economy). I seriously pity that guy you know. He had the opportunity to change BN from an arrogant and corrupted government immediately after BN won a landslide victory in 2004 after he took over. But inaction and dumped high-profile cases like Eric Chia and Arwah Zakaria Mat Deros have somewhat made the people question his leadership prowess.

But he didn't grab that opportunity to be the greatest UMNO leader with that kind of mandate. Under pressure from cannibals who took chance over his laid-back approach, BN is now under the brink of losing power altogether. One of the cannibals or may even be an involuntary cannibalistic son-in-law is now so quiet already! The downfall of Pak Lah would mean a downfall of him. I bet he couldn't make it as a PM as he planned before reaching the age of 40.

I remember also giving the support to Mr Samiappan who later 'betrayed' me for embarrassing me asking me to "sit down properly" in a General Insurance class back then in ITM while criticising the institution got me a place in the UK.

Calling Bendtner and Abou Diaby "shits" resulted in both of them scoring almost immediately. I guess I have to start criticising to get the results in my favour!

Khurafat!

That's what Mahathir's being doing. Maybe it's a punishment from God for his tyranny and corruptions that made him a hypocrite now. He is now criticising the direct same thing he did during his 22-year reign as our PM. "Anak menantu...", "freedom of media...", "corruption", "kroni depa" and others. He thought by lambasting the government he could topple Pak Lah and save his ass from inevitable humiliation?

I still respect him for some good things he did for Malaysia. Although it's argumentative on how he chose not to take IMF being motivated by saving his cronies but still we are better financially now and our sovereignty is still in place. However, didn't he start the money politics and corruption as a culture in BN what not the country?

How do we find ourselves hating the Singaporeans and Jews if not from his leadership? Some evil Jews, like the Zionists deserved to be trialled for disturbing world peace but come on, not ALL JEWS are evil. The Rabbis are full-forced against the Zionists since the teachings of Judaism is againts Israelites having their own country, according the Torah. And I, as a Muslim, shouldn't hate the race of my prophets Nabi Isa and Nabi Musa. And Islam is not a racist religion!

And did he not accuse Anwar of sodomy in which he never did while meddling with the judiciary system which resulted in the sacking of Tun Salleh Abbas? Yes I am damn sure Anwar didn't do it thats why Pak Lah released him from jail.

So what is this penyokong-penyokong Mahathir in facebook what not from Kedah UMNO and Penang? I feel irritated that these Malays are encouraging the deviation of Malays by supporting this 'joker' history? (Karpal said that ar.. not me!). Is it not clear that Mahathir was so angry with Pak Lah because the latter dumped his pet projects that where earlier projects made his sons Mirzan and Mokhzani multi-millionaires?

"Project semua kasi menantu...." he once said in front of some Malay fools who laughed.

I am not saying that Mahathir should not criticise at all. It's fine if it's constructive. But he's doing it for himself. Not for the people. For his pride. For his so called ego! Unless he's doing it for the good of the party, fine by me. But the Mahathir factor has broken UMNO into two parts: The Pro-Pak Lah and Pro Mahathir which resulted in losing Kedah to PAS because Malay voters in Kedah didn't know who else to vote.

Well it's fine by me if he could be the author of his inevitable total humiliation. Who does he want to be the next PM? Pak Lah could retaliate by now by putting him to trial. Don't forget "PM-in-waiting" Anwar Ibrahim who I find befriending with Paul Wolfowitz quite unimpressive. Anwar's becoming the PM will get his revenge on the 83-year-old. Ku Li? Ah, politics... always like lalang... Ku Li was responsible for Semangat 46 agenda and having his shit go through a gold-plated toilet bowl seemed to be a favourable candidate for Mahathir to be the next PM.

Or is he? All-in-all Mahathir is doomed. And history. He is cuak by now as whoever is going to be the next PM according to Mahathir better not be Anwar Ibrahim!

So why waste your time supporting him as if he's going to make a political comeback? The hypocrite is known for "cakap tak serupa bikin" simply because he is not senile, but as an act of God revealing how evil he was as a premier.

On the other hand, I'm calling those UMNO people not to ask Pak Lah to step down. No, it's not because I'm his barua of some sort but it is a complete waste of time. Pak Lah has said many times he wants to stay as a PM until the problems inside UMNO can be resolved so that he can step down doing something to remember thats his CHOICE! And he is the current President of the ruling party and only he can decide whether to step down or not. So now that he said he doesn't want to step down, (which is preferred by PKR-DAP-PAS leaders benefiting from the hatred some people on him thanks to bloggers, Mahathir and even Khairy) why can't they just get on with it and do something to cure BN? Now that Pak Lah has got a transitional of power to Najib plan so just contribute to it then by making the people happy and deliver to regain their confidence. So before making you UMNO people fools of yourselves, think before having your say. You are only breaking your own party. Leader-wannabes!

Meanwhile, no, do not abolish NEP. There is still poor people in Malaysia and we need to have NEP to eradicate poverty regardless of races. We still have poor Chinese, Malay and Indians. So NEP is O.K. as long as the implementation can be efficient and fair.

So the theory of jumping ships from Sabah and Sarawak MPs to Pakatan Rakyat may seem revealing nowadays for the "Oppositions" to form a new government. Have Anwar learn from his past not to be hasty in search for PM-hood? I do not dare to say here. But he plans not to have a weak government by winning that way I assume but concentrating on building the trust from the states they are controlling now according to his recent interview with The Star. However, he is keeping some things mum. But there are some interesting things he said in the interview. About whether a Non-Malay becoming a PM and others. Pakatan will mark the revoke of Anwar's political ban tomorrow evening in a ceremony called Black 14.

So will he become the next Prime Minister?

Or will it be "Najib Mongolia" ? (quote by Anwar)

Or will it be Ku Li?

Or will it be Mahathir?

Well for me, as long as Malaysia is in harmony, prosperous and most importantly our colourful culture, values, and sovereignty are protected, I don't mind who is the leader or the ruling party. As long as my children and great great grand children remain competitive and eat rice everyday, I am more than happy with that.

So coming back to the Arsenal ticketing issue. Did I get the respect to stay happy? Yes. Therefore, respect the people.

Did Arsenal resolve the issue quite quickly? Yes.

Did Arsenal Ticketing Office blame the stewards and pointing each other for faults or asking the Head to step down? No.

So work hard to cure your party. Not playing the blame game like kids.

To win back the people is crucial. It's not easy. But we are going to decide whether you rock

or you suck!

Fikir... selamatkah kita di tangan momok-momok itu?

Fikir... selamatkah kita di tangan ahli politik itu?

Fikir... selamatkah kita di tangan ahli korporat korup itu?

Fikir... selamatkah kita di tangan racist-racist itu?

Fikir... selamatkah kita di tangan tipu dusta itu?

Fikir... selamatkah kita di tangan janji-janji palsu?

Fikir... selamatkah kita di tangan kerajaan baru?

Fikir... selamatkah kita di tangan liberalisasi itu?

Fikir... selamatkah kita di tangan monarki itu?

Fikir... selamatkah anak-anak cucu-cicit kita itu?