Aarvidi’s Weblog

The belt must have been discovered by the chap, who was inundated by a few embarrassing moments when the trousers slipped down to his angles. This could have possibly made him heel over and fall flat on his face; nothing to shout about to your friends if he fell within kissing distance of the toes of maybe his wife, mother-in-law or possibly a girl friend. To save face, he could have blamed his slippery waste or hips, but this is not going to pacify the person concerned - they had seen his vulnerability with just a under-wear covering his modesty.

This may be referred to as caught with your pants down, generally alluded to instances like the one by a healthy Health Minister showing his prowess on the digital media of a CD, and the on going episode where another ex Minister JJ felt powerless on seeing a well rounded bottom. It is easy to condemn them as lecherous, naughty, evil etc, but let us feel comforted that our Ministers are not effeminate but roaring lions, fully red-blooded ready to go. They are males - one has paid the price the other is wringing his hands what will befall him.

Normally JJ would have been left off the hook, after all he is a loyal party member a member of Parliament and there have been precedents set by a another loyal part member coming from a historical state, but that was under a different regime, in times of calm and breezy administration by a former Prime Minister. How times change. These are difficult times now, leaders are under tremendous pressure, will I have to go now or in December, they ponder, and look forsaken. JJ must fight his own battle, and the leaders are worried that anything done to salvage the ex Minister can have terrible repercussions; personal matters must take preference and for JJ - well our Police and Justice system is fare.

My inebriate friend, the other day argued that neck-ties came first and it was common for people not attired to wear a tie to wrap it around the waist to stop the trousers slipping down. I never argued with this friend, ‘ties were belts once’ I agreed, edging him on, ‘you don’t say so’, ‘why did people never think of this’ keeping the conversation going as smooth as possible like the beverage we were consuming. This was an occasion where the saying ‘killing two birds with one stone’ was proven beyond doubt. Bottles got lined up, my friend even venturing to say ties were first worn by Romans and I in my own thoughts, edging him on, and calculating my friend must stump out quite a bit to pay the friendly towkay. It was a beautiful evening, at least for me, and the next day my friend ringing up to enquire, did I speak too much yesterday.

Belts remind me of the time when our Deputy Prime Minister Najib saw it wise to suggest to the people to tighten their belts amidst the ruckus the people made over increased petrol price. I even suggested in one of my blog posting, this was time to open up a factory exclusively to make belts. Well, the people did not tighten the belts, they paid the extra bill, but they remembered the good advice and made sure their votes were tightened against Barisan Nasional. Who says we never listen to our leaders.

Following this trend, Agriculture and Agro-Based Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed, has advised the people to eat less rice, in view of the global shortage of this commodity. Another belt-tightening is called for here. But he also has a holistic package to deal with the shortage, including other staple food, but fails short of telling what that holistic package is all about, is it still in the drawing board, or has it gone to the stage of printing a book with a few thousand pages. The people don’t know.

To my mind this holistic approach, a whole way to overcome the problem and not looking at it individually, may include drastic measures not only to eat less, but he may have in mind even stapling the stomach to consume less as weight-watchers will tell you. Mustapha is serious.

But don’t you think this Minister should assure the people he is going to open up more land for rice production, check hoarding, check Bernas, check illegal smuggling and perhaps the people will then agree to be contented with a half stomach full satisfaction. I don’t see any such commitment in his statement. But perhaps the book will have it.

KOTA BARU: The Government will introduce a “holistic” package to deal with the global shortage of food commodities, including calling for a reduction in rice consumption.

Agriculture and Agro-Based Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said this in response to the Thai Government’s recent call for their people to reduce rice consumption to address the global increase in prices and acute shortage of staple foods.

“Each adult Malaysian consumes a per capita average of 77kg of rice per annum so there is room for a reduction by substituting it with a greater intake of vegetables and an emphasis on a health-conscious diet,” he said after visiting the Merdeka padi scheme in Mulong with Kemubu Agriculture Development Authority chairman Datuk Seri Annuar Musa.

“Our plan is to preserve the food supply chain not only for ourselves but for our grandchildren and future generations. We want a comprehensive and holistic package to address the acute shortage of food commodities supply and its rising global prices.”

Presently, Malaysia only produces about 70% of its rice needs, but the ministry wants to significantly increase production levels to ensure the country is self-sufficient within the next few years.

Food prices rise, eat less rice