Recipes for 1Malaysia Love

Recipe for Love

Ingredients

2 Hearts Full of Love
2 Heaping Cups of Kindness
2 Armfuls of Gentleness
2 Cups of Friendship
2 Cups of Joy
2 Big Hearts Full of Forgiveness
1 Lifetime of Togetherness
2 Minds Full of Tenderness

Method

Stir daily with Happiness, Humor and Patience.
Serve with Warmth and Compassion, Respect and Loyalty.

~ Author Unknown ~

Another Recipe for Love

Ingredients

1/2 a cup of Affection
A pinch of cuddles
3 tablespoons of pure sweetness
A great big kiss

Method

Dim the lights then mix them very slowly together.

~ Author Unknown ~

p.s. Yes, malaysians are too much lacking in this very essentially important 'department'. Have a good time trying them out ok?

Conscientious Model to Our Children

It’s 6.20 am and 3 school children got on the bus, with heavy, big bags behind their stick-thin bodies. I bet if I nudged them gently, they would all fall down – flat and perhaps break a bone or two. Despite these, they have this broad smile on their cute, ‘tepung-gomak’ faces. Boy, I haven’t seen children being so happy and eager to go to school this early on their own. I tried to give up my seat but they declined (mana la cukup satu untuk tiga orang), so I told them I could hold their bags – just for a while. One offered his and that made my day! I met them for only a few times as I opted to take earlier trip to save myself from ever-increasing maddening traffic in Klang Valley. I hope they are all doing fine, always.

It’s a shame if they found out that the world out there is so cruel, it is difficult to remain positive. If they grow up, I wish they could still have that child-mindedness, where you look at the world as an experiment lab and no one should stop you from having a good time.

It’s 6.15 am and one boy climbed on this rickety old bus. Five minutes later, he had troubled to ring the bell so he could get down to his school. Yes, he’s short. He looked around if anyone, who is tall enough, could sense his plight. No one did though they saw his silent plea. I got up and pressed for him. I wonder if it is so difficult for one to offer a little help nowadays that only physical and monetary rewards are the only catalyst to doing deeds.

That’s why I am so scared of having my own child. I don’t have any connections with people that walk the corridor of power when these days, you need to mention their names to be treated fairly and expeditiously. It would be unfair for him to be denied of basic rights being a citizen of this nation because of me. If I could provide him with the best, what will he be thinking seeing some of his classmates are not like him - their uniforms are tattered, their shoes have many holes, they are never seen near the canteen and they don’t have all the books when the teacher asked them to do the exercise. Some may skip school, some may, one day, stop going to school. I would have to answer to too many questions, which eventually will boil down to one – corrupted system by corrupted people. Yes, call me a coward, insecured soul.

No child should be denied a proper education. No child should be left starving. No child should be seen wandering, looking for jobs. No child should shed tears because he sees that his world is ending as he feels he is the burden to his family.

Every child should have a happy childhood because this is the period where they write their ‘life script’. This is the time that they should learn that doing good to others is a responsibility. Sharing is a blessing. Learning is fun. Differences are for them to embrace. Life is good – for them. It should – if only we could give them one.

So, where do I go from here? You need read this, an extract from The Learned N.H. Chan’s speech at one public forum months, commemorating 40^th anniversary of May 13, as appeared here: -

“Remember what little Maria told me when I asked her how she bows what is right or wrong, and she replied, “To know what is right or wrong is in a person’s upbringing.” I wrote in the preface of the second edition of my book this passage:

Lord Denning inherited his compassion for those who have been unfairly and unjustly treated. He was a draper’s son with a passion for justice: a desire to do right. All those other ordinary folk who come from decent and law abiding homes would have well brought up children who could likely be the ones with integrity.

People are generally law abiding. The family background of the person is important. For instance, the son of a robber, burglar or smuggler would likely be dishonest. Beware also of the children of conmen, forgers, thieves and others of their kind and ilk. The son of a public servant who has been living beyond his means, would more likely be on the fiddle.

What I am trying to say is this, the upbringing of a person is very important if we looking for a person with integrity. A man’s character is shaped by his upbringing: he is raised to know between right and wrong behaviour”.

Well, it goes back to the parents, yes you out there. Will you be a conscientious model to our children?

Indonesia Boleh, Why Not Us?

My ayah chuckled when our first subs arrived in Pulau Indah in early September because Indonesia had their first in 1962. Once an intelligence officer involved with Konfrontasi back in sixties, he knows what Indonesia is capable of doing – using both physical and spiritual armaments by their military men and ordinary men.

Well, I am not trying to scare you out there, especially with recent outbreaks of support for “Ganyang Malaysia”. All I intend to do is for us to respect our neighbouring country, Indonesia and its people.

We Malaysians have been taking our neighbour for granted. We mistreat them to a point of abuse (or murder). We disregard them to a point of ‘robbing’ their cultural and heritage ‘heirlooms’ as ours. We disrespect our Indonesian maids simply because they are dirt poor. Even I heard from our cleaning ladies what the Men in Blue would ask for some ‘duit kopi’ whenever these men meet them along our roadside (even worse than Ah Longs, kan?). Wow, truly Islam Had-hari.

For all those ‘shortcomings’, we ought to be scared of the rise of this ‘sleeping beauty’. Someone told me that apart from Brazil, Russia, India and China (“BRIC”), Indonesia is steadily progressing into this group of New Economy.

During last month’s G20 summit in Pittsburgh, through Bapak SBY’s speech, Indonesia has emerged as the true hero there, when he presented a case study to his counterparts on Indonesia’s innovative strategy to wean this nation off addictive fuel subsidies. Even my Mr Obama shares his concern – a complete digression from worn-out rhetoric about the need to fortify the world’s financial systems. This article mentions that Bapak SBY should be applauded for his international leadership for he has shown his mettle as a true crisis manager. In our Ibu Pertiwi, looking at the kind of leaders we have, they just couldn’t stop creating more crises!

“Laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind” ~ Sir Francis Bacon

Just yesterday, in his second term as the President to circa 240 Million Indonesians, he has vowed to make the eradication of so-called ‘legal mafia’ – whom he said can be found in the police force, the judiciary, the Attorney-General’s Office, the KPK, customs and excise department and other government departments - a priority in the first 100 days of his new administration. I admire him even more when he urged his people, “who feel like they have become victims of this mafia in the past, or perhaps even now have become victims, to report to us” in his first public statement acknowledging the presence of such a mafia in key law enforcement agencies. In our Ibu Pertiwi, we cannot even trust those people who walk along the corridor of power, let alone the enforcement agencies.

"Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army" ~ Edward Everett

I still remember reading Dr. Farish A. Noor’s article where he compares the level of intellectual maturity between Indonesian and our undergraduates. Again, we fail to produce the right kind of thinking mentality required to propel our Ibu Pertiwi forward. Despite their prowess in memorising facts and figures in the books, they forget to look around and realise what went so wrong with this Ibu Pertiwi. Sometimes, I think that by creating more jobless graduates, we actually creating more citizens that ‘kowtow’ to the ‘master’, blindly. Yes, in our Ibu Pertiwi, a failure to education system is in fact a boon to some you-know-what!

Anyway, these are only a few examples to civil liberty taking place in this beautiful country.

Indeed, if Indonesia Boleh, Malaysia, of 27 Million surely can too! Right?

A Few Good Men? We Need More Heroes

“Unhappy the land that is in need of heroes” ~ Bertolt Brecht

Mr Wenger told me, once, commentators on MT are nonsense lots.

After reading comments to Uncle Pete’s articles on MT 2 days ago, I have to agree with him and will in fact go further by saying that most Malaysian Men make a lot of noise like lalat and are lalang at heart, coward in act, shallow in thinking and such big fat whiners! No wonder our divorce rates are soaring. No wonder we have more broken families. These men have no balls!

When we women pursue our rights to be treated equally, some nonsensical men decided that they too have the right to scale down their role and responsibility as “Ketua Keluarga” to sleeping (sic), silent partners. These men even take up whining about everything – just for the sake of bragging how angry and disappointed they are (Duhhh) – BIG TIME.

“Heroes take journeys, confront dragons, and discover the treasure of their ture selves” ~ Carol Lynn Pearson

So, PR got to buckle up or we will continue to ’bash’ them up blue black. So, how about us? What are we doing to put this Ibu Pertiwi back in orderly system and manner? Aren’t we supposed to be the ‘eyes and ears’ for them? Aren’t we supposed to live a new ‘lifestyle’ now things should be done ethically – business and all? Why should we succumb to the old ‘lifestyle’? Why can’t we be our own heroes, be the catalyst of change?

“The heroes of the world community are not those who withdraw when difficulties ensue, not those who can envision neither the prospect of success nor the consequence of failure, but those who stand the heat of battle”

~ Hubert H. Humphrey

After the ‘sesi suaikenal’ 2 days ago, I asked Uncle Zorro how does his wife take all these ‘sesi suai kenal dan beramah mesra’ – aren’t she worried? Duh! What a stupid question I uttered, kan – who isn’t? He told me that his wife, a strong lady, gives her full support in everything he does.

Yes, you just have to read Uncle Zorro’s blog profile – his purpose to blog is so poignant – “Having fulfilled my obligations to my two kids, Patrina and Kevin. I dont want my three Bahamian grandsons, Bernard, Ryan and Patrick and whoever Kevin fathers to think that their grandpa didnt do enough to make this world a better place for them”. That would make anyone – in his/her right state of mind – to stand by him, come rain or shine.

As usual, I stumbled into things and people for reasons. What Uncle Zorro shared with me resonates with what I read yesterday morning about Lou Gehrig and his loving wife, Eleanor. Here’s his priceless farewell speech at Yankee Stadium more than 70 years ago: -

"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got.

Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.

When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift — that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies — that’s something.

When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter — that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body — it's a blessing.

When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed — that's the finest I know.

So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I've got an awful lot to live for. Thank you".

You see, you can’t be a hero for all the money, status and power you have, for all the glamour and publicity you enjoy, for all the statesmen you know but you are a hero if you understand the degree of responsibility that comes with freedom. Yes, I got this from Uncle Bob Dylan.

Malaysia has a few good men but at this juncture of time, we need more heroes that feel responsible to mend this broken Ibu Pertiwi.

Malaysian men have a long, treacherous road to live up to what is required from them but I am blessed I know some of our heroes. Dear Uncle Zorro, you are one of them.

Will you be a hero to our Ibu Pertiwi, gentlemen?

p.s. I have to say my piece of mind on various posts made in reference to Uncle Zorro’s ‘sesi suai kenal’ last 2 days. Some men and women called him names but I wish I could ask those idiots – Kalau Uncle Zorro tak berani, saya nak panggil awak semua apa sebab awak semua sanggup bersekongkol dengan kezaliman hak asasi manusia, jenayah, maksiat dan rasuah semata mata nak hidup senang di bawah badan yang pukul canang satu kampung kata memperjuangkan hak agama dan bangsa? Cakap pasal bangsa dan agam. Jadi manusia pun tak lulus!

You Gotta Listen to BFM's Morning Grill

Gee. You guys gotta glue your ears to BFM, especially for the morning session.

While having my breakfast this wednesday morning (tat tara tara), i listened to BFM's Morning Grill, where they invited one Datuk/Dato'/'Grandpa' from Asas Serba Sdn Bhd (ring your cash-cow bell tak?).

This 'Grandpa' was grilled, really, when he stumbled to answer market-savvy Khoo Hsu Chuang's straight and sharp questions on the proposed takeover of our highway concessions by Asas Serba. He's 'overdone' piece of 'corporate figure', I tell ya!

I wonder if we still have genuine corporate figures who are well informed and educated, instead of being well-connected, to climb the corporate (and cash) ladder, before 'getting the pilot seat'.

Gee. That's sad.

"Hanya 3 Hilang"

The very reason i try very hard not to read, listen and read our MSM is to prevent myself from turning manic*.

*Note : In case you don't know what i'm capable of when i turn Manic.

Manic is someone affected by mania.

Mania is the Greek word for madness. It is derived from mainai, to rave in anger. The Maniai in Greek mythology were the Furies who pursued those who had done unavenged crimes and drove them to madness.

Clinical symptoms as a result of mania include an abnormally elevated mood state characterised by such symptoms as inappropriate elation, increased irritability, severe insomnia, grandiose notions, increased speed and/or volume of speech, disconnected and racing thoughts, increased sexual desire, markedly increased energy and activity level, poor judgment, and inappropriate social behavior. A mild form in mania that does not require hospitalization is termed hypomania. Mania that also features symptoms of depression ("agitated depression") is called mixed mania.

I watched a snippet of Astro AWANI and read at the bottom of the TV - "Hanya 3 Hilang". Of course, you know this was with reference to tragedy of collapsed iron-cable bridge over Sg Kampar in Kuala Dipang.

Adik Dina, 11, perished, another 2 are still missing and the remaining 19 are fortunate enough to be saved on time when the one-month old bridge collapsed into the rapid water of Sungai Kampar.

Adik Dina and the missing pupils are amongst some 300 bright, outstanding students aged 10 to 12, from 60 schools from Kinta District, who were attending this 1 Malaysia Unity Camp, under supervision of some 25 teachers. The tragedy struck around 10.30 at night. The kids were on their way to get their utensils before having supper.

Thirteen years ago, Pos Dipang - an Orang Asli settlement along Sungai Kampar - was destroyed by ravaging mudslide, claiming 44 lives. Only weeks ago, i watched the moving documentary on ASTRO. One of the main reasons identified to this tragedy is illegal logging upstream.

"The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children"

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Hanya 3 hilang". That is what BERNAMA - our Malaysia National News Agency - tells the whole world about the tragedy.

"Hanya 3 Hilang" - Is that the price of these bright kids to our Ibu Pertiwi when we all know they meant beyond everything else in this world to their parents?

"Hanya 3 Hilang" - Is that the price to pay for some design faults on the bridge?

"Hanya 3 Hilang" - Is that the price to pay for some costs cutting by the current State Government?

"Hanya 3 Hilang" - Is that the price of corruption?

"Hanya 3 Hilang" - Is that the price of 1Malaysia?

“There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were”

~ Dwight David Eisenhower

My heartfelt condolence goes to their parents. There's no words could comfort their sorrowful souls and no money could wash away their regret for allowing the love of their life to attend the camping.

My deepest regret to 1Malaysia, people-friendly 2010 Budget. We would be spending billions on lifeless infrastructure yet we won't be spending some time and efforts to combat corruption.

Like Mr Hawkeye says in his commentary on our latest Budget presentation, Corruption kills!

Corruption kills your people.

Corrupted monies kill your soul.

Please, do not be part of this vicious cycle.

A Woman’s Got To Do What A Woman’s Got Do To

“When a woman tells the truth, she is creating the possibility for more truth around her” ~ Adrienne Rich

And that’s what Dr Pornthip Rojanasunan has been doing for more than 20 years in the male-dominated dog-eat-dog world. She believes, thanks to being a woman, she is still alive till today and that the spirits of the dead keep protecting her in doing her works – considering both the police and the criminals despise her.

She says she only wants justice and the public to pay attention to criminal justice system. Following her Buddhist belief, she tries to do the good and right thing and one who overcomes obstruction every day. Some sites like this one claim that she’s being paid by my state Government USD120 grand an hour to appear in Court for Adik BH Teoh’s Inquest. I am not sure if that claim holds water but it is better to pay such price for justice than to hire a personal jet to Sarawak for con-sulting jobs (wops).

“If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with women” ~ Gandhi

Boy, how I wish we had more women like Dr Pornthip Rojanasunan, who are strong enough to call a spade a spade, because “a strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are not determined not be done” (Marge Piercy).

In today’s world, frankly, women are ‘groomed’ to be weak, meek and ‘gedik’ – depending on the situation being thrown at them by men and their children – and that is tremendously degrading. How could we stoop too low to please some people, with complete disregards to the idea of being a woman in the first place?

I always believe what makes a woman is her natural ability to make a man better in every single way because God Almighty has bestowed upon women the highest reward of being a human being – for simply being a mother, who in turn would send away a good son out to be a good man and leader.

So, you must be wondering why on earth I am writing like this. I am just tired to see us women given a ‘trophy role with no authority’ to change. I am mad to hear women being labelled negatively – so we could don LV’s, Jimmy Choo’s, Gucci’s and Tiffany’s? Gee, that’s a tad too shallow, ladies!

We don’t have to be anti-man to be pro-woman (and pro-human). We don’t have to dress sexy to be noticed. We don’t have to be ‘lembik’ to be ‘lemah lembut’.

So, a woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to do. Let’s make things right again. If we are being poorly treated and lowly accepted by men, we only have ourselves to blame. So, are you ready to shake this world up ladies?

“Love and respect woman. Look to her not only for comfort, but for strength and inspiration and the doubling of your intellectual and moral powers. Blot out from your mind any idea of superiority; you have none” ~ Giuseppe Mazzini