When I was still working with Acer Inc Taiwan, I had a superb memory. Whenever I had a meeting with a client, I did not need to take along any pen or papers to record the details. Upon finishing the meeting, the meeting minutes or the report findings would be out within a short period of time, without leaving any important details. My boss Eugene Cheng always marveled at the way I could memorize and remember all the details to such extent.
I really had a good memory! Remember during the higher secondary school days when I first switched to 100% English medium of instruction from a Pei Yuan Chinese school to a pure ACS English school. I was able to re-generate my answers in examination papers strictly according to the same format as the teacher's notes, even to the extent of maintaining its active or passive voices. Was this not something incredible? This was because I did not have a good enough command of English then, I had no choice but to memorize them sentence by sentence in order not to make any mistake with the language.
Nowadays and I could not really understand the reason why I always become so forgetful. Sometimes I think of a subject to write on the blog, and I had told myself repeatedly that this is going to be the topic for the day! But when I finally sat down and thought about what to write in front of the computer, no matter how hard I tried to recall, and I had no inkling as to which topic I supposed to write! This had happened too many times!
I have the habit of washing my face and to leave my spectacles on a place which I could remember. Most of the time I ended up in searching for it all over the house! I took out my mountain bike ready for a ride, and then I forget my helmet! I warmed up the car in the morning ready to go to work, after putting on my socks and wearing my shoes, I forgot to bring along my bag and computer.
I used to remember the names and faces very well of old friends and acquaintances even after getting to know them for a brief period of time. I could call out the names of all my coursemates in Engineering faculty in Universtiy Malaya just after meeting them for about a week or so, but nowadays I could hardly recognize or remember any person just after one week of meeting them. After my transfer back from China operation to Malaysia just about 8 months, I always have to try very hard to refresh the names of some of my Chinese colleagues!
It is clearly a sign of getting old and I think I have to carry a note book around anywhere I go and immediately jot down everything before I forget. Look like this is the only way for me to overcome this problem!
You could exercise or even to dress up yourself to appear younger but the effect of aging takes a toll on the other aspects of your life, memory is just one of them. Sigh!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
End of the CNY
Today is the 15th of 1st month of the Chinese lunar calender and that marks the finishing of this much elaborated celebration of Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. Celebrating over a period of 15 days was common in older days and a lot of projects or business activities would only start moving again after this 15 days period. As the country progresses and economic activities dominate the scene, life becomes competitive and tougher, most people now celebrates only until the 3rd day and the 4th day onwards will be work and business as usual!
The Chinese New Year has a great significance for all the Chinese worldwide because it is the beginning of a brand new year, signifying the wiping out all old records and misfortunes, and everything is reset and to start fresh all over again. It always gives the anticipation of hope and better prospect ahead. For that reason, they paint and decorate the house new to usher in the new year, wear new clothings, new shoes or even spot a new hair style to kick-start the coming of a brand new year! Spring is a much anticipated and looking forward season where in China the snow starts to thaw and all flowers will go into full blossom! How splendid and magnificient it is as the earth is going through a period of bustling activities; plants sprouting out new leaves, new shoots, all kinds of flowers with bright colors brightening up the gardens, birds and bees, animals are running around, spring is in the air and the joy is apparent. Life again becomes active after going through a long cold winter which is like an incubation period where life has become dormant, boring and gloomy. All pent up and anxiously waiting Spring to come and suddenly everything breaks loose and bursts into life!
When comes the time of the spring rain, it is also the right time to sow seeds with a new hope of abundant harvest. There is a popular saying by the Chinese - " The happenings of the entire year start with the planning in the spring" . Indeed it is very true!
The 15th night of the Chinese New Year or "Chap Goh Meh" is celebrated in a grand way by the Hokkien, the migrants or descendants from the Fujian province. In northern China, lanterns are in display in a big way for the day and events are organized to solve the puzzles written on the lanterns and prizes are given away for that. But for us with our ancestry that came from the other southern provinces, we only carry the lanterns around during the mid-autumn festival and we do not know why there is such a odd difference.
The first full moon on the 15th night marks the end of the CNY celebration somehow gives me more of a melancholy instead of a celebration mood!
The Chinese New Year has a great significance for all the Chinese worldwide because it is the beginning of a brand new year, signifying the wiping out all old records and misfortunes, and everything is reset and to start fresh all over again. It always gives the anticipation of hope and better prospect ahead. For that reason, they paint and decorate the house new to usher in the new year, wear new clothings, new shoes or even spot a new hair style to kick-start the coming of a brand new year! Spring is a much anticipated and looking forward season where in China the snow starts to thaw and all flowers will go into full blossom! How splendid and magnificient it is as the earth is going through a period of bustling activities; plants sprouting out new leaves, new shoots, all kinds of flowers with bright colors brightening up the gardens, birds and bees, animals are running around, spring is in the air and the joy is apparent. Life again becomes active after going through a long cold winter which is like an incubation period where life has become dormant, boring and gloomy. All pent up and anxiously waiting Spring to come and suddenly everything breaks loose and bursts into life!
When comes the time of the spring rain, it is also the right time to sow seeds with a new hope of abundant harvest. There is a popular saying by the Chinese - " The happenings of the entire year start with the planning in the spring" . Indeed it is very true!
The 15th night of the Chinese New Year or "Chap Goh Meh" is celebrated in a grand way by the Hokkien, the migrants or descendants from the Fujian province. In northern China, lanterns are in display in a big way for the day and events are organized to solve the puzzles written on the lanterns and prizes are given away for that. But for us with our ancestry that came from the other southern provinces, we only carry the lanterns around during the mid-autumn festival and we do not know why there is such a odd difference.
The first full moon on the 15th night marks the end of the CNY celebration somehow gives me more of a melancholy instead of a celebration mood!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Church going on New Year days
Family photo taken in Methodist Church Kampar, Perak
during CNY 2010It is hard to imagine to change an age-old habit. Our age-old practice of ancestor worshipping was based partly on Taoism and partly on Buddhism. Such practice was passed down from generations, while some rituals are just seeing and learning what your fellow folks are doing and following suit. Sometimes it is hard to draw a demarcation as to what is regarded as religious or just cultural. To me if a practice is based on the teachings of a particular specific religion then I would term that religious, all other copy cat practices without knowing the background or the actual implication of it I would term it as more towards cultural, something being passed down for generations from a particular ethnic group. For many, such practices are being carried out for ages without obvious reasons, and we never question why we have to do it and also why not to discontinue doing it. Eventually it has become a habit and routine for all of us in our daily life!
If you are the descendant of a particular ethnic group and attend a certain school, the language that you used as a medium of instruction tends to exert certain influence on the kind of religion that you become more familiar with. For example if you are from the Chinese school, many a time Buddhism becomes an element that is embedded in some of the literatures and readings. The Chinese literature is very much associated with Buddhism since the days of the Tang dynasty.
For a traditional Chinese family to become Christian, Muslim or convert to any other religions, it is not an easy task and it needs a spiritual breakthrough! With the blessings from God, my family is almost 100% conversion to Christianity except one of my sister. Even my father who was once a hard core Taoist priest for funeral ceremony was baptized about 2-3 years back, what a miracle to our family if it is not the direct interference from God!
Could one ever imagine a family celebrate and go to the church during the 1st day of Chinese New Year? It was something beyond my imagination years ago but this happened to my family now. It has become a top priority to remember God for all the goodness received through the year and get the continuous blessings from Him for such a special day and occasion. Before that, going to church on Chinese New Year days was deemed something boring and had no better things to do!
No one from one particular religion has gone to heaven and come back to earth to tell us what is the true story. Believing based on faith and also looking at the good examples of some of the believers tend to reveal some characteristics of the God that they are worshipping, though we humans are not perfect and tend to err. Fearing God is the beginning of wisdom, this is true. Every effort in life is vain and empty without God! Having a deep spiritual contact or encounter with God is another experience which words could not describe!
Go and search God, believe in God, what have you got to lose if it is not true? If it is a true God that promised peace and eternal life, how much we would have lost for not believing in Him.
My wife
My wife married me when I was still a poor young engineer. Though I was a graduate with a steady income but did not have a lot of money to afford things. We used to envy other families who could drive bigger cars and stay in better houses. We had gone through the thick and thin of life, hardship, making ends meet and tough time without a job etc. We built a family based on trust, staying together in whatever circumstances, going to church and pray for our children and family members etc. That was how we have gone through life together for so many years.
My wife and I are of totally different characters and even have different sleeping times. She sleeps very few hours but can be very active the next day without any problem; I for one need to sleep 8 full hours in order to energize myself to take on the activities of the day. When our young children were sick, my wife was always half asleep or stayed awake most of the time and took good care of them, monitored their body temperatures, administered to them cooling gel and medicine at the right intervals. I would always try to sleep a bit early so as to take on my turn of vigilance on the children at the later part of the night so that she could catch some sleep. It was such a wonderful combination despite our differences!
She is well versed in Malay language because she was from Sri Kampar Kebangsaan school after her primary English education in ACS. We were from different school background and have totally different hobbies and likings. Sometimes we wonder how we could ever get married in this way! Sometimes it is God's will that we become husband and wife, she tutored my children most of the Malay language lessons while I tackled mainly their Chinese or mathematical unresolved questions in the school. Again it is such a good combination!
My wife is very good in his handwork and hand made crafts such as flowers crochet etc, and she did such crafts so well that I believe she could even open a shop to sell them. Only thing is if she does too much of those handwork, her eyes would be too strained that she could fall sick or even have vertigo. Even better is her cooking and she is always willing to learn from TV programs or even from my mum on all the skill of cooking. She inherited most of the secret recipes of my favorite dishes from my mum. She used to cook every meal for us in earlier days, but later part I found that it is too strenuous for her and we decided to eat out most of the time when I am home. Nowadays it is even more economical to eat outside than to cook on your own although sometimes outside food with excessive Ajinomoto is our main concern. She washes our clothings shoes and cleans the sofas, and the whole house spotless so that we could have a very comfortable environment to live in. I am very much influenced by her near to fanatic cleanliness, and because of that now I become very sensitive to cleanliness and tidiness compared to before when I was still a bachelor.
Because of my job nature and I have to be always away from home especially at the later part of my career, if not for her constant presence and help in the house, I would not be able even to earn a living. She stopped work and stays a full time house wife while our first son was born. She likes to nag a lot especially to the children, and most of the time is out of concern for them. Sometimes it is understandable of her nagging behaviour because she is confined within this narrow circle of life with the children and the husband as her only friends. And of course sometimes our behavior is also too unbearable for her and she needs to vent out her anger. Children and we adults are not perfect beings and this has become part and parcel of life.
In my heart, I appreciate all the hard work, love and care she renders for the family and also the sacrifice that she made for being a wife and mother 24 hours a day staying at home taking care of all of us. I have unspoken words, love and appreciation for her though I do not always express that to her. Through this blog, I want to say love and a big thank you to her!
My wife and I are of totally different characters and even have different sleeping times. She sleeps very few hours but can be very active the next day without any problem; I for one need to sleep 8 full hours in order to energize myself to take on the activities of the day. When our young children were sick, my wife was always half asleep or stayed awake most of the time and took good care of them, monitored their body temperatures, administered to them cooling gel and medicine at the right intervals. I would always try to sleep a bit early so as to take on my turn of vigilance on the children at the later part of the night so that she could catch some sleep. It was such a wonderful combination despite our differences!
She is well versed in Malay language because she was from Sri Kampar Kebangsaan school after her primary English education in ACS. We were from different school background and have totally different hobbies and likings. Sometimes we wonder how we could ever get married in this way! Sometimes it is God's will that we become husband and wife, she tutored my children most of the Malay language lessons while I tackled mainly their Chinese or mathematical unresolved questions in the school. Again it is such a good combination!
My wife is very good in his handwork and hand made crafts such as flowers crochet etc, and she did such crafts so well that I believe she could even open a shop to sell them. Only thing is if she does too much of those handwork, her eyes would be too strained that she could fall sick or even have vertigo. Even better is her cooking and she is always willing to learn from TV programs or even from my mum on all the skill of cooking. She inherited most of the secret recipes of my favorite dishes from my mum. She used to cook every meal for us in earlier days, but later part I found that it is too strenuous for her and we decided to eat out most of the time when I am home. Nowadays it is even more economical to eat outside than to cook on your own although sometimes outside food with excessive Ajinomoto is our main concern. She washes our clothings shoes and cleans the sofas, and the whole house spotless so that we could have a very comfortable environment to live in. I am very much influenced by her near to fanatic cleanliness, and because of that now I become very sensitive to cleanliness and tidiness compared to before when I was still a bachelor.
Because of my job nature and I have to be always away from home especially at the later part of my career, if not for her constant presence and help in the house, I would not be able even to earn a living. She stopped work and stays a full time house wife while our first son was born. She likes to nag a lot especially to the children, and most of the time is out of concern for them. Sometimes it is understandable of her nagging behaviour because she is confined within this narrow circle of life with the children and the husband as her only friends. And of course sometimes our behavior is also too unbearable for her and she needs to vent out her anger. Children and we adults are not perfect beings and this has become part and parcel of life.
In my heart, I appreciate all the hard work, love and care she renders for the family and also the sacrifice that she made for being a wife and mother 24 hours a day staying at home taking care of all of us. I have unspoken words, love and appreciation for her though I do not always express that to her. Through this blog, I want to say love and a big thank you to her!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Marathon Runner
I was not born a sport man because of my skinny and smaller frame stature while I was in primary and secondary schools. I always sat the second row in the class otherwise some of my taller classmates would have blocked my view of the blackboard. The only sport that I had taken part in while we were having sport day in the primary school was tying one of my legs with the other of my classmates using a handkefchief, doing something similar to the telematch kind of running! What a shame!
I did not realize my sport potential only until when I was in higher secondary school that I could run cross country well. Subsequently I had developed a liking for sport, though I had played basket ball for many years since primary school days. I went into squash and occasional running or jogging to keep fit! Sometimes sport is a question of practice, perserverance and self confidence. I was very much inspired by my brother-in-law at the age of about 58, yet he could be a good marathon runner. Another younger relative, my wife's cousin Choi CC, probably 48 is another good runner. Imagine the gruesome journey of 42KM, is something to me insurmountable! I take my hat off for these 2 guys!
I have not given up on running long distance. Therefore now I am training hard to increase my laps of running. Every morning I woke up early and try to train my stamina by jogging along the path leading to the sea side. The air in the morning is fresh and the vehicles are few. It is an ideal place to train and exercise and I had chosen this place precisely for this reason.
My aim is hopefully one day I could be fit enough to participate in the marathon run!
I did not realize my sport potential only until when I was in higher secondary school that I could run cross country well. Subsequently I had developed a liking for sport, though I had played basket ball for many years since primary school days. I went into squash and occasional running or jogging to keep fit! Sometimes sport is a question of practice, perserverance and self confidence. I was very much inspired by my brother-in-law at the age of about 58, yet he could be a good marathon runner. Another younger relative, my wife's cousin Choi CC, probably 48 is another good runner. Imagine the gruesome journey of 42KM, is something to me insurmountable! I take my hat off for these 2 guys!
I have not given up on running long distance. Therefore now I am training hard to increase my laps of running. Every morning I woke up early and try to train my stamina by jogging along the path leading to the sea side. The air in the morning is fresh and the vehicles are few. It is an ideal place to train and exercise and I had chosen this place precisely for this reason.
My aim is hopefully one day I could be fit enough to participate in the marathon run!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Catching fighting fish
My brothers and I were trying to catch some of those fighting fishes. We went to search around the spots where we used to catch them. Around the village, those areas had been developed into housing projects and their habitat is gone forever. We drove to SMTD near to Air Kuning, and we went into the pond we used to catch quite a few before many years ago but there was no more fighting fish. Suddently I remember some of my childhood friends of Kampar, they are children of a far relative living near the railway track in Wah Loong area. They caught fighting fishes in the puddles of water near the railway track. We drove through the old railway flyover, the new sport complex and Kampong Batu Putih to reach our destination. Again we tried in vain with no fighting fish. While passing by and on the road side near a stream, we found some water plants and I brought them back all the way to Terengganu, but they all rotted upon arrival here after keeping them 2 days in the house in a container, perhaps the plants could not withstand the long journey
The family members suddenly proposed to drive all the way to Tualang to eat "Ice Kacang" and jelly drinks. And I took the opportunity to contact Arshad of Kampong Gajah since the place is on the way to Tualang as we took the road passing through Tronoh Mines and Kampong Timah. He advertised in internet on wild fighting fish for sale. We met him near the Agro bank and then he led us to his home just across the Perak river after a bridge. He kept quite a quantity of wild fighting fishes. We bought Rm100 for 4 pairs, my brother and I shared each 2 pairs (male and female), though it is a bit expensive. Anyway, it is Chinese New Year fun, Arshad and us are happy over this because we got what we wanted eventually!
On my way of transporting those fishes to my Cukai home, one of the male fishes jumped out of the container and died, what a pity!
The family members suddenly proposed to drive all the way to Tualang to eat "Ice Kacang" and jelly drinks. And I took the opportunity to contact Arshad of Kampong Gajah since the place is on the way to Tualang as we took the road passing through Tronoh Mines and Kampong Timah. He advertised in internet on wild fighting fish for sale. We met him near the Agro bank and then he led us to his home just across the Perak river after a bridge. He kept quite a quantity of wild fighting fishes. We bought Rm100 for 4 pairs, my brother and I shared each 2 pairs (male and female), though it is a bit expensive. Anyway, it is Chinese New Year fun, Arshad and us are happy over this because we got what we wanted eventually!
On my way of transporting those fishes to my Cukai home, one of the male fishes jumped out of the container and died, what a pity!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Obsolescence
A friend of mine whose father ran a photo studio in the 70s. It was thriving business for his shop then and they lived in big bungalow house in high class residential area, bought new car compared to his contemporaries who could barely afford owning only second hand used vehicles. With the advent of digitial cameras, the business of his photo shop dropped drastically and nowadays consumers simply do not buy films, develop photos in the shops anymore. They just point and shoot, store them in memory cards, upload the photos in digital frames or web albums etc. So this traditional photo shop of my friend's father became the thing of the past!
I remember those days in the village, where there were only a handful of legally licensed taxis; they belonged to the richer and more well-to-do villagers. It was expensive because one has to own a vehicle, usually a Mercedes Benz 190D and also the licence from the government was expensive, limited and controlled. Buses were commuting only once every hour to and fro Kampar town. At that time, there were needs for more transportation, therefore illegal taxis or what we called "Kereta Sapu" came into existence and they were doing a thriving business. My dad was amongst one of those earliest folks to start this "Kereta Sapu" after he quitted from his fish monger job near Tapah Road and Langkap areas. Before this, he was cycling and later part bought a BSA motorbike to sell fishes to those Malay kampung folks with credit given to them. It was common then for debts to be recorded in a small booklet with brand 555 or more popularly known as the triple 5 booklet. Debts were settled at the end of the month based on the accounts in these booklets, even sundry shops did the same with the village folks. I suppose it was not an easy task to collect back those debts, therefore later part my grandmother from my mum side bought a Vauxhall vehicle bearing the number plate AB 3122 for my dad. The income from this taxi business then was lucrative despite sometimes the Department of Transport or JPJ came into action, drivers had to stop driving for weeks or risked paying hefty fine for operating taxis illegally. This infamous "Kerata sapu" vehicle also served as a means of transport for the entire family, it was really something extraordinary for a village home in the early 60s to own a car. These "Kereta Sapu" vehicles were used to fetch children to schools to Kampar and also "Dulang" washers to the tin mines. With some special arrangement of the seating and the addition of stools, 8-10 adults were packed inside the vehicle. Back then, vehicles were not many on the roads, and therefore vehicles packed with passengers were common, less dangerous and accidents were practically unheard of!
Whenever a good business became obvious, all the others jumped into the bandwagon. Naturally the village after sometime was saturated with such illegal taxis, plying the roads, side lanes and all over the place. Now they were no more such "Kereta Sapu" because every family in the village owns at least one car!
Time, government policies and world economy changed the landscape of life-styles and habits. We must always take this into consideration whenver we venture into something old or new. No good things last forever. Remember how our tin-mining, rubber tapping, timber logging etc became a thing of the past for the country? They were once our pillars of economy that built the nation and propelled the country to what it is today. Very soon, our oil and gas would be the things of the past for Malaysia too. Our leaders have to lead us and move forward with new things and new ideas to generate new revenue for our country in order to achieve our vision 2020.
I remember those days in the village, where there were only a handful of legally licensed taxis; they belonged to the richer and more well-to-do villagers. It was expensive because one has to own a vehicle, usually a Mercedes Benz 190D and also the licence from the government was expensive, limited and controlled. Buses were commuting only once every hour to and fro Kampar town. At that time, there were needs for more transportation, therefore illegal taxis or what we called "Kereta Sapu" came into existence and they were doing a thriving business. My dad was amongst one of those earliest folks to start this "Kereta Sapu" after he quitted from his fish monger job near Tapah Road and Langkap areas. Before this, he was cycling and later part bought a BSA motorbike to sell fishes to those Malay kampung folks with credit given to them. It was common then for debts to be recorded in a small booklet with brand 555 or more popularly known as the triple 5 booklet. Debts were settled at the end of the month based on the accounts in these booklets, even sundry shops did the same with the village folks. I suppose it was not an easy task to collect back those debts, therefore later part my grandmother from my mum side bought a Vauxhall vehicle bearing the number plate AB 3122 for my dad. The income from this taxi business then was lucrative despite sometimes the Department of Transport or JPJ came into action, drivers had to stop driving for weeks or risked paying hefty fine for operating taxis illegally. This infamous "Kerata sapu" vehicle also served as a means of transport for the entire family, it was really something extraordinary for a village home in the early 60s to own a car. These "Kereta Sapu" vehicles were used to fetch children to schools to Kampar and also "Dulang" washers to the tin mines. With some special arrangement of the seating and the addition of stools, 8-10 adults were packed inside the vehicle. Back then, vehicles were not many on the roads, and therefore vehicles packed with passengers were common, less dangerous and accidents were practically unheard of!
Whenever a good business became obvious, all the others jumped into the bandwagon. Naturally the village after sometime was saturated with such illegal taxis, plying the roads, side lanes and all over the place. Now they were no more such "Kereta Sapu" because every family in the village owns at least one car!
Time, government policies and world economy changed the landscape of life-styles and habits. We must always take this into consideration whenver we venture into something old or new. No good things last forever. Remember how our tin-mining, rubber tapping, timber logging etc became a thing of the past for the country? They were once our pillars of economy that built the nation and propelled the country to what it is today. Very soon, our oil and gas would be the things of the past for Malaysia too. Our leaders have to lead us and move forward with new things and new ideas to generate new revenue for our country in order to achieve our vision 2020.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Cricket catching and photos
As written in my earlier article on my favorite insect, this time back home I chanced upon this old friend of mine who used to be the best cricket digger or catcher in the village because he caught the most crickets during my time. He was catching crickets to feed his Magpie Robin birds, and I took the opportunity to take these precious photos.
He told me that the habitat of those crickets was destroyed and fenced off by owners of palm oil trees planted in self-owned illegal plots in the ex-mining land. He resorted to dig and catch those crickets around the housing area. I told him to spare those young crickets otherwise the insect one day will become extinct in the village, and I worry that I will miss their callings at nights!
Deserted Mining Land
During the Chinese New year period, my uncle and I explored the portion of the deserted mining land by riding on a 70cc Honda Cub motorbike. Went through the winding paths surrounding the outskirt of the western side of the village and passed through many duck rearing ponds and also palm oil trees planted on this wasteland. We lamented at how the tin mines had benefited many of the villagers by helping them to raise up children and families, but now the land is left there with the most fertile top layer soil been washed away and left with sand dunes as white as snow. What a wasteful effect and ecological impact on the land, I would consider this a wasteland if it does not generate any revenue for the country and left idling undeveloped. Many years ago, this place was dotted with Palongs! (This word of "Palong" might be lost forever without any sign of tin mining activity for the past 2 decades or so and we learned this word from our geography lessons in secondary school days on tin mining in Kinta valley and now this Palong is no where to be seen) If not because of some vegetation, and peat swamps around, the landscape is simply too plain and ugly. We did pay a price for the wealth that we gained through those early mining years. The landscape was changed every time a new mine was in operation or a dredge passed through that area. So much so that we all could not paint an original image as to how the original landscape looked like, only bits and pieces from the very far recess of our memories reminded us of a very faint picture!
Now this place which is adjacent to Tronoh mines, Kampong Timah, Tualang and Kampong Gajah areas are thriving with water birds, ponds and palm trees illegally planted all over. Perhaps now the more sophiscated villagers are hoping the opposition party will eventually win and rule the Perak state in the next general election, and hopefully land titles or who knows even compensation could be granted if the new government wants to utilize the land again and at the same time to win the hearts of the voters to stay in power!
Now this place which is adjacent to Tronoh mines, Kampong Timah, Tualang and Kampong Gajah areas are thriving with water birds, ponds and palm trees illegally planted all over. Perhaps now the more sophiscated villagers are hoping the opposition party will eventually win and rule the Perak state in the next general election, and hopefully land titles or who knows even compensation could be granted if the new government wants to utilize the land again and at the same time to win the hearts of the voters to stay in power!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Chinese New Year traffic Jam
Every year during the Chinese New Year period, all roads and highways will be jammed up. It is an exodus of big crowd that destines themselves to go home before the grand day. The most important for all the haste and urgency is to attend the reunion dinner on the new year eve with the presence of everyone in the family. Because of this, everyone is rushing home at almost the same time after work or after the last school session of their children. A country like Malaysia, with only 26 millions population and about 5 millions Chinese, the jam is so bad, so one could imagine how bad it could be in China with 1.3 billion people.
Before the North South highway was ready, traffic was equally bad and I used to cut across the opposite side of the road, drove on the road shoulder on the other side, just to beat the jam! I remember very well my triple S, twin caburettors Datsun 160J, it was simply a fantastic sport vehicle for me. During one annual dinner company trip to Penang, I overtook all the cars on the way from KL to Penang, of course I lost to one BMW and we stopped to look at each other only at the Penang ferry terminal! When I get older, I drive more slowly and gently because I am aware of the dangerous consequences of driving fast on roads!
We tried all means to avoid traffic jams during the festive season, woke up and drove early to beat the crowd and even tried to use the old trunk road via Kuala Selangor and Teluk Anson etc. Somehow the jam was inevitable! Nowadays with the highways, things are better but when 3 lanes merge into 2 lanes, that is where the jam starts again!
For many years I had been traveling against the traffic jams because I was working in Penang and also overseas. This year I am against the flow of the traffic from east coast to KL. But from KL onwards then I will join the crowd this Friday. I hope the traffic congestion is mild so that we could have a slow and steady drive home after fetching my daughter from school.
God bless everyone and have a safe journey home and a wonderful Chinese New Year of the tiger!
Before the North South highway was ready, traffic was equally bad and I used to cut across the opposite side of the road, drove on the road shoulder on the other side, just to beat the jam! I remember very well my triple S, twin caburettors Datsun 160J, it was simply a fantastic sport vehicle for me. During one annual dinner company trip to Penang, I overtook all the cars on the way from KL to Penang, of course I lost to one BMW and we stopped to look at each other only at the Penang ferry terminal! When I get older, I drive more slowly and gently because I am aware of the dangerous consequences of driving fast on roads!
We tried all means to avoid traffic jams during the festive season, woke up and drove early to beat the crowd and even tried to use the old trunk road via Kuala Selangor and Teluk Anson etc. Somehow the jam was inevitable! Nowadays with the highways, things are better but when 3 lanes merge into 2 lanes, that is where the jam starts again!
For many years I had been traveling against the traffic jams because I was working in Penang and also overseas. This year I am against the flow of the traffic from east coast to KL. But from KL onwards then I will join the crowd this Friday. I hope the traffic congestion is mild so that we could have a slow and steady drive home after fetching my daughter from school.
God bless everyone and have a safe journey home and a wonderful Chinese New Year of the tiger!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Malaysia Inc needs to be overhauled and revamped!
Many years ago when I was a kid, I always heard about someone else sons studied in Taiwan and their parents sent a monthly allowance of RM300 and they lived there comfortably like kings. Very often they would marry and bring back Taiwanese wives. Malaysia was a place where many people aspires to "migrate" or find a reason to come here to stay. It is never easy to migrate to Malaysia because of our government policy; I would say it is easier to get a green card in USA then to get a staying visa for foreign spouse to live and work in Malaysia. Nowadays we rarely hear about Taiwanese women willing to marry Malaysian men! Partly because Taiwan has emerged as a more affluent nation than us!
Not so many years ago, Malaysians felt extremely proud of being Malaysians during the time when we had an economic boom in late 80's and early 90's. I still remember the glorious day where a lot of Malaysians displayed our "Jalur Gemilang", our national flag on their vehicles on parade during our national day celebration. Those were the days where we attracted a lot of FDI and economy was simply vibrant, with progress and GDP growth well above other developing nations!
We did not progress thereafter and a lot of issues cropped up especially on our economic policies. Policy and decision making were such that, as though Malaysians of different ethnic origins are competing amongst each other for their own rice bowls, that was the biggest misconception and mistake we ever made! In actual fact we all Malaysians regardless of races, are in the same boat, supposedly to unite together and compete with other countries in Asean, India, and China etc to become a better nation! Our policy makers never realized this, politicians dragged their feet just to stay popular to be in power, all at the expense of our progress and welfare of the country and 'Rakyat" as a whole. Brain drain and migration of Malaysians are never taken seriously until it is just too late to reverse the trend!
We are now very much lag behind other countries in the same region in terms of economy and development. It was a trend then that Malaysian males were going abroad especially to neighboring countries to have fun. It would come a time when this land will run out of oil, and it would not be a surprise to us that foreigners from neighboring countries will start swarming here as a popular destination in the region for "recreation".
Malaysians please wake up to reality and if we are not determined to restructure and revamp ourselves for a radical change in all our economic policies to face the future challenge, we could end up to become a country without jobs but thriving with flesh trade of our own women as an attraction to foreign tourists, let alone to achieve our vision 2020. What a mockery, butt of the joke for other nations to look at who we Malaysians are!
Not so many years ago, Malaysians felt extremely proud of being Malaysians during the time when we had an economic boom in late 80's and early 90's. I still remember the glorious day where a lot of Malaysians displayed our "Jalur Gemilang", our national flag on their vehicles on parade during our national day celebration. Those were the days where we attracted a lot of FDI and economy was simply vibrant, with progress and GDP growth well above other developing nations!
We did not progress thereafter and a lot of issues cropped up especially on our economic policies. Policy and decision making were such that, as though Malaysians of different ethnic origins are competing amongst each other for their own rice bowls, that was the biggest misconception and mistake we ever made! In actual fact we all Malaysians regardless of races, are in the same boat, supposedly to unite together and compete with other countries in Asean, India, and China etc to become a better nation! Our policy makers never realized this, politicians dragged their feet just to stay popular to be in power, all at the expense of our progress and welfare of the country and 'Rakyat" as a whole. Brain drain and migration of Malaysians are never taken seriously until it is just too late to reverse the trend!
We are now very much lag behind other countries in the same region in terms of economy and development. It was a trend then that Malaysian males were going abroad especially to neighboring countries to have fun. It would come a time when this land will run out of oil, and it would not be a surprise to us that foreigners from neighboring countries will start swarming here as a popular destination in the region for "recreation".
Malaysians please wake up to reality and if we are not determined to restructure and revamp ourselves for a radical change in all our economic policies to face the future challenge, we could end up to become a country without jobs but thriving with flesh trade of our own women as an attraction to foreign tourists, let alone to achieve our vision 2020. What a mockery, butt of the joke for other nations to look at who we Malaysians are!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Killing of tigers - A despiscable act!
I detest anyone who killed such beast for whatever good reasons they gave. Tiger population is already less than 500 in the entire peninsular Malaysia; and we want to preserve these otherwise extinct animals for our future generations, at least they would be able to know how a tiger looks like. Tigers rarely attack human beings unless they are confronted or hunted, snared or injured! We humans had encroached their territories, destroyed their habitat through development and broken their food chains. They are driven away and marginalized to live only in limited forest reserves land in the country.
I enjoy reading news that tigers could still be found in the Perak state in areas around Chenderiang, Bukit Tapah Sungkai, Botak Kiri or even near the forest of Kuala Dipang etc. Occasional sighting of such animals are not common; it might be easier to strike a lottery than to see a tiger nowadays. It always makes me feel very sad when tigers were normally killed whenever the sighting incident of such rare and precious animals was reported in the local newspapers.
The price of a dead tiger could fetch a price of USD20,000 and that is something too attractive for some to resist. Even the aborigines are hunting the tigers for money sake on the pretext of collecting "Petai" in the forest reserves and I am totally disgusted with such greedy act. Malaysia is a country that could earn a living easily and our aborigines should not be in that dire strait or poverty level , to the extent of depending on killing such precious wild beasts for a living.
We must protect our Malaysian tigers by whatever means and they are our pride!
I enjoy reading news that tigers could still be found in the Perak state in areas around Chenderiang, Bukit Tapah Sungkai, Botak Kiri or even near the forest of Kuala Dipang etc. Occasional sighting of such animals are not common; it might be easier to strike a lottery than to see a tiger nowadays. It always makes me feel very sad when tigers were normally killed whenever the sighting incident of such rare and precious animals was reported in the local newspapers.
The price of a dead tiger could fetch a price of USD20,000 and that is something too attractive for some to resist. Even the aborigines are hunting the tigers for money sake on the pretext of collecting "Petai" in the forest reserves and I am totally disgusted with such greedy act. Malaysia is a country that could earn a living easily and our aborigines should not be in that dire strait or poverty level , to the extent of depending on killing such precious wild beasts for a living.
We must protect our Malaysian tigers by whatever means and they are our pride!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Anticipating the coming of Chinese New Year
When was the last time we had the big cleaning up of the house? It used to be always the main activity of the family when the Chinese New Year was approaching. It would be normally 1 to 2 weeks before the actual new year days that every home in the village would gather all their family members to clean up or even paint the house new to get ready for the big days. Now this good culture is rarely practised anymore!
During the period of big cleaning, bamboo tree became a convenient and useful tool for the villagers. They would cut down the stem and tie the leaves as the broom or brush. Using that, far and hard to reach spots and corners of the house, and all the spider webs were swept clean.
Chinese are particular about the dates which such cleaning activity is being carried out. Only on certain dates are to be seen as viable and good based on the ancient guidance of a book, which is published and printed in Hongkong annually. This book is commonly known as "Tong Seng" the content of which notifies and indicates the date, time period and direction for certain rituals to be performed so as to avoid bad omen but invite blessings or good luck.
As a small boy, I was particulary interested in participating in this house cleaning up job with my mum. The changing and pasting of new year bright red posters and decoration were my favorites. Amidst the popular Chinese New Year songs by the various radio stations, the excitement could be felt in the air when the new year mood was slowly built up in this manner. We even as kids knew very well that the actual new year day would be at its peak of celebration and very soon this once a year event would be considered as over. For that reason, I specially enjoyed the waiting and the anticipating moment for the coming of the new year.
Those were the bygone days in my memory. But with every approach of the Chinese New Year, my heart could not stop anticipate its coming and thrilled with excitement. Though the new year will never mean the same to me now as an adult compared to the time when I was a kid, but the whole episode of events always links me back to the past and reminisces the good old days that I once enjoyed very much.
May God bless us always young at hearts to enjoy every day and moment of the coming new year.
During the period of big cleaning, bamboo tree became a convenient and useful tool for the villagers. They would cut down the stem and tie the leaves as the broom or brush. Using that, far and hard to reach spots and corners of the house, and all the spider webs were swept clean.
Chinese are particular about the dates which such cleaning activity is being carried out. Only on certain dates are to be seen as viable and good based on the ancient guidance of a book, which is published and printed in Hongkong annually. This book is commonly known as "Tong Seng" the content of which notifies and indicates the date, time period and direction for certain rituals to be performed so as to avoid bad omen but invite blessings or good luck.
As a small boy, I was particulary interested in participating in this house cleaning up job with my mum. The changing and pasting of new year bright red posters and decoration were my favorites. Amidst the popular Chinese New Year songs by the various radio stations, the excitement could be felt in the air when the new year mood was slowly built up in this manner. We even as kids knew very well that the actual new year day would be at its peak of celebration and very soon this once a year event would be considered as over. For that reason, I specially enjoyed the waiting and the anticipating moment for the coming of the new year.
Those were the bygone days in my memory. But with every approach of the Chinese New Year, my heart could not stop anticipate its coming and thrilled with excitement. Though the new year will never mean the same to me now as an adult compared to the time when I was a kid, but the whole episode of events always links me back to the past and reminisces the good old days that I once enjoyed very much.
May God bless us always young at hearts to enjoy every day and moment of the coming new year.
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