DAY SEVEN: OUR LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE BULLY

AND YET ANOTHER BULLYING / RAGGING CASE IN OUR MALAYSIAN PAPERS where a Royal Malaysian Air Force trainee was forced to eat his own vomit, after getting a sound thrashing. Why? It is alleged that this act of cowardice and stupidity was motivated by revenge ... why am I not surprised? Why should all of us be surprised? This is not as bad as a previous case where the ragging went too far and a 15 year old boy was killed after suffering from several beatings at the hands of several seniors.

My question for the day is: why is the culture of ragging / bullying still alive and kicking in our all institution of learning? If we picked it up from our colonial masters, why can't we be original for once and just drop this sickening, disgusting and dangerous dirty habit?

To me, a culture which promotes ragging in whatever form, shape and size is a indication of a culture which believes that only the strong survive and the weak thrashed to within an inch of his life. It is also an indication that respect can only be achieved through fear and intimidation under the thinly veiled guise of 'tradition'. Well screw that tradition if it will cost us the lives of the innocent and the weak. The idea that it will toughen the so-called weak is ridiculously moronic. No amount of torture will prepare someone to be tough when he goes for a job interview. In fact, the buliled will only see fit to perpetuate the legacy reaching a level of cycle which in some instances, is hard to end.

My wish list for this particular ugly side of Malaysian life consists of the following:

1. That all forms of ragging / freshie / getting to know your seniors bullshit ends once and for all at all levels of institutionalized education system;

2. That the perpertrators of this so-called 'tradition' be arrested and punished to the maximum extent of the law for the first 100 cases which will be used as a deterrent for other sick, like-minded perverts who thrives on bullying their juniors just in order to gain the respect they believe they deserve;

3. That parents of these perpertrators be fined for allowing their children to adopt a danger-to-society attitude by becoming bullies and raggers;

4. By kicking out these bullies / raggers from their insitution of learning thereby effectively ending their educational opportunities. The price of a wasted career is nothing compared to the price of a human life;

5. That the practice of ragging / bullying outlawed with immediate effect.

Of course, a wish list is still a wish list meaning that I strongly doubt it if it will ever come true. But I'm still going to wait and hope and wait and hope that change will come and that all bullies and raggers will ge their just deserts.

DAY SIX: THE GREAT ORATOR / SPEAKER / INTERVIEWEE

THE RECENT AL JAZEERA PROGRAMME, EAST 101 interviewed our great leader. And for the life of me, no cushion, no sofa, no pillow on my bed was big enough to hide my embarrassed face. When asked by the interviewer about his opionon on the recent call by his predecessor to take the american cowboy for war crimes, what does our esteemed and highly articulate leader say? "Its his views". When asked again, whether or not he agrees with the intention to bring the said cowboy to to trial, our leader said again "Its his views". This could possibly show two things:
Firstly - he does not agree with his predecessor in making such a call because he wants to play it safe with the only superpower as it is by not invoking their anger, or worse, a show of displeasure; or
Secondly - he does not want to acknowledge his predecessor's opinion whether or not deep down he shares it.
Whatever it is, to me, the answer is too feeble to come from a leader of newly developed nation. My wish list for what I would want him to have said was:

(a) It is his opinion yes, but, it is also a reflection of what the Muslim world feels most appropriate seeing their brothers persecuted throughout the world. Whether or not it is the right thing to do right now, only time will tell; or

(b) Its an interesting proposition which will no doubt, echo for years to come. But the truth of the matter is, we will not know how far this imposition will carry today. Let the history books decide on this one, eh? or

(c) Funny you should mention that. Not only did he make the call for war crimes, but he also held a four day exhibition on the atrocities of war. Now who would have thought of doing that in this day and age? Some may call it trouble-making, while others may call it a liberating expression. I call it, a right of a citizen of this country to do what he can within the confines of the law of the country.

Or something along those lines. It was a major question. It was a pity it was brushed aside so easily. Because the question provided an opportunity for our great leader to show how open, how sophisticated, how urban Malaysia is at the end of the day. Not a simple answer which seems to speak volumes in its too simple simplicity.

My question for the day is: who the hell advises the man?

DAY FIVE: NATIONAL SERVICE - WHAT THE - ?

THE RECENT DEATH OF AN 18 YEAR OLD NATIONAL SERVICE TRAINEE at the Rasah Army camp, opened up a very simple yet profound question: are there no medical examination upon entry at the national service camps? According to the Star newspaper report last Thursday the 1st of February, apparently not as it is not compulsory. What these kids have to do to instead is fill in a checklist. Thats right. A checklist to state whether or not you are okay to enter the programme. But what if you ticked all the boxes thinking that you are okay but in reality you have an internal problem which only a medical officer can discover? What do you do then? Nothing really. Because you wouldnt know. Sometimes what you dont know wont hurt you. But in this present day and age, what you dont know can possibly hurt you very much.

My question for the day is: how is this horrendously stupid, horrifically dangerous situation come to pass? How could they not consider checking the the kids whether or not he or she is physically able to attend the training? It boggles the mind threefolds to think that all these while thousands of our future leaders are entering into a situation which could very much hurt them. Is the call for compulsory check ups too late? Nothing is ever too late when it comes to the safety of our children.

I really hope the national service will stop springing surprises at us. This is our kids. We love them. We dont want anything bad to happen to them. Please stop all these carelessness. Please.

DAY FOUR: EVERYBODY DANCE NOW! LETS NOT

ARE WE TOO TRIVIAL? If you read the local Malay rags you will see that nowadays, it really pays to be an entertainer. Not only do you make busloads of money, but you get a legion of hardcore diehard fans, and, an admiration of the coming generation. If you can sing, and recite the Holy Quran, you're deemed 'perfect'; successfully balancing the responsibilities of this world and the next.

Our Malay heroes now are singers, actors and effeminate gossiping show hosts, NOT successful business people, scientists, sports personalities, teachers/educators or even our own fathers. If you read the main Malay newspapers, you will see a whole section / newspaper partition on entertainment. You may have business section but that portion is written in such a way that it gets no attention from the mid-adolescent to young-adult segment of society. Business, politics and education has not been made accessible and more mainstream.

My question of the day is: What is wrong with the Malay society? Why are we raising a whole generation of entertainment seeking dolts?

I understand the nature of media business is to make money. And the best way to make money is to seel the high numbers of products. And the easiest most fastest way to sell products is to sell products which entertains.

But where is the moral compass which leads us back to things which really matters in life? Where is the core objective of the Malay race to become more successful in life?

If you need to see what Malay youths will look like 10 years down the road (if we keep up our entertainment-churning-consuming ways) just take a trip downsouth and you will see where we are headed. It aint pretty. At least for our Malay youths.

The Malay race is getting lazy and too pre-occupied with cheap instantaneous entertainment. Thats a fact. We dont read, we dont write and we sure as hell dont have opinions on things in life apart from trivial entertainment-related gossips and thats a fact. Ask a young Malay man what he wants out of life, chances are he'd be stumped to answer you. Ask a child who he / she admires, chances are, it'd be Mawi.

So what can we do? What should we do?

We start with our children. We keep them from becoming the worse that we can be. And this is achievable only through sacrifice of time, effort and of course, money. And then we continue with our family members and finally friends.

And how do keep them from becoming the worse that we can be? By infusing in them the basic value between right and wrong. Logic does not come into play, only the intrinsic values of basic righs and wrongs; establishing an inner moral compass.

It is this moral compass that can lead us the way. It can stop us from allowing triviality to be our reality.

Admittedly, its a tall order. But something worth thinking about.

DAY THREE: AND THEN THERE WAS TUN ...

TUN MAHATHIR WAS NOMINATED by the Bosnians for the prestrigious nobel peace prize. Apparently the Bosnians never forget. Unlike us, they appreciate a good gesture when they receive one even though many, many years ago. Because at one time, Tun heard the isolated cries of a nation in agony, and answered her call.

Its funny how we treat our heroes; giving them praise and affection only after they've gone. Look at the late P Ramlee. We gave him a Tan Sri only after his passing.

My question for the day is: why is that? Why must be appreciate someone only when they are no longer around to accept our praise and respect? It doesnt make sense at all.

But thats life I suppose. Anything new is considered good, and anything which at one time meant something is not considered for anything. Out with the old, in with the new. If only they took time,and that little bit of effort to realize what others around the world have long ago realized, that contributions made by a man of Tun's calibre does not come around that often.

Tun Mahathir was, is and will be Malaysia's true heroic son.
A reminder, lest we forget.
Only to remember when his passing has come.

DAY TWO: SUPER COPS TO THE RESCUE

THE ROBBERS INVOLVED in the very recent subang parade gold heist at poh kong was apprehended some 9 hours later. some were arrested at sunway, and another group was caught as they trying to board a bus back to thailand, in kelantan. the police successfully recovered some 8 kg of gold valued at about RM2.7 million.

This is amazing police work, and all within 9 hours!

This is what we can expect from the police except that of latethey've been getting flak from all of us.

My question for the day is: why do we keep harping on minor so-called mistakes of a few bad apples when the general overall police work by our local police heroes are seldom, if hardly ever commended? Our police do great police work but we often overlook that. We have world class cops on our shores and yet we fail to acknowledge that.

Maybe its time we truly appreciate our police for all their hard work, dilligence, perseverance and skills?

DAY ONE: TIME TO WAKE UP. COFFEE OPTIONAL

SO I FIGURED, what the hell, lets join in the marching band and see where it leadS us.

THIS BLOG, ladies and gentlemen, was born out of a need in me to voice out my concerns on things around me; what i see with my own two eyes, and what I can make out from the writings on the wall.

I MAY NOT HAVE the contacts the information nor the details to share with you on what is happening today, but i do have what everyone else does as well, QUESTIONS.


Like Douglas Adams "HITCH HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE QUESTION", sometimes, the question is more important than the answers.

For example, what is the question which has the answer of Level 42?

aha ...