A Never Ending Love Affair

This posting is rather on a very personal level. For most of you who know me well, you know my heart belongs to Penang. I stepped foot unto this island in 2002 after receiving an offer to study at Penang’s local university, Universiti Sains Malaysia. When I received the offer, I was already settled in MMU, Cyberjaya(doing accountancy-funny eh?). I had already made friends over there, had good roomies and enjoyed every minute of MMU. Yet, upon receiving the offer, I was somehow attracted to the prospect of living on an island, studying at a local university and moving miles and miles away.

Penang was foreign land for me, before 2002 I would have probably only come to Penang on one or two visits at the most. The first day I arrived, I was amidst crowds of people registering for uni . Parents dropped me off at uni and from then on, my life changed.

As I recall all Penang means to me, tears roll down my cheek. Not because of all the bitter memories but how much I’ve grown, learnt, hurt and lived. Uni years were fabulous, I have to say. I had the best housemates, they were such good human beings. We laughed, we fought, we cried, we did so many things together. I remember late night studying, going to the beach at the wee hours of the morning, planning surprise birthday parties for each other, being there for each other(during the tough times), screaming at each other for petty issues, graduating together… I had great friends too of which I need not mention(you know who you are). Had so many sleep-overs in my tiny room (1 mattress mind you!) if you don’t count the other spring one (which spring dah keluar). Staying up till wee hours, dancing the nite away at SS….you name it we did it. Throughout my uni years, I also managed to make good friends out of my professors and lecturers. I developed a bond with one of them and till now he means the world to me (although he is hard on me at times..so much like my daddy).

After graduation, as decided to stay in Penang. All my good friends left, one by one. Only one of my housemates and a good friend from uni is still in Penang. During this time, I went through a horrible break-up, that leaves me scarred till today, but I was lucky that two of my closes friends were there for me in Penang alongsides the rest who lended support from KL. Both of them have since left, one to KL and the other to US.

Things became a little more harder, all my girl friends had left Penang for good. Yet, the love for Penang remained. I loved going to eat Char Kueh Teow and Belacan Fried rice at Pekaka Corner. Not to mention the great Chilly Chicken from the uncle(been going there for 7 years now!). I love going to Zaini to get my hair done, he is a whiz with my curly hair, hard to find! I love going grocery shopping and knowing where everything is…I love taking cuddles to get her hair done at Macalister ..I love passing USM, every time I drove to work. I loved spending time with my students out of campus (steambot, ocassional nights out, house visits). I love my occasional visits to discuss things from my life to education with prof(although when he is in a bad mood, I cringe in my seat). I love looking out of my window and seeing the world (Penang is and has been my world). I love having my own place. I love that I found a man to love and who loves me too..in Penang…. Although Penang got really lonely and I didn’t have much close friends ( I didn’t want to search for new ones, was holding on to the past). But still I loved Penang to bits and refused to leave…Even when my job sucked, I convinced myself to stay a bit longer…

But today, I sit here pondering about my life, about what Penang means to me and how she has housed me all these years. The decision to say goodbye to Penang is no doubt a big one. I leave Penang with a heavy heart. I’am a little bit excited of starting anew in KL and being around my closes friends and not missing out on family outings. I’m excited at the prospect of a better career, of a place that will cherish my talents and develop it further.

But the timing couldn’t have been more untimely ..I’ve found such good friends in the last 2 months or so right here in Penang …and graduating(yes again with my masters!) at the same time… It’s just hard to say goodbye sometimes. It’s hard to explain my love for Penang. Some might think, I’m holding out for my significant other but my love affair with Penang started long before he even came into my life (yes I’ll miss him to bits and it will be tough to be apart after being together(almst everyday) for more than 2 years, though).. I hope I’ll be able to come back to Penang..It will always be the love of my life…So today, I start saying goodbye…goodbye to her for housing me and allowing me such bitter-sweet memories… I never regretted coming to Penang and I wish she has a place for me some day from now…

Goodbye my love..

Maid’s Day Off Absurd or Necessary?

When I heard about the Maid’s day off, I thought to myself.. why should it even be questioned in the first place? Shouldn’t  it be common sense to give your maid the day off? What are they? robots? They do not need rest,do they?

I think is absurd to treat your maid like the are beneath you…like , they do not matter. I heard a housewife say that if you allow them to mix with other maids, they will come up with unreasonable demands. And we wonder, why the government limits our freedom to information?

How we any different from the government, we constantly critique ? We are like them, we want to control people from mingling, from discussing, from thinking . It is because we are afraid of the consequences, of the demands, of everything. Because we have this fear..fear that the maids will do us wrong. Afraid that they will mess up. Perhaps some do, some get influenced, some get frustrated. But don’t we all? You shouldn’t  generalize!  How would you feel if you were in their shoes…
If we cannot even give the maid a day’s off and insist on all this drama just to make our lives easier… I just do not know what to say….We have definitely not grown as a society..but then again maybe we have…on the outside….make-up like everything else..It is no wonder we are said to be naive , we are controlled and as they do onto us, we do unto others.

New Level of Low for All Malaysians

Some of you might have heard this audio before. It started surfacing around August of last year but it finally reached my hands when a student of mine played it in class. The audio was long winded no doubt but necessary to listen to as it showed us all how low we all stoop, how we behave at times when we think the world isn’t watching.

Please watch this audio, that I will insert in this post. You be the judge of the atrocities we dish out to people we think are beneath us.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YNHH6YVI can download this and get the extract from here..for the audio
After you have listened to the audio, do leave comments and tell me what you think. Some of you will feel frustrated, angry, pissed off, embarrassed or some might not even care and might say hey it is all in the job. I believe no one should be treated in that manner no matter what line of work it is.

Personally, I feel that this woman Kanangambai of Cheras, is one of the most rude people I have encountered ever. Her behavior is not acceptable and is appalling! The conversation that is between this lady and a customer service consultant from Astro. Her mother’s sarcasm is not welcomed either. You might be the customer, but that still does not give you any right to tell people how “fantastic” their English is, especially when her English was so “fantastic”. The mother was very sharp, no doubt less noisy. The daughter should not have insulted him through her words and statements. How can you insult someone because you think you are more highly educated? I myself have studied quite far up the ladder but you will never hear me saying that anyone is not worthy just because they have not been highly educated. What good is education if it produces individuals such as this! She would be smart to apologize to all parties concerned for her bad behavior, but I doubt she has.

It is truly sad that we treat our own people, our own citizens, our own neighbors in such a manner….God help us all. Please remember the next time you are calling for HELP please remember that the other person on the other line, the counter, wherever….is a human being trying his best.

Thanks for your time!

I should have..he says

At Bloggers Universe Malaysia 2009, Tun Dr. M was  reported to have said that he SHOULD HAVE CENSORED THE INTERNET. No offense to the man, that I admire and put in high regards. Of course I do not agree with all that he has done or said but I do acknowledge his contributions to the country over the years. But when he said, he SHOULD HAVE regulated the Internet. I wonder if it is the case of sour grapes? Why now? Why all of a sudden he has such a desire, has such regret?

To me, it is pretty simple …it is the issue of control. I believe that the Internet to begin with, was not regulated (then again goes back to what you define by being regulated-since we do have blogs/sites shutdown/ppl thrown under the ISA etc) due to control. By not regulating the Internet, Malaysia maintains some sort of control towards the growth of the MSC, it gained control over what it wanted…to happen, so they thought.

But it was only so, as they thought, they were steering, they were in the driver’s seat….Little of course did they know about the Internet and the powers it brought to all its users directly or indirectly. I do not dispute the fact that PORN as mentioned by our former PM is not excatly the most suitable material for generations to come, but I believe people should have the choice to decide for themselves..they are after all not children to be dictated to….We cannot control every aspect of life as much as we would like to, although controlling might seem like a good option(more like an easier one) I think education is more essential. We often want and desire to have something we think we shouldn’t have, something forbidden, something we are told is wrong is bad for us. The day we decide for ourselves, then it sticks, then the desire to want “the unwanted” does not arise. Of course

I disagree with his statement that we are primitive people but I do believe that we can be naive sometimes….

p.s- I know I’ve been away but am here to stay.

Report Against Penang Deputy CM??? Warranted or Not?

It has come to my attention that Ikatan Rakyat Insan Muslim Malaysia(IRIMM) has lodged a report against DR.P Ramasamy due to his statement on certain .Umno policies which he alleged had caused an imbalance in the number of Malay and non-Malay staff in the civil service. This fellow, Zainol Abidin I think is really immature, childish a tad stupid if I may say so. He claims that such a statement will cause ill feelings among races.

That really makes my blood boil. I mean are we now accused of being racist or one-sided for the mere mention of a particular race dominating a service line? So if I’d say that the fast food service line is dominated by Malays would that make me a racist? One who causes ill feelings among the races? Thats absurd!

If they really want to keep peace and harmony between all races they should stop making racial blurts here and there concerning how other races are illegal immigrants, we have no right being here among others. But no no..they rather focus on the matters that in fact do not even matter. It’s like they are kicking up a fuss just for the sake of it! Common!

As for playing politics with ethics….UMNO has to be an expert by now in that manner…NOOOOOOT…How is that insensitive? It is true that there is an imbalance in the civil service…it’s true that it is dominated by those of the Malay ethnicity, what’s wrong with saying that? It’s true that it is difficult to attain a job in that field, its the same for any government related job…universities etc. It’s a fact not an insensitive remark. If I were to say that during Thaipusam they are loads of Indians walking about and Thaipusam time there is massive traffic jams that would be facts ….simple as that…

Why would any sane Malay get angry?Why? There do dominate the civil service as how certain races dominate certain professions, engineers, lawyers, doctors etc

“It has racial undertones and could spark racial misunderstandings.”

The statement above only seeks to reinforce the fact that the person who said  this is a complete moron and sadly does not think before he talks. God, please guide this ignorant man as I  do know that I can’t be angry with him because he does not know any better. Please open his eyes as he has been blinded……

* I say a prayer for all the morons who think that anything about them is a racial undertone and anything said is to threaten their existence so that God will show them the way!”

Amen!

C

Caravan to Kamunting: First Day of Raya

I’ve just heard of the caravan to Kamunting on the first day of Raya. Please head on to Anil’s blog at http:anilnetto.com for more information.

“Flowers, cards and gifts, if any, will be passed on to Raja Petra and the other ISA detainees to let them know that they are not forgotten on this special day.  RPK’s wife Marina has been informed of the event and hope that she will also be able to join us. The Press will also be invited for this event.”

When? This Thursday, 2nd October 2008

Time? Leaving Penang latest by 9.30 am

Estimated Arrival? 11 am, Kamunting Detention Centre

Interested? Contact committee member Mr Ronnie Tan at 012-4277883 and go to Anil Netto’s blog for pick up location and more information on the Caravan.

So if you can make, do make it to Kamunting and show your supporT!

P.S; In case I do not log on anytime soon, Selamat Hari Raya to all my dear readers!!!! I can’t wait for Raya, miss going to open houses, going to catch up with Primary school friends this year!

Teresa Kok is finally free no thanks to Syed Hamid Albar

I’m so glad that Teresa Kok is finally free. The testimony of her mum that I read from <”WhatALulu”>

blog at  was so touching and inspiring. It’s no wonder that Teresa is of such strong character, hell…look at her mum! What ya expect! You know what they say right, the seed doesn’t fall far from the tree and in this case its a good thing!

Anyway even though I’ve been warned from my mum not to make too many comments, I just can’t help it it is in my nature to say what i feel so here goes…

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said her release from detention was not because police could not build up a case against her but because they were satisfied that she did not threaten national security.

( Source: thestar.com.my)

This is the attitude of the morons who run our country. Let’s catch first, lock for 7 days, dwell on it perhaps discuss it over a cup of coffee or two.. I don’t know!  Then decide to investigate, suddenly..or shall i say miraculously decide..hey she doesn’t threaten national security, let’s let her go! I mean what crap is that? It just does not make any sense! Right?  I suppose that has always been the way they do things. It’s about time things change for the better for the sake of the people, don’t you think!

Well, ain’t going to go on further about it. That’s about it for today anyway. There is no point I tell you!

Blogger,Sheih@Kickdefella Picked Up!

Malaysiakini reports that Syed Azidi aka Kickdefella was arrested in Kota Baru today.

According to Haris, the arrest had some relation to something seditious…In relation to bloggers being picked up, I heard that another blogger-PENARIK BECA has been arrested (can’t confirm the validity of this claim just yet)

There are picking up bloggers one by one..what are we going to do about it? Or are we going to wait for our turns in silence?

You decide…

Something is definitely up…scheming..some big time scheming is going on!

Next Victim:Teresa Kok Arrested Under ISA

A source of mine has just told me that Teresa Kok has been arrested under the ISA. It’s truly shocking that they would resort to this manner of action. I guess we will be reliving OPERASI LALANG once again! After 51 years of Independence, of surviving the land, the people and everything else, you’d think they would grow up! So what’s next? With the way things are going… even non-beleivers will turn coats and become believers….those who do not beleive in the Opposition will…at this moment…believe..

How stupid can they get? Let’s pray for the best…Hoping that Tan, RPK and Teresa will be released soon. Till then I hope Malaysian stay strong and pull through this dark times. They are trying to pull a racial card on us..let us not fall for it!

Stay strong people…many more challenges to come. .I wonder who is next on their butchering list!

UPDATE: MALAYSIAKINI says that she was arrested around 11pm today.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/89608

Read anil’s take on this issue, info on the vigil in Penang ;

http://anilnetto.com/democracy/teresa-kok-detained-under-isa/#more-2468