Minah Gadis Dusun

Let's digress a bit from the hot in the collar political climate which had been sweeping the country since the Parliament was dissolved last 20 April 2013... Let the politicians from the political divide do their job...A s for me, come 5 May 2013 I will vote and my "undi" is "rahsia" but it will surely for a better future of Malaysia ... I want to reproduce a lyrics from an old 60s song entitled "Minah Gadis Dusun". It's an Indonesian song originally sang by Titiek Puspa. To those who were in the 50s and above might be familiar with the name of the singer and the song. Titiek Puspa is also known for a popular duet song of "Dunia Belum Kiamat" with her husband, Mokhsien. "Minah Gadis Dusun" was re recorded again and sang by another Indonesian singer, Safia Putri Melati and of course the sound arrangement was better than the original 60s song ... The lyrics were about a girl named "Minah" who went to the big city from her "kampung/dusun" but could not stay long in the city as she has to be back to the "dusun" to be with her soul mate ... or may be the city life is not suitable to her ... However, she did indicate her willingness to go back to the city perhaps some other day .... The lyrics go like these: "Inginkah kawan tahu siapa daku, Minah gadis dari dusun di gunung, Jauh daku berjalan menuruninya Hanya ingin menjenguk indahnya kota Amboi indah dan megah kotamu kawan. Rasa daku mimpi di dalam syurga, Jejaka dan gadisnya tampan dan cantik, Gedung tugu dan mobil oh amboi amboi. Tapi maaf kawan Daku tak tinggal lama, Kekasih hatiku rindu menanti. Tunggu saja kiriman hasil panenku, Daku orang dusun pandai bertani. Hanya pesan ku kawan Jaga negeri mu. Sampai berjumpa nanti Salam manisku" And moving forward about 20 years later, an Indonesian band "Dloyd" came up with a catchy song "Aminah & Lydia" . It's a contrast of "Minah Gadis Dusun"... "Aminah & Lyfdia" actually a song about a young "gadis desa" who is known as "Aminah" who went to the city and glamorously changed her name to "Lydia"!!!! Sounds familiar, I guess ... Any other "Aminah" whom you might know?

The nostalgic years of "Kak Yong" Tengku Mariam ....

I was driving the other day and over Radio Klasik - hey I am 50 years old and could be considered as "classic" anyway - a very familiar voice ... Yup it was Kak Yong's voice indeed!!! After all these years, she's back but as a guest of Radio Klasik... For the Gen Y, Kak Yong might not be a familiar figure or rather familiar voice so let us walk through those nostalgic years when Kak Yong was a "juru hebah" at RTM... Her real name is Tengku Mariam Tengku Laksamana Nasir but was overwhelmingly known as "Kak Yong". It was her nick name in a popular radio program entitled "Permintaan Apa Itu" over RTM. The program was on air from 1977 until 2002. Kak Yong initially was paired with another "juru hebah" Noramin (Busu Noramin) until 1980 and later was paired with Abang Chik (Zainal Abas), Abang Bul (Hasbullah Awang). It was basically a program meant for kids with songs like "Kain Pelikat" (Anuar Zain & Elina) and "Sakit Gigi" (Shahril). I remember every Saturday at 9.30 AM, I would turn on radio and listened to the program intensely. Although it was meant for kids, it was s popular that Kak Yong even received post cards "permintaan" from adults all over Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei not to mention Malaysian students who studied overseas. Normally, they will send a postcard wishing happy birthdays to their "adik" or "anak saudara". Some even made calls to Kak Yong .... Those were the days when radio was not adulterated with endless and aimless "verbal diarrhea" of the current "juru hebah" ... ooops sorry!!! now they called themselves "DJs" a sure overrated title I would say. Back to Kak Yong, I really missed her "keanak-anakan" and lifely voice over the radio and I smiled when she said over radio " Kak Yong ada berlakon drama tapi dengan suara ni Kak Yong tak bole jadi heroin!!" and she laughed with her "trademark" laugh .... It really made my day as the nostalgic years of Kak Yong was the order of the day .... To Kak Yong, thanks for those wonderful 25 years of "Permintaan Apa Itu" .....

How "Lembu" made the police job easier ......

I have been keeping a certain clip of an NST Southern Edition for quite some time ... It was about a report on how "lembu" assisted the police in solving the loose end of a crime ... I thought of posting the news in my Blog earlier but hesitated due to the sensitivities of anything to do with "lembu". Some people might "menyinsing lengan" and "angkat kain" when the word "lembu" is mentioned .... At least one particular lady had done so .... But what the heck!!! It began when the Johor Baru police crippled a syndicate specialising in stealing dairy cattle, goats and buffaloes in Johor with the arrest of 22 members of the syndicate. The police also recovered 71 animals but was facing difficulties on how to return the animals to their rightful owners. It was decided that the 71 "lembu" were put at an identification parade after their ear tags were removed. It was reported - it's not me, NST reported - that the police could not believe their eyes when each "lembu" walked towards its owner when its name was called out.... This is an interesting example of an innovative "Rakan Kop" program I supposed. The morale of the story is please do not underestimate the creature we called "lembu". It's proven here that "lembu" could solved a crime ....... perhaps "lembu" might be a lead to an unsolved criminal activities ..... Till we meet again ....

What's in Store after the Parliament is Dissolved......

I have posted earlier on what will almost certainly happen once the Parliament is dissolved and once PRU13 is coming nearer .... I will write about it again anyway. The lists are as below: 1. Obviously, there will be lots of "ceramah pilihanraya" every night from the dissolution of Parliament right up to the midnight before the voting day. Thousands of supporters of political parties wil attend these "ceramah" - hopefully all them are registered voters; 2. Illicit sexual videos alleging certain politicians will be freely distributed or uploaded in YouTube etc. In one of the earlier GE, I found one nicely wrapped in an envelope and ended up in trash because it was a trash!!!! 3. There would be news of political parties' members "jumping ship" to the opponent side claiming that they have lost faith in their political parties. If we read the mainstream media, the favorite target would be PAS and PKR. I have been reading this news since I was in my lower secondary - mind you it was in the 70s - and going by this rate of "keluar parti" PAS by now has not even a single member!!! 4. Vacant lands will be "vandalised" and "penetrated" by the rough edge of the "gigi" backhoe/excavator where politicians wearing a hard hat doing "upacara pecah tanah" for this or that "projek untuk rakyat"!!! Since these politicians are only doing this once in 5 years, somebody who is familiar with the "dynamics" of the machine will be standing beside the politicians turned "driver" for the day. The trick is "pecah tanah" first and just leave the land unattended for the next 5 years for "upacara meletak batu asas". This time the polticians will wear a hat hat, a glove and put a single "bata" with cement mortar!!!; 5. The most pitiful and confused "creatures" would be the "balai raya/dewan orang ramai", perhaps "kedai 1 Malaysia", Kilinik 1 Malaysia", the "jambatan" or any concrete/steel structures on a land which have to painstakingly tolerate the "majlis pembukaan rasmi" & "majlis potong riben". Anybody who cares to check the record might find out that these "majlis" had been carried out during the previous GE ..... 6. All the "X Men" Malaysia version will be given wide coverage in the electronic and printed media with vile "abuses" towards their former political parties except for those who had jumped to so many political parties resulted in him not knowing or even remember which political party he actually originally belonged to!!!! 7. Lastly, those universities/colleges professors cum part time political analysts will come up with their commentaries on anything about politics ... and yes!!! these professors will use bombastic words/phrases which are only understood by them ... The above are my predictions of what will happen from now on. What might not happen or most likely not happen? Well the MB of Pahang will most likely not show the "isyarat lucah" to the public as he might not even be listed as a GE candidate and Datuk Seri Samy Vellu will most likely not being fielded although he was reportedly as saying " I am a winnable candidate!!!" I myself would savour this statement as the #1 pre election funniest joke unless along the way somebody else would overtake him and being the PRU13 "Maharaja Lawak"... Let's wait and see whether my predictions are correct ....

The "Gong" had been sounded!!! Finally Parliament is Dissolved ....

Today at 11.30 AM, RTM had broadcasted live over RTM from the Prime Minister's Office Putrajaya an announcement by the YAB Prime Minister that: 1. he was granted an audience before the Yang DiPertuan Agong and the King had consented to the dissolution of the Parliament effective today; 2. This is where I need verification - the PM said Parliament is dissolved effective " ... hari ini Rabu 3 April 2012 ...". I might heard it wrong anyway; 3. The PM gave his undertaking should there be a change of government after the PRU 13, it would be a peaceful and "tertib" transition; 4. The PM also took the opportunity apart from announcing the dissolution of Parliament to "kick start" the election campaign by promoting the just "dissolved" government of the day by telling that it has "worked hard" for the "rakyat" for the last 5 years; 5. In a spirit of camaraderie and team work he was flanked by the YAB Deputy PM and all his cabinet Ministers which effectively had been "dissolved" and turned into a caretaker government [The process and legality/convention of caretaker government is another matter altogether]; 6. YAB PM also urged all head of State Governments to seek audience with the respective Kings/Tuan Yang DIPertua Negeri to dissolve their respective DUNs so that a simultaneous General Election could be held through out Malaysia. My take on the announcement is ....Except for the error in stating the date - which I am not sure as I was at first listening over the radio and after that over TV - and the "kempen pilihanraya yang tidak sepatutnya" the YAB PM was generally calm in making the announcement and his Deputy was a bit "restless" sometimes ... "tak cukup tidor agaknya" ... So people, the "gong" had been sounded and the war drum had been beaten!!! After this, it's like a juggernaut wheel as it will roll on without stop until the D Day i.e. the voting day. Do exercise your right and vote the candidate of your choice .... Till we meet again .....

An Instant Democracy in 10 Minutes.......

Apart from having instant noodles, normally an instant 2 minutes noodles Malaysians had been pleasantly introduced with an instant democracy ..... The prime news on 22 March 2013 were focused on the announcement by the "Courteous" cum "Internet" Minister that RTM (read as "Radio Televisyen MALAYSIA" - it has to be in capital letters as "Malaysia" means ALL OF US!!!!) would allow all political parties including the Opposition Parties to have a 10 minutes slot on air explaining their election manifesto... I bet the following comments would appear in all electronic and printed media, be it from the opposing sides of the political parties, certain academicians cum "part time lobbyists including from the small fraction of the "mentally impaired historians" in the Majlis Professor Negara (MPN)and so on: 1. Politicians from the government of the day, including the "Internet" Minister will say that the 1o\0 minutes air time slot shows that democracy is thriving and breathing healthily in Malaysia. This just shows that the government of the day is being fair to all political parties as they are being given a fair and equal treatment in airing their election manifesto. All of them would appear to be mentally hypnotised by issuing somewhat similar comments - just like their comments every time when the YAB PM had finished the yearly tabling of the Budget with a monotone standard comments: " Belanjawan tahun ini adalah belanjawan rakyat..." Another slightly different comment " Belanjawan ini adalah bukti kerajaan sentiasa memikirkan kepentingan rakyat jelata ..."; 2. The few selected academicians from the MPN will echo similar view as per No. 1 but will try their best to differentiate themselves with the politicians under No. 1 by using superfluous academic "big words" like " Ini menunjukkan iltizam kerajaan dalm memperkasakan (not that "Perkasa" yea!) serta membudayakan proses demokrasi ...." whatever that means!!! or quoting quotes from the Athens/Rome era. There might be a possibility of them comparing our latest instant product with those in Communist China or other autocratic states not realising that even in China they changed their Premier every 10 years!!!! 3. Those from opposition will surely say "What can we do in 10 minutes?" or commenting that " It is inadequate as the government of the day has 365 days minus 10 minutes in bragging about their manifesto with BR1M, TR1M, SL1M and so many 1s!!!!" 4. Not to mention the "Listen! Listen! Listen! Lady" who will of course consult the animals before issuing out her comments; and 5. Last but not least, the "great Old Man" who always wants to be different and might most probably say " Apa pun kerajaan buat ... apa nama .... pembangkang tak akan hargai. Pembangkang hanya tahu membangkang saja, dia tak tahu mentadbir negara ...." My dear Sir, that's what "pembangkang" is all about anyway and your comments/statements have come in full circle over the years .... My comment? ... Well at least it's 8 minutes longer than the "2 minutes instant noodles" and there is no such thing as an instant democracy!!! .... Till we meet again .....

Remember "Ali, Tong Seng, Ah Moi, Ramasamy and Salmah?

All of a sudden, I recalled when I was in Standard 1 way back in 1970,there was a Bahasa Melayu textbook with the main characters namely Ali, Salmah, Tong Seng, Ah Moi, Ramasamy and Kumari. I will tell you why my being so nostalgic later .... Ali and Salmah are siblings so as Tong Seng and Ah Moi as well as Ramasamy and Kumari. The texbook even had pictures of these characters ... Salamah with her long hair and the pony tails and her "baju kurung", Ali wearing a songkok while Ah Moi and Kumari wearing the good old days dark blue uniform ... In the textbook, these multi racial characters went to school together, they play together and had their "adventures" together ... There was an incident of Ramasamy climbing a tree to save a trapped cat but he ended up trapped and could not go down.His friends managed to get help and Ramasamy was saved by the "orang kampung" ..... It's a simple and ideal multi racial story for us in the primary school though I have to state here that 100% of my classmates were Malays .... Well, there's nothing wrong being an idealistic anyway. Each one of us should emulate the traits Ali, Salmah, Tong Seng, Ah Moi, Ramasamy and Kumari - they learn, play and having fun together. By the time, I finished my Form Six there were so many textbooks which I had to "digest" and I would say those textbooks made sense to me ..... The textbooks had somewhat gave me the idea of how to be at least a good and civil member of our society. Fast forward, in 2013 last week I was frowning and frowned hard I was when Tun Mahathir was reportedly as suggesting the 180 pages biography of our PM's wife to be made as a textbook in schools ..... He was quoted as saying the RM150/ (Note: RM here denotes "Ringgit Malaysia" and nothing else!!!) biography could be served as guidance for generations 100 or 200 years from now ...... Given a choice between this RM1.28 per page biography and the texbook about "Ali, Salmah, Tong Seng, Ramasamy and Kumari" ... I would definitely opted with my eyes open the latter!!!!! Have pity on our kids please .... Till we meet again ......