1 Malaysia ... From the Colonialist Eyes.

Are we really united under the 1 Malaysia concept? I do not think so as we are deeply divided by race ....and this was even true years ago in the eyes of the colonialist... I read a book by Farish A Noor entitled "What Your Teacher Didn't Tell You" (Vol 1) - it's a very thought provoking book, try and read it - and came across of what C. G. Warnford-Lock in his "Mining in Malaya for Gold and Tin" (1907) had to say about the three main races in Malaya then and he wrote: "By nature, the Malay is an idler, the China man is a thief and the Indian is a drunkard. Yet each, in his special class of work is both cheap and efficient when properly supervised." The Malays were even compared with the native Americans or Aborigines where the travel writer Isabella Bird was saying in her travelogue "The Golden Chersonese" as below: " Civilised as they are, they (the Malays) do not leave any more impression on a country than a Red Indian would." Quite an interesting observation by these Westerners and from Farish A Noor's, things have not change much since then till now. We are still divided by race and race somehow or rather translated into the profession or strata of each race in the society. Each of the race could easily be "manipulated" by playing the racist sentiments by our dominantly political parties based on communal/race. It is also interesting if we change the words " when properly supervised" in what Warnford-Lord wrote to " ... when properly manipulated." People, we have been manipulated for such a long period and it is time for us to stand up and make things right in 2013!!! This had been happening right from those colonial days till now by different people/political parties but with the same intent and purpose as the Colonialists i.e. divide and rule!!! Happy New Year 2013 to all....

The New Egypt?

A short posting on Egypt post Hosni Mubarak .... The people of Egypt has spoken. Hosni Mubarak was stripped of his power by the common people of Egypt and had elected a President, Mohamed Morsi whose political lineage is towards the Muslim Brotherhood. During the run up to the presidential election, the name El Baradei surfaced as one of the potential candidate for the president, Ek Baradei did not gain popular support from the masses though he was "silently" backed by the western power due to his liberal and pro western attitude. Now in the midst of the so called constitutional crisis in Egypt due to the proposed new Constitution of Egypt by Morsi, El Baradei's name again re surfaced as the main opponent to the new Constitution. Apart from El Baradei, the former foreign minister of Egypt, Ammer Mousa also came into the picture. El Baradei and Ammer Mousa both are disconnected from the masses of Egyptians. While Ammer Mousa was linked and considered part of Hosni Mubarak's regime, El Baradei who was formerly the person who headed to International Nuclear Agency had lived in overseas (out of Egypt) for years thus the disconnection. El Baradei was instrumental in the western powers irrational pressure on Iran's alleged uranium enrichment program. With these background, the most logical choice for Egyptians are to reject these two personalities who tried to hijack the peoples' revolution at the Tahrir Square. Rejecting them mean rejecting the western powers who are lurking dangerously behind them .....

The Most Powerful Man In The World Shed His Tears ....

About a week ago, the world was shocked in horror by the massacre inflicted by a lone gunman at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Connecticut, USA. A total of 26 died,20 of them kids mostly at the tender age six years old....When I saw the news at CNN, my heart was with those "little angels" especially when their names were "splashed" one by one on the TV screen with a black background. It's a black day indeed ... It was reported that Obama, the President of the States shed his tears when he made a press conference extending his condolence to the grieved families.While my heart goes to the victims' families and the Newtown folks, I could not but help in asking this ..... "Mr. President Sir, did you ever shed your tears to the "little angels" who died brutally in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and the like?" Sweet dreams "little angels" of the world ......

SM Teknik Ipoh - Batch 79/80 ...

It's been quite a while since I last wrote a post in September 2012. It's December 2102 and it has been a barren 3 months without any post. Browsed through the face book and came across an invitation by an old friend, Raja Abdul Rahman for a golf (golf? I do not play golf Raja!) in commemoration with "Sambutan Jubli Emas(?) 79/80 ... Since I do not play golf and most probably would not be able to attend the event, below are short snippets of batch 79/80: 1. I was in form/class 4B3 & 5B3 and it was like a mini zoo ... why? because of the nick names, Md. Nor (Beruang), Badli (Anak Beruang - slightly smaller tahn Md. Nor), Abd Halim (Mondok), Nasiruddin (Landak/Tojo @ due to him wearing round glasses) and myself (kerang)... 2. Our class teacher, Mr. Fan @ Kipas will called out our names in the morning for attendance. The first name was always "Abd Halim @ Mondok and the best part when it came to "Raja Abdul Rahman" and "Ramachandran". Mr. Fan for certain "economic" reasons (he taught us Physics anyway) will lump up the names together and cried out "Raja Abdul Rahmanchandran" and both of them will raised up their hand signifying their attendance!!!! Every morning we had a good laugh!!!! 3. There was a year when Nassiruddin @ Tojo hastened his way "balik kampung" to Sg. Choh near Hari Raya - I was was told that he and a few others at the Asrama Putera launched "mercun roket" towards the Asrama Puteri and he had been positively identified by Cikgu Faridah. 4. Cikgu Kassim's (he was sort of "trapped" in his 70s fashion - "kasut motorbot & seluar bell bottom almost "ke dada") house was "attacked" one night because earlier on that day a group of students were caught with long hair and was forced to have an "in situ" hair cut!!!Rambut masing-masing tobek .... 5. Another incident related to 4 above, a teacher's motorcycle (I could not recalled which teacher, either the "Ustaz" or Mr. Segar @ the disciplinary teacher) ended up being "relocated" into a drain!!!! By who? Still a mystery until now ... 6. Back to my class ... Abd Halim @ Mondok is now with SPRM in Sabah, Raja Abdul Rahman with TM, Nizam and Harifah are happily married and are now in Sabah, Nasiruddin @ Tojo I last met him about 10 years ago, Rohaya Sidek is now with Sime Darby, Beruang and Anak Beruang I have lost contact, the last time I met Badli was years ago at ITM Shah Alam, the girl who sat next to Harifah (Klang girl?) I last met her also years ago at Bus Stand Klang when I was at ITM (83/84), Hilmi is an Architect (I believe), Angie, Ding Choo King, Ramachandran, the two "Faizahs", Saari Sujak, Abd Aziz @ Ketua Tingkatan, Nasir (the other Nasir), Lokman (pun ada 2 Lokmans)..... 7. My circle of friends were quite limited then ... beyond 4B3/5B3 the names whom I could remember are the like of Jamil @ Padukang, Azahari @ Ajaii, Jailany, Adnan @ Nan Omar, Nizar, Allahyarham Abbas, Duan - there are 2 "Duans", Yusry, Norman, Lazarus... I could not even recalled those in Commerce Class except for a few like Maria (or is it Marina? who played hockey) and one Commerce girl who sat at the back of the class "dekat pintu belakang kelas)by the name of Faridah (hope I am correct here, Shafiee ..... 8. I would say Batch 79/80 was a talented lot ... quite a few could play a musical instruments especially guitar.. Nan, Mondok and Jailany could play guitar well and will strut their stuff especially during Teachers' Day. Talking about playing guitar, Cikgu Kassim is a good guitar player and Cik Gu "Geografi" tu ( could not recall her name - selalu nyanyi lagu "Burung Pungguk) ... ah yes! Cikgu Zakiah!!! She's a good singer ... Those were the days and the above are just a short snippets of Batch 79/80 of SM Teknik, Persiaran Brash, Ipoh..... With bso many fond memories - good and the "mischievous" things done those days.... To all of you who will be attending the event "Selamat Bergolf"!!!! To those who I could not remember you by names, yours are the faces of Batch 79/80 and will always be...