Majority of Malaysians Do Not...

I am a Malaysian and while what I am about to write may not represent the true Malaysian, I believe that there is some inkling of truth to what follows - please read on...

What makes a Malaysian? By definition, any person born after the first Merdeka (Independence) Day in 1957 is naturally Malaysian. Growing up in Malaysia was fun - people from different backgrounds, religions and ethnic groups mashed up in a wonderful loving environment. The streets back then were relatively safe to with me walking the length of Kuala Lumpur undisturbed. 

Okay maybe that incident with that one Malay drug addict while asleep on the famous KL BMW (Bas Mini Wilayah)...this person attempted to molest this schoolboy (yours truly). I was a scout back then and we had just done an all-nighter in school having carried out a campfire gathering, so I was bushed and fell asleep on the bus only to be rudely awakened by this person stroking my thigh (didn't even stop even when I awoke). Luckily I had my Scout's Knife with me and I persuasively showed him enough to stop, he alighted at the next stop. Good riddance!

Back to topic, so what does the majority of Malaysians not...

• We do not simply park our cars. We park within allocated parking bays.
• We do not key, scrape or dent the car next to us even if they parked too closely to us.
• We abide by the traffic lights rules and stop at red.
• We do not tailgate the person in front who is hogging the lane and holding up traffic.
• We do not suddenly cut in another lane without signaling or at the last moment.
• We queue when it is required. We do not cut queue.
• We do not shout and use international sign language at other car drivers.
• When we walk across roads, we make sure it is safe - walk quickly and at pedestrian crossings. We do not walk slowly daring oncoming traffic and act blind. We also do not hold out our hand, stopping traffic and act as if we own the road.
• We do not walk shoulder to shoulder on narrow walkways with those next to us and prevent other people from overtaking us from behind or getting by us from the front.
• We do not make merry in public places and create a noisy nuisance of ourselves.
• We do not work for the need of money but rather for the purpose of assisting others get things done.
• We do not force others to succumb to our will; rather we show them the way and allow them to choose.
• We do not condone dirty politics and all its ills.
• We do not complain when the neighbor litters the front and the rubbish conveniently  blows to the front of our house.
• We do not also complain when heavy commercial & construction vehicles park and make the nice neighborhood we live in their depot. Even if we did complain to the local municipal, we do not expect much to change.
• We do not wish for change as change is strange, new and unpredictable to us.

There's just so many things that we Malaysians are not but one thing certain - the majority of Malaysians do have 2 things in common, anything that's free AND food! 

So be Malaysian, Malaysia Boleh!

Malaysia's 55th Independence Day

I was very lucky being a student in a local primary school many years ago when called for "active duty" to partake in the Malaysia Merdeka Day procession at Dataran Merdeka.

Vivid memories of that day remain till this day...except for the theme we had for that year. Embarrassing as it was, I had even kept my "souvenir" T-Shirt for many years even after outgrowing it. This year's theme happens to be Janji Ditepati (Promises Fulfilled) and has proven to be quite controversial as many quarters has depicted it to be more political than patriotic and not in the spirit of independence. 

It, the theme has always if not mostly, reflected the aspirations and goals of the people. Positively I'm taking it as a reminder to be a citizen of Malaysia who shall uphold my promises to others and work towards fulfilling them. That's how I see it! Enough said!

Let us travel back in time to the eve of the first Merdeka, August 30th, 1957:

Kuala Lumpur - Crowds of people from all walks of life are starting to gather at the Royal Selangor Club Padang (later named Dataran Merdeka with a massive flagpole erected to hoist the Malaysia Flag and still manages to evoke strong feelings in me of Merdeka and it's meaning whenever I drive through).

The event? To witness the handover ceremony from the British to our beloved Bapa Kemerdekaan, Tunku Abdul Rahman. At the stroke of midnight, the Union Jack was lowered and the Flag of Malaysia was raised as our NegaraKu (national anthem) was played. This was followed by seven chants of 'Merdeka'.

On Merdeka Day morning, August 31st, 1957 at the just completed Merdeka Stadium over 20,000 people attended and witnessed the reading of the Proclamation of Independence by our Bapa Kemerdekaan. This was followed by the raising of the Flag of Malaysia accompanied by the NegaraKu and a 21-gun salute.

Back to this day (August 30th, 2012), I'm sitting at home merrily typing away and reminiscing about the good old days. Glad too that traffic on the way home wasn't too stressful despite it being the eve of such an important day for Malaysia and having had a wonderful dinner with the family.

Peace to you Malaysia!

P/S: Best thing about Merdeka? Waking up and turning on the telly for the live telecast.

How I Saved Money at Carrefour last weekend

This is an account how a weekend shopping freak saved money at Carrefour. Here goes...weekends are normally a day I spend with a trip to the local Carrefour in my neighborhood. From some profound reason, I had my trusty Lenovo Thinkpad SL410 with me this time - at the entrance a pretty young thing greeted me as I walked in.

However, some other young person stopped me virtually in my tracks with a hand up and asked, "Encik itu beg notebook ke? Boleh ikat?" - that's the local Bahasa Malaysia for Sir is that a notebook bag? Can I tie it? - and proceeds to reach for my Lenovo bag with one hand while the other holds a cable-tie (a plastic push and lock binder). I was thinking all the time, hey! I've been here with the same before - what the ....and also the inconvenience of having to cut the cable when I walk out which would obviously damage or with some small scratch when I find (if I could) a scissors or cutter at the exit.

And that my friends is how Carrefour turned away a regular minimum RM200 a visit customer who was planning to spend much more that time as he had more than groceries to buy. Bye bye Carrefour for as long as my unforgiving heart can remember.

My Life Today in Malaysia

It’s Saturday, the 7th of February in the year 2009, and yours truly is in the green. Being in the green means that my mind is jam packed, as usual, with thoughts. The only one I recognize is the constant itch to travel out of the country. But that’s not the point, my friend. The point is the beautiful people and places. There’s Singapore with all its supermodel pedestrians, and there’s my favorite country, Australia, and above all, there is the heart-stoppingly scenic, ultra ancient modern young and happening China, and the big boss, Japan, also beautiful. And then there are some others I haven't been to yet, but I’d like to.

The point is that they’re all not Malaysia, all beautiful travel destinations, and all here in this world where the local scene is bracing up to face the economy and business and fears of inflation and the credit crisis. And it’s all a torrent of wants, and they’re all so alluringly make-me-forget-and-relaxed, and I’m thinking, Why? When do I go from here?

When I finished breakfast at the local kopitiam, I hightailed it back to my abode, and what should be waiting there to greet me in the news is but the one and only stuff that is utterly embarrassing and disturbing, the one news that sort of puts one on the whole concept travel far far away, political instability in the country. Its been around a few years now, and we have all had our share of controversy lately. But I do hope that it'll be the last so that Malaysia can forge ahead and make right the wrongs in the past. Malaysia is still pretty young in terms of maturity at half a century. Looking mighty sweet to outside investors, she may soon sour if we don't get a firm grip at improving ours mentally and financially. We all know more than a little about the inner workings of the financial world - the strong oppresses whereas the weak meekly follow.

And the next day, there’s still us in the news with the political issues and such. I hope to see more of news that tell how well we are progressing, plans for the country's future, and lika lika lika.

What we have is a flood, a wakeup call, a tsunami of politic and economy. Pak Lah our beloved Prime Minister is still by far the best in my eyes. A leader that commands respects even till today and this is coming from someone who is a mere three decades of acquaintance from afar.

Long be well Malaysia.

Trengganu ~ east coast sandy beaches...

I remember when I used to work in a major departmental store. It was my first full-time job. The money was good (at that time), work was interesting, and the ladies overwhelming. My immediate superior and my newly acquainted godbrother (the Chinese always seem to have this passion for adoption, I myself have had countless god-brothers, sisters, and even daughters, although the female variety outnumber the males 5 to 1), were both gay and living together as partners.

During a trip to the hometown of my immediate superior in Trengganu, we stayed the night at his mom's. The night went past peacefully enough although I was pestered by the endless wave of mosquitoes and restless due to sleeping with my back to the wall (I thought it safer at that time).

In the morning after that fitful night, I woke to the sounds of the cockerel screeching his morning how-do-you-do. We had come in a group of 6. All 6 of us got about our morning rituals of you-know-whats and dressed for the beach. Breakfast was topmost on our minds as we walked our way to the market which had the most incredible low priced all-fish variety of breakfast goodies that one can find in the then Malaysia. Fair to say, I ate to my heart'c content as everything was fresh and tasty (and cheap).

At the beach, we got down to what we boys must do. We splashed around the sea front like girls and took potshots at each other with the beautiful pristine sand that was the beach. The more colorful of our group were wearing G-Strings and this was the first time I had ever seen one. We all started to sand rub each other. Exfoliation of the dead skin cells was the call of the day.

Oh, did I fail to mention this? We also had a weird encounter with a group of local Malay babes who while looking religious with their tudungs and all, showed us lewd hand-signs while passing us playing on the beach. Really weird and quite refreshing I say.

Well we played to our heart's content and watched the sun set over the sea horizon. Beautiful. Priceless.

At night it was time to go, and we all packed and took the long-haul bus (non) express back to good old Kuala Lumpur. Bodies aching from the intense sunburns, muscles aching from beachplay, and happiness glowing inside out from the experience.