Times when I am ashamed to be a chinese. -不管别人瓦上霜-

The title, I took from another person's post.

Cuz, reading it I sorta have a wake-up call... to see the uglies among the "yellow" people.

Indeed, the majority of us 自扫门前雪 . From what I see, most chinese will stop at the scene of an accident. But the sad thing is , it is only to oogle and to scout for the car number plate... and proceed to the empat ekor centre next.

Urbanites especially live with this attitude... being non-plussed, non-committal, practically being 'not-there'... just ask anyone staying in condominiums. Despite staying in my lot for 4 months I have yet to see the neighbour opposite me smile at me. Despite my many attempts at catching their attention. Often appearing extremely ridiculous as I prolong my entry time just to smile at them. To no avail. And yes they are chinese.

It makes me pine for the kampung life where everyone knows everyone and where
"ayam bertelur sebiji riuh sekampung" Because your problem is my problem and they will stick up for each other no matter for kenduri, gotong-royong or what not. This unity is so evident that I once heard comments from a driver

"If you bang anyone in a kampung, do not stop to help. Run for your life- before you know it the whole kampung will surround you".

My dad once experienced this. A malay boy peddling goods on his bicycle suddenly lost his balance while crossing the road and my dad stopped a few metres away just in time. Despite that a few kampung folk came round and knock on his driver side window and asked whether an accident happened. Really, It takes guts and nerves of steel to attempt a kidnap or robbery in a close knit community such as this.

anyway, I shall give way to the post, taken from http://antithesis2.net/?p=676

The row of houses where I live has seen, over the past 3 months:

* Car vandalism
* Snatch theft
* Attempted kidnapping

I’m not sure how to describe the place I live. It wouldn’t be referred to as particularly affluent, I think. But what I do know, is that the area just East, 40 seconds walking distance from my front gate, is a playground which is a popular mat rempit hang out, and behind that, is SLUM. We have a Neighbourhood Watch (”NW”), and it has tried to be active. Put up speed bumps, arrange for a couple of security guards, and so on. But it’s hard to get everyone involved.

Late last night, we were awakened by an insistent doorbell ring. Constantly, for 30 seconds. As if someone was really trying to tell us something. I leapt out of bed.

When I peeped out the window, I saw was my neighbour, a middle aged, but beautiful lady, of mixed Malay-Chinese descent. She was clad in a black flowing batik dress, clearly her sleeping clothes. She walked briskly up and down a row of about 7 teenage boys, frantically gesturing at my father’s Mercedes. Her 24 year old daughter walked up and down the road, furiously.

I alerted my father, and he demanded his glasses. He also asked my mother if she could go in his place, and grumbled that he would be far more comfortable in bed, as it wasn’t his car anyway. Well, guess what? It was. Ian went out the door halfway, but realized he was wearing The Holiest Shirt and went back in to change. Ian and my dad reached outside at the same time. They took 5 minutes.

When we reached outside, there were only a few other residents. The beautiful lady’s entire family (herself, husband, son and two daughter) and the old Reverend and his wife. My father (the Treasurer of the NW) had just arrived. The Chairman of the NW was nowhere to be seen, even though it had taken place outside his own house.

I am upset, that my father (who is a fairly big man, only 2 inches short of 6″) asked my mother, his wife, a tiny lady who is only 5″, to go in his place.

I am upset, that my dad, and to an extent, Ian, take 5 minutes to get ready for an emergency. It should be 5 seconds. What will we do in a real emergency?

I am upset, that an old Reverend and 2 women were left to call the police, scream at the boys, and round them up.

I am upset, that our row of houses are occupied 80% by Chinese. Only 15% of them were seen that night. The Indians’ and the Punjabs’ entire families arrived on the scene. It was the Malay family who called the cops and furiously went to round up the boys.

When the attempted kidnapping and the snatch theft occured, the Indian family came running out with baseball bats. The Punjabs were there immediately. The 19 year old Malay girl, in her furor, even chased the snatch thieves. Of course, everyone was worried sick during her 10 minutes disappearance. But it shows how brave she is. I don’t care, you can call it stupidity or whatever. But to an extent, I admire that kind of bravery.

A small, very small, percentage of Chinese people care about society. As a result, we are not adequately represented in the police force, army or politics. Fine, we have businessmen. And perhaps, for every 100,000 businessmen, there may be one policeman, or politician.

But there is an unquantifiable value to that one policeman or politician, and that is something, perhaps, that we have to think about.

end of post.

Hopefully we will learn to be more friendly and be real neighbours for a change. We are in need of a fresh injection of -Spirit of Muhibbah-.

Political analyst....

The March 8 tsunami swept our shores.... and left a political topographic impact so big it could have swallowed singapore whole...

The August 26 aftershocks came less as a suprise because
1) we expected it
2) most of us are just too pooped out from trying to find shelter from the Malaysian political weather

I for one am glad that pakatan took 5 states and clearly sending a message to the ruling coalition that we would not take no nonsense no more. I am glad that Anwar has gotten back into the parliament- together with Lim Kit Siang they would be able to outmouth any crappy BN politician.

However I have my reservations about Anwar's plan of september 16th... It just isn't time yet. It would be rushed and the end does not justify the means in this case. I am green where politics is concerned but his move of sailors jumping ships does not feel right... I cannot put it better than this.



Anwar should not even if he could by P. Gunasegaram

EVEN if Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim can live up to his boast that he will topple the government on Sept 16 – we seriously doubt that because if he had the numbers, he would have already – he really, really should not.

He must accept the people’s verdict. If he wants to gain power, he must do it the straight and correct way, keeping alive both the spirit and the letter of the Constitution – at the polls. Anything else is underhand and shows he has not changed enough.

If he goes ahead, it will be morally repugnant, and will lead to an endless cycle of defections and re-defections which will further destabilise the already volatile political scenario. An excessive predilection with politics will come at the expense of other things that government must do and will cost the country dearly.

The figures show that it is not impossible for Anwar to do the unthinkable. There are 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah and 31 in Sarawak and only one from each state is in opposition hands. Anwar has said that if he comes to power, he will give these states an oil royalty of 20% against 5% currently. There are other dissatisfied MPs in the peninsula who would cross over for the right price, even if it is not money.

If 13 MPs from Sabah, 10 from Sarawak and seven from the peninsula crossed over, Anwar would have his 30. But at what price? Are these MPs crossing because they honestly believe in Pakatan Rakyat and its concepts? Money is not the only corrupting influence, power is too. And with power you can make money.

What assurance is there that if they cross to Pakatan, they won’t go back to Barisan Nasional for the right incentives? Is it not more than likely that the Perak state government, where Pakatan has a slender two-seat majority, won’t collapse when a government with a majority of 58 seats, just eight short of two thirds, can?

If Peninsular Malaysians have utter disdain for their politicians, multiply that by 10 for Sabahans and Sabah politicians. Such is the situation in Sabah that nobody but nobody believes that any politician there acts in the interest of the public. The name of the game is self-interest. Ditto for Sarawak.

Are these the kind of people that Anwar wants to populate the ranks of the Pakatan leadership after the change?

Are these the kind of leaders who would lead the charge against corruption, patronage and nepotism?

What kind of a message would he be sending?

It would be the same old game all over again – the rape and pillage of Sabah and Sarawak. Unbelievably, Sabah is the poorest state in Malaysia (one in five Sabahans is poor), Sarawak not much better. How could that be with so much land, resources and so few (relatively) people? The answer: corruption.

Anwar, will you be helping the people if you put 20% of the oil revenue of these states into the hands of these politicians as you have said you will if you came into power with their help?

You, Anwar, have to become part of the change that you so much want to bring. You can’t be espousing high moral standards and then go out and do something dirty and devious to unseat the government. Your Pakatan now controls five states – show us what you can do with the mandate the people have given you.

With a machinery much smaller than Barisan’s, Pakatan gained major footholds throughout the peninsula. Anwar’s Keadilan itself came back from the brink of extinction with just one seat to become the largest single opposition party with 31 seats. Many political novices were elected just because they were on an opposition ticket.

That happened only because the public clamoured for a major change.

If Pakatan wants to spread its influence to Sabah and Sarawak, let it plant the seeds there now and bring the desired change at the polls.

And if Pakatan gets down to work, really honest work – weeding out corruption, bringing in efficiency, having open tenders etc – Barisan will have to follow or be demolished utterly at the next polls.

But if Anwar topples the government or even continues to threaten to do so, he will be short-circuiting the process and preventing all the changes that the public want.

History will judge him harshly if he does.

Yes, it’s tough for Anwar when there is so much resistance to his political return and there are battles to fight on several fronts. But arguably, the legal system will give him a much better chance now. Not to fight according to his stated principles is to give up the fight itself – he will become the enemy he so abhors.

There is a way out if all political parties come to their senses if only for a while: support a simple piece of legislation – any elected representative automatically vacates his seat if he leaves the party on whose platform he was elected. Then, the will of the people will be maintained and if someone wants to change that he will need to seek a fresh mandate from those he represents.

And finally, everyone can go to work running their state governments and the federal government properly.

If they don’t, they will risk losing their mandates in the next polls because for the first time in Malaysia, there is an alternative.

You know... a few years ago... milk was just known as just milk
Well there is liquid milk and powdered milk, cow milk and goat milk
but nowadays It's really scary..

Milk is fortified with Probiotics lah, ARA, DHA, SHA, MAX-IQ, Taurine, Niacin bla-bla
Guaranteed to make your baby the smartest kid in class, the tallest kid in the neighbourhood and the only one left standing when the whole of Malaysia succumbs to the H5N1 virus.

What's wrong with that?
I have this aversion to supplements and it freaks me out.
It's just so unnatural. And they dress up common vitamins with all those fancy names purposely leaving out the descriptions.. and folks just go for the brand of milk with the most number of supplements with names they can't even pronounce.

Then theres the dettol advertisements. If you use dettol, your baby will be sort of a bubble-boy, forever protected in a bubble of anti-germ defense. People sneeze, the droplets get deflected away, he plays with soil and the bacteria evaporate on contact. If you ask me... the bubble case will even bounce off raindrops!!!

Whats wrong with this?

well...If the baby is shielded in this way... how will his own passive and actice immunity ever develop? An early exposure to pathogens is needed if your child is to develop any resistance whatsoever. Kids who roll around in dirt will be healthiest when they are adults. If you use disinfectants everywhere and the living conditions are totally germ free... he will face the consequences when he ventures outside the home.

Quit focusing on who’s to blame- Nasrul Seremban (IN letters to the editor, theSTAR

I REFER to the report “Another sexist remark: Two Penang reps make an issue of women’s dressing” (The Star, May 23).

Though the previous comments made in Parliament were what I consider
unfortunate, and a display of gender insensitivity, the current issue
is slightly different. 

Nevertheless, the remark and the subsequent protest just extend the debate over who’s to blame for sexual crimes. 

The typical egocentric-male-chauvinist group argues that rapists are tempted by women’s provocative dressing style. 

At the other extreme, your typical woman-rights-activists corner rebuts
such claims by pointing out that rape victims are not exclusive to the
scantily dressed, and blames men’s mentality and perspective towards
the opposite gender. 

I have no intention of taking sides in such a debate. I am more
concerned about addressing the issue, identifying root causes,
improving our social fabric and increasing access to education, instead
of focusing on the blame game. 

Despite taking a three-credit-hour Intro to Psychology during my
university days, and being a father to three beautiful daughters, I am
not an authority on this issue. Anyhow, this is my two sen worth on the
matter as a concerned father and a citizen of Malaysia. 

·Gender debate and the blaming game will not solve the issue, it will
simply keep us occupied on the debate instead of combating sex crimes.

·Sex crimes are seldom about gender or sex. It’s about the socially
challenged and sick characters seeking ways to feel superior and to
feel validated as an autonomic individual. 

·Rape and other sexual violations committed on the weak, and children,
are motivated mostly by the freak instinct to overpower others through
physical and psychological violence, not to seek sexual gratification. 

·Overly lewd, indecent, or impolite dressing choices at inappropriate
times and places may trigger a psychologically impaired person. It may
not be the root cost, but it can trigger a person who already has
issues, to act on an unhealthy impulse. 

It may not be immediately acted upon, but the aggressor would probably
then act on the impulse at the soonest opportunity available. A
sick-minded serial rapist or paedophile may be triggered by something
he saw in a crowded shopping mall, but act days later at a deserted car
park or neighbourhood. 

One example is a smoker who is trying to quit by going cold turkey. You
can tell everyone not to smoke in front of him, but the mere mention of
smoking, or any visual or audio material that reminds him of smoking
will trigger that instinct to light up, if not immediately, when no one
is looking. 

But the trigger is not the cause of this action; it’s the addiction and the nicotine. 

·“Improper dressing” is a subjective issue that can be debated forever without resolutions. 

·Dress code is at best the less significant of factors in this matter
(if not the least), as there are always triggers available in many
forms to provide excuses for some people to act upon unnatural
motivations, from the real to the imagined. We can force everyone to
wear a jilbab but a serial rapist would always be able to fantasise. 

·A good place to start with in combating sex crimes is by looking at
family institutions, social composites and disparities, education
(structured academic and social skills), and psychological health of
the general population. Safety and security concerns should not be
taken lightly. 

·What is certain is that instead of focusing on who is to be blamed –
sexy women or unfulfilled low self-esteem men – we should stress more
on mutual respect between genders and within our family institutions. 

A man who loves his mother, sisters, daughters and wife, and is able to
apply the golden rule of do unto others as you would others do unto you
is less likely to consider hurting another person. 

 

NASRUL,

Seremban. Negri Sembilan.