uncreaming attitude

WHEN a person is wheelchair bound but yet portrays a gusty image and tries his best to make the world a better place, is it justified to call him names?
This was what happened in our ‘circus’ (I find the debates conducted in our parliament are more of a joke rather than anything serious). Democratic Action Party (DAP) veteran member Karpal Singh was involved in an accident last year but that has not stopped the lawyer by profession from attending parliamentary proceedings.
Nevertheless, it was rather uncalled for Barisan National back bencher Bung Moktar Radin to throw childish remarks at Karpal. The Kinabatangan man was quoted saying “why is he (Karpal) still around when he is about to die”.
Bung Moktar later added “he should have been grateful he didn’t die but to be wheelchair bound only”.
A heated argument followed with some of the excerpts below;

Bung: “He (Karpal) is already insane, asking nonsense.”

Karpal: “Kinabatangan is insane and has no right to be here, he is an animal.”

Bung: "He is the insane animal. He is about to die, why is he still here?"

Karpal: “Expel this animal from the House.”

This is a shocker as I have read in the past how shallow some members of the parliament can be. Not too long ago, a Penangnite member of parliament debated on the appalling standards of Malaysian football, saying “they ought to be lined up on the Penang beach so that another Tsunami will carry them away”. Who is he to judge good or bad the Malaysian soccer team is? In fact, has he actually spent a whole 90 minutes watching an FAM match at the stadium? Or better still, can he name the first eleven of the national team?
Back to Bung Moktar’s childish antics, he is known to be the jester of parliament, having pride in taking cheap shots at the opposition and often praising a certain private TV station, thus the huge amount of publicity. Sadly, he, like many others who sit in the ‘House’(said to be the highest and respectable institution of a working government) fail to discuss on pressing matters and instead waste time on cheap talk. Note on the name calling, reminds one of the good old days in pre-school.
A person should be judge professionally, judged upon his substance and not how he looks or the way he walks. While this is in no way a form of support towards DAP, however, it is rather sad to see a BN person ridiculing a man in a wheel chair. Harshly put, Bung seems to suggest ‘cacat’ people are a dying lot and are a waste of time. That’s how I see his words and one wonders how this would affect our unfortunate friends out there.
At present time there are many places which are 'unfriendly' to our special friends. Those on the wheelchair will find it impossible taking the STAR LRT, sitting on the new Rapid KL buses and even doing their banking. Despite shouts by activists, nothing solid has been done throughout the years.
As said by Earl Hickey (from the TV show My Name is Earl), “I believe in Karma”. What goes around comes around and Bung Moktar better hopes his praying five times a day would help him avoid being in a wheel chair and later ridiculed by his fellow mates.
There was a drummer on NTV7's latest reality show Rock Unite and he obtained praises playing the drums brilliantly despite with one hand only.
They claim the younger generation have lost the plot, but from what is observed, can the younger generation be blamed for having a lousy bunch of older generation ahead of them? Actions like this further suggest our Parliament is a joke and Malaysians are rude after all. Sigh!

Note: The article is not in favour of any political party and believes in neutrality.
p/s: Name me one political party which can equate BN (they are no angels themselves?) Keadilan was so a ‘release me from jail’ party, DAP can’t ever get their act right within their own ‘kind’ while Pas…you guys can dream on taking over the country. Sigh!

-The Man Who Sold The World-

bling bling KL

KL was once known as the city of lights. Now it’s best to associate the national capital as a ‘bling bling’ city.
This is not a sling shot to the posers at Bangsar who communicate with their posses akin to the blacks in the USA. This is refereed to our Mr Mayor who has shown us good reasons not to pay our assessment, City Hall bills or even minor traffic summons issued by them. He has proven KL City Hall is rich!
It has been reported a total of RM94,000 was spent on a grooming and etiquette programme catered for the top brass of the KL City Hall. (One wonders if they utilise such skills in the first place). Shockingly, Mayor Datuk Ruslin Hassan has defended the purchase of tuxedos worth RM2,500 for each of the senior officers, citing it is proper for them to dress when attending social functions.
This must be Ruslin’s biggest blunder since being appointed as the seventh Datuk Bandar in 2003 replacing Datuk Mohmad Shaid Mohd Taufek who was surprisingly given the boot at the eleventh hour by then Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Isa Samad.
Shaid Mohd Taufek was told to leave in a very hasty manner as word on the street claims he has stepped on many toes. When Ruslin took over, many projects came to a stall, giving the impression KL City Hall were in no position to carry out much of the works.
The same money could be used to re-start the construction of the 90% built market and sports complex in Bandar Baru Sentul. Instead money is spent on building and rebuilding pathways, expensive street lights and constructing playgrounds at an area which is waiting to undergo a major makeover (2 years ago, several playgrounds were constructed around the Tunku Abdul Rahman flats aka Pekeliling Flats. Today, its just bare land). Even better, City Hall officials suffered an embarrasing moment a couple of months back when a lawyer equipped with a warrant started sealing of the building as they failed to pay a certain sum of money to a 2 year old child who suffered a cracked skull after failing down from a flight of stairs in a DBKL flat.
However, the ‘Corporate Grooming and Social Etiquette’ course paints a different picture. There is no harm in organising such a course if City Hall feels the need to do so, but spending RM94,000 of tax payers money? Now that’s another issue altogether. Heck, even married couples don’t spend so much on their weddings and this course is to groom officials for social functions? Social functions ought to be borne out of personal expense and not on the rakyat’s money. If Pak Lah can wear batik for social and official functions, why can’t they? I guess the people in City Hall are too westernised huh, but then again they are the same people who would jump on the White men with regards to religious and social issues. This is hypocrisy to the maximum!
It will be unfair to target City Hall alone. Even at the grassroots, at schools level, such an attitude is practised. The KL Schools Sports Council for one is known to have adopted such a culture. While there are several schools in KL without proper sporting equipments, the KL Schools Sports Council are famous for the ‘budget tabling’ trips outside KL, spending days in resorts to discuss something which can be tabled within three hours at the most. And it’s the money your children pay in their school fees (note the column where it’s written JPWP).
Maybe City Hall could restructure their pay scale so that their roaming officers will not take bribes most of them time (a stall near a law college in Petaling Street has been one of the spots for such officers to get their daily dosages of RM50). Or maybe if they have not spent this year's budget fully, they could very well channel it to the coming year and ensure better facilities for the city dwellers.
I used to dismiss people who wouldn’t pay their taxes and couldn’t be bothered about paying up summons issued by City Hall. Now I understand why they do so. Guess KL City Hall is rich after all. So as a true Bangsar-ian would say, “Wassup Ruslin my bling bling bro, I aint paying u no shit no more!”

-The Man Who Sold The World-

creamy less media

IT’S a wonder why people subscribe or even take notice of the local media in the first place.
Limits have been tested day in day out with regards to substance and form in which the local print and broadcast media serve and yet there is nothing nice to start off with.
No one is dishing the capability of the locals involved in the scene. Nevertheless, the parties spearheading the industry should be ‘kicked in the ass’ for the ignorance towards the local culture, lack of innovation and worst still, lack of faith in local news.
Name me one country in the world (besides Singapore) which flaunts news produced by others? None. However, in this country revamps are made not for the better but for the worse as their so called learned marketing people have surveyed the Malaysian crowd, claiming they ‘prefer everything foreign rather compared to local’.
The editors of The Sun, while it was undergoing a revamping stage, was told by the marketing team to ‘stop portraying images of Indian women or men and instead feature more on Chinese or White ladies' when needed. Also, some health and fashion magazines adopt a similiar policy as seen in their pages.
Noticed how The New Straits Times have changed in terms of content? Also note how the new Malay Mail reminds one of a magazine dedicated to 13 year olds. What about Harian Metro which has amused most with their either sex or religious front cover stories.
What about government owned RTM1 and RTM2? The minister in charged promised changes in form of newscasters and layout. Heck they are even bullish to proclaim themselves as the licensed broadcasters for the World Cup. However, this is the same party which failed to broadcast (live) the first second round match between Germany and Sweden. Sigh!
Media giants Media Prima Bhd owns TV3, 8TV NTV7 TV9, NSTP (New Straits Times, Malay Mail, Harian Metro, Berita Harian), Fly Fm, Hot Fm and Grand Brilliance. The Star is backed by the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) while the other newspapers are trying their luck in the scene. Malaysiakini tries their very best to be different, but different they will remain with their biased reporting akin to a BBC correspondent in this region.
The journalists actually suffer, for their writings are often edited to create a pretty scene. The beauty is that everyone knows how suppressed the press is. While the urban folks are slowly learning to fade away from picking up the newspaper or prefer watching satellite TV instead, our rural friends will soon realise what they are being fed with each time they flip the newspaper or turn on the tv is just a load of crap.
Noticed how articles in NSTP are so pro certain parties while The Star will always remain ‘lembik’ for fear of rocking the boat. Malaysiakini tries too hard and word on the street is they are losing the interest of the people. Why can’t there be neutrality in reporting? Credit ought to be given when deserved, so does brickbats when things go wrong for no good reason.
TV3 and TV9 is so ‘pro-melayu’, as they fail to realise there are other races in the country as well. Luckily 8TV stands on its own, maybe due to the fact it is run by people from various ethnic groups.
These organisations are often headed by people whom have no background in journalism, not knowing what journalism is all about. Example, the Malay Mail is headed by a former Magistrate who later turned to a sub editor for a magazine. Note- sub editor. The big guns in NSTP are placed there by people in the government and such things really make one wonder what is Malaysia all about. But then again, I guess it’s practised all over the world so what’s new.
I for one have lost faith in reading the local newspapers and my patience towards our local TV came to a boiling point last night. Now I know why people install Astro despite not being at home most of the time. They just don’t want to be fed with gibberish and hope for better entertainment instead. With internet, more updated news can be obtained. I wonder why should I pick up the newspaper (and pay RM1.20) or turn on the tv for that matter. And with the dominance of one party in the industry, things will only go from bad to worse. Malaysian media (or those running the show) have certainly lost the plot and are creamy less no more. Sigh!

-The Man Who Sold The World-

creaming time, money and friendship

EVER wonder how time act against us all the time. Society complains 24 hours is not enough and wished for at least 48 hours in a day. Yet people still have time to get married, make love and create wars.
Ever wondered what friends were like during school days? They were always around, hanging on to each other, going through thick and thin while gaining experience. Every child, no matter of what generation, enjoyed their time in school. Yet it’s never the same upon adulthood and it gets worse each time the calendar pasts a decade.
Time and friendship go hand in hand. Making time for friends is essential in keeping the bond going. However, some claim while the closeness or perhaps ‘love’ may still be there, in reality there is nothing in common thus there is no need to sustain the relationship. So are school friends or even childhood friends suppose to die off over strangers known in a couple of months, days or even seconds?
Nevertheless, this is how society has decided, as to how men are suppose to have short hair (hint; North Korea still practices a strict crew-cut policy over its male citizens) and ladies are to keep locks. Society has also seem to have decided white is the colour of pureness and black is the colour of darkness, and that up is the guidance of the Lord while the earth beneath is filled with the cruelty of the Devil upon its subjects.
Some claim once leaving a certain circle, there would be nothing 'to talk about'. True or false? True in the sense, but then again should it be left as an excuse? A rather lame excuse as such an obstacle can be overcome by paying more interest. There is no point in asking for the sake of asking, and not listening to the reply. There is no point in commenting without knowing what has transpired earlier.
So does society also seem to forget childhood friends and in fact family? Money is the root to all evil, and its fangs are shown here. And how you may ask money is related to the subject of time and friends? Simple- time is money and friends waste money. Period.
Are we all enveloped in a society which strives to gain money as a sign of authority, arrogance or it’s just what society wants? Or is it due to necessity? Who draws the line between drilled into the money making fraternity and the time to take a break from it all and enjoyed what the past once gave us?
All said and done, society in general are fated to suffer a disease called ‘friendless’. It has already ‘attacked’ some of us, and very soon all of us will die the same way. Is friendship and time really important? Alone they are nothing, but together they mean something. Spending time with friends will ensure a more fulfilling future, instead of walking down the old age path alone. No man is an island.


-The Man Who Sold The World-

and the award goes to....

DATO’ Dr Khoo Kay Kim. A familiar name among some, not so among others. Nevertheless, he is what a Malaysian is all about- and he portrays it well, both socially and in the pretext of his own family.
Dr Khoo is a Chinese man, who married an Indian lady (Datin Rathi) and believes the education system in Malaysia is a total ‘crap’ (but I guess he would have put it in a better way).
Being a former English and Chinese educated man, Dr Khoo, who attended the English medium school in the morning followed by the Chinese medium school in the evening knows best of the methods and culture cultivated within both the schools. Born in the small town of Kampar, Perak (28 Mac 1937), Dr Khoo obtained his BA in History from the Malaya University (then located in Singapore) in 1967 and after a string of honourable socio and historical contributions, Dr Khoo was awarded the title DPMP darjah Paduka Mahkota Perak (Dato’) in April 1987.
He has three children- Eddin Khoo, Rubin Khoo and Mavin Khoo- all three whom he has brought up in a colourful way. Defying the typical Chinese and Indian culture of education (getting straight A’s is a must), the Khoo’s have strived on learning skills that interests them; mind body and soul.
Eddin is a poet, writer and translator while Rubin is a journalist. Mavin, meanwhile, is a reputable Bharatanatyam (Indian classical dancing) dancer. All involved in the works of arts which most of us can only dream of, but no guts to venture into.
“In this country, those who succeed aren’t the straight A students. It’s those who are creative,” so he says.
Also, he cynically questions local dailies for carrying stories of students getting straight As as their headlines.
“People think doctors are rich. They are not. They get their money from shares or other businesses,” he once said over a live telecasted programme.
Dr Khoo has been very vocal on the current education state in the country, and his thoughts are often refereed with regards to the state of our sports which are currently in the doldrums. He is also said to be the co-author of the Rukun Negara, thus he is amongst the very few people who live by it.
During a sporting conference once held at the Mara Technology University in Shah Alam, Dr Khoo emphasised the need of a more robust all rounder. His sentiments were echoed by Olympic Council of Malaysia’s vice president Datuk M.Jegathesan and general secretary Datuk Sieh Kok Chi.
“Education is important but there must be a well diverse society which believes in the vital ness of academic as well as sports,” the officials from OCM said.
But Dr Khoo stole the thunder with a blow below the belt- ‘he reason our sports are not getting anywhere is because of the system; kids who are smart can help build up sports by playing smart and not like how it is currently being played- blindly’.
Dr Khoo is certainly what a Malaysian ought to be- an all rounded man who moulds an all rounded family while striving to create an all rounded society. He may not know this but Dr Khoo certainly deserves the ‘Ceamiest Cacker’ award!

-The Man Who Sold The World-