MACC on the move

MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) seemed to have heard of the cries of the people that only the small fish are getting caught. Within these few months, they seemed to have become daring nd brave to have arrested very big names, for investigation and trial. Perhaps, they have the backing from the very top. Malaysia may have attracted the world’s attention, but that can end only in good stance for it.. It will be known as a nation fighting crime without bias. Well done, Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed, the chief commissioner of MACC!

The list of MACC’s arrest for the past few months is really astonishing. Have a look:

Tun Ling Liong Sik – former MCA president and Minister of Transport.

Dato Dr Mohd Khir Toyo – former Selangor Menteri Besar

Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli – former MAS Chairman

Hassan Basri Markum - former Perak Syariah court judge.

Good for you, MACC! Continue with your tracking down! Well done, again, Datuk Abu Kassim!

Putting Kedai Mamak at their place

I know, in one of my earlier posts, I had mentioned what an epitome of unity a Kedai mamak was, with regards to the 1Malaysia concept. For those foreign readers of this post, a ‘kedai mamak’ was an eatery operated by Indian Muslims in Malaysia.

Before the kedai mamak operators trip over themselves patting each other’s backs, over their 1Malaysia contribution, I think I should save their fallings, by telling them their failings.

‘When the cat is away, the rats will play’. This was very true, at least to me, where the waiters or the workers of the kedai mamak were concerned. I say this because I had noticed, several times, that it was very difficult to get the attention of a waiter, when I was seated in a kedai mamak. True to the saying above, I found out that during each of those times the boss of the joint was not around. When the boss was there, it was immediate attention from the waiter. He would be all teeth and it would be “Yes, sir. What will it be?” even before you sat down!

For example, yesterday morning I went to a kedai mamak, the one in front of the Hyundai sales room in the mini city of Taiping. I sat at a table near the counter. No one was at the counter for me to say out my order. At the back, there were five waiters in their uniforms chatting away. They were indifferent to my presence. I knew it then; the boss was not around. There were only two other customers seated three tables away from me. They had been provided their meals.

I sat there for a clear five minutes. And a waiter slowly walked by me. He didn’t even ask me what I wanted. I hailed him, and asked him to switch on the fan above me. No, it was not hot and neither was I sweating. I just had the urge at that time to repay back their ignorance. The waiter switched on the fan and looked at me in expectation. I just sat there and kept quiet, did not order anything, just to see his reaction. Just as I thought, he did not like me to have free air supply. “What do you want to eat?” he asked. “Nasi lemak,” I said.

“Annei, fry one egg!” he shouted to the waiters at the back, and began laying out on the plate other items that go with the nasi lemak. I did not ask for any fried egg to go along with my nasi lemak. It was the norm, I thought and kept quiet. No ‘Annei’ came to fry the egg. The boss was not around, so no one bothered. The nasi lemak waiter fried the egg himself, placed it on the nasi lemak plate and brought it to me. I told him the drink I wanted. “One teh ore kosong!” he shouted to the back and then went to join them. 

Just then, an elderly couple came in and sat at the table beside me. They looked left and right and no one came to take their order. Pity them; they wouldn’t know they had to wait at least five minutes before they would be attended to. 

So would be my drink! Because the cat was away!

Decent sportswear

Did you see the women’s beach-volleyball of the Asian Games, recently held in Guangzhou, China? And did you see the attires the Malaysian women’s team was wearing, when it was playing? The players were wearing bikinis!

I don’t know about you, but I had a funny feeling; a feeling mixed with embarrassment and surprise. The reason is simply this. There have been a lot of debates about whether Malaysia was an Islamic country, or a secular one. Now, would a Muslim nation allow its citizens to wear bikinis in public, more so, watched by millions of people of the world, in Medias? This is 'one up' for the non-Islamic-nation asserters, and the moderates. Oh, okay, the players were non Muslims. But Obama had mentioned Malaysia as an Islamic nation, in one of his famous speeches that he made, in Cairo. What would have the world thought?

And the Malaysian commentators of the game, as far as I know, due to their familiar voices, were Malays and Muslims.

Anyway, I wished the players had been wearing something that completely covered their hips and thighs, Muslims or no. There were children watching too, you know. Don’t just ape the others, and do what they do, where good morality is involved.

Inconsiderate people

I went to an Indian wedding dinner last Sunday held at about 7.30pm in a hall in Taiping. The owners of the hall were Chinese. I mean Malaysians of Chinese roots. 

Actually, the sole purpose of the hall was to cater to the various functions of the Malaysian Chinese. Hence, the writings on the wall above the stage were only in Chinese. I suppose it said, ‘Welcome’ or something of that sort, as had been the case in the halls belonging to the Malaysian Indians. 

The Indians hold their functions in the Chinese halls, mainly because of the inability to get Indian halls for the purpose at the required time, due to all of them being taken up. But being true Malaysians, the Chinese accommodate the Indians gladly. Such things are common throughout the year. 1Malaysia indeed!

Putting aside the unity chatter to one side, we – my wife, my son and I – were sitting at one of the many clothed round tables in the hall, waiting for the prelude to the dinner to start. The prelude means, the walking in of the newly-weds amidst an ovation, and the cutting of the wedding cake by the couple, and feeding each other, to the loud approval of the crowd.

Guests were slowly streaming in. And then I saw a middle aged couple walk by our table and sit at the table next to ours. When I saw the face of the male partner I was taken aback. Half of his face below the nose down was pinkish; he had some sort of a skin disease, the skin had peeled out. I was very touched for his misfortune. Sad though I was, I admired his brevity for coming to this occasion where he has to mingle with the crowd. Inwardly, I saluted his companion for the faithful wife she was, to walk along with him, indifferently. In these days of fault finding among the spouses, this act of camaraderie was really great. I smiled at them, respectfully, and they smiled back.

I should have been happy, except for the next turn of events. A family of five came in and went and sat at the table where the misfortuned couple was sitting. And I thought everything was well with the world. People are understanding and do not care how a person’s face looks. Alas, I could not never have been so wrong! The head of the family, suddenly, pretended that he had seen someone at a table far away and the whole family got up and moved away, The couple, especially, the man, tried not to show any embarrassment.

I am sensitive guy by nature, and uncontrollably, I sat there sulking. I did not like the dinner that day.

Malaysian coaches - hockey

Today (14th Nov 2010), Malaysia played Japan in women’s hockey of the Asian Games, being held in Guangzhou, China. 

I discovered that Malaysia had two of the best hockey coaches in Malaysia, in the two hockey commentators, who were commenting on the game’s proceedings. They complemented each other, saying that 'this player should have done that, and that player should have done this'. And if they had done this and that there sure would have been goals! 

Well, Malaysia lost 4 -2 to Japan. You know what they said? They said there had been a vast improvement in the hockey team, because the last time, in Doha, they lost 7-0 to Japan. Wow! What an improvement! It brings a lump to my throat!

Money for Malaysians!

Today I felt like knowing what the Malaysian LinkReferral bloggers are blogging about. So I signed in and entered the LinkRefferal page and chose Malaysia from ‘Geographical location’.

The page stated there were 4066 blogs from Malaysia. So I eagerly started scrolling down the blog rolls. What I saw was very disappointing. Of 250 rolls I saw only about 3 percent was blogging about the general aspects of things. The rest were all were advertising about making money online!

I did not know Malaysia had so many online business people!

Monkey tale

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I am a monkey. A macaque monkey, from the forest of Malaysia. Last week, on Wednesday 6, October 2010, something nasty happened in Malaysia, in the town of Seremban, in the central State of Negeri Sembilan, that took front page news of almost all the newsprints. If I am a monkey that can talk, then, of course, I can read the papers, too!

The papers mentioned that one of my kinds, the macaque one, carried a four-day-old human baby away from the living room of a house in Seremban, bit it, and dropped it from the roof, only to be found lifeless, on the ground. And that, the killer macaque monkey was spotted near the area, and was shot to death by officers of the Negeri Sembilan Wildlife and National Parks Department.

I did not know what came over my friend to have, so cruelly, killed a child. Only later on, the next day to be exact, did I know that the house had a caged-in female macaque. Then I understood. We, the macaque kind, as well as, most of the other kinds, do not like any of us to be caged in or tied up. My friend most likely thought the baby was the one responsible to have caged one of his species.

Now, what would the humans do if one of them was caged? Say congratulations? Of course not! They would try the utmost to free him or her. That’s what my friend had tried to do! Sadly, the stupid clown picked on a helpless child. He should have tried to attract attention by picking on someone his own size……er…….or may be bigger.

I hope the humans get some sort of a lesson from this. We should, too. I feel very sorry for the parents of the child and also feel sadness for my friend.

God bless the Chilean miners

May God have mercy on the 33 miners of Chile! It has been exactly two months and 4 days now, and the poor Chilean miners are still stuck 700 meters underground, in the San Jose mine, in Atacama Desert of Chile. The copper mine collapsed on the 5^th August 2010. But the miners were, thankfully, alive. However, contact was only able to be made on August 22. How panicky and desperate they would have been!

Rescue experts and other personals have been working around the clock, to bring them up, but, unfortunately, it seems to be a tough job due to the huge distance below the ground level. Fortunately, the men below are able to receive food and other necessities, through the cup sized bores drilled through. The rescue people are saying that it will just take a few more days to bring all the 33 miners up. Drilling pilot holes, for rescue shafts to be sent down, are underway. Hopefully, everything goes without mishaps, and the miners are able to see their loved ones, once again.