Monsters on the prowl

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‘Ampang Monsters’ was the front page heading of The Star recently. The ‘monsters’ it was referring to were the two legged ones amidst us, who prey upon teenage students, and mislead them into believing that they are being helped, only to end up being molested, sexually. It just happened that the latest deplorable incident occurred in the Ampang district of Selangor.

Nowadays, the number of these ‘animals’ is found to be on the rise in Malaysia, endangering our young ones. The police and other enforcement authorities should not allow these,, atrociously, physical abuses to continue. More serious attention and actions in completely eradicating such monstrous acts should be unleashed now.

We were made to believe that the police have special undercover agents in their setup, to track down criminals. It is hoped they encompass a department or unit specializing in uncovering potential criminals, if they don’t have one already. Looking at the spate of the disgusting crimes occurring so frequently now, it makes one to conclude that they don’t have one.

Save the world!

Carbon footprint. For the rich, this means nothing to them. They may think that this is a new technology, used by the police to track down criminals, when the finger prints don’t help. Oh! You are rich? I am sorry! I mean the rich, who don’t bother what is going on the environmental world! (Phew! That was close!)

Well, who can blame them, when utility bills mean nothing to them, when they got loads of money? To them the bills are just procedural papers which their servants attend to, to get the utilities in their mansions going on smoothly. So unlike us, they won’t bother switch off their electrical providers of comfort, or turn off their water gadgets when they are not in use.

For us, it will be, “John, how many times must I tell you to switch off the light when you are going out?” Or, “Hey, you! Have you turned off the tap properly?” And “Aw, come on! It’s not so hot now. Switch off the air cond, will ya?”

Not that we are deeply conscious of the effect on the environment, or for that matter, are being seriously serious about the ozone layer depreciation. Ya, you got it! We just do not want to spend too much on our utility bills, for reasons which you and I know!

Well, it is time for everyone, be they be poor or rich, to take notice of the deterioration of the world’s atmosphere that we depend on, and the causes leading to it.

A little bit of info on the Carbon Footprint – It is the measure of the effect our daily activities have on the atmosphere. for example, our usage of electricity; it is made possible by the burning of fuels that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which will then have a negative effect on the ozone layer. Ozone layer is important in that it prevents the ultra violet light-rays, called as UV-B radiation, from the sun to reach the earth and harm both plant and animal life.

Right! Let's save the world! Let's begin now! Let us go to www.carbonfootprint.com first!

To veil or unveil

To veil or unveil? 

This is the undesired, awkward and challenging question going on in the minds of many Muslim women in several parts of Europe. This follows the political support that France garnered recently, for the law banning the wearing of the full-face veils (niqab) by the Muslim women of France. It seems that the wearing of the veils have also been seriously questioned at one time or another in the nations of Belgium, Spain, Italy, Britain, Turkey, Switzerland, Russia, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and Austria. Additionally, there has been news that full-face veils had already been banned in some places in these nations. Reasons, like oppressing women, female inequality, obstacle in unifying the nation and the feared security threat has been given.

I am reluctant to debate the issue strongly here, less I hurt my Muslim friends. I, for one think that the situation in the ancient times and now is different. In those times, women seldom moved out of their community sphere and more or less were confined to their abodes. The men ventured out to get the bread on the table for the family and for other national commitments. As such, the reasons put forward by the anti-niqab proponents were not noticed in those olden times. 

Nowadays, Muslim women are out in the open, in urban areas, sharing the burden of getting an income for a decent living, and meet up with people of other religions and cultures. Things become uncomfortable and uneasy for the persons who had to deal with the women with the full-face veils. Being the ever social, human beings they are, or in the line of official duty, they may want to know to whom they are talking to, as women wearing the niqab all look the same. And there is the main predicament. 

I hope and I am sure all of you do also, that this issue will be ironed out amicably, with some give and take on both parties, without hurting each other too much so that we all can live on this earth harmoniously.

IT IS ENGLAND!

England went out of the world cup without a fight. However, Coach Fabio Capello seemed to have been let of the hook without much of a whimper. Even the FA has retained him in some other capacity. It is worth managing England…eh?

With this situation of calm response towards Fabio’s failure, just imagine what would have happened if England had won the world cup! These are the few scenarios we could imagine:

 1.One tabloid would have screamed “Fabulous Capello!” Or “Fab Cap!” Anything that would make the English fans add this paper to their souvenir collection, to read them again and again. And why not? They had waited 44 years for this!

 2. Another would have boasted, “The three-lions have roared!” and for good measure, knowing the exaggeration capabilities of the English papers, it would have added “And what a roar it was!”

 3. Rooney would have been acclaimed as the “England’s Vein Rooney!” Or, as the “New Maradona, minus the hand of God!” Or something to that effect, as he would have surely scored goals for England.

 4. Fabio Capello would have been tossed high up in the air, so high that one would have wondered whether he had come down at all! Ha! Ha! Ha! That’s exaggeration for you!

.5. A long list of Knighthoods would have been prepared, with people already practicing saying “Sir Fabio Capello”. (Fabio Capello would be a British citizen by now!), “Sir Frank Lampard”, “Sir Steven Gerrard”, “Sir David James”…..you go on, do some practicing of your own! For a start pick about 30 persons of your own! 44 years, remember?

Of course I did not disclose the display of passions at home, on the streets, by the English populace. It frightens me even to imagine!

You pay, you don't see!

I don’t know about other countries but in Malaysia even the cost of going to the lavatory has spiraled up. In the seventies we in our modest terrace house used to pay RM5.00 only per year to the Taiping Town Council or more suitably, the Majlis Bandaran Taiping. In the eighties it became RM8.00 and in the nineties it had risen up to RM20.00. I have the receipts to prove it. Now in the twenties we have to pay a whopping RM96.00! Yes, it has not doubled or tripled, but quadrupled!

We are already paying a yearly payment of RM202.00 for Assessment and another RM44.00 for another tax known as Quit Rent. These latter taxes are not so very painful as at least we can see them as assets. But to pay RM96 for something that you can’t see is quite upsetting, not that we want to see it! Ha! Ha!

Or, maybe the sanitary people really want us to pay more not to see it. If we want to see it then it is free! Ha! Ha!

Jokes aside, we really feel that paying almost a hundred ringgit a year is too high as we are already paying a sizeable amount of money for the water used to clear up the wastes. Perhaps the government can generously reduce it to half the amount. Ok, the government can say it can’t do anything as the department is privatized. Then, please unprivatize. Remember that before the department was privatized it was cheap. Also remember the slogan ‘people first’?

Musings on the World Cup

In which way is the World Cup Football (WCF) heading? Heading for improvement? No way! The use of the Jabulani ball has made the game almost a laughing stock; expert free kick takers making Rugby-ball kicks! Penalty kickers hitting the posts! (Those careful ones just pass to the keepers!) Passes go to the opponents! Corner kicks going to the other corner! Adventurous balls passed to the goal post go straight to the goal keepers! Ha! Ha! World Cup football indeed!

I have seen goal keepers become heroes of a team for saving penalty kicks or sure-goals. I have seen players who shoot in the all deciding last balls, especially in penalty shootouts, into goals become instant heroes. I have seen players going solo, skillfully weaving in and out of the opponents to score decisive goals become much acclaimed heroes. I am agreeable and warmly appreciative of all those heroes. But to see a player become a national hero by becoming a ‘second goalkeeper’ in a football game is really too much for me to bear. A soccer game should have only one keeper, not two! Uruguay has flawed! They should be disqualified!

Conversely, Uruguay should take the advantage and train Luis Suarez to become a countries’ goalkeeper! He seems so good at saving sure-goals! Ha! Ha! He had single-handedly, (or rather double-handedly) made sure Uruguay entered the World Cup semi-final!

Having said all that, to all the Uruguayan fans, don’t feel bad. Your team did play well. Your Diego Forlan is a player I admire! To a lesser extent, also Luis Suarez, when he is not a goal keeper!

Lo England! My England! You let me down again! With all your breast-beating and your clamour of an invigorated team and the few pre-world cup mirage wins had me falsely convinced that this England team really had a chance to finally hold the World Cup high over its shoulders. If someone had given me a huge pile of money, which need not be paid back, I would have surely placed all that money on England! But that was not to be! England did not even enter the quarter-final! However, this is not the end. The next World Cup will come in four years’ time. England will again trumpet up its capabilities again and I will be a sucker for England again. England again will be my favourite team to win the World Cup, same as with all the other English fans!

It is hard to believe, but looking at the eagerness and enthusiasm shown by many towards the English team, I am sure England had been many people’s favourite team to win the Cup ever since 1966, year after year! Oh, God! Blow me down!

This World Cup final is disappointingly different from the past finals, at least to the fans who watch it on TV and other screens; no sound of the shrieking crowds, the chorus songs, the jeering whistles, the drums, the screams of applause and happiness when a team scores a goal. The screen watchers could only hear the bee like hums of South Africa’s vuvuzelas. The teams enter the field – vuvuzelas! A goal is scored – vuvuzelas! A rough tackle on the field – vuvuzelas! A penalty miss – vuvuzelas! A team wins the game – vuvuzelas! Finally, when the champions lift the Cup – vuvuzelas! Vuvuzelas are the real winners!