Haha, what a catchy title, but it's probably true, of all ppl, Sunny is the person who's least supportive when it comes to me going on solo trips, even my mum worries less than him.
Anyway, the day started perfectly, with me waking up an hour earlier, so no problem of chasing after train as i usually would.
And i managed to get the free wifi to work (finally) and blog from my pda on the train.
Btw, it's a 5 day trip to Edinburgh & other parts of Scotland, should be able to describe more on 31 on my way back, in the meantime, i shall just sit back and relax
Thursday, 27 March 2008
Thursday, 13 March 2008
It's almost a week since Malaysia's GE 12
Why did I write the post so late? Apart from the usual laziness creeping in, I guess I just want myself to cool down a little, and no jump to conclusions.
I was so excited on Saturday, went to the office, planning to do work. But got nothing done, because I'm just too anxious to follow the GE results, and compare notes with others.
I'm suddenly so concerned of Malaysian politics, I've learned more about the politicians in the past 2 weeks than the past 2 decades
No doubt, this will be one of the most important general election in Malaysian history, marking the commencement of a stronger opposition/alternative party or whatever you want to call them.
Although I didn't managed to vote, I still feel very very involved in this election. I've voted once, in 2004, however, I hardly knew what I was doing. Like most of the other people, Badawi's vow to combat corruption really looks appealing (I did believe him once, but we all know what happened after that) I msg-ed everyone on my IM list, to 'remind' them to go vote, only to find out >50% of my contacts are NOT registered to vote, very very dissapointing. Anyway, I verbally abused them a little, just to make sure that they will register in time for the next election. Most of the time, I did not ask them to vote for a particular party, or person, with just 1 exception. I lobbied everyone I know in Sg Siput, or have contacts in Sg Siput, so they would vote against Samy Vellu. Yes, that's how much I DESPISED him, a man that I've never met in person, nevertheless hated since I was little, when I see him talk rubbish on the TV. hated him even more when I got affected by MRR2 closure, and everytime the toll price increased
During that period of time, a lot of people (including my mother) asked me not to put too much hope on my little mission, because it is unlikely that people from a small town like Sg Siput would care too much outside their properly equipped town, which the largest town hall, not a single broken streetlamp or no holes on the road at all. But I went ahead, trying to convince them too, that voters from Sg Siput are not morons, surely they will empathise and re-consider their decisions once we explained to them what is HIS impact to the rest of the country. Does the result prove me right? Maybe, or maybe the 'Just change' slogan worked very well in the northern peninsular. Nevermind, the results are what matters
Well, am I pleased with the results? Yes, very pleased. It is all that I've asked for. I have 3 wishes before the election.
1) Denied BN's 2/3 majority - It really sounded impossible before the election, especially with the last minute withdrawal of indellible ink and postal voters and other things
2) Samy Vellu losing Sg Siput seat - I can't tell you how happy I was that he lost. I felt as though I've won the battle, although it was Jeyakumar's battle. I salute him, for putting up such a lengthy battle, and inspired by him, I was even ready to put up another fight when the next election comes. Sunny came up with this fantastic idea of registering ourselves within Sg Siput area, so that we can increase the opposing votes by 2 (loved him even more for being so supportive), although it is no longer necessary now
3) Tony Pua winning PJU parliamentary seat - I have nothing against CMF, but I just think Tony deserves an opportunity. So many have abandoned or given up Malaysia, as soon as they got a chance. But someone as talented as Tony decided to come back and contribute, how can we not give him a chance?
And yes, all 3 of my humble wishes came true! I sort of wished I make more wishes before that, such as Khairy lose as well etc
Apart from me, I believe many other Malaysian youngsters learned a lot in this election. How important it is to be politically concious, also the fact that, we should not give up on our country, because, WE are the ones who can make a difference. We should never blame it on the system, that there's nothing we can do about how the country works. We are part of the system, of course we could make a difference. It is indeed one of the most magical moment in my life, that there's hope, once again, that things do not have to be how it is. I'm inspired on 8 March 2008, are you inspired?
I saw a ray of light, although we know it is still far from a reasonably good political environment, at least we have make 1 significant step forward, and for that, it is worth celebrating.
p/s: I sort of regretted not holding my farewell drinks on 8 March instead, we could have celebrated this very meaningful victory with some drinks
I was so excited on Saturday, went to the office, planning to do work. But got nothing done, because I'm just too anxious to follow the GE results, and compare notes with others.
I'm suddenly so concerned of Malaysian politics, I've learned more about the politicians in the past 2 weeks than the past 2 decades
No doubt, this will be one of the most important general election in Malaysian history, marking the commencement of a stronger opposition/alternative party or whatever you want to call them.
Although I didn't managed to vote, I still feel very very involved in this election. I've voted once, in 2004, however, I hardly knew what I was doing. Like most of the other people, Badawi's vow to combat corruption really looks appealing (I did believe him once, but we all know what happened after that) I msg-ed everyone on my IM list, to 'remind' them to go vote, only to find out >50% of my contacts are NOT registered to vote, very very dissapointing. Anyway, I verbally abused them a little, just to make sure that they will register in time for the next election. Most of the time, I did not ask them to vote for a particular party, or person, with just 1 exception. I lobbied everyone I know in Sg Siput, or have contacts in Sg Siput, so they would vote against Samy Vellu. Yes, that's how much I DESPISED him, a man that I've never met in person, nevertheless hated since I was little, when I see him talk rubbish on the TV. hated him even more when I got affected by MRR2 closure, and everytime the toll price increased
During that period of time, a lot of people (including my mother) asked me not to put too much hope on my little mission, because it is unlikely that people from a small town like Sg Siput would care too much outside their properly equipped town, which the largest town hall, not a single broken streetlamp or no holes on the road at all. But I went ahead, trying to convince them too, that voters from Sg Siput are not morons, surely they will empathise and re-consider their decisions once we explained to them what is HIS impact to the rest of the country. Does the result prove me right? Maybe, or maybe the 'Just change' slogan worked very well in the northern peninsular. Nevermind, the results are what matters
Well, am I pleased with the results? Yes, very pleased. It is all that I've asked for. I have 3 wishes before the election.
1) Denied BN's 2/3 majority - It really sounded impossible before the election, especially with the last minute withdrawal of indellible ink and postal voters and other things
2) Samy Vellu losing Sg Siput seat - I can't tell you how happy I was that he lost. I felt as though I've won the battle, although it was Jeyakumar's battle. I salute him, for putting up such a lengthy battle, and inspired by him, I was even ready to put up another fight when the next election comes. Sunny came up with this fantastic idea of registering ourselves within Sg Siput area, so that we can increase the opposing votes by 2 (loved him even more for being so supportive), although it is no longer necessary now
3) Tony Pua winning PJU parliamentary seat - I have nothing against CMF, but I just think Tony deserves an opportunity. So many have abandoned or given up Malaysia, as soon as they got a chance. But someone as talented as Tony decided to come back and contribute, how can we not give him a chance?
And yes, all 3 of my humble wishes came true! I sort of wished I make more wishes before that, such as Khairy lose as well etc
Apart from me, I believe many other Malaysian youngsters learned a lot in this election. How important it is to be politically concious, also the fact that, we should not give up on our country, because, WE are the ones who can make a difference. We should never blame it on the system, that there's nothing we can do about how the country works. We are part of the system, of course we could make a difference. It is indeed one of the most magical moment in my life, that there's hope, once again, that things do not have to be how it is. I'm inspired on 8 March 2008, are you inspired?
I saw a ray of light, although we know it is still far from a reasonably good political environment, at least we have make 1 significant step forward, and for that, it is worth celebrating.
p/s: I sort of regretted not holding my farewell drinks on 8 March instead, we could have celebrated this very meaningful victory with some drinks
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
About giving up
I suddenly learnt something. Apparently most Malaysian who have lived abroad before would consider at some point, to give up their own country. Some people did eventually, some did not, and no, this post is not about racism, because we all know, there are plenty of bumiputras who gave up too. Question is why give up? and not give up?
There is this saying, that is crossing my mind over and over again
‘恨铁不成钢’
Based on the timing and everything, it's not hard to guess that all this came about due to the coming GE2008. What is so wrong with the system? That people would rather leave to start all over again, fitting into a culture that is not yourselve's, trying to call a new place 'home'. Not a lot of people do that, or should I say, not a lot of people apart from us do that.
I used to be quite proud, that we Malaysians can fit into any environment, at this young age, I have friends my age working all over the world, and I thought that is something to be proud of, until now, that I'm no longer sure.
What kind of country let their own talents move away so easily? You might say, the Philippines do that as well, don't they? Let's not forget that 10% of their GDP comes from remittance of the foreign workers income. I doubt we have this number, in fact, I'll be glad if the foreign income remitted is more than the personal funds used overseas (it's a totally different post if we go into government funds spent overseas), mainly to fund the tertiary education of the youngsters. Anyway, the philippinos that I know work overseas with a view to go back to re-unite with their families, while Malaysians intend to build their families overseas
Before this, I am so used to the mindset that we are 'Malaysian Malays', 'Malaysian Chinese' and 'Malaysian Indian', where Malaysian is the adjective of our ethinicity, and not the other way around. One might argue that is just jargons, doesn't mean much. However, we all know how we tag each other with the 'habit' tags, the classic being lazy, kiasu and liar respectively
I only learnt very recently that, it doesn't have to be like that, all this are not just politically wrong, but fundamentally wrong. Although our cultural roots are not in Malaysia, there is so many things that we developed within Malaysia, away from our so called 'cultural origin'. It is so wrong, when a MP ask non-bumputras to go back to their home country, Malaysia is our home country, not anywhere else.
What do you do? When you were being isolated by your peers? That, is the reason why people consider to give up, some fight (very little though), some just endure whatever that is pushed on them.
I certainly am not ready to give up, like it or not, this is the only place I could call home, and it will just be harder, to start over. I guess I have to endure for the time being, and fight back whenever I can. I could not stop others to give up, because their concerns are totally valid. Apart from not giving up myself, and motivate others not to give up as well, I really do not know what else I could do.
It is kind of a pessimistic post, isn't it? The whole political scene is very demoralising, I just felt that I'm hoping for a miracle this Saturday
There is this saying, that is crossing my mind over and over again
‘恨铁不成钢’
Based on the timing and everything, it's not hard to guess that all this came about due to the coming GE2008. What is so wrong with the system? That people would rather leave to start all over again, fitting into a culture that is not yourselve's, trying to call a new place 'home'. Not a lot of people do that, or should I say, not a lot of people apart from us do that.
I used to be quite proud, that we Malaysians can fit into any environment, at this young age, I have friends my age working all over the world, and I thought that is something to be proud of, until now, that I'm no longer sure.
What kind of country let their own talents move away so easily? You might say, the Philippines do that as well, don't they? Let's not forget that 10% of their GDP comes from remittance of the foreign workers income. I doubt we have this number, in fact, I'll be glad if the foreign income remitted is more than the personal funds used overseas (it's a totally different post if we go into government funds spent overseas), mainly to fund the tertiary education of the youngsters. Anyway, the philippinos that I know work overseas with a view to go back to re-unite with their families, while Malaysians intend to build their families overseas
Before this, I am so used to the mindset that we are 'Malaysian Malays', 'Malaysian Chinese' and 'Malaysian Indian', where Malaysian is the adjective of our ethinicity, and not the other way around. One might argue that is just jargons, doesn't mean much. However, we all know how we tag each other with the 'habit' tags, the classic being lazy, kiasu and liar respectively
I only learnt very recently that, it doesn't have to be like that, all this are not just politically wrong, but fundamentally wrong. Although our cultural roots are not in Malaysia, there is so many things that we developed within Malaysia, away from our so called 'cultural origin'. It is so wrong, when a MP ask non-bumputras to go back to their home country, Malaysia is our home country, not anywhere else.
What do you do? When you were being isolated by your peers? That, is the reason why people consider to give up, some fight (very little though), some just endure whatever that is pushed on them.
I certainly am not ready to give up, like it or not, this is the only place I could call home, and it will just be harder, to start over. I guess I have to endure for the time being, and fight back whenever I can. I could not stop others to give up, because their concerns are totally valid. Apart from not giving up myself, and motivate others not to give up as well, I really do not know what else I could do.
It is kind of a pessimistic post, isn't it? The whole political scene is very demoralising, I just felt that I'm hoping for a miracle this Saturday
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