Thursday, September 15, 2011

A Malaysia Day like no other


There was never Malaysia Day. Only until recently, Malaysia Day would seen to be more important than 31 August 1957, the independence day of Malaysia.

Malaysia Day however marks an even more important event. That the two Borneo states, Sabah and Sarawak are now a part of Peninsular Malaysia. On 16 September 1963, Malaysia was truly formed.

But a day before this historical day, there was even more news to rejoice in. The PM of Malaysia, perhaps under extreme pressure, has finally repealed the the Internal Security Act, the Emergency Declarations, the Banishment Act and perhaps more freedom under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 without the annual review of the licences for printing presses. Good news. But long overdue.

After past events of Ops Lalang back in 1987 when press licences of mainstream newspapers were revoked and these presses returned without independence anymore, the extensive use of ISA during these times, during the events of Hindraf in 2008, the use of the Emergency Ordinance not too long back in the events pre Bersih 2.0, and many more which I may not be privy of, It's time these draconian laws were to be abolished.

At least for now, the repeal of ISA seems imminent. Long overdue indeed. Not only has the opposition been fighting for its repeal, NGO's alike and even the Malaysian Bar saw the need to reform arbitrary laws such as these.

Of course, the question would begging to be answered would be, why now? Because the PM fears that he will lose the next and upcoming elections and these laws would then be detrimental to him? Or does he finally see the need for reform (seriously....you don't just open your eyes all of a sudden when things were always blatantly in your face). We won't know the reasons in truth, but at least for now the move is a welcomed one.

Of course, laws on internal security would be enacted. Two new laws in fact as pronounced by our de facto law minister, Nazri Aziz will be tabled, drawing ideas from laws enacted in UK and the US, eg, the Patriot Act post Sept 11. Lets just hope these laws will no longer be used according to the whims and fancies of the government. We place that hope for better and fair legislation. But we, as the Rakyat should always be on guard and to voice our grievances whenever injustice is seen to happen. It will happen at some point, but I take comfort in the fact that the Rakyat is more vocal about social justice in an exciting era such as this.

All in all, as was earlier said, the move is a good one and perhaps makes this Malaysia Day even more significant than the rest as the fight to abolish ISA has finally crystallize. Indeed the word 'repeal' is so much better sounding than 'review' under these circumstances.

So, its a good day for changes, when changes are long overdue.

Happy Malaysia Day people. Let the good times roll and keep up the good fight!

my only other beef is...what of the Emergency Ordinance?

Monday, September 12, 2011

Love

Love is something I seldom blog about. Not because I think love is for sissies or that I do not respect the idea of love, but often times love involves emotions. :)

But to say that, would be selfish of me, cause that is my perception of love. But love in all it's forms transcends everything else. :)
It transcends prejudice, it transcends hate, it transcends pride. And how beautiful then Love is.
From the love of two young lovers, two elderly couples, the love of a father and a mother towards their children, and the innocent love of children towards all things pure, to the love of a brother to another brother and a sister to another sister or vice versa, uncorrupted feelings towards one another and the love of friends towards one another.
How wonderful love is.
And here is where I quote 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 from NKJV (New King James Version, my personal favourite), love is all these :-

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself and is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails..."(there is more actually, but I shall stop at this point)

and yet it is said in 1 Corinthians 13:13 :- "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love."

:) Sounds easy? No. Love is never easy. But if you take away its biblical context and see the verses as they are, as though they were some circular message, then you will see that this is the love that is perfect :). As men we are fallen, but it does not, in any way, deny us the fact that we should aim towards perfect love. Be it friends, family, special ones, animals. :)

The greatest of these is Love :)



Saturday, September 3, 2011

A Birthday Wish to Mom

Wow, first and foremost, I must say I'm not impressed with the new Blogger interface. Maybe I'm just nostalgic or just to lazy to adapt to something new. Maybe I should adapt. Oh well, Doesn't really matter which interface I use. If change is imminent, then change it will be. But not today.

Today, my mom celebrates her 63rd birthday. This is one way of wishing her I suppose. An elaborate post. Well, we only have one mothers in our lifetimes and that's why we treasure them most. My mom, has been a constant reminder of what patience, sacrifice and grace is to me. To me and my sis. And above all, love, which probably embodies the above traits that I just mentioned.

If I were to be given a chance to choose any mother in the world, I wouldn't want that because I'm blessed enough to have a mom such as mine.
She has been, and I'm being literal here, been by my side a lot, especially so much so when I was younger. You see I was quite a sickly kid and asthma attacks were very much part of my annual calendar. And this asthma attacks often lead me to the hospital for daily occupancy. That bad huh. But, you see, even in her busy working schedule, my mom would be there to look after me. Day and night. At least when she does not have to work, she will be there to look after me, and these are the memories that I'm most fond of. I mean not the fact that I'm in the hospital, but that my mom was always there for me. And every time I was discharged from the hospital, toys I did not get, but my mom would get me those picture cards I'm so fond of. (You see, I was quite and imaginative an artsy freak when i was a kid).

And as we were growing up, I remembered my mom trying to give us tuition. Yeah. She actually read the Alam dan Manusia textbooks and tried to teach us. I mean it worked. So i was proud to say that in my primary education, I wasn't as privileged as those who attended tuition, simply because I didn't need to. My mom taught us and it saved us a hell lot of money. HAHaahaha! And plus, I was quite a bright kid then. Back then at least.


Anyway, as we were growing up, Mom say the need for finances for education of both my sis and I. I suppose it was a difficult decision for both my parents but she decided to ply her trade in Singapore because of the superior currency exchange compared to our RM. That is perhaps one of the biggest sacrifices any parent can do for their kids. Of course, it also gave us a chance to go to Singapore to visit her and well, do some shopping on the sidelines, ahaha. But that's a different tale altogether. She was a nurse in Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore and that's also where we hear stories of how Singaporeans are not too fond of Malaysians. Well, not all I suppose but in the working world, perhaps its always harder. But even so, my Mom went against the odds and came out strong :)


Well, the bottomline is if I can sum up what my mom is, i would say that she is a
superwoman. It's not easy juggling work and having to take care of her children but she did just that.
There are no perfect mothers in this world. But a mother's love is no less perfect :)

"Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children" ~William Makepeace Thackeray. This was quoted in the Crow. And what a message it brought. :)

I wanted to wait for Mother's Day to write this post. But alas, mother's day is a tad too far and it's my mom's special day. So, special blogpost for her in that regard :)

So, to my mom on her special day. Happy birthday mom! We love you a lot, back then, now and for the days to come :)