The recent fiasco over the late Moorthy affair in Malaysia is a dire warning to all non-Muslim Malaysians. Be extremely careful what you say or some idiotic Muslim can intepret what you said to mean you professed to be a Muslim and on your death this idiot could go and swear an affidavit saying you are one. Then the equally idiotic courts, especially the Syariah Court, can doom your family to abandoning their rights to give you a decent burial. As a non-Muslim Malaysian, you stand to be robbed right down to your grave.

 

Last night our office hosted a party for the building – this is a suburban commercial building, not a CBD building, so it’s of a thoroughly manageable scale – and in preparation for this party, work came to a halt by about 2.30pm. We started doing the various things we have been assigned. Andre and I went to a bottle shop to pick up some light beers (picked up J. Boag’s Premium Light) and some ice. When we returned, I did a little bit of work after packing the ice and beers into the eskies, before Lynette (boss’ wife) asked me to follow her to pick up a few platters from Safeway’s at The Glen. This was almost 4pm so work was well and truly halted. At 5pm, David Sharrock (the Boss) opened a bottle of red – a Coonawarra blend of Cab/Shiraz – so we took off. It was almost 8pm when we left office, but because it gets dark now only at close to 9pm, we didn’t feel the lateness. What we felt was that the Christmas/Holiday mood has truly kicked in.

Today is kiddo’s last day at school. It is supposed to be a day of fun and excitement. She brought a stack of Christmas cards with her, a gift for her class teacher (Mrs Jan Mattingly) and her winter jumper (a special Year 6 version with names of all Year 6 kids embossed) for her friends to sign. She brought a special texter for that.

Against these very high spirits a little dampener worked its way up: A few days earlier, a classmate’s mother died. She had been ill for a long time. Emil Dubovsky is the class soccer wizard and a popular kid. He has a younger brother in Year 3. On graduation night last Monday (19/12/05) there was quiet acknowledgement of the tragedy when Emil’s name was called out.

Last night, kiddo brought back a letter from what appears to be a Year 3 representative. It was a collection notice – someone wanted to buy a hamper for Emil’s family. Kiddo wanted to give her weekly allowance for that but as usual, took our silent response to be what it was – unenthusiastic and, generally a “no”.

It was strictly, a non-response so this morning in the car she asked me again. I tried to explain to her like so: We cannot respond to unplanned and spontaneous calls for charity as the constant streams of requests, if responded to, would bankrupt us. Furthermore, there is nothing to suggest the Dubovsky family is a needy one. The collection is very likely nothing more than an initiative borne out of someone’s spur of the moment act of kindness, probably someone from Year 3 and very likely a parent who was close to one or the both of Emil’s parents.

This is difficult for us only because kiddo is such a softie at heart and her kind generosity invariably stirs her into wanton acts of charity. That is not necessarily a bad thing but our (Theresa and my) oriental overseas-Chinese tradition treats such unguarded reaction as highly imprudent with very real hair-depleting results.

Of course all those thoughts were in my mind but as always morning is a difficult time (especially before the second cup of coffee kicks in) to articulate all that. What came out of my mouth was instead: “Do you really want to give? You don’t have to you know.” I sensed immediately kiddo’s disappointment with that and after a short haggling session I gave her a small change from my key-holder pouch. It was a little $2 coin. She took that, left the car and shoved it into her pocket. I know she feels she is not doing as much as she wants to. She walked, with a slightly noticeable lack of spring in her steps, towards the school gate.

Again, where oh where, is the sweet spot of balance between teaching my child to exercise a generous and giving spirit and acting prudently and wisely with her resources? Was I wrong to restrain her as I did?  It is after all, Christmas time and didn’t the party last night re-kindled any such giving spirits?

 

I have been assisting my boss with a trade insurance claim. This afternoon the client dropped in. Gave me a wad of invoices. I had requested them, to reply to the other solicitor’s request – all part of an informal discovery process.

I’ve just gone through the first of 3 piles and voila! Know what? There are Chinaman operators of trucking services in Melbourne as well. Not Chinaman as in Chinese operators but Chinaman as in style and documentation. Undated-and-unnumbered-invoices-which-are-not-labelled-as-invoices-so-one-isn’t-sure-whether-it-is-a-delivery-docket-or-an-invoice-or-a-statement-and-all-lumped-into-one-so-that-you-can-totally-bamboozled-trying-to-unravel-it-before-reducing-it-into-an-intelligible-form-to-avoid-looking-like-either-a-complete-idiot-or-a-complete-slob-when-the-documents-are-delivered-to-the-other-side.

I can use with less litigation work…

Theresa and Elysia tried one of these puzzles a few nights ago. The next day, I was wondering around The Glen shopping centre when I saw this little stall with electronic Sudoku handheld consoles. That was after I had seen a Sudoku puzzle book in Angus and Robertson’s. I guess there is a mini craze for this new Rubik’s Cube successor called Sudoku. I might try this out when I have my lonely break of a Christmas holiday starting in a week’s time. I wonder if this craze has started long ago enough for it to be googled successfully. Australia used to catch the tail-ends of crazes or trends but perhaps this is no longer true. When I asked Theresa’s brother in Malaysia if he has heard of Sudoku, he was as clued in as Errol Flynn would be about PS2 or Xbox. He did manage to find a picture of the electronic game version however although he has never actually seen one. So I guess if indeed it has caught craze proportions it hasn’t reached Malaysia either. I’d take a bet that it would as it is not half bad. Maybe it would be available in the cyber world to be downloaded as a Palm OS game or some equivalent mode. Maybe I’ll get this as a Christmas present for someone…

 

This morning Theresa and I chatted briefly about me trying to find a cheap flight to KL to be with her and Elysia for Christmas. Last night, just before leaving office, we received an email from a friend with a link to a site supposedly providing cheap flights so I thought I could take a look and try to get lucky. As it turned out, it was a Singapore based sight for Singaporeans travelling out of Singapore to destinations including Malaysia and Australia. In short – it wasn’t what we were looking for. I surfed a bit anyway, hoping to land something good. My target – get to KL or Singapore for under $1,000.00 return. For this time of the year that sounded well impossible and it was. Malaysian Airlines offers the lowest fare and that was close to $1,400.00. Plus taxes. Singapore Airlines had been cheaper about 1 – 2 weeks ago but even then it was almost $1,300.00 plus taxes. Supposed cheap airlines like Emirates was no where to be seen in my list of ascending prices. A fraction of my mind still thinks in terms of ringgit, especially when it is linked to things Malaysian, as this trip obviously is. With taxes, this comes up to $4,500 (in ringgit) easily and this is just too astronomical for a 2 week trip. $91.00 gives me a few days in the MCG watching the Proteas taking on Ricky Ponting’s men and that sounds like a lot more value for my dollar.

After deciding yet again that Melbourne is where I would be spending Christmas this year – alone – Theresa sent me, some 2 hours later, an article saying Malaysian Airlines was going to increase its fares yet again. When someone like Qantas or Singapore Airlines says it is upping its fares you know some genuine cause was the reason. Fuel hike, or other factors leading to either escalating costs or falling revenue or some other good economic and business reasons. But when Malaysian Airline decides on a fare hike, the immediate reaction would be “They would, wouldn’t they? They need to pay off some inflated contracts or consultants or recoup some heavy duty losses from either appalling management or corrupt practices.” Hundred of millions of losses mean they have no choice if they wish to stay afloat. One hopes however that this would not backfire and result in even bigger losses.

I made this entry (see below) about 6 months ago. That’s the beauty of keeping a diary – or in webspeak – a blog. I get to reflect on my thoughts and feelings at a particular time in the past. In warm summer mornings of recent days the battles with the cold have become a distant memory. This is accentuated by the holiday mood currently descending on the office. This morning over an office breakfast, the talk isn’t of usual business but of the party the office is hosting for the building. Then it was about the Kris Kringle as the little envelopes were being dished out. It was a very light hearted atmosphere indeed. Certainly the mood is considerably different from that of that cold Monday morning in June.

So have things gotten better since then? Yes and no, I guess. My mother’s maxim of “Everything is fine once you get used to it” is proving true. No matter how unpleasant an experience is, repeated occurrences make them less intolerable, so much so that reversed good experiences become absolute and real God-sends.

Theresa and Elysia are particularly excited about their coming trip to Malaysia. They leave in about a week and they have bought a suitcase full of Christmas presents for almost everyone in the family. I just got an email from her asking me to get a good bottle of red for my brother. I am just glad that they have something nice to look forward to. Me?

Well I have a few alternatives. Firstly, I can go watch the Test Cricket match between Australia and South Africa at the MCG starting Boxing Day. It is scheduled as a 5-day test, the second in a series of 3. That should take care of 1 week. Secondly, I can take a drive to Sydney. The drive there and back would take 2 days and if I stay say 3 or 4 days, that is also 1 week taken care of. Thirdly I can just take short daily drives out of Melbourne into the country. Grampians, the Macedon, Echuca and Warrnambool are some of the areas I have in mind. The only one which makes sense (in the context of being a temporal lone single person) for me right now is the cricket. That would be nice. The alternatives would be better with the family with me. Yes, I think it will be the cricket. Howzat?

 

 

Monday, June 27, 2005

Brave the Cold and … Mondayitis

Mondayitis of an “orange alert level”, I’m suffering today. I think. It’s the start of the school holidays, which will go on for 2 weeks. In Malaysia, this would have heralded a holiday trip to somewhere like Penang. It would have meant a few days together with the family in a beautiful sunny, warm and beautiful beach resort. It would have also meant a few days for Elysia to spend with her favourite cousins, Nicole and Isaac. We are however, in Melbourne in the middle of winter. The wife woke up this morning bemoaning the act of waking up to a 4 degree cold morning. She moaned and asked “why?” in a tone which made me wonder why we are here and not in Penang enjoying relatives, beaches and great food. About 2 hours after ruminating and aching the wife’s sentiments, I went into Elysia’s bedroom, told her I was leaving for work and another dagger pierced my heart. She was going to be alone for a few hours before I came to pick her and send her to Auntie Hooi’s. In Malaysia, she would have Lini (our Indonesian maid) look after her, or even better, she would have spent a few days with us in Penang. So why are we here… I keep telling myself my heart says to remain in Malaysia but my head tells me to move Down Under. I love Malaysia, but I don’t think that is the place for me and my family in the long run. Yes, yes – in the long run we are all dead, so said Keynes. For now however, I have to think these winter blues will subside to be replaced by a glorious spring, where the wife would be excited to be in beautiful Melbourne. I have to remind myself that after the morning cold thawed, when the limbs limbered up, we’d be glad to smell and breathe the crisp cold air instead of the muggy sweltering Malaysian humidity. I have to remind myself that those Penang holidays always come to an end, and we would be back in our office facing the corporate and business worlds of Malaysia, with its overwhelming corruption and bureaucracy making everything revolting. Invariably, Elysia leaves her cousins in Penang to return to a Malaysian school which will take her deeper into the forests of racially based progress in an increasingly limp education system. I have to remind myself that having an Indonesian maid for years had handicapped Elysia’s ability to look after herself better, something we have had to remedy for the last 9 months. Yes, the familiarity of Malaysia gave us much security. We need to rebuild that sense of security, here in Melbourne. We have taken the first steps, and must continue to strive on. Brave the winter mornings. Brave the absence of close relatives. Brave the new surroundings. And…brave Mondayitis.

posted by teetwoh | 9:42 AM

 

A client came in to collect documents following completion of various matters we did for her and her family company. She has been a very nice client and true to form, she brought a bottle of wine along with her. I don’t know yet what vintage this was, because I felt it was something the office should share together, especially given that the office Christmas lunch is only a little more than a week away. Anyway after some courteous exchanges between the boss and I he (the boss) agreed to take the wine for the lunch next week. Anyway this blog isn’t about whether an employee is entitled to keep such gifts to himself or herself. It’s about what a nice feeling it is to be given something like that. We charged her good legal fees for the work we did so that was our reward. So this bottle of red isn’t reward for that – it was a gesture of goodwill, perhaps in the context of the Christmas season. This is not the norm, not even in Malaysia. There, the supplier of services is the usual giver of gifts, not the consumer of such services. The client therefore usually receives, not gives, gifts. The lawyer receives gifts not from the client, but from supplier of goods and services the lawyer consumes, such as his landlord, his stationery suppliers, etc. Sometimes we (lawyers in Malaysia) received gifts from clients but that is only when they needed us to be performing at optimum level. These gifts were some sort of incentives, over and above the fees they paid us. This present client has no reason to be giving such a gift – their matter has concluded. It was therefore a genuine gesture of appreciation, which is truly cherished. Unfortunately I am not able to disclose this client’s name. Thank you so much. You really made my day.

For two weekends in a row, Theresa lead the charge as we went on a hunting expedition. All three of us braved the thick jungle of Christmas shoppers and the preceding car traffic and plunged head-on into the war zone within the walls of shopping malls and departmental stores. Theresa was single minded in her mission, nipping in and out of battle zones (for mean, women and children, in departments such as clothing, toys and books). Elysia was a happy trooper, content to admire the scenes and stopping by whatever stalls which catches her fancy. She is not so battle fit however, as she requires frequent stops for refreshments. Me – I was a battle worn veteran. I had been, in my student days, been through the antipodean pre-Christmas rush before. In fact, I recall being on the enemy’s side, at the other end serving impatient customers. For the 2-3 days running up to and including Christmas eve especially, the rush reaches a crescendo. In the fishmarkets in Sydney (Pyrmont) where I worked may years ago, Christmas eve heralds a battle that begins at 2.30am. I kid you not – we were in the markets at 2.30am, and often, we start the day by hopping onto a truck to head to the airport and drag a truckload of prawns and lobsters back to the shop before 4.30am. The shop usually opens at 5.30am and by the time it is 6.30am, the crowds would be maybe 15-20 thick. We would work non-stop until maybe 3pm. By the time we close at 3.30pm, we were all usually in a drunken stupor state of mind – legs numbed from being more than 15 hours on the feet, and too tired to even count the money and bonus we expected from this wild experience.

So yesterday,  I was just following Theresa and making sure as she zips around, I kept an eye on Elysia as she makes her frequent stops. I acted as a lookout man to ensure I called out to Elysia to “move on” or risk being left behind by the charging sergeant. Christmas this year somehow doesn’t excite me as it used to, probably because my troops would be leaving me… I dread to coming loneliness over the Christmas period. Maybe their absence would allow me to fully concentrate on the meaning of Christmas – of what a tragic event it really was, instead of one purely of happiness.

Christmas is indeed, a culmination of a war between the consequences of sin and salvation. If I can grasp that in its purest form once more, it could still be a great Christmas. With or without my troops.

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