Month: February 2008

Dozy after Lunch


I had lunch with a church friend today and we went to that chap fun place around the corner – the one with tons of customers on most days because it is a cheapish place with okay food. For under 8 bucks (7.80) you get plain or fried rice or a choice of fried noodles (bee hoon or kway teow) and 2 dishes. They heap the lot onto a large flat dish, plonk a fork and spoon next to it, and away you go. The problem with this place, apart from gradually salting yourself to death, is the quantity – makes you dozy after. Sort of like a banana leaf event in KL.

A bunch of ex-colleagues in KL used to have a weekly ritual of gorging ourselves on similarly sized servings of rice and curries, served on fresh banana leafs. It’s a thali except it potentially has an unholy quantity of meats.

When you arrive in a thali restaurant and you have found a seat, a large piece of clean and fresh banana leaf is placed in front of you. You are then asked what you wanted with your thali (which is basically an unlimited quantity of steamed rice with 3-4 varieties of overcooked vegetables, condiments like chutneys and pickles and curries). One typically chooses from a variety of chicken, fish (or seafood but woe betide your pocket if you chose seafood other than fish) or lamb. No beef or pork is served. I usually go for fried fish which like the vegetable, tend to be over-cooked but thanks to the spices used, remain very delicious.

I sometimes go overboard and choose a fish and a chicken and when that happens, one thing leads to another and before you knew it, you’ve eaten too much of everything. But more of that later.

Once you have ordered your meat (or fish), the busboys come in rapid succession. The first comes with a bucket of rice and heaps diabetes inducing quantity of steamed white rice on your piece of banana leaf. He generally doesn’t stop till you ask him to. He is incredulous if you make him stop before a manly quantity is attained but gives you a dirty look if you don’t stop him after he thinks you’ve gone past being manly and have crossed to being a pig. About 2 seconds after he is done someone else comes with a bucket caddy filled with usually overcooked vegetables. You’re expected to have a lot less of these than the rice but in my case, I usually have more of these. This compounds my problems as these busboys think my unmanly behaviour suggested by the quantity of rice requested is affirmed by the large quantities of vegetables asked for.

I usually correct this misperception by the curries I asked for. When the busboys with yet another set of buckets arrive, I go to town and ask for dhal, fish curry, chicken curry, coconut chutney, tomato chutney and the tongue busting sambals on top of it all. Sometimes they have the pickled whole little green chillies and I always wanted those too. Lots of them.

The problem with having too much curries is you invariably end up with heaps of rice to go with the curries. Hence it is always a gut busting exercise – you constantly upped one part of the meal to balance another. The ritual finishes with a cup of tea, presumably to expedite the settling and digestive process. Actually it only adds to the bulk of matter sitting in the guts. By the time we track back to the office, 2 things happen. The first is that you have a hangover-like effect with a bloated sense and the second is, because you ate a banana leaf with your bare (usually right) hand, you have curry-smelling fingers for the rest of the day. Actually an obvious third thing happens – you invariably lose interest in your work for at least the first hour after lunch.

After each sleep-inducing heavy meal, I think of those banana leaf rice lunches. What indulgence, what sheer joy of indulgence.

Chine


On Saturday we meant to take the parents of a good mate of mine, to lunch. We ended up going to restaurant near their house and his parents ended up paying for that lunch. It was a little embarrassing for us, because we had been the ones to organise this and suddenly we found ourselves becoming the guests instead. One of my mate’s young sons had wanted to go to the toilet so I took him there. When I came back that little boy’s grandfather had taken away the billing slip (it was a yum-cha lunch). It could well have been a ploy between grandfather, father and that little 2-year old to deprive us of the chance to treat them to lunch and if so I should have been on to it because that little rascal had been going to the toilet every 5 minutes.
Anyway the lunch was very good – it was at the Taipan restaurant in Doncaster East and the service was prompt and courteous which was a welcomed change for a Chinese restaurant in Melbourne.
I wonder why Chinese restaurants have such notoriously bad service. The waiters and waitresses rarely smile, get visibly upset when you ask for things and often throw you a repartee which is curt and rude and unwelcomed. I guess many put up with it either because that’s how waiters and waitresses behaved in Chinese restaurants all over the world or that the food is often very good and cheaper than in other restaurants.

I often find it very unacceptable however and on many occasions, have made my displeasures known. We once went to the Jarrah Room on Spencer Street just across the street from the station. It was shockingly bad service. The waiter was pushing us around, taking our stuff and chucking it on the table and was ordering us to make way to let them put in more tables, when the restaurant got a bit crowded!! Of course I didn’t budge and they had to settle for a very unhappy but stubborn customer plonked in the middle of their path but if only they behaved better throughout and asked politely it would have been a non-issue with us. If you are living in Melbourne and are reading this – avoid the Jarrah Room on Spencer Street like a plague. The food is nothing to write home about and you’d get much service in a funeral parlour run by Dennis Wise.

It is however, very different with Vietnamese restaurants. Maybe it is just a trait with these Hong Kong or China trained waiting staff and that is just normal behaviour for them. We visit Vietnamese restaurants frequently and rarely ever faced such problems. There’s a shop in the Centro at The Glen which you should also avoid like a plague – this is the “Udon”. The food is very ordinary but God help you if you are served by a small sharp-faced lady in particular. She is in a perpetually fouled mood and she just shows you that foul mood without any attempt to sugar coat it. If ever you needed something other than what they habitually provide, she will snap and let you know in no uncertain terms, that you are out of line. I had my last meal there many many months ago and it would take an extremely hungry me with no other choice before I go there ever again.

On the other hand like I said earlier, Vietnamese places are often much better behaved. Take for example this place in Glen Waverley called The Proud Peacock. The food is reasonably priced, it has a few gems on its menu (try the deep fried whole flounder with spicy sauce) and the service is almost always extremely good. It is almost always very busy but we have never had bad attitude shown us by any of their waiters or waitresses. Tress and I like this place very much and kiddo too, is slowly coming round to liking it. As a result of the fantastic efforts the place constantly dishes out, we have come to even be friends with the proprietor, who is a young, hardworking and ambitious lady.

My mate’s parents however, appear to enjoy eating at home as opposed to eating out. The mum was a bit quiet during lunch but after that, when we went to their house for a visit and catch-up, she opened up and was very chatty. She was definitely more comfortable there and enjoyed the company more than at the restaurant. They are returning to Malaysia in a few days and would be away from my mate’s 3 young boys. These boys would miss their grandparents, who are in their mid-80’s. Even though they travelled business class, the trip must have been made with heaps of efforts and I don’t know if they would want to come again. We met them again on Tuesday night, in my mate’s home. That could well have been our last opportunity to interact with them.
 

Simpsonesque


Not too long ago kiddo was watching the Simpsons’ movie and I joined her. I used to frown at her for watching too many episodes of the Simpsons because frankly, while I am no prude and Homer Simpson would much prefer beer and TV to sex, you’d have to say Homer Simpson is nevertheless not the sort of role model you’d want your kids to have too much exposure to. I am aware it is a cleverly written series and is usually maddeningly witty. James Brooks is a stalwart TV producer and churns out only the most consistently high quality stuff. Somehow, as clever and funny as the Simpsons series are, it didn’t strike me as the sort of TV I’d be comfortable letting kids watch too much of.

Maybe I am being prudish to a degree. I did laugh at many parts of the movie and I have been having less issues with kiddo watching the series since, especially as it comes on at 6pm on weekdays and I’m almost always still at work then.

You’d never think it possible but Homer does come up with the most profound statements at times. He probably doesn’t appreciate the fact of course (that he has said something profound) but his philosophy of life is just about spot on. I mean how can you fault a guy whose only flaw is an undying love for beer and doughnuts? Even if it rules everything else he does in life…

In the movie, he said something to the effect that all he’d ever wanted to do was to curl up at night beside Marg at the end of each day. On Sunday night it was a bit chilly (for a summer night – it was probably around 13-14 deg and we were still only wearing shorts) and as we curled up on the couch under a blanket, I thought H Simpson had nailed it again.

Even though I am enjoying my current role at work now a lot more than my previous two roles, you’d think surely there would still be niggling issues at times. Someone once said your first 3-6 months in a job are your honeymoon months – after that you’d have the ugly sides rained on you, warts and all. It’s a bit like the joke which made its rounds in cyberspace some time back, where Microsoft appeared like heaven in a recruitment drive but is really like hell once you accept their offer and go to work. Someone recently adapted it to apply to the BN government in Malaysia – during campaign period you’d think they are like heaven, but once elected they make your life hell.

Well my honeymoon period ended a long time ago but recently, more and more issues have come up at work. They are all purely work related and I am still enjoying my work but the increasingly long hours and the relentless surfacing of legal related matters (thus swamping us in the Legal department unceasingly) has made life more anxious and I have started worrying about stuff at work a lot more. Since I returned from our holidays in Malaysia I have not left work early (except when I had to pick kiddo up after her school camp) and the late nights and frequent weekend work have added up to make life at work a little less enjoyable.

This past weekend has been especially bad. Last Thursday and Friday saw the legal department caught in the middle of what’s akin to a mini turf war between a departmental head and some other senior management personnel and yours truly was smacked in the middle. It has caused me grief right through the weekend.
In the midst of this work stress, as I curled up next to Tress in front of the TV on Sunday night, suddenly H Simpson sounded like Khalil Gibran with his glorious words of wisdom. No matter how miserable I am or no matter how much turmoil there is around me, only I can take away the moments of love, warmth and enjoyment which I’m blessed with.
Earlier that day Tress suggested we drove into the city after church, to drop into Ikea at Richmond. We had talked about picking up the odds and ends of household items like spice jars, water tumblers, squeegees, etc as well as look for a larger dining table to host more meals for more people in our house. As we walked around the typically humongous shopping floors of Ikea, my mind was on work (of the office type as well as the mountain of clothes at home waiting for me to iron and the dry cleaning to be picked up) so I stayed very quiet. I then decided that as I was going to spend the couple of hours or so at Ikea with my wife and kid I should decide to spend it positively.

I started talking rubbish with the both of them, throwing flippant lines and generally behaving in a more glib way as we offered our respective views on the virtues of rectangular versus oblong dining tables and techniques of opening up extendable pieces. We enjoyed ourselves more I thought, and the drive home, though fraught with detours arising from a combination of road closures and unfamiliarity with detoured routes, was fun as I made a fool of myself while queuing behind lollipop men.

I made a choice to be happy with my family. I thought it helped. I suddenly remembered how miserable my brother, sisters and I were as children whenever our father was angry or miserable. I was reminded again of how much we can influence our family’s state of happiness by just being happy or miserable ourselves and often, whether we were happy or miserable can be a matter of choice.

On Sunday night I made another choice – to cherish that moment with Tress. We sat on the couch and watched “Sons and Daughter” (with Sally Field and Calista what’s her name – that Ally McBeal girl who broke up Harrison Ford’s hitherto strong marriage) with intermittent switching of channels to catch up with the cricket score between Australia and India (yes, they are STILL playing – this summer, as far as cricket goes, feels interminable). Right through, I was conscious of how blessed I am. It was a bit strange because the thoughts about issues at work were constantly present but I was able to be calm and relatively not unhappy at the same time, because I chose to. I think that was possible because firstly, things fell into a better perspective when I considered what my work means in eternity. My work includes taking care of family and that means doing what I can to make them happier. Knowing God will take care of both me and the family goes a long way to make that happen. And, I think the glass of wine helped too.
H Simpson must however take the greater share of credits. Like him, often what I want to do is to simply curl up next to my Marg at the end of each day. He said it without any pretension because it was true for him. Marg really did make things worthwhile for him and he actually loved her. My Forest Hill might as well be Springfield. Thankfully my Marg has a more acceptable hairdo. That aside, my Marg looks heaps better too. But all the same, thanks Homer. You’re a genius.

————————————————- 

Work really does define a man. Over the weekend I saw this clearly played out. The contrast between 2 families I know is really stark.

One is a close mate. His business in Malaysia is generating sufficient income to make work here unnecessary. All he needs to do is to periodically return to ensure various matters are properly attended to. While here however, his time is spent helping his wife take care of his young children, keeping the home in good condition and occasionally catching up with his mates. He still puts in a fair bit of work when he is looking after his young family and pottering around the (considerably large) house to keep it in a good state.

Such work however, is not work as we commonly understand it. It is certainly not work as he has understood it through his adult life in Malaysia. It is also not work as I understand it, unfortunately. That is of course inaccurate and work is whatever God places in our path to do. If it yields an income of any sort which puts food on the table, well and good and it accords with our common understanding of what work is all about. We have to however, come to an acceptance of work as something which God wants us to do, not what we think ought to be.

That can be a very difficult lesson especially if the world looks at us differently if we are not doing work as it expects us to.

This mate of mine has not looked his usual positive and jovial self. While I see his happiness and hear his glowing accounts of the time spent with his children, I also sense a subdued spirit – one that is facing a difficult time and is struggling to adapt. He does however, appear to be adapting so that was good to see.

The other family I know less well. The man found a job and has been working for about a couple of weeks now. I saw in him a man who is more at ease, more settled and less subdued. Because I know him less well, I cant have a mental comparison of what he used to be like, in Malaysia. All I see is someone who is more at ease with himself and his surroundings, compared to my mate. Work defines a man, I guess. If only man see work the same way I think God sees it.

———————————————————————— 

What if BN Loses?


My google starting page has 3 blog feeds, 2 of which are maintained for Kit Siang and Jeff Ooi respectively. I thought they have been maintained fairly well until about 2 days ago. Suddenly the updates were less frequent, I feel. It must be their business with campaign activities.

Someone mentioned in an email yesterday, that in over a week since parliament was dissolved for the forthcoming general elections, she has yet to meet a single person who has voiced support for the ruling coalition, BN.

Maybe it is the crowd she hangs out with. Maybe not, because she is a businesswoman running an IT company with a wide ranging contacts. She did say later on, that while she may have little doubt that there would be large swings away from the BN in the urban areas, the rural areas are less predictable. She suggested rural areas electorates are more susceptible to illegal election activities such as money inducements and I couldn’t disagree.

I guess rural electorates, especially malay ones, would be more susceptible to media and pecuniary influences. I wonder though, what the distribution of voters is like, as between urban and rural. Intuitively I would have thought the figures would probably skew towards urban by now. I wonder if that means there would a real chance of the opposition making real inroads this time around. That would pose very interesting potentials scenarios.

I wonder though what this would mean for peace and stability. Would UMNO be bloody minded again and cause disturbances if they were to lose this election? It would be hard to imagine people like Ali Rustam and Khir Toyo peaceably surrendering power to the elected victors.

Time Out Please


It has been a week with little personal time. We decided to go over to Alex’s place on Sunday night to pay respects to his parents who have come from Klang to visit for 2 weeks. We went there a bit after 8pm. He has been my regular vino amicae (or something like that la) so from the moment we got there we started with the drinking. By the time we came home a bit after 10pm I was ready to hit the sack straight off.
So Monday was a bit of a slog and with the usual full plate I didn’t get home till just a bit after 8pm. After the usual chores and preps work for the next day (lunch, gym gear etc) it was almost 9.30.
Tuesday night, it was parents’ association meeting at kiddo’s school so I was there from 7.20 till just before 9. By then trains were not so regular and I didn’t get home till close to 10. It was 34 deg for the second day running so I couldn’t sleep and only got to bed just before 12.
It was raining on Wednesday morning and S told us we could actually use the coffee machine in the pantry just off the hallway. We had thought it belonged to a sister company. It was great and I badly needed the fix. That night it was the prayer meeting in church and just before that the department had gone to see the boss who’s just has their first-born.
Something has to give. I need some time every day when I can read or chat with Tress about nothing in particular or watch a TV program I really like. Something like half an hour to an hour would do. Lately all I got was the 20 minutes or so I have each morning, which I spend on my quiet time. This isn’t enough

PM Apologises – Would Msian PM Do It Too?


PM Apology – Would Malaysian Indian Get It?
13 February was a historic day in the annals of Australia. On that day, the Prime Minister formally apologised to the aboriginal people for what happened to the “stolen generation”. This was meant to refer to a generation of aboriginal children who were taken from their families to live in a white Australia setting. Never mind that the motivation could have been the welfare of the aboriginal children themselves and never mind that there was in fact a scarcity of such a “generation”. There were apparently only a handful of such incidents (where aboriginal children were removed from their families to live with white Australia), never enough to be termed a “generation”. The point I think, was that there was sufficient collective guilt on the part of white Australia to bring about this formal and extremely public apology.
This may sound unfair to my indian friends in Malaysia but to make a point, I am going to say the indian community is the Malaysian equivalent of the aboriginal community in Australia. The comparison is especially apt to illustrate the disadvantaged positions of each group in their respective countries. They are marginalized in education and employment opportunities. Their share in the nations’ wealth is next to nothing.
Can you imagine anyone in government, let alone the head, formally and publicly apologizing? Even after tens of thousands have taken to the streets to air their grievances, the government has refused to act or even acknowledge the problem. Instead, it has thrown community leaders into jail, made wild and unfounded allegations and generally behaved like the Indian’s legitimate cry for help is a pesky little nuisance which has to be stamped out in a hurry so that it would stop annoying the ruling elite and interrupt their gold digging activities.
It is no secret that malays think somehow indians are congenitally inferior creatures. I wonder why this thinking persists in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. India is increasingly viewed as a world giant in so many aspects of life. For a while (when the stock market soared) it had the world richest man. Its companies are world class, providing consulting and expert service all across the globe. Manmohan Singh, its Prime Minister, is eminently more qualified and I would not be surprised if it can put the entire Malaysian cabinet in his pocket with acres of space to spare. Its sporting prowess is fast reclaiming lost ground. In our recent trip to Malaysia I couldn’t help following its very successful hockey junior world cup team. In Australia its cricket team is giving the world champion a more than fair whack, threatening to dethrone the mighty but sometimes arrogant Aussies. Its young team, especially the bowlers are giving as good as it gets – often better.  What made the malay think he is better than the indian?
 

Exchange Re Polls (Msian)


From: Teh, Ian
Sent: Thursday, 14 February 2008 10:55 AM
To:
Subject: Parliament has been dissolved on 13.02.2008

(Sorry to go on but this is an area which often grabs me…)

I sincerely believe DAP can become a viable alternative in its own right. Kit Siang has demonstrated consistently high standards of integrity and altruism which stands out like a beacon in the heap of mess that is Malaysian politics. Guan Eng may be his son and this tends to attract accusations of nepotism but Guan Eng’s track record is as good as if not better than most of the other candidates as a future leader of DAP. His status as Kit Siang’s son would not have mattered much in the selection criteria. I was initially attracted to DAP because of Guan Eng’s actions in defending the Malay girl who was abused by the Malacca MB. If you remember that incident, that girl was 15 years old and Guan Eng spoke out in her defence, defying a court order not to and went to jail for that. He served over a year in jail, I think, and was disqualified as a practising accountant as a result. When he was imprisoned, I attended my first rally/protest by participating in a vigil outside the then High Court complex (opposite Merdeka square).

Unfortunately, DAP in the past has been associated with the working/trading class of the Chinese community and the candidates it offered are often hard workers but inarticulate and could not formulate alternative plans and policies. This has changed. It is now a party with many respected professionals and large business owners from all races. Recent high profiled recruits posing as very good potential candidates include Jeff Ooi (a bit narcissistic at times but otherwise smart and hardworking and a good communicator), Ishwar Atthapan (lawyer and investment banker, built up very successful corporate advisory outfit and son of ex MIC leader), and someone (I forget his name) who built up a prominent listed IT consultancy before selling up to be full time politician. The problem is to counter the monopoly the BN has over the media and the lies BN perpetuates through this monopoly. DAP has a mountain to climb to overcome this handicap and communicate its credentials to the electorate.

I don’t trust PKR and Anwar. I think the legacy issues it has with UMNO means many are there simply to get back to power on the coat tails of Anwar instead of a genuine desire to build a better and more equitable society. The legacy of bigotry (racial and religious) and corruption remains with the current generation of PKR candidates and would not take much to creep back in if they are given half a chance.

PAS’s raison d’être remains unacceptable.

Ian Teh

——————————————————————————–

From:
Sent: Thursday, 14 February 2008 9:44 AM
To: Teh, Ian
Subject: Re: RE: FW: Parliament has been dissolved on 13.02.2008

I agree. I think like Barack Obama in the US, Anwar could well gain momentum and regain some lost loyalties and acceptability. I think the opposition knows well that they need someone charismatic like Anwar to unite them where they could work under. Anwar is afterall quite acceptable to the Islam fundamentalist and whilst suspicious could be an acceptable compromise to DAP and some segments of the Chinese population…yeah so exciting this and next election, wow ! Need to pray for our love ones still there…

> Teh, Ian <Ian.Teh@aig.com> wrote:
>
> I suspect there will be large protest vote against Abdullah. He will
> lose most Indian votes, Christian votes (although insignificant) and
> large chunks of Chinese votes. Whether he retains the 2/3 majority
> depends on how much of the Chinese votes he loses and whether there
> are enough Malays who are more frustrated by the incompetence and
> corruption than their desire to protect their own interests.
>
>
> Anwar remains charismatic but has lost a lot of his earlier
> acceptability as an alternative leader. The only thing going for him,
> apart from his charisma, is that he is the only smart one (or appears
> to be) in that generation of leaders.
>
>
> But yes, definitely an interesting election to watch.
>
>
>
> Ian Teh
>
>
> _____
>
> From:
> Sent: Thursday, 14 February 2008 8:59 AM
> To: Teh, Ian
> Subject: Re: FW: Parliament has been dissolved on 13.02.2008
>
>
>
> Thanks Ian ! I think this will be interesting in that it will really
> show the guts of the Malaysian public…btw, I read that Anwar’s wife
> has indicated that she will vacate her seat (if elected) for Anwar
> after the election when he is allowed back into the political arena,
> so a by election and who knows what’s going to happen next…
>
> Cheerio
>
>
>
> > _____
> >
> > From:
>
> > Sent: Wednesday, 13 February 2008 6:22 PM
> > To: Teh, Ian;

> > Subject: Parliament has been dissolved on 13.02.2008
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Subject: Parliament has been dissolved on 13.02.2008
> >
> > KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Financial) – Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah
> > Ahmad Badawi dissolved parliament Wednesday to pave the way for snap
> > elections which are expected to see the ruling coalition’s majority
> > eroded.
> >
> > Abdullah’s popularity has plummeted as the nation is beset by
> > mounting racial tensions, unprecedented street protests, anger over
> > rising fuel and food prices, and high crime rates.
> >
> > Announcing that the king had consented to dissolve parliament,
> > Abdullah indicated he did not expect a repeat of the 2004 landslide
> > when the Barisan Nasional coalition seized some 90 percent of
> > parliamentary seats.
> >
> > “2004 was a special election and it was extraordinary. I pray that
> > BN will get at least two-thirds of the votes in the upcoming election,”
> > he told a press conference.
> >
> > “I hope voters will understand the issues affecting our country
> > objectively,” he said, adding that the Election Commission would
> > decide on the polling date.
> >
> > Voting must be held 60 days after parliament is dissolved, but the
> > government traditionally allows just a two-week campaign period,
> > which would mean the ballot in early March.
> >
> > Abdullah appealed for calm during the campaign, in an apparent
> > reference to a string of public rallies over the past few months
> > which police have broken up with tear gas and water cannon.
> >
> > “My hope is that during the voting, nothing untoward will happen —
> > there will be no disturbances or trouble that will affect the voting
> > process,”
> > he
> > said.
> >
> > Abdullah heads the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) which
> > leads the Barisan Nasional (Nasional Front) multi-racial coalition
> > that holds 200 of the 219 seats in parliament.
> >
> > The Chinese-based Democratic Action Party holds 12, the
> > fundamentalist Islamic party PAS has six and Keadilan which is led
> > by the wife of dissident former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim has one seat.
> >
> > The government’s term expires only in May 2009 and some commentators
> > say it is going to the polls early to ensure Anwar cannot contest.
> > He was sacked and jailed in 1998 and is barred from politics until
> > April this year.
> >
> > In the next elections, there will be 222 seats contested due to the
> > creation of new constituencies. The assemblies in the 12 states and
> > territories will also be contested.
> >
> > DAP parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang condemned the
> > election announcement which falls during celebrations for Chinese
> > New
> Year.
> >
> > “I think it shows a disregard and insensitivity of the diverse
> > cultures and religions in the country,” he told Agence France-Presse.
> >
> > UMNO was also criticised for holding its annual talks during the
> > Deepavali festival which is celebrated by Malaysia’s minority ethnic
> > Indian community
> > — an incident Lim condemned as a “debacle.”
> >
> > On Tuesday, Abdullah had tried to quell the rumours that he would
> > dissolve parliament on the 13th — his favourite number — telling
> > reporters “No, it won’t be tomorrow”.
> >
> > Lim slammed the premier for the about-face.
> >
> > “I think it’s most disgraceful and shocking after the assurance
> > yesterday evening that there would not be a dissolution today,” he
> > said.
> >

Malaysia Votes


So the Malaysian general elections will be held on 8 March. If recent events are anything to go by, the current administration is a very unpopular one, and rightly so. It is incompetent, lazy, corrupt and has no idea how to take the country forward. It ought to do badly in the elections. The opposition and reform minded sections of the community hopes to take away the 2/3 majority the ruling coalition has held since independence. However, the incumbency and corrupt tendencies also mean it is well placed to ensure retention of 2/3 majority. It can, as it has done in previous elections, monopolise all media space be it electronic or print. It can deploy irregular voters (phantom and army votes). It can blatantly disregard election laws on campaigning and for polling day. If in spite of these advantages it loses its 2/3 majority, the sense of anger and frustration seething within the electorate must have been immense.
It will lose the Indian votes by the truckloads. It will also lose votes from the Christian community but this is insignificant. It will lose votes large swathes of Chinese votes. The critical questions are what is the extent of Chinese votes which would be lost and whether the Malays are also sufficiently disillusioned or would they remain happy to vote the BN in to retain and protect their privileged positions? It would certainly be a very interesting election.

My Real Home


I was sitting at our dining table early this morning, having just read a few chapters of the Bible like I regularly do. It was still pitched dark outside but it was not cold – the summer warmth was almost balmy and I was clad only in my shorts and t-shirt. As I put the bookmark back where I stopped reading and took a sip of my coffee, I realized that bookmark was dated February 1987.
 
It was a bookmark I gave Tress when she first went to Armidale in northern NSW, where she attended the University of New England for a year before moving up to Sydney the next year and joined me in my university.  It probably feels awkward now for young courting couples to be sending each other stuff like that – it is more likely that emails with pretty attachments are sent instead or small fortune spent on some fancy dinners. I wonder where young people get their money from these days. Whatever we earned from weekend and other part time work went to university fees and daily expenses. All I could afford were cheap bookmarks into which I crammed lines of written messages.
 
I have known Tress since we were both very young. I first noticed her when we were in the youth groups of our church, probably in our early teens. A few of us guys – all maybe 13-14 year olds – went over to her house once during a “job week” to do some odd jobs to raise funds for the church. At that time she was just another schoolgirl from church. I must confess I didn’t feel anything then. That happened a few years later.
 
A few weeks before the Christmas of 1984, we had a church camp in Singapore. It was to be my last church camp because I was leaving for Sydney for my studies, in February 1985. A mate and I went to Singapore a few days earlier, as I had wanted to get some shopping done in preparation for Sydney. I wasn’t involved in the organization of the camp as a result and didn’t know what was in store. In fact I was drifting in and out of the camp program, without really participating.
 
The done thing in church camps of that era was to hold a talent night. Everyone was expected to be part of a performance. Tress was asked to read out a poem. I don’t know what the original plans were for her item but someone asked me to back her up with this and read it out together with her. I went through the piece with her and something clicked. During practice and later after the performance, I realized something.
 
I felt fantastic when I was with her, and felt a sort of peace and relaxed state of mind which is completely agreeable. I felt like I didn’t have to say or do anything in her presence, to feel great. It was almost like I instantly realized this was a person I could – wanted to – spend the rest of my life with.
 
That was in December 1984 – more than 23 years ago. My feelings for her today are no less intense than they were in 1984 – probably more. She has been the best thing to have happened to me.
 
If any one asked me therefore what trait one should look for in a potential spouse, I’d have to say it isn’t so much the traits a person possesses as it is what that person make you feel like. Tress makes me feel totally at home. I am so relaxed and comfortable every time I am with her. It’s like I’ve come home, every time I’m with her.

BAU Again


The home group of our church resumed last Friday. Mel and Hooi put together a quick arrangement and agreed to meet up at Jason S’ and almost everyone turned up. That showed we have all missed it over the past 2+ months. We carried on till almost 10.30pm before heading to church to pick up kiddo who has also just kick started her youth program. We all headed home just after 11pm and hit the sack not long after that.
 
Saturday was another day of throwing me around the house with the Hoover (actually a “Nilfisk” or something like that). I had resigned to a long term relationship with the vacuum cleaner and each time I tap on this relationship, I had to comfort myself that the house does look and feel cleaner after the bout. Notwithstanding the recent cooler weather the cobwebs continue to threaten. Every time I come across one of those long thin legged spideys, I literally sucked it up with venom because I so dislike the cobwebs. Somehow kiddo’s room attracted a disproportionate share of spiders in the house. I picked up one each in our room and the guest room but had 7 of them in Kiddo’s. The undrawn blinds and many of her stuff strewn about in different heaps were the obvious reasons so I shot off another round of lectures. The bathroom and toilets got their treatments with the cleansers, scrubs and were ducked good and proper in addition to the vacuum and a good 4 hours later it was time to clean myself up.
 
Tress and I then went to the nasi lemak place near the corner of Canterbury and Springvale roads, to catch up with an old family friend. He had just moved to Melbourne from KL less than 6 months ago and we had caught up with him soon after he came over. His wife and 2 kids joined him about 2 months ago and he rang on Friday night. His wife had worked for a high profile corporate figure. When she walked in the shop and saw Tress (shop was only round the corner from our home so we arrived there early) she immediately recognized Tress from Arthur Andersen days (now defunct accounting firm, Enron-ed). I think that explains why I still have the hots for Tress after all these years – she hasn’t changed very much at all.
 
After lunch we dropped Kiddo off for her class, did some shopping and when that was done we got home around 4pm. The ironing was a lot to go through so that took us to 6pm.
 
When we finally settled down to some rest all I could do was put my feet up and reach out for a cold one I had popped open and had left there on the coffee table for close to half an hour. We watched a couple of DVDs – Sweeny Todd, Tim Burton’s bloody but brilliant piece with Johnny Depp (watched large chunks of it while ironing) and Simpson the movie. To my chagrin, I found myself laughing at Homer’s gaffes as well as some very funny scenes (like the one where a polar bear kicked away a wolf in disgust after being denied its lunch in Homer). Tress had cooked some bah kut teh (with chicken) and after we ate some of it, we watched the Iron Chef. We went for another DVD after that and watched Stardust. De Niro was very funny and I thought the movie was very enjoyable as a whole – definitely a great family entertainment piece.
 
I reluctantly crawled out of bed just after 7 on Sunday. There was to be a lunch after church and I had to cook something. We had decided to do an eggplant and prawn sambal so the hardest part – figuring out what to cook – was done. Tress and I washed, peeled and cut and I guess because we are more or less used to all of this by now, most of the steps and processes were second nature to us and very much within the hour the dish was done and we could still have our normal weekend brekky of freshly ground and brewed coffee with toasts and make it to church very much on time. That was important to Tress, who had invited a few people.
 
We finished church and lunch just after 1.30, stopped by the shops to pick up a few stuff and got home just after 2pm. I buckled down to do some work and closer to 5 we made our way to Ruffey Lake Park in Doncaster for a picnic meal with some old friends from the church in Klang. Quite a number of families showed up and the kids ranged from tiny tots to university going youth. Loads of food, kids playing soccer, cricket and just mucking around with the playground facilities. We were all making use of park facilities and ensuring that the park fees we paid through our water utility companies provided some returns. We left the park close to 8.30 just as it was starting to get dark and a little chilly.
 
We got home, I fixed lunch for the next day and Tress helped kiddo with the last minutes touch-ups with the packing. Kiddo is off to camp this week. Tress and I will enjoy the quieter times but I guess only for the first day, or including day 2 at best. We’ll miss her sooner than we think. Already I’m looking forward to when she gets back on Friday afternoon. In the meantime….the silly season is slowly but surely closing out; business-as-usual has in many ways, returned