New residents

Over the recent holiday period we met a number of families who recently moved to Melbourne. All are new migrants. The early days are always filled with fears and concerns about financial and networking stability. It can be a difficult period.

This is especially true given the current financial woes. Avenues and options to earn a living are much more restricted as a result. Of course, this round of economic (financial) problems is a worldwide phenomenon so the only disadvantage for these new migrants is one more associated with being less entrenched in the workforce or business community.

God is merciful and gracious and He will provide for His children. It is often our demands that cause problems. Our demands stop us from trusting Him for His providence.

 

Rotting administration

Whatever the disadvantage, one has to weigh up such a disadvantage against the spectre of living in a country governed by a corrupt and lawless administration. That is what Malaysia has long headed towards and has well and truly arrived, warts and all.

We now have another statutory declaration in a country where the way to state a fact to catch the eye is to swear one and have it published on the internet.

Fauzi Muda is a state assemblyman in the Malaysian state of Perak. He is part of the ruling coalition of the state government known as Pakatan Rakyat. He is from the party of Anwar Ibrahim, Party Keadilan Rakyat (People’s Justice Party). Fauzi Muda has sworn a statutory declaration. In this declaration, he made a severe allegation against Najib Razak, the heir apparent to the role of Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Najib Razak appears to be swimming in a cesspool which is increasingly deeper and more toxic. Cleaning the Aegean stable would not, I think, be on his to-do list. Heck, he is has probably crapped the country up even more. He has been surrounded with the stench of murder, creaming off defence contracts and now corruption and blatant money politics.

Offering a political opponent RM50 million to switch parties is corrupt, dishonest, immoral and so low snakes wouldn’t crawl under it. He even suggested to that victim of his offer, that he should keep some (if not the bulk) of the spoils. Can you imagine the extent of unholy wealth UMNO has amassed, to be able to offer that kind of money to a relative minnow of state politics? The stakes may be high in the form of government of an important state but it is still a huge fortune by anyone’s standards. Can you imagine the personal and family fortunes of the leaders of UMNO after all these years, if RM50 million is offered in such a nonchalant manner?

With such fortunes, it is probably small wonder these politicians don’t give a toss about the financial woes hitting the world, which I’m sure Malaysians are not immune to. After all, Malaysia is a huge trading nation and given the severe troubles of key trading partners like US, EU and China, surely Malaysia is just as severely affected. You wouldn’t hear of it however because politicians and decision makers have insulated themselves with fruits of years and years of massive corruption.

To me therefore, Fauzi Muda’s statutory declaration on Najib Razak’s RM50 million dirty money speaks not only of the context of the pathetic state of moral bankruptcy and lawlessness that is Najib Razak, but also about his attitude towards ordinary Malaysians and the fate they are suffering or are about to suffer with the worsening global financial crisis. He doesn’t care about Malaysians. He cares only about power and his own interests. He would stoop to any level to protect his own interests and cares not at all for ordinary Malaysians. Malaysians must do what they can to ensure this pathetic specimen does not become Prime Minister.

 

Way out

To the Malaysians who are fed-up with the inability to stop corrupt and despicable specimens like Najib Razak from becoming Prime Minister, why not give this sunburnt country a go? The dry southland may be harsh but it is fair dinkum dinky-di country. To my friends and relatives who wish to take this route, you have an open invitation to temporary accommodation. You know what to do. Many have already opted for this. You can too.

 

Last week was a wretched week for many, here in Melbourne. It was extremely hot through the week, with 3 days of over 40 deg temperatures. The fourth was just a shade below 40.

On Thursday night the church Board felt it needed to meet so there we were in a non-air conditioned meeting room, sweating it out. I had driven in to work that day, partly to ensure I would be able to attend this meeting in time. Connex, the venerable provider of commuter train service in Melbourne, stepped up its core competencies by ensuring the service fell into utter chaos. Thousands of trips were cancelled and many would just hang around on the platforms not knowing when their train was going to show up. I thought if I was going to make that Board meeting I had to drive in. It also ensured our poor car stayed out of that scorching heat, even if it was just for the day.

I went back to braving the train on Friday. Getting in to work wasn’t a problem. While the journey back home was more problematic, God nevertheless gave me a break – my train left Flinders at about 6.40pm and a few minutes later, power failure in large parts of Melbourne meant no trains could leave Flinders and it stayed that way for the next couple of hours. I escaped the sweltering chaos of Melbourne by the skin of my teeth and I would have been very poorly had I got caught in the mayhem.

We went to Sofia’s that night to cool off with a couple of salad dishes, before heading home to catch the tennis. It was the semi finals between the 2 Spaniards and what a match it turned out to be. Kiddo stayed up to the end but Tress and I went to sleep before the end of the third set.

There was just one more day of very hot weather.

On Sat we did the usual things. I sent my work clothes to the dry cleaner’s and then Tress and I went to get some groceries. There was to be follow-up Board meeting that afternoon, followed with a dinner for Board members at Alex’s home. I didn’t think the dinner was a good idea as Alex had just returned from Malaysia after a long holiday. He came back on Wed and arrived smack in the middle of the heat wave and would probably take a while to recover. To host a dinner so soon after was a big ask so I couldn’t understand why it was planned that way.

Anyway, the dinner went ahead and Tress and I got the stuff we wanted to cook (a roasted rack of pork ribs). We got home and marinated the meat, and I did my usual house cleaning. We got a new Dyson vacuum cleaner recently and I gave it a good go. It turned out to be cleaner than our older unit (a Nilfisk) but it took some getting used to. I went to the Board meet in the arvo (at Lynda’s, God bless her… great air conditioning in her home) and that finished just after 5.30. We left Alex’s just after 10pm.

Back home, “Misery” (with Kathy Bates and James Caan) was just coming on so we all settled and watched it. I didn’t finish the movie though – wanted to get up early to catch the United – Everton game. Kiddo enjoyed it, and I was pleased, because it isn’t always possible to get her to enjoy anything of my vintage.

I was up just after 4.30am the Sunday morning. United won courtesy of a Ronaldo penalty and held off Everton through a somewhat boring 2^nd half. We now lead, for a while, by 5 points. Very nice.

After the game – just after 6am – I went out to give the garden a good soak. The heat and drought had been really damaging. Our plants seemed lethargic, wilting and near their end.  After an hour battling with our very old garden hose to try and keep our plants alive, I went back in to start cooking. There was to be a Chinese New Year lunch in church.

After lunch we got home, and headed out again shortly after, to get new garden hose, along with some other items. Back home, I put up the hose rack, pottered around a little bit (including dragging Kiddo and Tress out into the heat to watch some outrageously colourful rosellas in our backyard) before cooking, again.

Auntie Swee Har, U Shu, David and Charmayne came to dinner on Sunday night. They made some “yee sang” and we did a couple of dishes. It was good to have a meal and talk again. After dinner we sat down to enjoy the Nadal-Federer final. They left after the second set and after the third set, we all went to bed. Kiddo has started Year 10.