Bersih is a movement in Malaysia which in recent years sought reforms in election laws and processes there.

In recent months Najib Razak the Prime Minister of Malaysia has been embroiled in alleged corruption scandal involving huge sums of money. Some USD700 million was said to have been deposited into his personal bank account, which weeks later he said were political donations. This was after he shut down a local financial newspaper, sacked the Attorney General who was a member of a task force set up to investigate the allegations, and messed with a Parliamentary Audit Committee by promoting some of its members to his cabinet, thus disqualifying them from continuing on as members of the Committee. He also sacked, transferred or suspended persons in the anti corruption body.

As these actions fomented, they brought public sentiments to a boil – thus “Bersih 4.0” has gathered momentum. In spite of turmoils within the Islamic party (PAS) which had previously been a key component of past Bersih events, the current Bersih appears to have lost little interest or momentum in carrying out public rallies to protests against the Najib Razak administration. Idiotic mind numbing statements by some of his sychophantic cabinet members have poured fuel onto the fire and judging by the volume and tones of private family group chats of mine, ordinarily docile Malaysians are fed up and are ready to rumble. Churches will open its doors to protesters in case authorities play rough, and scores of private doctors have volunteered to provide medical services. Local food vendors have offered free pre-rally lunches. In short ordinary previously uninterested Malaysians are itching for a fight.

Tress and I, along with some friends and family here in a much quieter setting that is Melbourne, will attend a Down Under version of the event at Federation Square. If I weren’t heading to Melbourne this weekend, I would have headed to the Canberra chapter too, such is the momentum of disgust now building up. Actually I’m quite excited. After years and years of feeling angry and frustrated at how Malaysians are reticent to speak up against wrong doings, I think the country has turned the corner and has had enough. I left Malaysia in 2004 – finally in 2015, I see the frustration, anger and disgust which drove me out, now fomenting among those I care about.

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Notwithstanding some derisory columns published on this man, I find his telling of my concerns of the past 1-2 years, very focused and well articulated.

I recall in a morning coffee run a couple of years ago back in Superpartners, we were chatting about families etc and I threw a casual remark saying I’d be concerned – worried sick – if my daughter came home saying she was dating a lady. The reaction I got was telling. I was made to feel like I have said the worst, most inappropriate thing. I could not make that simple statement which expressed my personal hope for my own daughter to be in a heterosexual relationship as opposed to a gay one.

See this: Brendan O’Neil

It has been an unusual week so far.

Some time between 7am and 8am on Monday, I must have entered a space (or exited from the here and now) which caused me to “lose time”. I could not recall what happened. I had no recollection of doing the things I usually did at that time. I could not remember having my breakfast smoothie, my coffee or getting ready to come in to work. All I recalled was speaking to Kiddo about not being “all there”. I could not recall why I didn’t have the scarf on me while I parked my bike, which of the 2 walking shoes I normally use I had on when I hopped on my bike – till it was time to head home at the end of the day and what I had packed for lunch, till it was time for lunch. I could not recall preparing the bread to go with the soup.

It has gotten a bit better now, and I am more “here” but it was that momentary (albeit prolonged) amnesic episode which continues to leave a hazy trail.

So last night I decided to leave the apartment and go out a little. I had spoken to a colleague who said there was an Aldi in the Jamison Centre between our Turner home and Belconnen. I drove there, walked around that place and decided that it would be a “last minute grocery” place I could go to. The Coles is large and the Aldi is well stocked. I came back feeling maybe a touch more “here” but the haze, while clearing, hovers still.

I’m glad winter is nearing an end. I have been in Canberra for just over 3 months now, and would be spending the whole of this winter in this very cold city of Australia. It is not a city which I’d find difficult to like but with no clarity of what lies ahead, I have no laid down roots with as must gusto as when we first settled in Melbourne. Reticence to lower the tent pegs more permanently in church and building friendships here, as well as the frequent trips back to Melbourne are symptoms of that overall fog I guess.

Waiting on the Lord gets like that, probably. He knows where I’m heading, even if I don’t. In that sense, the “early signs of Alzheimer’s” is less worrying.

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I’m certified

🙂

It was a very cold day yesterday. At lunchtime, it snowed and the office got excited as everyone headed to the closest window to catch the scene. It was still hovering around 0 deg when I quickly headed home just after 5, to avoid the predicted rain/thunderstorm.

There was the second of three “Connect” meetings at Crossroads Church last night so cold as it was, I headed to the church office where the meeting was to be held. The simple notions of connect, growth and serve and growing followers of Jesus were reiterated and I wondered again, why I had done practically nothing in recent years, in terms of sharing the gospel with others. I left the meeting wondering what I had to do.

The frog lurking in my throat got busy last night and in trying to keep it at bay, I kept drinking loads of water so it was a busy night with not very good sleep. It felt a touch better after I did some exercises this morning but it was/is still lurking. Leigh the big boss here, had been sick and a few others have been fighting the bug so I’ve been cautious about not catching anything myself, Hopefully the frog/bug stays away.

I was at a workshop at the National Convention Centre yesterday. I rode in, and parked right outside on Constitution Avenue. It was the only bike there the whole day. The day is inching longer now and when I was riding home there was still light.

Later that night I caught up with a mate who was in town for meetings. I met him at the Rydges where he was staying and went to a joint nearby, known as Bambusa – a Chinese/Malaysian restaurant which was very nice. I had looked up places to go and it was either Bambusa or Abell’s Kopi Tiam. Bambusa won the day simply because I wanted a place where we could actually have a conversation and catch up.

After dinner I took him somewhere to pick up a couple of staples down at my local IGA after which we stopped by the apartment and he caught up with Kiddo and Mic.

After dropping him off back at his hotel I headed home and found it hard to go to sleep, having finished the biggish meal just on 8pm.

It was good catching up with Jason again.

Being alone without being lonely is an attribute I have acquired over many years. I am comfortable being alone. I often revel in it. This is probably contrary to what Christian ought to be but I am far from being righteous, humble, loving etc anyway so while not pursuing fellowship is a flaw of being a Christian, it isn’t one which requires priority of attention, I think.

So this past weekend was very much that – being alone without being lonely. And yet so palpable was the truth of God’s Eden statement that man is not good alone, that last night as I sat alone in the lounge of the apartment in Turner, the discomfort almost became physical. It isn’t just discomfort of being alone, for reasons I already mentioned. I guess I miss Tress and our home at Vicki. Quite a bit. So very early – about 8.40pm, I went to bed, read and fell asleep. I guess I have had a good afternoon of tiring myself out.

After church yesterday morning, I went to Civic and walked around a little bit and picked up some milk and butter from Aldi. I then went home, unpacked my riding gear and shopping, had lunch with Kiddo and Mic, and did some ironing. It was just 3 shirts so it was done pretty quickly. Kiddo and Mic then left for Tilley’s and since it was a sunny arvo I decided to go for a walk. I said to Kiddo I might drop by Tilley’s.

Around 1.30pm I left home and walked, first heading towards ANU along Watson, then turning at North Oval, cutting across the oval to catch some uni students having fun kicking a footy around. I meandered around, with no destination but armed with a camera, took pictures randomly – birds, paths, trees… after 45 minutes I came to Tilley’s joined Kiddo and Mic for about 10-15mins and then headed off, again meandering through parks across Lyneham, O’Connor and Turner. I got home just before 4pm, and the thought of being alone in the apartment for the next 4 plus hours was, unusually, unattractive. So I jumped in the car and drove towards Belconnen, being one of only a couple of places I could drive to without turning on the GPS.  I walked around in Belconnen Westfield for a bit and then got home around 5.30.

Brekky and lunch was fixed very quickly and I tried to do some work but gave up after a mere 15 minutes or so.

Sleeping so early last night meant I woke up fresh this morning but some parts of my legs still felt stiff.

I had wanted to go for a run on Saturday morning but it was several degrees below zero so I slept in, then went for an early property inspection at Forde, in the Gungahlin area. That was between 9.30 and 10 and there was another at 11.30 so in between I’d dropped into the Gungahlin town center and walked the town 2-3 times. Then it was off to the other property inspection/auction, this time at Lexcen Avenue, Nicholls. This had a lot more interests and there were 5 bidders who went at each other quite determinedly. The final duel between 2 parties saw an older couple winning out at $720,000. A beautiful 4 bedroom house less than 20 minutes from the CBD would have easily sailed north of $1.5 million in Melbourne but I guess this is a different market.

Back home at Turner after some grocery shopping at Belconnen, I went for a run after 3pm. I took my time, and did an easy pace as I had not run for over 3 weeks (I think). After about 20 minutes it felt better and I decided to keep going when I was at ANU, and headed towards the South Oval (where a full on footy game was being played) and came to the National Museum, having run along the edge of north/northwestern Lake Burly Griffin. An Indian family saw me taking a drink from a fountain outside the Museum and asked if I could take a picture of them as a family. The couple with their parents and young kids look very happy and I hope my sweaty hands didnt spoil what should have been a very beautiful family picture on a gorgeous sunny winter arvo in Canberra.

Picture taken, drink drank, I resumed my run, heading back along the lake, back past South Oval – where I stopped for a few minutes to watch the game – and got home just after 4pm. I was tired but it felt great. I suspected the aches would come (and they did). I showered, and because I had that drink in that fountain I didnt feel parched so made the cardinal mistake of not topping up my fluids as I sat on the couch and tried to do some work. Kiddo then came back and while she cooked dinner with Mic, I started to feel unwell. At dinner I didnt feel like eating but the tall glass of water I had helped and I felt much better.

I had thought the Hawks game against West Coast would be on but just before 7.30 I realised TV in Canberra would not have that game on, so I rugged up and walked first to Hellenic Club and then to PJ O’reilly’s. Neither had that game on so I headed back home and at home, toggled between the Swans v Cats game and Spider Man, with Kiddo and Mic. Eventually Tress skyped, and I could follow the game between her beaming that telly in Melbourne to Canberra via Skype, and the AFL app on the iPad. Hawks eventually triumphed, I was glad and by that time Kiddo, Mic and I had decided to watch the Return of the King (go figure, but it was fun). As I went to bed just before 12, I realised the long run and the walks to the pubs had made the legs stiff and a touch sore.

As I sat in the lounge last night, as I nursed the remnants of soreness of legs, pains of a different sort seeped in. God always knows. It really isn’t good for man to be alone. I’m looking forward to this coming weekend, when hopefully I would be in Melbourne again.

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BY MARY MAPES DODGE

I went to the Crossroads church “Connect” meeting last night, at the church office in Lyneham. It’s just in the same shops area as Tilley’s and I could have just walked there from work. It had rained in the morning however so I had driven in to work, so I decided to drive home – I fixed brekky for the next day, got some dinner, before heading to that meeting. Canberra’s great that way – so effortless to get from A to B.

That meeting brought back memories of my experience in University Church in UNSW all those years ago. The flavour of teaching, the phrases used – they were like old furniture. I could get comfortable. In fact the phrase “Copernican Revolution” – a phrase I first heard nearly 30 years ago at a Campus Bible Study conducted by Phillip Jensen, really brought home a lot of things for me. It made me stop thinking about myself. This was reinforced last night and thinking back now, I think it’s a terrific thread to throw into a small/home group introductory meeting. Sure, it’s the DNA of Crossroads in any event but to use that as a handle for home group aspirants, should really remove any doubt about what to expect if one joins one of these groups.

The meeting ended in good time (just a bit after 9pm), and I was home around 9.20. Terrific. Back home, I was again so very appreciative of a very clean apartment. I had said to Tress when fixing my brekky earlier, that it felt terrific and I’m so grateful Kiddo did such a great job cleaning the place. The little yellow stick-it note I had put up before I left for the meeting was still there – they must have been out on a long night. Another of Crossroad’s small group, perhaps…which makes me feel great.