Old Umno friends and an old makcik

I was at the PWTC the whole day yesterday.

Took this picture when I arrived,

The place looked nice. They probably hired an interior designer to make the place like that.

I remember back then when they just put a carpet at that very place so that the makcik-makcik Umno can sit there and watch the debates and speeches on a big screen.

Nothing much happened yesterday except in the evening when Umno's number two DS Ahmad Zahid Hamidi opened the party wings' assemblies.

I think his speech is all over the place by now.

I spent most of the time there yesterday meeting old Umno friends.

Among others were that aide of Johor MB DS Mohamed Khaled Nordin and a guy from Zahid's office.

Very nice guys.

It was fun meeting them again.

As usual I have a hearty debate with the Khaled's aide about the current situation in Johor but it was all in good spirit.

He's a good aide as he defended Khaled against my complaints very well.

The Zahid's guy was equally nice.

It's good to note that he sounds very confident of his boss' abilities.

Late in the afternoon, I bumped into a really good friend whom I have not met for quite a long time.

He is a successful businessman whom I first met when I just moved to Johor many years ago.

He was at PWTC to also meet old Umno friends.

The relatively young man is a staunch Umno supporter and one of his habits is to spend money helping the party.

During elections, he will buy a huge number of BN flags and posters for campaign purposes.

Sometimes he even put them up himself along with his workers.

He is a genuine case of an Umno man who truly loves the party for what it stands for.

When Khaled and gang took over Kota Iskandar after the last general election, the guy took into his company several of TS Abdul Ghani Othman's people who lost their job due to the departure of their boss.

He did so because he knew that Ghani's people are good and were sincere in their work for Johor and Umno all those years when their boss was the MB.

Too bad that Khaled don't see it that way and unceremoniously got rid of them.

It's one of Umno people's ways that I most dislike. Genuine talents, sincerity and honesty are under appreciated.

Well, never mind.

My friend and me mostly talked about the good old days when Ghani was still our MB.

Those were satisfying days of clear conscience despite the hard and challenging works.

We were later joined at the outdoor cafe where we were sitting for a cup of tea by another old friend from Johor.

The other guy, who works for a government agency was more relaxed.

He was quite confident that Umno will prevails.

He gave three reasons,

1. The opposition parties are in disarray.

2. The Malays are still mostly scared of the DAP Chinese taking over the country.

3. Umno has the resources to win the elections.

Quite reasonable argument.

Just before we were about to call it a day about 9.30pm, an old makcik approached us and asked whether we would like to buy a meal set from her.

I had noticed the old lady  going around the PWTC area the whole day selling the meal sets.

"Makcik dari Subang," she said when I asked where she came from.

"Macam mana jualan hari ni  makcik?" I asked as I noticed a worried look on her face.

"Tak berapa baik la Dik (adik). Masih banyak lagi yang tak terjual," she said.

"Baru hari pertama agaknya. Sebab tu tak ramai orang lagi. Besok mungkin baru ramai orang," I said, trying to comfort her.

"Tak la Dik. Makcik tiap-tiap tahun jual nasi kat sini masa ni. Tahun lepas hari pertama baru pukul lima makcik dah habis jual semua 300 bungkus. Masa tu hari pertama pun dah ramai orang bersidai (hung around) kat sini. Dia orang la yang beli dari makcik. Kali ni kurang sangat," she said.

I ended up buying two packs of the meal sets from the makcik.

She was selling each pack for RM6. I paid her RM20 and told her to keep the change. I think you all will do the same if you saw the worried look on her face.

I hope more of the Umno people who will be at the PWTC in the coming days will buy the meal sets from the makcik.

I may drop by there again today as there are still friends who want to meet me again.

Well, hope you all have a good day.

For the good Umno people

It's Umno general assembly time again.

I'm going to PWTC later in the afternoon to meet some friends from Johor Umno.

One of them is an aide of Johor MB DS Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

Well, it's nice that I still have friends in Kota Iskandar despite many there hating me for my criticisms of Khaled.

Good to know that Khaled can still appoint true professionals into his team so that criticisms could be turned around for good.

At least my friend still wants to talk to me and even sometimes want to belanja makan.

These days, whenever I got angry with Khaled, I would remember my friend and it made me cool down a bit.

Nonetheless, Khaled and his boys are still not my favourite bunch of people.

I'm still sore with what they did to former Johor MB TS Abdul Ghani Othman and his people right before and after the last general election.

I'm also still not happy with them for messing up my home state ever since they took over Kota Iskandar.

Well, that's the way I see it but I better not start on it again.

It's not going to help anyway.

So, that aside, what could be expected of this Umno general assembly?

Personally, I don't expect anything.

I have to admit that I lost quite a lot of interest in Umno at the height of its civil war last year.

When both warring sides started with their "either you are with us or against us" policy, I decided to distance myself from the whole nonsense.

Told myself that I'm not going to fight my friends on either sides just to support some politicians.

I have been trying my best to be politically neutral ever since.

These days I prefer to write about what's happening the way I see it and let you all dear readers decide for yourself what to make out of the subject matter.

I no longer try to even guide you all to what I think is right or wrong.

As for the Umno general assembly itself, I think it will more or less be a showcase of party unity in preparation for the next general election.

No doubt, Umno is more united this time compared to during its general assembly last year.

TS Muhyiddin Yassin, DS Shafie Apdal, DS Mukhriz Mahathir are no longer around.

So, no more dissenters in the party.

At least that's how it appears to be.

But I believe there are still many in the ranks and files who are not happy but keeping quiet.

It's not that they don't love the party, but they are worried over the things that were troubling Umno ever since the civil war started and the rebels were either kicked out or left to join the opposition.

It will be foolhardy for Umno to deny this and not addressing it at the general assembly.

Whatever it is, if I'm an Umno member (which I'm not) I would be wanting the same of this general assembly as these people,

Umno seniors want rationale debates, not fiery speeches

I think the Umno members interviewed for the story made a lot of sense.

Excerpt 1 :

“Please stop saying that there is this elaborate Jewish-backed agenda to wipe out the Malays and Islam from this country,” quipped padi farmer Daus Saad who has been a card-carrying member for 23 years.

Excerpt 2 :

“Waving the keris while chanting demi maruah Melayu (for the dignity of the Malays) just does not work anymore in this era,” reasoned a 62-year-old Johor Umno wanita delegate Norasyikin Hamid.

Excerpt 3 :

Based on his observation, another senior party member, Zamidi Ishak, is of the opinion that some leaders and the party machinery had been wasting too much time showing support, instead of gathering support for Umno.

“The majority of Umno members already support the party and the Barisan Nasional, so there is actually little need to loudly declare their support.

“What they really need to do is to go down to ground-zero and convince the fence-sitters in swing states to vote for BN.

I think these senior Umno members are better than some of their leaders and party strategists.

Well, I'm not an Umno member.

So, I can only say that as an observer. It's the party leadership that will decide how they are going to proceed with things.

All the best then for those who are sincere and good among them.

Malays and bumiputera have problems in GLCs too

A friend was complaining to me about what's happening within Celcom a few days ago.

He said I should write about it.

Honestly, I'm not exactly familiar with what's happening in Celcom and thus was quite reluctant to do so.

Then just now there was this comment in my last post,

Anonymous28 November 2016 at 12:42

celcom pun nampaknya ada penyakit nak puja orang luar..

https://telcogila.wordpress.com/2016/11/22/celcom-bergolak/

apa nak jadi malaysia ni!

I also actually received the poison pen letter published by the other blog but decided to ignore it because I found it to be too harsh even by my standards.

Are there really people being sidelined in that company just because it now has a German boss?

 Celcom CEO Michael Kuehner

Really, I don't know.

From what I know, people being sidelined in a company is not something unusual.

Once a new boss comes in, he/she will bring along a set of people to do the desired work.

They will do things their own way.

And of course there will be people who have to suffer because of it.

There will then be all sorts of allegations including racial discrimination and such.

Once, I was also sidelined at a place where I used to work.

But it was not because the colour of my skin.

It was because I was against the bullying culture at the work place and my inability to go along with the bosses on it.

Well, to be exact, I was not just sidelined but actually forced to quit my job.

But never mind, that's an old story.

Whatever it is, allegations of racial discrimination at work place is not uncommon.

In a GLC like Celcom, it can even be alleged that the management was not sensitive enough to the need of furthering the Malays and bumiputera empowerment agenda.

Maybe the German boss doesn't understand the concept.

Well, Celcom appointed him, so it's for the company to sort things out.

I just hope the people at Celcom don't have to suffer too much because of it.

Anyway, it is not actually the first time that I personally received a complaint of such nature.

A few weeks ago, another friend who works at Sime Darby Plantation told me a story about a group from a particular race dominating the company and even victimising others who were not one of them.

I don't know whether the allegations were true or not but maybe the Sime Darby big bosses can check on them and set things straight.

If it's true, then such things must be stopped, but if it was false, then those who spread the false stories should be penalised.

Well, I think these corporate people should know what to do.

I'm just giving them my opinion on the matter because they are GLCs, which in a way makes them belong to the rakyat.

It's the same with government agencies.

Despite all the talks about them being dominated by Malays and bumiputera, I have heard cases where members of other races dominating key positions in an agency and giving preferential treatments to those of their own race in terms of appointments, promotions and other perks.

I even heard of a story about a group of non-bumiputera bullying another group of non-bumiputera from another race at a regulatory agency.

Weird but true.

Maybe I will write about it later.

Whatever it is, I'm quite sure when it comes to exerting racial dominance and bias, it's wrong to say the Malays and bumiputera are always the guilty ones, even in places like the GLCs and government agencies.

A lesson from the Rohingya tragedy (updated)

UPDATES

Please also read these latest stories,

- By Reuters

Malaysia in pilot scheme to allow Rohingya refugees to work

- By Bernama

Penang state assembly condemns cruelty upon Rohingyas

ORIGINAL POST

I had not written anything these past few days because I can't find anything that really interest me.

It's getting harder these days.

So hard to be inspired or motivated.

However, today I saw this story and felt the need to highlight it,

More Rohingyas flee as violence spreads in Myanmar

The story saddens me.

It made me glad that our country is not like Myanmar.

Despite all the complaints and hate mongering, no one are being prosecuted like the Rohingyas in this country.

The majority in this country never treated the minority here the way the majority in Myanmar treated the minority over there.

All those vile talks such as wanting to throw the Chinese into the sea are just talks of a small number of scumbags which we should ignore.

We are not so bad after all.

Yes, despite all the perceived sufferings, ours are nothing close to what afflicting the unfortunate Rohingyas in Myanmar.

The story also reminds me of a post I did in May last year,

Maybe Anifah is more humane than Aung San Suu Kyi

It's good that we have a Foreign Minister like Anifah Aman and that we still care to be good human beings.

Also, if you have the time to read the comments section of the post, you may notice that I have done my best to extend good will to someone because I sincerely thought she was a friend.

Unfortunately, it was not appreciated.

But never mind.

People are like that. We can't expect too much from them.

Whatever it is, we ourselves should not lose our humanity just because of the possibility of it not being appreciated by others.

Keeping our hearts clean and being good to fellow human beings will be rewarded by God.

And it's the right thing to do too if we intend to keep our humanity intact.

I believe in that.

I hope our government can continue to do whatever within its ability to not only help unfortunate people in this country but also others such as the Rohingyas.

Suat Ling's case - don't fall for tricks of hate mongers

Saw this at RPK's,

Malaysia Today apologises to Suat Ling Lim

and told myself to be even more careful with stories which involve racial and religious issues.

As I have always believe, there are people whose modus operandi is solely to incite hatred between Malaysians to achieve their goal.

They want Malaysians to hate each other because of their different races and religions.

These are the people who created that fake Suat Ling Lim's Facebook account to post such a vile comment against the Malays.

Their objective was obvious, to make the Malays angry with this Suat Ling Lim, who is a Chinese and assume that all Chinese are Malay-hating kurang ajar (uncouth) racists.

I actually received a screenshot of that fake Facebook page yesterday and to be honest, was angry and almost did a posting about it.

If not because I was busy with some personal issues and had no time for it, I would have done so and after that forced to apologise to Suat Ling Lim too.

Lucky me.

Whatever it is, I should have checked properly first before getting angry with Suat Ling Lim.

Well, too bad for RPK that he had already published it.

He must had received the same screen shot like me too.

Nonetheless, I have to give him credit for promptly apologising.

Hopefully the damage already done on Suat Ling Lim was not too great.

The whole thing is a lesson for me and hopefully for you all too.

Do not simply believe when people tell us such stories.

If possible don't read the writings of people who constantly promote hatred between people of different races and religions.

Anyone with such modus operandi can't be good.

These are people with malice in their heart and their lack of talent makes them resorting to vile means of pitting people against each other to achieve their objectives.

I think you all are matured and smart enough to detect such hate mongers and stay away from them.

Please do not hate each other just because there are people who told us that we must do so because we are different, okay.

We are all Malaysians.

Instead of hating each other, we must try to bring out the best in us for this country.

Cheers.

The so unnecessary nonsense (updated)

UPDATES

Back home near Cyberjaya now.

Still tired, but I think I better write a bit about the rally today to update this post.

As far as I'm concerned, Bersih 5 turned out to be quite an anti-climax.

Firstly, the anticipated bloody clash between Red Shirts and Bersih supporters didn't happen.

That took out a lot of spice from the whole thing.

In fact, I think Bersih 5 is a very tame affair compared to the previous rallies.

It's definitely smaller than Bersih 4 last year and almost incident free compared to the chaos of Bersih 3.

The bulk of protesters never even got close to Dataran Merdeka.

Police did a good job at stopping them.

The Bersih crowd also never really tried to defy the police or break through the barricades.

They appeared very docile today compared to the way they behaved in past rallies.

It's probably political lethargy.

Everyone actually tired of the whole thing and was no longer trying too hard.

The Red Shirts were also a disappointment.

Their turn out was very much smaller than expected and they were docile too.

As if their hearts were not in it.

The only novelty this time was probably the presence of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his people from Parti Pribumi Bersatu.

Last year, he was just an observer but this time he's a real participant, complete in yellow tee shirt.

But it's okay lah. There was no violence and Dr Mahathir was never in danger.

Let the handsome old man enjoys himself today.

No need to whack him.

Not nice to whack an old man, okay.

Another thing I noticed, the Bersih crowd was still very much dominated by members of the Chinese community.

There were more Malays compared to during Bersih 4 last year, but they were still outnumbered by the Chinese participants.

Whatever it is, I'm glad the whole thing didn't turn out too badly.

Hopefully, everyone will from now on campaign peacefully till the next general election.

Then we can decide properly who should manage this country.

ORIGINAL POST

So, they arrested Maria, Jamal and others last night.

A little too late if you ask me.

The rally will go on.

I got friends near Dataran Merdeka as I'm writing  this.

They said the crowd are starting to gather.

Mostly from the Bersih side.

I'm now having breakfast in Cheras and writing this using my phone.

Planning to take LRT to down town KL later to observe the situation.

Will try to update this post later.

All these were so unnecessary.

If it's during Dr Mahathir's time, the rally leaders would had been arrested much earlier and the whole nonsense could probably be prevented.

But now Dr Mahathir is on the other side.

That's just too bad.

Well, let's just pray for things not to turn too ugly.

Tried and tired - the stupidity continues

I don't think they care about this police's warning,

Any rally — Yellow or Red — on Saturday is illegal

The same warning was issued before the previous rallies and still they came.

As it happened, the police then just monitored the situation to prevent any untoward incident.

They didn't try to stop the rallies.

Even when the rallies became ugly such as during this Bersih 3,

the authorities didn't really try very hard to punish the culprits.

The organisers of the rallies were hardly punished too.

Whatever it is, I feel that nothing serious was done to prevent the same thing from happening again.

So, I think the Bersih 5 rally will really happen tomorrow.

The yellow-clad Bersih supporters will turn up.

The police will be on stand-by as usual.

The Red Shirts will turn up for real this time.

Then the yellow and red will clash.

It's inevitable.

Police will have to move in and do the necessary to stop the stupid fighting.

Many will be injured and things will be damaged.

The story will go global.

Malaysia in turmoil, so said the headline.

The economy will further suffer.

Things will become even harder after that.

Ya, that's how I think things will turn up to be.

Really troublesome.

I have repeatedly wrote that these rallies are not only pointless but stupid because it causes people problems without solving anything.

Told already for everyone to wait for the general election and campaign peacefully till then.

I'm against both the Bersih and Red Shirts stupidity.

Their leaders should be locked up to stop the nonsense.

That's what I wrote.

But of course, who wants to listen to me lah.

So, that's about it. I have done my part.

Tried and tired already.

We all simply have to brace ourselves for what's coming our way.

Just pray that it will not be too bad.

My special prayer is for Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad not to be on the ground during the rally.

I can't imagine what will happen if something bad happened to the handsome old man if things turn violent.

I really hope Mukhriz and his siblings can stop him from endangering himself by going to the rally.

Come on guys, your dad is 91, okay. Don't let him do dangerous things.

Anyway, I will be in downtown KL tomorrow to meet someone.

Hopefully things will not be too bad.

Stop the lying doctor/s

Saw this story yesterday,

Hospital concessionaires ordered to conduct safety audits

and was particularly interested in this last paragraph,

The minister also denied that government hospitals do not have enough medicines and funds to conduct medical check-ups and treatment. He admitted that it was a problem but this has been resolved.

I became interested in that minister's denial because my friend in Kuantan told me earlier the same day that he went for a medical check-up at a government medical centre there and was told differently.

He had went for a medical check-up over an ailment and was given the diabetes, cholesterol and ECG (heart) tests.

The doctor however told my friend that he needed to undergo the thyroid test too but must do so at a private clinic or lab.

"We are on a budget and can't do it for you here," the doctor told my friend.

The doctor also told my friend that it's the same case at other government medical centers and hospitals all over the country.

'The supply of medicine is rather low because we don't have the money for it," said the doctor, adding that for instance, supply of insulin for diabetic patients is only available for a just two weeks stock at any time.

"After that, the patients need to get the supply on their own," the doctor said.

My friend ended up doing the thyroid test at a private lab outlet and was charged RM66.80 for it.

It's a good thing that my friend can afford it. Someone from the lower income group may find that quite burdensome.

That was not the first time I heard of such a story.

Some commentators in this blog have also wrote of the same thing at my earlier postings.

But since the minister had denied it, I really hope that all these were not true.

It's just not good if our hospitals are really running out of medicine and other stuff due to financial problem.

Now, I think the minister needs to tell the doctors to stop spreading such stories.

It makes the government looks bad.

Maybe those doctors were doing those story telling because they were pro-opposition and wanted the government to look bad.

If that's the case, disciplinary actions must be taken against them.

Politics should not have a place in hospitals.

Patients should not be made to suffer because of it.

Whatever it is, patients should be given the best treatment available.

The minister, who is also a doctor should know that.

 Again, hopefully it's true when he said all that were told to patients like my friend were not true.

Melayu kampung are not Rednecks

I'm not very good at changing myself.

If I love someone, I can never unloved that someone.

The same with my beliefs.

It's hard for me to disbelieve things that I already believe in.

For instance, I believe in a moderate Malaysia.

When the Chinese tsunami happened in 2013, I got angry and tried to change that.

I wrote this the morning after the 13th general election,

• The end of moderation

However, just five postings later, I had to write this,

Searching for the moderate Johorean inside me

I'm just not good at hating or staying angry.

I believe that it's because of the Malay inside me.

Generally, the Malays are not very good at being hateful.

I believe that it's because of the way they were conditioned by their religion, culture and natural environment.

That's my theory about Malays, at least.

Malays are one of those docile races.

It's just the way they are.

All those fired-up Malays you occasionally saw at rallies and such were actually only riled up by politics.

Some are just trying to be like others (of other races).

When they sympathise with the Palestinians and other Arabs, they will try to behave and even dressed up like them.

Really, it's just the way they are.

Otherwise they would be just nice and friendly.

If no one provokes or incites them, they would not disturb others.

The Malays are also easy at accepting others as their friends.

That's why there are so many races in this country.

Anyone can come here and make a life out of the place, because the majority Malays never seriously tried to stop it.

Malays make lousy racists because of that.

They like to be liked by others.

Generally that is.

You show them that you like them a bit and they will love you for it.

I used to caution a friend at the Japanese embassy that if he continues to say "InsyaAllah" all the time when talking to Malays here, he will likely ends up getting married to a Malay girl and never go back to Japan.

The guy thought I was joking, but seriously,  Malays love to be loved by others.

That's why I disagree with the recent attempt to liken rural Malays to American Rednecks

When Donald Trump won the American presidency the other day, there were those who suggested that the rural Malays should be deemed to be the same as  the rural whites of America who formed the backbone of Trump's support.

They suggested that the Malays in the kampung are as racist and uneducated as that segment of Trump's supporters.

They want those Malays to rely on such instincts in their support for Umno in the next general election.

Obviously, the people who made those suggestions do not really know the real Melayu kampung.

They probably never live in the kampung among those people. I know of one of them who is not even a Malay or even like the Malays.

Trust me, the Malays in the rural areas are not as depicted by those people.

The Melayu kampung are generally just practical people who want to carry on with life the best that they know how.

As I said, they are not racists.

If you are a Chinese, and want to open a shop in their kampung, please do not worry that they will burn it down.

In fact, they will buy from your shop without much prejudice.

Many Chinese from back then made a good living by setting up trade among the Malays in the kampung.

You don't have to fear them, okay.

The overwhelming majority of them are good people.

Actually, I'm really appalled when some people tried to paint an ugly picture of the rural Malays.

It's because in actual fact, Melayu kampung are generally the nicest of all Malaysians.

Go and live among them for a while and you will know that I'm not lying about this.

Malaysians should not worry about President Trump

Was at the J W Marriott Hotel in KL this morning.

Got an invite from the US embassy to witness the presidential race there.

Quite nice of them.

Took these pictures,

Watching US election at the hotel ballroom

School students were also invited

An embassy staff marking which states went to who

Trump led the race most of the time until he was declared the winner.

Clinton actually only overtook him once that was when she won California which offers a huge 55 electoral votes.

Trump quickly overtook her again when he won the key state of Florida which has 29 electoral votes.

It was Trump all the way after that.

I left the hotel about 1pm when Trump stretched his lead to 245 against Clinton's 209.

Trump achieved the winning 270 electoral votes at about 3.30pm.

So, America has a new president - a weird one, if you ask me.

I think you all know why I said that.

In case you don't know why I said that, just google Donald Trump, okay.

Now, US is going into uncharted territory by electing someone as weird as Trump.

Guess it's just the trend to elect someone who panders to the basic instincts of self-preservation.

Racisms, gender discrimination, religious intolerance, etc don't really matter because of that.

Well, that's democracy.

Anyway, I don't think we in Malaysia should worry too much about what US will do under Donald Trump.

Why?

Because we are now a good friend of China.

Anything happens, I'm quite sure China will back us up.

They are pouring billions of ringgit into our country, and I'm quite sure they will not let Trump and his gringos come here and disturb us.

And if Trump later on doesn't allow us to go to his country, especially because of our religion, then we can go to China.

 I think it's cheaper to go to China than to go to US.

And China has more history and culture than US.

Really not so bad, okay.

Well, if China is not your cup of tea, then I suggest for you to go to Japan.

Japan nicer. All their toilets got water spout to wash your bum. Warm water some more.

But if you are really dying to have your holiday in a Mat Salleh country, I suggest Australia or New Zealand.

No need to go to US.

Cheaper and not too far away.

So, no problem, okay.

Just let the Americans and their new weird president be.

I'm sure we can laugh at them later.

Crazy people....pussy grabber for president...tah apa apa.

Cheers.

Shouldn't reject an offer of friendship

I'm still busy with my family.

Everyone is still here to be with grandma.

But I got a few minutes now.

My mother told me to rest a bit.

She said I looked tired.

So, I'm writing this lying down on bed.

It's just a bit more about my thoughts on the latest strengthening of Malaysia-China ties which is being heavily criticised over the past days.

I really think that we need to be more positive about it.

I tried to explain why we need to do so in this post a few days ago,

• Don't throw Chinese overboard while on a slow boat to China

Really, if we think carefully, the closer China-Malaysia ties were not all that bad.

The Chinese are really not some kind of monster, okay.

Yes, they are mostly a bit coarse, loud and less refined, but if we get to know them better, we may find that they are not far different from us.

Even more so if we have been to their country.

I have been to China and I found the country and the attitude of its people towards us are not all too bad.

The following is a posting I did more than a year ago about my experience during my most memorable trip to China.

I'm putting it here in full because I know some of you are too lazy to click on the link and I really want you all, especially those who haven't, to read it,

Tuesday, 29 September 2015

Beijing diary - What I told a Chinese about Malaysian Chinese

I was in Beijing for some work in late 2013.

Stayed at the Swissotel Hotel for five days.

It was early winter and there was a bit of snow falling at some parts of the city every other nights.

I didn't really like the place.

It was cold and I was bored and missing home. It was the last leg of my trip to China at that time.

The only really pleasant memory I have of that hotel was when I was smoking with my Indonesian and Filipino colleagues at a corner near the main entrance of the building.

It was our routine to hang out there several times a day for smoking sessions.

The no smoking regulation was strictly enforced at the hotel.

The corner where we smoked was also a bit sheltered from the strong cold winter wind.

The three of us enjoyed our little chit chats, especially when it involved bad mouthing our communist Chinese hosts.

They were our little bitching sessions.

Sometimes, another colleague from Vietnam who didn't smoke joined us just to express his displeasure.

He claimed that the Vietnamese communists were nicer than the Chinese communists, which for me was a very hilarious thing to say.

The guy was the oldest and funniest in our gang.

Our complaints were nothing really serious though.

Difficult Internet access,  overzealous government officials, not very friendly hotel staff etc.

Actually, I didn't mind the whole thing so much.

And our Chinese hosts actually tried their best to make us comfortable.

It's just that our standard of comfort was a little bit higher than theirs, I guess.

And maybe it was partly because things were starting to get a little bit tense at South China Sea at that time where the Chinese navy was flexing its muscle over the disputed territorial claims there.

Then there was this very tall and handsome young Chinese official who tried to be friendly with me.

Whenever he saw me alone at the hotel lobby or restaurant, he would sit with me and asked me questions about Malaysia.

He was particularly interested about the Chinese community in Malaysia.

I told him the truth, of course.

Despite several policies which seemed to favour the Malays and bumiputera ethnic groups, the Chinese community is the most prosperous and advance in almost everything.

And I told him that Malaysia is the only country other than China which have a proper Chinese school system.

In his context, China includes the mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

He was impressed.

These are his exact words which I remember very well,

"That's very tolerant of your government. Do the Chinese in your country appreciate it?"

I hesitated for a few seconds before saying "Yes".

I hesitated because it was just several months after the Chinese tsunami of 2013 general election.

Despite my inclination at that moment to say "No",  I didn't, because it's not right to give the impression to a foreigner that we, Malaysians were so racially divided.

For better or worse, we are all Malaysians and we need to settle the problems among ourselves without letting outsiders' interference.

We simply have to do it that way or otherwise we would likely perish and Malaysia as we knew it may cease to exist.

This is another post on the same China trip in 2013 which I wrote not long after I return from it that year,

Chinese snow

And yes, I'm not kidding you when I wrote that I went on that trip as a guest of the Chinese government.

So, I know they are really trying hard to be friendly.

They are not very good at it, but I think they genuinely tried their best.

So, I don't think we should just dismiss their gestures without consideration.

After all, it's not true that we have nothing to offer in return to the Chinese other than selling our country for all the help that they were offering.

We can actually offer them our friendship in return which I believe is quite valuable.

I'm quite sure the Chinese will appreciate it.

Malaysia is after all known to be a good friend at the international stage.

I know, the Americans are more attractive as friends.

They are more fashionable.

Almost everyone are more fashionable than the Chinese.

In fact, I prefer Japan myself.

Japan is generally more classy and cultured compared to China.

But, I still don't think we should push away an offer of friendship by any country.

We should not be sombong (arrogant) in our selection of friends.

We should take the good and reject the bad in any friendship.

The same applies to Malaysia's relations with China.

At least that's how I see it.

Okay, that's it. I need to go help cook for dinner now.

You all enjoy the rest of this Sunday, okay.

Cheers.

Happy birthday dear sweet lady

It's my grandmother's birthday.

She's okay now.

As okay as someone her age could be.

So, I have no time to write all those usual nonsense today.

Just want to be happy with my grandma and family for today.

This is the song which my grandmother used to sing to me during bed time. Dedicated to her.

Have a nice weekend everyone.

I will write again when I have the time.

Cheers.

Don't throw Chinese overboard while on a slow boat to China

So, we are going Chinese.

I think you all have read about it.

The news and commentaries about the whole thing are all over the place.

No need for me to put the links here. Well, I'm in the lazy mode these days anyway.

I actually prefer going Japanese, but Chinese is also okay with me.

At least now I'm quite sure Umno will not chase away the Chinese party MCA and Chinese-dominated party Gerakan out of BN.

I'm sure the Chinese who are going to pump in billions of ringgit into Malaysia are not going to be too happy if the ruling coalition kick out its Chinese component parties.

Need to take care of their feelings, okay.

Chinese are now the good guys. Accept it.

All those hate mongers who repeatedly called for Umno to kick out MCA and Gerakan and then combine with Pas to form a hardline Malay Muslim coalition must be quite frustrated by this development.

They need to also now adjust their sales pitch from Umno must throw the Chinese into the sea, to just Umno must throw the DAP evangelical Chinese into the sea.

Otherwise, can miss a meal or two.

Whatever it is, BN will continue to be a multi-racial coalition, which is good.

What I fear all these while is that we have the Malays on one side and a mostly non-Malays gang on the other.

That's what the hate mongers have been trying to promote all these while under the guise of slogans such as perpaduan ummah and the need for Malays to defend themselves from the nefarious Chinese.

Basically, they want the Malays to turn racist by inflaming their sentiments to hate the Chinese.

The effect of such extreme racial polarisation can be quite devastating for the country.

We can end up like Bosnia or Sri Lanka, where they have to go to war with each other to solve their racial polarisation problem.

I think all reasonable people can understand this.

That's why, for me it's not such a bad development that Malaysia is now turning to China. At least the hate mongers could be checked.

Okay, back to the actual topic of Malaysia being pally with China.

Honestly, as I said, I wish it could be the Japanese instead.

I just like Japan.

But the Japanese don't have the money anymore to do what the Chinese will be doing here soon.

They used to help us quite a lot back then when we initiated the Look East policy under the administration of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but ever since their economic bubble burst sometime in the 90s, Japan can't afford to offer much to us anymore.

They got their own problems.

As for the US, they never really care for us until the Obama administration. They prefer Singapore, or the Philippines, or Thailand, or whatever.

Maybe it's because of our anti-Israel policy.

And US will not offer us what China is offering now even if they want to.

Not unlike Japan, the US simply don't have the money for it. In fact, they even owe China quite a lot.

So, it's not really a bad thing for us to be friendly with the Chinese.

We have to be friendly with someone, okay.

The way I see it, Malaysia is like a small kid at the schoolyard.

If a bigger kid offers to protect and even share the food from his lunch box with him, then why not take the offer.

After all, there are many bullies at school.

Okay, the bigger kid may not be so nice to look at, because he is fat, a bit smelly and has an overbearing personality, but being his friend is better than being clobbered by the other bullies.

Of course, the best is if we can stand up on our own like we used to be, but that's not how things are these days.

We have to admit that we are currently not in such a good shape with things such as world oil prices being in the dump now, causing our main bread winner Petronas to suffer.

Yes, I know, China will demand the South China Sea in return for all these help, but I think they will be reasonable about it.

Who knows, maybe they may even consider letting us have our little portion of the sea if we are really their good friend.

It may even be better that way than having to fight China and get really all bruised up for it.

China is known to take care of their good friends.

For instance, they really helped the Sri Lankans with money and weapons to beat the Tamil Tigers within just a year after the country was ravaged by the rebellion for decades.

Then they also help to rebuild the country.

In return, of course they got all the projects and the right to once a while park their warships there to irritate India.

But still, Sri Lanka seems to be getting better now.

I was there on a trip after the war and the country looked reasonably good.

Whatever it is, China really have better record in helping friends than the US.

Just look at the US' friends in South America.

They never really improve their economy all these years. US never really help them.

And when Argentina went to war with Britain over the Falklands, the US despite claiming neutrality, actually sided with their Anglo Saxon brothers from across the Atlantic despite Argentina at that time being its ally too.

Okay, try to look closer.

Look at the Philippines.

The Philippines has been a US' friend for donkey's of decades yet it is still like that.

It's still not doing really well.

US never really help it.

Maybe that's why that a bit crazy Philippines president Rodrigo Durtate is giving big brother Uncle Sam the middle finger and turning to China for help.

I'm quite sure China will go all out if given the chance to help the Philippines.

That would really shut down US in this region.

Well, that's about it.

Let's go Chinese everyone.

I'm okay with it...except the eating pork part.

That one I'm leaving  it to those who enjoy eating it....hahaha.

Sigh....it's raining again. No bicycle ride again this morning.

I better get ready for work now.

Song of the day is this;

Well, I'm missing someone, okay.

Cheers.

Between showing support and winning support

Woke up just now and did the necessary.

Noticed that my mother sent me a text message at about 2.30am.

It's not such a bad news. Alhamdulillah.

It's still dark outside.

And it's raining.

Can't go on my routine bicycle ride exercise yet.

That's why I'm writing this.

Nothing much to write actually.

The supposedly big political issues these days are mostly made up, I think.

It's getting dry and repeating itself.

I think our politicians lack imagination.

They don't know how to make Malaysian politics raise above the current level.

You whack me, I whack you. That's all.

I think most of you all could agree that the maturity level is rather low.

Honestly, it turned me off these days.

Those who write about it are mostly the same.

They can't even differentiate between showing support and winning support for their cause.

Most of the time they deliberately show their support without caring to win the needed support.

They are too lazy to think and be creative.

Showing support is easy. Just whack the other side and kiss the ass of leaders on your side.

It may win you some applause from like minded crowd from your side....and maybe some nice amount of money too, but it's not really going to help the cause.

In fact, not only those who were supposed to be convinced to join your side found it unappealing, they most likely got disgusted by it too and ended up joining the enemies.

Really, that's not how you win support.

Well, the supposedly brilliant big bosses of the mainstream media can't even figure that out. That's why their newspapers and television channels are suffering.

To be fair, maybe they are not so stupid. They just don't really care. They just want to keep their well paying job and get datukship.

So, can't really blame the smaller players, can't we?

Well, never mind that.

Let those people figure out themselves on how actually they can win the needed support for their bosses.

That's their job, after all.

Me?

I'm waiting for the bloody rain to stop, so that I can ride my bicycle.

Maybe, I should fix myself some breakfast first.

Okay, I better get off my bum now.

This is the song for the day. Just to cheer up things a bit.

Nice eh.