What I've learned at 40

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that counts. It's the life in your years - Abraham Lincoln

Nearly got myself killed twice. Once, in a near car collision on my sister's wedding day and the other one falling down 10 meters off a mountain during a hike. Those aren’t accidents, I was stupid and careless both times.

Guys cannot fake orgasm.

As corny as it sounds, I actually met my wife in a bookstore. She was holding a book on sexual reproduction. She seemed a bit out of breath when I said ‘Hi’, which I thought might be because of my mere presence…she was actually hiding the book from my sight.

Politicians have speechwriters. Stupid ones have a few more than the smart ones.

The biggest organ a guy should worry about possessing is the size of his heart.

The grass is sometimes greener on the other side.

You could find a civilized man in a small kampong and you could find an uncivilized man in a cosmopolitan city. It has nothing to do with education or money.

At times, money can buy happiness.
Women need shoes as much as a man needs fancy electronic gadgets. Sometimes men likes gadgets and shoes too.

I get mad and I get even….most of the time.

I write better than I do talking. Problem with live debates is that you cannot spend 5 minutes writing it down before answering.

Never dated a model but I was engaged to a stewardess once.

A good heart is better than a good intention. Good intentions always have a way of screwing up.

Fuck is actually the most flexible word in English. You could be pissed, ecstatic, happy or hurt and describe the feeling with the F word. Strange but fu**ing true.

A real patriot is a politician who tells the truth no matter what the consequences. A real rakyat is the person who defends this person.

Life little mysteries, I went to my cousin’s wedding. Took a photo with the married couple along with the bride’s best friend. In the photo, I was with my ex-fiancé and the bride’s friend was with her boyfriend. The bride’s best friend turned out to be my wife nearly a decade after the wedding. I did not talk or knew her then. In fact, neither one of us even remembered taking the picture together.

I like to stare at my uncle whom has the uncanny resemblance of my late father. He is uncomfortable by it.

Parents have a favourite child though they always say that they treat everyone the same. I suspect, I’m not my mom favourite though she tells me so.

Live simply, love generously, Care deeply and speak kindly. We should live by these values plus be like a fruit tree. You give sweet fruits even if stones were thrown at you.

Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther could walk. Martin Luther walk so Obama could run. Jay Z said that…now who said rappers can only cuss..?

Mat Rempit(18SX)–work in progress(part 1)

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.- Marcus Aurelius

Black, hollow and red eyes…

 It’s the eyes that stared back at me through my rear view mirror. That empty look…devoid of any emotions except of hate…PURE HATRED. It made my spine chill because those eyes happened to be staring back at muah, yours truly…ME.

 F$%#…just my luck to be here at the same time as this asshole on wheels.

 Actually, our path could be different. Approximately 45 seconds ago, this stranger was weaving through cars, lorries, other bikes…like he owned the road. Problem is, I had been watching this character and I am not in a good mood. Slowing down, I purposely wedged closer to an old Toyota that was ambling down the street cutting the biker off. 

I had a funny feeling that it was a bad move…trouble is, my funny feeling is usually correct. The ass-on-wheels applied his brake hard and slowed from 50km/h to an abysmal zero km/h in 4 secs, his wheels locking and screeching all the way.. you could smell rubber…burnt rubber. I bet money that his tyres left rubber marks on the road..

 The fella was obviously not amused. Damn…my funny feeling is right for the thousandth time.

‘Beeppppppppppppp’ a sickening horn sounded at my six o’clock. ‘BeeeeeEEpppppppp’ it sounded AGAIN…as if I hadn’t notice the first beep. Did the biker think I was deaf..?

“Oii.., Lu GILA KAH..?” the biker bellowed. I ignored the obviously stupid question…the answer was obvious…he was the gila one…not me.

“Weii…Turun…turun le kalau berani” he yelled again…I pretended to ignore him.

‘THUMP’..a flesh on metal sounded at the rear of my car. Heyy…did the asshole-on-wheels just thumped my car..? Another loud thump confirmed my suspicion. Okay..I get it….but why the need for repetitions? This character really needs an education on road and safety etiquette. Question is…who is going to teach him..? I bet that line is going to be a short one…right next to the long line of ‘I don’t want to mess with Mat Rempit’s’. Great…just great…and I’m late for work.

‘See’, my conscience spoke in a slight sarcastic tone…’TOLD YOU NOT TO BUG THIS GUY, now see what happens’.

Damn-it, problem with having a conscience is that, it’s not connected to the muscle that is doing the stuffs that you don’t want it to do. In my case, both my arms and my legs. I began to wonder, why God designed us this way.? Some philosophers believe that humans are born with a blank slate or Tabula Rasa…to be fashioned by life experience. Some like Plato believe that we should lead a moral and righteous life. Not all philosophers agree on that though, Nietzsche for example believes that God is dead. Yeah right, my philosophy lecturer back in university didn’t tell me that Nietzsche was also crazy, caused by a psychological maladjustment brought on by his philosophy. What book did he wrote..? Ahh…yes, I remember, ‘The Anti-Christ’. Wonderful children bedtime reading material. So is it nature…or nurture..? I believe in…

‘THUMPPP’ , that loud and familiar knock again, stirring me up from my philosophic reverie. That disturbance is an insult to a budding philosopher like me, the disturbance to philosophic thoughts, dear thoughts according to Plato. I bet Plato’s teacher Socrates would be rolling over in his grave right now.

 -end part 1

Selamat Hari Raya 2008

I would like to wish all my family, relatives and friends...a wonderful Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Mohon maaf zahir dan batin, semoga kita akan bertemu Ramadhan di tahun hadapan.

Indah langit kerana awan,

Indah laut kerana kebiruan,

Indah Ramadhan kerana keinsafan,

Indah Aidilfitri kerana kemaafan.

23 July 2008 - News headings

1) Kit Siang - Why Malay unity and Not Malaysian unity (Star page N6)

Is DAP the custodian of the VOICE of multi racial Malaysia or just the CHINESE in general..?
Check for yourself here. (Look under 'About Us' and choose Leadership OR elected representatives.)

I bet you can count with one hand non chinese elected leaders (in National, Women and DAPSY) representatives in this so-called Pan Malaysia Multi-racial party.

Walk your talk lah Kit Siang.


2) Kos Senggara mahal (Utusan page 1)

Wow..maintanence of over RM132 k - RM 175k per car over a four year period for Perdana V6.
Funny, my periodic maintenance for my V6 hardly goes over RM400 every 3 months. The last major cost was RM1600 to replace the cheap tyres to Continental kick ass ones.
Further more my perdana comes with 5 year warranty on parts (even the gear boxes are covered).

And I have such high aspirations that the current Trengganu Exco would not be like their predecessor...looks like they hired the same style politicians all over again.

Imagine these jokers with the wang ehsan..it's Monsoon Cup with a different name.

Sea Shell

Life is hard, we say. An oyster’s life is worse. She lives motionless, soundless, her own cold ugly shape her only dissipation ... - M.F.K Fisher

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sea Shell by Amy Lowell

Sea Shell, Sea Shell,Sing me a song,

O Please!A song of ships, and sailor men,

And parrots, and tropical trees,Of islands lost in the Spanish Main

Which no man ever may find again,

Of fishes and corals under the waves,

And seahorses stabled in great green caves.

Sea Shell, Sea Shell,

Sing of the things you know so well.

Oil and Food crisis – Making Sense of It All

Malaysian politicians are a weird bunch. When the whole developing world is staring at a possible food crisis, the politicians are busy planning about increasing fuel price when we do not have enough rice to feed ourselves.

How difficult can estimating how much we Malaysians eat rice? With a population of slightly more than 20 million people, estimating it would not take a rocket science degree.

Emphasis has always been to cash crops like oil palm…that’s why. The idiotic blowback to this notion is that while we boast to the world that Malaysia is the leader in palm oil biofuel, we will diminish lands that is used, planned to be used or make planters switch from growing food to growing more profitable palm oil. So, if you take lands to grow biofuels instead of rice, less rice is produced and prices would inevitably go up.

So this is how the rich actually starve the poor. Since the rich insist on cheaper fuel alternatives, more lands are being used to cultivate plants for producing biofuel like corn and palm oil. So it’s the case of feeding your car instead of your mouth. And in poorer countries, that also means taking food from starving children so cars could run.

Less rice means government has to import rice from other countries like Thailand, where we pay market price for it and sell to Malaysians at a subsidized rate to avoid civil disorder. Problem with this kind of problem solving (typical with our government) is that the government has to find funds to cover the subsidy cost. Since we know that the government has no money, an increase in fuel price cannot be avoided. So now, instead of having a civil disorder about rising rice prices, we have a civil disorder about rising oil prices. Since all industries depend on oil, we have across the board increase in almost everything from food to our electricity tariff.

Being a citizen to any country is not the same, some perks are enjoyed if the country has surplus of some natural resources. Venezuelans enjoy cheaper fuel than most other countries because they are a big supplier of oil. Same goes to most Arab countries. Americans enjoy cheaper grains as government have subsidies to help local farmers etc. We Malaysians are moving away from perks for the people and now moving towards a non-subsidized country.

My question is, what is there to be proud of our nationality if we do not enjoy what mother Malaysia has to offer of her bounty..?

Has the public transportation etc improved from the last increase in fuel prices as our PM promised..?

Has our ministers succeeded in doing their jobs as per our expectation..?

If not…something has to be done this December UMNO election. It’s time to get rid of the dead woods.

The SMS

A politician is known for the promises he keeps - Anonymous

My phone vibrated at 3.37pm on 4th June 2008, I was attending a training session scheduled for 2 days starting today. It was an incoming sms…

Friend : Petrol pump price increase tonite.

Reza : Really.. Not in August..?

Friend : We r on the way to putrajaya to pick up letter

Reza : Tq..pls update me later.


At 5.42 pm, my phone again gave an ominous rattle.

Friend : Confirm price increase from pump. RM1.00 DIESEL, RM0.7841 ULG97, RM0.7410 ULG92. Fleetcard no change. RM0.43 fishery diesel/petrol.

So that’s when I knew.
F*^% the government, another lie. Shahrir told us that the increase would be in August. This was 2 whole month early. Najib in early June told the people that they are not increasing the price so soon so ask the people to stop speculating.

Wait, another sms

Friend 2 : 4/6 PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says Tenaga Nasional to raise electricity rates by 18% for home, 26% for business users/STAR


Damn the politicians..

The Return

It’s been more than a month since my last posting.

It is not that I have grown tired of writing/blogging, the contrary is true. Getting an interesting topic to write is both a pain and a bane to any writer.

Demigod Dr. Mahathir nonetheless with his one-month-old chedet.com, manages 20+ articles whilst juggling his breakneck appointments, luncheons and overseas trips. True to his usual style and high standards, the website just made its one million mark/hits.

So it’s true afterall…you could still teach an old dog….new tricks.

With mere mortals like me, I'll start back slowly.

Quoting one of Rumi’s Mathnawi would be a start.

Conventional knowledge is for sale,
When it finds a purchaser,
It glows with delight.
The purchaser of real knowledge is God:
Its market is always splendid.
The owner of real knowledge has closed his lips
And is enraptured in his trading:
The buying is without end,

For GOD HAS PURCHASED.

Dangers of Polycarbonate in water bottles, food containers and baby bottles.

The use of polycarbonate is widespread. It is used in the process of CD making, eye lenses, mp3 players and even the cockpit canopy of advance jets. The outstanding properties of polycarbonate include high impact resistance, lightweight and an outstanding optical quality (transparent to visible light) that rivals even glasses.

The main concern is not the use of polycarbonate in these items BUT the use of polycarbonate in drinking bottles, baby bottles and food containers.

Scientist have discovered that polycarbonate may leach a certain chemical compound called Bisphenol A or BPA. This chemical mimics estrogen (a type of female hormone) and studies have shown that it could have some effect on the prostate gland, mammary gland and induced an early puberty in females. These endocrine disruptors pretend to be the body endogenous hormones (meaning the REAL hormones produced by the body in the endocrine system) thus disrupting the physiologic function of the hormones.

So how do you identify a polycarbonate container..? Positive identification includes clear labeling on the container (normally at the bottom) or a recycling symbol (also at the bottom) marked with the number 7. If you fail to find any markings (as far as I know, there is no legislation here or overseas that require product identification on polycarbonate), polycarbonate containers are CLEAR and RIGID plastics. In other words, it is transparent (of various colours), break resistant and tough plastic.

Big companies like Bayer, General Electric, DOW makes polycarbonate BUT labels them differently like Lexan, Calibre or Makrolon etc. The famous baby bottle company Avent produces cute bottles that are made of poly carbonate (my son used this bottles for more than 5 years) and only now we know that it is actually unsafe. There are scientific studies that show BPA leaching increases significantly if boiling water is used in the containers, up to 55 times more. As we all know, baby bottles are routinely washed and use hot boiling water to make milk. Microwave has the same effect in these containers. Here’s another catch…old bottles leached close to double the amount of BPA than newer ones (because cracks and scratches increases the surface area of these bottles).

So far Canada is the only country that bans baby bottles that contains bisphenol A. Will Malaysia follow suit..? IMO, unlikely within 1 year, maybe after 2-4 years (after everyone else has already ban it).

So how to avoid BPA.

a) Throw away bottles that contain BPA especially baby bottles. My Nalgene sport water bottle collection cost me nearly RM300. Now I have to start over.
b) Do not use water coolers that uses poly carbonate containers.
c) Select bottles that are made of tempered glass, polyethylene or polypropylene (recycling symbols 1,2 or 5).

Remember…you drink to quench your thirst…not to develop a third breast.

Quotes from Pak Lah..

Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed. – Don Wood

Saw this sign on menara ABM, opposite Maju Junction KL. Sublime, huh..?
I know there are not exactly plenty of Pak Lah’s quotations to go around so the fellas at Ukhwah took the most innocuous one to put on their posters. Problem that, the most innocuous ones are also the most painfully obvious ones.

It’s bad enough that most cabinet ministers think that they are smarter than the PM, but letting the average Joe on the street thinks that way too..? Now, how brilliant is that…

Ok...some good news. According to some foreign news, Pak Lah is indicating that he would be discussing the transfer of power to his deputy, Najib. Read it here. (there's a catch...not straight away but at the end of 2008). Don't worry we trust you ;-)

A letter to Y.B Dato' Ahmad Shabery Cheek, Minister of Information

Y.B. Dato’ Ahmad Shabery Cheek
Wisma TV, Angkasapuri,
50610 Kuala Lumpur.

30 March 2008


Y.B. Dato’,

Re: Media Blackout and failure to report important news on time versus BLOGS

Congratulations Y.B. Dato’ for your recent appointment as our Minister of Information. The post is very demanding. Nobody remembers when you are doing your job well and everyone remembers when you mess up.

I doubt any minister would envy your position, which brings a heavy historical burden of your predecessor. I as many other Malaysians blame the loss partly on his failure to keep abreast with the current technology, the failure to counter attack on some important issues in the media and aligning himself with pre-PRU12 common misconception among BN politicians (Azalina, Nazri, Rais even the PM) that bloggers are a bunch of misfits, liars and scums that feeds on peoples fear and hate.

Post-PRU12 cleared the last misconception at a heavy price to BN (one opposition blogger even won a Penang Parliamentary seat). The public/voters in general, refused to accept the candy-coated and one way reporting of our printed newspaper and relied heavily on cyber information (blogs, websites, newsgroups and You tube).

Blogs in particular proved to be one of the most effective methods of public information. Blogs are always faster in disseminating news (we knew Penang, Selangor, Shahrizat, Samy Vellu fate long before the confirmation news on TV), and most of all, IDENTIFIABLE people who works with almost no pay. We see concern citizens, retired civil servants, former reporters and even one grandmother blogging with ONLY the fervent hope of a fair, fast and non-candy coated news.

Recently, a few bloggers managed to PROVE the existence of a media blackout not at the time of your predecessor (that was easy) BUT during your watch as Minister of Information. The local dailies DID NOT report the outcome of the PM’s AFTERNOON visit to the Yang diPertuan Agong (on the 26th March) until the 28th March, a gap of more than 36 hours. Even the on-line news (Bernama and NST) failed to report on the outcome till night 27th March, a gap of more than 24 hours. Blogs however have been excellent in giving CORRECT information quickly to the masses. Rocky’s bru for example have been giving updates from 4.15pm on 26th March of the meeting and a CONFIRMED outcome by the 27th March in the afternoon. In an era of fast cars and even faster transfer of information, our print media have failed miserably in their job. I suspect (so do most bloggers and their readers) that the media reporters ARE NOT GIVEN THE PERMISSION TO PUBLISH THEIR STORY BY SOMEONE WITH AUTHORITY HIGH UP IN THE GOVERNMENT. This kind of lapse will give legitimacy to the masses suspicions of puppet masters, conspiracy theories, and the infamous 4th floor string pulling and spin doctoring. I have no reason to believe that an early release of the information is a threat to our country or cause riots; in fact the contrary is true. The suppression will cause uneasiness among the population.

Edmund Burke once said, ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’. I hope Y.B. Dato’ that you are doing SOMETHING. As a Muslim, I have the right to remind myself and others that Allah is on the side of right no matter how oppressed and Muslims must protect the innocents, including bloggers that fight tyranny in the face with a keyboard and an RM77 internet subscription. There are lies too concocted and spread by bad bloggers that makes the rest of us look bad, this is true also of politicians. There are politicians whom are convicted of corruption, womanizing and even murder BUT that does not make true of the others. I pray you do the right thing no matter what and do it quickly. There is an on-line movement currently initiated by bloggers to boycott our national papers for their inefficiency, biasness, lies and threats towards innocent bloggers (a few bloggers like Rocky, Jeff Ooi are currently being sued for defamation by NSTP).

Your colleague, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob (Minister of Youth and Sports) said on 23rd March 2008 during a celebration in a Rakan Muda Complex, ‘…If we continue to rubbish the blogs, I am worried that it will one day take over the role of the mainstream newspapers...’

If you do not do something to arrest this problem, I fear that his prediction would one day come true right before your very eyes.





Your Sincerely,


Reza Zainal

http://rezazainalmeanderings.blogspot.com/

References : Rocky Bru’s at http://www.rockybru.blogspot.com/
Nuraina A. Samad at http://nursamad.blogspot.com/
Tok Mommy at http://mariasamad.blogspot.com/ and Marina Mahathir at http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/

Pak Lah…Malaysians are desperately looking for some leadership from you.

What is going on nowadays? Has Malaysia gone to the dogs? Can we have a bit of good ol’ leadership here from our PM?

Where was the PM's comment on Datuk Zaid Ibrahim proposal to apologise to Tun Salleh Abbas?

What happened when Dr. Mohd Isa was appointed MB of Perlis instead of the PM’s choice of Shahidan?

This precedence has now contributed to HRH of Trengganu appointing his choice of Ahmad Said over the PM’s choice of Idris Jusuh.
Why was the simple suggestion of meeting the Trengganu Regency Advisory Council by Muhyiddin Yassin not thought of earlier…way before the constitutional crisis became very real. Do you need rocket science post graduate degree to have thought about this earlier?

Where is your leadership ? Where are ALL OF YOUR ADVISERS? DO YOU EVEN CARE?

IF YOU HAVE ADVISERS...NOW IS THE TIME TO GET RID OF THEM.

And now the possibility of a postponement of UMNO Party elections to next year again announced by someone OTHER than the PM. Where is the PM response to all of this?

Am I suppose to be worried ….or scared?

Khairy not interested in Cabinet Post

"…If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism; if our government is to function it must have dissent " - Henry Commager

Quote KJ from Malay Mail :

"As long as he is the Prime Minister, I am not interested in a Cabinet post. I have told the Prime Minister this long before I was nominated to contest for the Rembau parliamentary seat and he had agreed to my stand. I told him not to feel pressured because I don’t want to be part of it."

Of course, I'm sure KJ have a few individuals with him at the time and ready to testify to this claim. If he has, he did not mention them during the press meet. So I guess, we have to trust him.

It would have a greater effect IF he had said it before the elections and not let the younger generations vote opposition just because some of them hate KJ and would not bear the thought of him becoming a menteri via being the PM son-in-law.

Wanna read more, it's here (have a barf bag ready..)

Have you tried to google 'Khairy Jamaluddin' nowadays..?? I won't recommend it if you have a weak heart.

To be fair, wanna get his take on some issues...go to his website, it's here . Leave your speakers on, there's a cool Blues Gang 'Apo nak Di Kato' intro. Just remember to switch it off right after...you'll see. I'm surprised that he did not leave us with a pdf copy of his undergraduate thesis in Oxford, to show us mortals that we need to be guided by an obviously higher being.

There's a link...Khairy and Anwar Ibrahim debate. Clicking it would give you a collage of ONE issue...Oil price. There is no live debate at all...what a waste of time. Khairy chose one issue that can call on Anwar's obvious bluff. (Kampung folks still thinks that the Malaysian government controls World crude prices).

Anwar told Malaysians that during his tenure as Minister...the price of oil was RM1.10 (that was the time the world prices for crude was hovering US14-20 dollars). Now it's RM1.92 (and world prices reached a record high of US100 dollars).

So...Khairy-1, Anwar-0.

Lets get a real live debate on...so maybe we would know more about the ECM Libra share issues debacle.

Ref : KJ picture was taken from his website.

All the PM's Men

I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government - Henry David Thoreau

-

Looks good...quite refreshing. Hope it works.

Like fruits on a tree..some are sweet..some are not. I had hope that the cabinet would be free from excess baggage..not caught with some money in the baggage...

The Good : Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, Datuk Shahrir

The Bad : Datuk Marshitah, Datuk Seri Shahrizat

The Ugly : Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib

Sports Doping...for Billards..??

When Carl Lewis was winning everything, I never said a word against him. And when the next guy comes along and beats me, I won’t complain about that either - Ben Johnson (disgraced former Olympic 100 meters champion)

What extreme sports would be next for doping scandals, I wonder..?? DARTS..?

German billiards champ tests positive for EPO agent

Associated Press

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) - Germany's first case of doping in billiards was announced Monday after national champion Axel Buescher tested positive for an EPO masking agent.

Buescher's positive test came at November's German championships, where he captured the carom billiards title, the German Billiard Union said.
Buescher said the masking agent was in prescription medicine he failed to have approved.
The Union suspended Buescher for one year and stripped him of his title after he passed on his right to have the "B" sample tested.
EPO is a blood booster most closely associated with endurance sports, such as cycling, where it has played a central role in several Tour de France scandals.

Words...(a true story)

Sometimes when I'm talking, my words can't keep up with my thoughts. I wonder why we think faster than we speak. Probably, so we can think twice - Bill Waterson, author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes


This happened while I was watching the film Collateral(2004) with my wife, Liza.
In the scene, Max(the cab driver played by Jamie Foxx) was forced to get the hit-list (the list of people about to get killed by Vincent-the assassin played by Tom Cruise) he lost from Felix(played beautifully by Javier Bardem).
The dark big room was behind a hispanic bar and full of gangsters, all keen to see the weirdo Max get killed while talking to the head honcho Felix.

Reza : Hold on...I missed the whole thing about the Santa Claus...I never heard about Pedro before. I rewind it back a little....

Liza (bewildered) : C'mon..it's not important...let's just watch the movie..

Reza : It will take just a few secs...

Liza : Pleaseeee...those are just wordss.....rewind it back when Tom Cruise is in the scene...

Reza : Wordsss..?? Boy, cat and flower are words. Those are not words..it's an inspiration. Those writers probably wrote and rewrote the script 20 times before we see it in it's final form. The scene probably took 15 takes. Have I ever said your Furla bag was just a BAG..? I wanna see it again. See...you made me missed it AGAIN....we could do this all night, you know...

Liza : Wake me up when you're done..

Reza : I think about it...


That was 6 months ago. I know women can be harsh...but we have since reconciled ;-)

For those who are interested in the script in question however...this is it...

FELIX: Do you believe in Humpty Dumpty?
MAX: No.
FELIX: Do you believe in Santa Claus?
MAX: No.
FELIX: Neither do I. But my children do. They are still small. But do you know who they like even better than Santa Claus? His helper, Pedro Negro. Black Peter. There's an old Mexican tale that tells of how Santa Claus got so very busy looking out for the good children that he had to hire some help to look out for the bad children. So he hired Pedro. And Santa Claus gave him a list with all the names of all the bad children, and Pedro would come every night to check them out. And the people, the little kids that were misbehaving, that were not saying their prayers, Pedro would leave a little wooden donkey on their windows. And he would come back and if the children were still misbehaving, he would take them away and nobody would ever see them again. Now, if I am Santa Claus and you are Pedro, how do you think jolly old Santa Claus would feel if one day Pedro came into his office and said, 'I lost the list.'? How F***ING FURIOUS do you think Santa Claus would get?!

The Emperor's New Clothes

The Emperor marched in the procession under the beautiful canopy. and all who saw him in the street and out of the windows exclaimed, " Indeed, the Emperor's new suits is incomparable ! What long train he has ! How well it fits him !". Nobody wished to let others know he saw nothing, for then he would have been unfit for his office or too stupid. Never the Emperor's clothes were more admired.
- Hans Christian Anderson's tale of 'The Emperor's New Clothes'

How do we tell the PM of Malaysia in this time of media manipulation and kiss ass politics that he has no clothes on..? Why does the PM continue to deny the most basic message the recent 12th General Election gave, explicit and implicit ? It is narcissism, hubris, vanity,egotism, arrogance etc....all euphemism for Pride.

Pride is one of the original 7 deadly sins. Clerics calls it the most serious of the seven sins in reference to Lucifer, known better as Satan. In Christian tradition, Lucifer initially a prominent archangel was cast out from the heavens from a failed rebellion against God, motivated by pride. In Muslim tradition, Iblis was cursed by Allah to hell for refusing to prostrate to Adam citing his superiority to man as the cause, motivated by no less than pride and egotism (Quran 7:11-12).

In the movie Seven(1995), a disfigured model lay dead from an overdose of sleeping pills. The original killer had glued a bottle of sleeping pills in one of her hands and a phone on the other hand. The killer had purposely sliced the model's nose off and gave the still-alive but disfigured model a choice. Either call for help OR commit suicide, thus relieving her the torment of living in disfigurement, laughed at by her beautiful peers. The model opts the later. The killer left the scene with the words PRIDE written on the headboard of her bed...using her red lipstick.

The thematic lesson of Hans Christian Anderson's tale of the 'Emperor's New Clothes' (yes..it's the little school children fairy tale) explicitly faults pride as one of the greatest folly of all the people in the fabled land. Their unwillingness to recognize and admit their mistakes in light of the plain and obvious made them the victim of the greatest sin of all. The Emperor's need for adulation and praise made him blind to his senses and rationalization. His ministers's hypocrisy, insecurity and self-doubt made it easy for the swindlers to play with their self doubts thus succeeding in manipulating them, many of whom are intelligent. In their need to conform and align themselves with popular but wrong views, they only strengthen the Emperor's tenacity to devoid himself from errors thus resisting himself from accepting the all encompassing truth that he has no clothes on.

Some time this year, the PM himself officiated the opening of a boutique in Pavillion owned by his daughter Nori and her husband Khairy Jamaluddin, aptly named 'The Emperor's New Clothes'.

Fate it seems, is not without its sense of irony..

References : Picture of PM was taken from tonypua.blogspot.com

Or Nothing...

Balian de Ibelin : It is a kingdom of conscience or Nothing...
(Quote from the movie Kingdom of Heaven-2005)



My handphone rang just after midnight last Sunday..

Reza (sounds very sleepy) : Uhh..Hello..
Zahir : Reza..is that you..?
Reza : Yeah man..it's me..
Zahir : Are you watching tv right now..??
Reza (..lying) : Yeah...sure..what's up.?
Zahir : Where have you been..? Haven't you heard...Samy Vellu lost...Penang most likely is going to fall...and Guess what..? Shahrizat just lost Lembah Pantai...

I fumbled the remote....thank God the astro was left on when I dozed on my couch...my fingers pressed..1..0 then 3.
A strange melange of noises filled my living room. On the screen two TV3 personalities were interviewing somebody. The person spoke slowly, almost scholarly like. BN this...BN that...Government is good etc. Obviously a BN scholar/supporter.
My eyes darted across the screen as I tried to ignore his jibbe-jabber ...I noticed a rolling bar at the bottom of the screen. 'Pilihanraya Sabah.....'
There was nothing about Penang...or Samy Vellu or Lembah Pantai...nothing, ziltch, zero...nadda..

Reza : Can't see nothing....are you sure..? You're in DUBAI for God sakes...!!
Zahir: Yes..it's true...TRUST ME...


So that was the time that I knew SOMETHING was up. My heart started to race, a sign that my body is desperately trying to play catch-up with my mind.
Suddenly the realization hits home...my pulse slowed. Then it was clear, I understood it...accepted it.

The proverbial shit has finally hit the fan.....a tsunami is coming...