Plague fighter Dr Wu Lien-Teh

At last, Dr Wu Lien-Teh is getting some recognition from the people of Penang. But in my opinion, just this one event is not enough. The recognition he deserves from the country of his birth is still not there!

Creatures @ Lunas

I made some interesting discoveries at the Buddhist Hermitage Lunas during Wesak yesterday. About the spider, it measured about six inches from the tips of one of its front legs to a back leg. Its body itself was about two inches long. Only the second time that I had seen such an impressive monster of an arachnid. The first was in September 2009: same type of spider but unfortunately, missing a leg.

The lizard was found walking slowly on a pavement. It saw me coming and scuttled to hide beneath a bush, keeping perfectly still with its eyes trained on me constantly. I was thinking to myself the whole time it took me to bring out the camera: please don't run away. It didn't. It just looked at me as I crept slowly forward and took several shots of it. I last saw a specimen in the wilds of the hill at Cherok Tokun, Bukit Mertajam in January 2008.

Wesak 2012 @ Lunas

Happy Wesak!

East coast, part two

The GPS. It's a wonderful toy. It gets you from Point A to Point B with almost no hassle. Well, almost. There are minor quirks, of course, as I found out during my trip to the East Coast of the peninsula over last weekend. All the quirks occurred in or around Kota Bharu, the state capital of Kelantan.

First off, my wife and I had decided to have our dinner in the Chinese quarters of Kota Bharu. The staff at the Royal Guest House was very nice and she even drew a rough map for us. But I knew how inaccurate though helpful such maps can be.

So I whipped out that old faithful, my Garmin GPS, the Nuvi 205, and headed out towards the unknown. However before too long, the GPS had taken us on a trip down a narrow alleyway out onto a main road. Nuts, the GPS was not supposed to do that, but it did! Luckily, there were no drains for my car to cross or otherwise I would have to go-stan the vehicle for quite a considerable distance.

Eventually, after asking for direction from a Chinese sundry shop owner, we ended up at the Kow Lun Restaurant which was about opposite a Public Bank branch. The sar hor fan was not bad at all while the fried beehoon with eels turned out to be a very interesting dish! Ten ringgit for that dish alone! As we drove back to the hotel, we passed by a hawker centre. Nuts, this must be what the sundry shop owner had meant to tell us: the hawker centre. We have stopped just too soon for our dinner.

Anyway, this is the hotel in Kota Bharu. It is small but it is clean and decent enough. However, one should be prepared to ask the reception to provide you with a non-smoking room. The first room they gave us was so over-poweringly pungent with the smell of stale cigarettes the moment we opened the door. We didn't even step into the room; instead, we marched to the reception and demanded that they allot us a different room. No way that we were going to stay inside that room for the night! Another thing, there just wasn't enough places for all their guests to park their cars. We had to double park outside the hotel and wait for someone to vacate a slot. This didn't happen till about midnight but at least, I then managed to get the car into an empty lot.

One advantage of this hotel is its close vicinity to the famed Siti Khatijah market. Everyone that comes to Kota Bharu must surely go to this major market at least once. I dare say that it is the main tourist attraction for Kota Bharu. This three-storey building houses the wet market on the ground floor, a food court and shops selling dry stuff and sundry goods on the first floor, and shops selling mainly batik cloth on the second floor.

This was lunch: some rice, a seven-inch sotong and an impressively huge tiger prawn. How much was the damage, I asked my wife. Thirty-two ringgit, she replied. A local at the next table looked at us. Obviously, he had overheard. You should have asked for the price first, he commented. He laughed. We also laughed, although sheepishly.

After we had checked out of the hotel, our destination was Tumpat. There are about 30 Buddhist temples there; many were built on land donated by the PAS government in Kelantan. Anyone who decries there is no freedom of worship in Kelantan should visit this place and see for themselves how the Buddhist community worships. Once you see the sprawling grounds of these Buddhist temples, you would understand the amount of untruths and racism which the Barisan Nasional federal government would want you to believe.

Our first stop was the Wat Phothivihan temple (coordinates: N 6° 07.801 E 102° 08.224) with its Sleeping Buddha that's definitely longer than the version in Penang. From here, we proceeded to the Wat Pikulthong temple (coordinates: N 6° 11.027 E 102° 10.074).

It was at this point that the quirkiness of the GPS kicked in again. Instead of taking me along the main road, it asked me to turn into a narrow one-lane road that swept several kilometres through the countryside. It wasn't a road that any ordinary tourist would travel on normally. But eventually, we emerged onto a main road and there before us was the Wat Pikulthong.

The statue of the Walking Buddha stood out so prominently on its pedestal, made even more impressive against one of the bluest skies in this part of the country. I don't know how high is the statue though. Right in front of this main statue is a smaller gold statue of the Buddha.  

And finally, we visited the Wat Machimmaram temple (coordinates: N 6° 11.053 E 102° 06.577). Its distinctive feature is the gigantic Sitting Buddha on the roof of the main temple building.

Of the three temples we visited, there was one feature at the Wat Pikulthong that we found most unique: an image of the Phra Pidta. I haven't seen this before in Penang or elsewhere but this is the monk with his hands covering his eyes. In Thailand, Phra Pidta amulets are supposed to bestow great powers on the owners.

So there you have it, our three-day trip to the East Coast of Malaysia. I never knew that a journey there would prove so eventful or interesting.

When we left the Wat Machimmaram, the time was about 1.40pm. I set the GPS for home and left it to lead me out of Tumpat. And that was where two final surprises awaited us.

The first was just as we were driving away from Tumpat, we suddenly saw two boars in an open ditch. One was just about to climb out onto the road. "Wow, did you see that?" I asked my wife. She did. It happened so fast that I had no chance to stop and whip out the camera. We just continued driving. But I was looking into the rearview mirror and there they were, the animals crossing the road.

In the mid-1990s when I was still in the committee of the Penang Chess Association, the then president, Dr Choong Sim Poey, had regaled us with tales of his first visit to Kelantan. He had told us then how he had seen pigs running freely in the kampungs. Nobody minded, he had said. And today, I saw them openly in Kelantan. Nobody minded; not the Malays in Kelantan, not the Kelantan government.

My second surprise: the GPS, instead of leading me back to Kota Bharu or at least to somewhere south of Kota Bharu, took me through the real rural roads of Kelantan. Unknown to me, we were skirting along the border with Thailand. This realisation only struck me when I saw that we had reached Rantau Panjang. If we had turned right at the traffic lights, I would have entered the Customs and Immigration checkpoints to Sungai Golok. Instead I went straight through at the traffic lights and much later, we joined up with main road that took us to Jeli. From there, it was an uneventful drive back to Bukit Mertajam, arriving at 7.40pm. 

East coast, part one

Here was what my wife and I were doing on the East Coast last weekend. We went through many activities but the main one was to get this Will signed for a client in Kuala Terengganu. The lengths I have to go through, sometimes, but it was very worth it as finally, I can say that I have visited all the states and federal territories in Malaysia. This would include the far-flung island of Labuan.

For this trip to the East Coast, I took the East-West Highway - the first time that we had actually travelled the whole distance from Grik to Jeli - which cuts across the Main Range at the northern part of Perak into Kelantan. We left Bukit Mertajam at 5.45am and had lunch in Kuala Terengganu at about 1.15pm. It was another 30-minute drive to the outskirts of the town to get this Will signed. So all in, the one-way drive of almost 480 kilometres took us more than nine hours to complete. I haven't driven so far and so long before in a single stretch!

We stayed at the Grand Continental Hotel in Jalan Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu and had dinner at the Golden Dragon Restaurant in their China Town a short distance away. Three dishes, plus soup, cost RM56. Reasonable by all counts.

I've only been to Kuala Terengganu once before and that was so long ago. Can't remember the year but it must have been in the early 1980s. At that time, I was sent by Ban Hin Lee Bank on a mission to look at some possible sites around the country to set up their outstation branches. A former colleague and I flew from Penang to Kuala Terengganu and then we took a taxi down to Kuantan. Behind the Primula Beach Hotel in Kuala Terengganu, I couldn't help noticing that there were lots of kampung houses in the middle of the town. And this was supposed to be the state capital.

The Primula is still in operation today. However, many of the kampung houses still remain, some untouched by the development around them, as can be seen by this picture which I took from the 10th floor of the Grand Continental.

The next morning, my wife and I drove to the China Town again. We wanted to see the area in the day. As could be expected in this part of the peninsula, the Chinese make up only a small percentage of the population. The wikipedia quotes the percentage at only 2.6 percent and I suppose the majority of them lives in Kuala Terengganu and the outskirts like Marang which has a sizeable Chinese population. Indians are only 0.2 percent.

The two most prominent structures in China Town are this arch across Jalan Kampung Cina and the two century-old Ho Ann Kiong Temple. The temple was built in 1796 and restored to its present splendour in 1997.

Maybe I should also mention that along this road, several of the buildings have been converted into bird houses. At night, it is quite common to hear the sound of birds blaring loudly to lure the swifts to build their nests in the buildings. Bird nest is a lucrative business but it doesn't auger well for the long-term safety of the buildings as bird droppings can be quite toxic and damaging to old buildings. Anyway, it is for the authorities to decide and act.

From Kuala Terengganu, we made our way to Kenyir Lake. Our original intention was to stay overnight at the lake but then we changed our plans and decided to make it a day trip only. Maybe we should have but it's too late to regret the missed opportunity. Definitely, the Kenyir Lake is a very beautiful place. Mystical. Clear blue skies. Breath-taking views. Nice reflection on the water.

However, the facilities can be considered as third rate. Trust the local operators to spoil a wonderful tourist opportunity. There were eye sores. The local jetty was untidy and unkempt. There were half-broken down boats. The grounds were strewn with rubbish. Maybe I didn't see enough but there was only one acceptable public eatery. All others comprised the usual Malay food stalls. I ate in one of them and half expecting some fresh fish from the lake. Unfortunately, there was none. Fare was nothing special at all.

We left Kenyir Lake at about 2.30pm and headed towards Kota Bharu. Overhead, storm clouds were gathering. For most of the journey, the sky was overcast but the clouds burst just as we approached Kuala Besut. All the way from there until Kota Bharu, it was wet, wet, wet. The sky let off for a while but soon afterwards, the sky darken again. The rain hit Kota Bharu with such an intensity. For a moment I thought we were caught up in the north-east monsoon. Luckily, the rain stopped by the time we arrived at the Royal Guest House at 6pm. Unluckily, we were caught in a horrendous traffic jam. Had never expected this in Kota Bharu but it was true. Gridlock.

To be continued....

Raising enough suspicions in my mind

Delving deeper into the incidents of Bersih 3.0 now that I have returned to Penang, I am reading a lot of stories claiming that the Police had infiltrated into the unarmed participants of the Duduk Bantah sitdown rally at the Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur..

Several pictures have been posted on the Internet claiming suspicions of some people who seemed to be Bersih 3.0 participants one moment and undercover policemen the next. Their suspicions may be correct but on the other hand, they are difficult to prove. Like phantoms, these suspicious characters would have melted away by now.

Both sides - the Bersih organisers and the Police - have been accusing each other of brutality. But today, while people are still talking about the devious and underhanded tactics of the Police, they are also losing sight of what Bersih 2.0 or Bersih 3.0 were meant to be.

The Bersih rallies were not about toppling the federal government. They were about asking for free and fair elections in the country. Any sane person who is uncorrupted will want to see free and fair elections here in Malaysia. Don't you? Bersih has nothing to do with the opposition political parties at all. The ruling political parties were welcomed to join in the rallies at any time and they refused. So was it right to link the opposition parties to Bersih just because they piggy-backed on the latter? It's totally absurd and only a simpleton will want to believe it.

Bersih stands for CLEAN AND FAIR ELECTIONS in Malaysia. Who in their right minds will not want that, not unless they have something to hide? Have they? I do not wish to have phantom voters in my midst that can alter the voting patterns in my constituency. I also do not wish to have postal votes that are not credible. But I wish for foreign independent observers who can verify that our elections are fair and clean.

At the end of the day, Bersih is not about the Barisan Nasional or the Pakatan Rakyat winning the general elections, as long as they win cleanly and fairly. We only want our rights to pick the government we want, equally and fairly, and this is what Bersih is all about. It is not about toppling a government but to have a clean and fair election.

However, seeing how recalcitrant this Barisan Nasional government is, seeing how stubbornly they are refusing to recognise that people have already seen through them and come to the conclusion that the election process is terribly skewed in their favour, seeing how power has corrupted them irreparably, the only hope left for the common electorate like me is to throw the old furniture away and bring in the new. After all, a new ruling government can't do any more worse than the old corrupt regime.

Bersih 3.0: Should you still have confidence in this government?

It was really frustrating to be away on the East Coast at the time when the critical Duduk Bantah sitdown rally for FREE AND CLEAN ELECTIONS IN MALAYSIA was taking place in Kuala Lumpur. Going there meant that I was virtually cut off from the Internet the whole time and could only rely on the bits of information that friends were passing on to me.

Last night was the first real opportunity for me to read about what had taken place over the weekend. I was both surprised and appalled.

Surprised in the sense that I learnt of the 300,000 to 350,000 of my fellow citizens who had decided bravely to participate in the rally despite ominous warnings from the DBKL and the Police. This number was beyond my expectation. Looking at the picture below, which I picked out from facebook, it gave me a big sense of pride to see the turnout.

Then I felt appalled when I read that the Police was still clueless and had no idea or ready solution to crowd control. Yet again, they resorted to that most basic of animal instinct. They turned on their physical might against the people of Malaysia. They are damn bullies and hooligans, really bent on using any means - including infiltration and censorship - to create havoc and use the filmsiest of excuses to use their water cannons and tear gas on the defenceless citizens of this country.

It is a bigger shame that Putrajaya and Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur have to hide behind the skirts of the Police force. Don't they understand that crude might is never right? When governments and authorities resort to violence, it can only mean that they have lost their ability to negotiate with the people. Our federal government have failed us real bad. They have lost their mandate. They have lost the respect of the people. This Bersih 3.0 rally must make them understand that the people are the ones that elected them into power and the people will be the ones that will decide whether to give them the mandate again.

As for me and my family, our decision is very clear. There is no place in this country for bigots and racists like the Najib regime to continue for another term. Come this General Election, our votes will go to the Pakatan Rakyat. No question about that, our time will come to kick them out of office.

OFA AGM 2012

Me going to Kuala Terengganu this weekend means that not only am I missing out on the Bersih3.0 sitdown event at the Speaker's Square in Penang on Saturday, but I also cannot attend the 85th annual general meeting of The Old Frees' Association and also the annual general meeting of the Swee Cheok Tong Quah Kongsi on Sunday. Two AGMs on the same day, morning and afternoon, which I shall miss!

Speaking of The Old Frees' Association, I must congratulate MS Rajendren for retaining his post of president unopposed. I heard that when the nominations closed for the new OFA Management Committee last Saturday, many of the other positions also attracted only one nomination and thus these positions have been deemed filled by the sole nominee. I don't know whether it is good or bad for the association. I suppose it cuts both ways.

The good is rather obvious. The incumbent president and his merry men get a second term to implement whatever unfinished programmes from their first term and I always say that if there are persons who are effective in a committee, they should be given an opportunity to carry on.

The bad is, of course, the tidak apa attitude of the members. Why, I always thought that the members of the OFA would be rather keen to go into the committee and make a positive contribution to the well-being of the association. I may be mistaken this time around. I greatly suspect that other members are not willing to challenge for the positions on the strength of the incumbents' contributions in the past term.

Anyway, I know that the OFA is too full of self-opinionated people who talk more than contribute. It is as if their main occupation in life is to criticise what others have done. This is the sole reason why I have cried off from becoming involved in an OFA committee again. Don't want to become embroiled in the politics again.

Eye venture

I had a bit of unwanted excitement on Tuesday. What happened was that I went to a private hospital on the island for my eye check-up. It wasn't the first time. Every few months, I'm required to go for a review of my eye problem. Sign of growing older, surely.

At the hospital, I'd be put through a series of tests that would guarantee making my pockets lighter. Every time. Ouch!

This time around, the doctor decided to peer deeper into my eyeballs and told me that he would be dilating the pupils. So there I was, sitting outside his room while every now and then his nurse would come and squeeze some solution into my eyes and then shine a torchlight at them. And finally, my pupils were regarded as dilated enough for the doctor to run his tests.

Now the problem is that once the pupils have been dilated, they do not revert to the original condition quickly enough. It takes time, possibly several hours to recover. But there I was, alone at the hospital. The tests were at an end and I was free to go home.

Unfortunately, the moment I drove out of the carpark, I was confronted by a blazing glare. If you don't know what it's like, just look at an over-exposed photograph. For the first time, the world looked so bright to me. Excruciatingly bright. Couldn't keep my eyes opened for long. I didn't expect this and I didn't have any sunglasses with me. But what to do? I was already on the road and driving.

Luckily, I had the presence of mind to remember that the hospital was near The Old Frees' Association and that was where I headed slowly. After a lot of squinting, I made it to the OFA, parked the car and retreated to the library. Good, I was alone. I could draw all the curtains and cut down on the light. Rested there for more than two hours, then went for lunch.

By then, my eyes were better. The world still looked very bright but at least, my eyes weren't watering any more and I didn't have to squint. However, my vision was still affected. I couldn't focus correctly on the distance. Everything looked fuzzy. But I knew it was already safe for me to get back on the road.

So I took the car and began driving back to Bukit Mertajam. It was a slow drive and I guessed along the way, my eyes began to refocus properly. I looked into the distance and couldn't help marvelling at how bright the day was. The sky was a deep blue tinge and the clouds were white. The BM hill before me was etched out sharply against the blue sky. I thought to myself: was the day exceptionally clear today or were my eyes playing tricks on me today? Guess I'll never know because nobody answered this particular question of mine on facebook...  

Battleline drawn

I've just read this on facebook today, an extract from a Malaysiakini report:

Bersih 3.0 supporters at Dataran Merdeka this Saturday will face the same actions taken against activists who occupied the venue recently, said Kuala Lumpur mayor Ahmad Fuad Ismail.

"Action has been taken against those kids at Dataran Merdeka... The same action will taken if you (Bersih supporters) do the same,” said Fuad.

Fuad said this when asked how Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) would react if the Bersih coalition proceeds with plans to hold a sit-in the square from 2pm to 4pm.

He was speaking at a press conference after a one-hour meeting with Bersih representatives failed to reach an agreement over the venue for the rally.

Asked whether DBKL will seek police help to stop the rally from taking place on Dataran Merdeka, Fuad declined to reveal details.

"When the time comes, you will know. Don't worry... We are ready. We don't allow them to go to Dataran Merdeka... let us do our job,” he said.

No choice but to go forward with Bersih3.0

This Saturday, in the major towns in the country, as well as at an anticipated 70 places around the world, Malaysians will be sitting down to participate in Bersih3.0. Duduk Bantah. The sitdowns will be a collective show of support for Bersih which is trying to get the federal government to make reforms to the election system. There is no choice for right-thinking Malaysians to do but support Bersih if we want the country to progress towards a matured democracy.  

Duduk Bantah comes after the Parliamentary Select Committee on electoral reforms had failed to introduce meaningful reforms to the election system. After the Bersih2.0 rally in Kuala Lumpur last July, during which the high-handed federal government reacted by unleashing the Police to clamp down on the participants through violent means, the Parliamentary Select Committee was formed to look into Bersih's original eight demands: clean up the electoral roll, reform postal voting, the use of indelible ink, free access to the media, a minimum campaign period of 21 days, strengthen the public institutions, stop corruption and put an end to dirty politics.

However, little was achieved when the Parliamentary Select Committee, comprising mainly Barisan Nasional parliamentarians, refused to accept that all the eight demands were worthy of adoption. A minority report of dissenting opinion from Pakatan Rakyat members of the committee was rejected and not even considered for mention in the committee's final report to Parliament.

Disappointed, Bersih came out to say that a third rally would be organised this Saturday. This time, it won't be a walk to the Stadium Merdeka. Rather, there will be a sitdown event at the Dataran Merdeka. Throughout the country, there will be other smaller sitdown events in the main towns.

At first I was rather surprised when the Home Minister said that there was nothing wrong with Bersih 3.0. Unlike Bersih2.0, Bersih3.0 would not be declared illegal. On the surface, it looked like the government had learnt its lesson. Anyway, that was what it looked like initially. There's a new twist. The federal government's strategy is now to use the Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur to prevent Bersih3.0 from happening. Very much like a sub-contracted job. Of course, we can still depend on the very dependable Police in Kuala Lumpur to say no too, contrary to the Home Minister's initial postulations.That's where we are presently: a stalemate between the DBKL authorities and the people.

By thr way, I have already asked a friend to buy me a Bersih3.0 T-shirt. It'll come in very handy on any Saturday. If I'm in Kuala Lumpur, I would join my fellow Malaysians to get to the Dataran Merdeka. As I'm in Penang, I should instead be making my way instead to the Speaker's Square at the Esplanade. Unfortunately, I'm due to travel to Kuala Terengganu this weekend and will be leaving Bukit Mertajam at about 5a.m. on Saturday in order to arrive there by two or three o'clock in the afternoon. My professional duties to fulfil and I'm told that it takes eight to nine hours to get there.

So while I'm unable to be at the Dataran Merdeka or the Esplanade in person, my thoughts will still go out to my fellow Malaysians who shall be there. By all accounts these should be peaceful sitdown rallies. Nevertheless, don't ever discount that those mamak goons will not turn up to disrupt the occasion. I will be very surprised if these good-for-nothing-except-receiving-handouts hooligans are absent.

Please take care....

NZ travelogue: Baldwin Street

There was one final item on my Dunedin agenda. Having missed the Cadbury factory tour, I hurried up my wife and told her that our next destination before leaving Dunedin would be something more of a curiosity than anything else. It would be nothing very special but it was certainly on my "100 obligatory places to visit before you die" list!

I could sense her burning curiosity when I parked the car in Baldwin Street. There, I told her, this is supposed to the steepest street in the world.

Let's go walk up it first and take some photographs, I suggested. But needless to say, we never made it to the top. In fact, our attempt took us past only three or four houses before we called it quits. We really didn't have the inclination to walk all the way up the slope! So we stayed where we were and took the few obligatory photographs.

Then we drove all the way up till the top of the road. Looking down at the spectacular scenery from that vantage point was really something. I wondered how often the residents along Baldwin Street ventured out to walk up and down every day. But even as that thought crossed our minds, we could see people coming out from some of the houses to walk down towards their North Road.

I should also say that driving down Baldwin Street could be rather unnerving. One foot was always on the brake while the hand was ready to put up the hand brake in case of any unexpected problem with the car. It was not as bad as a roller coaster ride and the car made it to the bottom in one piece.

Two signboards proclaiming Baldwin Street as the steepest street in the world. However, you should be reading this article too, which tries to dispute that claim.

Asia's most liveable cities

Extracted from the website of ECA International, the world's leading knowledge and solutions provider for international HR professionals. This is their Asia ranking for 2012. Updated annually, ECA International says the Location Ratings system helps companies to establish appropriate expatriate allowances to compensate for the level of adjustment required to complete an assignment. It objectively evaluates a host of factors to form an assessment of the overall quality of living in over 400 locations worldwide. These factors include climate, availability of health services, housing and utilities, isolation, access to a social network and leisure facilities, infrastructure, personal safety, political tensions and air quality. Glad to know that George Town ranks above Kuala Lumpur, while the other so-called "cities" in the country were not considered at all.

Top most liveable Asian locations

Asia rank 2012	Location	Asia rank 2011	Global Rank 2012
1	Singapore	1	1
2	Kobe	2	5
3	Hong Kong	5	11
4	Tokyo	3	17
4	Yokohama	3	17
6	Taipei	6	60
7	Macau	7	63
8	George Town	8	73
8	Seoul	10	73
10	Kuala Lumpur	9	76
11	Bangkok	11	79
12	Shanghai	12	83
13	Bandar Seri Begawan	13	92
14	Beijing	14	99
15	Nanjing	15	104
16	Guangzhou	17	112
16	Xiamen	16	112
18	Shenzhen	18	123
19	Tianjin	19	128
20	Dalian	20	130
21	Ho Chi Minh City	21	133
22	Hanoi	21	136
23	Chengdu	23	139
24	Chongqing	26	145
25	Wuhan	24	147
26	Denpasar	24	152
27	Bangalore	29	156
28	Metro-Manila	27	157
28	Xi'an	32	157
30	Vientiane	29	161
31	Shenyang	31	164
32	Chennai	28	167
33	Mumbai	33	172
34	Colombo	35	174
35	Ulaanbaatar	34	177
36	New Delhi	37	182
36	Phnom Penh	36	182
38	Jakarta	38	195
39	Kolkata	39	211
40	Yangon	39	215
41	Surabaya	41	218
42	Kathmandu	41	225
42	Tashkent	43	225
44	Dhaka	44	238
45	Ashgabat	45	244
46	Islamabad	46	251
47	Pyongyang	46	252
48	Karachi	48	261
49	Kabul	49	263

Made my old headmaster's day

My daughter had been back in Penang for a short holiday and yesterday, Sunday, was the day that she was due to drive back to Kuala Lumpur. Like any concerned parent, I offered to accompany her down to KL as I didn't want her to travel alone. All this was arranged quite some time ago.

However, what was not in the works was a last-minute plan to deliver a copy of FIDELIS to my old headmaster, Dato' Tan Boon Lin.

You see, he had been rather anxious in the last two weeks or so regarding this book. He knew that it had been launched and he was due to get his copy. I've been asking the office of The Old Frees' Association to dispatch a copy to him as soon as possible but the OFA office had been delaying it. Not only for him but all the other contributors as well. Reason? The staff was rushing to prepare for the annual general meeting that's due on 29 Apr 2012.

That was when I suddenly realised that I could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. If I was going to go to KL, why not deliver FIDELIS to Tan as well? So I signed off a copy from the OFA office. That was last week.

Yesterday, my daughter and I arrived in Damansara Utama at about six o'clock. We rang the miniature school bell on the wall. Tan was out somewhere but his daughter, Gaik Cheng, invited us in to wait for his return. And pretty soon he did. He stood at his front door and there I was, inviting him into his own house! It should have been the other way round. Quite a reversal of roles at his house, wasn't it? He should've been in and I was out. Instead, I was in and he was out. But no matter....

We spent about an hour chatting about the book and about the school. During our conversation, some fresh snippets of personal information were offered. Like how his grandfather made the momentous decision for him to apply for admission to the Penang Free School. He could have gone on to a Parit Buntar or a Nibong Tebal school instead. Or how his predecessor, JMB Hughes, never forgave him for using the swimming pool fund for building the school library that was named Khutub Khanah Tunku after Tunku Abdul Rahman. Nevertheless, Tan admired Hughes for his adventure streak and love of the great outdoors. He commented that Hughes organised several expeditions with the schoolboys to Langkawi at a time when those isles were still pretty much off the tourist map.

After Tan's retirement from government service in 1982, he became the Director of Student Affairs at the Tunku Abdul Rahman College. He said that he was thrilled to be dealing with students again. He remained in that post for five years, deciding to leave after hearing many comments that he was only there to fill the position until an MCA-appointee could take over. He didn't like that insinuation. Politics, as usual, had reared its ugly head in this country.

I was just about to push the Publish button on this blog post when an email arrived from Tan. What a coincidence! Anyway, here is his email message to me. Thought it be interesting to share it around:

Hi,

Please accept my grateful thanks for your visit yesterday evening. As I told Chang Moh it was a wonderful surprise and certainly made up for all the anxieties I experienced due to the delay receiving a copy of FIDELIS after it was launched on 30 March. FIDELIS is a wonderful publication. Congratulations to you and those in OFA who were responsible for its production. Reading it certainly took me back to some of the the best years of my life in PFS: as student, teacher and Headmaster. Thanks once again.

Fortis Atque Fidelis.

Boon Lin

Hill interlude

I had a fabulous time trekking up the hill at Cerok Tokun in Bukit Mertajam two days ago. Took the path beside the dam. Haven't come this way for months and was surprised to see the subtle changes that Mother Nature had made to the surroundings.

The undergrowth had covered the paths until I almost couldn't recognise the way. But once the dam was sighted, it was plain sailing all the way until I emerged onto the road about halfway up the hill. Here are some pictures I took along the way.

First of all, this is the dam at Cerok Tokun. It's filled to the brim with water, due to the regular rainfall we've been experiencing in this country for the past few months. But I do remember a time, not so long ago, when it was almost bone dry.

Two views of the path I took. It's normally a dirt track but at some points, you'd come across big stones that had conveniently placed along the track quite a long time ago to help trekkers ascend or descend the steep slopes.
 

One of the makeshift rest areas along the way. There used to be a platform nearby but it was dismantled quite a while back.

And this is the point where most trekkers will emerge onto the tarred road. This is a panoramic view. Left will lead walkers to the tea house and onwards to the summit while right goes downhill to the car park. I chose the right direction, and it would be another 35 minutes' walk down.

Encountered a funny incident whilst walking down. There was this person walking down about 10 metres ahead of me when he bumped into a friend walking in the opposite direction. His friend was all togged up: headband, sleeveless tees, exercise shorts and sports shoes. You'd know immediately that he had come to the BM Hill for a single purpose: to walk up to the summit or somewhere in between. Yet the first words of greeting from the mouth of this person who was walking down was, "You climbing the hill, ah?" Incredulous. Wasn't it obvious??

Record store day

Bring out your vinyl records. Play them on your turntables because today is Record Store Day all over the world!

One way ticket

This morning, I took the boy to the airport. He's in transition, having completed his Diploma at the Tunku Abdul Rahman College but waiting to resume his Advanced Diploma or Degree studies either at the same college or the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. Both are supposed to begin in September and that's still some four or five months away.

While waiting, he has been looking for some jobs to do. He let go of a part-time job at an eatery at the Precinct 10 in Tanjung Tokong last February and had been moping around the house. At my suggestion, he applied to some positions advertised at JobStreet.com but regrettably, nothing had emerged from them. Not even a call to an interview. So much for the effectiveness of the online services of my former employer that my own son was unable to get a response from the advertisers.

But finally, he did land a job from an advertisement in The Star. He went down to Kuala Lumpur for an interview last week and attended a second interview in Penang just two days ago. Today, he's already starting work but he has to go to Petaling Jaya for training and briefing, and this Saturday, be on duty at his employer's big dinner event before coming back on Sunday.

So we left the house at 6.20 in the morning. No sooner had we entered the Penang Bridge than traffic came almost to a standstill. Bloody shit, I muttered to myself, a traffic jam on the bridge? At this time of the morning? We inched along slowly. I told my son, whoever is responsible for this traffic jam only has himself to blame.

I've always taken this position about the Penang Bridge. It is the main arterial link between the mainland and the island, and it is one straight road. It's known that the slightest of incidents on the bridge will lead to a traffic jam because once on the bridge, the only way to go is forward. There is no turning back, there is no alternate route, there is no short-cut. Whether we like it or not, all bridge users are in it together. We are like one. If all of us want to get across smoothly, it is in our own best interest to be careful towards one another and be responsible enough when using the bridge.

As I said, we inched along very slowly. And soon enough, the reason for the traffic congestion became very clear. Of course, if not for a vehicle breaking down, it could only be an accident. This time, it was an accident. In the inner lane of the bridge. A Police car was there. So was an ambulance. A car, presumably involved in the accident, was parked some 10 metres away in the inner lane. On the ground, also in the inner lane, was an overturned motorcycle.

The ambulance workers were starting to lift a black body bag from the road. That's the stupid fool, I pointed out to my son, that's the irresponsible fool. He made a dumb choice. Why should he be travelling on a motorcycle in the inner lane of the bridge? It could only be that he was speeding in this lane. Unfortunately, he paid for his recklessness and irresponsibility with his life. And in the process, caused inconvenience to everybody else on the bridge.

Maybe I should be showing more compassion. Somewhere out there, a grandmother, a mother, a wife or a child may soon start to grieve for a life that's suddenly cut short violently. Yes, maybe I should show some compassion. Ordinarily, I would but right now I still find it difficult to do so for an idiot who had willingly acted so irresponsibly. 

Colonial crimes?

An interesting news report that appeared in the Guardian newspaper's website today. Worth reading.

Motor insurance renewal

I had meant to write about this episode in my life more than three weeks ago but time whizzed by so quickly that I had to put it on the back burner. Anyway, I've more free time this morning as I wait for my car to undergo its first major for a long time. Gonna cost a hole in my pocket, ouch!

Anyway, today's blog entry concerns my attempt to renew the motor insurance for my old car. Normally, I would travel all the way to Taman Inderawasih, near to Chai Leng Park on the mainland, to where the branch office of the Automotive Association of Malaysia (AAM) was located. A drive of at least half an hour to get there, if there is no traffic congestion.

So there I was, cruising leisurely along Song Ban Keng Road in Bukit Mertajam when suddenly, I noticed a Chartis office. Chartis was the name of the general insurance company that the AAM used to renew all the motor policies of their members.

Thinking that it would save me time - the Chartis branch was halfway between my house and Taman Inderawasih - and it would also be the same if I went to this Chartis branch instead of to AAM for the motor insurance renewal, I went to approach their staff at the front desk. I told her specifically that I wanted to renew the policy under comprehensive cover. The counter staff went to consult her supervisor and both came back to say that they could only offer me third party cover.

Why not, I asked them, I have always had comprehensive coverage for this car. They refused, giving me a cock and bull(shit) story that that the car was too old and it was their policy not to offer anything but third party cover for cars as old as mine. So I said thank you to them politely and told them that I'd go back to AAM.

Hopped into the car and continued with my journey to Taman Inderawasih. At the AAM office, I whipped out the old policy and asked them to renew it - with comprehensive cover. Which they did, with only one concern raised between us: that the sum insured would have to be raised to a certain minimum amount. Would I mind, the AAM lady asked me. No, I had no issue with that.

So that was that. I walked out of AAM a satisfied customer with my comprehensive motor insurance renewed for the old car. Whole irony was that the cover note that AAM gave me was also issued from Chartis.

There was a sequel to this story. When I arrived home, I posted this matter up on my facebook. Later that day, I received a message from someone at Chartis to apologise for the inconvenience that I had been put through. He said the staff at the Chartis branch should have contacted their main office in Penang for such matters. There were always exceptions that they were prepared to deal with, especially for policy renewals. Hah, at least someone noticed my inconvenience.

Dr Toh Kin Woon: man on a mission

I have never made any bones about my respect and admiration for this man. I've already written about Dato' Dr Toh Kin Woon a few times in this blog here, here, here and here. Add to them this latest entry.

I've known Dr Toh for about 15 years now, since the days when he became the president of the Penang Chess Association, and I know that when his mind is firmly made up on something that is right and equitable, he will never waver in his convictions.

When he was still in government, he was the only outspoken voice in support of the disgraced Anwar Ibrahim. Through thick and thin, Dr Toh supported Anwar. During Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, Dr Toh would invariably stop by Anwar's house in Cherok Tokun, Bukit Mertajam.

At that time, Dr Toh was still the state assemblyman for Machang Bubok. He would have to pass along the Kulim Road on his way to his constituency. Maybe this was a reasonable excuse for stopping in Cherok Tokun but essentially, actions speak louder than words and this was a very loud statement of his support for an ostracised leader.

Since 2008, Dr Toh had retired from politics. His main interest now is to participate in causes of non-governmental groups who try to work against corruption, excesses and inequalities in this country and attempt to bring about positive changes.

Among other efforts, he had been very determined in his support of the bersih 2.0 rally in Kuala Lumpur last year. As everyone knows, this was an event that was feared and then declared illegal by the federal government which then turned its brute force on the people who assembled peacefully in Kuala Lumpur on 9 July 2011.

I've met Dr Toh occasionally since then. One of the last times was at an art gallery in Beach Street, George Town sometime last year.

The latest was about a week ago. I wasn't surprised to see him at the official launch of Kee Thuan Chye's book, No More Bullshit, by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng but it really knocked me to see him saunter quietly into Clove Hall wearing the totally recognisable yellow t-shirt of bersih 3.0. More than that, he was mingling with the guests and distributing bersih 3.0 leaflets and asking them to support this cause on 28 April 2012.

He was totally unobtrusive but later, he met up with the Chief Minister after the book launch had been concluded. It said a lot for the guests that they also warmed up to this very courageous man.