Interesting Friday

I can't say that I didn't enjoy yesterday, because I did! The day began with a timsum breakfast with friends at the Ben Ran Chinese Restaurant in a new hotel that had opened in nearby Machang Bubok several months ago. Truly interesting tidbits for the morning stomach.

Immediately after breakfast, I rushed out to the island where I ended up at the Gurney Plaza after a brief stopover at the Penang Institute. Was at the shopping mall to spend my RM30 voucher on some household stuff before the expiration date.

And since I was there, I took the opportunity to visit the new Ippudo Japanese ramen restaurant. I thought that there shouldn't be too big a crowd on a weekday but I was mistaken. Found out that there was a queue outside the outlet. However, there was an advantage to turning up solo at the restaurant because the staff was able to squeeze me in to sit at the counter. Nevertheless, I had to endure a wait of almost an hour before the food arrived.

Ever since my visit to Japan last year, I've found happiness in a bowl of Tonkotsu ramen and Ippudo served five or six different types of this soupy dish. At first undecided which one to order, I tried to order the Ippudo Kuro Tamago but was told that it was already sold out. What? Sold out at 12.50 pm? I was skeptical. I think the staff was not exactly telling the truth. If they were not selling this variety of their Tonkotsu ramen,  just say so. Don't give a preposterous excuse that I can't accept. I didn't want to make a scene and so, I ended up instead with the Akamaru Tamago which was basically the Akamaru Shinaji with a salted soft-boiled egg.

After lunch was over, it was a rush down to the Think City office at the UAB Building in China Street Ghaut. Anwar Fazal - a font of information on many things, especially culture, heritage and consumerism - whom I've known for several years already, was launching his latest book called Our Cities, Our Homes. Anwar Fazal is also the president of the Dr Wu Lien-Teh Society of which I'm there as a member of the committee.

Met up with a few friends and acquaintances at the book launch, including Dr Choong Sim Poey whom I've known even longer, and Maimunah Mohd Sharif who is now the executive director of United nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). Prior to her being head-hunted for this top job, she was the president of the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP) and then the president of the Penang Island City Council (MBPP). But I've known her even before that ... during her stint as the first General Manager of the George Town World Heritage Incorporated before she got elevated to the MPSP top job. Anwar Fazal, ever full of surprises, presented her with a certificate of membership to the International Giraffe Appreciation Society.

Japan, Day 4: Kawaguchiko, here we come!

When I was looking through this blog earlier today, it struck me that I hadn't written anything about our Japan holidays since January. That's six months ago! I guess it is time for me to continue with our maiden journey through the Land of the Rising Sun.

If you can remember, we actually flew into a typhoon and had to be diverted to Incheon in South Korea. It was only in the following day that we landed at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. There was hardly any time for us to look around Tokyo - we only spent two days there and one of the days was at Disneysea - before we headed out to Kawaguchiko. Getting there was a bit of fun. From the Ikebukuro station, we had to change trains at Shinjuku for the Chuo main line to take us to Otsuki. At the quaint Otsuki station, the connecting Fujiyama Limited Express would then take us to Kawaguchiko.

An explosion of colours at a vending machine

Basically, the Otsuki railway station proved to be very colourful on its own

We got no-where with the ticket vending machine but eventually one of the station masters came to sort us out.

The entrance to the station's platform to await the arrival of our train

But first, not giving up the opportunity for a quick take-away meal

Even the trains can be very colourful

And this is the first coach of the train. With our tickets, we did not know whether we'd be allowed to sit here. So it was just a look-see before we went back to our own seats. By this time, rain was beginning to come down.

The Mount Fuji station where the train stopped for a short while before continuing to Kawaguchiko.

Here we are at Kawaguchiko

Yes, here we are, finally, at the Kawaguchiko station. It was still drizzling and the local time was 4.45 pm. The problem was that there was no sheltered walkway between the platform and the station building and we had to brave the rain just to get there.

A welcome sight inside the station. More things to buy while waiting for the rain to stop. When the rain did stop, we had to make our way to our apartment in the dark. Local time was 5.30 pm. 

This was our one-room apartment at Kawaguchiko, which looked rather empty when we arrived....

....until we rolled out the mattresses and made ourselves feel like home.

But first, there was dinner to think about. Where on earth could we find anything to eat in this town after dark? This was something we had not planned for. Luckily, we had espied a restaurant - a tempura restaurant - earlier and that's where we retraced our path in the dark.

Your midsummer night's dream

Yesterday, I attended my first Penang Free School play in almost 50 years. Yes, it has been 47 years since I last watched Lady General Hwa Mu Lan which was staged by the school's Music and Drama Society at the SGGS Hall in 1971. Interestingly, I had caught up unexpectedly with the star of LGHML, my fellow schoolmate Lee Peh Lan, at a dinner at The Old Frees' Association just a few hours before the show. Somehow, the lady sitting at the same table as I looked familiar and suddenly it dawned on me that it was her. What a coincidence!

Anyway, I am digressing. After the dinner was over, I sped over to the Pinhorn Hall which was already filled with people. Mostly the schoolboys and schoolgirls themselves. But there was quite a number of Old Frees too. I found my way to the second row of the audience. No way was I going to sit at the back if I was going to enjoy the evening. Soon after eight o'clock, the hall lights darkened and the arrival of an Indian wedding procession marked the start of Your Midsummer Night's Dream.

Your Midsummer Night's Dream? Not....A Midsummer Night's Dream? Yes, the title of the play was Your Midsummer Night's Dream. Purposely retitled to reflect the MAD Society's adaptation and reinterpretation of the original William Shakespeare play that was laced with a huge dose of Malaysian elements and themes. Like, for example, the setting was unmistakably Malaysian. A Malaysian forest, without a doubt. With a Malaysian entertainment thrown into the works comprising an Indian dance and a Malay dance, and after which the appearance of a Chinese lion dance could not surprise me anymore. But all the characters remained Shakespearean to the core: Hermia, Lysander, Helena, Demetrius, Titania, Oberon, Puck and the whole lot of others.

Actually, I attended the play with an open mind, not knowing what to expect but like everybody else in the hall, we were mesmerised by the whole show. The boys and girls had put in such a lot of effort to rehearse and they pulled it off quite successfully. And where they could not fill in the roles themselves, they had lots of help from the Convent Green Lane Primary School and the Greenapple Ballet Academy. Maybe also from one or two other dance schools which escaped my notice. And definitely, the lion dance couldn't have been performed by the boys themselves, or could they?

Myself with Cheng hin. He never taught me in school
but he gets my respect for his utmost dedication to the
Music and Drama Society.

I must also comment that the MAD Society had welcomed back an old teacher Cheng Hin -- he must be in his eighties, surely -- to be their Artistic Director for this play. The play surely must belong to him. Cheng Hin has long been associated with the Free School's Music and Drama Society, and this return to the stage remains the highest recognition and honour given to him. (During the School's Bicentenary in 2016, he had wanted to present a play, the Caucasian Chalk Circle, to mark the occasion but there was simply no opportunity to slot it into the celebration.)

The night ended with a raucous rendition of the School Rally which was performed by the School Band. What moved me was the moment the whole hall stood up to sing without any inhibition. All around me, encircled by present Frees and Old Frees alike, we sung with gusto the old School Rally. Video and pictures appear below.

Bukit Mertajam hill damaged

We decided to go up the Bukit Mertajam hill in Cherok Tokun a few days ago. Driving in, we had to stop before the main gate into the forest park because it was closed to all vehicular traffic. We asked the guard why and he replied saying that the road leading up to the summit had been destroyed due to the heavy rain about two weeks ago. That must have been the thunderstorm we experienced on the night of 28 May. Several roads in the town had been inundated with flood waters then. We didn't realise that it had affected the hill too.

But can we go in, we asked the guard hopefully. Okay, lah, you can go it, he replied. If he did not let us in through the gate, he was sure that we would have tried to sneak in somewhere else. Might as well let us through. So, thankfully, we walked in and he closed the gate shut again after us.

As we walked towards the second car park, we could see the extensive damage. Rushing water could be very unforgiving as it destroys everything in its path. In this instance, the water had brought down the earth and soil from further up the hill and the mixture of water and debris had further eroded the road surface and embankments.

I would suppose it is going to take the Forestry Department months before all the damage could be repaired and the park opened to the general public again.

Festival weekend

Here's wishing a joyous Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri to my Muslim friends and a feastful Dumpling Festival to my Chinese pals.

The signs were there

Had it been a momentous enough 14th General election for you, right from the word "Go" when Parliament was dissolved on 7 Apr 2018? In a sense, it really was. I believe the ditching of the most corrupt Barisan Nasional government that had ruled the land since Independence in 1957 was indeed momentous. Unprecedented. Akin to pressing the reset button on a computer. An opportunity to start anew. Only thing is that there will be a lot of resistance from the remnants of a population that had lived on dedak for the most of their lives and who still want to believe that their race is superior over others. That will require a lot of political will by the new Pakatan Harapan government to overcome. But I'm confident that with time, they will succeed.

I was quite nervous but hopeful for an upset victory. Sometime at the end of April, I was having lunch with a few childhood friends and we were talking about the obstacles that the previous government had put in the paths of the Pakatan Harapan. Obstacles like gerrymandering of voter borders, giving a notice of deregistration to Mahathir's Bersatu party, the inability of contesting under a unified PH logo, and many more. And of course, challenging times gave rise to ingenious solutions, such as the decision for all the Pakatan parties to campaign under the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) logo. That, in my opinion, was the most brilliant solution. I don't think anybody in the Barisan side could have foreseen this happening but even if they had done, they would have dismissed it. So confident of retaining power, those people.

But on the ground, the tens of thousands of people that came out nightly to attend the Pakatan cheramahs told a different story. People were fed up with the rising cost of living, people were fed up with corruption. People wanted change. All these signs of impending trouble were dismissed by Barisan. So sure again were they of retaining power.

In Penang, of course, the signs pointing to a victory for Pakatan at the Federal level were not so clear. After all, Pakatan have held power in Penang for 10 years already. The cheramahs in Penang were rather insipid affairs. No fire in whatever the candidates were saying. We already knew all the issues. And they were simply defending their positions. We felt comfortable. Excited though we all were, we were not totally caught up in the whirlwind sweeping the rest of the nation. Nevertheless, I tried to caution my friends that they should tread carefully and be aware of what their political enemies were up to on the ground. Know thy enemy, I told them.

I believe the turning point in the campaign was on the third day of May. Mahathir had gone into Pekan, his archenemy's liar to give a cheramah. It was reported that hundreds of Felda settlers turned up to hear him speak. Perhaps the numbers were not in the thousands, unlike other towns and cities, but it was still a respectable number. Then on the following day, the newspapers reported that Najib would be turning up in Langkawi where Mahathir was standing for a parliamentary seat. "Into the rival's den" was how The Star newspaper had described it. Now, that would be interesting, I had thought to myself. How big a crowd would the sitting Prime Minister attract? I was disappointed when subsequently, I learnt of the purpose of Najib's visit there. Goodness, he wasn't in Langkawi for a cheramah; he went there to meet with some business leaders for a dinner function. Was that all? In the middle of an election campaign, was that all? How many of them were there? What sort of business leaders would you find there, anyway? No cheramah for the people? I knew then that he would be in trouble if he was passing up a chance to speak before a crowd, no matter how small it was. Here was a Prime Minister who was too afraid to meet the people. He was afraid that nobody would turn up to hear him speak. How pathetic! From that point on, I began harbouring a growing belief that there was now a better than good chance of Pakatan Harapan pulling off a win at the polls.

Three days in KL

Came back from Kuala Lumpur last night, where my wife and I were attending one of Joey Yap's seminars. I was quite amazed that again, not once did I nod off during the three-day event. Am I getting better with my attention span, or did the topics get more interesting for me? Anyhow, I did stay awake the whole time, again.

We took the eight o'clock train back to Bukit Mertajam. Uneventful ride, although the ETS train was delayed. We were only allowed down to the platform at KL Sentral at about 8.20pm to await its arrival from the north. Noticed that the carriages were not full when it pulled out from the station and the air-conditioning wasn't working too well initially.

The delayed departure meant that we arrived at the Bukit Mertajam station about 20 to 30 minutes behind schedule. There was a mild concern when the weather turned bad after Taiping and I could see the rain pelting down against the carriage's windows.

There were also postings on facebook to warn people of an impending thunderstorm in the north of the country. Would it be as bad as last November, I wondered? Would the taxi driver be able to pick us up at the BM station? Luckily, by the time we arrived, the thunderstorm had stopped. 

Nevertheless, it was a gingerly drive back to our house. When the driver reached the centre of the town, the roads around the Police station were at least six inches deep in flood water. Luckily there was little traffic at the junction which enabled him to navigate slowly round the bend without letting up on his already slow speed. I'm sure everybody released a silent sigh of relief. The next potential obstacle was a spot of lower level ground in my neighbourhood which was very susceptible to flooding. But there was no problem here as I told the driver to take an alternative route to the house.

Congratulations, CM Chow Kon Yeow

New haircut also, ah, CM Chow? 😁

Local government elections

I would like to feature here a write-up by Jeffrey Seow, as taken from his facebook, on the local government elections which some elected representatives are pushing for Kuala Lumpur. Heck, they should be pushing for the revival of the third vote for the whole country. I know that for one, the Penang government will fully support this move. Make the local councils responsible to the people!

Maria Chin Abdullah and Lim Lip Eng said they are going to push for local elections or council elections and suddenly people are curious and asking questions about that, like, is it the same as DUN elections.

Local Government elections or Council elections are not a new thing and no, they are not the same as Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Assembly) or Dewan Rakyat (Parliamentary House of Representative) elections.

Local elections refer to the elections of the people who will lead a Municipality i.e. head of Town Council or City Council i.e. the Mayor, and his body of Municipal Councillors.

George Town's Municipal history dates back to at least 1800, the time of Penang's Governor George Leith, with the formation of her Committees of Assessors who were partially elected - they were nominated by their respective communities, and invariably included their respective Captains (Kapitan) like Chinese Captain Koh Lay Huan, Malay Captain Syed Hussain Al-Aidid and Chulia Captain Cauder Mohideen Merican (Kapitan Keling). The Committee of Assessors looked into a variety of things, which today are part of the responsibility of Municipal Town and City Councils, like sanitation, for example.

1857 saw the formalisation of that role with the establishment of that entity known as the George Town Municipal Commission led by the Resident Councillor of Penang (automatically appointed by virtue of his position per the Municipal Commissions Act), two Commissioners appointed by the Resident Councillor, and three other Commissioners elected by the Rate Payers of George Town. So just as people who pay taxes have a right to representation at a State and Federal level today, in those days, people who paid Municipal Rates e.g. Assessment or Cukai Pintu, got to vote for their Municipal Commissioners (later called Municipal Councillors). Former George Town Municipal Commissioners or Councillors included the likes of Koh Seang Tat and Lim Cheng Teik.

Local Government elections were suspended in 1913 but revived in 1951. with nine members to be elected out of a total of fifteen members of the Municipal Commission of George Town, Penang. At that time George Town, for the purposes of the elections, was divided up into Tanjung, Kelawai and Jelutong wards. By 1956 all the members were elected and George Town became the very first municipal body to become a fully elected one. The number of divisions or wards at tat time came up to five, each of whom were to elect one councillor each year, the position of President of the Council to be elected by the members of the Council. Does that sound familiar? It should, because that is how our Prime Minister was also chosen.

On the 1st of January 1957, just months away from Merdeka, George Town was made, by Royal Charter under the hand of Queen Elizabeth II, a City and her Council transformed from a Town Council into a City Council, her first Mayor was D. S. Ramanathan.

Fateful Merdeka. Not long after, the death knell was to sound over local government elections elections when the federal government suspended them in 1965. By that time George Town's City Council was the wealthiest municipal council in the whole of Malaya with an annual revenue almost twice the size of the Penang state government, and one cannot but wonder if greed was the motivation for that. Allegations of maladministration and misconduct gave the federal government excuse to transfer the fuctions of the George Town City Council to the Chief Minister of Penang in 1966.

A Royal Commission of Enquiry cleared the George Town City Council of those allegations of corruption and recommended restoring municipal elections but federal authorities refused to see this done. Instead, in 1971, the George Town City Council, together with the Penang Island Rural District Council, were taken over by the Penang state government -- Chief Minister Lim Chong Eu suspended local governments - cheating George Town residents (and residents of Penang Island's rural southwest) of their right to local representation, or representation at a municipal level.

Having lost her local elected government, George Town also lost her City status when, in 1974 the George Town City Council was merged with the Penang Island Rural District Council to form the Penang Island Municipal Council.

Anwar flexing his muscle!

I'm giving space below to my old schoolmate, Leslie Lee Kim Guan, to give his analysis and opinion on Rafizi Ramli's public outburst yesterday after the Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, had appointed Lim Guan Eng, Mohammed Sabu and Muhyiddin Yassin to head the Finance, Defence and Home Affairs Ministries, respectively.

Anwar flexing his muscle!

In our Malaysian politics sometimes there is more than meets the eyes.

In my earlier prediction,  the absence of Azizah during the press conference on the three Cabinet posts by Tun Dr Mahathir may be attributable to her unhappiness that PKR was unfairly accorded. This is understandably so.

I strongly believe that Rafizi was doing his boss' bidding because of some of the reasons I stated earlier which to me have justification.

I recall in 2008 after Selangor fell to Pakatan Rakyat that Anwar appointed his brother to be the Economic Adviser to the Selangor government.

I personally did not agree with this move by Anwar then as it was not merit-based for the people's interest but nepotism rearing its ugly head and DEFINITELY contradictory to Reformasi. OTOH after hearing and having personally met Nurul Izzah, notwithstanding she is Anwar's daughter, I am impressed by her capability, competence and sincerity to serve our nation, and I believe given time in Ministerial experience she will make a good Prime Minister for our country and its people in the same way Lee Hsien Loong has done for Singapore.

Fast forward to the current situation, I felt that Rafizi Ramli is personally not interested in the position because he believed in a good, capable and efficient government of the people, by the people and for the people with effective checks and balance. This was said during his campaign. He is still relatively young but intelligent and capable, and he realised there is a dire role that he can play to transform the country for the better. He opted for the uphill difficult obstructive challenge of Reformasi instead of an easy path through UMNO. This speaks volumes of his unquestioned character.

However if his party or the Pakatan Harapan government appoints him in any ministry including Finance, I think he will do a good job. As for our new Finance Miniaster, Lim Guan Eng, I believe that he will be discharging in time to prove himself as the best Finance Minister just like what he has done for the people of Penang as Chief Minister.

Washing dirty linen in public is another issue altogether. In any case what PKR wanted is consensus or agreement by PKR in any major decision by the current Pakatan Harapan government or by Mahathir since PKR now has the largest number of MPs followed by DAP closely behind.

From this outburst PKR indirectly is serving notice to Mahathir not to bulldoze his way like what he did as Prime Minister during his previous 22 years when UMNO was the majority partner. UMNO practically got its way in all decisions taken with all the other coalition minority partners including MCA and Gerakan without consensus. Thus no checks and balance, no discussion nor consultation or deliberations and was the main contributary cause for the demise of MCA, Gerakan and MIC.

In fact, in Barisan Nasional's final phase, practically almost all government policies were decided by the UMNO Supreme Council and not the BN Supreme Council nor by the Cabinet. The BN Supreme Council and the Cabinet were mere rubber stamps. The unchecked power and arrogance of UMNO led to its abuse and mismanagement, corruption, etc etc. UMNO was the main cause of the BN's failure in GE14.

Anwar is now telling Mahathir that although he is PM, the big brother is now PKR and therefore PKR will not agree to unequal/unfair distribution of Cabinet posts. This is precisely what Mahathir did  during his previous administration to his minority partners in BN.

I believe Mahathir will similarly do it this way if this GE14 resulted in Bersatu having a majority number in MPs.

Mahathir realising his 12 MPs are too small in number hence this may explain why he is keen to accept crossovers especially from his good friend Taib's PBB and indirectly reduce the percentage of PKR's. Politics is a numbers game.

I noted that Mahathir recently constantly emphasised that PH's four-party partnership is an equal partnership although obviously with 12 MPs viz-a-viz PKR's 47 and DAP's 42 his number and percentage is lesser. I guess he had conveniently forgotten his different tune whilst he chaired BN.

What TM wanted is equal distribution of all Cabinet posts to all four parties. If I were to be in his shoe I will do the same. However statistically it is two for Bersatu (PM and Home) whereas ONLY one each for the rest. Understandably, PKR is unhappy because the party has only the Deputy Prime Minister post without a ministry.

The outburst by PKR, whilst is not reflecting good signs of PH solidarity to the public, may now result in Mahathir to get Anwar's and DAP's agreements in major future PH's decision, for example, in the composition of the rest of the Cabinet positions. Further, Anwar is supposedly going to take over the helm in two years' time.

Mahathir has to adjust that his premiership this round can no longer be autocratic like before in BN's time. It is limited to two years as agreed and he has to obtain consensus from all and particularly from big brothers PKR and DAP.

In any new partnership/relationship the honeymoon period (getting rid of Najib) is over and the jostling for position and power is now just beginning. This may explain why the Press had to wait three to five hours yesterday whilst possible serious haggling was taking place on the other side of the wall.

There will be more haggling coming up in Round Two (in one week's time) for the balance of seven ministries out of the initial 10, and in Round Three (in the next two to three weeks) for the balance of 15 ministries. The time frame for forming the entire Cabinet is now longer than originally scheduled!

One thing for sure which is good for the country is that despite this internal bickering, Mahathir cannot be autocratic like before in the current PH government. He is determined to rectify all the wrongs in government and our institutions, and DEFINITELY those acts that were inflicted upon him personally.

PH must not deviate from the main focus about correcting the ills and reforming our new Malaysia for the benefit of the people and country in a better tomorrow.

Most importantly the PH government should reflect on itself to the public as a viable, cohesive, harmonious, competent, responsible, accountable and united coalition party and not a party of  marriage of convenience, and be honourable and fair to each other internally in its relationship amongst itself, thereby guiding andharvesting the fruits for the people as per its manifesto. The promise to deliver has to be carried out including the two years for PM tenureship.

Should PH be one single multi-racial and multi-religious united party for the future of Malaysia and for Bangsa Malaysia in the foreseeable future? Can PH achieve what Dato Oon Jaafar failed?

With our natural and human resources, can Malaysia be as developed as Singapore in the coming decade or two from now under PH?

Is Anwar prudent to flex his muscle yesterday (DAP, Ananah has to be thankful or otherwise) or should he wait till two years later when he assumes the PM's chair? Time will tell as politics is not a static game.

Leslie Lee

The six

Anwar Ibrahim being visited in hospital yesterday

State of the parties

Saving my country

Here I am, trying to save my country from kleptocracy.

Podah

The former Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in an election rally at Putrajaya last night, used the Tamil word Podah on the caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Razak.

In his campaign speech, Mahathir had said: “A so-called 'religious warrior'? Podah! I picked him but now that he has become the PM, he wants to have me arrested instead. It seems I had accused him of being involved in the alleged sabotage of the plane I was on last Friday. How does he know that I was wrong, when he didn't look at what happened? Even the civil aviation authority (DCA) did not come to see me or check the plane,"

But what exactly does podah mean? I tried asking my Indian friends but none has come back with a response. I had to search for the term on the Internet before finding it as well as other colourful Tamil words. This list below, will be interesting reading:

1. Dei - The verbal response to someone who does or says something stupid, idiotic or asinine. For example, "Lee turns to walk out the door to my office, but instead runs into the wall." Dei!!
2. Podah / Podeh – Podah means to "get lost, man" and Podeh means to "get lost, girl". For example, "I don't want to see you around here anymore. Podah! or Podeh!"
3. Elek – This is a verbal response to mean “don’t have”. For example, "Hey, man, have you seen my iPhone?" Elek.
4. Sapade – Directly translates to mean "eat". For example, "Aneh, sapade order here!
5. Aneh/Anah – This is the Tamil word for “Bro”. For example, "Aneh, teh tarik satu!"
6. Kunji – Directly translates to mean "penis" in Tamil.
7. Thani – It means "water" in Tamil. But here in Malaysia, we use it for drinking alcohol. For example, "Eh, bro, tonight thani ah?"
8. Pundek – A Malaysian Tamil word for "vagina".
9. Thangachi – This is a polite word for "younger sister". But here in Malaysia, we use it to call both of our guy and girl friends. For example, "Hey, thangachi, apa buat!"
10. Macha – Literally, this is a term for "brother-in-law". It is commonly used to address our friends. For example, "Macha, we’re going to the club tonight. Wanna join?"