Merdeka

31 August 2007 marked the 50th year of Malaysia's independence. Year after year the country has celebrated this momentous occasion with events of which the pinnacle has always been the Merdeka parade. This year, the parade will be at Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square).

I remember the first time I participated in a Merdeka parade. It was 1986 and I was 14, a member of my school's (Sekolah Alam Shah) marching band. Dataran Merdeka then was not the Dataran Merdeka today. The tall flagpole with the huge Malaysia flag flying proudly was not there. The stage, the garden, even the shops and parking lots under the field were not there. It was just a plain field, flanked by the Bangunan Kelab Selangor and Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad.

The parade started at 8 am but all the contingents were required to be there at 5 am. I think the events leading to the parade on that day were not as elaborate as they are nowadays since almost all of us stood on the field itself, rather than along the roads nearby. Quite tiring, really.. standing there for 3 hours or so doing nothing. Then the parade was on.

We marched in front of the Prime Minister and all the Menteris and guests. I must say I can't really remember what I felt that day. I was 14 and the meaning of Merdeka was not really something a 14-year old would think about. But I did feel proud that I was part of my school's marching band, representing my school (one of the top boarding schools in Malaysia) in the Merdeka parade that year. I participated again in 1987, 1988 and 1989.

After I finished school, I went overseas to further my study. Stayed 5 years there and only got back to Malaysia in 1996. I honestly admit that I have always had this couldn't-care-less attitude towards what is Merdeka to our country, our people. I had always taken for granted what Malaysia has to offer to her people. The years I was overseas, I mixed freely with people from different countries, mostly students. Most of them had the same attitude as myself.. being young and only had to worry about studies and exam results.

Only after I came back to Malaysia that, given choices, I realised I would rather live in this country.. where my family is.. where my root is. I love Malaysia. She will always be my home.

Tomorrow is the Merdeka Day and the country is celebrating. There are flags and posters everywhere.. on the buildings, on the cars, trees, lamp posts.. The radios are continually playing patriotic songs, the TVs are showing patriotic advertisements.. everywhere is about Merdeka and the spirits of patriotism are at their highest.

So.. what does it mean to be Merdeka? How truly Merdeka are we, anyway? Physically we may be free from colonialism.. but what about our minds? Our spirits? We can see so many of our traditions lost to the so called modernisation. We can see so many of our cultures forgotten as the years went by. And so many others which makes me sad just by thinking of them.

Everybody has their own interpretation of Merdeka, from the pretty straight forward answers all the way to the convoluted ones. For me, it's freedom.. not just physical, but also mental and spiritual. Freedom from all those negative influence that stole away my Malaysian identity. Freedom to achieve as high as I can but within the law and with my roots firmly placed in this beloved country.

I look at the younger generation and without fail, I can only feel extreme disappointment. Are these the future of Malaysia then? Makes me shudder just thinking about it. What happened, actually? It's like all the parents are no longer bothered about the upbringing of their children. Everytime I see these kids I can only iterate in my mind, "There goes our future.. there goes Malaysia's future." It's sad, really.

Now, let us all ask ourselves this question: "What are our contribution to our country?"

Happy Merdeka Day, Malaysia. I'm truly proud to be Malaysian.

My weekend

To start off, the much anticipated Friday night was really a terrible let down. I’m not gonna dwell on that as it will only give me a heartache. Maybe I’ll write something about it. Or maybe not.

Saturday.. my team entered the UIA Open volleyball tournament. The first game was at 12 noon and somehow one of the players managed to get there late. Could you believe that? I felt like slapping the guy till he sees Pluto. The emergency replacement also got there late. Why? Because he got lost inside the university. This one, I wholly put the blame on the person who gave him the directions.



So we forfeited the first match. Everybody was disappointed. Especially the setter, Ami. To rub salt on the wound, we could’ve beaten that team easily, and proceeded to the semi since the we won the next two matches and the team we would’ve met in the quarter was not strong.

The disappointment was enough to make me think of quitting volleyball tournaments right then and there. But I think I’ll do that next year and concentrate more in netball. At least the chances of winning are higher. Hehehe.. Oh, lots of thanks to the referees for helping us in the first match, even though in the end it made no difference. And no thanks to that woman in pink for being such a bitch about the whole thing. Yes.. you are.

Saturday night.. my friend from netball got married. Fid said, “Finally, after ten years.” Makes me wonder what took them so long. Hehehehe.. But then, it’s not cheap to get married nowadays. You’d probably need around RM15-20K just to have a medium-size wedding. And no, that’s not the reason why I’m still single. That’s for me to know and for you not to know. Hahahaha...

The wedding went well, if delayed a bit. Frankly speaking, I have no idea why they did the “bersanding” (I don’t think there’s an English equivalent for that word) twice.. the first one that night and the second one the next day. Part of the wedding package, perhaps. So that was the first part and not very many people turned up. Intentionally done, I think. But I have to say that the make-up of the bride was rather dull and totally not suitable for a wedding. I personally think that the make-up should lit up the bride’s face, not darken it.



The second part of the wedding was done the next day. The concept was orange and I went along with it and wore an orange t-shirt. Hehehe.. I’m not much into wedding, but once in a while ok laa.. 90% of the Legend team was there.. plus the coach and her kids. And three from team Cobra. True to form, we were the rowdiest people there, with a markedly lack of decorum compared to the other guests. I think it’s part of the nature of team Legend, creating havoc wherever we go. Hehehe..

Pompuan² lorong.. hehehe..

All in all, it was a rather tiring weekend. I was half asleep most of the time. But the cap of the weekend has to be the massage I got on Sunday night. It was good. I slept like a baby that night. And woke up still tired on Monday morning. Damn! Hahahahaha...

Books, books, books...

I'm a bookworm. I love books. I read everyday, whenever I can. In the LRT to work, from work, during breakfast, before sleeping, while doing nothing.. In short, I can't live without books. Reading is no longer a hobby. It has become a habit.



I have around 300 books in my collection, the majority of them of fantasy genre and a few science fiction. My favourite authors include Raymond E Feist, R A Salvatore, Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, Margaret Weiss, Tracy Hickman, Melanie Rawn, David Eddings, Trudy Canavan and some others I can't remember. Great authors, and great stories too. I highly recommend reading their books, if you haven't read one.

The thing about fantasy and science fiction is.. it's not very popular in Malaysia. I started reading fantasy books when I was 15. I can't remember the title of the first book I read, but it was by a Malay author and the main character was named Artakus. When I was 17, I managed to get my hands on my very first English fantasy book by David Eddings, titled Enchanter's End Game, book 5 of The Belgariad series. Whose book it was, I can't remember anymore. My cousin, probably.

After SPM, I continued my study in Sydney, Australia. Unsurprisingly, some of the first shops I entered were the bookstores, where I found the first book of The Belgariad. And the second, and the third, and the fourth. And the series after The Belgariad. And I never looked back since. I was totally hooked with fantasy and science fiction, resulting in a huge portion of my monthly scholarship allowance going into buying books. By the time I finished my study, I have collected a respectable number of books, which I brought home with me in several boxes.

Note: I only read fantasy and science fiction books. I don't read other genre, except when I don't have anything else to read. And fantasy and science fiction is getting to be a mouthful. I'll call it FSF, in short.

I still continue buying books after I started working in 1997. One thing I noticed at that time was that the bookstores in KL (MPH, Times and a small Kinokuniya inside Isetan KLCC) did not have large collections of FSF books. So it was quite hard for me to get reading materials. After I got my first credit card, I started buying books online via Amazon.com where I usually ordered 2 to 4 books a month. The price was slightly more expensive but well worth it, all things considered. Now that there are several big bookstores in the Klang valley which have good collections of FSF books, I don't have to order online anymore.

After the release of The Lord of The Rings movie trilogy, it seems that the number of FSF readers has increased. There are more people at the FSF section now. But of course, I'm referring to Kinokuniya since I mostly buy my books there. I'm not sure about MPH or Borders, though. I did not see very many people browsing around in the FSF section the last time I was there.

Anyway, whenever I see these people, I suddenly felt very knowledgeable about FSF and it was my duty to guide them on which books they should read. Talk about show-off eh.. hehehehe.. I used to carry around a list of all the books in my collection and referred to it everytime I wanted to buy new books. No, I was not showing off my great FSF books collection :Þ It was to avoid buying the same book twice :) Well, I don't have that list anymore. Too lazy to update it. Besides, there aren't very many exciting new books on the shelves anymore. Mostly I'm waiting for my favourite authors to come out with their latest books.

Now that's one thing I'd like to comment. I understand that it takes time for the authors to come out with a new book. And the publishers would produce the hard cover version first. Ok.. that's acceptable.. But what I don't understand is why does it take one year for the paperback version to be published? Don't you guys know that one year is a very long time to wait and it's torture for us mere mortals who could not afford to buy hardcover??!! Kindly do something, please.

Another thing I noticed is that, over the years, the prices of books have gone up considerably. Most paperbacks were priced below RM30 then but now, on average, they cost around RM35. Some are even selling at over RM40. I'm not going to dwell on the reasons for this price increase but it's definitely not getting any easier on my wallet. Oh, I will continue buying books but I don't think it will be as many as before.

Sucks, isn't it?

Proton Persona

"It's just a Gen2.. with a sedan body."

Honestly, if I was the designer, I would be very offended. I spent hours trying to come out with a design for the new Proton model (I'm putting myself in the designer's shoes here) and the comment I got was "It's just a Gen2". Like, hello?! Can't you appreciate the efforts that went into that car?

Ok.. stepping out of the designer's shoes..

I got my first good look at the Proton Persona today. Glimpsed one last night and I thought it was a Waja. So.. Hello!?!? Can't you come out with a better design? Something different? It's supposed to be a new model, not just an amended version of the Gen2! Something original, please?

If you're offended, I'm disappointed. Surely you could come out with a design that's unique, beautiful, has a lot of appeal to the public and at par with the new car models in the market? I was expecting something grand, with all the hype given prior to the launch.. but what can I say.. I'm so disappointed.

Hey, what's this I heard about the international model for Persona is much better than the local one? Do I see a double-standard here? How unfair! But then, this is nothing new. As with the Wira model, it's international version is not quite the same as it's local counterpart. Perdana as well, if I'm not mistaken. I don't quite understand the reasons behind this. Are we, the locals, getting sub-international standards for our model? Why can't we have the same model, be it for import or for local use? If a foreigner approached me and said, "I really like the new Proton car model, Persona.", should I asked him, "Oh, which one is that? Local one or international?"

I don't deny that Persona is a rather nice-looking car and it's another good effort by Proton. I just wish they came out with something more original. I'm not going to comment on the engine or power or performance etc. coz I'm not really into those things. I'm more of a what-I-can-see type of person. If a car looks nice, the chances of my buying it is certainly high. I'm sure there are a lot of people like me out there.

So, the one thing I want to know is.. what's holding those people in Proton from investing in a better car (in the overall sense)? Mold too expensive? Afraid the people will not be interested to buy? Well.. let me put it this way. If you manufacture a car which is value for money, has all the safety features installed, and really really great to look at, people would definitely want to have one.

I'm sure it's nothing new.