RACONTEUR-ESQUE SCRIBBLINGS

A first year student stood up and asked the following question: "I have a pen pal from Russia. Am I allowed to correspond with him from here?" I can't remember what was the answer to that fairly odd question, because it happened way back in 1998, when I was a first year student as well. This question was asked during our long and tiresome orientation week where we learned the university song (laughed at it too, of course), and where people droned on about the rules and regulations and explained the many different ways you could get yourself expelled. That was also the time when we all found out about AUKU (University and University Colleges Act) Being 18 and politically ignorant then, my friends and I never did find the act get in the way of our daily lives. Many things have happened since then, and thirteen years later university students are actually rising against the act. For some reason, they believe that political freedom and participation is a must in orde...

My interest in politics waxes and wanes like the moon in the sky at night, with the most poignant moment being the general elections in March 2008, where I spent a good deal of the night (until 5am!!) refreshing the web page where the results were displayed. It was interesting to note that after so long, the ruling coalition (will be known in this post as NF) got it's ass kicked by the opposition (known in this post as PF) by losing five states. Naturally, the interest waned later on as the whole situation seemed like a very bad soap opera with equally bad actors. The high hopes of making a difference seemed to move further away from reach as *components stated having issues amongst themselves, one of the states was just stolen away in a shocking manner and many other things. A year and a half later, we see the need for a by-election in this place called Hulu Selangor, and while it garnered interest in many ways from a whole bunch of Malaysians, the only thing I did was read a po...

If you thought that watching Nigella (Lawson) on tv cooking up a delectable storm with your favourite ingredient would be a nice way to wind down after a strangely boring day at work, you're most probably right, unless you're listening to the news at the same time. I was sick to the stomach last night upon hearing the news of several traitors brazenly jumping ship from one party to another after vehemently denying those allegations just the day before. Ok, fine... perhaps they have some issues with their respective party propagandas, but they should have been open about it. And tell the people they're sorry or something because they got up there in the first place because of the people, or better yet, just resign from their respective posts like gentlemen/proper ladies. What's worse is the way the newscasters presented the news. It was as though this latest jumping ship is the greatest thing in the world, something everyone should be proud of, which is so disgustingl...

To whom it may concern, Interesting innit, how things turned out? Are you wondering what went wrong again? Or are you going to say that you lost because of the 58% of people who refused to exercise their rights? Welcome to the 21st century, the age where people refuse to accept propaganda blindly like those in the 20th century did, which made you think that you were God's gift to mankind, and everyone was so thankful for your existence, the so called stability you provided and the fact that without you, everything that was built all this while will crumble into tiny little pieces. After 50 over years, I'm amazed that you think we are still so gullible as to listen to everything you have to say without looking further. We may be facing a mid-life crisis, but we can get out of it if we deal with this properly. Your scare tactics are passe, dated, whatever. You have lost your relevence, because what you offer is not what we need, much less what we want. So, the voices tha...

As the world sits back and watches life go by (and the news on tv every evening), some very real people are fearing for their lives, living amidst bombings and gunfires as they fight to keep the land each group thinks is likely theirs. Ever since I became aware of what was happening in the news (around the age of 8), nightmarish tales of the fight that is ongoing in the Gaza strip has always been there, from the time Yasser Arafat and his missions to negotiate peace right until his death, and up till now. And with all the nations surrounding it, some strong, some weak, taking sides with perhaps the group they think ought to live there, or based on ideology and political interests, it is a wonder that the conflict has never ended even after all this while. I can't help wondering why, and yet I can't seem to think of any reason, or how anyone can make things better. This is probably one situation where the phrase 'make peace and not war' will fall on deaf ears. In lig...

I bumped into PT around 11 this morning and she rattled on about how she plans to take half day off today as she fears being stuck in a massive traffic jam in case anything happens in the PP by elections today. Although PP is in a state that is a few hours away by car, and I can brush her off as being paranoid (she is, really ;p ), it can't be denied that this by-election in PP is going to be one hell of a memorable one regardless if ends on a positive note or a negative one. (However, we never will know if it's positive or negative until we look back on this day in a year's time or so) Forget the GEs held in March, this one here in PP may be the deciding factor, the proof that people do really want some change, and the proof that people are willing to discard all allegations of buggery, swearing and past history from 10 years ago among other things. For the EC and perhaps neighbouring countries, it may just be another by-election, the kind that is held to replace the o...

If you were to go back about 15 years ago and asked anyone on the streets about the political situation in Malaysia, you might have just received a shrug, and perhaps if the person you asked was friendly enough, you'd get a small conversation on how boring it was. The conversation would have ended there, because there wouldn't have been much else to say. You might have even gone for coffee and discussed the situation (war) in the Balkans instead. Fast forward to 15 years later, almost anyone can tell you about the exciting things that happen almost every single day, from catfights to uncouth behaviour. From arrests and allegations, ridiculous road blocks that cause massive traffic jams, to the news of an unlikely coalition which if it ever became likely would crush about slightly more than 1/3 of the people to little crumbling pieces of gingerbread men/women. In fact, at the rate things were going just about two weeks ago, you'd think that the socio-political websites wo...

Ok. Get a bucket ready by your side. Or one of those paper bags people use to throw up in during travelling. I believe that this might cause you to cringe in utter disbelief. Well, I went into google looking for something earlier, and it led me to igoogle, which had this headline below. My thoughts on the issue are italicised. School uniform sexy, says group (Sure, whatever you say) KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian group condemned the uniform worn by girls at government schools, saying it encouraged rape and pre-marital sex. OK, I'm listening(reading)... “The white blouse is too transparent for girls and it becomes a source of attraction,” National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia vice-president Munirah Bahari said in a statement. The uniform is the ugliest thing I've ever seen. From the colour right up to the design. It makes you look chubby. I can't imagine anyone being attracted to them (the uniform as well as the kids, cause everything is just too ugly!) A...

"Politics is for old people..." Well, lets say it was what I used to think right until 2006 when I started 'seeing the light from a different angle' So, last Saturday (which was co-incidently my birthday, though I daresay it has been my birthday for the past 27 years, and it has only been the polling day this one time - except if there was any other time in the past when polling day was held on the same day, but which I wasn't aware of, then sorry. Ok now I've confused myself... but what I wanted to say was, I think I should have said that it was my birthday, and co-incidently polling day was on the same day) witnessed Malaysia's 12th GE. Instead of having a birthday bash (which I usually don't except for the time I was one, and that too because I was forced to - didn't know how to say 'no' back then... hehehe) I sat at home in front of my crazy laptop and hit the refresh button like a hundred million times. I didn't even want to ha...