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Bloggers United is one month old. The movement kickstarted by a series of events, and Susan Loone and Sheih, is now a presence that unites a group of Bloggerratis that care about Malaysia. Here’s to a better year and more meaningful presence.
Salut!
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Perhaps I forgot to mention the “series of events” that started the Bloggers United tidal wave, that also spurred me to get off my ass and blog actively. The lawsuits…my dear readers, against Rocky and Jeff, were the trigger that set of a chain reaction that I fervently hope, will start a movement to make Malaysia a better place for its citizens.
Rocky goes to court again this Thursday, Feb 22, 2007. Good luck to you bro! Let’s hope truth doesn’t get compromised by legalese. If the plaintiffs have to resort to technical details to prevail in this case, God help Malaysia.
Sometimes, the sun comes into a life and shines its brilliant rays into all the nooks and corners. Even the murky depths gets some light. And then, all too swiftly, black clouds of the past gathers and obscures the sunshine.
In that brief burst of light, understanding dawned. The accumulation of sins from the past exacted its ultimate price today. I mourn for the passing of the sunshine…probably one of the purest things I have seen.
The brief luminous glimpse has changed my life for good. I set forward, knowing nothing will be the same again.
I keep my fingers crossed hoping, praying…..that sunshine comes again to cast its unforgetable luminosity on this earth. Prayers were answered yesterday. And I know it will again. One has to lance a boil, to heal again. To seek forgiveness, to live again.
Sunshine….I live in the afterglow you left behind. Catch my dreams sometime.
The Year of the Pig looms. So for starters, let’s train our optic devices and attention on this animal, loved by some, reviled by others.
Let’s Pig out on some
facts and fancies…
For some Pig need-to-know, look up the Pigtionary
Hats off to you Vlad. You have the balls to say what a lot of people tell the cowboys but they don’t bother to listen.
What Putin also did in the process was to give Robert Gates some work to do as the new Pentagon chief. The American media was quick to take the nationalistic line i response to Putin’s vituperative salvo. But Washington Post has an honest, thought-provoking take here, that I found interesting. Patrick Buchanan has a point too.
Meanwhile, Putin cuts a swath through the petroleum belt of the Middle East, shaking hands and getting unprecedented warm welcome from the oil nations from Saudi Arabia to Jordan. His verbal attack on America’s foreign policy though, seems to strike not just a single chord, but many, in Europe.
So Tun Dr Mahathir gets a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Why not? I see this as a heartening news for all Malaysians. Dr M has during his reign put Malaysia on the world map as no other Malaysian leader has done, before or since. I am justifiably proud of course.
He was known as one of the most vocal voices from the Third World, not afraid to stand up against what he perceived as injustice in the international arena in the areas of globalisation, and war crimes.
Having said that, as the list of nominees grow, there are already predictions that Al Gore, nominated for his work in helping raise awareness about the environment and particularly global warming, will take the prize. Here’s AFP’s take.
For a quick brush up, Here’s a list of who has won before.
Read this. Doesn’t the bile just rise when you watch people being silenced from offering opinions. This too was an internal memo. It never was intended for publication and it does represent what a lot of people; analysts, scholars, Middle East experts and the global public think about Israeli aggression and the Palestinians’ reprisals.
I’m never anti-semitic, but the backlash against Jeremy Bowen for speaking the truth makes me puke.
This one was passed to me by a friend. I must share with all of you. But I guess u have to be a Malaysian to appreciate it…
In November 2006, President George W Bush was visiting several Asian
countries including Indonesia and Singapore.
Bush: Well Condi, is there anything you need from Singapore that I can
pick up for you while I am there next month?
Rice: That’s very kind of you, Mr President, but no, there’s really
nothing I need right now from there. But Laura will certainly enjoy the
shopping there, sir.
Bush: Ah yes, she’s been talking about it. Lee’s wife has promised to
take her shopping at the newly opened Vivocity.
Rice: I’m sure she’ll enjoy a trip to Sentosa too. Especially now that
the haze from Indonesia has more or less lifted. Talking of which,
you’re going to Indonesia too, aren’t you sir?
Bush: Yes I am, and while I’m with Susilo Bambang, Laura will visit
Acheh and give away a cheque to the tsunami victims.
Rice: How sweet. Would you be dropping by Malai Shia, sir?
Bush: Naw, giving them a miss.
Rice: Don’t blame you sir, they have some rough motor cyclists there.
Called themselves “Mad Ram Piss” or something. They think they’re the
Asian equivalent of our Knievel. They would certainly scare Laura to
death.
Bush: Nah, Laura is made of sterner stuff. But that’s not the reason
why we’re not going to Malai Shia, Condi.
Rice: Oh. Then it must be their traffic jams. They even have monorails
that run off the tracks and dangle in mid-air. And highway pillars
that crack.
Bush: Really? Incompetent, that’s all I can say. But no, that’s not the
reason why we’re skipping Malai Shia either.
Rice: Oh I know. You don’t want to distract the Prime Minister right
now, isn’t it? Heard he’s getting some shitty stuff from his predecessor telling him
off like a kid.
Bush: If Clinton did that to me, I’d personally throw him off an F-16.
But no, that’s also not the reason why we’re skipping Malai Shia.
Rice: Must be the floods then, sir? It’s the monsoon season now and it
floods bad after just two hours of rain. Landslides too; bring down
houses but then people there build 4-storey bungalows without approval.
Bush: Naw, the rain wouldn’t bother us. That’s also not the reason for
not going there.
Rice: I give up! Why are you visiting Indonesia and Singapore, and yet
not go to Malai Shia, Mr President?
Bush: The reason, Dr Rice, is that I don’t want their Religious
Department people banging on our hotel room door in the middle of the
night, demanding to see our marriage certificate. Now THAT would scare
the hell out of Laura!!!…..
It has been 15 years since the day my sister woke up in the morning to find Ayaa cold. Life has gone out of her. A mother who birthed eight children, three of whom predeceased her. A life of suffering, of pain, of breathlessness came to a merciful stop sometime in the early hours of Feb 2, 1992.
She had lapsed into a diabetic coma more than slightly a month earlier. Mom and me alternated at the hospital, washing n caring for her. Mom always does the graveyard shift…staying up to watch over motionless Ayaa…where did she find that strength?
I remember Ayaa came out of the coma eventually. She came home. Regained slow use of her limbs. I remember her sitting outside the kampung house, showered and dressed and with powder on her fair face. Ayaa was beautiful always.
Dad came from work, and Ayaa raised her hands and touched her eldest son’s face. Strange, unusual exchange it was. Rarely saw such open gesture of affection in the family. It was her last. The next day she was cold….
We remember you Ayaa…with love.
