British and Parliment

While on the bus going home yesterday, I watched al-Jazeera on my handphone (or cellphone to the Americans?). Mr Tony Blair was giving his final speech to the British parliment.

What grabbed my attention was not his speech, but rather the background. The layout of the parliment was very similar to what you would see on Malaysian television showing Malaysian parlimentary debate. If it wasn't for the clearly-white-people seating there, I would have thought it was in Malaysia. Another thing that I noticed was unlike the Malaysian parliment, the Brits don't have those huge tables for the members.

Mr Tony Blair was resigning. He was succeeded by his deputy (wasn't he?), Mr Gordon Brown. Again, very much like how Dr M 'relenquished' his power to Pak Lah.

I guess I shouldn't be suprise by the similarity, after all, Malaysia was once one of the British Empire.

Religious Tolerance

This morning I watched Al-Jazeera. Something I don't normally do. I was bored but too lazy to get out of bed on my day off. The nearest electronic device beyone my reach was my handphone (or whan Americans call 'cellphone'). Al-Jazeera was the only free live streaming I could get on the 3G enabled handphone.

There was a program called "Crossroad Europe". It was pretty much about how citizen of Spain react to the growing Islamic community (or rather Morroccan immigrants) there. I didn't watched it till its end. But what I saw was the locals were mostly sceptical. The Spanish in general oppose the idea of Mosque in their neighbourhood. Quoting interviews on the program:

Young morrocan man: [bla... bla... bla....] We've tried intergration, it didn't work. [bla... bla... bla..] We want the real deal (referring to the fact that he want to opt for 'radical' Islamic)

Slightly older local Spanish woman: [bla.. bla.. bla...] They come to our country. We shouldn't be adapting to their culture (referring to the influx of Morrocan immigrant)

I didn't see any interview on local Islamic Spanish. Anyway it reminds me of how things are in Malaysia. Malaysians in general don't think twice about other religion's place of worship. There are churches, temples and mosques in every corner of the country. I know in some towns those places of worship are within walking distance from each other. It has become a part of Malaysian culture. Malaysians are generally tolerance of each other religious belief.

That brings me to a recent headlines I saw in local newspaper (by local I meant Malaysian). It read along the line "Muslim not ready for (religious) dialog". I think I know why. Muslims are mostly believers and followers. At least that are the muslims you'll likely meet on the street of Malaysia. As a believer and a follower, you believe and follow what your 'teacher' tells you. Hence, if you get the wrong teacher, you'll fall into the 'deviant' teaching group or worse, the i'm-right-you're-wrong-so-you-must-die camp!

But then again, I believe it happened in other religion too. Otherwise history wouldn't see the likes of 'Hitler'.

(Disclaimer: I'm not statistician not historian. Check the facts yourself)

Excuse for being late

"Bos, tayar keretapi pancit [Bos, the train has punctured tyre(s)]"

Could you tell that to your bos when you are late for work?

I guess if I'm your bos and you are fellow commuters who are stranded on the platfom today, YOU CAN!

Went for a Swim

Yes, I did went for a swim yesterday. But apart from the fact that I've not swim for a long time, nothing unusual about it. What unusual is when your electronic gadgets 'decide' to 'go' for a swim and came 'back' alive!

I was tidying up things in the bathroom - picking up dirty laundry etc. - when I heard 'plup'. It was the sound of something small but heavy being dropped into the water. Something must have dropped from the many things I was holding. I looked down. Oh no! To my horror, it was my trusty old T5.

I picked it up. With water still dripping, I blowed dry the T5 (using a hair-dryer). After it was sufficiently dried, I switched it on. Nothing happened. Perhaps some of the inner parts are still wet. So I left it to dry by the window.

This morning I tried switching it on. Nothing happened. Not sure what else to do, I left it by the window. Throughout the day I ponder what to do. The T5 is already out of warranty. How much would it cost me to repair or replace it? Have I synchronize everything in the T5 with my pc recently? Can I live without my T5? Lots of questions went through my mind today.

Just now, out of curiousity, I plugged the T5 to the charger and switched it on. Wallah we are back online! Except for visible spots underneath the screen, everything else seems okay.

There's a bug in the air

I've been recuperating from a very bad fever. It's already 2 week. But it was not bad enough to grant me a long bed rest.

I've seen the doctor twice. The second time, the doctor didn't not prescribe me with antibiotic since I've just completed one 'course' (is that what the docs call the dose?). The doc asked to drink lots and lots of water. It's the bad weather that is causing people to feel under the weather (pun intended). There's some sort of bug (or scientifically called 'patogen'?) in the damp air. The other day. I was on a bus. Seemed that the whole bus was coughing and sneezing!

Fortunately, I'm feeling better today. Looking forward for the weekend rest!

Wet Market and Teacher

While strolling in Central Market (a.k.a. Pasar Seni), overheard two middle-age Eurasian ladies talking (one must be somekind of an expatriate and the other, a visiting friend):

"[bla... bla... bla...] KL don't have anymore wet market. The way people shopping have changed... [bla.. bla... bla...] supermarker... [bla... bla.. bla...]"

KL still have its wet markets if you know where and when to look. One of such market is Pasar Jalan Raja Bot or mistakenly know by most as Pasar Chow Kit. While this market may appeared to be 'disfunct' during the day, go the somewhere in the afternoon (5pm ++). It would be bustling with activities. Most of wives in KL are working mothers (KL is rather expensive city by Malaysian Standard). So it makes no sense to shop for fishes and produces in the morning when the wives only get home to cook in the evening.

Then there's this night markets where you could find almost everything from vegetables to meat, from fruits to potted plants, from cooking utensil to cooked food, from shoes to clothes! Night market is essentially a wet market, hardware stores, textile stores, foodcourts, all rolled into one. One thing that should be noted about night market is that they open only at night and every night at different part of the City. Check with the locals where and when is the night market in your area.


While taking a breather at home, overheard two little girls playing a make-believe-world:

Older girl walked with a grocery bag in her hand. Younger (preschool) girl stood and greeted "Selamat pagi cikgu (Good morning teacher)". Older girl took out a book from the bag, sat next to younger girl and began teaching "B...A... ba... J... U... ju... ba-ju (spelling shirt in Malay phonetics)... [bla... bla... bla..]"

I was amazed! Here is a young girl teaching a much younger girl how to read while playing in make-belive-world. This is what learn-and-play is all about!