Wednesday, May 30, 2012
The two sides of a coin
Generally we are wired to resist unpleasantness and to embrace pleasure, both the mental and the physical kinds. What is the stronger? Avoidance of pain or the pursuit of pleasure? Herein lies the human predicament. My take is that they are essentially the same thing, just different flavours, like the two sides of a coin.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
TThinking out of the box
Just last Fri I felt like butting my head against a stone wall. The architectural design of the 3-level penthouse that is sitting pretty on top of a 12 storey luxury condo is so fanciful, weird and unconventional that I had no idea how to engineer, organise and arrange the structural columns and in a gesture of despair just threw my hands up in the air. Then yesterday and today after trying all sorts of structural arrangements using paper, pencil, ball pen, eraser, correction fluid, and a high-lighter I managed to develop an engineering model capable of complementing the architectural design and yet makes sense structurally. I don't know how I did it. I can only attribute it to one thing: in the not-knowing, there arises the freedom to respond appropriately to whatever the situation requires. Some people call it thinking out of the box, or whatever.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Langkawi holiday
My company sports club is organising a 3D/2N tour of Langkawi in June and a form is being passed around for those who are interest to sign up. After returning from Phuket, Thailand just 2 days ago I'm in no mood to go on another holiday so soon after.
Sound of chants, gongs and cymbals
Aware of the sound of chants, gongs and cymbals permeating the air. Taoist priests are conducting funeral rites for a family living three houses down the road from mine who had lost the head of the family due to illness. May the deceased RIP.
Friday, May 11, 2012
"Jaws" T-shirt
Donned this silly but funny "Jaws" cartoon T-shirt that I bought for some laughs just to remember my family vacation in Phuket
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Phuket tour
Wed 9/5/2012. Last sip of hot cappuccino at KL LCCT before boarding the Air Asia plane to Phuket,Thailand with my family. What followed after this drink was an extraordinary adventure (eating, hiking, boating, shopping, sightseeing and walking) that awaited us upon checking in at the hotel in this Andaman Sea Thai island territory.
Friday, May 04, 2012
Happy Wesak Day 2012
Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared - The Buddha
Tomorrow is Wesak Day
Happy Wesak Day to all my Buddhist friends and those who celebrate this occasion.
May all beings be happy and be free from sufferings
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Bersih 3.0 428, the yellow tide
Kajang KTM station. Big crowd of people already waiting for the train to arrive |
KL Sentral. People taking the escalator to Level 1 |
The crowd at the entrance to the Pasar Seni LRT Station |
Carnival time. People enjoying each other's company and just happy to be together |
I saw Aunty Bersih from a distance but due to the crowd around her entourage busy shaking her hands and snapping pictures, I was enable to get near enough for a closer look of the this spirited senior citizen.
I saw a line of policemen standing in the middle of the roads linking hands as if to form a human chain. Nobody seemed to pay them any attention as the people just moved around them. I also didn't see nor hear anyone provoking them in abusive languages and gestures.
Street vendors especially those selling snacks and drinks were doing roaring business. Fast food outlets like McDonalds and Buger King and mamak shops were also filled with people having their meals. People were queuing up and paying for their purchases and I didn't see any sort of public disorder.
My impression was that there were more people going out to rally in Bersih 3.0 than Bersih 2.0. The place was so packed with people that I could not see from one end of the street to to other. And compared to Bersih 2.0 the Bersih 3.0 crowd was definitely more multi-racial in character.
In this atmosphere of open friendliness complete strangers warmed up with each other, each with an interesting story to tell. An Indian man from Brickfields who sat next to me while I was resting shared with me his story of how his family narrowly escaped death during May 13. A pak cik who had traveled by bus from Trengganu the night before came over to shake my hands. In his thick Trengganu Malay dialect he greeted me "Selamat Bersih!" Then there was this Chinese guy, a Christian pastor and a Bersih 2.0 veteran who kept on talking about God to me and at the same time repeatedly sang the Bersih song and Negara Ku. I saw so much goodwill all round that cuts across racial lines and although I was attending the rally alone I felt like I was part of the family of Malaysians.
Starting to march towards Dataran Merdeka |
In the meantime people started to chant "Bersih!, Hidup Rakyat!" etc and sang Bersih songs and Negara Ku. Some people waved banners and the state and national flags. As if on cue and without much probing the Malay, Chinese, Indian and other Malaysian marchers sang and clapped together in unison. Generally the atmosphere was more like a carnival rather than a rally for clean and fair election.
Duduk bantah |
After resting and replenishing my strength with water and biscuit cream crackers, I then got up to walk towards the direction of Masjid Jamek Station. I went as far as Burger King beside the LRT station at Masjid Jamek.. Unable to go anymore because of the huge crowd ahead I decided Burger King was as far as I could go.
3.00pm. Masjid Jamek Station. I decided that it was time that I should go back to Kajang. Then just as I was about to retrace my step back to the Pasar Seni Station, I heard a great commotion. I saw a few people brought in a young Chinese girl who was in great pain with her two legs badly cut. I saw some PAS unit amal and Bersih volunteers applying bandages to temporary brace her bloodied legs and heard them calling out for volunteers to send her to hospital. I heard her friend telling the people that somebody stepped on her in a stampede after the police had started to fire tear gas on the rally protesters.
Terrified children crying after inhaling the tear gas |
When I was walking along Jalan Benteng I heard a series of loud clak-clak sound. From my position I saw that the FRU who had occupied the bridge along Lebur Pasar Besar had started to fire tear gas and water cannons at the protestors. Together with other people I began to run towards the direction of Jalan Sultan. By this time I was already coughing and rubbing my eyes due to the tear gas. Then on my right flank I saw that the FRU troops were closing in and coming towards my direction.
"Jangan panik! Tenang! Tiada bahaya!" Out of no where a Malay youth appeared on the street and gestured with his hands for us to follow him. He took us through some side lanes until we reached the safety of Jalan Sultan.
Why fleeing the tear gas assault I witnessed many random acts of courage and kindness. Some people passed out salt to the tear gas victims and also water to wash their faces. The boss of a restaurant that was still operating allowed the fleeing people to use its sink and running water to wash their eyes. Some people stopped to help a Malay mother to calm and comfort her two terrified and crying children with water and also offered them salt.
4.30pm. Arrived at Pasar Seni LRT Station. Many people had already gathered there waiting to get into the boarding platform. Luckily the management did not shut down the train service though the shutters were rolled down leaving only a small passageway for people to access.
6.00 pm. KTM station Kajang. Tired and walking with a limp from the station to the car. My right heel was aching from all the stress of walking and standing for hours on the hard road pavement. Wearing the black and soft kung fu shoes with thin soles for comfort it was almost like walking bare foot all day long.
Although exhausted from the ordeal I was glad to be home and felt my spirits invigorated because on that day I witnessed and experienced in the easy mingling of people, the random acts of kindness and courage shown by rally participants and people from all the various ethnic groups of the nation marching shoulder to shoulder in solidarity the real 1 Malaysia.
Hidup Rakyat
Hidup Bersih
Unstoppable sea of yellow. Hidup Rakyat. Hidup Bersih |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)