WE ARE A SENSITIVE LOT ... NOT

OK, more of the AF saga. Sorry, folks, I just have to do this, and get it out of my chest, otherwise I tak tidur lena (over!).
So, apologies over the dadah comment incident were asked and accepted -- well, it looked like they were accepted -- and we hope everyone will now bury the hatchet, along with other things that need burying, doping habits included.
I guess Astro now can take the credit for bringing the episode to a close, and hope that no one else would make any more controversial incendiary remarks, especially those that would offend the students, their parents, critics, guest artistes, etc. Right?
Wrong! I am still reeling from shock over the word "n_gg_r" uttered by the host when describing the different style or image adopted by each of the students during last weekend's concert. I almost fell off my sofa when I heard it. I couldn't believe my ears!
Yet no one has said anything. No one has screamed murder, no one has demanded a public apology, unlike over the dadah episode. Which goes to show that typical Melayu are only sensitive to criticisms yang kena batang hidung sendiri, no matter how true they are. Those that are sensitive and extremely offensive to people of other cultures, go to hell, we don't care. It also goes to show how ignorant we are as a bangsa.
I hope someone will make noise about this, louder than that made over the dadah comment. And demand that Astro and the AF host apologise to the whole world, or face a multi-million ringgit suit.

PROGRESS AND THE POLITE SOCIETY

Last Sunday, like millions of other (Malay) Malaysians, I parked myself in front of the telly to watch the weekly Akademi Fantasia 4 concert. Not so much by choice, but by default. Because when it comes to AF4 and the programme's twice-daily updates, my adik Wan rules. He takes over the house and conquers the remote control. So, macam rela terpaksa la ni.
As much as I want to be nonchalant about AF4, I have to admit that there are a couple of good talents in there -- particularly Farhan and Velvet. The rest is rather forgettable.
Anyway, what I'm about to rant next is already being discussed by satu Malaya. Yup, critic Adlin Aman Ramli and his frank and cutting comments, which spare no one. Not the "students", nor the "faculty members" of AF4. Not even the guest artistes.
Adlin has received a lot of flak it seems for his "stay away from drugs" advice given to one of AF4 favourites Faizal, after the latter finished his performance, which was accompanied by Saleem, once a great singer beleaguered with dadah problem. Some people think the "advice" was so un-called for as it was basically nothing more than a cheap shot meant for Saleem.
Now, no one knows for sure what Adlin's intention was. For all we know, he was just, well, giving advice to someone who he felt could have a future in the industry.
Me, the moment I heard Adlin, I went, "Yes!! Finally! Someone is saying something about this, and so strongly, too!" That's progress, I thought. I mean, sampai bila should we continue to be polite about the subject? Sampai bila are we to continue to give multiple second chances to dadah abusers?
Astro pun satu hal. What kind of signal is it giving to its mostly young viewers when it continues to give face/exposure to repeat dadah offenders? It's OK to take drugs, kids, if you're a pop star? No matter how many times you erred, we would always welcome you back because you're such a great singer? Tolonglah!
How many dadah abusers are there in the entertainment industry still idolised by millions? I can name a few. Ni yang saya tak paham ni. And why we are encouraging our youngsters to root for them, I also don't understand...
And then, when someone somewhere has enough guts/balls to say something, dia pulak yang kena marah. Tak sopan la, kurang ajar la, tak kena tempat la. Semuanya nak kena berlapik.
To me, it was so tak kena tempat on the part of Astro to have invited that particular dadah junkie, or any other drug offenders/addicts, to be on the show. Millions of ringgit is being spent by the government, NGOs, corporate sponsors and other bodies in the national fight against dadah. Yet, orang-orang yang hisap ganja, yang keluar masuk pusat serenti, yang keluar masuk mahkamah disebabkan dadah, these are the ones yang masih disanjung dan diusung ke sana ke sini. Nak kasi diorang peluang/ruang kedua.
Now, I'm not an incompassionate (is there such an adjective?) person. I am. If you do wrong, I'll give you a second chance to correct the wrong. But if keep repeating the offence macam ulang-tayang drama Melayu kat Astro, sori la beb, out you go, finish, bye bye.

MORE WASTAGE...

Anyone flipping through local newspapers today and yesterday would have noticed the full-page colour ad ran by "the Government and the People of the State of Selangor Darul Ehsan" thanking with "utmost sincerity" the Prime Minister for his working visit to the State on June 13.
The ad was carried by the English publications on June 13, and the Malay publications today, by what I saw. And today also, a Selangor State-owned company ran another ad thanking the Prime Minister for officially opening its herbatorium.
It looks like the State of Selangor has a lot of money. Those full-page colour ads cost anywhere from RM22,000.00 to RM41,000.00 each, depending on which paper carried it. The Star normally charges RM34,500.00, NST RM22,560.00, Berita Harian RM33,600.00 and Utusan Malaysia RM32,600. So, you do the Maths. (FYI, the most expensive rate is offered by Sin Chew Daily at RM40,800.00, although I don't think the State rented a page).
I remember not so long ago everybody (and by this I meant UMNO politicians) rallied around the move mooted by their higher-ups against this type of wastage, against unnecessary ass-kissing spending. So what happened?
I guess everyone now wants to show support to the PM, in many ways -- guided or otherwise -- following the recent developments between him and his predecessor. To me, the support could be given in so many other ways, some of which do not cost anything. Save the people's money for something more useful and constructive. I wonder how many of "the people of the State of Selangor Darul Ehsan" consented to have their money wasted that way.
While I'm on the subject, I know that a few days prior to the recent NAM meeting, DBKL spruced up a few of the city streets with flowering bunga tahi ayam and bunga balung ayam, and several other species not hardy enough for our sweltering climate. Now, three weeks later, they look so pathetic and I suppose DBKL has already directed its nurseries to replace these plants, again. More money wasted.
Kalau lah ada orang DBKL yang tersesat to this blog, I would like to suggest that you tell your higher-ups or your landscape "con"sultants to start considering hardier species, like pokok ati-ati, or any other hardy plants with those coloured or pigmented leaves. They are not only nice, but can withstand our weather better. They are also low-maintenance.
You might also tell them that whatever they had learned on their study visits to four-season countries might not work in our tropical setting.

STILL A NATIONAL AGENDA

Before anyone starts screaming murder, let me qualify that what follows is not a criticism against my own kaum. Instead, it is just an observation from an average Malaysian not quite familiar or learned about how certain agendas are supposed to work in his beloved country.
A few days ago, UMNO launched a one-stop agency set up to lend a helping hand to budding Malay entrepreneurs. It was named Gagasan Badan Ekonomi Melayu, or Gabem, for short.
The Prime Minister, who officiated the launch, was quoted by a local paper to have said: "Malays should help Malays and start a migration of the mind for a better life and to be more advanced. The struggle to strengthen the economy of the Malays is an economic mission that has to become a national mission and only after the (Malay) economy has been strengthened would the pride and honour of the Malays be more meaningful." He also said Malays must change their mindset and attitude to raise themselves to a higher level. "This can only be done when Malays adopt the approach of helping other Malays such as the rich helping the poor."
Right.
I looked up the word gagasan (which sounds like a big word to me) in a dictionary, which lists it to mean idea, plan, scheme, thought, reflection. So I did some reflecting of my own, wondering whether Gabem would really become a meaningful, implementable scheme or whether it would forever remain just an idea.
I don't know about you, but observation of past and current events tell me to place my bet on the latter. I live in a country where many ideas, policies, schemes etc have been put forward and implemented in the name of helping the less economically endowed ethnic majority. And Gabem is the latest.
The way I see it, such a gagasan would only serve a few people, and not the Malay masses and the riff raffs it is implied to assist. It would certainly make popular those young, impatient, power-hungry political leader-wannabes trying to endear and ingratiate themselves among the Malay masses. And if it does help, such a scheme would assist those few budding entrepreneurs to be more and more successful (ie make more money) only to lupa daratan and forget to be generous and share their wisdom, let alone their wealth, for the purpose of inspiring aspiring fellow entrepreneurs.
Let's face it. There has been, there is, a lot of those greedy kacang lupakan kulit types among our midst who are looking out only for themselves. Remember pre-1997/98 glory days? A handful of Malays were handpicked to run well-connected companies, in the name of helping the Malays. They made obscene amount of money. They shamelessly paraded their wealth, their lavish lifestyle, their (foreign) trophy wives. It seemed that this was all they did. The rich Malays helping the poor Malays? Na ah, no way. And their companies? Oh yeah, they ran them -- to the ground. And then they disappeared. In the end, there was no payback to no one.
As long as there are Malays with very narrow, self-serving agenda, no gagasan would ever work. So the dream of making the pride and honour of the Malays more meaningful (whatever that means) would just remain a dream.
I am a Malay. I come from very, very poor background. Our whole family -- particularly my mother -- worked hard, and honest, to get ourselves out of the poverty rut. We are not filthy rich now nor will we ever be. But the pride and honour we earned along the way mean more to us than any material wealth on earth.

NATIONAL TOILET SUMMIT? REALLY...

A couple of days ago a local newspaper published a report on the plan by the Housing & Local Government Ministry to add a whimsical touch when it revamps KL's notoriously nasty public urinals.
The report also carried pictures of some of the possible urinal designs, which include ones in the shape of musical instruments and others with an open mouth replete with painted red lips and a pink tongue. Another design features a clown's mouth. These urinals, the Ministry hopes, would help or teach Malaysians to keep their public pee and poo depositories clean.
Personally, I don't see how these so-called "quirky" urinals would help. I for one would feel so uncomfortable aiming into one of these I may just miss my target!
To me, the key to maintaining clean public toilets is in proper maintenance. So, the public funds could be better spent on user-friendly toilet features, like working built-in bidet sprays and auto flush systems. Add in a box of sanitiser, uninterrupted supply of toilet paper, liquid soap and paper towels, and you'll have a lot of happy campers in the loo.
And oh, don't forget to train the cleaners on proper toilet care. I mean, wet does not equal clean. Really.
It would also be a good idea to get rid of the archaic squat-type toilets once and for all. Do people use them anymore?
The newspaper report also mentioned that a National Toilet Summit is being planned for August at which Malaysians will be taught toilet etiquette and how to establish a clean toilet culture.
Wow. Do we really need a national summit for this? Well, on hindsight, I guess so. As embarassing as it may sound, a majority of our members of the public need to be toilet-trained. Some do not even understand the concept of flushing. What, they think once they deposited their poo, it'll just go away just like that?
But I suppose let's forgive their parents for not teaching them proper toilet manners. Now, equipped with what they'd learn at the Summit, let them redeem themselves by imparting toilet etiquette to their children.
And some day, we can all pee and poo in peace, happily ever after.

WHAT'S IN THE NAME, YOU SAY?

Call me ignorant, but I have just come across a series of electronic display products (stuff like plasma screen) manufactured locally and marketed under the brand name of MAL. It must have been around for a while. I guess the name was chosen by the brains behind it to reflect the country origin of the products, Malaysia.
In a way, I suppose I should feel proud that there are a lot of locally manufactured consumer products making their way to the export markets, brands like Elba, Khind, MEC, Pensonic etc. Some of these brands are positioning themselves as global brands (Khind's tagline is "A World Brand").
So, what is my problem, you ask. No, no problem. Not really. I have faith in these brands. I used to own a locally made cordless iron. It lasted more than four years until I dropped it too many times. Now I don't use it although it still functions. All three of my electrical fans are also local. Some of my other products carry foreign names, but are manufactured locally.
Jadi, apa dia? What is it, then? Well, I have an issue with the brand name MAL. "Mal" in French means "bad", or "not good", or "sick", or "evil" or "harm", or "wrong", or "pain". You get the picture. When a French person asks me how I am, I might say, "pas mal" (not bad), or "j'ai mal à la tête" (I have a headache).
In English, "mal" is a prefix meaning "bad" or "wrongful", as in "maltreatmeant" or "malfunction". Hardly something you'd want to associate with your brand, isn't it?
But then again, may be the brains behind MAL branded their products as such to prove a point. OK, let our products carry a brand name that means "bad", which could in itself attract customers, and when they buy and try out, they would discover that our products are in fact "good" and then they come back for more? Erm, now it is I who sound mal.
Other Malaysians butcher their products or brands using the French language in other ways. For example, the French preposition "de" has been misused and abused for as long as I could remember. You'd come across "De Bicycle Shoppe", or "De Village Resort", or its variation of "D'Village Resort", and a lot more. My all-time favourite is "Doris de Florist". I swear.
In French, "de" does not mean "the". Instead, it means "of" or "from". As in, le toit de la maison (the roof of the house), or il vient de Kuala Lumpur (he comes from Kuala Lumpur). It is also used to charaterise or measure something, as in un bébé de 10 mois (a 10-month-old baby), or 12 mois de travail (12 months' work). Also in questions or negative phrases, like, a-t-il de pommes? (does he have any apples?), or il n'a pas de pommes (he doesn't have any apples). Eh, I'm giving French lessons now, huh?
No, the point is, we should not embarass ourselves unnecessarily. Check first before we decide to come up with fancy names. The same goes for the authorities that approve the registration of these names. Jangan main OK aje.

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