The Shade

It has been 50 years since the idea of being independent gripped Malaysia. Along the road on the journey towards that fateful date with destiny, many people watched with hopeful trepidation and cautious optimism the fortunes of a nation almost fully developed within a British womb, with a set Cesarean delivery date.

         Amid much political developments in the background, the people felt within the very fibre of their being that days of honour and greatness were upon them and they would feel at home in a country that fed them, clothed them, taught them, housed them, and ultimately, buried them. As night fell on the ideas of colonisation and the dawn broke on self determinance, the populace had a right to feel joy and mirth.

        We fast forward a few years later. The new nation’s economy has been doing well. The former British protectorate had transformed its unity and its God given blessings into progress that made it the envy of other formal colonials. The strategic location of the country made it a favourite port of trade for the world. The high concentrations of tin, gold and oil did a fabulous job of supplying the world with its needs in exchange for foreign exchange currency. The sun-kissed, rain-blessed and tropically fertile land bore fruits of rubber and oil-palm to further push this fledgling head and shoulders above many others in a time where famine and poverty were commonplace for everywhere else.

        What happened after that? Whither the state of the nation? How endeth we here? Tired questions, with everybody tired to answer.

       The absolute bugger is that we have so much potential, but we consciously or ignorantly choose to not utilise it efficiently. In a way, instead of psychology or moral studies, thermodynamics should be taught to all members of society, because it is a study of potentials within the universe and which usage of it gives the best efficiency rating.

       Those are some society building notations that a proper engineer would suggest. Or just someone who is sick with all the corruption, misappropriation and apathy for efficiency.

What hath spawned in a paradise? A foul hydra of malice and injustice, consuming the luminescence and verdantly tilled soil with such voracity and gluttony, blocketh out the light and choketh thee, its neighbours. Neighbours that moveth nary a hand in prevention, hasting their demise from havens that hath turned treacherous and vengeful.

Apology. Sleepy.

    Firstly, its great to be blogging again, hello again dear readers!

Today you get a special edition post on not one but TWO issues, in addition to assorted ramblings.

On the first subject, the Ijok by-elections, is it not interesting to see the behaviour of politicians during the campaign, and the tactics used to garner support?

For instance, the amount of roads, halls being built and the CFO’s issued to housing development has been a boon to the citizenry in the lucky constituency. This comes after a period of -allegedly- poor performance by the previous representative, who at least had the good grace to pass away peacefully.

Maybe this active state of action solely during election time will have the constituents and populace wishing their elected representatives will one by one drop dead like flies in a breeze of Ridsect, so as to help develop the nation part by part like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Maybe we can attain developed nation status in this way.

Anyway, as for the outcome of the election, I think if either win, it should be good for the country, because if the opposition wins, then the winds of political fortune in the country will change, and if the ruling coalition wins, then it will show a voter base that can cross racial lines etched in the bedrock, and this would make a better, more united nation. So, no losers, right?

The second issue is about the proposal to scrap older cars by giving RM 5000 down-payment for a national car as an incentive for people who willingly scrap their cars aged 15 years old and above. They claim that this would reduce the amount of junk on the roads and spur economic growth in the car sector.

I’m sorry? What was that? Are these clowns actually saying that the same car they sold you 15 years ago is a rusting heap of junk? And when they sold it to you before they said it would last more than a lifetime? So are they actually claiming that they have no confidence in their product? Are they claiming that the assurance given to you a long time ago was merely a lie so that they could get into your pants and steal your wallet?

It is plain to see that these guys believe in nothing except their profit. Its the second hand dealers instigating this, as they want to offload their old cars to get hefty discounts on brand new Protons or Peroduas so they can sell it to you, unsuspecting first time buyers looking for good bargains, for RM5 less than the list price and keep the remaining RM 4995 for themselves. Bloody brainless gits, and they think we are that gullible…. Or, wait a minute…. we’re Malaysians… we are gullible by nature. Sheesh!

Morons! Or evil geniuses, both.

Take your pick.

    Bolehland, near future.

The war and trade tribe of Portugland invaded the land of Bolehland many hundred years ago. They came and took ownership of the land, due to Bolehland being a port of lucrative trade routes. They seized the land from the  settlers of Bolehland, the tribe of the Land Princes. More than a hundred years passed before the conquerors lost ownership of this land to the armies of Orangeland. The Orange people ruled the land ruthlessly, painting the town center red to mark their ownership.

    Many more years passed until one day, a treaty was signed between Orangeland and Britland to pass control of Bolehland to the kingdom of Britland. During the reign of Britland, many labourers were brought by the conquerors to ease the shortage of workers required to build great monuments of conquest. To this end they brought labourers from their colony in Curryland and people of Redland. The colonizers imparted some of their knowledge, since the workers needed to be taught how to run their delegated jobs. The colonizers realized that the different tribes needed to be separated from each other to prevent a peasant uprising.

    This they did by separating the tribes into different locations and giving them different jobs to do, so no one tribe may know fully how to run the land completely. But somehow, they managed to meet each other and plan a revolution. A revolution where their land would be free and in their control without bloodshed. The rulers of Britland, weakening their grip upon their colonies, realized the inevitability of the situation. The power of their grip, in Londinium, far from the east, was fast waning.

    So the leaders of these three tribes went on a journey to the home of colonial power, Londinium, and signed a treaty to free themselves from colonization. They came back, triumphant, as the Queen of Britland granted their wish. they held a great party for many moons to celebrate this.

    However, the leaders of the tribe of Land Princes yearned for the time that they controlled the land. "Our kingdom spanned far and wide once" they exclaimed. As such they began to see the tribes of Redland and Curryland as a stain upon the soil and air that they breathed. After the euphoria of the independence, many of these "visitors" lost some favour with the country. Their children were given limited opportunities for education and little contracts for the building of the new kingdom.

    Thus the tribes of Curryland and Redland felt less and less welcome in their homes. Their parents started to tell their children to move elsewhere, where the fields are greener. And soon, many of the brightest of these tribes moved away, bringing their closest relatives and friends. As the Land Princes saw this, they were furious, since they could not run their land without the other tribes, being still under the effect of the separation of tribes by the Britland occupation.

    As the last of the other tribes moved to a new land called Singland, a great tribal army of Land Princes gave chase to prevent them from leaving. As the army walked on the Red Sea Causeway and the Second Link of Canaan, the bridges gave way and the Red Sea of Tebrau swallowed them up and drowned them.

Think it couldn’t happen?

Think Again.

    A friend of mine once said to me, "If I lose my handphone, I’m really going to be screwed". I replied to his statement, saying to him that i keep a backup of all the numbers stored in my  SIM card in my computer, to which he posed a question, asking what would happen if my computer had crashed? Which, lets face it, tends to happen.

    I’m not going to insult your intelligence by being overly dramatic, saying that I was shocked to my senses or any of that rubbish, but somehow, I note, in as jaded as possible a way, that the platform of our social lives would be seriously affected if this were to happen.

    Keen students of Civil Engineering (or common sense) will note that a moderately tall building needs a proper foundation if it is going to last a long time. Much emphasis and monetary resources are put into ensuring a base that is unshakable in any circumstance, unless there is corruption in the process or if the contractor does this to get "rectification costs" which are above the agreed cost allocation. Now, the base of this building is concrete. The base of our life is technology.

    How do you as young adults (I’m making an assumption here) keep up with whatever happens around? It would be surprising to my ears to hear you say that you get updated by newspapers, and anyway, even if you do, newspapers are printed by the most sophisticated printing machines nowadays. Most times you communicate through e-mails (formally), Instant messaging and mobile phones. The blog you are reading is brought to you by many sophisticated machines which interface with each other in machine codes and human language through a link of electrically conducting copper wires, many glass tubes shining light periodically, or a radio frequency connection. So many "gears" have to mesh together and synchronize just so you can read some obscure text "written" by someone equally obscure, tapping on electro-mechanical buttons and moving and clicking an encoder pointing device.

    Do we actually know the intricacies of devices that slave away tirelessly for us to sustain the way of life that we have enjoyed thus far? So many people drive cars, clogging roads and highways, yet, certainly 90 percent of them will have no inkling of what goes on under the bonnet.

    I’ve met people that only know that one pedal makes the car move and the other makes it stop. Can I ask your permission now to change your perspective?

A car is a mobile industrial size machine with thousands of moving parts and electronics, which weighs typically 1 to 2 tons, powered by thousands of explosions per minute, and moves with the grace and maneuverability afforded to it by rubber (or silicate compounds) with contact patches the size of half an A4 paper. Understand now why it can be so deadly? And the heathen will curse the names of the designers if something goes wrong, if the tires are flat, if the air-conditioner packs up, if the power steering suddenly fails to function or even if they find themselves involved in an accident.

    We are bound by the umbilical cord of technology. You have no escape from this phenomenon. Even if you had the choice to bring yourself away from this, lets not fool ourselves here, you’d still choose to be bound to technology. It is inescapable.

Welcome to reality……

…Virtual Reality

Life revolves around food. Snow White choked on an apple (of
which it is said that one a day will keep the doc away). Alice ran into a tea
party in Wonderland. Little Red Riding Hood gave the Big Bad Wolf a massive
stomach upset. The same wolf also harassed the 3 little piggies. Cinderella was
given curfew conditions before she was able to join in the Kongsi Raya buffet
dinner “ball” where the ugly Malaysians jostled and pushed their way, trampling
her until all that was left was a glass slipper. Even Jesus’ first miracle was
at a wedding banquet, and at the end, the Last Supper. Need any more examples?

Whenever
there is a celebration, our community tends to think that the event would be a
success only if the food was good. Whenever we gather, even, the venue chosen
would be a stall or an F&B outlet. When was the last time you told your
friends that you’d meet in a park or lounge for a social meet-up? And even if
you had, I’m sure at least a drink was in the cards after that.

It is, to
me, really strange that people don’t realise where their food comes from. Some
people find it hard to reconcile with the fact that something that we ate was
once a living organism. We find many people griping with what way a meat should
be cooked, but give them a knife to slaughter the animal and they’ll suffer
emotional trauma like you’ve never seen before. I mean, the meat wasn’t
produced out of chemicals by the supermarket, right?

Now, I am
not a person who cooks well. In fact I’d be really surprised if you chose to
sample my culinary tryouts, which seem closer to a chemistry lab experiment to
produce pure carbon dust. But at least I have a principal to ensure that
whatever dish I cook, I make the best effort in it as a mark of respect to the
organism that gave its life so I may continue to live.

I’m sure
you’ve heard it all before, when our guardians tell us to eat everything on the
plate because in Ethiopia there are people dying without food. It is true. I
know. But I think that we should stop the culture of being comparative, because
there can be comparisons with the most affluent and also the most needy and
desperate. There should be other ways of motivation. My way is there should be
respect for everything, that way we’ll only consume whatever we need since we
know where everything comes from and the cost of how it ended up on our plate.
Think about it the next time you separate your cockles from your plate of Char
Koay Teow.

If this
bothers or traumatizes you, then you are welcome to be a vegan. That way, those
who can appreciate the cost of it can enjoy meat. Me? I’ll still continue
consuming meat because I’d be willing to kill the animal myself. Maybe that
makes me a murderous sociopath, but I’d really want to give it a shot. You
should be willing to acknowledge that the meat was a living animal once upon a
time if you are to continue the step and make a meal out of it. Don’t live in a
life of ignorance of the truth. Don’t kid yourself at your local supermarket,
what with the meats being packed in a sanitized way, being a product rather
than an organism.

Coming back
to food, remember the Roman Empire, which fell after a period of decadence,
where banquets would take place from sunset to sunrise, with the guests
vomiting food out after every course to sample waves upon waves of dishes.
Looks like our passion for the gluttony of food may bring us that way someday.
The Roman Empire fell. You have been warned.

P.S.: Just so you know, in future for my wedding, only instant
noodles will be served. This is to ensure that only genuine friends and family
attend. Somehow, may not catch on en masse. You have been warned again!

Individuality. Something anybody with a working brain would aspire to show with panache.

    Sadly, something seemingly hard to achieve by the crowd and herd mentality that we see in people passing the world by in a haze. Isn’t it bothersome sometimes to sit and think that there are billions of individuals out there doing their best to fit in a mold  prescribed by  something as anonymous as "society"? Does it not strike one as simply bizzare that we go about our daily business without questioning anything?

    Take our lives for example. We are born and taught the ways of the world. We are educated in a formal setting so that we may learn the successes and mistakes of others so that we may use these lessons to enhance our lives. Fair enough. Now, in which part of human early history was it a necessary step to then "naturally" transition into working life? I’m not saying that this is not necessary in light of society today, since i know the reason for this, which is fairly obvious, MONEY.

    So, societal progress can be attributed to the invention of currency. Many thousands of years ago, when man (and i mean it as representative for both genders) lived in caves, he had to go forage for his food. In this situation, he could go and hunt or gather or cultivate the land to alleviate his hunger. The whole world’s resources were at his disposal. He did not have to pay the deer that he was about to kill for its meat, nor the tree or vine for its fruit.

    Currency then came in and made things much more complicated. Instantly things that were free for everybody became the private property of its owner. I say this not to rubbish the system of currency because currency brought much law and order into an expanding world which would have seen chaos because of the population expansion. One fact remains though, currency was the first instance when something that wasn’t real was sprung forth unto the world. Remember the Matrix, where human life on earth was a proxy and that it all was a lie. Whether we like it or not, we are living in a proxy world that was developed rapidly because of money, and then engulfed and drugged by the unquenchable lust for it.

Money is the root of all evil, indeed. How do we move away from all this? I wouldn’t know. I’m a questioner who doesn’t know what the answers may bring and what effect it may have.

But i digress!

What about individuality? In a society that people seem to follow standards, as i said, it is rare. I don’t feel that this is the fault of the crowd though. God alone knows that we have so much to think about in the bustle of daily life that we dont stop and ask ourselves anything. Somehow, though, we have our peculiarities and character that must surely seep through the facade of sameness that we present to the world. Shaping that character into one that is unique is the hard part, but in that case there should always be a standard to aspire to. Someone whose qualities inspire one to achieve great heights.

Let me share my role model, Ayrton Senna da Silva. He was a Formula 1 world champion 3 times. He died, when his steering rod snapped during cornering, as a consequence losing all control, at Imola, San Marino on May 1st 1994, just the way he would have wanted to go, Leading the race in a terribly uncompetitive car, I’m sure.

There is one quote of his that will always endure in my mind :

"On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit. And
you then go for this limit and you touch this limit, and you think,
‘Okay, this is the limit’. And so you touch this limit, something
happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind
power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well,
you can fly very high."

And another

"If you have a target in your life, a real target, doesn´t matter if
you are very poor or rich people, if you work hard and believe in God,
you can get the success, success in the life."

    He was a great competitor on track, a person regarded as the best driver in history. And an even better human being away from it all. After he died, it was discovered that he had transferred a great portion of his money to children’s charities, a secret which he told no one and brought to his grave.

I remember, as a child, sorely and desperately wanting to follow in his footsteps. It took me a year to accept that he died. I’m sure you may not understand why I choose to emulate him. If you see me and ask, I’ll tell you why, in full. I’ll leave a link for you to read more.

Rest in God’s peace.

In loving memory of Ayrton Senna (21/03/1960-01/05/1994)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayrton_Senna

I’ll never accept a disagreement on the statement that humans are relative in most of everything.

OK. I’ll give all of you a little explanation. In sure all of you have an understanding of the differences between absolutes and relatives. An example, absolutes describe polar opposites on a spectrum, such as pure black and white, while relativity manifests itself as grey areas which are neither purely black nor white.

In the past, say thousands of years ago, when man had not learnt to write yet and before the parents of the inventor of the wheel invented him, there was a guy called Adam. He lived in a fantasy world where there were rivers of milk, honey, milo and coca-cola. It would suffice to say that he had a life of no wants, as everything was there at his feet if he so chose to pick it up. So, just like a kid in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory or a bumiputra class-F contractor in Malaysia, which amounts to the same thing.

He sat at the right hand of God, watching all that his master has created, lording over it all, just like anyone would, holding the astro remote in a world permanently stuck on channel 51. Not that this is a bad thing at all. This is a picture of serenity and bliss between a maker and his favourite creation. The maker who made his finest creation, a shadow of himself.

Adam, being a thinking man, looked after all the flora and fauna in the secret garden for a long while. The multi-textured splendour of the Animal Planet kept him amazed for quite a bit. After a while though, he got bored of only hearing his own voice and needed a companion. In other words, he wanted a bit of Hallmark Channel 10 to his channel 51. Being the generous Astro man that the maker was, he put our friend into a deep sleep (in medical circles known as a General Anesthesia), then proceeded to remove a bone from the rib of Adam and create his companion, Eve. (Adam was out cold for a while, this was so that he was on standby mode, allowing the decoder to allign to Measat 3). A few days later, Adam woke up to be presented an equal companion to himself, by the maker.

Now, it is speculated that many years passed by since that day to the day that the plot thickened. Till this day there are arguments about who of the pair dicovered the forbidden fruit in the middle of the garden. The fruit that sprung from the tree that had been cordoned off by the maker. The dreaded GRAYpfruit. Both, being capable of thought wondered why should something be denied them in the garden where anything could be theirs as they so wished. In the land of milk, honey, teh-tarik and bumiputra subsidies, their every needs were granted by their doting maker. Suffice to say, they took the GRAYpfruit and ate it.

That was the turning point. The paradise was lost. The two were banished. Their absolution was lost. Left to fend for themselves in a world that wasn’t perfect, but a middle ground between the paradise they had, and bleak nothingness and desolation of an abyss, they even took on the values of overwhelming greyness. In the good deeds, there were traces of bad intentions, but in the bad deeds, there was still lingering good within. A no man’s land of men. Thats where we are now.

I’ll end with this question. Can you imagine the infinity of space? I’m sure it can’t be done. Even in our mind view, infinity has its limits. Im sure you agree. We are relative beings whether we like it or not. Its sad, but at least there is a standard to aim for.

Interesting conundrum. When asked to think outside the box, all we ever do is build a bigger box.

Think about it.

Bloggers recently have come under fire for allegedly putting
up false information and “misleading the public”. The government claims that
bloggers are an irresponsible lot and don’t publish news items responsibly.

 As most of
you know, I’m new to this Internet revolution of blogging and at first I never
saw the point of it. What was the point of putting up my thoughts in a virtual
record? Weren’t bloggers initially bored teenagers sharing their emotional joys
and sufferings on the Internet for the whole anonymous world to see? Would
anybody bother to offer a penny for my thoughts, when whatever I say might
invoke strong reactions at the point they read it, and then they simply
mentally (and virtually) move on to watching the latest episode of American
Idol on Youtube?

 Well,
anyway, against my initial opposition to the idea, I started blogging. When I
did, I realized that disenchanted, but funnily apathetic, readers would
appreciate the gravity of my ramblings if they were supported by cold science
and facts from respected sources. Thus, apart from my own thoughts, as you may
find out for yourselves though I may not carry citations that the contents of
my blog are representative within the media. This goes against what the
government claims, that bloggers are irresponsible, with no reference towards
the real media. Even the man on the street knows that you should always speak
the truth, and that applies to everybody. Within or without the blogsphere.

 There are
further claims that bloggers hide their identity under the veil of anonymity.
As you know, I don’t, and neither do most of the respected bloggers of our
country, such as Jeff Ooi, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and others of their esteemed
cause.

 In the case
of truth, I fully believe that every person has a right to speak up, without
prejudice of a person’s religion, colour, financial and social position,
education and ability levels. I fully believe that no matter how apparently
shallow or naive a person may be he has a right to speak and be heard.
That’s right. Everyone who speaks has a right to be heard, even if one may
disagree with the whole diatribe. The ability to speak one’s mind and listen
objectively to the perspective of another makes one wise in my book.

 So to all
the people who are disenchanted with the whole process of thinking about truths
and untruths, I know your beef. Survival is foremost in your mind. There are so
many things to think about within yourself and those near to you. Sincerely, it
is the same for anybody. One day in the future there will come the quiet time
that one reflects oneself. It is inevitable, as I’m sure you know. It will be
the greatest tragedy when you examine yourself, and on the side of truth, you
find yourself terribly inadequate. That would be a life of misery, where one is
disappointed with oneself.

 Seek truth
wherever you can find it. Don’t expect it to come to you by itself. I advise
having an unquenchable thirst for it, and when you find the meaning of truth,
share it. If not for truth, life would simply be a lie. Remember The Matrix?

 “Truth?
What is it?” Immortal words by Pontius Pilate. For me, the most powerful
question of my consciousness? One day we will find out.

Question is: will it be too late?

Its been a week since the great flood happened. My whole housing development was turned into a temporary swamp. The water level was at 2 feet ( 0.6 m ) within my house itself, which is slightly elevated compared to the road in front of it. As you would expect, if you were to put yourself into the situation, it was pretty depressing for everybody here. You could see people walking in the flood with expressions of disbelief, then hopelessness as their way of life was wrested from their hands into the merciless palms of the elements.

But there was hope!

    Neighbours helping one another, lifting furniture, transporting little ones and old ones in their 4×4s,and staying back in the darkness and bleakness of the flood, without electricity or water from the tap, with all manner of insects crawling up from the depths, to the refuge of the high and dry - just so that they can be the eyes and ears of their neighbours who have joined the exodus in search of shelter, giving them flood reports from time to time. We thought we had lost our humanity and our sense of fellowship with fellow human beings, but events such as these reminds us that there is good in this world.

    This Christmas was also special. By Saturday the waters of the flood had receded and thus began a time for cleaning. Relatives came from KL to help, but also, in a touching gesture, one of my best friends cycled all the way from Bukit Beruang to help us wash the place up. Thats a journey of at least 8 kilometers. All of them took up the challenge, working tirelessly and efficiently. By Christmas evening, and also with help from my girlfriend, the house was habitable again.

    Christmas this year was also celebrated on the quiet, there was no television on with Astro, no Christmas tree, simply no frills or trimmings evident anywhere. It was like Christmas unplugged. The simplicity was very heartwarming and fresh at the same time, quite a surprise for someone jaded with the ways of the world lately.

    Lessons learned? That we never know how many things we have till it floods and your back breaks moving every one of them to higher ground. How sometimes when times are bad, and you think you are alone, help comes unheralded, ready and willing. And that through these individuals, I know the reason why God sent His son to save the wretched world.

    Because of them, its worth saving.

Have a Merry Christmas and a great year ahead.

Hi folks! This is written as my apology to you for 2 reasons.

1) The blog "The Kris Kompendium" has no visible paragraphs. It seems that the post was too large, and the blog provider deleted the spaces I put in between them. I apologise for this.

2) All posts feature rather serious articles with no pictures or other eye-catching devices to give relief to the eyes. I apologise since for most of my posts so far, there has been no photos that have a free license on its usage, so I cant use them without permission. I take great effort in making my articles as tongue-in-cheek as possible, but my very nature of writing does not always allow me to ponder upon the puns possible every single time. I write upon a whim and a fancy. I fear that if i wait, the desire to write lessens.

However, I will do my best to improve my writing skills for the coming posts. I hope you’ll bear with me in the meantime.

I assure you that all that I write about are my own works and are based on my thoughts at the moment. I give permission to all who wish to quote me (As though any of you might want to..). As all are opinion pieces, please keep a salt-shaker ready.

Thank you. Enjoy your read!