National Service untold stories by Kim. Current favorite blog (I believe) within malaysian blogging community for latest NS gossips. Read from February entries!! http://dreamsome.blogspot.com/" title="http://dreamsome.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"http://dreamsome.blogspot.com...
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hmm...I have been really selfish. I should have shared with you people earlier. oh well...
I think I just got bombed in my exam. Well, I didnt put up an impressive all-night battle so I find no victim to blame. Still, look at the bright side, I might have overslept if I pulled it for too long, or who knows, I might not even recall anything afterall. So, to balance back for the bad hour I had this morning, I clicked at the Purple Sofa from theStar, reading all different dilemmas in different categories.
It is fun to see sometimes, how stupid those troubled, confused help seeker when the path is so clear. Just if their brain is installed with a superfast pro/con calculator, they could make up their mind just like that, *snap! But we are no robots without emotion hence our solutions cannot be expressed as a basis of {[1, 0]}. Anyway, I enjoyed a good one hour laughing at the trivial drama they faced in their life. In addition to that, I had another good hour of laughing, reading the comments/advice they posted. Malaysians are indeed very warm and friendly. I had come across a reader as young as 13 years old as well as some 35 years old mummy giving comments/advice. Following up, you will read my comments for those comments.
1. Hello, who are you here to help? You are acting as if you are a pro. Like what do you have? B.S (read Bullshit) in Psychology from University of Taman Melawati. Give some intro to who are you. Then the troubled person would know whose advice is more relevant/appealing. (My psycho- major friend told me once that sometimes, they just want someone to listen…)
2. I’d heard enough of that! Some advices given are nonsense that repeats whatever that another p people had said before. If each advise is treated as unknown a, b, …n, the columnist would have only manage to respond with : “Advice summary would be A = 90a + 10b + c” If there are 90 people advised a, can the 91th person planning to give advise a shut up? (Unless there are 90b and you want to make a looks more important…)
3. What’s up, mate? I see people start to look for advice when troubled. What happened after that? Unless you’d finally committed suicide, I (the busybody one) would like to know how your drama ends. I appreciate DA’s feedback regarding his tour guiding experience and it gives me idea if my friend oversea wants me to bring them walk around my hometown. (Yes, I am such an ignorant brat that doesnt even know how to drive beyond my residential area.)
4. I think I am OK now…err…did you say… In the same column, DA had replied that he was back in Japan and he thanked those ‘buddies’ that offered him help. But here bumps up a creature suggesting something to do. (not to mention those that some itineraries are mentioned) Friend, READ THE WHOLE COMMENTS before you comment. Scrolling 100+ follow ups are not fun but I think it is important to see how the drama had developed. (alright, maybe the layout of the column is confusing and should share the blame…)
5. If your answer is “YES”, then do this do that. Hello, what if my answer is “NO”? Some advices suggested are so biased. They like to give this self-test scenario that sometimes doesnt tell you what to do otherwise. To make it worst, the author seems to pressure the lost sheep to succumb to their advice. This is not a crystal ball/tarot card reading which (suppose to) give only one way scenario. (Even those tarot reader wont give a straight answer.)
6. Feel free to contact me at abc@abc.net I am not sure if it is a good idea to leave your contact. For some dilemma like love/relationship, I have a feeling that these contact poopers are taking advantage. (Hmm…maybe it’s just me.)
In short, read the whole thing and get the general plot of the event before you attempt to offer assistant. I appreciate your sincerity and the kind heart to offer help but try not to act like your advice is THE SOLUTION.
Taking a break doing from doing my mundane work. I recently added my source of entertainment, [url=www.nst.com.my]New Strait Times[/url], a local daily in Malaysia. I believe I should not be bounded to only one source of newspaper if I want to remain unbiased in my judgment of current affairs. So there came across an article I found interesting in it: “[url=http://www.nst.com.my/Current...]Tale of the Barisan and Pas suraus1[/url]” by Hisham Harun.
For those that are not familiar with Malaysia politics, PAS and Barisan(BN) are two major parties in Malaysia, with the latter becoming the government since independence and former the opposition. BN is composed of different components of many race. PAS is generally an Islamic party founded on the basis of Islam. Unable to vote, I dont I want to proclaim my faith towards any of the parties. However, the tale regarding the difference in surau is really amazing (hilarious).
With due respect to Islam and PAS, I found the act of PAS religious leader mentioned in that article illogical. Mosque or surau is a place for fellow muslim to pray besides serving as a common area for the community, something like a community hall. So, how could a fellow Muslim to be sent to hell for just praying at a BN’s mosque? What additional features are there in a PAS mosque? An additional net so that devil or demons would lose their power? I am not belittling the faith of Islam, rather I am curious to see what rationale would the imam2 have to offer. As far as I understand, it is important for Muslims to follow the ritual when performing their five prayers. Maybe it is wrong to pray in a temple or church or other place and by doing so you might be sent to hell. However, that was a mosque, not to mention it was built 60 years ago, before the formation of BN. So, how could it, after serving faithfully for 60 years, be viewed as an illegitimate building? Thousands of souls were all sent to hell, hmm…you better check if your ancestors are in the list.
Following the imam blindly, village folks were drawn further away from the Truth. Most of the time, the imam was treated as the all knowing person and folks, I dont know how far would you be led away if you follow him blindly. I dont doubt their knowledge, rather since it affects your life (and afterlife), you better double check and seek for more sources. “This Book is not to be doubted” (translation of chapter 2 of the al-Buqarah3.), not “This imam (BN or PAS alike) is not to be doubted”. Dang, that’s why it is important to go back to the source. In general, although religious leader are good in nature- they are kind towards their neighbor, offer helps for the needy…whenever they speak on “behalf of God”, one need to be cautious and that applies to all religions.
Mixing politics with religion, it gives the leader to enjoy a privilege having power and influence. Oh, by the way your God gives you, the corrupted creation of Him power, so that you would be submissive before Him3, even Sulaiman (Solomon) the wisest and most powerful of all knows to submit before to God. I have nothing against them if they want to close the casinos or make alcohol illegal once and for all. Well, getting rid of those vices might be a blessing to (your) community. However, what about we, the deniers who (according to you) are doomed to eternal burning? Religious leaders should not blame casinos or availability of alcohol if the follower of Islam were tempted into drinking or gambling. With due respect, if they survive in a community where pork is available everywhere, why cant they restrain themselves from gambling or drinking? If you are really a pious man, you will follow what your religion says. Getting rid of the vices is good, but I question their sincerity. Whether they are a humble servant carrying out the will of god or merely seeking the support of people towards their party.
What now? Go read your Holy Book whatever your faith is. Please dont simply condemn other people of their doing for you are accountable of your doing (if you belives) in your afterlife. For the deniers, go and have fun, drink till the morrow comes and shake the world upside down! By the way, I pity you if the God you worship is no other than power and richness.
Add on: 1. surau- a smaller mosque or sometimes just a room set apart; normally set in a building for praying purposes only.
2. imam: Islamic religious leader.
3. translation and interpretation taken from [url=]www.alrisala.org[/url]
Disclaimer: I write with my least knowledge on Islam. Please enlighten me if there is any wrong translation regarding the Quran. Interpretation, I believe should be viewed with open heart. Besides, I found that there is difference in opinion about Solomon from an Islamic and Christian point of view, after discussing with my friend online. The opinion on Solomon in this article is viewed (I am trying hard) in terms of Islamic view. (Read The Book and see what He has to say!!)
Today, I saw my friend crossing the street dangerously. She didnt look at the right or left but just walk. I asked her to be careful while crossing the street however my concern was not really appreciated. She said cars should yield to the pedestrian, it is safe. Sigh, cant understand why do people take the right of passage for granted, and they are in college!
I do agree that when the on the street, the car should yield to the pedestrian. Nonetheless, pedestrian should respect the car driver by WALKING WITHIN THE PEDESTRIAN LANE!!! Geesh, with constant upgrading and maintenance of the road, I dont see the white lines are wearing out. They draw a line so that you can walk within the line. Within your territory, you are immune to being hit by any car attempting to cross. You can take your sweet time crossing and the frustrated driver cant do anything but wait till all of you cross. But I advice against it as you would never know when I’ll be driving on the road.
Apart from walking off tangent, she crossed the road blindly and didnt look at the right and left and right again before crossing. Imagine a drunk driver came zooming along the way, do you think in his sanity he got sufficient time to break? I dont dare to take the chances. Although you can sue him for DUI and make a huge profit out of your insurance and court case, I dont think it is worth the effort. Yield to pedestrian, ya rite.
This is not my first time arguing about crossing the street. What I want to stress is not about following rules. It’s more like using common sense. I had a friend Y told me not to cross when the light is red. Ya, I can see that the palm-liked-object was litted and by law I should stop. But then was 0200 in the morning and within 0.5 mi my radius, there is no vehicles, not even a bicycle! I could even lie flat on the road and took a nap til 500am without fearing a car would knock me over. (After 0500 there were car using that street)
Then what is the rules for? If you dont believe in the 10th commandment, then law is made by man. For those man-made-law believers, rules were set so that a community would benefit. This is also a step to prevent future accident to happen due to ‘common senseless’ species- deer, horse and some homo sapiens. For those with common sense would cross the road whenever they want and yet not causing inconvenient for other users. Therefore rules are not entirely meant to be followed. You can choose to ignore it if it causes no harm to yourself as well as those within your community, including lost tourist and street rats.
However, if in you attempt of breaking the rules you hurt some moron creature (including yourself), you are no longer protected by the constitution. Your right to an attorney would be stripped off because in a democratic country, you, the rare creature with common sense are the minority. And as a minority, you will always be wronged. That’s why in the first scenario, I strongly against breaking the rules because there are other people using the street. In the second scenario however, there were only me and my other trusted buddies. But if someone was hurt while crossing the empty street, I will be wronged somehow.
I mentioned that do not take your sweet time loitering on the street. Not only because of the threat from influential drivers but also to return a favor done by the drivers. Crossing the street means you are intercepting the main flow of traffic. I pitied those MTD bus drivers felt powerless against the swarms of students. If he may he would have just ram ahead and I bet even those believes in yielding would yield to the mighty MTD bus. Since the pedestrian line was drawn, they cant do anything over you! I’d witnessed a situation where half of the street was blocked because student kept crossing the street. Whenever he pressed the gas pedal, another moron would start crossing. If in a junction, I think cars will take turn to cross but this is definitely a one way monopoly. They are indeed patient to let you cross so be considerate and walk faster!
How do I know how to cross a street wisely? The street right in front of my house has 6 lanes without overhead bridge or pedestrian lane. Speed limit is supposed to be 60km/hr (37.284mi/hr) but who cares. The voice of minority pedestrian was overshadowed by the majority illegal street racers, so we have to rely on our survival instinct. Since so far I am still in one piece therefore my instinct and common sense should be right. As a matter of fact my advice should be passed as a law.
So, bend the rules accordingly and dont wait till midnight to cross the street if the traffic light goes wrong.
8 more hours (when I began writing) before the 3 hostages fate could officially be determined. There are already rumors that the 3 will be released but one will never know until the time comes. So, who’s going to be released? For those world politics newbie or ignorants, let this amateurs here enlighten you with the summary: 3 Japanese volunteers in non-combat mission were abducted by the self proclaimed (googling)err, ya, a small but now infamous militant group of Saraya al-Mujaheddin and would be released if Japanese government withdraw their forces.
So, what’s so big deal about this issue you fellow moron might have asked. Well, it’s actually none of your business unless you are the immediate family of the hostages or a fellow Japanese interested in creating havoc in Japan. So, I should end my entry since I am neither one of those. Ya darn right, I wont stop until I am done with what I am about to write but for those who are not interested, please save your precious time and go finish your forever repetitious academic assignments. Oh did you say you have exam next week? Me too!!
The Japanese Prime Minister Mr Koizumi Junichiro had taken a huge political gamble in sending its 550 troops out of peaceful Japanese islands, despite strong oppositions. Now that 3 people are kidnapped and he’s in deep trouble (aka deep shit). Many countries (especially the US) urged him not to give up his stand to the militia groups. I found it weird because it is supposed to be Japanese’s problem. It’s his people that were captured. Now that you ask him to stand firm on his stand, what are you going to do? Perform a Rambo act and rescue the hostages? Or you would set up a meeting for negotiation? It is easier for you to tell him not to give in but what happened if those were your people? How did the US react towards the 4 contractor burnt and bodies hanged on the bridge in Falluja? I think they send in more troops to ‘pacify’ the people and create more civilian casualties. I dont think you really care about Iraqi’s civilian that much in the first place.
Enough of criticizing the hypocrites and now I want to draw your attention to the 3 hostages. I know they went there for humanitarian aids and it’s unfair for me to doubt the utmost sincerity. Knowing the situation, they should somehow be psychologically prepared of such things to happen. No one forced you to be there in the first place and it is very naïve to think that you got yourself well shielded if you are there to help. Anything could happen in a place so insecure. Who knows which warplane (we know who actually) will drop bomb and analysis found that opps, it was a technical miscalculation. So it is very unfair for anyone to blame the government regarding the kidnapping incident. The immediate family can ask the government to react but not to blame them. Maybe the government should be blamed for the death of the Self-Defense Force (SDF) as it is their decision to dispatch them but not the volunteers. I will show my sympathy as they are there for real help but you wont see my shadow anywhere near Samawah unless I am prepared to die.
Let's move on with the kidnappers.I have had enough of ‘Allahu Akhbar’ (god is great?) by the militia. Those illiterate people should have gone back to elementary school to learn their arabic from scratch- آ, ب, ت….(alif, ba, ta…dang I had a hard time typing it from right to left!) Read the Quran more carefully and I dont remember it says thou couldth take hostage of civilian (of humanitarian aid) and blackmail thy mission. Yes, I think I could agree to a certain extend on the jihad but please enlighten me, which part of the hostage incident is related to the jihad? They didnt kill any of your brothers/sisters but to fix your stinking pipe so that you people would have fresh water everyday to kill more people!! The name of Islam was really getting bad in your blood-stained rifle holding hands. It is supposed to promote peace and only wage war if Islam is under threat. Get your head straight with that before you simple take people hostage and yell Allahu Akhbar. Is God great only if he sends American soldiers to hell?
Why this kidnapped had been a great issue and receive much coverage? For those who had been faithfully reading till now, I would like to tune your mind with my corrupted thoughts. If not because Japan had supported the US-led coalition invasion, I dont think they’ll receive much attention especially from various US news agency. Try and see if French or Chinese humanitarian got kidnapped and they’ll receive such publicity. Those are just media publicity and could be politicalized. However, the more logical reason is because it involves heavily with Japanese constitution. According to the post war constitution, their troops should be limited to only self defense. However, 1992 revision gives them the power to send troops beyond Japan for non-combat missions. This moves worried many parties especially Mr Koizumi wanted to expand further the role of their SDF and would potentially shift the arm balance in the East Asia and Pacific region.
Why do I care? I dont really care but most countries would fear that history might repeat itself, only with more powerful weapons and taller Japanese soldiers. For the Japanese youngster that didnt read enough WWII history, they couldnt understand the fear of other people. They had a record breaking time of taking my country in 2 weeks. It might take lesser time now since they used bicycles 60 years ago. Japanese powerful economy should come together with more roles in their military duties. Therefore, I support the role of Japanese in any UN-led peace keeping mission simply because UN is (supposedly) a neutral world organization and to maintain its neutrality, they need military supports from countries all over the world and not be dominated by one single giant. Yay to UN!
So why not we all start wearing blue caps and go to Iraq? (and die together)
(Updates: The 3 Japanese were freed on 15 April)
Additional information for those who care more:
Brief background of Japanese Constitution http://www.indiana.edu/" title="http://www.indiana.edu/" target="_blank"http://www.indiana.edu/~japan/Digests/const.html
Translated version of Japanese Constitution http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Japan/E nglish/english-Constituti on.html" title="http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Japan/E nglish/english-Constituti on.html" target="_blank"http://www.solon.org/Constitu...
More on Article Nine of Japanese Constitution http://hkuhist2.hku.hk/nakasendo/article9.htm" title="http://hkuhist2.hku.hk/nakasendo/article9.htm" target="_blank"http://hkuhist2.hku.hk/nakase...
I thank you the chairperson, Mr XXX. A good day to ladies and gentlemen, underaged boys and gals, gays and lesbians.
The Malaysian night went on pretty well after some lots of unseen and unheard of effort. Especially the freshie, they were voluntarily forced into the ring of nightclub entertainment yet their performance was splendid. Bravo, kiddos! And that solo karaoke, dang S**, what are you doing here in UIUC? Youd done better of in Hong Kong or Taiwan and join the hall of fames with Fishy Leong, Ah Niu or Angelica Lee that makes fames for Malaysia. Well, if I am not salary-discriminated by my boss, I would buy your original CD not from Petaling Street. Not to forgot the dikir barat team (self-glorification) that attempted to berdikir in English. That was innovative. I enjoyed being part of the team! And the band…and oww…how could I forgot the heart-killer fashion gals! Didn’t expect them to be this hot…oww!
(applause)
OK, enough of compliments for fellow Malaysian performers. Another round of applause should be given to the pretty decoration people- candles, sprinkles, ketupat goodies…and of course the kitchen makcik/pakcik that took all the trouble to serve food and cleaned, counted, packed and send them of to where they belong...and basically the entire committee although some were not as efficient. Oh well, if they dont do it, whoelse would?
(applause)
This year, Malaysian night has a significant difference in nation composition. We have representatives from Malaysia (duh…), US, Columbia, S. Korea, Japan, China…and ya, our dearest neighbor Singapore with Malaysians rule with simple majority (less than 2/3 parliament seat). And note that there were some datuk/datin taking their medication leaves! I dont understand why they dont want to come. Not like we’re meeting each other everyday. I think it is a significant event as we can meet up with people that you wont see (and you dont want to see) for the rest of your academic year. And of course those bastards that you dont quite like would make a loud appearance but come on, we're still a big happy family. Admit it, when is the last time you dont find your mum irritating? Moreover, you got a chance to wipe away the dust on your prom dress/suits. Or when else would you wear your baju melayu or kurung or batik? People who would care less, we dont gather around and enjoy a moment of Malaysian everyday in the States! So, please come for other events. (if you are not forgotten yet)
Another record breaking item in this year’s Malaysian night was the punctuality. Thanks to non VIP people, this time we started rather on time. (or did we?) Apart from the early traffic congestion due to the rush hour (door opened at 7pm), things went on smoothly. Not that I dont respect the VIPs, rather, I think it had been a Malaysian culture that once you said it is 700, it automatically implied that it will begin at the earliest 730 with the VIPs coming VERY late. They are indeed Very Irritating People. I could tolerate more if it happens in Malaysia. I would show up at 715, not to early to starve yet not too late for being impolite for those VIPs (or am I still too early?). I also understand that most VIPs are busy and may have rushed directly from elsewhere but some are just plain irritating, especially those that were already late and yet trying to be polite by chatting with ushers at the door without even explain the significant accident that occurred on them when they give their speech. I dont mind if it ended early but from my limited formal functions experiences, it never ends early.
Talking about ending early, our function ended earlier than expected. It was indeed very efficient. Probably again the VIPs were not there. (loud applause) Only the abbreviated speech was given. Listening to some VIP’s speech sometimes pollutes my ears. I am not a natural born speaker but I think I know enough what is considered irrelevant. This time the speech was not really long but I think it got to the point. Talk about comparing cultures, unity, strive for achievement, hope for the future…nothing fancy but appropriate. I attended another function and the VIP was really horrible. To begin with, he is a lecturer and the entire session was like a 1 hour lecture. The highlight of the talk was focused on free self advertisement with free gimmicks of his academic background and academic achievements and testimonials on his teaching. Not to mention he laughed at his own jokes. For heaven’s sake, he taught ENGLIGH!!! Thank goodness I’d done with my RHET 105. (I DID NOT mention he was/is/will be a UIUC instructor. Any implied meaning should and would be disregard by panel jury should I be sued for defamation.) Another pain from Very Ignorant People.
Note that I dont hate VIPs. I dont condemn those if they think they dont fall under the mentioned criteria. We acknowledged people who had contributed to the society or to show respect to their seniority- the VIPs. However, please be considerate and that all guest are equal in terms of the use of time during the entire function. At least I feel impolite to leave before the VIPs considering the fact that they are present eventhough they are supposedly busy the next morning. However, I have my own life and I only commit so much of my time as the function requests. On the other hand, as VIPs, they should lead by example and not to act as if they are the local deities. We already allocated a time frame anticipating your coming and I think there shouldnt be any excuse good enough to be late.
Should I continue rambling? Dont complain that I am being a VIP. I didnt invite you to read this in the first place and I dont expect you to have work the next day if you are reading my nonsense. Still I'll spare your eyes the pain.
