One on One with Dr Farish Noor by Malaysiakini.tv

Not only a brilliant and sensible person, but also an eye candy. I became a fan of his writings and talks ever since I attended one of his talks on historical significance and evolution of batik in an art gallery in KL.

Here’s some videos on his straight forward and sensible views on how Malaysia has become more backward than before Independence was achieved. For those who are not interested in history, but is a fan of correct and proper English communication methods, this is one for you as well. He doesn’t speak Manglish, THANK GOD!

PART 1 :

PART 2 :

A Doggone Problem

A couple of weeks back, the news of the abandoned dogs in Pulau Ketam caused quite a stir when pictures of strays were left to fend for themselves in an uninhabited island surfaced in all the major newspapers.

The news that came about then turned ugly as animal lovers started complaining about the mistreatment of the poor mutts. The news became so bad that it attracted international media and in time, the foreigners started to say that Malaysia should be boycotted for their inhuman treatments of the dogs. And foreigners, being dog lovers, I wouldn’t blame them for that statement.

When that news came about, I held back my thoughts because everyone seemed to have a say in the matter. Some were good, some were bad, some had mixed feelings about the matter…etc… whatever.

Just a few minutes ago, I watched this documentary on Galeri Perdana Mandarin on TV2, where they went to find out what caused the whole problem of having the international community hate Pulau Ketam, a popular tourist destination & their residents due to the problem of the marooned dogs.

The crew interviewed whoever they could get; the village head/ representative, teachers, store owners, the common folk…etc… to get a view of the situation.

The general understanding of the entire documentary was this :

The previous village head knew about the problems of the stray dogs but did not do anything about it. From there, the dogs multiplied as they naturally would.  When that happened, they strays started to do a number of things; going through garbage to get to food, biting on shoes and slippers of the inhabitants, chasing kids in the wee hours when they were walking to school, and the ultimate problem? Some of the school children got bitten, pictures of their wounds were taken and that’s when the whole thing came undone.

“Our children would usually walk to school in the dark, there are no street lights in most areas and that’s when the dogs come out and give chase,” a store owner said heatedly. “It’s usually so early in the morning that it happens, how do you expect the parents to wake so early to walk with them to fend off the strays? Now I see children holding wooden sticks given to them by their parents when walking for fear of an attack by the dogs.”

Thing is, the parents said they equipped their kids with wooden sticks or clubs. But they never gave specifics as to when they were given their weapons – before or after the biting incident. But I shall leave that aside as food for thought. The whole arguement seemed questionable, but that’s just me.

The villagers wrote to the police and  Majlis Pulau Ketam (MPK), or the Pulau Ketam Cityhall for help and MPK came with the solution to put the dogs to sleep. The authorities were at one time rounding up about 150 dogs in 2 days! There are about 7ooo local inhabitants on that island, and there’s an estimate of about over a thousand of those strays. According to the locals, when they found out about this method to put the dogs to sleep, they thought it too cruel on the dogs as to just end their lives so suddenly. With that, they worked with MPK and decided to round up whatever dogs they could and dump them all on a deserted island. The authorities were “smart” enough to think that since the small island has game (small rats, squirrels, crabs…etc) then the dogs would be able to find food.

“What we did not realize was that the dogs are not adapt at hunting, so they could not figure out how to look for food in that sense,” one of them said. Like, DUH~! “When the dogs were unable to find food for themselves, they turned on each other.” They must have been thinking of wolves instead of dogs. Sigh…

The set flashed pictures of dogs that were killed by other dogs for meat. Needless to say, I felt like strangling one of the residents there who had thought of this insane nonsense of marooning the dogs with the hope they fend for themselves in that pitiful state. The only thought in their heads was this : as long as the dogs are out of sight and out of their lives, they were alright with whatever solutions, as the locals said. But their shortsightedness became their undoing. Geez, who would have thought it.

I mean, come on! You as a small village dweller who has got all the simple comforts of the modern world, if you were caught and marooned off in an environment where you don’t know how to survive and fend for yourself – would you actually like it? Dogs are not humans and you can’t expect them to simply adapt immediately. This is why the mentality of the people in Malaysia are doomed to stay as such, because they cannot even begin to fanthom how animals are like – that they are living breathing creatures and deserves the kind of respect and treatment all living creatures (like ourselves) should have. Just because you’re human does not make you any more superior than other living beings. Argh!!!

Dad was doubly as angry when he knew of it too. If putting the dogs to sleep, a painless way to end their existence were too cruel as according to the Pulau Ketam residents; then what is the extent of cruelty they have wrought upon the poor dogs that killed their own kind by fighting and tearing into themselves for food, and then leaving the corpses to stink and rot in the sun suppose to be?

Now the residents are pleading with the animal rights societies and associations and what-nots to help them deal with this situation because they are suffering. With the media putting their little island to attention and therefore garnering international disapproval, the local city council has forbidden them to do anymore to the dogs for fear of more reproach and backlash.

“What are we to do?” said one villager passionately. After they had complained about MPK giving them a small and insufficient amount to deal with the problem, RM 1k only, they said they started collecting funds from volunteers to purchase equipments to catch the strays. They’ve rejected the authorities’ method to put the strays to sleep, they have marooned dogs which turned into an ugly international media fiasco, and the authorities now too afraid to attract anymore unwanted (read : unprofitable) attention to their peaceful little island had ordered the locals to not do anything to the dogs.

“What are we to do?” he said. Indeed.

I wonder who brought this on themselves in the first place.

It is a lesson to be learned for sure, but will they learn it? And given the kind of situation they are in right now, it is better for it to be handled quickly and efficiently before it gets Pulau Ketam into even more trouble. Not just to be branded as humans that are cruel to animals, but with an ongoing problem like this, their economy is likely to suffer in time should their island be written off by the community as unfit to visit from all these negative news.

I am concerned as well because we need touristic spots like these to attract people. If nothing is to be done, then this is one more spot to be crossed out on the agents’ list – no matter how cheap your seafood may be.

Melaka : Sleeping with Afonso (Part 2)

We had 3 hours to refresh, relax and rejuvenate. I had wanted to sleep, I really did, but once Loh (German-speaking guide) and Shikin (the organiser) started talking about some issues, I was pulled into the whole conversation and in the end, I was kept wide awake giving comments even though my entire body was screaming for sleep. Oh well… The pineapple tarts made up for it

Dinner at 7pm was brief and after a few small chats, I went back up to the room to lock my wide angle lens into the safety deposit box. I didn’t think it would be wise to carry it since it’s heavy and it’s going to be a long walk. Plus, the 50mm is good & light enough for me for night shots since I need it’s wide aperture for light. Besides, I have my trusty F11 with me, so it’s good enough for wide shots. With that settled, I went back down for the briefing.

Mr Shaukani Abbas, a delightful fellow who was to be our local guide for the evening, gave us our briefing on what we will be expecting and how we are to conduct ourselves for the entire cruise and the night’s river walk. After a few more witty jokes thrown in here and there, the gang was ready and everyone boarded the coach for the jetty at Taman Rempah.

2.0 Our Melaka River Cruise at 8.30pm

Once we reached Taman Rempah, the outside area of the jetty itself was a sad set up with only a handful of stalls manned by half-asleep men or gossiping young girls sitting outside of their stalls. No one really paid attention to them and we walked straight on to the ticket booth. There, Shaukani gave us further explanation on the ticket fares and how the system works before we were ushered to our boat for the river cruise.

The cruise itself was rather enjoyable and he taught us how to recognize the speed of the boat as to what speed is better for tours and what is considered the captain’s hasty maneuvering to cover time (basically the good and the bad). Along the way, on an enjoyable cruise speed, he explained the different sights found on our lefts and rights. For the better part of the night, only Kampung Morten captured my interest, mainly because that’s the only sight that can be seen visibly since it’s nicely lighted up. Everything else was basically swallowed up by the night. Mental note to self, river cruise either in the morning or evening – if you want to see everything. Night has its charms too – a good example, you won’t be able to see the color of the river. I don’t know about the others, but I was terrified of being splashed by its water even in small amounts. I can’t even eat seafood if its produce come from polluted waters. (Severe skin rash is my number one enemy.) He mentioned that an estimated RM 320 million would be used as part of the project to beautify the river. Wow… just…WOW…

2.1 One of the residences located along Kg Morten beautifully lighted up

Many remarked about the effectiveness of the boats, and some were even in agreement that the boats should be used as part of a solution to ease the traffic congestion in the city. The river stretches itself to some good touristic spots and there should be stops that can be made to lessen the stress of driving around these very areas. Shaukani nodded and even agreed to it, but the problem, according to him, is that there aren’t enough boats to go around the river for such effectiveness plus, there isn’t enough space for the boats to dock when not in use should such a plan be implemented. He said city hall thought this out and decided to just make it a river cruise instead of turning it into a sort of public transportation. It would have been good if such a plan can work, that would really add more old charm to the Old Melaka City. Shaukani mentioned the city hall’s plans to built an “aerorail” around the city (like the Monorail in KL, only the wheels of the carriages will be located on the top instead of the bottom). Most of the guides scoffed at the idea for it will make it look over-developed when Melaka had only recently gained its UNESCO World Heritage City award/title.

I mean, come on. The whole idea of it being a UNESCO World Heritage City is for it to maintain its heritage look. I was utterly surprised further down the river as to what has happened to Melaka’s river banks. Read on.

2.2 Taken with Nikon D300, 50mm f/1.8 at ISO 1250 : the high ISO is not a problem and the camera handles the noise & light wonderfully.

A few of the other guides remarked on the disappearance of the monitor lizards and other life forms such as the mud skippers. This is because the river’s now being controlled by a water gate and the flow is restricted, hence the lack of wildlife. “But efforts are being made as you can see,” Shaukani pointed to one side of the river, “The mangroves were planted here to encourage fishes and mud skippers to breed.” Watergate + mangrove trees… hmmm…

We disembarked at Padang Niru jetty, a small jetty located just opposide the road from the Church of St Francis Xavier (built by the French, although Melaka was colonized by only the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British). From there, we began our River Walk into the night. It was such a shame that at that moment, an Indian wedding was taking place just on the road opposite the church (where we were) for its huge stage-tent occupied most of the space and obscured the main signage on the side of a building that read :

“WELCOME TO MELAKA

World Heritage City

Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Melaka (Malaysia)

being inscribed on 7 July 2008 Quebec, Canada by UNESCO”

We didn’t stay long in that spot as we couldn’t really hear Shaukani from all the noise and music. He was telling us the alternative route that can be used in order to break the monotony of the old route – which has not only become boring but also a traffic nightmare. So the walking part of this tour was a refreshing change.

2.3 A Romantic walk by the riverside

All along the river, Shaukani explained the history of the buildings (although we’re looking at the back portion of it – but no matter) and we could imagine the old tongkangs coming in by the river to load and unload goods from the back of these lots. The funny part was how the people of the olden days would use the river as a ‘movable’ toilet – which in turn attracted alot of monitor lizards. We learned to appreciate Dutch bricks that were used for most of the buildings too (although secretly, I much prefer the rugged looks of the Portuguese laterites). Almost each and every building in the old town has a history and story behind it, to tell them all would be tedious and he recommended that we get our sources independently for our own references. Not a problem.

Earlier in the day, during Desmond’s class, he mentioned that although the river walk project has been completed, there isn’t anyone to really use it. The walk took us a while as there were many explanations to be made and honestly, the smell of the river is really a deterrent for any romantic couple who would want to spend their time there, which is why, I would guess, the place is so empty even on a beautiful Saturday night. One can’t imagine how much more of a deterrent it would be in broad day light. In regards to the earlier question posed by Desmond, your guess is as good as mine.

2.4 Romancing under the trees. Taken with the FinePix F11, f/2.8, 1/20 sec, ISO 800.

Towards the end of this walkway, we came back up to the Dutch Square (this place is like the centre of the Melaka universe, I swear). Immediately, Shaukani advised us not to walk under the trees. being a guide myself, you always heed the warnings of another guide in matters such as these. Someone asked why. He laughed and said that unless if we want “presents” to drop on our heads from the birds, we should avoid walking under it. Good advice!

This is also where the mystery of the noisy birds up in the trees at the Dutch Square was solved.

“Recordings,” he said and smiled. He was always smiling. “To scare away the other birds, and to make life easier for the cleaners and also the tourists.” That statement was followed by a lot of nodding heads. Ah ah ah… From there, we took a breather and some of the participants asked some detailed questions. After the short break, we walked opposite to the newly erected Dutch bastion.

Instead of retelling the whole tale, you might as well read about it on the Badan Warisan Malaysia website detailing the discovery of what could be the ancient Santiago Bastion, one of the four gateways of the old Portuguese fort thought to have been demolished in the early 1800s by the British. The only one of these gateways that was saved was the Porta de Santiago, the famous icon for Melaka Heritage City.

2.5 A former bastion remains unearthed

And here’s where we could feel our hearts flaming from the inside.

Instead of funding for the excavation, since it’s a very significant archaeological find for Melaka… (hell, for Malaysia even!) what did City Hall do? They built a I-think-it-looks-like-this kind of a Dutch bastion on top of the findings. Oh, they didn’t build it just like that, they had Dutch architects study the site and then study the forts found around Holland and then it was built as according to the fort designs found in Holland. The laterites were brought in from Thailand because Malaysia does not have any such materials here. One can’t even imagine the costs.

We were told that the excavation that we saw at the back of the new fort (facing the main street) costs RM 1mil to fund for just a tiny portion. Picture 2.5 shows the location to the front, facing the river. There is no doubt that historians, archaeologists, students, tourists…etc would find the original excavation site much more interesting than compared to this huge block of nothing built on top of it.

From this incident, we came to know that because the museum officers were so against the idea of the excavation being ‘blocked’, that when City Hall decided to build over it, they collectively resigned in protest to the government’s decision. Sigh…

2.6 Kincir Air Kesultanan Melayu Melaka

The next stop was even more bewildering. All these while, I have never noticed this huge thing that came out of nowhere. Fin, one of the guides, was fuming over the water wheel structure. No where in our history did it mention such a thing in the daily lives of the old Melaka era. The irony of the whole structure is that it doesn’t work, when it was originally built to turn with the river flow. What river flow?!? All of us looked out to the river with dumbfounded expressions, except Fin. So when the government decided that since there’s no natural river flow to turn the wheel, they decided then to build a machine to turn it from within. The anti-climax of the outcome? The machine either broke down, or it just does not work. Whatever the case is, this structure has become what we would call a”white elephant”. A big waste of effort and money. Much ‘off the record’ discussions were made about it, but I am not at liberty to reveal anything here.

By the time we were done with this part of the walking tour, our last quarter of a kilometer remained our final destination – the Maritime Museum, or popularly known to the guides and history buffs as the infamous “Flor de la Mar” (Flower of the Sea).

2.7 Flor de la Mar - the flagship of Albuquerque in 1511

After a failed and disastrous first impression with the locals, Diego Lopes de Sequeira and the first few Portuguese ships that came into the shores of Melaka in 1509 were attacked, due to Gujerati merchants’ influence with the Sultan. Two years later, Albuquerque arrived with the entire army and navy of the Portuguese India, demanding the release of the prisoners from the attack. To cut a long story short, the Sultan refused, the Portuguese attacked, and finally Melaka fell into the hands of the Portuguese for the next 100 years.

The interesting part of this story in regards to this ship is this : when the siege was over, Albuquerque had intended to go back to India a rich man with the treasures from Malacca. Here’s an excerpt from “Old Malacca” by Sarnia Hayes Hoyt :

“While the Europeans came to South East Asia primarily to gain a stake in the lucrative spice trade, Albuquerque also had more immediate gains to secure. Against the advice of his pilots he set sail in December 1511 for India with gold, silver, precious stones, bronzes, and porcelain treasure looted from Malacca. Much of it included the wooden howdah the Sultan had mounted on his riding elephant, was laden on his flagship, the Flor de la Mar. At the northern end of the Straits, just off the Sumatran coast, a storm blew up and the Flor de la Mar struck a reef, broke up, and sank. Today the ship lies in 37 metres of water, buried under about 15 metres of mud as hard as concrete.”*

I have no doubt that That thought was in everyone’s minds as we approached it.

Up on the ‘deck’ or platform, we were greeted by the PERZIM representatives, Mr Abu Hassan, Manager of Naza Hotel – whose hotel will be providing us with the mattresses & pillows to sleep with that night and Mr Desmond. Following Shaukani, we decended into the ship and he began our tour of the museum. There isn’t much I can say at this point but just this, when you have the time, do visit this museum It’s got loads of information about the maritime history of Malaysia. I especially liked the model ships and galleons on display.

2.8 One of the museum's exhibits.

Back outside on the platform, we were treated to some light snacks whihc consisted of a piece of cake, a kuih (I think…) and a piece of fried chicken… Uhm… come to think of it, the snacks don’t sound too light anymore. Anyway, this was when the Q&A session started.

Right, so what can i say about this session? Nothing much. Basically the same old things are being asked and debated all over again. It’s like a never ending topic about the government’s lack of sensitivity to the voices of the conservationists, how few public toilets are there for the public (Razak actually counted only 4 in the whole CORE area!), traffic woes in all the major areas, and then a heated discussion about UNESCO guidelines and how everything is over-developed (this is true, Melaka does not feel like a Heritage City to me anymore, not like it did a few years back…)… and yadda-yadda-yadda.

Never ending…

2.9 Prisoners in the hull of the ship..

After a while later, as the group started breaking up, I went back into the ship to explore and take more pictures of the exhibits. The men were to take the upper deck and the ladies at the lower deck. I went to every inch and corner of the museum/ship and actually enjoyed the creaking and groaning of the wooden floor boards beneath my feet. No shoes were allowed inside the ship, so we were all walking around bare footed. It was really nice since it’s really clean and cool.

When I found out that my bed was to be directly under the imposing statue of Afonso de Albuquerque, with 3 cannons by his side, I was surprised. Everyone else picked amazing spots for themselves and I have to sleep under his nose? And wake up the next morning only to have him staring down at me?

No thanks!

I dragged my mattress away next to an exhibit with 3 treasure chests, and a pirate statue standing guard over it. Danielle, who helped me with the mattress, giggled before going back to her spot. Sigh…

There are only two toilets/bathrooms for both male and female, that was it. Everyone took turns to freshen up. Outside, at the so called upgraded quay-area by the river, some idiot was singing off-tune on an open air karaoke and puncturing the night with the most ungodly noises ever to be heard. Even the rest of the members who were still up on the platform discussing never-ending issues, shouted back at them to shut up. Thank God the inside of the ship muffled about 80% of the screeching that was going on with the singer. The singing did not stop until past midnight.

Secretly, I told myself that I would explore the place and read up on whatever interesting things that were there. The truth? I was so damn tired, that a little after 1am, I found the mattress to be most agreeable, pulled the blanket over me and slept like a log.

My last thoughts was that I would not want to sleep under Afonso. Although Albuquerque was regarded as a colorful character and a hero back in Portugal, there was one Italian by the name of Giovanni da Empoli – he served as the Portuguese king’s commercial representative in Sumatra & had followed Albuquerque from India, mentioned something rather contrasting about this captain. Empoli had wrote that Albuquerque “is one of those men desirous of earning fame by cruelty”.**

_________________________________________________________________________________

* & ** pg. 34, 32 : ‘Old Malacca’; Hoyt, Sarnia Hayes. Oxford University Press 1992

Note : Will continue with the next day later…

Melaka : The Cheng Ho reminder (Part 1)

This trip almost did not happen due to some internal problems. So it’s with great relief that Shikin, the organiser of the event did not call it off due to her dedication to the people who wanted to go for the trip.

Where you may ask?
Melaka!

With less than 20 attendees, we made our way to the meeting point and after the initial get together & signing-in plus last minute payments, we boarded the coach & left for the highway and from there, we relaxed.

Razak, a good friend and colleague, began telling everyone about the adventures of working for the government and his research into biotechnology. He’s actually a Dr. in title but he prefers that friends call him by his usual name. Anyways, his tales of Harley bikers, private vacations, government forest conservation efforts…etc…  got us on our toes – all the way until we reached the Ayer Keroh toll. Quite entertaining.

When we got to the Dutch Square, it was quiet and rather empty. Except for a few trishaws lined up by the side of the road waiting for customers, we were the first signs of life around that area. It was beautiful and I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the scene, it’s so rare for me to see it bare.

Dutch Square on a beautiful sunny morning

Once we touched down at this point, we had to cross the bridge to the old part of town for our first class of the day. The walk was pleasant and brisk, and in a short while, we found ourselves infront of the Cheng Ho Cultural Museum (a new spot) which has an upper level with a view to the ancient Melaka River.

The class was headed by Mr Desmond Liau, who happens to be the Director of the Melaka CTRE (Continuing Tourism Related Education) program, and for a rather hasty class session, he was very detailed and even I had a bit of a problem trying to swallow most of the information that he was presenting us with. At the beginning of the talk, I found myself nodding off – thanks to my 3 1/2 hours sleep the night before due to restlessness, I was further lulled to sleep by the dark and air-conditioned room. After a nice nyonya kuih tea break & thank God for my trusty little Fuji F11, I could take pics of the slide presentations quietly and without flash.

The curator showing the group around

After the talks, we were taken around the new museum to get to know the whole Admiral Cheng Ho story. I wasn’t too taken in by the whole tour because I recognize the exhibits in the museum. A few years back, the same exhibits were shown at a huge make-shift tent outside of Mines Wonderland for the education of the public – those who were interested of course. I happened to be there on assignment at one time, and took 2 hours to walk around, absorbing the exhibits. It’s mainly inspired by the book “1421″ by Gavin Menzies. Malaysians knew of Cheng Ho (or Zheng He, as mentioned in the book) long before this book was ever published – it’s just that the western part of the world never knew of his existence until someone came along and wrote a book about this great Chinese explorer. Greater, we can say, than all the other Portuguese, English, Italian or American explorers – for Cheng Ho / Zheng He came way before they did. The Malaysian Chinese, especially the ones in Melaka, even have a temple dedicated to the great admiral in his name.

File picture : Mike Yamashita - when he was in KL for his talk after the National Geographic edition on Zheng He's voyage was published following the success of "1421 : The Year China Discovered the World "by Menzies.

At one time, the famous National Geographic photographer, Mike Yamashita (one of my favourite photographers) – came over to the National Museum in KL to give a talk on his completed journey in the footsteps of the famous Zheng He – one in which he documented in pictures. I remember alot of guides being there, and some, sad to say – asked some pretty stupid questions. Let’s just say that they didn’t believe what Mr Yamashita had to say even when he had proof in pictures to show them of his journey. And for goodness sakes, he’s not even a historian or a researcher – he was only narrating his part of the experience with his pictures. They bombarded him like he should have known the history as if he’s a university professor. I’d side with him because I could understand his work. Even Jet, another guide friend of mine, who came along with me for the talk (mainly to gawk at his awesome pictures since Jet is also a photographer) was kind of disgusted over the questions posed by the others. We & the other photographers went to listen to his narration of the pictures, the others (mostly the guides) went to show-off their knowledge of history. Sigh…

Once the tour of the museum was done, it was already 2pm and everyone’s tummy was growling. More than half of the group were Muslims so they had very limited choice to choose from as to where they should eat. I, for one, would definitely go for the famous Chicken Rice Ball store. According to Desmond, the owners of the store had expanded into a new area which is very tastefully decorated.

“One of the reasons why alot of people are eating at the old place as compared to the new is because they think that it (new place) looks fancy, and therefore, the food there must be expensive,” Desmond said. “But the truth is, the price is the same. The place is worth visiting.”

Interior of the new Chicken Rice Ball Restaurant

And visit I did. The place looked really good. Some of the others were already there, and so I joined them for lunch. I’m sorry I couldn’t take any pictures of the food we had, we were too hungry to bother. Once it came, we just snapped it up like wolves and in less than 15 minutes, most of what we’ve ordered were gone from the table hehehe!

There is no complete Melaka tour without a stop over at the tasty pineapple tarts store (Pooh Keon Enterprise) that’s found at the end of Jonker Street. Oh man, I love those tarts. I would never turn down a Melaka assignment for this very reason (unless ofcourse if I was otherwise engaged with something else). I could even just eat those tarts for lunch! Each time I bring home the tarts, it’ll be gone in a day. And because of this, I’d normally get 2 boxes You can even smell the tarts just walking there. Either that or I must be really nuts about them.

Tarts! Tarts! Tarts!!! Hot right out from the oven!

Don’t they look lovely? Yummy!

Immediately after this, we decided to hunt for cendol before meeting up with everyone else. The famous cendol stall located in the middle of Jonker was packed full of locals and tourists, mostly tourists. It was so packed, we had to squeeze our way in, only to find all the tables inside taken up. Not wanting to waste time, we hustled over back to the Dutch Square, and there, at the opposite of the square was a small little cendol stall located at the side of the Melaka river, manned by an Indian man with his 2 helpers. Here is where the ordinary folks would stop by to have a bowl of cendol as refreshment from the heat. There were even a few traffic police officers occupying a table, enjoying their desserts. Again I didn’t take pictures of the cendol because I was too uhm… excited I even ordered another bowl only to share half of it with Kenny, another fellow guide who previously had one bowl before this.

While waiting for the coach to arrive, I went about the square, happily taking pictures. The trees around the square were unusually loud with birds & I kept wondering where did all the birds come from.

Christ Church Melaka 1753 - on the right is a portion of the Stadhuys

By the time the coach came to take us to the hotel, everyone was tired – from the heat. Once we reached Naza Hotel, everyone went to their rooms gratefully to shower and rest.

I’ll write about the Night River Walk later…

Speak the language or get the f*** out!

IF there is one thing that irks me most about the people of this country, it is the fact that the people who live in this country for all their lives and call themselves Malaysian – refuse to LEARN how to speak or understand the national language! I don’t care how racist or bias you are (as long as you don’t get in my face about it or I swear, I’ll give you a good one) but if you call yourself a Malaysian and can’t even speak the language of the land – then I have only one thing to say to you people – F**K OFF!

And for all you Malaysians out there who says you’re from institutes of higher learning aiming to work in internationally affiliated companies or work overseas, yet still can’t speak a word of English properly – I’d say the same to you! WTF do you mean that I have to speak Malay to you because you don’t really “faham” English when you’re in a UNIVERSITY that is taking in LOADS of FOREIGN students?!? How do you people communicate with each other then? Sign language? Cave men grunts?!? What UTTER RUBBISH!

I don’t know if these people are pretending to be dumb or that they are really dumb. If they are going to do either one of these things in a UNIVERSITY, then I will tell everyone I know NOT to attend or enroll in this stupid institution.What a joke!

With this, I hope the educators and moderators in English learning centers give them hell over it.

I am angry today. So don’t mess with me. ARGH!!!!

I am… tired

For many months now, I have been upset over the events in my country. It has taken out the joy in me to perform well in my duties as tourist guide to visitors from other countries.

There are so many things happening from the start that I just don’t know where to begin. It’s bad enough that we have a leader who sleeps on national television, a soon-to-be leader rumored to be linked to a high profile international murder case,  scare or smear-tactic & money politics, and to religious bigots banning certain words in reference to a certain religion as confusing to a  certain religious group… I mean, what has happened to the decency and the integrity of our leaders? What has happened to law and order? What has happened to the people?

I am so tired.

I think I want to change this whole thing into a photoblog instead.

I can’t write anything without fear of being prosecuted in some way. My job is connected to what my country was, is and will become in the future. I am bound to be asked questions by foreigners who wants opinions from locals such as myself – and what am I to answer them?

“No comment.”

That is the best thing any of my seniors would advice me. No comment.

And in doing that, I make myself look stupid or unwilling to be above stupidity.

Like I said, I am tired

I don’t know what to do or how to react anymore to people visiting this beautiful country that’s marred by so many unclean things made by the people who are running or will run this country…

I will just take up my camera and write about adventures with my camera.

Doing the right thing by doing the thing right

Just a few nights ago, me and my ex-schoolmates (more buddies than mere ex-schoolmates really) had a birthday dinner outing in Sunway.

Now, I didn’t pick the place, but since I have never been there before, I thought it’s worth giving it a try. So once I met the master planner and got into the car with her to Sunway, all I could think about was my tummy and how hungry I felt despite having eaten a little something before coming out of home.

Sad to say, the restaurant my friend picked for the birthday girl fell short of most of our expectations. The minute I took a bite into the fish I ordered, I missed the fish they make in Chilis Bar and Grill. I tasted the chicken Karen gave me as well and well, … Sigh.

Besides the lousy food, the company was in full swing, with fun friends and good jokes, plus a little drama in the middle of the dinner (which was told in 3 different languages as our finer foreign friend noted in a very amused tone), made up for the lousy meals.

After dinner, we couldn’t wait to get out for a drink. And by definition of drink, Jo, the birthday girl, had hammered it into everyone’s head that I, me, the author, needs alcohol. Truth? I was having a pounding headache but it didn’t matter much then because I needed to be out.

“When I said I wanted a drink, it does not necessarily mean I want to get drunk!” I tried to explain to Jo. “And it doesn’t mean it has to be alcoholic!”

The trip to the bar didn’t materialize since it looked so dead from the outside, and in the end, the whole lot of us somehow ended up inside Starbucks. Once all 12 of us were seated firmly at a nice cozy corner, all manner of stories and conversations came up.

Now here’s where I heard a story that made it a memorable night for me.

Jo was, in all respects, loud and attention-grabbing. There’s no denying it, that should one ever walk into a room crammed full of people, you will NEVER be able to miss this little woman with the remarkable voice. After many years of knowing her, one gets used to her.

But then she mentioned something that got my fullest attention.

She recalled a small trip she once made to Melaka with 2 other of our friends just after secondary school. It was a very small budget trip in which they squeezed every cent they had just to make it happen. They stayed in a dodgy area which they later found out was a red light district, ate whatever food that wouldn’t cost more than a certain amount and then did their sight seeing as any normal visiting tourist or holiday maker would do.

So on that one fine morning while they were up exploring, Jo said that all 3 of them found a small folded stack of notes lying right in the middle of the road. Jo had picked it up, after they had taken quite awhile to be very sure no one was around to make any claim to it.

RM 250.00!

That was how much they found in the middle of the road while exploring the historical city of Melaka! I mean, seriously! The biggest note I’ve ever found so far in my life was an RM 10 (I know, it’s pathetic)! So what happened next?

Jo said she was so excited because in her head, that money would be able to settle so many things for them – food, transportation…etc… But the threesome consisted of Jo herself, Steph and ofcourse, Ling – one of the most ‘morally-correct’ friends in our gang. And Ling didn’t agree to Jo’s way of thinking and immediately announced that the money didn’t belong to any of them and that it should be handed over to the police.

What the f***?!?

The police?!?

When I heard that over my mug of hot chocolate, me and Puffy instantly looked at Ling (who was sitting right across the table from me) like she was crazed.

“What?” Ling exclaimed in her high pitched voice, “I didn’t know the police were not to be trusted! In my mind, that was the first thing that popped up at that time!”

“You have GOT to be kidding us!” Puffy exclaimed.

We didn’t let her go on that one and constantly berated her for it. A few laughs here and there and we got back to the story.

“So what happened then?” I asked.

Jo told us that she was so unwilling to part with the notes she found because she knew what it could be used for, especially when they were so tight with whatever money they had for the trip. And she knew without a doubt that surrendering it to the police would only serve to buy the entire department a big breakfast meal for the day. With Ling constantly trying to be morally in the right, Jo could only look to Steph for support. And Steph, being the neutral scale of any party, did not offer the right or wrong way of doing things. Steph, as according to Jo, didn’t give any comments.

With the angel and devil debate going on, with Steph caught in the mddle, they continued on with their historical trail, exploring the city until they could figure out a solution for the RM 250.00.

The answer came to them when they stepped into St. Peter’s Church, built in 1710 – one of the oldest churches found in Melaka itself.

“You would have thought that the donation box is just simply filled with coins and loose change,” Jo said somewhat regrettably. “But that’s when we decided that the money should be left to the church and let God take care of the rest.”

“It was the right thing to do!” Ling reassured Jo.

Kurt, Jo’s boyfriend, had a warm glow on his face as he patted her shoulder in an understanding manner.

“Yeah! But think of all the things we could have done with that money! We were so desperate for something to spend with and it was so hard to shove those notes down that tiny slit of a hole of that donation box!” Jo said morosely, repeating the action done so many years ago with her hand. “I can imagine the Father would have been so surprised to have a whole bunch of notes in that box!”

“It’s good karma, Jo,” Ling said reassuringly.

“It’s good karma,” Kurt said and smiled kindly.

“Yeah yeah…” Jo replied, somewhat pacified, still a small faraway look in her eye, remembering that fateful day.

As quick as lightning, the conversation shifted to how our shitty school’s education had to include ‘Moral’ as one of our subjects. That’s a never ending story, because none of us could ever get over the fact that words meant more than common sense itself.

But that didn’t bother me.

Jo’s story, for the better part of the night, filled me with warmth. Besides the splitting headache I was having, and the feeling of wanting to throw up the dinner I just had, her story made me feel so well connected with my friends.

For with it, I know that deep down, they are good and honest people, and that I am ever so happy to have them as my friends for life.