Blowin' in the Wind

The last few days Desiderata was engaging in light banter and joyfully tagging along on a Wild Goose Chase with my readers in an excursion started off by a short question sent over to this self-apppointed guru inggeris for the Sunday column. The Booker Challenger has NOT been won yet.

Today I am back to normal musing, if there is anything normal about a journalist in a half-awake and half-ranting mood! Half-awake? Yes, the goings-on in my country seem to be out of Alice in Wonderland -- "It gets curiiouser and curiouser!"

SssssSpirit must be in higher spirits this morn when she reads this, (Shall we do the Matilda, nicolekid? Don’t you people get jeles okay, I shall have the first dance, then it’s Open House - National Day remember?) but please don’t drink too much Foster’s unless Desi is around!


Where am I?

Oh, the answer my fRiend, is blowin' in the wind …

Yes, along Jalan Ampang near where the World’s Tallest Twin Towers stand, the Petronas Oneor2, built there on Citizens Behalf as Petronas is the National Oil Corporation.

The reality as God Disposes and Smiles on us Malaysians. TWO Bloody Lucky COUNTRIES -- Malaysia and Australia, I used to tell my Aussie Friends. I plan to propose in Parliament for these two to merge to become MALAUSTRAYSIA when the YoungPeopleParty forms the Government.

Here’s the basis.

I read this report belatedly as the day faded into Eventide, hidden as a Brief on page 2 of theSUN August 23, 2005.

M’sians more like Aussies : Downer

ADELAIDE: Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has described Malaysians as “the Australians of Southeast Asia”.
“Like Australians, Malaysians are frank, robust but very friendly,” he told Malaysia’s National Day celebrations here over the weekend.
“While Malaysians will tell you what they think, and they are frank about it, the other Southeast Asians tend to be a little cautious of what they say,” Downer said at the evnt organized by the Australia-Malaysia Business Council.


Hear, hear! Minister Downer does not live up to his Nama, but it’s okay; He gave us Bloody Malaysians an Upper!

SssssSpirit must be in higher spirits this morn when she reads this, plus that knottyboy from Catsville, Kennysiah, if he reads this, as he considers Perth his H-own!

Just for the record, I got my GAJI (handsumONE) for 12 short years from the Aussie government while serving as its Press Officer at the High Commission in Kuala Lumpur in THOSE WERE THE DAYS. Although I interacted often with someone at the Wisma MCA in Jalan Ampang,Koala Lumpuh, just a stone's throw away, I never did buy into his party propaganda. In fact I tried to seduce him inviting him to the mission's ANNUAL MELBOURNE CUP< during which run the whole bloody Australian nation comes to a complete shutdown except for that horsey race!

INDEED, Malaysia and Australia are TWO BLOODY LUCKY COUNTRIES. But in deeds, how do the leaders perform?
Oz land is blessed with all sorts of minerals most of which are untapped.
My country every now and then finds new oil fields, and God saves us many a time from Doomsville.

But lately, the strange goings-on, at the PWTC and Wisma MCA -- they make me feel half-sedated, and nervous. Even as I write this, I ask: how do our leaders perform, in deeds?

Tell you why my concern and nerves.

Remember that keris-waving hero of Hishammuddin Hussein at the recent UMNO YOuth Assembly? He's the youth chief of the largest component in the 14-component Barisan Nasional. He represents the leadership of the next generation. And he's wielding a weapon from out of 15th century Malaccan empire -- ancient times, isn't it? Don't you parents waver in your daily prayers?

Then just last Friday, Mr Ling Hee Leong -- soon to become Datuk? -- was elected as the deputy chief of MCA Youth. Remember him of the roaring 1997/98 stock-boom-and-crash days when he could -- at the old age of 27 --obtain RM1.2BILLION facilities from the conservative Malaysian banks to take control of at least four public listed companies?

I hope Malaysian memories are not that short, sedated may be, but let's wake up to THE REALITY!

The reality is that as OUR NATION approaches its 48th Birthday, I have some tremblings down my spine looking at the country's second echelon leadership if they are represented by the likes (or ilks?) of Hishamuddin and Ling Junior.

The latest, from a reliable source -- Hishamuddin drives around in a four-wheel drive called the HUMMER made by General Motor registered number JEN 8. (JEN for jeneral and 8 for Chinese luck?)

The rice is a cool -- or is it small change? --RM960,000. That JEN8 is only one of three imported into the country now.

And compare with this fact: The National Union of Plantation Workers recently signed a wages agreement with the workers ensuring them a handsome monthly wage of minimum RM350! No, Desi did not leave out a zero or two! And my eyesight is not approaching senility stage! Neither is my hearing!

Foof for Thought, myGOoD fRiends, especially the YoungOnes. You have evry reason to be afraid, and we are NOT living in a land of want. There's plenty here, as inDOWN UNDER. But Mr Downer better be prepared for another exodus of the Malaysian YoungOnes out of Malaysia to DU -- ma ybe you consider my Humble Proposal in advance, pass it on to Mr Howard? MALAYAUSTRAYSIA?


DESIDERATA: A special message to the YoungOnes like Sabrina and Kyels and many other raeders who I know occasionally visit Desi' Place, I urge thee to ponder over maestro-philosophic Bob Dylan's mighty deep words:




BLOWIN' IN THE WIND


How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

FAREWELL to all the thousands of youths who died in Vietnam in the service of their Proud Country called the US of A; also to the YoungOnes who answered Dylan's call to do somethin' about the delibilating war in the 19760s that took away a whole generation of Vietnamese, especially the YoungOnes. So, when will we ever learn? Remember, WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?