Minus the politics on Sunday

Sunday's Inter:Lude


This morning I'm publicising some Email conversations -- one I maintain P&C the correspondent, the other it's going public because he himself has been very vocal on Blogosphere, so a li'l more mileage won't do any harm to one John not-so-Little!

I'm extracting from my responses to the two conversationists who have potential to become greAt journalists, but my constant harping on poor-as-church-mousey writHers must have discouraged them. Never mind, one *terrortory's loss in another +terrain's gain.

Interruptus: *is DDC, short for Da Desi Code, for newbies to this site which I use to spice up my **'rites for I believe LIfe is already too serious so we must ENJOY Blog's rides together, hence some adventurism with humour and wordplay. I APologise to a few of my ER (EsteemedReaders) who have what is termed DYSLEXIA, which I shall write more about in another Inter:Lude.

_______________ DIGRESSION, a Blogger's much abused Privilege____________

* terrortry is "territory" with negative connotation -- like where terorists lurk? (Contrast with +terrain which is neutral, hence you can roam there unlike a place where even angels fear to tread...

** 'rites can be deemed to be writes or plain rites, the latter as in our mundane living, when some among us go through the motions as "walking dead", deeming Life as a ritual to be endured than to be ejoyed.


________________Hence you are Encouraged to start a Blog
to be able to abuse your ER! ____________________________

NOTE that the Email extracts are in Italics thus, with some TYPOS corrected, and my Ruminations today are in normal script.

Hi (FavouredOne):

You are not the only one saying that "your posts these
days very political,..." and " I
don't really understand them...".

Even ipohlang AweOfHelen -- who first charged into
Desi's like the Light Brigade charging she understood
just about 30% of my DDC (her coin for Da Desi Code in
view of the Da Vinci fellow hogging all the horizons
... who has heard of Newton and Einstein?



Ah, when I first saw you email ...re-quoting "as every action comes
reaction" I thought Newton's law has impelled
someone finally to send me an art for Times and
Chimes. YOU did tackle some times, what about the
CHIMES? So I am left suspended -- in suspence?

I quote again ~~ "'We built too many walls and not
enough bridges' and being so quotable, (FavouredOne) is
hereby commanded not so sunbly to expand by another
300 words, combined with thy post ... and you are ready for a BYLINE in
TheSundayPost.

AS to understanding the politics, we are at a
crossroads -- like changing of the PM 1-1/2 terms
from now; and I'm sort of a political activist (Bhind
the scene, as I hate frontal attacks). And I'm, sort
of trying to "propagandise" PKR and Anwar, not too
successfoolly I See from your line...

Death knell will chime (is that NOT a contradiction?)
if the logical succession in UMNO takes place -- and
death came to visit a Mongolian beauty as well as her
"mistaken" twin whose exquiste beautifull body-ly pix
were plastered all over Malaysian press in a wrongly
ID parade, just to sell more papers.


" There sure IS more to life than to worry about the
woes and I am definitely not trying get more clouds
hovering above my sky =) " Quote a poet like Max the
erring one or Wordsworth the worthy wan, and you have
wrapped up a CNY preesent to Desi, thyself and all OUR
ER.

Now don't get me wrong, tghis is no a NS command. It's
just worth a thought, or a word or 2, just BT2OU..and
that's another DDC in parting, and I wave thee Adieu,
and Not Goodbye.

Cheers,

YL, DEsi

PS: I'll try to cut down on my Politics writHings and
do more Life's beatings around the mulberry Bush since
the war-monger is not Malaysia's president. YOu have
adopted the partial 'liar' of the UK prez?

DESI: From today onwards, I will bear in mind my pledge given to (FavouredOne) plus a few others via Email that "I'll try to cut down on my Politics writHings..."
Of corse, Sunday's Inter:LUde will remain a column for Life's Reflections in the tradition of my teachers like Ehrmann, Wordsworth, Shakespeare and Thoreau. Fame sought (NOT seeked, K!) by Association if you don't qualify by endeavour. Local names I can cite are my Blogger mates like JohnLeeMK and BakriMusa and DinMerican in similar vein, while JeffOoi et al are in another vein. No need to elaborate lest I get *shot. This word can be "incendiary" in Blogosphere because certain peole see
GH STS where there is N NE.

_______________________________



11am Sundae
I just got back from my CON BF!

Hi John:

As a senior (I won't use the word Mentor here!) by age
and experience, my advice is that you Q has this
answer from DEsi: Resounding YES to your Does “Walk With
Us” stand for anarchy?

I surfed to Walk... to check if my RE-send on their
ABOUT US -- they redeemed themselves "slightly" by
finaly Posting my Comment -- my FIRST and LAST!

I had already sighted another commenter "labelling"
you as another SPM? I guess this is the desperate
resort of ANARCHISTS who fear discourse, so I think
you should "CEASE" engaging them. Cut the links with
such "empty" minds who again prove they also DON'T
WALK THE TALK -- just as they accuse Pak Lah and his
Government.

But at least Pak Lah and his Goons got elected through
the General Elections, whatever its hurdles and
disadvantages stacked against the Opposition (which is
another ISSUE we have been discussing at other times,
yes!)

Now lets' return to normalcy smell some Roses, and
sing "Rose, Rosey, Rose on the Rise, I love thee.
You don't have a choice, it's between HellA and Me!"

Regards,

YL

PS: Call me if you wanna further discussion.

_____________________________________________


DESI: THe above is self-explanatory if you surfed Malaysian Blogsworld well enough as my mentee sometimes role-reversed to Mentor most times is a recognised Voice reasoned and rational too advanced for most of his Seniors (by age accounting)in the IQ and Discourse department, and Discourse here is along the plane alonside such humble names as Socrates, Orwell, Descartes and Oscar Wilde. You may add your favourites via Comments, but Desi must APologise ahead if those nominated are not in my (or john-not-so-little's) *leg. *a humble sub-class to A* league.

_______________________________________________

As I promised (FavouredOne) -- and being overworked and under-paid smoetimes NOT paid at all for my Thoughts! -- I borrow from TheSundayPost (now online @www.theborneopost.com!) an article that deserves wider circulation. Of course I'm doing this not 100% out of altruism. TSP is running my Times and Chimes inaugural today, and I get paid for the time and sweatATlabour. I'm looking forward to that first check, hopefully it brings me nearer to that 20million goalPOST!
My next promise: I'll surely also bye thee tehtarik IF you can track Desiu down or up through the Furong Maze and Kuala Lumpur Haze plus across the bumpy South China Sea or Sungei Ujong. Bring your own roti canai or siew pau and mee rebus, watever! as LONG as it's not laced with ARSEnic Port Dickson Chow!

Wow, What a Long Preamble before you come to the CONtents! It had better be goode, for Desi's survival's sHakes.
" quote from allofhelen.blogspot.com's whispering hope. Thanks sisdar, I 'ear thee:)

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Updated : 10:00 am January 28, 2007


Odds in shining legacy

By Alexius barieng

'Sinar Baru’ is a Malay word that literally means new ray. For village chief Selia it means a hope for new and better things in life that she must work hard to achieve, else it would be just all in a name.

KUCHING: Selia Alek, 39, married and a mother of four with a small business to run to supplement her husband's income had all the chores to keep her busy from dawn to dusk.


But being busy was what every able person would love to do in Bintulu, a town immersed in brisk economic activities, and Selia was one of those enterprising women who had found their niche.

Thus, when the phone rang last July telling that her old man had died and that she had to come home, it never occurred to her that she would leave Bintulu for good. To put it simply, life was so good – for those who worked hard for it, that is.

Yes, she came home for the funeral, but while Selia lost her father, the villagers had lost their headman, and they badly wanted a successor – Selia!

“I told them I couldn’t because everything I had was in Bintulu. Besides, I knew that no leader could get every one of his people to agree to him, let alone when that leader is a woman,” Selia said of the time the villagers met her with their proposal.

But the villagers persisted, put her name to the local votes, and by November she was already the new Ketua Kaum of Kampung Sinar Baru, Padawan near here.

This wife, mother and businesswoman had to move lock, stock and barrel from Bintulu to take on the responsibility of her new appointment.

Of this she said: “It’s a sacrifice I had to make for the legacy that my father had left behind for a village that he helped establish way back in 1983.

“Besides, and more importantly, I believe I can do the job…with a lot of support from my family, of course.”

Although it is not unheard of for a woman to hold the top post in a village, it is nevertheless a rarity, as it is still predominantly the domain of men.

“Naturally there were objections among some of the villagers when I was nominated and later voted as the new Ketua Kaum.

“Personally, I feel that the most important requirement to be a good Ketua Kaum is the perseverance, patience and sincerity to do the job well,” she told thesundaypost during an interview at the village recently.

Selia said if she did not think she could handle the responsibility she would have just stayed in Bintulu.

Under her care now are about 450 villagers, mostly second generation residents who are children of leprosy patients of the nearby Rajah Charles Brooke Memorial Hospital (RCBM). The patients were the original settlers of the village.

The village, therefore, is made up of people from various racial backgrounds, since at one time leprosy patients from all over the State sought treatment at RCBM.

“Only about 35 of the original settlers here are still around. Now the people who live in the kampung are made up of the second generation and even the third generation,” said Selia, who insisted on giving a tour of the kampung during the interview, to highlight some of the problems that she and her people were facing.

She stressed that she did not want to focus on herself during the interview; rather she wished that the spotlight be more on the village, which she described as being special and unique in the State.

“Our village came into being in 1983, and it is special because in the beginning the settlers were all ex-patients of RCBM.

“The first generation of villagers preferred to make a new home near RCBM because the social stigma in their village of origin was just too strong for them to take,” said Selia, adding that some never returned to their real ‘home’ until the day they died because they felt society had no place for them and no longer accepted them.

During a tour of the village that day, Selia pointed to a solitary grave on a hill slope and went on to explain that the most urgent problem for the villagers now is that it had no proper burial ground.

According to her, in the past, those who died were allowed to be buried at the burial grounds within RCBM, but now the authorities have put a stop to this.

Her father was the last person to be buried at RCBM’s graveyard, she added.

“Right now, this is the most pertinent issue for me to handle,” she said, pointing out that she was in touch with the relevant government departments to find a solution to the problem.

Another challenge for her now is to make sure that all children of school-going age in the village attend classes.

“I believe that more than 20 children, who are supposed to be in school, are instead just staying at home…some of these children are influenced by their older siblings who have dropped out.

“To me, the task at hand is to convince parents in the village that they must make sure their children go to school,” said Selia, who herself possessed an SPM certificate.

She said one of the major reasons villagers did not seem to put education as their priority in life was poverty.

According to her, for such poor people, putting put in the plate is already hard enough; there is simply nothing to spare for school fees, uniforms and books.

Members of the village development and security committee (JKKK) who were accompanying her that day did admit to knowing about government educational aid, but according to them the financial burden was just too much for some large families.

“That is why the JKKK hopes to start an education fund in this village, just so that we can help the school children here,” she said, adding that she also hoped they would get funding from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and government agencies to help them realise this plan.

“What we can do ourselves we will try our best to do…but for now, I know that just because I am a woman, there are some villagers who don’t believe in some of the ideas and plans that I have,” she said, adding that this negative attitude among some of the people had made her more determined and focused.

A member of her JKKK cut in: “If we had chosen a man to be our Ketua Kaum, one who cared for his own wellbeing, it would be useless.

“Whether it is a man or a woman, the most important thing is that the person who leads us makes sure that things ‘move’, otherwise we will never see improvement,” the member said.

Selia revealed that her biggest fear is that her village, which is so close to the urban area, would be left behind due to ignorance and apathy on the part of her people.

Although she was grateful for the help given by government and non-government agencies to the leprosy sufferers and their families over the years, she now hoped the help would also extend to the community as a whole.

Selia, however, was confident that by the end of the year, there would be a lot of improvements in the village.

“Now that I have told you that openly, it means that we have to really push ourselves to make our plans work. We can’t afford to be complacent anymore.”

Selia certainly knows the daunting task ahead, but she had done so well in Bintulu where she thrived on challenges as a wife, mother and entrepreneur.

Now home to carry on a legacy left by her father, the responsibility is on her to brighten up Kampung Sinar Baru.

The sun certainly shines on her, and her radiating effect, it would seem, is rubbing on a village that hopes to wallow in the glow.

Selia really wants to see improvements in the village and she wants things to change for the better from now on. We’ll go the distance with her,” a member of her JKKK said, which really seemed to sum up the mood of the villagers since she made her commitment to them.

PIC of SELIA: The most important requirement to be a good Ketua Kaum is the perseverance, patience and sincerity to do the job well. — Photos by Jeffery Mostapa (DESI: surf to www.theborneopost.com-lah, I'm not a painter!)


_______ Thanks to TheBorneoPost
with Three Goblets of tehtarik --
in Au, Ag and Pt! ~~ Desi
12.29PM, Jan 28, 2007___________________________________


PS @1.05PM: Something extracted from malaysia-today.net which is relevant to the advice I gave johnleemk earlier~~

27/01: Swelling the ranks of latter day surrogate orientalists – Part II
Category: General Posted by: Raja Petra
GUEST COLUMNISTS

Dr. Mazeni Alwi & Dr. Musa Mohd. Nordin
Muslim Professionals Forum

"We read the responses that ensued MPF’s “Swelling the ranks of latter day surrogate orientalists” with much amusement. We have always held the view that much of what thrives in cyberspace is 80% junk and the bloggers were true to form!

"Quite a few have a vocabulary problem, restricted to 4 letter words I might add. One “True Muslim” is probably experiencing a schizophrenic crisis (pardon our cyberspace diagnosis). He had the audacity to write; “ Also, very strangely, there is no mention of your name or that of your office bearers anywhere in your website. Why are you are all in hiding?”

"And by the way “True Muslim”, if you were to peruse more carefully, with calm and serenity, you would find the list of our board members, fully transparent, unlike many the likes of you, who choose to hit and run more than often in a variety of irresponsible modes – irreligious, islamophobic, racist, pornographic etc

"We welcome the opportunity for an intellectual discourse in a civil and responsible manner. Those that breach the norms of civilised and cultured cyber communication is only deserving of the delete button and the thrash bin."
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:DESI: You are advised to read the Original article in full, it's educational and good for Sundae's desserts.