My Anthem

Sunday, May 10, 2015

May poetics reprised, may !? U(2) round the years earlier-To Break DE SoundOfSilence

The "cultured" people of France are fanatically proud of their traditions -- If you were a tourist asking a local in Paris in Parias: Where do I find the best cake shop in town? You may get a nonchalant look, and the coy Parisan may not answer you in English though he/she knows how to speakIT. He/she will say the equivalent in French, gesturing with his/her dainty and: THAT way!

For this Sundae's RUMINATION, I borrow an article from MI, focusing on why the French ENJOY the month of May; Desi likes IT for different reasons, BUT WE - French and Malaysian -- ARE PROUD OF OUR DEMOCRATIC TRADITIONS, Yes?

ENJOY "the petite wickedends" -- les ponts --the gay Pareesians have inenuously carved out to ENJOY life:~~~~~


   

Parisians adore May, the month of ‘les ponts’

MAY 26, 2013
Helen Hickey is a British freelance journalist living 40 floors up in New York City's Upper East Side with her hubby, cat and four children who miss everything Malaysian, even those dodgy traffic cops.
PARIS, May 26 — Off with the beret hats, hello dark sunglasses and spiffy sandals. Parisians are smiling (it’s official): spring is in full swing and their much beloved month of May est arrivé! 
This dreamy month is truly blessed with bank holidays offering the winter and desk weary a chance to escape for an extended weekend away, or “le petit weekend” as the French have so daintily named them.
Not much can stop Parisians in their vigorous pursuit of one; not even a recession, which France quietly slipped into in mid-May. This is because they are not considered a luxury, but a necessity, a series of rehearsals in preparation for the biggie — August’s month-long summer vacation just around the corner. 
May holds the dubious crown of the month of “les ponts” (“bridges” in French). It alludes to the artful way French workers take days off between a given bank holiday and the preceding or following weekends, resulting in rather handsome “p’tit weekends” without impacting too much on their annual holiday allowance. 
There are four public holidays in May: La Fête du Travail, May 1, Labour Day, workers’ day off; Armistice Day WWII, celebrating the end of World War II in Europe, May 8; L’Ascension, May 9 and La Pentecôte, May 20. The latter two are connected with France’s Catholic heritage.
Even by Malaysian standards — having witnessed the birth of Malaysia Day and Thaipusam as public holidays during our posting there — that’s a pretty impressive number. 
May kicks off the start of the silly season of endless holidays in France. — Pictures by Helen HickeyBetter still, two fall midweek making rich pickings for the “pont” aficionados who have the chance of engineering a five-day “not-so-p’tit weekend”, and I suspect causing havoc on the work front. 
My husband bucked the trend and worked for all four. Sweet. If it hadn’t been for the birdsong and my children’s chatter among the gently bobbing boughs of our garden’s horse-chestnut trees, now heavily laden with their lantern-shaped blossoms, it would have been very lonesome on our ghostly street of houses, sealed with their imposing window shutters.
“It’s not quite as bad as August” my French doctor offered on a recent visit, when apparently Paris truly empties. “But don’t expect your children to be doing much work in May.” What I had taken to be a mischievous comment has proven correct: there’s more lethargy than learning in the lessons and the kids are becoming more fractious by the day.
This month, street sellers dotted around the open-air markets of Paris sell the delicately scented May flower called Lily of the Valley.To be fair, France’s President François Hollande has been busy. He should be commended for staying on task, not on holiday, and passing the same-sex marriage “Bill 344” this month, joining 13 other enlightened countries who have done the same. 
Pulling off such a feat in this deeply traditional and predominantly Catholic country was both courageous and astonishing. There’s been mass rightwing street protests over the past months, and in very macabre turn of events, a well-known French historian shot himself at the altar of the Notre Dame Cathedral in a desperate bid to summon up opposition to same-sex marriage in France.
There’s been some whingeing in the press recently about these heavyweight bank holidays: should they be scrapped given France’s economic woes?  
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris: A well-known rightwing historian shot himself at its 850-year old altar as a rant against the recent signing (May 17) of France’s same-sex marriage legislation.According to a recent study by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies “Insee”, getting rid of bank holidays would allow France to save more money. The study showed that the reduction of total workdays in 2013 (two fewer than in 2012) claimed a 0.1 per cent loss in yearly Gross Domestic Product.
Perhaps it’s not such a bad idea, particularly given France’s return to the dark doldrums of recession for the third time in four years. The Portuguese government has just cancelled four national bank holidays for the next five years, claiming the country cannot afford to take time off while it wrestles with its austerity programme. 
France currently ranks fifth on the scale of European countries in terms of the number of annual bank holidays along with Spain, the United Kingdom and Sweden. But given President Hollande’s haemorrhaging approval ratings — currently the lowest of any modern French leader with more than two-thirds of the population giving Hollande the thumbs down — he’ll be in no rush to rock those p’tit weekends, so interwoven into the fabric of the French way of life.
And as I listen to my friend’s alluring accounts of their adventures north in “La Bretagne” (Brittany), arguably the top destination for “les ponts” month — the sailing, the invigorating salt air on breezy coastal walks or grazing on dejeunersof a crisp vin blanc and fresh moules (mussels) — I say: “Vive le p’tit weekend!” 
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
Lily of the Valley has a spring-rain fresh fragrance with a hint of jasmine and soft undertones of lime.


DESIDERATA: will tell WHY May is so specail to him/her/it when I do come back (Godwilling, insyaAllah, remember?)from his Kapitalistik CONtinental brunch lusting from2.00PM till 5!, then linger for an early dinner sizzling Steak or grilled lambchop at 5**** lunge in Furong if vv can find one, if knot, settle for 3*** can du! --if one of my bourgeosie (check sperring OK!) pardners is paying!


Meanw'ile, be a gOog boi/gal, click hear! ~~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvr2n9q8t3I


CHOW!

which can mean:

Seeya later OR Come, let's makan!


****************************************************

Keeping my promise to continue poetic recalls, here's somthing sombre @7.11PM:

#wan>: Knot too AP a post BUT still, it's as good as it cometh, Life's a rollercoaster of The GOoD, the Bad and the Ugly! Try to ENJOY, OK! 

From page 36, MIDNIGHT VOICES and Other Poems, first published about se7en years ago, and &7"th heaven is Desi's ;lucky number!

A Reluctant Lament in May


May 13, 1969 -- do we remember?
Life's fabric isoft strong, yet tender
Can withstand the elements even in a flood
But man's foul mood, tearing all asunder

I want to make this my motherland
Many of fellow Malaysians chorus in similar trend
But ill mouths and ill minds
They can't see our love
Sight closeted within their racial blinds

Some slog to get by with two jobs
Others born into privilege behave like mobs
Ninety percent of us shed
Blood, sweat and tears
So that the other 10 percent
Gallivant in wine, women and bed

They then question our loyalty
Meanwhile they reap the oil royalty
We dutifully pay our taxes
Meanwhile they squander in madness
Monuments are built to meet the sky
Thye see gods and goddesses on high
Wrapped around karaoke lasses' bosoms
Behold, lo and hi
With our blood, sweat and tears

At the slightest sign of trouble
To safer havens they and lovers flee
Meanwhile they "yum seng!" in glee
Thy ask: Why art thou overseas?
Come back to serve your Motherland
****Meanwhile, they who stay, they smother

Oh Mum's the Word
The majority lament
Why bother?


PS on May 27, 2013, See how heART I laboureth for Ye? 

It's just days after GE13
Nue minSTER/MONSter of Home Affairs declare:
If thou no like our electoral system
MIGRATE!
So my dear fellow Malaysians -- some 47% of  you Voted BN/UMNO eh?
You think the leopard of evil regime will change its spots?
My poem writ se7en years ago (see highlighted last stanza...****coloured thus)

"HAS ANYTHING CHANGED?"



NOTE: I'm copying tis in LONG hand, can I come back to cuntinue? NOW DONE in the early hours The Day After ~~ See how heART Desi worketh for THee? Bye me endless rounds of tehtarik by the Parisian cafe, cun, anywan? Bring Audrey Hepburn along OK! Will try to serenade her wit' Moon River, may even reprise Andy Willy's Voiz K!:):)



*************************************************************************************#2>> Sumthin' Nostalgic from about FIVE YEARS BACKm boleh?



Thursday, May 31, 2007


Ode on Lust Dae in May

An Ode is a song normally full of joy. Sometimes man finds joy in big things, some in small things and some rare ones in Nothing.

Desi enjoys the simple things in Life. I'm God-fearing, hence I don't hesitate to chide some Young&Articulates when they boldly declare they don't believe in One. Then how do you distinguish Right from Wrong? Ethics? Is that sufficient because you find Homo sapiens is one quite bent on justifying his own frailties and foibles. I believe we need Conscience -- private to Self, and Public to Community, to lead a life of meaning.

I end the last day in May -- poets somehow eloquently dedicate many of their best works -- of Love and Passion -- to this fifth month in the ...... calendar, and so desi calims no exception.

Here goes an attempt at waxing a lusty wan:)

If thou knoweth thyself
You would not interfere with my thoughts in May
I deem this private domain sacred and sublime
Unless you brigeth me Joy amid Song, Women and Wine
No, I am not solde to lust and crust
It's just that I feel secure on a lass' bosom
Reciting to me Browning's verses not terse
And drowning manmade sorrows in rhythm and rhyme

How much do I love thee?
You have to to count the stars in the moonlit Malaysian sky
How much do you love mmee in return
I careth not lest I miss the fleeting smiles in they eye
It's not of riches on earth that I claim
It's not of Man's temporal fame
I seek a sincere heart
Making soft conversation
With just a French toast by my side
You pile it up with two layerings of peanut butter
served with thy soft touch of a caressing hand
I return the teasing with Ceylon tea with a fragrant additive
of Miss Sunthi (ginger, r'member?) and a smiling lemon
Ah, Malaysian soil can still be a wonderland
Leave alone those political theives
Just carve for thyself a li'l corner of its wondrous gifts
By rising sun, afternoon tropical heat and moonlit nights
We can savour steal a few unique Malaysian delites.

2 comments:

sweetspirits said...
I was almost lost in thy poem , in thy own thoughts
hmm sunrise or sunset the wonder
of nature an thoughts :)
desiderata said...
sweets:

sometimes poets just hint of their innermost hopes and challenges;
if readers can feel the vibrations, then it's likely they have had experienced similar times;
it does not really matter if one gets "lost" while traversing the verrses,
just enjoy the flowers that touch your heartbeat once a w'ile!:)



AND to top IT up, something more endearing and enduring from The Bard, via: shakespeares.sonnets.com XX:):):):):):):):):) EIgHTeen s-miles for the number XX8th: (XX according to my Ipohlang BUD aweOfHelen stands for KiSsEs innumerable times IF thou have the dimes!:you kixxeth till the face turns blue!)




Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
   So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
This is one of the most famous of all the sonnets, justifiably so. But it would be a mistake to take it entirely in isolation, for it links in with so many of the other sonnets through the themes of the descriptive power of verse; the ability of the poet to depict the fair youth adequately, or not; and the immortality conveyed through being hymned in these 'eternal lines'. It is noticeable that here the poet is full of confidence that his verse will live as long as there are people drawing breath upon the earth, whereas later he apologises for his poor wit and his humble lines which are inadequate to encompass all the youth's excellence. Now, perhaps in the early days of his love, there is no such self-doubt and the eternal summer of the youth is preserved forever in the poet's lines. The poem also works at a rather curious level of achieving its objective through dispraise. The summer's day is found to be lacking in so many respects (too short, too hot, too rough, sometimes too dingy), but curiously enough one is left with the abiding impression that 'the lovely boy' is in fact like a summer's day at its best, fair, warm, sunny, temperate, one of the darling buds of May, and that all his beauty has been wonderfully highlighted by the comparison.



FOR THY EDUCATION, aMORE from phrases.org.uk~~~~~~~~~


The darling buds of May

Meaning

An appreciation of what is fresh and new.

Origin

the darling buds of MayThe phrase refers to the opening buds that point toward the warm summer season ahead and to the freshness and exuberance of youth as it turns toward adult maturity. It probably refers not to the month of May directly but to the May tree (the Common Hawthorn) that flowers in England at that time of year. The hawthorn is important in the mythology of old England and there's a rich symbolism wrought from its standing as an early flowering common tree. Global warming has now given the UK a climate that causes May to begin flowering earlier, but I doubt that the 'darling buds of April' will ever catch on.
The legend of the Glastonbury Thorn is also related to the flowering time of the hawthorn. The story has it that when Joseph of Arimathea arrived in England from the Holy Land he stuck his thorn walking stick into the ground and it began to flower, and continues to flower each year at Christmas to mark Christ's birth. That's a myth but there are some facts that give it a little credence. The Glastonbury Thorn is unusual in that it does flower during the winter. There is a middle eastern form of the tree that flowers at that time and some would have it that this is what Joseph brought with him.
Not all the symbolism relating to the hawthorn is warm and inviting. The tree also has negative associations. In Ireland a hawthorn standing alone in open ground is known as a fairy tree and there is a strong superstition that to cut one is unlucky. Even in recent years roads in Ireland have been rerouted to avoid uprooting hawthorns. It is also considered unlucky and an omen of death to cut the blooms and bring them into a house. This may well have come about from the unpleasant aroma, which is like decaying flesh.
Back to the phrase itself, best known these days as the title of H. E. Bates' story of idyllic country life, which has been made into a successful television series. Bates took the title from Shakespeare who coined it in his celebrated Sonnet 18:)


I spent almost 15precious minutes early this moUrn to update my fellow Malaysians. Post-GE13, how many of YOU are like Desi: Lamenting...Blackout505...Desi's takin' a BREAK postponed many XX Cos I liketh writing for Thee!
"Adieu for now, You Taketh CareXX ~~ it's not GOoDbye. Nyet!" --YL, Desi



From page 36, MIDNIGHT VOICES and Other Poems, first published about se7en years ago, and &7"th heaven is Desi's ;lucky number!

A Reluctant Lament in May

May 13, 1969 -- do we remember?
Life's fabric is oft strong, yet tender
Can withstand the elements even in a flood
But man's foul mood, tearing all asunder

I want to make this my motherland
Many of fellow Malaysians chorus in similar trend
But ill mouths and ill minds
They can't see our love
Sight closeted within their racial blinds

Some slog to get by with two jobs
Others born into privilege behave like mobs
Ninety percent of us shed
Blood, sweat and tears
So that the other 10 percent
Gallivant in wine, women and bed

They then question our loyalty
Meanwhile they reap the oil royalty
We dutifully pay our taxes
Meanwhile they squander in madness
Monuments are built to meet the sky
Thye see gods and goddesses on high
Wrapped around karaoke lasses' bosoms
Behold, lo and hi
With our blood, sweat and tears

At the slightest sign of trouble
To safer havens they and lovers flee
Meanwhile they "yum seng!" in glee
Thy ask: Why art thou overseas?
Come back to serve your Motherland
****Meanwhile, they who stay, they smother

Oh Mum's the Word
The majority lament
Why bother?


PS on May 27, 2013, See how heART I laboureth for Ye? 

It's just days after GE13
Nue minSTER/MONSter of Home Affairs declare:
If thou no like our electoral system
MIGRATE!
So my dear fellow Malaysians -- some 47% of you Voted BN/UMNO eh?
You think the leopard of evil regime will change its spots?
My poem writ se7en years ago (see highlighted last stanza...****coloured thus)

"HAS ANYTHING CHANGED?"


*****************************************************************

AFTER a se7en-year-olde LAMENT, let me share wit' thee a forwaded email-video from a fromer
Judge Datuk who has been peeping at international captures to share laffing vvvvvIT my ER! E N J Y!



Don't miss the action at bottom left.......

Some people just should not be allowed to drive anything. But the system will give them one anyway.
https://www.facebook.com/video/embed?video_id=552155868169549

AsS anT AFTER-THOT@3.30PM steaming hot, so let's take a breezy ride!, thinking aloud, steal allowed hear/here e'en it's not yet MidnighT!:)

I wondered if that BIKER could act as the Bike Piper from Hamelin to Putrajaya, will lead this VVIP convoy, with UMNO Youth Oooucriders! -- "GoAway" Zahid Hamidi, "Let's Unite under the Bloody" Keris-muddin, Top rapists on the Malaysian mindscape, Perkosa cheaps Ibrahim Ah-Lah, and ZOOkiflee UMno-oh-No!DIN, VeeWee Chukiok Kiong, flyBYnightSheNyetFoong, Bollywooders S Nalla, WardyaMoorthi ad nauseum  -- go right INTO THAT BLACK HOLE/HOLD and DO NATIONAL SERVICE-lah! DON'T EVER COME OUT! -- YL,Desi, knottyaSsusual

The Ecstasy and the Agony of Life 3

Agony is you wait, wait and wait -- days turn into weeks, weeks into months and months into years, and all you hear is the SOUNDofSILENCE. Not elegant, deafening, not ecstatic, but Agonising. Simon&Garfunkel captures its well: via azlyrics.com~~~

SIMON & GARFUNKEL LYRICS


Send "The Sound Of Silence" Ringtone to your Mobile
"The Sound Of Silence"

Hello darkness, my old friend,
I've come to talk with you again,

Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.

"Fools," said I, "You do not know –
Silence like a cancer grows.

Hear my words that I might teach you.
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence


And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming.
And the sign said, The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence.

Friday, May 08, 2015

ERRATA: MAaf ia, an occasional trait of desiderata:)







ecstasy

[ek-stuh-see]


noun, plural ecstasies.
1.
rapturous delight.
2.
an overpowering emotion or exaltation; a state of sudden, intense feeling.
3.
the frenzy of poetic inspiration.
4.
mental transport or rapture from the contemplation of divine things.
Origin of ecstasy
1350-1400
1350-1400; Middle English extasie < Middle French < Medieval Latin extasis < Greek ékstasis displacement, trance, equivalent to ek- ec- + stásis stasis
Synonyms
2. delight, bliss, elation. Ecstasy, rapture, transport, exaltation share a sense of being taken or moved out of one's self or one's normal state, and entering a state of intensified or heightened feeling. Ecstasy suggests an intensification of emotion so powerful as to produce a trancelike dissociation from all but the single overpowering feeling: an ecstasy of rage, grief, love. Rapture shares the power of ecstasy but most often refers to an elevated sensation of bliss or delight, either carnal or spiritual: the rapture of first love. Transport, somewhat less extreme than either ecstasy or rapture, implies a strength of feeling that results in expression of some kind: They jumped up and down in a transport of delight. Exaltation refers to a heady sense of personal well-being so powerful that one is lifted above normal emotional levels and above normal people: wild exaltation at having finally broken the record.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2015.
Cite This Source
Examples from the web for ecstasy
  • There's none of the euphoria produced by cocaine or the bliss from ecstasy.
  • As a teenager, he goes hunting purely for the ecstasy of the kill.
  • The publisher of a study claims there's a link between ecstasy use and Parkinson's disease.
British Dictionary definitions for ecstasy


ecstasy

/ˈɛkstəsɪ/

noun (pl) -sies
1.
(often pl) a state of exalted delight, joy, etc; rapture
2.
intense emotion of any kind: an ecstasy of rage
3.
(psychol) overpowering emotion characterized by loss of self-control and sometimes a temporary loss of consciousness: often associated with orgasm, religious mysticism, and the use of certain drugs
4.
(archaic) a state of prophetic inspiration, esp of poetic rapture
5.
(slang) 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine; MDMA: a powerful drug that acts as a stimulant and can produce hallucinations
Word Origin
C14: from Old French extasie, via Medieval Latin from Greek ekstasis displacement, trance, from existanai to displace, from ex- out + histanai to cause to stand
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cite This Source

The Esctasy and the Agony of Life 2

First, I apologise that it has been agonisingly difficult to write this ecstasy stuff as I spend time on an urgent matter involving a friend in need. It's at the same time ecstaticically satisfying you can see a friend smile in genuine appreciation for the little help you render.

ECSTASY this mornin' was enjoying BF of Roti Planta garing and READING that my party chief  PKR Prez DS Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail WON the Permatang Pauh byelection yesterday -- deja vu! -- with a reduced majority compared to that acheived by her husband party adviser DS ANWAR IBRAHIM now languishing in jail -- Yes, deja vu indeed! --in the last General Elections two years ago. Deja vu sees prime ministerial looking "Kak Wan" in good staed to re-enter Parliament and taking on the Opposition Leader's role once again.

Desi has writ that Anwar Ibrahim is the Nelson Mandela of Malaysia. Now in his absence from Parliament because he is cruelly imprisoned, Anwar's leadership mantle will be held high in leading the alternative GOVERNMENT that the tripartite Pakatan Rakyat is waiting to replace Barisan Nasional led by UMNO-oh-No! at Putrajaya.

To all the doubting Thomsases about Wan Azizah being not able to play the anointed role of Opposition Leader -- I think they are highly MISTAKEN. This time around when NegaraKu is making headlines again and again for being the most CORRUPT nation in the world by many world recognised indicators, Kak Wan as that shining lady exuding purity and motherly kindness and understanding for once is wjhat Malaysia needs. We need HOPE dressed in white attire of purity -- I think Malaysia's national  system is too CORRUPTED to entrust the government to the chief culprit -- UMNO-oh-No! Kak Wan will be the leader -- with her husband forced by the cruel UMNO regime to spend next five years in jail -- to lead the Opposition Challenge to take ver Putrajaya at the 14th General Election. That goal when realised will be the Ecstasy of all ecstasies in Desi's vocab. Then I may shut my gab and stop cursing the UMNO daylight robbers hooligans day and night! I will do it only inmy sleep, OK! -- YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual

Meanwhile, just keeping you lazy bummers uptodate, copty&pastry from Star Online:~~

Published: Friday May 8, 2015 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Friday May 8, 2015 MYT 8:37:41 AM

PKR retains Permatang Pauh seat but with smaller majority

BUKIT MERTAJAM: PKR has comfortably retained the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in a by-election, but with a smaller majority.
Party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, 62, polled 30,316 votes to beat Barisan Nasional’s Suhaimi Sabudin by 8,841, fewer than the 11,721-majority garnered by her husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the 2013 general election.
Suhaimi, 43, who is Permatang Pauh Umno division secretary, garnered 21,475 votes in the four-cornered fight.
Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s Azman Shah Othman, 50, and independent Salleh Isahak, 53, both lost their RM10,000 deposit after only polling 101 and 367 votes respectively, which were fewer than one-eighth of the votes cast or the minimum required to keep their money. There were 843 spoilt votes.
The results of the by-election was announced at 10.15pm by returning officer Jusni Ismail at the National Youth Skills Institute tallying centre here yesterday.
Clear winner: Wan Azizah and some of her supporters posing for a group photo at the tally centre in Bukit Mertajam.
Clear winner: Wan Azizah and some of her supporters posing for a group photo at the tally centre in Bukit Mertajam.
Dr Wan Azizah, who arrived at the centre at 8.55pm accompanied by PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, said her victory showed that the rakyat, especially the voters of Permatang Pauh, wanted to strengthen Pakatan Rakyat.
“It also shows that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is very much on their minds,” she said. “He is still relevant to the society.
“The result is also a referendum to the Federal Government that they oppose the Goods and Services Tax,” she added.
A DAP division member later presented her with a bouquet of flowers in conjunction with this Sunday’s Mother’s Day.
Meanwhile, Suhaimi expressed sadness but said it was “an eye-opener”.
“I’ll take this by-election as an experience to further expand my political career.
“I thank all those who have supported me and promise that Barisan will continue to serve the people,” said Suhaimi, who was accompanied by his wife Firyal Harlina Napiah, 42.
Barisan by-election director Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said: “We accept the voters’ choice with an open heart, but it was unfortunate that there was commotion in some areas.
“Some parties acted as though there are no laws in the country.”
Also present were Penang Umno chief Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman, Penang Gerakan chairman Teng Chang Yeow and other Barisan leaders.
The turnout in the May 2013 general election was 88.2% from a total electorate of 71,808 compared to almost 74% at yesterday’s by-election from an electorate of 71,890. Anwar polled 37,090 votes against 25,368 garnered by Barisan’s Mazlan Ismail.
Anwar, who is PKR adviser, and his wife have held the seat since 1982 when he first won it on a Barisan ticket.
After Anwar’s arrest in September 1998, Dr Wan Azizah contested and won the seat in the 1999 general election under the then Parti Keadilan Nasional and retained it in the 2004 and 2008 general elections.
She vacated the seat on July 31, 2008, for a by-election which was won by Anwar with a majority of 15,671 votes.
The lowest majority garnered by Dr Wan Azizah was in the 2004 general election when she won by only 590 votes.
Yesterday’s by-election was held following Anwar’s conviction for sodomising his former aide and after an unsuccessful appeal for a royal pardon.




Hays found that just seven per cent of Malaysians would not move abroad for better job prospects, career advancement or better lifestyles. — AFP picHays found that just seven per cent of Malaysians would not move abroad for better job prospects, career advancement or better lifestyles. — AFP picKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Ninety three per cent of Malaysians are prepared to leave the country in search of jobs and experience, according to a new employment survey that has dire implications on Malaysia’s chronic brain drain.
In its regional survey, recruitment firm Hays found that just seven per cent of Malaysians would not move abroad for better job prospects, career advancement or better lifestyles.
This mobility is compounded by a previous Hays study that showed five per cent of the Malaysian workforce exited the country annually, with Singapore being the prime destination.
“The opportunity to gain highly valued international experience is the number one factor driving local talent overseas,” says Christine Wright, managing director of Hays in Asia, said in a statement announcing the results.
“These candidates want to gain a job overseas because employers increasingly value local talent with international experience and an international mindset. These candidates are even more highly valued than expatriates since they combine their Westernised way of thinking and experience of how business is done overseas with local cultural understanding.
According to Wright, the readiness to be geographically mobile was result of the expanding presence of multinationals in the region that require talents with international experience.
Singapore’s workforce was the most mobile, with 97 per cent saying they are ready to move abroad for better opportunities and exposure, while China (96 per cent) and Hong Kong (94 per cent) were second and third.
According to a World Bank report in 2011, the number of skilled Malaysians living abroad rose 300 per cent in the last two decades, with two out of every 10 Malaysians with tertiary education opting to leave for either Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries or Singapore.
The organisation also highlighted a geographic and ethnic component to the talent outflow, with about 88 per cent of the Malaysian diaspora in Singapore being of ethnic Chinese origin.
Worryingly for Malaysia, the World Bank report concluded that these migrants were being replaced by unskilled and uneducated foreigners.
The New Economic Policy (NEP) and other programmes in its vein have been blamed for driving the country’s non-Malays to find an exit, with Singapore being the destination of choice for geographic and cultural reasons.
Hays polled a total of 2,553 job candidates for its survey.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/over-nine-in-10-malaysians-ready-to-quit-country-for-jobs-survey-shows#sthash.iBe88nL5.dpuf

Friday, May 01, 2015

The Esctasy and the Agony of Life

This post to mark Labour Day -- see the First of May anthem above? -- WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN UPLOADED AT THE CRACK OF DAWN, BUT IT'S BOTH A CASE OF MAN PROPOSES, GOD DISPOSES AND THE SPIRIT IS WILLING BUT THE BODY IS ELSEWHERE. IT'S WORKING AT THE BEGINNING AT 11.25pm, YOU AND i BELIEVE IT'S ***BADDER LATE THAN NEBBER, DON'T YOU?

***Spelt thus because I follow my great band   the Beatles' example in how they sing HEY JUDE -- remember the chorus, don't we? >>> So make it it badder, badder, badder...Nah, nah, nah, nah....

Let's go back to the spirit of Bee Gees' FIRST OF MAY:

"When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall we used to love while others used to play..."



We used to be so carefree -- recall your schooldays? I do, and It's awe ESCTASY!

We then don't worry about time, how it flies
Nor about money, that we now term disdainfully aSs Vitamin M
As long as we can scramble a few dollars with our few buddies to but the latest Elvis album
Or if you prefer, Cliff Richard...Yeah, the Onset of ECSTASY!
Because we find Joy in every single matey moment
Where tribe means more than individual, yeah!

(DIGRESSING -- How passe, the present Tech gen may laugh us off!)


But that's how we liked it, simple pleasures from simple wants
Not the same as the presen -- I want this, I want that -- generation

Sight, sigh, how time flies
and ECSTASY JUST SLOWLY RODE INTO THE PORT DICKSON SUNSET For Desi,
I don't know about Thee: where wer you and mateys at that sweet tender age of 11 to 17?
When the pimples first appeared, and the stirrings of romatic youth jest started

WERE WE ALL THE occasional/rare PLAYER AT FIRST LOVE, or JUST the majority/the others lah! who "USED TO PLAY"?

So let's forward 10 years, and we arrived at 21, all ADULT AND MACHO/LADYLIKE
Or some were feeling ADULTERATED and LOOKING INTO THE MIRROR lots of the time?!
Yes, it's the the Onset of AGONY!


.......tO BE CONTINUED AS YET ANOTHER MAYEY CALLS FOR a lABOUR dAY CELEBRATE BEFORE MIDNIGHT!




Hays found that just seven per cent of Malaysians would not move abroad for better job prospects, career advancement or better lifestyles. — AFP picHays found that just seven per cent of Malaysians would not move abroad for better job prospects, career advancement or better lifestyles. — AFP picKUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Ninety three per cent of Malaysians are prepared to leave the country in search of jobs and experience, according to a new employment survey that has dire implications on Malaysia’s chronic brain drain.
In its regional survey, recruitment firm Hays found that just seven per cent of Malaysians would not move abroad for better job prospects, career advancement or better lifestyles.
This mobility is compounded by a previous Hays study that showed five per cent of the Malaysian workforce exited the country annually, with Singapore being the prime destination.
“The opportunity to gain highly valued international experience is the number one factor driving local talent overseas,” says Christine Wright, managing director of Hays in Asia, said in a statement announcing the results.
“These candidates want to gain a job overseas because employers increasingly value local talent with international experience and an international mindset. These candidates are even more highly valued than expatriates since they combine their Westernised way of thinking and experience of how business is done overseas with local cultural understanding.
According to Wright, the readiness to be geographically mobile was result of the expanding presence of multinationals in the region that require talents with international experience.
Singapore’s workforce was the most mobile, with 97 per cent saying they are ready to move abroad for better opportunities and exposure, while China (96 per cent) and Hong Kong (94 per cent) were second and third.
According to a World Bank report in 2011, the number of skilled Malaysians living abroad rose 300 per cent in the last two decades, with two out of every 10 Malaysians with tertiary education opting to leave for either Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries or Singapore.
The organisation also highlighted a geographic and ethnic component to the talent outflow, with about 88 per cent of the Malaysian diaspora in Singapore being of ethnic Chinese origin.
Worryingly for Malaysia, the World Bank report concluded that these migrants were being replaced by unskilled and uneducated foreigners.
The New Economic Policy (NEP) and other programmes in its vein have been blamed for driving the country’s non-Malays to find an exit, with Singapore being the destination of choice for geographic and cultural reasons.
Hays polled a total of 2,553 job candidates for its survey.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/over-nine-in-10-malaysians-ready-to-quit-country-for-jobs-survey-shows#sthash.iBe88nL5.dpuf

CELEBRATE LABOUT DAY WIT' THE bigGEESZ, LIKE CRZY dESI k!

Bee Gees – First Of May Lyrics

When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall,
We used to love while others used to play.
Don't ask me why, but time has passed us by,
Some one else moved in from far away.

[Chorus]
Now we are tall, and Christmas trees are small,
And you don't ask the time of day.
But you and I, our love will never die,
But guess we'll cry come first of May.

The apple tree that grew for you and me,
I watched the apples falling one by one.
And I recall the moment of them all,
The day I kissed your cheek and you were mine.

[Chorus]

When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall,
Do do do do do do do do do,
Don't ask me why, but time has passed us by,
Some one else moved in from far away.
Songwriters: GIBB, BARRY ALAN/GIBB, MAURICE ERNEST/GIBB, ROBIN HUGH