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."
:
:
:
:DESI: You are advised to read the Original article in full, it's educational and good for Sundae's desserts.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
I felt homey at a Reformasi function
Last night's function organised as a Tribute to Reformasi at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall saw a motley crowd of informal Malaysians gathering for an informal event, with attendees dressed most informally. As a journalist, I felt much at home at the Chinese Assembly Hall, not because I am of Chinese descent. I felt very Malaysian indeed because there were a majority of Malaysian Malays, with a good number of Malaysian Indians and other ethic origins well representative of the NegaraKu I love. Understandably in a Tribute organised for the people involved closely with a former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, a majority were from the multi-racial Opposition party spearheading reform and to replace the incumbent-getting-irrelevant Barisan Nasional government. Saudara Anwar (yes, so informal to the extent I hardly hear anyone addressing him as Datuk Seri...) was still as sprightly and spirited as almost ten years ago, leading with "Reformasi" in three loud cries in his short, motivating address. Of course, followed in good time by the fervent supporters' echoes. My estimate there was a crowd of 500-600 Malaysians who came to give credit where credit is due.
I must say the Younger listeners must be awed by the father's apple of the eye when "puteri" Nurul spoke -- with some cute Mandarin spiced rehearsals for the future! -- all too briefly. "Wo Men Xi Yi Jia Ren", I did say i an aside too my companions -- I hope this wish comes near to reality with the coming decade or two (one impatient one says the wait is too "long!":)
I applaud the Organisers for their Salute To the Reformers (too few among us,I must lament), their families and colleagues who wanted to see a reform of what they preceived as a highly corrupt government, failing i its promises of accountability, responsibility and transparency.
I was extremely proud to listen to a young man, still a student, testifying fondly of his father's small role in the Reformasi process, having been victim to the Internal Security Act and paying a high, and yet worth in the family's eyes, for his principles and convictions, spending six years at Kamunting. Yes, a few droplets did follow the law of gravity well observed by Sir Isaac Newton. I had to write this reference because of an Email I just read, but you're not privi to know. But the freeluncher did not see the watery speck in my eyes, also johnleemk of the I-I-I-connection. If some ER do not see through these few lines, the fault is entirely mine. See the aweof Helen if you need to understand the DDC. "Helen Jie2, my H2O -- don't compare with the AP queenie's flood, K!"
Another testimony worthy of note came from a fellow journalist (the late) MGG Pillai's son, Sreejit, who recalled that his father had always believed in the POWER OF THE WORD. Yes, worth rreppeating ~~ The pen is mightier than the sword. Many Malaysians have exceeede the scribe's expectations, for in Sreejit's recollectionm his Pa had told hime he would have been delighted if he could, via his writings, cause some change (or understanding) in just one reader's mind of the issues that he wrote about. Indeed, many Young Malaysians must thank this Towering Malaysian, a pioneer in online journalism and Blogging - for touching their lives, Yes?
Anwar did speak a few words, but I shall not detail lest I be accused of being a partisan Blogger which I try not to. But frankly, I always believe when it comes to NegaraKu, one can't help but be involved in partisan politics up to a certain level IF YOU WISH TO MAKE A DISCERNIBLE DIFFERENCE.However minuscule the droplet of difference.
Yesterdie, I promised an offering on "No Holes Bared". Now YOU go obediently to 2020freelunch.blogspot.com and hopefoolly, you get a dish of No Holds Barred. She may even spring a SIRprise lie on thee, blinkered ones who did not accept our INVITE to free bytes, lust night. Your loss, not ours, thine not divine.
PS: Just for the record, I am happy to report it was illuminating in catching up with one buddhist "The Monk" Stanley KohI kept addressing this "LOST" for a decade! friend as Stanley Ho (my 20million must be on my mind!). I must also mention with gladness so she won't blog madness about Desi! one Elizabeth Wong, a sometimes colleague once upon a dime but always activistic as the vista allowed, or aloud; johnleemk's Senior, Dr Lee JIn, an ENVIRONMENTALIST expert!; and in my eyes, two seasoned and truly-committed MALAYSIAN REFORMISTS, Dr Syed Husin Ali, and his brother Syed Hamid. As promised, I bought freelunch (finally!) A* kopiSuaraKeadlian and half-tehtarik-edKOPI to johnleemk, cheapskate that Desi is, and hear I am.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As an aside, but relevant to the currrent political landscape in great flux, I
serve thee late lunch, mamybe stale, from an archived years-old write:
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in his 22 years reign as helmsman of Malaysia, very much as a one-man show, has also seen the country through many good, and bad, and ugly, times. The most tumultuous event would, in my humble opinion, be the "sacking of Anwar Ibrahim" as the deputy premier and as deputy president of UMNO, which was followed by a series of "strange events" in the courts, and in the streets of Kuala Lumpur. For me as a journalist, these events amounted to what I'd term as "rude awakenings"; but there was not much room for putting down in words one's feelings of bewilderment and outrage at these events. Most just watched with a sense of resignation at the unfolding drama; many termed it as "sandiwara" (Malay opera), but these "shows" at least stirred many Malaysians from their life-goes-on-as-usual life-style. For once, many became more politically conscious, if not active, and they asked questions, if not in public, at least at the teh-tarik stall or higher class coffee-house, or at their favourite water-hole. People began to wonder what's happening, and where are we, as a nation, headed? Featured here is one poem composed during these interesting times, relating to the then unfolding, mainly political, events:
It Gets Curiouser and Curiouser
When I was young I was told
Spinning a story you must be bold
But it still must have a beginning
And an ending, and somethin' in between
But lately my motherland
Gave birth to very strange events
The cycle was like a record
Being played out from the end
Remember Michael Jackson's video clip
When uprooted trees regained their standing stature
Dried up safari land became green pastures
And elephant carcasses stood majestically alive again
It gets curiouser and curiouser
As was observed in Alice in Wonderland
And events in Malaysia the past decade
Closely mirror Lewis Carroll's rich imaginings
The story purportedly started in September 1998
As many Anwarists would want you to believe
That Reformasi was galvanized
When the deputy PM was excised from the head
But my friends, be reminded
It was way back on a May Day in '88
When the court sat on a holy day
A panel of junior judges sacked their chief
Salleh Abas Lord President was dismissed in a jiffy
But then DPM Anwar Ibrahim held his tongue
A decade later with one fell swoop
Anwar became a lauded victim in the vicious loop
Reformasi Anwar started, his loyalists proclaim
They forgot Salleh and his Brave Ones
Who stood their ground for justice
They indeed were the unheralded Originals
Reformation is not only taking to the streets
It's changing of the mindset
What became of the Judiciary following Salleh?
It was downhill all the way
It led the country's leading judicious mind
The late Tun Suffian Hashim to lament in 2000:
"I wouldn't like to be tried by today's judges,
Especially if I am innocent.*
*Quoted from a speech on March 10, 2000 that the former Lord President delivered at a Bar commemoration for the late Justice Tan Sri Wan Sulaiman.
ADDED ON @3.45PM AS FODDER FOR THOUGHT, the food ran off with freelunch!:
It was a long night and day (started at 6.00pm Fridie and ending at 12.245AM Saturdady). There is a Young Mind full of Reformasi Thinking -- I wish there is aMORE of such Young& Articulate Malaysians around. So from infernalramblings.uni.cc. see if you can help speed up that paradign shift.
The Death of Malaysia
Home >> Articles >> Malaysian Socio-Politics >> The Death of Malaysia
Malaysia is at a crossroads, and it the generation of all Malaysians presently living who will decide which route we take. Will we choose the path to infinite ignominy, or the highway to permanent prosperity? We must stand up for change, because if we wait for our children to do so, it will be far too late. Now is the time for political change.
Written by johnleemk on 10:21:01 am Jan 22, 2007. Discuss the Death of Malaysia at the forums.
A message I have been continually attempting to communicate through this site, ever since its inception, is that it's time for a paradigm shift in Malaysian politics. I am not just talking about changing from a race-based view to a non-racial conception of leadership, nor am I spouting mere rhetoric about greater unity in the opposition. What I am talking about is simple: kicking Barisan Nasional out of power. Nothing less. "
DESI: Engage him, John not soLittle, at his site. I am only an overworked, underpaid messenger boy messing up some infernal minds, my own too, and yours too if you don't guard it with your life.
But I revive from my grave of another rambling for sharing if you have the time. I offer no dime either, as I was never the Finance Minister.The poem was composed some years back, when we were younger and gayer . with passing time, some of us have moved forward, a large section has just moved on, not knowing it's forward or backward; but a "dangerous" section has been moving the country towards the Abyss. No wonder johnleemk titled his article "The Death of Malaysia".
I must say the Younger listeners must be awed by the father's apple of the eye when "puteri" Nurul spoke -- with some cute Mandarin spiced rehearsals for the future! -- all too briefly. "Wo Men Xi Yi Jia Ren", I did say i an aside too my companions -- I hope this wish comes near to reality with the coming decade or two (one impatient one says the wait is too "long!":)
I applaud the Organisers for their Salute To the Reformers (too few among us,I must lament), their families and colleagues who wanted to see a reform of what they preceived as a highly corrupt government, failing i its promises of accountability, responsibility and transparency.
I was extremely proud to listen to a young man, still a student, testifying fondly of his father's small role in the Reformasi process, having been victim to the Internal Security Act and paying a high, and yet worth in the family's eyes, for his principles and convictions, spending six years at Kamunting. Yes, a few droplets did follow the law of gravity well observed by Sir Isaac Newton. I had to write this reference because of an Email I just read, but you're not privi to know. But the freeluncher did not see the watery speck in my eyes, also johnleemk of the I-I-I-connection. If some ER do not see through these few lines, the fault is entirely mine. See the aweof Helen if you need to understand the DDC. "Helen Jie2, my H2O -- don't compare with the AP queenie's flood, K!"
Another testimony worthy of note came from a fellow journalist (the late) MGG Pillai's son, Sreejit, who recalled that his father had always believed in the POWER OF THE WORD. Yes, worth rreppeating ~~ The pen is mightier than the sword. Many Malaysians have exceeede the scribe's expectations, for in Sreejit's recollectionm his Pa had told hime he would have been delighted if he could, via his writings, cause some change (or understanding) in just one reader's mind of the issues that he wrote about. Indeed, many Young Malaysians must thank this Towering Malaysian, a pioneer in online journalism and Blogging - for touching their lives, Yes?
Anwar did speak a few words, but I shall not detail lest I be accused of being a partisan Blogger which I try not to. But frankly, I always believe when it comes to NegaraKu, one can't help but be involved in partisan politics up to a certain level IF YOU WISH TO MAKE A DISCERNIBLE DIFFERENCE.However minuscule the droplet of difference.
Yesterdie, I promised an offering on "No Holes Bared". Now YOU go obediently to 2020freelunch.blogspot.com and hopefoolly, you get a dish of No Holds Barred. She may even spring a SIRprise lie on thee, blinkered ones who did not accept our INVITE to free bytes, lust night. Your loss, not ours, thine not divine.
PS: Just for the record, I am happy to report it was illuminating in catching up with one buddhist "The Monk" Stanley KohI kept addressing this "LOST" for a decade! friend as Stanley Ho (my 20million must be on my mind!). I must also mention with gladness so she won't blog madness about Desi! one Elizabeth Wong, a sometimes colleague once upon a dime but always activistic as the vista allowed, or aloud; johnleemk's Senior, Dr Lee JIn, an ENVIRONMENTALIST expert!; and in my eyes, two seasoned and truly-committed MALAYSIAN REFORMISTS, Dr Syed Husin Ali, and his brother Syed Hamid. As promised, I bought freelunch (finally!) A* kopiSuaraKeadlian and half-tehtarik-edKOPI to johnleemk, cheapskate that Desi is, and hear I am.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As an aside, but relevant to the currrent political landscape in great flux, I
serve thee late lunch, mamybe stale, from an archived years-old write:
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in his 22 years reign as helmsman of Malaysia, very much as a one-man show, has also seen the country through many good, and bad, and ugly, times. The most tumultuous event would, in my humble opinion, be the "sacking of Anwar Ibrahim" as the deputy premier and as deputy president of UMNO, which was followed by a series of "strange events" in the courts, and in the streets of Kuala Lumpur. For me as a journalist, these events amounted to what I'd term as "rude awakenings"; but there was not much room for putting down in words one's feelings of bewilderment and outrage at these events. Most just watched with a sense of resignation at the unfolding drama; many termed it as "sandiwara" (Malay opera), but these "shows" at least stirred many Malaysians from their life-goes-on-as-usual life-style. For once, many became more politically conscious, if not active, and they asked questions, if not in public, at least at the teh-tarik stall or higher class coffee-house, or at their favourite water-hole. People began to wonder what's happening, and where are we, as a nation, headed? Featured here is one poem composed during these interesting times, relating to the then unfolding, mainly political, events:
It Gets Curiouser and Curiouser
When I was young I was told
Spinning a story you must be bold
But it still must have a beginning
And an ending, and somethin' in between
But lately my motherland
Gave birth to very strange events
The cycle was like a record
Being played out from the end
Remember Michael Jackson's video clip
When uprooted trees regained their standing stature
Dried up safari land became green pastures
And elephant carcasses stood majestically alive again
It gets curiouser and curiouser
As was observed in Alice in Wonderland
And events in Malaysia the past decade
Closely mirror Lewis Carroll's rich imaginings
The story purportedly started in September 1998
As many Anwarists would want you to believe
That Reformasi was galvanized
When the deputy PM was excised from the head
But my friends, be reminded
It was way back on a May Day in '88
When the court sat on a holy day
A panel of junior judges sacked their chief
Salleh Abas Lord President was dismissed in a jiffy
But then DPM Anwar Ibrahim held his tongue
A decade later with one fell swoop
Anwar became a lauded victim in the vicious loop
Reformasi Anwar started, his loyalists proclaim
They forgot Salleh and his Brave Ones
Who stood their ground for justice
They indeed were the unheralded Originals
Reformation is not only taking to the streets
It's changing of the mindset
What became of the Judiciary following Salleh?
It was downhill all the way
It led the country's leading judicious mind
The late Tun Suffian Hashim to lament in 2000:
"I wouldn't like to be tried by today's judges,
Especially if I am innocent.*
*Quoted from a speech on March 10, 2000 that the former Lord President delivered at a Bar commemoration for the late Justice Tan Sri Wan Sulaiman.
ADDED ON @3.45PM AS FODDER FOR THOUGHT, the food ran off with freelunch!:
It was a long night and day (started at 6.00pm Fridie and ending at 12.245AM Saturdady). There is a Young Mind full of Reformasi Thinking -- I wish there is aMORE of such Young& Articulate Malaysians around. So from infernalramblings.uni.cc. see if you can help speed up that paradign shift.
The Death of Malaysia
Home >> Articles >> Malaysian Socio-Politics >> The Death of Malaysia
Malaysia is at a crossroads, and it the generation of all Malaysians presently living who will decide which route we take. Will we choose the path to infinite ignominy, or the highway to permanent prosperity? We must stand up for change, because if we wait for our children to do so, it will be far too late. Now is the time for political change.
Written by johnleemk on 10:21:01 am Jan 22, 2007. Discuss the Death of Malaysia at the forums.
A message I have been continually attempting to communicate through this site, ever since its inception, is that it's time for a paradigm shift in Malaysian politics. I am not just talking about changing from a race-based view to a non-racial conception of leadership, nor am I spouting mere rhetoric about greater unity in the opposition. What I am talking about is simple: kicking Barisan Nasional out of power. Nothing less. "
DESI: Engage him, John not soLittle, at his site. I am only an overworked, underpaid messenger boy messing up some infernal minds, my own too, and yours too if you don't guard it with your life.
But I revive from my grave of another rambling for sharing if you have the time. I offer no dime either, as I was never the Finance Minister.The poem was composed some years back, when we were younger and gayer . with passing time, some of us have moved forward, a large section has just moved on, not knowing it's forward or backward; but a "dangerous" section has been moving the country towards the Abyss. No wonder johnleemk titled his article "The Death of Malaysia".
Friday, January 26, 2007
One mGf Shares My Apprehension
Several of mGf (short for myGOODfriend, both in the singular or plural)have expressed via email about their apprehension at the goings-on in blogosphere here arising from the defamation suits against two fellow Bloggers, JeffOoi of Screenshots and Ahiruddin Attan of Rockybru.
As a journalist of two decades-plus experience, I am thankful to Jeff for inspiring many of us to take to Blogging, and I am sympathetic to his plight in the spirit of solidarirty with a member of this relatively "young" Fifth Estate, compared with the rivals he and Rocky are facing from a mainstream press, member of the longer-termed Fourth Estate. At the same time, I urge my EsteemedReaders not to comment unnecessarily (esp speculatively) on the two suits as some counsel, rightly in my humble opinion, had raised the point of "sub-judice", and even at this stage we are "not privi" to the 13 articles referred to by the plaintiffs in Jeff's case, and the 48 Posts in Rockybru's.
***Reference: THe Star page N28 today headed:
Blogger applies to strike out suit
Plaintiffs' statement of claims fatally deficient, says Ahirudin****
Back to johnlee's Post, here goes, bear with him because I am only a willing, okay, I'm also the endorsing, pro bono mind YOU!, messenger. I hope to confirm that, at the same time I pray some of our lawyers involved are rendering pro bono services to the two Bloggers involved.
My apprehension was publicised in my post on
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Joining the Bloggers' Bandwagon... ,
Extract~~
Desi feels a little discomforted -- maybe "apprehensive" is the better word -- when I surfed to WalhWithUs linked via Jeff Ooi's update yesterday (I read him daily to hear from one of two horses' mouth -- the other being RockyBru) the developments concerning the NSTP et al's defamation suits against the two fellow Bloggers now making waves beyond the Malacca Straits and South China Sea.
Do I have grounds for my "apprehension"?
YOU -- Time's PRSON OF THE YEAR 2006! -- decide.
_______________________________________________
And one Y&A johnleemk has decided. And I hereby reprise his +Comment posted in the steal of lust night, and the referred ++"Summary" relevant to this morning's discussion (Go read in FULL HIS SUPERB ARTICULATION in his own Blog @infernalramblings.uni.cc. If you don't follow this knightly command, it's YOUR LOSS, not mine, your mind:).
+
"desi, I was absolutely astonished to see this nonsense about Pak Lah's comments on the rule of law being used to interfere with the judicial process. It's absolutely ridiculous. As I said, how on earth could you read Pak Lah's comments in that way? All he did was state that the law applies to bloggers as well - not that Jeff or Rocky are guilty, or that they should be found guilty. All he said was that bloggers (not even referring to any specific ones) are not above the law. How is this wrong?
By johnleemk, at 12:05 AM "
++
Abdullah's Comments: Don't Interfere with the Judiciary's Independence
Home >> Articles >> Malaysian Socio-Politics >>
(EXECUTIVE SUMMARY)
Apparently, some people are trying to nail Abdullah for ostensibly interfering with the judiciary and passing judgement on a case in contempt of court, simply because he made a simple truistic statement about the rule of law. This kind of commentary makes bloggers look bad, because anyone with a reasonable brain can see that all Abdullah did was defend the rule of law - something unfortunately done by the government only when it benefits them.
(The PM had commented to the media in London:)
"We do not censor the Internet and that’s our policy, but they (bloggers) must understand that there are also laws on defamation and sedition. These laws are enforced. They should bear in mind that they cannot hide and they cannot take advantage of doing something against the law. The law is the law. They cannot hide and hope to be protected under some kind of a cover or whatever they think that they have. And if you want freedom, what is freedom without responsibility? I don't agree with freedom without responsibility. Freedom without responsibility is anarchy."
(Johnleemk's take, partial extracts only only; emphasis in BOLD THUS is Desi's.)
"Actually, it is being irresponsible. This is actually one of the more sensible things to have proceeded from Pak Lah's mouth during his administration. I don't see how anyone could disagree with this - certainly Jeff hasn't, since he has prominently placed a notice at the end of each one of his postings about how "INTERNET does not operate in a legal vacuum." The laws on defamation and sedition apply to the internet just as much as they apply to any other medium. (However, there is, as Pak Lah noted, significantly more freedom of speech on the internet because it is not subject to draconian censorship laws such as the Printing Presses &Publications Act.)
I don't think the bloggers supporting Jeff and Rocky would disagree with this statement. Nevertheless, they seem intent on using it to whack Abdullah nonetheless, claiming: Abdullah is an interested party in the defamation suits filed against the two bloggers, and their cases are pending. As such, Abdullah should have refrained from invoking defamation and sedition to incriminate the subject of his comments, and to subtly coerce the Judiciary to prosecute the defendants whose are still at their early stage.
Anyone denying that Abdullah is an interested party in the case would be out of her mind. Abdullah, as the bloggers note, is the President of UMNO which controls the NSTP through a long and convoluted chain of holding companies and conglomerates. However, I find the other assertions highly incredulous and difficult to swallow.
Let's look at the first one - that "Abdullah should have refrained from invoking defamation and sedition to incriminate the subject of his comments". Read his original comment again. Does this sound like he is incriminating the bloggers? He doesn't even sound like he is speaking about Jeff and Rocky in particular - he seems to be addressing the blogosphere as a collective.
Does Pak Lah say "Jeff and Rocky have committed defamation", or even that "Some bloggers have committed defamation"? No. All he says is that we have laws concerning defamation and sedition, that these laws apply to the internet, and that we must respect the rule of law. That's it. How is this even subtly accusing the bloggers concerned of defamation or sedition?
Indeed, this is probably the kind of truism any other Prime Minister would spout if he were placed in a similar situation. "
:
:
:
Written by johnleemk on 10:09:38 am Jan 25, 2007. "
________________________________
One more extract and additional notes from my Wednesday's post~~
"Desi is reproducing his humble Comment made yesterday (Jan 23, 2007) at the said referred site ("WalkWithUs") because I truly feel this subject is of utmost concern to ALL BLOGGERS -- veteran, few years old like Desi, newbies alike -- and I stress that my views are just One Concerned Blogger's, and there is enough room for diversity and divergence of opinions. As I posted earlier: "Blogger's Spectrum as Diverse as Journalists'"
My said Comment (ylchong Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
January 23rd, 2007 at 2:39 pm )time 2.39pm at host's site timeline has NOT appeared as at Jan 26, 2007 as I am penning this Post at this time of checking @10.45AM Jan 26, 2007 and I had just RE-sent it with a PS added:
I am now also apprehensive maybe my Comment was BANNED?
Following my taiko's credo,
THINKING ALLOWED, THINKING ALOUD.
and for Desiderata2000's archival note in:
FOR THE RECORD~~
"ylchong Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
January 23rd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Atan are actual persons who dare to reveal true IDs. Any initiative on their Cause also must reveal their true IDs, otherwise what standards are you following o=if not these TWO LEADERS?
You guys state as if we Bloggers in Malaysia are caught in a Cloak&Dagger situation, to wit:
“Admittedly, we are gripped in a total state of fear, and no one can trust no one. You may not even want to trust us, which is perfectly sensible and understandable. But knowing this country, we simply can’t take chances.”
Take a look in the mirror, you already have planted the seeds of fear and suspicion where in the first instance, there was NONE with me as a blogger who was inspired by Jeff and I started blogging 1-3/4years ago with my ID fully revealed.
I throw back this challenge to you: Show true grit, otherwise, cease and desisit because you can not rise to the clalenge (dilemma) faced by the owners of Screenshots (Jeff) and RockyBru.
PS: I’m RE-sending this (with original copy, typos and all!) as my first one did NOT appear since first posting. Hope I’m lucky second time around.~~ Desi
_____________________________________________
DESI: Am updating this current issue on an urgent basis "on the run todie". Things are in a state of flux. Indeed, these are challenging times for all bloggers, and I wish these are also "interesting times" for some APs out there. If you have to ask "What APs?", you obviously don't want to know and such times better not involve thee. But if you still need to satisfy thy hunger pangs, email me @chongyl2000@yahoo.com, preferably with that cheque...mayhaps? May Day, May Die!
WATCH THIS SPACE TOMORROW as I share some INTI-matey confidential details about my writing journey. Borrowing from RPK's motto, adapted slightly: NO HOLES BARED.
PPS: Am i seeing YOU at the Chinese Assembly Hall for freebies tonight?
And that's not directed at ProjectPetalingStreet, dumbo:(
As a journalist of two decades-plus experience, I am thankful to Jeff for inspiring many of us to take to Blogging, and I am sympathetic to his plight in the spirit of solidarirty with a member of this relatively "young" Fifth Estate, compared with the rivals he and Rocky are facing from a mainstream press, member of the longer-termed Fourth Estate. At the same time, I urge my EsteemedReaders not to comment unnecessarily (esp speculatively) on the two suits as some counsel, rightly in my humble opinion, had raised the point of "sub-judice", and even at this stage we are "not privi" to the 13 articles referred to by the plaintiffs in Jeff's case, and the 48 Posts in Rockybru's.
***Reference: THe Star page N28 today headed:
Blogger applies to strike out suit
Plaintiffs' statement of claims fatally deficient, says Ahirudin****
Back to johnlee's Post, here goes, bear with him because I am only a willing, okay, I'm also the endorsing, pro bono mind YOU!, messenger. I hope to confirm that, at the same time I pray some of our lawyers involved are rendering pro bono services to the two Bloggers involved.
My apprehension was publicised in my post on
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Joining the Bloggers' Bandwagon... ,
Extract~~
Desi feels a little discomforted -- maybe "apprehensive" is the better word -- when I surfed to WalhWithUs linked via Jeff Ooi's update yesterday (I read him daily to hear from one of two horses' mouth -- the other being RockyBru) the developments concerning the NSTP et al's defamation suits against the two fellow Bloggers now making waves beyond the Malacca Straits and South China Sea.
Do I have grounds for my "apprehension"?
YOU -- Time's PRSON OF THE YEAR 2006! -- decide.
_______________________________________________
And one Y&A johnleemk has decided. And I hereby reprise his +Comment posted in the steal of lust night, and the referred ++"Summary" relevant to this morning's discussion (Go read in FULL HIS SUPERB ARTICULATION in his own Blog @infernalramblings.uni.cc. If you don't follow this knightly command, it's YOUR LOSS, not mine, your mind:).
+
"desi, I was absolutely astonished to see this nonsense about Pak Lah's comments on the rule of law being used to interfere with the judicial process. It's absolutely ridiculous. As I said, how on earth could you read Pak Lah's comments in that way? All he did was state that the law applies to bloggers as well - not that Jeff or Rocky are guilty, or that they should be found guilty. All he said was that bloggers (not even referring to any specific ones) are not above the law. How is this wrong?
By johnleemk, at 12:05 AM "
++
Abdullah's Comments: Don't Interfere with the Judiciary's Independence
Home >> Articles >> Malaysian Socio-Politics >>
(EXECUTIVE SUMMARY)
Apparently, some people are trying to nail Abdullah for ostensibly interfering with the judiciary and passing judgement on a case in contempt of court, simply because he made a simple truistic statement about the rule of law. This kind of commentary makes bloggers look bad, because anyone with a reasonable brain can see that all Abdullah did was defend the rule of law - something unfortunately done by the government only when it benefits them.
(The PM had commented to the media in London:)
"We do not censor the Internet and that’s our policy, but they (bloggers) must understand that there are also laws on defamation and sedition. These laws are enforced. They should bear in mind that they cannot hide and they cannot take advantage of doing something against the law. The law is the law. They cannot hide and hope to be protected under some kind of a cover or whatever they think that they have. And if you want freedom, what is freedom without responsibility? I don't agree with freedom without responsibility. Freedom without responsibility is anarchy."
(Johnleemk's take, partial extracts only only; emphasis in BOLD THUS is Desi's.)
"Actually, it is being irresponsible. This is actually one of the more sensible things to have proceeded from Pak Lah's mouth during his administration. I don't see how anyone could disagree with this - certainly Jeff hasn't, since he has prominently placed a notice at the end of each one of his postings about how "INTERNET does not operate in a legal vacuum." The laws on defamation and sedition apply to the internet just as much as they apply to any other medium. (However, there is, as Pak Lah noted, significantly more freedom of speech on the internet because it is not subject to draconian censorship laws such as the Printing Presses &Publications Act.)
I don't think the bloggers supporting Jeff and Rocky would disagree with this statement. Nevertheless, they seem intent on using it to whack Abdullah nonetheless, claiming: Abdullah is an interested party in the defamation suits filed against the two bloggers, and their cases are pending. As such, Abdullah should have refrained from invoking defamation and sedition to incriminate the subject of his comments, and to subtly coerce the Judiciary to prosecute the defendants whose are still at their early stage.
Anyone denying that Abdullah is an interested party in the case would be out of her mind. Abdullah, as the bloggers note, is the President of UMNO which controls the NSTP through a long and convoluted chain of holding companies and conglomerates. However, I find the other assertions highly incredulous and difficult to swallow.
Let's look at the first one - that "Abdullah should have refrained from invoking defamation and sedition to incriminate the subject of his comments". Read his original comment again. Does this sound like he is incriminating the bloggers? He doesn't even sound like he is speaking about Jeff and Rocky in particular - he seems to be addressing the blogosphere as a collective.
Does Pak Lah say "Jeff and Rocky have committed defamation", or even that "Some bloggers have committed defamation"? No. All he says is that we have laws concerning defamation and sedition, that these laws apply to the internet, and that we must respect the rule of law. That's it. How is this even subtly accusing the bloggers concerned of defamation or sedition?
Indeed, this is probably the kind of truism any other Prime Minister would spout if he were placed in a similar situation. "
:
:
:
Written by johnleemk on 10:09:38 am Jan 25, 2007. "
________________________________
One more extract and additional notes from my Wednesday's post~~
"Desi is reproducing his humble Comment made yesterday (Jan 23, 2007) at the said referred site ("WalkWithUs") because I truly feel this subject is of utmost concern to ALL BLOGGERS -- veteran, few years old like Desi, newbies alike -- and I stress that my views are just One Concerned Blogger's, and there is enough room for diversity and divergence of opinions. As I posted earlier: "Blogger's Spectrum as Diverse as Journalists'"
My said Comment (ylchong Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
January 23rd, 2007 at 2:39 pm )time 2.39pm at host's site timeline has NOT appeared as at Jan 26, 2007 as I am penning this Post at this time of checking @10.45AM Jan 26, 2007 and I had just RE-sent it with a PS added:
I am now also apprehensive maybe my Comment was BANNED?
Following my taiko's credo,
THINKING ALLOWED, THINKING ALOUD.
and for Desiderata2000's archival note in:
FOR THE RECORD~~
"ylchong Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
January 23rd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Atan are actual persons who dare to reveal true IDs. Any initiative on their Cause also must reveal their true IDs, otherwise what standards are you following o=if not these TWO LEADERS?
You guys state as if we Bloggers in Malaysia are caught in a Cloak&Dagger situation, to wit:
“Admittedly, we are gripped in a total state of fear, and no one can trust no one. You may not even want to trust us, which is perfectly sensible and understandable. But knowing this country, we simply can’t take chances.”
Take a look in the mirror, you already have planted the seeds of fear and suspicion where in the first instance, there was NONE with me as a blogger who was inspired by Jeff and I started blogging 1-3/4years ago with my ID fully revealed.
I throw back this challenge to you: Show true grit, otherwise, cease and desisit because you can not rise to the clalenge (dilemma) faced by the owners of Screenshots (Jeff) and RockyBru.
PS: I’m RE-sending this (with original copy, typos and all!) as my first one did NOT appear since first posting. Hope I’m lucky second time around.~~ Desi
_____________________________________________
DESI: Am updating this current issue on an urgent basis "on the run todie". Things are in a state of flux. Indeed, these are challenging times for all bloggers, and I wish these are also "interesting times" for some APs out there. If you have to ask "What APs?", you obviously don't want to know and such times better not involve thee. But if you still need to satisfy thy hunger pangs, email me @chongyl2000@yahoo.com, preferably with that cheque...mayhaps? May Day, May Die!
WATCH THIS SPACE TOMORROW as I share some INTI-matey confidential details about my writing journey. Borrowing from RPK's motto, adapted slightly: NO HOLES BARED.
PPS: Am i seeing YOU at the Chinese Assembly Hall for freebies tonight?
And that's not directed at ProjectPetalingStreet, dumbo:(
China Over-flushed with Vitamin M
The article by PY CHIN first appeared in TheSundayPost Jan 21, 2007.
CHINA IN ENVIOUS POISITION OF HAVING TOO MUCH MONEY
Each day China's coffers are ballooning with billions
of US dollars, as its foreign exchange reserves keep
piling up, without any stoppers in sight. By
end-October 2006, its reserves passed the USD1
trillion mark; and soon by end of this year, the US$2
trillion-mark will be broken with ease. The rising
reserves are having a tremendous effect on its
currency, the yuan, which has not stopped appreciating
since it was floated.
By P.Y. Chin
Email: py1818@yahoo.com
Last week, China announced three sets of statistics --
two whose figures broke the US$1 trillion (RM3.5
trillion) mark; and the third chalking up an
astonishing record.
The first statistic was that shares on the
Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges were more than
tripled in value, reaching a total of US$1.01 trillion
(RM3.55 trillion) as of last Thursday's close.
With this, China is now the third-biggest stock
market in Asia by value, after Japan with USD4.8
trillion (RM17 trillion) and Hong Kong with USD2.1
trillion (RM7.4 trillion). The US stock market, at
USD17.4 trillion (RM61 trillion), is the world's
biggest.
At USD1.01 trillion, according to Bloomberg
data, China's stock market is equal to 46% of the
value of its economy, which is worth US$2.2 trillion
(RM8 trillion). Comparatively, the US stock market is
equalled to 126% of its economy while the Hong Kong
stock market is 649% of its economy.
The second statistic was announced by Beijing's
central bank earlier this wee that its reserves stood
at USD1.0663 trillion at the end of December 2006, up
more than 30% from one year earlier, making China the
first country officially to top the USD1 trillion mark
as well as the country with the world's largest forex
reserves.
The third landmark statistic was that China's trade
surplus which ballooned 74% last year to a record
USD177.5 billion (RM622bil), up from USD102bil
(RM357bil) in 2005.
All these three statistics produced an immediate
effect on China's currency, yuan -- pushing it with
ease for the first time in 13 years right through the
psychological barrier of the Hong Kong fixed peg of
HK$7.80 to the US dollar.
In forex trading rooms, the yuan was traded at
HK$7.7935 to the US dollar at the Thursday's close
last week. It had since recovered, but stayed a
whisker below the HK$7.80 mark.
There was of course loud expressions of great
consternation within the corridors of the offices of
Hong Kong's monetary authorities and forex traders'
trading rooms.
A debate began to emerge as to whether the
existing peg of the HK dollar to the US dollar would
remain, and whether the yuan would replace the HK
dollar as the official currency unit in the colony.
The HK dollar-US dollar peg has been in place
since Oct 17, 1983, after the currency plunged 48%
against the US dollar for the previous nine years as
China publicly asserted its claim to have Hong Kong
back in its fold.
The British, who was in control of Hong Kong
then, sought to boost confidence in the currency,
retained the peg during talks with China on the return
of the colony to Chinese rule targeted for 1997.
Since 1983, the HK dollar-US dollar peg had
managed to remain stable despite the 1987 Black Monday
worldwide stock market crash, and later when Hong Kong
was officially handed over to China in 1997.
During the Asian financial crisis in 1997, to
keep the peg, Hong Kong monetary authorities fought
off an attack from currency speculators on the HK
dollar by buying USD15bil (RM53bil) worth of shares on
the HK stock exchange.
In response to the yuan breaking the 23-year-old
peg, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), which in
essence is the colony's central bank, was quick to say
that "any change will rock investor confidence".
The HKMA added: "The government has no intention
to change the linked exchange rate system, which
continues to serve Hong Kong well."
HKMA's firm stand is understandable as it has
all along insisted that the HK dollar-US dollar peg
would not be dropped, and that there would be nothing
to be gained from any change. At the same time, for
the last three years it had tried to stop the HK
dollar's appreciation.
This means the peg will continue to remain for
some time to come. HKMA chief Joseph Yam was quoted to
have said months before the breakthrough that "the
yuan reaching 7.80 is just a psychological level that
will not play a role in setting Hong Kong's currency
policy."
Indeed, official policy of the HKMA prevents its
currency from trading more than 5 HK cents either side
of HK$7.80 to the US dollar.
Despite the firm commitment of the HKMA, many
currency traders are expecting the peg to end next
year, according to a Bloomberg survey of 10 currency
strategists in Hong Kong recently. The strategists had
also forecast a rate of HK$7.20 to the US dollar by
2010 after the peg is removed.
But what's significant was that last week, China
allowed for the first time, yuan-denominated bonds
outside China, which HKMA's Jospeh Yam commented:
"This is the first step for the yuan moving towards
the international stage." Others see it as a first
step towards the yuan's full convertibility.
With the yuan now slightly more expensive than
the HK dollar (the exchange rate was 1.0004 yuan to
the HK dollar last Thursday), the first to benefit are
the mainland tourists in the colony. Already,
retailers in Hong Kong had last week started to accept
the yuan for payment in addition to the Hong Kong
dollar from mainland Chinese.
The rise in the value of the yuan is also
reversing a trend where Hong Kong people have been
used to travelling across to mainland China for cheap
goods and services. Now, mainland Chinese may find it
cheaper to buy goods and services in the colony.
One other point: The rising value of the yuan
could in due course stoke the fires of inflation in
the colony as the bulk of Hong Kong's basic food items
are imported from mainland China. With a more costly
yuan, the prices of these foodstuffs could go up.
The rise in the value of the yuan is not
unprecedented. Nor has the rise been unexpected.
In the last few years China's economy has been
growing at unprecedented rate of an average of 9 to
10% a year. The US and European governments have
consistently maintained their stand that the yuan is
under-valued. They have kept pressing China to make
its exchange rate of the yuan more flexible to reflect
such an economic scenario.
China continued resisting the external
pressures, until the middle of 2005, when the intense
debate over China's currency and foreign exchange
policies reached its height. Finally, on July 21,
2005, the People's Bank of China, which in essence is
China's central bank, abolished the peg and allowed
the yuan to float against a basket of currencies.
For decades the yuan was pegged at a fixed rate
to the US dollar. Now, the float resulted in a virtual
revaluation of the yuan by 2.1% to 8.11 yuan to the US
dollar.
But that was not enough. A 3% appreciation of
the yuan followed over the following year. And 18
months from the day of the float, the yuan had
strengthened a total of 5.6% against the US dollar.
Even that was not enough. The yuan continued its
strong advance, and by last week when it broke through
the HK$7.80 to the US dollar barrier, it had gone up a
further 6.2% on the top of the 2.1% virtual rise at
the time it was floated.
According to a study, the yuan is still on its
climb with much room upwards. This year, the study
estimates, the yuan will add a further 3 to 4% against
the US dollar, taking it to a rate of 7.5 yuan to the
US dollar at the end of this year from the present
7.8.
This prompted a foreign currency trader
operating in China to comment: "The gains reflect a
fast and amazing assimilation of capitalist culture."
Despite the additional increase, the US and
European governments still insist that the yuan is
"still cheap and under-valued", and that there should
be a greater revaluation as well as greater
flexibility in the exchange rate mechanism.
At present the yuan is not easily convertible
into US dollar or any other foreign currencies. The
People's Bank of China has also very tightly
controlled the margin of flexibility with regards to
the yuan's peg. In effect, what China did was to
implement "a regulated, managed exchange floating rate
system based on market supply and demand".
The issue of revaluation of the yuan has been
sticking out like a sore thumb at every economic
meeting between China and the United States; the last
meeting was in the middle of last month when US
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson flew to Beijing.
Back home, Paulson is under pressure from the
Democrats, who now control both Houses of Congress and
Representives, are exerting pressures on the
Republican President George W. Bush's Administration
to push China into resolving the revaluation of the
yuan.
The strong rise in the value of the yuan is in
essence a reflection of the strength of China's
economy which has grown 10-fold since the late Chinese
leader Deng Xiaping opened the whole country to
international investments in 1978.
More specifically, the strength of the yuan lies
basically in the heavy trade surplus now building up
in China's favour vis-a-vis its major trading
partners, especially the United States. At the same
time, the building up of foreign exchange reserves has
also helped strengthen the yuan considerably.
China's foreign trade last year was a record at
USD1.76 trillion (RM6.2 trillion) with the trade
surplus widening also to a record of USD177.5bil last
year.
External trade is expected to grow even bigger,
as China's products keep overwhelming the world.
Already, China's Ministry of Commerce has predicted
last month that the country's trade volume would grow
by 15% to US$2 trillion (RM7 trillion) this year.
Although export growth has slowed, import growth
has slowed even more sharply. This trend according to
some reflects a longer-term structural shift in
imports as more industries in China produce more parts
and assembled more products, substituting present
imports.
If China's trade surplus is growing bigger, the
trade deficit between China and the United States is
expanding even faster -- reaching a record USD214bil
(RM750bil) by November 2006 in China's favour. (This
is according to US' standard of measurement, which
classifies exports from Hong Kong to US as coming from
China).
This widening gap in trade between China and US
is already putting heavy pressures on Paulson to deal
more firmly with China, especially on the issue of the
revaluation of the yuan.
In assessing the situation of the China-US trade
deficit, many tend to miss the point that it is the US
consumers that are to be blamed. So long as US
consumers keep spending more than they save, and keep
demanding for China goods, the trade deficit is
unlikely to disappear soon.
Thus, if the Democrat-controlled Congress is
getting very impatient and plans to introduce
legislations this year that will hit hard at China,
then the Americans may have been misdirected in their
actions. China-bashing may not help to lessen the
problem of the trade deficit; neither will China
revaluing its yuan do any good to the present dilemma.
China's State Council, similar to the Cabinet, is
scheduled to meet this month to decide on setting up
"an oversight body" to co-ordinate policies among the
various economic management and financial regulatory
groups. This would include managing the forex
reserves. The China Daily newspaper reported that this
new framework would be in place "no later than March
next year".
Presently the bulk of the forex reserves are
channelled into US treasury bills which generate low
yields and low returns, which also means China is
holding its forex reserves mainly in US dollars.
In buying more and more US treasury bills, China
is really in a financial sense helping US to finance
its imports. Thus, some have argued that for a country
as poor as China, it certainly makes no rational sense
to "bankroll the world's richest economy".
In view of the huge holdings of US dollars,
China is therefore sensitive to any weakening in the
value of the US dollar, simply because China would be
forced to incur losses in its central bank's balance
sheet that contains the forex reserves. This is
certainly not acceptable in whatever way, even
politically.
However, China has announced last month that it
would consider seriously moves to diversify the
composition of its forex reserves, investing some in
financial instruments with higher yields and returns.
Already, market traders are seeing not a
diversification, but more of China buying less US
treasury bills when making new investments with its
forex reserves.
Meanwhile, China's Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan has
suggested using part of the forex reserves to help
build up strategic mineral resource. The China Daily
newspaper commented: "It looks like a stone with which
China can kill two birds -- the growing imbalance in
its international payments and its need for key
resources like oil and minerals."
Even with this idea of buying mineral resources,
China has to tread cautiously, as a tiny part of its
forex reserves could make the world commodity markets
tremble, and make every trader nervous. It has been
reported that only a year of China's imports of iron
ore, soybeans, copper, alumina and nickel would cost
about USD40bil (RM140bil).
CHINA IN ENVIOUS POISITION OF HAVING TOO MUCH MONEY
Each day China's coffers are ballooning with billions
of US dollars, as its foreign exchange reserves keep
piling up, without any stoppers in sight. By
end-October 2006, its reserves passed the USD1
trillion mark; and soon by end of this year, the US$2
trillion-mark will be broken with ease. The rising
reserves are having a tremendous effect on its
currency, the yuan, which has not stopped appreciating
since it was floated.
By P.Y. Chin
Email: py1818@yahoo.com
Last week, China announced three sets of statistics --
two whose figures broke the US$1 trillion (RM3.5
trillion) mark; and the third chalking up an
astonishing record.
The first statistic was that shares on the
Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges were more than
tripled in value, reaching a total of US$1.01 trillion
(RM3.55 trillion) as of last Thursday's close.
With this, China is now the third-biggest stock
market in Asia by value, after Japan with USD4.8
trillion (RM17 trillion) and Hong Kong with USD2.1
trillion (RM7.4 trillion). The US stock market, at
USD17.4 trillion (RM61 trillion), is the world's
biggest.
At USD1.01 trillion, according to Bloomberg
data, China's stock market is equal to 46% of the
value of its economy, which is worth US$2.2 trillion
(RM8 trillion). Comparatively, the US stock market is
equalled to 126% of its economy while the Hong Kong
stock market is 649% of its economy.
The second statistic was announced by Beijing's
central bank earlier this wee that its reserves stood
at USD1.0663 trillion at the end of December 2006, up
more than 30% from one year earlier, making China the
first country officially to top the USD1 trillion mark
as well as the country with the world's largest forex
reserves.
The third landmark statistic was that China's trade
surplus which ballooned 74% last year to a record
USD177.5 billion (RM622bil), up from USD102bil
(RM357bil) in 2005.
All these three statistics produced an immediate
effect on China's currency, yuan -- pushing it with
ease for the first time in 13 years right through the
psychological barrier of the Hong Kong fixed peg of
HK$7.80 to the US dollar.
In forex trading rooms, the yuan was traded at
HK$7.7935 to the US dollar at the Thursday's close
last week. It had since recovered, but stayed a
whisker below the HK$7.80 mark.
There was of course loud expressions of great
consternation within the corridors of the offices of
Hong Kong's monetary authorities and forex traders'
trading rooms.
A debate began to emerge as to whether the
existing peg of the HK dollar to the US dollar would
remain, and whether the yuan would replace the HK
dollar as the official currency unit in the colony.
The HK dollar-US dollar peg has been in place
since Oct 17, 1983, after the currency plunged 48%
against the US dollar for the previous nine years as
China publicly asserted its claim to have Hong Kong
back in its fold.
The British, who was in control of Hong Kong
then, sought to boost confidence in the currency,
retained the peg during talks with China on the return
of the colony to Chinese rule targeted for 1997.
Since 1983, the HK dollar-US dollar peg had
managed to remain stable despite the 1987 Black Monday
worldwide stock market crash, and later when Hong Kong
was officially handed over to China in 1997.
During the Asian financial crisis in 1997, to
keep the peg, Hong Kong monetary authorities fought
off an attack from currency speculators on the HK
dollar by buying USD15bil (RM53bil) worth of shares on
the HK stock exchange.
In response to the yuan breaking the 23-year-old
peg, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), which in
essence is the colony's central bank, was quick to say
that "any change will rock investor confidence".
The HKMA added: "The government has no intention
to change the linked exchange rate system, which
continues to serve Hong Kong well."
HKMA's firm stand is understandable as it has
all along insisted that the HK dollar-US dollar peg
would not be dropped, and that there would be nothing
to be gained from any change. At the same time, for
the last three years it had tried to stop the HK
dollar's appreciation.
This means the peg will continue to remain for
some time to come. HKMA chief Joseph Yam was quoted to
have said months before the breakthrough that "the
yuan reaching 7.80 is just a psychological level that
will not play a role in setting Hong Kong's currency
policy."
Indeed, official policy of the HKMA prevents its
currency from trading more than 5 HK cents either side
of HK$7.80 to the US dollar.
Despite the firm commitment of the HKMA, many
currency traders are expecting the peg to end next
year, according to a Bloomberg survey of 10 currency
strategists in Hong Kong recently. The strategists had
also forecast a rate of HK$7.20 to the US dollar by
2010 after the peg is removed.
But what's significant was that last week, China
allowed for the first time, yuan-denominated bonds
outside China, which HKMA's Jospeh Yam commented:
"This is the first step for the yuan moving towards
the international stage." Others see it as a first
step towards the yuan's full convertibility.
With the yuan now slightly more expensive than
the HK dollar (the exchange rate was 1.0004 yuan to
the HK dollar last Thursday), the first to benefit are
the mainland tourists in the colony. Already,
retailers in Hong Kong had last week started to accept
the yuan for payment in addition to the Hong Kong
dollar from mainland Chinese.
The rise in the value of the yuan is also
reversing a trend where Hong Kong people have been
used to travelling across to mainland China for cheap
goods and services. Now, mainland Chinese may find it
cheaper to buy goods and services in the colony.
One other point: The rising value of the yuan
could in due course stoke the fires of inflation in
the colony as the bulk of Hong Kong's basic food items
are imported from mainland China. With a more costly
yuan, the prices of these foodstuffs could go up.
The rise in the value of the yuan is not
unprecedented. Nor has the rise been unexpected.
In the last few years China's economy has been
growing at unprecedented rate of an average of 9 to
10% a year. The US and European governments have
consistently maintained their stand that the yuan is
under-valued. They have kept pressing China to make
its exchange rate of the yuan more flexible to reflect
such an economic scenario.
China continued resisting the external
pressures, until the middle of 2005, when the intense
debate over China's currency and foreign exchange
policies reached its height. Finally, on July 21,
2005, the People's Bank of China, which in essence is
China's central bank, abolished the peg and allowed
the yuan to float against a basket of currencies.
For decades the yuan was pegged at a fixed rate
to the US dollar. Now, the float resulted in a virtual
revaluation of the yuan by 2.1% to 8.11 yuan to the US
dollar.
But that was not enough. A 3% appreciation of
the yuan followed over the following year. And 18
months from the day of the float, the yuan had
strengthened a total of 5.6% against the US dollar.
Even that was not enough. The yuan continued its
strong advance, and by last week when it broke through
the HK$7.80 to the US dollar barrier, it had gone up a
further 6.2% on the top of the 2.1% virtual rise at
the time it was floated.
According to a study, the yuan is still on its
climb with much room upwards. This year, the study
estimates, the yuan will add a further 3 to 4% against
the US dollar, taking it to a rate of 7.5 yuan to the
US dollar at the end of this year from the present
7.8.
This prompted a foreign currency trader
operating in China to comment: "The gains reflect a
fast and amazing assimilation of capitalist culture."
Despite the additional increase, the US and
European governments still insist that the yuan is
"still cheap and under-valued", and that there should
be a greater revaluation as well as greater
flexibility in the exchange rate mechanism.
At present the yuan is not easily convertible
into US dollar or any other foreign currencies. The
People's Bank of China has also very tightly
controlled the margin of flexibility with regards to
the yuan's peg. In effect, what China did was to
implement "a regulated, managed exchange floating rate
system based on market supply and demand".
The issue of revaluation of the yuan has been
sticking out like a sore thumb at every economic
meeting between China and the United States; the last
meeting was in the middle of last month when US
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson flew to Beijing.
Back home, Paulson is under pressure from the
Democrats, who now control both Houses of Congress and
Representives, are exerting pressures on the
Republican President George W. Bush's Administration
to push China into resolving the revaluation of the
yuan.
The strong rise in the value of the yuan is in
essence a reflection of the strength of China's
economy which has grown 10-fold since the late Chinese
leader Deng Xiaping opened the whole country to
international investments in 1978.
More specifically, the strength of the yuan lies
basically in the heavy trade surplus now building up
in China's favour vis-a-vis its major trading
partners, especially the United States. At the same
time, the building up of foreign exchange reserves has
also helped strengthen the yuan considerably.
China's foreign trade last year was a record at
USD1.76 trillion (RM6.2 trillion) with the trade
surplus widening also to a record of USD177.5bil last
year.
External trade is expected to grow even bigger,
as China's products keep overwhelming the world.
Already, China's Ministry of Commerce has predicted
last month that the country's trade volume would grow
by 15% to US$2 trillion (RM7 trillion) this year.
Although export growth has slowed, import growth
has slowed even more sharply. This trend according to
some reflects a longer-term structural shift in
imports as more industries in China produce more parts
and assembled more products, substituting present
imports.
If China's trade surplus is growing bigger, the
trade deficit between China and the United States is
expanding even faster -- reaching a record USD214bil
(RM750bil) by November 2006 in China's favour. (This
is according to US' standard of measurement, which
classifies exports from Hong Kong to US as coming from
China).
This widening gap in trade between China and US
is already putting heavy pressures on Paulson to deal
more firmly with China, especially on the issue of the
revaluation of the yuan.
In assessing the situation of the China-US trade
deficit, many tend to miss the point that it is the US
consumers that are to be blamed. So long as US
consumers keep spending more than they save, and keep
demanding for China goods, the trade deficit is
unlikely to disappear soon.
Thus, if the Democrat-controlled Congress is
getting very impatient and plans to introduce
legislations this year that will hit hard at China,
then the Americans may have been misdirected in their
actions. China-bashing may not help to lessen the
problem of the trade deficit; neither will China
revaluing its yuan do any good to the present dilemma.
China's State Council, similar to the Cabinet, is
scheduled to meet this month to decide on setting up
"an oversight body" to co-ordinate policies among the
various economic management and financial regulatory
groups. This would include managing the forex
reserves. The China Daily newspaper reported that this
new framework would be in place "no later than March
next year".
Presently the bulk of the forex reserves are
channelled into US treasury bills which generate low
yields and low returns, which also means China is
holding its forex reserves mainly in US dollars.
In buying more and more US treasury bills, China
is really in a financial sense helping US to finance
its imports. Thus, some have argued that for a country
as poor as China, it certainly makes no rational sense
to "bankroll the world's richest economy".
In view of the huge holdings of US dollars,
China is therefore sensitive to any weakening in the
value of the US dollar, simply because China would be
forced to incur losses in its central bank's balance
sheet that contains the forex reserves. This is
certainly not acceptable in whatever way, even
politically.
However, China has announced last month that it
would consider seriously moves to diversify the
composition of its forex reserves, investing some in
financial instruments with higher yields and returns.
Already, market traders are seeing not a
diversification, but more of China buying less US
treasury bills when making new investments with its
forex reserves.
Meanwhile, China's Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan has
suggested using part of the forex reserves to help
build up strategic mineral resource. The China Daily
newspaper commented: "It looks like a stone with which
China can kill two birds -- the growing imbalance in
its international payments and its need for key
resources like oil and minerals."
Even with this idea of buying mineral resources,
China has to tread cautiously, as a tiny part of its
forex reserves could make the world commodity markets
tremble, and make every trader nervous. It has been
reported that only a year of China's imports of iron
ore, soybeans, copper, alumina and nickel would cost
about USD40bil (RM140bil).
Thursday, January 25, 2007
RIP: van Winkle
RIP: VAN WINKLE: "Life is a fairytale..."
THis morning finds Desi in HI-spirits, so I am taking a dig.
If I were to spell it DICK, someONE may complain it's against the Multimedia Media and Communications Act under some sub-section defining "decency", so I shall not test the unchartered waters.
Frankly speaking, so many Malaysians have been taking digs at the thre-year-old Prime Minister, honouring him some fairie-airie titles as Sleeping Beauty,and ah, yes, RIP van Winkle! Dare I add: More Talk, No Walk aMore...
The title is of course an adaptation of the character famusly cooked up by one American who woke up from deep freese after the land mass suffered from global warming and he told a wondrous tale of his perfect vision of his motherLAND. The stress in NOT on MOTHER cos she's transient -- like YOU and Desi who's not important to be honoured by Time last year as PERSON OF THE YEAR -- and the land is permanent. Unless some "small" politicians of Port Klang ribbed as DZ think they can take it along when they retire to EqualLand about two metres underground.
Now, where am I heading?
Yes, it's premature to hang the sign: RIP.
Van Winkle is not about to go away. He may be having forty winks, or even eighty, but do not be missled. Even the sleeping China of a dragon finally woke up. Yes, RISE IF POSSIBLE is the opther apt definition.
And in the Malaysian scenarion, the PM has stated clearly from LONDON in an interview with the BBC:
I'LL RUN IN NEXT ELECTIONS
Dont be kedekut-lah, the oil price at the pump won't rise in near futyure, trust Desi! Spend RM1.20 and read in in the People's Paper, page N6.
Okay to those quite nigh to bankruptsy, though I know you feign it, one Amore line:
"There is a lot of work to be done, says Pak Lah in BBC interview".
Oh, yes, I'm planning a trip to The Chinese Assembly Hall tomorrow because I hear they serve good free: NO, can't be lunch at 8.30PM! Neether, nayether SpecialBrunch, Cos that's only available at PeaceHill. POETRY, SONGS and PERFORMANES. "from F1 to f4" I here, and don;t ask me to elabiorate on what f4 is. That would be testing That Act agin!
Why am I in such HI -- LO, and Behold -- spirits?
I don't know myself, maybe:
It's 'cause Spring is in the Air,
Soon to be followed by May
Dare I confess to say
Yes, many Y&A Malaysians were born that month fair
And the Government of the day
Has to decalre: May Day! May Day!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CUT&Paste from
2020freelunch.blogspot.com~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear ER of freelunch:
(I share a poem I composed after attending a Ceramah by Sdr Anwar
Ibrahim at Port Dickson on May 31, 2005 at 9.00pm ...
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
May Day! May Day!
From January to April
A writer can scribe on whim and fancy.
But when May comes around
The Muse and Inspiration abound.
I sauntered from civil to political sojourns,
Often it sinks the spirit amid woes and mourns.
The politicians preach but do not walk the talk
Expecting the Citizens to swallow all their poppy-cock
This month of smooching the magic of May,
I try to write of happier and optimistic days.
Still I meet more and growing dismay,
Yet I try best, crafting my poems in positive ways
But the past 30 days or so,
Did not instil in me much besides sorrow.
Fellow Malaysians question what's in for the morrow,
To survive now -- need to beg, steal or borrow?
DearFriends, don't ever fall into any Illussion,
That our troubles will be over through wishing and
patience.
We need a GamePlan, we need a Leader with Vision,
SomeOne prescribed V2020, yet the Rakyat stagger on
false medicine.
World petrol prices go up, logically it's good cheer
for Malaysia,
We earn more from our oil resources, but They make our
petrol costlier.
Pak Lah promised a cleaner, more accountable
administration,
But after a year and six months of honeymoon, it's
growing frustration.
So it's not happy days in May,
It's more like May Day, May Day!
The only option now is for People's Power,
For grassroot democracy to once again flower.
So dear one, somewhere find time to ponder
Don't leave the Quest to others, and just wonder.
On this significant date of May the thirty first,
SomeOneSpecial in Port Dickson is quenching some
thirst.
Regards,
--DEsi-YLChong
PS: FL, now you must bye me Dinner by PD shore
I'm Msian Oliver Twist: I want summore!
Labels: anwar ibrahim, badawi, cakaptakserupabikin, democracy, malaysia, pak lah, pm, politics, reformasi
posted by freelunch2020 at 8:13 PM | 1 Comments
Tribute to REFORMASi Heroes ~~ an evening of songs, poetry and performances
Venue : KL-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, No.1 Jalan Maharajalela, 50150 Kuala Lumpur.
Date : 26th January 2006
Time : 8:30 pm
The call for reforms, or Reformasi, began in 1998. It has since been an important historical marker in our quest for political reform in the country.
This would not have been possible if not for the sacrifices of ordinary Malaysians, who have searched and worked for justice, freedom and genuine democracy.
In our collective struggle, we have lost many committed ‘reformists’ such as Ustaz Fadzil Noor, MGG Pillai, Umar Tan Abdullah, Haji Taib, Hajjah Ning, Cikgu Non and countless others.
“Tribute to Reformasi Heroes” is an evening of songs, poetry and performances, to commemorate those among us who have departed, and to celebrate the spirit of ‘Reformasi’ of those who remain in the journey for a brighter, better tomorrow.
The Guest of Honour will be Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Advisor to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan).
For further information, please contact Ms Ginie Lim 012 669 3453 or Nasir Isa 019 399 9744.
FREELUNCH: For my personal account of 1998 "Remembering 1998 : Anwar's violent fall from grace", click here (Desi: travel to her Blog-lah, you NOT lazybum!). For the record, I was never part of the Reformasi movement but was just an observer as I was in the midst of my university education in the UK. It was indeed an event that shocked the nation, and left many like me still in a sense of disbelief that Anwar Ibrahim has returned once again to recapture the country's imagination.
Labels: 1998, anwar ibrahim, malaysia, politics, reformasi
posted by freelunch2020 at 5:02 PM | 1 Comments
THis morning finds Desi in HI-spirits, so I am taking a dig.
If I were to spell it DICK, someONE may complain it's against the Multimedia Media and Communications Act under some sub-section defining "decency", so I shall not test the unchartered waters.
Frankly speaking, so many Malaysians have been taking digs at the thre-year-old Prime Minister, honouring him some fairie-airie titles as Sleeping Beauty,and ah, yes, RIP van Winkle! Dare I add: More Talk, No Walk aMore...
The title is of course an adaptation of the character famusly cooked up by one American who woke up from deep freese after the land mass suffered from global warming and he told a wondrous tale of his perfect vision of his motherLAND. The stress in NOT on MOTHER cos she's transient -- like YOU and Desi who's not important to be honoured by Time last year as PERSON OF THE YEAR -- and the land is permanent. Unless some "small" politicians of Port Klang ribbed as DZ think they can take it along when they retire to EqualLand about two metres underground.
Now, where am I heading?
Yes, it's premature to hang the sign: RIP.
Van Winkle is not about to go away. He may be having forty winks, or even eighty, but do not be missled. Even the sleeping China of a dragon finally woke up. Yes, RISE IF POSSIBLE is the opther apt definition.
And in the Malaysian scenarion, the PM has stated clearly from LONDON in an interview with the BBC:
I'LL RUN IN NEXT ELECTIONS
Dont be kedekut-lah, the oil price at the pump won't rise in near futyure, trust Desi! Spend RM1.20 and read in in the People's Paper, page N6.
Okay to those quite nigh to bankruptsy, though I know you feign it, one Amore line:
"There is a lot of work to be done, says Pak Lah in BBC interview".
Oh, yes, I'm planning a trip to The Chinese Assembly Hall tomorrow because I hear they serve good free: NO, can't be lunch at 8.30PM! Neether, nayether SpecialBrunch, Cos that's only available at PeaceHill. POETRY, SONGS and PERFORMANES. "from F1 to f4" I here, and don;t ask me to elabiorate on what f4 is. That would be testing That Act agin!
Why am I in such HI -- LO, and Behold -- spirits?
I don't know myself, maybe:
It's 'cause Spring is in the Air,
Soon to be followed by May
Dare I confess to say
Yes, many Y&A Malaysians were born that month fair
And the Government of the day
Has to decalre: May Day! May Day!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CUT&Paste from
2020freelunch.blogspot.com~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear ER of freelunch:
(I share a poem I composed after attending a Ceramah by Sdr Anwar
Ibrahim at Port Dickson on May 31, 2005 at 9.00pm ...
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
May Day! May Day!
From January to April
A writer can scribe on whim and fancy.
But when May comes around
The Muse and Inspiration abound.
I sauntered from civil to political sojourns,
Often it sinks the spirit amid woes and mourns.
The politicians preach but do not walk the talk
Expecting the Citizens to swallow all their poppy-cock
This month of smooching the magic of May,
I try to write of happier and optimistic days.
Still I meet more and growing dismay,
Yet I try best, crafting my poems in positive ways
But the past 30 days or so,
Did not instil in me much besides sorrow.
Fellow Malaysians question what's in for the morrow,
To survive now -- need to beg, steal or borrow?
DearFriends, don't ever fall into any Illussion,
That our troubles will be over through wishing and
patience.
We need a GamePlan, we need a Leader with Vision,
SomeOne prescribed V2020, yet the Rakyat stagger on
false medicine.
World petrol prices go up, logically it's good cheer
for Malaysia,
We earn more from our oil resources, but They make our
petrol costlier.
Pak Lah promised a cleaner, more accountable
administration,
But after a year and six months of honeymoon, it's
growing frustration.
So it's not happy days in May,
It's more like May Day, May Day!
The only option now is for People's Power,
For grassroot democracy to once again flower.
So dear one, somewhere find time to ponder
Don't leave the Quest to others, and just wonder.
On this significant date of May the thirty first,
SomeOneSpecial in Port Dickson is quenching some
thirst.
Regards,
--DEsi-YLChong
PS: FL, now you must bye me Dinner by PD shore
I'm Msian Oliver Twist: I want summore!
Labels: anwar ibrahim, badawi, cakaptakserupabikin, democracy, malaysia, pak lah, pm, politics, reformasi
posted by freelunch2020 at 8:13 PM | 1 Comments
Tribute to REFORMASi Heroes ~~ an evening of songs, poetry and performances
Venue : KL-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, No.1 Jalan Maharajalela, 50150 Kuala Lumpur.
Date : 26th January 2006
Time : 8:30 pm
The call for reforms, or Reformasi, began in 1998. It has since been an important historical marker in our quest for political reform in the country.
This would not have been possible if not for the sacrifices of ordinary Malaysians, who have searched and worked for justice, freedom and genuine democracy.
In our collective struggle, we have lost many committed ‘reformists’ such as Ustaz Fadzil Noor, MGG Pillai, Umar Tan Abdullah, Haji Taib, Hajjah Ning, Cikgu Non and countless others.
“Tribute to Reformasi Heroes” is an evening of songs, poetry and performances, to commemorate those among us who have departed, and to celebrate the spirit of ‘Reformasi’ of those who remain in the journey for a brighter, better tomorrow.
The Guest of Honour will be Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Advisor to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan).
For further information, please contact Ms Ginie Lim 012 669 3453 or Nasir Isa 019 399 9744.
FREELUNCH: For my personal account of 1998 "Remembering 1998 : Anwar's violent fall from grace", click here (Desi: travel to her Blog-lah, you NOT lazybum!). For the record, I was never part of the Reformasi movement but was just an observer as I was in the midst of my university education in the UK. It was indeed an event that shocked the nation, and left many like me still in a sense of disbelief that Anwar Ibrahim has returned once again to recapture the country's imagination.
Labels: 1998, anwar ibrahim, malaysia, politics, reformasi
posted by freelunch2020 at 5:02 PM | 1 Comments
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Joining the Bloggers' Bandwagon...
Desi feels a little discomforted -- maybe "apprehensive" is the better word -- that when I surfed to WalhWithUs linked via Jeff Ooi's update yesterday (I read him daily to hear from one of two horses' mouth -- the orther being RockyBru) the developments concerning the NSTP et al's defamation suits against the two fellow Bloggers now making waves beyond the Malacca Straits and South China Sea.
Do I have grounds for my "apprehension"?
YOU -- Time's PRSON OF T%HE YEAR 2006! -- decide. Best you are advised to first check out the horse's mouth.Chew the grass then, spit out yor frankest and innermost food for thought. Meanwhile, I give ye my Comment dare ~~
MY perspective is just ONE BLOGGER's, for I do not represent any other though I have some good Blogger friends who debate, banter with me almost constantly. In the next PPS Bash, I think a few of them would want to BASH up, or down, Desi. But I have many Seconds, or Thirds, with me ... "Plagiarism" expert, thou heareth Desi?
"
Desi is reproducing his humble Comment made yesterday (Jan 23, 2007) at the said referred site because I truly feel this subject is of utmost concern to ALL BLOGGERS -- veteran, few years old like Desi, newbies alike -- and I stress that my views are just One Concerned Blogger's, and there is enough room for diversity and divergence of opinions. As I posted earlier: "Blogger's Realm as Diverse as Journalists'"
ylchong Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
January 23rd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Atan are actual persons who dare to reveal true IDs. Any initiative on their Cause also must reveal their true IDs, otherwise what standards are you following o=if not these TWO LEADERS?
You guys state as if we Bloggers in Malaysia are caught in a Cloak&Dagger situation, to wit:
“Admittedly, we are gripped in a total state of fear, and no one can trust no one. You may not even want to trust us, which is perfectly sensible and understandable. But knowing this country, we simply can’t take chances.”
Take a look in the mirror, you already have planted the seeds of fear and suspicion where in the first instance, there was NONE with me as a blogger who was inspired by Jeff and I started blogging 1-3/4years ago with my ID fully revealed.
I throw back this challenge to you: Show true grit, otherwise, cease and desisit because you can not rise to the clalenge (dilemma) faced by the owners of Screenshots (Jeff) and RockyBru.
___________________________________________________________________
I also am taking the liberty to reproduce below the Comment at the same site of a fellow Blogger (who I have interacted with and I know he's all for wide circulation of his views, so...); and I endorse the sentiments he expressed. ~~ DEsi
nathaniel tan Says:
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:25 am
"Dear Walk With Us,
A good effort you have here, thanks for the work!
I would humbly and sincerely invite you to post the names of the people involved in this site, as while anonymous blogging may have its time and place, this may not be it. After all, without putting our name to our work, are we not after all being penembak curi?
Thanks again for your initiative!
Best wishes,
nat"
____________________________________________________________
One mGf a Malaysian based in Solomon Islands (seeking his wisdom dare?) expressed in a recent Email to Desi, extract~~
"desi
:
:
it is sad and a shock to hear bloggers being sued for political view. i know it is real this time but hope ppl of malsia dont get too embroiled in this issue and neglecting others urgent matters. i dont have time to read your full article except the one on the defence. will come back and read it later.
:
:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(truncated Email for obvious reason; other Kaypohchic stuff NOT relevant,
or ruled out of order by this hoRst!:( You may APpeal that I share, but my answer is NO,
unless that check for 20million comes with your Post:)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ :)"
Chong YenLong
First time my ER used the word "SANDIWARA" to describe
the latest going-us making international headlines. I
agree with your obs -- but one qualifier. This san(d)ywar
can't be ignored as IT IMPACTS ON ALL OF US bloggers,
esp civil-political ones (I believe I belong hear?).
I did ONE post on the issue, not saying much, but I
think it's best not to say too much becos it's such a
COMPOLEX ISSUE. Put it mathematically (knowing you're
science-inclined), it's akin to:
IMPACT (B) = SUM of f(B) + f (B+Po) + f(B+Pg) + f
(B+NGO) + f (MSM) + f (Others)
where B: Blogger
Po: Politician of Opposition
Pg: Politikus of BN
NG: all the activists not aligned with g mainly,
tho some are g-supported
MSM: mainstream media
and f is function, or relation of several variables.
Others: etc, etc, with minimal factoring efect.
:
:
:
Regards,
YL"
PS: NOTE: If you no understand, ask the Blogger sitted next you eg the hoRst @maverickysm.loogspot.com
DESI: Briefly, what I am saying is that the IMPACT on each of us Bloggers varies, depending mainly on where we hail from. The variety of bloggers defines the breadth and width of the Bloggers' spectrum, which is well nigh "infinite", just as wide ranging but covering different, sometimes over-lapping, as Fourth Estaters. Thre factors that influence the Impact include if thew Bloggers is also a politician, or P-wannabe -- BN or DAP, PKR or PAS, MCAP? -- or an NGO activist, or a Dr Mahathir supporter, or Anwarista (which Desi admits to being one from a few years ago!), or Pak Lah admirer (Don't write the PM off, for many ER enjoy Rip van Winkle, I think!), "... et cetera, et cetera..." as YuklBrynner
sang with a dismissive wave of his bare hands in "THe King and I". Frankly, Desi doesn't know why YB and the blardy k'ng's name cropped up in a discusion of the Fifth Estate. Never mind, maybe the Real Estate was on my mind -- One UMNO King Liveth In A "Small" House in Port Klang, remember?
_____________________________________________
Last, but not least, on Bloggers' bandwago cometh the Prime Minister; let the CEO have his lust say!
Many ER think he's a Ripped van Winkle, but I do not -- he's having 40 winks, sometimes 80, but he sees more than you and I do.
If you don't believe, ask the number 2 at The People's Paper -- double Datuk aMore!:(:(
The Star, page 3
Nation
Wednesday January 24, 2007
Bloggers must be responsible
LONDON: Bloggers must be responsible for what they write on the Internet as there are laws on defamation and sedition, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.
The Prime Minister said these laws were enforceable and bloggers must bear in mind that they could not hide or take advantage of the Internet to do something that was against the law.
“They cannot hope to cover themselves or hide from the laws,” he told Malaysian journalists at the end of his three-day working visit here yesterday.
He said bloggers, just like newspaper journalists, must be responsible for what they wrote or risk facing legal action from others.
Abdullah was commenting on the legal action against bloggers Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin Attan by the New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd (NSTP), its deputy chairman Datuk Kali-mullah Masheerul Hassan, Group Editor in Chief Datuk Hishamuddin Aun and former Group Editor Brenden John Pereira.
He raised the question of “what was freedom without responsibility,” saying that laws must be respected.
On the lack of proficiency in English among teachers and lecturers, he said there was a need to improve the curriculum and methods to teach English in schools.
He added that Malaysians must understand that English was an international language.
Abdullah was responding to questions from journalists on the declining standard of English in Malaysian schools and universities.
Earlier, Abdullah told Malaysian students at the London School of Economics of the need for Malaysia to be competitive, pointing out the paces already made by the Chinese and India.
Related Story:
Bloggers to set up legal fund to protect their interests
(Go-lah, read from TheStar, pay RM1.20 that you saved by BoyCoting the NST!:(~~ DEsi, who gets no 30% for this pro-promo, and wan dis-promo.
Yes, I seem to be speaking in tongue, Some Bloggers are twisted indeed.
IUf YOU have no SENse of humour, or rumour, please boy/gal-cott Desiderata2000. I won't sue you. Because I can't afford a Lawyer. Mave, when are you qualified to give free/flee serbis?
PPPS:
A poem I think I composed during the Reformasi days (1999/2000) which rings some notes of relevance today~~
Questioning Mind
They talk in many tongues
Preaching salvation
And monopoly of the Truth
Breathing hellfire
On those who'd not stay
To sing the same saccharine song
You're a traitor to the Cause
If you should raise just a murmur
of any question
You'd die a thousand deaths
If you'd doubt the Elder's tongue
Or God forbid,
Challenge the wisdom of his Word
So remain a meek lamb
Another number in his obedient flock
Or else, bid farewell
Jump off this wagon quick
So that Heaven has one more
Vacancy to dwell.
Chong Yen Long
Do I have grounds for my "apprehension"?
YOU -- Time's PRSON OF T%HE YEAR 2006! -- decide. Best you are advised to first check out the horse's mouth.Chew the grass then, spit out yor frankest and innermost food for thought. Meanwhile, I give ye my Comment dare ~~
MY perspective is just ONE BLOGGER's, for I do not represent any other though I have some good Blogger friends who debate, banter with me almost constantly. In the next PPS Bash, I think a few of them would want to BASH up, or down, Desi. But I have many Seconds, or Thirds, with me ... "Plagiarism" expert, thou heareth Desi?
"
Desi is reproducing his humble Comment made yesterday (Jan 23, 2007) at the said referred site because I truly feel this subject is of utmost concern to ALL BLOGGERS -- veteran, few years old like Desi, newbies alike -- and I stress that my views are just One Concerned Blogger's, and there is enough room for diversity and divergence of opinions. As I posted earlier: "Blogger's Realm as Diverse as Journalists'"
ylchong Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
January 23rd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Jeff Ooi and Ahiruddin Atan are actual persons who dare to reveal true IDs. Any initiative on their Cause also must reveal their true IDs, otherwise what standards are you following o=if not these TWO LEADERS?
You guys state as if we Bloggers in Malaysia are caught in a Cloak&Dagger situation, to wit:
“Admittedly, we are gripped in a total state of fear, and no one can trust no one. You may not even want to trust us, which is perfectly sensible and understandable. But knowing this country, we simply can’t take chances.”
Take a look in the mirror, you already have planted the seeds of fear and suspicion where in the first instance, there was NONE with me as a blogger who was inspired by Jeff and I started blogging 1-3/4years ago with my ID fully revealed.
I throw back this challenge to you: Show true grit, otherwise, cease and desisit because you can not rise to the clalenge (dilemma) faced by the owners of Screenshots (Jeff) and RockyBru.
___________________________________________________________________
I also am taking the liberty to reproduce below the Comment at the same site of a fellow Blogger (who I have interacted with and I know he's all for wide circulation of his views, so...); and I endorse the sentiments he expressed. ~~ DEsi
nathaniel tan Says:
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:25 am
"Dear Walk With Us,
A good effort you have here, thanks for the work!
I would humbly and sincerely invite you to post the names of the people involved in this site, as while anonymous blogging may have its time and place, this may not be it. After all, without putting our name to our work, are we not after all being penembak curi?
Thanks again for your initiative!
Best wishes,
nat"
____________________________________________________________
One mGf a Malaysian based in Solomon Islands (seeking his wisdom dare?) expressed in a recent Email to Desi, extract~~
"desi
:
:
it is sad and a shock to hear bloggers being sued for political view. i know it is real this time but hope ppl of malsia dont get too embroiled in this issue and neglecting others urgent matters. i dont have time to read your full article except the one on the defence. will come back and read it later.
:
:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(truncated Email for obvious reason; other Kaypohchic stuff NOT relevant,
or ruled out of order by this hoRst!:( You may APpeal that I share, but my answer is NO,
unless that check for 20million comes with your Post:)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ :)"
Chong YenLong
First time my ER used the word "SANDIWARA" to describe
the latest going-us making international headlines. I
agree with your obs -- but one qualifier. This san(d)ywar
can't be ignored as IT IMPACTS ON ALL OF US bloggers,
esp civil-political ones (I believe I belong hear?).
I did ONE post on the issue, not saying much, but I
think it's best not to say too much becos it's such a
COMPOLEX ISSUE. Put it mathematically (knowing you're
science-inclined), it's akin to:
IMPACT (B) = SUM of f(B) + f (B+Po) + f(B+Pg) + f
(B+NGO) + f (MSM) + f (Others)
where B: Blogger
Po: Politician of Opposition
Pg: Politikus of BN
NG: all the activists not aligned with g mainly,
tho some are g-supported
MSM: mainstream media
and f is function, or relation of several variables.
Others: etc, etc, with minimal factoring efect.
:
:
:
Regards,
YL"
PS: NOTE: If you no understand, ask the Blogger sitted next you eg the hoRst @maverickysm.loogspot.com
DESI: Briefly, what I am saying is that the IMPACT on each of us Bloggers varies, depending mainly on where we hail from. The variety of bloggers defines the breadth and width of the Bloggers' spectrum, which is well nigh "infinite", just as wide ranging but covering different, sometimes over-lapping, as Fourth Estaters. Thre factors that influence the Impact include if thew Bloggers is also a politician, or P-wannabe -- BN or DAP, PKR or PAS, MCAP? -- or an NGO activist, or a Dr Mahathir supporter, or Anwarista (which Desi admits to being one from a few years ago!), or Pak Lah admirer (Don't write the PM off, for many ER enjoy Rip van Winkle, I think!), "... et cetera, et cetera..." as YuklBrynner
sang with a dismissive wave of his bare hands in "THe King and I". Frankly, Desi doesn't know why YB and the blardy k'ng's name cropped up in a discusion of the Fifth Estate. Never mind, maybe the Real Estate was on my mind -- One UMNO King Liveth In A "Small" House in Port Klang, remember?
_____________________________________________
Last, but not least, on Bloggers' bandwago cometh the Prime Minister; let the CEO have his lust say!
Many ER think he's a Ripped van Winkle, but I do not -- he's having 40 winks, sometimes 80, but he sees more than you and I do.
If you don't believe, ask the number 2 at The People's Paper -- double Datuk aMore!:(:(
The Star, page 3
Nation
Wednesday January 24, 2007
Bloggers must be responsible
LONDON: Bloggers must be responsible for what they write on the Internet as there are laws on defamation and sedition, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.
The Prime Minister said these laws were enforceable and bloggers must bear in mind that they could not hide or take advantage of the Internet to do something that was against the law.
“They cannot hope to cover themselves or hide from the laws,” he told Malaysian journalists at the end of his three-day working visit here yesterday.
He said bloggers, just like newspaper journalists, must be responsible for what they wrote or risk facing legal action from others.
Abdullah was commenting on the legal action against bloggers Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin Attan by the New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd (NSTP), its deputy chairman Datuk Kali-mullah Masheerul Hassan, Group Editor in Chief Datuk Hishamuddin Aun and former Group Editor Brenden John Pereira.
He raised the question of “what was freedom without responsibility,” saying that laws must be respected.
On the lack of proficiency in English among teachers and lecturers, he said there was a need to improve the curriculum and methods to teach English in schools.
He added that Malaysians must understand that English was an international language.
Abdullah was responding to questions from journalists on the declining standard of English in Malaysian schools and universities.
Earlier, Abdullah told Malaysian students at the London School of Economics of the need for Malaysia to be competitive, pointing out the paces already made by the Chinese and India.
Related Story:
Bloggers to set up legal fund to protect their interests
(Go-lah, read from TheStar, pay RM1.20 that you saved by BoyCoting the NST!:(~~ DEsi, who gets no 30% for this pro-promo, and wan dis-promo.
Yes, I seem to be speaking in tongue, Some Bloggers are twisted indeed.
IUf YOU have no SENse of humour, or rumour, please boy/gal-cott Desiderata2000. I won't sue you. Because I can't afford a Lawyer. Mave, when are you qualified to give free/flee serbis?
PPPS:
A poem I think I composed during the Reformasi days (1999/2000) which rings some notes of relevance today~~
Questioning Mind
They talk in many tongues
Preaching salvation
And monopoly of the Truth
Breathing hellfire
On those who'd not stay
To sing the same saccharine song
You're a traitor to the Cause
If you should raise just a murmur
of any question
You'd die a thousand deaths
If you'd doubt the Elder's tongue
Or God forbid,
Challenge the wisdom of his Word
So remain a meek lamb
Another number in his obedient flock
Or else, bid farewell
Jump off this wagon quick
So that Heaven has one more
Vacancy to dwell.
Chong Yen Long
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Introducing a new nu'espaper!
SINCE RUMOURS SAY that many Malaysians are boycotting the MSM, which stands for mainstream media like The Star, the News Straits Times, Desi decides to expand his community services to keeping my ER, who sits/sit as EsteemedReaders, informed of the news that matters, or it doesn't matter if it's not between your life, and death of the Government. Of course for those cheapskates among thee, which I hope number many, you supplement your diet with theSUN from the 7ELEVEN furthest you. You don't want thy neighbour to discover the truth of your cheapskateness, I know.
Now, I'm publishing the inaugural issue of my newspaper -- trumpet sounds!-- titled the NUDE CROOKED TIMES, to fill the nude vaccum, precisely for what its name implies. No need for any rationale because anyone who's not a moron would be able to fathom it. Of course, I must respect the IQ level of my readers -- if there's any left standing up to this half-completed senetnce, I'm greAtful! -- so I shall not elaborate or that would be insulting thy intelligence. You may then become a menace to Desi and NegaraKu.
As a starting point, I am just letting you use thye brain cells by putting the headlines of my stories side by side with the New Straits Times, and please exercise some imagination and constraint when Commenting. You can afford a suit, Desi for the life and death of him, can't. Which is short for CANNOT, for those hard of hearing or not reading the fine print todie. Don't let anyone come back to Desi, the ex-GEIC of TheSien daily based in London, owned and Eurofied by one Ipohlang called Housey, that I'm pushing news down thy throat, so I let you write the copies spurred on by the hatelines.
To wit, on January 23, 2007, launched with an inaugural grant of 2million from the Nude Nations Media Development Fund:
Frontpage of the New Straits Times, shortened to NST hence~
Quacks
can't
duck
the Act
Page 1 of the NUDE CROOKED TIMES shortened to NCT hence-
The Act
can't
catch
the Ducks,
Quack, quack
Page 2 of NST~~
Over 4,000 NS dodgers,
but action against only 1
Page 2 of NCT--
Under 5,000 NS dodgers,
Action against no 1 - Minister
or no 2 - Face of NS
Page 3 of NST~~~
Full page colour ad by
Wing Tai Asia
Page 3 of NCT---
Foolscap page deliberately left empty
for readers to doodle and leave love mesaages
to other EsteAmedReaders
Page 4 of NST~~~~
PSD to crack down on
'missing' civil servants
Page 4 of NCT
'Missing' civil servants
found high on 'crack
Page 5 of NST~~~~~
Another full page ad on
THE AXA
"LIfe's about
to get so
much better"
PLAN
Page 5 of NCT-----
Another blank page for CreativeReaders
to pen their outAmost thoughts to forward
to GEIC, NCT, for edit for potentiAl
Nobel Prize longlist con-siderAtion
Page 6 of NST~~~~~~
Woman first to be
charged under Act
Page 6 of NCT------
First man, from PRK,
to be
charged under
Cover-up Act
Page 7 of NST~~~~~~~
English
proficiency
still low
at local
varsities
Page 7 of NCT-------
Students' English
proficieny higher
than most teachers'
at schools --
Researcher and his findings
dismissed
Page 8 of NST ~~~~~~~~
Another full page ad
on PUBLIC MUTUAL
Page 8 of NCT--------
ANNOUNCEMENT
Dear Fervent Readers
Please remit 1,000
into Pub'ic Bank AC:
999-999-9-0h0hSE7EN
if you believe in Press Freedom
and Freedom of Speech
and Fleedom after Speech
And to sustain this new community-
service oriented newspaper named
THE NUDE CROOKED TIMES.
Today's edition is just a Trial
Run, and the daily's future
depends on
YOU -- Time's pick as
PERSON OF THE YEAR 2006.
Please live up to the Time's Honour, for
Failure to obtain at least
2,000 such donations would
mean the RIP sign would be put
up at that 7ELEVEN + One counter
nearest you.
ThanksYou. Sieh-sieh. TerimaKasih.
GEIC, The NudeCrookedTimes
January 23, 2007"
Now, I'm publishing the inaugural issue of my newspaper -- trumpet sounds!-- titled the NUDE CROOKED TIMES, to fill the nude vaccum, precisely for what its name implies. No need for any rationale because anyone who's not a moron would be able to fathom it. Of course, I must respect the IQ level of my readers -- if there's any left standing up to this half-completed senetnce, I'm greAtful! -- so I shall not elaborate or that would be insulting thy intelligence. You may then become a menace to Desi and NegaraKu.
As a starting point, I am just letting you use thye brain cells by putting the headlines of my stories side by side with the New Straits Times, and please exercise some imagination and constraint when Commenting. You can afford a suit, Desi for the life and death of him, can't. Which is short for CANNOT, for those hard of hearing or not reading the fine print todie. Don't let anyone come back to Desi, the ex-GEIC of TheSien daily based in London, owned and Eurofied by one Ipohlang called Housey, that I'm pushing news down thy throat, so I let you write the copies spurred on by the hatelines.
To wit, on January 23, 2007, launched with an inaugural grant of 2million from the Nude Nations Media Development Fund:
Frontpage of the New Straits Times, shortened to NST hence~
Quacks
can't
duck
the Act
Page 1 of the NUDE CROOKED TIMES shortened to NCT hence-
The Act
can't
catch
the Ducks,
Quack, quack
Page 2 of NST~~
Over 4,000 NS dodgers,
but action against only 1
Page 2 of NCT--
Under 5,000 NS dodgers,
Action against no 1 - Minister
or no 2 - Face of NS
Page 3 of NST~~~
Full page colour ad by
Wing Tai Asia
Page 3 of NCT---
Foolscap page deliberately left empty
for readers to doodle and leave love mesaages
to other EsteAmedReaders
Page 4 of NST~~~~
PSD to crack down on
'missing' civil servants
Page 4 of NCT
'Missing' civil servants
found high on 'crack
Page 5 of NST~~~~~
Another full page ad on
THE AXA
"LIfe's about
to get so
much better"
PLAN
Page 5 of NCT-----
Another blank page for CreativeReaders
to pen their outAmost thoughts to forward
to GEIC, NCT, for edit for potentiAl
Nobel Prize longlist con-siderAtion
Page 6 of NST~~~~~~
Woman first to be
charged under Act
Page 6 of NCT------
First man, from PRK,
to be
charged under
Cover-up Act
Page 7 of NST~~~~~~~
English
proficiency
still low
at local
varsities
Page 7 of NCT-------
Students' English
proficieny higher
than most teachers'
at schools --
Researcher and his findings
dismissed
Page 8 of NST ~~~~~~~~
Another full page ad
on PUBLIC MUTUAL
Page 8 of NCT--------
ANNOUNCEMENT
Dear Fervent Readers
Please remit 1,000
into Pub'ic Bank AC:
999-999-9-0h0hSE7EN
if you believe in Press Freedom
and Freedom of Speech
and Fleedom after Speech
And to sustain this new community-
service oriented newspaper named
THE NUDE CROOKED TIMES.
Today's edition is just a Trial
Run, and the daily's future
depends on
YOU -- Time's pick as
PERSON OF THE YEAR 2006.
Please live up to the Time's Honour, for
Failure to obtain at least
2,000 such donations would
mean the RIP sign would be put
up at that 7ELEVEN + One counter
nearest you.
ThanksYou. Sieh-sieh. TerimaKasih.
GEIC, The NudeCrookedTimes
January 23, 2007"
Monday, January 22, 2007
Bloggers' Spectrum As Diverse as Journalists'
I had monitored some landmark developments in Blogsworld with fascination, and this so-called infant Fifth Estate - is it self-acclaimed? -- in my eyes is no different really from its earlier brother, the Fourth Estate. In fact, some jounalists are members of both Estates; I believe I am one such. I also must from the outset declare that this Post is based on my about-two yaers as a Blogger, but some two decades-plus as a Journalist.
When JeffOoi's and Rocky'sBru suits for defamation filed by The NSTP and related parties became public knowledge, I surfed as widely as practical for the range of views as expected on an issue that is from "uncharted waters", as described by one of the two protagonists involved, quite similar to the territories I had travelled.
Today after much rumination, I declare that I agree mostly with the writings and thoughts well put forth by three of my regular discourse mates, namely johnleemk, 2020freelunch and xpyred whom I often tease "minus da d".
Herewith, without his permit which I unabashedly assume is granted -- because we are agreed we exchange mentor-mentee roles since we "befriended" each other over several G7 meetings -- I reprise in FULL this Y&A seventeen-year-old's insightful article. Just one dimwitnitpicking -- Please spell the 'internet' thus "Internet", willya, mentor mind!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Uploaded after 12.44pm Jan 22, 2007
TIMEline stated here for a certain purpose which is privi to Myself!
Intimated to JohnLeeMK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taking A Stand Against Defamation and For Freedom of Speech
Home >> Articles >> Malaysian Socio-Politics >> Taking A Stand Against Defamation and For Freedom of Speech
The New Straits Times Press has sued Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin bin Atan (Rocky) for defamation. Although I believe Jeff and Rocky should fight this case, and will stand with them, I will not be supporting the Bloggers United movement - because I believe in the importance of defamation laws.
Written by johnleemk on 11:07:24 am Jan 21, 2007.
Taking A Stand Against Defamation and For Freedom of Speech
The recent spate of lawsuits by the New Straits Times Press against two bloggers - namely Jeff Ooi and Rocky - have caused much consternation in the blogosphere. After all, these are the first lawsuits of their kind in Malaysia. The general response has, justifiably, been that these lawsuits will only stifle criticism and dissent. While agreeing with this sentiment, I feel that a broader and more objective view should be taken - one based more on reasoning than on a kneejerk reaction.
I will not be placing that ubiqitious "Bloggers United" tag on this site. This is not because I fear government reprisal, or because I am going to back down from taking a definite stand on Malaysian politics and governance. It is not even because I oppose free speech - if anything, I am in strong agreement with the stand taken by Bloggers United for greater freedom of speech, particularly on the internet. The main reason I will be avoiding joining this campaign is simply because:
*Like the recent opposition decision to boycott the Batu Talam by-election, this campaign will be completely ineffective and useless - we all know from past experience how the government will ignore any attempts to point out its errors.
**I believe that the possibility should remain open for people to take legal action against defamatory statements made on the internet - something that Bloggers United has been rather ambiguous about (at first glance, they seem to actually want this possibility to be cut off).
Cyberspace allows us a lot of freedom. It permits us to say whatever we like about anything. But as Jeff Ooi loves to say, we must remember that the internet does not operate in a legal vacuum. Even if we want to ignore the draconian laws concerning sedition, etc. (we would be particularly justified in doing so, since the government has publicly promised it will not censor the internet), we cannot ignore the laws concerning things like defamation. Every civilised country permits an individual or organisation to sue if its reputation has been unfairly slandered or libeled by an inaccurate or non-factual statement. It would be a travesty to, for whatever reason, permit open defamation on the internet.
Of course, de facto considerations will prevent major individuals or organisations from suing small-time bloggers for defamation. Any damages that could be gained would be little, and the publicity would be terrible. Most bloggers would (hopefully) have the sense to remove libelous material rather than to fight for the freedom to defame. And for big-time bloggers? Well, they should know the risks that come with posting defamatory material - if they can't take the heat, they should get out of the kitchen.
Note that I am not saying we should tolerate a clamping down on freedom of speech through the mechanism of defamation suits. What I am saying is that we on the internet do not have the right to post what we like. Even if we refuse to steer clear of those dangerous waters, such as posting seditious material, we must at least have respect for the laws of slander and libel.
If the bloggers being sued for libel have not written anything libelous, they should have nothing to fear. Having read both Jeff's and Rocky's blogs, I feel that there is nothing that any court could seriously accept as libelous. A right-thinking judge would throw the case out of court. This would make it clear that while there is room for reasoned and factual discourse, there is no room for defamation. While there is freedom of expression, there is no freedom to defame.
Some people might suggest that defamation laws would have a chilling effect on discourse in the blogosphere. Well, yes, I think that's the point. The point of defamation laws is to keep your mouth shut unless you are willing to stand by the facts of what you have said. You cannot go around accusing people of corruption or wrongdoing without having any facts to back you up. The internet is not a free-for-all. We are responsible for what we write. If you refuse to accept this responsibility, then don't write. It's better not to spread ill-founded gossip and avoid tainting the whole blogosphere.
Having said all that, I agree fully and completely with the sentiment that we must stand for freedom of speech in the internet on Malaysia. But, in doing so, let's please not stand for the freedom to slander and libel. We have a responsibility as authors of content to check our facts and establish the truth before spreading rumours and accusations.
For now, I feel that it's more important to ask the courts to be fair in their judgement. Jeff and Rocky will be let off by any reasonable and independent judge - so let's push for the judge(s) hearing the case to be free from any fear or favour on their part. They must be impartial and independent from external influence, and judge the case solely on its merits. By upholding the rule of law, we will preserve a blogosphere that is more able to express its views and disseminate factual information, while suppressing those who taint the name of the blogosphere by spreading wild and unfounded accusations. Libel and slander should never be tolerated by any society - not even in the name of freedom of speech.
There is one more thing I have to say: I am with Jeff and Rocky all the way on this one. I believe that they have done no wrong, and defamed no one, and I hope the New Straits Times Press gets thrashed in court. We have the right to not be defamed - and also the right to fight frivolous lawsuits. Let's fight this one.
DESIDERATA:
I am taking a breather before I add a PS, especially with reference to the two points cited by johnleeMK, marked * and **. (Timed now @12.50PM)
PS resumed @6.00pm:
My experience tells me the spectrums of membership in both the established fourth and emerging fifth estates are wide ranging, and they sometimes do overlap if the individuals interests concide. By and large, it's unlikely they form the same fields and so it's a false assumption from the start to create a We versus Them opposing sides like two football teams.
Human failings often propel many individuals to align themselves with the attitude:
My enemy's enemy is my friend. It may not be a good analogy, but I'd cite the warm reception PAS gave to former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, yes, the right word is "embracing" a former political nemesis, after giving him labels I won't even deem appropriate to repeat here. After he stepped down from Office and began to attack PAS' well-defined enemy, the incumbent Prime Minister and his administration.
As a Blogger, I would live with the reality that the Blogers' realm is freer -- therefore brings along with it many opportunities, also higher risks -- for discourse. The risks are multiplied many times when you attract the kind of Commenters who shoot their mouths off in the www as quickly as the cowboys and bandits in the older www -- wildwildwest.
The spectrum of the press membership is more controlled, and hence not so wild; plus the mainstream media in Malaysia has been well tutored on the limits they can go, hence it's self-censorship to safeguard their bread&butter more than the motivations arising from Best Journalism Practice.
WHICH LEADS DESI up to johnleemk's two poonts...
*Like the recent opposition decision to boycott the Batu Talam by-election, this campaign will be completely ineffective and useless - we all know from past experience how the government will ignore any attempts to point out its errors.
**I believe that the possibility should remain open for people to take legal action against defamatory statements made on the internet - something that Bloggers United has been rather ambiguous about (at first glance, they seem to actually want this possibility to be cut off).
* I may not be as "dismissive" as johnleemk on the first point about the ineffectiveness and uselessness of the Opposition's boycott of the Batu Talam by-election. But I don't blame fellow Malaysians' cynicism in general about the Government's pronounced statemments of promoting a free, and open society, a responsible, accountable and clean government.
** I endorse johnleemk's second point. Bloggers United was budded in the immediacy of a need to show solidarity with two fellow Bloggers facing DEFAMATION SUITS. The motivation is to be lauded, but there is also justification for other Bloggers to hold reservations what this movement wearing the Unity badge is all about. Just as the Barisan Nasional under its unity badge shouted by its component parties headed by UMNO, is it a safe assumption the movers and shakers of Bloggers United are dreaming of the same noble VISION OF A COMMON COURSE of "One for all, All for one"?
I have CAUSE FOR CONCERN, as articulated by johnleemk, for Jeff Ooi -- whom I have saluted as Blogosphere taiko and is chiefly responsible in motivating this scribe into Blogging about two years ago -- and Akhiruddin Atan,, who I became acquainted with at the National Press Club years back when, in the suits they are facing against a corporate and its related officers. It is indeed a David vs Goliath scenario. But any recation, proactive or otherwise, is best left to the individual Bloggers and Readers to decide.
At the end of the day, even Desi and his closest Blogger-mates might be of differing political affiliations, but we can sit down to exchange views, and then decide for ourselves which vehicle we want to emabrk on to travel that political path. And frankly, in Malaysia, it's the POLITICS that colours most of our walks in daily life. Blogging -- or working in the MSM -- is just one of the evening, or morning, paths we engage in for maintaining some variety, or sanity, in our lives. Or just to earn that B&B, throw in some kaya when there is a bonus fed by the generosity of the corporate tycoon.
Some have poltics and/or blogging in their blood. Others may not.
When JeffOoi's and Rocky'sBru suits for defamation filed by The NSTP and related parties became public knowledge, I surfed as widely as practical for the range of views as expected on an issue that is from "uncharted waters", as described by one of the two protagonists involved, quite similar to the territories I had travelled.
Today after much rumination, I declare that I agree mostly with the writings and thoughts well put forth by three of my regular discourse mates, namely johnleemk, 2020freelunch and xpyred whom I often tease "minus da d".
Herewith, without his permit which I unabashedly assume is granted -- because we are agreed we exchange mentor-mentee roles since we "befriended" each other over several G7 meetings -- I reprise in FULL this Y&A seventeen-year-old's insightful article. Just one dimwitnitpicking -- Please spell the 'internet' thus "Internet", willya, mentor mind!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Uploaded after 12.44pm Jan 22, 2007
TIMEline stated here for a certain purpose which is privi to Myself!
Intimated to JohnLeeMK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taking A Stand Against Defamation and For Freedom of Speech
Home >> Articles >> Malaysian Socio-Politics >> Taking A Stand Against Defamation and For Freedom of Speech
The New Straits Times Press has sued Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin bin Atan (Rocky) for defamation. Although I believe Jeff and Rocky should fight this case, and will stand with them, I will not be supporting the Bloggers United movement - because I believe in the importance of defamation laws.
Written by johnleemk on 11:07:24 am Jan 21, 2007.
Taking A Stand Against Defamation and For Freedom of Speech
The recent spate of lawsuits by the New Straits Times Press against two bloggers - namely Jeff Ooi and Rocky - have caused much consternation in the blogosphere. After all, these are the first lawsuits of their kind in Malaysia. The general response has, justifiably, been that these lawsuits will only stifle criticism and dissent. While agreeing with this sentiment, I feel that a broader and more objective view should be taken - one based more on reasoning than on a kneejerk reaction.
I will not be placing that ubiqitious "Bloggers United" tag on this site. This is not because I fear government reprisal, or because I am going to back down from taking a definite stand on Malaysian politics and governance. It is not even because I oppose free speech - if anything, I am in strong agreement with the stand taken by Bloggers United for greater freedom of speech, particularly on the internet. The main reason I will be avoiding joining this campaign is simply because:
*Like the recent opposition decision to boycott the Batu Talam by-election, this campaign will be completely ineffective and useless - we all know from past experience how the government will ignore any attempts to point out its errors.
**I believe that the possibility should remain open for people to take legal action against defamatory statements made on the internet - something that Bloggers United has been rather ambiguous about (at first glance, they seem to actually want this possibility to be cut off).
Cyberspace allows us a lot of freedom. It permits us to say whatever we like about anything. But as Jeff Ooi loves to say, we must remember that the internet does not operate in a legal vacuum. Even if we want to ignore the draconian laws concerning sedition, etc. (we would be particularly justified in doing so, since the government has publicly promised it will not censor the internet), we cannot ignore the laws concerning things like defamation. Every civilised country permits an individual or organisation to sue if its reputation has been unfairly slandered or libeled by an inaccurate or non-factual statement. It would be a travesty to, for whatever reason, permit open defamation on the internet.
Of course, de facto considerations will prevent major individuals or organisations from suing small-time bloggers for defamation. Any damages that could be gained would be little, and the publicity would be terrible. Most bloggers would (hopefully) have the sense to remove libelous material rather than to fight for the freedom to defame. And for big-time bloggers? Well, they should know the risks that come with posting defamatory material - if they can't take the heat, they should get out of the kitchen.
Note that I am not saying we should tolerate a clamping down on freedom of speech through the mechanism of defamation suits. What I am saying is that we on the internet do not have the right to post what we like. Even if we refuse to steer clear of those dangerous waters, such as posting seditious material, we must at least have respect for the laws of slander and libel.
If the bloggers being sued for libel have not written anything libelous, they should have nothing to fear. Having read both Jeff's and Rocky's blogs, I feel that there is nothing that any court could seriously accept as libelous. A right-thinking judge would throw the case out of court. This would make it clear that while there is room for reasoned and factual discourse, there is no room for defamation. While there is freedom of expression, there is no freedom to defame.
Some people might suggest that defamation laws would have a chilling effect on discourse in the blogosphere. Well, yes, I think that's the point. The point of defamation laws is to keep your mouth shut unless you are willing to stand by the facts of what you have said. You cannot go around accusing people of corruption or wrongdoing without having any facts to back you up. The internet is not a free-for-all. We are responsible for what we write. If you refuse to accept this responsibility, then don't write. It's better not to spread ill-founded gossip and avoid tainting the whole blogosphere.
Having said all that, I agree fully and completely with the sentiment that we must stand for freedom of speech in the internet on Malaysia. But, in doing so, let's please not stand for the freedom to slander and libel. We have a responsibility as authors of content to check our facts and establish the truth before spreading rumours and accusations.
For now, I feel that it's more important to ask the courts to be fair in their judgement. Jeff and Rocky will be let off by any reasonable and independent judge - so let's push for the judge(s) hearing the case to be free from any fear or favour on their part. They must be impartial and independent from external influence, and judge the case solely on its merits. By upholding the rule of law, we will preserve a blogosphere that is more able to express its views and disseminate factual information, while suppressing those who taint the name of the blogosphere by spreading wild and unfounded accusations. Libel and slander should never be tolerated by any society - not even in the name of freedom of speech.
There is one more thing I have to say: I am with Jeff and Rocky all the way on this one. I believe that they have done no wrong, and defamed no one, and I hope the New Straits Times Press gets thrashed in court. We have the right to not be defamed - and also the right to fight frivolous lawsuits. Let's fight this one.
DESIDERATA:
I am taking a breather before I add a PS, especially with reference to the two points cited by johnleeMK, marked * and **. (Timed now @12.50PM)
PS resumed @6.00pm:
My experience tells me the spectrums of membership in both the established fourth and emerging fifth estates are wide ranging, and they sometimes do overlap if the individuals interests concide. By and large, it's unlikely they form the same fields and so it's a false assumption from the start to create a We versus Them opposing sides like two football teams.
Human failings often propel many individuals to align themselves with the attitude:
My enemy's enemy is my friend. It may not be a good analogy, but I'd cite the warm reception PAS gave to former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, yes, the right word is "embracing" a former political nemesis, after giving him labels I won't even deem appropriate to repeat here. After he stepped down from Office and began to attack PAS' well-defined enemy, the incumbent Prime Minister and his administration.
As a Blogger, I would live with the reality that the Blogers' realm is freer -- therefore brings along with it many opportunities, also higher risks -- for discourse. The risks are multiplied many times when you attract the kind of Commenters who shoot their mouths off in the www as quickly as the cowboys and bandits in the older www -- wildwildwest.
The spectrum of the press membership is more controlled, and hence not so wild; plus the mainstream media in Malaysia has been well tutored on the limits they can go, hence it's self-censorship to safeguard their bread&butter more than the motivations arising from Best Journalism Practice.
WHICH LEADS DESI up to johnleemk's two poonts...
*Like the recent opposition decision to boycott the Batu Talam by-election, this campaign will be completely ineffective and useless - we all know from past experience how the government will ignore any attempts to point out its errors.
**I believe that the possibility should remain open for people to take legal action against defamatory statements made on the internet - something that Bloggers United has been rather ambiguous about (at first glance, they seem to actually want this possibility to be cut off).
* I may not be as "dismissive" as johnleemk on the first point about the ineffectiveness and uselessness of the Opposition's boycott of the Batu Talam by-election. But I don't blame fellow Malaysians' cynicism in general about the Government's pronounced statemments of promoting a free, and open society, a responsible, accountable and clean government.
** I endorse johnleemk's second point. Bloggers United was budded in the immediacy of a need to show solidarity with two fellow Bloggers facing DEFAMATION SUITS. The motivation is to be lauded, but there is also justification for other Bloggers to hold reservations what this movement wearing the Unity badge is all about. Just as the Barisan Nasional under its unity badge shouted by its component parties headed by UMNO, is it a safe assumption the movers and shakers of Bloggers United are dreaming of the same noble VISION OF A COMMON COURSE of "One for all, All for one"?
I have CAUSE FOR CONCERN, as articulated by johnleemk, for Jeff Ooi -- whom I have saluted as Blogosphere taiko and is chiefly responsible in motivating this scribe into Blogging about two years ago -- and Akhiruddin Atan,, who I became acquainted with at the National Press Club years back when, in the suits they are facing against a corporate and its related officers. It is indeed a David vs Goliath scenario. But any recation, proactive or otherwise, is best left to the individual Bloggers and Readers to decide.
At the end of the day, even Desi and his closest Blogger-mates might be of differing political affiliations, but we can sit down to exchange views, and then decide for ourselves which vehicle we want to emabrk on to travel that political path. And frankly, in Malaysia, it's the POLITICS that colours most of our walks in daily life. Blogging -- or working in the MSM -- is just one of the evening, or morning, paths we engage in for maintaining some variety, or sanity, in our lives. Or just to earn that B&B, throw in some kaya when there is a bonus fed by the generosity of the corporate tycoon.
Some have poltics and/or blogging in their blood. Others may not.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
BONUS TRACK: My fave Dylan's songs
This is a Bonus Inter:LUde because I have been sweet-spirited.
Also, I have the Time if you have a Mind -- we don't need any Dime.
Whether thou art from Londonerry Faire, Queensland Bay or Ipoh-cum-Seremban boonstocks, here's to AweOfMyER in the plural~~~~~~~ arising from:
mGf sweets from DU (PLease, not folowed by d H!) sent greAtings regularly, and yesterday when all my troubles seemed so faraway (Yes, from a Beatles' evergreen -- lest I don't die a Brendan P. death by plagiarism!), she asked:
"DEsi, what's your favourite Bob Dylan's songs?"
and delivering sweet Sundae manna to this MY Blue H'aven~~
---------------------------------
Desi
Btw my fav Bob Dylan song is
i believe in you
They ask me how I feel
And if my love is real
And how I know I'll make it through.
And they, they look at me and frown,
They'd like to drive me from this town,
They don't want me around
'Cause I believe in you.
They show me to the door,
They say don't come back no more
'Cause I don't be like they'd like me to,
And I walk out on my own
A thousand miles from home
But I don't feel alone
'Cause I believe in you.
And my "P&C" response, I don't know who stole IT and posted it hear!:(
Nah mine, YOU won't be sued for plagiarism.:)
___________________________________________
Hi sweets:
Thanks for your Bob D songs - revive sweet memories of
my TWeen times. I may just make it the subject of a
coming T&C article!
Thanks for thy inspiration!
My fave Dylan's is BLOWIN' IN THE WIND; it's relevant
again because of stubborn Bush's continued aggression
in Iraq!:(
I'm posting up a Special Sundae-Interlude after
sending this reply:)
Chow, take care
Caress the nearest person next to you, NOW!
YL, Desi
Still knotty and incorrigible!:)
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.
_______________________
BUt some, if not a major section, of my EsteemedReaders are also civil-politically-inclined activists, like Desi, so here's one aMore faveourite, focus on the contents
and see if they are relevant today as in the 1960s/70s, my Tween dies.
:) to Sweetspirits
:) to meself
:) to all the Voyeuristic ER peeping in, or out.
CHIMES of FREEDOM
Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked
Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
An' the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
All down in taken-for-granted situations
Tolling for the deaf an' blind, tolling for the mute
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an' cheated by pursuit
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Even though a cloud's white curtain in a far-off corner flashed
An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
An' for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look
Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse
An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Copyright © 1964; renewed 1992 Special Rider Music
Also, I have the Time if you have a Mind -- we don't need any Dime.
Whether thou art from Londonerry Faire, Queensland Bay or Ipoh-cum-Seremban boonstocks, here's to AweOfMyER in the plural~~~~~~~ arising from:
mGf sweets from DU (PLease, not folowed by d H!) sent greAtings regularly, and yesterday when all my troubles seemed so faraway (Yes, from a Beatles' evergreen -- lest I don't die a Brendan P. death by plagiarism!), she asked:
"DEsi, what's your favourite Bob Dylan's songs?"
and delivering sweet Sundae manna to this MY Blue H'aven~~
---------------------------------
Desi
Btw my fav Bob Dylan song is
i believe in you
They ask me how I feel
And if my love is real
And how I know I'll make it through.
And they, they look at me and frown,
They'd like to drive me from this town,
They don't want me around
'Cause I believe in you.
They show me to the door,
They say don't come back no more
'Cause I don't be like they'd like me to,
And I walk out on my own
A thousand miles from home
But I don't feel alone
'Cause I believe in you.
And my "P&C" response, I don't know who stole IT and posted it hear!:(
Nah mine, YOU won't be sued for plagiarism.:)
___________________________________________
Hi sweets:
Thanks for your Bob D songs - revive sweet memories of
my TWeen times. I may just make it the subject of a
coming T&C article!
Thanks for thy inspiration!
My fave Dylan's is BLOWIN' IN THE WIND; it's relevant
again because of stubborn Bush's continued aggression
in Iraq!:(
I'm posting up a Special Sundae-Interlude after
sending this reply:)
Chow, take care
Caress the nearest person next to you, NOW!
YL, Desi
Still knotty and incorrigible!:)
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.
_______________________
BUt some, if not a major section, of my EsteemedReaders are also civil-politically-inclined activists, like Desi, so here's one aMore faveourite, focus on the contents
and see if they are relevant today as in the 1960s/70s, my Tween dies.
:) to Sweetspirits
:) to meself
:) to all the Voyeuristic ER peeping in, or out.
CHIMES of FREEDOM
Far between sundown's finish an' midnight's broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An' for each an' ev'ry underdog soldier in the night
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
In the city's melted furnace, unexpectedly we watched
With faces hidden while the walls were tightening
As the echo of the wedding bells before the blowin' rain
Dissolved into the bells of the lightning
Tolling for the rebel, tolling for the rake
Tolling for the luckless, the abandoned an' forsaked
Tolling for the outcast, burnin' constantly at stake
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Through the mad mystic hammering of the wild ripping hail
The sky cracked its poems in naked wonder
That the clinging of the church bells blew far into the breeze
Leaving only bells of lightning and its thunder
Striking for the gentle, striking for the kind
Striking for the guardians and protectors of the mind
An' the unpawned painter behind beyond his rightful time
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Through the wild cathedral evening the rain unraveled tales
For the disrobed faceless forms of no position
Tolling for the tongues with no place to bring their thoughts
All down in taken-for-granted situations
Tolling for the deaf an' blind, tolling for the mute
Tolling for the mistreated, mateless mother, the mistitled prostitute
For the misdemeanor outlaw, chased an' cheated by pursuit
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Even though a cloud's white curtain in a far-off corner flashed
An' the hypnotic splattered mist was slowly lifting
Electric light still struck like arrows, fired but for the ones
Condemned to drift or else be kept from drifting
Tolling for the searching ones, on their speechless, seeking trail
For the lonesome-hearted lovers with too personal a tale
An' for each unharmful, gentle soul misplaced inside a jail
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Starry-eyed an' laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an' we watched with one last look
Spellbound an' swallowed 'til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an' worse
An' for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An' we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
Copyright © 1964; renewed 1992 Special Rider Music
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