The last few days Desiderata was engaging in light banter and joyfully tagging along on a Wild Goose Chase with my readers in an excursion started off by a short question sent over to this self-apppointed guru inggeris for the Sunday column. The Booker Challenger has NOT been won yet.
Today I am back to normal musing, if there is anything normal about a journalist in a half-awake and half-ranting mood! Half-awake? Yes, the goings-on in my country seem to be out of Alice in Wonderland -- "It gets curiiouser and curiouser!"
SssssSpirit must be in higher spirits this morn when she reads this, (Shall we do the Matilda, nicolekid? Don’t you people get jeles okay, I shall have the first dance, then it’s Open House - National Day remember?) but please don’t drink too much Foster’s unless Desi is around!
Where am I?
Oh, the answer my fRiend, is blowin' in the wind …
Yes, along Jalan Ampang near where the World’s Tallest Twin Towers stand, the Petronas Oneor2, built there on Citizens Behalf as Petronas is the National Oil Corporation.
The reality as God Disposes and Smiles on us Malaysians. TWO Bloody Lucky COUNTRIES -- Malaysia and Australia, I used to tell my Aussie Friends. I plan to propose in Parliament for these two to merge to become MALAUSTRAYSIA when the YoungPeopleParty forms the Government.
Here’s the basis.
I read this report belatedly as the day faded into Eventide, hidden as a Brief on page 2 of theSUN August 23, 2005.
M’sians more like Aussies : Downer
ADELAIDE: Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has described Malaysians as “the Australians of Southeast Asia”.
“Like Australians, Malaysians are frank, robust but very friendly,” he told Malaysia’s National Day celebrations here over the weekend.
“While Malaysians will tell you what they think, and they are frank about it, the other Southeast Asians tend to be a little cautious of what they say,” Downer said at the evnt organized by the Australia-Malaysia Business Council.
Hear, hear! Minister Downer does not live up to his Nama, but it’s okay; He gave us Bloody Malaysians an Upper!
SssssSpirit must be in higher spirits this morn when she reads this, plus that knottyboy from Catsville, Kennysiah, if he reads this, as he considers Perth his H-own!
Just for the record, I got my GAJI (handsumONE) for 12 short years from the Aussie government while serving as its Press Officer at the High Commission in Kuala Lumpur in THOSE WERE THE DAYS. Although I interacted often with someone at the Wisma MCA in Jalan Ampang,Koala Lumpuh, just a stone's throw away, I never did buy into his party propaganda. In fact I tried to seduce him inviting him to the mission's ANNUAL MELBOURNE CUP< during which run the whole bloody Australian nation comes to a complete shutdown except for that horsey race!
INDEED, Malaysia and Australia are TWO BLOODY LUCKY COUNTRIES. But in deeds, how do the leaders perform?
Oz land is blessed with all sorts of minerals most of which are untapped.
My country every now and then finds new oil fields, and God saves us many a time from Doomsville.
But lately, the strange goings-on, at the PWTC and Wisma MCA -- they make me feel half-sedated, and nervous. Even as I write this, I ask: how do our leaders perform, in deeds?
Tell you why my concern and nerves.
Remember that keris-waving hero of Hishammuddin Hussein at the recent UMNO YOuth Assembly? He's the youth chief of the largest component in the 14-component Barisan Nasional. He represents the leadership of the next generation. And he's wielding a weapon from out of 15th century Malaccan empire -- ancient times, isn't it? Don't you parents waver in your daily prayers?
Then just last Friday, Mr Ling Hee Leong -- soon to become Datuk? -- was elected as the deputy chief of MCA Youth. Remember him of the roaring 1997/98 stock-boom-and-crash days when he could -- at the old age of 27 --obtain RM1.2BILLION facilities from the conservative Malaysian banks to take control of at least four public listed companies?
I hope Malaysian memories are not that short, sedated may be, but let's wake up to THE REALITY!
The reality is that as OUR NATION approaches its 48th Birthday, I have some tremblings down my spine looking at the country's second echelon leadership if they are represented by the likes (or ilks?) of Hishamuddin and Ling Junior.
The latest, from a reliable source -- Hishamuddin drives around in a four-wheel drive called the HUMMER made by General Motor registered number JEN 8. (JEN for jeneral and 8 for Chinese luck?)
The rice is a cool -- or is it small change? --RM960,000. That JEN8 is only one of three imported into the country now.
And compare with this fact: The National Union of Plantation Workers recently signed a wages agreement with the workers ensuring them a handsome monthly wage of minimum RM350! No, Desi did not leave out a zero or two! And my eyesight is not approaching senility stage! Neither is my hearing!
Foof for Thought, myGOoD fRiends, especially the YoungOnes. You have evry reason to be afraid, and we are NOT living in a land of want. There's plenty here, as inDOWN UNDER. But Mr Downer better be prepared for another exodus of the Malaysian YoungOnes out of Malaysia to DU -- ma ybe you consider my Humble Proposal in advance, pass it on to Mr Howard? MALAYAUSTRAYSIA?
DESIDERATA: A special message to the YoungOnes like Sabrina and Kyels and many other raeders who I know occasionally visit Desi' Place, I urge thee to ponder over maestro-philosophic Bob Dylan's mighty deep words:
BLOWIN' IN THE WIND
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.
FAREWELL to all the thousands of youths who died in Vietnam in the service of their Proud Country called the US of A; also to the YoungOnes who answered Dylan's call to do somethin' about the delibilating war in the 19760s that took away a whole generation of Vietnamese, especially the YoungOnes. So, when will we ever learn? Remember, WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
The answer, mGf, is blowing in the wind
Where is the bloody answer to CHALLENGE 2?
The answer, mGf, is somewhere hidden within the text below, extracted from column of:
Sunday, July 31, 2005
The Importance of EDITING for a Beautiful Product
desiderata.english
Dear Readers, especially the YoungOnes, today I’m doing an EDITING EXERCISE with one of your peers’ copy. This article is short, but very important lesson for students to POLISH UP their DRAFTS. A draft copy is an initial piece written by the student. The editing process, which is undertaken by the writer himself/herself or another person recruited for the job, for example, at a publishing house or newspaper, is responsible in making the final copy look as professional as it can.
The EDITING PROCESS involves spotting the obvious errors (we call them HOWLERS because these mistakes make the reader howl, like when one steps on a pin!), the grammar mistakes, with an emphasis on subject-verb agreement, the right tenses being used, proper spelling (in accordance with the British system, not American); replacing a certain word with a more suitable one, or even a phrase that wields a greater impact; re-arranging sentences or ideas to improve the flow; making the essay or story coherent, logical, and arresting, which means, attention-grabbing, so that the reader is encouraged to read to the end.
In the news-room at any daily newspaper, there are specialists doing this important function; they are called SUB-EDITORS or COPY-EDITORS. But on top of normal editing functions, some also advise the reporters on how to approach writing their stories or reports.
The copy for our study is as originally submitted by EAGLE WINGS, a schoolgirl from Sarawak who as won't of many writers, she just wants to be known by her nick. (Remember what this word stands for? Remember IgnorantCow and his teenagers blog? Remember Timothy Su?)
The topic selected for discussion is unusual; the subject is an ordinary tool found in many Malaysian homes, especially Chinese, but it appears in the SINGULAR! Normally, it works in the PLURAL. In a writer’s hand, the ordinary and mundane can be TRANSFORMED into something extraordinary, and entertaining. Eagle Wings’ original copy has been edited by Desiderata to show you how improvements can still be made, so read the second edition and compare and contrast with the first.
A CHOPSTICH
(For those who miss'd this exquisite writing, from Eagle Wings I mean, please go back in time, you're allowed to, you know ...)
SsssssSpirit read the above which won her (the writer, not the reader!) a copy of Catherine De Costa's CHAALENGE TO LOVE.
DESIDERATA, in a happy and generous mood, has extended the DEADLINE to 1.00p.m for you to have the LAST, and MUKTAMAD, chance to win an AUTOGRAPHED (both Cathy's and YLChong's) copy. May become a collectible in 10 years selling for AUSD1million, YOU NE'ER KNOW!
CHOW, as in saying B'Y, B'Y, or Have a NiCe BF, Desi is leaving for his on a cold morn for BKT?
SsssssSpirit (see this teAcher is vely biased! You know why, becos she's the only ONE who reatraced that article to read, digest; after digesting, she, like a good customer, unlike most souvenir hunters, asked for a CHOPSTICK, she did not squirrel it away!), you won to no what's BKT, come back at 2.00pm, righto? Meanwhile, crack thy head and give it a go-go!
UPDATE: coming at 2.00pm, Tuesday August 23, 2005...
Ah, today’s not Sunday.desiderata, but Desi will always make room for EXCEPTIONS, as I often told my ESTEEMEDREADERS, we’re aloud and loud to, WE ARE A TRUE DEMOCRAZY!
From the CHAMBERS English Dictionary (I once used The ‘ick (rhymes with Nick) at Mack’s BrandMalaysiaMalaysia.com and was admonished for using a pronfunity, which a journalist like me should know better; so I play safe not using any sensitive short forms just in case it leads to MISS-understanding!):
wont adj. used or accustomed. – n. habit – v.i. to be accustomed to
Won’t will not
EXAMPLES:
I am wont (used) to postponing doing my assignment till the last minute, a journalist’s habit I fostered through the years, I guess.
I won’t(will not) join you (SweetSpirit) and Sabrina for tea this afternoon as I andd mGf Mr Coww are here in Seremban, and you’re there Down Under, a thousand S-miles away, but we’ll share a cyber teh-tarik, from Hari Das of course!
Hey, you IgnorantCowws out there, I underestimated your IQ – you people were way above this teacher at IQ radinsg; I tried to throw some red herrings around like an Agathie Christie murder mystery, but you people live at Steven Spielberg. STAR WARS, RETURN OF THE JEDI or whatever returns, or J K ROWLING’s levels of super-intelligence with Marry Potter 1, 2, 3 , 4 or 5 such that desi cannot keep track. But you get stumped with olde Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot’s folk detection – the answer is not blowing in the wind. RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF THY EYES, BUT LIKE MOST MCA MEMBERS< YOU CHOOSE NOT TO SEE! (ooops, poor comparision, I’d gostan, canONE - RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF THY EYES, BUT IT ESACAPES THEE, LIKE A COOL 20MILLION BUCK-EYES.
It’s just an APOSTROPHE, and Desiderata was writing on EDITING FOR A BEAUTIFUL PRODUCT, but goofed at one key moment (no excuse!)in putting in that APOSTROPHE when it’s NOT welcome! In this context, I was thinking of one word, but I used another giving quite the opposite meaning just because my mind went wandering for a split second. And you can’t afford that “split” when that one slip in your trousers or skirt acts on thee, can you! Ah, ne’er ind, poor comparison, maybe I digress, ah… THE LUXURY!
Now I’ll peep over at the COMMENTS channel to see if any intelligent ones among these IgnorantCowws came even close to winning THE CHALLENGE TO L’VE.
(ends 244pm)
Closing shop at about 6.10pm (Msian time for those DU, I don't keep track of Oz and NZ times, but I know the US times are recorded at COMMENTS, can't follow the arithmetic although trained by Shyloock and Poiru...
Sab and kyels and ssssspirit -- sorry mates, you tried too hard looking at para, but it's THAT pariah sign, the APOSTROPHY -- oops, wrong spell, ne'er mine, yours, hers also can-lah! Not even a word, a sentence, or phrase, just one sign in a 4-letter word that slipped through the writer's hands, ah, I DIGRESS! -- That's how Agatha's and Hercule's mysteries are played out. APOSTROPHE ...COMAS, HYMEN and WTF! ooops, the YOUNGONES are here, COMMAS, HYPHENS and WTH! ('tis for What the heck/hell!) -- mild swearing is allowed and aloud at Desi's, as long as brudder Mack deems them NOT profAnities!
And kyels -- dickheads? -- that's NOT a 4-letter word!
And Sab, look at the next email (IM-Don't get jeles, being cool like the Y1 bloggers adopting new style in spellin', showOFF-lah, kenORknot!) -- a surprise awaits.
Hey, my late comers did try hard -- 2Salutes to primrose and fashonasia!;);) This fashionable one even HIJACKED my 3rd CHALLENGE on BKT! She's got guts, bro IM, thou shalt not trifle with her (I presumeth it's fe-mail ...), bro Moses, OK-lah!
And where art thou? Moses, jessy, james, dezmond (with a zee, not an Ass!,poptart, Imran, & IntelectualOne HOWSY? Howsy, what'd ya do with 0.5bookie?
Maybe I've prepare CHALLENGE 4 (C3 done, remember, youDon'Tno, remember??) for coming sunday's column -- but if the responses are not flowing in like a tsunama, I'll re-surrect my mild THIRD PERSUADE to retire my desiderata.english!
Meanwhile, I'll share this wisdom from that IgnorantCoww:
Coww: Desi, you cannot keeep on banging your head against the wll railing and baying against the MCA politicians. They are trying very hard to lead the Chinese community.
Desi: Yes, they try very hard to become ROLE MODALS -- see, a Ling Junior who became a billionaire at age 27 (by virtue of being the Transport Minister's son) is now equivalent to UMNO's Khairy Jamaluddin, who at age 28 became the second most powerful man in the country (by virtue of being current PM Pak Lah's son-in-law.)
Coww: It's alright, Chinese culture dicates one must help one's family to rise and rise and rise ...
Desi: Yes, that's their Cowwlture, UMNO and MCA, and if you think National Day in eight days' time will see a tsunami wave of Jalur Gemilang flying. I think these politicians are dreaming. They can "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry" driving a HUMMVY while we are dring a Potong Mana, they holiday in the UK, US of A or Down Under for six months in a year, They are MITE MISTAKEN! They are living in a BolehHand nextdoor to NeverLand. I and my ICowws are adjourning to OUR I-LAND -- UPDATE on funding -- I just collected H1million, still RM19million to go. Mr Coww counted another strand on Desi's baldin' haed to make him a millionHair!
Passing on an Important Message here, especially the YoungOnes here, please apply to join YoungPeopleParty, kyels is sending out MembershipFroms!
I'm pondering the post I took upon myself for moo-ing the idea -- as Honorary Adviser, who gets paid an Honorarium, that's according to the MaidChambers Dic'shenery!
NB: YoungOnes here is defined in line with MARK TWAIN's definition of AGE:
Age is mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't
matter.
STAY TUNED FOR TOMORROW: Desi will continue with Brothers4 version of
The answer my fRiend, is Blowing in the Wind...
The answer, mGf, is somewhere hidden within the text below, extracted from column of:
Sunday, July 31, 2005
The Importance of EDITING for a Beautiful Product
desiderata.english
Dear Readers, especially the YoungOnes, today I’m doing an EDITING EXERCISE with one of your peers’ copy. This article is short, but very important lesson for students to POLISH UP their DRAFTS. A draft copy is an initial piece written by the student. The editing process, which is undertaken by the writer himself/herself or another person recruited for the job, for example, at a publishing house or newspaper, is responsible in making the final copy look as professional as it can.
The EDITING PROCESS involves spotting the obvious errors (we call them HOWLERS because these mistakes make the reader howl, like when one steps on a pin!), the grammar mistakes, with an emphasis on subject-verb agreement, the right tenses being used, proper spelling (in accordance with the British system, not American); replacing a certain word with a more suitable one, or even a phrase that wields a greater impact; re-arranging sentences or ideas to improve the flow; making the essay or story coherent, logical, and arresting, which means, attention-grabbing, so that the reader is encouraged to read to the end.
In the news-room at any daily newspaper, there are specialists doing this important function; they are called SUB-EDITORS or COPY-EDITORS. But on top of normal editing functions, some also advise the reporters on how to approach writing their stories or reports.
The copy for our study is as originally submitted by EAGLE WINGS, a schoolgirl from Sarawak who as won't of many writers, she just wants to be known by her nick. (Remember what this word stands for? Remember IgnorantCow and his teenagers blog? Remember Timothy Su?)
The topic selected for discussion is unusual; the subject is an ordinary tool found in many Malaysian homes, especially Chinese, but it appears in the SINGULAR! Normally, it works in the PLURAL. In a writer’s hand, the ordinary and mundane can be TRANSFORMED into something extraordinary, and entertaining. Eagle Wings’ original copy has been edited by Desiderata to show you how improvements can still be made, so read the second edition and compare and contrast with the first.
A CHOPSTICH
(For those who miss'd this exquisite writing, from Eagle Wings I mean, please go back in time, you're allowed to, you know ...)
SsssssSpirit read the above which won her (the writer, not the reader!) a copy of Catherine De Costa's CHAALENGE TO LOVE.
DESIDERATA, in a happy and generous mood, has extended the DEADLINE to 1.00p.m for you to have the LAST, and MUKTAMAD, chance to win an AUTOGRAPHED (both Cathy's and YLChong's) copy. May become a collectible in 10 years selling for AUSD1million, YOU NE'ER KNOW!
CHOW, as in saying B'Y, B'Y, or Have a NiCe BF, Desi is leaving for his on a cold morn for BKT?
SsssssSpirit (see this teAcher is vely biased! You know why, becos she's the only ONE who reatraced that article to read, digest; after digesting, she, like a good customer, unlike most souvenir hunters, asked for a CHOPSTICK, she did not squirrel it away!), you won to no what's BKT, come back at 2.00pm, righto? Meanwhile, crack thy head and give it a go-go!
UPDATE: coming at 2.00pm, Tuesday August 23, 2005...
Ah, today’s not Sunday.desiderata, but Desi will always make room for EXCEPTIONS, as I often told my ESTEEMEDREADERS, we’re aloud and loud to, WE ARE A TRUE DEMOCRAZY!
From the CHAMBERS English Dictionary (I once used The ‘ick (rhymes with Nick) at Mack’s BrandMalaysiaMalaysia.com and was admonished for using a pronfunity, which a journalist like me should know better; so I play safe not using any sensitive short forms just in case it leads to MISS-understanding!):
wont adj. used or accustomed. – n. habit – v.i. to be accustomed to
Won’t will not
EXAMPLES:
I am wont (used) to postponing doing my assignment till the last minute, a journalist’s habit I fostered through the years, I guess.
I won’t(will not) join you (SweetSpirit) and Sabrina for tea this afternoon as I andd mGf Mr Coww are here in Seremban, and you’re there Down Under, a thousand S-miles away, but we’ll share a cyber teh-tarik, from Hari Das of course!
Hey, you IgnorantCowws out there, I underestimated your IQ – you people were way above this teacher at IQ radinsg; I tried to throw some red herrings around like an Agathie Christie murder mystery, but you people live at Steven Spielberg. STAR WARS, RETURN OF THE JEDI or whatever returns, or J K ROWLING’s levels of super-intelligence with Marry Potter 1, 2, 3 , 4 or 5 such that desi cannot keep track. But you get stumped with olde Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot’s folk detection – the answer is not blowing in the wind. RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF THY EYES, BUT LIKE MOST MCA MEMBERS< YOU CHOOSE NOT TO SEE! (ooops, poor comparision, I’d gostan, canONE - RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF THY EYES, BUT IT ESACAPES THEE, LIKE A COOL 20MILLION BUCK-EYES.
It’s just an APOSTROPHE, and Desiderata was writing on EDITING FOR A BEAUTIFUL PRODUCT, but goofed at one key moment (no excuse!)in putting in that APOSTROPHE when it’s NOT welcome! In this context, I was thinking of one word, but I used another giving quite the opposite meaning just because my mind went wandering for a split second. And you can’t afford that “split” when that one slip in your trousers or skirt acts on thee, can you! Ah, ne’er ind, poor comparison, maybe I digress, ah… THE LUXURY!
Now I’ll peep over at the COMMENTS channel to see if any intelligent ones among these IgnorantCowws came even close to winning THE CHALLENGE TO L’VE.
(ends 244pm)
Closing shop at about 6.10pm (Msian time for those DU, I don't keep track of Oz and NZ times, but I know the US times are recorded at COMMENTS, can't follow the arithmetic although trained by Shyloock and Poiru...
Sab and kyels and ssssspirit -- sorry mates, you tried too hard looking at para, but it's THAT pariah sign, the APOSTROPHY -- oops, wrong spell, ne'er mine, yours, hers also can-lah! Not even a word, a sentence, or phrase, just one sign in a 4-letter word that slipped through the writer's hands, ah, I DIGRESS! -- That's how Agatha's and Hercule's mysteries are played out. APOSTROPHE ...COMAS, HYMEN and WTF! ooops, the YOUNGONES are here, COMMAS, HYPHENS and WTH! ('tis for What the heck/hell!) -- mild swearing is allowed and aloud at Desi's, as long as brudder Mack deems them NOT profAnities!
And kyels -- dickheads? -- that's NOT a 4-letter word!
And Sab, look at the next email (IM-Don't get jeles, being cool like the Y1 bloggers adopting new style in spellin', showOFF-lah, kenORknot!) -- a surprise awaits.
Hey, my late comers did try hard -- 2Salutes to primrose and fashonasia!;);) This fashionable one even HIJACKED my 3rd CHALLENGE on BKT! She's got guts, bro IM, thou shalt not trifle with her (I presumeth it's fe-mail ...), bro Moses, OK-lah!
And where art thou? Moses, jessy, james, dezmond (with a zee, not an Ass!,poptart, Imran, & IntelectualOne HOWSY? Howsy, what'd ya do with 0.5bookie?
Maybe I've prepare CHALLENGE 4 (C3 done, remember, youDon'Tno, remember??) for coming sunday's column -- but if the responses are not flowing in like a tsunama, I'll re-surrect my mild THIRD PERSUADE to retire my desiderata.english!
Meanwhile, I'll share this wisdom from that IgnorantCoww:
Coww: Desi, you cannot keeep on banging your head against the wll railing and baying against the MCA politicians. They are trying very hard to lead the Chinese community.
Desi: Yes, they try very hard to become ROLE MODALS -- see, a Ling Junior who became a billionaire at age 27 (by virtue of being the Transport Minister's son) is now equivalent to UMNO's Khairy Jamaluddin, who at age 28 became the second most powerful man in the country (by virtue of being current PM Pak Lah's son-in-law.)
Coww: It's alright, Chinese culture dicates one must help one's family to rise and rise and rise ...
Desi: Yes, that's their Cowwlture, UMNO and MCA, and if you think National Day in eight days' time will see a tsunami wave of Jalur Gemilang flying. I think these politicians are dreaming. They can "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry" driving a HUMMVY while we are dring a Potong Mana, they holiday in the UK, US of A or Down Under for six months in a year, They are MITE MISTAKEN! They are living in a BolehHand nextdoor to NeverLand. I and my ICowws are adjourning to OUR I-LAND -- UPDATE on funding -- I just collected H1million, still RM19million to go. Mr Coww counted another strand on Desi's baldin' haed to make him a millionHair!
Passing on an Important Message here, especially the YoungOnes here, please apply to join YoungPeopleParty, kyels is sending out MembershipFroms!
I'm pondering the post I took upon myself for moo-ing the idea -- as Honorary Adviser, who gets paid an Honorarium, that's according to the MaidChambers Dic'shenery!
NB: YoungOnes here is defined in line with MARK TWAIN's definition of AGE:
Age is mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't
matter.
STAY TUNED FOR TOMORROW: Desi will continue with Brothers4 version of
The answer my fRiend, is Blowing in the Wind...
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
MONDAY BLUES - CAN BE GOOD TOO!
MONDAY CAN NO MORE BE JUST BLUES,
depending on how one looks at it.
SUBTITLE OF TODAY'S POST: Lameducks at MCA helmMy EstemedReaders, especially the Regulars, I presume there are Some? -- can judge for themselves why adopted this.
There is GOOG NEWS and BAD NEWS – very much in line and
/or against the grain and brain on normal MONDAY Morns, but Desiderata today is the messenger of both news of SALVATION, or DOOM (for the Chinese Community).
This is the first MONDAY after the second-ranked party in the 14-compoennt Barusan Nasional’s polls last Firday and Saturday – and the general populace look at the return of BOLEHLAND, Malaysian equivalent of NEVERLAND. If thou knoweth naught what NeverLand is, then you’ve also not heard of Jacko, you’ve not heard of That Thriller. Then you better BEAT IT!
In summary
The first-in-six-years MCA elections saw these events reminiscent of my childhood galfRiend Alice in WunderLand – Really.
•Q1: Does MCA have a strategy in facing Umno's unilateral declaration a few weeks back in adopting the New National Agenda that was bulldozed at the Umno general assembly and adopted for immediate implementation without prior consultation among BN component parties?
••ANSWER: In the omission of any visionary direction by the candidates competing for the top posts, e.g. ABSENCE of any Manifesto by incumbent/defending President ONG KA TING, versus contender CHUA JUI MENG who issued an impressive Manifseto of the NEW POLITICS (visit chuajuimeng.com).
•Q2: How does the Chinese press measure up to its role as an independent and responsible 4th Estate?
•*ANSWER: Except for the (according to myGOodFriend, a Chinese scholar I rate him, Mr Coww)OREINTAL DAILY NEWS, the rest of the Chinese online media failed in shaping of public opinion to in any objective, professional manner, because Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Daily News and their sister papers are are associated closely with MCA interests via shareholding by Hua Ren (as is THE STAR). This explains why Jui Meng’s Manifesto did not get any fair coverage in those mentioned papers (NO, I’m not repeating their names, otherwise their circulations may shoot through the roof. Follow brdudder Imran’s footstep – get the free copy of theSUN from the 7ELEVEN or SEVEN7 nearest thee!;).
From the outset, I have declared I have been an Opposition leaner since my thinking days (socialist, remember?), BUT I promised towards the closing of last week I would update a Commentary on Ling Hee Liong’s bid for deputy MCA chief’s post, which he had succeeded. And so here’s the first piece of
GOOD OR BAD NEWS!
*Q: The way to Ezy Money, HOW?
**ANSWER: The MCA youths can all now aspire to become millionaires by the age of 30, not an amibitious target.
Your deputy head became an instant paper-billionaire at the old age of 27! For the background, I reprise from my own column titled: JUI MENG TAKES SWIPE AT HIS PRESIDENT dated August 18, 2005.
"Here I wish to recall that Ling Junior in 1997/98 hogged the news spotlight. Indeed praised by THE STAR, as a role model-entepreuner the, when at age 27 years, he managed to borrow some RM1.2billion to take over control of at least FOUR LISTED COMPANIES. The youngest billionaire-on-paper whose financial resources seemd unlimted until the financial crisis hit the Southeast Asian region laid bare all theses follies of the banks, where mortals like you and I at age 30 would be hard pressed to borrow RM100,000 to buy our first roof over our head never did ask any due diligence questions to lend to the youngest billionaire then. No wonder these banks had to be bailed out and we tax-payers saw the very miscreants involved – bankers and BIG borrowers - not brought to any court to account for their actions which led to a national crisis.
Or have Malaysians forgotten and forgiven?" (end of extract)
NOTE that the elected Youth Chief is Liow Tiong Lai who won with 1,433 votes representing some 84% of the total votes cast had served long and well.BUT the elected deputy Ling Hee Leong got it Ezy, obtaining 690 votes that represent some 40.1% of the total votes cast.
The most outstanding feature is that:
Hee Leong's opponents Liew Yuen Keong and Loh Seng Kok, who garnered 526 and 420 votes respectively, were all seasoned politicians with a longer service record to their names compaed with Ling Junior’s,
*Q:So what could be the main REASON?
**ANSWER: In the words of many bloggers, even mainstream press commentaries, the conclusion is: the father's invisible hand. A former MCA President and Transport Minister could swing RM1.2BILLION facilities, what's a Deputy MCA Youth's position -- CHICKEN FEED!
Desiderata’s analysis is that incumbent Ong horse=traded with Ling Senior to ensure the junior’s victory in return for Ling’s Suppoeters’s votes against Chua Jui Meng. Just like back in 1997/98 in getting RM1.2BILLION bank facilities. Without ministerial backing from Dad, which banker would even let Ling Junior ask for RM1million?
Hey, I'm sure many of my Esteemed Readers have borrowed maybe just RM150,000 or even less (In Desi's case, just RM81,000 for a RM90,000 house...) to buy your first house (quite likelt at eraly 30s after slogging for 5-10 years), HOW MUCH HAZZLE DID YOU GO THROUGH, MAN/LADY?
But an interesting view from fellow Blogger JeffOoi’s screenshots last week:
“According to analyses in the Chinese papers, Hee Leong skewed his campaign by resorting to a 'turun padang' strategy that centres on the εεη©δΉ ( "eat drink play enjoy" ) culture.
And from the NEW SUNDAY TIMES yesterday, an extract from a good analysis by CHOW KUM HOR (go read, recommended by Desiderata, even if you have to spend RM1.20 to get a back copy, OK. Bro IM, Alright?):
Ling's son brings new equation into MCA
Ling Hee Leong's surprise election as MCA Youth deputy chief underscores an emerging but potentially troubling trend in the movement, writes CHOW KUM HOR.
“”**Your track record does not count. That sums up the results of the contest for the MCA Youth's no 2 post in the partry election last Friday.
Lim Hee Leong, the son of former president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, pulled off an upset by winning the post, getting 690 votes.
The Kuala Kangsar Youth head defeated two wakil rakyat who had dedicated more than a decade each a office-bearers in the movement's executive body, the central committee.
"So, how then could a 36-year-old with a negligible political resume, defeat bigger and more senior names to clinch the second highest position in the movement?
MCA=watcher and former editor of a Chinese daily, Ding Lee Leong, attributes it to Hee Leong's "quiet campaigning", which has been going on for years.
"But just what does Hee Leong’s election mean for the wing?
One immediate concern was whether the culture of “eat, drink, play and be merry" will seep into the party, if it has not already said Ding.
Based on Hee Leong’s success, future aspirants may spend more time in karaoke bars, restaurants or the greens to climb up the party ladder, rather than holding dialogues with Chinese community leaders or resolve Chinese education issues. (Desi’s emphasis)
Ding said Hee Leong’s election would hurt the MCA Youth’s image, an image contrary to the one party president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting is trying to promote, which is a healthy political culture.**""
DESIDERATA won’t say more but conclude that MCA YOUTHs can now look forward to becoming instant millionaires. With a paper-billionaire as their leader, it will be CHICKEN FEED, wouldn't it?
BUT thinking Malaysian (Chinese) youth better reflect on the following wise words, from someone you either L’VE or HATE, no in-between as this Columnist had written in an earlier rumination.
From theSUN, August 22, 2005 page 2, (My copy is paid 30sen for, as I can’t get one cuppa the tarik with it, so it’s good food for thought! This is GOOD INVESTMENT< from Desi’s point of view, THINKING I mean, NOT FOOD-LAH! Makan-makan tiap-tiap hari kari mari lagi? – Mou kau zo! Moos mGf Mr Coww sitting just in front of me as I type, teh tarik and roti butter&kaya in front:
Mahathir: White-collar graft worrying
IPOH: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday expressed concern about corruption and power abuse among the highly-educated and those occupying senior positions in the government and private sectors. He said the problem arose because the educated groups did not believe in noble values.
“Education by itself is dangerous, those who are educated but lack noble good values will abuse their power and knowledge. The effects (of their wrong doins) will be worse than those (committed by) the uneducated lot,” he said in his speech at the fifth convocation of Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Bandar Seri Iskandar yesterday.
Mahathir, who is the UTP Chancellor, advised the graduands who would become the country’s future leaders not to be hasty in acquiring wealth to the extent that they did not care how they achieved it. -- Bernama (Again, Desi’s emphasis)
PS: Stop it, Coww. I was telling mGf to cease and desist from counting the hairs on my baldin keplapa – he just reached 999,999!
GoodDie, Mate!
If you spell dynasty (Ling-Lim, Lee, Chong, etc, sunote: ling and Lim are the same in Mandarin, difference in dialect&clans-lah...) the Oz way (borrowing from one of mGf in the plural, sssssSpirit), it spells as DieNasty, so appropriate.
YLChong is retiring for a dayOR2, don't know whether to laugh marching with the Salvation Army, or cry in desperation, at Doomsville.
depending on how one looks at it.
SUBTITLE OF TODAY'S POST: Lameducks at MCA helmMy EstemedReaders, especially the Regulars, I presume there are Some? -- can judge for themselves why adopted this.
There is GOOG NEWS and BAD NEWS – very much in line and
/or against the grain and brain on normal MONDAY Morns, but Desiderata today is the messenger of both news of SALVATION, or DOOM (for the Chinese Community).
This is the first MONDAY after the second-ranked party in the 14-compoennt Barusan Nasional’s polls last Firday and Saturday – and the general populace look at the return of BOLEHLAND, Malaysian equivalent of NEVERLAND. If thou knoweth naught what NeverLand is, then you’ve also not heard of Jacko, you’ve not heard of That Thriller. Then you better BEAT IT!
In summary
The first-in-six-years MCA elections saw these events reminiscent of my childhood galfRiend Alice in WunderLand – Really.
•Q1: Does MCA have a strategy in facing Umno's unilateral declaration a few weeks back in adopting the New National Agenda that was bulldozed at the Umno general assembly and adopted for immediate implementation without prior consultation among BN component parties?
••ANSWER: In the omission of any visionary direction by the candidates competing for the top posts, e.g. ABSENCE of any Manifesto by incumbent/defending President ONG KA TING, versus contender CHUA JUI MENG who issued an impressive Manifseto of the NEW POLITICS (visit chuajuimeng.com).
•Q2: How does the Chinese press measure up to its role as an independent and responsible 4th Estate?
•*ANSWER: Except for the (according to myGOodFriend, a Chinese scholar I rate him, Mr Coww)OREINTAL DAILY NEWS, the rest of the Chinese online media failed in shaping of public opinion to in any objective, professional manner, because Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Daily News and their sister papers are are associated closely with MCA interests via shareholding by Hua Ren (as is THE STAR). This explains why Jui Meng’s Manifesto did not get any fair coverage in those mentioned papers (NO, I’m not repeating their names, otherwise their circulations may shoot through the roof. Follow brdudder Imran’s footstep – get the free copy of theSUN from the 7ELEVEN or SEVEN7 nearest thee!;).
From the outset, I have declared I have been an Opposition leaner since my thinking days (socialist, remember?), BUT I promised towards the closing of last week I would update a Commentary on Ling Hee Liong’s bid for deputy MCA chief’s post, which he had succeeded. And so here’s the first piece of
GOOD OR BAD NEWS!
*Q: The way to Ezy Money, HOW?
**ANSWER: The MCA youths can all now aspire to become millionaires by the age of 30, not an amibitious target.
Your deputy head became an instant paper-billionaire at the old age of 27! For the background, I reprise from my own column titled: JUI MENG TAKES SWIPE AT HIS PRESIDENT dated August 18, 2005.
"Here I wish to recall that Ling Junior in 1997/98 hogged the news spotlight. Indeed praised by THE STAR, as a role model-entepreuner the, when at age 27 years, he managed to borrow some RM1.2billion to take over control of at least FOUR LISTED COMPANIES. The youngest billionaire-on-paper whose financial resources seemd unlimted until the financial crisis hit the Southeast Asian region laid bare all theses follies of the banks, where mortals like you and I at age 30 would be hard pressed to borrow RM100,000 to buy our first roof over our head never did ask any due diligence questions to lend to the youngest billionaire then. No wonder these banks had to be bailed out and we tax-payers saw the very miscreants involved – bankers and BIG borrowers - not brought to any court to account for their actions which led to a national crisis.
Or have Malaysians forgotten and forgiven?" (end of extract)
NOTE that the elected Youth Chief is Liow Tiong Lai who won with 1,433 votes representing some 84% of the total votes cast had served long and well.BUT the elected deputy Ling Hee Leong got it Ezy, obtaining 690 votes that represent some 40.1% of the total votes cast.
The most outstanding feature is that:
Hee Leong's opponents Liew Yuen Keong and Loh Seng Kok, who garnered 526 and 420 votes respectively, were all seasoned politicians with a longer service record to their names compaed with Ling Junior’s,
*Q:So what could be the main REASON?
**ANSWER: In the words of many bloggers, even mainstream press commentaries, the conclusion is: the father's invisible hand. A former MCA President and Transport Minister could swing RM1.2BILLION facilities, what's a Deputy MCA Youth's position -- CHICKEN FEED!
Desiderata’s analysis is that incumbent Ong horse=traded with Ling Senior to ensure the junior’s victory in return for Ling’s Suppoeters’s votes against Chua Jui Meng. Just like back in 1997/98 in getting RM1.2BILLION bank facilities. Without ministerial backing from Dad, which banker would even let Ling Junior ask for RM1million?
Hey, I'm sure many of my Esteemed Readers have borrowed maybe just RM150,000 or even less (In Desi's case, just RM81,000 for a RM90,000 house...) to buy your first house (quite likelt at eraly 30s after slogging for 5-10 years), HOW MUCH HAZZLE DID YOU GO THROUGH, MAN/LADY?
But an interesting view from fellow Blogger JeffOoi’s screenshots last week:
“According to analyses in the Chinese papers, Hee Leong skewed his campaign by resorting to a 'turun padang' strategy that centres on the εεη©δΉ ( "eat drink play enjoy" ) culture.
And from the NEW SUNDAY TIMES yesterday, an extract from a good analysis by CHOW KUM HOR (go read, recommended by Desiderata, even if you have to spend RM1.20 to get a back copy, OK. Bro IM, Alright?):
Ling's son brings new equation into MCA
Ling Hee Leong's surprise election as MCA Youth deputy chief underscores an emerging but potentially troubling trend in the movement, writes CHOW KUM HOR.
“”**Your track record does not count. That sums up the results of the contest for the MCA Youth's no 2 post in the partry election last Friday.
Lim Hee Leong, the son of former president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, pulled off an upset by winning the post, getting 690 votes.
The Kuala Kangsar Youth head defeated two wakil rakyat who had dedicated more than a decade each a office-bearers in the movement's executive body, the central committee.
"So, how then could a 36-year-old with a negligible political resume, defeat bigger and more senior names to clinch the second highest position in the movement?
MCA=watcher and former editor of a Chinese daily, Ding Lee Leong, attributes it to Hee Leong's "quiet campaigning", which has been going on for years.
"But just what does Hee Leong’s election mean for the wing?
One immediate concern was whether the culture of “eat, drink, play and be merry" will seep into the party, if it has not already said Ding.
Based on Hee Leong’s success, future aspirants may spend more time in karaoke bars, restaurants or the greens to climb up the party ladder, rather than holding dialogues with Chinese community leaders or resolve Chinese education issues. (Desi’s emphasis)
Ding said Hee Leong’s election would hurt the MCA Youth’s image, an image contrary to the one party president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting is trying to promote, which is a healthy political culture.**""
DESIDERATA won’t say more but conclude that MCA YOUTHs can now look forward to becoming instant millionaires. With a paper-billionaire as their leader, it will be CHICKEN FEED, wouldn't it?
BUT thinking Malaysian (Chinese) youth better reflect on the following wise words, from someone you either L’VE or HATE, no in-between as this Columnist had written in an earlier rumination.
From theSUN, August 22, 2005 page 2, (My copy is paid 30sen for, as I can’t get one cuppa the tarik with it, so it’s good food for thought! This is GOOD INVESTMENT< from Desi’s point of view, THINKING I mean, NOT FOOD-LAH! Makan-makan tiap-tiap hari kari mari lagi? – Mou kau zo! Moos mGf Mr Coww sitting just in front of me as I type, teh tarik and roti butter&kaya in front:
Mahathir: White-collar graft worrying
IPOH: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday expressed concern about corruption and power abuse among the highly-educated and those occupying senior positions in the government and private sectors. He said the problem arose because the educated groups did not believe in noble values.
“Education by itself is dangerous, those who are educated but lack noble good values will abuse their power and knowledge. The effects (of their wrong doins) will be worse than those (committed by) the uneducated lot,” he said in his speech at the fifth convocation of Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Bandar Seri Iskandar yesterday.
Mahathir, who is the UTP Chancellor, advised the graduands who would become the country’s future leaders not to be hasty in acquiring wealth to the extent that they did not care how they achieved it. -- Bernama (Again, Desi’s emphasis)
PS: Stop it, Coww. I was telling mGf to cease and desist from counting the hairs on my baldin keplapa – he just reached 999,999!
GoodDie, Mate!
If you spell dynasty (Ling-Lim, Lee, Chong, etc, sunote: ling and Lim are the same in Mandarin, difference in dialect&clans-lah...) the Oz way (borrowing from one of mGf in the plural, sssssSpirit), it spells as DieNasty, so appropriate.
YLChong is retiring for a dayOR2, don't know whether to laugh marching with the Salvation Army, or cry in desperation, at Doomsville.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Writing comes naturally to some gifted ones
desiderata.english
Today's column starts with a CHALLENGE, if I don't at least 10 responses for me to get a meaningful sample, I may consider stopping this Sunday's rumination of English altogether. And this is NOT a threat, it's just a form of persuasion.:)
One of mGf sent me an enquiry to solve some question on this once "colonial" English-now-adopted-as-Our LANGUAGE:)
Is there a Christmas .....?
In a question at a school test, this was posed:
Students have to choose the best word to complete the
paragraph. Four words are given plus a picture.
Henry and I wanted to go to the *Church* (picture of a church).
Instead, we went to the *market* (picture of a market)
to buy *fruits*(picture of fruits).
They are for tonight's Christmas ..... (picture showing a round tabe with four chairs and a Christmas tree behind the table).
There are four choices for the last one:
> > > >(A) party, (B) class, (C) dinner, (D) meeting.
Via the COMMENTS channel, my EsteemedReaders, please spare a minute or two, select an answer from (A) to (D), and justify with an explanation, by midnite Monday August 22, 2005.
I'm thinking of offering a PRIZE as an INCENTIVE. Let me think and get back to the Winner first thing Monday morn if I get a good Breakfast from brudder IM!
Meanwhile, ENJOY this week's desiderata.english, and it's FREE! If my counting meter is installed and my hits reach JeffOoi's level, I may charge a fee per view... see I am putting on my thinking cap to get that RM20million for OUR I-LAND!
Writing comes easy to those with a flair for language and have mastered the craft through constant practice and dedication. But Desiderata, while appreciative of God’s gift to him with a talent for words and wordplay, and perhaps, an imaginative mind – he must confess that these past few days, he felt thoroughly “paralysed”, and prayed hard and intermittently for his “flashes of inspiration”, after the upsetting incident. I tried to humourously describe the episode to my goods friends as “my LapDog having gone for a walk, and I’m still awaiting its return …”
Just prior to writing the major part of today’s column, I just came back from a tea with a good friend, recently acquired, who also happens to be a writer – a published one! Her name is CATHERINE DE COSTA. I thought a tea break planned for an hour would do the trick of overcoming writer’s block – the tea extended to more than two hours; luckily Cathy and her “significant half” (that’s the term I use to refer to her husband!) were not in any hurry, …and our informal sharing definitely was time and fellowship well spent.
The lesson to share is that making highly conscious efforts to push oneself to write is seldom fruitful, for the ideas or words just won’t come. If the words come, they come in spurts, like water from a choked pipe, not swimmingly, which means flowing smoothly and without effort, and the writer enjoying while doing it! So it’s better to take a break; just like school pupils, you can’t last a whole day of lessons without breaking off for the food and drinks at the canteen, can you?
While God gave us each A Beautiful Mind, it is a always a mysterious gift. It works in ways that no scientist has properly mapped its pathways, permutations of thought patterns, or even why an Inspiration can result in an exquisite poem or a short essay, or even a chapter of a romance novel.
Catherine today shares with us some tips on overcoming Writer’s Block. She would take a break to listen to her favourite songs, or even watch a movie. Cathy has a large collection of VCDs of films, current and old, she had missed seeing on the big screen – she mentions the latest like Constantine; and oldies like The Year of Living Dangerously and High Noon (in B&W!), and recent local hits including Sepet.
Catherine thrives on romance with her novels
For longer interludes, she would visit some of her buddies she connects with, not necessarily in the writing line, or take her son for shopping, or indulge in a continental meal at The Ship or any Cowboy’s station, where the food is yummy and they play country and western songs.
Asked why she’s writing romance novels – the first titled “A Challenge to Love” was published last year, and she’s halfway through a second one now – Catherine was frank and down to earth.
“Whatever people may say, romance sells,” Cathy says with a smile, and also a hint that she needs to earn her bucks.
In fact, romance novels total some 40 percent of all novels published. Almost all of the blockbuster movies have an element of romance in them, she notes.
“I was often asked why I chose to write romance instead of something more literary. I said that romance was one of the easiest genres to write – you don’t need to think up an elaborate plot, as for a crime/murder. You don’t need to know about espionage and its associated weaponry.”
All the author needs is a dashing hero, a beautiful heroine, a few dark moments and a happy ending. “Easy! Am I kidding thee?” Catherine asked me using olde English, knowing that Desiderata sprinkles a lot of thee and thy and thine’s in his poems.
“Was I mistaken! It wasn’t that easy,” she puts the record straight.
“For starters, my characters are strong-willed and have a mind of their own. Sometimes they don’t go the way I want them to,” she smiles again.
Before Cathy writes, she has a story outline, breaking it down into chapter outlines. The difficult part is not in plotting the outline, but how to get a certain character from Point A to Point B. It includes fleshing out the characters, bringing out their strength and weaknesses through action and conversation. It’s about SHOWING instead of TELLING.
“Sometimes it takes about a dozen rewrites before I’m satisfied with how the scene progresses,” Cathy recalls.
“My characters and I have an emotional bond. Sometimes the emotional connection is so strong that I’m drained after writing a difficult scene. All of my emotions are dredged up to give the scene emotional depth. The result – I may not be able to write for weeks.” One such ‘stint’ lasted up to five months during which Cathy couldn’t write a line. (She did not say it, but the prospects of moving house is one of these “burdensome” factors causing the mental block, my guess.)
However difficult the path is, Cathy avows she’s happy to be a writer. “The satisfaction is priceless when I see my book on the shelves and my readers come up to me and give me feedback. I‘m especially joyful when my readers share their feelings and tell me how my book affected them. “
“It is worth the long hours working alone in my room, even the hair-pulling frustration on not getting a scene right, even though I’ve tried half a dozen times,” Cathy relates. One thing she regrets much is that she had jotted down on bits of paper “flashes of inspired observations and ideas in her younger days. But unfortunately, on moving house a few times, these golden nuggets of writing were lost forever. And once lost, such inspired moments captured on paper are never recoverable, as both Cathy and Desiderata both acknowledge.
So Desiderata is trying to motivate Catherine to take up this hobby of keeping an online journal – that’s what we call a Weblog which I wrote about a few weeks back. It helps to focus my observations and thoughts at a particular period; it would enlighten me if I need to use such information either for my fiction or essays later, especially as background. We live in an age of information and ideas overload on the advent of this marvel called the Internet. If we do not process the information and news developments, and sort out the gems we want to use, the “fleeting moments” of significance or brilliance would be lost forever. “We can capture some golden moments and nuggets, that’s the great motivation for this relatively new hobby, besides my chronicle of major events enveloping my nation.” I believe Cathy will soon get on board this enjoyable journey to enrich fellow travellers with her writing experience.
PS: DESIDERATA set up an UPDATE at 10.00am Sunday August 21, 2005.
Read the EPILOGUE that follows, and then go back to the sunday.desiderata of July 31, 2005 titled "EDITING FOR A BEAUTIFUL PRODUCT".The best answer to CHALLANGE 2 will receive an AUTOGRAPHED COPY of the book by CATHERINE called "CHALLENGE TO LOVE". Now get to work on the CHALLENGE to think about exquisite English!
EPILOGUE
Despite my rigourous editing, one "error", not a true HOWLER, but still an error, escaped my second or third reading before I sent it to the newspaper two days before the deadline. My challenge to the IgnorantCows reading this: Spot the "error", and postulate how Desiderata could have come about making the "mistake" (i.e., for that is, the RATIONALE), and post it up at the COMMENTS channel. But you must prove that you are a contributor/OR a particpant with at lease ONE contribution/OR COMMENT at http://ignorantcow.blogspot.com, CITING DATE OF POSTING, stating your name or nick.
The "best" argued answer received by end of coming MONDAY ie. at 2400 hours August 1, 2005 would be gifted with a signed copy of the romance novel by Catherine De Costa. Incentive enough?
CHALLENGE number 2:
For those who have responded by 10am, please send in an additonal COMMENT as an answer to CHALLENGE 2, which is what has been spelt out in the EPILOGUE above. Save that the new deadline (not dateline) is now 2400hrs Monday, August 22, 2005, to enable more participation-lah! For Silly IgnorantCows, of course, it could not be August 1 midnite, that was set in then first round.(On second thought -- you're allowed, you know -- that's called on reflection...that compulsory comment at IgnorantCows is removed for Challenge 2 ... but please Visit them and learn a thingor2 ...ooops, teach them a thingor3.)
For newcomers, that is,you're NOT among THE FAMOUS5 referenced, please answer BOTH the challenges. And if thou do not understand what BOTH means, please get the .... out of here! (And it's a very mild searing word here, OK!) For once, Desi is dately seriously!
Hehaho.I'm learning from all mGf to laugh out loud OnLine! I won't let thee (last dig at Moses, "agitate" him as IM says, cos he (can be either Moses or IM) has gone MIA for some time!
ENJOY, ENJOY,ENJOY!!! Hari-hari-hari-Asmara!!!And dear IgnorantCowws, in your writing please DO NOT put three exclamation marks. You get marks deducted for doing that. As for Desi, there is this thingy called PL! (If you still don't know what PL is by now, get the ................!(And that's a rpomise, not swearing again, and I'm doubly deathly serious. CHOW! as in buy for now, or oh, yummy food, glorious chow awaiting. Real CON1, I see Sab is jeles.
Today's column starts with a CHALLENGE, if I don't at least 10 responses for me to get a meaningful sample, I may consider stopping this Sunday's rumination of English altogether. And this is NOT a threat, it's just a form of persuasion.:)
One of mGf sent me an enquiry to solve some question on this once "colonial" English-now-adopted-as-Our LANGUAGE:)
Is there a Christmas .....?
In a question at a school test, this was posed:
Students have to choose the best word to complete the
paragraph. Four words are given plus a picture.
Henry and I wanted to go to the *Church* (picture of a church).
Instead, we went to the *market* (picture of a market)
to buy *fruits*(picture of fruits).
They are for tonight's Christmas ..... (picture showing a round tabe with four chairs and a Christmas tree behind the table).
There are four choices for the last one:
> > > >(A) party, (B) class, (C) dinner, (D) meeting.
Via the COMMENTS channel, my EsteemedReaders, please spare a minute or two, select an answer from (A) to (D), and justify with an explanation, by midnite Monday August 22, 2005.
I'm thinking of offering a PRIZE as an INCENTIVE. Let me think and get back to the Winner first thing Monday morn if I get a good Breakfast from brudder IM!
Meanwhile, ENJOY this week's desiderata.english, and it's FREE! If my counting meter is installed and my hits reach JeffOoi's level, I may charge a fee per view... see I am putting on my thinking cap to get that RM20million for OUR I-LAND!
Writing comes easy to those with a flair for language and have mastered the craft through constant practice and dedication. But Desiderata, while appreciative of God’s gift to him with a talent for words and wordplay, and perhaps, an imaginative mind – he must confess that these past few days, he felt thoroughly “paralysed”, and prayed hard and intermittently for his “flashes of inspiration”, after the upsetting incident. I tried to humourously describe the episode to my goods friends as “my LapDog having gone for a walk, and I’m still awaiting its return …”
Just prior to writing the major part of today’s column, I just came back from a tea with a good friend, recently acquired, who also happens to be a writer – a published one! Her name is CATHERINE DE COSTA. I thought a tea break planned for an hour would do the trick of overcoming writer’s block – the tea extended to more than two hours; luckily Cathy and her “significant half” (that’s the term I use to refer to her husband!) were not in any hurry, …and our informal sharing definitely was time and fellowship well spent.
The lesson to share is that making highly conscious efforts to push oneself to write is seldom fruitful, for the ideas or words just won’t come. If the words come, they come in spurts, like water from a choked pipe, not swimmingly, which means flowing smoothly and without effort, and the writer enjoying while doing it! So it’s better to take a break; just like school pupils, you can’t last a whole day of lessons without breaking off for the food and drinks at the canteen, can you?
While God gave us each A Beautiful Mind, it is a always a mysterious gift. It works in ways that no scientist has properly mapped its pathways, permutations of thought patterns, or even why an Inspiration can result in an exquisite poem or a short essay, or even a chapter of a romance novel.
Catherine today shares with us some tips on overcoming Writer’s Block. She would take a break to listen to her favourite songs, or even watch a movie. Cathy has a large collection of VCDs of films, current and old, she had missed seeing on the big screen – she mentions the latest like Constantine; and oldies like The Year of Living Dangerously and High Noon (in B&W!), and recent local hits including Sepet.
Catherine thrives on romance with her novels
For longer interludes, she would visit some of her buddies she connects with, not necessarily in the writing line, or take her son for shopping, or indulge in a continental meal at The Ship or any Cowboy’s station, where the food is yummy and they play country and western songs.
Asked why she’s writing romance novels – the first titled “A Challenge to Love” was published last year, and she’s halfway through a second one now – Catherine was frank and down to earth.
“Whatever people may say, romance sells,” Cathy says with a smile, and also a hint that she needs to earn her bucks.
In fact, romance novels total some 40 percent of all novels published. Almost all of the blockbuster movies have an element of romance in them, she notes.
“I was often asked why I chose to write romance instead of something more literary. I said that romance was one of the easiest genres to write – you don’t need to think up an elaborate plot, as for a crime/murder. You don’t need to know about espionage and its associated weaponry.”
All the author needs is a dashing hero, a beautiful heroine, a few dark moments and a happy ending. “Easy! Am I kidding thee?” Catherine asked me using olde English, knowing that Desiderata sprinkles a lot of thee and thy and thine’s in his poems.
“Was I mistaken! It wasn’t that easy,” she puts the record straight.
“For starters, my characters are strong-willed and have a mind of their own. Sometimes they don’t go the way I want them to,” she smiles again.
Before Cathy writes, she has a story outline, breaking it down into chapter outlines. The difficult part is not in plotting the outline, but how to get a certain character from Point A to Point B. It includes fleshing out the characters, bringing out their strength and weaknesses through action and conversation. It’s about SHOWING instead of TELLING.
“Sometimes it takes about a dozen rewrites before I’m satisfied with how the scene progresses,” Cathy recalls.
“My characters and I have an emotional bond. Sometimes the emotional connection is so strong that I’m drained after writing a difficult scene. All of my emotions are dredged up to give the scene emotional depth. The result – I may not be able to write for weeks.” One such ‘stint’ lasted up to five months during which Cathy couldn’t write a line. (She did not say it, but the prospects of moving house is one of these “burdensome” factors causing the mental block, my guess.)
However difficult the path is, Cathy avows she’s happy to be a writer. “The satisfaction is priceless when I see my book on the shelves and my readers come up to me and give me feedback. I‘m especially joyful when my readers share their feelings and tell me how my book affected them. “
“It is worth the long hours working alone in my room, even the hair-pulling frustration on not getting a scene right, even though I’ve tried half a dozen times,” Cathy relates. One thing she regrets much is that she had jotted down on bits of paper “flashes of inspired observations and ideas in her younger days. But unfortunately, on moving house a few times, these golden nuggets of writing were lost forever. And once lost, such inspired moments captured on paper are never recoverable, as both Cathy and Desiderata both acknowledge.
So Desiderata is trying to motivate Catherine to take up this hobby of keeping an online journal – that’s what we call a Weblog which I wrote about a few weeks back. It helps to focus my observations and thoughts at a particular period; it would enlighten me if I need to use such information either for my fiction or essays later, especially as background. We live in an age of information and ideas overload on the advent of this marvel called the Internet. If we do not process the information and news developments, and sort out the gems we want to use, the “fleeting moments” of significance or brilliance would be lost forever. “We can capture some golden moments and nuggets, that’s the great motivation for this relatively new hobby, besides my chronicle of major events enveloping my nation.” I believe Cathy will soon get on board this enjoyable journey to enrich fellow travellers with her writing experience.
PS: DESIDERATA set up an UPDATE at 10.00am Sunday August 21, 2005.
Read the EPILOGUE that follows, and then go back to the sunday.desiderata of July 31, 2005 titled "EDITING FOR A BEAUTIFUL PRODUCT".The best answer to CHALLANGE 2 will receive an AUTOGRAPHED COPY of the book by CATHERINE called "CHALLENGE TO LOVE". Now get to work on the CHALLENGE to think about exquisite English!
EPILOGUE
Despite my rigourous editing, one "error", not a true HOWLER, but still an error, escaped my second or third reading before I sent it to the newspaper two days before the deadline. My challenge to the IgnorantCows reading this: Spot the "error", and postulate how Desiderata could have come about making the "mistake" (i.e., for that is, the RATIONALE), and post it up at the COMMENTS channel. But you must prove that you are a contributor/OR a particpant with at lease ONE contribution/OR COMMENT at http://ignorantcow.blogspot.com, CITING DATE OF POSTING, stating your name or nick.
The "best" argued answer received by end of coming MONDAY ie. at 2400 hours August 1, 2005 would be gifted with a signed copy of the romance novel by Catherine De Costa. Incentive enough?
CHALLENGE number 2:
For those who have responded by 10am, please send in an additonal COMMENT as an answer to CHALLENGE 2, which is what has been spelt out in the EPILOGUE above. Save that the new deadline (not dateline) is now 2400hrs Monday, August 22, 2005, to enable more participation-lah! For Silly IgnorantCows, of course, it could not be August 1 midnite, that was set in then first round.(On second thought -- you're allowed, you know -- that's called on reflection...that compulsory comment at IgnorantCows is removed for Challenge 2 ... but please Visit them and learn a thingor2 ...ooops, teach them a thingor3.)
For newcomers, that is,you're NOT among THE FAMOUS5 referenced, please answer BOTH the challenges. And if thou do not understand what BOTH means, please get the .... out of here! (And it's a very mild searing word here, OK!) For once, Desi is dately seriously!
Hehaho.I'm learning from all mGf to laugh out loud OnLine! I won't let thee (last dig at Moses, "agitate" him as IM says, cos he (can be either Moses or IM) has gone MIA for some time!
ENJOY, ENJOY,ENJOY!!! Hari-hari-hari-Asmara!!!And dear IgnorantCowws, in your writing please DO NOT put three exclamation marks. You get marks deducted for doing that. As for Desi, there is this thingy called PL! (If you still don't know what PL is by now, get the ................!(And that's a rpomise, not swearing again, and I'm doubly deathly serious. CHOW! as in buy for now, or oh, yummy food, glorious chow awaiting. Real CON1, I see Sab is jeles.
Don't laugh yourself to the bank!
One of mGf at the BF (non-CON today as I couldn't afford it -- but I can yet smile about it!;)) --table asked Desi if I laugh out loud often. She only knew me for sis months and therefore had to ask - so before I answered, I paused, and come to think of it, I said slowly: Modestly. No, the wright word is MODERATELY. Being a Sunday guru in English, I had to be precise.
Then I countered with a logical question -- WHY do you ask?
Similing, then laughing loud a little, she said it was reported in the press some (I confirmed later it was a long time ago, like 1-2 years...) that PEOPLE WHO LAUGH A LOT OFTEN ARE THOSE WITH NOT MUCH MONEY IN THEIR POCKETS! This was solidly based on evidence collected, collated in a big-enough survey to win her nod, also her significant other's complete assent with even a bigger nod. I hope it's not that he's cowed into nodding his head! (Dave, for this butt, the next BF is on me, OK?)
WoW, I was reflective for a moment, then wise-cracked: Hmmm, now I wish to amend my earlier statement -- I normally don't have many notes in my pocket, shirt or toursers -- in fact coins keep falling out of one shirt's pocket! -- so I think I count as ONE OF THOSE WHO LAUGH A LOT!
So the Reader's Digest has not been teaching me wisely on how to make it in this world -- I felt I've been conned for decades now! -- teaching an IgnorantCow like me that Laughter Is the Best Medicine. I must now beg my Readers' forgiveness if I mislead them on this laughter business ...
After mGf's revealing anecdote,I also must challenge and then amend the phrase so erroneously used, with the caveat that mGf's anecdote is clearly unrepudiated by other scientific evidence -- that is: Laughing All the Way to the Bank!
Since I laughed more than my share in this short life on earth, I told mGF there's not enough ....(shy to mention the word-lah!) in my pocket this morn (not too cloudy or gloomy...), I smiled and let mGf pay for the BF, and laughing I made my fast break-away to do this Post!
Hey, bruddder IM< I'll collect that RM1.20 you save on not buying any of this morning's national papers!
Before I guffaw with a loud Adieu, or SSSSSSSPIRIT, is it buy, mate!, I reproduce two eye-catching quotes from The Star yesterday (old copy I picked up fom te neighbour's dustbin ... following IM's wisdom about conservation and re-cycling ...ah, the luxury of DIGRESSION, kyels!
First one dedictaed to mGf Mr Coww, and myself for learning so lately (TERIMA KASIH! for SS, that's Bahasa Malaysia for 'thanks', Cathy!) that Laughter is NOT the Best Medicine to Take if I Want to Open a Swiss Bank Account...
*The living language is like a cow-path: it is the creation of the cows themselves, who, having created it, follow it or depart from it according to their whims or their whims or their needs. From daily use, the path undegoes change. A cow is under no obligation to stay. -- E.B. WHITE, writer (1899-1985)
** Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments. -- ISAAC ASIMOV, scientist and writer (1920-92)
PS: That's all for now, have to rush to that bank before it closes at 11.30am -- to withdraw some American greenback. NAH, it's Saturday, and I realise the banks now DON'T OPEN on Saturdays unless you patronise that Casiono Royale and bet RM2million on ONE SPIN of the dice...Me, I've tried RM10 bets at Genting Lowlands, every week.
Then I countered with a logical question -- WHY do you ask?
Similing, then laughing loud a little, she said it was reported in the press some (I confirmed later it was a long time ago, like 1-2 years...) that PEOPLE WHO LAUGH A LOT OFTEN ARE THOSE WITH NOT MUCH MONEY IN THEIR POCKETS! This was solidly based on evidence collected, collated in a big-enough survey to win her nod, also her significant other's complete assent with even a bigger nod. I hope it's not that he's cowed into nodding his head! (Dave, for this butt, the next BF is on me, OK?)
WoW, I was reflective for a moment, then wise-cracked: Hmmm, now I wish to amend my earlier statement -- I normally don't have many notes in my pocket, shirt or toursers -- in fact coins keep falling out of one shirt's pocket! -- so I think I count as ONE OF THOSE WHO LAUGH A LOT!
So the Reader's Digest has not been teaching me wisely on how to make it in this world -- I felt I've been conned for decades now! -- teaching an IgnorantCow like me that Laughter Is the Best Medicine. I must now beg my Readers' forgiveness if I mislead them on this laughter business ...
After mGf's revealing anecdote,I also must challenge and then amend the phrase so erroneously used, with the caveat that mGf's anecdote is clearly unrepudiated by other scientific evidence -- that is: Laughing All the Way to the Bank!
Since I laughed more than my share in this short life on earth, I told mGF there's not enough ....(shy to mention the word-lah!) in my pocket this morn (not too cloudy or gloomy...), I smiled and let mGf pay for the BF, and laughing I made my fast break-away to do this Post!
Hey, bruddder IM< I'll collect that RM1.20 you save on not buying any of this morning's national papers!
Before I guffaw with a loud Adieu, or SSSSSSSPIRIT, is it buy, mate!, I reproduce two eye-catching quotes from The Star yesterday (old copy I picked up fom te neighbour's dustbin ... following IM's wisdom about conservation and re-cycling ...ah, the luxury of DIGRESSION, kyels!
First one dedictaed to mGf Mr Coww, and myself for learning so lately (TERIMA KASIH! for SS, that's Bahasa Malaysia for 'thanks', Cathy!) that Laughter is NOT the Best Medicine to Take if I Want to Open a Swiss Bank Account...
*The living language is like a cow-path: it is the creation of the cows themselves, who, having created it, follow it or depart from it according to their whims or their whims or their needs. From daily use, the path undegoes change. A cow is under no obligation to stay. -- E.B. WHITE, writer (1899-1985)
** Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments. -- ISAAC ASIMOV, scientist and writer (1920-92)
PS: That's all for now, have to rush to that bank before it closes at 11.30am -- to withdraw some American greenback. NAH, it's Saturday, and I realise the banks now DON'T OPEN on Saturdays unless you patronise that Casiono Royale and bet RM2million on ONE SPIN of the dice...Me, I've tried RM10 bets at Genting Lowlands, every week.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Today I'm Doing Some Community Service ...
Dearest Readers, especailly of the Fair Sex:
Today I'm inclined to performing some community service -- hence I am paasing on this Community Service Message (verbatim) from mGf ANDREW VONG (yes, spelt with a V for VICTORY!)from SubangJaya:
Dear Ladies,
Be extra careful..................
LET THIS TRUE STORY SERVE AS A WARNING
To the men : warn your loved ones!
To the women : remember this!
"About a month ago there was a woman standing by the Mega Mall
entrance passing out flyers to all the women going in. The woman
had written the flyer herself to tell about an experience she had,
so that she might warn other women.
The previous day, this woman had finished shopping, went out to her
car and discovered that she had a flat. She got the jack out of the
trunk and began to change the flat. A nice man dressed in business
suit and carrying a briefcase walked up to her and said,
"I notice you're changing a flat tire.
Would you like me to take care of it for you?"
The woman was grateful for his offer and accepted his help. They
chatted amiably while the man changed the flat, and then put the
flat tire and the jack in the trunk, shut it and dusted his hands
off. The woman thanked him profusely, and as she was about to get
in her car, the man told her that he left his car around on the
other side of the mall, and asked if she would mind giving him a
lift to his car. She was a little surprised and asked him why his
car was on other side. He explained that he had seen an old friend
in the mall that he hadn't seen for some time and they had a bite
to eat and visited for a while; he got turned around in the mall
and left through the wrong exit, and now he was running late and
his car was clear around on the other side of the mall.
The woman hated to tell him "no" because he had just rescued her
from having to change her flat tire all by herself, but she felt
uneasy. Then she remembered seeing the man put his
briefcase in her trunk before shutting it and before he asked her
for a ride to his car.
She told him that she'd be happy to drive him to his car, but she
just remembered one last thing she needed to buy. She said she
would only be few minutes; he could sit down in her car and wait
for her; she would be as quick as she could be. She hurried into
the mall, and told a security guard what had happened; the guard
came out to her car with her, but the man had left.
They opened the trunk, took out his locked briefcase and took it
down to the police station. The police opened it (ostensibly to
look for ID so they could return it to the man). What they found
was rope, duct tape and knives.
When the police checked her "flat" tire, there was nothing
wrong with it; the air had simply been let out. It was obvious what
the man's motive was, and obvious that he had carefully thought it
out in advance.
The woman was blessed to have escaped harm. How much worse it would
have been had she waited in the car while the man fixed the tire,
or if she had a baby strapped into a car seat. Or if she'd gone
against her judgment and given him a lift. I'd like you to forward
this to all the women you know.
It may save a life. A candle is not dimmed by lighting another
candle. I was going to send this to the ladies only; but guys, if
you love your mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, etc., you may
want to pass it on to them, as well.
Send this to any woman you know that may need to be reminded that
the world we live in has a lot of crazies in it....better than sorry.
PLEASE BE SAFE AND NOT SORRY!
JUST A WARNING TO ALWAYS BE ALERT AND USE YOUR HEAD!!!
Pass this long to every woman you have access to. Never let your guard down.
SOMETIMES, THAT FEELING IN YOUR GUT IS THE VOICE OF GOD. TRUST YOUR
INSTINCTS!!
DESIDERATA: mGf Andrew is a YoungConcernedCitizen, and Desi hopes there will be more like him in our midst. Youthful Malaysia holds the hopes of the nation in their Young Hands to progress this potentially Great Nation towards 2020. As National Day approaches, this message also calls on the NotSoYoungOnes, especailly THE POLITICIANS, to remember that they have to WALK THE TALK as an EXAMPLE TO THE YOUNGONES. One salute to thee, Andrew:)
Today I'm inclined to performing some community service -- hence I am paasing on this Community Service Message (verbatim) from mGf ANDREW VONG (yes, spelt with a V for VICTORY!)from SubangJaya:
Dear Ladies,
Be extra careful..................
LET THIS TRUE STORY SERVE AS A WARNING
To the men : warn your loved ones!
To the women : remember this!
"About a month ago there was a woman standing by the Mega Mall
entrance passing out flyers to all the women going in. The woman
had written the flyer herself to tell about an experience she had,
so that she might warn other women.
The previous day, this woman had finished shopping, went out to her
car and discovered that she had a flat. She got the jack out of the
trunk and began to change the flat. A nice man dressed in business
suit and carrying a briefcase walked up to her and said,
"I notice you're changing a flat tire.
Would you like me to take care of it for you?"
The woman was grateful for his offer and accepted his help. They
chatted amiably while the man changed the flat, and then put the
flat tire and the jack in the trunk, shut it and dusted his hands
off. The woman thanked him profusely, and as she was about to get
in her car, the man told her that he left his car around on the
other side of the mall, and asked if she would mind giving him a
lift to his car. She was a little surprised and asked him why his
car was on other side. He explained that he had seen an old friend
in the mall that he hadn't seen for some time and they had a bite
to eat and visited for a while; he got turned around in the mall
and left through the wrong exit, and now he was running late and
his car was clear around on the other side of the mall.
The woman hated to tell him "no" because he had just rescued her
from having to change her flat tire all by herself, but she felt
uneasy. Then she remembered seeing the man put his
briefcase in her trunk before shutting it and before he asked her
for a ride to his car.
She told him that she'd be happy to drive him to his car, but she
just remembered one last thing she needed to buy. She said she
would only be few minutes; he could sit down in her car and wait
for her; she would be as quick as she could be. She hurried into
the mall, and told a security guard what had happened; the guard
came out to her car with her, but the man had left.
They opened the trunk, took out his locked briefcase and took it
down to the police station. The police opened it (ostensibly to
look for ID so they could return it to the man). What they found
was rope, duct tape and knives.
When the police checked her "flat" tire, there was nothing
wrong with it; the air had simply been let out. It was obvious what
the man's motive was, and obvious that he had carefully thought it
out in advance.
The woman was blessed to have escaped harm. How much worse it would
have been had she waited in the car while the man fixed the tire,
or if she had a baby strapped into a car seat. Or if she'd gone
against her judgment and given him a lift. I'd like you to forward
this to all the women you know.
It may save a life. A candle is not dimmed by lighting another
candle. I was going to send this to the ladies only; but guys, if
you love your mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, etc., you may
want to pass it on to them, as well.
Send this to any woman you know that may need to be reminded that
the world we live in has a lot of crazies in it....better than sorry.
PLEASE BE SAFE AND NOT SORRY!
JUST A WARNING TO ALWAYS BE ALERT AND USE YOUR HEAD!!!
Pass this long to every woman you have access to. Never let your guard down.
SOMETIMES, THAT FEELING IN YOUR GUT IS THE VOICE OF GOD. TRUST YOUR
INSTINCTS!!
DESIDERATA: mGf Andrew is a YoungConcernedCitizen, and Desi hopes there will be more like him in our midst. Youthful Malaysia holds the hopes of the nation in their Young Hands to progress this potentially Great Nation towards 2020. As National Day approaches, this message also calls on the NotSoYoungOnes, especailly THE POLITICIANS, to remember that they have to WALK THE TALK as an EXAMPLE TO THE YOUNGONES. One salute to thee, Andrew:)
Saw Any Manifesto from Incumbent MCA President?
I may be another IgnorantCow here, but I did not spy any Election Manifesto from the MCA President Datuk Seri ONG KA TING. Or did Desi miss out on one you have spied, dear Readers. Tell me, or better point me to One On-line before midnight today? This is both a rhetorical and non-rhetorical question, depending on your reaction. This columnist has mastered the politician's art of PASSING THE BUCK!
I consulted a veteran ex-journalist-fRiend who covered the MCA beat a lot in his heydays (not the party, because I don’t remember that party having had any heyday!) if he had seen an Election Manifesto from the incumbent MCA President. I had indicated yesterday I would like to cover him and his opponent Datuk Chua Jui Meng as fairly and objectively as possible, perhaps giving a critical “outsider” look at their battle for the highest post in the second largest component within the 14-member Barisan Nasional.
I was told by this mGf that Ong only had issued a joint statement with his deputy Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy, who also faces another opponent Tan Sri Dr Ting Chew Peh, incumbent secretary-general,for the second senior post. Just for the record, note that Ting was aligned with Ong in Team A under former party president Dr Ling Liong Sik, now a Tun. Chan was in Team B, along with Chua, in Team B led by former deputy president Datuk seri Lim Ah Lek. (If Desi makes any mistake in the b….y PREFIXES fronting their names, just give him a break, okay, for updating a post like this is demanding enough trying to remain unbiased and civil, to be further taxed by all these unnecessary appendages. (Sorry if this DIGRESSING, but b…..y hell, this is Desi’s Place!;)
Back to the Manifesto – my first reaction when I learnt that the incumbent president DOES NOT HAVE A MANIFESTO (compared with his opponent CHUA JUI MENG’s, as accessible via chuajuimeng.com …), is it that Ong is just too complacent? Maybe he thinks the 2,500 odd delegates voting tomorrow all know his Vision and Plan for MCA and the Chinese Community by heart already – his vision need not be put in B&W-lah!
I had toured through Chua’s website and yesterday gave an initial verdict that his approach was indeed professional, and I highlighted some relevant extracts from the webpages. I today wished I could have similarly done with some extracts of Ong’s manifesto – there is none, so don’t put the “failing” or omission on Desiderata – I don’t wanna be playing someone’s big brother…
But I spied in today’s THE STAR page 2 the following analysis, as second lead to some "Farmers" story as lead -- the headline follows:
Ong, Chan stress teamwork as way to move forward
ANALYSIS BY WONG CHUN WAI
""**TWO hours before Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting and Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy filed their nomination papers on Monday to cntest the top two posts in the MCA polls, the two met in a room on the ninth floor of the party headquarters.
Over a simple chap fun (economy rice) lunch, the party president and deputy checked their documents to make sure they were in order as division chief heads gathered outside the room…..**""
DESIDERATA: advises again Esteemed Readers to pay RM1.20 to read for themselves what Wong wrote. But to me as some one reading from the start it is AN ANALYSIS by a senior Editor (Wong is the paper’s Deputy Editor-inChief), the contents are a big letdown. I expected an examination of what b…..y issues or visions the two top guns have for their members as well as the (Chinese) community they both claim to represent (though I did question who gave them that mandate …).
The only relevant point I reproduce here – in reference to preparing his presidential speech to be delivered tomorrow -- was “*Ong is expected to expand on the Rakyat Malaysia concept to remind Malaysians of their multi-racial history and the need to work together to foster a united Malaysian spirit to compete effectively on the global stage.*”
What Wong wrote was mainly on the MCA president and deputy’s country-wide visits over the past two months in the run-up to the party elections, stressing THEY WORK VERY WELL AS A TEAM, hence that headline above. Hey, we all know that, it's all over the papers as the incidents.events happened -- we do read the dailies, you know!
In my most humble opinion, a political analysis should be about Vision, Politics and Issues – National, if not national, maybe Chinese? No, there was no analysis of Ong’s and Chan’s visions versus Chua’s or Ting’s visions as expressed by the challengers’ manifestoes.
Then let a junior journalist write an UPDATE will do; so maybe I retract my advice to DiscerningReaders to invest that RM1.20 (buy me a teh tarik ...) – it’s not worth it, there’s nothing to read about the most important contest in the country’s so-called second ranking party in the ruling coalition government.
Hey, wait a second! WoW, there’s some mention at last of Chua Jui Meng! Maybe The Star feels it’s BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. It kept completely silent yesterday on Chua’s press conference to introduce his manifesto on Wednesay, So The Star gives a new definition of news today by writing thus: “…Chua, who has kept a low profile since being dropped from the Cabinet, launched his campaign for the pary presidency with an American-style manifesto, New Politics, New Vision, New MCA and a website….” And a few more inconsequential lines because it’s history by now.
Remember, double Datuk Wong Chun Wai, yesterday’s news is today’s history. Or should I add, Journalism 101, remember?
PS: I did not see any stand made by Chua or Ong on Press Freedom or Independence. Desi was just too optimistic there would be some hope. Hence, I urge again, who ever leads any government or component party within the government, plaese make a stand for AN INDEPENDENT MEDIA.
Malaysians must fight for a law that legislates against any political party's financial or political interests in any news organisation, direct or indirect, like Huaren's present substantial stakes in The Star and Nanyang Siang Pau. With a truly free press, with no substantial stakes by any party but members of the publiic or strictly corporates not beholden to politicial interest, then only will we see some semblance of balanced, responsible and fair reporting, and commentary, on the news scene, especially pertaining to politics. So dear Malaysia,this is one National Day wish as the 48th Merdeka Birthday is just 12 short days away. What say thee, my EsteemedReaders?
I consulted a veteran ex-journalist-fRiend who covered the MCA beat a lot in his heydays (not the party, because I don’t remember that party having had any heyday!) if he had seen an Election Manifesto from the incumbent MCA President. I had indicated yesterday I would like to cover him and his opponent Datuk Chua Jui Meng as fairly and objectively as possible, perhaps giving a critical “outsider” look at their battle for the highest post in the second largest component within the 14-member Barisan Nasional.
I was told by this mGf that Ong only had issued a joint statement with his deputy Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy, who also faces another opponent Tan Sri Dr Ting Chew Peh, incumbent secretary-general,for the second senior post. Just for the record, note that Ting was aligned with Ong in Team A under former party president Dr Ling Liong Sik, now a Tun. Chan was in Team B, along with Chua, in Team B led by former deputy president Datuk seri Lim Ah Lek. (If Desi makes any mistake in the b….y PREFIXES fronting their names, just give him a break, okay, for updating a post like this is demanding enough trying to remain unbiased and civil, to be further taxed by all these unnecessary appendages. (Sorry if this DIGRESSING, but b…..y hell, this is Desi’s Place!;)
Back to the Manifesto – my first reaction when I learnt that the incumbent president DOES NOT HAVE A MANIFESTO (compared with his opponent CHUA JUI MENG’s, as accessible via chuajuimeng.com …), is it that Ong is just too complacent? Maybe he thinks the 2,500 odd delegates voting tomorrow all know his Vision and Plan for MCA and the Chinese Community by heart already – his vision need not be put in B&W-lah!
I had toured through Chua’s website and yesterday gave an initial verdict that his approach was indeed professional, and I highlighted some relevant extracts from the webpages. I today wished I could have similarly done with some extracts of Ong’s manifesto – there is none, so don’t put the “failing” or omission on Desiderata – I don’t wanna be playing someone’s big brother…
But I spied in today’s THE STAR page 2 the following analysis, as second lead to some "Farmers" story as lead -- the headline follows:
Ong, Chan stress teamwork as way to move forward
ANALYSIS BY WONG CHUN WAI
""**TWO hours before Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting and Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy filed their nomination papers on Monday to cntest the top two posts in the MCA polls, the two met in a room on the ninth floor of the party headquarters.
Over a simple chap fun (economy rice) lunch, the party president and deputy checked their documents to make sure they were in order as division chief heads gathered outside the room…..**""
DESIDERATA: advises again Esteemed Readers to pay RM1.20 to read for themselves what Wong wrote. But to me as some one reading from the start it is AN ANALYSIS by a senior Editor (Wong is the paper’s Deputy Editor-inChief), the contents are a big letdown. I expected an examination of what b…..y issues or visions the two top guns have for their members as well as the (Chinese) community they both claim to represent (though I did question who gave them that mandate …).
The only relevant point I reproduce here – in reference to preparing his presidential speech to be delivered tomorrow -- was “*Ong is expected to expand on the Rakyat Malaysia concept to remind Malaysians of their multi-racial history and the need to work together to foster a united Malaysian spirit to compete effectively on the global stage.*”
What Wong wrote was mainly on the MCA president and deputy’s country-wide visits over the past two months in the run-up to the party elections, stressing THEY WORK VERY WELL AS A TEAM, hence that headline above. Hey, we all know that, it's all over the papers as the incidents.events happened -- we do read the dailies, you know!
In my most humble opinion, a political analysis should be about Vision, Politics and Issues – National, if not national, maybe Chinese? No, there was no analysis of Ong’s and Chan’s visions versus Chua’s or Ting’s visions as expressed by the challengers’ manifestoes.
Then let a junior journalist write an UPDATE will do; so maybe I retract my advice to DiscerningReaders to invest that RM1.20 (buy me a teh tarik ...) – it’s not worth it, there’s nothing to read about the most important contest in the country’s so-called second ranking party in the ruling coalition government.
Hey, wait a second! WoW, there’s some mention at last of Chua Jui Meng! Maybe The Star feels it’s BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. It kept completely silent yesterday on Chua’s press conference to introduce his manifesto on Wednesay, So The Star gives a new definition of news today by writing thus: “…Chua, who has kept a low profile since being dropped from the Cabinet, launched his campaign for the pary presidency with an American-style manifesto, New Politics, New Vision, New MCA and a website….” And a few more inconsequential lines because it’s history by now.
Remember, double Datuk Wong Chun Wai, yesterday’s news is today’s history. Or should I add, Journalism 101, remember?
PS: I did not see any stand made by Chua or Ong on Press Freedom or Independence. Desi was just too optimistic there would be some hope. Hence, I urge again, who ever leads any government or component party within the government, plaese make a stand for AN INDEPENDENT MEDIA.
Malaysians must fight for a law that legislates against any political party's financial or political interests in any news organisation, direct or indirect, like Huaren's present substantial stakes in The Star and Nanyang Siang Pau. With a truly free press, with no substantial stakes by any party but members of the publiic or strictly corporates not beholden to politicial interest, then only will we see some semblance of balanced, responsible and fair reporting, and commentary, on the news scene, especially pertaining to politics. So dear Malaysia,this is one National Day wish as the 48th Merdeka Birthday is just 12 short days away. What say thee, my EsteemedReaders?
Friday, August 19, 2005
JUI MENG TAKES SWIPE AT HIS PRESIDENT
desiderata.civilsociety
At the start, let me declare that YLChong has been an Opposition supporter (Socialist remember? Though conversationist TigerJoe describes me as one from the closet…;)) throughout his short sojourn on earth. Not that he has many options or much choice -- a writer’s poetic bent is often inclined towards the Ideal state, so this means a leaning towards Reform, towards Change, well I’m sure you got my meaning by now. And so the local political landscape dictates that the participation in the political process is best served via the opposite pole of the Establishment. But YLChong DOES NOT oppose for opposition’s sake. When the Prime Minister does the RightThing, I’d be the first to stand up to support him. Even when the Opposition talks half truths and nonsense, I don’t stand for their crap and drivel.
Being in the journalism profession – which he takes seriously – YLChong had given up membership in a party as the professional required it. Now that he is in a freelance position, no more beholden to any employer, YLChong scribes this morning’s post from a vantage point now made very clear, so his "vested interest" is transparently, I hope, declared.
I believe this reflection is still in line within the ambit of Desiderata.CivilSociety discourse, one of three goals he outlined as the three main objectives in starting this Weblog – the other two being Desiderata.English on Sunday; and Desiderata.Truth, very rarely visited. Along the way I went into the Byway of Desiderata.Happiness because of his sifu, Max EHRMANN from whose simple yet deep poem, only became famous after his moving on, of the same title this Blog’s name is (respectfully) derived.
So here goes, writing as an outsider looking in, but from the vantage point as a freelance Journalist.
As I sat across the BF (non-CON today, being not Sunday) table from Mr Coww, I spied a fullpage advertisement in the Oriental Daily News featuring CHUA JUI MENG, current senior MCA vice-president without a Cabinet post, outlining his manifesto for his challenge against incumbent President ONG KA TING for the political (or is it welfare? YLChong’s first dig, sly no doubt, that’s the politician in me… here!) party post of CEO. The only thing that caught my eye was “lateral thinkers”, then chuajuimeng.com.
For the English edducated here – Chua ranks among them, but giving him credit that he tries to master Mandarin to address his people, he did challenge Ong (who humbly did not accept) in debating in that lingua franca now most widely used on this planet of six billion people, oh, I digress s-lightly…) – let’s turn to page 2 of theSun August 18, 2005 – my subscriber copy, unlike many of you KEDEKUTS out there patronizing 7ELEVEN for freebies … I’m planning to start a new English daily called SEVEN7, any investor with RM60million to spapre for five-year experiment with, of course, Desi as CEO, MD, chirman and sole Columnist – the name of the game is ABSOLUTE POWER and CONTROL, now definitely 100percent-digressing!;)). Responsibility includes admitting to one’s faults or frailties, yes? (That’s a rhetorical Q. addressed to Ong and Chua, not my EsteemedReaders.)
(INTERMISSION: Received a call from a bsuinessman-friend, quite likely with strong MCA connectsions, to join him for lunch, which Desi would never refuse, hence this column is delayed; see you sometime after 3pm!)
TheSun headline says it sweepingly well:
Jui Meng takes a swipe at Ka Ting
KUALA LUMPUR: MCA presidential candidateDatuk Chua Jui Meng had plenty to say about the party, its leadership and political culture during a two-hour press conference yesterday. And he saved some of his most stinging criticisms for uncumbent [resident Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting.
Branding Ong as lacking courage and humility, the MCA veteran and outgoing vice-president belittled his opponent for refusing to debate him.
“If the most powerful man on earth, the president of the United States, can find the humility and courage to engage in open debates, I don’t see why the MCA president cannot do so,” Chua said.
“I am English educated. Yet, he did not turn up to face the Chinese community in a debate in Chinese with me last month.”
As usual, Desi won’t spoil (pamper like babes?) his DiscerningReaders with full extract of what Chua said some more, go grab the freebie from the 7ELEVEN nearest you! Just an inkling, other topics touched on by te MCA president-hopeful are Party Culture,Vision, Leadership, English-speaking, Teamwork; but the introduction I extracted from his website just to show what Chua is aiming at with his promise for REFORM under the ” New Politics, New Vision and a New MCA" he skillfully captured via his Manifesto he wants his members to ponder over, especially those delegates who will cast their votes soon... (Pic in theSun showing a well-designed Manifesto with eye=catching cover ...go study its contents, willya? then write me a thesis ... hey, maybe fits into National Day essays on "THE MALAYSIAN DILEMMA" due August 25, remember? This is NOT a rhetorical Q!:))
""**On the 20th of August 2005, the issue of the entire national level leadership, including the office of the Presidency, will finally come to the hands of the Party’s Central Delegates in its General Assembly, the highest decision making body of the Party. It is historic not only because it will be the first elections of the 21st Century, but more crucially because it will determine the type of leadership and direction the Party needs. I appeal to all Central Delegates to vote wisely without fear or favour. The future of the Party and the Chinese Community lies in your hands. Vote in accordance with your wisdom and conscience; vote in such a way that it will strengthen the Party in the eyes of the Malaysian Chinese and the nation. I am serious when I tell you all that this election will determine the acceptability of our Party and its future in the decades ahead. Can we renew our beloved Party so that it can hold its head high in honour and esteem in the years to come? I believe that there will be more than enough of you to make the difference to make our Party better and more dynamic for all of us. I appeal to you to vote with the future of the Malaysian Chinese in mind!
I stand before you as a candidate for the Presidency of the Malaysian Chinese Association with a promise to set new directions for our community. I aim to have policies in the area of politics, economics, education and culture that will transform and impact our community for generations to come. I envision that in 2020 we will be a modern, vibrant and economically strong community. I stand before you with a manifesto that promises to restore, revitalise and renew our Party and community! A manifesto that will ensure that the voice and aspirations of the Malaysian Chinese community will always be heard in the corridors of power and that we will always be valued partners in the making of the Malaysian dream.
Elect me and I promise New Politics, New Vision and a New MCA!**""
(NOTE: So far, I have yet to sight any manifesto from incumbent President Ong, so I can't place any extracts here for comparison. Rest assured if such is available over the next few days, Desi would carry an equally long article to show he's inclined towards unbiasedness and balance in reporting.:))
Also from an inside page outlining the NEW POLITICS, an opening extract to know in general what Chua has in mind:
"*Demographically in 2004 the Malaysian Chinese only make up 25.4% of the population compared to 28.1% in 1991, whilst the Bumiputeras are 65.7% in 2004 compared to 60.6% in 1991. In a period of 13 years the Bumiputera population increased by about 5.0% while the Malaysian Chinese population decreased by 2.7%. If this trend continues and bearing in mind that the Bumiputera annual population growth rate is much higher than the Chinese it would not be surprising that by 2020 the Bumiputera community will increase to well over 70% or more and the Chinese will decline to about 20%. A significant percentage in our population’s decline is due to the large number of our families emigrating overseas. We have to stop the outward migration of the Chinese community started in the `70s. The vast majority of these families emigrate because they feel that their economic and children’s educational opportunities lie overseas. The Economic and Education blueprints must address these issues. Furthermore as the representative Party we must assure them that we do indeed hear their voices and they are truly equal and valued citizens of this country.
We as a Party must also ask ourselves - does the Chinese Community support us because they honour and respect us as their Party and their leaders, or do they vote for us because we come under the banner of the BN? As long as the BN Government promote policies that are seen to be fair and liberal they will support the BN. Can we develop the Party to that level where they will support us throughout the country on our own rights and merit? If we can do this then our members can live within the community with their heads held high. We can then expect more widespread support for our candidates in every General Election. We will win not only because of the BN but also because of our own merit! Then the Party will be able to contribute in a more meaningful and positive way to the continued victory of the BN.*"
On a less important level, what Desi wants to note here is that one Ling Hee Leong offered to contest the Deputy chief position of the MCA Youth, which means he’s ambitious to rise to that level his father, former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik, achieved before he stepped down, together with his then deputy Lim Ah Lek, in a PEACE FORMULA brokered by then Prime Minister to overcome a few years of TeamA-Team B infighting.
Here I wish to recall that Ling Junior in 1997/98 hogged the news spotlight. Indeed praised by THE STAR, as a role model-entepreuner the, when at age 27 years, he managed to borrow some RM1.2billion to take over control of at least FOUR LISTED COMPANIES. The youngest billionaire-on-paper whose financial resources seemd unlimted until the financial crisis hit the Southeast Asian region laid bare all theses follies of the banks, where mortals like you and I at age 30 would be hard pressed to borrow RM100,000 to buy our first roof over our head never did ask any due diligence questions to lend to the youngest billionaire then. No wonder these banks had to be bailed out and we tax-payers saw the very miscreants involved – bankers and BIG borrowers - not brought to any court to account for their actions which led to a national crisis.
Or have Malaysians forgotten and forgiven?
If the answer is yes, then Desi may just retire and give up any more political commentary.
I shake my head that Malaysian (Chinese) youths have such lean options from among their peers for a ROLE MODEL for leadership in the second largest component within the 14-component Barisan Nasional.
Datuk Chua, I sincerelyhope you succeeed in your challenge. But you have to do more than saying a few prayers because the culture cultivated for some 50 years is a Herculean task to undo, what more move on to the next stage of REFORMATION.
All I hear constantly from many of those who take to your party is chasing after those quotas of annual prefixes fronting their names and suffices at the backside – Datuk, Tan Si, TUN?, and PPN, PKT, AMN and JKR?
From te picture used by theSun, I see that Chua held in one hand some pages of a statement attributed to Ong Ka Ting (?) -- if that's all the incumbent with all the facilities of MCA headquarters and many ministerial aides at his disposal, can come up with, I am afraid I would have to rate Chua's approach as HIGHLY PROFESSIONAL versus his opponent's AMATEURISH stance. Maybe incumbency creates a sense of complacency -- real or false -- but it just shows if ONLY CHUA HAD SPOKEN UP MORE LOUDLY WHEN HE OCCUPIED A MINISTER's POST, MIGHT THINGS HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT?
A sad note to all these, as I checked later, THE STAR did not give a single line to Chua Jui Meng's manifesto introduction. Readers of Chinese newspapers, feedback me on other press coverage -- Desi is hard-pressed for time too, like Imran, you know. So it does lend weight to my aside yesterday about that well-meaning Editor doing some spin-doctoring for HIS MASTER's VOICE... I wonder if these two contenders have anything meaningful to say about PRESS FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE? I must consult my contacts in the Chinese media. Definitely, I'll follow up on this topic in the next two days.
Before I say adieu, and wish Chua “All the Best!” because somehow I always have some empathy for any under-dogs, even some topdogs, I leave you, my Dear Readers for bearing with my political rambling today, as I see dark and gloomy clouds outside my window in Seremban, from my fav poet -- and should you be an IgnorantCoww not knowing who that is by now, I’m Pulling back my The Teh Tarik!:
Reforming oneself
It has been raining again. I have been
indoors, meditating on the short-
comings of life.
I wish there were more kindly persons
in the world. Our competitive life
develops selfishness and unkindness.
I am determined to do something about it.
I cannot hope to convert many
persons. To convert one person, I
shall do well.
I will begin with the person I know best –
myself.
When it rains and one is much indoors,
one is likely to meditate on the
shortcomings of life.
Let me think – how shall I make myself
kind, gentle and considerate?
I do believe it has stopped raining.
I can go out now. I’ll go and shoot on
the archery ranch.
I’ll not bother to reform myself today.
Perhaps tomorrow – if it is raining,
and I must stay indoors, and meditate
on the shortcomings of life.
At the start, let me declare that YLChong has been an Opposition supporter (Socialist remember? Though conversationist TigerJoe describes me as one from the closet…;)) throughout his short sojourn on earth. Not that he has many options or much choice -- a writer’s poetic bent is often inclined towards the Ideal state, so this means a leaning towards Reform, towards Change, well I’m sure you got my meaning by now. And so the local political landscape dictates that the participation in the political process is best served via the opposite pole of the Establishment. But YLChong DOES NOT oppose for opposition’s sake. When the Prime Minister does the RightThing, I’d be the first to stand up to support him. Even when the Opposition talks half truths and nonsense, I don’t stand for their crap and drivel.
Being in the journalism profession – which he takes seriously – YLChong had given up membership in a party as the professional required it. Now that he is in a freelance position, no more beholden to any employer, YLChong scribes this morning’s post from a vantage point now made very clear, so his "vested interest" is transparently, I hope, declared.
I believe this reflection is still in line within the ambit of Desiderata.CivilSociety discourse, one of three goals he outlined as the three main objectives in starting this Weblog – the other two being Desiderata.English on Sunday; and Desiderata.Truth, very rarely visited. Along the way I went into the Byway of Desiderata.Happiness because of his sifu, Max EHRMANN from whose simple yet deep poem, only became famous after his moving on, of the same title this Blog’s name is (respectfully) derived.
So here goes, writing as an outsider looking in, but from the vantage point as a freelance Journalist.
As I sat across the BF (non-CON today, being not Sunday) table from Mr Coww, I spied a fullpage advertisement in the Oriental Daily News featuring CHUA JUI MENG, current senior MCA vice-president without a Cabinet post, outlining his manifesto for his challenge against incumbent President ONG KA TING for the political (or is it welfare? YLChong’s first dig, sly no doubt, that’s the politician in me… here!) party post of CEO. The only thing that caught my eye was “lateral thinkers”, then chuajuimeng.com.
For the English edducated here – Chua ranks among them, but giving him credit that he tries to master Mandarin to address his people, he did challenge Ong (who humbly did not accept) in debating in that lingua franca now most widely used on this planet of six billion people, oh, I digress s-lightly…) – let’s turn to page 2 of theSun August 18, 2005 – my subscriber copy, unlike many of you KEDEKUTS out there patronizing 7ELEVEN for freebies … I’m planning to start a new English daily called SEVEN7, any investor with RM60million to spapre for five-year experiment with, of course, Desi as CEO, MD, chirman and sole Columnist – the name of the game is ABSOLUTE POWER and CONTROL, now definitely 100percent-digressing!;)). Responsibility includes admitting to one’s faults or frailties, yes? (That’s a rhetorical Q. addressed to Ong and Chua, not my EsteemedReaders.)
(INTERMISSION: Received a call from a bsuinessman-friend, quite likely with strong MCA connectsions, to join him for lunch, which Desi would never refuse, hence this column is delayed; see you sometime after 3pm!)
TheSun headline says it sweepingly well:
Jui Meng takes a swipe at Ka Ting
KUALA LUMPUR: MCA presidential candidateDatuk Chua Jui Meng had plenty to say about the party, its leadership and political culture during a two-hour press conference yesterday. And he saved some of his most stinging criticisms for uncumbent [resident Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting.
Branding Ong as lacking courage and humility, the MCA veteran and outgoing vice-president belittled his opponent for refusing to debate him.
“If the most powerful man on earth, the president of the United States, can find the humility and courage to engage in open debates, I don’t see why the MCA president cannot do so,” Chua said.
“I am English educated. Yet, he did not turn up to face the Chinese community in a debate in Chinese with me last month.”
As usual, Desi won’t spoil (pamper like babes?) his DiscerningReaders with full extract of what Chua said some more, go grab the freebie from the 7ELEVEN nearest you! Just an inkling, other topics touched on by te MCA president-hopeful are Party Culture,Vision, Leadership, English-speaking, Teamwork; but the introduction I extracted from his website just to show what Chua is aiming at with his promise for REFORM under the ” New Politics, New Vision and a New MCA" he skillfully captured via his Manifesto he wants his members to ponder over, especially those delegates who will cast their votes soon... (Pic in theSun showing a well-designed Manifesto with eye=catching cover ...go study its contents, willya? then write me a thesis ... hey, maybe fits into National Day essays on "THE MALAYSIAN DILEMMA" due August 25, remember? This is NOT a rhetorical Q!:))
""**On the 20th of August 2005, the issue of the entire national level leadership, including the office of the Presidency, will finally come to the hands of the Party’s Central Delegates in its General Assembly, the highest decision making body of the Party. It is historic not only because it will be the first elections of the 21st Century, but more crucially because it will determine the type of leadership and direction the Party needs. I appeal to all Central Delegates to vote wisely without fear or favour. The future of the Party and the Chinese Community lies in your hands. Vote in accordance with your wisdom and conscience; vote in such a way that it will strengthen the Party in the eyes of the Malaysian Chinese and the nation. I am serious when I tell you all that this election will determine the acceptability of our Party and its future in the decades ahead. Can we renew our beloved Party so that it can hold its head high in honour and esteem in the years to come? I believe that there will be more than enough of you to make the difference to make our Party better and more dynamic for all of us. I appeal to you to vote with the future of the Malaysian Chinese in mind!
I stand before you as a candidate for the Presidency of the Malaysian Chinese Association with a promise to set new directions for our community. I aim to have policies in the area of politics, economics, education and culture that will transform and impact our community for generations to come. I envision that in 2020 we will be a modern, vibrant and economically strong community. I stand before you with a manifesto that promises to restore, revitalise and renew our Party and community! A manifesto that will ensure that the voice and aspirations of the Malaysian Chinese community will always be heard in the corridors of power and that we will always be valued partners in the making of the Malaysian dream.
Elect me and I promise New Politics, New Vision and a New MCA!**""
(NOTE: So far, I have yet to sight any manifesto from incumbent President Ong, so I can't place any extracts here for comparison. Rest assured if such is available over the next few days, Desi would carry an equally long article to show he's inclined towards unbiasedness and balance in reporting.:))
Also from an inside page outlining the NEW POLITICS, an opening extract to know in general what Chua has in mind:
"*Demographically in 2004 the Malaysian Chinese only make up 25.4% of the population compared to 28.1% in 1991, whilst the Bumiputeras are 65.7% in 2004 compared to 60.6% in 1991. In a period of 13 years the Bumiputera population increased by about 5.0% while the Malaysian Chinese population decreased by 2.7%. If this trend continues and bearing in mind that the Bumiputera annual population growth rate is much higher than the Chinese it would not be surprising that by 2020 the Bumiputera community will increase to well over 70% or more and the Chinese will decline to about 20%. A significant percentage in our population’s decline is due to the large number of our families emigrating overseas. We have to stop the outward migration of the Chinese community started in the `70s. The vast majority of these families emigrate because they feel that their economic and children’s educational opportunities lie overseas. The Economic and Education blueprints must address these issues. Furthermore as the representative Party we must assure them that we do indeed hear their voices and they are truly equal and valued citizens of this country.
We as a Party must also ask ourselves - does the Chinese Community support us because they honour and respect us as their Party and their leaders, or do they vote for us because we come under the banner of the BN? As long as the BN Government promote policies that are seen to be fair and liberal they will support the BN. Can we develop the Party to that level where they will support us throughout the country on our own rights and merit? If we can do this then our members can live within the community with their heads held high. We can then expect more widespread support for our candidates in every General Election. We will win not only because of the BN but also because of our own merit! Then the Party will be able to contribute in a more meaningful and positive way to the continued victory of the BN.*"
On a less important level, what Desi wants to note here is that one Ling Hee Leong offered to contest the Deputy chief position of the MCA Youth, which means he’s ambitious to rise to that level his father, former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik, achieved before he stepped down, together with his then deputy Lim Ah Lek, in a PEACE FORMULA brokered by then Prime Minister to overcome a few years of TeamA-Team B infighting.
Here I wish to recall that Ling Junior in 1997/98 hogged the news spotlight. Indeed praised by THE STAR, as a role model-entepreuner the, when at age 27 years, he managed to borrow some RM1.2billion to take over control of at least FOUR LISTED COMPANIES. The youngest billionaire-on-paper whose financial resources seemd unlimted until the financial crisis hit the Southeast Asian region laid bare all theses follies of the banks, where mortals like you and I at age 30 would be hard pressed to borrow RM100,000 to buy our first roof over our head never did ask any due diligence questions to lend to the youngest billionaire then. No wonder these banks had to be bailed out and we tax-payers saw the very miscreants involved – bankers and BIG borrowers - not brought to any court to account for their actions which led to a national crisis.
Or have Malaysians forgotten and forgiven?
If the answer is yes, then Desi may just retire and give up any more political commentary.
I shake my head that Malaysian (Chinese) youths have such lean options from among their peers for a ROLE MODEL for leadership in the second largest component within the 14-component Barisan Nasional.
Datuk Chua, I sincerelyhope you succeeed in your challenge. But you have to do more than saying a few prayers because the culture cultivated for some 50 years is a Herculean task to undo, what more move on to the next stage of REFORMATION.
All I hear constantly from many of those who take to your party is chasing after those quotas of annual prefixes fronting their names and suffices at the backside – Datuk, Tan Si, TUN?, and PPN, PKT, AMN and JKR?
From te picture used by theSun, I see that Chua held in one hand some pages of a statement attributed to Ong Ka Ting (?) -- if that's all the incumbent with all the facilities of MCA headquarters and many ministerial aides at his disposal, can come up with, I am afraid I would have to rate Chua's approach as HIGHLY PROFESSIONAL versus his opponent's AMATEURISH stance. Maybe incumbency creates a sense of complacency -- real or false -- but it just shows if ONLY CHUA HAD SPOKEN UP MORE LOUDLY WHEN HE OCCUPIED A MINISTER's POST, MIGHT THINGS HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT?
A sad note to all these, as I checked later, THE STAR did not give a single line to Chua Jui Meng's manifesto introduction. Readers of Chinese newspapers, feedback me on other press coverage -- Desi is hard-pressed for time too, like Imran, you know. So it does lend weight to my aside yesterday about that well-meaning Editor doing some spin-doctoring for HIS MASTER's VOICE... I wonder if these two contenders have anything meaningful to say about PRESS FREEDOM and INDEPENDENCE? I must consult my contacts in the Chinese media. Definitely, I'll follow up on this topic in the next two days.
Before I say adieu, and wish Chua “All the Best!” because somehow I always have some empathy for any under-dogs, even some topdogs, I leave you, my Dear Readers for bearing with my political rambling today, as I see dark and gloomy clouds outside my window in Seremban, from my fav poet -- and should you be an IgnorantCoww not knowing who that is by now, I’m Pulling back my The Teh Tarik!:
Reforming oneself
It has been raining again. I have been
indoors, meditating on the short-
comings of life.
I wish there were more kindly persons
in the world. Our competitive life
develops selfishness and unkindness.
I am determined to do something about it.
I cannot hope to convert many
persons. To convert one person, I
shall do well.
I will begin with the person I know best –
myself.
When it rains and one is much indoors,
one is likely to meditate on the
shortcomings of life.
Let me think – how shall I make myself
kind, gentle and considerate?
I do believe it has stopped raining.
I can go out now. I’ll go and shoot on
the archery ranch.
I’ll not bother to reform myself today.
Perhaps tomorrow – if it is raining,
and I must stay indoors, and meditate
on the shortcomings of life.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
HOWSY urges Desi to be more Cynical ...
A Malaysian reader based in the UK in a comment to the post yesterday, Some common sense on ENGLISH, finally!, asked Desi if I was not overly generous in giving our Education Minister the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I'll make myself doubly sure of the right nuances of his op and my reply by reproducing our friendly converse (warts and all, I hardly do any subbing at my Comments, don't wanna interrupt the flow ...) here:
"*howsy said...
You're just giving Hishamuddin the benefit of the doubt here and you're sure this is not another marketing ploy? He might just want to push up the sales of NST to reach more readers in order to propagate his UMNO propaganda and spin-doctoring. I keep my fingers-crossed for his sincere call.
desiderata said...
HOWSY:
A good point of view ehre.
Me being trained as a journalist, now as a diarist, I want to capture these politicians/govt leaders' words on record, and hold them accountable.
My of us, including myself, a reader of mine, mitochondria, have indeeed become "tired of being tired" with many of these politicians NOT -- "walking the talk", as wished for by the PM. I can understand your cynicism; many a time Desi has similarly grown as like you -- but sometimes if people such as Hisham want to make amends. let's give them a chance.
Let's just wait and see before the next GE -- maybe that's when the Rakyat hand in the report cards, it's better be thorough and critical... othwise, my EsteemedReaders and Desi might just have to adjourn to OUR I-LAND of fantasy.
Howsy, thanks for thy reminder. After nailing himself hallf to the cross with his own keris at the PWTC recently, let's give Hishama chance for redemption, OK? That's Desi's rhetorical question, but you are always welcome to add another few sen worth. THE I-LAND's cash register needs it!*"
Today, with Howsy's lens on the right eye, and my own on the left (socialist, remember?), I put two other members of the kindly Pak Lah's Cabinet miniSTERS (borrowing a fellow Blogger's style lONE, of lonestar9.blogspot.com politically-primed diary, no copyright(c) breach, I presume?) under this microscope:
Page 8, the NST, August 17, 2005, with headline:
Malaysian firms deny link with open burning
Evidence points to smallholders
(with pic captioned THE CULPRITS: Chin showing a photograph of open burning by Indonesia smallholders in Indonesia. The photograph was submitted by one of the five Malaysian firms which Indonesian authoprities claim were involved in slash and burn cultivation.) --Bernama picture
PUTRAJAYA, Tues: -- Five Malaysian companies today denied allegations by Indonesian forestry authorities that they were responsible for open burning.
Chief executive officers of the five companies met Plantation Enterprisesand Commodities miniSTER Datuk peter Chin at his ministry today to "tell their side of the story".
They denied that any of their plantations practised slash and burn techniques.
Chin said he had details and particulars of five Malaysian companies which had been accused by the Indonesian authorities of being responsible for open burning.
"The five companies are PT Tunggal Mitra Plantation, PT Langgam Inti Hibrida, PT Redsa Nusa Sejati, PT Mustika Agro Lestari and PT Multi Gambut Industri."
(Desi urges lazy but not so IgnorantCowws here to go read the full story in the national paper who is helping to promote the English language by subsidising copies to rural school children...noble intentions which I must give a lot of benefit of the doubt -- I'm quite generous at heart, those who 'no' me will swear, but not by any Holy Book.)
Then there is this other report from The Star (see, I support all local newspapers equally, I'm quite a democratic socialist by bent, or lent or rent (hey, TigerJoe where art thou these days? or is it bending?, See, I DIGRESS A LOT IN MY C-HOME, A PRIVILEGE I CONSTANTLY A-B-use, A is for me, B is for thee)...page 4, August 17, 2005:
Chua: No politician will admit trying to split party
KUALA LUMPUR: Whether a candidate is genuine or just trying to split votes in the MCA party elections starting on Friday is best left to the delegates to decide, according to an MCA leader.
"No politician would enter a contest and say that he wants to split the party. It is up to the central delegates to make the judgment," MCA vice-president Datuk Chua Soi Lek, who will be defending his post, told newsmen after opening an international conference on health communication yesterday.
Dr Chua was asked to comment on MCA presidential candidate Datuk Chua Jui Meng's statement on Monday that he would not form a team to oppose incumbent president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting as he did not want to split the party.
(What more did Dr Chua say? Hey, spend RM1.20+RM1.20 to inform thyself, Okay, Desi is not going to help people one hundred per cent -- 99% maybe, if he's in a generous mood. Today, he's indebted to MOWSY for writing a few "more" cynical sentences. "more" here means comparing with yesterday's piece, not saying Desi's piece today has more cynical comments than yesterday's cynical piece ...OK! And that's another rhetorical question, but because Howsy was engaged with (not to! We as journalists or English masters must be absolutely clear and unambiguous ... hey BIG WORDS are in deed aloud here!)Desi yesterday, he's welCOME to add his 2 pounds' worth. Methinks he gets big bucks in London...)
DESIDERATA: What more can I add? but advise my Esteemed, and Discerning Readers, to substitute "businessman" in place of "politician" in Chua's statement, and you get an approximation to THE TRUTH (hey Moses, are you reading this?) in the first case. Salaam. Adieu. "GoodD'y"-- to all the ssssssSpirits out there.
POST-SCRIPT at 3.00pm (Malaysian time for Howsy's benefit of the doubt):
I normally don't spell out PS, so there is a first time for everything, right? -- to avoid some Ignorant Cowws' assumption that I always come back from lunch PENG-SAN! (and that's not a Japanese mate's name!) Being the leftist leaning one, Desi, after returning Howsy' lens, returned from a bloated lunch on banana leaf (no, not at Sri Paandi, that's in Kuala Lumpur/PJ, I can't afford to drive all the way from Seremban, but I can email Howsy in the UK if I could let the 'cat out of the bag.)
OK folks, to save some KEDEKUTS (Hi, sweetspirit from Up There, this word is Bahasa Malaysia for STINGYONES, although in our national language normally thee is no "s" for the plural forms, but when anglicised, they follow UK norms, hence the "ass", you gotcha me?
Well, getting to the point, to save RM1.20 for these Scrooges (ah, Howsy in England knows this comparision) ... I will tell you truthfully that the good doctor Chua -- remember, he's also our Health Minister -- did not say much more. For a lONE-liner, it's not worth throwing away that RM1.20 (buy me a teh-tarik for 80sen and let me keep the change ... help subsidise my petrol when pump prices rose not once, not twice, but thrise (i.e. three times ... English lesson here ...)--or isit four? -- over the past 12 months?
"I do not buy that," said Dr Chua.(Emphasis is Desi's.)
Desiderata will now plagiarise the good doctor's one-liner and tell miniSTER Peter Chin: "I do not buy that2."
PPS (and this is not representing Project Petaling Street)at 3.30pm: I think the lawyer Chua would readily agree with me this The Star copy is so well ended -- it climaxed like a short story -- Desi thinks the well-meaning Editor did some spin-doctoring on behalf of His Master's Voice. HOWSY, what do you think? Am I overly cynical after paying for my Jepun mate's lunch?
"*howsy said...
You're just giving Hishamuddin the benefit of the doubt here and you're sure this is not another marketing ploy? He might just want to push up the sales of NST to reach more readers in order to propagate his UMNO propaganda and spin-doctoring. I keep my fingers-crossed for his sincere call.
desiderata said...
HOWSY:
A good point of view ehre.
Me being trained as a journalist, now as a diarist, I want to capture these politicians/govt leaders' words on record, and hold them accountable.
My of us, including myself, a reader of mine, mitochondria, have indeeed become "tired of being tired" with many of these politicians NOT -- "walking the talk", as wished for by the PM. I can understand your cynicism; many a time Desi has similarly grown as like you -- but sometimes if people such as Hisham want to make amends. let's give them a chance.
Let's just wait and see before the next GE -- maybe that's when the Rakyat hand in the report cards, it's better be thorough and critical... othwise, my EsteemedReaders and Desi might just have to adjourn to OUR I-LAND of fantasy.
Howsy, thanks for thy reminder. After nailing himself hallf to the cross with his own keris at the PWTC recently, let's give Hishama chance for redemption, OK? That's Desi's rhetorical question, but you are always welcome to add another few sen worth. THE I-LAND's cash register needs it!*"
Today, with Howsy's lens on the right eye, and my own on the left (socialist, remember?), I put two other members of the kindly Pak Lah's Cabinet miniSTERS (borrowing a fellow Blogger's style lONE, of lonestar9.blogspot.com politically-primed diary, no copyright(c) breach, I presume?) under this microscope:
Page 8, the NST, August 17, 2005, with headline:
Malaysian firms deny link with open burning
Evidence points to smallholders
(with pic captioned THE CULPRITS: Chin showing a photograph of open burning by Indonesia smallholders in Indonesia. The photograph was submitted by one of the five Malaysian firms which Indonesian authoprities claim were involved in slash and burn cultivation.) --Bernama picture
PUTRAJAYA, Tues: -- Five Malaysian companies today denied allegations by Indonesian forestry authorities that they were responsible for open burning.
Chief executive officers of the five companies met Plantation Enterprisesand Commodities miniSTER Datuk peter Chin at his ministry today to "tell their side of the story".
They denied that any of their plantations practised slash and burn techniques.
Chin said he had details and particulars of five Malaysian companies which had been accused by the Indonesian authorities of being responsible for open burning.
"The five companies are PT Tunggal Mitra Plantation, PT Langgam Inti Hibrida, PT Redsa Nusa Sejati, PT Mustika Agro Lestari and PT Multi Gambut Industri."
(Desi urges lazy but not so IgnorantCowws here to go read the full story in the national paper who is helping to promote the English language by subsidising copies to rural school children...noble intentions which I must give a lot of benefit of the doubt -- I'm quite generous at heart, those who 'no' me will swear, but not by any Holy Book.)
Then there is this other report from The Star (see, I support all local newspapers equally, I'm quite a democratic socialist by bent, or lent or rent (hey, TigerJoe where art thou these days? or is it bending?, See, I DIGRESS A LOT IN MY C-HOME, A PRIVILEGE I CONSTANTLY A-B-use, A is for me, B is for thee)...page 4, August 17, 2005:
Chua: No politician will admit trying to split party
KUALA LUMPUR: Whether a candidate is genuine or just trying to split votes in the MCA party elections starting on Friday is best left to the delegates to decide, according to an MCA leader.
"No politician would enter a contest and say that he wants to split the party. It is up to the central delegates to make the judgment," MCA vice-president Datuk Chua Soi Lek, who will be defending his post, told newsmen after opening an international conference on health communication yesterday.
Dr Chua was asked to comment on MCA presidential candidate Datuk Chua Jui Meng's statement on Monday that he would not form a team to oppose incumbent president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting as he did not want to split the party.
(What more did Dr Chua say? Hey, spend RM1.20+RM1.20 to inform thyself, Okay, Desi is not going to help people one hundred per cent -- 99% maybe, if he's in a generous mood. Today, he's indebted to MOWSY for writing a few "more" cynical sentences. "more" here means comparing with yesterday's piece, not saying Desi's piece today has more cynical comments than yesterday's cynical piece ...OK! And that's another rhetorical question, but because Howsy was engaged with (not to! We as journalists or English masters must be absolutely clear and unambiguous ... hey BIG WORDS are in deed aloud here!)Desi yesterday, he's welCOME to add his 2 pounds' worth. Methinks he gets big bucks in London...)
DESIDERATA: What more can I add? but advise my Esteemed, and Discerning Readers, to substitute "businessman" in place of "politician" in Chua's statement, and you get an approximation to THE TRUTH (hey Moses, are you reading this?) in the first case. Salaam. Adieu. "GoodD'y"-- to all the ssssssSpirits out there.
POST-SCRIPT at 3.00pm (Malaysian time for Howsy's benefit of the doubt):
I normally don't spell out PS, so there is a first time for everything, right? -- to avoid some Ignorant Cowws' assumption that I always come back from lunch PENG-SAN! (and that's not a Japanese mate's name!) Being the leftist leaning one, Desi, after returning Howsy' lens, returned from a bloated lunch on banana leaf (no, not at Sri Paandi, that's in Kuala Lumpur/PJ, I can't afford to drive all the way from Seremban, but I can email Howsy in the UK if I could let the 'cat out of the bag.)
OK folks, to save some KEDEKUTS (Hi, sweetspirit from Up There, this word is Bahasa Malaysia for STINGYONES, although in our national language normally thee is no "s" for the plural forms, but when anglicised, they follow UK norms, hence the "ass", you gotcha me?
Well, getting to the point, to save RM1.20 for these Scrooges (ah, Howsy in England knows this comparision) ... I will tell you truthfully that the good doctor Chua -- remember, he's also our Health Minister -- did not say much more. For a lONE-liner, it's not worth throwing away that RM1.20 (buy me a teh-tarik for 80sen and let me keep the change ... help subsidise my petrol when pump prices rose not once, not twice, but thrise (i.e. three times ... English lesson here ...)--or isit four? -- over the past 12 months?
"I do not buy that," said Dr Chua.(Emphasis is Desi's.)
Desiderata will now plagiarise the good doctor's one-liner and tell miniSTER Peter Chin: "I do not buy that2."
PPS (and this is not representing Project Petaling Street)at 3.30pm: I think the lawyer Chua would readily agree with me this The Star copy is so well ended -- it climaxed like a short story -- Desi thinks the well-meaning Editor did some spin-doctoring on behalf of His Master's Voice. HOWSY, what do you think? Am I overly cynical after paying for my Jepun mate's lunch?
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Some common sense on ENGLISH, finally!
I was gladdened by today's NST page one leap jumping at me as I sip my teh tarik and mee-soup:
'We should not be shy to say English is a Malaysian language' -- Hishamuddin
If our Government ministers and officials play less politics and concentrate on the our national problems and issues, DESIDERATA may weep less over this channel, along with many of Desi's EsteemedReaders, and gladly surrender their tears to hopes and laughter.
EDUCATION Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein, his arms around students of Kuala Lumpur's SMK Taman Medan as they browse through the New Straits Times, urges them to regain mastery of the language.
This, Hishamuddin said, would be vital in assuring their future prospects.
"Our children mus understand that they should and can learn English. They have every right to excel in it."(Emphasis is mine.)
Desiderata salutes the honourable minister's visionary statement. It acknowledges the reality that language is just a tool, and the English language is an excellent tool as an international lingua franca in this Internet and Information Age as well as a Globalised World. (Read August 12's LANGUAGE, EXQUISITE AND PROFANE.)
Malaysia lost a "whole generation" of English-proficient citizens when the language was demoted to no-man's land in the hierarchy of things to replace the medium of instruction in schools and tertiary institutions with Bahasa Malaysia. At one time, Malaysians ranked among Indians, Singaporeans, and even the British, as speakers and participants at international forums and United Nations bodies.
Desiderata felt that in one fell swoop, the best heritage left us by the colonial masters became a near fossilised relic beginning in the early 1970s until wisdom came back lately into Malaysian leaders' minds. Well, better late than never, I guess.
I was serving at a foreign diplomatic mission in Kuala Lumpur for some 12 years in the 1980s/90s and even during that time, the then Foreign Minister had lamented that Malaysian diplomats abroad were no more at the forefront of speaking up at international fora. The reason -- most of them felt inadequate communicating in English -- even at evening receptions on the diplomatic circuits, Malaysians lost their edge because of this language deficiency.
The then FM GHAZALI SHAFIE or "King Ghaz" as commonly called, held court at many international forums -- not only because of his intellect, but because his English language was exquisite, and superb. I might disagree with some of his politics, but I must give him credit where it's due in this Department. Well, our present Prime Minister too, but his is less dynamic, and his oratorical skills paled in comparision with that King!
Maybe just mayhaps,in 20 years' time started three years ago when English was being given emphasis in schools again, Malaysia may catch up with its neighbour -- SINGAPORE -- in using English on the international stage again, with prominence and confidence -- whether promoting tarde, tourism or cultural exchange. Whethe one likes it or not, the Intenet is dominated by the English language as the main medium of communication. Yes, reality sucks sometimes, and it is nothing to do with nationalism or patriotism, just in case some quarters may start throwing tantrums here and there. We need to master English to be competitive again on the world marketplace, as well as playing a more influential role in the diplomatic arena, Muslim, non-Muslim, Western, Eastern or Mid-Eastern, or even in Eskimo land. Even China the awakened dragon has latched on! Well, as for India, it has already produced a few Nobel laureates writing in that language.
Hishamuddin, I'm right there with you on being not shy about claiming English as "our own language."Bahasa Malaysia, as the national language, will always have its premium place in our hearts. Let no Malaysians use this yardstick to measure patriotism or hold it against any fellow Malaysian.
Patriotism is to advance Our Country -- "NEGARAKU, TANAH TUMPAHNYA DARAHKU..." -- it's not about flag-waving alone, though this has a role to play, or singing the National Anthem, at the right place, at the right time. It's winning the hearts and minds of ALL MALAYSIANS young and old, makcik, pakcik, across gender, colour and creed. And this cultivation of Love for Country must start from childhood, starting them young is the best, for that's the age when language learning and grasping is the most natural and flowing -- swimmingly? -- and for once, I see COMMON SENSE RULES.
There is hope yet for MY COUNTRY, YOUR COUNTRY, OUR COUNTRY. Desi is affected by National Day spirit just 15 days away.
PS: I still have three slots for that SERIES OF ESSAYS CHALLENGE on "THE MALAYSIAN DILEMMA" -- any takers? I plan for SEVEN, strating on August 25, with one each day examining an aspect or two of the Malaysian Dilemma. How about it, mGf and myGf-to-B?
Update: Sabrina Tan has sent in two articles, Young kyels has one, and desi is hatching one, which makes it the FamousFour. Three teh tariks or more for another THREE, ANYONE?
'We should not be shy to say English is a Malaysian language' -- Hishamuddin
If our Government ministers and officials play less politics and concentrate on the our national problems and issues, DESIDERATA may weep less over this channel, along with many of Desi's EsteemedReaders, and gladly surrender their tears to hopes and laughter.
EDUCATION Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein, his arms around students of Kuala Lumpur's SMK Taman Medan as they browse through the New Straits Times, urges them to regain mastery of the language.
This, Hishamuddin said, would be vital in assuring their future prospects.
"Our children mus understand that they should and can learn English. They have every right to excel in it."(Emphasis is mine.)
Desiderata salutes the honourable minister's visionary statement. It acknowledges the reality that language is just a tool, and the English language is an excellent tool as an international lingua franca in this Internet and Information Age as well as a Globalised World. (Read August 12's LANGUAGE, EXQUISITE AND PROFANE.)
Malaysia lost a "whole generation" of English-proficient citizens when the language was demoted to no-man's land in the hierarchy of things to replace the medium of instruction in schools and tertiary institutions with Bahasa Malaysia. At one time, Malaysians ranked among Indians, Singaporeans, and even the British, as speakers and participants at international forums and United Nations bodies.
Desiderata felt that in one fell swoop, the best heritage left us by the colonial masters became a near fossilised relic beginning in the early 1970s until wisdom came back lately into Malaysian leaders' minds. Well, better late than never, I guess.
I was serving at a foreign diplomatic mission in Kuala Lumpur for some 12 years in the 1980s/90s and even during that time, the then Foreign Minister had lamented that Malaysian diplomats abroad were no more at the forefront of speaking up at international fora. The reason -- most of them felt inadequate communicating in English -- even at evening receptions on the diplomatic circuits, Malaysians lost their edge because of this language deficiency.
The then FM GHAZALI SHAFIE or "King Ghaz" as commonly called, held court at many international forums -- not only because of his intellect, but because his English language was exquisite, and superb. I might disagree with some of his politics, but I must give him credit where it's due in this Department. Well, our present Prime Minister too, but his is less dynamic, and his oratorical skills paled in comparision with that King!
Maybe just mayhaps,in 20 years' time started three years ago when English was being given emphasis in schools again, Malaysia may catch up with its neighbour -- SINGAPORE -- in using English on the international stage again, with prominence and confidence -- whether promoting tarde, tourism or cultural exchange. Whethe one likes it or not, the Intenet is dominated by the English language as the main medium of communication. Yes, reality sucks sometimes, and it is nothing to do with nationalism or patriotism, just in case some quarters may start throwing tantrums here and there. We need to master English to be competitive again on the world marketplace, as well as playing a more influential role in the diplomatic arena, Muslim, non-Muslim, Western, Eastern or Mid-Eastern, or even in Eskimo land. Even China the awakened dragon has latched on! Well, as for India, it has already produced a few Nobel laureates writing in that language.
Hishamuddin, I'm right there with you on being not shy about claiming English as "our own language."Bahasa Malaysia, as the national language, will always have its premium place in our hearts. Let no Malaysians use this yardstick to measure patriotism or hold it against any fellow Malaysian.
Patriotism is to advance Our Country -- "NEGARAKU, TANAH TUMPAHNYA DARAHKU..." -- it's not about flag-waving alone, though this has a role to play, or singing the National Anthem, at the right place, at the right time. It's winning the hearts and minds of ALL MALAYSIANS young and old, makcik, pakcik, across gender, colour and creed. And this cultivation of Love for Country must start from childhood, starting them young is the best, for that's the age when language learning and grasping is the most natural and flowing -- swimmingly? -- and for once, I see COMMON SENSE RULES.
There is hope yet for MY COUNTRY, YOUR COUNTRY, OUR COUNTRY. Desi is affected by National Day spirit just 15 days away.
PS: I still have three slots for that SERIES OF ESSAYS CHALLENGE on "THE MALAYSIAN DILEMMA" -- any takers? I plan for SEVEN, strating on August 25, with one each day examining an aspect or two of the Malaysian Dilemma. How about it, mGf and myGf-to-B?
Update: Sabrina Tan has sent in two articles, Young kyels has one, and desi is hatching one, which makes it the FamousFour. Three teh tariks or more for another THREE, ANYONE?
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Conversations and Foot-prints
I ENJOY CONVERSATIONS WITH MY CYBER=FRIENDS, WHO I HAVE NOT MET PERSONALLY SAVE ONE – YAN all the way from the infamous Kennysiah's state!– AND I’M THANKFUL FOR SUCH FRIENDSHIPS. I HOPE THEY STAND THE TEST OF TIME.
TODAY’S RAMBLINGS ARE MOTIVATED (INSPIRED, INSTIGATED?) BY SUNDAY’S EXCHANGES WITH A FEW CONVERSATIONISTS WHICH PROMPTED ME TO RE-VISIT THE FOOTPRINTS I HAD LEFT BEHIND AT SOME OF MY MORE “REGULAR” CYBER-FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES' HAUNTS, AND EVEN RECENT-TIMERS WHO MAY YET BLOSSOM TO BECOME mGf?
SO HERE GOES:
I sighted Sabrina Tan of http://sabrinawstan.blogspot.com, my most constant Guest Bloggertemporarily resideng and roaming the New Zealand wanderescape, in also a “rambling" mood recently (August 8, 2005), and I reprise her opening para:
Ramblings
I am currently very tired...so I don't have time nor energy to think or write something properly...
Plus, it just seems like no one is visiting this place anyway...:P
So I am just going to add in a few ramblings here and there...stuff that has occured over the weekend/week...
Fellow Blogger Imran assured Sab with the following via Comments, with a cheeky follow-up from Desi:
Imran said...
Hello Sabrina,
You are wrong about no one visiting your blog. I for one visit your blog everyday in my quest to find topics to write about.
P/S:hope that didnt sound a bit stalker-ish.
3:11 AM
desiderata said...
IM:
You stalk Sab; I stalk thee.
So the Bard says The world is all a stage, and we are all players -- it's okay mate, act like one - a stalker. I mean a mean one!
12:26 AM
Sunday yesterday saw me Rambling on and on, and I hope my desiderata.english did not bore Thru?) any followers (my mchief target were YoungOnes and IgnorantCows!). Then via my COMMENTS channel, I had the following conversations, warts and alls, typos and “Poetic Licence” Inggeris et al, reproducing some relevant parts:
"desiderata said...
kyels:
thou maketh me blush singing my praises. I praise thee for your amended Blog's new design -- so designing and winningly swimming. That's to return the compliments on a sunny Sundae when I'm not just inclined to have a CON BF, also a steak for dinner with mGf just recovered from Haze-induced asthma, mama-mia!
Writing a post for Sunday is when I cruise along with my latest thoughts ... hope my rdears would cruise along and ne'er mind my ramblings
Yes, Nat King Cole says:
Ramble on, ramble on
When your rambling days are gone ...
I hope those days are a million dark years away. Kyels, brighten up my Chome for me eh with some LIGHT!
11:11 PM
sweetspirit said...
Oh crickets if you like those creatures of night i'll sent you all of them that hide in my walls to my dislike.
I shall wish you a nice week tcz
11:46 PM
desiderata said...
Hi ssssspirit:
I still haven't acquired our neighbur Thais' penchant for FRIED, or to chinamen like me, 'flied', crickets or locusts -- but if you should venture to fly some and it tastes AUSsome, send them over by Qantas, don't know if it'd be aloud to land in this Haze 9unless you throw in a fistful of AusD to the state chief!). Hey, we had some "snow" raining down on tropical PJ the other day -- was it also unwanted one sent down from Perth as pre-emptive striko?
peAce to Malay-Austra-sia?
1:32 AM
Kyels said...
Dear Desi,
Well, you don't have to blush because I praised you. Lols.
However, thanks for singing praises to me over my blog design but that should go to the real designer though. I took her design but I modified it a bit. :)
Well, we won't mind your ramblings Desi. Why on Earth should we mind your ramblings? You speaketh your thoughts and posted em in your blog.
Haha.
Btw, Sweet Spirit, do you have a blog? If you have, can I check it out and link your blog in mine?
Thanks. :)
Cheers everybody!!!
1:47 AM
desiderata said...
hi kyels:
SS resides at sweetspirits.blogspot.com -- visit her with songs and music, and some dance of life too. Send sum of my teh tarik, tell her I'm still waiting for her "filed" cricket!
7:09 AM "
IN AN EARLIER COURTSEY CALL AT KYELS, I READ HER PROFILE AND LEARNT SHE’S ONLY 19, STILL AT COLLEGE, AND I HAD COMMENTED THAT “FOR HER (YOUTHFUL) AGE, HER WRITING SHOWS MATURITY BEYOND HER AGE …).I GIVE YOU A HINT OF WHY I “BLUSH”, READ ON THE “SERIOUS” SUBJECT SHE TACKLED AT AN AGE WHEN I WAS EVEN SHY TO ASK THE GP TEACHER FOR A FORM 6 DISCUSSION IN MY NOT SO YOUNGISH DAYS:
WILL SEX SAVE A MARRIAGE OR DESTROY IT INSTEAD?
August 11th, 2005 at 12:07 am (My Thoughts)
***“Well, as we all know lust is a common feeling that resides in our souls. And each and every one of us has lust within us.
What I am going to blog here is a very subject topic which there will be no concrete conclusions for it because lusts, sex, obsessions, are subjective matters and it can be categorized under emotions.
So, back to the question that I have proposed earlier.
Will sex save a marriage or destroy it instead?
As I’ve said in my second paragraph, sex is a subjective topic in which no concrete conclusions could be made at the end of every debates or discussions about it. Well, sex is important in marriages, I don’t deny that but sometimes it tends to destroy marriagehood. “
For the rest, please visit the Young but no so IgnorantCoww at http://kyels.com and enjoy her newly designed home.
I added my Younger&Immature comment, subtly via Versifying thus:
1. ylchong said,
August 12, 2005 at 11:44 pm
Sex can be beaut, when love is blind
Sex also can be ugly when love is no more kind
God creates Man for many reasons
Woman too for all seasons
If two souls can unite as Heavenly1 in sex
Then let the duo be bathed in Ecstasy …
often preferable to less.
Now back to that Sweetspirit from Down Under -- with whom I have some "chemistry", mayhaps her Government paid my GAJI for 12 short years but did not grant me a PR (ah, I digress!)for my short service! She had bloged in mid-July saying she was taking A HIATUS, may not be coming back, a possibility ...
desiderata said...
Hi ssssspirit:
I gotta a little surprised on your need for a Hiatus.
From today Monday July 25, I too statrted a weeklong hiatus from POLITICS Blogging. Overdosed on it, NEGATIVELY.
I shall venture into Laugher, Light and the kindred spirits terrain, so I shall visit vistas such as yours, but you take leave.
Go have a deserved break, abd come back HIGH-SPIRITED, OK? That's another rhetorical question!
7:17 PM
sweetspirit said...
Desi
I was just about to post n say i will be removing my blog n give blogging up.Plus i was thinking of you and the beautiful poem u left on my other blog. Considering your so wordly can you tell me if it is in fact true, that the word goodbye actually came from God Be With You .. As in God b with ye...
Well about coming back , i am not sure if i will .But will always log by your blog.Thanks for your comment n do take care
2:09 AM
desiderata said...
Hi sssssSpirit:
Yes. it's also GOD in GOoD people, and the word hiatus means "a break" -- so live up to your word NOT to close this Sweet&Spirited Blog!
Just share this Poem with thee (last persuade!):)
"It's just adieu"
I miss you so, my friend
A daily diet of AM
now is denied me
I miss the invigoration
The quality words
the beautiful lines
I hope AMigo
I'll see your face again
Smiling to greet me at early morn
I drank of your wine, made of
Grapes of soothing rhyme
Songs of knowledge sublime
But you said it's time
To ring down the curtain
As the money has run dry
I wish I could write out
A cheque for a million
To make you AM stay
I pray it's just adieu
And not goodbye.
(C)YLChong
PS: take as LONG (one of 3 names in me, so it's double meaning here)a break as you need,
Come back for more converse, Prose or Verse
11:05 PM
Methinks Desi has rambled on long enough, and NatKC has sung his number endless rounds reminding me, so:
I end today's conversations borrowing some wisdom from my “maiden” visitor who homed at Desiderata’s Place on the Ides of March and never failed to “drop by” for visits with her own nuggets inspiring me on many occasions; just one sample in touch with her at http://yancorner.blogpsot.com:)
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Have a good sleep first
Lately, I am in a low valley, deep deep down. Today’s posting is pick up from Desiderata’s Let it be. (http://desiderata2000.blogspot.com)
Yes, there are many songs and music that comfort our soul in the low period –
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom let it be
Let it be..
Let it be …. That really gives openings to our hurts. And certainly, wise.
When I was younger, a group of friends used to say this – It does not matter whether there is one person more or one person less in this world. Life still goes on. Nobody is really that important. I begged to differ from them. I thought if there is no Battles, life still goes on, but something is missing. At least we would not have someone saying to us when we are down in a song – Let it be! Many people are actually angels sent by God to tell us – Let it be! Remember the Bible says this –
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it – Hebrews 13:2 NIV
I have a friend who went through many trials and tests in life, she loves “Let it Be” very much. I think it’s cool when she said –
Let it be, have a good sleep first….
PS: I often refer to yan as among mGf countable number among my fingers on two hands, hopefully proceeding to count the toes down there. I reprise the above without seeking her permission, but I know she will say, inc sync with desi, what’s a little playgiarythm among mGf in the plural? Yeh, LET IT BE …
PPS: I had wanted to link brudder Imran arlier, but he's an IMpish one, hiding behind nonsensical.drivel home whose name I had to play Robin Hood to reach, ah, finally at: http://time2rise.blogspot.com; I hope by 3.13pm as I write this update Bro IM is up and about, or you twangkaki again, this morni? oops, it's after-noon! Ne'er mind, just to reprise our cheeky converse when you upset me with your politically correct Hood tale killing off my childhood's memories:
desiderata said...
Maaalox?
Bruddder IM -- metinks you're a little high on it, writ(H))ing off Little Hood riding into the sunset,I must protesteth. And Granny not living to 80, that's cruelty to old folks, which is politically incorrect nowadys. I'll refer thee to the Society to Prevent Cruelty to Homo spiens. Stick to Tradition is better, that the woodcutter would chop off the wolf's head, and send it to the PWTC next year for all to see -- what a prize for the AP king, and they all can do the Modern Dances of the Wolves, with Red Riding Insides. Then we can all sing to APWolves -- AP Hood, AP Hood!.
6:52 PM
Imran said...
Desi,
Maalox, a cure for indigestion for the poor old wolf after eating Little Red Riding Hood.
Maalox is also useful for the Ordinary Joes, i.e. you and me, after reading all the scandals in our country, especially after consuming a Continental Breakfast which you like so much.
Nice way of relating the AP scandal to Little Red Riding Hood. Treat yourself to a glass of your Haridass teh tarik on my behalf!
9:44 PM
TODAY’S RAMBLINGS ARE MOTIVATED (INSPIRED, INSTIGATED?) BY SUNDAY’S EXCHANGES WITH A FEW CONVERSATIONISTS WHICH PROMPTED ME TO RE-VISIT THE FOOTPRINTS I HAD LEFT BEHIND AT SOME OF MY MORE “REGULAR” CYBER-FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES' HAUNTS, AND EVEN RECENT-TIMERS WHO MAY YET BLOSSOM TO BECOME mGf?
SO HERE GOES:
I sighted Sabrina Tan of http://sabrinawstan.blogspot.com, my most constant Guest Bloggertemporarily resideng and roaming the New Zealand wanderescape, in also a “rambling" mood recently (August 8, 2005), and I reprise her opening para:
Ramblings
I am currently very tired...so I don't have time nor energy to think or write something properly...
Plus, it just seems like no one is visiting this place anyway...:P
So I am just going to add in a few ramblings here and there...stuff that has occured over the weekend/week...
Fellow Blogger Imran assured Sab with the following via Comments, with a cheeky follow-up from Desi:
Imran said...
Hello Sabrina,
You are wrong about no one visiting your blog. I for one visit your blog everyday in my quest to find topics to write about.
P/S:hope that didnt sound a bit stalker-ish.
3:11 AM
desiderata said...
IM:
You stalk Sab; I stalk thee.
So the Bard says The world is all a stage, and we are all players -- it's okay mate, act like one - a stalker. I mean a mean one!
12:26 AM
Sunday yesterday saw me Rambling on and on, and I hope my desiderata.english did not bore Thru?) any followers (my mchief target were YoungOnes and IgnorantCows!). Then via my COMMENTS channel, I had the following conversations, warts and alls, typos and “Poetic Licence” Inggeris et al, reproducing some relevant parts:
"desiderata said...
kyels:
thou maketh me blush singing my praises. I praise thee for your amended Blog's new design -- so designing and winningly swimming. That's to return the compliments on a sunny Sundae when I'm not just inclined to have a CON BF, also a steak for dinner with mGf just recovered from Haze-induced asthma, mama-mia!
Writing a post for Sunday is when I cruise along with my latest thoughts ... hope my rdears would cruise along and ne'er mind my ramblings
Yes, Nat King Cole says:
Ramble on, ramble on
When your rambling days are gone ...
I hope those days are a million dark years away. Kyels, brighten up my Chome for me eh with some LIGHT!
11:11 PM
sweetspirit said...
Oh crickets if you like those creatures of night i'll sent you all of them that hide in my walls to my dislike.
I shall wish you a nice week tcz
11:46 PM
desiderata said...
Hi ssssspirit:
I still haven't acquired our neighbur Thais' penchant for FRIED, or to chinamen like me, 'flied', crickets or locusts -- but if you should venture to fly some and it tastes AUSsome, send them over by Qantas, don't know if it'd be aloud to land in this Haze 9unless you throw in a fistful of AusD to the state chief!). Hey, we had some "snow" raining down on tropical PJ the other day -- was it also unwanted one sent down from Perth as pre-emptive striko?
peAce to Malay-Austra-sia?
1:32 AM
Kyels said...
Dear Desi,
Well, you don't have to blush because I praised you. Lols.
However, thanks for singing praises to me over my blog design but that should go to the real designer though. I took her design but I modified it a bit. :)
Well, we won't mind your ramblings Desi. Why on Earth should we mind your ramblings? You speaketh your thoughts and posted em in your blog.
Haha.
Btw, Sweet Spirit, do you have a blog? If you have, can I check it out and link your blog in mine?
Thanks. :)
Cheers everybody!!!
1:47 AM
desiderata said...
hi kyels:
SS resides at sweetspirits.blogspot.com -- visit her with songs and music, and some dance of life too. Send sum of my teh tarik, tell her I'm still waiting for her "filed" cricket!
7:09 AM "
IN AN EARLIER COURTSEY CALL AT KYELS, I READ HER PROFILE AND LEARNT SHE’S ONLY 19, STILL AT COLLEGE, AND I HAD COMMENTED THAT “FOR HER (YOUTHFUL) AGE, HER WRITING SHOWS MATURITY BEYOND HER AGE …).I GIVE YOU A HINT OF WHY I “BLUSH”, READ ON THE “SERIOUS” SUBJECT SHE TACKLED AT AN AGE WHEN I WAS EVEN SHY TO ASK THE GP TEACHER FOR A FORM 6 DISCUSSION IN MY NOT SO YOUNGISH DAYS:
WILL SEX SAVE A MARRIAGE OR DESTROY IT INSTEAD?
August 11th, 2005 at 12:07 am (My Thoughts)
***“Well, as we all know lust is a common feeling that resides in our souls. And each and every one of us has lust within us.
What I am going to blog here is a very subject topic which there will be no concrete conclusions for it because lusts, sex, obsessions, are subjective matters and it can be categorized under emotions.
So, back to the question that I have proposed earlier.
Will sex save a marriage or destroy it instead?
As I’ve said in my second paragraph, sex is a subjective topic in which no concrete conclusions could be made at the end of every debates or discussions about it. Well, sex is important in marriages, I don’t deny that but sometimes it tends to destroy marriagehood. “
For the rest, please visit the Young but no so IgnorantCoww at http://kyels.com and enjoy her newly designed home.
I added my Younger&Immature comment, subtly via Versifying thus:
1. ylchong said,
August 12, 2005 at 11:44 pm
Sex can be beaut, when love is blind
Sex also can be ugly when love is no more kind
God creates Man for many reasons
Woman too for all seasons
If two souls can unite as Heavenly1 in sex
Then let the duo be bathed in Ecstasy …
often preferable to less.
Now back to that Sweetspirit from Down Under -- with whom I have some "chemistry", mayhaps her Government paid my GAJI for 12 short years but did not grant me a PR (ah, I digress!)for my short service! She had bloged in mid-July saying she was taking A HIATUS, may not be coming back, a possibility ...
desiderata said...
Hi ssssspirit:
I gotta a little surprised on your need for a Hiatus.
From today Monday July 25, I too statrted a weeklong hiatus from POLITICS Blogging. Overdosed on it, NEGATIVELY.
I shall venture into Laugher, Light and the kindred spirits terrain, so I shall visit vistas such as yours, but you take leave.
Go have a deserved break, abd come back HIGH-SPIRITED, OK? That's another rhetorical question!
7:17 PM
sweetspirit said...
Desi
I was just about to post n say i will be removing my blog n give blogging up.Plus i was thinking of you and the beautiful poem u left on my other blog. Considering your so wordly can you tell me if it is in fact true, that the word goodbye actually came from God Be With You .. As in God b with ye...
Well about coming back , i am not sure if i will .But will always log by your blog.Thanks for your comment n do take care
2:09 AM
desiderata said...
Hi sssssSpirit:
Yes. it's also GOD in GOoD people, and the word hiatus means "a break" -- so live up to your word NOT to close this Sweet&Spirited Blog!
Just share this Poem with thee (last persuade!):)
"It's just adieu"
I miss you so, my friend
A daily diet of AM
now is denied me
I miss the invigoration
The quality words
the beautiful lines
I hope AMigo
I'll see your face again
Smiling to greet me at early morn
I drank of your wine, made of
Grapes of soothing rhyme
Songs of knowledge sublime
But you said it's time
To ring down the curtain
As the money has run dry
I wish I could write out
A cheque for a million
To make you AM stay
I pray it's just adieu
And not goodbye.
(C)YLChong
PS: take as LONG (one of 3 names in me, so it's double meaning here)a break as you need,
Come back for more converse, Prose or Verse
11:05 PM
Methinks Desi has rambled on long enough, and NatKC has sung his number endless rounds reminding me, so:
I end today's conversations borrowing some wisdom from my “maiden” visitor who homed at Desiderata’s Place on the Ides of March and never failed to “drop by” for visits with her own nuggets inspiring me on many occasions; just one sample in touch with her at http://yancorner.blogpsot.com:)
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Have a good sleep first
Lately, I am in a low valley, deep deep down. Today’s posting is pick up from Desiderata’s Let it be. (http://desiderata2000.blogspot.com)
Yes, there are many songs and music that comfort our soul in the low period –
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom let it be
Let it be..
Let it be …. That really gives openings to our hurts. And certainly, wise.
When I was younger, a group of friends used to say this – It does not matter whether there is one person more or one person less in this world. Life still goes on. Nobody is really that important. I begged to differ from them. I thought if there is no Battles, life still goes on, but something is missing. At least we would not have someone saying to us when we are down in a song – Let it be! Many people are actually angels sent by God to tell us – Let it be! Remember the Bible says this –
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it – Hebrews 13:2 NIV
I have a friend who went through many trials and tests in life, she loves “Let it Be” very much. I think it’s cool when she said –
Let it be, have a good sleep first….
PS: I often refer to yan as among mGf countable number among my fingers on two hands, hopefully proceeding to count the toes down there. I reprise the above without seeking her permission, but I know she will say, inc sync with desi, what’s a little playgiarythm among mGf in the plural? Yeh, LET IT BE …
PPS: I had wanted to link brudder Imran arlier, but he's an IMpish one, hiding behind nonsensical.drivel home whose name I had to play Robin Hood to reach, ah, finally at: http://time2rise.blogspot.com; I hope by 3.13pm as I write this update Bro IM is up and about, or you twangkaki again, this morni? oops, it's after-noon! Ne'er mind, just to reprise our cheeky converse when you upset me with your politically correct Hood tale killing off my childhood's memories:
desiderata said...
Maaalox?
Bruddder IM -- metinks you're a little high on it, writ(H))ing off Little Hood riding into the sunset,I must protesteth. And Granny not living to 80, that's cruelty to old folks, which is politically incorrect nowadys. I'll refer thee to the Society to Prevent Cruelty to Homo spiens. Stick to Tradition is better, that the woodcutter would chop off the wolf's head, and send it to the PWTC next year for all to see -- what a prize for the AP king, and they all can do the Modern Dances of the Wolves, with Red Riding Insides. Then we can all sing to APWolves -- AP Hood, AP Hood!.
6:52 PM
Imran said...
Desi,
Maalox, a cure for indigestion for the poor old wolf after eating Little Red Riding Hood.
Maalox is also useful for the Ordinary Joes, i.e. you and me, after reading all the scandals in our country, especially after consuming a Continental Breakfast which you like so much.
Nice way of relating the AP scandal to Little Red Riding Hood. Treat yourself to a glass of your Haridass teh tarik on my behalf!
9:44 PM
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Writer's Block & Inspiration
Desiderata.english
Often in the writing profession, the practitioner can hit a blank wall, and however hard he tries, he can’t put meaningful words to paper, or nowadays, onto the computer screen. There's a term, Writer’s Block, which is besieging the writer. There are many factors causing this problem. And the best of wordsmiths can be hit by this unwelcome visitor, as sure as a child will fall sick some times, due to poor weather, wrong food, or even after a scolding by Big Sis or Big Bro, or because Mum forgot to buy him/her a Birthday present. The writer may encounter this block, or obstacle, because he’s just not in the proper frame of mind – he’s feeling unwell, or he’s had a lovers’ quarrel, or just that the environment is not condusive, for the unthinking guests won’t leave him to his quiet time.
Writing comes easy to those with a flair for language and has mastered the craft through constant practice and dedication. But Desiderata, while appreciative of God’s gift to him with a talent for words and wordplay, and perhaps, an imaginative mind – he must confess that on certain days, he too felt thoroughly “paralysed”, and prayed hard and intermittently for his “flashes of inspiration”.
What I dread most is suffering a condition called "burnt-out". Like your car-engine suddenly comes to a stop. Can you imigaine in the middle of a highway? To a writer, that's like just an hour before a deadline for an assignment to be delivered.
I recently discussed this subject with a fellow writer – a published one! Her name is CATHERINE DE COSTA. I thought a tea break planned for an hour would do the trick of overcoming my block – the tea extended for two hours; luckily Cathy and her “significant half” (that’s the term I use to call her husband!) was free, and we tar=la-la-ed til the cows forgot to come home …and it definitely was time and fellowship well spent.
The lesson to share is that making highly conscious efforts to psuh oneself, the ideas or words just won’t come. If the words come, they come in spurts, like water from a choked pipe, not swimmingly, which means flowing smoothly and without effort, and the doer enjoying while doing it! Like they say, work is no more labour when you ENJOY doing it. And when BIG BUCKS also come along with it, of course. Reality bites sometimes.
Writer’s block, take my word for it, can make a victim of the most prolific of writers, for while God gave us each A Beautiful Mind, it is always a mysterious gift. It works in ways that no scientist has properly mapped its pathways, permutations of thought aptterns, or even why we can -- Yes, on an inspired moment for just 10 minutes, produce a masterpiece of prose or poem. Such epic moments are few and rare, but I have, bless me, experienced them. The poem SOOTHIN' HAZELIN' was similarly inspired by YES! THE HAZE, and memory sweet of a girl-once-upon-a-time ...and I'm sure, consumers you all,you're acquainted with the wordplay about Hazeline Snow!
So how does one "prepare" oneself to get into a writing mood. Me, I'll always have background music; and sometimes I throw in a few relevant lines to match the writing at hand, or even a full song lyrics (like in last Monday's Morning Blues wit' Rainy Days and Mondays...) because the number captures the contents so well (chemistry, they call it.)Also, writing best at night -- when even the cricket sings, and the tree leaves whistle down the wind ...;)
As I pen this, and this PM(yes, post-meridien for afternoon, YoungIgnorantCows!)'s -- oh, now just past midnight already...so it's yesterday afternoon's...I'm listening to Andy Williams' soothin', velvety maybe:
MOON RIVER
Moon river, wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style some day
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you're goin', I'm goin' your way
Two drifters, off to see the world
There's such a lot of world to see
We're after the same rainbow's end, waitin' 'round the bend
My huckleberry friend, moon river, and me
DESIDERATA wishing all mGf
GOodNite!
BlessedSunday
Everythin'Beaut&Nice!
Often in the writing profession, the practitioner can hit a blank wall, and however hard he tries, he can’t put meaningful words to paper, or nowadays, onto the computer screen. There's a term, Writer’s Block, which is besieging the writer. There are many factors causing this problem. And the best of wordsmiths can be hit by this unwelcome visitor, as sure as a child will fall sick some times, due to poor weather, wrong food, or even after a scolding by Big Sis or Big Bro, or because Mum forgot to buy him/her a Birthday present. The writer may encounter this block, or obstacle, because he’s just not in the proper frame of mind – he’s feeling unwell, or he’s had a lovers’ quarrel, or just that the environment is not condusive, for the unthinking guests won’t leave him to his quiet time.
Writing comes easy to those with a flair for language and has mastered the craft through constant practice and dedication. But Desiderata, while appreciative of God’s gift to him with a talent for words and wordplay, and perhaps, an imaginative mind – he must confess that on certain days, he too felt thoroughly “paralysed”, and prayed hard and intermittently for his “flashes of inspiration”.
What I dread most is suffering a condition called "burnt-out". Like your car-engine suddenly comes to a stop. Can you imigaine in the middle of a highway? To a writer, that's like just an hour before a deadline for an assignment to be delivered.
I recently discussed this subject with a fellow writer – a published one! Her name is CATHERINE DE COSTA. I thought a tea break planned for an hour would do the trick of overcoming my block – the tea extended for two hours; luckily Cathy and her “significant half” (that’s the term I use to call her husband!) was free, and we tar=la-la-ed til the cows forgot to come home …and it definitely was time and fellowship well spent.
The lesson to share is that making highly conscious efforts to psuh oneself, the ideas or words just won’t come. If the words come, they come in spurts, like water from a choked pipe, not swimmingly, which means flowing smoothly and without effort, and the doer enjoying while doing it! Like they say, work is no more labour when you ENJOY doing it. And when BIG BUCKS also come along with it, of course. Reality bites sometimes.
Writer’s block, take my word for it, can make a victim of the most prolific of writers, for while God gave us each A Beautiful Mind, it is always a mysterious gift. It works in ways that no scientist has properly mapped its pathways, permutations of thought aptterns, or even why we can -- Yes, on an inspired moment for just 10 minutes, produce a masterpiece of prose or poem. Such epic moments are few and rare, but I have, bless me, experienced them. The poem SOOTHIN' HAZELIN' was similarly inspired by YES! THE HAZE, and memory sweet of a girl-once-upon-a-time ...and I'm sure, consumers you all,you're acquainted with the wordplay about Hazeline Snow!
So how does one "prepare" oneself to get into a writing mood. Me, I'll always have background music; and sometimes I throw in a few relevant lines to match the writing at hand, or even a full song lyrics (like in last Monday's Morning Blues wit' Rainy Days and Mondays...) because the number captures the contents so well (chemistry, they call it.)Also, writing best at night -- when even the cricket sings, and the tree leaves whistle down the wind ...;)
As I pen this, and this PM(yes, post-meridien for afternoon, YoungIgnorantCows!)'s -- oh, now just past midnight already...so it's yesterday afternoon's...I'm listening to Andy Williams' soothin', velvety maybe:
MOON RIVER
Moon river, wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style some day
Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you're goin', I'm goin' your way
Two drifters, off to see the world
There's such a lot of world to see
We're after the same rainbow's end, waitin' 'round the bend
My huckleberry friend, moon river, and me
DESIDERATA wishing all mGf
GOodNite!
BlessedSunday
Everythin'Beaut&Nice!
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