Your Opinion Does Not Matter
Fuel prices are slipping…it’s at US$58.++ per barrel now. That’s more than US$12.00 down from the peak.
However, Malaysians have been told that petrol and diesel prices will not go down….yet. Why is this so? Did PETRONAS make money when it went up to US$70 per barrel? Despite the government saying PETRONAS has no more money, which I find hard to swallow.
If they want us to pay the same, do away with the road tax!
“Shock therapy.”
That’s what I’d call it. I was in Hans Isaac’s office just now replying to e-mails when in walked Erra with Umie Aida, and with her big smile came to shake hands. My impulsive response was to press the SEND button when the message was hanging without ending.
After that kena kutuk….siao! Luckily I’m fasting.
Malaysians, especially the Muslims, will be celebrating the Aidil Fitri in 13 days time. How time flies. And I can still remember the first day of fasting for this year. Hari Raya (literally ‘Big Day’) is a day for seeking forgiveness and to forgive others. 1971’s Hari Raya is the farthest that I can remember..even so, vaguely. What I remember most were the greeting cards that were hung from this tree inside the house (I was living at No.9 Jalan Bukit Peringgit in Melaka then) that made Hari Raya looked more like Christmas then.
Between 1973-1975, when my father was the Chief Police Officer of Selangor, then Director of Special Branch, then Deputy Inspector-General of Police, I remember that little square of grass in front of our Section 16 home in Petaling Jaya being covered by raised platforms, and covered with dixon huts. I also remember playing sparklers and almost got burnt when the right sleeve of my Baju Melayu caught fire as I was lighting up the sparkler.
1976 was a fun year. It was the “Six-Million Dollar Man” year. We kids played sparklers and fireworks (yes, thanks to Uncle (Datuk) Zaman Khan, who brought them to the house) and were running in “slow-motion”, imitating Steve Austin‘s supposed really-fast runs around the field at my house (now part of the Tun Abdul Razak Memorial at Jalan Perdana near the Lake Gardens).
1977, fasting month was a little quiet, but I learnt the Terawih prayers and walked every night to the National Mosque. Those days the road was dark, and Pusat Islam was still a Christian cemetery. Hey, motorcyclists used to get chased by a Pontianak in that area. Why was it a little quiet? My father was hospitalised for heart attack. He was 38 then. Two years younger than I am now.
1975 through 1978, what I enjoyed most about Hari Raya was going to the Prime Minister’s house..which was next door. My friend, Nazir would ask me to beat the queue and get some angpow from his father, the late Tun Abdul Razak bin Hussein, Malaysia’s second Prime Minister. Then after he moved out following his father’s death in January 1976, his cousin, also our classmate, Haris, would ask me to do the same to his father, then Dato’ (Tun) Hussein Onn, the third Prime Minister.
That’s not the best yet. The best was, getting RM100.00 from Dr Sheikh Hamad al-Shubaili, the Saudi Arabian ambassador at the PM’s house, then again when he pops into my house next door. So RM200.00 from him alone. A hot-dog was 50 sen and a bottle of Coca Cola was 70-sen those days. Imagine what RM200.00 could buy you then.
Then 1979 through 1981, I had a crush for my friend’s younger sister, and Hari Raya was all about her. I would look forward to my annual train trip back to KL from Kuala Kangsar and wait anxiously for the first day of Hari Raya when her father would take her to our house. 1982 and 1983, I spent almost every night of my college’s fasting period with my soulmate in Kuala Kangsar.
1984, my college classmate, Mohd Arif Ibrahim (now a pilot with Malaysia Airlines), came over to spend Hari Raya with us…not that England celebrates Hari Raya. The funny thing was when I met him at Victoria Station as he arrived from Brussels, the first thing we did was to go break our fast (it was summer so breaking of the fast was around 10pm, while commencement of fast was at 2am) at this famous Kebab joint near Picaddilly Circus. Why there? Two reasons: (1) It was mid-way between Victoria and Euston stations, the latter to get to my place, and, (2) we went to a strip joint after breaking of the fast at Soho.
1985, I had an open house for my friends at home. It was funny seeing mat sallehs trying to chew the lidi of the satay after consuming the meat.
1987, I was already in uniform when Hari Raya came, and we celebrated that year’s Hari Raya at our Section 16 house.
Those were the Hari Raya years of my life. After those years, Hari Raya got too commercialised and has lost its character…so much so that I now spend Hari Raya eating after the morning Hari Raya prayers, then sleep it off until late in the evening.
Now…how much is Selangor’s rate for Fitrah this year? RM4.70 per person? I better find time to pay RM42.30 at the mosque this week.
Imagine having this complemented by a nice tall glass of teh tarik…
Yeah…time to go back there
Look at the map above. It was taken early this morning. There are lots of hotspots in the Kalimantan, Palembang and Jambi area, and there seems to be more sprouting up on the islands of Java and Sulawesi. And the southerly winds aren’t helping at all.
Malaysia should sue the pants off the Indonesian goverment for their lacksadaisical attitude towards this now-annual affair.
Today is Mocha‘s birthday.
We are all still waiting for him to spend us for his promotion. Now he has another problem to add to his Major Problem: he has to spend us all for his birthday too…so two separate makan sessions.
That’s what friends are for, bro. Hahaha! For you to spend on!
I remember back in 1997, my Singaporean girlfriend came to KL to celebrate her birthday with me and some other friends here in KL. The actual venue was supposed to have been at the KL Tower’s revolving restaurant. But as I picked her up at the old railway station, and we looked up, we couldn’t even see the lights of KL Tower. Well, it was worst than the British M1 on a really foggy day.
Every year, the neighbours of Indonesia would suffer at the hands of some ignorant peasants and absence of enforcement (I shall not use the word “lack” anymore). Yesterday, as I prepared to go out for the breaking of fast, I thought my son was burning newspapers in the house. I looked out and I could hardly see the houses outside.
It is still as bad, in fact it got worse today along the Guthrie Highway near Elmina estate. Apparently, this year’s haze has gone all the way to Palau in the Pacific Micronesia. Drivers in Guam have been advised to turn on their headlights and drive slowly to avoid accidents.
I’m pretty sure the Indonesian government is going to issue another apology to its neighbours and promise that this will never happen again.
Now, where did I put that nuclear bomb?
How long has it been now since I last dived? Two weeks? It has to be. Or even slightly more. And it’s killing me already. If it weren’t for the fact that it is the month of Ramadhan (not that it would stop me) and the need for funds to move house, I would be diving now.
Being on dry land kills me slowly…
This is Metalized, another guy in the Malaysian Army who also happens to be a friend of Mocha.
He has an interesting blog now discussing about mainland Chinese girls. Haha.
His blog has been linked to the frame on the right.
SeaDemon Says 
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