Category: Daily Whatevers

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ”

Mark Twain

I can sail, I can fly a plane, I have an ‘E’ drivers license, I can skydive, I can BASE-jump, I can do recreational diving, I can do technical diving, I have been to the North Pole, I have performed my Haj, I rode on a jet-ski 1,000 kilometers non-stop, I’ve fired guns of all sorts, throw grenades, fire anti-tank weapons, fire anti-aircraft missile…and I still have two more things I would like to achieve before I die.

How has your life been like so far?

General (Rtd) President Haji Mohd Suharto is no more.

He passed away just after 1pm yesterday after more than 3 weeks of being gravely ill.

Just what kind of legacy did he leave behind?

Suharto was instrumental in ending the Confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia, and advocated the strengthening of ties between the two countries. He also ended the life of the Partai Komunis Indonesia, an organisation his predecessor, President Sukarno, maintained, thus weakening the influence of the communists in this part of South East Asia.

It is my believe that the late President of Indonesia had to rule his country the way he did. It is not easy to maintain the cohesion of a country that is made of 13,000 islands with 200 million people. Look at what has happened to the country after that style of ruling was removed with the stepping down of Suharto in May 1998, following the Asian Economic Crisis. I am not trying to exonerate him of his acts when he was in power; I am merely saying that at that point of time, Indonesia needed such a ruler.

Despite the existence of nepotism, collusion, cronyism, corruption that existed during his rule, Suharto should be remembered for turning his country from a poor post-colonial nation into a modern and strong country. Most of those who demonstrated against him since 1998 until his passing were too young to remember the late President’s gift to them: freedom from colonial oppression.

During his time, race and religion issues never surfaced; but has now reared its ugly head, causing countless deaths amongst both Indonesians and foreigners. Forlorn Soldier should remember how ugly it was in Sulawesi when he was stuck there during the racial and religious wars that happened there after Suharto stepped down: something that had never happen before in that part of the world.

What Indonesians failed to see back in 1998 was, Suharto was not to blame for the economic crisis that had caused them to lose up to 80% of their purchasing power. It was a regional thing. Much like the empty promise certain quarters have made to the people of Malaysia should they be voted in to form a government – to reduce the price of fuel: where had these people come from? Saturn?

Anyway, my personal experience of Suharto’s Indonesia was of not hearing of any major crime taking place in Indonesia during Suharto’s time. No banks were ever robbed there. It would be almost suicidal to rob banks in Indonesia then, or to commit crimes against foreigners.

He also used to send one of his trusted friends, General Drs Widodo Budidarmo, then the Inspector-General of the Indonesian Police Force to Malaysia to enhance cross-border ties with the Royal Malaysian Police. My family hosted dinner for Pak Widodo at our residence (now part of the Tun Razak Memorial complex) at least three times before his retirement in 1978. The relationship between the police force of both nations were at its best then. It was then that my father was awarded the Bintang Bhayangkara Utama by Suharto, while Pak Widodo was made an Honorary Tan Sri when he received the Panglima Setia Mahkota Malaysia Yang Mulia (PSM).

Suharto, love him or hate him, was the best son Indonesia ever had up until now.

al-Fathihah.

This is the song that used to be played over and over again back in October 1996.

This song starts with the Om Vakratum, which I think is a prayer to start the day with.

This is a nice fusion song. Enjoy:

Colonial Cousins is an Indian group playing fusion music, mixing traditional Indian musical instruments with western modern instruments. They came out with their first album in 1996, and in the same year was invited by MTV Unplugged to perform live in the US.

I first heard of them when ASTRO was testing its frequency in the beginning of the last quarter of 1996 for what is now known as Hitz.fm. The song they had in the test queue then was ‘Sa Ni Dha Pa’ and it caught my ears. I’ll post ‘Sa Ni Dha Pa’ after this posting.

First, enjoy this song, which is one of my favourites by Colonial Cousins, called ‘Teri Meri Aankhon Mein.’

I wrote this on a dearest best friend’s blog at 5.00 this morning:

The pain that resides in the heart,
is the one that tears us up and apart;
the lost trust, the suspicions,
further aggravated by certain actions.

Life is for our comprehension,
to make or break, or filled with apprehension;
its surprises come not in just one cart,
its shocks poke our heart like a dart.

For we are human, taking right and wrong,
and digest them so we become strong;
The path you have chosen, you’ll walk and fall,
But always be proud and stand so tall.

I write this sonnet as the grass is covered by dew,
I write this sonnet wishing happiness for you.

Close your eyes…and think of things beautiful…

Tan Sri Megat Junid bin Megat Ayub passed away of cancer at the age of 65.

I remember him from the days when he was the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs (when my father was still the serving Inspector-General of Police), right through my days in politics. Apart from that he was also a close family friend by virtue that he hailed from the same kampung as my father. I remember before the 1999 General Elections, I was asked to go to his constituency to run a program and gauge the situation there. I was the only dissenting voice, predicting doom for him while the rest were all giving him good reports. In the end he lost and his press secretary rejoined TV3 as a result of that (another press secretary, Aziz Desa, who was press-sec to the former MB of Kedah, also rejoined TV3 for a short while).

I would bump into him at PWTC during general assemblies when I was still active in the National ICT Bureau, and we’d hang out together for personal and political chats at the Riverside Cafe. Then as a preparation for the 2004 general elections, he officiated the course on Psychological Warfare and Provocation that my friends and I conducted at the training center in Janda Baik.

I last saw him on Christmas Day 2004 when he attended my younger brother’s wedding. When he saw me he called out for me and we hugged, talked about old times. He looked frail then but he was his usual jovial self. We’d be talking in Perak dialect and joked quietly about polygamy and how he thought he was better than I am as he could practise polygamy being older than I am. He’d address himself as ‘Uncle’ to me no matter where we would meet: be it a political function, or a private meet.

Being in this state of isolation from my family has caused me to not know when he actually passed away.

And I am going to miss him and his jovial self.

Rest well, Uncle, al-Fathihah.

I last went to this particular bridge in Putrajaya after breaking of the fast (buka puasa) in Kajang back in September 2007. I did not have my camera on me that night. So this was taken one night when I decided to pay the bridge another visit: