Category: What da f***!!

Korek must be the buzz word nowadays. It can also be habitual. I caught my son picking his nose the other day (Korek Hidung) and scolded him. But how on earth can I tell him that such act is unbecoming if this woman does it too?

I remember back in 1993 when my squadron also doubled as the base’s Provost, one of my Senior Non-Comms, Sarjan Uzaid, informed me that some men were going for Kopi Korek after work and were getting the attention of the religious authorities. For a moment, it did not strike my mind how “Digging Coffee” would be detrimental to one’s religious or moral standing until Uzaid described me roughly what the term meant. I decided I had to put a stop to those visits before they become habitual. Of course all the Koreking happened in a darkened coffeeshop:

Man, gone are the days when the term Korek would be associated with something more productful, like the Kapal Korek (Dredging Vessel), something that would have been a normal view for those passing through the Bidor to Teluk Intan road, or the Tronoh and Tanjung Tualang areas. Those born after the late-70s may not know what I am talking about, so here is to Korek your memory bank:

Of course, the most famous Tukang Korek now is none other than our very own VK Lingam, who has been associated closely to my paternal aunt’s ex-husband, Eusoff Chin (yeah, the plonk used to be married to my Mak Andak when he was a High Court judge). Lingam’s famous Korek! Korek! is now one of the most downloaded ringtone. What he was saying was “Correct! Correct!” in his purported teleconversation with the former CJ Ahmad Fairuz. For those who have not heard how Lingam Koreks, you may click on this link.

Ahmad Fairuz had to endure Lingam’s non-stop KOREKs

Lingam, during the Royal Inquiry, had repeatedly denied the fact that it was him who was shown in the video when all evidences proved that it was him. And his Korek had become so habitual that he even used those words during the inquiry.

Anyway, Lingam is now a superstar, both in court and off-court. If you don’t believe me, he has a chance to make it as big as Snoop Dogg or 50 Cent. He now has his own rap music cut for him, it is called the Lingam Korek Rap.

This insomnia had better not be habitual otherwise I’ll have to find more things to write about Lingam.

A quiz on the brands of Chilli Sauce:

Q: I am a female, with very curly hair.
A: Maggi

Q: I am what several rappers would greet at once.
A: Yeo’s

Q: I sound like the printing house of SPM reference books.
A: Adabi

Q: You can find me near Pertama Complex.
A: Campbell’s

Q: It looks like me, sounds like me, but it’s not me.
A: Lingham

How much time do you really need to go to Krungthep Mahanakhon?

Not much, really. Depart yesterday KUL-BKK at 6.45pm arriving there at 7.50pm, then depart today BKK-KUL at 3.15pm arriving back here at 6.20pm.

Less than 24 hours.

At Saphan Taksin waiting for the boat to take us to Yok Yor

Having dinner at Yok Yor

A medical personnel and an infantryman during a peacekeeping mission in Timor Leste

Metalized asked in his blog if an ustaz from the Kor Agama Angkatan Tentera (KAGAT) is purely an ustaz, or is he a soldier with an ustaz qualification? Metalized was in his AOO (area of operaations) recently with the usual attachments-under-command of personnel from KAGAT, UBAT (medics) and the KPA (Kor Perkhidmatan Am) drivers. When he made them do guarding duties, the medical personnel complained to their Battalion Commanding Officer (Bn CO) about having to do duties beyond what they specialise in…which to them seemed an ultra vires act by Metalized to order them so.

If you look at the photo above, you can see a medic going about doing his duty as a medical personnel during a peacekeeping mission in Timor Leste. If you notice, he even has a Steyr AUG assault rifle slung from his right shoulder. That shows that in a combat situation, he is first and foremost, a soldier.

A soldier is always trained as a soldier first – breaking his/her mould as a civilian and turning him/her into an effective, albeit second-line, soldier. Whether he is a soldier-turned-driver 2nd class (or 1st class), or an qualified ustaz turned into a soldier later. He/she is a soldier first, and other things later.

Let us look at it this way. Back in the early 1990s when at 11pm some sadist bastard decided that the whole Air Force had to go on PERSOPS (Persediaan Operasi – Operational Readiness Test), we had to make sure that the airbase strength is at 98% readiness, all aircraft prepped, armed and refueled in less than an hour. During the ‘O’ Group for all Officers Commanding (OC) the various departments, I, as the person in charge of total security and defence of the base, put up a roster of guards to be made out of non-critical officers and personnel from each department. Clerks, medic admin, second-line engineers, off-duty cooks – all to dig foxholes and man the general purpose machineguns emplacements. The very senior OC of the Engineering protested saying his men are not meant for combat. I replied something to this effect:

“Tuan, your men are soldiers. When all the aircraft from this base have been shot down, they will have nothing to tinker their tools with. They will be required to defend their lives and this base from an enemy attack. If you insist that they are engineers and not soldiers, get them out of their uniforms and become just like those sissy civilian bastards who sleep while we weep. I have a war to handle and unless the Panglima (GOC – General Officer Commanding) says otherwise, your ass and that of your men, are mine, Tuan.”

The CO (Commanding Officer) concured (although he said later that I could have worded my statement in a nicer way to an old man).

As Ebenezer Scrooge would say, “Bah! Humbug!” Nice words, my foot!

So, Metalized, you did the right thing.

A soldier is a soldier first.