Life's Remains....

I am a little afraid. There are so many straight As student, my daughter may not be able to get into the college of her choice. She didn't get straight As. What I am really worried about, is when those who do not deserve it, but have good connections, are the ones who get through. One of my acquaintances whose daughter did really well in PMR, said her daughter couldn't get into a boarding school and she does not know why. While another friend whispered to me that his daughter got in because his cousin is a somebody in the Education Department. God only knows how these kids who got in via parental connections will do in the future. I hope they do well. But, given the chance. If perhaps at a wedding of some distant relatives, I was introduced to a higher ranking officer in the education department who can shuffle around the papers, will I go down that path? It's justifiable, my daughter didn't too badly in her exams. It's not I'm asking him to push throu...

When was the last time you hear Tun Dr. Mahathir apologized? Did he ever? I don't think he ever did and rest assured he never will. In 1993, the Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating called Dr. Mahathir a recalcitrant. It was the first time I ever heard the word. It was the first time for a lot of people that the newspapers actually had to put the meaning of the word in their articles. It means stubborn, having an obstinately uncooperative attitude toward authority. Australia seem to think they are the authority in this region. And, I hated Mr. Keating for defaming my Prime Minister. Looking back, however, perhaps recalcitrant is the best word to describe Tun. Dr. Mahathir. I do not idolize anybody, because I am not an idolater. But, I cannot help but admire Tun Mahathir. He is a man of vision. He saw what others do not see. He thinks out of the box. While other only sees their games confined to the chess board, Tun Mahathir sees that there are solutions off it. Not all of...

There was a wedding, I think, because that's the only time we all get together, other than a death. But, I distinctly remembered the happiness and joy in the air. In those days, catering was unheard of. All adults we assigned duties, and children were to make ourselves scarce. "Main jauh-jauh!!" was the only response we can get from the elders to any questions we asked. So, my cousins and I (about 5 of us) went on walkabouts around Muar town. We ended up in Muar Plaza, a two storey complex of shop lots (now demolished and replaced by Wetex Parade), the business center of Bandar Maharani. As we were walking aimlessly, Aboy, my cousin from Johor Bahru came running and told us, excitedly, about the toy shop up ahead. He said he met the towkey and the towkey invited us to come to see the toys in his shop. We were greeted warmly by the skinny balding shopkeeper and told us to have a look around. I was admiring a remote control car, when I felt the shopkeeper put his ...

My friend and neighbor, Azman Imran both went to the same kindergarten. After school, around 11 in the morning, the kindergarten bus would drop us off at the junction of the main street (Jalan Khalidi) and we would walk about 1 kilometer to our respective houses from there. It was 1970. Each day, without fail, we would stop by at the sundry shop on our way home, just to window shop, because we do not have any money. We called the shop "Kedai Tengah" because (we imagined) that it is half way between the main road to our houses. One day, on a beautiful morning, as usual, Azman and I stopped at the shop. As we browsed and ogled at the many jars of sweets and biscuits and other confections, there was one box in which there were packets of chewing gum shaped like cigarettes Smoking was really cool in those days and I told Azman that we must have those gums. I took one packet, held it up in the air, and asked the shopkeeper, a big burly Chinese man, how much is it. He said ...