Veiled threats...same ol' story

What is wrong with our ruling politicians today? Are they so afraid to lose their grips on the reins of this country that they have to stoop so low to play the racial riots trump card over and over again? I tell you this :- IF there is ever going to be another racial riots, you can GUARANTEE it that the troublemakers will come from them! There is just no two way about it. The fact remains that when one side "talks", "give hints" or even "insinuates" about this all the time, that means probably plans had been hatched for such process. Let us, the sane Malaysians from all walks of life , race and creed REJECT such shallow mentality and let us answer to the arrogance of these people by our VOTES! We, as Malaysians, should not and cannot be held at ransom all the time by such dark ages colonial "divide and conquer" reign of terror and scare tactics in our lives. To me, personally, it is unbecoming nature of the elected representative of the people to use this type of scare tactics to cloud and further insult the intelligence of the people. It is not only deceitful but shamelessly low to use such rough house tactics such as this just for a handful of votes which probably will be soaked and tainted with the blood of the innocent. Is there no morality on the part of puppet players called leaders of this nation or morality and doing the right thing had become a commodity of paper agongs along the way or better still, the only way to stay in power?

I am appalled about the state of such veiled threats. I intend to make a change through the ballot papers. By God, I'll do it even if it is going to cost me my life. As a human being and a citizen of this country, I can accept and understand the diverse culture, religion and race of everyone represented here but I will not tolerate people who are just out to create mischief and caused unnecessary strains and mistrust among the people of this country. Call me a dreamer if you want to but I have enjoyed my 47 years in my life with wonderful friends from all races, walks of life and you, the bloody inconsiderate politicians wants to smash all that because you want to stay in power? Which part of the people that you don't understand that I love my friends from the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Sikhs, Serani ,Sabahans, Sarawakians and the rest of others? I am  really unhappy that even learned people are still using this old colonial mindset to spread mistrust and wrong perception of each other. The other day I spoke to a Malay uncle in regards to the good ol' days when my family and I were staying in the kampong. We visited each other, ate food offered with understanding of each others do & don't, sit in a table enjoying coffee, helping each other out in difficult times and children mingling happily with one another. There is so much mutual respect and mutual understanding. The Malay uncle exclaimed the same feeling. We both agree that something had gone terribly wrong with our country. Today, we are more divided than we can ever imagine all because of indoctrination of the "divide and conquer" conquest! I believe these selfish ruling leaders who spew nothing but racist and degrading remarks are the real traitors of the country. 

Yes, it irks me a lot whenever dumb piece of asses called politicians does or say things that help not the unity of the people but poison the minds of the people all for the sake of staying in power. The very lifestyle of our ruling politicians are a real joke itself at times especially their flamboyant lifestyle and spendings. Even my colleagues in the office are more noble that these politicians when it comes to working ethics, accountability, morality and integrity. Let us not forget that some of us may not have many years more to live in this fragile country of ours but we certainly can make this beloved country of ours a livable country for our children and our children's children. So, stripped out the egoness, burn away the racist charmers, bury the big bullies, detract the corrupters and shipped out the cocky proud pricks politicians from the government. Afterall, if we continue to vote them in, then we are accomplice to such stupidity and killjoy of our future generations. To the ballot papers we shall go! Then , no one can say that we did not exercise our right to make a good change towards our future!

Ludicrous...

Sometimes, politicians can say the stupidest things ever in their careers as peoples' representative and the latest "scare" statements that there would be chaos if Pakatan loses GE13 is definitely a real insult to the intelligence and a real offence to the sane thinking society and communities in our nation. Everyone in the country knows that these type of scare tactics doesn't work anymore. Maybe in the yesteryears of the previous PM era namely Mahathirism that these things are prominently propelled to scare the wits out of the public but not this time. Even if there are going to be street demos, you can guess who the culprits are already. There is no need to mention who these people are for troublemakers are a few hundred ringgits away when deployed. 

So, politicians or so-called MP's , please spare us the ludicrous "scare" tactics that you have been using all these years. Peaceful demonstrations are an indicator to what the country's administration had been doing wrong. The power of tear gas lobbing,  merciless clobbering and baton wielding people in the blue are real too. The scars are real. The hurts are real. The pains are real but the spirit of truth and the spirit of togetherness by all walks of  people in Malaysia doesn't fail. People are no more afraid of bullies by the people in power. Injustice, unfairness and corruption are the common themes of peaceful demonstrations. The general public, I guess, is just too disgusted and balked at the level of corruption and injustice around the country. So, stop politicking on street demos and put some clean water to taps and erect power lines to those people in the interiors of Sabah and Sarawak plus interiors in West Malaysia. Stamp out poverty. Stamp out corruption . Stamp out stupid scare tactics and feed the hungry. I challenge you, leaders of the nations, to go to OA settlements or the interiors and see for yourself how under-nourished some of these children are or how difficult is it for them to receive any medical aids.See for yourself how difficult is it for them to live under these deprived conditions. I have been to such places, served in such places and I know what I am talking about. There are places whereby children had to walk for hours to reach their nearest school or to get medical attention? You call that progress?

What about those who are living in the concrete jungle today? How our lives being squeezed out of our bodies by the high rising cost each day! I laughed aloud when the statistics shows that heart attacks and diabetes are high among the Malaysians. Why ? Simply because the high rising cost of living doesn't help us one bit at all. Simpleton and average wage earners choose the cheapest meal available and not like so big shot with a wad load of cash in his/her pockets who eats good stuff each day. To some of us and mainly to me as an example, getting a good breakfast for around RM 2.60 ( 2 roti canai kosong ( RM 1.60) and one cuppa kopi O kurang manis ( RM1.00 )  should last me till about 4.00pm. After that, it's another tea time of  one pisang goreng or one keledek ( about RM 1.00 ) guzzled down with plenty of plain water from the office water cooler. That should last me until dinner time, I guess. For others , it may be packed plain nasi lemak with lots of water.  Now, now, don't look so innocent. I guess, some of you are doing this too, right? The main thing is that everything including food items are just too extremely expensive these days. Gone are the days when hearty food are worth our money. Even economy rice ain't that economy nowadays, man! Nowadays, every portion  is shrunk to XS size. Anyway, so politicians, good luck to diabetes and heart attacks! 

I believe politicians would have to be mature about the general public. This is no more a generation of "katak di bawah tempurung" kinda mentality. This is a generation of progressive thinking-lar,brader! There are certainly a bigger group of learned people rather than the troublemakers.  I have seen the rowdies and the troublemakers in my taman and nearby tamans before. I have also seen the tirade of noises generated by the unemployed youths and touts in my taman before. As the number on this group grows due to unemployment and lepak culture kinda thing , the more they are going to be the troublemakers with the generation of couple paper agongs in their hands to create that "aggravated" demonstrations the ruling politicians are talking about. 

My question is this : So what if Pakatan rules in the next GE? Give them a chance and make a change. If they don't perform, kick them out in the following GE. Why should we be always choose the same ol' corrupters and bankrupt our nation further? There are just too many occurrences of wastages, unnecessary outflow of the nation's wealth and corruption. Let's make a change and give the Pakatan fellas a chance to turn our country around. If they fail, then , we just vote them out in the next process. That's how I see it. Afterall, so many of the current ruling politicians DID say that there are proper channels to flow our grievances that is through the Parliment discussion and so on but how much of our grievances are actually taken action, attended to or eradicated? It is disturbing for me if we continue to see bums, porn star, clowns and thieves running the country in the way they did. They don't help us one bit in lessening our burdens as a citizen but continue to plunder our national coffers using the so-called projects for rakyats, intimidation of banning this and that, racial scare tactics and numerous wasteful ways. YES, I DO await the opportunity to vote for a change and CHANGE WE MUST. Alas! Some people don't like that word, though.~

Joel & Jega...

Just about few days ago, I played host to two great friends who was in Melaka for a course. Though, I managed to be the host for only one day, I truly felt blessed with the lives of my two friends. In fact, both of them are my college mates ( my juniors in teaching college days ) and it was good to have met up with them after such a long absence. I guess, in a hurried hurried pace we set in our world today, keeping in touch with "old" friends seemed such a distance away. So, when Joel called me up and asked for directions to Puteri Resort, I wasted no time in trying to get there as fast as possible to meet up with these people. It was raining cats an dogs but I didn't care because when Joel told me that another friend, Jega was ahead of him , I thought it would be good if I could meet up with the both of them together. So, off I went to Puteri Resort and I stood there at the lobby area in my three quarters pants and blue France jersey with an umbrella by the side waiting for them. When they actually appeared ,they drove pass the lobby area, I could recognised Jega and Joel immediately. I must say with all my heart that I was ecstatic to see them. I didn't think they could recognise me at first as we have all aged over the years. It was understandably alright in view of the years we have not met since I left the college for my first posting in Sabah. That was a good & solid  20 years ago, if I am not mistaken. Like I said earlier, we have all added some "muscles" here and there, laterally and horizontally at different parts of our bodies but a friend is still a friend no matter what.

During my college days, Joel was the most feared goal getter in the college hockey team. He was the best centre forward I've ever had the honor to play with on a team. He was sharp, alert , a man of few words but one tough skinny but tall centre forward. He was a junior in college then but he was prolific in his task in getting the goals and the job done on the filed. He plays hard and he plays with his heart. That's what I really like. I really enjoyed playing on the same team with him. Then, there is Jega. He was my super junior in college but he too played on the team  after the seniors left the team but I remembered seeing this young man with bubbly personality playing in the midfielder role. I guess, by that time, Joel was already the senior and they were taking Jega and friends under their wings. Another group of very promising and talented group of hockey players. I really really miss those guys whenever I recollect some of the finest moments in my playing days. I can tell you that we may not be superstars or some big shot players but the team was full of heart and full of fighting spirit. That's the beauty of players from these eras at the college days. They left me with good memories in my heart and being a captain of the team, I was really proud of the players.

So, when I finally got the chance to shake the hands of my two friends, Joel & Jega, the feeling was great,man. Joel and Jega's facial features did not change and I recognised them both immediately. It was really good to be able to meet them. We spoke, shared some laughs, asked about our families and re-living some old times. The sharing from their hearts over the things that had happened in their families and situations touched my heart a lot. I count myself so blessed compared to these two guys who had to go through so much in life and still standing tall and be who they are. I guess, I can only say that their sharing of experiences from their hearts showed their inner strength, their tenacious will and their composure to handle so much that had happened. I am marveled by the lives of these two individuals. Their positive outlook of life and their humbleness have blessed my heart a lot. There is just no airs about them and their humble ways made our conversation such a joy and lively. I had a quick peek at their time table and I knew that their stay here would be packed to brim with lots of program along the way. So, I managed to squeeze a time from them so that I could be their dinner host. I must say with all honesty that I was also up to brim with work at the office but I could not resist giving these two buddies of mine a good time and a good meal while in Melaka. I believe that blessing is a two way traffic. I have felt so blessed over the years from great blessings by many people who had touched my life and my family genuinely. In turn, I would like to be a blessing in whatever way I could to others when I get the opportunity. This was an opportunity I would not passed up.

So, I took them to my favourite place for a great meal and fellowship. We talked, laughed and shared some great moments together. The scrumptious meal made it more memorable especially the curried wild boar, meat rolls, garlic pork, sweet potato leaves and the black pepper deer meat. It was just pure joy seeing them enjoying the food. I guess, good company will always be blessed with good food, right? As they had another session in the night, we had to leave from our makan place and head back to the hotel in a zip. It was hard to say goodbye to these two great friends but I know that the memories we had shared in this short time will be a blessing to all of us. Let's hope that they would get their college mates to gather together for a reunion of college mates (their year) and enjoy the fellowship like the one we have had.

The last that I heard, plans for a reunion of friends are being discussed! That is GREAT NEWS!~

A Brochure....

In a far far away land, located at one secluded corner of the world, the country of SLIVANIA held their country elections and the following leaders are elected and appointed to their respective key positions in ensuring good governance of the country resources. The country's main resource of income are oil, rubber, palm oil and tourism. Located near the tropics, basking and enriched under the beautiful coastline of beaches, sheltered from the major nature calamities, SLIVANIA is a perfect hideaway and business opportunities. Strong and steadfast leadership with the "2SLIVANIA" caption ( The true meaning of the caption is ONE portion from YOU to me and ONE portion for me to ME )  has helped Silvanians catapulted into the strong economy, cohesive unity and harmonious working environment. Criminals are beheaded with live video telecast where applicable, shot on the spot with the use of 50 calibre sniper riffles at close range, blown to bits with the use of C4s explosives ( usually done in oil palm estates! ) and however, for serious but non-threatening crimes - a bound of 3 years good behaviour are encouraged to give a second chance at life depending on how active one is associated with sports association or economic status. That is why the Police force of Slivania is the most efficient and approachable police in the planet. The Dept slogan of "Everything We Kow Tim" had yield tremendous accolades of good relationship between the State, public and community. Police Brutality, Over-Indulgence Interrogation, Death during interrogation or missing persons during detention are unheard of from this elite arms of the country of Slivania. Bank of Slivania is the most efficient bank in the universe. There is no need to return any loans taken as all with be taken care of by the leading government when the time comes. It is "I scratched your back and you scratch mine" when the day is done will be honoured tremendously. Come to SLIVANIA , the country of Absolute Wonders!  

The leadership list are as follows:

Prime Minister                   :       Evan QED

Deputy Prime Minister       :       Vive S

Finance Minister                :       BA Lim

Home Affairs Minister       :       Iggy 

Education Minister            :        Kuna

Minister (1)- Teaching Colleges :  Cheng

Minister (2 - Higher Learning :   Ivy Wong

Minister (3) - Colleges     :        John Ng

Minister (4) - Secondary  :         C.Zamira

Minister (5) - Primary      :          Tan BL

Minister (6) - Kindergarten :       Liz T

Minister (7) - Special Need :      Abby P

Tourism Minister                 :      LG Chua

Foreign Affairs Minister(1)  :       Anna T

Foreign Affairs Minister (2) :       WS Lim

Transport Minister              :       Din

Law Minister                      :       Kenneth WongPL

Primary Industries Minister :        Egan

International Trade Minister :       JChiew

Youth & Sports Minister :       CKTeo

Women Affairs Minister      :       ParaSathy D

Special Ladies Affairs Minister:   CKTeo [ He is so special, he gets 2 portfolios ]

Environmental Minister        :       Stef S

Health Minister                   :        Alv Y

Information, Communication & Culture Minister :     Mel C

Entrepreneurship Minister   :         Jessica H

Social Matters Minister      :         Jessie L

Housing & Local Govt Minister :  Lee TC

IT & Multimedia Minister   :         Kew SL

Labour & Manpower Minister :   Tan OT

Science,Tech & Innovation :        Richard L

Agriculture Minister             :       Stephen RJ

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives & Consumerisme Minister :  Low SB

Oil Trade Minister               :       YK Tai

Food Minister (1)                :        YV Tai

Food Minister (2)                :        YM Kok

Human Resource Minister   :        Jason T

Banking & International Finance :   Shirley L

Ministers in the PM Dept    :        Steven C

Public Relation Minister      :        Eunice T

R&D Minister                    :        Carol 

Urban & Interiors Dev. Minister :  SPTy

Special Assistant Minister   :        OL Liong

Hospitality Minister            :         LP Wong

Please be informed that none of the PM's children or relatives are in the Cabinet line-up.This is to prevent any conflict of interest in the everyday running of the country. However, there is no limit on opening any bank account overseas as SLIVANIA encouraged Slivanians to open up to 100 or 200 accounts overseas to spread the country's wealth around the world to strengthen other nation's economy. By the way, please be very careful  and do not dispose off  this brochure easily as 32 million Slivanians dollars had been spent in producing such brochures and brochure stands.  We want this brochure to be in the right hands of people who would come and enriched our land further as we would be taking back ALL that had been invested for the good of building the country. Come to SLIVANIA, the land of opportunity and fun. It all begins here! 

My Woman...always!

They say, " Behind every man's success , there's a woman behind it. " and I say " That's correct! " especially in my case. I guess, in many ways, I couldn't have paid a better tribute than to my better half, Soon Ling. Soon Ling had been an inspirational support to the family and me all these years and it was good to be able to celebrate her birthday. It wasn't actually a great way to start her birthday celebrations when we had to send our son, JWee to the bus-station to go back to Penang for his studies. Somehow, after a great meal together ( Dim sum and yummy ' bak pau' at Bachang ), we managed to get into some lively conversation and some bonding time together. In many ways, we wanted to have a family makan together on SLing's birthday but we have to settle with one less family member. However, it did not damper us from having a meal together. 

There is nothing extravagant of SLing, actually. She's sensational good for me and the family, honest! She is who she is all these years. Patient, loving, caring but firm many times. I have been blessed by her ways, more or less. ( Woi! Cold beds are a real thing,ok? Gotta say something nice-lar! Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ) Jokes aside, she is the calming factor in our family. Many a times, she had exercised her wisdom in many difficult situations in our lives and I believe, she is much a stronger person than I am. Her faith in doing the right thing and saying the right things are spot on at times. However, her cold stares and cynical sarcasm can be a spine-numbing experience when it warrants. She can be witty and quite a handful at times but most of all, she had been a Godly sent woman in my life. I pay such tribute to her because I know that at times, I drive her mad to the walls with my antics or even I can be quite a handful in my opinions and ways but it didn't stop her from loving me any less.That's the cool part. The "not-so-cool" part is that she can give you a good tongue lashing too when it warrants. So, that balances the unique relationship that we have.

Anyway, as always, she wanted to spend a quiet evening together with SYuen and me on her special day. We decided to go to "Wok&Pan" for our dinner and have some great time together. With " Herbs marinated pork chops " and " Pork burger delight", we kinda have our own fun at that time. I guess, what we missed most  was the presence of our son, JWee and good friends around us to celebrate this joyful time together. SYuen and I got her the "Red Velvet big cupcake" and a slice of  " Dark Chocolate Delight"  earlier in the day for her indulgence. Though it was a small celebrations, it was what we wanted - simple & cosy. In that way, we could sample the simple things that had made us what we are in the first place.

I want to declare openly that I love this woman of mine a lot for what she is. Jealous, eh? Well, there is nothing better than doing that for the woman you love. Some may disagree that we are Asians and we should not do that while some will agree that it's about time we say it out loud. To me, I don't give a two hoots to any of it because to me, SLing is truly a remarkable woman in my life. It's about time, you declare it rightly to your woman you love.Yeah, it could be done in private or as crazy as I am, saying it out loud in the open. It doesn't matter because there is freedom in expressing our thoughts and our heart's desire. Yeah! I am hopelessly poor at romantics and the finer acts of romanticism and bluffology but I do know my woman! Noticed that it is "woman" and not "women",ok?        

So, to Soon Ling, blessed birthday and may the Lord bless you abundantly and shower you with greater love, peace and joy! YES! A trip round the world for sight seeing when we are out of our responsibilities are STILL ON,baby!

  

Twenty Three ......

Twenty three (23) years..... That's how long SLing and I have been with each other under the banner blanket called marriage. I am lousy with dates in memory  but I remembered that it was 15th November ,1989 that I penned down my name on that piece of paper to cement my relationship with SLing.   It will always be a real significant day for us , not just spiritually , but also a very true testament and profession of our commitment to one another all these years. Yeah, there are days when we wanted to "poison" one another or even tear each others head off the shoulders but those days are virtually smaller than the happier and fruitful days of joy. 

I will not pretend and paint a rosy picture of our relationship but I want to be real in saying that if we can still bite our tongues when we eat, why should our relationship be any different? I guess, it takes a lot of tongue bitting to keep the relationship strong and durable after all these years. What mattered most to both of us was keeping a balanced harmony at home and in our relationship. Sure, we have worries, uncertainties and whatever that comes to derail our faith but I must say that we HAD weathered through the storms that hit our lives. We are not perfect but we do what we can to our very best of our ability. We don't cut corners in our methods of problem solving and we stand steadfast on our decision - good or bad. 

What made us tick, you may ask, right? Well, first and foremost is our relationship foundation. There are two huge factors which took us to where we are today. First factor is that we are very rooted in our believe in GOD. I believe that helped us a lot in our times of trouble. The next factor of foundation is TRUST in each others. These two factors are inter-twinned together. Our relationship thus far is based on these two core factors before other items comes in place. I want to remind many young couples out there that you need to work on these two factors before other things comes into your lives. The greatest factor of conflict in a relationship is always finance. I have seen relationship failed miserably when this factor test the strain of the relationship. I guess, I count myself blessed and happy that SLing is not a material girl and that helped me a lot. We both worked very hard for what we have but we never have this notion to crave for more. It is okay to crave for this and that but when the craving goes viral or ridiculous , that's where the danger comes. SLing and I always avoid such situations and always have a good look into our wallet/purse before we purchase anything that is not a necessity. Indulge once in awhile but let it not be habitual or else the relationship will go on a very stressful mode. 

Maybe, just maybe, getting to know someone better before proposing did help to strengthen our relationship over the years. In fact, I really thank God that it was real love at first sight for me when I first laid eyes on SLing. Scrawny, thin and dimpled simple lady caught my attention immediately. It wasn't the same for her , though. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I took the opportunity to get to know her and later on courted her. Boy! After that, my bachelorhood days are OVER for good, baby! OK!OK! I must admit that I wasn't macho or good looking-lar but cukup makan-lah! Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaa......Even my late dad once remarked, " What? Are you telling that there is actually a girl who ACTUALLY like you-kah? " Mom used to say, " You sure the girl is okay? Anything wrong with her?" So much for confidence from your mom and dad, right? See the difficulties I had to go through even before I embarked upon my journey of relationship?Anyway, as SLing was my junior in college, we were two years apart before she actually joined me in Sabah. Those two years apart made us stronger as we got to know each other better before eventually penning our signature on that paper called marriage certificate. In many ways, I really appreciate those days as it helped us to be more comfortable with one another, knowing likes and dislikes, what can be done and what cannot be done and so on and so forth.We built our relationship slowly and with lots of patience and tolerance. Sure, we all have our good side and bad side but it's the tolerance that helped in calming down the raging tempers and what not!

Again, thinking of our wedding anniversary, after 23 years, you don't have much to fight about anymore, right? Hahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa............ Well, all jokes aside, it is still fun to stay married and be married to the same woman after all these years. Let's create new inroads of fun to spice up our marriage lives in the next years ahead, shall we? To SOON LING, HAPPY 23rd ANNIVERSARY, my dear!  

Hosting pleasure.....

To Bro Chee Keong, Sis.Priscilla, Melissa & Angeline, we hope you had a good time during the brief stopover. You're most welcome to our place anytime and it was a real pleasure hosting all of you. Looking forward to having you and your family again. Cheers!

HAPPY DEEPAVALI !

To all my beloved Indian friends and family who would be celebrating the Festival of Lights / Deepavali,

have a great and blessed time ahead with family & friends!

Drive safe, be safe and be blessed!

With warmest love and regards from my family and I !

United in diversity.....

The other day, there was a lively discussion among friends in regards to the influence of religion in our lives. I was among the people from diverse religious background and it was a lively religion discussion. In a world where bombs would ripped our limbs, heads, torso and anatomy parts apart, I count it a real privilege being able to sit together in one coffee table together with friends from different race and creed. Topics range from mismanagement - human & finance side ( very very lengthy and healthy debates ) , leadership style, fundamental structures and even everyday application were discussed at a lively pace. I guess, I must say that in many ways, we are surprisingly alike in such issues. All of us were in unison of agreement when it comes to financial mismanagement, bad preachers, weak leadership, irresponsible/"lack of balls" ( hey! these are very very real people! ) board of trustees and the iron-fist clad nonsensical policies.

I guess, as I reflect on the discussion held over a nice cuppa coffee, "pisang goreng" and "ubi keledek goreng", it is nice to know that there are people out there who really care for their own religious establishment. All of us hate mismanagement and wastages ( equating it to our present government policies and wasteful ways! ) while the apt/precise Malay proverb " harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi" stick like a sore thumb whenever discussion of leaders and leadership comes into question. All in all, it was a lively discussion and you could see every believer in their faith faces such real situation eventhough we always think that "the grass is always greener on the other side." The truth is that every religious institution and believer faces the same difficulties and it is how these problems are overcame that is important.

This is what I believe - 

1) Shoddy and questionable religious preachers/pastors/reverends/leaders with "dirty" hands on the finance matters, integrity and questionable leadership style MUST GO IMMEDIATELY! Act now or the rot gets worse! My caution is this : The removal is easy but the re-building of lives lost due to the acts by these unscrupulous people over the years is so much harder. So, THE ROT MUST STOP! The "KELUAR" sign hanging at the exit doors are there for a purpose!

2) Board Members/Deacons/Trustees/Council who are morally corrupt, questionable characters, shoddy handling of critical matters and have no balls in decision making - MUST GO OUT the door too! They too cannot be ignorant of the "KELUAR" signage hanging at door!

3) RE-BUILDING the religious institution by installing the fundamental structure and foundation of faith. The physical building is just a physical structure with no exceptional purpose except for the gathering of the believers. It is the human structure of faith building that I am talking about. Re-building hurt and real lives are more important than mere concrete building.

4) RE-CONNECT, REACH OUT and HEAL the hurting people who were outside the confines of the faith foundation because of  such acts of terrorism in our religious institution today. Birds wandered off  their nest because the parent birds are not feeding solid food to the young birds. Not because every bird would have to leave their nest someday. Yes, eventually, they will leave their nest but every sensible and logical parent in the animal kingdom would understand that even the young ones needed to be cared, nurtured and given good solid food foundation before they can leave the nest lest they becomes the prey of the predators.

5) Offer the olive branch of HEALING and SUPPORT for the hurting, the lost and the unfortunate by genuinely caring and concern of their lives. Pretense, pretentious personalities and fakeness are easily recognizable especially when it is permeated by such fake leaders we have these days in the religious institution. There just too many who are called leaders only by name sake but would not lift a single finger to make a difference in the lives of others. The saying " Evil triumphs when good men/women does nothing! " is an accurate rendition of truth for multi-faced leaders.

6) NO ONE IS BIGGER THAN GOD. No preacher, no preacher's wife, no preacher's children, no leader , no personality, NO ONE is bigger than GOD. Even so-called ordained servant of God cannot claim to be correct ALL the time. I am a firm believer in this phrase : You can lie to some people some time but you cannot lie to every one all the time!

7) A concern caution : To these rotten leaders/lack of nuts leaders, LEAVE GRACEFULLY lest you be SHOVED OUT the door in a horrifically shameful manner when an expose explodes in the face! After all, what is done in the dark will eventually be exposed by the deafening righteous light no matter how hard one tries to conceal it. The Light will triumph eventually.

There you have it - United despite our diversity!

Pen Marker Cap.....

Today, my whole body aches all over due to some work which was carried out at one of the work site my colleague and I went yesterday. Yesterday, it was back breaking work of sorting out metal items, carrying the metal items, sorting out the soiled debris and tagging it all up. It was hard work but a job is a job - no matter how tedious it could be. Somehow, working along side this new colleague of mine had made me to be less stressed out or agitated. I guess, when you are put in a position to help groom another person or be like a big brother, you tend to be at your best behaviour lest stressing the newbie out! Yeah! I have a heart too when it comes to things like that but I will not compromise on the work standards, attitude and learning hands-on in regards to the work we do. I guess, I still remember when I first joined my company as a newbie. It wasn't easy for me but I have this notion that I will not make it hard for my newbie if ever there was one. So, here I am with a newbie at hand and I do hope, he had learnt something from old eccentric me!

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that there was one moment when the marker pen cap slipped out and fell amongst the stacked and dense metal items. I was really upset with myself at that time. If I could not find the marker pen cap, the marker pen would dry up and it would be trouble for me as I would not be able to mark out the items for the day. Moreover, it was the only marker I had brought for that days' work. So, I went on a frantic search for the marker pen cap. I tried so many times to look for it but I just couldn't find it. I knew that it was among the metal pipes but there weren't much space to maneuver my hands. So, I squeezed my hands and tried feeling out where the cap would be. There was no sign of the cap. I sorta gave up and carried on working but the nagging feeling it was there kept bugging me at the back of my head. I told myself that I will go back and look for it after lunch so that the marker pen would not run dry. In the meantime, I covered the marker pen with masking tape so that it would not dry out as we carried out our tagging work.

For hours, both my colleague and I sweated through the work under the sweltering energy-sapping heat but we got most of the tagging done. After lunch , I told my newbie colleague that I was going to look for the cap and he looked at me quizzically, " You sure, boss? ". " Yup" was my crisp answer. This time, with my small torch light, I managed to see the location of the marker cap and I was excited. I then went down on my knees and then flat on the ground to try to retrieve the marker cap. I used every ounce of my hands, wrist and fingers muscles to try to retrieve the cap. It was a hilarious sight as my hands, my pants , my t-shirt and even my face was about 2 inches from the ground. At one time , I moved so much that the front section of my pant got entangle at protruding metal pipe and ripped a hole in my pants. Embarrassing as it was, it didn't fazed me one bit.  At that moment , nothing mattered to me except to retrieve the marker pen cap. I got down dirty, oil-stained, greasy and smelt like a human oil torch. When I managed to use a small piece of metal to dislodge the pen marker cap from the metal pipes, it was the greatest feeling EVER! I immediately prised it out amongst the pipe , picked it up and clean the cover with my t-shirt. It was the most satisfying feeling of all. I had the widest smile on my face and my newbie colleague had this look at his face that I was like the dirtiest looking cat ever! I looked at him and then I looked at myself and I can't imagine what would people say if they see me in public! Bah! It doesn't matter - I had the marker pen cap in my hands,man! 

I can't explain to you the feeling which run through my body - the sense of accomplishment, the sense of immense joy and pleasurable feeling ever. I never could understand fully the immense depth of the Parable of the Lost Coin or even the many parables which are found in the Bible. It is true when it is said that only when you experienced it that you will understand the immense joy it brings. Maybe, just maybe, God wanted me to understand the immense meaning to these parables. Yeah, the happening brought a lot of awakening in my soul and it was all because of a marker pen cap. I can't imagine what I just did, actually. It was like throwing everything away just to be able to retrieve the simplest of things in life. To me, the cap itself is not worth 2 sen but to have it your hands to keep the lid on the marker pen is simply priceless.How could something be so cheap yet valuable at the same time? Maybe, we should reflect on how such a small effort like this will bring so much learning and understanding. Just maybe, it would make us a better person....just maybe.....