RR Melaka #1 Annual Camp - SUMO Camp 2011

Learning.....

I must say that every time the holy month for the Muslims comes i.e. the Ramadan, I really enjoy spending time at Pasar Ramadan. Not only it is filled with the wondrous sights, colors and culinary palate, it is the vibrancy of the atmosphere that usually wet my appetite. You see, you get an assortment of dishes and local cakes and cuisines that you don't normally see on normal days. It is so hard to describe them. Somehow, the unique dishes and long forgotten food stuff such as the local kuih-muih will somehow appear. It is like seeing dying art of kuih being revived while unique dishes are dished out every evening. Somehow the culturally rich Malay dishes and sweeteners permeates the bazaar-like atmosphere. 

I went to one bazaar in which I shall leave unnamed one evening as I wanted to sample some special barbecue chicken known as ayam percik locally. I know that I could get this locally anywhere but somehow, the ones in the Ramadan bazaar would taste much better because of the seller's own secret recipe to this dish. Afterall, I am one that would always try to get into new flavours and challenge my tastebud a bit.

I noted that there was this pakcik gabbed in a worn T-shirt and long pants in front of me who was walking very slowly along the road. He had a rather old looking motorcycle helmet anchored on his v-shaped left arm and he really looked worn out. With crowds moving around in a slow pace at the bazaar, I too slowly inched my way to the stalls while having a look at the food galore in store for my gastronomical delight. Then, the pakcik stopped as he reached the ayam percik stall and so did I. I then inched my way through politely and pick out my ayam percik just as the pakcik did. I saw that the pakcik picked up two chicken pieces and took out some cash to pay for it. Then , I could hear the seller telling the pakcik the price of the chicken pieces and that he had given not enough cash for the chicken pieces. Trying to mind my own business, which I obviously could not, I could hear the young seller telling the pakcik that the cash is RM 1.00 short. The poor pakcik tried explaining to the young man that he had not enough and if he would sell him a smaller piece of chicken for the cash he had which was RM 4.00. Surprising , the young seller was adamant at RM 5.00 for the chicken pieces and the seller then took a piece of chicken out and return the balance of RM 1.50 to the old man. I could see that the pakcik was quite dejected but he put on a brave front. He then said to the seller that he wanted to buy the chicken piece for his children. He kinda pleaded politely with the seller but the young man would not budge one bit. I was really pissed by this time. I picked up two pieces of chicken , gave the young man  the cash and gave a piece of my mind. I said to the young man in BM and translated as follows:  " (A)Bang, isn't this the holy month? Can you not show some good spirit for this old pakcik?" I guess, the young man was embarrased a bit but I could see how pride does get in the way. He kept a blank face and continue doing his stuff. I know, deep in him, I have hit a raw nerve. Not to cause unneccessary scene, I just took the pakcik one side and gave my ayam perciks to him. The pakcik told me that I didn't have to do that but I said to him that it is okay with me. Yunno, he said this to me, " Terima kasih, nak. Pakcik memang tak cukup duit tadi. Cuma teringat anak-anak di rumah menanti berbuka. Itu saja. Terima kasih atas budi baik kamu." I told him it's nothing and I got to know him as Pakcik Hamid as we walk down the road. I also came to know that he is a general worker/odd job worker with 3 young children. He did not complain to me about anything but just kept thanking me. I told him I am alright and that I have suddenly lost interest in getting ayam percik. He looked at me with grateful eyes and I bid farewell to him as I weaved through the stalls to see what were in offering at the stalls. He then walked back to where his motorcyle was situated.

I suddenly lost interest in the bazaar as I thought of what had happened while I took about 10 paces. I know that everyone is out there to do business but there are times, one has to gauge the genuine case from the opportunity reapers. Again, one would say that it is hard to determine which is genuine and which is fake, right? Again, is it difficult to really be charitable a bit at times? I am sure as we debate on this matter , there would be no end to this.

As I walked back to my car, I saw Pakcik Hamid riding his old Yamaha m/cycle with his three pieces of ayam percik hanging by the left side handle. I smiled, got into my car, switched on the engine and Dr.Ravi Zacharias voice on my car stereo boomed, " We need to change on the inside of us, so that we can affect the outside of us....." How true! How very true!

Truth....

To our faith detractors ~

"Our suffering is not worthy the name of suffering. When I consider my crosses, tribulations, and temptations, I shame myself almost to death, thinking what are they in comparison of the sufferings of my blessed Savior Christ Jesus."

~ Martin Luther

Utter Rubbish!

It is bad enough to have to deal with ridiculous politicians who are constantly on the drug-octane high to fan racial and religious hatred, now , we have our infamous Information Minister who says that Bersih supporters are paid RM 50.00 to attend the rally. My God, how stupid can a full-skirted..sorry...mind my manners, full-fledged minister get? Not only does it show the shallowness of our elected representative intelligence but also an almost blatant stupidity of a so-called learned minister of this country. I seriously think ( Nope! Now , I am pretty convinced! ) that our country is run by clowns of the highest level. Our ministers seemed to like to have a gun and shoot at their foot all the time! What insult to the intelligence of the people of this country! What an insult! My Bible says " out of abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh!" If the heart and mind had devised wicked plans and harboring wicked gains, the mouth will speak the same things!  It got me thinking that it must be this accepted culture of "handing of money as incentives" that must have caused our numb/doink Minister to speak like that! Shameful is NOT the word to describe such man but I purely felt sad for all the good upbringing he had gone through which had gone down the drain by his mere careless and irresponsible words. It is bad enough we have another froggie who spew dastardly racialistic and sow hatred vibes among the races.  Now, we even have rakyat rejected elected representative and Senator spinning vociferous statements to burn down newspaper companies and being defenders of God! Captain America seemed a better choice to watch than these clowns,man. Aiyoo...their words and charades will probably make Malcolm Mulgridge, the famous peddler of words, rolled in his grave! Seriously, I just can't understand it. Here is a learned man and he talks like some road side vendor on the streets. Perhaps road side vendors are more polite than this so-call minister.  What he said did not even rise to the dignity of an error! It is what we call in the philosophical term as "nonsense"! Mr. Minister, if you are man enough, please tell this to  Marina Mahathir and her family who joined her at the walk that day. Tell her that she and her family were paid RM 50.00 each to walk during the Bersih Rally. Tell this to the many out there who walked without fear nor favour as they thronged the streets of KL that day, man. Tell this to the Malay man who died during the rally- tell this to his family that he sold his soul for RM 50!! Go ahead, Mr.Minister, tell it to his family! Tell it to the bleeding and tear-gassed people - men, women, children on the street that day. Tell it to the Malays, the Chinese, the Indians, the Sikhs, the Seranis, the Sabahan and the Sarawakians who were gathered there that they were given RM 50 to sell their soul to the Bersih organisers! What an utter rubbish, indeed! Even the beggar on the street would not want to be bludgeoned, beaten, tear-gassed, sprayed with chemical/pepper- laced water or even harrassed about all for the sake of RM 50! Come on, common sense must prevail!

If it is any indication of what is coming in this country, my hope is for ministers and froggy elected representatives like these are to be packed, shipped and phased out in the next GE or better still send to Timbuktu, Namibia or even Mogadishu to be put in the real battlefield! A farmer once told me that we must separate the pretending weeds from the actual grain stalks if we are to have a great harvest in the fields. Afterall, weeds are meant to be tied together and given to the cows, is it not?   

GOD is GOD!

Today I am truly saddened by what had happened to human values in our lives. I am truly saddened that a shameful Senator and a rejected so-called elected representative of a constituent can cry out such vile notions that not only brings shame to one's character but one's own religious belief. My God! I have so many Muslim friends and luckily, they don't act like these people do. I am not questioning their religious inclination but I questioned their motives and bad potrayal of their own religion. It is really so sad. Yes, it also occurs in our own religion too, yunno. 

Look, God is perfect and God doesn't need anyone to defend HIM. Get that straight and into your head. Have we not learn that God is GOD and nothing compares to Him?  He made the heavens ,the earth, the sun and the moon and everything in it  and so,  would HE need any defenders at all? For crying out loud, GOD is GOD!  It is human beings with their own assumptions, sinful nature of the heart and constant prejudices that made us the most useless living emblem in the face of this earth at times, man.

I really feel ashamed and disgusted just reading, hearing and seeing these people trying to destroy what fabric of good society we are having today all for the sake of staying in power to govern this fragile country of ours. The very fabric of society sanity and good relations are virtually being ripped apart by these rapist and peddlers of words of our daily living. If continuous bringing of dominant fear and malicious lies of religion are being potrayed to hoodwink the society , I shudder at the prospect of our very existence in this beloved country of ours. What lunacy! What hypocrisy! What shameful ways of life!

I am comforted in my heart when my Muslim friends and former students  called me up and assured me that these are not the views of all the people in their religion. Even my uncle who is a Muslim convert called me to completely ignore such views and lunatics.  Yunno, I felt really sad and  I told my friends and uncle - what has gone terribly wrong with leaders like these. They sow bucketful of seeds and grains of hatred, fear and lunacy which only brings so much harm to their fellow brethren and also to the non -Muslims as a whole. How could this be ever attractive to a non-Muslim like me if that is being proffessed and drummed up time and time again? I know the saying that in a bunch of apples , there will be rotten ones but my contention is if the rotten ones are left as it is, they will spoil even the good ones especially with their stain.  

I have NEVER EVER known any religion which are being practised in this country of ours  that promote BURNING, SPEWING THREATS, KILLING, SHEDDING BLOOD, DESTROY, FIGHTING , RAPING  or even glorify EVILNESS at all! As far as I know, religion teaches us to do the good stuff rather than the evil stuff. It is really confusing and the signals sent are truly remarkably inconsistent with the religions that are being professed and practised all over the whole except for Satanic worshipping, of course! It is mind-boggling that these people can say what they want and still get around scott-free without the need to see the truth or even get to the truth. It is doubly and utterly embarrassing because these are the people who are in team that governs this country today. So much religious fear,  pressure and intimidation concocted to cloud the perception of our citizen today. I failed to see where our future lies if we are producing leaders of such level. It is sickening and really ties up in line with the Chinese month of Hungry Ghost! I am utterly disgusted and disappointed with our government non-committal action at the stoking up of these type of religious slur because believe it or not, a lot of us treasure and value racial harmony and freedom to practise our religion and our lives.

As always, let us continue to pray for the well being of the people of this nation of ours. Let us cry out to GOD to spare His wrath upon our land. Let us petition to GOD to forgive those who bring mischief and bring bad intentions to our lands and our families. Pray too that God would heal our hearts from these unkind words, malicious actions  and unwarranted intentions. Pray too that God would deliver us all away from such harm and such people.

God bless each and everyone of you! 

I AM...

This morning, I was on my way for some work in Gemas when I digress and digest the sermon which was presented by Christian apologetics, Dr.Ravi Zacharias, one of my favourite preachers. One quip that caught my immediate attention was this:  G.K. Chesterton said this when Time magazine asked him of his opinion on what was wrong with the world today. He wrote ," Dear Sir, concerning your question on what is wrong with our world today,  I AM. Yours truly, G.K Chesterton." I must say that I am neither a Christian philosopher nor a poetic man in any sense but what G.K.Chesterton made a lot of sense. If the world and environment we are living in is in a wrong direction, why won't we just do our part in doing the right part and go completely on the opposite even though we may be just one person? In fact, yesterday evening, I had a good tongue lashing from a good friend who constantly reminded me of the need to inspire others and be a role model to others. We may not feel to do something or even feel like an inspiration to others but we all have a role to play in this community we live in whether we like it or not. Being an inspiration to others is not something you can switch on or switch off as you like. We are constantly being watched, looked upon or sometimes frowned upon in our actions we potray each day. I am constantly reminded of this by this good friend of mine that sometimes our lives can be the only Bible that people looked upon. It is definitely so true! Yup, we are scrutinised even more when we are leaders in our homes, our workplace, our community and even our place of worship. I guess, I am guilty as charged for being complacent at times or even given leeway for such thoughts to arise. It is good to know that I have good friends to remind me of this and put me in my place at times.

Anyway, today, I took a bold step of moving towards that direction. For years now, I have this lady colleague of mine who is a Muslim lady. She is a petite young lady, single and a decent woman. I wanted to bless her today and so, after coming back from my work in Gemas, I decided to get her some goodies for her "buka puasa" time later today. So, I got her a box of  buah kurma or dates, a box of freshly baked vanilla cake, two big pack of Soya bean drinks, a can of peaches and a can of pineapple; all nicely packed and bundled into a special Raya paper bag. I know it didn't sound an awful lot but that's what I could afford, actually. Anyway, I gave it to her when I got back to the office and she was elated. I guess, that's all that matters to me. Mind you, it is not about buying things for others but taking the initiative to breakdown barriers of misconception, respecting other colleagues and taking the trouble to actually care for someone other than our family members and friends. It isn't easy, right but it is doable! It didn't cost me much for what I did but the lighted-up face of my colleague says it all. Again, that's priceless! Like always, that's all that matters, yunno. Afterall, we are all gonna end up by our 6'X4' plot some day and we can't bring all our riches and glory to our graves ; so, I suggest you spread some goodness around to brighten up the already gloomy world we live in ! BTW, I just sent a batch of SMILEYs to my colleagues in KL today. Can you imagine their faces when they see the SMILEYs? Hmmmmnnnn.... I bet , you can imagine that ,right?