The laziness of some people.

My spiritual guru, Bapak as we fondly call him, has said that nothing in this world is evil but Man. He first told us about the spirits roaming the world and that such spirits do no harm to humans but humans make use of them and their abilities to harm other humans.Thus, it is not the spirits that are evil but humans who have evil thoughts and with that our Bapak told us that none of his disciples must ever do evil deeds or he will be answerable to Bapak.

What Bapak told us, I remember today as I read about the jellyfish in the waters of Langkawi. There are now too many jellyfish and it all began because of sea-water pollution as people dump waste into the sea, a convenient way of disposing waste at the cost of increasing the number of jelly-fish as the number of turtles decrease.

Turtles eat jelly-fish and in doing so control their number in the sea. Unfortunately, lazy uncaring people conveniently throw plastic bags into the sea and those bags are eaten by the turtles as they have mistaken those bags for jellyfish. The consumption of plastic bags cause the death of turtles and with less turtles to feed on the jellyfish, the jellyfish increase their numbers and being easily gotten into contact with human bodies, they react by stinging the bodies.

Humans are lazy and so often we see people throwing rubbish around rubbish bins but hardly into them although the bins are just one or two metres away. Why can't these people walk that extra one or two steps more to deliver their rubbish to the bins? And it is not that they did not want to be clean for they would not throw rubbish in front of their houses. And there are those who even throw their rubbish in front of other people's houses when such neighbours are not looking. And all that because of laziness!

People seem to be getting lazier and lazier. Take a walk along a beach and we can see the ice-cream wrappers, the paper-bags from food and all kind of plastic containers strewn all over, a clear sign of laziness of humans. Instead of improving this is one sphere of one lives which need looking into. Not that humans have not pretended to go into this problem. I remember the first time an anti litter sign was put up in Taman Intan, Sungai Petani. (That's where I live.) It stated that anyone caught littering would be fined a sum of RM5,000. It was in 1980 and I told my wife to think of the ridiculous sum of money that was stated. I asked her how many of the people would be able to pay such a fine. My pay then was approximately RM1,000 a month and if they were to ask me for such a sum of money I would most probably prefer to squat in jail and have free rice for a few months. Oh, no! As a government servant I cannot go to jail and so may have to see a 'Ah Long' or money-lender to get out of the predicament. What a ludicrous fine for littering!

Then, I gradually understood that it was just throwing fear at the residents as I found no one being caught despite numerous cases of littering. In fact the area around that anti-litter sign was full of rubbish thrown by people in and around the area. Perhaps people saw it more as a challenge than a threat and responded by fighting it. And it was not just happening to just this particular anti-littering signboard. Others elsewhere were also suffering from the same fate. That is what happens when authorities talk but never walk the talk. There was no enforcement and the law becomes a laughing matter.

So, if I am given the chance to be an adviser, I would say that the authorities concerned must have the enforcement officers ready before implementing any law. Give something for people to show their respect. That is the only way to gain respect. Unfortunately, not sufficient thought is usually put into an idea before its implementation.

Laws must be made to protect someone. Yet, ....

It was last year, I think, I read from the Star newspaper that those in possession of certain species of animals have to report to the wildlife department and request for special permission to keep them.

As an animal and fish lover, I have kept at one time or another canaries, budgerigars, pigeons, rabbits, chickens, geese, turkeys, ducks and various kinds of fish such as the angel-fish, goldfish, zebra fish, discus fish, bettas and many others, always caring for them and breeding them when they matured.

At the time when I read the news report regarding having to request for special permission to keep certain species, I have in my possession two Star Tortoise which I have kept for about eight years since my retirement as a teacher and four pig-nosed turtles which i have reared for more than two years. And according to the news report they were the ones requiring special permission to keep.

Well, I certainly would want to keep them as I love those tortoises and turtles. They are so cute and beautiful. So, with a sincere desire to do my part for them, I approached the wildilfe department in Sungai Petani. I was told there was no such instructions and that I could leave my address behind so that should anything crop up they could inform me. I was wary of that, it was true. So I told them I would be back another time.

Then, early this year the same report appeared in the Star again and I approached the same wildlife department and this time they told me they were conscious of the matter and I was given a faxed form from the Alor Star department. I filled up the form and posted it. An acknowledgement letter dated 29 April 2010 was received.
However, when the special permit came, I was shocked and disappointed that I was given permission only to keep the pig-nosed turtle but not the Star Tortoise.

So, I immediately sent an appeal to the department to be allowed to keep my two beloved Star Tortoises, a pair of two beautiful pets I have loved and cared for for eight long years. In my letter of appeal I request that my application to keep them ought to be given consideration as I have kept them since they were the size of fifty-cent coins. Furthermore, as any wildlife officer would have realised, animals kept for so long by humans cannot survive in the wild as they have been fed special food that cannot be found in the wild. To return them to the wild is to send them to their death. Certainly that is not the intention of those people who thought of laws to protect those in the wild. So, they need special care which I believe I am capable of providing as proved by their good growth. In fact, I am very confident that soon they would be breeding. In doing so I would be ensuring that the species would not threatened with extinction.

The lady officer in the wildlife department was sympathetic to my cause and even wnet the extra mile to have my appeal reach the main department before the date when the law would come into effect.

Then, in July, another lady officer rang me and inform me that a letter was being prepared to be sent to me to inform me that the appeal cannot be considered. Apparently, despite all my reasoning with her, she could not change her decision. When I talked of the possibility of breeding those Star Tortoise, she even told me breeding would also be an offence. I told her breeding among animals is a natural process which no law can consider an offence. Thus, I ended the conversation with my request for the letter so that I could appeal through the press and possibly ambassador or government of India, as I was also told that the Indian government had insisted that all Star Tortoises be sent back to it. Anyway, unless and until I am sure my Star Tortoises would not face misery and death, I intend to care for them as I love my pets. Anyway, I have talked to some people regarding this matter and they agreed that whatever law which comes into effect should not penalise those who have already been rearing those animals which had been bought legally.

Talking about legality, I was even told by the lady that back then in 2002, those Star Tortoise had been smuggled in and so I was supposed to be keeping smuggled goods. Oh my gosh! If those Star Tortoises were smuggled animals, why were we never informed then or earlier. I read widely and nowhere did I come across such information. And those pets were sold openly in almost every pet shop in the country. It is only this year that i was told by one shop that its Star Tortoise was not for sale, only for show as they are not allowed to sell. In my mind I was thinking if I was keeping smuggled goods, who had abetted this innocent culprit?

And with that, one question lingered at the back of my mind. Should not those who have bought the animals earlier be given a special permit, just like we give permits for keeping our endangered 'Murai Hutan'?

I am still waiting for my letter from the department so that I can reach out to the higher authorities to be allowed to keep my pets. After all, this is the least I can do for my beloved pets, certainly not just giving them to someone unsure of ensuring their health and safety. This is my responsibility.

Furthermore, whose interest would the law be protecting if it removes the ones supposed to be protected from its present safe surroundings and care to a more precarious and uncertain future?

My first encounter with a cancer patient.

The killer comes so quietly and unobtrusively that even as it strikes its last fatal blow we are not aware of it. Do you know what I am talking about?

This memory all began with a friend's visit in which he noticed a book on cancer on my table. He looked at me, probably wondering why I would need to read such a book. I told him I have been delving into the subject for more than a year now not because I am suffering from it but it is probably the only sickness that comes even when we are at our strongest and fittest. So I told him the true story of a lost friend, a death which happened more than twenty years ago.

I was about forty years of age then. Taman Intan where we lived was a residential area surrounded by lots of trees, rubber estates and secondary jungles that were beautiful sights to us. With my corner house at the far edge of the area, I awaken to lush greens and fresh air with no noise pollution as traffic hardly comes into my part of the residential area. Of course, my wife was a little weary of thieves as she correctly predicted that our house was a good place for such people to hit. (I have to tell you about that in a later posting.)

And the surrounding was just the paradise we discover for walks and runs. So, in the evenings we would take walks and runs before it got too dark and perhaps dangerous.

Back to this lost friend. His house was a little distance away in a housing estate adjoining mine. After we had met a few times in our runs into the rubber estate and the nearby villages as well as secondary jungles, we decided to team up for our evening jogs and runs. He would take a walk to my place and then together we ran and enjoyed the evening breeze and body sweat for approximately an hour.

Slightly younger than me, at the age of about thirty years, he proved to be a faster runner than I was. Imagine that! And I was one of six members of my school's cross-country team. And fifteen years earlier I had run from Alor Star to Kuala Kedah, a distance of approximately twelve kilometres in less than an hour. I never believed he could have beaten this guy each and every time but beat me he did.

It was good for me as i really had to put in every effort to pace him. Each outing left me really tired out and ready for a good night's sleep. It helped this guy to stay young and strong. My thanks to him for his help in this respect.

So, his stamina was great, his strength was fantastic and in terms of fitness, he was at his best.

Of course, I did notice that he sneezed and seem to have colds quite often. I did ask him about it and according to him he had seen a doctor who told him it could be allergy to pollen grains which could be in the air he breathed. I did not think more about it, accepting a doctor diagnosis of his problem. However, today, if I were to meet a guy with the same problem as my friend's with it constantly a problem I would advise him/her to go for second or even third opinions. You see, his doctor made a grave mistake, each time dismissing it as pollen allergy.

Yes, that was his doctor's negligence in not suspecting something worse even when he had been seeing the same doctor almost every week for the same problem for more than half a year.

One evening, I found him at my gate not dressed for a run. I told me he needed a phone badly. (In those days, we did not use hand-phones.) I told him if he needed it urgently, it was not a problem. He could have it. After all this guy was and is not so famous that he received so many calls a day. In those days, I hardly received any call. However, I was, as expected, curious about what had transpired. So, he told me that he had just returned from a medical examination in which the doctor in a private hospital had told him he could be having cancer. Cancer! It was a shock to me. Imagine this strong healthy young man with cancer. So, as news of his sickness spread he was expecting calls from relatives from the various states. And to worsen the problem of the day, his own house-phone must break down on that very same afternoon.

So, an operation was scheduled to take place in a week's time. That Friday saw his family and a few close friends at a hospital in Penang to give him moral support. The bad news received was that when they opened him up they found that it was so bad that the cancer cells have already spread to other parts of the body and it was useless to operate. They merely closed him up again.

Later. at home, he gradually suffered unbearable pain and had to be administered morphine to make him more comfortable. About half a year later, he died.

That was my first encounter with a victim of cancer. Knowing the victim well, I realise that cancer is one killer which can strike so quietly that we might not even know that it had already penetrated our body's defenses. Strength, excellent health and fitness are no deterrent to its attack. Today, I have met a few more cancer victims and so am determined to understand it well enough to be prepared to the highest possible extent for its invasion. Research is ongoing on this killer and I am positive it can be stopped as I talked to some of the survivors and learned whatever I can from their experiences.

Looks like good strength and health alone would not do. A strong immune system through right nutrition, raw food, manner of cooking, removal of toxic substances from our food and air as well as removal of excessive stress are factors we have to look into to prevent or to remove this killer from our midst.

Where we ought to be firm.

"My father allows my two nephews to take out his motorcycle and left him without transport to the morning market," she told me.

"What do you mean? Don't they ever ask for permission?" I enquired.

"Aiyah, you know kids nowadays. They just grab the keys and go off just like that before anybody notices them," she explained.

"Then your father must keep his keys in a safer place where nobody can have access to them without his permission. You know, it is very risky to allow under-aged children to ride around, more so without a license," I was starting to give a lecture.

"Hiyah, it's difficult to control them. I myself have told them so many times not to take the bike out but they still do when I'm not around. What can I do. Their grandpa is even worse. He sleeps most of the time and so allows them to do whatever they like," she interrupted my talk with excuses.

"Well, make sure they don't get into an accident. (In my mind I rebuked myself for saying that for who ever gets themselves into accidents. They just come unannounced and that is why they are called accidents in the first place.) If an accident ever happens imagine the problems it can cause," I warned.

"Well, if it's an accident what can we do about that?" she asked, innocent.

"You certainly cannot do anything but land in hot soup. Not you, of course, but the owner of the bike who happens to be your father. If the police wishes to pursue the matter, the bike owner has given the bike to be used by people without license. Now, although the bike has an insurance, it is stipulated that that insurance is valid only when the rider has a license. Without that driving license, the insurer will wash their hands and declare that it is not responsible for any claims made against the bike, So, in a court of law who do you think have to pay for the claims made against your nephew?" I wished to know how well informed she was.

"How do I know? My nephew? Where's he going to find the money?" a worried frown appeared.

"Since your father has so kindly given permission to someone unlicensed to drive to cause damage to others, he will have to answer for that. If the claim is small, he can just become poorer and stay in a small hut but it the damage is expensive, he can be a bankrupt, do you know that?" I needed to emphasise the weight of the problem to this relative so that understanding will be sufficient to have some changes made.

Sometimes, people wait for mistakes to happen to learn from them but often, it is better to avoid making mistakes as they can be traumatic.

Let not the ego get us into uncivilised acts.

It may seem strange that a man who is the deputy president of the Komtar Merchants Association would continuously challenge the Chief Minister of Penang to a fist-fight.

But then again we have to remember that this man is just the deputy president of a merchants' association and probably does not understand that in this twenty-first century, we ought to be more civilised and if someone had claimed that we have mishandled money, there is the police and the court to settle such matters. But being impatient, he would rather resort to the power of might which he does not understand would not solve the issue he is faced with. If he wins a fist-fight, it merely proves that he is a better fighter or a stronger man which he probably is. As he himself claims, he was a boxer for about twenty years. And being a merchant he should be stronger than the Chief Minister who is a pen-pusher.

Of course, eventually, he did challenge the Chief Minister to a debate but should the Chief Minister debate with a chap who would most probably would say all kinds of things, even twist things, to preserve his ego? (We have recently seen how politicians have used even religious sermons, twisted what had transpired, in order to claim that a non-Muslim's name had been used instead of the ruler's name.) Sometimes, we have also seen debates end in chair-throwing and fist-fighting when people knew they were getting nowhere with their words.

Well, the Chief Minister have been wise in not responding to chalenges by this man who dares to want to take the law into his hands. As they say, "Let barking dogs lie." (Is my quote correct?) He is obviously doing the right thing by responding to such people.

Although this matter appear insignificant, yet it teaches us a lot of wisdom. Many among us might respond with a 'Come on.' to the instigator partly due to an injured ego. Now, any fight depends upon two factors: the better fighter due to training or strength or the luck of being struck in the right place. And to ensure victory, certainly great strength is put into every blow which could result in not just injury but also death. Whose death it might be, there would be loss. If we die we are a loss to our dependents, if the opponent dies, we might have to face the court and a number of years behind bars.

Of course, there are times in our lives when we have to fight to defend our lives and those we love. But certainly not out of the stupidity of our ego. Just because of a few words that unthinking people utter, the above mentioned loss is certainly too much to pay. And in life we are bound to come across so many such instances.



GEORGE TOWN: State police have warned Mohamed Ghani Abd Jiman not to take the law into his own hands but the Komtar Merchants’ Association deputy president is not backing off from his challenge to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng for a fist-fight.

You're never too old to learn.

She more than fifty years of age, yet she always looked so young and vibrant no one would have thought she had reached that age. After graduation, she had gone into this, that and anything that comes her way. Eventually she had gone into the education field, teach in a private school and have a tuition centre. Always a restless gal, forever planning to be on the move, she has recently decided to further her education on sex education.

It was a decision which shocked many people who did not understand her philosophy of life. And surprise of surprises, she is taking on a subject very few think of. They were of course curious and asked her why she would leave her present stable job and study something that would most probably be profitable to her and her future.

However, the astonishment and the bewilderment of the people around would not cause her to hesitate for even a second. This morning I was told of her plans to return in the middle of her two year study on the subject to give talks to parents. She is already planning the kind of activities that would make the seminar interesting and productive. Wow! she certainly is on one straight unwavering road to sex education. She was one truly determined lady, packing her parcels to have a lot of her things sent to Taiwan by courier service, packing her things ready to board a plane on the first of September.

As you can see, there are people and I believe she is not the only one who still wants to go somewhere to improve themselves. Such people certainly have a fantastic zest in life. It's great for this world that there are people who never retired from life until the day God summons.

Talk to the children.

"Do you know that my sister had at one time been the type of mother who would shout and demand that her kids obey and do everything her way. And she seemed to be having her way with her daily rantings until one day, the eldest kid could not take it any longer and struck back?"

"So, what happened?" the friend was impatient to hear what happened.

"The eldest kid was sixteen years of age then and one day after being berated by his mother for half an hour and finding no apparent stop to the verbal bashing despite having tried to explain himself, he took up a chair and heaved it in her direction, the chair missing the astonished mother by just a few inches. It was a great shock to her to have that happen to her. Frightened by the episode, she rushed to see me and told me what had happened that day as tears flowed incessantly from her reddened eyes."

"Oiyo! How can that happened? What did she do after that?"

"She was both frightened and uncertain of the next move to make. I sat her down and told her to think why her son would do such a thing. When she said that all she did was to teach her son not to do the wrong things, I asked her how she did it. At first she was adamant that she was doing right by scolding him for the wrong that he had done. So, I told her that to teach the child the right things is the duty of every parent and to be annoyed is also very natural when a child is constantly committing wrongs. But it is the way she has been doing it. She shouts and rants, broadcasting her child's faults to the whole world while she is at it. When the child is younger, he had not alternative but to take whatever she dishes out. But now the child is growing up and soon he will be big. He understands embarrassment very well even as a little boy. At sixteen he is big and strong enough to stop all the nonsense of having to tolerate all those broadcasts each time he encounters a problem."

Yeah, girl! That sister of yours should stop her shouting and talk slowly to her son. Explain everything in a nice way," the friend offered.

"You're right there. That was exactly what I told her. She needed to talk to her children and sometimes listen to what explanations or problems that they might be facing. She cried and told me that was her style. Now, they no longer want to listen to her. What could she do, she asked me. So, I advised her to return home, forget the nasty happening of the day and start everything afresh. Just keep quiet about it and when she met him, she should not say anything but quietly tell him if he ever asked for something. No more shouting! Talk nicely. It took some time of course but she did learn a lesson from there and eventually she found that the children were responsive to the new her. They slowly, the process taking a number of months, get to understand and communicate with each other their needs and wants in an amicable manner. Now, the family is one happy unit. The children have progressed well and all of them are now so much closer to each other."

Yeah, that ought to be the way parents handle their children. They order, demand and dictate until a rebellion forms. Some parents just do not know how to talk properly to their children and shouting parents end up with equally loud and disrespectful children who rebel when they reach the age of adolescence, perhaps that's the time when they are fed up enough to demand independence. In a country we can have a change of government but children cannot change parents, so.....

Enjoy your children's presence.

Last night, I met four Asian Scholarship aspirants and their parents.

The children were very confident young people with hopes of being selected to study in Singapore. They faces reflect their confidence and the desire to meet whatever challenges that may come their way. Such is the beauty of youth.

Looking at them I remembered the time my two children were selected after primary school to choose the premier school in Kedah, the Sultan Abdul Hamid or the Pokok Sena Sains School, both of them residential schools. They were offered the places on different years as one is the older of the other. Each time, I took them to have a look at the places so that they could make their own choice. Even though they were at the age of twelve years, I believe they should be allowed that after I have explained to them firstly the advantages and disadvantages that I have learned about in taking up the offers or staying put in a school in Sungai Petani. I explained to them what I thought and what others thought of the offers. Of course, it was a tough choice.

My wife and I had always enjoyed the pleasure of our children's presence at home, and we have always planned our out of work time so that our children can enjoy their interests with us. And so on the day we discovered that we might soon had to part, we were so glad that we had given so much of our time to them. Yes, they did decide to go to the residential science school in Pokok Sena. We were happy for them but we were sad too as we would have so little time with them after that.

But I have always believed that nothing, even our own needs, must stand in the way of our children development and progress. So it was that we had our first experience of separation of love.

We were not to know that for the next one week we could not sleep well, always thinking of what our elder son was doing in that school. Was he alright? Was everything fine? What about the numerous new children that he had been placed in a dorm with. How comfortable was he among so many strangers? Those thoughts assailed us and caused us sleepless nights as we looked forward to the weekend when we would be allowed to travel about 100 kilometers to meet our beloved children.

For Kedah, the weekend starts on a Friday. So it was that a Friday in 1999 saw us going along the highway to Alor Star and from there moved North-East towards that little town of Pokok Sena. For the next three years we made the weekly trip to that place, each time planning on taking our children out some place for them to relax and enjoy before having to return, they to their school and us to our homes for another seven days. Then my poor wife passed away and I had to make the weekly trip to their school alone for the next three years before again still having to miss them as they went on to tertiary education in universities in Malaysia. Now, one of them have passed out but has already flown off to his new job in Langkawi.

So I have always told parents to enjoy their children and be with them as often as time permits for they will grow fast and soon their progress will take them away to whatever future awaits them. I am happy for my children's progress and happiness but that can never lessen the feeling of missing them.

And whenever we can we meet and delight in each other's presence. Thank God, we are so very close.

Even medical science has so much more to uncover.

There was once a beautiful lady who studied hard and was considered to be the best student in school. She got excellent results each year and of course, it lead to her eventual profession as a lawyer.

In the court she did very well too, moving among the great lawyers of the country in the busy capital itself which perhaps showed her capability as most small town people who became lawyers in their home-town and stayed there with the local population knowing who they are.

She was a vibrant person, mixes easily and had a wide circle of friends. Certainly she was successful and life must have been beautiful till one day, all of a sudden, the mother received a phone call from her, screaming for help. The mother was shocked to hear the unexpected cry for help and instantly rushed to the capital to see what was amiss. Upon reaching the daughter, the mother found her groaning in pain, the pain coming from her stomach. She took the daughter to see a doctor but nothing could be done as the medicine given did nothing to elevate the pain.

When everything that the doctors could do did not seem to heal her pain, the mother took her daughter back home. There, gradually, the pain subsided but she was a changed person. Gone was her smile and happy nature, preferring to remain all by herself rather than to mix with others. No more social life and no more desire for work.

Was it stress, emotional trauma or was it some kind of spiritual thing? Well, no one knows to this day as she still suffered from some kind of quiet depressed mood, hardly talking, very quiet and usually all by herself, feeling a little better when she bathes more often.

What could have caused a young woman passionate about life to become thus? It is not that the parents had not tried all venues available to remove whatever ails her. They have taken her to the best doctors, Malay spiritual men or 'bomoh', Chinese spiritual people who would go into a trance to give relief to people with spiritual problems or people tormented by spirits, Indian priests and spiritualists, Siamese spiritual people and whatever there could possibly be to no avail.

See, there is so much still unknown in this world. There is still so much to discover. There is a lot more to learn and that is what causes some of the problems in this world and indirectly makes this world an exciting one with knowledge yet to be discovered. I believe there is a cure for all things but sometimes the cure may not work because people are not open to it, open to its power of healing.

In my life I have worked hard at certain things to find solutions to my own problems, one of which was my rhuematic heart which was diagnosed when I was in my twenties and at that time I was only given six more years to live. Today, about forty years later, I am still very much alive with no more rhuematism and no more rhuematic heart.

Be aware of happenings.

Well, there are so many things people do just for the money. If you are a traveller, there is no harm in reading the email below for to be forewarned is to be forearmed. Well, knowledge helps prevent undesirable things from happening. Enjoy yourself but just be aware of what can possibly happen. Just keep your senses.

Judge for yourself the truth of the following stories. So, read on.......

**********************
This story is said to be True,
But be warned it is...
NOT NICE!

This is a true story, it has been confirmed, the Medical Centre phone
number at the end of this story is real.

This guy went out on a Saturday
night a few weeks ago to a party. He was having a good time and had a
couple of beers and some girls seemed to like him and one invited him to go to
another party. He quickly agreed and decided to go along with her. She
took him to a party in some apartment and they continued to drink, and
even got involved with some unknown drug.
The next thing he knew, he woke up completely naked in a bathtub filled
with ice. He was still feeling the effects of the drugs, but looked
around to see he was alone.
He looked down at his chest, which had 'CALL 000 or YOU'LL DIE' written
on it with lipstick. He saw a phone was on a stand next to the tub so he
picked it up and dialled. He explained to the EMS operator what the
situation was and that he didn't know where he was, what he took, or why
he was really calling. She advised him to get out of the tub. He did,
and he appeared normal, so she told him to check his back. He did. He
found two nine inch slits on his lower back. She told him to get back into
the tub immediately, and they sent a rescue team over. Apparently,
after being examined, he found out more of what had happened. His
kidneys were stolen. They were worth $10,000 each on the black market.
Several guesses are in order: The people involved had to be at least
medical students and it was not just recreational drugs he was given.
Regardless, he is currently in the hospital on a life support, awaiting
a spare kidney. The University of Sydney in conjunction with the Royal
Prince Alfred hospital is conducting tissue research to match the victim
with a donor.


I wish to warn you about a new crime ring that is
targeting business travellers. This ring is well organized and well
funded, has very skilled personnel and is currently operating in most
major cities around the world and recently very active in Sydney ......
The crime begins when a business traveller goes to a lounge for a drink at
the end of the work day. A person in the bar walks up as they sit alone
and offers to buy them a drink. The last thing the traveller remembers
until they wake up in a hotel room bathtub, their body submerged to
their neck in ice, is sipping that drink. There is a note taped to the
wall instructing them not to move and to call 000. A phone is on the
small table next to the bathtub for them to call. The business traveller
calls 000 who have been quite familiar with this crime. The business
traveller is instructed by the 000 operator to very slowly and carefully
reach behind them and feel there is a tube protruding from the back. The
business traveller finds the tube and answers 'YES'. The 000 operator
tells them to remain still, having already sent paramedics to help. The
operator knows that both of the traveller's kidneys had been harvested.



This is not a scam or out of science fiction novel. It is real. It is
documented and confirmable. If you travel or someone close to you
travels, please be careful.


Sadly, this is very true. My friend's husband is a Sydney EMT and they have received alerts regarding this crime ring. It is to be taken very seriously. The daughter of a friend
of a fire-fighter had this happen to her. Skilled doctors are performing
these crimes! (which, by the way have been highly noted in the Brisbane
area). Additionally, the military has received alerts regarding this.



I REALLY WANT AS MANY PEOPLE TO SEE THIS AS POSSIBLE
SO PLEASE BOUNCE THIS TO WHOEVER YOU CAN.
Michele Shafer
DML/Lab
Administration
Medical Manager Research & Development
99 Missenden RD , Camperdown, Sydney 2000
Tel: (029)5156111 ; Fax:(029) 4621505



Another story.....
I was approached yesterday afternoon around 3.30 pm in the Coles Parking
lot at Miranda by two males, asking what kind of perfume I was wearing.
Then they asked if I'd like to sample some fabulous scent they were
willing to sell me at a very reasonable rate.
I probably would have agreed had I not received an email some weeks go, warning of this scam. The men continued to stand between parked cars, I guess to wait for
someone else to hit on. I stopped a lady going towards them, I pointed
at them and told her about how I was sent an email at work about someone
walking up to you at the malls, in parking lots, and asking you to sniff
perfume that they are selling at a cheap price.
THIS IS NOT PERFUME - IT IS ETHER!
When you sniff it, you'll pass out and they'll take your wallet, your valuables, and heaven knows what else. If it were not for this email, I probably would have sniffed the 'perfume', but thanks to the generosity of an emailing friend, I was spared whatever might have happened to me, and wanted to do the same for you. These guys hit Sydney and Melbourne 2 weeks ago and now they are doing it in Perth and Queensland ...




IF YOU CAN PASS IT ON TO ALL THE WOMEN YOU KNOW!!!

The first step to overcoming is to admit it.

This morning I talked with a friend about someone who had a problem. The person concerned was in denial. She refuses to admit that she had a problem. Although her friends would have liked to help her, help could never reach her as the denial was a close door to solutions.

Let's face it. Some of us, in one way or another, have some kind of hidden uneasy secret in the deepest corner of our mind hopefully buried in that part people understand as the subconscious mind. We do put on a brave front wherever we go but the secret keeps us in fear or too conscious of something.

It could be a lousy past, a poverty period of the family, the lost of a dear friend, the reluctant end of a relationship or a painful period in our lives. It could have been a trauma, a painful, scarring past that is always at the back of our mind. Because of such a trauma, we are keenly conscious of susceptible pain. We draw away from possible situations where such pain could be inflicted upon us. The one with the lousy past would not want to have anyone play him or her out again. The person from a really poor family would not wish the same sad financial circumstances that may arise as a result of being economically unstable. The guy with a lost love might not want his heart to be hurt again.

Yet, if we ever tell the person concerned to forget the past for it is over and there is still so much life to be lived in the years to come, the person would deny that such a problem exists. Without admitting that such a problem exists, we cannot rid ourselves of the problem. (In a much earlier posting I have written about my own inferiority complex, how I faced it in my youth, overcome it with the help of my friends, my greatest teachers, Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale, and my very own tremendous effort through body-building, sports, gymnastics and doing voluntary work.)

Yes, it is only when we know our problems, face it squarely that we are able to do something to get rid of it. When there is this desire to remove the problem, we see clearly the weakness we burden ourselves with and with that in mind we can take positive steps to overcoming them. The steps to take comes with knowledge and knowledge today is within the reach of almost everybody if we make the move towards it in books and the internet besides experienced friends.

The day we acknowledge our problem is the start towards a better future, a better us, so the sooner the better. I was lucky as I was made aware of my problems by caring friends. I was also aware of my sickly past which left me weak and unable to be involved as much as I would have like to. Thank God, the am exactly the opposite of what I was.

Well, our fervent hope and prayer is to share and enjoy life as God would have wanted us to. May everyone be blessed with happiness and those who are more fortunate ought to help those with their burdens to unshackle them. In God we trust. (No, I do not belong to any religion for I am a free-thinker but not an atheist.)

A child's life is at stake.

It was a custody battle with the mother and the father fighting for the right to bring the child up. In fact, the little ten year old girl had initially refused to meet her 37 year old mother.

It is a puzzle how custody was given to the mother as the girl herself protested, claiming that she did not love the mother. Apparently, after hearing submissions from both parties, the court of appeal made the decision. To persuade the girl to change her mind, one of the three appeal judges even told her,"Your mother came all the way from England to see you. Give your mother a chance to show her love. After all, your mother took good care of you for nine months."

The little girl who sat very close to her father replied," “She took care of me for nine months but my father took care of me for 10 years.”

Upon hearing that, one appeal judge said,"I'm sure both your parents love you equally." To that she replied that she did not love her.

Well, it looked like a little girl's wishes had to be overrided by the court order which had to be carried out.

Reading the news item, I was sympathetic to the poor little child who was separated from the father she loved so as to be under the care of the mother she had no love for.

In this case, were the adults involved more concerned about the evaluation of the submissions even when it is obvious that the child's interest may not be served. In this case is not the child's interest the most important? Should not justice listen to the one whose life and future is to be even more greatly affected by the decision despite not playing any role in it? Perhaps, the child could be given to the father with supervision from the courts and should the father prove to be unable to manage, then have the mother take over the custody. Or the parents be granted permission to have the custody of the child on alternate months until the child is older and able to decide for herself whom she would like to reside with.

It is a sad situation and is the result of two individuals discovering they were not meant for each other after a number of years by which time children may have come into the picture to complicate the issue. In which case young lives will be affected. And these young beings will carry the trauma of separation of parents possibly for the rest of their lives.

Do away with monopoly!

We have had the experience of having monopolies in the many types of businesses that are found in our world.

My friend commended that when we first moved into our residential area, there was only one sundry shop, the Bee Ean Shop. Whenever we needed toothbrush, soap or some other daily necessities, we went to that sundry-shop as there was no other in the area. At the beginning everything was fine as the shop-keeper tries to please and his goods are still fresh although slightly more expensive than elsewhere.

Then, gradually the service becomes worse as the shop-keeper realised that we just had to get things from him or inconvenience ourselves by going to the next residential area to buy our things.

Prices shot up and things are always expensive. And when the consumers complained about the goods or the service, the arrogant shop-keeper told them if you are not happy to get the things there you can always buy them from elsewhere or the supermarket which is some distance away and quite inconvenient. Inconvenient it might be but then when the arrogance could no longer be stomached some did go elsewhere to purchase their sundries, especially when the shopkeeper kept hollering at the top of his voice,"If you do not like it here, you can go elsewhere to get your goods! No one is gonna stop you.Go! Go back to the village you came from!"

Fortunately, another sundry, the Pa Kat Than Shop, came onto the scene and soon the consumers of the residential area were happy again as service was better and goods were sold at competitive prices. The new shop-keeper was so much more pleasant in dealing with the people.

Therefore it is always better not to have monopoly in anything as monopolies tend to become belligerent, expensive and refuse to treat all the customers well. The customers must have a choice; choose the shop-keeper who treats his customers politely, acknowledging that without those customers there can be no business, to choose the shop from which to purchase goods which are fresh and good, well kept, tidy and clean. Choose the shop which welcomes every consumer, giving us equal treatment.

The opportunity to choose is important and so we have to do away with any monopoly. The residents of our housing area are now happier as if one shop can give us better and cheaper goods, we go to that shop. If the owner ever becomes arrogant, we can always move to the other shop. Even if both of them become too proud to serve us well, we still have a choice of where the goods are fresher or cheaper.

Similarly with supermarkets, when there are more than one supermarket, the consumers are sure to benefit. Services are better, more choices will be the outcome and prices will not be too high as people can compare and decide which supermarket serves their interests better. We all have a choice. No only that, we get the best possible choice. And should any supermarket changes its policy regarding its goods or its prices and services, we can always shift our shopping elsewhere. The consumers are king can persuade all the supermarkets to look inot our interests in all its dealings.

So, let us do away with monopoly and encourage competition as that will help us to change our choice of service, goods and prices at any time we wish.

Love and happiness is everywhere.

Last night I went to be with Sri Sri Ravi Shanker, more popularly known to his followers as 'Guruji'. It was a dinner at Bayview Beach Resort Garden in Batu Ferringi, Penang.

We reached the place at about six in the evening and although we were early, international course participants were already. We headed for the back of the hotel, past the swimming pool into the garden at the back of the hotel where tables and chairs had been placed near to three long tables of food. There was one table for the drinks and salads, another for an assortment of cooked vegetables with the third table supplying a variety of kueh, cakes, soup and stewed beans.

I searched for a drink first and had sugar cane water with 'chang-mau' which is a fragrant leaf. It is supposed to be some kind of alkaline water, I suppose. After a sip of the delightful drink, I took a little of each of the various types of food displayed at the three tables. The food was fine except that course participants told me they believe the kitchen sifu had already exhausted his talent as they took the same food for the four days they had been there.

It is at such functions where we have the opportunity to renew acquaintances, make new friends and catch up on old friends. It was smiles, laughter and joy the whole evening as we enjoyed the company of members of The Art of Living. We had satsang with Guruji in which we sang sanskrit songs.

Times of love and delight are always too short and soon we had a last look at Guruji before we headed for home. By the time I reached home it was about twelve-thirty at night. A new day has begun when I dropped my head to my pillow to prepare myself for another day of life. Even as I dropped off to sleep I was thinking of the next day's spiritual therapy lesson at Harvard Estate.

Well, life is what we make of it. Go out and enjoy and happiness can be ours. Refuse to seek for happiness and it becomes elusive, difficult to be seen and found even when it is there for us.

Beware! A new technique by robbers.

Nowadays, there is so much to be wary of. However if we have the knowledge we are fore-armed and therefore are well prepared for all eventualities. Of course no one is so knowledgeable as to be ready for everything. Therefore, whenever we come across important or necessary information no matter how simple it may seem, it is good to disseminate the knowledge to all our friends. So....

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THIS LATEST INFORMATION which a friend sent me:

You can't clean away smashed eggs on the windscreen of a car with the wiper and sprayed water. Please take note of this as it can come in useful one day.

If you are driving at night and are attacked with eggs, do not operate the wiper or spray any water. Slow your speed and drive on carefully with your doors locked.

You can drive with whatever visibility remaining until you reach a safer place, where there are more people, at a petrol kiosk or a police-station.

Do not use your wiper or spray water onto your screen because eggs when mixed with water becomes milky and block your vision up to 92.5%. That would be an effective way to stop your car and have you come out of it.

When you are forced to stop at the road side to clean off the mess from your wind-screen, you become a victim of robbers planning to attack at such a time.

According to the email, this is a new technique used by robbers in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Please inform your friends and relatives as robbers cheats are getting more creative these days.

In our homeland, all 'siblings' must be treated equal.

Citizens of a country must respect the laws of the country. Especially for those people born in a country, that country is their homeland and its laws must be followed. However, since there has been quite a lot of confusion lately regarding which one's homeland is, even among the literate, I wish to illustrate the meaning by saying that Parameswara's homeland was Java. This Pelambang prince who came and founded Malacca left his homeland to settle in Malaya. His children, grandchildren and great grandchildren who were born here can call then Malaya and now Malaysia their homeland. They are now Malaysians or Malaysian Javanese if you like, while their great grandfather, Parameswara was a Javanese. Similarly, Hang Li Po's homeland was China but her descendants who are born here are Malaysian or Malaysian Chinese and their homeland is Malaya or Malaysia. So Malaysians should respect the laws of Malaysia because every citizen elected the politicians who sit in parliament to pass or change any undesirable laws.

As Malaysians we not only respect the country's laws, we also should be patriotic to our country. We must show allegiance to our country. But then that does not mean that we must show our allegiance to people in power. So people in power cannot demand allegiance from the people. Allegiance or loyalty and support from the people can only be fostered through the caring deeds of the people in power, whoever they may be.

Some power crazy people demand allegiance from the people, especially the minority in a country. And when such demands are not met, these people threaten with sending or asking them to return to their homeland when actually the country where they are born is their homeland. These power-crazy people forget that loyalty must be developed through love and care and that those people who are not loyal to them are just as patriotic to their homeland, the land where they are born in.

In fact, by using threats and harsh words, people tend to rebel against such so-called leaders. When people do not love such leaders, the people feel nothing but disgust for them. When that happens it is an indication that they are poor leaders with poor capability to lead.

Such leaders are often found among community leaders who only know how to fight for one particular community, neglecting everybody else. They are often racist. Should I say that? No, I believe these people are not actually racist, rather they make use of race issues or religious issues to become popular, more for their own selfish gains. But then, in that sense they are racist! But they are not actually fighting for the race. They merely make use of the race.

Examine what they say carefully and you find that they even say things which has no truth. One even claim that a particular race has been pushed to the wall and is in danger of losing power when in actual fact their power will always be in the hands of the rulers and the race is a majority community in the country, when the minority is merely asking for fairness in opportunities for all the poor and needy, something which no sane person would oppose.

Certainly, the rich needs no aids for anything. Yet when some politician said that the rich ought not to get discounted prices in purchasing houses, these people make a hue and cry as though those very rich who can afford houses at half a million ringgit still need such discounts. Imagine that! According to such leaders, people who are millionaires need discounts while people do not even have a quarter of a million ringgit have to buy houses without a sen discounted! Why the difference when Malaysia is the homeland for all of them? So why were those rich leaders making so much noise? Perhaps with their huge amount of money they hope to build huge mansions at discounted prices while some others buy their small terrace houses at no discount whatsoever. Not enough money? Sorry, no discount. Wait until you have saved enough, okay? I know you are a Malaysian too.

No, I am not envious of those truly poor people who are given discount for their houses but should not discount be given to all the truly poor Malaysians? Even though I am not filthy rich, I think I am rich enough not to need a discounted house. Of course, if a developer were to be so kind as to give me some discount, I would gratefully accept as I cannot consider myself rich either but I would never demand it or by using other people's situations to obtain it.

There was even one Malaysian Chinese Muslim who believed that Malaysian Chinese born in Malaysia ought not to consider Malaysia as their homeland in saying that those who are not happy with 'an uneven playing field' should go back to their homeland. He simply could not understand the word 'homeland'. What a pity! And he is not illiterate!

All the minority community is hoping to strive for is fairness in their homeland. Just as they are patriotic so do they think of equal opportunities in their own country. If their country where their allegiance and patriotism lie does not treat them as equals whereas can they find equality?

Is there an identity crisis in some people?

Early this morning, I went into Malaysia today to read about Mingguan Malaysia columnist Dr Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah’s ‘article in which he said that ‘minorities in Malaysia should not be too brave to challenge. He boldly told those who cannot respect the special position of Islam and the Malays should return to their homeland.’ And in doing so he talked as if he is a Malay which he is certainly not for he was born Tee Chuan Seng, a Chinese with the surname ‘Tee’.

Actually, I would not have paid any attention on such an article if not for the hurt and anguish felt by my sister-in-law.

“How can that Muslim convert tell us that we have no right to Malaysia, to tell us we ought to accept being second-class citizens, that the Malays are better people than us,” she demanded. “If I ever see him, I will give him a big slap. How can he claim the Malays are better than the Chinese?”

“Now, you shouldn’t say that. After all, the chap has the right to voice his own opinions. He could have known only Malays who are always better than the Chinese. And the Chinese he knows could have proved him right. (At this point I stopped a second as I realised, the closest Chinese he knows must be his parents, siblings and relatives as well as close friends. Were they all so bad that it has caused him to form such an opinion of the Chinese? Poor Guy! How can that be?) Furthermore, you wouldn’t slap him. You’re sufficiently educated and civilized to not do such a thing,” I chided her.

“Why not?” She protested. “If he makes me mad enough, I will be able to do it,” she insisted.

I stopped there as I did not wish to aggravate her feelings further. In my mind then, I was thinking we should not stoop as low with some unnecessary act when other people want to expose the fact that they cared not for their own dignity in their contempt of their own race.

Here is a chap who writes as though he is not a Chinese, talking of the minorities as though he is not one of them. When it comes to this, it is unbelievable that schooled people cannot understand what the meaning of race is. We are all born into a race, even though the name of any race is human created. If you are a Chinese, it has to be Chinese. You cannot be an Eskimo, an Indian or a Javanese, no matter what you do, be it entering a religion, plastering the face with your favourite colours or dyeing your hair. Neither can it be done with a sex change. A Chinese is born a Chinese, period! Adopting another name does not make you more Javanese or Japanese. A Chinese may adopt a Christian name and be a Christian but he is still as Chinese as any other, his buttocks remain as Chinese. That ought to be very simple to understand.

I think I am going to advise my sister-in-law to forgive the chap for he must be a very confused person. He could have lost his roots. The poor guy finds himself neither here nor there. We ought to teach and correct such people and not condemn them, for they have suffered enough with their identity crisis. Of course, not just in Malaysia but throughout the world there must be lots more who face identity crisis. Sometimes, the cause could be religion. Well, there are so many factors.
Actually, God never meant us to be separated by such identities. God gave us the land and put us somewhere convenient the day we were born. Humans in search for power and authority divide God’s land into so many countries, giving them names. From the names of the countries, names of races are created by man in another divisive manner so as to rule with power. So you see, we are divided today because of power crazy people. And Earth is our homeland.

Talking about homeland, even if we were to follow human’s division of our homeland, we must understand that our homeland many be different from where our ancestors were. It depends upon where we are born. The place we are born in is our homeland and no other. Do not allow anyone to drive us out of our homeland. For those born in Malaysia, Malaysia is our homeland and no one has the right to usurp that right of ours.

Even God does not do that. If any human were to tell us to ship out from our own homeland, tell him that even God does not do that. Does he think he is more powerful than God? If he thinks so, he does not believe in God.

Accepting failure is just as important.

There was a tennis tournament and the boy lost to another in the finals which is expected in any game. Someone has to lose in order that another can win. There can only be only one winner in the finals. However, on that day, immediately after the game, the mother of the boy who lost came running up to the referee red in the face with anger and frothing at the mouth. She demanded the referee explain how her child could have lost that crucial game. Despite the referee composure and requesting her to calm down so that they could talk sensibly, she raged and scolded with words most foul. It embarrassed everyone so to hear such words from a so-called educated woman. The referee was unable to appease her and had to walk away off the court to avoid further barrage of words.

Of course, no one took the side of the mother in her wrath as it was clear cut that the other boy was a better player that day. The poor boy who lost was the one who ought to be pitied for he could have realised that it was a fair game and was the victim of such unpleasantness. And it was certainly none of his doing but that was not all, the child knew he was to hear a lot of speeches he would want to avoid.
Should the mother have shouted and made such a scene? Should the mother have consulted with her son’s coach or other officials before lodging a complaint? What is the use of letting off steam so soon, at the time when the ego overrides reason and dignity goes down the drain.

The mother refused to allow reality to surface and in doing so could be doing more harm than good to her child. The reality is that no matter how good a person is at something, there will always be someone who can take over and prove himself or herself to be just as good. The child was the best but time changes things and soon another can take his/her place, just as the previous child had also overtaken another to be that time’s champion. However, win or lose, they know they have reached a level to be proud of. Thus, they are all winners in a certain period of their lives. No one, no matter the game, can be the winner forever. That is the position held only by God but we are all mere mortals.

And even if the prime of one’s life is not yet over, anyone can lose. It could be due to so many factors such as the weather, the mood of the day, the stress and strain of overtraining, pride and ego making one feel invincible which can never be, irritability or instability due to unforeseen circumstances and a multitude of other unknown factors. Whatever it is the loser of the day must graciously accept the fact that for that day, the other person is the better player.

Teaching a child not to accept failure when, in spite of everything else, it happens is to lead a child to sadness, frustrations and suicide. And sadness and frustration will surely accompany this child as failure is bound to happen to even the very best.

Teaching a child to accept occasional failure is necessary as it can and will happen. We must teach him/her to understand that failure is a path to learning. Some failures can be due to poor knowledge, insufficient practice, unavailability of good techniques and other possible weaknesses. So, if a person is trained to accept the defeat and search for the cause of the failure, he can see the weaknesses that his/her ego had prevented him/her from seeing. Sometimes, in failure we need a sincere friend or coach to point out the weaknesses; weaknesses which fans and supporters such as mothers and fathers cannot notice. Then, with this knowledge, the person can work to overcome the weaknesses so as to emerge a winner again.

The above is a true story with names not mentioned to avoid unnecessary embarrassment as the happening is used only to share and benefit from it. We ought to feel concerned as there have been times when the news media has informed us of suicide by people who have failed in one thing or another, unable to get up again to face life. This could be avoided if we understand that failure could be looked at in a more positive manner and that there is still life after failure. This is where knowledge from The ART of Living could be of help.

God did not send us to this world to play truant and run back to Him when the lessons in life gets too tough.

Defense for a woman, perhaps even for a man.

Here is an interesting email I received recently. It is helpful in instances where the attacker is stronger or better armed that you. So, do read on and if you follow the advice, it may save you from danger someday.

I know some of you own guns but this is something, especially for the ladies, to think about.

If you do not have a gun, here’s a more humane way to wreak someone’s evil plan. Do you know anything about a wasp spray? I didn’t. I never really thought of it before. I guess I can get rid of the heavy, difficult to manage baseball bat or whatever that I had thought of.

You see, a friend who is a receptionist in a church in a high risk area was concerned about someone coming into the office on Monday to rob them when they were counting the collection. She asked the local police department about using pepper spray and they recommended that she get herself a can of wasp spray instead.

What’s the difference, you would likely ask. Well, the wasp spray, they told her, can shoot up to twenty feet away and is a lot more accurate, while with the pepper spray, the attacker would have to be close to be effective. He would be too close to you and there is the possibility of overpowering you. The wasp spray temporary blinds an attacker until he can get to a hospital for an antidote.

The above receptionist keeps a can of wasp spray on her desk in the office and it does not attract any attention from people like a can of pepper spray would. She also keeps one nearby at home for home protection. Well, this wasp spray ought to be of use someday.

On the heels of a break-in and beating that left an elderly woman in Toledo dead, self-defense experts have this tip that could save a life.

According to the email I received, a person who teaches self-defense to students at a certain high school had for decades suggested putting a can of wasp and hornet spray near the door or bed.

This instructor has said, “This is better than anything I can teach them.” Well, if he did say that, I must admit that there is a lot of truth and wisdom in those words. And to say that requires great courage.

This instructor considers the wasp spray inexpensive, easy to find and more effective than mace or pepper spray. The can typically shoot twenty to thirty feet; so if someone tries to break into your home, spray the culprit in the eyes. It is a tip he has given his students for decades.

Using the spray will give the possible victim a chance to call the police or maybe escape from the attacker, and this can possibly save a life.

Since such a wasp spray can come in useful especially in our present times when danger still lurks at unknown places in our lives, there is not harm having one ready just in case.

Of course, we ought to test it for the accuracy and distance it can be effective perhaps on a pole twenty feet away. Knowledge of this would give us the ability to judge when and at what distance we can really use it.

According to the email, the wasp spray could even given protection against a snake besides the wasp.




.

Should society be so harsh with such a mistake?

The Malaysian government, in a cabinet decision declared that anyone who dumps a baby causing the child to die can be tried for murder and sentenced to death.

At first reading, it is obvious that anyone who causes the death of someone, be it a baby or an adult, ought to be tried for murder and face the death sentence.

In the latest decision, the problem that arises concerns the dumping of babies. The surprising fact is that most doers of such deeds are either mothers or parents of the babies. Since it is the mother or the parents who have committed this foul deed, should we not wonder where the natural love of the mother has gone to?

If we were to ponder on what has caused such mothers or parents to heartlessly throw away the lives of their flesh and blood, we could perhaps come out with some solutions to the problem of baby-dumping, for it must be realised that those young mothers cannot be all so heartless as we think. I sincerely believe those young mothers felt as much, if not more, pain and anguish as any of us in this issue. I believe if there was a solution to the problems they face, they would certainly hug their babies close with protection and reach out for the solution.

I think society has been too harsh with young women who has failed in their path to adulthood. We should consider whether we need to be so harsh, considering that it is a wrong which could happen to even the best of them. We could perhaps turn to God and think how God in His compassion would have wanted us to deal with it.

Who among us has never done a wrong in our lives? Mistakes are plentiful and we learned from those mistakes sometimes. This commitment of mistakes is something which can happen even to the best among us for we are not God. Only God is perfect. All we need do is to think back on our youth and remember the recklessness as well as the carelessness of our inexperienced years to understand that mistakes are so often made. Some mistakes, no matter how genuine they may be, have to be punished of course but such punishment ought to teach and correct rather than to leave the culprit with no way out, pushed to the wall where the person had no alternative. but to escape by committing an even worse act.

We have often read of young women who fall in love, sometimes with the wrong guys. Love and passion could have taken the women away from caution and reason. This is possible to everyone of us in such situations, be you a man or a woman. Let us not be in denial. Let us honestly face the fact that such things do and can happen even to the best educated or moral among us because at the time of love, everything seems so right. That is one reason society ought to introduce sex education so that action brought on by love and passion can happen with some kind of knowledge and safety.

Even with sex education, things can still go wrong for we are all humans. Now when things go wrong and a baby is the consequence, society ought to teach and correct these wayward-perhaps individuals to understand the wrongs they have done and have in place a system of assisting these young parents or of placing the new-born under an adoption scheme if the young mothers are unable to cope with the babies.

At present, society could be too harsh with such unfortunate women who found themselves pregnant out of wedlock. Unable to face such a society, the young mother has no one to turn to for solutions and without such solutions, society has left them with the only way out of their dilemma, to perform the dastardly act of dumping the consequence or be condemned to a kind of hell on earth to herself and her family. Even her own child would be condemned to be a bastard for life. The best option for her is pretty obvious. Yet again, due to inexperience and insufficient knowledge she commits an act which can be fairly easy to trace to her and with the new cabinet decision, there will be no reprieve if the sentence is mandatory death. But then death could be the best gift to her for then she has been punished and the trauma of having to kill her very own beloved flesh and blood will not haunt her any longer as death is the escape route.

But that need not be the case. She is just another human who has committed a wrong and even if society is compassionate enough to accept it as such, she still bears the burden of being a mother before she is ready to take on the responsibility. That is the law of nature. And as she matures, she would have learned her own mistake. With a compassionate society, the child would be safe as there would be no need for the trauma of removing the consequences. Imagine that! In each case two lives would have been saved, two lives that God sent to our world.

When can society be more Godly, be more forgiving like the Almighty, be as compassionate as God and help those less careful or inexperience with knowledge to teach and correct where necessary. It is the way of God and I believe that is what God would want us to be. Let us not just pray but also think of how He would want us to be. Just as He created all of us, He loves us and in our love for Him, we ought to think of Him and what He truly would have us show in our love and understanding of Him, of His compassion and love.

The law ought to be humane and carried out with compassion

Easy money come, easy money go.

The other day I read about an unfortunate man who thought he had found the way to easy money when he struck a lottery which rewarded him with seven hundred and fifty thousand ringgit. Most ordinary guys would know how to value such an amount of money, perhaps putting that sum in fixed deposit or learn how to invest wisely. If he had put that much money in fixed deposit, even at the current low interest, he could have been given a minimum thousand ringgit to enjoy himself with especially when as a farmer, a little more than that was what he got.

When he struck the jackpot, he not only did not take good care of the money but stopped work on his farm totally to enjoy himself, buying a new house and going on vacations. Buying a new house and going on vacations cannot be considered bad ideas as a good house to live in is essential to happiness and we all need vacations every now and then, don’t we? But what was wrong was hoping to strike it rich again and so never have to work ever again. You know what he did? He spent 1,800 ringgit on a single bet for the next five years! For anybody to win that huge sum of money in a lottery is a kind of luck many do not have the chance to experience. He should have realised that and had managed his money well.

Well, can we actually blame him? You see, he was not ready for the money as he did not actually work for it. He could not appreciate the actual value of the money. He did not realise that money can be finished easily if we do not know how to use it correctly. Getting it was too easy. So the person does not know how to value it.
Study the sad stories of people who had money given on a platter with no need for effort to secure it such as enormous sums of money through lottery, robbery, cheating or inheritance and we see that such money usually, unless someone is at hand to give good advice and such advice is followed, is lost easily through careless handling or mismanagement. (I hasten to add that not every inheritance can be considered easy money as some of the children or benefactors do help in the affairs of the one who has bequeathed them the fortune. Even robbers, if they feel that they have put in a lot of effort to secure the loot, they would also take good care of it.) So, because a sum of money is a gift from thin air, it disappears just as easily into thin air.

And when that happened to this man, with his money gone, his good life no longer possible, he resorted to an easy way out. According to the news, he dug a hole at the back of his house, went into it, splashed petrol over his body, lighted it and made a flaming farewell to life.

This is the second time I have come across such a sad story of lottery winners. The first guy was from Kodiang when I was teaching there. It has been written in an earlier posting. The first guy’s fortune disappeared even faster, within a year as he had a wife to help him spend it. Not that I blame his wife for it seemed that it was she who brought him the fortune in the first place.

Cheating even small sums.

"The guy who came told you his supplement can cure you of diabetes?" his lady friend asked. "Well, if the guy is so confident of his supplement doing that, he should not worry about letting you try a bottle of his supplement. Tell him you would pay for it if it really does get rid of your diabetes," his lady friend suggested.

"Well, I don't think he would want to give you a bottle to try. What if you refuse to pay him the money even when the doctor had certified that you are totally cured of your diabetes," the man told her.

"Come on! As though a person who can recover from diabetes would not pay a thousand or two for that marvelous supplement. Certainly the person would be so grateful for the cure that he would immediately pay for it," she protested at the preposterous idea of not wanting to pay.

"You think that is not possible? And you're talking about things worth more than a thousand ringgit. Let me tell you my experience as a hawker. I am selling noodles and each bowl or packet of noodles cost a mere one ringgit and sixty sen when I was hawking. There was this man who has been frequenting my stall for some months. One day he came for two packets of the noodles. When everything was ready for him to take the two packets of noodles, he told me he forgot to bring out any money. He told me he would bring the money the next time he would come for noodles. Well, he was already a sort of regular customer by then. Three months. Furthermore, the two packets cost only two ringgit and thirty sen. So I allowed him to take those two packets with the belief he would pay another day. Would you believe it? Since that day, for the last few years I was still there I did not see the chap again. He just disappeared for a miserable two ringgit and sixty sen! Just for two packets of noodles! Imagine that! So what more if it is a thousand ringgit!" the man demanded to know.

"You just said the chap did not appear again. Perhaps he died," the woman suggested.

"Okay, let us say this one died. But this is not the only one who have cheated. Some are even very creative with their stories. There was one who perhaps had some kind of conscience. The young man bought five packets and told me he had not enough money as he had to buy something else. So he paid for two packets and promised to pay for the other three packets the next day. Again, the young man has been frequenting the shop for some time and so what was three packets of noodles but merely
three ringgit and ninety sen. Nobody can get rich with such a small sum of money and none can be very much poorer with three ringgit and ninety sen less. Well, believe it or not, the man was never seen again. Another of your dead men?" he asked with indignation written all over his face.

"Well, he could have moved house to another town. You know, too far away to return just to pay three ringgit and ninety sen. The bus-fare itself will most probably be double or triple that," was the only possible comment of the lady.

"And you know there was one time when a stranger did go off with a free breakfast. The man came smartly dressed you would never realise here was a cheap-skate, small-time con. He ordered three packets of noodles and asked that one of the packets be prepared first as the friend in the car was waiting for him to give him one packet before going some place. For this friend, the guy wanted a very special packet with everything extra; extra noodles, more meat, added vegetables and eggs. When the packet was ready, the smartly dressed guy took the packet, rushed over to a car parked on the other side of the road and before anyone was aware of it, he was in the driver's seat and driving away. No chance of recording any numbers from the number plate. The next time I looked up from preparing the other two packets, the guy was gone with his car. And I was left with two packets without any takers. And, of course, no money! What a con! That guy was real creative, getting me absorbed in preparing another two packets for him and expecting him to return for them. Well, one thing you can say about these guys. They have brains, only that their brains were being wrongly used. And so, don't ever ask me again who would not pay for a supplement that had got them back their health. Many, believe me. Many!"

Well, there are certainly many types of people in this world and some of them would stoop very low for things free. Fortunately, I believe that those who are good, honest and caring still make up the majority. Thank God for that.

Burdened with a past?

Some people have pleasant lives from the day they were born to the present day. However, not everyone is that fortunate. Some have difficult childhoods, miserable teenage years and guilt-ridden adult lives. Some remained scarred by their past to the end of their lives, unable to remove the shackles that held them down.

There is one lady who has a difficult past because of her community and her family. Her parents was not one of those happily ever-after couples and both her parents were constantly quarreling with the older members of the community so inquisitive as to want to know all the sordid details of the problems.

Now this lady was from nature quite defensive of her parents' behaviour. So, whenever possible she would not want to be around to answer the 'busybody's' questions. She wanted to be left alone. Well, let's put it this way: she did not wish to have the family's dirty linen to be washed in public. She wished to safe-guard her family's name and dignity.

However, every now and then questions cannot be avoided and when confronted by these people she became defensive. Although she is always polite and smiling to all those people's meddling, inside her, she hated those people who seemed so delighted to hear of her parents' problems. Those people seem to enjoy the misfortune of her family. And that hurts her a lot.

At the same time, she knew her parents were not on good terms and that brought the children a lot of unhappiness. So she put in effort to have the parents come to an understanding and to reach the stage where communication can flow so as to have mutual respect if not love. She became even more frustrated as all her efforts to improve the parents' relationship failed. She failed and developed the guilty feeling of not having put in sufficient attempts or consistency to find a solution.

Meanwhile, self-survival instincts kicked in and she tried to avoid everybody, even her parents. She tried to forgive her parents for not wanting to come together again. She also forgave herself for having failed in reconciliation between her two parents. She said that to a certain extent she had managed to let go of her problems.

Her decision to overcome her guilt and torments was based on the realisation that when she felt guilty she can lose her temper and be abusive. Such temper and words of anger were thrown at the person who loves and care for her the most. And despite what she had said, this person, her husband, merely keeps quiet and was so understanding of her problems. His attitude gets to her and she feels that she is most unfair and so needs to change, to remove the toxic guilt before it destroys what she holds most dear. Thus she has started on the perhaps long journey to recovery by understanding that the past was no fault of hers and ought not to bring guilt but the present deserves her courage to stand up and face it correctly so that it stands the chance to develop and mature into something beautiful through this effort of guilt removal.

Well, she has certainly moved in the right direction by knowing that the guilt was not hers and whatever had happened was not within her control and the past is definitely past and over. She rightly should not allow that dark gloomy cloud of guilt to shadow her days in the present time or the future. She must leave that cloud behind and move on in life to days in which there can still be darkness but not for long as with each day, there could always be some sunshine.

What's the difference in a name?

Both the above flowers bloom on plants which take a long, long time to grow. Both the flowers are very attractive, one a striking yellow while the other an eye-catching red. Yet, among the Chinese especially, one is well-known by name but the other's name is not even known by this writer. I only know it to be one of the many cactus in this world.

And when anyone is given a choice of taking one of them home, most people would choose the one with the red flower. Why?

The one with the red flower is more popular because of its name. In Chinese it is known as the 'Fu Kui Hwa' which means prosperity flower. It is because of the name that this flower is desired to grace the homes of people who believe that wealth will flower in its wake. So, names are important. It is true of so many things that parents choose their children's names according to the desired result. Nowadays we have the money plant which according to some have a poisonous sap. Though looking more like plastic leaves on a plastic stem, it is precious to homes where the people think that it could help pave the way to money. Then there is the coin plant, with rounded leaves visualised as coins which is another popular plant. Looks like the name maketh the plant and its popularity.

My own son has a preference for the cactus and the beautiful blooms that a good number of them have. This is possibly the effect of the parents never imparting the belief that names can bring about changes in ones life. Of course, sometimes names do have some effect on the bearer when it comes to children and that was the reason I chose my children's names very carefully. (I have written about that in an earlier posting.) However, plants ought not to play such an importance where the name is concerned. The importance of the plant ought to lie in the nutrients it contains, its uses as oxygen factory, food, health and aesthetic value.

Nevertheless, humans are such that names somehow plays an important part in life and knowing that nursery owners and plant propagators know the marketing strategy of giving the right names to bring the desired effect on the minds of the customers.

Is the money more important than a relationship?

Do you know how money can bring serious problems? It can even divide a family and cause so much dissension. And if they consider money more important than your relationship, it can cause heartache. To illustrate my point, allow me to tell you a true story.

There was a lady with a factory. She employed many workers and of course, since some of her relatives need work and were unable to find such work at other places, she usually employ such relatives too. After all, charity begins at home. Of course, this is no charity as the relatives had to work to get their pay. However, like charity, generosity ought to begin at home too, just as every good trait should. Well, she employed them for she did need a great number of workers in her factory and they did do the same amount of work as the others.

However, as the years crept by, the workers grew older. According to the factory, the retirement age was fifty-five. So, as each worker reached that age, they automatically expect themselves to be retired and live on their employees' provident fund as well as their savings besides any amount of money their children might bestow upon them.

That is the case for all the workers except a few relatives. There was in particular one such relative in her factory. This relative had worked in her factory for a good number of years. Upon the age of fifty, he used his relationship with her to request for an extension of service. Then, ten years late, at the age of sixty-five, he still wanted to continue although he was old and frail. She advised him to stop as his children were already working and on their own. He refused with complains lodge against her, insisting that he was still able and ought not to be denied his pay. In fact, at that stage, he was being paid a full-time worker's salary although he was given only a few hours work on only three days a week. Yet, he did not seem to be satisfied. He would complain that she was stingy with her money and wanting to deprive him of a salary when he was still capable of doing his work.

This went on and she relented to his pleas and demands each year until he has finally reached the age of seventy-five years this year. In fact he was already too weak to do his work satisfactorily and even the lady's supervisor could no longer stand his behaviour and so complained about his slipshod work despite knowing that the guy was his boss' relative. In fact she was happy that the supervisor knew that the guy could not perform well any longer and even asked the supervisor to stop him from working at the factory. Again, there another round of complaints about her to all the relatives he still had contact with.

Imagine being condemned and made to appear bad to other relatives. That was what she got for helping this relative. She was really frustrated but was unable to do anything about it as he was a close relative, not just anybody she could simply kicked or ordered out of her factory.

From this story, perhaps we ought not to mix business with relatives but then someone out there could be doing something great with hie or her relatives. So there can be no fixed rules about such matters. What do you think?

Nothing must stop him on his path to business success?

Today I read in the Star's 'Other news and views compiled' by a group of journalists that is one of the strangest piece of news I have ever come across. I suppose this is what someone meant when the person says that 'truth is stranger than fiction.'

From China Press, there was this report about a woman who had married a man for fourteen years to live as a single woman.

When this woman was about twenty-six years old, she married a man and they lived happily as most married people would. The man worked very hard and soon had spread his business to a number of Asian countries. Well, he became successful and you would have thought behind every successful man is a woman. And we would have taken for granted that there must be gratitude. Gratitude? I do not really understand his actions. Perhaps he thought, he needed no longer the motivation from the wife. Or that man thought that having a woman around was a hindrance as his business empire was expanding fast. Furthermore, he had already had a married life and once was enough, maybe. So as to avoid the hindrance perhaps, one day when he returned from an overseas business trip he decided to move back with his parents in Singapore and he forbade her from staying with him or meeting him. No, he did not want a divorce either as all he wanted was to focus on his business and so he gave her a monthly allowance of one thousand ringgit. So with just one thousand ringgit a month, he had a wife, a child and a marriage that he did not have to be bothered with. The appeals made by the wife for him to return to the family fell on deaf ears. And with that the poor wife had to live a marriage without a husband she can love and care for. That was how determined he was to focus on his business success. Was it worth it? Who are we to ask when we know not his background and the factors that caused him to make such decisions. All we know is what we have read. The rest we can only guess. But certainly, this is the strangest true life story I have ever known.

According to the story, the man did care about his child as he bought an expensive luxurious condominium a few years ago and took his child to stay with him, leaving the wife alone. Isn't that strange?

What could possibly have happened? Did a clairvoyant foresaw something that caused him to behave thus? Did someone place a curse upon his marriage? Was there actually someone else but he did not want the a marriage break-up to taint his success? His actions are simply to mysterious to comprehend. Whatever it is, it must have been tough for both of them. So we can only pray that they can see a way out of their problems. It is perhaps a case for divine help. God, please help them.

Is it a fair world?

This morning I met Grace at the top of the hill where I have my daily exercise. As we were doing a number of exercises Grace commented about those strong huge trees that we seem to see everywhere despite their seemingly giving no benefits to anyone.

Of course those trees are of great benefit to us but they just do not have some of the visual beauty that humans look for in plants. When I say visual beauty I refer to the shape of leaves and their colours, attractive flowers that lovers would like to take home to their loved ones and perhaps the ability to be shaped the way humans want them to.

The next time you meet a tree, take a good look at it and see the delightful smoothness or the beautiful texture of its rough bark wrapped around its trunk, appreciate the wonderful way its branches reach out so systematically as as not to be entwined. Look at their arrangement. Then enjoy the refreshing variety of green of the foliage as it ages with each different green. Therein lies the beauty of nature.

Besides appearance, plants, no matter which they may be, produce the oxygen we breathe in, replacing the carbon dioxide we breathe out. We need them as much as they need our understanding of the importance of plants. Undoubtedly, all plants are beneficial to mankind.

Then, I told her that this is obviously meant to be a fair world with everyone's needs taken care of. Plants with colourful, attractive flowers die easily when unattended to. These plants are more fragile and so require more care. God got humans interested in them and thus ensure their survival and propagation. The same goes for fruit trees. Those with better, more tasty fruits apparently need more attention.

However, there are some trees and plants which do not attract the love of humans. They are the plants that only can be found in our jungles and forests. One common characteristic among them is their toughness, trees with huge tall trunks and roots that dig deep into the ground in search of nutrient and water, vines that creep and crawl as well as climb upwards to reach sunlight. The will to survive is indeed strong. I have even seen a vine that though cut off from the bottom, hanging high up a branch could send thin threads of roots down to the group below in search of life-giving food and water.

Certainly, what a plant or tree lacks, it is being compensated with something else to give it equal opportunity to survive and propagate. Yes, if we were to look at nature, there is much to understand and less to fear. For every disadvantage, there must be some advantage somewhere. All that is needed is the strong enough desire to look for it. (For people, look for the inspiration in Jessica Cox whom I have written about earlier.) It's a fair world. And Grace agreed. What about you? Do you agree?

Have we voted in the right people?

When political leaders do not have the welfare of the nation and all its people at heart, they do not give much in-depth study and proper planning before agreeing to anything.Operating on political expediency, politicians agreed to sign away the future of the people they are to represent.

First it was the use of the words 'Bumiputra' and 'non-Bumiputra' agreed to by the Chinese and Indian politicians. Those two words are the most divisive works in the Malaysian vocabulary. They divide the citizens into two distinct groups of people, making one more privileged than the other, and even to the extent where politicians from a certain party comprising of just Bumiputras claim that they were the masters of the other citizens. In such a political climate, certain opportunists grabbed the chance to to be the more rightful citizens of the country and according to their logic are more entitled to the wealth and land of the country. How we can ever unravel such a tangle of disunity is truly beyond me. For once a people is divided thus, the one in the better position would be reluctant to let go of such an advantage.


And today, there is this Chinese political party which showed its immaturity, unsteady on its feet, unable to stand firm on its fight for the rights of the minority. Again, for the sake of political expediency, the political leader of the party had to back down on what was said and claimed that it was just voicing the problems of a Christian non-government organisation when asking for an early settlement of the 'Allah' issue. In the first place, if the political leader was not in agreement or does not support what had been brought up, he should not have voiced it. When a political leader voices it, then it must be because he is in agreement with it. So if he were to say otherwise we wonder who this political leader represent? How can politicians be respected if they have no conviction on what they say or do and instead of putting forward the message because he is in agreement with it, he claimed he was just voicing the thoughts of a non-government organisation. And what is wrong with bringing up the wishes of the people even though the same wishes have been voiced by an opposition? Are politicians supposed to go against a proposition even if it is for the good of the citizens and the country merely because it is brought up by an opposition? Did we not vote a politician so that he could stand up for us and our country's interest? Would he be willing to represent us and fight for our rights? What is the use of politicians who dare not stand or fight for our rights? We might as well return to the wild of the jungle where we need to fend for ourselves.

Ah, but then perhaps we are the ones who are in the wrong. Remember, we are the ones who put them there to represent us. To choose someone who dare not represent us, that was silly of us. So it is inevitable that we should ask ourselves some questions and answer them truthfully. Why did we vote for such politicians? Was it because we were of the same race? How stupid that is. By now we ought to have realised, politicians use the race issue to make use of us, to get our votes. Or was it because he comes from the same party we joined? Would you support the party if it plays us out and sells out our future? A friend? Can he still be considered one when he turns his back on you? Was it because he shook your hands during the election campaign? Come on! He shakes every Tom, Dick and Harry's hand, even that of his enemy just to secure a vote. Or was it a fifty ringgit note he slipped into our palms? Oh, my God, to sell ourselves at only fifty ringgit?
It is time we think carefully before we vote for anyone. Is the person going to bring up our grievances when we most need him to? Can he perform? Will he do it even if he has to put his political life in jeopardy? If he is such a person, vote for him regardless of the party he comes from.

However, there are times when we do not know a person well enough to give an answer to the above questions. Then, what do we do? Are we going to throw away that vote? What a waste! Of course, we must exercise our right to vote. We ought to consider what alternatives we have in deciding the future of our country.
For the last fifty or more years we have only one party, the Barisan National, ruling Malaysia. Are you satisfied with it? Do you think there has been too much corruption? Is the present government good enough for the future development of this country? Have they been listening to the grouses of the people? Do you think it has been a fair government, fair to every citizen? Is it clean and transparent in all its dealings? Should we give the opposition party a chance? Do we want a two-party system whereby the citizens, after some time when the opposition has gained sufficient governing experience, would be able to turn to another party should the ruling government become too arrogant or corrupted? For me, a two party system is really good as it has been proven again and again that a party which has ruled too long becomes too confident and becomes too corrupted as a result. However, if ever one party becomes too arrogant or corrupted, we can always give a chance to the other party. After all, both parties at present comprise of all races and no race ought to be neglected. Therefore it is good for all citizens and the country to have a two-party system.
It is time people make the right intelligent choices in elections, choosing the correct candidates, voting for them so that they can think deeply and plan carefully for the growth of the country. Our country especially ought to be way ahead of most in our Asian region as we have most of our wealth from so many natural resources and no natural disasters to take away such wealth. Yet, a number of not so rich countries are progressing so much faster than us, a few moving ahead even ( An excellent example is Singapore with only its industries and man-power as its resources for wealth.) while some so poor countries are gradually catching up. Why? Is it because of the politicians that we have voted in? To improve the future of our country, it is time to think and do the right thing.