Looking away from pain.

Just dropped off my daughter at the bus station for her trip back to Cyberjaya - University Multi Media (MMU) and jst before she left she showed me a text message from her roommates complaining of getting eaten alive by bugs, ranging from mosquitoes, cat fleas, bed bugs, mites; still no determination made which. So the cat Olly 9is the culprit r so it seems and my daughter is left to deal with the issue in her mind all the way back to her apartment shared with a few young ladies. There are the dramas in life to be expected as we grow and interact with others especially those we care most about. Most of our miseries seems to be brought upon us by ourselves like the raising of a cat i an apartment full of girls! I hope my daughter can deal with the situation with skillful means and greater more adult understanding than getting sucked into petty squabbles between friends who have spent many years growing up together through schools.

                                              We just Voted! Indelible ink proof. Who did i voted for? Ha! Ha!

Marissa had put in fifteen hours of work a day since she arrived at the China House on Beach Street in Georgetow where two Australian ladies ran the place as part of the Bon Ton hotels chain. It is a high class establishment with good Western Food and Ambiance. Marissa has been working with the establishment ever since they had set up their operation in Georgetown and has the confidence of the owners so much so that she is allowed to work there every time she is back in Penang. I got to know the young adults who work the place from bar tenders to clean up guys and all are most friendly and respectful of me while I sat and draw at the table every time i picked her up from work It is pleasant to watch them run about serving customers or teasing among each other while at work.I am glad that Marissa has been able to stay with Bon Ton - China House for quite a few years now and learned the tricks of the trade which also help in her self confidence. She has made many good friends at the place which makes it like a retreat for her to rejuvenate her energies with 'Real' people whenever she comes home.

There' s shrimps under the News papers! A Modern Malay saying.

At home it is like living in an oven in the day time and incessant traffic noises as the house is located at one of the most busy junction. I sometimes feel suffocated with the whole environment but i managed to work with it by staying most of my time at the Museum like I am a paid employee while enjoying the air conditioned office space and the availability of the PC which I share with one of the staff members. and it has been more than five years now as this blogging can testify. I sleep late in the morning and take a little nap whenever i can but stay up till early in the morning doing my stuff outside by the dining space where ample lightnings and table and chairs are readily available. This is when there is peace and quiet with hardly any traffic and no one to bother me. I usually read and meditate, do my art and work out my ta Chi and breathing exercisers. This has been my life mostly between home and the Museum. In the evening i would drop by the Taman Sadon Food Court and have tea and a bite to eat while hanging out with one of my close friends who sells 'Kueh' (like sweets) there. I know most of the people there as i have been frequenting the place over the years, Later on the way home i would drop by the 'Pondoks' by the sea where I would take it easy winding down sitting in one of the fisherman's huts built on stilts over the water contemplating life and resting from the humdrum of the city.

More floors are being added for further expansion into the sea; this is the symbolic fate of the Penang Malays; driven out into the sea. None to blame really but the Malays themselves in more than one way they sold the land right from under the feet of the citizensc           - or at least those they have been electing to run their lives for over fifty years - the snakes and the monitor lizards.

The Malays in Penang owe it to themselves to pull out of this rut they are in and the sooner the better and as not too many Malays were elected from the Opposition party (the BN) the wellbeing of their future is signed and sealed; in Penang; in the Chinese' hands.(for now). I do not see anything wrong with it as a matter of fact it is a hidden blessing for them as only patience will tell. Having close friends who are Chinese and having grown up among the penang born Chinese, i dare safely say the Malays in Penang are in safe hands if they can see better instead of acting out of ignorance or influences.

The Chinese on the other hand will have to come to a term with themselves with regards to the fate of the Penang Malays; how to coexis for the benefit of one and all. For over fifty years Penang residents have existed alongside of each other perhaps a whole lot more if we were to lokk all the way back to our first generation of Penangites. Our forefathers and mothers forged this State, this island into what it is today. It is imperative that the Penang Chinese will 'care' for their Malay counterpart and so too the Indians; to act otherwise will spell a long term disaster for us in all forms; we will never attain peace. We suffer in the meantime economically, environmentally, mentally and physically simply because those who we had elected to care for us had let us down;Badly. Now we have a new chapter of Governance for the Nation let us see how they fare compared to their predeccesors. Will they too drift into the pit falls of Greed -Hate - and Ignorance like those before them. Will the newly elected leaders keep to their vows of serving the people or will they forget and become self serving just like the many before them?

                                          Let us Learn from The Masters, let not their knowledge and wisdom go to waste. Their chilvalry and honesty, their skillfull means in handling our affairs all these years too must be acknowledge and given a favorable space in our history and this espccially those who had been the Leaders of the Opposition.  H>H.The Yang di Pertuan Agung should offer to these individuals their highest titles as offered direct from the peaople to these men who had been a intergral part of our nation building. THis is Not an offer made by the Government or any Ruler of States, this is the wish of the People. Do I need to start a campaign on this?

Rambling to Myself.

I don't know why and I do not which to even know why, but the more one try to be honest and accepting of others the less one feels good about oneself -  at least these last few days. I have been acting up all kinds of dramas in my mind one replacing another plot by plot episode by episode; it is like Astro in my head. Where am I? Who am I? Why am I, I am that I am? Severing the umbilical chord from the external world to that of the inner, from the material to the spiritual from the seen to the unseen is much more harder than the severance of the umbilical chord that attached you to your mother; the world of Maya, (illusion)
To live life in full awareness is like being awakened into a nightmare, indeed you see the madness humanity is headed towards from seeing how you yourself are also have been drifting along in this Mayavic Realm of consciousness, not seeing that which is Reality and that which is illusion, that which is sacred and that which is profane. I am and have been always riding the train towards Ultimate - Complete in Awakening for most of my life, often not realizing it. I am in the process of metamorphosing from the larvae into the butterfly and I will crawl out of this cocoon of existence and fly in rainbow of colors into the clear blue  skies. I am, That I am!

GE13 - The Day of Reckoning -The aftermath.

I was watching the results being announced of the General Election along with another Malay artist friend Shaparel at my brother Lee Khai's residence. One of the intriguing fact that i observed was the fact that it took almost six hours for the counting of votes to be completed which is a very long time by any standard. Then there was the shocker results that places where the opposition were positive of winning slipped into the BN hands by very narrow margins and then the overall loss of the opposition which spell another five years of long complete denial with corruption and abuse of powers. Change is not going to happen in the near future. If here is going to be any changes it will have to happen from within BN itself.
I am thankful for the fact that the election went through withou any major riots or bloodbath which many fear might happen given the unhealthy atmosphere of the General Election. Now that BN has on the overall election it is back to the same old grind of wondering what would have been had the Opposition taken over the country. As a Malaysian I feel a loss of opportunity for the nation to do its 'Spring Claning' without any blood spilled or major disruption to the economy. I am proud that the Penang people the Malays, Chinese and Indians are able to unite in delivering yet another strong message to the rest of the country; Yes it is time for change.
Those who have plundered the wealth of the nation over the decades rule by BN can yet again take a sigh of relief as they are safe from being prosecuted if the opposition had won. The amount of money spent by the BN election campaign machinery's must be phenomenal the least to say and one don't have to look deeper than the amount of flags and buntings distributed for the purpose of a psychological impact and not to mention the free bees in terms of T-Shirts and caps, the dinners and lucky draws that were included in some areas. Perhaps this is normal in times of campaigning in order to win the people's mindset especially those who live in the rural areas and are less exposed to the social changes happening in the more urban areas.
It is no doubt that the opposition felt cheated by the final outcome and is up in arms to prove this as the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has vowed to make it his political. 'jihad'. But life goes on as far as the Rakyat or people are concern and the winner takes the cake, yet again and the looser has to live and fight another day. The people have woken up at least a great percentage are snapped into consciousness by the the so called " Chinese Tsunami" as coined by the incumbent Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak. The Malays at least are shaken for better or worse, awaken from their slumber in their comfort zones of practically living in denial and exploitation and corruption as pointed out by the former PM Tun Mahathir, "The Malays are Greedy!" It is something anathema to their religious belief in Islam. But greed comes in all kinds of guises and shades which we every so often fail to recognize until it has become like and addiction. The greed for wealth, fame and power, the greed for control over others the greed of not being able to share what is excess and the wanting for more. As there are billions of stars in the skies more than enough to go around for the whole planet's population if each and every man women and child were to be given one each, we will still not be satisfied and would try to own more, grasping, clinging and clambering for more.
It is time to move on regardless as far as I am concern as the country needs to lick its wounds from the political skirmishes, it is time to take very close count of what needs to be done to rectify and reconcile, to tend to the continuation of Nation building. It is time to not regress and it is time to lay down all the political rhetoric's and concentrate on the the formation of a Transparent and Effective Governance as what the people ask for when they casted the ballots.
I hope it wil not become another long battle of Egos as Anwar Ibrahim and Najib Tun Razak manage the nation into the future, I hope a truce be made for the sake of the nation and the smooth run of the country be made a priority. I hope the likes of Tun Mahathir and Dato Nik Aziz of Kelantan will bow out graciously and let the newly formed cabinet of ministers do their job. I hope that all petty grievances related to the errors made human or otherwise be overlooked by all and sacrifices be made towards not adding to the already volatile situation we have braved through; otherwise it will all come to nothing. Patience is a virtue still highly admired by all religions and beleif systems. Change will occur if within your hearts you have felt the change; you cannot change the world without chnaging yourself first.

So after all the hoopla I am back to square one where life is concern, financially broke, mentally stagnant and physically aches and pains from old age setting in. it takes a great deal these days to get up and motivate myself to get anything done. My daughter has come home from the University for a short break and my car decided to have an alternator issue costing me 200RM which i had to borrow from my cousin much as i hated to do so., but... life goes on and the show must go onnn..

Much talk about politics still buzzing around the coffee shops and pondoks, but i am saturated with all the in formations from both the pros and cons so i just listened with no- mind. I doubt that my thoughts would have much effect on this matter anymore but i am thankful that there was no major outbreak of violence; it is not over yet however and at the rate things are happening who knows where it will all lead to.It is Sunday and after sending Marissa to work like she always does whenever she is back in Penang I decided to do some painting and am glad i came here as it keeps me busy and not get wrapped up into entertaining my woes.
I am expected to go to a wedding of one of my nephews,( my twin brother's youngest boy) in Kuala Lumpur sometime next week but am ambivalent about going.  As mentioned before I am broke yet again, and furthermore I am not too keen on making an appearance  at my twin brother's big event which has its own reasons but damn  if i do and damn if i dont'. I don't even have any idea how many grand nephews and nieces i already have thus far in my family as most are out of touch and rarely do i get to see them so much so that nowadays i don't really give a damn anymore. I have instilled into my children's minds that they hold respect for their elders no matter what family drama they hear from them and I am glad to find that they have taken my advice.

Continued;
Last night a thief broke in our house and took Karim's lap top and His Blackberry hand phone, his cousin's hp and wallet, thank god he missed my daughter's newly bought lap top.  Karim place a trace on his Blackberry and discovered it to be close to where we live but not the exact house as the area is made up low cost flats like the Ghetto. So it is like when it rains it pours. I feel sorry for my son as it is his second Blackberry to be stolen, the second one is actually mine but hey have children someday and let me know if you would do otherwise when your son takes over your stuff. It is better that they abscond your things for their own than they not having anything to do with you or your stuff.

And There were Flags everywhere

Macang, Kelantan on the way to Terengganu

Macang, Kelantan

To most the General Election was like another time for festivities except that the politicians would not let it be so..

Most lack imagination in flag display but size is what mattered.

Some just simply just did a slapstick job of making it look worse than it already is.

There are those who had to make a more creative statement reflecting the culture of the people.

Then there places where the seemed not enough space to hang all the flags and it came out to look like ticker tpae parade.

 Wherever they were found, the flags brought colors to the environment.

It was aesthetic beauty that took me three days and nights to drive from Penang to Terengganu and to Kota Bharu in Kelantan and later back to Penang.

Georgetown was more inundated by the One Malaysia flags than any others; Barisan Nasional (BN) went all out to paint the town Blue.

This is a sight one rarely see except when comes the General Election time in Malaysia.

Off Jalan Lim Chong Eu or the Jelutong Highway.

Cant seem to place where this was.

Kelantan -Pics by Fadzly Mubin

Post GE13



I am writing this after the final countdown of GE13 but still using the pics of flags because I feel they are among the best of the five hundred odd pictures I took throughout my journey from Penang to Kualla Terengganu (Marang) and frpm Marang tp Kotah Bahru, Kelantan - then back to Penang where i continued to take more pics.



I had wanted to do this earlier but could not find the sponsor so i put it on hold till a week from the GE13 Day, I approached Mr.Lee Khai and he immediately offered me some cash and told me to do it. One of my intentions in doing this photo -documentation of the 'War of Flags" is to put it all together in a book. A small booklet that will be a fond reminder or otherwise of this major event in the lives of all of us Malaysians.



It is my hope that I can help to share the hidden wonder of what is part of  our culture -Flags! We Malaysians love to hang flags, just give us a chance to, a reason for and we will go all out.





If I had been a lecturer or an Art professor, i would have encouraged my students to take upon themselves to do what i just did. Yes history may repeat itself but there will never be a second space in time. Time is ever in the Now to capture the Now is capturing history. Just as these pictures are now forever loaded into this Blog and just as this blog will continue on into the future so long as Google exist thus is history kept.



I  only hope that those in power today will always remember what the people demands are and fulfill their promises made to them. I only hope that those who lost will accept defeat with Grace and Dignity and vow never to give up or give in  in the yearn to fight for the well being of this country.

I only hope that the people will take a moratorium on politics for a year at the very least and allow for the ruling party as elected by them to carry out their mandates without too much interventions; politicians will lead on observing this phase of the post election transitional period. Give the guy a chance, the country a chance, the people to get back to their lives before you drag in GE14.



Swallow your pride and lick your wounds but know that you have made your intention known and your voices have been heard loud and clear;the ball is in their park. We the people have done our part; we have voted you! Now do your work as you have professed to do.



If history were to look back at GE13 what would it say? It most probably would say that "Some things never change, then again, some things does!" (Morpheus- Matrix.)