Just taking stock.

 Sun Oct 4, 2020.

Just thought I'd take stock of things on this humble post.

Like Hank, I started this blog 12 years ago. Blogging had been around like, forever. Aspan tried to set up the first blog for me. But I came across this little book on blogging. Coming home, I thought I might as well try it. 

I had written to "Readers write" or something on New Straits Times many times before that. I was pleasantly surprised that every time I sent my notes, they printed them, though they edited them here and there. I just wanted to polish my English. But I wrote on things I know, right from mind to paper, the way I know.  I suppose they sounded genuine and worthy of space on their papers. Once I caught the blog-bug, I left "Readers write". (A few friends followed them, by the way).  Naturally my most productive year was that first one. Up to now I count 512 postings. At about 600 words each, I should have more than 300,000 words altogether. As I'd said to Hank, maybe I should put them in a book.

I'd always wanted to pen my memories so my children and their children could share my life experiences. I'm leaving them no money. I might as well share my memories. I sure would like to record all that I can recall in seven decades of living thus far.

Somewhere in this blog in the last 12 years I'd already mentioned flashes of some of these life experiences. I may have even mentioned some  more than once. I don't keep proper track. They haven't been done in any particular order. I sat down and wrote what inspired me  each time.   Places I visited, schools I went to, work that I'd done, past times that are still fun, relatives old, new and sadly departed, and friends old, new and also sadly departed. I feel I should dock them all somewhere just for memory's sake.

I have a world map on the wall in my  room.  I put red dots on all the countries I'd visited. Not too bad. All continents except the Arctic and Antartic seem covered. The next plan was to make annual forays into neighbouring countries for 1-week hops these last few years, which I did. But the pandemic has put that on hold. Bandung, Bangkok, Saigon and Bukit Tinggi are all within 2 hours of KLIA, and even repeat visits have  been enjoyable and cheap.

All immediate uncles and aunts are gone, from both my father's and mother's side. I attended all their last rites, but have not been able to make visits to their last resting places, and I feel guilty about it. Many I have fond memories of, because my parents took the trouble to make visits, even when they were far, say, in Gua Musang and Butterworth. These were not within easy reach, because until my father was about to retire, he didn't have a car.

Several first cousins have also left us. One in Jengka 23 I had wanted to be with when he died, but couldn't. I'm still marking it in my "to do" list to visit his grave. I met his widow at a relative's wedding and told her so, but she jokingly ( I hope ) brushed it off.

Even here where I am now, many old neighbours have gone: Ahmad Abbas, Yusof, Hj. Ishak, Pak Din, Shahruddin, Aziz Tadin, Md. Nor Tadin, Col. Arham, Cikgu Dollah, Hj. Amir,  Hj. Yusof Ahmad, Ustaz Ayob and Ustaz Hassan. These were just those on the same road or adjacent ones.

Where I reside now looks like my last stop. This is my second time at this housing estate. The first time was on my second posting to Seremban before being moved back to head office. I'd always planned to retire in this town because it is the capital of NS, can you believe that ? I was thinking, I couldn't retire in KP where I was born and bred. Seremban seemed free of the KL traffic. I'd purchase a 6,000 ft house lot in Kg. Jiboi. But Seremban didn't remain traffic-free, and the move to Seremban was hastened by events. So here I am, and the Jiboi lot was sold. 

I've been here for 25 years now. Seriously, I was imagining that my children would lay me to rest at the Maqam Tuan Haji Said, the large and more famous of the Seremban Muslim cemetries. Alas, just this year, MAINS issued a circular saying it is now full and must be closed. New tenants are directed to the Senawang-Econsave plot, not far from where I am now. I'll just leave it to my surviving children.

I have to write about all my uncles and aunties. Amok in Kuala Jempol could be my first subject. Then the others in Kg. Ibol, Ulu Bendol, Kubang Rusa, Batu 46, Datuk Keramat, and Butterworth.  

I have to write about Tg. Malim, KP Residential Area, Tebat Kering, Port Dickson, Sg. Besi, Alor Gajah, Ampang Jaya, Damansara Utama and Port Kelang. These were places where I stayed, studied or worked.

I have also to write about where the kids went to school. That would cover a slightly bigger area; Petaling Jaya, Cheras, Seremban, Melaka, Perlis, Shah Alam, Sydney and  Hawaii. 

This time I'll have to gather material before I write. I might lose the memories of those long years, long gone but not completely forgotten. Yet. Hopefully.

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Politics and the pandemic.

 Sat Oct 3, 2020.

The almost year-old pandemic has managed to stop almost everything except politics.

Everywhere in the world, the earlier signs of the recession of the virus have been thwarted by signs of resurgence. There are fears that the reemergence could be more  rabid, while no vaccines are in clear sight yet.

Somehow, the political turmoil has not only not abated, but in fact has been intensified in many spots  of the world map. Europe, the Middle East, USA. That includes Malaysia, of course.

The daylight robbery of the legitimate PH Government didn't stop Sabah from attempting to do the same thing. To hell with the respect for "the voice of the people" of 9.5.2018. The voice of greed was more audible.  First, it was the chance for an aging and ailing ursuper to steal power, playing the numbers game. "I have the number !" Then it was a frustrated CM who took the bull by its horns, but lost the scrimmage because of criss-crossing loyalties in a crowded field.

The Sabah battle is not over. Warisan added their numbers, though by itself insufficient. UMNO threw everything into battle, but lost seats and performed poorly in comparison. But at least they recognized their predicament, and when upstart BERSATU grabbed 11 of the 13 new seats and put up their man as CM, UMNO could only look on, licking their wounds in spite of all the brave talk. Many are unhappy, and many are calling for the abondonment of the hasty coalition put up for the Sabah fight.

Fortunately for Malaysia, the political mess has not yet interfered with the scientific approach to meeting the pandemic. The averaged figures by WHO standards for Malaysia are acceptible. For now.

Not so in the so-called richest and most powerful country in the world, the USA.

At a time when it could, and should, provide leadership in tackling the world pandemic, USA failed miserably simply because the President failed miserably. Backed by the money and science available to him, the  insane man in the White House chooses to put his personal agenda above that of his country and the world. We remember that it took Pearl Harbour before USA entered WWII. But selfish as it was, it went on to play the important role of providing the leadership, logistics and committment that eventually defeated a Germany that 6 years earlier chose someone just like Trump now.  Hitler. 

I watch, facinated but in dismay, the antics of Trump throughout the pandemic in USA. He dismisses his professional advisors. He dismisses all world authorities.  He dismisses  the medical advice of his own government. He ignores wearing masks and  social distancing. He makes accusations of lying and misleading  facts and figures  by qualified authorities, when in truth it is he who lies and misleads.

And now, after all the negatives that he had sowed, Trump has done something, finally, positive. He's been found positive for Covid 19, or the "China flu" as he calls it.

Now I'm watching to see if he follows science in the remedy he's seeking for himself.  Now might be the time to ask him to take his own advice, and drink some chlorox. That might at least get rid of one problem.

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