Tues 10.8.2021.
Today is the first of Muharram, 1443 Hijriah. I was supposed to recite the new year's supplications, something I'd always done before, at Magrib yesterday, but only realized it after receiving sms's from a few friends after Isya'. At fajr today I raised my hands to Allah for forgiveness for the past year's deeds, and asked for guidance for the next one year, amin. Better late than never, I guess.
Following the Islamic lunar calender, I'm exactly 80 today. I was born, also on a Tuesday, on 19 Zulhijjah 1363.
The Police called last week asking to bring my gun licence book, which I did yesterday. After 2 visits for the same case upon requests by them, I thought this would be the final visit for this year's delayed process. Alas, it was not to be. I have to come back on 23/8 to collect the signed document. Because the Inspector is not around today. Can you believe that? And to put salt to wound, they also demanded I settle unpaid traffic summons. When I checked with the counter clerk, I was told I have 7 summons dating back to August 2006 totalling RM 1,000 ! I told the clerk I never received these, because I always paid my summons in the past. She suggested I wait for December for a 50% discount. I'll do that. I jotted her number on the copy of the list she gave me.
This is the same case with JPJ regarding my road tax renewal. It was supposed to be 15/7. By then they have changed the procedure to on-line appointment. Since 16/7 I have tried countless times to get the appointment but kept getting "booking closed" because of overbooking. I turned to the Post Office, but they, too, have resorted to on-line booking, and like JPJ, kept saying "heavy traffic". If it's on-line they should stay open. And SAINS, in spite of it's name, is not scientific at all. They closed their UTC office, and yesterday sent the 3rd statement for arrears when they won't collect payment.
Now I'm thinking, is the government trying to help us, or to harrass us ? We're trying to pay here, not to collect money.
For me, almost bedridden all this while because of "chikugunya" fever, there was some relief when the Tokyo 32nd Olympics came 23/7 -8/8. It was strange to see the empty venues in spite of the elaborate preparations. It cost the Japanese government 15 billion. How will they recover that, with no attendance and a 50% drop in tv viewing ? Even the PM is supposed to be in trouble politically because of the games.
However, the performances in the games were astounding, if the full circumstances inculding the 12-month delay are considered. The salute to the athletes and their backers must be given. They have trained since Rio 2016, then the delay, and now the restrictons because of the pandemic. On top of these, the temperature surpassing 30 and humidity of more than 75 hampered the athletes. And yet 40 Olympics with several world records were still broken. The 400 m.hurldes must be understaood to fully comprehend the 45.94. That time for the flat race would have put the runner on the winner's podium in the national games for the different countries participating. The Olympics points system gives this particular run more than 1,300 points, or third highest in Olympics history.
Malaysia came back with 2 medals (1 silver, 1 bronze) and is placed 66 in the tally, fortunately not last. We should look at Australia and New Zealand. Australia has about the same population as Malaysia. They got 46 medals, 17 of them (37%) gold. New Zealand has on;y 7 million people. They got 20 medals, 7 of them (33%) gold. They got 1 gold per million population. The US (no. 1) had 113 medals to China (no. 2) with 88, but only beat China by 1 in gold with its 39 to China's 38. In depth, however, US was far superior with it's 350 million population against China's 1.43 billion. In comparison, India with 1.4 billion people only collected 7 medals with 1 gold. There is a lesson in there somewhere.
On the pandemic front, we're still stuck right in the middle of it. It seems only the politicians are thriving, and Parliament is not even in session!. With 10,961 deaths, the death/million figure is 334, higher than India (307),Phillipines (262), Thailand (94), Vietnam (38), Singapore (7), and China (7). Of course China, India and Indonesia have numbers I cannot believe. And for 2 years I had to be the imam in the house for 4 Hari Raya prayers. Schools have been closed for forever. What's going to happen to their education? The point is, we're still in a deep hole here.
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