Kamariah Sabeh.

 Saturday 16.11.2024.

As I was sitting in my den, waiting for the Isya' prayers, the wife came from her bedroom, informing me that Kamariah Sabeh died this morning. Immediately I passed the information to Hank and Padir. She was Padir's classmate in the 6th form at KGV, and both entered University of Malaya together. That was how I got to know her. Hank also had some history with her, but I'll let him tell you more.

I remember one Hari Raya Padir took me to her house in Terusan Seberang. She was in her padi field behind the house. This was the early university days. Her padi planting was real. We had a lot of the padi growing in Kuala Pilah at that time (1965). When she eventually joined us on the visit, I could see the brown stain on nails of her feet, normally carried by the padi planters.

We would often bump into each other, the 2 years we were together at the university - I was 1 year her senior. We made a few mutual friends. UM was the only Malaysian university then, but the intake was only about 600 per year.

Through the years we would also meet each other, but once in a long while only, and that was because we both finally made Seremban our final stop.

I mentioned in my earlier blog about meeting her when the late Akbar Baba collapsed near his car at the Ampang Giant (now the Ampang UTC). It was all coincidental. I ran to help Akbar sit up, then Kamariah suddenly appeared. I immediately asked her to fetch some water from the nearby restaurant (it's still there).

This is a sad passing of an acquaintance I wished I had kept closer contact with. But her passing marks the passing of fond memories associated with having known her. I also knew her late husband who left her several years ago.

May God Have Mercy on you, Kamariah, amin.

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Daim 1938 - 2024.

 Fri 15.11.2024.

This belated note does not mean that this piece is an afterthought. I was just finding a suitable time to at least add this note in my collection of comments I'd felt worthwhile making. Certainly Daim was one UMNO stalwart worth making a note about.

The recent photos of him in the on-going court case involving the charges against him surprised me as looking sickly, with one eye drooping, and being wheeled around in a wheelchair. His passing on the morning of 13.11.2024, at 86, now, sadly, confirmed his state of health.

He was the Finance Minister at 46, back in 1984 until 1991, and again at 61 in 1999 until 2001. Certainly he was clearly in charge at that Ministry. There was the financial crisis for the country. And UMNO, too, had its own financial issues. I was a delegate at one UMNO National Convention when he made the phone calls for the contribution in front of the delegates. And his personal wealth is an attribute to his financial savvy.

Anwar's and Zahid's absence of public condolences is the manifestation of the lack of class on their part. That's  unsurprising.  But Mahathir's quick and eloquent tribute somewhat made up for the accolades due but not forthcoming from the nation on a man who pulled his weight in the financial management of the country. Sending that young side-kick to pay respect to the bereaved family was more insolence than benevolence.

In the 67-year history of the country's political revival from British colonialism, many people have been elected and chosen for the vital positions of responsibilities in the chosen governments running and developing the young nation. Not all had fulfilled their duties. Daim did.  Just look at the facts, a few of them touched by Mahathir's tribute. And to prove the point, Daim himself found his niche in the opportunities he created for the country he served.

Let Malaysian history record the passing of this man in the proper manner.  Let's put value where value is deserving.

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So, it's Trump again.

 Wed 6.11.2024.

So, in spite of, or maybe because of, all that Trump and his supporters have done, Americans have reelected the man. Mind you, Trump and his supporters have done hell of a lot, and it's the whole lot of the Bad and the Ugly. I don't see much of any Good.

Or is it because of the alternative staring at the Americans in their faces - that Kamaldevi Harris woman ? They're not ready for an Indian (not Red Indian - the real India Indian) woman, maybe.

I would have given Kamala a chance before she belatedly became a candidate, after the Democratic Party finally forced Biden to drop out. But actually she lost my sympathy as soon as she became the Vice President, when she made that unqualified support statement for Israel. And she did stop over at Singapore, but paid scant notice to neighbouring Indonesia and Malaysia. So that was that.

The Trump antics right from his first Presidency to the Capitol attack instigated by him threw me off the man. How can a leader of the Western World behave publicly like that? It's just insane.

We'll see how Trump leads USA for the second time.

Maybe Trump and the US deserve each other.

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Asset mismanagement.

 Tuesday 29.10.2024

I've made statements in public, and written numerous times, and spoke about it in speeches made over my career - about the mismanagement of our assets in this country. Building public facilities and developing natural resources have not gone to waste in my Malaysia. Sadly, managing them for future use is a total loss for both the authorities and the general population.

A stark case in point is the current news on the action against the "blue tents" on the Telok Kemang picnic beach in PD.

Back in 1995 I spoke in the State Assembly, no less, about the disregard for the beautiful beaches of Telok Kemang by the Government of that time. Greedy investors had managed to get the approval to build hotels right onto the water edges at the beach.  Complete with sewer outlets right where bathers would swim. 

I said then that the beach was our God-given asset. PD beaches were the few sandy and mud-free spots on the Peninsula's West Coast.  Kelang is muddy, with the mangroves right up the Perak coastline. We should respect this gift and treasure it. 

Instead there was the uninformed government permitting the human construction right on this treasure. I pointed out that this doesn't happen in Phuket. Today Phuket is a well-known resort island, when PD was already a resort town a long time ago when Phuket was still a rubber-plantation and tin-mining island. Of course in the West and the US they wouldn't dare touch their valuable natural assets.

The beautiful PD beaches should remain natural and uncluttered for generations to continue to enjoy. All construction, as in Phuket, should be on the leeward side. There's plenty of land there. Why build on the treasure ? The stupidity of the uninformed minds in the government at that time must have been unimaginable.

Right now PD is not yet a total loss. But it soon will be if something right and something drastic is not immediately done to remedy all this. Already the natural nice spaces have been cut down, and the peace and quiet largely lost. But these can be reversed. Still.

The "blue tents" are recent happenings, showing the government's illogically insensitive behaviour still remaining, in spite of all these complains, like mine, that must have been heard. People have written in the papers about their concern. They have brought up their complains in all kinds of places. I spoke in the State Assembly, for heaven's sake !

I repeat here: Malaysia can build like all other world builders. But maintenance escapes Malaysia. Maintenance of constructions, maintenance of natural resources - all seem foreign. Just look around.

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Recount.

Tuesday 24.9.2024

Eddin's passing at 7 last Friday morning, conveyed to me by the Cikgu who used to be the mosque's secretary,  caught me by surprise. Eddin was a Deputy Minister from KP. I didn't realize it then that in fact the sad news was already in my phone's whatsapp,  But it got me to thinking.

I moved into this housing estate in Seremban in the middle of 1995. I'd just made a  life-changing job-change decision, and needed to move into town, from Damansara Utama, where I'd been for 17 years. So now I've been here for nearly 30 years.

TDS is the first housing estate in the Ampangan area within the old Municipality. Seremban is a "Bandar Raya" now, and I'm sure there have been geographical and legal changes. The point is, TDS is small, maybe with about 200 original houses, from the terraced, the semi-detached, to the bungalow-type. It started as "Fortune Garden" maybe in the 70's. Now as the renamed TDS there have been added houses. But all are single-storied. Except for Ustaz Ahmad's illegally modified 2 storey bungalow just behind my house. "Illegal" because the ustaz said so to me himself. He never tried to get the necessary permission for the alteration from the authorities.

I counted yesterday, one by one, as I'd known them, 65 residents of TDS who have passed away since the day I moved here. That's more than 2 per year. It made me feel very mortal, indeed. 

This brought me to the Russo-Ukraine War raging still since February 2022. And the t-shirted president says it's drawing close. He hopes, I might add.

As I'd commented elsewhere earlier, it's to its interest for Ukraine to request a coming to the table with Russia. The 23-month War is being cruelly  prolonged by US and its Western European allies, to the delight of the arms manufacturers, of course.  Russian arms are pitted against US-European arms. Even the soldiers are non-Ukrainians. Russia has a population of 145 million,  4 times more than  Ukraine's 38 million. Russia's wealth  is more than 6 times that of Ukraine's.  As Putin insists, the "special operations" of February 2022 was forced by Western Europe's actions in Ukraine against Russia's "political integrity".

Right here in NS, especially in KP, this new, but old, sore deviant Islamic group criminal activity uproar has been exposed by the Police investigations. This was the old Arqam that was banned. When these people are banished, they don't disappear. The just find new hideouts, new operations.  This makes me feel truly mortal.

I can only recount.

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Another forced golf break.

Thurs 19.9.2024.

This morning's four-some was my first golf game in exactly 50 days. It was another forced break. And that, too, nearly didn't happen.

It had been my, maybe, 5th motorcycle accident, in 59 years of riding, on Friday, 2.8.2024. That's 1 every 10 years. Not a terrible record, owning  7 bikes in total.  So  5 accidents out of 7 is even a better statistics. The 7 include the kapchais, from the  90 cc (1965 Honda BN 3950) to  750-cc (1993 Kawasaki Vulcan Cruiser - WCR 6000). And the fastest I went, with the 1992 Honda CBR 600 Sports (BDP 600), on the Tg. Malim highway, was 260 kph ! 

This last one was on my current ride - a Yamaha NVX 155 scooter, (SD 198 T) bought by No. 3 Son about 2 years ago. Another m/c rider was involved, at the Istana Hinggap round-about. I only had scratches, as did the other bloke. But the heavy scooter landed on my left foot. The swelling lasted right until last week. Thus the forced break. The doctor just asked me to buy some rub-on.

It nearly didn't happen because Tokzaha didn't say one way or another when I whatsapped him about the Thursday suggested date. Until Wednesday night. The Tokzaha-Toksleman-me late exchanges finally settled for "on as planned"  - this morning.

"Bus" Chong (he owns a bus company) greeted me at the car park when I arrived before 7 this morning. Later NYK joined us. We got to talking about our golf. We agreed that it's one activity we should try to continue doing. We spoke about a number of friends who stopped, and soon they were gone forever.

My swing felt awkward after the break. So I just slowed the backswing. That's what some people say should be done. It seemed to work. Then I remembered to keep the "pendulum" - having the back swing the same as the follow-through. This is also one of the advice. It worked, too. So I guess having to relearn is one way of finding your old game. In the end I only lost one ball, in the wager, after the full 18 holes. But I lost 2 balls in the rough, in total. Not too bad, lah.

The good news, really, was finding, on the notice board, my latest official handicap of 22. All the while it was hanging around 15. That was too much to carry at my age. Even Ameng has been on 22 for sometime. We used to play every week at the same handicap (12) years ago, and it was always "ding-dong" between us.

The break also allowed me to watch more golf on tv. The South Koreans and the Thai girls are really doing well, playing world-class golf, even grabbing between them the World No. 1 ranking once in a while. Which is more than I can say for our Malaysian girls, and even less for the boys. What's the secret, I wonder. I mean we're fellow Asians, physically. The South Korean New Zealander girl even won the Gold at the Paris Olympics.

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Another wedding, but inexplicably delayed.

 Sunday 15.9.2024.

The reception at the bride's place was some months ago. It's family (on the missus's side) but I didn't attend because of an unavoidable meeting with me as the Secretary. Nobody asked why the delay in this reciprocal function. If there was conception from that earlier reception, it would have shown yesterday. But the tiny bride looked all of her slim self.

Like my previous anecdote, this was one of these "wedding venues" so popular now among the Malays in the Klang Valley. It's ok, but they have to figure out the logistics. And the fixtures.

The logistics: we left the highway into the Gamuda hinterland, through to the Bkt. Kemunting/Shah Alam backwoods, and the short-cut suggested by Waze was rough, to say the least.  I was reliefed Hanif decided to take the standard way back to Seremban for the return trip. But then we hit the typical Malaysian holiday drivers. It was past Magrib when we reached the gates of the house.

The fixtures: the event-manager only followed the host's instructions. So instead of the crowd paying attention to the actual ceremony, they just dug into the food while talking and laughing, giving nary a glance to the stage. It didn't help that the couple chose black, and the groom in slippers.

Then for lucheon, they put the bride's brother and sisters with spouses on the shared stage. Brother and sisters ? There was Pa' Anjang, Pa' E, Mak Idah sitting in the crowd.

So much effort was put into making the tasty "wajid", and I thought that would feature in the "menyembah" ceremony. But it didn't happen.

And, not the least, the place wasn't air-conditioned. This alone would have been enough reason for me to reject the venue.

I just took my leave without meeting the hosts. I had my "Zohor" at the tiny "surau" and went to Dekna's car, already filled with the rest of the group from Seremban.

We stopped at the Arab restaurant in Bkt. Jalil before departing for Seremban. I did my "Magrib" at the S2 surau near the Greenstreet home housing before we stopped for take-away satay and finally driving home.

I could have gone to Basit Abai's "kenduri".

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