Tallest bird house in the world

After the 2011 Budget was presented live on national TV by PM Najib, I went to have teh tarik at my regular mamak joint with a friend. From the many issues discussed, the proposed 100 storeys tower to be built around the iconic Stadium Merdeka was the highlight.

Various questions about the need to have such a building were raised but before my cuppa of teh tarik reached the bottom, a quirky suggestion was made. Maybe the building will looks like a "bird house" which are gaining popularity in Malaysia.

Why not? The tallest "bird house" in the world! It will surely be registered in the Malaysia Book of Records or even Guinness Book of Records. Other than the swiftlets producing tonnes of bird nests for export, it will surely be listed as an attraction for tourists from all over the world. Wow. A fully occupied building, albeit by the swiftlets, will surely  increases the national coffers. On top of that it will cover Kuala Lumpur with renewal layers of bird shit! JKR don't have to re-surface the roads anymore. The birds will do it! - Loka

Cheng Beng and 1Malaysia

Cheng Beng is when the Chinese visited the graves to sweep the tombs and offer prayers to their departed parents, grandparents and other relatives as an expression of fillial piety, respect and gratitude to their ancestors. As traditions dictates, offerings and prayers items are offered and burned for the departed needs in the other world.

Many of our ancestors and dead relatives were holders of the blue identity cards or the latest MyKads that determines their status as citizens of Malaysia. In the spirit of once a family always a family, it will be apt to keep the belief alive that the departed ones will always be remembered as part of the family, part of Malaysia...dulu kini dan selamanya.

On top of the Mercedes Benzes, gold ingots, trillions notes, bungalows, international passports, Jimmy Choos', Armanis', Ipods', shopping vouchers, mahjong sets and other types and shapes of paper offerings, maybe for this season of oneness, those going to the cemeteries can opt to bring one of the latest hype in the nation.

Do bring along a 1Malaysia logo as offerings to the departed ones. This is in the spirit on one nation and to tell the departed ones that they will always be remembered as Malaysians first, even though they may be residing in a different world now. Their sacrifices and deeds in bringing up other fellow Malaysians and patriotism for the country will always be remembered, disregard of their current place of domicile as long as they regard themselves as Malaysians first when they were still eligible voters in this country.

Don't be too worried if you can't find any 1Malaysia logo to be offered for your departed love ones, shops selling joss paper and other prayer's paraphernalias will be able to help you to create one. - Loka

Changing color of your blood

It is normal to hear of people changing their religious beliefs, political stand or even switching support to another football team. When to comes to race or ethnic origins, is it possible to change that?

Can a person who is born to true blue ethnic Japanese parents in Japan but now lives and works in Saudi Arabia, speaks fluent Arabic, converted to Islam after her high school and married a true blue Arab man after her graduation, morphed into an Arabic lady?

One shall not confused citizentry with the cultural lineage of her ancestors. No matter how hard she changes her appearance, improves her Arabic linguistic skills or even trying too hard to aped the locals in their way of life, the blood that flows throughout her body is still very much ethnic Japanese. No matter how hard she tries she will not be able to change that, even to the extend of behaving more than the Arabs themselves. Or even to the extend of putting in every possible effort to run down or suppress her own ethnic Japanese ancestry so that she could gain the acceptance of the Arabs.

Incidences like the fictitious Japanese lady above are not alien to many of us. During World war Two, there were many who had forsaken their own ethnic ancestry by aping the Japanese or their masters to gain favours or brownie points. These people may have a good time during the three and a half years of Japanese occupation by betraying their own community which caused deaths, undue harm and unnecessary sufferings to their friends and villagers. In the eyes of the people that they betrayed, these double faced agents are traitors and shall be destined to the 18 levels of Hell, literally.

Are these sort of people stil exists nowadays? Open our eyes and we shall see them in the guise of different shapes and colours, professions and organizations. They may be just lurking around the corner or may have studied or work in the same place as any one of us. We just need to be vigilant and cautious with their existence and not to fall into any of their manipulation. We cannot do anything to help them.

It it their own choice of trying to hard to change their ethnicity even after knowing they can't change the colour of the blood that flows within them. The harm that they might possibly cause to the community and themselves, we will leave it to karma to take its own course. - Loka

Game for politicians

Who has the most sustainable stamina to endure the pressure in performing their task? Can it be a marathon runner, a long distance swimmer or a politician?

No prize for guessing who's the runaway winner. It's the politician of course!

If there is an open field medal for the most sustainable stamina in the Olympics, the most likely winner will be a politician!

While the marathon runner and the swimmer will be following a set of universal rules and able to gauge and expect the challenges in their struggle for success and glory, it can't be said the same about politicians.

The playing field for the game called politics can be anywhere and anytime. There is no specific time limit and rounds of play. The rule of the game changes without any consideration of the opponents objections or claims of foul play. They won't be bother about fair play since for sure there won't be a Fair Play Trophy in this game.

The rules are very pretty "simple".

To win the game, a politician need to outwit their opponents and supporter and do everything by the book and also those not in the book. Trust is an vulgar word for some of the players. Sometimes one can't even trust your own team mates. If caught off-guard, a politician can be stabbed on the back by one of their own. They must be prepared to be politically stripped naked and be publicly shamed. They will also strive they do it on others too.

A politician must be able to sustain all types of verbal and non-verbal abuse and does it against his or her opponents without any feeling of remorse or shame. They must be able to make use and be used by others. They must win at all cost. By hook or by crook. And they will keep on doing it on and on as long as there is sunrise and sunsets.

It is part of the "skills" in their game. If anyone doesn't know how and don't want to utilize these "skills", it's time for them to throw in the towel and kiss the game goodbye.

For the spectators of these games, just like any other games, once the game takes too long to decide an outright winner of the game, it will be too tired for the spectators to watch on. Or if too much tricks and cheating that broke all levels of decency has been used by the players to win the game, the spectators will just walk off and cursed the players for wasting their precious time and money watching the game.

Anyway, at the end of the day the players will still be at the arena fighting with each other because they had the most durable stamina to sustain the challenges of the game, even without any spectator bother to watch them whacking and striping each other naked.

By the way, moral shame and moral fear is not part of the ground rules. - Loka

Three good men

Once a while we will come across certain people who impressed us with their traits of wisdom, knowledge, good nature, leadership and exemplary behaviour.

We will be awed and set to believe that the existence of such person will be a boon and blessing to society. We are getting used to judge a person which we do not know personally based on the information we derives from the medias and also comments from our circle of acquaintances.

Once converted we will look at these people in the positive aspect and trusted what they say and what they do, sometimes blindly too. This line of thoughts are sometimes follows the herd mentality. Since so-and-so are saying good things about such and such person, he or she must be a good person. This perception was derives without a clear mind and further inquisition on the back ground of this comments.

Then come one day, people were dismayed and had the shock of their life when such persons that they had utmost confidence and hopes all this while turns out to be no difference from just the ordinary Joes in the street. These people will show their true colours when they felt their positions and interest are challenged.

People can be disappointed and upset but the fault lies with them too. They had given too much trust and expectation to these people. Maybe they should only judge these people after their death as dead men says no words and does nothing. The chances of good dead people disappointing their believers with their actions will ends up 6-feet deep down in the grave or ashes in an urn.

The moral story - judge a person only after his death.

I recalled a story told to me long ago about a woman waiting for a good man to come along to be her wedded husband. She searched and waited for many years and was very sad and disappointed as she found no man up to her expectation. One day a mendicant stopped by her house asking for alms. The woman took the opportunity to ask the mendicant the question.

"Is there no good man around anymore, she asked"?

The mendicant answered, " There are three good men. One is already dead, the other one became a monk and the next one yet to be born". - Loka

Ghosts, Fairies and Politicians

Three groups of beings are going to have their parties this August-September period.

During the 7th month of the Chinese lunar calendar the gates of hell are opened for the hungry ghosts to roam the human world freely and a chance to renew relationship with friends and relatives. These underworld beings are given a month to enjoy the freedom that only comes once a year. These visitors from the underworld will be partying all night long with the food and giant joss sticks offered to them. The Festival of the Hungry Ghosts this year is from August 1st to 30th.

The Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival which is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month which is on September 14. This is an occasion where the moon is admired for being roundest and brightest in all months. This celebration originates during the Tang Dynasty ( 618-906 AD) and has been celebrated widely amongst the Chinese worldwide. We will be looking at the moon with resident fairy Chang Er who is still there due to her consumption of the Elixir of Life. Usually fairy tales are childrens great companion but sometimes politicians too need some fairy tales ending.

The third group of being who are also partying are of course the politicians. With the campaigning in the by-election for the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat being held around these occasion, politicians will be enjoying the freedom of speech to the fullest. They will be campaigning in one of the most watch by-election ever to be held in Malaysia. The freedom to decide and vote will be in the hands of the Permatang Pauh voters and their decision on who they vote will provide a significant impact on certain politicians and development in this country.

What's the connection of all these festive occasions with the by-election?

It surely does. The politicians not only have to worry of bumping on those "lost" beings after their late night ceramahs but also having "ghost" voters taking part in the election. Furthermore, those who still have skeletons in their closet will be very worry that ghosts from their past will rise freely to haunt them in these by-election. The politicians will be campaigning very hard, even using the "ko tai" (stage shows) which are very popular in Penang as their platform during the Phor Tor (Hungry Ghosts) Festival. Will they be speaking to the voters and the hungry ghosts too?

During the Moon Festival cakes in round shapes filled a variety of pastes known as moon cakes are specially baked for this occasion. These moon cakes which are sold in bakeries, restaurants and supermarkets are popular delicacies. In one of the legend related to moon cakes, it was said that secret message was inserted into the mooncakes to convey the message to the people. Will the politicians adopt this strategy too since PKR and PAS's logos are related to the moon. Adding the rocket, it will be interesting if DAP will reach-out to the "moon" permanently.

For those who adheres strongly to cultural beliefs and practices, if they want to win this election with the help of the ghost voters they better pray that the voting day will be held within the Hungry Ghosts Festival i.e. before Merdeka Day.



If those who always seek divine help in their endeavours, it will help them significantly if voting is held on Sept 15 where fairies will be around to help them in full force or at least the moons shines on them brightly for the voters to see their true colours. - Loka