a ramble

Taking a bit of a breather back home right now. I feel rather bad about it as the Raggers must still be working on their float. But, but...my dad is asking his regular IT dude if he has old keyboards in his shop. I already have one. Gonna pluck out the keys tonight and bring them over in a bag. The things I do for Rag. I wonder if I will cry should our float not win. But then, there are about ten different titles up for grabs and then the Overall Champion's trophy. If we won two or three I would be happy.

Thought I was coming back on Tuesday but it turns out my dad bought a bus ticket for Wednesday because my aunt is taking me to watch singing cutlery on Tuesday night...and there's also this rosie-cheeked French lass in a Malaysian secondary school uniform falling in love with a Beast, of course. But, singing cutlery...can a love story between a pretty girl and a guy under a curse compare? Yeah, so I'm watching the musical version of Beauty and the Beast. I had no idea it was based on the Disney version until I saw a photo in The Star with Mrs. Potts and Chip looking exactly like they did in the Disney cartoon. Beauty is in that blue pinafore and white blouse too. Seems promising. I wonder what the set will look like. I love musicals for their lavish set, costumes and melodrama. The legacy of nineteenth century theater pared down to tasteful finery--well, for the most part, at least.

Speaking about melodrama, Malaysia has found itself in a rerun of the 1998 sodomy drama. Talk about a lack of originality. This time the allegation is a little too hard to swallow, as the accusation does not come from a third party but from the victim himself, a young man of 23 who could not fend off an old man over 60 years of age, and who absorbed the trauma for about 48 hours before deciding it was time to lodge a report. Was he spiked? The numbers don't add up. The previous convictions have already been overturned, so what is this young man hoping to gain by returning to square one? Turning Malaysia into a global laughing stock?

What an admissions interviewer from a foreign university once said to me when I said I considered politics a career option: from the little that I know, Malaysian politics is a doghouse. Yes it is. The ones with the most bite wins. We have seen this to be true in history. When UMNO lost the general elections in 1969, "spontaneous" riots broke out between the races across several locations in KL. Of course after that, a state of emergency had to be called and Parliament, which at that time consisted of a non-UMNO majority, had to be dissolved. When elections could be called again, UMNO won the majority and has never lost since. More recently, the unfortunate SPPP MPs failed to turn up in Parliament for procedures to table a no-confidence vote against Pak Lah as they had received threatening phone calls. Even if "it's not something we (BN) do," as Najib has had to say repeatedly these past few months, it is something supporters of Pak Lah and UMNO do. So mafia. Wish they had more sense than to bring bad publicity to their own party.

And that last bit brings me to another instance of silly people bringing down their own party: people do still think that certain parties of the UMNO Youth Wing started the 1969 riots. I began to wonder if the allegations had truth in them when UMNO members gave their impassioned "keris" speeches, saying that they would shed blood to protect their rights, that they had done it before (referring very obviously to 1969) and did not fear to do it again. A complete waste of rhetoric. I wonder that their colleagues didn't use ISA on them to stop them from linking UMNO to the race riots of 1969. That's normally what ISA is for isn't it? A silencer of people who implicate the ruling party in matters that would turn the vote against it. And here we have politicians like Hishamuddin waving his keris around and pretty much saying, "Yes, UMNO was completely responsible for the race riots of 1969 and we're proud of it!" And Pak Lah says to us, "nemmind, it's ok lah. Get used to it. Stay cool." *Benign grandfatherly smile*

And so we turn over five states to the opposition in retaliation and pat ourselves on the back for it. So much more has to be done. The states that are not in the federal government's hands will most certainly face budget problems, and may not be able to implement programs to the satisfaction of its denizens within the next five years. It will be a test of collective perseverance in the matter to re-elect the opposition despite the squeeze. The opposition also needs to prove its ability to stand to its own creed by implementing colour-blind poverty alleviation programmes. Micro-management will have to be tight as the bias in these programs don't necessarily come out of the broad-based policies but out of the internal networks of corruption, cronyism and nepotism that taint the petty officials all the way up to the executive level. It's a friend-help-friend kind of world, and friend often means people of the same colour as you. And in case you're thinking of Malay civil servants in particular, I say that this applies to everybody. We are under a vicious cycle of insecurity and prejudice that rains fear on us all. Someone has to yield first, has to forgive first, has to trust first though they are liable to get hurt in the process of forging the relationship. And that someone has to count the cost, because mistakes will be made, intentions will be misunderstood, until that trust is built. No system or power-play in politics can replace that.

And to end in a completely unconventional manner, that is one reason I am convinced that there is a God who loves. I have not seen any team work better than a team where people can trust and forgive each other, put each other first and choose to serve rather than lead. These are all principles Jesus practiced, ultimately by giving his life on the cross in order to be an example to us and to set us free to do the same. Carrying our cross then is extending forgiveness which means giving up our right to defend and vindicate ourselves for our hurts. It is giving others what they want rather than taking power to demand that the world revolves around our desires. It is about extending grace, not about dealing out what we think others deserve.

So, would the Church in Malaysia be able to extend graciousness by helping to alleviate Malay poverty and not just Chinese or Indian poverty? Not with any agenda to convert people, but just extending a hand of mercy as commanded by Christ. Would we be allowed? I don't know. It's not as if many have tried.

Thus ends my completely rambly reflection which started with singing teapots and ended with hopes for Christian-Muslim relations. Initially I wanted to divide my posts between a blog for spiritual reflections, political reflections, and random daily life events, but they merge seamlessly in my thoughts so I have decided not to compartmentalise my thoughts for now. They shall require more discipline soon, though. Imagine a university essay rambling about the wilderness of my thoughts in this manner. The prof would just drop dead, I think.