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Keutamaan

Posted by narrowband - 31/01/09 at 11:01:19 am

Terbingung saya apabila mendapat tahu kerajaan Malaysia berhasrat membawa pulang dua orang rakyat Malaysia yang kini ditahan di pusat tahanan pengganas AS Guantanamo. Ini berikutan pengumuman presiden baru AS yang menyatakan bahawa pusat tahanan di Guantanamo itu akan ditutup. Sebagai seorang rakyat Malaysia, saya berasa kecewa kerana kerajaan kita masih mengambil berat terhadap kedua-dua orang ahli pengganas itu. Laporan berita juga menyatakan bahawa kes dua tahanan itu akan dibicarakan di AS, jelas sekali bertentangan dengan hasrat kerajaan Malaysia yang ingin memenjarakan kedua-dua tahanan tersebut di Malaysia, di mana kos kehidupan mereka dibiayai pembayar-pembayar cukai.

Tahanan-tahanan tersebut dikatakan pernah bersubahat dengan pengganas-pengganas lain dalam melancarkan serangan bom di Bali, Indonesia, dan pernah menjalani latihan di bawah pimpinan kumpulan pengganas antarabangsa. Walaupun belum disabit kesalahan secara sah, bukti-bukti pergaulan kedua-dua orang tersebut dengan pengganas-pengganas lain cukup meletakkan mereka dalam kategori ‘individu-individu berbahaya’, di mana mereka mampu berhubung dengan ahli-ahli pengganas yang lain pada bila-bila masa sahaja. Apa buruknya jika tahanan mereka dilanjutkan dengan sabitan kesalahan bersubahat dengan ahli-ahli pengganas lain dalam melancarkan serangan bom di tempat awam? Jika dibandingkan dengan ISA di Malaysia, pusat tahanan di Guantanamo tidak banyak bezanya.

Mungkin kerajaan Malaysia ingin melaksanakan tanggungjawabnya dalam mempertahankan hak kedua-dua pengganas itu sebagai warganegara Malaysia. Mungkin kerajaan ingin memastikan supaya mereka diberi peluang pembicaraan yang adil. Selain daripada kemungkinan yang dikemukakan, saya langsung tidak dapat membayangkan sebab-sebab lain yang menyebabkan kerajaan kita bertekad ingin membawa pulang kedua-dua ahli pengganas itu. Namun, hairan juga saya apabila mendapati seorang warganegara Malaysia yang baru-baru ini tidak diberi peluang pembicaraan yang sewajarnya apabila disyaki terlibat dalam sindiket pencurian kereta. Apa yang lebih menggemparkan adalah nasib yang menimpanya semasa dalam tahanan pihak polis – mati didera walaupun telah bekerjasama dengan pihak polis dalam siasatan mereka.

Jika benar mangsa tersebut merupakan seorang ahli sindiket pencurian kereta, apakah dia perlu dijatuhkan hukuman mati? Jenayah yang dilakukannya jauh lebih ringan berbanding kepada jenayah yang dilakukan oleh kedua-dua orang ahli pengganas Malaysia yang ditahan di Guantanamo itu. Ahli-ahli pengganas itu telah menyebabkan lebih 200 nyawa terkorban, dan mungkin lebih banyak lagi jika mereka tidak ditahan pihak tentera AS. Pada pendapat saya, kedua-dua orang pengganas rakyat Malaysia itu patut dilucutkan kewarganegaraan mereka dan dibiarkan dalam tahanan kerajaan AS. Malu saya apabila mendapat tahu rakyat Malaysia terlibat dalam aktiviti keganasan dan mengancam nyawa orang ramai. Lebih malu lagi apabila saya membaca laporan berita yang menyatakan kerajaan Malaysia sedang berusaha membawa pulang dua orang ahli pangganas tahanan tentera AS dan dipenjarakan di Malaysia.

Perlukah kita berusaha membawa pulang dua orang ahli pengganas warganegara Malaysia yang kini ditahan di Guantanamo? Terbeliak mata jiran dan kawan-kawan kita di Thailand, Singapura dan negara-negara lain apabila mendapat tahu hasrat pelik kerajaan kita. Apakah pengganas-pengganas di pusat tahanan Guantanamo tersebut penting bagi negara Malaysia, sedangkan terdapat banyak lagi masalah-masalah lain yang lebih patut diberi perhatian? Sebagai contoh, masalah kemelesetan ekonomi, kelumpuhan politik, perselisihan perkauman dan bencana alam. Bagi saya, perkara-perkara ‘remeh’ yang tidak memanfaatkan kebanyakan rakyat tidak patut diberi perhatian yang berat. Ini termasuklah hasrat Malaysia yang ingin mempamerkan lukisan Mona Lisa di Kuala Lumpur. Usaha yang ditaruh dalam mencapai permintaan-permintaan tersebut tidak setimpal dengan manfaatnya kepada rakyat Malaysia secara menyeluruh.

Di manakah letaknya keutamaan kerajaan Malaysia sebenarnya?

Tujuan saya menggunakan Bahasa Malaysia adalah supaya pendapat-pendapat saya hanya dapat direnungi mereka yang faham Bahasa Malaysia, iaitu rakyat Malaysia.

Happiness

Posted by narrowband - 23/01/09 at 07:01:05 am

Had a mini reunion with my ex-housemates last night. Everyone’s doing very well, and I’m really proud of them. Alicia’s doing R&D in an electronics giant, cooking up kickass electronic products – one of which practically blew my mind away a couple of weeks ago! LW’s happily working for the country’s largest telco firm while Hui’s with an IT solutions company which requires her to travel around and meet very hot and rich (middle-aged) ladies. She recommended that I joined the sales team because she reckon I’d have a chance of getting pau‘ed*. Damn tempting LOL.

And Steph, who not only works for a huge MNC in Penang, but also runs her own small hobby-turned-business selling her own hand-made artworks – and it’s paying off! Big bucks at that! Totally awesome if you ask me. Business has been brisk and orders have increased. It’s a dream come true for anyone who could use her hobby to earn some income. In this case I think she doesn’t even need to worry if her company’s forcing its employees to take unpaid leave! Anyway, be sure to check out her online catalogue and drop her a line or two!

Yesterday was my happiest day in a long time! :)

*Pau: It means men keeping a mistress or, in the case of women, a toyboy.

Nihon-go

Posted by narrowband - 20/01/09 at 11:01:14 pm

In December ’07 I decided to pick up Japanese language because I felt it was the right thing to do. Life was slowing down abit and besides working my ass off at that time, I had little other activity. I needed some kind of a boost. A new short-term goal. And I actually missed the feeling of going to classes and be a student – much like what I had been doing since I was 6. So I decided to enroll in a language class. Since I was with a Japanese company I thought learning the language would do me some good. Furthermore, sis wanted to learn too.

We chose the Wednesday night classes and I would pick up sis on the way from work and we’d head to class together. It was the first time I sat next to my youngest sis in a classroom to learn something. She is 9 years younger. As we progressed I realized that I hadn’t regretted a bit in picking up a new language. In fact, when I was in Japan for about 2 months, knowing Japanese was my greatest relief! Despite knowing only the basics, it was certainly much better than not knowing at all, considering I was alone for more than a month out there.

Timing was just-nice too because my Japan trip came shortly after the completion of my beginner’s course. While I was overseas, sis advanced to the next level herself. As soon as I returned, I registered for the next level which was Beginner level 2. It took a while for me to get started because timing was odd and there were not enough students to start a class. When a class was finally formed, I was informed that I would be going to Japan for another project. A few weeks into Beginner 2, I froze my lessons (flexible language school! Two thumbs up!) and took off. When I was ready to resume lessons again, there was no immediate class that I could join.

I had to wait til end of October before I could join one. The sensei was great, my classmates were awesome. Class was always fun and enjoyable. Last night I sat for my final exam, chalking up another milestone in my learning journey. The paper was okay, oral exam was okay. I hope to move on to the next level – the one which sis had just completed recently. I’m glad that at least I have a ‘sparring partner’ at home and whenever I need help, I don’t need to sweat. Sis is much better than me in Japanese thanks to her obsession with Japanese entertainment (no, not the AV kind) and culture.

I hope to have the same classmates again in my future courses. The sensei, too. They make Japanese so much more fun to learn. I’ll continue learning, although I’m no longer attached to that same Japanese company. That’s because I discovered something else as I progressed. I discovered that there’s joy and satisfaction in learning itself. Of course best of all ‘least now I can tell people I speak the language. Hopefully before I hit 30 I’ll still be up for another language. Likely French, because I did the beginner’s course while in university about 3 years ago.

Anata wa Nihon-go o benkyo-shimashitaka…?

Dae Jang Gum

Posted by narrowband - 18/01/09 at 02:01:45 am

In Chinese, that’s ‘Da Chang Jin’! We’re not talking about that popular Korean drama though; I’m referring to a restaurant (now it’s got several branches around the Klang Valley) that serves Korean BBQ food. Btw there’s been a huge rise in the number of Korean BBQ restaurants lately huh!

Continue reading Dae Jang Gum…

Mraz

Posted by narrowband - 18/01/09 at 12:01:15 am

Made a trip down town to get Jason Mraz’s concert tickets today. Friends and I are gonna be at the free-standing zone. Anybody else who’s gonna be there? Helped a couple of other friends buy theirs. Apparently each person could only purchase a maximum of 4 tickets. We needed a total of more than 4 so we had to split our purchases. Oh we were told that if you’re a visa platinum card holder you could get a 20% off your tickets too, but only applicable to a max of two tics. So many limitations!

The queue wasn’t that bad. In fact, on the same concourse level, there was another booth selling A-Mei’s concert tickets as well, and it had more people lining up, haha. Interesting observation though it does not mean anything. We joked about attending A-Mei’s one as well because we also love some of her songs. But naw we were more charged up for Jason Mrax’s one instead. We braced the hot sun, packed LRTs, monorails, spoilt escalators and rubbish-filled pedestrian bridges to get to Sungai Wang to take advantage of the 15% discount off the original prices of tics.

Since we were on a roll, we decided to drop by our neighbourhood karaoke joint (again). Crazy stuff. The last time I went for karaoke, it brought me down with a bad throat and subsequently flu and all that nonsense – a flying start to a brand new year. On another note, I think Neway are doing a pretty good job at providing the best facilities and food. Best of all they’re located in neighbourhoods hehe. That makes them so conveniently accessible to bored patrons who would otherwise stay home and rot. Most other karaoke joints are in shopping complexes.

Anyway, after a day’s labour..

Have you gotten yours?

Peek-a-Boo

Posted by narrowband - 17/01/09 at 01:01:13 am

Nothing to update la… how…? :(

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