The Walk of Life

It took me so long to come to terms with what I called A Broken Promise. It was in October 2005 that I met and come to know P a social worker among the poor in the Irrawaddy Delta in Myanmar. I traveled through rough and bumpy roads for 6 hours in a cramped bus to reach my destination. It was a small village town in the Delta area and I guess about 300 Km from Yangon.

On arrival and as I get off the bus, there he was, standing there with his warm smiling face greeting me! It did not take much effort to identify me since I am the only foreigner on that bus. After a light meal to stretch my aching muscles, we proceeded to his home and it was an eye opening experience for me.

His house was not more than 300 sq ft. and it was truly open plan living. You can see where the family sleep, cook, live and dine! I noticed there were no bath-rooms within the house except for a tiny little hut built out of the house at the back and poised on stilts over the murky waters of the Irrawaddy Delta. The access was along bamboo walk ways.

As we entered his home, there to welcome me was his wife and two children plus about 20 over other children. These children were from the farming neighbourhood. It seems that they don't attend the local Government schools and all of them were unable to read or write. These farming folks assumed that their children will grow up to be farmers and hence no need for any education! Another problem and I guess and I believe the main issue was the lack of money to buy books, uniforms, etc for school. They live from the produce of the land and hardly have any money left for anything else.

P and his wife together with another co-worker, a young local girl taught these children how to read and write. Just the basic and literally they provided all the study materials for the children as well. P received a monthly allowance of RM $45 for doing this job! According to P it was hardly sufficient but he got to make do with what he was given. The lessons were free and actually P could have opted to work in Yangon where he could earn a bit more. However he and his family were from the Delta area, so he wanted to contribute back to his own society by doing this as a voluntary social work. What a wonderful caring residence of the Delta. Of course he and his family have a lot to sacrifice for these poor children of the Irrawaddy Delta.

It is hard for people to accept that bad things do happen to good people, including myself. The Hurricane Nargis in 2008 came and took the lives of my friend P and his family! The sad thing was, P was away somewhere in the area doing his social work when tragedy struck! To date no one ever heard of P but rescue workers could only confirmed the death of his wife and two children. Their bodies was found among the debris. The humble house was totally washed away.

On the day I left P, I promised him that next year I will be back for visit around Christmas time and I would bring some goodies for all the children. Circumstances did not allow me to fulfill my promise for in October 2006, my wife had a stroke and ever since then I was not able to make a trip to Myanmar till this very day. I feel rather remorseful about not being able to fulfill a promise to my dear friend P.

Of course I can buy the goodies to be taken there by whoever traveling there but it’s not about the gifts or the money! It is about a 'promise'. I was told by someone else who visited P the year after me, that P was asking how come uncle John was not going there anymore! To me this is one remorseful, unforgettable incident in my life. I could not keep my promise to a friend! For this reason alone, that's why it took me so long to be able to talk about this and I am glad that P and his family are in God’s Presence forever! I pray that you can forgive me, my brother!

What inspired this post is a recent connection made with one long lost college mate. He is from Vietnam and we met in college known as the Technical College back then! I guess it is now the Institute of Technology Malaysia.

I used to have a photo of him taken with our Satellite Tracking Station as the background but I just could not locate the photo but below is the recent photo of Lai holding a girl ( my Vietnamese college mate) and his wife! I am just amazed with coincidences because another college mate (on the far left) bumped into Lai in Ho Chi Min recently and he sent this photo to our batch of college students.

I was doing my Electrical Degree in UK when Ho Chi Min fell and at that time I was thinking of Lai. Did he managed to survive the Viet Cong regime? Since I lost contact with Lai, this was a nagging question in my mind all these years until I receive his recent photo. Even during my business trips to Vietnam in the late 80's I did enquire from my business contacts about Lai but to no avail. Also, Lai was the one who got me interested in the Classical Guitar for Lai is an accomplished guitar player and it seems the American Gi's taught him how to play the guitar.

Receiving Lai's photo brought back those unforgettable memories and the fun we had at college. I tried to dig up all the photos I could find during that period of history which holds dear to me. The fun, excitement as well as the naughty things we did then.

Firstly, I just want to say that I survived May 13th 1969 racial riots. I was living in the hottest part of the turmoil and thank God that I survived. That was at the end of my First Year in College.

The above photo was taken in a lecture hall and there are a few faces there and I hope they can stumble upon this post and identify themselves here. Better still if they can send me an email so that we can re-connect with one another. I can still remember most of their names except for one or two.

I was one of the members of the College Basket-ball Team. Lam was the captain and today we are still keeping in touch. After his golf days, he would call me out for lunch with the gang who are mostly ex-Collegians. Wonder why I was not in uniform? Hemm! The guy who wore No. 5 is no longer with us and he was my best buddy in college. He introduced me to the dance halls in KL where we bought $0.40 cents dance tickets to dance with the ladies!!!! I really enjoyed those times and the only problem was that our shirts would be stained with multi-colours due to the sweat and the colour run on the ladies baju! No air-conditioning then! haha!

The above photo was taken during one of our laboratory sessions. Obviously one can tell we were doing some electrical experiments! I remembered how I absentmindedly bite on an electrical plug and got a 230 Volts shock in my mouth! The one on the far left is another of my best friends in college and today he is a missionary in China! Wow! Noticed too that I am the odd guy out in terms of dress code? Most students wore white whereas i wore coloured shirts! Trying to make a statement then i guess like I am different!

Well, during my first year at college, as a private student meaning not under any scholarship or sponsorship, we could not get hostel accommodation. So all private students rented rooms or houses just outside the college and the above photo were my house mates, all college students of different disciplines! We have architectural students, civil engineering students and quantity survey students while I was an electrical power student.

Noticed the sign board behind us? It was a dress making shop next door! I remembered how we used to tease and chase those girls working there! We were ravenous wolves! Hahaha!

Another group photo of the rest of the house mates. I guess one guy is missing and cannot remember why he was not there! He was a land survey student.

This is one of my favourite photo. The Bengali chap was known as Rockwell! Of course not his real name but he is such a jovial and fun to be with character! He wanted to remove his turban but not brave enough to challenge his traditions! As the story goes, Arjan Singh ( his real name ) posted himself as Rockwell Arjan in some popular local Movie Magazines with the sole purpose of finding a girl friend! Someone saw that and ever since then the name sticks and for the 3 years in College, it was such a big joke! Not sure what he is called nowadays!

Now this is another unforgettable photo. We were all refugees! Our college hostel was converted into a refugee camp and we were allowed to stay in our own student rooms. Don't we have the lean and hungry look? What a time of togetherness and we were united without any racial differences while the world outside was so different! Sigh! None of us understood what was all the killing about! Now I wondered where was Anwar Maarof, one of our college mates? He was with the group but his face not in the photo! Today he is Professor Anwar with UTM. In short, we have to thanked Prof. Anwar for saving all our lives! Talking about racial harmony and unity!

I was hugging these two Indian boys who were refugees there too! Understood that they got separated from their parents and not sure they were alive or not! All in all we spent about 2 months living as refugees. Food was just curry and rice with ikan bilis nearly everyday. There were soldiers guarding the place and remembered one evening, some people from outside tried to enter and all of us were asked to stay in our rooms. Exciting but also rather scary! Having gone through such a horrible life experience and saw some killings on the streets, never would anyone like to see a repeat of such. In many ways my innocent mind was tainted with the ugliness of racial riots and forever in my memory. Somehow an invisible barrier was created among the different races but through the years it began to really heal until recently with the all these bigotry and racial chantings once again opened up old wounds. Never knew what hatred was until we woke up to the reality of it. Our unity seems to be so fragile.

Finally we all graduated and we were all working in various Government Departments or in some Private Companies. However the comradeship continued and we even become house mates! Then slowly one by one, we got married and soon we part our ways. The busyness of building a career and family life soon take a toll on the comradeship and now, we are unable to locate one another except for a few who continue to keep in touch! Guess life is always about making new relationship and parting of some old ones but the emotional bond that we had built over the years will always remain strong and it just take a chance meeting and all the so call 'old sparks' came back again!

I am sure Lai must have much more to share during that part of history. He saw the Malaysia May 13th Racial Riots plus his experience going through the Fall of Ho Chi Min! Would love to meet him personally to learn of his life experiences which I am sure holds plenty of great life lessons! In many ways this post is about Lai my Vietnamese College as well as course-mate.

Ever since the taking over of Five States by the Opposition Coalition, a lot of strange, mysterious events had happened and listed below are just a few of these:-

1. The death of Teoh Beng Hock who was hauled in by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption as a witness for questioning. Mr. Teoh's death was shrouded in mystery because he was found dead the next morning after a long night of interrogation and apparantly committed suicide! It was strange because Mr. Teoh was supposed to get married the next day. The case is still on-going. By the way Mr. Teoh was a political aide to an Opposition MP and was being investigated for a mere RM $2,500.00 corruption case for buying our National Flags for our Independence Day Celebration! Yet the former UMNO Selangor Chief Minster's personal mansion costing RM $25 Million was not investigated as thoroughly or with such passion! Surprise! Surprise!




2. Citizens were arrested and harassed by the police for holding peaceful candle-light vigil. Even the lawyers who turned up at the police station to provide legal assistance to those who were arrested were detained too! Totally baffling as to why it happened this way.




3. The huge 10,000 strong protests by the citizens to call for the abolishment of the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) were treated with acid-water spray and arrests by the Police. All the protestors intended was to submit a Memorandum calling for the abolishment of the ISA to our King but were prevented from doing so. Strange!




4. Mr. Balasubramaniam, a private investigator who made a Statutory Declaration implicating our Prime Minister's involvement in the murder and blowing-up of Mongolian Model Altantuya Shaaribu, went missing for months after the SD. Our Police are unable to trace him it seems!




5. In the current Anwar Ibrahim, the Opposition Leader's sodomy trial, the medical doctor who did the medical examination also disappeared and till today no one knows where he went. This doctor confirmed that the so call 'victim' of this sodomy trial did not have any traces of such acts done to him. Puzzling! Where he went to and why did he disappear or went into hiding? Beats me!




6. Two Air-force Jet Engines were stolen from our Military Base by just a low ranking officer and an outside business man is the most amazing crime of the century! How did these two carted away two jet engines without anyone knowing about it until around 2 years later!!! Mysterious!




7. The protestors of the infamous 'Cow-Head Debacle' was able to do what they did with the Police on stand-by and doing nothing to stop such shameful, racist acts never failed to astound me. The Police could stop a 10,00 strong protest but unable to stop a group of about 12 people seems totally baffling!




8. In January this year, certain Islamic Groups protested against Christians for using the word 'Allah' in Christian internal mpublications. After the usual Friday Prayers, these protestors chanting racial and religious hatred statements and yet again, the Government in the person of the Prime Minster and the Minister of Home Affairs said that they were "powerless to stop such protests!". Well, because of what these two irresponsible Ministers said, some emotional protestors went on a spree of fire bombing 10 Churches, a Sikh Temple and desecreation of Mosques. Currently the race and religious tension is still high and look rather explosive. Politicians must be sensitive and avoid using racist and religious sensitive statements to cause further erosion.




9. Recently some Islamic NGO's and the Malay Consumer Association of Penang, again protested and accusing the Penang State Government of discriminatory demolition of Malay illegal hawker stalls! Once again the Police said they could not stop the protests!

From all the above incidents, it seems to me that the Police are practicing double standards in their operations. If protests are from the Opposition, even a 10,000 strong group they can handle with ease and with lightning speed! If the protests are from Government quarters, Islamic groups or Malay groups then they are powerless to do anything! Please give me some good reasons to convince me otherwise.

In the unlikely event of any racial conflict, I seriously cannot trust the Police or the Government to be fair and just! All these are indications that Malaysia is becoming a Failed State like Zimbabwe! Tell me please that I am just getting paranoid!!!!

I do have many readers or followers from the US and of course UK and other European countries. I am sure many of them find it difficult to understand the issue of certain Islamic Groups and I dare even to venture, the ruling Government or UMNO more specifically are keen to force the Christians to stop using the word "Allah" in their religious services.

Even we Malaysians, especially those who live in Peninsular Malaysia and even some Christians here do not fully understand the issues at hand. Our brothers and sisters in East Malaysia ( States of Sarawak and Sabah) will be badly affected by this ban.

I come across a very good article by Jakarta Post on some comments by Azmi Sharom of University of Malaya on how the crux of the problem facing plurality in Malaysia" are the twin issues of race and religion. I reproduce here for my foreign visitors and perhaps this article can bring some clarity in our current Malaysian internal affairs concerning race, and religion intertwined in our history.

"And its roots are found in the very constitution of Malaysia, which, in Azmi's words, "was and is a strange creature that combines liberal democratic ideals and what can only be described as racially based preferential treatment".

The Malaysian constitution stipulates that "Islam is the religion of the federation; but other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the federation."

Prior to Malaysia's independence in 1957, it was the Alliance Party (later Barisan Nasional) - consisting of the United Malay National Organization (UMNO), the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) and the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) - that had suggested the inclusion of this article.

It was, obviously, a shrewd political maneuver by UMNO to gain support from the Islamic groups, and blessed by its two partners.

Such a move, however, did not make Malaysia an Islamic state. The Alliance assured the Reid Commission, responsible for drafting the Malaysian constitution, that "The observance of this principle . shall not imply that the state is not a secular state."

UMNO was aware that without the support of the two other parties, it was in no position to singularly represent the diverse Malayan federation and the multiracial and pluralistic Malaysian society.

The Reid Commission was further assured by the trio that, "Making Islam the official religion of the federation is primarily for ceremonial purposes, for instance to enable prayers to be offered in the Islamic way on official occasions, such as the installation of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong *King*, Merdeka Day *Independence Day* and similar occasions."

Tunku Abdul Rahman, one of the founding fathers of the Malaysian state, was more blunt in saying that, "I would like to make it clear that this country is not an Islamic state, as it is generally understood; we merely provide that Islam shall be the official religion of the state."

The Malay rulers were a step ahead in asking the commission to ensure that "in an independent Malaya all nationals should be accorded equal rights, privileges and opportunities, and there must not be discrimination on grounds of race and creed". They were not in favor of any special preferential treatment for the Bumiputra, or the indigenous Malays.

The Alliance, however, saw the large chunk of indigenous Malays as its potential vote-bank, and was eager to impress them by appearing as a hero. Thus, special quotas for entry into the civil service, public scholarships and public education were proposed.

The commission was left with no choice but to accept the proposal, granting the King of Malaysia responsibility for safeguarding the special position of the indigenous peoples.

The provisions, however, were temporary in nature. The Reid Commission suggested that 15 years after independence, such provisions should be reconsidered, and that the "legislature should then determine either to retain or to reduce any quota or to discontinue it entirely".

Tun Dr. Ismail, one of the nation's founding fathers, likened the special privileges of the Malays to a golf handicap, only to be used until the time comes that such a crutch is no longer needed (The Reluctant Politician).

The article was, thus, due for review in 1972. Unfortunately, this never happened. During the 1969 elections, thanks to the ambitious politicians playing with the religious and racial sentiments of the masses to gain votes, the foundation of the Malaysian state suffered its first crack. The riots of May 13 that year were the outcome of broken promises and broken hearts.

Less than 15 years after its independence, Malaysian society was already divided between the indigenous and the non-indigenous. Malaysia was no longer united. Insensitive to this, the Malaysian government introduced economic and development policies that widened the gap, rather than build bridges.

To worsen the situation, following a wrong trait of nationalism, being Malay became identical with being a Muslim. Azmi cites the success of the Iranian revolution for the "growing Islamization of Malaysia", resulting in the "personal changes, in dress, manner of speech and shifting value systems".

But that was not the only reason. The 1980s and 1990s were also the decades of petrodollar supremacy. Money from Saudi Arabia and other affluent Middle Eastern countries flowed in freely, causing more division and more harm to Malaysian society.

The situation was such that non-Muslim Malaysians were compelled to reinstate their pre-independence identities. They were, once again, Chinese or Indian. For they would not be considered Malays if they were not Muslim.

Meanwhile, the Islamic parties gained ground, which made then prime minister Mahathir Mohammad feel threatened. In a desperate attempt to secure his position, he brought Anwar Ibrahim, popular among Malaysia's Islamists, into his fold. That way, the shrewd senior politician thought, UMNO would have their support.

The rapport between the two leaders, however, did not last long. Anwar's popularity also became the cause of his downfall, when Mahathir finally sacked him in 1998.

Without Anwar on his side, and still eager for the support of Islamist groups, Mahathir made another major political blunder in 2001: he declared Malaysia an Islamic state. His opponents knew it was a political gimmick. However, as Lim Kit Siang, a veteran opposition leader believes, it "opened the way for the Islamists".

That was the final blow to the promises made by the nation's founding fathers and rulers. In a country where political parties have always been race- and community-based, the blow caused almost irreparable damage.

Malaysia, our neighbor, our younger brother, begins this year with attacks on churches. Shameful. It tarnishes the image of peace-loving Malays. What is the solution? Remain Malay. Follow the religion of your heart, but keep to your own culture. Shun the Middle Eastern, Indian and Chinese identities, norms, lifestyles, cultures and values - you are Malay. We are siblings. Your problems, your pains, are our problems and our pains. God protect you!