Where’s the “whoo whaa” for Malaysian Independence Day?

31st August, 1957. I was not born that year so I would not know what actually took place. I only know what took place by the stories narrated to me by my dad and by the history books in school. History books my friends, are written and published by the people who were in power of the government. Whatever the government before wants the Rakyat to believe, they will make sure it reaches the Rakyat and that’s how our school history books influence our understanding of Malaysian History today. Of course these history books could be replaced by another version which could very well be contradicting to the initial history books. However you need to substitute that very government of yesteryears that wrote and published the book in the first place. Now you know where I’m getting. Well, for 52 years (2 more days for 53 years from this date), Malaysia previously known as Malaya has been ruled by the Barisan Nasional political party previously known as Parti Perikatan. For 52 years we have been reading the bullshit they have fed us with in schools. For 52 years we have been told to compromise with not other races but compromise with the government policies if you look at it the right the way. For 52 years we were petrified to even speak about the government policies what not their attitudes. For 52 years my dear readers, we were so proud of Malaysia that we celebrated with cheers and joy the Independence of Malaysia on 31st August. 2 more days for 31st August 2010, where is the joy now?

The fact is, the only joy we get on the 31st August is a Public Holiday. For those who work on this day, the joy is getting double or in some organization triples pay and that’s about it. The joy for the younglings/teenagers are probably to get involved in the Independence Parade held in each state or just to site see the parade. When I was younger in my early teens, my friends and I would site see the parade back in Ipoh not because we are patriotic but because we want to check out the girls in their respective school uniforms or club uniforms. Hey, don’t give me that look. You and I both know we all did the same thing. It’s the hormone kicking. Anyway, that my friends are just about the most we feel about Malaysian Independence Day.

Well, I’ve got my own theory on how Malaysia or Malaya of yesteryears gained its Independence Day. This of course is not solely my view, but also some other small percentage of people who took the effort to learn more about the history of Malaya just by a click of a mouse. I will make is as simple as one sentence. The British who were in control of our country back then, got so tired of us being so lazy of not wanting to take responsibilities of governing the country that they decided to leave Malaya. That’s right. The Brits left Malaya because they could not stand our attitude. The popular Malaysian attitude of ‘apa apa lah’. However, since the Brits are more responsible people then we are, they left us with a constitution so that we don’t end up in a mess. Well, a country needs to have standard to be in the Commonwealth Organization. That’s how I see Malaya gained its Independence. True or false, I would not know but that’s how I see it.

Coming back, since most of us were not present pre-Malaya Independence and the day the declaration took place, we only experience the post-independence day which is Malaysian Independence Day. From what we see or better still from what I see, its compromise, compromise, compromise all the way. I really don’t mind compromising but to the extent of having quotas for GLCs and public universities is a little too much. Actually coming to think of it, I even don’t mind compromising on GLCs rate of hiring, but public universities, is a no! no!. When the current government is replaced in the next GE, which I believe it will, I really hope that they scrap the quota in public universities. First the petrol price of course, and then the public university quota. Hey, I’m not going to enroll in any university no more, so let it come second. I am being selfish just like you. Thus; we have not been fed by patriotism for us to feel proud to be Malaysian. Don’t blame the Rakyat for feeling this, blame the government. What on earth is a patriotic drama aired in TV going to teach us. Even in those sick dramas, its compromise, compromise and compromise. We also have lame patriotic songs. The lyrics are so well written that you will switch the TV channel to MTV. It does not bring even a bit of patriotism. With all the money spent on first class infrastructure, I’m pretty sure we can spend more for quality composers and directors in our soil. From what I can recall, Yasmin Ahmad was a fantastic director and scripter. It’s a pity she has left us. Rest in peace dear Yasmin. I’m sure there are others, but with the rate of corruption we are going through, the talented will never prevail.

Below is a piece of advice from me.

Dear Malaysian Citizens,
Let’s vote for a change. May 13, 1969 is not going to happen if you do. We are much better informed now compared to back then. You can spend so much time for entertainment, why can’t you spend a little time to register as a valid voter. And what are you going to lose, if it’s voting day, you get to take time off or even a holiday from your employers. Remember you get paid for this day. This, your employer have to give. It’s their duty to give you a day off and your responsibility to vote. If you are really terrified that things are going to go out of hand if you vote for a change come next GE, think of it this way. Minus the university/college students, almost all of us have got a job to do to put food on the table. Our employers will not pay us if we don’t go to work. It’s either you leave your job and let the people under your care suffer with no food and money by getting involved in petty rallies or take the day off given by your employers, vote for a change and get back to work the next day. Everything will be fine. If you don’t like the way things are being administered after the next GE, then vote for a change again the following GE.

I just love politics!

You and I are God

I have been perceived by many among my circle of friends, colleagues and family as a Freethinker, which I don’t deny as I am very well a freethinker of my own kind. With all due respect to the religion believers, let me get one fact right. There might be several reputable sites over in the internet that states Freethinker as a religion by its own, but this is not true. Freethinkers do not indulge themselves to be the children of God; in fact Freethinkers question the existence of the path towards God. Actually we take a very liberal approach when it comes to God. We are nice people; we don’t want to engage in a heated argument about religion and the path to meet God. We respect and adhere the believe and faith of others. However, let me warn you. Do not take the opportunity to question our liberal thinking because you are in for a fatal blow. Remember, Freethinkers take an easier approach because we do not have faith or believe in religion. You as the religion believer take the more difficult approach as you need to answer questions posed by us on the practicality of one’s believe.

I for one person do not believe in religion. I might have belief in God, but who is God first of all. Has anyone seen God? And why do we always regard God as a male? Why not a female? Nevertheless, you cannot negate the fact that there are scenarios and situations that cannot be explained by science. These mysteries can be found and read all over the internet. Most are dramas for entertainment purpose, but some are really true. For instance the Hindu idol Ganapthy drinking milk from a spoon. How on earth do you explain that? The climax of this mystery is that these Hindu idol Ganapathys around the world refused to take a drop more of milk pass noon on the 21st September 1995. Guys, I saw this phenomenon myself. Ecstatic!! Sathya Sai Baba takes out a Linggam (Idol of Lord Shiva in Hindu Mythology) from his mouth. Ok that one of course is untrue. In fact, there was a documentary by the British Broadcasting Center (BBC) about the whole fallacious act.

Nevertheless, there are circumstances that go beyond the theory of science. God is very objective for me. If you ask me do I believe in God, I would answer your question with a question, for instance do you believe in weather? When you discuss about weather, they say its Mother Nature so just let her do her wonders or disaster. Again in here, we are being sexist by generalizing Weather as a female. We never learn do we? So for me, God is just a word that human kind created so that we can all depend on God when none are to lend a helping hand. Most might raise an eyebrow reading the last sentence just now. Most might argue that I don’t pray to God only when I am in trouble or when I need something to happen, I pray to God all the time. Crap! You might be praying to God all the time, but when you want something to happen your way, you just pray harder and promise to give God something if he helps you through your troubles. This is bribing my friend. You are no better than our PDRM. You create the word God and then proceed to bribe him as well. Why don’t you just promise to yourself that you will get yourself some cool gift if things happen the way you wanted? It’s a false world you are living in.

Already God is beyond reality, and then we create religion. Religion my friends, I am totally against. Reason being of the wars and hypocrisy we see today. Israel is one religious affair which has been going on for ages. Jews claim Jerusalem is theirs, Christians claim it’s their holy city and Muslims claim Prophet Muhammad was there and 3 largest religions in the world come together to fight each other in the name of their religion and their God. Funny that when we have judicial system that takes into consideration the logic, practicality and motif behind a scene, we flush those aspects down the toilet when it comes to religion. We are living in one world with 2 different systems. The religious and the legal system. Just like in our Boleh Land, the syariah court and the civil court. Things are going to get out of hand if this is applied. In fact, this is already out of hand and almost way beyond repair.

Hypocrisy of the religionist is another aspect that makes me puke and hate the sight off. Now being a person who have read several Holy Scriptures / book which in some cases translated in English, I can assure you that from the different religious point of view, none teaches human kind immoral stuffs. They all teach us to be good, kind, caring, loving and all the 16 moral values we memorize for our Moral subject in SPM. However, to my surprise we do see religious fanatics that say aloud about the don’ts of ones’ religion to a field of believers but at the backyard of their homes’, they do the total opposite. You promise in the holy matrimonial culture to be one for one and yet you wag your tail when you see another opposite sex. You preach about not receiving or giving bribes, but you do the opposite behind the scenes. Who am I referring to? It’s for me to know and for you to find out.

I just cannot lay my faith on God or religion for that matter because of one thing only. I am unable to speak or see God. I would rather have faith on humans of which I can feel and speak. I would rather trust you who are reading this now. I would surely trust and lay faith in my parents who brought me into this world in the first place. You and I are living species in this world that can provide advice or feedback if we go through difficult times or even offer materialistic help when needed. These are tangible characteristic that I can see and feel good about when offered. Help doesn’t always come your way, you need to seek for help and who do you seek help? Not God, you seek help with the ones close to you. In your terms, they are your God. Flip back a few pages in your life history right now and remember who helped you when you really needed it, was it God? No, it was the person next to you when you were in a classroom, when you were in a lecture room, when you were in the living hall watching television, the person next to you at your office. These are the people you thank and remember for the rest of your life.

Allow me to share an experience my mom conveyed to me recently. Now my mom is an extremist when it comes to religious faith. Luckily she takes an approach of, it’s okay if you don’t have faith, just don’t ruin other people’s faith. I for one follow this carefully. Well, my mom and sis went to a devotional center recently to be involved in a religious talk of some sort. Everything went fine and they both left the center after the talk and headed home. Upon reaching home, my mom realized that her gold chain was missing. Knowing my mom or any women for that matter, she started to feel bad and was down questioning God why do you do this to me and all that drama. However, my sis taking the more practical approach, persuaded my mom to get in the car and start looking for the chain at the center, and so they did. Upon reaching the center and trying to look for the gold chain, my sis somehow found it on the grass field where the car was parked. With a happy and joyful look I presume, my sis gave the chain to my mom. The climax of the story is when my mom received the chain from my sis. Guess what, my mom thanked God. After the hard work my sis went through persuading my mom, and trust me it’s not a simple task to do so, my mom actually thanked God. I guess she did thank my sis, but she thanked God more.

The essence of the story above is thanking the people who helped you. Remember, the term God in this story would be my sister. Why? Do you need to be an old man with long white beard and an orange or white cloth covering his body to be God or claiming to be God like Swami Nityanandan? No such rule. If someone helped you when you really needed help, that someone is God to you. Be it a man, women, transgender or animal. A phrase in a recent Tamil Movie comes to my mind here. This was from the movie Dasavatharam by Kamal Hassan. Towards the end of the movie, the lead female actress and the lead male actor have this short conversation below:-

Note: The movie was taken in Tamil Language, but the below conversation is a translation in English

Lead Actress : …… But please, just don’t say that there is no God.
Lead Actor : I never did say that there is no God …. [5 seconds silence….].I just said it would be nice if there is one.

At the end of one’s life in this world, he, she or it doesn’t bring back what they possess materialistically back to the grave. They leave everything to the ones still living in this world and the one thing that matters most is the good old memories they fed you with. The memories when they came to you to lend a helping hand or even a shoulder to cry when times were difficult for you. Memories my friends last forever. God on the other hand, we would never know.

Drop me an e-mail at kuhan_83@hotmail.com if you are pissed with my article.

Reasonable Doubts on Palm Leaf Reading

I had the pleasure of visiting the mystical land of India recently with my family. When the plan to visit India was first initiated, the first thing that struck my mind was to experience the Palm Leave Reading or better known in Tamil as ‘Naadi Josiyam’. The mystery behind this Palm Leaf reading is that the past, present and future of each and every being in this world has long been written by holy people of the past years. Now when I say holy people, there might be debates and arguments on how holy can one be and what supernatural powers they possess? However, putting all these debates and arguments aside, let’s just accept the fact or myth that these holy people do possess supernatural powers that can predict exactly what future lies for an individual. Now I know I have been against religion and so forth to the people who know me, but this is not religion. This is actually combination of science, astrology, numerology and a little rational uncertainty that messes the whole Palm Leaf reading process.

Apparently, you can actually determine the past life of an individual. Karma plays an important role here. Now if you have been a naughty person in your past life, you are going to pay for the shit you did in this life and vice versa. Just like the manmade myth of Santa Clause. The only difference is that with Santa around, you don’t get any gifts for Christmas in this life itself if you have been really naughty ;)

I went to Vaitheswarakovil (this is a place in Tamil Nadu, India) to check out my palm leaf. As I said earlier, everyone who has been born in this world has got his/her own palm leaf written. Do not get confused with the fact that this means there are about 7 billion palm leafs as there are about 7 billion people today as of 2009. That does not make sense at all as people die and babies are born every day in this world. So how does it work? I was given the explanation below.

A baby is only born based on the location of planets in our milky way which means there are only 9 planets. When a baby is born, the name, date, time and planet plays and essential part to determine the baby’s characteristics and how he/she is going to live life. Also include the horoscope (in Hindu mythology) as that plays a part as well. By determining all these factors, you can probably reduce the number of palm leafs written for each person in this world. The leaf will also reveal the exact date an individual will come to see his/her Palm Leaf. So that makes the Mathematical Probability do its part. This indirectly means one palm leaf can be shared by more than one person. Still confused? Let me give you an example.

*note that this article is not proven. It is just based on my opinion, knowledge and understanding.

A and B can share the same palm leaf if they were born at the same date and month but different year based on the exact location of planets. Obviously planets do move around the sun just like earth. So perhaps A was born when planets were in situation A and B was born also when the planets were in situation A but after all the 9 planets have completed one whole cycle going around the sun. If you are still confused, I guess you just need to experience palm leaf reading for yourself.

Now when I went to get my reading of Palm Leaf, it took about 10mins to find a leaf that suits me almost perfectly. In this process, the man reading the Leaf asked me to stop when my name is mentioned. So he read out about 20-30 leafs containing names that revolves my date of birth. (I gave only my date of birth and my left and right thumb print to them). The moment he mentioned my name, I stopped him after which he asked me to answer yes if the leaf has got correct information of my present life. That took another 5-6 leafs and eventually he found the one which was written for me so they say.

The particular leaf had my name, my parents’ name, my siblings’ name, the general job of my parents and how many sisters and brother I have. All this were absolutely spot-on. Amazed? So was I. Once we agreed that this is my leaf, he then started to tell about my past life and how it has affected my current life. Of course he also told me that the leaf will tell what you will be in the years to come and when you will die but I skipped that part thus; he only gave me a quick glimpse of it. However, the 1st doubt came when I asked him if the leaf has got my next life’s information. Astonishingly he answered ‘no’. I did not pursue that doubt as I didn’t want to engage in a debate with him.

Doubt: If a leaf can reveal my past life, how my past life influenced my present life, how I will live my present live till I die, why can’t it determine my future life? Is that how far the karma goes? 2 lifes. Even cats have got 9 lives so they say.

Apparently I did some nonsense in my previous life which is why I am paying for it now according to the leave. To avoid bad things to happen in this life, I can actually do some rituals for a period of time and this will change my future. This part of the story might have been made up by the person who read the leaf, but if it is true, then Palm Leave reading is original bull shit you see at the streets in India.

Doubt: If you can change the future, doesn’t that mean the leaf is lying? By
changing the future, I cannot get another leaf to be read because this particular leaf is mine. Written for people who were born on my birth date and month with the particular location of the planets remember.

After this part of the story, I started to lose concentrating and believe. He told me a few things about my future which I can’t go against as I have not passed the age yet in which I will post an article if it happens or not. One thing I can say is that according to the leaf, I will live a rather long time in this world. Good news, the world is not going to end on 21st December 2012 after all as predicted by the Mayans. Actually they did not predict this date; it’s just that their self-made calendars did not have any dates after the mentioned date above. Perhaps the associated person in-charge of the responsibility to create the calendar died or his hands got bite by a crocodile. I don’t know.

At the end of the session, he left the palm leaf on the table and went to grab an envelope to put in the cassette he was recording the whole process of him reading out to me the palm leaf information. When he left, I had a glimpse of the Palm Leaf. Now I have not seen a palm leaf in my life so I would not know if the palm leaf I saw is actually an original one. From what I read on the internet it probably was a palm leaf after all. When I touched the leaf, the material was more like a measuring tape used by contractors to measure lengths. When I saw the writings on the leaf, it was in Tamil. My vision may have deceived me, but I am pretty sure I could read a few a words written in that leaf

Doubt: Wasn’t it supposed to be Vatta Ezhuthu? If I could have read it, then it should be Tamil. Unless I suddenly had this light beam shun on me and mysteriously I could read Vatta Ezhuthu. Vatta Ezhuthu is an ancient Tamil language which does not appear as the Tamil alphabets we see today. Vatta Ezhuthu is the language used to write these predictions on a Palm Leaf.

Nevertheless it all ended and I was satisfied that I finally had experienced this mythical and mysterious palm leaf reading. As a whole, I was pleased on what has said about me on my past and my future life. If everything that was said to me as predicted happens, I would be very happy and would for sure propose this palm leaf reading to everyone. If only there was a palm leaf reading for every country. That would be awesome. Guess we just have to wait for the next General Election. Adious amigo!