38 Responses to “Thank You, Dear Readers!”

1. Din Merican Says:
   September 12th, 2005 at 10:15 pm

   Dear Bakri,

   Thanks for your kind remarks about our collaboration, and our almost decade long friendship. I have learned a lot during our frequent exchanges on this website, and in our private e-mail exchanges.

   It is nice to have a Malaysian Malay intellectual in far away California looking in, who is critical yet passionate and positive about our country. By being in a thick of things and close to the scene as I am in Kuala Lumpur, I do have blind spots. But I can count on you and others to point me in the right direction. For this, I shall be indebted to you and them.

   I have used your website as a means of sharing my views and experiences with our younger generation and others. They may not agree with me, but at least I hope they know that there are other views and perspectives. In fact, I do get stinkers on my private e-mails. I accept them except those profane ones. I expect courtesy, but I realise that I cannot control another person’s reaction. Bashing, and even damnation, comes with the territory.

   Overall, I find that our readers are a very intelligent and critical lot. This can only be good for our fledging democracy. We are all loyal Malaysians. We want our country to be a great success. I think we have now reached a such stage in our country’s intellectual development that we can live with open and critical discourse.

   I resort to your web as a means for us to express our views in a responsible and reasoned manner, and, of course, in good taste. I certainly benefited from these exchanges, and will continue to write on contemporary issues. I have renewed old friendships (keris-always and 10-4 Ibrahim) and also made new friends (chez1978, Fair Malaysian and even my passionate Islamic brother Mr. Baju) through your website.

   I also use your website because there is no way that my writings will be carried on Malaysian tabliods, without being subject to heavy editing. I am also grateful to both Steven Gan of http://www.Malaysiakini.com and Raja Petra Kamaruddin of http://www. Malaysia-today.net for carrying some of my pieces. Both these guys and their readers are breaking new ground everyday. Our Government too seems quite tolerant of contrarian views.

   We in the cyberworld can make some difference to our country. I am not bothered whether or not I am popular. I want to make a small contribution. Even if I fail, at least I know I did what I have to do, and did it my way.

   Thanks.

2. Su and Jason Pittam Says:
   September 12th, 2005 at 11:57 pm

   As-Salaam ‘alaikum Abang Bakri and Mother Karen!
   What a lovely surprise! You really made us blush! Both of you are so sweet and so caring. Your comments really melted our hearts and we feel honored and blessed to have you in our lives. It brings us joy to know that you are happy typing away at your keyboard and spreading your wisdom. We are still waiting for one more website/blog to be started by Ibu.

   With lots of love,
   Su and Jason

   P.S. For the world reading this, if you haven’t read ‘With Love From Malaysia’, you should pick up your copy immediately! You can read the book here: http://books.iuniverse.com/viewbooks.asp?isbn=0595316077&page=fm3

   Or you can buy here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595316077/interactiveda276-20/104-6165848-1850361/sumikael-20/104-6165848-1850361

3. kgboy Says:
   September 13th, 2005 at 8:53 am

   Dr Bakri and Din Merican,

   I have been reading your writings in the Malaysiankini and Malaysia Today and have been enjoying the conversation between Din Merican and Keris-Always. Wonder how many younger readers know who Rose Chan was? I am perhaps a couple of years junior to Din and Keris-always in the University of Malaya.

   I only have a few words to contribute. “The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don’t do anything about it” - Albert Einstein. Both you and some of your readers certainly make Malaysia a little safer by contirbuting your writings to be shared by so many of your readers especially the younger ones.

   I believe words from wise and intellectual Malaysians like yourselves projected in a manner that appeals to sensable silent majority would
   eventually gather enough critical mass towards a positive change for Malaysia.

   “Watch your thoughts; they become your words. Watch your words; they become your actions. Watch your actions; they become your habits. Watch your habits; they become your character. Watch your character for it will become your destiny” - Frank Outlaw

   Thank you for the thoughts through your words.

4. keris_always Says:
   September 13th, 2005 at 11:50 am

   bro bakri and bro dean merican,

   i think your website attracts the right kind of people from among malaysians who truly wish the best for the country - although they may have different or even opposite view points.

   all you need do is visit blogs like screenshot run by one jeff ooi - to know what i mean.

   to both of you i say, “keep up the good work.”

   P.S.

   bro dean merican,

   hope to meet you at champs-elysees - the next time you are in gay paris

5. keris_always Says:
   September 13th, 2005 at 12:03 pm

   P.S.

   kgboy,

   if you dont know who rose chan was, then bro dean merican would tell you that you have missed out on life’s greatest gift to Man - or at least to him (and me, of course) when he was growing up in bakaq bata and as a small boy, how he would ponteng class to go to the amusment park next to the rex cinema much to the chagrin of his hard working mother who raised him - just to ogle at rose chan. even those days they had matinee shows.

6. Din Merican Says:
   September 13th, 2005 at 7:52 pm

   keris_always and kgboy,

   I graduated from UM in 1963. Kgboy and Keris_always, we all have come a long way, up by the bootstrap. Mana ada NEP/NDP dulu!

   When I was young in rural town Alok Stak, I was restless(remember James Dean). Sneaking out to watch Rose Chan ( that is, acting against parental diktat) was a challenge against authority, and authority figures.

   You see, no one cared to explain sensibly to me why it was “wrong” or “immoral” to see Rose Chan. Why only men pass 21, not 16 year olds like me? Double standards. Our elders just gave the order, and they expected compliance, no ifs and buts. For me, it was fun to rebel, with or without causes.

   kg boy, you missed this Rosie stuff. In fact, Rose Chan knew her trade.She was very sophisticated, tasteful, and thoroughly professional with her “see enough yet not enough” acts. Her fight with the python was more symbolic and suggestive than what I thought then. It was doing what she could not do openly. It was her strategy to get our “religious policemen” of that time off her back and front. I enjoyed her shows, and so did the plain clothes cops. Remember, keris_always, we used to call these guys “mata-mata gelap”. Disciplinary action at home was, of course, something else.

   Unfortunately, it is taboo to talk about such things in Al Badawi Land. Being in a Club like Zouk with my teenage daughter could land me in serious trouble. I could be charged with dating/khalwating an underaged girl. But the attitude of our ulamaks and the politicians today is the same as that of my late mother. “Salah dan Malu”. The language may have changed to “haram”.

   About ponteng class, that too. Some my teachers were boring as they were reading the textbooks in class. That I could do on my own time. It was too much to expect analytical insights from them. Forget about wisdom. It was, however, different in the Sixth Form. So Randolph Scott, Audie Murphy, Gary Cooper, and John Wayne and their heroines had something better to offer compared to those teachers.

   There were times when I told my mom that I did not want to attend class, preferring to stay at home to study. She cooperated and provided me with the occasional medical certificate. You see, I learn to use connections early. But, hey, that was for a good cause, not to lepak in the supermalls. Alok Staq then did not have such places. We only had kedai cina in Pekan Cina, gedung mamak in Pekan Melayu, and gerai-gerai Melayu in Pekan Rabu.

   I find it refreshing to reflect about the “good old days”. I can laugh at the “stupid” things I did. Reflection is also useful because it enables me to see what progress we have achieved in the last half century. More importantly, I need to know what the differences are.

   Material progress, a definite yes. But what is real development? To me, it is more than just economic growth, and modern first world infrastructure. Look at our own University of Malaysia in the 1960s and now in 2005, and compare it with the National University of Singapore. In this case, we have actually regressed.

   keris_always, a’ Paris (Paree). You live there in the company of M. Jacques Chirac, Charles Aznavour, and the spirits of Jean Paul Satre, Louis Althusser, and Michel Foucault?

   Thanks.

7. Din Merican Says:
   September 13th, 2005 at 9:43 pm

   Hey guys and gals,

   This is breaking news from Badawi Land

   It is haram to hug and kiss each other like the Arabs used to do. Malaysia is now following Saudi Arab. Therefore, you can no longer kiss Badawi’s hand or hug him when you greet him at the airport. According to research from Sekolah Attap Institute, all ahli bodeks are feeling depressed. They are hoping to apply to our Ulama brothers, especially from the Chief Mufti, Perak Darul Ridzwan for special dispensation.

   No hugging, and kissing women on the cheek either. All in the name of purity and Islamic values.

   Thanks.

8. kgboy Says:
   September 13th, 2005 at 10:41 pm

   Din and Keris-always,

   Wow, big kow-tow to my seniors. I was in MU early seventies. I came from Parit, Perak and you see why was I a kg boy and words like Rose Chan only travelled into our kg town through the petty traders of our time.

   Keris-always, my first exposure to Rose Chan was when my boss took me to her show after some good work for him. What an exposure for me as a kg boy!! Yes Din, amongst many other tricks, she did wrestle the phyton. She, to me had mastered the ultimate art of her own. In any profression, it is important to reach the ultimate mastery. She did. That’s why she commanded such respect of her time even when it was not the most respectable profession.

   cheers.

   BTW, both Jeff Ooi and Dr Bakri perhaps would probably reach the mastery level attained by Rosie in her time albeit in the blogging cyberworld attaining followings not much lesser than Rosie.

9. Anson Warrior Says:
   September 13th, 2005 at 10:51 pm

   Amazingly u guys can be considered as ‘orang lama’ in Malaysian readers community so I need to ask a few questions.

   1. Apart from Arkib Negara, where can I get all the old writings of Malaysian?

   2. When I read u’r blog, I kind of make a conclusion that u guys r totally disguissed with the situation of this country(correct me if I’m wrong)… it’s ok coz u guys r well established… as for me… there is burning desire within to write about the injustice and do something about it, How does a young guy with small kids like me voice out the dissatisfaction apart from voting the opposition? Maybe I’m selfish if i said that I’ve so much to loose…. but that is the reality of life in KL…Survival…

   Mr Bakri Musa, thank you for the blog…u’ve provided me a good stuff to read for free… at least I can use the money I use to buy books every month(ridiculously expensive) for other stuff… the kids diapers I guess!

10. Din Merican Says:
    September 14th, 2005 at 3:30 am

    Kgboy:

    Rosie was a simple yet excellent example of the dictum: whatever you do, just be the tops at it. It was the execution of her act that mattered. Obviously, she could conceptualize her act, and she performed with such Freudian excellence. Vision and action go together.

    Strip-teasing is fine if it is done with good taste. That was why she was really good, and that was how she became a legend. She provided affordable playboy type entertainment for a lot of us, people like me. I respected her as a human being and as a professional. She earned her money with her integrity intact. Keris_always, what do you think?

    Anson Warrior:

    You must be from Telok Anson/now Telok Intan, and are of the Warrior Class. You could be living not far from Malaysia’s equivalent of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

    Arkib Negara is the last place you should go. Please visit the libraries at UM and UKM, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, and the National Library. If you need to buy some books at affordable prices please go Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Majid India. With regard to the books you should buy, my Islamic Brother Baju can suggest. He knows the ins and the outs of Jalan Majid India, and can get good discounts.

    There is also now a chain of PayLess Bookshops in KL and Petaling Jaya. You can buy some old books at Rm5-10 a copy. If you care to go to the flea market at AMCorp Mall, Petaling Jaya on Sundays, you can have books including first editions at really rock bottom prices.

    Come on, do not blame your kids. What are you doing at night after they all (including their mom) go to sleep? You sleep too? But I suggest sleep an hour later so that you have time for yourself, or just get up one hour earlier than they do. Don’t watch TV too much.

    Do not be afraid to speak your mind. For that you don’t have to be a politician, not unless you want to be rich. If you want to be rich via politics, then join UMNO, MCA, Gerakan or MIC, not DAP. If DAP comes to power, you can switch over like al kataki/froggie, because these guys too will want to be rich. They will forget their ideals. For the moment, stick with Barisan Nasional (BN).

    Once you are a member of one of the BN Parties, try to be a Division Head (in this role you must make a lot of noise, and throw a few krises in the air to gain attention of your Party leader) asap, contest in a party elections (at least try to become a Central Committee member, or better still one of the Vice Presidents), then be an ADUN (Ahli Dewn Undangan Negeri), or AP (Ahli Parlimen), and after that lobby hard to be a Minister like Rafidah Aziz with the power to issue APs (Approved Permits). As Minister you must make sure you are close to the Prime Minister, do his bidding so that he can protect you.

    Otherwise, you cannot survive too long in the Cabinet. If you want a role model and mentor, seek out Rafidah Aziz.Don’t forget to employ “monkeys” to your bidding in your constituency. But be sure your feed them well. Otherwise, they will sell out your competitor.

    After that, depending on your performance (as measured by Key Performance Indicators devised by Badawi) in the service of our country titles will come, and before you know it, you are a member of our feudal knighthood: you can get 13 Dato Seriships, 13 Datoships, a Federal Datoship, 2 levels of Tan Sriships, and 2 classes of Tunships. By that time, you have made it. There is no need to work for the rest of your life.

    Ordinary guys don’t even get sampans. At best, if they are lucky, these guys get a few medals. They have to live with pensions and EPF money. Here then is your road map, Anson Warrior. Sounds funny? Hey, that is real.

    Back to writing. If there is the will to write, there is a way. I think it is a matter of self confidence. Writing gets better with practice. No excuses, just write. Think carefully about what you have to say,and write it as simply and sincerely as you can.

    Remember we do not have the right answers. But surely we have points of view. Share your thoughts with us via this website. You will find that we are very supportive. We need to develop more people who can write and speak well.

    You should also read a lot. Try to use public libraries or join a book club. Ideally, you should eat less and buy non-branded clothes and shoes so that you have money to buy books. My final advice is do not get angry, just get even, and good luck.

    Thanks.

11. 10-4 Ibrahim Says:
    September 14th, 2005 at 8:58 am

    It’s good not kissing hand when meeting someone. Shaking hands would suffice. I remember sometime ago a corporate figure kissing the hands of Dr M at every occassion he gets. Finally came down with resdung and passed away after a simple surgery at Pantai. At that time kissing the hands of Dr M was fashionable and rewarding monetarily.
    On another note, kami bukan orang lama, we are of the same generation as the present leadership. We grew up in the same country and under similar economic and social conditions and as such we should share the same aspiration for Malaysia. Unfortunately when some have reached the upper echelon of leadership, they lose their basic values and live in their own dream world while the rakyat remains poor and deprived of basic necessities such as a home with piped water and electricity, free education and good health care.
    Dr Bakri’s website has allowed us to express our opinion and feelings and aspiration of what Malaysia can be and maybe someday we may have the leadership that share our vision and dreams.
    Dr Bakri’s is a man of the world having lived in Malaysia and now the US. This has enabled him to see the problems in Malaysia through a different perspective. He has also taken the initiative to write on certain issues and enable more Malaysians to have a platform for an exchange of views. I salute his efforts.

12. keris_always Says:
    September 14th, 2005 at 10:50 am

    Brother Dean Merican and fans of Rose Chan,

    “Kg boy, you missed this Rosie stuff. In fact, Rose Chan knew her trade. She was very sophisticated, tasteful, and thoroughly professional with her “see enough yet not enough” acts. Her fight with the python was more symbolic and suggestive than what I thought then. It was doing what she could not do openly” says Brother Dean Merican.

    ROSE CHAN and FREEDOM OF SPEECH

    It is my considered opinion that Rose Chan was far ahead of her time – somewhat like UMNO’s so-called founding father, Onn Jaafar. Rose Chan and Mahathir in fact shared the same character traits – they were both visionary. I could almost hear the late Rose Chan whispering in Mahathir’s ear, that she understands that a man is visual in nature and Mahathir’s need to be a visionary leader is just a logical extension of that.

    Rose Chan’s love affair with the python was symptomatic of something more serious ailing our society at that time. We may not agree with what that is (but that is the beauty of democracy – it allows for divergent viewpoints to be heard and Brother Bakri’s website here is an excellent avenue for such views to be heard as there is no censorship except for lewdness, profanity etc) but Rose Chan was the first to draw a parallel between Malaysians and the snake. With that she gave us Malaysians and political scientists among us, a demonstration of the dangers of communal politics, the snake – something those now in UMNO, MCA. MIC and DAP, Gerakan etc would be well advised to take heed. The serpent making its cameo appearance for the first time in the Garden of Eden has tempted Malaysian politicians ever since and in organizations like (but not limited to) the MIC, the snake has taken a renewed significance. Lest I may be accused of being a racist, the popular advice “If you see a snake and an Indian, kill the Indian first” may have its origin in the Garden of Eden - though obviously it is a corruption of the original story. By maintaining that someone or something else is more dangerous than the snake, you are not doing “justice to the snake” the way Satan and Luciffer had intended. But that is something else.

    Rose Chan’s obsession and her stage performances with the snake (for her it had to be big like a python or boar constrictor, otherwise it could slither out of control to the more intimate parts of her anatomy – which could be problematic for the organizers) is a lesson of what happened in the Garden of Eden not too long ago – only several thousand years earlier, somewhere between the rivers Euphrates and the Tigris (its exact location a well guarded secret known only to Brother Saddam). There the first Woman ate the apple (it wasn’t an apple at first but somebody later thought that the apple would be nice. Malaysians who may want to substitute the apple for the durian may do so) from the Tree of Knowledge against God’s commandments, and gave the left-over to her companion the first Man – how considerate of her! She took that first bite (and committed the Original Sin) and ever since men have been trying to bite back, hence giving rise to the phrase “love bites”. Therein is a lesson the late Rose Chan has been trying to teach us all along. There’s more.

    Among other things, Rose Chan tried to tell us that there are different versions of what happened that day in that Garden. This was long before James Dean set foot east of Eden. The lesson here is: It is not acceptable for us who believe in democracy to impose our view on others just because we happen to prefer one over the other. That was a revolutionary idea during those days and Rose Chan should have sat on the Reid Commission and be consulted by the best legal minds in the Commonwealth. By her acts Rose Chan was drawing attention to Article 10(1) of the Federal Constitution 1957 long before the Reid Commission even came into being. That goes to show how visionary the late Rose Chan was. Our politicians just didn’t get it. They looked but they didn’t see. The fact that they were watching her stage performance with their mistresses instead of their wives may shed some light as to why they were short sighted.

    If we as Malaysians failed to get her message, is that a reason not to recognize her contributions? Rose Chan was a true Malaysian (no relation of “Fair” and “True Malaysian” in this forum) and a patriot. We just failed to understand her message. We don’t get to notice the coded message embedded in her acts – the way Leonarda Da Vinci’s code is embedded in his famous painting “The Last Supper”. Of course, there the similarities between the two abruptly come to an end – Leonardo from the town of Vinci in Italy, was a homosexual and a member of one of the world’s oldest secret organizations, the Priory of Sion, which holds the secret which if revealed would destroy the Catholic church and Christendom. Rose Chan held secrets which could destroy the marriages of many of our politicians. It is no exaggeration to say that at the zenith of her career, she held the seeds of the Country’s future in her hands.

    Rose Chan’s sexual preferences are her own business – known to a select few. We would have to ask Brother Dean Merican to share with us the depth of his knowledge and the wisdom of his experiences about this legendary performer Rose Chan. I was just a bystander. As a bystander then I did not have to suffer because today they not only smoke, but bananas would come flying passed me at record speed which would put NASA to shame – which could well explain to our economists doing the national budget as to why cigarettes and bananas cost more today.

    When I was in final year at MU (it was then referred to as MU and not UM) I wanted to write my graduation exercise on “Rose Chan, politics of communalism, and the Federal Constitution of Malaysia 1957 – sleeping with the enemy.” My late Professor Nik Rashid persuaded me not to, since it would be too controversial and Professor Ahmad Ibrahim, my Faculty head, would have to stutter even more at the University Senate meeting, on which Mahathir sat begining 1967. That would have been cruel – no, not to Rose Chan but to Professor Ahmad Ibrahim who stuttered so much that I always fell asleep during his lectures.

    Rose Chan was a “poetry in motion” - somewhat like the song, sung by Roy Orbison, of the same name.

    Today with the support of Brother Dean Merican, I am petitioning for Rose Chan to be elevated posthumously to the status of Tan Sri – like Sgt. Hassan aka Ramlee bin Puteh - in acknowledgement of her contributions to art, history and (political) science. It would be contrary to the spirit of our Constitution to discriminate artistes based on how curly your hair is.

13. Anson Warrior Says:
    September 14th, 2005 at 5:23 pm

    Thank you for the time you guys spend to answer all that, not in my dream to be as rich as Rafidah or as flamboyant as Khairi Jamaluddin….

    Rose Chan story…

    Thank you once again guys for the rose chan story, I’m 28 now(don’t know anything about her) and imagine if i am in the sixties… wow…BB should be the place to go…
    I spend 2 hours doing some reseach about rose chan yesteday and managed to gain a few photo of her, skinny at first but starting to gain the chubbiness towards the end….

    yes… from the story I read, she was there for the notice, she’s good at what she does… at least…not like some of the politicians and the wannabe( most of my so called contractor friends)…

    I asked my father in law about Rose Chan, he smiled… but when I asked my mother in law about her..the answer was not an answer…”mana pulak ko tahu pasal dia?”… now I know how important she was in the society…

    Mr Din Merican

    U’r right, I am a Teluk Intan boy who spend most of his childhood somewhere near the Leaning Tower (Menara Teluk Intan) waiting for his parents to finish meniaga at the pasar malam…
    Thanks to MARA who discover me and groom me in the system till I graduated… then only I realised Kelab Umno United Kingdom are not fighting for my people but fighting for their rights to have meeting in Paris…

    off to jalan masjid india this weekend… thank you once again guys for feeding me all the interesting stuff in this period of ‘kekosongan cerita2 sastera malaysia’.

14. Din Merican Says:
    September 14th, 2005 at 5:46 pm

    keris_always and 10-4 Ibrahim,

    I wil respond later.

    I agree I graduated from MU not UM. I can see the difference. UM is not MU. Only UM graduates of recent times can tell us what it is about, this UM I mean.

    One of my daughters, who graduated from UM with a Second Class Upper in Ecology, is very disappointed because it did not meet her expectations. Fortunately, her old pop was around to advise and encourage her to work independently and make the best of the situation. Nothing like MU.

    Thanks.

15. kgboy Says:
    September 15th, 2005 at 12:33 am

    Din Merican,

    The mentioned of MU solicits more than a tinge of respect in those days. Today it is just “oh…..UM.”

    The days of the annual great economic debate was an event not to be missed. (although I was from the Science Faculty, I did thee papers in economics of which one was lectured by YB Rafidah Aziz).

    Our rugby changing room songs of the Fifth College days are things of the past.

    Keris-Always,

    Your drawing parallel of Rose Chan with free speech is magnificent. Your intellectual vision of the embedded message of Rose Chan is something for us all to think about. Bravo.

    Younger Malaysia including older less informed like myself needs more words of wisdom from you Keris_Always. Lets not smoke gets in our eyes - platters

    Thank you for such insights.

16. keris_always Says:
    September 15th, 2005 at 4:51 am

    saudara kgboy,

    good to know you’re a fifth collegian. when brother dean merican was around, rose chan was making big headlines with what she was doing with the python in aussie land. if she were to do the same now in the united states she would be paid less than welcome visits from the animal police. yes, they have the animal police - like any other pollice force. they carry handcuffs and guns and would handcuff you in a blink of an eye if they feel the need to and have you charged in court or hold you in a holding cell in downtown police station. you are free to plead the fifth amendment in court.

    when brother dean was around in campus, the fifth college had yet to be built. the medical faculty car park was not there for me to park my car at night with those russian girls in the fifth college. however even with the car park on the hill, i had to make do with my easy rider and dating one of them to the “cellar” - which is the name of the nightclub at the basement of that building the name of which escapes me. i was the envy of the whole student population (i was told) every time i had her riding pillion on my easy rider - with her knee length leather boots and mini skirt. these russian girls spoke bahasa indonesia. so you would have no problem in communicating to them what you want. however, i would rather take my faulty control of the english language to mis-communicate what i want to do with them - in the hope that in the confusion that ensues i am taken ‘unfair advantage of’. if you can follow what i am saying then you can follow what rafidah aziz was talking about each time she woke the class up with her “push and pull factors” in her rural economics tutorial.

17. keris_always Says:
    September 15th, 2005 at 5:01 am

    P.S.

    the sight of this russian girl riding pillion on my easy rider (with long handle bars and the unmistakable sound of a muffler and with her in her knee length boots and mini skirts) spurting around campus during the long vacation, was - i was told - enough to drive some of the students into a frenzy of sorts.

    i can just imagine how our brother deam merican wished he was in my place.

18. Tuk Along Says:
    September 15th, 2005 at 11:44 am

    Bet Dr M also frequent Rose Chan and the gang at The May Fower Night Club in Pasir Puteh Ipoh in early 70s. (In her twilight years … before she died a balding, poor and lonely woman). Sad.

19. Lrong Says:
    September 15th, 2005 at 9:49 pm

    Hi Dr. Bakri and all…
    Been reading the posts with interests.
    But first time to comment.
    All these Rose Chan stories are making me a little ‘envious’.
    What to do, borned a bit too late, what.

20. Din Merican Says:
    September 16th, 2005 at 12:55 am

    Hey Guys (the women are not with us, wonder why?)

    I recommend you go to the newstand, and get hold of a copy of September 2005 issue of “Off The Edge” Magazine. In it you will find a tribute to Rose Chan by Danny Lim. In the same issue, you will also enjoy the Badawi interview. I experienced cognitive dissonance reading the interview and asked myself, “is he for real?”. It was a class interview, but no real action lah, so far from the man.

    I remember, Frankie Lane sang a tribute to Rosie. The title of the song was “Flower of Malaya”. The lyrics begin something like this” Rose, Rose, I love You with an aching heart. What is your future now we have to part…Make way, oh make way for my Eastern Rose, men crowd in dozens wherever she goes, in a taxi or cabaret… Make way for Rosie, I hear them say”. BTW, keris_always, “Poetry in Motion” was sung by Johnny Tillotson, not Roy “Pretty Woman” Orbison.

    Tuk Along:

    Rosie was the toast of the town when I was a teenager. Cancer, breast cancer destroyed her, and yes it was a tragic and painful end to an era.

    Dr. Mahathir was a respected doctor in Alor Stak and he had political ambitions. When Rosie was in town, he was never seen in the Great World Park. Otherwise, I would have known. Maybe he went to Ipoh. You should know better as you could be like me, smelling whenever Rosie was in town. I defer to you on the Ipoh scene.

    Lrong, you need not be envious. Rosie was not of your time. No point lamenting or imagining a bygone era. But consider this: you are more fortunate than us. Progress. Just fly by MAS or Air Asia and in less than 4 hours depending on the traffic, you will in Patpong, Bangkok, Thailand. That mecca of erotica is something else.

    You do not have to worry about moral policemen or khalwat in Thailand. The Thais will give us tourists whatever we want as long as we have US dollars. Unlike us here, we want the US dollars, lots of it, but at the same time, we want to impose our moral standards on visitors. It is like wanting your cake and eating it. Does it compute? The tourists will just say “up yours”, and then they are off to Bankgok and Phukett.

    I was told that keris_always was always looked forward to the joint Thai-Malaysian border meetings in Bangkok so that he could make a B-line to Patpong. He loved the ramvvong dance with “loi, loi katong” and “swaddeekap”. So I await his comments. Those ladies of the night in Patpong will make his Russian girls look like peanuts. Merdeka!!

    Thanks.

21. Din Merican Says:
    September 16th, 2005 at 2:31 am

    Anson Warrior,

    You are another of a number of young people who told me horror stories about Kelab UMNO overseas.

    Some of these characters in Kelab UMNO have been trained to think not of serving the rakyat, but of how to make the fast buck using political connections and public office. Money politics and influence peddling are being taught early. Khairy Jamaluddin is their model. It is more than just about fighting about who should go to Paris for a meeting. It is about getting big bucks, fast cars and slick Cartier-Chanel women.

    The original idea of creating Kelab UMNO was to counter anti Mahathir and UMNO elements overseas. But quickly it turned into a den for potential corrupt and rapacious UMNO leaders. Thanks for confirming to me what is happening with Kelab UMNO overseas.

    Maybe Badawi should look at these clubs carefully if he is to succeed in ending money politics or political corruption in his party.

22. keris_always Says:
    September 17th, 2005 at 6:15 am

    I was told that keris_always was always looked forward to the joint Thai-Malaysian border meetings in Bangkok so that he could make a B-line to Patpong. He loved the ramvvong dance with “loi, loi katong” and “swaddeekap”. So I await his comments. Those ladies of the night in Patpong will make his Russian girls look like peanuts. Merdeka!! says Brother Dean Merican.

    LOI LOI KATONG and FUNDAMENTAL LIBERTIES
    Oh yes. The days of the “loi loi katong” bring back fond memories – a reminder of innocence lost. For those whose only connection with anything and everything Thai, is the occasional TV ad on the comfort of flying Thai Airways and that occasional trip to the Thai restaurant with your wives, Wat Siam is a Siamese temple. There is this one in Bakaq Bata, Aloq Setaq. As readers would notice, the brits had this habit of naming places after trees they never saw before. When Francis Light landed in Pulau Pinang he saw a strange looking tree called the pinang tree and he named the island after it. When the brits came to town they named Aloq Setaq after another tree which later gave to rise to the now famous star fruit. The wat siam that I refer to is not too far from where our brother Dean Merican would wait every Thursday evening on his bicycle to accost those nursing students. His mom being a nurse has many times warned him of the dangers of consorting with these free spirits (and I am not talking about the spirits that make their home under the banyan tree near the Hindu temple) but being the rebel without a cause he invariably turned a deaf ear to all her pleas. This Wat Siam, make no mistake, was important to local residents in Bakaq Bata. It was the focal point of community life then – equaled only by the Hindu temple nearby(where you would go to watch them walk on fire – to be more precise, rapidly cooling charcoal).Brother Dean Merican and I, and others like us still in our adolescent years, would make pilgrimages to these holy places every chance we were given – which was just several times in the year during times like Buddha’s birthday. To us it was not a place of worship. Brother Dean Merican would have to wait should he want to be a Buddhist monk for Parliament today to amend Article 11 of the Federal Constitution. In the meantime he would have to make do with the Wat Siam as a place where he and I would go to have a good time – to watch the wayang kulit and ogle at the Thai girls doing the “loi loi katong”.

    The locals in the district of Bakaq Bata, like those Malays in Naratheewat, north of Kota Baru, unlike those who frequented Pekan Rabu, still owed loyalty to the Thai King – after all Tunku was half Thai and the Kedah Royal House could be traced 500 years back with names none of which sounded Malay.

    Patpong, the highly commercialized red-light district in Bangkok (the whole of Bangkok is today one big red light district) was then a place so remote that it was unheard of except to the well heeled among Malaysians. Thanks to globalization, today it is but a stone’s throw away from Aloq Setaq. Under those circumstance then, the Wat Siam in Bakaq Bata was a cheap alternative whenever you wanted to have a taste of anything Thai – not necessarily limited to matters of the palate, as some would come to find out if somehow they could sow their wild oats. In the case of my cousin brother he found a Thai wife and his house is next to Wat Siam. Many of my cousin sisters and brothers are half Thai.

    The ramvong was popular with the locals. The P. Ramlees and Jins shamsuddins and Roomai Nors of Aloq Setaq would come out in droves to show off their prowess in flexing their hands and fingers in unison with the movements of the local Thai beauties. They would buy a few tickets and hope these Thai beauties have loyalties to match. Fights would ensue every time they were proved wrong. I can imagine in my mind’s eye how Brother Dean with his shirt sleeves rolled up almost to his shoulders and hair greased, would compete for the attention of these Thai beauties. In his case I believed he did well. Today he has a Cambodian for a wife.

    Those were the days of the “loi loi katong” and “Rose, Rose I love you” that Brother Dean Merican reffered to. “Rose, Rose I love you” was the favourite song among the sex starved British and Australian (not forgetting the Gurkhas with their kukris) soldiers serving to free Malaya from the grip of Communism, Chin Peng, Mydin and Muthu (was there a Muthu, I don’t remember now). “Rose” by the way is the anagram of Eros, the Greek god of sexual love. The song tells of the escapades of these lonely soldiers away from wives and girlfriends, of how during one night of debauchery they would spend their lives’ money on cabaret girls – in some cases losing not just their money but their virginity in the process.

    Those were the days of wine and roses. Rose Chan and Vietnam Rose came to town about that time. Unfortunately, they came to town before the MAHA clinic opened its doors to these lost souls about to lose their extremities. The good doctor was out of town still labouring for his degree in medicine at the University of Malaya in Singapore.

    Meanwhile, Aloq Staq especially Bakaq Bata residents some fortunate enough to be living in hospital quarters nearby have had to make do with stories of jealous wives cutting off a certain part of the male anatomy while their husbands were sleeping. For these people who let all things hang out (and their hair down if you were a girl) this was the price to pay if you were not careful about where you place those parts of your anatomy. My advice is, “kalau celup tu, jangan lah terlalu lama.”

    It is important that we appreciate the importance of fundamental liberties in our daily lives. We have lost most of our fundamental liberties – freedom of speech, freedom of association and assembly, freedom of religion etc. Brother Dean Merican, PFC radio operator Berahim and I belonged to that generation of Malays who were fortunate enough to be able to sample what was then taken for granted. In forums like this one provided by brother Bakri, we hope to be able to give our perspective into how things were in the hope of convincing our leaders who hold the reins in government and the private sector today that there were better times. Better times are not to be measured by the height of the tallest minaret, the tallest building, and the longest bridge. It is to be measured by how free we were and could still be, in expressing our ideas, thoughts and to assemble to do what is good for our communities, what we think is right, to do the right thing irrespective of our political and religious affiliations etc. We lost our innocence those days in the midst of exercising our fundamental liberties. The mistakes were our own and were ours to make. That is important. There were no self serving politicians or ulamas telling us what to do. We were able to hold our male pride in our hands and shout to the world that this is ours to do as we please. Today they tell us what to do with everything private and personal.

    Can brother Dean Merican set up home in Wat Siam? Definitely not. If he does that they will throw the book at him – the book being the Federal Constitution of Malaysia 1957 and the article he would have to look at would be Article 11. Special Branch would add a black eye or two for good measure and provide him free breakfast consisting of roti canai from the Raju restaurant along Jalan Travers for the next two years – like they did to Yeshua Jamaluddin in 1985. In those early days, if he were lucky they would charge him for being a threat to the security of the country he was born in and the country he grew up doing the lai lai katong. Today they would just lock him up and throw away the key.

23. Din Merican Says:
    September 17th, 2005 at 11:14 pm

    Keris_always,

    I read with great amusement the stuff you wrote of our Wat Siam and Tokong Hindu days in Bakaq Bata, and the things we did at the “loi loi katong” festival and Thaipussam. I could not help laughing as you recounted “cerita lama”. Something good came out of the ‘loi loi katong” networking for me. I acquired a taste for and love for the tom yam soup then, and I must thank the Thai ladies then for their education on their cuisine. I love Thai food.

    I used to run a bicycle park near the Indian Temple to cater for the crowd attending the Wat Siam activities and other occasions like Tunku Kassim’s buffalo fights. I charged 10 sen per bicycle for the whole night. It was good, honest money.

    You see, I could not have survived with RM9.00 per month pocket money to finance the things I did during my “rebel without a cause” days. For example, it cost me 40 cents for a “parliament”/front row close to the screen seat in Empire Theatre per movie, and some times a Ringgit if I bought a ticket from the black market guys( no “beratur” those days for cheap cinema tickets).

    Of course, I am less fortunate than you since you are from the Kedah royals with rich Thai blood and a great history. They used to say then “anak raja lain lah, diapa dapat duit dari kerjaan sebagai kerabat di raja”. Feudalism, man, that was what it was then.So I can understand why our man from Pekan Rabu Maha Klinik made sure that our royals were kept in their right places when he was the Prime Minister. That is why I can also understand why you take a dig at him at every opportunity!!

    It was indeed a tale of freedom long gone, a time when we allowed, maybe by default or official incompetence, to do as we pleased. We also shot bamboo cannons using carbide during bulan puasa. That made kids and their moms at home nervous. It was the period when Kota Setar District where Alor Staq is located, was a black area as Chin Peng, Rashid Mydin and Muthu Velu (maybe Samy Velu’s ancestor, as Samy looks like a chip of the old block considering the methods he uses to suppress all forms of opposition in MIC. Pardon me Samy. I think you could teach a thing or two to Badawi about how to run UMNO) and their gang were threatening by force of arms to take over our country.

    As we know, Chin Peng failed, and our brother Ronnie Liu got the cheek to say that the guy was a freedom/independence fighter. As someone who grew up in Alok Staq General, I saw dead and mutilated civilian bodies and soldiers in the mortuary practically every other day after school. They were vicitms of communist brutality and ambushes. Chin Peng and his gang were bloody murderers, not saviours of our country from the yoke of colonialism. Ronnie should think carefully before opening his mouth. Fortunately, he was not one of those dead bodies.

    We had British soldiers in their teens, gurkhas, jungle squad police and the Malay Regiment soldiers all over the place. They had the money and could attract the broads. You see, keris_always, looks without the cash was quite useless. You never won fair ladies without the cash. Looks are irrelevant. With cash, you always came on top, even if you had a tank battered face.This is a test tested formula. So we knew how to make oursleves scarce, when these guys came to town at month end usually.

    Freedom is a precious thing. It gave us the chance to be ourselves, to make those mistakes and do “stupid” things. But we were, I am proud to say, never a serious danger to society. We never got the girls we dated in trouble. We knew our limits. Whenever we seemed to have exceeded the bounds of propriety, our parents were there to make sure that we returned to the straight and narrow path promptly. My mom was one tough lady.

    Parents today have delegated discipline of their kids to the authorities as they busied themsleves with the pursuit of money and power. They are keeping up with the joneses. So they have encouraged the emergence of the new sahibs, be they religious ones, the politicians, or the police. Everthing is regulated and controlled by authority figures who are from examplary in their conduct as they practised with double standards. It is just a shame.

    Maybe 10-4 Ibrahim might care to comment, although we know he is not from Bakaq Bata.

    Thanks.

24. keris_always Says:
    September 18th, 2005 at 1:36 pm

    Brother Dean Merican,

    Apparently, PFC radio operator Berahim is maintaing radio silence at the mention of his nemesis – Chin Peng.

    Now that Malaysia is run by an inner circle of self serving politicians within UMNO who say they know what is best for all of us but yet go globe trotting with their mistresses, doing the very thing they say is bad for us, I would like to announce my opposition to the state of Kedah remaining within the Federation of Malaysia.

    Laws like the Official Secrets Act does not deter me from speaking my mind. I believe in the God given and unfettered right in our freedom of speech, our inalienable rights as enshrined within documents which gave birth to our present Constitution – not the Constitution itself which is a watered down version of the draft.

    The truth is when my ancestor signed the Federation of Malaya Agreement in 1948, he did so when he was in a drunken stupor. Somebody had laced his “tom yam” soup which paralyzed his thinking, incapacitating him from carrying out his royal duties royally – although I suspect it would not have made any difference drunk or otherwise.

    In short he didn’t know what he was signing - neither was it his job to know what he was signing. So it is non est factum or mea culpa.

    I don’t know if I could count on brother Dean Merican to put his weight behind this cause (after all he has been a rebel without a cause most if not all of his life) – which is to secede from the Federation and re-join Thailand - although the last time the state of Kelantan tried to break away from the Federation it failed miserably. If Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak can secede why can’t any of the other states within the Federation do the same. After all we were part of Thailand before the Brits came and changed all that.

    Imagine I could be free to fly to Bangkok on weekends without having to show my Malaysian passport and without having to subject myself to abuses by the Thai customs. Imagine I could walk into my favourite restaurant “No Hands Restaurant”. Brother Dean may be familiar with this Restaurant though I feel he may not want to say it here in a public forum like this one. This restaurant is the place to be when in Bangkok - where you would be treated, literally speaking, like a king. They would take your shoes off one foot at a time, to have them polished the moment you walk in. You would sit yourself around a table on a tatami floor Japanese style – surrounded by Thai beauties the likes of which you can only hope to find in places like Pattaya, Chieng Mai or Chieng Rai in the cooler north of Bangkok. Of course we are talking dinner here! They would feed you and you don’t have to use your hands while eating! Just think. I am not saying you would have to have your hands cut off to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. But the hands of these Thai beauties transformed into appendages of your own bodies – and being appendages of your own bodies, these hands would go to places of your anatomy that you don’t normally visit while having dinner. They would break a raw egg or two into your glass of black Irish beer and you would have to drink it in one gulp. The Irish did not behave like drunken sailors with credit cards for no reason.

    That’s the kind of freedom I am talking about. That is the kind of freedom I want for myself – the freedom to make my own mistakes and suffer for them.

25. keris_always Says:
    September 18th, 2005 at 1:56 pm

    P.S.

    I say, I am not sure if your Thai ladies would be pleased to hear what you have to say about their culinary and other skills

    “I must thank the Thai ladies then for their education on their cuisine. I love Thai food.”

    Your obsession here with just their culinary skills is understandable.

26. Din Merican Says:
    September 18th, 2005 at 8:09 pm

    keris_always,

    10-4 Ibrahim is thinking about what to write. For that to happen, he has to fix the batteries of his walkie-talkie and adjust his frequency. When he is ready, he will write with great eloquence from sunny California. The climate there is very conducive for serious reflection.

    I note what you wrote. All I can say is that we cannot change the course of history. Malaysia is a reality. That is no way you are going to go back in history and rewrite it. Kedah will be in Malaysia, and the follies of your forebears remain with us to eternity. So it is wishful thinking, a luxury which you in some distant shore can indulge in. It is for the living here to act, led by Badawi.

    Malaysia is changing, and redefining itself in the context of the 21st. century. A civil society is emerging. New voices are being heard everyday, thanks to the Internet, and this will be for the good of future generations of better educated individuals. Even the traditional ulamas must wake up and listen.

    The press itself, however, needs a serious assessment of its role. Maybe, it will be more objective in its reporting, and not allow itself to engage in “spin” for the benefit of a Government of the day. To some extent, Badawi is allowing the mainstream media to report wrongdoings. Cynics will say that is fine, but a lot still remains hidden.

    Let us wait for 10-4 Ibrahim.

27. 10-4 ibrahim Says:
    September 18th, 2005 at 11:31 pm

    Brother Din and Keris_always.
    Not familiar with Bakaq Bata and the wat siam but knows tha wat in PJ and also Cafe De Siam in Alor Staq. Had a friend Pak Din making the Wat Siam in PJ as his second home. Guess for reasons best known to him.
    Yes we had more freedom in the 50’s and 60’s. In spite of Rose Chan and Princess Min Kihm performing at Time Tunnel, we still come out OK and are still holding true to our faith in Islam. No JAIS or MAIS then except for maybe Ustaz Dahlan and his famous tangkap basah team.
    While we are free to indulge in all the worldly trappings things then, the social problems are not that serious as we have in Malaysia now. Then maybe an occassional ganja bust but now it’s hard drugs and designer drugs. Entertainment was the discos and pubs like The Underground, Cellar and Tin Mine. Now we have Zouk and Beach Club.
    Old geezers like us always wish for the good old times but we never acknowledge they were good times when we were living in it.
    Keris_always, if Kedah is to secede, you will have to carry your SLR and rejoin your comrades in the 5 Malay Regiment out of Sg Besi. Tapi remember 5 melayu no match for 1 bengali he he. over and out

28. Din Merican Says:
    September 19th, 2005 at 4:32 am

    10-4 Ibrahim,

    I leave keris_always to repond to you. He was itching to hear from you.

    There are many Wat Siams, Chinese, Sikh and Hindu temples, Christian churches and altars for Orang Asli in Malaysia. Our Constitution guarantees freedom of worship. Only the Ulamas think otherwise.

    Thanks.

29. keris_always Says:
    September 19th, 2005 at 11:22 am

    Brother Dean Merican,

    I am forced to correct the misstatement that you just made.

    There is no freedom of religion for the Malays - only for the non-Malays and non-Muslims. Article 11 of the Federal Malaysian Constitution 1957 expressedly says so. Check it up. Read this Art. 11 together with Art. 160(2).

    Your statement is otherwise accurate.

30. Din Merican Says:
    September 19th, 2005 at 7:45 pm

    Keris_always,

    The Malays unfortunately are governed by two sets of Laws, Shariah and Civil and Penal Law. In matters of being Muslim, we are governed by Shariah Law with Art. 11 and Art. 160(2) of the Malaysian Constitution 1957 forming the link. That is why we are a special people.

    On Civil and criminal matters, we have a choice. Mahathir, for example, avoided using Shariah Courts in the case of the Anwar sodomy charge. But there is no way a Malay can opt out of being a Muslim in Malaysia. He can be excommunicated,declared a kafir, and punished (Ayah Pin saga).

    Thanks.

31. keris_always Says:
    September 20th, 2005 at 5:12 am

    so brother dean,

    the non-Malays do not need to worry about religious freedom. it is guaranteed under art. 11 federal malaysian constitution.

    the only restriction is that they cannot proselytize the malaysian muslims. they are free to convert the rest of the world.

    having said that why has the UMNO led government not taken action against people they regard as “religious deviants.” to me ayah pin and associates are not deviants by any definition. they just want their freedom to practice what they believe, to speak their minds and yet the UMNO led government under badawi has used the ISA against them.

    malaysia has been unofficialy black listed by the U.S> department of state as close to being a rogue nation state. if you come to the united states, they are considering bottomprinting
    you using their latest technology. they use the gps to track you down whenever the need arises every time you use your cell phone. your phones are bugged and your mail goes missing some times. the moment you visit a public library and go online, the websites you visit are a matter of public record - including erotika.com your favourtie website. your e-mail and your communication with damsels in distress too is a matter of public record. how’s that for freedom?

    if you were to ask mahathir, he would tell you that you are indebted to him for all the freedom you now enjoy. it may not be all you ask for, but you are fortunate he has not taken the rest away from you. he used the ISA only sparingly. it could be worse.

    you should be happy, he would say to you, that he has not closed all the thai restaurants and have them replaced with those selling only capati and roti canai. you are still free to sample everything thai - culinary skills included. (i remember what he said in his open letter to tunku in 1969. the tunku pointed to mahathir’s nose as proof of his pakistani descent and mahathir repaid that honour by pointing to tunku’s thai ancestry).

    and you know what? he is right. we malaysians should be grateful to our former prime minister.

    in appreciation we should pick one day in the year to remember him by(even before he leaves us for good), name it mahathir day (like martin luther king day over here) and we all can then have a break from work i.e for those who are working, but for those who are riding into the sunset, we can stop being on horseback for a while and ride something else for a change. maybe buffaloes??

32. Din Merican Says:
    September 20th, 2005 at 7:21 pm

    Keris_always,

    Our young brothers, who are charging like bulls to get ahead, ought to read or revisit Dr.M’s “The Malay Dilemma” and “The Challenge” [the translated version of "Menghadapi Cabaran" (1976)]. His world view and attitudes, etc. are all there.

    In my view, he implemented all of them during his 22-year rule. In that sense, he was very transparent, and UMNO was his vehicle. ISIS Malaysia and other think tanks were used to rationalise and promote them. Ask Dr. Nordin Sopiee as he should know how, for example, Vision 2020 and the concept of Bangsa Malaysia were formulated. He even tried to outdo PAS on the Islam thing with the help of Brother Anwar Ibrahim.

    I have to leave Badawi to decide whether we in Malaysia should have a Mahathir Day or not. Judging by the man’s record so far, we have to wait for “bulan jatuh ka-reba”. It is problematic for Badawi. Samy Velu a/k Muthu Velu, Ling Leong Sik, and Lim Kheng Yaik will also want their days. The country will end up perpetually on the beach, or under the coconut/oil palm tree.

    Thanks.

33. Redzuan Sulaiman Says:
    February 17th, 2006 at 8:16 am

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    Your topics on the Malaysian eductaion system really do interest me. i believed it all biols back to our societies mentality. Can blame anyone though . This is a vicious world and i believed that only those with pure heart and good religious believes will try to do good for the survival of the human kind.

    No mattewr where you go you still have the “I survival” attitude. An eye opening book. Do cherish your believes.

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