From the other side of the world.

Me: Look at this hilarious video.
Zohar: I don’t understand him.
Me: (laughs)
Zohar: Why are you laughing? You should be sad.
Me: (laughs somewhat more self-consciously)
*silence*

Needless to say, I felt depressed and even more frustrated several minutes after the conversation above. To Malaysians, we have had to tolerate with so much crap from the ruling elite that what was on the video was simply hilarious. Not only was his English indecipherable to non-Malaysians, he did not answer any of the questions and he sounded like a flustered school boy who was caught red handed

My friends here are bemused if not bewildered when I tell them about Malaysia. They find it hard to believe that everything is so racial that even the main political parties are polarized by skin color. They can’t fathom the fact that our skin color can determine where we go to college. And I don’t even want to get started with the ambiguity of the law when it comes to religion and the very existence of faith rehabilitation centers.

Going to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis taught me one thing. Change takes time. A lot of time. Laws may be passed and rights may be recognized but people are stubborn. Despite our revolutionary technological progress, attitudes and prejudices can be difficult to change especially after years of molding and hardening.

Clearly Malaysia has a long way to go from even changing it’s racial laws and policies. What we need now is a stronger political voice. I’m glad that these rallies happened. It’s a sign that many Malaysians are unhappy and they want things to change so bad that threats and acts of violence against them won’t deter their spirits. But I do not want to see bloodied riots and mass arrests. The government needs to see that suppressing other views and opinions will no longer work. The rakyats are becoming restless.

If it weren’t for the wonderful young Malaysians on the internet writing for a better country, inspiring others, I would have already made my decision to leave. I want to live a life of sincerity and prosperity, not of hypocrisy and fear.

I’m torn.

Back on campus

I’m back with everything piling up on top of me. Exams, assignments, readings, laundry, flight bookings, facebook-ing and news. So much has happened I’m still digesting them. ANOTHER “riot” and Howard’s gone from down under. I have yet to even update myself with the aftermath of the Bersih rally.

Back to work.

Less than three weeks from 90 (American style) degree weather and mouth watering roti canai.

Photo taken from here

Plans, plans and plans.

Long term

I have finally registered for all my classes with minimal complications. And being a pseudo-analytical freak, I decided to draft exactly what classes I will take till Spring 2009 (Summers included). However, after a few minutes of staring thoughtfully at my in depth scribbles, I became slightly annoyed. I’m not getting ahead fast enough even though I’ve planned to take classes for two summers. Thoughts of how am I supposed to become an RA, study abroad at Sweden for a semester and still live off campus in senior year flashed through my mind. I want to apply for RA in junior year, which means I have to study abroad during sophomore year, so that I have a year free to live off-campus and host parties. I don’t know if the last two sentences made any sense, but to put this shortly, my plans are important. Honestly, I’ve almost always had what I wanted, especially if I think about it long enough but unfortunately I have doubts about my plans this time.

Short term

There’s less than 3 days left to the coveted Thanksgiving break! I’ll be volunteering on an ASB trip to Memphis for the first half of the break helping out at the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, doing good things in the day and being a good ol’ tourist at night. And a week from now, I’ll be in Chicago where the real fun begins. I’m definitely looking forward to Thanksgiving week especially after a very mediocre birthday weekend. Yes, I’m an unsatisfied reveler.

Before the fun begins, I am obligated to decide in a couple of hours if I would want to apply to become a site facilitator on another ASB trip in Spring. Applications are due in 3 days and six essay type questions await me if I decide to do it. It sounds oh so tempting but I suck at writing and there’ll even be an interview! Decisions, decisions…

And another wave of midterms and FINALS are waiting for me after the break.

Then, home 🙂

November Fall

Beautiful yellow tree on campus. It was almost golden.

I was feeling antsy in my room on a Sunday afternoon so I decided to get a smoothie from Smoothie King. To feel a sense of purpose for my journey there (Smoothie King was pretty far), I brought my camera along.

Summer:

Fall:

You can just feel the overall difference in the atmosphere by just comparing these two photos. I’m definitely loving changing seasons.

P/S: Other photos will eventually be posted on my flickr account

Signs that you’re an official college freshman in the US of A

1. Freshman 15 -You gained 15 pounds (around 7 kg) or so
2. You have a stack of unwashed dishes hidden at a corner of your dorm room
3. As November sets in you start to stop showering everyday
4. You can’t imagine a life without Facebook
5. You look forward to weekends when you can get high on life (and other things)
6. Sunday is your homework day
7. You have breakfast at 12 pm on weekends
8. You gasp when you hear someone says that he or she has an 8 am class
9. Your life is dictated by the dining hall’s meal times
10. You do laundry only when you run out of clean underwear or socks

Rebels at heart.

Heh, the “official” defense

Information Minister on Al-Jazeera

😀

P/S: Sorry for the very amateur feel to the video.

Overwhelmed and sleepy.

I’m overwhelmed by the sudden influx of traffic. I don’t exactly have updates and I hope everyone checked out the links that I listed. By the way Aljazeera has already reported on the rally…it should be a matter of time before other international media follow suit.

I wish everyone on the streets and everyone on the internet looking for news all the best.

Sleep calls. I’ll check again in the several hours when everything should die down.

Malaysiakini.com is down

Update 

I notice the sudden traffic to my blog. Yes I am awake at 2.54 am in the morning to know what is going on.

Good websites to go to now:

http://uhaveachoice.wordpress.com/environment/

http://powerpresent.blogspot.com/2007/11/bersih-gathering-is-street-democracy.html

http://drxavier.wordpress.com/

http://soniarandhawa.blogspot.com/

Original post:

I do not know what is going on. The last I heard is that the police has surrounded all the meeting points and Dataran Merdeka itself. Water cannons have been used. The rally is on.

Our PM doesn’t believe in street demonstrations – apparently they’re never peaceful.

What a third world mentality.

Sorry for the lack of posts.

I’ve been pretty occupied lately with campus life. Plus blogging was too much of a procrastinating tool, but then again everything on the internet is. I have however been keeping up with news from home and it frustrates me to hear the same ol’ BS being repeated again and again. I don’t know why we let ourselves being governed by ridiculous politicians. Honestly, for all the “pride” we put into our country being so “modern”, “cultural” and “progressive”, we are clearly an embarrassment to the rest of the world. Not that anyone in the government noticed.

Just look at the way our government react to any dissent – blatant demonization. What kind of a democracy automatically makes an attempt to silence those who disagree? Aren’t different opinions vital for the government to always be on their toes? Aren’t they suppose to be represent all Malaysians or are they all too intoxicated with power that what they say is what we are suppose to want? I find it bemusing that they can discuss about “inappropriate” uniforms and radio station names when there are clearly more important issues to address.

Defeatists say the opposition is too weak to do anything. Well it might be true now, but not doing anything is simply immoral. We need to steer back to the right direction.

To everyone joining the rally which is bound to start within a few hours, I salute you.

 

The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear
— Aung San Suu Kyi

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal
— Martin Luther King Jr.