Wednesday 31 October 2012

Malaysia Airlines' irritating answering machine

Much had been said about Malaysia Airlines being in financial dire straits. However, I'm not writing this as an expert to suggest a wide range of solutions. If the extremely clever people who were paid so much can't find a solution, who am I then to try such an impossible task. Well, at least I'm not going to be a burden later on after failing to solve the problem, that the government has to set-up some not-so-useful thing such as Pemandu to accommodate my existence.

Ok, this was what happened to me.

I already bought a ticket on line to fly off somewhere, and wanted to confirm it with Malaysia Airlines. Called them up, and what I got was an answering machine which told me to push these and that buttons. After being much irritated, the machine then told me that I have been placed on a "queue" and that they will call me back in 40 minutes. So I waited. After an hour, I gave up. Half an hour later the people of Malaysia Airlines called me. The problem was that, I was in the toilet and I'm not in the habit of bringing my phone when I'm doing my toilet business. The Malaysia Airlines people never call me back. I called them back only to find the irritating answering machine again at the other end. So, tomorrow I'm going to the airport with fingers crossed. Hopefully my ticket is ok. If I can't get on that plane, I think I'm going to throw such a tantrum that all hell going to break lose.

The way the airline treated me as a customer, in this instance was quite unfortunate. It was as if they don't care for my well being. The fact that they made me followed the stupid instructions of an answering machine indicated that they don't care how their clients feel. If that's the attitude of the Malaysia Airlines as a whole, then I don't think it will get out of its current predicaments anytime soon.

I hope the management of the national carrier can do something about this. I think they need to at least get the basics right first. Take good care of your clients, ok? Improve the attitude. How to turn around the airline if you all can't even properly take care of your paying passengers first?

Early Chinese of my life

There is a feature on my face which makes me look a bit Chinese. My arwah mom used to tell me that I probably got that feature because back then when she was pregnant with me, she used to go and watch those travelling Chinese opera shows whenever they came to the new village near our home. My mom who didn't understand Chinese at all said she loved watching the actors in their colourful costumes and make-up. There was also that festive atmosphere to cheer up those in the audience. She didn't understand what the acting was all about but still enjoyed it immensely. Anyway, there was not much other entertainment around during those days. Our family home only had TV many years after I was born.

The first Chinese I know was my big sister's school friend. I was about five years old at that time. She lived in Kulai, a town near our home. My sister used to take me on a bus ride to meet her. Her home, compared to our barrack quarter was quite grand. Whenever I think about those visits to her home these days, I'm quite pleased with the thought that a relatively well-off Chinese girl had wanted to be a good friend of my sister, who is from a poor Malay family. Of course, back then I never thought about such thing. I had mostly thought about that very nice kaya bun her mother gave me with the usual assurance, "Ini tada babi punya." The last time I met her was many years ago when she turned up for my sister's wedding. She had taken the trouble to travel quite a distance to be at her best school friend's wedding.

I attended a primary school which students were almost all Malays. There was a single Chinese who enrolled at the school during my time there and he is my first Chinese friend. He was somehow very popular among the other kids. He joined almost all extra-curricular activities in the school, including the kompang troupe. I  asked him why he enrolled at the school knowing well that it's a Malay school. He said he was not sure himself why his father, who was a wealthy businessman had insisted on him to study there. Probably, his father wanted him to have Malay friends, he said. I had met his father a couple of times and he appeared to be an ordinary Chinaman. Anyway, someone did told me that my friend once joined the other kids in the kompang troupe for a prayer at the mosque in front of our school. When I asked him about it, he said with a laugh that there was nothing wrong with praying to any other God. Later on, I did well in my Peperiksaan Penilaian and was the best student in the school. He did quite ok too, but not as good as me. The last time I saw him was just before I went to the boarding school for my secondary education. Many years later I heard that he was living in London and doing well.

The first Chinese I fell in love with was a character in a drama I watched on Singapore's Channel 8 when I was a kid. It was one of those long winded drama serial of ancient time based on those classic Chinese novels. I was a big fan at that time. The plots of these ancient Chinese dramas were intriguing and the characters were equally colourful. Among my favourites were The Immortals, Princess Chan Pin and Swordsman Chu. The only irritating thing was that the heroes always have many girls going after them, and that the girls, despite their jealousies always ended up working a compromise of big sister little sister kind of understanding much to the convenience of the hero. I guess, that's the ultimate China men's dream. I guess the China men's dream isn't that much different from the Malay men's dream.

Ya, men are all bastards...irregardless of race.

Eh, had you all watched the Zhang Yimou-Gong Li classic Raise the Red Lantern?


If you haven't, do give it a try, ok? Then you will agree with me on this one.

I got other Chinese tales in my life, but I think I'll tell them some other days. This one too long already. Actually I am writing this posting just to while my time away. Still lying in bed recovering from my fever and don't know what else to do.
The political side of these stories? Nothing, really. These are just stories about the early Chinese in my life.

Ok, I need to get up and get some fresh air outside my room. You all have a good day. Cheers.

Tuesday 30 October 2012

All the best Tuan Syed

Datuk Syed Nadzri Syed Harun, the outgoing NST group editor had just gave his final speech to members of the newspaper's editorial staff. Today is his last day after 33 years at the newspaper.


In his speech, Syed advised the NST people to be focused on their job and avoid the destructive practice of office politics. He called on them to be united in facing the challenges which beset the once mighty NST.

As for his future, Syed said he will not be retiring per se as he will be engaged with other occupations.

I first met Syed many years ago. He is a pleasant and highly intelligent man. Always appeared to be calm under pressure, Syed is indeed a cool guy. He is also to me one of the best writers in this country. His trademark should be his subtlety in conveying his thoughts. There are few Malaysian writers better than him that I know.

The best quality of him as a journalist, however, as far as I'm concerned, was his total lack of malice in his writings. He is indeed the true gentleman of Malaysian journalism, and perhaps one of the last journalists of the old school.

To Tuan Syed, all the best and may Allah bless you with many happy and prosperous years in future. Thanks for everything.

(Note: All uncalled for comments will be spiked off for this posting.)

Not a Chong Wei-Lin Dan fight (with additional spicy note)

Got sore throat and head ache since early morning. I think I'm going down with a fever. Need to rest my brain.

So, no proper posting for today....just some nonsense for your entertainment instead..

Ok, I leave you all with this nice fight between a Malaysian Chinese and a Chinese Chinese....eeerrr....whatever lah....


Yay! Malaysian Chinese wins!

Additional spicy note : The fight is over that small French fella Jean Todt. The loser Chinese Chinese girl had to settle for a horny Jewish rich boy.

(This posting, if still kena hantam by DAP cybertroopers, I don't know what to say lah)

Monday 29 October 2012

Horrible jam - do something, please

Was caught in the horrible traffic jam at the highway on my way back to KL after the long weekend yesterday. What was supposed to be a three and a half hour drive lasted almost nine hours. That was continous driving except for a single pit stop for fuel.

It was fortunate that I decided to make a detour off the highway to filled up the tank when I realised how bad the jam was going to be. The first RnR area of the highway  where I had wanted to stop for fuel were packed. Later on I saw quite a number of cars stopping on the emergency lane, probably because they ran out of fuel.



What however made me so dissapointed was the total lack of pro-active action by the highway authorities to ease the suffering of the motorists. They should had anticipated the whole thing and did something to mitigate it.

For instance, a stretch of the highway was hold up due to a bottle neck at a toll plaza. When I reached there, there were only one Smart Tag lane, two Touch N Go lanes and three cash lanes. Can't they do something to increase the number of Toll counters? Honestly, I don't think they should even be collecting toll at a time like that.

And there were apparently total lack of enforcement of the law. With all due respect for our policemen, I may be wrong, but throughout my ordeal yesterday, I didn't see a single traffic policemen managing the situation. I stand to be corrected but what I meant, the jam could be not so bad if there were policemen to stop motorists from jumping the queue by going on the emergency lane, which I think made things worse.

This problem has been around for years. Everytime there is a festive season the same thing would happened. Can't the authorities do something to mitigate the problem? Surely there must be a strategy which could be implemented. Please don't tell me there is nothing to be done and that we have to accept this problem as part of life.

There must be something that can be done to solve this problem. I hope the PM will instruct his people to look into this matter. All those not so useful people at Pemandu for instance could be made to think of a solution to this problem instead of cooking up some figures from thin air into ear candies for the BN leaders.

People want to see results on the ground lah...and this is one area they should be working on.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Congrats Guan Eng, you can actually become PM

The current opposition leader should be either Lim Kit Siang or his son Lim Guan Eng.

Anwar Ibrahim shouldn't be the opposition leader. If he has any sense of shame he should make way for the Lims to take over the post.

I just realise this after reading Helen Ang's Pasca PRU13: 1Parti pemerintah, 1Parti pembangkang

According to Helen, the Lim family's DAP now has 29 parliamentary seats, Anwar's PKR reduced to 23 after all those defections and Pas has 22.

Now, as we all know, DAP will likely further increase their parliamentary seats in the coming general election.

As we should know by now, the strongest weapon that the Pakatan people have now is the perceived groundswell of the Chinese community against the BN government.

In Johor for instance, the only worry of BN is the Chinese voters' swing of mood.

It is a common understanding that the current trend among the Chinese is to vote against BN. Those who vote BN risked being labelled  as a traitor of their race.At least that is how the DAP cybertroopers depict their Chinese rivals. MCA members are portrayed to be as heinous as those Chinese who collaborated with the murderous Japanese soldiers who massacred Chinese during Second Wotld War. The evil Umno Malays are of course akin to those murderous Japanese lah....to a certain extent.

With such tactics, DAP is simply unbeatable....so it seems.

Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised if DAP will emerge as the dominant Pakatan party after the next general election,,,,whether they win or otherwise.

Not such a bad prospect for Guan Eng and dad, eh?

Congratulations Ah Boy......if your family's party and its Malay underlings win, I think you can become PM liao :-)

\
(Note : This picture is a sample of how to congratulate Guan Eng properly in future. Learn the posture, ok?))

Saturday 27 October 2012

A black guitar

Saw a beautiful black guitar yesterday.


Going to buy it for a girl. Maybe next month. Bought her an acoustic guitar last year. Now she can play the guitar quite well. I think she's quite talented.

When I was younger, I had always wanted to learn to play the guitar. But I don't have the talent.

Well, I hope to encourage the girl to be a good musician, one day.

I have reached a stage where I would like to devote my life for my younger loved ones. I got no more aspirations for myself. What I want is secondary now.

Need to stop being selfish.

It's the same with this country. Too many selfish people who want this country to be the way they want it to be, without caring that they are actually burning it down and leaving nothing for the coming generations.

Never mind...here is the wonderful Li Jie and her guitar -

Friday 26 October 2012

The real Malaysian racists

(Additional note :Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha  to all Muslims. May Allah bless you all with the intelligence of knowing that if you quarrel among yourself, you will be bullied by others and there will be nothing you all can do about it)

One thing important I learned from operating this blog is that the most racist of Malaysians are actually those who go around accusing others of being racist. They are the ones who if not stopped will tear the multi-racial fabric of Malaysian society.


These are the same type of people who claimed their party to be multi-racial but actually used all the tricks they know to further the interests of just one particular race, their own race. Of course they masked the whole hypocrisy by shouting out loud that their rivals are racists.

They are also the type who claim themselves as being so racially tolerant and liberal. All that were good on the middle ground were claimed to be theirs while their rivals were all depicted as evil and corrupt and racist.

That was why they could not stand it when someone like me, who support their rivals who were supposed to be racists and evil actually have a relationship with someone of a different race and this someone could in fact be a role model of his community, which is THEIR community. Intelligent, successful, highly educated and principled. On top of that he is also an authentic member of his race and not some half-baked anglophile who worships a blue eyed blonde God.

They just could not even believe he exist. And even if later on they have to admit that he exist, they will try to run him down with all sorts of degrading and vulgar comments.
"No self-respecting man of our race will want to be with a snake like  you," they would say. For samples of such quotes, please read  the comments in this blog of late.
Well, if that is not being racist, than I don't know what being racist is all about.

Thursday 25 October 2012

Relaxed your mind, surrender to the void...

No mood to write anything today. My bf was angry with me last night for spending too much time with this blog, the DAP cybertroopers keep saying he is a just a figment of my imagination and I was foolish enough to layan them, things were also shitty at the work place etc etc.

So, today, I'm just posting this music video -




It's to clear out all the cobwebs in my head.

Considering a traveling plan....to this place, maybe....






Wednesday 24 October 2012

Upon-the-Sea

These are just pictures of a beautiful city...mostly in summer....now it's quite cold there....







The last picture is that of 11-year-old Maj Junxin. Cute isn't she? The website where I took that picture from described her as a migrant (pendatang) of the city. Her family had migrated to the city from the Chinese rural area due to economic reasons.

Well, describing the cute girl as a pendatang like that would be politically incorrect back in Malaysia.

Never mind....that is all for today. I just want to rest now. Have a good day everyone.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

What if I'm 一个中国女孩

If I'm Chinese, I would probably have this name 清晨的露水.

I would not like to have any other name other than that.

That name would be given by my parents and probably has been handed down from generation to generation from the old days when my ancestors were still in China.

I would probably look like this -


In the most unlikely event of me falling in love with a Malay muslim man and marry him, I will retain my name. I would not use any of those Arabic names the Malays are so fond of giving their children and Muslim converts. Well, of course I would stop eating pork and other funny stuff, ok?

Similarly, if I marry a Christian Chinese, I would not change my name to one of those cheesy white people names.

Being a Chinese, I must work hard and save my money. I would nonetheless spend some to make my parents happy. Send them for overseas holidays twice a year, maybe. If they were happy, then, I would be happy too. After all, my parents on their part had worked hard to raise my siblings and me. It's being Chinese to honor our parents.

I don't think I would be much interested in politics if I'm a Chinese girl. On one side there are those insipid BN Chinese component parties which were floundering about not really knowing how to save themselves while on the other corner is the conniving DAP led by a bunch of Anglophile Christians whose dream is to lead all Chinese to the salvation of a white men's god.

Why the hell would I want to get involved with those sorts of nonsensical people. Wasting time only. May as well that I spend more time and energy working for my self betterment rather than wasting them on such nonsense. After all, Malaysia is a country where if one works hard enough, he/she will be successful no matter what.

Anyway, once I have enough money, I think I will migrate....to Taiwan, of course. Just for fun, ok? I will still love my country, Malaysia, though. It's after all my motherland. Yup, my motherland would be Malaysia and not China....but still, I would be Chinese, no doubt about it.

Monday 22 October 2012

The sickening ways of mengampu and membodek

One of the things which really makes me uncomfortable is to be in the presence of people who try to promote themselves by grovelling to their superior. The malay word for it is mengampu or membodek.



It's sickening. Really.

But, most of the time, such self degrading tactics worked. Well, in Malaysia at least. I have seen people with no real talent whatsoever except membodek reached the pinnacle of their organisation....and of course eventually screwed things up. This happens a lot actually.

I'm not really sure how it works, but probably men are all suckers for flattery. It's the ego thing, I guess. Lady bosses, I noticed were less susceptible to these sorts of nonsense. But then again most bosses are men, aren't they?

The same things also in Malaysian politics. The way they mengampu and membodek is really amazing. I'm not really sure how they managed to do it - lowering themselves to that level.

There will be more and more of these activities as these people jockied themselves for candidate slots of the coming general election.

This is the way things are mostly on both sides of the political divide. The end result is leaders who feel they can do no wrong. They become something of a demi-god. The Chinese word for it is tokong, if I'm not mistaken.

For muslim leaders, especially those with Islamic credentials, they would be regarded as some sorts of saints whose actions and words must be accepted without question by those who want to membodek them. These are the inheritors of the prophet (pewaris nabi), so they said. Those who try to argue against the edicts of these leaders were branded as traitors and deemed as bound to go to hell after they died. Surely good and soothing for the ego of the saintly leaders, eh.

For non-muslim leaders....errr, this one you all go and google Lim Kit Siang or Lim Guan Eng for illustrations, then you will see for yourself the history of DAP ever since the party was dominated by the father and son. You want to see bodeking DAP style? Just wait till their cybertroopers commented about this posting.

BN leaders and followers are also guilty of all these stupidity. Sometime I felt like vomiting blood watching the way they membodek  their leaders.

Cukup2 lah tu.

Sunday 21 October 2012

Of Korean drama and history lessons

I'm now following this ancient Korean drama (with a modern twist, of course).

The title is "Faith".

It stars Lee Min-Ho



It's about how Korea broke away from the dominance of Yuan (Mongolian) dynasty of China.

Almost all the characters in the drama are real historical figures.

Korean being Korean, they do have a way to attract viewers to watch even the most boring historical tale. They decided to throw in this irritating lady doctor from the present who was kidnapped by the hero and teleported back to the past. They eventually fell in love. Ok, that's expected. It's after all Korean drama, ok?

Anyway, it's a weird way to make people learn about history, I guess. But hey, at least I now know how it all began for the Koreans and how they got to be so resilient and patriotic.

Maybe the Education Ministry should learn something here on how to make history lessons fun for the young people.

For more information of the drama -

Faith

Saturday 20 October 2012

Saturday discipline blues

Another quiet Saturday morning.

Don't really feel like getting up. But have to force myself....must have discipline....must overcome this Malays' biggest weakness. I'm a Malay, you see.

Don't want to think about bad things today....and that's include politics. Don't want to spoil the day. Sorry aaarrr....no politics today.

Will go out at least to fly my kite today. Just want to be alone for a while. Hope it's not going to rain. Been raining like crazy here for the past few days.

Maybe later in the evening can force the Chinaman to take me for a movie. Want to watch that Korean movie "The Thieves".  They said it's quite good. Koreans, like Japanese....and Chinese....have discipline....that's why they are doing well. Malays need to be like that too.


But for now, it's the kite....maybe can pick up a dog fight like this -


Ok, you all have a good weekend :-)

Friday 19 October 2012

Bangsa Malaysia your head lah

Was a very tiring day today.

In the morning stuck for two hours in the traffic jam, coming home stuck for one and a half hour. (back in JB can reached work in 10 minutes the most)

Work is so so. As usual, I just mind my own business. Do things the best that I could and then went home.

Reached home, cooked maggi curry. Put some cili padi, egg and some Chinese cabbage. Can la. Need to be extra thrifty till gaji next week. That day went traveling already overspend.

Then tumpang watched the landlady's Astro. Jamie Oliver cooking for a bunch of monks at an Italian monastery. Quite nice. He even replanted their herb garden. I always enjoy Jamie's show.

Don't know what to say when I read back the comments at my last posting about what Najib said about the Chinese education system. Guess, we are not much less racist after all these years. All those talks about how matured Malaysians have become when it comes to their racial identity were all just crap lah.

Bangsa Malaysia your head lah.

Where got such thing. We are all Malaysians, that's right, but we are not and never will be (at least not in my lifetime) be of the same race. We are just not meant to be that. We are too conscious of our own real race and culture. Honestly, I don't think that's wrong, ok? We have been doing relatively well the way we are for the past half century, what.

Everyone want to keep their Bangsa, ok? Especially the non-Malays. Talk only can la.

DAP promoting Bangsa Malaysia? Yea right....only stupid Malays from Pas and PKR would believe that. Not even DAP Malays believe that, ok? Ask the once towering DAP Malay Tunku Aziz la. It's all just a con ok? Where got such thing? Ok lah, ask DAP members to renounce their current racial status to be replaced with Bangsa Malaysia...can or not? Ya ya ya...Hannah Yeoh's child...that one was just gimmick la, same as her wearing tudung to entice the stupid ones among the Malays.

Ohhh...actually, there is no way the DAP Chinese would believe in the con. They know from the word GO! that DAP is actually a Chinese party with only token Malays, Indians dan lain-lain to make up for its claim of being multi-racial. It's not very unlike the Communist Party of Malaya, actually.

Seriously, would an average Chinese person give up being a member of Bangsa Chinese to join something called Bangsa Malaysia.  No way la. Talk proper Bahasa Malaysia also got issue, how to become Bangsa Malaysia. All just bull crap la, seriously.


Ok la, Malays may want to do that Bangsa Malaysia thing , but not Chinese la. Can't blame the Chinese, ok? Their bangsa doing fine already. Why the hell they want to abandon it and join you all sorry Malay sods? Malays are really a sorry lot, in that sense, ok?

Beriya-iya lah nak bersatu padu sebagai Bangsa Malaysia. Sanggup nak bagi segala yang ada. Bukannya ada banyak pun yang Melayu punya. Pun nak dibagi orang. Liberal dan modern kunun. Bodoh tak terkata. Lantak lah. Aku yang ada boyfriend Cina ni pun tahu jaga jati diri bangsa dalam diri aku. Tak tau nak kata apa lagi kat dia orang Melayu macam ni.....never mind.

Eh, I'm so sleepy already leh....till tomorrow, ok? Good night.

Thursday 18 October 2012

Najib on Chinese education in Malaysia

I had written about it here -

What education means to the Chinese


And this is what Najib had to say about it yesterday -


KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is the only country outside China that recognises Chinese education as part of the national education system, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said today.
Describing this as being of great significance, he said no other country in the region recognised Chinese education.
"We are the only country outside China which has got Chinese education as part of the national system. We have recognised Chinese education in Malaysia, and I think that is of huge, great significance.
"Please see that in that context, in that perspective, that we have recognised Chinese education as part of the national system," he said during an hour-long interview with deejays of Melody FM, Astro Radio's second Chinese radio station, here.
Najib was the guest on the station's breakfast show 'Melody FM Morning Boss' with host announcers Chui Ling and Jentzen Lim.
The prime minister was responding to a question from one of the deejays on the efforts taken by the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (UCSCAM), or better known as Dong Zong, pertaining to Chinese education.
Najib explained that when he was the education minister, he had removed Section 21(2) of the Education Act 1961 which allowed the minister to convert a national type primary school to a national primary school.
This, he said, indicated that the government was sincere in recognising Chinese education.
He also said that the government recognised the existence of the 60 Chinese independent schools.
"The rest of the schools are conforming schools. In other words, they take the national examination," he said.
Najib also said that the government had come up with a creative solution to a recent request from the Chinese community in Kuantan to have a Chinese school.
"We said, you can have the school, provided you take the SPM (examination) but if you want to take the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), that is up to you.
"They decided to accept that offer. So, it will be a secondary school, the kids will have to take the SPM (examination) but they will take the UEC in addition to the SPM. So, that is a kind of a win-win situation," he said.
Answering questions from listeners, Najib said he had announced a RM100-million allocation for national type Chinese schools in the country in Budget 2013.
He also said that the top 50 students of Chinese independent secondary schools were given scholarships to pursue their tertiary education.
On the shortage of teachers in Chinese primary schools, Najib said the eight-point plan to address issues in Chinese vernacular schools was being implemented now.
"It is under the purview of the deputy minister of education and he is making sure that it will be implemented," he said.
Najib also said that vernacular schools, including Chinese schools, would be part of the exercise to improve the quality of education under the National Education Blueprint.
"I believe we don't have any kind of stigma. My own son, Ashman, speaks fluent Mandarin.
"I believe it is good for the Malays to learn Mandarin just as it is important for Malaysian Chinese to be fluent in Bahasa (Melayu) as Bahasa, of course, is our national language," he said.

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Good news for Guan Eng...I think? (UPDATED)

UPDATES

I had received a call from a close friend who asked whether this posting is a serious piece of news or it was just me horsing around. For the benefit of you all, this was my answer - this is indeed a serious piece of news. No kidding, ok?

ORIGINAL POSTING

It is almost certain that DAP's Kota Laksamana assemblywoman Betty Chew will not be defending her seat in the coming general election.

Betty, who is the wife of Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng, was quoted by sources close to her as saying that she intends to let a younger DAP leader defend the seat in Malacca which she holds for the past three terms.

It was however not clear whether Betty is going to instead contest in Penang or  be a full time first lady of Penang.


It was understood that there were concerns that Betty may face some difficulties if fielded again in Kota Laksamana due to her lack of presence there for the past four years as she have to spend more time with her husband and children in Penang.

Her decision not to defend the seat, was however said to be made by herself. It is expected to be officially announced over the next few days.

Sources indicated that Betty had first considered the move since last year, sometimes after the Sarawak state election.

This coincided with rumours that her husband was having a "special relationship" with a female aide. Both, Betty and her husband had since denied the rumours and insisted that there was nothing wrong with their marriage.

It was nonetheless almost certain that DAP will retain the Kota Laksamana seat which constituents consist 85% Chinese, 11% Malays, 3% Indians and 1% other races.

P.S Well, Guan Eng, I'm happy for you :-)

Tuesday 16 October 2012

In defense of Guan Eng

I want to put it on record here that I don't believe that the honorable chief minister of Penang Lim Guan Eng is having an affair with Taiwanese super model Lim Chi Ling, as suggested by some bloggers.

Several blogs, from both side of the political divide had published the photos of the  superbly handsome chief minister and the super beautiful model.



Come on la guys. They were just having beer la. I know, I know....she's hot and he look a bit randy in those pictures.....but really la, I don't think there is anything more than that, ok?

What makes me very convinced that Guan Eng is not being naughty with the lady was because -
1. The pictures were at a very public place. I know la handsome boy is a tokong and all that, but he could not be so brazen, couldn't he?
2. The lady, beautiful as she is, is simply not of Guan Eng's taste. You see, Guan Eng has proven himself to be only interested in women of certain features.



See, the Taiwanese supermodel doesn't have the features of Guan Eng's taste.

Therefore, I conclude that the allegation of Guan Eng having an affair with the Taiwanese supermodel could not be true.

Anyway, you all really think Guan Eng dare ka to be funny after the flying ashtray incident? I don't think so.

p.s - if the DAP cybertroopers still attack me after this, I don't know what to say la. I defended their boss already what :-)

Monday 15 October 2012

Five Foot Traveller

I really don't feel like being naughty today. Still tired from my traveling the other day.

So, instead of making fun of Guan Eng or being outright rude about Anwar Ibrahim, as I usually do, for this posting, I am doing something else.

I'm introducing you all to my favorite traveling blog (well, in case you don't know this blog yet la).

It's

Five Foot Traveller


It's specialized for single traveling women. Independent women who want to go out to see the world on their own (and not burdened by bastards in the form of men in their life) should try check out this blog. It's really good.

The blogger is Anis.


From what my friends told me, she is an ex-TKCian, former lawyer, and former journalist.

From what I read in her blog, I think she is one courageous free spirit and quite a funny person.

I wish I can be like her, traveling here and traveling there, without much care in the world....but definitely I can't. I'm tied up with too many things.

But still, I hope to do more traveling in the future....after the election....first destination, definitely Taiwan.

If BN lose, I may not even come back, and instead go on and on around the world like Anis.

Sunday 14 October 2012

Malaysians born free

It's quite a nuisance, having the water supply cut off this morning.

Lucky that I woke up early and already had my shower and performed other necessary water related activities.

Waiting for my travelling companions to pack up, so decided to jot down this nonsense to while away the time.

Wished I don't have to go back to the city. It's like paradise here, where I am.

But still, life has to go on, responsibilities need to be fulfilled, the country need to be saved, etc etc.

Hahahaha....I would have laughed at myself if I had read this stuff I'm writing when I was young and not so exposed to the world.

But these are the realities. Things come in packages. The good and the bad come together in life. Born a man, and you have all sorts of arrogant privileges but of course you will behave like a bastard of a certain degree. Born a woman, and you will be subjected to the bastard behaviour of men but of course you have the advantage of being a bitch  yourself and getting away with it because you are a woman.



The same with having BN or Pakatan ruling over us. The good thing is, in a democratic country like ours we can still choose which package we want in these sort of things. We are not  in China where they only have the communist party or in India where the choices offered were too diverse that the people ended up not knowing what to choose and in the end making all the wrong choices. Oh, and we are also not some mickey mouse country like Singapore which is run by a family like some kedai ubat.

Not bad actually for a country which had been ruled by those kaki relax Malays for half a century. Quite prosperous, even.

Well, if you all still want Anwar as PM, then go ahead lah. Vote Pakatan in, ok? No need to gaduh gaduh. I'm leaving for Taiwan anyway after the election. Why should I care. But remember, everything come in a package. Must think of the bad as well as the good. Everything have a price, ok?

Sit for awhile and think of those who will be in power - Anwar, Kit Siang, Hadi Awang, Karpal, Wan Azizah, Mat Sabu, Guan Eng, etc etc. Also think for awhile how they will get along once they have the power to rule over us.

Well, are you sure you still want them to run the country after properly thinking about it?

If you still do think so, then, all the best to you and your children and your decendants. I'll be off to Taiwan, buy a bicycle and explore that country....until all the  mess fromyour experimentation with Pakatan rule had been cleaned up....that is hopefully before I die lah.

Ok lah, need to go off now. The others are ready to go. Cheers Malaysia :-)

Saturday 13 October 2012

Taking it easy, taking it slow....relax, ok?

Woke up too early. The person I'm sharing this hotel room never wakes up after dawn. Already moving around and busy with facebook.

I got nothing to do and thus this posting.

Been out of the loop the past few days. Quite fed up with the political scene and decided to ignore it for awhile. 

Actually, there are many other more important things in life than politics. Like feeding our family, passing our examinations, going fishing, falling in love, going jogging etc etc. True, isn't it?


The Pakatan people  are trying to tell us to breath, eat, drink politics, so they can keep the momentum of hate towards the government till election. But what are there to really hate? Najib has proven himself to be doing everything possible to clean things up. I know, still not good enough, but give him a strong mandate in the election, and I'm confident he will get it done properly. Anyway, what are the option? You really want Anwar to become PM? What are the best thing he had done other than promising this and promising that? Do you really want Kit Siang to be deputy PM? Mat Sabu as education minister? Yes, some of the BN ministers are clowns but the Pakatan ones are going to be even more crap lah.

Never mind. I think I have said enough of that for today. Today I just want to rest.  Read a book. And maybe later go to the beach and watch the sunset. That's better than worrying about all those jokers trying to wreck the country. Today I'm going to take a break from all that.

I think you all should do the same. Relax a bit ok. Stop being too stressed up. Take it easy.

What? BN people robbing the country? Really? Hmmm...then how come the country is still functioning relatively well these past half century under these gang of BN robbers' rule? How come we are not bankrupt yet? How come there are still crooked BN people dragged to court and thrown into jail by the evil BN police and court? How come the oppressed Pakatan leaders like Thresa Kok and Karpal Singh can still win legal suits in BN controlled kangaroo courts? How come the same courts could acquit Anwar of sodomy and other stuff? How come the oppressed Anwar and gang can have so much fun flying here and there in a private jet?

See, if we think about politics all the time, we will never get to anywhere or get anything properly done. So, I'm going to spend this weekend finishing off this book. 

Ok. You all have a nice weekend too ya. Cheers :-)

Thursday 11 October 2012

Infantile DAP and BN media handlers

I'm somewhere without wi-fi. Using my phone sim card to get internet connection. So, can't write much. This is actually a posting for record purposes only.

Had a rough journey earlier in the day.

Now I'm feeling a bit sickly. Can't think of anything new and unique to write. Really, what's new with our country's political scene these past few days? Pakatan and their mostly silly allegations against the BN government and the BN and their less than intelligent ways to counter those allegations. It's been a ding dong bell like that since 2008.

Pakatan, on their part really need to tighten up their act. Karpal Singh, for instance when cornered recently over the nepotism practiced by opposition parties lashed out at, of all, people, Tun DrMahathir. Eh, Mr Karpal, I know la your law degree only 3rd class honours, the same as mine, but don't la tell me you don't know what is nepotism. Please la don't twist and turn like a snake trying to justify the position of your sons in DAP. Do you really want us to believe that Gobind and Jagdeep get where they are now if not for the fact that they are your sons. By attacking Dr Mahathir who in this case a completely innocent bystander, Karpal has reduced himself to the same level as that spoiled brat who became the Penang Chief Minister because his father is the DAP supermo. Come on la Karpal, you are supposed to be the best legal brain in DAP. You should be more dignified than that boy who throw a tantrum whenever posed with hard questions. If the best opposition brain behaves like that, what could we expect from the rest?

As for the BN, they simply don't know how to react properly when attacked by the opposition. I had these past few days been very frustrated over the BN's response to issues raised by the opposition. I don't want to go into details as I don't want BN stupidity be even more highlighted here. I just hope that BN's big boss DS Najib Razak noticed what I had noted about the way BN media bigwigs had fumbled. Really la Datuk Seri, people like Rais, Ahmad Maslan etc need to be replaced. They are not inspiring at all la.

Sometimes, when ever it crosses my mind that Rais Yatim will score credit for anything written in favour of BN, it really made me not want to do any posting in support of the coalition. Rasa buang masa je nak tolong menteri penerangan BN yang tak berapa cerdik tu.

That was why at the start of this posting I don't really feel like writing much. Just ramblings, ok?

Wednesday 10 October 2012

A good day with little brother

It is raining heavily out there...complete with thunders and lightnings.

I'm in my room. Resting.

Earlier in the day, I had lunch with my Chinaman (really hope he quit eating pork one day), and borrowed his suitcase. That suitcase had accompanied me to all sorts of places around the world.

After that I went to see my little brother.

My little brother is okay today. Took him out, bought him a pizza meal and then we went for a movie. Hotel Transylvania.

Not really a good cartoon movie, but my brother seems to enjoy it. So, I'm fine with it too.

Whenever I'm with him on his okay days, my brother always talks about our past, when we were kids, when our parents were still alive, and when he was not yet afflicted by his ailment.

Yes, I remember all that. How cute was my little brother when he was a toddler. How we played together and ran along the drain at the bottom of the ravine in front of our barrack home.


And when I went to that boarding school in Seremban, he was always happy when I came home for term breaks. At night, I would tell him and my other siblings bed time stories about the free movies that I watched at school. We can't afford to go to cinema at that time.

My little brother said those were the best times of his life. Our family was poor then but we were happy, and with not much care in the world.

My little brother is a proper boy and brilliant student back then. He was 10 times smarter than me before he broke down with his ailment. He would have been such an excellent engineer if not for it.

He would have been a good family man too.

But I always believe that Allah is fair. I believe that my little brother will have his shares of future happiness in other ways, insyaAllah.

Girls, avoid boys with Anwarness , ok?

I spend the past half an hour trying to start this post.

Opened up that changgih laptop my friend gave me and was ready to write something really significant....and you know what happened?

Nothing happened.

The bloody thing tried to load this blog page but never got there. I tried it over and over and over and over and over and over and over.... but it just refused to load the page....

I almost smash it to the wall.


Fortunately, I managed to suppressed my anger and instead calmly closed it down and put it aside, took out this useless old netbook and start to write this nonsense.

Honestly, at this moment, I can't remember what I had wanted to write. Too pissed off just now.

I know it's bloody stupid to get angry with a useless machine, but that laptop was a relatively expensive piece which I know I would not possess if my friend had not generously bought it for me. It shouldn't be so stupidly useless.

It's like marrying a handsome masculine man only to find him....eerrrr....not functioning (if you know what I mean....), or marrying someone like.... Anwar Ibrahim (if you know what I mean.....)...:-)

Well, actually if you marry someone like Anwar Ibrahim, it's your own fault, ok? You know he is one of those MCOBA guys and you still marry him, for what? Definitely your fault, no two ways about it.

Sorry ya Kak Wan. It is really your fault. I know, when they first set up TKC, it was to groom wives for MCKK boys. But that was crap, ok? The fact that you, an ex-TKCian got conned by Anwar, and really married him was really....eeerrr.... unfortunate. But guess it was your jodoh already. Still.....unfortunate lah.

And for that matter, dear ladies,
Try to advice your daughters not to marry not only MCKK boys, but also guys of other all-boys elite boarding schools. Really la, its for their own good.

Ok la....STAR, Ipoh boys are probably ok. But I heard the Starians tend to be a bit too soft and nice. Boring bunch la like that.

SDAR, Seremban boys on the other hand tend to be more....eeerrrr.....unique. But most of them also tend to be a bit too morbid. Oh, I also used to hear stories about Anwarness among the boys there.....well, probably just slanders spread by MCKK boys to cover their own Anwarness by deflecting attention to those SDARians. Poor Sdarians.....hahahahahaha (evil laughter)

RMC boys? Back then I found them to be such stiffs....

Eh, enough lah. Later they all come down here and jump on top of my head...susah pulak. I got enough problem with DAP cybertroopers infestation in this blog. Don't want to have old boys infestation pulak.

Chill, ok? Just kidding around ya boys :-) But really la, boy kissing boy is really gross, ok? Let's not even mention the rest.....

Monday 8 October 2012

Purple Cat's analysis - Pakatan's targets in Johor

I'm with a close friend from Johor at the moment.

Getting updates on the political situation.

Now that I'm no longer in Johor, I have to rely on my few trusted friends for updates about my home state. Rest assured, their political knowledge about Johor were actually far superior than mine. I have been trying to persuade them to start their own blog, but they had declined. They are very busy people.

Ok, for this posting, I'm handing over this laptop to my friend whom I will introduce to you  all as Purple Cat.

I have to warn you all though that my friend's presentation is very straight forward and rather colorless. Well, can't expect everyone to be colorful, right? Nonetheless, do bear in mind that Purple Cat's materials are very precise and well studied. 

The following are Purple Cat's assessment -




Hi everyone. Thanks Big Cat for the introduction.

Let me start by pointing out that the Pakatan strategy will probably be all out to ensure a strong presence in Johor, so that they will perform better this time around and to solidify their position for GE14 where they aim to defeat BN in Johor.

They are not delusional enough to really think that they can win the state in the coming election, but they are highly confident of making inroads into Johor, capitalising on the substantial chinese support for DAP and the growing presence of middle-income PAS-inclined Malay liberals flocking the state.  

Their strategy will most like be to add more seats - that is defend the existing one and work on specific targets.  I remember a DAP cybertrooper by the nick of Kluang Girl once alluded in this blog to their belief that they can win 8 parliamentary seats and 20 state seats in Johor. I would like to expand on that and I think I have an idea where those seats are based on opposition activities these past 18 months.

However, this is my analysis based on my understanding of the situation in Johor presently.

1.  Pakatan will ensure that they retain their existing constituencies - this is a no brainer.

So we will see DAP and PAS trying to hang on to their Bakri, Bentayan, Sungai Abong, Maharani, Senai, Mengkibol and Skudai seats.  Unfortunately for PAS, this time around it is unlikely that Umno will be blind-sided in Maharani and Sungai Abong.  I was reliably informed that Umno has completed their survey there and both Maharani and Sungai Abong will revert back to Umno.  They are even confident of Bakri, but Bentayan is something else altogether, while Senai and Mengkibol will be difficult for MCA, and Skudai is almost impossible for Gerakan.

2.  They will focus on Chinese-majority and marginal constituencies - obviously, as they have been sowing racial discord and dissatisfaction making everything into a race thing.  

The Chinese-majority constituencies are the seats they are most confident of winning, really, whereas the marginal seats are where they can win through Malay disunity, and this is where PAS can play their role in delivering these marginal seats to PKR and DAP.

Kulai, Bakri and Gelang Patah are all constituencies with more than 50% Chinese voters.  While DAP will retain Bakri, I think they will compromise and give Gelang Patah to PKR.  You think LGE is going to give Dr Boo a strong base for his entry into national politics?  I don't think so. He'd rather give Gelang Patah to PKR.

I am quite confident that DAP considers Skudai, Senai and Bukit Batu as their sure win seats but I think they will show a sense of solidarity in Kulai with PAS in Bukit Permai, PKR in Bukit Batu and DAP retaining Senai.

I doubt that PAS has a chance to win in Bukit Permai though. PAS role is not to win parliamentary or state seats but to break up the Malays so that DAP  can win in Kulai through the dilution of Malay support for Umno, so that kinda fits my profiling of PAS in Johor.  Nusajaya will be a sure loss for PAS, at least I think this DUN seat will go to PAS.

Next, with the most Chinese voters are Kluang (50%), Labis (47%), Tanjong Piai (47%), Segamat (46%) and Batu Pahat (46%).  Kluang and Labis will be DAP seats, no question about it, but I think Batu Pahat will be contested by PKR.  Why?  There is something fishy going on there, and I think they are thinking of capitalising on the surge in the number of chinese voters in Penggaram.  In order to appease the PAS voters and pre-dominantly conservative chinese DAP supporters, Batu Pahat will be contested by a PKR chinese candidate, I think, but not Chua Jui Meng.  Turncoats and frogs are not popular among conservative chinese.

Even though Segamat is traditionally a DAP seat, I think this may be the place Chua Jui Meng will make his home for the coming GE, although I am not saying this with confidence.  Well, he has a better chance of winning here than in Dr Boo's fortress in Gelang Patah or Chua Soi Lek's home of Batu Pahat, where he has to take on an Umno candidate as opposed to an MIC candidate in Segamat.

DAP will be fairly confident of Tanjong Piai and Pekan Nenas, despite losing quite badly there in 2008, DAP has a very strong base in Pekan Nenas (58% Chinese).  DAP is also confident of winning Bekok (54%), Jementah (55%) and Penggaram (62%) as these are chinese-majority state constituencies.  DAP will also be confident of Tangkak (53%).


With the state of Malay disunity, a very active PAS, and strife within Umno, I expect PKR will be targeting Muar and Ledang as their 'Malay-majority' seats in Johor.  They have quite a bit of support among the Muor Malays, and substantial Chinese support in the urban seats of Maharani (42%) and Tangkak (52%).  The problem with Muor is - Bakri too for that matter - the place is filled to the brim with the political elites, so much so that everyone thinks that he/she can be a better leader than everyone else, and they are not shy about voicing it, nor acting on it.

Ledang will be targeted by PKR simply because of its proximity with Muor means there is substantial support for the opposition especially in Gambir (40%) and Tangkak, and it is the Umno Division headed by Dato Abdul Ghani Othman.  Strategic, I guess.

PKR is also confident of winning Puteri Wangsa (47%) as they have been very active here.  There have been an increase of more than 58% of chinese voters in Puteri Wangsa (42% in Tebrau) that I am sure will boost PKR confidence in winning Puteri Wangsa.  Probably this time around they will put non-indian candidates to take advantage of the substantial chinese and middle-income Malay voters there.  

However, the increase in the number of Chinese voters in Tebrau is bad news for PAS.

Also bad news for PAS is the fact that other than Maharani and Sungai Abong, all the seats possibly allocated to them are Malay-majority areas where Umno is strong.

Although PAS has been active everywhere, they would be lucky to get allocated even one marginal constituency - of which Pulai (48%-41%-10%) is the most likely target for PAS as it is the only marginal constituency that neither DAP nor PKR wants.  You think Salahudin Ayub can win this one??  He he he.... neither do I.

Oh, and the Pakatan's noises that they can win big in Johor.... so, what are the 8 parliamentary and 20 state seats they are targeting?

Here they are:

Parliamentary seats
Bakri (DAP)
Kulai (DAP)
Gelang Patah (PKR)
Kluang (DAP)
Labis (DAP)
Segamat (PKR)
Tanjong Piai (DAP)
Batu Pahat (PKR)

State seats
Bentayan (DAP)
Mengkibol (DAP)
Yong Peng (DAP)
Penggaram (DAP)
Senai (DAP)
Skudai (DAP)
Bukit Batu (PKR)
Stulang (DAP)
Pekan Nenas (DAP)
Jementah (DAP)
Bekok (DAP)
Tangkak (DAP)
Puteri Wangsa (PKR)
Johor Jaya (PKR)
Tiram (PKR)
Layang-Layang (PKR)
Parit Raja (PAS)
Parit Yaani (PAS)
Maharani (PAS)
Sungai Abong (PAS)

They are listed in accordance to how confident they are of winning these seats.  From that list and the order of confidence, you can see where I got the impression of PAS' role in the scheme of things.  

At Parliament DAP 5 - PKR 3 - PAS 0
At State DAP 11 - PKR 5 - PAS 4

DAP is not just targeting the parliamentary seats... they are also targeting a bigger representation in the State Assembly, regardless of who the Mentri Besar is going to be.  PAS is just the lackeys in Johor, and the crumbs they get they really have to work their butts off for.  Johor is DAP's show, and not even DAP Johor's show.


Saturday 6 October 2012

Memories of schooldays

It is a Saturday night and I'm bored half to death....

Just lepaking in this room and listening to radio.

Don't know why, just that suddenly I remember my schooldays.

I always thought I hated those memories. Those five years at the boarding school in Seremban were not the best years of my life. I was a weird kid that not many would want to befriend.

Nonetheless, I did manage to make a few friends then. But they all drifted away after school. I did go to a school reunion once, but decided that I didn't really like it that much. It was the only time I attended such a function.

Still, there were occasions when I remember the school and feel that I miss it. I miss walking under the shades of the trees at its ground and sitting quietly in a corner watching the others jovially going about doing their things. I had wished I was like them, but I was not.

And whenever it was mentioned in the news that its students have done well, I would feel this unexplainable sense of pride. I know it's a bit foolish, but I do believe that despite the not so sweet memories when I was a student, deep down inside I do love my school.

A REMEMBRANCE


For further reading

TKC: Erasing History, Traditions and Values



The making of a premier school


Written by Hasnah Mohd Ali
BEFORE World War II, the British, at the request of the Malay rulers, established a fully residential secondary school called the Malay College, Kuala Kangsar, in Perak for Malay boys of royal birth and sons of high ranking officials from all states in Malaya. The students were prepared for higher education and groomed to be future rulers and administrators in the Malayan Civil Service.
Then, in 1939, the rulers felt that a similar school should be set up for Malay girls and run along parallel lines to the Malay College, Kuala Kangsar.
Their first intention was to prepare girls for the role of future wives to those students from Malay College, Kuala Kangsar, assuming they would meet somehow or marriages could be arranged.
So the girls' college, like the boys' one, was opened for girls of royal birth and daughters of state officials. The authorities planned for a very small enrolment to begin with once the school opened in 1942. However, the idea was shelved when World War II broke out and Malaya was occupied by the Japanese.
When the war ended and Malaya returned to British rule, the Education Ministry decided to revive the project - but only after making some drastic changes to the original policies. Among the changes was the decision to increase enrolment by admitting girls from all walks of life based entirely on educational merit.
The first building
In 1947 the Malay Girls' College, Kuala Lumpur (MGC), opened. It had quite a humble beginning, being housed in an old double-storey bungalow at milestone two-and-a-half at Jalan Damansara.
Standing on a hillock and surrounded by rubber plantations and secondary forest, the building was large enough to house a hall, an office, a staff room, the principal's residence, a dining hall and a kitchen, two classrooms, a library, a student recreation room and a home science room on the ground floor; four dormitories, staff quarters, a prayer room, a sickbay and bathrooms on the first floor.
Except for the badminton and netball courts, the grounds simply consisted of grassy slopes where the students would sit or play on in the evenings. There was a garage at the foot of the hill and servants' quarters were built nearby. There was hardly any traffic on the narrow road that meandered from the city to the college.
The first admission
The first admission of 40 students arrived in October 1947. They came from all over the country and from various walks of life, though the majority were from middle class families.
A quota system was followed with all states except Perlis and Penang allocated four students each, two from English schools and two from Malay schools. Perlis
and Penang sent two students each. All the students were selected by each state's Education Department which looked for good academic performance.
In addition to the 40 students, special consideration was given to the daughter of the Sultan of Selangor to join the college as a day scholar.
The students were divided into two groups. Those from Malay schools were placed in Form X, which was equivalent to Special Malay One in English schools; these students were expected to complete Form Five in 1954. Those from English schools were placed in Form V, which was equivalent to Special Malay Two, and were expected to complete Form Five in 1953.
The age range in Form X was from 10 to 12 years old and that in Form V was from 12 to 14 years old.
The opening ceremony
Right from its beginning the Education Ministry placed great importance on the college. As befitting its status, it was officially opened on Nov 1, 1947, by Lady Gent, wife of Sir Edward Gent, Governor of the Malayan Union. The Governor had accompanied his wife for the occasion. The ceremony was also attended by the Sultan of Selangor and his consort and several other dignitaries.
In his speech, the governor stressed the importance of learning and advised the young students: "When you have homes and families of your own, keep the ideal of learning and searching for the truth in everything like a bright lamp in your own homes.''
Administration and staffing
As befitting its status and importance, the college was administered directly by the Director of Education in Kuala Lumpur. Principals and teachers were appointed by him. He was assisted by a Board of Advisers that met annually to draw up policies and guidelines for the administration of the college.
The Advisory Committee was chaired by the Deputy Director of Education, with the principal acting as the secretary. It had as its members a representative from every state, the principal of Malay College, Kuala Kangsar, a woman medical officer and other members elected by the chairman.
Prior to Independence, the principals were all British graduates and residents. A large number of the teaching staff were also English. A few Malay teachers were appointed, among whom was the first Malay woman graduate from Raffles College, Hawa Abdullah.
Curriculum and extracurricular activities
MGC followed the British secondary school curriculum. Students spent their first year or so learning the English language, so much so that they were required by rule to speak the language at all times except during Malay lessons and on Fridays.
As they improved they were introduced to other subjects like English literature, geography, history, mathematics, general science, home science, art, and physical and health education; this was in addition to the Malay language which was a compulsory subject second to English. Religious instruction was conducted on Fridays.
In keeping with the original policy intention of preparing the students for their future roles as educated wives and moth-
ers, great emphasis was placed on home science. Apart from cookery and needlework, the girls were taught housekeeping, knitting and embroidery as well.
Following the British system, the college was examination orientated. The medium of instruction was English and lessons were made interesting by the latest techniques available at the time such as film shows, View Master (a means of viewing slides), play-acting and visits to various places of interest.
The college also thrived on extracurricular activities. The students were encouraged to play most of the games popular at the time, such as netball, hockey, table tennis, lawn tennis, badminton and swimming.
They played on borrowed fields and courts, and were taken to the Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur for swimming lessons. They had eurhythmics (movement set to music) and folk dancing to improve posture, and singing lessons to improve pronunciation. They were very active in societies such as guiding, the Red Cross, drama, debating, puppet club and gardening.
On the serious side, there were the student council and the prefectorial board. The college practised the house system in which students were instilled with loyalty to their respective houses. On Sundays they had house cleaning where every corner of the college building was thoroughly cleaned and inspected with marks being given to the four houses.
Early expansion
Soon after the opening ceremony, a new wing was added to the original building to accommodate more students. The extension included two science laboratories, dormitories, and the principal's residence beneath the senior dormitory.
However, as enrolment soon increased to about 150 students, this was found to be insufficient and a neighbouring building was acquired and turned into more classrooms, dormitories and staff quarters. The college remained in this situation for several years.
By 1955 plans were afoot for a new school on 8ha of state land situated on Bukit Merbah, Jalan Cemetery (now Jalan Tunku Kurshiah), Seremban. When completed, the new premises were well spread out and had all the facilities of an ideal secondary school. The dormitories were built in four blocks which became the four Houses of the college; the administrative block, the classrooms, the dining hall and kitchen, and the sickbay were located conveniently, too. The principal's residence was built near the main entrance. There was a playing field and ample room for all kinds of games and outdoor activities.
In April 1962, the entire college at Damansara moved to the new premises in Seremban and was renamed the Tunku Kurshiah College after the first Raja Permaisuri Agong.
Although situated in Seremban the college was, and still is, administered directly by the Education Ministry in Kuala Lumpur; in fact, the change of name was also decided by the ministry.
The original college buildings in Damansara were handed to one institution after another until, finally, they were demolished in 1989 to make way for the Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation.
Early achievement
At the end of 1952, the first batch of three students who had had double promotion
from Form Three to Form Five sat for the Cambridge School Certificate examination. All three passed, with two of them obtaining grade one. Eventually all three continued their studies at the University of Malaya in Singapore.
As mentioned before, the MGC girls were very active in societies. In 1952 a Queen's Guide from the college was selected to represent Malaya at an international jamboree in Britain; in 1953 another member of the movement won the Juliett Low Scholarship for a camping trip in Switzerland. And a member of the MGC Red Cross Society was selected to travel to London to participate in the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth's coronation.
By 1954, all the pioneer girls completed their studies at the college and all did well for themselves, later training as teachers, social workers, and nurses, while some became housewives. A few went on for further studies at universities.
This tradition of producing achievers has remained from those early days till the present, making the Tunku Kurshiah College one of the premier schools in the country today.
* Hasnah Mohd Ali is one of three former students of the Malay Girls' College who co-wrote Warisan Puteri Melayu: Dari MGC ke TKC; she was in the college's first intake, returning to teach there from 1965 to 1969 before serving as headmistress from 1977 to 1982. She is currently working on her autobiography.