I'm Fasting, So Be Scared

After today’s basketball match, which our team won handsomely by a margin of nearly 20 points;

“We’re fasting today,” declared Wong, a Malaysian teammate of mine.

Dick, a Singaporean, apparently could not believe it, “My God, are you serious? You guys are crazy..”

“It must be hard. You guys must be starving,” added another teammate, Robel, who came from the States.

Now my Muslim brethrens, aren’t you proud of being ones upon listening to these lines?

The Rally

So I went to the rally last Saturday as planned, despite the early morning laziness to get up from bed and the bus route being cut short by half which resulted in a need to walk. I made it to the Sydney Square, Sydney Town Hall at about a quarter before 11, and was immediately greeted by uproars made by the thousands of Sydneysiders who were already there. Because I believe pictures are better in doing the portraying of the event here, I leave all of you with these some nice live photos I captured during the rally, together with brief comments.

The usually calm Sydney Square turned into a sea of protesters and banners. At least five thousands of people were initially targeted to come, but the actual number who made it, according to the organizers, nearly doubled.

They may come with various banners, but one thing for sure- they shared a same thing, a single idea in mind.

The men in the uniform gave due respect the public, and the public, in reply, treated them in similar way. Anyhow, as always, there are one or two rotten apples in a basket of good ones; despite early warnings that the protest would be a peaceful one, villains were always there to spoil the peaceful mood of the day. Two protesters were nabbed by the police in front of my bare eyes for apparently going beyond the line- one actually went naked in the middle of the mass of people for no unequivocal reason. It left me with a question mark as to what these people actually had in mind for acting in such a shameful way, when all they could do was to follow plenty of others in staying in rational frame and just that. Later at night, I came to know over the news that in total 17 were arrested during the protest.

The protesters then marched on to Hyde Park where further rally was planned to be held, but I decided that was it for me- I needed to head back home for some other business.

What impressed me most was the attitude of the people who joined in the protest; young or old, all tried to let their shouts heard during the rally, while at the same time abiding by the law. Even though they did not come out with similar agendas- a number of groups were promoting environmental-friendly policies while some others chose to bring up anti-war sentiments and so on and so forth- still the general objective was crystal clear in that they were simply no satisfied with the current going-ons in our world. Overall it was a good first-hand, first experience for me, and I definitely look forward to attending events of this kind again in the future.

'Daddy'cated to Abah

I wanted to post this much earlier, during the Father’s Day in June to be precise but I was too busy back then. Nevertheless since Australia’s version of Father’s Day fell only early this month, I reckon this does not come too late in Australia’s context. As suggested by the title, this post is dedicated to my father whom I passionately call Abah.

Abah and I are not that close. We are not the type of father and son who take pleasure in having morning coffee together, or go out fishing over the weekend. We barely talk to each other. Some say it is human nature that a son is closer to his mother compared to the other parent of his same gender. But I think it is more because of the manly egoist in both of us, neither tries to bend the nature. I guess that is how the world around us makes sense, both of us behaving like men.

Abah is not the type of father who yells at his children over the mistakes we did. Most of the time, he seems to be more comfortable to remain in his shell of silence. But when he gets upset, you can definitely tell by looking at his face, and of course we learn not to repeat the same mistake.

Abah is a kind of father which everyone dreams of to have as their own because in terms of materials, whatever his children want he would not wait a second to go get it. But of course that did not turn us, his children, into a materialistic bunch of kids. I guess because we seldom speak to each other, that has become the only way for him to express his love for me. I remember back then whenever my basketball sneakers could not be used any longer, I would just relate the news to him and soon I would get a new pair. And that was not only once or twice- from the age of 13 I guess I have damaged more than ten pairs, and apparently basketball sneakers do not come in cheap. Once, he even posted the new pair all the way from Shah Alam to Kuala Kangsar because I had a tournament coming up and could not get home in time.

I used to dislike the notion that behavioural attributes of a father eventually go down to son- I shrugged off Umi’s complaint that I was getting grumpier these days, just like my father- but as I grow up I guess not all the traits are bad after all, and I start to feel glad whenever Umi or anyone else repeated such statement.

Umi broke down incessantly amidst the debacle of me undergoing operation on my left hand when I was six, but not Abah. I remember emotionally he was strong enough he even got into the emergency room, trying untiringly to calm me down while the medical staffs struggled to get the many tiny pieces of glass out of the opening in my left palm. Now, if there is one thing that does not go down to me from Abah, I believe it is his sheer ability, his toughness to resist from crying. Man, I even cried for losing a basketball match.

I remember Abah always wanted me to become an accountant, or at least venturing into commerce field. Because he is now a retired bank officer, Umi said he wants ‘his legacy’ to continue in the family, and being the only son it looked like I fit the job most. I could not be bothered at giving it a serious thought though, until much later when Petronas stepped in to offer me scholarship, then only did I realized how bad a son I have become. If I can turn back the time, there is no doubt I will try all the way to fulfill his wish.

Next Up This Weekend

Come and gather this Saturday;

Peaceful Protest at APEC

"Stop Bush, Make Howard History"

10am

Sydney Town Hall

Given my schedule permits and there is no other commitment, I shall make it there. Fret not, I do not plan to join in. A mere observant from far I shall be, tooled with my Nikon Coolpix S9 for photos. Click here for info.

Perjuangan Belum Selesai

Let us take one brief moment to give a halt to our festivity mood of the 50th Merdeka just for a little while, take a deep breath, and try to grasp the connotation brought by these verses word by word, and sentence by sentence;

“Perjuangan Belum Selesai”

Sesungguhnya tidak ada yang lebih menyayat hati
Dari melihat bangsaku dijajah
Tidak ada yang lebih menyedihkan
dari membiarkan bangsaku dihina
Air mata tiada ertinya
Sejarah silam tiada maknanya
Sekiranya bangsa tercinta terpinggir
Dipersenda dan dilupakan

Bukan kecil langkah wira bangsa
Para pejuang kemerdekaan
Bagi menegakkan kemuliaan
Dan darjat bangsa
Selangkah bererti mara
Mengharung sejuta dugaan
Biarkan bertatih
asalkan langkah itu yakin dan cermat
bagi memastikan negara
merdeka dan bangsa terpelihara
air mata sengsara
mengiringi setiap langkah bapa-bapa kita

Tugas kita bukan kecil
Kerana mengisi kemerdekaan
Rupanya lebih sukar dari bermandi
Keringat dan darah menuntutnya
Lagi pula apalah ertinya kemerdekaan
Kalau bangsaku asyik mengia
Dan menidakkan,
Mengangguk dan membenarkan,
Kerana sekalipun bangganya negara
kerana makmur dan mewahnya
bangsaku masih melata
dan meminta-minta di negaranya sendiri

Bukan kecil tugas kita
Meneruskan perjuangan kemerdekaan kita
Kerana rupanya selain memerdekakan,
Mengisi kemerdekaan jauh lebih sengsara

Bangsaku bukan kecil hati dan jiwanya
Bukankah sejak zaman berzaman
Mereka menjadi pelaut, pengembara
Malah penakluk terkemuka?
Bukankah mereka sudah mengembangkan sayap
Menjadi pedagang dan peniaga
Selain menjadi ulama dan ilmuwan terbilang
Bukankah bangsaku pernah mengharung
Samudera menjajah dunia yang tak dikenal
Bukankah mereka pernah menjadi
wira serantau
Yang tidak mengenal erti takut dan kematian

Tugas kita belum selesai rupanya
Bagi memartabat dan memuliakan bangsa
kerana hanya bangsa yang berjayaakan sentiasa dihormati
Rupanya masih jauh dan berliku jalan kita
Bukan sekadar memerdeka dan mengisinya
tetapi mengangkat darjat dan kemuliaan
buat selama-lamanya
Hari ini, jalan ini pasti semakin berliku
Kerana masa depan belum menjanjikan syurga
Bagi mereka yang lemah dan mudah kecewa

Perjuangan kita belum selesai
Kerana hanya yang cekal dan tabah
Dapat membina mercu tanda
Bangsanya yang berjaya.

- Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (Malam Puisi Utusan, 4 Mei
1996)