The Henley visa restriction index shows Malaysia ranks 13th in the world for its citizen's freedom of travel (i.e. no visa restriction when visiting other countries)... In other words, in terms of easy access to other countries without visa restriction, Malaysians rank 13th in the world. Top apparently is UK (but hey, they have access to almost all Commonwealth countries!)
Here is a snapshot of the index taken from its web site...
Wishing all Malaysians, no matter where you are, a very Happy Merdeka! May the original spirit of Tunku in 1957 be revived... May the real spirit of 1Malaysia be upheld, where all Malaysians live in a peaceful, prosperous and fair nation without any persecution and discrimination.
Selamat Hari Merdeka! 国庆日快乐! !اليوم الوطني سعيد ハッピーナショナルデー! 해피 건국 기념일! Chúc mừng Ngày Quốc khánh!
Am a bit late with catching up on TVB series. Actually, I only watch them ad-hoc... now-and-then. But the latest I've watched (which is actually quite an old series) was "Last One Standing" or "與敵同行". The show really surprised me with its originality... it's not those typical TVB series. I must say it is quite impressive with a marvelous plot and unexpected twist. The show keeps you guessing on what's coming next and this is something TVB seldom do nowadays. The plot is pretty unpredictable, thus the element of surprise!
Of course, the cast is great. Roger Kwok did a great villainous job! The ending somehow was a bit crappy (that's what I normally feel with almost all TVB shows). But at least, this one is a unique show worth watching. My only regrets is not knowing the name of the 2 background musics that play whenever Roger Kwok turns bad! Anyone can help me there?
Quite in the mood for old Cantonese songs. Must be the "Save Cantonese" campaign in Guangdong & Hong Kong having an effect on me!!! Anyway, happened to tune in to 8TV Chinese serials today. It was showing 家好月圓 with Jacky Cheung's 來來回回 playing in the background. That was when the young 官家仔 was bidding farewell to 于素秋 at the ferry terminal. The song suddenly turned on my nostalgia of old Chinese songs again... they just don't make songs like they used to. And Mandarin is definitely killing off Cantonese songs....
Actually Mandarin has become so overwhelming nowadays that kids are no longer speaking Cantonese, which is really a pity. And I find my Cantonese also rusting from lack of use, what more with me being in JB where the lingua franca of the Chinese community happens to be Mandarin. I've gotten so used to Mandarin that sometimes I'm ordering in Mandarin even when in KL. Damn... can't let Mandarin take over my tongue! In fact, it's not even my mother tongue... Mandarin is the mother tongue of the Beijing-ers, not the southerners! It shot to fame and became the common language of China during a "referendum" in 1911 where Mandarin beat Cantonese by only 1 vote to become the national language of China!
This was a speech by Tengku Razaleigh at the Malaysia Student Leaders Summit (MSLS) recently. Something, that we all Malaysians should really think about for the sake of our future. His views may not sit well with some of our present leaders, as he said "History, and the 8 o’clock news, are written by the victors." And neither are these necessarily my views, but I think what he said makes sense and Malaysians should hear him out on this and decide on their own!
"Politicians are not your parents. They are your servants.You don’t need a government slogan coined by a foreign PR agency to wrap your project in. You just go ahead and do it."
Of Tunku, he mentioned..."Here was a man at ease with himself, made it a policy goal that Malaysia be “a happy country”. He loved sport and encouraged sporting achievement among Malaysians. He was owner of many a fine race horse. He called a press conference with his stewards when his horse won at the Melbourne Cup. He had nothing to hide because his great integrity in service was clear to all.Now we have religious and moral hypocrites who cheat, lie and steal in office but , who propagate an ideologically shackled education system for all Malaysians while they send their own kids to elite academies in the West."
"When we were at ease with who we were and didn’t need slogans to do our best together, we did well. When race and money entered our game, we declined. The same applies to our political and economic life"
"Without a doubt, Malaysia is slipping. Billions have been looted from this country, and billions more are being siphoned out as our entire political structure crumbles. Yet we are gathered here in comfort, in a country that still seems to ‘work.’ Most of the time. This is due less to good management than to the extraordinary wealth of this country. You were born into a country of immense resources both natural and cultural and social. We have been wearing down this advantage with mismanagement and corruption. With lies, tall tales and theft. We have a political class unwilling or unable to address the central issue of the day because they have grown fat and comfortable with a system built on lies and theft. It is easy to fall into the lull caused by the combination of whatever wealth has not been plundered and removed and political class that lives in a bubble of sycophancy."
"Overcome the urge to have our hopes for the future endorsed by the Prime Minister. He will have retired, and I’ll be long gone when your future arrives. The shape of your future is being determined now."
"Resist the temptation to say “in line with” when we do something. Your projects, believe it or not, don’t have to be in line with any government campaign for them to be meaningful. You don’t need to polish anyone’s apple. Just get on with what you plan to do."
"Do not put a lid on certain issues as “sensitive” because someone said they are. Or it is against the Social Contract. Or it is “politicisation”. You don’t need to have your conversation delimited by the hyper-sensitive among us. Sensitivity is often a club people use to hit each other with. Reasoned discussion of contentious issues builds understanding and trust. Test this idea."
"It’s not “uber-liberal” to ask for an end to having politics, economic policy, education policy and everything and the kitchen sink determined by race. It’s called growing up. Go look up “liberal” in a dictionary."
"Don’t let the politicians you have invited here talk down to you.Don’t let them tell you how bright and “exuberant” you are, that you are the future of the nation, etc. If you close your eyes and flow with their flattery you have safely joined the caravan, a caravan taking the nation down a sink hole. If they tell you the future is in your hands kindly request that they hand that future over first.Ask them how come the youngest member of our cabinet is 45. Our Merdeka cabinet had an average age below thirty. That was 50-over years ago. You’re not the first generation to be bright. Mine wasn’t too stupid. But you could be the first generation of students and young graduates in fifty years to push this nation through a major transformation. And it is a transformation we need desperately."
"You will be told that much is expected of you, much has been given to you, and so forth. This is all true. Actually much has also been stolen from you. Over the last twenty five years, much of the immense wealth generated by our productive people and our vast resources has been looted. This was supposed to have been your patrimony. The uncomplicated sense of belonging fully, wholeheartedly, unreservedly, to this country, in all it diversity, that has been taken from you."
"Today we are no longer as united as we were then. We are also less free. I don’t think this is a coincidence. It takes free people to have the psychological strength to overcome the confines of a racialised worldview. It takes free people to overcome those politicians bent on hanging on to power gained by racialising every feature of our life including our football teams."
"It is time to realise the dream of Dato’ Onn and the spirit of the Alliance, of Tunku Abdul Rahman. That dream was one of unity and a single Malaysian people. They went as far as they could with it in their time. Instead of taking on the torch we have reversed course. The next step for us as a country is to move beyond the infancy of race-based parties to a non-racial party system.Our race-based party system is the key political reason why we are a sick country, declining before our own eyes, with money fleeing and people telling their children not to come home after their studies."
This is a very old Cantonese song (80's or 90's?) and is still an all-time favorite... evergreen. It's a call for mankind to stop racial discrimination and acknowledge that all are equal regardless of the color of skin or background. While the days of slavery and Apartheid are long gone, racial discrimination still exists in virtually all countries (unless the country is mono-ethnic). And this is still true even in country that prides itself as a model nation in handling multi-ethnic society. I believe, somehow men are inherently racist not because they are bad. It's more of a social upbringing and cultural familiarity. But when it becomes a systematic means of discrimination and sidelining others (worse still... becomes entrenched) then it becomes a moral issue and an impediment to progress.
Learning the mother tongue is hell for most Singaporeans and for some of us in KL too! I was virtually forced to learn Mandarin which has never been my favorite language. In school, I have always wondered what the hell Mandarin was for... those days, China was still wading in mud. The Malaysian government speaks Malay, the business circle uses English, KLites speak Cantonese and city folks attend SRK, not SRJK!
It was not until I went to university where I actually spoke Mandarin coz there were simply too much of my course-mates from Mandarin-speaking community. Apparently, aside from KL, Ipoh & Penang, the rest of Malaysia speaks Mandarin. So I had no choice but to 讲华语。And when I ended up in JB, thank God I had some knowledge of Mandarin. Everyone speaks it and the Chinese hawker stalls here do not have English or Malay wordings! All in all, I must be grateful that somehow I was forced to pick it up. In today's world, knowing Mandarin is definitely and advantage. And now, China is no longer wading in mud, it is swimming in gold!
