BN or PR? Or someone else?

Malaysian election is around the corner. It is hard to not to think about it, since it is where my home is. But on the other hand, it is a difficult task to talk about it. Recently I have been watching many videos on Youtube about the coming election and recent political news, trying to get as much information as I can. It is not like I'm going to give a speech about my opinions in public, and it is not like my opinions on this election are going to matter or what. But simply as a citizen, I think we should get informed and educated.

So, the questions I get are often very simple, like "BN or Pakatan Rakyat is better?" I feel like I should have a look at my own background first before even giving my opinions on those questions. I come from Penang, a state dominated by Chinese culture and a stronghold of the opposition party, in particular DAP. Where I used to stay, ethnicity ratio between Chinese and other ethnics is almost 9 to 1 (I am not sure about this number, but at least I feel so, so this is just my approximation). I studied in a SRJKC and SMJKC, which means schools with almost 100% Chinese. I rarely travel to other states in Malaysia. The states I had visited are Perak, Kedah (but only places near Penang like Kulim, Sg. Petani), Selangor (of course, because the capital is there), N. Sembilan, Melaka and also Perlis. I had been to the east coast of the peninsula, but only just to take the ferry to Pulau Redang, so merely passing by. Don't even mention Sabah and Sarawak, haven't been there, yet.

PLKN is really one of the best things that happened to me, though at first I was a little upset when I found out I was selected. My experience there really had opened my eyes, as I get to see a bigger picture of my own country. This is where I got to know most of my Malay friends that I keep in contact until this day. A large proportion of them are from Kelantan, a place I knew so little about. All I knew about Kelantan and Terengganu came from rumours and clichés from people around me. I mean, I might had even knew Hatyai, Thailand better than these states in my own country. They had been a mystery to me until I knew these wira and wirawati from Kelantan. 

The silly me was so amazed when I met Chinese from Kelantan for the first time. I was trying hard to keep the awe to myself and act cool. There were so many questions in my head I wanted to ask them. I am not sure how the other people living in Penang would react if they were in my position, but it was certainly awesome for me. I used to wonder how Chinese live there. I used to think about Kelantan as if it is a region in Middle East. This is exactly the misconception among people I know in Penang. After I get to know them, I think they are one of the coolest people I know, cause they fluent in both Chinese and Malay with a cool Kelantan accent, which is something I can't do until this day.

All the blah blah about my experience in PLKN is to show that how little I know about Malaysia, and how my point of view is so restricted. We are deeply influenced by the people around us, especially teenagers, whose some are constantly under peer pressure, and very easily moved by trends. When I was still Penang, people around me always talk things about other ethnics which are not necessarily true, sometimes even very wrong at many levels. I won't talk about these things here though, if really want to know, just listen again Negarakuku from Namewee. I think why it was such a hit in the community surrounding me, partly because he said things that many of us (I mean me and my friends in Penang) want to but wouldn't and shouldn't say out publicly. I think those things he said, some are true, but often overgeneralized. His opinions and critics based on ethnics and religions are suicidal. I mean these stuffs are too sensitive and will backfire if handled incorrectly. 

I consider myself lucky to be able to stand a little bit outside the box and look at the issue, and all the happenings in Malaysia. So, am I wiser than people living in Malaysia on these political subjects? Certainly not. After all the blah blah above, my point is hoping all of us would be a smarter citizen, get educated and get as well informed as possible. Don't simply overgeneralized things like Namewee, and think before saying whatever you want to say. Don't simply share some viral videos on social network, check whether they are trustworthy, and their sources. I say this because I don't want my Facebook page spammed by politic related stuffs. 

Malaysia is a relatively young nation. There are still alot to learn, both the leaders and the citizens. Politicians should also slowly get rid of the God complex, stop saying how perfectly their policies are going to work if they are elected like what Tim Harford said (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5wCfYujRdE). At the same time, I think the word democracy is so overrated. I bet many Malaysians still think that democracy is the best form of government ever. Many say the word without knowing the real meaning behind it. I believe democracy is not the best form of government yet, it is just the less horrible one for the moment. I don't think I totally understand democracy yet, but its flaws are undeniable. 

Tea - My Muse

Chinese connoisseurs use tea leaves again and again, until only the faintest flavour remains, an echo of taste receding, like something barely recalled from a dream.

- Twisted Tree by Kent Meyers -

I don't call myself a connoisseur of tea, but it has became an instinct for me to boil the tea leaves again and again. As a Chinese descendant, it is as if almost certain that I prefer tea than other beverages. I need tea when I do revision, I need tea to finish up my reports, I need tea to write this blog, etc.. Then again I need tea after revision done, the reports done, and blog done, as if to celebrate those little successes in my life. Basically, tea kinda helps me the way coffee helps many other people. 

In the matter of fact, coffee might as well be the main cause of the Enlightenment. Before the Enlightenment, the Europeans tended to drink gins and wines more than water. After the introduction of coffee into Europe, people then preferred coffee, changing from depressant to stimulant.  

Through my experience, I think everyone must have their own favorite drink. A person who drinks only wine and no water? That for me was outrageous and exaggerated. However I know exactly a person who did that. The funny thing is, his wife can't live a day without Coca Cola and cigarettes. And one of my friends used to be obsessed with Sprites.

If coffee helps the Enlightenment, absinthe certainly is the source of inspiration of many great writers. Among many, there are Emile Zola, Arthur Rimbaud, van Gogh, Picasso and Ernest Hemingway, who were known to be absinthe drinkers. No wonder absinthe is given a beautiful name despite its 80% alcohol content, The Green Fairy. 

For how much I love tea, the irony is, I always dislike the first brew of the tea. The taste is just too strong, and makes me feel like I am chewing a mouthful of fresh grass. It is until the second or third brew that the taste is the best. And I prefer no sugar. For me, sugar will ruin the taste. Even it is just Lipton, I always drink it without sugar.

Normally, when other people are taking coffee or beverages other than tea, I won't take tea neither. Because tea has a delicate flavour, anything other than water would spoil the flavour of the tea. There is no way tea can beat the aroma of coffee. That is why I rarely drink tea outside my house. Rarely, infers exceptions. The only exception I can think of, is when having Bak Kut Teh. There is no better combination than Bak Kut Teh with tea.

Like I said, I am not a connoisseur of tea. It tastes good as long as it is tea, it doesn't matter whether it is just Lipton. But whenever choices are available, I would prefer pu-erh tea. For the sake of easy preparation, I now drink more Ho Yan Hor herbal tea than any other tea.

I don't how to prepare Kungfu tea. I don't know how to differ a good quality tea from a bad one. I don't even know the exact way to properly prepare a tea. So how to learn about tea?  To quote James Norwood Pratt during an interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9zT5VZKHI0) about tea obsession and his book, his answer to the question is,

"The same way to learn about love making. Privately, discreetly. And with devotion and feeling."

For me, I totally agree with a quote from the movie Fearless. Drinking tea is a mood. When you are in good mood, good tea or not, it doesn't matter anymore (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_dp5W3FEPI). So what James Norwood said is quite true. You need to be in the mood of love making in order to have a good sex.


     

Memories

How we remember things is very interesting. "Somehow when we are telling our memories to someone else, we are changing them at the same time", someone told me this, and it is indeed quite true. While telling the stories, sometimes we may create some fake memories, to make the story more interesting to the audiences or to cover the ugly truth. The more we tell the story, eventually we will convince ourselves that the fake one is real, and finally replace the reality.

Not long ago, by chance, I discovered a youtube channel of a blindman via Vsause. He shares his experiences of blindness, and my mind was blown first time watching his videos. A good book is a page-turner, then his channel is a video-turners. And here is one of his videos talking about his dreams.

People say photo is the best way to conserve memories. After watching the video, I guess it works only for sighted-people. Plus people tend to post, to bring out the biggest smile on their faces, or to pretend to be a person they want to be. So it doesn't really represent quite right the moment  when the photo is taken. Often, the most intense, the most important, emotional memories are not photographed. 

In the world nowadays, we are so bounded by visual-based stuffs, that we often forget the other 4 senses. Here is a Vsauce video about how many photos have been taken. 

Then I realized, some of my memories, good or bad, but surely intense, are captured through songs. And hearing these songs can always bring up the corresponding memories. 

..........................................

- Children by Robert Miles

  Me sitting at the back of my dad's car, my dad is driving, my whole family is on the way to the Penang island. When I was small, we rarely go to the island. Our home is on the mainland Penang, and going to island always means one thing, road trip! 

- Hey Ma by Soler

  The TV was playing this song, when I was about to leave home to study in France. What a coincidence I thought. It is particularly meaningful to me, beacuse I am quite closed to my mom. She is like a friend to me.

- Stranger by Soler    

   One of the songs in my phone. This song always takes me back to old days when I was in a TGV from Toulouse to Valence, and the coastline of Montpellier flying pass me. I was reminding myself to appreciate this relationship. 

    It made me sad, and still make me sad. 

- Home by Michael Buble
 

   Two of my friends and I were in the bus from Rome Ciampino airport to Rome Fiumicino airport. There was a 12-hour delay on our flight. In the end we were taken to the Fiumicino for departure because the "problem" in Ciampino airport couldn't be fixed and was closed down. When taking the transiting bus, it was a total chaos, since everybody's flight was delayed. Unluckily, my ex didn't manage to get into the same bus with us.

   I was sitting in the bus with two of them behind me. I was so afraid of get lost of sight of her and worrying like hell, while this song was played in the bus. And I had never felt so worried about one person in my life.

- Dandelion's Promise by Jay Chou

  It was the summer of 2010. My ex was trying to learn the piano version of the song. She said she was going to finish learning it by the time I came back from the Italy backpacking trip. I took the train to Milan to start my trip but I returned to Toulouse straight away, on that same day. I felt lost and realized I really miss her. In the return train, light-hearted was the feeling. I reached at midnight. When I opened the door, she was just there infront of the keyboard, learning the song.    

- Fall for you by Secondhand Grenade

   It reminds of London. During the trip to London, this song was the morning alarm of one of my friends. I remember I was really irritated by the alarm because my friend could continue sleeping with the alarm. I can't and I had to wake up and shut it down myself. At the end of the trip, everyone in the group remembered the song as the theme song of the trip.

- Pourquoi tu pleures? by Madame Kay

   It reminds me of the brief one month period in Intec, Shah Alam.

- Trois ans et demi d'amour by Patrick Bruel

   It reminds me of 3 months stay in Royan.

And last but not least, Coldplay's songs. I can't remember exactly which Coldplay's songs simply because I was not very familiar with Coldplay that time. It was played when me and my friends were in a car, going back to safety after two-day lost in the mountains. We all were exhausted but felt secured and lucky to be able to live through the odds.

...........................................

I notice that smell can do the same too. Too bad I am not good enough in describing smells. But there is an author I know who can, Patrick Süskind, in his novel, "Perfume : The Story of a Murderer". I tried to read the french version once, but didn't finish. For me, he is really good in describing the smells but a bit too elaborated, in a sense that, too hard for me to digest all those details. There is a film adaptation in english also. The ending is simply WTF!!! 

So, may be we should start conserving precious memories through other 4 senses, rather than photos or videos. 

Did Lance live strong???

Recently, I came over this video about links between athletes and psychopaths. 

The first great athlete that came to my mind is Lance Armstrong. According to the video, he certainly fits into the characteristics of a psychopath. And then I discovered the following video about the 2 time Ironman world champion, Chris Mccormack's (nicknamed Macca) view on Lance. 

To Macca, Lance really got the attitude to be The Winner. In fact, I think it was the arrogance that won him those races. His arrogance was so terrifying, thereby scared off many other athletes. I can totally understand that fear, because whenever I swim in the pool with many pros, I would get scared by them, fearing that I am blocking their way. Everytime I come into this situation, I either can't swim properly or swim too fast and my energy drained out so quickly that I can't endure more than the time normally I do. 

Following this logic, I even think the arrogance, the attitude of a winner, is the missing key for Lee Chong Wei to win against Lin Dan during many of their match-ups. However I still prefer Lee Chong Wei for his humble character, ironically.

When Lance's doping was confirmed, many people have been commenting about this incident. I agree with many comments but there is one I am furious about, saying anyone can do what he did if doped. Lance is still great as a fighter against cancer. He is great for his determination to win at all cost, entirely commited himself into his aspiration, which is something can't be done by sitting idly at home. 

After years, I realized that one doesn't have to be good in order to be great. It reminds me of Gatsby in "The Great Gatsby" and a video discussing whether Gatsby is great.

Just like what John Green said in the video, Gatsby is certainly a great man, but a great man must be even more careful of what he worships. If winning was all Lance worshipped, then in my point of view, winning is dangerous to be worshipped. 

All I said doesn't imply that we shouldn't punish Lance for what he did. He cheated, he broke the rules, and therefore should be punished. Other than that, me as a spectator, I ask myself, do I really care whether athletes are doped? Frankly, I don't care. I just want to have a great time watching sports. All I care the most while watching a competition is the performance, the result. This reminds me of the movie "Real Steel". Spectators in the movie want more violence, more speed and more great performance, that human boxing couldn't satisfy them anymore, hence the robot fighting. Just like I want to see athletes to go faster, stronger. The more exaggerated the performance is, the more I am excited. I don't care whether if athletes are honest or not during the mean time. I want something amazing to happen, a miracle almost.  

In the end, for a spectator, is doping really that bad, other than bad for heatlh of the athlete concerned? The rich can exploit the new technologies in construction of suits and equipments while the poor can't. So is the competition always fair for everyone?   

So did Lance live strong? Yes, of course! And he is now stronger, for he has the courage to tell the truth.