Its so nasty and bloody confusing

I just finished watching CNN broadcast on Libya .The war situation there is so fluid and keeps changing every hour .Yesterday the "rebels' are said to gain grounds  seemingly  winning and yet to day the same  News Network says the opposite . While all these are happening ,the western powers are gathering elsewhere to map out plans for the further killings of  the Libyan people .
                      The Western powers are in panic and the Libyans are shown to be jubilant . This is the height of human hypocrisy. For what are all these done  ? To save mankind ?Which mankind ? The rich or the poor.
                     I think there are so many rights and wrongs in the battle for Libya. We can only pray that those on the right side will finally win.I am sure that will not be the rebels .





  

The Hideaway .

I promised in my blog of 25 /3 that i will tell you more of my hideaway .The hideaway seen below is:

located in kampong Perlok Lama Sungkai .Built on the bank of the

 river it is surrounded by tall trees that provide an all day shade .The hideaway has a fairly large family hall , a bedroom and well decorated dining hall .Below are some of the facilities :

 The Dining Hall 

The Family Hall against the backdrop of the evening sun

....another view

 

.

.......the speciality...... ..... An outdoor bath       

the well.....called Telaga Che Siti .

The hideaway is for the family .Friends are welcome as family guests.

It is Taboo to mention race .

One does not always take Ibrahim Ali seriously . Poor guy .The guy sparkles once in a while .I admire him for his political stunts .I suppose he did not get the nickname 'katak ' for nothing .He has been jumping around for so long in the political arena that at every jump one always think of the worse and yet he always landed on a higher ground .
                 Anyway for now he is not the subject matter for this discussion .It is about what he brought up in his Facebook recently to the effect that bringing in 45,000 Indian nationals into Malaysia is not in the best interest of the country .The reasons he gave for not wanting an influx of Indian nationals sound flimsy and petty .Fear of social problems emerging as a result of such influx are imaginary.There are bigger fears that he should talk about .
                  Let us take a closer look at the food outlet industry ,as an example.Indian food outlets or better known as the Mamak shops dominate almost every corner of Malaysian streets,no matter whether they are in big cities or the small towns or even in the smallest of the villages.The official figure of 15,000 given to the number of these outlets is a gross under estimate  if only one care to look more closely at the eating centres throughout the country .
                    The concern does not stop there .One has to look at the dishes,the workers,and the images displayed in their posters to realize that these outlets are anything but Malaysians .In spite of all these characteristics  the outlets are always crowded no matter what time of the day is .
                 In the context of the growth of the Malaysian food industry as a whole ,questions can be asked as to the positions of other ethnic food outlets .Try opening a Malay restaurant next to or nearby to a mamak shop and see what happens .It will be out of business within weeks .There is no way the Malay eating shop can compete in terms of food variety, customer service and price.The people who suffer most will be the the Malay restaurant operators because the alternative to the food served in the Malay restaurants are found in the Mamak shops .
                    I suppose the Chinese restaurants are spared of these threats unless of course the Mamak shops begin to serve roast pork or the sharks fin soup in their menu.
                 I think it is within this context that Ibrahim Ali should focus his attention when addressing the problems of the influx of Indian nationals to this country .   





               

Battle of the hearts and mind

Most of us know what's happening in the Middle East through the coverage of the media.To give critical comments on the ongoing events without adequate knowledge can be a stupid thing to do .Be that as it may, one is tempted to voice out his personal opinions purely because what is happening in the Middle East today is confusing .
                     Take for instance Libya.The Tripoli Government is prepared to spend billions and risks thousand of lives to wage war against the enemy ,whoever that may be.But these battles are for what and for whom ?Is it not for the people's love and patriotism and for Libya ?
                      Love and patriotism cannot be won through the barrel of the gun alone . It will be won through the battle for  the hearts and minds of the people. .
                  A psychological warfare in times like this is paramount.Wage a full scale battle for the people' love and for their patriotic spirit. Forget the  conventional warfare for a while. . An effective Psywar programme can tilt the balance of this war .With the billions that the Libyan Government has and with the media resources under their control it is difficult to imagine that they cannot succeed particularly when the subject in question is a HOMELAND .
                 Haven't we Malaysians have enough experience on this subject ourselves ?

sungkai --- the land of the mystics.

Sungkai has been known to be the land of the mystic.  The villages around  Sungkai town bear names that relate to fables and folklore that are handed down from generations.Take for instance, the village called Kampong Tiang Bertarah or in the English equivalent " The village of the totem Pole" .The village is about 15 minutes drive from Sungkai town and situated on the banks of the Sungkai river .
                    According to the local folklore ,once upon a time Sungkai was populated by a community of  orang bunians or the 'fairies'. The orang bunians lived like ordinary human beings and  had their own cultural ways and own practices of law and order.

                       On one fine day some of the orang bunians saw a newborn baby floating down in a pool of bubbles in the Sungkai river . It was a beautiful baby girl.The villagers quickly took the baby girl to their chieftain , known as Panglima Hitam .Panglima Hitam immediately took the new born baby into his family's care and named her "puteri buih" or " the bubble princess "
                      The spot in the river where  Puteri Buih was found was permanently marked with a huge pole that was neatly and intricately carved almost like a totem pole or " Tiang Bertarah" .Soon the village became known as  Kampung Tiang Bertarah.
                        .In time Puteri Buih grew to be the loveliest in the land .The orang bunian community looked up to her  and saw in her their future their queen. .Her beauty and fame soon spread quickly throughout the land and reached the palace grounds of the sultan of Perak .The Sultan then decided that Puteri buih be part of the Perak Royal Family. A Royal dispatch was sent to Sungkai to meet with Panglima Hitam who was told of the Sultans wishes . The Panglima was unprepared but had no choice but to agree. He reluctantly agreed but on two conditions.Firstly,that no descendant of the Perak Royal Family be allowed to drink any water that is sourced from the Sungkai River .Secondly,on a visit to Sungkai no member of the Perak Royal family should step on Sungkai soil without a piece of of yellow cloth spread over  it.
                        The conditions were agreed by the Sultan and soon after Puteri Buih was married to a member of the Perak Royal family who eventually became the Sultan of Perak .
 .                       It is said that to this day no member of the Perak Royal family would dare drink any water that is sourced from the Sungkai river and no member of the Perak Royal family would come to Sungkai unless given the royal welcome  of the "yellow cloth ."

my hideaway cont .

The tree you see in the photo is actually a sungkai tree. Commonly found in the tropics they are especially abundant in Malaysia and Indonesia.Wood from the sungkai tree is commonly used in the construction of houses etc and also in the making of furniture. .In some parts of Sumatra  sungkai trees are planted on a plantation basis. sungkai wood is strong ,load bearing and stand well against termites and as wood for the furniture the colour and the grains are extremely attractive.
               In the area of herbal medicine the leaves of a Sungkai tree have been used to cure toothache, to calm down fever and flu .
               Incidentally Sungkai is also the name of a town 120km north of Perak.



I            .

my hideaway.

 Today i want to let you into a secret .

See this photo and i wwill tell u later all about it.

hey you

i will excplain when the times come .

let us pray.

this is not the time to rejoice.this is the time to feel that the almighty want all of us to commit ourselves to do our bit for the  betterment of mankind.