If you all really want to understand why Najib and the entire BN gin gang are continuing to racialize the outcome of the GE13. It all boils down to the same psychology why so many PAP stalwarts continued to believe the results of both Aljunied and Punggol where both minor aberrations in the larger social political scheme of things.
This psychology of losers to blame everyone and everything except themselves is endemic in the corridors of power – I’ve seen it so many times and know it so well that it doesn’t surprise (not even a bit) that Najib and his rag tag crew continues to irresponsibly racialize the outcome of the GE – along with echoing the divisive Utusan write up entitled, “Apa Lagi Cina Mahu?” (What more do the Chinese want?). While he’s behaving like a cry baby somewhere in all this – he still manages to throw out an intellectual hand grenade by promoting some form of Ophray Winfrey national reconciliation program – strange way to start, if you ask me!
The naked truth that Najib and his bunker mentality riven UMNO carpetbaggers don’t seem to iwant to come to terms with is the simple yet obvious notion – the rakyat (this includes a significant quarter of Malays) have unanimously given Najib, UMNO and BN the thumbs down. To put it another way, even the Malays themselves have lost faith in the idea of BN as the reliable purveyor of the good life – as the UMNO patronage system of running the country has benefited only a select privilege few while marginalizing the bulk of the Malays.
Consider the brutal facts – 50 out of the 89 Pakatan MPs (or 56%) are non-Chinese (39 Malay, 10 Indian, 1 Kadazan). So where is the racial raw material to even fashion such an Ikan Merah (red herring) dish as a ‘Chinese tsunami’ as Najib exclaimed! Pukimak Lu! Want more proof. Consider this – in the constituency of Bukit Katil, Malay voters, make up a whopping 53%, Indian voters, make up 6%. The rest Chinese. Yet Shamsul Iskandar, from PKR managed a landslide win – so where is this whole idea of a Chinese tsunami? As I am sure many of the voters that gave the BN man a hammering must have included a sizable portion of Malay and Indian voters as well.
Is Najib & Co trying to say, all those who voted against the BN are Chinese? Including almost 50% of the voters in the 95% Malay state of Terengganu???
What we are able to make out thus far is Najib & Co do not seem very keen to want to register the root cause for their dismal performance (or maybe they r just pretending not to acknowledge the obvious) that most Malays no longer see BN and UMNO as the solution to the woes of the country – UMNOputras are increasingly seen by modern urban Malays as the problem that continues to militate against Malaysia’s success.
Let me give you all. A stark illustration to show much ground BN has lost as the standard bearer of Malays. Take the city state of Selangor for example that fell to PKR – Malay voters form the bulk (50%) Chinese (34%), Indians (15%) and others (2%). Is Najib trying to insult the intelligence of everyone in and outside Malaysia those statistics can somehow be whipped up and served as even a wholly Chinese revenge vote! When the Chinese only make up a third of the constituency in Selangor!
Pakai otak lah! Use your mentality.
And this really only leaves us all one question – why can’t Najib and his motley crew see the obvious? Maybe the answer lies somewhere in that other disturbing truism – that power and politics has very little to do with the truth and everything to do with the art of managing perceptions.
Speaking about managing perceptions – Debbie is back in my plantation now. No it was not dramatic. Not at all. When she saw me, she just got up and followed.
She’s sleeping soundly now.
How’s that possible? You ask. Let me explain, it’s very simple real – how a man can even lose his wife – as when a man doesn’t know how to jaga (take care) a thing or person – it doesn’t even matter what it is, could be a tractor, chicken, dog, child, woman, constituency, country or even someone whose under your charge – once you neglect it, something will begin to die – that thing could be trust, belief, love or even a deeply edifying feeling that one can only feel when that person who you believe in with all your heart is around you.
And that’s really how I see it.
Everything including a woman, country or even a tank of fish can only be used and abused, let down and taken for granted X number of times – beyond that imaginary X figure – it’s very natural for something to just go ‘crack!’ Something has to give. I can almost guarantee it 100%.
As no man can just take, take and take all the time without ever once bothering with the whole idea of giving back – at some point, if the other side wants to take some more, they’re going get pushed back – that’s how it is with this half full BN bullshit win! The simple facts is the Malays just took down their pants in front of Najib, UMNO and BN and gave them all the full Monty (side A and B lah) – they’ve have all had enough of BN! In the same way that Debbie probably has had enough of her good for nothing husband who keeps forcing her to take pills that zonk her out while he bleeds her dry to support his fuck fest of a good for nothing half man life.
Everyone has a limit. You have one. So do I. If you feel that you don’t that just means you’re incredibly lucky in life. As no one has forced you into that darkest of places – I don’t think Debbie nor the vast majority of Malaysians who voted recently are any different either.
Yes, it’s good that she’s sleeping now. It’s very easy to sleep all day long in the plantation – it’s cool and the wind that blows this time of the year from the mountains is fresh and scented with Magnolia. Sleep.
I need to cook for Debbie now.
Darkness 2013
———————————————-
NOURISHING BIRD NEST SOUP FOR SLEEPING WOMAN
Soaking the Bird Nest
1.Take the number of pieces of Bird Nest needed and place the Bird Nest in a bowl of water.
2. Ensure that the bowl is big enough for the Bird Nest to expand about 7 times bigger,
3. Use water that has been freshly boiled and cooled down.
(This is to get rid of any chlorine or germs that may have been present in the water.)
3. Leave the Bird Nest to soak in the water for 2~4 hours.
Cooking time!
1. Prepare a Double-Boiler
2. Fill the external pot with water that reaches to less than half the height of the internal pot
3. After the Bird Nest has been soaked, drain away the water and place the Bird Nest in the internal pot
4. Add 1~2 bowls of 250 ml water to the internal pot.
5. 1 bowl of water will make 1 bowl of thick bird nest soup assuming only 1 piece of bird nest is used.
(2 pieces will make 2 bowls of bird nest soup)
6. Add other accompanying ingredients (see below) and cover the internal pot and the external pot.
7. Put a strong fire under the pots.
8. Once the water is boiling in the external pot, switch to a low flame
9. Continue cooking the bird nest for 2~3 hours.
10. Remove any pandan leaves (if applicable) and pour the Bird Nest soup into a bowl serve hot or cold.
Raw Bird Nest is mainly made up of nutritious protein and therefore contains a certain ‘egg-like’ smell.
Purists have been known to consume Bird Nest without any other ingredients for maximum absorption and quality.
Poof! Debbie is gone!
May 8, 2013
After finishing my meetings when I returned to the four seasons. I was told by the hotel conceirge Debbie got into a car with a couple of goons - that is all I have to work with. It’s probably the handiwork of her husband. I understand. I understand completely…Though, I would have much prefer it, if he had just come up and ask me for her hand like a gentlemen – I would have obliged – he’s after all the husband and she’s the wife - that at least is how a real man would behave.
But instead he behave like a cheap pirate…..yes, the handiwork of a half man….a man child who has absolutely no idea how to manage conflict effectively – in which case, I will have to treat him like a two bit slipper thief.
I don’t want to do anything rash just yet – I just want to calm down and plan my next move cooly. Besides these are amatuers. They’re no match for me – I am a hunter, the professional variety - besides I knew this would happen, so earlier I hid a GPS tracker in Debbie’s hand bag – there is no need to jump up and down. Everything is covered. I have all the time in the world to plan my next move.
Now I just need to gate crash into a commercial kitchen and cook myself some real food to calm down – when I am upset, I need to eat at least 5 to 6 bowls of hot rice really fast to calm myself down - after this. I am going to hop over to Bukit Bintang – I have a store room secreted in the basement of one of those buildings just beneath a gaming outlet - it’s like batman’s cave complete with motorcycles, muscle cars, gliders, rubber boats, technical climbing kit, cat burglar grappeling hook and everything that I need to get the job done.
Everything is under control. Now I just want to eat my nourishing food as calmly as I can…that’s really all I want to do – to take it one step at a time.
My life is like a bloody B grade movie!
Besides what kinda man kidnaps his own wife! He should at least have the decency to beat the shit out of me….half man lah!
Darkness 2013
—————————————————————————————————————–
ANGRY MAN EAT DUCK RECIPE
- One 4 1/2 lb (2 kg) oven-ready duckling
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 4 tablespoons maltose or honey
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring (optional0
- about 1/2 pint (280 ml) warm water
- For the Stuffing:
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped spring onion
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger root
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
- 1 tablespoon yellow bean sauce
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons five-spice powder
Preparation:
To serve: let the duck cool down a little, then remove the string and pour out the liquid stuffing to be used as gravy. Chop the duck into bite-sized pieces, then serve hot or cold with the gravy poured over it.
The best possible outcome is never just a simple case of who won or lost. The art of politics is never just a binary black and white affair. Not to me at least….
While no one disputes BN has won – its a bull shit win – the half full variety depending how you want to quibble and split hairs – what’s pertinent here is BN has just managed to hold on to the reins of power by the skin of their teeth. States like Perak were really touch and go. Neither did the opposition fair badly either given their paltry resources and lack of opportunity to broadcast in the BN propaganda media – despite all this, they still managed to garner more voters this time – vital votes to consolidate their hold on ground previously won to secure this time a strategic 2/3 majority that will give them real teeth to get down to business . They have achieved this in Penang and Selangor. The opposition has also manage to open up new fronts in BN strongholds such as Johor once considered the rock of Gilbratar by UMNO stalwarts. On other fronts such as East Malaysia in the polite language of the diplomat – they still have a long way to go.
The 13th Malaysian GE to those who may be politically savvy will also be known in time to come as the turning point that will change forever the way politics is conducted in Malaysia – the shift in the political fortune of PAS, MCA, GERAKAN and even UMNO has never been starker – GERAKAN is broken. Kaput! PAS is getting their carpets rolled back in virtually every state, they even lost Kedah. So much for Hudud. In Matang Perak, they didn’t even come close – MCA is a waning star, like Lola in the Copacabana…with feathers in her hair and looking somewhat old. From this point onwards MCA’s continued relevance will be questioned for the very first time in history – who is to fix humpty dumpy? How BN plug the MCA hole to remain a multi racial party? Will new actors emerge? If so what form will they assume?
Even UMNO will have to go through a political reformation as at some point the serious men in their ranks – if there are still any left. Will have to ask themselves at some point, if we keep matching what the opposition promises pound for pound, we are going to go down the road of Greece and end up fashioning an economic basket case – these are hard and jugular issues that need to be worked out – they need to be sorted out patiently and not just rushed through like the White Paper capper – the Malaysian political scenery to me is already changing way too fast. As how best to deal with the corrosive after effects of money politics and chronic corruption in the ranks of party apparachiks will remain a great challenge.
Once the genie is out, there is no putting it back in the bottle – how will this hubris be resolved within UMNO? Will Najib have to go? And when that happens who will be the new puppet masters?
So many questions….no answers…..that’s precisely why this half cup victory by BN is just the right way to go for the moment – it’s proceeding on a slow controlled pace like one of those really impossibly huge heavy lift cargo planes gliding down imperially for the touch down – it’s right as it’s a slow and steady pace, the manageable sort that doesn’t cause people sleeplessness nights and high blood pressure – certainly not the rocket ship variety like putting the whole population on steroids just to grow the economy at every turn and opportunity.
After all what’s the point of even CHANGING anything if all it manages to produces is grief for all when you square it off with what you have just thrown out – truth is any form of political transitioning in Malaysia will always run the risk of heightening communal and racial tension – my point is the recent results of the GE point towards an incremental sort of change, the type where it will not be too hard for both the custodians of power and rakyat to adjust too – that’s important – as change can very often bring about dramatic and precipitous change – it’s best to be slow…there is no rush. Not for me, I know how to straighten bengkok branches with wires without snapping them off – you do it bit by bit – incrementally like how your nails and hair grows…slowly.
Water will always find its level – I much prefer a gradual process of political change in scenery like how one season bows out imperceptibly slowly to another and heralds the arrival of a new dawn. The sort of pace for change that even respects the space, privacy and way of life of people.
It’s an agricultural way of seeing politics – a pace of change where the political divisions in my community can never come to a point where their divisiveness will ever threaten what continues to unite us all together – this idea of keeping the community whole by changing small is the best that I could have hoped for. Any other outcome will simply have been too fast to handle….the stuff of sleepless nights and high blood pressure.
Or maybe I am just getting older.
Darkness 2013
———————————–
“I am not a great fan of faster, fasterer and fasterest. I reckon, I am by very nature a very slow sort of fellow like a turtle. I guess that’s why I need to go into business for myself – as I really can’t see anyone wanting to hire me.
If I was born a Swiss, I’ll probably be just the sort of tradesman who makes high priced cuckoo clocks – no two pieces will ever be the same. I’ll take my time about it. Proceeding at a pace where I can just get everything to fit tight and snugly. If I was a Belgian, I,ll probably be a gunsmith or someone who works regularly with his hands fashioning glass or something really decorative and expensive. That is what Dotton sees me, not as someone who stands on some assembly line – as I really don’t have a very orthodox attitude towards time. You see I don’t ever see the wisdom of rushing a thing through – I don’t like loud people or really motivated folk who like to jump on board the you go and I go bandwagon – if I see people running around at full speed, I rarely follow them and instead just watch by curiously. Often a headache follows. As there is always this delay in my character. This calmness that seems to come deep from the whole philosophy of how I like to approach work slowly, meticulously and at my own pace – and that’s why from time to time, it was not unusual for me to stop dead in a sea of men and just look up at the birds when I was in Singapore.
I guess this is somewhat strange to most people – as it’s a strange world when a man just learns to step out from the frenetic pace of the world like a man who walks right out of his own skin – into a very private and contemplative space. Most of the time when I do this, many people consider me strange and slightly weird. They give me funny looks and I ignore them as I know, they don’t understand and I am not interested to explain – but I know, I am not crazy – if I was stark raving mad, I don’t think it’s possible for me to run a prosperous business.
My point is everyone should spent some time to discover their natural rhythm of doing stuff – I remember there was this time when I was working and studying to pay my tuition fees – I had a hard time as I kept getting sacked. One day I went for an interview for a position as an apprentice undertaker – I became the employer of the year. No customer complaints after that. Not that the dead can say anything. But you get my drift – each of us need to find our niche. Our space that we can call our own and not allow politicians to set the drum roll.
That to me is one of the reasons why I went into business for myself – I don’t see myself working against the clock, that to me is by default a very low quality of life – as these days when I just decide to sit down on my rattan chair and watch the birds fly by. No one ever says that the boss is weird – they just say he’s a man who likes to take his time to plan his next move.
I like to be slow. I even like to cook, hunt and approach the whole business of work slowly. If I need to do it the long way – I just do it that way. But the important thing is I get the desired results and usually I get it so right the first time, there is no need for a second shot.
It’s an attitude that I believe very few people can appreciate these days. As when you look closely at how people go about their work these days and even ordinary produce in the store – you will soon notice, no one these days spends much time thinking about the things they produce these days – you know there was this time when I worked in the CBD. Every morning at about half eight, the swiflets will circle the Caltex building – every morning, I would just stand there motionless till a group of nasty aunties called me psycho boy in the middle crowd and look right up while people are walking all around me purposefully – for many years when I did this. I thought, I was all alone – but one day when I stood there and just looked around. I noticed someone else doing the same – her name was Dotty.
Maybe what I am trying to say is sometimes when the world wants you to go this way – you as a man simply need to have the wisdom and courage to go the other way. Your way. And that is what I have always done in life – I think, I have a right to live my life the way that’s comfortable to me – I don’t want to work after 50. I want to plant tomatoes and be kind to my knee caps.
The way I see it – if a man doesn’t learn to set his own time on how to live his life – then I don’t think he can ever come into his own personhood – he will always beholden to others – when others say he should be like a hamsters, he will just run and run in his wheel. As this man has really not learnt the art of how to still his mind or for that matter find his natural rhythm in life – and if he doesn’t learn this, he would not have learnt how to see his work as a thinking and contemplative thing. All he would really be doing is fighting one fire after another – and that will be his life – a life of perpetual rush where he’s invested so much in the doing that he’s forgotten to just pause and take in the view.
If I did that. I don’t think I would ever have had the privilege to met Dotty. Or for that matter have even one tenth of the confidence to do the things that no one will ever consider doing and succeeding in it – no in life, I much prefer to go slow….the slower the better…”
The best possible outcome is never always a simple case of win or lose. The art of politics is never a black and white affair. While no one disputes BN has won. They have only managed to do so by the skin of their teeth. States like Perak were really the stuff of one hair’s breadth. Neither did the opposition fair badly either given their paltry resources and lack of broadcast time in the propaganda media – despite all this, they have managed to garner more voters this time – votes to consolidate their hold on ground previously won to secure them this time a 2/3 majority that will give them teeth this time. They have achieved this in Penang and Selangor. The opposition has also opened up new fronts in BN strongholds such as Johor once considered the rock of Gilbratar by UMNO stalwarts. On other fronts such as East Malaysia in the polite language of the diplomat – they have a long way to go.
The 13th Malaysian GE to those who may be politically savvy will also be known in time to come as the turning point that will change forever the way politics is conducted in Malaysia – the shift in the political fortune of PAS, MCA, GERAKAN and even UMNO has never been starkest – GERAKAN is broken. Kaput! PAS is getting their carpets rolled back in virtually every state, they even lost Kedah. So much for Hudud. In Matang Perak, they didn’t even come close – MCA is a waning star, like Lola in the Copacabana…with feathers in her hair and looking somewhat old. From this point onwards MCA’s continued relevance will be questioned for the very first time in history – who is to fix humpty dumpy? How BN plug the MCA hole to remain a multi racial party? Will new actors emerge? If so what form will they assume?
Even UMNO will have to go through a political reformation as at some point the serious men in their ranks – if there are any? Will have to ask themselves, if we keep matching what the opposition promises pound for pound we are going to go down the road of Greece and end up fashioning an economic basket case – it’s catch 22. As money politics is truly irreversible. Once the genie is out, there is no putting it back in the bottle – how will this hubris be resolved within UMNO? Will Najib have to go? And when that happens who will be the new puppet masters?
So many questions….no answers…..that’s precisely why this half cup victory by BN is just the right way to go for the moment – it’s proceeding on a slow controlled pace like one of those really huge heavy lift gliding down imperially for the touch down – it’s right as it’s slow and steady change, not the rocket ship variety like putting the whole population on steroids to grow the economy at every turn and opportunity.
After all what’s the point of even CHANGING anything if all it manages to produce is grief for all when you square it off with what you have just thrown out – truth is political transitioning will heighten communal fears and anxieties. That’s only to be expected with all power shifts – it’s best to be slow…there is no rush. Not for me, I know how to straighten bengkok branches with wires without snapping them off – you do it bit by bit – incrementally like how your nails and hair grows…slowly.
What’s the rush? Water will always find its level – I much prefer a gradual process of political change in scenery like how one season bows out imperceptibly slowly to another and heralds the arrival of a new dawn.
It’s an agricultural way of seeing politics – a pace of change where the political divisions in my community can never come to a point where their divisiveness will ever threaten what continues to unite us all together – this idea of keeping the community whole by changing small is the best that I could have hoped for. Any other outcome will simply have been too fast to handle….the stuff of sleepless nights and high blood pressure.
Or maybe I am just getting older.
Darkness 2013
Post 13th Malaysian GE: Why is everyone wearing black, except me and the homeless Singaporean heiress.
May 6, 2013
It’s a long story. To cut to the chase, the Singaporean heiress has followed me to Kuala Lumpur for an urgent business trip. Now before all of you go on to form your own conclusions along with asking yourself – Darkness why do you always seem to complicate your already complicated life?
Let me just say, I only found out about Debbie’s torrid relationship with her evil husband this morning when I received a rather rude call from someone who claimed to be her husband – who started the conversation with the words, “I’ve heard about you….I know your type…..” Now let me just inform you all, this is no way to treat someone who has taken impeccable care of someone elses wife – the last time a deacon used that tone on me, I kicked him down a flight of stairs. When he told his pastor about it and he in turn used the same tone on me again – again I kicked both of them down the stairs. Well apparently, Debbie has decided to leave her abusive husband for good – it’s really quite a complicated story. Besides I am not in a rush to pry. And if you’re asking me why my life is always like this – please don’t jump to any conclusions just yet.
All I know is threats were made by Debbie’s husband – and I never take threats lightly, so I suggested to Debbie she should follow me for a day or two to Kuala Lumpur. That way I can keep an eye on her. Meanwhile I am networking with my friends back in Singapore to find out more about the husband. I want to know who exactly I am dealing with before I make a move – that’s how it is when a threat is made – to me, it doesn’t pay to be sloppy about it. Besides I have a gut feel this will get ugly and if it snowballs I want to know precisely how to take him out cleanly.
Meanwhile we are both in a posh Sichuan restaurant in Bukit Bintang – its my buddys chill joint and I am just whipping up some arrow root soup for the Singaporean heiress before I start a marathon of meetings in the Planters – she looks much better today – after my meetings I have promised to take her for a concertati, if she behaves herself a midnight cruise in a yacht.
Meanwhile both of us are just watching the world go by – we still cant figure out why everyone seems to be dressed in black though – somewhere amid the hustle and bustle, I couldn’t help but wonder to myself why it always ends up this way with me. I know it’s mucho weird for most people. But to me, this is really how life is….it’s always like this.
It was like this with Dotty as well – at first they all find me slightly weird, but after a while that weirdness grows on them and the next thing you know it, they’re just part of my life forever.
It’s been like that since I was boy.
Darkness 2013
————————-
NOT SO ANGRY ANY LONGER SINGAPOREAN HEIRESS NOURISHING SOUP
450 grams of Arrowroot, scrubbed cleaned and sliced.
250 grams of Lotus Root, cleaned, peeled and sliced. (Optional)
300 grams of Pork Ribs, scalded (I want the soup more meaty taste this time)
5 to 6 red dates.
4 to 5 dried scallops
1/2 of a foot long dried octopus. Snipped into small pieces.
3000ml water
sea salt to taste
You could peel the skin of the arrowroot if you like. But my mother told me that brewing arrowroot with the skin on gives more nutrition. So, I listen to my mother. But, it’s up to you.
This soup is high in protein and fiber. It is a very neutral soup and requires little effort to make it. I could proudly promise you that this soup is really sweet and tasty. Just like usual way of cooking a good old pot of soup, adding in seafood ingredients such as dried scallops and dried octopus is unavoidable. This makes the soup so refreshing sweet with the natural sweetness from dried seafood. You can omit if you don’t like seafood, just add in more pork ribs or pork bones. But I personally don’t advise that.
Method
1. Rinse pork ribs, scald in boiling water for awhile, remove and rinse. (Refer to this if you are unsure on how to prepare the ribs)
2. Wash scallops, red dates, dried octopus. Prepare lotus root & arrowroot accordingly.
4. In a soup pot, put everything in (except salt). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer the soup over low heat for 2 hours. And if you have more time, make it 3 hours.
5. Did I ever mentioned to you before that your soup will have the Umph! after 3 hours? Remember to sprinkle some salt to taste before serve.
Enjoy!
No matter who wins or loses the country will lose. Of that I am sure. As I see so many things that I much prefer not to see. I know 8 out of 10 youths who constitute nearly three million of new voters will cast their votes for all the wrong reasons. As there can be no freedom in ignorance.
All I see is money being thrown by BN. I ask myself how did it come to this. I see promises made by both sides that I know only too well can never be economically sustained if the imperative is to grow the wealth of a nation sensibly. Who will patch up the holes on a free interstate highway. I see a new age of corruption that has finally come full circle – a new age where even the rubber tapper, harvester, civil servant, village headman doesn’t even bother to ask any more, “how can we make our community a better place for our children – the corrosive culture of habuan (money politics) has even scissored through whole kampung communities – these days, it just a matter of getting down to the brass tacks of what do I get in MY pocket – $500 sounds right for your vote? How about if I sweeten it with $1,200 when you all get me past the finishing line?
What kind of pariah dog politics is this? All I see is desperation and crazed people who are so fixated on winning – they’re prepared to do absolutely anything – promise even the sky and the moon – never mind, if they cannot possibly deliver – the mantra amongst these politicians are all the same.
Get us in first! When we get in, we will take it from there – it’s as if they’re all so caught up in a frantic race like Phileas Fog’s round the world in eighty days – where in the final leg of the great return, the main protagonist stripped all the timber from the boat and fed it to the furnace to reach the finishing line……that’s how Malaysia in my mind’s eye will come out from all this…..a sad skeleton of a once proud steamer with plenty of smiling passengers and probably one very worried man.
I have no doubt, many of the serious men are all shaking their heads as they watch the elections unfold.
These were just some of my thoughts when I sat down with Miss spoilt rotten Singaporean heiress in the verandah before sunset. We did not speak. In this hour of hesitation, the sky looks picture postcard sweet – reds and oranges just pop right out suffusing the clouds with trails of ochre and saffron hues – it’s a sin to spoil it all with words.
Deb doesn’t know why I look the way I do skywards every evening – but I know it intrigues her enough to want to know more about this mysterious space that she has suddenly stumbled on. When a woman lingers around and a man and watches quietly – she’s slowly drawn in – into a silent world, where the mind stills completely, emptying the days sorrows and worries in the way raging river finally finds the sea – suddenly slowing down to a indolent swirl of oblivion.
A gentle world where there is no need to raise her voice and to throw her tantrums to get her way – a world where even words lose their meaning and can at best be gibberish and at worst shatter the moment into a million pieces – a world of the God of the small where Deb darts at me and skywards as she doesn’t quite know what’s so captivating about this moment – she can’t quite put her finger on it. I can tell, her features were strained when she first hesitated and looked at me quizzically the first night she spent here – it’s our third time and I think Deb’s starting to get the hang of it.
I can tell as she no longer bobs her head up and down excitedly any longer. Instead she rolls her eyes and tracks the flight of the birds like a hunter – and we just look on – to look on the world with no expectations except maybe to marinade oneself in the idea that this moment has to rank as special as I never thought watching grass grow could be so much fun!
That’s what I saw in Debbie’s face that evening as the light slowly emptied itself into the black pit of darkness. For a moment in the twilight she looked so much like Dotty – she even seemed like the sort of woman I cared enough to cook for…not the angry woman any more.
Darkness 2013
———————————————————–
ANGRY SINGAPORE HEIRESS STEAMED ARROW ROOT FISH
INGREDIENTS:
250 grammes white pomfret
1 tablespoon soya sauce.
2 tablespoon Hennessy brandy or better Dom Benedictine
1 arrow root diced into medallions / can be substituted for young pear
3 table spoon of honey
Sliced Ginger thinly – 1 thumb (but don’t over do it!)
1 teaspoon of tamarind in lemon juice
1 handful of curry leaf and one table spoon of pur er
1 tablespoon sugar.
2 table sesame oil
4 cloves garlic
Directions-
Wash and dab dry pomfret. Cut slits across body of fish. Mix sugar, sesame oil, tamarind and lemon into bowl and rub all over fish. Wrap with cling film and allow to marinade for one hour.
Arrange arrow root along the brim of plate to be steamed – set fish.
Pour sesame oil. Brandy. Steam for 15 minutes high.
Put curry leaf into earthen ware pot and slow boil for one hour under small flame – allow liquid to reduce to half a glass, a table spoon of honey, heated cow’s milk. Mix – serve as accompaniment with pur er.
Deep fry garlic garnish fish with spring onions.
Serve with white rice.
PHILOSOPHY
When a woman is angry. Heaty food should best be avoided. Arrow root and young pears are super cooling – the curry leaf milkshake served at room temp will calm her excitable state. Ice should be avoided as that will only worsen irrational siaow Charbor syndrome. Salt should also be avoided. Hence tamarind and lemon juice is used with only small portions of salt – please note the highest professional grade soya sauce should only be used. Choose a Jap brand. They are good on the quality control.
- beverage will stimulate calmness and diet – only one bowl of rice should be served and no more. As women who are angry usually like to eat a lot. Over eating should be avoided.
Desert should comprise of chilled fruits – avoid fibrous fruits and stick to simple papayas as this will help bowel movement – women are very sensitive to mood swings and when they work themselves up, they all invariably suffer from chronic constipation.
This diet will restore chi – balance ying and yang, stimulate her lymphatic system and reduce general heatiness and promote restful sleep. When the angry woman wakes up tomorrow room temperature coconut juice should be served with a fresh fruit and cereal breakfast. Coffe, tea and alcohol should be avoided. The man would do well to avoid heavy topics and to simply allow his calmness to pour like a heavy liquid into this woman – when she is cool and calm only then and only then, is it possible to reason with a woman – do not engage a woman who is angry. Just pretend as if she is a child throwing a temper and avoid eye contact. There must be a certain sternness and softness about the man to pull this off – do not be too hard or you will push her over the edge – do not be too soft either or she will think you are a walk over – the tension must just be right….otherwise like my magic violin, it will simply not play at all.”
One aspect of kampung living is everyday holds out the promise of the unexpected. Today the main road to the village was cordoned off by the local ghost police militia.
Apparently, the local MCA rep is convinced that a malevolent spirit (presumably sent by the opposition camp) have been sent from the underworld to fix his precious voice box – the firebrand orator who once boasted that he can set even a comatose crowd into a frenzy can now hardly even speak – which more or less puts him out of action for good. Though in my personal opinion, he already knows, he’s licked.
Soon the local sia Khong who also doubles as a the village postman and the amulet protection salesman showed up wearing his funny hat and off they went banging their gongs and drums and the last I heard they managed to successfully shoo away the wayward spirit away.
Judging from the brisk sales of protection amulets thereafter amongst the superstitious villagers – I think everyone is just buying some insurance as no one knows where this spirit has scooted off too – it seems everyone and his dog these days is cashing in on the general elections.
On a happier note – the very spoilt and often bad tempered Singaporean heiress who threatened to sue the shit out of me the other day has recently experienced a rare moment of epiphany – after spending two delightful days in my plantation while I have arranged her car to be fixed (axle is damaged, as it ran into a ditch) – she told me this morning over breakfast (she wakes up at 11.00 and that I gathered from her driver cum bodyguard is early – now you all know why I cannot take women seriously, even when they are serious) in the verandah that these few days here has “compelled her to reevaluate the whole idea of life.” she shared all this with me like a small standard one boy along with the idea, that she has decided to stay longer. She even wants me to arrange a field trip judging from her new Out of Africa wardrobe, complete with dainty tie, wide brim hat, polished boots and flared slacks- as she has made enquiries and has come to understand that I am a gentlemen and not the ruffian she had first thought me to be.
To be honest, I much prefer the ruffian moniker
As in rich and spoilt girl parlance that is another way of saying, if you don’t continue to give me what I want and allow me to treat all of you like my slaves, then I will phone up daddy and sue the shit out of you lah! So to me, I am not out of the woods just yet….
Though I would much prefer my house and room back.
Now I have to take off to settle another dispute between the iron mullah and the BN boys who have been waging a relentless banner war in my little hamlet- apparently, an arms race of sorts have begun in earnest – where giant sized flags now feature along side cannons, helicopters, fighter planes and even dancing elephants all fashioned from partisan banners.
There is however one sliver lining to all this – in two days times, all this would come to past.
Hopefully….I just want my life back!
Darkness 2013
Community Power
May 3, 2013
In my world view every leader needs to be comfortable with the whole idea of harnessing community power – as it is a strategic precondition to success. To put it another way, the skeleton keys that will open many doors of opportunity. As no matter how capable a leader is, without the solid support of the community 100% behind him – he will never have the confidence to do what needs to be done – at worst he can even crash and burn without the community behind him.
In my view a sense of CONSISTENCY is key. Cultivate an ultra CALM state – what I do is imagine myself as some giant Oprah Winfrey swimming pool simply filling up man people recount to me their fears and anxieties. But always keep a distance.
Cultivate a COMMANDING personality (I find watching grainy Samurai movies by Tashiro Mifune helps me a lot. Another sure way is behave like an uncle. Pretty hard to do if you only have 5% body fat and can still run 5K in less than 30 min.
If all fails just grow a moustache, slick your hair back like a Shanghainese. You get my point, the key to win over the confidence of others. Be it touching base with petty traders to find out what’s really bothering them (tip: always ask about their families first. Try to keep a notebook in your car and jot down the names and ages of their kids. Take an interest in their school work. Then and only then, do you proceed to business).
Visiting muslim harvesters during the festive seasons to see how their families are getting along. (tip: Do not talk to the woman first. I realize in Western custom that is the polite way. But in a moslem household the women are invisible unless they are told by the head of the family to present themselves to you formally – .)
To even opening temples…
CONSISTENCY applies as well when dealing with rich siaow charbor landowners who regularly throw tantrums. All these should be managed deftly with a cool and even hand.
Research and study this well.
Darkness 2013
I can’t write now. As I have to pretend to be nice to the siaow charbor who wants to sue me. Fortunately, she is warming up to me very nicely. When I get back, I will pen something – meanwhile do try to figure out why this photo speaks tomes for so many of us. Thanks for nothing Mini Lee. That’s just another way of saying your dream team fucked it all up!
—————————————————————-
It’s not everyday that I come across a picture like this – to me and many who I know who turn the wheel of life abroad, while our families remain in the home front, it’s poignant – very powerful. As it manages to hit all the right buttons to resonate just the right sentiments about the sign of our times.
If I had to only pick one picture to compress all the shattered dreams and dashed hopes of a post ramp up the population to grow the economy class in Singapore – it would probably have to be this.
I like the sense of isolation of this piece – there’s even a finality to it – at first its like a caricature of what happens to you if you don’t lay off the crackers while watching telly – or just another depiction of the state owned interpretation of loser under their mantra of meritocracy (which if you notice seems to exclude everyone else)- but when you look longer, then you begin to make out the nuances, the age of the degree – the choice of simple words the man uses, the almost frill free business like fashion in which the words are used and arranged, then the punchline….can only drive taxi…
There is no else around him. No one who seems to quite fit into his mould – there’s an almost detached look about him. As if he’s mustering all his strength just to do this – he probably took a day off. Or maybe he’s just in between shifts. He didn’t go there that day to commune with anyone – he was just there to tell it…like one of those last Mohicans…the story of how the middle class, his class got wiped out. Nuked! Vaporized!
Sure they’re trying to fix what went terribly wrong now by putting the brakes on immigration – but this man probably knows it’s too little too late – now he’s just here to tell it, the way he sees it.
To me there is something very primal about this picture that can even provoke a man to cry – it is a sort of pathos that only a desolate and lone figure can exude – there’s a lingering air of sadness about him, even the slight whiff of tragedy – the sense of terminal isolation brought forth by how he stands awkwardly all alone seems to heighten the sense of hopelessness.
I don’t know what a man who goes through the trouble of taking his framed degree and a hand written message to Hong Lim park hopes to achieve – the novelist in me can’t help but see a man who has reached a realization. Not just any realization. But one that is final. One that he knows it to be true – he carries this idea in his head. He nurses this amber like a man who from time to time blows into a flickering flame to keep it alive – it has to be hard for this man. To keep something alive. In an age where living everyday is fast resembling a diminishing circle. Impossibly hard even when you consider how the MSM and now breakfast network with the collaboration of Singaporedaily (the premier state run Potemkin site) has now been recruited to engineer consent online.
Yes this man looks at his degree. For a moment he laughs to himself as if seized by a rare moment of epiphany – it’s the bitter sweet realization that the last time he looked at it, he had just graduated and he had once been full of hope – he even thought, his life was made, providing he didn’t do anything silly like murder his boss.
And now it’s all spoilt. A tinge of anger sweeps through him – he tells himself, I am not to blame – who after all would have expected those cheap pirates to surreptitiously turn on those taps full like a thief stealing illicit petrol – he was blind sided. Found himself out in the cold. Probably went through round after round of interviews in his polyester tie – soon he found himself turning the wheel of life in a taxi – I bet you he even dreamt about being stuck in traffic jams.
He puts his degree into a NTUC plastic bag – makes his way quietly to the park. He’s not going there for publicity – he’s the antithesis of the publicity whore that’s why this picture is so powerful to me.
As he approaches the park, he considers a cup of coffee. But he settles instead for Jia Jia liang teh. He tells himself, coffee might give him the shakes when he has to hold up his message – as this man continues to circle the park gingerly as it begins to fill up – he wonders to himself whether it’s safe – he walks around the park a few times. He’s pensive and sweats more than usual. He’s read recently about an academic whose being denied a tenure, a man who had his entire private life splayed out a la pasar malam style in Bertha Hensons online kopitiam (that incidentally still lacks a simple farmers kaya bread and three minute half boiled serving with kopi kauh) – the man walks into the park.
He sees other people standing aimlessly – some of them came in pairs, others in groups and even families with kids in tow. But this man came alone – in fact, he didn’t tell anyone at all – he feels that he has lost his self esteem as a man through these years in the wilderness of taxi la-la land – it’s a blur to him how the center in his life just caved right in. First his job. Then his family and thereafter it just emptied like a water in the sink when the plug is pulled – and all there’s left now is this sorry heap who is standing under the hot sun in the park holding to his NTUC plastic bag.
The man wonders to himself whether there are any plain clothes mata-mata around – he’s no slacker. He once came across a farmer who wrote a best seller called how to succeed like a Mossad agent – sold out! But he had managed to get a second hand copy in eBay.
He knew. The man knew what he was about to do – the idea, that he would speak his mind began to crystalize almost immediately when he began to take out his degree and placard – the idea that I have made it so far to share with you all what I believe to be the truth.
This man might as well have put what his entire life in a bottle and thrown it out into the cruel and indifferent infinity of everyday existence – as what he had to say was really the sum of what even he must have thought could only be a product of a marooned mind – a mind that stands apart the from the all is well paradise message that is regularly broadcasted by the apparatus of mass assimilation.
Someone takes a picture. Someone uploads it. Someone sees it. And in that brief instance – a connection is made. Now the story switches over to this other man who is faraway from home – he sees this lone figure with his peculiar message. A scrawl of words. A framed degree – he wonders what this man is trying to convey – then he remembers, it all comes back to him – many years ago when he too had to search out for greener pastures, very slowly it all comes back to this man who has long since forgotten his travails as he is now a successful businessman.
The man mutters to the man in the computer screen, I understand. I understand completely. I thank you for your courage for reminding me that not every man made it – some like this man who held up his message in the park that day simply got left behind. They were just forgotten and crushed by time along with the endless feel good rhetoric that only seems to ooze out non stop from the state’s loudspeakers.
For an eternity both men are locked in a silent meditation while the ticking of the clock grows louder and louder in the plantation mansion deep in the oil palm estate – a frightening litany that only seems to grow louder sharpening the terror even further – a place that both men know only too well – a cold and desolate land called hopelessness.
I understand. I understand completely.”
Why cartoons r not always cartoons and the Mercedez with Singaporean plates who knocked down a kampung boy
May 2, 2013
Judging by how my phone has been smoking – this few days is likely to be full day for me with the GE now frantically turning on it’s final leg before it wraps up on the 5th.
However, what I will say is this – it is very easy for most of us to regard cartoons as just benign fun. After all this is how we have all been scripted to regard cartoons – and this is really the danger. As what we often discount wholesale is the idea that even cartoons when they are laced with racial, religious and sectarian undertones can so often be more destructive that even words and whole disquisitions.
The way I see it – the internet needs to be consistent. If we can buy into the idea that racial harmony is something that we all have to work hard to maintain – then I don’t see why we need to split hairs on what the medium is – it could even be a home made YouTube upload, a poem, a song, spoof or even a cartoon – the way I see it, if it’s laced with racial and religious undertones then, it’s simply out of line.
My friends I see the matter in clear and simple terms – perhaps I believe very strongly in the idea – we netizens need to get our house into order. We can’t be like the government of the day and flip flop whenever it suits us – or to deploy let-me-fry-your-brains essays written by Tessa or Jeremy to further insult our intelligence as they try their best to cover up their never ending faux passes – the way I see it, for the internet to be gain credibility and continue to exert the intellectual authority to garner more readers.
WE ALL NEED TO BE ON THE SAME PAGE ON THIS WHOLE IDEA WHAT SORT OF TREATMENT WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE, WHEN ONE OF US CROSSES THE LINE AND STRAYS INTO THE NO-MAN’s LAND OF RACE.
The way I see it, if we ourselves, who make up the internet don’t even know when, how or why we should put our foot down….then how is it possible for us to even fashion a better tomorrow? As if we can’t even stand in one neat line together and agree on certain fundamental issues – How then is it even possible for us to harness this force for good to work its way from the internet to shape the real world for the better?
Do you mean to say life is so simple like what Mini Lee just shared with all of us in his May day speech – work with us!
The short answer to Mini Lee is Dowan lah!
After all how much credibility do you think he has when his own house is in a mess - otherwise why is there a need to rush the white paper double quick time through his rubber stamp parliament, tekan academics, use funding threats to bump off troublemakers, delay the AIMs report along with cherry pick subjects in the way both the MSM and the custodians of power regularly go about trying to insult our intelligence concerning our objects of interest?
The way I see it, we must NEVER follow lousy examples. It’s poison. We just need to work very hard on coming across as crystal clear on what we all wish to see in the internet today and tomorrow - if we don’t then we will end up like them, a walking and talking contradiction that no one can take seriously….it’s really as simple as that.
But enough of my boring sermons.
Yesterday, on my way back from Telugu estate – I came across a white Mercedez that stopped on the side of the road. Apparently the driver had grazed a boy on a bicycle and he was arguing with a few villagers by the side of the road – somewhere in all this is a stupid Singaporean woman who seemed to be busy with her smartphone.
It did not take me very long to surmise that trouble will follow – it’s a vampire thing - I know about such things. I’ve seen it before in Africa, here and other places off the beaten track as well – how things that even seem benign can suddenly flare up and turn very ugly. You could even say, I know the signs so very well like the lines in the palm of my hands, even know what to look out for - know it so well, that I realized, if I didn’t step in decisively at precisely the 47 seconds mark and take charge of the situation, it will probably get so very ugly – so I barged through the growing crowd and went right up to the driver of the Mercedez and gave him a tight quick gun Murugan slap.
When the villagers saw this, they all began to fall back. I took off my sunglasses and glared at them – it was my way of saying: I will deal with this people now! That’s really how politics is conducted in a kampung setting, there always has to be a certain cinematic quality – even a Bollywood way of seeing through a thing, otherwise it’s no good… there is no alamak, pengshan or aiyoh factor – most of kampung folk when they saw this probably surmised - now this city folk have really done it – they have really pissed off the farmer. Now they’re going to get it!
While all this was happening, the stupid woman had absolutely no idea what was going on – she was absolutely clueless and instead demanded the name and address of my lawyer. So I threatened to slapped her this time, if she didn’t get into the car - to cut a long story short, I just took the keys from the driver and drove off with both of them in the backseat.
During the half hour drive – I had to endure non stop legal threats from this livid siaow charbor who kept on telling her driver to beat me up. All the driver could do however was look at her sheepishly as she kept poking me with a Montblanc pen and shouting at the top of her voice,
“Do you hear me! Do you know who I am…I am going to sue you…..I am going to sue you and make your bloody life so miserable that you wished, you have never been born.”
What saddens me most about this episode is not that I will probably face a law suit case thiat I can ill afford or that I may have to fork out money in the form of damages – what really saddens me is they don’t even have any idea that I just saved them.
None whatsoever. This is the tao of stupid people…there is no known cure for this condition known as ultimate stupidity!
Somewhere in all this I am sure…you the perceptive reader will be able to make out how racial cartoons and a white Mercedez with Singaporean plates driving through a kampung road all connects together….do try. I know the lines are faint…but trust me…they are connected. Like I said, it all starts with the really benign stuff….
Now you must all excuse me….I have to dress in my number 1 bush jacket, slick back my hair and go and see the siaow charbor. Apparently she wants me to apologize…just as well, I have asked my gardener to pick some wild flowers…now you all know why I can never seem to take women seriously….not even when they’re serious.
I better bring my magic violin along just in case.
I will write later.
Darkness 2013
———————————————————————————————————-
MANY YEARS AGO IN THE LIFE OF ANOTHER MAN SOMEWHERE DEEP IN AFRICA…..
In the palatial colonial house on the top of the hill where the Chinaman Cocoa planter of Gabundi estate lived – the legionnaire deserter who worked in his kitchen knew that his master always preferred his eggs runny and his bacon flamed with Cordon’blue for breakfast.
He also knew that his master found the sonorous background drone of the BBC world service comforting whenever he scanned his estate from the upper deck of the alfresco roof top dinning area – usually, the deserter could make out that his master always began the morning by looking through his field glasses at the tiny village at the edge of his lands – the legionnaire deserter servant could tell that whenever a smile tore across the Chinaman’s face – that meant, he was training his eyes on the only well in the village where he delighted in feasting his eyes on women balancing earthen pots on their heads as they walked in straight neat lines early in the morning.
But that day the China planter did not smile as he peered through his field glasses. Neither had he smiled for that whole week either. Perhaps not even for longer – even the Chinaman’s tall Matabilli tribesman bodyguard who was a wired framed muscular man in his late forties who always seemed to follow his young master everywhere couldn’t remember when he last smiled either.
The only person in the vast expanse of Gabundi Estate who really knew the last time the Chinaman Cocoa planter smiled – was the new German school teacher, foot doctor and scientist nun called Eva from Germany who replaced – the sixty something two metric ton Fraulien Gunther from Muchen, Bavaria – who the Chinaman didn’t really care very much for.
With Fraulein Eva it was quite another thing. The Chinaman planter not only smiled very often whenever she was around. He even made it a point to improve himself – he had even exchanged his flared ridding breeches, boots along with open neck khaki shirt complete with shoulder holster and revolver with a stylish bush jacket and laced shoes that came in by special courier service directly from Cape Town.
The German nun and school teacher had even approved of this new look and mentioned that the Chinaman planter now looked like a dapper “gentlemen planter.” She was so pleased that she had even invited the farmer to attend a reunion party which she had arranged in the school to celebrate the return of a lost child that had been recently found by the ever wandering medicin sans frontier who had discovered the half dead boy somewhere along the porous Northern Sudanese border. The nine year old boy from the Adomako tribe had gone missing a year or so back ago along the river bank and had somehow been magically reunited with their parents – it was a one in a millionth – and the whole village had come out in full force to celebrate with beating drums, asseki juice along with generous lashings of K’du leafs which the women folk chewed.
Everyone remembered how happy the farmer had been as he stood beside the German nun – the boy had after all being presumed dead by all, eaten probably by a crocodile and now he had been magically reunited with his parents – who seemed eager to show off their child to the rest of the village.
The nine year old boy named Komu had after all learnt a range of tricks that seemed to enthrall the rest of the villages since his return – he knew how to drive a truck, operate a generator. But one of Komu’s most impressive tricks involved field stripping an AK-47. When the farmer watched Komu remove the linchpin of the Soviet Amotov with a small horn tip by clamping the entire barrel and stock against his tiny neck and limbs that held together the breach and firing mechanism he realized that the boy already knew the AK-47 had 8 parts – the hardest section to remove was the gas piston assembly and the cumbersome spring mechanism that often proved so unwieldy that even adults struggled with this section. In many cases giving up completely – in this case, the boy had used the Sudanese horseback open palm method of slapping this complicated mechanism apart in one single smooth action – everyone clapped. Except the farmer. Who insisted that Komu do this again. And again. Which he did specially for Dada Shahidi – as he was after all the guest of honor.
For the grande finale, the young boy was blindfolded and within a matter of seconds, he assembled back the 8 parts of the semi automatic flawlessly – the show ended when Komu finished off the show by cocking the assault rifle menacingly which the farmer knew chambered the first round into the breach and smiled to the rapturous applause of the villagers – that day, everyone smiled except the Chinaman Cocoa planter who looked stern and grave as if lost in his own thoughts.
That evening as the Shahidi approached the innocent nine year old Komu seated beside his happy parents – his eyes seemed to radiate an awareness that bordered between fascination and fear. He leaned close to the boy and in a slow and stern voice whispered,
“Komu tell Dada (in Africa, the prefix father follows before, as a sign of respect) Shahidi who taught you how to do this.”
From that day onwards the German school teacher and nun who ran the only school in Gabundi noticed the Chinaman Cocoa planter never ever smiled again.
The Politics of Kampung Politics
May 1, 2013
Life should always be kept as simple as possible. There is no need to complicate things with endless hype and spin. There is no need too. The simpler it is, the better it is for all.
This is the politics of kampung politics….
Darkness 2013
———————————————————–
“A farmer is a very simple man, who sees the world in simple terms. He probably doesn’t even care what stripes a politician wears – as every politician when he runs on a ticket ALWAYS promises change. They’re all like that. I don’t even care if he’s a fire brand orator – but what I do care about is does this man who needs my help to win ever THINK deeply about his job.
Why is this so important to the simple man, who sees the world in simple terms? Very simple – as when a man never mulls over his job. Then he’s no different from a technician – he’s just chiselling alphabets. May be so good at it, that all the fonts he cuts stands out like the printed word. But because he never once reflected deeply about his work – he’s really just a monkey. Could be a smart monkey. The sort that you keep to pick coconuts or blast off into space. I know monkeys were the first species to be orbited, but do you see NASA hiring apes to design a rocket to go to Mars.
My point gentlemen is when a man begins to think profoundly about his work – then suddenly everything acquires a razors edge – he will begin to make out lines that radiate out to other lines which in turn radiate out as well.
For example a farmer is just not a man who plants row after row of trees – to enable him to do that, he needs to keep the great wheel of life spinning in his community. Do you now see how a new man emerges?
It is the same when a politician, farmer, soldier, manager, accountant, lawyer, dentist, call girl, dog catcher or anyone else thinks deeply about their jobs – suddenly it becomes a thinking thing, it’s dynamic, always in a state of flux. Now when that same stonecutter puts his chisel to stone and hammers it – I guarantee you, he will fuck it up!
That’s not because he is no good. Inexperienced or stupid, that’s what happens when a man suddenly discovers the answer when he thinks deeply about his job – it’s like the man who when he first came here thought he could just mind his own business, live like a hermit and do his own thing, live his own life, lounge on the sofa listening to classical music on a Sunday afternoon.
Suddenly he realizes, his life can never be so simple. As his destiny and well being is married with his community. Suddenly he realizes that for him to succeed, he must always make sure the community is well nourished, nurtured and rendered whole and complete.
This man is always thinking about his community. He is suddenly everything Sherif, magistrate, arbiter, elder, father to widows, brother, intercessor to the spiritual realm, Shaman, ring master and everything under the sun – he’s wearing so many hats, he can open a hat shop lah!
When you fucking know your job – why you sit where you are in this timeline in history – you will poop in your pants! As then you know what your destiny is, then you would have begun your journey to be a real and complete man – gentlemen this is another level of the game of life.
At this level you don’t get three lives! It’s sudden death. As you’re playing for millions – you don’t have the luxury to stay the same, they’re always enough insecure sissified people who think that you’re coming up too fast in the world. They’re not comfortable. They don’t like you!
Maybe it’s the way you walk, talk, wear your sunglasses or even the way their wifes and daughters look at you. You don’t know! You never know! But take it from me in this world – you are bound to get nasty people who will hate you and fuck up your lot for a hundred and no reasons. So you have to be moving target – you’re always trying to outwit your competitors.
Business is no longer just business – it’s war! And to win you need the community to be whole and solid.
You just come into the bigger scheme of things, like a man who suddenly walks into a very big chamber when all he has ever known is a shoe box.
You begin to understand the idea of servanthood – it is no longer brotherhood. Brotherhood was meant to prepare you for this moment when you suddenly find yourself standing awe struck at the threshold of servanthood.
Take my advice find the servants in your community – doesn’t matter where it is, could be in your CC tai chi club, weekend warrior cycling motley crew, salsa cum belly dancing care group (YouTube lah! Why r u ladies so coy?…). No I am serious seek them out – get the goals clear. Work together for the community – be selfless as that is the first discipline of servanthood.
You will make a better tomorrow. I can almost guarantee it. Stake even my last dollar on it.
We will win!”
I want my children to be polite and not like me
April 30, 2013
I want my children to be polite (not like me. In today’s society, I am reminded this is no small accomplishment) but I don’t want it to be just the veneer of being civilized, something that is only external and slips off when I’m not watching or chastising!
I want them to have a deeply internalized sense of respect and fair play for others. The Jews say this aspect of character building is a crucial aspect of what it means to be a mensch.
I happen to think being a mensch is no small goal or achievement.
Whatever we tell our children, I feel compelled to quote yet another cliché, “our actions speak louder than words.” Our behavior, our attitudes, our goals will have the strongest impact of all on our family. If these are the values we want to pass on, we have to do our best to embody them, to really mean it and make the (sometimes difficult) choices that reflect this.
Darkness 2013
————————————————————-
“Lately, I’ve made a conscious effort to slow down. These days, I rarely spend long stretches in the field – I’ve got to make an effort to slow down as it is only when I sit after lunch on my rattan chair after a hefty lunch that I can really begin to reflect on what my next move should be.
I am tired of playing high stakes poker. That if you must know is what I’ve been doing all along – not so different from a man putting all his chips on a number and just spin the roulette wheel. So far so good. But my feel is, this can’t go on indefinitely. It’s just not sustainable.
Truth is, I’ve just been incredibly lucky. I guess, if I really made an effort – I could probably convince myself that many of the things I’ve committed myself to do and succeed in may have something to do with good business IQ, sound judgement and hard work – but in truth, when I reflect back honestly – luck certainly played a preponderant role. I don’t see skill featuring. Not even a bit at all. And that’s the truth.
Neither am I inclined to believe in the adage business maketh a man either – there was this time when I did feel a deep sense of pride and accomplishment whenever I stand on the hill and look out at my lands. I even believed in the idea for a while that this was how life is truly meant to be lived. But when I sit down quietly and watch the birds in my rattan chair contemplatively – I realize these five years has exacted a toll on me. I no longer see the world in bold splashes of color any longer – it’s as if I lost the ability to see the world in the way I saw it. One reason for this changed state has a lot to do with the people who once made my life a living he’ll, when all I wanted to do was to mind my own business and plant row after row of trees – they took their dirty bag of tricks and used every instrument to make my life miserable – I made a decision then to stand my ground.
I fought them. There are no Geneva Conventions here. No! No handsome words to describe what it took to make their lands mine.
When I reflect deeply. I know, I don’t want my children to be that sort of man. In truth, if those troublemakers just sat down with me over a cup of coffee and treated me with a modicum of respect, dignity and honor – and gave me the benefit of a level playing field. I would have been more than happy to keep the peace – as I am a man of my word.
If I shake your hand. It’s as good as a promissory note from the Bank of England. I can’t help it – that’s just the way, I was raised.
But no. They thought they could just crush me like an ant beneath a giant boot!
So an arms race ensued. Followed by a crippling war of attrition. Along with psychological warfare – I want you to see it not as a swift and sure enterprise. But rather in terms of a slow progressive degenerative disease like Stalingrad. A litany where warring somehow manages to permeate deep into the marrow of your bones.
I transformed myself into a weapon – I began by first assassinating myself. To win I had to think like a Mossad field agent – I had to seek out the angles, lines and make sense out of the hall of mirrors and smoke.
I started by fashioning myself into a uncle. Lost my baseball cap and baggy cargo trousers, sneakers along with chewing gum. The amulets of uncle power in a planters world is a man with a school prefects hairstyle circa 1971. I wore a bush jacket and began to sell myself as caretaker of the great wheel of life – that was how I began to undermine the influence of my nemesis by first mounting a hearts and mind’s campaign against them.
The man from uncle was relentless. This fellow never skipped a beat. Just like a metronome – soon folk started to just see him as a man who is always there like the hills and trees that you so often see all the time in a Kampung setting – he was always there. During a birth. Death. Temple festival. Slaying (korban) of a cow. Beneath the sway of the palms with the elders when they sat on straw mats and discussed serious affairs drinking strong black coffee.
The man was skilled in the art of war – he made friends with other rich planters. Most of them were ladies. He made sure they liked him enough keep the wolves at bay – this is where he would bide for time and pick and choose his final battle with his nemesis. Providing he hid in the mysterious forest of Victoria Secrets – he knew this is where he would deliver his death blow.
The man was ruthless. He won. This is where a perverse irony of life rears it’s ugly head most unexpectedly – there the man stands overlooking his lands on top of a mega bird house that he has just built. It’s the hour of hesitation – just before dawn, when an eiree paraffin blue colors the skies.
The man now stands victorious! This is the moment. Like when a river finally meets the infinity of the sea. Till then the river has done everything to get to this point – it’s tranversed whole continents. Never once relenting. Always surging forward. And now it’s finally home – there’s no need to fight anymore. You can sleep in on Sundays now. You don’t have to look over your shoulders nervously all the time or try to recover from a hit – it should be one of the finest moments for any industrious man.
That at least is how Hollywood seems to always sell it. Usually with a John Barry paramour sweeping score – but it wasn’t like that for me. As when I think about my own children. I want them to be decent people. I want them to be the sort of folk who will stop and change a tire for a lady who got a flat at one after midnight in the ECP not because he want to fuck her, but because that’s what a gentlemen would always do – I want my sons to be the sort of bloke that will haul you back to the chopper when you have been shot in a fire fight – the sort of guy who everyone looks up too in a platoon. You know the sort lah. The no nonsense fellow. The type who when he says, he will never leave anyone behind. You know it’s like what he said. As if it was even slightly different – it would mean nothing – that is what I want my sons to all be…serious men.
The irony of life is when a man stands there in the moment that should be his ambrosia of moments – life conspires against him cruelly.
He realizes that he never ever wants his children to be like him. Never!
The truth hurts! No. That’s a cliche. But it hurts like hell – like a red hot bullet tearing through flesh, muscle and bone – splintering everything in it’s wake.
The truth hurts does quite say it – not for me at least.
Something has died in me. I know. I can feel it whenever I play the violin – it’s as if a thin membrane is separating me from the profundis of musicality.
There are times early in the morn whe I take the dog out for a walk around the plantation in the twilight – I sometimes hear the sounds of babies laughing and the slight creaking of wheels. I know it is the man who pushes the peculiar triplets pram – I see him and for a while we are always like two stray cats who suddenly turn a corner and all there is to do is to freeze, each lost in their own thoughts – I want to speak to this family man who once turned the wheel of life in Singapore. But our encounters never ever last long enough for even the briefest of exchanges – he always disappears. After that I feel…stupid…silly even.
I try to shake it off. But it clings to me like seaweed. If you really want to know why I don’t ever want my children to be like me – it’s simply because I have been searching to find that man since I succeeded.
I know he is somewhere deep inside me – I just need to be very patient and preservere to seek him out.
You could even say that’s all I have been trying to do since the day I stood there on top of the bird house….looking out with an air of languor over my lands.”
When I see the game of business in
Why is the Breakfast Network serving up shit on Encik Nizam
April 30, 2013
Who cares if he fucks around. Who even cares if he has credit card debts. I don’t see why it was necessary for the admin of Breakfast Network to run a story by obliquely referencing a character assassination article - the hit was of course pulled off with the help of the Singaporedaily (Singapore’s premier Potemkin site) to give it the exposure.
One day I will share with all of you why, the Singaporedaily are not allowed to aggregate anything I write. Not kidding! If you don’t believe me go and ask them. Trust me, it is a very interesting story.
Back to the point. All everyone wants to know is who are the two anonymous ministers? I think there is enough dirt there to go around very nicely lah.
Darkness 2013
———————————————————–
“I really want to ask Bertha Henson what is your goal for starting Breakfast Network. Is this the online version of the ST? I hope not. The way I see it, if the State & Co wants to fix Mr Nizam – then go ahead. But what I cannot understand is what does his resignation have to do with his love life, credit history or for that matter how many times he masturbates in a week.
My point is, there is really a couple of questions on the table. The first is who are these anonymous ministers. Secondly, is it possible to establish a watertight case that partisanship is necessarily such an incompatible idea with public service?
That to me is the end of the story. There is nothing more to it. So why is the breakfast network digging out dirt on his personal life? Sure in the case of Breakfast Network, they did it obliquely by referencing Berita Harian, that way, they can say, we are just commenting on a biase write up- my point is I don’t see the relevance of Mr Nizams personal life alongside the circumstances in which he left AMP.
I mean, how do you like it – if it was Bertha Henson in the hot seat – and I ripped a really personal and nasty write up about her private life and splayed it all put pasar malam syle in my blog? something to the effect – why isn’t she married yet? Do you mean to say no one wants to fuck her? Maybe she needs to work on her teeth not getting in the way during a bj? Btw does she use Eveready or Energizer batteries in her bedtime toys?
Now if I pursued such a line of enquiry in a blog by referencing another character assassination write up – don’t you think it would be offensive to Bertha. Or for that matter anyone who values the whole idea of fair play. I happen to think it’s darn right offensive along with being personal!
Now you all know why I question Singaporedaily (though with those sisterfuckers, I already know what their game plan is – no UAV for you!) and Breakfast Network’s agenda. Coming to think of it, why were they even created. It can’t be to further the truth – as till today, no one knows who are those two ministers? Does anyone even know? Does anyone even care to know?”
I happen to have the good fortune or misfortune, depending how you see it – to know a few ultra rich women who own large plantations quite intimately. From time to time, it’s not unusual for these ladies to literally drop in.
I find they can be very demanding and petulant at times. As when they visit me unannounced. They always seem to expect me to drop what I am doing and just follow them around like a slave. Most of the time, I oblige to keep things nice – but today, I am in the field and I really have pressing business to attend too.
When these spoilt women don’t get their way. They just scold the servants and storm right out like a prima donna – get into their shiny helicopters and take off at full speed…..that’s what I call throwing a tantrum in style….and all I did was to turn up one hour late for lunch.
That’s fine. I have everything under control. I know how to calm Lily down and get her to fly right back. All I have to do is phone her up and play my violin….and….viola…hopefully….very few people know how powerful my violin can be. They have absolutely no idea at all. It’s my wonder weapon.
Darkness 2013
——————————————————————————————————————
“In life you cannot be like a bull in a China shop like Mr Nizam – you may think that you’re right. Let me even say, you r by every definition right. But you always have to keep the goal in my mind all the time. The goal my friend is not to prosecute on your right till you end up burning down the house.
That is not the goal. As what bloody idiot burns down his own house even if he is 100% right? To put it another way, what is the use of winning, if it comes at the cost of destroying the very thing that you are trying to build in the first place?
Do you mean to tell me you are even prepared to go all the way, even if it means brother will turn against brother.
Then in my book you are a dangerous man. As you dont seem to able to see the bigger picture here. You seem to be fixated on the small diorama of life where you are the prima donna.
What I am trying to say gentlemen is a wise man not only picks and choose his battles. He uses the appropriate amount of force to overcome his adversary. As there are really so many ways to win – but why choose the most destructive way just to feed your ego and vanity? How much sense does that make even if you happen to win hands down? When all you are likely to do is create more mayhem and give everyone around you high blood pressure?
For me, if I need to bow. I bow. Even if I do not like to bow. I still bow. This doesn’t mean I am a sell out, hypocrite or an unprincipled man – it just means, I value peace and I know that sometimes to move forward, it is often necessary to take a step back.
Besides with Lily, what is the big deal – when she comes back. She will of course throw another round of tantrums. But after a delightful dinner when we are both sitting outside enjoying a fine bottle of cellared wine – when the mood is righter than right - I am sure, if I told her, she behave badly – she will come to her senses and apologize. It’s like that all the time with women – theirs is a nation of nerves, emotions and seat of the pants reaction – if they aren’t like that, then, they aren’t women – that’s one reason why it’s virtually impossible for a woman to do anything to make me angry – as I know for a fact, they can’t help 99% of the things they do and say.
My point is in life – you need to cultivate the wisdom to pick and choose your battles wisely. You need to bide time and wait patiently to fight only under your own terms and not to allow others to color your judgement. Above all, you need to understand, we all live in one house and the goal is to make it a better place for all. Not to burn it down. Not even if you happen to be right.
This is wisdom.”
Why if you come across a Singaporean turning the wheel abroad, you should go up to him and introduce yourself
April 28, 2013
“Gentlemen, to me the reality of times is sobering. To put it simply. As more natives grow increasingly disenchanted with the policies of the custodians of power. At some point they will begin to tune off from the propagandist narrative. When that happens, I really only see them voting with their slippers to turn the wheel of life outside Singapore to build a better tomorrow for their loved ones- this trend in my opinion has already begun in earnest.
The question now is what are we all supposed to do? Sit by and watch?”
A person who leads an organically balanced life is not just a person in a happy state of mind. Please do not confuse him with a clown. If you want this then go and smoke Ganja. Rather, it is a person with a certain set of attitudes towards work, life and play that can produce happiness for those around him. The Way of the Farmer is a very simple philosophy, and it doesn’t matter whether you are a policeman, train driver, electrician, engineer, dog catcher or even a professional call girl. As anyone can really take and run with this power that mother nature has provisioned for all us. In a nut shell, The way of the Farmer is simply this. If you are not making someone else’s life better, then you are wasting your life. As your life can ONLY become better by making other people’s lives better. That if you must know is the goal.
Happiness is a function of knowing deep in your heart why you are put on this planet in this timeline – it has nothing to do with the mumbo jumbo of walking on water, turning water to wine or rising from the dead . But everything to do with following the Tao of the Nature. This is what the serious men of this world call a no nonsense fellow.
And this attitude towards life begins at the very foundation of a man’s life – how do you grow sweet fruits? You first begin by nourishing the soil – fertilizing the soil can only strengthen the root system and make the tree strong and stable – when this is done properly, the branches and leaves will be able stand proud before the sun and moon, they will not be brought down by thunderstorms and sweet fruits can only come naturally.
In the same way, if a man searches for happiness or satisfaction without first nourishing the things that forms the foundation of his life – then although he may find it in the arms of a one night stand, company of his friends or in a bottle of whisky, it can only be a temporary and fleeting moment. Similarly, if a man searches for wealth, without bothering with building a strong foundation, then he will probably end up in jail for armed robbery or breaking and entering.
Part of KNOWINGNESS means a man must NOT only be in good terms with everyone in his household. Neither is it enough for him to be a leader in his community. HE MUST BE ABLE TO INFLUENCE OTHERS MEANINGFULLY AT A DEEP SPIRITED LEVEL. Both his family members and those who he works with must understand PRECISELY what he stands for – this is KNOWINGNESS that usually brings happiness to others. As the root of all suffering lies in the opposite of knowingness – ignorance, insecurity, low self esteem, false teachings, uncertainty and a general listlessness in one’s life. To sow the seeds of KNOWINGNESS, a man must be able to share his great vision with others – he must be sincere and honest in the pursuit of that noble goal that is never his, as he is really only the custodian of that vision. If a man has a hidden agenda, then it is very difficult for him to live an organically balanced life. Neither can he be part of this state of mind called KNOWINGNESS – as since he has to tell so many lies and has hatched so many plans to further his crooked designs and to create a false impression in the eyes of others, he is really like a used car salesman who is simply interested in selling the car and not bothered about what happens the day after – and since the cars he sells to others are never what he claims to be – those customers will always come back and hound him that they have been sold a raw deal – such a man KNOWS even less about himself and KNOWS nothing about others, the only thing, he KNOWS is how to walk into a wall – so this man can say what he likes, he can even hide behind caveat emptor – but he can never run away from the crushing reality, he is nothing more than a two timing good for nothing carpetbagger that no sane man can possibly trust to do big things. As this man has absolutely no capacity to make someone else’s life better. And if he cannot do this how can he possibly grow as a human being?
Darkness 2013
“In business, I have found that many people like to say, treat your workers like your children and they will do anything for you. The origin of this maxim comes from the fourth chapter of the Art of War by Sun Tzu – but what they usually forget is the preceding lines – when the author warns specifically, that discipline is necessary and if you spoil your men, then they will be no bloody good – to get high performance out of people. You need to demand discipline from others, but how can you do this, if you are indiscipline?
Discipline is very sobering force. It is like an amulet of power. People can generally make out with very difficulty whether you are a disciplined fellow or someone who is part of the cinchai club by just having a conversation with you. But let us be crystal clear – without discipline, the skeleton key that makes everything possible, the state of mind of KNOWINGNESS will never be yours – and if you don’t posses KNOWINGNESS, then it is impossible to lead effectively.
As the role of the leader is to know where to go. Only KNOWINGNESS can supply the missing jig-saw. He may not know how to get there. As that is really the work of those who choose to follow him. But he must at least know WHERE and WHY the team has to take that hill before sun down and he must be able to convey this vision clearly to every single man. And not only must he know the general trajectory of where he is heading – he must also be well acquianted with the logic and rationale of WHY he needs to do the things that requires doing. As leadership is not about taking the easy road. Sometime one has no choice but to take the high and difficult road.
Without KNOWINGNESS, it is not possible to convey the rationale to the men in a honest and sincere manner - a good leader always takes the trouble to explain both the good and bad, sweet and bitter, hard and easy. He does not add salt or pepper or for that matter try to pull the wool over the eyes of those he speaks too – as people are very savvy these days, they are not going to follow a confidence trickster! As when a leader wants to go to a particular place, but he markets hell as Nirvana – then it is really only a matter of time before his followers will begin to doubt and question his designs. This will lead to skepticism. And skepticism is the direct opposite of KNOWINGNESS and can only open the Pandora’s box that unleashes leads cynicism and this can only sow the seeds to mistrust and suspicion. And without trust there can be no basis for a solid commitment by others. And since this confused leader can never supply a convincing answer WHY it is necessary to stick to the path that has been decided – he can only end up walking this road all by himself. As since his followers are all very far removed from a KNOWING state of mind, they can only leave this useless leader one by one as they begin to see that his vision is really only a self serving goal to possibly enrich himself and allow him to appropriate and monopolize power like a crazy man – when this happens, they will no longer have any confidence in this useless poor excuse of a leader. Neither will they see any future in him. And as one man, this man is really marooned in his own mind and very little can be done even though he may be a very intelligent and capable man – as he is suddenly alone – that is why if you want to be a good businessman – cultivate KNOWINGNESS first. Be disciplined in your words, deeds and thoughts – and from there you will be able to come across as honest and sincere. Always give a man a square and fair deal, respect the idea of dignity of labor unreservedly and never shortchange a man for a honest day’s work – but always remember, if you make it point to give others such good deal all the time, then from time to time. You must also learn to INSIST on getting a good deal back in return. Again this requires KNOWINGNESS. Otherwise how will you be able to demand high performance from others, if you are still a member of the Cinchai Club – ONLY those who are in a state of mind of KNOWINGNESS can raise their voice, flare their nostrils, narrow their eyes and bang the table to make sure the other side knows this is this and that is that – and as a leader, if you see that your workers and business associates are petty and small minded, rebuke them like an older brother. Again how would you even go about doing this, if you are not in a state of mind of KNOWINGNESS? As to do this in a knowing way, you have to be discreet by taking this man to one corner and sharing with him the facts of life – before you start hammering him into shape, tell him WHY you are disciplining him and in this way, he will never begrudge you – KNOWINGNESS is always needed in life – when you find yourself cornered by three men with hatchets in a dark alley where will you be without KNOWINGNESS – you wouldn’t even know who to hit first, where to strike, with how much force all these things will be a great mystery to you. But with KNOWINGNESS all these things are suddenly very clear – so terribly clear to only you – the knowing Man. KNOWINGNESS should not be confused with its poorer cousin UNDERSTANDING. If understanding is eau de cologne. Then KNOWINGNESS is parfum. If UNDERSTANDING is an adjective. Then KNOWINGNESS is a verb . You may not UNDERSTAND why your wife keeps asking you whether her ass sticks out too much in that dress. But with KNOWINGNESS, you know the correct answer to that question is “no honey, it’s just peachy.”
KNOWINGNESS is what we in Kendo call the void – that place that everyman dreads. Even the best of us turn away from the void – as there lies the sum of all our hopes and dreams – the source of all our fears and fascination. The core of manhood. As Gentlemen to cross that bridge we all know as the void; the man is naked. He cannot bluff his way across that sliver of space and time. He cannot even talk or reason his way out of it – it is as if, you either have it or you don’t – and if you don’t, that’s it you better sit down before you fall down – but if this man is fortunate enough to have KNOWINGNESS on his sleeves – then I think he will sail through. You see it really simple, KNOWINGNESS maketh all things possible, including the impossible it seems – the knowing man.”
Extracted from the Way of the Farmer – Proudly brought to you by the Brotherhood Press
Women & Dogs
April 28, 2013
“Let me share with you all – why the Farmer’s view of life is very simple. If you have done everything that needs to be done for someone to respect, honor and love you….then when you look them in the eyes and say, come. They will just drop everything and just follow you. Even if people come to them and try to separate both of you, she will murder them!
I want you to all understand this is not hypnotism. This is how it is then when the first tribal man looked with the eyes of his tribal girl fren and they both rode off into the sunset on a big dinosaur and I susepct very little has changed at all….my point is there is no need to try to be someone who you’re obviously not. No need to even raise your voice and try to impress anyone. Or to pressurize yourself to be someone whose larger than life – all these nonsense will just cause you get a nervous break down and cancer of the wallet…All you really need to do is work on improving your inner calmness…to remain so very still when all around you everyone is running around like a headless chicken and falling over themselves…to learn to see the world clearly when the whole world is on fire….to hold one moment of eternity in the palm of your hands and to share this with the person who is next to you.
If you can do this, then even sitting on a park bench and watching grass grow can be very pleasurable and a life changing experience.
Gentlemen, I am aware that we are living in a world that is constantly in a state of flux with the chastening passage of time…but nonetheless, my feel is certain fundamental things about dogs and women will never change. Not for me at least. Never.”
The similarities between dogs and women.
April 27, 2013
Hunting to me is never just about marksmanship and weapon systems – to me that’s maybe 5%. And that’s only on a good day. The real deal is really the discipline to remain perfectly calm – and to use this highly focus state of mind to positioning, time and seek out the right moment to deliver the death blow – position yourself in the wrong place and you’re unlikely to get an opportunity for a clean shot. Muck out your time and you will probably close in too quickly or delay for too long spoiling your muscle memory rhythm. And if you’re impatient – you will just end up taking a shot at either an impossible distance or vantage where you’re likely to mess it all up. That’s the gist of the hunters creed.
But the hardest discipline to master and teach either a woman or dog is how to remain absolutely calm and cool under pressure – or a hunt. As when the prey turns up, it’s very natural for everyone to get very excited – men, women and dogs included - but unless one is able to remain absolutely calm and still – it will all come to nought
Often words are seldom necessary to cultivate calmness to a nervous dog or woman. As calmness can very easily be conveyed through very small gestures. All that needs to be done is keep the dog or woman very close to you and allow the calmness to seep slowly into their being, like how when you light a stick of incense it slowly infuses the whole room with it’s mysteries – it’s a slow process. Not something that can or should be rushed – to me I just like to lie down on the grass in the shade. Probably a break in the ride somewhere in Bukit Timah. There’s a spot that I have built a tree house – it’s impossible to spot. As the angle I chose fools the eye to never give it a second look. I have a hammock there – it about the size of a ping pong table. I chill out there with Dotty. Mostly we would lie really still. As it’s a hard ride up the hill.
Then we will wait for the swiftlets to stream in at day break. We don’t speak – we just watch. It’s so calm.
Those are the moments I am talking about when speak about the word calmness.
If you remain completely calm - very often, your dog and woman will just naturally follow your cue. Most of the time they may not even be consciously aware that they’re mimicking you. But if you keep calm under consistently, then they will do the same as well – it’s as if, both of you share a bubble of stream of consciousness.
A place where you both know – that’s really where you have always wanted to be. That’s what calmness does to people – they mellow, they grow, they’re nourished. Filled. Rendered whole and complete. They know intuitively at a deep and spiritual level – that they’re now living. Till then, they were merely existing – going through the days with one foot in either the distant past or future. As for the present most of them get by living a life where each day is a repeat ion of yesterday – they work harder, faster, try to be better – they do everything it takes to win. To get to the top of the hill. To cut the grade. And that is really the travesty of our age – we disregard the one aspect of our character that we need to always hone and sharpen – that’s why to when people say to me that they take exception to bloodsport and hunting is just a macho michi, gung ho, red neck pastime – I just know I am talking to a lightweight. Someone who probably thinks the word strategy is something you use in a board game.
I know, I am dealing with someone who does know how to scale risk, bide his time, fight only under his own terms. A man who knows how to move, position, time and find the mark.
Not easy the classical way with a bow and arrow – trust me. As I am a sucker for sportsmanship – I still subscribe to the idea the beast should at least have the right to charge me, if I miss. Not a pretty sight for the knee caps when you consider 60 to 70 kilograms charging from zero to 30km crunching into them like twigs.
That can happen. Easily. You let off an arrow – it strikes a leaf, veers off slightly but enough to richote of its bony tank skull – now you’ve simply made it mad as it glares back at you – That’s where calmness gears in – you reload. It takes time with a bow. You nock calmly. You pull back calmly remembering to use your back muscles and not your arms. You calmly bide your moment as you know you need to aim for that sliver of space the size of a smartphone squarely between the collar bones of a moving target- that will severe all the vital nerves and sending it crashing like a meteorite form space only to stop at your feet – you line calmly.
It’s done.Professional. Fucked it up on the first. But good recovery. You know deep down inside you without calmness – you would probably be in a wheelchair. You thank the god of calmness.
Calmness….the art of manliness.
.
.
Darkness 2013
————————————————————————————————————-
“Let me share with you all – why the Farmer’s view of life is very simple. If you have done everything that needs to be done for someone to respect, honor and love you….then when you look them in the eyes and say, come. They will just drop everything and just follow you. Even if people come to them and try to separate both of you, she will murder them!
I want you to all understand this is not hypnotism. This is how it is then when the first tribal man looked with the eyes of his tribal girl fren and they both rode off into the sunset on a big dinosaur and I susepct very little has changed at all….my point is there is no need to try to be someone who you’re obviously not. No need to even raise your voice and try to impress anyone. Or to pressurize yourself to be someone whose larger than life – all these nonsense will just cause you get a nervous break down and cancer of the wallet…All you really need to do is work on improving your inner calmness…to remain so very still when all around you everyone is running around like a headless chicken and falling over themselves…to learn to see the world clearly when the whole world is on fire….to hold one moment of eternity in the palm of your hands and to share this with the person who is next to you.
If you can do this, then even sitting on a park bench and watching grass grow can be very pleasurable and a life changing experience.
Gentlemen, I am aware that we are living in a world that is constantly in a state of flux with the chastening passage of time…but nonetheless, my feel is certain fundamental things about dogs and women will never change. Not for me at least. Never.”
If you want higher wages, then grow the economy…
April 27, 2013
Incredibly stupid statements like this do very little to further understanding. If anything, all it does is kick sand in the face of thinking folk and make perfectly reasonable people hot underneath the collar – as in reality, for the last ten years since the surreptitiously put the population on round after round of steroids to grow the economy, despite stellar growth – real wages after discouting for inflation has not even managed to keep up with the cost of living.
Today Singapore is the sixth most expensive city to live in the whole wide world – as for the propagandist press, they are now trying to convince the middle class that cars are not necessary, as we have buses and trains – next they will either get Jeremy Au or Tessa Wong to tell us all the benefits of regularly chowing mud cakes and tree bark congee – what disturbs me about all this is how it short circuits the brain to reasonably allow intelligent folk to make an informed decision about what is really going on their lives – as when one considers the intrinsic value of such statements and ask deeper – what does it actually do? Then even you will not have too much trouble agreeing with me that such statements are not so different from cripples huddling beneath a tree trying to wax lyrical about how wheels are far more kinetically efficient than limbs – I don’t for one moment discount the possibility such rhetoric actually goes a long to promote the feel good effect – only one should at least have the courtesy to note even the best hype and spin can never alter the reality. Just as every cripple probably knows how it feels to be confronted with a flight of steps.
Now this super duper idiot is parroting the same line again. I think it’s fair to say most of us can just brush him off as a inconsequential light weight from this point onwards. As such nonsensical people should never be taken seriously.
As they are never part of the solution, but rather the main problem.
Darkness 2013
Elections fever, Palm oil disease and Missy Dotty
April 25, 2013
Bet you will never ever see this in Singapore! Election fever in Malaysia is really a carnival affair – and the mood is especially heady in the kampung with rival groups trying to out do each other with their on going banner wars. Yesterday the BN boys put up a row of flags. The following day the iron mullah and his PAS group put up two rows of flags. And off it goes from there to oversized banners, super sized banners even helicopters, aeroplanes and even submarines along with dancing elephants(the iron mullah plans to fashion a submarine out of a PAS banner to parody the BN).
These were just some of the hilarious scenes I wanted share with Dotty. To take her by the hand and show her my little of sights and sounds world – a world that I have come to love and cherish. A world that I realize most Singaporeans only really read about, see snippets on TV, but have never ever experienced before.
A place that I once considered inferior, backward and parochial when compared to my last life in Singapore. But with the chastening passage of time. I’ve come to see it differently – peered into it darkened interiors – dipped my hand into the essence of kampung life, till I can see myself preferring to be nowhere but here.
I wanted so much to talk to Dotty about this, when she came over. I had even planned to arrange this conversation during an El Fresco dinner in the field. I had arranged for the palms to be lit like a flaming forest beside the lake and we would dine on Sultan fish and my best cellared wine.
She was scheduled to arrive today. But I have since had to mobilize the entire community to fight a new oil palm disease sweeping down from the North along with trying to find enough of myself to fill up the many request to touch base with politicians, state candidates, community leaders etc etc etc - our plans to met will have to be deferred again – it is always like that with me and Dotty.
It seems our fate is always to be so close and yet so far – like the twin moons of Arullo and Krstasin in the game we all play – a dance of serendipity, epiphany and OMG, there are actually people like me walking around and munching in Hans who see the world exactly like me (remember that). Yes, it seems our fate is always to be so close, yet so far….so very far.
Darkness 2013
————————————————————————————————————-
“In an agrarian community a farmer is not just someone who plants row after row of trees – if you are an aspiring businessman, politician or even someone wandering into a kampung to start something – you better remember this. As the farmer is a very serious character - he is the custodian of the great wheel of life. The hub that all the spokes of the wheel that make up the entire community converge and spin on.
That simply means it is a position of responsibility – that is why during elections or a crisis, everyone wants to see the farmer – this is very natural – and perfectly understandable – so please understand from the onset – when you are a leader in your community, you do not have such a thing as a private life. Neither can you fuck it all up like Palmer by having mango’s on the side either – it is a role that demands incredible stamina, self discipline and great reserves of patience along with sagacity.
That notion of having your private space does not exist at all. As from the moment you wake up your phone will be ringing and smoking all day long to remind you always that you are needed here, there and everywhere - that is why to be successful in business one must really be able to make meaningful connections with all types of people. Not just folk who you are comfortable with. But even folk who you may not even see eye to eye with. These people need to be won over - all these requires a sense of balance - the ability to walk into a room and spellbound the entire audience is really a skill that needs to be developed – and to pull this off so naturally that it even looks as if one has been doing this for years – this is something that requires more discipline and self determination than I ever expected. After a while, one begins to realize, all that one is…is, really a servant – and that is not such a bad thing, as servanthood maketh a man of consequence.“
Can the two anonymous ministers please step forward to clear up the mess they created?
April 25, 2013
Today Jeremy Au from our beloved daily rag came out with guns blazing trying to get mileage from the word, “partisanship.” Presumably his editors have asked him to put a favourable spin to this sordid affair.
But how do we know that Nizam didn’t imagine it all? To me this is very odd – as what we have here is a national broadsheet wordsmithing about an occurrence that may not have occurred – I remembered the Tsar of hype and spin, Cheong Yip Seng once mentioning that journalist in ST are the most reliable purveyors of the truth and nothing but the truth – so isn’t it odd that the whole nation should now be speculating about what actually transpired, when the identities of these ministers is still very much a mystery.
I wonder how much sense does this make?
Maybe this is just peculiar to me. But if I were a journalist. I would first establish the identities of these two mysterious ministers BEFORE even deciding to write anything on this subject – but in this case, I am somewhat perplex as to how ST expects us to connect the dots. Are we all supposed to use our ESP skills to read the mind of Mr Nizam? Could it be 9 out of 10 Singaporeans are descendants of Nostradamus?
I don’t understand. As how is it possible for a journalist to even begin writing let alone speculate and postulate on an event – if no one is even sure (including Jeremy Au) who the parties actually are in this whole fracas.
I wonder……
Mr Nizam are you crying wolf? Or maybe you’re just telling it the way it happened?
Now you understand why it is so important to determine the identities of these two mysterious ministers – I wonder can they do us all the courtesy and come forward into the open to help us all clear up this mess.
Or maybe you are lying Mr Nizam? Maybe this didn’t happen at all. Maybe it was all a big nightmare?
Darkness 2013
———————————————————————————————————
“Actually, I am very busy now. As we have all been mobilized to fight a very virulent form of oil palm disease – the guilds have flown in from as far as Munich, Bueno Aries, Myammar and Indonesia – to combine our heads to find a way to beat this menace.
But I will say this. (interruption) Could we talk as we walk to the field camp. Perhaps you can join us for lunch. After all many of these chaps are famish. It would be a good opportunity for you to met my weird friends…
I will be perfectly frank with you – let us begin from the beginning: why do I find this whole incident very disturbing? As when we moot the whole idea of trying to create a better society – then we should really develop zero tolerance for leaders who say one thing and do the direct opposite – and if we are bovine and just let it past – these people will just keep going through the motions. That is to say, they will embody the form and never the content – as they know they can get away with it.
Given time, what you’re going to end up with is a collective state of cognitive dissonance – now this is a big word. But what it basically means is what you make out of your world view differs so dramatically from what it so often represented in the media – and why is that a problem?
Well if you really want to know, eight ball Tharman recently gave a two hour comatose inducing speech about the whole idea of being dominant without dominating – now if you juxtapose this latest development concerning Mr Nizam and these two invisible ministers into this narrative what do you get?
Exactly, a state of confusion – a very uncomfortable state where it could be said, most intelligent people will simply say the government is not walking the talk – they may very well embody the form, but they’re still woefully short on the content - and what you really need to ask yourself is this.
Do you want a society where the custodians of power go around like mafia Dons – where they can just pick up the phone and make threats to get their way? Now if you want to do that, then I say, put a big sign in Changi Airport and the Causeway that says, Welcome to banana republic and pay your ministers $900 bucks a month and while you are it, throw them a couple of Menglembu groundnuts - coming to think of it, you don’t even need ministers to do this type of pariah dog job. You could just as well save yourself the trouble and ask me for a list of kampung gangsters and I am sure I can get the local police to round them up and send them over to Singapore to help mini Lee run his cabinet providing he can supply me a couple of sacks of peanuts - now tell me, do you want Singapore to end up like a banana republic. Or do you want it to be a place where the rule of law is king? Where things are done in an above board, on level and square manner!
The decision is all yours my friend - only my point is, all this ain’t going to come, if you let things like this just slide and people who think they can behave like mafia dons can just slink away like a bunch of cheap pirates.
The way I see it - no one these days can cut the cake and eat it at the same time without incurring penalties – for example ministers want to preach to bloggers about the perdition of online anonymity – that is fine. But how credible do you think they will come across when directors and ministers themselves hide like rats in the night just to cover their asses – how persuasive do you think they will come across when they speak to an audience about the perils of online anonymity. You go figure that out - the way I see it, if you want to behave like a kampung gangster – then I will have absolutely no problem treating you like one…only understand this!…I chew up these low lives like I go through cigarettes!. I want to be crystal clear so that we can all be on the same page here – we should develop zero tolerance for this sort of nonsense – as that is not how serious people go about doing big things.”
(Excerpt was of conversation was captured at camp six in Telugu Estate – relayed by the IMG)
—————————————————————————————————————-
