bobjots : redux

The sociologist Max Weber observed :

Luther and Calvin did away with the monasteries and, in turn, made the whole world into a monastery

.. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Die protestantische Ethik und der 'Geist' des Kapitalismus)

The world is my parish

I've just been extremely busy over the last 48 hours and expect to be so for the next few days. But its a good kind of busy :)

There was a good function yesterday courtesy of OHMSI. The only low point was that not many of the intended guests were able to make it. But a good start nonetheless.

I'll be back :)

When Focus on the Family starts focusing on Obama, we're in trouble. One wonders .. would FOTF Malaysia agree with the opinions of Dobson?

My own opinion .. I'll focus on my family first and perhaps if we had some Obama like figures in Malaysia, we might have some temporal salvation after all.

Kyrie Eleison.

Some things bring back memories .. some pleasant, some less pleasant .. but memories nonetheless ..

Vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas ..

.. say what?

Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”

Another sign that my age is showing ... and that I have nothing to show for it .. sigh

And yes .. I did use to still enjoy 羅大佑 very much.

I recently read the findings from the Hunger in America 2006 study of the clients of America's Second Harvest; a charitable hunger-relief organization in the US that operates a network of more than 200 member food banks and food-rescue organizations. Apparently up to 41% of those surveyed mentioned that they have had to occasionally make the choice between buying food or paying for essential utilities, another 35% had to make a choice between buying food or paying the rent / mortgage, while up to 31% had to decide between paying for food or medical care (see table here).

This got me thinking as I do know quite a few people here (who are not on welfare or on any other form of external aid) who have to make such decisions every month. Come to think, I occasionally find myself in similiar situations as well. Of course, not everybody has the "privilege" of making such choices. A few weeks ago, I found myself holding on to my jaw when a friend casually mentioned that making a certain figure a month was definitely not enough to survive on. The reason I was quite surprised was because the figure mentioned was the highest drawn salary I ever made and my family and I were actually quite comfortable then.

Just as I was getting convinced that Malay language journalism has degraded to the point of not being able to churn out anything better than partisan newspapers (eg. Suara Keadilan, Harakah, et al), thinly veiled partisan broadsheets (Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian), or mind numbing escapism (URTV, Mastika, et al), a welcome challenge to my presumptions surfaced.

I was introduced to Sinar Harian early this year when I found myself in a clinic waiting room with hardly any reading material. Even before the General Elections, I found the approach of this Malay language daily very refreshing. They market themselves as a community newspaper with at least half of the newspaper being dedicated to a regional news supplement (currently 4 editions of the newspaper exists, Selangor & KL edition, Terengganu edition, Kelantan edition, and a Pahang edition).

The news reporting is quite inclusive and matter of fact with a minimum of editorialising and even the editorials tend to be more community orientated than political commentaries without the tabloid-like "trash" that one would expect from newspapers like Harian Metro and the likes. Considering that the newstand price is just RM 1 per issue, its helluva good value for money as well although I wished they did have a bit more comic strips ;). Maybe a good experiment would be to do a translated strip of Doonesbury or Kee's World? That would mean some syndication fee though.

The Prayer of the Children
- Kurt Bestor and Sam Cardon

Can you hear the prayer of the children?
On bended knee, in the shadow of an unknown room
Empty eyes with no more tears to cry
Turning heavenward toward the light

Another reminder from my friendly, neighbourhood ASBO Jesus :

More from ASBO* Jesus

An apt reminder after watching an episode of Hak Kami on NTV 7 that highlighted sexual harassment.

“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

- Matthew 5:27-28

Unfortunately, this is something that we hardly can avoid. I remember being adviced quite a while ago that even if I did not fall in the income tax bracket, it was always better to file my tax returns anyway as one never knows when one might need to have the records handy.

It used to be quite a drag filling in the tax forms and I have to appreciate the effort made by the IRB / LHDN (Internal Revenue Board / Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri) in simplifying the forms and providing pretty good guide booklets over the last few years. The LHDN has also been providing an online tax returns filing system available for the last 2 or 3 years. Unfortunately, they were using a very irritating PKI infrastructure for identity verification that made filing returns online a mystery for a lot of laypeople.

Some of my friends might remember how we improvised this from a photocopied piece of sheet music from an old copy of the Boys' Brigade's BB Gazette and made it in time (and apparently in tune) for the 1st Petaling Jaya Company's Enrolment Service in 1994. I finally found a video of BBC's Voice of Praise where this song was first sung in public :

We didn't do too badly now, did we?

We were close .. then we were estranged .. then he died ...

.. I don't think I ever told him I loved him ......

(yes .. I do have a life beyond social causes)

The history buff in me went WAH when I came across this blog entitled Reminiscence. Anybody know where I can get my hands on a copy of Prof. Khoo Kay Kim's "Teluk Anson (Teluk Intan) 100 Tahun" published by Persatuan Muzium Negara in 1982? A facsimile copy would do just fine!

This year the Lenten Spring begins a day before the Chinese Spring Festival (aka Chinese New Year). This is a welcome coincidence for me personally as the traditional austerity and reflectiveness of the Lenten season; while apparently stands diametrically opposed to the indulgences common during CNY, actually challenges me to grapple with these tensions of my conflicting desires and hold things in a balance.

Tomorrow Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the 40 days of Lent for Christians in anticipation of Easter and Chinese families gather together in reunion after a year away from each other while preparing to celebrate the coming of a new Lunar year. These supposedly contradictory raison d'etre for the festivals have for some reason converged pretty well and I extend these greetings to all ..

The mainstream media was singing praises of the Prime Minister's announcement of the launching of the Sabah Development Plan which promises a RM105 billion investment package and 900,000 new jobs over the next 18 years amongst other things. This, of course, comes very closely in the wake of a bold statement by a local Barisan Nasional apparatchik that the Opposition will not be able to create an upset in the state and topple the incumbent administration.

Maybe that's why the powers that be found it necessary to reach deep into the people's money and give back some to the people themselves. Then again, its still just talk. They've promised quite a bit to the people of the Land Below the Wind just to topple what was then the only other state to be administered by a party that wasn't from the incumbent ruling coalition in the Federal administration. How much of those promises have been fulfilled, I'll leave that for Sabahans to fill us in.

Apparently the blog advertising network; Advertlets; allowed their domain to expire and all blogs that carried their ad snippet were temporarily hijacked by Adbaaz. If the latter name sounds familiar to you, especially if you're privy to discussions online on security and privacy, its because its a pretty notorious advertising network that uses somewhat gray methods including browser hijacking to disseminate the ads on their network.

Anyway, if you're in a fix over this, the fix-it is to remove the Advertlets ad code from your template code and to clear your browser's cookies and cache.

Speaking of domain expiries, I just made payment to my host but I think I might be a little too late to prevent the hosting from being temporarily suspended. Hehe. So this site might be down for a day or so.

And I've been a little tied down lately babysitting my 3 year old for the last week or so. The new term of her pre-school only started on the 3rd. That kinda explains my absense from blogging. So that's that for now. Will try to update later if my payment clears in time and the hosting doesn't get suspended. :)

This letter was sent to the Reb from the family of the late Kerk Zi-On, the Malaysian student who recently lost his life in Australia after saving the life of another :

Dear friends and family members,

These past 20 days have been the most traumatic and painful time for our family.

As the search turns from survival to body search, it is difficult to come to terms with ourselves that our dear son and brother Zi On will no longer come home.

May the coming year be a better one for all of us. Just remember, we do have to work to actually make it a good one.

When Rav Shaul HaTarsi wrote his letter to Timotheus, the bishop of Ephesus, he counselled the latter to "stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses." (1 Timothy 5:23). All I can say is .. lucky fellows.

We had a pretty delightful; if somewhat low priced; bottle of 2005 vintage Chalk Hill Blue Shiraz Cabernet from Angove's opened yesterday. This wine is a deep ruby colour, with intense strawberry, plum and spicy rhubarb fruit aromas. The palate is medium weight with a persistent strawberry fruit flavour (I'm not making this up .. that's what some reviewer had to say about it).

Anyway, as delightful as it was, I could only imbibe in no more than 2 glasses before I had to reach out for my supply of Dhamotil. I'm pretty certain it isn't Angove's fault. Maybe I should stick to Cabernet Sauvignon. Sigh ....

Anyway .. have a restful Boxing Day. I know I need it.

The year that was and the year that is to come makes it so easy for one to despair. And yet it is this season that reminds one of the blessed hope that came to us in the form of a helpless baby and who remains with us today as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace ..

Christmas Bells
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
    And wild and sweet
    The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
    Had rolled along
    The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

The inevitable year end travelling has started and this blog will probably remain quiet until after Christmas. The year that was has had a lot of negativity and seems to be ending with a note of negativity as well. Nonetheless, there's still a lot to be thankful of and look forward to in the coming new year.

I finally got around to using the gift certificate that I got for my birthday and purchased the following books. If I were using my own money, I'd probably have blown my book purchase quota until mid February at the very least :

• Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2008
  
  Ireland Jesuit Communication Centre (September 2007)
  

  This book, as with the website, guides the reader, simply and gently, through a few stages of preparation. Each week begins with “Something to think and pray about each day this week”, then six small “Stages of Prayer” leading into a short piece of scripture with points to help us think about the text and make it relevant to our daily lives. This sacred space in one’s day can be anywhere at any time – on a park bench, at home, the office, the beach – a time to quietly connect with God. A time to be consoled, healed, challenged and transformed.

• The Cost of Discipleship
  Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Touchstone Edition (September 1995)
  

  What can the call to discipleship, the adherence to the word of Jesus, mean today to the businessman, the soldier, the laborer, or the aristocrat? What did Jesus mean to say to us? What is his will for us today? Drawing on the Sermon on the Mount, Dietrich Bonhoeffer answers these timeless questions by providing a seminal reading of the dichotomy between "cheap grace" and "costly grace." "Cheap grace," Bonhoeffer wrote, "is the grace we bestow on ourselves...grace without discipleship....Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the girl which must be asked for, the door at which a man must know....It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."

When the people who tell you to go update your blog tends to be people who either don't blog or keep secret blogs ;)

Anyway, I've been a bit busy of late helping a friend re-develop an online jazz portal; All Dat Jazz; and a few other websites. But I guess I'm not too busy to wish all my Muslim friends and visitors ..

It is my duty to babysit my three (soon to be four) year old eldest daughter on Saturdays as my wife works full days. As you can imagine, this usually isn't very conducive for blogging or for anything else for that matter.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy hanging out with my kid and can't wait for the youngest one to be old enough to interact. We do pretty fun stuff together and she tends to get away with more when she's with me then when she's with mom .. well .. at least I'd like to think so.

Great God who knowest all our needs
Bless Thou our watch and guard our sleep
Forgive our sins of thought and deed
And in Thy peace They servants keep

We thank Thee for the day that's done
We trust Thee for the days to be
Thy love we learn in Christ Thy son
O may we all His glory see. Amen

Credits :

• The Vesper Hymn
  Choral performance by The Boys' Brigade in Singapore
• Photo of the Kerks
  Courtesy of Ocean Biru

9 people were arrested this morning in events related to the Malaysian Bar Council's celebration of Human Rights Day and another 2 arrested in Melaka and Johor Bahru respectively in relation to BERSIH's mass gathering for electoral reform. The 9 people arrested are :

• Sivarasa Rasiah
• N. Surendran
• Amer Hamzah
• Eric Paulsen
• Anthony Andu
• Noorazah Othman
• Latheefa Koya
• Edmond Bon

whereas the BERSIH arrests are :

• Tian Chua
• Mat Sabu
  who incidentally was arrested in the middle of his daughter's wedding

The way I see it, things have to change - a new leadership that will have the necessary political will to clean house before the whole edifice collapses due to neglect, apathy and greed.

The Reb has been consistently updating his blog with news updates on Zi-On, who's currently still missing after rescuing a Korean tourist whom he hardly knew (HT: James). Apparently there was also a British guy who participated in the rescue of the tour group that got caught in the rip current but the news reports unfortunately omitted that fact.

The Reb's latest post carried some quotes from Zi-On's family as they cling on to some small hope that Zi-On might have survived the incident and as they find comfort in his act of heroism :

"He was always helping people. He has such a kind nature. It's just like him to do something like this .. He's not a big guy. He's like a stick and he was not a strong swimmer . . . It's such a shock .. He will always be my older brother."

- Kerk Zi-Lu, younger brother

More news available from Google News' aggregator here.

The inevitable question would eventually arise, if it hasn't already, about where God was in all this. This is one question that has never had an easy answer but it isn't a new one. The history of humanity is full of tragedy - and sometimes it takes the big picture to see the silver lining behind the dark clouds. Perhaps when we stop looking at individualism as a virtue by itself (with its accompanying "bless me" attitude prevalent in some theistic circles), would such questions become irrelevant.

Having said that, I am still holding on to hope; trusting nonetheless in God's comfort for those who are worried and grieving at the moment ..

I overheard a conversation between two Christians where the older of the two asked the younger one what did the person aspire to be. The younger person said that she wanted to make a difference in which the sagely advice from the older person was something along these lines;

Oh! It's all very well to fight for social justice and advocate change, but not to the extent of taking to the streets

Hmm .. well apart from the fact that the "taking to the streets" part of the advice was a bit out of context in view of the conversation, it got me thinking .. how then would Christians react if we were subject to the same type of abuse that a lot of our less economically empowered Hindu compatriots had to go through over the last few years. Some hypothetical scenarios came to mind ..

I was just cued in by the Reb that the son of a mutual friend of ours is missing at sea in Australia. Zi-On, the eldest son of Mr & Mrs Kerk Choon Keng from Teluk Intan was swept off by a riptide after he successfully helped rescue a woman who was in danger of drowning. He is still missing at this moment and his parents have just left tonight for Australia.

The Kerks are long time members of Teluk Intan's Wesley Methodist Church and I remember Zi-On as a young boy and also as a strapping teenager when he was with the 1st Teluk Intan Company of The Boys' Brigade who eventually became a Sergeant in the same Company and successfully attained the President's Award in 2000.

Do keep Zi-On in your prayers and also pray that God will comfort his family in this anxious time.

News reports from the Australian media regarding the incident is included below :

The chapter is meant to be closed .. trying hard to close it

Don't damn me
When I speak a piece of my mind
'Cause silence isn't golden
When I'm holding it inside
'Cause I've been where I have been
An I've seen what I have seen
I put the pen to the paper
'Cause it's all a part of me

Be it a song or casual conversation
To hold my tongue speaks
Of quiet reservations
Your words once heard
They can place you in a faction
My words may disturb
But at least there's a reaction

I need some space and some time to work out some issues. Don't ask me what issues they are. I haven't figured it out myself either. Depression can hit like a fog; subtle, imperceptible, unrealised until one is totally enveloped in it. Good luck trying to figure out what's around you in those circumstances.

And contrary to the perceptions of some, I am NOT incommunicado. I can be reached. I may not be reaching out by choice but I am not cutting myself totally from the rest of the world. Its like I wanna talk about it but I don't wanna talk about it - probably because I don't know what the heck it is that I'm supposed to be talking about. Heck, why would I even be putting this up on my publicly accessible blog if it weren't some bloody subconscious cry for help.

But this does go out to family, friends, employers and well meaning strangers - I am confronting and working on some inner demons right now. They couldn't have picked a worst time to surface but surfaced they did. And if I seem to be much more introverted and antisocial than usual and have been inexplicably missing from my normal routine; or routine that's expected from me .. I apologise sincerely. But I do need some friggin' space.

We just concluded the wake for my late father and he was cremated at the Temoh Crematorium near Kampar, Perak this morning. We will be collecting his ashes tomorrow and placing them in the columbarium at the Temoh necropolis. The coming Qing Ming is gonna be a busy one with family memorials scattered all over the southern and central regions of Perak state.

The amount of e-mails, comments and SMS text messages I've received from friends and visitors were all very touching. In times like these, we remember our own common humanity and mortality despite our differences. It would be quite demanding to respond to each and all individually so I'd like to use this post as an opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to all for your kind thoughts and help in their different