THE CHRISTMAS STORY FORETOLD IN THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN

Christmas has never stop to mesmerize me - even as it becomes part of the you-must-do kind of event annually. As anticipated, merry makings, goodies, presents, santa claus etc. are the highlights of the day. Minus the part of which I'm no more fit to experience the wonder of Christmas like in the good old days (everybody was once a child), this year's celebration is somewhat different. Better still, I managed to celebrate it in Fukuoka, Japan.

To cut long story short, I attended the Christmas Eve at Itoshima surrounded by melting pot of people. In no time, I found myself to be in a bunch of Americans and Japanese! There at a corner, I stood as I introduced myself to a mid-50 years old man sitting next to me. Though I appreciated his effort in trying to engage in a conversation with me, we both literally speak in body languages. Thanks to his so-so English, my terrible Japanese and the art of body language! They seem to flow gracefully together. Not to forget the nimble mind too.

After countless fingers' flicking, hands moving and face expressions exchanged between us, I allowed my mind to be in harmony with the song "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" that came from the sound of the organ played by the pastor who administered the church. For a moment, I was picturing choirs of angels trotting on clouds with Gabriel leading the way, as the pastor's dainty fingers danced on the keyboard. Such a soothing moment - well at least for someone who is far from home that is.

With the theme 最初のクリスマス (The First Christmas), the service started with a play that went back to some 2010 years ago where the baby Jesus was born in a manger in the small town of Bethlehem. The performance was awesome beyond words to describe and I would say best actor should go to the baby Jesus - simply because he is a baby (a real cute kicking baby!). I believed he took away all the glory that night as the crowd focused their attention to him. Best part is, in the middle of a dialogue, he cried up to the point that required a short break just to get him out of scene. I can't help but to name him as the next Robin Williams as the crowd burst into laughter!

We had coffee and some home-made tidbits after service. I managed to chat with some new faces and luckily this time body languages are off the table. A couple of words exchanged with the pastor's little son named Kento-kun turned out to be amusing as he thought me Japanese phonetically - fresh from a 10 years old! Then, met with Bob and his wife Joan Verme - an American couple which has been living in Japan for the last 40 years as missionary. Will elaborate more about them later.

As I went for a refill of my hot chocolate drink which happened to be irresistible that particular night - I don't know why either - I came across Zack and his brother Jack (both are the sons of one of the church members I regularly attend in Meinohama). We exchanged stories of Christmas. Both kids shared their stuff like an epic. They really enjoy their holidays and how they effortlessly beg for presents from Santa when Christmas is approaching. Both kids may not said it straight but they are all written in their cute little eyes of American and Japanese parentage.

On the way back to hostel, one can vividly witnessed the colorful buildings and streets decorated with lights. Not to mention the 24 hours non-stop recording of famous Christmas songs like "Feliz Navidad" and "We wish you a Merry Christmas" all the way. One who do not know the Japanese culture well, might be made into believing that most of them are Christians. But, they are not. On the other hand, according to the local pastor just now, only 0.99% of the total population of Japan are Christians. Most of them are either Shintos or Buddhists.

Nonetheless, I feel a little bit shocked. Sincerely, I appreciate their acknowledgment of Christmas by putting up lights and Christmas trees around but, I believed to know the real purpose of Christmas in commemorating Jesus's birth as the savior is more important. To do something without knowing the purpose of doing it, is like driving a car to a middle of no where on the interstates! Yup, one may had the fun of it but to what extend? Anyway, I'm not here to pass on criticism whatsoever. Before long, I found myself in front of the university's bus station entrance.

Next day, I had a memorable dinner together with Duane, Brian and the Vermes as we discussed about broad topics of interests. From religion to America, from baseball to Sumo, California and Malaysia etc. A game called "Upwords" concluded the evening as we played. Frankly, it was my first time of playing. The game is just like "Scrabble" - words game but in contrast to scrabble, the alphabets can be on top of each other as long as it carries a meaning. Also, the board is half the size of Scrabble. Duane (the reigning champion) scored the highest points followed closely by Brian in the second place. I only managed to secure third place, a step ahead of Joan. I bet that was a gesture of kindness as an advantage to a newcomer, isn't it? LOL. Truly, it made my day guys! Ah, almost forgot, Dibby! The well-mannered dog belongs to the Vermes.

Till the next posting.

PUBLIC AMENITIES @ "AMIN"+ ITIES

The issue of our public amenities needs no introduction. It has been always household word for quite a time now though various campaigns or slogans like "Keep Clean" or "Jagalah Kebersihan Tandas Awam" being implemented, still people are just plain ignorant - waiting for it to resolve itself maybe?

It is reported that today, Bintulu Development Authority (BDA) for example, spent RM30 million yearly to repair and maintain public amenities in Bintulu (BorneoPost). In Kuching, PE Land Sdn Bhd, which manages The Spring, Joanna Ling said management spent an avarage of RM5000/month for 6 toilets in the mall (MBKS). Let's do a simple math shall we. Imagine there's 30 toilets more like the one in The Spring, monthly expenditure for that alone will be RM30,000/month which is equivalent to RM360,000/year. Not much? Remember, it's just toilets maintenance alone. Public amenities can be of other public usage structures like bus stops, markets, public phones, gardens etc.

Interestingly, if we are to total up everything together, the amount of money used just to repair and maintain public amenities alone culminates to around hundreds of million a year! That's a lot of money over petty issue don't they?

I called it petty because in other countries, public amenities are not as big an issue. This is because their authorities know exactly what the word amenity really is. Oxford English Dict. defines amenity as a building or a place that is pleasant, useful and desirable to go. That explains why in developed country like Japan their amenities look like the pictures below.

As you can see, the toilet summarizes the meaning of the word amenity into details. The bus station need not has formal bench for the public to wait because they follow the schedule strictly. In the case of Japan, it's every 15minutes for rural areas and 5-7minutes in big cities. Proper schedule couples with a conducive public-friendly environment amenities, they exploit them to the fullest. Even if the price of such amenities are slightly higher in relative to normal one but in the long run, the authorities need not to spend millions for the repair. Simply because it is up to standard and user friendly!

However, in our case, these kind of amenities - user friendly and pleasant, the way they should be - seem not fit in. Simply because our amenities are just 'amin'+ities. Local word for it will be 'boleh la.. amin jak.. asal siap' kind of mentalities.

The government promised to uplift our public amenities by granting great amount of budget for that purpose in RMK8 but where's my modern toilets or convenient buses as promised? There has been speculation that along the way, the money was somehow leaked by unaccountable c*cksuck*rs. I wanted to believe that those claims are just mumbo-jumbo. However, if it's true, then please stop it right away because we the 'rakyat' deserved our part in truly enjoy our amenities!

Every now and then, vandalism worsen every year. They claimed it was due to pre-matured teenagers etc. but on the other way round, why don't the authority check it first on their side by taking into consideration of the specifications of the amenities? Does it up to standard? Is it pleasant enough to enjoy? I hate to say this but should the authority optimize their budget rather than apple polishing to satisfy oneself, vandalism as we know it shall perish. If not all, I am positive a great number of it shall be minimized.

Let's think of our public amenities as our own belongings. You don't simply vandalize your own house don't you? If you do, then you'll be exempted from a meal or two as punishment. What if in the case of public amenities, if you vandalize, your rights to town are denied for 1-2 years, will you survive?

Above all, the time has come for all of us both the authority and the public to get serious in our public amenities matter. For example, the authority should from now devise a method to ensure that future made amenities agree to standard - or the least is pleasant to the user as the word amenity really means. "AMIN"+ITIES mentality should therefore be revisited. The public most importantly must impart the habit of regarding public amenities as their own home. By this way, they'll made into thinking twice of whether to vandalize or to be scrutinized later.

AND SO THE FLOODING BEGINS...

It is reported that on friday (15/10/2010), the flooding of South East Asia's largest dam - Bakun Dam - has begun. The construction of the controversial dam which started in 1994 has been always in hassle due to various reasons such as the 1997 Asian financial crisis, internal conflict of interest among parties involved, environmental and social damage link problems. Expected to be in operation by 2003, the fate of the dam is finally sealed today in 2010 amidst all the hiccups.

However, here are some interesting facts known about the dam:

1. It will generate 2,400 MW of electricity (equivalent to Doel nuclear power station in Belgium)

2. Be the tallest concrete faced rockfill dam (CFRD) in the world

3. Be the largest hydroelectric dam in Malaysia

4. It will cover an area of 700km sq. of land underwater - the size of Singapore

5. Some 9,000 natives (Kayan/Kenyah) indigenous people have been relocated

6. About 230km sq. of virgin tropical rainforest had been cut down

7. Thousands of exotic tropical biodiversity ecology perished

8. Other environmental fallouts i.e. illegal logging, poaching and water-borne diseases

Though Sarawak's initiative of planning ahead some 20-30 years down the road is commendable, construction of such mega project - if not properly addressed - may invoke great appraisal from the public. For example, if we are to weight the whole chronology of the Bakun Dam and the purpose of it's construction against all the losses (in terms of economic loss during the 1997 recession + social fallout impacts + environmental degradations) it brings, one can easily notice that the balance is justifiably tilted towards the latter! And yet you are suggesting of constructing another 12 more dams? Seriously, Sarawak needs an election... now!

Technically speaking - according to pre-conditional design specification - dam impoundment can only be commenced after a continuous 7 days of dry weather and a water depth of below 60m. However, in today's case as reported by the news, the flooding had already begun despite the conditions and protest from the Bakun folks which lodged a police report to halt the process earlier.

A critique suggested that the flooding is rather rush and improperly regulated since the people downstream were not being adequately inform of any kind of Emergency Rescue Plan should anything happen during the flooding. Also the compensation issue of the lands that has not settled till now - as we speak - is another thing! Interestingly, this is the MD and chief engineer of Sarawak Hydro, Zulkifle Osman's reply "We found that the weather was good enough in the past two days and the river level was safe, so we went ahead with the impoundment" Excuse me, I believed that's not how we engineers were thought back in faculty. We speak based on facts and figures. And unfortunately for Balui River, the fact is that on monday (11/10/10) there was an incident of a capsized longboat and the man is still missing! Safe huh?

As for Dato' Sri James Masing remark on the assurance that the people should not worry because the dam was build to last, let me correct you technically on that sir - in engineering, lifespan of each design process always has limitation otherwise great maintenance work is carried out. Even with rigorous maintenance check every now and then, nothing is build to last! Also about the promise that the government will compensate the Bakun folks in no due time, I'll say that's just another spin for the coming election. Why? Because they have been saying and keep on repeating that same cheap trick since the preliminary process of Bakun Dam in 1994.

I think Sarawakians agree to the notion of Bakun Dam - more electricity supply, more investors coming in to the state to set up their factories, more jobs created, less unemployment, high income generation per family and voila, everyone is happy! why not? - but the problem now that culminates amidst these chaos is only one simple thing i.e. the government is not transparent enough to the people. They refused to compensate the amount of pay for the lands deserved by the Bakun folks, rushed the flooding of the dam without prior notices and plundered the land intentionally savvy for themselves.

I used to remember my grandpa told me once that the politicians nowadays fight no more like their predecessors. In the old days, each representative fights for the plights of his/her people but today it is more likely that the he/she fights for himself, families and cronies.

Good news is, changing this we can as the electorates and the time is in the next coming election, if our politicians ceased to behave.

Till the next posting.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE

Since 1981, the world has come together to celebrate the annual 'International Day of Peace (IDP)' on September 21st every year aiming to promote peace, ceasefire and non-violence throughout the globe. Today, after almost 20 years of implementation, one can be sure of it's prevailing successes in maintaining global stability in unison.

Speaking of peace - in split seconds - one's thought will be characterized by pictures of war, disputes among nations, political stability of a country etc. Because peace is very synonymous with war free zone, we often neglect the kind of threats that may affect our peaceful existence in terms of security, sovereignty, sensitivity, social beings etc. Rarely a case whereby social hassles and impending natural disasters occurred in our mind. Critiques may argue that since social welfare and disasters alike are both internal problems within a nation's jurisdiction to combat, thus we assumed that everybody is in peace. In short, our interpretation is: No War = Peace.


However, looking at the world today, even if there was no war or disputes in a particular country, still there is no peaceful atmosphere engulfing the whole lot once the way things used to be were not in their proper set anymore. For instance, the existence of such driving forces such as the financial system and globalization, that maneuver the world today towards the destination - by default - they prefer to go, is gradually taking it's toll in plummeting world peace.

Globalization believed to benefit both investors and the host country, in the end, guarantees the latter's downfall as can be seen in the 1997/1998 Asian Financial Crisis. Win-win situation type of trades believed to deliver positive impacts to both parties, at last proved to be loop-sided. Third party involvement in engaging disputes among nations planned to end it once and for all, over time proved to be a political move deployed to gain control of the country's richness. Hence, you tell me, can those innocence who are to be the preys of such deprived situations be counted as peaceful even without 'literal' war?

Though the effort of making the world a better place to stay - by initiating IDP - is commendable, the fact remains that we are presently being coerced to face new kind of threat which transcend all nationalities and boundaries as stated above.

World War I & II may had become part of human history and they deserve condemnation of highest degree, but what about these 'virtual' wars? If they can make a stop to barbaric warheads, why not apply the same principles to globalization as well? If the idea of globalization is indeed proved to be beneficial to the parties involved, then get on with it but should it be a liability and cause detrimental effects to the people, why hesitate?

All in all, I'm grateful for this peaceful nation of mine, Malaysia. I hope you too will enjoy your peaceful time in your respective country with the spirit of fully in grasp of being peaceful and echoes it's chimes to a better melody - by choice - you want it to be!

Till the next posting.