Category: Article (Page 1 of 3)

I recently attended a forum organised by the alumni association of my alma mater, titled ‘What Must Malaysia Do Differently?‘, featuring Dr Amani Salim, Dr Nungsari Ahmad Radhi, and Professor Dr Ramlee Mustapha, and moderated by Dali Abdul Latiff Aw. It wasn’t one of those forums where everyone politely agrees with each other, nods sagely, and leaves feeling reassured that “something should be done.”

Quite the opposite.

It was one of those rare conversations that left me rather unsettled. The kind that lingers in your head long after the drive home and supposedly just Netflix and chill on a Saturday night.

Four things, in particular, have stayed with me.

Salaam Dato’ Saifuddin and Saudara Khairy

I write to you to express my thoughts about Utusan Malaysia’s rather incendiary headline recently and the leadership’s statement about the Chinese being ungrateful from the outcome of the recent General Elections. I choose to write to you since you’re the closest people within my age group and that I share your vision of progressive politics. My voice is not loud but I hope it is heard by you and thus be counted, conveyed and amplified for the leadership to hear and listen.

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by Ahmad Izham Omar

Assalamualaikum

This is where it all started. SMSS is where it all started. Di bumi SMSS inilah saya mendapat inspirasi hidup saya. I am not saying this because I have to speak in front of all of you. I am not saying this because the organizers have told me to “Izham tolong cakap bagus-bagus pasal SMSS and pasal macamana SMSS ni tolong Izham dalam kerjaya Izham sebab ni Homecoming Dinner”. I am saying this because it is true. This is where it all started.

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by Ahmad Izham Omar (The New Straits Times, March 30, 2009)

Music?

“Why did you go into music? Why did music become your career of choice?”

I’ve been asked this many times throughout my life.

Right now I’d like to declare that sometimes these questions are not the sincere hey-that’s-interesting-tell-me-more-cos-I-want-to-find-out! type. No-sirree.

Sometimes these questions are more the don’t-you-have-something-more-life-worthy-to-do-like-law-or-medicine-or-being-a-magistrate kind?

I think my fellow musicians will know exactly what I mean.

So for my very first foray in writing a column about music, I’d like to defend my fellow musicians, music students, rocker wannabes and anybody who have stepped into the seemingly deep, dark and dangerous world of being a music professional.

For after years of being peppered with this cynical and slightly sinister line of questioning, I have learnt to turn the tables around and come out victorious. After years of pressure, I have learnt how to reply with a strong conviction.

Yes people, after many years under this verbal oppression, I can now answer the question “Why did you take up music?” with confidence, a huge smile on my face and a dash of the oh-so-cool professionalism that would actually even induce relief from the listening party.

Indulge me.

So why music?

IT HELPS TO OPEN UP YOUR MIND

Music is not simply a random placing of musical notes. There are strict structures and rules that every musician needs to follow, yes, even punk rockers.

From just 12 notes, millions of different songs have come through the ages sounding individually different (well, unless, my friend, you’ve been listening to the Stock, Aitken and Waterman productions for Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue).

And the most skillful of musicians can effortlessly improvise, creating an instant work of art on top of a strict timing structure and from only 12 notes.

It’s like painting a masterpiece on top of a strict mathematical equation and limited tools. A dazzling combination of fluidity and logic, all culminating in a work of spontaneous and instant art from the most scarce of resources.

Yes, music teaches us to be creative on our feet, knowing that there will always be a new way to do something, that there will be more than one solution to any situation even with limited options (I can hear the collective sigh of relief from all of you who are currently sending your children to music classes now).

Even doctors agree, dispensing numerous tips on getting unborn babies to listen to Bach. Bach and Baroque music is sublimely beautiful and yes, ingeniously arithmetic.

By now, the person listening to my answer of “Why music?” would already be preparing a “But music is not astrophysics, my friend” reply. But before he or she could utter those words I would then quickly say…

MUSIC TEACHES YOU TEAMWORK

Nothing beats the teamwork of a group of musicians that play together. They interact with one another, allowing each musician to explore his or her instrument creatively, yet everyone works together to make beautiful music.

Listen to the ways arrangers would put together different musical instruments to create different moods.

Each instrument has its own part, but in an ensemble they contribute to create a work of art more beautiful than they could have achieved alone.

MUSIC IS WORK THAT ACTUALLY MEANS SOMETHING

I love the different feelings I get when I listen to different music. People say that music is the soundtrack of our lives. I truly and wholeheartedly believe in that statement.

We remember different snatches of music when we remember different memories. Music would be able to make us laugh, cry, feel depressed or elated, sometimes both at the same time.

In other words, music makes us feel alive.

Isn’t it great that we are able to be involved in works that capture the imaginations of people? Isn’t it great that we get to make a very powerful product, able to stir up emotions in people on a daily basis? (let’s see astrophysics do that)

And isn’t it great that we can contribute to the progression and evolution of our very own culture?

And believe you me, this piece of our culture, if done right, could be a potentially lucrative export.

We have the songwriters, we have the producers; heck, we even have the talent. All we need is a strong foundation to launch. And being a part of the creation of that foundation is not just a job, my friend. It’s a calling.

And usually by this time, the listener to my passionate defence of my fellow musicians would be heaving a sigh of relief, finally converted to be a fan of the music industry, and would walk away feeling that maybe he or she should do more to encourage young people to enter the music industry.

So do you believe me now? That we choose music because it makes us more creative human beings? Because we can contribute to the national interest? Because we can bring joy to the masses? Because we can export our culture to the world arena? Because we have a noble mission?

Yeah, right.

Let me to tell you the real reason. It’s for the screaming girls.

Have you seen how their eyes light up when you play an instrument? Woo hoooooo…

The writer is CEO of 8TV, Head of Media Prima Radio Networks (HOTfm, FLYfm and ONEfm) and director of Monkey Bone Records.

from The New Straits Times: Dewan Dispatches on March 23, 2009

In his socio-political piece de resistance, Dr Mahathir envisioned radical concepts of Malay ownership of Malaysia – Malays are the indigenous race of Malaysia, the national language is Bahasa Melayu which must be learned and conversed by other races, Malays’ tolerance and non-confrontational nature allowed them to be subjugated in their own land by the other races with the collusion of the British and an affirmative action programme later headlined as the NEP must be instituted to check Malaysian Chinese economic dominance. He reconstituted it yesterday.

His 1970 masterpiece has been resurrected with an aggressive undertone that reprised his ideas into a more cogent appraisal of all things current. Call it The Malay Dilemma: Redux, an extensive missive detailing the daunting critique of probable Malay dispossession.

How fitting it is that a little under a year after he left the party over repugnant differences with the current Umno leadership over the direction the party was headed, Dr Mahathir employed his “political wilderness” as an influential platform for discourse, experimenting with novel ideas and the occasional critique of the political leaders’ style of administration and what he sees as “oblique” polices.

Here are excerpts of his declaration yesterday at a summit on Malay supremacy: “Today’s situation is more dangerous than the time of the British when they planned to conquer all the Malay states under the Malayan Union precept. Now, Malays cannot describe this state as a Malay state, cannot describe this state as the Malay Peninsula. Japan can be called a Japanese state, Korea as a state for Koreans, China as a state for the Chinese and India as a state for the Indians. Previously, it was possible but not now. Now Malaysia is everybody’s right but not a Malay right. The willingness of the Malays to share ownership of this country is not a little bit appreciated. The bestowing of one million citizenships by Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra to the other races is not only not appreciated but unremembered, forgotten just like that…”

“Malays are said to be immigrants in their own state and other immigrants cannot be referred to as the immigrant race. If anyone does that, they have to apologise (but) nobody needs to apologise if they say Malays are an immigrant race…If Malays are not allowed to talk about their own problems, there is a possibility they will become dispossessed in their own country. This is the dangerous truth because we have seen the pressure and the contempt towards the Malays when they became a minority in a region that was once a part of the Malay states.”

“Nevertheless, I dare say this a bit about the Malays in Malaysia although I will be accused of being a racist. I emboldened myself because Malays are practically in state of emergency, afflicted with all kinds of problems and threats…”

Dr Mahathir also reserved some of his captious remarks on Chinese educationist group Dong Jiao Zong, dismissing them as “racists” who practised apartheid. “We proposed that everyone study together in one school, then only can you have bangsa Malaysia. They did not want to mix with the other races, especially the Malays. They did not want their children to mix with Malays and that is apartheid, not us,”.”

Dr Mahathir’s remonstration caused MCA Youth some measure of hyperventilation, its Youth chief Datuk Wee Ka Siong retaliating by characterising Dr Mahathir’s accusation as baseless and made with ulterior motive. “If the Chinese educationists and the Chinese community do not like to mingle with other races, I would like to inform him that almost 90 per cent of the students that complete their primary studies at Chinese vernacular schools continue on in national secondary schools,” he told a news conference at the Parliament lobby.

But Dr Mahathir’s strongest carping was rained on the Malays themselves like a smart bomb manipulated to hit a precise target. Here’s another striking assessment, which had been Dr Mahathir’s repetitive theme during his administration years. “…Malays are self-destructive. They don’t want to capitalise on opportunities presented to them. University places are not taken. Business opportunities are abused. Malay youths don’t want to study, preferring to loaf around or become Mat Rempits. The majority of Malaysians abusing drugs are Malays; the ones infected with HIV-AIDS are mostly Malays while rape and other crime cases are mainly Malays. The ones who failed in business are mostly Malays, debt delinquents are Malays, dishonoured contracts are Malays too, the AP predilection involves Malays too…”

“We don’t want to hear all this. We are humiliated. But if these problems are not voiced out, the problems do not disappear by themselves. Other people know it too. Better to be humiliated if it makes some of us aware and they change their habits to avoid committing the same mistakes. The ones who don’t care about being humiliated, it is all right. It’s improbable to make us all aware. The ones being hit will always be hit…”

At its national assembly on Sunday attended by 1,500 participants from 65 NGOs, Malay right-wing group Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa, led by the indomitable Ibrahim Ali, unanimously adopted a 10-point resolution that urges the safeguarding and defence of Malays’ special rights, supremacy and monarchy. Ibrahim stepped up the ante by challenging Umno to adopt some of Perkasa’s determination when the party assembles this week. It was not startling that Perkasa advocated resolutions based on the principles stated by Dr Mahathir. “We want Umno to be watchdogs, to be the eyes and ears to ensure our resolution can be adopted by the administration,” he told the media at the Parliament lobby.

It is intriguing how Dr Mahathir felt the pulse of seminal Malay problems that had been ignored for a two generations. If we were to review the progress of the generations since the New Economic Policy was implemented, Malay economic proliferation had always been an imperative while social deterioration, especially the ones placed under the glaring spotlight again by Dr Mahathir, had been treated with somnambulist insistence.

Al-Ma’unah, incest rape, ritual killings, black magic, hexing, slander, character assassinations, poison-penned Internet postings and SMS texts, chronic drug abuse, homicide, infanticide, parricide, corruption…a sickening list of the gloomy and the grotesque, the mysterious and the violent, germinating within an environment of degeneration and decay as the horrors and the disease that pervade the Malay psyche unfurled.

Dr Mahathir’s latest provocation may be embraced wholeheartedly or be disregarded with the aplomb of the same kind of caricature politics that had besmirched the classic ideals of Malay leadership. Forty years past, Dr Mahathir has been proven the visionary that he is, authoritative in his management of people and tough in the defence of his policies.

Nevertheless, his army of virulent critics will delight in lambasting, ridiculing and molesting his prescience. Dr Mahathir is used to that hostility. But, can we afford to ignore him?

by Mack Zulkifli of Brand New Malaysian (http://www.brandmalaysia.com/) Originally posted on October 26, 2005

Something happened to me recently, which set a few of my friends to put aside their routine to come visit me. As it happens, most of them came during the day, and while I am fasting, those of not my faith were not. When I offered them refreshments, they looked alarmed and asked if I was not fasting.

My reply was always the same. “I am fasting, but you are not.”

I feel it would be very rude of me to deny them any refreshment, as it seemed like a pretty hot and humid afternoon, and they probably would have been driving for some time to reach my place. What sort of a host would I be?

I even made a friend of mine burgers. Did I feel like having one myself. I bloody well did, to be honest. I love those things and there’s always a pack in my freezer, waiting for me to flip them on a hot plate enroute to my tummy.

But that’s not the point.

A question of respect?

I have thoughtful colleagues and friends who respect the fact that I am fasting, and refrain from eating and drinking in front of me. Don’t get me wrong, for this they have my sincere appreciation. More than that, they have my admiration for being the kind souls they are.

However, sometimes they might forget. Like what happened recently.

I was in a friends office during lunchtime, playing chess. It gets boring in the afternoon, and I needed something to keep my mind sharp. As he humoured me with a game, his colleague came back with a Mickey D value meal. As he was probably thinking about his next move, he slipped open the packing and munched on his Big Mac (the burger, not me.)

I did not think much of it. We continued our game of chess until I had to rush off for an appointment.

As I reached the exit, a malay friend of mine tapped me on the shoulder. He remarked what an ass my friend was for eating in the office, in front of other Muslim staff who were fasting. He demanded to know why I had not said anything, as he was my friend. I shrugged and left, late as I was for a meeting.

As I sat in the car, I thought about it. Why must we be insulted by the sight of another person eating? It’s his right. He did not steal our money to buy his burger in the first place, did he? All he did was have his lunch, at his work cubicle and for what it’s worth, he probably did not give it much of a thought, so engrossed was he in the game against what must be at least a small-time grandmaster and high wizard of the chequered boards. (Incidentally, that would be me.)

Look at it this way. We are supposed to understand what it means to not have what we take for granted normally, during Ramadhan, and that includes food. Put ourselves in the place of a person who cannot afford a Big Mac, let alone basic food as sustanence. At one time or another, he might be in the company of a person who is munching down a Big Mac. How would he feel?

Instead of ranting about how said person was being disrespectful, we should reflect on how people who have not lives side by side with the haves of this world.

How these would like a decent home, but live in a shack while working as a gardener in a sprawling estate, whose guard house is probably bigger than his home.

How a person who has to take the bus to work, sometimes in the pouring rain, has to clean the Mercedes of his boss in the morning, before he drives him to work.

You get my point.

Respect is given, and seldom gotten by asking

So the non-muslims around us respect us enough not to eat in our presence during fasting month. Do we. at the end of it all, just spare a second to thank them for it? Perhaps not.

Yet, irregardless if it was intentional or otherwise, should they eat in front of us, why do we reserve the right to chastise them. It’s their right. They do not owe it to us to go hungry, just because our religion dictates that we cannot eat at that time. Why impose on them? Why bitch about it. If we do, I think my Muslim breathrens have completely missed the point of Ramadhan.

Life must go on as usual. Fasting should never be a reason to inconvenience others, and whatever comes our way, we should take it within our stride and with humility. In fact, that should be the case all the time. That’s one of the reason we fast, for realisation. It’s not merely not eating, drinking, smoking and shagging (amongst other things.)

It is a time for self exploration. Let’s explore with an open mind.

Eat, drink and be merry

Coming from a Mamak household, my grandfather taught me that we should always make our guests leave feeling like they had a wonderful time visiting us. Whenever I entertain guests, it’s all about making them enjoy the hospitality of my humble abode, and my company. Eat, drink and be merry. While I tone that down during Ramadhan, I cannot see myself denying them a drink to quench their thirst, or a small bite for their kids (and themselves too) should hunger pangs strike.

They need not even ask, for knowing them, they would never do so. However, I feel for them. It’s hot and they took the trouble to drive in the hot sun to visit me. I owe it to them.

Ramadhan should not disrupt the lives of those around us. It should not even disrupt ours. We fast because we want to enrich our lives, in thankful gratitude for what we have.

I might not know a lot, but this Ramadhan, I know I am learning quite a bit.

— Mack

Diubah daripada lagu Seksis nyanyian Anita Sarawak
Lagu dan lirik asal oleh Edry KRU

Bila ku menjeling kau ‘kan tegur
Tak henti-henti membebel
Sampai ku tercabar
Sebelum bertarung kau dah pun kena singkir

Si gadis jalanan mengenyit mata
Stereotaip pun tak apa
Bila di jalanan kau tunjuk lawa
Mengalahkan Siti Nurhaliza

Oh mana keayuannya?
Balik-balik oh muka itu jua
Dahulu hingga kini
Kau memonopoli cuba menguasai
Diriku ini oh! Mana adil?

Jangan anggap ku sederhana
Hanya kerana aku jejaka
Walaupun tak setampan mana
Engkau pun apa kurangnya

Jangan ingat aku selamba
Nanti engkau pulak yang tercabar
Usahlah merayu lagi
Jelas sudah kau syok sendiri
Godaanmu akan ku tangkis
Kerana kau memang kaki kikis

Pabila ku ramah manis lidah
Kau tuduhku ‘tackle’ perempuan muda
Namun bila kau menggoda aku
Katamu kau terpikat padaku

Bukan main miang buat manja
Memang boros bila berbelanja
Hujung bulan tiba gajiku pula
Kau habiskan buat beli-belah

Oh mana keayuannya?
Asyik-asyik oh muka itu jua
Dahulu hingga kini
Bosan menguasai hingga makan diri
Sampai bila lagi?
Sudahlah pergi!

Jangan anggap ku sederhana
Hanya kerana aku jejaka
Walaupun tak setampan mana
Engkau pun apa kurangnya

Jangan ingat aku selamba
Nanti engkau pulak yang tercabar
Usahlah merayu lagi
Jelas sudah kau syok sendiri
Godaanmu akan ku tangkis
Kerana kau memang kaki kikis

Lirik saduran asal oleh icelemontea dipetik dari forum Cari.com.my.
Diubahsuai dan diremix oleh dJ phuturecybersonique.

Chorus:
Stop pickin’ on me
Because I’m a geek
I’m strange to you
You’re strange to me
Well one of these days
I’m gonna pack heat
Your brains on the wall
My face… my face on TV!

They dissipate the pungent odor of a power holder
Sand kickers coming sixty clicks upon the sonar
They’re gonna fold me over like a Trapper Keeper folder
If this was D&D, you’d see me jump into a portal
I’m a geek — spelled G-double-E-K
I meet my boys in the basement about every day
A card table, comic books and cans of coke
That we blow out of our nose after a Star Wars joke
We got style — tape on our glasses
Zits on our faces, and hair on our asses
Shiny shoes, belt buckles, and pocket protectors
Tricked out back packs like my main man Venkman’s
We got problems — namely the jocks
The SUV suckers with class rings on their cocks
Otherwise known as the motherfuckers touching the tit
If I was Wolverine, you’d hear my knuckles go, “SNIKT!”
I’m not perfect — the before picture of Peter Parker
I always trip and drop my tray in front of the girl that always sparkles
I got brains — fuck B’s and C’s
I got a grade point average higher than Hendrix on New Year’s Eve

(Chorus)

Don’t fuck with a geek just cuz he got a gift
You get in my way bitch, you get a Vulcan neck pinch
One night I didn’t go to sleep — up playing Risk
At dawn I won, got global dominance
But it in the hallway it’s completely different shit
Can’t get my locker open and my pants are always split
Can’t seem to catch a ride
Can’t ever get a date
But in my mind 7 of 9 thinks I’m great
Prom night bites! Primadonnas prevail
I’m at home reciting lines from “The Holy Grail”
Stuffed nose and some swollen glands
Never been kissed, never been holding hands
Just bust my biscuits over Britney in a bubble bath
Darth Vader with inhalers in case my lungs collapse
The dragon died from a heart attack
You may advance and yo, I upped your armor class
Being a geek, it aint so bad
I can’t get laid, I got Japanime stashed
And a mind jam packed with sci fi facts
Dreadnoks rock! Dinobots kick ass!

• Geek (Album Mix)
• Geek (It’s All Geek To Me Mix)

Yeahhh…
Karim Daud…
Dalam rumah…
Dengarkanlah…
Karim Daud…
Ahhh…
Yeahhh…

Dalam perjalanan ke rumah kawan
Yang tinggal beberapa lot dari rumah ku (oh)
Tengah aku jalan ke LRT
Agak-agak dalam pukul 3 suku

Di depan ku
Terdapat seorang madu yang badannya cantik gila
Dia tanya waktu
Aku jawab soalannya berharga namanya dan nombor enam digit dan dating bersamaku pukul 9 esok

Adakah dia tolak? Tidak
Dia tak kisah? Aku rasa tak
Adakah ia betul? Ya betul
Apakah perjanjiannya? Gadis cun umur 24
Apa dia cakap? Dia cakap dia nak
Lepas tu.. aa..dia tanya aku apa nak buat
Apa kata kita start dengan sebotol arak untuk dua

Isnin
Bawa dia minum hari Selasa
Kita berzina hari Rabu
Dan hari Khamis Jumaat Sabtu, tapi kita lepak hari Ahad
Jumpa dia Isnin
Bawa dia minum hari Selasa
Kita berzina hari Rabu
Dan hari Khamis Jumaat Sabtu, tapi kita lepak hari Ahad

1. Something For The People – My Love Is The…
2. Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds – #41 (Live at Luther College)
3. Big Punisher – Still Not A Player (feat. Joe)
4. Limp Bizkit – Nookie
5. Smashing Pumpkins – Landslide
6. Dave Matthews Band – Lover Lay Down
7. Lauryn Hill – Ex Factor
8. Limp Bizkit – Jump Around
9. Korn – Freak On A Leash
10. Dave Matthews Band – Crush
11. TLC – No Scrubs
12. Tyrese – Lately
13. Radiohead – Paranoid Android
14. Heather Nova – What A Feeling
15. TV Themes – Theme From Felicity
16. Amy Jo Johnson – Puddle Of Grace
17. SWV – Can We Get Kinky Tonight
18. Delinquent Habits – Underground Connection
19. SWV – Rain
20. Eric Benet – Spend My Life With You (Duet with Tamia)