07.18.06
Wake up and smell the coffee!
I woke up this morning realising that there are three things playing in my head. One - the Tsunami that hit Java’s coast killing over 100 people last night. Two – the haze situation in northern Malaysia has worsen, and Three – Siti is getting married to Datuk K!
I switched on the radio and found that most channels are discussing over the third issue – The wedding of our Malaysian Sweetheart. The Deejays and callers spoke about the issue to the finest details, from how Siti met Datuk K and the financial and personal background of them. The discussion also extended to the lengths of the marriage plan which will take place in a ‘garden wedding‘ setting and who are invited to the wedding and who are not.
I am both amazed and surprised how we tend to channel our energy and time into the personal lives of the celebrities. Not much was mentioned about the latest update on the Tsunami aftermath in Java. And not much was mentioned about the haze condition in northen Malaysia too. It seemed that Siti’s gossips have overshadowed all these important issues.
Siti undoubtedly is our Malaysian Sweetheart. She has made us proud with her many achievements without compromising our malaysian cultures and traditions. She brought to us numerous beautiful and touching songs, especially those love ballads which can easily touch our hearts. And now that she has found the man of her love, we should all give our blessings and best wishes to her. And let’s leave them alone to have some privacy to start their family.
And the rest of us Malaysians should now channel our energy to the right places! Are volunteers needed to help out the Tsunami victims? Or are we too busy discussing about Siti that we forgot to stock up on face masks if the haze condition worsen in the next few days?
It’s time for us to wake up and smell the coffee!
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Added by localview on 19 July 2006 : This article has been renamed by the-star’s editor to “Siti talk swamps tsunami news” and is published on today’s The Star’s Opinion Section.
07.06.06
World Cup 2006 : A display of colors and unity
Confession : I hate World Cup season! The traffic is bad especially during off-work time. The dinner outlets that we frequently go to are suddenly full. And there seemed to be more careless drivers on the road, probably lack of sleep. And everywhere you go, they would ask you the same question - “did you see the match?”. I hate to say No, but I have yet to see even one match.
But my eyes have been wide open throughout this World Cup season in Malaysia!
The world cup scenario in Malaysia is probably not the same as many other countries. Malaysian are unique in their very own ways. We are multi-racial. We speak many languages. We have our own interests. But now I believe that football is a language of its own. And I believe now that football is not just a samba kick - this season, what I saw was a display of colours, unity and family values!
I am not talking about the colourful jerseys on sale everywhere…
Football fans of all skin colours, all religions, all languages and all educational qualifications come together and cheer for the matches. They don’t mind being seated closely to each other at the more-crowded-than-usual mamak places. They may speak different languages but during those magical moment of excitement when a goal was conceded, the ah pek patted Encik Ali’s shoulder and said “Yes!!”. Mr.Siva grabbed Ahmad’s hand and said “you see, i told you he would score!”. And they would all conclude the match by ordering the same drink - teh tarik!
That was just one of the many colours that I saw this season ..
My 17-yr-old brother who always think of himself as “cool’ hardly ever have much in common to chat about with my 60-yr-old dad. I remembered when my dad asked me to tag along for a breakfast with two of them. He told me that sometimes the two of them just had breakfast without saying even a word. Our teenagers nowadays can chat online with their friends for hours, but can’t find any word to say to their parents.
Once again, the cup of life came to the rescue..
This weekend was the first time I saw my teenager brother and my dad have so much to talk about! They stayed up late together to catch the match, and they couldn’t stop just commenting and criticising the players. And the next morning at breakfast they both couldn’t wait to tell the rest of us who missed the match about the excitement and the result of the match. “You won’t believe that Brazil and England are out!”, dad said, and my brother added “yeah, and last night dad was so confident that Brazil will win the World Cup this year”..Dad added, “yeah…what can i say…”…and from there I could see the happiness in my dad’s eyes..he probably didn’t care much about who would go into the finals, but he have finally found his son back to his arms..and I could feel the tear in my eyes too..
Now let’s hope that the Cup of Life will continue to bring life to our society and families. If you have visited countries where their football fans watch the matches only with their own kinds, their own skin colors and religions, you probably will see now how colourful this World Cup season has been.
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Added by localview on 13th July 2006:
This article was published as the RM50 winner in the ‘blog of the day’ section in The Star newspaper on 11th July 2006 (Page N32). Can’t say that I was happy for the RM50, but I am definitely glad to know probably millions of newspaper readers read my post! It’s a good motivation for me to keep writing!
permalink : http://blog.thestar.com.my/permalink.asp?id=4692
