R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Was about to write about something else but I just couldn’t keep my mind off what our very own Malaysian lady boys – PERKASA said during the last weekend.

News was Jaclyn Victor sang a Christian song in Malay 5 years ago and as PERKASA is like some 5 year backward retard we all know, they made an issue out of it today. Read more here.

First and foremost, I cannot understand how an organizations like PERKASA can get away scot free after their endless tirades of racist remarks. If there be an organization to be charged under the Sedition Act, it will definitely be PERKASA. We all right thinking Malaysians know this. I’m not too sure if my Prime Minister and his ministers fall under the category of “right thinking Malaysians”.

So, my message today is this. If you fight so hard for people to respect Islam, learn how to respect the other religion and races first.

NO. 1

 Singing of a Christian song in Bahasa Malaysia (BM) does not disrespect Islam because plain and simple, BM is a language and not religion. And although in some cases where some languages are very much related to religion (i.e. Jewish to the Jews and Jawi to Islam), BM does not fall under that category. And even in situations where the language is very much associated to a religion, nobody can stop nobody from using the language to preach their own religion. For example, if you PERKASA go to Israel to preach Islam, how would you reach out to the people there? Speak in Jawi? Sing in Jawi?

NO. 2

ALL religions seeks to preach their message to everyone (including Islam of course). I wouldn’t want to argue on why Islam can be preached to other people of other faiths but not vice versa. And I do not want to argue how people are born with a free mind – to think, to reason, to belief and the expectation that people would not convert out of Islam is just realistically impossible. Just like how anyone from Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism can convert away from their religion. And I am not proposing that other religion should be preached to Muslim cause that would be against the law. What I want to argue is this, how the heck can singing a song in BM exalting my Lord and King by saying “semua kaum, semua bangsa dlm negara ini mengharapkan engkau Yesus” be wrong. I am merely expressing my beliefs. Am I pointing a gun at your head to put your hope in Jesus? Am I cutting you bit by bit until you belief your hope is in Jesus? It’s merely a general statement on how we believe we should all put our hope in Jesus because WE believe that JESUS is the true MESSIAH. Would you not also wish that the world put their hope in Muhammad/Allah because you believe Him to be true? Would you not sing this too? Can a Buddhist in the inner hills of China be offended with you when you sing it in Mandarin? If your answer is YES, then you’ll be better off just banning the Bible cause it contains so many verses where Jesus tells the world to put their hope in him, that all should believe Him.

Case in point – Shall I be offended when Maher Zain called me blind? Or shall I also shout “Christians, who are Christian, are not blind!” just like when you shouted, “Malays, who are Muslims, do not put their hope in Jesus!”?

Oh it makes me wonder

How anyone can be blind

To all the signs so clear

Just open your eyes

And I know without a doubt

You will surely see the light

Song: Allahi Allah Kiya Karo, Maher Zain

Of course not, to me he is merely expressing his believe, from his point of view. To Maher Zain, I as a non-Muslim am blind and to me as a Christian, Maher Zain is blind. Get it PERKASA?

As much as I respect the right for you to express your believes, please respect mine too.

NO. 3

Now that you have “come up in arms” to boycott the song/singer, why don’t you pay a visit to the Indonesian Embassy and request for them to boycott Christian song sung in BM/Bahasa Indonesia as well. Satu kali sapu semua la… Jangan bazir masa lagi… Cepat-cepat… to help you out, here are some Christian songs…

CONCLUSION

If your mother haven’t taught you, let me teach you what my momma taught me - as much as you profess your religion, remember to respect the right of other people to profess theirs, including their practices and religious song. If you fail to do that, you fail in the very first thing your religion teaches you and you fail altogether in professing your religion. In times like this I am glad that PAS is the real defender of Islam. So please… R.E.S.P.E.C.T

Btw… Here’s the so “controversial” song some shallow dumbshit wants to boycott…

THEORY OF WATER DISPLACEMENT – APPLICATION IN FATHERHOOD

Archimedes while tub-bing realize that the water in the tub rose as he got in and with a tinkle of pixie dust and some Acracadebra, he realize that the water that was displace was equaled to his weight and hence the Theory of Water Displacement which states that “Any object, wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.”

To me, this must have been one of the most useless discoveries ever. Why would someone who want to weigh himself/any objects, get in to the tub, watch the displacement of water, scoop up all the water and weigh the water to find out the weight of himself/the object. Why don’t you just put yourself/the object on a scale in the first place? *Scratch head* To make things worse, he supposedly coined the term “Eureka” while in the tub. So effectively, when someone shouts “Eureka” it literally means, “I have discovered something really useless”.

Ok… the theory is not entirely useless as water displacement is not just about weight but density as well… so pretty useful… I guess… :P

Anyways, what I wanted to share about today is the applicability in fatherhood. A new term coined today is the “Theory of Bed Displacement” which states that “the increase of the child’s age would equal the amount of ones body left hanging mid air”. The people that are most affected by this condition are Asians. Being the loving Asians that we are (which has been proven to increase self-esteem of the child when he grows up), our kids would generally sleep in our room or mostly in our bed until they are about 2 yrs plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus. Naturally, the resulting consequence of this, as our sizes remain constant and the child’s size is on an uptrend linear graph, land area on the bed becomes a problem. And just like the land availability on earth is limited, some people gotta start living in space. And that’s the exact thing that’s happening to my life now.

As our baby continually crawls over at midnight to sleep on our bed (we’ve bought her a bed and placed it right beside ours but everyday at midnight, she crawls onto our bed), I end up being the party that is slowly being displaced and living on space (mid air).

To better demonstrate the theory, kindly refer to the illustrations below:

and yes... in case you were wondering... her bed is bright pink... sheets, pillow case, comforter and bolster... all pink. Dealing with masculinity in pink will be the next upcoming topic...

PIGGIN OUT @ RESTORAN VISHAL FOOD & CATERING

A  taste of heavenly briyani.

I was on Jalan Scott the other week to look for a Jeepa for my best friend’s wedding when I chanced upon this shop. Walked passed it the first time to use the toilet and decided to stop by later for lunch after running my errands. We really didn’t think much about this place as we normally patronize another Sikh restaurant but on that day, the jams were so massive and we were so tired driving around Brickfields looking for a parking that we just decided to eat here. Just to eat to fill our stomachs.

Sat down, super tired, and the waiter asked, “Briyani” and we just nod, too tired to say anything else. We normally take white rice if it’s banana leaf but we were really too tired to say anything else and just relented to any suggestions the waiter had.

The usual banana leaf laid on the table and 3 different vegetables were placed on top of the leaf. Waited a while more and the briyani came. Dug one spoon into it and WAAAALLAAABBBAANNNGGGAAA!!!! It was really really good. Not only was the rice in edible pieces, the spice and especially the ghee made the smell and taste so awesomely fragrant. It was by far the best briyani I have tasted. The taste of a spoon of briyani on my tongue, slowly emitting its fragrance with every bite I took made you immediately feel like you’re on cloud 9.

Then the curry came, and I totally regretted pouring the curry on my rice. The fragrance was then drown in the steady flow of curry, destroying all smell of heaven in its path of destruction as it flowed all over my briyani. Gone was the smell. Gone was the taste. Oh my briyani…. Where have thou gone?

The briyani was so good that immediately after our lunch, we made plans for them to cater for our daughter’s upcoming birthday party. I just need another dose of Vishal’s briyani. So good, you can eat it by its own. Forget about the curry, forget about the egg, forget about the vegetable, forget about the papadam, forget about the chicken, just dig into the briyani!

Location:

Restoran Vishal Food & Catering,

22, Jalan Scott, Brickfileds,

Kuala Lumpur.

Contact: 012-2871995

MY BIGGEST FEAR

So I am afraid of lizards, frogs and height. I cannot stand the thought of touching a lizard/frog and if I ever did accidentally touch one, an unbearable squirmish feeling would engulf my entire body and I would fall numb and crumble as if the bones in my body just suddenly disappeared. It doesn’t help that when you try to kill a lizard with Ridsect spray…. IT DOESN’T WORK!!! I’ve tried spraying half a can of Ridsect at a lizard trapped in a hole and the pesky disgusting thing just looked back as if I was spraying air cond at him… enjoying the gush of cool air that is emitted from the spray. Giving up, I sprayed serai at it and it was my turn to grin for it struggle so hard to get out of the hole as if it was burning in hell.

Frogs… I have no idea how to get rid of it and I’m just glad that when I reach Form 5, they decided to do away with slicing open a frog for biology studies. I would have probably skipped the entire class. Imagine me having touch a frog what more to slice it open. What if I accidentally cut it’s main artery and it’s blood spurts into my mouth? What if it peed on my hand? Imagine the innerts of the frog spilling all over the lab table!!! Uuuurrggghhhhh!!! SCREW YOU FROG!!!

Heights… that’s pretty okay even though I can truly understand what it means for a men to jump into a pool of ice naked. The immediate instantaneous shrinking of your balls. Exactly what happens everytime I look over. But for height, I am able to man up, suck up and push myself to the limit. So not much a problem. Just hope that I don’t push myself over only to find missing parts in the future.

Anyways, in recent times, I have just come to the realization that my biggest fear is HAIR LOSS!!! I had my first encounter with hair loss when my wife was pregnant with our first daughter. Didn’t think much about it when I saw strands of my hair on our bed, on my hand everytime I swap my hair when I was bathing but when I looked into the mirror and saw my hair thinning away and I could see parts of my scalp shinning, I was devastated. My hair has truly been my crown. Ever since I was a kid, I always had thick wavy dark hair and was proud at the fact that every month, I MUST visit my barber to chop away my overgrown hair. Once my mum brought me to some aunty saloon and despite the aunty’s warning that she’s never cut a male’s hair before, I became her first. Like a virgin on his first time, tears stream down my eyes when I saw my hair being pulverized by her. Snip after snip, my crown turn from a glorious magnificent symbol of wealth, power and handsomeness to an uneven, scruffy symbol of poverty, emptiness and somewhere along the line of Gollum. I remember being so mad with my mum for destroying my magnificent kingdom to some Cina aunty. I was doing fine with my Indian barber!

Now that my wife is pregnant with our second, my hair has begun thinning once again. I am beginning to wonder is my hair loss is a direct correlation with my wife getting pregnant. On top of that, I have also been visiting my barber a lot less frequent. I only get my hair cut now like once every 2 months. Not very good news.

I know that some people can bald gracefully looking better when they bald. But looking at myself, I know I am not going to be in that same category. If people bald and look like Bruce Willis, I’ll probably bald and become a natural character for Gollum in Lord of The Rings, no make-up needed.

I really cannot bear the thought of losing hair. Thankfully though I live in the 20^th century where remedies for hair loss are readily available and no I am not talking about some half-baked hair treatment centre like Yunn Nam or 101 Hair Care… I am talking about genuine professional skin specialist like Ranjit Skin Specialist in Subang Jaya. Saw him the last time and his medication worked (just that I stop after I saw improvement) and now had to visit him yet again to resume his medication. Medication that works on the top and doesn’t compromise the bottom. Thank God.

To help you understand my fear better, this is what I fear most if I bald. So I pray dear God that if I should bald, solutions come as fast as my hair falls. Amen.

TESTING TIMES

<NOTE: THIS POST WAS WRITTEN ON 8 AUG 2012 BUT DUE TO THE INTERNATIONAL PREGNANCY EMBARGO OF 3 MONTHS, IT IS ONLY NOW THAT I AM PUBLISHING THIS>

I am now sitting, unable to focus on anything but the fact that we have received another ambiguous news.

My wife and I have been trying to have another baby and due to a fibroid, it’s not as easy. Even with our 1^st one, we took awhile conceive. This month (August), her period came late and lo and behold, she’s pregnant.

There has continuously been so many ambiguity and worries for the last 6 months and even up to now. Firstly, she was supposed to go for an operation tomorrow (9 Aug) but thankfully that didn’t happen that now she is pregnant. Next up, was the pregnancy test. After missing the exact date of her period, we tested. Nothing at first. Then we tested the next day again. Nothing. And then on the 3^rd day when she tested in the morning, there was a very very very faint line. We were left to wonder if she was really pregnant. She did 2 test the next day, one came out with a line and the other without, what could this mean? One of our biggest concern was an ectopic pregnancy and my wife was at a higher risk for this due to her medical condition.

 Visited the gynae to do a scan and of course she couldn’t see anything – too early. Not much of a confirmation there except that the gynae said just as long as there is a line, she’s pregnant. However, she suggested a blood test to confirm the pregnancy and to test for the HCG level. Again ectopic pregnancy was brought up as a risk.

Today, we got the results and even though the blood result showed positive for being pregnant, the HCG level was supposedly at a lower level (50 IU/L). Again a wave of worries and uncertainty flooded us.

We have been praying really hard for a baby and up until the pregnancy, we were all about ready for the operation. In the days pass her period, we were left ambiguous not knowing what is going on. Imagine you put a bet down for RM1m and the banker refuses to open the card way past the time he should have and you are not allowed to scold the banker. That was exactly how we felt. Helpless, not knowing what to think about it, and not daring to put our hopes too high just in case her period was to come the very next minute. Not here, not there, not anywhere. Even after doing the home pregnancy test, we continued to be very cautious with our hopes as the line that appeared was a very faint one. What were we to make of it? Hope started building as the days pass with no sign of her period and the line grew on the home pregnancy test grew slightly darker (but at times never appeared).

And now, just as our hope was building up that this really must be it, we received the ambiguous news. What am I to make of it? What does it mean? What are the chances like? Is there anything that I should be worried about? What if it ends up with a miscarriage or worst still and ectopic pregnancy?

As much as I have faith that God can do anything and that nothing is impossible for Him, my humanly mind cannot help but to try to make sense of all that is going on. I believe that God has got great plans for us, plans not to harm but to benefit us but I also know that there might come a time that I would find it hard to comprehend the plans He has for us. I know he has allowed for people to die, people to go through miscarriages no matter how hard they prayed and all sorts of sickness to befall upon his children. He has allowed for a pastor to wait 8 years before He gave them another child, strong Christians with miscarriages, a pastor’s wife with Parkinson etc. I know he is the master of my plans and He has the better view of what is best for us. But it’s really, really hard to submit to His plans especially if it ends bad (from our view). I do not think I can make it. Why would he give us hope only to crush it later? Why does he allows us to go through so much ambiguity and worries... He could have just given us an outright yes or no. I need hard confirmations oh my feeble mind. It’s really not funny…. Aaaaarrrgggghhhh….!

Entrusting God with our plans and submitting to His is really tough. While waiting for the gynae to come and scan, my heart was beating crazy and I was praying over and over again that at least the gynae would come out with some confirmation. So yea… she confirmed that she’s pregnant…. But...  Siiiggghhh… more waiting and more trusting until the next check-up next week. It feels like my brains are being torn apart… on one hand, “God I trust in your plans no matter what it is” and on the other, “You raise Lazarus right… you can work miracles… please work this one”.

I know the one thing I need to do is to place my plans, my trust and my faith all in God’s palm (as difficult it is). As much as I would like to rely on my understanding and logic, I would never fully be able to comprehend the magnitude and complexity of the plans He has for us. He created the heavens and earth and He created each one of us. Regardless of whatever that happens, I know that He has been good in both our life and He has continuously blessed us beyond what we could have ever expected.

“Oh Lord, you know our desires and our wants. You know our weaknesses. You know how much we want this to work. You know how difficult these times can be. You know. Help us Lord to trust in you and the plans you have for us regardless what it might be. We hold on to your word that you have great plans for us at the end of the day. Help us Lord to submit 100% to you no matter how hard it might be.”

“Errrr….. Lazarus….”

Through these testing times, I have been continuously comforted by the song below.

He Knows My Name

I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
My life was in his hands

I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go

He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call