Manu Zikoi

Monday, August 28, 2006:
"You have the gift of gab in multiple languages, and that could benefit your love life and career prospects. Make an effort to learn a new lingo right now, and soon you'll be parlez vous-ing in whatever dialect you wish."
I wish! In any case, a weekend in KK (Sabah) got me into the Kadazan/Dusun lingo and the status of the Bobohizan, the High Priestess who has the monopoly over spiritual knowledge and healing power in the Good Old Days of the Goddess! Well, any woman would consider herself lucky to be drinking rice wine, dancing the sumazau with the enemies' skulls tied to her waist and chanting the mantra than be made a human sacrifice like Huminodun, the beautiful daugther of Kinoringan (the God of the Earth and his wife, the Goddess of the Sky), who epitomises the Spirit of Rice, to end the Great Famine. It is believed that all kinds of primary food are derived from different parts of the poor girl's body, i.e. rice from her white flesh, chillies from her red blood, ginger from her dainty fingers, onions from her lovely hair, corn from her pearly teeth and coconut from her pretty head.
Datuk Douglas C. Primus Sikayun om Datin Sa'adah A. Aziz do magahap - do mooi tindapou om umunsikou doid kalamzan do pisavaan di tanak dagari i (cordially invite you to share in the wedding celebration of their daughter)
The High Society of KK and the High Courts of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak were very well-represented at the lively wedding celebration of Jihan Xylia and Mohd Izham last Saturday night at the Shang, Tg Aru. The wife of the President of UPKO, YB Tan Sri Bernard G. Dompok, the wife of the Chief Judge of the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak, the Right Honourable Dato' Richard Malanjum, and The Honourable Datuk Syed Ahmad Helmy bin Syed Ahmad with Datin Jelita, who wowed the guests with her soulful rendition of Summertime. The bride and groom, family and friends eagerly took to the dance floor to do the sumazau, and some latin steps later on in the nite ...
Sunday saw ISA, NIA and I at the Gaya Flea Market, the Sabah Museum and the Tg Aru beach. ISA's college mate, Henry, whose grandfather founded the museum, and his beloved Michelle, whose grandfather founded the KK race course (!), played gracious guides. Somehow, the Add Image feature repeatedly refused to cooperate with photo posting - must be the curse of the "Mambangs", Bah!

The Journeying Soul

Jalan Damai->Jalan Eunos->Still Road->Telok Kurau West (Integrated) Primary School was the route I used to travel as a child, be it by cab with Mak, by bike with ABGLONG, by 'beca' (trishaw) with KAKNGAH, by bus and on foot with Bro Mal or school bus with Yat.
I was the typical (over-)protected 'last-born' child, tied to my mother's sarong, stifled under her arms, snuggled to her bosoms whenever I, or she, could. I didn't attend pre-school, so my mother had to wait at the canteen for weeks until she could finally 'wean' me off. I couldn't believe how attached I was to her, and took every opportunity to go to the washroom so I could peek at her through the shutters outside the classroom.
NIA was the total opposite - with three years of pre-school; she just strutted her stuff on her very first day to Shorewood Hills Elementary School, Madison, WI.

Semiotics, Semantics and Social Construction of Reality

Ferdinand de Saussure wrote about the significance of signs, symbols and icons, as well as their portrayals or representations in shaping our perceptions.
Examples abound - the hawk and the dove, the fig leaf and the olive tree, the cross, the fish, the (parting of the Red) sea, the crescent, full (bad) moon (rising), the stars, the sun, sunrise and sunset, dawn and dusk, twilight (zone) and (total) eclipse (of the heart), the Great Flood, the Tsunami, Tornados, Hurricanes, Volcano Eruptions, so on and so forth. And colors - white (purity), black (evil), green (natural environment, Islam, etc.), red (true love, blood, Communism, prosperity), purple (nobility), the list goes on. And words - (liberal, social or participatory) democracy or tyranny of the masses, freedom/liberation/emancipation or cooptation/subjugation/oppression, order or authoritarianism, rebuilding/reconstruction (after attacks and invasions?), terrorists/guerillas or reactionaries/revolutionaries/reformists?
As history has revealed, yesterday's terrorists are today's heroes. Look no further - Ghandhi, Nelson Mandela, and the iconic Che Guevara (throb, throb goes my heart!)
On the lighter side of the "abitrariness of signs", here are some witty repartees to corny pick-up lines. Little wonder then some men chose to remain silent. Sigh ... looking forward to spend the week-end in KK (Sabah) for a wedding at the Shangri-La, Tg Aru, and next weekend in Singapore, "tempat jatuh lagi dikenang, inikan pula tempat kelahiran"?
Sent: Tuesday, August 22, 2006 7:49 PM
Subject: Ways to turn men down - since so many of them use such corny lines!!!!
HIM: Can I buy you a drink?
HER: Actually I'd rather have the money.
HIM: I'm a photographer. I've been looking for a face like yours
HER: I'm a plastic surgeon. I've been looking for a face like yours.
HIM: Hi. Didn't we go on a date once? Or was it twice?
HER: Must've been once. I never make the same mistake twice.
HIM: How did you get to be so beautiful?
HER: I must've been given your share.
HIM: Will you go out with me this Saturday?
HER: Sorry. I'm having a headache this weekend.
HIM: Your face must turn a few heads.
HER: And your face must turn a few stomachs.
HIM: Go on, don't be shy. Ask me out.
HER: Okay, get out.
HIM: I think I could make you very happy.
HER: Why? Are you leaving?
HIM: What would you say if I asked you to marry me?
HER: Nothing. I can't talk and laugh at the same time.
HIM: Can I have your name?
HER: Why? Don't you already have one?
HIM: Shall we go see a movie?
SHE: I've already seen it.
HIM: Where have you been all my life?
HER: Hiding from you.
HIM: Haven’t I seen you some place before?
HER: Yes. That's why I don't go there anymore.
HIM: Is this seat empty?
HER: Yes and this one will be if you sit down.
HIM: So, what do you do for a living?
HER: I’m a female impersonator.
HIM: Hey baby what’s your sign?
HER: Do not enter.
HIM: Your body is like a temple.
HER: Sorry, there are no services today.
HIM: If I could see you naked, I'd die happy.
HER: If I saw you naked, I'd probably die laughing
HIM: Where have you been all my life?
HER: Where I'll be the rest of your life - in your wildest dreams.
(FORWARD TO WOMEN WHO NEED SOME LAUGHTER AND TO MEN WHO HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR!)
Quote from the invite:
"Manusia hawa dijadikan daripada tulang rusuk manusia adam, bukan dari kepalanya untuk dijunjung, bukan dari kakinya untuk dijadikan alas, tetapi dari sisinya untuk dijadikan teman hidupnya, dekat dengan lengannya untuk dilindungi dan dekat dengan hatinya untuk dicintai"
(The female being was created from Adam's rib, not from his head to be worshipped, nor from his feet to be downtrodden, but from his side to be his companion, close to his arms to be protected and close to his heart to be loved")
Wassalam.

Where was America in 711AD?

http://lebanonheartblogs.blogspot.com/2006/07/lidice-1942-beirut-2006.html
Isn't it a paradox that the worst of leaders and ideas are sponsored because they reinforce the prevailing paranoia and dominant school of thought? Thus accounts for the 'legitimacy' of Bush Sr's and Jr's administrations, as well as the currency of Huntington's idea of the Clash of Civilizations. However, here's an optimistic dissenting viewpoint:
Cry like Women!
On January 2, 1492, Castellanos entered Granada, the only city that was under Muslim control and the Cross immediately replaced the Crescent, which had been flying over Granada for seven centuries.
Sultan Abu Abdullah, his wife and others who accompanied him left the al-Hamra palace last time. The sultan “sighed deeply” and sobbed as he looked back at the palace. “You couldn’t fight like a man, now you're crying like a woman, ” Valide Sultan Fatima told her son, Abu Abdullah. The rocky hill from which the expression “farewell look” is derived is known in Spanish as “El Ultimo Suspiro del Moro” (the Moor’s Last Sigh).
Tariq ibn Ziyad, a great Muslim commander, landed in Spain in 711 and this was was followed by Abdurrahman al-Gafiqi’s conquest of Cordova in 726. In 1492, Muslims abandoned their last stronghold. I have a line, vague in my memory, from a long poem by an Arab poet whose name I cannot recall at the moment: O, men, why this division among you, even though you are brothers? Historians argue that disunity in Muslim political consciousness and understanding and the meaningless power struggles that emerged caused the collapse of Andalusia. This is a truism. For more on Andalusia you can read any of Ziya Pasha’s works.
The Arab League convened yet again on August 7, 2006. The Arab League convenes all the time only to agree to disagree at each meeting. No one knows why Arab League meetings always end without concrete agreements. Take a look at some of the League’s decisions and then bite your tongue! League members agreed to send envoys to New York to pressure the United Nations to take swift measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, as if they are not United Nations members. This should go down into the Arab League record books as one of its “great achievements in history,” just like the Organization of the Islamic Conference summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. These are all efforts by Arabs and Muslims at state and governmental levels.
Some thing strange happened at the recent Arab League meeting in Lebanon which escaped the media’s attention. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, fighting back tears as he was trying to describing the situation his country, could not complete his sentence. And the heroic Arab delegates applauded him.
Every Arab country sings a different tune; each seems to have different calculations. However, a closer look into the matter would show that it is not a tortuous affair. They all share a common fear: Incurring the wrath of the United States! None feels secure. In fact, except Syria and Iran, all the other 22 countries covered by the Greater Middle East Project, including the one that co-chairs the League with pride, face a similar situation. This fact is always ignored: There is no use in fearing the inevitable. Sooner or later, these anachronistic political structures will undergo transformations. If these 22 countries fail to effect the necessary reforms, improve self-reliance and take into account their own dynamics, then they will all be signing their death certificate. The entire Arab population is 280 million and 75 percent are under 30, at the point of explosion. Non-Arab Muslims are disillusioned and also angry.
As Israel bombards Lebanon, the feelings of love and sympathy for Hezbollah leader Nasrallah grows and a Syrian minister expresses his willingness to be a Hezbollah soldier; as the United States and Israel threatens Iran, Tehran gains more respect. In fact, it was not the Lebanese prime minister who burst into tears in front of the world media; it was the entire Arab and Islamic world that cried out for help. 280 million Arabs and 1.5 billion Muslims. Israel is facing an uphill battle against Hezbollah, a tiny group; however, the Arabs are afraid of incurring Israel’s wrath, even though they spend a huge part of their budgets on arms. The Arabs, one way or the other, cannot come together, and even when they succeed in doing so, their meetings yield no results. The future does not depend on such meetings; it depends on adopting the spirit and mission of Osman Bey who fought constantly against Byzantine as he put domestic conflicts aside. I have always stressed that there is a link between the fall of Andalusia and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. As Arab leaders cry like women and sigh deeply, new “Osman Gazis” are emerging. While Andalusia was dying, the Ottoman Empire was being born. We are at the beginning of birth pangs -- and it will be very painful indeed.
August 09, 2006
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=columnists&alt=&trh=20060811&hn=35551
Another compelling argument:
Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust
Between America and the World, Kishore Mahbubani, New York: 2005
Chapter 3: America and Islam (Pages 59-65)
Islam is the most successful religion in the contemporary world.
American perceptions of Islam are filtered by several layers of knowledge. At the root is the European understanding that has flowed into American consciousness as a result of the traditional Judaeo-Christian and European civilizational roots of most Americans. Most Americans celebrate the fact that America as a society represents in some ways the apex of Western civilization. It does. But the historical roots of Western civilization are deeply intertwined through centuries of contacts with the Islamic world. Many of the associations that have lodged in Western consciousness have not been happy ones.
The roots of Christian obsession with the Islamic world can be traced at least to the Crusades, if not earlier. It was at the Battle of Tours in 732 A.D. that Charles "The Hammer" Martel and the Franks turned the tide of Muslim expansion. Many heroic legends were created in the Crusades, launched at the end of the eleventh century. All of them had to do with heroic Christian knights battling perfidious Islamic "saracens." Hence, for the Europeans, the word "Crusade" has always had a positive aura around it. Any man or woman who is fighting for a just or worthy cause can be said to be "crusading" for it.
Europeans are aware of the expansion of Islam into Europe. The conquest of Spain beginning in 711 A.D. is etched into historical memory as surely as the image of the Alhambra Palace dominates Granada. So too are all the maximal lines of the Islamic military invasion into Europe, culminating in the Ottoman Turks' siege of Vienna in 1683. Most Europeans believe that they narrowly avoided a cultural disaster when the Muslims marched into Europe. In their view, if Islam had triumphed in Europe as successfully as it had in other parts of the world (and Islam is still the most rapidly expanding religion of the world), it would have snuffed out the "lights" in Europe. Europeans believed that they came close to being wiped out by forces of darkness. This is the reason why Islam affects Western minds so strongly. There are deep, latent, historical fears buried in there. Five continuous centuries of Western triumph have not wiped them out.
It is equally significant that the enormous role played by the Islamic caliphates (in their moment of triumph and glory) of preserving the rich fruits of Greek and Roman civilizations (which still provide the spiritual and intellectual foundations of Western civilization) and then passing it back to Europe has not fully registered in the Western mind. Some Western intellectuals recognize the important role played by the caliphates. Chris Patten is one of them. As he said, "And what of Thomas Aquinas? He read Latin versions of the Greek philosophers, courtesy of the scholars at the Muslim School of Translation in Toledo, to which we owe so much of our knowledge of the scientific, religious and philosophical works of the ancient world." (1) Another is Daniel Rose, a New York philanthropist, who has advised that a rediscovery of Islam's glorious past could do good both for the West and for Islam. He said that we should reconnect the Arab world with "the Golden Age of the Abbassid Caliphate, when Muslim scientists, philosophers, artists and educators sparkled in one of the great cultural flowerings of all time." Rose added:
Then Muslims remembered that the Prophet said 'The ink of scientists is equal to the blood of martyrs'; then Muslim thinkers were proud of their familiarity with the best of the world's cultures; then it was taken for granted that science and knowledge belonged to all mankind and that intellectuals' borrowing and lending benefited everyone. What the Muslims had once they can have again. (2)
Most ordinary Westerners are not aware of this rich history. Indeed if a survey is done of Americans, one in hundred, perhaps one in thousand, will be aware of the crucial role played by the caliphates in preserving the Graeco-Roman heritage for the West. What the West chooses to remember vividly and what it chooses not to remember reveals its attitudes. This is especially true of European attitudes towards the Islamic world. America, without knowing it, has inherited these historic European attitudes. (Note: This is one reason why I will speak interchangeably about "Western" and "American" attitudes towards Islam.)
And another:
It is thanks to Islam that the culture of the Classical World were not lost forever, because that was the aim of the Christian Church - to keep us in the Dark Ages, where we would not question its authority. Islam gave back to Europe - and hence, the modern world, Philosophy, Architecture and Mathematics, to mention only a few of their gifts to us.
In fact, Trupolitiks, America would never have been 'discovered' had it not been for Islam's legacy of Mathematics and Astronomy.
Have some respect, TP, because you owe a lot to these 'blood-thirsty savages and their hateful religion.' Thank your god, who is Allah by a different name, that Islam brought light to darkened Europe, when they set foot in Spain in 711AD.
Last edited on Sun Jun 12th, 2005 10:36 am by Hughmac
www.perspectives.com/forums

Of PI, Rania and the Champion of the New Middle East

Where was I when Puteri Impian I & II were released? Must be in No-Malay-Movie-Land. Anyway, it was truly noble and honorable of Tengku Farid (TF) to counsel and deliver Puteri Nora (PN) to his brother. Azri Iskandar was Hmm ... as TF, and I didn't get to see the actor who played the role of Tengku Faisal; but PN chose Cico instead. There's no accounting for taste, is there?
Talking of taste, Queen Rania may have opted for modern Western fashion to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show, but she's definitely an asset to Jordan - a diplomat par excellence and an ardent activist to boot - the way she addressed the issue of terrorism and her commitment to educating women ("POVERTY IS A SHE"/"When you educate a woman, you are educating the future"? Or something like that).
And Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - the present Iranian President - who shines like a beacon of hope for the New Middle East, as defined by the settlers of the region, not by BUSH, BLAIR or OLMERT. If the Arabs in particular, and the Muslims in general, had once looked up to Gamal Nasir or Muammar Qadafi for leadership and solidarity, then the fate of the Arabs and the Greater Middle East might just rest on courageous leaders like Ahmadinejad and legitimate resistance or reformists ("One person's terrorist is another person's hero or freedom fighter") such as the Hezbollah and Hamas.
Some quotes:
On July 15 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad compared the actions of Israel in launching an offensive against Lebanon to that of Nazi Germany. "Hitler sought pretexts to attack other nations," "The Zionist regime is seeking baseless pretexts to invade Islamic countries and right now it is justifying its attacks with groundless excuses," he added.
(Isn't that the way of the pecking order? If you can't exact revenge on your oppressors, you find weaker and more vulnerable groups to oppress? Indeed, we internalize the rules of our own oppression)
On Aug 3rd, 2006, in a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders, Ahmadinejad said, "although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented". "[Israel] is an illegitimate regime, there is no legal basis for its existence." "Today the Americans are after the greater Middle East," he said. "The Zionist regime is used to reach this objective. The sole existence of this regime is for invasion and attack." [57]The solution to the Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel.[58]
(Turn your former enemy into an ally and concurrently create a new bogey-man - if the Russian spy-villains were perfect for the Cold War, the Arab terrorists are custom-made for the "Clash of Civilizations". Groom and pamper the "blue-eyed boy" into a "spoilt brat" or proxy to serve your agenda - Oil, "Reconstruction" and Power. Doesn't that sound very much like a meta narrative or a macrocosm of a dysfunctional family? The Bold & the Beautiful or The Royal Tannenbaums of the world stage!)
And last but not least, an excerpt from an Editorial "MID-POINT IN THE MIDDLE EAST?" by TARIQ ALI
New Left Review 38, March-April 2006
http://www.newleftreview.net
"New forces and faces are emerging that have something in common. Muqtada, Haniya, Nasrallah, Ahmadinejad: each has risen by organizing the urban poor in their localities—Baghdad and Basra, Gaza and Jenin, Beirut and Sidon, Tehran and Shiraz. It is in the slums that Hamas, Hizbollah, the Sadr brigades and the Basij have their roots. The contrast with the Hariris, Chalabis, Karzais, Allawis, on whom the West relies—overseas millionaires, crooked bankers, cia bagmen—could not be starker. A radical wind is blowing from the alleys and shacks of the latter-day wretched of the earth, surrounded by the fabulous wealth of petroleum. The limits of this radicalism, so long as it remains captured by the Koran, are clear enough. The impulses of charity and solidarity are infinitely better than those of imperial greed and comprador submission, but so long as what they offer is social alleviation rather than reconstruction, they are sooner or later liable to recuperation by the existing order. Leaders comparable to figures like Chávez or Morales have yet to emerge, with a vision capable of transcending national or communal divisions, a sense of continental unity and the self-confidence to broadcast it. Thanks to its ex-mayor, there is now a statue of Bolívar in Tehran. The region awaits an equivalent spirit."
Wassalam.

An Evening in Beirut: Memories of Lebanon

Siniora wiping away tears during his emotional speech at the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Beirut yesterday
Qatar’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani and his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit on their way to attend an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Beirut yesterday. HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim later expressed satisfaction over the results reached at the meeting, terming the Arab stance towards supporting Lebanon as "unanimous". He said that "pivotal" Arab states should back Lebanon’s demand for an immediate ceasefire
Siniora said he refused to let Lebanon be a ‘punch bag’ for Israel and made an emotional appeal for an end to the killings, as Arab foreign ministers gathered in Beirut threw their support behind his plan for a ceasefire.
Fayrouz, who sang at London's Albert Hall in 1962, returns to London's Palladium in 1978
http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/700/780/fairuz/legend/biography.html
"By singing for the Palestinian cause without politicizing it and by paying respect to Arab capitals without personalizing them to leaders, Fairouz may have earned more political respect for the small nation of Lebanon than all the professional diplomats combined."
"Despite her celebrity status, Fairouz never acted like a celebrity and maintained an almost ascetic decorum. She was probably more comfortable recording her famous Christian liturgy albums than some of the dance songs."
Fairouz: a Voice, a Star, a Mystery by Sami Asmar, Al Jadid, Vol. 5, no. 27 (Spring 1999)
http://www.aljadid.com/music/fairouza_voice_star_mystery.html
"My father was uneasy. The idea that his daughter should sing in front of men he didn't know, was difficult for him to accept, but my singing helped support the family. So he dressed me in boy's clothes, and I sang this way for several years. I realize now that he wanted to convince himself, and the audience too, that the singer was a young boy, and not a young woman."
FROM UMM KULTHUM, A VOICE LIKE EGYPT
http://almashriq.hiof.no/egypt/700/780/umKoulthoum/goldman/
"If only ... My passion overcame me," sang Umm Kulthum, the "Star of the East" or the "Diva of Arab Song"
From Asmahan's Secrets: Woman, War, and Song by Sherifa Zuhur
UMM KALTHUM - LEGENDARY SONGSTRESS OF THE ARABS By Habeeb Salloum
Al Jadid magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1 (November 1995)
http://www.aljadid.com/music/0101umkulthu.html
"Greetings to the gentle breezes of River Barada,
Never-ending are the tears, 0 glorious Damascus.
The blood of our martyrs, France knows well,
And knows that it is truth and Justice"
- Words by Egyptian poet, Ahmad Shawky as sung by Muhammad Abdul Wahab
From Mohammad Abdul Wahab: The Father of Modern Egyptian Song By Habeeb Salloum, Al Jadid, Vol. 1, No. 2 (December 1995)
http://www.aljadid.com/music/index.html
http://almashriq.hiof.no/egypt/700/780/abdel-wahab/aljadid-abdalwahab.txt
http://arabworld.nitle.org/
The voices of Fairouz, Abdul Wahab and Umm Kulthum that emanated from the vinyl records of my late Ami Kassim at my Sidi's home in Klang formed my earliest memory of Lebanon ...
Today, an evening in Beirut sounds more like a nightmare than a dream or a Hell on Earth than a Paradise ...
Evening Roundup: Heavy Shelling on Beirut's Southern Suburbs as Hizbullah Unleashes Rockets on Northern Israel
http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/Newsdesk.nsf/Lebanon/CD4378EDFAFD3733C22571B6005BDA64?OpenDocument
Beirut, 25 Jul 06, 19:44
Quiet Evening, but Borders Still Under Attack
Sunday, July 16, 2006
lebop.blogspot.com/2006/07/quiet-evening-but-borders-still-under.html
A tearful plea to end the killings
Published: Tuesday, 8 August, 2006, 12:02 PM Doha Time
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Fouad Siniora yesterday made a tearful plea for an end to the four-week-old conflict in Lebanon as Israel warned there was no limit to its offensive after 57 civilians were killed in a new blitz of air raids.
Siniora’s plan calls for an Israeli withdrawal, the expansion of the UN peacekeeping force sent to the area after a previous invasion in 1978, the deployment of the Lebanese army to the border and the disarming of Hezbollah.
In his speech to the Arab ministers in Beirut, Siniora called for help in seeking "an immediate and unconditional ceasefire."
Wiping away tears, he told them: "Your standing with us is a right and a duty. Arab security is interlinked."
He said the ministers had endorsed his seven-point plan to bring a halt to the fighting as an alternative to the UN draft resolution.
– Agencies

An Eye for an Eye, And the Whole World Turns Blind

There are two sides to every story:
The Road to Guantanamo
by Michael Winterbottom & Mat Whitecross(GB, 2006, 95 min).
Date: 10 August 2006 (Thursday)
Time: 6 pm - 8.00pm
Venue: Bar Council Auditorium
FREE ADMISSION -- ALL WELCOME
Synopsis
A film about three British nationals and their little camping trip to Afghanistan and to Guantanamo. This film chronicles the journey of Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Rhuhel Ahmed who decided to pay a visit to Pakistan ahead of the American invasion in 2001.Their original intent was to help out the people of the region. They soon ventured over the border into Afghanistan. Before long there was an intense conflict and they found themselves in the least serendipitous circumstances imaginable.Held by the Northern Alliance, the three were turned over to the Americans and sent on a trip to Camp X-Ray, then Camp Delta on Guantanamo for two years.They were accused of having attended a rally training camp help by Osama bin Laden - a charge which Britain's MI5 refuted. As a result they are repeatedly Tortured and held without hope of a trial.While the film is not a documentary, it is a true and very sad story. It is a hard-hitting reminder of how far America has strayed from its core principles.
Visit: http://www.roadtoguantanamomovie.com/
Berlin Film Festival 2006:Silver Bear
Best Director: Michael Winterbottom, Mat Whitecross.
There is a story about a woman who chose not to be a “victim”. She and her family left their homeland when she was a child soon after the beat of ‘war drums’ and the sound of weapons being sharpened were heard around her village. The village used to be named after her ‘race’ - Kampung Melayu Kaki Bukit - but now it has a new name - Hougang.
At the host country where she received a scholarship from her employer to further her studies at a premier university, there were protests and demonstrations against the establishment of “Universiti Merdeka”.
She could have chosen to bear grudges and ‘avenge’ for being discriminated and relegated as a “second class citizen” but she chose to support every citizen’s rights to formal education and knowledge, and risked being labelled "selling out on the Malays".
Now, can she hope to sensitize 'disgruntled' citizens/students by teaching at the very heartland of Chinese 'chauvinism'?

PGL the Musical

Do see PGL the Musical, even if it's only to gawk at Stephen Rehman-Hughes. M. Nasir was alright, but give me R-H anytime! Been quite awhile since a hunk caught my eye, and boy, did he caught mine! I don't care if he can't act or sing, as long he's drool-drop gorgeous! And R-H, were you waiting for us to invite you to our dining table when you 'pretended' to be lost at the buffet spread?
Please, please tell us so!
Congratulations once again, and thank you, Tiara and Datuk Seri Effendi, for taking Malaysian performing arts to greater heights (apart from giving us R-H via complimentary balcony tics!)
The use of wayang kulit, gamelan, kabuki and other theatrical forms created a magnificent Nusantara/Oriental feel, with strains of Pocahontas and Miss Saigon wafting or seeping through like a cool Tropical evening breeze laced with tuak from a Sarawakian longhouse.
Kudos too to Sukania Venugopal as the loyal but defiant Bayan, AC Mizal who portrayed a much superior version of the Control Freak from Hell - Gusti Adipati - than Alex Komang in the movie (which I saw twice and thought Alex was the hunk then!), Adlin Aman Ramlie as the arrogant yet amusing Sultan Mahmud and little Afif as the adorable Raja Ahmad!

Cultural Identity & Cultural Consumption

Why split hairs over rewriting history and defining cultural identity, when it's easier to just be a conspicuous or compulsive consumer, mah?
Quote of the Day
"We cannot swing up on a rope that is attached only to our own belt."
– William Ernest Hocking

William Ernest Hocking, the idealist American philosopher, wrote 17 books, mostly on the philosophy of religion in modern life, and taught philosophy at Harvard for 29 years. He was born in 1873 in Cleveland to devout parents of modest means, and it took him ten years to finish college while working. In his books, he explored mysticism and the nature of God as well as the conflict in the Middle East. He died in 1966.
Hocking was a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendents and the American Society of Puritan Descendents. His publications represent a Puritan-like range of concern: The Meaning of God in Human Experience, Human Nature and Its Remaking, The Lasting Elements of Individualism, Rethinking Missions, Types of Philosophy, A Free and Responsible Press, Science and the Idea of God, The Coming World Civilization, The Meaning of Immortality in Human Experience.

Cultural Purity or Cultural Hybridity?

Today's 'Horrorscope': Someone's stonewalling* you. Don't you think that this has gone on long enough? Prepare yourself, because the best course of action right now might be to walk away. Other opportunities await.
* stalling or delaying especially by refusing to answer questions or cooperate
While we're on the topic of re-writing or re-inventing histories, and by extension national and cultural identities, we're often confronted with the fallacy of 'cultural purity', that a certain culture can be 'untainted' by 'corrupting' external influences (The phrase "nilai-nilai murni budaya timur" rings clearly in our collective memories).
Just as historical 'texts' are 'sites of ideological struggles' or 'contested terrains', the meanings and interpretations of cultural 'texts' - 'bling bling', McDonald's, Barney, Top 40s Hit, 'bestselling' fiction and nonfiction, 'blockbuster' movies, etc - that define our everyday 'lived' culture/s and thus cultural identities are also 'sites of contestation'.
So, is Malaysia Truly Asia, mah?
To further delve on the notion of 'cultural hybridity', the following are excerpts from an 'intra-view':

Cinema Interval by Trinh T. Minh-ha*
www.filmref.com/journal/archives/2006/04/cinema_interval_by_trinh_t_min.html
"For me, there is no such thing as pure culture. Whether I deal with Africa or with Vietnam, my own culture, I would have to deal with the very hybridity of the culture itself...Hence, the necessity immediately to question my own position as outsider and as a 'hybrid insider' because, despite the differences, I recognize acutely the ethics and the experiences related to colonialism's aftermath, which I myself grew up with in Vietnam. If it was odd, as an insider, to read about oneself being offered up as a cultural entity by experts writing on Vietnamese culture, it was unsettling to look at oneself and others from the standpoint of an outside-insider in Senegal. The encounter with African cultures thus became a catalyst to think about questions of subjectivity and power relations."
"What is at stake is the problem of established power relationships. When this explanatory language becomes dominant, when it becomes so pervasive that the only way people can think about something is to think about it literally, then for me, that language also becomes dangerous, because its cultural centralization constitutes a form of impoverishment - the ways in which we think are reduced and homogenized - as it excludes or invalidates all other ways of communicating."
"This seems to be the case with a notion like 'hybridity', which has provided a strategic space for a range of new possibilities in identity struggles, but is being reappropriated in diverse milieus, such as the art milieu. Curators can continue to "collect cultures" from remote parts of the world, but rather than retrieving information and salvaging tradition, they now expertly stage and circulate the 'hybrid object'."
"Instead of going back to Kant and Heidegger, why not explore, for example, how Derrida's theories can meet Merce Cunningham's dances, or intersect with certain trends in contemporary performance arts? Why follow only the vertical and its hierarchies when the oblique and the horizontal in their multiplicities are no less relevant and no less fascinating for the quest of truth and knowledge? Why not first and foremost explore how any theory or writing speaks specifically to us - to our situated social and individual selves - from where we are, in our actualities, in our cultural differences, our circumstantial positionings and diversely mediated backgrounds?"
"I feel a great affinity with Marguerite Duras' remark that after the premiere of her film India Song, she had the impression of being dispossessed, not only of a given area, a place, her habitat, but even of her identity...It is through the politics of denationalizing the refugee and the émigré, that a person-who-leaves becomes normalized, being systematically compelled to undergo the process of giving up their home, their country, their language, their proper name. In order to be accepted, one has to abandon one's unwanted self. In order to belong anew, one has to take the oath of loyalty, which entails disloyalty to one's home nation and identity."
* Filmmaker, writer, poet, literary theorist, educator, musical composer, and (un/non)ethnographer, Trinh T. Minh-ha builds much of her work around the theme of the "other" (the persona one considers him/herself to be in relation to), challenging cultural theorists' traditional notions of the subject or/subjected duality. She performed three year's worth of ethnographic field research in West Africa the Research Expedition Program of the University of California, Berkeley. This fieldwork led in part to her first film, Reassemblage, which was filmed in Senegal and released in 1982.
Other Works:
Cinema Interval (1999)
Drawn From African Dwellings (1996)
Framer Framed (1992)
When the Moon Waxes Red: Representation, Gender, and Cultural Politics (1991)
Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism (1989)
En Miniscules (1987)
African Spaces: Designs for Living in Upper Volta (1985) (with Jean-Paul Bourdier)
Un Art Sans Oeuvre (1981)
Films:
A Tale of Love (1996)
Shoot for the Contents (1991)
Surname Viet, Given Name Nam (1989)
Naked Spaces: Living Is Round (1985)
Surname Viet, Given Name Nam
PLOT DESCRIPTION
This documentary explores the lives of five women who have survived the Vietnam conflict to live in current (1989) Vietnam. It also underscores the inferior place of women in Vietnamese society both before and after the war, but nonetheless elicits the strong bond each woman feels for her country and society. The lives of all these women are structured by traditional views like the "four virtues" and the "three submissions." Vietnamese women's lives traditionally have three stages: before marriage, she must be a lady; during marriage, she is like a maid; after marriage, she is like a monkey. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Pontianak Harum Sundal Malam (PHSM)

www.pontianakhsm.com
www.pontianakhsm2.com
"Pulangkan" (Return my 'stuff' to me) and "Ku Seru" (Hailing) are theme songs of PHSMI and PHSMII that remind me of some unpleasant episodes that still haunt me. In the avenging spirit of the Azurris, I would appreciate getting what is rightfully mine. Will whoever took my 'stuff' return them to me pls? TQ

Pulangkan
Seharum bunga yang menggoda
Sekadar dipandang usah dipuja
Kau pasti tak percaya
Kasihku bukan untukmu sayang
Tiada kusangka kau sungguh kejam
Kau rampas segalanya yang kau dendam
Namun takkan bahgia kehidupanmu
Bila bunyi bersatu
Kau milikku
Pulangkan cinta hatiku
Oh hentikanlah menghantuiku
Oh pulangkan oh pulangkanlah padaku
Kupulangkan resah hidupmu
Yang dikau musnah tanpa relaku
Bebaskanlah maafkan daku oh kasih
Tiada kemaafan di sini
Kau ragut degupan hatiku ini
Akan ku jejakimu ke mana jua
Hingga akhir masa sayang

Ku Seru
Ku membayangi jiwa hati mu
Tapi perpisahan menunggu
Ku ingin membelaimu
Namun kasihku tiada restu
Diri begini kerna selalu
Ditinggalkan marah sengsara
Hingga hilang terlupa
Siapa aku sebenarnya
Sayang…
Oh dengarlah sayu tangisanku
Mengapa degupanmu ku seru
Kerna kesepian nan berlalu
Kembalikan hidup yang ku rindu
Oh dengarlah sunyi tangisanku
Kau tahu ku amat menyayangimu
Pergilah kau bukan milikku
Pulang pada yang mengasihi
Dirimu…
Kesepian berlalu…
Maafkan daku…
Sampai di sini ku lepaskan pergi
Biar ku damai bersemadi
Lukamu ku mengerti
Kan ku hilangkan derita… ini
Kau ku seru…

Materazzi Crushed Zizou's Dream

Azurri trounced Allianz: "these boots are made for walkin' and I'm gonna walk all over you ...." or "I'll boot your butt, Frank!" and "I'll butt your chest, M!" Whatever ....
"Zizou remains a hero to the fans"
9 July 2006 by Reuters
Disappointed fans paid tribute to retiring France captain Zinedine Zidane on Sunday and refused to blame him for their team's FIFA World Cup™ Final defeat by Italy after he was sent off for head-butting an opponent.
The Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris, the traditional theatre for displays of national joy, was cast as Heartache Avenue as thousands of sad Les Bleus fans milled around the celebrated thoroughfare in dazed silence.
Four women sat outside one bar in the capital's historic Latin Quarter with tears streaking the red, white and blue national flags painted on their faces as defeat, and the prospect of footballing life after Zidane, sank in.
"It's a very sad exit for Zidane," said Vincent Schneider, 24, after watching the game in Paris's Latin Quarter. "He was the major actor in the World Cup. He was under too much pressure."
Zidane's dismissal in extra-time for a head butt into the chest of Italy defender Marco Materazzi ensured he missed a tense penalty shootout which Italy won 5-3 and killed hopes of a fairytale ending to a glittering career.
However for his fans, from President Jacques Chirac downwards, the talismanic playmaker known as 'Zizou' remains a footballing icon.
"I don't know what happened, why he was punished," said Chirac, who was in Berlin for the Final. "But I would like to express all the respect that I have for a man who represents at the same time all the most beautiful values of sport, the greatest human qualities one can imagine, and who has honoured French sport and, simply, France."
http://expertfootball.com/players/zidane/
Random football quote "It's the first time it's happened to me and maybe the last. It's a strange sensation, not normal for me. I can't remember scoring three goals, even when I was a kid." Zinedine Zidane, French player, after scoring three goals against Sevilla in 2005
Zinedine Zidane was born on the 23rd of June in 1972. His parents of Algerian descent had a total of five children. As a kid, school was not his strongest asset so he turned to football. By the age of 16, a scout by the name of Jean Varraud recruited the youngster to Cannes. One year later, Zizou made his debut in the French First Division. He was signed by Bordeaux in 1992. With his new club, Zidane reached the UEFA Cup final in 1995/96 and attracted the attention of European powerhouse Juventus. After his move to Italy, trophies started to to pour in. By 1996, Ziziou had the UEFA Cup, the European Supercup and the Intercontinental Cup under his belt. He also won the Italian Calcio twice in a row during 1997 and 1998. During the same two seasons, his club managed to reach the Champions League final twice.
When Real Madrid purchased Zinedine Zidane in the summer of 2001, he became the most expensive player of all time. The Spanish club paid a whopping $66 Million for his transfer. In the 2001/02 season, the Frenchman led Real to a Champions League title scoring a spectacular winning goal in the final.
In international competition, Zidane entered the spotlight after carrying his national team to their first World Cup title in 1998. He eventually helped them win their second European title at EURO 2000.
At World Cup 2002, France was eliminated in the first stage. Zizou was struggling with an injury at the time and watched most games from the sideline. Two years later, at EURO 2004, Zidane's country failed to impress again and were knocked out by tournament surprise Greece.
Individually, Zinedine Zidane has been given every major award that a player can achieve. He has won the precious Balon D'Or in 1998 and the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 1998, 2000 and 2003.
Currently, Zinedine Zidane is one of the most skillful players in the game. He can settle and distribute almost any ball thrown in his direction. In individual encounters, Zidane prefers to shield the ball and dribble away from pressure. A master technician, he can apply his skills in any situation and make it look effortless.
Quick Facts
Name Zinedine Zidane
Starting Number #5
Born 23 June 1972 in Marseilles, France
Nationality French
Height 185 cm / 6'2" feet
Weight 80 kg / 176 pounds
Family Status Married to a Spanish dancer named Veronique with two kids: Enzo (named after Enzo Francescoli) and Luca
Foot Both
Teams Cannes (France)
Bordeaux (France)
Juventus (Italy)
Real Madrid (Spain)
Nicknames Zizou
Skills All-round player, control, dribbling, passing, creativity

Perempuan Melayu Terakhir (The Last Malay Woman?)

"Aku mahu buktikan pada dunia, masih wujud lagi kesucian dan kesetiaan..."
("I want to prove to the world that purity and loyalty still exists...")
PMT in a nutshell:
Haikal, a producer of western drama, travelled to the east coast in search of his identity. There, he encountered Mustika who practiced Malay tradition and culture. Although she is engaged to Engku Leh, a Muslim 'fundamentalist', Haikal finds himself strongly attracted to her.
PMT is one of the few Malay movies that really affected me, especially since I identified myself with the naive and innocent Mustika at the time of its release in 1999. And the haunting lyrics and melody of the theme song, Di Wajahmu Kulihat Bulan, moved me to tears. The analogy drawn from Ravana's abduction of Sita from Rama is also very touching.
Di Wajahmu Kulihat Bulan
Di wajahmu kulihat bulan
Yang mengintai di sudut kerlingan
Sadarkah tuan kau ditatap insan
Yang haus akan belaian
Di wajahmu kulihat bulan
Menerangi hati gelap rawan
Biarlah daku mencari naungan
Di wajah damai rupawan
Serasa tiada jauh dan mudah digapai tangan
Ingin hati menjangkau kiranya tinggi di awan
Di wajahmu kulihat bulan
Bersembunyi di balik senyuman
Jangan biarkan ku tiada berkawan
Hamba menanti kan tuan

The Storming of the Bastille?

"Vive la France!" or "Vive la ancien régime!"

The World Cup mean different things to different people, and for Idealists like ISA and I, it means the triumph of the Wretched of the Earth*, the ragged poor, the real dregs of society, the colored, improverished and struggling migrant generation of white European Union, the touching moments of Les Miserables*, the lively spirit of the Three Musketeers* and a reenactment of the Storming of the Bastille*.

Ironically though, the victorious Les Bleus is also known as "la ancien regime", Domeneche is sometimes portrayed as the Absolute Despot, who interestingly enlightened his team with visits to the museums, instead of the snooker pool.

Gotta log off. Below are excerpts of sterling summaries of Zidane's coup. Au revoir, mes amies!

World-Silent Zidane aims to say adieu with World Cup win
Thu Jul 6, 2006 12:09 AM BST
By Timothy Collings
MUNICH, July 5 (Reuters) - Zinedine Zidane will say farewell to football and end his extraordinary career at the very top on Sunday when he plays his final game for France against Italy in the World Cup final.
Another age-defying display by the 34-year-old midfield maestro in Wednesday's 1-0 semi-final victory over Portugal at the Allianz Arena secured him and France one more night of glory -- and a chance to repeat their 1998 triumph on home soil -- in Berlin.
Yet, typically, after a display that mixed gritty defending and sheer industry with moments of vision and great skill, he departed the Allianz Arena without comment, leaving coach Raymond Domenech and the memories of another fine performance to do his talking for him.
All for one as France go through to World Cup final
BRENDAN O'BRIEN
Portugal 0 France 1 (Zidane pen. 33)
Cards Yellow: Carvalho 82, Saha 87 Red:
90 minutes in 90 words
Portugal settle faster but the French discover their musketeer spirit and begin to play exhibition football, with Sagnol's pirouette playing like a homage to Zidane in the 22nd minute. Portugal attack well, but the French shepherd them harmlessly aside. Henry turns Carvalho inside-out in the box and is brought down in the 32nd minute. Zidane steps up to take the penalty, and slots the ball home. France then become somewhat complacent during the second-half, allowing Portugal to come at them. Although they live dangerously, the Portugeuse just cannot break through the French defence. Vive la ancien régime
"Zidane has final say for France"
MASSIMO MARZOCCHI
FRANCE earned a place in the World Cup final for the second time in eight years when a penalty from Zinedine Zidane secured a 1-0 win against Portugal in Munich last night.
A tense semi-final failed to produce a clear winner, but France held on in the second half after Zidane had given them the lead in 33 minutes. The 34-year-old, who scored a hat-trick when France beat Brazil 3-0 to win the World Cup in 1998, converted a penalty when his strike partner Thierry Henry was tripped in the box by Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho.
"Zidane holds his nerve to book France spot in final" (sports.scotsman.com)
FRANCE'S renaissance has turned into another golden age, even if it may last only as long as it takes to play the World Cup final against Italy in Berlin on Sunday.
In a semi-final against Portugal in Munich that could not compete with the previous night's epic in Dortmund, it was Zinedine Zidane who produced the penalty-kick winner with as composed an execution as anyone would expect of an authentic giant of the game.
"Exit of fall guy Ronaldo leaves stage to Zidane" From George Caulkin in Munich (timesonline)
"Brazil 0 France 1: Zidane inspires French rebirth" (Independent Online)
"Rematch of 1998 final sees same result as South Americans falter again on European soil"
By Jason Burt in Munich
Published: 02 July 2006
The world came to kneel at the feet of one player at this tournament. Instead it is another, touched by the gods, but apparently deserted by them also as he has grown older, who may once again take that crown.
Zinedine Zidane inspired France into Wednesday's second World Cup semi-final against Portugal with a wonderful, mesmerising performance. In doing so the 34-year-old not only delayed his second international retirement for at least one more appearance but eclipsed Ronaldinho and, with him, Brazil.
THEY may have taken their leave from the World Cup in familiar, insipid fashion, but English football had cause to revel in the result of last night’s second semi-final. While France’s 1-0 victory over Portugal brought pleasure by proxy to followers of Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Wigan Athletic and Newcastle United, there was also grim satisfaction to be taken in the tears of the Premiership’s latest bête noire.
While there were self-inflicted wounds, the bitter circumstances of England’s departure from Germany ensured that support would never transfer to Cristiano Ronaldo or his Portugal team after his involvement in Wayne Rooney’s sending-off during Saturday’s quarter-final and the winking winger was booed to the rafters in Munich.
A final between Italy and France — who, in Thierry Henry, Claude Makélélé, William Gallas, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Louis Saha, Mikaël Silvestre and Pascal Chimbonda, maintain parochial interest — offers a fascinating confrontation between two of the summer’s most potent stories, one side raging against the end of an era and the other whose domestic game has been besmirched by accusations of corruption.
There was dismay for France in the shape of Saha’s suspension for Sunday’s showpiece in Berlin, for a foolish tackle on Luis Figo that earned a caution, but it is Zinédine Zidane who looms above the fixture. The 34-year-old galáctico, whose retirement will coincide with the conclusion of the tournament, mustered the game’s only goal, a first-half penalty. One of the oldest sides in World Cup history has another tilt at the trophy.
Winners in 1998 and champions of Europe two years later, France have surprised themselves with the scale of their achievement after the tame surrender of their crown in Japan and South Korea four years ago. Jeered at the end of their opening group game, a 0-0 draw with Switzerland, few had identified them as candidates to outlast Sven-Göran Eriksson’s serial underachievers, never mind 30 others, but they are on the verge of installing themselves as the greatest team of modern times.
“The quality of this team is its real capacity to suffer,” Raymond Domenech, the head coach, said. “The toughness, the solidarity — it’s extraordinary. After the Swiss, every match could have taken us home, so we played fully with that pressure. Sometimes you feel you’re going to get hanged, but you get through it.”
Portugal’s adventure ended in tears — Ronaldo’s — and tantrums. As Les Bleus celebrated their unlikely triumph, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Portugal’s volatile head coach, jabbed his fingers at their bench as well as the Fifa personnel on the touchline. Angered by the officials, Ronaldo complained of injustice — “It was a very bad referee and I should have had a penalty,” he said — but Scolari trained his ire elsewhere.
“If they (France) had acted more correctly, it would have been of greater consolation to me,” Scolari, who rejected the opportunity to succeed Eriksson, said. “They made some absurd comments about our country and our athletes, about Portugal and our players, using words I can’t repeat.”
At times, Scolari threatened to encroach upon the pitch and a water bottle was hurled on to the playing surface as a series of decisions conspired against them. Most were incontestable, although Zidane, the France captain, was fortunate to escape a caution for diving.
There would have been seismic consequences. A yellow card would have brought a hasty conclusion to Zidane’s illustrious career, which he has said will end when the trophy is lifted in Berlin. There would have been few more heart-wrenching bans since Paul Gascoigne dissolved into a puddle of tears in 1990.
“He’s a star,” Domenech said of Zidane, “but in a positive sense. He’s a champion, one who affords the French public dreams, real dreams. We’ve known for a while each game could be his last. Now we can say it definitively.”

*************************************************************************************
*Franz Fanon was a distinguished Black psychiatrist and anticolonialist from Algeria. He published Wretched of the Earth in 1963, considered by many to be one of the canonical books on the worldwide black liberation struggles of the 1960’s. Written in anger because of the need of independence for his country, the book addressed the role of violence in decolonization and the challenges of political organization and class collisions and questions of cultural hegemony in the creation and maintenance of a new country’s national consciousness. His approach is by no means a settle approach, instead his attack is revolutionary. One of his main points is that the first will be last and the last will be the first. He also uses many other ideologies that support his beliefs and viewpoints.

*Hugo's Les Miserables has a mosaic of characters - police, prostitutes and pragmatic students - woven onto an automatically dramatic backdrop of tragic revolution in France where there is glory in death for a cause. Its protagonist is fugitive turned fighter Jean Valjean, who symbolises the passion - death, romance or obsession - in poignant moments such as policeman Javert’s search of the dead.

*Dumas' classic swashbuckling story of three swordsmen plus one of the disbanded French king's guard who seek to save their King from the scheming Cardinal Richelieu. Jokes and stunts are the expected fare in this light-hearted and jaunty adventure.

*Every year on July 14, France marks the 1789 storming of the Bastille. Festivities across the country honour liberté, egalité et fraternité, with the most spectacular celebrations taking place in Paris. A parade marches down the Champs Élysées by day and fireworks over the Eiffel Tower illuminate the city by night.

Why Change Is Good

Sometimes we love change and sometimes we hate it. Regardless, it always takes a little bit of courage to leave something familiar and try something new. Why is change difficult for most of us? Because change necessitates that we move out of our comfort zones.
Since our protective mind's job is survival, it will always prefer safety and security over the untested and unproven. It likes to keep things the same. It has us believe "the devil I know is better than the devil I don't know." In other words, "if I stay with what I know and what is familiar, I won't get hurt." This belief system is simply not true and goes directly against the laws of nature.
Most people are not totally happy and successful, yet they continue to do the same things over and over hoping someday things will be different. Realize if what you've been looking for was where you've been looking, chances are you'd have already found it! Doing more of the same thing even harder and longer is not usually the answer. Being willing to change will usually create better results.
Since your inner-world creates your outer-world, one of the first steps in change is changing your thoughts. By examining the way you talk to yourself and your beliefs around success, money and prosperity, you are in a position to consciously change any thoughts that are based on lack, fear and/or limitation. Because what you focus on expands, by intentionally thinking of prosperity, abundance and success you will attract those very things.
Change is natural. The universe is in constant motion from the changing of the seasons to the way plants, trees and flowers grow; from the rushing of the rivers to the wind that blows. Life is always moving, always changing. In fact, the only constant in the world, the only thing you can absolutely count on is change itself.
Therefore, utilize every change as a gift. Whenever change occurs, ask yourself "how can I use this change to my benefit?"
If you lose your job, know that a new and better opportunity awaits you. If you lose a relationship, know that a new and better relationship awaits you.
The happiest and most successful people all share a critical characteristic--the trait of adaptability. This means they have the ability to quickly adapt to new situations and circumstances. The idea then is to go with the flow and not only accept change, but embrace it as an opportunity to expand yourself and your life.
EXERCISE:Today, make a list of all the areas in your life where changes need to take place. Make sure your list not only covers the situations in your life, but also your environment and how you personally need to change. Start implementing those changes now!
Declaration: "I am adaptable. I accept change easily and use it to my advantage."
For your freedom,
T. Harv Eker

Simple Things in Life

I Resign!
I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8 year-old again. I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks.I want to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them. I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day. I want to return to a time when life was simple; when all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you, because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care. All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset. I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again. I want to live simple again. I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness, and loss of loved ones. I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow.
So . . . here's my checkbook and my car-keys, my credit card bills and my 401K statements. I am officially resigning from adulthood. And if you want to discuss this further, you'll have to catch me first, cause........ ....."Tag! You're it."

What You Give Is What You Get

Forwarded Message> From: taaherah> Date: 21-Jun-2006 17:10:24 ZE8>
A GLASS OF MILK
One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it so slowly, and then asked, How much do I owe you?" " You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness." He said ... "Then I thank you from my heart." As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit. Many year's later that same young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease. Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room. Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to her case. After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words ... "Paid in full with one glass of milk" (Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly. Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her happy heart prayed: "Thank You, God, that Your love has spread broad through human hearts and hands." There's a saying which goes something like this: Bread cast on the waters comes back to you. The good deed you do today may benefit you or someone you love at the least expected time. If you never see the deed again at least you will have made the world a better place - And, after all, isn't that what life is all about?

Ties Not Bound Can Be Volatile Too

Should a woman forgive a stalker? Should she be compensated for "damages" for mental, physical and emotional distress? Or is the perpetrator the victim? Should she then counsel him like Susan Sarandon did in Dead Man Walking?
(From wikipaedia: Dead Man Walking is a work of non-fiction by Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun and one of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Medaille. She has become a leading American advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. Her crusade began in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1981, through a correspondence she maintained with a convicted murderer, Patrick Sonnier, who was sentenced to death by electrocution. She visited Sonnier in prison and agreed to be his spiritual adviser in the months leading up to his death. The experience gave Prejean greater insight into the process involved in executions and she began speaking out against capital punishment. At the same time, she also founded Survive, an organization devoted to providing counselling to the families of victims of violence.)
The issue of meanness and insecurity, controlling personalities, and wedding jitters were dissected in Oprah recently. And this morning's MHI "Wanita lebih banyak bercakap daripada lelaki" (Senyum Kambing, Utusan Malaysia, trans. "Why women are more articulate than men") underscores the importance of dialogue, instead of violence/aggression/war, to resolve differences or conflicts, just as Mel Gibson revealed that what women want is "somewhere between conversation and chocolates". Not to escape, 'act out' or deny; to quote Sharon Stone: "Women may fake orgasm, but men can fake whole relationships".
Here's another interesting piece from kakiseni.com:
Talk Is Action Panic Buttons – Culture and Crisis in Malaysia and the Region: Analysing the conditions within which we are forced to endure
by Benjamin McKay
15-06-2006
There will be some among you who believe that talking about problems, about crises and about rights is a passive act. All talk, no action. I disagree with those sentiments. Talk, conversation, dialogue, argument and general discourse ARE actions. Identifying problems and the responses to those problems are important diagnostic activities too. A surgeon does not cut you open without knowing what it is they are looking for. Likewise artists and activists need to theoretically and critically analyse the conditions within which they are forced to endure. It can also be a cathartic experience as anyone would have ascertained had they heard the ‘public’ responses to these issues at the public forum called Panic Buttons – Culture and Crisis in Malaysia and the Region at The Actors Studio Bangsar last Sunday (11 June 2006). It ended a preceding two-day Roundtable Forum on “Crisis, Performance, Rights” at Valentine Willie Fine Art.

Kitsch Galore

Just returned from GH - the 'affordable' holiday destination, the 'no-theme' theme park that showcases mass culture at its gaudiest and most garish. Where else can u get to see stone mermaids and sea horses in a 'romantic love' canal with mechanical gondolas while kids scream from the roller coaster rides above? Statues of Oscar and Liberty flanking a stage for a Chuck E. Cheese band? Or a 'pontianak harum sm" (spirit) guarding a big tree with a man on an electric chair inside? The effect is simply bizarre and overwhelming.
The Olive restaurant seems to be the only oasis or island of serenity and sophistication in a sea of catatonic sounds and sights.
Step outside, and you'll be bombarded with the most 'loud' and 'chinky' hotel facades in the whole wide world, I believe. I wonder if the resort designers ever heard of the word concept or branding in achieving that unique 'look and feel'? Give me CH or FH for a quiet get-away any time!
Being away and distancing myself from 'unresolved' issues had been good in terms of putting events of the last three years in proper perspective and understanding complex behavior, i.e. the discrepancy between public persona and the private self. Why waste all that precious energy, time and money in manipulating people to go to you when all it takes is to just ask. Like ur PS said: "Life is short, you should learn to enjoy", so isn't it high time we enjoy some quality time together?
I really don't wish for anyone to indulge in self-destructive behavior like Kurt Cobain in "Heavier than Heaven" which caused so much pain to family and friends.

Of Tangled Web And Ripple Effects

I didn't understand when JKS used to write that "the decisions were made elsewhere". But now I think it's immature, manipulative and passive-aggressive to lay the blame on someone else for the decisions you made. As Canfield preached: "You're 100% responsible for your actions". And if my actions, or non-actions, have unintended consequences, that's beyond my control, especially if the observer's surveillance is flawed, or if my circumstances and responsibilities were not conducive to privacy and intimacy then.
Yet I do not want to dwell on the past - it's simply too painful, though there were moments that I treasure and precious lessons that I learnt - I believe that hope springs eternal and the best is still waiting to happen. I want to, and I can, improve my main weakness - people's skills or social intelligence - be alert and sensitive, calm my fears about inadequacy, propriety, intimacy and commitment, be focused and decisive, and make myself clear.
At the end of the day, everyone is responsible for his/her own happiness. If I had unintentionally caused heartache to others, I seek forgiveness for my indecisiveness and indiscretions. I will certainly be more circumspect in my speech and act from here on.