Follow-up

I've been changing the title for this post; Glorious 50, Malaysia Boleh 50 Tahun Lagi and...Gemilang Terbilang. Opss. At the end I choose the above mentioned title for the obvious reason: I left for holiday during the Merdeka celebration period and I am back here to, ermm, Follow-up*.

The third quarter of the year is always exciting for most Malaysian, especially before and during the Merdeka day itself. And 2007 is supposed to be the Visit Malaysia Year. I lost count of how many fireworks display and competition that has been pre-arranged. Hundreds of advertisement on Merdeka SALE! were published on all major newspaper.

And you'd see National flags everywhere. Never mind the city centre, but at some low-cost apartment people hung the flags together with their, uh-huh, laundry clothes. Both are probably still wet at that time, I think. Not forgetting the hard-core patriot who attached 50 tiny flags to their Proton Wajah, or paint it on their looks-like-illegal-racing Honda EX5.

Local artist would do it on their canvas, in conjunction to you-know-what. Those paintings are probably still on display in Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia but if you are non-Malaysian, I would probably hesitate to go with you for my second visit. Not until I figured out how to answer this anyway: Why your flag looks like American one? No disrespect, but I thought everyone would have tired of painting our national flag during their early school days. We even make paper art out of it. Those were the time we, young and innocent Malaysian; who cursed why we can’t have a simpler flag design like the, say, the Japanese, and have a good laugh about it.

But maybe kids nowadays draws only Manga characters. Staying in the city can only make the matter worse, as you moved from a box to another box, be it TV, apartment, school, PS2, cars, etc. So who is defining the “space” right now? An architect or an environmentalist? After 50 years, do we know each other better now? Man, I really don’t know.

Then I came to realize that the year-long sales promotion is almost synonymous with our endless festival celebration, one after another. Whether it's Hari Raya Aidilfitri first or Chinese New Year later, we still have Deepavali, Christmas, Gawai, Mid-Autumn Celebration, Hari Raya Qurban, Thaipusam…Perhaps that’s why all celebration are often short lived, that people tends to forget quickly – maybe that's one of the many ways to survive in multi-everything environment. And I still feel lucky to be at the right place at the right time.

As we speak, it's already in the middle of Ramadan month. Everyday, the city's traffic clogged-up as early as 4.00pm for a different reason – get home early, or be at some famous popiah stalls before people everyone else. Ministry of Healthy advertisement** graphic shows a young lady holding a plate of fruits and steamed-bun, thus reminding us “Avoid oily fried food for better health.” Ironically in the blurred background one notice a makcik (elderly lady) preparing goreng pisang or ayam percik (deep-fried banana or barbeque marinated-chicken). Dear Minister, I am sorry but maybe not during Ramadan month!

And soon we might be able to savor barbeque porcupine – yes you heard me alright. Seen as “…a way to sustain wildlife with high economic potential outside their habitate for future release into the wild and to fulfil market demand..”, once our government-backed model farms* that breed Malayan porcupine (Hystrix brachyuran) is a success, everything is possible. Malaysia Boleh. That’s what keeps the PETA girls busy going naked again, so that the rest of us could go crazy and ask hundreds of questions, like what I do now.

Ending this post would be difficult, but maybe this picture will help:


You see, many-many-many years ago the entry point to city of Kuala Lumpur was never via KLIA. Nor blood-sucking PLUS-Highway (I heard the toll price will go up again, soon). It might be KTMB railway station but if you drive from north, there is no flashy signboard decorated with colorful neon lights to welcome you. Instead you will only (Probably. Come on, when EON was established I am hardly a primary student) have this signboard, a kilometer or so short of Batu Cave.

Probably one of the few poorly constructed shot of mine, but of the few most meaningful one. Every time I drove pass the signboard, I wonder why it is still there. It seems to remind me of something, but I couldn't say for sure. And how long before that little piece of green surrounding the signboard engulfed by the ruthless development?

Again, I don't know. Maybe it's not the time yet. So be it.

Selamat Berbuka Puasa!(Do invite me, oily food or not, hehe...)

* Unfortunately, I will not follow up on my long overdue traveling trips as for now, the priority of my country come first-ma :)
** Quoted, New Sunday Times, October 7, 2007