Ruminations

Penawar.Release

Kerengga di dalam buluh,
Serahi berisi air mawar,
Sampai hasrat di dalam tubuh,
Tuan seorang jadi penawar.

A red ant, trapped; it bites like fire,
A sting that only rosewater can ease,
When my whole being is consumed with desire,
In thee and in thee alone, I find release.

Matters of the Liver

There is one thing that has bothered me for some time. I'm assuming that I am not the first to notice or remark on this, but at the same time I don't think there has been enough discussion - let alone reflection - on the matter.

Has it ever occurred to you why the Malays, when they love, do so with their liver, and not with their heart like many other people around the world?

Najib Tun Razak's Pantun

Malaysiakini reported that UMNO Deputy President Najib Tun Razak used pantun to tell Dr M to stop his attacks on the current PM. While this is not the first time that pantun is used at the UMNO General Assembly, I can't recall any other high-ranking UMNO leaders using the pantun since Anwar Ibrahim.

Najib Tun Razak's pantun did not adhere strictly to the principles of pantun making. I mean, where's the thematic separation between pembayang and maksud, man? And I'm not exactly thrilled by the content of the pantun either but I guess I won't complain if high-profile usage of pantun such as this helps keep pantun alive and fresh in public consciousness!

Come one, come all - let's make pantun Malaysia's answer to the haiku.

Death of a Pope

Milton Friedman died yesterday at the age of 94. Yes I know, I know. He won a Nobel Prize a year before I was born and single-handedly created monetarism. Never mind that three years ago he recanted and conceded that he may have got it wrong with regard to monetarism all this while. Central bankers today however still swear by him: many of them are still fanatical devotees of the monetarist cult. God help us.

But I digress. What I remember best about him though is the time when I read an interview in which he propounded his views on the euro way back in 1999. In the introductory caption to that article, he was referred to as le pape du monétarisme - the Pope of Monetarism, a phrase which truly caught my imagination. A Jewish economist being anointed as Pope of anything was too much of an irony for me to ignore.

Harimau mati meninggalkan belang, manusia mati meninggalkan nama.

Disagree as you might with his views, it is difficult to disagree that with his death, Dr Friedman has become immortal.

Bagaimana Ini Bisa Terjadi?

I have just belatedly learned that Peterpan has expelled Andika and Indra! Waduh, waduh, bagaimanakah ini bisa terjadi? And wasn't Andika sort of the "founding father" of Peterpan? Bagaimana bisa dipecat deh?

I'm musically illiterate and can't tell the difference between one guitar and another (why do they need so many guitars, again?) I have always thought that there were too many people in Peterpan and that they needed to be downsized (think Rabbani, people). So to all intents and purposes this news doesn't really affect me as a Peterpan fan.

But I was at their 2006 new year concert in KL, which I think was the last time they performed in Malaysia as a group. So in a way it's kinda sad.

But as Epi said, sad as this may be, the autographed CD that I have - with the signatures of all six of them including Andika and Indra - will now become a collector's item!

Can you hear that jingle-jangle sound?

Belated Remarks on Halloween

I was stressed.

No. Not because of my econometrics assignment. And not because of that soon-to-be-due-but-I-have-done-zilch paper on China's domestic debt market reform either.

It's Halloween. In fact it's my first real, authentic Halloween in America. And I don't know what to wear to the school's Halloween party.

I could sense an impending crisis.

Some of my uni-mates tried to be helpful.

"Oh, you can go as Evo Morales. You've got a similar (read: ugly) haircut and I've seen you in an ugly sweater before. Just wear that ugly sweater and carry a chop that says "Property of Bolivia" and you are set."

I was stumped. But isn't Halloween supposed to be about ghosts and witches and monsters? Aren't you supposed to go as something scary?

Like a true international affairs specialist well-trained in the ways of the neo-cons, he retorted: "You think a raving jingoist like Evo Morales as the president of Bolivia is not scary?"

Devilspeak

Think of an idiom or expression in your language that you find particularly colourful or uniquely reflective of your people and way of life. Got one? Great. Now don't you wonder whether such an expression can be satisfactorily expressed in other languages? If so, how would they say it? Is everything really translatable? Do we all share the same experiential existence? To what extent is our view of the world shaped by the language we speak? Can you really know a people if you do not know their language?

Jeff Ooi and Pantun

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Jeff Ooi is a pantun fan. How totally unpredictable, but how gratifying at the same time. Even more gratifying since he's not even Malay.

Perhaps there is still hope for pantun just yet.

Come one come all - let's make pantun Malaysia's answer to the haiku.

(Political) Party-ing

The e-mail simply said, "XXXXX  invite you to their ELECTION NIGHT PARTY to discuss, debate, analyze, and watch the midterm election returns and cast your vote as to how you think the House, Senate and Governor's offices will look after the votes are counted!"

This sounded too tempting to resist. I don't foresee myself doing much in terms of "debate" and "analysis" - after all what the heck do I know about American politics? - but I can definitely "watch", not to mention gorge on the free food and imbibe the free drinks.

Tuhan Maha Kaya

The Ted Haggard case to me sounds like a story lifted out of a novel. Ted Haggard is a charismatic, ultra-righteous, very outspoken and influential religious figure who not only founded an evangelical movement 20 years ago, but was also the Chairman - until he resigned a few days ago - of the National Association of  Evangelicals, a US umbrella body of evangelical churches which boasts 30 million members. No wonder he has strong connections to the White House: 30 million sounds like a lot of votes.

One of my mum's trademark phrases is "Tuhan Maha Kaya" (Most Bountiful is the Lord) - a phrase she often uses when a bad deed that the perpetrators have been at pains to hide is uncovered. (We often heard this phrase in our childhood, particularly when we were found out watching TV instead of studying for school or doing other naughty things.) This phrase came to mind when I read that Ted Haggard - who is well known for his strong public stance against same-sex marriage - was ejected from the Church he founded - get this - for sexually immoral conduct involving a gay male prostitute and drugs. Tuhan Maha Kaya, indeed.