Guests from the USA !

Welcome to Iggy Ignatius, Gunaseelan and Jaline with the hosts, Dr Balendran and Kala! 

Blessed Wesak

I was inspired to learn more about Buddha's history after reading the book "Ten Thousand Miles Without A Cloud" by Sun Shuyin. 

I learnt that Buddha or as he was known then, Siddartha Gautama was born in Lumbini (now in Nepal). Buddha found enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, in the district of Bihar, India under a Bodhi tree. Buddha died in Kushinagar. 

Today is Wesak, a day to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha. 

To me, these events are significant because they taught me about three things. 

Firstly, how a prince who had everything in life decided to give up everything in order to teach humankind about life. 

It is not easy to give up a position of power and wealth but one can do it if one can see the bigger picture. 

Secondly, his philosophy of life. His four noble truths. 

The four noble truths are the truth of suffering (dukkha); truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya); truth of the end of suffering (nirhodha); and truth of the path that frees us from suffering (magga). The last noble truth contains a eight-fold path to attain enlightenment. 

One needs to have the right Understanding; Intention; Speech; Action; Livelihood; Effort; Mindfulness; and Concentration in order to achieve Enlightenment.  

Thirdly, the dignity, peace and mindfulness as he was approaching his final moment. Buddha taught his followers to accept alms, as long as they did not hear, see or suspect that the animal was killed on purpose for them. 

Buddha's last meal was sukkara maddava or pig's delight (purportedly pork or truffle) provided by Cunda. Even though his last meal was not the direct cause of his death, it was the catalyst that triggered his death. Enduring the pain with calmness and mindfulness, Buddha continued to teach the philosophy to his followers until his death and accepted two more disciples. 

Hence, on this auspicious day, we should emulate Buddha. Let us have the right understanding to lead us away from delusions. Let us have the right intention in order to eliminate the three poisons of greed, anger and ignorance. Let us have the right speech ie words of truth, words of compassion, words of praise and words of altruism. These words help and benefit others. Let us have the right action. Behaviour that is right and in accord with the truth, that protects life, be compassionate and give charity. Let us have the right livelihood or right occupation that do not harm others or ourselves. Let us have the right effort to move in the direction of truth with courage and diligence. Let us have the right mindfulness, a mind that contemplates the right path. Let us have the right concentration to discover our true self.

Have a blessed Wesak !  

Malaysian Malaysia - unity in diversity

I want to send my heartiest good wishes to everyone celebrating Chinese New Year, as we usher in the Year of the Fire Monkey. 

Chinese New Year is a special occasion and a perfect reminder of the many cultures and faith of a Malaysian Malaysia!

Echoing what Obama said in his CNY message. We are a nation of immigrants. We are unique in a sense that we are united in our diversity. Our diversity is guaranteed by the Rukun Negara and our  Constitution. Don't let the opportunists and segregationists deceive us into thinking otherwise.

Just look around us. Just look at ordinary Malaysians and judge for yourselves whether we need to be divided by the ploys of those who wants to remain in power. They use race and religion to divide us. Race and religion are the very things that unite us as a Malaysian Malaysia is built on unity in diversity. That is what a Malaysian Malaysia should be about. Just like what PM Lee Hsien Loong said in his CNY message :  How we treat each other and what we are willing to do for one another defines who we are. This country belongs to all of us, and is what we make of it. 

Also Chinese New Year is a time to remind ourselves of the importance of family: How it is our tower of strength and support; how it encourages us when we are down and jubilates with us when we achieve success; how it is always there for us.

So as the lights go up, the parades begin, the music starts and families gather together, let’s celebrate everything we are achieving together-may we all do our part to carry forward the work of perfecting this country that we love. 

If you are up to it then please do this when you see a Chinese Malaysian, make your right hand into a fist, put your left hand over the right fist and scream at the top of your lungs "Ong ah ! Huat ah ! Heng ah !" 

If you are not up to it then just wish them the most blessed CNY ever.

Rise above cheapskate politics

Rise above cheapskate politics

Call me queer. Well, not queer in the strict definition of  LGBTIQ. I am queer because I am a non-conformist. However, I checked the dictionary and found that  LGBTIQ stood for lesbian, gay, bisexuals, transgender, intersex and queer. Today, I want to touch on the last character, queer. 

I love queer people, especially the effeminate males  ! They are very sensitive and kind. In fact, I have encountered many queer, wonderful and lovely individuals in my life. 

Lokman  and Joshua were my primary school mate and secondary school mate, respectively. They always felt out of place. Lokman used bring green syrup to school and was always willing to share his stuffs. He loved to join the girls and chit chat and refused to join the boys. 

One day, Joshua came running back into our classroom from the soccer field. He complained that he was so supposed to play football but ended up being kicked around like a football. 

Then I was buddies with Nasir when I started working as a lawyer. A huge group of young lawyers would always hang out  to "Jom minum" during tea breaks or play bowling. Nasir would use "Naomi"  for Naomi Campbell as his name when we played bowling. 

My own nephew came out in the open as a gay. He's one of the most talented person I have ever known. He can sing, dance and play many musical instruments.  

We can always agree to disagree. We can always attack the views and opinions of a person. We can always attack the integrity and the political will of an individual. 

However, we cannot subject any individuals to personal attacks especially on their physical and/or psychological attributes.  By persecuting someone's so called lack of conformity to the societal norms, you are in fact subjecting the person to a form of bullying. 

I have a confession to make. I was a victim of bullying in school due to my obesity. I was always teased at. Enduring name calling was a daily chore for me.  I can relate to victims of bullies. I never liked my primary school days due to that.  There are good and bad queer people but my point is to attack the individuals ad rem (based on their arguments) and not ad hominem (personal attacks). 

Therefore, let us emulate  Pakatan leaders, Lim Kit Siang , Lim Guan Eng, Tony Pua, Rafizi Ramli, Mat Sabu and Anthony Loke who attacked the powers that be using empirical facts and figures from history and present. 

Let us not go down to the level of BN leaders like Bung Mokhtar (Batu Gajah leak every month too), Mustapha Mohamed (new office is like a virgin bride), Roselan Johar Mohamed (if you can't fight rape, just enjoy it) etc. 

An apology is a consolation but if one apologises for the same mistake over and over again then it shows that the apology is not genuine. Such recalcitrance and unrepentant spirit reek of cheapskate politics. We have to rise above cheapskate politics if we are serious in wanting to take over Putrajaya. 

Note : the characters above are based on actual persons but their names changed to protect their identities. Please add obesity into "LGBTIQ". They are also very much victimized. 

Nicole Tan Lee Koon

DAP Wanita National Executive Committee (NEC)  member 

DAP Negeri Sembilan State Committee

Cure for a sick regime

There is only one cure for a sick regime : Change the regime

I refer to the articles, “Why Malays would rather vote for an UMNO-led Barisan than a DAP-dominated Pakatan” by Megat Ibrahim and “DAP is its own enemy” by Raja Petra Kamaruddin (RPK), respectively. These are two classic examples of what RPK himself said in his article “Mukhriz is bigger than Kedah” : 

“You need to make people hate the DAP Chinese, the Amanah Malays, Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Anwar Ibrahim, Mat Sabu, the opposition, etc. This is how the opposition does it and if Umno and Barisan Nasional want to remain in power then this is exactly the same game they need to play. If not, in 2018 Malaysia is going to get a new government”.

That is exactly what RPK and a host of other UMNO cyber troopers are doing. They are putting up smokescreens and diverting the Rakyat’s attention and repeating more lies to make the Rakyat hate DAP to avoid the inevitable end game that they fear the most : A change of regime in 2018 ! 

Just take Megat Ibrahim’s article. He started by saying that he can refute my arguments by using facts and figures from history. I scoured his article and found that his arguments  were all based on some hearsay evidence about the Perak constitutional crisis and  Facebook postings by a few DAP leaders. Using hearsay evidence and Facebook postings to counter statistical facts and figures is like pitting Malaysia against Germany in a football game. A foregone conclusion. RPK (at his new low) even supported Megat’s arguments. I say to the UMNO and BN cyber troppers (including RPK), give us actual facts and figures from history, then we talk. 

The difference between the UMNO cyber troopers and the Pakatan cyber troopers is that the latter are attacking UMNO and BN out of their own volition as they really want a change of regime. They are sick and tired of being deceived by UMNO and BN every General Elections for the past 59 years.  

Just like Najib. Why isn’t there a motion of no confidence against Najib like in Kedah against Mukhriz ? Very simple : The same reason why the question “Where is the RM2.6 billion?” is still unanswered until today. Najib and the powers that be are absolutely corrupted.  

Najib is so corrupted that he will use whatever means possible to hold on to power. Whoever is not for Najib is against Najib. Najib removed all obstacles in his path faster that you can say “Lord Ganesha”. You scratch my back, I scratch your back. Najib puts his sycophants into positions of power. 

Najib is so corrupted that he can tell Ling Liong Sik that he took the SRC money and yet ask Ling to prove it. I am reminded of the Chinese martial arts term called Zou huo ru mo or "martial arts deviation" (Chinese: 走火入魔, literally means "walking fire entering demon") (something like Kundalini Sakti that went awry). It is a Chinese term traditionally used to indicate that something has gone wrong in martial arts training, applied to describe a psychological disorder believed to result during or after martial arts practice. Symptoms include hallucination and paranoia. 

Najib and his supporters are suffering from this martial arts deviation. Just replace the words “martial arts” with “deceive the Rakyat”.  UMNO and BN has been deceiving the Rakyat for the past 59 years until they are suffering from “deceive the Rakyat deviation” syndrome. They are incorrigibly delusional. They are suffering from a serious ailment. They can be likened to the Emperor with new clothes. They pranced around proudly oblivious to the fact that they are actually naked. They will continue to do and say delusional things until they are cured. There is only one cure. CHANGE THE GOVERNMENT !

Nicole Tan Lee Koon

DAP Wanita National Executive Committee (NEC)  member 

DAP Negeri Sembilan State Committee

Thaipusam

Hari Thaipusam merupakan hari yang penting and bermakna kepada penganut agama Hindu. Umat Hindu menunaikan nazar dan menebus dosa atau memohon ampun di atas dosa-dosa sebelum ini. Nazar merupakan permohonan  sesuatu hajat kepada Dewa Murugan. Jika permohonan dikabulkan, maka satu acara kesyukuran akan diadakan.

Pada hari tersebut mereka akan membawa susu yang berwarna putih kerana susu itu dianggap paling suci . Susu ini diisikan dalam belanga tembikar atau aluminium. Belanga ini akan dijunjung di atas kepala dari luar kuil hinggalah ke dalam kuil. Ramai juga lelaki Hindu yang mencukur rambut pada hari tersebut dan menyapukan campuran serbuk cendana dan air di atas kepala. 

Kavadi akan dijunjung di atas bahu atau kepala bagi memohon ampun agar dosa mereka dihapuskan. Kavadi ini diperbuat daripada beberapa rod besi atau kayu yang di atasnya terletak patung dewa Murugan dengan pelbagai saiz dan bentuk. Pembawa kavadi ini terdiri daripada lelaki , perempuan, tua, muda dan kanak-kanak. Berat dan saiz kavadi ini bergantung kepada kemampuan seseorang. Pelbagai cara menyeksa diri bagi menunjukkan mereka memohon ampun. 

Oleh yang demikian, inilah masa untuk kita membuat refleksi kendiri terhadap dosa-dosa kita sebelum ini. Pada pendapat saya,  setakat ini, refleksi yang berlaku hanya menilai dosa-dosa yang telah berlaku. Sepatutnya, kita perlu memikirkan bagaimana untuk bertindak balas sekiranya peristiwa yang sama berlaku pada masa hadapan dan merancang apa yang sepatutnya dibuat pada masa sekarang untuk mengelak dosa-dosa tersebut diulangi. 

Kita seharusnya mengambil iktibar daripada peristiwa-peristiwa tersebut untuk melaksakan sesuatu yang bertujuan supaya kita  boleh menjaga hubungan kita dengan tuhan; hubungan dengan orang lain;  hubungan dengan alam dan juga untuk kebaikan diri sendiri. Selamat menyambut Hari Thaipusam. Semoga diberkati !

Happy Ponggol

Happy Ponggal

Ponggal is celebrated in mid-January (winter solstice in the Hindu calendar) by festival marking the rice harvest to give thanks to the Sun God, named Surya, for a bountiful harvest. 

Ponggal, a mixture of sweet boiled rice is made and offered to  the Sun God or Surya. The name is derived from the Tamil word pongu, meaning "boil over" or "flourish."

New clothes are donned and festivity fills the air in the house during Ponggal. A colourful kolam is made out of rice paste, outlining Surya's chariot. 

In the centre of this is placed a clay pot or ponggal panaai over an earthen stove. The pot is filled with milk and fresh rice and adorned with ginger and tumeric stalks. While the newly harvested rice grains boil in milk, brown sugar or jaggery is added along with cashew nuts, raisins and ghee. 

As the rice mixture boils furiously frothing freely over the pot, family members cry out "pongollo pongal". This is a celebratory cheer which literally means "may this rice boil over". And this is a wish for overflowing fortunes for the family. Visitors greet each other with "paal pongitha?" Which means: "Has the milk boiled over in your house?" 

Traditionally, the rice is cooked over a brick stove in the open yard of the house.

Whilst the Americans celebrate Thanksgiving by roasting a turkey and Chinese celebrate winter solstice by eating rice balls and the Hindus celebrate Ponggol by boiling rice in milk, they are all to thank God for the abundant blessings. We should remind ourselves that celebration of  gratefulness should transcend religion and races and let us wish all our HINDU friends "Ponggol o Ponggol" when you see them !!