Man-made laws to make the numbers!

Ju Dou (Chinese; 1990)

Just as much as societal norms set the order in a society, they can also be the cause of discontent and chaos. Believe it or not, this is very much like religion. On the one hand, it tries to create a milieu of harmony where all individuals, rich or poor, stronger or weak has a place in the sun. Conversely, to try to enact 'God's Law' on Earth, we see people die, and countries go to wars towards this end. 

This classic multiple award-winning Chinese film tells of a tale which is set in a secluded village at the turn of the 19th century. Tianqing is adopted by a wealthy but miserly owner of a fabric dyeing factory. He is forced to work ruthlessly, almost like a slave. The elderly owner, Yang, after a spate of dead spouses, is now married to a young bride. Yang is abusive towards his young wife, perpetuated by his impotence and inability to secure an heir.

Tianqing takes pity on the bride, Ju Duo. The feelings develop into a romance, and an illicit affair develops. Ju Duo becomes pregnant with the intimacy, much to the joy of Yang, thinking that it is of his own. A boy is born.

After a fall, Yang becomes a paraplegic. The couple now feels justified to openly flaunt their romance after the things they had endured under his thumb. The boy grows up, realising of his mother's infidelity, develops an aversion against his biological father. At the climax, there is a duel between the teenage son and Tianqing that ends with a disastrous outcome.  

Laws are enacted to ensure order. Should rules be so rigid that exceptions cannot be made? When a person is wronged, and the situation is so helpless, can the law be bent on compassionated grounds? 

We are so loyal to our kith and kin that we fail to realise that they too are not immune to wrongdoings. Almost by reflex, we tend to be blinded of their injustices. Humans are social animals. We are strong by numbers. We feel vulnerable and need the validation of our deeds. We feel secure in a herd.

This story highlights how man-made regulations, like social mores, overpower the biological natural inclination to protect one of his own kind.

 https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Crouching tiger and balding eagle?

Crouching Tiger (Documentary, 2015)
Director: Peter Navarro

China, through their foreign envoys, continues to try to impress upon the rest of the world that they are a peaceful nation. From the time in history, they have been a nation of trade. They expanded their shipping fleet and extended their influences the world over in pursuit of peaceful trade until the Ming Dynasty's closed-door policy when they decided to introspect with their own brand of realisation and Confucianism. Apparently, this system failed to satisfy the masses. Recent changes in their economic outlook had awoken the tiger from a long slumber.

Nehru, as the head of a newly independent democracy then, thought the best way to foster relationships with another great civilisation was through commerce. Unfortunately, he found out the hard way, that China has their own way of doing business when both countries engaged in a war in 1962 and India lost Tibet causing the Dalai Lama to abdicate.

Singapore, in the 90s, did the same only to leave with a bad after-taste and burnt fingers, deciding to look elsewhere for bilateral trade deals.

Back home, our country is trying to relive the 15th-century dynamics when China was the 'taiko' (Big Brother), and Malacca was the subservient servant as history tell us. The leaders have gladly given the gentlemen's handshake, inked the document and literally given a blank cheque to China's mysterious long-term plans as a force to be reckoned with.

This documentary, directed by one of President-Elect Donald J Trump's economic advisors, takes a paranoid view at the rise of China as an economic power. He interviews many US Military and Strategic advisors who paint a very bleak view of China's intentions to do business. They foresee China as also wanting to excel as a military force, expand their territory and eventually to exert their hegemonic power over the rest of the world.

In five one-hour episodes, the director discusses possibilities of US war with China, the world at the mercy of the Chinese might, the place of North Korea, Japan and Taiwan in the equation of the global military power balance.

A Greek philosopher, Thucydides, said that the rise of power and the increase in the might of one country would intimate its neighbours. Many leaders in history have stayed true to this policy. Whenever a country becomes strong, its neighbours take it upon themselves to strengthen themselves so as not to be usurped by their neighbouring nation. This has been the law of nature. War is a necessary evil to propel our race to greater heights. America, as a newly independent nation then, decreed the Monroe Doctrine to keep the European powers out of the Caribbean Islands and South America.

Now China is preparing a two-island strategy, from the southern tip of Japan all through Taiwan till the South East Asia island strips, to create a war of defence and power over much of East Asia and the Pacific. After centuries of humiliation by foreign forces, the British, the French, the Russians and even the Japanese, they had their territories carved away a bit by a bit. Sea commerce had always been their strong point. Now, the question is whether the strengthening of the Chinese fleet is for the protection of its routes or for world domination? Can it rise safely or will it grow up like an autistic child with a dangerous toy to play and would not heed to advise? With their ability the produce low-cost defence equipment and anti-access strategy, are we heading for a headlong collision?

The Chinese military capability has dwarfed the US might of late. Their DF21 delta styled anti-aircraft carrier missiles, their torpedo sea-mines, their new generation 'silent' submarines all send chills down the spines of the Yankees. The next world war would probably be fought in space, outer space and cyberspace! With the Chinese prowess to steal intellectual properties, US military secrets, the Americans are basically sitting ducks. China, under their thumb, just may have the power to disrupt financial markets, destroy critical infrastructure, satellites, banking sector, water, power grid and other essential amenities. If the next war may be fought in outer space, is not an irony that the US is wrapping its space program while China is going gangbusters into space dominance?
North Korea, the spoilt little kid with a nuclear warhead, continues to pose a security threat to the US. It is under the direct patronage and protection of the Chinese and helps to keep US interference in the Pacific rim in check. Taiwan, on the other hand, is US counterbalance of the Chinese. History has shown, from the example of British PM Neville Chamberlain's faux pas in 1938 of signing a 'grand bargain treaty' with Hitler only to have the Germans attack Poland, not to trust the enemies.

China will never forget Japan's 'Rape of Nanking' before the onset of World War 2. Their territorial disputes over Senkaku/Dioyu Islands and Okinawa stays till date. Okinawa was part of China long ago, before modern history. The trouble is these strategic locales are important in China's two-island defence plan but ICJ does not entertain claims of control before 1890. Hence, China could pick up a fight if it wants to!

With these paranoid ideas which would probably border on conspiracy theories, this offering provides yet another reason to lose your sleep and reaffirm the scriptures' nihilistic outlook on mankind and the human race on the whole. Every new beginning starts with a bang. Think about it.

https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/riflerangeboy/!

Karma bites back?

Death by China: How America lost its Manufacturing Base (2012)
Writer, Director, Narrator: Peter Navarro

As the world and the economic punters go on double guessing what President-Elect Donald J Trump and his team may bring to the table, this documentary, made by one of his financial advisors, Peter Navarro, may give an insight into what is in store for the next four years.

Twenty years ago, Singapore, one of the up and coming Tigers of the East roared itself to build cordial economic relationships with the then newly open economy of the New China. Pretty soon, Singapore had to retreat, licking its wounds with a bitter aftertaste.

Near home, under the guise reliving and recreating a time beaten era when Chinese ships graced our shores, and into our cosmopolitan ports, China is making big inroads into our space, our land and even salvaging our bad debts. This documentary will drive the adage that there is no such thing of a free lunch. Like the witch in Hansel and Gretel, all the feeding could just be a ploy to fatten up for the big kill!

After watching this presentation, it would appear crystal clear why Trump won the elections, and it would be unthinkable to assume otherwise.

With Nixon's 1972 seminal visit to China, the trade gates with the USA opened. Bill Clinton ushered China in the World Trade Organisation (WTA) to increase bilateral commerce. Unfortunately, over the years, the US may notice that the arrangement was lopsided. The Chinese flooded the American market with substandard, cheap and potentially unhealthy products. The currency manipulation by the Chinese gave them an unfair advantage. The multinational companies are also guilty of putting national interest aside in favour of profit to relocate factories in China. Small and medium enterprises had no choice but to relocate, unable to stay afloat with lower production cost in China. This robbed jobs from the American plant and factory workers. Pictures of abandoned factories in America soon became a familiar landscape.

The US of A, over the decades after the World War 2, have been instrumental in orchestrating political directions in many third world countries the world over to suit business climate in their favour. When the tide turns around, when karma bites back, they cry like babies. They whine and allege foul play. They say the Chinese do not care about the environment. They pollute the world with their the unabated toxic waste. The Chinese towns are most polluted cities in the world. They contribute vastly to carbon emission and environmental degradation. They have no respect for human rights and do not have labour laws. They force prisoners in labour camps with long hours of work to increase the country's productivity. They do not respect intellectual property. They promote piracy and counterfeits.

Another bone of contention with the Americans is how the production of military sensitive equipment and software are outsourced to China. It puts the US in a precarious situation as their national security may come under threat. The Chinese are known to copy and mass produce, even military hardware, putting the USA at the mercy of the increasing Chinese military might.

The filmmaker accuses the American multinational companies of selling out on its citizens. They did not use their resources to keep jobs for the Americans. The smaller industries could not compete anyway. He suggests that the trade reform is reviewed to balance trade. Research and development should go in tandem with production. The unholy union between politicians and entrepreneurs need to be nipped. Navarro emphasises that the criticism that he hurls is made against the Communist Party of China, not to the people of China, as they just want to survive and are oppressed. It is not the People's Republic of China but the Communist Party of China who called the shots.

He also tries to wake the patriotism of the Americans to resist the temptation to purchase the cheaper Chinese product which would increase US deficit but to buy American. It is easier said than done as it appears that there no more American products in the market.

THE TRUE HISTORY OF CHINESE & INDIANS IN MALAYSIA

http://malaysianindian1.blogspot.my/2011/01/true-history-of-chinese-indians-in.html?m=1
As stated by Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK)

RPK

A confusion has erupted due to ignorance. It has been stated that the Indians came here as beggars and the Chinese as prostitutes. Actually, if you were to really study Malayan and Malaysian history over the last 500 years or so, you will find that this country’s history is not just about beggars and prostitutes. It is about much more than that.

Malayan history has to be dissected into many periods. And each of these periods saw immigration involving almost all the races in Malaysia, save the Orang Asli (the Original People). In New Zealand, these Orang Asli would be the Maoris and in Australia the Aborigines. Therefore, anyone who is neither a Maori nor an Aborigine is a ‘pendatang’ or immigrant.

THE ARABS IN MALAYSIA

The Arabs and the Indians (Muslims from Gujarat) came to Malaya more than 500 years ago as traders and merchants. These were the people who brought Islam to this country. At that time, the locals were mostly Hindus while those from Negeri Sembilan were Buddhists, plus many who worshipped trees, the sea, rivers, mountains and whatnot. The coming of the Arab and Indian merchants exposed the locals to Islam.
In those days, the people followed their Rulers. Therefore, when the Rulers converted to Islam the people followed – although they may not have believed in Islam or understood the religion. In fact, many till today still do not understand Islam after more than 500 years.

THE CHINESE IN MALAYSIA

Then along came the Chinese and many were actually Muslims as well. Islam first reached China around 100 years after Prophet Muhammad. This means Islam had ‘migrated’ to China about 1,300 to 1,400 years ago, 800 to 900 years earlier than Islam in Malaysia. Of course, in the northern states bordering Thailand, it was earlier than that. (Refer to the Batu Bersurat discovered in Kuala Berang in Terengganu).
Is it not ironical that Malays call Chinese Muslims ‘mualaf’ when the Chinese were Muslims almost 1,000 years before the Malays even heard of Islam?
Okay, now take my family as an example. The Selangor Sultanate was founded in 1745. The first Sultan, Raja Lumu, migrated here from the Riau islands in Indonesia. By then, of course, the Arabs, Indians and Chinese had already been here 200 to 300 years, some even longer.

But these Arabs, Indians and Chinese were traders and merchants, not warriors or fighters, whereas the Bugis from Riau only knew one occupation – fighting and plundering. In short, they were pirates, which was a noble profession back in those days where even Queen Elizabeth the First knighted those English pirates who plundered Spanish ships.

In fact, the Bugis came here because of a sort of civil war in their home country. There was a fight over a girl and the son of the local Ruler was killed in that fight. So the offending party was exiled and had to leave Riau. And that was when they came here in the 1700s and founded the Selangor Sultanate.
Do not members of the Selangor Royal Family fighting with their Ruler and going into exile sound very familiar to you? Yes, 300 years ago this was the ‘tradition’ and still is in my case.

Invariably, the Bugis, being fighters, took Selangor as their territory by the sheer force of its ‘army’. None of the traders, who although were here earlier, would dare resist the Bugis who enjoyed killing (some Bugis still do today, as you may well be aware). But Selangor was under Perak patronage.

So Raja Lumu had to make a trip to Lumut in Perak to get crowned as the First Sultan by the then 17th or so Sultan of Perak. (Can’t remember if it was the 15th or 17th but it was around that). And he took the name of Sultan Salehuddin Shah.
Selangor eventually grew in prosperity. Actually, tin had already been discovered even before Raja Lumu became Sultan in 1745. And it was the Chinese who were working the tin mines. But now, since Selangor had a ‘government’, all the land in Selangor became ‘state property’. And therefore the Chinese had to get permission from the Sultan before they could mine for tin.

Around 100 years later, only when Sultan Abdul Samad took over as the Fourth Sultan of Selangor in 1859 (he was born in 1804) did they properly organise the tin industry. New areas were opened up in Ampang, Rawang, Kajang, and whatnot. And of course, all these tin mines were owned by the Sultan and members of his family — brothers, sons, nephews, etc.

The Malays, however, did not want to work those mines. Conditions were hard and diseases wiped out entire communities. Those who survived these brutal conditions were the exception rather than the rule. So they needed people who were desperate enough to work those tin mines and were prepared to take the risk and probably lose the ‘gamble’.
And who else to talk to if not the Chinese who had already been working those mines for hundreds of years?

So members of the Selangor Royal Family went into ‘joint venture’ with the Chinese, just like they did in Perak, another rich tin state. The Malay Royals would ‘arrange’ for the tin concessions and the Chinese would provide the labour force to work those concessions. In a way, you could say that the Selangor Royal Family were the first to ‘invent’ the Ali Baba system back in the 1800s, long before the New Economic Policy in 1970.
Anyway, to reach Ampang and those other surrounding rich tin areas, they had to travel up the Klang River. Raja Abdullah and Yap Ah Loy led the first expedition and they landed on the site where the Gombak River and Kelang River meet. The place where they landed is the site of the famous Masjid Jamek in Kuala Lumpur.

From there they marched overland through the jungle into Ampang. And thereafter Kuala Lumpur was never the same again. It prospered and continued to prosper over more than 200 years from the 1800s.

Yap Ah Loy bought up a lot of land in Kuala Lumpur and built his business empire. He opened bars, brothels and all sorts of businesses, legal as well as illegal (illegal by today’s standards though). Even the British Colonial ‘masters’ would patronise Yap Ah Loy’s brothels to sample the latest ‘China Dolls’ brought in from the mainland.

Of course, the normal customers would have to pay for these vices. The British masters, however, could enjoy all these services for free. Yes, even back in the 1800s the Chinese businessmen were already bribing the government officials.
Now, while Yap Ah Loy has been entered into the history books as the ‘Founder of Kuala Lumpur’, Raja Abdullah is never mentioned. The only thing associated with Raja Abdullah is that road in Kampong Baru that carries his name. Yap Ah Loy may have been the capitalist who opened up Kuala Lumpur.

But he was only able to do so because he had a ‘sleeping’ partner, Raja Abdullah, who gave him all this land to develop.
Okay, that is the Chinese story. So, yes, some did come here as prostitutes working for Yap Ah Loy. But that was incidental. Whenever frontier land is opened up the girls servicing these frontier men follow – like in the Wild West of America. Would you say that the White immigrants to America were all prostitutes?


THE INDIANS IN MALAYSIA

Now, over to the Indians. As I said, the Indian (and Arab) traders and merchants first came here more than 500 years ago and even brought Islam to this country. But the ‘other’ Indians, the workers, came at about the time that Yap Ah Loy and Raja Abdullah were turning Kuala Lumpur into a thriving metropolis.
At that time, the British planters were in Ceylon (Sri Lanka today) growing cocoa. Then a plant disease spread throughout the island and all the trees died. But this disease not only killed all the trees but contaminated the land as well. This means the land was now useless and it was not a matter of just replanting.

Then the British looked at Malaya and decided that the conditions (land, climate, etc.) in Malaya were the same as in Ceylon. So they relocated their cocoa estates to Malaya. But there was no way they could get the Malays to work these cocoa estates. Furthermore, the Ceylonese workers were well trained and had been doing this work for years.
So, in the mid-1800s, the British brought the now unemployed Ceylonese cocoa workers to this country to work the Malayan cocoa plantations.

Then disaster struck. Brazil over-planted cocoa and this triggered a worldwide glut. It was no longer economical to plant cocoa. The price you would fetch for your cocoa was lower than your production cost. The British had no choice but to close down the cocoa plantations.
Around that time, the British, who had mischievously smuggled rubber seeds out of Brazil (which was a crime then), successfully grew rubber trees in the Kew Gardens in London. They also did some research and discovered a better way of planting rubber trees where the trees would give a better yield compared to the trees in Brazil. Rubber planting in Brazil was haphazard and not properly organised.

Since Malaya had to close down all its cocoa plantations and it now had idle plantation land and surplus Ceylonese workers, the British planters decided to switch over to rubber. And because the British took advantage of research and technology, the Malayan rubber trees were more productive and profitable. Eventually, Malaya dislodged Brazil as the top rubber producer in the world.

So, from the mid-1800s to around 1920, Indians and Chinese came to Malaya in great numbers. This was more or less the second wave of mass migration. And it was for economic reasons and to provide the labour for jobs that the Malays would never do. But there were earlier and other migrations as well.

For example, around the late 1800s and early 1900s, the British set up English medium schools for Malays. One such school, the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, was a school exclusive for sons of Royalty and the Malay elite. Invariably, they needed schoolteachers who were proficient in the English language. And India offered a good source of English medium schoolteachers (Malays could not speak English yet at that time).

On the commercial side, there were many Indian businesses, workers and whatnot. But there was no way they could qualify for loans from British-owned banks. So the Indians from the Chettiar community came here to set up money-lending businesses to service their community.
When the Malayan rail network was being developed, where else to get the workers if not from the country with the largest railway in the world, India?

WE ARE ALL MALAYSIANS

Life ruled by numbers?

Pain? Just a perception?

D4447 - That is the number of my running bib in the recently concluded pre marathon run of 30km. Somebody who is highly superstitious or particularly particular about numbers and if you are a Malaysian Chinese, you would have your version of interpretation. From the experience of mixing and growing up with superstition, my take on this number is like this. Generally the number 4 (sei, si) is shunned as it sounds similar to death in most Chinese dialects. 8 (pat, fatt) is desirable for its symmetrical appearance and its sound akin to prosperity. 7 is okay too as it signifies something complete like how 7 days complete a week.
Detractors will also argue that one justify their claim by looking only at what they want to see.
Well, the way I see it, the racing number denotes how my Back to Basics 30km run went.
Deterrence started with a bruised knee sustained two weeks before the race. Dried concrete on the training tarmac sent me sliding on my knees, bruised but not stirred! Then there were the aches and pains, knees, sole, here, there and everywhere.
But the minor glitches were just, minor.
After feasting on carbohydrate the day before the event, I thought that things would be okay when morning come as I lay my weary head down. But I was so wrong! Just past the stroke of midnight, an hour and and a half into slumberland, tour of duty blared its loud horn. Two hours flew by as I sorted out my worldly duties, the reason I was sent to Earth. And I was left with only 2 hours to shut my eyes before it would be to get ready for the run! A working colleague had to douse fire with kerosene by saying that I should abandon my running plan for health reasons. Oh, those naysayers!
Against all odds I persevered...
The run was a low key affair but widely supported by die hard running junkies. The terrain was an undulating unforgiving see-saw of a path with peaks and troughs. The initially planned 10km loop had to be re-routed to 7km (wonder why is it 7?, is it a sign? the last digit of bib!) after part of route was flooded due to the downpour the day before.
Anyway, from 0530h, the runners went round the loop in circles before the break of down all the way to enjoy the various hues of sky and skyline as the rays of sun hit the countryside of the lush green terrain of Serdang.
All the effort bore fruit anyway. Managed to finished 4 loops of the course with an additional 2km to round it up to 30km in 3h36m, feeling complete and satisfied that the psychological barrier of sleep deprivation was successfully combated and be in course to meet the FM challenge, come 29.9.2013!
All the sey loh, sey loh threats; but still managed to complete! 4447!

http://runkeeper.com/edit/activity?tripId=238390016

A sad love story!

Growing up with Ghosts (Bernice Chauly)

I am Punjabi, a sardarni of the Khalsa. Of the pure, from the tenets sprung from the loins of Guru Nanak. From the plains of the Punjab, and the wheat fields of Amritsar. I am Chinese, from the port city of Canton, from Fatshan, from Lam Soy Chea, from the village of fishermen and of joss stick makers. Bernice Chauly.

I can relate to this story as a good deal of its background is set at a time when I was growing up in RRF. The book is another proof that the country is not only a collection of illiterate low skilled workers but instead they are many who hone literary skills. It also denotes the sacrifices the immigrants of the 20th century in their new found motherland of Malaya towards its development from a backwater nation to what it is today.
Set against a background of forbidden love of second generation Malayans, through a series of love letters, investigative interviews and soul searching expeditions, a daughter narrates the trials and tribulations of her parent's union of love and later rediscover the father whom she lost at a tender age.
The book starts by explaining the origin of her paternal and maternal ancestors from Punjab and China respectively.
After surviving the gruelling times of World War II, the two families (Chauly and Loh) had their roots deeply planted in this country. The Chaulys suffered less than the Lohs under Japanese rule. After the turmoil of WW2, the country prospers. So do the families. Loh with pork business and Jaswant as a petition writer provide well for their large families.
The author further describes her father Surinder's tour of Europe as he studies in Kirby Teaching College in UK from his scrap book. He returns to Malaysia to teach in Kelantan.
Her mother Jane performed well in school to further her education in Melbourne financed by her father. Depression inflicted by jilted love forced her to discontinue her studies there. She returned home, heading aimlessly in life before deciding on a teaching career. She starts her studies in Malaysian Teachers' College. Jane and Surinder meet. Many of Surinder's letters to Jane form the spine and pillar of this book. After a wave of melodramatic showdown taken off numerous Bollywood films in Chauly's home and cold treatment from the Lohs, the duo underwent civil and church weddings when they were posted in Kelantan.
Fast forward, Bernie (the author) is born and bridges are mended. Just things are falling in place in the young family with two girls, a tragedy during a family seaside picnic at Miami Beach in Batu Ferringhi. Surinder, a swimmer drowns. The devastated Jane discovers after his death that she was pregnant with her third child, a boy.
The children grow up in Taiping and Ipoh, being exposed to both Chinese and Sikh cultures.
Bernice later get a chance to study in Canada through a government scholarship. After her mother's death, her desire to know her Punjabi roots grew. More death in the family - grandfather and two uncles. Some priest told the family that the Chauly had a curse from an abandoned Snake God resulting in most male heirs in the family dying young. She makes a kind of pilgrimage trip to her grandfathers' village in Punjab to please the snake goddess and to discover her roots.
A touching story (family events narrated in an interesting manner) with many familiar backdrop. Surinder's parent had their residences in Northam Road (where our grandfather lived once by the seaside) and Cheeseman Road (adjacent to Penang Free School; this road was regularly used to get to Batu Lancang and back to RRF)
This book was written after many years and after much research and exploratory expeditions. Some of the things mentioned in the book may be construed as private and best forgotten, to some of the family members and must have met resistance from various quarters. Some bitter events in life would not to be recollected by some whilst others may find it as treasure chest of experience for us to learn. A good and touching read.