RIFLE RANGE BOY

There are two type of drivers - A) the one who commands utter silence in the car, paying undivided attention to the gadgets and meters in the cars and its surroundings so as to not to land a single scratch on his prized car; B) the other who turns on the car radio just as he switches the ignition key - to heighten his senses and beat the boredom of monotony of driving by having music in the background. And perhaps to rekindle long lost memory buried in the dendritic mash of hippocampus whilst sharpening the brain. I am of the latter category. In one of these auditory stimulatory exercise moments, I stumbled upon an episode of MKI ( masih-kah kau ingat ) on Klasik FM. We, Malaysians, are guilty (me included) of categorising, compartmentalising and stereotyping people. Just like Harith Iskandar in one of his stand-up comedies, he recreated a scene of a typical road accident scenario. Malaysians, whose favourite pastime, besides eating is watching accidents by the road side like they ...

We, the product of the post NEP era, grew literally soaked in an environment filled with the Malay Language and its culture. With limited exposure to the outside world via telecommunications, (the pre-Top of Pops and music video era), we were bombarded with cultural presentations meted out by the sole telecommunications controller of yesteryear Radio and Television Malaysia (RTM). We were exposed to likes of singers of the 70s through 90s Sudirman, JJ, Flybaits , Ramli Sarip, Sweet Charity, Chris Vadham, Ben Nathan, Chris Vadham, Alleycats, Rafeah Buang, Wann (the singer with constipated voice), Search, etcetera . This does not include the exposure to P.Ramlee and his brand of music and humour. We, the Malaysian post NEP generation have been exposed to lots of Malay literature and music throughout outgrowing age and we are quite well versed with the turn of events in the local scene. If not for the ever changing rules and vocabulary set the language g...

9.6.2010 Radio Ga Ga When we were growing up in RRF, radio was a constant companion and sometimes an unwanted irritant playing and buzzing in the background like mismatched background music score of a B-grade movie! Appa had the habit of tuning in to the radio the moment he returns from work. After the normal broadcast time of Radio Malaysia Rangkaian Merah (Red Channel, later to Radio 6, now it is named Minnal), he would fiddle with the transistor aerial and tuning knob to receive a decent reception of SW transmission from Radio Singapore Tamil Channel. Invariably, the sounds from the radio will be waxing and waning, from melody to static noise, much to Amma’s annoyance. Most of the time, after painstakingly searching the band, Appa would just doze off on the sofa! Once a week, there will be radio drama on the Tamil radio. Dramas written by Anjalai from Simpang Empat and S. Vairakanoo were particularly interesting and the whole family would be glued to the radio for a full half...