What if.?... Nah! Let sleeping dogs lie

Just the other day, one of followers (on the blog, of course - I am not a leader of some sort of ala-Waco kind of a cult!) sent me a link to a site where some people of Tamil ethnicity in Kuala Lumpur, were creating a scene trying to give a memorandum to the organizers at the launch of Little India in Brickfields. These people claim that Indians in Malaysia were ill-treated and the Indian Prime Minister should intervene. In the same vein, they were unhappy with the way their fellow Tamilians from Jaffna peninsular (in Sri Lanka) were treated by the Singalese government and that the Indian government did not intervene to right the wrong. On top of all these, they felt that Mr Manmohan Singh was not the most appropriate person to officiate the function and that 'Little India' should have been called 'Tamil City' instead this area was mainly developed by Tamils who migrated to Malaya.
At the end of the day, the memorandum was just a uneventful storm in the tea cup. Obladi oblada, life went on... Little India was officially open by Mr Manmohan, Little India remained Little India, Najib contracted chicken pox and recovered and the trouble makers started looking at other things to create an issue. It has been like that throughout the history of mankind.

Righting the wrong? 

The most iconic image of MGR is from the film Enga Veetu Pillai, when MGR’s character threatens to whip 

the Landlord with the very whip that the Landlord used to discipline his workers and servants.

The link also had a write-up on how the sea-faring Tamilians helped to develop the area from Kra isthmus all the way to the present Phillipines on the north and Indonesia in the south. Basically, the article was whining about the long lost glory of the race and whining about the present state of affairs.
What if everyone in the world starting in that manner and try to alter the course of present day events based on historic events. Of course, history (His Story) is written by victors but then there will eternal chaos on Mother Earth if everyone wants to change the natural course of events os 'History'and eventually there will be no civilization for us to write about. Like the old Red Indian saying goes; when you plan to kill someone for revenge, make sure you dig two graves!
Imagine a world in the following examples if everybody finds a justification to reclaim their stake in something:

• (This is already happening)! The legal wrangle and occasional riots on sovereign right to build their place of worship in a site in Ayodhya, India. The Hindus claim the area as birth place of Lord Rama whilst the Moslems refuse to budge from the Babri mosque which was allegedly built by the invading Moghul warriors in 1528.
• What if suddenly someone from Macedonia one day says they have to continue the struggle and unaccomplished wish of one of the sons of their soil named many years previously, named Alexander, managed to convince the rest of the Macedonians to declare war on India to continue Alexander's conquest of the world?
• What if the remnants of the Austria-Hungarian empire which hailed at the turn of the 20th century is given a new lease of life by a renegade supremacy group? Scary, right?
• And like a scene from the blockbuster 'Mummy Returns', if someone or something  either in delusion or  in mystic, decides to reclaim the bygone glory era of the Sphinx? The result would definitely be catastrophic to the human race. 
• And like that the Romans, Greeks, Persians and Native Americans have a lot of things to proud about that they have contributed to mankind. So let it be.

  

  Roman soldier

  
  

The Communists ruled Budapest in 1919,
the destruction of all Hungarian historical
monuments statues and national symbols.
The Heroes Square of Budapest was    
completely demolished and rebuilt into a
Marx-Engels memorial by the communists.

May be we should all emulate the Chinese. No matter where they live, that is their kingdom. They would work hard as if there was no tomorrow (Kal Ho Nah Ho) and be able to play a crucial if if not the 'unseen hand' role in the progress of the nation without much fuss. Evidence of this apparent in countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. In spite of not being the majority race, the economy of these countries are controlled by their activities. Probably, like what this show below shows, in 2030 history would have made a complete circle, Civilization of mankind as we know it that probably started around the Yellow River circa BC 3500 will be at the helm of the Chinese again!
The take home message is that everything in this world will find its steady state. Glorious emperors and empires have come and gone. All victory and glory will one day fall into disarray. The sun will eventually set on all glory days. We should cherish them and reminisce them in our memory and enjoy our laurels in the twilight years. Bearing in mind that history has the bad habit of repeating itself, we should safe-guard ourselves against incidences like how Shah Jahan, the mighty builder of Taj Mahal, was imprisoned by his Aurangzeb, his slightly lunatic offspring!

Whatchamacallit? Call it whatever you want!

Call it writer's block, call it 'Busy, busy, busy', call it that the 'gripe whine' is getting smaller, call it 'LG- life is good', call it just plain lazy, whatever it is, the reality is that I have not been writing recently!
As in previous years,  the crescendo of Deepavali celebrations will eventually wane down after watching Indian movies. This time the family watched 'Action Replayy' (Hindi) and 'Enthiran-The Robot'. So, I thought of writing a review of these two new releases.
'Action Replayy' is spelt correctly. Releasing a new movie is a big gamble. Many foreseen and unforeseen circumstances may interplay to decide its eventual fate at the box office. Sprouting of disgruntled junior writer accusing screenwriters of plagiarism (in the case of 'Enthiran'), publicity yearning politicians making inappropriate statements about movie (like about Sharukh Khan's 'My name is Khan') or even a freak monsoon storm may all potentially jeopardize the collection at the end of the day. Hence, that is where our friendly enterprising numerologists and priests spring into action and stunts like addition of certain letters to the title (like Singh is KKing') manifest! Director and producer, Rakesh Roshan, have been naming his movies with the letter 'K' from 1987 till date [Khudgarz, Khoon Bhari Maang, Kala Bazaar, Kishan Kanhaiya, Khel,King Uncle, Karan Arjun, Koyla, Karobaar, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai, Koi Mil Gaya, Krrish, Kaamchor, Krazzy 4, Kites].
And South Indian producers will appease the divine powers by performing prayers in mammoth proportions on the master reel of films. Rajnikanth, once, got a helicopter to sprinkle flowers onto the temple koppuram for blessings.
Talking about 'Action Replay', its storyline was a rip-off from the 'Back to the Future' trilogy. Minus, the believability component and the excitement of the latter. Boy (young adult) goes to past' matter-of-fact'ly to correct his often squabbling parents and his nerdy father without enough emotion, does his cupid work and propels back to the future seamlessly with the broken down time machine which was repaired by the Professor whom he located easily (and the Professor obliged willingly) whilst he was gone! And the set dances and masala in between! Minus the excitement of finding the adequate energy finding mission by Christopher Lloyd, the heart wrenching cliff hanging adrenaline rushing excitement of wiring of energy from the lighting-struck clock tower at a specified time and the phone call conversation of Chuck Berry's cousin about his finding of a tune for his next song, Johnny B. Goode! I remember all these because 'Back to the Future' remains one of my all time favourite movie.

Rajnikanth without make-up

Rajnikanth -after makeup

'Enthiran' was a bore to me as well. A Rajnikanth movie minus his punch dialogues? No good! Somehow, I went in with too high of an expectation, comparing it to movies like 'Muthu', 'Ejamaan', 'Padaiappa' and 'Badsha'. It was a wee bit too long and editing is much to be desired. Many scenes could have been deleted. And the songs all sound alike and way too many! (Sorry A.R. Rahman). For best selection of songs in a single movie, one should listen to the soundtracks of movies 'Athey Kangal' (1967) with songs ranging from a-go-go (">Ho ho ethanai alagu) to traditional matalam beat (Boom boom matthukaran) and 'Punnagai Mannan' (1986) which boasts of Maestro Illayara's award winning composition which incorporated ">fusion of Indian and neo-classical modern rythms . I actually was yawning, glancing at my watch way too often and even managed a short snooze at the tale end of the movie!
And, hence ended Deepavali 2010! Soi!

Last refuge of a scoundrel

By Kee Thuan Chye | Nov 11, 10

Malaysiakini

COMMENT “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” So said Samuel Johnson, the famous British man of letters. He is believed to have said that to condemn the false use of the term “patriotism”.
 The same can be applied to Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. However, in the Malaysian context, it might be read as “When you want to malign some people, you call them unpatriotic”.
 In Parliament recently, this minister said that among the reasons for the small number of Chinese and Indians joining the armed forces was their lack of patriotism. It was so sweeping, so unsupported by evidence, that it could amount to nothing more than a false claim. What was his real motive for saying what he said?
 More than that, it is indeed false patriotism to say that if you don’t join the army, you are not patriotic. Nothing could be more ridiculous than that. It is the same kind of thinking that goes along these lines – “if you are not with me, then you are not patriotic”.
 Extended further, it is the same kind of thinking that informs the BN propaganda – if you don’t vote for BN, you are not patriotic. This, of course, is the ultimate hogwash.
 Patriotism can be expressed in many ways that people tend to overlook. Those who campaign against a government that is corrupt because they want to see reform and the emergence of a better country are patriots. Those who stand up in defence of our institutions and our freedoms are patriots. Those who uphold principles in the work they do daily are patriots. Those who go out daily to do a decent day’s work to earn an income to feed their family and pay their taxes are patriots.
 Unfortunately, our government has a narrow definition of patriotism. Apart from joining the army, it’s flying the national flag on Merdeka Day. The latter preoccupation is mostly surface display. What counts more is the intrinsic feeling a Malaysian has for his country. I don’t believe in flag-waving but I can bet that I’m more of a patriot than corrupt politicians who seek to suck our riches dry.

Truth to be told
Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the US, has something significant to share on one of the meanings of patriotism:
 “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country.
 “It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”
 In these volatile times and in the face of the many trials we are going through, these words should strike a chord among Malaysians. Now is the time to tell the truth – not to hide it, to manipulate it, or to dish out the ultimate hogwash.
 Samuel Johnson was someone who valued true patriotism. For a poignant example of that in our own country, we need only look at the Second World War and ask who the true patriots were at the time.
Who fought the Japanese when the British army had surrendered and fled? To some Malaysians, it is taboo to consider the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) patriotic, but the evidence suggests the contrary.
 How can the CPM not be considered patriotic when it refused to give in to the Japanese while other Malayans took the easy option of collaborating with the enemy? And although there were valiant Malays and Indians in the CPM, who were most of its members if not Chinese?
 Of course, the fact that the CPM provided patriotic resistance against the Japanese is not known by many Malaysians. It has been expunged or distorted in our history books.
 The current History syllabus at SPM level is clearly written by the victors, i.e. BN, mostly Umno. Just look at the Malaysian section of the textbook and you will see how the subjective selection of what goes into it serves to manipulate the truth.
 Now that it has been decreed that History is to be a must-pass subject at SPM, you can bet the new syllabus will be constructed to further serve the victors’ cause. Malaysians would be naïve to believe that “history is history and we cannot concoct something that is not history”, as said by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. While they may not concoct, they can nonetheless construct.
 History is a construct. It is not objective; it can be manipulated. How it is told depends on who is writing it. If Muhyiddin does not know that – which is unlikely – we at least should be aware.

Yap Ah Loy and Co
MCA president Chua Soi Lek could have been more explicit and to-the-point when he responded to Ahmad Zahid’s statement.
 He could have mentioned Chin Peng and the CPM.
 He could have mentioned the sacrifices of Yap Ah Loy and his band of 87 miners who were the first to set up a mining camp at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers, 17 of whom died within the first month from malaria. That became the base from which Kuala Lumpur grew.
 He could have mentioned the late Tan Chee Khoon who worked tirelessly to promote non-communal politics in Malaysia, and who fought against attempts to pervert the Constitution.
 It is not enough for Chua to make general statements saying that the Chinese remained loyal to the country during the Japanese Occupation and the Indonesian confrontation, to illustrate the patriotism of the Chinese. He needs to give concrete examples.
 His party has expressed concern about what the content of the new SPM History syllabus will be. Will the MCA do all it can to ensure that the new construct will include truths from various sides? Will it do all it can to ensure that the new syllabus reflects the patriotism of Malaysians regardless of race?
 M. Kulasegaran, the MP for Ipoh Barat, made an important and pertinent point when he reminded Malaysians that non-Malays had headed the armed forces before, citing the excellent example of Rear-Admiral K Thanabalasingam, who was appointed the first Malaysian chief of the Royal Malaysian Navy in 1967.
 How many Malaysians knew that? Would that be reflected in the new History syllabus?
 There was a time when an Indian could be the chief of the country’s navy. When will that ever happen again? Meanwhile, is there any wonder that non-Malays are not keen to join the armed forces?

Ahmad Zahid, why don’t you tell us the truth?

KEE THUAN CHYE is the author of ‘March 8: The Day Malaysia Woke Up’, which just won 3rd prize in the Popular Readers’ Choice Awards.

Diwali 2.0

So, today is like a Boxing Day of sorts. The morning after, with the head feeling heavy and body feeling just as lethargic. The day after Diwali or Deepavali. For the follower who wished to be enlightened on how we Malaysians celebrate this religious occasion, here it is... Anyway, this what happened yesterday...

It was an important day for two generations - the current teenagers who reinforced the bondage of friendship with their school friends and the older generation who met with their long lost school friends. This is, of course, a day of prayers and mending broken fences in the intra-family relationship. And a day of eating, eating and more eating (Malaysians' favourite pastime and passion)!

After the mandatory morning prayers and siyakai powder and oil bath (just a drop for formality), it was breakfast time at sister-in-law's house. The spread was thosai, roti canai (local oily paratha - legend says that it got its name from Indian restauranteurs from Chennai who used to sell it, hence called roti chanai @Chennai). As you know Tamils were still referring Madras as Chennai when the rest of India and the world were calling it Madras. I heard somewhere that Madras itself was an abbreviation of what the invaders (Britishers) used to refer to the city with those hot-blooded noisy ruffians from the south - Mad Rascals! I wonder if there is any truth in the story? 

Angpow packets

Right, back to the celebrations. All family members were gathered for the feast, including a sister-in-law and family from Saskatchewan, Canada. All the kids were grinning from ear to ear with 'angpow' packets. Now, the concept of giving 'angpow' is a Chinese concept which has infiltrated into all Malaysian celebrations, be it Eidfitri, Chinese New Year or Christmas. Days before the festivities, commercial banks and supermarkets would be distributing free empty 'angpow' packets to their loyal customers for them to give these packets away (filled, of course) to children to heighten the spirit of celebration. These packets usually contain new crispy virgin notes of RM 1, RM5 or RM10. Some may include a coin with it as was good luck to give away things in pairs! And one more thing, angpow packets were colour coded for different occasions - Red for Chinese New Year, Green for Eidfitri, flexible yellow or purple for Diwali etcetera.

Secondary school buds - 28yrs later.

Back...

Then came time for preparation for lunch. Caterers rolled in their typical Indian cuisine, and so did the guests. All in all, about 100 over people were there in the house. Of course, these people did not just walk into our home for meals. Anyway nobody would be turned away if they did. The people who came were my children's schoolmates and teachers of different ethnicity as well as my long lost school friends who I have not met in 28 years since leaving secondary school. Boy, it was always enjoyable talking about the good all times and catching up on old stories... And it went on till about 4.30pm till the last guest left. You see, Malaysians are very hospitable, we do not chase away our guests. Not on Diwali, anyway. Then, a few phone calls to wish relatives far away. After a little cleaning up and freshening up, it was celebrations again - this time in my brother-in-law's house in Kajang. Before leaving the house, our house lights were brightly lit to mark the event.

It has been a tradition in my wife's family to gather as a family on Diwali evening at the eldest brother for a short prayer.

The next generation - after Y?

This short solemn occasion was followed by long merrymaking and partying with friends. Here the crowd was a real international crowd with friends from my niece's international and my sister-in-law, who is a Belgian and her liaison with the Belgian community. There was rich Moghulian food, booze, loud music and fireworks....and we left by 1.30am... People were still there. Hey, we live in an Islamic country, but we always keep our faith and continue our celebrations with no restrictions. 

pretty maids all in a row

One for the album

Oops!

What's Diwali without sparklers?

Music to the Malaysian ears!

Every now and then the local government controlled newspapers would faithfully bombard us with descriptions of worthless and meaningless feats considered achievements of sorts by the powers that be. We are going to be building the tallest building of world, the longest ketupat, the longest yee-sang serving, the largest kolam, etcetera, etcetera.

Lennard Lee

A few years ago (2003) when record accomplishing mode was on overdrive, we saw Abdul Malik Mydin lobbying for donations in his bid to be the first Malaysian to swim across the English channel. Donations, he got aplenty!Trivial happenings days leading to the event were published shamelessly in every Malaysian daily. He had a personal physician (Dr Farouk Musa). He completed the feat in 17hrs 42mins. And he was conferred a 'Datukship' for his effort. Less than a year after this swim, in a small column at the bottom of the newspaper page was a small description of a 20 year old Malaysian medical student in Cambridge (Lennard Lee) who, without much fanfare, swam the distance in 9hrs 45min! And his family and friends financed the whole swim! That was that much of it, nobody talked about swimming the English channel till of recent when a young Malaysian girl expressed her desire of the same!

Shilpa Lee a.k.a. Sufiah Yusof

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Malik_Mydin
Then there was a child prodigy, Sufiah Yusof, in 1997, hit the headlines wiyh admission to read Mathematics in Oxford at a tender age of 13! Even though born and bred in UK to a Pakistani father and a Malaysian mother (i.e. the link to Malaysia), Petronas, the national oil company decided to sponsor her studies for community service, only for her to go astray and go 'around'. Also another local child prodigy, Adiputra, who hogged the headlines for being a maths whiz. And he left school at 12 and ran a direct sales company for memory booster!
Just the other day, I heard on my favourite radio station (BFM, again) about a musical prodigy from Sabah, Bobby Chen who was accepted into the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School of music. He in turn trained fellow Malaysian children and managed to get 23 of them admitted to this world sort after intake of 60 over students annually. Below is the transcript of wikipedia on Bobby Chen followed by a podcast from BFM of an interview with 2 of the Malaysian students accepted this year. How come we do not read about these on our regular mainstream media? I wonder

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Chen_(pianist)

Bobby Chen (pianist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Acclaimed by the Independent and Guardian in London, Irish Examiner in Ireland, the Straits Times in Singapore, and described by International Piano Magazine as: “...an armour-clad player of complete technique, a thinking musician, a natural Romantic. Young bloods come no better”, Bobby Chen has performed as soloist under conductors Mathias Bamert, Maximiliano Valdes, Lan Shui, Sir Neville Marriner, Lord Menuhin, Pierre-Andre Valade and concerti with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, London Sinfonietta, Warsaw Sinfonia,Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Education

A graduate of the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Royal Academy of Music with Ruth Nye and Hamish Milne, Chen appeared three times as soloist at London’s Wigmore Hall, and performed at Italy’s Fazioli Hall, Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall, Dublin’s National Concert Hall, London’s Cadogan Hall and Purcell Room, Singapore’s Victoria Concert Hall and Kuala Lumpur’s Dewan Petronas at the Twin Towers. Festival appearances include UK’s South Bank Prokofiev Festival and Worcester Three Choirs Festival, Sao Paulo’s Musica Nova Contemporary Music Festival and Sweden’s Lidköping Music Festival.

Recordings

Yehudi Menuhin founded famous school in 1963,
 created the ideal conditions in which musically
 gifted children might develop their potential to the
 full on stringed instruments and piano.

Chen has made live broadcasts for Radio Television Hong Kong and Pianoforte Chicago (USA), and his six commercial recordings include two solo CDs for Jaques Samuel Recordings, a recording for the ‘Cello Classics’ label with cellist Leonid Gorokhov, a solo piano disc for SOMM Recordings and piano trio recordings for Illuminate Records and Toccata Classics.

Since 1963 the School has expanded and now educates more than sixty 

talented boys and girls between 8 and 18. The range of instruments 

is limited to violin, viola, cello, double bass, guitar and piano. 

All pupils sing in one of two choirs and all string players also 

play the piano. In 1973 the School was accorded special status as a 

Centre of Excellence for the Performing Arts. Since 1975 pupils at 

the school have been funded by the Department for Children, Schools

and Families and only pay a contribution to the cost of their child's

education according to their means. It is intended that children 

should be able to attend the school, once selected for their 

exceptional musical ability, whatever their parents' 

financial background.

We only want your money, nothing else!

Every generation feels that the generation after them is not doing it right and moral decay is setting into its youngsters. And the world is one step nearer to annihilation or Armageddon, they say! And it started when Elvis the Pelvis began gyrating his pelvis in his blue suede shoes, and when Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old first cousin!

That was more than half a century ago, but we are still standing!

I guess, we, need time to accept the inevitable change which will happen with or without our approval. When more and more agrees with this practice, then it is no more a taboo but an accepted norm and socially acceptable and expected code of conduct.

The vicinity where I worked, has, over the years, blossomed from a predominantly housing estate to as an oasis of a congregation of a multitude of cultures of the world over with dual carriage highway cutting through, a hypermarket  and a giant m (McDonald's!) logo right smack in the hype of activities. All this happened when a university college was established here some three to four years previously. It is a common sight to overhear students in various hue and stature loitering, walking chatting amongst themselves or on their mobile phones in different foreign tongues (African, Arabic, Persian and Chinese sounding). One can easily differentiate the difference between Mandarin spoken by a mainland Chinese and a Malaysian - way too many words with 'sh' in their sentences!
Together with this free flow of money into the country and the appreciation of property value around here, trickled in some alien and disturbing cultures... Or am I plain old fussy old despot forever whining and romanticising about the good old times again and again?
Ever since the leaders of the country saw that there was money to be made, in terms of foreign exchange, in promoting Malaysia as an educational hub, every Tom, Dick and Harry of an entrepreneur remotely or at all linked to the education sector decided to join the bandwagon in building colleges and university colleges. That saw mushrooming of many 'fly-by-night' colleges which were built with the sole purpose of generating 'moolah' for their business masters. Period. Making Malaysia in the same map as Harvard, Oxbridge and Singapore are least or at all on their agenda.

We can see that the influx of people to this part of the town has changed its landscape altogether. Seeing strewn empty or broken beer bottles seem to have been accepted as part of the fauna and flora of the district. We used to have an outdoor badminton court with adjacent garden and benches where residents used to spend the evenings. It was primarily for daytime use only. Now, due to rampant nocturnal clandestine activities alien to our cultures, by many foreign students, this place is now brightly lit all through the night with fluorescent lights, making it as least romantic as possible for lovebirds to actively pursue their nocturnal bedroom antics out in the open but instead study, for a change!

Living up to Beverly Hill students seen in the TV hit series '90210', we can see many students jaywalking to their lecture halls casually dressed like they were beach-combers on vacation in Bali's Kuta Beach; complete with loose spaghetti strap blouses, hot pants and beach slippers with little left to imagination of the simple-minded. I do not think we are talking about MIT and Stanford stuff here!
And almost every day, one can notice broken beer bottles lacing the roads around the college. Is studying so stressful that the student have to vent their frustrations by squashing bottles? Back in my varsity, it was illegal to bring in alcoholic beverages. Times are a-changing!
You better shape up or be shipped out! Accept it! The end is near...21st December 2012 ain't far away, you know...

I came across a student from China who was a 2nd-year student in one of these colleges who went to a clinic for an ailment but could not relate her symptoms to the attending doctor as she was not well versed in English and had to get the nursing aid to be her translator. Her justification for not knowing English even though she was an international student was that she was only learning diploma in Music! So, that is the type of student we seem to be attracting; not the earth-shattering revolutionary thinkers of the future like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates who will one day change the world we live in.

Everyone has a tale to tell!

Yeah, everyone has their own tale to tell about how they sailed the rough seas, scaled the high walls and swam through the shark infested choppy waters and came out unscathed smelling of roses.Previously, we have read about the true life saga of Lincoln Murthi, Kal Raman and T. Muthuswamy Iyer.
Just the other day, I met up with a friend who is now drilling hole into people's bones and spine as an Orthopaedic surgeon, just like how his late father was drilling (and digging) into people's lawn and public roads to sort out their plumbing woes as a plumber in the Water Work Department! Going through various trials and tribulations, my friend managed to be where is through his and his parents hard work.
Just like a radio DJ was telling his experience in Vietnam where the tailors literally worked around the clock to sew his suit. The suit was measured at 8pm, the client was called for fitting the next morning and the merchandise was ready to be collected by that afternoon. All this for a fragment of the cost in the tourists' respective countries. And mind you, the cutting is of latest Parisian style! (And they have 24-hour dentists in Vietnam too, drilling into people's teeth at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning!) These hardworking people's sweat will one day pay off and the sweet produce of their endeavours will be savoured effortlessly by the next generation. Whether this wealth will prosper into the following generation is anybody's million dollar question as the Chinese have a saying, 'Wealth in a family only lasts for 3 generations'.
Here, for your perusal and approval....Malaysian Dream and  前进吧！马来西亚(Dynamic Malaysia)...