Fractured world we live in

© Manuel Strehl

What is in a font, you may think. The choice of a font could be a matter of personal picking. Some may be pertinent in a formal setting (e.g. Times Roman); other in a jovial environment (e.g. Comic Sans in a birthday party). 

Ever since printing became a reality in Europe in the 15th century, blackletter typeface like Fraktur and Antiqua were the mainstay chirography. Most publications were in Latin. Over time as people become more educated, local languages developed and the seed of nationalism was planted. Reformation works of Martin Luther and collection of fairy tales of Brothers Grimm created a need for the schism between Latin and German works. Antiqua was the default script for Latin and Fraktur for German.  

All through till 20th Century, Fractur typesetting continued in Germany and many Scandinavian countries. Most of the Europeans had theirs set in Antiqua. The Fraktur-Antiqua difference persisted till 1941 when the Nazi Party declared Fraktur was Jewish writing. The real reason behind this was commerce. Their clients found it hard to read fraktur script. By putting an 'acceptable' rationale behind the decree, the herd just followed blindly.

In modern times, neo-nazi or anti-migration movements use this font to subtly remind its readers of nationalism and to reminisce the time when there was a call to keep the land 'pure'. 
Newspapers with old traditions like 'New York Times', Washington Times' and 'Daily Telegraph' have their mastheads emboldened in fraktur font. Beers, pubs' signboards, tattoos and surprisingly heavy metal bands come in this similar typeset to add to their exoticness and mystique.

Closer to home, one wonders why radicals are hellbent on introducing the Jawi in the learning of the Malay Language when in reality the script does not improve the richness, the spread or the usability of the language in any way.

A political statement in Dresden, Germany 'This bus is driven by a German driver' it says.

The Fraktur font emphasises the 'Germanness' to drive home the message. © 99% Invisible.

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Sometimes the truth stays buried

Malaysian Murders and Mysteries 

(A Century of Shocking Cases that gripped  the Nation)

Authors: Martin Vengadesan and Andrew Sagayam; 2019

This country has its many murders mysteries that could be a basis of many novels or even movies. Sadly, they just even up as conversation pieces at parties or as we group up for our daily fixes of sweetened aerated tea (teh tarik) at the Mamak's.

As most journalists in Malaysia are expected to be not too inquisitive but to act as mere scribes, we are intrigued when crime-reporters with their treasure trove of inside information decide to write a book about murders and mysteries. These stories hogged the newspaper headlines not too long ago. As the dailies were the only portal of information those days, most of us had to make a composite picture of crimes as it is reported or as court cases proceeded at a snail's pace. Besides that, there were tall stories told by individuals who seem to know everything about everybody and every incident. In Malaysia, however, these coffeeshop talks would eventually be proved to be true.

This short 230-odd page book gives an excellent rundown of many of 42 famous murders that occurred in Malaysia since James Birch's notorious death in Pasir Salak in 1875. Birch's assassination is viewed as the first evidence of resistance to foreign rule in the Malay Peninsula. In contrast, others look at it as frustration to loss of income as the British impose tighter controls on slavery. It ends with the 2019 mysterious deaths of the indigenous people of Northern Peninsular Malaysia. It could be classified as murder as the powers that be failed to preserve their traditional way of living and forgetting to include them in the wave of development.

Movie buffs would remember Batte Davis' 1942 film 'The Letter', which is based on a possible steamy crime of passion that happened on the grounds of Victoria Institution. The Batang Kali massacre where British troops mercilessly killed 24 unarmed villagers in the pretext of eradicating communist terrorist. As it was an event that occurred too long ago in history, the UK Courts refused to hold a public inquiry. Also happening during the Malayan Emergency Era were the assassination of Sir Henry Gurney and the trial of Lee Meng, a communist guerrilla. 

The mysterious disappearance of Jim Thompson is discussed. Many conspiracy theories surround his vanishing. In the heady decade of the 1970s, the IGP was assassinated, but to date, the case remains unsolved. That was also the time when Botak Chin @ Robin Hood of Sentul captured the headlines. 

In Malaysia's history, five aviation mishaps caught our attention - Tun Fuad Stephen's plane crash in Sabah; Tanjung Kupang crash where a Malaysian (not Japanese Red Army) was the hijacker; Ghazali Shafie's miraculous escape from a crashed Cessna plane in Janda Baik; MH370 disaster and MH17 slaying.

Forty over years after the slaying of a Miss Malaysia runner-up, Ms. Jean Perera Sinappa, her case remains unsolved. Politicians hit the daily headlines a couple of times in recent times for wrong reasons (as they often do). A Cabinet minister, Mokhtar Hashim, was found guilty of killing an assemblyman. Mazlan Idris, a UMNO politician, lost his life to the cruel antics of the nefarious witch Mona Fendy and her henchmen.

Before 1MDB hit our shores, the news of siphoning of money off the national coffers happened once before. Jalil Ibrahim was assigned to investigate the irregularities in the Hong Kong branch of Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF). He paid dearly for the prodding. The real mastermind behind his killing was never identified.

In the late '80s, rumours were flying around that small communal violence in the Chow Kit area of Kuala Lumpur was hushed up. Little by little tiny details emerged; that an amok serviceman was out on a shooting spree avenging his dead brother; that his brother was clubbed to death by a royalty and how easily he was gunned down. It seems that it is not valid. It was a case of temporary insanity.

tête-à-tête with the author

Every now and then, particular news would grab the nation. In the 90s, a slew of cases of child abuse came to fore. The sad fact of Baby Balasundram, born to prostitute mother and drug addict father, gripped everyone. Baby Bala died without gaining consciousness but did spur the legislation of the Child Protection Act.

Besides that, the book also covers the activities of Mamak Gang, Bentong Kali, Al Ma'unah, conman extraordinaire, Elie Youseff Najem, and many more.

Many of the murders and mysteries remain unresolved. One wonders whether these cases were indeed thoroughly investigated, had succumbed to pressures from above, lost in the bureaucracy of the time, unskilful prosecution, or an all-accommodating crooked justice system. 

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To tell or not to tell?

The Farewell (2019)

I first heard this story as being narrated by Lulu Wang in the podcast 'American Life'. It tells Lulu's story of how her family dealt with the news of her paternal grandmother's diagnosis of terminal lung cancer. It describes how Lulu's parents, together with her uncle's (father's brother) family in Japan, gathered in China, where the grandmother lives, to bid her farewell. The twist is that the whole family decided not to tell the patient, Nai Nai as she is affectionately referred to. The family, from three countries, descended upon Nai Nai's house under the pretext of celebrating Lulu's Japanese cousin's wedding.

Lulu's role is portrayed as an early 30s Chinese American student who goes to China in a soul-searching journey to rediscover her Chinese identity. She learns to appreciate the traditional family values. As their old values dictate that the happy mind would give a healthy body, the family thought that not telling Nai Nai of her disease and its grave prognosis. Still, instead of keeping her happy in the company of the people loves, it would go a long way in prolonging her life.

The trick seems to have worked in the case of Nai Nai. Even though she was given only three months to live by her Chinese physicians (and the diagnosis was agreed by American doctors), she went on to live another six years.

The traditional wisdom in modern medicine is that the patient has the right to know his or her disease. By understanding the extent of his illness, he is in a position to go all out to combat his ailment, especially which is chronic. This is especially so in cases where the prognosis is uncertain, like in cancers. A patient's attitude and resolve towards fighting the sickness and one-mindedness in battling cancer may actually alter the final outcome.

A person in the terminal stage of her infirmity may want to step up his preparations for the ethereal world. He may want to tick off the items in his bucket list (pun unintended). The content of his will may need alterations and many more.

In many Indian families too, I have noticed that the family would collectively decide that bad news, especially of the medical kind, would not be made known to the elder members. Are the family members worried that breaking bad news may trigger a cardiovascular and emotional meltdown that would be more devastating?

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What's your reason?

Limitless (2017)
(Netflix, Documentary)


My parents never ran. I do not remember them running over or running away from anything. They practically expected others to run around doing things for them. In fact, nobody in their generation ran. It seemed running, and activities that required exertion is for the young. Older adults simply do not do those things which broke too much sweat. Things surely have changed over the years.

Members of the fairer sex also never had it so good. From a time not too long ago, 1967 actually, runners like Bobbi Gibb and Katherine Switzer had to run disguised, now, in most international marathons, the male to female ratio of participants of the full marathon is almost one to one.

Why do people run?

This made-in-India documentary looks at the lives of eight ladies and why they took up running. Despite the constant staring, cat-calling and security concerns, these lady runners seem to be empowered. Every extra half-hour that they manage to run without stopping, they get a renewed zest in life. The running events that they complete equip them with a higher level of confidence. 

Some run to numb the pains of their personal lives. It may be a broken marriage or even exodus from homeland like the runner from Kashmir who calls herself a Delhi-ite these days after being chased out from her ancestral home in Srinagar by religious zealots.

When the worldly duties are done, your offspring do not want you meddling with their affairs, but you are still teeming with energy, what do you do? Like Fauja Singh or Forrest Gump, you run, of course. Once you are locked into the routine, nothing can stop you - rain, shine, snow or fracture!

Runners make friends quickly, are more grounded and are a kind lot, looking out for each other and showing a high level of camaraderie. You hardly find a grumpy runner, do you? 

There is no good enough reason not to run. Run before you are prescribed running to save your life. If you do not have a quality sleep, run; feeling down, run; hit a wall at work, run; you got bad genes that make you susceptible to lifestyle diseases, run. 

If you cannot run, walk. Then alternate the walk with a run, and before you know it, you would be running for your life. What further motivation do you need? When you run, you are fighting the same inner demons that bog you down, dragging you with all the failures of life. Unchain the shackles.

In this documentary, a lady, hit by childhood paralysis, poverty and hard knocks of life runs for the money. The lure of the prize money brings her places. Her misery is no longer an excuse not to train.

Done with finesse, this 1-hour documentary is told seamless infusing many elements that are quintessentially Indian, the decorations, outdoors, and a peek into their places where they hangout. Humanity component is not forgotten as well. Exercise and running also help physically challenged individuals.

Katherine Switzer Bib 261 was the first registered female runner

to complete the Boston Marathon at 4:21 in 1967. A year earlier

Roberta 'Bobbi' Gibb, ran without a number.

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Mere coincidences?

The Eyes of Darkness (1981)
Author: Dean Koontz (aka Leigh Nichols)

This book has been making its rounds recently after the current outbreak of the feared novel coronavirus Covid19. The excitement (paranoia) grew as it was mentioned that the said virus was developed as an experimental bug in a research facility in Wuhan, China. On top of that, the virus in the book is reported to have a 100% mortality rate. The hysteria reached a feverish pitch as more pictures allegedly coming out clandestinely from there dropping like flies after contracting the disease.

This story is a simple one narrating the tale of a grieving divorced young mother. She lost her son during his school trip accident. Even a year after his demise, she had not really got over him. She kept seeing him around town. Many unexplained events made her conclude that her child was somehow trying to contact her telepathically or via telekinesis. 

With her newfound love interest and a lot of help from her gifted son who is still alive in captivity,(surprise!), they discover a secret government facility and their secret experimentation with a killer bug.

There are some interesting facts about this book. The writer, a prolific one, wrote under many pseudonyms - Leigh Nichols when he wrote this 1981 novel. In the original edition, the biological agent was produced in a Russian lab, named 'Gorki-400', probably after Gorky Park in Moscow. 

There was a reprint in 2008. By the time the Iron Curtain had fallen, and it was not thrilling to put Russians as the villains. The events surrounding 1989 Tiananmen Square made China the perfect bogeyman. Hence, 'Gorki-400' became 'Wuhan-400'. The rogue scientist Ilya Poparipov became Li Chen.

People are questioning whether the mention of a biological weapon arising from Wuhan from a nearby laboratory is mere coincidence or is there something more that is present in this interplay?

There have been many instances when such a fluke event happened. Think 1912 Titanic and its disastrous maiden voyage and you have 1898 Morgan Robertson's novel 'The Wreck of Futility', renamed 'The Wreck of Titan'. The book chillingly describes many striking similarities between the ill-fated ocean liner, Titanic and the ship in the novel, Futility (a disastrous name, if you ask me). Of course, as conspiracy theorists would go, the company that managed the Titanic was running at a loss and got their inspiration to make insurance claims from this book.

Then there are Jules Verne's many classic novels - '20,000 leagues under the sea', 'Around the world in 80 days', 'In the year 2889' and 'From Earth to the Moon'. This Father of Fiction sitting in the cosy chair of the late 19th century could conjure up devices that are of highly complexed inventions. Captain Nemo had his electric submarine, which was a reality more than a century later. His other novels spoke of helicopters, hologram, newscasts, video conferencing and space suits. Can you imagine, he even mentioned solar sails for interplanetary travels, which are only theoretically possible even in this age and time?

Are these people clairvoyants? Are they endowed with some kind of extra-sensory precognition that can tap events from an alternate universe or foresee events of the future? Perhaps, like Ramanujan, mathematician extraordinaire, they just attuned their brain wavelengths to the correct frequency to pick up information from the Master Intellect that controls every nook and corner of the Universe. 

Do their works form a template for other great minds to work on a prototype or perhaps improve their ideas? 

Did Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek implant the idea of creating such designs like iPad, Flip phone, BlueTooth headset, command-obeying Siri, Flat TV panels, communication badges, hand-held Universal translators or Google Glass? Or was it is just part of human's general technological evolution? If that is the case, in no time, teleportation will be a reality. 

Hey, what do you know, successful teleportations of information on computer chips have been reported through quantum entanglement in laboratory conditions.

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Does the shepherd really have his flock's interest at heart?

We were told to surrender to the care of the shepherd. We should trust him unconditionally, for he has your best interest at heart. He is selfless and would not call it a day until the last sheep is accounted for. He would not harm his flock. Every member of the herd, small or big, meaty or skinny, young or old, is equally important to him. He will not rest his head until every member is safe and sound. So we were told. And it made perfect sense then. Pack your worries, fold it and give it for safekeeping with the shepherd. He would guide us through, and we would be safe. We will be saved.

Now that we have crossed the hurdles, we become conceited. We think all these successes are our efforts, ours alone. 

When we are told of the good shepherd and their noble intentions, we ask them to think of the true nature of his plan. He has no altruistic purpose. His sole aim to fatten his pack. Every sheep lost is lost revenue. His seemingly caring attitude is merely to fatten us to prepare us for the slaughter. Just like a 'mother hen' grooming a tender spring chicken for the profession, we were just being marinated for the grill. 

We can be the occasion sheep that wanders away, that may be mauled by predators or that he wants us to believe. We may be discarded as a recalcitrant, be abandoned as an insensible loss. Are our actions somehow going to turn the status quo on its back?

The majority find it easier just to follow the pack. It is too much hard work to think. Searching for the truth is too laborious.

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Bite the bullet or shoot it?

Bombshell (2019)

They tell you it is right to speak up. How long are you going to be trampled upon? Where is your dignity? It is a matter of principle. You can be the change that you want the world to be. We will back you all the way. So you take the difficult first step. You bite the bullet, stand through the embarrassment, convincing yourself that you are doing it for the greater good. You persevere, you fight a good fight and find yourself drained of your finances. The friends who promised you to stay through thick and thin now become sparse.

You proved your case. Your victimisation is proven. You should be happy, but then you have a bitter after-taste. Your image is tarnished. You will forever be frowned upon as a trouble rouser. You are a liability for peaceful coexistence. Somehow you get a feeling that others (read the purveyor of law and order, it seems) who benefitted most. They screamed for justice even though their methods remained much to be desired.

You stand alone, but you soldier on telling yourself that your action may rub and alert others in the same shoe.

This film, based on actual events, tells about a time in 2016 when an anchorwoman with Fox TV, Gretchen Carlson, decided to spill the beans on her Head, Roger Ailes. Soon many other female presenters came forward with accusations of sexual harassment against Ailes. Events like these spread like wildfire to other parts of the world. Many up and coming artistes came out with their bad experiences as part of the #Metoo movement.

Sometimes, I wonder if this is the proper way to expose overt discriminations. It leads to animosity, negativity, and it creates a toxic paranoid working environment. Sexual harassment, even though allegations may be proven, it is enough to tarnish the image of the alleged perpetrator. Any publicity is good publicity for the accuser.
I know a lawyer who once advised his client to sue his doctor. It was not because he had a strong case against the medical management of the client. He just wanted to disturb to ruin the doctor's routine for the client was upset that his diagnosis was unfavourable to him. Legal proceedings, which are notoriously lengthy and fraud with delays, was a sure way to turn the doctor's timetable topsy-turvy. 

Norwell Roberts ©BBC

That reminds me of a Norwell Roberts of 1967 London Metropolitan Police who is often hailed as the first black policeman in Britain. Actually, John Kent was the first black officer in the 19th century UK.
In the heady times of the mid-1960s, as a public relations exercise, Britain decided to recruit coloured police constables. Norwell Roberts who applied for a joke got called in. From the word go, Roberts had to endure systemic racism from his colleagues and superiors. He experienced verbal abuse and overt discrimination, even from the lay public. The officer never once complained. He was powerless to act and did not get any positive support from his top guns. He could have highlighted his plight in the media as it was closely watching the force and their efforts to make it multicultural, but he did not. 

There was a time when he was called 'Judas' when he was part of the force that resisted anti-apartheid protestors in London.

After retiring as Detective Sergeant with the CID and receiving the Queen's medal for long service, he has this much to say. Nobody should be subjected to the type of treatment that he underwent, ever. Roberts likes to believe that his resilience made more blacks to be interested in the force. If he had gone on a rant after the initial hardship, he would probably not reached the level that he had attained.

Bite the bullet or fill it up in the barrel?

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