Part 2 : Oh well, Walled Garden

The concept of ‘walled garden’ do extent beyond diamond, heels, handbags, overgrown shades and rings. And, material girl are easy to sniff. Put them in a six-week budget stint, and they flee like mosquito on Ridsect or mortein. Gold digger wouldn’t want to waste a single second of their ‘fabulous-young-age’ to poor budget-conscious guys. My mom was shocked to hear this: If you wanted to lead a happy marriage, put her on six MONTHS budget stint… six WEEKS is not enough!!! Mom’s advice is never taken lightly. She was the one who kept giving spirit to my dad when he was left jobless for almost a year during the Asian Economic Crisis in late 1997. My mom is a champion in surviving budget stint proposed by my dad. I was the one complaining why I kept getting lesser school allowance during the time.

Now, Malaysian economy has been in much better shape with rising per-capita and steady incomes. And artists in Malaysia never had to open celebrity corners anymore. They can lead their lavish life. Even normal people like you and me can have a lavish type-of-life. Do note, It’s the type of life that the guys live does influence the decision making process of the fairer sex when there are a few candidates. Having a jet-set life may make a boom which the girls might brag over to her friends and awe in fascination. The ooos… and ahhhs… accompanied with the human nature which envy and would want to have the privilege too. Especially young girls, they are restless. I used to remember in 2001 when hip-hop was as hot as newly baked rotiboy breads; all young people love this stuff. They’re the rising phenomenon. The in-thing. They wanted to be associated to it. And my incumbent girlfriend ( the one who taught me the meaning of couple ) also changed side choosing a B-boy she met during a hip-hop gala. One of my closest friends, a fellow Klub Solo, had his girlfriend ‘snatched’ by a skater boy in 2003, when this BMX-ing and skating were considered the uber-coolnesses of the time. There was nothing to take avenge. Obviously, this is no real person that whispers into their ear to abandon the relationship. With whom do we declare war? No, we can’t declare war with skating nor hip-hop, it’s a far too stupid decision to consider that which are far collectively superior. We are standing under the shadows of giant which outshines us a thousand times brighter. Simply said, young hearts are harder to contain.

“ If you can’t beat them, join them “

Culture - Yes, its actually possible to just simply go with the flow without fuss. We were in the late-teens, so should we act like one and do whatever teen does. Like a Malay word; lalang, referring to a tall grass plant which bends towards whichever direction the wind flows. Ironically, In those times, kids were more likely to be praise for following the flow rather than holding firm to be oneself. We could witness these phenomenon were rather ‘disposable’, starting with pop bandboy-ing, hip-hopping, skating, emo-ing, now, probably shuffling which will follow suit and dies off followed by other trends. As the loop continues, come to a point, which we felt that there are more important persuasion in life, and we tends to forget these jugular, and asked ourselves; boy, have I grown up?

What kind of control when virtually any person with modern broadband could just flirt on the vast social utility websites being offered by various sites. With SMS were given away free-of-charge like hacks sweet in restaurants. Forget social utility sites, how about the daily things that we did. The classic way of meeting people face-to-face through daily routine of going to shop, barber, sundry etc. etc.? The working environment such as classrooms, lecture class, tuition class, whatever class there is available? Definitely, there is no control over what, when, or will things around our girlfriend occurs.

Well-Connected - I speculated that guys with such a humongous contacts and huge network shall bring some fascination to girls. Someone which brings their girlfriend to certain function/events and has always, without failure find seats and audience to speak to, may seen as an impressive social network which the girl proud to belong to. The ‘walled garden’ may include making the girl as ‘angel of the society’, thrusts her into a situation where all eyes and ears were also onto her. Once again, she needs to feel like a princess at some point. Men can virtually cater that. Lessening the burden of the guy while he can spend time with his friends and mend other matters. This limelight given, made some sort of social enclave ( clique or call it whatever you want ) which seems like a presence of ‘army’ that watches the movement and interaction of the girl itself. Of course, faithfulness comes from feelings ingenuity, not enforced through these so-called social enclaves. While it may instill the seeds of fear, it may also gives the feeling of pride.

Move-to-the-groove - Last but not least, mobility. In a nation where car per citizen ratios are 3:4, it is slowly becoming a necessity that girl demanded/open-eyes/require/expect someone that has a vehicle to ease their daily mutual activities. Again, no girl would just speak out loud saying that car-less guys are just a poor prick risking herself to be labeled as material bitch. In contrast, some situation deem this as a stupid action for mobile-less men keep his eyes on a city-girl. Frankly speaking, I regard myself as a kampong boy. And I admit I do not have ample time to study city-girl body-lingos, taboos and secret chick language/protocols/signs/rules/law whatever thats featured in whichever magazine in guiding us to a perfect date. My words, too much data input shall jam a computer. Magazine tips shall confuse me, which shall overcloud my true nature.Again, style without substance is just plainly useless. Above all, it goes without saying.

Second-life - Of course, if a girl does not have a life outside their men, this is considered dangerous and pathetic to them. They will start getting clingy to their boyfriend just like some soap operas which the girl had nothing to do but coiled beside their boyfriend 24/7. A second-life on the other hand may be a nuisance since it may pass-on words which may be unpleasant to our ear. Hate it or love it, It will never cease to exist. Like an air-bag to slow down the impact of break-ups ( or penicillin for some bacterial infection ) , the ‘life-outside-men’ is vital to most girl. It’s a life outside the walled garden itself, which, could be much better or much worst. Of course, guys would like to score the latter one. Like a mother who effortlessly reminded their little child that the world outside home is savage and dangerous, yet, still allowed them to go out and mingle.

Finally, there may be a girl who implement walled garden onto their boyfriend. Perhaps simultaneously implement such things on each other. Girls who had more advantage and superiority than their boyfriend, no denying, it does occur. Its like perigi cari timba, which the girl who seek the boy. Its quite remote, rare, or in other sense; niche occurrence.Yet, visible.

Married couple such as parents do not have these ‘walled garden’ rule since marriage is something which is covered by law and religion. And marriage are bond that has been tested through high’s and lows for years. The Malaysian army for instance ( Tentera Darat as I’m clearly known ), has set of mandatory rules which pretty much discourage separation. The soldier who does separate from his wife has to give a certain cut ( 20% perhaps ) off his wage to be contributed to the ex-wife. Which for me, is a good way to tackle marriage problems by allowing both parties remained closely and communicate more to sort out the situation. Above all, this in-direct intervention helped couples to reconcile without third-party direct intervention.

Sympatique Tactic - Third party intervention is not necessarily a good thing. Everybody generally knows the ‘Sympatique Tactic’ in which either boy or girl frantically channeled their bad relationship story someone. With no clear intention ( while smartly blamed that love is blind ), they expect the listening end would eventually sympathize and love them leaving the current problematic relationship to wreck and rot. On the receiving end (especially boys), it’s a great opportunity to snatch a girl and stage a Coup d'état ( a hostile takeover ). Another possibility, they can be the ‘steroid’ for those weak-hearted which goes to cardiac-arrest and panic in the face of minor relationship problems. Trust me, it’s a frustration to have partner which knee-jerkly seek 3^rd party help out of minor problems.

Most people probably say: I’ am probably too bugged with these type of hectic problems, and he could not carry on and enjoy life ( any nodding heads? ). Its been a long way to go before a serious consideration, and eight years has been a very long time. There are lots thing to fix within myself. Virtually, I’m unable to offer a lavish ‘walled garden’ yet that may bring those ‘ooosss…’ and ‘ahhhss…’. Couple101 is a simple little-credit-hour subject to execute, yet, looking at the big picture, it has an intricate links with life, background, experience, family, culture and our pasts.

Once again, ‘walled garden’ is self-explanatory; it’s a way of striking a balance between freedom and control. Even the term walled garden may not be standard, yet, this ‘invisible rule’ happens to be everywhere and anywhere. Vows may be easily said, promises simply made and i-love-you’s are countless, still, do we believe that faithfulness comes out of osmosis without a force that regulates it?

( Faithfulness = Style + Substance )

To top it off, ever heard the stories of walled garden that is soo beautiful, bountiful and enormous, that it need no promotion, instead, surrounded with long ques? Yes, walled garden were mend to limit the movement of the people inside it, but there are stories of ‘walled gardens’ which were made to fend outside people from entering it…

Apologize to all people and to myself, probably, some of the remarks above has gone overboard.

Part 1 : Comfort, Connection and Chemistry

Now, it has been half-a-decade since valentine passed without a date for me, guess, it a no luck. Lets just say that along the five years, my happy times were never to survived nor sparkled during valentine. It either flickered out before the day or just beginning to flicker months after it. Well, don’t bother about that. Its part of history which cannot be reinvented in any way or so. For me, I’d just in signify the day like any other day, which would just pass by and remained a number amongst the 28-odd days of February. You know that when someone in love; everyday is a lovely day.

Talking about valentine, one thing that crossed most minds would be couplehood. Some may argue that valentine is not only celebrated by those in relationship. True. But, most won’t deny that valentine is more inclined towards couples.

“Jom kita couple “, I still remembered those words uttered by my classmate in 2000. I was a form1 kid. I was very confused at the time. Of course, I had admitted that I like the girl, and the girl likes me too. Every night after fardhu ain classes, without fail, we phoned each other… but what is couple? Everything is fine, why do we need this ‘couple’ thing?.

“ Apa itu couple? “ I asked curiously. She explained it, and I have inherited her definition of couplehood. Its like an upgrade to just knowing that we liked each other. It’s like another new level. Day to day, I slowly learned about this couple thing. Yup, eight years have passed, seems like I will never graduate the couple101 thing.

Coupling. In detail which we find comfort, connection and chemistry from someone of different sex. We then, seek them and enjoyed their courtship and presence. We moved along the days of our life with them, and they really leave a significant mark in our path. Well, along the path. Like walking on snow, if our footsteps were never to disappear, we could see a smaller shoeprint that has walked along ours. Come to one point, the shoeprint would just diverge its way, and we would be on our way walking solo again.

Some may picture love as a bug which bites us. While love may be a type of disease, laden on the pointing edge of arrows launched by the cupid. Some experienced love as a type of intoxification. An anomaly which struck our mind. Like a blood clot in the brain. Hemorrhage which bugged us to keep thinking about that someone. And the list goes on and shall eats up the blog. Well, this piece of blog would not hoist the sorrow story of a lovelorn people or how pathetic lifeless it could be without it.

The foundation of couplehood is understanding. Let’s just say understanding is equal to compromise. We relentlessly trust the other party in the hope that the other may make room for our weaknesses. To discreetly ignore the weaknesses we had. Understanding also can be deemed as liability. Since coupling-up is based on the principle of sharing, then, both of the party has to bare the liability of each other personal problem ( some to the extent of sharing the burden of family problems ), which some of us may just go Urgh!

( Understanding = compromise = liability = burden )

Such a negative minded person would similarizing understanding to compromise. But, we remained flawed in such ways which deemed us unable to do certain things. Yet, trusting our partner, the matter were virtually kept silenced in an airtight container. Come to one point which it may burst/explode/all-hell-broke-loose which can be seen when a couple entered a syariah court to demand separation, all these dirty little secrets were poured out, so the lawyers can establish a ground to validate the cerai ( separation ). Yet couplehood is still too far from the watchful eyes of law. Absolutely, there is no order in coupling. Any unfaithfulness goes without punishment. Any ‘love-you-forever’ promises were mere vows that would just disappear into the atmosphere.

After observing this painful couplehood burden-sharing, and the lawlessness of being in love, I wonder why the heck people willing to put themselves into the scrutiny of coupling? There are people who swear to god never again to be in love, yet, were slippery enough to hold firm the promises and do fall in love again?. There’s got to be any advantage to be gained rather than enduring endless trouble and headache ( followed by swallowing of Ponstan ) . Perhaps it’s a twist in human behavior which made them break the promises, in which the idea of ‘walled garden’ is has clouded the schism of couplehood.

‘Walled garden’ is a name given to this thought that has been running through my minds for the last few weeks. I don’t really give a thought on petty matters, but this thing does capture my attention since it has roots in my attempt to ‘retool and glasnost-ing’ myself. I must admit, that we all have this teenage-to-adulthood transition problem. In which, if we could chart our life on a graph – Its obviously going downwards.

The term of ‘walled garden’ is purely inspired by Telco’s stratagem who wanted to attract possible customers. In Malaysia, we have three major telcos; Celcom, Digi and Maxis. These telcos offered attractive packages and deals to attract customers. From yellow rubber suited man who stalked us virtually everywhere, to supersavers plan which made our eye looks sleepless when attending early morning lecture. All seems attractive, when in fact, there are lots of strings attached. Those includes cheaper rates for same operator calls, data which are inoperable/in transferable on to other networks and contracts which may spanned for years. Remember, when we used to only able send message to similar prefix numbers? In a nutshell, walled garden is literally offering something a sort of freedom within a certain confinement.

Men offered or promises great things, either spoken or unspoken. They do wonders with their ability or talent. Some did their careful homework and assimilate themselves to personify the dreamguy of the studied girl. This is because timba cari perigi, where the girl holds the decision-making card. It’s natural law, or basic instinct, which the male would wanted to show they are far more supreme than the rest. The female obviously would like to be with the best. Just like when we were in the process of choosing Telco’s which can offer wonderful packages or deals. Girls do compare and settle for something that suite them best.

‘Walled garden’ shall be filled with beautiful flowers, water lilies and plenty of helicornias and everything pretty. And yes, we put our heartrobe inside so she could innocently roam around and further lushes the floras there if she wanted to. Guys knew that a girl sometimes needs to be treated like a princess whenever is possible. In any such way, magnitude, or method we persevere to do that. Generously, we even include a garden to pair up with the princess. Yet, bare in mind, its walled. So, there is a restricted freedom in which how far she could roam.

In real world, where the is a presence of fear in every men, which never really expect, but, does anticipate for a worst case scenario of their girlfriend being snatched (worst, bedeviled ), the principle of ‘walled garden’ may be applied. Whatever way they does it or whichever name they call it, there is no doubt, walled garden is invisibly present to get the situation in control. Control, on the other hand, is among a hideous word. When we do our work, control from other people is the least thing we wanted. Control is an obstruction. We don’t want too many controlled aspect in our life . People who exercises control defended their action by calling it a discipline, a rule or a priority. Take a look at the Commie China which imposed control over the internet content. Any blogs, videos or wikis which were against ( or subversive ) the communism ideology will be phased out.

Control is the worst thing to describe the ‘walled garden’, yet, its also the basis of it. Its for guys to exercise control over the relationship. The water lilies, Helicornias and bougavillas mentioned earlier were the treats that we give to our girlfriends, like presents, box of chocolates and jewelries ( if can afford…) . Girls are getting exceptionally clever to not blindly fall for boys that is macho. As the saying goes; style without substance is absolutely nothing. It’s the ‘walled garden’ offerings that attracted them. It’s the extravagant offering of the ‘walled garden’ that has shrouded the excruciating pain of couplehood and its tonnes of compromises. Like Telcos highlighting their offerings while showing their terms and conditions in microscopic size. That is why; we wondered why some of less-pleasantly eye-sore zombie looking guys can have a stunning hot and sweet girlfriend. It’s the walled garden offerings which hold the secret. What is the secret?

The Faunas

You might notice that many times, animals were mentioned in previous entries of my blog. As far as I’m concerned, pig, rats and mice has joined the club of being featured here on Tudya! Why are there too many mentioning of animals? Frankly speaking, animals has long been the source of inspiration for me. Cynical? Nah. Average people who have read my blog wouldn’t be too shallow minded to know that these animals were representation of real people in real life.

In a society where Paris Hilton would just bashed and drop several F-bombs on peeping Papparazis, direct confrontation and publicly raise of voice is something that measure the jantaness plus with the public getting insanely interested in suing each other under the pretext of defamation, lack-of-sleep, tense emotions etc. etc. There are still rooms for courtesy, I might say.

Animals on the other hand, are easy to deal with. They wouldn’t sue us if we did a story on them. Even if we mocked or antagonized them with ugliest possible ways till hundreds of chapters, they would just continue with their daily routine of food searching, sleep and other natural instinct they were born with.

Take a look at Knut, the first human raised polar bear ( Wow! Humans learned to raise a bear! That’s the opposite of Jungle Book ). Grown in the confines of the zoo somewhere in Germany. Look how the bear has inspired people to be extra environmentally aware without preaching a single word. With Knut, there are various merchandises like notepad, umbrellas and things like that are being sold barring his unknown mood face. The zoo received an increased number of visitors. Finally, this Knut the polar bear got something that most our business student were trying to emulate even before their graduation year. Knut has been trademarked and listed in Berlin stock exchange. Nuts, isn’t it?

Using animals as mere representation of real person or a certain organization may sound like cowardly critical to some. Yet, for me this is taken as a symbol of courtesy. Even, folklores or children storybooks have used animals to represent the real life situation. Remember the first quirky thing happened to Alice on her misadventure to Wonderland. It’s the rabbit hole. A rabbit ( Hmm… rabbit satay is juicy though ). The folklore of various cultures of different regions has used animals as the main characters to portray real life situation. Remember ‘the dog and its shadows’? ‘ugly duckling’? or ‘the wolf and the lambs’ where the mother lamb performed a miraculous C-section to free her children lambs from the wolf stomach without anesthetics. Some version is too kind to show the mother lamb stitching back the wounds. After all, it’s folklore.

Some animals were used as degradation slang. For instance, the nature of female dog having sex with many often various male dogs has triggered the ‘bitch’ word. Bitch either with a asterisk cover or without it were used widely, especially in places like colleges where girlfriend and boyfriend swapping were becoming like a trendy publicity stunt. Bitch word were thrown here and there, sideways, left, right, back and front like we used to crumble papers and throw it aimlessly in the examination hall when it ends. Here, in my home state, the situation which children that has siblings which were bore by different mother were called ‘ adik beradik’ amongst them. But, it took an interesting turn as siblings were from different father but the same mother. They were termed as ‘ saudara anjing ’. Like earlier mentioned, the nature of female canine making up with different male canine ( In other words; one size ~ fits all ) has spurned this degradation term. Worst, it lingers till the children. Well, saudara anjing may not be registered as an official lingo in Kamus Dewan, but, it reflected that human do indeed learned a lot from animals.

Before ending this blog; I would like to extend my wishing to those families and friends which are going to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Gong Hei Gong Hei! Golden Rats everywhere!

The Friction

In a matter of days, we will usher in the year of rats according to the Chinese calendar, with the hope that the appearance of these slick rodents may bring us some lucky auras and kick away those jinxes that may linger from the previous year of stoiky boar.

Each passing year, may it be the Roman, Muslim or Chinese calendar, we hoped for the best. Each passing year, we were briefed about the luck and good things that may pass us by during the period of time. Everyone, from Capricorn till Sagittarius flocking those back pages of magazine or small corners on the daily concerning the prospects and influences represented by one of the twelve animals of the zodiac . Smart as it is, they have categorized it with its individual chunks of forecast including; monetary, relationship and social.

The beginning of various new years gives us the chance of creating a new slate. Like a new season of the-story-of-our life, with a better cast, crews, contents, new direction and perhaps different hair dos. Only thing is no channel is willing to premiere it. We set our sight for a fresher outlook towards the world and people surrounding us. We wished to extend the good things that we had. We planned to achieve many things which we thought it possibly be. We were briefed by motivators that “if we can achieve, we will achieve it! “, optimism, it’s good.

What troubled us is the new year resolutions that we pledge to accomplish were made in a vacuumed friction-less world. A plan which were happily etched in an environment where bad things were never thought to occur. For instance, we wished to have more friends without realizing that somebody might be running a smear-campaign behind us to revert our friends. We wished to expand our business without keeping in mind that someone is taking a deep breath for a blitz hostile takeover. When we had something great to start, there may be people somewhere that mobilize his/her influence for collective anticipation to see us failing, spiraling all the way into oblivion. They thought its fun to do so. Yes, indeed, it takes a primary school kids to know this for a fact that life is full of challenges, but it’s a different thing as we face the problem eye-to-eye.

Then, we have our own mechanism of encountering problem. Because we badly need a clear, smooth and jam-free road to let our plans runs blazing fast outpacing any Looney speedy Gonzales. It’s a separate set of element that runs coherently with our aim to fulfill our goal. These mechanism has robbed our time, energy and concentration. Like watching too much TV takes a toll on our eyesight, whereas we were watching Discoveries or NGEO channel .In short, we are never invincible from these sort of threats.

In organizations, for instance, Proton story, there are such thing called the ‘protectionist’ stance, which are a set of rules imposed by the government so that the carmaker Proton could grow in very trouble-less, obstacle-less and conducive environment ( In turns, a perfect saga ). Yes, our parent too has set a ‘protectionist’ surrounding which allowed us to operate out of the harshness of real world. When reality first laid its cold hands on our skin; we know it sting and hurt real bad.

Perhaps, teenage period is the transitional period where the ‘protectionist’ comfort gets taken away, as year’s passes by, our resolutions gets lesser and lesser smooth in achieving it. With 10 new aim sets, perhaps only 3 may be successfully attained. In my humble opinion, this is what I call ‘friction’. It applies to everything we does. As we rub our hands against each other, as I type on the keypad. As we drive our cars on the tarred road. In fact, friction causes wear and tear. If a motivator keep saying the over-exaggerated slogans like: “ if we believe we can achieve it, we will achieve it! Repeat after me three times!!!“, they must be out of their frigging mind because human spirits does wear and tear. All because of the ‘friction’.

I honestly admit that I no longer make any resolutions each and every new year. Instead, I concentrated on formulating my own problem solving mechanism. If my personal achievement can be represented on a Cartesian graph, the 18 till 20’s would be a recession period. No growth time space, worst, its declining with the line dipping. A lot of schism and ruckuses has plagued which rendered me ''unmovable''. I could only have an upward thrust once I have found a rock-solid problem solving method. A method which can be uniformly applied on various type of problem, thus saving time. Some sort of UHU glue where it sticks universally anything.

Frankly, It's just plain stupid to say: “ Wow! Its 2008/1429 or Golden Rat year, so, I just Ctrl+Alt+Delete those schism like it never occurred and start the brand new season of my life on a clean slate with a smiling face “. Pretentiously living life like the on-going problem may never bug again. A real bad decision. Imagine having a fledging spirit to fulfill a resolution yet still engulfed with old problems. It’s like having a Ferrari on a jammed road. which is real sucks.

Perhaps successful people may have developed resilience towards ‘friction’. They can turn deaf ears on bad things people talked on their back. They may have developed thick skin which can deflect any backstabs. They may have great buoyancy where if any collective efforts to throw these people off a ship, they float and survives it well.

The Glitz

Friday is a day that I loved and gave a lot of thoughts. Its definitely the khutbah incite me to think a lot. It’s also a day which I reflect myself amongst the society. When it comes to the Friday prayers, I would like to wear the best of my Baju Melayu and went to pray at the nearest mosque. If possible I would want to wear a higher black songkok, a nice perfectly ironed baju melayu with the waist wrapped with shining kain songket. Flanked by friends and smiling brimmed with confidence, those were the alter egos which played in the little media player of my own brain. Some UMNO-esque scenario where people of higher places wear their fanciful sets of baju melayu, converged in Putra convention and shaking the hands of people who silently demanded their attention for ease of their cari-makan.

The lavishness of Perhimpunan Agung UMNO can be seen in its huge mainstage with portraits spanned across it depicting previous leaders for the past half century. The magnitude of which the event ran for several days. Not forgetting, the glamour which has been injected into politics with the Wanita’s on the prowl with their loaded accessories, pearls and braces hanging here and there. There’s Puteri’s with their kebayas or baju kurung in lighter hues of red; of course, pink.

Since girls are getting exceptionally smarter than boys, the Puteri members has been a majority consisted of lawyers or lawyers-to-be which may have their sight set on politics or things like that. One time we see even former Miss Malaysia Erra Fazira being affiliated with Puteri UMNO. Such a glitz and revelation which could make UMNO a hippy organization rather than a hot keris-waving debate subject. And best of all, the five strongmen that sets the path of UMNO and the ethnic it represent as a whole: Three vice-presidents, a deputy president and the president itself.

As I walked to the vehicle double-parked somewhere near the mosque, I could see old men which age level can be deemed as my atuks or tokwans riding on their trusted bicycle. Most walked their way to the mosque with their clean white jubbahs or simply with plain shirt coupled with kain pelikat peten kotak-petak. My mind starts to imagine those days when Perhimpunans were attended by kampong folks in showing their defiance towards Malayan Union. Those days when Rapid KL were yet still far from a brilliant suggestion ( which turns out to be far from reliable too, today ). Those days when allowance for attending perhimpunan were like disgusting offering which may taint their fledging spirit. Those days when Malays were not as divided as today. When Malays were not in chronic confusion of being either religion-centric or ethnic-centric.

Of course Malayan Union sum of all fears of the Malays during the time. If it runs, perhaps Malaysia will just be another exact replication of New Zealand, Australia or South Africa. A nation full of rednecks where the original people just served as a purpose to promote the local tourism. Imagine ghazal, kuda kepang or wayang kulit were performed at a resort while some white men siphons in the money.

Apart from glamour, grand and glitz, there should be a conscience mind of which a leader should have or had been a person that comes from humble beginnings. In this moment of time we don’t really require any leaders that were spoon-fed with silver spoon as early as birth. Who wear leather shoes as soon as they learned walking during toddler. Instead, A leader that seeks knowledge with the help of gasoline lamps, a leader that never wore shoes since it had learned to walk, a leader which patiently collect waters of a well to get themselves cleaned. All of which has been experienced in real life. Since people often said that life is great teacher, perhaps not a fancy college or military academy. A down to earth leader, which never come from a privileged family or legacy like royalties.

We all knows or might have a little clues of the previous leadership from Tunku Abdul Rahman to Dr.M, which may have come from poor hand-to-mouth families and which may maintain that English way of life of lepaking in bars brushing shoulders with English people while listening to smooth jazz music. As well as the incumbent.

Maybe, different people had different perspective of judging a real good leader. Maybe a leader humble beginnings are not important or a measure of a great leader. Some say leaders are not made neither born; it’s like a talent or a gift.

Look at the kids nowadays which are much luckier and thickly buttered that we are. They own a PSP as early as 6, gets three to four figured duit rayas and goes globe-trotting like a global citizen. For all that, I believed their parent has intention to inspire them, which is good. In which, their grandfathers may have walked several miles under the scorching heat of the sun just to attend perhimpunan in showing their pledge against monopolistic British rule etc. etc.

Khulafa al-Rashidin which accounts of four leaders that lead the Muslim empire after the demise of Rasulullah p.b.u.h sees them walking on the streets which normal citizen walked. These khulafa even sat underneath trees to listen to people problems and tribulations. If telling stories seems to sound like a fictional recreation that tries to be a rhetoric. Then, go to Arab region itself and try to find any castle that are related to these Khulafa. Then, its clear that they indeed never need any humongous Klang-MP Zakaria like castle to show their superiority.

The Line Walker

There are times when movies like Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones were becoming part of a phenomenon. With such a huge fan base and clubs associated to them. These movies are very huge that until today it unfolds fond memories amongst some people. Transformers and War of the Worlds may share the podium too.

The merchandising and video-tape era ( which slots in and takes a few seconds of mechanical rit-rat ) reminds us that the 80’s baby are the luckiest and gained most limited experiences of this century. Then comes the VCD and now the ever interactive and vivid DVD ( which the seller promises to be clear but still lacks of correct translation and silhouettes of people exiting the cinema )

Then comes family favorites like E.T ( extra terrestrial ) with the levitating bicycle upon the full moon backdrop. A story which you would want to watch on some lazy Sunday nite with the phone switched off. Poltergeist, in which a creepy woman head turns 360 degrees on a gloomy street; which is amazingly becomes synonymous with supernatural movies that follows.

Movies which performed quite well and became memorable such as 2002 Catch Me If You Can and 2004 The Terminal are both cunning and clever. It may not be an instant classics, yet, the stories had some sort of attraction ( apart from the sultry Catherine Zeta ) which casual movie-goers might like and keep holding them to their seats.

Laser shooting guns and flying back packs are forward looking futuristic movies which can be a headache-inducing movie in less than a decade. Minority Report seems to maintain the logic and explore the possibility of future. A movie that is mind twisting yet managed to be told in a manner easily digested by average minds. Then, comes A.I (Artificial Intelligence) which plays around the concept of humanoid robots which sparkled a conflict within itself. The touching story starred Jude Law as Gigolo Joe ( Why not Alfie? ) and the android kid David. A.I is sure forward but the story remained deep and intriguing with an ending which makes us utterly shed at least a single vapor of tears.

War movie buffs? Loves to see planes plunging down from the high skies or battleships sinking with smokes billowing from the belly? Saving Private Ryan are some of the movie which is both awesome in terms of war psychology and the bitter human battle of survival. As bitter as a sophomore kid

Bear in mind, these great blockbuster titles mentioned above were some of Steven Spielberg greatest work. It may be directed, scripted or written by him. An influential person in the industry to the extent where the “S” in the DreamWorks SKG ( remember Shrek intro? ) stands for Spielberg himself. The “K” and “G” on the other hand refers to his fellow director friends ( Katzenberg and Geffen ). Spielberg is both prominent and prolific; surely the Louis Khan of movie making or Steve Jobs of movie writers.

I personally admired the spirit of him in founding his own production studio as late as 1994. In effect, DreamWorks were put in-line with giant production studios such as Warner Bros, MGM, 20^th Century Fox and Universal which has been in the business as early as 1920’s when BOTOX and internal combustion engines were deemed as virtually impossible.

Being on top of the world and exceptionally good in what he does. Spielberg seems to never forget his roots. He is definitely not another blockbuster hungry Hollywood director. The Holocaust tragedy, death camps and ghetto liquidation seems like a wound that Spielberg inherited from his forefathers or relatives. Of course, what I’m telling you here the obvious, he is a Jewish.

Spielberg seems to have a personal war on behalf of his Jewish ancestry. The way he sets the game is different. A person who played the same game, but with the exception of different rules. Most of us are ashamed to admit the shameful or bitter experiences that we had previously. We despise our sad past till death, as we strive to live a happy life. We kept our mouth glued, screwed and shut from talking about the matter. We tried to never ever “walk-the-line” . ‘truth hurts’

As a Malay, I personally understood that Malays are secretive lot of people, we tends to try very hard in forgetting our hard-lived or bitter past which spurned the Melayu mudah lupa syair. This is not a holier-than-thou situation I’m trying to put people into, but, once a while, a visit to relatives which are chronically ill ( kencing manis, sakit jantung, buah pinggang etc.) makes us feel that in our relentless effort to fulfill our desire to match those that we envy; we do need to look back at our past once a while.

In the case of Spielberg, he seems to turn his past tragedy into triumph in forms of movie making. A person that walks the line. Although the line may be crooked or ugly.

The massacre of Israelites athletes during 1972 Olympic games in Munich, Germany in which the whole Israel Olympic team of 11 athletes were slain by Fatah freedom fighters were depicted into a film entitled ‘Munich’ released in 2004. Mostly about the vengeance of the Mossad ( Intelligence arm of the Israel ) in finding the plotters of the massacre. It garnered lots of award and a critically acclaimed.

The most straight-forward depiction of Jews hardship would be during the holocaust period itself. The movie ‘Schindler List’ which tells the story of a German industrialist which handpicked a thousand Jews from the camps and turned them into working-class people that produced cooking utensils for the Nazi German.

The hardship of Jews were not always told in a straight forward manner. If you looked back and found out that ’An American Tail’ cartoon are as adorable as those Sin Chan, then you may have not seen the big picture yet. An American Tail animation which depicted about a mouse which travelled to America with the hope that there is no cats there, were loosely based on the struggle of Jewish immigrant that made living abroad. Thrown inside this 1989 animation is also adult elements subplots like hypocrisy, sweatshops and corruption .Pretty cool for a kid cartoon huh?

Steven Spielberg film that focuses on human struggle extended even to the eastern corner of the world. Empire of The Sun ( 1987 ); a film about a privileged people which fell into the plague of war is a sign of Steven first foray this type of genre. Set in Shanghai during the invasion of Japanese force in early 1940’s.

Above all, this is simply Steven Spielberg way of showing his war on behalf of his ethnic. While he directed or wrote movies that enchant, pleases and enlighten us till we may have those Jurassic Park posters hung on the backside of the door or wardrobe ( dinosaurs staring at you as you slipped your pants ), he seems to run a war machine through the film industry. We ponder how does he did that; apart from big help from Jewish lobbyist in the American administration structure.

While we ponder, I assume that no matter how great we have gone, how many people we have rubbed shoulder and how far the length we go to pursue greatness, there is still one thing we shall never forget be it a Malay or a Jew: Never forget your roots.

The Rockenstein

Faisal Tahir is the first runner up of One In A Million reality show. Deemed as the ‘Rockenstein’, he garners lots of admiration and fans all around Malaysia. The shining star sparkled soo bright that it outshines the champion; Suki and the likes of it. Until recently, we had a mixed reaction about his show.

Personally, I do listen to his song. A few of his songs is indeed here in my iTunes playlist. These includes Maha Karya Cinta and Gemuruh. While I wrote this piece of blog, his songs might come and play along the shuffle mode. While, it seems like his image has been a little tarnished by the recent ‘bold’ move of taking off his shirt on the stage witnessed by hundreds spectators at the Park Garden somewhere near Sri Pentas, Bandar Utama the artist remained cool, while admitted the move was somewhat ‘unclever’. Sounds like a word of PR.

There should’nt be much of an issue to make of this. Unless, when it comes to the different interpretation of what really happens. Which, makes us looked divided between the much lauded and embraced freedom-of-individual expression and the much sensitive and guarded thing called etiquette. The different interpretation on Faisal Tahir’s made Malays look ridiculous in defining meaning of ‘liberty’. The various acceptance towards the incident. Some stated it as a decent show while some absolutely slapped it as awry and improper. Some never care and some stood firm against it. In the end of the day, other people are laughing at us and moving forth with their daily businesses, while we still debate so much on matter of taking off shirt on-stage with different hypothesis. Worst still, disagreement among the opinion seems to be unacceptable due to this matter somewhat chained with religion and etiquette. Unchaining it means you are a secular Malay, while leaving it alone means that you are somewhat an escapist. A single (bold and underlined) conclusion has to be made.

Well, this thing has been going on since forever. In 2005, In Perak, a female club singer cum dancer was caught by the state religion authority for wearing a short sleeve tight top. Not a tank top. Wow! If they were really zealous in doing that, they will find bazillion of them here in my college! Not only they can reveal their rubella and BCG bulge on their arm, but also other things near the cleavages.

A Malay proverb says Bapa borek anak rintik ( A son attitude reflects the fathers attitude ), which brings me to think of the possible ways of which this semi-naked incident to occur. Don’t get me wrong, I am not referring this to Faisal Tahir’s biological father. It applies to his ‘stardom’ father. Do make yourself clear that he was performing for the 8TV Rocking Concert to celebrate their 4^th anniversary held in Central Park Avanue.

The Media Prima conglomerate consists of several free-on-air channels. They were gathered through acquirisation, creation and mergers. The collection of channels includes TV3, ntv7, TV9 and finally 8TV itself. To avoid clashings of viewers, each channels has its own target group. This means their programming were dictated by the people it targeting. Generally, it goes as follows:-

TV3 - The hotshot, or the Wolverine in the X-Men mutant arsenal, this station is the most established and well known in Malaysia. The spearhead of Media Prima. The pioneer of private TV station in the nation, TV3 aimed to be the mainstream TV station that fulfills everyone channels appetite. Shows including cartoons in the morning, woman shows, Americano telenovelas, Hong-Kong serials, occasional Hindustans, Malay soap operas ( including Pontianaks ), and American phenomenal serials. It virtually has no target groups, very family oriented, although most of the shows is in Malay. TV3 is also famous for its spot-on journalism which vividly reflected through its 1-hour news slot Buletin Utama which also spurred unforgettable names like Karam Singh Walya, Pang Chin Fei and Azizah Ariffin....did I mentioned Azizah Ariffin?

Ntv7 – Targeted towards the young executive, Francise-running corporate woman, the Donald Trump wannabes, class-concious people. The in-house shows made for this channel often feature coat/blazer wearing hosts. Or blouse/evening dress woman in warm hues. Do not expect some funky spoilt brat shows with seasoned converse and washed-out jeans jumping around – quiet rare. But programming includes comedies from seasoned comedian such as Seinfeld and Raymond. Independent movie maker timeslots is genius. They even had roadtours to malls… ehem… expensive malls in big towns such as Penang, Johor Bahru and Klang Valley. Trying to project the high culture and elitism inside it.

TV9 – As soon as you heard the catchy rebana music montage of this channel, you probably get the idea of its target group. Going by the motto “dekat di hati” ( close to heart ), TV9 has a viewer target around the Malay-belt-states. These states are Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, which compromises Malays as majority ethnic composition. Their 8 o’clock news includes tudung wearing newscaster with overmake-uped cheeks and the colour green as its corporate image. The shows includes Malay classics, religious programming, Indonesian soap-operas, Malay-translated Nickoledeon cartoons and finally.. but not least…. Charlie Chaplain show. Um..

8TV – A channel made for the uber cool college kids which drives their parents Volkswagen Golf GTi and wear Paris Hilton overgrown shades thru the Smart-tag lane on LDP. Probably the biggest money-maker in Media Prima stables, this channel is the reincarnation of Metrovision ( remember socks!? ). The channel features loads of reality shows and latest American serials. Even as far as Las Vegas censored edition which turns like a cut-and-paste flick. Also frequently features Korean dramas and Mandarin news. In-house production much focused on fast-paced lifestyle, non-conformist and sometimes radical ideas. 8TV strives to be the preferred channel for the Kenny Hills, Bukit Tungkus and Damansara Uptowns citizen if they’re wasn’t any Astro. Strictly 16-40 age range. Or those who are quite exposed, open-minded ala-Paris in the morning, Tokyo in-the evening people.

The incident maybe indicated that the folks at 8TV were thinking that the concert is enjoyed by their target group. Even the crew employed, were of the same mindset perhaps. I’m not quiet sure there may be TV9 crew present during the concert since Media Prima is good in synchronizing staffers between channels ( this is of course to save cost ).

SKMM ( The Malaysian Communication & Multimedia Commission ) reported that there is a 2 minute delay between the live feed and broadcast period. Yet, no alteration of what would have occurred happened. This 2 minute delay is important in the case that Faisal Tahir’s show went awry ( etc. electric guitar burned, a suicide bomber came in or some lunatic dancing stark naked on the stage ). Yet, the shirt ripping incident was taken lightly by the several dozen crews who just might taught: Hmm…. 8TV fans must be enjoying this!

Finally, Faisal Tahir, the star who were born by 8TV itself. All of the people in the chain of command in 8TV has been intoxificated by the ‘target group’ idea. The idea has been infused into Faisal Tahir while he was still in the nebula of stardom. And finally, when the star is born, 8TV as the stardom father thought they have nurtured the greatest money making child, giving him the second OIUM podium. Yet, the unexpected occurred.

Maybe, Media Prima should do something what the Americans have done a long time ago. It is called ‘localization’. Do a radio or TV channel specifically for a certain region. Like the Sinar Harian newspaper which only appeared on the east-coast states of Peninsula Malaysia. The content can be picked according to the sensitivity and reception of the ‘target group’. For instance; big towns like Penang, Klang Valley and JB got the spanking new, visually daring and Americanized shows and the Malay belt can get the etiquette-based religion centered programs. TV3 on the other hand can stay in neutral, offering a mix of both, so as long as there is no big thinking gap between the urban, suburban and rural areas.

But wait! If Media Prima does that, and I’m here in Kedah barred from accessing 8TV, how am I going to know Faisal Tahir in the first place? Besides, Malaysia is too small and impractical for those localization sets. If that would happen; I wouldn’t be able to listen to his Gemuruh right now.