OneBigBone

It’s has always been a mystery of why I always have a better sleep when I’m in penang.

I do sleep till late hours at times in KL yet somehow I’m just not satisfied with the sleep of the past night.

My dad says that it’s probably the essence of home and the bed that you’re accustom of while giving a grinning smile, indicating I can always come back more often for the sleep.

And yet he is always the one who wake me up from my deep sleep.

Ironic.

I just came back from chit tiao loh bansan (the 7^th street market) for my mum to do some grocery shopping for some fresh vegetables and eggs.

Though slightly dirty and hot in the afternoon, chit tiao loh bansan has always been a nice place to do some marketing. And I’ve been visiting there quite often during my younger days.

The wet market is always packed with people, especially those of the older age.

It is like their “1- Utama” for the house wife, where you can buy all your household commodities under one roof.

Literally, one roof.

Since the past, the market never fails to amaze me with its daily antics of drama and conversation of the people there.

During my visit in the afternoon, a vegetable stall caught my attention.

We were walking towards that stall and the scene of two little kids accompanying their mother manning the stalls.

My mum was holding and inspecting oh wah chai, obviously it will be on tonight’s dinner menu.

“oh wah chai kui lui?”

(“how much is the oh wah chai?”)

The elder brother, about 7 years of age shouted back in the noisy market while packing 1 kilo of huan jio kia (cili padi) just like any other seasoned seller for an aunty beside us.

“oh wah chai ji kilo si koh”

(“RM4 per kilo for oh wah chai”)

I was surprised by how fluent this young boy is with the nature of the business. On top of that he was having small talks with the aunty he was selling the chili to.

All these happened while his mother stood at the other end of the stall cutting off damaged vegetables that will be put back for sale shortly.

With the typical penang spirit, my mum then proceeded to the next stall repeating her question again while complaining that prices are expensive.

I stood my ground, amazed with the kid business capabilities, I continued to observed how this young man do business with people 5 to 8 times his age.

“ang huan jio uh boh?” asked a customer.

(“do you have red chili?”)

“boh, kia jit boh ang huan jio. Huan jio kia ai mai?” he replied while summing up the payment of another customer.

(“nope, today we don’t have red chili, how bout chili padi instead?”)

Making math calculations on the fly on how much change needs to be given back to the customer while walking to the wooden cash deposit behind his mum and cheekily checking towards the sky to see if it’s a fake RM50 note.

The concentration, maths and the speed of calculation that this young man exhibited truly surprised me as I’m quite sure that his classmates or even his seniors at the school are still getting used to the basics of those entire math.

And not only this kid is doing business, he is also making sure his customer gets the satisfaction by recommending alternatives to the customer.

Every now and then he would get a little praise from his customers and the proud mum would draw a little smile across her face.

After spending a few moments observing the young kid, I proceed off with my mum after she managed to get oh wah chai for RM3/kilo, she probably saved about 50cents for that few steps.

Even on my journey back from the market, my mind was really replaying the scene of the little kid doing business while the mother had her full trust on the young man.

Even though I opinioned that he should be spending his childhood years having fun, however, reality as usual is harsh and unforgiving, even at that age, he is not spared from giving a helping hand to his mother.

Given the circumstances, that kid has my respect for his spirit and capabilities. There are many people at my age that still can’t count fast enough or find it tedious to count and would require a calculator when calculating discounted items in the mall.

That kid beat you guys hands down.

Happy New Year.

Happymah!~

Again, it’s been a while.

Well, actually not, although I did not update my blog since some time ago did not mean that i did not write.

I did actually wrote some stuff during my off days and it was when i was in Penang during hari raya. So i hope it’s not months late to wish again?

Following post is the first part of the 2 i wrote in Penang.

Selamat Hari Raya.

Just yesterday – the first day of raya, I started my journey back to the island I once spent my days growing up.

It’s been about 8 months or so since my last journey back to penang, and many of the times I get the “when are you coming back” questions pointed at me by my parents.

Regretfully, it was only a 4 hours journey that I did not take up often, and any excuses of being busy and occupied isn’t much of and excuse when your parents misses you.

So now I’m back, and what welcome me is more than I anticipated of penang since the last Chinese new year when I was back here.

The moment I crossed the iconic penang bridge which is going through some heavy upgrades, I was greeted with reminiscences of the penang spirit and feel that linger in me.

I see more motorbikes’ zigzagging along the traffic lines of cars, and you realize you’re moving at 30km/h rather than the usual 90 km/h speed on a KL highway yet you don’t get impatient or mad at the driver in front of you.

Just somehow the calmness and slow and easy moods of the traffic naturally just slows the hectic-fast paced KL soul down and some how allows a home coming penangite to feel peace and at home.

On the roads also, I see the usual heavy traffic that I always experience each time I’m back, where other “off shore” penangites like me who make used of the long holidays to come back for their char koay teow.

However, upon a closer look, I noticed all these cars that are pilling up the streets are not the usual home coming folks, but instead I see that these cars with penang registered plates which are not even half a year old flooding the little streets of penang.

So it seems that people here are doing well more than I expected.

It’s good sign at least.

Also expected were the changes of the newly elected state government. People on the streets seem happy on what has happened since the young government took over in early march.

I stopped my car for the red light at the Gothlib Road cross junction with Burmah Road, and I couldn’t help but noticed the big gigantic rocket logo of the Democratic Alliance Party hanging big on the corner building of the intersection, making their presence felt.

I make a left turn, heading back home. And along the way, the pleasant sight of big old green trees replaces the white concrete walls of the KL city.

It’s good to be home.

Happymah!~

First day in office, Penang CM Lim Guan Eng made 2 immediate announcements:

” All municipal summons dated before March 11 will be waived”

” The new Penang state government will not practice NEP policies”

The first announcement was pleasing to all, especially with the dam hard working MPPP guys on bike making their rounds.

These ppl is the most hardworking bunch in the civil staff, probably even more than those in the private sector.

They don’t accept duit kopi, they wont let any car off the hook if it’s in the wrong, they go through lorongs to give summons.

They even wait for the parking meter to turn 00:00 if there is only 1 minute left.

mai siao siao!

So definitely with these bunch of hardworking guys around, there are thousands and thousands of unpaid summons, and the people of Penang definitely welcome that announcement.

The 2nd announcement is the controversial one.

I personally think the CM used the wrong words to convey his intention.

His announcement definitely shock the bones of most malays. Even though they didn’t quite benefit from the NEP directly.

Many expressed their concerns about the announcement. Including those outside Penang.

Later on Lim Guan Eng went and clarify that he is just doing away with the system that breads corruption and cronyism. Then things started to calm down with PAS and PKR claiming that the malays wont be marginalize.

Even Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) met up with Lim and was satisfied with the explanation given, even throwing their support for the open tender system.

Then the those in umno went and make a protest at komtar, i mean, few weeks back the last administration was saying that protesting and picketing is not the way of malaysian culture, and now the very head of penang umno is leading the demonstration.

WTF is this people thinking?

But the greatest thing that i couldn’t believe or even comprehend is that the umno Penang decided that they will persuade the federal gov to cancel all mega projects.

Quote from the star (March 14, 2008)

The state Umno will “persuade” the Federal Government to scrap all the mega projects in the state in view of the people’s clear rejection of Barisan Nasional.

Since Penangites do not want development, the Federal Government should not force it on them, said state Umno liaison committee secretary Datuk Azhar Ibrahim.

I tried to understand his statement, really. I couldn’t understand a bit of why tat azhar guy made such a statement.

I can’t even explain his stupidity.

It just shows that this group of people are just not mature or bright enough.

Honestly, i think thats the most stupid thing that a politician can say, and i sincerely believe there are much smarter and more capable people in umno Penang that can do a better job than those jokers.

Plain stupid.

It was 8pm or so on 8th of March 2008, that i received a sms from my housemate who went back to penang just to vote:

DAP unofficially wont penang

I was like…. are-you-sure ? then i replied asking when can it be confirmed ?

No answer after that.

You see, we penangites, have a very strong patriotism towards where we come from. Even though that we are at KL, UK, Australia, Zimbabwe or any corner of the world for many years, we are still proud to say that we came from that little pearl of the orient and we definitely still care and concern on what is happening back home.

I have been in KL for the past 6 years, i definitely still know more penang roads than KL.

I too was concerned of the penang political stage that is hotly debated even in KL.

Dr. Koh Tsu Khoon, has decided to move on to federal stage contesting at Batu Kawan, leaving his strong hold constituency Tanjong Bungah - the place where i grew up.

While Lim Kit Siang’s son, Lim Guan Eng decided to contest at Bagan in Penang.

Since young, i have naturally supported BN on basis of the stability and growth the country has been enjoying since my childhood to post secondary education days.

Of cos, during those days i wasn’t that mature enough to understand what is money politics or what is globalization’s true meaning.

I am a fan of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as our prime minister. And I will definitely agree with you, if you would to say that he has his fair share of evil doings.

But when you look back, he had developments over developments bringing Malaysia to the world stage.

He had visions and wisdom to lead the country out of economy crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) case is the best example. Tun was the lone stander against world’s top leaders in getting aid from the IMF during the 1997 crisis.

He set eyes on vision 2020.

He even lambasted top western goverment officials and media openly.

He is a man that truly fears none.

Today, things seems to changed, i wont say i am a supporter of DAP or PKR either, however i believe politics is getting very out of hand these days. Corruption, crime, racial marginalization seems to have worsen under the post Tun Dr. Mahathir leadership.

The society are not satisfied and happy given the recent rise in petrol and commodities. Some of it of cos, like the petrol can’t be avoided given the high price of crude oil. But in certain cases, the government should have done something to soften the rising cost of living.

The government seems to keep on comparing indexes and statistical figures of not so develop countries like Indonesia and Myanmar. Why compare with the lower ones and not the more developed countries like Singapore or Australia? At this point, i really felt that my government is insulting my intelligences.

Back to Penang, unhappy sentiments were definitely burning among the citizens which is made up of a high percentage of chinese voters.

Issues varying from public transportation to education and the controversial PGCC project at Bukit Gantong area were in everyone’s mouth.

Even Dr. Chia Kwang Chye openly admits that something is wrong few days before polling days:

“When we go on the ground, they don’t say much. They don’t want to listen anymore. I think they are just waiting for the day,” Gerakan’s Chia had said a few days before polling.

Then on the very night of D-day, Penang was experiencing a wind of change.

All, Gerakan and MCA contesting candidates did not bag in any wins.

ALL.

Bukit Bendera - one of Gerakan’s stronghold parliamentary seat fell to Liew Chin Tong with a 16,112 majority.

Even the mighty Dr Koh Tsu Khoon fell at Batu Kawan with 9000++ majority to new comer Dr. Ramasamy.

At Jelutong, celebrity blogger Jeff Ooi, who is also new to the political stage, bagged in a whooping 16,246 majority.

Lim Guan Eng, who contested at Penang for the first time, hammered in Bagan parlimentary seat and Air Putih state seat for DAP.

The people has spoken: “they need a change, they wanted a change.”

At 1am, Lim Guan Eng who entered prison before, announced that he will be the next chief minister of Penang.

Winds of opposition started to blow.

News of five states - Kedah, Perak, Selangor and even Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur all fell to the opposition.

Is this a sign that BN should wake up from their one-sided dream and recheck if they are on the right agenda for the people? i definitely reckon so.

There was higher average of voters turnout than previous terms of elections. It’s a clear sign that people wished to be heard.

BN have no one to blame but themselves.

So will BN tie up it’s lose ends and start working harder towards a better Malaysia? That question can only be answered by BN president Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi.

Will DAP able to deliver what it has promised?

Will Guan Eng perform better as a first time chief minister of Penang and retain Penang in the next election?

I don’t know.

No one knows.

But for certain, state -federal relationship will never be the same again.

Lets see how Penang DAP-PKR partnership goes. Nothing is sure yet.

Except that there is a different wind blowing in Penang.