#AllianzCrazyGames2016, and the Awesome 3some!

Gosh, it's been a long while since I've written anything here. This blog has become eerily quiet since I started work; Maybe I gave it up out of fear it would compromise my employability. Of course, we all know we're not supposed to be judged based on our political leanings, but it's something that's hung over our heads regardless.

In any case, I don't want to talk about the current political climate. It's depressing to think about and pointless to discuss. So let's talk about how I've decided to avert my attention:

A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine whom I've known for eons called me up, and asked if I'd like to join him and another friend in the #AllianzCrazyGames2016. I, of course, was all over it, as contrary to popular belief, I love activities and events like these just to break up the monotony of daily life. And as part of the pre-event tasks given to us, we were asked to talk about the healthy, outdoor activities that we love most.

The first time I properly went hiking was with a full-on hiking group, called the PELOPOR Adventure Team. At the time, the team was assigned to assist with training a group of VPs and department heads from a leading telco in Malaysia, and I was roped in to help where I could. Although I didn't engage much with the technical side of things, I did get to enjoy the physical aspect of the course, which required us to climb and 'cave' through the various nooks and crannies of Gunung Senyum, near Temerloh, Pahang, to reach the summit.

Admittedly, I'd never been much of an outdoors type, so this was indeed a challenge and definitely saw me thrown arse-over-head out of my comfort zone. But I enjoyed the expedition so much, that I found myself hiking more and more often. 6 years on, I am happy to report that I continuously seek out adventure whenever possible, be it hiking through the mountain ranges of Pahang, or off-roading in remote areas of Selangor, or just walking through some of the beautiful paths of Taman Rimba Kiara or Bukit Cahaya, Shah Alam.

Hiking feeds my need to explore and discover things on my own. Often, I am forced to think out-of-the-box to deal with situations at hand, and it reminds me to always be prepared and be aware of my surroundings. A city boy by birth, I have to ensure that I am never complacent or stagnant, and these outdoor outings serve to ensure I am never truly in a rut.

"I see foreign people."

Our friends in the south are having something called an 'election.' Apparently, they poll and cast votes and choose the wisest man or woman to lead their nation for a few years. This is called a 'democracy,' I'm told.

One of the hottest topics in the Singaporean election is the topic of foreign workers. Singaporeans argue that too many foreign workers take up Singaporean jobs, at a margin that's something like 1 in every 10. Of course, like Malaysia, most jobs like customer service, waitstaff, and menial labour go to foreign workers. However, unlike Malaysia, a ton of high-level executive positions are given to foreigners, too. This is probably what bothers Singaporeans most: High-paying jobs in their own country are going to pendatangs. Hmm.

Malaysia, however, sits comfortably in the hands of its own people. Company executives, CEOs, and the like, are mostly Malaysians. Malaysians of every colour, every religion, from every corner of the country. This makes me very happy. It's one of the things I ponder on whenever things get a little hairy. The reason for this is because, Malaysia offers great things to those who make a decent living. There's freedom of lifestyle, with little restriction on car ownership (another bane of contention for our southern friends), a decent quality of life is guaranteed, and our EPF schemes aren't half bad. Sure, income tax is ridiculous, but that's for another day.

We suffer from having to host a large number of foreigners, too. However, the situation here is different. Here, our foreign labour is restricted almost exclusively to low-level labour-intensive positions. Our nation was built on the backs of hardworking foreign labour, and that's just the reality of things. They clean our streets, they maintain the order of our offices, they make our food and they clean up after us. At home, they watch over our children, they layan our elderly relatives, and they cook according to what we want (with some success).

We don't like our foreigners because they come here in questionable circumstances ("Ada permit ke tidak ni?"), send a bulk of their earnings abroad (which aids the continued devaluation of the Ringgit), pretend like laws don't apply to them (have you seen how they treat our sewage systems?!), and a considerable number of them turn to a life of crime (I have met three foreign weed dealers in my travels). I think our distress at the foreign labour issue is warranted, especially when the media tell us we'll be looking at over a million of them on our soil as soon as 2020. Pretty sure that wasn't a part of Tun Mahathir's Wawasan.

To my Singaporean friends, read on. Your issue is with the number of highly-educated foreigners filling top-level positions. Please understand that many of us flock to the City State because you offer a better, more stable, more orderly quality of life than the nations we come from. The fact of the matter is, your foreigners aren't quite like ours. They don't run amok like ours do. Lain keadaan, bro. I'll be damned if I see my boss, a Ph.D holder, litter and loiter in the Central Business District the way many of our foreign labourers do on the streets of KL. So there's no need to get your knickers in a twist.

Foreign labour flocks to Singapore because Singaporeans leave Singapore. Highly-educated types will try and forge new lives in Australia, or in England. The grass is always greener on the other side, so away they go. Malaysians specifically fill the jobs that Singaporeans themselves aren't interested in. We can't talk about the large Filipino population in Singapore, as most of the time, the waitstaff I meet along Orchard Road are Filipino. Can't really live without them, the same way we can't say anything about our foreigners. But the highly-educated types... go easy on them la.

The situation is more complex there. Not so much so here. So don't compare Malaysia's situation with that in Singapore, or vice versa. It'd be awfully bumptious of you to do so. And you wouldn't want to do that, now do you?

Mana Merdekanya?

When I was in school, August was always a month we'd look forward to. Our independence day was a day of national pride, and eager students like myself would happily sacrifice time in the classroom to participate in patriotic activities and celebrations. Yes, really.

But that was a decade ago. It's 2015, and things have changed. I failed to see flags scattered liberally around the city centre; My street was equally devoid of the Jalur Gemilang. I didn't see creatively decorated taxicabs, or cars festooned with flags in every shape and size. Somehow, Malaysians weren't in a celebratory mood.

I wonder what caused it. Our slumping economy, perhaps. Though many will try to blame it on the devaluation of the Chinese yuan, and then follow up by saying that the whole region has been affected, the continued descent of the Malaysian Ringgit has nothing to do with China, and everything to do with Seri Perdana. You know how national economies slump a bit whenever there's an election, to account for the possibly drastic change in policies following the (possible) introduction of a new administration? Yeah. Think about that for a second, and then wonder why the Ringgit continues to plummet. Kalau AG pun boleh dibuang kerja dengan sekelip mata... 

Maybe it was the denunciation of the BERSIH rallies. They called the demonstrators 'unpatriotic' and 'troublemakers.' Though I admit, a handful got a tad rowdy and crossed some lines (sorry la, it's never okay to step on someone's face, even if you have 2.6 billion reasons to do so), BERSIH4 was the most peaceful rally organised by the Malaysians in Yellow there has ever been. I personally commend the Malaysian police force and other emergency services for ensuring the safety and wellbeing of BERSIH participants throughout the 36hr demonstration. Many of my friends slept on the streets of KL that Saturday night, and never once did they feel vulnerable or at risk. That's a big thing, especially in that part of town.

Or possibly, it's the brazen idiocy of our ministers. Some will tell you that it isn't a big deal, while others share recipes for 'tax-free rice.' There are always a few that are a sandwich short of a full picnic, but never have I seen a cabinet filled with empty bowls. Yes, bowls. Sebab depa semua mangkuk. In the meantime, the handful of good eggs scattered here and there are getting pummeled and squashed by the majority who insist on 'towing the party line' like the good brown-nosers that they are. Maybe if they all pulled their heads out of the one massive ass, they'd realise how full of shit they seem (and for good reason).

I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Malaysia was feeling incredibly patriotic. Maybe it was the love of the country that made 200,000 people take to the streets of KL, from every corner of the country, to fight for a freer, cleaner, more transparent Negara.

Or maybe I'm really stupid, and only 25,000 turned up. Who knows, really?


"I'll be pro-government once you give me a cabinet that's pro at governing."