Write Away

I told you before that we bloggers are Tuesday people. Gabey Goh, a reporter with the blogger-friendly Malay Mail, does a feature on this blog. The afternoon-daily coincidently publishes the feature on Tuesday which falls on MRT day and hence give me a window of opportunity to gloat about it with my fellow bloggers.

I know I am not a millionaire bloggers like some of them (ahem!) but this is enough to make me smile the whole day! Here’s the URL of the article.

I knew Dalilah - or darling as she is fondly known among good friends - through blogging, where the spirit of sisterhood is palpable in the air every time we meet. She survived breast cancer four years ago and she moves one with such a positive attitude I wonder where she gets it from. Her amiable husband, Mambang Hijau, adores her to bits. So do her two wonderful boys: Adam and Idris.

And today is her birthday. I planned to call her this morning to ask if she is coming to Mee Rebus Tuesday tomorrow so I could secretly buy a cake to surprise her. Instead, she has a surprise for me. Raden Galoh sent me a text message. The text reads, “Inna lillahi wainna ilaihi rojiun. The cancer spreads to the ribs, liver, left collarbone nodes and the nodes at the right jaw“. I learnt later that she just came back from seeing her oncologist and that is the diagnosis.

I was dumbfounded for a good half and hour before I could think again. Soon phone calls started flying off among the bloggers. I managed to talk to her and I was a wreck. I can’t be like Doctor Zulhisham who has been a her pillar of strength. Neither could I be as experienced as Kak Ena and Kak Ton - they lost 2 sisters to cancer - in facing the monster of all disease. They surely know what to say. So here I am, writing incoherently, as I don’t know what else to do.

Darling initially planned to bring her two boys to Cherating this weekend to celebrate her 14th wedding anniversary which falls on July 23rd. But now she has to cancel that as she is scheduled for a chemotherapy treatment a day after tomorrow. Apparently the Oncologist thinks that “the condition is not good“. I don’t have the strength to ask what she means by that.

What is left for me to do now is say a prayer for her. I hope we all can do that for Darling, Mambang Hijau and her two boys.

[Above: Pictures of Darling and us during happier times few months ago]

Malaysiakini reports that Anwar has been released on police bail this morning. The de facto PRK leader headed straight home in Bukit Segambut where he will call for a press conference at 2 p.m. today. Most importantly, no charge has been pressed on Anwar.

I woke up this morning hearing a beep on my blackberry. Doctor-blogger Tokasid beat Malaysiakini in informing me about Anwar’s release. Amidst my groggy disposition in the morning - prior to that first compulsory cup of coffee - I can’t help but wonder how bizarrely fast certain bloggers manage to know the latest development in the country. The fact that he practices medicine in Malacca does not seem to hinder him in anyway. Heh!

What bugs me after browsing the Star this morning is CID Chief Mohd Bakri’s explanation as to why they arrested Anwar an hour before the deadline. CID Chief said that the arrest was done because the police FEARED that Anwar wouldn’t turn up at the police headquarters to give his statement. In all fairness Bakri, you should really start reading Malaysiakini and alternative media for Anwar did give a statement (which was televised live on prime news last night) that he didn’t want to be late to see you from the ACA office in Putrajaya. Duh!

Please bear in mind that as events unfold in Malaysia’s political landscape, we are observed under the watchful eyes of the foreign media, representatives of which already set up a camp in the city. It is our duty to the country to show that we uphold the rules of law and by arresting him before the deadline is just plain stupid.

No, I am not pro Pakatan Rakyat neither am I against the ruling government. I just can’t stand blatant stupidity and baseless explanation, that’s all. Off to work now.

Malaysiakini at 1.16 pm reports that PKR’s de facto leader, Anwar Ibrahim, was arrested outside his house one hour before the deadline splashed on the Star newspaper.

In 1998, both pre and post Anwar’s arrest, the country saw one of the bloodiest street protest after May 13, 1969. I repeat Harris Ibrahim, “people, be calm, please”. I am leaving the office early today, just in case.

(access to Malaysiakini and PKR’s website is virtually impossible!)

In my course of practice, I encountered a lot of interesting conversations with unique characters created by God. Recently I am a solicitor on record for, let’s name him, Pak Hitam of Kampung Tanjung Sepat, Banting, Selangor. I am defending him in a land acquisition matter where his land has been acquired by the Government pursuant to Land Acquisition Act 1960.

The proviso in the Act accords the ruling government a right to acquire privately-owned piece of land for a price. Disputes often occur on the basis that the government usually acquires the land at nominal price instead of the current market value. The land owners usually appoint a lawyer to represent them in a tussle to get higher price for the land at High Court of Malaya.

Here is our phone conversation - in verbatim - to remind me why certain matter may be trivial to the Government but otherwise to the Rakyat.

“Assalamulaikum Cik Elviza,” Pak Hitam greeted me as his call went through my line.

“W’salam Pak… apa khabar? Lama saya tak dengar cerita Pak Hitam dan kawan-kawan di Tanjung Sepat,” I replied back

“Alhamdullilah. Hari tuh ada Pakcik suruh anak hantar pisang setandan kat ofis cik, ada dapat ker,” Pak Hitam asked me cheerfully.

He is indeed a client from heaven as opposed to those high-profile clients who usually raise hell to yours truly at slightest opportunity.

“Ada, terima kaseh banyak Pak Cik. Dah habis pun saya makan!” Yours truly loves banana to bits. Pak Hitam laughed outloud.

“Ni, saya tengah baca surat yang anak hantar pada Pakcik nih… Jadi kerajaan dah bagi tawaran kenaikan lah untuk tanah saya tuh ye?” Pak Hitam further asked.

“Saya Pak, terpulang lah pada Pak Hitam nak terima atau tidak. Kalau tak nak diterima, kita lawan lah kat Mahkamah.” I painstakingly explained the same issue to him. But since the delivery of the banana, Pak Hitam could ask me anything under the sky.

“Cubalah Cik Elviza pikir, ada ker reban ayam saya tuh diaorang nak bayar RM150 aje? Modal saya buat reban tuh pun dah dekat seribu. Belum campur dedak, beli anak ayam, beli lampu, bekas air bagai…” Pak Hitam lamented, his voice was laced with despair.

Yours truly gulped and gasped for air. Sense of pity was palpable in the air. I wish I could do more for him.

“Saya paham Pak… tapi itu tawaran rasmi, saya mesti kena bagitau Pak Hitam. Terpulang lah pada budi bicara Pakcik samada nak diterima atau ditolak,” I replied hopelessly.

Pak Hitam heaved an audible long sigh and said,

“Dah lah tanah diambil murah, reban Pak Cik tu pun diaorang tak nak bayar. Dulu bila Pak Cik balek dari kebun, Pak Cik suka jaga ayam ayam tuh, sekarang nih dah tak boleh…“

“Tak pe lah Cik, nanti saya akan kemukakan pada Mahkamah semua ini Pak Cik,” said yours truly.

“Buatlah yang terbaik nak, kalau dah tak boleh nak buat macamana, ” said Pak Hitam forlornly.

The question is now, would the Judge understand Pak Hitam’s predicament or his sadness over that mere flock of chicken he used to have? I have faith, I have faith still.

Bar Council keeps screaming the mantra of “no detention without trials” but to no avail. Talks and streets protests have been held to abolish the same but ISA is here to stay.

Justice and humanity in my beloved Malaysia are nothing but forgotten theories. I may be 33 years old and not directly affected by the ISA but I hang out with enough daughters of Pak Samad Ismail to feel the magnitude of this insane law. In the still of many Tuesday evenings, both Maria and Nuraina A. Samad, have told me personally their harrowing experience when Bapak was detained under the purview of ISA.

On July 2nd, a 17-year-old Aina Mardiah Shahrial, fought for her life at Kajang Hospital. Her family promptly informed the detention camp in Kamunting where Aina’s father has been detained for the past seven years. But Aina’s father, Shahrial, was only informed about her condition on July 3rd at 10.30 a.m. What took the authority at Kamunting so long to inform Shahrial such pressing news is beyond me. They must be really busy making the camp a palace for the detainees to stay or they just plain “makan gaji buta!“

That was not all, the authority at Kamunting said that they could not release Shahrial to be by the side of his dying daughter because they need the precious signature of the Home Minister. What they seemed to forget that in situation like this, no rules of law should supersede humanity. Shahrial was released at 5 p.m. and he endured the longest four-hour journey to Aina’s side.

He was too late. Or rather, the ridiculous procedures delayed the hell out of him. Aina died without seeing him again.

In an open letter to the Home Minister, Ahiruddin Attan or better known as Rocky, writes a heart-wrenching story of Aina.

I wept in the privacy of my own office. But did anyone hear the cry of Aina’s mother when she pleaded with the authority to let her husband be by her daughter’s side on her death bed? Nobody did.

Shame on you Home Ministry!

I call upon my fellow practitioners, bloggers and friends to keep championing ISA’s abolishment. We can make a difference if we want to.

[Sources & Pictures stolen from Rocky's Bru without his permission. Aina at the right hand corner of the photo]

Stepping into Popular Bookstore at IOI Mall wasn’t exactly a step into the serene MPH Bangsar Village or Kinokuniya at KLCC. Chinese pop song glared at maximum capacity of the amplifier hurting my hearing sense as the singer reached for the highest notes in the melody. Awang Goneng was true to his form when he said Malaysia is a nation of mega-blasters. I found it disconcerting that the store manager thought that loud music is a source of attraction. I am digressing, please forgive me.

Last Saturday, yours truly was in a desperate need to read something lighthearted after spending the whole weekend drowning my soul in rereading Hugo’s Les Miserable. Gosh, what a sad read that book is. Amidst the sound of screaming children and Chinese pop song dominating the ambiance of the bookstore, my eyes caught sight of Aku Budak Minang - a compilation of local comic series - by Ujang. Ujang, I believe (since I am in no mood to google his artistic background), is Malaysia’s contemporary cartoonist. I remember reading his Aku Budak Minang’s series in Gila-Gila when I was still in primary school. Reading materials were indeed, at that point of time, a rare commodity. If you are born in the mid-seventies like me, you probably have read this gem of a local comic. The series began its debut through a local comic magazine: Gila-Gila. Even though writers are advised to avoid cliche like a plague, I am going to use one to end this paragraph - the rest is history.

Ujang was born in a family stiffed in their beliefs of the famous adat perpateh. He retold the journey of his childhood with amazing dialogues and comical pictures drawn by him. His writing touched my heart when I was a kid. 20 years thereafter, I discover that Ujang still has that magical touch many cartoonists long to have. Ujang undoubtedly wrote his masterpiece - Aku Budak Minang - from the heart.

Amidst his penchant to humor every single unpleasant chapters in his life, he asserts values and traditions like no other cartoonist. I am a fan of Asterix, but Asterix makes me laugh. On the other hand, Ujang makes me laugh and cry at the same time - that is a difficult combination to be found in a comic book. Ujang has it all in this collection - brotherhood, emotion, laughter - of Aku Budak Minang.

If you are sick of your usual read and able to relate to this comic just like me, go ahead and buy one. The comic is retailed at RM35.90. Have a good laugh.

Image stolen from the Jonjenin Site without his permission - of course.