Malaysian Legend

I was just browsing “Only in Malaysia” Facebook when I chanced upon a photo of the late P. Ramlee, may he rest in peace. There was a video link, so I clicked on it and was happy to be able to find the History channel which I don’t get to watch at home on Astro.

I didn’t know that such a great legendary artist would die a broken man (financially and emotionally). I cried buckets watching the History video.

I guess, all of us, those born in the 40s,50s,60s and 70s would definitely remember all his movies, which were and still are entertaining and heart warming. My favorite movie is “Ibu Mertuaku“. I remember the scene at the cemetery vividly when Kasim Selamat found out that his mother in law, Nyonya Mansoor lied to him that his wife (Nyonya’s daughter) passed away after giving birth to his son. Sabariah Mansoor is pretty much alive and her mom married her off to an Eye Doctor! It was a purely acting genius, no need CGI, sound effects, special effects.. purely skillful acting! And.. am I the only one who always cringed and wished that they didn’t place the forks as decorative ornaments so that he won’t stab his eye balls out towards the end, and live a good life with Chombee?

Well, here’s the video on History Channel talking about his life – some sort of “True Hollywood Story”. I surely hope that the people who had sidelined, ill-treated, abused him, etc would live a life of thousand regrets for not giving any chance for this great legend to continue his work. I guess this is the norm in Malaysia – to ill-treat greatly talented artists such as Allahyarham P. Ramlee and also Allahyarhamah Yasmin Ahmad for breaking boundaries and being loved by all, irregardless of races. Al-Fatihah.

Election is Coming!

I got home from work today and was watering the wilting plants, when a group of three approached my house gate. There were two women and a young man. They asked for my aunt, then my uncle, my mom and dad. They said they were from MCA and were here to give away some angpows for the senior citizens.

I quickly went inside my house to get the old folks. Somehow, nobody was home! This is very unlikely! All of them went out at the same time! There is usually people in my house!

I told the MCA people and thought they would just leave and come another time. Instead, they said, they will leave the cheques with me and asked me to sign on their behalf.  I was elated to find the cheques of Rm100 each in my parents and relatives’ names. The MCA lady explained to me that, my folks were registered with MCA, hence the special angpows. In the end, after all that, they asked for a photo to be taken. Shit! I was in my hideous polka dot uniform! I hope they don’t publish that hideous photo with me forcing a grin because I was too worried to be seen in my polka dot uniform in some country wide campaign! Shit!!! If you see a sotong smiling ear to ear, in polka dot uniform – that’s the idiotic me!

Then, towards the evening, I went out with some colleagues and family for late dinner (actually it’s almost supper time!) when we saw a group of people holding PKR banners walking by. Our Selayang MP, William Leong was distributing Mandarin oranges to the public! Goodness! Haha! All happened within one day! So people, be prepared! I believe election is just round the corner!

Google Translation is the Best!

All abuzz over ‘Ethical Clothing’

By JOSEPH SIPALAN and JOSEPH KAOS Jr
newsdesk

PETALING JAYA: If you are working at the Defence Ministry, be sure not to wear “clothes that poke eye”.

This was one of the many colourful
descriptions of “Ethical Clothing” (etika berpakaian) that is acceptable within the ministry’s standards.

Netizens on social networking sites were literally ROFL, which is cyberspeak for “rolling on the floor laughing”, as they shared the link to the ministry’s amusing English translation of the staff dress code on its official website.

“Clothes that poke eye” is a literal translation of pakaian yang menjolok mata, which is supposed to mean revealing clothes in Bahasa Malaysia. Other finds included: “collared shirts and tight Malay civet berbutang three”, which, in Malay, is berkolar baju Melayu cekak musang berbutang tiga.

Baju batik lengan panjang berkolar / cekak musang buatan Malaysia, meanwhile is translated as “long-sleeve batik shirt with collar / mongoose fight made in Malaysia”.

There was also “shine closed”, which was translated from kasut bertutup, or closed-toe shoes.

Another was the brief summary of the ministry’s history on the website, which read: “After the withdrawal of British army, the Malaysian Government take drastic measures to increase the level of any national security threat.”

The actual summary in Bahasa Malaysia read: Selepas pengunduran tentera British, Kerajaan Malaysia mengambil langkah drastik untuk meningkatkan tahap keselamatan negara dari sebarang ancaman.

The ministry took down the English translated version several hours after it went widespread on Twitter and Facebook.

A ministry spokesperson said a clarification has since been posted on the website, adding that page hits shot up remarkably yesterdayThe clarification on the website said corrective action was being taken on the related software to ensure translations were accurate.

Only in Malaysia….