Darkness

Do you believe in internet banking? I did till I received a warning letter from TNB(malaysian power provider) saying that they are coming with the big scissor to snap my electricity supply. I call up the TNB office straight away, and guess what? It took me two days to get the officer in charge on the phone. If not they’ll be free music aims at soothing my ears, which they failed coz the type of music they take on will make you wonder, when will they pick up the phone?.

This morning, luckily a lady by the name of Hafizah was there, maybe on her way out of the office for morning coffee break which you can clearly tell by the dashing voice. I don’t think I can be more polite, starting with salaam and morning greetings, but do I get to be treated nicely? Yes I did but only after halfway of the conversation that lasted 10 minutes.

The first five minutes was all about ‘aaaaa’ and ‘kena bayarlah’. So, I told her that I’ve paid the bill via internet and I wanted an explanation why did the transaction go unnoticed by TNB. She did not give me any reason, but she did mention about handling a similar case about a week ago. Before she hung up the phone I did asked her if they can delay the due date for settlement, the answer was immediate NO.

Yesterday I met an old man at Affin Bank. He told me the reason why he preferred manual-to-the-counter than the super automated modern day banking. Security. Yesterday I thought that man was being too square, today I learned my lesson.

They are many to be blame, first would be Shahrul Azmi who was too lazy to look at the current bills and check for any miscalculation. Second would be the bank that somehow took the money from the account and transferred them to a ‘mysterious’ location. Third would be TNB who refused to understand my problem and insisted me to shell out my own money to settle the bill, without consideration that I might need the money to do other important stuff such as going to my cousin’s wedding this weekend in Kuala Kangsar. Last but not least would be Michael Faraday who founded that electricity can only be produced by magnetism motion, why can’t he just use water to generate energy?

Hopefully my writing this time won’t upset any of the readers, it is purely about ignorance – a side too often portrayed in our society.

Laksamana vs Malaysian Astronaut

Imagine it is the day of Kesultanan Melayu Melaka, Laksamana Cheng Ho was around and the Sultan saw an opportunity for the people of Malacca to glorify a journey of its own. A man from Malacca – a voyager to the other side of the world (assuming the Sultan realized the fact that it is a globe not just flat land). One of the ‘penasihat’ or adviser came up to the Sultan with a proposal, the deal was, we pay Laksamana Cheng Ho with gold money, herbs, spices as well as women so that he can bring one of our ‘warrior’ a.k.a ‘pawang silat’ to China. It is so hard for Malacca to come up with its own voyager so they thought it was easy to buy their way.

Laksamana Cheng Ho was happy to have that deal materialized, imagine getting all the free stuff as well as having an extra workforce on the ship, ‘Why not’ said the wise voyager. The news of acceptance was conveyed to Sultan in no time; the announcer gathered the people of Malacca and enlightens the news,

‘Kepada rakyat Melaka, Sultan dengan ini memperkenankan suatu perjalanan pengembaraan seorang rakyat melaka yang bertuah lagi bijaksana. Sesiapa yang mampu menjadi juara pencak silat diraja akan dinobatkan sebagai Panglima Pengembara yang akan belayar bersama Laksamana Cheng Ho ke seluruh pelusuk dunia dan akan dikurniakan gelaran Datok Panglima apabila pulang nanti, wassalam’

Basically – ‘whoever wins the royal rumble will get to be a voyager under the admired mentor – Laksamana Cheng Ho.’

A fortnight later, a warrior was chosen after killing 120 ‘pawang’ and injuring 200 other contestants. He was a hero, a handsome lad who was in the hearth of thousands young women’s, and some young men – the different kind of men. Soon after the journey, the man came back to Malacca as a real hero to the populace, not knowing that Laksamana Cheng Ho dump him in Batak Island, until the last day of his life Datok Panglima Zakar Gembira was telling the people of Malacca that the Chinese was good in hunting and eat lots of pork. That was why the Malay refused to be friend with Chinese, they were afraid that the Chinese will only eat pork making them too ‘porky’ to be a friend.

And today brothers and sisters, the government is doing something similar, almost identical that is. A young Doctor to be chosen among thousands of candidates and he will be flying to the outer-space-god-knows-where to put Malaysian flag up there, while drinking teh tarik and eating roti canai(or Chennai as it was originated from India). Only this time the government won’t be giving gold money and women, it’s just American Dollar and it is just around 34 million of that bucks head. Interesting huh???