A Tale of Beggars...or Swindlers?

Here we go. My very first blog post after almost half a year vanishing from the blogosphere. Let's not rush into the big issues with this post. Some of my friends asked me to blog about cars, some asked me to blog about PPSMI (though it is already back in BM) but I don't feel like getting into the heavy + critical stuffs just yet. Sorry :)

Beggars. That's what this post is going to be about. I bet many of you have experienced this, maybe a zillion times: You are walking at a pasar malam or wherever it might be and you come across beggars. Sorry, not just beggars, but OLD beggars to be exact. It always bothers me when this comes into my sight. I mean, old people should not be by the roadsides, pavements etc begging to make a living. They should be somewhere secure and considerably comfortable, enjoying their time as veterans of life. Begging might be the mean towards getting to this but for me, it is just unfortunate that they have to undergo such thing in life. Furthermore, it makes me wonder if these aged beggars have children or not. It can't be that ALL of these old beggars are loners in life, that they have no children. But it looks like that's the truth and I prefer it to be the truth. Why? Because it's better having no children than having children with the heart to let their parents turn into beggars.



Though some people think that we should stop giving money to beggars, I believe we should always be willing to give them something. We might not know the motive(s) of them becoming beggars, but it is always vital to think positive. Think positive in a way that we perceive that these people beg because they have to. Governmental aids do exist but we must concede to the fact that the processes to reach these aids are sometimes too complicated and time-consuming. For instance, at certain places, it takes the Welfare Department more than a month to produce a Kad OKU for a disabled person. Only after disabled people obtain this card, they become eligible to apply for financial aid which will also consume time to be validated. So, taking these circumstances into consideration, can we really blame them? Is it thoroughly justified for the authorities to slap them with 3 years imprisonment if they are captured begging?



Nevertheless, I also concede to the fact that there are beggars who are actually swindlers. This concession is not based on assertions but through my experience. Yes, I was once fooled (u guys can cheer now). I still remember, last year, when I was out with my friends at Berjaya Megamall Kuantan, a boy (most probably 13 or 14 years old) approached us, begging for money with a display of innocence. Out of compassion, I gave him nothing much but RM1. To be honest, I was imagining my brother in his place, so I didn't have the heart to actually ignore him. What happened next was hilarious + surprising. My friends and I were done buying stuffs, so we thought of going to the game arcade and a have a round of Daytona USA. As we were all gearing up for the 'battle', one of my friends said "Ey sunil, bukan tu budak yang kau tolong tadi ke?". I looked around and was caught dumbfounded to see the kid was also playing Daytona seats away from us most probably using the money that I gave him. He pretended he didn't see me (in which he actually did) and continued playing. Bertuah punya budak.

In the end, giving or commonly known as bersedekah is always a noble act. Any religion encourages it. It is difficult to distinct between honest beggars or swindlers. But giving help is part of our social responsbility in a society and if we can rationalize positively, we'll realize that whatever we give, no matter how tiny it is, might make a hell of difference in some other people's life. How they use it? That's no more our business.

Stalemate at White Hart Lane

Just got back from watching EPL Super Sunday, Tottenham vs Arsenal. I was anticipating this match due to several reasons; it's a north london derby, arshavin's debut and eduardo da silva's return to competitive football after recovering last year's horror tackle at Birmingham.

The match ended 0-0, a stalemate. Nevertheless, I'm still proud of the Gunners. 10 men against 11, away from home, a spurs side with robbie keane, arsenal side without adebayor...I guess 0-0 is credible.

The only low point of the night is that Arshavin's debut got postponed and yes, eduardo was not featured. I'll extremely be looking forward to Arsenal's next match then. Cardiff, beware. The Russian assassin has yet to have his word.

And He Returns...

Phew~ dah lama tak blog. Ironically,it was out of boredom I took a break from blogging and now, also out of boredom, i decide to blog again.

Let's talk about the new year, 2009 to date.

Personally, I think 2009 is a year that until now gives me mixed feelings.
My 4th semester in Degree of Mechanical Engineering + Automotive started quite well.The lecturers are great, the timetable is convenient.

A week into the new semester, my batchmate from MCKK got married. Cool eh, 21 years old and married. It was awesome to meet good old friends again. They looked so different! Anyhow, congratulations to Paan Yasin and his wife. Hopefully you guys will be happy together till forever.

This year, up until now, me and my section buddies spent almost every weekend playing futsal, i mean at a real futsal court (we've been playing on the streets for 1 year and a half). The courts in Kuantan or specifically Indera Mahkota are quite satisfying. In fact, better than the ones at Sunway Sports Planet. My favourite Nike futsal shoes are already more than 1 year old, time to get a new pair. So, I got myself a new one this evening. Red and black in colour.

Debate. As the person in charge of English Debate, I have been quite busy lately. You know, proposals especially the one for Australasians have been consuming a lot of my time. Fingers crossed- hope we'll be in Melbourne this July. The good thing about English debate for this year, is that I guess we have had more practice sessions compared to the years before. Pray to God, this year will be a superb one for us.

What else? Oh yeah, money. How can I forget the one thing that defines our lifestyle. Despite the global credit crunch, Sunil's wallet is healthy. Well, at least for now. Tough days are ahead.

Love life? None. It's so hard to find the right one and even if I found the right one, there'll certainly be something wrong. Hard luck. By the way, I answered this quiz on facebook and it says that I'll be getting married at the age between 28 - 35. Silly quiz but it was fun.

There are also great things happened in this world that somehow influenced me. Greatest one first, Arsenal capture of Andrei Sergeyevich Arshavin. Outstanding playmaker, fabulous footballer. Obama inaugrated as US president. Bye-bye Bush. Awesome tennis at the Australian Open. The sad one, Gaza's endless saga.

The crap I typed above are basically my opinions on 2009, to date. Hope the rest of 2009 will make the world a better a place to stay and myself a better person. Last but not least, a reminder to everyone; wealth, urbanization, titles, massive gadgets : they don't define life. Ethic does.

How's 2009?

Football and Politics

What is one of the differences between football and politics?

In football, a crossover is an awesome, eye-candy footwork with many star players such as Ronaldo, Robinho and Arsenal very own Samir Nasri regard it as their favourite skill.

In politics, a crossover is a cursed move. A move that defeats the purpose of democracy and a move that deceives the people and belittles the mandate given to them to elect their leaders.

So, if our MPs nak crossover, pergi main bola lah... Got it?

It's NOT just OUR world

Have human beings lost their minds? I might not be an environmentalist or even a volunteer for the WWF but I feel ashamed to be part of a human race that treat animals like thrash. Today I browsed through the net and I read news and facts and articles about animal torture which caught me dumbfounded plus utterly disgusted at those people who carried out those barbaric acts.

Firstly, the incident when Guillermo Vargas Habacuc made an exhibition out of a dog dying from starvation in 2007. He claimed that the act was in the name of art. And the worse part was that many cold hearted people came and watched the exhibition as if it was just another animal show similar to the monkeys' and elephants' that we usually see in a circus. This idiotic Guillermo guy is planning to repeat this particular 'work of art' during the Biennial Centroamericana Honduras 2008. We should show our disapproval towards this so called 'encore' or else we will be opening more doors for animal torture and letting more poor souls to die. Be responsible and go to this link to show that you care: http://www.petitiononline.com/ea6gk/petition.html

Other than the incident above, I also bumped into a few more gruesome facts regarding animal torture. Check them out:

a)Millions of horses are being slaughtered each year for the consumption of humans in foreign countries (yucks!)
b)The trade of tiger parts (i.e its skin, liver) is hotting up throughout the world with the prices of these parts skyrocketing thus giving poachers a good reason to continue killing tigers.
c)The smuggling of cockatoos and parrots in Indonesia has caused these birds to face extinction. For every 6 month period, an estimated 9600 Seram cockatoos might have been sold. Most of them died during the smuggling process.
d)In British Columbia, Grizzly bears are being hunted like wanted criminals.
e)In China, there is no law against animal cruelty. Animal torture is not even an issue over there. No surprise that they are one of the world's biggest traders of dog and cat fur.
f)In eastern Canada, seal hunt is starting to become a tradition with over 300,000 young seals being killed every year.
g)Lets not talk about other countries, even in Malaysia, the Orang Utan is facing extinction due to deforestation and at some places such as in Sarawak, animals are being traded for luxury and exhibition purpose.

Sadly, despite the intelligence of the human race, some of us still act dumb and cruel. Little these people realize that the world is for us to share. May God bless the souls of these animals.

Good Old Raya Days

In 5 days time or so, kita akan menyambut Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Aku pula akan pulang ke rumah pada hari esok. Tahun ni genaplah 10 tahun aku celebrate raya at home di Segamat, Johor. Since my Tok Mak passed away in 1997, my family never really went back to our kampung at Jasin, Melaka to celebrate raya over there.

Celebration di kampung was unimaginable - meriah and way a lot more fun. Going down my memory lane, aku still boleh bayangkan arwah Tok Mak and many of our relatives celebrating raya over there. Everyone would be there, from Ampang, Segambut, JB, Gombak, Kampung Kerinchi, Segamat, Chaah, Muar, Sungai Besi, Bangsar and banyak lagi lah. The crowd would be quite big, sesuailah dengan rumah Tok Mak yang agak besar and spacious. Malam before raya, the small ones would play bunga api and 'pop pop' while the big ones would indulge themselves with mercun. On the big day, we would go to the mosque for solat hari raya, then go to the nearby tanah perkuburan to visit arwah Tok Abah's and a few other relatives' graves. Lepas tu, mulalah makan-makan and upacara mendapat duit raya =D. That was 10 years ago, I was still a kid back then, tak ada misai, tak ada janggut, so duit raya pun dapat tak banyak. People would say "Budak kecil tak payah banyak-banyak duit". Ceh, stereotype..

I miss tok mak's rendang, I miss tok mak's nasi impit, I miss auntie ros' pineapple tart, I miss going through the whole surrounding all over again, I miss the environment of raya celebration over there. I wish I have a time machine =)

Anyway, life must go on. Changes do happen. Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri guys. Maaf zahir and batin. Have a great raya celebration this year. Roger and out~

Hari ini Dalam Sejarah

Jujur, aku tak minat bowling. Aku cuma pernah main 3 times sebelum ni, the last time..aku pun tak pasti bila. Perhaps during the holidays after SPM. See, dah lebih 3 tahun aku tak jadi 'clown' kat bowling lanes.

Lepas solat Jumaat tadi, kawan-kawan ajak aku keluar, main bowling then buka puasa sekali. Kebiasaannya, aku terus reject the idea of playing bowling, tapi tadi rasa macam terlalu bosan sampai terdetik hasrat nak main.

Dipendekkan cerita, we all went to megamall. Sampai saja terus dengar lagu:

"Enak menjamu selera,
Jangan lupa yang tiada...
Selamat Berhari Raya"

Nilah dia Malaysia, baru nak habis 5 hari puasa dah mainkan lagu Raya. Tapi layan juga lah. Bak kata orang putih, "We're slowly getting into the mood".

OK, back to bowling. First time I really felt good playing it. Because selalunya, bola aku setakat bersihkan longkang saja. Kadang-kadang untung terkena lah satu dua pin. Tapi tadi lain, aku rasa macam Zandra Aziela versi lelaki. Way better than before, ada 2 kali strike tu. Memang personal history was in the making, at least lepas ni ada lah confident nak main bowling. Jaga-jagalah to anyone yang nak challenge aku. Sebenarnya, bukan aku yang berbakat tadi, cuma Allah yang bagi extra help I guess. Anyway, Alhamdulillah.

Then, we all went and did another crazy thing. Initially, we planned to buka puasa kat KFC. We predicted KFC tak penuh cause we thought orang ramai suka buka puasa dengan otak-otak ke, or murtabak, or bubur lambuk, or even ayam golek. Tapi kasihan penjual ayam golek, KFC pula yang jadi pilihan ramai. So, there we were, looking at a crowded KFC..masa nak berbuka pula tinggal around 10 minutes saja lagi. Hence, situation forced me to create another personal crazy history, buka puasa di 7E. Biarkan sajalah aku dengan air kotak chocolate Dutchlady dan the last cheese bread yang sempat aku seize kt 7E tu. Lepas solat Maghrib, baru merasa KFC.

Overall, one crazy evening but I surely enjoyed it.

Avril Lavigne vs Arab...ke?

Just a few weeks ago, some people in our country were busy protesting Avril's concert which was scheduled to be held on the 29th of August. Actually, me myself, was quite uncertain on whether such concert should carry on or not, not because the personality of Avril (to me, she does not dress daringly like even some of our own artists and is never too sexy for a show) but perhaps the then upcoming Independence Day celebration and the holy month of Ramadhan made the concert to be quite unsuitable in terms of its timing.

Ok. Avril's concert apart. Let us peek into another concert that was held at the same night as Avril's concert. The so called "Konsert Magical Arab" was utterly 'magical' in terms of providing a heck of a more sexy show with skimpy dancers taking the limelight. I find it funny that such a big fuss was made about Avril's "reasonably decent" concert but when it comes to these so called "magical Arabians", everyone was as quiet as a mouse. Why the double standard? I mean that if they really wanted to protest against concerts, might as well protest against ALL concerts during that period. Don't leave a room for any unethical show.

Anyhow, compare these pictures for yourself and decide which one should have got a more fierce protest.

Avril's concert



Magical Arab



Do have a proper ground to stand on. Jangan jadi lalang atau pilih kasih.

And we, Malaysians Keep on Thinking

At last, I’m back.

It has been quite some time since I last posted a crap on this page of craps. A few weeks I guess. In fact, tonnes of events took place in these past few weeks; international events, national events or even events in my personal life.

Talking about events in our country, here comes the biggest blockbuster of 2008; “The Malaysian Politics Extravagant”. With the leading actors are Abdullah Badawi, Najib Tun Razak and Anwar Ibrahim; supporting actors are Shabery Cheek, Ghani Patail, Wan Azizah and our very own indecisive 'James Bond', Balasubramaniam who delivered a statutory declaration and retracted it the next day for the heck of it. Ooops, and also the Saiful guy. I nearly forgot about him.

Whatever is happening to the politics scene of Malaysia? Topsy-turvy that even Malaysians are losing the plot. The political mist is getting thicker. Our own view of everything is getting blur. Whoever knows what is true and what is not true anymore? Sodomy charge, no-confidence motion, ACA investigations, “Fuel Price” debate, Social Contract discussions... Sigh. These are just a few issues of the whole big picture. The whole big picture itself signifies how hard it is for us now to trust the judicial system of our country and of course, our politicians. Perhaps the lack of integrity among leaders in our country is really taking its toll on us.

Someone must do something to get things under control. Even Pak Lah said all this must stop. But in reality, who can stop it?

My Present Thoughts

The miles are getting longer, it seems,
The closer I get to you.
I've not always been the best man or friend for you.
But my love for you, remains true.
And I don't know why.
You don't seem to give me another try.