when i got home from mad's place in mlk with my camping bag, i immediately got a call from AT saying that he was outside waiting with his gf. a few days ago, he called me asking whether his gf can borrow my camping bag cause she is going for a holiday to cambodia and vietnam. i said ok but he had to wait until dwiwali cause i had left my bag in kl after completing my electives and mad had agreed to bring it back for me when he comes down for dwiwali. i didnt want to lug a bag full of text books and dirty laundry all thru Petaling street and Pudu.
anyway, after receiving the call, i hurriedly emptied my dirty laundry and text books and then passed the bag to AT. an hour later i got a call from him.
AT: my gf would like to thank you for your bag
me: aiyah, no problem man.
AT: she would like to thank you for something else as well.
me: oh, what bout??
AT: she would like to thank you for leaving your bloody underwear in the bag for her.
me: oh fuck!! serious ah?? are you sure its mine??
AT: fucker!! if the bloody spender is in your bag, if not yours takan my gf isit!!!
me: what colour isit??
AT: black.
me: what brand?
AT: Byford
me: is she holding it right now??
AT: ya. why?
me: Ohhh...
AT: why, whats wrong??
me: that underwear used already but havent wash for one week.....
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
Sunday, October 15, 2006
selamat DEEPA-RAYA....hope that aint sinful
You are forbidden to wish your Hindu friends "Happy Deepavali" because its a grave sin and if you have already done it, repent from your sins!!
shocking aint it. for those who didnt read the papers(or maybe you did but because the editor of the Star and and NST rendered it so insignificant that it only carried a few pathetic lines that most people would have missed the story. but do check out the Sun) you probably think it came from some Taliban guy in Afghanistan or Ulamak in the middle east.
No sir. the comment came straight from the mouth of a fellow malaysian. yup, the same malaysia who has the dream of being a develop country by 2020.
to a certain Fauzi Mustaffar of Takaful Malaysia's Syariah Department, YOU the MAN!!! how you came to such a conclusion i would never know. IF Islam does condone such a teaching, then by all means Mr Bush, do the world a favour and nuke them muslim SOB back to the stone age.
im no islamic expert but it doesnt take scholar to know that a religion as great as islam would have condone such a thing. case in point: the greatest muslim warrior ever, Salladin, who retook the holy city of Jerusalem from the christians, spared the lives of the christian crusaders. once they ruled the holy city, he allowed followers of other faith to continue practicing their faith freely. what made this more significant is the fact that a century ago when the Christian crusaders won control of the Holy City, they butchered every men, women and child that were muslim. but yet when the situation was reversed, Saladdin showed compassion and released them instead of forcing into slavery as were the norm then.
now im sure Fauzi and Salladin is worshipping the same god and reads the same Quran but how in the world did he come out with such a statement really baffles me. this is the problem you get when you put an uneducated overzealous religious bigot in a high position.a degree in Islamic studies from a local Uni doesnt make you an educated person. we all know its a course for a bunch of rejects who cant get the course that they want. if he had mention his thoughts over a cup of tea with other religious bigot(so called champion of islam) colleagues of his, its probably ok cause its just among them pathetic selves. but he felt it was only right that he emailed his thoughts to every employee in Takaful. i dont know. maybe he felt he was saving them from eternal damnation. its hard enough trying to understand the complex nature of a human mind let alone the mind of a five star moron.
and what drives me mad was the fact that he refused to apologised. them guys at takaful actually tried defending themselves by saying that the email was for " internal circulation only and as an advice or opinion for our staffs only." in other words, they are telling us other nonmuslim- sinful-about to be burnt in hell malaysians to buggar off cause its not our problem.
you know what would happen if a christian priest or a hindu monk were to said "dont wish your muslim friends selamat hari raya cause its a sin" in a local paper?? firstly there would be massive demonstrations and riots on the streets. secondly, churches/temples would be burn and vandalise and lives would be lost. finally, who ever said it would be thrown into the ISA.
but chill out fauzi, you can still continue to puasa and think of more idiotic emails. why?? cause UMNO and PAS are in this contest of trying to prove to the people who is more islamic. the goverment doesnt have the balls to throw you into the ISA. that would only create a backlash among the muslims voters. so why piss off 70% of malaysians just to please 30% of infidels in this country.
MALAYSIA BOLEH!!!
yes indeed....
shocking aint it. for those who didnt read the papers(or maybe you did but because the editor of the Star and and NST rendered it so insignificant that it only carried a few pathetic lines that most people would have missed the story. but do check out the Sun) you probably think it came from some Taliban guy in Afghanistan or Ulamak in the middle east.
No sir. the comment came straight from the mouth of a fellow malaysian. yup, the same malaysia who has the dream of being a develop country by 2020.
to a certain Fauzi Mustaffar of Takaful Malaysia's Syariah Department, YOU the MAN!!! how you came to such a conclusion i would never know. IF Islam does condone such a teaching, then by all means Mr Bush, do the world a favour and nuke them muslim SOB back to the stone age.
im no islamic expert but it doesnt take scholar to know that a religion as great as islam would have condone such a thing. case in point: the greatest muslim warrior ever, Salladin, who retook the holy city of Jerusalem from the christians, spared the lives of the christian crusaders. once they ruled the holy city, he allowed followers of other faith to continue practicing their faith freely. what made this more significant is the fact that a century ago when the Christian crusaders won control of the Holy City, they butchered every men, women and child that were muslim. but yet when the situation was reversed, Saladdin showed compassion and released them instead of forcing into slavery as were the norm then.
now im sure Fauzi and Salladin is worshipping the same god and reads the same Quran but how in the world did he come out with such a statement really baffles me. this is the problem you get when you put an uneducated overzealous religious bigot in a high position.a degree in Islamic studies from a local Uni doesnt make you an educated person. we all know its a course for a bunch of rejects who cant get the course that they want. if he had mention his thoughts over a cup of tea with other religious bigot(so called champion of islam) colleagues of his, its probably ok cause its just among them pathetic selves. but he felt it was only right that he emailed his thoughts to every employee in Takaful. i dont know. maybe he felt he was saving them from eternal damnation. its hard enough trying to understand the complex nature of a human mind let alone the mind of a five star moron.
and what drives me mad was the fact that he refused to apologised. them guys at takaful actually tried defending themselves by saying that the email was for " internal circulation only and as an advice or opinion for our staffs only." in other words, they are telling us other nonmuslim- sinful-about to be burnt in hell malaysians to buggar off cause its not our problem.
you know what would happen if a christian priest or a hindu monk were to said "dont wish your muslim friends selamat hari raya cause its a sin" in a local paper?? firstly there would be massive demonstrations and riots on the streets. secondly, churches/temples would be burn and vandalise and lives would be lost. finally, who ever said it would be thrown into the ISA.
but chill out fauzi, you can still continue to puasa and think of more idiotic emails. why?? cause UMNO and PAS are in this contest of trying to prove to the people who is more islamic. the goverment doesnt have the balls to throw you into the ISA. that would only create a backlash among the muslims voters. so why piss off 70% of malaysians just to please 30% of infidels in this country.
MALAYSIA BOLEH!!!
yes indeed....
day 11
today, everyone here was jolted with the news that one of the burmese guy, who is a volunteer with MSF, passed away in his sleep. it was a real shocker to everyone here. he was only 28. i;ve not met the guy so im pretty ok bout it. but from what i heard, the whole community is had taken it pretty badly.
worst of all was his parents back in burma. couldnt stop crying when they heard the news. i guess you can imagine the pain of not being able to see your son anymore. and whats more, they cant bury him back in burma cause he is a refugee and there is no way the guy's parent can afford to come to malaysia. cant even bury your own son.
his reason of death is unknown and can only be confirm by an autopsy. most likely due to a ruptred aneurysm or some blood clotting disoder. he was apparently healthy before this.
they managed to collect RM5000 from within their own Kachin community to pay for the funeral expenses. this is another testament to the solidarity of the burmese refugees in this country.
worst of all was his parents back in burma. couldnt stop crying when they heard the news. i guess you can imagine the pain of not being able to see your son anymore. and whats more, they cant bury him back in burma cause he is a refugee and there is no way the guy's parent can afford to come to malaysia. cant even bury your own son.
his reason of death is unknown and can only be confirm by an autopsy. most likely due to a ruptred aneurysm or some blood clotting disoder. he was apparently healthy before this.
they managed to collect RM5000 from within their own Kachin community to pay for the funeral expenses. this is another testament to the solidarity of the burmese refugees in this country.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
day 10
today i went to another jungle campsite at the outskirts of putrajaya. this settlement, Kg Pintu Satu, was worst off than the one in Kg Limau Manis. they live in the jungle itself with no electriticity or water supply. you need a four wheel drive to enter the forest and after tat you'll need to hike for 5-10 mins before you see the first 'kongsi.' a kongsi is basically a large tent or two where around 10-20 people live together.several kongsis are spread around the jungle and would not be visible unless you trek further in. the community leader there was nice enough bring me into the jungle and show me around the place where they live. took some pics which i will upload later.
unlike in limau manis where they have access tho clean water. here they still rely of well water which is rather mucky and dirty. there is no proper sanitation as well but they did reserved an area in the junle just for the sole purpose of defeacation. the people here are quite safe from the hands of the law cause they are all registered with UNHCR and also the fat cats in the law enforcement agencies dont want to go thru the hassle of entering the jungle to look for a bribe.
saw something interesting there. there was this kid who had off and on high grade fever for the past week. and there was multiple vertical dark lines on his neck due to some traditional medicinal practice. what they do is they take a piece of metal, heat it up and then scrap the skin off. its believe to reduce fever and body ache. if you ask me, the only reason the guy wont feel any body ache is because the only pain he will be feeling is at his neck.
unlike in limau manis where they have access tho clean water. here they still rely of well water which is rather mucky and dirty. there is no proper sanitation as well but they did reserved an area in the junle just for the sole purpose of defeacation. the people here are quite safe from the hands of the law cause they are all registered with UNHCR and also the fat cats in the law enforcement agencies dont want to go thru the hassle of entering the jungle to look for a bribe.
saw something interesting there. there was this kid who had off and on high grade fever for the past week. and there was multiple vertical dark lines on his neck due to some traditional medicinal practice. what they do is they take a piece of metal, heat it up and then scrap the skin off. its believe to reduce fever and body ache. if you ask me, the only reason the guy wont feel any body ache is because the only pain he will be feeling is at his neck.
Friday, October 06, 2006
day 8
past one week had seen quite a number of cases such as tuberculosis(pulmonary, renal, intestinal), anal fistula, goiter, scabies, perforated TM, osteomyelitis etc.
been to a few a mobile clinic also which caters to the need of the refugees. they are there on a weekly basis and the medical team work in a confined space. cant believe the clinic is right in the heart of the city. but its pretty new so i guess the authority has no clue bout it-yet
patient volume load is pretty high ranging between 70 to 120 patients. so sometimes the team can be there from 9am till 7pm. it is no suprising considering there are many refugees working around bukit bintang area. its not uncommon for 20 odd individual to be living together in 2 bedroom apartments. yesterday (4thoctober) there was a raid on that area by the Immigration and rela members. one of the burmese guy i met last monday who is a volunteer with MSF was arrested and thrown into a detention center awaiting deportation.
another good thing about this electives is that im given the chance to improve my clinical skills which is simply not possible back in college. there was this guy who was assulted last week and he came in to remove all his sutures and i was asked to do it. he had something like 20 odd sutures all around his body. hope i didnt hurt that much when i was removing the sutures.
when MJ, the french nurse in batu arang, found out that i had yet to withdraw blood from a real life patient, she so kindly offered her veinS to me. i got the sequence of steps wrong (did not release the tourniquet before removing the needle) so she offered me the other arm. on the second arm, i failed to push the needle deep enough so when i turned to take the vaccutainer, the needle came out and blood started oozing out. i went "oh Fuck!!"
but she was all chill bout it and said, "dont worry. we practice again next week." how sweet.
so im heading there now to pock her again.
*i've seen withdraw blood twice, so i guess i wont hurt her so bad this time.
been to a few a mobile clinic also which caters to the need of the refugees. they are there on a weekly basis and the medical team work in a confined space. cant believe the clinic is right in the heart of the city. but its pretty new so i guess the authority has no clue bout it-yet
patient volume load is pretty high ranging between 70 to 120 patients. so sometimes the team can be there from 9am till 7pm. it is no suprising considering there are many refugees working around bukit bintang area. its not uncommon for 20 odd individual to be living together in 2 bedroom apartments. yesterday (4thoctober) there was a raid on that area by the Immigration and rela members. one of the burmese guy i met last monday who is a volunteer with MSF was arrested and thrown into a detention center awaiting deportation.
another good thing about this electives is that im given the chance to improve my clinical skills which is simply not possible back in college. there was this guy who was assulted last week and he came in to remove all his sutures and i was asked to do it. he had something like 20 odd sutures all around his body. hope i didnt hurt that much when i was removing the sutures.
when MJ, the french nurse in batu arang, found out that i had yet to withdraw blood from a real life patient, she so kindly offered her veinS to me. i got the sequence of steps wrong (did not release the tourniquet before removing the needle) so she offered me the other arm. on the second arm, i failed to push the needle deep enough so when i turned to take the vaccutainer, the needle came out and blood started oozing out. i went "oh Fuck!!"
but she was all chill bout it and said, "dont worry. we practice again next week." how sweet.
so im heading there now to pock her again.
*i've seen withdraw blood twice, so i guess i wont hurt her so bad this time.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
one wild boar please
there is a chinese shop outside mad's house selling wild boar curry rice. according to him it was fantastic and that got my imagination and tongue into overdrive. because of my schedule, i didnt had the chance to visit the shop until 4 day later. by that time i was already dreaming of wild boar and all those wonderful time in machap.when i went to the shop i had some problem communicating with the lady boss, who spoke cantonese ( i speak hokkien and broken mandarin). this was how it went....
me: ah boss, yoh sang chau choo roh mah chin tian mah??(do you have wild boar meat today?)
boss: meh wah??? (wat??)
me: sang chau choo roh.
boss: poo ming pai la (don understand la)
me: there, babi hutan la.
boss: meh wah??
me: babi hutan la...
boss: (shakes her head)
me: wild boar. sang chau choo rog!! you dont understand???
boss: me yoh ting kor (never heard of it)
me: there, na ket oink oink oink chai hutan lei (there that one oink oink oink in jungle)
boss: huh?? chee pian meh yoh la (huh?? we dont have it here)
me: there na ket choo oink oink oink chai hutan!! ??
boss: oink oink le lor mo la (oink oink your mother la)
later i told mad that the shop said they didnt sell wild boar. he to was puzzled. "what did you tell her??" he asked.
"sang chau choo roh," i replied.
"nabe!!! sang chau choo mean banana pig la, you idiot!!!"
me: ah boss, yoh sang chau choo roh mah chin tian mah??(do you have wild boar meat today?)
boss: meh wah??? (wat??)
me: sang chau choo roh.
boss: poo ming pai la (don understand la)
me: there, babi hutan la.
boss: meh wah??
me: babi hutan la...
boss: (shakes her head)
me: wild boar. sang chau choo rog!! you dont understand???
boss: me yoh ting kor (never heard of it)
me: there, na ket oink oink oink chai hutan lei (there that one oink oink oink in jungle)
boss: huh?? chee pian meh yoh la (huh?? we dont have it here)
me: there na ket choo oink oink oink chai hutan!! ??
boss: oink oink le lor mo la (oink oink your mother la)
later i told mad that the shop said they didnt sell wild boar. he to was puzzled. "what did you tell her??" he asked.
"sang chau choo roh," i replied.
"nabe!!! sang chau choo mean banana pig la, you idiot!!!"
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Quote of the week
"You know what justine, there is a very thin line between a policeman and a gangster. and somtimes, the police themselves dont remember which side of the line they should be on."
Dr. Kamal, after telling me how two captured indonesian illegal immigrants were forced to renovate the house of his neighbour, who was a cop, for free.
Dr. Kamal, after telling me how two captured indonesian illegal immigrants were forced to renovate the house of his neighbour, who was a cop, for free.
Monday, October 02, 2006
day 5: visit to limau manis
today i went to a refugee settlement which is situated in the jungles at the periphery of Putrajaya, our nation's administrative capital. the ride there was comfortable and the view of Putrajaya beautiful. along the highway, you either see beautiful administrative buildings, construction sites or green hills. but when the four wheel drive entered the jungle and went over the hills, what i saw was just simply shocking.
Just bloody shocking.
what i saw reminded me of the people i noticed on my journey from manipal to udupi. those of you are from manipal would know that im refering to the people who were living by the dumpsite. while there is no dumpsite at this settlement but the living conditions arent any better.
there are no houses. just make shift huts, if you can call them that, or tents tightly packed one after another. the wooden structure is just 30cm from the ground with no walls or nets and the roof is made up of plastic canvas or whatever waste material they could salvage from the construction sites. such living condition made them very vulnerable to dengue fever and malaria. and please bare in mind the fact that they have been living like tat for more than 5-6 years.
up to a year ago, there was no clean water supply, electricity or basic sanitation. needless to say, diarrhoea was a common thing then. only recently the NGO digged them a well and helped built a small water catchment area. since then the incidence of diarhoea among the community has decreased significantly. much can be done to keep the place cleaner. but without a proper waste disposal system, you can understand why the place is littered with plastics, papers and rubbish.
during our lunch break i had a chat with some of them. those who have been here for some time could speak fluent malay or english. their stories are the same as i've heard over the past week. they ran away from their homeland because of prosecution and financial diffulty. and then i got the usual story of policemen coming over to the settlement on a monthly basis asking stupid questions like "mana passport?" when they fully well know that these people are refugees. and the reason why the cops paid them the visit.........MONEY. and we are not talking about rm100-200 here. we are talking by the thousands. and each time they come, they not only solicit bribes from them but in some instances physically abuse them. and if they dont pay up they will be arrested and thrown into detention centers and deported back to their country. the people i talked to claimed that the community got so fed up with the constant harassment that their community leaders made a pact with the police superiors that they will pay a monthly fee to them and in return the police will not come and harass them in their settlement. so each member of the community have to surrender RM15 a month for 'protection.'
but the 'protection' is valid only if they stay within the settlement, which is of course impossible. they have to go out to work at the various constrution sites all over putrajaya. and work is from 9am till 10pm. if they were to be stopped by the police or other law enforcement agEncy, they would have to pay between RM1000-2000 per person. even you and me dont carry that much cash let alone a poor refugee. they told me there were cases (4 in total) where refugees were so desprate to evade capture by police that they tried to escape by jumping over a bridge resulting in their death. and this claim was substantiated by a press release i read over the internet by the International Secretariat of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT).
despite all the hardship and financial constraint the community, who are mainly Baptist, managed to pull their resources together to built a small simple wooden chapel that could fit at least 40-50 people where they have their weekly mass. the chapel also double up as a community center and a place where volunteer doctors examine and treat sick members of the community.
what i admire most about these guys are their spiritual strength may they be catholics, protestants, buddhists, hindus or muslims. i seriously believe if most of us were to be in the same boat as them, it will be hard not to have blamed God for all the difficulties. but these people are just SIMPLY AMAZING. there seems to be an undying glow of faith and trust in god. once i had lunch with them. me being the pig that i am, started pushing food into my mouth the moment the plate touced the table. but these people all took time to pray and gave thanks to god before eating. i felt really embaress bout it that i started to give thanks as well. they all started laughing when they saw me praying with half a chicken wing sticking out of my mouth.
their community spirit is so strong and inspiring. for example, not all members of the community will be employed. so those who are employed will do their part and support them financially until they receive employment. and if any one of the members is taken seriously ill, two or three will take leave from work to bring their sick friend to the NGO for medical treatment. it might look like a small thing to you and me but we are talking about forfeiting a day's wage which is alot for them. and also these guys are risking their own safety cause they run the risk of being arrested by the police and deported back to their country to face a certain doom.
they are just amazing. there is just so much we can learn from them.
Just bloody shocking.
what i saw reminded me of the people i noticed on my journey from manipal to udupi. those of you are from manipal would know that im refering to the people who were living by the dumpsite. while there is no dumpsite at this settlement but the living conditions arent any better.
there are no houses. just make shift huts, if you can call them that, or tents tightly packed one after another. the wooden structure is just 30cm from the ground with no walls or nets and the roof is made up of plastic canvas or whatever waste material they could salvage from the construction sites. such living condition made them very vulnerable to dengue fever and malaria. and please bare in mind the fact that they have been living like tat for more than 5-6 years.
up to a year ago, there was no clean water supply, electricity or basic sanitation. needless to say, diarrhoea was a common thing then. only recently the NGO digged them a well and helped built a small water catchment area. since then the incidence of diarhoea among the community has decreased significantly. much can be done to keep the place cleaner. but without a proper waste disposal system, you can understand why the place is littered with plastics, papers and rubbish.
during our lunch break i had a chat with some of them. those who have been here for some time could speak fluent malay or english. their stories are the same as i've heard over the past week. they ran away from their homeland because of prosecution and financial diffulty. and then i got the usual story of policemen coming over to the settlement on a monthly basis asking stupid questions like "mana passport?" when they fully well know that these people are refugees. and the reason why the cops paid them the visit.........MONEY. and we are not talking about rm100-200 here. we are talking by the thousands. and each time they come, they not only solicit bribes from them but in some instances physically abuse them. and if they dont pay up they will be arrested and thrown into detention centers and deported back to their country. the people i talked to claimed that the community got so fed up with the constant harassment that their community leaders made a pact with the police superiors that they will pay a monthly fee to them and in return the police will not come and harass them in their settlement. so each member of the community have to surrender RM15 a month for 'protection.'
but the 'protection' is valid only if they stay within the settlement, which is of course impossible. they have to go out to work at the various constrution sites all over putrajaya. and work is from 9am till 10pm. if they were to be stopped by the police or other law enforcement agEncy, they would have to pay between RM1000-2000 per person. even you and me dont carry that much cash let alone a poor refugee. they told me there were cases (4 in total) where refugees were so desprate to evade capture by police that they tried to escape by jumping over a bridge resulting in their death. and this claim was substantiated by a press release i read over the internet by the International Secretariat of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT).
despite all the hardship and financial constraint the community, who are mainly Baptist, managed to pull their resources together to built a small simple wooden chapel that could fit at least 40-50 people where they have their weekly mass. the chapel also double up as a community center and a place where volunteer doctors examine and treat sick members of the community.
what i admire most about these guys are their spiritual strength may they be catholics, protestants, buddhists, hindus or muslims. i seriously believe if most of us were to be in the same boat as them, it will be hard not to have blamed God for all the difficulties. but these people are just SIMPLY AMAZING. there seems to be an undying glow of faith and trust in god. once i had lunch with them. me being the pig that i am, started pushing food into my mouth the moment the plate touced the table. but these people all took time to pray and gave thanks to god before eating. i felt really embaress bout it that i started to give thanks as well. they all started laughing when they saw me praying with half a chicken wing sticking out of my mouth.
their community spirit is so strong and inspiring. for example, not all members of the community will be employed. so those who are employed will do their part and support them financially until they receive employment. and if any one of the members is taken seriously ill, two or three will take leave from work to bring their sick friend to the NGO for medical treatment. it might look like a small thing to you and me but we are talking about forfeiting a day's wage which is alot for them. and also these guys are risking their own safety cause they run the risk of being arrested by the police and deported back to their country to face a certain doom.
they are just amazing. there is just so much we can learn from them.
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