Wednesday, August 31, 2005

The Merdeka Rhapsody

Tanggal tiga puluh satu,
Bulan lapan lima puluh tujuh,
Merdeka merdeka tetaplah merdeka,
Ia pasti menjadi sejarah!

Ya tuan tuan and puan puan, hari ini merupakan tarikh yang bersejarah bagi Malaysia, yakni Hari Kemerdekaan. Empat puluh lapan tahun dahulu, pada seluruh rakyat negara kita meraikan kebebasan mereka dari cengkaman penjajah. Semenjak itu, laungan merdeka bergema sehinnga ke hari ini.

Oleh itu, untuk meraikan hari bersejarah ini, beta menbawakan edisi khas blog dalam bahasa ibunda. Sebenarnya Bahasa Melayu beta bukanlah teruk sangat. Beberpa tahun dahulu beta sangatt fasih. Ketika UPSR, beta dapat A dalam Bahasa Melayu. Begitu juga dalam PMR. Dalam SPM beta dapat A1. Handal tak? Tapi walaupun dapat A1, tak bermakna BM semestinya bagus. Ini merupakan fakta yang tidak boleh dinafikan. Tak percaya? Tanya rakan rakan beta. Heheheh!

Akan tetapi BM beta sudah mengalami deteriorasi semenjak beta meninggalkan sekolah menegah. Ini kerana beta jarang bertutur dalam bahasa melayu. Antara waktu-waktu beta bertutur dalam BM ialah ketika berchatting dengan sahabat beta, CQ dalam msn. Itupun percakapan sampah dan carut-mencarut. Sebab itulah BM beta sedemikian rupa dewasa ini. Nak taip dalam BM pun terasa susah.

Berbalik kepada tema hari ini yakni kemerdekaan. Sesungguhnya kita sudah jauh berjalan. Dari masa anjing-anjing Parameswara ditendang oleh kancil, sehinggalah hari ini, negara kita telah melalui banyak liku-liku. Kini, Malaysia sudah moden dan aman. Rakyatnya hidup dalam harmoni, berdiri atas satu kata, duduk di bawah bumbung yang sama. Sebenarnya beta bukanlah seorang yang amat patriotik, tapi itulah sebabnya beta sukakan Malaysia. Negara Australia memang tidak boleh dibandingkan degan Malaysia. Malaysia memang lebih baik dalam banyak segi. Oleh itu, beta juga kurang faham kenapa banyak orang yang berhajat untuk menjadi PR di sini apabila tamat universiti. Apa yang baik sangat? Bak kata pepatah, hujan emas di negara orang, tapi hujan batu di negara sendiri lebih baik. Sesungguhnya di negara sendiri, kita akan berasa bebas, bukan ditindas. Macam mat salleh kata, ada sense of security. Ataupun somewhere we belong.

Pertama kali menyambut Merdeka di negara asing memang ganjil rasanya. Tiada bunga api, tiada program programMerdeka Special di televisyen. Beta faham bahawa merdeka bukan hanya bermakna bunga api dan lain lain, tapi seperti beta katakan, beta memang kurang patriotik dari segi ini. Tapi sewaktu beta belajar di UiTM Shah Alam, beta berkesempatan untuk menyambut merdeka beramai ramai di stadium. Perdana Menteri pun datang. Pada masa itu, semua orang, termasuk beta sangat hyper, bersorak sorakan. Mungkin itulah semagat merdeka. Memang pengalaman yang tidak dapat dilupakan.

Ahad ini ada Malaysian Festival di Darling Harbour. Mungkin beta akan berangkat pergi menjenguk-jenguk. Mungkin ada makanan Malaysia yang amat dirindui.

Akhir kata, selamat ulang tahun kepada negaraku yang tercinta. Semoga mu panjang umur, sihat walafiat. Sekian saja edisi khas bahasa melayu untuk kali ini, selamat meyambut hari kebangsaan kepada semua rakyat Malaysia!

Sunday, August 21, 2005

New Semester, new vigour!

So the second semester at uni has long started. 5 units a semester is indeed sufflocating. Currently I am taking Marcoeconomics, Calculus and Algebra, Accounting, Techniques and Elements of Finanace, and finally Combinatorial Probabilities. This semester is definitely a more strenuous one compared to last semester. I managed to survive last semester by taking everything lightly, but this time around I need to be more nerdy and kiasu. Which explains why I dont blog than often. I need to allocate some time for my 'social activities' too, ya know!

Last week was a gathering at Encik Zainal's house. He is the Malaysian consul and taking care of us sponsored students is one of his resposibilities. A very nice man. Truth be told, I have never met someone in the goverement's high echelon who has his humility. The gathering was more like an informal one, where everybody just sat and chatted away. His house is a cosy one, and quite spacious. The interior of the residence has been 'Melayu-nized', complete with Malaysian decor and tikar getah (as opposed to carpets, which is a trait in all the houses here). The food was so yummy - sambal belacan, ayam goreng, curry, ikan masin, etc. After Encik Zainal's house, Leey, Huih and I dropped by at CQ's house before going back to Macquarie.

Oh yeah, before the gathering there was Xmas in winter dinner celebration here at RMC. It is a culture here to celebrate Christmas at this time of the year, when it is winter. The food was okay, and it is still a welcome break from our normal meals. Speaking of meals, RMC food has recently reached its peak of deterioration. Utterly unbearable! Crappy food all the time. Besides, the menu is now repeating every week. Last time it was fortnighly! And they leave out all those nice food from the menu. Sigh, obviously those stingy admin people has reduced the budget for food.

Yesterday, we had a pre-celebration of Henry's birthday at Insadong, a Korean restaurant. Really good food and strongly recommended. If u any of you guys come to visit me, I will bring you there. Hehe. After that, I visited the chi mui's new abode. As I have described before, it was a luxurious place, and now it has been 'entertainized' as Ai Ling described it. DDR was damn fun! Forget about doing cardio at the gym, this is a better way to burn that calories. Hahahah! Thanks chi muiz for the awesome steam boat dinner. God knows what crappy food we would have eaten at RMC.

I attended judo practice last tuesday and it was all fun. So, I am planning to take up the lesson every tuesday. ASSOC Ice-skating social was a blast! Wohoo! The skates were so hard and uncomfortable but everybody had a great time. Hehe!

Today is also Christine Goh Shze Wei's birthday. I dont think she'll be reading this, but happy birthday anyway!