Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

The lights of the urban skyline heading towards what essentially is the backbone of Peninsular Malaysia where the only casino in this country lay perched look brighter than usual today. The velvet colored dark sky hosts a bluemoon (not literally k). Now I know how the phrase “Once in a bluemoon” came up (click on the link).

The first decade of the new millenia has come to an end. What a wacky decade!

Have you ever had one of those hit the forehead with “Oh I get it!” moment? Well I did, a few days back. I think it was Mix.fm’s old tagline, “playing today’s hit music from the eighties, nineties, and noughties”. Hearing the last word over the air, made it sound like naughties. And I thought naughties? That doesn’t make sense at all! A few days back, as I stumbled upon some articles of reflections of 2009, I came across the word noughties, and then I realized, “I remember my English (as in England) maths teacher called zero nought (or was it not)”. And so it hit me faster that you can say doodle-my-chicken-before-it-poops, “Oh! This is how this decade is referred to!”

Where am I going with this? umm…oh yes! A decade past by so bloody fast. I didn’t notice it right until this morning that we’re heading into a new decade.

It was exactly 10 years ago that mankind and you, me, and the rest of us were all hoping that the new millennium would usher in a new era of hope for mankind. Hopes of peace, end to war, hunger, poverty, more prosperity, equality, green peace (and the list is endless). But 10 years into this new decade and we’ve got a world paralyzed with a war on terror, the imminent danger of climate change and global warming on overdrive, global scale pandemics starting with SARS, bird flue and now H1N1, major natural disasters becoming as common as a mamak in every taman, and a systemic failure of capitalism driven to the extreme by man’s insatiable lust and greed that has costed governments insane amounts of money to fix (pump priming will in-debt future generations).

But all is not lost. All is not gloomy. Despite the doom and gloom that seems to prevail in society today and the amount of negativity that is portrayed in the media (hey, bad news sells), there is still hope for mankind. There are still people who for the love of god would go to extremes and fight for the survival of this planet. There are still people who care about the poor children of africa dying of hunger. And there are still good samaritans who would go all out to put a smile on a strangers face.

I remember a funny story shared by a friend of mine who probably never really cared for any of the above. The story goes that one day he and a female accomplice drove up to a petrol station to refuel. At one corner was a dumpster and there were probably a dozen cats, loitering around and playing with each other and scavenging for food. A couple of minutes later a pickup drove up to the dumpster and a man walked out from the car carrying a bag. This bag was not a garbage bag but was in fact cat food (friskies maybe). The good man spread a sheet of newspaper, poured the cat food on to the newspaper and a dozen or so cats came digging in the nutritious feast.

The friend of mine said to his lady friend (as he got into the car to ready to drive off) “It’s heartening to know that there are still good people like him in this world. Thanks to people like him we can continue being a**h***s”.

The above story folks illustrates… nothing. I just wanted to share that with you. I liked it because its hilarious. *ROFL*

Back to the story…one decade has gone by so fast. That’s 10 years! We’ve added 10 years into our lives. I had just finished high school at the end of the last millennium. I think its pretty awesome that we’ve lived to see the turn into a new millennium, a new century, and a new decade. Thinking about it…the next millennium won’t be here until 989 years from now!

So one decade down, nine more to go in this century. How far are you with your hopes and dreams?

I think that’s the beauty of time. With time, comes experience and hopefully wisdom (sadly some people never get it). I’ve always thought that events in life are nothing more than mere experiences worth recalling, reflecting or worth deleting from your hard drive!

Last year alone, I’ve had quite a roller coaster experience. And I’ve seen events on other people that have impacted my perspective and view on life. But I must admit, a lot of time was spent on soul googling (a new term i coined for soul searching *laughs*) and soul refining (I wonder if there’s ever such a term). And I’m pretty sure the friends and people I know go through the same s**t and had done their own soul refining and soul googling. Perhaps that may just be Google’s next big project!

Moving on to the 28th year of my existence, I’m beginning to comprehend and appreciate the overly used and taken for granted advise that can be summed up in one word: “Bersyukur” or “Be grateful”. Okay, that’s two words in English. Thanks for pointing that out captain obvious.

Go on try it yourself. Reflect on these two words. And I really mean deeply reflect upon it and let it sink in! For some of you, it won’t hit you on the head the first time, it’ll probably take some time. With all good things, it comes with time and patience.

New year party’s over folks. Fireworks are finished. Its the morning of first of January Twenty Ten. Frankly, new year celebration is getting ever more boring. Its repetitive with MC’s and TV announcers having to be hyped up on TV yelling to the audience behind them “SAY HI TO THE CAMERA! IT NEW YEAR! WOOOO!” (what a retard). She made a complete fool of herself.

There’s probably 10 tonnes of waste created from last night’s celebration at KLCC alone (my guess is as good as yours). Its back to work for the hard toiling labors who clean up the mess you’ve made from last night. Respect to these unsung heroes that we take for granted.

Point is that, everyday can be a new year. I don’t see the point of celebrating new year, when on the first day of work come monday, you’d feel all depressed saying to yourself “SSDY (Same Shit Different Year”.

Life is short. Life seems much more shorter now since time doesn’t fly, it travels at warp speed 3.

Anyways, the noughties is gone. Its a new decade. When this decade is over I hope that it won’t be just another 10 years added into your age.

Now…I wonder what’ll this decade be called…the teenies?

Merry New Year and a Happy New decade!

IAG

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilifitri!

Kepada umat Islam yang akan menyambut salah satu hari kebesaran Islam, ingin saya ambil kesempatan ini untuk mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Kepada kaum kerabat keluarga saya, sahabat-sahabat, rakan-rakan sekerja, rakan-rakan taulan, serta kenalan-kenalan, saya memanjangkan jari sepuluh kerat ini memohon maaf atas segala salah dan silap saya baik yang zahir atau batin. Sebagai manusia tidak mungkin saya terlepas dari membuat kesalahan dan dosa.

Semoga kekal dan bertambah mesra persahabatan dan persaudaraan antara kita, dipanjangkan umur, dan dimurahkan rezeki.

Kepada pembaca setia blog saya, Salam Hari Lebaran, dan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Terima kasih di atas sokongan anda. Nantikan artikel-artikel saya sesudah saya puas bercuti raya.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!

———————————————————————————————————–

To all muslims who will be celebrating one of the grandest days in the muslim calendar, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish you a Happy Eid-ul Fitr.

To my family memmbers, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, I’d like to seek for forgiveness on any wrong or grievances I may have caused you. I’m only human, thus I cannot escape from committing errors and sins.

May our friendship get closer and grow in strength. May we have a longer life and become prosperous.

To my avid readers, Eid Mubarak and Happy Eid-ul Fitr. Thank you for your support. Stay tuned for my articles when I done holidaying and celebrating eid.

Eid Mubarak!

-IAG-

Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

I can still vividly recall back in August of 1997 of how almost every vehicle had stuck the Jalur Gemilang (Malaysian flag) onto their windscreen or the hood of their bike. I was only 15, staying in a boarding school. Access to outside of the school compound was only limited to weekends, and even that was limited on a fortnightly basis.

However, the site of my teacher’s and school staff’s vehicle be it a car, van, motorcycle flying the Jalur Gemilang  was a site to behold. TV news and the printed media reported the success of the “Raise The Flag” campaign that ran from the 15th of Aug – 15th Sept. Images of vehicles and homes proudly flying the flag was proudly showcased.

I was ecstatic! I was excited! My young-self then felt every vein in my body oozing with patriotism and love for the country.

The following year, the campaign changed its wording to “Kibarkan Jalur Gemilang”. Though many people did raise it, I could feel that the there was a slight reduction in participation from the public. The spirit was dampened as we were hit with the Asian financial crisis, and the Ringgit and stock market was plummeting to new lows.

The spirit of raising the flag dampened with the passing of the years. Today, finding a car flying the Jalur Gemilang is as rare as finding diamonds on the road.

The strong feeling of patriotism and love for the country that I had 12 years ago remains a distant memory.

People cite all sort of reasons for not raising the flag. Petty reasons such as, no one giving out free flags (cheap skate!) to safety reasons such as flags flying off the cars can become a missile (this argument does have merit).

Our closest neighbor (as much as we hate to admit it) by blood and history down south celebrates their independence day with vigor and pride. I haven’t experienced myself, but from what I read and gather, folks down there are patriotic about their Merdeka Day and its celebration. For every year without fail, they’ll raise their flag and fly it with pride and honor.

Citizens of the USA proudly raise the Star Spangled Banner in their homes as a display for the love of their country without fail on or before every July 4th. And they’ve been doing that since 1776!

So what has happened to the Merdeka day spirit of our fellow Malaysians? Have we really lost the pride of calling ourselves Malaysians? Are we just too distracted with fending for ourselves and our livelihoods that we are unable to express or show the gratitude towards this country in which we call home? Or have we succumb ourselves to petty politics and allowed the differences in opinions and our political stance to divide us and dampen our patriotism and love for the country.

I hate to shudder the thought of it, but the stark reality is that many Malaysians just have no clue on how to celebrate Merdeka day. They’re not sure of how to display their love for the country (even though they would like to). And a great many Malaysians are far too divided with their political stance or non-political stance that Merdeka day becomes a display of their utter disgust towards the government of the day (since the parade stand is always filled with government officials from the ruling coalition).

In my opinion, Malaysians of all creed from all walks of life should make this day a neutral day. It should be marked as a day where one remains apolitical and non-partisan. In all due respect, whatever opinions or stance you may have towards the ruling government towards the opposition, on this special day, all Malaysians should uphold the dignity and sovereignty of this land we call home.

Bask in her glory, and dignify her, and remember the struggles of our forefathers and generations that have passed of their plight to achieve independence and self rule. For since the fall of Malacca into the hands of the Portugese in 1511, this land has been under the control of foreign powers for 446 years.

Let us not allow narrow racial politics to control our emotions and thoughts. Disallow the chauvinists from every racial group who only form the minority from controlling the mainstream politics and majority of the rakyat who only want to see tolerance and harmony permeate and blossom. It serves no one any good to allow such groups to fester and penetrate into the thoughts and lives of peace-loving, multi-racial embracing, diversity-driven Malaysians of all walks of life.

In this time of confusion, let us uphold the sanctity of the constitution and look up to the Yang DiPertuan Agung for his leadership and his non-partisan stance on the politics of this country!

Selamat Menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan Yang ke-52.

-IAG-

ps: I too am guilty of not raising the Jalur Gemilang. I promise to that I will raise it next year and every year after that. Please join me and pledge to do the same.

May we all obtain the true goal of fasting which is Taqwa.

To know more about Taqwa, you may read this article written by Ustaz Zaharuddin, a prominent Islamic Scholar of which I found to be very informative (It’s in Malay by the way).

-IAG-

Wishing you a Merry X’mas, Happy Awal Muharram and Happy New Year!

For those of you are driving, be it a car, a truck, a bike, a bus, a plane, a helicopter or a train…get home safe.

For those of you are riding it, make sure the driver gets you to your destination safely.

Happy Holidays!

IAG

I hadn’t realized that the last post on this blog was exactly 2 months ago!

A lot has happened. It wasn’t my intention to stop, I was more in a dilemma of trying to find my substance and define my writing style.

It’s easy to vent anger and write an article that’s got “I am pissed” written all over it. But then again, I guess, controversies sells better doesn’t it?

What are the core issues? What is my passion?

It’s a dilemma of what really this blog should represent. What’s its substance? What’s the pull factor or what the  marketeers would call “Unique Selling Proposition”?

One thing is clear, I don’t want this to be “just another angry political blogger” type of blog.  Nope! There’s far too many of that in cyberspace and real space.

I’ll stick to my motto “Behind the Reading Glass”. That should guide me and the readers in what this small blog really stands for.

IAG

Behind the Reading Glass

Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

I believe that this is my third attempt at blogging.

My first attempt at blogging was for fun. It was a means to keep my friends abreast with my developments after graduating from college. That died off when I was in a relationship in 2005.

In 2007, my second attempt was very ambitious. I started several blogs evolving around my passion for golf, the gym, religion, making money, and expanding my network. That was successfully badawised as I soon found that managing multiple blogs is a full time job!

Out of my two failed attempts at blogging, I reflected and pondered where I went wrong. I realized it was content. Who gives two cents reading someone’s personal ramblings? I’ve read some of those types of blogs and my interest on them is best described as a gold fish’s memory; its forgotten after 4 secs.

My third attempt at blogging came by accident. There were a few posts about my developments in my notes on facebook, but the one that really put me in the limelight was my article entitled “DAP truly multiracial?”. It grew out of my frustration at reading an article posted by The Malaysian Insider. And so I shared my opinion of how electing one Malay into its central committee does not qualify it to be a multiracial party.

I got many interesting comments but I was most touched by praises from a fellow colleague and friend. He motivated me to continue blogging as he described that I “have an interesting style and flare for writing and public speaking”. Thanks buddy, you know who you are and I am indebted to you.

I continued to post more articles in facebook mostly revolving around politics and continued to receive feedback, comments and praises that kept me alive, inspired, and motivated.

And now, I’ve decided to transfer my blog to a formal platform for anyone to read. I hope that one day, I would be featured as a political and economic columnist on my favorite online news portal, The Malaysian Insider.

Regards

IAG

I know and I do apologize for I have been quiet since my last post. Finding time to do the things one loves is a luxury that requires much sacrifice in time and energy.

Fret not as I have no intentions to retire early. I will continue to write as and when I have the luxury of time and inspiration.

For the time being, I have been busy with finalizing my domain and my blog theme.

Stay tuned as I will announce the URL after Aidil Fitri!

Selamat berpuasa and Selamat Hari Raya.

regards
IAG

That is correct. I am migrating to a new and unfamiliar territory. A place out from the comforts of state protectionism.

I thank you all for being generous with praise, providing comments and feedback. You guys and girls have given me the inspiration and motivation to move on to bigger things.

Big things start with small steps. And big things require both time and confidence. But I think I am ready to take that plunge into the unknown now. I will be migrating… to a new domain…in the next few days.

So stay tuned as my articles will be posted and hosted on my own personal URL (to be announced in due time).

Regards
IAG

A Malaysian’s Dream
by Iqbal Abd Ghaffar

Malaysia just turned 51 on Aug 31st. While the age is debatable (as Malaysia was only born when Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore was included in the Federal Territory in 1963), the spirit in which Merdeka should be celebrated has been quintessentially diminishing over the years.

The last time I had felt most patriotic and felt proud to celebrate Merdeka was in 1997. I still remember the sights of thousands of cars flying their mini Jalur Gemilang stuck to their windshields. Some went further by sticking the flags of every state on their windshield and the rear window. Convoys of motorcycles and cars have always filled the papers with news. Cars, motorcycles, trucks, vans and lorries all were proudly flying the Malaysian flag. Homes, shop houses, and buildings were not spared either. It was a beautiful sight to see so many Malaysians proud to celebrate the nation’s 40th Anniversary. This was in spite of the financial turmoil the country was facing.

Today, I don’t see that. Seeing someone fly the Jalur Gemilang on their vehicle is as rare as finding a diamond on the road these days. I too am guilty of not flying one. I can’t easily find it in stores anywhere. Gas stations always are out of stock!

So what is dampening our Merdeka celebration spirit? Are we a nation who chooses to forget history? Have we become a nation who chooses to ignore about the struggles and sacrifices of our forefathers? Have we become individualistic and more concerned with bread and butter issues over national issues? Or is it simply because the path in which we have taken to progress as a nation since independence, fighting along the lines of communal politics and racial supremacy has run its course and distorted true unity and integration among Malaysians of all ethnics and race? Have we missed the chance to create a true Bangsa Malaysia that is color blind? I shudder to think of it.

If we are to continue the course in which we are taking today, unity and harmony is a word that won’t be a part of the Malaysian’s vocabulary. What we have today, I believe, is not racial harmony but racial tolerance. We have been able to tolerate one another without trying to incite hate and bring about an upheaval. But what we really need to do is to not only learn to tolerate one another but also learn to understand, respect, and integrate.

I’m a staunch believer that the building blocks of a single Malaysian race begins at school. Children are color blind and hence, the vernacular schools should stop to exist. Instead, a single language school system where Tamil, Mandarin and English should be taught as mandatory subject for all students regardless of race. Languages belonging to smaller ethnic groups in Sabah and Sarawak can be taught as an elective. The subject of Malaysian culture should be introduced so that children can learn to understand the customs and practices the many ethnic and racial groups in the country. This would make the future Malaysians competitive as they are multilingual.

Parents, teachers, politicians, business people, and community leaders all play a role in creating a conducive environment for a new Malaysian culture to blossom. They must at all times not allow racial remarks be made against one another and not allow such things to be shared with children. Parents at all times must lead the way to allow children to play and interact with one another.

I have heard of many stories from Uncle Rama, Uncle Teo, Auntie Chew, Tok Man and Mak Timah of how they had many friends not from their own race, of how they grew up together, stealing rambutans and manggosteen from Haji Lebai’s orchard and bathing in the river together. They did not recognize color, but they were drawn together as Malaysians. Sadly muhibbah groups of friends are hard to come by these days. We have veered so far away from what has worked in the old days.

I believe that it is still not too late for Malaysians to charter a new course to a brighter future. A future where all Malaysians are not recognized by their skin color, dialect, and race. I will continue to fight and stand for what I believe is right and continue to dream what I believe in.

I dream of a Malaysia that stands truly united behind one common goal and destiny.
I dream of a Malaysia where her strength lies in her diversity of her people.
I dream of a Malaysia where all her people prosper and shares the wealth of this blessed land fairly.
I dream of a Malaysia where her people is not discriminated against one another.
I dream of a better Malaysia for all.

Happy Merdeka Malaysia!

IAG