Are you Malaysian first?

Are you Malaysian first?
By Lintang Bob Yong
Our Deputy Prime Minister thinks otherwise. In his recent statement he believes he is Malay first and Malaysian second. Since then, a lot of troubled water has passed under the bridge. This simple straight forward question has now turned into a political issue, debated intensively from coffee shops to the House of Parliament.
Forget about what the politicians are saying and if you were asked this question, would you have difficulty in answering it? Someone shouted, “no problem, I am Malaysian first. If you don’t believe me, here is MyCard. Isn’t it clearly stated that I am a Malaysian? I am definitely Malaysian first, he proudly declared. I will not want my nationality to be treated as second class. I am loyal to the king and I would die for my country”. He went on and on and on......
My wife and I were in United Kingdom. Someone wanted to know whether we were from China. I could understand why he asked because we look Chinese and we converse in Cantonese dialect with each other. Though we are the descendants of the Chinese, people in China often referred us as Malaysians and they could not fully understand our Cantonese. In case you don’t know, the Cantonese that we speak in our country is punctuated half in Malay vocabulary and the other half in Cantonese.
I was born in Kuala Lumpur and became a citizen of this country well before Malaya got its independence from the British. I have contributed economically and my parents too, with blood, sweat and tears to help made Malaysia what it is today. For all intent and purposes, I am the legitimate son of my country. I am a Malaysian.
In our country, there is a tendency to mix up the race, religion and customs with nationality. While we cannot change our race and our colour, we strive to become useful citizen and will loyally serve our country. We are proud to call ourselves Malaysians where ever we go and are prepared to defend and die for our country without hesitation.
Every Malaysian should have the same rights and equal opportunities afforded to them, regardless of their ethnicity. Is this not what we understand of the 1Malaysia concept, initiated by our Prime Minister? If not, how are we to unite our citizens to become one people and one nation? Do we need to fight among ourselves to achieve the obvious?
I am Malaysian first. Period.

Bless This School-St Gabriel's School

Bless This School-St Gabriel’s School
Lintang Bob Yong

I decided to pay a visit to our beloved school this Easter Sunday. Since I left in 1957 after having sat for the Senior Cambridge School Certificate, I had not set foot on it. Time flies, isn’t it. It is now more than half a century ago and I can feel the nostalgia in me when I come face to face with our school.
Searching the whereabouts of our school came as a surprise to me because I spent an hour trying to locate it. I had to stop and ask for directions from three passersby and a police station. I was born and bred in Pudu area and it shocked me to admit that I felt like a total stranger in my home town and our school which had been my sanctuary during my teenager’s years.
I was naive to believe that the area would remain unchanged since I left. The area was then simply known as Kampung Pandan (a place for rubbish dumping) and our school is located on this site. Now fifty years on, many housing estates have sprung up and the area has many new names such as Pandan Indah and Taman Maluri; and perhaps a few more names that I have not heard of.
It was a sheer joy when I saw the name of our school and I found myself standing at the school gate eagerly waiting to get in. I took a quick look at the surrounding and notice that the school’s precinct was clustered with tall buildings and the presence of a few other schools. It was a complete different picture that I had in mind. I remember well that the school was built on a filled up mining land for which I could see yonder. The field annexed to the main school building was barren and we used to play football in that sand filled waste land.
Our school did not look like the one I used to be with. The class room which we used to study was on the second floor; the one and only class room on top of other class rooms. It was hot, but we could see the entire waste land from our windows. The lone structure of this single building block which now has out buildings attaching to it look more like squatter houses to me. The colour of this particular block which was white then is now painted brown. I am sad to say that our school appears run-down.
It was hard indeed for me to experience this drastic change since I had many fond memories of our school. However, my sadness turned to joy when I saw the old rugged bronze school bell was still proudly hung to the stand and I think to myself it must have been as old as me. This is the same bell that was used for our fire drill in the primary school while we were temporally housed at Pudu English Girl’s School. The faithful school bell has served its purpose and I am glad it has been appreciated and taken care of by the school authority. This symbolic school bell must be kept intact to remind us of the poor and humble beginning of our school.
As I bid farewell to our school, I felt proud of the fact that the main building block of our school was the result of our school building fund campaign, in which the students contributed weekly out of the pocket monies given to them by their poor parents.

60 Minutes of Darkness

60 Minutes of Darkness
By Lintang Bob Yong
A sighted person was helping a blind man to get home. The helper said to him that they must hurry because it would soon be dark. The blind man asked what darkness was.
In a sighted world, most people have not experienced a total darkness. And darkness has often been associated with evils and spooky situations. Most children are afraid of darkness when left alone.
The global community celebrated the earth Hour 2010 on Saturday, March 27. On this day, all lights were turned off for an hour from 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm.
What is this Earth Hour all about? What is the significance of it?
The earth Hour which was initiated by WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. It was an attempt to avert catastrophic global warming. The campaign was globalized in 2008 and in 2009, there were over 4000 cities in 87 countries took part in this event. This event is to remind people of the immediate need to fight climate change that has threatened to harm nature.
This video will give you an insight of the Earth Hour.

Malaysia has participated in the Earth Hour 2009 and Earth Hour 2010.
So, did you turn off the lights on March 27?
Yes, I did.

Life in the 40's....St. Gabriel's School and me

Life in the 40’s............. St. Gabriel’s School and me
By Lintang Bob Yong
I attended St Gabriel’s, a missionary school back then in 1946, where all the students came from poor families in the nearby vicinity of the school. Our school was a “borrowed-school” which means we had to attend classes in the afternoon, after the regular school (Pudu English School) finished their classes in the morning.
The school was founded by an Australian priest, whose name was Rev. TE Currie on April’s Fool Day, 1946. Till today, many of the old students who are now successful in their own rights have fond memories of our founder headmaster, who passed away more than 25 years ago in his home country.
Being a non-government aided school then; there were no spectacular academic achievements for the students to shout about. But there were many unforgettable activities that I can still vividly recall. I am very proud to talk about them with great enthusiasm whenever I had the chance to reminisce.
We attended classes with our shirts off, yes half-naked. Our headmaster reckoned, with the hot climate of our country, it would help us to cool down and therefore we were able to concentrate more in our studies. Looking back, I must admit this had worked!
Every day we were fed with a tea spoon of palm oil because the headmaster felt that we were too skinny and under-nourished. Most of us were in fact looked more like the African children that we often see on TV. Our parents were poor folks, feeding from hands to mouth. As far as I know, the palm oil had done us good as many of my class mates who are now in the late 60’s and early 70’s, are still strong and kicking.
Before the end of each school term, we were to weigh ourselves naked and stand in front of our headmaster. Even though some of us had yet to reach puberty, we were too shy to face him. So we would try all tricks to stay away from this ordeal. As we grew older, we learned that the reason for him to do this was to allow him to examine us physically at close range so that he could detect skin diseases that required medical attention. We were too young to know about hygiene and our parents were too busy to look after us.
We had our headmaster and the teachers to thank for their untiring efforts in educating us, showering us with loving tender care and passionately looking after our welfare and health.
Till to date, I believe that my well being was moulded by Rev. TE Currie who had taught us to learn scripture and read the Bible. We were even required to attend classes on physiology conducted by him. “With God nothing is impossible” which by the way was our school motto then.
In remembrance of my headmaster and school, I have adopted this school motto to my blog.

I am a Tiger

I am a Tiger
Bob Yong
According to the Chinese zodiac, there are 5 elements to categorize each of the 12 animals which rotate in every 12 years of the Lunar Calendar. These elements are metal, wood, water, fire and earth.
Accordingly, in year 2010, the tiger is a white metal tiger which starts its reign on the 14th of February; the first day of the Chinese New Year. Some Chinese prefer to call it the “golden tiger” as it sound more auspicious.
Tiger which is a huge powerful animal has been described as beautiful, smart, brave and confident. If you are born in the year of tiger, you are ambitious but boastful, as well as quick-tempered. On the other hand, you have always been accepted as a great and true friend to be associated with for life. In time of crises you can be depended upon. Business-wise, you are successful because of your honesty, persistency and flexibility.
Sadly, tiger is well sought after for its meat and parts which are being made into traditional medical products, mainly manufactured in China.
A lot names are associated with tiger. No doubt you have heard of tiger-man, tiger dance, tiger-tail, tiger-suit, and recently, a celebrity named Tiger Wood has been the talk of the town and the world.
So, what kind of tiger are you; a crouching tiger perhaps?

Quiet Time With God

Quiet Time With God
Bob Yong
One of the basic essentials of being the followers of Jesus Christ is to spend some quiet time with God. Much as we want to make time to meet with God, we often take the easier way out by allowing other priorities to take charge of us. To connect with God, we must find time daily, irrespective how busy we are. If we fail to keep appointment with God daily, we would not be able to hear His voice. Allotting a daily time of Bible reading and prayer is essential in one walk of faith. Singing songs of praise is another great way to be near and be with Him.
Time spent with God is time well spent.

God is the creator of the universe. He gave us the mountains, sea and the animals, including us so that we may live harmoniously and peacefully in His grace. It’s an awesome world with amazing grace.

Should the use of the term Allah be an issue?

Should the use of the term Allah be an issue?
By Bob Yong
The constant harassment by the government and the religious bodies to restrict the publisher of the Catholic Herald to use the word Allah in the Bahasa Malaysia of the Bible version had caused injustice to non-Muslims. Christians view this as a violation of the Federal Constitutions.
The Malaysia Muslims argued that the word Allah which means God is the exclusive use by Muslims is hard for right thinking people to comprehend and has become a laughing stock of the world. To begin with, the word Allah is Arabic in origin. Not a single Arabic country has ever objected to its use in other counties. As a matter of fact, the word Allah has been used a long time ago well before Malaya got its independence.
Christian Bible is translated into many languages and can be downloaded from internet without restrictions and difficulties. It is mind boggling as to why our authorities seem fit to classify Bible in BM version under Section 22 of the Internal Security Act. Why and how the Holy Scripture has been viewed as a threat to the security of our country?
Freedom of choice to embrace and practice any religion of our choice is guaranteed in the Federal Constitution. Nothing is mentioned in it that the use of the word Allah is prohibited. Sikhs in Malaysia use Allah in their prayers too and so have many other countries.
Believing in any religion and praying to Almighty, I believe will enhance ones own well being and will bring peace and prosperity to our country. It does not matter whether I use Allah or God or Shen (Mandarin) or Rab (Sikhs) in my prayer.
But one thing is clear in my mind that religion is not to be mixed with politics. Politicians are not Allah and they should not behave like one. Allah is happier if we, irrespective our religious belief and cultural backgrounds, pray as One Malaysia.
Now let’s pray for peace and understanding.