突来的邀请

一个认识了大半辈子的人，却不曾真正聊过的人，只是从小一起长大，小学中学都读同一所学校。
我知道她的存在，她知道我的存在。偶尔碰到面还会点个头，却没有几句寒暄。
突然，她要结婚了。 莫名的，也邀请了我。
意外。。。
同学一场， 我还是答应去了。

以后，我的婚礼， 会有这样的事发生吗？

行李

夜已深，黑也静；
背着的行李还没解脱。
从故乡带上的行李，不曾轻省过，
越背，越重。
朋友都说，旅途中，
行李会更换，旧的会丢，新的会加，
走越远的路，背的行李越轻。
是我的固执与执着，
放不下与留恋，
负担了我的旅途。
该舍的，舍不去；不该添的，添加了，
越远的路，只有更重的行李等着我。

我不恨，我不怨，
我相信这是我要走过的试炼，
要学习的功课。
从踏上这旅途的那天开始，
我就应该知道，
这本来就是一条不归路。
只有继续往前走，义无反顾。

这行李，我甘心的背，
因为它也曾陪我走过最甜美的时刻。

认识神 Knowing God

    基督教信仰是一种关系，不是宗教。而神，更是这关系的中心，使人与神，与人，与自己和好。因此，要认识基督教信仰的第一步就是要认识这位全能，全知，全在的上帝。
    Christian believe is a relationship, not a religion. God, as the center of this relationship, allow human to have peace with God, others, and themselves. Therefore, to know Christian believe, the first step to take is to knowing God, the Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent God.

神性  Godliness
    神，是自有，永有的神。这自有性，使神不能被创造也不需要被创造，而且在他里头有生命，是世上万有的起源，是创造的源头，生命的源头。这永有性，使神永远存在且永不改变，在他里头有永恒性，因此他定意爱世人就永远爱世人，他的爱永不改变。
    God, is self-existence and always-existence God. This self-existenceness, prohibited God from being created and not necessary to being created. There is life inside Him, he is the source of the creation of the world， and the source of life. The always-existenceness/immortality of God, allow Him to be immortal, and there is no changing in Thee. There is eternity in Him, If He desire to live human, He will love them forever, His love is never change.
    神也是全然圣洁，全然美好，在他里头只有善，没有恶。他不能创造恶，也不能被恶试探。 恶存在，并不是它被创造，乃是因为它没被创造。 神是善，没有了神，就没有善，因此才有恶。   
    God is absolutely holy and kind, there is no evil in Thee. He cannot create evil, nor tempted by evil. The existence of evil is not because it created, but because it is not created, evil exist as a absent of God. God is holy and kind, without God there will be no kind, and there the present of evil.
 

为何要认识神 Why need to know God

     神是生命的源头，赐生命的主，是人类的创造者，所以惟有回到神才能找到人被造的目的，活着的意义。若不认识神，人在世上的生活就会失去方向，盲目无方向的生活，最后换来一场虚空和捕风。

     God is the source of life, and the creator of human, therefore only in Him, we can found the purpose and meaning of life. Without knowing God, earthly life will be directionless and living blindly, meaningless and chasing after wind.

     只有画家，作家，艺术家，才知道他们自己的作品的意义和目的。同样的，也只有创造人类的主才能知道人类被造的意义和目的。
     Only the artist know the meaning and purpose of their masterpieces. It is the same, only the creator of human know the reason human being create, which is the meaning and purpose of we living.

如何认识神 How to know God
    我们能够认识神，知道神，是因为神先认识我们，先知道我们，先寻找我们，并且启示自己让我们找到他。若神没有先来寻找人，人则永远都无法寻找到神。人类盲目的寻找神，最终只会迷失方向，自己造出更多的假神。
    We can know God, because He first know us, first find us, and reveal Himself for us to seek Him. If God do not come to us first, human will never able to found God. If human blindly seeking God, they will only missing direction in the end, and end up making up more false god.
    神在创世时，早已借着他手上的工作向我们显明自己，藉着大自然，历史，神的话语，彰显他自己，最后更是道成肉身使我们可以亲眼看见神的荣耀。耶稣，神的儿子，道成肉身显明他是救主的身份，使人亲眼见证属神的生活样式。
    In the beginning of the creation, God had reveal Himself through His work, natural, history,and His word. He came to the earth as a human, to show us His glory, and reveal Himself as a Savior to the earth, so that human witness the life that belong to God's people.
 

回到原形

   回来两个月。
   白回了， 胖回了。 只是头发还是一样长。
   突然，有点想念漂泊流浪的日子。安安定定的日子，对于我还是太沉闷了。
   加拿大的天空，我们会再见的。

Chinese Malaysian

I came across this article from Joy's blog, I couldn't understand why someone could write something like this before he even understand the situation, and see only a piece from the whole picture.
As a Chinese Malaysian, I believe what we want is as simple as a fair treatment and a government with high integrity. If you are a Chinese Malaysia, please re-post this in your blog to support it.

“Chinese Malaysians Asking Far Too Much”

By Zaini Hassan
Source – Straits Times, published Apr 30, 2010

WHAT else do Chinese Malaysians want? Let us put aside the reasons why they do not support the current government in Kuala Lumpur. Let us study first what else they want.

For that, we have to go back to history. The Chinese came to Malaya to seek opportunities. They had lived a hard life in mainland China for hundreds of years. Like the whites who migrated to the American continent because it was the land of opportunity, the Chinese migrated to Malaya to make their fortunes in this bountiful land.

The strategy of their forebears has borne fruit. The Chinese have attained what they wanted. They now live in the lap of luxury in this land of opportunity called Malaysia.

In fact, it is not only in Malaysia that they have attained what they wanted. They have even gained full control of Singapore. Singapore is not their original country. The Singapore Chinese and the Malaysian Chinese were originally boat people. The difference is that those who landed in Singapore managed to gain full control of Singapore, but those who landed in Malaysia did not manage to control Malaysia.

In Malaysia, the Chinese live in peace with the Malays, the indigenous people and the Indians. In comparison, in Singapore, the Chinese control politics and the Government. In Malaysia, the Malays still control politics and the government. The systems of both governments are the same, but it is vice versa: The Malays dominate in Malaysia while the Chinese dominate across the Causeway.

In contrast, the Malays in Singapore and the Chinese in Malaysia are very different. The Malays in Singapore lead ordinary lives while the Chinese in Malaysia lead lives that are ‘more than ordinary’.

In fact, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad once stated that if all the Chinese-owned buildings in Kuala Lumpur were lifted from the map, only the buildings in Kampung Baru, a Malay area, would remain in the city.
All the other buildings are owned by Chinese Malaysians. The well-known shopping centres in Malaysia are owned by the Chinese.
The Chinese Malaysians are fantastic. They control all the cities and major towns in peninsular Malaysia, as well as Sabah and Sarawak. They produce the largest number of, and the most successful, professionals. The school system of the Chinese Malaysians is the best among similar school systems in the world.
The Chinese account for most of the students studying in the best private colleges in Malaysia. The Malays can gain admission into only government-owned colleges of ordinary reputation.
With regard to corporate and private organisations, it is the Chinese who dominate. The Malays number just a few; most of them are low-level employees. In fact, knowing Mandarin is a prerequisite for applying for jobs in these organisations.
Finally, an annual survey by the Malaysian Business magazine has found that eight of the 10 richest people in Malaysia are Chinese. The following is the list of the 10 richest people in Malaysia:

Mr Robert Kuok Hock Nien
Mr Tatparanandam Ananda Krishnan
Tan Sri Lee Shin Cheng
Tan Sri The Hong Piow
Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay
Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan
Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary
Puan Sri Lee Kim Hua
Tan Sri Tiong Hiew King
Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun

This is the reality in Malaysia, my beloved country. Is the current government, which has been in power for 52 years, cruel and totalitarian? What else do the Chinese Malaysians want? I think I know, and I think you know too.

[end]

Thuan Chye Responds to “Orang Cina Malaysia, apa lagi yang anda mahu?”(Utusan Malaysia article)

By Kee Thuan Chye

Every time the Barisan Nasional gets less than the expected support from Chinese voters at an election, the question invariably pops up among the petty-minded: Why are the Chinese ungrateful?

So now, after the Hulu Selangor by-election, it’s not surprising to read in Utusan Malaysia a piece that asks: “Orang Cina Malaysia, apa lagi yang anda mahu?” (trans. Chinese of Malaysia, what more do you want?)

Normally, something intentionally provocative and propagandistic as this doesn’t deserve to be honoured with a reply. But even though I’m fed up with such disruptive and ethnocentric polemics, this time I feel obliged to reply – partly because the article has also been published, in an English translation, in the Straits Times of Singapore.
I wish to emphasise here that I am replying not as a Chinese Malaysian but, simply, as a Malaysian. Let me say at the outset that the Chinese have got nothing more than what any citizen should get. So to ask “what more” it is they want, is misguided. A correct question would be, “What do the Chinese want?”

All our lives, we Chinese have held to the belief that no one owes us a living. We have to work for it. Most of us have got where we are by the sweat of our brow, not by handouts or the policies of the government.
We have come to expect nothing – not awards, not accolades, not gifts from official sources. (Let’s not lump in Datukships, that’s a different ball game.) We know that no Chinese who writes in the Chinese language will ever be bestowed the title of Sasterawan Negara, unlike in Singapore where the literatures of all the main language streams are recognised and honoured with the Cultural Medallion, etc.

We have learned we can’t expect the government to grant us scholarships. Some will get those, but countless others won’t. We’ve learned to live with that and to work extra hard in order to support our children to attain higher education – because education is very important to us. We experience a lot of daily pressure to achieve that. Unfortunately, not many non-Chinese realise or understand that. In fact, many Chinese had no choice but to emigrate for the sake of their children’s further education. Or to accept scholarships from abroad, many from Singapore, which has inevitably led to a brain drain.

The writer of the Utusan article says the Chinese “account for most of the students” enrolled in “the best private colleges in Malaysia”. Even so, the Chinese still have to pay a lot of money to have their children study in these colleges. And to earn that money, the parents have to work very hard. The money does not fall from the sky.
The writer goes on to add: “The Malays can gain admission into only government-owned colleges of ordinary reputation.” That is utter nonsense. Some of these colleges are meant for the cream of the Malay crop of students and are endowed with the best facilities. They are given elite treatment.
The writer also fails to acknowledge that the Chinese are barred from being admitted to some of these colleges. As a result, the Chinese are forced to pay more money to go to private colleges. Furthermore, the Malays are also welcome to enrol in the private colleges, and many of them do. It’s, after all, a free enterprise.

Plain and simple reason
The writer claims that the Chinese live “in the lap of luxury” and lead lives that are “more than ordinary” whereas the Malays in Singapore, their minority-race counterparts there, lead “ordinary lives”. Such sweeping statements sound inane especially when they are not backed up by definitions of “lap of luxury” and “ordinary lives”. They sound hysterical, if not hilarious as well, when they are not backed up by evidence. It’s surprising that a national daily like Utusan Malaysia would publish something as idiosyncratic as that. And the Straits Times too.
The writer quotes from a survey that said eight of the 10 richest people in Malaysia are Chinese. Well, if these people are where they are, it must have also come from hard work and prudent business sense. Is that something to be faulted?

If the writer had said that some of them achieved greater wealth through being given crony privileges and lucrative contracts by the government, there might be a point, but even then, it would still take hard work and business acumen to secure success. Certainly, Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, who is one of the 10, would take exception if it were said that he has not worked hard and lacks business savvy.

Most important, it should be noted that the eight Chinese tycoons mentioned in the survey represent but a minuscule percentage of the wider Chinese Malaysian population. To extrapolate that because eight Chinese are filthy rich, the rest of the Chinese must therefore live in the lap of luxury and lead more than ordinary lives would be a mockery of the truth. The writer has obviously not met the vast numbers of very poor Chinese.

The crux of the writer’s article is that the Chinese are not grateful to the government by not voting for Barisan Nasional at the Hulu Selangor by-election. But this demonstrates the thinking of either a simple mind or a closed one.
Why did the Chinese by and large not vote for BN? Because it’s corrupt. Plain and simple. Let’s call a spade a spade. And BN showed how corrupt it was during the campaign by throwing bribes to the electorate, including baiting a Chinese school in Rasa by promising RM3 million should it win the by-election.

The Chinese were not alone in seeing this corruption. The figures are unofficial but one could assume that at least 40 per cent of Malays and 45 per cent of Indians who voted against BN in that by-election also had their eyes open. So, what’s wrong with not supporting a government that is corrupt? If the government is corrupt, do we continue to support it?

To answer the question then, what do the Chinese want?
They want a government…

a. that is not corrupt;

b. that can govern well and proves to have done so;

c. that tells the truth rather than lies;

d. that follows the rule of law;

e. that upholds rather than abuses the country’s sacred institutions.

Because BN does not fit that description, the Chinese have learned not to vote for it. This is not what only the Chinese want. It is something every sensible Malaysian, regardless of race, wants. Is that something that is too difficult to understand?
Some people think that the government is to be equated with the country, and therefore if someone does not support the government, they are being disloyal to the country. This is a complete fallacy. BN is not Malaysia. It is merely a political coalition that is the government of the day. Rejecting BN is not rejecting the country.

A sense of belonging
Let’s be clear about this important distinction. In America, the people sometimes vote for the Democrats and sometimes for the Republicans. Voting against the one that is in government at the time is not considered disloyalty to the country.
By the same token, voting against UMNO is also voting against a party, not against a race. And if the Chinese or whoever criticise UMNO, they are criticising the party; they are not criticising Malays. It just happens that UMNO’s leaders are Malay.
It is time all Malaysians realised this so that we can once and for all dispel the confusion. Let us no longer confuse country with government. We can love our country and at the same time hate the government. It is perfectly all right.

I should add here what the Chinese don’t want:

a. We don’t want to be insulted,

b. We don’t want to be called pendatang

c. We don’t want to be told to be grateful for our citizenship.

We have been loyal citizens; we duly and dutifully pay taxes; we respect the country’s constitution and its institutions. Our forefathers came to this country many generations ago and helped it to prosper. We are continuing to contribute to the country’s growth and development.

Would anyone like to be disparaged, made to feel unwelcome or unwanted? For the benefit of the writer of the Utusan article, what MCA president Chua Soi Lek means when he says the MCA needs to be more vocal is that it needs to speak up whenever the Chinese community is disparaged. For too long, the MCA has not spoken up strongly enough when UMNO politicians and associates like Ahmad Ismail, Nasir Safar, Ahmad Noh and others before them insulted the Chinese and made them feel like they don’t belong. That’s why the Chinese have largely rejected the MCA.
You see, the Chinese, like all human beings, want self-respect. And a sense of belonging in this country they call home. That is all the Chinese want, and have always wanted. Nothing more.

The Utusan Malaysia article: Orang Cina Malaysia, apa lagi yang anda mahu?

Dramatist and journalist Kee Thuan Chye is the author of ‘March 8: The Day Malaysia Woke Up’. He is a contributor to Free Malaysia Today

同学的婚礼

    当年纪渐渐大了，当你发现周围同龄朋友都一个个结婚了，而你却是孤苦伶仃一个人时，你在想什么呢？
    六年前，第一个同学给了我们红炸弹，中五才毕业就搞出意外。现在又有一个一样的故事，只是换了主角。现在这个年代才二十出头的小伙子，如果真的结婚，十成八九都是出了意外才结婚的吧。
    看着阿信办着他的婚礼，还真实不容易的一件事。两个人结婚，几百个人陪他们一起忙东忙西，特别是他们有很多的传统仪式，拜这个那个的，我还真是服了他们。 意外的，他们竟然说了这样的话：“像你是基督徒就好啦，不用拜将多东西，也没那么麻烦。 去教会就可以解决完咯，连喜酒都不需要请喝酒，省很多啊。” ， “我们的神是拜的，你们的神是信的。”，“你们都不用担心有意外，因为你们都是先结婚才有性的。”。 听了，我也觉得好笑，说得那么好，又不看他们来信耶稣，做基督徒就好咯。 哈哈。。。
    祝他们， 婚姻幸福！

    说真的，看着他们这样结婚，我还真为我的单身感恩。 我不急，我等的是一段纯洁的爱情，是值得等待的爱情。
   

不老的画面

寂寞的夜晚里，只剩下回忆陪我失眠。
静静的，望着在黑暗中闪烁的星空，却只看到那不老的画面。
这属于我的空间，在床尾的另一端，残留着她的娇嫩。

在无数的夜晚里，思念着你，
一幕幕画面，历历更新，仿佛已在时空中冻结了。

你突如其来地扑入我的怀抱，我来不及反应。
当时的胸膛还在发热，心还在跳动；
还留下好多的问号。

My accent

  Some said, my english improve a lot. The accent is nice.
  Some said, my english change a lot. The accent is different.
  Some said, my english is very fake. The accent is weird.

  I said, I have no idea. Stay in Canada for 5 month, but I only speak english is during the backpack trip totally for 1 month, no chinese at all during that time. That is the time I have to speak in their way.

  Believe me, although you can speak very good english in Malaysia. Sometimes, people in American just can't catch the word of your mouth, and that is the time you have to learn to speak in their way. The accent does matter.

  All Chinese know, the accent of chinese can be so different in China from a province to another, although they speaking the same words and sentence, sometime we don't understand it at all. English is actually the same.

  Well, I back in Malaysia. Is time to change back to the Singlish that everyone used to it, with -lah, -lorr, -ler, ya-, -meh.....