Life a midst the covid-19 pandemic

This is a challenging time.  A time for us to endure the covid-19 pandemic.  We have been through several Movement Control Orders (MCOs) of a two week interval each since March 18, 2020.  Areas are zoned according to the number of new infections detected.  Kajang has seen its worst but had persisted on.  So is our immediate area, Kg. Sungai Ramal Dalam.  Ours is the first area to be disinfected, much to the amusement of many with all the mistakes made.  It was a good trial run for the disinfection process of other places.  Several high level individuals did manage to make complete fools of themselves in the process.  Every time is a time to learn our lesson.  Just make sure that those mistakes will not be repeated elsewhere. 

Getting our grocery had not been easy due to the need for social distancing and the limit of the no of people allowed in each vehicle, the need for face masks, the difficulty in getting face masks, the need to use hand sanitizers and the difficulty in getting hand sanitizers.  Worst of all is the fear of the unseen, the covid-19 virus.  The need for washing of the purchase, clothing worn to be quickly discarded and soaked in soap water and getting our through bath after getting home.

The month of Ramadhan came and left us in the midst of this pandemic.  We endured.  We went through the Ramadhan fasting month performing our tarawikh prayers at home with the man of the house leading.  Normally this prayer is performed in the nearby surau or mosque.  This time around the suraus and mosques are out of bounds except for the few committee members who are allowed to perform their prayers there.  One thing beautiful is that we got to perform our eid prayers at home again led by the man of the house complete with the summon.  This has never happen before.

Hari Raya celebration came with a new approach.  We took care of each other and especially our neighbours.  When normally we would visit each other and spend sometimes at each others' place, the covid raya came with a new approach.  We had our raya goodies delivered to the neighbours' instead.  Just the raya greetings, no salams, no body hugs.  The delivery was made as quick as possible and we hastily retreat to our house.  

As for family visit, the allowable number was 20 at any one time.  We limit ours to real immediate family members, meaning just the children and their family members. We were lucky as everybody, except for our second son, were staying with us.  So the visit by the second son and his family made us whole.

Celebrating our trashman

Ours is a community of self.  So near to the Kajang Municipality yet we are not served by the MPKj.  Except for being at their council building to pay for the annual land tax, we barely had contact with them.  We have the ketua kampung who we see at kenduris.  Maybe the men would see more of him at the mosque/surau.  The wakil rakyat?  We'll see him at close to election time, at an interval of 4 - 5 years at the most.  So much for extracting services from these folks.  Incidentally, DS Wan Azizah's N25 boundary stopped at about 800 m from our community.  So no service from she either!

Who do we see often, and gladly wanting to see more of him?  Our trashman!  Our trash collection is 'privatized'.  We pay RM20 a month for the service.  He used to come twice or trice a week, come rain or shine, driving his modified truck with the sides raised high to accommodate the piling trash.  However, of late he is no longer coming on a regular basis.  Unprepared for this, our trash had been piling and overflowing our bins.  Scavenging cats start having field nights (days at times) and with that the stench and flies.  I had taken to rebagging our trash in much sturdier bags and tying them with strong rubber bands preventing the maggots from wriggling out.

He made an appearance one day armed with newspaper cuttings.  Seemed that private trash operators are now being harassed by MPKj and they can no longer use the dump site that they normally use to dump the trash.  They had been paying for the use of the facility, charged by the truckload, but is now not available for their use.  While negotiation was taking place with MPKj, the filled trash trucks lined the road leading to the dump site.  The smell and the flies annoyed the kampung folks who then took matters in their own hand.  They took to breaking the windscreen and side windows!

With a no-win in sight, our trashman took to looking for alternative dump sites.  The closest that he could find is somewhere close to KLIA, over an hour away (by car).  His truck would take over 2 hours.  So now the regularity of our trash collection suffers.

Can we believe election manifestos or are they just political gimmicks? (Updated)

Thinking it over, maybe that's a wrong title for this piece. It should have read, "Can politicians be trusted".  We have seen what happened to the manifestos brought forth in the 13th GE.  The minority winners had all but gone against their words.

Closer to home, after the PR N25 PRK win in Kajang, Kajang more-or-less remains much the same.  Both divide talk much about easing Kajang traffic congestion and the floods after massive downpours.  Meaning that whoever was elected will bring about the same change. However, these hopes went equally dead as per the election and winning excitements.  To this day, I for one would avoid Kajang town like a plaque unless for the VERY necessary.  Wondering what's happening to the promises.  Wait for another GE or PRK for a repeat of the same?

Today is Bukit Gelugor's turn to determine their representative to the Parliament.  With all but jokers trying to bid against Ramkarpal, the path is wide open for him.  It's not the win that is of concern, but the majority (difference).  I believe the outcome will be announced early tonight.  Yet again, whoever wins, will it make any difference to the life of the ordinary folks in Bukit Gelugor?  Will their worries, concerns and wishes be heard and acted upon in the August House?

Updated:
DAP (Ramkarpal) won with 41,242 votes, an astounding 37,659 majority.  All other candidates bungkus losing their respective deposits.  PCM only managed to garner 3,587 votes; Mohamed Nabi Bux, 799; and Abu Bakar Sidik, 225.  Spoilt votes, 539.

We will have another show come May 31st.  Dyana is indeed a change from the mundane and has made a few peeing in their pants.  Whoever wins, will it drastically change the life of the people in Telok Intan al beit Malaysia?  I wish I have the answer, but I dream that there will be.  I wish you well Dyana.  Do make your candidacy and win a landmark for Malaysia's future, InsyaAllah.

Update:

Dyana lost with a razor thin margin of 238 votes, garnering 19,919 votes in all.  Mah won with 20157 votes.  Spoilt votes, 550.

Personal note to Dyana.

Dyana,

Do not despair, losing in this PRK is no loss but a personal victory for you. You have the age benefit and this experience is of tremendous value for your political future as well as the country's. Time to restrategize and put more effort in this struggle and we'll see you as a winning candidate come GE14, InsyaAllah.

Day 17: Fate of MH370 unfurled

Malaysiakini, March 25, 2014

The confirmation

10.05pm; March 24, 2014: The premier announces that the evidence suggests that MH370 likely ended in the Southern Indian Ocean.

Background:

• The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200ER aircraft went missing not long after taking off from KL International Airport in the early hours of March 8, with 12 crew members and 227 passengers.
   
• Its whereabouts remains a mystery as 26 countries race to locate the missing plane, believed to be either in the northern corridor, anywhere between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, or in the southern corridor covering Indonesia and to the south of the India Ocean.
   
• This comes after the authorities determined that the plane intentionally made a turn-back and altered its course shortly after cutting communications with tower controllers.

Our heart goes to the passengers and crew of MH370 and their families.  Innalillahhi wainna ilaihirojiuun. Al-Fathihah.

MH370 - Day 8: The route taken

After a week and some clues, the knowns and unknowns of MH370

The Malaysian Insider – Sat, Mar 15, 2014

Lifted whole from Yahoo Malaysia. Mar 16, 2014

What we know:

* It isn't in the South China Sea. The search has been called off there despite various discoveries from debris, oil slick to seismic events.

* Its systems were deliberately switched off separately just before it vanished

* It did not enter Vietnam air space

* It had 7.5 hours of fuel left when it vanished

* It didn't crash when it disappeared

* It changed flight path and altitude

* The plane crossed the Malay peninsula at the border with Thailand and was considered as friendly, and therefore not challenged.

* Its last contact from the plane's systems was at 8.11am on Saturday, nearly seven hours after it vanished from radar screens

* There were two Iranians travelling on Italian and Austrian passports stolen from Thailand over the past two years.

* One man had a Chinese passport with the same number as a Chinese man who never left his Fujian province in China.

* Interpol says there are a few passengers with suspect passports

* There were Chinese calligraphers, government servants, holidaying couples, two infants and 20 Freescale electronics plant officials and workers on board the plane.

* It was a code-share fight with China Southern Airlines. The two men travelling on stolen passports had tickets bought together from a travel agent in Pattaya, Thailand, a day before the flight.

* The plane's disappearance has brought attention to rings specialising in stealing and selling stolen passports out of Thailand.

* The pilot is 53-years-old with more than 18,000 hours flying time and has built a B777 flight simulator at home. His house was raided today.

* The co-pilot is 27-years-old with 2,700 hours flying time and who has apparently taken female passengers to the cockpit while flying.

What we don't know:

* The current location of Flight MH370. It disappeared somewhere north of the Strait of Malacca after its last ping at 8.11am, March 8, 2014.

* The condition of all its 227 passengers and 12 crew members.

* The person or persons flying MH370 after it vanished from radar screens.

* The person who switched off the plane's communication links at 1.07am and transponders at 1.21am last Saturday.

* The motive for its disappearance. It still remains a matter for conjecture.

* Whether it is north or south of the Strait of Malacca. The search and rescue mission is now focused on a northern corridor extending from Thailand to Kazakhstan/Turkmenistan and the southern corridor extending from Indonesia to the south of the Indian Ocean.

What will be, will be

Two things are on the mind right now, primarily the fate of MH370 after the five day disappearance.  The other is the N25 Kajang by-election.  Somehow the lyrics from the song Que Sera Sera kept creeping up.

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother 
What will I be
Will I be rich
Will I be pretty

And this is what she said to me
Que Sera Sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future is not ours to see
What will be, will be.....

That much I can remember and it may not even be in the right sequence.

There are Allah's secrets that we may never know.  We may seek and we may plan but it is His plan that will finally prevail.  And to Him we are to pray and ask for guidance.

Ya Allah, may the fate of those on MH370 be the best that can be and fairness prevail in the PRK Kajang 2014, InsyaAllah.

It has to be said - the Kajang by-election

Was texting a friend when asked to brief on the preamble leading to the Kajang by-election.  Without being influenced by any prior reading, what came to mind was "the need to pacify spoilt brat Azmin".  Seemed that only Anwar can make him toe the line.  Don't think Kajang needs either of these characters.  Rafizi can explain all he likes and so does former ADUN Lee.  Azmin said Kajang should be proud to have a world class leader.  Who are they taking us for?  Just put a shoe in the place and we will vote for the shoe!  Kajang do not need a bazooka to swat a fly.  Enough of being duped for change in government when it was all about fulfilling just one character's ambition.

For that matter I am wondering what Permatang Pauh folks has to say of their beloved Parliamentarian.  Has he been effecting change in town?  Kajang do not need another absentee representative.  We have been doing things that need doing ourselves, so why pay somebody to do it (when after all they won't be around to do it).  Time to show these dudes what the voters are capable of.