Yengko Wuz Ere: Demo Anti-Israel

It's been a very long time since I last took part in a big rally. The last meaningful rally was an anti-Israel march in London in autumn 2002. YB Nik Nazmi had just arrived in London for 2 months and we thought it was good if he could experience what a rally really meant in London.

So I was quite looking forward to the planned anti-Israel rally last Friday. Given the flexibility of my work (ha ha), I decided to work from home and joined the rally later.

At 10 am, the phone rang and Jita said he was in the vicinity. The next thing I know, he was at my door while I was still trying to put the t-shirt on (saja nak entice :-p)

After a sleepy khutbah on 1Malaysia (of all the things, JAKIM chose 1Malaysia when the whole world rose in unison against the Israel's illegal attacks), we started to march from Kampung Baru to Jalan Tun Razak. The whole journey to and fro would have taken 8 kilometers.

I failed to locate the ring leader (Hj Mus aka Auzir Zakri dari Jawang) until much later when Tuan Prez (Sdr Syed Khalid al-Junid) called. There were five of us altogether - 4 from Leman (myself, Khalid, Jures and Auzir) and only one from Ahmad. As always, Md Shah and Idris tidak menerima cahaya keimanan (see footnote).

Anyway, sebagai bukti Yengko Wuz Ere, Jures had learnt his lesson not to doctor a photo so he brought a print out this time around.

We adjourned to a warung at Kampung Baru before we made our way home - good walk, good time for a good cause! Takbir!


Lintas Langsung oleh Hj Mus:

1.29 PM:
"Kelihatan manusia berpusu2.

Sehingga kini 4 Yengkoz bersama2 dgn DSAI dan Ustaz Nasaruddin telah sudi hadir ke Masjid Jamek Kg Baru."

1.36 PM:
"Khutbah pasal mentaati pemerintah. x boleh pasal isu semasa sket. Haih"

1.43 PM:
"Oh. Sorang lagi Yengko diberitakan sudah sampai.

Khutbah dan disimpulkan. Baru x sampai 10 minit. Mungkin khatib pun nak ikut demo."

Gadap, 3.49 PM:
"Naper tak update dah? Kena masuk lokapkah? Mana Tuan penasihat ekonomi? Dah masuk lokap juga kah? Brapa ramai yengko hadir?"

Epit, 3.55 PM:
"Auzir tak report sebab tumbang waktu nak bangun lepas khutbah abis"


Suri, 3.57 PM:
"cuba pegi check pelangi damansara. sure membongkang..

tak pun area sogo or chow kit. usha aweks kot.."


Hj Mus, 4.24 PM:
"Maaf, x dapat buat siaran tadi. Dipercayai satelit dan perhubungan telefon telah dijamkan oleh APCO n UMNO.

Beribu2 penyokong2 pakatan rakyat dan muslimin n muslimat telah menunjuk nunjuk akan perasaan mereka. Mungkin kerana dah lama x demo besar camni.

Saya telah diberi kepercayaan utk menjaga kesalamatan tuan penasihat ekonomi. Dilaporkan saya dpt menjaga beliau dgn sempurna.

4 yengkoz dari leman dpt hadir dan satu dari ahmad. semua point leman dpt sbb kena ikut majoriti.

Sekian buat sementara waktu. Kalau nak gambar tunggu laporan dari org lain. Aku malas nak update. Aku suruh turun demo x nak. Nak mintak update je. Sekian dilaporkan. Seribu point . Hehehe"

Peta perjalanan, seperti yg ditrack oleh gadget Garmin yang Jures pakai

Hj Mus dengan bukti "Yengko Wuz Ere"

Hj Mus dengan muka manja

Jures dah serik dgn Photoshop

Kerosene disumbangkan oleh Gadap

Hji Mus lagi, jangan tergoda dgn "aset" paling berharganya

Tn Prez Global Village

Jita takut family dia kenal dia, so kena hitamkan

Hj Mus dah start cross dressing

FOOTNOTE:

For the record, out of the 5 BRUs who started out in Form 2, 3 were from Ahmad - Fazurin, Musyek & Apai, 1 from Leman - moi and 1 from Md Shah - Tok Guru.

But Tok Guru pun give up dengan gaya hidup berdozzer Md Shah that he left koleq completely since then. As a measure of my success as Pres BRU berjaya, 16 years later Leman has far out-shined others dalam bab-bab keagamaan, after all our Mursyidul Am Syeikhul Ezrin pun from Leman ha ha.

As for Idris house, what can I say. Mpro tidak terdaya berbahas dengan Chamat ha ha ha.

Kapet Trivia: Satu Petang Di Sekitar Kapet

1) Seorang Form 5 tengah mengayat junior sambil bermanja-manja, di meja paling hadapan. Junior (si Form 3) baru saja menjadi mangsa kena beli keropok & air sirap for abang kat dorm, tapi duit tak kasi (selalu berlaku ni)

2) Prefect on duty tengah tido kat dalam, sebab tadi penat ambik report confinement kat tingkap ni. Tambah2 dia bengang sebab ada sorang Form 3 tu lahabau betul tiru Form 5 datang report pakai shirt and tie, tapi kat bawah pakai "3-quarter". Panas betul prefect ni straight dia ambik keputusan tido dalam Fects Room yang berair-cond. ni.

3) Ada sorang lagi Form 5 tengah ambik magazine poron yang dia simpan dgn Mat Mak Cik Kapet masa inspection pagi tadi.

4) Sorang Form 1 yang tinggi lampai (budak batch dia panggil dia Moto, tapi nampak macam burung unta je) baru je jatuh terjelepok lepas cuba rebound bola. Senior Cagers cakap dia ada potensi giler nak jadi pemain yang hebat, tapi dia kena kuatkan kaki dia yang panjang sebab each time dia lompat, bila dia landing ada masalah sikit.

5) EXCO BRU tengah tido dalam Bilik Kebal. Ramai orang suspect dalam bilik kebal tu segala benda kemungkaran berlaku, termasuklah selalu ponteng prep ha ha.

6) Cis ada sekor kucing jalanan (namanya Meor) yang berak kat karpet surau dekat2 dengan kolah ambik air sembahyang. Dah la karpet tu selalu bau masam je sebab selalu basah, lepas ni nak kena cuci najis kucing ni pulak. Budak2 confinement Form 2 baru je balik dari jadi kuli batak kemaskan surau Big School.

7) Seniors dok peghati macam pelik je ada sorang Cagers Form 1 ni, dia pakai spek tebal. Tapi kalau observe dia lama2, macam dia tengah usha Form 2 je ni. Aku dah lama perzen dia suka je duduk dekat-dekat ngn Chaie & Amir Hamzah (Form 2 Cagers). Giler kurang ajar batch Form 1 ni, masa Form 1 dah nak usha seniors.

:`(

1) Plans to sleep early and wake up early to write an economics paper, but got stuck going through the reminders of the people who have passed away.

2) Stumbled a raya card from Arwah Kiwi, a few months before he passed away in 1996. He sounded so jovial and throughout the time he was suffering from tumour, he never did write a single word about it. I wish I had more time to spend with him because in that short years that he was among us, he was really kind.

3) Read and re-read everything I have written and the correspondences I had with Allahyarham Shahrol. It's June and a few months before October each year, I grow restless as I count the number of years that he has left us.

4) Then November comes and I go through another round of restlessness and melancholy, going through everything that is left of Ben still in my possession.

5) Death stalks us. I wonder in the midst of our jokes and laughter whether I would survive 35.

6) We can never be ready when we are called to meet Him, but I hope He shall have mercy on my soul for I am so inadequate.

7) Al-Fatihah and my prayers for all those who had left us untimely (though it was all written long time ago for them, I just wish I had some warnings).

Blessed

I received a call from Cikgu Nuraini this morning, inviting me to a tahlil for her late husband (Arwah Wan Hashim, Class of 76) tomorrow afternoon at Bukit Jelutong. Will be meeting Mr Anand, Cikgu Yatie and Mr Zaidi who also happen to live in Bukit Jelutong and all of them used to be in MCKK circa 1990 - 1994 (Chamat also lives in Bukit Jelutong but... he he)

Anyway, Cikgu Nuraini (TKC Class of 76) used to write to me almost fortnightly when I was in the UK until one point when I was very bad at replying (we are talking about snail mail here). So I went digging for all the cards and her correspondences throughout the years (I was an archive geek even before I became an accountant, so I have all the cards and correspondences filed since 1992. I have a few volume of files at my parent's place but I keep some of the cards here in KL).

Going through the cards reminded me of how blessed I have been; surrounded by friends who have been by my side all along even as they traveled far and wide. Fadli never forgets to send a card from all his travels around the world.

Back in Morrison, every morning after breakfast (before we go to class) the Housemaster would sort out the mails by calling out our names. I think budak koleq always came top in the house chart of the ones with most mails each week ha ha.

This year's Aidilfitri posting will be quite different as I am going to scan all the raya cards and postcards ever sent by batchmates throughout my years abroad (these buggers stopped sending me cards once I came back ha ha).

But for a start, these four cards are a good reminder of the great friendship we had for the last 20 years. We are all grown ups now, we carry different burdens and scars but to look back and remember what a wonderful journey it has been, I cannot thank Allah enough for that fateful day on 6 January 1990.

This is Chamat's bon voyage card on 10 January 1995, at the old Subang airport.

Madad's substitute for a raya card in our A-Level year

  One of Fadli's many postcards as he traveled the world, taunting me since I don't like sight-seeing

Fazurin's many postcards as he spent most of his summer holidays year after year learning the culture and languages of Europe. For the record, Fazurin speaks 8 languages (at last count).

I Hope You Dance

PPM ended this week and our English boys crashed at semi-final though they were very optimistic that they would make it this time around. It’s a semi final curse that had repeated 3 times in the last 6 years, every other year we will go to semi final, performed impressively and then lose out.

The guess is the judges had already set their mind about the motion (“This House Believes That Trial By Jury Is Fairer” or something like that). Both the governments in the semi-final (MCKK and ASIS) crashed and it’s more telling because the latter was considered the favourite to win this year. I suppose the judges who are more accustomed to Malaysia’s trial by judge are more prone to take side with whatever is currently in practice in Malaysia, regardless of the arguments presented.

The sad thing is it shatters the dream of two young souls who really wanted to go to the final – Shahir and Pojan; who worked so hard since they were in Form 1 for this moment.

I made up my mind that 2009 would be my last PPM so I wasn’t around this time. I’ve passed the baton to the next generation of coaches led by Sdr Aleng (Headboy Class of 2007) and they are doing a fine job. Aleng was there together with Ed (Class of 2007) and Aqwa (Class of 2007) – I purposely withdraw much of the financial and logistical support as I want them to understand how the previous generation started when we were at their age.

But I was in Kota Bharu a day before the boys arrived in Pasir Putih together with Dany (Class of 90) and Akmal (Class of 2003). I had a semi-work commitment in Kota Bharu so we took the opportunity to catch up driving along the Terengganu coastline on a road trip.

On the way back to KL, Dany came across a song in one of my CD collections that captured his attention for its powerful lyrics and messages.

“I Hope You Dance” is a song by Lee Ann Womack that she wrote and sang for her daughters, capturing her wishes and dreams for them. The song had a special meaning to me (and not just because of its meaningful lyrics) because it was one of the things that kept me sane in the early 2000 when I had had some difficulty in life; being alone in London and all.

The song was also introduced to the debaters subtly when we first came back to coach them. The messages that it carries are the same messages that we try to impart to them. 

In that respect, I am proud that many of them over the years held on to the messages contained in the song that we taught them. With that spirit, Shahir and Pojan should not have any despair if they had lived by the standards and values we hold dear. When all else fails, in the midst of chaos when people around them abandon reasons and fairness to save their skins, these values set them apart even from those who did go to the final of PPM.

I have no doubt that a long line of MCKK future debaters, if they take these messages to heart, will make us proud.

Dany said that he wished arwah Ben would have known the song because he would have felt strongly about it. I thought Ben had embodied the messages all along – he would never stand on the sideline as a by-stander, he would always “dance”. 

He took chances when he thought that was the right thing to do, he offered so much love to the people around him even when more often than not he was mistaken about other people’s sincerity. But he danced and that made him much greater than most of us – even if it cut short his life.

So to the MCKK family, past, present and future – I dedicate this to you. What sets us apart is not the badge or label we wear, it is the values we live by.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder 

You get your fill to eat 

But always keep that hunger 

May you never take one single breath for granted 

God forbid love ever leave you empty handed

I hope you still feel small 

When you stand by the ocean 

Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens 

Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance 

I hope you dance 

I hope you dance 

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance 

Never settle for the path of least resistance 

Living might mean taking chances 

But they're worth taking 

Lovin' might be a mistake 

But it's worth making 

Don't let some hell bent heart 

Leave you bitter 

When you come close to selling out 

Reconsider 

Give the heavens above 

More than just a passing glance 

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance 

I hope you dance 

I hope you dance 

I hope you still feel small 

When you stand by the ocean 

Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens 

Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance 

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance 

I hope you dance 

I hope you dance 

Footnote

This is a snippet of the video for 2005’s camping – the first one ever held. Most of the boys are in universities now, some have graduated. It was a happy family back then – arwah Shahrol was still with us and Fazurin (the quiz master) still presided over The College Challenge. Wong and Badut organised the whole camping for us (the video was captured with analog camcorder and edited with Pinnacle, years before digital camcorder came into our midst)

The full song before it was corrupted by cover versions.