Woi Cina! Woi Melayu!

"Woi Cina!", shouts a Malay man in the 40s, in a loud tone to a Chinese walking towards him.

"Woi Melayu!", the Chinese shouted back.

(let's call them Ah Lee and Sham)

When they came face to face, they had a good laugh, exchange handshake and hugs. After all they were school mates for 11 years in Malaysia national-level schools and had not met for 27 years till today. That was exactly how they referred to one another even during school days but yet the friendship remained cordial without any feelings of a racist.

Back then, calling one another as such is perfectly alright. Today, it might or will invite unnecessary stares or re-action.

"Hey, you remember? I used to come to your house during Chinese New Year with the gang and spend the whole day there? We really had fun and your mum's cookies was simply too good to resist lah bro" adds Sham.

"Yah, Yah ... you fellas will start burning the fire crackers to signal arrival and it's great isn't it at the sight of so many bicycles lined up in front of the house?.Sekarang bakar mercun kena tangkap bro!" Ah Lee replied.

Between the two friends, nothing changed despite the different career paths the respect for each other had to this day continues from the year they parted schooling. This is typical Malaysia in 80s and before. They had studied and spoke in English medium much more then as compared to today when we were able to use the knowledge from the education system then to a greater advantage during busines travels.

What has actually gone wrong during the 20+ odd years then?

The competitive, mature and tolerant mentality is gone while school children now seemed to be more dependant on parents instead of working their way towards being independant. Those outgoing kids of today are a little extreme i.e. joining peers hanging out in entertainment outlets, riding motorbikes aimlessly, lepak along the roadsides, mamak etc.

"Those days, we use to fly kites, evening football kick around, cycling and aimless lepaking is something unheard off. Even dating during school days are mostly limited to after school in coffee shops or weekends on short hours." says Ah Lee.

We fully understood that there are rapid development through the years but isn't it right the education system be revised to reflect a more developed, matured and tolerant thinking school going children of modern times?

Instead, what the national school syllabus is moving back towards teaching them about domestic affairs and driving more towards "re-engineered" history of Malaysia. We did not study re-written history back then but yet we fully respected each other's right of existence in this land we loved called Malaysia.

I believe there are many other concerned parents out there whom would be thinking the same on these matters and push for a change in education system approach before it systematically remove the future Malaysia of their iner capabilities to actually get out there and start competing. (one wonders how the Ministers keep harping about the quality of national schools here and yet they sent their children to boarding schools abroad)

And what the 2 friends had to say, our children missed the GOOD education, discipline and teachers we had back then while reminiscing the subject topics of interest when it was so much fun in learning. While examinations and university admission was much tougher, can't help understanding why the many new local colleges and universities today had failed to produce many quality work force.

Instead, the new generation of domestic work force are more interested in asking about the pay structure, overtime, holidays and working hours much more during interviews which can really "kill" the opportunity for employment. These are attitude which have been cultivated from school and needs immediate attention.

"So bro, what we have now are a new generation of children whom are highly dependant on teachers and parents to be around and without them, they would lose their direction and motivation. Betul tak?" says Sham.

Lee, "Bro, why not we get everyone together like the good old days for this coming CNY? Together ...gether and talk more then huh!"

"That's an excellent idea bro! We'll get into Facebook and summon all our kakis together." says Sham

"Orite la bro! Looking forward."

"Anyway, Kong Hee Fatt Choy to you, moga mudah-mudah rezeki and panjang umur." Sham, as the brief meeting ends as the 2 buddies went separate ways and head back to their respective states where they work.

What's happening to Batu Berendam Airport in Melaka?

It's August 13, 2008 when this piece of good news for Malaccans was published by Bernama and everyone was looking at the timely expansion of the decades old airport.

2 years down the road after all the mega-spending to expand the airport, we have yet to see Air Asia and MAS planes landing on the newly laid airstrips of Batu Berendam airport.

Have the RM131.5million public funds been wasted? Are all the announcements pure marketing gimmicks?

Or the newer Airbus and Boeing 737 planes acquired by Air Asia and MAS proves a little too much for the runways despite the additional RM40million allocated by Federal Government to expand the runway to 2,200 metres.

Well, Melaka folks are still waiting till today for Mohd Ali to fulfil of what he had promised on airport handling 1.5 million tourists and rake in RM1 billion revenue when it is fully operational.

3 lights and a junction

Do we need 3 lights to direct the traffic??

This traffic lights in SS2 Petaling Jaya could have been deliberately set-up to ensure road users have no excuse for beating the lights at this busy junction.

On the other hand, this is just an example and not knowing how many other locations with such waste of public funds!!

National-level X'mas Open House letdown! :-(

Portuguese Settlement in Ujong Pasir, Melaka had never failed to attract thousands of visitors whom are mesmerize by the merriment and decorations put up by the residents during X'mas.

Private local companies like Julie's (buscuit manufacturer), Joy Advertising and Aik Cheong Coffee had lent more cheer into turning the Settlement into a near fairyland.

I overheard a local youth (probably a little drunk) raising his angry voice at visitors looking into their homes and made them felt like animals in the zoo. Can't blame the youth over his concern and I felt that too even as a visitor.

The 2010 celebrations was supposed to be merrier with the announcement that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin would be joining in the national-level X'mas open house celebrations which other fellow Malaccans had looked forward to as well.

However, it was not to be as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin was not present though the event had attracted 10,000 guests which Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was also expected to attend.

Perhaps there too many cruxifixes/crosses to remove and singing of X'mas songs for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as took place at another X'mas tea party he attended. Why bother harping on 1 Malaysia when such tolerance cannot be accepted?

Only a Senior Minister currently embroiled in a "super hot" Indonesian rape claim attended the national-level event with Malacca’s Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam being the main VIPs. What a let down!

So what's the cue here for UMNO and Barisan Nasional's 1 Malaysia?