Interviews, Tests and a Visitor

If the past weeks were filled with interviews and inane questions like "What are your career goals?" this week was about recalling basic arithmetics to calculate compounded interest rates and currency exchanges, writing essays about the Malaysian economy and attempting to solve impossible IQ questions in my elusive hunt for a job. I can't say I'm any closer to finding a promising job that I could imagine myself not disliking after a month but therein too lies the problem since I'm always confounded by questions about my interests and future plans -- I don't know if I have too many or none at all.
It makes it easier to put all the career thoughts behind me and look ahead to my guest who will be arriving in Singapore tomorrow night, probably cranky from a 30 hour flight from the capital of the free world. There's a lot of anticipation and anxiety on my part regarding Brian's arrival and I definitely want to show him everything that this region has to offer. Here's to hoping that Mr. Whinypants doesn't let the heat get to him first :)

An email I sent to my Malaysian friends

Dear friends,

I am writing to you as a fellow Malaysian at a very important time in our nation's history. This year, Malaysia celebrates its 50th year of independence. It is probably also the year that Malaysia will hold its 12th general elections. In the past fifty years, Malaysia has been through many noteworthy moments -- Singapore's separation, the May 13th racial riots and the ensuing political fallout, the 1997 financial crisis, the 1998 Commonwealth Games to name a few -- and we will continue to see many more in the future as Asia grows in prominence on the international stage.

As members of a democratic nation, it is our right and our duty to vote. Without strong voter participation in an election, tyranny of the minority -- the outcome in which a small population of the electorate decide the political leadership for the entire population -- is likely to occur. Friends, I realize that this will be the first opportunity to vote at the general elections for many of us. I urge you to register to vote if you have not done so and come election day, exercise your right to vote based on your convictions. The Electoral Commission's website is below as are the places you may register to vote.

This election cycle is pivotal for Malaysia's future. Several key issues will figure on the minds of voters this year, such as:

• Religious freedom in Malaysia: This year, the Federal Court of Malaysia ruled that Lina Joy, a Muslim apostate was not allowed to change her religion on her identity card.
  
• Islamic/Secular State: Our Deputy Prime Minister Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak was recently quoted by the press as saying that Malaysia is an Islamic State while leaders from the MCA and DAP have challenged that notion, claiming that the Social Contract and the Malaysian Constitution state that Malaysia is a secular state.
• The New Economic Policy: Recent information regarding the effectiveness of the NEP show that the policy has not achieved its intended goals of creating equality for all Malaysians. Income inequality within Malaysia is high and income inequality within Bumiputeras is widest amongst all racial groups. Furthermore, the government is reluctant to provide statistics for the NEP making it harder to assess the NEP's usefulness.
  
• Minimum wage for private sector employees: The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) says that an estimated 40 percent of Malaysia's eight million private sector employees earn less than RM700 a month. The MTUC's proposal raises the minimum wage to RM900 a month.

Here are some resources to guide you:

Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (Electoral Commission) website: http://www.spr.gov.my/

Places to register to vote:

The most convenient place to register is at the Post Office.

You may also register at the SPR Headquarters:
Aras 4 & 5, Block C7, Parcel C,
Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan
62690 PUTRAJAYA.

Media links:
The Star (http://thestar.com.my/)
The New Straits Times ( http://www.nst.com.my/)
Malaysia Kini ( http://www.malaysiakini.com/)

Political blogs:
Nathaniel Tan ( http://jelas.info/)
Khoo Kay Peng ( http://khookaypeng.blogspot.com/)
Marina Mahathir (http://rantingsbymm.blogspot.com/)
The Cicak ( http://thecicak.com/)
Jeff Ooi ( http://www.jeffooi.com/)

Political party websites:
Barisan Nasional ( http://www.bn.org.my/cgi-bin/index.asp)
Party KeADILan Rakyat ( http://www.keadilanrakyat.org/)
Democratic Action Party ( http://www.dapmalaysia.org/newenglish/)

If I'm preaching to the choir and you've already registered to vote, my humblest apologies. I also realize that many of you are abroad and are unable to vote but that doesn't exclude you from the election machinery! Tell your family and friends in Malaysia about the importance of voting, research the issues and tell everyone what you think, start a blog! If you've found this e-mail helpful, please forward it to anyone you think may benefit from it. See you on election day!

The KL Skyline

Beer for Malaysian Queers

Walking down a busy street packed with bars, clubs and tourists, looking for La Queen, a popular gay club in KL, I realize my gross underestimation of the gay scene here. Instead of a dark back alley with a nondescript entrance, the club stands three storeys tall on the corner of a busy intersection, a rainbow flag draped conspicuously over the front door. After hesitatingly paying the 30 ringgit cover charge, I climb the stairs to the main dance floor. At 11:30, it is nearly at full capacity with boys dressed in their twillight best, gal pals in tow. I stand on the sidelines for a while but soon realizing my awkwardness, I decide to explore the place a bit. The level above the dancefloor contains its own bar and balcony and above that, another alcove and loungey room with beds (!) and couches. I see the requisite glass birdcage that hangs from every gay club I've been to and upon closer inspection, I realize that it's a glass birdcage WITH a shower. In between the spurts from the fog machine, I realize how much La Queen reminded me of Pure in Philadelphia or G-A-Y in London, a serious party venue with plenty of eye candy and loads of fun.

Since I still don't have any pictures to show you, I'm doing the next best thing: Steal someone else's photo from Flickr.

This is a photo of one the bars along Jalan P. Ramlee, a street close to the twin towers where revellers pack the street every weekend.

Good Food is Probably Not Posh Nosh

There's a delightfully funny comedy on BBC called Posh Nosh that lampoons every single cooking show on air -- Food Network fans beware! The episode I watched showed Minty and Simon create "Architect's Fish and Chips." First, they had an actual architect build a paper model of the food. Then there was an olive oil tasting demonstration in which Simon swills three different kinds of E.V.O.O. in his mouth before deciding on the perfect bottle. Best yet, the pair incessantly talk about their old and expensive house and kitchen utensils while they're preparing the meal. Here's what's written in Simon's "Food Philosophy" on the Posh Nosh webpage:

I once ate a Flayed Swordfish And Guava Millefeuille that reminded me, in one sweet mouthful, of a Sea Interlude by Britten, a painting by Turner and one of Michael Holding's rampant, perfect-length balls.

I think it's even funnier when you actually know someone who talks as pompously and obnoxiously about food as the folks at Posh Nosh do.

Down Memory Lane

Sorting through my old photos yesterday, I unearthed these gems:

This is me at 12 trying to debunk Asian stereotypes. Back then, I thought I was really cool and couldn't figure out why I was targeted by the school bullies.
Here I am again, dressed in the Malaysian school uniform but unable to shed my outer geek.
This was my room at boarding school in Singapore. You can tell I wasn't very organized by the post-its on my desk.
It's true what they say about boarding school -- that it's a hotbed of homoeroticism. We had a tradition of stripping birthday boys so it wasn't uncommon to see a guy running around in his underpants, screaming at his friends.
This was when I thought fisherman hats were awesome.
I don't know the two guys on the right but from left to right: Wind (she'd be upset if I used her real name because she thinks she's being stalked(!)), Chuan Yaw, Lip Yoong and Johnson. The latter three were my roommates in boarding school.

My group of friends in junior college after a lecture.

Feeding the Beckham frenzy that's sweeping the US, here's a photo of David B. when he visited my school in Singapore.

Malaysia ain't got no First Amendment

The Malaysian blogosphere is abuzz with news of Nathaniel Tan's detention by the police three days ago "to facilite investigation under the Official Secrets Act". Nathaniel works frequently with the opposition party and blogs about politics in Malaysia, often critical of the government's policies. This is not the first time a political opponent of the ruling (and since 1957, the sole) party has been imprisoned by the coppers (Anwar anyone?) and I would wager everything that it will not be the last. Speak out against oppresion, sign the petition.

The Power of Imagination

Hey! Let's play a game of pretend. Let's pretend that I'm a really good and consistent blogger with lots of witty, insightful things to say about everything. Now let's pretend that I bring my ancient and heavy-as-a-brick camera with me everywhere and take lots of interesting pictures of Malaysia to show my friends who aren't here with me. Let's put on our imagination caps:

1) Standing on the 66th floor of the Petronas Twin Towers looking down on the deceptively smaller buildings, the traffic almost invisible and the Klang Valley becoming more evidently a valley.

2) Driving home at midnight on a busy street, I see two gweilos riding on elevated bicycles, perhaps circus performers backpacking around the world on impractical but amusing contraptions. What fun!

3) A late night snack at a famous alley shack, dining on fried noodles under a moonless sky. The hawker (a couple dressed in matching knee high fishmonger boots, sweat pouring down their foreheads) screaming over the hot wok alternately at their employees and each other.

4) Visiting a grandaunt at the hospital, a woman once bossy and rotund is reduced to a skeletal frame, an occasional nod and serious bed head. My mother, shouting into her right ear (a stroke has made her lose her hearing, you see) to "ask Jesus to come into your heart." The urgency of the situation - an unsaved family member on her deathbed - should be evident in the photo.

I hope you had fun pretending. Bye!

"Has the dexterity to julienne ever been so sexy?"

The NYT has an article about the recent trend in movies and television that reflect our increasing obsession with good food.

Jealousy

Where can I find me one of those? I'm totally voting for Pedro here.

Here's what I've been up to: Idling

When I tell people that I'm not employed inevitably the question "What do you do with your time?" creeps into the conversation. It's a hard question since it's one that I cannot answer immediately. What do I do with my time, anyway? Must I have something to do with my idle time?It has been five weeks since I've been back and I'm sitting at the computer as I did on the first day of my break, unemployed, lazy and unmotivated. I suppose I've been keeping myself busy with a few job applications, going to the gym, exploring different parts of KL, helping my parents with chores around the house, blogging, spending an inordinate amount of time on the internet and taking more than a few naps. Sometimes, I lie on my bed quite content to be underutilised and thinking I could live like this for a long time.

More US Bashing

Since 2003, the United States has received only 800 refugees from Iraq. This is in contrast to the 18,000 Sweden has accepted and the 30,000 per month Syria receives. Wow. 800 refugees compared to the scores killed by military intervention? Surely the US can do better than that for a country that's declining into civil war not to mention the US's role in starting the war in the first place.

Queer Malaysia

Here's some gay news from Malaysia to spice things up. I don't really know what to make of the level of acceptance of LGBT people here since on one hand, we're seeing very real homophobia from political leaders but on the other hand, the media is quite tolerant about LGBT issues (last week, they ran an op-ed piece by a M to F transgendered person).

Shear Fickleness

Scratch what I said about cheap and fast haircuts. Moderately priced haircuts where you're served tea while getting your new 'do by a hairstylist named Fei who wears Elvis Costello glasses and hipster jeans are probably the best thing to do on a hot, lazy Thursday afternoon.

A pictoral review of my time in Singapore

The Aeroline "Executive" bus - a double decker bus with big comfy seats and a lounge - that brought us from KL to Singapore

The interior of the bus. The top floor contains passenger seating and the entire bottom deck is used as a lounge with big comfy couches.
This is Little India on a Sunday afternoon, possibly at its liveliest.

These two photos are of Orchard Road, the main shopping avenue in Singapore.
I sojourned back to my old high school and snapped this shot. There used to be a back gate just below this building where we could sneak out of school.
This is the public library where I used to study after school. I always wound up reading magazines instead of doing my homework.


These are pictures of public housing flats. About 80-90% of Singapore lives in public housing. I suppose this is what most tourists in Singapore don't see, a rather depressing -- functional but unaesthetic -- view of a country where everyone lives in flats the size of shoeboxes and in buildings completely devoid of character.

This is the hawker center close to my old high school. Food at hawker centers is cheap and the ambience is decidedly more laid back. This is probably the largest eatery I've seen in Singapore.

Not THAT Down Under

Well, I'm off to Singapore tomorrow for a few days and I'll resume posting once I return (hopefully with pictures). Toodles!