winds of change (edited)

The following is an edited version of my previous post "Winds of Change"; made some structural changes to it so it sounds more like a formal essay rather a load of waffle.

Personally, I thought that this one is slightly sleeker than the previous one; I think it is comparable in style and impact to the first article I published on Merdeka Day.

I do hope you will enjoy it:-

The ongoing controversy over the UM rankings epitomizes the deplorable conditions of our education system, thrusting its rotting self directly into the media limelight. The sluggishly slow and lukewarm reactions from the relevant government officials on the issue has also led me to wonder whether “awareness” and “humility” are qualities parcelled out equally to everyone at birth.

The main issue of contention aside, it is interesting to note that each time a major issue crops up in Malaysia, it follows the predictive nature almost like actors in a play; they enter the scene according to the proper cues, recite their lines and perform their acts, stirring the audience in the meantime, and finally when the time comes, take their bows and make their exit.

Therefore, once the media frenzy dies down, this issue will be nothing but a distant memory in the minds of most Malaysians. Malaysians are generally an easily excitable lot – we complain, grumble and moan all we want during the height of such issues, but once we’ve had enough, we simply cast it aside.

Furthermore, it does not help that we have a notoriously poor short-term memory when it comes to such things as well.

It is important to realize that in this political equation, the government requires the people more than the people require the government, and once we as the people lower our guard and scrutiny towards the government, we are deliberately allowing for a downhill spiral in the quality of governance we can expect.

Therefore, when viewed in this sense, whenever we freely blame or criticize the government for any problems, we need to remember that some part of the blame lies with us as well.

It is we who have been apathetic towards the current affairs of the country, languishing in our own self-created universe where the problems affecting our members of the public are too distant, too alien to be considered our own.

We are reluctant to step out of our comfort zone, preferring instead to maintain our status quo rather than venturing out to seek greener pastures, even when it looms only on the horizon.

The point is that as long as we remain oblivious to the current goings-on of our country and as long we remain uninterested in the pressing issues facing our nation, it is optimistic to the point of foolishness to expect and moan that things could be better.

One of the main responsibilities of a good citizen is to guarantee the well-being of his or her country.

Therefore, we need to gather our thoughts and keep up with the issues affecting our country in order to promote a favourable atmosphere which could pave the way for a more enlightened discussion over the state of our nation, culminating in a determined, practical and sustained course of action.

Of course, this is where the issue of one's loyalties will crop up and those who raise genuine concerns about such issues are blatantly accused as traitors, Western puppets or mischief-makers who wishes nothing but to wreck havoc and destabilize the country.

Some will even go as far as to demand that such people leave the country based on the feudalistic reasoning that being a Malaysian automatically restricts one’s rights to critically reflect on the direction towards which the country is heading to.

At this point, I think it is important that one should distinguish between the loyalties to one's country and political loyalties; too often in Malaysia, the boundary between the two has been blurred and distorted.

The latter (i.e. political loyalties) can easily be substituted or traded with money, gifts and patronage, but the former (i.e. loyalties to one's country) accepts no other currency besides an honest and unyielding concern for the country.

It calls for an honest and unbiased interpretation of the country's past, a constant and consistent scrutiny and examination of the country's present, and a realistic yet visionary yearning for the country's future.

Paradoxically, a steadfast loyalty to the country often leads to greater complications compared to political loyalties; indeed, national interests and political interests hardly converge at the same point in Malaysia.

However, I believe it is exactly because one is truly concerned and loyal towards one's country that one can muster enough courage to speak up on such thorny issues. It is not due to the moronic reason that one simply wishes to destabilize the country or that one simply worships the West.

Indeed, if we truly didn’t care about our country, wouldn’t it be better for us to ignore the whole thing altogether? Why do we need to burden our minds and time with such things, when doing so can cause nagging headaches afterwards?

After all, hasn’t it be said that qui tacet consentit (silence gives consent)? If this quotation is anything to go by, then it is those who remain apathetic about the country's state of affairs who gives the green light for the continuation of such miscarriages of governance.

Silence as a sign of complicity may provide one with some respite and relief from such issues intruding into our lives, but this “peaceful” situation does not carry on indefinitely. Sooner or later, these issues will come knocking at our doorstep once again.

Therefore, we can't afford to push aside all these issues and conveniently label them as “too political” or “too deep” and hope they will no longer haunt us, because ultimately they will and do concern us.

I have often said it is surprisingly easy to be cynical and pessimistic about the hopes and future of our country. But if we begin to lose faith in our own country, then who will take our place? If we as citizens of Malaysia begin to turn our backs on such issues, who will be left to debate and discuss them?

Too long have our country’s issues been the free domain and reserve of the select few among our country's political circles. Frankly, we don't have to look very far to judge whether our current situation is the best one to be in.

It is high time to shift the balance of power to the real, true masters of this country – its people.

goblet of fire: sweeps you away!

Firstly, let me inform you that one of the perils of following every tiny production details of the movie will cause you to sort of knew how the story will unfold on screen; you will know how the movie-makers will edit a particular scene, how a character will be inserted into a scene, how the sets and special effects will look like - in short, you will be well-versed with the transition from the book to the screen even before you went into the movie theater.

Therefore, even before the movie started, I knew that I wasn't going to see Winky, Dobby, SPEW, the Dursleys, the actual match at the World Quidditch Cup, the rest of the Weaslys among other things. And as dissapointed as I am to know that such things fail to make the cut, I am not thoroughly bothered about it.

Besides, I could not think of any other way they could have allowed such elements into the film; and at this point, one does not only have to think about extended running time, but also about the costs of the extra special effects and other necessary resources.

The way I see it, as long as J.K. Rowling approves of the book-to-screen transition made by the screenwriter, then I am fine with the ommisions they made.

So how does one enjoy a film which you have more or less knew its nitty-gritty details? Would it still be able to provide you with the kind of excitement and wonder one experiences if one were to watch it for the first time?

The answer was a satisfactory yes. I am really impressed with the way the movie-makers worked with the remaining amount of materials left after the initial cut was made - I am really comfortable with the changes they made to the plot, the character insertions or deletions they did.

However I must point out that the pacing of the first half of the movie seemed a bit off at times, jumping quickly from one scene to another, which I believe would leave complete newcomers puzzled and lost and avid fans bewildered and frusfrated. But as soon as we return to Hogwarts, the film regains its continuity and flow, steadily buidling up its momentum to the powerful and electrifying climax.

When you work with such a condensed and complex material such as the Harry Potter series, you are required to make a judicious choice of which elements you want to keep, remove, expand or compress. And in this particular film, I felt that the movie-makers got it right.

Granted, the movie is not as artistically poetic as the third one, but I think they did a fine job with it as an adaptation.

What really struck me however was the acting - from my point of view, it was a lot more convincing than in the previous ones. Even though some of the adult characters have limited screen time, they really manage to convey the feelings and inject the believability into their roles.

Actors such as Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, Robbie Coltrane and Jason Isaacs truly shine in their respective roles - for the first time, I am ready to believe that they are the characters like the way I imagined them from the book.

There have been a lot of talk about Michael Gambon's potrayal of Dumbledore with some saying he deviates too much from the calm and composed Dumbledore many people imagined him to be. Personally, I do not find much trouble with his acting in this film.

True, maybe he is a little too intense, too worried, too erratic at times in the film. But when you think about it, if we are bothered with such things, then it is as if we are expecting him to be consistently reserved - in other words, we are close to expecting him to be a bit inhuman in his emotional reactions.

I think most of us look to Dumbledore as a 'rock' which will provide a firm foundation to which the other characters could anchor their swirling and unpredictable bouts of emotions. To see the headmaster agitated unnerved us a bit.

But I felt that what the movie-makers are trying to convey in this film is that everyone, even Dumbledore, has their own weaknesses - as revealed in the later books - and it is slowly beginning to show, thus setting up for the later movies.

On top of that, Michael Gambon has once said that in an interview that each character he played are just different facets or manifestations of his own character. When you put that into perspective, it seemed quite amazing that he is able to pull off Dumbledore's character effortlesly.

What can I say about Mad-Eye Moody? He is just "WOW!" Brendan Gleeson's potrayal has just the right amout of scruffiness and intensity I come to expect from his character; he is one of the best realized characters in the film. Another perfectly realized character is Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldermort which does it with excellent flourish, skill and subtlety.

The graveyard is without doubt, one of the most powerful scenes in the movie and possibly in the series so far. The confluence of Cedric's death, the return of Voldermort and the prior incantatem curse lends to an overall aura of omniousness and dread so heavy and so overwhelming that you just can't help but to cower in your seats fearing for Harry's life.

The scene when Harry returns to Hogwarts with Cedric's body afterwards is an immensely affecting scene. Harry's reactions, his cries and his reluctance to let go of Cedric's body are excellently executed and you just can't help but to shed tears at this point; I certainly did.

The new score for the film provides a fresh feel to the whole movie without completely neglecting the earlier themes composed by maestro John Williams. It hits the right notes and comes in at the right cues in the film.

When I watched this movie, I began to realize that Goblet of Fire is also about bringing people together, a fact which I never come to realize when I read the book. It is quite amazing for a movie to be able to get that point - which I have completely missed when I read the book - across effectively to its audience.

Indeed, I could think of no greater measure of the quality of an adapation other than that; and for that, I can fairly conclude that Goblet of Fire is truly the best adapation of the series yet.

dreams are not enough to win a war...

I know I have not been writing for the past two weeks, and as much as I despise such long lapses in my blog entries - because it will inevitably lead to a distinct deterioration in the quality of my writing - I guess it can't really be helped.

It is not so much due to a sudden increase in my normal workload, rather it is because I have lots of new and upcoming things which I need to attend to; it is sometimes amazing how the amount responsibilities which you have could have piled up so quickly, so suddenly.

One moment you could feel that you're on top of your work and assignments, and a little moment later a whole load of work could come crashing down on you. But before I bore you with my feeble justifications for not writing for such a long time, I better stop and get on with the programme.

Suffice to say, it is due to an unfortunate confluence of increasing workload, misplaced priorities and utter laziness on my behalf. But at least, I am aware of such things happening to me.

Hopefully that awareness will compel me to start doing my work more regularly from now on.

salam aidilfitri

Seribu kemaafan
Kupohon dari ayah dan ibu
Juga kekasih hati yang dirindu
Sanak saudara nun jauh berbatu

Sambutlah salam ini
Kutujukan pada ayah bonda
Kekasih hati yang jauh di mata
Rakan taulanku sanak dan saudara

Setahun sudah
Kita terpisah di rantauan
Rindu rasa di hati ini
Untuk kembali nun di sana

Setahun sudah
Kita terpisah di rantauan
Kini sudah tiba masanya
untuk kita bertemu lagi

Selamat hari raya
Aidilfitri mulia
Ampun maaf dipinta
Kesilapan yang ada

Selamat hari raya
Aidilfitri mulia
Sebulan berpuasa
Syawal menjelang tiba

Oh... sambutlah salam ini
Kutujukan pada ayah bonda
Kekasih hati yang amat dicintai
Rakan taulanku sanak dan saudara
Seribu kemaafan

Sempena kedatangan Syawal, saya ingin mengambil kesempatan untuk mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri disertai dengan kiriman tulus ikhlas Maaf Zahir dan Batin.