Lights on, Lights off

I'm getting a bit confused whether I should like or dislike light for the role it plays in the determination of the outcome of a contest or an election.

I still remember the Thomas Cup final at Jakarta between Malaysia and Indonesia in 1967.

The ebullient Indonesian fans tried to bring about a Malaysian defeat by making a din on the Malaysian serves, using flash photography at well-timed moments, and jeering loudly at Malaysian errors. Consequently, the Indonesian team nearly won the game unceremoniously due to their surreptitious act.

Luckily it was the swift and wise decision of the tournament referee, Mr. Herbert Scheele, who had halted the play and subsequently  IBF (BWF) had also made a ruling that the game was to be resumed in a third country, New Zealand, so as to minimize the repercussion of the crowd interference from the contending countries.

Indonesia protested at the decision and boycotted the game to give Malaysia a walkover with a 6-3 victory to win the trophy.

1967 Thomas Cup Badminton Final part 2 of 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IXEMXqCccA&list=PL4A0B67A7D0533588 )

1967 Thomas Cup Badminton Final part 1 of 2
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDlJsA-G1fs&list=PL4A0B67A7D0533588)

In another development, a blackout (lights turned off) for a few minutes was enough to turn the tables  for an apparent loser to emerge a victor in an important election; a feat which even David Copperfield would never have dreamed of performing.

~~ After the Turks went to the polls in a round of contentious local elections on Sunday, power outages forced some voting centers to count votes by candlelight. Accusations of election fraud ran rampant, especially in the closely-watched contest in the capital. In an attempt to ease voter worry, Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has now come forward with the culprit for the power cuts: a cat.

"I am not joking, friends," he said, according to the Agence France-Presse. "A cat walked into a transformer unit. That’s why there was a power cut. It’s not the first time this has happened. ~~

Turkish Official Blames Election Night Power Outages on a Cat

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/01/turkey-election-power-outages-cat_n_5068226.html

~~~ Even more disturbing stories of fraud tarnished the election night, including complaints from many areas that electricity blackouts were orchestrated during counting to allow BN to bring in boxes of votes and alter the outcome of several Federal and State seats.  This happened in several states where PR had been clearly leading.  In Lembah Pantai, the seat of Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter Nurul Izzah, residents took to the street to blockade police cars allegedly delivering fraudulent ballots to the counting booth, long after the polls had closed. ~~~   

(Malaysia’s 13th general election tarnished by fraud.)

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=14980 )

So my advice to you is " you don't play-play with light” as its source of illumination could create miracles and history that man alone could never have hoped to achieve. 

高渊樟角山没了

看不见的东西并不表示它不存在。

正如你不能与春蚕、夏蝉語冰。它们会难以置信，以为你在车大炮。

同样的，如果你对高渊的小孩子说你曾经好几回爬上高渊樟角山，他们还以为你还活在爱丽丝的童活世界里。或者他们以为你头脑有问题，需要在Tanjung Rambutan精神病院静养余生。

不论您是高谈'冬天'，仰或是'漫游爱丽丝的童活世界'，肯定的是，我小时候曾经爬上樟角山好几遍。

虽然樟角山和喜马来雅山比较起来，它是小巫见大巫。但是它曾经是高渊最高的地标。

樟角山曾经是一座小山林。上世纪五十年代初期，共产党党员曾经在此扎营打游击战，攻击高渊附近的军警人员。我还记得我小时候，有一天下午听到家里对面饮食档传来两响的枪声。据说有一名华籍探员当场就毙。事后，高渊被视为黒区，实施戒严霄禁。从此以后，高渊的市场生意一落千丈。由此可见，樟角山和高渊市场上的商业活动的兴衰是息息相关的。

在上世纪七、八十年代期间，樟角山的红土被发展商经年累月地挖掘，一车又一车 的载走。它终于无奈得被㘮为平地。

被㘮平的樟角山，犹如拨出去的水，无法固本还原。

可悲的是从来没有任何地方名人或历史学家质疑过为何一座原始山林能轻易任由他人在高渊重演'愚公移山'。难道以往英殖民地政府所通过的山林保护法令没有被贯彻执行？

原本樟角山是高渊的重要的绿肺和地标，却让我们这代高渊子民眼睁睁地看着它被发展的洪流淹没。

如今山没了，Changkat(小山)的名还在，叫我们情何以堪！叫我们如何对得起高渊江东父老？我们又如何去向我们高渊子民的后嗣交代？

THE VANISHING OF CHANGKAT HILL

What you don't see doesn't mean that it never have existed.

Let's say if you go and tell a silkworm there is snow in winter, she will be perplexed and say you are pulling its leg.

Similarly, if you were to tell a Nibong Tebal lad today that you had once scaled up Changkat Hill, he would have said that you are living in Alice's Wonderland and you needed to be housed at the mental institution in Tanjung Rambutan.

Be it in winter or at Alice’s Wonderland, I have not the slightest doubt that I had hiked up Changkat Hill, not once, but several times!

http://zest-zipper.blogspot.com/2010/09/old-town-chinese-medical-hall-on.html

Changkat Hill was once the highest landmark of Nibong Tebal although it was dwarfed by Mount Everest by a mile. It was a dense jungle once used by the communists as a hiding place to launch their 'hit and run' attacks on local police officers. One afternoon, as a kid, before the school going age, I heard a sudden sound of ‘bang-bang'  coming from the eating stalls opposite my house at  High Road,Nibong Tebal. A Chinese constable was gunned down. Following this incident, Nibong Tebal was immediately declared a 'Black Area' with curfews imposed indefinitely. Business in Nibong Tebal was gravely affected as police checkpoints were set up at the major roads leading to the town. This was how Changkat Hill was indirectly linked to the ups and downs of the business of the town.

http://zest-zipper.blogspot.com/2008/07/fate-fooled-my-dad.html

Changkat Hill disappeared gradually over the years. In the seventies and eighties of the last century, red earth was dug and removed from it consistently for development purposes until there was no sign of the hill on the landscape of Changkat village.

Now, the village of Changkat exists in name but not in 'substance' as ‘changkat’ literally means ‘small hill’ in the Malay language.

Once the hill had been flattened it could never be restored to its original position. It is rather a sad story that by far no historian or any public figure has ever voiced or explained  as to why and how the hill could be flattened as all hills or mountains were supposed to be gazetted as protected areas since the British colonial times.

How could we answer to our ancestors in Nibong Tebal or to explain to our future generations that Changkat Hill which was once a landmark and a green lung of Nibong Tebal, was levelled to the ground before our very eyes without even the slightest protest from the local residents of the town.

米粒隔离政策

APARTHEID IN THE MIDST OF THE RICE POPULATION

某天,亚明被告知要将一推黑白参杂的米分开隔离。如果他不依照指示办，晚餐会没饭吃。

One day, Ah Beng was told by his wife to separate the black grains of rice from the white ones. If he didn't follow the instruction, he'd have to go to bed without dinner.

亚明马上呈递美敦书严厉抗议‘米粒隔离政策’。原则上他不会同意这种另类的种族歧视。他一向对所有的米都会 一视同仁，毫无分别心。黑米、白米、只要能入囗，照吃不误。所谓：“黑米、白米，能吃的就是好米！”

Immediately, Ah Beng sent out an ultimatum with the strongest protest note that his principles did not favour the policy of apartheid for the population of grains of rice as he wanted to treat all grains of rice equally irrespective of their colour, size or origin. Whatever rice that was shoved into his mouth he would chew and swallow without the slightest hint of discrimination.

 可是亚明家里其他成员都是'极端份子 '。他们对黑米很排斥。据说吃了黑米饭，他们的肚子会不舒服。

But other members of his family were ultra-racists. They discriminated against the black grains of rice saying that their stomachs could not stomach the black grains of rice and their stomachs would feel very upset after taking them.

 其实亚明并不是真正的人权份子。他只是一位伪君子。他假借反对隔离政策之名，其实想借机偷懒，不想浪费时间，呆呆坐在那儿静静地挑选米粒，让黑米白米分离。

To tell the truth, Ah Beng was just another hypocrite. Not that he was a racist. Just that he did not want to waste his time sitting quietly like a fool sorting out the black grains of rice from the white ones.

 最后还是碍于形势比人强，‘人在屋檐下，不得不低头’。如果不照指示作，肯定今晚要挨饿睡觉。所以他只好乖乖听话，双腿盘坐，将黑米、白米一粒一粒分开。

In the end, in order not to let his stomach go without dinner, he had to compromise. He had to sit quietly like a cross-legged Buddha, on the floor, following the policy of apartheid, discriminating against the black rice.

 一般上，一位极端种族主义者是自私`贪婪的。他有他自己的议程。表面上他是他族群的救世主，维护族群的利益为上。实际上，他从中囊括族群所有的利益，成为他族群里唯一受益者。

可是有些人，好像亚明一样，并不是真正的种族主义者。他们只是受形势所逼而成为种族主义的执行者而已。

Usually, a racist is a selfish and greedy fellow. Being a racist, he has his own agenda to fulfil. He would act as if he is the saviour of his own race. In fact he would go all out to amass the wealth of the country all for himself and his family members at the expense of his own race ‘like a super trawler netting all the big fishes in the sea leaving behind ikan bilis for others to share’.

But, sometimes a racist cannot be blamed as a racist as he is, like Ah Beng, a victim of circumstances which he has no control over.