A mother’s reason for taking part in Bersih 3.0

FMT LETTER: From a Mother for a better tomorrow, via e-mail

Why would a mother attend the Bersih’s Duduk Bantah on 28.4? Simple, if Rosa Parks did not sit and Martin Luther King did not walk, Obama could never have run for Presidency. I knew that even one more person would make a difference and so I attended Bersih 3.0 and sat down for a better Malaysia. A better Malaysia for my children and yours so that the voice of our next generation would be heard, that their vote would count.

It all starts with us and we can make that difference, yes my friend, you, me and all other Malaysians hand in hand, we can do it! For beneath our differently coloured skin and despite our ethnicity, the diversity in our ways, in our religions, we all share one thing in common, the Spirit, Heart and Soul of Malaysia, it lives within each Malaysian.

I walked at Berish 1, because one man (RPK) said, don’t talk if you don’t walk!! I was afraid that if I did not walk, I could not do what I loved so much.. talk! It was an eye opener for me, from far away Kelantan, I met many silver haired makciks and pakciks, who came at their own expense as they heeded the call of their Tok Guru. And I, a KLite would have missed an important lesson of standing up and voicing out for what is right.  It was also a lesson on how the news media turned around an event and made it look unsavoury.

When Bersih 2.0 came around, I was overcome by the fear that was created, however better sense prevailed.  Not known to be one to succumb to cowardice, I made my way, though somewhat late into KL.  There I met some young college students who came all the way from Perlis, they admonished me, Auntie you are from KL and you are late! I queried this group of young college going Malay students, how much they were paid to attend the rally?

Angrily they said even the drinks in their hands was paid by their own money.  I continued to query them that they got a good education more easily than our kids and told me, they had no problems and would love to study with Malaysians of all races.  They said they dreamed of a clean Malaysia, free from corruption, a Malaysia where their vote would count and their voice heard, so they came to support the cause of a free and fair election.  A lesson well learned from my young friends.

Come Bersih 3.0, I started checking with friends, as I did not want to walk alone this time and wanted more people to feel the true Spirit of Malaysia.  So a few friends decided to meet up in KL.. Voila.. we must have made for some pretty odd company!! One staid Human Resource Professional, another very conformist office goer, yours truly, a mom of two, before long, were joined by two soon to be priests from East Malaysia.

My two other friends who I was originally to meet, one a lecturer and the other a fitness trainer, joined the rally at Brickfields, however we did not manage to meet up, as the mobile phone service seemed to be jammed.  Did we care that we were, Indian, Chinese, Eurasian or East Malaysian? Wow we are just a great fruit salad of Malaysian friendship!

With our cars parked in the vicinity of Taman Jaya LRT station, we took the LRT to Central Market, the train was bustling with excitement and people updating and getting news of the rally, it was a festive atmosphere.  On the LRT, I met two young college girls who said that their parents were bringing them to the rally. Bravo to such parents! I told these girls, that one day they could proudly tell their kids that they made a stand for a better electoral system and for a better Malaysia.  Though we were apprehensive if the doors of the train would open at Central Market, they did and all the Bersihers eagerly made a beeline for the exit.

At Central Market, we just could not believe what we were seeing, thousands upon thousands of Yellow and Green attired Bersihers.  It looked like a huge carnival of happy Malaysians. Despite the heat and the blazing sun, we joined the long and winding queue of cheerful and happy people.  These were Malaysians with a Mission, who were out there to be counted and make a difference for the country. As we all walked in an orderly fashion, the crowds surged from Menara MayBank on Tun Perak until Dataran Merdeka, even the side lanes had huge spillovers, Lebuh Ampang, Hang Leiku, Tun HS Lee, were just teaming with happy Malaysians.

North Koreans Punished for Not Mourning Enough

When mourning for a dead leader, make sure that you cry and look genuinely sad, especially when you are in North Korea.

North Korean authorities rounded up people who had not shown enough sadness during the death of and mourning period for Kim Jong-Il last December.

Citizens who were suspected of “not mourning enough” were sent to labor-training camps for at least six months. Others were sent to re-education camps.

Those truly unfortunate were sent to remote areas with their families for unspecified punishment.

Hong Kong Bus Driver Performs Miracle Multitasking Feat

They say that only women can truly multitask.

That statement was easily proven false, however, when this bus driver in Hong Kong skillfully amazed netizens by reading a newspaper, listening to the radio, eating his breakfast and taking calls at the same time.

Most impressive was that he did all of this while successfully driving the bus in heavy traffic!

Sex With Dogs, Horses, Calves & More: What in the World Is Going On These Days?

This has been a banner month for zoophilia as people accused of sex with just about every animal in the zoo are popping up in courtrooms across the nation.

One of the strangest cases involves a doctor accused of having sex with a patient.

In most cases, that would be merely unethical.

In this case, however, Thomas Barret Lyle Wilson isn't a regular doc -- he's a veterinarian, and his "patient" was a horse.

Actually, it was a horse in a training center, and the owners allegedly caught him in the act by watching a live video feed.

"I'm glad you caught me. I need help," he said, according to an affidavit quoted by the The Daily O'Collegian.

But 28-year-old Wilson isn't the only one making headlines for bestiality. There's a cop accused of doing it with calves... a mayor's sun who's "into" German shepherds and even a guy with an affinity for rottweilers.

I won't even pet a rottweiler.

Spiny, Venomous New Sea Snake Discovered—"Something Special"

A new species of venomous sea snake mysteriously covered head to tail in spiny scales has been discovered in treacherous seas off northern Australia, a new study says.

Though some other sea snakes have spiky scales on their bellies, "no other [known] sea snake has this curious feature," study leader Kanishka Ukuwela, an ecologist at the University of Adelaide, said by email.

Normally snakes have smooth scales, but each of the newly named Hydrophis donaldi's scales has a spiny projection, he said.

Scientists cruising shallow seagrass beds in the Gulf of Carpentaria (map) recently captured nine of the rough-scaled reptiles.

"The minute the first one landed on the deck, I knew we had something special," study co-author Bryan Fry of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, said by email. "It was quite unlike any of the sea snakes I have seen."

Each of the specimens was found on the rocky seafloor, a habitat that could explain the new species' uniquely strong scales, Fry noted.

Overall, though, "we don't know why this interesting feature evolved in this species, or what they are used for," study leader Ukuwela said.

New Amphibians Without Arms or Legs Discovered

They aren't worms or even snakes. They're soil-burrowing, limblessamphibians, and they're completely new to science, a new study suggests.

Pictured guarding a brood of eggs in its native northeastern India, the animal above is one of about six potentially new species belonging to a mysterious group of animals called caecilians. What's more, the newfound critters represent an entirely new family of amphibians—family being the next major level up from genus and species in scientific naming conventions—according to findings announced today by the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Christened Chikilidae ("Chikila" being a local tribal name for caecilians), the family's closest relatives live more than 7,000 miles (11,265 kilometers) away in tropical Africa, the study team reported.