Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Wong Soon Kai's Sensational Letter

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1987... THE YEAR OF THE MING COURT AFFAIR...What a hell of an exciting year in politics for Sarawak, a partner in the confederation of Malaysia (together with Sabah)!

A former Chief Minister and governor of Sarawak, Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub attempted a dramatic Shakespearan come back by calling his loyalist politicians to Malaysia's federal capital, Kuala Lumpur for a meeting in a high class hotel called The Ming Court. Any significance in choosing the location of Ming Court? Have a look at Wikipedia here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_dynasty and be the judge). His nephew, his anointed successor, Tan Sri Datuk Taib Mahmud dug in and steadfastly stood his ground and fought hard. Taib won!

Twenty-seven Sarawak state assemblymen met in Kuala Lumpur. The dramatis personae: According to the New Straits Times dated 11/3/1987 eight of them were from PBDS, Datuk Daniel Tajem (Lingga), Mr. Gramong Juna (Machan), Dr. James Masing (Balleh), Datuk Edmind Langgu anak Sagga (Krian), Mr. Joseph Kudi (Ngemah), Dr. Jawie Masing (Pakan), Haji Bolhassan Kambar (Tatau) and Mr. Mikai anak Mandau (Batang Ai); eight from PBB, Datuk Noor Tahir (Lawas), Datuk Hafsah Harun (Petra Jaya), Datuk Tajang Laing (Belaga), Haji Zainuddin Satem (Saribas), Encik Mohamed Hilary Tawan (Gedong), Wan Madzihi Mahzar (Oya), Datuk Wan Yusof Tun Tuanku Haji Bujang (Kalaka) and Wan Abdul Wahab Wan Sanusi (Semera); five from SNAP, Datuk Edward Jeli (Marudi), Mr. Michael Ben (Tebakang), Mr. Nueng anak Kudi (Pelagus), Mr. Geman anak Itam (Meluan) and Mr. Joseph Balan Seling (Telang Gusang); four from SUPP, Mr. Hollis Tini (Sri Aman), Mr. David Tiong Chiong Chu (Igan), Mr. Wilfred Kiroh anak Jeram (Dudong) and Mr. Sim Choo Nam (Engkilili) and three were independents, Mr. Wilfred Nissom (Bengoh), Wan Habib Syed Mahmud (Balingian) and Haji Saadi Haji Olia (Kuala Rejang).

In the ensuing war (or was it merely a battle?) a lot of dirty logging polluted water under our many bridges was exposed to the hungry open-fish mouth public which was fed eye-bulging, eye-opening savory delicious morsels of enlightening food through the news media both locally and abroad ...

Billions of ringgit(dollars) worth of timber wealth - contracts that were shamelessly given to numerous cronies were exposed. Other scandalous shenanigans were the conversion to Islam by enticement with lucrative timber contracts; gifts of blue ICs (In those days this meant proof of Malaysian citizenship) to non-Malaysians and the involvement of the top state leadership in throwing political opponents into prison and so on. (Just read the letter, found in the Borneo Post dated 15/4/1986! This open letter was written in response to an earlier fascinating one by Yakub in the Sarawak Tribune dated 11/4/1987).

Of course, some of us Sarawakians knew a lot of these outrageous shenanigans were happening and our well-respected honest Minister of Works and Infrastructure (Tan Sri) Datuk Wong Soon Kai's letter only served to confirm what we knew all along. Wong Soon Kai was the Secretary-general of SUPP (Sarawak United People's Party, a component party of the state and federal National Front (known officially as the Barisan National, headed by Mahathir Mohamad). Formerly, Yakub's man, he was loyally alligned to Taib Mahmud.

Personally, Wong Soon Kai's expo`se made me recall the story of the outspoken boy who said, "... but he wears NO clothes!" when he saw the naked vain pompous powerful emperor riding by on his horse... and all the by-standers of course knew he was in the nude but dared not say a word...

Go on! Grab and read the famous book THE EMPEROR WHO WORE NO CLOTHES ... (Hmmmnnnn THE EMPRESS WHO WORE NO CLOTHES will surely attract more readers of us males of the human species, I'm sure).

Rejoice! It's a Wonderful Life!

I'll be going to be Indiana Jones for a short while so I hope you'll be entertained by this cool song during my absence from civilization...

Vaginal Act of Vanity or Love???

How tragically sad that this would happen to a lady...

Was it an act of vanity on the part of Yoke Lin or an act of love? The Malay Mail's front page headlines seemed rather harsh in its judgement to me, in crying out the op as 'a vanity op'. Wouldn't you think she did it to please her lucky man??? ...I'm sure there were feminists who were outraged when they read this article! The irony is that the late Malay Mail has the interesting slogan The Paper that Cares.

Don't get me wrong: I used to love the paper. The Malay Mail was one of the most exciting papers ever to be found in Malaysia and could be considered as a bit racier than many other papers by Asian standards. .The paper, for whatever reasons, would often push the envelope ...just as the popular Star presently often does though it maintains its pro-government stand like the Malay Mail used to.

ARE WE PIECES IN A COSMIC CHESS GAME???

AMAZING! INCREDIBLE! STRANGE! WEIRD! So many words can be used to describe a London Express Service story like this which appeared in the Sarawak Tribune. The date of the article is temporarily lost!

The remarkable coincidences or parallelisms remind me of the shocking number eleven in the 9/11 tragedy which has been mentioned in my blog here if you're a new visiting surfer!

In War, Humans Become Barbarians...

The pic and story above come from the banned Sarawak Tribune, dated 8/19/95. It's all about the appalling ill-treatment and atrocities committed against captives by the WW2 Japanese Imperial Forces in the Far East, including Malaya.

Don't get me wrong: I'm not beating a dead horse (WW2 Japs & their sins) here. It's my belief that we must be reminded of the past or we'll be condemned to repeat it, to paraphrase George Santayana. Let's not hide the truth and bury the past, hoping everything will be better tomorrow. It won't be better tomorrow as history has shown us that the similar forms of bloody wars, strife, revolutions and so forth occur worldwide...

As for the Japs, the people of today are quite different from the WW2 ones and war does change humans, turning them into inhuman barbaric beasts. In every war, crimes against humanity have been and will be committed. This war may be as minuscule as the campaign against the communist terrorists, aka War of the Running Dogs in Malaysia and as widely awesome as World War 2.

I'm saying the Japs of today are different from the militant Japs 'cos I've personally been to modern Japan twice and experienced its warm Japanese hospitality. The people are polite and gracious towards visitors even though it is difficult to communicate with them due to their English language backwardness. In fact, the airport Japanese female staff in the postal outlet and elseway, despite their English handicap, were remarkably friendly, helpful and humble towards me at the Narita Airport on both occasions, giving me an excellent impression of the people there.

UNSOLVED MYSTERY 5: Whudunit???

Another mysterious fire outbreak in Miri...A famous old library was almost razed to the ground.
It would be another blow to our historic past. I remember riding my bicycle from Jalan Temonggong Oya all the way to the public library, just to either return or to borrow books from a large collection of books, mainly English books and some periodicals and magazines.

Previously, another mysterious fire was also reported at St. Columba's St. Aiden's block of classrooms. The fire completely destroyed some historical documents and records there.

In addition, before this fire, a very old institution built in the 20th century before Sarawak joined Malaya to form Malaysia, famously known as The Sarawak Club was completely razed to the ground.

Till today, there's absolutely no news regarding the old library fire which appears to be an act of arson.

Cheers to the Nude Mexicans!

How about that! Thousands of Mexicans behaving au naturel in Mexico City for the famous Tunick photography shoot recently. For more details go to http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-05-06T172116Z_01_N06264949_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEXICO-TUNICK.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
These amazing nude photography by the famous Tunick has been conducted around the world but certainly not in Malaysia. I wouldn't be surprised if a growing liberal Singapore would be the first Asian country to allow it if Thailand doesn't beat it to do so first!

His name is Patrick Teoh. Known also as The Voice (He claimed he was crowned this title following an incident whereby he said something out of the blue and those present called him The Voice ever since) for his deep Pavarotti voice and natural English enunciation, he had a huge following in Malaysia. Some would hate this controversial radio deejay; others would love him when he hosted some of the morning shows on Radio 4 before Traks FM appeared.

Need I say that long before he became a long term fixture on the Rhythm of the Nation show, he was already a rising star of the Cool and Swinging Show...and The True and Amazing Facts Show (I heard about the latter and frankly, I haven't listened to it before).

Why was he so controversial?

He was outspoken, opinionated (too highly opinionated to some!), brash and blunt at times. Some said he was rude and obnoxious which would be debatable.

I liked him the way he was and saw him in the former description as outspoken, opinionated, brash and blunt. It's honesty at its extreme. Nevertheless, it was therapeutic for many, I believe.

Consider the sort of listeners he had in a time when Big Brother ruled with a big stick: Boring shows were the norm of the day. Interaction with the Malaysian public was a new phenomenon and this was skilfully molded by him into absolutely highly rated entertainment for everybody.

Folks from all walks of life and I include a certain buddy of mine who was a top sales rep in Miri loved to phone up and talk whatever topics Pat had in his Rhythm of the Nation shows. Alas! My buddy actually hit the bottle after his show went off the air following Pat's suspension for a hilarious prank, famously called the Duck Test Joke on April Fool's Day.

I heard my buddy calling twice over the radio. He was heaping praises on him for providing so many interesting shows! This sales guy was also agreeing with every word that his radio idol was complaining about such as annoying callers with their irritating radios switched on while on the phone line chatting with him. Sometime later I was quite shocked that this fan of his was angry that the show was no longer on and he really had to drown his sorrows by drinking heavily. This was a surprising revelation, considering he was not supposed to drink on strictly religious grounds!

These are just a few thoughts about Patrick Teoh. I'm keeping my promise to him to talk about him and the Pat fan who went nuts .... It's done, man!

By the way, as an afterthought, I don't think fans of his like us have a name...How about maybe we call ourselves patties after his name, Patrick or perhaps, duckies after his most controversial prank that likely got him off the air...