Of HOPE & a SCUMBAG like this one

As I write this post, I debated with myself on the title of the post.

What I want to write is about hope, hope for the remaining ISA detainees, and about a scumbag whose remark I picked up from Anilnetto.com.

About the scumbag

Chong, a commentator in Anilnetto’s blog related the unsympathetic reaction from a corporate manager on Nov 9 PJ ISA candlelight vigil and commemorating Nov 11 arrests: ‘

The saddest part is to hear my materialistic manager saying ‘Serve them right’ this morning…’

About hope for the 60+ ISA detainees

Raja Petra, in his speech addressing the people in Seremban on Friday upon his release from ISA detention, has this to say (please read his full speech transcript at The Whisperer):

Some have been errr..8 years. Up to 8 years in detention without any trial. They don’t know when they are going to be out. Errr… Some have been there 5…6 years and their family are suffering, because they are there and their family does not able to earn any income. Some of them like from Sabah. Their family are too poor to visit them. So…. some of them don’t even get any family visits for a few months.

Under ISA the only calendar you have is the no. of days you are inside. You do not know how long you are in. Not knowing when you are going to go home…… Record so far, 30 years, longer than Mandela and that’s a Chinese man from Singapore was detain under the ISA in the 60’s. And err…by the time he was released…….. errr… he didn’t have a home to go to, no more friends left. They took away his citizenship, and they deport him to China and China didn’t want him because he’s not a China citizen, so he become stateless. And there are people who have been for 10 years, 15 years. They eat their meals in their bedroom. They only see their bedroom. By the time they released them 15 years later, they go home. They do not know how to sit at the table to eat. So when they come to dinner time, they take their plate, go to their bedroom and sit on their bed and eat….. Did you see what ISA did? It’s not the physical thing, the beating. It’s the mental thing…. When you come out from ISA after so long, you sort of are a prisoner until you die, even though you are released. And that’s the sad part of ISA.

Now it’s my turn to say my 2 sen piece!

Scumbag, do you know that change is part of parcel of our life and change is inevitable? It is change that has liberated the American blacks from slavery, change that gave way to the emancipation of women, change that gave Malaysia her independence! If Tunku Abdul Rahman and his delegation were like you, sitting at home with arms folded and be an armchair critic, would you and I be living in a country free from British rule? We will be squatters in our own nation, our rulers and leaders being manipulated like puppets by the colonist ‘tuan’. Tunku and his people initiated talks that lead to change, our country gaining independence. Just as the good people who were in PJ on Nov 9 night did, who wanted to see change in our country. If you think that you can forever be contented in your comfort zone, you are wrong! If you refuse to be a part of the change this country is experiencing now, you are like a ‘katak dibawah tempurung’. Soon you will be buried in your own self-contentment! And you don’t deserve to be a ‘anak bangsa Malaysia’.

And to the good people out there, who is courageous to stand up against the intimidation and brutality of our police, I say to you, thank you. Thank you for embracing change, not just for yourself but for your fellow countrymen. Thank you for caring, for your own freedom and that of others you do not even know.

Let us always remember that behind each ISA detainee still inside Kamunting, there is a wife, a child, a brother, a sister, a mother, a father, an uncle, an aunt, a nephew, a niece, a granthmother, a grandfather … hurting, and worrying outside. Some are helpless, some are struggling with finances, with emotions. All without hope. All of them do not deserve this, neither do the good people of Nov 9 PJ incident deserve the manhandling and arrests.

“Please fight for us and pray for us” That’s was what they told me.

Let’s give them hope. Let’s initiate hope by initiating change. Change to abolish ISA.

A baking Sunday (6)

People asked me why I only bake during the weekend especially on a Sunday. Ya… I know Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. But then baking gives me rest. The aroma of butter, vanilla and chocolate enriches my soul and releases the pent up emotions of the week. Next, the absolute heavenly taste of the baked product is simply rejuvenating!

Here are some soul enriching bakes for last Sunday.

Almond white chocolate brownies

Healthy nuts & oats snack