The Antics of Renegade Politicians

I normally do not write much about politics. But the unfolding events in the last couples of days in Malaysia have caused many right thinking Malaysians to express their extreme anger and revulsion. These renegade politicians in cohort with their political enemies caused the downfall of a legitimate government rightfully elected by the people to fulfill a mandate.

The most despicable thing is that these rogue politicians instead of being steadfast in honoring the agreement of their own party reached with their component partners to fulfill the people's mandate chose to abrogate this agreement in cohort with their enemies. The funniest and most ridiculous thing is that these political animals claimed that they were doing it for the good and well-being of the people. No wonder they are being branded as the most treacherous and deceitful politicians Malaysia has ever seen! This incident would go down as the worst betrayal of the people's mandate in Malaysian history!

In Malaysia which is quite unlike other democracies, politicians of all divides like to use a phrase: "Whatever decision or action taken by me or us, it is done for the good and the well being of the people!". This phrase has been so overused that right thinking people feel nauseating whenever this is heard.

If you care to read news or statements of the treacherous politician, two words/phrases stand out prominently as if choreographed: "prioritize" and "well-being of people". On being accused of treachery, his response implied that he wasn't the type of people who "prioritize" power but instead work to restore the "well being of the people". But whatever he meant, the fact of the matter is that his action was  totally contradictory to his own words. 

Politicians gain power through the power of the people. In May 2018, there was great hope when a corrupt government was overthrown through the massive mobilization of people's power (Read here). The sad thing for some is that the seduction of power is just too tempting to resist once power is tasted. After all, it is  the "Power corrupts and corrupts absolutely!" that won the day.

Will there be hope in Malaysia? Some have given up hope and one individual even commented that he should have migrated with his family long ago, even to a much smaller neighbor like Singapore is still far better!

There is still no light at the end of the tunnel!

High Tea with Ex-Classmates

Organizing a class reunion may become more difficult in the coming years since many are opting not to drive especially if it is a night function. But their eagerness to meet seems to be more heightened rather than less enthusiastic. With advancing age, we know that time is no longer on our side!

A reunion is indeed a good break from the routine for some of them. For some, the routine would be sending out "Good Morning" greetings every morning and occasionally as early as 4.30am! I bet some may have sleeping problem!

Most are now living passive lives but their days are still fully engaged and  activity-filled. Many are happily sending their grandchildren to schools everyday and picking them up when the school session ends. Of course, appointments with the doctors or dentists seem to be another common routine among many.

Still there is individual who still has not relinquished the matriarch role and continue to call the shot in the family. This "authority" extends to the third generation.

*********************

Me: Are you still running your day care centre?

Matriarch: No, I stopped two years ago. But I have resumed this recently. I am now looking after two kids

Me: Why?

M: I couldn't stand the boredom of doing nothing everyday. I also take up tuition of my grandchildren plus two other kids.

Me: Why? That's not your responsibility?

M: One day, I saw my grandson scored just 20 out of 100 in his test paper and I told my son, "Send you kids to me every day, I will coach them personally!".

With a smile I said, "Poor kids! Tuition from Monday to Friday! No wonder our Malaysian kids are under so much stress!". In my mind, I was thinking, grandparents are supposed to "unstress" their grandchildren!

On the High Tea, they have thoroughly enjoyed the feasting some far beyond their normal capacity. They felt a sense of pride because of the privilege of eating out at a hotel with 50% discount! That's the upside of being seniors!

Of course, reunion normally generates a sense of nostalgia and a longing to gather as often as possible. The parting words of some of them: "When are we meeting again?". I could only say, "Soon!".

Amsterdam in Three Hours

A tour of Amsterdam in Netherlands is not part of the original itinerary of the South America Tour. However, with a long transit period at Amsterdam Airport in our flight Rio de Janeiro - Amsterdam - Kuala Lumpur, the tour operator decided to add this tour as a bonus to all the tour participants. We were told that the cost per person is Euro 50 for a walking tour of Amsterdam.

Shortly after the plane touched down in Amsterdam on 11 January 2021, we were picked up by a local tour bus at the airport and headed to Amsterdam city. 

Amsterdam is well known for their canals, architecture, coffee and of course the red light district. For this very short tour, we experienced all these!

***************************

It is said that Amsterdam has almost 900,000 bicycles. With a small area of 220 Km2 compared to 350 Km2 of Kota Kinabalu, it has 400 Km of cycling paths. The flat terrain, inconvenience of driving, high parking fee and the many car-free streets has made cycling to become a preferred mode of transport.

*********************************

We did order their coffee in one of the take-away outlets. We were nevertheless fascinated to see the variety of confectionery at the numerous outlets!

*****************************

A tour of Amsterdam without a stroll in the red light district would have been incomplete. Photography in much of the "business areas" is strictly prohibited.

***************************

Outdoor ice skating is popular in the city. In winter, ice skaters also skate on the frozen canals!

Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro

The tour of South America culminated with a visit to the Statue of Christ the Redeemer on 10 January 2020. This statue is acclaimed to be one of the seven new wonders of the world while some like to call it: one of the seven man-made wonders of the world.  We are fortunate to have seen two of the seven wonders found in the South American continent. The other is Machu Picchu in Peru.

I was quite surprised to discover that the statue was built after World War 1 from 1922 to 1931, almost 100 years ago.  It is a product of collaboration between French and Romanian sculptors and French and Brazilian engineers. The statue is 30m high excluding the 8m pedestal. The arms stretch 26m. It's erected at the peak of the 700m high Corcovado Mountain. It can be seen from every corner of Rio de Jainero.

Christ the Redeemer on Mt. Corcovado as viewed from 

the Hotel where we stayed next to Copacabana Beach.

A set of escalators installed in 2003 facilitate easier accessibility to the platform surrounding the statue.

Statue of Jesus in open arms is a symbol of Christianity as well as a symbol of peace.

Sugarloaf Cable Car, Rio de Jainero

Copacabana Beach is flanked by two prominent massive rock outcrops at both ends, Sugarloaf at the east and Mount Corcovado where Jesus the Redeemer is built at the west. Both are shaped like half buried bread bun on the ground. Tips of the "buns" are vintage points to have a grand bird eye view of the city of Rio de Jaineiro. A ride of the cable car is similar to the skyride experience at Grouse Mountain, Vancouver (Read here). But it is probably the lift chair at the Nut in Stanley in Tasmania that offers most thrill (Read here). In Stanley, the unenclosed two-seater lift chair exposes your body to the chilly air while the legs are free to dangle all the way up and down.

Sugarloaf Cable Car has a pretty amazing history since it was first built in 1912. It has since undergone a few upgrades. The thrill of this cable car was brought to world attention in the 1979 James Bond movie "Moonraker" featuring Roger Moore as 007 (See here).

Sugarloaf ride consists of two stages. First is from Ground Zero Station at the base to Morro da Urca Station at 220m elevation. Stage 2 is from Morro da Urca to Sugarloaf Mountain at 396m elevation.

At the first stop at Morro da Urca, one can catch sight of the Statue of the Christ the Redeemer at the far west.

Stage 2: To Sugarloaf Mountain.

Back to Main Station at Ground Zero.

After the cable car experience, we were driven to the Cultural Space Estacio de Sa Monument, a small park by the bay to have another view of Sugarloaf Mountain.

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro

In Rio de Janeiro, we stayed in a hotel overlooking one of the biggest beaches in the world - Copacabana Beach.

Its white sandy beach, crystal clear water and litter-free environment make this crescent-shaped beach the top magnet of holiday makers from around the world.

Its sheer size is best demonstrated by the 3-million colossal crowd (Read here) which gathered on 28 July 2013 to attend mass conducted by Pope Francis during the Catholic Church World Youth Day.

Sunset view taken from roof top of hotel.

Night view taken at roof top of hotel.

3 million crowd at the beach in July 2013!

Photo downloaded from web.

At the beach, we randomly invited a group of bikini-clad ladies for a group photo. The most remarkable thing arising from this incident was after uploading the group photo to the web, a total stranger lady commented: "It's me! (in the photo)". Yet a short while later, another total stranger lady commented: "It's me too!".

I was wondering, What is the chance of such coincidence happening? One in a million?