Tower of London, Then & Now

I last visited the Tower of London in March 1984. That was 30 years ago when I was sent by JKR Sabah to attend a short course on airport planning and design at the in Loughborough University.

As I stepped inside the Castle on 11 August 2014, the very obvious reminder of this place is the same uniform worn by the castle staff. The British must be commented for their faithfulness in keeping tradition.

1984 (Left) vs 2014 (Right)

This time, I did notice a difference. The Castle was surrounded by a sea of red flowers. These flowers are in fact red ceramic flowers specially made and planted to commemorate the fallen soldiers of British's involvement in the First World War. Titled "Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red", it consists of 888,246 red flowers - each representing a British or a Colonial military fatality. These "flowers" spread over grounds around the tower. Awesome sight!

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The number one attraction to visitors in this Castle is the Crown Jewels, Here, one can view the world's largest and most interesting gems. On display are crowns and other royal regalia made for and used by a variety of kings, queens and princes of the British monarchy.

we had to spend close to an hour in the queue to get our turn!

Flight to London

The thought of flying from Kuala Lumpur to London brought a tinge of apprehension, knowing that our flight path was not far from the route taken by MH17, which had been tragically shot down over Ukraine. That heartbreaking disaster occurred just 24 days before our departure on 10 August 2014. Understandably, the incident was still fresh in our minds. However, there was some reassurance in believing that the aviation industry would have heightened its vigilance in the aftermath. I was confident that, following such a catastrophe, those involved in flight operations would be exercising the utmost caution to avoid a similar tragedy.

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Our flight path against the ill-fated MH17

Flying in a Boeing 777-200 is indeed a reassuring experience. One of its comforting features is the clear, unobstructed frontal view of the aircraft during both takeoff and landing, offering passengers a greater sense of awareness and connection to the flight process.

The direct flight kept us confined within the plane for 13 hours and 10 minutes. Yet, I personally much prefer a non-stop journey over having to endure a long layover of 6 to 8 hours at a transit airport mid-journey. At least with a direct flight, the discomfort is continuous but finite - and you arrive much sooner.

Malaysia, The Power House of Badminton?

In the recently concluded Commonwealth Game held in Glasgow, Malaysia only managed to secure three out of the six medals for Badminton event.

Malaysia Mixed Team

Women's Doubles: Vivian Khoo & Woon Khe Wei

Men's Doubles: Goh V Shem & Tan Wee Kiong

Malaysia has been a dominant force in Badminton since the inception of Commonwealth Game in 1966. Since 1990, Malaysia has been winning at least three of the five individual events. This time, Malaysia failed to secure the Men's Singles. The absence of Lee Chong Wei was surely a factor.

Singapore's rise in badminton is a surprise when Derek Wong made it to the Men's Singles Final and winning a silver.

Malaysia potential Gold medalist Chong Wei Feng ranked 18 was ousted by the 34th rank R M V Gurusaidutt of India in the Quarter Final.

Extended Family

We were told by my Haji Uncle to look for a yellow house by the main highway where the open house of the engagement ceremony would be held. We drove along the stretch of the highway near Kg. Darau but did not see any yellow house. Finally, we had to stop and asked someone for direction. It turned out that the house is not yellow but orange in colour! 

My uncle, Hj. Mandamin has four siblings, all male. He is third and the only surviving one among the four. The man in green T-shirt is Kasim, one of the sons of the late Mandahir, the eldest among the four. He organised the celebration for the engagement of his daughter, Shakira.

 

Before we left, Kasim offered an open ended invitation, " In all future Hari Raya Aidilfitri, just drop by at any time!". Truly friendly family!

With Hj. Mandamin and his youngest son, Basseri and grandson Mohd. Azhari.

Hari Raya Aidilfitri 2014

The last couple of days, traffic was still not heavy because many who took advantage of the Hari Raya break were still on leave and have not gone back to work.

Our Muslim neighbours (Read here) for a second year running delivered some Hari Raya goodies to our house just a few days before Hari Raya Aidilfitri. This time, we reciprocated their kind gesture by also extending them a small gift. We discovered from conversation with the young lady of the house that they in fact employ two guards to guard their house 24/7. Indirectly, this has also benefitted houses along this lane. Since this family moved to our neighbourhood, we have not seen any kid roaming and scavenging the dust bins!

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We also took advantage of the occasion of Hari Raya to visit my Muslim Uncle, Hj. Mantamin in Darau  (Read here) whom I got to know in early 2013. He was ever ready to enhance family ties. In fact he was instrumental in the project to compile the Gomoron Family Tree. We could see that he was pleased that we took the trouble to visit him this Hari Raya. He immediately invited us to attend his brother's open house scheduled to be held on 3 August 2014. The open house was held in conjunction with the occasion of the engagement of a grand-daughter of his elder brother. In fact, according to Hj. Mantamin, the son of his deceased eldest brother really wanted to meet us and to introduce the rest of the clan to us.

A Happy Ending

It is deeply heart-wrenching to read about individuals being condemned to death simply for choosing a faith different from what their society dictates. One such case is that of Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman who faced a death sentence for refusing to renounce her Christian faith (Read here). Thankfully, her plight drew international attention, sparking widespread outrage and diplomatic pressure. Through the intervention of global human rights groups and foreign governments, Meriam was eventually released - a rare and powerful example of how global solidarity can lead to justice and a hopeful resolution (Read here).

With the almost endless news of planes found disappeared, shot down or crashed, this story indeed brought some comfort.

Remembering the Abrupt End of the Lives of 298

Barely five months have passed since the disappearance of MAS flight MH370, Malaysia Airlines suffered another catastrophic disaster when another MAS plane MH17 was lost. This time, it was blown off from the sky apparently by a surface-to-air missile. MAS reported that they lost contact with the flight at 10.15pm on 17 July 2014 when it was at the southeastern tip of the Ukrainian airspace not from the Russian border.

 

298 lives were lost in an instant. It is the families and friends who are left behind who need to bear this exceptional tragedy.

On hind sight, any plane that flew along this flight path could have been blown off from the sky since surface-to-air missile launchers were brought into this part of the war zone. We should never forget these 298 people in MH17 who did a heroic service for humanity by "sacrificing" their lives to eliminate the risk on all other flights may have to face when flying across air space of war zones.

To the families of the 298, all right thinking people involved in the investigation have a duty to find out the truth behind this horrendous tragedy or crime.

Back to Jurassic Period in Singapore

Our mango tree is almost 10 years old. For a second year in running, the tree is giving us a fairly good harvest. That gave us another opportunity to be courier of mango to Singapore.

We did have a good time. The photos are testimony of this assertion.

At the ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands

While walking by Clarke Quay to the Esplanade, I found this unique scene: Solitary beside an Iconic Building.

My grandson Nathan would have loved to do this photo session: Be paleontologists and look for the fossils of dinosaurs.

Flying dinosaur found in Liaoning, China - Changyuraptor Yangi, a relative of the mighty Velocriaptor which had the longest feathers of any known dinosaurs, not two but four wings.

Jerusalem Pilgrim (JP)

Israelis authority has a way of honouring foreign visitors to their country and in particular to Jerusalem. All of us who set foot on Israel and entered Jerusalem were honoured with the title JP, not Justice of Peace by Jerusalem Pilgrim.

A time was specially set aside after dinner to present the Certificates to all pilgrims in one of the hotel function rooms. One of the Directors of the tour company joined the party and presented the Certificate to each pilgrim.

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For visitors who sailed the Sea of Galilee, the local tour operator also issued certificate to attest this experience.

Mazal U'Bracha

On the way back from Nazareth to our hotel in Tiberia on 28 May 2014, our tour guide made a detour to visit a diamond outlet. Unfortunately, no major diamond sale was concluded with any of our tour members. But, we did learn two Hebrew words.

 

All over the world, diamond deals are concluded with a hand shake and the utterance of two Hebrew words "Mazal U'Bracha" which mean "Good luck and blessings".

Interestingly, even though Israel does not produce any diamond, yet, it is one of the three majors centres for polished diamonds, alongside with Belgium and India.

 

Net exports of polished diamonds from Israel for 2011, 2012 and 2013 are US$7.2 billion, $5.6 billion and $6.2 billion respectively.

 

Net exports of rough diamonds for 2011, 2012 and 2013 are US$3.5 billion, $2.8 billion and $2.9 billion respectively.

 

US is the biggest importer of Israelis polished diamond accounting for 37.3%. Hong Kong is second accounting for 27%. For such a small place like Hong Kong compared to the US, I presume that the super rich from mainland China is behind this unusual high percentage.

Remembering the Life of Jesus in the Holy Land

Nations of the Moderates

In Jordan, a country with 92% Muslim population, one could sense that believers of other faiths are not threatened or imposed with bans or restrictions on the ways they practise their faiths. This is markedly different from Malaysia whose political leadership projected the country internationally as a nation of moderates but behaves differently internally.

 

The Jordanian tour guide, Osama, a Muslim told me without hesitation that Christians in Jordan mainly Greek Orthodox are not banned from using the word Allah as this is a term pre-dates Islam. In fact he told our group that there is a mosque in Madaba in Jordan which is named "Jesus Mosque". Unfortunately, we did not have the chance to visit this mosque. I did check the internet later and found this mosque was built in 2008 in Madaba. Malaysians would agree with me that it would be unthinkable to see such a thing happening in Malaysia.

Jesus Mosque

 

Jordan takes full advantage of its historical past and promotes its many biblical sites to the world - Mount Nebo where Moses was shown the Promised land; Bethabara where John the Baptist is believed to have conducted his ministry and where Jesus is believed to be baptised and Petra, one of the new 7 Wonders of the World and is also where Aaron, the brother of Moses is believed to be buried.

Jordan in old biblical times.

 

The most visited site in Jordan is probably the Mosaic City of Madaba. Madaba is made famous by the discovery of a Byzantine-era mosaic map of the Holy Land. This map is now preserved and integrated as part of the floor of the Greek Orthodox Basilica of St. George.

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In Malaysia, a self-claimed nation of the moderates, it would be unthinkable to have a national leader who is a Muslim to enter a church to celebrate Christmas with the Christians.

 

When I entered the Church of St. Catherine, a Catholic Church and a Franciscan Monastery next to the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, I remembered what the late Yaser Arafat used to do during Christmas Eve. He once said on 23 December 2001:

 

"No one can prevent me from reaching Bethlehem. No one, whoever he is has the right, despite the various weapons at his disposal, to prevent this mighty people from fulfilling its religious duties".

 

Every Christmas Eve since his Palestinian Authority took control of Bethlehem in 1995, Mr. Yaser Arafat who is a Muslim has been attending the midnight service at the Church of St. Catherine. This Church which is next to the Church of the Nativity, built on the site revered by Christians as the place of Jesus' birth.

Interior of the Church of St, Catherine, Bethlehem.

 

Can Malaysia claim to be a nation of the moderates?