Bleepping Kitty Dipping

"The EPF is assisting the rakyat to own houses; it is commendable that EPF is doing a public service."

Please. The EPF fund is not a Tabung Sosial for all and sundry.

It is OUR Simpanan Hari Tua, and we expect the fund to be managed for OUR BENEFIT and the way I see it, the huge RM402 billion fund is nowadays the Main Kitty for the government.

No wonder PMNTR was so smug with his declaration that Malaysia does not need to borrow from the IMF, bla bla bla..

Of course. Not when there’s a huge Piggy Bank with an almost open access to its content to be dipped into.

Assisting the Rakyat to own houses? Yeah, right...

It took me a long and often financially painful journey to be able to finally afford a home which a chunk of my hard-earned savings plonked into the EPF helped purchase.

Now, it seems that some Rakyats will get their loans to Perumahan Murah from the same EPF fund.

A small portion, I must concede, but the dipping into the kitty has been going on for years now like nobody’s business.

Who know what else the EPF fund has been subsidizing of late.

According to the Big Kahuna who seems to be popping out everywhere these days, (Side comment: A bid to propel him as THE MAN in view of an upcoming GE13 battle against Nurul Izzah perhaps?) there is nothing to worry.

"If the buyer does not repay the loan, then action will be taken. The house will be forfeited and sold to some 30,000 other housebuyers who are eagerly waiting for a chance"

Funny Ha Ha.

And where - pray tell - will these other 30,000 house buyers – whom I assumed will similarly come from the poor and down trodden to qualify for this – get their funding from?

Together now: THE SAME BLIPPING EPF-CREATED FUND.

As the Malays are fond to say: Gali lobang tutup lobang.

Stop dipping your greasy palms in the kitty as one fine day, it will dry up.

All it needs is like some 400 similarly-conceived schemes to supposedly HELP the RAKYAT.

KUNUNNYA.

Mytholitically Speaking

"I know there is a perigi (well) Hang Tuah in Malacca but it was built by the local people and they go there at night to ask for numbers …"

It is good to know that someone so respected in the world of the Malaysian academia have a wicked sense of humour.

(What? It is seditious of the good Professor to sully the grave of the great Hang Tuah by saying so? Really, ahh?)

So then, should mythos and facts mix it up in our good old Malaysian (ahem) history?

Nope, but I do think that most myths are basically exaggerated facts so much so the tales become way too tall to totally tell.

One fact which I can tell is this: all these myths help make, urm, “history” the more pleasurable (the less tedious?) to learn.

Give the children (and adults too) some credit in that they will be able to discern which are facts and which are not.

There is of course the danger in driving through myths as facts to promote a certain agenda: but Churchill (Winston) was partially right when he said:”History is written by the victors.”

Partially because the human tenacity has often also seen scripts by the so-called losers filter out to the world, eventually.

Anyway, back to Hang Tuah.

The version that’s etched forever in my mind and memory is unfortunately P Ramlee’s and not the Hikayat due to the former being the more easily digestible form.

Political intrigue, love romance, comradeship, treason, an anti hero, fight scenes… and all within a mere one half hour of doing nothing.

Now, what is there not to like about P Ramlee’s Hang Tuah?

Just don’t forget to open the window to chuck out any so supposed factual facts.

The now immortalized words in PRamlee’s version of “Akukah yang bersalah atau Jebatkah yang bersalah?" though says a whole lot about the reason why the legend of Hang Tuah existed for so long though.

So, did Hang Tuah exist? Probably.

What of his exploits? Probably exaggerated.

PS: Posting's no relation to pix below.

Langkawi Posers

One of my daughters has a creative way of hinting for something she wants and would like to have / do / go etc etc.

She would go: “Do you remember the time when …..” and depending on the item at hand, would insert the particular experience.

So, I was on red alert when she asked of Pulau Pangkor - we're somehow a regular visitor of the tourist attraction in Perak – as I sort of knew that wasn't the ultimate destination she was interested in.

Turned out she wanted to ask about Pulau Langkawi, a place we've never visited as a family despite the wifey's kampung being so close in Arau.

Individually, both my wife and I have been in Langkawi though.

My visit was like decades ago, and that too, was an official function so I was literally being ushered around - well, not in style as I was a junior back then – from one place to another. Sure saved a bundle in finding a suitable Langkawi accommodation and car rental for the said trip.

That trip did not provide a lasting impression though and nowadays, it seems that people are flocking to the island to shop.

My sister in law followed her husband (a civil servant) recently whereby their accommodation was conveniently within walking distance of the shopping attractions.

Seems that the Government's function organisers knows their destination very well!
They did mentioned that the school holidays are probably not the best times to visit Langkawi as prices tended to hike up a fair bit during these busy season including the hotels and homestays.

However, with two school going kids in tow there is no way we could make time outside of these free times to visit the place.

So, visiting Langkawi would likely NOT be a spur of the moment decision with quite a fair bit of planning necessary.

Need to keep the destination in mind from now as the kids will surely again (and again I'm sure) prop the hinting questions one blue moon.