Rare Disease Series: Pica Syndrome

So far, after posting 3 rare disease in "Alice wha'", "Foreign Accent Syndrome" and "The Laughter may not be the best medicine", I shall highlight a disease called Pica Syndrome.

The term originated from a bird, magpie, of which the Latin name is pica. Pica will eat anything, and so will sufferers of pica syndrome. Laymen term would be "cravings", example would be pregnant women or children, sufferers develop an appetite for non-nutritive substances, such as paint, clay, plaster or dirt, or alternatively items that are more commonly considered to be food ingredients, such as raw rice, flour or salt. Imagine stuffing yourself with crayons while wondering ,"what the....".

However, it can only be considered pica if the appetite persists for over a month and the sufferer is of an age where eating these objects is considered developmentally inappropriate. So, for those who will eat anything all the time and blame the obesity they suffer on anything and everything else except themselves, the "inappropriate age" would probably be sometime past 3 years old, and nice try but NO, you are not a Pica Syndrome sufferer...it's just gluttony. But look at the bright side of this. Pica sufferers would be expected to do very well in programs like "Fear Factor".

I always tell my patients, "Pantang ya, bukan pantang tengok". In some country, people die of hunger. In Malaysia, people die from excessive consumption of food. Of course if you have underlying medical problems that causes obesity (e.g. , Cushing's Disease, Hypothyroidism, tumour in brain, those subjected to taking steroids).

That is why I get upset with the people who would make fun of those who are obese. One, you don't know whether the cause of obesity is medical in origin. Two, even if it is not, have some empathy because loosing weight is really a tough thing to do. Trust me, you may think the obese don't mind it when you make fun of them in public especially, but deep down inside, they do. It's like having a heart condition and instead of showing some empathy, your friends are making fun of it.

Although medical researchers have tenuously linked pica with a mineral deficiency, but according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, experts have yet to nail down a real, firm cause or cure for this strange disorder. I don't understand why people say studying medical is tough. After all almost half the cause of the medical conditions states : "cause unknown". Less stuff to memorize!!

Jom BM !!!

One fine boring post lunch moment, I decided to browse through, Utusan Online. Well, when all the blood supply had gone off to the tummy to aid absorption of the digestion of the recent lunch, I figured it's the best time to browse through such websites, since not much energy is needed in the brains anyway. An interesting article from Awang Selamat caught my eyes, halfway to ptosis, and upon completion of reading this particular article Kemana Bahasa Melayu, in his regular segment called "Bisik bisik", I thought, hmmm.......as far as the medical teaching goes, one of the criterion for a condition called schizophrenia is "hearing voices, whisperings etc"..hmm...then I thought...."bisik bisik"....maybe it's just a coincidence, I dunno..,.

I took the liberty of cutting and pasting the whole article, and highlighted some interesting words for you which I will explain the act of highlighting them later at the end of the post. Here we go, have fun reading this:


"Persidangan Antarabangsa Bahasa Melayu Bahasa Dunia yang berlangsung di Johor Bahru, baru-baru ini menuntut perhatian besar. Resolusi persidangan tersebut antara lain mendesak kerajaan memberi kuasa penguatkuasaan kepada Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) bagi memartabatkan bahasa Melayu. Desakan ini bukan perkara baru kerana ia sudah kerap disuarakan. Pada Awang, selagi DBP tidak mempunyai kuasa tersebut, agensi itu dilihat umpama harimau tidak bertaring.

Sedangkan gejala pencemaran dan penyalahgunaan bahasa semakin berleluasa terutama pada papan tanda dan paparan iklan premis perniagaan. Begitu juga dengan penggunaan bahasa rojak secara keterlaluan di televisyen dan radio. Itu belum mengambil kira kegagalan banyak pihak termasuk syarikat berkaitan kerajaan (GLC) mengutamakan bahasa kebangsaan dalam urusan mereka di dalam negara.

Hari ini, jika ada bahasa lain lebih besar saiz paparannya daripada bahasa Melayu, ia tidak lagi dipersoalkan. Malah semakin banyak info produk barangan pengguna biarpun yang dikeluarkan di dalam negara, tidak lagi menggunakan bahasa kebangsaan.

Siapakah yang perlu bertanggungjawab memantau dan memperbetulkan semua ini kalau bukan DBP. Tetapi jika agensi itu tidak diberi kuasa, ia tidak membawa apa-apa makna.

Sementara menanti perubahan serius yang dilakukan oleh kerajaan berhubung hal ini (itu pun jika ada kemahuan politik yang tinggi), Awang amat berharap DBP lebih agresif dan proaktif dalam memainkan peranannya mengembangkan bahasa.

Agensi itu dilihat oleh banyak pihak sebagai lesu. ''Bangunannya lebih gah daripada keberanian dan pencapaiannya untuk melonjak martabat bahasa," kata seorang tokoh akademik. Apa yang beliau cuba sampaikan, DBP tidak lagi lantang memperjuangkan soal bahasa. Kritikan itu mungkin tidak adil dan boleh diperdebatkan. Usaha memartabatkan apatah lagi menyelamatkan bahasa Melayu bukan semata-mata tugas DBP malah semua pihak termasuk pemimpin kerajaan, pembangkang dan sektor swasta.

Awang juga tertanya-tanya ke mana perginya para pejuang bahasa yang sanggup berdemonstrasi dan berterusan membantah Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris (PPSMI) dalam kaitan mempertahankan kedudukan bahasa Melayu secara keseluruhannya.

Selepas PPSMI dimansuhkan, apakah kepada mereka, perjuangan memartabatkan bahasa Melayu sudah selesai? Apakah juga masa depan bahasa Melayu hanya berkaitan pengajaran kedua-dua subjek itu dalam bahasa kebangsaan sahaja?

Sepatutnya kelompok itu yang menjadi benteng hadapan, meneruskan momentum mereka dengan mewujudkan gelombang kesedaran mengenainya.

Ini termasuk menegur Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (PBT), menteri-menteri dan pemimpin parti-parti politik terhadap apa sahaja perkara berkaitan kepentingan bahasa. Awang teruja mahu melihat para pejuang dan badan pertubuhan kerajaan (NGO) turun di jalanan atau menyerbu ke mana-mana kementerian, agensi mahupun pejabat swasta membuat bantahan jika perlu.

Sesungguhnya terlalu banyak yang perlu dilakukan bagi memartabatkan bahasa Melayu terutama bagi menjadikannya bahasa komersial yang lebih meluas. Dalam usaha ini tiada siapa boleh berputus asa apatah lagi bagi mencapai matlamat murni mempertahankan bahasa Melayu yang kedudukannya sudah termaktub dalam perlembagaan negara.

Untuk apa kita memperakukan bahasa Melayu mampu berkembang sebagai bahasa dunia, kalau di peringkat dalam negara sendiri kita sudah tidak menampakkan keyakinan. Banyak lagi petunjuk yang membimbangkan di sekeliling kita. Bukankah kita sendiri yang mewujudkan persekitaran yang akhirnya membunuh bahasa Melayu?"

I think the "pejuang bahasa" should start with our friend Awang here, spank him for using words that are derived mainly from the English language and some from Arabic/Persian...if he wants to "memartabatkan Bahasa Melayu", I think he should come up with an article that 100% utilizes bahasa Melayu. . Jangan jadi resmi ketam, sendiri jalan senget, nak suruh orang lain jalan straight....where got road?...

Furthermore, I don't really get the "Antarabangsa" bit from the "Persidangan Antarabangsa Bahasa Melayu bahasa Dunia" because how can it be between bangsa-bangsa when only bangsa melayu (dan bangsa bangsa yang serumpun dengannya) attended?

I think it is a great culture to cultivate amongst Malaysians as we progress into One Toilet (oh, do click HERE and HERE for enlightenments)..oops...sorry, I meant to progress into a One Malaysia.... that we learn as many languages as we can, embrace them as knowledge gained. We should be learn to be more eclectic rather than arrogant and defensive about our own culture. We gain nothing, in fact will loose out by being arrogant about one language (especially when it absorbs other languages to make them it's own) then retard the progression of other languages especially that of clearly is the gateway to knowledge at this present moment. Stop being a shithead !! (albeit my definition of shit head is "the head of the shit that refuse to barge and stand in the way of the rest of the shit in the intestines to bowel out". Noooo...I'm not talking about Samy....although.....)

Basically, these are the people who are standing in the way 0f the Malay progression at the international level...and when I say international, it does not constitute "Arkipilago Melayu" kind of international. In fact, we should all start learning Mandarin or Cantonese etc as clearly, China is going to be the next big thing in the future. Until then, the best in the interest of the Malays is to stop acting like what I believe the Malays would call, "bodoh sombong"...or is it "sombong bodoh"? Hmmm.....Works both ways...

It worries me when Awang said, " Awang teruja mahu melihat para pejuang dan badan pertubuhan kerajaan (NGO) turun di jalanan atau menyerbu ke mana-mana kementerian....."

First, there's the "teruja" bit, that word itself is mind boggling. He gets excited when others get busted? What's that called in medical term eh? Massochism? Oh wait, massochism is when for example, Malays enjoy inflicting detrimental-to-the-existence-of-their-own-race habits unto themselves, like ignoring the importance of superior languages in the effort of gaining unlimited knowledge, using nationalism as an excuse. THAT'S massochism!! No, no, not massochism. Ah yes!! Sadism....that's the word I was looking for.

Menyerbu orang dengan bersenjatakan meretun dan mengamuk, adalah tersenarai di dalam carta popular keistimewaan adat adat melayu. (Click HERE to view sample of how ugly when we "serbu" others). Amok (apart from "melatah" and "merempit") merupakan tabii yang ekslusif untuk kaum Melayu. Bangsa lain tidak mengamuk dengan menggunakan keris, maupun melambai lambaikannya, tetapi dengan teknologi yang ada pada mereka sekarang, mereka telah mampu untuk menghantar bukan tikar sembahyang melayang layang, sayang, tapi, drone untuk menjalankan tugas tugas amuk mereka...Melayu walaubagaimanapun haruslah mempertahankan adat istiadat kita, walaupun terdapat alternatif lain yang lebih baik dari yang sedia ada.

Biar mati anak jangan mati adat..biar mati akal jangan mati pucuk...
Hidup Tongkat Ali!!

Driver from Hell....

I hate it when people park their vehicles recklessly. So now, instead of grumbling about it and pondering whether all these grumbles may be a sign of me needing “Anger Management” courses, I’ve decided to take control of my anger. I don’t get mad, I get satisfaction instead. I developed this hobby of writing and distributing reminder notes to these royal pain in the arses. At least I will feel avenged and sleep well at night minus the discontent feeling, like you’ve not passed out motion completely. Okay, bad example, but I think you get what I mean.

Here are some notes which I had left, and plan to leave in the future, that I’d like to share with you. Perhaps you can use them to.

1. (This car was parked onto and slightly into the empty yellow box adjacent to it and on the right side. I had to squeeze into the small space in between two cars. He parked ajar from the wall that was on his left side). I left him this note, "You may now re-park your car into the yellow box as the wall beside you had decided to move away to create some room for you to be able to make a decent parking."

2. "You are parked in the disabled car parking lot. I take it that you are mentally disabled?"

3. "There is a reason for the absence of the yellow box where you are parked. The reason is that it makes you a pain in the ass to others who have to tolerate the inconvenience your reckless parking had caused"

4. "The next time you park your car, try using that thing in between your ears. It saves a lot of headache, namely, others the headache'’

Some of my neighbours, well, not immediate, probably five to six houses away would come all the way to park on my shaded spot (or basically any shaded spot that's empty) right in front of my house. Well, not now after receiving some of my notes. I know, when others talk about “neighbour from hell” they meant their neighbours, but when I talk about “neighbour from hell” I meant I’m the neighbour from hell. I don’t mind my immediate neighbour parking on the curb we share, but 5 houses away…come onnnnnnnnn. It’s not MY problem that you have a problem parking your third car!!!). Here are some of the notes I’ve left and plan to leave in the future, if need be. But I think I’ve developed a ummmmmmm… “reputation”, so I don’t think I will need to leave any more notes in the future (except for the new folks in town) :

These are the notes:

1. I too would like to have my car parked under the shade. It’s the least perk I get from having to pay for the house adjacent to it.

2. My car is allergic to the sun. I would appreciate it if you could leave this shaded spot, in front of my house to me and my immediate neighbour. I suggest you park beneath the cozy shaded spot just outside your house, once your neighbour moves his car elsewhere.

3. I would appreciate it if you would park your car at your immediate neighbour’s curb, 6 houses away from here, because believe it or not, I love to pamper my car too.”

4. I think you may have the house addresses mixed up. You live 4 houses away from here and you had accidentally parked your car on the curb adjacent to my house, where I normally park mine. Kindly be informed

And these are the one I've prepared for the resilient rampant reckless parkers:

1. You are most welcomed to park underneath this tree, should you be willing to share the chore of sweeping the fallen leaves and dead flowers in my garden, coming from this very tree

2. Should you find your car missing, please do not panic. Here is the number of the tow truck service I've hired to vacant this parking spot

3. Caution when parking here. Many have reported seeing monkeys taking air out of the tires. They are suspected to be trained by humans.

4. The leaves and branches of this particular tree, are sharp and they sway vigorously most of the time, therefore they tend to scratch any car parked beneath it. (My car is scratched all over anyway, and it had nothing to do with the tree)
There you go. Collection of my "love notes" to these irritating species. My notes have no "copy right reserved", so feel free to use them on the reckless parkers (fuc...rs more like it) you encounter daily.

You may say that the spot underneath the tree is public property, and it is not against the law for anyone to park there. I'm sure you are the type to agree that the frogging in politics is okay too huh?

Oh, and I ALWAYS start my notes with “Dear Sir” and end them with a “Thank You”, one has to maintain politeness even when screwing others. So if you are the kind of species who do not care about others' well being when parking your vehicle, and get these type of notes, it may just as well be from me.

KOLUMS.....

It's one of my favourite time of the year again, approaching around the corner. It's time to make my rounds and stuff myself up with .....INDIAN DELICACIES!!! Wuuuhuuu!!

I've been collecting photos of Kolums (colored rice) as I went around the shopping complexes. I think Kolums are the next best thing to daisies...they cheer you up. I wanted to make one in my house, unfortunately, the neighbourhood cats may think I've become extra creative an started putting colored sand for them to poop on. Darn cats!!

So, here we are.......

The one in Ikea. Hmm....even the Sweedish are learning to have fun with their rice..



Gee...I seriously can't remember where this one is from....
This one's from the Royal Lake Club...naturally a Peacock ....hmm....symbol of show offs....
The one in the Curve.....
Obviously this one's from Capital Square...
I was checking out the new "Rodeo Drive" in Malaysia and ended up in the Pavillion. The one above is in the shopping complex, and the one below is the one that is outside...As you can see, I would have gone and investigated how those rice grains are still, undistorted in design, despite the wind and the rain...(wonder if mutual farting can move the colorful grains...don't forget to call the "Malaysian Guiness Book of Record" to witness this by the way) , if not for the boundaries set and the guard, who can't speak any Malaysian language at all....hmm....bliss, if you don't understand when someone is telling you off actually. Try telling the guard, "hang ni awat tenok sangat nih? Habok pun tak tauuu, hang mai dari ulu manaaaa?" and the guard will still nod politely, smile and say , "Very good sirrrrr, thank you".

Below is my favourite....


Obviously discontented with the small picture, I scouted around for a better view, and well, if you look for it hard enough, you will find it.....Boy it's worth all the trouble...(I had to pretend to get a pair of boxers for my imaginary boyfriend by the way, to gain access to this spot where the picture was taken....don't ask.....)

HAPPY DEVALI TO ALL MALAYSIANS

.....May the Good overcome the Evil.....our aim is the same, even though our methods are different.

Ban SIS ??

I was browsing through Facebook, when my eyes caught sight of an interesting poster.

BAN SIS with a nice logo to go with it. You know what struck me upon perusing this logo below? It takes more care and thought creating the logo. On the other hand probably 2 seconds to put a cross onto it. Maybe that is why it is in our culture to ban things, especially books. It is the easy way out.

BAN SISTERS IN ISLAM IN MALAYSIA Menghentikan Ideology karut yang boleh merosakkan akidah.
( To stop ridiculous ideology that could jeopardize the belief)

And what belief is that? That women should be oppressed like they were oppressed in the era of the jahiliyah? (oops...sorry, I just gave you the "infidel's" link. Here, click THIS JAHILIAH for a non infidel explanation ; never mind that the explanation is via the infidel internet)

It made me curious, as any ban thing would (kind of a publicity actually. I mean after they burnt Galileo for simply stating that it is actually the earth that is rotating around the sun, and not the other way round, I can't risk dismissing ideologies that are rebuked, shunned, etc until I learn about it now can I?)

Perusing through the "BAN SIS IN MALAYSIA" website, I looked for grounds on which they’ve decided that SIS should be banned, I found none. However, I found this instead:

Positions:
1. Islam is the way of life
2. Al-quran and As-sunnah does not need to be reinterpreted
3. Allah is just and fair there is no discrimination of women in ISLAM

Only three positions? The Karma Sutra can come up with more positions than that, talk about a dead non creative mind. So okay, let me just go through them with you.

(Click on rabbit hole to find out more)


1. Islam is a way of life.

Banning something without fully understanding it is a way of life? Sounds like "my way or the highway" to me. Who's way of life is it exactly? I mean if you can only come up with only 3 positions, and no reason for the ban stated anywhere on the website, obviously you need to do more research in the matter before you set out to launch a smear campaign, right?

Hmm..guess they haven’t heard of Al Hujraat verse 6, in which God tells us to verify the truth in the information, before passing it on;

ا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَأٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَى مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ

" O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and after wards become full of repentance for what ye have done."

We don't know who is wicked and who is not until we know right? So just establish all news to be true before passing it on to others, simple common sense. Then again, the Malay society tends to go with the flow, more of wanting to belong to the majority and indulging in what is hype..I give you a simple example....MAWI...nuff said.

2. Al Quran and As Sunnah does not need to be reinterpreted.

I suppose if you’re taught to feel contented from small with the little knowledge embedded into your mentality, this is so true. Fed with milk, burped and go back to slumber. Nice life. But have every one of those people actually read the whole of quran and sunnah to decide that they do not need re-interpretation? Really? Look at Turkey, whom the world refer to as the progressive Muslims,(well, the rest of the "Islamic" countries are basically "out of this world", so.....) and they are directing the re-analization of sunnah.

Even the Quran interpretation from Arabic to English are known to have been tampered with, as claimed by Edip Yuksel, Aidid Safar and others. They may be wrong, but I think to decide who is wrong or who is right, we should learn the content first in able to do that, not ban them, unless of course, you have things to hide. Unless you are telling me that God Himself did the translation, why is it so hard to acknowledge the possibility of human error in the interpretation of Quran from Arabic to English? Are these translators "maksum"?

3. Allah is just and fair there is no discrimination of women in ISLAM.

Duuuuhh….who’s questioning Allah? It’s idiots like you that make us wonder were you the people who contributed to the statistics that led to scientists' conclusion that humans do not use much percentage of their brain matter. It is the human interpretation of God's law, that needs questioning.

Besides, ask those poor women divorcees who are faced with so many problems the moment they step into the Syariah Department to file for divorce, all the way to fighting for monetary support from the biological divorced fathers, THEY will tell you there's no discrimination..ppfff!!!

Don't let me start on mental discrimination. They're so good at mental discrimination, so much so the women themselves taught what is not rightly done unto them, are actually the law of God and comes from Hadiths that cannot be questioned.

I give you an example of Ammendments of law privileging men, executed in 1994 regarding polygamy.

For example, in 1994 : the fifth condition in section 23i.e. "that there would be no reduction in the standard of living, directly or indirectly of the existing wife and dependants", was deleted through the Amendment Act of 1994. I got this off SIS's website by the way. It's no wonder many wants SIS banned. They know the law and what manipulation was done to it, by, well, non other than the Muslim men!! And they say they are not discriminative!!!

Women are told to do things even God have not mentioned at all, covering their heads for one. I mean, logically, if one were allowed to ummm....think, [obviously those who said common sense if dangerous in Islam are not acquainted, or perhaps had forgotten the verse "It is not for a person to acknowledge except by God's leave. He casts the affliction upon those who do not reason." (10:100) ] wouldn't it make more sense that if God would have mentioned it at least once, should He think that covering the head is important or even necessary at all? Because He did say ,

وَمَا مِن دَآبَّةٍ فِي الأَرْضِ وَلاَ طَائِرٍ يَطِيرُ بِجَنَاحَيْهِ إِلاَّ أُمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُم مَّا فَرَّطْنَا فِي الكِتَابِ مِن شَيْءٍ ثُمَّ إِلَى رَبِّهِمْ يُحْشَرُونَ

[Yusufali 6:38] There is not an animal (that lives) on the earth, nor a being that flies on its wings, but (forms part of) communities like you. Nothing have we omitted from the Book, and they (all) shall be gathered to their Lord in the end.

I wonder, which part of the word,"nothing" some people they do not get?

So in the end, there are a long list of don'ts that some may make you go, "Huh?" or "WTF?" and when they come up with the do's it has the same "WTF" effect too. (Breasfeed-not-for-the-milk program ....is one example). And Muslim becomes more of the people who refrain from life rather than doing. (Maybe that explains the lack of the "giving" part in Malaysian Muslim practicing culture. I mean, maybe it's me, but I hardly see righteous Muslims volunteer to change bed pans or sheath in the old folks' homes or the illegal immigrants like the Myanmaris for example. Oh! I forgot, we don't help infidels. Hmm...)

So what we do in our free time? We create the Halal Journal. It's probably easier than to come up with the thicker "Haram Journal". God only said "....forbidden unto you the flesh of swine....", becomes "forbidden unto you the swine and anything to do with it".

Surah An Nahl;
[16:116]

وَلاَ تَقُولُواْ لِمَا تَصِفُ أَلْسِنَتُكُمُ الْكَذِبَ هَـذَا حَلاَلٌ وَهَـذَا حَرَامٌ لِّتَفْتَرُواْ عَلَى اللّهِ الْكَذِبَ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللّهِ الْكَذِبَ لاَ يُفْلِحُونَ

"But say not - for any false thing that your tongues may put forth,- "This is lawful, and this is forbidden," so as to ascribe false things to Allah. For those who ascribe false things to Allah, will never prosper."

What worries me is not the banning of SIS, i think SIS can take care of themselves pretty well, they have very intelligent and even powerful women on board. It’s the amount of morons out there…currently about 12,000++ (very eery like when you see the hotel or posh restaurant prices with a ++ sign at the end of each figure) that "signed up" for the ban. Well, you cannot be that smart if you sign up for something you don’t understand right? Only morons signs something they don’t fully understand. Ask the lawyers, they’ll quote to you the amount of these imbeciles that probably double the amount of "Ban SIS" followers.

It is a fond thing said against us that we must know the quran and hadith before we can actually speak out regarding an Islamic issue. Why can't the same law apply here? Why can't we make sure that those who wishes to ban SIS, know their Quran and their Hadiths. Why the double standard eh?

Am I for SIS or for banning SIS you may wonder. Well, at this point, all I can say is that, the ban had instigated my interest into finding out more about SIS, an organization I hardly knew existed (then again, I'm a social retard), until they decided to call upon a ban unto it. Suddenly, SIS looks interesting as any ban material would be. Banning is a form of desperate measure to hush normally the truth, by the majority. Well, haven't you heard? Truth hurts. If one do not think something is threatening and causing them the insecurity, why not just ignore it. Why bother to impose a ban?

I may agree with the SIS agenda, or otherwise, but I think it is only fair for me to say that one need to understand, empathize with something before making the decision to stand by it or against it. In short, I do not sign a blank cheque.

Banning on the other hand, is a desperate cry of insecurity. Here's a simple solution. How about we ban banning?Not a bad idea eh?
(Rabbit Hole ends here) ...Click here to find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.....

When Plans fail to come together

So a bunch of people left the country for the UK in hopes of obtaining British Overseas Citizenship. The Brits decided to tighten up their laws and they got stuck because they had voluntarily given up, the paper said “torn up”, their passports. Now that they are stuck, we are hearing reports of how they are “suffering”.
Based on the behaviour of our political parties of late here is what I predict will happen. Some politicians will be harping on the issue soon, if they have not already. I think they will playing the race card again by saying that these people are not welcomed back because they are of a certain ethnic group. The fact that they had voluntarily gone there and equally voluntarily given up their citizenship will be conveniently forgotten.
I believe that making it easy for these people to be re-accepted as Malaysian would be a travesty and an insult to all Malaysians who have stayed here and contributed our efforts and made sacrifices for the good of this country and her people, regardless of race, creed and religion. Going overseas for monetary gains and seeking a better life is a right of everyone but this not the issue. I too have close relatives who have chosen to live and work abroad and some have even become citizens of other countries but they became citizens of these other nations after they have stayed there for years and built a life for themselves there. They did not go there with the overt intent to give their citizenship, that came later. They became permanent residents and citizens because their lives are there now. This is starkly different from the case of these people who went away with the intent to give up their citizenship, possibly before they even set foot on the other nation’s land:
So they may want to return. I work and mix with my fellow Malaysians of many ethnic backgrounds daily. I know I can trust these people because they are like me, their roots are here and their families are here; more importantly, they are my fellow Malaysians. They are in no rush to abandon their nation for uncertain promises.
I find myself agreeing with the minister in the news this evening. Certainly they can return but they need to prove their loyalty now.

Note to God.....

If I wrote a note to God
I would speak whats in my soul
I'd ask for all the hate to be swept away,
For love to overflow
If I wrote a note to God
I'd pour my heart out on each page
I'd ask for war to end
For peace to mend this world
I'd say,

Give us the strength to make it through
Help us find love cause love is over due
And it looks like we haven't got a clue
Need some help from you
Grant us the faith to carry on
Give us hope when it seems all hope is gone
Cause it seems like so much is going wrong
On this road we're on

If I wrote a note to God
I would say what on my mind
I'd ask for wisdom to let compassion rule this world
Until these times
If I wrote a note to God
I'd say please help us find our way
End all the bitterness, put some tenderness in our hearts
And I'd say,

No,
We can't do this on our own

Give us the strength to make it through
Help us find love cause love is over due
And it looks like we haven't got a clue
Need some help from you
Grant us the faith to carry on
Give us hope when it seems all hope is gone
Cause it seems like so much is going wrong
On this road we're on

If I wrote a note to God......

I wish I could claim to be the lyricist to the spellbinding song "Note to God", alas! I'm not.
This song was made famous again by Charice Pempengco, a twelve year old from the Philippines. Take a listen to this amazing kid singing. However, Jojo, to my ears sang the much preferred version of the same song. She was 15 years old when she sung it so flawless and beautifully.

Maybe we should listen to our children..................

Enjoy the two versions of "Note to God" that I posted....