Ternyata Kita Belum Bersedia untuk Syurga

Dirang dah tak ada, agaknya itulah perkara yang bermain-main di kotak fikiran Roselyn Alan ketika ini. 

Dirang mati, kena bunuh, merintih lagi hati seorang emak.

Dirang mati salah aku, sadis kan? Kau boleh hidup dengan persoalan itu dalam kepala otak kau?

Iye, aku tahu, Roselyn tak patut biarkan anak dia umur lima tahun pergi kedai sorang-sorang sambil dia layan Facebook. Aku tahu. Aku pun rasa benda tu tak patut. 

Tapi, apa yang lebih tak patut ialah masyarakat. TAK ADA LANSUNGKAH nyawa lain yang nampak Dirang hari tu? TAK ADA LANSUNGKAH orang yang perasan a child in distress? TAK ADA? Lagi senang hina Roselyn daripada buat apa-apa, kan?

Dan macam mana pulak si perpetrator? Si pesalah laku? Tak ada sedikit pun naluri kemanusiaan kah? Dah kering atau memang tak ada?

Sedih. Aku sedih bukan sahaja sebab Dirang. Aku sedih sebab we live in a world where this is happening. It is now clear, ternyata bahawa kita semua belum bersedia untuk syurga.

Dirang, mama mintak maaf (iye, aku juga ibu kepada Dirang dan anak-anak lain di sekitarku. Kau pun sama. Jangan culas tanggungjawab Allah ni). I have let you down, sayang. I will work harder to make this world a better place. For everyone of us.

Sampai satu saat nanti, kita semua akan layak untuk syurga. 

You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry

I think it's fair to say that most Malaysians, especially those well-connected to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube (which is what, easily 60% of Malaysians? :P), are now aware of the brouhaha surrounding a certain customer who got punched by a KFC worker. 

Apa? Semua dah tahu dan dah blogged all about it? I am slowpoke indeed. Oh well. 

Due to this incident, cliched, vomit-inducing, unimaginative writings galore ensued. Gems such as "Instead of getting his fried chicken, the customer got a zinger instead. TO HIS FACE" or "the hot and spicy situation was witnessed by no less than 20 patrons who were also queuing up for their food" cropped up, oh, here and there (nope, not gonna give them the pageviews). My question is, really writer, did you go to school for them shit? -__-

Okay, les get back to the story at hand, shall we?

Here's my recap. KFC. Minimum wage workers. Long queue. Night time. Ciken finis. Kastemer anggeri. Kastemer shout (?). Worker responds. Shout some more. Worker came out from behind the counter and punched kastemer in the face. Shout some more. Ah, malas lah recap (padahal dah habis recap pun). This is what I am talking about.

As per normal in Malaysia, APA-APA HAL sekalipun, kalau ada terkena-mengena dua kaum berbeza, mesti ada yang sedikit shallow melabel isu tersebut sebagai isu perkauman. Akan ada yang judgmental dan cakap orang tu racist dan kita-perlu-memperjuangkan-maruah-bangsa-kita.

Sebenarnya, aku tak nak 'kupas' pasal isu ni dari perspektif itu. I believe there are two sides to a story. So far, we have heard the kastemer's side. I have a strong hunch that the KFC guy(s) will not have his (their) 15 minutes, not because they don't wanna share their story, but if KFC hires any sort of PR or communication unit worth their salt, a gag order on the worker is probably in place, in accordance with Crisis Management 101. KFC will (and should?) assume responsibility and apologise and let the vouchers the kastemer wanted to redeem to still be usable even after the vouchers have passed their expiry date (oh, didn't you know? The customer wanted to redeem some vouchers that was expiring on that particular date. No wonderlah sentap ciken finis. Kire burnlah voucher diorang tu kalau tak dapat ciken malam tu jugak -___-). Oh, tapi mungkin tak guna jugak, sebab kastemer tersebut sudah 'emotionally distressed' dan mahu menyaman KFC. Oh well.

Thing is, we hear a lot of  'budak KFC tu kena provoke.' This is here-say. Unless there's another video floating around showing what happened prior to the fist fight. Unless we can find the smug-faced guy in the blue t-shirt or the Mat Saleh or any other patrons in the i-City KFC that night who can give the down-low of what happened, we won't know for sure. Even then, diorang boleh tipu kata diorang ada kat situ sedangkan saja je, nak jugak tumpang 15 minit tersebut.

Kembali kepada 'tapi, budak KFC tu kena provoke, customer tu maki hamun family budak tu.' Now, let me be clear (and be a parent). A fist fight is not gonna solve anything, son. Aku faham, emosi (dan syaiton) mungkin menguasai budak tu. Tak termasuk penat ngadap ayam (boleh tahan lagi) dan orang  (yang INI hehehe, Allahu'alam) satu hari. Tak termasuk faktor-faktor lain yang mungkin ada di sekeliling mamat tu. But I am telling you this. Violence is never the answer. 

Aku tahu, easier said than done. Kalau aku dalam situation tu pun, tak tentu lagi aku tak react dengan cara yang sama. So, it is with a heavy heart that I must say, budak KFC tu sepatutnya, personally, minta maaf. Gag order or not. Kalau betullah customer tu maki hamun keluarga awak, then that stands as a bigger reason for you to apologise. I mean, you don't want what the customer allegedly say about your family turn out to be true, right? Be the bigger person. Be a better man. Minta maaf. It won't solve anything, I know, dan customer tu mungkin akan terus dengan keputusan beliau untuk menyaman anda dan KFC but believe me when I say yang meminta maaf tu bukan untuk customer tu, meminta maaf ni untuk diri awak sendiri. 

Minta maaf di sini bukanlah admission of fault or guilt. Apologies are not about whose fault it is or feelings of guilt. Apologies is actually about moving on. Like it or not, we're humans and guess what? We make mistakes. Some mistakes are costlier than other. Some mistakes are sillier. Some mistakes are... well, you get the idea. Thing is, apologies are not about making things right, even. Apologies are about acknowledging our flaws and being responsible about it. Apologies is about moving on by learning from the mistakes we've made. Dalam kes ni, like I said earlier, I doubt it will deter any 'legal' actions that are probably already underway. Apologies might even be damaging (financially and even physically, in cases where the other party wants to exact revenge). But what it takes away in cash and in terms of physical harm, it gives and molds into character (<;-- Ini, anak-anak, baru cliche namanya. Learn while there's still time, you fools!)

Thing is here, aku sebenarnya kesian kepada frontliners. Kepada orang yang perlu deal dengan customers face to face. You think your desk job is hard? Imagine having to deal with hundreds of people day in and day out. Hubs kerja frontline and it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly dense some people can be. True story. Pernah ada DUA kes assault di tempat kerja hubs (yang dia pernah ceritalah). Not by the staff. So far, staff tempat kerja hubs belum pernah assault customer (that we know of). Salah satu kes assault ni, melibatkan staff (perempuan) yang kena tampar oleh seorang customer (lelaki) bilamana staff tersebut meminta customer mengembalikan sesuatu yang customer perlu letak balik kat tempat sepatutnya. Fact 1: Sesuatu tu memang diketahui PERLU dikembalikan ke tempat sepatutnya. Fact 2: 'Tempat sepatutnya' cuma beberapa depa daripada customer sahaja, customer tidak perlu ke Felda Taib Andak atau Kerteh untuk mengembalikan 'sesuatu' tersebut. Campak pun boleh. 

Jadi kenapa tampar? Entahlah. Food for thought kan? Apalah yang customer tu fikirkan agaknya? Emosi? Syaiton? External factors? Tapi kita jarang sekali dengar cerita seperti apa yang staff tadi alami. Kan? Pernah dengar cerita Call Centre Exec kena maki bila diorang call client? (ni akulah yang buat. Bukan maki, tapi aku pernah marah sorang mamat telecentre ni. Dia carik laki aku, aku cakap, laki aku kerja retail hours, malam tu balik pukul 12. Yes, mamat telecentre tu call nombor phone RUMAH pada MALAM hari. You know what he said bila aku cakap hubs habis kerja pukul 12 malam? "Eh ye ke, Puan? Mana ada orang habis kerja pukul 12 malam..." Logik tak kalau aku amukan puaka di situ?)

Okay, dah cukup, aku dah banyak cakap dan digress. In short, I just wanna say that in reality, there are horror story from both sides, in this incident, in many incidents before and even after this one. Capiche?

Next Time

The next time we think, "Ish, aku tak tahu nak buka apa hari ni,", think of them. And be thankful for whatever little that we have, because THERE ARE people who are WITHOUT any.

The next time our children throw away the food they didn't finish, tell them about these children. And tell them that the scraps they throw away is practically a king's lavish dinner (and breakfast and lunch, probably) in those childrens' eyes (and stomachs).

And the next time you think about our brothers and sisters in humanity and in Islam, send a little prayer of hope their way.

We've gone without food 8 to 10 hours a day. Diorang?

Hasbunallah wa ni' mal wakeel.

Quick to Judge

Okay, I admit, if I'm gonna start talking about being quick to judge, about being judgmental, I should at least confess that I am also guilty of the same sin, so there. Here is something that I want to remind myself, as much as I'd like to remind others.

When we see an issue involving two different people, specifically conflicts between the said two, we almost always take sides, as if we know the whole story. "Memang dasar jantan, tak sedar diri, dah popular sikit, lupa kat orang yang sama-sama dengan dia dari bawah." or "Saya sebenarnya tak nak cakap, tapi tak pe lah, cakap jugak, sebab saya tak nak hipokrit (hak ptuih, pesanan penaja <- ha, tengok, tengok, judgmental tak aku?). Padan mukalah kat minah tu, sapa suruh jaja cerita kat semua orang. Skang dah putus, kan malu."

Okay, okay, let's not be coy, you know who I'm talking about. But that's not the point. They're not the point.

The point is people, we should let judging be God's work, and God's alone. I know it's hard, it's like we're hard-wired to judge others or something, but in the spirit of Ramadhan, at the very least, let's try, okay?

And if I'm not convincing enough, let's hear it from this guy.



Try, okay? TRY.

extra prescription. why yes, I was talking about the infamous skinny-fingers and common-nickname-for-a-malay-kid-who-looks-chinese.

Michael Bay, Bendahari Kehormat Bersih

Click image for source

Apparently, from the above image of Malaysian PM, Najib Razak visiting Queen Elizabeth, it has been deduced that even the BLARDY QUEEN OF ENGLAND is supporting Bersih. 'Cos it's too much to be a coincidence right? Right? Riiiiiiiiight.

Okay, in the same fashion, I now deem mighty Hollywood box office God, Michael Bay as an honorary member of Bersih. Why? Why, because Bumblebee is YELLOW of course!

Click image for source

And oh! Oh!!! What wonderful spokesperson Chris Martin would be, right? Yup yup! Complete with the thespian trophy wife in the form of Gwyneth Paltrow, no less! All because of that song, ummm, what was it... oh yeah! Yellow!

Click image for source

Awww, how sweet!

But of course, the list would not have been complete without the movement's hundreds and thousands supporters, right?

Click image for source

That's the Aedes aegypti. She brings about Yellow fever. You know, the kind of fever that can cause DEATH.

extra prescription. DiGi yellow man, you say? Puhlease. He is soooo passé.

Lost Causes?

Aku marah hari ni. Marah. Sedih. Dan mungkin sedikit disappointed. Tapi aku tak tahu kenapa aku marah, sedih dan disappointed. Mungkin......

Last weekend was quite an eventful one. Not life-changing eventful, but eventful nonetheless. There was a workshop at work that I attended on Saturday. And I went to the Save the Palestinians Campaign organized by COMPLETE on Sunday. I went there with both kids, the one who's 4, the other one who's 11 months old. Hubby didn't follow, he was home, nursing his back pain.

I took it upon myself to insist on going to the rally. I really wanted to go. I wanted to actually feel what it's like. But as I was there, I can't help but feel disappointed. I kept on asking myself, "what good will this be? what good will this bring?" This is not a criticism against the organiser. I applaud their good job. But rather, perhaps these moments of despair can be attributed to the fact that the more I am exposed towards the brutality, the more helpless I feel.

These moments of despair can perhaps also be attributed to the fact that there are still many that are saying, Palestinians are wrong. That the Palestinians are terrorists. That Islam promotes terrorisme. Ya Allah, are you trying to tell us something? However, I believe that it is the Palestinians' right to fight back. It is their land. Like the gist of Dr. Mahathir's speech last Sunday, as with any sort of oppression or colonialisation, you would see the oppressed and the colonialised fighting back, even if the oppression or colonialisation are for a "good cause" (a cause sorely lacking in Israel's attacks).

This alone should put me in gloom for days on end.

Then I witnessed the debacle at KT. What a show, BN, WHAT A BLARDY SHOW. Okay, so I am an UMNO supporter. But I am not a disillusioned one. I know there are many things seriously wrong within UMNO. I know people dislike UMNO. But I have faith. I have faith that these wrongs can be mended. They have to be corrected. And insyaAllah, I will help to mend the wrongs. That's why I support UMNO, because I have faith that UMNO is something worth fighting for. But to see this... And to see that people who are supposed to be intelligent keeping on making the same mistakes, over and over again. It breaks my heart. And from henceforth, my political standing is that I have faith in UMNO. I don't support UMNO, but I have faith in UMNO.

A fool and her lost causes?

Yes, and her bipolar is kicking in.

Dear Officemates,
please forgive my off-key Mika's Grace Kelly from now on.

So Long, It's Been So Long Ago...

There are 8 of us in the family, 4 girls, 4 boys. I am number 8. The sister above me, #7, is 8 years older than me (okay, enough maths for today). And I've a niece in Ireland pursuing her degree in medicine. She's young, so she's kinda very, very gung-ho about Palestine (so am I by the way, but I'm gung-ho in another way).

Anyways, this niece sent an email about her fight so far, joining some march for Palestine's freedom in Ireland etc. And my sister (#7) replied my nieces email with something like, "I was 9 years old when Kakak (our oldest sister) bought me this pair of sweatpants -- part of the proceeds from the purchase of those pants went to Palestine..." or something like that.

My eyes were immediately glued to the words 9 years old. Sister #7 was 9 when she got the pants. Man, this have been going on that long? I know from news report etc, that the attack has been going on for 60 years, but Sister #7's words actually put things into perspective for me.

And I pray for Palestine. Maybe you should to.

Doa Itu Senjata Orang Mukmin

When I was in school, I studied a subject called Newswriting. As the subject name suggests, it's about writing news story, the kind you read in newspaper or the kind you hear being read on TV or on the radio.

I had a great time learning that subject, because, after all, I fancy myself as a writer.

One of the thing we learnt in that subject is, newsworthiness. It's basically a measure for any news reporter/journalist/writer can use when determining whether or not the story deserves a space in the newspaper or the TV or radio news.

There are seven newsworthy attributes. Prominence. Currency or timeliness. Proximity. Novelty. Human Interest. Impact. Conflict. There might be more, but the ones I learnt were those seven. Let me focus on one for this entry. Proximity.

Proximity, in relation to newsworthiness, basically means that a news story is interesting to the readers or listeners or viewers due to the fact that the parties involved in the news story are somewhat 'close' to the readers or listeners or viewers. By 'close', I mean, they share similarities, they share something in common that makes the readers or listeners or viewers able to relate to those in the news story.

Proximity here, to me at the very least, is open to your own definition. Geographical proximity, for example, as Malaysians, something happening in Malaysia would interest us. Proximity here, also denotes other similarities, like if the news story is about something affecting the Muslims, then the Muslim readers or listeners or viewers will be interested in the story, because even if the people in the news story is at the other side of the world, they're still our Muslim brothers and sister. We still share a common thread.

That's why what's happening in Palestine interests me. Though I gave Islam as a commonality between me and the Palestinians, I woefully acknowledge that I am not a good Muslim. But the stories and pictures bombarding the mass media of the latest attacks still breaks my heart. Maybe it's because I'm a mother?

I've a favourite quote, though I used that term loosely, because I don't have the exact word, on the Palestinian cause. It's from a well-known ustaz (religious, Islamic guru) here in Malaysia, Ustaz Wan Sohor Bani Leman. Ustaz Wan says that, "Palestin hanya akan menang, apabila solat Subuh berjemaah di surau sehari-hari sama ramai jemaahnya macam solat sunat Aidilfitri."

Mungkin nanti Allah makbulkan doa anak-anak Palestin. Dan doa-doa ibu-ibu yang patah hatinya seperti aku. Amin.

Iye, aku Mangsa Kapitalisme Amerika Syarikat

Aku addicted kepada Starbucks. Cakap je kopi Starbucks, apa yang aku tak pernah test? Dan hari ini, walaupun aku dah agak pokai, sebab tak kuarkan duit lagi, sebab ATM ramai orang dan aku malas beratur serta jam yang dah menunjukkan pukul 2.15 pm walaupun lunch hour hanyalah 1.00 pm - 2.00 pm, aku terkedek-kedek pergi Starbucks dan habiskan RM33.25 untuk Toffee Frappucino yang oh-so-yummy dan organizer Starbucks yang sungguh stylo.

I am ashamed of myself. Please someone come up with 12-steps for quitting Starbucks.

Tapi aku tetap suka dengan organizer Starbucks yang stylo tu.