Dedicated To All those Born in 1940's, 50's , 60's

I received the below article from a friend. The origin is likely from Malaysia but the experience and how we grew up were very similar. I took liberties to change a few words here and there to localise it into our context with some Sinkie names added. It wasn't too long ago when we were all like dat.

Dedicated To All those Born in 1940's, 50's , 60's

Without any maids, our mothers cooked, cleaned and took care of the whole family. They still had time to chat with neighbours. They were called ‘housewives’.

Everyone had candy floss, fizzy drinks and shaved ice with syrups. Diabete was rare and aspirin/panadol cured all illness.

We rode adult bicycles to school, straddling one leg to the other side. Sitting on the seat would mean unable to reach the pedals. Hercules and Raleigh were the top brands. The richer ones had their own mini-bikes. Ironically, we all had problems with our brakes and loosen chains, and after running into the bushes a few times, we learned how to solve the problem.

Prefects were a fearful lot ...more fearful than the teachers. Detention class was like going to prison for a day. We had "public caning" in schools.

NO ONE ever won the big prizes on "Tikam". It was a scam but it did not stop us coming back for more.

Motorbikes were ridden without helmets. It was rare to ride a private taxi. Taking a bus was luxury - we either cycled or walked everywhere.

We drank water from the tap or any source that looked clean, NOT from bottles. Our tummies were coated with steel.

We spent hours in the fields under the sun, playing football, hantam bola, or flying kites, without worrying about UV rays. It did not affect us. Our skins were tougher than cow hides.

We roamed free catching spiders and did not worry about Aedes mosquitoes. We kept our spiders in match boxes and ready for a fight anytime.

With a mere 5 pebbles, girls played endless games and with an aged tennis ball, boys ran like crazy for hours.

When it rained, we swam the drains & canals to catch rainbow fish, none of us were dissolved in rain.

We shared one bottle of soft drink with friends, NO ONE actually worried about catching anything.

We ate salty, sweet & oily foods, bread had real butter and sometimes condensed milk. We enjoyed very sweet coffee, tea, and "ice kacang" but we were not obese because....... WE WERE OUT PLAYING ALL THE TIME!!

We left home in the morning and played all day till hunger drove us back home. When needed, our parents knew how to find us. NO ONE actually watched over us and WE WERE ALWAYS SAFE.

WE DID NOT HAVE HANDPHONES BUGGING US. Very few had phones at home. We rode bikes or walked over to a friend's house and just yelled for them!

We did not have Playstations, X-boxes, Nintendo's, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! Our TV was black and white.

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts.

We did not have birthday parties till we were 21, which was when we started to take notice of girls.

We had not heard of the word "Bumiputra". We only knew our friends by names. Their parents were Pak Cik and Mak Cik or Uncle and Aunty.(This para is the tell tale sign of the origin of this article).

In Badminton, we did not change the shuttle as long as it was in flight. Regardless of how many feathers were left in the shuttle, our game continued... but still Wong Peng Soon made us proud in badminton.

Match-boxes were always "chilly" or "king kong" brand...to own a box of matches from a hotel was something great.

Regardless of whether we could afford one, we always knew Maths tuition was $10.00 a month.

All parties were held in the homes, the kitchens and the corridors were the extensions.

Morris Minor and Volkswagen beetle were on our roads...driven alongside Kingswood, Vauxhall, Opel and Chrysler. Executives of companies drove Peugeot and Volvo. Japanese cars were considered "inferior". Some tried rubbing the paint work to prove if they were made from drink cans.
There were no traffic lights, only roundabouts.

The whole kampongs came together during kenduris and all took turns to "kacau dodol". Chinese, Indians and Malays were all part of kenduris and all knew how to speak Malay.

Our favourite local performer was Rose Chan and the Beatles were the most popular band. John Wayne's westerns on Sunday, screening in open fields were 10c cent per show.

Malay weddings had joget sessions at night, it was the only time to ask the Malay ladies for a dance.

Ketupat were NEVER plastic wrapped.
Football was played barefooted in thorn-filled "padangs", rain or shine... but still Quah Kim Song, Dollah Kassim and Rajagopal made us proud. Some may remember Wilfred Skinner and Twinkle Toe Tan Boon Leong I think, and there was Uncle Choo. We actually beat Malaya/Malaysia in football.


Susu lembu was delivered to our house by our big, friendly and strong "Bayi" on his bicycle. All "jagas" were "Bayi" and no place got robbed.
"Laksa" and "Putu Mayam" man came peddling. "Kacang Puteh" man walked balancing on his head top, 6 compartments of different type of murukus.
We played tops, made our own kites & had kite fighting with glass glued threads, and made wooden guns & used buah cherry for bullets.

Kang Kong was free…easily harvested by the riverside. "Kembong" was 30 cents a "kati" and nobody wanted "ikan pari".

When the Circus came to town, everybody went to see it. It was the best LIVE show I ever saw.

Usually we did not have to BUY fruits. They were self planted or given by neighbours or friends, or plucked from the neighbour’s when they were not looking.


The idea of parents bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. Our parents actually sided with the law and brought the child to be caned in schools! Nobody knew about child psychology !

Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned ......HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before the government 'regulated' our lives for good !!

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

The morning dawns darkness

Work up this morning to be greeted by a bright new day. Sat down for a cuppa of kopi and breakfast to prepare for a quiet and blissful weekend. Flipped the ST and suddenly darkness descended all around me.

Ravi was told to see a psychiatrist by the Law Society or to face losing his license to practise as a lawyer. And Ravi’s consultation with his own psychiatrist, a prominent practitioner, was somehow not enough. How many psychiatrists must Ravi see before enough is enough or before the Law Society deems he is fit to practise law?

Has Ravi misbehaved in courts, incoherent and acted in a way detrimental to his clients or embarrassing to the courts, to the legal profession? Or has Ravi done anything to harm anyone? Has Ravi’s clients been complaining about his behaviour and incompetence?

He has been in and out of courts and no judges have so far questioned his ability to handle his cases. Why is Ravi seen as incompetent and could face losing his licence to practise?

The darkness is overwhelming and suffocating.

Our roads are dangerous for cyclists

Are our roads dangerous? Shanmugam said, and I quote from the Today paper, ‘I have been noticing that there is increased amount of unsafe driving on our roads…I wonder if it is the case that we are simply noticing this more, or if indeed our driving habits have become worse. And Today had a table showing that the number of cyclists and pillion riders who died or were injured in accidents were 589 for 2009, 573 for 2010 and 500 for 2011. The number for Jan-Jun 2012 is 190 and simple projection will see this number to be about 190 plus or minus a bit in the next 6 months, or about 380 to 400 for the year. 

Ahem, I must say that based on these numbers, the number of incidents is getting lesser, not increased.

Nonetheless, the number of death is still too high for a casual recreational activity with one or two death daily. It is the most dangerous sports in terms of number of casualties. It should be discouraged or even banned. The number of death is unnecessary and not worth the risk.

Many cyclists refuse to admit this fact that our roads are just too dangerous for cyclists. They are not only narrow, other than the highways, the drivers, the big buses and lorries, are often driven by speed demons. Many of these heavy vehicles are driven by the lowly educated, the foreigners with their third world mentality and habits, and pose just too high a risk for our cyclists.

To add to the problem, some cyclists think that drivers are as well mannered and safety conscious as them, and would drive with care. To further add to the deadly delusion, some of the cyclists thought number is safety and would cycle abreast in twos and threes or more when in a big group, ignoring the right of motorists. They are simply inviting for trouble. A little mistake by the drivers, intentional, accidental or trying to frighten the cyclists to cycle single file would send them flying to heaven.

At this point in time, our road infrastructure is just not suitable for cyclists, not even single file. Best to just keep to the parks, connectors and housing estates. Venture to the main roads at your own risk. The hobby or sports, the attractive sports attire and gadgets to don on, are not worth the risk of losing arms and legs and lives. Don’t be silly and don’t be stubborn. Our roads are not meant for cycling.

Quote from Professor Christopher Balding

‘Everyone the world over, the Chinese included, acknowledge that the Chinese media is blatantly manipulated and censored. Chinese technocrats quietly admit they don’t trust their own economic data believing it to be rigged for political purposes.’ Christopher Balding

How many people believe that their country’s media, or any media, is not blatantly manipulated and censored?

What you will be getting and missing reading western media

This is what David Pilling wrote in his article, Japan, China and their ‘history problem’ in the Today paper, ‘The argument over Senkaku goes back to the start of Japanese colonialism. Japan surveyed Senkaku in 1885, … Saying that there was no sign of the islands being under anyone’s influence, it incorporated the into Japanese territory in 1895. Beijing says the islands have appeared on Chinese maps since the 16th Century. From its perspective, Japan seized the islands when it was setting off on its Western inspired colonial rampage. The islands were controlled by the Americans after the war, but returned to Tokyo in 1972 as part of the reversion of Okinawa to Japan. Beijing says the US had no right to return them since they were not Washington’s to give.’

Anyone reading this piece will think nothing is wrong with the Japanese version and the return of the islands to Japan. What was missing was the acknowledgement by the Japanese Imperial govt even much earlier of Diaoyu Islands as the territorial limits of the Qing Dynasty. What was left out was the ceding of the islands in an unequal treaty after China lost a war with Japan in the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki. It was not an innocent act of simply incorporating other countries’ land into another country like the Western powers did during their colonization of the world. Columbus went to American and found no one owned it, so claimed that he found it. Raffles founded Singapore because no one else found it.

It also brushes aside the fact that the islands were held in trust by the Americans only and America was not the rightful owners. It also did not say anything about the post WW2 treaties for all land grabbed by Japan to be returned to China, including these islands. It also turned a blind eye to the American agenda of the Cold War conflict with China and Russia and thus conveniently ignored China’s rights to these islands.

The western media often deliberately ignored the truth and the relevant facts to show a different truth. Unwary and innocent readers would easily be made to see only their side of half truth, and lies as truth. And may daft Asians and Africans would believe these western truths and yell and cheer and embrace them like the gospel truth. Unthinking and not thinking and making an ass of themselves to serve western interests and agenda without knowing it.