Election Fever Malaysia

Less than a week to go before the grand finale that is the 14th General Election in Malaysia. Very excited. Everything, and everyone, in Malaysia is about the election. Unfortunately, I won’t be voting again, for the umpteenth time. I am a bad citizen. I am a bad, bad citizen. If I’d known earlier about the postal votes, I would’ve registered, but now, it’s a little too late.

But thinking about it, my vote wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. My constituency is an opposition stronghold, where the majority is typically in the tens of thousands. There is no chance that the results would change, this election anyway. So, that’s a consolation, hehe.

Anyway, I quietly hope for a regime change. I grew up in a Malaysia known for its religious tolerance and harmony. Back when I was staying in Malaysia, we had inter-racial rapport, we learnt to be sensitive to one another’s differences and taboos. This was ingrained into our heads, “respect one another, no racial slurs or taunts,” or we’ll be hauled up under the Internal Security Act (ISA), and jailed probably. I supported the ISA (although many including my dad, didn’t). I think in a multi-racial country like Malaysia, some tenet of respect and understanding of our fellow countrymen of another race and religion, is essential. There must be a law to keep the peace and harmony intact, something to prevent dangerous demagogues from inciting racial and religious strife. The ISA’s scrapped now, to be replaced by an even more draconian law, the Sedition Act, but I only see a worsening racial divide and intolerance. Arrogant Chinese versus arrogant Malays, taunts and acts against people of different religions, made even scarier when some perpetrators are people from the ruling government, and no action is taken. Where will it end? How did it become like this? I think it is partly due to the fact that the law wasn’t seen to be fairly applied on all, irrespective of race, religion or party. We are heading towards a time bomb, and it has to stop.

I like the rapport that I see among the different races in the opposition camp, the Pakatan Harapan. To me, this rapport encapsulates the spirit of Malaysia. I remember the time when PAS, the Islamic Party of Malaysia, was part of the opposition front. Its then spiritual leader, the late Nik Aziz Nik Mat couldn’t be more different than Lim Kit Siang, the leader of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), but they had always managed to put aside their differences and worked together for the good of the front. To me, this is what Malaysia should be. A place where people of different races, religions and values, liberal or conservative, can thrive and live together in harmony, respecting one another’s differences.

Secondly, our respected Prime Minister, Najib, has been accused of corruption and the gross mismanagement of our sovereign wealth fund, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars, the money of the people of Malaysia. This is no small change. Najib has denied all wrong. I don’t know how guilty he is, but I strongly believe that any leader with some semblance of dignity, when wrongly accused, would have voluntarily stepped down to allow an independent investigation to be done, to clear his name. Najib did the complete opposite. He fired everyone and anyone who dared to mutter anything about this. What more can I say?

I grew up and started my working career in Malaysia in a Mahathir-led era. Although I sympathized with the then disgraced Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, during the fallout between Mahathir and Anwar, and sided with the opposition during those times, mainly due to the perceived injustice and hard-handedness of the government, I still hold the greatest respect for Tun Dr Mahathir. Despite his faults and the many injustices that he dished out to his opponents, he is the one who did the most for Malaysia. He is the one who put Malaysia on the map. He is the one who made me proud to be a Malaysian. He is the one who made me believe that, we Malaysians, can be as good as anyone in the world. He is old now, 92 years old. How many people can still walk, or talk, let along campaign at 92? He is now the leader of the opposition. I hope Malaysia will give him another chance, a chance to correct the wrongs and injustice that he had created in the past. Long live Mahathir, long live Anwar, long live Pakatan Harapan!

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Note: The above is my personal view. I can’t wait for 9 May. It’s like X2: X-Men United, when foes Professor X and Magneto teamed up to take on Colonel Stryker! Foes Anwar and Mahathir in one team against Najib, how much more interesting could it get? Some of the names I’ll miss during this election would be Karpal Singh, Nik Aziz and Adenan Satem. I hold these late leaders in high esteem. RIP. God bless them.

Wow, this is one long post I finished in record time!

I’ve decided to decorate my post with some remainder photos of Legoland Johor Bahru which I didn’t post before, since Johor is one of the main battlegrounds!


Legoland Malaysia (the multi-cloloured buildings) in Johor Bahru (JB)


Afiniti Residences, Medini, Nusajaya, our apartment for the 2 nights in JB – just across the road from Legoland


A view from our Lego boat on the Boating School – "Jayden, you drive, OK? Papa's gonna take a photo – NO, NO, NO, DON’T TURN, GO STRAIGHT, YOU’LL CRASH!" …CCRAAAASSHHHH!!!


Dino Island, Legoland Malaysia – This is one ride that you won’t find in Legoland Dubai – Justin & yours truly went twice in a row (coz it was broken earlier, and we just thought we’d check it out before we go home, and Tada! it’s working and there’s no queue!) We were completely drenched!


Lego version of JB’s Tanjung Pelepas Port

Lego Overdose

Legoland Dubai

Last month we had a Lego overdose. No, actually a Legoland overdose! 3 Legoland Theme Parks in a month! And all because of Justin’s birthday! This boy is SOOOO lucky! Really hope he remembers this and appreciates it (if not, we’ll drum it into his head, again and again, until he does, haha). His mom by the way, has sworn never to visit another Legoland, EVER!

We promised Justin to bring him to Legoland Malaysia during our last December Malaysia visit, as a gift for his birthday. That was planned months back, when we bought the air tickets. Then, at the end of November last year, Dubai Parks & Resorts (who runs Legoland Dubai) decided to give some fantastic offers for the UAE National Day weekend – 2 Legoland theme parks for the price of 1 ticket! Buy 1 ticket and get admission to Legoland Dubai and Legoland Water Park on 2 separate days! Justin’s actual birthday (1 Dec) falls on that particular weekend (UAE’s National Day is 2 Dec). And so, there you go! Legoland bonanza!






Scenes from Legoland Water Park, Dubai – we had the most fun here! But we gave Legoland Water Park Malaysia a miss, because it was exactly the same as in Dubai!


Miniland, Legoland Dubai – featuring Lego miniatures of the landmarks of the UAE and the Middle East – of course it has the Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and a horde of other UAE landmarks. Then there's the Kuwait Towers, Petra (Jordan), the Pyramids of Giza (Egypt), Taj Mahal (India) and lots of famous skyscrapers from all over the world…


Miniland, Legoland Malaysia – featuring Lego miniatures from Malaysia and South East Asia (what else?) Taj Mahal is also here (guess it’s a Legoland favourite huh?) and the Forbidden City of China. Seen here is mini Wat Arun of Bangkok


The Dragon, Legoland Dubai’s best roller coaster! Justin was reluctant to try at first, but after he rode it, he’s hooked! That was the main ride he was looking forward to when visiting Legoland Malaysia, but unfortunately, it was closed for maintenance!!! What a bummer!


Inside the castle in Kingdoms, picture taken while in the queue waiting for the Dragon Roller Coaster ride, Legoland Dubai


And this is Kingdoms, Legoland Malaysia, the roller coaster track at the back is part of the Dragon. There’re lots of similarities between the Legolands. Apart from Miniland, the rest of Legoland are almost identical. Malaysia Legoland is bigger and features more rides. The one ride that we found in Legoland Dubai that wasn’t in Malaysia, was the submarine


This is one ride that Legoland Dubai did not have – The Great Lego Race VR Coaster! Legoland Malaysia


Great Lego Gods of Egypt! Outside the Lost Kingdom Adventure, Legoland Dubai


Junior Driving School, Legoland Malaysia with Stacey in the Blue Car and Jayden in the Red Car – Jayden wasn’t able to get on the same ride in Legoland Dubai due to his height – he’s 94cm and the minimum height specified was 95cm! Awww, c’mon it’s just 1 friggin cm short, and he paid the same as the others! There was no problem at all in Legoland Malaysia b’coz they didn’t specify any height requirement, only age, all aged above 3 can ride!


Boating School, Legoland Malaysia – Papa with Jayden sweating it out (literally, Malaysia is a bitch when it comes to humidity!) The building behind is the Legoland Hotel! Yeah, Lego has its own hotel, complete with Lego bricks in the rooms, I heard!


Legoland Hotel & Legoland, Johor Bahru, Malaysia – a view from our apartment room’s window – we rented an apartment for our 2 families, just opposite Legoland! Thanks Jason and Fang, for the great arrangement!


What’s a Legoland post without Lego bricks – There’re scores of places in the parks where people can while away time building something with Lego bricks (and apparently kids like doing that). I don’t get it. We come all the way here to go on the rides, right? If you wanna play on some Lego bricks, we can do it at home, OK?! That’s Justin building his car for testing and racing with others, at Build & Test, Legoland Dubai

Another Whirlwind Balik Kampung Trip

Christmas at the Canning Garden Baptist Church, Ipoh – Merry Christmas Everyone! OK, Christmas is over, but yesterday was the Orthodox Christmas celebrated by Russians and Egyptian Coptic Christians! So, it’s not too late!

Hello everyone! It’s 2018! Here’re some photos of family and friends from our recent trip home.

Ya, I was back home, on another whirlwind trip! 2 nights in JB, 1 night in KL, 1 night in Ipoh, 3 nights in Butterworth / Penang, and 4 nights in Thailand (yeah, we have family in Bangkok, don’t you know that?)

Have promised the missus I’ll never do another "touch n go" trip again, but somehow it happened! Now she’s promised never to go on another trip with yours truly! Shucks! But what do you do when your family’s all over the place???

Originally planned this trip for only Malaysia, and mainly to renew my passport (renewing it in Dubai takes 3 friggin months, according to the embassy!) Then the wife suggested that I take Justin (our elder son) to Legoland Malaysia as a birthday treat for him. Happily I agreed (I’m a kid at heart after all, haha). So, added Johor Bahru (JB). There, we’ll also get to meet Jason (my brother) and his family, who’re in Singapore, just across the border from JB.

Then my dad suggested that we give our aunt (Ah Mm), who has been in and out of the ICU, a visit. She lives in Bangkok. So, added Bangkok, Thailand.

Then, I discovered that one of the cheapest way to fly was with Gulf Air, with a long transit in Bahrain. Perfect, we’ve never entered Bahrain (transited before, but never entered). This was our chance. Added Manama, Bahrain.

And that’s the reason why out of our 2 weeks’ holiday, our stay in Malaysia became only 7 friggin days, in 4 friggin places! And of that, we spent 1 day in the airports (3 different airports to be precise), 1 friggin day (7.5 hours) in an “express” bus (express, my foot) from JB to KL (it was the 23rd of Dec, Saturday, friggin long weekend rush northwards), 1 friggin day in the passport office (holiday season, long queues, sigh…), 2-3 hours in an express train from KL to Ipoh, and half a day on banking errands in 3 different banks. Of the 3 remaining days, one day was in Legoland, and another day was Christmas Day that we spent in church in the morning, took our uncle (Ji-Pek) from the old folk’s home for lunch, visited my 93 year old grandma in hospital (not serious), visited the Bangkok aunt in another old folk’s home in Ipoh (yeah, she wanted to be back in her home town so much, that my cousins managed to get her discharged from the Bangkok hospital a day after we visited in Bangkok and had her shifted back to Ipoh), and visited a friend’s house in Ipoh. That left only one meagre day to gel with the family!

Here’re the photos!


With Jason’s family in Legoland Malaysia, Johor Bahru


Also met up with cousin Mandy Boo and daughter Riley in JB – at Yi Jia Seafood Restaurant, Bukit Indah, JB


And what a small world! Bumped into an old friend and colleague from our Emirates Road Project days, Michelle Lee, in, of all places, Legoland! And she ain’t even from JB! Her family came all the way from KL. Here’s she with her 2 kids. Her husband’s the photographer!


Next stop KL – Here with favourite aunt, Helen in her house in Abadi Villa, Taman Desa, and Tua-Pek, all the way from Bangkok! (The pic was taken not long after Tua-Pek arrived by long distance cab from Ipoh).


Hey, that’s Mark Ho! Long time no see, nephew!


The kids with their cousin sis, Jamie Ho and aunt Jane, the amazing! Just hear the story of how she turned the tables on her ex!

Also met with me good ol’ cousin bro, Jack, but didn’t take any photos, unfortunately.


Next stop, Ipoh, for Christmas – Here with Ji-Pek, just after lunch at Ipoh Garden


And here’s where Ah Mm stays in Ipoh, the Yayasan Lotus nursing home. We met her in Bangkok Nakornthorn Hospital, the day before she was discharged. She was longing to go back to Ipoh, so cousins Emily, Alan and Alan’s wife, together with Tua-Pek brought her back to Ipoh. When we met her here, cousin sis Emily (who resides in the UK) was staying with her, in the old folk’s home, the youngest resident of the home! Forgot to snap any photos of Ah Mm, Emily, Alan or Alan’s wife. What a waste?!


At friend Ajit and Manjit’s house in Ipoh. Ajit’s away in Australia, and their two older kids are studying outstation. See how big their youngest daughter, Ravneet has grown! The older lady is Manjit’s sister

We also met Tua Kor, cousin brother Kok Leong and his two grown up kids at our Ipoh house, and visited my 93 year granny in the Ipoh General Hospital. Met my uncle there also.

Finally, Butterworth, dad’s house. This was where I did my passport renewal, and banking errands. We had 2.5 days here before we headed back to Bangkok to catch our return flight to Dubai.


Dinner with members of mom’s family – Ah Chong Seafood Restaurant (Malaysia’s all about seafood restaurant by the way hehe), Pantai Bersih, Butterworth


A dim-sum breakfast with mom's eldest sister and husband at Sweet Paradise (Chew Chuen) Restaurant, near dad’s house, Butterworth

And here’re some photos of our time in Thailand with dad and Hazel.


At the restaurant of our hotel, Riverfront Residence, SV City, Bangkok – We purposely chose this place to be near where cousin Alan and family stays, but as circumstances would have it, Alan’s family spent most of their time in Nakornthorn Hospital, 20 km away, where our aunt, Ah Mm (Alan’s mom) was hospitalized. By the time we got to Bangkok, Alan and sis Emily (who’s sorta uprooted her life from the UK to be with her mom) had already decided to transfer their mom back to our home town of Ipoh, Malaysia. We managed to meet all of them (including Tua-Pek and Jib, Alan’s wife) in the hospital the day before aunt was discharged and scheduled to fly back to Malaysia.

We spent the remainder 3 days in Thailand sightseeing and travelling (didn’t know Pattaya was that far from Bangkok!?)


Family pic with dad and Hazel, Sanctuary of Truth, Pattaya


The kids and their grandpa, Million Years Stone Park, Pattaya

That’s all for now folks. I’ve decided to slow down on blogging for the time being, because I’ve just been made the supremo of this friggin Abu Dhabi project! (My boss had to move to Canada for his PR process). Awww… just imagine the responsibilities!!!