Heaven in Revelation

The last book in the Bible brings together into one great vision many themes of God's original creation. In Revelation, heaven comes to earth. The city of God descends to us. God lives among his people and wipes every "tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:1-4).

Until then, we have to contend with death, curse, sorrow, and all the bad elements of this present earth when Adam fell by eating the apple from the wrong tree. I shall certainly look forward to the day when heaven descend on earth and God lives with us.

Good Friday

I just got an sms from my youngest sister that our new Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng attended Way of the Cross in Cathedral of the Holy Spirit plus tons of pressmen. Though I am a Protestant attending a Baptist Church, my dad and my two younger sisters are Catholics and are church lectors. This is a pleasant surprise to know that Guan Eng is a Christian.

Today is Good Friday and the coming Sunday will be Easter. This is an important occasion marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after being crucified. Now with Lim Guan Eng being a Catholic, hopefully the churches in Penang will have more power and authority to preach and build more churches with crosses. In the previous administration under Dr Koh Tsu Koon, the word Church was not allowed to be used in new church buildings and they can only be called Christian Centre. Notwithstanding, even crosses are not supposed to be shown in the new church buildings. It was a systematic suppression of the practising of Christian faith and gradual Islamisation all over Malaysia. May God bless Penang and the new Government comprising DAP, PKR and PAS alliance.

Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who

Just 2 days ago, I went to GSC cinema in Queensbay Mall to watch Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who in its debut opening day on the 13th of March 2008.

The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant who, on the fifteenth of May in the Jungle of Nool, hears a small speck of dust talking to him. It turns out the speck of dust is actually a tiny planet, home to a city called "Who-ville", inhabited by microscopic-sized inhabitants known as Whos.

The Whos ask Horton (who, though he cannot see them, is able to hear them quite well) to protect them from harm, to which Horton happily obliges, proclaiming throughout the book that "a person's a person, no matter how small". In doing so he is ridiculed and forced into a cage by the other animals in the jungle for believing in something that they are unable to see or hear. His chief tormentors are Vlad Vladikoff, the Wickersham Brothers and the Sour Kangaroo, and the small kangaroo in her pouch. Horton tells the Whos that they needed to make themselves heard to the other animals, lest they end up as part of "beezlenut stew", which they finally accomplish. The Whos finally make themselves heard by ensuring that all members of their society play their part. In the end it is the smallest Who of all, Jo-Jo, who provides the last volume lift to be heard, thus reinforcing the moral of "a person's a person no matter how small".

Now convinced of the Whos' existence, Horton's neighbors vow to help him protect the tiny community.

It's interesting to see a pretty big creature like Horton concerned with protecting the tiniest creatures of all...even if the others in the jungle of Nool may not believe that's he's right about all those tiny people on the speck (well, maybe Rudy, the Sour Kangaroo's son, may think he could be right...)

Lovable characters like Horton, who can be serious at times (and is truly determined) but also wild-and-crazy, full of imagination and whimsy. Like the mayor, who is determined to protect his city from the dangers they're now being exposed to (who will protect the protector? "A giant elephant, up in the sky!... Don't bother to look, he's invisible...")

Highly recommended! The look of the film is visually stunning, and a good voice cast (CBS Radio's Charles Osgood narrates; the mayor and his wife are Steve Carrell and Amy Poehler, and Jim Carrey of course is Horton.

Lim Guan Eng as Penang's New Chief Minister

It is a day of reckoning when DAP (Democratic Action Party) trounced Gerakan and BN in the recently concluded Malaysian 2008 General Election. Now we have a new Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who was sworn in yesterday to be the people's spokesperson. No longer do we have an academic Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon who was muted about the NEP (New Economic Policy) and could hardly fight for the Chinese rights. NEP was implemented by the second prime minister of Malaysia Tun Razak. It is biased and unfair to the Chinese and the Indians while enriching the Malays, more likely those in positions of political power.

To quote from Datuk Lim Keng Yaik, it is scary to see the UMNO Youth president, Datuk Hishamuddin wielding the keris (Malay sword) in their general assembly. This should stop. No wonder the Barisan Nasional lost quite a lot of seats. There has been much corruption, cronyism, and insensitive remarks made in the past by UMNO members. And we Chinese have to learn to bear with it and try to get along with them because they are in power. Hopefully with DAP in charge of Penang now, this will no longer be the case.

Tags : Lim Guan Eng, Penang's new chief minister, Malaysian 2008 General Election, New Economic Policy, Democratic Action Party, DAP, Barisan National, NEP

Reasons for the Malaysian 2008 General Election Results

The results of the Malaysian 2008 General Elections took everyone by surprise. Incumbent Barisan lost 4 more states - Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor to the opposition. What has really happened? There are some plausible reasons to this. When our former deputy prime minister, Anwar released the Lingam's video to the press near election time, it was very destructive for the goverment to know that a common lawyer like Mr Lingam could broker the appointment of judges in high court. There was much corruption with the 'Correct, Correct, Correct' lawyer offering free tours, houses, handphones to top judges. This show how corrupt the judiciary is.

Secondly, churches were not allowed to use the word 'Allah' in their printing materials and in their preaching. What the heck! The word 'Allah' was used before Islam came to Malaysia. It shows how narrow minded the government is. And Bibles were confiscated recently by the customs that belong to a Baptist church. Looks like the citizen's freedom is being eroded bit by bit.

People were also fedup especially the non-Malays of the NEP (New Economic Policy) favouring the bumiputras or simply the Malays. All government contracts are given to bumiputra companies only leaving out the other races, the Chinese and the Indians. No wonder Lee Kuan Yew said we were being marginalized just because we are more hardworking, diligent and rich. Most of the common Chinese in Penang have felt the pinch of NEP and they are not as rich as before. People are angry and therefore, don't expect the rakyat to vote for you when you are not fair to all races to begin with. You preach one thing, but your actions speak another.

Since Penang is now in the hands of the opposition, I hope future tenders will be fair to all races and not solely for bumiputras only. Hopefully my company will be able to participate in sports open tenders meant for anyone and any race on a fairer system. I also hope that goverment planned projects to develop Penang like the monorail, Penang's second bridge, Penang Outer Ring Road and the like will not be delayed any further by the government since the rakyat or citizens have chosen the opposition to govern them. Congratulations to Lim Guan Eng and Karpal Singh of DAP, Datin Seri Wan Azizah of PKR and the other victorous candidates.

Tags : Malaysian 2008 General Election, reasons for 2008 Malaysian General Election results, Democratic Action Party, DAP, Barisan National