Sri Shan. Chandran. Gan.

3 Men Walked into A Chettinad Restaurant...

Image: SideChef.com

Three kindred spirits gathered ritual-like, over tea on a Saturday afternoon like time travellers exchanging ancient data of past encounters, feats and conquests, reminiscing their relevance in the present era. 

To be able to spend a hot, sweltering lazy afternoon drinking teh tarek and eating nasi lemak, an assortment of Indian tea time delights with two of my oldest ex-colleagues, and teammates, who remain friends of almost 50 years, huddled around a table of  the Annapurnam restaurant in Bangsar bitching about the state of sports in our nation, particularly hockey. Mainly because no higher authority exists in our beloved nation on the sport of hockey than in our present company. Yes. It is fundamentally boring. 

But the bonds that we cemented yet again, only serves to remind me how blessed we are to still have each other and to be still hale and hearty in our physical and verbal banters. Meister Ekhart called this; The Noble Man or The Edel Mench. Nobly humans are naturally constituted. The divine state can come by one's own grace. Instead of putting down nobles and aristocrats, he makes the peasants into nobles. Instead of putting down anyone, he elevates all. 

That is apparently the key to A Good Life - a book published by Harvard University that began human happiness studies from 1938 on what makes a good life. 

It reveals that good, warm relationships are the single most powerful predictor of lifelong happiness, health, and longevity.

As noble men, we already know, believe and live in that. That's why we keep making these exquisite encounters happen regularly, even that at best is too infrequent but there is no but. 

It is what it is. As we traverse this ephemeral life as one must, invariably alone, it helps make the journey a lot less tedious and a lot more joyful. Because everything is impermanent. Everything changes. Nothing lasts forever. 

Life is truly a DIY journey and no matter what, nobody gets out alive so take life a little lighter and live while still alive. 

Enjoy yourself then die laughing. 

I love you guys. 

Footnote: The tea-time treats were so delectable that the youngest one of us bagged more goodies for home. Talk about hale, hearty and hungry. 

For the Excitement Seeker. Happy Merdeka.

The Dream ~ Henri Rousseau. Oil on canvas 1910. 

We now live in a world where excitement is the much sought after commodity where we constantly seek to feel good through any of our 5 sense perceptions. 

Often we fall into taking these perceptions for reality, when what we have essentially done is detach from reality, seeking excitement elsewhere instead of being present in the now to fully experience reality as it unfolds in every moment in front of us. 

True excitement comes from that. 

Stay present. Enjoy the excitement and the exuberance the universe is displaying in front of us every moment of everyday. 

Happy Independence Day Malaysia 🇲🇾 

Jiwa Merdeka - The Spirit of Independence.

This Merdeka, we celebrate the Mah Meri tribe of the Senoi people. The original people of this land aka the Orang Asal. They have lived for centuries off the land in harmony with nature. Their deep reverence for nature has made them renown for their art of carving masks and statues which they use in prayers and ceremonies. Each carving has a folklore linked to natural and benevolent spirits that live amongst us. We're taking a leaf from these people to transcend the physical and political to embrace the spirit that unites us as a nation. 

Much like the delegation of diverse, multiracial and multi-talented individuals who journeyed to London in 1956 seeking independence from the British. 

“Don’t ask, don’t get.”

This must have been the thought driving our founding fathers as they embarked on their historic journey to London in February 1956, determined to secure our independence from British colonial rule. Armed with meticulous arguments, well-crafted proposals, and a deep understanding of the terms set by the British, they were prepared for the most important negotiation in Malaya’s history.

The delegation was formidable in its resolve and preparation. So persuasive were their presentations, so thorough their negotiations, that independence was secured in a single formal meeting on that chilly February day in London. While the air may have been cold in the British capital, the sun was undoubtedly shining brightly over Malaya.

Malaya, or Tanah Melayu, was granted independence that very month, with the official date set for August 31, 1957. And as they say, the rest is history.

Let us pay homage to the elite team who journeyed to London and returned with our freedom:

1. Tunku Abdul Rahman

•          Position: Chief Minister of the Federation of Malaya and leader of the delegation.

•          Role: Tunku Abdul Rahman was the head of the delegation and the primary negotiator. He was also the President of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and would later become the first Prime Minister of independent Malaya.

2. Tun Abdul Razak Hussein

•          Position: Minister of Education.

•          Role: Abdul Razak was an important figure in the negotiations, representing UMNO. He would later serve as the second Prime Minister of Malaysia.

3. Tun Dr. Ismail Abdul Rahman

•          Position: Minister of Commerce and Industry.

•          Role: Dr. Ismail was a prominent leader who played a key role in the negotiations and was instrumental in shaping post-independence policies. He later became the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

4. Tun Tan Cheng Lock

•          Position: President of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA).

•          Role: Representing the Chinese community, Tan Cheng Lock was an essential figure in ensuring that the interests of the Chinese population were considered in the independence negotiations.

5. Tun V.T. Sambanthan

•          Position: President of the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC).

•          Role: As the representative of the Indian community in Malaya, Tun Sambanthan was responsible for advocating for the rights and interests of the Indian population in the new nation.

6. Dato’ Abdul Razak bin Dato’ Hussein

•          Position: Minister of Education.

•          Role: Dato’ Abdul Razak played a significant role in the negotiations, particularly in discussions related to education and administration.

7. Dato’ Wong Pow Nee

•          Position: Chief Minister of Penang.

•          Role: Representing Penang, Dato’ Wong Pow Nee was involved in the negotiations to ensure that the interests of the state and its people were addressed.

8. Colonel Tun H.S. Lee

•          Position: Minister of Transport.

•          Role: As a representative of the MCA and a key member of the Alliance Party, Colonel H.S. Lee contributed to the discussions on infrastructure and transport policies for the new nation.

These delegates were part of the Alliance Party, a coalition representing the three major ethnic groups in Malaya (Malays, Chinese, and Indians). The successful negotiations in London led to the agreement on Malaya’s independence, which was officially granted on August 31, 1957. *

This diverse group of talented individuals, representing a cross-section of our nation, laid the foundation for the country we now know and love as Malaysia.

The Malaysia We Know – And Love

However, the Malaysia we see today is but a shadow of the nation we were in the decades following Merdeka. While we have enjoyed political freedom for 67 years, the journey toward achieving true spiritual independence—'Jiwa Merdeka’—remains unfinished. 

This theme resonates deeply in this year's Merdeka celebrations.

What does ‘Jiwa Merdeka’ truly mean?

At its core, spiritual independence was the very essence of our founding fathers’ vision. They understood that our greatest strength lies in our diversity. Our multiracial composition demonstrated to the British that we could govern ourselves with peace, harmony, and prosperity. It was this very criterion—the ability to unite despite our differences—that convinced the British to grant us independence. The diverse composition of our delegation, coupled with the merit of our negotiations, sealed the deal.

Our multicultural society is the lifeblood of our nation, and our existence as a progressive country hinges on it. Yet, the ever-looming clouds of race, religion, and colour threaten this vision. ‘Jiwa Malaysia’ or spiritual independence, calls us to transcend these divides and embrace a collective spirit that sees beyond physical and political distinctions.

That is the true spirit of Merdeka—*Jiwa Merdeka*.

Happy Merdeka to all.

Visual rationale:

The Mah Meri tribe belongs to the Senoi people, one of the indigenous peoples of Malaysia, renowned for their ancient mask carvings from the wood of the blackboard tree for use in celebrating festive occasions like weddings. The masks embody benevolent spirits that, in the animistic pantheon of the Mah Meri, are used to drive away evil, soul-stealing spirits.

Source: https://www.maskmuseum.org/mask/mah-meri-moyant-kuhau/

Visit them online to discover their amazing story  here: https://www.mmcv.org.my/fully-customizable-2/

*Handcrafted by human, verified and cleaned up by ChatGPT4.

Sources; "The Making of the Malayan Constitution" by Joseph M. Fernando >https://www.mbras.org.my/monograph31.html

"The End of Empire and the Making of Malaya" by T.N. Harper >https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/end-of-empire-and-the-making-of-malaya/introduction/6D87C369666F27067AB19D136F2E1FAE

I love you. Ken's Visit

 Playing Host to Ken Brady

Everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong on one of the most important nights of my life. 

Image:Bangsar-babe

I sent a courtesy email the night before to ascertain dinner at 8 and to wish him and his partner a safe & pleasant trip. He replied as early as 7am the next morning to advise of a flight delay from Bangkok landing in KL at 5pm instead of 2. My proposed dinner time was still doable. I calculated. 

So I went about my day with scheduled meetings with Fai and Al, an intern from Kuantan. Our meeting went fabulously well but there were further delays in Ken's flight into KL. There was a second departure delay that had them sitting in their plane on the tarmac at Suvarnabhumi for another 90 minutes while airline officials off-loaded luggage for no-show passengers on a full flight. They finally landed at KLIA at 7. I was still at the office and made a mental note to leave at 8 to fetch Ken from his hotel in Bukit Bintang. With traffic coming into KL from KLIA on a Friday evening, I anticipated his arrival at the hotel at 9 at the earliest. 

I was wrong. Just minutes before 8, he texted they had arrived and checked-in at their hotel. Horrors. I was still at the office. We rushed out the door into Friday night traffic going into the city center. It was a nightmare when in our haste we missed a right turn into Raja Chulan leading to Bukit Bintang. 

We finally made it to the hotel lobby at 8.41pm. Our dinner guests looked very relaxed and seemingly unaffected by the day's delays. Ken looks as dashing as ever as does Mac. We quickly piled into Fai's car inching up Bukit Bintang, one of the busiest roads in town, slowly and surely making our way to nearby Hakka Restaurant (since 1956). All is well I thought, we can still make our dinner reservation. But no, we were chased and stopped by a Police patrol car, told to wait in the car while a summons was slowly handwritten and issued to Fai for running a red light. What red light??

As we reached our iconic restaurant, thank god they were still open and kept my reservation, I was silently contemplating what else could possibly go wrong with the night. 

We got to our table, sat down and ordered wine, food and crabs! Chilli crabs are what we came here for. 
They're Mac's favourite. 

I settled down, sat back to look at my guests like prized catches, to fully appreciate and acknowledge their presence and let out a satisfying sigh. Then I looked around the old establishment and recalled the last time I sat here was in late 2018. I was having dinner with four lovely and very powerful ladies.

One was an investment banker, another an heiress to an international Swiss watch brand with her teenage daughter and the fourth, an heiress of a property-based conglomerate. Yes I felt like a sausage in a basket of rich muffins. To be precise, three muffins and a cupcake. 

I snapped out of my stupor when the waitress slapped a menu on the table and cried; "No more crab."

What the..??!! I began exclaiming when I realised I found the answer to the question I was earlier contemplating. No crabs. I buried my head in my hands resigning to hopefully the last thing to go wrong tonight. My head went limp in my hands partly from embarrassment from the misfortunes suffered tonight and partly from utter disbelief. I finally showed my face to my guests and apologised painfully. My gracious guests took it in their stride for the second time that night. It was a sobering night. Even the delicious New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc didn't help much. 

But we had a fabulous time. 

Ken was his usual talkative self enlightening us with some of his travel stories in Egypt with Michael Ball. He kept remarking at how he remembered eating at this restaurant many years ago. Mac was grinning affably enjoying his maiden trip to KL while Fai paid full attention to Ken having sat down next to him on my left. I was feeling pleased in the moment enraptured in the fact that I am once again in the presence of my mentor who I respect and admire and who has played a large part in shaping my professional life. This time I was hosting him in my city. A city Ken has grown fond of and familiar with. We ate the fish and prawn dishes, drank wine and talked till closing time. Then we drove Ken & Mac back to the Marriot way past his 10pm moratorium hugging and leaving them happy and tired from their day of travels and delays. 

We left feeling a huge sense of relief everything went fabulously well. Including the misadventures. In fact we agreed that they made the milestone event more memorable.

Later that night as I sat on my balcony, reflecting my friend Ken, I realised he was the only 'Big Brother' father figure person left in my life. My mentor who has known and nurtured me for over 30 years. 

We first met and instantly connected at the poolside of a beach resort in Kuantan where I had my first taste of training conducted by 'the' Ken Brady, one of the founders of Ogilvy's Magic Lantern training series worldwide. It was the first of many to come, starting the steep curve of lessons turning me, a scruffy Malaysian Chinese hooligan into a gentleman, better an advertising executive in the mould of Michael Ball leading directly to David Ogilvy, the father of Advertising. 

I try to make regular visits to Bangkok to see Ken. I remember my last visit right after my divorce just before the Covid lockdowns. I needed to tell someone about my life at that point. I had no one to tell to except Ken. He mirrored how I felt. He felt heartbroken, mumbled some comforting words and sat with me in silence. I suppose it was at that point that my healing started. 

We have kept in constant touch via email. Ken would send a barrage of daily emails mainly curating tid bits of news, images, videos, jokes, or anything interesting worth sharing. His daily missives would occasionally be peppered with detailed and thoughtful travel posts after he returns from his travels from  anywhere. Ken travels at the frequency of migratory birds. Throughout the years he has I'm sure amassed quite a following from his travels to share his daily emails far and wide. In fact I would say this advertising guru started email marketing and community building decades ago. 

Image:KenBrady

Speaking of community, no visit of Ken is complete without fraternising with the guys. These would be the remaining male colleagues left from The Ball Partnership & Spider days, the nineteen eighties and nineties They all showed up in full force. All four of them. So the seven of us had another round of seafood dinner (with crabs) hosted by Ken at Hokkaido Seafood restaurant in the fringes of the city on Saturday night.

All of us still had our teeth to enjoy the sumptuous crab dinner and our memories to reap the dividends of comradeship invested over 30 years ago. It was a happy reunion sans our fearless leader TL whose legacy we have become. He passed in 2009 and it was at his funeral we all were together last and according to Ken, it was at a dinner we had on that night that he had never laughed so much since. 

Well, seeing what Ken has accomplished in his lifetime, in a vocation that brought us together, it is no wonder he is having the last laugh. It was a life well lived as is still being lived. Very richly. 

Now that is an incredible story for another day.

First I'll have to track him down, sit him down to tell me history.

I love you. Folk Tales- The Emperor's New Clothes.

 The emperor Has No Clothes. 

When you fail to learn, whether from history or what is evidently happening in your country. Then you have lost the plot. 

Especially if your plot is to hang on to the crown you clearly grabbed when the pendulum swung in your direction. 

Unless you’ve been quarantined in your bathroom suffering from unstoppable diarrhoea, you have clearly demonstrated your stripe. I was about to compare your stripe to that of the hyena, but I wouldn’t want to insult the latter. 

You are no different from the deposed chairman who quipped about two trains kissing when hundreds were injured in a train mishap recently. Both of you are cut from the same cloth.

You joked about raising your blue flag, when the black and white flags hoisted by the people were cries of desperation and despair. 

You strut the public domain thinking we admire your prowess at power grabbing and court intrigue. Knowingly or unknowingly, you have just disrobed yourself for all to see. 

What an ugly sight it was to be forced upon. The truth in this case is truly ugly.

You and your kind. No matter how you adorn yourselves we can see through you. 

We now cannot un-see what we saw. And we shall never want to see, ever again in a person leading our nation.

This is one Farewell we can’t wait to bid you. 

You have just promoted a minister, during whose watch, saw new record high numbers of cases and deaths. 

Now we know why our nation is losing in this Covid war. You and your kind have no interest and no clue about what is happening in the real world. You are lost in another world. Totally lost. 

Instead of commending the rakyat for starting positive initiatives like the white flag movement to care for and feed each other, you told us to not believe in them. 

This was clear when you failed to show any shred of sympathy or understanding of the people’s pain during your public address yesterday. 

The people were looking for some comforting words from their leader. You instead rubbed the hopelessness of the situation in their faces by making quips like raising blue flag instead of black or white flags and full kitchens. And that the T20s are also suffering. Insensitive? Or simply incapable of any form of compassion or feeling or you just simply don't care?

Yesterday- July 15, has to go down as one of the saddest day in history for Malaysians, not only because there are people starving or dying, the people living are devoid of hope when hope and leadership are most needed now.

Before bed, as I trawl the thick and fertile plains of social media channels, I find countless, and endless laments, essays, videos, blogs, vlogs, twits, tik-tocs, pleas, cries and rants on the state of our nation and our leaders and I find myself joining them in chorus. "The emperor has no clothes" and maybe then they will slowly listen and do something.

Good night and good luck Malaysia.