Friday, September 26, 2008

Stalled Postings

I have not been posting anything about myself. Including some overdue posts on my trips, good, comments, reviews, and even my 30th birthday! Well, gotta give way to something more important ma... human rights and freedom! Hahaha...

Will update my blog post as soon as I can. :-)

Saturday, September 20, 2008

It's Not Over Yet

Yes, Teresa Kok was already released since yesterday afternoon. All cases against her was dropped. Our prayers for Teresa are answered. Yet, it is not over.

Other than a Mass for peace and justice, the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit will also be launching a prayer campaign, calling for continuous prayer for peace and justice in our beloved Bolehland. Or rather, an anti-ISA campaign. I was in church this morning (actually I am still in church now :-P), and took some photos on the banner being hung and setting up of the candle place.


Banner being hung and balanced. 4 youths were helping that time. With due request, I did not put the pictures with 4 heads sticking out. :-P


Another landscape banner beside the Holy Spirit Hall


Job done!


A 'cupboard' for placing candles from the faithful


[ Updated 8pm ]


Faith in action - Parishoners began flocking around the candle place, lighting candles and storming Heaven with a common prayer and petition


Assistant parish priest Fr Henry Rajoo seen in action


Beautifully lit. More importantly, many prayers were offered up.


I hope the cupboard would not be incinerated! Well, it could be, considering God did send fire and accept Elijah's offering 2500 years ago.

Something to tell the gomen that "WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!!!"

Friday, September 19, 2008

916 Movie Awards

The following are all written in Chinese. I got it from one of the recent forwarded emails. It was hilarious!! I tried to translate it, but due to the way it was put, and due to my half-past-six Chinese, I was not able to do it. Can someone help? LOL!

916 电影展

最佳电影: 《308之夜》
最佳导演: 安华 《916之梦》
最佳男主角: 伯拉 《梦中人》
最佳女主角: 郭素沁 《监狱风云之火箭十三妹》
最佳男配角: 阿末伊斯迈 《寄人篱下》
最佳女配角: 陈云清 《洗冤录3》
最佳新人: 赛夫 《股惑仔之后庭开花》
最具人气: 柏特拉 《光头博客》
最佳外国电影 / 最佳编剧 / 最佳特效 / 最佳剪接: 纳吉 《人肉叉烧包之蒙古碎尸》
最佳本土电影: 《林甘正传》
最佳成人电影: 《老蔡传奇之同一个房间》
最佳悬疑片: 《C+侦探之一切由失踪开始》
最佳恐怖片: 《午夜凶令之ISA》
最佳旅游宣传片: 《远走高飞之台湾考察团》
最佳电影主题曲: 行动党 《改变》
最佳服装设计: 黄燕燕 《透明睡衣》
终身成就奖: 马哈迪 《黑马王子之重出江湖》
评审团: 大马人民


P.S: Nope. I don't think I want to translate that, or else I will either be making a new movie called 《大伟蒙眼博客》, or become a "ke-le-fe" in the Best Horror Movie.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

9 Days Of Worship

September 7, 2008 (Sunday)
Attended Holy Mass. Yes, the Holy Mass, formally called the Eucharistic Celebration, is the highest form of Catholic worship. That weekend, I served as a cantor for the Mass - yep, our cantor team (led by Andre) were singing.

September 8, 2008 (Monday)
Cantor's practice. Every Monday we practise songs that are to be used during the coming Mass(es). By training our voice and musical talents and offer it up to God during Mass, it is indeed a form of worship - to show the worthship of God by giving the give He has entrusted us back to God for the building of His kingdom, and to be God's instrument to minister to His people through His songs.

September 9, 2008 (Tuesday)
A session of intercession of worship. Enough said (some privacy for myself).

September 10, 2008 (Wednesday)
A session of general intercession of worship. We prayed for various areas within Shalom Working Youth Fellowship, as well as for the church and country. The whole session lasted for almost 3 hours. Worship and intercession were great. Felt energetic and empowered by God throughout the session, but was dead tired after that.

September 11, 2008 (Thursday)
Went to IC Shalom in Church of the Immaculate Conception, Pulau Tikus. Praise and worship was good. The sharing given by Andre is about "Sent by Christ the Word", where he broke the word in the Gospel passage about the man possessed by Legion. He compared Legion (multitude of evil spirits possessing the man) with the many hurts or Chaos that we humans collected through time, and how Jesus the Christ come to cast out the spirits/heal our hurts, and how we as healed Christians are Called to testify the goodness of God. With an overtime, he ended the talk and proceeded with another sesion of worship and ministering. I could feel the strong (manifested) presence of God at the center of the church, and the ministering session touched a few individuals. I was helping in laying hands onto an elderly man, and I could not hold my hand still... the presence was strong!! During the same session I got to know the coordinator for IC Shalom - Glenn (Michelle's husband - I met Michelle during the Paradise Workshop and Concert).

September 12, 2008 (Friday)
As usual, Friday is Shalom Working Youth Fellowship night! We were having a great time worshiping. And, after worship, there was a session of ministering for married couples. This session was consistent with the burden that we felt during the intercessory meeting two days earlier (see above). I was moved to tears when one of the couples were being prayed over. During the sharing, Leoreen introduced the 5 languages of love (as written by Gary Chapman) - words of affirmation, quality time/moments, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. She explained that it was necessary for a person to not only know his/her own language of love, but also learn the language of the person that he/she loved.

September 13, 2008 (Saturday)
Meeting for Psalmistry ministry members (comprising of SWYF worship leaders, musicians, backup singers, backup dancers, and slide handlers). The word that was broken by Andre was on an Old Testament reading. It was about how Elisha focused on the God of his master Elijah, and how Elisha had his first-hand experience of the presence of the Lord when Elijah was being taken up to Heaven. He shared that we in the ministry need to have and dive into this first-hand experience in order for us to understand what we are doing and hence know how to testify to other SWYF members. The time of worship was indeed awesome! Although the awe initially came as my own response of diving into the worship, the awe of God's presence was strongly felt when we were broken into smaller groups of three. I could feel that Jesus was in our midst, and, as we were holding hands, I could envision the sign of heart/love being formed amongst our bound hands!

September 14, 2008 (Sunday)
Attended Holy Mass. Yep, time of the highest form of Catholic worship.

September 15, 2008 (Monday)
Attended the Mass for Peace and Justice. I was amazed that the number of people attending this Mass could be compared to normal Sunday Mass - the church was almost packed! Well, we had one common intention during the Mass - to celebrate the goodness of the Lord, to acknowledge His promise of the Beatitude, and to pray in one voice for the abolishment of the draconian ISA.

Nine consecutive days of worship! It was synonymous to a novena to the Holy Spirit! Amen!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Beatitudes Of All Times

Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There He sat down and was joined by His disciples. The He began to speak. This is what He taught them:

"How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy the gentle; they shall have the earth for their heritage.
Happy those who mourn; they shall be comforted.
Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right; they shall be satisfied.
Happy the merciful; they shall have mercy shown them.
Happy the pure in heart; they shall see God.
Happy the peacemakers; they shall be called sons of God.
Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right; theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven; that is how they persecuted the prophets before you."

The above Scripture passage (from the Gospel according to Matthew 5:1-12) is the core of the meekness and humility that every Christian inherits. It is none other than the introduction to our Lord Jesus Christ's Sermon of the Mount, called the Beatitudes. Rather, this is the promise that God gives us if we walk the land with the love of Christ, amid all kinds of suffering. A promise that not only stood true 2000 years ago, but also true here right now.

The above passage was also chosen as the Gospel reading for the Mass for Peace and Justice last Monday evening in Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. It was a Mass celebrated with a special intention - which is to pray for the abolishment of the draconian Bolehland law called the Internal Security Act (ISA). The ISA dragnet on last Friday which involved the arrest of blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, journalist Tan Hoon Cheng, and opposition MP Teresa Kok has called an uproar amongst the society, opposition leaders, and even amongst the government ministers and leaders within the ruling coalition!

Amid all the chaos and uproar, Home Minister Syed Hamid first proclaimed that the arrest was championed by the police without his consent, and that one of the arrests was of goodwill which is the provision of protection. The very next day the same minister dropped hint that he was only doing his job (pertaining to the so-called 'security threat' by the arrested trio).

And so, "WE ARE FED UP. WE ARE ANGRY. WE WANT CHANGE!" One of the introductory words to Fr Fabian Dicom's sermon. [I felt the same, and am tired of all the lies.] Fr Fabian began his sermon with the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World which is as follows:

"The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ."

He highlighted that we were tired of the suppression of truth, how ISA caused misery amongst the arrested, and how ISA has caused so much nonsense in the society. As ISA breeds injustice and violation to human rights, we as Christians need to respond instead of being complacent. We are called to make a difference, and hence we need to put our faith in action, be it active in prayer for peace and justice, or bold and courageous to speak against injustice. We were now probably one voice away from making a difference in our country Malaysia, and we need that once voice to get Malaysia back. [A Malaysia with peace, justice, credibility, accountability, and transparency.]

During the Thanksgiving Hymn, the song "Be Not Afraid" moved me to tears. It was a message that God is always with the oppressed, and God will always be before us if we have faith in His promise amid all persecutions. And yes, the song also marks Scripture promises that we the faithful need to claim.

Prior to the end of the Mass, there was a simple candle light service. Each parishoner and priest was given a candle (free) that was lit from the Paschal candle. Within seconds the whole church was lit only by candle lights (all church lights were switched off, with the exception of the tabernacle and Word of God column at the altar). As a gesture to provide spiritual support to all ISA detainees, all of us raised and waved our candles while singing "We Have Overcome", "Lagu Rakyat", "Suara Rakyat", and "Prayer For Peace".

At the end of the service, Fr Francis Anthony gave a short speech, and at that time he deliberately "welcomed" certain special "guests", which he said he was sure (and I believe true) they were indeed present there. And, in front of the special "guests", Fr Francis reminded us that we are called to be peacemakers and NOT peacekeepers.

And, at the end of the Mass, a strong message embedded in the Final Hymn "Go Tell Everyone" was sung. When Jesus resurrected 2000 years ago, not even the Roman Empire could hide it from the world. In the same way, I believe and have faith that the strong message of anti-ISA could not be hidden as well. And I do hope that our special "guests" receives this message (specially from all of us the parishoners) well and with open heart. I do pray that God would touch the hearts of the "guests", as well as those who has already wronged so many rakyats.

By the way, I totally agree with Fr Fabian that the arrest of RPK, Tan and Kok could be labeled as the silliest accuse in the Guinness Book of Records.


Notice of the special Mass, risalah (brochure) and anti-ISA tag that I bought (for mere RM1)


Parishoners and priests lifting their candles

Blog posts of some of my fellow blogger friends:
http://www.chanlilian.net/2008/09/15/reason-why-teresa-kok-is-detained...
http://anilnetto.com/christianity/catholic-cathedral-in-penang-denounces-isa/


For the gomen fellas that still support ISA and might be reading this, the following is a small token from me:


[ ISA is in block letters, and it means Internal Security Act, not Nabi Isa. ]

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Peace Vs Chaos

For the past 3 weeks, a very hot and sensitive topic was discussed across Bolehland. It is none other than Ahmad Ismail reportedly saying that Malaysian Chinese are mere squatters during a by-election campaign. As a result, we have several happenings, listed as follows:

1. PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi saying on Ahmad Ismail's behalf that the latter did not mean what he said.
2. DPM Najib Abdul Razak apologizing on Ahmad's behalf.
3. Ahmad denied apology and remorse, and warned Chinese not to be like American Jews.
4. One UMNO leader tearing Gerakan leader Koh Tsu Koon's poster.
5. Ahmad suspended from active politics for 3 years.
6. Arrest of a journalist under ISA.
7. [ Rumor ] Call to boycott so-called petrol station owned by Ahmad and Nasi Kandar chains that supported Ahmad.

Looking at the rumor alone, we might think that... Alamak... Penang is in danger. Many have recommended that Chinese should not wander around streets of Penang at night. Well, come and think about it. If the rumors are true, and if all Malays in Penang are like the one who did the poster tearing, we would indeed be in grave danger!

Anyway, today at about 45 minutes past midnight, I went to a Nasi Kandar stall, filled with Malays, to buy two packets of nasi lemak. I walked past the seated Malays, approached the stall manned by Mamak (Muslim Indian), and ordered two sets of nasi lemak to go. After that, I walked past the seated Malays again towards my car. Then, I drove away. Guess how I felt? I felt the presence of peaceful and calm Malay and Indian buddies. Well, I would call them buddies because from a quick glance, I could see kindness and friendliness in their eyes. Peace, my brethren.... peace.

I sort of have a conclusion. While a remnant brethren want chaos, almost all want PEACE. So, what are the remnants actually fighting for?

Monday, September 1, 2008

Too Hilarious Not To Share

Last week I encountered something hilarious, twice.

First, "the USB multi-funcfional"... haha... sounds weird? Yes, it was called such way. It was actually a multiple-channel (or to be spelt correctly, multi-functional) USB hub. The following pictures will make your stomach burst ("pecah perut" as labeled in the most recent Senario movie tag line). I did ROTFLMHO!! Wakakakakaka!


USB hub casing, front view


USB hub casing, back view, with description of usage

Due to my cell phone camera not able to auto-focus, the picture was a bit blur, so was the wording. So, I retyped as follows:

"When you are traveling,Do you bring the very more USB cable?Is it very trable?Now, you have the USB multi funcfional,the door is throw wide open to your."

??? ---- !!! ---- Wakakakakakaka!!!

Second, a banner I saw in Mayang Mall. It was located outside a job-hunting company, where they have this banner looking for Production Operators for certain companies. Read the wording carefully. The English translation was supposed to be "Production Operators, Female or Male". Because of forced simplicity in wordings and punctuation, I myself at the first glance interpreted it as: "Female / Male Producing Operators". Hmm... Mass production of human clones?? Muahahahahahahahahh!!!!