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It's the talk of town, with everybody having an election story which are almost always negative: Will there be change even if we vote?/ Nak pilihanraya je, pecah tanah sana, pecah tanah sini/ Only now my ADUN is coming to visit our area. If he had started 5 years ago, he wouldn't be panting so hard/ and so on... Is it the same in other countries, I wonder -- that people are not satisfied with the powers that be and the elections authority? As AHS said last night, everybody thinks he can do a better job. (And some think they had done a better job)

This time I feel that the atmosphere is 'not there' -- or is it 'not yet'? I felt excited before the last elections, taking photographs where there were most flags and banners, even stopping in the middle of going somewhere, just to capture the exhilirating.scene. I remember hits.fm's DJs, Lil Kev and Fly Guy (where are they now, by the way), wacky as they were, managed to get some intelligent discussion going about the looming elections then. They even sang their version of election jingle. That was good. My cousin's wedding was the night after the elections and we witnessed guests going out and coming back into the reception hall to check the elections results. There would be whispers, and animated but quiet discussion afterwards.

However, I will skip the pages about elections these few days till the contestors' names are announced. Then I will scrutinise who the candidate for my area will be. I guess it will be that same person, doing the same thing, if he were elected again. I don't mind him, or whoever really, BUT GET BETTER THINGS DONE PLEASE!

An Uncommon Man

I went with AHS to Universiti Malaya 31st January amid impending flu. I could feel it coming, with the eyes already heavy and the body slightly aching . AHS was already sneezing and having a bad throat. But he drove me to work in the morning, had a nap in my office and went home after the traffic eased a bit. By 3 pm he was already back, all dressed in his black and white. The occasion was organized by UM and The Inner Temple Alumni Association, in remembrance of the late Tan Sri Dato' Seri Abdul Malek bin Ahmad, a great person, not in size, but in character.
I myself only met him one time only when he organized lunch for us just after AHS and I got married. Little did I know then, that he would lapse into the illness he was suffering from and he never recovered. Little did I know too, that he touched so many people's lives and how people could (and should) learn from the ethics that he lived by. He was, though jovial and ever smiling, a n0-nonsense person when it came to work and when it came to justice. Even before his death I had heard many talking very well of him, the meticulous person that he was, on top of being an efficient judge.
Reading the messages in the programme book, I came across this quotation by the late Tan Sri, which made me reflect upon myself, "...It has also been said that a kind and patient man who was not a profound lawyer might make a far better judge than an ill-tempered genius." I must say that it applies to all, not just to judges.
I wondered, during the ceremony, how I would be remembered by those I have met in my lifetime. I smiled ruefully. For AHS, I have had his friends telling me (beyond AHS' earshot) that I am a lucky person to be married to him; 'He's a friend you'll never forget', 'he's really a nice person, take good care of him' and 'jaga dia ni baik-baik, susah cari orang macam dia'. I agree with them.
Anyway, it was the kind of ceremony I like: brisk, straight to the point (with relevant and good speeches) and on time.
A quote from the Acting President Malaysia Inner Temple Alumni Association, who quoted (with adaptation) W.B. Yeats;

"Earth, receive an honest guest,

Abdul Malek bin Ahmad is laid to rest."