MCA: Losing the Middle Ground

Well, the fight for the President of the sunk MCA is a 3-corner fight.

Like the Titanic, the MCA cannot be salvaged to its former glory, if ever there was a time. Was it only in Cheng Lock's time that MCA really contributed to the achievement of independence? Did it not play even once in nation building? Looks that way from hindsight.

So who among the candidates will win? Let us just look at the two more critical posts.

There are three candidates for the MCA Presidency.

Let us look at the incumbent. Ong Tee Keat is seen as blunt,brash and 'deaf'. He is a railroader. Do not stand in his path. But he is a friend to his loyalists. He can reward them as he has done before. The reports on his corruption has yet to be proven. However, as time goes by, more  of his supporters are getting disillusioned by his 'devil may care' attitude.

Dr. Chua Soi Lek. He is the most competent Minister to date from the MCA. Period. He has done wonders for the professionals in the Ministry of Health. He has contributed to the nation-no doubt about it. He knew what he was doing then; he will know what he wants to do if elected President. His only Archilles Heel-that damn VCD of his hotel room tryst. The very fact that he was elected by majority vote to be the Deputy President should hold him in good stead. Even in the Double Ten referendum vote- of -no confidence, he lost marginally thanks to the presence of a 'third force'. Dr. Chua is the underdog in this contest. Like most underdogs, their supporters are downright loyal. They will be there for him , come rain or shine. He looks likely to be the first to pass the post on 28 March 2010.

Ong Ka Ting-he claims that he is coming back to unite the torn party. Can he? There is a Malay saying, " Nasi Sudah Jadi Bubur!". Literally, it means the rice has become broth. He cannot be an alchemist to change it back to rice. Ong Ka Ting is the pretender and will rob the party of the middle ground. He did not even whimper when the party was in shambles. He is unlikely to win At best, he is a spoiler.

Now, a look at the two contenders for Deputy President. Let us look closely at Liow Tiong Lai. He is as unexpressive and unimpressive as Kong, his contender. He has done nothing substantive as a Minister except doing visits to health facilities and rattling off statistics. He has the unresolved problem of the Toyota Aphard and he has been seen as opportunistic,impatient and is involved directly in scuttling MCA with the Youth and Wanita leaders in tow. He is unlikely to win in a normal situation if there are more contestants.

As for Kong, he is an unknown-There is no performance gauge on him as he is a newbie Minister. What he has is a mouthful of promises.He may win by a slim chance if Dr. Chua's supporters can overwhelm Ong Ka Ting's supporters and Liow Tiong Lai's supporters.It is uphill for him. Remotely, he may win as a dark horse.

As for Liow Tiong Lai, he seems to be the favourite if he indeed gets the middle ground support. However, this is uncertain because many voting members may just spoil their votes in disgust.

If indeed he comes in as the new Deputy President expect MCA to sink lower into an ocean trench!

Jesus: Still He Walked

This is one passionate poem we should all read about our Lord.

He could hear the crowds screaming "crucify" "crucify"...
He could hear the hatred in their voices,
These were his chosen people.
He loved them,
And they were going to crucify him.
He was beaten, bleeding and weakened... his heart was broken,
But still He walked.


He could see the crowd as he came from the palace.
He knew each of the faces so well.
He had created them.
He knew every smile, laugh, and shed tear,
But now they were contorted with rage and anger...his heart broke,
But still He walked.


Was he scared?
You and I would have been
So his humanness would have mandated that he was. He felt alone.
His disciples had left, denied, and even betrayed him.
He searched the crowd for a loving face and he saw very few.
Then he turned his eyes to the only one that mattered
And he knew that he would never be alone.
He looked back at the crowd, at the people who were spitting
At him, throwing rocks at him and mocking him and he knew
That because of him, they would never be alone.
So for them, He walked.


The sounds of the hammer striking the spikes echoed through
The crowd. The sounds of his cries echoed even louder,
The cheers of the crowd, as his hands and feet
Were nailed to the cross, intensified with each blow.
Loudest of all was the still small voice inside his
Heart that whispered "I am with you, my son",
And God's heart broke.
He had let his son walk.


Jesus could have asked God to end his suffering,
But instead he asked God to forgive.
Not to forgive him, but to forgive the ones who were persecuting him.
As he hung on that cross, dying an unimaginable death,
He looked out and saw, not only the faces in the crowd,
But also, the face of every person yet to be,
And his heart filled with love.
As his body was dying, his heart was alive.
Alive with the limitless, unconditional love he feels for each of us.
That is why He walked.


When I forget how much My God loves me,
I remember his walk.
When I wonder if I can be forgiven,
I remember his walk.
When I need reminded of how to live like Christ,
I think of his walk.
And to show him how much I love him,
I wake up each morning, turn my eyes to him,
And I walk.

The Sentence: Building blocks for Writing

Let us go back into some fundamental aspects towards better writing in English.

SIMPLE SENTENCE:

·         Expresses one idea

·         Has a subject and a predicate.has one main clause

·         Contains one sentence and one verb:

Examples:

I like reading  [ ‘I’ is the subject’ and ‘like’ is the verb]

Joanne is cooking in the kitchen. [subject is Joanne;is cooking is the verb and the predicate is,’ cooking  in the kitchen]

Sam likes to swim in the evening. [Sam is the subject; like to swim in the evening is the predicate and the verb is ‘like’]

He did not buy a lot of food. [‘He’ is subject,’did not buy a lot of food’ is the predicate;’did not buy’ is the verb.]

COMPOUND SENTENCE:

·         It contains two or more ideas.

·         It is made up of two or more simple sentence

·         Normally joined by conjunctions such as ‘and, but,or,either… or, neither..nor]

Example:

He went to the shops. He bought some magazines.

He went to the shops and bought some magazines.

He brought the magazines. He forgot the books.

He brought the magazines but forgot the books.

Norma slept early. She was exhausted.

Norma slept early because she was exhausted.

They were not in. I left.

They were not in, so I left

Gana could not come.  Selva could not come

Neither Gana nor Selva could come.

COMPLEX SENTENCE

-          Contains A Simple Sentence (The Main Clause and One or Two Subsidiary Clauses)

MAIN CLAUSE	SUBSIDIARY CLAUSE
Gim See has an uncle	who was a state swimmer.
Thackeray visited his childhood friend	while  he was in Hong-Kong.
I saw camels	which have two humps.
The teacher wants the posters	which are pasted on the classroom walls.
This is the school	where I studied.
Abram likes to stay in a hotel	where there is a swimming pool.
Kek Seng is sad	as his dog has died .

CLASSWORK:

Each of the sentences below has a simple sentence and a subordinate clause. Identify the simple sentence and subordinate clause for each of the sentences.

Example:

Herman knows Fergie’s brother who is a chef.

Herman knows Fergie’s brother .

(simple sentence)

……..who is a chef.

(subordinate clause)

1.      Katryn has a sister who makes great pizzas.

2.      Chooi Seng is a great fan of J.K. Rowling whose books he never fails to read.

3.      Can you show me the photograph of the boy who looks like me?

4.      The man who caught the snatch thief is my cousin brother.

5.      The road which leads to  town has been washed away.

6.      Mr. DeSilva who is a wealthy man has gone to India.

7.      The students who were caught cheating will be punished.

8.      Badminton which is quite easy to learn is a good form of exercise.

9.      My good friend who works as a librarian will help you.

10.  This cloudy weather that we have today is suitable for walking in the park.

MAKE COMPOUND SENTENCES BY JOINING THESE SIMPLE SENTENCES

1.      Gavin Wanted To Go To Town. Gavin got on an LRT.

2.      Henry wanted to climb a coconut tree. Henry is afraid of heights.

3.      Jamal fell off his bicycle. Jamal hurt his ankle.

4.      Nellie wanted to send an email to her friend. Nellie does not know her email address.

5.      Joy wanted to make a chocolate cake. Joy bought some cooking chocolate, flour and eggs

6.      The battery in the cell-phone is weak. His father replaced it with a new one.

7.      You can go to the library to read. You can join me at the cinema to watch, ‘Avatar’.

8.      It was raining cats and dogs. We had to cancel our picnic.

9.      I called Jasmine many times. She did not reply.

10.  We must read our English literature books daily. We must do all our homework to do well in our exams

 UNDERLINE THE MAIN IDEA IN THESE COMPLEX SENTENCES        

1.      He will have to pass the message to Gloria when he sees her tomorrow.

2.      Since he had a stomachache, he will have to see a doctor.

3.      They could camp in the school field for the week-end if they want to.

4.      The girls went into the shop so that they could admire the little puppies in the cages.

5.      There will be a flood in the village unless this heavy rain stops soon.

6.      My sister, who is very hard-working, has gone to Scotland to study medicine.

7.      Zoey was terrified that she might drown in the swimming pool.

8.      The beggar won’t go away unless you give him a ringgit.

9.      He would not make any decision unless he has consulted his parents.

10.  The man who normally delivers my newspapers is dead.

Human Blood Art

Well what do you know. The Thais are serious in overthrowing the government of the day. They freely donated blood to pour on the roads as well as in front of their PM's house.

Today, they up the ante by using blood for drawing. This is one drawn by an ardent Thaksin supporter.

Something Stupid-Indeed No!

Here are three versions are the rendition of the classic song,"Something Stupid". We have the original by Frank, a gig with his daughter,Nancy and the one by Robbie Williams and the ever tempting Nicole Kidman. Enjoy



Frank Sinatra Original



Nicole Kidman and Robbie Williams



The Frank-Nancy Gig

Fruit-cake Special: Perfume Illusion

Let us have a synopsis of the ‘Fruitcake Special’ written by Frank Brennan.

Anna is an average looking girl. She works as a chemist at Amos Cosmetics. One day, in a mood of fancy,she puts a piece of fruit-cake in a perfume mix as an experiment. She is surprised when her boss, Mr. Amos stopped at where she worked and showed a sudden unexpected interest in her. He also invited Anna to have dinner with him that night.

Meanwhile at home, Anna’s mother and Aunt Mimi question her about when she will find a husband and tease her about Armstrong, the boy who used to deliver pizza. Aunt Mimi also has a potential husband candidate for her. Anna ignores them and to deflect their intent, surprises them with the news of her date for the night.

Mr. Amos was a changed man that night when she went to fetch Anna for dinner. At the restaurant, Mr. Amos takes little notice of Anna, and even seems embarrassed that he has actually asked her out, but things rapidly change when Anna applies some more of the new perfume — the fruitcake special when she went to the powder room.

Not only Mr. Amos, but also one of the waiters becomes deeply attracted to her. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, Mr. Amos’s girlfriend, Sabina, arrives, and shortly after, a brawl ensues involving Mr. Amos, Sabina and the love-struck waiter. Anna hastily makes a quick exit and went home.

Anna, diplomatically, takes the next day off work and visits Aunt Mimi to enquire about the fruit-cake she bought. Sadly, her aunt tells her the woman who made the fruit-cake  has died. She also informs Anna that the deceased never had problems finding husbands — seven in total.

On returning to work, Anna is summoned to Mr. Amos’s office. Sabina is also there, and is rude towards Anna. In revenge, Anna pours the remainder of the fruitcake special over Sabina and walks out of her job.

Shortly after this, we learn that Anna has a new job at the factory where they make Intrigue.

One day, she is trying to make fruitcake, when there is a knock at the door. It is Armstrong, who now owns his own pizza company.

Now that he is successful in his own right, he feels he can ask Anna out. Anna then realizes that Armstrong is really a very nice man to be with.    

So, this sounds like another classical all well that ends well finish, don’t you agree?

The Overpowering Perfume with a Fruitcake in It!

Yes, we are talking of the short story for Form 4 written by Frank Brennan.

This is a new selection to replace the earlier literature short stories and 'The Pearl' in the SPM examination of 2011.

I felt rather strange again at this selection as the earlier short story called Qwertyuiop and this one deals about strange happenings. In Qwertyuiop, it was a haunting secretary  and here, it is a magical potion of a perfume deriving from a magic fruit-cake.I think just like in  the selection of literature components for Forms 1 to Form 3, there is sometime really formulaic about the selection here as well.

Compared to the current series to be attempted by those in Form 5,these set of stories pales in story-line excitement and will not have sufficient excitement to sustain interest. Be that as it may, it is Hobson's choice.

So coming back to 'The Fruitcake Special", what were your first impressions after reading this short story? Yes, it was great to have some magic thrown into the story and the consequences of the special perfume and its toll on David Amos, Sabina and the love-drunk waiter of the French restaurant.

I will write some more in my next posting.