[LoyarFaCai Special] My Reunion Wish List

In the spirit of a fresh new ‘Spring’ (Chun), the blawg introduces you to a few fresh perspectives from our writers, on reunions, prosperity, and even on being ‘dragon’. First up is Yue-Li, a new writer to the blawg, with dreams of the good old days and her wishes for a reunion with them.

Reunions are pretty special occasions. These are times when you meet up with the people you haven’t seen in a while, or maybe a friend you haven’t heard from since secondary school. It is a time to get together to chat, gossip and, of course, reminisce about the good old days. Perhaps there are also some reunions no one looks forward to at all – but that’s another story.

Me? I am definitely looking forward to a few reunions, festive season or no festive season. They are as below, in no particular order:

1. A reunion with the sight of the neighbourhood children, coming together during the evenings to play with carefree abandon at the padang. At least till it’s 5.30pm and time to head home for cartoons.
2. A reunion with that sense of security. You know, that feeling we used to have when we could walk the streets of, say, SS2 without instinctively tightening the hold on our bags each time a motorcyclist revved close by.
3. A reunion with a time when we could invite our Muslim friends to a Christmas party or church wedding without being accused of being agents of proselytisation armed with solar-powered Bibles.
4. A reunion with a time when the word ‘proselytise’ wasn’t even in our vocabulary.
5. A reunion with the knowledge that our hard-earned Ringgit can afford us more than the miserable peanuts we can barely scrounge from it now.
6. A reunion with the promise, and belief, that hard work and determination are all that are needed to ensure a stable, promising career.
7. A reunion with the ability to read, and dare I say enjoy, well-written and well-researched articles in the mainstream newspapers.
8. A reunion with a time when our country’s natural resources and financial status were the envy of our neighbours, instead of now lagging behind those of our neighbours (Vietnam and Indonesia come to mind).
9. A reunion with the time when our country was renowned as an emerging economic powerhouse instead of being synonymous with sodomy and sex tapes.
10. A reunion with a time when racial harmony was something we lived and practised, instead of mere feel-good headlines parroted on Visit Malaysia advertising campaigns.

What we wish for - shouldn't they be a given? | Photo by buck82 | Source: http://bit.ly/wzxND8

Am I being unnecessarily nostalgic? Maybe. But then, is it too much to ask the powers-that-be for the bare necessities of life – safety, security, a sound education for our children and, most importantly, quality of life? In other words, the basic needs of any citizen living in any country? It’s no wonder more and more Malaysians are leaving the country in search of fulfillment. Resources, on many levels, are becoming scarce.

A change in government may not bring about the changes we all yearn for. Not immediately, anyway. But the very least we can do is to give the alternative a chance. After all, we’ve given the current government chance after chance, year after year, for over 50 years. And our reward? Galloping corruption and the intensifying ruination of our country, which seem to pick up pace as the years go by.

If you feel the same longing as I do, and if you miss the good old days too, you and I need to walk into the impending General Election with eyes wide open and none of the sentimentality permeating this article. Vote wisely. And maybe we will have more reunions to celebrate by the next few Chinese New Years. The kind that lasts.

(Featured image accompanying article on the main page courtesy of Giulia Scifoni, source: http://bit.ly/yhzopD)

Tags: Muslim, Natural Resources, Yue-Li Gan, mainstream media, prosely, security, sex tape, sodomy

Posts by Yue-Li Gan

Yue-Li's ideal life would be running carefree on her own island with her beloved dog Bessy, who would be balancing a fat rabbit between her jaws (we're talking ideal). Unfortunately, a career as a Copywriter doesn't afford one their own island. So for now, she's living in Malaysia. And hoping every day for a better day.

Posted on 22 January 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.

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