And The Nick Name Of The Founder Of Malacca Is.....

Had the good fortune of meeting up with an old friend of mine, one who has done Malacca proud. He is none other that Dato' Dr 'Dino' Sharma. Though coming from humble beginnings from a family of 11 (he used to joked that it was a complete football team), he has done pretty well in life and now heads World Wildlife Fund Malaysia.

Interestingly enough, he does have a passion for history although better known as the 'man' attuned with nature and animals. As usual, he came dressed in his trademark Malaysianized Indiana Jones outfit comprising a pair of durable slacks, a sleeveless multipurpose jacket atop a t-shirt and a olive-green army cap to hide his long wavy hair. (Far from looking like the Indy played by Harrison Ford, he resembles more to me like a cross between Jesus and John Lennon in glasses).

Anyway, we met up with Jason Yoong of the Maritime Archeology Museum which occupies a tiny section at the Youth and Art Museum located less than 50 meters from the 17th Century Dutch Stadhuys. True to his calling, Jason gave a pretty fascinating discourse on the history of coins and money in Malacca.

We later proceeded to view the ongoing excavation and restoration work being carried out on the ruins of the Dutch era Middleburg bastion that was added unto the 16th Century Portuguese A Famosa Fort. Four human skeletons, dating to cicra 1450CE, were discovered during excavation work with one of them displayed at the Youth and Art Museum. We later headed back to the practically deserted museum about 100 meters away to view the skeleton before ending the day by having some wantan mee in Ujong Pasir.

Besides Malacca's fascinating history (including having a good laugh at the short form name of the founder of Malacca), we talked about climate change and family. I suppose that's the other common ground we share....that at the end of the day.... family does come first above it all.

To None I Wish Ill But To All I Wish Peace and Love

Water The Source Of Life...and Fun.

Its been quite a trying week for me and my wife on a very personal level. There was not only work to deal with but also the flu we had caught during such a crucial in time in our lives. I will not go into just yet as there is 24 hours to 'pray, wait and see' what our future holds.

It has to do with life...life which we are eager to bring forth although it is still really in the hands of God. That brings me to the present life and the little joys and blessings. As the adage goes...'water is the source of all life' and in that respect I do agree as it also holds a special meaning for me.

It is the pool where my five-year-old ruffian of a child and me spend our time bonding. It is here where I first introduced her to 'water' at the tender age of 18 months. Since then, we look forward to our dip in the pool whenever time and weather permits. Being a ball of energy, the pool offers good fun and an excellent way of tiring her out early for bed. If love means sharing, then that is exactly what we do whenever we are at the pool.

In less than 24-hours, my, my wife and our only child will know if we will be granted the opportunity to love even more........till the....here are some shots of my little ruffian taking a leap of faith.

To None I Wish Ill But To All I Wish Peace And Love.

The House My Forefathers Built

The week draws to a close and I was not the only one who went as Pintukopak went...'wah weekend already? So fast ah'. Yup, time seems to be accelerating by. Spent part of the afternoon with Pintukopak in the blazing Sun to get some shots for her skeleton and fort ruin story at the heart of the old city.

Work on reconstruction of the Dutch annex at part of the former 16th Century Portuguese excavated ruins should be completed in a month's time. It represents just a small part of the entire fort yet it is quite impressive. (The fort encircled the old city with a radius of about 1.5km. Its base was said to have run as deep as its height) I must say that my forefathers did a splendid job as the fort was breached only once following its construction between 1512 to 1550s. Little did Alfonso know that the name he gave to the fort, 'A Famosa' or 'The Famous', would remain so for almost 500 years.
Work to reconstruct part of the excavated fort ruins has met with both agreement and opposition. My personal opinion, I am glad that it was done as it gives one a good idea and inkling of what Malacca's ancient must have looked liked between 1500s to 1807 when the fort was eventually blown up by the British.

As noted in earlier posts, I will reveal bit and parts of Malacca's fascinating history. So here goes...

Somewhere buried near the ruins of the excavated portion of the fort lies the remains of a Sumatran princess whose fell in love and eloped with a Portuguese nobleman from Malacca. The story of her life would certainly make a great novel.

It was documented that she was buried with much pomp in a solemn ceremony with the inscription 1576 placed in her coffin to signify the year of her death. Her name was Dona Helena and one of her sons would later rise to become a famous adventurer and cosmographer named Eredia.

Eredia would later go on to record what life was like in Malacca in the late 1500s in his book 'Description of Malacca-1613. The book, which was translated into English in the 1920s, offers an astonishingly accurate description of Malacca and its people and environment.

I have taken the liberty to post several photos of the excavated Dutch annex fort and a map of the what Malacca looked like during the Portuguese era in the late 1500s. (Note the Dutch annex is not present in the map as it was added on later by the Dutch after the captured the city in 1641) Also included is a photo of me and my buddy Jason at his Maritime Archeology Museum.

To None I Wish Ill But To All I Wish Peace and Love.

A Tribute to Life and Death

It was certainly an emotionally draining two days at work. The started off as usual on Tuesday with the daily routine of sourcing for news. Was just about to alight from my car after going on a wild goose chase for a fire that did not exist in Pantai Kundor area. It was then that I recieved a call about a student apparently found dead in a toilet at a primary school in Bandar Hilir.

I rushed to the scene with two other colleagues and was far from prepard for the raw emotions that followed. We reached the school at about 2pm and noticed two police cars in the compound and instinctively knew as a journalist that something had gone terribly wrong

There were several people and students milling about at the front entrance of the school building and the scene looked casual enough. However, it was when we were about 20 steps away from the centre of the small crowd that we were confronted with the most surreal scene.

I am not sure about my two other colleagues but I was stunt to see the figure of a child wrapped in white cloth lying motionless on a makeshift 'bed' made up of two small classroom tables joined together. There was a teary eye and sorrowful lady half kneeling and half bending forward at the foot of the table gently stroking the child's forehead. There was no sound of wailing or crying coming from the woman as she kept on stroking the child's head and seemed to be whispering something into her ear.

I was a mere eight feet away from the woman and the child and it took several second for my mind to comprehend the scene. It was a griefing mother weeping quitely over her daughter whose life ceased to be. The child looked as though she was merely alseep as her mother gently stroked her neartly braided hair.

In an instant a wave of emotions swept through me, that of an intense sense of loss and pain. As a father with a five-year-old daughter, I could could only imagine the woman's sorrow at losing her child.

I wouldn't say that I have truly experienced deep sorrow. There are three occasions in my life where I dare say sorrow was not merely an abstract descriptive word but a real tangible emotion that carried with it a physical sense of loss and pain. It was when I almost lost my family through my own indiscretion, when I saw my entire life played out before me as I underwent two MRIs in succession in a coffin like chamber to see if I had a tumor and the loss of twins when my wife miscarried.

It is such events that knocks some perspective in my life as to what truly matters most. It is through the experience of pain and sorrow that one truly appreciates life. Though life is precious, it can also be frail. It is for this reason that I remind myself to stop and smell the roses and to count the blessings for the simple joys in my life. This is why I try to live life with less hatred but more love and to live it to its fullest with as little regrets.

I can only offer my prayers that God, in His infinte wisdom and love, sent His spirit of peace and comfort to the grieving parents of 8-year-old Yap Li Xuen. I pray that Li Xuen's soul find peace in her rest and that the Light and Love of God envelopes her till His coming.

To None I Wish Ill But To All I Wish Peace and Love.

Vanilla Ice Cream Apple Pie

Another weekend gone. For us old foggies...its exactly like the adage...'time passes you by seemingly slow but the all of a sudden, you look back and wonder where have all the years gone'. Well, cest' la vie.

Went for a surprise birthday party at friend's place and it turned out more of a surprise than I thought. It was the Apple-pie and vannila ice cream that was tickled me silly. The pastry was simply excellent and I assumed it was made by the wife of the 49-year-old doctor whose home was the venue for the surprise birthday. It was in fact made by him, the well composed doctor.

What was pleasantly surprising was that it dispelled the common sterotyping and assumptions we tend to make of people. Here was a family man, a doctor by profession but also an ordinary bloke who had a knacked for pastry making. How interesting life is if we all just stop to consider that we are all just humans.

So, be it a high and mighty politician, a rich businessman, a farmer or a labourer...we are all merely just trying to get by. However, its the simple joys of life makes us all more human afterall.

To none I Wish Ill But To All I I Wish Peace and Love.

p/s....must go on some photo hunt soon....

Though the Sun was blazing, the opportunity of taking a boat ride to Malacca's mystical island of Pulau Besar or Big Island was one that could not be passed. It was last minute thingy and work related but nevertheless something that I would not have missed.

Located about 25km from the centre of the historic city, the Island has a history that spans even further back in time than the founding of Malacca as a trading port in the early 1400s. Being the last remaining island on the west coast of Peninsula Malaysia where fresh water can be found, Pulau Besar or Big Island was used by early Chinese and Indian mariners.

The island is mentioned by the Chinese in their annals while a brass gong of 12th Century Sumatran Majapahit Empire is evidence of its ancient history. There are numerous legends attributed to the island and none more celebrated amongst locals than that of its connection to Mount Ophir (Gunung Ledang) and buried treasures that are guarded by fairies and spiritual guardians.

With certain parts of the island surrounded by corals reefs, shallow rocky bottom and fast moving eddies, it is no suprise that the waters of Pulau Besar have claimed many a ships and lives over the centuries. The last being 18 souls who perished when their overloaded vessel sank in heavy weather back in 1997. Such natural accidents have only help perpetuate the island's mythical and sacred status amongst locals.

Over the past 40 years, I have had the good fortune of visiting the island on several occasion. The most memorable was a two day camping adventure (with my then to be wife, sis and thento be ex-bro-in-law and then to be sis-in-law) which included almost four hours of boulder to boulder hopping at the back of the island in the early 1990s. (one slip and it was 4 meter to 5 meter drop into fast moving waters...what bravado when blessed with the advantage of youth)

My take on the island is that it holds more than mysterious treasure as I firmly believe that there is some truth behind the local legend. Is just that the truth is sometime shourded over time to included mythical tales.

My relationship with the island is far from over as I surely intend to return to it one of these days for a closer exploration. Till then, here are some shots of the Pulau Besar and the view of Mount Ophir from the waters off the island.

To None I Wish Ill But To All I Wish Peace and Love.

A Fore Warning To All

As mentioned, one of my interest is prophecy, in particular that which concerns the future of the world as we know it and the fate of humankind. Over the years, my interest in the subject has grown to include not merely forewarnings uttered by prophets through the ages but also extra biblical sources ranging from prophecies of other religion to so called modern day prophets and clairvoyants, even to the down right charlatan. However, owing to my faith, I tend to lean more toward the biblical prophecies such as the Book of Isaiah, Daniel, Amos, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Matthew and Revelations.

Its been almost 20 years since I first started keeping track of global events. Besides shifting through the prophecies, I have tried to view them in context of nature, science and society at large. There is much strife, hatred, greed and confusion in every aspect of the world today.

In my personal opinion, there are signs showing that we are indeed the generation that will live to see great upheavals leading to the transformation of the world as we know it and the evolution of our very being.

Humankind may have reached greater heights in technological innovation and advancement in the sciences yet we have become more and more 'ignorant' as beings. So much so that it echos some of the words uttered by inspired men of God more than 2,000 years ago. Even recent global climatic and political changes are events that fits the biblical description of the signs of the 'birth pangs'.

http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/isaiah/isaiah24.htm

http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/matthew/matthew24.htm#foot10

http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Rev/Rev006.html

The question, I suppose, is will I be ready when the times comes...when the term 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord' is uttered to usher in the coming of the changes? Will I be at peace with myself and content with the life I have led?

Till that time comes...I shall love without fear, exercise forgiveness for the sake of peace and live life with as little regret.

To None I Wish Ill But To All I Wish Peace and Love.