Semangat 44 and a Grumpy Old Woman

For the record, I am a member of that transitional generation that could sing God Save The King/Queen, Majulah Singapura and Negara Ku with gusto and pleasure and several dashes of pride.

In 1951 I was seven years old and at Pasir Panjang English School in Singapore.    Here we were taught God Save The King (King George VI) - which, in 1953, became God Save The Queen (Queen Elizabeth II).    In 1959, when I was 15, Singapore attained self-government and Majulah Singapura took the place of the British anthem.   Came September 1963, Singapore merged with Malaysia and I added Negara Ku to my repertoire.   Then it was back to Majulah Singapura on 9 August 1965 when Singapore was expelled and became an independent Republic.

But Negara Ku was never an unfamiliar, foreign anthem in our family or in many other Malay families in Singapore.  The family of Abdul Hamid bin Jala/Jaleh never saw themselves as being Malay as defined by shifting politics - sometime Malayan, sometime Singaporean, sometime Malaysian!   No.  We were Malays defined by much more than that - by a shared history, a shared tradition and  culture, and a shared religion.  We were simply Malays, from an island and a peninsula in the one Malay world.    BUT THAT WAS THEN!

It is hard to wean myself away from all those past anthems in my head and my psyche.  In 1974 (when I was 30), my two native English companions had to pull me out of the cinema because God Save The Queen was playing at the end of the movie and I had automatically stood up to attention.  Everybody else in the theatre were scrambling out!!  How do you delete a song which which has been embedded into your head from the tender age of 7/8 years old!

In 2009, when I finally became a Rakyat Malaysia, as my Abah had wanted me to do since 1968, Negara Ku was not alien to me at all - it is like what my dear Emak would describe as familiar as "air mandi".  But when I hear Majulah Singapura, I respond to it with a respectful nostalgia - as a Malay from Singapore.  " Tempat jatuh lagi di kenang.  Ini kan lagi tempat bermain".

That is a long preamble to my posting today - Malaysia's 15th General Election.  I did my duty for GE 14.  It is a duty that I regard with great seriousness.  But I had to weigh my responsibility as a rakyat with my need to look after the health of 78-year-old AsH and her octogenarian spouse.  Four months ago both of us had a bad dose of Covid, and the ramifications of that on our health and well-being and our work were horrendous.  I looked to the spouse, to a good friend on our street, Fadzil and to Zaini a comrade-of-like-mind to help me to a decision.  So, I shall carry on with this posting knowing that I will be risk-free,  InsyaAllah, to carry on with our "vocation".

This morning, on our way to breakfast I took a few photographic souvenirs of GE 15.  I should have been snapping the election banners before today when they were all glowing and blowing in all their splendour on those bright sunny days.   There was an obvious coincidence of a predominance of blues -  UMNO/Barisan and Perikatan Nasional banners in less well-off areas and in Malay areas.   I noted more reds in the more upmarket residences.   A caveat though - this is only what I notice in and around where I live.

What would my father (1910-1974) have thought of this and all other elections and the plight of his Tanah Air today?

Abah and all his friends had such hopes for their Tanah Air .   I saw my father's tears when, on 31 August 1957,  we were all listening on the radio to Tunku Abdul Rahman calling out "Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!"    It was the declaration of independence for Persekutuan Tanah Melayu.  

Jual sayor jual keladi

Dedala api chambah di-batang

Biar-lah hanchor biar lah mati.

Ta'mahu lagi di-jajah orang.

"Why are you crying?"  I  asked my father.  "I am happy for my country but I also fear for her future."

Baju baharu kain bertekat.

Baju belah pakai kerosang;

Bersatu padu kuat sa-ikat'

Kalau berpechah di-makan orang.

Tanah merah tanah-nya liat'

Buat menimbun tambak negeri;

Antara pemerentah dengan ra'ayat,

Kebajikan umum hendak di-chari.

Looking at his Tanah Air today, Abah would once again be in tears - but now holding down his head in his hands in despair.

I have observed the political shenanigans going on in this nation for the past 13 years.  I reckoned our "Malay-led backdoor government" did a remarkable job in pulling us out of the pandemic.  We may not have been the best in the world, but we do have something to be proud of in the leadership and all the personnel that worked tirelessly for the country's salvation.  For these personnel there were no rewards of titles, high dividends, generous bonus and profits for their hard work and sacrifice - only their sense of duty to their Tanah Air.

And yet, looking at the brouhaha and the innuendoes and the sleights-of-hand during this 2022 political campaigning, it is certain we have learned nothing at all after the pandemic.

Buluh betung puchok-nya rapoh,

Kuching puteh tangkap tekukur;

Sa-puloh pun jong masok berlaboh,

Anjing maseh berchawat ekor.

Every five years, we put up our democracy for show.  We still believe in our rights and responsibilities as a rakyat of our Tanah Air.  We have to keep on believing, even though :

Turun ka-sawah memakai tudong,

Padi di-huma layu lengkesa;

Sa-ekor sawa, sa-ekor tedong,

Bersama2 mengadu bisa.

NB.  The photograph above was taken in 1952/1953.   All the pantun were taken from Kalong Bunga Buku 1, DBP 1964 - hence the old spelling.

Abah, I have not left my country.  I fear our country has left me.

 

Bukit Dinding and all our Highland

When I was in Primary Six at Pasir Panjang English School, Singapore in 1957, we had to be able to fill in a sketch map of Malaya with various geographical details as required by the school syllabus.

Note the location of the resource-rich States of Perak, Selangor and Negri Sembilan, all "acquired" by the 1874 Pangkor Treaty.  The marginal and poorer States of Perlis and the East Coast only had rice and coconuts - which offered little scope for profitable enterprise.

This morning, on our way home from breakfast, I made the spouse stop the car to let me snap a few more pictures of my much-loved Banjaran Titiwangsa.   In my 1957 map, Banjaran Titiwangsa was known as merely the Main Range! What a put-down name for the backbone of the Malay Peninsula.

Banjaran Titiwangsa as seen on the road from Sri Rampai to Setiawangsa.  

Banjaran Titiwangsa, if you can appreciate it behind the clutter of development.

Banjaran Titiwangsa and her magnificient limestone outcrops, again overshadowed by the ugly pinnacles of development and greed.

I shall savour such views of my mountain-backbone - but I fear that in 30 or 50 years' time or even sooner, "some rich men (will) come and rape" (2.42 in the video) those mountains.  

From the age of 13 (Primary School), through my Senior Cambridge, Higher School Certificate and my degree at Singapore University, geography (and maps especially) has always been my favourite subject, yet nowhere was I made aware of how tin mining and the clearance of forests for rubber had ravaged the environment of the Semenanjung in the pursuit of profit and "progress". In the time of my youth, I suppose few people thought about challenging and criticising the desecration of the landscape in the non-western parts of the British Empire by the Brits and their compradores.  

However, in one of my spouse's old books - "Illustrated Guide to the Federated Malay States" (1923) edited by Cuthbert Woodville and illustrated by Mrs H.C. Barnard - I noticed a reference, bland though it may be , to what happens to a valley as a consequence of tin mining:

A river valley dug, flooded, scraped and scoured for tin as noted in 1923.

When I got home, I decided to check "The Last Resort", one of my favourite songs by the  Eagles.  It encapsulates so much of what has, is, and will happen to the beautiful landscape of our Tanah Air.

The rape of the land of the First People (The "Red Indians" ) in USA was based on the ideology of the Manifest Destiny (referred to as "destiny" in the above song).  "We satisfy our endless needs, justify our bloody deeds. In the name of destiny, in the name of God" (5.11).

 As for Malaya, the violation of the Semenanjung's landscape was engineered by British Imperialism and powered by imported labour, merchants, traders and administrators from China and India especially after the Pangkor treaty. 

Here is a sample of the instigation and drive to develop(?) and exploit (?) the resources of the Semenanjung

The Manifest of the Semenanjung's Destiny.

 

I was quite taken by this Youtube comment on the Eagles' song:

" .... a simple fact that no white man (me included) could ever love this land as much as any Native American, they fought for over 400 years to keep their home and we just kept pushing and pushing them......" by Robert Flor.

On the matter of love and respect for their land, can the bumiputra Malay-Muslim be compared to the Native American?  Unfortunately not, I fear, despite Islam's teaching that we Muslims are supposed to be the Stewards of Creation :

"Cannot misuse all these natural resources beyond their immediate needs"

When we, in our arrogance decide to place our abode in locations that threaten and abuse nature .....

....... then we and others in the vicinity have to pay a price. 

We desire (and developers are always happy to feed that wish and vanity) that our abodes be built on high land or high slopes so that we can get a much-envied exclusive view and establish that we have achieved high stature in our life style.

We desire such elevated locations because it will promise us high returns on investment.

We also desire such lofty positions because it ensures good feng shui.

So when I noted several banners appearing in Setiawangsa .....

......  I decided to look up the background of Bukit Dinding.

This map taken from the website Mapcarta shows the position of Bukit Dinding between Setiawangsa in the southeast to Wangsa Maju in the north.  Bukit Dinding is 291 meters high, which is just a little short of a few metres to be classified as a mountain. A mountain has to be 1000 feet high (304.8 meters).  It is a very popular spot for hikers  and cyclists.

For the past six to seven years, we have seen a growing number of youngsters, both male and female ( almost 100% Malays) gathering on weekends and public holidays to hike along the path that goes up Bukit Dinding. Good for them, we said.  Sometimes we can see almost 100 cars sitting along the road, as well as motor bikes and bicycles - all, as a rule, conscientiously parked.  It is a sight worth remembering.  So the preservation and protection of Bukit Dinding means a lot - not only to the residents at the bottom of the hill - but to these youngters enjoying a good healthy exercise instead of parking themelves in front of the TV or wandering around shopping malls. 

I was quite curious about that route up the slope. So four days ago on a weekday afternoon when there wouldn't be any walkers this late-septuagenarian decided to give it a look. 

Oh, how I wish I could turn the clock back to 53 years ago when at 25, with a group of NCC Officers, we drove from Singapore to climb Gunung Ledang (Mount Ophir), on the border of Melaka and Johor.  Gunung Ledang is 1276 meters high.  On the afternoon of the next day we got down to the base of the mountain and drove back to Singapore.  The climb and the view at the top was awesome.  It was worth every painful joint and muscle ache in the body.

Before I left for that trip, my Abah gave me this petua (advice).  Do not pluck or break any leaf or twig or branch or flower on your climb up Gunung Ledang.  Secondly, do not look back or anwer when you hear someone calling your name from behind you.  Aaah, father knows best.

Oh Malaysia, you do not know how lucky you are to have all this natural beauty - to have all these hills, mountains, and forests, all these wonderful coastlines and rivers, to savour and appreciate.  But I fear there won't be much of a legacy to leave behind for future generations if the present one does not make a greater effort to preserve what is left - places like Bukit Dinding and many others that are about to be turned to  "Places where the pretty people play - hungry for power", see 2.30 in the video.

Remember this by arwah Usman Awang?

Bukit Dinding and all the surrounding areas were once - before the British came - a tropical rain forest.  They were then sold or bestowed for planting thousands and thousands of acres of rubber.  Then urbanization created new owners, and now these owners are allocating these prime areas for huge new housing developments. 

This view of Bukit Dinding will be obliterated in a couple of decades or maybe earlier. Image taken from Malay Mail 9 Oct 2022.

This fate of Bukit Dinding as envisaged by the developer Nova Pesona.

Nova Pesona  according to ctos .....

....... and Nova Pesona is a subsidiary of  .....

..... IGB (Ipoh Garden Berhad).  A corporate profile of IGB Berhad writes : it is "primarily a property company engaged in all aspects of the property industry.  Its core business is in retail, commercial, residential, construction, and hospitality.  The company also has investments in water treatment, information technology and data analytics and education.

IGB Berhad is one of the largest listed property companies in Malaysia with footprints across Asia, Australia, the United States of America and United Kingdom,"

As for Nova Pesona, according to the Malay Mail ( 9 Oct 2022)

From the Malay Mail , 9 Oct 2022. According to the Kuala Lumpur City Plan, large parts of Bukit Dinding have been designated for "housing" as early as 1983. Only the peak of the hill has been designated as a no-development zone.  Nova Pesona .......... owns the largest parcel out of the five parcels carved out and zoned for "housing" there.  All are owned by private developers.

I find it quite mind-boggling how such hills and mountains (let alone lowlands) can be owned by "private developers".  It is like accepting that large parcels of The Great Wall of China or the Cheviot Hills or Yorkshire Moors can now belong to private developers!

But, there's no way that the Chinese and the Brits will allow themselves to be caught or manoeuvred into the same situation as the Semenanjung Malays faced all those years ago.

Hopefully, the campaign for Saving Bukit Dinding will not be regarded as just another Nimby (Not in my Backyard) attempt to preserve the sanctity of their homes at the foothills of Bukit Dinding - although these are certainly under constant threat of soil erosion where they are and any more pressure of "development" by property developers will exacerbate their situation.  These residents are confronting a very powerful property corporation and hopefully DBKL will take a strong stand in choosing stability (for the hills and the homes ) over profit.  

This campaign should be an eye opener, for Malays especially,  that no more of  the Tanah Pusaka - the hills, forests, mountains, sea-shores - shall be "pledged, hocked, pawned, peddled, marketed, mortgaged and auctioned ....... to the highest bidder and their middle men and agents - though all too often we still get shortchanged" (as AsH has said before!)

Despite Merdeka, despite increasing wealth, despite the investment in religious and secular education, Malays have succumbed to corruption, cronyism and nepotism and now as we can see at every election and proceedings in Parliament, they are scratching out each other's eyes for bigger and bigger slices of the  booty in the name of the Rakyat and democracy.

Here's an illuminating blast from the past.

I recall this quote from Punch, 1878. 

I am not hungry, but thank goodness, I am greedy.

Do read:  /https://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-parting-shot.html

Also the riposte to the comment on the above link : https://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2014/09/clever-dick-clever-mat-clever-ah-beng.html

For all the residents of Setiawangsa and Wangsa Maju, keep the flag flying.

Belacan, Politicians and 'Otak Udang'

 

 

I was quite upset when I read the above headline yesterday.  It's not fair and it's tantamount to being racist.  In the first place,  using otak belacan  to denigrate the brain of PAP's P Ramasamy is not applicable.  After all,  he is a Malaysian Indian and certainly belacan is not his staple food seasoning.  It certainly can be applied to  a Malay like the author of this article,  unless he is of the elite Jawi Peranakan extraction, but now registered as Malay.

Secondly it is an insult to a staple Malay condiment like belacan.

In Indonesia the equivalent is trasi , mentioned in the ancient Sundanese scriptures.

 So as not to confuse the origin of trasi/belacan :

Zheng He (or Cheng Ho)  (1371 - 1433), diplomat-admiral from the Ming Dynasty even brought back this condiment to his homeland!   Although today, most of the producers and distributors of belacan in Malaysia are Chinese and the popularity of Chinese Peranakan Cuisine has elevated the status and glamour surrounding the humble belacan.  Growing up in the 50s, 60s and 70s, I recall how people turn up their noses (in more ways than one) at the taste, odour and purchase of belacan.  

In the early books on Malay/Indonesian/Southeast Asian cooking, there seemed to be a bit of 'shyness' in using the word belacan, instead it was described as shrimp paste.

As for the udang geragau, (Singapore Malays called it geragur), my Emak loved to make fritters, a mixture of the shrimps, flour, egg, onions and chillies.  It was not only tasty, but it was cheap and muai, which means just a little bit or expenditure goes a long way.

Nowadays you can't buy geragur for love or money.  But this Melayu belacan (Maznoor Hamid that is) stores a good stock of belacan in her larder to titillate the appetite of both herself and her Anglo-Scottish spouse who cannot get enough of sambal blacan and sambal pedas petai/ikan bilis.  

Ash's stock of belacan

It all started with my Emak's feeding of her skinny Mat Salleh son-in-law because she thinks her daughter is not cooking enough for him, like a typical loving and dutiful wife should.

The source of the addiction to chillie and belacan - my mother!

That is my paean to belacan, a traditional ingredient for traditional Malay cooking and should never ever be used to describe the cerebral failings of anyone, especially politicians - whatever shade of ethnicity - in Malaysia.  There are many other words to choose from, words like  dull, doltish, dim, idiotic, ignorant, asinine etc etc.

Whenever as children, we acted and said something stupid to Emak, she would just exclaim "Bodoh! Kepala Otak Udang!" (Stupid. Prawn-head brains!).  That is because the prawn's excreta is in the head.  That is the only asinine connection to belacan which is made from fermented prawns .  Still the Malays do have a refined alternative to the obscene use of the word "shit-head"!!!!!  

Here is the author of that article in Malaysia Today.

What is PEJUANG?

 May Allah keep our Tanah Air in excellent physical and spiritual health this Ramadan.

A Little Lockdown Levity

 The old and short-lived government resigned en masse.

Long Live the New Government !!

Here is an illustration of the battle for democracy and MPs  (to hell with the Rakyat and Covid-19) - a sort of 21st Century Malaysian Parliamentary Olympics.

ENJOY!   Let's cheer them on.

And how will this Government be chosen?

By Statutory Declarations.

Aaah I have another Guide for Seduced Statutory Declarants  - thanks to Monty Python again.

Let's cheer them on too. But - du ..u .. u ..hhhh??

Thank Goodness for Monty Python.

I shall just be a sweet lil ole lady today and every day and ..... and 🙈🙉🙊

Sungguh gemilang negri ku

Yang ku chinta oh Tanah M ............

Malaysia (Malaya) - Tanah tumpah darah ku.

64 years ago on August 31 1957, in our kampung house at Pasir Panjang Road Singapore, we were listening to the radio.  When the Union Jack was lowered and the flag of Persekutuan Tanah Melayu was raised, I saw the pride and glow on my Abah's face which said, "At last my country is free".  But then the tears began to flow - they were not tears of joy because he said very sombrely, "What will happen to my people?"

Abah, today at 3 pm. 16 August 2021, your daughter cried as she listened to Prime Minister Muhyiddin tendering his resignation.

They were not tears at the demise  of a mainly Malay-led Government that had to attend to a pandemic (a trauma that this country has never seen before) but they were bringing us close to the light at the end of a dark, dark tunnel.  

My tears are like yours in 1957.  What will happen to my people, and not just Malays?

We spiked the Malayan Union, we recovered from the Japanese Occupation, we beat the Malayan Communist Party insurrection, we learned and re-booted ourself after May 13.  But we were beaten by greed, envy, lust for power, pride and bodoh-sombong of our fellow Malays.  For me the one courageous voice of sanity came from Tony Pua.  I may not agree with his politics but he has the spirit and the honesty to be able to reconcile his political affiliations, which are in opposition to the Government, with the needs and priorities of his country.

As for the other voices of Malay leadership, their silence is loud and clear. They wait and see which way the wind blows.  They smell blood and they want to swoop in on the kill - and tear it and everything else to shreds.     To hell with the Rakyat and the Tanah Pusaka, they say.      To hell with what we've achieved in the past.    To hell with what we could achieve in the future.

Here's a simple story with a moral message from my old Malay school textbook.

"Engkau ini sama jahat," kata emak-nya.

But the Malays I fear do not have an emak and abah to guide and discipline them.  

We are now Anak Yatim despite our modern and religious education, despite our economic progress - or, perhaps, exactly because of our economic progress, because we fell prey to the wolf of greed, because we lost sight of morality.

"Lekas makan, tanggalkan baju itu. "  I doubt that our Malay leaders and leadership will dare to do that. Their hands are so filthy, like Lady Macbeth's hands ; and nothing will ever wipe it clean.

Abah, this is what we Malays look like today. 

 

All the King's horses and all the King's men will not put the Humpty Dumpty Malays together again ..........  perhaps only after the worms have had enough of them.

Our tears are futile.

Malaysia's Parliament - Our very own Bunkum and Blarney (apologies to Barnum and Bailey) Circus ......

 ...... but to compare the antics of the MPs to the  professional, competent, intelligent and skilful acrobats,  jugglers, fire-eaters, weightlifters and clowns is an insult to them and the Circus industry.  This I write on the premise that animals are banned from performing at all Circuses ....

...... which reminds me of one my favourite songs from the 70s.  It was my late brother Akim who blasted this song every Sunday morning on his super-duper hifi set and his staid school-mistress Kakak just fell for it.

Years and years after his passing I looked for the song on YouTube. The video was just stunning.  So I shall use this video to illustrate my frustrations, anger and my sense of  hopelessness and helplessness at the state of my Tanah Air.

Keep a lookout for the greedy toff, the clown struggling with the plastic chicken (he is actually a professional clown) and the raunchy-looking lass.

"Stuck in the middle with you" by the group Stealers Wheel was written by Gerry Rafferty, my favourite 1970s singer-songwriter and Scotsman. Ssshh, don't mention this to my official Scotsman-spouse.

                                           ======================================

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU - Stealers Wheel

Here are the lyrics (in blue), with a sprinkling of  various pertinent images. 

Well I don't know why I came here tonight.

Showdown at the OK Corral

I've got the feeling that something ain't right.

The Grand Solution and Solvers??

I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair.

Pioneers of Selamkan Malaysia

And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs.

Clowns to the left of me!

Malaysia's Future.

Jokers to the right!

Harapan Bangsa!

Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

Keluhan Bangsa

Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you.

And I'm wondering what it is I should do.

The House - of the Rising Sun. Check this song by The Animals.

It's so hard to keep this smile from my face.

"For men may come and men may go / But I go on forever" - from Alfred Lord Tennyson "The Brook".  AsH, stop being a nitwit!  Tennyson was writing about a clean-flowing river!

Losing control and running all over the place.

The Great and Good Saviours of Malaysia.  Do I see Osman, our road-sweeper somewhere in that line-up? 

Clowns to the left of me!

Playing up the numbers. With the aid of a state of the art abacus perhaps?

Jokers to the right!

For the Malaysian Opposition, "I get by with a little help from my friends" - who are good at additional mathematics.  Ash had to give up the Additional Mathematics Paper when she was in Form Five at Crescent Girls' School - I guess I was not as smart and as canny as the millenials.  Note the FCs and FA attached to each Party, I didn't realise that MPs and their Parties are part of a Football Club/Association.  I understand that footballers  are very highly paid just for chasing and kicking one ball into a net!  But then what do we post-war boomers know! But do check that song "Great Balls of Fire".

Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

Those two earlier images (clowns and jokers) are  examples of our social media thinkers: (a) their self-image (after Rodin's The Thinker); (b) the reality (after a picture on a T-shirt).

When you started off with nothing

Read the small print at the top of the image, that is a typical advice from lawyers .  Look up Shirley Bassey's "I who have nothing".

And you're proud that you're a self-made man.

Beware of self-made men. Also self-serving and self-regarding men AND women.  By the way, Ash is aware of the tenets of PC-ism.

Oooooo-ooo-ooooooh

And your friends they all come crawling.

Aaah!  Where would we be without our heroes and mentors and sifus and gurus?

Slap you on the back and say

What a kind and touching comment.  I used to write quite a number of  such testimonials for my former students.  In fact we teachers had to do this for each and everyone of our school leavers in their School Leaving Certificates.  I must have done hundreds.  

 

Please ...

Please ...

Trying to make some sense of it all.

Who will give them a testimonial?

But I see it makes no sense at all

.

......or maybe a Datin or Tan Sri?  But titles cannot ease their exhaustion or compensate for the lost family-time. 

Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor?

These people (civil servants and other public servants like the police and Armed Forces) just eat and sleep.  Such criticisms have been thrown at them  during the last government - that their numbers should be drastically reduced.  Thank you whoever you are (in that image above) for your dedication and steadfastness.  You make a truly magnificent Bangsa Malaysia. People like you deserve a place in our History textbooks.

I don't think that I can take anymore.

You have the nation's eternal gratitude.  You are the nation's only inspiration and hope.

Clowns to the left of me!

Where are the good capitalists?

Jokers to the right!

You seek them here/You seek them there - where are the good capitalists?  

Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

It's a thankless job.  Come rain or shine,  you diligently carry on with your duties.  You help to maintain a semblance of normality and sanity by keeping our streets clean and healthy. You deserve the title Tokoh Anak Malaysia!

When you started off with nothing.

The mother of all reconciliations or just opportunism???

And you're proud that you're a self-made man.

Or maybe 122+1 cheers for the next Ayam yang berkokok.  I wrote that in 2016!

Ooooo-ooo-oooooh

And your friends they all come crawling.

Slap you on the back and say

Please ...

Please ...

Well I don't know why I came here tonight.

The Dewan Rakyat had been touched by Covid 19!  Mind you, it's a conspiracy by the DG and the incumbent PM.

I've got the feeling that something ain't right.

It's the Government's fault. The Government failed to "improve the standard of ventilation" in our hallowed hall of horror!!  Kerajaan Gagal!!!!!

I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair.

And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs.

Clowns to the left of me!

Our Gallery of ___________ . Fill in the blank space yourself .

Jokers to the right!

Kerajaan Gagal!!!  Bring on the Corporate Cavalry and pressurize the Government for more subsidies "or else the economy will collapse".  Where are the caring and patriotic Capitalists?

Here I am stuck in the middle with you.

This is Anak/Bangsa Malaysia Baru 2021.

Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you.

The faces of Anak/Bangsa Malaysia Baru.

Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you ...

A continuation of the image above.

Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you ...

AsH  wrote this in 2018.  She is a belacan Malay.

Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you ...

LAST CALL - Will  the last anak Melayu to leave the room, please switch off the light!

Source of Lyrics: Musixmatch