Somebody gonna get hurt real bad

There is a debate on to beat or not to beat your kids. Some believe in gentle love upbringing and some swear by the tough love upbringing.

My upbringing was of the latter style. One red cross in my marked homework and my left palm would pay the price; my mom would cane that extremity of mine, one blow for one red cross. If you are wondering why my left upper limb bears the brunt, I am left handed and my mom makes it a point to hit the very appendage which made the mistake.

My mom, no matter how exhausted she was, would make it a point to check my marked homework and if there were mistakes, I would be dead meat, figuratively.

She was extremely creative in selecting tools to whack my ass. The items consist of broom, clothes hanger, ladle, belt, pipe hose and plant twigs. As a child, I had the wish to make those items disappear from existence.

I was also smacked for my constant mischief and foibles. From 4 years old to 16 years old, it was the same drill but the intensity of it was assuaged considering me growing up and maturing.

I was never given much pocket money to school. During my primary school days, it was 20 cents and since my mom packs me homemade food to eat during recess, the 20 cents went right into my piggy bank. In secondary school, my pocket money was 50 cents and for public bus fare, my mom would give me RM2.

I only owned a wallet when I turned 15 and if you guys think that my wallet was a high end item, well, nope. It was a five bucks wallet I purchased from the pasar malam. (night market)

My father never yelled at me, let alone hit me. But, he never stopped his wife from making mince meat of me due to my perpetual monkey business and carelessness in homework. He tacitly knows what my mom is doing is right.

After passing in PMR in flying colours, hits from mom came to an abrupt halt. She no longer spanked me for mistakes in my homework. Instead, she began to tell me this,"I see you made a mistake and I know that you are intelligent enough to figure out what is wrong and do better next time."

Her words astounded me and it brought me to the realization that my Mother was sculpting me into perfection; each blow from her is the making of me. And when I proved that I am now moulded into a capable person, she set me free, trusting me 100%. And, I pledged to myself that I will never breach that trust she has on me. 

The greatest gift any parent can give to their children is trust.

But trusting parental trust on children can be a curse, especially in this era.  

Parents fully trust their children, give in to their every whim and fancy, and lavish their children with smart phones, video games and adolescent fancies. 

Such kids take their parents' trust for granted and go on orgies of decadence, their parents, oblivious of their activities.

Kids, not knowing what is right and wrong, slip into waywardness and get into deep trouble due to the condoning from parents.

There is a moral ground when it comes to instilling righteous capabilities in children and some spanking when they derail is fair enough. It is for them to not make a botch in the future. Action speaks louder than words. 

My mom inculcated discipline, cautiousness, prudence and virtuousness in me by flogging me.

I am thankful that my Mom raised me the way she did. I will be forever grateful.

 

Tun Dr Mahathir, do keep your self respect intact

I used to revere Tun Dr Mahathir; I am, after all a product of his period and until now, I respect him as an elderly man even though his misdeeds affected me and my compatriots adversely. My mother taught me to respect my elders.

But, my respect for Mahathir and my hold to my mom's advice is increasingly becoming tenuous now as the octogenarian gradually morphed into a loose cannon, making racist, unwarranted, unfounded, vacuous comments that are winning vitriol from the Malaysian masses.

As a well aged man whose current stature is already unpopular for his past crimes as Prime Minister, him, fostering racial polarization, biased national policies, the attrition of the quality, transparency and independence of education, judicial system, the power of the Malay rulers, the imposing of totalitarian control over the media and the issuing of blue IC for immigrants in Sabah to ascertain his political survival and whatnot, he should be reticent and be in repentant mode in a private way.

But, what does he do? The direct opposite. Instead of having the grace of his predecessors and his only successor, Tun Abdulah Ahmad Badawi, Mahathir is engaging in public gaffe, displeasing the rakyat as a whole.

With all due respect Malaysians have on Tun Dr Mahathir does not mean they won't get incensed when he makes ethnocentric remarks and issue a clarion call for the investigation of the citizenship given to the Chinese and Indians at pre-independence, justifying that if what Tunku Abdul Rahman did back then, that is, bestowing citizenship to the Chinese and Indians of the days of colonial withdrawal is righteous then the Project IC in Sabah masterminded by our 4th prime minister is also righteous.

The Chinese and Indians have lived in Malaya for generations in the British colonial times. They procreated here, picked up Malay language and soaked in Malayan soil, their respective motherlands, long forsaken.

The Chinese and Indians together with the Malays built Malaysia together, shedding sweat, tears and blood and forged a strong bond. The bond was made stronger by Tunku when he bestowed the deserved denizens citizenship abiding by the jus soli, that is, the right of soil principle true to the tenet of a multi racial demography and formed Malaysia. Those Chinese and Indians were calling Malaya home for more than 2 generations which sanctions Tunku's action.

In contra with Tunku's deed, Tun Dr Mahathir granted citizenship to the immigrants in Sabah in a matter of months of their arrival. Surely their patriotism and loyalty to Malaysia are questionable if not obvious. What did they contribute to Malaysia to deserve citizenship? Were they in PR status for at least 15 years to be eligible for citizenship? The answer is a deafening no. The objective behind Project IC is a self serving one, serving none other the swashbuckler Tun Dr Mahathir, allowing him to remain in power longer, until his avarice and sedition got satiated.

Not so fast we can leave Dr Mahathir off the hook for putting forth bemusing vindications and wild allegations which are virulent which is dangerous for a united Malaysia. His rash comments will disintegrate the very fabric of Malaysia's multi-racial and multi-cultural and multi-religious society. As the longest serving PM of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir should know this as a fact and if he truly loves his country, such sordid accusations and division creating revelations should not come from a respectable public figure that he is.

 Tun Dr Mahathir sure has a lot of knowledge but somehow lacks eclectic wisdom that ripens through age; his recent numerous faux pas is testimony for this claim of mine. There is a saying which goes, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Despite seeing generation after generation evolve and revolve before his very eyes, Tun Dr Mahathir is failing to be relevant and wise and that borderlines revulsion.