Aussies have a strange tendency to invent strange and unusual names, even when it's an honest attempt to make themselves different and distinguishable from the rest. Some, however, will make you wonder how the hell they got their names in the first place...

This is two weeks late, but this is something that I should post here.



Pretty symbolic of Merdeka, don't you reckon? Snapped this photo by chance after leaving the so-called Merdeka Festival at Federation Square in Melbourne. The fantastic thing about the festival is that there was no Malaysian food!!! Not even packed kuih and some packed Yeo's drink!

Apparently, according to a friend of mine, the organisers couldn't obtain a permit to sell food and drinks at the plaza area of Fed Sq, so it was a Merdeka celebration with all the cultural performance, music and clothes but no food. So much for leaving my stomach empty earlier in the day...

Today, people all over Malaysia waited to edge of their seats to see what will unravel, hoping that something will happen, anything. The country is in disarray because of this ominous date. Rumours widespread, speculation rife, everyone's guessing. But up to now, nothing much has happened and BN is still in power.

It's amazing how a single man can put the whole nation on the edge. Anwar Ibrahim set the dateline himself, no one forced him to form a new government and there was no immediate cause for him to choose this date. Symbolically, Sept 16 is Malaysia Day, the day when Malaya became Malaysia with the inclusion of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore in 1963. It is in reality the day Malaysia was born.

Anwar's choice for this date is pretty obvious actually. For years, East Malaysia has been quite neglected by the federal government and I guess Anwar wanted to use this date as a way of telling Sarawkians and Sabahans that they're important and deserve the kind of respect they should get. In my opinion, his move has more to do with Sabah, with so many problems afflicting it and the political nature of the state is different from the other states (the fact that UMNO was transplanted there and that there were a seccesionist movement a while back). And also, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) was daring enough to criticise Pak Lah's lacklustre leadership.

Politics aside, what will happen after Sept 16 is anyone's guess. Now that the day has passed and Anwar held a press conference to announce that they have enough MPs (more than 31, sufficient enough for them to form a government with a simple majority) and that he will only reveal the name list to Pak Lah so that it will assured that no one will becoming a victim of ISA or the declaration of a state of emergency. The thing is, Anwar likes to keep us wondering and this is frustrating. And if nothing happens in the near future, it seems very likely that Anwar will be on the same boat as Pak Lah because to me, all the anticipation and hope had been placed on this single date, too much of it actually. People will soon realise that it's all a political ploy to make BN jittery and if Anwar fails to fulfill his promise for a new Malaysia, everyone will lose faith in him, sending him and Pak Lah to political oblivion.

I don't have any faith in politics in Malaysia anymore because of all this rhetorics and racism that is evident, both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat. The bottomline is this, something or someone has to give in within the next few weeks, things will get worse before it gets better. And in relation to the present situation, I would like to quote The Joker in The Dark Knight "This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object." A bit too soon to say that I guess, but we won't have to wait long to see that happen I hope.