A Road Accident

            Road accidents are reported in newspaper and on television every day. There are more frequently caused by reckless drivers rather than faulty vehicles. Last Saturday, while I was travelling from Ipoh, I witnessed a serious accident. The scene of the accidents was vivid in my mind.

            A motorcyclist was following behind was taxi very closely. He was so impatient that he was trying to overtake my taxi even near a sharp bend. At that critical moment, there was an oncoming car. The taxi driver swerved to the roadside and I got a terrible jolt. It was too late for the motorcyclist to avoid the car. His motorcycle ran against the bumper of the car and smashed its windscreen. The motorcyclist somersaulted over the car and was found lying in a pool of blood. It was a scene to chill the flesh! The car driver, who was cut by the flying glass, was in a state of shock. All that happened in split second and fear overwhelmed us.

            The taxi driver stopped his taxi and I quickly ran to the nearest to the nearest telephone booth to inform the police and the hospital. From a distance I could see some people trying to help the injured motorcyclist and the car driver. They carried them into one of the onlooker’s car and sent them to the hospital for treatment. Meanwhile the taxi driver tried to control and directs the traffic. Soon the police arrived and they promptly took some measurements and evidence. After that they moved the damaged car and the motorcycle to the roadside to ease the traffic congestion. They also took down the evidence provided by witnesses and onlookers. Some sweepers were clearing the debris and the blood stains on the road.

            When the taxi finally continued the journey, I silently thanked God for my narrow escape. I learned a good lesson that impatience and recklessness would bring harm and danger. I was happy to see that Malaysians are public-spirited and they render help to others readily. Since then I remember and follow the saying ‘more haste less speed’ and ‘prevention is better than cure’. I believe good road manners and roads safety campaigns can help to reduce the number of road accidents which cause injuries, loss and lives and properties.

Karangan : Masalah Pemanasan Global

Karangan : Masalah Pemanasan Global

Pemanasan global merupakan ‘’demam panas’’ yang dialami oleh Bumi di mana keadaan alam sekitar yang mengalami peningkatan suhu yang tinggi secara mendadak. Peningkatan suhu ini bukan sahaja telah menjejaskan kesihatan rakyat tetapi juga sedikit sebanyak telah menjejaskan ekonomi negara.

Isu pemanasan global berlaku apabila aktiviti penebangan hutan, pembakaran terbuka, aktiviti perindustrian, pelepasan asap kenderaan dan aktiviti penerokaan hutan yang giat dilakukan. Untuk mengatasi masalah tersebut, kerajaan harus mengetatkan lagi undang-undang supaya aktiviti penerokaan hutan dan sebagainya dapat dikawal.

Selain itu, kerajaan juga harus mengalakkan rakyat mereka  untuk  melaksanakan tanggungjawab mereka dalam mengatasi isu pemanasan rumah hijau. Kerajaan atau penubuhan NGO harus giat mengadakan kempen – kempen kesedaran seperti kempen ‘’Sayangilah Alam Sekitar’’ dan sebagainya merupakan salah satu alternatif yang bagus untuk memupuk semangat mencintai alam sekitar dalam setiap individu.

Melentur buluh biarlah daripada rebungya. Sikap mencintai alam sekitar harus dipupuk sejak kecil lagi. Para ibu bapa harus mendidik anak untuk menjimatkan penggunaan eletrik dan air sebagai salah satu cara untuk mengatasi isu pemanasan global. Selain daripada mendidik anak anak mereka, ibu bapa juga harus menunjukkan teladan yang elok supaya anak-anak akan mencontohi kelakuan mereka dan bukannya seperti ketam mengajar anaknya berjalan lurus.

Media massa huga harus turut memainkan peranan mereka untuk menyebarkan informasi dan maklumat tentang pemanasan global kepada masyarakat. Sesetengah masyarakat terutamanya generasi tua ataupun warga emas tidak sedar bahawa kelakuan mereka seperti pembakaran sampah secara terbuka akan mendorong kepada peningkatan suhu.

Di samping peranan pihak media massa dan kerajaan, masyarakat juga turut berganding bahu untuk mengatasi masalah pemanasan global. Selain daripada memandu kenderaan sendiri, kita juga harus menggunakan kenderaan awam yang telah disediakan. Ini dapat mengurangkan kadar pelepasan gas karbon monoksida di samping mengurangkan kesesakan jalan raya.

Tanggungjawab untuk memulihara kembali kesihatan Bumi merupakan peranan setiap penduduk dunia dan tidak seharusnya bergantung kepada kerajaan ataupun  pertubuhan – pertubuhan NGO sahaja bak kata pepatah bersama kita teguh, bercerai kita roboh.  Hargai dan sayangilah bumi kita supaya generasi yang akan dating dapat menikmati keindahan Bumi ini.


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My Life 20 Years From Now

Everyone have their own future plan for their own good. To see myself from 20 years from nowwould be a great gift, but it is indeed impossible. We got no time machine to make it happen, so we just can plan, predict and pray. I have many dreams for myself.

20 years from now.20 years from now, I would love to see myself as a success man in career. Being on the top of the particular carrier such as CEO, maybe a boss or a corporate worker; that’s what I want myself 

to be. This time my occupation is in stable, and my personal economy flows out smoothly. I am a richman right now, able to buy anything of my desires easily. That would be a perfect thing to see myown future self.

Also, I want to see myself to be a great father of my children. I am able to teach and trainthem well. Make sure they would never forget their customs, and enrich them with many moralvalues. This can be a challenge, to teach my children in these wild social problems. But, I will do whatit takes to make sure my bloods are worth to be known as human.

Furthermore, in the future I really hope I can get myself a car different from the locals here. It’s my favourite dream car, called BMW Z8 or maybe something better. There must be new models to come out at the future. This is the only chance for me, I am going to be old, so still with the localcars would be a shame to me, since it shows me that I made no improvements.

Last but not least, I want to build myself a nice home for myself and my beloved family. Thishome will hold many of our great and sweet memories together. I will decorate it with superb floralandscape for my future wife and a nice playground for my children to play with.

There are more things I want to achieve in the next 20 years, these are nothing but someexamples of many other. Hopefully I can do it well to achieve these dreams, so my desire will befulfilled while I am still alive.

A Difficult Life (Story)

“BEING illiterate is like a curse. It closes all doors to your life even before they can be opened!”

My mother’s words rang loud and clear in my mind.

She had literally been plucked from a remote village in India and brought to the then Malaya by my father, a man she had obediently married some sixty years ago.

Being the only daughter of a well-heeled man, she had believed that her aunt had got her a good match. My mother was fair, tall and willowy. Everyone had remarked on her big eyes and thick lashes when she entered her husband’s house as his bride.

The marriage celebrations had gone on for three days and she had yet to see what her groom looked like. As custom dictated, she had kept her head bowed and eyes downcast throughout the numerous ceremonies that went on during the three days.

The fact that her head scarf had been drawn low to cover her face did not make things any easier.

When she was finally introduced to her spouse, she was shocked. He was stocky and quite dark while she was as white as snow, by North Indian standards.

The fate that awaited her shattered all the dreams that her aunt had spun for her, the very aunt who had made the match.

Being the typical Indian bride, she became a dutiful daughter-in-law to her husband’s childless aunt and uncle who had cared for him ever since he had been orphaned at the age of seven.

Life was difficult as there was nothing of the luxury that she had been used to in her father’s house but she did not complain.

When her in-laws, asked her to pawn her jewellery to release their land from mortgage, she did so without question.

When her husband’s aunt insisted that she wove blankets for them, she did so submissively. After all, she was illiterate and her only skills included cooking, sewing and embroidery.

Six months later, her husband announced that they would be leaving India to seek their fortunes in Malaya. She cried for days but remembered her father’s parting words,

“Your husband decides your life for now. Go with God’s blessings.”

The trip to Malaya took almost a week by ship. All sorts of fears tortured her but she did not dare utter a single word for fear of displeasing her husband.

Upon arrival in Penang, they travelled to a little town in Perak where they lived with another uncle until her husband secured a job.

Life in Slim River was not easy. Her husband often left her alone, unaccompanied for days at times as he eked out a living as a lorry driver at a tin mine.

The kind Malay ladies, sensing her loneliness, tried to make small talk with her, despite knowing that she did not understand a word of the local language.

Undeterred, they slowly taught her simple words which she would need in her daily life. This life went on for three years.

There was no electricity or water supply. She did her washing and bathing by the river.

Despite her frail form, she could carry two pails of water all the way home for cooking and drinking. Every night, she cried herself to sleep.

A few months later, she gave birth to a daughter. Her husband had not been pleased and he had refused to see the new child.

He had expected his first born to be a son. His ego had taken a slight dent, but he did not know that there was a worse fate awaiting him – the tin mine ceased operations and he lost his job.

They had no money and no savings. Not about to give up, he decided to take her and their little daughter to the capital.

For the next few years, they lived with his second uncle and his wife who were also childless.

Life for the young couple was no bed of roses. Jobs did not come easily those days and after failing to secure a job, her husband gave in to the demands of his uncle and aunt.

For two meals a day, he had to wash the drains on the five-acre piece of land and cut the grass while she had to do all the tedious household chores.

Without fail, the old woman would insist that she scrub all the brassware (even though it had not been used) with ash every day before beginning the day’s chores.

She had to wash second uncle’s white trousers and white shirts by boiling them in caustic soda over a charcoal fire and then scrubbing then clean before ironing them using a hot coal iron.

Her daily chores kept her busy and she barely had time for her first-born.

The poor child was often hungry as second aunt did not provide them with breakfast. Deprived of essential nutrients, the poor little girl was thin, almost skeletal.

The young couple endured this terrible life for several years. Even when her husband got a job as a watchman she still had to submit to the will of second aunt.

The couple had a second child, a boy, but he died when he was ten months old. Three years later they had me, another girl. This time my father was not so disappointed. I suppose the hard life had made him more accepting.

“Why did you allow these things to happen, ma?” I asked furiously as she related her painful past.

I held her battered hands in mine; the cuticles were swollen and the nails had turned yellow due to all the washing with caustic soda.

“... because I was illiterate and I had no one.”

That was her simple answer. She had no options as she was financially dependent on others for every single need. She could not go out to work as her husband’s uncle and aunt had a reputation to maintain. They were the cream of the town. No one knew or even suspected that she and her husband were being ill-treated. Worse still, she had to tolerate all forms of verbal abuse.

“My father had never raised his voice. He showered me with love after the death of my mother when I was five.”

My father, who himself had lost his mother when he was twenty-six days old and his father when he was seven, could not do much.

I am now thirteen. I know mother is telling me these stories so that I will be resilient. I also know she wants me to study hard so that I will not have to have a difficult life.

As much as I admire my mother and her perseverance in the face of adversity, I will not allow a similar fate to befall me.