The Number Seventeen

I wrote these thoughts about the significance of the number seventeen in my life and posted them on facebook more than 7½ years ago, on 17Apr2015.

I think I should have it in this blog too, under the collection "Journey In Life", so here it is —

The Number Seventeen

The number 17 appears to mark significant milestones in my life.

I was born on the 17 day of the month. When I was 17 years old, I converted to Christianity.

In the same year, I was admitted into hospital for the first time, for pulmonary TB, an illness that I contacted soon after I was born, that I had unknowingly suffered for about 17 years of my life.

After I was discharged from hospital, It took me two years to finish the course of outpatient treatment, right until I completed Upper Form Six in 1978.

Then, in 1995, father passed away. It was 17 years after I had finished Sixth Form.

Credit : Image by Yeung Shing Hin — My drawing, Public Domain,

Link

Today, the 17th day of April 2015, marks the last day of work at my college. I go to hand over my official duties to my colleagues and return my ID card and office keys to the HR department.

I am now on official leave until the end of the month. Finally, on the 30th of April, will be officially retired, after working for 17 years and 17 days at this job.

When will the next milestone occur?

I do not know. I will put my trust and confidence in the Almighty One, the Creator of Heavens and Earth, who has granted His Grace through His Only Begotten Son, Yeshua the Anointed One.

---

"Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come.
'Tis Grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And Grace will lead me home!"

Kata itu kota

Fri 2021.10.22

(A poem about political frogs in the coming Malacca State by-elections)

Kata itu kota
Katak mau ikut kita
PRK Kota Melaka
Katak main suka-suka

Kata itu kota
Katak tak pegang kata
PRK negeri Melaka
Katak berlawak jenaka

By Harold Huang,
Friday 2021.10.22 17:07 hrs GMT+8

#poetry
#poetrybyharold
#journeyinlife

The Endless Game

Yesterday we all were free to wander
Went downtown, had joyrides in our cars
Suddenly, came movement control orders
They made our spirits drop like falling stars

And the people, they're all locked down
While the daily numbers aren't coming down
We're captive in this lockdown all the time

We can't go out, we can only look,
As numbers stay the same
And go round and round and round
. . . in this endless game

(Sung to the tune of The Circle Game by Joni Mitchell)

By Harold Huang
Tue 2021.07.06, 21:21 hrs GMT+8

#poetry #poetrybyharold #KerajaanGagal

A disappointing smile

A song about the pretentious smiles of lying politicians who announce endless extensions of lockdowns:

Smile, a disappointing smile
Your smile can bring bad news to me
Don't let my TV find you on,
'Cause that would bring a tear to me

This land has lost its glory
We need a brand new story
Now my love,

Right now
Just as in other times,
Your smile can't show me how, my love

Talk in ever twisting words
And complicate them all for me
And I don't need such words in life
Don't ever try to call to me

We know that you don't even mean
A single word you say

It's only words, and lying words you have
Please take them all away . . .

(Sung to the tune of "Words", Bee Gees)

By Harold Huang
Sun 2021.06.27 21:41 hrs GMT+8

#poetry #poetrybyharold #KerajaanGagal

Calling a Spade

Calling a spade a spade
Gets you all the hate

Calling a spade a hoe
Gets people into a throe

Calling a spade a tool
May bring pride to a fool

Calling a spade a clever
lever of the third order,
Makes friends of many foes.

Calling a Spade
20201115 1109 hr
#poetry #poetrybyme #poetrybypengyou

When . . .

 When can we all go back
To those happy innocent days?
When can we all live again
the way we lived always?

When can we get to see
Little children together at play?
When can we get to hear
Their gleeful squeals all day?

When will we be set free
From these fetters called lockdowns?
When will borders be opened,
And we move from town to town?

Oh for those bygone days
When we went about freely,
Oh for those times past
When we weren't beset by worry

Of this fearsome unknown disease
That spreads around with stealth,
That kills some, and hurts others,
And quietly ruins our health. 

When will this dearth of freedom
Come to a final end?
When can we all go back
To those happy days again?

20201103 2155 hrs

#poetry #poetrybyme #poetrybypengyou

I have not been writing

I have not been writing,
I have been away
From my thoughts and musings,
Over many days.

My pen is lying idle,
The ink-bottle has dried.
My thoughts are in a muddle,
Rhythm and rhyme has died.

Tonight, I return to my desk,
A blank page lies before me.
Will words emerge at my behest?
I have yet to see.

#poetry #poetrybyme #poetrybypengyou 

20201102 2251 hrs

Darurat

Semasa ramai orang sakit tenat
Pemimpin negara ingin darurat

Di saat frontliners berkerja berat
Darurat sahaja yang hendak dia buat

Sedang rakyat jelata semakin penat
Politikus terdesak nak kuasa darurat

Sambil rakyat bertungkus lumus,
berkerja dengan tulang empat kerat,
Ada yang hilang mata pencarian,
lalu tak habis-habis air mata dikesat.

Yang pegang jawatan tinggi di ibukota
tetap bertegang urat
hendak mengejar satu matlamat.

D A R U R A T.

#ProtesDarurat

20201024 2108 hrs

#puisi #poetry #poetrybypengyou #malaypoetry

Young man

 C M C O (sung to the tune of YMCA)

Young man,
everyone is falling down, I know,
Young man,
you see yourself on the ground, I know,
Young man,
'cause you're pushed around
There's no choice but be unhappy.

Young man,
there's no place you can go, I said,
Young man,
when you're short on your dough, you just
Stay home,
and I know you won't find
Any way to have a good time

It sucks to stay under the CMCO
It sucks to stay under the CMCO

You can't go out to work,
You can't have a good meal,
You can't do what ever you need  . . .

(Commiserating with my friends in states and districts under the ongoing Conditional Movement Control Order that has been implemented with many ad hoc changes)

20201022 1302 hrs

#poetry #poetrybypengyou

Welcome to Club Sixty-one

It's my sixty-first birthday today and I'd like to write a poem about reaching sixty-one.

When you have finished six decades of your life in this world
and you begin your first step into the seventh
you're in Club Sixty-one

When being long-sighted and having to wear multi-focal glasses
has become a norm rather than a bother
you're in Club Sixty-one

When having HIV means hair is vanishing
and black hair is something to dye for
you're in Club Sixty-one

When you can sing heartily while brushing your teeth
because those are your dentures in your hands
you're in Club Sixty-one

Club Sixty-one
The place where you heave a sigh of relief
that you have pulled through sixty years
of difficulties and insurmountable odds

Club Sixty-one
The place where you look back with pride
at sixty-years of personal achievements
whether big or small, notable or obscure

As you leave behind six decades of your life
and put your best foot forward
into the seventh,
Welcome to Club Sixty-one.

Reminiscence

After more than fifty days under lockdown, my mind seems to be going back in time. Last night I couldn't sleep. As I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, suddenly a wave of recollections hit me.

In a way, it felt like my whole life flashed before me. Well, almost, but not quite.

I was brought back all the way to the years 1967- 69, to vivid memories of sitting on long benches in my primary school hall together with many other students learning new songs from my Headmaster, Mr Wong, during the weekly Chapel Service.

Some of the songs that I recall learning during Chapel service in those days in Primary School were:

(1) Thank you Lord, for saving my soul.
(2) Joy, Joy, Joy, with joy my heart is ringing
(3) Only a boy called David
(4) Jesus loves the little children

Tonight, I'd like to share with my Christian brothers and sisters this song of thanksgiving which has stayed unnoticed at the back of my mind for more than fifty years, until now.

(1) Thank you Lord for saving my soul,
Thank you Lord for making me whole
Thank you Lord for giving to me
Thy great salvation so rich, and free.

Thank you Lord for saving my soul

Nagging questions

Nagging questions.

Are state governments allowed to make their own regulations and to impose additional restrictions?

For example, under the CMCO, can a state government insist on limiting vehicles to single occupancy only? Can they continue to restrict movement to 10 km? Can they continue to enforce 10 pm to 6 am curfew on private vehicles?

If one thinks so, then could each state government have imposed their own stricter version of lockdown right from the start of MCO on 18Mar20? e.g. allow markets and shops to open only once a week?

And if so, could each state government have declared their own lockdowns earlier than 18Mar20?

Finally, do state governments have the authority to continue with their own lockdowns indefinitely when the MCO is eventually lifted by the Federal Government?

/// "Prominent lawyer, Datuk N. Sivananthan is of the view that state governments could not refuse to abide by the CMCO which has been gazetted to run from May 4 to May 12 as it supersedes the provisions of MCO4.

He said state governments have no lawful authority to refuse to comply with the CMCO as instructed by the federal government." ///

#covid19 #pandemic #lockdown #malaysia

Can state governments choose to defy CMCO?

It's all about social distance

In my opinion, the Conditional Movement Control Order, CMCO in Malaysia is a wise decision to prevent more people from losing their jobs, as long as businesses follow the SOP strictly for social distancing. It is a guarded relaxation of the seven-week long lockdown under the ongoing Movement Control Order.

State governments and District Councils cannot prohibit businesses from operating under the CMCO. They also cannot stop people from travelling more than 10 km within the state. And they cannot stop people from jogging, walking, exercising, cycling etc in the parks, as long as social distance is observed.

However, they can campaign aggressively to discourage the public from going out unnecessarily, especially to crowded places.

Also, instead of road-blocks, the police and army can be deployed to patrol and enforce social distance SOP in towns and neighbourhoods.

Finally, for all of us, let us remember to put on our masks when going out, to stay away from crowded places, and to sanitise our hands after touching public facilities.

Minister’s approval needed for state MCO changes

Broken hopes

Malaysia, Sun 03May2020 MCO Day 47

We live with broken hopes upon hearing of another 122 new cases today, the highest in the last three weeks of MCO, since recording 170 cases on 14Apr20.

I am left wondering if the figures reported each day are up-to-date in real time, i.e. if today's 122 cases are really from samples taken from patients today.

This appears unlikely because I remember at the beginning of the MCO, the Ministry of Health used to report large numbers of patients "pending test results", to the tune of several thousands, a practice that seems to have been discontinued of late.

I also wonder whether it would be more helpful to the general public if MOH would publish daily figures based on sampling date, i.e. the date those samples were taken, rather than just report a lump-sum figure each day.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

It all started some time in March when I went for my scheduled final dose of Hep B vaccination. My doctor told me to watch my blood pressure for it was marginally high over my last three visits to see him.

I decided I needed more fruits in my diet and launched into a habit of taking an apple a day. Sometimes the apples that my wife bought from the market were huge, equivalent to two regular Washington apples. I took each one, all in a day nevertheless.

After seven weeks, it looks like this regimen has paid off well. My b.p. has dropped from a high 130+/80+ in early March, to 135/82 on 16Apr20, finally down to 120/73 today 03May20. With two consistent readings. Yay!

Nostalgia

My old school, my alma mater which was featured on TV a couple of days ago. Here's a poem about my old school days.

Nostalgia.
(Sung to the tune of Those Were The Days, Mary Hopkins, 1968)

Once upon a time there was a heaven
Where we used to play and called our School.
Remember how we spent those fleeting hours
Evading prefects and breaking many rules.😅

Chorus:
Those were the days, my friends.
We wish they'd never end,
We played our pranks
On each other and got away.
Those were our treasured days,
Our precious dreams we chased,
For we were Friends
And we will stay that way.

Nostalgia
20200430 1344 hrs
#Poetry #PoetryByHarolde

Last Words

Today is the last day of poetry writing month
I have reached the end of a journey long and slow
Twenty-nine poems under lock-down I have done
The thirtieth one is taking shape right now.

Here are some last words harboured in my thoughts,
to tell the world of what our treasures are worth,
"Our hard work for silver and gold are all for nought,
for they can't bring back the beauty of our Mother Earth."

Last words
20200430 0928 hrs
#Poetry #PoetryByHarolde
#mywriters #napowrimo #glopowrimo
#covid19 #pandemic #lockdown

Lockdown: recalling hardships of the past

My parents lived through the cruel Japanese Occupation (1941 - 1945) and the long years of the Communist Emergency (1948 - 1960).

They can tell us how much harder it was then, than it is now with the extended MCO we're going through.

We don't even have to go back so far.

Those of us who lived through the months of curfew of the May13 riots of 1969 will know the hardship.

I was in Standard Four at that time. My family was on the verge of running out of rice. We reached a point when we had to eke out with our stock of dried noodles boiled in water and mixed with soya sauce.

Eventually, my father managed to call his boss on the phone (which was jammed most of the time), and through some connection in high places, the police allowed his boss to send us a sack of rice by a pickup lorry.

However, the rice was full of weevils and little maggots. It took us a lot of hard work trying to remove them each time we washed the rice before cooking it. Nevertheless it brought us much relief.

A classmate told me that in his neighbourhood, the army ordered all doors and windows to be shut. They had to endure weeks in their hot and stuffy house.

We also know of a lady teacher whose husband was shot and killed by the army on patrol when he went outside the house to plead for milk powder for their hungry baby. I don't know how the wife managed to pull through after that.

The MCO is mild by comparison. Nevertheless, it is causing prolonged hardship to the sick, the poor and the needy.

The Envoy

The Envoy to the Middle-east,
Wrote a story he couldn't resist.
To tell the world of things at home,
He spun a tale in a twisted tome.

With subtle lies in half-truths planted,
A deceiving story was cunningly crafted.
Fear he mongered, hatred he stirred,
By simple-minded audience, he wished he'd be heard.

Aspersions cast, accusations hurled,
A tapestry of lies was gradually unfurled.
He kept writing his story, he wouldn't desist,
He's the Envoy to the Middle-east.

The Envoy.
2020.04.05 1750 hrs

#Poetry #PoetryByHarolde
#napowrimo #glopowrimo

A more restrictive restriction

Sat 2020.03.28 16:09 hrs
Movement Control Order Day 11

The Senior Minister (Security) has just appeared live on TV to make a press statement saying that restrictions under the ongoing MCO will be further tightened with effect from next month.

A more restrictive restriction?

We are already considerably restricted.

Despite getting 97% compliance from the public, the authorities are going to increase restrictions under our Movement Control Order.

Any additional restrictions, just to reign in the 3% non-compliant people, will only increase the hardship faced by many, especially those who are single parents, those with chronic illnesses who often need to get medicines from the clinic, those with loved ones in hospital, those with frail elderly relatives staying across town who need our daily attention, among others.

Already, our food supply chain is suffering from the ongoing restrictions, with huge quantities of fruits and vegetables being dumped because of lack of transport.

If indeed increased restrictions are necessary, the authorities should find ways to make pin point restrictions that target the 3% non-compliant group instead of blanket restrictions that cover all of us.

#pandemic #covid19 #mco