An Open Letter To TMJ....

This posting is an Open Letter to the Crown Prince of the state of Johor (simply because I might get arrested for stalking and trespassing if I suddenly knocked on his door.)

Assalamualaikum Tunku Ismail Idris, Tengku Mahkota Johor.

As you probably already know, my name is Farah Harith. I'm a Perakian by birth, I pledge allegiance to Sultan Azlan Shah, as well as Yang Dipertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'azzam Shah. I have been to Johor a few times and found it to be a pleasant state. I also have a few close friends from Johor and I cherish them dearly.

I reckon that would suffice as the opening in my open letter to you. Before I proceed, allow me to point out that this is not a letter of apology. If anything, it is more of an attempt to make you understand why I wrote what I wrote.

A couple of weeks ago, I choose to highlight the Twitter war you had going on with Caprice. Judging from some of your tweets after my first posting, I understand you read what I had to say. It is probably easy to misunderstand my posting. I have been told that I have a strong command of the English language. And then a few nights ago, I chanced upon your tweets about Neelofa. And here we are.

I just have one thing to ask you, Tunku Ismail. You keep tweeting saying that your haters are always saying s*** but we're afraid to come near. I'm confused by that statement. Particularly because during your war with Caprice, I tweeted you a couple of times, but you never responded. And you kept harping on how we're afraid to come near. What is your definition of 'coming near', may I ask? In this case, I think tweeting you directly from my own account on Twitter is pretty much as near as it can get. Unless you expect me to approach you? Call your handphone? Appear at the field where you practice your sports? Knock on the door of your house? Request for a formal audience with you at your palace? In the words of Spock, I think that's just illogical.

If those who wish to compliment you can do so via your Twitter account and will be met with a reply, how come us 'haters' must 'come near' in order to say something?

That brings me to another point, I do not know you personally, Tunku Ismail. Which means it would be quite difficult for me to hate you. If anything I am indifferent. However, when I decided to highlight your inappropriate tweets, my intention was merely to make you see that no matter how hard you insist on hiding behind the reason of being a normal human being just like everyone else, the fact remains that your station demands a higher code of conduct. Of course you are a normal human being, your blood is red like everyone else's, you will feel pain if someone hits you, cry when you're sad, laugh when you're happy, etc etc. However, being of royal blood, and being a public figure, you are subjected to public scrutiny. Unless you choose to lead a very private life, whatever you do outside will be met with adoration as well as critiques.

You choose to have a Twitter account and you choose to make it public in order for you to interact with your followers. When you open yourself up to the public, you must understand that it is very important for you to watch what you say. And also, you must be prepared to take whatever comes with it. You keep insisting that those who criticize you are stupid and that you don't care about what people say. My dear, unless you're a common man, you can't do that. More often than not, criticisms can make you a better person. It keeps you balanced, and grounded. Of course some would just say mean things simply to spite you, but not all criticisms should be brushed aside and be labeled stupid. Take the time to go through my postings again. There is truth in what I say. All I'm trying to do is to make you see that you are idolized by many and with that comes an enormous weight of responsibility. You have young adults following you, retweeting what you say, hanging on to your every word, believing in everything that you tweet about, wanting to emulate you, praising you, in short, idolizing you. Why don't you inspire them in a more positive manner? What are you hoping to achieve by bashing other people on Twitter?

I noticed that you mentioned in one of your tweets, “Don't judge me unless you know me.” Allow me to point out something, you are a public figure, we the public will only know as much as you want us to know. We do not all have the privilege to befriend you in real life and get to know the real you. Therefore what we have is what you give us. Which means, whatever you give, we shall judge you based on that. If you give us a good impression, then we won't have any grounds to say anything bad about you. But the problem is, you keep contradicting yourself. So how are we supposed to not judge you?

Perhaps to you, it looks like I hate you so much and all I'm doing is picking on your negative points. Trust me, I have enough people in my personal life I hate that I just could not be bothered to hate someone I only know from the media and from his Twitter account. The only reason I decided to blog about you is because I want you to realize that you should start using your Twitter account for good instead of inciting unnecessary ill-feelings amongst your followers and other public figures.

I have no personal allegiance to Caprice or Neelofa. Neither am I defending them because I'm their fan. I'm just frustrated that someone with a position as high as yours would resort to making child-like remarks on a public platform.

It's 2012, Tunku. The world is a much different place than it was 30-40 years ago. We have so much crisis in the world today, so much rage, so many cases of moral decline amongst our youths, poverty, economic problems etc etc. As a concerned citizen, I think that every little good deed that we do can help in making the world a better place. And for someone in your position, why don't you use your fame to inspire those who adore you? Perhaps it won't be much, but if you can motivate and encourage your young followers, you'll be doing a huge favor to humanity as a whole. Your mother is a wonderful example of this. I'm pretty sure she is an inspiration to many. I myself find her a remarkable public figure.

About the police report you launched against the person who created the fake account of you on Twitter, might I suggest you ignore it. The Queen of England has a parody account and I have yet to hear in the news that she is planning to take action against whoever created that account. Unless what is done will prove detrimental to your safety, I suggest you be a bigger person and let it slide. Although I don't agree with the sudden emergence of that Twitter account, sometimes we need to ask ourselves why certain things happen the way they do. Like the saying, you reap what you sow, I believe it can also be applied to this situation. With the way you have been tweeting, it was just a matter of time before people start to make fun of you. You asked for it. By flipping out and getting all upset, and tweeting that your haters are stupid, you are only playing straight into the hands of those who are already clapping at the absurdity of your outbursts. The best course of action is to admit that what you said was out of line and move on. Trust me, you will gain a lot more respect that way. Talking about respect, it cannot be commanded. Not in this day and age. Today, respect is earned.

Even as I'm typing this, I'm already getting the feeling that this would be an effort in futility. If you did not get the point I was trying to make in Not So Royal After All, Antara Pujian dan Kutukan Give Both A Chance and Still Not So Royal After All, chances are you will probably remain on your high-horse with this open letter and dismiss me as being nothing more than a 'stupid hater'.

If you choose to heed my advice, I thank you and wish you well in your future endeavors. And if you choose to have another outburst over this, I would just like to reiterate that I'm not a hater. I'm just balancing things out. Someone who's a strong advocate of common sense. Think of me as a modern-day, internet version of a caped crusader. I may not be able to rid the world of war, hunger or poverty, but this is my bit for humanity. Common sense is not so common these days, if I can do my part in helping to make it common again, that would be my little achievement. With that said, Live Long and Prosper.

Still Not So Royal, After All....

I guess some people never learn. That's what happens when you disregard those who critique you and generally label them as haters. For it was the great Victorian author Samuel Butler who said, “The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.”  

As for me, it's not like I go in search of nonsense, but last night, somehow, it just plopped itself before my eyes and before I knew it, I had more proof that some people just refuse to accept their station and behave accordingly.

If you recall, about two weeks ago, my blog went viral because of a posting I made entitled Not So Royal After All. If you're new to my blog, read it here. But for those of you who know what I'm talking about, let me just say that, the update is simply Still Not So Royal After All.

Last night, I was on Twitter. And I happened to land on you-know-who's twitter page. Lo and behold, something else was brewing as he attempted another one of his 'mesra rakyat' efforts. Let's look on the bright side first. I applaud his initiative to reach out to his followers. They ask him lots of questions, ranging from what is his favourite food, to whether he is a fan of Justin Bieber.

I am not a Bieber fan myself, pretty sure a lot of people aren't either. And the way he answered that question was very diplomatic and good. He doesn't like Bieber and he simply answered that question with a “Not Quite”. However, if only he would have practiced that same method with another question, we all wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't have had the burning urge to write this post and you would probably be reading about how much I can't stand people who double park for no valid reason. But, things took a nasty turn last night and here we are today.

Last night, at approximately 1am, someone tweeted the Crown Prince of Johor (Tengku Mahkota Johor) who shall be referred to as TMJ from this point onwards, asking a rather out-of-place question. But then again, everyone has the right to ask whatever they want. As someone in a higher position, he should have known how to answer difficult questions. Although I do not know why it was even considered a touchy subject but it sure brought out the un-royal side of him.

Here's the question, and the answer given by TMJ:

And from there, the situation just spiralled downwards. Take a look at the tweets below, listed chronologically as they appeared last night.

For those of you who are not familiar with how Twitter works, here's what transpired. Someone asked if TMJ ever thought of meeting t a local actress Neelofa (currently of Azura 2012 fame) someday. TMJ replied “Hell no”. Now my question is why was he able to be diplomatic when someone asked him about Bieber, but failed to exercise the same diplomacy when it came to Neelofa? After that, the same person who asked about Neelofa went on to ask something totally unrelated (or was it?). She wanted to know what is on his wish list. TMJ obliged with an answer, and said “To be with my Ellie now and achieving my goals.” Good answer. However the person who asked did not know who he meant by Ellie. And asked him to explain. He responded by asking her to ask others. (For those of you who don't know, Ellie is the nickname of TMJ's other half, Fazura.) It could have ended there. The questions were already going in a different direction. He could have been the bigger person and kept on answering other tweets from other people asking him about various aspects of his life. But where would the fun have been in that, right? Why not say something provocative and make more people lose respect in him? So he added this, “By the way I hate Neelowhatever girl you mention just now.” Ignore the glaring grammatical mistakes, although if you're anything like me, even that is enough to make you grit your teeth in utter frustration. Back to the point, the girl was already done with the Neelofa thing, she was already moving on to other questions however TMJ, portraying no sense of being a bigger person whatsoever, decided to add that bit. Neelowhatever? Seriously? I'm not a fan of Neelofa, but is it really appropriate to show your disdain for another public figure in such a public platform? No matter how much they hate each other, there are better ways of dealing with things especially when you're in the public eye. Sadly, it did not stop there. Another Twitter user asked TMJ why he hated Neelofa and he replied, “Berangan and hati busuk tak boleh tengok orang senang. Suka menjatuhkan orang. Pretend to be virgin but not. Act all innocent but no. Fake.”

I don't think I have to ulas this issue dengan panjang lebar. I think everyone can see the problem here. The only thing I have to say is that, what gives him the right to announce the state of someone's virginity on a public platform? This is a very big accusation. Forget about being a royalty, sebagai seorang Islam, is he aware of the hukum involved in claiming that another person is not a virgin anymore? The point here is not whether he is right or not in his claim, but the point is what on God's green earth was he hoping to achieve by saying such a thing? Tak suka macam mana sekalipun, perlu ka menulis macam remaja tak habis sekolah? Rasanya budak2 sekolah ja kot yang main campak tuduhan petty macam ni. Some of you might again argue that he's only human. All I can say is bullcrap. Manusia ka alien ka, semua ada code of conduct. Rasanya kita yang bukan keturunan diraja ni pun akan fikir 600 kali sebelum nak type tuduhan sebegitu rupa and post it on Twitter. Apatah lagi seorang anak raja.

The reactions that came after his tweet was what prompted me to write this article. I just can't believe at the amount of approval he was getting for behaving like a spoilt child. Look at the sequence of tweets below.

Someone called Neelofa a jenglot (no idea what this means but I'm guessing it's not good) and he responded with an approval of “bullseye”. Someone said he might get sued, he said “Be My Guest.” etc etc. I find it utterly frustrating that someone who has the power to do so much good, has the power to inspire, instead chooses to behave like a kid. I am particularly disturbed by this one reaction given by one of his many ardent supporters. 

Doesn't this kind of adoration make him realize the power he has over his followers? They idolize him, worship him, love him dearly, and what does he choose to do with it? Inspire them to spread bad information to other people. Regardless of the fact whether Neelofa is still a virgin or not (something which I really honestly don't think anyone cares about), why did he think it appropriate to make such a personal attack on her? If you don't like the person, why can't you say, “Sorry, I'm not a fan. Haven't had the time to watch any of her films/dramas. Maybe one day I will give it a try.” Yang nak kena share your burning hatred with your followers kenapa? Just say tak suka, dah, it ends there.

A few minutes later, my guess is after reading some of the tweets directed at him that slammed his inappropriate behaviour, he posted this string of tweets.

And another thing worth mentioning here is that, he later deleted the “virginity” tweet. If he truly did come to his senses, all I can say is Alhamdulillah. Good for him. Hopefully there'll be no more childish outbursts from him on Twitter. He should take his own advice if he refuses to take the advice from us “haters”. In the last sequence of tweets above, in the midst of all that bad grammar which rendered some of the sentences completely incomprehensible, he did have some good things to say. The only problem is, he's not taking his own advice. My suggestion is, it looks like he really has no handle on Twitter and what is considered appropriate as a public figure with a social-networking account. The right thing to do would be to suspend the account for awhile and forget about reaching out to his followers via social media. Until he learns that “mesra rakyat” does not mean you get to make personal attacks about another public figure just to show that you are a “cool and honest” prince. All it's doing is making a lot of people lose respect in you. In the words of John C. Maxwell, “A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.”

One more candle on the cake....

My birthday wish is to be surrounded by lots and lots and lots of cupcakes.....

A is the first letter of the alphabet....

The SPM result season is upon us again. It is also the season for some mothers to go around bragging about the number of As her son or daughter got. Also the season for society to start comparing, "Anak sedara saya dapat 10A" "Sepupu saya dapat 8 ja." "Cucu saya 9A." And so on and so forth.

When did we become so A-oriented? How did we get here? As for me, I am not so much impressed with the number of As as I am with a person's ability to carry themselves in the real world. It would be great if the As come attached with a decent dose of common sense and the ability to communicate properly.

A renowned TV host pointed out that there are those who walk out of high school with 10 or 11 As yet are unable to form a proper sentence in English. When asked how did he/she get through the composition part of the English paper, the answer was that he/she memorized 150 English essays.

Is that the kind of A we should be proud of? That is the problem with our society. All we care about is the A. We refuse to look beneath it. It doesn't matter how the person got the A, as long as when it's results time, someone gets to brag about it. No doubt most of the students out there have studied hard in order to get their As. But we need to remember that poring over text books and reference books do not necessarily mean that the subject matter managed to sink in. The way our exams are designed, all it takes is some hard memorization and you'll ace it.

Application is not necessary. I've seen college students who can't construct proper sentences in English. Some would say that English is not important. I'm not gonna waste my breath arguing about that because I've already made my points on that matter a while back. Here's the link: http://tuahteja.blogspot.com/2011/11/thin-line.html

Our education system needs a major revamp. I will applaud our system in the sense that it covers a wide range of topics, but touching so many things and mastering nothing is simply pointless. Getting an A should also come with the knowledge an A is supposed to carry. What are we if we're not able to apply what we spent years studying? Reading lists should be widened in our schools. Are kids aware of certain great books that shaped our world? Are we teaching them the impact Hitler's ideology has on the course of the evolution of our society? We teach them dates, the chronology of certain events, names of great leaders, but do we apply the impact of said events to life today? If we did that, perhaps things would be different in Malaysia now. We'd have a lot of thinkers, instead of irrational decision-makers. We'd have citizens who are more aware of how important it is to practice common sense in everyday life, and how that, in return, would move us towards a better society in the future. A society not tied to superficiality. A society who will think before it acts. A society who will learn to look beneath the surface instead of being satisfied with the pretty picture on top. That is what is lacking in the world today. For the most part we seem to be content with what's on the surface. As long as the building looks pretty, who cares if the foundation is shoddy. At least no one will care until the whole building collapses and kills somebody. That is the mentality we need to change. And believe it or not, it all starts with our obsession with As. Let us learn to move past the As, and not overlook those with Bs and Cs. Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has a purpose to fulfill and a potential to realize. Do not write someone off simply because they do not have enough As on their transcripts. With that said, I am not putting down those who got As. Some of you are exceptional students, you get As and you are also able to apply what you studied and make yourselves better, someone with a good head on their shoulders, ready to take on the world and make it a better place. I applaud you if you are one of those students. What I'm trying to say is, there's more to life than collecting As. Take a moment to smell the roses, dance in the rain and jump off the diveboard. Sometimes they can make you realize things that are not in any textbooks. And while you're smelling the roses, dig around in the dirt, for that's where the roots are. Where it all begins. Life is more than just straight As. Much, much more.

Antara Pujian & Kutukan, Give Both A Chance......

It has been slightly more than 24 hours since my last posting on this blog. And what a day it has been. Never in a million years could I have imagined the 'Royal twitterwar' posting would go viral the way it did. I've had this blog for almost 3 years now and never has a posting been sought after the way yesterday's one had been (still is, hopefully). Anyway, I am thankful for the traffic I've received, and for all your kind words. I am not a full-time blogger and I do not make money from this site. I simply blog because there's just too many things going on in my head that I can't just leave it there. Hence, I started this blog. And today I've gained quite a few supporters, strangers telling me they enjoy the way I write and that I speak their mind, and how I should write more. You guys have no idea how much this means to someone who writes for the passion of it. I truly treasure all your compliments and I am deeply humbled by it.

With regards to the whole royal incident, I have no intentions of removing the post. Not unless I have been subpoenaed or summoned by the court to do so. Otherwise, the posting shall remain here for all to see. I shall not react to anonymous threats.

If you look at the whole twitterwar issue, it's actually rather petty. I picked the issue up and decided to share it here simply because I wanted to highlight the bigger picture. Perhaps it wasn't clear in my previous posting. Primarily because the posting detailed what happened and it was getting too long for me to elaborate further. But some of you did see the bigger picture. Some of you noticed what I was trying to highlight.

To those of you who somehow misunderstood my post, please understand that it was never my intention to question our sistem beraja or the house of Johor's royal family or anybody's girlfriend or music taste or anything of that sort. I believe that our sistem beraja is a heritage and is something that we should uphold. However when somebody does something wrong, I have no qualms in pointing it out, whether you're a public figure or you're the son of a fisherman or the daughter of an accountant etc.

I have nothing against the crown prince. Neither do I have anything against the rapper. I highlighted the twitter war that erupted between the two of them simply because the whole thing was too nonsensical to let it just go unnoticed. The twitter war may have been petty but the underlying issue is that people who have influence over others more often than not fail to use the power they have to do good.

Do not say that just because you're not a politician, that means you do not have to be diplomatic. Even a school teacher has to practice diplomacy. You can speak your mind. By all means, please do speak your mind. I know I do. If you backtrack on some of my postings, you will see that I too am a very vocal person. However as much as I can, I refrain from using foul language. Twitter is fast becoming a powerful social medium. Celebrities are taking to Twitter to reach out to their fans, even politicians are doing it too. Nowadays you don't have to organize a physical ceramah in order for you to be heard. Twitter, Facebook, Blogs are taking over that job for you. Therefore when you're a public figure and you have tens of thousands of followers following you on your social networking accounts, you have a responsibility to them. At the risk of sounding cliched, with great power comes great responsibility. Yes you want to portray yourself as someone who is 'mesra rakyat', someone who is vocal, someone who speaks his/her mind, like I said go right ahead. But do it wisely. Just because you want to speak your mind, doesn't mean you should engage yourself in petty arguments over the internet and resort to using foul language. You want to be vocal? Why don't you speak about poverty? Why don't you raise the issue of discrimination, racism? Why don't you engage your twitter followers to discuss about important matters such as teen pregnancy, negligent parents, etc etc.?

Some would argue that celebrities / public figures are human beings too, prone to emotional outbursts and other human reactions. I agree. Even the richest of men, the bluest of bloods are susceptible to anger, rage, sadness etc. But what you do in public is still subjected to a certain code of conduct. Like I said with great power comes great responsibility. Public figures must realize that they do not have the luxury normal people have. They are always subjected to public scrutiny. And I guess that is a fair balance, considering that we the public do not have your kind of fame, wealth and power. If we have to make do with what meagre salary we rake in from our day jobs, then is it wrong for us to expect the best of behaviour from our public figures? You can't expect to live in luxury and power and still behave like a common man.

This brings me to other celebrities in Malaysia as well. Gaduh dengan laki, bising kat twitter, esok tu masuk blog gossip. Gaduh dengan co-star kat set, luah perasaan kat twitter, esok masuk Melodi. Let me give you a suggestion, if you still want to luahkan your perasaan on twitter, might I suggest you open up a private twitter account, add your own friends, and then you can luah la sampai termuntah pun. Soalan saya, sebagai public figure, kenapa perlu luah perasaan kepada peminat? Kenapa perlu gaduh dengan pengguna-pengguna lain di twitter? Sebab nak dapat sokongan dari followers anda? Sebab suka bila dapat sokongan? Suka bila followers hantar twit and say "Takpa kak, saya tetap sokong kak." "Biarlah diaorang nak cakap apa, kakak tetap hebat di mata saya." "I totally support you bashing that feller. You're my hero." Bla bla bla. Mungkin seronok bila dapat comments sebegini. Lepas tu bila orang hantar comment mengutuk, terus cakap "Haters will always be haters." "F*** all the haters." "Kutuk sebab jealous la tu." Macam ni lah, kadang-kadang orang kutuk bukan sebab jealous, sila jangan perasan sangat ya. More often than not, orang kutuk sebab nak menyedarkan awak, that what you're doing is just ridiculous. Tapi masalahnya dengan some of our public figures, bila orang kutuk, dia label as haters. Dia langsung tak cuba nak ambil iktibar dari kutukan tu. Selalunya, dalam kutukan, ada kebenaran. Jangan disregard kutukan sebagai orang jealous dan dengki dengan kedudukan awak.

All in all, what I'm trying to say here is that, when you are a public figure, understand that you have a certain amount of responsibility to those who idolize you. Bagilah contoh yang terbaik. Apa guna kalau kita dijulang kerana membuat perkara yang tak berfaedah? To be applauded for the wrong reasons is not something you should be proud of. Don't always look at your worshippers. Sometimes you need to look at those whom you have labeled as 'haters' in order for you to better yourself. What's the sense in being applauded when you remain ignorant about your faults and flaws? Jangan terlalu arrogant sehingga benda salah dirasakan betul hanya kerana beribu-ribu yang memuji. Dalam lautan pujian, amat mudah untuk kita hanyut. Adakalanya kita harus menoleh dan memandang kepada kutukan untuk menjadi penyelamat dari kita terus hanyut. Kutukan can be your saviour sometimes, itupun kalau kita berhasrat untuk berubah lah.

As for me, walaupun the amount of compliments I've been getting dari semalam is still nowhere near the amount our public figures are getting, itupun sudah cukup untuk membuatkan saya rasa rendah diri. Walaupun jumlah twitter followers saya belum sampai belasan ribu, tak sampai 200 pun, tapi saya dah rasa a sense of responsibility to watch my words and what I say. Sometimes we do not know the kind of influence we have on people. So why not use it for good? You can still be vocal, still speak your mind, but do it wisely. Sound smart while doing it, and people will look up to you even more. If you can have 30,000 followers today, why not improve yourself, who knows esok-esok naik 60,000. A bigger crowd to hear your thoughts, to read your insights, to know what a great man/woman you are.

I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here, but here's a piece of advice, cuba-cubalah lihat di celah-celah kutukan untuk melihat kebenaran. Kebenaran itu boleh digunakan untuk memperbaiki diri. I don't hate TMJ. I don't hate Caprice. I don't hate Joe Flizzow. If I hated you, I would've simply ignored the twitter war you got yourselves into and leave you be. If I hated you, I wouldn't want to highlight matters of proper conduct and direct the comments I made at you. The thing is, I see that all three of you have a certain amount of influence on people in Malaysia. All I would like to see is that you use that influence for good.

It is better to be followed for the substance in your character than for the power you wield. Learn to take the high road (less traffic jam!).

Not So Royal, After All....

Perhaps in some way, this posting is intended as an open letter to the house of johor's royal family. But then again, who am I to invoke action in a revered institution of the Malaysian monarchy. Alas I shall succumb to this nagging feeling inside me that insists I jot down my thoughts on this matter anyway. Even if it doesn't reach the upper echelons of the Johor society, it might give all of us some food for thought on matters pertaining to proper conduct.

Last night, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Johor took to his twitter account yet again in an online feud with a local celebrity. I use the term celebrity loosely here because that is what this other person appears to be. Although prior to last night's debacle, I didn't even know this “celebrity” existed. But for the sake of his alleged celebrity-ship, let's just refer to him as that for the remainder of this posting. HRH the Crown Prince, who from this point onwards shall be referred to as simply TMJ, apparently had some beef with local celebrity, Caprice. I have no idea how the whole thing started, but from what I managed to dig up, based on tweets going back a couple of days, TMJ is of the opinion that Caprice is a Fake. Upon further digging, one twitter user had this to say, “Someone asked if TMJ likes Caprice, TMJ answered no, and Caprice sounded TMJ off, TMJ replied saying Caprice is fake because in one of his songs, Caprice claims to be the Prince of Damansara.” So my guess is this whole thing started simply as a product of one person trolling the other. I did not see evidence of any direct bashing prior to what happened last night. Perhaps TMJ is simply not a fan of Caprice, or maybe in some of his tweets, Caprice said some hurtful things about Johor or the Johor Royal Family. But nothing was mentioned directly. Well, at least nothing until I saw this tweet from TMJ:

The tweet came with a photo that read some people just need a high-five. in the face. with a chair.

Then Caprice had this to say the next day:

And here we have the respond from TMJ that sparked the whole mess last night:

After that, TMJ had this to say:

Some of his followers then asked him about his apparent hatred for Caprice:

From what I can summarize, TMJ's answers are not befitting his title as the Crown Prince of Johor. Here are a few more tweets from him that further proves he needs a refresher course on how to conduct himself as a royalty.

Let's backtrack a little. Who is Caprice? Honestly I don't really care. But apparently, dude is a rapper. According to his YouTube channel, he's a 23 year old artiste and producer, and he has been doing music since high school before taking it seriously in 2008 after setting up his own company/studio/record label. He has been known to make famous the phrase “Damansara Boy” in his rappings. So apparently, recently dude has been proclaiming himself as the Prince of Damansara. Any half-witted fool can see that this boy is just a delusional nuthead who's nothing more than a fame-hungry rapper. So he says he is the Prince of Damansara. Yang prince betul kat Johor tu nak terasa sangat apahal? Biaq pi lah kat budak setengah tiang ni nak mengaku dia Prince of Damansara ka Prince of Sentul ka Prince of Balakong ka sekalipun. Kenapa TMJ perlu sentap?

As TMJ's twitter timeline got heated up last night after he indirectly called Caprice a dog, another well-known rapper, Mr Joe hasbeen Flizzow decided to jump on the bandwagon and stick his finger in the middle of the whole mess. 

And of course, TMJ who is well-known for responding to almost all of the tweets directed to him, replied to Flizzow.

And here is an exchange between TMJ and Flizzow that I think was in complete violation of both their positions as public figures:

So kesimpulannya, kenapa TMJ sebagai seorang yang berstatus kerabat diraja, perlu bersikap seperti seorang kanak-kanak di dalam twitter nya? Kenapa perlu melayan Caprice? Kalau TMJ tak minat dengan Caprice, tak perlu menghentam sebegitu rupa. Sah-sah Caprice tu pun dari awal memang perangai macam tak cukup umur, kenapa TMJ sanggup menyemakkan timeline nya malam tadi dengan isu ini? Hampir 5 jam lebih TMJ sibuk melayan twitter dari peminat-peminat tegarnya yang memuji tindakan beliau menghentam Caprice.

What I could see from all of this is that TMJ has quite a following. And for someone who already has that kind of adulation from the public, the behaviour he is portraying makes one wonder, is the adulation misplaced? I can safely say that whatever respect I had for him completely vanished after what I saw on his twitter last night. The words he used, the tweets he retweeted, most of them were not befitting of his status as a member of the royal household. Here are some of his replies to his 'ardent' followers:

He even retweeted this:

I know the guy did not mean bomb literally, but the implication the word has is just not something I think a royalty should be retweeting. Retweeting in some ways, denotes acknowledgement of approval.

Here's another one he retweeted. Does this mean as a kerabat, he promotes bashing other people?

I guess you pretty much get what I'm trying to say here. I don't have anything against the royal family of Johor. But since TMJ started “reaching out” to his people through twitter, I believe he is doing more harm than good. Especially since most of his followers seem to be in support of his bashings. Perhaps the royal household of Johor should intervene and insist TMJ suspend his twitter account before he says something that may cause more damage. What he should do is take some pointers from the Crown Prince of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah. Now that is one man who embodies the true meaning of royalty. The way he carries himself, the way he speaks, the substance in his speech and how he commands respect wherever he goes. I highly doubt that Raja Nazrin would stoop as low as to entertain a wannabe-rapper on twitter. What puzzles me is the amount of support TMJ has managed to garner on his twitter account despite the fact that he is exhibiting un-royal like behaviour. His choice of words, as well as his choice of retweets are simply appalling. In any case, I hope TMJ will not succumb to anymore emotional outbursts on his twitter account. Sometimes that is the price one has to pay for the station one holds. If TMJ was a nobody like me, then he can bitch and vent and yell and bash all he wants on twitter, but he does not have that luxury. And I do hope that his followers will be a bit more critical instead of menyokong membuta tuli. All you're doing is encouraging him to stay just the way he is without feeling the need to be better. Kenapa entah ramai sangat yang suka "mengangkat" dia on Twitter, bukan main lagi some of the puji-pujian he received, siapa ada hashtag #TeamTMJ lagi. He needs to remember that blind adoration is not something to be proud of. Someone in his position, who has the power to influence so many people, should use the power properly and inspire his followers in a good way instead of behaving like an adolescent. To quote Benjamin Disraeli, Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power.

I'll Stick to Pen & Paper....

The time has come. Again. 'Tis the season to be jolly? Perhaps for those ready to hit the stores and stand in line waiting to purchase the latest craze. No it's not Christmas. Not even the big sale season. It's the craziness that has been propagated by one man, and has taken over the world in a much bigger way than any other businessman could ever imagine.

The Ipad 3 is set to hit the stores this Friday. And according to one news report, some people have taken to camping out in front of Apple stores as early as a couple of days ago. And I can bet you good money that those people already own an Ipad (perhaps even 2).

It's truly amazing what Steve Jobs has managed to achieve during his lifetime. The dream of every salesman, to be able to convince the whole world that you can't live without their product. I for one do not understand this whole Apple craze. Those who already own iPhones, iPads, iPods, etc insist on getting in line to purchase the latest model. How different can it be anyway? How is an iPad3 that much different from the previous iPad2? I'm telling you, only fanatic Apple nuts can list you a million differences, and make up all sorts of reasons why it is vital for them to get their hands on the latest model. And again I am willing to bet good money that the differences are more imaginary than they are real.

And what is up with having to be among the firsts to own the latest nonsense Apple has to offer? What happens if you just wait a couple of weeks and buy it like a normal person, without having to bring a blanket and a pillow to camp out in front of an Apple store? Will the 2-week old model be any different?? Will you get it free if you queue up now?? Will the world end if you don't buy it today??

It's fine if you want to use Apple products. What makes it insane is when you insist on being among the first to have it. Even crazier when you already own the previous model and it's still working just fine.

So what is it about Apple? The only thing I can see is that Jobs has hit the marketing jackpot. Convincing people that his product is a necessity. However he has managed to go one step further. He has managed to convince people to keep upgrading. Majority of those who flock to the stores for the latest Apple models are those who already own the previous models. And this is something I will never be able to comprehend.

With that said, happy camping Apple nuts. Know that while you're getting in line, prepared to stand for hours before the store opens, all you're doing is compromising your integrity as human beings, you're letting a mere product rule your life. Think about it. What happens if you just wait for a few more weeks? By waiting, at least you'll still retain some self-respect.

As for me, unless and until the iPad can be linked up to my car and take over the driving, you definitely won't see me lining up to purchase it. Not even if it comes with a super hunky David Hasselhoff. I've always been partial to KITT anyway.

iDontCare about iPad because iPen and iPaper is much better, no need to spend iThousandsOfBucks, which means iPocket will not suffer.

Google Before You Speak....

As human beings I reckon we all have this inherent knack to ask obvious questions. Perhaps I'm somewhat less of a human being because this pisses me off to no end. Speaking about urban human beings, most of us are very well connected these days. And yet we choose to use the net for nonsensical things, but when it comes to putting the whole connectivity thing to good use, we just mentally shut down and opt for the easy way out instead. By asking all sorts of obvious questions. Questions that can be answered if we could just connect our brains to our clicking and typing fingers.

I think this stems from our upbringing of seeing people ask silly questions. Remember all those times when we would have neighbors come over for a chit-chat with our moms? Let me paint a clearer picture for you. You're out playing in the yard, and your mother is there with you, watering the plants. Along comes a neighbor, and what does the neighbor say? "Assalamualaikum Kak Kiah, buat apa tu?" If the neighbor is blind, I concur. But more often than not, they are in no way handicapped. Perhaps just in the head. So many times when I get asked these obvious questions, sarcasm just begs to escape from my mouth. "Tak lah, tengah tangkap ikan ni. Nak buat gulai malam karang." The worse is when there's a death and everyone is busy at home handling the kenduri, along comes a passerby and says "Ada orang meninggal ka?" "Takdalah kak, kenduri kahwin ni, nak tengok pengantin? Masuklah, tu tengah terbujur kat ruang tamu tu! Pergilah merenjis."

Why can't we just do away with this silly culture of asking the obvious? This act has manifested itself into aiding us in becoming lazy human beings. Now, we look out the windows of our high-rise offices, dwell in our cozy little apartments, click away to read about the latest gossips in celebland, play farmville incessantly on facebook, twit away like there's no tomorrow, and somehow, still resort to asking obvious questions. Again, allow me to paint a clearer picture.

Tipah's Facebook Status Update:
"Not working today. Currently at MidValley, about to watch a movie with my husband."
And along comes Tipah's friend, eager to comment on that update. Here's what she says: "Hi Tipah, tengok wayang ka?"

Whenever I see things like that on Twitter or Facebook I feel like yanking my hair out by its roots. And of course I feel like butting in on Tipah's status and say something like "Bukan tengok wayang, dia tengah nak merompak panggung wayang tu." But of course, then I'd get labelled as Tipah's very rude friend. At this point, I really don't care, I'd rather be rude than dumb. Why do we feel the need to say something when we can't find something valid to say? Perhaps a better question for Tipah's friend to ask (kalau nak sangat comment kan) would be, "Tengok cerita apa?" Wouldn't that be better? Less stress for me anyway when I read it.

But forget about me, do it for yourselves. Stop asking stupid questions. What brought this on is not Tipah's status update. Although I have been grappling with the urge to be rude for a long time because I encounter so many people like Tipah's friends on Facebook, Twitter and everywhere else on the internet. What brought this on is the current water disruption plaguing the folks of the Klang Valley. The water company has been distributing its list of affected areas for a week now. All it takes is a simple google search and voila, you'll get a comprehensive list of which areas will be without water for 2 days. On the water company's Facebook page, they have already pasted a Note citing the list of affected areas. And still we have Facebook users, not 1 or 2 mind you, but hundreds, who visit the water company's Facebook wall and type things like "Saya duduk di Klang, kawasan saya terlibat tak?" or "Area Bandar Sri Damansara ada air tak?" If you were smart enough to log into Facebook, why can't you go a step further and click on the link they've given and read the damn list yourselves? Instead of resorting to the lazy way out and wait for someone to answer your question for you! I really pity the webmaster who has to answer each and every one of your lazy-assed inquiries. Why can't you people just do some legwork and find out the answers yourselves?

This thing has been rampant for a long time. I don't know about other countries, but for us in Malaysia, it has become common place. "Tengah makan ka?" when it is so obvious that the person is eating. "Taklah, tengah bagi mandi anak." If you're so desperate for a conversation opener, why can't you let your brains work a bit extra hard and come up with something less obvious. Try it, won't kill you, I swear.

Might I Suggest You Get A Cat Instead!

This posting is not intended to be intentionally hurtful or petty. Let this particular posting be a reminder to all of us. I may not be a parent yet but certain things are as clear to me as it is clear to everyone with a sound mind that fire is hot and ice is cold. Some things are just a matter of plain common sense. You don't have to be a genius to know that you shouldn't touch a boiling kettle. You also don't have to be a parent to know that you shouldn't allow a child to go anywhere unattended. Especially if the child is only 5 years old! Even if a 5 year old child has been tested a genius, the fact remains that 5 year olds are still practically babies!!!! No matter how smart you may want to think your child is!

This posting comes as our nation has just been rocked by a horrifying tragedy. The charred remains of a 5 year old girl, Nurul Nadhirah, was found recently in Johor after her parents reported her missing on the 1st of March. The parents had sent the child out to buy groceries and she hasn't been seen since. Police have identified that the remains found recently are of the little girl's. Tragedy happens, yes. Just like the old Malay adage, Malang Tidak Berbau. However, in some cases, tragedy could have been avoided. It is not my intention to pour salt into an open wound, but I'm enraged. And I want this posting to serve as a reminder to us all that things like this could have been avoided. Unless the parents were attacked and the child snatched, or the parents were put under a spell (pukau) and was unaware that their child was taken from them, or the parents are disabled and the child has to run errands for the parents, or any other instances that cannot be linked to negligent, then this whole thing could have been avoided.

I am not heartless, indeed like the rest of the country I am saddened about the fate received by the poor child. But this brings forth something that I have always been saying, parents nowadays must realize that we are no longer living in the 60s or 70s. If this was 30 years ago, it would have been fine to let the child go out alone and unsupervised, but this is a different time and age altogether. I honestly can't help but feel angry towards the parents who let their 5 year old go out to the grocery shop alone! She's 5 for crying out loud, not 15! Yes I'm not yet a parent, but to those of you who are, please be more cautious! Please, for the love of God, do not let your little ones go anywhere outside unattended!!!! Yes the person who physically did the child harm is as guilty as sin and should burn in hell, but at the end of the day, if as the parent you were negligent, there's no one to blame but yourself.

It isn't like this is an isolated case. How many cases of missing children have we heard about in the past 5 years alone?? Too many! How many times have we watched the news and hear stories about kids going missing because the parents weren't paying attention? Missing at the mall, missing while they go out to the nearby shop, missing while playing at the playground, missing while playing outside the house, missing while on their way to a friend's house, etc etc. It's no longer shocking to read about these things. And unless Nurul Nadhirah's parents have been living under a rock all this while, like the rest of us, they would have known about all these other cases too. If the kid goes missing after all precautions have been taken, then fine. But still we continue to hear cases where tragedy could have been avoided. I hope that the Department of Children and Families will play a bigger role in these kinds of cases. I say in cases where the parents were negligent, they should be charged as well. Unless the parents are severely disabled, and that was the reason why the child was sent to the grocery store then fine. But if it could have been avoided, then I say drag them to court because they are as much liable for her death as the person who physically did harm to the child is.

I honestly hope an investigation will be carried out to determine if the parents were negligent. While everyone is busy being angry at the person who harmed the girl, I am more furious at the parents. I hope that if they are found to be negligent, then they too deserve a harsh punishment. Let that be a reminder to other parents out there. Remember that a child is a gift from Allah SWT. So many people want kids but can't have any, and those of you who have been blessed enough to have kids, more often than not, you take your kids for granted. It isn't a big deal I suppose allowing your child to go off unattended, until something like this happens! Then you wail and cry and what good would that do then??

I can't stress this enough, unless all precautions had been taken, then the only person liable for whatever happens to your child, is you yourself. If you have kids, and you're reading this, please, please, do not let them go anywhere unattended. This is 2012, not 1965!!!! It's not safe to let kids roam about on their own, especially not 5 year olds. If you don't think you can handle the responsibility of caring for another human life, then might I suggest settling for a damn cat!