More on KL's street children

Read my previous post on the center here.

hugmenot

Its ok for girls to walk together, hand-in-hand, as an expression of their friendship. They can hug, snuggle up to each other, and peck each other’s cheek affectionately to their hearts’ extent. But when guys do it, suddenly someone cries out “welcome to the new age!”

Strangely though, the same taboo ceases to exist in mosques.

Suddenly, every man wants to hug his fellow man, sweaty beards lapping against your cheeks, one side after another. And handshakes seem to last forever as they look deep into your eyes with an alarming smile etched across their face.

This instant intimacy is not for everyone. It certainly is not for me, I like to know the other person well before I even begin to consider hugging him. And a learned friend says, upon detecting my unhuggledness, the sunnah is just to shake hands and give salam. But he went on and hugged me anyway. Habits die hard.

Anyway, even in hugging, there is diversity. Most of us from the Malaysian Peninsular (among the men) would recognize the almost but not quite pecks on the cheek, right,left, then right again; with the tip of the nose oh-so-gently grazing the cheek of the hugee, with many accompanying pats on the back. Some pat rhythmically with each pecking movement.

Another type is when the two participants lumber towards each other, each taking the alternate side of course, like two logs swaying, with hands placed firmly on the arms. This too is done in the right,left, right pattern.

Then there is also the ‘no doubt about it’ hug, made in a similar fashion with the first type of hug mentioned, with only one discernable difference. These hugs involve noses pressed firmly into the recipient’s cheeks, and in some cases might involve actual kissing with lips (on the cheeks ya!). Favored by makcik types and swarthy sheiks.

And don’t forget the ‘European’! Again, very,very similar to the first kind, except now no actual skin meets, and hands are placed at the other’s shoulders instead of the back. In lieu of pecks, audible air-kisses are given, with the distinctive ‘mwah mwah’ sound. Again, right left right. Usually employed by richer (and considerably sparklier) makcik types and males who like bright coloured clothing.

Those are the few types I know, I’m sure there are plenty more out there, which I don’t intend on discovering.

le spin

Rumour has it that there are cyber mercenaries out there writing and trolling about the blogosphere, specifically those which were probably written 'by monkeys', as one politician so elegantly puts it. Of course, rumour probably has a lot of things, but as they say, no tree shakes with no wind, bruver.

I've always believed that bloggers believed their own hype. That your one out of the trillions of posts being churned out each day, will change the world. It's disturbing enough to read self-important tracts and manifestos of destruction from obscure bloggers. But it gets downright scary when governments start to believe every single line.

In this age of the "publish" button, it's so easy to forget that news, to be believed, must be verified. Chain emails and sms are forwarded with no regard for the authenticity of its contents, save for the simple fact that so-and-so thought it was important enough to broadcast to everyone in the address books. Biased and one-sided 'citizen journalism' gain popularity, reflecting the general mistrust of mainstream corporate-owned media. I fear a generation ignorant of quality reporting and journalism might not be that far of, with this continuous stream of sensational gossip and spectacular rumors, however well-intentioned.

Reckless as that may be, one cannot help but feel that putting hired guns in the picture borders on overkill. Putting aside the question of public funds for simplicity's sake, is there a real need for a government to be investing all this effort in fruitlessly stemming something a larger section of the community already has no access to? Is this so much of a national priority that news outlets devote so much ink to it? Why does the government care so much about blogs that it has to let everyone know that it is considering, and thinking, and planning to throw the book against these recalcitrant bloggers?

I dunno about you, but I'm starting to see things go round and round.

Poning Kopalo Den

Koring kontang. Tak ada idealah...

mari berseloka bersama Gelanggang Keris Silau:

19 saksi dipanggil Pendakwaraya
Tapi nampak macam memihak peguambela
Tidak ada bukti yang kukuh dan nyata
“No chain of evidence” lawyer kata
Tidak ada bahan bukti bunuh Altantuya
Semacam kes pembunuhan Norita
Bahan letupan C4 tak boleh jumpa
Kalaulah C4 yang mereka guna
Untuk membunuh si Altantuya
Murder weapon tak ada dan tak jumpa
Tertuduh pun tak pandai bom saksi kata
Rekod masuk peluru pun juga tak ada
Tertuduh buat pengakuan berwasangka
Dengan pegawai yang 7 pangkat tinggi darinya
Budak law di “u” pun tahu tak leh terima
Persaksian under duress secara terpaksa

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