Challenges Too

It was quite prescient of me using the title Challenges in my previous post. Yesterday I met my senior in school that have his own challenges. A few years ago he met with a serious car accident that disabled him. He now uses a wheelchair to move around. He was my enigmatic Cadet Leader back when we were in St John Ambulance Malaysia. He trained and guided me well. He have not lost any of his magnetism even though he can no longer walk.

He remains passionate of his new venture the OKU Smart Farm in Semenyih. It's located opposite the Volkswagen Showroom in Semenyih. I used that as a landmark and it got me there.

Using a closed green house system, he and his friends have created an integrated urban farming concept. I have always been excited about urban farming and I had the opportunity to visit one.

That was how I spent my Sunday yesterday.

I want to see how I can play a bigger role in this and expand this concept to provide healthier alternatives for Malaysians. The leaves I had yesterday tasted amazing.

Dr Billy Tang

I am driven by the drive and passion he has and I am further inspired and encouraged by the commitment and support given by his classmates, my schoolmates and seniors from Methodist Boys' School Kuala Lumpur, a truly great school.

When I feel I am facing challenges, others are facing their own challenge.And even more so. Just received news that the wife of another friend is now in ICU. She had a stroke.

Challenges

Yesterday was a challenging day. My mother went for CT Scan to scan her brain for potential swelling. We have made a decision that whatever is the outcome of the scan we will not do anything if it requires surgery. At her age and doing brain surgery is very very risky. However, I pray that we have made the right decision because she is still suffering from vertigo and spells of intense headache apart from her many other ailments.

While she was undergoing the scan I was chairing a meeting to elicit information to initiate a project in Mersing. Instead a rear orifice (RO) as always decide to use that platform to look for weaknesses and mistakes instead of helping. My patience with this RO is wearing thin and we have crossed swords before. It is time to move on but where to.

Early last year I was thinking of quitting without anything to fall back on. Just can't stand all the horse manure that was going on. Only pleading by my dear friends to be patient changed my mind. No one could make me change my mind at that time. I was seriously thinking of moving on and working on something else. But that something else is not clear. My attempts online so far is not bearing fruit. Probably because I am doing it the wrong way.

Trying it again with Clarity https://clarity.fm/ because I really want to share my knowledge and experiences, all those years of being knocked down and about. I would like people to know this so that they can do even better than I did.

A few weeks ago I saw a post on Facebook about a friend whose wife, who is another friend was going through MRI. Today my wife told me that the wife is going for brain surgery tomorrow to remove a tumour. The tumour is located where it controls sight and speech. Very critical. Praying that all will be well. 

The organisation I am with now is facing it's own challenges, so there are challenges abound everywhere.

In December last year we were in Melbourne. Lovely place. Original intention was to visit the cattle farm there to learn cattle farming as we wanted to begin our own here. However, the person we dealt with appeared to be shifty and we were almost victims of fraud. We were told that there were many scams in Australia especially involving fellow Malaysians duping other Malaysians. I will tell the Melbourne story in another posting.

Games.....

The fractious game of race relations is not a game and should not be played yet time and again with multiple examples anywhere and everywhere in the world politicians continue to play with this with undesirable results If we look closely at any conflicts in the past and present issues of one race always rears its ugly head.

Simplistically, if we delve into Syria's conflict, beside the issues related to Shia and Sunni, an issue that is seldom mentioned in the news are the different Arabic race or sect that follows one or the other. It is all about race.

Even in the UK, the previous Northern Ireland conflict, apart from being about Catholics against Protestants it is again about race. Mainly about the Celts against the Anglo-Saxons, an altercation that have been carrying on for thousand years. Of course I am over simplifying things but through the ages it have been shown that time and again leaders and politicians will play the race card especially when they perceive they are in a fix, boost up their popularity and all hell breaks lose.

It is my fervent believe that "The Wall" is just another race issue disguised as an immigration problem. Being paraded because Mr. President is or may be having a problem.

I love history and I love learning from history and through the years there are so much to know and learn. I love Civilisation VI. I am not good at it but I love it all the same and it marries my 2 loves. Strategic Games and History, I am thinking of how to create an income out of it but....

Anyway, in one of the persona I chose, I chose Gitarja. A Queen. No, I am not over reaching my feminine side and no I am not metrosexual. I don't dress like one and I have a paunch that I am trying to get rid. But I digress.

Before playing Civilization VI I have not heard of Gitarja. So relying on the trusty Google and Wikipedia this is what I found.

Copy and paste from Wikipedia.

Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi, known in her regnal name Tribhuwannottunggadewi Jayawishnuwardhani, also known as Dyah Gitarja, was a Javanese queen regnant and the third Majapahit monarch, reigning from 1328 to 1350. She also bears the title Bhre Kahuripan (Duchess of Kahuripan). With the help of her prime minister Gajah Mada, she pursued a massive expansion of the empire. Tradition mentioned her as a woman of extraordinary valour, wisdom and intelligence.\

 Okay I have heard of Gajah Mada, an illustrious Prime MInister. But I've not heard of Gitarja. I then read on.

Dyah Gitarja was the daughter of Raden Wijaya, the first king of Majapahit, and his consort Dyah Gayatri Rajapatni. Gitarja was a member of the Rajasa dynasty, rulers of Majapahit and its predecessor Singhasari Kingdom. From her mother's side, she was also a granddaughter of Kertanegara of Singhasari.She was the eldest of Wijaya's offspring, her younger sister was Rajadewi, both are the daughters of Queen Rajapatni, while her half-brother was Jayanegara, the son of Queen Indreswari. According to Nagarakretagama canto 48 stanza 1, her half-brother Jayanegara succeeded to the throne upon the death of her father in 1309, while she and her sister gained the title of Bhre Kahuripan (Duchess of Kahuripan) and Bhre Daha (Duchess of Daha) respectively.According to the Pararaton, King Jayanegara desired his half-sisters to be his consort. The practice of half siblings marriage is abhorred in Javanese tradition, subsequently the council of royal elders led by Queen mother Gayatri speak strongly against king's wishes. It was not clear the motivation of Jayanegara's wish — it might be his way to ensure his throne legitimacy by preventing rivals from his half sisters' suitors.Nevertheless, Jayanegara went further to prevent his half-sisters courtship by confining Gitarja and Rajadewi in kaputren (ladies quarter) of the palace, locking them in a well-guarded inner compound and denied the two princesses' contact and access to the court and public affairs. This confinement went on for years until both princesses grew mature and passed their suitable age for marriage in Javanese tradition. This has alarmed their mother, Queen mother Gayatri that desperately tried to free her daughters from captivity.I have also heard of KIng Jayanegara and reading on.
Princess Gitarja ascended to throne under her new regnal name Tribhuwannottunggadewi Jayawishnuwardhani, which means "The exalted goddess of three worlds which the glory of Vishnu radiates". Tribhuwana governed with the help of her spouse, Kritavardhana.^[1]:234 She became the mother and predecessor to Hayam Wuruk, the fourth monarch of the Majapahit empire.

 I know the father, the brother and the son but not her. Why is that? Is it my own prejudices or is it how history is written? Favouring the male.And this got me thinking, how many auspicious women were not captured or properly written in history because of our own prejudices. The people behind the throne or leadership or sometimes maybe the throne themselves.

Both sides of my family played important and key parts in history. Some of them are written in history while others played their own roles in various events. Most of the stories told are of the male exploits. BUt what of the female? The ladies? I am sure they played their own pivotal roles because even if the man may the lord or the king, the women or the mother is surely the head of the household.

Thank you Sid Meier's Civilization VI, you have surely educated as well as entertained me. It's the most difficult game I have ever played though and I have barely won in my many many many attempts.

Gitarja the Majapahit Queen in Civilization VI

Why did I bring up Civilization VI here? This game actually is a good teaching aide on race relations. And race relations have always been a problem throughout history. Humans of different race, colour, creed, class, stature, education, religion, language, culture just can't seem to get along.

But where did that come from? Where did we learn it from? We were taught from small? From young? Were we conditioned? I don't know about others but my background is very diverse. I went through various types of school exposed to multi race, culture and religion having nuns and priests as my teachers once. Having different races as my friends and some my best friends. We didn't have a problem then. There were no racial slurs or racism. There were no ill treatment because of our race or religion. So how did it begin?

Yes I went through college for 3 years where the majority was a single race but still when I went home I will still keep in touch with my old friends. Yes, we do drift apart now and again but on the whole we remain in touch. Again our race, language, culture or religion was not a problem.

So why is it a problem now? Is it a perceived problem or is it real? Have we been conditioned? Programmed? Or is it a real concern.

How do we make it right again? Or can we make it right? Go back to what it was before. Many says this, but what was it before? Before there were no prejudices? There were no racism? It's all the politicians fault? Or is it us that have this never before laid bare prejudice that is now naked for all to see?

And again I promise to write more so much more as I need to stop now. This is my musings in the beginning of 2019. I will write more or at least I hope I will.