Hectic Period

It has been a very hectic month for us. We have been to the east coast twice and in between there were several weddings, family open houses and thanksgivings to attend and loads of errands to run while all the time having little Najla in tow. It was tiring and taxing for us but it was fun all the same. All the activities took us all over the Klang Valley and at some point we had to criss cross from one end to the other to attend the functions. The traffic conditions does not help and we had to waste away precious time in slow or jammed up traffic.

One weekend some fortnight ago we had to endure traffic jams all over the Klang Valley when the traffic police decided to exercise road-blocks at all entry points to KL in an attempt to restraint a group of dissatisfied people, of the opposition actually, from participating in an organized street protest that was considered illegal by the authorities. The group had applied for a police permit to gather in a public place but was rejected by the police and in a show of protest the group decided to go ahead with their plan, with or without permit. That was why it was considered illegal. Of course when the police decided to prevent the gathering the scene became ugly. What else can happen when tempers flared? In the end the innocent public, who do not want to have anything to do with the gathering, have to suffer in some way or other, enduring the massive jams for days prior to the event.

The above traffic scenario was repeated this weekend when another group of people decided to go ahead with their plan to do street demonstrations at the British Embassy, purportedly to hand over a petition to the Queen of England on some issues that had been left in the lurch by the British Government for decades. This group had filed a US$4 trillion suit on the British Government on this issue. For that they chose to have a gathering on Sunday and decided to ignore the warnings of the police when their request for a permit to gather was rejected. True enough, the action of the police blocking traffic entering the city for days prior to the day of the event, caused massive traffic jams all over the Klang Valley. Again we had to endure this nuisance. I have no sympathy for these people at all. They are professionals but they behave like hooligans. I am sure there are better ways for them to forward their dissatisfaction, whatever they are, rather than being a nuisance to the rest of the population.

I read, in between the news and political happenings in the country, that a general election is imminent. Perhaps this was why the various groups decided to stage the demonstrations and street protests. But to me this is immature behavior. It can only disrupt peoples’ routine and create further discontentment and dissatisfaction, inviting hatred and dissent to all sides irrespective.

We are now in Sita’s house in Kerteh, having postponed our return to PJ, originally scheduled for Friday evening. We have to pass through KL to return to PJ. Tessa sent us a message that the twin towers will be closed over the weekend and to avoid going to KL. We had a free weekend without any commitment and hence decided to stay on and only return to PJ on Monday. Hopefully all the above happenings will be over by then. We have some commitments and doctors’ appointment to keep next week and have to return to PJ before then. We will be taking Najla along with us ……….. our joy…… keeping us on our toes ……

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya