Mindless, Hazy, Days, Tun and Pimms
Haze ? What Haze ?
These long summer days are now somewhat petering out, with the more familiar rainfall making itself felt on these green, verdant shores. It's days like this last weekend, that tends to bring out the all too heavy presence of boredom into my thoughts. How nice and oppressive, a welcome change from occassionally wincing at some of Belle de Jour's eloquent entries. It's also nice to know that she engages on a side of human nature we seldom see on the surface and is quite willing to tell tales about trickling golden showers. Lovingly done and for a small fee, I somehow felt intrigued, but I suppose that is her unique talent, enticing and intellectually beguiling for most.
As for kith and kin back home, the haze appears to have arrived, like an unwelcome ghost. Friends and relatives have fled to their kampung villas deep in the lush tropical forests of Serian and Bukit Begunan, escaping the smoky pallour. A welcome respite I suppose, it doesn't take much to create a mini displacement in Kuching, just a small environmental hazard would do. I don't exactly know why the persistent obsession with blaming the Indos, when it is fact that the haze is a mark of hubris for those who pushed for further deforestation. A rather straightforward MAS pilot once told in an off conversation, further instructions relayed to pilots regarding the haze. It appears radio reports signalling the sight of billowing smoke, was unwanted by top airport management and so MAS pilots were asked to narrate tales of little red riding hood back to Control towers whenever these unusual occurrences transpired. And I say unusual, because the various government departments believe that the haze originates in Indonesia and this must remain so. I am also told that watching paint dry is policy for these departments.
Sometimes I feel to be patriotic, you have to be stoic with criticism. Fires are common in much of South East Asia, and the resulting burning also helps in moving more wildlife and rare botanical species to the endangered lists, with the aim of pushing both to the extinct list. To remedy the current situation, and for more Sandiwara, Tun, refreshed from a 2 year sojourn, has decided to call all hands to the deck in decimating the Inche. I marked the salvos with some gusto, it began with Mahaleel's demotion, progressed to Lee Kuan Yew's sand, rose with much egg on Inche's face about UMNO, and culminated by calling the boy Khairy, a conniving coward and usurper to the King's throne. I had the odds in Ladbroke's going off the margins for awhile, but I refused to write seriously about the current skirmishes. It appears to be just a prelude to a bigger battle looming visibly in the Horizon. Khairy will off course be forgiven, and his position in UMNO secured and advanced. The degree of publicity has made him a giant in the minds of many, because before the debacle, it was a case of "Khairy who ?" I rest my point.
The mindlessness off course continues. News from Bogota has confirmed what I suspected all along. The Mission there reports on the danger of certain areas, even if the degree of danger was minimal. Something to do on days without Pimms.
posted by Apai Salleh at 4:57 PM
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