China Bashings and I Got Bashed Too !

My wife, Kay,  has been a silent follower  of the Hong Kong free democracy movement and its many protests when these were first headlined internationally in early 2019. When these protests turned disruptive, she became quite a vocal supporter. I was pleasantly surprised by her new found interests in politics. I have known her to be apolitical since we got married in the mid-70's.

Save for the GE in 2018 and especially its outcome, even Malaysian politics never meant much to her let alone politics in faraway Hong Kong S.A.R. Hence, me and my euphoric surprise -  geopolitics too! Oh, I digressed.

Did my wife then  had an audience? Yes, my daughter and I.

When the protests up-ticked into violent confrontations between the protesters and the Hong Kong Police, my wife became agitatedly more vocal. She blamed the chaos as the direct consequence of the  incompetence of the CEO of the HK SAR at first and laterly the Beijing government. Mind you, she was real mad and had all the sympathies for the HK youthful protesters.

Trying to pacify her for the self-inflicted anger, I telephoned my graduate school's classmate Mike and asked for his personal views about the political unrests ruling in HK then. Mike nonchalantly said, "It is all about control." When pressed if he and family members were OK, he added, "Um... yes, it is still normal  for us here." My wife paid no heed to this ground zero HK citizen's defacto sitrep (situation report).

Mike was born and bred in HK and he retired as the MD of a midsized HK bank. Mike was also credited to be the first HK-banker that started PRC's first private commercial bank in Shanghai in the late-80's/early-90's. Mike told me then it was at the behest of China's then finance head honcho, Mr. Zhu Rongji.

When the deadly coronavirus or Wuhan Virus (later referred to as 'the Covib-19 virus" by the W.H.O.) first broke into the international news media, my wife became even more judgemental about the 'reported' goings-on in the world in general and in the People's Republic of China in particular.

Every morning she would switched on our television set (a Samsung smart-tv) and follow the latest "news" streaming out from Youtube's as well as specific websites she selected. These included main stream media organisations' as well as non-bona fide so-called news 'stations'. Save for a few HK-based Cantonese "stations" and almost without exception, all other 'stations' reported in English.

Each time she bounced off her remarks of displeasure about the Chinese Communist Party of the PRC, I reminded her that some would be no more than voices of China-bashing rhetoric. I added that these were likely drummed up by the Western Media in consonant with their political leaders'  anti-Communist stances.

OMG...! You know what?

I got bashed real good by my wife!

Why? Why and why my siding with things of and about the  PRC?

Read my next postings - if you want to. Ciao!

Trying Times !

It has been some nine years and eight months since I last posted some of my two-cents' worth of thoughts.

Fast forward to the present - where the deadly covid-19 has put the entire globe in harm's way!

For almost 30 days now my family and I have hunkered down in our 2,000 sq,ft. condominium in Kuala Lumpur. We have complied with our government's call to stay in at home when the Movement Control Order (MCO) was first invoked and took effect from the 18th. March, 2020. Now the MCO has been extended and, God willing, is scheduled to end on 28th. instant.

It was very unreal during the first four or five days of the MCO : No outdoor exercises nor even a casual drive out to the city's markets to shop for foods. Having my usual rounds at my preferred pub were and still remain impossible. Pubs, being in the non-essential service sector stayed closed. Driving out would likely be challenged by policemen and soldiers manning many officially sanctioned roadblocks. With no tenable excuses nor valid reasons for flouting the MCO's rules, one would likely be put into a slammer and fined RM1,000. For me, no way, Jose!

Prior to the MCO, my wife had the foresight to and did stock up her four refrigerators with fruits, vegetables, meats, baking flours and other canned foods. For the first week or so, foods were  plentiful at home. Before they ran out, our daughter, Mel, has the presence of mind and ordered online for home deliveries various foods, fruits and even my heart's medicines. She is still doing this every four or five days..

Mel now works from home by ways of teleconferencing and phone calls. She carries a double burden, really. How so? Well, she has a 7-years old daughter (our granddaughter) who now has the luxury of not having to go to school.

"Hil! You stop watching the Ipad now and do your homework," sternly ordered Mel. This outburst or similar exhortations were oft-repeated daily. The resultant whining of reluctance (perhaps defiance actually) from the kiddo were, I must admit, quite unnerving, if not irritating. That's life under the MCO I guess. No thanks to the pandemic.

Of course, the grand kiddo was also kept busy with online tuition and even online gymnastic classes. These are ongoing and at least accorded the kiddo some semblance of normalcy sans school. Besides, she also facetime-chatted every other day with little Eli, our neighbor's 6 years old girl . They were regular playmates before the MCO days. It is a mere 10 ft. across that separated ours and Eli's condo units.

As for me, the daily routines now follow this sequence : Morning in-room exercises, then breakfast mainly of cereals; next with my Ipad and Iphone, catching up with the latest local and international news and checking inward email as well as chats dished out by my many chatgroups; dithering with my old PC and my equally old Dell laptop; occasional pranking with the grand kiddo, and having my late afternoon walk inside the condo unit. The daily walk round lasts for 30 minutes and, yes, I smartwatch-recorded an average of about 2,700 steps - equivalent of  some 2.0 km each time .   Around midnight I would watch an actions or sci-fic movie and have a can of beer before I retire.

Of course, lunches and dinners too - all cooked by my wife. She was, still is and will continue to be the person who tired out most by the end of each day. She forced herself to and regimentedly cook every meal instead of ordering foods from vendors without. She has less than full confidence over the handlings of cooked foods by deliverymen. Understandable.

Yes, my wife ... She is the reason that I have decided to blog-write again. More in my next posting... See ya. Cheers!