Keeping Vigil into 2005

I am stepping into 2005 full of hope for better times ahead, and offerings of my deepest condolences and prayers to the families and persons affected by the tsunami and the earthquake in Malaysia and around the world.


Light a candle 



This is one of the quietest New Year’s eves in my entire life. No festivities in my new year celebration - no new year countdown party and no revelry in the streets - just a quiet celebration at home with my family, and later, reflecting and keeping vigil. Well, I taught Nurul, my god-daughter, to play scrabble and anagram games, if you can call it a celebration. Nurul, who is also The Ex-Hubby's niece, stayed overnight at my place.

We watched fireworks at midnight from my balcony - much to our surprise. I thought the Malaysian Government has cancelled all kinds of festivities and scaling down of entertainment activities at night due to the Asian Earthquake Tsunami Disaster as a mark of respect for the victims of the tragedy. But, poof! there are fireworks shooting out between the two towers of Gandor, I mean, KLCC.

I don't mean to be a prude and a killjoy, but I'm disappointed to learn that a lot of people are insensitive and ignorant to other people's sufferings. I learned there was a huge traffic jam in town up until 3:00 a.m. as the masses crowded the grounds of KLCC to celebrate the new year. I just don't get it - in Malay language, we call these ignorant people "tak paham bahasa".

To date, more than 125,000 people, among them 66 Malaysians, have been killed in one of the deadliest natural disasters in recent memory and rendered five million others homeless and without essential supplies around the Indian Ocean region.