At the bottom of the Petronas Twin Towers, looking up…

Tourist: Err… it ain’t that tall…

Apparently, power went out between 03:00 to 04:00 today at my place. The whole neighborhood fell into darkness.

And it was a warm night. Oh, damn.

Some people in Kuala Lumpur have big, big ego. Far too big to match their pockets more often than not.

It is not too common to see small cars with less than amusing noisy exhaust. Broom, broom, broom it goes.

Not only that, they have the tendency to step on their gas pedal while at rest, just to show that their tiny pathetic cars can make big noise.

I have nothing against those with small cars. Indeed, small cars with their efficient consumption of fuel and more often than not, limited carbon emission, I like them. But motive for small cars differs between those with care for the environment and those with big ego and small income.

That difference can be seen when a small car is being pimped up, which usually include noisy exhaust.

The weather is crazy here.

It was hot like hell but the sky was clear and blue.

And later it was dark and wet, but felt so cool.

My brain is going out of control.

The police usually closes Jalan Maarof every morning during the weekday. Why? Traffic?

It was close to 1AM on a Sunday just outside Hotel Istana in the middle of Kuala Lumpur’s business district.

Cab driver: How much do you want to pay?

Sucker: 20? I mean, 15. 15?

Cab driver: How about 20?

Sucker: 15?

Cab driver: it’s past midnight.

Sucker: Okay.

The city sometimes suffers from horrendous moodswings. Just last week, it rained incessantly to cause congestion everywhere. It was as if it came down with a vengeance after a long drought.

The last several however tells a very different story. The sun shone brightly unimpeded by cloud during the day, making traveling for any purpose a dreaded chore. At night, it is just impossible to sleep without something to artificially lower down the temperature.

But this moodswing is part of the fun living in KL.

When it is hot and the sky is blue, it is just a good day to go out there with a camera in hand, even if the heat starts to get to you. Except that, I frequently find myself trapped in my employment, having little time to do what I enjoy.

The downpour is a pain, especially when it happens during rush hour in the evening. All I want to do at the end of the day is have my dinner, hit the bed and nothing else.

Nevertheless, at the end of my working hour during a rainy day, I would drive through a stretch of road. It has clear view of the skyline of the city to the southeast. As much as I hate walking to the rain to get my car being all soak and wet, I must admit, watching low cloud floating around the Petronas Twin Towers with the light shooting through it is breathtaking.

I may complain about the moodswing but I dare say that will be exactly what I will miss when I leave this city behind for Sydney next year.

I was at the Central Market Annexe yesterday for the Freedom Film Fest. I was there to particular attend the premier of Pecah Lobang, a documentary on transsexuals in Malaysia which is directed by a friend, Poh Si Teng. Her work is one of three films which received a grant from the organizer of the Fest.

I played a very minor in the production of the documentary by doing some translation work. So, my name is listed somewhere in the credits at the end of the film. It was fun seeing your own name up in the screen.

I thought helping to translate the document was as easy as ABC but it was harder it seemed to be. The greatest debate I had in my head was whether I should should “he” or “she” when referring to the transsexuals. I neither want to offend them nor infuse my bias into the issue because Poh Si was vehemently neutral on the matter. And translating Malay to English and vice versa sometimes takes away the context of a conversation for the sake of clarity.

The most important thing about the film however is how it makes me to become more appreciative of the issues faced by the transsexuals in Malaysia. Many transsexuals are involved in the sex industry unwillingly because of the reluctance of the Malaysian society to properly recognize them as well as the discrimination which they face. Their inability to secure a decent job due to issue of recognition and discrimination is the factor which force them to go into the sex industry. And while trying to earn a living, they are being prosecuted.

A number of transsexuals were there are the screening. Since some of them were the subjects of Poh Si’s documentary, I recognize some of them. One of them is as beautiful as portrayed in the documentary. I would not have been able know she is a transsexual if I have not watched Pecah Lobang.

I figure I am not the only person unable to recognize transsexual based on look along. As far as I sympathize with the transsexual community, I do not plan to have a romantic relationship with a transsexual. Yet, the inability to recognize them pose a problem. For this reason alone, I think there is a strong reason for our society to officially recognize transsexual and stop discrimination and prosecuting them. With that, information on one’s gender will be more readily available and consequently, avoiding awkward moments.

There was a Q&A session after the screen and I thought I admire Poh Si’s dedication to neutrality.

Several members of the audience asked of her opinion on the issues but she steadfastly refused to share her opinion, lest that affects the message of the film.

After awhile, it was time to go home.

I really love going to the Annexe but there is something sad about leaving the Annexe in the middle of the night. The walk to the train station is always lonely and I thought I would prefer to be in the company of friends all night long instead.

Talking about that, the summer has been spectacular for me. I met a lot of new friends and had a lot of fun. I do not remember when was the last time I truly enjoyed going out to the city. It is too bad that the summer is coming to an end and friends are leaving for the United States again. To borrow a couple of sentences from a friend, the “summer’s coming to an end. Even the persistently sunny skies of Malaysia are darker and the streets cooler with the constant rain. All good things must come to an end eventually, as they always say and so we all move on.”

It is August and that means time for exhibit a sense of patriotism, fake or otherwise.

The authority had put up colorful banners, bunting and other similar stuff to make known of out happy the society is in celebrating the upcoming national holiday. I drive along Jalan Tun Razak on almost daily basis and I couldn’t help but notice the banners along the road, wrapping the pillars which support the elevated highway above. All was happy and dandy, until earlier this morning.

As I was frantically trying to beat the traffic on the same road, I spotted that the banners, all of them, have been torn down. I assume it was the same authority that put it up due to how clean the did it. All is left now are the metal skeleton that surround the pillars.

I wonder why they did it?

Printing error maybe?

I wonder how much did it cost us, the residents.

Are the authority going to up a new design up?

Stay tuned as we investigate at how taxpayers money is being spent so recklessly by the City Hall.

“Abang 24 jam awal.”

Oh, the pain of mistake. I have been anticipating Farish Noor’s third public lecture so much that I decided to turn up a day earlier. I took a look at my Facebook with my Blackberry and I couldn’t believe it that I overlooked the word “tomorrow” so clearly printed on the screen. All that effort of getting out of bed and traveling all the way to the heart of the city now seemed so utterly wasted.

But I was determined to make the best of it and I decided to take a walk with my camera. And it is amazing how small the city is. I guess being “older” always requires redefinition, just like my experience with the Perdana Lake Garden.

Starting from the Central Market, I walked toward Leboh Ampang to marvel at facade of buildings built back during colonial times. While on H. S. Lee, I spotted the famed Petaling Street and I didn’t recall when the last time I had walked through the street was. It could have been years and so, I decided to visit it.

This was about 16:00 when the situation was not too disorderly. There were still activities but mainly on the sides. There was ample room to walk in the middle of the covered street, which westerners seemingly amused at the street culture.

Another kind of foreigners were being hunted by the RELA team. A group of this voluntary force together with two or three police officers was seen checking for possible illegal immigrants. I saw several foreigners were taken away, possibly for failure to produce documentation.

It didn’t take long before I reached the end of the street and I had a choice of heading back to the train station for home or walk on. Since it was a blue sky day, I told myself, “what the heck, it’s a beautiful day.”

Soon, after walking along Hang Jebat, just after Jalan Sultan, I found myself at the Merdeka Stadium. I walked around its parameter, looking for ways to get in. It seemed deserted and so, I didn’t think going to through front entrance would help.

While searching for ways to get in, I remember long ago when I watched a soccer match in the stadium. Those were the glory days of the stadium when it was actually useful. Back then, the stadium felt huge but today, it looked like some insignificant stadium.

I had wanted to climb over but with buses and cars could be seen passing by, I gave up the idea. Besides, a police district headquarters was nearby. With a sign “intruder will be prosecuted” standing silent nearby, I thought spending the night in a lockup is not my idea of spending the weekend. So, I almost gave up up I got to the front entrance with a door opened, guarded only by a security officer whom was clearly bored.

It didn’t take much to get in.

At the gallery, there were collages of images, supposedly telling the story of this country. Like so many thing in Malaysia, the collages tell the story of UMNO. Sacrifices of other groups were total ignored. Even during the August 31 celebration held at the stadium which saw Tunku Abdul Rahman officially declaring a free Malaya, it was an UMNO event, not that of Malaysia. I’m only glad that many Malaysians thought the arrogant UMNO a lesson on March 8.

I walked across the field. The condition befits a ran down community field. Without the sign “Stadium Merdeka”, I would think this was just another pathetic stadium deserved to be torn down for redevelopment.

I felt sad that I felt nothing when I stood in the middle. The magic of the stadium had died long before I ever thought of this moment. Despite priding myself for being a rational person and refused to label myself as a nationalist, I could sometimes find myself taken by notable moments. A speech, an injustice, etc. I know that I am always moved by anything appealing to the idea of liberty. Yet, there was the stadium, here I was in it, at best indifferent, at worst disgusted at the fate of the building. An old shophouse in Kluang would awe me more than Stadium Merdeka.

Really, if this is the state of the stadium, a redevelopment exercise is overdue.

On the other side of the field, two persons were dismantling metal pieces for unknown reason. They seemed to be employed by the management of the stadium, which is Perbadanan Nasional Berhad.

At the stage, I saw the shadow of the wording of Stadium Merdeka down on the field. That perhaps the best part of the whole excursion. I walked down and looked up toward the wording. The sun was shining right behind it, with the cloud blocking part of the sun and blue sky everywhere else. It was beautiful and I wanted to memorialize it.

Alas, the camera died on me.

“Well, time to go home.”