Location: Singapore

Date: February 7 to September 12, 1942

Event: Battle of Singapore, WW2

Many people nowadays have forgotten, or don’t even know, that the freedom we enjoy, the peace that we revel in, the stability of our nation, was gained through hardship.

Our country is not founded on only the blood, sweat and tears of our forefathers, but also those who came from distant lands, to defend the shores of a country full of mixed ethnicities, of which they didn’t much understand, but they did their job, down to the last man, and if any had any cause for complaint, none were spoken, and none were heard.

In the Battle for Singapore, Australian, British, Indian and local military forces fought off, and subsequently surrendered, to the Japanese, resulting in the Japanese Occupation. Tens of thousands of Allied personnel went down from their bayonets, swords and bullets.

My grandparents and some of my aunts and uncles survived that period.

Their stories are horrifying, yet, gripping.

There was much to mourn for, at that time.

The loss of family, food, shelter.

The mistreatment. The slaughter, rape and pillaging.

Most of all, when the British surrendered, the loss of hope.

They knew, oh yes they knew, that they had no chance of survival without the aid of the “white men”, and they were glad for their help, even though it did turn out badly, these said “white men” gave their best shot at it, trying to defend a foreign land from oppressors, even though it didn’t seem likely that they’re gonna win. Yes, I do respect the local heroes like Lt. Adnan and Lim Bo Seng, but what about the unsung heroes?

In a way, I guess I’m just trying to continue what my predecessors were trying to convey, but have never put in words.

I may not be representing my country, but I do feel that it is right that I should speak for the young people of my country. The descendants of those who were saved by courageous acts of valour performed by Allied personnel stationed in Singapore.

They who have shed their blood and spilled their tears for a land they know next to nothing about of. Those who have defended this fine oriental shores and then found themselves shipped on a train wagon or boat to hell on earth. The ones who made the ultimate sacrifice, of trading their lives for the sake of another country’s freedom. Humanity at its worst, and yet at its best. These people were willing to leave loved ones behind, at the risk of permanently leaving them, for the sake of a country far, far away. These people suffered hardships, brutality and suffering beyond reckoning so that we could live better lives, away from tyranny and war, violence and the such.

These people shed blood in the hope that we wouldn’t need to.

So…

Whatever your mission, whatever your agenda for coming to Singapore was, be you British, Australian, Indian, Chinese, Malay or whatever your ethnicity is, if you had come to Singapore and defended our shores, then I appoint myself to speak for my generation of Singaporeans when I say, thank you for your help, and we sincerely appreciated the sacrifices you have made.

You unsung heroes, whose names I will never know.

Your deeds live on in my country’s independence, freedom, peace and stability.

You may be gone but God forbid, not forgotten.

Even if no one else in my generation has ever said it, or has even thought about it, at least I’ll be among the first to say it, but I hope that I won’t be the last.

Once again, heroes of Singapore, from the bottom of my heart, on behalf of my generation and the generations that are to come..

Thank you.

This post is a homage to all those who defended Singapore against the Japanese in 1942. I hope that it goes out to as many of those surviving veterans of WW2 in Singapore (as well as their families and the families of those who gave up their lives for Singapore) as possible. If you know of any, please convey my heartfelt thanks. It may be too late to offer condolences, but I shall honour them in my prayers and in my life, by living life as free and as hard as I can. I will not avail them their sacrifice to provide us with a chance to bloom, learn and to live.

Live free. We’ve got to earn it.

RK

Finally I can actually access this darn site.

Would you believe me when I tell you that I forgot my username and password for this blog?

And best of all, I even forgot which email address I registered it with.

That happens when you have 10 email addresses.

Anything more than that, you can’t get anything done.

Well let’s see what I’ve been up to since my last post…

Holy guacamole, batman! It’s been two months since RK’s last post!

I’ve been reading (comics, mostly, but they still count, don’t they?), making music, refining my band’s next album, covering a few songs.

Some songs I’ve covered and translated into my native tongue, which is Malay.

Have a listen..

Sentiasa Cintaku (Always Be My Baby) – Raja Kumbang

You can download a couple of my songs here though:

http://www.savefile.com/projects/808603110



About the comics, lets see.. Recently I’ve finished reading Neil Gaiman’s Eternals, DC’s 4 volumes of 52, Marvel’s Civil War saga and quite a few others. I’m on the lookout for more stuff about Starman and the JSA though. Maybe more of The Authority and Stormwatch (version 2) too.

My favourite comic characters?

Not in any specific order, they are:

Spider-man ………. with great power comes great responsibility. Don’t forget the hyphen. Spider-hypen-man

Thor …………. A courteous, noble superhero who preaches loyalty to one’s friends and to live a good life. Plus, he’s got a wicked hammer to pound baddies with.

Green Lantern (all incarnations, yes, even Guy Gardner) …… one of my favourite DC characters. A mythology by itself. Anyone can be a GL. Just go get yourself the right ring.

Flash (all incarnations) …… I’ve always had a thing for speedsters. And Wally’s romance (and marriage also) with Linda Park is not all so mushy and cliche, but quite mature and pleasing to read about. I feel that it’s better than Lois and Clark’s (for those who don’t know, that’s Lois Lane and Clark Kent/Superman). Too bad about Kid Flash/Bart Allen. Pity he died, but then again, he wasn’t much of a strong character.

Nightwing …… From being Batman’s 2nd Robin to being the Kevin Bacon of the DC universe. Every hero or villain can be related to him by at most 6 degrees of separation. He’s just like Batman, a normal, non-mutated, non metahuman, non-powered human individual who just works hard and uses his quick reflexes, olympic level physical capabilities, extensive martial arts training and feet-on-the-ground gumshoe work to track and defeat baddies. I have to say, I miss the Elvis collar, but I guess that it hindered his vision.

Green Arrow (Oliver Queen and son, Connor Hawke) ….. A plain ol’ guy that can shoot arrows? What’s so cool about that? It’s cool when you have trick arrows like the boxing glove arrow, the super-glue arrow, the bolas arrow, the loop de loop arrow and lots more! Plus, he wears green! And, he’s always off on missions with Green Lantern. What a cool team.

There’s more I could write about, but I’m getting tired, had an awful lot of stuff going on at work just now.

I’m pooped. Time to catch some zee’s. Maybe I’ll dream of wearing a green ring and carrying a nasty hammer, pounding baddies into dirt.

RK out~

A lot of people say that understanding is the key to a relationship, or change, or whatever else.

I’m one who tests that theory, and I have my own, different findings.

For me, things are quite a bit different.

Change is difficult.

Human Beings resist change.

That’s why we don’t start with change first.

Change doesn’t start with understanding.

It starts with acceptance.

Understanding is a by-product of acceptance.

After you understand it, then you can change it.

So, in order, its:

Acceptance –> Understanding –> Change

I like to call it the AUC flow.

It’s easier to say than Paradigm Shift, huh?

Understanding is important, but you need acceptance first before you can get to understanding it.

You need to accept that a rock is a rock, not water or metal or whatever, before you can understand the what, why, how and when of it.

Let’s look at it this way.

A guy gets sick. He doesn’t admit that he is sick, doesn’t accept it.

Then he gets sicker and makes things worse, doesn’t change it for the better.

Bad, right?

But if he gets sick, then accepts that he is sick, then he’ll understand that he is sick, why he is sick, what he has to do (go to the doctor) to change his situation, make it better. See?

Another example, a fellow who has a drinking problem, but doesn’t admit to it. Can’t change right?

How about the lady who’s a shopping addict, but neglects buying necessities like food for the baby? What should she do, ask the baby to chew on her Prada boots?

A lad who’s overprotective of his girlfriend, but doesn’t know it. Is she gonna be stuck at home 24/7 and not have a life at all?

A young girl who only thinks of her own happiness, but doesn’t really care if other people get hurt or pissed off just so she could get her own way. Should you let it be?

One situation. You have one view of it. Use the AUC flow. Maybe you’ll see different. Same situation, different views.

Like a paradigm shift.

Many examples can be listed in which the AUC flow can be used.

It’s just up to us to do so.

Go ahead.

Change your world.

Change your worldview.

Cheers.

Watched Anugerah Band the other day. Didn’t see all the bands play, though. Saw some that were good, some that were bad, and some that were just plain ugly.

I received some flak about my supporting the band Cucu Datok Merah (henceforth known as CDM) from readers and friends alike. Seems like they’re not happy with the band and since I have an affinity for CDM (I like them. I just do. So what can you do about it?), they take it out on me.

I listen to all the criticism, the comments on the vocals, guitars, drums, the bass, the song choice, the costumes, even the features of their faces.

I nod and make some noncomittal sounds. Then I say,” Yup, but I still think they’re good.”

That usually starts off another round of criticism, some even citing references to the members of CDM’s current occupation or previous achievements and such.

Another couple of nods and a few more noncommital sounds later, I’d say something like, “You like tomato, I like chilli, tak kisah lah, yang penting heppi” (doesn’t matter, the important thing is to be happy).

Some have also argued that CDM’s members are all professional musicians and shouldn’t be in the competition even. A very arguable point.

It’s not valid though.

It’s an open competition. So, it means that it’s open to all, be you a king or a street sweeper, as long as your identity card is pink. It doesn’t matter if you have an album or not, if you work in a factory or a club, if your hair is pink and green, it’s open. Though the rules regarding the age limit is practical. We won’t want a fellow rocker to have a heart attack on stage.

Maybe people just don’t like Cucu Datok Merah because they’re too well known? I’m not sure.

I’ve seen Anis (CDM Bassist) play at House of Rock with Ministry of Rock. Admittedly, he’s good. And yes, MOR’s vocalist is actually Jatt Ali, one of the judges for Anugerah band, but if you watch closely, you’ll see that Jatt’s sometimes very harsh on CDM.

Eddy Kecik (CDM guitarist) is quite good, from what people say and from what I’ve seen myself. My neighbour, Jas (formerly from Nalo, now with Six In The City @ One Night Stand) vouches for his guitar playing, so I can safely say that he’s fairly good (come on Eddy, where’s that alternate picking and sweeping ala Malmsteen that I’ve come to know and respect?). The drummer is tight, and the vocalist has got the flair, it’s just 3 piece and 1 vocals, and they play that well, can your band play any better?

And then there’s the talk about them being artists or professional musicians again.

Oh bother.

I’m not defending Cucu Datok Merah because of my preference for them, well, maybe partly it is that, but there’s a saying (that’s wrongly attributed to Voltaire) that goes like, “I may disagree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it”.

I’m speaking out because it’s a matter of principle.

If you want to take a look at it that way, then X-tech shouldn’t be in because, if I am not mistaken (forgive me if I am) they have an album too. Fatskunks have had their time making albums too. Even Knightwings have their own album (no offence my friend A’an, you’re band is really good, but it’s for the sake of argument). And Helven, with Romey at the helm, didn’t he win the “Best Guitarist” award at Asia Beats? Even though he did drop his guitar pick and went scuttering after it, and then further sent his guitar flying into the crowd in a pale imitation of Yngwie James Malmsteen, he did win (speculatively because no other bands in the finals had guitar solos) that award. And last, not least, these four bands have already participated in numerous competitions and have a distinguished reputation amongst themselves. Sheesh, I should be promoting my own band but here I am, boosting up other’s reps. Well, I’ve always supported the local scene.

All this talk about unfairness is boring me.

Life’s not fair, but it’s got rules.

They played by the rules, so by all that is good and holy, let them PLAY!

I do notice that quite a few of the SMS comments made during the show are quite childish. Then again, most of the bad comments I’ve heard are very.. exuberantly youthful in their negative aspect.

Most probably they’re from the mouth of adolescents, if not babes.

That’s the thing about adolescents. We’re talking young adults.

Yes, teenagers.

Not a child, but not quite an adult.

They seem to think that they know everything in the world, and that they’re smarter than any adult.

I know. I’ve been through that phase before.

Taking myself so seriously, all puffed up with self importance. Proud of what I’ve achieved, rubbing it in other people’s faces, but at the same time, wanting my peers’ attention and approval in every little thing I do, afraid of losing ‘face’ and standing in the complicated teen power structure at school. Thinking that I’m the smartest person on earth, that my parents are dumb, and all other parents are dumb too. That adults are so full of it, trying to do the impossible, which is having unadulterated fun and taking myself seriously. Always laughing at others, but never laughing at myself.

I think that’s the key.

I think that people only really grow up, when they are able to laugh at themselves.

Yes, you have to be practical, and stoic even to get thru hardships, trials and tribulations, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t have a few laughs along the way. It’ll be a very long and lonely journey to the end of the road if there’s no happiness during the travel.

Life is serious, but it’s also meant to be fun.

Think about it. And grow up.

I don’t have much time for much of a post.

Gotta go out soon, it’ll be a busy day today. Tomorrow too.

Cos tomorrow I’ll be playing at Top5 at Orchard Towers, with the band, Shallow Blue, which is just me, Jas (my neighbor from upstairs), Amin (my neighbor from the next block) and AoD (neighbor from 2 blocks away).

Our slot is aroud 7pm. There’ll be around 4 bands playing 3 songs each. After that is the main event, which is Awie, Hanafi Warren and a few local artists. Mostly everyone will be playing 70’s rock classics, cos it’s the theme of the day.

As for us, we’ll be playing Burn by Deep Purple, Starstruck by Rainbow and Medicine Man by Whitesnake. Rock Steady by Bad Company on standby.

Gotta move!

Rock On.

here’s a thought:-

Life ain’t got no meaning….

Till ya give it some…

Had a few hours practice just now with the band.

Fun song to play, even though it’s cut short to just 3 min (to fit the maximum time allocated for the competition).

An original composition by Raffi.

Ever wondered why your life is the way it is?

Is there such a thing as fate? Is your life already set in stone, or is it like the flow of a river, which can meander and be redirected, or dammed up and stored.

I think it’s a bit of both.

Take the river analogy for example.

Sure you can change the direction, dam it up, split it of join multiple rivulets into a bigger river or lake, but there are principles that you need to follow.

1: Water flows from a higher point to a lower point.

Ever heard about a river that ran up a hill or mountain? Yeah? Neither did I.

Some things in life, especially yours, can’t be changed. You can’t bring back a dead person. You can’t change who your parents are, or make your past a happier or more eventful one. You have to take it all in and move on. Like water does. You just can’t swim back upstream and start again on a different path.

2: Water follows the path of least resistance.

Ever seen water drill thru a big rock a river? Didn’t think so. Why waste time when you can go around it? It’s like politely asking n elephant to step aside so you can pass, which is kinda dumb if you could just walk a few paces to the side and carry on.

Though it may be possible to bore a hole thru the above-mentioned metaphorical rock, one has to admit, it will definitely take a much longer time than taking the simple (and more logical) route. That’s something most people nowadays forget.

3: Water goes with the flow.

Like… duh…

Not neccessarily following the masses, but if almost everyone is running away from a 200 feet tall reptile in the middle of town, should you do any different? Or if everyone is picking up gold nuggets from your local monsoon drain to sell to dealers for wads of cash, would you do any different? It’s not about groupthink or mob-mindset or stuff like that, but never understimate the masses. And it’s also not a good idea to go up against them. Picture a KKK activist in full white regalia right smack in the front stage area during a 50cent concert. You’ll get the idea.

So.. what about life?

It’s like that.

Shit happens.

Shit always happen.

Shit always happen for a reason.

But we don’t really know what it is.

Picture this:

You’re on a road (metaphorically, it’s your path in life), it’s your road, maybe yours alone or one you share with another or a few people in life. Suddenly you find a pile of shit in front of you, blocking your way and rendering you unable to move forward. Sometimes you can sidestep it. Sometimes you can go over it, or even under it. Maybe even heap some dirt over it to cover it up so you could walk over it (ewww..), but let’s say that in this instance, you can’t do all of those things.

So what do you do?

Let’s ruminate..

When shit happens, you need to remove it. You can’t just stay put and contemplate on whether what you’re looking at is shit or is not-shit. You need to identify the shit.

If it’s really shit, then you need to remove the shit, but you can’t just pick it up with your bare hands so you need the tools, proper ones, to remove the shit.

Before you even use the shit removing tools, you need to learn how to use the shit removing tools.

Once you’ve already done that, then you can proceed with the removing of the shit.

Then you can carry on with your life.

Shit = Problems, difficulties, troubles, doubts, etc..

shit removing tools = Logical reasoning, rational procedures, relevant methods, result specific and consequentially defined approach.

thought of the day:-

Shit Happens.

My band got thru to the second round of Anugerah band.

Like… yaaay and all that, but I’m still very much concerned.

Not about the competition. I don’t give a hoot if we win or lose. We joined cos we just wanted to give it a try.

I’m more concerned about surviving.

I don’t have a solid, proper job. It also looks like currently I don’t have a solid career path either.

Why not a career in music, you ask?

Yeah, why not? But can you picture a 55year old man still pumping out beats and riffs to support his family?

It’s.. kinda hard to envision.

I’m still thinking about what I want to do, and what I need to do.

Hmmm…

Anyway, back to the anugerah band competition. I went back there again with my friends Ace (from the band Silver Tears who also happens to have got thru the 1st round), Hafeez (my band’s drummer) and also Amin (my project band buddy).

We got to see lotsa godawful bands. Also lotsa good ones!

I especially had much respect for the band “Cucu Datuk Merah” (Cucu=grandchild/grandchildren, Datuk=Grandfather/Sir/Baron, Merah=Red. So it’s roughly translated as Grandchildren of the Red Baron/Grandfather. Whatever that’s supposed to mean) when they played their own rendition of “Ini Rindu” (original artiste: Jamal Mirdad).

Man they rocked that song out!

Anis the bassist (who actually plays at House of Rock. Damn, he’s good.) was grooving and shaking his butt like he’s getting bitten my thousands of fire ants. Very, very entertaining. The vocalist was quite interactive too. You should have been there to really appreciate it.

As my good chum Hafeez would say… Marvellous!!

As for me.. I have another word.

FANTASTIC!

thought of the day:-

Do we really need what we want?

Do we really want what we need?

Do we know what we need, and what we want? Am I confusing you?

My band’s joining this local band competition called “Anugerah Band”. Registration is tomorrow from 9am to 3pm at Bishan, Junction 8. Yeah, finally a competition that NV (my band. Visit our site at http://www.reverbnation.com/nvband ) can enter ‘cos it’s open to all, including recording artistes (of which, we are). The audition is also tomorrow, but it’s stretched out to a period of 2 days (29-30 March) . It’s kinda weird, cos the registration’s just on one day, and you may be expected to audition during that day itself, but if you aren’t (maybe they tell you that your audition slot is the next day or after), then you just came down with all your band-mates, all made up and ready to rock, or rap, or sing or whatever your preference is, for nothing. Well, not really for nothing, at least you got registered. Still, you lot are gonna look like fools. Hope we don’t suffer that unfortunate fate. Still, a friend told me something noteworthy; Be cool, be professional, and most of all, be humble.

We’re gonna see lotsa familiar faces there. And a heck of a lot more unfamiliar ones.

I just wanna see the pretty ones.

What’s wrong with the not-so-pretty ones?

Well… nothing.

I just like the pretty ones. I subscribe to this age old adage, “You’ll always want what you can’t get”.

I definitely couldn’t get any of the pretty ones. No harm looking. Definitely no harm wanting, and knowing that you can’t get it just makes it all the more harmless.

So, you do the math.

thought of the day: Know what you want.

Sometimes, it’s just stuff that you can’t get.

So get you shit together, dirtbag!