It’s the second day of Chinese New Year here in Malaysia, and things are rather quiet.

That’s right – quiet.

And wet too – it’s been raining the past few days (no suprise).

Is there something wrong? I thought Chinese New Year is supposed to be filled with noise and colors. Maybe it’s because I’m in Kuala Lumpur right now, instead of a smaller town like my home town Kluang?

Here’s what I feel is missing:

The Cheongsams and Traditional Costumes

[Image from OrientalTouch.com]

I went around town yesterday, and also visited my girlfriend’s friend, and no cheongsams to been seen anywhere. Will the cheogsam become something our kids read about in history or cultural books, or get to see in cultural exhibitions?

I mean, what’s wrong with it? Is it too hot? I can’t beleieve that as it looks “airy” enough

Is it too skimpy? I can’t believe that either as I’ve seen girls here wear micro-mini shorts and tubes just to get to the grocery store

So what is it then. This costume is supposed to symbolize the Chinese culture. I can say for a fact that more Indian women wear sari and lennga during Deepavali or even just for fun.

Maybe the women reading this post can help me out, I just don’t get it why such a sensual and elegant costume gets abandoned.

The Loud Firecrackers

The Malaysian government has long banned firecrackers, and I feel this has eroded the spirit of Chinese New Year as well.

I don’t know the stats, but I think not many have died from it. It’s the meriam buluh (bamboo cannon) that’s dangerous, and have been proved to reduce the population consistently.

So just ban that!

I heard someone mention that nowadays, what you have is a recording of firecrackers played on small radios and a fake “decorative” one as substitutes. I think that’s sad.

I say bring back the firecackers.

The Lion / Dragon Dance

Even when I was younger I hardly got to see a dragon dance, but the lion dance version was quite common.

But I think in the next few years, lion dances will be a luxury, or confined to cultural exhibitions only. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but Chinese New Year seems to me like it’s a fading tradition.

(Even Google has a logo for Chinese New Year.)

All good memories I have of Chinese New Year were from my childhood days in my hometown where i will pester my dad to bring me out to watch the lion dances, and I’ll get all excited when they light the 5-8 foot long red firecrackers that sound like a machine gun.

In my previous post about Malaysian Bloggers United campaign, here’s what I managed to read-up on after a busy day preparing my business plan for submission by 31 Jan:

The Prime Minister’s official comment via The Star:

The Prime Minister said these laws were enforceable and bloggers must bear in mind that they could not hide or take advantage of the Internet to do something that was against the law.

“They cannot hope to cover themselves or hide from the laws,” he told Malaysian journalists at the end of his three-day working visit here yesterday.

He said bloggers, just like newspaper journalists, must be responsible for what they wrote or risk facing legal action from others.

“Me hiding?” says Jeff:

Am I a “law-hider”? I thought I had published my picture, my name, my email and my phone number when I first started blogging on January 2, 2003! My server is parked right in the heart of MSC!

Responsible journalism must draw a clear line between someone being incriminated over alleged offence, and someone being persecuted after all avenues for recourse are exhausted. That separates an innocent from a convict.

Anti-NST feelings flare up [via MalaysiaKini]:

I believe no one should have unrestricted freedom and one shall be punished if he has abused his freedom and harmed others. But what caught me surprise was NST suspending its column by lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar indefinitely. Simply because Malik is the defence counsel for Jeff Ooi in the suit.

[...]

I do recognise that the NST has the right to decide who shall be its columnists. However, this right should not be abused. The NST owes a moral obligation to the society at large.

We shall say a big ‘No’ to The New Straits Times. At least we have all the own freedom and right to choose which newspaper to subscribe to.

Well…

Things are starting to get in motion. I subscribed to MalaysiaKini today to stay abreast of the situation.

Malaysian blogger Sheih has released a set of graphics you can display on your blog to show your support to Malaysian bloggers.

The story is long, but let me give you a condensed version.

During the administration of the former prime minister of Malaysia, the vow was to never censor the Internet. This has spawned countless high-profile bloggers who took their own stance at issues, especially several political blogs.

While their opinions would never be heard in the mainstream media which is in a way controlled by the government, these new breed of bloggers found solitude and a huge following for their blogs. More often that not these bloggers offered “the other side of the story” although in certain cases their arguments can be skewed or thin.

In the new government administration which practises a conservative approach to the Internet, more Malaysian bloggers are getting into trrouble. The recent outburst when high-profile blogger Jeff Ooi (I met him a few times, really nice guy) was sued for defamation led to ideas about creating a strong, united Malaysian bloggers front and prevent this from happening again.

Get your graphics here: In Honour of The Heroes

My 2.5 cents: A united front is always good. I forsee that it’s just a matter of time before some kind or association or independent body is formed to group and protect Malaysian bloggers. This “union” would make them stronger and less vunerable to attacks by the media, including what seems to be their number one enemy, the New Straits Times.

I also feel, that sometimes some of these political blogs talk a lot and show little evidence to support their claims. To the readers without a sense of personal judgement, it may be lisleading.
Take this video for example, that tries to imply that Malaysian blogging is akin to the opera, and how some bloggers feel they are above the law and apart from the rest:

[ev type="youtube" data="GRqOmzjh-KM"][/ev]

Either way, I’ll definately display the graphics on my site. If there is some kind of association in the future, I hope it will encompass all types of bloggers, not just political ones.

The last thing I need is to get caught up in someone else’s political agendas.