until that day comes .....

Since I published the Little Mermaid story, some friends have asked if I m really a gay right advocate, or even "are you actually gay?"

Well, technically the whole human population has certain degree of homo and hetero sexuality at the same time. Its all about the magnitude of them. Majority of the population has very high degree of heterosexuality and makes homosexuality a minority. Hence comes the discriminations and divine condemnations from HE who lives in heaven. they are different sides of the same coin, although the hetero side comes up much more often than the homo side if tyhe coin is flipped.

Anyway, to cut it short, I belong to the majority group of the population, i.e. I prefer female than male. but thats not what I want to write.

when women's right was still a hot debate eons ago, someone famous (I only quote the famous and well known, who listens to ordinary Joes and Janes anyway) had said "Women's right IS human right" and of course he received applaud, thats for being famous.

Today, I would like to say "homosexuality right is human right, minority right is human right, disabled right is human right, mentally challenged right is human right"

in fact we can expand the list to cover any group of human beings who are systematically being discriminated due to their difference from the "majority & normal" human beings, which they can't change.

If human race can go beyond this, the list can be expanded to cover "Animal rights" and "all living being rights".

"Human right" would become a outdated term which could be replaced by "Living right"

If that day comes, we can all throw away the religion scriptures and live peacefully on earth and the universe.

But until that day comes......

Now we can all go back to our corners, pray as usual and get our guns and bombs and tanks ready. killing people who pray to a different invisible figure is not crime and you might get red carpet welcome at the pearly gate, if you arrive at all.

Good day.

How Singapore got its name

This is a real history that nobody wants to recognise.

the old name of Singapore was Temasek (Tamasek). The actual spelling is not known as it wasn't spelt with Romanised characters.

But a about 2 -3 hundred years ago, it was changed to "Singapura". for the better educated ones, "Singapore" is the "englished" name during colonial time. "Singapura" is the original name.

Not everything spelt in English is the original, just as "Thailand" is NOT pronounced as "Thai-land". Its pronounced as "Tai-land". and IRAQ is not pronounced as "Ai-Rak", Mr Bush.

Anyway, how did this name came about?

forget about what the history book tells you about a prince from Sumatera who saw a lion on Temasek and hence changed its name to "Singha-pura" which means "lion city" in Sanskrit.

Too many errors in this story.

1. there was never any lions in that part of the south east asia.

2. Prince from Sumatera spoke Sanskrit?

3. there was already natives living on Temasek (thats why it had a name), so s visitor could just declare a new name?

The real story is like this: drum-drum drum

Temasek was a very busy trading port back then. There were a lot of Indian muslims from southen India who sailed there to trade with the native Melayu.

They were close friends.

One fine night, as usual they chilled out at the local pub aka the road side shed, drinking todi (liquor from coconut juice). after a few drinks, they made a bet to see who had a bigger dick.

and well, the Indians won the bet but the Melayu felt insulted.

so they gave the Indians a good beating.

the next day, after sobbering up, they realised that the Indian didn't stop at their port anymore. They all rather stopped at Melaka, a new port further north.

So, every morning, the local Melayu would wave and shouted "OOOi kawan! Singgah lah sini"

The Indians on their ships would give they middle fingers and shouted back "Poorah! Poorah!" (Get lost)

thats how Singapura got its new name and it is used till today.

Little Mermaid

To all the discriminated, oppressed and victimised people; and the sorrow, pain and misery endured.


Sharon watched as her dad dashed out of their apartment in real hurry after he received a call on his mobile. after the call, he pulled Sharon's mother to a side and talked to her softly. Sharon could sense the tension and the mixed emotion on her mother. Her dad's face was blank and without expression. Sharon knew something big had happened because in her 17 years of life, she had only seen that face once on her usually easy going father. That was 3 years ago when grandpa was fighting his losing battle with brain cancer. She remembered the blank, emotionaless face of his dad beside grandpa's bed. If he had feelings, he hid it well when it was over whelming.

"what is going on, mom?" Sharon asked her mother after her dad has gone.
"A friend of your dad is in hospital and he went to visit." Her mother answered.
"Who?" Sharon knew dad had many friends.
"Auntie Amie is in ICU."
Sharon was startled by the answer.

Sharon first met Auntie Amie when she was 10 years old. Her dad took her to a movie and ice cream treat after she scored a good results in her school exams. She could still remember the movie was "Little Mermaid".
when they were having ice-cream and chips, a thin lady with short hair came to their table and dad introduced her as Auntie Amie. Sharon had been shy to strangers and she was paying more attention to her sundae than the lady. At school, Sharon was a timid girl and had few friends. She would like to join and play with other girls but she was too shy to ask.
Auntie Amie stroke Sharon's hair and asked her softly "did you like the movie, Sharon?"
"Yes. I like it. I like cartoon stories" Sharon replied with her head down looking at her sundae.
"Yes. Cartoons are good. always happy ending."
"Do you know the original Little Mermaid has a very sad ending?" Auntie turned to Sharon's dad and asked.
Dad nodded.
"She had to kill the prince she loved and used his blood to break the spell and to transform back to mermaid. you can't change to who you are not. even in fairy tale"

Auntie Amie had also come to their house a few times and Sharon later found out she was in the same secondary school as her dad and mom. Dad told Sharon that Auntie Amie was a very close friend when they were in school but he never told her about their stories in school.
"I was in a different class and was not closed with them in school." Mom told Sharon.

Sharon noticed mom always kept her distance from Auntie Amie although she seemed to welcome her visits.

Auntie Amie was a intelligent person with good nature and she was very kind to Sharon. She noticed how shy Sharon was and had encouraged her to come out and interact with other people. She would ask Sharon to do small chores for her such as go to the shop, make orders when they were at KFC or McDonalds, order pizza over the phone. Sometimes, she would buy gifts for Sharon as encouragements. Little things like hair pins, ribbons, socks with little flowers on them. Sharon knew she didn't earn much from her teaching and appreciated the gifts.

Auntie Amie was a family friend all these years but Sharon knew little about her background. Sharon had never seen her family and heard her mentioning about them. Auntie Amie lived alone in a rented house and taught piano and art classes at her home as living. Besides dad, she had almost no other friends.

When Sharon grew older and went through her puberty, she started to notice and was more observant to people around her. Autie Amie was not an attractive woman, she noticed. she had a square face, rough complexion and too flat.
"She is tall, thin and flat" she commented one day during dinner.
Dad looked at Sharon and said sternly
"Sharon, never ever laugh at other people on what they can't change. They suffer enough of the misfortune"
Sharon had seldom seen dad so serious.


Dad came home after midnight that day with a very worn look on his face.
"Amie passed away. It was too late. nothing the doctors could do"
he told Sharon.
Mom was crying.

Sharon couldn't sleep well that night and the little mermaid came to her. There was no cheerful colors as in the cartoon. Everything was grey. Little mermaid was stranded on a beach and surrounded by people. She had to endure the pain of transformation into a woman, the scales on her tail were coming off and were dropping one by one. red blood in contrast with the grey background. everyone around her was laughing. some of them splashed sea water onto her fresh wound and she was panting and struggling to get away from the assult.
Sharon woke up with a headache and the dream was still afresh in her head. wriggling of pink flesh partly covered with loosed scales that were falling off and the begging eyes. she could almost hear the soft sound of the detaching scales like tearing off a glued paper from the skin.

mom came into her room.
"Your dad went to take care of Amie's funeral. Nobody else cares"
"The family has abandoned Amie long time ago. a poor soul" Mom said with voice full of sympathy.
"They grew up and played together when they were kids. they were best friends and went to the same secondary school. Amin was very smart and was the top of class."
"then the change came in Form 3 when they were 15 years old. The teachers noticed it and informed the parents. The took Amin back home and I never heard from them anymore until we moved to this city and they met again. I was so surprised and couldn't adjust myself"

"mom. Who is Amin?"
"That's what we used to call Auntie Amie".
Sharon was confused but mom didn't explain further.

After the funeral, Dad and Sharon went to Auntie Amie's rented house to pack her belongings.
Sharon was going through the drawers when she found some old photos and an old ID card. It has a name "Raja Zaminudin Bin Raja Abdullah" on it. The black and white photo showed a young man with a boyish look.
"Thats was Amie's name. Amin was related to the royal family." Dad put a hand on Sharon's shoulder and said.
"when the parents found out he was behaving like a girl, they forced him to change. that didn't work. they sent him to the religion department for treatment. he was humilated and raped. He ran away and sent a letter to me asking for help. the school teacher got the letter and they caught him again. this time they sent him to mental hospital for medical treatments. He was tied to the bed and given electric shock on the head for a few months. He was a mere zombie when i visited him at the hospital. I went to her mother to beg her to help Amin and eventually she managed to bribe the doctors to release him.
He never went home after that and we lost contact until we met again few years back."

"I felt really bad for letting him down when he needed me most. what he had been through was hell.
Sharon, I was so happy for Amin as he finally walked out of the shadow and lived bravely"
"Few weeks ago, his father found out where he was and sent his men to get him. They thought he was a disgrace to the royal family and wanted him locked up forever. He got away but fearing the worst, he took his own life. He told me he would never go back and endure hell again."
"Dad, did Auntie Amie say anything before she passed away?" Sharon asked with glassy eyes.

"I held his hand and begged him to be strong.
I said to him, 'Min. u have to be healthy again. U can leave this country and be free'
he smiled and said 'I m free now'. closed his eyes and they never open again"