Welcome Year of the Water Dragon
December 31, 2011
Welcome Year of the Water Dragon 2012
Happy New Year to All Malaysians and our Friends around the World. May you be blessed with Good Health, Prosperity and Happiness in the Year 2012. 2011 will recede into history and it will be up to our historians to decide its significance for the future generation.
Time Magazine made 2011 the Year of the Protestor, dedicated to the men and women on Arab Street and elsewhere including our Bersih 2.0 July 9, 2011 rally. Dato Ambiga, the friendly face of the Bersih movement, was voted the Person of the Year by a popular web-paper FreeMalaysiaToday.
In honoring her, lest we forget, we must pay tribute to the hardworking people of Malaysia who continue to cope with the challenges of making a living amidst rising prices of basic necessities and rampant corruption.
We like to think that 2012 will be a year of hope for our country. Let us remain united despite efforts of extreme elements among us to create religious and racial tensions. If we give in to these elements within our ranks, we will destroy everything we struggled hard to build over a few generations.
To all the politicians, those in Government and in the Opposition, we wish to say that we will hold you to high standards of public accountability for your policies, programmes, and actions. Serve the rakyat, and not yourself. Most of us have had enough of corruption and abuse of power and would like to you change your ways, or face rejection in the next elections.
Let us now relax and welcome 2012 with some lively music from very exciting entertainers. Here is the Latin beat again for you.–Dr. Kamsiah and Din Merican
Sade–Smooth Operator (in Jazz)
Salena
Beyonce
Shakira
Thalia
Luis Miguel
Eh … who are these two love birds? It is not even New Year’s Eve !!
Mr Bean - December 31, 2011 at 8:15 am
Didn’t know Din has a passion for everything Latin !!?
Mr Bean - December 31, 2011 at 8:17 am
To add to the bloghost’s repertoire of Latin music …
Mr Bean - December 31, 2011 at 8:27 am
scarlet.pimpernel - December 31, 2011 at 8:37 am
*hic* more tequila pleeeaze …..
Mr Bean - December 31, 2011 at 8:44 am
More piña colada for my U.S. Marine Sergeant now retired, with a bullet in his butt … Mr Semper
Mr Bean - December 31, 2011 at 8:50 am
WTF we’re all gonna die next year !!
Mr Bean - December 31, 2011 at 9:16 am
Thank you so much for the New Year Greetings. The same goes to you and family. Bye 73
Lye Kow Kniah - December 31, 2011 at 9:43 am
Entering the Year of Indah Water Dragon?
Here’s to all on Din’s blog
semper fi - December 31, 2011 at 10:33 am
Mongkut Bean, men don’t drink pina colada, more of Southern Comfort or Wild Turkey. You hang out with the Puerto Rican lass too much.
semper fi - December 31, 2011 at 10:43 am
Mastering the Art of Living Meaningfully Well
Umair Haque
3:01 PM Wednesday December 28, 2011 | Comments (123)
So, how’s your 2011 been? Mine: the proverbial best and worst of times. I had my first book published, finished my second, and made it (much to my own massive surprise) onto the Thinkers50 list. But I also lost, in the same month, two of the people I loved the most. That’s life: the act of living in the human universe — in the full ebb and flow of its deep tides of joy, sorrow, accomplishment, and grief.
All of which made me reflect on (if you’ve been following me on Twitter lately, perhaps even brood over) a Big Question: what does it mean to live meaningfully well? If you accept the less-than-heretical proposition that our way of life, work, and play, while materially rich, might be leaving us emotionally, relationally, socially, physically, and spiritually if not empty, than perhaps just a little bit unhealthy; that it might be optimized for more, bigger, faster, cheaper, nastier over wiser, fitter, smarter, closer, tougher — how would we redesign economies, markets, and organizations to help us live better?
I ended up writing a little book about it — Betterness: Economics for Humans. It’s a five-step program for reimagining and redesigning prosperity — beginning at the biggest of levels, the global economy, through to the micro-level, the organizations we all spend most of our days in — that’s composed not merely just of more bigger faster, but of radically better.
But I also wanted to get even more micro, more immediate: how can each of us be a wholer, truer person, right now, today? In an era where the prosperity we once took for granted appears to be crumbling around us, when the plight of the present seems to be somewhere between facepalm, headdesk, and epic fail, when the great challenges of today are nothing less than rebuilding economy, polity, and society — here’s what I believe you’re going to have to get lethally serious about: your own human potential, and how deeply, authentically, and powerfully, over the course of your life, you’re going to fulfill it.
Hence, recently, I decided to ask my Twitter followers for three lessons they’d give people younger than themselves about leading a good life. The result was a global brainstorm of epic proportions — more insightful and interesting than anything yours truly has ever written.
So here’s my question. What are your three lessons for living a good life? What lessons would you give someone, say, in their twenties, today? Here are mine:
Cultivate (your better self). What’s the point of “education” anyway? One point of view says: to produce more STEM graduates. And to be sure, there’s a case to be made for those skills. But I’d say that, by and large, that case is founded on the deterministic assumption that the point of education is greater productivity; you study so you can be a faithful, loyal, unquestioning “employee” with the commoditized, routinized analytical skills to get the (yawn, shrug, eye-roll) neo-Fordist job done. I’d argue the reverse is true: the point of productivity is education — the “output” of authentically thicker value, greater social benefit, is a process that culminates in the act of being a wholer person. I’d argue, on reflection, what society really might have is a shortage of living, breathing well-rounded humans; with a moral compass, an ethical core, a cosmopolitan sensibility, and a long view born of historicism. What we’ve got plenty of are wannabe-bankers whose idea of a good life goes about as far as grabbing for the nearest, biggest bonus — what we’ve got less of are well-rounded people with the courage, wisdom, and capacities to nurture and sustain a society, polity, and economy that blossom. So put immediate gratification to one side and cultivate your higher sensibilities; learn the arts of nuance, subtlety, humility, and grace. I don’t mean you have to spend every evening at the opera — but I do mean you probably have to do better than thinking Lil Wayne is the apex of human accomplishment. Let’s get real: without a refined, honed, expansive sense of what great accomplishment is, you stand little to no chance of ever pushing past its boundaries yourself.
Create (something dangerous). Mediocrity isn’t a quest to be pursued — but a derelict deathtrap to be detonated into oblivion. Hence, I’m firmly of the belief that your youth should be spent pursuing your passion — not just slightly, tremulously, haltingly, but unrelentingly, with a vengeance, to the max and then beyond. So dream laughably big — and then take an absurdly huge risk or two. Bet the farm before it’s a ranch, a small town, and an overly comfy place to hang your saddle and your hat. Create something: don’t just be an “employee,” a “manager,” or any other kind of mere mechanic of the present. Be a builder, a creator, an architect of the future. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a sonata, a book, a startup, a financial instrument, or a new genre of hairstyles — bring into being something not just fundamentally new, but irrepressibly dangerous to the tired, plodding powers that be. Think about it this way: if your quest is mediocrity, then sure, master the skills of shuffling Powerpoint decks, glad-handing beancounters, and making the numbers; but if your quest, on the other hand, is something resembling excellence, then the meta-skills of toppling the status quo — ambition, intention, rebellion, perseverance, humanity, empathy — are going to count for more, and the sooner you get started, the better off you’ll be.
Forgive (and fail). I hate the slightly dehumanizing, mechanistic words “high achievers.” Because the truth is that the mark of someone reaching for the stars isn’t “achievement” — but failure, of the kind that makes the hair on the back of your neck snap up. If you’re going to live a life that matters, I’d bet that sometimes in your 20s, you’re going to fail — spectacularly, in Technicolor. You might launch a successful, disruptive venture — only to see your marriage fall apart. You might meet the perfect life partner — only to discover your career is flaming out. Or you might be on top of the world, financially — only to discover you’ve never felt emptier. These are all failures, of the “omg” variety — and they’re reliable triggers of a mid-to-late-twenties-where-the-hell-is-my-smoking-trainwreck-of-a-life-going anyways quandary. So consider this: when you fail, and fail big — forgive. Forgive the people around you. Forgive yourself. Examine the past, but don’t let it imprison you. You can dwell on your failure for years, and turn a trauma into a crisis. Or you can gently remember that mistakes aren’t the end of the world, but the beginning of wisdom — and firmly step forward into possibility.
As the great poet Antonio Machado once wrote: “walker, there is no path; the path is made by walking.” Never was this truer than in an era of abject institutional failure, social fracture, and economic meltdown. We know where yesterday’s paths lead — not to a shining city we once called prosperity, but to here; dying metropolises, battered exurbs, mass unemployment, nail-biting fear of the future, plutocracy and protest, the crumbling ruins of empire. So map the horizons of your own journey, and, when the status quo tells you it can’t be done, tell the status quo to go to hell.
What’s important is that what you’re doing matters — to yourself, to the people you love, and to something bigger, whether your community, society, or even humanity. Choose fulfillment and passion over “money” and “success.” The latter follow the former — and without the former, the latter are empty. When you’re sorting through your passions, consider what you have the potential to be not merely mediocre, but world-beating, at. And as you refine your choices, consider which are going to matter most in the sense of the greatest good for the greatest number — perhaps for the longest time. Because one world-changing accomplishment that knocks the ball out of that park is likely to give you more satisfaction than a lifetime of designer jeans.
Now, these lessons are far from the only ones, or the “best” ones. In our Twitter conversation, there were plenty that I thought were far sharper, more resonant, and just plain wiser. So rather than discuss my tiny, inconsequential lessons in the comments, let me ask again: what three lessons would you give people in their 20s — or anyone, for that matter — about what it takes to live a meaningfully, resonantly good life?
source: http://www.hbr.org
Kathy - December 31, 2011 at 11:29 am
… and just as well the Mayas would have predicted the END OF UMNO-BN RULE of Malaysia in 2012.
2012 – good for Malaysians and Pakatan Rakyat supporters but bad for the rest of the world!!!
frank - December 31, 2011 at 11:48 am
As you celebrate 2012 The Year of the Dragon, please keep in mind the date 21 December 2012 when the Maya’s Calendar comes to the end… and that means it is THE END OF THE WORLD. For the Maya, it is the end of the FOURTH WORLD,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Age
Kaput, Finito, Sayonara, Zai Chien, Selamat Tinggal, Hapus..
Prepare to meet the 72 Virgins…
2012 also ends another Millenium Cycle:
2009 (09-09-09)
2010 (10-10-10)
2011 (1-1-11 and 11-11-11)
2012 … 12-12-12
That’s it…
There is NO 13-13-13 or 14-14-14 or
2020 – (20-20-20)
2030- (30-30-30)
The Mayas had the MOST ACCURATE CALENDAR in the history of mankind,
Eat and be merry… you MAY NOT see 2013
Happy new year 2012
frank - December 31, 2011 at 11:50 am
May ALL Msians have a ‘Peaceful, Healthy n Prosperous 2012.
It can ONLY happen if you take up the ‘Clarion CALL’…anything but ABU!
Justice&Equality - December 31, 2011 at 11:51 am
Mayans didn’t predict end of world, but the start of regeneration
N THURSDAY’S commentary (’2012: Asia’s big moment at risk’ by Mr William Pesek), the writer wrongly attributed to the ancient Mayas of Mexico the prediction that the world would end in 2012.
To make things more confusing, the illustration accompanying the article had a reproduction not of the Mayan calendar, but the so-called Aztec calendar, in reality the Aztec’s stone monument to the sun god.
To set the record straight, according to authorised scholars on the subject, the ancient Mayans – great architects, mathematicians and astronomers – predicted in the 6th century AD not the end of the world on Dec 23, 2012, but the end of the 13th cycle ‘b’ak’tun’ of the Mayan calendar, and the beginning of a new cycle in which the cosmos would regenerate.
Also, it may be mentioned that the Mayan calendar is not represented in a single image, but is a complex system consisting of around 15,000 hieroglyphic signs, known as Mayan glyphs, which look very different from the Aztec sun god stone.
We are very happy to note the great interest in the Mayan prophecies around the world, and present day Mexicans and descendants of the Mayans in the Mexican state of Yucatan are preparing to receive during 2012 a large number of visitors interested to know more about the vast cultural and scientific legacy of the Mayans and the rich diversity and attractions Mexico has to offer our visitors from abroad.
I take this opportunity to extend to readers my best wishes for a wonderful 2012 as well as a warm invitation to visit Mexico in 2012, and welcome the advent of a new and better cycle for humanity on Mayan territory.
As chair of the Group of 20 nations, Mexico will be hosting in June a summit of leaders, in order to contribute to solving some of the urgent problems mentioned in the commentary.
Antonio Villegas
Ambassador of Mexico to Singapore
Justice&Equality - December 31, 2011 at 11:54 am
predicted in the 6th century AD not the end of the world on Dec 23, 2012, …, and the beginning of a new cycle in which the cosmos would regenerate.-Antonio Villegas,Ambassador of Mexico to Singapore
Not exactly correct,
How do you REGENERATE, if you DON’T destroy the old..
Something got to give!!!
Aztec or Maya… it does not matter… the core issue remains DEC 23 OR 21 DECEMBER 2012, the prediction is something big is gonna happen.
Hopefully on 21 or 23 December, UMNO decided to dissolve itself and rid itself so that Malaysia can REGENERATE. How about that..
frank - December 31, 2011 at 12:11 pm
predicted in the 6th century AD not the end of the world on Dec 23, 2012, …, and the beginning of a new cycle in which the cosmos would regenerate.-Antonio Villegas,Ambassador of Mexico to Singapore
Not exactly correct,
How do you REGENERATE, if you DON’T destroy the old..
Something got to give!!!
Aztec or Maya… it does not matter… the core issue remains DEC 23 OR 21 DECEMBER 2012, the prediction is something big is gonna happen.
Hopefully on 21 or 23 December, UMNO decided to dissolve itself and rid itself so that Malaysia can REGENERATE. How about that..
frank - December 31, 2011 at 12:12 pm
.. book a flight to the moon and watch the fireworks!!!!
frank - December 31, 2011 at 12:13 pm
Two songs to celebrate the new year 2012
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BweCXILNe28&w=420&h=315
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCW9Hey6IVY&w=420&h=315
frank – December 31, 2011 at 1:03 pm
frank - December 31, 2011 at 1:04 pm
I and my clansmen wish a Happy New Year to Datin Dr Kamsiah and Dato’ Din for the very loving couple excellent stewardship of this great blog site.The same goes to all the active players like Bean,Frank,Tok Cik,Kathy,Semper Fi,Isa Manteqi, Scarlet,Familiaris,danildaud,abnizar and all others.You all make this blog even greater.
I and my clansmen greatly admire this blog and immensely benefited from the articles,comments,exchanges and discourses that I can best describe as urbane,secular,intelligent,from all time zones,cosmopolitan and intellectually stimulating minus the occasionally uncouth and abrasive comments from irregular intruders.
I salute you all and let us all look forward for a better 2012.
To the US sailors in Iraqis waters welcome back to the homeland and let 2012 be a peaceful year for all.
_________
Thanks. Rauf for your kind remarks and good wishes. On behalf of all whose names you mentioned above and myself, I wish you a Happy 2012. Let us begin anew.–Din Merican
Rauf - December 31, 2011 at 3:16 pm
Yeah welcome to Apocalypse Now 2012. This must the ultimate Syiok Sendiri (masturbatory) music for our wonderful Malaysian politicians:
C.L. Familiaris - December 31, 2011 at 6:09 pm
For us simple folk, we might as well listen to this one, gas or fart, who can tell? Er.., apologies about the Latin theme, Dato.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh0F2sMcr_4
C.L. Familiaris - December 31, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Semper !!! Where are you?? You got boat? I need a ride.
Mr Bean - December 31, 2011 at 6:52 pm
To hear Satan coming, put on your BOSE headphones !! I put my old set on e-bay, you can buy from there.
Mr Bean - December 31, 2011 at 6:58 pm
Waah! This Satan wants to come to America? He needs to apply for a U.S. visa first. For help securing a U.S. visa see former U.S. Ambassador John Malott.
scarlet.pimpernel - December 31, 2011 at 7:10 pm
Happy New Year to Dr Kamsiah and Din. The next year will always be better than the last. Cheers. Jeff.
Jeff - December 31, 2011 at 7:54 pm
Bean suk, Din & gang,
You might as well add in……Lunatics!
looes74 - December 31, 2011 at 9:36 pm
By the way, there is a chinese version & english version of this song. Just pick one. Kinda like Anita Mui’s version
This lady did inspire lotsa new generation singers. The backup singers you seen in the music video are the “Grasshoppers”
looes74 - December 31, 2011 at 9:40 pm
Mongkut Bean
Go to nearest Air Force base and show your passport. They’ll evacuate you pronto. Where to I don’t know, maybe to Guam.
semper fi - January 1, 2012 at 12:09 am
Tq Loose74 for potraying Anita nos,…
SoCai me - January 1, 2012 at 12:38 am
Mr Bean - January 1, 2012 at 1:47 am
Same to you and your clansmen Rauf, A very Happy New Year .
Kathy - January 1, 2012 at 7:15 am
Clansman?? KKK has a branch in Malaysia. What else is new??
scarlet.pimpernel - January 1, 2012 at 8:28 am
Haven’t you heard of JKKK in Malaysia. They are all over and they behave just like the clansmen. Then there’s the perverts Rela and the Defender of the race and religion Perkosa. Now you have Hasan Ali heading raids on pubs and discos. He should resign his state exco and become head of Jais or Mais.
semper fi - January 1, 2012 at 8:42 am
Do we not need the good clansman to finish off the bad and the ugly clansmen?
Rauf - January 1, 2012 at 3:16 pm