A Chinese New Year greeting… a Chinese New Year missing

It’s here again… the Chinese lunar new year (“CNY”). A time where a hole will be burnt in pocket of the married couples… 2 holes for those just married. Time for the exodus of outstation folks via a wonderful traffic jam while KL-ites enjoy a few days of relatively free-flow traffic. Lately, it’s also a time for the Indons and Banglas to roam the streets, making KL almost their own. But hey, some of these fellas actually have bumiputera status… ya’ know, the prince of the land. Maybe KL is theirs to own, but that’s not the point today.

Anyway… I remember when I was young (which is quite some time ago), I really look forward to CNY and honestly, I have no idea why. Maybe it’s cos of the ‘ang pow’, maybe it’s cos of the food, but if there’s one thing I truly enjoy about CNY, it’s firecrackers. To me, this red explosive creation is the heart and soul of CNY. Imagine utter silence during CNY eve, and first day of CNY… really ‘potong steam’ and no atmosphere, don’t you think?

As you know, firecrackers are banned in Malaysia. Those caught trading firecrackers will be fined… and possibly jail term too? Every year, we read in the news about our cops busting this syndicate and that syndicate but Malaysians, being lynchpins in the you-got-the-money-I-got-the-goods world, somehow, there will be some crackers being light up here and there. So the latest step to curb this as reported in TheStar on 12 Feb, 2007 is:

“KUALA LUMPUR: Those caught lighting firecrackers for the coming CNY celebration will be slapped with an on-the-spot compound of at least RM100…”

So what do the Chinese do during CNY? … play pop pop… I throw it at you… pop! You throw back at me… pop! Damn fun right?

If I remember correctly, the ban came about cos some freaking morons blow up their hands, their legs playing firecrackers. Most of the time, such incidents happened when these morons played this thing called ‘meriam buluh’ (translate: bamboo cannon). They stuff a lot of fireworks inside a bamboo, apparently the explosion is really cool. But these morons who don’t’ really know how to handle fireworks carefully have their hands, legs and face blown up while stuffing fireworks into a bamboo. Now tell me, who are these people that always play ‘meriam buluh’? Tell me! Tell me!…. And because of these idiots, firecrackers are now banned.

To me, the ban on firecrackers is really unfair. Because of these morons, CNY has lost its atmosphere, its heart and soul. It’s also unfair because the spirit of banning anything bad it is not unanimously applied. We know of these illegal racers and public nuisance called mat rempits, most of them are drug addicts and snatch thieves but does our government ban mat rempit activities? No! And not only that… they government intends to build tracks for them to race! And the latest news is that, they will be given free bikes if they ‘help curb crime’. Woooooaaahhhhh…. that’s unfu*kingbelievable!!!

Sorry to spoil your CNY mood but that’s reality, ain’t it? Alright, think I’ve rant enough. Here’s wishing you everybody a very Happy CNY and may you ‘fatt’ like a pig but make sure you don’t grow ‘fat’ like a pig…

Gong Hey Fatt Choy!