3rd February 2020. May well be remembered as a Sunday that rocked a nation? What does one do half a world away, as newsflow of various permutations of political M&A and the chattering classes go into overdrive? Go for a walk in the park of course! 🤲🙏🚶. I imagine our founding fathers some 64 years ago would have taken these same paths in the royal parks of Hyde Park and Kensington Park, pondered at the same Serpentine lake, took in the same crisp winter air. The London Conference of 1956 was a critical chapter of the Merdeka Talks that gave birth to our nation and the negotiations would have been protracted. I would imagine Tunku and our leaders delegation would have taken breaks in this same park. They must have done something right and received much inspiration from these walks as a year later t’was Merdeka.

64 years on are we any wiser? What would the spirit of 56 have made of this? 😭 Let’s see what I may have learned today:

• leaders should plant trees. An old saying that when old leaders plant new trees that they don’t get to see, a nation prospers
• angsa (geese) are very loyal creatures. Mas tells me they mate for life. We humans could certainly learn a thing or two about honor, fidelity and loyalty from them
• every dog will have its day, we saw two happy ones running ahead of what we thought were their owners… Turns out that the owners were in front. Go figure, running dogs may be running behind.
• there are laws of physics. Primordial laws of the universe. Even the best squirrels (tupai) don’t defy gravity.
• empires don’t last. The Albert Memorial and the Victoria & Albert Hall was the zenith of the empire where the sun never sets. Well, not that long after, it seems that the great have left Britain and the spectre of a possible Scexit and an inadvertently reunited Ireland could leave a rump of a “Wangland”!? (Wales + England). Man proposes, God disposes.
• Black swans while less rare, is still rare. What is white is still white, even in twilight.

Wallahu’alam. Sad to be away at this time. Hoping and praying for the best outcome for the nation InsyaAllah. May our leaders act with wisdom and most of all for the benefit of the people. 🙏❤️🇲🇾 

24 February 2020