Malaysia Money Matters

As it happens, I was in Melaka over the weekend - 'twas a most pleasant trip despite the hazy conditions. Not to mention a wee bout of stomach upset... my own fault, think I shouldn't have eaten the rice ball that fell on the table. :P yeah, extreme cheapskate, me. Don't want to waste food! Anyway, it's in the news that the new Chief Minister of Melaka wants to stop the weekend night market at Jonker St. where the road (and by lanes) are closed to traffic on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. He says it's a trial for 1 month to help alleviate traffic... Of course, both sides of the political divide have gone to town on this - DAP saying that this is typical UMNO petty style to punish the Chinese while pro-BN blogs are crowing "serve you right" or to that effect - it was a lot ruder, of course, I've toned it down 'cos I'm classy that way, you see? hehe Ok, so my take on the Jonker Walk market is that it's pretty ok.. nothing great, really...

While a few thousand people showed up, it was far below the expectations of 20,000 to 30,000 attendees. However, was it very surprising? I would say No, Not at all. Here's why: Rally fatigue : there's only so much emotion one can expend - I think most of the earlier attendees have more or less "moved on" and need to get on with their normal lives. It's very tiring to maintain the level of anger at the BN government. Partisan takeover : For those who attended Bersih, the main intention was to demand for electoral reform and to let the ruling party that the unbalanced odds in their favour is simply not fair. BUT that does not translate into automatic support to PR either. The current rallies are PR-related. I see myself as more pro-Malaysia than anything else, hence I wouldn't attend. Life takes over : Well, sooner or later, responsibilities at work and family take over. Holidays that were postponed now can be taken. Life goes on. But to the pro-BN...