Thursday, March 23, 2006

Eerie

There's a story told by my ex-boss when we were down eating mee bandung somewhere deep in the heart of Muar. It was Ramadhan 2003, and since the demons were tied-up somewhere in hell, it was the best time of the year to tell each other ghost stories. The Malays believed that if you keep repeating or saying names of the ghost, it will materialized right in front of you. Of course, I'm a Muslim, Iblis can transform to any form that it wanted, and that's the thing that I believed in.

Anyway, as I've said before, it was Ramadhan, there were 8 of us, sitting down for a nice plate of mee bandung for iftar after a whole hard-day work. Doot and Min will be going back to KL that night to assist Aie, who fall sick. As both of them arrived in Muar under the roof of my car, they have to take the express bus, which will departure that night.

"Speaking of bus,"
My ex-boss says, who happened to be Doot's uncle.
"you've heard about your cousin's story?"
Doot shook his head, the only thing that he heard of was that his cousin falls sick for the whole week during his semester break (his cousin is in UTM Skudai).
"This is what happen...." his uncle started the story.
Doot's cousin, I can't remember his name, has booked a ticket for the trip back to KL. He was alone at that time, most of his friends has either going for a semester break trip or stayed at the hostel, it was just a week break. He went there according to the schedule and board the bus.
Unlike Northern and Eastern trip, Southern buses usually have only one driver, as the trips were usually short. As the buses were frequent, to have a full bus was rather hard, and in his cousin's case, there were only 4 passengers, including the cousin himself.
The trip was normal at first, because there were only 4 of them, the seats were all theirs. It was almost 12 at that time. The bus went smoothly until they arrived near the R/R of Pedas/Linggi exit.
Suddenly the bus driver shouted at them.
"Semua orang duduk depan."
They were, obviously, doesn't pay much attention to the "command", "why?" must have come across their mind. However, the decision to pay heed with the driver's shouting was enforced by a smell so foul that even a dead skunk could rise from it's grave. The bus has beginning to pick up speed.
The four of them, still confused, sit cuddled together on the two-seater (no, I don't know how many girls/boys, the boss won't tell me). Anyway, the 4 of them still searching with their eyes the cause of the smell when suddenly
"bammmm....."
They heard something falls at the back of the bus, something big as the noise was so loud. Naturally, as all other people will do, the first thing that you do when you heard a noise behind you was to turn your head behind, right? That was what they did, and for the cousin, that was the most worst decision that he has ever made at that time.
What they saw was a sight that they will never forget. A woman, if that thing could be called a woman, was standing at the back, her black hair was so long that it reached the floor, her nails were uncut and her fangs were horrifying. The 4 of them, sat back and were hugging each other now.
"Baca la apa apa yang patut."
The bus driver said and he pick up speed, looking straight ahead all the time. The Pontianak was laughing hysterically, her voice was shrill and sending shivers to each of their spine. Suddenly, the ghost were out and started to fly alongside the bus, getting head to head with the driver.
Then, it changes it's position as if a swimmer performing backstroke, without the stroke of course, shrieking all along, and left them still clutching each other.
It was quiet soon after. The driver said that those thing happened when there's not so many passengers in a bus. He doesn't know from where the thing came from, so were the other driver.
Until as of today, the cousin never took a night bus ever again.
I heard this story again when I've started working here. I've got an email from a Singaporean, who was on his way back to Singapore with his family after a visit to Malaysia. The place was the same, the pontianak was back, clinging on top of his car (it's a car this time), it was weird at first, he said, he thought there's a speedtrap in front as opposing cars giving him a high beam whenever his car passed by. He then concluded that whenever anyone using the PLUS road, at night and opposing cars started to high beam you, it could mean two things, either there's cop in front or something on top of the car.
That night, Doot and Min packed and I've send them to the station. Guess what? Including them, there's exactly 4 passengers on that bus. Coincidence? But then again, it's Ramadhan.

Monday, March 13, 2006

The Watcher, The Performer and The Enforcer

The parade was held once a week it seems nowadays. People will flock out after the Friday player, with copter buzzing on top of us during khutbah and prayer, I repeat, khutbah and prayer (yeah, drop a bomb while you are at it, please). I mean, I can’t even hear what the Imam’s said. Dahla tak pergi sembahyang, at least, show some respect la, ko tu Muslim gak.

On the way back to my office, the men in uniform have already form a shield line in front of the shopping complex, and yup, it reminds me of Rome very much. Am I excited? Oooo, hell yeah!!! My heart wanted to cry out a battle cry, my feet feels like charging and my arms feel like flying through, but of course, in reality, I just walked by as a passerby trying to light his cigarette, inhaling it with my heart beating, slowly accelerating itself as I’m going nearer to the door of my office.

The crowds were already building up. Malays, Chinese, Indians, Sikh, you name it, all of them were there, not as one, but divided into two, the watcher and the performer, and of course, the enforcer as well.

Let me tell you through the eyes of the watcher. Why do we watch? Why were we there in the first place? Okay, how many of you out there have seen the enforcer brought out about 10 trucks, 6 full with men armed to the teeth, two small bringing special forces, one truck with water hose and one commanding vehicle? Oh yeah, have I mentioned the helicopter too? One watcher exclaimed (screaming)

“ I HAVE NEVER SEEN A HELICOPTER THIS CLOSE BEFORE!!!”

It was close. When I went to my office on the 20th floor, it was below me, hahaha, I’m flying!!!! The trees were swaying back and forth, left and right with some of the branches falling out of the trees. And the noise!! It was hard to hear even when the person was beside you.

That’s the first reason. The second one was we are not in Korea, or Japan, or US, most of us haven’t even been out of Malaysia before, so how many have seen a riot, okay la, not a riot, at least the enforcers sprayed the hose to the performer? Not all of us right? Frankly, it didn’t even broadcast in the local tv, that’s why people watched the scene as close as 10 meters away, they didn’t perform, just stand and watch, hoping and hoping that something would happen.

Something did happen. A minute before the performer arrived, an Indonesian worker were happily doing his job to beautify the small garden in front of my office. Then, the stampede came, half of the new plants were dead, the wet cement has to be cemented back. It was a disaster for him. When I was about to go home that evening, he and his supervisor were sulking, watering the plant back to life, it was to late anyway.

One of my colleagues gave his opinion to me that evening. What if the enforcer weren’t there? Would the watcher be there? Would the performer be that many? If the enforcer were not there, could there be someone that would say

“Boringla, takder orang nak dengar, jom balik.”
It could you know.