Archive for June 2008
Suleiman The Lion I : The Tiger Trail
Okay people, now some of you know about “The Project” and some of you don’t.
Anyway, just to keep it simple, today I’m going to introduce most of the permanent characters in the 3-story Suleiman The Lion series, the first being The Tiger Trail. Be warned though, it’s a violent story with the big cats and even the rabbits squaring off against hordes of German Shephards and Rottweilers.
So if you’re ever wondering what 2 rabbits do when they’re cornered by a group of around 20 German Shephards and Rottweilers, my story will provide the answer. : )
Suleiman (Male Lion) : The most powerful of all in the kingdom of animals, Suleiman commands the respect of all animals that he comes into contact with. Strong, brave and powerful, he provides excellent leadership at all times. He does however, have a reckless streak and love plunging himself right into danger for fun but always manages to pull out alive. And despite being so powerful, he rarely displays his might unless absolutely needed and in fact, many rabbits take to him for protection and especially in the place of Chisa (who affectionately calls him “my favourite cat”) hang around him for fun.
ShahJahan (Male White Tiger) : Born and bred in a zoo, ShahJahan spent his entire life behind caged walls until he unexpectedly wins his freedom when his carriage is derailed during his transfer to another location. Initally unsure of his new setting in the wild, ShahJahan however has proven himself to be quite able to adapt to his new surroundings. He frequently dreams of a Tigress who he has never met but would never leave him alone when he sleeps. His unexpected freedom has not gone unnoticed however.
Sanya (Female Leopard) : Fiece and fearless, Sanya is a no-nonsense leopard more often than not perfers to be alone in the confines of the treetops. She has a do-it-alone attitude than sometimes unintentionally put others in trouble but she still will team up with the others when required to face a common threat.
Angel (Female Cheetah) : Suleiman’s hunting partner, Angel is sweet and has a pleasent personality. Very much aware that she is the weakest cat in terms of physical strength, Angel nevertheless tries her best to compensate this with her willingness to sacrifice herself when needed and is more than willing to go the extra mile for her friends. Despite occasionally being apprehensive of some of Suleiman’s wild plans, Angel deep down trusts him deeply and listens to him at all times.
Boris (Male Rabbit) : Boris is a Russian rabbit who speaks Russian and who’s English carries a heavy Russian accent. Cute and adorable, the white-furred, green-eyed Boris is nevertheless an intelligent rabbit who is not afraid to go up against much more powerful predator-type animals. Although he and Suleiman have the same intelligence level, Boris’ intelligence is much more pronounced due to his weaker build, thus forcing him to use his head more when dealing with threats. A character who is not to missed, Boris’ personality is probably one of the most interesting especially when he has to deal with hordes and hordes of dogs who have no other ambition than to kill them.
Chisa (Female Rabbit) : Chisa has blue-grey fur and blue eyes and absolutely loves being around Suleiman whom she affectionately terms “my favourite cat”. She loves to play and sing and leads a pretty carefree life.
Ghost (Male Owl) : Ghost is the only character who knows anything about humans. He is most useful as “air support” as he tracks down targets or locates the others. He is not a major permanent character in story I.
Li and Wong (Clouded Leopard and Fishing Cat) : Best of friends, Li and Wong appear at the end of story I and introduce the group to China. Their personalities will be further revealed in story II which is titled Paw Prints In The Far East.
Stop killing our national language!!
Alright, I know that this is kind of ironic. Talking about saving Bahasa Malaysia, our national language in an English written article, by a person whose first language is English, in an English language blog and while listening to an English song (Linkin Park’s Point Of Authority for those who are curious 
) .
Anyway, the unimportant stuff aside, I find that there is currently something suspiciously like a state-sponsored attempt to undermine our very own national language in the print media. The reason why I say the words “state-sponsored” is that it’s common knowledge that most, if not all of the main print media in this country are owned by either a Barisan Nasional component party ( The Star by MCA for example) or in some funny twisted around the bush, across the road and around the fence kind of way by a party member of one of the component parties.
Over the years, it’s disheartening to see a great many of perfect Malaysian words being replaced with words that have been Bahasa Malaysianised . It’s terrible disgrace and a terrible disrespect to our national language. Here are some examples with the original word in bold while the “fake” word in brackets :
Penjara ( Jel )
Temubual ( Interviu )
Tulen / Asli ( Ori )
Permaidani ( Karpet )
Panggung Wayang ( Sinema )
Well, I don’t want to bore you with a long list so I guess with these 5 as starters, you’ll be able to guess a few more examples. It’s bad enough Jawi has been almost wiped out (although I’m proud to say I can read Jawi very well), now this? What are they doing to our language?
What are the powers-that-be, namely the Government and the Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka doing about this?
One question : How can we expect others ( read : Foreigners ) to respect us when we can’t even respect our own national language? We should be proud of Bahasa Malaysia even if it is not the first language for some of us Malaysians. I’m proud of it, are you?
Pictures thanks to :
http://www.ourlocalstyle.com/images/uploadImages/20060316/utamakanBahasaMelayu.jpg [Original Site]
