Farewell to 2004

The year 2004 ended with me being a happier, albeit financially much poorer, person.

I began to feel proud to be a Malaysian again. It is because I know now there are always upright and brave Malaysians who are willing and ready to rise up in defiance against injustice and oppression in the collective defence of human dignity and freedom.

As usual, I had my dinner at the Chinese coffeeshop, which sells Hailam chicken rice near St. Francis Xavier Church in Petaling Jaya, before I attended midnight mass for the 2004 Christmas with my wife and one of my elder sisters who works as an accountant in Kuala Lumpur.

I prayed for all the 'rioters', 'trouble-makers' and 'mob' at the Masjid Negara and the kaki lima and lorong-lorong along Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman in Kuala Lumpur.

That silent and holy night, I had the sweetest sleep in six years.