Of governing Pedra Branca and reminiscence of rice field

Those square shapes are actually paddy plants that been moved from the nursery before it is plucked and planted in rows and lines with 1 or 2 or maybe 3 strands of it in a single cluster. More room for them to grow when spaces are created in between the clusters. The nursery for breeding the plants is in another plot of land. They are taken care of right from the seeds until such time to move them over to another land plot like in the photo above, to be planted and to yield the rice when they mature.


Pedra Branca is better known as Pulau Batu Putih among Malaysians. It is a sad thing when we have lost our dominion over the tiny island to Singapore. A few lessons can be learnt from the incident. On the administrative level, the lesson is, do take care of our soil and never let people establish their footing for you will later loose the ownership.

For civilians like you and I, accept it wholeheartedly when we were once put the trust in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to tackle the dispute and they did their job, delivered the verdict and substantiated well legally.

Whilst it has been hard to accept the fact of loosing Pedra Branca as far as sovereignty and pride are concerned, perhaps it is not too hard on me personally as I still remain as the governor for the island – GABENOR PULAU BATU PUTIH. I am kidding! I know that’s silly but I love saying foolish thing like this. LOL!

Forget about Pedra Branca for a moment. Let me relate to the pictures that grace this entry (as you may later see my digression due to pivotal point of Singapore). These pictures are taken when I brought my family to Tanjung Karang a couple of months back. For those of you who are not aware that Tanjung Karang also does have rice fields, I want to assure you, it does. Their economy is not just confined to sea-related produce alone as the impression one might have. Or you may not even have any idea about it?!

The serenity and tranquility of the rice field brings me back to my childhood days. And not without the kind of special feeling that always comes knocking upon looking at it. On an occasion when I am all alone entertaining my own thoughts at the edge of the field while my eyes would go as far as my eyes can see, mixture of feelings would come without warning that makes my eyes water. I would see my frail body splattered with mud playing in the field. I could hear the echo of a cow mooing in the distance. I’d vividly hear grandpa shooing a school of birds to be away from the field. And I would see cynical smiles and contemptuous smirks from specters for no apparent reasons.

Yet I am there slightly get my pants soiled upon sitting on the grass and come to realization that it happened in the past decades when the giggles of my kids playing nearby overshadows.

I was staying with grandparents as dad passed away since I was small and mom had her own life somewhere. To make matter worst, we were staying with another two cousins under the same roof. Due to some ill twist of fate, my uncle had divorced his Singaporean wife. The wife refused to take the kids along and he was then facing concrete wall in juggling his life in Singapore between career and small kids under his arm. By the way, my uncle studied in Singapore when he was small, staying in there since and even calls Singapore as home until today. See here

Decision was made; sending his small kids under the care of my grandparents would be better idea, at the onus of poor old folks.

There we were, surviving by the day with least allotments to continue living. Somehow we pulled it through despite of the hitch, thanks to the fine nurturing that taught us to be not just tough but also not to be deprived from self-esteem. And it also circumstantially taught us to tell no difference between siblings and cousins.

Now all of us have grown up, became adults, have families and lead quite successful lives on our own standard, but the very lives we had under the care of grandparents is always special to us.

And rice field will always be dearly to me.



It's a classic design of a simple bridge made out of wood that normally would be constructed to connect between the dry land to rice field across the waterway. This sight can be seen everywhere in the area.


This is an essential element to grow rice – a waterway, to irrigate the land. With its presence, not only it is meant for practical reason but it adds serene and beauty to the area too.

_________________________________________________________