Gangsta city, Jay Bee (another tribute to Johor Bahru)
By Azly Rahman
Yo .. yo … imaginary powers that be
You’re angry reading the poem “Sin City, Jay Bee”?…
You feel violated seems to me
Let me tell you a story
Lost I am in this sin city Jay Bee
T’was a decade before 2020
Was my last visit to my homies
When they said the city will be safe and stress-free
This regime’s election guarantee
Yo Jay Bee
Wassup yo Jay Bee
From Ulu Tiram to Taman Pelangi
I feel like I am in Gangsta city
Worse than in Harlem and East Philly
Crime City Gangsta city, what I knew of Jay Bee
Beautiful names you have
Those ending in “Indah” and “Jaya”
Of “Tamans” and “Kampongs” and “Wadis” entire
Beautiful names yo
Ah.. Ulu Tiram
You are no valuable oyster
Ah … Pelangi Indah
You are no rainbow as I see her
Ah … Masai
You are a shame to that African tribe
Ah … Setia Indah
You are not loyal to those elections promises
Ah .. Johor Jaya
What victory lies in snatch thieves one too many?
I love the sound of that name Tampoi
Signifying the psychopathology of the politics of the new and old
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
Straight from the conveyor belt of progress progress progress
Yo gangsta city Jay Bee
Wassup with you chillin’ in your crib?
What justice to humanity is this “ma G”?
As you failed the youth yearning for a life of sanity?
Cybernetic technology
Cybercafes aplenty
Gangsta city’s mantra of informational technology
Plagiarized from Cyberjaya and Silicon Valley
Those who disagreed with that poem “Sin City”
Don’t get me mad, yo
Don’t get me mad, yo
Don’t get me mad, yo
Just clean up MY city
Its spirit, mind, and body
What has become of this beautiful city
I grew up in
safe and happy
T’is a decade before 2020 we have these killing the city;
Snatch thieves way too many
Mat and Minah Rempits those one-wheeled hellraisers and damn happy
Foul-mouth kids multiplying linguistically
Gambling places way way too many
Glue sniffing youth stoned cold crazy
Decaying city traffic crawls like crazy
Sin city gangsta city Jay Bee not safe to raise families
Hills shaved bald for housing projects deforestation what-me-worry
Yo yo yo gangsta city Jay Bee
Shape up yo
Do you want Lee Kuan Yew to tell you what to do?
Or New York Mayor Guiliani to give a free advice on how to run the city?
Don’t get mad … you servants of the people imaginary powers that be
Get cracking with your job in running this city
So that I may be proud again of what this city means to me
And my grandchildren and yours will not beg on the streets across Johor Disney
Gangsta city, sin city, Jay Bee … to be or not to be …
OUR USUAL REMINDER, FOLKS:
While the opinion in the article is mine,
the comments are yours;
present them rationally and ethically.
AND — ABOLISH THE ISA — NOW!
