Pergi Bala, or How I Misheard A Song

Recently I was attending an official function.

We wanted to celebrate our athletes who had done well in Rio. And so we invited them to come for a special dinner. All the athletes who had gone to Rio came, including the silver medalists.

Their names were called one by one, and they marched in to jubilant cheers. Even the ones that weren't so famous got the cheers. But not many people were clapping, because many people were taking photos.

We need to learn how to hear the important messages in life.

We stood close to the red carpet, and one of my friends asked us to turn our backs to the carpet so that he could take a group selfie with the athletes walking in the background. But once the athletes started walking in, lots of people started crowding behind us, and blocked the view of the athletes. So we stopped trying to do that.

Then I heard it.

First I heard Jalur Gemilang, one of the national anthems. And then I thought it was over. And then I thought I heard the people on stage singing a weird song....

"Pergi Bala .... Pergi Bala .... Pergi Bala ... Jalur Gemilang!"

Pergi Bala?!

That means "Go, Bala!" in the Malay language.

A few seconds later I realised that they were singing, "Berkibarlah!"

"Berkibar" is a word used to describe a flying flag. And "Berkibarlah" is like saying, "Let it fly!"

But for a few seconds there I was wondering why Bala became so popular, and which Bala it was. "Bala tentera" maybe. "Bala" is usually an Indian boys' name. But "bala tentera" means "army".

Sheesh.

I have a friend who sometimes "mishears" intentionally.

The other day he came to my office and someone mentioned that she uses Maybank, not Hong Leong Bank. He suddenly had this crooked smile and perked up at the mention of the word "Maybank". 

He said, "You mean that you like Maybank because it indicates something?"

The poor lady was clueless about his meaning. "I don't know what you mean?"

"Maybank sounds like, may bang... you know?"

I told him that the lady couldn't understand his joke, it was too advanced. He winked at me and pointed his index finger like he was shooting a gun. Neither one of us explained the joke to the poor lady.

But he's a real firecracker, that friend. He likes to challenge people to a debate once in a while. Sometimes they run away from him. Even the well-intentioned people sometimes can't take the way he talks. But that's just him.

He's a brilliant guy with a Form 5 education. He always likes to point at his education. "It's one of my unique strengths." He's proud that he can out-reason and out-debate the higher educated fools in society.

I think that he's still finding his way in society. I think that he's got a special purpose in life, maybe he hasn't seen it just yet.

I see so much potential in him, and yet he seems to wilfully mishear things. And that causes him to go about life in a certain way.

Maybe he's hearing "Pergi Bala" when he should be hearing "Berkibarlah". And as a result his internal programming has gone wonky.

And if someone could tell him that his purpose in life was to "Berkibarlah", perhaps he might finally find the one true purpose that he has been looking for all this time.

The secret of success is constancy to purpose - Benjamin Disraeli.

Are you mishearing the important messages in your life?

Maybe you have been too busy. Every day you're inundated with e-mail messages and telephone calls and countless other memos. So much so that you sometimes miss your lunch because you just forgot.

Maybe you are always reading and listening to stuff in your free time. But you never take the time to quieten down and meditate, to just regroup and recenter yourself. So much so that you know a lot about what other people are saying, but you never know what you think.

Maybe you just feel too tired to think about what people say to you. You take it at face value, and whatever they say, you treat it literally. So much so that you never think about why they said it. And what they could be implying.

Maybe you're mishearing the important messages in your life. Maybe you're hearing the words just fine, but in your mind you're registering something else. Just like when I heard "Pergi Bala" when I should have heard "Berkibarlah".

When I went for a rally recently, I was impressed by the speaker who came from Bandung, Indonesia. So impressed that I went online and watched one of his recent sermons. I was excited to see that he had an art show in town, and he would be giving an artist's talk. Two days, two times each day. That makes four talks. 

I screenshot the YouTube video and saved the picture of his art show. I shared it in the WhatsApp group. I thought I was telling my friends something they didn't know. 

"Who is that?" said one.

"Not the same guy!" said another.

"It is the same guy," I said. "It's from his YouTube channel."

And then someone said, "Yes it's him, he mentioned it during his opening speech."

That one guy had been listening. He had been paying attention. And he had heard the speaker's message.

The rest of us were there physically. We were listening. But we didn't hear the message. We just heard what we wanted to hear. "Oh, this part isn't important, let's chit chat first. We'll pay attention later." 

That's not right. When somebody flies all the way from Bandung to come and speak to you, you should realise that he's made a bit more sacrifice than you have. He's taken a real risk.

QZ8501, the AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore, never made it to its destination.

In 2014 there was an AirAsia flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore. It was only a short flight. But 40 minutes into the flight, all contact with the plane was lost. The plane had crashed and all passengers had died.

That's the kind of risk that the speaker is taking when he boards a plane. The risk of never reaching the destination.

I pray that he reaches home safely. He gave a great talk about renewing our faith. And a part of his talk really touched my heart. He said, "Those who have followed Him and then unfollowed Him, now is your time to refollow Him." 

I'm following Him from afar. Tailing Him like a secret agent. Can't get too close otherwise He'll know what I'm up to.

In the meantime, I'm keeping my ears open. And listening for big words like "Berkibarlah". So that I can tell others the message when they ask about "Pergi Bala".

Be sure to listen out for the important messages in life. 

Thanks for reading.

Read some other pieces from me:

1. How to show up.
2. The man who betrayed his city.
3. Do not impose your religion on others.
4. Three lessons from Absalom's life and death.