Bruce

Today, July 20 2009 is the 36th anniversary of the passing away of Bruce Lee or Lee Siau Loong or Lee Jun Fan. Bruce was singularly responsible for producing a huge and immense love for martial arts movies in East Asia, including parts of S.E. Asia. So popular was he that the authorities had to introduce a law banning possession of the nunchaku in this country. This law is still in force today. And its very existence partly explains why there are so many murders and assaults and robberies with deadly weapons now seen to be so easily occurring today. Bruce was also seen as a person who held fast to basic principles no matter how tough things were and he was regarded as a person who would never surrender to either intimidation or bribery. These are the kinds of human traits that everyone should emulate and take up. He was not one to bow to others just because they were powerful or strong. He was prepared to be humble to others but only if they themselves were humble to him as well. He refused to live on other people's money even when he was passing through very difficult times and he preferred to deal with strangers from a position of strength whenever possible. His story is full of precious lessons that should never be missed but needed to be learnt instead. Bruce was born in the US in 1940 but he grew up in Hong Kong. He learnt kungfu from a local master while still attending school. Hong Kong at that time was just recovering from the effects of the Japanese occupation and the British colonial masters neither had the money nor the interest to improve the lot of the people. As a result organised crime and gangsterism became rife in the territory due to the poverty and poor living conditions. Bruce was not in any way insulated from all this and thus he had his fair share of scrapes with the undesirable characters of Hong Kong society. His parents feared for his life and eventually he was sent to the US to continue his studies. Going over to the US however did not mean that he would never again meet bad hats or social misfits anymore in his life. He was to cross paths with many such characters even long after he had landed there. He arrived in the US in 1959 and enrolled in a trade school but not before first embarking on a short career of taking up one brief job after another. After finishing trade school, he managed to enroll himself in the university in Seattle, Washington state where he studied philosophy. While still at university Bruce got involved in some encounters with some martial arts exponents and one of them eventually teamed up with him to set up classes to teach unarmed combat to other students. Along the way, Bruce had further personal encounters with many other exponents which eventually led him back to California for major competitions including the one at Long Beach. By this time he had abandoned his university studies and after winning his first important title he decided to set up a martial arts school in the area which soon came to the attention of the local kungfu associations. As a result Bruce decided to set out on his own path and declared his martial arts as Jeet Kune Do, a sort of combination of all the best of the prevailing martial arts then

present in the US. His skills brought him fame and contacts with Hollywood film promoters. He managed to star in a minor role in some TV serials but however, on the whole his dealings with all the Hollywood bigshots left him with a bad taste in the mouth and when he was offered a chance to participate in a Hong Kong movie project by Raymond Chow he quickly accepted. Bruce starred in several Raymond Chow productions starting with 'The Big Boss' (1971 a.k.a. 'Fists Of Fury'), 'Fist Of Fury' (1972 a.k.a. 'School Of Chivalry'), 'Return Of The Dragon' (1972 a.k.a. 'Way Of The Dragon'), 'Enter The Dragon' (1973) and 'Game Of Death' (1973). The last movie was never completed by Bruce as he had died on 20 July 1973 and it was released only in 1978 after a lookalike actor filmed the rest of the movie's uncompleted scenes. Bruce has remained as a cinema icon with few equals even after nearly forty years have passed by. He is well remembered for his bravery and courage both in real life and in his movies. He was not one to follow the crowd but he instead only followed his heart and his conscience. He refused to take advantage of others and he refused to allow others to take advantage of him too. He did not even allow his relatively small stature to stand in his way when he competed with or faced bigger opponents. He was truly determined to always succeed in all quests. Bruce is a really perfect example for many to follow. Today, only Pyongyang is the one among us all who dares to show anything that resembled the tough spirit demonstrated by Bruce. Despite handing over its nuclear dossier over to the other parties in the Six-nation Talks last June and blowing up the cooling tower at its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, Pyongyong has been denied a chance to savour peace and reconciliation. Instead it was forced to adopt a hard stance on account of the irresponsible behaviour of the George Bush-Christopher Hill-Tokyo clique. This clique has since been replaced by the Obama-Clinton-Tokyo-Seoul clique which has absolutely no desire to make peace with Pyongyang at all. This clique wants nothing except to wait out the imminent collapse of Pyongyang and seize the spoils. Only trouble is that the clique has not heard of Bruce Lee or Lee Siau Loong. Never surrender and never yield to the enemy who is really nothing but a coalition of demons and devils. In Pyongyang's case, these devils only know how to issue threats, whip up bellicose statements and clamour for sanctions night and day. They ceaselessly put forward unreasonable demands and bellow non-stop denunciations and just cannot wait to strangle a sure victim. Those devils in Washington, Tokyo and Seoul deserve to roast in Hell forever. Beijing should remember that in 1964 when the PRC's first nuclear device was tested the PRC was still not a member of the UNSC and like Pyongyang today, she was just as vulnerable to US-UN sanctions. Beijing should also remember that, like her in 1964, Pyongyang now has nuclear arms and the city has very close proximity to Pyongyang. So are Seoul and Tokyo. Do not say you do not know. Fans of Bruce know it all. You should too. Clinton, Obama, Gary Roughead, Lee Myung-bak and Aso and company are the kind of warmongering demons and devils typical of Bruce's

opponents in his much-loved movies. These devils are totally evil and deserve nothing except a good hard kick in the behind. Bruce, for sure, knew how to deliver such a kick during his time on earth. Long after his passing, Bruce is still well remembered. Pyongyang will never ever be denied this honour as well if push comes to shove. Be aware. Be fully aware. Be totally aware.