Counting days, and of endless complaints!

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Its 19 Ramadhan 1436H, 6th July 2015. I am now counting days. Am heading back home for Eid insyaAllah. International flight departing from Lagos on  Friday 10th July at 2PM. Intially I booked the ticket from PHC to Lagos on the morning of 10th itself. I will reach there around 11AM and just ample time to check in for my international flight.

However...... here, being Nigeria, things are not always going on as planned. I have been lucky so far, such that I've never encountered major delay, but this time, I don't want to risk it. Already requested for my flight to be changed to Thursday. So insyaAllah, by Thursday morning, I'll be leaving PHC, spend a night in Lagos and head off as planned on Friday.

My mind is really not here anymore. Seriously..hahaha.. hati dah separuh kat Malaysia. What more seeing people postings pictures of kuih raya, lagi la melonjak-lonjak nak balik la ni jugak. Ingat nak buat jugak sejenis kat sini... tapi malas la pulak. Dah berapa kali thaw butter..masuk freeze balik, esoknya thaw lagi...malamnya masuk freeze balik. Kalau butter tu boleh cakap, memang dia dah bahasa habih-habih..hahaha..

On a more serious note. At the point of writing this, Greece has voted 'No' for the payout step by IMF. That decisions drive down many currencies, in particular Euro, and MYR is not left out as well. The currency drop, petrol price increase, in Malaysia people talk about GST more than they talk about Allah SWT (nauzubillahi min zalik). People are complaining left, right and centre. And honestly, my only complain is about all of these complainers. How people are being so negative nowadays. I sometimes feels like screaming to these people asking them to just shut up. The complains does not do anything, be it justified or not.

I found this online. Will share this with my fellow complainers friend. InsyaAllah.
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Perfecting the Art of (not) complaining

He is Allah, the One. Allah, whom all creatures need. He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none comparable unto Him (Surah Ikhlas). Perfecting the Art of (not) complaining By: Adam Mohomed Sait Have you ever found yourself falling into the habit of complaining, whether the complaint was valid or not? Bint Abdelhamid shares thirteen ways to perfect the art of (not) complaining. They say that “misery loves company,” and it’s true. I spent some time in an educational institute overseas, where the teaching lay somewhere between mediocre and bad, and the institute policies were even worse. It helped, in a manner of speaking, to sit down with other sisters in the institute and outline all our misery and woes. It made us feel like we weren’t alone. One of the sisters with us was several years younger than most, and rarely engaged in our “miserable company” sessions. It was obvious she understood all the institute’s shortcomings, but between finding other things to say and knowing it would all be over in a few months’ time, when we could move up to a different, betterrun part of the institute, she managed to always stay positive. We talked to this young sister once, about her life and family. She was around fifteen years old at the time, and the eldest of three siblings. Their mother was mentally ill, incapable of caring for herself, let alone her family or children; and their father spent most of his time taking care of his ill wife. So caring for the younger siblings, seeing that they were well-fed and getting along in school, among other things, all fell largely on this fifteen-year-old’s shoulders. It was clear that this sister had a lot to deal with, but she never complained. Even when she described her life, her mother, her responsibilities, she described them matter-of-factly, as simply a part of her existence. If anyone had the right to complain about something, among our gathering, it was this sister; but she never complained. Unfortunately, we live in a culture of complaining, where it’s easy to strike up a conversation on how ridiculously high the prices are or how bitter cold the weather is. Sometimes, we complain about petty things, and sometimes about larger ones – but whatever it is, we find it easier to pick out the faults of our everyday lives and situations, even when we have so much to be thankful for. In an effort to train myself to complain less (and hopefully squash the habit of complaining altogether), here is list for thirteen ways to complain less: 1. Make your complaint to Allah When Yusuf (AS) was separated from his father, and Ya’qoob (AS) lost his eyesight due to sorrow, Ya’qoob (AS) said, “I only complain of my suffering and my grief to Allah…” [12:86]. Allah is the All-Capable, and the One Who can ease your affairs, so if there is something troubling you, make your complaint to Him, (SWT). 2. Only complain to the people if complaining is beneficial This may be to get one of your rights, or the right of someone else you know – sometimes, complaining is necessary. Be as kind and polite about it as possible, and don’t overdo it. 3. Talk about practical solutions Rather than making your complaint a constant, endless whine, talk about practical solutions to the problem you’re facing. Is it a problem without a visible, practical solution? Then make your complaint to Allah! 4. Let the small things pass Anas ibn Malik said, “I served the Prophet (SAW) for twenty years. He never said ‘uff’ to me, and he never said about anything I had not done, ‘Why didn’t you do it?’ or about something I had done, ‘Why did you do that?’” [Muslim]. Most things are small enough that we can just let them go. 5. Speak about Allah’s favours Rather than picking out everything that’s wrong in your life, try picking out some of the things that are right, and speaking about them. Allah (SWT) says, “But as for the favor of your Lord, report [it].” Doing this should not only help you avoid complaining, but you’ll also be fulfilling a command from Allah! 6. Remember those less fortunate One way to jolt yourself back to reality and appreciate Allah’s blessings over you is to remember those less fortunate than you. Read about others suffering in Asia, Africa, and all over the world. Read about orphans in Palestine. Read about the homeless in your own country, your own city – interact with them if possible. Don’t drown yourself in despair, but use these stories as a means to be grateful and to thank Allah for what you have. 7. Reduce the stress in your life You may be complaining because you have a sizeable amount of stress in your life. You need an outlet, and that’s understandable. Stop multitasking for a bit; take some quiet time out to relax: sit in a darkened room, breathing deeply for a few minutes; go for a walk outdoors; listen to some soothing anasheed, or read some Qur’an. 8. Read stories from the seerah Take note from the words and ways of the Messenger (SAW), the sahabah, and the righteous generations after them. Learn from their manners and etiquettes in speech. 9. Talk about other useful matters You don’t have to talk about the mundane things in your life that drive you crazy. Instead, talk about larger things that excite you: new knowledge you’ve learned; projects you’d like to work on; a wonderful nature trip that made you contemplate the beauty of Allah’s creation. 10. Tell funny stories (without lying) There will still be time for chit-chat with friends and family. Instead of worrying them with complaints they can’t help with, tell them funny stories from work and life, cute things your kids said. Humour is a wonderful way to make everyone feel better! 11. Recognise complaining as a habit Monitor your speech from time to time. Do you find that complaining is more of a habit than a useful endeavor? Recognising it as a habit is an important first step in learning to squash it. 12. Find better company Do you find yourself complaining more when you’re around certain people? Maybe it’s because you have little in common with these people, or because they’re uninterested in being positive and thankful. If that’s the case, then it’s time to find better company, company which is a lot less “miserable.” 13. Talk less In general. If you’ve tried everything you can think of, and still find yourself complaining too much, maybe it’s because you’re talking long after you’ve run out of things to say. Don’t let the shaytaan lead you into useless or harmful talk. Instead, keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah. Repent to Him often. Thank Him often. Praise Him often. Send salutations upon the Messenger (SAW) often. When I think back to my time at that institute, I realise it’s too late to “undo” the complaining I once did. What I can do now is use that experience as a stepping stone towards complaining less and being more thankful. And instead of concentrating on all the faults of this institute (enumerating them won’t help anyone here), I can tell, instead, about that wonderful fifteen year old sister I met there, about how her more-difficult-life but complaint-free-tongue put me to shame, and about how her patience inspired me to seek the art of not complaining. Original source click HERE.  Till next time, wassalam.

Of Rosmah, Racism & Al Quran

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh....

For the past 2-3 weeks, I have been one of the only 2 Malaysian staffs left in the camp. The rest went back to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The other guy is an Iban, so he will go back to celebrate Gawai I guess.
Yesterday morning, I saw one of the guys returning back to work, excited to see a fellow Malaysian returning to work after holiday, I immediately asked, "How's Malaysia?" . His quick reaction was to open up the whole story of Malaysia is bad, government is corrupt, how people are being ridiculous in reacting to a certain video made by a certain somebody and the whole thing took what it seems to me like forever. I can't remember how, but later Rosmah's name got dragged into it, plus the story of back when the KLCC was built. I was dumbfounded.

Seriously I don't like to talk about things that has no end, where you will not get any positive outcome from it. Alhamdulillah I managed to divert the conversation into focusing with my latest challenge at work. The conversation seems not so interesting anymore, well, at least to him..hahaha..

Mental note, lain kali jangan tanya "How's Malaysia?" that would just open up a whole grandmother story. My initial intention was to ask the general condition, weather, traffic jam, sales, what they bring back from Malaysia, that's it. Who knew any questions about Malaysia has to be answered only with political response...hahahaha...seriously, get a life people :)

A friend shared this in FB, and to me its a joke, a point of sarcasm, if I may add somebody that came up with this definitely has a good sense of humor. So, without much thought, I shared that as well. It is true, in Malaysia, the sense that I get is, if you are a Malay, and you defend Islam and whatever things associated with Malay, you are definitely a racist. Dr M has been called racist many a times simply because he speaks up and call us Malay to work harder, he pointed out our weaknesses, he put policies to help us achieve what ever that can be achieved, and yet is being called a racist.

Do these people know what is the definition of a racist in the first place? According to :

Oxford dictionary : ra¦cist
(NOUN) a person who believes that a particular race is superior to another:
(ADJECTIVE) having or showing the belief that a particular race is superior to another:

dictionary.refence. com : rac·ist [rey-sist]
1. noun: a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that a certain human race is superior to any or all others.
2. adjective: of or like racists or racism: racist policies; racist attitudes.

Has Dr M made a statement that we Malays are better than the rest? NO, he keeps on pointing our weaknesses, and he made statements to make the Malay realized that we have to work harder, gain grounds in economics. If at all, he created policies that benefited Malays more than the rest, that is because he realized we need that extra push and help to excel, even more so emphasizing the point that indeed we are weak.

That is not racism, its favoritism, get your labeling correct people :) Racism is when you banned certain race from certain rights because you think your race is far better than the rest (apartheid in South Africa is one obvious example). Have we separated the seats in the park for Malays and non Malays? Do you have to use different transport, live on the other side of the town? or even can't access to just any public toilet when nature calls? You were not treated like that right? Racism leads to discrimination, where you get almost NOTHING. Don't tell me you did not get anything from Malaysia for the past 50 odd years. Joke!!

Indeed UiTM is only for Bumis, but how many other local public university that is open to all Malaysian? Do you say that because the rest are being denied the rights to study in UiTM, therefore, we Malays are racist? Weh..korang tak pandang pon ITM tu dulu. We only offer diploma courses to poor Malays back in the 70's, anybody who get accepted to ITM was deemed as second class. I've been there, I know that. Now that it has obtained the university status (Thanks Tun, I was there when it was declared, historic moment at Stadium UiTM), now you want you share? Go fly kite.

Ok fine, tutup cerita bab ni, as I said before, we are getting no where. Last but not least, the definitely the one and only book that we should be referring to. The noble Quranul Kareem. I have subscribed to this weekly installation of simple learning of Al-Quran from Quran Weekly , link updated on the top right hand corner. (Though its for daily dose, but no harm in going there on weekly basis :). Their video ranges from 6-10 minutes and sent every week on Tuesdays. Alhamdulillah, I like the way it is presented, simple enough for somebody that does not have memory like an elephant (that's me!!). Highly recommended for you to sign up as well.

I leave you with a hadith from the Prophet Muhammad SAW (sallallahu 'alaihi wasallam - praise be upon him)

The Prophet Muhammad  said: O people!  Your God is one and your forefather (Adam) is one.  An Arab is not better than a non-Arab and a non-Arab is not better than an Arab, and a red (i.e. white tinged with red) person is not better than a black person and a black person is not better than a red person, except in piety [Narrated in Mosnad Ahmad, #22978] 

Tanda Putera - Siapa makan cili dialah terasa pedasnya....!!

Assalamulaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh...

In Astro there was commercial of yet another Indon movie, Ainun  & Habibie. Being a fan, I subscribed when I have the time. The story was about the former President Habibie, how his story from being a young engineer in foreign land, till he was called back to serve his country. I began to wonder when would Malaysia made such film. Films that would honour the prolific figures that help in developing the country in the early days. Little did I know, there was such effort and it was held back by our very own country men. Its a shame, all effort are being put forward to stop the release of this movie.

I salute the director, thank you Shuhaimi Baba, put taking the pain to make this movie.

I watched this on Merdeka eve. Saat di mana anak-anak muda kita berpeleseran menunggu detik 12 malam, dengan barisan konsert dan tayangan bunga api, dengan pergaulan bebas sampai ke jam entah  berapa pagi (I know....I've been there - the stay out late part that is..)

I first came to know about this movie when it came out in Utusan Malaysia that DAP banned the show in Penang. Why such pushback? they were claiming that this movie is racist. Really? I have to see to believe it, and based on my non-expert opinion, its a simple history movie.

History has to be told, else, we would be complacent and the events will repeat itself. What happened then, was the radicals and the subversives that cause chaos in the country, they incite hatred among the people, and what better way to do that? of course by attacking the racial unity. We all know that DAP was founded based on communism and it is written in history that they were behind those chaos that leads to May 13th incident. So happened that was the incident that re-joined Tun Dr Ismail and Tun Abdul Razak hand in hand to save Malaysia. The rest of the story revolves around the friendship of those two figures and the sacrifices made for the nation.

Its not a film against the Chinese, we all know not all Chinese are for communism, and we also have Malays as few of the top leader in PKM. Jadi, kalau ada yang nak melatah bila tengok filem ini, saya rasa yang paling cepat terasa ialah komunis. Yang DAP zaman sekarang nak terasa kenapa? Apakah mereka masih mengamalkan fahaman komunis? atau mereka memang tidak pernah mengubah arah haluan perjuangan mereka setelah sekian lama?

Sejarah tetap tinggal sejarah. Harus kita ingat, masih ada element yang hendak meruntuhkan perpaduan rakyat Malaysia, menidakkan kedudukan orang Melayu, elemen itu sangat jelas sampai ke hari ini. Melayu mudah lupa, kata Dr M. Sebab itulah kita harus diingatkan sepanjang masa akan sejarah hitam ini. Agar kita lebih berhati-hati dan bersedia menghadapi segala kemungkinan.

Yang saya sedih bila tengok komen di FB, anak muda melayu kita yang terikut-ikut mencela filem ini. Saya kira Shuhaimi Baba tidak perlukan penghargaan tinggi melangit, cukup sekadar generasi zaman sekarang mengambil iktibar dari sejarah lampau. Yang filem rempit lah, gangster jalanan la, dan segala macam cerita hantu yang tidak membangun minda disanjung-sanjung, award berderet-deret, perlakuan mereka dipraktikkan dalam kehidupan seharian....tapi filem sejarah sebegini di caci maki...apa nak jadi dengan generasi melayu zaman sekarang. They are fighting the communist battle for them, and the communist didn't even have to do a thing. Poke a little bit here and there and there you have it, the young Malays will go all out for them. Its downright shameful.

Ya Allah, kurniakan kesedaran kepada generasi ini, untuk membezakan mana yang haq, mana yang batil...amin..

Getting the Basics Right

Today as usual while driving back to KL, I tuned in to IKIM just to keep me company and prevent me from falling asleep behind the wheels. Occasionally there will always be one or two new things that I can get out of the ~2 hours listening.

And it was no difference today. The topic of discussion was ‘Puasa Ramadhan dan Hikmahnya’. Quite a few times I was shaking my head in slight disbelief when I listened to the question asked and also the answer given. 

Issue 1:

A caller asked how to deal with foreign (I assumed non-Muslim) colleague that eats and drinks in front of him in this Holy month of Ramadhan. To me this question is in a way insulting the mentality and aqidah of a Muslim. I would understand if that question came from a kid who just started to fast, a 7 year old maybe. But the caller definitely sounds more matured than that, not less than 40, if I heard correctly. Living in Malaysia, we Muslims especially Malays always expected to be understood all the time. Remember, there is not even 70% of Muslim in Malaysia. We should have learnt how to deal with this issues right from young. Maybe because I grew up in KL, hence I faced this challenge way when I was in primary school. We learn to adapt, and refrain ourselves from being tempted to eat/drinks despite having your classmates occasionally sipping plain water in the class.

And even if you were not exposed to non-Muslim in school (say you come from all Malay school), surely at some point in your life you have encountered these challenges, at work, just walking on the road, everywhere..and by right it should not be an issue. I guess it’s important to get this value right, why we fast, why others don’t and how do we face them comes Ramadhan. It is not supposed to be an issue anymore for an adult. The challenge to curb smoking habit sounds way more reasonable for an adult here.

Issue 2:

A caller asked on what the hukum for a Muslim to be working in a restaurant during a fasting month and serve food to the non-Muslim customers in daytime during Ramadhan. The question is valid, but the answers that gets me shaking my head again. According to the Mursyid, there is no specific ‘hukum’ be it haram or makhruh. He addresses the issue by advising if at all, avoid doing so. According to him, others should understand the Muslim are fasting and should not be put in that position that is so ‘low’ –  to serve the non-Muslim during the fasting months. To me this is total bollocks.  I used to wait tables in Pizza Hut for 6 months after SPM, and I happened to work during the fasting months as well. I never felt low at all.

A person chose to work in the restaurant should know and understand well that the job scope is to serve food, regardless to whom, and at the stipulated working hours. To me, that is no issue at all, and what more that the Mursyid himself say there is no specific hukum for that conduct. The question of putting the Muslim’s position so low because he is serving the non-Muslim customer during fasting months is not as issue at all!! Its his job, and he gets paid for it. He earns his income fair and square, the customer should get the service that he paid for. There is not even an issue of undermining a Muslim’s faith during the transaction. To me, the Mursyid’s statement is not correct, and may cause understanding if a non-Muslim were to hear it.   

We live in multi religion society and we should stop to expect people to understand us more just because this is a Muslim country. Get our faith right, our basics aligned and most of the misconception can be corrected. Seek to understand, then to be understood (says Stephen Covey.. hehehe..)

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Selingan

My sis who teaches at a SJKC in Sungkai holds this conversation in her class last month (not exactly, but somehow like this…)

Sis: Siapa tahu bulan depan bulan apa?

Student A: Bulan 8 cikgu

Student B: bulan kemerdekaan cikgu

Sis: Betul, lagi bulan apa?

Student C: Saya tau, bulan puasa

Sis: betul…kamu tahu apa itu bulan puasa? (and she starts explaining that we cannot eat at daytime and only eats at night time)

Student X: Ooo.. kalau macam tu saya belanja cikgu babi panggang…

Sis: (*^&^%R$%#^*&*&^%R^%$@$ (she just laughed)

p/s: you could not blame the kids, they honestly don’t know that Muslim don’t eat pork, somebody has to tell them.

Alternatif to 'Bersih' ?

So what's up on 9th July this year? Here are things that I am considering to do and maybe you have some other alternatives too!!

1. Visit my friend who has just given birth last 1 month, and 9th July is her birthday!!
2. Attend studies on Surah Yusoff by Al-Khauthar Institute - 9th-10th July
3. Attend Mukhayam Ikram at D'Kok Eco Camp, Kg Talang, Kuala Pilah - 9th-10th July
4. My alma mater get together organised by BBGS OGA - which is now canceled due to the so called 'Bersih'!!
5. My colleague's doa selamat in PD for his new bundle of joy - 9th July
6. Movie catch up marathon, since I have been enslaving myself (yeah rite!!) for the past two months
7. 'Bersih'kan my own house, since I have been neglecting them for more than just 2 months!!

That is all that I can think for now. High chances that I am going to no 2, insyaAllah...No 6 and 7 can still wait ( I guess.. :P )

I am a believer in democracy, by all means, say your piece, make yourself heard, fight for your rights, yada-yada... just not at the expense of some other people's time, money and convenience. Also safety at some point. We know how the last version turned out. The KL city area are filled with garbage, some stalls/shops are vandalised, and I don't how many businesses were interrupted for the day. Some may say that we pay good money (tax) so its DBKL's job to clean up the city, yes and no. They are paid to keep the city clean, but that does not mean they are to service at every citizen's havoc behaviour comes once in a while when these kinds of demonstration takes place. Its a pitiful sight of Dataran Merdeka, Masjid Jamek and all sorrounding area once all these gathering dispersed. I've seen the amount of garbage, and these people wants to 'Bersih' the system, they might as well start with their own behaviour.

There are alternatives to get your message accross, I just don't think a street rally which comes to all these consequences is one of them. Since there is a lot of intellegent folks that is engineering the rally, why not come up with a better, safer, cleaner, and more effective approach?

Or the least they can do, is proper control of their people during the rally. The last thing we want is a clip of Malaysian people doing all sorts of funny things with KL landmarks as background, and some very wrong headlines comes out in the CNN and BBC.

p/s: Challenge will resume tomorrow ;)

Of Family and Stuffs

My younger sis who just graduated from a Maktab in KL has been posted to a school in Sungkai, Perak. I have not been there yet. She was a bit down when she came to know about the school. Its a small town chinese school. Based on her senior's experience, mode of communication is only Mandarin, and even when they hold meeting, Mandarin is used. So the non Mandarin speaking teacher is left clueless (be it Indian or Malay). So much of 1Malaysia spirit huh?

The senior couldn't stand the condition and nothing much he can do about it, so he asked to further studies. There are also other teacher giving tips to my sister, if you teach BM, that is all you can do. Don't even bother to get involved in other extra curricular activites, basically mind your own business. Well, like me, my sister is also the adventurous type, she loved to get involved with the students, be it in uniform body or any sports activities, and she said if she could not do that, then what is the point of being a teacher then? She got a point there.

I tried to talk some sense into her, noting that not all schools are the same, mainly depends on the headmaster. I told her, unless you try, you'll never know. The school is small, total students is only ~90 persons (Std 1 to Std 6), so there is chances that the headmaster is not as controlling as she would have thought. She reported duty yesterday and according to her, the teachers are OK, just the common feedback that she gets is the students did not really have respect for non Chinese teacher....hhmmm... that is tough.

I told her to hang in there, see how things work, try her best at least, and if she really could not adapt to that situation, there is always another option, whatever that may be.

People should realised that there is big different mindset between community living in kampung and small town versus the one living in big city. I used to take school buses with kids from chinese school (SJKC Jalan Davidson and SM Confucion) and we (4 of us) are the only people from non Chinese school. And these kids got along just well with us. They even tought us how to swear in Cantonese and Mandarin back then... :P So if you are talking about kampung chinese vs town chinese, it is different. 

On another note, her house hunting journey was not so good. She started by wanting to share a RM450/month house with a friend, but the friend is posted somewhere in Slim River, quite a distance from Sungkai, so she started looking for a new house, she found one kampung house RM 175/month and decided its a go. But when my other sister went and have a look, she did not approve, the house is not in well kept condition, and the house owner who lives nextdoor just mind their own business. Since she will be staying alone, they decided to look for another house, with a housemate is preferable.

Luck is on her side and Alhamdulillah, they found this house ,


Cantik tak? baca gaya Eric Leong ye....

If you are driving heading upnorth on PLUS, after Slim River exit, you will see a well built housing area on the left. Its actually a Felda project building homestay, but somehow this owner decided to rent it out. It has 4 rooms with RM 450/month. She is sharing this with another new teacher reporting to a school nearby.

I just hope that my sis can endure the atmosphere there (the school), as I am already making plans to go to Sungkai Hot Springs and free accomodation is always welcomed :D  

Astro Movies : Great Day

Am on leave today, am meeting Shaz later and as usual, when I have time to kill, I check out the latest movies. Arrived in KLCC at 11 am. Was hoping to catch The Tourist but the only available show is later in the afternoon. None of the film shown interest me. I walked away from the counter and stumbled upon this one poster, the rating shows 'U', good enough for me to make a u turn back to the counter. 


Background - bendang in Perlis

 When I ask for the ticket, the girl reminded me its a Chinese movie, I said yes, noting that I know that when I asked for the tickets. Well, I could not blame her, as out of around 10 people in the hall, me as usual the only Malay watching Chinese movie (I did for Shinjuku Incident, Infernal Affairs, and some other Chinese movie that I can't remember already)

My verdict, it funny, hillarious at times but also touching at certain point. Its a feel good family movie and proves that Malaysian can make good movies too ;) I do not listen to MY FM as I don't really comprehend Mandarin, but watching the movie reminds me of my school days. There are certain parts of the movie they spoke Cantonese apart from other dialect, and its close to my heart as most of my classmate spoke that language (I even learnt to swear in Cantonese back then...).   

The story line is typical, but the cast made it more lively, the scenery is picturesque, background were taken at lush green paddy field up north and the view is breathtaking!!

All in, once in a while watching a film like this reminds you the importance of having family and close friends by your side, and how important for you to be there for them as well.

Hip Hip Hooraayy!!! (Malaysia 4 - Indonesia 2)

Finally!! Though Malaysia lost in the second leg final last night 1-2 to the host in Stadium Gelora Bung Karno last night, but we won on aggregate ;) The big margin win in Bukit Jalil helps a lot.

Actually, I did not watch a single kick last night. I totally forgot, olvidó por completo. I did my laundry, baked a very sour apple pie (lain kali taknak pakai Granny Smith dah..) and went to sleep by 10.30pm (normally 12pm-1am). I even watch 2 sinetron in the midst of all those.

I don't know why I totally forgot about the match. So the first thing I check this morning is the match results and alhamdulillah, we got it!! Malaysia Boleh!! I saw in one blog posting PM gave Friday as public holiday..best gile....but hold on, it is public holiday in this company. Each time the PH falls on Saturday, we get the Friday as in-lieu.... well does that mean we will be getting the compensated PH on Monday? yeay!!! but still we need to get confirmation from HR.

The office is like slowly shutting down. I came in this morning and HAVE to open the door. Normally there would be like 2-3 person in the office by the time I reach here. And its totally empty now as two of my colleague went for breakfast.

This is a good ending to Malaysia for 2010 ;)

Why oh why???

Something irks me yesterday. I suddenly feels the urge to watch movie, browsing TGV and latest they are showing The Storm Warriors....my sis favorite Cheng E-Kin and Aaron Kwok is back with the second installment movie that comes from comics. I think the first one was maybe 10 years ago, or more...

The thing is nobody is available yesterday. I asked this one person whether or not that person is free and up for a movie. Then I get the call;

That person : What movie you wanna watch tonite?
Me: The Storm Warrior,
That person : What?
Me : The Storm Warrior, chinese movie
That person : Ooooo...chinese movie then count me out.
Me : Ok...

What the h*** was that? Its not just this person, in fact many other my friends have reacted this way. Why is it that we always see that only the Malay watch Malay movies...(well at least this one you can blame on the low quality, Yusof Haslam, Razak Mohaidden kinda movie) .

And if at all any HK movies are showing, only the Chinese watch it?

Why is it that Malaysians (all Malay,Chinese,Indian alike) only watch the movie that is of their native tounge?

Why is it that the only genre/type or movie that can unite all these 3 main races is only those come from outside (American movies, Brit movies..etc..etc)

Did we not have a Chinese friend, and Indian co-workers, that the least we should do is open our mind to these alternative entertainment. That I believe will indeed increase our tolerance towards other races.

I have only 1 (ONE) friend so far that watch both Chinese and Malay movie with me. No other people can do both at the same time with me.

Its not about the movie, its about why are we quick to accept foreign stuffs, rather than learn to accept those that is closer to us? Why?

By the way, I have watched Infernal Affairs 3 (a HK triad movie) alone in cinema and I was the only Malay at that time.

It is true that all these HK, Bollywood movies are not local, but they are supposed to be more dear to us rather than all the 'mat saleh' movie, at least in terms of the language, the people and their culture.

Maybe this doesnt make sense to some people but all the small things like this gauge our understanding of other races, and entertainment is actually the most effective education yet.

One more thing, a movie should be watched because of the story line, cinematography and many other factors, not just the language, at least in my opinion ;)

A Little Bit of This.....

Its been a while I have written, despite that I have so many things to talk about.

I watched the 2 eposides of History Channel special on Tun Dr M last Sunday. He will always be my favorite PM of all time and definitely best leader after Prophet Muhammad PBUH. My respect for him is even more than before after seeing the documentary. Despite all the allegation that were thrown to him, I believe that all the things that he have done for Malaysia are for the people's best interest, although people themselves did not acknowledge it. He is a no-nonsense person and speaks from the heart.

Maybe there are things that he did wrong, but hey, he is human to you know, and we humans make mistake. I was closed to reduced to tears when he said in the documentary that he failed in his 22 years to develop the Malay. I say he did not, although it was not a 100% success, but he did managed to shift Malay mindset, develop more Malay professionals than British or anybody could ever anticipated in short 50 years period. Not to mentioned, Malaysians graduate are employed worldwide more than ever before. I for one, is a product of his tenure, and so far am proud of myself and satisfied of what Malaysia has given me so far.

I have this quote on my workstation from him to get through the day,

"We must not antagonise everyone. We must win their hearts and minds. We must win them to our side, not by begging for help from them, but by the honorable way that we struggle to help ourselves. We must not strengthen the enemy by pushing everyone into their camps through irresponsible and unIslamic acts. "

Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Oct 16, 2003 in speech to a summit of 57 Islamic countries

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
On another note, I watched the Barca-Real match on Monday and it was an entertaining ones. I only managed to catch the second half. Although C.Ronaldo was taken out due to injury, but the whole game was fast paced and both teams did their best. Barca is brilliant at counter attacking and Ibrahimovich goal is a result of precise pass from (I can't remember who) . Real did work hard but Puyol and Pique proves to be the solid defence Barca is ever thank for. Valdes was not tested much compared to Casillas on the other side (at least for the second half that I watched).
I have not seen much of Kaka, but believe me once he and C. Ronaldo found their pace, these duo will become unstoppable. However, Messi who has just been announced Ballon d'or (aka European Footballer of the Year) for 2009 is yet the true star. He can get the ball, entangled by 3-4 players and still managed to get away with it. His agility and quick footwork is amazing, and so does Iniesta.

I have always like La Liga compared to BPL. As a Portugal fan, if at all they made it for the final in SA, their greatest rival would be the Spanish team. Many of the Portuguese players either had played or now playing in La Liga, and the patterns and way of playing are very much similar. German would be the one to fear as well, but am thinking Spanish is much bigger threat.

There it is, a little bit of this and a little bit of that....

1957-Hati Malaya, The Road to Merdeka!!!

I watched the live telecast from Dataran Parlimen. This year, its just a modest celebration, in respect of Ramadhan. Its actually a blessing in disguise that the two collide. Good reason not to have all this extravagant celebration that not only wasted the people's money, but also leads to various social issues pre and post Merdeka eve.

Last night RTM2 showed Shuhaimi Baba's 1957-Hati Malaya. That is my first time watching it as I missed it when it was in cinema. Very heartwarming, brilliant movie that capture moments by moments how our great leaders initiate the effort to free up this country. The basic struggle that they fight at that time to push British and convince the public to unite and ask for independence as a nation. Highly recommended. Especially to all those politicians that no longer prioritise the people in their agenda. More often than not they are more concern on their pockets and how to get their 'people' gets all the government projects.



My sister had iftar in a mall's foodcourt sometime last week. Just about time to Maghrib, there is this big group of young Malaysian (non Muslim) hogs 3-4 tables for their dinner. While most of the Muslim already bought their food and wandering around trying to spot an empty place to break their fast. One table of slightly older non Muslim people purposely delayed their dinner and wouldn't leave the place for their Muslim patron to seat. They only offered the spot to 'one of their kind' (non Muslim) to sit. Is this Malaysian? When Malay asked for The Malay rights not to be touched in the constitution, they called us racist, but with this simple act of ignorance, who is the racist now?

I feel that only certain amount of non Bumis are fighting for Malaysia. The rest that 'claims' they are Malaysian (you know those people that demands equal rights to all race) are just here for the free ride. They built their life here, do good business due to good virtue of government policy, earn all the money they can and send their descendant to either Australia or US or UK to get permanent residence or citizenship. They are here only until they can find a greener pasture. They complaint about imbalance race in the govt sector, but did they ever applied to be one of the force any way? Look at the numbers of non Bumi in the army, civil service ...pathetic!!! They never felt compelled to defend this country. All they know is the government should increase their quota in anything that will benefit them (monetarily) This is the hard truth and all these people are claiming their rights under the banner 1Malaysia, joke!!!

While I am saying this, I know many non Bumi who has the highest level of tolerance, respect to others and highly patriotic in their on way. This blogger I met online is one of them. Her post really earns my respect and I salute her for the decision.

Selamat Menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan ke-52 to all dedicated Malaysian (those who really love this country and not just treat this country as free ride until they find greener pasture anywhere else)

Truly Malaysian..

I'm in PD this Merdeka weekend on duty, therefore miss all the celebration in KL. (not that I joined any of it previously..) My family came down for a picnic on Saturday and there was a little incident...I injured my ring finger. My sister, did not saw that my hands was still at there car door unintentionally closed the door and causes my two fingers to be squashed in between the closed door....yes it was really closed..it hurts like mad..

Pictures below was taken after almost 2-3 hours post the incident;









and today the swell has not subside, bet you it will take another one week before it can be restored to its original condition..ouch... lucky nothing happens to my nails, or else it could have been worse.
Anyhow..that's not the main thing that I want to blog about today.

What does it means to be a Malaysian? In difficult times like now where most all prices gone up, us lead by clown government (not all but the top most are), how do you gauge how much Malaysians are we? Last week we had a farewell lunch for one of our trainee, my boss decided to read something about the late Leftenan Adnan Saidi who was killed by Japanese when they occupied Malaya during WWII. What's a patriot history got to do with a farewell? Nothing actually, he just wants to be remembered..

The thing is, he was all hyped up about the late Left. Adnan weeks before as if its a new thing (just because it is) to him. Mind you he's a Malay..mean how can a Malay not know about the late Left. Adnan? But then again if you ask any Malay on the street, how many of them do actually knows about that? My gut feels says that not many...Does it takes a good knowledge in history to say that you are a good Malaysian?

What about honouring the National Language? The fact that I am writing this in English doesn't help either, does it? I don't know actually how to define a Malaysian, is it actually lies on how you live, where you eat, how you talk or is it how you dress? In the millenium age, I guess people are starting to look alike. You would wander around the streets of Sydney and the people dress (hell even looks) alike people in Bukit Bintang. So what diffrentiate us from a bunch of Aussies?

I would say that its all in your heart, the moment you are proud that Lee Chong Wei brought back an Olympic silver medal, rather than trash him for that 39 minutes defeat to Lin Dan, I guess we are on the same boat!! I am for now proud to be Malaysian. Well there is occasional thoughts of landing a job in Europe or Middle East (who wouldn't?) but I know I will always settle in Malaysia.

For this year, its been a sober Independence celebration, all clouded by the current political state and I hope someone better step up and fix whatever things that they can to save this beloved country of ours. (I don't think the current opposition is the best candidate, tho). I love this country, its the only country I ever know but what the future holds for it, am not sure yet.

Long live Malaysia, may Allah bless us.