2020, Raya prayers at home.

June 1, 2020.

Today is the 6th. and last day of my "Puasa 6", the 6-day fast in the month of Syawal, encouraged for the faithful, but not compulsory, of course. I've done this since young, so it's no great effort here. The wife has also followed suit this time, and tomorrow we'll celebrate our "Raya" together. But tomorrow I'm also supposed to play my first round of golf since 17.3.2020, courtesy of Toksleman who insisted I come. It's been two-and-a-half months. I don't know if I can hit the ball !

This year we had our Raya prayers to ourselves at home, a first for everybody in the country. Except for some selected mosques, we're informed, but those, too, only to very limited numbers. Some people went to the National Mosque in KL, but were refused entry, and had to pray outside the mosque gates, on the road kerb. Pious, perhaps, but pitiful.  Today, 3 months on, the CMO is still in force.

I looked at the figures this morning. Globally, there are more than 6.2 million cases, with 374,000 deaths (5.9%), and 44.5% recovery. The top country is USA, with more than 1.8 million cases, 106,000 deaths (5.8%), and 29.4% recovery. Malaysia records 7,819 cases, 115 death (1.5%), and 81.3% recovery.

As I said before, all these statitics depend on so many factors: the coverage of reporting, the accuracy of the tests etc. What is certain is they're under-reported.

The Raya prayers in the house were no big deal. There were several tutorials in the internet, and friends flooded my whatsapp with instructions. Naturally I passed them on to others, including Hank. I don't know if it was helpful. There's some doubt, because his last comment was "why no. 11 ?" I had listed the actions to be taken by numbers, and the last one was no. 12 that said "Doa".  No 11 said "Repeat 5 - 8". I thought that was plain, so I didn't reply !

Throughout the fasting month I led the terawih prayers, with my s.i.l. and my daughter in tow. The wife complained of pain in her legs and opted out. We did 8 rakaats and 3 wittir, the short-formed version. The tasbihs were also the short ones I picked from my old notes.

The Raya prayer sermon was also my shortened version, also from my old notes. But the 5-rukun khutbahs were by the book. For those reading this blog, rest assured I'm right. I went to religious classes up to Std. 3. We used books from Johore and Perak religious schools, a few of which I still keep with me somewhere in the house, but I have my own notes scribbled over the years, trying to find concentration in my daily prayers, something that still eludes me (sigh !).

Up to now I've missed 11 Friday prayers - 2 in March, 4 in April and 5 in May. I don't how many would be in June. But I see everybody is taking it calmly, although this has never happened before. Except maybe during WWII, but I'm not sure.

On the political front, I think we'll see the end of the BERSATU saga by July. Very little is heard from the grassroots - only the central committee members have been making opposing views, which is not a good sign. Muhyiddin has the power in his hands, being the PM. But the Old Man can still cause problems for him. The only way that a complete break-up of the party can be avoided is for the two to make up and sacrifice their egos for the sake of the confused members. Otherwise it might mean the shortest life of the party, or the shortest life of the premiership. We should know shortly.

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Remembering Abdul Rahman Said and A trying first half of the year.

Fri 22 May 2020.

Wahab Achin sent the sad news of OP Abdul Rahman Said's passing on my whatsapp. He was in both PD and  Sg. Besi. He was 75.

Rahman had been taken ill 5 days before being admitted to the Tuanku Mizan Army Hospital on March 16. He got worse and was transferred to HKL ICU 2 days later. On 21 March it was confirmed it was the  Covid 19 that had just struck the country. Three days later, tragically, he became the 16th fatality.

It's been an eventful year so far.

We're coming close to the end of May, and virtually the first half of the year. I've had a few frightening experiences a long time ago, but these last few months stand out just as memorable.

I spoke with a few friends, and we're in agreement that what has happened to us in this country must be recorded, so that we may look back and appraise the history of it all, not so much for any earth-shattering happening, but to put in perspective the impact on our lives by the overwhelming events that are still taking place at this very moment.

When I was maybe 4 or 5, I was in Tanjong Malim. We were in the midst of the "Emergency" and General Templer was the virtual ruler of Malaya then. The communist-terrorist attacks were at their height, and the town had lost its water supply from one such attack. For drinking and bathing, we had to go into the adjacent rubber estate where a small, clear stream flowed. One morning several families were there, getting to the water supply. Suddenly loud sounds of guns firing burst out from somewhere deep into the forested part of the estate. Everybody dropped whatever he was doing, and all ran, crouching and shrieking, helter skelter back into our residential area about 200 meters away.

On 13.5.1969, we were in Syed Muhammad's diesel Mercedes sedan, coming back from Felda Bukit Jalur in NS. It was about 6 p.m. and we were on Jalan Peel, Cheras. We saw groups of Chinese, in clusters of 4 or 5, many in shorts or rolled-up pajama-bottoms, all holding long sticks or cangkul handles, all talking agitatedly, pointing everywhere. We were wondering what was happening. Nobody tried to stop us, though.

Syed drove on to Kg. Baru, to send me home there, where I rented a house with some friends. Then we saw some burnt cars along the Circular Road as we got closer to Kg. Baru. "What's happening ? we asked each other. It never occurred to us that the infamous May 13 race riots were happening right there in KL. Upon turning into Jalan Raja Muda from  Circular Road (now Jalan Tun Razak), a uniformed police officer stopped us. I said I was going home, in Kg. Baru. He had to allow us in. And we saw more burning cars and people running here and there, most of them carrying parangs and such similiar weapons. It was getting dark. There was no way Syed could go home to Section 14. PJ where he was staying.

This year seemed to have started normal. The local political news were loud with the media clash of all the protagonists. The BN losers appeared scheming  something as usual. The 20-month old PH government was also astir with Anwar restless about taking over from the Old Man. There were distant reports of some kind of epidemic in China, but in January the local news had still not cried out exceptionally loudly. My 2020 golf went on schedule, right up to March 17, in fact. The next day the lockdown started.

It was February when the Corona virus came. There was apprehension. This was disaster on the medical chart.

On 23.2.20 the Old Man, out of the blue, resigned. He had been PM for all of 22 months. This was disaster on the political chart. 

For Covid 19, our actions were not too far behind other countries. We enforced various levels of the lockdown over the whole country. But the deaths cannot be avoided. The mysterious virus cannot wait for anything.

For the poor PH Government, the loss of  power to the PN Government after the "Sheraton move" must have been as shocking. Old enemies became friends, old friends became enemies, and old people like me became confused.

The world Covid death toll is now approaching 350,000. Total cases have exceeded 4 million.  Our numbers are 114 and 7,000 respectively. But death is death. The enemy is invisible, the vaccine unavailable. On top of the loss of life was the loss of income for both people and countries.  To make bad worse, USA and China are at each other's throats, and to hell with WHO. No one is even trying to show leadership. Each country is on its own. In USA each state, city, precint and the White House is on its own. Trump has gone insane and said you should drink bleach to kill Covid 19. I say he should lead by example and at least remove one menace ! Unbelievable ! Politics take over science. Is it the end of the world?

Closer home, this is the first Ramadan everyone is kept at home - no mosques, no suraus, no Friday prayers (10 times up to today),no buka puasa in hotels, and worse yet, in a couple of days time, Hari Raya is with your own household only. For Hank, he can hold the Aidil Fitri prayers with his sister, and read the khutbah to himself. 

PPBM was founded to knock out UMNO. It did. But 20 months on, it looks like PPBM is now knocked out.  But by none other than PPBM.  It took PPBM 60 years to kick UMNO out. PPBM seems to have shot its foot in less than 2 years. The party convention is still to be held, of course, but the signs are not good. 

Looking forward to July. Looks like the lockdown is being dismantled. But looks like the goverment is, too.

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