Sungai Ujung

Finding time to write.

2011-07-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

My time management has gone "kaput".

I've been doing this and that, gone here and there, you know, the little things that are mundane and boring that I get to do anyway, but in the end they all consume time.

I met Hank at Halim's daughter's wedding at the Tropicana Golf Resort last month, and told him that I've not put anything new on this blog for some time.

Ramadan is fast approaching. Last night the Surau held its "Israk & Mikraj" celebration with the usual religious talk and a "makan." As usual, as the President of our Islamic Welfare Association, I had to deliver a short welcoming speech. This I have done before, and it was stand up, hello, thanks and sit down again. Simple.

On Monday 11th. I have to stand up and deliver another type of speech, this time in KL. You see, my younger brother has decided to get married. Again. Now, this I have to give more serious thought.

I've been thinking. Should I make it serious or humourous, long or short, in Malay or English ?
I think I'll go English because it's going to be very close relatives & friends only and they should be comfortable with it. But I'll try a joke in the Negri Sembilan dialect for a bit of local touch. I know pulling a joke would not be easy, and I can fall flat on it. And I know if Bang Enon reads this he may let the cat out of the bag and I lose the element of surprise. But this is how it goes:

bilo bolun nikah, kan main sayang dio kek tunang eh tu.

"sok boli an ayo golang, yo bang ?"

"Yo lah."

"Sok boli an ayo gelinya, yo bang?

"Yo lah."

Lopeh kawin, bini ulang balik "boli an ayo golang moh gelinya, bang !"

Kali ni jawab eh "tengok la dulu !"

As the Indonesians say: "dasar!"

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Social Activist, Political Blogger or Public Commentry.

2011-06-06T05:11:00.000-07:00

Some friends say I'm a "political blogger". Somebody I know had been termed a "social activist." Many make public comments, whether sought or otherwise. The adjectives are hardly meaningful in these times of the digital communication explosion. There are channels to express opinions, and people avail themselves to them, regardless of their state of mind, political inclination or intellectual maturity. Or deficit thereof. It's for the reader to swallow, savour or spit out whatever comes before them, as they read, surf or listen to the media. And I suspect, like me, bloggers, twitters and the general rumour-mongers are just saying out loud whatever touches, irks or interests them at the moment. That, also like me, they're not qualified to pontificate on something they have no mastery of because of their lack of tuition, experience, or general intelligence, can't stop them. Relevence, after all, is relative.

The case in point is the recently concluded Muktamar Pas in Gombak. Those who support Pas glow with the changes made to the party's make-up. Glee is in The Enemy's condemnation of the same things.

The fact of the matter is, if Pas doesn't change with time, time will change without it. Pas is not Islam. The teachings of Islam don't change. Pas is, like UMNO, just another political party, with a political agenda. Unlike Islamic principles, Pas can say one thing to-day, and another thing to-morrow. It has done that many, many times, and there are printed and recorded proofs. The people who get voted in as the new crop of leaders are chosen on the basis of the delegates' perception of them. Many are well-known figures who are far from perfect, just like in UMNO.

So we make comments on these sort of things. They're not earth-shattering pronouncements. It's just giving an opinion. It's not forced down your throat. Take it or lump it.

It takes much more to be a social activist or a political blogger. Surely.

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Justice, fairplay, politics & the weather.

2011-05-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

It's the underlying cause, the rule 0f the game, the overpowering force or the unexpected turn - that's the connection here. The common effect is they affect us all, like it or not.

I tell Dek Na that if she's not concerned with the carriage of justice, then she might as well do something else, be a cook or a singer (she's got a nice voice, untrained, but nice) or whatever. The shortcomings of the law, the weaknesses of the court-room arguments, the errors of the bench, the sloppy investigations of the police etc. are the given reality that is not without, as the jurist says, remedy. Change the law, corroborate the arguments, remove the incompetent judges, upgrade the investigative forces - it all seem so logical a remedy. Difficult. But logical. The mission should always remain that in the long run, justice prevails.

What's fairplay ? That there should be a level playing field ? What about "all's fair in love and war ?" There are no level fields.

Politics is an excuse to do the meanest thing imagineable. Politics make the most digusting deed somehow less so, palatable even !

The weather beats everybody. Most certainly the weather experts, the meteoroligists. That's the nature of it. And the opposite extremes make it even more fun. It's always too little water here and too much there. Too hot here and too cold there. Too much wind here and too stifling there.

So where's the justice of siding with half of Libya and annihilating the other half ? Condoning the Jewish occupation and ignoring the Palestinian suffering ? Condemning nuclear development, but only if it's not American or American-sponsored ?

Where's the fairness of throwing the entire military might of the West on small and under-armed states ? So might is right after all.

What's political in the freedom of the press, and the spin of the news ? It has to be the western agenda and the way of life it is accustomed to, not otherwise. That the small states, many trying to stabilise the after-effects of condescending colonisation, are merely dealing with lives made more difficult by selfish national policies of the big western economies, seem irrelevent issues and a distraction to the export of western values of democracy and freedom of speech. What about freedom of choice ?

Only the weather remains, therefore, impartial about where it strikes. Maybe the rich have more to lose if the winds and the waves hit hard.

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The terrorist.

2011-05-05T05:13:00.000-07:00

It depends on one's opinion.

It was Saddam. And the North Koreans.

Now it's Gadaffi.

But for the last ten years it had always been Osama. In fact even the now embattled Gadaffi blames Osama for his troubles.

And when Obama broke news that his boys have finally done Osama in, towns across the Great Civilised American Nation of Democracy, Freedom and Peace broke into spontaneous glee and jubilation that the Hated Enemy is finished.

I wonder who it was that was said to cower behind his wife before being shot in the head and hurriedly dumped into the Arabian Sea ? And the stoic demeanour of Obama in the announcement looked staged. I mean, here is the No. One Enemy killed at last, after all the announcements in the previous two Great Presidential Elections about making it First Priority that of getting Osama dead or alive, and Obama didn't even smile. When I get a hard fought birdie on the golf course I jump up and down ! And how to prove it is indeed Osama when the body is forever lost ? Not 99.9 % but 110 %.

Who has led an entire so-called peace-loving and civilised nation into armed invasions of foreign and Independent countries on the slightest excuse of helping save lives and Democracy, which is meant to be freedom of choice ? Never mind if it means killing innocent people, so long as they are not one of us ? Why, it the Great American Leader ( it used to be White, but it makes no difference now).

So who's the terrorist ?

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The Maybank Malaysian Open 2011 @KLGCC

2011-04-18T05:07:00.000-07:00

17-year-old Manaserro of Italy won his 2nd European Tour title since turning pro in the co-sanctioned Malaysian Open that finished Sunday 17th. April. Only one Malaysian survived the par-golf half-way cut despite 20 of them competing on home-ground, Danny Chia, and he finished bottom-of-the-barrel, anyway. Mizi, my nephew, was among the early casualties, despite his parents and siblings, and my personal support for the first two rounds. During lunch in the players' eating room I had with my brother and brother-in-law, I told Ari to get Mizi to see the sports psychologist at UKM or UPM. It's not the technical help that Mizi needs, although that continues to count - it's the 5 inches between his ears - his brains. If you follow golf worldwide on tv, you'll notice the lengthy discussions between player and caddy, and the seemingly endless consultations with the yardage books that both player and caddy seem to carry. You'll also often hear that the caddy surveys the entire course independent and prior to his master taking the field on the commencement of the tournament. What this says is that the mental preparation is left to no chance. What did Mizi do ? I know of no pre-tournament survey. I didn't see any consultation with any notebook. I saw no deliberations before each shot. And I saw no extra examinations of putting greens. The result ? Yes, balls are put on the greens in regulation, just like his playing partners, but they are usually too far from the pins, and too many makeable putts are missed. Like the one on the 9th. hole on the first day, where a possible birdie became a bogey. Seeing the worldwide attention given to this particular tournament in the media, one could see how much Malaysia was for four days exposed. But the failure of the Malaysian players was also clearly exposed. In fact the best Asian was the Bangladeshi, Siddikur, who was followed by a small crowd of his admiring countrymen, obviously Bangladeshi workers here in KL. Siddikur finished 7 strokes behind the winner. The call by Najib after the prizegiving for MGA to step up the game's promotion was timely. For here is a game that is not restricted by physical size and age, not determined by race or diet, that should find the weather of this country conducive to its development and offer an achievable potential of producing world-class players from among its people, who are already sports-loving. In the meantime, I continue in my search for the perfect swing. And I will not leave it to chance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Siti has left us.

2011-04-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Siti died in the hospital in Shah Alam, and her remains brought back to Padang Lebar last night for burial in her kampong this afternoon. I'm sorry we did not visit her in her last hospital stay. We were simply not informed. But then, she had been in and out of hospital many times before, and I suppose nobody expected it to be the last stay. I've known her and her husband only in the last seven years. Our meetings during this relatively short period had not been frequent, and for my part I can't honestly say that we've been close, but it had been cordial enough, I guess. I noticed Idah got on quite well with her. I suppose it's the woman thing. They had more common topics to talk about. But the last year we knew her health had been frail. She was not yet 80 yesterday. Idah and Dek Na, who's on leave, had visited the remains last night itself, soon after its arrival at Padang Lebar. I couldn't come together because of a previously scheduled and rather important meeting of the housing estate's Islamic Association. So I went to pay my respects this morning, and Idah came again, accompanying. As is usual, the burial was carried out to-day. In fact normally it would have been done before Zohor, but I suppose her husband, Cik Gu Rahman, wanted to have the Zohor congregation present for the solat jenazah. Siti was my no. 2 son's mother-in-law. He married Ija in December 2004. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How do you uproot corruption ?

2011-04-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

I would simply suggest that when you put too much power in the hands of poorly paid officials (a relative term, of course) you have corruption. With a very large administrative staff holding untold discretionary authority over unimaginable depths of the bureaucratic mess that runs Malaysia to-day, the current revelations in the media of staggering corruption and dishonesty by both executive and legislative officials must be utterly dumbfounding, to put mildly. The disease must be uprooted. And to begin with, belated as it is, the culprits already caught must be punished mercilessly, and wrongdoers still at large hunted and brought to swift justice to propound our committment. The problem as I see it is that crime is always committed for only two motives - greed and sex. And the higher the social position of the perpetrator, the bigger the incentive. And greed and licence are always susceptible to opportunity. But even if individual acts of betrayal are modest, if committed in large numbers the total damage would be extraordinary, as in the case of the corruption of many officers over a long period of time involving just a few hundred dollars per case. I propose, because I suggest that corruption in this country is caused by too much power is in the hands of underpaid officials, we implement what Dr. Mahathir said in his memoirs, or even follow the example of Singapore. What Dr. Mahathir suggested was to put in place a system where official approval for business transactions be made speedily and transparently. There is not, therefore, the arbitrary denial or delay by many levels of authority for the necessary permission to start and operate businesses. Singapore, on her part, pays her government servants well. Between these two actions, we should very largely reduce, if not effectively remove, the temptation for corruption. The best legislation from the beginning of human community has not rid us of the basic human weaknesses and flaws of character impinging on society. This is where religion, all religions, come in. And even then from those who ought to know because they are teaching their own particular religion, there are many who fail the test. But that is why in our own God we seek succour. To put it in a simple proposition - reduce paperwork, and increase the pay of those employed in the enforcement services such as the Police, Custom, and Immigration, and the regulatory authorities concerned with Transportation, Power and Water Supply. When the layers of forms are cut, there is no jamming up of paperwork. When officers are well-paid, there shouldn't be reason to grab that extra dollar. It won't be perfect, but it should work. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My protest on Western powers' illegitimate war on Libya.

2011-03-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Since Najib is not leading Malaysia in protesting the illegitimate war by the so-called Coalition Forces on Libya, I register mine here. I note to-day that some Indonesian Muslim groups, but not the Government, have also rather belatedly gone on the streets to voice their condemnation of the unilateral, undeclared war on Libya by the so-called democratic Coalition Forces of US & NATO. This makes it only the second country to protest, following the conditional protestations by Turkey from early on. Why Malaysia has not done so is to me not only disappointing, but downright cowardly. Are we 2 billion Muslims of the world quite happy to stand idle and just watch the anti-Islam powers of the world use the slightest excuse to crush Muslim countries they fear or despise, while we're safe and smug far from the scene of this international crime ? And to highlight their balatant hypocrisy, at the very same time Israel was pounding Gaza with missiles, killing innocent civilians, and there's not a word from them, or from the UN about it. True Muslims will not condone all the evil deeds perpetrated by the bad leaders of the Islamic countries in question. In fact the syari'ah encourages bad leaders to be replaced. The basic issues of allowing freedom of expression, provision of the basic creature comforts for the citizenary, high unemployment rates and high costs of living, and proper representation of the people in the government of the day are said to be the root causes of these uprisings, and the syari'ah allows for corrective action. This must come from the people, and every encouragement should be given for both the oppressed to strive for them, and the culprits to repent or be replaced. But to drop bombs and inflict death and destruction to prove a point of view, with no regard for innocent lives and public amenities, and the fact that nations have certain diplomatic rights and deserve minimum due process of even western law, at least, is certainly neither a civilised nor a convincing way of selling western democracy. It does not make the attacker in any way superior in his posture, or more honourable in his proposition. The fact of the matter of unchecked military atrocities carried out by the descendents of the victims of the European holocaust on the true owners of the land that have been deprived aside, the delayed and ineffective military intervention by European countries on the genocide committed right in their midst during the Bosnian war is stark proof of the anti-Islam weightage in their value system. The argument seems to be that Muslims are causing trouble everywhere, and Muslim countries must be cut to size whenever and wherever possible. In the long run, both Islamic teaching and practice must be diluted, if not completely removed, from "mainstream" life. In this age of instant news, what can be more devastating than the instantaneous relaying of bits and bytes of individual horrendous images of the savagery of conflict and selective on-the-street quotations and commentaries from bedraggled participants and partisan reporters alike to those watching their tv sets in the comfort of their homes ? After all news sells, and horrific news obviously sell better. I hope these rebelling Arabs in the end get their legitimate worldly wishes , with or without outside help. But I also hope they don't accept any suggestion that their political and economic transformation is compatible only with the acceptance of western values and western preferences. I hope that they have not forgotten the long and rich Islamic traditions that originated from the Prophet Abraham right down to Jesus before Muhammad, all of whom Islam considers as among the Chosen Prophets to be revered, rather than as in the case of Muhammad , a man to be despised, as suggested by the ignorant among the Christians and Christian nations. Let Muslims the world over also remember, that while Islamic countries welcomed and gave protection to fleeing Jews , when Nazi and Christian Germany was murdering them by the millions, the current Christian Governments in Germany, Switzerland and Denmark have pointedly illegalize Islamic attire and architecture ! And the US, which started 300 years ago as a new home for those running away from the religious persecution of Europe, right this minute is making deliberations in their legislative houses to make Islamic practices illegal. Our protestation is the weakest of our piety. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What happens in Libya now ?

2011-03-22T05:13:00.000-07:00

After three straight days of cowardly bombings and a Coalition fighter plane shot down, what happens next ?

When do you start thinking instead of following Nike and "just do it"?

So you have all those arsenal and throw you weight around. Why don't you pick someone your size ? Like China, for instance. Not that you won in Vietnam. By the way, Sarkozy, don't forget the shellacking you Frenchies got at Dien Bien Phu.

And you English, don't repeat Blair the Liar and say it's the right thing to do. Unlike maths where two minus become a plus, here two wrongs don't make a right - if it was wrong for Gadaffi to kill his own people, is it right for you Pommies to kill other people ?

You Yankees are still stuck in the Iraq and Afghanistan quagmire of your own making. Do you want to get stuck in Libya now ? What's next ? Bahrin ? Yemen ?

The fight at OK Corral happens only in Hollywood. The Good Guys don't always wear white hats. The Bad Guys don't always lose,too. Why don't you practice what you preach ? You can't force democracy down people's throats. And I thought it was Mao Tsetung who said "diplomacy comes from the barrel of a gun" ! But then again you buggers have a saying for everything. Like "the end justifies the means." I have a saying for you, too - "up yours !"

And by the way, Israel just fired some missiles into Ghaza today. You going to bomb Israel now ?

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"A Doctor In The House" - a good read.

2011-03-22T04:33:00.000-07:00

I make my hasty pronouncement although I've only read five chapters, picked at random. I don't think I'll be wrong by the time I finish.

Dek Na couriered to me a copy of the new book by Dr. M. Monday. No wonder she called a few times asking if a certain parcel had come from KL. I had no inkling it was this one, but it was a pleasant surprise, and I immediately called her and asked why she didn't make it perfect by inserting some money in the pages. I've been reading it when I can since.

It appears at this point to be not so much a personal autobiography as a journal of events that Mahathir went through from his childhood to his retirement as Malaysia's fourth, and, to me, most remarkable PM. But already I have learned some interesting facts about the birth of Independent Malaya, and later Malaysia.

I note that there have been adverse reactions, from Ku Li, of course from Anwar, and, although I didn't bother to read it, from my former friend, Aspan, in his blog. (I say former because he has stopped contacting me for many years now, and the last big wedding for his daughter or son he didn't bother to invite me.) These negative reactions are not surprising, in fact Mahathir had from the book launch said he expected a lot of them but is prepared to meet them head on.

Mahathir writes in his own style, I suppose, and that doesn't take anything from this book. But I thought employing a professional writer could have made the memoirs more attractively conveyed.

As he said in one passage, about when he was a small boy, I'm leaving the two chapters on Anwar last, so as to keep the best morsel the last piece to enjoy at the end of the meal.

I suggest everybody gets a copy. This may be one last piece of narrative of the nation's birth from a worm's eye view. Or a bird's. Depends on how you look at it.

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Libya, oh Libya !!

2011-03-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

At last the US-led coalition has shown its bloody hands ! Drop the bombs on Muammar Gadaffi ! Never mind if a few wretched Muslims get blown up ! We can't let Gadaffi kill his own people, that's bad ! We can kill them, that's good ! Because we must force these Muslims to accept democracy, they have no choice !

No, this is not Iraq again ! The UN didn't agree that time, though they knew we couldn't care less. Nobody likes Gadaffi. We learned from the illegal Iraq war. This time the UN is behind us. We still don't care, but it gave us the green light this time. Yes, the Arab League also wants us to impose the no-fly-zone, though not to kill any Libyan , but what the hell, that's collateral damage ! Anyway, if the stupid Arab League thinks we can go in there without blood on our hands, that's too bad. They don't think we won't smell like shit if we jump into the crap ? Sheeeesh !

What can Muslim Malaysia do ? Pretty darn little, I guess. Najib can turn on the tv and shake his head, and say tsk tsk tsk ! But Najib, if he wants to, can stand up and protest to the UN. Come to think of it, it's the least he can do as an incumbent leader of a Muslim State, a position he's at pains in stressing to his UMNO members. Call that Moon fellow at the UN, call his new friends in Washington, that black guy in the White House, or that woman whose husband used to occupy the White House and had a blow-job there, call a press conference, to-day and now , before Libya disappears from this planet, and say "stop this madness !"

But then Might is always Right. And the mightier the righter. Right now it's military might. Next it could be economic might. That's why China can get away with killing a few Muslim Uighars, because Capitalist US borrows money from Communist China now, and we can't afford to be unfriendly borrowers here, but we can afford to lose a few Muslims.

But mainly it's these horrible Muslims. The cause problems everywhere, everytime. They blow themselves up. They blow everyone up. They crash planes. They crash buildings. They hit their women and ask them to cover up. They want to have laws that would cut hands and feet. They won't eat pork or drink alcohol. I mean, who's going to finish up all these pigs that we rear, and all the winery that we produce ? Our criminal laws are more humane - there's no cutting of limbs and that sort of thing. We just hang them. They won't feel anything.

And why must Gadaffi use force on Benghazi, just because these protesters had armed themselves to use on his supporters ? We had learned to stand idle when the Protestants and the Catholics were killing each other in Northern Ireland, when the Tamils and the Sri Lankans were killing each other for about 30 years, when apartheid South Africa and white Rhodesia and the white colonists in Kenya were exterminating Black nationalists and the Mau Maus like big bugs. So this time we must bomb Gadaffi straightaway, before somebody else do it and deny us that pleasure. Before the UN and the stupid Arab League realise their idiocy.

I can still pray to God for salvation, but will God answer a sinner ? But God sends signals, so that we are warned, if only we pause and ponder. We call them tsunamis, erupting volcanoes, earthquakes, storms and extreme weather conditions. I call them God's signals of the errors of our ways. A reminder.

Stay reminded.

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Rebellion in the Middle East - who's next ?

2011-03-05T04:32:00.000-08:00

The Western media is having a field day reporting on the rebellion - that's what it is - in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Baharin, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Iran and Algeria. There are street protests in Greece, Spain, Russia, Bosnia and even China, but Libya hogs the news right now.

Zainal Abidin bin Ali's government (the Malayanised spelling ,I think, simplifies it, just like the name of Zainuddin Zidane, the Arab-French footballer) in Tunisia fell, as did, after 14 days of street protests in just two towns - Cairo and Alexandria -Mubarak's in Egypt. Of course the US President and his State Secretary led the West in quick condemnation of these two poor former allies, especially Mubarak. Now they turn their wrath on Muammar Qadaffi. Their howls of anger are even joined by black singers Beyonce and Mariah and others. Yes, they are truly singing a different tune now. They didn't shy away from the million-dollar fees offered before.

Without so much as a decent pause to take their breath when fuming about the right of free speech and the process of Western-style democracy, these Western leaders have now abondoned and unceremoniously dumped the very people they have considered allies before, and suddenly give unconditional support for mob-rule, which is how these street protests must be viewed. Never mind the proper transition of power and the constitutional remedy that one or two of these arm-chair critics let escaped in their initial commentary. If it's good p.r. for the Western civilisation, why the hell not ! I'd like to see the old films on the US campus riots in the 60's, and Watts and the Martin Luther King early marches. Why is it not good for the geese if it's good for the gender ?

I don't codone the wrongs that Zainal Abidin and Mubarak and Qadaffi have made. The street protests are valid precisely because these Islamic states did not provide for the "syura" that syari'ah provides for in good governance. The syari'ah recognizes the freedom of the people to choose their leaders and remove governments, just like Western-style democracy. But unlike Western democracy, the ultimate authority is God, not the people. And there are injunctions in the Holy Book and the advice of the Sunnah in regard to consultation, dispensation of justice, guarantees on minorities, and obedience to the just leader.

We can see the autocratic republican rule in these beleaguered Arab states, the large disparity in income so paramount in the Islamic injunction, the high cost of living on top of the high numbers of unemployment, and the ostentatious life-style of the ruling class against the general poverty of large segments of the people. This is ripe for rebellion. We can almost feel the distress and nervousness of the Saudi King and all his half-brothers, and the King of Jordan, too. Now suddenly you hear billions being doled out for their peoples, the incalculable petro-dollars that should have been shared long ago. I mean, how much can the princes eat, anyway.

Malaysian leaders can learn a thing or two here. Don't say it won't happen here - stranger things have happened. The billions earned by Petronas and the banks - these should be shared by the rakyat. What good is the money in the banks ,only so the banks can make more money ! Indirect but nonetheless real assisstance should be channeled down, to bring the price of petrol down, to make basic goods available and affordable, to make medical costs cheap, to make education within means right up to university, and to create jobs for the trained.

And allow channels for people to speak out. Fortunately the 5-yearly elections give some respite for this, but more avenues must be opened so people don't go to the streets to speak out. And don't just pretend to listen. Act quickly on the reasonable requests so people now they're heard.

Who's next ? Keep your eyes on China. With a Communist government and a capitalist economy, with vast swathes of rural poverty surrounding pockets of the ultra-modern and expensive metropolis, with huge numbers of rural-urban migrant workers who are under-employed and unemployed, with glaring astronomical riches of a few against the abject poverty of many, with widespread reports of corruption in high places, and with a steel grip on public expression, the Middle Kingdom seems ripe for the Middle Eastern malady. The notice on the Chinese opera wall says "Coming Soon"!

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Another Maulidil Rasul.

2011-03-03T04:37:00.000-08:00

Every 12 Rabi ul Awwal Muslims the world over remember the birth of the Prophet Muhammad SAW. That anniversary date was fifteen days ago, but mosques and madrassahs continue to celebrate it well into Rabi ul Akhir. Our local community celebrates it next Friday night, with the usual selawat of praises for the Prophet and a ceramah by an invited speaker, followed of course with food and drinks for all. As the practice in the last several years, as chairman of the surau I will have to start the ball rolling with a short introductory speech.

In the past I have touched briefly each time on the various aspects of life of the Prophet, emphasising his daily role as a simple family man in spite of his true greatness as the last Messenger of God. His appearance more than 1,400 years ago has left the remarkable legacy of a faith and a way of life that is embraced by more than a third of humanity to-day, and is said to be the fastest growing faith in all of non-Muslim Europe and the Americas. So fast, in fact, that national leaders there are alarmed because of the general misconceptions about Islam in these countries.

This time I intend to touch on importance of studying deeply the spirit of the Prophet's endeavours as the basis to propogating social justice while the world community wallows in greed and selfishness. I intend to implore the audiance the need to go beyond the rote praises for the Prophet, and understand our obligation to fight for decency and a civilised society. The truly wonderous aspect of Islam that Muhammad SAW inherit from Abraham and gave finality to the whole world, and not just to tribal Arabia, is the strong emphasis on the welfare of the community, regardless of religion. Especially emphasised are the needs of the downtrodden, orphans, and the fair treatment, not equal treatment, of all members of society. I feel the enhanced relevence of these issues in the light of what is now happening in the Middle East. These are Arab nations that embraced Islam early and should have been guided in the type of government taught by the Prophet's syari'ah, and may have been so governed in the past, but somewhere in the last few decades this seemed to have been discarded in one way or another. The lesson shouldn't be lost to Malaysian leaders.

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Matrimony (2)

2011-03-02T15:19:00.000-08:00

The latest I heard from Idah was that "G" is not taking it lying down. Too bad.

Marital problems started from Adam. The ways spouses have gone through them are as many as the causes that started it all in the first place. But there are basically only two approaches open - the good, amicable and positive way, with the hope that the worst is over, and life goes on, or the bad, acrimonious and negative way, with the intention of doing maximum damage and inflicting revenge. The choice is simple if reason prevails, but difficult if not. Whatever it is, action, as they always say, speaks louder than words. And remember,too, that it must have been too much of one and too little of the other that had caused the boat to rock from some point before.

In the first place, one should look at the immediate proposition. The fact that the "proper" legal process has been intiated should be given credit. It's not the often seen summary dismissal thrown out in anger and to hell with it. It has been deliberate because it is not something to be taken lightly. And from what I hear, the initial terms aren't horrible, and can be used as the starting point. You are not out to make a buck here, for heaven's sake. Provision for marital separation is provided for in the Holy Book, and making a civilised move to have this very private matter settled in an open court must have been a very heavy decision for the initiator. For whatever its worth, this should be appreciated.

Secondly, one should resolve to move forward. At this point reconciliation must be the furthest thing from their minds. But the alternatives are many, and the good ones plenty. I don't expect anyone to be noble here, but hey, we're not ignorant, are we ? Anyone in his right mind would suggest an amicable end to this sad saga. Anyone who even considers, much less utter anything less has to be out of his freakin' mind.

Again, I pray that the couple seeks His Guidance. Please find peace, and hopefully the happiness that seem hard to get now, but never impossible to have. Have faith. Do the right thing.

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Matrimony.

2011-03-02T04:25:00.000-08:00

Islam encourages marriage so highly that the Prophet Muhammad SAW said the solat of a married man is many,many times more valued than that of a bachelor. A corollary to that is the Hadis that says the legitimate act most disliked by God is the utterance of the "talaq" on the annullment of marriage. But to err is only human, and we are forever beset with problems, big and small. As they say, we humans plan, but God Ordains.

It's that much more painful when the marriage has hitherto lasted for decades, and children are involved. And that pain is felt by the entire extended family. What went wrong ? we searched in our hearts. Something has gone wrong, and it cannot be something out of the blue. Did we miss the signs ? because there must have many, surely.

This is not the time to play the blame game. This is not the time to throw tantrums. This is the time for consolation, for soul-searching, and yet this is also the time for very private thoughts, for reaching the inner strength. This is a confusing time, and yet not a time to be confused. This is a good time for seeking peace with God, a time to pray deeply for courage and guidance.

I can't stand in judgement for a very private matter whose intricate issues I'm not privy to. The parties concerned might ask for advice, and what kind of a person am I to refuse it if I have it. Most regretfully, I don't have it. How could I, having no knowledge of the meeting, and departure, of two hearts and minds that have created a niche in this life for nurture of family and family comforts once- upon-a-time, but suddenly hitting a sand-bar of life. I sympathize with emphaty, never pity, and yet cannot begin to feel the real sadness of it all.

I can, however, pray that they find the least hurtful compromise, because at the best this is only what is sadly available to them, a compromise. Above everything else, think of the lovely, poor children. They deserve the best consideration in this pathetic scenario.

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Tenang bye election in particular, Malaysian politics in general.

2011-01-31T06:12:00.000-08:00

Was I right about Tenang or what ?

Chong Kim Yew said last week "not sure yet" when I said BN will win. I told him BN will win because it's BN vs PAS, not PKR. Johore is not Kelantan, which has a long-standing massive PAS grassroot. In the subsequent campaigning that I followed on the internet, I read that PAS initiated the personal attack on the BN candidate. Unfortunately, ex-Cikgu "Malang" appeared to have a lot of skeletons in her cabinet, and they were fodder for the BN counter-attack - her dismal academic qualifications, her past job, her two marriages, and her leave-cheating husband, to name a few. There's the Malay saying that the PAS machinery forgot - "slandering the crab, the nail chipped, slandering others, I'm worse !"

I saw on tv the post-election panel talking about BN needing to do this and that before the next big one , to change tactics and go for substance. Well, it's not BN. It's the people, the electorate. What make them take notice. As can be seen in the support given by the Chinese ballot, race is still a factor. The Indians, for whatever reasons, seem to have returned to BN. The Malays are split into 3 - BN, PAS and PKR. Local issues, even old and seemingly minor ones, matter. Personality matters. In fact the juicier the stories, the better. Unlike the "good old days" good candidates are important, the party less so.

PAS is just another political party, and what it says about Islam is not, well, Gospel. It has made too many U-turns about too many things: about women candidates, working with non-Muslims, even the strict implementation of Hudud. In fact, in order to get votes and win elections, PAS has gone better than UMNO in doing some things that even UMNO has not done in spite of its long association with MCA and MIC. PKR was born out of one man's frustration with the UMNO that initially brought him "from the cold" and then put him back there again. What can you say of followers who just want to follow ? Even Ayah Pin with his absurd "Kingdom of the Sky" has his followers, as was the case with the late Ashaari's Darul Arqam. How many deviant teachings have been found, and how can these people not see the phony teachings ? It's up to the thinking man to think. Many UMNO people are crooks, too. But all in all the party has done something for the country. Don't throw the baby with the bath water. It's not a one-man party. Everybody in it should learn from the the mistakes and the weaknesses exposed , and the bad members found out and culled. If the apple-polishers and opportunists and the bad hats are not uncovered and disposed of, then BN will continue to grind out the same superficial and tiresome propaganda that the tv panel suggested it should replace with one of substance every time there is an election being contested. Like the next one in Merlimau.

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Keeping the book collection.

2011-01-25T04:24:00.000-08:00

Most of the books that I have bought, been given or picked up one way or another through the years are gathering dust in one corner of the house. Once in a while I pick up one again, and flip through the pages, stopping wherever I had left a mark, and try to refresh my memory of those printed words. I remember my plan of long ago of indexing my mini library and it's not done yet.

I say most of the books because I've lost a few - because of the passage of time and because of moving house many times in the last 43 years. The oldest books with me were given by my late father - "Hikayat Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, Munshi" and "Kesah Pelayaran Abdullah" both from Malaya Publishing House Limited, Singapore, 1947. The latter was written in 1852, the last work of Munshi Abdullah before his death during the Holy Pilgrimmage. These two were given to me after the family moved back to Kuala Pilah from Tanjong Malam in 1957. That's 54 years ago ! I also have Mahmoed Joenoes' "Tafsir Quran Karim" from Pustaka Mahmudiah Djakarta 1957, the first prize for oratory competition for Negeri Sembilan Religious Schools in July 1958, and Prof. Muhammad Yamin's "Atlas Sedjarah" from Djambatan, Djakarta 1956 that was my first prize in the oratory competition for Malay students 14 - 18 years during the "Minggu Bahasa Kebangsaan" Kuala Pilah District, January 1960. There was a big Cup that came with the prize but that was kept by the School for the return competition, but I don't think they had it and the Cup is probably lost. Incidently, I went on and won the National level Minggu Bahasa Kebangsaan the same year, and received another big Cup from the first Raja Permaisuri Agong at the Dewan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Ampang, KL.

I'll probably catalogue by subject. I have some old religious books, but the basic Malay text and not the advanced Arabic printing. For more advanced material I have to rely on the English translations by mostly Indian and Pakistani Islamic scholars.The biggest subject collection must be under "Golf." At the last count I have close to 100 books on, about or related to the game. The oldest is Harry Vardon's "The Complete Golfer" from McClure, Phillips, New York, 1905.

There was no obvious intention to keep a collection. I just took the books along and they grew in number as I moved around. But since I discovered the existence of "Pay-less Books" some years ago, I have regularly added to my collection, especially hard cover editions. "Pay-less Books" makes old, recycled books very affordable for me, where new books in Malaysia must rank as probably the most expensive on the planet. Old or recycled, the contents of books don't diminish. In fact some may end up more valuable if , like Munshi Abdullah, they become very rare. I have been thinking, why can't the Government allow books to be cheaper and make the public better read. Whatever loss on levies on paper and printed matter or whatever are surely more than compensated by the gain in readership.

I didn't know that Dek Na would become a lawyer, but somehow I've picked up a few books on, or related to law , and I've had them for a long time. For instance, there is the notorious (in Malaysia) Alex Josey's "The David Marshall Trials" from Times Books International, 1981, and "The Law is An Ass" by Gyles Brandreth, printed by Pan, 1984, bought also in 1984, and the book by the New Zealand Q.C. about the celebrated sacking of Tun Salleh Abbas that is somewhere in the pile, and this is one reason why I must organize myself now. "The Law is An Ass" I've shown to Dek Na who showed no interest reading it. I think she should read it. All the anecdotes are authentic. The asses must be real !

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Face the real world, Dek Na.

2011-01-24T02:55:00.000-08:00

Your grandfather didn't live long enough to even see your uncle, my younger brother, graduate with an M.B.B.S. from M.U. How proud he would have been. You know, eventually seven of us siblings, children of the cikgu from Kuala Pilah, finished our tertiary education, some with post-graduate degrees, and made something out of our lives. Not great nor rich & famous, but useful lives we're always thankful for. And now the late cikgu's children's children are in turn coming out into the real world with at least adequate academic qualifications. They will not guarantee success, but put to good use they can help. And Dek Na, you are a case in point.

By the end of 2010, you had already chalked up 18 months of legal service , most of them (12) where you are now, in Kuantan. I have told you too many times that the real world is nothing like the classroom where you have spent most of your life so far - 18 years of schooling to be exact. By your own school grades you have put yourself through a successful scholastic career. But good school grades do not necessarily transfer to good career grades.

If you think school was hard work, and I know you worked hard in school, think again. Real life is the really hard part. Nobody is going to grade you. You make your own grades. But everybody will assess you. As a worker, as a friend, as an adversary, as a human being. Later on, God willing, as a wife and a mother. And mostly you won't be treated, at least in your own eyes, fairly. You make your own call.

What's the secret to success in the real world ? Who knows. But surely one of the key ingredients must be the willingness to work, and work hard and honestly. No short cuts, no "spotting the questions" here.

You often tell me of your stress and frustrations at work, in court. I tell you that life is full of stress and frustrations. Your career development will be built on them, stress and frustrations. If you are willing to learn from them, you learn to handle them and go over them. You will eventually succeed. Otherwise you fail. You say the defence counsels are too smart. They have to be, or nobody will take them. But learn from them. And work harder than them. You can't match them for experience, because they have been at it longer. So build up your own experience right now, and maybe you can build it up faster. Remember you share the same early training at law school. But remember you had excellent grades. Successful as they are, did they get, like you, First Class Honours and Best Student Award to boot ? Keeping this fact in your mind, but never flaunting it ( who cares, anyway ), you should be able to face them squarely. Throw the books at them ( don't take it literally). Prepare your case well. Be sharp like them. Be aggressive but respectful of their standing and experience and enjoy the intellectual sparring. Gain the respect of the court. That's my advice. Come to think of it, there's no stress here. Sounds like fun. So work hard, but enjoy it, too. Life is like making tea - it's up to you to make it strong or weak.

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More bye-election & the stupid club.

2011-01-22T05:33:00.000-08:00

Two more bye-elections are coming, and Hak Tam & I are at it again - RM 5 for the right guess of the winners. So at least there's money to be made from all this.

BN should win Tenang ( and I win RM 5 from Hak Tam ) - Johore is not Kelantan. My symphaties are with Cikgu Malang, oops ! Mala. I hope PAS can give her a job after this. I wonder what were the promises made that made her let go of her job to contest the polls. Merlimau, too, should see BN win. The PKR lorry is steadily losing whatever momentum it got, by default, from the Dollah Badawi debacle at the helms of UMNO that gave everybody the inspiration to give it a hefty kick, and that included UMNO's own disgruntled members. Fortunately, Mahathir from outside, and Muhyiddin from inside, were courageous enough to say" enough " of the sleepy-head. The calls got the desired response from concerned UMNO leaders, not so much because the criticisms were true, but because any further delay in removing the flip-flop would spell the beginning of a quick end to UMNO as we know it to-day. Now it's still spelling the end, but a bit slower - unless Najib & Co. grab the party by its short hairs and move courageously in the right direction. What that is, is another story.

The bye-line on "the stupid club" comes from the show-cause letter I got from the club "for failure to give due notice" for pulling out of a particular club-organized event. You see, 24 hours prior to that event I had written to the club staff responsible that I had to withdraw because of a family matter, unless the club could get me on the first flight on the day of the event. That's not "due notice" ? The 24 hours may not sound big deal , but you must realise the draw was only made available the same morning that I gave written notice. And another thing, when the participants' list was first opened, I put my name right at the top as the first entry. Why was I assigned to a late flight ? In fact the request to change places with another member, who agreed in writing, was a genuine attempt at saving my participation. If the club was not so stupid it would have realized that the non-participation on my part that rankled it so much as to embellish its show-cause letter with all the references to the bye-laws etc. could have been avoided by allowing for the changes I suggested, which should in fact in the first place have been unnecessary if it followed a simple logical "first-come-first-serve" system. At the end of my reply to the club, after noting all the above ( in a less-abrasive manner, something I had to force myself to do ) I could not help putting in a dig "if you have just a little imagination, you would realize bla bla bla. " On hindsight I should have stuck to my original draft and written "brain" instead of "imagination". I don't think the club will know the difference. But I would have had better satisfaction.

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A belated wedding reception.

2011-01-15T16:50:00.000-08:00

Atan's son, Tizar or "TJ" got married two weeks ago, but that was viewed as the bride's kenduri, I think. So we on Atan's side of the family were invited to his reception today, first by sms, then by card handed out by Bot during Pa' Ijoi's daughter's wedding in Lonek on Christmas Day. I think the sms gambit was misjudged and impolite and perhaps this explains the absentees to-day - Anjang, Bang Tai, Mak Uda & Daughters (they are "a number") and a few others.

The location at Felda Villa, staged as a garden party, was quite tasteful. The crowd was just nice for the smallish compound, but it lent a cosy atmosphere, and the mc was professional and succeeded to make the whole event relaxed and friendly. The "soalan teka-teki" was especially entertaining. It made a welcome change to the usual wedding-feast activities. The caterers could do with better cooks, though. The food wasn't great, though the layout was good. I've served Felda early in my career, and I think Felda's setting up (after I left) of the "Merak Kayangan", "Dewan Perdana" (it was supposed to be called "Dewan Rama-Rama" and even had a large stainless-steel rama-rama in front for a short while until the new Felda Chairman shot the moth down) and now, recently, this villa, is a good idea and in fact serves the KL community well with its demand for function halls.

Atan is the youngest of the late Kak Mah's children. If I remember correctly, Kak Mah named him after the day he was born, Hari Raya Haji, thus Ahmad Adzharudin. But he was, as the youngest, "intan" (diamond, precious) and so, Atan. The memory of his late mother, the oldest of the sisters, and that this was Atan's first daughter-in-law, would have had me attend the reception, sms or otherwise. I suppose people have different priorities in their daily lives.

Atan may have forgotten it, but I was the one who gave him his first, and to this day, present job. In fact, indirectly, I also "gave" him his present wife, because they met at work. That is said with a certain fondness and demands no credit. I was in position to offer it, and my late sister-in-law's son was seeking it. This, too, meant that I had to come, as long as, somehow, I was invited.

We lingered right up to the end of the scheduled booking time, mainly because we were waiting for Memi & friend, who eventually made it before closing time. Then we went in tandem to Cik Ani's house in Taman Melawati for tea, and were together back in Seremban by about 5. Dek Na, Memi & friend wanted to eat out that night, and we did. We lost our control of time for the evening and finally came back and went to bed past midnight. Memi and Dek Na discussed together the bills, I don't know the outcome, but my money was safe.

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Calamities - natural & man-made.

2011-01-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

The big floods inundating Australia, Sri Lanka, Europe and many parts of the world are the big news worldwide. The altercations in the Selangor State Secretary's appointment and the Rais Yatim's sorry tale are news country-wide. I feel empathic sorrow for the world news, and plain sorry for the local shenanigans.

The scientist would simply explain the vagaries of nature in the climatic disturbances. The more religious would, doubtless, find reasons far more esoteric. The more mundane should at least realise that nothing beats nature, and the best human efforts cannot match the wrath of nature. Only the human spirit can lift us from despair and allow us to move on. Notwithstanding that bit of self-serving sermonising, we should perhaps accept the proposition that we, creatures of God, must submit to His Plans.

Which is more than I can say for Khalid Ibrahim.

He's just being forced by man-made rules that he accepts someone he has reasons to dislike to be his head of administration in the State Government that he and his political group now controls.

To begin with, Khalid should be intelligent enough to know that he's where he is by default. PKR as a political party alone has no majority in the Selangor State Assembly. UMNO is still the biggest single party voted in, in 2008. If the BN component parties delivered just half of their votes, things would have been different. But that is mere conjecture. What is factual is, the BN vessel got stranded in 2008 because of its own internal malfunction, and the mouse jumped on the pile. But the crow standing on top of the cow-dung shouldn't, well, crow. Knowing, and accepting this, Khalid should wisely pick his fights where they count, and not be like the silly lad in olden times, when, given a "kris" for the first time, he started to poke this and poke that with it. It was ok when he poked a banana tree. What happened when he poked at a rock ?

Now to make things worse for Khalid, to the discerning observer, he says he's set to convene the Dewan Negri to change the State Constitution to empower the Sultan to the pre-1993 status. Yet even as he mouths his lines, he's very publicly going against the Sultan. Can you believe it ? Can you believe Khalid ?

Poor Rais has had his share of bad luck all his long political career. But he's a survivor, and he'll survive this one, too. Whether unscathed or not remains to be played out, because it's all a play.
With excellent credentials, he went into Negri politics full of the promise that soon steadily materialised. He became the MB in spite of the ill-placed jokes made by his less-than-subtle predecessor. He became a Cabinet Minister soon after, but chose the "wrong side" in the UMNO scheme of things. He "burned his bridge" and fought hard for his old constituency wearing new colours, but this was UMNO of old, and he paid the price. And yet his well-spoken delivery and the hands of fate saw him survive politically until to-day, perhaps as one of the longest-serving Federal Ministers.

His bad luck this time is that he took on the blogger-community in a confrontational manner, which is ok if you have what that takes, but not ok if you lump them together, "the good, the bad, and the ugly." Rais is nothing if he cannot learn from his experience, and that should teach him that you may have a silver tongue, but you should not always use it too quickly before you use your good ol' brain.

It's always easy to comment, I suppose. But comment is public menu.

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KP-Simpang Pertang-Kuala Klawang-Seremban road.

2011-01-10T05:41:00.000-08:00

This morning I had to go to the Jempol Land Office to get the new computerised replacement of my 1932-issued land grant. I took along Bang Sudin because he knows Saadon who's working there - you know "know-who" gets things speeded up etc. He needn't have come, because I found out I know this guy. I've even been to his house in Pelangai, though that was a long time ago, when he was at the KP Land Office. I told him he's about double the size since then , after he said I've lost weight.

After business Saadun treated us for a quick lunch at the office canteen. When we turned in the car to go back to Seremban we decided to take the Kuala Klawang road for a change of scenery. It was worth it.

Outsiders always refer to that town as "Jelebu" when in fact it's Kuala Klawang. Jelebu is the district.

I've not travelled this route for some years now. After this I might do it more often. From Bahau or KP it's in fact further. But I can tell you here that it's quite pleasant.

To begin with, the authorities have done much to widen, improve and over-all really beautify the road right from Serting Ulu to Simpang Pertang to Kuala Klawang right through Pantai and Seremban. In fact at several stretches, especially at the Bukit Tangga area, the road looks like the PLUS highway. There was only light traffic to-day, and it made the journey that much more stress-free, when the Kuala Pilah-Terachi road these days can often be a motorists' nightmare.

And then the roadside houses. Somehow they look well-maintained, prim and for many of them, really affluent with their nice compounds and tasteful construction. Though some come close to the road, all look manicured and clean and pleasantly presented. As normally found in many districts in NS, there are vacant houses because in all likelihood the old owners have died and the offsprings have grown up, got married and made homes elsewhere. But even here the houses just look locked-up but not abondoned.

We didn't stop anywhere because we haven't done our zohor prayers and it was almost 3. But there are many lovely spots where we could have done so and enjoy the scenery.

If you have business in Bahau or KP and you're coming from Seremban, this alternative route comes highly recommended from me. You will not mind the extra miles.

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Serious golf.

2011-01-09T05:31:00.000-08:00

That's me. Serious. About golf. My golf.

The late Dato' Ismail Mansor, an old friend who was a senior at RMC, was responsible for my current addiction to this frustrating but facinating game, back in 1978. When I was posted to Seremban in 1977-78 he was the State Secretary, with which post he was also ex-officio the Deputy President of Seremban International Golf Club. He called me to his office and had me sign the SIGC application form for membership right in front of him ,and even allowed me to pay the entrance fee in two installments. The Government rate at that time was, I think, RM 500. But I only took my handicap test eight years later. For that, I blame Hank. But unlike him, I'm still hacking around almost 365 days a year, trying to find the perfect game. I know it doesn't exist, but damn if I'm quitting now.

That's why I hate these snitches who watch a tournament on tv at home and call the organizers about some silly unintentional breaks on some silly old rules. The fact is, whatever infringements are committed, they never make any difference to the shotmaking, but make all the difference to the legal outcome. Like touching the ground with their club while in the hazard, or most recently, flicking away at the divot while the ball rolled back. What do I feel about snitching ? Put the snitchers in front of the tee-box and drive a Titlest Pro Vi through their backside.

This morning I was in a flight during our New Year Medal. One idiot in the group hit my ball for his second shot without ascertaining it was his ball first. When I discovered his mistake he lost his cool and kept at it until the next tee-box. At that point I tried to be a gentleman and said it's just a game, but I did mark my ball - and showed it to him. His reaction took me by surprise. "OK OK it's over, don't repeat it", he almost shouted. And to think that it was entirely his own stupid mistake. Of course, being his marker, I penalised him two strokes and put him for a double-par 10 on that par 5. The nerve of some people. He played shit for the rest of the day. And I think that was too good for him.

Many of the morning golfers at the Club are regulars who obviously love their golf. Several are around 70, which is fantastic, really. But what they should also do is try to improve their game bit by bit and make it even more enjoyable. But they don't. Instead of practicing their chipping and putting on the practice green near the tee-box, they just chat while waiting for their turn. Going to the driving range is even further from their mind. Since my handicap test 24 years ago, I had taught myself by buying books and magazines until I came down to 6 in 2006. I didn't have any teacher other than those books and magazines. In fact I have more than 90 golf books in my collection at the last count, including one first published in 1905 - "The Complete Golfer" by Vardon, the famous English golfer in that century. So, if you put your mind to it, it can be done.

Mizi in jest offered me the job of being his caddy when I met him at the Club after the game to day. OK I said, pay me 100 per day and 10% of your winnigs. I'll pay my own food and travelling expenses. In fact I can help him with his mental game. But I'm too serious about my golf. Mizi will have to make a better offer to make me leave my golf for his.

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Two weddings and a Happy New Year to you.

2010-12-26T04:11:00.000-08:00

First there was Pa' Ijoi's 2nd daughter's wedding 24th. 25th. But the whole thing started months ago when they started buying the usual stuff - "bunga telor" etc. The last few days were just finishing touches, but Puan Hajjah Faridah, the brand new hajjah, took care of them - as usual, I might add. All the brothers & sisters except two showed up early to give morale support, if not actually digging in and making themselves useful. Even washing the dirty dishes helped. Nodi came later, but that's understandable because she came with her brood all the way from Sabah. Kak Mot's grand entrance for her younger brother's very first wedding celebration was difficult to fathom, though. As the oldest surviving sister, it would have made a fond scene to see her leading presence among the family members, fussing over the prenuptial details. It would have made a difference to Pa' Ijoi, I'm sure.

Then to-day was Idah's cousin's kenduri , also the first wedding for the family - her daughter. Christopher is an Indian convert. That's why we saw a group of Indians from his side of the family sitting at one of the special tables at the reception at the Rasah Kemayan Golf Club. You might have wondered where they came from.

Pa' Ijoi's kenduri was grand by Kampong Lonek's usual standard - with the steep-roofed and bannered Arabic tents, the scallops and covered chairs. But Christopher's do was actually quite nicely done, too.

In fact we had to miss Pa' Ijoi's return reception in Palong because of Christopher's reception, but Pa' Ijoi cannot complain because we gave full support for him for the last several days.

In a couple of days it'll be a "Happy New Year."

I'm just going through my golf's "buku 555". As in the past 10 years, it looks like I can afford a good new pair of shoes this year, thanks to Cik Taib, Tok Mail, Muhsin and Usop pokak. I think I'll maintain my average of 300 bucks per month. Not bad for 66-year-old 14-handicapper, eh ?

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MIA, for a while.......

2010-12-14T01:30:00.000-08:00

Down, but not out.

First, the weekends of weddings, which are still going on, seeing that the school holidays are still here. The good thing about it is that there is no jam at the Ampangan junctions on the way to my morning golf at SIGC. Then there was Idah's return from the hajj. And Pa' Ijoi's kenduri at month's end. And finally my internet problem.

A crane drove through the telecom's line in our neighbourhood that week that disrupted telecommunication's connection all over. When the line was restored, my pc wouldn't connect to the internet. First I thought it was the pc. Then maybe it was the telephone line. Then the Telekom man said it was my modem, so I bought a new one. In fact it was the setting at telecoms. That makes the new modem unnecessary. So, here I am, back at first chance.

Mat Sham's wedding reception for his son was the ultimate. What else can I say - the Agong came. Beat that.

Hank was with me at the same table. A few other OP's came by. Many more were sighted but not approached. How we all have aged. But Hank managed to correct my spelling. He said argument has no "e". I have no argument with that.

Then Idah's return. With 3 delays. Without 1 bag.

The first delay was from 12 midnight to 10 am, then to 1.35 pm. Then the one-and-a half hour wait at the wrong exit.

The missing bag arrived by lorry in Seremban 1 week later. Apparently the handlers in Jeddah simply decided to let the bag travel unaccompanied on another aircraft later - against the basic safety precaution I thought everyone else in the whole world knows about air travel.

All the children were there to receive her. Except we waited at the wrong exit. KLIA decided to let the returning pilgrims out through the domestic arrival instead of the international one. Nobody told us. But everyone else was at the domestic exit. We must have missed something.

Idah was fine, except for the traditional "Makkah cough". But she stayed in bed for two days. The fatigue finally caught up with her.

Hoorai ! No more Maggi mee. Once Idah recovers.

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Hari Raya Haji 2010.

2010-11-19T06:22:00.000-08:00

We always call it "Raya Haji." This common sobriquet conveys the more colourful mental image to me than the more pedantic "Aid il Adha." Even "Raya Korban" is less a mouthful. It's the second "Raya" the Muslims celebrate each year. Arguably it's less "fun", but it carries different but equally important connotations. This year it carried extra meaning to me. It's the first time since I got married 39 years ago that I "celebrated" a "Raya" without my wife. She's in the Holy Land.

We've been keeping in touch daily, thanks to the mobile phone, though I had to remind her to stick to the cheaper sms. So I knew about the heavy rains and the 3 million pilgrims. I have also kept her abreast with important news item, important to her, that is - the passing of an old friend and neighbour in Damansara Utama, news of the children's activities and so forth. When I went in 1983, and when my parents went even earlier,we had to rely on the written post. In fact I wrote to my late father so often tha he said his jemaah friends were jealous. One reason my letters received prompt delivery, I believe, was because I used Arabic letters on the envelopes ("Jawi").

To-day was the last of the 3 days of the "casting of the stones" at the three pillars normally performed by Malaysian pilgrims - the "nafar thani" - when many others leave for Makkah from Mina after the first day - the "nafa awwal." So this Asr this third day of the eid was the last time we recited the "takbir" at the end of the five compulsory daily prayers or "solat".

All the married boys, and Dek Na, my daughter, came back for the eid. No. 3 the bachelor son was MIA. Yesterday, the second day of eid, he finally took the time to acknowledge my existence by sending an sms saying he's tied with work. I assume that he was working through the holidays, which I find hard to swallow, but I give him the benefit of doubt, though he has been untruthful before. When he gets married and has a son who does it to him he'll probably feel what I'm feeling now. But he's forgiven all the same. Just blame it on youth.

Meanwhile Idah says she has completed the rituals and is now back in her accomodations in Makkah. Just now I told her that we'd just repaired Dek Na's car, and that she should relax and not do the "tawaf" anymore, until the farewell or "tawaf wida'." She said her return flight is as per original schedule. That's another 9 days.

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Iman's weekend with Atok.

2010-11-08T04:14:00.000-08:00

Iman my 4+ granddaughter called last week and said she'll visit this weekend, and she made good her promise. She knows Atok is all alone because Nanny is in Makkah. But Atok was in KL with Mak Su Dek Na when she reached Seremban Friday afternoon, so she called and I said we're on the way back. But what with the purchase at Low Yat and the quick dinner, Iman was asleep when we finally reached home.

To make amends Atok and Mak Su Dek Na took her to PD in Uncle Memi's car. We took her to Telok Kemang at the Batu Lapan beach and Mak Su Dek Na brought her to the edge of the water so the waves broke over her little fair legs, and she seemed to enjoy it. I don't know if it's her first time, but she said "sungai" and we kept correcting her "laut, laut." But when we took her close to the ponies she was scared and pulled away.

It being Saturday, and what with the Deepavali holidays, there was a large crowd as to be expected. The tide was in, and the waves rush close to the beach. I don't remember, though, the sand to be not white the way I always picture it. The sad part was the garbage floating at the water's edge and strewn most everywhere else - around the foodstalls and the concrete path and even in the drains. Building the foodstalls too near the beach also spoils everything. People come to picnic and bring their own food anyway. I remember the old days ( I spent part of my schooling at the 4th milestone College now no longer there) when old ladies hawk nasi lemak and kueh carried in rattan baskets walking up and down the beach. The beach was long and clean and the swimmers frolic in the clean looking water.

We bought "ais krim potong" with the red beans in them, and Iman enjoyed hers and made a mess with the melting ice cream. I came prepared with a small towel and cleaned her up and threw the paper wrapper when she finished. No dustbin around, so I contributed to the anti-social behaviour by leaving the wrapper on top of a pile of rubbish somebody had collected on a stump by the track.

We had to go back as it was time, but made a stop at Jusco. Dek Na wanted to eat something and we got into "Secret Recipe" and Iman was more than happy to have her share. She's got a good appetite.

That night she wanted to sleep with her Mak Su, but later Banjat picked her up to their room, because she's quite "lasak". Dek Na said the next morning by then her head was this way and her feet that way.

I left for my Sunday golf before Iman woke up. I knew they would have left by the time I came back, and they had. I asked Dek Na if they'll come back for Raya Haji, but she's not sure. I think I'll call her.

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Of history, justice, use of resources, US and us.

2010-11-07T03:57:00.000-08:00

LBH, OTM, OTM's friend and I were exchanging opinions about the DPM's recent call to make history compulsory in schools. OTM's friend said there's no need for it. Study medicine or such useful knowledge instead, he said. OTM and I almost simultaneously responded that history is important lest we repeat the mistakes of the past, and I added that history happens, even as we sat there. I know the background for the negative reaction - because of the recent cultural clash about "immigrants" and "sons of the soil." A working formula that allows a viable and stable coexistence in our multiracial society must be found. For whatever it's worth, the Barisan National formula has worked before. It's human nature, unfortunately, to become bored with the familiar, and the face of BN has been around long enough to become boring and ripe for blame.

I read the NST column by my old classmate, Gnanalingam ( Tan Sri, of West Port and now Maika fame ) about what he termed as significant improvements in the workings of the courts of law in the country. I agree with him regarding the changes. But I don't agree that it's because of one man. That's too much praise for too little evidence. But what is more incredible is the denominator quoted for the judges and the number of cases. Surely these figures are available to the government of the day. If so, what is being done about it ? The answer obviously is to increase the number of judges at all levels. Tap the brightest brains at school, train the young lawyers to fill up the judicial service, pick the best graduates for post-graduate studies and so on.

Malaysia does not have unlimited resources. All the more reason for wise spending by the government. The infrastructure can always be improved. City and rural folks deserve these improvements, and the contrasting standards because of geography must be reduced. So why did we spend 4 billions on the two submarines ? Remember, once in service, these vessels have to be maintained. Are we going to wage war on Singapore ? Because we're certainly not going to war with Indonesia or Thailand or Vietnam or China. How many roads can be built with the 4 billions ?

The US State Secretary's 54-hour stop-over has come and gone and there are serious articles being churned out about it. What's the big deal ? The US is no longer the centre of the universe in spite of its own opinion. We don't even measure up to the importance given to Singapore. The US Government (not the people) befriends and make enemies as they see fit. Look at what they have done in pretty much everywhere in the world. The US Government answers to no one, not even the UN. In our recent case the Secretary only just in the nick of time avoided thumbing her nose at her hosts by meeting with Brother Anwar Bin Ibrahim, leaving nonetheless the signal that the man must be given a fair trial. Better than what she's giving those still uncharged in Guantanamo, perhaps.

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This & that, again.

2010-11-03T06:23:00.000-07:00

Early in the morning Idah sms'd saying it's raining very heavily in Makkah and it's flooding ! That's news indeed. The last time I saw a picture of the Holy Mosque being flooded must have been an old National Geographic photo somewhere, or a faded picture in someone's house. I hoped Idah took some photos, though that's not the concern now - it's her safety, but she said she's OK.

This afternoon the dates she said she posted from Medinah arrived by courier. I don't know when she actually sent the parcel, but the Port Kelang stamp is for 19th. October. In fact she also included one prayer mat, some pistacios and another variety of nuts, two bags of which were burst, no doubt from the gentle Arabian handling.

Also received this afternoon were two MPS cheques for the return of the deposits for the two facilities that were supposed to be used next month, but is now cancelled, but that is another story.

I made a quick visit to Guardian Pharmacy at Center Point for some supplements replenishments, and met Ika, Amar Din's only daughter, with her bf. I teased her "the same one ah?" because I've met the couple a couple (what else) of times before, but these beaus all look alike to me, you know, the greasy hair, the low-slung long shorts, and the lost look. She said she has one more semester for her QS degree course from UM. As the cashier was waiting for the slow line for the card clearance, I mentioned that Seremban has internet problems , and some people have switched to Maxis, and Ika said they have done that. To my question she said dad doesn't do much surfing because he doesn't bother to learn the set up. I took the opportunity to give her my blog address and ask that she comments.

I've done some "spring cleaning" in my den. I told Pak Itam he should see how much garbage I've accumulated. Not wanting some "sensitive" documents to scatter about around the dustbins outside, I set up a small bonfire and managed to singe half the garden plants Idah so lovingly cultivates. I hope the 26 days left before her return would be enough time to hide the evidence.

There's been a problem lately about signing in into my Geni website. Dekna won't help, but no.2 son said it's because I have not visited it for too long. But just now, while going through my e mail and spotting a Geni posting I pottered around and somehow managed to get back into my site. I saw Dr. Noordin Keling's comments made almost one year ago. And I replied. From now on I must make regular visits to keep the account open.

The bye-elections come to an end in a few days' time. Looks like it's BN for Batu Sapi and touch-and-go for Galas. Hak Tam and I have agreed to a draw, so that's 5 dollars saved.

Meanwhile I understand some people say Rosmah is now Acting Premier.But it's better put in Malay - "Pemangku P.M." I thought she's done that a long time ago.

Clinton (the wife) is in town. Will she meet Anwar ? Lee Ban Hong said no one can stop her. I said this is an official visit and she should respect the sentiments of her host. But if she can tolerate her husband's hanky panky, she can tolerate Anwar. But then again, there's no account for taste.

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The Mines Resort Golf Club.

2010-10-30T05:09:00.000-07:00

Last week it was the girls. This week it's the boys. It's the PGA Tour /Asia Tour co-sanctioned tournament for 40 selected golfers, including a solitary player from Malaysia, being held for 4 days at the Mines Resort Golf Club. Like the international feature at last week ladies' tournament, this week's men's game also drew world class professional golfers, and from 13 countries.

The set-up here is different from last week's KLGCC. For one thing, the big, deep lake here is like one very large water hazard that dominates the entire area when compared to all the ponds that seem strewn about to frustrate at KLGGC. Five of the inward nine holes are adjacent to the lake and it can certainly become a factor if the players fail to hit it straight. For another thing, while several holes end up toward the clubhouse in constrict fashion at KLGCC, here the outward and inward nine are like two loops going out and away from the clubhouse and coming back and ending again at the clubhouse. Otherwise the preparation and maintainence of the courses are similiarly spectacular and worthy of the international attention given by the golfing world. As I said before, well prepared international events like these give good exposure to the country. Being the world's leading producer of oil palm is fine, and in fact is probably more substantive to the well-being of the country, but big sporting events are very newsworthy, and we need all the good exposures that we can get.

Unlike at KLGCC, though, this time we posted ourselves at the first par 4 green until the entire field went through. Surprisingly, if my count was correct, there were only 5 birdies, one double bogey, maybe three bogeys and the rest all pars here. Surprising because this is not a long par 4 and except for a strategically placed large angsana almost in the middle and three quarterways to the green, there are no obvious treacheries here. Nobody was put off by the tree, and the three or four who went into the greenside bunker all came out with aplomb. And yet birdies were rare birds indeed.

After the last and currently leading flight went through the first hole, Pak Itam ,who like Tiong Meng last week, is responsible for my being here, and I decided to look for lunch or something. He said let's go to the Sapura kiosk, Sapura being one of the sponsors has a hospitality tent, and Pak Itam said he might be able to get ourselves fixed up. Sure enough, the two girls manning the kiosk were more than happy to oblige. In fact they called over another lady who seemed more senior. She said to follow her, and we ended up inside the expensively laid hospitality tent overlooking the 18th. hole. It was 12.45 and we needed little prompting to dig into the six-star hotel fare. Pak Itam must have been hungry because he filled his plate to overflow and cleaned it up. I went more choosy and started with the expensive-looking cold cuts. Would you believe it; as we were enjoying our free lunch who walked in accompanied by several very attentive ladies but the former Tunku Ampuan Najihah of Negeri Sembilan, and they just sat at the next table. Pak Itam ordered coffee, but I suggested we disappear before more royalty came, and we left without waiting for the coffee.

To morrow is the fourth and last day of the competition. Ustaz Ahmad invited me at the mosque Friday for a doa selamat at 12 tomorrow at his house just behind mine. I think I'll go to the competition for a short while in the morning, and come back early to go for the doa selamat.

Kill two birds with one stone.

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Tiada sapi batu di galas.

2010-10-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

Actually it's Batu Sapi and Galas. And the old Malay proverb goes "tiada beban, batu di galas." It means doing unnecessary work, or more pointedly, to me at least, carrying out a stupid undertaking.

We're talking about the next upcoming bye-elections, of course. One in one end of the country, and the other at the other end. In the peninsula we'd call Galas east. But on the map of Malaysia, Galas is west, and Batu Sapi east. East or west, both sound remote to me. And the undertaking, though not stupid, seems needlessly burdensome. Needless to say, these were tragic times for the two bereaved families whose losses necessitated the whole thing.

The clever reporters have been quick to catch the negative undercurrents in both areas of contest. Ku Li is said to be miffed by some negative remarks by his own candidate. or rather "adoptive" candidate. That could spell trouble later. Teck Lee is already having differences with PKR, with whom there was supposed to be a political deal. So it's a three-cornered affair there, and much vote splitting is certain.

In a way bye-elections are usually parochial, and Kelantan and Sabah each tends to be more parochial than others. So state and local issues will weigh in more than national ones. Candidates' personalities would carry more significance than expected, and the hard work and clever campaigning at the house-to-house level right to the last day, especially counter and multiple visits, are going to cause trouble for each other's opposition. Linda and Teck Lee can build up on their past experience, although in the BN's candidate's case it will be the late husband's record. The PKR candidate is said to be a prominent lawyer, but to the general public he would have to start from scratch.

Hak Tam has a rm 5-wager with me. He takes PAS for Galas, and I take BN for Batu Sapi. I think he'll win in Kelantan, but I think I'll win in Sabah. That means it'll be all square. We shall see. For us the bet is just " tak da kerja, lawan Batu Sapi dan Galas."

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KLGCC

2010-10-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

The last time I stepped on to the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club must have been in 1994, a full 16 years ago. Unsurprisingly, when I visited again this morning for the third & last day of The Inaugral Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia 2010 ladies' golf competition, I couldn't place anything back from memory. It's been too long, and changes have been too great, for anything to come back into recognition. And added the decorative structures and cosmetic touches undertaken for the big event, all looked different to me.

I'd come because Tiong Meng had an extra ticket and knows that I'm a fan of Michelle Wie. So to day I not only followed her for 16 of the full 18 holes, but also met and spoke to her father, and later had a close look at her mother at the 16th hole.Now I know why Michelle is 6-foot tall. Both parents are large by Asian standard.

I only watched a few other flights after Michelle had completed her round. On the 18th. par 4, she obviously laid up because of the water hazard. The second shot was from a free drop from the cart path and it was not a particularly good one because of the grass and the slope and a small tree close to the right of the target line, and there was the large pond protecting the front of the green. It was a brave effort but the ball went straight into the water.It was the next shot that probably best describes her game. Facing the water hazard again, and the high likelihood of a double-bogey 6, she hit a high ball that dropped softly about a foot from the hole and spun back about another foot away. She made the put for what was under the circumstances a great bogey 5.

We watched five of the last seven flights that teed off from the back nine, all at the par 4 ninth, their last hole. This hole, too, has a pond on the right protecting it. Everybody we saw made the green on the second shot except for a few who laid up and went on for their three-on. Excepting again the famous Englishwoman, Laura Davies. She did not get a particularly good drive - it must have been an iron because she's a prodigous hitter. Her ball was on the left slope and it was a half-club short, and it hit the concrete embankment on the slope of the green, and the ball ricochetted about 90 degrees into the middle of the water.

The general comments on KLGCC by the sportswriters, and I agree, is that this is not a particularly long course, but it's a tricky one. Number one, there are plenty of water hazards. Number two, the fairways are narrow. And thirdly, all the greens are undulating, and at stimpmeter 10, and with the grass used, slow and grainy by professional standards. And the misses I saw Michelle made I think were because of these. But those who scored on this last day were those who read their putts well. In fact these professionals cannot win if they cannot putt. And watching the remarkable shotmaking of Michelle Wie - the drive, the mid-irons , the pitching and chipping, and especially her the sandwedge - I think it's her putting that is preventing her from becoming a truly great golfer.

One thing that one gets from watching these sportswomen (or men) up close is the difference between reality and what one gets from the tv. All these people are less "bulky" in person. Laura Davies looks big and heavy on tv. In person she looked lighter. Michelle is downright thin in person, though taller than I expected. The Korean girl, Hee Young Park, who was in her group, is downright small, maybe 5-foot, but could she belt the ball ! On the short driveable par 4 on the back 9, using her driver while her two much taller playing partners did not, she reached the green in one and narrowly missed her eagle putt.

I must remark on the very Malaysian crowd control. We hear about the crowd control in China, where golf is supposed to be new and the spectators haven't learned the proper etiquette. Well, the Malaysian crowd to day probably can easily be similiarly rated. Despite the repeated calls by the large number of marshalls to not use the mobile phone, not use the camera, not move, and not talk while the players take their swings, many continued and more than once the players had to regroup themselves. There was even one occassion when two or three spectators blithely walked across the fairway in front when a golfer was about to tee-off.

I think the tournament was a success. I think these well-run international sporting events are newsworthy and give the country a big impact. Sports surely cross multinational borders while extolling the physical prowess of well-trained athletes that speak of national pride more than mere individual achievement. The country could do with a better overall sports development, as shown by the large and very successful Korean contingent to day. Just don't let the politicians run them.

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UMNO General Assembly 2010.

2010-10-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

Just managed to catch on tv the PM at his quite short closing address at the 2010 UMNO GA in PWTC. Of course"short" is relative, but seeing that this is in fact the 4th. day of the deliberations and the tons of bombast that must have been sprayed in the Merdeka Hall and splashed on newspages with the usual journalistic spin , short was refreshing. At times dead serious and other times quite ribald, Najib was on familiar territory, and the audiance seemed to have given him fair hearing in spite of the yawns picked by the cameras. The centre of his message was simple. He is asking for the Malays to appreciate the "great things" that UMNO have done in the last 6 decades and to show this appreciation by returning UMNO to power in all future elections because only UMNO can deliver while its detractors can only offer rethoric.

Having attended some of these conventions in the past, I know that there were surely plenty of speakers from both ends of the quality spectrum, and much more in between. That, I can assure you, is one area where UMNO lacks little. I remember Najib himself, when he was a junior Minister, was not shy of using some Bengali phrases to add punch to his speech, as others used their Islamic education fully to embellish their often lengthy discourses with the strategically placed Arabic quotations. This time around even the non-Islamic educated Youth leader liberaly injected intellectual-sounding but opaque Arabic words into his prose when in fact more limpid sounding Malay words carrying the exact same meaning were available. So much for bombast.

The truth of the matter is, talk can be cheap. Results matter, and in the last two years many results face the so-called "Malay agenda" right in the face. Only time, and there isn't too much of it left, will tell whether all this talk can regain the lost electoral votes, resolve the unfulfilled social promises, and in general remedy the lingering public malaise somehow sensed by the bigger majority of the Malays. And that is not even beginning to talk about racial issues.

What is certain, though, is the fact that the opportunists among the top UMNO leadership must be culled, and quickly. They are easy enough to identify. If they are not quickly removed from position of influence, the rakyat may well make their feelings known in the next GE. They have done that in 2008. They can do it again. No idle talk here.

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This week's round up.

2010-10-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

Had to be early at the "blood centre" at the KKA (Klinik Kesihatan Ampangan) this morning. In fact I was first to arrive ( 6.30 a.m.) and also first in line. The last time, three months ago, I was also first to arrive but was around eighth in line because I did not immediately go to the numbering machine, you know, the contraption they all have at banks and other crowd-collecting centres that quite effectively calm people down to waiting in a more orderly fashion. To day the machine was kaput, but the double-numbered slips were already made available and this was a practical replacement. The only complain to day was the young Malay orderly who came at 7, and at that he was being pressed by an older, more experienced looking female staff who apologised on his behalf - "orang baru, encik" (new staff, sir). I asked what happened to the elderly tall Indian guy who usually opened at 6.45 ? Apparently he had just retired.

While waiting for the doors to open, I spoke to the old man who came behind me as he opened up his portable chair, and asked how old he was. I did not expect him to mention too old an age, but was surprised that he was, in fact, 83 ! I congratulated for for his years and genuinely said that was great, forgetting for the moment we were all here in the still dark wee hours for a health check-up. He said that he also sits on a chair when attending mosque. The guy behind him joined in and said many now bring chairs for prayers, while the young and healthy don't even bother to come. The banter then went to the budget, cheating cases and "Ah Longs" and "orang putih" laws. By then the discussion group had widened up, and I just stopped participating. Then the young Malay orderly came and I went in quickly.

I had told Tiong Meng to delay play at the Club to day because of the KKA appointment. In fact because I was "no: 1" there was no delay - we teed off at 7.30, our normal time, and I even managed to buy some Malay cakes by the roadside, which was my breakfast because for the blood test I had to fast, so the last meal last night was at 9 p.m., ten hours ago.

After the game, Tiong Meng, Ah Man and Yu Kan left early after our refreshments at the Club's cafeteria, but I lingered and joined Pak Itam, Sulaiman "Saturday" and Maulud who came in later because they were two flights behind. As usual the "political talk" went to the MB, Anwar, the PERKASA-UMNO clash and similiar-vein connundrums. But Maulud brought mirth when he went tangent to the arguements at hand and suddenly said he told Baha yesterday about this young chap being interviewed by the old Javanese religious teacher. "How many prayers do we have to perform daily ?" The young man seemed ignorant and keep quiet. "What is the first one ?" he was further asked, and that, too, he did not give an answer. "Subuh !" the old Javanese answered his own question, with some exasperation. "After Subuh ?" he next questioned. Again the poor chap couldn't answer. " Johor !" the old Javanese said in his thick accent for "Zohor" the mid day prayers. "After Johor ?" the old Javanese now quiet angrily queried. The young man now perked up and this time quickly answered "Singapore !" We all had a good laugh.

Tiong Meng called when I was driving to town for lunch (instead of my Maggi mee) and said there's a golf sale at Jusco, so after lunch I went. But while eating at the stall, alone, because this was almost three and the lunch crowd was gone, I asked the stall staff about the notice "Layan Diri / Self Servis" and said the second part was in Malay or what, because "self" obviously was English, but "servis"? Like the young chap in Maulud's story, no answer was offered.

There was nothing much at the golf sale, so I decided to pop into the supermarket and looked around. I bought a few items and on the way out saw the "Roti Papa" kiosk and stopped and asked for "Roti Mama". The old Chinese operator grinned and said no mama, only papa. His Malay assistant joined and said go to Econsave. In fact at Econsave they have a "Roti Mama" kiosk. Actually Roti Papa costs 1.80 while Roti Mama 1.50. I suppose that figures.

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Madinah and Maggi mee.

2010-10-17T05:17:00.000-07:00

We finally saw Idah enter the Kelana Jaya LTH departure hall well past 1 a.m. Thursday 14th. October. Since we were "KT18" and "KT 17" had left by 9 p.m., I don't understand why they couldn't let the KT 18 crowd enter the air-conned hall earlier, as that also would lessen the crowding.

The last phone call was made from the car as we travelled back to Seremban. Imar sms through her phone when they were waiting to be processed at Madinah airport at about 1 p.m. Thursday, Malaysian time. Idah did not sort out her sim card until the next day, and the children were duly informed and all but Banjat have called. Today I saw the missed call while playing at KDRSM with Dato' Ismail and Taib, and called back. All the calls thus far showed Idah in good spirits and good health, except for some running nose. I told her to rub on the "vicks" ointment I gave her.

Calit called yesterday and said I should have enough stock of Maggi mee. Well, I have a few packets left. I have already drawn up the week's menu:

Day 1: Maggi mee with eggs.

Day 2: Maggi mee with sawi.

Day 3: Maggi mee with anchovies.

Day 4: Maggi mee with large onions.

Day 5: Maggi mee with hot Thai sauce.

Day 6: Maggi mee with mushroom.

Day 7: Maggi mee with eggs.

After that I'm in trouble.

Firstly, the "Maggi mee with eggs" is coming around again.

Secondly, I'll be up to here with Maggi mee by then.

Thirdly, if there's any truth in what they say about too much Maggi mee, I'd probably be crawling on my knees by the end of the week.

Idah said yesterday she had posted some Madinah dates. I hope this packet arrives soon. Then I can have Maggi mee with Madinah dates. For a change.

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Idah's fulfilment of her Holy Haj.

2010-10-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

It's not a done deal, but in the early hours of Thursday morning, the 14th. of October, 2010 C.E. or the 6th. of Zulkaedah, 1431Hijriah, Idah entered the departure hall at the Kelana Jaya LTH complex, on the first part of a lifetime journey to be the "guest of God" at the Holy Land. Her group will land in Madinah at approximately 1 pm Malaysian time, Thursday, where she'll do the ziarah and the 40 solats over about 8 days at the Mosque of the Holy Prophet before travelling by road back to Mekah to await the day of the "wukuf" in the plains of Arafah, the stoning of the devil at the three pillars in Mina and back to the Holy Mosque for the "tawaf" and "sa'i" and the completion of her haj.

We arranged for an all-ladies do'a on Sunday afternoon. I suggested that she just call the immediate neighbours because going for the haj nowadays doesn't involve the whole village like the old times, and she agreed, but before you knew it about 60 ladies of various descriptions descended upon our humble abode. Anyway I was glad that Idah managed to get most of her closest friends to come. I felt that it gave her a sense of satisfaction that they all came to bid her a good journey.

Before we left the house immediately after the Magrib prayers, everybody had the chance to spill the expected tears, and with the call of the Azan by Salleh, I drove out of the porch with Dekna by my side and Idah, still wiping her tears, at the back. After the very long wait at Kelana Jaya, there was another round of parting tears with the children before she finally entered the departure hall. Dekna managed to make a last phone call from the car as we travelled back on the Plus highway to Seremban.

It would be a long 45 days for me, but if she does what I told her to do, it would be a deeply meaningful and busy stay and all too short an experience for her. I pray that she remains healthy, because this is the most physical of the Islamic rituals, and good health, not always guaranteed, makes a big difference. Dr. Miszua and my brother have given her all the medical advice, and she's stocked with enough pills and ointments to last two hajs, but God determines everything. On her part, she said I should avoid living on Maggi mee and eat proper food, but I said not to worry. I eat like a bird, anyway - very little, though often. I had already pictured it in my mind - get a lot of eggs and beef sausages, the said Maggi mee, and plenty of fresh fruits and orange juice, and I'm set up.

As usual many also asked that she prayed for them, in Mekah and at the grave of the Prophet. In fact I saw several pieces of paper with names and notes to remind her.This is customary. Take the opportunity of being on Holy Ground and seek supplication from the overbearing Presence. But God listens from everywhere.

Years ago Idah said for her first haj she'd like to do it with Dekna. Well, looks like that is now not happening. Anyway, I don't think Dekna is ready to embark on such a holy journey. So she has plenty of time to accumulate all her worldly sins. That would make her own inevitable pilgrimmage not only more meaningful, but also infinitely more necessary.

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Reflections.

2010-10-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

In just 12 days' time Idah will leave for her pilgrimage, and I'll be "home alone" for about six weeks. That was about the length of time that I left her when I went for my pilgrimage, alone, twenty seven years ago. She had three small children to keep her company then. We have four of them now, but they've all flown the coop, as they say. In fact Dek Na, our only girl, was conceived after I returned from that pilgrimage. Checked the dates.

Dek Ma, my sister, sms'ed me (how else, nowadays) saying Nora, her third daughter, is doing her housemanship now. So she's following Din's, her uncle, footsteps. Good for her. Only, I used to tease her on her thin frame. But she's the tough outdoor kind, actually.

Memi is still trying to get his bosses at CIMB to transfer him to their audit department. He needs the necessary experience for his ACCA, but they're not obliging him. Unlike his brother Ashraf, Memi, in spite of his girlish sounding nickname ( his mother's doing ) is not so diplomatic, and that of course explains a lot.

The recent Raya saw a lot of weddings to attend. I went to some, the wife went to the others, and between us we covered all the invitations. I purposedly declined going to those invitations addressed to "Mak Idah & keluarga." There was also one with a double-reception; at home and a 5-star hotel. This was from her niece, but the hotel part was conveyed verbally and only to her, and that by her secretary. This, of course, I declined, but she went. Apparently a number of royalties also came, so I guess I wasn't missed.

Ashraf says the stork is coming again. If it's true, that would be no. 3. Banjat remains stagnant at one. Adib has said something to Idah, and she has taken her to "berubat" but I've kept my nose out of the ladies' conspiracy.

Usop's spa is apparently operational now, after some problems with the Melaka authorities. I heard the Fire department was giving her a hard time, as was with the City hall. I don't understand the attitude. Where's the help for Bumiputra enterpreneurs ? I think they just want grease on their palms, honestly.

My golf game is slowly, slowly coming back, after the 6-week break. I checked my 5-5-5 notebook, and see that I'm still in the black, so that's ok. I'm trying out some of the putting tips I see on Youtube. You won't believe what you can catch on that webbsite.

OK, I have to go back to the delayed Ryder cup match in Wales on Astro now. The first day, shown live, is delayed by rain, lots of it. Why they choose this place, I don't understand. I have visited Wales. It's wet. wet, wet. So, I may have to wait, wait, wait.

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K.P.HARRIS, R.I.P.

2010-09-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

I had barely finished my last posting when Ati, my sister, called, informing me of Pak Cik Aris' passing.

We moved to Tanjong Malim in 1950. Not all of my siblings were born yet, of course. Dad was posted to Sultan Idris Training College (now Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris) to teach. We stayed for 6 years. Tg. Malim carries a lot of memories for me. I was 6, and this was my first schooling days, first at the Sekolah Latihan Tanjong Malim, the Malay school that served as the training school for the trainee teachers who were the students of S.I.T.C., and after standard 4, for two years at the Special Malay Class I & II, at the Methodist English School just across the road from the S.I.T.C. padang. I remember the celebrations at the town padang for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (we were still a British Colony). I also remember the Emergency, the euphimism applied for the period of the jungle, and once in a while urban, warfare waged by the British Administration against the armed communist terrorists. As it happened, Tg. Malim gained notoriety for that ambush on the D.O.'s armed party that went up to repair the sabotaged town reservoir that resulted in the 14 government dead and a public rebuke by General Templer.

And then there was Pak Cik Aris.

How dad got him to come I'll now never find out. But he didn't come with us from the very beginning. That was "Lebai." Lebai was one of dad's pupils at the Kuala Pilah Malay School where he taught before the Tg. Malim posting. He had finished Standard 6, the highest class for all the Malay schools at that time. After Standard 6, except for the fortunate few who were very clever, very connected or very rich (often all three), everybody went to look for work. Mostly they became government clerks, or policemen, or soldiers. Lebai, at dad's invitation, followed us to Tg. Malim, eventually to help him set up our own private mini photo studio, my father's surprising interest, and later, side-income. After a short while Pak Cik Aris came. When Lebai left us shortly to join the army (what else), Pak Cik Aris filled up the assisstant photographer's position that eventually outlasted our own Tg. Malim stay. When dad got reassigned back to Kuala Pilah in 1956, Pak Cik Aris, having found a vocation he had become fond of, chose to remain behind. And until only a few years ago, Tanjong Malim was his home.

Right from those early days, Pak Cik Aris had chosen his trade name, "K.P. Haris" - coining his real name with the initials of his original home town - Kuala Pilah. Through the years he lived on his camera work. When dad set up his mini-studio he did the developing work himself, plus all the art work when he did the Raya cards thing. Pak Cik Aris learned the developing as well, but when we left Tg. Malim he stopped developing his photos himself and concentrated only on snapping the shots only. Apparently sufficient income was earned by him to survive almost his entire lifetime on this taking of photos of the endless batches of SITC students who got through the college gates every three years.

Pak Cik never married. Once in a few years he'd suddenly appear in Kuala Pilah and visited us. When I was at MU he sent word about the death of Pak Cik Jaya through another undergraduate, which showed that he kept track of me. When I started working , my work sometimes took me to Tg. Malim, and I used to look for him when time permitted. Mostly I failed, but a few times I met him. He was staying at the old surau in the College grounds. He used to keep an extra "kain pelikat" under the mimbar of the town mosque. So I know he kept his daily solat.

A few years ago he came back to KP, "for good", he said at that time. He moved to Mak Cik Putih's house, a relative of his. Mak Cik Putih's late son, a doctor, even gave him an electric-powered bicycle, which he rode around Kuala Pilah town with glee. And there I thought he'd spend the rest of his days. I learned with sadness to-day that Pak Cik chose not to put his root down here after all. Apparently he became difficult in his old set ways. I believe Mak Cik Putih and her family had opened their home to him like family, and he had settled in at first. But he became restless and wanted to be on his own again, and back in Tanjong Malim in particular. So they obligingly sent him back to Tanjong Malim about a year ago. Then he fell sick and was hospitalised, so they fetched him, but he didn't want to come back to Mak Cik Putih's house. The old folks homes in Negeri were full, but they found one in Melaka that accepted him. Recently, he fell sick again. And last night he was gone. He died at the hospital in Melaka.

They brought back the body to Kuala Pilah this morning. It was cleansed and the burial shroud was wrapped at the Bukit Temensu surau, which is in fact built on the land owned by Mak Cik Putih's late father, donated (wakaf) for the surau. About 30 of us stood and prayed before the body. It was sad for me to see the lonely Pak Cik Aris, who came to us in Tanjong Malim alone, stayed back there alone, and finally died all alone. He was at least 86, just slightly younger than my late mother. Mom had a soft spot for him, although I remember one time she scolded him over something quite trivial. In the last years of her life, I knew she still used to give him some money whenever he made one of those infrequent surprise visits. She would have cried for him. Sadly, I see no tears to-day.

Goodbye, K.P. Haris.

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Idah going for the Hajj.

2010-09-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

So, at the ripe (right?) age of 60, my wife will leave for Madinah and thence Mekah on or around 15th. October (Tabung Haji reserves the right to change this, as usual), that is in 22 days' time. This is the 5th Pillar of Islam , arkan al din, and it should be her final religious obligation in her lifetime. I had always wanted to do it myself before the age of 40, and managed to fulfill that "target" in 1983, one year ahead of time. But I went alone, and now she's going alone. I went alone because the 3rd boy, Memi, was only 1, and the other 2 were still small and at school. Anyway, she wasn't "ready". She says she is now.

Another reason, a much stronger one that I rightly or wrongly hold, as to why I'm not going with her on this holy pilgrimage, for a second time, is that in my heart of hearts I feel that I had undertaken that 1983 trip with full spiritual satisfaction, having immersed myself mentally and physically in the preparations for it. I realized, as I have been taught, that this is the most "physical" of the compulsory obligation or ibadah. I had to take care of my body so that I could perform the haj undistracted by ill-health, as I witnessed happened to many of my relatives. In fact Hamdan, a friend who went on the same trip, of my own age, was sick during part of the pilgrimage and had to be carried on a stretcher to do his tawaf and sai. So, for about 45 days prior to leaving for the Holy Land, I jogged every evening for about 3 km to build up my stamina. On my mental preparation, I joined my friends for the standard "kursus haji" and other related "ceramahs", but finally decided to read up more on the concept of the haj, and concluded that, other than the surahs from the Quran that I had already learned by heart from small, I should pray to God in the language that I know, Malay, and that I can truely say what I really want to, with sincerity and feeling, knowing God Knows Malay, anyway. And, thankfully, except for the cough that everybody had, I was in good health throughout, and I felt I was able to offer my humble supplications in intimate terms to my God.

As I had expected, it was hard physically. But perhaps because I was prepared for it, I was able to endure the heat, the extreme crowding of all the places of worship, the 8-hour bus trip (standing !) from the Plains of Arafat through Muzdalifah to Mina, where the casting of the stones at the 3 pillars (jamrah) were performed, and even enjoyed the food throughout the entire stay. I performed the tawaf and the sai, in spite of coming in the second last flight from KL, with relative ease, even when the jemaah in the Holy Mosque was at its peak of about 2 million, it being Haji Akbar that year, and me coming for Haji Ifrad - coming direct to Mekah in full "ihram" for 8 full days right through "tahlul" after Mina. Perhaps, among other things, doing the haj when one is younger and more robust contributes.

Idah is in fairly good health for her age, the aching joints not counting. The slight hypertension she has is being controlled with, with prescription, and continuously, and I mean continuously ( the damned bp gadget makes a constant beeping sound ) checking the bp herself. She won't be alone because she's with several close friends like Imar and Mai, and some family members. And she has done the umrah before. So, I think she'll be all right. Dek Na has given her a brand new mobile phone so she could keep in touch, and all four kids will give her sufficient cash for her personal expenses, and that should also be ok. I won't "naik haji" this time. But when she comes back I'll "naik hajjah !".

We'll also give her a doa selamat on the 9th. and all send her off to the departure centre on the 15th. I'll wait out the 42 or so days alone here in Seremban, for her safe return. I pray that she remains in God's Safekeeping, and fulfil a virtous journey, Amin.

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UMNO & PERKASA according to Najib.

2010-09-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

Mainstream media today, 18th, September carry Najib's less than equivocal statement about UMNO and PERKASA not being at odds with each other. The fact that he has, again, to make this sort of statement, carries significance beyond the obvious.

Obviously Najib has to say something to pour some oil over troubled water. His "1 Malaysia" stands confronted by PERKASA in all sorts of way. But obviously also, the Malay voice PERKASA clearly carries cannot be dealt with by Najib in a confrontational manner. That would be a disaster, and he better believe it, no matter what his advisers say to the contrary.

The accepted need to refocus on racial issues in multiracial Malaysia is undeniable. But this has come about by the increasing stridence in the non-Malay complaints against special Malay rights which have been there all along. While the non-Malay voice has increased in tenor and frequency, the Malays have retaliated by saying basically the same things about their special rights duly legislated all this time. The increase in racialism is within the non-Malay voice.

Up until the current fracas, the multi-racial surface of Malaysian politics had given a calm external demeanour, if not internal quiescence. The multi-racial family was somehow or other a working one. The imbalanced economic distribution of income, with its related sectoral and racial segregation imposed by historical design, was being gradually righted, and the wealth of the nation was being spread, at least superficially, more evenly among the major racial groups. In depth, in fact, the Chinese businessmen and the Indian professionals have prospered more than the Malay administrators and government servants, and padi planters. All this was not necessarily in spite of the much maligned New Economic Policy, but in fact because of it. For how was the Malay administrator, or the Malay government servant, now with better income because of the Government policies, to spend that income but to go to his Chinese tradesmen for the goods , and the Indian professionals for the services, that make for the better quality of life aspired to ?

This talk of scholarships for Malay students, and Government jobs for Malay graduates need an objective examination. Look at the number of Malay students attending universities and colleges, at home and abroad. Compare that with the number of non-Malay students in similiar situation. Look at the number of jobs available nationawide, both inside Government agencies and out of them. Without the scholarships the Malay students, already minuscule in comparison, would probably drop to nothing at all in abolute numbers. Without the hold out of government employment, how many would be given the same opportunity by the private businesses ? If there are now claims of government discrimination for scholarships and jobs, how widespread is the real discrimination by private business toward the Malays ?

The need is to move forward, not backward. Affirmative action has been good for the whole country because it was addressed at the historical mistakes of the colonial past. The progress that has been made the last half-century, however small, must not be negated by the spread of lies supplanting historical truth, for the sake of sounding liberated. What good is liberty if it means political tragedy ? And tragedy will be repeated by history, if national leaders give more importance to rethoric rather than the reality that exists for this small, troubled nation.

UMNO was set up to fight for Malay rights, but not at the expense of the other races that make up the national population. Keeping the special rights of the Malays was the agreement struck by the nation's forefathers. It does not mean the downtrodding of the non-Malays. It has never been that way, and the proof is around us. Incidents and individual contradictions don't nullify the bigger picture, for they are the frailties of life. The noble effort must persevere. The balancing act continues. Najib has no choice. We all have no choice.

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Thoughts in Syawal.

2010-09-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

The month of Syawal came 6 days ago. The celebrations continue. The young 'uns are determined that the 30 days of fasting is balanced with at least 30 days of feasting. Ah, to be young and single-minded !

The first of Syawal went the usual way, with the morning Eid il Fitri prayers at our surau ( I'm chairman, still ) followed with the lemang, rendang, kueh-mueh etc everybody contributed. In fact everything started the night before when we went around for the "takbir" from house to house. We broke up by street groupings, otherwise we'd have to do about 200 house. This year our group had 2 new additions - Adik & Calit. We did 10 houses and finished the last one before midnight.

After the Eid il Fitri prayers we were back in the house, and the children and those with their own brood came around for "salam Raya" and exchanges of money packets. My wife and I stayed home, but the rest went to their uncles' houses nearby.

For one whole month I kept clear of all political and similiar news, so now I was catching up with all the news breaks and the sensational stories that the local media carry. My word ! - the multiple murders, the racial mudslinging, the UMNO internal quarrels, and the natural disasters in and out of the country !

The multiple murders remind me of the murder of the Pahang State Assemblyman by Mona Fendi and her men many years ago. It was said that Mona wouldn't have committed so brazen a murder if not for the fact that she'd done it at least once before in Klang. Because it involved a nonentity, the first case didn't attract public attention, and she found that "this is easy, and I can do this again". Similiarly this Susilawati case appears to me, after the additional facts reported, that it's a case of "I'd gotten away with it easily before, I can do this again", also.

A few celebrity UMNO leaders are condemning PERKASA, while other leaders, including its President, are not quite taking similiar lines. It's not helpful to the majority of ordinary members who have shown sympathy to the message that PERKASA is carrying, one that everybody thought UMNO itself should be carrying. There's confusion, and that's no good for Najib. PERKASA, like DONG ZONG and the banned HINDRAF, is an NGO, not a political party. But the movement is clearly politically motivated, and what's implicated cannot be ignored. Notwithstanding the rights of the Chinese and the Indians, the special rights of the Malays, already ensconsed in the Federal Constitution , are the vital mainstays of a racially stable Malaysia , which in turn is a prerequisite for the future of this country as an economic entity of any worth. I don't think the Malays will negotiate from any other starting point.

The BN-concocted formula for at least a superficial peaceful multi-racial political co-existence is being dismantled by the forces that were unleashed by the glaring weaknesses of the Dollah regime. Fortunately, that incredibly confused leadership was cut short, but the damage was already done. The lid to the pandora box was opened. An alternative formula to civility has to be found, and real quick, or you can say good bye to "1 Malaysia" and whatever good that that still not totally accepted slogan was meant to achieve.

Najib says he's very proud of the groundwork of nation-building laid by his father, and rightly so. And this country owes a great deal to the man for the high road that it has taken. But Najib has to be very careful, so that he doesn't become tragically the son who buries the noble work of the famously tireless father. Najib has to listen to the right advice, and to steer away from the politics of the insidious. The good and tested leaders are still around, and good and tested ideas need not be wasted by casting aside for new and untested ones, just so that a new "look" is achieved. Changing politics need not mean changing political values, like changing shirts. The wisdom of the ages and of wise men past is not nullified just because a new turn of phrase and a new voice has been found. Soothsayers and sychophants are the bane of leadership. Least of all, but no less harmful, Najib shouldn't get distracted by personal vendattas, and dissuaded by petty acrimony around him.

We rejoice in our good health and fortune. But we should appreciate life more when we hear many others, far away, who are less fortunate. They suffer from hunger and ill-health because of the frailty of their state economy, and the fury of their climate and weather, and we should be sorry. So, in the spirit of the Celebration of the Grace, we should pray for compassion for mankind.

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Thoughts in Ramadan.

2010-09-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

To-day is the last day of my 65th. Ramadan, though clearly it does not mean that same number of months of fasting. It seems appropriate that the news on the proposed burning of the Quran by a Christian pastor in the US "to commemorate" the 9/11 aircrafts attacks of the NY WTC has caught my attention, and I share my thoughts here.

The Quran has survived desecretion right from the times of the Righteous Caliphs who compiled the Surahs down to the present day. So this burning of whatever number of copies of Quran is not by itself disasterous , much less fatal, to the Quran. The Word of God, as Muslims believe the Quran to be, surely cannot be destroyed by the physical act of burning printed copies of it, any more than the content of the Bible can be erased in like manner. The teachings of the Quran is to-day held absolute by a third of mankind who profess by it, and many more who respect its message, and these are the numbers that must be obliterated from the face of the earth , for the Quran to be erased from the knowledge of man. The contents of the Quran , for believers and the knowledgeable non-believers alike, have been propounded for more than 1,400 years, and its principles tested and practised, with success, throughout the world. The Quran mentions the frailties of man, and human history bears more than ample examples of them. The Quran puts a high value to life of any form, and condems unreasonable killing of any kind. What the perpetrators of 9/11 did was not from the tenet of the Quran. Christianity and Judaism have as many examples of crimes committed in the name of religion as Islam, to make this tragic case unique. In as much as the terrosist act of a Christian Northern Irishman in recent times cannot cast total condemnation upon Christianity, nor can it be said that some misguided acts by Muslim individuals, ipso facto, have the sympathy of the Muslim community.

Instead of burning copies of the Quran, as many as possible should be distributed among the non-believers, so that they can try and find out what it really says. If they are true believers of their own God, they should find the content of the Quran not abhorrent to their own religion, because the Quran disallows forcing religious belief, but says to each group is its own belief . Notwithstanding the seemingly popular Western perception to-day, Islam signify peace, tolerence and "the middle way." The facts of history bear proof also that Muslim communities from the days of the Prophet Muhammad to the time of the long reign of the Ottomans have been more tolerent of the Jews and other religious groups than even contemporary European states.

Are we our brother's keepers, and do we answer for the misguidance of our kin ? The fabric of society is surely many textured, and the spectrum of mankind many hued. That is why all the religious scriptures of the world, as does the Quran, teach man to " enjoin the good and forbid the wrong", and how surprisingly similiar their injunctions are. The pastor in the news clearly is not even following his own religious teaching.

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Arsyad.

2010-07-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

It's been a frantic and worrisome week for my no. 2 son & spouse, and equally so for me & the wife, with Arsyad, our eldest grandson committed to the ICU at SDMC Subang Jaya Tuesday for pneumonia. It was only Thursday that the danger passed and he was moved to the normal ward. The wife kept telling her friends and relatives who called on her mobile that our grandson was having a serious case of asmathic attack until I corrected her and described the seriousness of pneumonia compared to her description of asthma. I was particularly touched by the sms on Wednesday dawn our son sent me about his sadness and grave concern for Arsyad's condition and his strength, or lack of, in fighting the infection, so we rushed back to the hospital from Seremban as soon as we got dressed.

Lately my wife has been telling those around her who would listen how clever Arsyad has become since he started kindergarten this year - he's such a good speller ! So the first time we got to his hospital bed Tuesday evening she cried quietly as she stroked his hair, lying gravely sick with the tubes in his nose and arm and finger. I just stood and watched, my heart heavy with grief. Since then we have been at the hospital daily except Thursday when he had improved and I fasted puasa sunat Syaaban. I didn't cry at any time, but when Tiong Meng called, having found out earlier, I couldn't control the soft sob in my throat. I don't know what religion he practices, but I said please pray for my grandson. He's not five until next month.

This afternoon we didn't visit because of various social committments in Seremban, and since Arsyad has improved tremendously except for the lingering slight temperature. But my son said that he'll probably get discharged tomorrow, though I said stay on if he's not fully recovered. This will cost him a bundle, SDMC being private and all that. Fortunately there's the insurance Ija has so wisely invested in. Still, at times like these, costs seem hardly relevant, although they are, in fact.

Get well, my dear grandson ! We love you.

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Lawmakers.

2010-07-19T06:01:00.000-07:00

I was at Parliament recently, but not to watch the dabates in the House, rather for a meeting at the adjacent Parliamentry Offices regarding, of all things, a golf tournament planned by the TSM group this 25th. July. In the meantime, I was lingering outside the Assembly Hall and watched the agitated Bung Mokhtar entangling with the DAP from Ipoh Timor or Barat or something and the DAP Secgen Kit Siang, not knowing that my meeting about half-an-hour later would be co-chaired by the very same Bung Mokhtar.

I also passed by the pc with a sullen-looking Anwar Ibrahim. What a waste, I thought. A rare Malay personality with the gift of the gab, but totally imbued with his own self-importance in the national political scene, and using all his craft to wrangle all those connections from overseas to promote his major cause - himself !

I was thinking, how many voters really follow what their respective parliamentarians actually do in Parliament. I saw many empty seats on the cctv. The hallways and the Members Bar and the cafeteria were well patronised, while all makes of cars were coming and going outside. I was thinking what was the government thinking when they decided to buy the two submarines for 2 billion. Are they thinking we're going to war with Singapore, or Indonesia, or Thailand perhaps. I heard one of the subs has some serious technical problems that are going to cost some more hard-earned public money. They could have spent the 2 billion to beef up the army and that would have been more strategically meaningful and practical, if not downright cheaper.

Najib should get some right advice and real quick. The good thing is the next GE is at least 24 months away. The bad news is UMNO is not ready yet for any real fight if it's now.

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Followers.

2010-07-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

Great ! 2 followers already !
They shouldn't count as followers, actually. One, they're kin, so they would have followed, anyway. Two, they're lost souls, so they may not realize what they're doing. Awe is lost because he thinks the only real car is a Citroen. Well, he's completely wrong. After the 1970's "boat" Citroen, the French carmakers have lost their imagination, sacre bleu !! Ashraf is lost also because of the car he drives. It's mine !!

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Father's Day.

2010-06-20T03:47:00.000-07:00

All week I'd been reminded by the TV programmes about Father's Day. It seems none of my offsprings even know about it. After the last khutbah Juma'at and a number of internet postings I guess I can count my own blessings that I have not failed to appreciate my parents' sacrifices to us in their uneventful lives.

The spate of wedding receptions I had to attend this school break only makes me more aware of the unending attention and expenditure that parents spend on their children. And often it does not end there, but the cycle continues with the grandchildren. But we, my wife and I, have decided that our resposibility ends with our children, that they have to look out for their own children in turn. We'll always love our grandchildren - even now we miss them when weeks go by without seeing them. But we draw the line at bringing them up.

In my time, I always made it a point to visit our kampong house regularly, and always did so for all the major festivities. The loss of our father so soon after his retirement deprived two of my children of ever knowing him. I privately hope that I live long enough to at least know all my grandchildren.

Meanwhile the two of us have resigned to the fact that our two married boys are now too busy with their own lives to pay much attention to us. It remains to be seen if the two remaining children would behave differently once they,too, get married.

We have given our four kids everything they needed in terms of the love and affection, and the education and upbringing in the measure we thought was sufficient. I only hope they in due course, as they now go through life with their own children, would eventually appreciate us. For now we have to be content that all of them never suffered the the worldly wants that I didn't have when I was their age, and that all of them are set with their own careers that should take care of their basic worldly needs for the rest of their lives. Accepting this fact has been my little Father's Day gift this year.

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Rock Foundation.

2010-06-19T05:26:00.000-07:00

Only A K Bear and Hank know who "Rock Foundation" is, especially Bear because he was the one who gave Halim Shah this moniker.

This afternoon, Saturday 19th. June, 2010, we were mostly all there - at Rock Foundation's daughter's wedding at the appropriately named Merak Kayangan Hall. I was the last to come to my table - Zawawi, Bull, Jaye and their spouses were already there. At the next table were A K Bear, Jerry, Sha and partners. At the other table I spotted and waved to Rahman and Rosli, and then there was Mat Nor Gear, Harun Siraj and Aziz Hassan (the Lt. General). Gnanalingam(the Maika saviour) also came to my table, looking strangely bent at the neck. He said he feels no pain and only bystanders use to point his condition out. Gnana was with us - Suki and Hashim Bulat and Acan, at TMS until 1960 when he, Suki, Wahab Acin and I went to RMC. I reminded him that he sent RM 500 cash by normal post in lieu of attending my second son's wedding about 5 years ago.

I must congratulate Rock Foundation for his reception - classy yet simple and not at all over elaborate. This sit down affair is rare at Malay weddings today. Usually it's the lengthy and messy buffet lunch and not knowing where the bride and groom are, and frequently ignoring them, in fact. Here we all watched the lovely couple announced on arrival, salutations given, and with the usual pantuns, but all cut short and sweet, and then everbody invited to partake the sumptous lunch, washed down with tapai & icecream.

I had to leave for another appointment at 2, as also A K Bear and a few others. But up to that point Halim's khenduri was a success. Congratulations !

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Visit by Veteran UMNO Pusat.

2010-05-31T05:42:00.000-07:00

This morning UMNO Perhubungan Negeri played host to the delegation from Veteran UMNO Pusat which gave notice of its intention in writing 3 weeks ago. To support that request, the local chapter paid a courtesy call to Setiausha UMNO Perhubongan last week, and obtained his verbal agreement. So for appearances the delegates were impressed with the food and reception at party hq headed by the executive secretary in the absence of his boss and the Big Boss.

The fate of this movement for this state and at national level is best described by the whole thing this morning. The local chapter's lament was earlier voiced to the executive secretary about the lack of response from the MB's office on the written request to seek audience submitted personally two months ago. The delegation's lament was voiced in the individuals' presentation during the morning ceremony. In fact the convincing-sounding complaints were more so because they reflect actual personal experiences - Sulaiman Sidek's sadness for being passed over in all those lost candidatures for past elections; the other's sadness for being forgotten and left out of party business, and so on.

The truth of the matter is, life goes on, with or without the veterans. The complaining to each other goes nowhere. Bigger and more current issues grab the people's attention, not the veterans' call for attention. Right now the veterans should participate in the debate on the drastic Ministerial arguement for the removal of all types of subsidies to help avoid "the Greek Tragedy". The shenanigans in MCA and MIC merit immediate reaction by UMNO. The dark forebodings of GE 13 must be exposed. The veterans' personal displeasures don't figure too highly in the scheme of things.

As with old people, old men ( and women ) keep repeating themselves. Claims of past glories and past personal glories should have been uttered by others to carry value. This Dato Onn this and that is well worn, even if true. To me, speakers become "merepek" when old folks keep playing old records.

I would have said, let's listen to the young. This is not the same as giving in to the young. Let's not let the generation gap compound our own gift of the gab. There are new things going on, and they're not all bad, even if we old guns say they're in bad taste. Let's face it - we're the old generation. We've had our chances. Now it's the new people's chance, and we must give them fair shakes. But we can tell them, in a language that they understand, where the pitfalls are. That's how we're wiser. That's how the future can be better. That's how we oldies shouldn't be bitter.

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Mat Nor Rejab - the old face of UMNO ?

2010-05-16T06:03:00.000-07:00

I don't care for the right spelling of his name for what I'm about to say about him. The question is, is he the old face of UMNO ? I know he's an UMNO old face, but that's a different thing altogether.

Saturday, Taib & I had a fixture at KDRSM. I was early and met Mat Nor Rejab, and as is my usual, joked easily with him, since I know him when serving the state. Surprisingly, and most shockingly to me, he took offence and said tartly I can't make those comments since I'm no friend of his. More embarassingly humiliating to me, he added I should realise that if I have any brain ! I'm not one to back away from a good arguement, but because of the complete surprise at the most unexpected response to my ribbing uttered in English in front of Taib's wife and Kaharuddin Kulup, I decided not to let this one break into an ugly scene. But was I boiling inside when I walked away.

In all my life I've had very few cases of misunderstanding of intentions like that, and less of instances of rudeness of response, more so coming from an ex-Deputy Minister of the Malaysian Government. I'm sure if this guy was still in office, he'd be more tactful, knowing the consequences. Hell, I'm not letting him get away with it.

This morning I was with Ismail Yassin and mentioned the incident to him, expecting to hear him say "just forget about it". He outdid himself. He has no love for the guy, too.

Ismail said the reason for his dislike is the response for that idiot's hatred for him, because Ismail recommended Omar "keretapi" to Rais Yatim when Rais asked for a name to stand as Tampin's MP, when in fact Mat Nor wanted the job. When the next GE came, Mat Nor was the new Ketua Bahagian, and naturally Omar "keretapi" lost his MPship before even a single full term. Ismail said Mat Nor was a bank officer who followed Mokhtar Hashim around until Mokhtar was influenced to pick him up for Tampin. When Mat Nor started bragging among his political friends that he was gunning for the MB's job while Isa was still around, word got to Isa. Isa cleverly put Waad on Mat Nor's trail and that was the end of Mat Nor's pipe dream.

The next time I meet Mat Nor Rejab, I know what to say to him if he wants to greet me or anything of that nature. "Sorry, I'm not your friend." He's old UMNO. I don't think the new UMNO wants him, either.

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Hulu Selangor revisited.

2010-04-27T05:29:00.000-07:00

Uncannily, Hulu Selangor is Malaysia Compendium. The demographic and geographic map, the economic development, the ballot vote, the political play, everything.

The Malay-Chinese-Indian mix is about as Malaysian average as you get.

Located north-east of Selangor, the rural-urban subdivision is typical. There is the odd Felda scheme thrown in.

Urban and rural employment is also typical.

The split of the ballot boxes is also typical - a slightly heavier Malay vote, about half of the Indian vote , and 20% of the Chinese vote for BN.

The heavy use of the Federal machinery, with all the heavy guns thrown in, in the short but fierce campaign, with lots of dough and dirt all over, bring back the nostalgia of the good old UMNO-led political workout of days gone by.

The political parties involved will always have their die-hard support, that won't change. The loss of the Malay vote in the 2008 GE was because of Dollah Badawi. The 2 years gone by with Dollah and S.I.L. removed have lured back the disgruntled, little by little, into UMNO's support. Let's face it, the BN candidate was Indian, but the delivering vote was Malay. The winning margin, small as it was, was the sign of the return of the Malay guy who was upset with the weakness of his annointed leader and HIS annointed S.I.L.

They shouldn't get carried away in the jubilation of the BN slim victory, though any victory was a cause for jubilation. A lesson should be learned here that the consistency of a down to earth policy in governance should win the day, not simply rethorics and show-boating. A fraud will eventually be disrobed for the phoney he is, in good time. Najib's acceptance, as the new torch bearer, despite all the predictable premature praises by the sycophants, will take time.

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New campaign, old campaign.

2010-04-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

I'm going to lose RM 10 this weekend to Hang Tam because that was the bet made where I picked PKR in Hulu Selangor. Looking at the news media and the internet, I see the Kamal chap making the rounds while the other side is busy defending the credibility (whatever there is in this case) of the UMNO turncoat, Zahid. That's why, if you want to seek public office, don't have too many skeletons in your cabinet. That's the new campaign.

Zahid Hamidi, the other one, is at his old campaign still, trying to make himself a real national figure. Then again, you can't have too many skeletons in your cabinet, too. He made a mess of himself during Mahathir's time, rescued by Najib twice, both times from eventual possible legal prosecution. More recently, as I said before, he let the cat out of the bag in Perak when trying to stage what he thought was clever in the coup of the 3 Independents, and we all saw the mess there. Today I spotted something in the NST about him being prosecuted for the alleged crime of assaulting a contractor at a petrol station. The Court rejected his application to dismiss the case. He was billed RM 3,000 as costs, and instructed to put his defence within one month. If convicted, Zahid might yet see the inside of a jail, something he managed to avoid before.

I saw that clip of him during a recent Parliamentary session, shrieking about anti-Zahid elements pitting him against Najib. Well, he has not shied away from that suspicion since he often opens his big mouth about what he'd do to KJ if he had the power. His association with Anwar goes back to the Yayasan Anda days at Jalan Pantai with Ruslan Kassim, another apparently ambitious guy who has made too many miscalculations.

Not everyone can be fooled, when it comes to campaigning, now or before.

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Hank.

2010-04-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

No, Hank's no Mat Salleh - it's just a handle put on him in RMC days, for reasons now lost.

Hank crops up just now because Usop Pokak called Saturday night that he had a fall and had been hospitalised in KP, but that he was improving. Since I was at a Surau function, and since Usop said Hank's out of danger, I decided to visit him the next day. I called his mobile a few times that night, but failed to get an answer.I was thinking about coming during the noon visiting hours, knowing how sticky the security can be. Unfortunately, the missus came back well past 12 pm, so we actually left for the hospital after Asr. And found bed no. 3, ward no. 4, already vacated. The nurse on duty said Hank was discharged at 2. No serious affliction - only some sort of viral thing. I called from the ward, and at first Shidah answered, but later passed the phone to Hank. So I told him things look okay, especially since his name had not been erased from the board ("belum padam").

We go back 50 years, on and off. We were at PD, and Sungai Besi. Later during university we stayed off-campus in the same house for some of the three years we were undergraduates. Halim "Rock Foundation" (A.K. Bear's work) used to stay with us. This was also when I visited his parents quarters in Cheras. I also went to his house at Pulau Pandan (no, no sea here) in Pelangai. That was when I learned that Sulaiman, Azizah's father and therefore Usop Pokak's father-in-law,was Hank's uncle. When I moved to KL from Melaka in 1969, I sold my Austin Mini 850 (NC 8157) to him. My Felda job required a car with better ground clearance, and so I bought the first of my three Fiats. I think Hank was with M.U. then - Malayan University, not Manchester United. Later he moved to Jengka, and came back to KL, joining the old Perwira Habib Bank.

When our two older children, my son Azat and his daughter Aida, were attending their tuition classes after school, I used to drive them both, since I was in DU and Hank was in TTDI, neighbouring housing estates.

Hank and I also picked up golf at the same time, and got our official handicaps also at the same time - mine at SIGC, his at KGNS. This was 1987, I think. Before that we used to play tennis together. I remember one time he came to the Felda courts where the Dewan Perdana now stands, and he was upset because one Chinese Felda officer remarked that the facility is for Felda staff only. Well, that chap had a fatal accident years later, along the Pahang road somewhere near the present Gombak highway. I can't remember his name, but he was known as a fast and fierce driver who used to show his fist at oncoming drivers. But we shouldn't be talking bad about the deceased. Anyway, after 23 years, Hank is still claiming to play at handicap 20. I wonder if he still plays at all. Me, I play 9 holes everyday, unless it rains too heavily.

You don't keep in touch with really old friends because of circumstance. Too bad. But fond memories linger, and the friendship, at least on my side, remains. Hank's one such.

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Isa & Bibi.

2010-04-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

Finally, after years of gossip, after perhaps a decent period of mourning, after the inevitable divorce last year, Isa & Bibi laid to rest all the rumours that have been going around Seremban long enough that when I mentioned to the Cawangan's Wanita chief yesterday after Yunus phoned me about it taking place to-day, that "Isa is getting married to-morrow", she said "to Bibi Sharliza ?"

The ceremony took place at the late Yusof Lalkhan's grand old house on the hill behind the Pekan Lama, Kuala Pilah. When I was small, that old mansion was occupied by the Mat Salleh estate manager, whom I used to see looking out through his binoculars on the varendah toward the padang below. The purchase of the house-on-the-hill by Yusof Lalkhan was the culmination of his signal of "having arrived" as a now very rich enterpreneur in Kuala Pilah. Too bad he's not around to see his grand-daughter also "having arrived".

As the names imply - "Khan" and "Bibi" - Yusof's ancestry is Pakistani. Born in Kuala Pilah and later married to a local Malay in Kampong Parit, he also from the beginning "Malaynised" his name to Lalkhan, not Lal Khan. As testimony to his worldly acumen, my late mother, who went to the same Malay school with him ,said that he never learned to read & write, and yet thanks to the late Dato' Mansor, the forest compartments that were awarded to him were cleverly managed (he bought the saw mill in Kota, Rembau, and processed the timber himself) and eventually put him on track to becoming the multi-millionaire that he later was.

The one interesting note in the "Berita Harian" to-day was the gist about Bibi having a UiTM degree, but no such mention on Isa's side, as if that educational qualification was necessary for the marriage. The fact is, coming from the same place and having known her and her uncles Kamil and Zain, including her late grandfather, I've never heard about her degree before. I know she got married to Khalid, the first husband ,when still young, and can't figure how the UiTM sojourn could have fitted in.

When Isa was MB, Zahar Ujang was the UMNO Division Head in Kuala Pilah, and Kuala Pilah was the one division that didn't support Isa throughout Zahar's tenure. The present leader Ismail Lasim defeated Zahar after Zahar lost his State seat, while Isa was still MB, and Kuala Pilah then turned around and supported him. Now it looks like Isa is returning the favour to Kuala Pilah.

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Of MCA, UMNO & other politics.

2010-03-30T06:48:00.000-07:00

Whew ! so the last MCA troubles are at least temporarily over - until someone stirs up something else.

Unlike UMNO, but not necessarily implying that UMNO is in any way better, an MCA leader's sexual diversions don't necessarily mean that his political career is over.

I used to think that the basic cultural clash in MCA is between the Chinese-educated and the English-educated. At least that was one theory put forward by some academics years ago. But as is wont among academics, that is simplistic. The real world is anything but.

UMNO nation-wide meetings are around the corner. With the recently approved changes in the party's constitution, it'll be interesting to see the real developments at the grass-roots, meaning the branches' meetings.

My feeling is the modus operandi of UMNO is still the same, and if that is true, I haven't too much hope for any real turn-around by the party in as far as the Malay voters are concerned. UMNO is still being talked off by the Malay-in-the-street as obnoxious and crony-driven. The voice of the branches must be heard if the party is to regain any semblence of the trust it once had of the general Malay populace. For the branches to be heard, the resolutions tabled by them have to be picked up and seriously considered, and not let such resolutions be tabled and then forgotten as was the previous practice.

For one thing, I would like to see genuine leadership gets recognized right at the branch level, and once divisional leadership endorsed by the delegates is lined-up, party Supreme Leaders not leave any out of important appointments in the party's state and national machinery, and not repeat Dollah Badawi's fatal error of discarding 70 Divisional heads out of the 2008 GE line up.
To use golf terminology, don't duff the shot, and don't take any free drop. Also, to quote Maulud, don't hit "luar tabi'i" ( unnatural hit ). When I asked him to explain, he said "hitting at the back" or in Malay "hentam belakang". Ha, ha.

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More weddings.

2010-03-15T06:51:00.000-07:00

The school holidays, though a short one, are here, so the weddings rounds begin again.

The last two weeks there were three weddings- Bull's & Wok's son at Shah Alam, Fuzi's at Kajang, and Daro's at Seri Kembangan. The Kajang one was at their house, while the other two were held in their respective rented (or not) halls. I think this was Fuzi's second reception that we came to, also at the same venue. Being held at her house wasn't a good idea. It was sweltering hot, the crowd too big, and the area too small. The big crowd meant that the main road in front, close to the traffic lights on the Semenyih-Kajang old trunk road, was absolutely congested. The drivers not involved in the wedding didn't show any sympathy and cursed and shouted and thumped their horns and pointed their fingers and more or less showed the famous ugly side of Malaysian motorists. I said rented or not because Bull held his reception at Sirim where he was once the boss, and I asked if it's f.o.c. and he said "sikit" - which transalates to f.o.c. Daro's hall was more modest, in fact most of us were sitting in the several erected canopies outside the smallish dewan.

It took the marriage of her daughter for me to find out that my first-cousin's real name is Siti Aminah ! When I first received the invitation card I wondered who this Siti Aminah was, because I certainly don't know the husband, and even now, after attending the reception, I still don't know the husband because nobody introduced us and he never came around to introduce himself, much less to welcome us.

There I met another Daro - Hj. Hassan's daughter and Echam's younger sister, also Bull's sister-in-law. I said loudly "this here Daro, in crutches but still daro ! (virgin)." Jamlus, Kak Ngah Hasnah, Wati and Wok, and Timah, Echam's other sister were all there, and we talked a bit.

We took the newly opened Lekas highway from Ampangan Seremban all the way to Balakong and Seri Kembangan. Almost free of traffic, it was a nice change, especially it being a Saturday. Once we entered the Balakong-Seri Kembangan area, of course, things got back to the normal snarl. So, on the return journey I was determined to retrace our route back to Seremban. Unfortunately I took one turn too early and found ourselves back on the Plus KL-Seremban and smack into the Saturday south-bound jam.

Congratulations to all three newly-wed couples.

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I never learn.

2010-03-06T05:31:00.000-08:00

I have to learn to fight my own fight, not someone else's. Talk is cheap. When the knives are drawn, the chicken usually run.

There was the time when Taib was ticked-off at the 10th. tee-box, many years ago, for talking too loudly while the flight in front was about to tee-off. I stupidly, though perhaps bravely, came to his defence, saying something like ok, ok, don't get riled-up. The golfer rushed to me and demanded I repeat what I'd just said in no uncertain tone. He put his face up to mine, spoiling for a fist-fight. I backed-off, because it wasn't my fight. Taib ? He just shut up.

There was another time when our foursome - Ismail, Jamaluddin, Taib and I- had a brush with an intruding marshall who blithely drove his buggy across our path just as one of the other three in my flight was about to tee-off on the 7th. hole. I shouted, and what did the marshall do ? He actually turned around and got out of his buggy and rushed at me. I had shouted for the sake of my friend who was affected, but I go the fight. To cut the story short, all of us appeared before the Club's Disciplinary Board, since all four of us signed the written report. So what happened ? I told them exactly what happened, while I later gathered the other three said they were too far away to hear the words exchanged between me and the marshall. I mean, they could have been more committed and add weight to the incident rather than say something to the effect "it wasn't us, really". Only the fact that I challenged the Board about the priority on endangerment and the established fact that the marshall crossed the path of an active flight probably saved all of us from suspension, for which I was prepared to take legal action if carried out.

Now this afternoon I attended the MUBARAK N.S. meeting. Ismail, until this afternoon's meeting the secretary, had discussed with me about bringing up his complain against the treasurer. I assured him right this morning when we played 18 holes of golf that if the matter came up I would come to his defence. Aggressively if necessary, I added. It was a premonition.

There has been bad blood between the secretary and the treasurer. I know the background and sympathised with Ismail. The treasurer has been complaining to the President that Ismail had been interfering, just because Ismail had banked cheques directly, without going through the treasurer. When the complain was finally brought up in a meeting about a year ago, I stepped in and said in my 26 years of service up to 1995, only the office boy banked our cheques, not even an officer. I thought the matter rested there. But no. This month VUNS received a cheque from an Exco Member, a State cheque, meant for VUNS but as agreed by the Exco Member, made out to MUBARAK because the money cannot be credited to a political organization like VUNS. I told Ismail that it would simply take MUBARAK a payout from the cheque to VUNS. A simple administrative step. But that was not the spirit taken by the MUBARAK's treasurer. Matters must have simmerred all this week, because Ismail surprised everybody at the meeting this afternoon, especially me, because he never gave an inkling about it to me although we were together from 7.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. He tendered his resignation with immediate effect. In effect, after firing me up about the coming agenda on the cheque, he abondoned me.

The subject was not listed on the agenda. On hindsight, I think the agenda was changed. However, the subject was raised by the Chairman himself. On hindsight, he must have been briefed by the treasurer. So, with no Ismail around, I explained to Zahar, the Chairman, the technical complication and the simple administrative step to solve it. And he agreed.

Now, the treasurer must have been sore because I certainly had taken the wind out of his sail. I'm pretty sure now that he thought he had missed his chance to condemn Ismail, in absentia. So what did he do ? After the matter was resolved because the Chairman accepted my presentation, he raised the matter again. I Interrupted him by saying the matter had been agreed by the chairman, but he continued and further said, and this was when I saw red, he doesn't want MUBARAK to be the "kuda tunggangan" (made used-of). I raised my voice and demanded what kuda tunggangan, and why are you making such an issue. I lost my temper and said "you were my clerk before !" He was, when I served in a different capacity. In fact I used to ask him to go to the market for me, because he also knew my wife. I supposed that was when hell broke loose. But that's a different story. The point is, again I was not fighting my fight.

To put that incident in perspective, Ismail is a practicing lawyer, while the treasurer used to be only a clerk with SPM.

I'm getting on in years, but cannot still hold my temper. I don't mind getting into a fight if I have to. Only next time I've to make sure it's my fight.

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Turning Pro.

2010-03-05T04:21:00.000-08:00

I've written about my wife's nephew before. Several weeks ago I had an arguement with his dad at my house about letting the youngster turn professional golfer too early. I had meant to talk to him about it because I know he's the one behind that premature decision for his son, who's all of 19 years old now. His visit to my house and his starting comment about an impending tournament ( I think it was in Myanmar) gave me the opportunity to let him have an earful. But he was game, and gave me an earful, too.

For reference purposes, Mizi's score at the on-going 2010 Maybank Malaysian Open at KLGCC 4 -7 March can be checked. At the end of the partially completed second day (bad weather) his scores are 79 - 73, for a total of 152, which is 8 strokes above par. His tentative position is joint 142. He'll miss the cut for the remaining 2 days of the tournament, with the cut mark projected to be even par. In golf missing the cut means you get 0 dollars.

My arguement for delaying pro-golf for at least 2 more years is that Mizi is not ready mentally, and pro golf is, as Ray Floyd said, all mental.

First, he has not accumulated enough wins as an amateur. Sure, his dad says he has 7 wins. But we are talking about the significant tournaments here. A lot of wins would give Mizi the knowledge of how to win. It will also build confidence, and the art of putting, the most important stroke, is all about confidence. Now that he's a pro and beginnig to miss cuts, his confidence will be shattered.

Secondly, he needs to build good temperment without being concerned about not winning since he's still an amateur when no money is at stake. The most important element is patience, which has to be built through match plays. I have played with him since he started as a boy with a 24 handicap until he went down to scratch. He has temperment problems.

The no. 1 player in the world did not turn pro until he was 21. For the last 6 years before that he had won in consecutive years 3 years as US Junior Champion followed by 3 years as US Amateur Champion. He was ready. Then he turned pro. Mizi is not ready.

I think the father's motivation is just greed, compounded by ignorance. He said the main reason he wanted Mizi to turn pro was because he had been left out of some big competitions. I said that is politics, not golf per se. We should consider the tecnical reasons for building up a pro golfer's career, not the politics of it. Anyway I said all my arguements are now academic, because Mizi has taken the plunge, but I wanted to say it out, anyway.

As I said to my golf buddies, I wish for the best for Mizi. But I'm afraid his father has gotten in the way. It's sad, because Mizi has the talents. But talents alone aren't sufficient for reaching world class standard, which is what we're talking about here. We should look at how champions are made when we have all the time in the world. What's the big hurry ?

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My khenduri for this year.

2010-03-04T19:04:00.000-08:00

Hank and Bang Enon made comments on this blog and I thank them. But the final date of my khenduri for Dek Na's wedding has now been fixed for December, not October as planned earlier. Hafiz is with some oil-and-gas set up and has some vacation issues. I had to scramble back to MPS yesterday and sorted out the date-change. I don't want to get stranded with no venue.

So the "nikah" will be on Thursday, 30th. December this year, for immediate family. The main reception for relatives and friends will be on Friday, 31st December, at the Dewan MPS Seremban, commencing at 8 p.m.

I'm looking at the list of invitees, but Hank and Bang Enon are invited right now for the Friday date.

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Balik kampong, tanam jagong.

2010-03-04T18:38:00.000-08:00

"Balik kampong, tanam jagong" is more than merely returning home to plant corn. Actually it signifies giving up.

But not in this case.

Calit is moving into one more direction, this time planting corn to produce corn juice. Serious, not corny. What seems corny is, the corn is in Parit, Kuala Pilah, but the juice-machine is in Banting, Selangor. And Calit is at Setiawangsa.

But that's Calit. He stayed for years at Gombak, and later moved to a flat near Dato' Keramat but bought a house at Seremban 2 . Now he stays in an apartment in Setiawangsa. He played around at TMS, worked at MAS, got his BA at Wisconsin, his MBA in UKM, and now drives Conen around the Klang Valley - when not squba-diving (Conen, that is). He said he was installing cooling system, but helped fix my old D.U. house, and now this corn juice. So all the "sekolah kole" has produced some good. (I made a special trip to his still standing sekolah kole and took some photos with my camera-phone, but Dek Na refused to teach me how to download, so everything is still somewhere there, still inaccessible.)

I'm happy Calit has crossed his hurdles. At least his stunted athletics days in TMS for being fastest over the hurdles but slowest between them is being put to good use.

Bus (pronounced "Boos") said Calit wanted to send one container of the juice. Calit said somebody asked for the uniform he was photographed in. I just want one bottle.

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Husain Hj. Ali. RIP

2010-03-04T17:06:00.000-08:00

We were more than classmates from Standard 6 to Form 3 at TMS. We were soulmates.

On scrutiny we were very different in a lot of things. But somehow we clicked together. Other than those four years at TMS, we only met again at Felda where both of us worked, me for a time, him until he retired. I sent him to Bilut Valley for his wedding. Because of our different types of work, while in Felda we would meet only occasionally at the canteen. There were the rare telephone calls and the Hari Raya visits, very rare I must confess. I would also once in a blue moon bump into his wife at her place of work, because she was also in Felda. We moved in different circles. But the friendship bonded in those early years -1957 to 1960 - never lessened one bit to the very end, as far as I'm concerned. That was why I could not hold back the tears that came briefly, briefly to my eyes when I finally met up with Shamsiah on her return from the cemetry that day in Puchong Perdana, 3rd. March.

I don't know what I saw in Husain Hj. Ali. Even through all these recent years I have sometimes thought about him. I must now regret forever that I had never followed up those feelings about wanting to surprise him at his house. I have his address and his old mobile number. I even used to have his old house address at Port Klang before he moved to this Puchong house.

We used to cycle together, just the two of us, when we were in Form 3, just about the time for LCE. We agreed that those rides should be good for our exam preparations, and it later turned for me. I never found out how he fared because I had left for RMC. But those long rides are etched in my memory forever. We cycled to Bemban, Senaling, when there was only a laterite road. We cycled to Kubang Rusa through Sawah Lebar and on the long, swaying wooden bridge. We even cycled to Kg. Ibol, Terachi, 18 miles away.

I remember him teaching me, in one of those bicycle rounds, to pull out "lombo" from a wild palm and suck the succulent roots, and then drink water that tasted sweet because of it. Husain was dark-complexioned although his parents and siblings were all fair-skinned. He was good natured about the ribbings he got from me and the rest of us in school. He even recited to me a pantun that I still clearly remember to this day -

"Birah hitam, keladi hitam
Tanam dalam lombah
Ayah hitam, omak hitam
Anak mano nak semonggah"

Coming from Galau and schooling in Kuala Pilah in those days were a big deal, because of transportation problems. Because Hajjah Tomah Maideen ( her maiden name was Fatimah, and she married the Indian grocer, Maideen) also came from the adjacent Gunung Pasir, Hj. Ali, Husain's father, managed to secure board and lodging for him with her in Bukit Temensu, also my kampong, which is just next to TMS. The fact that Hj. Ali was the Qadi of Kuala Pilah at that time must have also figured, I don't know. But this I know, and Husain himself told me about it - Hajjah Tomah had designs for him. She had an only daughter, Minah. I remember Minah, a tall and not bad looking lass, product of her mixed ancestry, with high nose and jet-black hair, and not a bad complexion. But Husain said no way. To me. "I'll have to use a ladder. She's too tall!"

Another time Husain had a serious attack of diarrhoea, the whole night through.

He had a habit of buying "kacang putih" during class recess, emptying the whole packet into his shorts pocket. This was not a convenience trick, but a strategy. A way of avoiding sharing. We were irritated by it. But somebody finally decided to act on it, although we were all privy to the masterplan. Somehow, he managed to slip some "biji cengkian" seeds from the wild plant into his kacang putih. Now, biji cengkian looks exactly like kacang putih. However, biji cengkian is a potent laxative. So there was Husain, happily dipping into his pocket and popping both kacang putih and biji cengkian into his mouth, and grinning around him because he didn't have to share with anyone, and there we were, grinning back at him, knowing our plan had succeeded.

Later he told me he had such a bad case of explosive diarrhoea he stayed up all night leaning his back to a coconut three outside Hajjah Tomah's house.

Dear Husain, forgive me for remembering the inappropriate in this solemn hour. But this was a fond memory for me, and you have always been a fond friend. Rest In Peace my friend.

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Updating.

2010-01-30T18:34:00.000-08:00

This is just to break the silence. I hope to write a bit about a few topics shortly. But first. thanks to Hank and Bang Enon ( yes, it's my male cousin even if the endearment sounds feminine ) for the comments about Dek Na's imminent betrothal. Hank came for both of my previous kenduris for the older two boys' weddings, but Bang Enon ducked both for some reason or other. Sure I'm inviting both again. This time they'll both hopefully come. It'll be at the same venue, Dewan MPS Seremban because it's the only decent hall available in this town, other than the hotels where you don't have a choice on the food. I've booked the hall for Friday 1st October this year. It'll be sit down dinner at 8 pm. I told my wife to have those stupid buffet dinners over my dead body ! I want my guests to come together and get served together decently, and admire the bridal couple, and not line up behind some stupid serving table and mess up everything from 8 to 11 pm, ignoring whatever ceremony is prepared for marriage-reception.

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Dek Na: Kuantan, Labuan etc.

2010-01-08T05:35:00.000-08:00

It's been a hectic New Year.

As I related earlier, we made a two-day reconnaissance trip to Kuantan on 28th. December. Then we made the actual haulage to Kuantan on 3rd.January, bringing all of Dek Na's stuff to the rented house at Taman Berjaya Permai, Sg. Soi, Tanjung Lumpur. I borrowed Jamaluddin's van for four days for the job. The first time I asked him, he said the van has never travelled far, but Dato' Mail interceded and said " give-lah".

In between Dek Na's surprise suitor sent his parents on 2nd January for a "merisik". The betrothal will be on 6th. February. The night of the 1st January Memi in the kitchen made a touching comment to his mother, bringing a quiet tear - " so, Dek Na is to be married soon, it seems mom." Memi is two years older and is the closest to her among the siblings.

Just now, after Maghrib Dek Na called to relate about her first court case, an armed robbery committed by four illegal Indonesian immigrants on a petrol station. She asked for a stiff sentence after they changed their minds and pleaded guilty instead of contesting the prosecution. She said they were manacled but were put within arms reach behind her and could have touched her.

So, what with the purchase of the basic house machinery - the washing machine, the refrigerator etc. for the transfer, and now the engagement and wedding ceremonies to follow this year, I've already told her elder brothers to get ready with the money. In fact the first time I mentioned it to Memi before the others came back he had immediately called Ashraf and said "Banshett (that's what he calls Ashraf, my second son), we're in trouble !".

Fauziah said Dek Na is so young, but her mother replied she's already 25. Anyway it's the mother who's always fretting about her getting married quickly after graduation. I'd always maintain it's not my objective. I just wanted to make sure she got a good, sound education, and the rest is up to her in due course.

We have three weeks before the first ceremony. Yesterday I'd already spent 1,150 that I don't have to buy some trinkets. As Memi said, we're all in trouble.

"Labuan" on the heading ? The boy's based there.

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On the eve of 2010.

2009-12-30T03:58:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday 30th. December, one more day before 2010. Tiong Meng said this morning was his last golf round for the year. I'll play one more day, tomorrow.

I came back from Kuantan last night. We stopped at Low Yat to find a replacement for Dek Na's stolen lap top. Petrol cost me RM 174 for the two-way trip. Seri Malayasia Kuantan charged me RM 170 for one night. Dek Na paid for the toll, and we ate at Bangtai's - one dinner on 28th., and lunch on 29th. before we drove back. Yusni's National Service Camp seems to be doing well. Kuantan seems to be doing well, too. The traffic jams were incredible, though. I can't remember such a mess when I was working and covering Pahang 20 years ago. We found a semi-detached house for RM 580 in Tanjung Lumpur. I couldn't believe it is that expensive. We took it anyway, because it was a nice house in an apparently nice area, and Bangtai is only on the other side of the housing area, and Faraha will join Dek Na in March.

The politics.
Everybody is an expert. Me, my wife and the three boys (minus Dek Na), everybody I talk to at the golf club, and everybody I talk to outside it. Other than those managing the politics. They're hopeless, thus the onging mess.
The BN is turning on its head. Past BN Presidents who are dead and buried are turning in their graves. One surviving BN President forced another who succeeded him out of office, and if the present one is not careful he might very well follow suit. Component Parties are in deep shit, too, with Party leaders being asked to go but all refusing to do so. Even the opposition pact is having their own share of excessive politicking and the accompanying mudslinging.
There's a BN whip in Parliament, but probably the whip should be applied on him with some vigour. C'mon, man. BN nearly lost the vote on the budget. If the pact had won it, they could have used their number to overturn the government and really turned the running of the country inside out. Everyone of us who voted in 2008 should demand an explanation from our MPs about where they were that night. We put them in Parliament not so that they can enjoy themselves elswhere.
Only old Mahathir dares to criticise the leadership. Whether his points are valid or not is a separate issue, but are the others merely dumb followers ? They can obviously lay it on thick on people like Mahathir when they can, if not when they want to ( the loudmouth Nazri was told to shut up), but all seem to keep their own counsel on the strange decisions by the government. Najib will suffer the same predicament that afflicted Dollah, if the rest of the crowd behave like cattle. Najib says One Malaysia and everybody shouts after him One Malaysia. I wonder if everyone understands the message. Just like Islam Hadari before.
The opposition pact is suffering from their unexpected success at the last elections. They were as surprised as the rest of us that they won in five states. They were never prepared to run anything, much less a state government. They can't even run their own affairs at the moment. Most of their candidates who won were not even properly vetted, and now they and all of us are seeing the quality, or mostly lack thereof.

The economy.
In the midst of all these, as they say, "who's minding the store ?".
Has the economy recovered after the capitalist meltdown ? The US says it hasn't, and it's bigger and and has deeper pockets. Those Malaysian experts who say we are recovering may not believe their own words, or shouldn't. Communism is gone. Capitalism as we know it is also probably gone. Paper wealth should be discarded, and true values of factors of production should be recognized, and the first step is to replace the greenback as a major international measurement. The gold dinar voiced by Mahathir years ago merit examination. It wasn't his original idea, but he lent voice to it. and we should seriously study and implement it. Greed should not rule the market as it does if left alone. Fair distribution as espoused by the syariah is the answer. Only a government can control that.

The akhlak.
The real mark of civilisation is "akhlak". It's the moral standard that's ordained by the syariah that offers the answer to the decline in the guidance of human behaviour for upholding the welfare and public well-being of the human race. Regardless of creed and religion. The Quran specifically mentions the freedom of choice of religion, and respect for different beliefs, contrary to the current ill-founded commentaries about Islamic fundamentalism. Fundamentalism refers to the true teaching, not the extreme practices of Islam. Akhlak would, in a very small way, restrain the tired bus driver from attempting to answer only to his drive by greed for more trips, rather than seek rest and render safety the overwhelming requirement for caring for his many innocent passangers. Akhlak also should cause the leaders of the greatest country of the world to give fair assessment of the unfair conditions of the Palestinian one-sided armed conflict.

I hope 2010 would fare better.

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The Reaper says "goodbye '09, welcome '10"

2009-12-26T16:24:00.000-08:00

It's been an eventful year with lots of "last minute surprises" worthy of a long blog from yours truly. So much so, it deserves some careful thinking, therefore I'll write after I gather some thoughts and give it some serious time. 2010 is 4 days away.

"Happy New Year !" and see you later.

Christmas cheer is here.

2009-12-22T04:31:00.000-08:00

Yuletide is here, and like true Malaysians everyone gets one more excuse to celebrate, but then, why not ?. And suddenly many interesting news come out daily the last one week. I'm referring to the stolen aircraft engines (so far two only), blasting Mahathir, again, on the bilion-dollar wastages of his premiership, the MCA-PAS-MIC-PKR-, and , of course, UMNO infighting, the near defeat of the Federal budget in Parliament, and the defeat of Ezette by Bung Muktar, also in Parliament.

I remember when Ishak Tadin was the GM of KTM and he discovered one locomotive engine missing. I can't remember what happened afterwards. Perhaps we should ask both KTM and Ishak, because they're both still alive.

A Royal Commission for the aircraft engine theft by the General and his 40 thieves is not a bad idea, but it maybe bad for Najib because he was the Minister then. And Zaid of the Kertam shares episode, the current Defence minister, may not want too much spotlight right now.

The intra party squabbles can go on and one. That's why it's called a party.

The near defeat of the Federal budget in a BN-controlled house must take the prize. Especially because nowadays there's even a full minister in charge of Parliament. Looks like he's a bloody fool minister. I'm only following his style of using the word bloody on Mahathir. What was he doing ? Anyway, except for Bung Muktar and his new-found toy, where were the other MPs ? They cannot all be busy marrying their second young wives !

The best story is Mahathir's reply to Lim Kit Siang and Anwar about his spendthrift ways when Prime Minister ( and for many years helped by Anwar). Get on with the Commission, he said. So get on with it Najib.

I don't think Najib is so stupid as to do what Lim & Partner wants. In fact, I don't think his new partner Anwar is that stupid as to really want the Commission, because Mahathir would have a field day on him alone. This is all so predictable, this Mahathir-bashing to just embarass the old man. I'm afraid others might be embarassed. Except Anwar. He's beyond embarassment.

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The continuing Tiger Woods furore.

2009-12-18T03:59:00.000-08:00

It's a classic demonstration of the power of the pen, though these days one might say the power of the pc keyboard. The media is responsible for putting Tiger Woods on a pedestal. Now it's dismantling his image equally quickly and furiously. All he wanted to do was be the best golfer of his time. That he has become, and no amount of his image destruction should take away all that he has achieved on the golf course in the last 19 years, from age 14.

Let's look at that golf record first.

In the first 3 years of those 19 years referred to, he was the US Junior Champion consecutively. In the following 3 years he won the US Amateur Championship, also consecutively. Not even Jack Nicklaus, the man whose 18 Majors he's trying to emulate, had done that. In the last 13 years, as a professional, he has won the 4 Majors a total of 14 times, averaging more than once per year, and that, too, Nicklaus has not achieved. He has won the Player of the Year more than 10 times, the Vardon Trophy more than 10 times, the Top Money List more than 10 times, and in total PGA wins at age 33, he is now 1 less than Nicklaus and 12 short of the record holder the late Sam Snead who won 84 times in his very long career. Throughout his career, only two other golfers have held the No. 1 ranking, for short periods, beside him. At the moment his point average ranking is almost double that of the No. 2 player, Phil Mickelson, who is 3 years older. And to top all these, Forbes magazine reported that at the end of this season Tiger Woods has made US 1 billion from both prize money and endorsements, the most for any professional athelete in history. That's RM 3,500,000,000. That works out to RM 22.4 million per month, or RM 750,000 per day. As a comparison Nazir Razak, CIMB, is reputed to be paid RM 400,000 a month.

Golf-wise, at 33, Tiger Wood is only just approaching his prime. Nicklaus won his last Major when he was 46. After 50, most pro golfers in USA join the Championship Tour, where many like Hale Irwin have won more money than when in the regular PGA Tour. This is to say that there is every reason to believe that Tiger Woods can easily double his earnings in another 13 years, when he'll only be a relatively young 46. Who knows how much he'll make in the Championship Tour.

In the last 13 years Tiger has gone through 3 major swing changes, "to be better" he said. The record shows that he has become better. He had two eye surgeries and two knee operations. He has set the golfing fraternity on the fitness regimen. He made the golf gurus fashionable and rich. He has made golf equipment technology development a big business. He raised the bar for everybody.

TV ratings and commercial endorsements and sponsorship have exploded the prize money and monetary benefits enjoyed by pro golfers worldwide today. Without too much exageration, it's all attributable to one man - Tiger Woods.

And now in gratitude everybody wants to destroy this guy ?

Let's look now at the stories' background.

For all the fame and fortune of Tiger Woods, his has not been the Hollywood lifestyle of wasteful extravagance and debauchery. Sure, there's the mansion and the yacht and the private jet, but no more than the next millionaire. There's been no tabloid sensation partner-changing and all-night partying, and until now, wild fornication and wife-swappings. Admittedly, this was a life-style too good to be true. Therein lies the problem, perhaps.

Since this is the USA, it's surely legitimate to ask just how many starlets, male and female, making less money and carrying less fame, have done what Tiger Woods is alleged to have done - visiting night clubs and flirting with beautiful hostesses and persumably getting laid in one-night-stands ? How many up-and-coming executive types do the evening rounds in night spots and hooking-up for casual sex ? There's no excuse for religious sin being offered here. This is simply describing what is on open offer in affluent USA right here and now, where entertainment is on sale and the business has never been better. So, how can you spit on one part of the equation, and leave the other unmolested ?

A famous pro golfer, who has been free with his advice, not so long ago was involved in a messy divorce before marrying, for a short period, the wife of his good friend, who was also relatedly involved in his own messy divorce. Don't you think that an illicit relationship had started long before, with the characters being guilty of unfaithfulness ? Now, that's despicable !

Let's look at these women who prostitute themselves.

Firstly, why "prostitute" ? The defination is "sex for money". So what's the difference between paying a common whore for sex and the "kiss & tell" of those who, having consented to having sex, now go public with their story for pay ?

It's always money, the destroyer. Those who dispense of it, and those grabbing it. The dispenser expects to get something for his dispensation. The grabber knows the layout. Without the money, there'll be no talk. After each transaction the game should be over and out. But ego and greed compete endlessly. Somewhere along the line, something always gives.

So, who are the practitioners ? We have good company - those seeking public office, those already in office, Presidents of old times and not so old times, Prime Ministers, from East and West, even men of the cloth, dabbling in both opposite and same sex, both officially prohibited. Where are they now ? Have they been made to pay, or have they been forgiven ?

Where are friends and acquaintences, or have they all turned away when they should have turned a blind eye ? Now is the time to show support, or at least understanding. One swallow doesn't make a summer. A drop of ink doesn't really spoil the claypot of milk (susu sebelanga lah ) unless it's a very large drop or a very small pot.

What's next for Tiger ?

He should stick to his 2010 schedule and produce the brilliant game expected of him. He's The Golfer, and should make his statement in the customary way, on the golf course. Forget about those sponsors who want to forget him. As he has said himself too many times, winning will take care of the rest. Nobody wants his marriage to end, least of all the two of them, I would imagine. He has been very brave to have quickly gone public with his remorse. If Elin is rejecting that, than the loss is hers, too. In as much as stupidity overcame Tiger in his times of weakness, the resilience of true love would surely be scarce if his children's mother cannot sustain the strain unduly imposed by revelations of that stupidity. Wasn't that part of the matrimonial promise, to love and to cherish, in good times and bad ? Everyone is entitled to some mistakes in his short lifetime. That's part of being human. You don't necessarily "contra" good deeds with "bad". But I'm sure Tiger has been an adequate provider to his whole family. Elin should have a large enough heart to forgive, if not to forget. That's the true love. Not the disposable type everyone is drumming hatred for now.

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First transfer.

2009-12-15T04:49:00.000-08:00

It was just six months ago that Dek Na was appointed DPP in Putrajaya. On 4th. January she starts in Kuantan, the first of many transfers to come, I'm sure.

This afternoon I called Bangtai about the rented house in Tanjung Lumpur that he told Idah he had secured. He confirmed it, saying it's semi-detached and looks suitable and is located in a nice area, and they want 580 for it. Since Dek Na would later share the house with another DPP, it seems OK to me. But Dek Na wants to make a trip after Christmas to see for herself.

This means the weekends at home will now become month-end for Idah, or we could make the trip instead. About Idah moving with Dek Na, I don't think she can do that, what with her PEKERTI affairs. As for me, RPGC and SIGC have reciprocal arrangements, so my golf only changes venues.

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3rd. Veteran UMNO AGM.

2009-12-15T03:50:00.000-08:00

Since its belated inception, this was the third General Assembly of Veteran UMNO Malaysia, held at the Puteri Resort, Air Keroh, Melaka. Muhyiddin officiated at dinner; Ali Rustam footed the bill. Neat. Us from NS got 70 ringgit each, exactly the petrol and toll costs incurred. Other states were more fortunate because they have more caring MBs.

In a way, this was a downgrading. Last year and the year before it was the PM who came, and the venues were "higher class." This year it was just the poolside for dinner, and the meeting hall could hold all of 500 people sitting in close rows without tables, while the Supreme Council sat in two rows in front facing the delegates on the same floor level. Other than the meals prepared specially for the delegates, no other food, for sale or otherwise was available. And all the rooms were converted for 3 or 4-person-occupancy by fitting in a third or fourth bunk. Still Ali reportedly complained that the 250,000-ringgit bill was much higher than expected.

The belated inception I referred to is arguable, of course. In the first place, surely it takes time for UMNO to produce veterans of any kind. On the other hand, the party didn't quickly warm up to the idea of having another internal movement that might compete for popularity.

Seeing as to how incumbent party leaders speak out nowadays, maybe the veterans can play a role in voicing caution to caustic comments causing complicating crisis to caucus. In the conversations at dinner and breakfast the next morning, to a man my fellow tablemates voiced disappointment at the eroding manners of Cabinet members when giving comments in public, whether regarding members of the public or elder statesmen. What is the necessity of going out of your way to be nasty ? Is it really macho, or being plain and simple tactless ? It's this sort of foul-mouthing that turned many UMNO members themselves from casting their votes in protest in the last GE.

The appointment of the assembly chairman that morning was a joke, if not a faux pas . The Secretary had announced that the Supreme Council had deliberated and selected this SC member to be the chairman for the assembly, but in fact failed to table it to the floor for endorsement, and this technical error was pointed out quickly by a few members, and they were right. Unfortunately, the selected person, and I know him to be that way inclined, spoke up undiplomatically and riled up other members who jumped up and joined a chorus of objections. The 15-minute verbal fracas was settled when one sane delegate stood up and said "I propose that Mr X (this same candidate) be appointed as the chairman of this assembly", and the vast majority of the 440 delegates then shouted out, raising their hands, "I agree !". When the idiot, true to form, tried to save face by starting to say something more about the issue, everyone shouted "proceed with meeting !", and he took off his songkok and proceeded with the agenda.

In all the excitement, everyone forgot to sing the UMNO song. And I left the meeting at 10, two hours before time.

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That's why he's Tiger (if the stories are true).

2009-12-10T05:14:00.000-08:00

To use golf parlance, Tiger Woods is "in the hazard".

After the SUV accident, story upon story about illicit romancing have come out like worms out of the, well, wood. I would like to think these are only stories still, until proven true.

Except for a few black faces, most of the media people have been white, if not blonde. For 13 long years, Tiger had been screwing the Whites at their own until recently racist game. What they can't do to him on the golf course, they're only too happy to do off it - it's a chance not to be wasted.

First, assuming it's all true again, it's consensual sex.

Secondly, if I'm virile and worth one billion dollars, all the sweet-young-things that come my way would also throw themselves at me. If you can imagine the situation - an upscale night club, beautiful music and beautiful crowd - any number of pretty things wouldn't think twice at flirting with Tiger. Honestly, I'd be greatly disappointed if Tiger plays the honest priest and abstains completely, and even many priests are less than honest.

A sin is a sin, by any religious standard, so there's no excuse for it, "true values" be damned. But sowing wild oats is as old as the bible, and cicumstances must be allowed, if not condoned. If it was other the the most recognizable athlete in the world, I don't think the stories would even make it to the print.

I'm sure there's a prenuptial somewhere, and although Jay this morning remarked flippantly that Elin must be "naive", she must see some redemption somewhere, again if all these allegations are true. They both should get over it and move on, and charge it all to experience. And similiarly we should all also move on. We should look forword to Tiger's next exploit - on the golf course.

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Obama with Nobel.

2009-12-10T04:10:00.000-08:00

Surely it's the belligerent image of US , or US-backed forces marauding into Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Palestine, now and not so long ago Panama, Vietnam, Laos and elswhere ,that stands out in the public mind at the moment ? And now the PEACE prize for the US Commander in Chief ?

Of course it's up to the Nobel Foundation who it wants to honour, but isn't there real honour amongst men any more ?

This looks like the misnomers of old - calling the Speaker who doesn't speak, the Firemen who kill fires, collateral damages for central ones, d.u.i. for drunk driving, friendly fires for shooting your own people and what's friendly there, and the rest of them. So Obama sends 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and asks his European friends to follow suit and that's worth the Peace prize ?

These comments are all questions here because it's all questionable.

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3rd. rate mentality ?

2009-12-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

A prominent Malaysian politician said some years ago that this country has first rate infrastructure but third rate mentality, or something to that effect. My experience this afternoon reminded me of that observation.

Pak Itam and I took the 12 noon commuter from Seremban to Subang Jaya with the intention of going to a golf sale in Kelana Jaya.

As usual the commuter train's coaches were half-filled even at Seremban, but at each of the 13 stops to KL Central more commuters came in, and we were standing room only by the time we left the last stop before KL Central. On the return journey at 6 pm the situation was twice as bad. In fact in all my years of using this KTM commuter service, this was the first time that I saw many passangers standing all the way to Seremban. Many Ministers and the last Prime Minister have seen the situation for themselves, and the usual public promises were duly reported in the mainstream media. The more real public complains have always been there, but who listen to these anyway.

The solution seems so simple - add more coaches and increase the frequency of the trips.

At the Subang Jaya station Pak Itam and I tried ALL the 6 or 7 available taxis to get us to Kelana Jaya but ALL refused, and not in a friendly way at that. Just as we were to leave and try out on the road, an Indian taxi driver finally relented and asked for 15 ringgit, which he said was normal and who were we to be choosy anyway.

Why give this sort of people taxi licences at all ?

It's a wonder that the condemnation on Malaysian public transport is not any louder and more harsh. It must be the fatalistic Eastern resignation to fate that allows people in this country to endure the shortcomings we see everywhere. But I think it's a scandal that Malaysian authorities often boast of their world-class facilities, and yet negate everything with backward operations. It's clear that beautiful plans have been turned to grand constructions of all sorts, but the satisfactory functioning of infrastructural design is still not within grasp. I should be mad, but I am just sad.

Until the trains run on time, forget about 2020.

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Swiss Islam.

2009-11-30T04:11:00.000-08:00

So 51% of the 6 million Swiss voters decided to ban Islamic minerets on mosques in their country. Big deal !

On a world map you can hardly spot Switzerland. Go build more mosques with more minerets elswhere.

Stopping minerets in Switzerland is not going to stop Islam, even in that tiny country. In fact this pathetic vote only underlines the fact that Islam is already getting into their tiny minds.

Maybe all Muslims worldwide, with their worldwide businesses, should get even. Stop buying everything Swiss. Stop putting their money in any Swiss bank. Stop selling anything to Swiss buyers. Let's see if they can still yodel after that. We can wear Timex or Seiko watches. Can they live without Islamic economy ? Sure, the answer is also yes. But at what cost ?

Minerets !

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Eve of Aidil Adha.

2009-11-26T00:04:00.000-08:00

It's 4 pm, Thursday on the eve of Aidil Adha. Idah has already made whatever little preparations by way of food that needed to be made. It's not on the scale of Aidil Fitri, but we have to prepare something for the three grandchildren. Only thing is, they're nowhere in sight yet. There has been no word from anyone if they're coming back.

We have just been asking each other if Atik, the girl, and Acad and Ameng, the two boys are coming back to see Nanny and Atok.

The fridges have been pretty barren this last week, so some replenishments were in order, and have been carried out. Biscuits and chocolete wafers and fruits and juices have been stocked. We know they all love them. Atik's birthday isn't until December 4th., but we thought we'll have an early one and combine it with this Raya Haji, because it's only a week away, and anyway it'll fall on a Friday and everyone would be working. So Idah has prepared something already, and I'll have the two jam bottles of pennies ready for her. The same amount saved for Acad and Ameng each amounted to about 75 ringgit, so it's a good amount for her own piggy-bank. And we bought that bright yellow baju kurung last month from Jalan Melayu, KL. I hope it fits. The colour should fit her fair complexion. In fact a bright green might even be more stunning.

So where are they ? I don't want to call yet. To-morrow morning they'll still be asleep when I go for Sembahyang Raya. But Saturday morning I'll probably take them to see the " korban" at the surau. That would be their first one. So where are they now ?

Wait until my sons have grandchildrenof their own. Then they might hurry home a bit.

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Just catching up on the news.

2009-11-23T05:17:00.000-08:00

1. MCA current turmoil.

Wang Hang Tam, whose brother is Wang Fak Yu, is always joking to me "Mati Cina Association ! I want to join UMNO." I said UMNO is no better. Worse, in fact, because in 1987 the Courts declared it illegal, something MCA hasn't reached. But maybe MCA can learn from it. But the sight of Muhyiddin so earnestly trying to act statesman-like makes me want to laugh. It's like seeking advice from the enemy. Certain things in the party must be handled like a marriage, and I'm not trying to copy Muhyiddin here. Only the husband and wife can settle things amicably. The more people who interfere, the worse things become.

2. Vested interest in PAS Kelantan administration.

It's never right, whoever does it. It's worse if done by someone who claims the moral highground "holier than thou" attitude. I say that a true "ulama" doesn't enter politics. The moment he does, he loses the "ulama" honorific title because of the way politics is run. There is an obscure hadis that relates to a ulama who was sheltering from the rain under the eaves of a house, but upon realizing whose it was, walked away and out into the rain. When his companion asked why, he said the house owner borrowed money from him and has not yet repaid it. Now, that's "alim." To have your son-in-law work for you constitutes vested interest, surely.

3. Court decisions.

Once you submit anything for the courts to decide, you are liable to its finding. SPR is subject to the courts. There are case laws and the statute books. We have legal submissions. The final decision remains with the courts, all the way to the apex court. If a bye-election is deemed necessary, then bye-election it is. If the reason for dispute is procedural, it's additionaly asisine. But, the corollary, the courts can also look idiotic by saying human behaviour follows strict time limitations. Crime never follow the clock.

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This one is still the old UMNO.

2009-11-13T06:17:00.000-08:00

Last week Kudus called and asked if I'd like to attend an UMNO Divisional gathering, to start at 8.30 p.m. I said I'll try to make it. I told the wife about it, saying I'm not keen to go, but she said Kudus had taken the trouble, I should go, so I went. I wish I didn't. This one was still the old UMNO.

UMNO should go for substance and deal frankly with the current issues that bother the people. Not still talk about internal bickering. Not still go on about "courses" which are nothing but indoctrination, and not even subtly done. A one-day plenary session with a Supreme Council memeber would be helpful to both the participants and the HQ people. At my age I'm not going to some Bina Semangat camp with people half my age and rough it up, taking with my own toiletries and prayer mat. Who says these camps are a must to-day ? Are those instructed to conduct them the best people to instill whatever is deemed missing from ordinary UMNO members ?

When UMNO leaders speak on the podium, they can't just let go as if they are with a group of close friends. They got away with it before 2008. There is a certain decorum in public speaking that UMNO must practice to turn away from the damaging diatribe-slinging speeches of the past. This is one behaviour that is disliked by the public now.

A divisional head, when he speaks in public, can no longer do so as if his audience is compelled to listen to his words when they contain the unacceptible, and self-serving words and emotional rantings are not acceptible. He has to show some degree of professionalism and some standard of leadership. The dislike for UMNO now is because of its leaders who behave like this. This has to change.

An Exco member who passed by my table at the golf club many months ago and stopped to speak to me, because we know each other, passed a cruel remark about a Minister, his former boss, without caring to know if at the table everyone would stomach his utterance. It so happened that one of us was a serving Petronas officer. When the Exco member left, perhaps feeling proud that he had so bravely "hentam" the Minister, behind his back, the Petronas fellow said " this is what I hate about UMNO."

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I should've known it - you're on your own.

2009-11-12T02:40:00.000-08:00

I had that fall from my motorcycle on 13th. July, and received a Police traffics summons on 20th. October for failing to report an accident, under Section 52 (2)Road Transport Act 1987 (Failure to / not reporting an accident within 24 hours). The faint copy of the Police summons AH 037258 was hardly readable as to the Court appearance regarding which court and what date. So, having a daughter and a daughter-in-law who are lawyers, I thought this was "kacang". I couldn't have been more mistaken. I should've known it - you're on your own !

I asked Dek Na to check the matter with her sister-in-law and her collegues, and happily waited for the good news. And waited. And waited.

On 3rd. November I finally realized my predicament and telephoned the Chief Inspector who signed the notice. I explained that I was hospitalized after being brought unconscious from the site of the accident by a passing Police Officer. At no time after regaining consciousness did the Officer tell me, either at the Hospital when he waited at the ward, and later in my house when he came to visit several days later, that I have to make a Police report, I added. The good Inspector told me that's the law, but the offence could be compounded, which meant I didn't have to go to Court after all. So that very morning I went to the Police Station in Seremban 2 and paid RM 300, the maximum fine. The notice on the payment window said that after October 2009, all fines must be paid in full. If I had acted immediately by myself after receiving that notice, I would have saved RM 150.

Just now Dek Na called to ask about more details on the original summons, thinking the matter was still pending. What was my response ?

"I've settled it ! I thought having a daughter who is a lawyer would be helpful !"
"I'm not familiar with the case."
"Enough !"
"OK".
The call ended.

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Malaysian driving.

2009-11-09T03:59:00.000-08:00

First and formost, I'm also one of these Malaysian drivers and am as guilty as the rest about what I'm about to say here.

The first time that I took the wheels of a car was way back in 1964, before I sat for my HSC. Makcik Rahmah's husband was at that time a taxi driver who plied mainly the Kuala Pilah-Seremban route. Those were the days when all sorts of cars were used as taxis, but passengers always looked out for the Mercedes. Makcik's husband's taxis changed models - there was the Austin Cambridge, and the Vauxhall, but the one that I drove was one of those Mercedes 200 diesels. This was on the way back from Jerantut after sending some personal belongings of the late Taufik Ismail, our neighbour Mail Godang's son, who was on transfer to Jerantut as OCPD. To this day I don't know if the fare was ever paid, because none was paid at Jerantut because Taufik was nowhere around, and the goods were left at the Police Station. Poat Calit could find out from Makcik Rose, perhaps. Poat is my youngest brother who eventually married Makcik Rose's daughter. Makcik Rose is the widow of Taufik. Small world.

In Brunei in 1966 while doing a Geography practical we were assigned some powerful Austin cars, never seen in Malaysia. The undergraduates who had driver's licences enjoyed themselves. I was tempted to offer to drive, but didn't because I didn't have my licence. In fact when I bought my first brand new car in 1968, an Austin Mini 850, for $5,300 (eat your heart out, you guys), I still didn't have a valid licence. I only went for my driving test at Temiang, Seremban, later in the month. After the oral test, during the test drive, when the Chinese tester heard from me that I was the ADO of Alor Gajah, Melaka, he seemed to decide that I deserve a driving licence there and then, because he asked me to turn back to the JPJ compound and later got the department to issue a brand new licence to match my new car. Let me assure you that in the 41 years since I became a legally qualified driver, I have not had any accident except in 1996 when I momentarily lost control of my car in front of the Ulu Bendul school and drifted to the right of the road and hit a road-sign post that dented my right front wheel. I didn't hit anyone else because, fortunately there were no cars behind me nor any coming from the opposite direction, which was fortunate, because that was, and is, a semi-blind downhill corner on the Kuala Pilah to Seremban direction.

A police friend told me recently that the police is thinking of putting up a screen when there is an accident on the Plus highway. This is so that the nosy Malaysian drivers from the opposite side don't slow down and gawk, and cause unnecessary traffic jams and more accidents. In fact Zainal Pak Itam and I saw this afternoon, driving back from Nilai, that they are already using the screen. We saw the jam in front and suspected, as was true enough, an accident. And there was the jam on the opposite side. Then we saw the orange screen. But obviously it failed miserably in hiding the view of the accident, and in fact there was another car that had fallen down to the left road embankment on the opposite highway, obviously an accident because the idiot was distracted to watch the other accident. Firstly, the screen was not large enough. Secondly, the highway is downslope to the site of the accident, and no amount of cover-up would do its job at all.

The second problem is the way we drive in this country. We may be university graduates, but the moment we are behind the steering wheels we're all uneducated maniacs. We drive at our own speed - too fast when we should slow down , too slow when we should speed up , we do everything we shouldn't do - talk on the phone, or worse still, text on the phone, look for pimples on the rear-view mirror, but not at the road, don't give way, but force our way , tailgate and cut in, don't signal, or give the wrong signal, turn without warning, stop without warning, park dangerously and block traffic, and everything else we shouldn't do while driving. Worse, be especially wary of the mousedeer (kancil-lah) driven by a dear, a young lady who thinks she is answerable to no one.

The other problem is there are far to many vehicles on the roads. There is in place a good system of roads, serving the towns and throughout the states, perhaps less so in Sabah and Sarawak. The standard of the Federal roads as late as the 70's was far below what exists now, not taking into account what is being built. I remember getting extra mileage claim for East Coast roads, and spending every single cent,and more, to put the car back in shape, because of the really poor roads back then. Yet, this road improvement has not kept up to the multifold increase in vehicular volume. The car per capita is worth calculating. But what is needed is probably a drastic improvement of public transport so that people are encouraged to use it much more than private transportation. This is done in other bigger, richer countries. That maybe a long way off. The trains are overloaded and always late. The buses are always late and never stick to their routes. The taxis are driven by daylight robbers and hooligans. We have no choice but try to and kill each other in our own cars.

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Public perceptions & reality.

2009-11-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

You have to read ( add "see") the news and NOT draw your conclusions. They are reported by, well, reporters, who have many constraints - deadline, space & time limitations, editorial slant, favourite & personal spin - plus the knowledge of the subject matter by both the writer and the reader(add "audience").

One local news that broke on many front pages a few days ago was the ex-Mufti of Perlis' case. Many of my Chinese acquaintances have asked if this is related to deviant teaching. Many Muslim Malays are already taking sides.

Internationally, the two main areas of newsmaking have been the continuing debates on the western designs for Afghanistan and Palestine, and that shoot-out involving the apparently Muslim US trooper.

The underlining commonality for both geographical locations of the news is that they involve something Islamic. The immediate reaction is predictable - Islam is troublesome. Unfortunately, that, like all generalizations, is erroneous.

In the Malaysian case, the Federal Constitution says that, inter alia, the Head of the Islamic Religion, which is also the Federal Religion but not the official religion, is the State Ruler. In the case of a State without a Ruler, including the Federal Territory, it's the Agong. All Syari'ah Laws come under the auspices of the State Ruler. The teaching and dissimination of Islamic knowledge come under the State's control, and since there are 14 states and territories, there must be 14 different authorizations. The case is apparently purely technical, but hey, it's the Constitutional Law.

In the international cases, the arguements are old and long, and the labelling against Islam comes only out of ignorance.

The illegality of the occupation of Palestine is there to see. The hypocricy and ambivalence of the pro-Israel western nations can best be described by the latest statement of the US State Secretary, that the Jewish settlements on the West Bank be part of the new (again) negotiations, after having gone on record saying they must stop.

When the USSR occupied Afghanistan the US supplied the arms to the Afghans to fight them and eventually drive them out. The Afghans could do no wrong. Now the US and its allies are making a mess of Afghanistan, the Afghans can do no right.

The US trooper may well be Muslim, but Islam is not guilty in this case, just as Christianity is never guilty in Northern Ireland and in all the murders committed by people of Christian faith.

Automative Policy.

2009-11-01T04:56:00.000-08:00

I'm asking some friends to support me in sending a protest letter to the PM regarding the proposed ban on cars 16 years and older.

Firstly, what sin has been committed by the cars ?

As it is, Malaysia ia already the second most expensive country to own and run cars in the world. (Singapore takes the cup.) The price is already ridiculously high. The insurance keeps getting higher every year. The road tax is high - some Asian neighbours, not to mention developed western countries, don't even charge road tax. The price of imported cars is beyond everybody but the truly rich. The highway tolls are high and, unstopped, will break all ceilings. And still you want to take away my innocent, old car ?

So you want to promote the national car industry. Then why allow easy entry of foreign cars ? Even USA has import limitations.

What about the kampong folks with their old but running jalopies. They have no choice but to create new debts to buy new cars now ? How do they move around , with the public transport being what it was since pre-Merdeka days ?

Old is sinful now ? How many old cars driven by old men are involved in car accidents in the last one year ? How many are young men in new cars ? Shouldn't you ban them instead ?

Has the Minister concerned made a study and asked opinions before opening his mouth ?

Is this matter a top priority for the government ? This is the wish of the people ?

If the BN government proceeds with the implementation of this automative policy, you can put down my vote for the opposition for the next general elections.

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More on KL War Crimes Tribunal.

2009-11-01T03:03:00.000-08:00

I took the 6.15 commuter train from Seremban to make it to PWTC on Saturday and made it by 8. Thinking there was plenty of time before the 9 o'clock commencement of the second and last day of the Tribunal at Dewan Tun Hussein, I stopped at McDonalds for tea & pancakes (they renamed them "hotcakes"). I needn't have, because when I came to the Dewan they had put up a large spread of food & drinks the length of the immediate corridor. So I helped myself for the whole duration of the day's proceedings, through morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

While having a break in mid-morning, two of the participants joined me at the stand-up table where I'd parked my tea and cakes, and asked what organization I come from. They were surprisingly surprised that I represented myself.
"You are interested in all this ?" came the surprising question.
By way of answering I replied "which organization do you represent ?". The two mentioned different organizations.
"You wouldn't come on your own ?" I quizzed. The answer was "no".
"What do you do, to be interested ?" came the counter-question.
"We should all be interested, because wars are crimes against humanity."
"Do you think all these deliberations will have any effect ?"
"Immediately, no. Malaysia is too small, too weak and has short reach to have real impact. But we should all support this, because we have to start somewhere. The school children who came for the Conference - that was a good start, so that they are exposed, and they can spread the word in future."

The 7 - strong Tribunal delivered the Opinion sought by the KL War Crimes Commission on "whether a Head of State and/or Government can unilaterally exempt itself from complying with any provisions of any International Treaties/Conventions (such as the Geneva Conventions) duly ratified by the State without first abrogating the relevant treaty/convention" - a unanimous "No". There was no surprise in that. But the presentations were, to me, properly conducted, and the arguements both from the petitioners and the presiding Justices were professionally made, the Bench even stopping the petitioners many times to insist that they stayed on path to the pertinent submission, and not stray to unrelated monologues of generalized reporting.

This, to me, was acting out the conscience of the people gathered in KL for the 4-day proceedings, to say to the world as loudly as possible that at least here in KL people are making civil protestation to the manner in which many countries in our modern and civilised world are conducting their political agenda. This is a call to account, even in the face of the obviously out-manuvered UN. This is to say clearly that USA cannot be allowed to get away with, literally, murder. Its citizens must be made to realize this so that they can call their government to account. The 4-day Conference, small and weak it may be in comparison to what the UN and USA can conduct, has produced sufficient evidence to support this call for accounting.

A few important allegations must be put on record here.

(1) Democracy is only possible at the national level. Even the loudest champion of democracy, USA, does not practice it fully within its borders, or at all outside them. Pushing for democracy is surely quite different from killing or going to war or lying for democracy. That happened with Iraq. That's happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and these are only the latest examples.

(2) The UN is undemocratic. The Security Council is anything but democratic.

(3) The Iraq war was an illegal invasion of a sovereign nation, waged on false pretences, and outrageously rationalised by otherwise intelligent, sane and civilised personalities in the US, UK, Australia and many in the western governments.

(4) The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Towers of New York should be fully re- investigated. A number of facts must be examined:
(i) How can the two large airlcrafts be so precise in executing the sharp turns into the towers if the people accused had minimal training ?
(ii) How can the two modern towers completely and symmiterically collapse in less than two hours merely from the pennetration of the two unarmed aircrafts ?
(iii) Why was Bush, on live tv, totally unsurprised when the "news" were broken to him ?
(iv) Why was the report made on the disaster so quickly "completed" ?
(v) Is there truth in the early rumours that Israel personnel working in the buildings were told earlier not to come to work on the day of the attack ?
(vi) Is there truth in the statement made that a US news reporter televised live said that a third building had also collapsed, when in fact the building, shown live on the background, only started to collapse after the statement was made ?

There is a lot to be answered on the obvious fraud and hypocracy exhibited by the the US. That it boasts as the leader of the world and the champion of justice looks in dire need of proof right now. KL has so far been a lone and quite helpless voice. The world needs to listen anyway.

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CONVOCATION TREND.

2009-10-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted a letter to the VC of UiTM, taking exception to what happened Tuesday.

I attended a covocation at that university on Tuesday. Check that word "convoke". It's to call out, summon.

What I saw was incredible.

Graduands silently walking across the stage to silently take their certificates of graduation from the silent VC. No names are called, except if you receive a VCA. Only the names quickly scroll silently across on three giant screens above the stage. They don't always match the graduands underneath. My daughter comes under someone else's name, that's how I know.

I counted maybe 150 people, parents mostly, sitting with me INSIDE the hall. That's because we came early (at least 90 minutes before the start of the "convocation") and stood in a line outside the hall entrance. The majority of the proud parents were seated OUTSIDE in tents and other rooms, but supplied also with giant tv screens. I doubt if "pride" came to their minds.

What's happening here ?

Why bother with the whole ceremony, with the parading of the fancifully attired academia behind the the three Malay warriors in leather shoes carrying symbolic keris and two wooden spears, with the accompaniment of the ancient "nobat", the graduands overdressed in their bulky gowns and motar-boards with tassles tossing, and later everyone solemnly standing to the Negaraku ?

Next time just post the damn degree.

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CRIMINALISING WAR.

2009-10-30T04:54:00.000-07:00

I attended the 2-day conference organized by the Perdana Global Peace Organization called the Kuala Lumpur International Conference & Exhibition to Criminalise War at the PWTC on Wedesday and Thursday 28th. & 29th. October. I had to miss the first day of the War Crimes Commission Hearings to-day, Friday because of an association meeting, but intends to go to the second and final day of the Hearings to-morrow morning.

I think it's incredible that this effort at organizing the call for the civilised world to sit up, take note, and do something to stop wars being waged by powerful nations, is being spearheaded here in Kuala Lumpur by an old ex-PM. Incredible because he no longer holds the reins of power in his own country and faces all the logistics problems faced by such a person doing such a thing; incredible because Malaysia is hardly the country that looks like having the voice and reach to shake up the global village; and incredible that at his age he is bothered and has found another truly noble cause to champion, and against all the obvious odds.

Listening to all the speakers who come from several countries , and the narrations of two actual ex-prisoners of Guantanamo, I was struck by the eloquence of all, except the Malaysian retired General. It was not an eloquence of strident language but the chilling phrasing of simple diction describing human cruelty over its own kind, made for selfish ends. There wasn't any shrieking diatribe nor abusive expletive being hurled at the absent enemies. The almost subdued adverbs were nevertheless striking and more than telling in the message being offered. The conviction comes out because of the currency of the condition and the reality of the experience possessed by the speakers.

The Malaysian retired General should learn from all this. It's never enough to raise your voice to make people hear you out. Making jokes in a public speech is an aquired art. It would have been better if he was to relate some real experience by Malaysian troops in Congo, Somalia and Bosnia. The Malaysian version of "Black Hawk Down" could have been at least entertaining.

There was a large enough crowd that came for the conference, but the giant hall made it look small. Certainly more students could have been invited, because they are the future that needs to be told. I could have called a few friends to come, even if for the second day only, but didn't. Even after many said "no more" after two World Wars, wars are still being waged, in fact more cruelly effectively. It's mad to say you fight for peace. It's equal to saying you rape for virginity.

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27th. October's quick posting but slow boil.

2009-10-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

In about an hour's time we'll make a quick, long drive to Shah Alam for Dek Na's last graduation. It's literally the last afternoon session of the University's 71st. convocations.

Each year the parents are gradually moved further and further from the proper ceremonies, in fact totally out of the actual hall. Next year they might as well just post the scrolls. What's the ceremony for ?

This is not a day for the graduands to rejoice - they have spent all their joy when they found out their final results months ago by mail and on-line. Sure, they worked their butts out for their degrees, but they had everything going for them - the facilities, the teaching staff, all the financial assisstance in the world. Not to have some measure of success at all is really stretching things a bit.

The convocation is for the parents. They are the ones to be congratulated, to get the bouquets and not to give them. They are the ones who often scraped and went without from the time the students were only in primary schools - without sleep, without the holidays, without the dispensible little comforts of life so that the children got enough so as to not distract them from the important business of concentrating on their school-work and later university-work. University graduates don't start from year 1 at university, they start from year 1 at Form 1 at least. Sure the government build the schools and universities and staff them with teachers and syllabuses. But it's the parents and parents only who build the encouragement and the incentive for the small developing minds to want to succeed in education. Nobody else can do that. And you take away this speacial day of gratification from the suffering parents ? Put them in temporary tents and annexes to watch their offsprings walk across the hall to receive that elusive piece of paper on a tv monitor, having come all the way from Perlis and Sabah, even if you ignore the wee-hour drive from Seremban ? Have a heart !

Break up the huge ceremony and do it at the actual campuses, not lump all together in one place and one date. Practice some of what you teach. That should be a start. Build it around the parents, for once. They've earned it. Give them this day in their life. Is that too much ?

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A fully exploited Sunday.

2009-10-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

This morning it was my usual round of golf at the club. I got out of a possible mess with a timely call of my mobile. I had promised to join Muhsin the Beltless for this morning, yesterday, before Kampong Pro asked to play with him this morning, also yesterday. I said I was fixed for 9 holes, but Kampong Pro said that's OK, he'll join some others for the second 9. Then Muhsin the Beltless called too late last night saying he'd asked Mubin the Shepherd and Maulud Tok Lembago to make our foursome. So, when I called Kampong Pro this morning, he was still at home, so I said sorry Muhsin the Beltless had arranged the flight without telling me earlier, and since we're only for 9 holes can I go ahead without him, and Kampong Pro said OK lah, go ahead. What a relief.

At 2.30 I went for a Hari Raya do in PJ (PJ in Seremban, not PJ Selangor), organized by an association I'm involved in. The reception was to be from 11 am to 4 pm, but I called Khairuddin, the host, that I'll come at the tail end because I'm sure most will come early, so I should come later to balance the attendance. It was the usual lemang-rendang-ketupat-kuah kacang fare, and this was the penultimate day of Shawal, so it wasn't very exciting food, nor too much talk. The crowd was already sparse, and except for a few faces, I couldn't recognize many people, with most faces changed with age.

At 6.30 Kak Tun, Tok Mail's wife, called, inviting us for dinner at Sungai Ujung Club at 8.15. "Wear shoes" she warned. I accepted the invitation and told the wife we'll leave after Maghrib prayers. When I finished prayers she was already dressed, so we were at the club before 8, and before our hosts.

We thought it was to be a reception for the recent marriage of their daughter in Singapore to her Irish boss, but it turned out it wasn't. It was just dinner for the four of us. Kak Tun and my wife are in the same association and meet often and get on well, so it was another dinner for them. Tok Mail and I also share a few activities together, so it was also another dinner for us. The setting was pleasant enough and we talked comfortably, and finished the food, except for some remaining buttered prawns and sambal that were dog-bagged. We spoke of the Bagan Pinang bye election and the recent UMNO General Assembly, and made different jocular remarks, not unlike the many that have been passed around. While picking from the mixed fruit platter, I mentioned the fact that Tok Mail used to eat papayas together with the seeds. That was when Kak Tun remembered a funny incident involving Tok Mail. Kak Tun had tears running down her eyes telling the story and laughing uncontrollably.

We didn't linger long. Still, the club was already quite empty when we left at close to 10, and it was early night yet. It was a nice little dinner, and totally unexpected. I'll have to reciprocate, I suppose.

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Golf for the Olympics.

2009-10-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the IOC announced that golf, with a few other sports, has been voted in to be included in the 2016 & 2020 Olympics. They say it's a return after 100 years. The fact is golf is older than the Modern Olympics, with written records of more than 600 years.

The follow-up media coverage highlighted the comments made by both exponents, supporters and event-managers of the game who lauded the decision, extolling the feeling of pride for country for players and the increasing worldwide popularity of the sport as justification for its inclusion.

The Olympics long ago abondoned the impractical self-imposed rule of restricting the Games to only "amateur" sportsmen. The arguements are deserving of another commentary. For now, suffice it to say that relative to other newer, more obscure and less popular sports like wushu, karate, softball and curling, golf surely stands out better for inclusion into the four-yearly World Competition.

The ethics and rules of golf, even as it is played socially among friends, are notorious. For starters, in no other sport do players call a penalty upon themselves. For the evening outing among four friends, calling penalty upon oneself because of the infringement of an archaic rule about a "free drop" or a "penalty drop" out of a "bad lie" may mean nothing more than the loss of one hole in a game of over eighteen holes . For a professional golfer during a competition, such a penalty is worth literally millions. Too many times these true professionals have even penalised themselves by a stroke, often the difference between winning and losing, simply because the ball that they have "addressed", that is, lined up with their club to hit, has merely oscillated in its original spot, not because of any movement made by the player, but because of gravity or wind acting on that 1.64" ball sitting precariously on the top of the grass. Now, that itself you can cynically say "well, golf makes that rule." The thing is no one knows it except for the player standing directly over the guilty ball. View this in the light of the "dive" many a professional footballer balatantly makes, in front of live tv, and realize the contrasting moral code of conduct exhibited, and exhibited time and time again. Surely this alone epitomizes the Olympic spirit.

The main arguement in support of golf for the Olympics should really be the fact that in this sport is found the true test of skill that is absolutely tested, regardless of the size of the competitor and the food that he eats. In boxing, weightlifting, swimming, atheltics, and gymnastics, just to name a few, either one or the other, or usually both factors of size and objectivity of umpiring are fatal to the outcome of the competition. The participants must be of the same weight class, or the bigger sportsman obviously has an advantage, as in athletics, or the judging is subjective, as in boxing and gymnastics, for instance. Not in golf. Ian Woosnam was World No. 1 once. He stands at 5' 4" and probably still eats steak and mashed potato. Vijay Singh also was World No. 1 once. He's 6'2" and eats rice (his Malay wife comes from Johore) and the occasional chapatti ( he's a Bai, isn't he ?). A lot of young and small South Korean girls, and one Japanese girl, Ai Miyazato, are currently causing consternation in the LPGA by rotating wins this year among themselves against the big American girls in their own backyards. Each golf competition is run over four days at the same venue, come rain, shine or stormy weather. So its the common condition for everyone. And the winner is decided by adding up the total number of strokes that he makes, including those that he makes but misses, and all the penalty strokes referred to earlier. That is absolute. It's 280 or 283 or whatever, not 280.5 or 283.25.

What about costs ? Isn't Golf a rich man's game ?

It's getting expensive now, that's true, but isn't everuthing else ?. When I started 22 years ago (wow !) a half-set comprising of 7 clubs including the bag cost RM 300. To-day a good driver (the No. 1 club, not the guy who drives his boss to work) alone costs upwards of RM 2,000 ! But as in all things in life, you measure your own clothes. Why buy a Rolls Royce when a Kelisa will do. Then there is the playing facility. You can't build your own hockey field and maintain it as well, or your own atheltics tracks. OK, but you say for golf you have to be a member of an expensive Golf Club. But we now have "walk on" facilities in many clubs, and not all are expensive, and in fact Government Servants join at Government rates. Plus, this country is seeing the beginning of the building of public courses that are a common feature in US, UK, Australia and many parts of the world. For the equivalent of RM 20 you can play at these "munis".

The only possible downside to the Olympics inclusion is whether all the noise made would end in a whimper. Look at tennis. It's already in the Olympics. But last Olympics gold medallist hardly create a ripple in the tennis world, and no ebullent rejoice of medallists stick out in the media. In fact many professional players were not particularly keen to put aside the time from their rich professional schedule, so in the end it was always "the buck stops here". Pro-golf is richer than pro-tennis. Will we see the same thing ?

Here's the catch. All this while, tennis as a popular sport has never quite made a rampage anywhere. Just look at the facilities for the game and the merchandising, even at dedicated sports stores. And here's the biggest stopper - there's an age limit. Beyond certain years, you can't run after the ball, even if you allow it to drop first. It's different for golf. Everyone of the 30 over clubs in NS alone has a pro-shop. Every shopping mall in all the major towns has at least one golf shop. And the golf ball doesn't run. And John Philip Seow plays 9 holes every day and celebrates his 80th birthday this month.

If the criteria for a popular sporting activity worth promoting to the highest level is the display of an achievable athletic skill unlimited by physical size, the freedom of skill development because of a salubrious climate and abundant facility, the high rate of return to investment probablity because of the durability of the game, and the long-term knowledge of the erstwhile pasttime and the established pleasure of the pure competition, then golf measures up.

For Malaysians, this is one world-wide sport that is well within their capabalitities to excel in, as proven by other Asian players to-day. Everything possible should be done to promote the sport and to produce, in time, world-class players competing on world-class stage.We should welcome the inclusion of this sport in the Modern Olympics. Get the Municipalities to build a public course each. Get the schools and private clubs together. Get a Malaysian Olympics Champion in 2016. That's only seven years more. There's time.

Meanwhile, I'm off to meet Ong Tiong Meng for 12-4-4.

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A.K.Bear.

2009-10-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

This Sunday Hank has organized a sort of reunion at A.K.Bear's house in Seremban for some Budak Boys. A.K.Bear himself has not sent out any similiar message, electronic or otherwise, so I assume the host has consented. This might very well serve as the 50th. anniversary for the group, having first come together in 1960 or thereabout.

By all accounts, everyone is retired. By some accounts, a few have sadly passed on, God save their souls. I'm included in the confirmed coming list for this Sunday in as much as it's in my town as these are some very old friends I'm keen to meet again, most of whom I have not maintained regular contacts with all these years. Experience has taught me not to expect too much. Many times in the past I had bumped into some old school friends (not the Budak Boy type) that I recognized in spite of the passage of time in their faces, and I had warmed up to, only to be given a kind of cool reception instead. It seemed that the feeling of nostalgia, in whatever amount, was only unilaterally felt by me. Or perhaps the other blokes couldn't recall anything.

Most of the names that I saw on Hank's list have gone on to the top of their professions at their points of retirement, but I don't expect less of a Budak Boy. Many have taken circuitous routes there, and most have served nobly and without fanfare. As a parent myself, I'm keen to find out how their children have moved on in life. For all you know, our children might at this very moment be in related fields or even in the same organizations.

A.K.Bear built his big house where he's spending his retirement now only after he retired, that I know. I've never asked him the circumstances of that happening. In fact his old family house that has now been vacant for a long time is just a few meters away from this new place. This I asked about, and his vague answer was the sisters often come back to clean the compound. Every time I stand on the 17th. tee at SIGC, I see the forlorn-looking bungalow with the rusting Peugeot 504 in the old porch.

A.K.Bear must have a lot of bush jackets, or he simply likes them, because every time I see him, he'd be wearing one. He also still drives the last official car assigned to him, most probably given to him as a parting momento from the goverment. The paintwork could do with some rework, but that's my observation only. Obviously A.K.Bear has other priorities.

He's a member of SIGC, and we've met there a few times. Unfortunately he doesn't play golf , although a mutual friend said that he had seen him play a very long time ago. He was in school a Davis Cup tennis player, as well as a hockey and football player. So it's not as if he can't play golf, anyway. I'm told he has been quite vocal at the club's AGMs.

So I look forward to Sunday, see some old friends, crack some old jokes, and catch up with what's new with the old candidate at Bagan Pinang.

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Aman Shah.

2009-10-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

Aman Shah Khalid is not to be confused with Aman Shah, the Malay pop singer who appeared for a short while in the 80's. The former was originally supposed to be from Seremban, the latter from Jelebu, though admittedly both are from the same state. The only similiarity is that both were handsome, when much younger, of course.

I don't know what happened to the singer. I guess he has disappeared into the crowd somewhere. But if not for the rare and infrequent and strange messages that I get from the other Aman, I could also say the same thing about him - that he, too, has disappeared. No, no, I'm just joking ! Aman Shah is somewhere in Kayangan - Perlis Indera Kayangan, that is.

We first met when I joined the same organization that he had already joined earlier, in 1968-69 (it's so long ago that I can't even pinpoint the YEAR !). He was a flamboyant young officer driving, at that time, a flamboyant Mini Cooper. There was something about a penchent for speed about Aman. When he changed his car it was for another speedster, also at that time, a Datsun SSS, if I'm not mistaken. We used to join a few fellow office-mates for nights in the town before he fell for Salomi. This was when he was posted to a senior post in the north, I think. As far as I can recall they have only one son who was given the nicely theatrical name of "Kelana". At that time I thought it was a fantastic original name.

Through the years we would bump into each other once in a long while. Aman has moved on. He was the GM of a large outfit in Perlis, but later took leave to resume post-graduate studies in England, came back and went on his own in KL, then moved back to Perlis where Salomi is from, and to-day it looks like it's Perlis for good.

Whatever you do, Man, don't forget your roots. It's always "Somban", and I'm here still. Your old suffering pal.

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Othman Abdul.

2009-10-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

Othman called me out of the blue to-day, before Friday prayers. He didn't tell me what prompted him, since it must have been at least two years that he last called. We spoke a while, but to the end the real reason for calling never came out. He taught me a few Japanese words, so we signed off by my saying to him "mata ai masho" - till we meet again.

We worked together for four-and-a quarter years 15 years ago. Actually I had met him before that at a golf competition, so I remembered him when we met again at work. When I left, he remained behind, but soon after he also left to team up with a friend and are still together until to-day. Also, when we parted company, I vaguely remember he had 5 children, and increasing. To-day he has TEN, hopely not increasing. But five are already at university, reading various subjects, so it's quality with quantity, thank goodness.

We shared a common vice in golf. We were about the same handicap then, and I have the feeling that that situation has not changed, in spite of his protestations. So we should get together again soon, I said, and he agreed.

Othman was doing marketing, although his training was different. My, did he do a bloody good job, too. He was given full reins and made the most of the trust given. There were many inspiring incidents involving him and his marketing ploys. The performance of the company was proof of the good work put, though HQ did not fully appreciate the methods, and by HQ I mean one particular guy who said "marketing is nothing." He has since left the HQ and in fact died.

The team that was put was tremendously creative and highly motivated, right down to the lowest ranking staff. When the fleet operations were first launched at midnight out of container-boxes that served as temporary offices, everybody involved came, many in their sarongs. It was so exciting, and that excitement, for me, lasted for my entire four plus years with the bunch, with the many more who joined later. The new routes, and the new clientle that Othman and his able assistants developed were truly adventurous and fun. For me, and for the independence I enjoyed for a while, those were eye-opening and wonderful and satisfying years. Alas, they didn't last, not because what we did were wrong, but because our methods were deemed questionable and that version of things won the day at HQ, all because of the myopia and bias of that particular guy mentioned earlier.

I'm glad Othman called and brought back happy memories. I wish him well.

"Dai jo bu, Othman-san."

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Bagan Pinang.

2009-09-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

So it's settled. This Saturday Isa Samad, who held the adjacent State seat of Linggi for more than 2 decades, would be formally entered as the BN candidate for Bagan Pinang.

Muhyiddin repeatedly asked the crowd "who's your choice ?", knowing full well what the crowd's answer would be - "Isa, Isa, Isa" the crowd shouted, also repeatedly, almost going berserk. Perhaps Muhyiddin should do this for all future selection of BN's candidates - let the crowd decide and BN's leadership abide by the crowd rule ! Maulud said he's never seen the likes of it. Zainal supported him and added there's no way Isa would lose. Zainal also said to Ramli Harun a few days earlier "what we want is to win."

Apparently, according to Maulud, there was a banner put up earlier saying something to the effect that if Isa is not selected, the people of Bagan Pinang would make sure the alternative candidate would lose, but this banner was said to have been taken down before Muhyiddin arrived. And Najib is also said to have addressed the postal voters made up of the sizeable army people included in the constituency. High emotions aside, this bye-election's result is all sewed up, going by the word of mouth right now.

Well, Ong Tiong Meng and I have said the winner is not a sure thing yet. The euphoria has to be translated to hard votes by the 13,000 people in the polling register. The bye-election record so far is something like 8-1 against BN. In spite of the 2004 landslide GE, only a short four years later, 2008 was totally unexpected by, and hugely disasterous to BN. There is talk now of the MIC's anger at UMNO. There is already attack by the DAP on Isa's tainted record. Mahathir had already repeatedly gone on record to say Isa would not be good for UMNO. Mahathir's words have not gone totally wasted in the past, including causing the eventual early end to Dollah's premiership.

As with that case with Dollah, detractors have been many and quick jumping on Mahathir, who was simply being Mahathir, frank and brave (as opposed to all the rest who can also be frank, but not so brave.) Maulud summed up, perhaps the mood of the day by saying "now where is Mahathir going to put his face !" As if this discarded advice from him is his biggest folly. There were also earlier retorts about a crime that was stacked up aginst Isa that nevertheless has been fully paid for, that Mahathir himself was sacked from UMNO, that Ali Rustam was also found guilty but allowed to continue to serve. It didn't seem to matter that Isa's punishment doesn't mean he's now not gulity, that Mahathir was sacked for criticising Tunku for the 1969 fiasco, that the Ali Rustam case underlines the whole corruption issue in UMNO, and made Isa the scapegoat when Ali was also implicated but escaped ?

How can it be so wrong to say that what UMNO needs now is to be fully committed at cleansing its national image ? Is it acceptible now to say that everybody does it in UMNO so why should "money politics" be a problem ? Who is committed enough to act upon, and brave enough to say it, about the political corruption in UMNO ? A corrupted constituency may very well carry the day and gets what its voters want to-day, but how is it to be viewed in the spoken undertaking that the Party's leadership has committed on the fight against this corruption ? Is this mere play-acting, that it's all "in the game", that "the means justify the end" ? Win this one, and the rest be damned ? That UMNO and BN are so "hard up" for a win that there is no choice but to field Isa ? And is Isa forgetting the fact that it was Mahathir, really, who retained him as MB for more than 20 years, in spite of all the rumours about even the Palace wanting him out once upon a time, and all the other accusations about favouring certain parties in the development of the State ? Notice all these question marks ? Is it all B.S. ?

The UMNO machinery better get busy giving the answers to all these questions, and endless others, and pronto. People are more open to arguements now. I mean no ill for Isa. I only hope we all do the right thing.

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A Battle Royale shaping up.

2009-09-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

It's the Minangkabaus vs. the Bugis !

Don't act surprised by the open battle lines drawn between Negeri Sembilan and Johor in the up and coming fight of the Royal Houses in the Malaysian Courts. The plaintiff himself has said that this has been 11 months in coming. Wrong ! This is a continuation of hundreds of years of fighting between Malay, Minangkabau, Bugis, Javanese, whatever, in the history of the Penghulus, Temenggongs, Laksamanas, Rajas and Sultans of the Malay States.

As in the past, the actual cause of the war is trivial. Tunku A. knocks down Tunku B.'s tengkolok. Tunku B. pulls a kris, feigning to stab at his aggressor. Tunku A. runs to mummy, who runs to the Bentara Dalam. The Bentara Dalam is caught in a faux pas - which side to take.

I want to see how the Attorney-Genaral acts, now that the ball is clearly in his Court, literally. If the Law of the Land is supreme, then the episode is reduced to what it is in reality. It's the idle, indolent rich getting in each other's way in their frivolous parlour games, and demanding the attention of other people busy with the serious business of making their own legitimate livelihood.

It's time that the hard-pressed Courts give their attention to the real business of protecting the rights of the people in the administration of the State and the businesses of individuals. Sweep off these pranksters who waste public funds from the sober subjects of Statehood.

In the meantime, let's watch and see the fun !

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The UN General Assembly.

2009-09-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

I was following the commentaries following Libya's Gadaffi debut at the UN. You could almost feel the sacarsm and ridicule laced into them. In fact, appearances notwithstanding, some of the things Gadaffi said are quite sensible.

The trouble with " western media" ( in other words US and European news channels ) is that they are usually more enthusiastic about the personality rather than the message, i.e. the singer and not the song, if you like. Their reporters are sated with stereotypical casting of certain personalities and certain countries, and too often it's the product of their own typecasting in the first place. As in all cases, disrespect, insensitivity,ignorance and selfishness underwrite all the human conflicts for which the UN was supposed to be the place to come for remedy. Watching the deliberate departure of the host country's elected leader and the senior memebers of his appointed government immediately before Gadaffi spoke, for the first time, is jarringly indicative of the total disrespect shown to another world-class leader. Here we have the US President giving his school master reprimand for the nations of the world for not "putting their acts together", and he immediately went against his words by turning his back on one of his own kind, another nation's leader, even if not one to his liking. How can you expect people to listen to you when you're not prepared to at least pretend to listen to others. And especially in this case, when a so-called "rogue" leader speaks for the first time, shouldn't you be more than interested in hearing him out in front of you and the rest of the so-called civilised world ?

Just pick up some of the things Gadaffi said.

The "inequality" of UN, especially the membership of the Security Council and the veto powers of a handful of countries. Isn't this a fact, and isn't it unfair ? Who gives these five countries the absolute right to put a stop on any resolution impinging on other member countrise ?

The plight of the Palestinians to-day is the consequence of the unilateral action of the western powers less than seven decades ago, made without the consent of the existing populace, in creating Israel. And the aggression of that new found political entity, with the full support of USA, against an unarmed population, has not only continued, but has worsened with other social injustices right under the eyes of, and in stark disregard for UN's sanctions, and this from a regime of a 60-year old country that claims to have been brutalised by the Europeans for centuries.

65 wars were waged since UN's inception. That is a fact.

Iraq and Afghanistan were invaded, against the opinion of the world. The fallacy of the USA's rationale for both military adventures has been exposed. The injustices and cruelties carried out in the name of western-style liberties hit the very values supposed to be those being faught for. It was to be the export of civilisation from a country less than 300 years old to countries civilised when Europe was still in the Dark Ages.

Even the location of the UN on US soil merits reconsideration seeing the uncivilised manner of the reception thrown at the delegates who represent countries, by both US officials and citizenaries.

For the last remaining Military power of the world, the preaching can only be listened to if it also starts to listen to others.

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Of Dillon, hockey and Isa.

2009-09-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

I was stuck in the crawling traffic somewhere near Tanjung Ipoh on the way the family's old house in Bukit Temensu when Dillon called on the mobile yesterday at noon. He said, above the din, he came to the family house earlier and didn't find me there, so I told him where I was and to wait at his uncle's house until I arrive. His uncle lives in a one-story house just 50 meters from our rear fence and has been a neighbour since I can remember. "Have a few beers first" I chuckled. Dillon is partial to the brew. In fact all the Bais I know are.

The trip to Kuala Pilah used to take all of 30 minutes 40 years ago. I remember, as an undergraduate, having to ride on my old (new then ) 90 cc Honda home, in the evening, and passing Bukit Putus, the twisted Pass located about 16 km from Seremban, at about 10 p.m., and how glad I was when I saw the headlights of an oncoming vehicle. At least I had company now, I said. Yesterday I left Seremban at about 11 a.m. and reached the house at exactly 12.45 p.m. ! It was bumper to bumper all the way.

Dillon came over as I entered the kitchen, because I gave a long blast of the horn as I passed his uncle's house. I drove the back way from Kuala Pilah town to avoid the traffic lights (yes, we have them in Kuala Pilah) in front of Maybank (yes, we have them, too), so that means I pass his uncle's house first. I invited him into the dining area, now filled up with in-laws and nephews and neices. All our activities are conducted in the large dining area because it's the most spacious room in the house. Dillon and I just dug in whatever was already on the table in front of us.

As far as I can remember, this is the first time Dillon had a Hari Raya in the house. I'm definitely sure it's the first time as "Dillon", anyway. This is remarkable because of the length of our friendship. As I told everybody in the room, I always call him Sukdarshan since I know him way back in 1960, in his ornate turban, cycling to the uncles' house behind ours. He still had his turban at RMC when we were also there together later, still Sukdarshan to me, but "Suki" to his hockey-mates. He was a State player. Then we went our separate ways until I returned to serve in a different capacity in Negeri Sembilan, based in Seremban, in 1995. When I met Sukdarshan again, it was as a turbanless "Dr. Dillon, pediatrician" and a "Dato" to boot. So I guess this 2009 Raya visit is better late than never.

The hockey, he says, is all a memory now. It's golf, today, and we have met many times, and I'm pleased to say that his score against me is also a memory for him, but a painful one !

We always talk a dime a dozen, but inevitably we got to the subject of Isa. The Datukship is Isa's because he took care of all Isa's children, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, and he deserved it, as far as I'm concerned. Naturally he's sympathetic to the Isa's camp, but I countered with my arguement. Of course he's not convinced, but I stuck to my arguement, and the debate hung, as has always happened with us.

The visit was all too brief, but good visits always seem brief. So next meeting at the club, I said, over 9 holes. And call Parim. He's another Bai, another doctor and another Dato'. He's also another golfer, but one I like to irritate with the remarks "famous last hole." But that calls for another story.

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Isa not a good idea.

2009-09-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

Before Mahathir publicly said it, I'd privately said it; Isa not a good idea for the bye-election in Bagan Pinang.

There are any number of reasons why Isa's supporters more than welcome the idea of his come-back to the State Assembly. It's a return to power, hopefully top power, and it'll be back to "the good old ways." It's a dislike for the incumbent State leadership.But basically it's the replay of the Malay politics of old: tables are turned, old scores are settled, and everybody gets something from the dirty politics.

The main cry from these people from the Division would be that only Isa can win this one. And if Isa is indeed chosen to contest, he might very well succeed. What is at stake, however, is not a win for Isa, but a win for UMNO, in a renewed effort at winning the fast losing support for the Party at the national level. And if Isa is the responsible man that he should be, it's within him to take himself out of the equation by declining the nomination in the first place. That he has not done so, to me, is either an indication of his own selfishness, or a very clever ploy indeed. Knowing him, and the people close to him in the state, I have grave doubts about the clever part.

There is no need now for any public dissension for UMNO. There is every need to remove forever the image of a feudal party that is besotted of its dirty old habits. Isa would sit as comfortably in the State Assembly as a sore thumb. To say that it would create upheaval would give too much respect for Isa ,and too little for Mat Hassan, but that is the scenario if Isa contests and wins.

If UMNO is serious about reversing the party's downhill slide , then the sight of a proven corrupt top official re-entering the State Legislature would be a dismal signal to the electorate. Clearly UMNO says one thing and does another. And the real danger now is, if left to Telok Kemang UMNO, Isa may very well win this one.

This is to even deflect the distinct probabality of the opposition parties making use of the Isa candidature as their main target of attack. Which may possibly prove wrong the local confidence in an Isa's election. The problem is, even if Isa loses, and therefore nullifying the fears about what his so-called comeback could do to the State, the fact would never be lost to all Malaysians as a whole that a proven corrupt man is more valuable to UMNO than any real effort at cleansing the Party. Talk does not match walk.

Fifty years ia not a long time in politics, as can be seen in India, China, Japan and Indonesia in this part of the world. What is happening to UMNO is "normal" in that sense. But to abondon all hopes for a resurgence, if you're a supporter, is premature. The cure can simply be found in perhaps replacing the do's and don'ts. Isa is definitely one of either. Prevention is better than cure, says the doctor. But if it's too late to cure, the same doctor says amputation may be the only option left. Listen to the doctor. Any doctor.

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Eid al Mubarak, and some old friends.

2009-09-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

Aidilfitri came today, 20th. September 2009, or 1st. Syawal 1430.

For the first year to-day we spent the whole day at home. Until dear mother passed away during last Ramadhan, we would all bundle into the car shortly after the Raya prayers and take that trip back to the kampong. Now that she's gone, and Dek Na, my youngest child has started working and is home for a short Raya break, we thought this would be the routine now - everybody home for the Raya for the whole first day before going anywhere.

This posting is now well into the night, and I took a look at my blog and made a small reply to a kind thought posted on it.

Actually I had wanted to write something after L.A.K. called from Taiping just now.

I know L.A.K. 24 years ago when I was working in KL. We became associated through work and a friendship grew, and although I've since moved and subsequently retired, we have maintained contact to this day. I attended two of his sons' wedding, travelling all the way from Seremban to Taiping with my wife.

L.A.K. mentioned some names, our mutual erstwhile acquintances. Some became friends and remain so, while some have not maintained contact. Two of the latter in particular were mentioned by L.A.K.

F.K. worked under me in KL for five years. When he wanted to obtain his Advanced Diploma for his professional qualification, I gave him my approval - something that was required at the work place at that time. When I moved to the new job at Port Klang, after settling down, I offered him a post in my new Company, to be posted to Pulau Pinang. All this was because we had an opening for him and because I know he could fill it. At first he hesitated, trying to hold out for more money. I told him the offer I made was already better than his salary, and that this was a new and fast developing enterprise, and he should be able to grow quickly with it. So he accepted. In my usual style, I gave him full resposibility to develop the new Pulau Pinang office. I gave him the supporting staff, all newly recruited. Everybody was housed in our temporary branch office on a 10-acre rented land which also served as our Penang logistics depot.

It so happened that one of the new assistants given to him for marketing work was a young lady with an Actuaral Science degree who had some very fresh but limited marketing experience. I personally interviewed and selected her in Butterworth. I thought she had potential. What I didn't know then was that F.K. also saw some potential in her. He later married her, which in turn caused him to lose his first wife. Now, that is the first part of the story.

My Chairman at that time eventually got wind of the intra-office marriage. He disapproved it and in one of my periodic deparmental meetings with him strongly suggested, verbally, to me that the lady officer ought to be sacked. No written order to that effect was ever issued, so I chose not to act on his suggestion. Now, this was no ordinary Chairman. His word was law. Junior staff would tremble in front of him. Even his p.a. carried a certain latent potency, causing officers to give her a lot of respect. So you can imagine the dangerous grounds I was treading.

But I was prepared to answer the Chairman, if confronted with the issue. I had already at least the names of four officers who worked in the same organization that the Chairman was in, who were married to each other. I would have posed to the Chairman, "what about these cases ?", if he confronted me. But it never happened. And F.K. has never known about all this, and the stand I was ready to take on his behalf, at my own risk. That is the second part of the story.

The third part of the story is what I related to L.A.K. just now. Here is a guy, F.K. who has all the reasons to be eternally grateful to me for giving him a job, a wife and a defence for keeping both the job and wife, who doesn't even bother to return my early calls soon after I resigned, which was many years ago, and has never even sent a Raya card to me in all these years. That thing about not returning my calls I had intimated to N.N. who remains, from what I know, in contact with F.K. until now. N.N. said, and this was many years ago, he had mentioned my remarks to F.K. He is yet to call and explain to me until now. So much for gratitude.

The other name mentioned by L.A.K. in the telephone call just now is H.T. But this deserves another space. Incidently, F.K. lost that second wife mentioned, a few years ago, to cancer, I was told. I was also told that in fact she had resigned from working with F.K. some time earlier.

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Shedding a tear.

2009-09-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

( In Memory of Siti Zubaidah whom I first met five days ago. )

'Twas only Sunday last

You came calling, your first, and alas,

Your very last !

Breaking the precious Fast

My daughter's friend.

Tiny and shy, suddenly facing the Big Bad World

Could you, would you, brave girl ?

So small and fragile

Must you ?

Siti Zubaidah - 'tis lilting and so, oh demure

That ole lyrical poem of the Malay Princess

I remember, too many years ago

When I, a mere child, laid engrossed

On the Hikayat

Of time that went by.

Now this Holy Friday

This Blessed Ramadhan

How cruel the Hands of Fate

That wrest the blooming bud

Who sat at the Breakfast table just five days ago

The Princess so fragile -

And Siti is now gone forever

Called by her Maker

So soon, so fast.

My daughter's friend, small and fragile

Takes her eternal leave

Just staying that briefest of visit to my house

To her Big Bad World

Leaving forever loved ones - kith and kin

And a nostalgic old man, a new friend,

Each pained, that midnight vigil

Shedding a tear.

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The Principal, Tunku Kurshiah College.

2009-09-15T01:22:00.000-07:00

I've written a letter to the Principal, Tunku Kurshiah College, Seremban. It's all sealed in a stamped envelope and should find its way some 5 km away in the bag of a postman from tomorrow, when it'll be posted. I had it ready this afternoon, but Ramadhan being what it is for me, I'm a bit lazy to go out some 500 meters to the nearest post box to-day.

What got me to that letter was another letter earlier from the Registrar's Office, UiTM Shah Alam. It's addressed to my daughter, who's at work in Putrajaya. So I took the liberty to open it, just in case there was something in it requiring urgent response, when I could just call her. It wasn't what I expected, but was a really nice piece of news for all of us in the house, and my daughter in Putrajaya, of course. The letter says my daughter has been awarded the Best Student Prize for her LLB (Hons) class of 2009, to be presented during the coming October Convocations.

This makes it two Best Student Awards in consecutive years for our little girl. And that's not to forget the Vice Chancellor Award she won for her Diploma course. Three in seven years ! Wow ! Dek Na and her siblings in the Capital were, naturally, quickly contacted to share the good news. A small cash prize will come with it from the University this time. Last year it was RM 1,000 worth of books. But those are not as important as the achievements, to me at least. There had not been any indication in all the years that Dek Na was studying that these sort of Awards were coming. She was just a normal, hardworking pupil at school, and later a normal, hardworking undergraduate at university. She always brought her work home, but it didn't seem extraordinary. I was told girls are all like that, not at all like the boys, and I have three of them to lend credence to that opinion.

It struck me yesterday that her stay at the Tunku Kurshiah College , where she was selected to attend school for five years, must have had a role to play in instilling this hard-working ethic that Dek Na carries to this day, even at work. Last weekend she lugged a hefty briefcase full of her work back home for what should have been a rest period. I thought that it might be a good idea if I write a bit about Dek Na's Awards to the Principal of her old school, firstly to record my appreciation for what they have instilled in my daughter during those impressionable early years, and secondly, maybe I could give some sort of inspiration for the teachers there in their often thankless jobs.

I wanted to write in English, but changed my mind because it felt unnecessarily stilted. So it's in Bahasa Melayu. But in a couple of instances I couldn't resist inserting a few choice phrases for extra impact, or so I thought. It's all about scholarship and studying opportunities, and impressions and gratitude and appreciation, but all in four pages. Secretly, I'm proud of the letter, and in fact felt relieved after completing it. The education of our youngest child also seems complete, now. At least at the present stage, for the time being. Education doesn't stop.

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Knocked down on the "Pasir".

2009-08-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

Before leaving for the mosque for "Terawih" last night, the wife asked if BN had won in Permatang Pasir. I said I'd be surprised if it did. I wasn't.

Looks like UMNO is being kicked around the former padi fields of Pulau Pinang, or thereabout. "Permatang" being the bund separating the watered padi plots, there was Permatang Pauh, and now Permatang Pasir. UMNO leaders, no doubt, must now find out what the hell is about these padi bunds that's tripping it time and again. If UMNO hoped the old local sleepy-head Parlimentarian Dollah could have helped, it was too much to hope for. Anyway, did he show his pock-marked face at all during all the commotion ?

Firstly, why the hell can't they find a less controversial candidate, knowing full well UMNO has enough problems as it is ? I mean, truth notwithstanding, a lawyer without a disbarment certificate can surely be found between Batu Ferringhi and Balik Pulau ! What happened then was a lot of effort was wasted in putting up the whining defence for the poor fellow, distracting everybody from pushing for the vote.

Secondly, this is already a full eighteen months from the 2008 thrashing at the ballot-box, and UMNO is still doing everything the same style. It's the style, man ! Fashions change, dammit.

A vote is given for many reasons, and they don't have to be cerebral. Just look at the votes cast at the supermarkets - shall I buy this or that, this many or just the one, this colour or another, ad infintum. What goes in the shopper's head is the impression he has, because of the advertisement, or his past experience, or his friend's opinion. And yet we're all a creature of habit, and habits die hard (not Bruce Willis). By sheer habit UMNO shouldn't have sufferred so badly in 2008. It did. So, what happened ? So UMNO should repackage itself, and spend more money on advertisement. Any manufacturer worth his salt will tell you that.

The divisonal machinery is out of synch with the mood of the Malays. The branches just mope around, waiting for the same stale instructions from the division. There simply hasn't been any attempt by UMNO leaders to radically change its approach at selling itself to the Malays. Their tastes have changed. Their educational background has changed. Their perceptions have changed. Only UMNO and its selected leaders behave as if nothing has. Najib says it's not business as usual now. But the prevailing impression is, it is.

At the "grass-root" level, people have said all these many times to UMNO people at small meetings , even in the shops and malls where they bumped into each other. UMNO is the party, we are the voters. Apparently East and West don't meet anymore. Perhaps those in KL think that what they or their speechwriters say can change people's opinion, just like that ? Well, talk is cheap. It takes more than wandering around the Ramadhan stalls to show that UMNO cares. YOU walk around the Ramadhan stalls, not UMNO. People are still smarting from governmental woes and municipality mess. Don't go around and say that it's not UMNO. Scandals of all sorts appear daily but don't say it's not UMNO. Liason chairmen send their people to run down opposing divisional heads. That's not old UMNO ? I'm afraid the perception is, it is. That's the whole trouble.

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Syariah Law in Malaysia.

2009-08-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I saw that news item on CNN about the Muslim Malay woman who was found guilty by the Syariah Court for consuming alcohol in public and handed a fine and 6 lashes. This is new on CNN, but has been highlighted by the local papers for some time, and in fact is an old case. The slant by CNN is obvious. Syariah is cruel.

I remember not too long ago United States of America went one better than the many versions of their Holy Bible, and adopted a particularly harsh but also particularly ineffectual "prohibition" period. Among others, many well-known gangsters, and many, many more less well-known public officials became rich when liquor-brewing went underground, while its consumption remained sky-high. Of course, after the temporary intoxication, the US government sobered up.

The Quran, like the Bible, prohibits the consumption of alcohol. The Muslim Mufassirins have through more than a thousand years interpreted the teachings of the Quran and the Sayings, Deeds and the Acceptance of the Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, and explained why alcohol is prohibited by Islam. Before the application of English Laws in pre-Independent Malaya, even English writers and several Court judgements referred to an existing Syariah Law practiced in the Malay States. Since the Islamization of the Malays from about the fourteenth century, Syariah Law found its way into the "Kanun" of the Malay States, held as Law by the Sultans. But because of British colonization, and the need to protect the colonizer's interests in the economy and its subtle proselytizing of Christianity, the power of the Sultans were cleverly subverted with the administrative gimmick of the "advisors" and the Executive Council. The long hard lessons from India were brought upon Malaya, so much so until to-day the Malaysian Law Journals are full of Indian-precedent judgements.

In the meantime, every Muslim Malay, male or female, adult or child, knows it is "haram" to drink alcohol. Now what one does secretly, only God knows. So the Jabatan Agama Islam run by each State has to catch the wrong-doer in public. This woman knew full well what her public action implicated. The remorse shown is as desired by Syariah, but the Judge must pass sentence as also obligated.

The Malaysian Syariah Court is no match for the Malaysian Civil Court in its authority, under the Federal Constitution. It exists on the periphery of the great Constitution as almost an appendix in the form of "Jadual 9 Perkara 2". The Syariah Court's powers have been jokingly referred to as "3-5-6", as opposed to a First Class Magisterate's powers of "10-10-12"- the maximum sentence of 3 months jail, RM 5,000 fine, and 6 strokes of the cane.

Cruelty has to be defined. Effective laws must be evaluated on both the retribution and rehabilitation factors intrinsic to the law. Otherwise the law become a subject of mirth. The procedures in the application of persecution, judgement and sentence are also comparative distinctions between different legislations. The "caning" in Syariah Law is not the same as the robust lashing on criminals shown on the Civil Courts sentences. A kinder reading of the Syariah Law would show this distinction.

It is cosmetic to show a demure Malay woman seemingly surrendering herself to the full might of the law, without alluding to also the circumstances that led her to the sorry tale. Obviously CNN has taken the trouble to highlight this eposode, and taken greater pains to go over the top of the many by-lines one expects of a world-class media. But it's also clear that one side of a story is not enough to show the whole picture.

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The First Day of Ramadhan, 2009 (1430 H.)

2009-08-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of the annual ritual. I have determined years ago that I should make the effort at "moral cleansing" by observing deep into the external practices, and by reading deeper into the the teachings of the religion I profess. I don't know what progress I've made, but that's moot.

Seriously, there's no golf for six weeks (serious because it's the mainstay of my daily constitutional since retirement). Yesterday was the last nine holes, after a terrible week of bad play since recovering from my little roadside misadventure on 13th. In fact when we saw a few pieces of cowdungs on the sixth fairway I remarked to Ong that's how we were playing - like cows ! In forty days' time I can assure you I'll have to relearn everything. So what they say about learning to ride a bicycle doesn't apply to golf. They lie.

What I'm reflecting right now is the wisdom of holding one's counsel unless sought. You are at a table where there's lively discussions on all sorts of topics. So one lady says this is how her body reacts to the food she's taking, and I say you're not a nutritionist, how would you know, and naturally she's angered. This guy asks if the measure of the "gimme" putt is by the player's own putter or by any of the entire flight's, and I say by any of the four putters, and he's angry. In that case you can sleep with any of their wives, he retorts, and I say that's flawed arguement because we're talking about golf. And so it goes.

And then I read Mahathir's blog about doctors, sworn to community service but brains still draining, and feel chastened. I also remember that group discussion on Wednesday about Malay leaders urging Islamic values but their wives go about with flying uncovered hairs. I'm conviced that if you have something worthwhile to say, then find a platform and say it.

The trouble is the absence of the two main ingredients - something worthwhile to say, and the platform. Really, they are not hard to find, if you know how. Now, THAT'S the trouble.

So I think this Ramadhan I'll stick to last year's agenda.

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Of Tiger, Ying & Yang, and sports statistics.

2009-08-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

I lost my ten-dollar wager with Lim Boon Hoe - that the no: 1 Golfer would win his 15th. major this year.

So he lost the last golf Major of the year, in spite of a two-stroke advantage at the start of the final round. Well, he just played conservative golf, while Yang simply played spectacularly. Two strokes decided the outcome from Yang, who simply had the Ying of the day - the eagle chip on the par 5 back nine, and the utility-wood second shot from behind the tree, uphill to the last par 4 that landed about 30 inches from the pin. And Tiger sealed his fate early. Too many missed birdies ( at least 3 ) in the front 9 from distances that he never missed in all of his 12 years 8 months of professional golf. In more than one way he didn't have his Ying, but surely got his Yang !

The Americans are very fond of their sports statistics. Just watch the commentaries on all their sports - baseball, football (the American full body armour version),basketball, swimming,golf and what have you. They painstakingly go to great lengths to calculate everything to the nearest 10 decimal - the hitting average, the running average, the assissts, the stroke, the putting GIR fairways hit etc. They seem to get some masochistic pleasure from all this.

In fact the statistics are the face-saving (the Koreans know all about them) figures Tiger Woods has available to cushion his deep disappointment this time around.

1. In 13 outings this year, he has already won 5 times. (38.46 % or one win every 2.6 times he plays)
2.In 52 Majors competed in, he has won 14 times. (26.92 % or one win every 3.7 times he plays)
3.He has won 70 PGA titles , a number only exceeded by two other golfers in the history of the game.
4. This year he has won more than $7.6 million prize-money from the 5 wins and 13 competitions - an average of $1.52 million per win, or $584,615.30 per tournament. That's more than RM2 million every time he plays, folks.
5. Forbes published his total take-home pay last year at a cool $110 million (RM 385 million, or RM 32 million per month, or more than RM 1 million per day !).
6. Nicklaus achieved his 18 Majors target at the age of 46, with a total of 73 PGA titles. Tiger is only 33 years old this December. At the rate that he has won, by the time he reaches 46 years, he should win 27.99 Majors and 139.99 PGA titles.
7. Forbes also says that up to the end of 2007 Tiger's total take-home income was $750 million. That's a 10-year period. By extrapolation, by age 46, when Tiger would have been a professional golfer for 25 years, he should account for an income of $1,875,000,000 - the first sportsman to earn 1.875 billion.

So, Tiger Woods can afford to let this last Major go to an Asian. It's good for world-wide golf.Of course it's very good for Yang. But it gives hope for all aspiring sportsmen, and sportswomen. Even if you start late, even if you take rice and don't live in Florida, even if you've not won before, if you believe in yourself and keep on trying, one fine day the Ying and Yang might favour you, even if for the only time.

So there's hope for Mizi.

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