Stories from the peripheries

 GST has its effect..the restaurant gave us a lot of 

complimentaries (they didn't have too many diners as 

before.Harga mcm bomb!)

Ekraj looking for old text to show us something

It's been 6 years!

Dato Azman on your left and Ir Jamal on your right.

Oyster cake.Tak sedap langsung.Rasa fishcake

Still lembik on Saturday morning but Ekraj (Thailand) and Baibonn (the Philippines) are in town for the religious mediation conference.Since I helped bring them in, I kenalah pi jumpa.But the conf was also my interest.Baibonn had already finished talking when I arrived.Ekraj spoke on the first day (I was in Ktn).The panel session in which religious body reps spoke was exciting.Everyone spoke issues: kalimah Allah, restriction of building houses of worship, conversions etc.Heated discussions but everyone (almost all) agreed the importance of mediation.

Bumped into friends from the last interfaith conf.I told them the paper would be ready by June.Dah almost two years nak buat2 but no time.Lee told Baibonn of the wonderful session we had on family institution.

I told E&B mlm je I bwk depa keluar dinner since I was rushing to another meeting in PJ.Prof Rahmatullah who is on crutches (kaki patah terjatuh dlm monsoon drain!) nak tumpang I since he could not drive.I said balik nanti he had to take a cab.He said no prob.So it was an easy AGM.We planned to go bck to Flinders to celebrate its 50th year nxt year.Cheh..ari tu dgn Liverpool pun gitu and they are going this August.I akan terkulat2 cos' I can't get away frm work..it'll be our research month and I pun baru balik frm Z's graduation.Duh.

Balik frm AGM, terkempol2 nak pi pick E&B for dinner.Nik had another dinner at Putrajaya so it worked well if I balik lambat.Mmg lambat.The two byk sgt cerita from the peripheries.Ekraj cerita perihal this Muslim man who's got Aids.No one nak the jenazah so the Buddhist monks ambik.Kali pertama, depa cremated jelah jenazah malang tu sbb depa tak tau psl kena mandi jenazah
bagai.Second time, depa pi tolak ke mesjid but imam tak terima cos' takut berjangkit. But someone told monks jenazah org Islam tak leh bakar dan kena tanam, kena mandi jenazah etc so monks buka kitab belajar dan buat semua! Tak ke malu kita? But Ekraj had educated psl HIvs kpd org Islam and so now adalah yg sudi nak uruskan jenazah org Islam yg ada HIVs.

Baibonn cerita how her sister terserempak dgn satu Muslim gay kat hospital tengah nazak.So she tlg baca yassin and ajar dia mengucap.Dari wajah ketakutan dan menangis, pesakit itu tenang selepas dibacakan yassin dan ketika mati, kakak Baibonn nmpk mcm asap keluar dari kepala bahagian tengahnya! Kakak Baibonn kaget dan lari ketakutan..terserempak pulak dgn doctor yg berjambang.Kebetulan doktor Muslim! She told him ada org Muslim baru meninggal.Doctor tu lari ke arah bertentangan.Rupa2nya nak ambik batu shiah dia nak letak kat dahi si mati.Dr tu buatlah cara dia dan beritau pihak berwajib mereka akan mengerjakan jenazah itu.

Rezeki jenazahlah tak dibakar.Mungkin ada kebaikannya dia mati dlm syahadat dan diuruskan oleh org yg tidak membakar mayat.Menurut Baibonn dia terpaksa jadi gay sbb nak nolong ibubapanya yg miskin di kampong.Wallahualam.Syurga neraka itu hak Allah.

I suka keluar dgn E&B cos' byk cerita and since they travel a lot, mcm2 ragam manusia la dijumpai mrk.Maryam yg cantik jelita tu rupanya anak bekas Ratu Cantik Filipina.Patut le cantik sgt.Dia masuk Islam after university internship in Mynmar..she worked amidst the Rohingyas.Allah beri hidayah dgn byk cara.