Raya picnic

My clan ni kalau cuti raya mesti nak berkelah.Ramai sangat budak kecik yg nak dihiburkan.My nephew Angah paling rajin mencari picnic spots.Last raya,he took the clan to kawasan kebun dia which had a very nice sungai.We missed it cos' we were in Nice.This raya, the same sungai but at a different location.The name of the place is Batu Malim.Kita orang mandi near a bridge so yes..kereta lalu lalang boleh nampak.Tapi air sungai tak dalam..ada lagoon some more and tali tarzan at a nearby tree.Yg jadi tarzan org tua!My cucu2 sedara ada yg tak pernah jumpa sungai so semua jadi koala bears tak mau jejak air yg sejuk mcm frm a mountain.We had to pujuk.Once dah seronok,ajak balik pun tak mau.I asked Fateh (about 3 years old..Mek's grandson)pasal tak mau balik?He said sebab air banyak. :) Then the kids (bawah 5 tahun) dok mengutip daun2 luruh yg hanyut.Sofea was holding hers but daun dia terlepas dari tangan and hanyut..she cried saying, sayur saya...sayur saya.

I'm happiest with kids this age but nyaris lemas dikerumuni budak2 ni (about 5 of them) dok menyiram Wan Dah dia dgn air (they had their gadgets!).But writing this,the flashback makes me smile.Rugi le Z balik awal (but she baru masuk kerja satu hari..takkan nak cuti dah).

Ummi and family and I went to visit our family's pusara.The plants on the pusara need to be replaced but the Japanese roses byk yg hidup lagi.

Mlm tu we had tahlil at Long's house.Eishah and family dropped by kejap.I bising diaorang ni jarang jumpa the clan dah.If my mom were still alive,sure kena one. :) She had time to show us her new golds.Dasar Rawa!

Fateh, Ijat, Aiman and Sob (Fateh menarik rambut Ijat)

Fateh fighting back!

Keindahan tempat kami ber-piknik di Sg Batu Malim

Eidul Adha 2015

 I am always more excited in celebrating Eidul Adha.Rasa mcm puasa Ramadan is for us but doing korban is definitely for Allah..in its totality (sebenarnya everything we do is kerana Allah).Rasa je mcm tu.I'd get teary every time lagu Haji by Raihan is played this time of the year esp. that labbaikallah hummalabaikk bit.Fuiyoo..feeling habis woh.

Our lembu garang mcm tuan2 dan puan2 dia juga but once he's ditumbangkan..he went very quiet.Mcm redho gitu.It went well alhamdulillah.I menang cabutan no. bertuah (ada pulak lucky draw at the korban event) and we had lunch..lembu pertama yg dikorbankan.I like this communal spirit.

Ijat told us his mum would be accompanying the Minister to UK next week.She just got back frm a course at Harvard.Murahnya rezeki Ummi.But dia pun rajin nolong orang.Just like her dad.Alfatihah utk Long Sudin.Semoga pahala yang berterusan sampai kepadanya.

Solat di masjid Raub reminded me of days with my Mom.Biasa she would ride with us to the mosque sbb yg lain2 tu lambat bersiap.Ternampak2 she praying at the saf she normally would be.Semoga Allah berikan pahala yang berterusan kpdnya.

I'm staying back but Z and her Dad will balik today.Dia org tak cuti besok.I'm going to bersukaria with my siblings.

Selamat hariraya eidul adha.Semoga amalan korban kita diterima Allah.

Online life

We had an explosive discussion over IOK with my IIUM WA group.But what I like about this group is that, lepas kita jerit2, we make up easily.Puncanya Dr. Maszlee tersilap type "dia" jadi "doa". It was about a scholar I much respected.So I naik hangin..haha (mcm biasa).We were discussing IOK..beza Islamicisation and Islamisation.Dr. Amani wanted to know wht IOK was all about since she had just joined IIUM.I tolong explained and mentioned several prominent scholars.The debate started frm there between Dr Maszlee and I.And his typo mistake brought us to a new dimension..bad dimension..haha.Prof Fauzan kat Makkah pun menyampuk cos' melibatkan tokoh2 tersohor dan ilmuan..but we found out about the typo..so kita continued seterusnya..satu perbincangan yang sgt menarik.Dr. Maszlee agreed to give a full lecture on perbedaan pendapat of these scholars termasuk Maududi.Berbaloi juga engaging in such a debate/discussion.

Z  got the short term internship with Dr. Muhd Abdul Khalid of Colour of Inequality.Syukurlah.Her work with Shell will only start early next year..punyalah lama menganggur so alhamdulillah,Dr Khalid sudi to accept her and I hope Z will use the opportunity to learn as much from him.

My ex maid gila talak..dok call me a few times today.Tak kuasa I nak layan..we treated her well, she boleh nak pergi balik suka hati dia.It's just not that.She likes to put too much salt in her masakan.Cakap 10x pun degil.And minyak...haiyo...macam air in her cooking.

Of cooking and meeting of minds

Alhamdulillah, the halal and nutritious food competition finally took place.We had 12 entries but akhirnya tinggal 6 contestants (cos' we had to postpone the original date).I wanted to withdraw but not nicelah, kan? So pagi lagi I dah turun ke dapor to prepare my scrambled duck egg (omelette) breakfast meal and toast and rockmelon juice.

The other contestants were well-prepared but the show must go on.Heh heh.Chef from Istana Hotel (Syed Fikri) sangatlah gentleman.He was truly kind but I think dia mesti nak tergelak nengok my entry.Dia kindly said, belum lagi saya buat omelette dgn telor itik.Senang cari ke telor itik? I said susaaaahh..bla bla bla.He said did you put it consistently on high fire? I said yes..bkn gitu  ke caranya? He said mula2 low then slowly increase it to sederhana.I said toast tu I tak butter up cos' dah byk mkn benda berlemak.Then he suggested I brush up dgn olive oil.Hmm..stg new there.

I tak menang, OK? Mungkin corot pun. :D Saja nak meramaikan contestants..but glad I did it cos' I met so many interesting people termasuk two academics frm Engineering (sorang Egyptian), the other developed their own enzymes for goatmilk buat cheesecake..so organic..Yang menang tu buat chicken breast swissroll like lunch set.Sedap gila.Depa mmg culinary grads.Aiseh..rasa mcm nak ambik culinary course kat community college.I like cooking but I tak reti!

Ptg tu my IOK class bertambah 2 students..from other Kull nak audit.Another one sms-ed nak join.Hadoi...but a nice group.

Besoknya (today) I rushed to attend seminar pemikir Abim/Wadah.Glad I went.I learnt so much.Mula2 fikir alamak, no one I know and no one knows me.But at the registration, Prof Nik of PUM greeted me and got his friend to escort me to seat paling depan a few seats away from Wan Azizah.Mak aiii...malunya datang lambat! Then after the talks, saw Izura and Kak Mah so had a good time catching up.Kak Mah introduced me to her gfs..mcm2 le kita nak buat (pantang ada prob..semua nak tolong..haha..we need to focus on a problem, I told Izura.Yes, she said).

I heard so many cendikiawan Islam for the first time.Where was I all this while? Sokmo last train! I suka Dato Prof Siddiq Fadzil's talk.Kelakar sungguh dia ni.Kelakar ilmiah.He said fatwa ttg rally ni adalah mengikut warna baju..kalu kuning..haraaaam.Kalau merah, sunat muakad.:)) He said Islam ni bkn agama racist.Dia ingin berpesan kpd org Melayu...baiklah tinggalkan pepatah pepatih yg tidak elok seperti kalu jumpa ular dan keling, bunuh keling dulu.He said punya byk perumpamaan lain, ngapa itu yg kita selalu nak guna.Mcm juga Cina Buta..he said byk cara lain nak explain benda2 tak senonoh gitu..kambing buta ke..lembu buta ke..kenapa Cina harus dibutakan.

He said rupa2nya perumpamaan ular-keling tu wujud di Sumatra juga.Cendikiawan Indonesia bertanya sejak bila Msia mula guna perumpamaan itu (tak kelain nak claim origins tu..haha)... Cendikiawan Msia pantang soalan tak berjawab wpun tak tau..so he said: yah...sejak melayu kenal keling. :D

A young scholar from Unisza was talking of how loss of scholarship would bring chaos to tne state, society etc and betapa ilmuan hari ini tidak jujur dgn ilmu mereka.An ustaz was caught saying pemimpin wajib ditaati secara mutlak..jahat ke baik ke.But luckily students yg ada ilmu questioned him back till dia tak leh kelentong lagi.Begitu juga with one Historian yg menghina cendikiawan Islam pre merdeka dgn mengatakan mrklah petualang bangsa (just becos' they were Islamicist).The young scholar said bagaimana cendikiawan lama bisa merubah masyarakat mcm Said Nursi..pemikiran dia ditulis atas cebis2 kertas dari penjara but hari ni...negara sekular itu boleh
berubah menjadi mcm hari ni despite kekangan yg dasyat.

Banyak lagi.Lain kali I want to attend lagi majlis2 ilmu mcm ni (twice a year). I bought a few books by Siddiq Fadzil (nanti ASA nak jemput dia dtg to speak on academic freedom from Islamic perspective and I told Nik..Nik pun nak invite dia to speak on integrity nxt March). Am reading buku anak Hamka called Ayah...inspiring gila! ( kisah ayah dia dgn Pramoedya Ananta Toer tu sungguh indah..Pram ni zaman Soekarno bkn main sombong..Dia belasah Hamka, reka cerita bkn2 psl penulis Islamist ni sampai ramai masuk penjara tanpa bicara termasuk Hamka).

Bila Soekarno jatuh, Hamka bebas, si Pram pulak kena mcm2..bukunya kena banned etc.Bila org tanya Hamka apa komen dia ttg ban itu, Hamka kata dia tidak pernah bersetuju dgn ban itu sbb Pram menulis mengenai cinta.Jika tak suka, tulis buku lain, jgn ban.Bila ditanya kisah Pram menganiayainya, he said dia sudah maafkan segalanya.Fuiyooo...sungguh mulia!

Pram ni bila anak dia Titik nak kawin bukan Islam, dia tak kasi.Kalau nak kawin juga, lelaki itu disuruh belajar agama dgn Hamka so the couple went to berguru dgn Hamka.Bila Titik beritau dia anak Pram, Hamka terdiam sebentar.Lepas tu dia senyum dan kata tidak mengapa.Fuiyooo...sucinya hati dia! Para penganalisa berpendapat itu cara Jawa Pram meminta maaf dgn Hamka dan Hamka memahami message itu dan menerima maafnya.Wow, what a pair.I think they admired each other's work.

Bila wartawan tanya Pram kenapa hantar anak dan bakal menantu ngaji dgn Hamka, he said perbedaan politik masih tidak berubah tetapi bila bab tauhid, Hamka is the best in Indonesia and Islam is about tauhid, he said (gamaknya Pram dok mendengar ceramah Hamka di TV dan radio dan membaca tulisan2nya.Iyalah Pram hidup zaman jahiliah..yg terbaik dan teradil baginya ketika itu was socialism/communism gamaknya.Hamka received his Honorary Doctorate from Al Azhar and despite not receiving any formal education from any uni (dia banyak belajar sendiri dan dari tokoh-tokoh agama di Sumatra, Makkah dan byk membaca.It is amazing tht it was not the Mufti or uni prof who led the religious reformation
 or Islamisasi di Indonesia but a tasawwuf chap)

Gosh...it's like being in a different world reading this book.Bezanya datang ke majlis2 ilmuan mcm ni.Syukurlah I pergi.

Selamatkah Malaysia di Hari Malaysia?

Too many stories floating on the net...look like real..then not real.I berapa kali kena marah oleh beberapa members in different WA groups sbb main fwd2 berita2 dan gambar2 sensasi, provokasi dan seangkatan. :D Dah orang pass-kan..surely to be shared? Itu pun nak larang? Closed groups what? Members pun tak sampai 50 orang setiap satu. Gah! But people are jumpy.Discusslah kan? Debate issues.Bkn kata jgn sambung provocation ke hapa.Byk isu boleh bincang like why are we like this? Or like that? How can we be better? Ni asyik nak be defensive je..with me, no go.Debate it out!

Anyway, cerita hb Prada I ni bersiri.Siri 2 agak international. Tak semena2 last Saturday evening I ordered a new one online thinking it was Prada's genuine website or at least an outlet which sold one season behind items mcm selalu depa buat at outlets so dapatlah murah dari biasa.Bila harga iklan was in Pound but bila bank message came in Yuan, baru I terfikir nak buat scamadvisor check.Nyata very unreliable.Masa byr online tu pun lain mcm.Takda rasa security tinggi.So I kol my bank suruh stop payment.Bank ckp I kena cancel dgn merchant dulu which they said was based in China.Ho aloh! So I suruh buat credit card lain sebab my security number kat belakang card tu depa dah ada access.Bank setuju buat baru.Meanwhile I wrote to the biz contact and told them I nak cancel my order and minta full refund and gave them bank punya refund code.Depa tak kasi.I said itu my consumer right..check any law and international law.Dia cakap if the payment inflated it's because of exchange rate..konon bank I yg beritau.I said no, my bank kata I have every right to cancel the item if I'm not happy.And I told them ngapa byk kali tukar currency..company based in US, owned by a Chinese in China, quoted in pounds, bayar in Yuan.Macam money laundering je (I didn't say this bit).Akhirnya depa kata ok but akan tolak 15%. I protested sebab dlm web dia takda pun cakap ada policy mcm ni.Depa ckp nak bag atau refund with15% cut.I said I nak full refund.Next they told me we had actually refunded your money.You will get it back in 5-10 days (mula2 ckp 30 days). I thought full refund so I said thank you.Tup tup, email kata depa dah ambik 33 pounds.Gila!

Meanwhile I checked with my lawyer friends,MMC, commercial crime dept, tribunal, bank negara, etc and my conclusion is this: beyond Msian shore, our country is not prepared to protect its citizens from fraud done online overseas.MMC setakat notify server owner yg host website tu.I kata supposedly it's a big syndicate..they own the server ke hapa ke, dah terbongkar jejak mrk dikesan.They can easily shut down..buat nama baru server lain.Mmg pun web ni baru beroperasi 3 bulan with short life span, email free etc.Bank Negara setuju that we need to look into this..more study should be done..- this at my suggestion that if Msia dah ada ASEAN cooperation (police to police, commercial crime depts included...extend jelah to China and US etc.It's all about how good we are in forming international cooperations.Apa Menteri Luar and ambassadors buat? PM yg selalu jetting in and out tu?

So akhirnya I alerted Prada (yg asli), US and Chinese Embassies pasal kes ni.Kita bimbang aktiviti money laundering je.

Nik said he'd buy me a new Prada.Kah kah. Yang dulu tu pun his gift.Semoga Allah rahmati Nik.Baik sungguh hatinya.

That was a busy week

We started our new semester last week. Met my PhD students...luckily all are fulltimers so no prob with class after 5 pm. It was hard to stop on time...they were still talking and arguing.I told them kita sambung minggu depan cos' we could stay all night discussing and deliberating on issues. I think it's going to be a quick sem. :)

Then Devi had her viva. We were prepared for the worst but gosh, the comm was kind. Devi would have to amend her thesis within six months.Syukur it's not major but still!

All my supervisees started to come out from their caves. Mazlen is submitting soon.M would hv to submit his proposal soon. Mazni has done quite a lot. I need to finish up my thesis due nxt week.Hadoi.

ASA-IMAN held an awareness campaign on ragut and samun jalanan.More securities than ASA and IMAN members but the talk went smoothly (some 60 or so people came).The thing to remember is this: peragut looks for ruang and peluang.Don't carry lots of cash on you, don't expose your handbag esp front seat, don't count your money publicly (esp when after your ATM withdrawal). Be very alert of motocyclists near you, they would observe you before they attack you.Always go to where there are crowds if you feel you are being tailed.Be careful at traffic lights now.

High risked areas in Selangor are: Ulu Selangor, Sabak Bernam, Gombak, Sungai Buloh, I tak ingat urutan yang lainnya.Waktu serangan early in the morning (6.30 am ke atas, tengahari waktu lunch and after asr till 10 pm).The police speaker told us pernah tangkap satu peragut..pi rumah dia..besar mcm istana, bawak Merz, wife tak tau suami kerja apa..ingat bizman..rupa2nya peragut..he would ragut 10 people a day..sebulan gaji dia belas2 ribu if not puluh ribu.But akhirnya masuk penjara juga.

Then berita dari Makkah and cerita si baju merah nxt week.WA tidak pernah senyap.

Friendship weekends

Looks like everyone decided to fly to KL on the same weekend! Friday was packed with grant and product assessments then after Jumaat, I had to cover my Dean and met new staff on their TIDE week (mcm minggu orientationlah).Mostly came frm Engineering, hard sciences and medic sch.I had to brief them about RMC and IIUM research culture.Very participative audience who responded well when I invited them to speak and share their research experience, challenges and expectations.

Then rushed to Mandarin O to meet up with Becky..only to find out tht she's not at Mandarin O but Mandarin Court.I malas nak redah jam.Her schedule was also tight after 8 pm. Besoknya wedding anak Mi who is now working in Iraq.Habis lewat (jam) so had to rush to Westin to dine with Chin Ee and we would go to the readings after tht.Then Kimball pulak texted tanya bila free nak tea ke hapa ke.I takda masa dah..new semester dah buka Monday ni..so I ajak sekali join our Westin dinner sekali harung.Dia bwk gf dia sekali so makan busat.:D The service at Westin was oh! so slow.Ada dua je waiters, one plays another role as a cashier..punyalah lama to sort one bill! Chin Ee and I were so impressed by most of the performance poets at the readings..Indonesia was top..Swee Tin frm Msia pun bagus incorporating alat2 music lama yg nice to listen to as he performed his piece.

Pastu we took Becky to a nearby warong to chat up.Very brief but nice catching up so soon with my ASEAN buddies. Sunday evening pi concert Kimball-Kaiying, Sabeera-Ramli.Nice music.Suka the soprano singer frm Msia.The dance theatre pun interesting but we had to leave early cos' guess who started to snore? Nasib org tak ramai at the Balcony section. :D I pun mmg nak balik cos' besok nak kerja.

I hope it will be a quiet 14 weeks.

Atas permintaan ramai

...well, Mawar and FJ je yang memintanya. :D

Mereka tuntut cerita di balai polis semasa kes samun jalanan dahulu. With due respect kpd anggota keselamatan kita yg bertugas dgn baik, mungkin apa yg berlaku adalah tidak mewakili kecemerlangan polis.The truth is semalam I berbual dgn seorang pegawai tinggi polis dan nmpk beliau sungguh tulus.Dia beritahu mcmana di zaman Tun M ekoran AI ditumbuk lebam, org ramai begitu bencikan polis sehingga anak2 beliau berusia 8 tahun juga dihina dan dicemoh di sekolah termasuk oleh guru2. He said dia sendiri malu nak pakai uniform polis waktu tu. I rasa sekarang pun persepsi orang ramai pun tak byk berubah. Jika tiada campurtangan politik dan polis dibiarkan menjalankan tugas dan amanahnya, maka kepercayaan org ramai kpd institusi kepolisian ini sure takda masalah, kan? Tapi iyalah..yg bekerja teruk tu kekal the unsung.

Ada beberapa protokol yang saya syorkan apabila berdepan dgn mangsa jenayah.Pertama, tunjukkan simpati dan sikap serius anda.I was told ini perkara biasa (sbb kerap sgt berlaku).Kenyataan sedemikian bak kata Najib: buat darah saya mendidih (saya rasa nak labuhkan sauh.haha).But the policeman was nice to me cuma kata-katanya tak kena dlm suasana sedemikian.

Pastu ada lelaki India bergari bebas berjalan ke sana-sini dalam balai kecil itu.Saya terpaksa lalu di hadapan beliau untuk ambik wudhu dan solat Maghrib di bilik belakang balai.Sebab saya org sastera, imaginasi saya lebih tinggi dari org Sains.Maka saya bayangkan lelaki itu memaut leher saya dgn tangan bergarinya dari belakang dan menjadikan saya tebusan utk kunci gari.Too much TV, I know.Luckily, lelaki itu sibuk menangis jadi dia pun ada isu sendiri yg menyibukkan pemikirannya.

Kemudian polis penyiasat pun sampai nak ambik gambar kereta, ambik cap jari di kereta jika ada.Then he asked me to go upstairs to another office for soaljawab.Tangga gelap, OK? No female police, ya.Nasib my nephew was with me.Imagine if I were alone.Kat atas pun senyap sunyi.He took us to his room and start menyoal.Ayah hidup lagi, he asked.How would you feel? Lepas kena samun, cermin kereta berkecai takut nak drive balik mlm2, badan penat dok nunggu semua selesai.

But I was still polite.I said ohh..dah lama meninggal.Then he got on to get me to tell the whole story.Pastu he asked among others: adakah puan terus ke hospital selepas kejadian itu? Masa ni darah I mula nak mendidih kembali.Kot iyapun soalan standard..tengok2 lah dulu..I nak pi balai pun takda tenaga (traumatised) that Principal sekolah UIA yg dtg tolong hantar..hadoi.I think berdepan dgn mangsa jenayah, some knowledge of psychology in our police personnel might help.Pastu I naik hangin.I asked wht are you trying to get frm me with this sort of question? Saya penat tau? Saya nak balik.Then he sped up work.I think I was a comic relief for him. Berapa ramai mangsa jenayah yg boleh berlakon mcm dalam Gerak Khas? :))

My veteran police friend was kind enough to call up the balai semlm to ask progress siasatan.I tak suruhpun.I saw him cos' we wanted to set up an awareness campaign for safe public environment for women.This superb policeman went out of his way to do his duty.It goes down to commitment kita memegang amanah.May Allah give him much reward.