Weekend getaway with the clan

The clan planned over a few weeks to spend a night at Felda Sungkai Hotsprings Resort.We took 4 bungalows, Adik and Ummi and their maids were busy cooking dinner for all (barbecue of all sorts plus garlic rice). The happiest would be the little ones of cos'.

There were two big pools (and each bungalow had an outdoor jacuzzi) - hot and cold.We went to both but I enjoyed the cooler one better cos' we could swim.The hot pool was more like a wading pool (air punca mmg from hotspring). We had 42 C water for soaking our feet as well.Yg tu I tak tahan.Panas gila.Takut daging empok nanti!

We had half boiled eggs at the boiling egg section.Kicap 20 sen.Mangkok polisterin 20 sen.Pls bring your own to save money and to save the environment.

Two clan members celebrated their bdays: Syam and Anam.
If my mom were alive, pasti dia gumbira anak cucu cicit berkumpul mcm ni.

The famous nasi buluh, sold by the roadside as you turn in at the junction frm Sungkai toll to Felda Sungkai hotsprings

Fishing Budget

We were all talking about the good-looking Canadian PM and how he won his elections.By fishing votes of all minorities (Muslims, Jews, migrants and the biggest pool of any population : teachers). Nmpknya budget Najib 2016 is as tactical as that (and those done by Obama). Maklum advisors org Yahudi.

Billions go to rural areas (kita mesti pantau iya developed ke tidak..budgets yg sudah-sudah pun gitu.I tengok my kampong lagu tu juga..budak-budak Felda are still jobless or jibless), Chinese new villages and petty traders pun ada habuan masing-masing...

Naik gaji tu tak berbaloi kalu dia ambik balik via tol and gst.
Let us hear from our economists.Kat radio semlm tak seorang pun critical of the stupid budget.And they are not economists.

Here's an alternative page:

http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2015/10/24/what-happened-to-high-income-agenda-economists-ask-of-budget-2016/#more-33150

Mata ketiga

Dua perkara yang membuat saya menangis minggu ini.

Menamatkan memoir Irfan Hamka mengenai ayahnya di dalam Ayah (2015).Episode yang sgt mengharukan ialah saat-saat akhir Hamka sebelum meninggal (di dalam koma).Dia meminta pasir di sisinya.Untuk tayamum ketika masuk waktu solat.Bila dia tak mampu buat sendiri, anak perempuannya akan membantu.Di saat genting, dia memanggil isterinya dan berbisik Sabar ya Bu.Serahkan segalanya kepada Allah.

Apabila keluarga bersetuju menanggalkan life support...sebentar sahaja line itu lurus.Harinya? Jumaat.Waktunya? 10.37 am.Mmg sempat utk solat jenazah sebelum jumaat.Waktu ini airmata saya bercucuran seolah2 saya di sisi Pak Hamka, merasakan kasihsayang Allah kepadanya.Menjemputnya pulang di waktu yang cukup baik.Raja segala hari.Sungguh rapi susunan Allah Taala! Inilah ulema yang menjaga agamaNya.Gosh...mmg menginsafkan.Jalan hidup yg berduri mempertahankan iman dan syahadah.

I read this after watching Tenggelamnya kapal van de Wijck di Istana Budaya with my MSL students.The portrayal of Zainuddin was fair.Terasa seperti dia Hamka yang muda.Adakah benar ada seorang Hayati wujud di dalam hidup Hamka yang muda? Every man would have a Hayati in his life.Every woman a Zainuddin in her life.While that story connects with the ethnic and maybe class discrimination in Dutch Indonesia, I find angle kisah cinta ini terlalu ditekankan.Or am I missing something having NOT read the novel sepenuhnya? I would have wanted to see more of Dutch imperialism in collision with Indonesian nationalism. Mungkin ini novel bakal saya tulis satu hari nanti.

Peristiwa kedua ialah selepas membaca buku Anwar Ibrahim: Jejak Seorang Pejuang (Tokoh 100 paling berpengaruh di dunia). Banyak tulisan teman dan sarjana luarnegara mengenai AI sejak beliau di MCKK sehingga ke UM sehingga menjadi no.2 negara. Terlalu byk sumbangan beliau terhadap org Melayu/Muslim miskin since the 1960s sehingga beliau dipenjara buat pertama kali di Sg Buloh..islah islamiah itu tetap berlaku..antaranya memulakan solat jumaat di penjara untuk banduan.
I cried bila baca pasal Mufti Wilayah Dato Hashim Yahya (aruah now) hendak sgt berjumpa AI sampai buat solat hajat.Besoknya terus dapat jawaban dari Allah di mana dia dijemput oleh khatib Jumaat akan dtg utk solat di masjid di penjara.Sempat beliau bertemu dgn AI.Mereka berpelukan.Sat tu dtg berlari2 seorg banduan dari Bangladesh.Dia hadiahkan kupiah yg beliau buat sendiri utk AI.AI terus pakai sambil ucap terima kasih.Tapi hamba Allah tu perasan kupiah tu kecik sedikit and told him nanti dia buat besar sikit.

Semasa ingin berpisah, Mufti dan AI berpelukan lagi.Airmata Mufti bergelinangan tetapi AI tetap tenang dan tersenyum.Kata Mufti kpd Khatib...kalau bkn Anwar yg diuji sebegini rupa, tiada siapa yang tahan.Begitu kekuatan dalaman seorang pejuang yang tahu ke mana ia akan berakhir akhirnya.

Spring is here!

Nothing makes me happier than waking up to these happy blossoms! Syukur alhamdulillah, even without the maid for close to 3 months, some of my orchids survived and to celebrate Maal Hijrah, I bought some cheerful ones (delicate lot but nonetheless very pretty..rasa macam kat Hengland la pulak).

Kami akan mula bercucuk tanam pokok cili dan capsicum at the backyard.And bibik managed to transfer the pokok betik from the planter box yang sering diserang serangga dan sebagai to a bigger pot. The pest control guy kata dia dah sembur apa yang patut kat luar tu (no wonder nothing I planted hidup except my pokok pisang and daun kadok and pokok daun kari and daun salam).

We'll try something new.Mudah-mudahan!

orchids yang survive (adalah dalam 4-5 pasu from close to 15 I had initially)

Happy Maal Hijrah

Maksud maal hijrah ialah bersama berhijrah atau bersama hayati hijrah.Dan doa awal dan akhir yg org dok fwd tu asalnya amalan Syiah.The thing about us is that bila sebut syiah je, kita drop semuanya.Langsung tak payah buat walhal doa is doa asal bkn meminta pada yg mensyirikkan.My imam friend (Dr Anis Rahman) baru-baru ni cakap selama orang itu percaya Allah itu satu dan Muhd itu pesuruhNya, dia tetap Islam walaupun ada penyelewengan lain (tu dia jawab bila dah mati esok).Wallahualam.Kita berkawan dgn org beragama lain kita no hal, dgn Shiah langsung no kompromi.Sat lagi org tuduh I syiah ...or sokong syiah.Oh tidak, saya layan semua hamba Allah sama kecuali jika mrk transgress.Rasulillah did that and sebaik-baik akhlaq ialah kita mencontohi akhlaq baginda.

It has been a hectic week.The workshop with Tan Sri Zul was good.His story of the future of unis tu sama dgn cerita Z from her Mega Forum stories (organised by Khazanah..she got to go via her Boss, Muhammad) in which dah ada virtual uni yg keluar degree within 3 months (dipanggil nano degree) dan grads ni dpt kerja mudah di Silicon Valley, Google etc.

On Monday, a group of working adults dari Abu Dhabi was welcomed by my Kull (enrolment mrk bawa jota-jota kpd kami, alhamdulillah).Ada chief police, adik Amir, mayor di kalangan mereka ini.My Dean's contact (depa ni will only come kalu ada personal contact..takda masuk gitu2 je).Kami mungkin uni pertama buat nano PhD. :D.Naah, it's still 3 years but much of it long distance.I'm happy that the prog is parked under CERDAS.Dr. Quddus is doing a marvellous job with his team.We did the right thing not to close it down sbb mmg kena cari duit sendiri.Money for research pun tak cukup (but alhamdulillah, we did pretty well with FRGS..looks like we are within the RU radar.Perasan is  not only free but it's easy!).I think everyone is pressured to work harder.

Which is good.

Part 2

Dah lama I nak buat kenduri doa selamat Z selamat habis ngaji and selamat pulang to serve the nation.Also to do kenduri tahlil sekali.But without a maid, pengsan if I were to handle it alone.Syukurlah we were able to do it today sempena Maal Hijrah.We invited both clans..catered for 70 people but I think about 60 came cos' nasi lebih byk sgt (lauk pauk lain habis). I had to go beli stuffs masak for jiran2 cos' they were not invited (family affair) so after Maghrib Nik and Z started distributing.Bibik hantar yg sebelah menyebelah (we don't really speak to one another sbb mrk baru pindah).Alhamdulillah puas hati cos' ustaz pun beri tazkirah and we got to meet some of Nik's cousins yg dah lama tak jumpa.Tau2 anak2 diaorg dah kat university.I dok tanya so and so form berapa sekarang? :D

Ustaz kata sambut maal hijrah mmg Nabi tak buat tapi tak salah menyambutnya dgn niat mengukuhkan silrahturrohim keluarga, baca yassin and buat tahlil.I baru nak cadang we do it every year but ustaz cakap bidaah yg baik...tak syok le pulak kan?

Lawak org Msia

That had all of us in stitches! But ada yang menambah:

1. Bila org tanya aku asal dari mana, aku ckp dari Gombak.Dia tak percaya dan beritahu aku, tak mcm org Gombak pun.Aku kata habis? Takkan aku nak letak Batu Caves atas belakang aku baru nak percaya.Ha maghoh! Maghoh!

2. Bila org tanya aku asal dari mana, aku beritaulah dari Pekan.Mrk menjawab, tak mcm org Pekan puuunnn..habis? Takkan aku nak letak 2.6 biliun atas kepala aku baru nak percaya aku orang Pekan?
Ha maghoh! maghoh! Calit muka tu dgn tempoyak! Atau bauxite!

Kwang kwang kwang.

I love Msian jokes.Tersangat banget kreatip.

Wrong logo

My family and I went to visit Dr. Anisur Rahman and his wife at their son's place in Shah Alam.We met after 32 years! Semuanya dgn izin Allah.He was our first imam when we were undergrads in Hamilton.He was also a scientist.He turned his home as the first Islamic Centre before buying a new one.Now katanya dah ada 2-3 buah masjid, the biggest could accommodate 500 people or so.Dr. Anisur still gives the khutbah from time to time.

His family made it a point we all jaga solat kita.Time raya, rumah dialah jadi serbuan.But somehow over the years, we were closer to Medihah than them.Sibuk belajar so it's no wonder he could not really remember which batch I was.Fauzi je yg dia ingat. They know Sharifah and Ibrahim well.But we had a good chat.Nik clicked on well esp with Nadeem - mrk dah janji nak lunch sekali..naik Maserati Nadeem.Mak Nadeem kata pls buy the car from him.I asked why don't you like it? (Rege 1.5 mil, OK?) She said tak suka logonya.I gelak je le. Gelak tak mampu.Mmg funny. :D

But Dr. Anisur ini amat menjaga solatnya.He tak suka keluar mlm cos' he sleeps early to wake at 4 am to do tahajud sampai ke subuh.Nak keluar, keluar lunch or tea je.We were late..ingat nak keluar tea at 3 pm...nak hantar maids..pi groceries (maid baru dah tiba so dapur berasap balik)... ding dong ding dong 4.30 juga tiba rumah Nadeem.By then, depa dah set up tea for us so tak jadi keluar.Dr. Anis put me on skype with Anjum.She's still in Hamilton..adik beradik lain kat Perth lah..Msialah.Nadeem ni very simple sgt orangnya. His parents just celebrated their 50th year anniversary.Berkatnya la hai.Wife dia muka muda.Walhal nak masuk 70 also.So inspiring kehidupan mereka suami isteri.Patutlah rezeki melimpah ke anak2.