I-Glass

The little, little things in life...

2012-02-17T15:25:00.002+08:00

You know it's been one stressful experience, kan these last few weeks?

Just when my day was ending yesterday, Mei came to pick up some stuffs from the office.With a nicely wrapped gift for me.

Waaaahhhh...ini yang dikatakan rezeki datang dari arah yang tidak disangka-sangka.
She said Tania and she picked the colour I like.What, the black and white wrapper?

No..the purple leather purse from Germany ke dik? :))
Waaahhh..thank you so much Mei!

Mei ni PR dia bagussss.She also wrote this:

Because you are so inspiring! Simply the greatest woman of the 21st century!

Haha..I thought I record this cos' it's the little, little things in life that will help cheer you up on bad days. :)

Mei, like most former students (now a colleague) has gone through ups and downs with me through the years (termasuk the recent crazy days in Perth). The purple purse is a tribute for all those years, gamaknya.

Terima kasihlah. We never expect material returns but if our students do well, kita tompang gumbira.

Dari dapor Mawar

2012-02-16T14:39:00.002+08:00

Dr Mawar, saya sudah ciplak resipi asam pedas Dr.(diambil bulat2 dari blog Dr.):

Asam pedas ikan tenggiri

1.Lumatkan cili kering+bawang putih+bawang merah+halia+kunyit+lada hitam+belacan+jintan manis

2. Tumis campur kerisik+halba

3. Tambah air asam jawa, renihkan sambil masukkan ikan.

4. Tambahan petua Chef Wan, kisar daun kesum dan bunga kantan untuk serasikan dengan tumisan

TK!

In control

2012-02-13T22:18:00.002+08:00

We learn to take charge of the chaos in the office and hey, true enough,we are now able to laugh at things.Dr Haslina had figured out how to key in the marks, I found my way to work on the matric cards and had struck a deal with the smartcard centre to have pics taken on registration day next sem. Dr. R is working on how to collect overdue fees in an effective way.

I told Hasnah, when everything is over and done with, I'm taking a week's break..no phone,no internet..jgn sapa berani kacau.Haha.Hoboy, I need this so badly! The gals and I also plan to go to a spa, mandi bunga..go away bad vibes!

I think things happen always for a good cause. Challenges are opportunities,so the cliche goes.And I think we came out stronger and more confident out of the crisis.

Well, until we hear from the auditors again of cos'.

At this point, ada aku kisah? Carpe diem.We accomplished much today.Syukurlah.

Z in Hanoi

2012-02-04T22:39:00.003+08:00

Z left for her History trip to Hanoi on Friday.We tried calling her but gamaknya ph dia not roaming.

Hari ni Sabtu jam 10 malam lebih, dia telefon menangis2.You know the first fear every mother would feel kan when anak gadisnya di perantauan begitu dan di tempat2 begitu? I tell ya..suspen habis!

Rupa2nya purse dia dicompet org..habis credit card and duit USDnya.What can I say? Nik and I dah berkali2 pesan not to bring everything bila keluar, jaga handbag tu bla bla..and bukan dia tak pernah travel overseas (sejak setahun lebih OK?) dan tak tau habit kita bwk apa yang patut je bila keluar dan selebihnya simpan dlm peti besi kat hotel...unless hotel depa ni cikai takda peti besi??

I was like cacing panas trying to locate my Hanoi contact, Chan.Minggu ni minggu conference which I was supposed to be also (tapi sebab audit ada..aku terpaksa tak pergi..grrrgh!)Finally managed to locate Chan via the net.She promises to look into the matter sebaik conference dinner habis.Jgn satu Hanoi dia bungkus utk Z sudah.I knw Chan ni pemurah tersangat.

My Arabic class is getting tougher but fun.Kita tengah buat plan nak buat rombongan Cik Kiah ke Yemen utk perkukuhkan lagi bahasa kita.Duduk dgn keluarga angkat..mudah2an diizinkan Allah.

Thank God besok cuti panjang but will have to balik Raub with my sister on Monday.To fetch my mom yang balik 'bercuti' di rumahnya sendiri. :)

In the attic

2012-02-01T21:34:00.003+08:00

The interview session was fun.Lots of laughter .There were so many talents and great personalities.If there were money, I'd employ them all.
The rest of us tried our best coping without the Manager.Someone likened the situation as a household of young kids whose maid had run away.I had to laugh at that despite the high level stress trying to locate files, visa forms, marks to be keyed in...I told my team, let's hope this time next week we'd be able to laugh at what had happened today.

We stayed back very late.I had to SOS our Spore partners.Razali was in Milan, Lake Como. Wah I envy him.Nak juga a holiday in Lake Como esp now!! Imran tak pasal2 being dragged in.Azwadi promised to drop by besok.See? There are still very nice people around.

And my colleagues were very cooperative whn asked to submit twice wht they had submitted earlier.Kalau I, I'd say go fly kites. :)

Could not have survived the day without Dr H, my PA and our part time Assistant.Besok lagi gila.

Cepatlah hari siang! Not answering calls,OK?

Sabar is when you...

2012-01-31T13:07:00.003+08:00

...try your best to cope when someone leaves you in a sinking boat.

A colleague left us in a hurry yesterday.X didn't even bother to drop by my office and say the usual stuffs.I didn't expect a thank you but at least say hola, I'm going now.

Gen Y disease...Nik said he had a staff like that too some time ago.He said these are the angry 'kids'.They blame the world for their inability to cope.And the office is in a real mess.My PA looks like she's having a nervous breakdown.I told her to sabar and hang on a wee bit more.The worst hasn't arrived (the auditors will come day after tomorrow and I'm sure there would be ugly things everywhere).

What can be worst than NOT having any support system? They can blame (me!) for everything but put anyone in our position, I doubt if it's going to be any different.

Well, another possibility arrived in the email this morning.Life goes on.I have loads to do once my term is up in May and I pray to God, no more admin work for me.I have enjoyed the beautiful stuffs while on this job(meeting wonderful people and linking with different orgs) but I don't think I'd want to be in the same sinking boat unless they give me tools to fix it. :)

Sabar is when you know it's time to move on. Haha.

Time out in Melaka

2012-01-26T14:52:00.004+08:00

We were all dying to take a break from work and studies (Z) and it was a long weekend.

Let's get out of KL, said Nik.
Let's just lepak at Putrajaya's Pullman, I said.

No, he wanted out.
And we had reasons to visit Pakcik and Makcik (Datin not well, she said on the phone).Datin is like my foster mom.Yup..foster mom.I lived with her for about 3 months during my teaching practicum at Sharifah Rodziah.She didn't have to cook meals for me and 2 friends (living in another house near hers but she did) and we became close although time and distance got between us (I went to the UK then Australia in later years)But Makcik and Pakcik (or Datin and Dato') would try and visit me either in KL or my mom's place in Raub.Such nice people.

You don't forget nice people like that esp in their old age.

Yup, not in a good shape.Had she been well, I know she'd cook us special meals.So we bought her ikan bakar instead and some cheesecake (duh!)

Melaka is so progressive now.It brings back so many fond memories (of my times during APIPF with delegates from Thailand, Cambodia, US,Costa Rica..) Naik beca kena tipu mcm biasa (RM40 from Equitorial to the Fort.Jalan kaki 10 mins je.We walked back cos' RM80 can take us to Spore.Haha)

An evening with anak and menantu makcik was nice at Serkam Ikan Bakar.Again fond memories..gosh...I love this place.

Z, Nik and I having fun at Jonkers St.Depa ni makan cendol durian selamba je.The ice so soft kata Z.

Balik time we makan ikan masak asam pedas at Kedai Haji Senin yang dikatakan begitu femes dgn org2 penting negara.Haji Senin dah lama pergi and his kids yang take over.Mmg sedap, mak oii.

Balik jam terok.We have decided not to leave town again on any long weekend unless it's flying to an island, pre booked.

But it was still a break.I didn't use my brain at all. :))

Stranger than strange

2012-01-20T12:33:00.005+08:00

As the office is busy in preparation of being audited end of the month, stranger than strange things happened.

One is related to my NZ alumni group (kita semua ber-facebook).It's a nice cosy group.Don't expect everyone having the same kepala, OK? So naturally..Msians being so politically alert, ada la mcm2 prefered politics and political parties.Some people think if we shout and scream at each other we don't love each other anymore.When you were younger ..didn't you gadoh with your tunang, bf/gf? You didn't stop loving each other, kan?

So something happened.Someone quit the group.Heboh satu kampong! People hypothesised why he left.Ada kata dia merajuk.Ada kata sebab postingnya kena censored.Maka of cos' I punya fav. topic ialah freedom of expression and internet freedom.So berlambak pulak discussions on this.Which I liked and enjoyed.It's nice to read people voicing their opinions.Bercanggah pendapat tak semestinya kita tak hormat org lain.

Two, I have to cancel my trip to Hanoi walaupun everything is set (paper's done) cos' of the auditing thingy.I need to be at the office.This is the second time I'm invited and twice I can't go in the 11th hour.Sangat sedih!

Three, uni. assembly today very da nice.My first of 3 already held.The best part I liked most was the recognition given to Dato Azmi (who's leaving to be DG of IDB's Research Division.It is said he's the first Msian to be offered the job yang gajinya sama dgn Obama.Peeweet.We are so proud of him.I hope he returns and be our next Rector.Dia ni halus budi pekertinya and very da humble.)

The other best employee of the month is our telephonist, Sabri or Sobry.Never knew matanya tak nampak.He's always prompt bila angkat telefon tak mcm org celik yang lain.Apparently he's a leader in many NGOs dan tukang baca tahlil dan lain2 kerja agama.Dia diberikan pakej umrah percuma ...waaaahhh..so touching, kan? He cried, terharu.

Kalau dia nak sambung apa2 extension, his popular phrase is" Saya cuba, InsyaAllah." The word "dengan izin Allah" is his usual kalimah.Lidahnya sentiasa basah dgn nama Allah.Takbir!

Dan hari ini, selepas 23 tahun bekerja menjawab dan menyambung panggilan2 kami, baru kami kenal siapa dia telephonist yang bersuara lembut dan very punctual ini.

Nampaknya our female Rector is doing well, yah? As long as she's surrounded and advised by good people, she should be OK.InsyaAllah.

Lunch hour at 40 something

2012-01-19T14:34:00.004+08:00

Here I am, in between marking exam scripts and filling in claim forms.

At 40 something.

35 mins past 2 pm.

I think in hours and minutes now.

Sometimes I do not know what day it is.What month (with some exaggeration here).

I talk to rabbits and quails.Bibik is my best friend.Am I getting stranger or has the world changed so much?

Stranger things have happened.Like today.The guy I rang up for is the same guy I spoke with 3 weeks ago (rang him for my mom's medicine).I lost the 1st guy's no.My sister found the 2nd guy's.I rang him up thinking he's a different person.Bila jumpa, I said haven't we met before? Dia pun nampak terkejut. :)

And Msia is buzzing with bila election? question.

At 40 something, reaching the big Five 0, I don't really care.

For now. :)

Tapis Rouge

2012-01-08T22:14:00.004+08:00

It's a French word for Red Carpet ('Tapis' is pronounced with a silent 's' ==> Taapiii Ruuj). It exists in other parts of the world (NYC) but with French cuisine.Here, Tapis Rouge at the Red Carpet, the Strand, Kota Damansara,you get fusion cuisine (the unromantic bit is this: to get there, you dressed in your best evening wear, will have to pass a kedai baiki kereta..haha..I thought it is so un-Parisian where there are glittering streetlights and lovers holding hands).

Anyway, I love the place (nice dining..small and cosy).My family (well..Nik and Z) took me out on a pre-bday dinner.Ada dinner-show.A relative who we fondly call Phua Chu Kang (satu, he's as funny as Phua Chu Kang.Two, he does look like Phua Chu Kang) did warn us..entah2 ada cabaret and tengok2 ada brothel kat belakang tu. From Zouk's wild gossip? I think the brothel bit tu a bit extremelah. :)

Memang ada cabaret-like show.Haiyooo..me tak biasa tengok Malay gals pakai so skimpy nari2 goyang2 semua. And there were only 10 of us in the audience..a talent scouting group, a group from Louisiana and us.But the singing and standup comedy by Phoon Chi Ho were good.Chi Ho's cockroach dances were funny.The 'salah parking' stint was even funnier (talking about men silap parking their dot dot and all the dance movements by Michael Jackson were to 'correct' the parking.Kelakar giler)

But food is good here and reasonably cheap.Just don't bring your mom and dad or even spouse to the cabaret show if they are the surau going type. Nanti pengsan! :)

Will working from home work in Malaysia?

2012-01-07T13:45:00.003+08:00

A few friends and I were discussing this recently.We were all a bit skeptical it would work.Prof N said it didn't go that well in the West despite the huu haas. But I'd read nice glossy reports by a couple of O&G companies that these were their strength (for female employees esp. nursing moms).

The Msian government is about to introduce this, I think.Waahhh..even ELs are abused..now working from home pulak? I tried..it didn' work (tapi this without any guideline).I was 'working' from home during breakfast time.My better half started calling from downstairs, "Yo gal, you come and breakfast with me. I said," but I'm working from home". :))

No go.

Lesson to be learnt: do not turn your bedroom or your kitchen as your home office.It would nevr work.

And here's a funny story from my Rector as the group brainstormed on IIUMy Family blueprint:

A wife retorted to a friend, "This working from home is too much."
Friend: what happened?
Wife: My husband now brings home his work.This is really too much!

Kerjanya?

Jahit mayat!

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T09:45:00.004+08:00

where I hope to indulge in my creative writing

to re-energise

to re-charge

to just laze around

to learn how to paint

It's the Gregory calendar.Happy new year anyway.Coming up will be the Chinese New Year. We had ours some while ago (Islamic New Year).

It's just another day for me (I get to sleep in and today, no need to go to pasar.Yippeee). For a country which is over-worked, we sometimes lose track of time. I haven't had a decent holiday for so long.

Let's define what holiday is. :)

At least for me.You can submit yor definition/s in the comment space.

1.a quiet time where you don't think about getting up early to be in the traffic jam to go to work.
2. you can go back to sleep after subuh prayer and can get up at any time you wish..with breakfast served at anytime you want.
3. you don't quarrel with your spouse or daughter about wanting to go here and there.Every one kinda tag along with where and what you want to go and do.Peeweet! :)
4. no phone, no ipad, no internet. Haha, dream on!
5...is where you can swim safe
6.be on a cruise and think of nothing
7.a good book to read

I'll get there, folks.When I do, I'll blog about it, OK?

Have a happy new year!

that time of the year again

2011-12-28T00:44:00.006+08:00

firefly

hi folks,

i hope you guys had a nice break over Xmas.I tried but it didn't really work out...thanks to Pasar Pasir Penampang in Kuala Selangor which sold us a fish for RM99! Some of you may ask, why so bodoh and beli when price tags were not displayed...

this is what happens to people who are too trusting...

i should be done with that kinda life, huh? (trusting people, that is)

anyway, I had lodged a complaint with pihak berwajib in Kuala Selangor and kementerian yang berkenaan (beli ikan apa sampai RM600!) Ohh..I feel so stupid now. :))

and being Malaysians, NOTHING will be done.Mark my word.If I ever hear from any of the two people I wrote to, I'd let you guys know.

the firefly cruise was excellent, though.Orgh...angin sepoi2 bahasa di malam yang berkelip2 sangat indah and soothing.Tiba2 ada suara budak next to me:

ayah ayah..sungai ni ada buaya tak?

doh!

on a more cheerful note, the half day (for me cos' I had to rush for my SBU meeting at Zahid's new Kull..wah..he took us on a tour, showing off his new place.Nice view, actually) at KDE was pretty interesting.Prof Moten was shouting at the back asking who is hosni mubarak when Dr Badri said there's a spring not too unlike the arab spring in the kull.Haha.Kopanski said I was witty when I named Prof. Moten as the new Mubarak.Wakaka.All in a good jestlah.Too bad I had to leave early.The mengaji part (tadarus) was really good altho' I was like keretapi Tanah Melayu.Dr. Azura was impressip with her speed and reading.

SMU-Krash Pad Project dalam kenangan

2011-12-19T22:21:00.002+08:00

well deserved dinner at Marche

(Joshua Nair, Kanika, Anis and fren.Z at the back)

Spore team during the early days

inspiring talk

created by Krash Pad kids

IIUM students giving a helping hand

mcm tak percaya anak2 remaja ini yang buat

(lebih baik dari melepak tak tentu hala kan?)

antara tulang belakang projek ini

Joshua, Ian dan Kanika

akhirnya after 1 year, hasil2 kerastangan

memperolehi pendapatan ekonomi....

Dear Prof. Faridah,

Very glad the fair went well last week, and that the girls at KLKP have started taking charge of the entire jewellery-making process themselves! On behalf of the whole team, we'd like to say 'Thank you' to you for supporting and guiding us since the start of this project. Our project would not have made so much progress without your support, encouragement and faith throughout.
Thank you also for helping us book the hostel (which was very comfortable), and for looping in your students to help us with the fair at IIUM. Anis took a lot of care, and really worked very hard to make this happen. We were very glad to meet the rest of the team who have been working on this initiative as well. We truly hope that the IIUM students continue Project Harapan, and take it to the next level to further develop the skills of the girls at KLKP. There are many new girls at KLKP, whom we think would also benefit from Project Harapan.
Thanks also to Zafirah, who has been kind enough to take time out for Project Harapan, we really truly appreciate it! Do let us know anytime you're in Singapore, and we'd love to catch up with you as a team.
Thank you once again, and have a good break this December! We will miss you and Project Harapan!

Best Regards,
Kanika.

PENA 50 tahun

2011-12-19T13:01:00.004+08:00

ahem...sapa tu?

Tahniah PENA on its 50th year anniversary.

Congrats also to Dato Baha Zain for being the first tokoh PENA. They should have got him some sponsors and gave him more than just RM5K lah. Dia banyak berjasa.Jgn bila dah tiada, baru nak diratapi. But being a humble man, he remains humble.Semoga Allah berkati hidup beliau.I like the poem read in honour of him (written by him).

I saw many frens ..old and new at the dinner.Our PM looked very people-friendly at the majlis and the crowd loved him (he was very supportive throwing in RM5mil to translate buku2 sastera and another 1 million for PENA to upgrade apa yang patut termasuk rumah usang itu.Syabas AJK dan Prez PENA yang baru dilantik.Berani meminta kerana tanpa penulis2 Melayu/penulis yang menulis di dalam Bahasa Melayu, bahasa itu akan mati dan tidak bermartabat.What is RM6 million kan?)

Sapa tulis speech PM? I like the term 'tamadun spiritual'.Woohoo.Bagussss.

my life on facebook

2011-12-13T22:22:00.002+08:00

i am too lazy to update my blog cos' updating news/events is easier on facebook (uploading pics especially). sorry folks but time seems an issue with me now.after perth, I don't sleep. :)

so many events and deadlines to catch up with.i'm thinking of moving closer to the uni.the distance gets into me (esp with bad jams during this rainy season).

and now a big paper for Hanoi.when people pay for you to speak, the pressure is tremendous.
maybe after the final exams, I'd be able to transfer some pics from my facebook.

and i'm starting to write a novel. :)

Greetings from Perth

2011-12-04T08:24:00.002+08:00

Perth has grown so fast and so big (with the economic boom..it has become so cosmopolitan and yet retains its friendliness)

Mei and I are staying at St Thomas More college, a nice hall near Kings Park (a huge park which overlooks the city..it's equivalent to Hyde Park/Central Park)

Kinoi took us out to dine at an Indonesian restaurant last nite (Bintang). It's like we never left home.Sini byk kedai Melayu/Indonesia yang halal.

Nanti sambung.Kinoi picking us up to go to Fremantle.

How to become a bore

2011-11-30T23:35:00.004+08:00

I'm becoming a boring person, folks. I have no new entry except to share with you how busy I am this week, this month and next few months (see? I told ya)

It was not easy to get the KL Tower Restaurant's new number.Not even our telephone operator got it right or the former owner Seri Melayu. We had to google (Z and I or rather Z did). Finally when she did, we did a last min. reservation to dine with Prof Sawai and his beautiful wife Keiko (and son, Makoto). Nik drove so he could beat whatever bad jam there was at BB.

It's been years since I was last seen at the Tower Restaurant.New management mah..nama macam it belongs to Shangri-la or Mandarin.Whatever. It's lovely up there.Sapa2 nak ber-honey moon utk sekian kalinya, bolehlah berpura2 selama 50 mins (that's how long it takes for the revolving restaurant to come full circle) And we requested that they play a jazzy Malay song to welcome our guests from Japan.Prof Sawai senyum lebar dgn isterinya.

Food nampak mcm bagus but after a while, tak sedap mana pun..not for a bill that's over RM1K!
Baru I faham arti mahal macam bedil.Hahaha.But we had fun and it was very relaxing time out for all of us.

And today I was their supir..after the talk which we all enjoyed so much.A real Harvard material Prof ni.There were so many excellent questions from the floor.Lunch was also good.Alhamdulillah.

Then Kak Mun rang to say my good friends from Sydney nak datang rumah malam ni knowing I was flying to Oz on Saturday.I had planned to work on Asiatic (Q breathing down my neck! Haha) but dgn penat dan malam ni punya session, sure tidur awal...can a little genie take me away to a nice little island where there is no pressure???

I pray to God my day will be left undisturbed and uneventful besok.

I survived..I will survive

2011-11-24T11:20:00.003+08:00

Syukur alhamdullilah, I survived my forum on human rights in Malaysia yesterday (was a panelist with Prof Aziz Bari and one of the 4 Commissioners of SUHAKAM James Nayagam)

Thanks to a friend who was kind enough to help me gather articles on the topic (I spoke on women's rights in Msia) I think I did pretty well and enjoyed the session so much. :) Sebelum tu I had so many butterflies in my tummy (maklum I'm not of legal background). A fren sms-ed me the following which was so funny and comforting:

All your pets will be behind you, hidup atau dah mati! Remember Tuah, looking from heaven! Tomorrow you will be on the metro front page, so speak up for all of us!

It was indeed a nice experience. Fun time catching up with Prof Aziz and meeting James.

I am also so proud of student organisers (Political Science Dept) for being so brave in organising this forum.Katanya ada 3 pak guards datang melihat2.My, nak tengok apa? Ini kan university? Memang kerja kita bercakap dan berfikir!

A good thing the forum was not cancelled.

Post-Tuah life

2011-11-20T19:50:00.009+08:00

Teja kembali ceria.She's the one running after Tanjung

My mak said Tanjung ni rupanya burok,tak macam Tuah

Our 4 quails (nama Fresh, Ginger, Soy and Sauce)

Angora mix yang Su says I could have one

I love Su's garden (very green.Baja taik rabbits)

Su has 8 angora newborn babes

The real angora

owwwhhh...isn't she adorable?

more newborns (angora mix)

here kitty kitty

tak suka yang ini.Serabai!

We are all worried that Teja might die out of loneliness.I agreed to look out for a new love for her.A new boyfriend or husband must be found by hook or crook.

Daud (Ruzy's son) refused to give away one of his 3 rabbits.His mom wanted to give away all 3. :) I know the feeling.You'd simply get emotionally attached to these lovely creatures.

I rang Sulazli for help.She asked if I could wait till her Angora babies are a bit grown.I said I could not wait.Teja might die.She looks real monyok already.So Su (who I had not met since we left school in 1980) kindly invited me over to her place and we'd stop somewhere to see some rabbit options.

I found Tanjung (female cos' Z said do not bring a jantan home.If we had more little rabbits, we would not be able to cope.Mcmlah dia yang jaga..haha).And Su said rabbits are by nature homsexuals and lesbians.They would still 'do' each other.And the guy who sold Tanjung to me said, bezanya mcm kita juga..ada perempuan yang mengandung, ada yang tidak. I was like, ha?

Then I saw other toys. Birds!

I bought 4 puyuh cos' they seem easy to hold and can't fly.

Aging can do a lot of funny things to your head. :)

Tuah had gone to heaven

2011-11-18T13:03:00.006+08:00

Tuah, during her prime

Tuah, one of my two rabbits died at 7.15 am today.I was there during her nazak.Bibik fed her water.Mak I entah mengapa sapu minyak cap kapak kat perut Tuah...maybe THAT sped up the process of sending her to heaven.

I never really liked Tuah.I thot she was ugly, ill-mannered and jahat sebab dia suka gigit orang and suka mengamuk (kalau lambat kasi makan) not like my beautiful Teja.Tuah would always lie on the upper deck and poor Teja tidur atas hay yang kadang-kadang penuh dgn taik.

The last few weeks and it got intensified the last 2 days, I was seriously thinking of giving away the two to my friends.Arrangement was made: the rabbits would be handed over to Sulazli after the sch holiday for therapy for her special school kids.
But last nite I changed my mind..sebab terasa sayang.I mean every morning and balik kerja, the first two we'd see would be Tuah and Teja in our porch and kita akan kata hi rabbits or hi Tuah hi Teja...Nik would marah the two kalau dia bising on his way to work (selepas pakai kasut kerja).

They have become part of our life.

So belum sempat I nak hantar Tuah ke the vet, dia dah mati.I thot letak je dlm rubbish bag and buang but my mom (and a close fren) said give it a decent burial.So I rang Man, my gardener friend at IIUM.Here's our ph conversation:

"Man, arnab saya mati.Boleh tak awak tolong tanam?

"Hubungi masjid.Biar masjid uruskan" (dead serious tone)

I was like ha? biar betul..then in my tears I could not stop laughing (sampai berguling2 dan bergelinangan airmata.A real hysteria)

"Man, ARNAB bukan orang" (he must have heard anak..na'uzubillah!)

"Ooooohhh..terkejut saya..saya ingat orang tadi.Boleh boleh..nanti sampai ofis, kol saya."

So Tuah was buried somewhere at IIUM Gombak.Nanti I will go and see where.

Plan for Teja: either I give her to someone or I get her a new friend.Kalau tak dia akan mati lonely.

Sultan Kelantan's bday

2011-11-13T07:56:00.009+08:00

Of cos' dalam apa2 hal, yang 'over' biasanya girlfren atau isteri...me with Sharifah, Pak Lah and Sharifah's bro in law (who also got the bintang like his bro, Azmi)

Nik with Pak Lah

Darjah Kebesaran Kelantan Ahli Setia Mahkota Kelantan Yang Amat Terbilang (Al-Ibrahim V, 1967) or A.S.K. was bestowed upon Nik Affendi Jaafar, my boiferen.

mengadap Sultan

rear view.Nik's 3rd from right. :)

Kelantan King entering the hall

the Balai where official functions take place
(very da cold)

At Istana Balai Besar (this palace gave Kota Bharu its name cos' when the old istana at an island was damaged by flood, the King moved to Istana Balai Besar in 1844.People then referred to it as Kota Baru/new city/new fort.It later became Newcastle or Kota Bharu)

KB trip

2011-11-12T05:22:00.011+08:00

kita suka bergambar. :)

we had coconut drinks here

i love the colours

Pantai Cahaya Bulan, KB is a beauty

cincau jagung (that yellow drink Nik is having) is very famous in KB

From left: Azam, Nik, me and Ilani
at 'wau' restaurant

Ilani's family

us at a kb small reunion of old frens

Greetings from Kota Bharu

2011-11-11T08:49:00.002+08:00

We flew in yesterday.Nik has a function at the Istana Kelantan. Cuaca is good.KB looks good from the air.

I like the cuisine here.Lunch nasi berlauk on daun pisang..kari (or was it kuzi?) ayam kampong.Wough...panjat ceiling!
Malam makan satay itik serati (OMG!) and we had like 3 glasses of fruit juice..you know how much semuanya? RM20 (2 orang makan). In KL easily close to RM40.

But I find the textile mahal here (tudung). Mcm harga KL.In fact may be cheaper in KL. Harga rumah pun I hear mahal (sewa pun mahal.Rumah terrace setingkat sewanya RM1000). Haiyo..

Prog hari ini: Pasar Khatijah and will try to persuade Nik to go to Pulau Besar but today Friday.Mungkin tough sikit and we have a small reunion with NZ alums at 9 pm tonite.

Of Rasa Sayang Eh, Negara Ku and Other Blues (Helmy's fb notes)

2011-11-08T07:55:00.001+08:00

On Rasa Sayang Eh - to my ears, it's obviously Portuguese in rhythm and structure in spite of the claim by some Indonesians. On Negaraku, the popular story is that the Perak State Anthem (which Negara ku is based on) was based on the Indonesian song Terang Bulan (circa 1920s) which was originally based on a "Hawaiian" song entitled Mamula Moon by Felix Mandehlson ... Well, this is nothing but a myth as first, Indonesia did not exist in the 1920s as its official independence date is 17th August 1945. Second, Mamula Moon as recorded by Mendehlson was officially composed in 1947 which is more than 20 years after Terang Bulan became popular in the Nusantara. Third, the first official rendition / performance of the Perak State Anthem was in 1901 during the installation of King Edward VII and this clearly was before Terang Bulan became popular. Fourth, the Perak State Anthem traced its roots to the French song La Rosalie which was composed by Pierre-John de Beranger (1780 - 1857) that was popular in the Seychelles Islands as Ma Fiancee Soyez Toujours Constante (MFSTC) during the period when Sultan Abdullah Muhammad Shah II, the 26th Sultan of Perak (1874 -1876), was exiled to the Seychelles circa 1877 - 1895. Based on the accepted "official" dates as per above, the following can be deduced : La Rosalie was composed in the 19th Century and became popular in the Seychelles where it was "heard" by Raja Mansor ibni Sultan Abdullah who later in 1901, recommended to Sultan Idris I of Perak for the music of the Perak State Anthem to be based on MFSTC and later, once the lyrics was composed, the State Anthem was officially known as Allah Lajutkan Usia Sultan (ALUS). In the 1920s, the Malay song Terang Bulan was reportedly composed as a Bangsawan song and initially became popular in Singapore and later to the whole of Nusantara especially in what is now Indonesia. Only in the 1940s was Mamula Moon composed in the US as a Hawaiian song which then became popular globally. For the record, it was decided during Merdeka that the Federation of Malaya's National Anthem be based on the Perak Anthem ALUS with the appropriate change in lyrics as well as having the chorus repeated twice.

Ibadah korban

2011-11-07T09:26:00.006+08:00

the special one

Ibadah korban is often taken lightly cos' in this part of world (except maybe Kelantan and Kedah?), everyone thinks Raya Eidul Fitri lagi besar maknanya.Sambut lebih dari sebulan now.

We try to do korban every year.The fun of it selain it as an ibadah is the community work in distributing the meat for the needy. The surau we usually go to during this time of the year is so sophisticated (they grew over the years): alat2 machine nak potong tulang, penimbang daging yang canggih dan tiang besi nak gantung daging2 yang besar2 itu semua sudah ada) :last year they did 7 ekor lembu.This year meningkat 9 (it would have been 10 had not my nephew screwed up the plan nak buat our korban there...lembu tak cukup quorum org-lah, lembu hilanglah, tuan punya lembu hilang-lah..ah geram...)

When finally quorum dah cukup, tuan punya lembu pulak beyond reach utk berakad jual-beli (lembu dah ada!) Akhirnya my nephew jumpa lembu baru and by 3 pm lembu itu dibawa ke sebatang anak sungai (so pretty! tak tau pulak ada stream ni so close to my house..about 3 km away) So lembu ini yang sebelum ini juga telah buat high drama (dia lari masuk hutan tetapi dapat dikejar oleh squad korban lembu) pun dibaringkan di tepi kali.Lembu ini cukup sifatnya.My bro in law (ustaz) kata haram mengorbankan lembu yang cacat sama ada cacat matanya walaupun sebelah aja atau tercarit telinganya, dll and he said he had seen korban went on despite the lembu being not perfect.Pahala korban tidak dapat, hanya ia menjadi sembelihan biasa so please folks, check your lembu sebelum dikorbankan.It must be perfect.

I have been cooking Raya eve and on Raya (lunch).Fresh meat bagus utk masak apa2.I marinated them with barbecue sauce and goreng.Nice.I did sweet sour fish also.Hey, I still have it OK? (memasak skill nih). Tapi tak boleh lawan Lady of Leisure (bila nak keluar buku masak ni?)

Selamat Hari Raya Eidul Adha.I'm still down with flu (and now batuk)

Gambar2 sekitar lawatan ke Singapura

2011-11-04T20:07:00.005+08:00

You see that black thing keliling kubah tu? They are botol kicap given by community members as part of ownership in the mosque building (Masjid Sultan, Spore)

Jason @ Ibrahim, the mosque guide with new recruits

Prof. Kirpal Singh and his guest writers

with Filipino poet, Krip Yuson
at a session of the Spore Writers' Festival at SMU

kat art gallery masjid

also at the art gallery staircase

with the chairman of mosque

kita suka bergambar

Almost the end of the year!

2011-11-02T21:51:00.004+08:00

playing kites at Marina Barrage

rooftop playing ground

with a pet

Hi folks, it's hard to believe that the year is coming to an end already.November! December and 2012 is here!

I was in Singapore last Friday. Mcm2 kita tengok (Spore ni mcm magic..kejap je berubah2). Dr Haslina and I managed to catch a session of the Spore Writers' Festival at Singapore Management Uni. (on American writers). Nanti gambarnya kemudian.

Then we had a series of meetings for CERDAS.Insyaallah some good networking done with a couple of orgs.Kita juga jadi saksi kpd a lady converting to Islam at the Galaxy building (they are also very2 organisedlah the Muslim orgs in Spore).Razali took us around in his sportive car.Haha.

In between mestilah menyopping kan? Arab St dan segala new malls yang sempat kita ukur, kita ukur.Kita juga pi Marina Barrage where we saw Sporeans pi berpicnic (dalam bangunan..on the roof top where ada padang rumput utk org main layang2) Dr H looked at me and said "kesiannya..." (but hey, you'd get a nice oceanic view from the top of the building ok?)
Tapi tak leh la lawan kita berpicnic dalam hutan kat Msia..running streams..akar2 kayu yang boleh kita buat mcm tali tarzan crossing the river bank to the other...berkelah dalam bangunan/atas bumbung bangunan! Only in Spore! walhal kat Bukit Timah tu byk lagi hutannya...dan empangannya...

Anyway, kita suka org2 Spore.Baik2lah! And we learnt a lot from their excellent ways of organising themselves esp in mosque management and all.Kalau org nak masuk Islam, dia tapis dulu: ada paksaan ke tidak.Then dia suruh buat 2 courses: course fardu ain and course solat.Dah pass ni baru boleh ucap shahadah secara rasmi (dapat kad khas bukti dia Islam).At the ceremony pun ustaz bagi a short tazkirah on the rights of a Muslim.PERKIM kita tak tau la caranya mcmana.I have yet to visit and compare.

GERAK Press Statement in support of academic freedom

2011-10-19T21:18:00.000+08:00

PERGERAKAN TENAGA AKADEMIK MALAYSIA (GERAK)
MALAYSIAN ACADEMIC MOVEMENT (MOVE)
http://blogakademikmalaysia.blogspot.com/
email: akademikmalaysia@gmail.com
Member of Education International since 2009

Chairperson: Prof. Wan A. Manan , School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 15990 Kota Bharu, Kelantan, MALAYSIA
Tel: +60-12-9543059 Fax: +60-9-764-7884, +60-9-764-6641 E-mail: wanmanan@kb.usm.my
Secretary-General: Assoc. Prof. Rosli H. Mahat, Physics Department, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA
Tel: +60-16-6205242, Fax: +60-3-7967-4146 E-mail: rhmahat@um.edu.my

KENYATAAN MEDIA
19 October 2011

GERAK ingin menarik perhatian terhadap tohmahan dan tekanan didalam media terhadap tokoh akademik Profesor Abdul Aziz Bari.

GERAK merasa terkilan atas celaan berbentuk peribadi yang telah dikenakan terhadap beliau. Prof Abdul Aziz adalah seorang yang berwibawa dan berkelayakan untuk membuat kenyataan ilmiah dan rasional dalam bidang kepakaran beliau. Mana-mana pihak yang tidak bersetuju dengan pandangan beliau sepatutnya menghujah balas secara rasional dan profesional tanpa sebarang ugutan atau celaan pribadi.

Sebagai seorang ahli akademik, Prof Abdul Aziz berhak menyatakan pendapat seperti yang telah dilakukannya. Ini adalah sebahagian dari kebebasan akademik yang dipunyai oleh setiap ahli akademik. Mana-mana negara yang mahukan universiti mereka disanjungi dan dihormati sebagai universiti bertaraf dunia pasti menyokong, menghormati dan melindungi kebebasan akademik ini.

Kebebasan akademik ini telah disaran oleh UNESCO melalui satu dokumen bertajuk Recommedation Concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel. Dokumen ini telah diluluskan oleh perhimpunan agung UNESCO pada 11 November 1997. Kebebasan akademik ada termaktub dalam artikel 26 dan 27 Recommendation tersebut. Antara hak yang dinyatakan dalam Recommendation tersebut ialah:

“hak untuk menyumbang kepada perubahan sosial melalui kebebasan menyatakan pendapat mereka terhadap dasar-dasar negara dan dasar-dasar yang memberi kesan kepada pendidikan tinggi. Mereka tidak seharusnya dikenakan apa-apa penalti semata-mata kerana mengguna hak tersebut”

GERAK menyeru semua pihak supaya menghayati dan menghormati kebebasan akademik. Semua pihak hendaklah akur terhadap Recommendation tersebut pada bila-bila masa. Keperihatinan pihak-pihak yang berkepentingan (stakeholders) dalam perkara ini amat perlu untuk memertabatkan Malaysia sebagai hub pendidikan tinggi antarabangsa dengan universiti-universitinya bertaraf dunia.

Diedarkan bagi pihak GERAK oleh

Rosli H Mahat
Setiausaha Agung
Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia (GERAK)
TRANSLATION
The Malaysian Academic Movement (MOVE) would like to draw attention to the recent allegations and undue pressures impressed upon our fellow academic Professor Abdul Aziz Bari.
We are concerned and troubled by the negative remarks and personal attacks towards Prof Abdul Aziz. He is well qualified to make his stand clear over matters within his field of expertise. Threats and personal attacks are inappropriate and unprofessional when anyone who disagrees should be engaging him in a rational and professional discourse.
As an academic renowned for his contribution to the academia, Prof Aziz has the right to express his professional views freely and without prejudice as upheld by the notion of academic freedom. The academic freedom is a foundational right of every academic, and must be respected and preserved.
The various principles of academic rights and academic freedom can be found in a UNESCO document, “Recommendations Concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel”, which was conceded by the UNESCO General Assembly on the 11th of November 1997; among others, Article 26 and 27 has penned clearly that academics’ freedom involves “the right to contribute to social change through freely expressing their opinion of state policies and of policies affecting higher education”. It further emphasizes that “they should not suffer any penalties simply because of the exercise of such rights”. The recent provocative actions directed towards Prof Aziz shows a clear violation of the said articles.
MOVE/GERAK once again invites all concerned to reflect the basics of academic rights and freedom. As we envision a developed nation, may this nation be not left behind in its fundamentals of upholding the sovereignty of academic institutions and that of academic freedom. Let us be hopeful to shape a country that provides world class education; excellent in all its ways, yet has not sacrificed its soul to get there. All stakeholders must be in compliance with the Recommendation for Malaysia to be a hub for higher education with world class universities.
Circulated on behalf of MOVE by
Rosli H Mahat
Secretary-General
Malaysian Academic Movement (MOVE)

I yang tak penakut...

2011-10-18T21:27:00.002+08:00

Hari ni rasa mcm hero.

Cos' I helped my book designer designed the book cover! Haha.But Shafiq pun pretty cool.Dia tidak mengikut melulu.

Maybe I should be in the publishing industry.All I have to do now is learn how to do typesetting.Design2 ni dah pakar...

The GERAK gang are cooking something in support of Prof Aziz Bari although I'm sure he's capable of taking care of himself.Still.. we are thinking of safeguarding our own professionalism/integrity as academics (this vs cheap politicians yang takda kerja, ditolak parti).

On a different note: I have to record my amazement of progress made by my postgrads (both Master's and PhD's ). Transformation came early with these batches.Something I said? Or are we getting better students now??

I yang penakut...

2011-10-12T18:54:00.004+08:00

am still in my office, di waktu senja.Quite spooky. :)

Malas nak balik cos' I have a talk to give at Mahallah Sumayyah (can someone tell me where it is?) But it's been a while since I gave motivational talks to students.In my younger days, I was invited everywhere by former students (some school teachers, some lecturers) to talk to their sch kids.Melaka, Kuala Selangor, Temerloh..wough..where did I find the time and energy then? But I know every time it's always a feel- good feeling.Let's do it again, babe!

Gonna touch a bit on the power of one and the butterfly effect thingy tonight.Let the kids garu kepala a bit.

Nos Sles and friends came today.Sam pun dtg.Hopefully there'd be some 'butterfly effect' taking place and that we didn't waste any time trying to make something outa nothing today.

Nik's 50th year

2011-10-10T11:12:00.002+08:00

We threw Nik a party yesterday.He's 50.Wough.Hard to believe we are all moving that way.

But it was a nice family get-together.Many were out of town but those who came had a real treat of laksam kelantan and Kak Zu's wonderful carrot cake (moist with lotsa walnuts, etc). Maher came and we all sang happy bday in arabic.Haha.That after reciting yassin and a long doa by Maher.

Lepas tu Aiman's masterpiece (video production) was shown to everyone.A wonderful documented piece of Nik's best moments with the family.

Well Papa, happy 50th year! Semoga panjang umur, murah rezeki, bertambah imannya.Amin.

Teh tarik with Shin

2011-10-06T00:06:00.004+08:00

old friends

Nik and Shin

Baju batik which we gave Shin years ago

Guess who is in town this week? A friend I have not seen for the last 6 years.

Shin from Yokkaichi, Japan. He has become a family friend and every time he travels to KL as a caretaker of Japan-Msia students' exchange prog, we'd go for teh tarik.Enclosed are some pics of today's teh tarik at a mamak stall behind Pearl International.The roti canai and teh tark were soooooooo good.

Sepetang bersama The Secret Life of Nora

2011-10-02T21:36:00.009+08:00

another Bond gal in the middle (haha)

Msia's Bond Gal

closeup with some of the main cast

super closeup (Tiara and Ryan)

queuing for autographs

bersama Aznil yang kelakar

Z was the lucky one...

Tiara's

Ryan's

Raub Pahang the best!!

I knew that Tiara would not disappoint her fans! Her latest production is another sterling performance. This time it's so hilarious that I was still laughing as I came out of Istana Budaya! Characters who had stolen our attention (selain Tiara and her leading man Ryan Silverman of Broadway) were Aznil Nawawi, Adibah Noor and Mamat Khalid (Lat's brother).Ahh.. they were all so naturally funny!

Part of my conversations with Tiara and Aznil during the autograph session:

Tiara: Where were you seated?

Me: Up there, inner circle

Tiara: Ahhh...I heard you guys screaming..that was so fantastic!

Me: Yeah..it was a fantastic performance.I'd come again.
Tiara: great!!

(Tiara ni mcm biasalah...PR dia sgt bagus..dulu masa Puteri Gunung Ledang pun dia mcm humble je when I told her she brought the Msians together..Her hubby pun very da humble..offered to take my pic with Aznil)

With Aznil

Me: Aznil, we want you! (masa tu dia dah nak beredar)

Tolong sign.You were so funny! I'm from Waub, by the way.

Aznil: Oh are you?? (terus signed Waub Pahang the best!!!)
Put this on the facebook ,OK?

Haha.Z, Nik (who snored the first half of the show despite pretty leggy showgals..haha) and I enjoyed the show.You guys must not miss.It's on till Oct 16.Props and setting pun not of your usual theatre Melayu type.Tiara will be remembered for her reform of Malay theatre (the tech, the cast, the substance and her work often manages to bring all races together) and penggunaan bahasa melayu yang membanggakan.

Syukur

2011-10-01T22:46:00.003+08:00

The weekend is finally here, folks.

I had an early start ~ had to send my mom and nephew to catch their flight to Kuantan.Woke up late so no KL Sentral check-in for them.The airport seemed so far away at 7.30 am.

Anyway, Z and I went for our Japanese spa after Zohr (fresh! revitalised! energised!) and in the evening, we checked out a new restaurant which I had not gone to (her dad and her had been dining there whenever I was outa town, it seems).

I didn't miss much. The tempura looked like cempedak goreng! (salutnya tebal 2 inci! even for the bawang!) But I remember someone once advised not to kutuk our rezeki for the day cos' that is simply our rezeki for the day.Just say syukur, alhamdulillah.There are people who are dying of hunger.

That's all I have to say.Say syukur. :)

cross-cultural evening with ramli

2011-09-25T18:26:00.004+08:00

Chandran's and Salikin's signatures? (me and Ramli)

Kalis' s fren's mom

Zubaidah and Norihas (fulbrighters)

old frens (Gayah and me)

just outside the dbkl audi

world class paintings by local artists

Our Fulbright group sponsored the 2nd evening of Ramli Ibrahim's Into the Centre dance performance with the troupe from NYC.Interesting juga, I loved the costume by Dato' Bernard Chandran.Simple but elegant and feminine.Yang guys punya pun stylo.The african american male dancers punya body mcm tak percaya.A perfect 10.Haha.They moved like the wind...fast and easy.

Some pics (body pics not allowed, sorry)

Gimme more Cambodia

2011-09-25T09:20:00.009+08:00

Phnom Penh closes at 5 pm.Not much to do except to

go for a stroll along the river.Here, with friends.

The famous Yellow Market or New Market

(this is the place to shop cheap.Mcm Rantau Panjang but

bigger.Cambodians trade in US currency.The market is open 6 am to 5 pm)

part of the Malaysian team

the ASEAN participants

Dominique (Brussels), Andre (Germany)
and Rei (Philippines)

naik toot-toot

with Cambodian friends

Our hotel in Phnom Penh (loved it!)

With Sheena from Bangkok

Sunrise from my hotel window

honest living

The killing tree where babies' heads were smashed against it

bones, bones and more bones

at the killing field just outside Phnom Penh

justice came late and not real justice?

Cambodian pics

2011-09-24T22:44:00.007+08:00

Am too lazy to upload more pics (will try again tmrw, OK?)

one of the many mosques in Phnom Penh

another halal restaurant (Cafe Malaya)

nite life

flowers for some festival

young muslim cambodian

nice toy (I wanted to buy it from this boy.Dia tak kasi)

with a cambodian friend

from my hotel window (mekong and 3 other rivers merge)

cambodian top with kain baju kurung

at city cats (halal Cambodian restaurant)

city cats again, on our final nite

Home is not so sweet

2011-09-16T07:05:00.007+08:00

Touched down at KLIA around 2 pm yesterday. Found out that one of my bags was wide open although the zip ain't faulty and the lock was intact.

So I reported this bad handling of my luggage to the airline rep. but was too tired to check if anything went missing. At Phnom Penh I was afraid of having excess luggage so I took note of the weight on the scale and it was 19.7. Didn't realise the Cambodian worker put 20kg on my ticket.So when their counterpart in KL re-weighed my luggage to find if anything's missing, the scale read 19.75 and the MAS rep said yup, something's missing cos' on the ticket the weight was supposed to be 20kg.I told them what I saw on the scale in Phnom Penh.My! So how do I know if things really went missing like this?!(maybe I tersilap tengok scale in Phnom Penh?Maybe it was really 20kg?) The only way is to write a complaint to the CEO to get him to observe standard weighing in all MAS outlets. Kalau tak, menyusahkan clients!

But I also suspected it's not MAS but airport handling cos' yang mengangkut bag from the plane to the conveyor adalah pekerja airport so you must know that when things like this happens, you'll need to lodge 2 reports: one to the airliner you flew with and the other with the airport handling your luggage transfer.I did both (in writing) and also spoke personally to their people.Will also email their CEOs.The top must know their staff's inefficiency.How else do they improve their service.I should be paid for doing this job for them!

The taxi driver was also telling me this is not something new..every year there would be someone terminated for membuka2 bags mcm ni, kata dia.Haha...the kinda info I'd raise with the CEOs..betul ke tidak?

Z is back this week so we caught up with her college stories for a bit.And the rabbits are doing fine.

Phnom Penh is not KL

2011-09-11T19:43:00.002+08:00

Greetings from Phnom Penh folks.The flight was a wee bit bumpy an hour into Phnom Penh.Takut woh!

The city looked beautiful in floods from the air.The outskirts seemed to be flooded.The city drizzled a bit but the airport very da canggih..they checked all 4 fingers (both sides) and a thumb (both hands).Tak cukup tu..kena nengok camera dia mau ambik gambar.Kat KL kita checked thumbs je. Itu pun ramai pendatang haram keluar masuk.

Ustaz Ismail and Olvy (it sounded like that) took us around..first to a killing field (fields actually).I nak termuntah menonton video dan all those historical write-ups. Pol Pot ni sah gila.My Freudian teori is this: dia dengki kat bijak pandai sebab he failed his Parisian degree. Back in Cambodia, bila dia berkuasa, dia nak hapuskan all bijak pandai cos' senang dia nak memerintah..org pakai cermin mata pun habis kena bunuh (lucky I didn't live there then).Cara dia suruh dogs dia bunuh sgt kejam. And the bloody General yang in charge of the killings baru dijatuhkan hukuman penjara 35 years just last year (sebelum ni dia bersenang lenang kerja as a teacher before he was sighted by a journalist who pressured that he'd be brought to justice as a war criminal). Yang lain2 masih bebas/tunggu pembicaraan.Sicko! sicko! Kalau Saddam/Osama depa cari sampai ke lobang cacing...

Pics later cos' internet is very da slow here.

Raya pics

2011-09-03T23:14:00.006+08:00

with cucu saudara, Umaira

with Wati, childhood friend
(tak jumpa puluhan tahun!)

teka siapa Chinese Emperor-nya?

semua perasan cantik dan hensem!

angsa emas!

comel?

Bibik insisted on a studio pic for kenangan

Raya stories

2011-09-02T15:21:00.005+08:00

How did yours go?

Mine went OK except on 2nd raya around 3 am, I woke up thinking it was Subuh already.Found out later, one of my nephews kena his funny 'attack' again (mcm dia berlawan dgn sesuatu).

The following day he was so weak, tak leh bangun etc.What's so beautiful was the support system the family members gave (his cousins).Ada yang tolong bacakan air yassin and bathe him with it.Ada yang tolong drove him back to KL for his medical treatment, etc.

By evening, he was OK again (kita bawak dia jumpa one ustaz also).Apparently belajar silat yang songsang and he had stopped midway.Guru silat dia sudah marah but he had recently passed away.Amaran utk anak2 remaja: hati2 with silat..if silat tu pelik, don't bother.

Raya 4: Z's second cousin Amirul sleptover last nite.Some charm this 5- year old has but we have to be careful with him.Dia suka meraba! Haha.The younger kids in the family selalu mcm ni.They like older women.Once yg sorang tu saw Mek in her nightwear and told her this: you look sexy in that.Haha.Umur baru 4 tahun! Mek kata I think he is an old man trapped in a boy's body, I'm afraid of him! And this 4-year old would buy Mek brooches and all.Org lain dia tak kasi.Haha.

This raya, another cucu sedara pulak.Dia dah suka kat Kak Zaf.I asked why? Cos' she's pretty and she has baju apa2 je.Mek asked Zaf, did he see you in your nightwear? Zaf said yes, semalam.We all burst laughing!

Moral of the story: be very2 afraid of small boys. :)

Tuah and Teja

2011-08-29T09:29:00.007+08:00

see how bulat Teja is

Tuah is curious of the outside world

their fav. spot

I'm beginning to feel like I have a sad life...it is all about rabbits now that even when I solat teraweh last nite and my toes terkeluar sikit, I saw that they have become rabbity.Kaki rabbit! Haha.And when I went to have cold drinks after teraweh with Z and Nik, I ordered carrot juice...this is so unbecoming...my dreams are full of bunnies too...the last time I was like this, it was when I worked at a hat making factory in New Zealand (part time in summer).My job was to tie ribbons round the hats.My Boss told me on my first day, you'd be dreaming of hats, gal.I did.For a week! (my working hours was 8 hours a day for 5 days a week).

I think I'm spending too much time with Tuah and Teja.Yesterday I put up a small fence for them so that they could run around freely.Ooohhh..you should have seen the acrobatic movements they made.Teja is so quick with her movements, very clever.I'm afraid Tuah is not so intelligent..he's curious of the life outside the fence but it was Teja who managed to escape.Haha.Teja perut gendut.Too much eating.I think she's the fav. in the family.Si Tuah tu...entahlah..dia suka meronta2 bila dipegang.Like a wild rabbit.I don't like.

Maybe I'll keep them a while longer but I am also thinking of places where to put them (e.g Dr Bubbles' orphanage, the kindy near my place, or just release them at IIUM campus' wilderness!).We'll see.I cannot be seeing rabbity feet all the time.I need to have a life. :))

adegan2 lucu menjelang raya

2011-08-26T19:46:00.006+08:00

Here we are folks...di hari2 terakhir Ramadan yang penuh baraqah.Orang dah ramai cuti.The campus so lenggang but I was working late.Sempat pi Forum on Palestine.Nak tertidur2 mendengar cerita sama.I wanted to say encourage inter-state (Israel-Palestine) marriage.Nanti tamat le perangnya.Nak pikir apa lagi NATO sana, treaties sini.

So I cabut during Q&A to shop lampu raya at Giant.2 sets lap lip for the ofis.Hasnah belum cuti so kita berdua pun sibuk menukul dan memplaster dinding.By the time Dr. Haslina came to give us our raya gifts, she was (as expected) screamy, "Ehhhh..office sapa ni cantik sgt ni..sapa buat ni...?"

Me and Hasnah went, "Us" ~ yang tak balik bercuti lagi nih.
Pagi tadi bibik2 tu semua tak kejutkan Nik and I sahur (I tidur mati cos' penat dok edit buku tu sampai ke malam dari pagi ~Prof Q dah tinggalkan I kering sebab dia dah join family dia kat Adelaide so I kena cari typesetter, book cover designer, etc).Pagi ni pulak masa I nak belikan otak lembu for my mom (she's been asking for it) kat butcher tepi jalan tu, depa letak harga gila kat I (I almost bought cos' I didn't know market price otak lembu ni.Tak pernah beli).The boys kata RM50.I asked iya ke? Tak mahal sgt ke tu, dik? Budak2 tu berpandang2an and said memang nilah harga dia kak (kak! haha).I said let me make a few phone calls.So I rang my eldest sister.Tak berangkat pulak.Tried my 2nd.She said around RM13. I told her they cited me RM50.She said,"You ask them this: awak jual otak lembu ke otak awak?" Haha.She's the one who works at Suhakam.Will not tolerate oppressions and lies.

I just laughed and walked away.

Then berita I nak beli otak lembu for RM50 ni got circulated ..I got ph calls and sms-es from my other siblings.Ada yang ckp market price RM8.Ada yang ckp RM10.I have that rich lady look, is it? Selalu sgt nak kena tipu nih! Either that or a stupid look.Haha.

Rabbit news: I think not only I have two rabbits yang gatal (usia 2 bulan dah mula mengawan!) but today, the maids kata mereka main laga kepala pulak.Jangan2...?? Domestic violence?

Definitely going to the vet besok.Nak tengok apa sebab mereka ni liar sgt.Nak di'kasi' hukumnya berdosa, kan? But I read s/where that that would solve a lot of rabbit probs.

My iftar with Rahoma Orphanage

2011-08-21T17:17:00.011+08:00

IIUM facilitators

Shamsi on solat (Ali is at the far end)
Jabber, braving his dakwah work

the little ones loved Kak Farah

Cherno survived his non-English

speaking audience

The boys from the Dakwah Workshop and I set up a mailinglist and a group to put skills to practice.We found an orphanage near IIUM to work with so yesterday all 8 of us (with Dr S as a volunteer counselor) started 'work' at the orphanage at 11 am.It's run by a Dato' who shares the same name as me (tapi dia keturunan Pakistan and hence, iftar was her nice Pakistani bryani gam from her famous restaurant in Taipan.Wough, nak lagi!)

Budak2 ni (mostly gals cos' the boys didn't turn up except for 6 org) mula2 like blur but my students pandai warmed them up.By end of day, semua were clingy to their abang2 and kakak (Farah my RA was the only female facilitator) and makcik Saodah and me (Dr S handled the single moms' group.I nampak dari jauh agak traumatic..a couple broke down ...Dr S is trained so dia nampak cool je.Dr S pun single mom so I didn't want to interfere their session so that semua org could express and share their probs).Yang agak mencabar, the male facilitators (my students) semua foreigners and spoke no Malay.But Farah did a good job translating.Occasionally I jumped in as well.We really had fun.I tak larat and balik rumah kejap by 5 pm but my students (esp. Ali yang kasi talk on iman and why we must bersyukur jadi Muslims and he was also the imam for jumaah prayer) tak tau penat.I nak bayar upah pun depa tolak.I am so proud of them! (postgrads except for Farah who is only in her year 3 and Shamsi who just graduated.Cerah masa depan budak2 ni).

Sesi belah petang was on solat: their bacaan and other rituals related to wudhu' and solat were observed (practical).I learnt new things too!

Ali's so sweet, read a long doa for me..twice..sekali masa hujan turun..he said most mustajab kalau doa masa ni and sekali lepas Maghrib (I tak minta pun) but Ali memang mcm tu.Dia mcm looks up to me.Haha.May Allah bless him too.Dia la yang I bawak balik beraya ke kampong I with 3 other foreign students dulu (and did a nice African dance at the family bar- b - q).

Back at home, my sis in law buat kenduri aqiqah.I arrived late with Makoto, who wanted to follow me home for the weekend (makan susah kat campus di bulan ramadan.Dia dah missed byk lunch and looks cengkung).

Nasib mak mentua sporting.Wough, the kurmak and kari lamb sedap giler! (la ni kalau buat aqiqah, tukang sembelih masak siap2.You just order on ph ckp saya nak aqiqah anak.Pay up melalui bank ke hapa ke, then they will deliver lauk dah masak to your house.Phyuiyooo..so easy beranak these days)

New webbits

2011-08-16T13:25:00.005+08:00

Sorry..tak sengaja terkangkang
Ni baju raya saya

Baju raya beli kat Curve

the nameless beauties

On Sunday I went shopping with Bibik. We had to drop by the Pet shop to buy some fish food for my fish.Then I saw two lovely webbits (babies) and just bought them despite knowing Nik and Zafirah would not be happy about having additional family members (I had wanted to purchase one for over a year).

True enough.When they saw, they asked, "Who's going to look after them?" bla bla bla.
But by the next day, both fell in love with the creatures.

I ran a naming contest on my NZ alumni facebook.It's a crazy thing to do cos' the contestants got outa control!! (they set their own rules, demanded more prizes, hahaha).The closing date is today (6 pm) and I will announce the winner by 21/8.I can't say there are creative entries so far although I do like one or two names suggested.I takut rabbits tu mati sebab nama tak rasi je. :)

Will have to see the vet this Sunday to ensure my new toys are OK.

My iftar with the homeless, orphans, new Muslims (sponsored by Bank Muamalat)

2011-08-12T19:08:00.006+08:00

Yesterday was a meaningful iftar for me.Our students from our Islamic Fundamental Course graduated and received their certs from an MP at a very humbling iftar, sponsored by Bank Muamalat (this is the bank you wanna bank with because they are serious about giving back to the needy).

Last night it was feeding the poor and the underprivileged and I never knew there would be so many homeless in the city! Dr Haslina and I tried to chat up with a few homeless women.Asked if they wanted to work as care givers (for my mom esp).One said she had health prob (darah saya rendah).Apa nak buat.She would have a proper job and a home had she chosen to work with a family.I guess she would lose her freedom, roaming the streets (ouch!).

I have never been to Masjid Jamek KL (apparently Jamek means masjid.Apa ke blur sgt kita ni no one corrects anything..masjid masjid? Patutnya Jamek KL.Or just Masjid KL.Ini mcm kes 'cuba try').

Anyway, Dr H and I enjoyed ourselves (makanan cukup lazat.Muamalat kalau bersedekah would never sacrifice quality.We 'heart' Muamalat.Saya dah transfer setengah wang saya balik ke Bank Muamalat sebab khidmat masyarakat dia ini).
The bank is now the 4th largest in Msia and one of the fastest growing.They believe in the more you give, the more you get.I think charity does that to you.

So we still have lots of Ramadan days to give.

Dr H and I went to ITNM earlier.MD Khair is a real nice person but also a good salesman.I ended up buying a couple of books. :) But we may also collaborate on a couple of projects.

My iftar with ACCIN

2011-08-07T09:29:00.006+08:00

ACCIN is an umbrella body of 17 Muslim NGOs and my Muslim women's NGO IMAN is one of them. I am one of 4 reps of IMAN to ACCIN meetings (held once a month). This year's secretariat is Persatuan Ulama Malaysia and their meetings are always spiritually exciting (they would have a talk at every meeting and usually is given by their members).

Yesterday we met at one of the golf clubs at Bukit Kiara (jangan tak percaya Persatuan Ulama kita very da canggih now.Haha.They have very dynamic generasi pelapis ..young academics/scholars to run the association now.Yang tua2 jadi content providers.I like).

As always I was the only female rep. (awkwardlah) but masa iftar, there were 3 more who came.
The talk was a panel discussion on isu2 semasa yang dihadapi oleh umat Islam di Malaysia given by the new Ketua Pengarah JAKIM and a Shari'e advisor to Office Peguam Negara (he's as old as my mom tapi fikirannya bagus..like my mom too).Berikut adalah isu-isu yang ditimbulkan:

1. Pengaruh shiah yang semakin berleluasa (di Perlis, satu lori yang membawa buku-buku shiah telah ditahan) Apparently, pengedaran pengaruh ini dibuat nationwide.Pihak berwajib memantau keadaan ini.Pihak ini telah menghantar memorandum ke JAKIM mengatakan bhw merekalah ahli sunnah waljamaah yang sebenar.

2.Kelab Taat Suami bukan yang baru (bermula di Sungai Patani 1994).Saya tidak boleh tulis lebih lanjut kerana sensitiviti isu.Nak tau, call JAKIM or private message me.

3.Madrasah yang runtuh yang mengorbankan anak-anak yatim di Selangor tempoh hari adalah di bawah pentadbiran seseorang yang mengamalkan ajaran sesat Ajaran yang dipanggil Juruzon (it sounded like that.i don't know how you spell it) telah diharamkan tetapi diamalkan balik di madrasah ini.Banyak perkara karut marut diajar termasuk guru ghaib menjelma dalam badan pentadbir madrasah ini (Pak Su). So yang bukan mahram boleh jadi mahram hanya dgn bersentuh kulit or something like that.Majlis Rabithah mereka pun suspicious.
Mereka ada ayat2 Quran sendiri.

4. Wahabi is still an issue.

5.Isu revivalism of Al Arqam yang telah diharamkan dan bekas2 ahli bergerak atas nama lain menjalankan pelbagai jenis perniagaan dan kerja-kerja amal.Mereka akan terus dipantau.

6. Isu tukar jantina.Bukan isu baru.Pernah satu ketika seorang Mufti didatangi oleh seoprang hamba Allah yang mempunyai 2 alat kelamin dan dia mempunyai 2 org anak (satu semasa dia jadi bapa, seorang lagi masa dia jadi ibu) Akhirnya dia berjumpa pihak berwajib minta pandangan.Dia dinasihatkan memilih satu alat kelamin sahaja dan dirujukkan kepada doktor pakar yang memberitahunya supaya dia menukar jantina kpd perempuan ketika hormon pompuannya aktif (mereka ni mempunyai waktu2 when hormonnya lebih kpd perempuan dan masa2nya lebih kepada lelaki so doktor suruh tukar jantina waktu hormon pompuan tu lebih).Wallahualam.Saya cuma melaporkan.

7.Isu butter churn yang kejap halal kejap tidak yang disibukkan dgn kenyataan akhbar Chua Soi Lek. Apa yang berlaku ialah ada 2 pengimport brand yang sama.Butter dari Australia di- packed in New Zealand.Satu pi Semenanjung (disahkan halal oleh Jabatan Kimia) dan satu pi ke Sarawak (didapati tidak halal).

8.Isu alcohol.Masa ni fikiran saya ke lain.Nota saya tak berapa lengkap.Sorry tapi ada saya catitkan alcohol yang bukan dari bahan buat arak tidak haram tapi tak lehlah diminum (racun).

9. Laman2 blog, facebook, twitter yang menghina Islam akan diambil tindakannya.Telah pun diambil tindakan ke atas yang dikenal-pasti.

10. Bahan-bahan pencetakan penerbitan yang bercanggah dgn Islam juga dipantau.

11.Isu 'serbuan' ke atas majlis makan malam di sebuah gereja.JAKIM melahirkan bantahannya terhadap istilah 'serbu'.Legally incorrect.Mereka pergi menyiasat sebab dapat panggilan telefon dari orang awam yang perihatin usaha ingin meng-kristiankan orang melayu yang berlanggar dgn undang2 kita.Dan sah waktu pemeriksaan dibuat, 12 orang melayu berpakaian baju melayu dan baju kurung, siap dgn bunga manggar, siap ada nasyeed dan tazkirah yang menghina Rasulullah telah berlaku.

12.Permulaan puasa tahun ni, Brunei lewat sehari walaupun nusantara telah sepakat untuk berpuasa dan berhariraya serentak.Mungkin isu ini akan dibawa ke mesyuarat ASEAN?

Panelist ke dua adalah Tan Sri dari Pejabat Peguam Negara.Beliau bercakap tentang legal aspects yang banyak kita perlu faham so that we know our rights.Yang saya suka dua points dalam byk2 dia raised tu:

i) 100 orang janda miskin yang masuk agama lain itu sepatutnya dibantu dgn sistem zakat kita.Zakat bukan setakat kasi duit utk makan, minum tetapi juga memberi tempat tinggal.Mereka ini patut dicari oleh pihak berwajib untuk dibantu dan NGOs should ask how zakat money is spent sebab kalau dibuat betul2, kita takda kemiskinan, kekufuran cos' welfare ummah has been taken care of (Selangor telah capai negara maju sebab sistem zakat yang efektif..ini kata Zainal who I bumped into at the iftar buffet with his wife.Zainal is in the financial circuit and knows a lot..dia pulak kasi another talk at the table where I was enjoying my ABC.Haha)

ii) Tan Sri kata adalah tidak nusyuz seorang isteri yang enggan pindah ke rumah mak mentua bila suaminnya gagal menyediakan tempat tinggal buatnya (woohoo..power giler!)

The iftar at the buffet (orang luar ramai): ada 200 dishes with all sorts of bar b qs.But one can only eat so much, kan?

Sekian laporan saya dari nota yang tidak lengkap.

Ramadan 2011

2011-08-02T13:35:00.002+08:00

Bersyukurlah we are still here this Ramadan.Ramadan Kareem to all.Make sure this year's Ramadan is your best.

I went to the local surau to do terawih semalam.Had not done it (at the surau) in years.Tak suka air-con in closed space (nanti org bersin, kita pun dapat germs dia).Usually I terawih kat rumah with Z.But Z is no longer at home ...so I have to ikut Nik pi surau.Luckily, they have open space space at the surau for women (karan pulak takda semalam at the new extension) so we prayed in the semi gelap with no kipas, OK? Wough..macam sauna la pulak.But better than germs, right?

Don't know why but this Ramadan, I lembik berpuasa (macam budak darjah satu rasanya).If I were 7, I would have minum air shower semasa mandi.Haha.

Today is better.Rasa mcm budak darjah dua (keeps talking and thinking about food...haha).But bila berbuka, I don't eat much (iya ke? boleh percaya ke??)

Apapun, this is my fav. month.I intend to make the most of it.
Have a good one, folks.

Of molest, sexual harassment and all that jazz

2011-08-01T15:31:00.002+08:00

It's hard to focus on work when you are involved in matters to do with sexual harassment and molest in this country.

First of all, we do not even have a sexual harassment act in this country, ok? (mengikut Betty of AWAM). I do not think that many women (and men) are aware of what sexual harassment is.Or what to do if it happens.Betty says most of the time, it is the victims who feel guilty and embarrassed to report (their family members too!) so in the end, no one speaks up except the brave ones.

I am in a dilemma whether to lodge a police report/not on an incident which happened in 2009.I spoke to a couple of police officers (both of Sexual Harassment and Commercial Crime Depts).While they told me I was free to do as I wish (to report or not), it would be difficult to move anywhere if I did not have strong proof or evidence.Haiyoo..we are talking about sexual harassment here, OK? How does one prove it? (an emotional/psychological mark can be measured by what??) Do not expect support from places which are supposed to protect us.Betty was nice.Her words were encouraging (they made me like leaping out of my own comfort zone and making me want to make that report.I just might now!)

Anyway, I believe justice will bounce back from whatever space it is being squashed now.I hope my friends who are working hard to nail a very, very slick con man will succeed before too long.

Game Over!

2011-07-26T23:01:00.004+08:00

OK folks, some of you would remember my expensive treatment with this guy who calls himself Doc Bob Koh.For a while, I simply refuse to associate myself with him, even in writing about him.

But after a while, you'd start thinking hey, I can do lots with RM50K.Haha.With time, money has different value, kan? But that is not the issue.The issue is this guy cannot go free, menipu people.So when my private investigator friend asked me if I had any evidence, webs for him to check with his friend, I googled up and wow...a fb was set up to expose this chap.Apparently he got arrested in KL for molest.But my other fren (Zul) looked up and said pakcik ni denied..konon2 ada org frame him up (biz rivalry).Bob pandai cakap (I suspect he uses NLP technique).Anyway, soonest I hear from my PI fren, I'll update you guys (sapa interested, angkat tangan!).

new arrival

2011-07-24T05:47:00.004+08:00

isn't she adorable??

Nik's sister gave birth semalam to a beautiful baby girl.Nadra is her name.

We went to have a cup of hot milo at the cafeteria after the visit, then Nik vomitted non-stop.Took him to the hospital's emergency.

Yup, food poisoning.
Lama juga kat situ...injection, ecg (just in case) but I asked the doc if it was OK to leave Nik alone at home cos' I had a dinner to attend to (isteri mithali).Doc said go ahead enjoy myself.Haha.Nik would be resting, anyway.

So after making sure he was settled nicely in bed, I minta izin keluar (isteri mithali, haha).It was a charity dinner hosted by Persatuan Ulama Malaysia.I was a bit late (but in time to hear the welcoming speeches) and I was happy to see Dr Aldila already there.So kita caught up with the latest and made friends with those at our table.

The dinner was to raise funds for a tahfiz school in Semenyih.They need close to RM6 juta.I thought any 3 Muslim millionaires could have donated some money for the cause...or even 1 millionaire.But Dr A asked a very valid question: just how many tahfiz schools do we need? The existing ones pun dah banyak..can't we kinda centralise je? Put under one umrella ke?

seminars and conferences

2011-07-21T23:55:00.004+08:00

With Lateef

Yang ambik gambar ni Bibik so I tak ready pun dia dah snapped.haha

yang ni tangan sebelah takda..but still

cute la, kan? kah3.

Looks like I am really back at work.ISTAC was having a couple of 'parties'.One was a seminar on Islam and Moderation (can't remember the full title but I went to the opening) and the last 3 days Islam in Africa.I chaired the roundtable session this morning on African Lit.Something crazy got into me...I went dressed as an African woman.Haha..bila lagi nak melaram the dress I bought in Conakry,Guinea kan? (or was it the Gambia?)

'Fans' rushed to take pics with me (mostly African students, some Msian ones).
In between lunch and dinner, a lot of excitements. :) New friends, new ideas, old pains (my back prob is back.Went to my physiotherapist who was happy to see me back in treatment.Haha)

I'll try upload my pic as an African woman some time later, OK?

Back at work

2011-07-14T14:43:00.003+08:00

My 2nd day at work today...beratnya kaki nak melangkah. :) My last day of puasa ganti too (I was busy doing puasa 6 then got sick, remember? Tak sempat nak ganti till the last min).Did a week's marathon.With physical work in the 2 holy cities, semua org kata I look fit and berseri2 and amazingly beautiful..hahaha..syukurlah, Allah beri kesihatan lagi.Must not abuse it, kan? And I told ya..kalau pi haji or umrah, balik mesti 20 tahun lebih muda.OKlah..10 tahun lebih muda. OK, 5. :)

A lot to do sampai tak tau where to begin! Org ni text itu, org ni text ini...next week full load kat ISTAC..conference and talk.I look fwd to that.Dah lama tak bermeriah dgn kawan2 akademik.Ah..Sat. pun NGO meetings...Sunday wedding.The following week, Z's theatre week and Ummi's lunch. Phuiyooo..makan and entertainment! Welcome home! :)

Prof Q and I will be finalising our Asia-pac book.I hope it gets out by this year.But Prof Noraini was saying even if the draft were perfect, the final output akan jadi terok juga...but to publish outside will be a betrayal...we'll see.

Pics sekitar umrah

2011-07-11T00:19:00.011+08:00

a mysterious blind guy at Qubah mosque
(we tried 5 times to snap his pic..camera tak dapat captured.
This pic was taken with another person next to
him baru jadi..we've cropped it so dapat juga gambar dia sorang)

Keluarga bahagia with twins dari Sri Lanka Hassan and Hussain(Jeddah Airport)

Hotel kita yang selesa di Makkah (Dar ul Eiman Royal)

(di bawahnya shopping mall)

Buah kaktus dari Taif sgt sedap

Fruit Flan cake for Sharifah

dinner with Jamil's family

at the hotel in Makkah

tawaf in the afternoon

TH group pic at Jabal Rahmah

Israk Mikraj berbuka puasa items

Al Haram in the evening

masih malam

makan mesti baguss

Al Haram, on expansion

leaving for Makkah

Z in Madinah

Mommy with Ahmad at Movenpick Hotel
in Madinah.He wants to study at IIUM

at the hotel in Madinah

our mutawif

Beberapa dos and don'ts bila buat umrah:

1.bawak sun block kalau pi musim panas

2.bawak botol spray air which you can sembur if it gets too dry

3. bawak vaseline utk bibir kering

4.bawak ready made sambal belacan sebab meals served by TH tak sedap (unless depa cari tukang masak Msia)

5.jangan beli mas pound sebab dia lebih murah tapi depa letak harga mahal (esp at Jeddah airport) Design memang cantik.

6. jangan lupa makan daging kibas kat Restoran Heraa kat Hilton.Kat situ je ada.Just say I want laham (daging kibas)

7.If you are at Safwa Towers foodcourt, ada counter D'Saji..situ ada roti canai, rendang and apa2 makanan Msian yang you nak.

8.Beli jubah kat Madinah, murah.Kurma pun beli situ.

9.Minum air zam2 byk2 (bawak botol utk dibawa pulang ke hotel..)

10.Saie kat Bin Daud is a must.The one at Zam2 Mall is the biggest.

BERSIH rally

2011-07-10T05:39:00.003+08:00

Siapa sangka begitu ramai rakyat Msia yang begitu berani turun padang menyatakan pendirian mereka against all forms of power-related intimidation.Yang menarik, rakyat2 berani ini datang dari pelbagai kelompok: anak2 remaja, kelas2 yang berbeza, usia yang pelbagai, bangsa dan agama yang pelbagai dan yang seronok, sastera kembali relevan dgn keberanian Pak Samad mengepalai saf.Oh I'm so proud of him (who I text-ed from Makkah kata tidak apa jika title Sasterawan Negara dilucutkan darinya..nanti Allah ganti dgn Nobel Laureate for Peace.I hope he will get it one day.Pak Samad balas dgn cool-nya).

I wanted to go..ajak Nik pi office dia.But dia tak kasi.Bahaya for me..kalau kena kejar FRU, takut I tak terlari.Haha.I text-ed my sister (yang kerja Suhakam) if I wanted to join her, boleh kah.She said semua sudah kena blocked.Tak leh masuk.Yang di dalam pun sudah terkepong (where is safety kalau apa2 berlaku.Sungguh tak bertanggungjawab pihak berkuasa! Dan sah, ada yang mati sesak nafas sewaktu dikejar FRU/polis...ini dari laporan pekerja Suhakam yang bertugas)

Kita masih BELUM maju kalau berfikiran kalau rally, mesti kacau bilau..mesti a threat.

Kawan2 yang anti-demo kata kenapa tak go proper saloran..dey...dah berpuluh tahun cakap benda sama, ada change kaa? Buat demo pun SPR punya byk cikadak and punya defensive..tak tau malu credibility depa at stake.Instead of working on points raised, depa lagi suka nak justify why things cannot be revised/changed.It's like justifying power, isn't it?

Apapun tahniah sekali lagi bagi mereka yang lari lintang pukang dikejar FRUs, SBs dan yang pedih matanya disembur asid/air cili? You have made your point for the nation (dan bagi mereka yang tak berani atau masih tidak faham mengapa rally Bersih itu penting).

Terima kasih!

Home

2011-07-08T00:32:00.002+08:00

Selamat tiba waktu zuhr di KLIA tadi...syukur alhamdulllilah, the flight was uneventful.

What do I miss most about home? Clean toilets at the airport! and so many malls and tempat makan. :)

Lepas solat zuhr, terus kita berkejar ke Urban Retreat for body massage..aiyoooo..mcm kat syurga rasanya.Lepas tu dinner ayam percik..and chilled mountain tea and Boba tea..ohh...sejuknya...

Z went to a bday party rightaway.Lupa dah lah dia tawaf saie dia...

KL mengasyikkan.

Last couple of days in Makkah

2011-07-05T22:17:00.003+08:00

Ho boy..we will leave Makkah besok. But maybe it is the right time, heatwaves dah mula menjadi2 since yesterday.

We'll miss this city but pray we'll return soon.

Someone asked dah buat tawaf wida' kat malls ke belum.Haha. Soon!

Night life in Makkah

2011-07-02T20:27:00.005+08:00

It is meriah.Last night Jamil took us out eat seafood at one restaurant (there's a theme park near it so the kids went to get their rides..termasuk Z!) The place has chalet-like tempat makan so we have all the place to ourselves.You have privacy that way.Jamil's family members came - Nada, Bushra and family.It was really nice but dinner at 11 pm? Ngantuk juga but such is life here.The night starts around this time.Kita dah nak masuk tidur!

I promised an entry on the other "tawaf".Tawaf shopping mall which is conveniently housed at the hotel we are at..Al Safwa mall sekali dgn byk hotels (we are at dar al eiman..kalau haji people pay up to RM30K for 4 people in a room! Tapi musim umrah ni a lot cheaperlah).Z and I will tawaf the mall every after prayer.Haha.D'Saji has got a counter so semalam we ate roti canai with rendang.Do we miss home? Definitely not! Haha.

But sebenarnya the ibadah bit is the best (keluar hotel dah perkarangan the mosque.Masuk je, terus nampak kaabah.Nikmat Allah mana nak kita tidakkan?)

Greetings from Makkah, kota suci kesayangan Rasululah

2011-06-29T18:58:00.002+08:00

Kata ustaz, pernah teh Prophet (pbuh) said kalau tidak kerana Allah suruh baginda berhijrah ke Madinah, baginda akan mahu tinggal di kota suci ini selama2nya.

Semasa musuh buat khianat dgn baginda (tak kasi masuk buat haji/umrah), baginda retreated and bila ada desas desus umat Islam nak mengamuk, musuh takut and terus buat perjanjian taht they could return the following year for hajj.Tapi that was also not observed so war too place and Makkah was under the rule of good Muslims.

Quickly: we did our umrah upon arrival and today managed to solat betul2 depan pintu kaabah, belakang makam Ibrahim and antara aswad and pintu.MasyaAllah...betul kata Humaira..walaupun panas at noon, we didn't feel it.

More later of the other tawaf (shopping mall at our 5-star hotel).Haha.

Madinah, kota Rasul

2011-06-29T18:45:00.002+08:00

I am already in Makkah (will do anotehr entry in a bit) but I must blog about Madinah, kota Rasul.

I will not go through how the whole family was put on a BIG test (dekat masjid Qubah, masjid pertama yang dibina oleh the Prophet pbuh and he loved it so much he would come and visit it often even when there were other mosques later on).

When you are tested (you would in any way when you are in the holy cities) you should be grateful it happens there.I prayed for solution in Raudhah (nak dapat semayang situ, kita tunggu 3 hours..only to get a small piece of the green carpet...tapi bersyukurlah..dari tak dapat langsung.Do not go at night..lebih ramai dari siangnya).I prayed that Allah show a solution and that the Prophet too would know what pain I went through, asked that he prayed for me and my family's well-being too esp. Zafirah's.You know what? I actually felt the Prophet's presence with me and by Zuhr the following day, we were one happy family again.Begitulah the power of doa. :) Never be afraid to ask and I found a doa that says jgn kami cuba menyelesaikan sendiri masalah kami kerana hanya Engkau yang tahu apa yang baik utk kami (or words to that effect.nanti balik I will put the exact words here..from mathurat).

When it was time to leave this blessed city for Makkah, I was all teary...I had been here 3 times but this time, the city meant so much to me.I felt like I had lived here before and I did not want to leave the Prophet for anything else.Sepanjang perjalanan keluar dari kawasan tanah suci itu I was crying.Uncontrollable kerana terasa sangat sayang kpd Rasullulah who had done so much for us sehingga Islam sampai kepada kita.

Semoga we will return dalam keadaan yang lebih suci jiwa kami, Ya Allah dan semoga kami mendapat syafaat Rasulullah.

My "emergency" entry

2011-06-26T23:03:00.003+08:00

Greetings from the Prophet (pbuh)'s city, Madinah.I told you I'd update my blog ONLY if there were an emergency, right?

Ha, ha..this is my emergency. Need to blog before I forget some of the wonderful stuffs experienced so far (from Jeddah to here).

Flight from KL to Jeddah was delayed by one hour.What do you do when you ph ran out of batteries at KLIA? Could not re-charge cos' there was no plug point.Kedekut kupik our KLIA management!

Anyway, the flight was unadventurous (syukurlah).I was worried the clearance at Jeddah would take about 5 hours (this is the std time I'm told).Dgn izin Allah we were cleared less than 2 hours..sejam lebih sikit je.And you know what? We got someone to push our 8 pieces luggage (berbayar kalau nak guna trolley at the airport and there were not many around) to the coach.I felt so lucky masa tu.
We stopped somewhere around midnite for solat and dinner.Ayooo..dinner at midnite.Takda appetite.

Reached Madinah around 3 am I think.Nice hotel, betul2 next to the mosque.But you know what? I masih tak boleh semayang and ikut schedule will not for the next 2 days! Panic! Panic! But Nik and Z prayed for me and by afternoon, I could do my Zuhr already.Was that not a miracle???

Ah Nabawi my love...
I went late sebab faktor di atas.But found a spot after much hassle.Belakang this fat woman from Turkiye (could tell from her tudung, ada chap Turkiye).I thot it was a safe distance but masa rukuq, she sat on my head! Adoiiii..apakah dosa ku! Nasib tak penyek my forehead and nasib baik she could not get up after the 1st rakaat and ended up semayang duduk.Selamat aku!

Then another funny episode was during Asr.Z (budak ni cekap! She would go long before waktu solat masuk to get easy spots and supaya tak bertolak2 for space) and I solat barisan depan.Tengah semayang we heard someone's phone went, "Atukk..nenek..hello...".Nak tergelak pun ada.Mesti telefon org Msia.Duh!

The heat ain't bad.Panas memang panas but bearable.
If I have time, I'll blog again.Ni tengah tunggu waktu Maghrib masuk.Assalamualaikum. :)

Last minute packing

2011-06-24T21:18:00.002+08:00

InsyaAllah the family leaves for Jeddah tmrw afternoon.I took a week off, konon nak pack early but never got around it (cos' I needed to do some shopping first..could not pack without the stuffs, right?)

Z and Nik also took their sweet time to pack.There were the outings with friends (each of us went to lunch/dine with our close frens separately..haha), last min touch ups of stuffs at work, etc etc.
Finally today, Friday everyone vowed to stay at home and focus on packing.But I had to see the Sheikhs cos' they were leaving today (and without fail, must pick Dr S first).They were happy to see us again (haha...clients tetap no. 1) and did a special prayer for us.Lepas tu as we were saying farewell, semua nangis! (Dr P started it!) The one month they were with us, kita dah jadi very close (when my mom was acting up during the kenduri, I told sheikhs to pujuk her and they did).

Ah well, they will come again after Raya.Farewell my bros, see you guys soon.

Back to packing..I could not find the new jubah I bought..then remember it was still with the "English" boy (had it fitted sebab panjang sangat).It was 4 pm.Everyone's tired.I refused to drive..nasib baik Tan Sri saya sanggup drive me all the way to Ampang Park.Balik tu dah mula nak jam.Phew...started packing just before Maghrib and finished after Maghrib.I hope I have not missed anything important.Ikan sepat, checked; cookies, checked; shoes,slippers, alat2 wanita, checked;travelling iron and toilet articles, checked;camera, phone, sunglasses, buku doa, checked;medication needs..belum letak!

OK folks, I guess a spiritual retreat is a spiritual retreat.I will not update my blog unless it is an emergency.Grin.

Pray that all will be well.See you when I update the blog.Wassalam.
** in case you wonder why ikan sepat is in my travel list, it's for my fren Sharifah, OK? She lives in Makkah.

Lunch with Azah

2011-06-23T22:42:00.002+08:00

Azah and I went a long way too.She's one of my bestest friends since my NZ days and later my UK days.We share a lot between us, my secrets are hers and hers are mine.Haha.

We decided to do lunch before I leave for my umrah on Saturday.I thot she said Friday cos' Thursday she'd have a workshop so when she called to ask if lunch was still on, I said yah, see you tomorrow (Friday).I hung up.

She called again (ayo..Azah..I'm enjoying my physio, OK? Jgn kacau)
Yes Azah? What now?

Is the lunch today or tomorrow?
Tomorrow.
But I have w/shop tmrw.
No, you said you have w/shop today.
No I said I would have w/shop tmrw.
Oh iya ke? Ah ok..what time do you wanna meet?
What time is good?
12?
OK 12.
Make it 11.30? I have to send my mom to her dialysis centre.
OK, see you in a bit.

So I drove to Azah's mom's place in Section 16.I have not been to her mom's for years.Decades! But found it..ada jiran dia meninggal.Lots of cars in the neighbourhood.

We decided to eat at Marche's at the Curve.What a lovely lunch that was! We went back to the days when we were so innocent...
"Sapa nama budak Cina yang danced with you tu?"
"I dah tak ingat tapi dia hensem"
Laughed.
Nama dia George, OK Azah.George danced with Azah.And I remember shy and proper Azah went to hide belakang pintu after that, her hands on her red cheeks.Haha.So innocent! :))

Then when we were in the UK (she in Edinburgh, me in Liverpool) she would travel to stay with me and we'd travel to York together to see the castles and Jorvick Viking Centre.The taxi man told us how he loved Thai gals (thinking we were Thai gals or thought Azah was cos I dah bertudung masa tu).

Good friends are hard to come by but when you have one, you better blog about her. :)

Painting the town red

2011-06-21T21:47:00.003+08:00

I have forgotten what it is like to have days of leave (from work)

Today terasa nikmatnya. :)
Z and I painted the town red by mengukur 3 malls yang ada di KL and Kota Dsara (yang 2 tu sebelah menyebelah).Betul kata Shirley Lim, shopping is Msians' national sport.Msian women, I guess.Men tak ramai sgt at the malls.

We wanted to check out our baju raya at Salikin's.He said dah siap but semua tak siap.The ones separa siap were nice...my kebaya riau-pahang..wow! really da cantik.Kata Zul, bolehlah bawak pi mengundi.Haha.Lawak Jebon! My second pair langsung tak nampak bayang.Kata Salikin, kain tenun kapas belum sampai.Baru di-order.Lain kali beli yang dah siap je senang, kot? Z punya kena buat fitting sikit (mine also) so I guess we won't see the clothes for a while till just before Raya.

We also bought a couple of jubahs (in case terlalu penat to buy in Madinah).The funny thing is budak yang jaga counter tu.Nampak mcm Pak.But I asked are you Afghan.He said he was from England.Serius, OK? Z and I dah nak berguling2 ketawa.Biar betul mamat ni.But betul matanya biru.I said huh? He said he's from Pak but his mother ke hapa ke is from the UK (he still has his family there).I asked ini kedai sapa (takda kerja,kan? Kena la buat part time crime investigating).He said kedai sepupu dia.Kawin Melayu? (I asked again) Dia terus tunjuk one Malay designer featured in a local mag.Oh ok...

If you care to look, there are so many interesting people in KL. Mana budak2 local kita bekerja, I do not know.

Lepas tu we went to the Curve (mula2 nak pi Bangsar Shopping Centre but I was too malas to drive since we stopped at Dsara Utama sekejap).Lunched at Tony Romas.We were served by a Vietnamese waitress.
Aiseh..they don't give free breads freely anymore.Harga tepong dah naik...Lepas tu Z and I nak cari something comfy to wear in Mekah ..could not find anything nice.

At the other mall, I got myself a new pair of running shoes.Entah nak lari ke mana! Maybe on the treadmill. :)) Sometimes we buy things we don't really need.But at the Pharmacy, we bought everything we could think of for a country like Saudi.

While Z still had energy to shop, I quit early and made my way to my fav spot: Urban Retreat to pamper my tired feet. :)

Now, that was the real nikmat of the day!

Not a lazy weekend

2011-06-18T21:55:00.003+08:00

Just when you think weekends are for sleep-ins...
We had to wake up early to pick Z from Lembah Beringin..her hols have started and the kids have to clear their chalets for the management to do their maintenance work. Satu lori byknya barang2 si Z ni! Itupun some she left in her wardrobe.

Then we attended Mokhtar's son's wedding.Then Dr Faridah's son at Taman Tun (met up with Prof Faris and Dr. Hamzah.I updated Dr. Hamzah about ULMAA talks on green energy and was happy to knw that Prof Faris was not so keen on 'clean' energy anymore ie nuclear.Haha.Ingat I pernah raised the issue with him sebab IIUM championed nuclear energy ~before Fukushima). Met up with an old fren of Matric days..Fadillah..I dah tak ingat..so embarassing! She's Dr Faridah's sister rupa2nya.She's moved on to UTM Jln Semarak.One of those nice people during my Matric days.

Had to rush to Krash Pad to meet up Kanika and gang who had just arrived from Spore to continue their project with the KP kids.The bazaar would be next month.We gotta plan how to give the event a good press it so deserves.Kanika has graduated but returns to the KP community work outa love.Ah..I'm so touched and inspired (I supervised their project during its early days, roping in IIUM students to share the experience and joy working with the kids).It's been over a year and the kids tell me that they now have a sense of purpose when they drop by the centre ..to do as many accessories to sell at the bazaar.They have that skill now to survive...dah boleh buat duit sendiri.And they are all doing well at school (they meet all sorts of people and hence, so exposed and so intelligent).I'm looking fwd to that bazaar day (won't be cheap cos' the money will go back to the centre).

I had half an hour to catch the 3rd wedding at Jalan Semarak (Nik had to send Z to KLCC for her leadership prog interview with one of the MNCs so I had to go alone to the 3rd wedding).Nasib tak jam so sempatlah attend the wedding reception (org dah ramai balik!)

Z and I had a good time going over her interview session.As I told a fren, I have lost my gal.She has her own mind now.Even the materials I helped provide (through a kind fren who's also working with an MNC), she kata tak relevant! She did her own research and preps.I guess I have to learn to let go.She's smarter than me, anyway. :)

Not a lazy weekend, folks.I'll sleep early tonight.You have a good one, yah.

Men!

2011-06-16T21:24:00.002+08:00

I don't quarrel with women as much as I do with men (some men!)

But here's the story, okay?

Dr. I is one of my good friends.Today I had a late lunch and bumped into him.We were talking this and that (family, work..the usual stuffs called civility) then wham! my fav topic for the last few weeks: NATO attacks on Libya.Haha.

You've heard all the arguments but what really tickled me was our argument on democracy and whether the democracy we see today is Islamic/not.I said it wasn't.Syura is.Dr I. asked "and you think syura isn't democratic?" I said not the way we understand it today.And they don't vote right? Decisions are made based on arguments and reasonings.And not anyone can be a syura member.Dr I kata boleh.Anyone boleh.I said mesti ada criteria.He said takda criteria.

I asked habis tu orang gila pun boleh jadi ahli syura??

Dr I said I gave an extreme example.

I said it is still valid.It is proof that there must be some criteria somewhere.
Adakah orang gila dibenarkan mengundi semasa pilihanraya kita? Dr I said tak boleh.Nik kata SPR is silent on this (of cos' I reported the late lunch conversation to Nik at dinner).Haha.OMG...I have to stop here.Nak gelak kejap.

.............

The second funny man is Prof. Munir from India who has re-emerged from my Solo volcanic adventure.If you remember my blog entry on him not too long ago, you'd remember how funny he was..tak tidur 3 hari 3 malam cos' he feared Gunung Merapi meletup dan dia tak sempat lari!!!! (and I told him this,"Munir, you will die not of Merapi but of fear.") He refused to fly back to India from Solo.He took a 13 hours train trip (or something like that) back to Jakarta and fly to India from there.

And today he wrote.So he's still alive! :))
I don't quarrel with Munir.He's such a nice man.

disastrous wedding anniversary dinner

2011-06-15T07:48:00.005+08:00

It was just not an evening for us, I guess.

First , Nik sampai around Maghrib.Then we were like wondering where to go? I thought maybe Fukuya but he does not fancy Japanese cuisine.He suggested Chynna KL Hilton but I just had Chinese with Carlotta semalamnya.Rasa muak dah lah.

We agreed on Chalet at Equatorial but halfway there Nik asked nak try hotel baru? Royale Chulan.I said yes, let's try something new.

Nice interior, pleasant environs.We settled for Continental cuisine at L'Heritage.
Appetiser was fantastic: foie gras with apple chutney and something.Sedap gila.
Then we waited for our fish and beef (bukan steak) Lama, OK? I dah rasa mcm nak balik dah.We were the only couple in the dining hall (cantik dining).Then the waitress kata oh ikan busuk so the chef buat lain.We were like what?!

Then the food came.I tasted my beef..yewl..rasa masam/busuk! Nik's fish was very2 nice but after dah habis baru dia realised the potato and other stuffs which were supposed to be there takda.Haha.

So he complained.The supervisor said a Minister who just dined there had the same order.He just didn't understand why it went bad.I said hellooo...your Minister came at lunch..ni dah dinner...our climate ni carry lots of bacteria and germs and if fish or beef are exposed unthinkingly to the open air, mestilah cepat rot.

We wanted to pay the bill and leave but he said the dessert dah on the way.
So we were 'forced' to stay back and eat dessert.Nasib tak busuk! :))

Kalau Mandarin O, they would say come back for another free dinner, kan? (which we didn't take up, by the way).Yang ini takda pun attempt to win back the diners.Nik dapat an extra dessert (cheap looking!) and our beef bill was waived.

Unless the chef is fired, I would not recommend this place, folks.

Happy 24th wedding anniversary

2011-06-14T08:40:00.003+08:00

It was 24 years ago that Nik and I got married.

Hari ni my bridegroom is in Penang.So I guess the celebration will only begin at dinner time (if his flight is not delayed!)

Carlotta said it's not common for people in the US to stay married for this long.I said it is also becoming this in Malaysia.Kawin 2-3 tahun, cerai.

So I guess Nik and I have a lot to be grateful for.Oh I will not pretend that we don't have problems (we have ALL the time.Haha).We are like two opposite poles.He likes football, I like the net.I think what keeps us together for so long is the space we give to each other and the respect for each other's individuality: that we can be who we wanna be without expecting the other to change us.

Here's to another 24 years and more, may we continue to be blessed.

Kenduri syukur

2011-06-13T04:44:00.006+08:00

Bro. Nasser doing the nasyeed on the Prophet
the two sheikhs

kambing

Sunday: the talk by ULMAA and IIUM Engineering Club went very2 well.Dato Aishah and Raj were so pandai, speaking on Green and Clean Energy.We learnt so many new things!

Getting together with the rest of the team at tea time was good too: Dr Cassim, Delesh, Dato Aizi (tak tau pun dia dah dapat Datoship, now working with MAMPU at JPM's), Amin (who got lost and was so impressed by IIUM students' civility showing him the way to Mini Audi), Annie, Azhar, of cos' Raj and Dato Aishah (and hubby).Aizi text-ed me later beritau dia hilang kunci.I have to check with the security nanti siang.

I had to rush back to pick Salim and Long for the little kenduri at my place.Ah, terkejar2 betul.Makoto and frens pulak sesat.By the time I arrived home, the two sheikhs and Dr P were already there.Had to collect Makoto and frens at Carrefour pulak.Tak sempat jumaah with the rest.We made the 2nd jumaah.

Then makan! (bar-b-q kambing sekor...jgn marah...).
Lepas tu Nasser performed nasyeed on the Prophet.Mcm one of the Vienna boys.

Sheikhs read special doas for us (it is also our 24th wedding anniversary..well..soon..June 14)

It was a nice evening, syukur alhamdullilah.

ACCIN Meeting

2011-06-11T20:48:00.002+08:00

Kak Oni reminded me many times of the meeting.No one could go and so she appointed me as the rep to represent our NGO.I didn't mind cos' the public lecture to be held before the monthly meeting looked good. It was given by one of PUM (Persatuan Ulama Malaysia which hosted the meeting) members, Dato' Saleh (who sits on many fatwa boards at both national and state levels). It was supposed to be at 1.45pm.I sibuk melayan Carlotta and arrived before 3 (itu pun after contacting Badri after I got lost somewhere in Section 7, Shah Alam).

By Allah's grace, the talk had not started and only began when I was seated nicely amidst the' all men''s crowd. Memang rezeki! I wanted to listen to the talk so much.It waited for me although I was almost 2 hours late.

I was ill-dressed.Mana I tau I'd be the only female in the crowd of OMG,all men and many were ulemas! But they were nice to me..takda sapa cakap apa2 and when I raised a couple of questions and issues, takda sapa kata apa2 except a reasonable debate why they disagreed with me. I was treated equally.Yay!

Dato' thanked me for my question on the need to include knowledge of other fields dalam kita nak berijtihad (he had outlined semua ilmu berkaitan dgn agama..fiqh to shariah to Arabic, etc)

Dato' Saleh Ahmad said ijtihad is tajuk specific dalam bidang usul fiqh, also ilmu teras shariah.Not everyone can be a mujtahid (org yang boleh buat ijtihad).Kassim Ahmad wanted to be a mujtahid tapi his criteria tak cukup.

Apakah criteria untuk jadi seorang mujtahid?

1.mesti menguasai bahasa arab dalam erti kata sebenarnya: bayan, tatabahasa, sastera, etc.

2. mesti faham Quran dan semua dalil (Quran adalah sumber semua hukum)

3. mesti tahu sunnah Rasul (tahu mana yang sahih, mana tak, tahu perawinya, etc)

4. mesti menguasai ilmu fiqh, metodologi hukum (usul fiqh adalah ilmu teras dalam syariah)

5. mesti tahu masalah2 yang telah berlaku ijmak para ulema terdahulu agar tidak menyalahkan ijtihad silam.

6. mesti mengetahu makasid al shariah (mengkaji matlamat dan objektif perundangan)

7. mesti ada persediaan fitrah untuk berijtihad, mempunyai jiwa bersih, pemikiran yang tajam, etc.

8. mestilah seorang yang adil dan bertaqwa, berakhlaq mulia dan tidak akan mengadaikan agamanya.

Itulah kriteria pokok utk jadi seorang mujtahid but Dato' agreed with me kalau dia tau ilmu2 kifayah yang lain, lagi perfect.

Someone asked about boleh ke bahan video jadi evidence kpd kes jenayah berat (seperti zina).Jawabnya tidak boleh.Kena ikut Quranjuga : mesti ada 4 saksi juga. Memang susah nak prove cos' zaman Nabi pun susah nak prov kecuali pellaku mengaku.Itu pun Prophet tidak terus mahu menghukum tetapi setelah diasak oleh pelaku,baginda memerintahkan hukuman dijatuhkan.

It's nice being among org beilmu begini.Next month kalau ada public lecture lagi, I would want to make time to attend.This time I will pakai jubah hitam.

nite life in kl

2011-06-11T07:16:00.003+08:00

we love having visitors cos' their presence gives us a strong excuse to dine out in kl atau kawasan se zonenya.

we decided to go to fukuya, top rated japanese restaurant in jalan delima.but somehow we missed it and ter-masuk ke laman Ibunda, Malay fine-dining! Betullah kata pepatah...rezeki ditentukan Allah.

Ibunda ni harapkan cantik je decornya (inside out very da fine).The spread tak banyak.I wanted to go back looking for Fukuya but tengok Carlotta so tired, kesian pulak.Lagipun she just spent time with her Japanese family in Tokyo (mak Carlotta ni Jepun, bapak red Indian but she takda feature Jepun pun) and could do without Jap cuisine. :)

Desserts at Ibunda are the best in the world.Try sira labu dia dgn ice cream durian..phuiyoooo...high...I also liked the bubur cha-cha and bubur pulut hitam (you can have small portion of each)

Drinks: sirap bandung, ABC dia sedap giler.
Here's the link: http://www.ibunda-finedine.com.my/

Friends from abroad

2011-06-10T14:08:00.006+08:00

Carlotta Abrams is in town.Expect things to be wild.She is also a published poet (from Arizona).Hatinya tulus macam kristal.Keluarga diraja red indian. She will sleep over at my place.A lot to catch up with.

It's Friday.Kedengaran Sheikh Nasser bernasyeed dari masjid (Sheikh Ibrahim bagi khutbah).They have conquered the mosque.Haha.Ini budaya baru...nyanyi lepas khutbah.Tak pernah lagi orang buat.Rosak betul connection kita. :))

Sunday nanti tak tau apa pulak akan berlaku as we have student guests from Canada, Nigeria, Japan, Saudi and Yemen (we are having a little thanksgiving kenduri).

Mawar..bila takda baby in the family...macam nilah!

June Plc Gals

2011-06-08T09:17:00.002+08:00

Anidah and family sleptover last nite.She's one of the June Plc gals during my NZ days (about 30 years ago?) It felt just like 30 years ago...she with her kind spirit, her hubby (now a family friend..he and Nik love like no other..haha..sometimes Anidah and I yang feel out of place cos' the two would talk non-stop! Walhal yang berkawan lama is Anidah and I) would share ilmu2 agama he picks up after he left military service.'Tall' (his pet name) knows a lot about tasawuf and sufism.Dah boleh mengubat orang (just solat 2 rakaat, baca doa yang selalu Nabi baca and start baca apa yang patut pada pesakit, he said.This was done when a person kena sampuk and there was no one else to heal except him yang pandai sikit).

He led the Maghrib prayer and we had Sekinchan and Thai dinner at my plc (I beli siap2.Where got time to cook, honey.Balik from work, I was like an injured cochcroach ~ lipas kudung~ stopped at this outlet, that outlet to come out with a nice and exotic dish combination for my guests..nyata mereka sangat gumbira with my choices cuma maid ngok I masak nasi untuk 4 when there's 8 of us!!! Geram tak? But dgn izin Allah, tak ketara...maka taklah I malu...)

Then we invited the 2 sheikhs over.By now I dah nak tertidur. :) The 3rd Sheikh (not Sheikh Nasr!) dah balik so sheikhs 2 ni diam sikit except Sheikh Nasser dok sibuk mencari if I simpan patung lagi tak dalam rumah (malaikat tak masuk,he said).I dah sempat sorokkan my 3 african giraffes kat bilik atas...

Lupa nak cakap kat hubby Sunday ni I ajak Makoto and kawan2 dia dari Saudi, Canada and Africa datang...mungkin nak ajak Maher too (we have a prog together petang tu) Haiyoo..lupa...tak sempat nak masak tu..Sekinchan lagi la nampak gayanya!

Ikan Bakar Sekinchan

2011-06-05T16:23:00.003+08:00

It's been a hectic Sunday but we made time to lunch at Ikan Bakar Sekinchan (many outlets but there's one in our neighbourhood).

You guys must try.Memang Sekinchan! But the outlet near our place tu terlalu hot although air-cons dia berderet (one of the waiters kata boss dah panggil org baiki but still hot).Go in the evening for a cooler time.They are open 7 days a week till 12 midnight.

The biz is owned by a Malay enterpreneur.Khabarnya gaji waiter dia lebig dari RM1K sebulan with other perks (percutian ke Bali for top performance for 40 pekerja).Ada kerja part time, Dato' Jamal? Saya kerja keras pun Boss tak hantar cuti ke Bali... :)

Sunday hasn't ended..another exciting meeting in later part of the evening (free dinner by Kak Mun.Haha).I hope it's not Ikan Bakar Sekinchan!

Selamat Pengantin Baru to Azlan & Fazlinda

2011-06-04T14:14:00.003+08:00

On behalf of warga I-Glass, saya mengucapkan selamat pengantin baru to Azlan Shah Sharifudin (pembaca tetap I-Glass) dan pasangan jelitanya Fazlinda Hamzah.Kita doakan agar dirahmati Allah jodoh mereka ini hingga ke akhir hayat.

Share with us pics!

On deen and right sources in learning

2011-05-31T13:58:00.002+08:00

The 3 sheikhs visited IIUM main campus today.Dr Azman's Quranic class was hijacked for the talk at 10 am but students (from Muslim minority countries) appreciated the 1 hour session as Sheikh Al-Hares spoke on the importance of knowing Arabic to understand Quran and the danger of relying on translated works (like Yusuf Ali is bad news, OK? Most mosques in Australia have withdrawn copies of Yusuf Ali cos' his translations are off on a tangent..kufur in many..I love Yusuf Ali..cos' of the many references he has in his footnotes of things literary and philosophical).

The Sheikhs read doas twice at CERDAS..so maybe we'd get our first million soon.Haha.
Bro. Nasser performed nasyeed ..ahh..so mengasyikkan dan memilukan...I don't have to know what the nasyeed meant..it's so melodious..

A student from a Communist occupied country said while the religion advocates both male and female to learn, read Quran, etc..it is very difficult to do that in her country..people go to jail for reading Quran.Almost in tears, she asked the Sheikh what best solution would he offer to overcome such a situation.

I was teary too..here we are ...free to read the Quran and yet...so malas to do so...we take our religious freedom for granted in this country...

Sheikh said a lot of people could still practise their religiosity but practising it quietly.No excuse not to do, huh?

Another student came fwd and congratulated us for such quality prog.Sapa yang kata CERDAS tu nama macam sekolah kampong? :)) We are INTERNATIONAL, babe. :)

What are friends for

2011-05-30T12:00:00.003+08:00

My zikir story isn't done yet.Let me share with you last night's event.

Dr S rang to say she would not be able to make it cos' she felt so unwell.She doesn't live too far away from my place so I told her I'd pick her up. What are friends for.

The zikir group and Dr P arrived while I was on my way back from picking Dr S from her apt.Mek and Nik dah kalut tak tau apa nak buat (Nik hadn't met any of them before). I told them just get the prayer mats out, get the group to pray Maghrib dulu, etc.

Masa kita arrived tu, depa tengah solat berjumaah.Hmm, nice.
Lepas tu depa started the zikir.Mat Salleh tu (lupa nak tanya nama dia!) suruh tutup lampu except lampu kat garden..wah..macam Sheikh Nazim kaa? I hear depa ratip dalam gelap, campur laki perempuan...

But in our session, the women duduk one side, men satu side (but berdepan2) Mungkin that's why the guy suruh tutup lampu.Supaya dapat FOCUS.haha.

The zikir went 100 times (no glossy mags to flick this time).Sekali sekali Sheikh tanya ada sapa2 rasa apa2? panas? sakit2? pening? nak muntah?a few hands would go up.Then sheikh would come and baca atas kepala dia and sembur2: puh puh...haha..quite funny watching him do this..

Lepas tu yang lagi funny is episode nak sembelih jin...wough..guess who was the first calon?

ME! Sheikh said come Sister Faridah, you sit here. Lepas tu he serkop my head dgn kain semayang I.tak kasi warning ..terus serkop.Then terus grabbed my head from behind and started to slaughter my head dgn tangan dia.Wough! Drama Queen mesti scream.haha.So that Sheikh is happy and Queen pun happy, kan? It was a performance, really.Like all rituals. :)

Tapi sakit betullah! He knew which side to slaughter (my left which was giving much problem to me)

Dgn izin Allah, my leg pain hilang! (or not as bisa as the nights before).

What is going on, HONEY???
Hopefully I'll be OK for my umrah trip.Will need to walk a lot nanti.

zikir group

2011-05-27T23:32:00.002+08:00

A good friend of mine rang pretty late and asked if I wish to join a zikir group from Australia. It's part of our healing process.I jumped at the invitation and took Mek and Mak with me (tak jadi keluar dinner at Rebung ke Mebung kaa..Top Hat kaa Mop Hat kaa).

2 Arab sheikhs (they just came back from Canada) and pembantu Australians mereka chanted some zikirs on me and my friends (we were asked to hold hands).100 kali (panjang zikirnya).I was so bored...so nampak special edition buku kawin William and Kate..I was flicking through the glossy pages and admiring quietly some of the baju the guests wore..then tiba2 one of the Aussie guys tutup mag tu dgn tikar semayang...kantoi! (the rest laughed AT me) Haiyo!

But you haven't heard enough...My friend was the host..she was asked if she had olive oil sebab nanti olive oil tu kena minum and sapu kat badan at least once a day.My friend pi ambik olive oil yang orang guna utk berasmara! Haha.I could not help laughing (my fren ni single mom..jenis yang innocent).I told her...yang ini tak boleh minum.People use this for dot dot dot.The lady from Germany laughed the loudest! The guys were still doing their zikir.The women could not sit still.

Oh what a night! I love my friends.Kita ni tak sihat but we are happy. :))
We'll have another meeting at my house before those guys balik semula ke Sydney.Mek kata my healers very da international.

home sweet home

2011-05-26T22:08:00.003+08:00

Touched down around 5 pm at KLIA.Brunei was good but home is home.
Ada accident menghala ke KL from KLIA but my taxi driver was clever in getting a short cut so it wasn't a long wait for us.Masa dia dok jumped queue tu, ada la another car of north africans overtook his car..the taxi driver said, "Ini negro..manyak jahat."

Haha...welcome to the land of racism of all sorts!
I go back to work tmrw...am still exhausted..but meetings (with the Kull, with clients). Penat doh.

Mek is in town.Dia ajak I keluar dinner with Mom besok malam.Z would be home too.Mek nak pi Rebung.I hate Rebung.I nak pi Top Hat.Mek said mak likes malay cuisine.We'll see besok.

Salam from Brunei

2011-05-22T23:11:00.006+08:00

I touched down around 8 pm.Ramainya warga IIUM on the flight...some are flying to the UK (transit in Brunei), others are attending a conference at Uni. Brunei.

Suib and family fetched me at the airport.It's a different hotel than the last we stayed in.Better and dikelilingi oleh shops (my eyes sparkle at this.Haha).But internet use kat hotel ni leceh sikitlah.So do not expect daily updates (unless I'm so bored and have ntg to do).

Busy days ahead.Need to buy some local books before I start talking to the writers.

Suib was telling me how Brunei government bagi byk incentive to those yang hafal Quran (Brunei wants to be negara zikir..isn't that something? The first hafiz dapat BND100K and student hafiz dapat s/ship some BND2K a month.Oh wow!) Sultan jaga makan minum rakyat dia (ayam yang diimpot dari Msia pun are closely monitored..they have org dia jaga penyembelihan di Msia..penyembelihan ayam mas di Msia utk export ke Brunei dipantau oleh org2 Brunei sendiri.Begitu juga those done in Australia/NZ.Hotels semua halal..no arak..)

Bagusnya pemimpin mcm ni...

Meeting old friends

2011-05-20T19:12:00.002+08:00

What happens when you meet friends you have not seen for years?

With the ladies, they first scream, then they hug.Smooch, smooch kiri kanan (I know guys love watching us do this.Haha.Once at a viva exam, a group of old girlfriends met in so many months.A guy was waiting and was disappointed the smooching episode didn't take place.He admitted, "I was waiting...")

Anyway, I met some of my Uni. of Waikato alums of the 80s at a dinner hosted by the uni at the NZ High Comm's home (new High Commissioner).Kita punya VC of 6 years old has done a lot to put the uni on the map.The former NZ PM is our Chancellor (Jim Bolger).His wife very friendly.I boleh panggil dia mcm ni Oh Mrs Bolgerrrr...(masa nak ambik gambar..and she comes running...)

I thot I put this on record.The pics will come later.

the reiki man

2011-05-18T14:45:00.002+08:00

I saw him last Sunday (recommended by a fren called K).She said this reiki man (who comes once a month from Ipoh) could do "magic".Haha.I hear that too often now.I went anyway.

He said,"oh..awak masih ada gangguan..saya tlg buang". Lepas tu kasi ubat2 "aura" (in the form of homeopathy pills to re-charge blocked energy.He is, after all, the reiki man).

I went back to where I began (sakit mcm mula2 kena: tak boleh tidur, woke up in pain).Before that my sleeping pattern was OK (slept through the night, no more mimpi2 hantu/nightmares).The only comfort now is, I can go back to sleep.Before, kan...sampai ke pagi.A lot to bersyukur for, actually.

Today Kak Mah gave me a number. :) Gonna call this Haji.

My sister said I'm a healer junkie.Maybe I'm collecting materials for my short stories.Who knows what would come of this.

Stay tuned.

Uncle Kong's Funeral

2011-05-12T09:26:00.000+08:00

Uncle Kong tu my Chinese neighbour yang meninggal 2 hari lepas.

Semasa hidupnya, dia sangat ceria..ada hari2 tertentu dia akan berkaraoke lagu2 klasik Cina (suara taklah macam Andy Williams).Kadang2 jiran2 tak larat juga tapi biasa dia bernyanyi waktu org pi kerja.

Kalau raya Cina, dia mesti buat lion dance.Kita tompang tengok percuma je.

Hari ini, di hari penghabisan keluarga mereka nak say goodbye, ada marching band disewa khas (2 hari lepas music Cina mcm lion dance tu).Hari ni, lagu2 orang putih.Kami semua terhibur (I pi kerja lambat sebab nak warm up my legs dulu).

You know what?
I cried!
Sebabnya terharu anak2 dia all out nak show their love for their dead dad.I think he was a good dad (bila keluarga dia berkumpul, anak2 dia diizinkannya park depan rumah kita sesuka hati mereka.Haha.Bila Nik tegor..sebab keluarga kita pun dtg juga nak park kat situ..dia akan kata dgn senyum manisnya "sorry! sorry ah?" dan aleh kereta).

Yes, funerals are about what happens to the loved ones you leave behind..how do they cope..what do they do to express their love, regret and all that jazz.

I see that before my eyes.Anak2 Uncle Kong going all out.The death was so sudden for them (anak from USA pun bergegas balik tapi ayah dah dalam keranda).

Sekian laporan live dari rumah saya.

Z is 19 today

2011-05-11T12:44:00.003+08:00

Anak dara saya menyambut birthday-nya yang ke 19 hari ini.Semoga panjang umur, murah rezeki, bertambah iman dan ilmu yang bermanfaat dan boleh dimanfaatkan oleh orang ramai.

Dia di kolej sedang sibuk buat exams dia (leading to A Level exam.Markah2 tahun ini boleh dikira utk exam sebenarnya tahun depan so the pressure is on).We will celebrate on Saturday with her at her college, InsyaAllah (sebab exam still on..tak leh balik rumah).

19 years ago, start at midnite I was in labour already.Masa tu tak intense and I told the nurse: oh is this what the fuss is all about? Tak sakit pun!"

Nurse tu kata, "You wait."

And true enough, 6 hours labour ...towards the end rasa macam nak mati sakitnya.I had my eyes close all the time sampai Z lahir at around waktu suboh May 11.I opened my eyes kejap to peep at Z then closed them again till they wheeled me back to my room.Nurse tu sampai cakap, "Ma'am, you may open your eyes now." Haha...I was afraid I might change into a pumpkin after delivery! Tak berani buka mata to see a new world.

Nik said Z was in a sac and the doc had to cut the sac open to keluarkan dia..and she was sucking her thumb! Lepas tu she smiled at her dad (kalau Dad dia tak exaggerate lah but he swears this was what he saw in the labour room)

Z is anak doa.I had problems conceiving and when my uncle (an imam at the kampong and his doas always dimakbulkan Allah..people went to him for doas..he's that good) went to do his umrah one fine year, we kirim doa for a child.

When I conceived for the 5th time (didn't know it till we got home from the UK..yeah..Z was conceived in London and no wonder I was so 'car sick' when we were touring Europe.Rupa2nya pregnant!) and I had the usual signs of having a miscarriage, I had given up..thinking ah..this is yet another episode..

But my gynae said, "hey, there's heart beat here!" (in the previous pregnancies, the heart beat wasn't there at all).
We were like hah? oh wow..
I was bedridden and after 3 months, looked like the pregnancy was OK.Didn't have much of a problem except I was eating a lot! By 9 months, I was your tong deram.I cringed at the reflection I saw in the mirror.

And then May 11, Suboh ..Z was born..what a joy! what a beautiful baby!
It was easy raising her since birth (she slept with the maid for a year...haha).

Well gal, Ibu and Papa doa that you will not change so much now that you dah jadi a young adult.Jangan ber-boi-fren till habis belajar (this is what my mom told me.Haha).

Have a great day and never forget to bersyukur all the time.See you Saturday (my gal stalks my blog).

Saying goodbye to Kak Pah

2011-05-09T13:50:00.005+08:00

Kah Pah is not my imaginary friend.haha.

She and I went back a longgggggggggg way..before Z was born.We used to teach at Matric in the late 80s (before I left for Liverpool to do my Master's). Between her and me, we have almost 30 years between us.She was trained at Kirby.A beautiful lady who never married (her love story mengalahkan filem Hindi...very sad.I wish I could share all of it but takut kena saman.Haha)

Kak Pah is moving back to JB (her hometown).Yesterday was my goodbye to her.We went out to lunch at the Curve, eating pancakes and lamb chops.She said she didn't know me anymore (punya lama tak jumpa).I said I'm still the same, always in a rush but would still make time for good friends.And we talked of old days.The people we knew, the common interests we had.It's hard saying goodbye to someone you know and one who knows you so well.Kak Pah and I pun kuat bergadoh (marble headed women!)I remember her joining me in London in one of my conference trips.We were discussing a topic.As always, she would (or I would) take a different take.Lepas tu kita 'gaduh'.Haha.But lepas tu baik balik.That's Kak Pah for you.People think she's my mother.

Well, Kak Pah...thank you for your friendship, arguments and debates (semalam I saw a book on Saddam Hussein on her coffee table: the book featured Saddam as a thinker.Mana dia dapat buku tu pun I tak tau.She said she'd had it long before the 1st Gulf War and that she thought highly of Saddam).

As a student of History, her interest in so many things fascinates me.This is one friend who never bores you.

Kak Pah, we will miss you.
But I think we'll make that trip to JB one of these days and say hello again.Take care and God bless.

Seha, Shuib and Freedom

2011-05-03T22:13:00.001+08:00

For my younger readers, you'd be too young to remember Freedom, satu kumpulan musik yang mempunyai sepasang penyanyi yang sangat luarbiasa waktu tu : Seha and Shuib.

Seha meninggal beberapa tahun lalu sebab kanser.A real beauty and a real talent.Shuib has stopped singing.Sayang sekali.

My fav is Mulanya Di sini.I didn't know Freedom's love songs yang lain2nya sungguh tragik.

playing mom

2011-05-03T22:02:00.003+08:00

It's Makoto's first day today..there's the ELS registration to do, ID card to be sorted out, accommodation matters, visa, etc etc.

I had to show him how to do this and that.We took a ride to KL tompang Nik ( I malas drive).From there naik monorail and then LRT to KLCC.You know I don't take public transport, kan? I must have looked so lost ...but people were so helpful.They treated me like a tourist.Haha.I could not believe Msians are so kind! I must have this muka kesian look on me.

Lepas dropping Makoto at ELS and talking to Douglas on arrangement kita nak share profits, I pi jumpa Wak for foot reflexology (my spine and leg were aching!).Wak is my long time blind masseur and Allah gives him this ability to heal like no one else could.You tau, all my pains went away after my one hour session with Wak? God bless him.

Then I took a cab home.Cost me a bomb.Then went back to KL to pick my new son.Kerja gila, kan? Balik ke IIUM, sorted what needed to be sorted out.Went to pick Habib.Long is in town and Habib had to work on her prob. pulak.

So long day.
Makoto will live on campus next week.He needs to improve his Arabic and learn Islam.Campus life will be good for him.

Bradley Cooper is the new Brad Pitt

2011-05-01T22:32:00.007+08:00

from the movie "Limitless" with de Niro
r/ship tak pernah kekal lama
was romantically linked with aniston for a while

Hari ni dok melayan anak dara saya (bonding time).

Ada pulak anak teruna baru datang so kita pi tengok wayang kat One Utama.Limitless.Pilihan suami.Dah tanya ada violence ke tak, he said no, takda..ini cerita kelakar.

Nasib Bradley Cooper hensem (half Italian half Irish OK?).So the movie (which promotes drug abuse!) was bearable with the Cooper element.Haha.But ada juga violent scenes (I was like closing my eyes much of the time, asking Z what happens now..dia buat apa sekarang, etc etc)

Nik and Makoto suka sangatlah movie tu (one scene has a special package for Cooper which says urgent.So he opens the package: dalamnya ada 2 pasang tangan yang sudah dikerat..satu kulit hitam, satu kulit putih which belong to his 2 bodyguards.Yewl...ngeri!)

This is the kinda movie Hollywood comes out with these days...

Next time I will be the one who will decide which movie to go to (romantic comedy with hugh grant or jennifer aniston.)

But dinner was good.And the thai massage that came after that.Heavenly.

ceramah agama

2011-05-01T10:57:00.007+08:00

I must share this with you.

Last night, we (me, Nik and Makoto) went to listen to Imam Imran Hosein's talk at the surau.Ramainya orang! And what was more surprising, anak2 muda yang mukanya bersih dan beriman.

I asked a guy near me, "where do these young people come from?"
He said he could not answer that (either dia tak tau atau he's part of the group and not telling.Haha).

So the good old Imam was telling us pasal the spreading of power (military) of the zionists, that the kecoh2 in the middle east memang dirancangkan (I told you so!) so that the seemingly kebangkitan Islam would be reason enough for tentera musuh to validate their military expansion atas dasar security and self defense against terrorism.The Imam quoted hadith and verses from the Quran to support his theory (of conspiracy).

A lot of questions from the guys during Q&A.I didn't want to embarrass him with my questions so I went to him after the talk when there was a smaller group (of men again). There I asked him: aren't you over-rating the strength of the Yahudi? It's as though the Muslims are not capable of taking charge...instead of submitting to the threat of the zionists, why can't we think of what to do next and be positive for once? We cannot be talking about the stagnant state we are in all the time..what are the ways to move forward, etc etc.

Lama juga dia termenung nak menjawab then he went on the old record: I do not see any Muslim leaders rejecting the current financial system, (I kata maybe at the same time, we should also be thinking about working on our science and technology..think of innovation..and not think that the financial system is all there is in life to save Islam..)

Tapi he continued to speak on pasal duit, hahaha.
I also do not agree with him attacking Harun Yahya like that.He may not agree with Harun Yahya but Harun Yahya cannot be wrong all the time (he's a well-respected writer with lots of followers in the Muslim world).It's OK to difffer in thoughts..attack the ideas NOT the man.

But I still like the good old Imam.Bought his travelogue book (siap dapat autograph dia dedicated to me..I told him to write "For Faridah" in the book.Heh).Hubby bought Jerusalem in the Quran (asked the Imam to write Nik's name too.He asked Nik what? Pandai pulak dia! I said Nik Affendi.He said ahh..so he's from Kelantan.Hmm alahai,he's gone local!)

Must catch Harun Yahya pulak.There's a write up saying he's schizophrenic.Macam2lah.

when you have too much time...

2011-04-30T16:40:00.006+08:00

time is a luxury this weekend.Tak tau nak buat apa! Nak tulis email pun tak boleh, nak kacau kawan2 kat facebook pun orang habis bercuti..nak ber-blog pun takda cerita menarik.

But Makoto arrived jam 2 am semalam.There was a flight delay in Beijing.Patut sampai jam 12 midnight.

Nasib dia tak mau apa2.If not, I'd be too sleepy to cook or prepare apa2.Bibik pun ngantuk.

This morning, I buat b/fast.But we also bought nasi dagang,pulut ikan masin etc.I bought ikan goreng bertepong for Makoto and told him it's a kinda tempura.Apa lagi, mamat tu makan dengan ekor2 ikan tu sekali, probably thinking it's crispy as tempura.Nasib kepala ikan pun dia tak makan.

Then we went to Salikin's boutique nak tempah baju raya.Mak oiii...mahal juga but what the heck...bukan selalu nak melaram.Z pun tompang sekaki.

Then we went to see my mom at Ummi's.She tiba2 boleh cakap Jepun dengan Makoto (she grew up during the Japanese Occupation in the 40s and had picked up some Japanese).My mom always enjoys my foreign students whenever I take them home for raya ke hapa ke.So she dah biasa jumpa budak2 international macam ni.

While I pi semayang, I heard dia sibuk ajar Makoto cakap Melayu.

"Makan"
"Minum"
"Sedap"

Nampak dia happy je (she loves having company..suka berborak)

Ingat nak tengok wayang malam ni but Nik ajak pi surau dengar ceramah agama.Dia nak ajak Makoto sekali (which means kena pinjamkan sepasang baju Melayu Nik pada dia).

Maybe I'll read a book in a bit.Terasa boring cuti lama2 macam ni. :)

pesta buku, royal wedding dan pening kepala

2011-04-29T22:14:00.004+08:00

quite a full day today.I forgot about the royal wedding and booked today as my hydrotherapy day so I missed much of the ceremony (but was in time for the balcony kisses.heh)

one mamat tak tau taruk mata mana hit my car while we were waiting at the traffic light around kia peng area.Cheh! I had a bad headache, terpaksa turun to see if there were a dent.The guy came out and apologised and tried to convince me takda apa2, cik.I sempat mumbled, "macamana awak bawak kereta?" but too pening to be hysterical.Haha.

The jam was bad on the way back.But lepas solat. terus lepak depan TV with Z (who's home for the long weekend).I don't like William in red.Tak padan dgn baju si Kate tu.
Tak suka juga si Camilla there.Diana should be there, and alive.

I was at the pesta buku earlier.What a disappointment.Publishers are just interested in making money (flooding the market with books they know would sell NOT books to educate).I was looking for books they would never put there for lack of a good market: literary books and very few had literature section in their booths.Even Cambridge Uni Press.Totally disgusting.When I asked them to search for a few titles, one gal said oh we have them tapi tak bawak.Takdalah usaha to get my contacts and say we'll send them to you if you pay now (which I would not mind doing).

But at least the crowds were there.Which means more and more Malaysians are reading and interested in books.That's quite a comfort.

Loving your mom in her old age

2011-04-27T23:46:00.005+08:00

When our moms are old and frail, it won't be easy to love them. They'd push you away for the slightest hurt they feel and you would have bent your back to serve them and yet, nothing is enough.

Cos' all they want is your time.Not your money.Or tasty, foreign looking foods.

I try to bond with my ailing mom as much as I can (all my siblings try hard too) but alas, all of us work.And sometimes we have to move our mom around (which she does not like).Like yesterday, I had to send her back to my niece's home cos' it's closer to her dialysis centre and there's a fulltime maid to look after her (while she's so weak at the moment).Her maids when she was staying at Sal's had left (she fired them one by one.Haha).Sal works and has no maid.So we have to place mom at my niece's while waiting for the new maid to arrive.

She cried after I left, it seems.She told my niece's bibik, oh...all my children do not want me..they put me everywhere.

Not true at all.Sometimes we leave our husbands to sleep with her nights (Kak Ngah does this a lot).Sal is thinking of taking an unpaid leave to look after my mom fulltime.I limp to her every day despite my leg pain and would stay with her as long as I can before her bed time cos' she likes me to rub minyak zaitun campur air zam2 yang Habeeb dah ruqyahkan on her body and leg every nite before she sleeps.She finds comfort in that.I think she just enjoys human touches and feels loved.I don't mind making her happy in whatever small way I can give)

But bila dia merajuk..alamak! Very da susah.Sometimes I buat pekak je.Like she'd say do not buy me any pizzas or chicken wings any more.I do not want your food.I'd say fine! You don't have to eat them! (but I know the moment I'm out of sight, she would ask Bibik to feed her those pizzas and chicken wings.Haha).I know her tricks dah lama. :))

So I guess when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.Keyword is sabar.Once you get through it, there's a feeling of tranquilty and peace inside you. You cannot put a price to that.

PROPHETIC TRADITIONS ON BELIEVERS’ APPROACH TO THE RULERS

2011-04-23T20:14:00.002+08:00

1-‘Abd Allah ibnMas‘ud reported that the Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “You will see after me taking place many things undesirable [at the hands of the rulers]’; then the people asked the Prophet (s.a.w.) as to what he advised them to do in that situation. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: ‘Pay unto them [the rulers] their right and invoke Allah concerning your right”

2-‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abbas reported that the Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “He who finds in his leader something he dislikes must remain patient. Verily, he who came out of his loyalty to the ruler even to a little extent died death of ignorance”.

3-‘Ubadah ibnSamit reported that the Prophet (s.a.w.) uttered and we pledged allegiance to the Prophet (s.a.w.) for complete loyalty (al-sam‘wa al-ta‘ah) in all situations, and for keeping away from conflict with the ruler except that there is very clear blasphemy on the part of the rulers (kufranbawahan).
Reference: Al-Bukhari, Muhammad ibnIsma‘il, Sahih (Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, Beirut, 1400 A.H.), Vol. 4, pp. 312-313, kitab al-Fitan, Report No. (1) 7052, (2) 7053-7054, and (3) 7056.

4-Abu Hurayrah reports that the Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “He who obeyed me actually obeyed Allah; he who obeyed my governor (amiri which originally signifies leader) actually obeyed me; he who disobeyed my governor actually disobeyed me”.

5-Anas ibn Malik reports that the Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “Listen to and obey the leader appointed for you even though he is an ugly abyssinian slave”.

6-‘Abd Allah ibnMas‘ud reports that the Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “Total obedience to the leader is obligatory for Muslim as long as the leader did not command to commit sin. If Muslims were commanded to do wrong obedience to the leader is no more in place”.

7-‘Ali ibnAbiTalib reports that once the Prophet (s.a.w.) sent a small contingent of army under the leadership of a combatant from Ansar, advising the soldiers to obey their leader. During the expedition when once the contingent leader got angry with his subordinates due to some reasons, he asked: Did the Prophet (s.a.w.) not command you to obey me? When the people confirmed it, he ordered them to prepare a big fire and enter it. They refused to enter the fire on the ground that they followed the Prophet (s.a.w.) with a view to protecting themselves from the fire. Upon their return to Madinah the whole event was reported to the Prophet (s.a.w.) who said: “Had you entered the fire, you would never have come out of it. Obedience to the leader is indeed only in the matter of what is good (ma‘ruf)”.
Reference:Al-Bukhari, Muhammad ibnIsma‘il, Sahih (Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, Beirut, 1400 A.H.), Vol. 4, pp. 328-330, kitab al-Ahkam, Report No. (5) 7137, (6) 7142, (6) 7144, and (7) 7145.

8-‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar reports that the Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “Listening and obedience to the leader is compulsory as long as the people are not commanded to commit what is sin. If the people were to do what is wrong, there is no listening and obedience to the leader”.

9-Abu Hurayrah reports that the Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “He who obeyed me indeed obeyed Allah; he who disobeyed me indeed disobeyed Allah. He who obeyed the leader indeed obeyed me; he who disobeyed the leader indeed disobeyed me. The leader is indeed a shield behind which war is fought and victory achieved. If the leader commanded the people to uphold piety and observed justice, he would certainly be rewarded; if he did something wrong, he is accountable to Allah”.
Reference: Al-Bukhari, Muhammad ibnIsma‘il, Sahih (Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, Beirut, 1400 A.H.), Vol. 2, p. 347, kitab al-Jihad wa al-Siyar, Report No. (8) 2955, and (9) 2957.

Note: These reports (1-9) are also available in Muslim, ibn al-Hajjaj al-Qushayri, Sahih (Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, Beirut, 2000), pp. 828-832, kitab al-Imarah, Report Nos. 1834-1844.

Prof. Dr. Israr Ahmad Khan
Department of Qur’an and Sunnah Studies
Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences
International Islamic University Malaysia
Tel: 03-61965538
H/P: 017-6801375
Email Add: israr53@yahoo.com; israr@iium.edu.my

My mom's healers (tak berapa seram)

2011-04-21T11:58:00.004+08:00

Yesterday I was busy ferrying my mom's healers.One of them a Quran and Sunnah postgraduate student who came to read some ruqyah verses at my mom's room.

Later that afternoon another friend came to read more Quranic verses.My mom tiba-tiba tak boleh bangun and would often get her athma attack yang would not respond to her electric inhaler (macam kat hospital tu..it looks like a vacuum cleaner!) My niece, a doctor, said it's all in her mind (psychosomatic problem) ...she accused me of having the same disease.I said true..except mine is real.Haha.

After the afternoon treatment, my mom could walk by herself.Ni macam NLP je.But I'm glad she could bangun and pray duduk.That is all that matters.
I stayed as long as I could (hujan lebat sampai 3 sessions).

Back at home, I remember Imam Huseein was giving a talk at a surau near my place.Alas, too late.Masa Nik and I pi, orang dah tengah solat Isyak and then makan.We turned balik.Prof AbuShouk will invite him over to IIUM for another session.I have heard him before.Nice English.Nak terlena mendengar nya.So musical.

Shopping with Ijat and Aiman was fun last night.Depa borong betul2 cos' I told them spend! spend! I have lots of moneyyyy (haha..I was just kidding them but they took me literally)Takpalah, not every day I go shopping with them.

Siri 2: Adegan seram

2011-04-17T23:06:00.012+08:00

I should not entertain this so much but a thread on jinn on my fb just triggered my memory of an experience with Dato' Ismail Kamus 2 years ago.

Not easy to see him but my friend and I waited as long as it took us.It all started with me accompanying my mom in a visit to see another Ustaz (now also a Dato')Tiba2 this ustaz called me forward and started treating me (with telor ayam) which he placed on my stomach (masa tu my husband and sisters and mom were with me)and the telor melekat.2 men tried to pull, then the following nite 3 men yang gemok2, and the 3rd nite 4 men..semua tak boleh tarik the telor stuck on me.Everytime the so called ustaz managed to pull through the egg and crack it up, adalah benda2 di dalamnya which he said was sent to me.I was in the form of denial.Apa ni ustaz, I asked the 1st night.

He said, "aha, you tak tau orang sekarang main ilmu sihir macam daun kayu..they don't even have to look at you, just jelir their tongue at you without looking at you and you are done."

Horror!

So I trusted him (being so trusting!) but masuk kali ke 7, I figured something was not right when this so called ustaz started to meraba! (I was with my 2 sisters and his assistant).Mereka tak kata apa macam kena pukau!

I stopped going and dismissed his 'reading' as rubbish!

However, I went to Darul Shifa' and Ismail Kamus for 2nd and 3rd opinions.Just in case cos' on the 2nd day after I went to the bomoh penipu, I did go through some paranormal experiences (someone was choking me as I dressed to go to work, etc).

Darul Shifa' cleared me.Ismail Kamus just went ahead with treatment without telling me anything.That is not the point of my story.My point is this:

He does group treatment (in which the range is so varied and for me so dangerous..you duduk dgn orang yang sakit2 biasa and those yang betul2 gila/kena rasuk) It was the scariest point in my life.I never went again sebab the day I went (with my husband) we were greeted by a young, clean shaven and well-spoken man.At the door, he told my husband, kita kalau nak datang berubat ni, sebelum masuk kena baca lahauwaalla kuwataillah minnazorlimin or somethimng like that (it could be another ayat).So my husband apologised dgn begitu polite and said we didn't know (and recited accordingly)

While waiting, the young man started to berceramah on living in a multiracial country.He started with Tuan2 dan Puan2 hadirin sekalian, kita apabila tinggal dalam masyarakat majmuk seperti Malaysia ini...

At this point, the penjaga registration (a lady) went to this young speaker and said,"duduk! duduk! kejap lagi ustaz datang".

Rupa2nya dia pun pesakit! Hahaha (kesian Nik who was so apologetic earlier)

When Dato' finally came, I found out I was in the same group as this bright looking young man (rupa2nya dia pelajar cemerlang who got a scholarship to study in Jordan and was doing well tapi tak tau silap kat mana, jin masuk dalam badan dia)

My friend who came with me also was in the same group (4 of us) but she was lucky she did not sit betul2 sebelah budak ni (his father said ada masa he would want to tikam his dad with pisau bila dia masuk ke alam jin dia)but masa Dato' masuk, he said wahhh..Dato' sekarang nampak semakin muda ya.I was amazed. :)

dato' buat budak ni dulu.He said dalam kepala awak banyak jin.And masa Dato buat, dia tanya budak tu, apa rasa? Budak tu kata tajam macam pisau.

Luckily time I, Dato' tak kata apa2 so I guess there was nothing wrong and life went on (and I travelled so much those years).

Group healing is dangerous. I remember just before meeting Dato' I went to one branch which was associated to the branch in Kg Baru.Yang itu lagi takut.One young man (strapped cos' he was so violent) forced himself into the treatment room where I was with my friend and 2 other ladies.I remember the young man looking directly at me and menggilai HA HA HA!

4 orang ustaz cuba tangkap dia and calm him down and started having a conversation with the boy tengah kena rasuk.

"Kenapa kau buat dia macam ni?"
"Sebab aku suka diaLAH!!"
and the boy wanted to menerpa our direction (my lutut dah cair masa ni, ketakutan!)
then ustaz tu campak lada hitam..the boy dropped like dead.

Lega

Then like a contortionist, he bounced back and menggilai lagi.It was so ugly but I managed to sneak out quickly out of the room, tinggal kawan I yang masih tengah berubat.Hahaha.

Never again group healing like that and indeed, I read a book on healing, this method is to be avoided for the same reason I mentioned above.The range of ailments is so wide.

cerita seram yang anda tidak mahu dengar

2011-04-14T08:42:00.006+08:00

amaran: jangan baca ini di waktu malam

Maka sudah jadi tabi'i (ejaan tak pasti) orang melayu dan ramai bangsa asia dan se-zone dengannya, apabila sakit yang pelik-pelik, mereka akan mendapatkan pendapat kedua dan ketiga dan seterusnya..dari ustaz, shaman, bomoh, kiai dan apa sahaja.

Harus berhati2 kerana jika kita percaya mereka BOLEH menyembohkan, kita syirik.
Harus berhati2 kerana jika kita percaya apa mereka kata, kita juga boleh syirik.

Dengan itu, saya bercerita dalam ketakutan.
Sekiranya anda akan mempercayai apa yang akan saya ceritakan.
Bacalah sekadar pengetahuan.
Atau sekadar ingin tahu.Bahawa masih ada dunia yang sebegini.
Mana yang baik, kita ambik ikhtibar.

Tetapi saya akui ramai yang saya temui adalah dari kalangan yang baik-baik.Saya tidak mempertikaikan keikhlasan mereka.

Cerita ini ialah mengenai interpetasi masing2 tentang apa yang berlaku.The other side of the story of the modern medical world.

Saya tidak akan ceritakan semua tetapi hanya sedutan the 'best'.Sorry.:)

Maka saya pun diperkenalkan kpd satu nama.Susah untuk berjumpa kerana sangat ramai clientsnya tetapi tokoh ini sangat rendah diri maka diizinkan juga saya menemuinya atas dasar kasihan.

Pada mulanya katanya saya tidak apa2.Cuma masalah medikal biasa.Tetapi sekiranya ada gangguan lain, dia akan beritahu saya kemudian (selepas solat hajat dan lain2).

Selepas Maghrib,beliau menelefon saya dan megesahkan MEMANG ada gangguan lain.Maka dia pun mendoakan cara beliau.Proses pemulihan adalah gradual.Saya sangat tidak sabar kerana sudah 2 bulan tidak tidur dan setiap jam 2 am selalu berguling2 macam kena voodoo.Doc medical saya juga tidak percaya slipped disc boleh sakit mcm ini rupa dan menasihatkan saya mencari rawatan spiritual juga.

Dalam pada itu, saya cuba cari apa sebab sebenarnya kaki kiri saya sakit sangat mcm tidak normal ini.Kawan2 saya ramai juga yang slipped disc tetapi tidak seorang yang went through what I went through.I guess if a scientific explaination is needed, I could say masing2 mungkin punya kondisi yang berlainan.Mungkin.

Satu hari, tokoh saya selepas didesak, memberitahu saya bacaannya:

Saya lihat kakak telah terpijak permainan anak jin.
Saya: di mana?
Tokoh: di dapor kakak
Saya: tapi ITU dapor saya.Dia tidak harus bermain2 di situ!

Ya, you might think it's funny (I laughed when tokoh told me this) but when I told Mek (my funny sister), she said her fren one day terduduk kat anak jin on her sofa at home.Puas berubat sana sini.Tak baik2.Then one ustaz told her (careful..syirik alert)

And yet, said Mek, there was another story in which anak kawan dia terlanggar anak jin dengan basikal sehingga cedera parah(anak jin yang cedera parah)...puas juga berubat (syirik alert! syirik alert!)

Maka apa yang perlu saya buat, tanya saya kpd tokoh.For truce ~ minta maaf: saya perlu tabur 7 atau lebih bunga kenanga di dapor saya dan besoknya harus dibuang di persimpangan empat.

Sewaktu permintaan ini dibuat, saya belum tahu kisah anak jin ini,Tokoh cuma meminta saya berbuat demikian dan saya tidak bertanya.Saya fikirkan tokoh mahu dapor saya wangi.Heh heh.

Kesimpulan cerita saya, jangan tanam pokok kenanga.Jin suka. :)

Day off

2011-04-12T23:21:00.001+08:00

I took the day off today (mc).Dah bersiap nak pi kerja, singgah pi physio kejap then bang! at the car park slope ~ I fell! Wough..nasib a car about to pass didn't hit me!

How fragile life is.

Wong put ice on my leg and I did the rest of the routine.Did an extra activity today.
My head still pusing (food poisoning on Sunday and the doc said yes, it can cause head to spin.My fren said she had the same food item and had food poisoning as well.I went with Bibik.She had the same meal.She also had spinning spells.So I have struck off this bistro ~ never again its laksa johor)

Z is home in between exams.We decided to have a night out at Eastin.Tengok the female vocalist in mini skirt goyang2 kaki dia, I jeles.I can't shake my leg like that anymore.Sakit jatuh tadi. :(

I had a good rest, though.

farewell arif

2011-04-09T19:01:00.011+08:00

Pyan text-ed saying the pengkebumian would be after Zohor so I took my time, enjoying my bfast at HUKM after feeding my mom cheesecake (my mom ni canggih sikit..sejak dia duduk KL, dia suka b'fast orang putih..pancake lah...pie lah..I think we spoil her)

Then when I finally drove over to Bangi, jumpa isteri dan mak aruah...I tanya wife dia..mana dia jenazahnya?

Selamba she said dah tanam.

I said what??

They had to tanam early (I was an hour late)..dah 3 hari Arif kat Australia.
Tak sempat juga to let him know I was there...

So lepas borak2 with the family, I called Pyan who was still at the graveyard.Bagus punya budak.Suruh dia ambik I pun, dia buat tak dengar. :)) He gave me directions.

I found it.Nasib the boys (and Tini who just arrived with her hubby) masih ada lagi kat kubur tu.Kalau tak, takut ada yang menegor "sorang je ke?"...

So Azhan led the yassin and doa tahlil tengah panas2 tu.lucky ada payung.I went cos' of his kindness carikan life tree for the Bangkok team masa Asia Pac Plays Festival kita tu.Bangkok dah threatened nak pull out kalau tak dapat pokok idup for their performance.Arif cari tengah malam buta tu juga.

May Allah bless him.Kata Israr who sempat sambut and hantar jenazah sampai ke liang lihad (they were all IIUM rugby players I think), muka aruah macam orang tidur.Despite 3 days dah meninggal, tak lebam.

Mak dia kata bukan heart attack.He got meningitis.
Semoga rohnya ditempatkan di jannah.

When mak dia tanya who I was and I told her, she said..oh yes, Arif ada sebut pasal you and thanked me for coming.

I wanted to tell her about the tree but I know she would break down.

Hydrotherapy

2011-04-08T22:29:00.003+08:00

I went to my first hydrotherapy session at Prince Court today.Enjoyed it so much.The pool was warm (heated pool) and not that deep.They only allow 4 people at one session so it was nice.My water physiotherapist was a lady.Very nice one.

People usually takut nak pi Prince Court but it's not that expensive (maybe the rooms are a bit more than other private hospitals) but other services are pretty reasonable.I go there for its hydrotherapy facilities (SDMC's will only be ready in 2013).Syok weiii..dah lama I tak masuk pool ( I have the phobia since I almost drown in Olympic-size pool at Hilton in Istanbul.Many years ago)

Anyway, anyone can go and use the facility at Prince Court.Just get a referral letter from your orthopedic (addressed to the Physiotherapist),make your appointment and be willing to pay for the service.Tak mahal.RM120 per session which lasts 40 mins( I paid RM200 for 20 mins for using a machine at a chiropractor's centre at Mont Kiara OK? Dahlah tak berkesan, sakit dan mahal pulak.)

Balik dari pool, I tidur nyenyak.Wanted to visit my mom tapi hujan lebat pulak.Besoklah.