Back at The Hague

Aug 16-18: The Hague

Aug 18- 22: Lake Brienz/Zurich

Aug 22-25: The Hague

In case I forget when 2019 vacation was, those are the dates.
A day before I flew (alone) to KL, we went on a picnic at Stompwijk with Z's friend's family.Cantik tempatnya (kampong not far from The Hague).

I buat tauhu sumbat but sos terpedas. Robert's dad yang makan lebih dari satu. Orang lain were just being polite. Z's chicken curry dimakan dgn roti nan was a fav. R's mom buat quiche. Sedap.

It was a nice time out in the sun.

More pics of Swiss holiday

Summer vacation 2019

I did not plan to go on any this year sebab kerja banyak and susah nak ambik cuti (bukan susah...takut Boss tak bagi. Haha) but Nik memang planned to go to visit Z and meronda London with his surau friends. At the same time he ngok ngek komplen I never go on any family outing anymore. Kesian juga mendengarnya so I said OK, I take 10 days ja (he would take the usual 2 weeks)

So off we went. Letak bags sari at The Hague, cabut pi Zurich and rented a car to Lake Brienz near Interlaken. What we didn't know jalannya sempit dan bergaung and driving left in those conditions agak mengerikan. Banyak terowong yang panjang2 and Swiss drivers mcm KL drivers...semua kaki pecut dan tak penyabar!

But the thing about driving is time is within our control. Can stop mana kita suka. So we stopped at Lucerne for lunch.. pi beli chokelat dia. Menyesal tak beli banyak2 sebab kat Zurich takda! (satu brand tu)

Then we got to our chalet by the lake. Phuiyooo...cantik giler. The Alps kiri kanan depan belakang but cannot mandi. Air sejuk macam air batu.

Then we took a train at Interlaken up the Alps..to Murren..lunch and cable car etc. Hai, cantiknya. Jika je tak mahal..we would want to stay longer. I would want to go again. Duduk lama2 sikit.3 hari tak cukup.

Then we drove back to Zurich. Serba serbi mahal. Makan pun mahal (dan tak sedap). Met Prof W's friend who took us to a halal dinner.Cerdik dia ni.

Water at Lake Lucerne

Lake Brienz

Our chalet overlooking the lake

Our breakfast space with a view to kill

Boleh duduk termenung berjam-jam di sini

Eidul Adha 2019

This is a late entry. It has been a busy year but I need to put this on record.

The Queen was supposed to raya with us on 2nd day at IIUM but she postponed the trip to a later date but we had to go ahead with the raya rewang...lembu orang dah sedekah sampai 5 ekor (out of 60 given by donors). By the time I sampai, rewang was done. I thought I was late but apparently UMC members memang kena dtg lewat sikit. I was disappointed cos' I was ready to rewang doing my salad. I rewang juga. Some ladies were kind enough to rewang with me.

Then we had nasi bryani and korma daging. So fresh and so sedap sebab a staff from Engineering memang pandai buat paste korma tu. Some of us bungkus bawak balik  :)

The first day raya we went balik Raub mcm biasa. Jam was so terok that we had to break the journey to two: from my home to IIUM..berhenti solat etc then after 9 pm something baru bertolak. All in all close to 6 hours.

But it was worth it. This year, I did biri2. According to Shahrul, from Barbados. Haha..pandai jelah dia tu but it did look mixed. Suruh duduk, dia duduk, suruh masuk dalam Hilux, dia masuk tanpa banyak drama. And mashaAllah isinya sedap but of cos' we did not take all.

Trip to China

Entry ini tercicir (sebab byk sgt peristiwa berlaku setelah saya pulang dari Guiyang, China).

Ceritanya agak dramatik sebab saya tiada rancangan untuk ke China tetapi diminta pergi mengiringi team IIUM yang terpilih di dalam China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week di Guliang yang saya sendiri tak sempat nak google di mana di China. Dua kali naik plane dan flights di China terkenal selalu delay. Memang antara 4-5 jam delaynya. Lembik kami bila tiba hampir tengah mlm di Guiyang sejak bertolak selepas subuh di Msia. Nasib bilik hotel selesa.Tapi makan susah.Nompang bekal Dr. Zee dari UiTM yang biasa datang ke Guiyang. Ada sambal bilis petai yang telah dipack-kan.Katanya ada dijual di station Petronas Bukit Beruntung.Lain kali nak pi China kena siap bekalannya.

So we took part in the dialogue with Chinese unis and IIUM managed to sign up with 6 unis/colleges. Not bad for a new kid on the block. Dr Mariana and team sgt cekap. We were taken to an ancient city zaman dinasti Ming and Chin ke. Part of Chinese Great Wall pun ada di situ. Jalan byk juga sampai I tak larat. Jumpa satu basikal built for two, I suruh Haydan ambik and tolong kayuh I ke tempat bas kami. Pastu tak tau pulak mcmana nak brake..we saw a bus coming..I tekan je apa yang ada. Nasib mmg brake rupanya. Then sekali lagi this old man lalu melintas, Haydan ni melolong je boleh diharap. Haha.

But I'm grateful he was courageous enough to rembat entah basikal siapa je. Mmg I dah tak larat nak jalan. Rasa mcm nak pengsan dah masa tu.

I spoke to introduce IIUM. Our uni rejects participating in QS ranking so mmg we have no rank. While uni lain dok shared ranking mrk..IIUM had only makasid shariah, filosofi pendidikan nasional and SDG aspirations to share. Tak tau la how that was received by our communist counterparts. Nampak mereka mengejar2 juga kami to sign up. Kami pun kejar juga mereka. Ada yang lari takut. Haha.

But Guiyang ni very clean, very modern, very green, OK? Dr. Fadzil and I kata we don't mind staying here.Bukan nak mengada, kata disclaimer kami..tapi memang tenang..no traffic jam mcm KL.

Girls' Outing

This time I was not in charge and was the last to arrive. :) Dok sibuk menonton pertabalan Yang Dipertuan Agong, Sultan Pahang ku. What a couple. Nampak macam semua golongan rakyat menerima baik kedua mempelai ini. I kenal Tok dia since zaman I budak..ninda Agong tu. Memang mesra rakyat. I remember the day Sultan Abu Bakar merasmikan our kawasan perumahan yang dinamakan sempena nama baginda: Taman Tengku Abu Bakar. That pakaian rasmi di raja Pahang, jalur2 kelabu gitu. I remember it from my childhood days sbb Sultan Abu Bakar pun pakai busana yang sama.

And cucunya hensem. Itulah ralek menonton sampai lewat pi lunch dgn kawan2 di De Wan 58. I saw their WA message: Freda, switch off the TV. Food is here. Haha (sebelum tu I texted that I was still at home watching coronation).

We had a good time, being old and silly. Pastu merepek2 nak pi holiday together sana sini. Mula2 nak pi Lake District..then it got closer and closer to home. Berangan tak habeh. Some of us susah nak cuti lama2 so tunggu pencen je le. If we can still walk!

I feel rested sebab I took the day off semalam. This time last year, we were riding Icelandic horses. How I miss such a time.

A day with guests from Imam Malik College

The President came. I felt really bertuah sebab dia ni ilmuan, a poet and has written many books in celebration and in defense of the Prophet and his sunnah sampai satu ketika dia bermimpi Rasulillah sendiri seolah-olah endorsed his book on him (and maulud practice yang dilihat wahabi sebagai bidaah). Lagi dia terjumpa stranger in Makkah yang memang mencari2 dia utk khabar gembira, bahawa dia melihat Sheikh ini berjalan bersama Rasulillah yang memegang bukunya yang berjudul sekian sekian which is still in the making. Tapi orang Arab memang suka khabar gembira macam ni ek? Especially orang Mesir. Tapi anggaplah kisah ini benar. :) Sheikh ni pun nampak ikhlas orangnya.

So we had lunch with the team and team IIibF. Harap2 berjaya lah planning mrk ni. Jgn hangat2 taik ayam sudahlah.

Transformasi diri

Saya perlu catit ini sebelum terlupa (untuk rujukan masa depan).

Hari ini saya diminta merasmikan satu prog IIIT bersama 17 unis dari Msia dan Indonesia tentang Islamisation of Knowledge. Saya sempat bersarapan dgn beberapa perwakilan uni di Bogor (Tazkia) yang memang saya kagumi sejak awal tahun (VCnya bekas pelajar IIUM)

Uni mereka ini telah berjaya mengubah masyarakat setempat melalui pendekatan Islam mereka via Islamic micro financing.Bkn sahaja org kampong bijak berniaga dan berdikari tetapi lifestyle mereka pun menjadi Islamik melalui pakaian yang menutup aurat, cepat membayar hutang, solat tidak tinggal sehingga apabila kampong yang berdekatan dilanggar tsunami, kg mereka selamat atau tidak menganggu mereka dari terus membayar hutang mengikut masa. MashaAllah, menitis airmata sesiapa yang mendengar cerita ini.

Jadi hari ini saya berjumpa lagi  seorang lagi academic dari Uni yang sama. Saya tanya mcmana kamu semua berjaya membuat transformasi masyarakat begitu hebat, begitu cepat.

Masa dia explained tu hati saya berkata, lain yang ditanya, lain dijawab tetapi saya cuba menyabarkan diri dan berlapang dada mendengar penerangannya tanpa menyampuk.

Nah, nyata bersabar itu mendatangkan hasil yang lumayan! Cukup memberi inspirasi!

Katanya Allah memberi setiap orang itu kelebihan. Setengah orang Allah jadikan kaya. Sebahagian lain hanya cukup (pada saat ini yang terdetik..lain orang tanya..lain dia jawab...haha). Saya menyampuk, "Takda orang miskin?"

"Tidak ada", katanya.

Jadi orang kaya harus membantu orang yang cukup tetapi org cukup tidak boleh meminta-minta nanti jadi kebiasaannya meminta-minta, katanya. Wah..saya semakin tertarik untuk diam.

Jadi, mereka memberi pinjam dana kpd orang secara berkumpulan (5 in a group) dan ini diakadkan di khalayak ramai dan ada agreement bertulis bahwa hutang akan dibayar balik mengikut kadar pinjaman. Kalau pinjam 5 juta, pulang mesti 5 juta juga mengikut tempoh yang ditentukan. No riba. Yang meminjam mesti guna wang yang boleh menjana balik wang yang dipinjam.

Nyata ini berkesan dan telah mengubah ekonomi orang2 kampong dari cukup kpd kaya.
Ingin saya coba model ini.

The Dubai trip

Some things happened unplanned.That was how I ended in Dubai for almost a week with 6 ladies from the finance field.And what fun it was! Syukurlah di atas kesempatan bertemu dgn key people in the industry in Dubai and we got to visit a few universities in government cars. Raja Ajman hantar Mercedes and with that passport kami masuk unis tanpa appointments, subhanaAllah. I do not know kawan kaya2 or berpengaruh but I have Allah. We were invited to the king's court and we had a drink with him (I ambik carrot juice, dia pun ambik carrot juice..so sweet. Ingat nak cuba la minuman lain but the dayang angkat cepat sangat.Someone who took the Kiwi juice cakap minuman raja memang lain rasanya. Haha. I was hoping for the pineapple juice for second round).

Pas tu lawyer dia bawak kita merata..hospital lah, uni lah. Hospital visit tu I suka sebab canggih sangat. We met the founder (of 8 hospitals in the Gulf and Africa).Orang-orang macam ni humble. Syukur alhamdulillah, dapat berjumpa.Founder dia pun warak.

Yang paling we enjoyed (women being women) was shopping arbayas at Naif Souk. I yang tak suka arbaya ni pun beli juga. They said I looked like a princess wearing it.Haha..kipas lagi akak, kipas.Panas ni.

Malaysian community di sini baik2 tak macam London. We get free meals daily! Dato DB belanja high tea at The Gate.Mlmnya people from the Bank bawak makan kat restaurant Pakistan (fusion). The following night at a fancy Chinese restaurant. Alhamdulillah.Rezeki orang teraniaya. Haha.

But yang paling best on the way back lepakking at Biz Lounge at Muscat airport. Phuiyoo..Omani food sedap gila. There's something like bubur lambuk which I loved so much.

But travelling is no longer that fun for me.Tak larat nak jalan. Airport pulak besar2 sekarang.

Raya with CCIL

Z and her father thought it was really funny catching me chatting with members of CCIL. What does it stand for, Z asked. thinking it's some kind of international commission macam SUHAKAM kaa apa kaa.

I said Cucu Cicit Imam Long.

She and her dad ketawa berguling-guling.

What's so funny? Macam some underground secret society, she said. It is, said I. Grinning.

We met for the first time in 7 generations in Temau. I main redah je. Nasib baik they were kind. Siap bagi location. It was a real countryside. Got tobek..angsa, itik, rabbits, peacocks (30 ekor!), burung from rare species, herbal garden, rusa, kambing..ohh what a heaven! We all loved it. Robert nak datang lagi bawa kawan2 nanti, katanya yang baru digigit tikus jari kakinya (it became a raya joke for days).

We went visiting rumah sedara mara (yang semakin sedikit sebab ramai dah meninggal). First day at Kak De's and second day at Long's. A lot of laughter over me teaching Robert important Malay expressions like "saya haus"and "saya lapar". He will survive with that. :)

Balik KL we went visiting sedara mara in KL pulak (yang tak berapa sihat).Tiring juga dok makan minum ginih but nice meeting setahun sekali. :)

Back at work, I managed to accomplish quite a lot, alhamdulillah. I need the quiet to focus. Give me more time and space. Kerja menimbun ni.

Ramadan makin berundur

This Ramadan I got hooked up reading the Quran. Cita-cita nak khatam but in the final week byk betul distractionsnya. I have 4 chapters to go. Rasanya takda la tu. But I have read those 4 chapters so secara logiknya I dah baca satu Quran sekali dgn tafsirnya but tak puas hati sebab tak sejajar dgn bacaan di bulan Romdan.Oh well, good reason to continue reading after Ramadan.

Yang nyta, Allah feels strongly about manusia ini selalu nak menyekutukanNya and how every time we say we will believe if He shows this and that, kita akan senantiasa mungkir janji and continue to menyekutukannya. Allah tak suka kita sembah selain dia: berhala, jin/syaitan (bagi yang kuat berbomoh tu, ingat2lah) and He says He knows what we think and do secara terbuka or tertutup.

Lagi satu sifatNya yang Penyanyang nyata.  He says He will not destroy sesuatu kaum/tempat itu jika yang buat jahat tu segelintir. Bila semua dah teruk, baru turun bala. Dia Maha Pengampun..macamana jahat pun kita if kita taubat dan kembali ke jalanNya, kita clean.

Ramadan semakin berundur.We do not know if we will have this opportunity again next year. Last Ramadan I could still do terawih at the mosque berdiri. This year, nak duduk bersimpuh pun sakit. So let's doa we will be given another healthy year to meet Ramadan next year and masa yang berbaki dua hari ni, pulun...jangan tak pulun.

Selamat beribadah.

Ramadan 2019

Most of the time, I baca Quran (sambung from last Ramadan). Target nak khatam this year (I read sekali dgn tafsir ..tu yang lambat sikit tu but loving every min of it). My fav is Surah Yusuf..susah nak let go once you read it. Ralek baca kisah Nabi Yusuf, ayahnya dan adik beradiknya yang pendengki.

Kisah Nabi Ibrahim pun best. Allah mentions him so many times. Indeed Nabi Ibrahim ni byk ujiannya..dia terpaksa "menderhaka"dgn bapanya, lawan pemerintah, kena bakar dalam api. Like wow..pas tu ujian anak nak kena sembelih..patutlah dia disebut dlm solat kita..datuk nenek moyang Nabi Muhammad juga.

And I found this ayat (cuba cari balik dah tak jumpa but I think it's in surah Al Isra) pasal Allah kata kita kena sedekah but jgn bagi semua sampai kita takda apa2. Shocking! Sbb my mom pun ckp mcm tu dulu. Then yesterday at Icliff leadership workshop I attended, the facilitator ckp dlm dunia ni ada 3 jenis manusia: giver, taker, matcher and asked sifat CEOs dan losers. Teka sapa yang ada di atas dan siapa di bawah? I said matchers di bawah..he said no...givers. Then asked sapa di atas. I said givers. Betul!

So macamana givers ada di atas dan di bawah? Givers jenis bawah tu yang Quran dok sebut: jenis yang bagi segala2nya sampai mrk tinggal gigi dan gusi.Itupun kalau gusi and gigi boleh bagi, dia bagi. Givers yang di atas akan bantu orang, guide, bagi reta, duit, support tapi akan fikir juga masa depan dia.

Isn't it amazing? Byk lagi kalau you baca tafsir, you mmg can relate to your life. Now I'm like tak sabar to have my dose of Quran after solat. Quran berwarna yang Dato Hishamudin Karangkraf sedekahkan kami tu memang bagus cos'you can set your target..hari ni nak habiskan warna ni..minggu depan warna itu.Dia macam race with time.

Cambodia again

My 3rd trip to Phnom Pehn  was a rushed one. Dato H texted me about getting an invitation for iftar with Hun Sen. Qatar hasn't gotten back to me so I thought pi la meet Hun Sen kot2 his gomen can help our projects there.

So we roped in the other 2 and off we went on the same flight. Kerja ni semua belanja sendiri. Dato H bawak a new member so ramai juga la jadinya. First day Ramadan berbuka buah kurma in the  van and only an hour later (traffic jam) baru dpt makan Thai near our hotel.

Besoknya we had some time to look around pasar kuning but I dah tak ada mood nak berjalan2 sbb panas sgt. Mana2 pi nampak org jual air kelapa and air tebu. Prof M and I decided to balik awal on the Tuk Tuk. Then I just slept till almost time to go to the Convention Hall.

Mak ooi..5000 guests and Hun Sen fed us like Kings and Queens. Sedap betul makanannya. There were other VVIP guests from IDB, Mufti Wilayah and Chairman Mawp pun ada. Like the whole world was there (Muslim organisations) The Muslim community loves Hun Sen sbb di baik dgn mereka. I was being pushed by reporters masa berdiri nak greet him (we got to be pretty close to his laluan).Nyaris tak tersungkur. But gitulah kalau pemimpin disayangi rakyat. Kalau Bossku...takda la gamaknya. Heh heh.

The guy from IDB Jeddah was very philosophical. He said we must be like Makkah in doing good..always start with the individual (not Madinah..the community). Amboi, first time I dengar ni. Quotable.

Youth conference

I was all charged up yesterday at Al Sharq Forum. Tun M was there again and cerita Dato Vinod Sekhar on realising money was just coloured papers really touched our hearts. Kisahnya when he was 16, following his mom buat community work. While waiting for his mom to finish her power meeting, he befriended a down-syndrom child named Philip. Then as days went on, he realised duit kertas dia dok kena curi. He got very angry and told his mom tak guna buat baik dgn orang jika balasannya mrk mencuri duit kita (or stg to this effect). Mak dia cuba tenangkan dia but he was determined to catch the thief.

On his last day, Philip called him.Kata nak tunjuk stg. He went to see.Philip tampal kertas2 on manila card to say goodbye for him knowing he was leaving bck to his boarding school nanti. Vinod tengok di celah2 tampalan tu ada duit2 kertas dia yang dah digunting dan digam. Philip said I ran out of coloured papers so I took yours..I hope you didn't mind?

Vinod said it took a young boy to teach him the real value of money..that it was just a coloured paper..ada warna biru, hijau, merah...

I nak ketawa pun rasa mata dah berair. A good story.

Rector tak dtg so I la wakil uni. I sat next to Menteri Sukan dari Somalia..muda benor..tua sikit dari Syed Sadiq.Graduated from USIM.And I met Mariam from Tunisia. She janji nak introduce me to a scholar who works on Islam and feminism. I'm willing to swim oceans and climb mountains for this (tipu! nak jalan pun terhencut2)

And today was another day but I am still jetlagged. I tak jadi stay the whole afternoon.Balik office after lunch to do some work.

Wadah and I signed MoU, standing up cos' there was very little space if we sat on the chair.I think we looked funny but mrk ni professional semuanya. Selamba rock je. Some people have beautiful eyelashes.haha

https://www.ted.com/talks/wadah_khanfar_a_historic_moment_in_the_arab_world?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

Cairo trip

I took 10 people to Cairo on my visibility mission. Belanja sendiri since gomen and uni have no money. I'm glad we went. Macam2 kita jumpa. Egyptians are like Msians, very friendly and hospitable. Kita asyik makan free je sampai tak termakan-makan. Everyone nak belanja kita, alhamdulillah.

Duit Geneh dia pulak rendah. Raya katak but tak sempat shopping or sight seeing except  the pyramids and Egyptian Museum to see mummies (and Firaun). Ada high drama pulak kat museum tu. Me and Prof Maliah. Maliah terkejut I boleh jadi firaun bila I marah. Haha. Gara2 ticket collector tu mengambil duit lebih and having done that, we were asked to pay more to see the mummies.Nantian Saka I menjelma. I naik hantu. Haha. So the supervisor suruh tiket collector tu kira balik duit to match jumlah tics sold and voila..ada duit lebih and that was returned to me.

Maliah dah ajak I blah sebab takut kena katuk dgn polis yang berkeliaran sebab I had caused a drama gitu. I said no way I'm leaving..I dah penat bergaduh ni..moh kita pi tengok Firaun yang even in his death, menyusahkan orang dan terus mencekik darah..nak tengok mayat dia pun kena bayar mahal.

We laughed but went anyway.

It was worth it. Inilah kebesaran Allah.Mmg dlm Quran Dia dah cakap jasad melaun tu dipreserve utk jadi ikhtibar org yang hidup.

Sampai ini, I dok terbayang kereta kuda dan roda yang dijumpai di Laut Merah. Strangely kat museum tu not even a note to say this.Cuma dia tulis Firaun ni memerintah lama.I tanya my Egyptian friend pasal tak sebut jumpa dalam laut mcm Quran cakap. He said para archaeologists tu semua bukan Islamik pun.

But we enjoyed the trip cos'dapat masuk Al Azhar Uni (berusia 1052 tahun) dan Uni Cairo (lebih 100 tahun). Kita juga jumpa orang2 IIIT Cairo yang hosted us for 3 days..makan free, bwk pi pyramid free, kereta free.Duit tak luak, alhamdulillah.

I nak pi lagi ke Cairo if Allah izinkan. Kali ni, nak duduk kat hotel tepi Nile tu.Happening gitu.

IIIT Cairo

Prof Khaleq and team at IIIT Cairo

Minister of Awkaf handing over his books to IIUM

With Deputy President of Cairo Uni

With the Deputy President of Al Azhar Uni

Group photo with Awkaf Minister (a Prof of Islamic Studies from Al Azhar)

At Al Azhar

Lunch at the Club with people from various industries

With Prof Nadia and Prof Khaleq (two lovely people)

Poet Professor Deputy Prez. giving me that special Al Azhar
plaque

Satu petanda: Nantian Saka 2

Lebihkurang setahun lalu di waktu sebegini, saya mendapat rasa sebenarnya muyang saya Nantian Saka telah meninggal di dalam Perang Paderi. https://i-glass.blogspot.com/2018/04/nantian-saka.html
Tetapi saya masih berharap untuk mengesan apa jua sejarah tentangnya.

Di dalam kekalutan team penyelidik kami ingin menyudahkan penyelidikan tentang Rao di Tanah Melayu (iya, agak lama saya tidak bercerita tentang hal ini..basically kerana hambatan masa, perubahan hidup saya dan terkini, perginya seorang teman dan juga ketua penyelidik kami aruah Dr Wan Suhana yang meninggal dunia lebihkurang 3 minggu lalu..segala-galanya came to a halt for some time tetapi kami harus meneruskan pejuangan yang belum selesai ini)..ya di dalam kembalinya saya ke pangkuan research ini (ada 2 papers dan novel yang tersekat itu yang perlu saya kerjakan), saya terjumpa lagi satu makalah mengenai adik beradik Nantian Saka yang berhijrah hampir 180 tahun lalu ke Tanah Melayu  (sekitar 1839). Saya masih berharap akan ada terselit namanya di celah-celah nama yang banyak itu. Saya bagai ayam tanpa kepala, lari ke sana..lari ke sini tercari-cari sehingga akhirnya saya tewas kepada realiti dan saya menangis terisak-isak di depan laptop saya ini...Muyang memang dah mati. Dia mati menentang Belanda dan mati mempertahankan Islam. SubhanaAllah..bayangkan pengorbanan itu. Dan bayangkan juga bagaimana keluarganya yang lain pergi berhijrah..bukan untuk mengelakkan maut kerana ajal itu di mana-mana tetapi menyelamatkan apa juga aqidah yang boleh diselamatkan agar tidak mati kufur.Inilah yang saya pilukan.

Because...we take things for granted. Islam yang kita terima sudah terletak. Sudah tidak dicabar. Siapa lagi yang akan bercakap for it sebab makin ramai dari kalangan kita yang menghasut untuk kufur..hijab itu menindas, hijab itu old fashioned, tutup aurat itu kolot.

Semoga kita semua selamat. Alfatihah untuk para syuhada. Al fatihah untuk Nantian Saka.

People Managing

If you are trained as an academic, you will know how difficult it is to be thrown into the deep blue sea and not knowing how to swim.

I had that first experience not long after my return from my PhD and then quickly made a Head of Dept. What did I know about managing people much older than me, managing men, managing events, managing money - to be made and to be spent (within a certain specific period) and on top it all, working for your career development, raising a young child, yada yada.

I should be past all these, right? Right!

Cuma how do you deal with staff yang very creative in explaining what should be done but not done and end up not doing much? After talking to Miz H (she used to work with Shell for 10 years but quit because she got bored doing the same thing despite the good pay..wahlau), she said she knew that kinda personality. Biasa they need more skills sbb if they have skills, they would be kept busy doing work. Wow..I never thought of that - that people culas cos' they actually don't know what to do (takda system doing things). If not, things would be in order, said Miz H. tak payah kejar2 nak itu ini. Just use your shared folder platform and fetch what you want at a touch of a button.


Part 2: this is the day after. We spent all afternoon at Putrajaya semalam ..learned much about freelancing work online. I think I know what to do after I retire now. Within a couple of months, boleh dapat RM700K okay? Clients everywhere around the world..tax pun bayar di US. Berangan is good.What do I do with all the money bila kita pun dah dekat nak mampos? Haha. Seronok je learning something new.

From LIMA19 to Finnish Dinner and Kebangkitan Harimau Asia

Tak terkejar saya kerja at the new office. Every day is a new day. If only my body is  20 years younger. I told Prof M, masa I muda tak nak jadikan I Deputy Rector. She said masa you muda, you bodoh lagi. Haha. Dapat le selepuk.

So I had to ganti Rector to go to LIMA19 last week. First time since its inception many years ago. Hari I pi tu khas untuk traders only so ramai la Raja2 dan menteri2 dan PM hadir. The crowd pun tak padat. I was well looked after by the young staff yang ada for their product exhibitions. So selamat la I sebab dia orang tolong angkat bags segala. Syukur alhamdulillah.

It was an exciting time. Macam pi concert tengok air show tu semua.Bising sebab lalu dekat atas kepala kita. Then we naik kapal combat USA (yang dah lapok..maybe they are trying to sell it off to any 3rd world country ke). And I saw kapal terbang yang Pakistan tembak jatuh jet India. Fuiyoo, unmanned.I thought LIMA was a male thing. Aleh2 tengok I pun suka. Pelik.

So ada la beberapa MoUs I helped sign on behalf of the uni. I was also shown kapal pertama buatan Msia. Canggih manggih OK? Budak2 muda je behind it all. Sangat bangga ..patut le Tun M tak balik2 dari pagi ke petang round2 exhibition tu. The day before pun dia datang.

Then I attended the Finnish dinner at the Ambassador's place.Baik dia tu. We chatted about trout fishing in Finland and Iceland and Norway.He pernah jadi duta kat Iceland so kita pun bertukar2 nota on Iceland.Very friendly chap. Makanan Finnish pun sedap. Salad dia sedap.


Yang paling best dapat mendengar talks by Tun M and Syed Sadiq at the Konvensyen Kebangkitan Harimau Asia (entah kenapa I selalu nak tersasul "kebangkitan harimau tua"). Although, kekadang byk juga I tak bersetuju dgn cara Tun M ni but pengalaman dia bagus didengar. Very humbling. Dia cakap dia bukan pandai sangat. Tapi dia rajin mengulang-baca buku2. Kekadang sampai 10 kali sehingga time exam, dia boleh nampak text tu sebijik-sebijik, siap dengan gambarajah. Haha, so cute cara dia cerita. I was seated very tepi tempat dia lalu (sengaja dipilih gitu utk mudah tangkap gambar). Aleh2 dia berenti betul2 di hadapan saya. Dia tengok saya, saya tengok dia. I was like nak salam ke tak, nak salam ke tak then I decided to salam sbb rude if I didn't sebab semua salam. :))

Sadiq has a lot of potential.Won't be surprised if he make it to PMship nanti.Better than KJ banyak kali.

Back at work, I kena start cracking on so many things.

I'm a psychic. Am I?

I think I have this gift. Haha. Nik tak percaya. Dia cakap psycho adalah. Haha.

There had been many instances where I sensed something would happen then it would.I first realised it many years ago when I was driving after rain to DBP lalu jalan hutan tu. I felt like a tree would fall. True enough, sebaik I went past an area..a big tree fell, missing my car by an inch or half an inch. Subhanallah, I was shaking but I had said my zikir.

Then there was a time I was antara nak pi and tak ziarah my ustazah ngaji Quran (also my mom's neighbour in Raub) who had just passed on. I didn't want to go but my mom was pressing me to visit. Berat betul rasa nak pi but I tawakkal je. Baca zikir sepanjang jalan. When I got to Raub, jenazah dah berlepas but a sick aunty was in the house so feeling like I need to elak bencana, I bagi le sedekah then shot back to KL. Still berzikir. Then betul pun..sampai satu selekoh Raub-Bentong a small car (MyVi)  tiba2 lost control and came meluru my way from the other side. I sempat mengelak but got hit ..bawah tu gaung! I didn't know what to do dalam hutan tu.Alhamdulllilah tiba2 kereta police lalu.Then I rang my sister in Raub. They all wailed thinking I would be badly injured. Then they took me to a police station in Bentong. Then hubby dan segala family turun.Wow, close call.

Read here down the memory lane. High drama betul https://i-glass.blogspot.com/search?q=accident

And banyak lagi episodes where I sensed sampai my acupuncturist kata you ni psychic ke. Tu belum the sense that I would be attacked via my car window (yang ini I rasa berbulan2 sebelum kena..yang perompak smashed my window and took away my new Prada handbag).

Baru2 ni I got scared and I prayed hard it would not happen to me. I won't tell you what it is for fear of the law of attraction will befall me. I just doa bahawa tiada upaya kecuali dgn izin Allah and that Allah hindarkan saya dari mala petaka.If you have this sense, bykkan berzikir dan bersedekah.

The article I never got around to writing

When I was on my Indian trip recently, begitu ramai orang I jumpa who were so inspiring and I told Dr. Amani that I wanted to write an article on a philanthropist who had spent all his life building schools, colleges and orphanages in Tamil Nadu. I pun beria le meng-interbiu dia, tanya itu ini, ambik gambar bagai.

2 weeks later, the article is still not written. I sat infront of the laptop nak menaip tadi. Tiba2 rasa mengantuk sangat so I slept dulu (I was in Kuantan all day semalam melawat Inocem with rombongan Rector..singgah rumah Eishah. Udahlah pihak INOCEM served us lunch..patin tempoyak, pai talapia laut etc, Eishah and Mizi pulak served us segala jenis ikan tempoyak yang susah nak dapat and udang galah sebesar lengan budak..we could not resist so makan lagi!). The fatigue of over-eating lasted 2 days! Itupun I tak pi naik boat tengah panas tu with the Inocem team.Ketidak lagi memengsan!

I'm glad today was Sunday. We just slept in and didn't go to pasar. Blissful! Petang sikit pi buat our routine..pi tengok Ajir.Dia dah pandai banyak benda now like when we call, he will menjawab.And if we ask do you want currypuff, dia ckp no! But bila tanya do you want grapes, he says yes. Walaupun yes and no-nya samar2 but clearer than before.We are proud of him. Dia dah pandai spell Barney on my phone to find Barney youtube! When I look at him memang terasa kesempurnaan Allah Taala.Ajir is a special child. Memang dia special.

Late dinner at KL Tower

I never thought it would be so late. 9 pm!

There I was with 3 South Korean scholars and my 2 Msian friends. I belanja them teh tarik but Prof I. picked the rest of the bill. I didn't - could not- eat much. Dah malam sangat dah for me.And it must be age too.Nothing appealed except longan and chilled sea coconut. And the delicious teh tarik which was not at all sweet. I loved it as it was. So did my friend diners.

It was an evening of loud birthday celebrations. Practically every table was celebrating that it looked and sounded mocking. I told Dr Baiduri moh kita nyanyi in Korean language and got Dr. Kim to write the Korean lyrics which we sang for attention. Haha. But takda sapa kisah pun cos' we sang quietly. :D

Then I requested the pianist to play Winter Sonata. Dia tak tau! But played another sweet Korean piece. We were like ha..play that one more time. It was so beautiful. Tanpa disuruh pun the pianist played 3 times. I think dia pun terkejut dgn kesyahduan lagu itu. Baiduri gave him a tip.

It definitely is another busy month.

Wedding on a working day

Dr Mek Wok's son's reception was held today. KL cuti, Selangor tak. I pulak was asked to rep uni at Prof Ida's IP conference cos' Menteri was in attendance. Dato Saifuddin Nasution was very observant of time. I arrived 10 mins early, dia sudah ada making me look like I was late. But he and his entourage were kind about it. Boleh undi dia lagi. Haha.

Orang WTO from Geneva, Canda, UK (Cambridge), South Africa segala semua ada. Very da feel da international one. Well done AIKOL! I learned mucho too pasal fake goods, counter fake good laws etc. Tengok professionalism academics from negara maju ni pun very inspiring. Bayar tambang sendiri, bayar hotel sendiri utk ilmu. Kita kat sini no budget no go and bising (I tak le...since pgrads mmg pumped in duit sendiri to do the extra mile sbb investment masa depan kan? To be a good teacher, to be a good researcher, kena la do more.Money should not be the issue.Kau reti?)

Prof from Cambridge tu thanked me personally sebab pinjamkan my driver to pick her from Everly Putrajaya back and forth. Kesian OK? I hope they will have a good time in Msia. Maklum at home mungkin dah minus 30C. :)

Oh tadi I met ramai old colleagues at the wedding.. Dato Prof Zuhdi and Dato Daud Bakar (same table with me). So wonderful to see them again. Dr Maszlee was supposed to grace the event but had to go back tengok kawasan.

Am happy for Dr. Mek Wok and Dr. Saupi Man.A beautiful lunch.

Mek Wok's kenduri

AIKOL's IP Conference

sapa photobombed us in the bground tu?

Taking the environment a little too much?

I cringe bila berdepan dgn org so eager to "buka tanah" ie build segala that will make the world feels more congested and suffocating than it is already. Jenih pantang nampak tanah lapang. walau sekangkang kera. They must build. And we know they can't build. They are merely contractors and people with interests. Grggh. I had written to my MP of the so called kerajaan baru too. Ada dia kisah? Build to overbuild.

In the words of my aruah Wan: takda mana nak lari dah.

Prof H found my computer IP had been tampered with. Am I surprised? The uni server is like an open highway. sesapa pun boleh gerodam. Lantak kau la labu. 

Your investments for the hereafter

Calling all philanthropists and donors!

Seeing duit yang berbilliun2 diambil dari rumah bekas PM makes me wonder, berapa banyak scholarships, labs yang boleh benefit from that amount. If Datin Rosmah is reading this, boleh tak sedekah sedikit for us? A lot of young people can benefit from that, it will be your investments for akhirat (and dunia also).

Call me. 

New Year

Habis bersawang dah blog ni. No time to update.

Selamat tahun baru Gregorian. Takda maknanya kalau perangai lama tu tak berubah. :)

I had an early bday celebration on Dec 30 before Z flew back to Holland. Then on my bday, I lied low (maklum dah tua) but office pun bagi kek and at home, kek from Z and dad and a bunch of purple roses. They gave me a club membership - suruh go swimming and pi gym. AllahuAkbar! I ended up pi chiropractor at the club. Lagi berfaedah. Haha. OKlah I pi swimming juga and will resume my swimming lessons.

Visitors bertali arus. Semalam was the busiest but alhamdulillah it went well. Sheikh al Thani came to visit, gave a talk. Then a doctoral student from Goethe Uni in Frankfurt dropped by to speak on her short film. All morning amanat Menteri at UPM..bumped into a few friends, saw some from a far tapi ramai sgt orang, tak sempat berbual.I had to leave early to prepare for that Qatari talk.

Mcm lari marathon.

Today dok melayan an alum from Bosnia, petang pi Australia High Comm (my alum function..bawak Lan sbb bidang dia).

We will start a new sem in Feb so sementara can pulun, pulun. :)