ASA fraternity

 ASA and I went a long way. I think I was its Vice President twice..when Prof. Nuraihan was President and when Prof. Aziz Bari was one..if tak silap. It seems so long time ago. I love its fraternity. We have done much together, the river projects, the pitching projects with Dr Amani and gang. I have wonderful memories which I must record and capture here as I get more and more forgetful with time.You need to probok-probok me to get my stories out.If not tenggelam macam tu je.

Yesterday was funny. Dr Addy macam biasa, probok2 saying now that Menteri MOHE dah letak jawatan, he nominates me as Senator to replace her. Haha. Lepas tu sorang demi sorang joined in the jest and supported the motion. Lawak but I played along and gave my strategic planning not only for the country but more for IIUM. Kata orang, sayang anak, sindir menantu? Gitew. Haha.

Addy tanya, banyak ke duit nak buat macam2 ni? I said duit monopoli parti I kan banyak? Haha. Nice to be silly sometimes.

The talk we did on Sharif 's prog katanya triggered similar discussions in the US panels. Bagus le if Kirp, Dr Fachrudin and Jeff and I managed to do that.  We had fun doing it anyway - talking about entanglement of religion with technology and how that affects our economy and overall social wellness. Tajuk tu I yang bagi. Something I feel strongly about.

Alfatihah Dr. Khamsiah Ismail

Dr Khamsiah Ismail passed away today hari Ahad malam Isnin at 8.35 pm. Text anak dia I dapat sejam lewat because I was busy marking fyp dissertations.

Macam biasa it took me a while to process the news.Mula-mula tak tau nak rasa apa, cakap apa. Then macam biasa I frantically looked for those who knew her to cry together. I have lost all who would pick the phone at a ring.Kawan2 lain pun habis tak sihat and biasa tidur awal.By then I was sobbing. Akhirnya Prof Noraini picked the phone and empangan terus pecah. Dia pun belum dengar cerita sedih ni. Pastinya dia tak tau head or tail.I kept hearing her saying what? apa? I had to say the news twice.

Then she sensibly said we would all go too, sabar dan pray that she will be placed in jannah.

IMAN, WPRU, PERAK groups semua kenal dia. Semua sedih.

It will take me a while to get over this. Please sedekah alfatihah for Dr Khamsiah Ismail,a good academic, researcher, counselor, a good friend, a good human being.

Dari Allah kita datang, kepadaNya kita kembali.

Loved ones fall sick

 Covid cases hit almost 10k now. We are doing wrong things. If we were doing the right thing, the number would hv gone down.

My niece was down and we thought we would lose her but alhamdullilah, she pulled through berkat rahmah Allah. And now, one of my good friends, Dr. Khamsiah is battling with covid. We all pray tht she will come out of it. 

I suddenly feel very sad. Sadness is an understatement. When leaders are stupid, this is where we are. We die, one by one. Greed does not kill. Stupidity does. 

5th wave?

 Bad times to do any prediction: scientific or otherwise. But it is not that the country lacks intelligent people. We have plenty but why O why, we are where we are now?? 

I think the way out would be any of the following:

1. Undur secara terhormat dan undi balik kerajaan yang berhak.

2. Be inclusive - dengar pelbagai suara dari pakar-pakar and act on them.

3. Let go..jangan nak control semua benda. Kita tahu satu-satu jalan keluar ialah memperbanyakkan vaksi dan membuatnya at a super speed. If that is NOT happening, you tell us apa masalah sebenarnya. Is it money? Is it supplies? Once kita tahu apa masalah sebenarnya, kita boleh fikirkan jalan keluar bersama.

JANGAN BODOH SOMBONG. That can kill the whole nation.

Covid 2021

 We were busy coping with covid in 2020 when it hit in March. We thought things would ease up in 2021. It has been over a year but looks like the 3rd or 4th wave will be more deadly. India has shown so. But look at how we seem not to learn from whatever Allah is trying to tell us. Kebodohan terus berlaku. Bila bodoh, kita juga sombong. Makin bodoh, makin sombong. Semoga kita semua dilindungi oleh makhluk jahat.

Pls be clever, observe your SOPs.

Gik, Gaa, Gupo

 Abg Tik and family came to dinner. Ziad had kindly offered to cook maqlubah and drove all the way to deliver 2 huge plates. Alhamdulilah, we all had fun talking and eating.

Abg Tik mentioned Gik, Gaa, Gupo (pronounced Gupont mcm Dupont bunyi French!) I wrote to David kot2 these were Dutch names. Not at all, kata dia. Haha. So I asked Afi... Nama Rao ke. Not at all. Lorr.. Orang asli ke? Haha. David said mungkin nicknames. Possible.

We enjoyed our company over dinner. Got to knw my cousin and 2nd cousins closer.

The food was delicious.

                                                              Syrian chicken maqlubah

                                         

                                                              Syrian lamb maqlubah

Berakit-rakit ke hulu, berenang-renang ke tepian

 ...bersakit-sakit dahulu, bersenang-senang kemudian.

A phone call to Mak Tam Melah in Kg Jasu, Ulu Sungai gave me another image of old: orang dulu berakit 3 jam membawa barang dagangan seperti buah2an (rambutan, langsat, ciku, etc) dari Ulu Sungai ke Tanjung Malim melalui Slim River. Balik jalan kaki via Jalan Penarikan (jalan hutan). Makcik Melah pernah berniaga macam tu. Wow. Itu selepas merdeka but now jalan tu dah semak samun (jalan rakit). Sayang. I would have wanted to berakit 3 jam to Slim River.

Mak Tam Melah ajak pi rumah dia. She will cook asarong Ulu Sungai yang famous tu.My cousins semua melompat for another mision.Siap nak cari ayam hutan. Hamboi! Kena tangkap perlilitan nanti baru tau.One cousin said since many tak makan ayam, cari la rusa. Haha. Boleh berangan. Kalau kat Ithaca, rusa bersepah2 sampai they have to shoot sebab jadi nuisance dah. Hai, I wish.

Cicit Menteri Hassan di Slim River

 So the 4 of us took a day trip to conduct my research tracing Rawas in Slim River. Kg Pasir to be exact.Ghaz drove his Vellfire. Sedap la Kak Ngah and I tidur kat belakang tu mcm naik plane. 

Shareh also drove on 'work' all the way but arrived a bit late. By then, we were already served lemang dan rendang ayam and other kuih muih. Cicit Menteri Hassan from a different wife. We suspect his first wife but we can't really tell.

Lunch was served. Sayur2 tanam sendiri. Duan' s bro in law supplies sayur to Pasar Selayang. Bagus betul. 

The story was they (Hassan and Lijah) got married in Kg Atok then moved to Kg Gapeh but maybe they moved bck to Pahang at a later stage. Or they never moved to Kg Gapeh but Khalijah went bck to Slim River with her young son Bakar and left her daughter Putih with her ex husband after they divorced. No one could say whether Hassan was already married to Tupin Aishah when he married Khalijah or married her after his divorce. Org tua2 yg tahu semua dah tiada. 

But we met Hassan's cicit muit on Slim River side and saw gambar one of the aruah cucus who looked so much like my wan, anak Hassan with Tupin Aishah (or nama kg nya Esah) Im told ada seorang lagi cucu Hassan (Lijah route) yg berpindah ke Pahang frm Slim River (Kg Kela, Ulu Sungai. From Slim River to Ulu Sungai is only 26km jalan kaki ikut jalan Banjaran Titiwangsa) I spoke to Opah Beom last night. Whn I go bck to Raub, inshaAllah we will go to Ulu Sungai to visit her.

We met Aki, anak tiri Hassan. Byk cerita menarik from him but he tak sempat kenal Hassan. Only stories frm his mom about him. Orangnya tinggi. Garang. Sounds like my side. :) Kata Shareh, Menteri Hassan ni berniaga kerbau dan gajah bawak dari Raub ke Perak. Jgn dia ada wife lain kat Perak, udah.Letih nak trace waris.

It was a pleasant trip. Kenal sedara2 baru. 

Rawa news updated

 Zafuan tanya apa sumber Dt Am kata Nantian Saka meninggal dalam Perang Paderi. Jadi saya pun telefon Dt Am di Rao tanya apa sumber dia. He said he asked Datuk2 Adat yang lain sekitar Tanjung Alai (aruah  Datuak Mengudum Haji Ramli dan aruah Mat Toguh, Bendaro Besar - semua dah ninggal) Nantian Saka memang seangkatan dengan Tuanku Rao and Imam Bonjol 1818 -1832.

Yang Dipertua Muda tu bkn gelaran raja but ketua agama/pemimpin agama.Raja ketika Perang Paderi adalah Raja Kenayan. Kata Dt Amran Perang Paderi sesama rawa bkn pasal agama sgt. Psl perniagaan. Yang satu niaga candu, arak; yang satu menentang. Well, to do with agama juga la kan? Puak2 Yang Dipertua Tanjung Alai kan orang-orang agama.

I asked why berahsia bagi yang pindah ke Tanah Melayu. Kata Dt Amran, the perang experience was really bitter..sedara sesama sedara reported against one another yang berperang (they were on both sides..ada yang belah Belanda would inform Belanda akan activities yang menentang Belanda yang dibuat Rawa lagi satu, etc). So mmg bila pindah tu, tak pandang belakang dah.Sumpah mereka yang berpergian was: dipakuknya ke tingkap dgn parang sambil berkata aku tidak akan pulang selain  jika bekas kayu ini bercantum semula. Sesuatu yang tidak mungkin.Begitu mereka berpatah arang.

Sebab apa Zafuan focus on Tanjung Alai ..mungkin selepas Perang Paderi, yang kembali pulang selepas keadaan sudah reda akan dapati sudah hilang 5 kampung yang berdekatan Tanjung Alai dan hanya dapat berkumpul di Tanjung Alai. Ada 7 kg di Tanjung Alai: 

Tanjung Alai, Kg Pisang, Tanjung Pauh,Kg. Tengah,Kg Pisang Ular, Tobek Atas, Pancah.

Di hilir Tanjung Alai ada 5 kg  (now dah lenyap kerana penduduknya ramai hijrah ke Tanah Melayu waktu Perang Paderi):  Tanjung Durian (kg Nantian Saka), Tanjung Goda, Kubu Gadang (yang jadi benteng Perang Paderi), Koto Golinggang dan Kg Mudik. Setiap kg ini ada raja adatnya.

On isu ramai Rawas are mistaken for being Achehnese: Penduduk asal Meulaboh  tu dulu orang Rawa. Kingdom Rawa ni dah lama. Zaman Srivijaya, zaman Majapahit (mereka jumpa gelang yang sama di Majapahit dan Rawa di kurun 14) dan orang Rawa keluar masuk Meulaboh sebab tu pusat dagang, pusat agama. Ramai orang Rawa ninggal di Acheh. Wei, no wonder rupa Zafuan macam rupa P.Ramlee when Ramlee was in 1950s.

I have to catitkan ini.Takut lupa.

I stopped writing

I quit this blog, fb etc because I felt my privacy was being compromised. But I will use this blog from time to time to keep some links which are useful for my research.

https://varsitarian.net/literary/20081116/translating_maps_through_poetry

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.