Sadly, we made a pariah of the word 'pendatang'

Eversince one UMNO division head in Penang uttered the word during a tightly-contest election campaigning to regain Permatang Pauh Parliamentary seat from PKR after 2008 political tsunami. And one dear  reporter for a Chinese Daily decided to scoop it in the paper headlines; the word 'Pendatang' has become a stigma to anybody who mention it. Thing has become an issue blown up out of proportion to fulfill every political party interest to the extent the chinese reporter who reported about it has been detained under ISA (which imho one of the blunder of the previous Home Minister)  in order to protect her from certain groups retaliation and protest. The fate of the UMNO warlord also have been destined. He was suspended from UMNO for 3 years in September 2008 but suspension was lifted only recently.

One could never imagine such a simple word which means 'immigrant' in English can have  major impact and consequences to Malaysia political scene until today. Whoever with intention or mistakenly misunderstood caught saying it will be crucified relentlessly and simply be labelled a racist. It makes PATI; 'pendatang asing tanpa izin' (illegal immigrant) look tame albeit the latter is a much more serious issue concerning national security and safety.

The issue has been highlighted here long time ago and it seems the term 'pendatang' would never be 'chased' away as it has become a political tools for certain quarters to ignite subversive element towards the ruling government. Suffice to say, the government also never been so clear and deterrent in handling the issue once and for all. It took a few more episode of 'pendatang' name-calling before the PM came with this statement  hoping to ease and avoid more repercussion.

The 'pendatang' issue has become a ticking time bomb to the racial harmony of this country. Hence, some immediate and powerful message  has to be sent.

Merasai nikmat berbuka puasa atau menikmati berbuka puasa?

Dalam kita menempuh 10 hari pertama Ramadhan yang penuh rahmat dan barakah ini; lebih afdhal dikongsi sedikit persoalan dan perbincangan untuk kebaikan bersama. Kita selalu tidak dapat membezakan antara nikmat berbuka puasa dengan menikmati berbuka puasa itu sendiri. Termasuk diri penulis yang kadang kala lalai atau mengambil sikap tidak kisah dalam isu ini. Rata-rata daripada kita apabila menjelang Ramadhan, acara menikmati berbuka puasa merupakan sesuatu yang ditunggu-tunggu. Samada atas jemputan korporat mahupun anjuran teman-teman, menikmati acara berbuka puasa merupakan satu pilihan setelah seharian berpuasa.

Namun dalam kita teruja menghadiri acara sebegini, pernahkah kita berfikir sejenak apakah kita merasai nikmat berbuka puasa dalam keadaan kita menikmati berbuka puasa?

Keliru?!

Contoh situasi mungkin dapat memberi sedikit gambaran perbezaan. Acara menikmati berbuka puasa adalah acara berbuka puasa yang selalunya dianjurkan di hotel-hotel terkemuka mahupun di restoran ternama ataupun kadangkala diadakan di rumah dengan menjemput tetamu dan rakan taulan. Acara berbuka ini selain dihidangkan pelbagai juadah berbuka sebagai sajian berbuka, dendangan lagu mahupun nasyid juga turut berkumandang ketika acara berbuka puasa. Lebih menarik, surau untuk bersolat juga disediakan bersama ustaz yang akan memimpin solat Fardhu dan Terawih. Peluang menikmati berbuka puasa ini memang sangat dinanti dan tanpa kita sedari ianya telah menjadi satu 'trend' setiap kali Ramadhan menjelma.

Berbeza dengan rasa nikmat berbuka puasa; suatu perasaan yang hadir dengan penuh insaf dalam situasi berbuka puasa dalam kadar yang sederhana. Mungkin hanya sekadar buah kurma dan segelas air manis dengan sedikit kuih muih menjadi bekalan berbuka. Namun ianya cukup untuk melepaskan rasa lapar dan dahaga lalu terus disusuli dengan bangkit bersolat Maghrib berjemaah. Perjalanan acara berbuka yang cukup ringkas namun yang dikecapi adalah sebuah perasaan yang indah; mensyukuri rezeki yang Allah berikan.

Tidak dapat tidak setiap daripada kita pasti melalui kedua-dua situasi sepanjang Ramadhan ini. Pasti kedua duanya memberi satu pengalaman pada diri kita. Tanyalah sanubari, pada ketika mana kita merasakan kita lebih dekat pada ilahi, Tuhan rabbil alamin. Pada ketika kita hanyalah hamba yang mendamba dari-Nya jalan taqwa.

The new season has begun!

After so much anticipation and patience plus the world cup hangover already over, now we are back to the real football. EPL season 2010/2011. It's going to be a massive season to many teams especially those teams who'd try to topple the 3 big teams (not big four anymore!) and become the new elites in English Football. We will see how these ambitious teams will end up at the end of the season.

Who'll be demoted this season? Who'll cast the biggest upset? Who'll crack under pressure. There will be too much drama to bare.... i m loving it already. :)

And which team will yours truly be supporting this season? none other than the team that build champion rather than the team that buy champions. Arsenal the gooners it is! yeay

and why they deserved better? becos what they have gone through last season and still finished 3rd best team.
Yeah babeh, they are good. This clip might  recall u a bit about their beautiful game.

taken from youtube and copyright to charmdes

Trust yourself and keep believing.

I've been avoiding this space for quite some time. No good reasoning for that and I still couldn't do away with my guilt for not penning on this space. Nevertheless, let's not get there coz what more important is the posting today.

My encounter with my former preparatory school (prep school) prefect whom I haven't met since he left school in 1992 is a better talking point. Coincidentally, me and Ahpek were at SME expo last Friday and we bumped into him at the same exhibition hall. In fact he's the one who approach us first! After so many years, surprisingly he still can recall us by name. Hence, we decided for a coffee chat before his next meeting elsewhere. Furthermore, It always good to start back one good relationship with the person who indirectly has shape your life in MCKK. ;)

Ruzaimi Mat Rani or best known to us as 'Fect Mimi' stay with us, the first formers in prep school for a year. He was the first fifth former we encountered the first day we arrived in MCKK. I can still remember his commanding voice telling us to get ourselves ready for Maghrib that day after we shed tears saying goodbyes to our families. And those honest look in his eyes had gave us an assurance - 'now you are a young boy embarking a new chapter of your life; so don't worry coz everything would be just fine'. His charisma did well to this young boy that day at least.