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.

2010, permulaan dekad yang mencabar

2009 telah pun melabuhkan tirainya. Selamat menempuh 365 hari (361 hari , jika dikira dari hari ini ) mendatang yang penuh dengan cabaran baru yang akan datang dalam pelbagai bentuk dan keadaan. Pastinya, setiap cabaran itu harus ditangani dengan penuh hikmah, sabar dan berhemah. Ini kerana pendekatan sedemikian dalam alaf yang serba mencabar ini adalah cara terbaik untuk mengelakkan perbalahan, pergeseran dan kontroversi. Konfrontasi secara intelektual merupakan kaedah terbaik dalam mendirikan ketamadunan. Gerakan menyanggah dan provokatif harus segera dielakkan dalam menjaga keharmonian negara.

Lalu cara terbaik dalam menangani isu penggunaan Kalimah "Allah" dalam penerbitan Herald Tribune adalah dengan:

1. Bertenang; percaya ini merupakan satu ujian dari Allah kepada Umat Islam Malaysia.

2. Mengumpul kekuatan dan kesedaran di kalangan Umat Islam Malaysia bahawa keimanan diri merupakan tonggak dan pendinding kepada sebarang unsur merosakkan Akidah Islamiyah.

3. Bersatu; dalam erti kata meletakkan prinsip dan ajaran Islam melebihi kehendak politik dan peribadi.

4. Bersedia dari segi mental, intelektual dan fizikal untuk menangkis sebarang tindakan provokatif bagi mengeruhkan keadaan.

5. Percaya bahawa dari kekusutan ini ada hikmah penyatuan antara seluruh umat Islam Malaysia yang kebelakangan ini begitu rapuh dan tiada kesepekatan.

6. Berdoa, musibah ini akan menjadikan umat Islam Malaysia lebih yakin kepada Allah, dan membuka ruang hidayah kepada umat manusia untuk mengenali Allah yang Esa.

Insya Allah, Ujian ini hadir sekadar menguji keimanan dan membuka ruang keinsafan untuk kita kembali kepadaNya. Amin

ahh selamat hari raya

raya memories 97

cars are flocking the streets

people are excited to balik kampung

friends say sorry to each other

parents patiently waits sons and daughters to arrive home safely

family are eagerly waiting at the door step

children are counting how many duit raya they will get

kampung will be havoc for a week

that is suasana hari raya for me.

how about yours?!

what i did last raya

and milla did too.

selamat hari raya

maaf zahir batin

my trip to middle earth!

I spent my weekend in Jerantut, middle/halfway from KL to Kuantan. Gotcha! :) The trip with Milla and her couple friend was due to another friend of them is getting married. We decided to go down early to Jerantut and spend one night at Ina's grandma's house and I was looking forward for the homestay with few fishing rod and snorkel goggle tagging along. ;)

The trip to Jerantut was only 2 and half hours journey. Asri and Ina brought along their lovely baby, adelia to make the trip even worthwhile and she really enjoyed her trip to Jerantut with Uncle Moqq on the steering wheel. When we arrive in Jerantut via Temerloh, it was already 6. We were greeted by Tok wan Maryam and her family and joined them for their minum petang.

Tok wan Maryam looked excited to see her grand daughter and her husband with the cicit came to visit. It remind me to my late arwah 'Tok Chik' who look a little resemblance. Both have strong characters yet loved my her grandchildren. It was a little akward to called Tok Wan Yam, 'tok wan' instead as in Penang, Tok Wan is adress to the grandfather whilst for the grandma it's merely tok.. that's the beauty of having to meet sorts of different people in different states. Now i feel like cuti-cuti malaysia already!

Tok wan's house is located at heart of the city. Unfortunately, there was no stream around for me to go mandi sungai. There was not even a telaga.. It is really in the city. Hampeh for me to look forward for a really kampung style homestay though. However, the food was great. We could not recount ourselves to be in hunger... in fact we were full all the way through. For all the great companion and hospitality, I would like to say terima kasih, wan.

Insya Allah, if i would ever get down to Jerantut again , your place is a destination not to miss out.

Sunday was the kenduri day, we went to Temerloh for the kenduri. Dilla was fully dress up in her baju pengantin. Lovely though. The food was good too but we have to queue up for it. So everyone of us have to take turn to makan and take care adelia. Lucky, she is not the picky type and with the great charm of Uncle Moqq.. adelia was left mesmerised.

We decided to get back early, afraid that we would be trap in jam along the way back to KL. To our suprise the journey back home was smooth. I believe most of the families have decided to go back earlier in the weekend to at least prepare their children for school days on Monday. After a short pit stop for prayer, we moved away to KL and reached Shah Alam by 5pm.

Milla and friends decided to pay a visit to farrhanah who just deliver her baby. The whole evening was in Babah's place. While the gurls are palying moms and giving tips or two, the guys were enjoying ourselves with kari story all over. I thought I was the 'raja kari' all along but to my surprise fimi and buchq were even the masters! cayalah.. now i knows

We played excused saying adelia need to go home to get ourselves out and back home. And that was really the weekend at least i could enjoy with my beloved fellow friends.

Update: It could have been easier writing with the pictures all around. Unfortunately, my camera made my life miserable.. am counting on my princess aurora to come rescue with some data recovery solution!!! see previous entry for details.

Of Tony Romas, new year celebration and a pair of timberland.

New year's eve come and go like a blip of blinking eyes. The next thing you notice, you will be celebrating another new year's eve again when it came up knocking...

Life indeed is one full circle in every single year! ;)

Interestingly, this year celebrations isn't much hype in term of people going out to celebrate and rejunevate. Apart from some rowdy, munchy spin-off  sexy romp in today's headlines, nothing much really to look forward to - OMG Gosh! how lame and boring chap i had become..

From my very observant view, People prefers a low-key celebration with family and friend rather than go out for new year's party b'coz in the past few years the world had faced a lot of agony during year-end celebrations. Taking back to the year of Bali Bombings and further to date to the worst Tsunami hits in 2004 and not to forget recent (2008) Delhi and Gaza Massacre have made us wonder, 

Is there anymore hope for peace and justice? Was it a 'false'  hope in the first place or do we need 'new' courage and bravery in order to survive?

On another note, moslem of the world also realise that hijri new year (1430H) happened to be  2 days earlier than the julian calendar celebrations and moslems are left to choose what is more important between the 2 to their life... or perhaps it also represent what is more important to their moslem brothers elsewhere.

Which definitely  and strongly more important than just having fun!

There are many things to look forward in 2009.

1. Barrack Obama inauguration as the 44th US President. we know Obama as a person but can we rely on him as an organisations?

2. World Credit Crunch taking effect

3. Another Coup d'état in Thailand.

4. Election all over the world - India, Indonesia, EU

On local scene

1. How will BN fair in the upcoming battle of goliath between PAS and UMNO in KT by election.

2. Paklah handing over the power to Najib - or would it be just handing over UMNO presidency?

3. UMNO General Assembly.

4. PR taking over the government! hmmm

5 Another celebrity marriage and breakdown.

Indeed it is a very interesting year to look ahead

or should i stop whining and start imagine like johnny?

                       John Lennon R.I.P

oh btw, my new year celebration wasnt that bad either.  Had a nice and 'quiet' dinner at Kenny Rogers with my other half before heading back home. We managed to stop for a nice buy one free one coffee and later find ourself on the couch for an exciting musical movie - hairspray before me find myself doozing off in neverland while milla enjoyed her annual fireworks countdown behind closed wall... a good start for 2009, eh?! you bet. *wink* *wink*

hairspray the movie - courtesy of New Line Cinema

Senators wannabe! to/not to do list.

If you ever receive a call from someone high in the executive power one fine day seeking you to be appointed as a Senator thus offering you a ministerial post in hand; these are the things to/not to do checklist beforehand for your future guidance.

1. Be thankful to the Prime Minister. By his prerogative to appoint someone who he thinks suit for the post lead him to you! Even the SIL have no influence in your ministerial appointment because you are handpicked personally by the PM.

2. Show some humility and earn your respect. Please bare in mind that you are an appointed MP not an elected MP to begin with. Those elected MP's had to work their ass out during campaign/erection election period before they can enjoy their MP status. While they were having sleepless night throughout, where have you been... Australia?

3. Be prepared to face all sorts of name calling during parliament session throughout your senatorship term. Most to be heard "YB Menteri, kamu masuk 'pintu belakang'. Tolong duduk diam2"

4. Don't go overboard by 'tunjuk pandai' even you are one smart joe. Your minister-colleagues might go overjealous and fed up with your act. They might plan to backstab you!

5. To be on a safer side. Don't look smart, talk smart and act smart more than the PM himself.

6. Set yourself a time frame for strategic and political gains within 5-6 years because senatorship stint last for two terms (6 years) only. You wont get appointed after the 2nd term hence you need to put yourself in a running position to be selected as a MP candidate for a constituency. You could always get some advice from former senators turn elected MP's who have don these tactics.

7. By virtue of becoming a senator and taking oath in front of Speaker of the 'Dewan Negara' and later sworn in front of his royal highness SPB YDP Agong as a minister. You are obliged to secrecy act and cannot simply talk to others about what transpired in all cabinet meetings. It is always a collective decisions in policy making decisions therefore don't go around and making a hero of yourself by championing reforms.

8. Be faithful to the party you represent in the senate. Even you are no longer a senator, please show respect and be grateful to the party who made what you are today. 'Jangan mudah lupa seperti Melayu2 lain.'

9. Always remind yourself that you are a Malaysian Senator not a senator in US Senate. Stop championing about Liberalism , Human Rights, Fair and Equality for all which doesnt reflect Malaysian Polarisation.

last but not least.

10. Don't resigned after only 6 months in office. Dude, it is a disgrace act of mockery to the PM and all taxpayers money!

There you go. I hope this list will help in your future endeavour as a truly Malaysian Senator.

All the best.

to or not to anticipate

Do you anticipate things to happen in your daily life? Or perhaps do you anticipate things that might happen one fine day when you expect everything to be perfect? If YES, that is a good attitude of yours but if your answer is NO; listen listen wherever you are...

Start anticipating your action in life 'coz once you anticipate things to happen the way you might think it would be.. and you haven't take action or couldn't care less about it, you'll be doomed. Not that you will regret it all your life but the minimum damage would be you'll have a bad day! i tell you, coz i've experienced it and it hurts, ouch!

let's have some case study but before we go any further, my definition of anticipate in this context is definition no. 3 based on freedictionary.com

case study 1

While driving yourself in your 4wd onto a roundabout with many turns. You anticipated a lorry on your co-driver side would go straight ahead without exiting at the next turn eventhough the lorry was on the outside/ left lane which indicate it will exit at the next turn. However, as you anticipated that it will never take exit and go ahead, you might slow down a bit and let it pass you before signalling your 4wd and make your exit. If you anticipated but ignore your anticipation, things might turn ugly and whamm! off you go and the next thing you know, you can anticipate a pretty nurse on your hospital bedside, lah.

case study 2

As you were enjoying your lunch, having a nice set of nasi padang. One call came through and it was from a friend you havent heard for quite sometime. Upon surprising to receive his call; you anticipated that this friend made the call coz' he up for something and usually the first good anticipation is your friend's getting married soon and he is asking for your address and others. If it's true, that's good for him but somehow if it was not meant to be, pls start anticipating bad things such as he wanted to see you because he wanted to introduce you to a new MLM scheme or even worst he wanted to borrow some money of yours! If you accept his request for a meeting please dont ignore your anticipation coz you will be having your worst nighmare if you realized later what you have anticipated is true...

case study 3

You were doing your 'things' in the loo and there wasnt any hanger to hang your pants. You are so desperate and decided to put your pants on top of the flush anticipating that it might fall down right in the loo if anything goes wrong. Things went well after you've done and as you were putting your brief and excited to get out of the tiny room, the pants slowly fall off down to the loo without you quick enough to rescue! and the rest is history; blaming yourself for ignoring what you have anticipated earlier. Lucky it was not so bad... otherwise, you will end up smelly2 cat!

Do you believe me, now?!
If you do, anticipate what actually went bad to me today!

one deepavali moment

scene 1 take 1

in the early morning of deepavali, we decided to hv our breakfast at one of the favourite restaurant in subang jaya -'fawwaz restaurant' known for its crispy roti canai and tasty roti sardine.

me and my other half came a bit later from home. Both my parent and other siblings were already there and hv placed order. The queue was surprising long as most ppl would be as lazy as us - prefer to have their meal outside on public holidays. :)

i saw my dad was reading his papers but i was mesmerised as he's reading 'suara keadilan'. hah hah hah. Not that he is jumping ship or whatever but suprisingly that was the only paper being sold on that particular day from one newspaper vendor nearby...

and i tingle him by saying,
"ayah, do you realise that whenever others were celebrating their 'hari raya', most of the daily system would be interrupted as what's happening today?! Most vendors are Indian and they are on leave, that's why we are short of newspapers."

"well son, it also the same with chinese new year! in fact it will turn from bad to worst as most of the transports, sales, trading and our daily transaction would be keep on hold." my dad added with a grin.

and i wonder if it would be the same on hari raya melayu? Whether the system would go haywire as it did on CNY and deepavali...

I dont think so.

in fact the system was so intact and perfect in order to fulfill the needs of the Malays for our raya celebrations.

Pheww, whether our own raya or anybody's raya, we (read:malays) always at the losing end. shessh!

To all my dear Indian friend, dont take me wrongly. I am not rascist, i only pity my own malay dilemma.

enjoy your diwali whilst it last. nadre vanakkam!

raya piccies 2

Ayah with one of his favourite 'Lah'

Time to forgive and forget.. my dear

Kami no 4!!!!

Lil Bro try to be as cool as ever... yikes

It's the other way around.. I am the one getting laid paid! hah hah

"Hang nih besaq2 pun mintak duit lagi.. nasib baik la anak kesayangan!" :D

newlyweds.

Pics by moqq.

raya piccies 1

Pics by moqq

Cahaya Syawal Menjelang Lagi

Kemeriahan Syawal sudah mula terasa,
Kini meniti harinya berkunjung tiba,
Merdu lagu aidilfitri mula mengisi tetuang udara,
Disambut siulan anak anak muda menyanyi gembira,
Bersahut sahutan dalam suasana berhari raya

Syahdu pilu mengenangkan yang pergi, datang bersilih ganti,
Walaupun hati telahpun redha menerima ketentuan ilahi,
Buat yang pergi selamanya; hanya sekirim doa buat bekalan akhrawi,
Buat yang pergi sementara; nenda di desa tersenyum ceria,
Gembira tak terkata bertemu anakcucu bersua muka,
Rindu yang berkunjung; kasih pula yang datang menguntum,
Bersyukur; anakcucu tak pernah lupa pada yang tua

Inilah yang dikatakan nikmat kurnia tuhan rab-bi;
Kemakmuran dan kesejahteraan ibu pertiwi,
Ku menadah tangan mohon bersyukur; mengabdi diri,
Semoga Syawal terus menjelma di bumi bertuah ini,
Dengan membawa sejuta harapan dan seribu makna untuk seratus tahun lagi...

Salam Aidilfitri buat semua,
salam taazim

Re:My Money is My Money; Please just Shoosh Away

The Manager,

See, I am aBee Bank Berhad

Menara Dayabumi

Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin

50460 Kuala Lumpur

Sir,

The matter above is referred.

2. I was quite annoyed when one of your banker requested me to fill a form asking where I get my money from (yes, I do have lots of money in my account, these days) and where I intended to put it into; during my 'hari bersama See, I am aBee bank' the other day.

3. I am saying this loud and clear. "hellloooo....since when did you guys care enough?!"

4. Just because I wanted to withdraw a large sum of money from my account, I repeat my personal account, (nama dalam account sama dgn nama dalam I/C tau!) doesn't mean I am a daylight robber aka penyangak wang. I just wished your banker didnt mess with me that day because I was so in hurry to make more money!!

5. As a responsible citizen, I know what is money laundering, and what money laundering could do to the economy of our country. I can assure you Mr Manager, my money will go to a legal financial investor and if the economy is healthy, I will get some capital appreciations from the money I withdrawn from you.

6. Then I will return the money to your See, I am aBee bank so that you also could gain some interest from my cash deposit later. Deal?! Good. So Mr Manager, please ask your staff to stop bugging me. Your immediate action to this matter is highly appreciated. Thank you.

Yours Truly,

Encik Pencinta Duitan