Malacca Road Trip

Assalamualaikum and hi to all.

The reason that I managed to blog quite frequently these few days is because my company was having three days plant shutdown, which means three days of `forced' leave for the employees. I think people from manufacturing/operation background would be very familiar with this annual occurence, while the rest I think you can understand this as the period for the whole plant undergo maintenance and facilities enhancements, since the machines were running twenty-four seven every day.

Thus, me and a few of my colleagues went to Malacca for a brief roadtrip with only one goal in mind : FOOD-HUNTING. At first, I was quite confused why they chose Malacca over several other choices of interesting places, but after a while I actually can understand why. Mind you, most of my colleagues in my current workplace are Chinese, and they are very nice guys. So the Chinese always have special delicacies in Malacca that they particularly look for, namely the Dodol Durian, Chicken Rice Ball, the `Thong Shui' desserts, satay celup, pineapple tarts and many more. Although I've been in Malacca several times before, I never actually heard of these food since obviously, I'm not looking for them anyway.

So on Wednesday afternoon, after a few pitstops and several wrong turns (!), we arrived in Malacca. The fact that none of us are actually familiar with the Malacca streets, and they actually rely on ME, whom my last visit in Malacca dated six years ago. Nevertheless, using the skills of a surveyor's daughter (ehem, well, my Dad always thought us (me and my bros) to read maps and roads and signboards thus now we become quite good at it), we managed to arrive at the historic city.

After check-in the hotel (we don't have any reservations, we just crash into one) and performed jama' prayers (Maghrib and Isya) for the Muslims, off we head to Umbai, the best seafood place in town. Actually it was my idea to go to this place, even one Malacca guy that joined us never go to this place! What a waste..(huhu). When we arrived there, I was surprised at the new features of the place. Very nice and beautiful, unlike six years ago. We had our seafood favourites (ikan pari bakar, mussels, squids etc)and believe it or not, we only paid less than RM80 for 9 persons dishes! It was `dirt cheap' (as my friends used to refer it). So people, pergilah Umbai for the best seafood at the best price!

The next day we went for a brief sightseeing in Malacca town. It was back in PJ where one of my friend, Afif really wants to taste the famous Chicken Rice Ball. Initially he did not believe that the rice ball is actually round, that's why he was all excited to go to Malacca in the first place. But when we reached the shop, it took us an instant glance to find that the restaurant is a non-Halal one. So I actually urged the non-Muslim boys to go ahead, while we (only three of us are Muslims) can opt for Pizza Hut across the road. However they refused to go and joined us to Pizza Hut instead. Well, I was overwhelmed by their action, they really are the nicest guys I ever meet. We even discussed on Halal issues over the lunch as they really wanted to understand why the Muslims can't eat pork and meat with improper slaughter, so on and so forth.After a few more hours spent in town, we eventually left for KL.

Besides, we playfully believed some of us brought bad omens along to Malacca. We experienced a series of unfortunate events through out the day. It started with one of the car sudden broke down, then several wrong turns and dead-end roads, some bad chewing gums experience, a few `saman' in just four hours(!), my friend had to pay more than RM1k to repair the car and other minor ones. Despite the bad and good things happened, we certainly felt this trip was a memorable one. We would laugh our heads off ten years later, when we look back down the memory lane..

p/s: I didn't bring my camera because I left the memory card at home, thus the pics will be several posts delayed okay :)

M.A.R

Motivation.Ability.Role.

Once my trainer from work said you got to have these three attributes to become a very successful employee.

You must have sufficient motivation to last for another day at work, to bear the piling works and meet datelines, to hear the boss's complaints and fulfill her demands. That's why employees are encourage to put pictures of their love ones on their office desks, as a constant reminder for whom and what actually they grill themselves all out every single day.

It has a direct relationship with your personal ability too. You have to identify your own strength and weaknesses first, before you actually plan ahead. Let say if you have a bad eyesight and was forever dream to become a pilot, you don't have the choice but to drop out the idea and think of something else instead. Just get real and move on.

Role, yes here comes the tricky part. You won't be the best employee if you do not know your role in the organization. Whether you're an engineer, a planner, a sales person or a manager, you play a unique role to ensure the survival of your company. In a manufacturing industry for example, a product engineer could always screw up and give wrong deduction in his job if he wants to. But if he knew his role well, he would contribute to the organization, eventually to benefit the end-user. Also volunteers and people who work without expecting to get paid are those who actually managed grab this idea of understanding role.

Well, the same concept I try to imply in our daily life, and it makes the perfect sense.

If we keep our motivation high, every good and bad things that happen to us will make us stronger. While the good things resemble the fruits of your hard work, good deeds and endless efforts, bad ones actually enable us to reflect back whatever sin we done and try to improve for the better. At the same time, to realize one's ability will enhance efficiency and productivity in life so that we can have a clear, realistic goal in life. Also we can exploit our skills to the max, to help others and create impacts to the community. Lastly to know our role will make life much more enjoyable and meaningful.Life is not all about money, isn't it?

Just my two cents.

I always believe Capricorns are self-motivated..(true enough!)

Book review : Singa Baru Dunia Islam

Assalamualaikum dan salam sejahtera.

Sedikit tentang presiden Ahmadinejad sebagai warm-up.

Seorang yang zuhud, hanya memandu kereta Peugeot tahun 1970-an, enggan tinggal di rumah rasmi Presiden sebaliknya tinggal di kediamannya sendiri di pinggir bandar Tehran. Seorang jurutera sivil, pengkhususan dalam bidang traffic transportation planning. Pernah menjadi gabenor beberapa bandar kecil sehingga di zaman pemerintahan presiden Khatami,beliau tidak lagi dilantik menjadi gabenor di bandar Ardebil. Seterusnya beliau menjadi pensyarah beberapa tahun sebelum dilantik menjadi Datuk Bandar Tehran pada 2003. Semasa menjadi Datuk Bandar, beliau sering membantu menyapu jalan-jalan dan turun sendiri membersihkan longkang tersumbat. Seperti kita semua tahu, kehidupan beliau sangat sederhana bersama isteri dan tiga orang anak. Semasa menjadi Presiden, sering dilihat beliau tidur di atas lantai dan hanya makan roti kering ( TIDAK seperti presiden negara-negara lain).

Holocaust

Anda tahu tentang peristiwa Holocaust? Saya tahu ada banyak versi tentang kisah kontroversi ini, sampai ada sesetengah pihak menyimpulkan peristiwa ini bukannya benar-benar berlaku ataupun pastinya didalangi pihak-pihak yang ada kepentingan tertentu. Di Jerman pula, sesiapa yang tidak percaya peristiwa Holocaust boleh didakwa dan dihukum penjara. Tapi mungkin ramai yang tak tahu peristiwa berdarah Holocaust ini berkait rapat dengan perampasan negara Palestin sehingga hilang terus dari peta muka bumi ini, dan diganti dengan negara Israel.

Salah satu pandangan kontroversi Presiden Ahmadinejad adalah berkaitan dengan pendiriannya yang meragui kewujudan Holocaust. Dalam buku ini turut dilampirkan terjemahan temubual beliau dengan sebuah majalah terkemuka Jerman, Der Spiegel.

Holocaust dikaitkan dengan pembunuhan lebih kurang 6 juta orang berketurunan Yahudi di Jerman semasa pemerintahan Nazi. Selepas peristiwa itu, Jerman berasa bersalah ke atas golongan Yahudi dan bertindak menyokong perampasan negara Palestin oleh Israel 60 tahun yang lalu, sekitar Perang Dunia Ke 2. Negara-negara pro- Israel juga kebanyakannya berlandaskan alasan yang sama untuk menghalalkan pencerobohan Israel ke atas Palestin. Yang menjadi persoalannya, jika Jerman yang bersalah, kenapa negara Palestin menjadi mangsa?

Jika lebih 60 juta orang yang terbunuh dalam Perang Dunia Ke 2 dan sekiranya Holocaust benar-benar terjadi, kenapa 6 juta orang Yahudi itu yang difokuskan dan perlu dituntut bela? Bagaimana dengan mangsa perang yang lain?

Ini adalah antara soalan-soalan yang tak dapat ditemukan jawapannnya sehingga ke hari ini. Yang menjadi mangsa adalah 5 juta rakyat Palestin yang diusir dari tanah mereka sendiri, dan akhirnya hidup merempat di Lubnan, Jordan dan wilayah-wilayah sekitarnya. Itu belum cerita bab penyembelihan dan pembunuhan beramai-ramai di kem-kem pelarian Palestin, termasuk yang paling memilukan tragedi di Sabra dan Shatila ( saya berhasrat menulis mengenai ini sedikit masa lagi, memandangkan saya sedang dalam proses menghadam buku Dari Beirut ke Jerusalem, karya Dr Ang Swee Chai).

Pendirian tentang kuasa nuklear

Kita tahu Amerika Syarikat lantang mengkritik tentang kuasa nuklear yang dihasilkan oleh Iran. Ahmadinejad menegaskan terdapat 140 ahli IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) termasuk Iran, tetapi mengapa hanya Iran dikritik tentang penyelidikan kuasa nuklearnya? Iran merupakan negara yang paling memberi kerjasama dalam pemeriksaan oleh badan ini. Sehingga 2000 orang datang membuat pemeriksaan, 1000 dokumen ditunjuk dan kamera dipasang di setiap ceruk kawasan pembuatan senjata nuklear. Bagaimana pula dengan negara-negara besar lain, yang sentiasa merahsiakan penyelidikan senjata nuklear mereka?

Sebab itu Presiden Ahmadinejad sangat dikenali dengan kata-katanya (setelah diterjemah):

"Sekiranya dunia melihat nuklear ini keji dan kami tidak boleh menguasai dan memilikinya. mengapa kamu(Amerika) pula boleh memilikinya? Sekiranya teknologi nuklear ini baik untuk kamu, mengapa kami tidak boleh menggunakannya?"

Ini hanya secebis dari informasi dalam buku ini, kalau nak baca pinjam saja dari saya ok.

Sumber :

1. Ahmadinejad, Singa Baru Dunia Islam, M Labib, I. Muharam, M Kazhin, A Hamzah, PTS Publications

2. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/ahmadinejad.htm

3. http://www.iaea.org/

What's up

Assalamualaikum and good day,

Well, what did I miss??

PLENTY. ALOT. Yeah, I know.

(Apakah punya soalan)

First and foremost, I didn't plan to explain my absence all these while so let's escape those part okay?

On Malaysia politics
I never had the chance to congratulate Barisan Rakyat (BA) for their success in conquering 5 states in Malaysia. Kelantan was successfully retained. Also BN for maintaining the rest and also the federal government,even without the usual 2/3 majority. I prayed for the betterment of the country, and the rise of vocal-citizens and open government. The people have spoken,now is their part to walk the talk.

Personally, I do envy all the newly appointed opposition MBs/CM. The charismatic Lim Guan Eng who once jailed for defending a 14 year-old girl in a rape case against a former CM, the corporate tycoon Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim whom I love to hear his inspirational stories of his success, the half Chinese engineer by profession-Ir Mohamad Nizar and the ever respected Ustaz Hj Azizan Abdul Razak. These figures prove that the opposition parties are never lack of capable leaders.

On personal life
Well, life's a bit hectic these days, that explains the hiatus. But then, I do ensure a frequent entry in the coming two weeks time because..haha sebabnya adalah rahsia.Eh no, it's not that I'm quitting my job soon, but..nantila I cerita ok?:P

And my first voting experience also was quite nice, the one that I will never forget for life. I even had my pic taken when I inserted my votes in the ballot box (tapi mestilah tak boleh tunjuk gambar tu kat sinikan):)

pakcik baik yang benarkan kami ambil gambar masa mengundi

Meanwhile, I managed to attend a senior's wedding in Penang and we enjoyed our time there too, sampai naik feri ke mainland sebab ada member tak pernah naik :) Apapun it was fun!

Tahniah Kak Sha and Abang Zul

OK I'll continue later. Salam Maulidur rasul to all !

You judge

Selamat mengundi!

(Undi kita adalah rahsia. Kalau ada nombor siri kat kertas undi sila laporkan kepada pegawai bertugas)

happy voting!

Several days ago when I had my lunch, my Singaporean instructor suddenly asked us (me and a bunch of my friends):

“So, I heard there’s election coming here”

We were responding in unison “Yes!”

And there comes my favourite topic which is the current issues and politics, namely the coming Twelfth General Election. So he asked details about the election where sadly, some of my friends are not entitled to vote, whether they haven’t registered or they registered less than three months ago. My instructor was also surprised when he learned that in our country it is not compulsory to vote, unlike Singapore. He explained that in his hometown the atmosphere of election day is totally different, people are actually go holiday since the day will be declared public holiday, and obviously there is less scenes will be made by the government and oppositions.

As most of my colleagues in my workplace are mainly Chinese and Indians, I tried to mind my words as I think the political issues might seem sensitive to others, but eventually guess what, I was totally wrong. My fellow colleague, an Indian girl is actually quite fond of political talks, and she insisted that she always believe in the oppositions to play their part, to be the check and balance agent to the government. She said it is ridiculous to have one party conquered the 2/3 majority in parliament, let alone to swipe clean all the parliamentary and state seats in the whole country. The idea is totally ridiculous, she said. She and her father even attended some of the political rallies nearby especially during this hot election season.

So there it goes, my exact idea is actually shared with my own officemate, and I believe with most of the Malaysians too. So the taboo of talking politics, especially inter races, afraid that some people might get hurt is quite nonsense. This is our own country, our own freedom. It is our own choice to choose who we want, and who we don’t.

Then my instructor shot me with a killer question,

“So, who will you vote for this coming election?”
“Well, I shall wait and see first, I will choose the most capable leader to represent me and fight for my rights.”
“So you don’t know who you will vote yet?”
“Actually I already made up my mind, but I would love to see what their next move is, how they convince people with their manifesto and such.”

Well, a spontaneous answer from me, greeted with a smile from my instructor and friends.

Six days to go,
HAPPY VOTING!