2008

Tuesday January, 1st, 2008

It has been two hours and 33 minutes that 2007 has left us. Millions who share the same time zone celebrated the birth of a new lunar year in various wayss, while the rest of the world would be celebrating new year as the clock ticks at mid-nightlater.

As the clock struck at 0000 hrs, January 1st, 2008 few thousand Malaysians, including, the Prime Minister, shouted, clapped and overjoyed at Dataran Merdeka n Kuala Lumpur. Some Malaysians gathered in Johor Bahru, Penang, etc to welcome the new day.

Prior to the great moment of tme, my Azizah, Hazli and his wife, Aida and I were chitchatting from 2200 hrs till 2330 hrs. We had tea and fruits from Giant. At the exact moment I was watching TV3's New Year Celebration Countdown.

Walking back to memory lane, I celebrated my 59th Birthay on Jan. 26. My Beloved kiddos were 4 in February. We went to perform Umrah in May. My contract was renewed on Oct. 1 still Sept, 30 th, 2010. Not much happening this year except for a new happy moments andxpectations this year.

My expectations? Off course I would pray to Allah swt to give me good health and mind, increase my iman and takwa and please fulfill my children's wishes and dream to reality.

Happy New Year

2007 Days Before They End

Friday December 28, 2007
As time ticks by, the days for 2007 will be over in a 4 days time. Hence we have already spent 365 days of 2007.

Looking back what have we achieved or failed to achieve in 2007? Let us walk backwards to our memory lane. January is the month that I would be looking forward to because my birthday falls on every 26th January. This time it was on Friday too. Do you want to know what was my wish for my birthday? Well, as usual, I would ask Allah swt to bestow me with Takwa, Iman, Good Health and Happy Family. Since that day, I managed to get what I wished for. My daily routine submission to Allah swt is greater than ever. In fact i even went further by Umrah in June. I still possess my great sound mind and body to serve my community by lecturing English in UiTM, Melaka.In fact, I was appointed as a contract lecturer from October 1, 2007 to September 30th, 2010. Malaysia Qualification Agency, formerly known as LAN, still needs my services.

Nothing much has happened to Julianaa, my eldest daughter, who is still serving RHB Bank in Kajang; while Shafik Rizaal, my second child, had been conferred Datukship by HRH Sultan of Pahang and Mohammad Asshad,my youngest baby, 25, still works with his brother.

My eldest grandchild and granddaughter, Fathin Aliya, 4, is an intelligent and higly inquisitive girl. Next comes my twin grandsons, Abang and Anand,4, are the best gift Allah swt has given us, both are intelligent, active and healthy. My fourth grandchild and grandaughter, Maryam Khatijah, 3, is brilliant and talkative and my youngest grandchild , Aiman Danial,3, is intelligent, healthy but rather timid. These are the God Gifted humans who would be carrying my good name.

Did I fare well economically? Well, I am a poor money manager. I would always throw rather than keep my money. Fortunately my money is well spent on my family, especially my 3 grandchildren. I bought 2 motorcycles, a Kriss and a Comel, for my daily transport to the mosque.

To recall 2007, I found it to the year that has given me peace, tranquilty and happiness to my family and I.

Thak you Allah swt what what you have given me.

The Day to Remember

Tuesday Dec.25, 2007

Christmas is here again. Christians are spending thier times with their lost and loved ones. Cookies, goodies, present and liquor freely available for everyone. To my Chritian friends , Merry Christmas.

What does Dec. 25th, mean to me and mt wife? The day is the most important in our married life. We were legally married on Dec. 24th, 1970 and our Wedding Reception was held on Dec. 25th 1970.

To be exact we have been happily married for the last 37 years. Our eldest daughter, 36, married to Ab Latiff, has a set of twins (both boys) and a 3-year -old daughter. Our second child, Dato' Shafik, 33,married to Linda, has a daughter and a son, while our youngest baby, Muhammad Asshad, 25, is still single.

After 37 years we have experienced ups and downs in our careers, marriage and life. Professionally I have achieved something beyond my wildest dream, that is to be accorded associate professorship. On the religious point, we performed our Haj in 2001. Together we have been to England, Paris, Bangkok, Beijing, Jakarta, Bandung and Padang. On the economics front, we own a semi-detached house, 2 cars and 3 motorcycles and a small plot of land. Educationally we managed to send our children to the universities.

I will always pray to Allah swt that the 10 of us be blessed with strong conviction in Islam, be healthy, economically stabilised, committed and dedicated to Allah and the nation.

Merry Christmas. Happy 36th Anniversary

2nd Day of Aidiladha

Friday December 21, 2007

By the time Muslims in Malaysia celebrated Aidiladha, the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Muhammad would be 82. May Allah swt bless him with good health.

Well, today is the second day of Aidll Adha. Last night I went to bed with my beloved Abang at around 2300 hrs. I was awakened at around 0430 hrs and washed myself and performed solat Tahajjud and Hajjat. Then I went to Al Nasirin to perform my Subuh prayer, imammed by Samsuddin Husi. We had Tashkirah about Takwa. It was read by Imam 3, Shamsuddin Bajuri.

Upon completion of my morning prayer, I proceeded reading my Yassin. I am on leave today so I have all the time to be spent with my kiddos. We went shopping for cookies on my Kriss. Then we had breakfast together. Most of the time, I did some searching for my old notes while throwing the unwanted things into the trash bag.

At around 1230 hrs I cleaned myself before picking up Yus, TV techncian, for my Friday prayer. The weekly congregation was over by 1400hrs. I invited Yus for lunch at home and while waiting for my wife to serve the goodies, Yus atended my TV. Lunch was served at 1420 hrs. After lunch I sent Yus home.

The rest of the evening was spent with my kiddos.

The Day of Sacrifice

Thursday Dec. 20th, 2007

Most Muslim countres of the world celebrated Adil Adha, the second greatest day in Islam yesterday, Wednesday, Dec. 19th, 2007 while my own country celebrate the great day today.

Why there is a descrepency between Islamic Nations in clebrating the great occasion? Muslims are required to pactice hisab (astrology) and rukyah (technology) in determining the sighting of the beginning of the Islamic months. The sighting of he new moon varies from one demographic location to another, due to the geographical features, weather and the high techonology apparatus being used by the authorities. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia declared that the new moon of Zulhijjah was sighted on Dec. 10th, while Malaysia which is about 5 hours East of KSA, declared that the sighting of the Zulhijjah was on Dec. 11th. Therefore the day pilgrims performed the most important ritual, i.e to be in Arafah, was on Tuesday, Dec. 18. Non-Pilrims were to celebrate he Aidil Adha on the 10th of Zulhijjah. The majorty of the Muslims, therefore celebrated Aidil Adha on Wednesday, while Muslims in Malaysia celebrate it today.

We are sure whether Muslims in Malaysia are celebrating the right Aidil Adha at the right time. Only Allah swt knows. Whatever it is, we started the celebration as of Maghrib prayer, where Muslims display their pledge of Loyalty to Allah by reciting Takbir after Maghrb and Isya' prayers at homes, suraus and mosques.

For record, for the first time my eldest daughter and her husband did not celebrate Aidil Adha with us because the nursery would be closed for the holidays on Friday Dec.21st. Her three children are with us in Muar. Hence my wife alone, she prepared the cookies and goodies till 0430hrs. My beloved Asshad came home at around 0400 hrs due to tarffic jam.

My Subuh prayer was performed outside the regulatory hours and then I performed the Adil Adha prayer at Al Nasirin at 0830 hrs. The congregation was led by Samsudin Hussin, assisted by Hj Ahmad Siraj.Immediately after the sermon, ketupat was served.

Upon reaching home at around 0930, I took my beloved Abang for a shot ride on the easy rider. Then I exchanged my bike with Kriss and I took Abang and Anan to cruise around he housing estate.

At around 1220 hrs mys second son, Shafik,and his two kids were home. they had ketupat and headed for his in-laws house at aound 1300. My kiddos and I siestaed at round 1330. I was awakened at around 1430 and quickly I performed my Zuhr prayer. Then I had ketupat for lunch.

Happy Aidil Adha.

Qualification Agency

Tuesday December 18, 2007

The former National Acreditation Board (LAN), will be upgraded to a new name, Malaysian Qualificaton Agency (MQA) as of January 2008.

MAQ will be more organised in scurring the realm of Academic Acreditation to all the Private Instituitions of Higher Learning in Malaysia. The officers will have to work thoroughly hard to analyse, evaluae and decide on the accreditaions of few thousand of cerificates, diplomas, degrees and post degree courses which had been accredited some time ago. Besides assessing the educational programmes run by the PIHL, MQA will also venture into the accredited programmes run by he Public Institutions of Higher Learning.

This would be a great task for a small organisation like LAN to perform this gargantuan task, hence it is agressively looking for fresh and matured graduates of various disciplines in order to cope with the ensuing tasks.

The objective of restructuring LAN is to safeguard the integrity of the paper qualifications churned out by public and private colleges and universities in Malaysia. Thousands of graduates produced by our universities are now applying their knowledge in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, the Far East and Southeast Asia.

Malaysia, to a certain success, has already achieved the status of Educational Hub of the East. Therefore it is the reponsibility of the government, through MAQ, to upgrade the syllabus and curriculum of Malyasian colleges and universities to meet the challenges and demands of the current global issues to attract the local and foreign youth to get the best from a highly acclaimed colleges and universitiesin Malaysia.

As one of the Eavaluation Panelist, I am fully confident that the future products of these instituitions would be able to perform extremely well in whatever profession they are in. In a smaller note, let our universities, be it private or public, play an important contribution for the betterment of mankind.

Good Luck MQA!

Friday is Here Again

Friday December 14, 2007
Luckily it's not Friday the 13! Gee! We escape the tabooed Friday the 13th. are we not. 13 is considered unlucky to some communities. Some societies consider the number brings bad luck in their busniess, life, fate and you name it.

To me, 13 is just one of the units that makes into millions and trillions. I was born in a family of thirteen siblings, 9 males and 4 females. Unfortunately I have never got to know two of my elder brothers who passed away at an early age before I was born. I have 4 elder brothers and two elder sisters and I have two younger brothers and two younger sisters. I am the 9th in the siblings of 13.

My late eldest brother, Hj Buang Hj Salim, a former army personnel and TNB Securiy Guard, married to Hj Rahmah, passed away a few years ago. Next came, Md Yusof, commonly known as Abang Amin, odd-job worker, married to Kak Som, was he first of my siblings to pass away in a drowning case in Johor Bahru, in the 70's. The third in line of my sibling is my first 72-year-old sister, Hjh Rahmah, a full-time housewife,married to Hj Hadi, is currently staying in Batu Pahat Johor. Next in line is the fourth in the family, Hj Naim, a former Senior Technician in TNB, married to Hj Fatimah, not in good health, is residing in Batu Pahat Johor. The fifth and sixth member of my family passed away while they were young. The next in line was my seventh brother, the late Hj Zainal, a former Sub-Inspector in the Police Force, married to the late Hjh Asiah, passed away about four years ago.

My second elder sister, the eight member of my sibling, 61-year-old Hj Saniah, married to Hj Mazlan, full-time housewife, is residng in Batu Pahat now. The ninth and the only graduate in my family is 59-year-old Associate Professor Hj Saaban. That' me. I am married to Hj Azizah and currently residing in Muar Johor. Next comes my 57-year-old sister, Kamariah,, the 10th in my family, full-time housewife, married to Abad Hashim, is currently residing in FELDA Sungai Mas, Kota Tinggi, Johor. The 11th member is my 55-year-old, Hj Hasnah, a retired Sister in the Sg. Buluh Hospital, married to Yatim, is curently residing in Sungai Buluh, Selangor. My 54-year-old brother, Zainuddin, a retired Sargeant Major in the arm, married to Rubiah, is currently residing in Kluang Johor and finally my last, youngest and the 13th flesh and blood, 51-year-old Zainuddin, a full-time electrical and plumbing contractor, married to Masitah, is currently residing in Batu Pahat, Johor.

Who says number 13 is unlucky. We were born to a couple, Hj Salim Hj Sirat and Hjh Kamsiah Hj Salleh, who have passed away more than a decade ago. My parents, especially my late mother, who was illiterate could only recite the relevant verses in prayer, and my late father, who could only read Jawi and passed away in Mecca, managed to bring us up and could produce an Associate Professor among their children.

We always and will pray for thier well being in the other world.

Hey! What a derailment I have been. Back to Friday, the noble and great day for Muslims. As usual, Subuh was performed at 0600 hrs, and followd by assin reading. I am on leave today and I am going to spend my vacation with my kiddos.

It's 0851 hrs. Salam and Cheerio.

The Day of Hullabaloo

Thursday December 13, 2007
In 18 days time, 2007 would be history and 2008 would take over then.

But before that happens, I would like to share the happenings that had gone into me. Yesterday, Wednesday, I headed for Melaka at around 0845 hrs and I was in office by 0935 hrs. I managed to pound something about LAN's assignment before Bashir, his daughter and I went for Tea Break at the old Car Park. We went there by JJK 657. We were lucky because our bill was covered by Ab Wahab, our Computer Programmer

We were back in office at around 1100hrs and countinued my pounding till 1320 when I decided to end the day in office. I, joined by Yus, TV Technician, left for home at around 1330 hrs via the new Muar Alor Gajah freeway and finally we made it home at around 1420 hrs.

After performing my Zuhr prayer, I had lunch. My wife, Azizah, prepared delicious fish curry, fried fish, fried sambal and cooked vegetable. Soon after I inhaled the poisonous smoke and I read the newspaper. While readin I collapsed into the noon siesta. Upon being awake at around 1640 hrs I performed the Asr prayer. Tea was served soon after.

I spent the rest of the evening with my beloved kiddos who are left behind by their mother. Abng, Anan and I rode my Kris to buy some food at Mad's Mini Market. At 1905 hrs I went for my Magrib prayer at AlNasirin. Immediaely after solat, I bought milk, chicken nugget, biscuits and potato chips for my kiddos. Solat prayer was performed at home at around 2050 hrs. I dined after Isy' prayer and immedately afte prayer I started to carry out LAN's assignment till 0100 this morning.

My sleep was interrupted at around 0230. Tahajjud and Hajat prayer and Yassin reading were performed soon after that. Then I tuned in the idiot box to view he Champions League. Unfortunately, Arsenal, my favourite team, were not covered life by Astro, so I decided to sleepat around 0330 hrs.

I was awakened by my hearthrob Abang at around 0640 hrs when I hurried solat Subh and read Yassin. As usual,I had my breakfast at around 0730 dan got dressed by 0800 hrs. Unfortunately my bowels failed me so I had to entertain the call of nature. By 0830 was was still at home and I decided to go on leave. I undressed and changed into some thing casual to be at home. I decided to wash my dirty car and I found out that the front left side signal was missing. Never mind that, I continued my washing.

Then I looked out for my handphone and switched it on.Luck was against me for the second time when the gadget wasn't able to display its menu. The only brightside was Icould still receive and dail calls without having the menu on the LCD.

Since I was on leave I managed to complete the LAN Assignment by 1030hrs. Alhamdulillah. I am free now and I am going to throw my time with my kiddos.

Back to Basics

Tuesday Dec. 12, 2007
It has been six days that I have not been in city campus because I was on leave from Dec.5 to Dec. 10. On 5 and 6 Decemeber, I was on Dental Leave for having my tooth being extracted by Dr Mohd Suhaimi Kinan; I took my Annual Leave on Firday,Dec.7th and Saturday and Sunday were the normal weekends, while Monday Dec. 10, I was in UiTM Lendu to visit old friends.

It was fun and hilarious to meet old friends. Rhim snd I hsd T Break at Pasar Megong Alor Gajah. Rahim had 2 capatis and I had 2 tauseh. While we were eating, Farid, Aziz's wife, and Samrah joined me. Everything was on the house.

Last night was so beautiful because my beloved Abang spent the night with me. He did not disturb my sleep till 0600 hrs. Hastily I took my bath, performed my Subuh prayer and read my Yassin. I had my scrambled eggs and teh tarik at around 0730 hrs and headed for Melaka at around 0910 hrs. On arrival, I only saw Pak Chad's car while the rest were missing.

I finger-tagged and lifted to the 16th floor to see Nazi, PAR, and handed my LAN letter to be given to Dr Mizan. In return he handed me a UNITAR's application for BA (Hons), English. After signing the acceptance form I headed to the 8th floor. Soon I was drawn to read the documents. But I need a break snd tha's why I am pounding the keyboard to relay my reason from being away for six days from campus.

The semester break brings sadness and boredom because the students are on leave and the lecturers are free to be away from campus. For the past 22 years I have been experincing these boring life. Hopefully this break would be spend to complete my LAN Assignment.

Just fo the record, Dec.1, 2007 marked the 22nd year that I have been commuting from Muar-Melaka-Alor Gajah. I will pray that Allah swt would give give the strength, zest, iman and takwa to serve my contract till 30/9/2010. Insy'Allah.

Will the Tears Drop By

Sunday Dec. 9, 2007
It's 0230 hrs in the morning, Sunday. Hopefully it would be a beautiful Sunday because I planned to swing my golf club with my buddies Hj Aziz, Hj Samsuddin and Cik Gu Aziz.

The day has been dry for the last 24 hours. Housewives were glad to wash and dry their clothings; children were happy running around the Tanjung Emas park; couples were seen jogging along the recreational parks and ice cool vendors were seen doing a frisk business. But it was rather unfortunate for a golfer like me who needed a turfmac all the time wasn't able to play because the course was still out of bound for turfmac.

So what did I do on Saturday then? Since my kiddos are in Muar, I took them for a morning ride, shopped at Petronas and finally we dropped by at the flea market buying some cakes for breakfast.

The day was filled with newspaper reading and watching the idiot box. In fact I watched two Hindi movies on Channel 2 and 3. As usual before lunch, I had my Zuhr prayer was . Asr prayer was performed durring the adverisement break.

My wife, Azizah, had a busy day helping out our neighbour to hold heir child's wedding reception today, Sunday. She was also invited to be in the groom's party to the bride's house.

I performed the Maghrib and Isy'prayer at AlNasirin. Dato' Shafik and his two friends droppedby while on his way to a political gathering in Bakri. After Isy' I read the Surah Yassin and followed by dinner.

At around 2330 hrs Shafik came to bid goodbye before heading to Kuala Lumpur.once he had left I tuned in to Astro to watch MU beating Derby 4-1 and Chalsea beating Sunderland. finally I decided to rest my day but before that I started to punch the keyboard again.

It's 0250 hrs now and before bidding goodbye for the morning I hope the sky and the cloud will not dropping tears again so that I would be able to swing my golf set at around 0800 hrs at Kelab Golf Tanjung Emas.

Adious.

Rainy Days are Here

Saturday, December 8, 2007
It has been raining cats and dogs for the past few days. Malaysia is experiencing the North East Monsoon beginning from November '07 to March '08. The weather brings ain a lot of rain to the Eastern parts of Peninsular Malaysia, vis Kelantan, Trengganu, Pahang and Johor.

By Thursday, Dec.5, hundred of Johorians in Masai, Johor Bahru were evectuated to schools and community halls. The JPA, police and local authoritied were extensively deployed to provide the necessary aids to overcome the hardships faced by the flood victims

Luckily, my hometown, Muar, is always spared from the flood waters. The most beautiful thing to happen during the unpredicting weather was when my beautiful healthy and brilliant grandchildren, Abang, Anan and Akak, reached Muar at around 2020 hrs. What a sign of happiness on seeing and kissing them because I had missed them for more than two week. Abang, the eldest, is always cheerfl and afluent; Anan, s always the chubby and appy-go-lucky tot and Akak is always elegant and healthy girl.After spending a few minutes with them, I headed for the ANasirin Chapel for my Isya' prayer. Soon after the prayer, we were invited to a feast by En Daud which ended at around 2130 hrs.

I was homed by 2140. Pak Li and Ida were here till 2300 hrs. After their departure, I spent endless minutes to toy around wih my beloved kiddos till0130 hrs , Saturday, Dec.8. My Beloved Abangspent the night with me.

At 0615 I performed my Subuh prayer at home and I read my Yassin soon after that. Back to weather, it's not raining now and I hope it will this way till theend of the day because my neighbour, Cik Gu Omar, will be having a wedding reception for is son, Budn, tomorrow, Sunday. If it is to be a wet Sunday, the reception will be gloomy.

As I was punching the keyboard, the newson JB FM 104 mentioned about our PM's call to straighten the rivers in Johor. e had observed from the air about the croketness of the Johor rivers. he existing rivers have caused debris to block the river flow. Thus he sugested hat the rivers be mended through the 9th RMK.

Hopefully the flood woos would be over in Johor.

Thanks God It's Friday

Friday Dec. 7, 2007
Thanks God It's Friday (TGIF) again. Friday is the awaited day for Muslims throughout the world because Islam consider this day as he the most important day of the week. Muslims would have to perform their weekly congregation at around noon today. Every Muslim must be prepared to perform the obligatory ritual by cleasing himself and wearing the best outfit. Everyone is epected to be early to the mosque in order of being rewarded for their tardiness.

Muslims Public Servants in this beautiful Malysia work shorter hours today. Business Hours for Government Departments will be from 0800 to 1200 and they will be back in business at 1445 till 1700 hrs. Not much can be done within this short operational business hours. All govenment servants have to finish their commitments before going for he long weekend, especially the people in Selangor who will be celebrating their Sultan's Birthday.

I am on my annual leave today. So what's is my plan today? Firstly after my Subuh Prayer in AlNasirin, I read my Surah Yassin. Breakfast would be at one of the Bringin stalls in Jalan Junid. No golfing for sure this morning because it's raining now. Maybe or maybe not we wold be heading to Batu Pahat to visit my siblings. That's not sure though.

What's brewing in the local dailies? Hindraft always take center stage. Is what they are trying to do for the ethnic Indians in Malaysia right? My humble and professional opinion is that the oganisation is barking at the wrong tree. Initially they voiced their concern about the Indians'plight in claiming compensaion from the British for transporting their parents from India to Malaya. This is absolutly absurd. If the African Americans, whose forefathers were brought by force to the US as slaves, then the US Government would run dry to pay their compensation.

Hindarf diverted thier economic vinditictness towards the British and focus on other matters that are being shared by other communities in this country. They complained about the detruction of the Hindu Temple in Selangor. The Selangor Government were doing the right thing by telling the temple to move to another place becuase it was built on a private land. In doing so, the Selangor Government had also demolished a surau (chapel). In Motherland India, hundred of Hindu Temples were demolished because they were built on privae land. No demonstrators or protestors took to the sreets of India because they now that the government is taking action according to the law of the country. Even the Muslims did not demonstrate when their chapel was demolished. On records, I think various state governments have demolished many suraus in this country without facing violent demonstration from the Muslim Malays of this country.

Hindraf claim that that there is ethnic cleasing in Malaysia. The Malay majority of this county is not like the Indians in India whereby it's not only ethnic, but religious cleansing too. The ruling elites in India never plan and want to help the dalits and Muslims. In fact they want to wipe out the untouchables and Muslims from India. Surprinsingly the leaders of this organisation are the Indian Malaysians who were brought up by the present day government. The government have given them opporuniies to have food, clothing, education, housing and that's why they have become lawyers now. I don't think anyone who is a dalit would ever dream of getting a tertiary education in India.

Agony of the Waiing Game

Wednesday, December 6th, 2007
It's 0353 hrs, wee hours of Thursay morning. I was just awakened about half an hour ago just to watch my favourite team, Arsenal, to play against Newcastle United.

One of my weaknesses in life is I hate to wait. Waiting needs patience which is very thin in my dictionary. To wait me to be totally focus so that you will never miss the right moment of the appointment. While waiting you will not be free to do whatever you want to do for the fear of missing the right time will always haunt you. Your mind and soul would not be at ease; your brain would be functioning abnormally; your heartbeat would be inconsistent; your coolness would be slightly warmer and worst still the adralin in your body is disturbing your emotional steadastness.

Prophet Muhammad pbuh was once quoted that Patience is a part of Iman (Belief), hence a good Muslim must bear a great patiece in whatever he does. So maybe my patience is running thin now and I would tune in the idiot box.I's 0400 hrs now.

Adios. Kamusta.

Monday is here again (Oh No It's Monday)

Monday, Dec.3, 2007
Monday is always the day when we still have the blues hanging above us. The day started with shower, Subuh prayer and Yassin reading. Immediately after that I had scrambled eggs and teh tarik. After breakfast I headed for Melaka.

The blues have engulfed the campus. Onle a few cars were around and I only met Md Nor and NorAzam were around. We had our T break at Raman's at around 1130.

Finally I left campus at around 1300 hrs.

Happy Birthday Darling

Sunday, 2 December 2007
The EPL debut for the weekend was over with my favourite Arsenal proved its salt. The night before was spent alone because my wife was in Kajang preparing for my granddaughter's 3 rd Birthday.

Mariam Khatijah , a petite, intelligent, active and lovable, will be celebrating her 3 rd Birthday today in Kajang. I have to be away in Muar because I have to fulfil my friends' wedding invititation in Batu Pahat Johor. She is the youngest in a family of three. Her -year-old twin brothers are Abang and Farhan who are intelligent, active, inquisitive, healthy and lovable kiddos.

The three kiddos are children of Ab Latif, a Technical Assistant in TNB, and my daughter, Julianaa, RHB Banker in Kajang. These God-Gifted children are a joy to be with. I will spend every bretah and every minute of my time with them.

My other grandchildren are 4-year-old Fathin Alia and 2-year-old Aiman Daniel, cildren of Dato' Shafik Rizaal and Linda. Bothe are English speaking kids and are staying in Damansara.


My wife and I will always pray for their success in future.

We love you darling.

Great Day

Well, Friday is here again. o be exact it is the 29th Day of November 2007. The form of the woed Friday hails the meaning of Free Day. What does it mean to be fre? ere are free to plan our weekend, Saturday and Sunday.

As an employee we must perform our maximum task before closing our job by 5pm today, while as an employer we must insist frm our employees that all work must be accomplished before the week end. Some people are so happy that they devise a motto, TGIF- Thanks God it's Friday.

To the Muslims, Fiday is the noblest day of the week. During the night, they will congregate in mosques praying and reading the Quran. Apart from that they would also perform Solat Tahajjud, Hjat and Taubat. Then they will perform solat Subuh in mosques and suraus before heading to their work place. Friday is rtaher hectic t Muslim workers because they have to stop working at 1215 and come bak to work at 144 During that short pell of time they have o perform the weekly Friday Paryer and they have to take their lunch. When they continue working at 1445 they will have only 2 hours and 15 minutes to accomplish whatever errands to be done before going for the two-day break.
The weekend begins after 1700 hrs today whre everyone will go hlter-skelter to spend the weekend. Friday is always the busiest day, even short working hours, of he week.

I hope you will have a pleasant and enjoyable weekend.

Iman and Takwa

1.0: Objective
The objective of writing this article is to share what I know based on my experience and reading about the two important topics in our religious beliefs. Hopefully readers of this article, especially Muslim, will add some betterment of understanding the spirit of Iman and Takwa.

2.0: Iman
Iman is associated with belief. In Inslam, Muslims must believe in Rukun Iman. There are 6 Pillars of Rukun Iman
2.1: Believe in Allah swt
2.2: Believe in Prophet
2.3: Believe in Quran
2.4. Believe in Doomsday and The Day Of Resurrection
2.5: Believe in Fate
2.6: Believe in Angels

2.2.1: Believe in Allah swt
Muslims must have the believe (iman) that there must be a creator to everything in this universe. Conversely, we must believe that Allah swt is the only and sole creator of in in the uniververse, be it its structure, characteristics, animate and inanimates, hills, water, wind, souls, life and deather are at His will. Allah has only to utter, "Kun Paya Kun" if He wants something to happen. No other being, because He is the Supreme Being, can stop something from happening because Muslims believe,"There is no God except All swt who has the power over anything." Once we believe there is a Creator for everthing form the biggest to the smallest, virus, germs, etc, Muslims must believe that we are being created solely to be obstinated to Him.
There is another Commandments in Islam, i.e. the Rukun Islam. There are five pillars in Islam, the first being to say syahadah, i.e. There is no God except Allah swt and Muhammad is His Messenger. Second is to perform five daily prayers. Third is to fast in the months of Ramadan. Fourth is to pay Zakat and lastly is to perfomred Haj in Mecca to thos who are affordable.

Humans who have pledged his syahadah, must performthe four pillars in Rukun Islam failing which it will be sinful and punishable in hell. Allah swt said'" I didn't create Genes and man but to succumb to me." As Muslims we must adhere to the pillars of Rukun Islam without expecting anything in return because look at what Allah swt has given to us in this world and do we ask for something in return after fulfilling the orders given to you. We must perform our obligations sincerely and consistently. It will be ashamed to ask from your parents something in return for what that done to us.
2.2.2: Believe in Prophets
Muslims must believe that God has cretaed adn apppointed about more than 200000 people to be His messengers. Out of the prophets, only twenty-five were elevated to be higher echelon of the prophets, called Rasul, this included our Beloved Prophets. The lives and the teaching of the prophets can be read through Sunnah. We must inculcate the good values and the teachings of therese prophets without questions. It was the good effort made by these elected human that the people of the yester years embrace a religion Islam.
2.2.3: Believe in Al Quran
Quran is the Allah's Teachings to Mankind passed on via Gabriel who then passed on our Beloved Prophet Muhammad. It Muhammad and his loyal friends who read, intepret, prectised and carried on the dakwah to the people of Mecca, then Medina, then to the Arab world, to Africa, to the west and then to the rest of the world. Every word in the Quran is the word from Allah swt.
Hence Muslim must read the Quran daily, either through reading or praying. Siti Aishah, pbuh, was once asked about Muhammad's personality and her answer was, AlQuran." What she meant was Muhammad had lived according what was written in the Quran verbatimly. Even Muslims are at logged heads, they must turn to the Quran for reference and settlement. Quran is the gem of knowledge, be it in spiritual, economics, politics, sociology, anthropology, astrology, health, medicine, banking and anything or any subjects because He is our creator.
2.2.4: Believe in Doomsday
Muslims must belive nothing in this world is invulnerable. The world is only a temporary place to live in and we will move on to another world called Alam Akhirat. Numerous catastophic happening have destroyed cities, villages, volcanoe, buildings, tsunami, earthquake, fire and many more. These are the will of God, of course with the mankind as its agents, and then it will come to a time, God swt will summon an angel, Izrapil, to blow the final day of the world by blowing his trumpet. That is the day when pregnat mothers would deliver their babies unconsciously, the hills and mountains would be crushed and please refer to Quran and Hadis for the astrocities of the Doomsday.
Everything that is created by God will be demolished and died. The new world, Alam Akhirah, has begun. Good Muslims and Bad Muslim, non-Muslims will face our Creator. We will ony know our final destiny, whether it's going to be heaven or hell, after our meeting with our Supreme Being or Our Creator. Let's us do good and abstain from doing bad thing so that we will be placed in the right place where we belong.
2.2.5: Believe in Fate
The earlier statement of There is no God except Allah swt and He is responsible for anything to happen in this world. therefore, Muslims must believe whatever happen, good or bad to us, is because of Allah.But we must always remeber that Good Things come from Allah swt and the Bad Things come from us. Foor example, people are imprisoned for the bad things they did and they cannot say the bad things he did was from Allah swt. Allah swt has created mankind with mental faculty superior than other inmates and thus how can we say the bad things come from Allah?
2.2.6: Believe in Angels
Allah swt passed on His Teachings, Guidance, Advice about the religion was passed to an angel, rather then directly to the prophet. So we must belive that there angels, besides mankind, co-existed with mankind. These angels are obedient, subservient to Allah swt. They are the opposite of the satan whose mission is to destroy man's faith to Allah swt.
3.0: Takwa
Takwa is to be afraid of Allah swt. Being afraid means to do good and to abstain from doing Bad. Muslims must live according to the two commandants, i.e. Rukan Iman and Rukun Islam. No questions ask because failing to adhere and obey them Muslims must disqualify themselves from being called a Seravant of Allah swt. Take a simple example in performing our daily prayer. Male Muslims are allowed to perform solat by covering their aurah. Does it mean that male Muslima can pay by wearing a sarong? Of course the prayer is acceptable on the other hand will you meet your superior wearing a T-shirt , trousres and slippers. Man will groom themselves before meeting another man but they will wear the bearest minimum when they meet their Supreme Being. This man obviously does not possess takwa. To have takwa means to be afraid (fear) and show respect to Allah swt at all time.
4.0: Conclusion
To conclude this article, may I qoute what Allah swt says, "I don't create genes and man but to succumb to Me,". we, as Muslims, must at all time fear and believe in Allah swt in time of happiness, sadness, life and death. In our prayer we always pledge that Our Prayer, Our Doings, Our Life and Our Death are for Allah swt. So in whatever things we want to act upon must be solely for Him and if it is not, don't do it. We must do good and abstain from bad all our life beacuse we would not Know when the angel of death will come to send us to another world that is pepetual and aeternal.

Great Day

Thursday Nov.29th, 2007
It's 0530 and a few minutes from the dawn of beautiful day. Without further ado I performed Subuh Prayer in AlNasirin together with Tabliq brothers from Pakistan. I had the opportunity to serve breakfst for them. Back home at around 0640 I read Yassin and then I had scrambled egg and Teh Tarik for breakfast.

I headed for Melaka at around 0825. After punching my attendance I quickly headed to Maybank to deposit some money to Dato' Shafik. Unfortunately the bank would only in business at 0915. So I had teh serbat with Zaaba at Raman's. At about 0930 I deposited RM 15000.00 into Shafik's account.

Having completed the transaction I went into my office at 1020. Now I'm hitting the keyboard to transfer what's in the mind i.e. something abstract into something concrete.

The weather is beautiful and I hope it will last the whole day. Insy'Allah.

Prayer of Success

Tuesday, November 27, 2007
As a routine, after Subuh prayer and Quran reading, I had my simple breakfast, scrambled egg and teh tarik, and a bit tabioca speacial with sambal and salted fish.

I left for Melaka via the new highway around 0830 hrs. The fingure tag was touched at around 0910. On my way to do some photostating, I met Sulaiman and Wahid of HEP. We had snack at MARA building and left at around 1020.

Amin, Computer Technician, and I entered my room on the 8th floor.My desktop PC was scanned for virus and Amin tried to check my mails from drbano@steamyx.com. We failed to achive our`goals. Amin left at around 1030. The time was then spent to read Berita Harian and browsed through the net.

Finally I left City Campus at around 1300 and reached home at around 1250. Lunch was prepared and served bymy ever faithful wife Azizah. I performed my Zuhr prayer while waiting for lunch.

After lunch was siesta again. I woke up at around 1600 and performed my Asr prayer at 1640. My wife left for Damansara with Hj Mahzan and Hjh Noi at around 1725. I would be praying that everything will gon on well.

Time and Space

Time and space do not belong to us. Allah is the designer and controller of time and space. How would we know that at a certain time and place we would be sent by our comapny to attend a seminar in London.
Basically Time is classified into day time and Night Time. In between the day and night time, we have the dawn, morning, afternoon, evening and mid-night.Who clasifies the day and night time totals 24 hours, 1 minute is 60 seconds and 60 minutes is an hour? Usually in major parts of the world which are not sub-divided into 4 seasons, the light and the dark hours are 12 hours.
When we have the time will we have the space? Sometimes we will have all the time, unfortunately we do not know where to go. Or we plan to go and visit some remote places on the planet earth but we do not have the time.

That's why we must believe that we are not His servants and our life and death is in His hand. Mllah swt. Muslims who pray five times daily would always pledge that, " All my prayer, deeds, life and death are totally for you Oh Allah swt. Hence as Muslims me must ask ourselves whether or not whatever we want to embark on anything is for Allah swt. If the answer is nay, abstain from doing it.

Hopefully we will live happily exclusively for Allah.

In Liew of 2020

Malaysia, in its desired dream, would like to be declaared as one of the developed countries of the world. In order to be known as one, Malaysia must have the charateristics of the G7 countries.
1. Truely Democratic in every sense of the word.
2. The Legislative must must elected freely and orgnised by the Election Comission.
3. All Malaysians, regardless of race, religion and ethnics, must be given equally opportunities in Education, Business, Administration, Economics, etc
4. All Malaysians must be given the rights to assemble, move and freedom of expression
5. Maintain the Separation of Powers in the true spirit of separation

Referring to no (1), the ruling party must ensure that the candidates stang for election are free from money-politiics. There should be any registration fee for any election. The government machinery, tranportation, security personnel, mass media and government premises, must not used in carrying ou their political campaign. Postal voters must be stopped. Voters must must vote in thier working place.

No (2) refers. The Election Commissions is solely the Guardian of the GeneralElection. It must be headed by non-government servat but a former judges whose integrity of the highest degree. EC should only be answerable to the King

No (3) refers. Malaysian children should be given equal opportunities in getting education under one medium. All vernicular scholls, Chinese and Tamils , must be closed. All Boardind SChools must be open to everyonee. Student's-Other-Langguages, Mandarin, Tamil, Dusun, Kadazan, Javanese and Arabic, msut be taught in schools. Universities must be open to everyone.The medium of instructions in schools , colleges, politechnics and universities must be in Bahasa Melayu and Engllish as the Stdents Second Language.
Every able-bodied Malysians who posses the necessary business credentilas must be allow to bid for government tenders. They must compete on equal ground rather than Bumi and Non-Bumi status. The award of tenders must be free of political interventions. There should be any contract be awarded to a RM 2 Comapny which has either the means and expertise to carry out the project. Any politicians who want to be involved in business must resign impromto because all these years the eceonomy has been going bad because billions of ringgit wnet down the drain because these irresponsible plolitician have awarded biillion dollar contracts too their cronies resulting in the under performance building, aeropleness and other infrastructure.

No (4) refers. The government of a developed country to offer their citizens the right to speak,write and assemble. All Third-World Counntries, including Singapore,
are governing their countries not conforming to Human Rights. Look at US, UK and other Europen Countries, demaonstration is a sign of Democratic country. Hundred of thousands Anericlans paraded in Washiton, Lon, Brussells, nad other G7 countries, and the police were there to safegurad that no life is being taken by the demonstrators. They were given their right to demonstrate, peak and write without any permit. As long as permit is needed for you to voice out your basic rights,, then you are not a citizen of a free country. We should, sometimes, commend Indis for being a bit advance in Human Rights by allowing its citizens to demonstrate freely. Therefore the government to repeal Sedition Act, Right of Assembly and Internal Security Act should be repealed.

No (5) refers. The Executive must not have an iota of interference in the appointment of the Judges. The Judicial System must not be under the Public Service Commission. Maybe the Chief Judge of Malaysia must be elected rether than appointed by the people.

In conclusion, Malaysia would not be recognised as a developed countries uanless and untill we adhere to the norms of developed country.

Hard Times

Saturday, Nov. 25th, 2007
This day is a highly sought day for everyone., including me. Prior to this day, Friday, a noble day for every Muslim, whereby we, Muslims, have to obey our weekly spiritual obligations at noon. Earlier on that day, after I had performed my daily Subuh oblution, I pursued doing my morning routine of reading the Surah Yassin.

After my breakfast at around 7.00 am, I left for UiTM Melaka. Nothing much had been accomplished here besides marking some assignments and reading newspaper. At about 1000 am I had breakfst with a Security Perssonnel by the name of Jani. At noon I left campus heading for home. I safely reached Muar at around 1245 and changed my shirt and performed my weekly Friday Prayer. Soon after lunch, I had my siesta till around 3.30 pm. I performed my Asr Prayer at 1630 pm. Cakes and coffee were served by my responsible and accountable beloved wife.

As my Kriss was still under repair, I abstained from performing my nighly Maghrib and Isya' Paryers in the nearby Surau. Being away from Surau I was able to make sins by wasting my time watching the idiot box till 11.00. Good Night.

Saturday was here again. My life began with the prayer and Quran Reading. Then I had my breakfast and at around 1025 hrs, my wife, her niece and I. left for Kajang. We aere in Kajang at around 1245 and had to wait for about 15 minutes before my beloved kiddoes arrived. Zuhr was Qashed with Asr and after that I had my siesta again, but this time along with my beloved Abang. We woke up around 1600 hrs. We spent greaat moments together, as usual, plaling with their toys, reading their story books and respondin to inquisitive questions from my beloved Anan. Akak Yam, my youngest grand daughter wasn't that well. Alhamdullillah she got through the situation through the night.

My wife, dauughter and her husband and children and the niece went for dinner at KFC. I didn't join them because I wasn't feeling good. Meanwhile I spent the time making some more sins by watching Liverpool beating Portmouth 3-0. My family was back at around 2220 hrs. My kiddos spent some happy moments relaying their experience during their night-out. As for me it was on and off conscious. Finally I woke up at around 0130 hrs. What happened to me then? It was making the sins again. along the night, Dato' Shafik sent SMS relaying his love to us after findng discripencies with his wife Linda. I was devastated on reading the text. Albeit I am more experienced and older, I was helpless in confronting marital problems. My prayer to Allah was to give back the love they had all these while.

At 0530 hrs I performed my Subuh Prayer but not the Quran Raeding. Brekfast was served at around 0830 hrs. Everone left Kajang to go for Apit's Wedding at arount 100 hrs. Along the way we saw Federal Reserve Units controlling the HINDRAF demoonstration at around Hulu Klang area. We dropped by at Mak Nah's around 1115 hrs and took her along to Sri Gomabak for Apit's Wedding. All my children and grandchildren minus my Shafik's children, Fathin and Aiman, my son and daughter-in-laws. Everone in the Hj Ab Rahman's Family was there. Apit's second wedding went on beautifully. We finally left for Muar without forbading Good byes to my beloved kiddos. Alhamdullillah we made it to Muar around 1600hrs. Luckily I managed to performed my Zuhr's paray befire its time expired. Soon after I performed my Asr prayer too.

As my Kris wasn't avaiable I abstained again from the Surau. Magghrib and Isya' were performed at home. The night was spent on making sins again by watching and believibg the idiot box again until mid-night to bear the news from the Night Line. Good Night

High Expectation

The recent demise of a twelve-year-old sudent in Penang has drawn me to contribute my perspecive of day's high expectation of paents to their academic achievements. It is not a crime to set goals in our lives. Eery living soul must possess some form of dreams and ambitions in life, but let us not overstep our capabilities.
Children are born form a marriageof two sexes. The paents intelligence is thus passed on o their children. Let us ponder on a couple whose academic achievement is of high quality. Unfortunately the parents did not pursue their studies due to economics or family constraints so they end up being ordinary breadwinner. Chilren who areborn from parents of this category are intelligent and highly motivated in schools. Hence we have children of rubber tappers, lrry drivers or security guard who perform extremely excellence in heir academic endeavours.
Convesely they are children who are born from parents who were not interested in their studies in shools and when they are raising their families they expect their children to be high achievers. The parents have high expectation of their children to do wellin their studies. Unfortunately the children inherited their parents' intelligence which is contrary to simple science, i.e. A coconut tree will never bare apples.
There are three factprs that contribute to the success of an individual in their studies. The first factor is hereditory. Children inherit their parents' intelligence, attitudes and goals in life. A child who is born from a father whose intelligents is low, will never excel in his stuidies. In addition a child will also inherit his parents' positive or negativeattitudes toward life and the child will also possess low self esteem as his father.
The second factor is he environment. A child is deprived of heebasic infrasture at home will find it hard to study. Thus thiswill hinder is motivatio to excel in his studies.
The final factor in achild's road to success is his peers. A child may have intteligent parents, excellent infrastructure ate home, but he mixes with the wrong peers who are unintereseted in their studies may coax him to stray away from working hard in his studies.
A child who misses one of the three factor may end in a doom. So parents of whatever catogory must ponder his soul to ask themselves whether they themselves are interested in studies when hey were young because our children are our clone of us. Know thyself before you know thy God. Henceif you yourself are the mediocre intelligence how dare you expect yourchildren o be excellent?
Parents who are inteligent and have the means to provide the best study environment totheir children must be concerned with their peers. A child who missess one of the three factors may end up being mediocre.
So let us band togetgether to observe seriously about the three factors so that the tragic demise of the twelve-year-old girl in Penang becomes an isolated case in our society

Weather

Come tomorrow, I would have stayed away from my golfing for about six`months due to the unpredictable Malaysian weather. The golf course, Kelab Golf Tanjung Emas, Muar, still forbids turf to roll on the course, whereby I have to forgo my leisure time of golfing.
Maybe God's willing I may be able to hit the balls in December.

Solemn Fraternity

Once a while the boat we are sailing rocks from time to time due to wind speed, the water temperature, the human mood, the waves and sometimes due to the Almighty. It is He who creates and finds a partner for us. What we can do is pray for His right choice for us. We, as His creation is hapless in figting nature.
The hills along the highways start to crumble; the sock market keeps on falling and many many more happening beyond our control.
Let us pray that we will be blessed by Him forever.

Beloved Family

From a couple, Saaban and Azizah, bears three children, Julianaa, Shafik Rizaal and Mohammad Asshad. Alhamdullillah our family has multiplied through the years. Our oldest grandchild, Fatih, 4, and our twin grandsons, Abang andAnan, who has a younger sister, Mariam Khatijah, 2, and finally our youngest grandson, Aiman.
All our kids and grandchildren are in KL and kajang while weare in Muar

Kiddos Successes

Our only daughter, being the eldest, Julianaa, 36 year old RHB Banker, works in Kajang Selangor. Her academic achievements include Diploma in Business Studies, UITM and Bachelor in Business Administration (Marketing), UITM, is mariied to Ab Latif and is blessed with a pair of twin sons and a beautiful daughter.Our twins, Abang and Anan, are 4 years old now and our beloved Akak, Maryam Khatijah, is going to celebrate her 3rd birthday on Dec. 2nd, 2007.

Our second son, Dato' Shafik Rizaal, 33, is married to Haslinda. Both are graduates from Staffordshire University, UK and UiTM respectively. They are blessed with my beloved dgrandaughter, Fathin Alia, 4, and my chubby and active Aiman, 2. Shafik is running a group of companies, SNC Group of Companies in Damanasara.

Our youngest and beloved son, Mohammad Asshad, 25,a Computer Scientist from UiTM, is currently helping his brothe's business.

Mariam Kahtijah's 3rd Birthday

Our beautiful , helathy and dear granddaughter, Mariam Khatijah Bt Ab Latif, would be celebrating her 3rd Birthday on Sunday, December 2, 2007. May Allah bless her wth takwa, iman , intelligence and Good Health.

Datukship for Shafik

Our 33-year-old son Shafik Rizaal was conferred Datokship from HRH Sultan of Pahang.

The Day Malaysians Cry

The great days of our automobile industry is heading for the Straits ofMelaka. Initially, Malaysia, besides Japan and South Korea, is hailed as another major player in the automobile industry when the former PM Tun Dr Mahathir lauched our very own car called Proton Saga.
The traffic scenario changed daily. The roads are being rolled over by Malaysian made cars. After Proton Saga, Mira, Kancil, Kijang, Iswara, Gen 2, Savvy and Juara followed.
Unfortunately Proton hit a snag when Korean and Chinese cars were allowed to roll on our PLUS Highways. This has hattered the dreams of Proton and efforts were made to work together with BMW but it faailed to materiaise and suddenly, our PM annouced that Proton is to suvisve on its own efforts. Thus the shre prices for Proton fell.