Weekend in London Part II

We started our Sunday, the second day in London, with an English breakfast at the YHA Thameside Hostel as early as 7.00 a.m. I was informed that two members of the team had left early in the morning for a trip to Manchester. This means I only have five people now under my care.

Once again, they made a humble request for travelling by bus, instead of tube. I took them boarding on C10 bus, which went straight away to Victoria Station. From there, we took another bus (No. 16) and dropped off at our first stop - the infamous Marble Arch. I let them took some pictures, including picture of British phone booth. I also reminded them to pay extra care of their valuables because there were many stories of tourists (and Malaysians too) who became victims of professional pickpockets.

Then, we proceeded with a strolling along the Oxford Street. We walked and stopped. Stopped and another stopped to check out a couple of stores selling souvenirs and gifts. Being typical Malaysians, they showcased their excellent bargaining skill. Based on my personal (and limited) observations, the more we bargain the more we tend to spend. I compared my past experiences with my mum, aunts and close friends and I do noticed a similar outcome here too!

Guess what, we spent almost two hours there and we had only covered, not even half of the whole length of Oxford Road! I quickly alerted and forced them to stop shopping and we quickly jumped onto a bus (No. 23) to finish this "haunted" road, which without failed has possessed many Malaysians everytime they are here, in this particular street.

We made two more stops. Firstly, at the Piccadily Circus. After been to Tokyo, I really think what I have shown to my "buddies" here is nothing if to compare with the one in Ginza. Next stop was the Traffagar Square. It was very unfortunately for my team that there was not a single dove there! I guess the birds were too afraid with the loud noise from an Indian-themed carnival held there, which I guess to mark the coming of Diwali Festival.

I quickly left for our next destination i.e. the Big Ben. Along the way, I showed them the House of Guards and the Downing Street.

Although I have been here many times, I never stop to admire the aesthetic architecture of Palace of Westminster. While they were busy taking pictures of the Houses of Parliament and the Clock Tower (both are parts of Palace of Westminster), I pointed to another great building -a place where Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana tied the knot - the Westminster Abbey. If I'm not mistaken, it is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

It was almost 1.30 p.m. and we not even close to half of our list. Once again, I rushed them to the next stop, which is not that far from the Palace of Westminster, i.e. the London Aquarium and the London Eye. Of course we have no time to go into the aquarium or board onto the observation wheel, after a couple of snaps, we walked to the nearest bus stop for another ride to the Tower Bridge (was often mistaken as London Bridge).

That was the final stop for our Part I tour. And it also means makan time! Since they have been to Malaysia Hall last night, so I thought why not I bring them to the Edgware Road. Our initial plan was to go to the London Central Mosque before having our lunch. Since we were short of time, I planned to bring them to Mawar Restaurant (one of Malaysian restaurants in London). Sort of killing two birds with a stone. We can dine as well as pray at the same place.

But to my surprise, as we standing in front of it, the door was locked and there was a sign which said the building is for sale. Oh my God!

We quickly entered a Lebanese restaurant, ordered our food and ate them. At the same time I asked the waiter for a direction to a nearest mosque. He said somewhere in Baker Street which I totally have no idea where it was. Once again, I bothered Tok Din and he advised me to walked to Nahar Cafe, which is about 5-10 minutes walk from Edgware Road.

On our way to Nahar Cafe, we found the Brunei Hall. Since time was running short, I asked one of the Bruneian students whether there is a prayer room in that building. Alhamdulillah, he said we can use the prayer room there. As he was about to show us to the prayer room, we were stopped by one of the officers. Upon noticing that we are not Bruneians, he prohibited us from using the prayer room and asked us to leave the building. Oh my God!

We proceeded with our search for Nahar Cafe but failed. And it was already Maghrib time. After a few minutes of debates between Pak Aji and Mak Aji, we decided to qada' both salats together with jamak Maghrib and Isya salats when we reach home. We walked slowly to Edgware Road and got on a bus to Victoria Station. Kak Nor (my cousin) requested for a short visit to the Hard Rock Cafe to buy something for her little sister.

While waiting for her to make her purchase, I rang Maz to do me a favour. Hehehe, asking her to check coach ticket online and if possible to purchase me one. Alhamdulillah, a few minutes after that she rang me back to say that it was all done and I should receive my m-ticket shortly.

We arrived at the Victoria Station at about 6.00 p.m. and we have about two hours before boarding our coach. The ladies suggested for a free and easy activity, which received full agreement by others.

I headed to the nearest Boots and picked up the latest RealHomes magazine, a couple of chocolate bars, a bottle of water and NIVEA facial scrub for men. After finding myself a strategic place to rest, I started my kill-the-time activity! In between reading and eating, I tried to assess my performance as a tourist guide.

Except the Buckingham Palace, we did cover all places which the group has identified as MUST-VISITED places. To further console myself, my heart whispered me a "scapegoat". Yeah, if it was not raining the whole day today, we might have fare even better. Somehow or rather, I did not feel console at all.

"Thank you very much for coming down all the way from Manchester and showing us around London. Kalau tidak, tak tahu lah macam mana. Jangan kata berjalan-jalan, entah jumpa entah tidak hostel tu. Sekali lagi terima kasih ya." said Kak Nik, representing the group before we departed.

Wearing my big beautiful smile, I replied: "Insya-Allah, kalau tak jumpa di sini lagi, ada umur kita jumpa di Malaysia, ya. Assalamualaikum.

There goes my weekend with two pakciks, a makcik, an abang and two kakaks. What a weekend!

Weekend in London Part I

This week is the reading week. A week where I am supposed to do some catching up. To collect and compile all those literatures on my so-called reading list for all six modules that I have for this semester. And this week also should be used to do some ground work for all six essays that I need to submit one before this term ends (second week of December) and another five more one month later.

Today is the first day of my reading week. What have I done so far? Nothing. Well, almost nothing. I just returned from a tiring weekend in London. I arrived at about 2.00 am this morning. By the way, Zao Shang Hao to all (so that I do not forget what Huanu Shi has taught me last Friday).

Wajah tidak puas hati diganggu oleh dengkuran penumpang lain!

Talking about my London trip, it was an unplanned one. I received a short notice "invitation" email from my cousin on Thursday. I quickly booked a one-way coach ticket online on Thursday night and by 1.00 pm, Saturday I met Kak Nor and her friends at the Victoria Coach Station, London.

There were seven of them - two pakciks (since they are around my dad's age), one makcik, one abang and two kakaks (including my cousin).

My first challenge was to bring them to the Malaysian Airlines office in Cromwell Road. Oh my God, I really do not know where that place is. A quick phone call to another cousin of mine, Nurul, I got to know that it is somewhere in Earl's Court. But unfortunately, I was blinded by the wrong information given by someone in Canterbury to Kak Nik (the one that I referred as makcik because I have a feeling she is around my mum's age too). What convinced me more about this piece of information is that it also has a map from Google attached to it. At the end of the day, the whole afternoon was all wasted by a journey to nowhere. Actually, we did find the Cromwell Road. It just that it was not the right Cromwell Road. The one that we went to was Cromwell Road in Hounslow Central. Somewhere in Zone 4!

Second task was to bring them to YHA Thameside. Ya Rabbi, why on earth they booked an accommodation in East London! Thank God, I did managed to google the place last night but after a mishap with the Cromwell thingy, I was a bit sceptical with information on Google. Alhamdulillah, at about 5.30 pm, we had safely arrived at the said hostel. After a quick check-in and an hour of re-charging, we went out to look for something to eat.

Without any hesitation, I confidently suggested the Malaysia Hall to my fellow tourists. For your information, I have never been to the new Malaysia Hall. I know it is in Bayswater, and once again, I bothered a couple of people to guide us there. I called Tok Din, Nurul and Maz.

We managed to be there around 9.00 pm but the canteen was closed to make way for a Raya open house, organised by the Malaysian Student Department. I felt so bad because I did not know how comfortable my "delegates" are with the idea of free food. Alhamdulillah, Malaysians are always a better host. They did make us comfy and I saw couple of similar faces like Auntie Zaharah, Uncle Hulaimi, Taufik, Farhan and his mother and sister, and Restu.

And Datuk Seri Shafiee Apdal was there too.

After an hour, we left Malaysia Hall after saying goodbye to Pak Ya (the warden) and Encik Ahmad Nazri (MSD Director). Since majority of my delegates were already tired and made a humble request for a ride on a bus instead of tube, I brought them on bus No. 23 to Traffagar Square so that they have a quick look at the infamous Edgware Road, Marble Arch, Oxford Street, Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus. Since it was too early for N381 service, I convinced them for a quick tube ride to Waterloo before we boarded on a 381 bus, which went straight away to Salter Road in Rotherhithe. And we called it a day at about 12.30 am.

Zao Shang Hao!

That is my first Chinese word. And it means good morning. Actually, I do know a couple of Chinese - ni hao ma and wo ai ni. The former means how are you and the latter means I love you.

Huanu Shi and I made a pact. She teaches me one Chinese word a day and I teach her one Malay word a day.

I should have done this long time before when I had the opportunity to learn new languages from my classmates. There were Chinese students, Pakistanis, Kenyan, Mauritian, Nigerian and Algerian. I should have at least, by now know how to offer greetings in those languages. Wow, what an opportunity that I have missed!

I hope this time around I won't repeat the same mistake and hopefully by September next year, I should be able to make a simple conversation in Chinese, Japanese and Spanish. I guess my German textbook needs to continue its hibernation for another unspecified period.

Till, then a productive weekend. Insya-Allah, I will go down to London again to meet my cousin, Kak Noi, who is here (Canterbury) for a short course, organised by our Ministry of Education and the Canterbury Christ Church University. I have sort of promised to bring her around London. Me as a guide? Before you guys start laughing, lets wish me luck first. Adios.


p/s: Happy birthday to my dearest friend, Harizal (Oct 27th).

Another sad hate (love) song...

I do not want to sound racist, but I cannot help but to rant it on this blog.

I was on my way home from my weekly Short Film Course last night. The bus was about to stop at one of the designated bus stop in Rusholme and there was this car blocked the way.

The bus driver gave his first honk to inform the car in front to move so that he can drop the passengers off. The car did not move. After a while, he gave another honk and this time twice. Still, there was no response from the car driver. I think he must be waiting for his passenger.

Another couple of honks, but it did not work.

After a minute or two, a lady with her child slowly approaching the car and slowingly got into the car. And the car still not moving!

The bus driver "played" a series of tuneless honks for about a minute or two but nothing happened. Then, I heard the bus driver screamed, "Get out from my bus stop!" A couple of pedestrians also made a couple of sign to the car driver to move and move. At last the car moved but very, very slowly.

Five or six passengers got off and the bus moved again. But the nightmare did not stop there. The car was still in front of us, moving very, very slowly. But this time the driver did not honk the horn. He slowed down the bus in order to get a sufficient distance and he pressed the gas pedal.

Do you know what happened after that?

Hehehe...

As the bus approaching the car, the *&^%^%$ car speed up and left the scene.

I can ensure you the car driver has a similar background as other young car drivers who drive expensive cars along the Oxford Road with high volume of noisy music from their car stereos.

I just wondering why they do that? What is the point they are trying to prove? Well, I guess it might be cool to show off like that in their home countries but definitely not here. Or at least not me. How cool is it to show off with things that you bought using your parents' money? To me, it is just a confirmation on how useless these people are. Full stop.

Congratulations, Boss!

Once again, for five consecutive times, Global Finance has given Grade A to the Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia) in its annual Central Bank Report Card. What make me even prouder is that (Y. Bhg. Tan Sri Dato' Sri) Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz's counterparts in the United Kingdom and the United States of America were graded D and C, respectively. The excerpt below was taken from the Global Finance Central Bank Report Card 2007.

Once again, well done Dr. Zeti! You make us proud as always.

MALAYSIA

ZETI AKHTAR AZIZ

Grade: A

Malaysia seems to have successfully weathered this year’s global and regional financial turmoil, and, as usual, central banker Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s even-handed management of monetary policy has helped. Unfazed by both the Asian crisis early this year and the spillover from the US subprime crisis, Zeti has kept interest rates steady at 3.5% since last April. By effectively doing nothing for the past year or so, the central bank has been extremely effective. Malaysia’s economy is on a roll, with GDP growth for 2007 on track to almost match last year’s 6% while inflation is tame, dropping in the second quarter this year to 1.5%—its lowest level since late 2004. Meanwhile, the ringgit has been gradually appreciating in real terms against the dollar, something that observers generally agree is good for the health of the economy. The one dark cloud for the economy is that demand for its electronics output is tailing off, but Malaysia’s financial services industry is taking up the slack. Heavily promoted by Zeti, Malaysia’s Islamic finance industry is playing a crucial role in that process.

UNITED KINGDOM

MERVYN KING

Grade: D

This past couple of months have been tough on Mervyn King, the UK’s now-beleaguered central banker. In September, just days after he pledged not to bail out banks that were caught in the credit crunch, he had to do just that for floundering Northern Rock. King had no choice because the Bank of England is mandated to help in such situations, but the debacle made him look terrible. That embarrassment paled by comparison, though, to the humiliation King had to endure a week later when he appeared to cave in to political pressure to ease borrowing requirements for troubled banks in the UK. Volatile market conditions had also forced the central bank to hold interest rates steady at its August and September meetings, despite its hinting earlier in the year that it would want to raise them. The only consolation for King is that inflation seems to be edging back down from its recent 3% spike to the bank’s 2% target. GDP growth, meanwhile, is faltering as high rates and the credit crunch bite. As Global Finance was going to press, King was facing increasing pressure to resign. If he does, his successor will have to not only restore balance to the economy but also restore the bank’s credibility.

UNITED STATES

BEN BERNANKE

GRADE: C

In this summer’s subprime mortgage meltdown, Ben Bernanke faced his first real challenge as US central banker. Unfortunately, his response was somewhat feeble. As America’s financial system seemed to teeter on the brink of disaster, Bernanke vanished from view. Then, from his bunker, he squirted a dose of liquidity into the markets. Sadly, if he was hoping to reassure troubled markets by pumping in liquidity, then he was sorely mistaken: All he did was assure jumpy investors that there must be something very, very wrong that they didn’t yet know about. When he cut rates by half a percentage point in September, he appeared to be reacting to short-term market pressure rather than instituting long-term monetary policy. It was a disappointing performance from a central banker who had hitherto shown himself to be a more-than-worthy successor to Alan Greenspan—who, incidentally, has reemerged into the limelight to assert that a recession is looming. The problem is, Greenspan might be right. The subprime mess could still derail the US economy, and there will be very little the central bank can do about it—even if it wanted to. In Bernanke’s favor is the fact that, while signs of a slowdown abound, the US economy is still growing at an acceptable pace. GDP year-on-year growth was revised upward to 4% in the second quarter of 2007, while inflation appears to be moderating…for now, at least.

I've Been Searching My Soul?

Some of you might know how crazy I am about this lady.

I started to know her, way back in 1998. She's from the States but I first saw her in United Kingdom, and saw her again in Malaysia until 2002. Since then, she has disappeared. The last thing that I know about her is she's happily living with her only daughter somewhere in the States. Or is she still in Boston?

And everytime I think of her, I will hum this song:

I've been down this road
Walking the line that's painted by pride
And i have made mistakes in my life that i just can't hide.

But I believe I'm ready
for what love has to bring
I've got myself together
Now i'm ready to sing.

I've been searching my soul tonight
I know there's so much more to life
Now I know I can shine a light
to find my way back home.

Baby.
Yeah.
Oh Yeah.

Well, I am not the only one (at least in my circle of friends) who loves her. I bet Mus still fancy her although he has someone at this moment. And like other best friends do, we did talk in lengthy about our fascination on this gorgeous and successful lawyer.

Last weekend, while surfing the Internet I spotted a couple of her pictures. And today, after returned from my Research Skill lecture, I received a note from the Royal Mail to notify me about a package awaiting for me to collect at the Post Office, two blocks away. Unfortunately, the package is too big to go into my tiny mailbox.

And... this is what inside the said package:

I do not know what happen to the first season of one of my all time favourite shows - Ally McBeal.

To those who did not have a clue what I am talking about, Ally McBeal is an Emmy/Golden Globe award-winning sitcom, which was created by David E. Kelly. It is about a young lawyer (starred Calista Flockhart) searching for love. She is smart, beautiful, confident yet clumsily funny.

About ten years ago...

I had an interesting lecture today, given by Prof. Colin Kirkpatrick on Financial Regulation and Supervision in Developing Countries. One of the subjects that is close to my heart or at least close to what I have been doing for the past 6 or 7 years.

While I do not want to bore you guys with the details, I must point out one statement that I received from my Professor, which in line with some of literatures that I have read before class. And what the statement is?

Malaysia was not badly hit by the Asian financial crisis in 1997/98, at least not as bad as Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea.

Hmmm...

Actually, I am in a difficult to verify how true this statement is because by the time my beloved country started to sneeze, I already flew to United Kingdom to read my first degree. My only indicators are Ringgit was fastly depreciated by God know many percent and majority of my classmates from the MARA College Banting cannot further their studies overseas because MARA has raised the cut off point up drastically.

To tell the truth, I do not think I was directly affected by the crisis because I received my monthly living allowance in pound sterling. And coming from a poor family, I did not expect any money from my parents. Therefore, I did not feel the pinch from the exchange rate fluctuation. In fact, I did benefit from it when I sent (and brought) home money. And Alhamdulillah for all of His blessings, I don't have to pay off my education expenses because I met the requirements for it to be converted into a full scholarship at the end of my studies.

So, is Prof. Colin Kirkpatrick right on this matter? I really hope some of you could give me some light on this because I am positive that our country was hit as bad as Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea during the Asian financial crisis. I have saw the statistics during my course of work as a regulator, but later today as I talked to another student from Malaysia, she also give the same personal experience as mine. Or the crisis only "attacked" the working Malaysians?

Does this make any sense?

2 "open house"s and a discussion group

Back home, in one of my favourite cities (My top five, in an alphabetical order, are Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, London, Melaka, Paris and Tokyo) I am always looking forward to weekend. There are tonnes of things you can do to fill up your weekend. And if I were to list them down here, I am sure, at the quarter of the list you will, either get bored or annoyed reading this posting (as if my postings have been that interesting all this while!).


Fast forward a month plus later, I am totally clueless on what to do when I opened my eyes on the Saturday morning. I know I have one lunch invitation at Sarah's place and a group discussion at 2.00 pm in preparation for a brief presentation to the class on economic development challenges in the context of Latin American economies.

Well said, I will be (was) productive from 12.30 to 4.30 pm on Saturday.

But how about the other 20 hours? Well, I can use 8 hours for a beautiful sleep but the other 12 hours?

What? The final rugby between South Africa and England. Where? The nearest bar. Whom? Other Ladybarn residents since my flatmates do not fancy rugby.

At first, I have to admit it did sound interesting to me. It will gives me the opportunity to buddy with other people like Ivan (who also in the ICT and Social Development class with me) or the guy from Kazakhstan who I totally forgot his name.

But then I have a second thought when I remembered an old memory of mine about an evening when Manchester United had a game with I-cannot-remember club nine or ten years ago. But that's football, not rugby.

Well... I guess to British, sport will always be sport regardless what type of games. They take it seriously and definitely I am too coward to let myself be surrounded by a bunch of drinking (drunk? I am too stupid to know the difference) people, cheering a game which I do not know almost anything about this game.

So, I guess I should heading to my sanctuary, kill the time by surfing the Internet, heat the pre-cooked meal, light reading, taking my daily 8-hour beauty therapy before get ready for another open house in Rusholme.

Thank you Sarah and hubby for the delicious prawn noodles and thank you very much to Fendy, Ayap and housemates for my second lontong in UK. And not to forget, the lemang (at last)!!! And who cooked those delicious ayam Palembang? I like it very, very much.

Well, that goes my an hour and a half Sunday outing. My God... I really miss my karaoke outing very much!

My second Raya card!

Yeah!!! I received my second Raya card today. It came from a dear friend of mine - Wadi. He has been sending me cards without fail since Aidilfitri 2005. Terima kasih daun keladi. I really, really appreciate it. But I really need to apologise to you that I have no Raya card to reply to you. Seriously, I feel so awful.

Man, I should have bring some greeting cards from home before coming here. Argh....!




Talking about Raya cards, I received an email from an old friend of mine a last week, if I am not mistaken three days before Eid Mubarak. It was a typical email from someone who you have not heard for two or three years - how's your life over there; are you married; do you hear anything from other friends; bla... bla... bla...

After he found out where I am now, in his reply, he told me now he know why he has yet to receive a Raya card from me. He said he has been expecting my card this year, similar to previous years, because I have been sending him Raya card every year without fail since 1998! Wow, I, myself quite surprised with this fact!

Then, when I think about it again, yeah... I think I did that!

Well, I did not realise how a Raya card can mean something to someone, until I read (1) my friend's email last week; and (2) Wadi's card just now (I found his card under my room's door after came back from class).

Both are making my day in their own ways. The former convinces me that my gesture is welcomed and called for (syok sendiri: ya atau tidak?) while the latter shows how good it is to be surprised by a friend. Why I say surprise, when it is a common sense to expect to receive Raya cards from family and friends? Simply because I did not give my address to him. That is so sweet of him to find out what my address is and to jot down personal message, that make it double sweet!

And I am so glad to read what my friend wrote on that card, I did not realise that I reread the card until the third time. I guess it is because you are so used to receive "official" Raya cards where they come with nothing but signatures. And you should consider yourself lucky if the card was signed off with ink from a pen, not a rubber stamp!

I do not know about you guys, but I will definitely treat this Raya card thingy differently in the future. It is not just a card!

Mr Lee suffers a case of prolonged Gila Talak

(This article was first published on The Scribe A Kadir Jasin)


A Kadir Jasin

THIS is address to the Singaporeans. Malaysians and others are, of course, not prohibited from reading and responding, but the priority is to the Singaporeans.

I mean those Singaporeans who are members and supporters of the People’s Action Party. Yes, those of you who gave 66.6 per cent of the votes to the PAP in last year’s general elections. Thank to your votes, the PAP won 45 out of 47 contested seats.

And those of you who are not members and supporters of the PAP. Yes I mean those of you who gave 33.3 per cent of the votes to the Oppositions. Thanks to your votes, the Oppositions won two out of 47 contested seats.

Even those who are neither members nor supporters of the PAP and the Opposition are also invited.

By this I mean the ordinary Singaporeans who loyally serve in the National Service and who believe that Malaysia is the number one threat.

The ordinary Singaporeans who enjoy crossing the congested Causeway to buy cheap petrol in Johor Baru – cheap by way of exchange rates as well as purchasing power parity (PPP).

And I am not discriminating against those fiendish Singapore drivers who charge down the North-South Highway in their super fast Subaru Impreza WRX STI Type C as if traffic rules and regulations don’t apply to them.

To them, I say thank you for visiting Johor Baru, which according their great Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was the “murder capital of the world”.

Thank you for visiting Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi. Temenggor Dam and Kuantan. Thank you for patronising the famous Port Klang "pork bone tea" aka bak kut teh restaurants.

Most of all, I am thanking you for not swallowing hook line and sinker what Mr Lee tells you about big bad Malaysia. Had they listened to him, they would not have come to Malaysia.

Malaysia may not practice the Singapore version of meritocracy. Then again, even in Singapore not everybody enjoys the same degree of equality. Some are more equal than others. But I won’t dwell into that because I know you know your country better.

I know you keep coming to Malaysia because you feel pretty much at home in Malaysia. The bak kut teh sellers are not the “favoured” Bumiputeras. They are the Teochews, Hokkiens and Cantonese. Of course they are Malaysian Teochews, Hokkiens and Cantonese.

Eating and selling pork are haram for the Muslims. So the Bumiputera, the majority of whom are Muslims, are automatically excluded from that business. So is gaming and alcoholic beverages.

Pig rearing, gambling and alcoholic beverages are important business activities in Malaysia. Pig farmers are so powerful that they could force the Malacca state authorities to back down.

Malaysian leaders may, from time to time, proclaim Malaysia to be an Islamic state. But that does not stop the government from issuing lucrative gambling franchises to Malaysian Chinese and Indians.

They are so big and successful that they are now setting up shops in Singapore. Soon you no longer have to travel to Genting to gamble. You can just have to walk across to Sentosa Island.

When you’re tired of racing your Mercedes S Class and BMW 6-Series on our highways and have had enough of the Klang bah kut teh, you know you can check into one of our many world-class hotels, which incidentally are very rarely owned by the “favoured” Bumiputera.

So why am I saying this and why am I being extremely nice to you? Because I want you be totally aware that not everything Mr Lee tells you about Malaysia is true.

Most off all, I want to assure you that whatever we do – good, bad or indifferent – is not intended to coax Mr Lee to rejoin Malaysia.

We have no intention of inviting Singapore back nor are we about to consider remarrying Singapore even if Mr Lee is suffering an extended case of “gila talak” – longing to be reunited with one’s former husband or wife.

After 42 years of divorce, we have grown fond of living without Mr Lee as our strange bedfellow. Two years of living Mr Lee is quite enough.

I am sure very few of you would want Singapore to be part of Malaysia again. Singapore is wealthy. It’s clean and is doing well. Why bother rejoining the poorer Malaysia?

Why should you want to lose the pleasure of going to a foreign country to buy cheap petrol, eat bah kut teh to your hearts’ contend and race your Mitsubishi Evolution X without the fear of losing your driving licences?

Please do me a favour. Please help Mr Lee overcome the “gila talak” syndrome and tell him to stop meddling in Malaysia's domestic affairs.

We don't need him to lecture us and he should accept the fact that he "lost" Malaysia way back in 1965 .

Photoblog II

Friday, 8.00 am - Salat Aidilfitri@McDoughall Prayer Room.

9.00 am - In the Financial Market class.

Saturday, from 12.30 to 11.30 pm - Open House@my aunt's house in London







Sunday, 12.30pm - in the bus, on my way to Victoria Station, London

Esok Hari Raya!

Ya Rabbi, this is the first time in my life that while I'm about to celebrate Eid Mubarak and my parents and my siblings have another day to fast.

When Fendi broke the news to me about two hours ago, I thought he was kidding me. I quickly called my cousin, Nurul, to verify this piece of information. Yeah, it's 100% true. We, muslims in the United Kingdom will be celebrating 1st Syawal tomorrow, a day ahead of our beloved ones in Malaysia.

Then, Maz called me to inform me about the same thing and we wished each other and planned to meet up in London maybe on Saturday or Sunday. Most probably on Sunday because I can't on Saturday because my aunt is organising an open house on Saturday and Maz too has a prior arrangement with her cousin. According to Maz that the High Commission will be organising an open on Sunday at the Malaysia Hall. But from what I read on Lee's website, it's scheduled on Saturday. Hmmm...

Anyhow, I'm going to wear my maroon-coloured baju Melayu, full with sampin and songkok. Hopefully, the weather will be nice tomorrow morning. Fendi informed me that the first batch of Eid Mubarak salat will start around 8.15 in the morning. Alhamdulillah, I can have both, the salat as well as my morning lecture on Financial Market.

In the evening, I'll be going to London to celebrate Eid Mubarak with my aunt and her family.

Before I go, would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you, "Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri" and "Maaf zahir dan batin". Guys, don't forget to tune-in to TV1 on 4th Raya at 6.30pm, there will be a big, big surprise for you. Don't miss it, ya!

Death to Short Film

Gasman, a short film by Lynne Ramsay

How ironic it is, that I've been complaining to a number of people how struggled I was finding time to read the literatures on my long recommended reading lists, without I realised I've enrolled myself into an introduction course on short films!

This 8-week course, which started this evening from 6.30 to 8.30 pm, is led by Kate Taylor, editor of the Northen Film Network and co-director of the London Short Film Festival.

No prior knowledge is required because this course by Cornerhouse is specially designed for beginners like me. Hooray!

After attending the first class, I've a feeling that I'm going to enjoy this course because of two simple reasons.

Firstly, I'm the only Asian and if I'm not mistaken, the only two non-British in my class. At least, it makes me feel like studying in England, not in the United Nations territory or HQ.

Secondly, although the facilitator was not as lively as what I would expected, at least I learn a lot about film and filmmaking. And in this context short film, which from the lecture just now, briefly highlighted the distinct of short films as compared to feature films.

The class started with ice-breaking session and guess who were picked by Kate to start the ball rolling? Yeah, you're right... me. I introduced myself with my very best pronounciation of my own name, which really an effective attention grabber (I think I'm starting to love my unique name! hehehe). I was paused a bit, when were asked what was the last film I watched. My God... simple question but unfortunately it was difficult for me to think straight and after a couple of "hmmm..." I told the class that it was a Malaysian film, a love simple love story movie (Wah, memang satu sahaja filem Malaysia yang berkisarkan cinta!).

What's my expectation from this course? All of the sudden, I answered it like a beauty queen from India and hall of the class nodded. I'm not sure whether they're impressed/satisfied of my answer or my answer straight away confirmed how naive (or stupid) I am.

During that two-hour class, we're shown of two award-winning short films - I forgot the title of the first film, but I think it's About A Girl and Gasman. I love the latter because it has less dialogue, it shows a briliant use of colours (Kate looked impressed when I highlighted this point) and not too dramatic (or to Mus maybe no climax). It is a story of a little girl who just found out that her father has another family and how she tries to deal with her jealousy.

About A Girl by Brian Percival

Welcoming Party

I just returned from the Richmond Park Bar, attended the Welcome Party specially held for the Ladybarn & Linton residents. It's almost 12am and I've yet to perform my Isya prayer and it's far over my bed time. Sorry guys... only pictures for today's posting. Good nite and sweet dreams.

Ambang, Ambang, Ambang, Ambang Raya!

Another four more days before we celebrate Eid Mubarak. And this is going to be my fourth Aidilfitri that I won't be around my beloved mother, father and siblings.

The thing that I'm gonna miss the most is the opportunity to kiss my parents' cheeks and to hug them passionately. This is because only on Aidilfitri (and a very, very few and rare occasions) my parents "allow" us to perform this. And only on that day as well, I will cry like a small child.

Only on Raya too, my siblings and I will have the ketupat with not one or two but four or five dishes. And my favourite, as always, will be the rendang kerang. My all time favourite! We will also have chicken rendang, beef rendang, sambal udang and if we're well-behaved on Raya eve, normally my mother will cook an extra dish, either peanut sauce or rendang peparu.

Since I was a little boy, I don't fancy fire crackers. So, I don't miss that thing definitely. Pasang pelita? Yeah... I'm so blessed to have a father who loves to light up oil lamps and put them around our house. And every three or four years, he will change with new design. And I love the one that my father made them by himself, using bamboo. That was five or six years back, when I've just started working and was a bit nervous to give out my first angpows to smaller cousins.

Instead of joining my two younger brothers go for takbir raya from house to house, I will patiently accompany two of my younger sisters changing the curtains as well as cushion cases. Go on, guess what was my role?

"Senteng tu!"
"Labuh sangat!"
"Kedut-kedutkan dia."

Because of my big mouth, I always get this from them.

"Along pandai sangat kan, nah buat!"

Oh, God... can I still have this at my aunt's house?

In the Mood for Celebration II

The celebration started on last Thursday with the birthday of Danny and yesterday was the birthday of Amy, one of my travel buddies. Today is the special day of another friend of mine, Shai and tomorrow will be a double celebration for Julianaa (one of my karaoke buddies) and Wok. The next day will be the birthday of my cousin, Marlia and the day after will be the birthday of another friend of mine i.e. Shy. And on this coming Wednesday, it will be a triple celebration for three friends of mine - Herman, Alin and Malik.


Wow, a full week of birthday celebrations. Happy birthday to Danny (4th), Amy (5th), Shai (6th), Julianaa (7th), Wok (7th), Marlia (8th), Shy (9th), Herman (10th), Alin (10th) and Malik (10th). Good luck in your future undertakings and may Allah bless all of you with more rahmat, berkat and joy.


I wish I was there to join the celebration with you guys. Since I can't find any picture of birthday cakes on my laptop, I hope you guys don't mind me uploading the following pictures instead.





Go on... guess where was I when having this delicious dishes?

Bantahan!

God is Great! One of the proofs is us - His greatest creation. He created us in all sizes and colors and alhamdulillah, each one of us has our own taste and preference. To those who really knows me, some (if not most) of my taste and preference are totally different from the mainstream. Some are posh (sikitlah!) and some are kampung. I'm not proud of those poshness and I'm not ashame of those 'kampung'ness. At the end of the day, this is who I am. If you like it... thank you very much. If you don't... I can just pity you.

My beloved mother always says this to me, "Love yourself as much as you love Allah and your mother."

Although I'm a subscriber to National Geographic magazines, I'm not ashame that I read Panca Indera and Bintang Popular. Although I watch Wong Kar-wai's, Mike Leigh's, Lars von Trier's and Uwei Haji Saari's, at the same time I listen to Ramlah Ram, Anuar Zain, Nora, Ramli Sarip, Ning Baizura, Jamal Abdillah and Adibah Noor. I don't feel ashame that I knowledge of international artistes is limited to Roxette, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Robbie Williams and Josh Groban.

Lars von Trier - Danish Filmmaker with great films like The Idiot, Breaking The Waves & Dancer In The Dark

This is simple because I'm different from all of you and vice versa. And what make me and my friends more civilised than a couple of people in a private radio station in Malaysia is that my friends and I respect of each other's taste and preference. Although at some point of time, we got a bit carried away but at the end of day we still managed to put a stop at that and move on. And our golden key is never dictate or impose on others of our views or choices.

But I totally can't understand how a firm run by so-called professionals can simply ignored this common sense and trying to act like policemen - to control what we listen to, to dictate our taste and preference. If they can play a request by my adik for a song by a newcomer with limited vocal capability why can they grant my request for Ketentuan by Ramlah Ram, whose 'kampung'ness showmanship during the opening act of the Voice of Asia competition, had opened the judges' eyes to talents from Malaysia. In that particular year, Ziana Zain brought home our first time win of this singing competition annually held in Kazakhstan.



So, I guess it's timely for me to reset the pre-set frequency on my radio players. I already have Hot.fm, Muzik.fm, Hitz.fm and KlasikNasional.fm, so is it IKIM.fm or Fly.fm? Or Suria.fm? Definitely, not Sirna.fm or Xfresh.fm! Why? Abang borek, adik rintik...


p/s: I append I strong condemnation of Radio ERA's unprofessionalism.

From: arenaKu@gmail.com
To: azrullah_nor@astro.com.my, webmaster@eraradio.com.my
Cc: adam@hmetro.com.my, hanizam@bharian.com.my, akmel@bharian.com.my, online@utusan.com.my

Merujuk kepada beberapa artikel di akhbar serta kenyataan balas ERA, saya membantah KERAS di atas tindakan Radio ERA sama ada melarang mahupun melewat-lewatkan penyiaran lagu-lagu nyanyian Ramlah Ram. Tindakan yang kebudak-budakan ini, tidak melambangkan langsung nilai-nilai profesionalisme Radio ERA ke arah memperkasakan seni hiburan tanahair. Apakah ini yangdikesalkan oleh YAB Pak Lah tentang mentaliti dunia ketiga!

Lantaran itu, saya minta agar pendaftaran e-pass saya (untuk laman Astro, Eradan lain-lain) ditamatkan serta merta.


Fallowfield, Manchester.

Happy Birthday, Danny!

Today is another special day in my life. It's the birthday of one of my close friends. Those who might not know about this good-looking guy, might not have a good first impression of him. But trust me, he's the kind of friend who will stay with you, regardless good or bad days.

I tried to write a poem about him last minute, but I don't why I failed miserably. Well, I said to myself, never mind... I've more or less another 24 hours to get myself together and write beautiful prose for him.

I went to tutorial, one class after another, broke my fast in the bus on my way home and quickly sat in front my laptop after Maghrib prayer, but still... those words seem just do not want to come out.

Oh my God... is this a sign or what!

Danny... I would like to take this opportunity to wish you Happy Birthday. Good luck in your future undertakings. May Allah bless you with more rahmat, berkat and joy. Aamin.

Thank you for being such a dear friend.

Liberation Via Grameen Bank

Today's class was given by Dr. Anul and he talked in lengthy on one of my favourite subjects i.e. Micro Finance. He kept stressing that micro credit is not micro finance, but sub-set to micro finance. And in his class I heard for the first time about BRAC (previously known as Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee), an NGO established by Mr. Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972. If this fact is correct, this means BRAC was providing micro credit to poor much earlier that Grameen Bank!

To learn more, I googled the Net on this topic. Basically, most of the literature that I found, clearly mentioned how Dr. Muhammad Yunus was inspired during the terrible Bangladesh famine in 1974. He made loans of $27 to a group of 42 families, whereby at the end of the day, all were fully repaid.

The Grameen Bank (literally, "Bank of the Villages", in Bangla) is the outgrowth of Muhammad Yunus' ideas. The bank began as a research project by Yunus and the Rural Economics Project at Bangladesh's University of Chittagong to test his method for providing credit and banking services to the rural poor. In 1976, the village of Jobra and other villages surrounding the University of Chittagong became the first areas eligible for service from Grameen Bank. In 1983, it was transformed into an independent bank by the legislature of Bangladesh. As of mid-2006, Grameen Bank branches number over 2,100. Its success has inspired similar projects around the world. (Wikipedia)

Other points worth mentioning include the fact that majority of the beneficiaries are women and the repayment rate is around 98%. This raises a numbe of good questions, are women good paymaster than men? Or is it all this while the formal financiers have been sexist by denying a lot of women (at least in the case of Bangladesh) from financial services, especially credit? Are poors really bankable? Or like what Sudhirendar Sharma pointed out that micro credit is just a macro trap - landed poor communities in a perpetual debt-trap?

Let me do more reading on this and if you guys interested to find out more about this, just email me personally.

Grameen Bank might have operational issues like other banks (in the light of latest development, even big boys like Citigroup are financially affected by the US sub prime crisis), but what I find it fascinating is the Sixteen Decisions - a set of values incorporated by the Bank and there are as follows:

1. We shall follow and advance the four principles of Grameen Bank: Discipline, Unity, Courage and Hard work – in all walks of our lives.
2. Prosperity we shall bring to our families.
3. We shall not live in dilapidated houses. We shall repair our houses and work towards constructing new houses at the earliest.
4. We shall grow vegetables all the year round. We shall eat plenty of them and sell the surplus.
5. During the plantation seasons, we shall plant as many seedlings as possible.
6. We shall plan to keep our families small. We shall minimize our expenditures. We shall look after our health.
7. We shall educate our children and ensure that they can earn to pay for their education.
8. We shall always keep our children and the environment clean.
9. We shall build and use pit-latrines.
10. We shall drink water from tubewells. If it is not available, we shall boil water or use alum.
11. We shall not take any dowry at our sons' weddings, neither shall we give any dowry at our daughter's wedding. We shall keep our centre free from the curse of dowry. We shall not practice child marriage.
12. We shall not inflict any injustice on anyone, neither shall we allow anyone to do so.
13. We shall collectively undertake bigger investments for higher incomes.
14. We shall always be ready to help each other. If anyone is in difficulty, we shall all help him or her.
15. If we come to know of any breach of discipline in any centre, we shall all go there and help restore discipline.
16. We shall take part in all social activities collectively.

So, if you find something similar by Maybank or Public Bank, quickly alert me, please. Thanks.