Antara Sang Puteri dan Sang Perwira

Minggu hadapan, Kuala Lumpur akan menerima sekali lagi kehadiran Puteri Majapahit, yang bakal bercerita tentang kisah cinta agungnya terhadap seorang Laksamana Melayu yang terbilang.

Aku sudah pun menempah tiket untuk pertunjukan sulungnya iaitu pada 6 Februari 2009. Namun, santak kini aku masih lagi ternanti-nantikan tiket tersebut. Insya-Allah, ini kali kedua aku menyaksikan teater muzikal ini.

Hujung minggu depan juga, Kuala Lumpur juga bakal menerima kunjungan barisan perwira daripada beberapa ceruk dunia, untuk beradu kudrat. Ada yang datang dari Thailand, Slovakia, Senegal dan Turki.

Hati ini memang terdetik untuk menyaksikan pertarungan-pertarungan tersebut, yang dijadualkan akan berlangsung di Stadium Badminton Cheras, yang sepelaung sahaja daripada rumah aku. Tetapi, aku telah diberikan tugas untuk mengiringi salah seorang tetamu negara yang bakal tiba pada 7 Februari ini. Dan tugasan ini berterusan sehingga 12 Februari 2009.

Kepada yang lapang, sila-silalah mengisi masa dengan persembahan teater Puteri Gunung Ledang The Musical ataupun hadir ke TM-WMC KL International Muay Thai Challenge 2009.

Antara Melalak dan Perayaan

Salah satu kesukaan aku ialah melalak. Pantang sahaja orang ajak, insya-Allah, tepat masanya aku akan tercegat di muka masuk pusat karaoke tersebut.

Malam tadi, Kak Liza mengundang aku untuk turut serta meraikan hari ulang tahun kelahiran salah seorang rakan sepejabat kami iaitu Jun. Kepada yang rajin menjengah akaun facebook aku, mungkin wajah Jun ini akan familiar, kerana dia adah ex-Mancunian dan turut serta menganjurkan program Cuti-Cuti ke Langkawi pada bulan lepas.

Sesi karaoke kami bermula sedari jam 8 malam santak 10 malam. Sambil makan sambil menyanyi. Nyaring betul vokal si Jun, manakala Kak Liza pula, suaranya serak-serak basah, persis Ella!

Aku, seperti biasa, mendendangkan himpunan lagu-lagu 80an dan 90an.


Sekali lagi, happy birthday to you, Jun. All the best in your undertakings. May Allah bless you with more rahmat, berkat and joy. Aamin.

Kepada Kak Liza... terima kasih daun keladi. Janganlah serik dan jemput-jemputlah lagi.

Kesempatan ini juga, aku ambil untuk mengucapkan Selamat Tahun Baru Cina kepada my Chinese colleagues - Alison, Kai Meng, Catherine, Chang Lai Kuen, Andrew, Vivienne and Anthony Tan. Not forgotten, my Chinese ex-classmates - Huanu, Ming & Selena. May all of us have a prosperous year ahead. Gong Xi Fa Chai!


p/s: I'm going to PD this evening!

Open letter to the so-called Mus-The-Great

Call me have self-esteem of a wet toast but I do not really buy the whole idea of an organized reunion. It’s conceited and pretentious to say the least. Those people who really wanted to come are usually vindictive, showy people with something to gloat about; or they simply there to rub the faces of those people who used to torture them, with their current, much talked about “success”.

Don’t get me wrong. I certainly do not have problems with meeting old friends outside once in a while, have a few drinks and chat until the wee hours; but to dress up expensively, drag you wife (ves) and infants, throwing your business cards like you just won a presidential election and act like you are still in high school? - na’ah I don’t think so, thankyouverymuch.

Aku terpanggil untuk menjawab pandangan songsang Mus-The-Great seperti yang dirakamkan dalam dua rangkap di atas.

Untuk menuduh rakan-rakannya yang pernah belajar sama-sama di bawah satu bumbung sebagai vain dan showy, bagi aku, adalah satu pandangan yang kurang ajar.

Hanya kerana beliau malu kepada dirinya sendiri untuk apa jua alasan, janganlah sewenang-wenangnya melabelkan orang lain mempunyai agenda tersembunyi setiap kali menghadiri reunion ataupun bersua temu dengan ex-classmates.

Dress up expensively? Have you ever been any of SMS Muar reunions before? Or you’re just dreaming of attending one like in the Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion? Hahaha… what a joke!

Just because you have the self-esteem of a wet toast, don’t penalise us to get together with old friends to share and exchange some old memories. Biar baik ataupun buruk, memori-memori tersebut adalah sebahagian daripada lipatan sejarah hidup kita, yang tetap akan kita tonton di Padang Masyar nanti.

Sekurang-kurangnya, aku bangga dengan apa jua jalan yang aku lalui. And I don’t give a **** of what people think of me.

Akhir kata, aku cabar kau datang ke majlis tersebut nanti, supaya tanggapan bahawa kau malu dengan diri kau sendiri (yang aku percaya tidak benar), betul-betul TIDAK BENAR.

Ada berani, Mus-The-Great?

Helo Kuching!

Setelah lebih kurang dua tahun tidak ke ibu negeri Sarawak, malam tadi aku selamat tiba di Lapangan Antarabangsa Kuching sekitar 8.20 malam. Ketika lawatan terakhir aku dahulu, lapangan terbang ini masih lagi dalam proses ubahsuai.

Tak banyak bezanya Kuching sekarang dan Kuching pada tahun 2006. Salah satunya ialah 'rumah' baru Dewan Undangan Negeri yang berhampiran dengan Fort Magherita dan Astana. Cantik betul reka bentuknya.

Pasar basah yang suatu masa dahulu mencacatkan pandangan, telah dipindahkan ke lokasi baru. Dan dengar khabar, Waterfront akan dipanjangkan lagi.

Kuching pun sudah ada shopping mall baru, The Springs dan hotel baru, Four Point, the Sheraton. Dan flyover baru! Hehehe...

Aku baru sahaja selesai mengharungi Sungai Sarawak, dengan pakej Sunset Kuching River Cruise. Nanti aku upload gambar-gambar yang sempat aku ambil. Sebelum itu, kami ke Pasar Satok. Aku tak beli apa-apa pun, melainkan kek lapis kiriman Sham dan ikan terubok masin yang dikirim oleh Ayud.

Alhamdulillah, sesi dialog berjalan dengan lancar. Habis sahaja sesi tersebut, aku segera naik ke bilik untuk istirehat sambil menanti waktu makan tengahari. Aku tak tahu kenapa, servis Hotel Hilton di Kuching tidak seperti yang aku harapkan. Malah, tidak memuaskan bagi sesetengah aspek. Nasib baik bukan keluar duit sendiri, kalau tidak, mahu sahaja aku meneladani Wadi dalam menangani masalah penginapan di hotel.

Aku tak boleh lama kerana hendak bersiap untuk makan malam. Apa-apa pun, Kuching masih lagi bandaraya kegemaran aku di Malaysia, selain Kuala Terengganu.


UPDATED:
As promised earlier, here are some pictures taken during my trip to Kuching last weekend.

Jewish MP says Israeli soldiers are like NAZIs

by MILES ERWIN - Thursday, January 15, 2009 [first published on Metro.co.uk]

A Jewish MP has compared Israeli troops in Gaza to the Nazis who forced his family to flee Poland.

A boy wounded in Gaza City is taken to hospital
Sir Gerald Kaufman said the Israeli government was 'ruthlessly and cynically' exploiting the guilt over the Holocaust as justification for the assault on Gaza.

'My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town... a German soldier shot her dead in her bed,' he told MPs. 'My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza.'

His comments came as a UN compound filled with refugees was hit by Israeli shells, injuring three workers.

Sir Gerald, who was raised as an orthodox Jew and Zionist, insisted that Hamas was a 'deeply nasty organisation' but said Israel could not just refuse to talk to it.

But Israeli embassy spokesman Lior Ben Dor said: 'Many of the soldiers who are now defending the state of Israel in Gaza also had grandmothers who suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

'The soldiers are fighting so when they are grandparents they will not be subjected to cruel enemies like Gerald Kaufman's grandmother was.'

The attack on the UN compound caused a 'massive explosion', set fuel in the compound on fire, destroyed tons of humanitarian supplies and forced hundreds of refugees to flee.

UN spokesman Chris Gunness said the shells contained prohibited white phosphorus as it was impossible to put out the flames by conventional means.

Israel prime minister Ehud Olmert said troops had come under fire from militants in the compound but that was dismissed by UN official John Ging as 'nonsense'.


p/s: Today is my 8th year with my first and current company.

UNITED Against israel!

I read theSun this morning and found this strong statement from our Prime Minister.

"The israeli attack on Gaza VIOLATES international law, human rights and is a WAR CRIME in breach of the Geneva Convention"

Equally interesting, is a statement by YB Lim Guan Eng:

"The US government and george bush deserve to have shoes thrown at them."

Kudo to all of our MPs for unanimously voted yesterday to CONDEMN israel for its terrorism act in Gaza.

Weekend in Melaka, the World's Heritage Site!

Pada mulanya, aku berhajat hendak pulang ke Melaka, malam tadi selepas balik dari pejabat. Tapi, aku dikejutkan dengan berita tentang rakan sepejabat aku dimasukkan ke Gleneagles Ampang, dan telah menjalani satu pembedahan pada pagi semalam. Aku bergegas pergi melawat bersama-sama Faizal dan Ija Salleh. Alhamdulillah, segalanya selamat. Take a good rest and get well soon...

Aku sampai ke rumah ibu bapa aku pagi tadi, sekitar jam 11 pagi. Mak, Lia dan Niza sedang menyiapkan bahan-bahan masakan untuk kenduri "housewarming" buat Mira dan Mus, yang dijadualkan pada malam ini, selepas solat Maghrib. Menurut Abah, majlis ini dibuat kecil-kecilan dan hanya dihadiri oleh ahli keluarga terdekat.

Sekarang ini, aku di MITC sedang melayari internet. Mak suruh aku carikan kursus MLVK untuk Lan, yang berhajat untuk sambung belajar dalam jurusan otomotif. Tapi, Mak mahukan kolej yang berdekatan dengan rumah. Nampaknya, mak belum bersedia untuk berjauhan dengan buah hati pengarang jantungnya ini!

Aku tertarik dengan kursus MLVK yang dikendalikan oleh Kolej Yayasan Melaka. Alhamdulillah, pilihan ini menepati kriteria yang Mak tetapkan. Semoga perancangan ini berjalan dengan lancar, insya-Allah...

Sebenarnya, aku memang sudah syorkan Lan untuk mengambil kursus ini selepas dia habis menduduki SPM setahun lebih yang lalu. Walaupun dia menunjukkan minat, tetapi minat dia untuk memegang duit sendiri lebih meluap-luap. Itu sebab aku dan adik beradik yang lain, meyakinkan Mak dan Abah agar menerimanya.

"Tak baik paksa-paksa dia. Biarlah dia rasa susah payah mencari duit. Insya-Allah, akan timbul kesedaran untuk memajukan diri agar dalam mencari rezeki lebih dengan kelayakan yang lebih juga."

Aku ingat kata-kata Lia, ketika dia cuba menyokong aku dalam menenangkan Mak dan Abah yang benar-benar terperanjat dengan keputusan Lan.

Alhamdulillah, doa kami dimakbulkan. Semoga, susah payah dia bekerja dengan gaji sebanyak lapan, sembilan ratus Ringgit, bisa menguatkan azamnya untuk mengejar kemahiran yang lebih tinggi.

Esok, aku akan kembali ke KL bersama-sama Lia. Pada hari Isnin ini, Lia akan mendaftarkan diri sebagai seorang guru lepasan ijazah terlatih di Jabatan Pendidikan Selangor. Aku tak tahu kenapa aku begitu excited dan tak sabar-sabar untuk menanti kehadiran Isnin.

Harap-harap aku tidak sesat!


p/s: Happy belated birthday to Rezuan Mat Yasin. All the best in your undertakings. May Allah bless you with more rahmat, berkat and joy. Aamin.

NO to Coke, NO to McD!

Lets boycott Coca Cola and McDonalds. Ada berani?

End the Siege of Gaza - End Israeli Occupation

I strongly condemned the occupation of Gaza Strip by Israel! I call on the Israeli authorities to withdraw immediately from the Palestinian land.
**************

Rabbi: It breaks my heart to see Israel's stupidity

By: Michael Lenner

JAN 5, - Israel’s attempt to wipe out Hamas is understandable, but stupid.

No country in the world is going to ignore the provocation of rockets being launched from neighbouring territory day after day. If Mexico had a group of anti-imperialists bombing Texas, imagine how long it would take for America to mobilise a counterattack. So, Israel has every right to respond.

But the kind of response matters. Killing 500 Palestinians and wounding 2,000 others (at the time of writing) is disproportionate. Hamas can harass, but it cannot pose any threat to the existence of Israel.

And, just as Hamas’s indiscriminate bombing of population centres is a crime against humanity, so is Israel’s killing of civilians (at least 130 so far in Gaza, not to mention the thousands in the years of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza).

Hamas had respected the previously negotiated ceasefire except when Israel used it as cover to make assassination raids. Hamas argued that these raids were hardly a manifestation of a ceasefire, and so as symbolic protest it would allow the release of rocket fire (usually hitting no targets).

But when the issue of continuing the ceasefire came up, Hamas wanted a guarantee that these assassination raids would stop.

And it asked for more. With hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing acute malnutrition, Hamas insists that the borders be opened so that food can arrive unimpeded. And in return for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, it asks for the release of 1,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Hamas has made it clear that it would accept the terms of the Saudi Arabian peace agreement, though it would never formally recognise Israel.

It would live peacefully in a two-state arrangement, but it would never acknowledge Israel’s “right to exist”. This position is unnecessarily provocative, and is deeply self-destructive for Palestinians who believe it is the only symbolic weapon they have left.

How do we get out of this destructive spiral? The first step is for the world to demand an immediate ceasefire. That ceasefire should be imposed by the United Nations and backed unequivocally by America. Its terms must include the following:

• Hamas stops all firing of missiles, bombs or any other violent action originating from the West Bank or Gaza, and co-operates in actively jailing anyone from any faction that breaks this ceasefire.


• Israel stops all bombing, targeted assassinations or any other violent actions aimed at activists, militants, or suspected terrorists in the West Bank or Gaza, and uses the full force of its army to prevent any further attacks on Palestinians.


• Israel opens the border with Gaza and allows free access to and from Israel, subject only to full search and seizure of any weapons. Israel allows free travel of food, gas, electricity, water and consumer goods and materials including from land, air, and sea, subject only to full search and seizure of any weapons or materials typically used for weapons.


• Israel releases all Palestinians in detention and returns them to the West Bank or Gaza according to the choice of the detainees or prisoners. Hamas releases Gilad Schalit and anyone else being held by Palestinian forces.


• Both sides invite an international force to implement these agreements


• Both sides agree to end teaching and/or advocacy of violence against the other side in and outside mosques, educational institutions, and the media.


• This ceasefire would last for 20 years. Nato, the UN, and the US all agree to enforce this agreement and impose severe sanctions in the event of any violations.

These steps would make a huge difference, isolate the most radical members of each side from the mainstream, and make it possible to then begin negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on a broader and deeper set of issues.

The basic condition for creating peace is to help each side feel “safe”. A first and critical step is to speak in a language that is empathic toward the suffering of each people in a climate of discourse in which both sides’ stories are heard and understood.

Yet Israel, as the militarily superior power, ought to take the first steps: implementing a massive Marshall Plan in Gaza and in the West Bank to end poverty and unemployment, rebuild infrastructure and encourage investment; dismantle the settlements or make settlers become citizens of a Palestinian state; accept 30,000 Palestinian refugees annually back into Israel for the next 30 years, apologise for its role in the 1948 expulsions and offer to co-ordinate a worldwide compensation effort for all that Palestinians lost during the Occupation; and recognise a Palestinian state within borders already defined by the Geneva Accord of 2003.

This is the only way Israel will ever achieve security. It is the only way to permanently defeat Hamas and all extremists who wish to see endless war against Israel.

The most significant contribution the new Obama administration could make to Middle East peace would be to embrace a strategy that homeland security is best achieved not by military or economic domination but by generosity and caring for others.

If this new way of thinking could become a serious part of US policy, it would have an immense impact on undermining the fearful consciousness of Israelis who still see the world more through the frame of the Holocaust and previous persecutions than through the frame of their actual present power in the world.

It breaks my heart to see the terrible suffering in Gaza and in Israel. As a religious Jew I find it all the worse, because it confirms to me how easy it is to pervert the loving message of Judaism into a message of hatred and domination.

I remain in mourning for the Jewish people, for Israel and for the world.


p/s: Rabbi Michael Lenner is editor of Tikkun magazine and this article is "copy-and-paste"d from The Malaysian Insider.

graharesidenKu condemns Israel

I strongly condemned the killing of innocent people of Palestine by Israel in the Gaza Strip! I call on the Israeli authorities to stop immediately their offensive on the Palestinians. FULL STOP.