SPM and PMR
SPM is almost over and PMR result is about to be released. Here is a definition of examination by Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh, an English academician. In an examination those who do not wish to know ask questions of those who can not tell.

 I was still in a daze when this photo was taken.

My head was bandaged to minimise swelling.

My first operation.
My barber had been reminding me, the lump behind my ear was getting bigger every time I went to have my monthly haircut. Very efficient of him to monitor such minor details. I guess must be quite difficult for him to manoeuvre the scissor around the lump or must be a special treatment since I had been his customer for the last 30 years.
Finally I went to see my doctor and he advised me to have it removed without delay. I had the surgery on Monday 6th.. December 2010. It took the surgeon almost one hour to finish the surgery and I was under full anaesthetic. Thank God almighty all went well and I am now resting at home on strict family order. ( nak pergi kedai kopi pun tak boleh lah)

Jalan jalan berhari raya.
Mula tadi nak beri topik "Jalan Raya" kemudian baru ingat 'jalan raya' lain maknanya. Saya dan keluarga bertolak dari Subang Jaya menuju Kuantan pada petang Khamis 9 Sept. Jalan tidak sesak kerana warga kota telah meninggalkan Kuala Lumpur lebih awal, mungkin kerana destinasi mereka lebih jauh seperti Kota Baru. Kami berbuka puasa di Stesen Minyak petronas semasa didalam perjalanan. Ada teh tarik dan buah tamar disediakan oleh stesen minyak tersebut. Berduyun duyun lah hamba Allah yang beratur untuk mendapatkan juadah percuma tersebut. Sudah menjadi budaya Malaysia kalau percuma mestilah kena ambil. Saya sedang beratur hendak membeli sandwich di kaounter Dunkin Donut tiba tiba pekerja nya juga turut keluar untuk mendapatkan juadah percuma tersebut. Mereka meninggalkan pelanggan demi untuk mendapatkan barang percuma tersebut. Sesuatu yang pehak pengurusan Dunkin Donut mesti buat jika ia mahu meneruskan konsep pelanggan didahulukan. Hati kecil saya berkata ini adalah dugaan dibulan puasa dimana kita dikehendaki bersabar. Ini berlaku beberapa minit sebelum berbuka.. sungguh mencabar dugaan ini.
Saya melihat beberapa kemelangan didalam perjalanan. Alhamdulillah kami selamat sampai ke Kuantan sebelum 12 malam. Saya berhari raya di rumah kakak ipar yang juga ibu tunggal bersama anak lelakinya. Beliau nampak gembira dengan kehadiran kami kerana meramaikan dan memeriahkan suasana. Saya sempat juga menziarahi sanak saudara semasa disana. Saya pulang ke Kuala Lumpur pada 11 Sept kerana salah seorang dari anak saya sudah mula berkerja.

Mohd Shah, Aina, Rohani, Fatin, Intan, Ame.

Salam AidilFitri, maaf zahir batin.

Moga Ramadan yang baru kita lalui membawa

berkat berkekalan dan kita sentiasa didalam

rahmat Ilahi dari saya sekeluarga.

Kitchen deco.
Put these decorations on your kitchen wall and see your customers reactions.
I always prefer home cooking.

Getting ready for Ramadan.
During my morning walk saw this road in SS18 being freshly painted in getting ready for the Pasar Ramadan. One month in a year this quiet stretch will become heaven for food lovers and of course nightmare for people who live in this neighbourhood. Since this is an annual affair I think the Majlis Perbandaran of Subang Jaya should come up with proper facility rather than make shift canopy and improper kitchen. Cleanliness and traffic control is a major issue with this ad hoc arrangement.

Karnival Bacathon and Hostel Open Day.

The feeling was still strong after 39 years. SMS from brother Ramly Khairuddin and email at SDARA yahoo group was enough to motivate me to attend the function. Ramly, my former dorm mate Tanjung Malim days, was the the current YDP PIBG and the man behind organising the carnival.

There was a big crowd on that day rendering the the school compound the carnival atmosphere.

There were proud parents, siblings the public at large attending the function. Many SDARAs Alumni seen wearing their former school uniform with tie, school badge and rubber shoes (he he Nikey not Fung Kiong).

What a change. During my days we had only sport day and school open day to celebrate in each year. Most of our parent had not even set their foot at the school compound. We have very supportive parents now days who have the means too.

Congratulation to Ramly and Tuan Pengetua, Zakaria for organising the event first of its kind at SDAR.

(Note: SDARA Alumni contributed RM50K toward the school for the year 2010)

WHERE IS CIVIC MINDEDNESS.
Some shoppers at TESCO Extra Shah Alam are taking advantage of close proximity of these parking lots to the hypermarket entrance to park their cars, despite clear signs indicating that these parking lots are meant for the handicap and shoppers with small children. They are either not educated or could not be bothered after all who is going to take action on them.
Sometimes I wonder if we are a caring nation?

Police Brutality.
Much has been said of the incident involving 15 year old kid who was shoot dead by policeman recently. The family even called for a Royal commission to be set up. Well you can not bring the dead back but the family wanted justice. The wanted the victim to be cleared from being branded as criminal.
There was a similar case involving an Indian adult sometime back. He died in police custody after being detained by Police to assist in criminal investigation. The was so much hoo haa that the real issue why he was detained in the first place was swept under the carpet. I can not recalled how the issue ended.
Is the Police really brutal or they are just doing their job? One thing I am sure the gun they are wearing on their belt is not just for show.

Democracy in Thailand..
Every country has its own brand of democracy. So is Thailand a country which had long history of military rule. As far as I know Thailand had never been colonised. When Japan wanted to invade British Malaya, Thailand allowed Japanese troops a free passage as long as they were not disturbed. Apart from that Tailand remained neutral during world war two.
For the last few months street of Bankok were full with red shirt protesters who demanded Thai Premier to resigned and conduct a fresh election as the previous one was tainted with corruption as alleged by them.
Thailand economy is taking a beating as a result of that.
The latest twist is that Thai Election Commission had ordered the ruling party to be dissolved for allegedly misusing campaign fund. Interesting to see if the government will heed such ruling. Well our own political scenario is very pale compared to Thailand.

Work from Home Programme.
Latest finding some working house wife are not keen to have their husband working at home. Working at home apparently do increase productivity especially if you have young maid at home. That's what make the wife worried.

Fighting over a car.
A royal family is just like any other family and fighting over a car is nothing new. The only different is the car is a Bentley (same marque used by agent 007) valued at cool 1.6M. Daddy is still alive and children is already fighting for his asset not to mention the throne. A high profile case that appeared in STAR newspaper to day. Isn't it about time somebody come up with Royalty magazine like in Great Britain. I am sure there are lot to write about them giving their penchant for model and artist. At least such initiative would encourage reading habit among the Malays.

Nice pattern

Close up

Wrong Signal.

I was attracted by this nice art work which is actually a food sample used by one of the food outlet at Ampang Park. When I get closer my appreciation turned 180 degrees. The food stuff was infested with bugs. I just wonder why the operator did not remove it. Probably it never affected his sale since Malaysian consumer never bothered of such thing.

45000 Vacancies at 'Mamak and Indian Restaurant' in Malaysia.
Is this true? or just another gimmick for some cronies to import more foreign workers?
Well if the paper is just talking about 'mamak restaurant' what about other eating places which had sprouted like mushroom all over the country.
If at one time only in plantation sector such problem exist, has it migrated to other sectors. Again I wonder what is the purpose of creating ministries such as 'human resources' 'education' and 'higher education' if such problem is getting worse. Foreign workers are bringing new problems and here we are talking shortage of them (foreign workers).
It is very clear there is a mismatch between what kind of workers our country produced and the requirement. Our children had not been told that they might have to work in this sector upon finishing their tertiary education. They are not being trained or prepared for such career. In fact they are not encouraged to go for such job as it had no future. Many are just too shy to admit that they are working as a waiter. No wonder if you go to many restaurant such as those at Sunway Pyramid you are being greeted by foreign waiter.

10 Richest Person in Malaysia.
There are 22 billionaires in Malaysia. Majority are non bumi. Now who says non bumi are not well treated in Malaysia. In fact non bumi stand a better chance of making it in this country. Just look at top 40 richest man in Malaysia you will see what I meant.
Sugar king Kuok lead the list with more than 42B followed by Astro king Ananda with more than 27B. There is only one bumi in the top 10 and he is Syed Mokhtar valued at more than 6B.
There is one common factor among them. They all are Tan Sri. So do you get a title when you become a billionaire or do you have to be a Tan Sri to become a billionare. Chicken and egg situation my friend but who cares if you have that much money. (from the STAR)

Padi field.
I was standing beside 'Mahsuri Well' yesterday and looking at this padi field. The harvesting season was over and the field was left unproductive till the next planting season I suppose. I wonder why there is no irrigation system like other places in Malaysia like Tanjung Karang where they practice three replanting in a year. I could see many buffaloes wandering around the field having their feed uninterrupted. I think in other countries like Japan or Indonesia they would not let the land idle for long period like us. Are we making the best of our asset?

Pic. courtesy of the STAR.
IMITATION GOODS ANYONE!

I have seen imitation goods from Thailand being traded freely at night market. It is quite common to find items like branded cosmetics, handbags or perfumes but a car. Oh yes a full size Porsche and Ferrari. Well ,there is a saying ' Imitation is the best form of flattery'. I wonder what the automobile maker think of it.

Burning Money.
One of the papers today, stated that one out of three cigarettes consumed by Malaysian are actually on the market illegally. The syndicates make more than RM1 billion annually and that is tax free. Government loses more than RM1.5 billion annually. This is simply because lax of enforcement. Since the price of cigarettes had spiralled up it had become very lucrative to smuggle these items.
You can increase the price indefinitely like Singapore where a pack of 20 can be as high as RM23 equivalent or create more smoke free zone but it is not going to curb smoking among the population as long as it is available widely.
Some time back the Health Ministry spend millions in anti smoking campaign. There were bill board everywhere to increase public awareness on danger of smoking. Finally the Ministry had to concede defeat as the smokers number do not show any decrease.
Let’s ask ourselves why people smoke. As long as there can find pleasure in it they will continue the habit. There is no point in telling people smoking kill as there are many smokers who lived beyond 80s. Are we brave enough to ban smoking totally? I am just thinking outside the box for a second.

My Hi Fi set.

One of my favourite singer.

This EP is more than 40 years old.

Back to the 70s.

I have a collection of more than 100 LPs which I accumulated during my younger days. All these years it was collecting dust in the store room. Recently I managed to play them after repairing the hi fi set. All those songs brought back sweet memories as I recall how each of those LPs were acquired, sometimes by sacrificing my pocket money over other luxuries. The Strollers has long disappeared from Malaysian scene but The Beatles is as popular as ever. The digital age had revolutionised the music industry but sweet memories still remained.

DRAGON BOAT RACE TRAGEDY.
More facts surfaced after last weekend tragedy that claimed six young life. As usual the finger pointing started but no matter what being said you can not turn back the clock, you can not bring back the dead. My sympathy goes to the family members of the victims. The memories of the tragedy will be with them for ever. We have rules and guidelines in place but there is much lacking when it come to enforcement.
Any sport activity has its own risk including game such as badminton and ping pong which can be considered safe. What more of out door sport like dragon boat race which take place in an open sea. These sport men were doing routine training in preparation for a race that will only take place few months from now. I think the focus should be on the determination of these young men in taking their sport seriously rather than finger pointing exercise that our politician and administrator so fond of.

Missing Indians in Malaysia, 39000 of them (In STAR today)

Are we worried? he he we are not even concerned. Why should we? There are providing cheap manpower to everyone. Next time when you go to a mamak stall, just look at waiter who served you. Ever wonder why they can hardly understand you?

A friend of mine told me this story. A mamak stall employed several newly arrived Indians from the continent. Since they can hardly communicate to his customer, he employed them in the kitchen until such time they can pick up basic language skill. One day he was short of workers so had to deploy them as waiter. He told the new waiter to reply "sudah habis" (mean it is finish) for any order that he could not understand. Of course he could not understand a lot of things except for few common dishes. A customer came and ordered something which the waiter could not understand, so came the reply "sudah habis". The customer was not satisfied as most of his regular menus was not available, decided to test the waiter by ordering "bulu ayam goreng" (fried chiken feathers). He founded the truth of the situation when he received the same reply "sudah habis".

Obviously issuing visas is not the answer here. What about enforcement?

The walkaton team arriving at Subang Jaya.

Fellowship night.

Dance lady dance.

75th Rotary international district 3300 Conference.(8-10 Jan 2010)

This is an important annual affair for RID3300 where Rotarian from various states in the district (Negeri Sembilan to Perlis) meet. Rotarian from foreign countries also attended this function as guest. This year conference started with walkaton with theme 'End Polio walk'. Rotarian who took part walked from Kedah to the conference venue, Grand Dorsett Subang Hotel. That was a distance of more than 500 km. I manage to join the walkaton entourage as they entered Subang Jaya which by then had swelled to more than 100 walkers. The first event for the conference was Fellowship night which had theme called One Malaysia. It was funny to see baju Melayu being worn by Chinese or cheongsam being worn by Malay ladies. Rotarian spend relaxing time to renew acquaintance and make new friends. Of course good party time to those who still have energy left after a long day. It was even funnier to see pak lebai (Chinese in pak lebai costume) discoing late into the night. He he he.

2010 - tahun yang mencabar.
Cabaran tahun baru bermula dengan kenaikan harga barang. Nampaknya rakyat jelata memanglah dicabar untuk mengurangkan makan gula, kurangkan merokok dan sebagainya. Adakah dengan menaikan harga gula, rakyat akan mengurangkan makan gula. Adakah teh tarik, abc, ais kerim dan gula gula akan menjadi lebih tawar apabila dikurangkan bahan gula didalamnya. Anda tentu tahu jawapannya. Sisuami akan melenting apabila minumannya tawar dari biasa. Pengguna akan merungut apabila apabila tehtariknya tawar dari biasa. Yang suka memakan abc juga mungkin akan menamakan minuman kegemarannya 'abt', air batu tolak, tolak apa? tolak gulalah.
Kenaikan harga barangan mungkin tidak dapat dibendung 100 peratus. Apabila harga bahan mentah naik, harga barangan akan naik. Apabila harga bahan mentah turun, harga barangan akan terus berada ditahap baru. Kononnya nak menghabiskan stok bahan mentah yang sudah dibeli dengan banyaknya. Mengapa sebab yang sama tidak digunakan bila harga bahan mentah naik. Turun pun susah, naik lagi susahlah. Inilah yang membuatkan kepala menjadi pusing apabila memikirkannya.
Rakyat idamkan harga barangan yang stabil. Turun naik ni membuatkan mereka susah nak mentadbirkan kewangan mereka. Samalah juga seperti kerajaan yang idamkan keadaan negeri yang aman dan stabil supaya senang nak buat kerja.
Jadi menstabilkan harga barangan adalah penting. Oleh kerana ia penting kerajaan sepatutnya menubuhkan satu kementrian khas untuk menananginya. Bukan kah sudah ada 'Kementrian Hal Ehwal Pengguna' untuk tujuan itu. Memang betul tetapi kementrian itu kurang fokus kerana terpaksa menjaga bermacam macam hal. Jabatan yang menjalankan kerja tersebut boleh dinaikan taraf kepada Kementrian dan ditadbirkan oleh seorang yang bertaraf menteri. Apa nak panggil beliau? Bagaimana dengan 'Menteri Barangan Turun Naik'. KPI beliau senang sahaja tetapi tidak kurang pentingnya. Apabila harga gula dinaikan X peratus, pemakanan gula pula, targetnya, mesti kurang Y peratus. Jika tidak mencapai target dan tiada sebab yang munasabah, sama ada turunkan harga gula atau tukar menterilah jawabnya.

Breathtaking view from the hotel window. Penang bridge on the right.
Penang Vacation - Day 3.
All good things must end. Time to check out and leaving our good memory of Penang behind. What about nasi kandar for lunch? Why not, at least can leave Penang with full stomach. I was told nasi kandar originated from the days when hawker actually carry all the food stuff behind their back, peddling their products from house to house. Must be back breaking task to earn a living. Well now days they operate from restaurant.
Driving in Penang city area is quite an experience. The road is narrow and there are too many cars and he he they have no where to go. My friend had given some direction to Kassim Mustaffa restaurant which is located on Lebuh Chulia. Parking, I learned something, as I was about to insert coin in the paking meter, an old man approached me and told me I could park as long as I like for just one ringgit. Looking at my puzzled face he added " saya jaga, jangan susah". Since I did not see any parking attendant I had to trust this old man to take care of my car so that we can have our meal in peace.
The place just started filling up with lunch time crowd as we took our seat. We had a hearty meal before leaving Penang. Sayonara till next trip.

Hair style demonstration featuring Fatin.

Komtar from the hotel window, the second Penang Bridge under construction can be seen in the backgroun.

With Talib and Mrs.

Penang vacation - Day 2.

Spend most of the time at the Gurney Plaza. A a holidays is not complete with out proper shopping. This quite new shopping mall is located along Persiaran Gurney, sandwiched between condominium and terrace houses. Probably there is no master plan for the development of this particular waterfront. So when somebody decide to have a commercial development there, hey presto you can have it. As a result access to the area is chaotic even during lull period. From the plaza one can see the second bridge construction is well under way.My former school mates Talib happened to be in the vicinity. It was very nice of him and his Mrs. to drop by to say hello.

In the evening friend from Malaysia Airlines drop by at the hotel. Had good chat as he updated me on latest at Penang Airport.

KOMTAR Penang..crossing busy street.
Ride to new Penang Times Square.
Singing fountain - Penang Times Square.

Penang vacation - day 1.

Crossing Penang bridge around 4pm. What a sight, the newly renovated bridge has an extra lane now. I was looking for Sunway Hotel and wish had invested in GPS. I was told it is located somewhere near KOMTAR so I just headed toward that tall building. It was not difficult afterall as my daughter commented one can never get lost in Penang as long as you remain on the island. he he geog lesson not wasted .

After check in, oh got welcome drink some more, not a bad start, time to discover the place. KOMTAR was a walking distance away, so we set for first destination. Wow! busy street, exercise extreme care when crossing the road. KOMTAR remind me of my favourite place in KL, Ampang Park or Pertama Complex.

Second destination was Penang Times Square. Just completed and many tenants had not moved in yet. What a contrast, comparable to Berjaya Times Square in KL since it was developed by the same Company.

What to do at night? We headed to Batu Ferringgi, shopping and dinner. We are at familiar ground here, been staying around this area most of the time when we are in Penang. Have steak at The Ship which is cheap and the service par excellent. Oh! The TARBUSH just open an outlet here, may try next time. Then shopping at nite market. Cheap imitation goods. Where do these products originated from. Don't want to know, of course not from Italy or France.

Already mid nite time to drive back to the hotel and test those DVDs.