As life goes on in Malaysia....

i.

When Sharifah Amani won her best actress award at last year’s Malaysian Film Festival, and uttered the infamous line “I sound stupid when I speak Malay!” during her acceptance speech, many people went into an overdrive and vilified her. One minister was reported to be very angry even! Tiada Maaf bagi mu, Amani!!!
But when a certain Malaysian student in Taiwan (Wee Meng Chee) posted his rap parody of the Negaraku recently, many people also got offended. But two cabinet ministers jumped the gun and came to his defence.
From the Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek: “The MCA has accepted the apology and I hope the government and all Malaysians will accept it too.”
From Information Minister Datuk ZAM: “ He should not be punished but instead be guided and educated to enable him to understand the basics and to distinguish between political and national issues.”
But later on, during a weekly Cabinet meeting last Wednesday, the cabinet decided that it is not in a position to accept Wee’s public apology to the government and Malaysians for mocking the national anthem. Waah!

Bapak: Have watched the video. Don’t understand it as it is in Hokkien. But I’m certainly not happy – there should be a limit to freedom of expression. And if I’m the two ministers who defended Wee earlier on, I’ll be sooo malu I’ll resign right away.

ii.

A close friend is stressed out. He works in a government organisation that gives out funding to new upstart projects. And he’s directly involved in approving and disbursing the fund to those qualified. Only thing is that here more often than not, those who are qualified for the funding is usually based not on the criteria set by the organisation but rather based on the approval and recommendation of a certain Minister. And why am I not surprised?
Recently, his organisation co-organised a certain signing agreement ceremony with a Ministry. You know, the usual works - rent a hotel meeting room, set up table, invite the press, jamuan teh etc etc. From 2pm to 5pm.
Total cost of the event: a whopping RM100,000 (with around RM90,000 went to AV equipment rental alone). And guess which co-organiser had to foot the entire cost?

Bapak: No wonder kawan aku ni stress.

iii.

Elsewhere in Malaysia, everything is hunky dory. No crime, no inflation, no rakyat teraniaya. But got monkeys laaar.

Bapak: Oh! My Malaysia!

A Life Lesson - The Carpenter

A highly skilled carpenter who had grown old was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire.The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor.

The carpenter agreed to this proposal but made sure that this will be his last project. Being in a mood to retire, the carpenter was not paying much attention to building this house. His heart was not in his work. He resorted to poor workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When the job was done, the carpenter called his employer and showed him the house. The employer handed over some papers and the front door key to the carpenter and said "This is your house, my gift to you."

The carpenter was in a shock! What a shame! If he had only known that he was building his own house, he would have made it better than any other house that he ever built!

Our situation can be compared to this carpenter. Allah Ta'la has sent us to this world to build our homes in paradise by obeying His commands. Now, we have to decide how well we wish to build the homes where we will live forever.

Source: www.islamcan.com

Bila Wan Cik and Chu datang bertamu...

From left Razif, Norizan and baby, Wancik and Chu. The rest are my cinta.

They are my favourite and closest aunts. My Wancik and her younger sister Chu. They are my arwah Bapak's younger sisters. Nama jer favourite mak sedara but we have not met like close to two years. Tang mana silapnya, tak tau lar. But once in a while, we still spoke over the phone.

Today, these two aunts came over from Ipoh. Nak jumpa their sister in law - my Mak Temoh. They came with my cousin Razif and his family. Razif anak Chu. And came around noon. Not long after that, their younger brother Ayah Chik dropped by too.

They had lunch at our place. We chatted and chatted. We laughed and laughed. And then told Wancik that Marks & Spencer is having its Sale!!! She brightened up. And decided to go to OU. Chu stayed behind with her cucu as Razif and wife Norizan joined Yan, Wancik and I.

As far as I can remember, Wancik has been a regular Mark & Spencer customer for a long long time. Once when I was in Form Two, I followed her to Penang and remembered vividly pergi Mark & Spencer outlet. It was just a small outlet then. So imagine, how old we are now?

When I was younger and still single-mingle, I used to drive Wancik and Achik (Ayah Chik's wife) around shopping centres in KL. Almost always we went out early in the morning and only came back late in the evening, much to the chagrin of my almarhum Opah. "Tak ingat nak balik rumah ker?" would be the usual greetings from Opah. Nasib baik masa tu tak dak handphone, so nobody could track us down.

So in the spirit of the good old days, we went to OU and then pi Ikea. Shopping. Balik rumah tadi - sakit pinggang, lutut, betis and kaki. Rasa nak demam lar.

Ajeh and son (currently the youngest anak sedara, right?) Rafek Mustaqim. Cute ya amat.

An annual note to my sweetheart!

Happy Birthday, My Sweetheart! You are 13 today. Sudah besar anak bapak. Kalau dulu-dulu ni, sibuk le mak bapak nak cari kan jodoh. Tak pe, tak pe. Kita akan usahakan bersama-sama bila tiba masanya nanti like 10 years from now.

Bapak bersyukur kepada Yang Maha Esa akan berkat ini, di atas anugerah ini yang bernama Alia. Tak terungkai dek kata-kata betapa mak dan bapak amat-amat bersyukur kerana dapat anak yang sihat, cantik dan baik hati. Alhamdulillah.

Sempena Hari Lahir ini, seperti biasa Bapak panjatkan doa agar anak Bapak yang manis ini tetap dalam iman, sentiasa bersabar dan bersyukur dalam apa jua yang dihadapi, dan moga panjang umur. Tetap bahagia.

Doa Bapak juga supaya Alia rajin-rajin belajar. Alia, you must strive for perfection in whatever you do. You must not settle for anything less.

Kalau nak berboyfriend, mintak permission dulu. Confirm jawapannya - NO WAY! Kalau ada calon, just let Bapak know, kita masukkan dalam list dulu.

Apapun, thank you for being a wonderful daughter! Here's to many many more years to come! InsyaAllah!

Dan jangan lupa hari ni, mintak ampun serta peluk Mak. Remember that exactly 13 years ago Mak bertarung nyawa melahirkan Alia.

Selamat Hari Lahir, My Sweetheart!

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