This Christmas holiday along with the New Year break I was supposed to drive over with my eldest son to Phuket via Sungai Golok plus minus on towards Cheingmai. Sort of a non structured holiday between father and son. In fact we initially planned a 'tail/head' kind of thing. If the coin shows 'head' we will head for Singapore, if 'tail' we head for Bukit Kayu Hitam and beyond. But we have already decided it would be 'hell' if it is 'head' since both of us cannot stomach Sinapo, so we decided to be more rational.
But providence had it , mid way in Tak Bai, Thailand, I met a long lost relative who for the last 10 years has embraced the 'tabligh movement' in Patani. I end up sleeping in a mosque by the beach in Patani for 2 nights. Cut short my trip to Phuket. Spent a night at the border town of Tumpat, near Kampong Rhu Tujuh [ my god ! Kelantan has very few public amenities and beaches and all of them are dirty like shit !....one of these days when I have time I would write to YB Datuk Husam...a few heads of our municipalities need to roll...they seem to work without imagination and with a total lack of passion. ].
Drove to Slow Temiang to see my boys, then at 7 pm, took the 110 kilometre trip from Felda Ciku to Kenyir dam. The Kelantan side was full of potholes and is narrow and almost estate-like,but once I entered Teganung it was almost magic...new highway,dual carriageway and all the works...[ .Tok Pha has been warming his backside for ages in the cabinet, one wonder what he is doing there, probably just getting fat !? ].
Kenyir Resort run by DRB HICOM, and Kenyir itself is a haven for nature lovers and holiday people but it is currently a well kept secret. Very few people visit Kenyir and fewer Teganuans stay at the resort. It is a wee bit pricey.
But for those who drive all the way from say KL, my advice is say at the resort. It is worth it. Stay a minimum of at least 2 nights and preferably book the lakeview chalets ..you would not be disappointed. Kenyir is for 'philosophers' and thinkers from amongst us. Be mesmerized by the beauty of the lake for hours on end. Be wokened up by the birds chirping. Listen to the wind passing by. A great place for prayer and dzikr and introspection. I revisited Sherlock Holmes' Hounds of Baskerville on the veranda overlooking the great lake. The last time I read him was when I was in form three, some 45 years back ! Masha allah !
"Does Tan Sri Syed ever visit this place ? ", I asked the assistant manager.
" No Sir.."
My god ! These corporate raiders, they are too busy 'raiding' and making 'money', places like this belonging to them they don't even bother. IT IS A GEM of a place. If I run it I would talk to Tan Sri Lee of Palace of Golden Horses and have a seaplane plying the place from these two great hotels and fill it up with rich Arabs and tourists
From Kenyir to Kuantan via Bukit Besi, Muktafi Billah and Paka it is TDM TDM TDM everywhere. Miles and miles of TDM palm estates !
We , Kelantanese have to salute the Teganung chaps for being one up. At least their lands and palm oil are not being raped fully by Chinese taukehs from Sinapo, Johor or Banting flaunting their seven mistresses, with little contribution back to Kelantan apart from their annual contribution which is pittance!
They are nothing special, all lived on borrowed money, the one from Banting get 7k RM back from the World Bank for every hectare he plant with rubber wood. They termed it 'reforestration.'.
We in Kelantan have missed the boat. From Loging to Gua Musang, and right thru to Kuala Krai, it is all gone ! ALL GONE.
When will these ustazs [ and I am being very polite here because I count YB Husam et al as one of my friends ] ever get beyond their 'proverbial' kopiah ?!
I am still very angry.
My only consolation from this short but memorable trip is when I reach Karak. Stopped by to have some durians : The KING.....Musang King in December, mashaalllah !
The KING IS BACK at just 15 RM per kilo.
Used to be 30 RM but Singaporeans this time decided to forgo the 'King' this year because of too high price. So even the lowly Ahmad, Maniam and Ah Kong can have it here.
Other related articles in ' Diary' :
Ramadan in KB in the 60's,
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2009/08/ramadan-1960.html
Bersih.........
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2011/07/bersihbersihbersihbersihbersihbersihber_11.html
Of Slow Temiang and Tales from Yala
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2009/04/tales-from-yala.html
Prayer of the Cicadas
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2011/04/gunong-stong-revisited-prayers-of.html
Alone In The Crowd........
http://drnikisahak.blogspot.com/2011/11/alone-in-crowd-looking-back.html
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Case History ....The Most Successful Lorry Driver in Malaysia.
The most successful lorry driver in Malaysia is not Tiong Nam [ i am here just assuming tiong nam, the transport giant starts as a driver, i think definitely i am awfully wrong ].
The most successful lorry driver in Malaysia in my humble estimation is my patient, Encik Eddy Warman of Shah Alam, aged 56.
He walked into my clinic some 10 years ago complaining of shortness of breath and easy fatiguability. His chest xray showed a heart as big as a football. His echocardiogram revealed a 'heart contraction' of only 25 %. In our linggo we termed it as LVEF [ left ventricular ejection fraction ] of 25 % ! You and me , normal mortals would be somewhere in the the region of between 55 to 80 %. He had dilated congestive cardiomyopathy, a disease affecting the heart muscle, reducing it's innate elasticity and contractility. I 'mentally' gave him a year, at the most 5 years, if god is especially kind to him.
25 % in real term should mean a chap should be even feeling breathless lying inclined on the bed. Eddy that time was still driving his 3-ton lorry, single-handedly.
"When is your medical student daughter coming back from Dublin, Eddy ? ", I asked.
"No Sir, she do not plan to come back yet, she will be a houseofficer there next year and plan to finish her MRCP before she comes back".
Wow ! how do I tell this simple chap that he may not have that 5 to 6 years for her to complete her exams !
Now 10 years on Eddy is still going strong, still plying his lorry trade and his daughter is already a specialist in training in one of the numerous medical school in KL and two other daughters have graduated as doctors from overseas.
He just saw me in my clinic yesterday.
Eddy , in my estimation , the most successful lorry driver in the world !
.
I consider myself priveledged to be given a 'peep' by Allah into the life of simple people like Eddy, to be inextricably involved in some small ways...
That is the surprise 'elements' in my daily practice that continue to keep myself 'ticking' and 'trotting' along.
The most successful lorry driver in Malaysia in my humble estimation is my patient, Encik Eddy Warman of Shah Alam, aged 56.
He walked into my clinic some 10 years ago complaining of shortness of breath and easy fatiguability. His chest xray showed a heart as big as a football. His echocardiogram revealed a 'heart contraction' of only 25 %. In our linggo we termed it as LVEF [ left ventricular ejection fraction ] of 25 % ! You and me , normal mortals would be somewhere in the the region of between 55 to 80 %. He had dilated congestive cardiomyopathy, a disease affecting the heart muscle, reducing it's innate elasticity and contractility. I 'mentally' gave him a year, at the most 5 years, if god is especially kind to him.
25 % in real term should mean a chap should be even feeling breathless lying inclined on the bed. Eddy that time was still driving his 3-ton lorry, single-handedly.
"When is your medical student daughter coming back from Dublin, Eddy ? ", I asked.
"No Sir, she do not plan to come back yet, she will be a houseofficer there next year and plan to finish her MRCP before she comes back".
Wow ! how do I tell this simple chap that he may not have that 5 to 6 years for her to complete her exams !
Now 10 years on Eddy is still going strong, still plying his lorry trade and his daughter is already a specialist in training in one of the numerous medical school in KL and two other daughters have graduated as doctors from overseas.
He just saw me in my clinic yesterday.
Eddy , in my estimation , the most successful lorry driver in the world !
.
I consider myself priveledged to be given a 'peep' by Allah into the life of simple people like Eddy, to be inextricably involved in some small ways...
That is the surprise 'elements' in my daily practice that continue to keep myself 'ticking' and 'trotting' along.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Christopher Hitchens, Anwar Al Awlaki and DEATH
Kk and Doc Nik,
Christopher Hitchens died yesterday, Friday, at 62 of cancer. Death has silenced a powerful, sane voice in an insane world. He will be sadly missed by his readers.
AC
.......................
AC
Yes very sad. He was very gifted & insightful, a true intellectual, but very down to earth & unpretentious. He had a very simple style which could be easily understood. Did you read his best seller "Hitch-22", or his piece on Saddam's execution in 2006?
> > In many ways he reminds me of an old time journalist: follows his conscience when he writes, fearless, hard hitting, very driven. But typical of most dedicated journalists, you can sense a deep cynicism that had become ingrained in him. He admits that he drove himself to cancer by his excessive smoking & drinking.
Kk
...........................
Kk,
Yes, it is a loss of a sane voice. His readers will miss him. Yes, I read all his books, and his articles in the Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, IHT, etc. His death reminds me of a heart-breaking observation, "After this lifetime, we will not see each other again." I try to enjoy as much time as I can with my family. Right now, I am in Bali, having breakfast with my Mrs and the boys by the pool, and catching up with my emails. Oh dear, the Internet here is so slow!
Cheers.
AC
.......................
Dato',
With Christopher Hitchens's demise I am reminded instead of our own fate not too long from now with that inevitable 'hole in the ground'.
But unlike you Dato' ,I do not share the bleak pessimism that ' after this lifetime, we will not see each other a gain'. On Richard Dawkin's scale of things 'agnostic' he would rate Hitchens at a hardcore 6 / 6 . A true and true hardcore atheist [..and a bloody racist too ].
'After this lifetime, we will not see each other ' is the motto and the crux of agnosticism and atheism.
We are Muslims, may I remind you guys....
Hitchens in his lifetime, used the media and the internet to demonise Islam and Muslims to the max. I do not certainly miss him neither do I celebrate his death. From my perspective he is an ..sshole.
Life is a continuum Dato.
It started in Loth Mahfuz, at a 'time before time', in the 'spirit' world when HE asked,
" Am I not your Lord ?"
and we, all in unison, said,
" Yes , YOU are Rabbul alamin"
In utero, life is pretty basic...it is all black and darkness, a one cellular world multiplicating into a morulla, with tissues multiplicating and systems forming.
In this life, some of us become 'pig headed' and questioned HIS existence and significance. Some just become heedless. Very few stick to the primordial,
'Yes YOU are'.
In the 'Alam Barzark' life as we currently know is suspended. Al Ghazali though wrote volumes on its very nature in 'Remembrance of Death and Life After Death , beautifully translated by T J Winter of Cambridge U.
'Alam Barzark'is a long respite before 'the sirat'
It is only when 'the second horn' is sounded' that 'we all will meet again' and we can rediscuss about 'Hitchens and all his friends, porsches and ferraris, and kampong chaps like me , mull and ponder on the best d24 and musang kings' to our heart's content with the proviso that we are not with Hithens and his friends. Some of us may though may be unfortunate enough to join Hitchens and his friends in the furnace as 'firewood for hell' and would probably be too busy to discuss other things. Allahualam.
Yes, my friends, do not be too dismissive about this life. Don't be too pesimistic.
You Dato, and your sons, could still meet.
Where we meet remain our choice.
A' Happy New Year to you , Dato'.
Nik Howk
.............................
Doc,
Of course, I would devoutly wish to be reunited with my parents, and my wife and children, some day! But reason tells me it will remain an unfulfilled dream. And, I agree it is a non sequitur, many fellow Muslims piss me off.
And a very Happy and Healthy New Year to you, and your family, too. I hope it is not too Un-Islamic to wish you on a Christian New Year!! I may have JAKIM coming after me!!
AC
........................
Dato',
You over-rate your importance too much.
From JAKIM's perspective, you are not worth their overtime !
Consider these:
..At 70 plus, and you rate Hitchens, an atheist, a Muslim -Islam basher of the 1st order, as your hero !
..Believing that there is no tomorrow after your 'last curtain'
..Not changed a wee bit 'to the right' or to 'the left' even after a massive cancer scare in the family
..and feeling many 'fellow Muslims doing their 'religious' job,, pissing you off', etc etc and etc......
No Dato',in my reckoning JAKIM would certainly be not interested at all in you. You are beyond them. The French would term you ' les terrible, chronically invalide and permanently head damaged'
As for me, you are different.
My only interest in you is because you are very 'influential'
You and your people churn out hundreds of young elites, future leaders.
We want them to be 3 times more brainy than NTR or Dr M
Malaysia need that kind of stuff with something extra.
We need people with 'islamic' software too, inbuilt in them.!
People who do not believe in the existence of a tomorrow after today is an anomaly in Malaysia.
People who just got 250 millions 'super-soft' loan from the government and has the cheek and the gall to ask for another 200 from EXIM Bank loan at 1 % interest rate, has no place in the realm of things Malaysian in 2012.
That, Dato' is why I am working on you. I am not exactly truly all altruistic. There is a selfish element in the corner !
Now I am spoiling your Bali holiday already !
Nik Howk
........................
Doc Nik,
Ouch! My, you are in a bashing mood!
No, you have not spoilt my Bali holiday. You are a decent guy, and I like you (not in the MCKK sense!). I am enjoying the evening, though a rainy one, watching Man United leading QPR.
AC
.......................
No Dato',
just having too much of Tariq Ramadan and Hamza Yusuf Hanson lately.
I am just in a pensive and 'daawah' mood, thinking mainly of my very own mortality.
I was in bali some 15 years back, attending some cardiological conference.
Went to a 'makan' place for a spot of lunch, the owner wearing a songkok.....
'Bapak mahu babi guling ?'
It was a cultural shock for a kampong chap like me to be asked by a man in songkok such question !
Now whenever I am in Bali and thinking about food, my oesophagus go into reverse 'peristalsis'. My wife always wonder I stuff a lot of maggi mee in my bag when I head for Bali.
I guess our 'constitution' back here in Malaysia has spoilt my way of thinking :
'Melayu mesti Islam.............it is a permanent head damage of sort and at the political- sociological level if academicians were to write phd's on this, the overall impact on the quality of Islam and Muslims per se in Malaysia would actually on the whole be negative. We take Islam as per joining a club. We behave and think like Jews of Mosses timw : I am holier than thou !
Enjoy your much needed holiday Dato' and a 'Happy New Year to you'.
Nik Howk
..................
Doc,
My stomach cannot take even the thought of any part of babi. Yes, a Malay in songkok and babi guling are incongruous indeed!
But Bali has changed, doc, for the better. I was first here when I was in the NOC in 1969, when indeed babi guling was ubiquitous. After all, only 20% of the population are Muslim. I have been here about a dozen times since, and the range of good restaurants has expanded to beat any in KL. I was at Matisse last night. It was a combination of art gallery and fine dining. Tastefully donsuperb had a superb seafood dinner. Exquisite. My Mrs and the five boys loved it.
Tariq Ramadan? Sorry. I don't think much of him. Inconsistent in argument, and makes too much of his father's Islamic Brotherhood background. No, he and Hamza Yusuf Hanson do not repel me at all. I just have an honest divergence of opinions on a few points. That is all. And I respect, and am comfortable with, your dakwaah position. You have every right to it. And you are polished about it. But I AM pissed off by the local religious department zealots, the know-alls and their intrusions into others' private lives, and peeping toms and salacious religious bullies of couples and women.
Re my family's modest attempt in private education, you are being more kind than accurate. We are not influential to any significant degree. But I think we teach our students to think for themselves, to distinguish fact from opinion, policy from propaganda. We give emphasis to Math, Science, research and essays, and debates. Students are NEVER smacked down for their opinions, but asked to explain them clearly and logically. This prepares them well for a university education. Most of them go abroad to decent universities. Half my English essay class last year went to Oxbridge, London, Edinburgh, Princeton, MIT, Harvard, Monash, and Melbourne. Last week, one was invited for an interview at Somerville College, Oxford, for the 2012 admission. A straight A-star student, plays in the school orchestra, and Grade 8 on the piano. I wrote my evaluation of the candidate, and expect the tutor for admission at Somerville will let me know the interview result by the end of this week.
Yes, Doc, a few thousand of our students, of all races, went abroad, but only only a fraction return to develop this country. Those who return send THEIR children to us, the second generation This is a source of some satisfaction to us. But the sad thing is that many of the educated Malaysian children, privately schooled at our institution do not return...
So, how "influential" are we? In the lives of the students we teach, yes a lot. They are independent minded. A number are high in UMNO, in the DAP, PKR, etc. They are not sheep, they are diverse in their thinking and convictions. In the numbers that come back? Not much, I am afraid...
Salam. Happy New Year.
AC.
...................
Dato',
You just need one 'Umar Abdul Aziz' to change the whole political-economic and sociological landscape of Malaysia. When will we ever get that 'Umar Abdul Aziz' from your institution, if you , the founder, do not take seriously that there indeed is a 'tomorrow after today ! '.
We have too many 'clowns' up there now crowding the cabinet and the supreme council who do not actually seriouly comprehend that '. Their lips and mouth may say 'yes we do' but their hearts are hardened, void and empty !.
With respect to Tariq Ramadan and Hamza Yusuf Hanson, under the circumstances they are doing a marvelous job speaking for Islam and the Muslims. We need more ulama' of their calibre speaking for us in the English speaking world. I know their level of scholarsip and probably piety could probably be not any where near compared to their seniors in the Arab world but this is 2012 : connectivity, 'marketing' ability and the need to be heard loud and clear in the current lingua franca of the world is paramount to the spread of the DIN. Even if it does not spread, it is OK, at least it must be heard. Truth should not be bottled up in books and kitab collecting dust somewhere in some obscure libraries. It must be argued vehemently and heard. If it moves mountain , alhamdullillah ! If it does not, we have done our 'job'. Changing hearts is not our preorgative . It is Allah's.
I salute them because at the end of our time, we would not only be asked as to how we get that Jaguar in the garage, or that expensive holiday house on a meagre government stipend, or that 25 million ringgit diamond from SA for our dear wife [ some clown tells us she has been saving since she was in standard two ! ],or how do we pay for that sexy, alluring trophy wife at home.... we would also be asked why we did not spread HIS good words to Mr Lee, our next door neighbour or to Mr Karupiah, the nice morning newspaper vendor or Mr Johnson, the First Secretary of the US embassy.. Why we allow them to remain in disarray, godless and rudderless etc and etc and etc.
Mr Ramadan and Hamza Yusuf Hanson, under their situation and constraints, I feel sure can account themselves fairly well.
CAN WE ?
Nik Howk
.................................................................................................................................
now let us hear anwar al awlaki's advisory on DEATH :
Part 1
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Addendum :
20 / 12 / 11 Mohamad 'Mustaffa' in memorium..........
This article is dedicated to the memory of my late uncle, Mohamed bin Jaafar aka ' Mohamed Mustaffa', one time Kelantan champion at 400, 800 metres and 400 metres hurdle in the early sixties before the likes of Asir Victor and A S Nathan took centre stage. He died yesterday at 11 AM in IJN from intractable heart failure aged 81.
In the late 60's he had to give up his ' cushy ' Royal Custom and Excise job because he refused to join the rest of his 'friends' from taking 'double' salary when posted to Penang free port. ' Double salaries' in some sensitive places like entry points, ports and tols areas,within the PDRM , Immigration and Royal Custom were the norm then, I do not know whether it is now ! There was the standard government stipend , and the was the 'swasta contribution' divided pro rata from top to bottom as per necessary...........
Had the single distinction, I think , of 'meeting' Nabi twice in his sleep. Never confided this fact to his friends or even his brothers. I came to know because I asked him a direct question which he could not avoid.
When I asked him 'why he think he was bestowed such honour and gift'.
He told me he was not scholarly or gifted with great mind or a cut above the rest but as an afterthought he confided probably his unfailing attempt and love of the 'night prayer' [ tahajjud ] probably did it...He ardently loved 'tahajjud' since youth.
My God !, 50 to 60 years of 'tahajjud'.
Yes, Mohamad Mustaffa was just an ordinary man, a failed custom officer, a champion middle distance runner in his youth, a small time gold smith in Kuala Krai.
50 to 60 years of daily 'tahajjud' sets him apart from us mere mortals.
One can be a Tan Sri, a Datuk Sri or a failed 'lembu entreprenuer'. These are not important to 'the people of the higher' circles, the malaikats. They do not discuss him. Tahajjud, sedekah and zikir, that sets you apart.
May his soul be amongst the blessed by Allah the Most High.
Al Fatihah.
..................................................................................
22 / 12 / 11
Doc.
Please accept my deepest sympathies on the passing of your uncle Allayarham Mohamad bin Jaafar. Al Fatihah
AC
.....................................................
22 / 12 / 11
Dato'
tq dato. you are very kind.
Christopher Hitchens died yesterday, Friday, at 62 of cancer. Death has silenced a powerful, sane voice in an insane world. He will be sadly missed by his readers.
AC
.......................
AC
Yes very sad. He was very gifted & insightful, a true intellectual, but very down to earth & unpretentious. He had a very simple style which could be easily understood. Did you read his best seller "Hitch-22", or his piece on Saddam's execution in 2006?
> > In many ways he reminds me of an old time journalist: follows his conscience when he writes, fearless, hard hitting, very driven. But typical of most dedicated journalists, you can sense a deep cynicism that had become ingrained in him. He admits that he drove himself to cancer by his excessive smoking & drinking.
Kk
...........................
Kk,
Yes, it is a loss of a sane voice. His readers will miss him. Yes, I read all his books, and his articles in the Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, IHT, etc. His death reminds me of a heart-breaking observation, "After this lifetime, we will not see each other again." I try to enjoy as much time as I can with my family. Right now, I am in Bali, having breakfast with my Mrs and the boys by the pool, and catching up with my emails. Oh dear, the Internet here is so slow!
Cheers.
AC
.......................
Dato',
With Christopher Hitchens's demise I am reminded instead of our own fate not too long from now with that inevitable 'hole in the ground'.
But unlike you Dato' ,I do not share the bleak pessimism that ' after this lifetime, we will not see each other a gain'. On Richard Dawkin's scale of things 'agnostic' he would rate Hitchens at a hardcore 6 / 6 . A true and true hardcore atheist [..and a bloody racist too ].
'After this lifetime, we will not see each other ' is the motto and the crux of agnosticism and atheism.
We are Muslims, may I remind you guys....
Hitchens in his lifetime, used the media and the internet to demonise Islam and Muslims to the max. I do not certainly miss him neither do I celebrate his death. From my perspective he is an ..sshole.
Life is a continuum Dato.
It started in Loth Mahfuz, at a 'time before time', in the 'spirit' world when HE asked,
" Am I not your Lord ?"
and we, all in unison, said,
" Yes , YOU are Rabbul alamin"
In utero, life is pretty basic...it is all black and darkness, a one cellular world multiplicating into a morulla, with tissues multiplicating and systems forming.
In this life, some of us become 'pig headed' and questioned HIS existence and significance. Some just become heedless. Very few stick to the primordial,
'Yes YOU are'.
In the 'Alam Barzark' life as we currently know is suspended. Al Ghazali though wrote volumes on its very nature in 'Remembrance of Death and Life After Death , beautifully translated by T J Winter of Cambridge U.
'Alam Barzark'is a long respite before 'the sirat'
It is only when 'the second horn' is sounded' that 'we all will meet again' and we can rediscuss about 'Hitchens and all his friends, porsches and ferraris, and kampong chaps like me , mull and ponder on the best d24 and musang kings' to our heart's content with the proviso that we are not with Hithens and his friends. Some of us may though may be unfortunate enough to join Hitchens and his friends in the furnace as 'firewood for hell' and would probably be too busy to discuss other things. Allahualam.
Yes, my friends, do not be too dismissive about this life. Don't be too pesimistic.
You Dato, and your sons, could still meet.
Where we meet remain our choice.
A' Happy New Year to you , Dato'.
Nik Howk
.............................
Doc,
Of course, I would devoutly wish to be reunited with my parents, and my wife and children, some day! But reason tells me it will remain an unfulfilled dream. And, I agree it is a non sequitur, many fellow Muslims piss me off.
And a very Happy and Healthy New Year to you, and your family, too. I hope it is not too Un-Islamic to wish you on a Christian New Year!! I may have JAKIM coming after me!!
AC
........................
Dato',
You over-rate your importance too much.
From JAKIM's perspective, you are not worth their overtime !
Consider these:
..At 70 plus, and you rate Hitchens, an atheist, a Muslim -Islam basher of the 1st order, as your hero !
..Believing that there is no tomorrow after your 'last curtain'
..Not changed a wee bit 'to the right' or to 'the left' even after a massive cancer scare in the family
..and feeling many 'fellow Muslims doing their 'religious' job,, pissing you off', etc etc and etc......
No Dato',in my reckoning JAKIM would certainly be not interested at all in you. You are beyond them. The French would term you ' les terrible, chronically invalide and permanently head damaged'
As for me, you are different.
My only interest in you is because you are very 'influential'
You and your people churn out hundreds of young elites, future leaders.
We want them to be 3 times more brainy than NTR or Dr M
Malaysia need that kind of stuff with something extra.
We need people with 'islamic' software too, inbuilt in them.!
People who do not believe in the existence of a tomorrow after today is an anomaly in Malaysia.
People who just got 250 millions 'super-soft' loan from the government and has the cheek and the gall to ask for another 200 from EXIM Bank loan at 1 % interest rate, has no place in the realm of things Malaysian in 2012.
That, Dato' is why I am working on you. I am not exactly truly all altruistic. There is a selfish element in the corner !
Now I am spoiling your Bali holiday already !
Nik Howk
........................
Doc Nik,
Ouch! My, you are in a bashing mood!
No, you have not spoilt my Bali holiday. You are a decent guy, and I like you (not in the MCKK sense!). I am enjoying the evening, though a rainy one, watching Man United leading QPR.
AC
.......................
No Dato',
just having too much of Tariq Ramadan and Hamza Yusuf Hanson lately.
I am just in a pensive and 'daawah' mood, thinking mainly of my very own mortality.
I was in bali some 15 years back, attending some cardiological conference.
Went to a 'makan' place for a spot of lunch, the owner wearing a songkok.....
'Bapak mahu babi guling ?'
It was a cultural shock for a kampong chap like me to be asked by a man in songkok such question !
Now whenever I am in Bali and thinking about food, my oesophagus go into reverse 'peristalsis'. My wife always wonder I stuff a lot of maggi mee in my bag when I head for Bali.
I guess our 'constitution' back here in Malaysia has spoilt my way of thinking :
'Melayu mesti Islam.............it is a permanent head damage of sort and at the political- sociological level if academicians were to write phd's on this, the overall impact on the quality of Islam and Muslims per se in Malaysia would actually on the whole be negative. We take Islam as per joining a club. We behave and think like Jews of Mosses timw : I am holier than thou !
Enjoy your much needed holiday Dato' and a 'Happy New Year to you'.
Nik Howk
..................
Doc,
My stomach cannot take even the thought of any part of babi. Yes, a Malay in songkok and babi guling are incongruous indeed!
But Bali has changed, doc, for the better. I was first here when I was in the NOC in 1969, when indeed babi guling was ubiquitous. After all, only 20% of the population are Muslim. I have been here about a dozen times since, and the range of good restaurants has expanded to beat any in KL. I was at Matisse last night. It was a combination of art gallery and fine dining. Tastefully donsuperb had a superb seafood dinner. Exquisite. My Mrs and the five boys loved it.
Tariq Ramadan? Sorry. I don't think much of him. Inconsistent in argument, and makes too much of his father's Islamic Brotherhood background. No, he and Hamza Yusuf Hanson do not repel me at all. I just have an honest divergence of opinions on a few points. That is all. And I respect, and am comfortable with, your dakwaah position. You have every right to it. And you are polished about it. But I AM pissed off by the local religious department zealots, the know-alls and their intrusions into others' private lives, and peeping toms and salacious religious bullies of couples and women.
Re my family's modest attempt in private education, you are being more kind than accurate. We are not influential to any significant degree. But I think we teach our students to think for themselves, to distinguish fact from opinion, policy from propaganda. We give emphasis to Math, Science, research and essays, and debates. Students are NEVER smacked down for their opinions, but asked to explain them clearly and logically. This prepares them well for a university education. Most of them go abroad to decent universities. Half my English essay class last year went to Oxbridge, London, Edinburgh, Princeton, MIT, Harvard, Monash, and Melbourne. Last week, one was invited for an interview at Somerville College, Oxford, for the 2012 admission. A straight A-star student, plays in the school orchestra, and Grade 8 on the piano. I wrote my evaluation of the candidate, and expect the tutor for admission at Somerville will let me know the interview result by the end of this week.
Yes, Doc, a few thousand of our students, of all races, went abroad, but only only a fraction return to develop this country. Those who return send THEIR children to us, the second generation This is a source of some satisfaction to us. But the sad thing is that many of the educated Malaysian children, privately schooled at our institution do not return...
So, how "influential" are we? In the lives of the students we teach, yes a lot. They are independent minded. A number are high in UMNO, in the DAP, PKR, etc. They are not sheep, they are diverse in their thinking and convictions. In the numbers that come back? Not much, I am afraid...
Salam. Happy New Year.
AC.
...................
Dato',
You just need one 'Umar Abdul Aziz' to change the whole political-economic and sociological landscape of Malaysia. When will we ever get that 'Umar Abdul Aziz' from your institution, if you , the founder, do not take seriously that there indeed is a 'tomorrow after today ! '.
We have too many 'clowns' up there now crowding the cabinet and the supreme council who do not actually seriouly comprehend that '. Their lips and mouth may say 'yes we do' but their hearts are hardened, void and empty !.
With respect to Tariq Ramadan and Hamza Yusuf Hanson, under the circumstances they are doing a marvelous job speaking for Islam and the Muslims. We need more ulama' of their calibre speaking for us in the English speaking world. I know their level of scholarsip and probably piety could probably be not any where near compared to their seniors in the Arab world but this is 2012 : connectivity, 'marketing' ability and the need to be heard loud and clear in the current lingua franca of the world is paramount to the spread of the DIN. Even if it does not spread, it is OK, at least it must be heard. Truth should not be bottled up in books and kitab collecting dust somewhere in some obscure libraries. It must be argued vehemently and heard. If it moves mountain , alhamdullillah ! If it does not, we have done our 'job'. Changing hearts is not our preorgative . It is Allah's.
I salute them because at the end of our time, we would not only be asked as to how we get that Jaguar in the garage, or that expensive holiday house on a meagre government stipend, or that 25 million ringgit diamond from SA for our dear wife [ some clown tells us she has been saving since she was in standard two ! ],or how do we pay for that sexy, alluring trophy wife at home.... we would also be asked why we did not spread HIS good words to Mr Lee, our next door neighbour or to Mr Karupiah, the nice morning newspaper vendor or Mr Johnson, the First Secretary of the US embassy.. Why we allow them to remain in disarray, godless and rudderless etc and etc and etc.
Mr Ramadan and Hamza Yusuf Hanson, under their situation and constraints, I feel sure can account themselves fairly well.
CAN WE ?
Nik Howk
.................................................................................................................................
now let us hear anwar al awlaki's advisory on DEATH :
Part 1
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Addendum :
20 / 12 / 11 Mohamad 'Mustaffa' in memorium..........
This article is dedicated to the memory of my late uncle, Mohamed bin Jaafar aka ' Mohamed Mustaffa', one time Kelantan champion at 400, 800 metres and 400 metres hurdle in the early sixties before the likes of Asir Victor and A S Nathan took centre stage. He died yesterday at 11 AM in IJN from intractable heart failure aged 81.
In the late 60's he had to give up his ' cushy ' Royal Custom and Excise job because he refused to join the rest of his 'friends' from taking 'double' salary when posted to Penang free port. ' Double salaries' in some sensitive places like entry points, ports and tols areas,within the PDRM , Immigration and Royal Custom were the norm then, I do not know whether it is now ! There was the standard government stipend , and the was the 'swasta contribution' divided pro rata from top to bottom as per necessary...........
Had the single distinction, I think , of 'meeting' Nabi twice in his sleep. Never confided this fact to his friends or even his brothers. I came to know because I asked him a direct question which he could not avoid.
When I asked him 'why he think he was bestowed such honour and gift'.
He told me he was not scholarly or gifted with great mind or a cut above the rest but as an afterthought he confided probably his unfailing attempt and love of the 'night prayer' [ tahajjud ] probably did it...He ardently loved 'tahajjud' since youth.
My God !, 50 to 60 years of 'tahajjud'.
Yes, Mohamad Mustaffa was just an ordinary man, a failed custom officer, a champion middle distance runner in his youth, a small time gold smith in Kuala Krai.
50 to 60 years of daily 'tahajjud' sets him apart from us mere mortals.
One can be a Tan Sri, a Datuk Sri or a failed 'lembu entreprenuer'. These are not important to 'the people of the higher' circles, the malaikats. They do not discuss him. Tahajjud, sedekah and zikir, that sets you apart.
May his soul be amongst the blessed by Allah the Most High.
Al Fatihah.
..................................................................................
22 / 12 / 11
Doc.
Please accept my deepest sympathies on the passing of your uncle Allayarham Mohamad bin Jaafar. Al Fatihah
AC
.....................................................
22 / 12 / 11
Dato'
tq dato. you are very kind.
quite uncanny dato, 12 hours after our discussion and my write up on 'death'.
he was just on the verge of being discharged from intensive care at ijn......such is the uncertainty related with any 'death'....we cardiologists are always aware of these uncertainties but if tested in a court of law, may look like a clown infront of a 'clever' lawyer and a judge lacking wisdom.
my uncle, he had a good clean life alright,insyaallah
simple, relatively uneducated folks like him refusing a good 'double pay' in the 60's is something......choosing the huge indignity of working under a father in law in the uncelebrated and lowly paid job as a goldsmith apprentice instead....... rather than face HIM later ,and unable to explain for that pittance of a pay taken unrightfully.
i write up on him just as an example of many other clean living, simple , ordinary folks who go unnoticed in this world of facetiousness and false facades.
totally faceless people like him ...and in the main with no 'story to tell and be told' because 'we' as a people are attracted to 'stories about celebrities , 'sultans' of industry, politics and power. their lives of hediousness and heedlessness and plenty.
people who shakes society and often times [ as we are unfortunately reminded from time to time ] breaks.....daylight robbers, failed 'lembu traders' and pirates etc and etc.
' people of the higher circles' [ the malaikats ] though look at us from a different light and angle....only we don't seem to care.
and if you are in HIS position, and have some 6 billion souls to judge from time immemorial, and having to decide where to place these 6 billion 'clowns' after their planet earth's sojourn. a great of majority of these 6 billion clowns : ungrateful, unschooled, ignorant and downright heedless.
your KPI must be quite simple, constant and broadly defined under a major' heading' : TAQWA.......
under which there will be subheadings such as solat, zikir, doa, remembrances, sedekah etc and etc and etc....
and leaving in some small print, for good measure , the possibility of a 'grand pardon' if some clowns at the right old age of 70 to 80, suddenly after a long life of heedlessness decides to do a taubat nasuha....
beyond 40, if one still do not touch base, very few at 70 or 80 do turnaround but those small print are meant for the very few that does....'.pintu taubat sentiasa terbuka'.
so dato' for guys like us, don't ever give up hope !
the 'door' to HIM is always open.
your KPI must be quite simple, constant and broadly defined under a major' heading' : TAQWA.......
under which there will be subheadings such as solat, zikir, doa, remembrances, sedekah etc and etc and etc....
and leaving in some small print, for good measure , the possibility of a 'grand pardon' if some clowns at the right old age of 70 to 80, suddenly after a long life of heedlessness decides to do a taubat nasuha....
beyond 40, if one still do not touch base, very few at 70 or 80 do turnaround but those small print are meant for the very few that does....'.pintu taubat sentiasa terbuka'.
so dato' for guys like us, don't ever give up hope !
the 'door' to HIM is always open.
very philosophical this morning
death is quite commonplace to me.
inwardly i do not mourn his passing actually, as i think i roughly can guess the general direction where he is 'going'.... it is my own mortality and my offsprings which pricks and bothers me.
too much 'karat2 jahiliah' and attachment to this 'duniya'.
too much 'karat2 jahiliah' and attachment to this 'duniya'.
allahualam
nik howk
Saturday, December 10, 2011
The Man Who Came to Dinner... or 'F#ck You America
The Man Who Came to Dinner
John Swinton, the doyen of the New York press corps, upon his retirement , made the following speech:
“There is no such thing, at this stage of the world’s history in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dare write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my papers, before twenty four hours, my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalist is to destroy the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting of an independent press? We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes.”
I do understand that you have to eat like all of us and therefore must keep your mouth shut. You are Jewish and so am I. (Sephardic).
For the sake of truth, I will give you here another side to the Libyan story. Just imagine a country where there is no electricity bill. Electricity is free to all its citizens. There is no interest on loans, banks were state owned and loans given at zero percent interest by law. Having a home was considered a human right. All newlyweds received US$ 50 000 from the govt to buy their first apartment and to help them start a family. Education and medical treatments were free. Before Qaddafi, 25 % of the population were literate. Today this figure is 83 percent. Should Libyans want to take up farming, they would receive land, a farmhouse, equipments, seeds and livestock to kick start their operation, absolutely free of charge. If citizens could not find the education or medical facilities they needed, the govt would fund them to go abroad, free of charge, and would get some US$2,300 per month for accommodation and car allowance. Cars were government subsidized to the tune of 50%. Fuel prices were $0.14 per litter. The country had no external debt and its reserves amounted to some $170 billion, now frozen globally plus some 27 tons of gold, which the new regime found safely in the National Bank. Any graduate unable to find a job would get the average salary for the profession, as if he/she was employed, until employment found. A portion of oil sales were credited once a year to every citizen bank account. A mother who gave birth, immediately got some $5000. Forty loaves of bread cost $0.15. 25% of citizens have a university degree. An immense project bringing water from aquifers in the south made it available all over the country, free of charge.
That is what that “tyrant” Qaddafi gave to his people. There are some 150 tribes in Libya and a strong hand was necessary if the country was to remain in one piece. Every citizen was in possession of a military weapon. Qaddafi was not frightened of his own people. The so called rebels who took over, so we are told, would not have lasted a few days without NATO air power, British and French commandos and thousands of mercenaries. Those are the winners.
Now another Karzai has been installed in Tripoli, and the country can be plundered at the victors’ whim and fancy. It takes $1 to extract a barrel of Libyan oil and today’s price is over $100. Total the French company has already grabbed some 30% of the Libyan state oil company. BP is starting exploration. And of course massive contracts for the reconstruction of Libya will be handed over to US and European companies. Of the sovereign fund, only some 1.2 billion have been released out of the $170 billion. With the state of the European economy, I doubt very much if Libya will see the rest any time soon. Now Libyans are free as you say, but as Janice Joplin used to say…freedom is just another word for nothing else to lose, as Libyan queueing for funds at their bank’s door are finding out. Qaddafi is gone and so are the perks. What will be left is a terrible civil war. The price of democracy!
“It is the joyous jiggling dance Americans do –USA! USA!- when their government slaughters someone illegally. It is primitive, but it is positively Libyan”. Wrong. It is positively American! Just saw a movie on the training of the US Army before going to Iraq. Soldiers running and singing:”Kill the women! Kill the children! “Then we are shown the results when civilians are gunned down in the streets by those braves. All on film. When they come back home, realising what they have done, they just commit suicide! These are ordinary Sunday soldiers with families.
We can hide the truth with prison sentences, but the truth eventually come through, and unfortunately for us we cannot plug the dyke any longer.
I told you guys when they are at it in libya........it was for cheap Libyan oil, it was because Ghadaffy has grown too big for his shoes; it was because Ghadaffy himself had become cleverer and gone into Africa, Chad and all to compete for oil.
Same thing with Saddam. He was getting to big. But at least during his time Shia was not slaughtering Sunnis and Sunnis , Shia; people did not live and eat where they shit.
Yes Saddam and Ghadaffy by Western standard can be called 'tyrants' but where are we now ?
Nik Howk
..............
Yes doc, you did, and you were absolutely right. Many of us felt the same way.
But dictators, "elected" or otherwise, tend to ignore the rule that a leader must have the cachet of legitimacy. This legitimacy must be demonstrated institutionally by transparent, fair elections. Such elections not only serve to establish the cachet of legitimacy, but it also provides the mechanism of a peaceful change of government. We live in the 21st century industrial state, not a 9th century tribal society. Elections are an indispensable institution of a modern state.
In the absence of such a basic institution, rulers tend to believe that they are there permanently by divine right. In such a situation, change can only be affected through violence. Pressures build up internally. A situation is, thus, ripe for foreign intervention to lance the boil. Case in point - Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
In Islamic countries, there is often the romantic yearning for a 'benign caliph' to lead the country, and dictators often view themselves as this benign caliph. This is the seed of their own destruction. This is the lesson that Hosni Mobarak of Egypt, and Zainal A'bidin of Tunisia, demonstrated. This is a lesson that the generals in Egypt have yet to understand.
DC.
.......................
Dato',at least in Saddam's time people had their decent meals and they did not have to live within their own sewer and Sunnis were not killing Shia and Shia killing Sunnis..
When will we 'stupid Muslims' ever going to learn that the so-called 'secular' descendents of the old days ahlil kitabs are not our friends ? And I am putting this too mildly.....
Where is my friend, Nadzru....he is being too quiet now. I wander whether his construction business in Libya picks up with the new regime ? Good luck to him.
Nik Howk
ps : ...and by the way if you have to deal with 150 tribes, all hard core jahiliah type, typical of Arabs of the desert and Northern Africans, it is not easy to rule. If you are 'lembik' like NTR or Pak lah, and not spilled some recalcitrant 'brains and blood' on the tarmac, you cannot run countries like Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq.
A million Muslims, men, women and children have died in Iraq since the 'crusaders' took over. So what is the meaning of 'democracy' Dato , if I may ask ?
What price 'democracy' if that damn place is not yet ready with institutions and people for i ?.
Let us not join the bandwagon of parrots longing for 'democracy, democracy, democracy....
...............................
from Grand pa :
You right doc Nik Howk.if the philosophy in your life is to have 4 square
meals every day without fail: Perhaps Iraqis should wake Sadam up from the
dead and rule again and flog Iraqis and instill fear into the people of
Iraq again so that they can have that 4 square meals every day in the
living hell of their life.
In the first place he is known to have killed hundreds if not thousands of
Kurds- Kurds are Muslims. That is genocide. I would kill Sadam even if I
was not an Iraqi (Figure of speech)
Wassalaam.
Grand Pa
.......................
From Ruslan,
GPa,
Always remember that the news we get internationally are from ''intellectual prostitutes''.
At least locally, we have two ''versions'' of newspapers to read, but internationally, we have no choice but to read & rely on what were given to us, whether they are from Arabic or non-Arabic sources.
Salam,
LanK
......................
My sentiment exactly like yours Doc.... Countries like that need strongman rule.... what we leant in history as 'benevolent despots', ... except after 20-30 years in power they dropped the 'benevolent'. and add 'ruthless'.
But I agree with you... Iraqis under Saddam or Libyans have 4 square meals... maybe 3... but they are not at each others throats.
Dato' Nik Sidek
................................
Other articles on the blog :
A world gone mad, click here
The Ugly American, click here
Noam Choamsky Interview, click here
'.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
morning has broken..................
From an individual perspective, each man is the center of his own universe.....
Once his conciousness temporarily cease through sleep [ minor death ], and 'permanently' [ at least from the secular, non spiritual perspective ] through death, his 'universe' literally ceased.
One trick out of the handful of spiritual 'tricks in the bag' to making and feeling ourselves very special is to change our paradigm, relook at our 'very own small universe' through an entirely different prism :
When morning has broken, the Lord of the Universe, ya Rabbul alamin, reorientates and realigns all HIS billions of stars and planets in HIS galaxies in the Milky Ways, to give each individual man yet another day to start afresh, to repent for the heedlessness and corruption of yesterday, to look forward with the freshness of an unblemished, clean sheet of white cloth.
GOD"S RE-CREATION OF A NEW DAY !
One need to just, with utmost sincerity and humilty, doa the following :
1 .‘All praise is for Allah who gave us life after having taken it from us and unto Him is the resurrection.’
2 .‘All praise is for Allah who restored to me my health and returned my soul and has allowed me to remember Him.’
3 .La ilaha illal-lahu wahdahu la shareeka lah, lahul-mulku walahul-hamd, wahuwa AAala kulli shay-in qadeer, subhanal-lah, walhamdu lillah, wala ilaha illal-lah wallahu akbar, wala hawla wala quwwata illa billahil-AAaliyyil AAatheem. Rabbigh-fir lee
‘None has the right to be worshipped except Allah, alone without associate, to Him belongs sovereignty and praise and He is over all things wholly capable. How perfect Allah is, and all praise is for Allah, and none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, Allah is the greatest and there is no power nor might except with Allah, The Most High, The Supreme.’
And then supplicates:
‘O my Lord forgive me.’
If he then performs ablution and prays the fajr prayer, his prayer will be accepted, insyaallah.
However, The Key to the Garden is :
How many of us do this with sincerity and humility every morning ?
How many of us do comprehend fully what we say and pray ?
How many of us put our 'hearts' into our prayer ?
Similar articles in the blog:
Light, click here
Key To The Garden, click here
Once his conciousness temporarily cease through sleep [ minor death ], and 'permanently' [ at least from the secular, non spiritual perspective ] through death, his 'universe' literally ceased.
One trick out of the handful of spiritual 'tricks in the bag' to making and feeling ourselves very special is to change our paradigm, relook at our 'very own small universe' through an entirely different prism :
When morning has broken, the Lord of the Universe, ya Rabbul alamin, reorientates and realigns all HIS billions of stars and planets in HIS galaxies in the Milky Ways, to give each individual man yet another day to start afresh, to repent for the heedlessness and corruption of yesterday, to look forward with the freshness of an unblemished, clean sheet of white cloth.
GOD"S RE-CREATION OF A NEW DAY !
One need to just, with utmost sincerity and humilty, doa the following :
1 .‘All praise is for Allah who gave us life after having taken it from us and unto Him is the resurrection.’
2 .‘All praise is for Allah who restored to me my health and returned my soul and has allowed me to remember Him.’
3 .La ilaha illal-lahu wahdahu la shareeka lah, lahul-mulku walahul-hamd, wahuwa AAala kulli shay-in qadeer, subhanal-lah, walhamdu lillah, wala ilaha illal-lah wallahu akbar, wala hawla wala quwwata illa billahil-AAaliyyil AAatheem. Rabbigh-fir lee
‘None has the right to be worshipped except Allah, alone without associate, to Him belongs sovereignty and praise and He is over all things wholly capable. How perfect Allah is, and all praise is for Allah, and none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, Allah is the greatest and there is no power nor might except with Allah, The Most High, The Supreme.’
And then supplicates:
‘O my Lord forgive me.’
If he then performs ablution and prays the fajr prayer, his prayer will be accepted, insyaallah.
However, The Key to the Garden is :
How many of us do this with sincerity and humility every morning ?
How many of us do comprehend fully what we say and pray ?
How many of us put our 'hearts' into our prayer ?
Similar articles in the blog:
Light, click here
Key To The Garden, click here
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