Last Quote on the Last Day of 2004

"He who knows much about others may be learned, but he who understand himself is more intelligent. He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still."

(Quoted from DJ Sassy)

Tsunami - Aftermath Updated

My fear about the victims in Acheh was confirmed as more and more International Relief Organisations reached the most devastated place being the nearest to the ephicentre of the earthquake.

I told my partner when we were having late night discussion with a client in at a mamak restaurant in TTDI last Monday night. I said to him that it just didnot make sense and defied logic if the number of victims of the earthquake from Acheh (as it was reported then) were in the region of 4 thousand people.

My reasoning was simple, the earthquake that hit the city of Bam, in the southern part of Iran at the Richter scale of 6.3 had claimed about 30 thousand lives. Then, there's no way the number could be so much smaller in Acheh if the earthquake registered 9.0 of the Richter scale.

The latest news in print media this morning is that the death toll in Indonesia alone may reach 400 thousand people (via the Star). I am glad to know that Malaysia's MERCY was amongst the earliest international relief team to send their team to Acheh. They have a very dedicated team of volunteers and I have pleasure of knowing a few of them.

A New Phase

Today marked a new phase of my life.

Now I could proudly announce that I am a father of a school going child. Real school you know. Not the Kindie any more.

My first daugther, Syakirah will be in Primary Year One in a couple of days' time. Today is her so-called orientation day at the new school. I am excited. But not so sure about Kak Long since she's always been a quiet type. May be she's a bit worried.

I admit that I'm a bit worried though - all kinds of questions kept palying in my head.

What if Syakirah does not like school

What if she's being bullied by other students

What if she's not interested to learn

What if there is an phsycotic evil teacher at the school and always picking up on her

What if she could not get good grades

Yes, those and many many other questions came to my mind on my way sending my daughter to school. But I kept telling her to make friends, answer properly when being asked by her teacher, how good being in a real school would be bla, bla bla. She just kept quiet. I'm sure she's listening....

It was like a small funfare at the school compound. I could see all kinds of parents, worried mothers ushering their kids to the hall and then to the open assembly area where the briefing was held. Excited parents taking pictures using their camera-phones. A wife frantically calling her husband to come to the front to watch the assembly proceeding - but the husband was seemed disinterested. And yes, rocker Joe of WINGS sent his kid there too.

The orientation session ended at 10.00 a.m and through out the session from afar I saw my daughter looked a bit bored looking around and most of the time, kept to her self.

Now I started to get a bit more worried.

Tsunami hit Malaysian shore

Received this SMS from a friend who is active in NGO/voluntary works,

Urgent! Ribut ombak besar melanda kg2 di Pantai Merdeka & Kuala Muda
lanjutan dari ribut Tsunami dilautan Hindi! Mohon bantuan pakaian & makanan
segera.

From: <***>. 7:14 pm 26-Dec-2004.

I thought it was a joke. New Year or Year End joke. Come on, Tsunami to hit Malaysian shore? My friend must be joking. I showed the message to my wife and she too, smiled and brushed it off as another "lawak". My limited Ilmu Alam knowledge only have Japan and its many islands as the likely places to be hit by Tsunami - hence the name.

A minute later I was stunned when I caught the news update on TV. Forgive me, even though I heard about the earthquake that rocked some where in Sumatera Indonesia earlier in the morning news, I never realised that the aftermath that hit Malaysia was just as devastating - considering Malaysia never had experience this kind of disaster.

My condolence to the families of those who died and perished in the tragedy yesterday.

I learnt that the earthquake hit the scale of 9 in its magnitude. Wait, that was higher that the one that hit Bam, Iran last year or was it last two years. [OH NO! - just check here - it actually happened almost one year ago.]

Apa nak jadi....

Heard this news over the radio on my way to office.

SEREMBAN: Gara-gara bertanya bau busuk petai dalam tandas rumah, seorang pelajar tingkatan tiga retak jari manis akibat dibelasah bapanya yang terasa seolah-olah terasa disindir. Dalam kejadian jam 10.20 malam, 11 Disember lalu, di rumah mereka di Kampung Sekolah, Ampangan, dekat sini, mangsa dikatakan baru keluar dari tandas rumahnya.Mangsa kebetulan bertemu ibunya di dapur dan bertanya mengenai bau petai dalam tandas. Pertanyaan mangsa yang belajar di sebuah sekolah di Ampangan itu didengari bapanya yang sedang berehat di ruang tamu.Bapa mangsa, 44, seorang penganggur, terasa dia disindir dengan pertanyaan itu dan menganggap mangsa kurang ajar.Ini menyebabkan dia membelasah anaknya dengan tali pinggang hingga mengakibatkan jari manis mangsa retak ketika cuba menahan libasan tali pinggang berkenaan.

Harian Metro difahamkan, pada awalnya mangsa dan ibunya tidak mahu membuat laporan tetapi selepas berbincang bersama keluarga, mereka kemudian membuat laporan polis, Rabu lalu.Ketua Polis Daerah, Asisten Komisioner Mohammad Abdullah tidak dapat dihubungi untuk mengulas kejadian itu tetapi difahamkan polis menyiasat mengikut Seksyen 323 Kanun Keseksaan.

[Harian Metro Online 20Dec2004]

Wanted to laugh but ended up asking myself - apa nak jadi dunia sekarang ni?

Quote of the day

"You can have the best people for the job but getting the wrong one out (of his position) is not easy" (Dato' Che Khalib, CEO of TNB in an interview with the Edge when asked about his challenges in TNB).

How true.

Another aaaaaargh?!!

I refrained myself from posting anything last couple of days because I was not in the best state of mind. I'm afraid this blog would become more of a place where I vent my frustrations, tension and anger.

After I dropped my Moto the week before last, my car got dented and scrathed because of my own careless driving. The left rear door hit the column because of the tight bend I hastily took on my way back after a meeting on Monday the 6th.

Stopped at Giant on my way home to buy some car wax and polishing products because I thought some those scracthes could be eliminated through waxing and good polishing. But the things were still left in my car since the day I bought. Too lazy to wash and polish the car.

I decided to take stock of myself. Gone through what I have done for the last couple of weeks that I should not and pray forgiveness from God.

Sharifah Aini

I wanted to blog on other things this morning but something caught my eyes while I was having my breakfast at the stall near my office just now.

"Kes S Aini angkara Jin" - Prof Dr. [***sorry could not remember his name...er Jahid or something].

So read the article of a tabloid one of the patron who was reading it at a table next to mine. Could not believe my eyes at first. Had to strain my neck trying to read the title of the article.

Well, people do anything and everything to sell newspapers these days.

When I was in secondary school, this particular tabloid was known for two things - first, for its sensational mystics/out of this world headlines and second, for one particular column on Syariah Court cases. The latter was hot amongst us guys because of the sensational and "cheap thrill" we got from reading the detailed description of the couples in action before they were caught by the officers from Jabatan Agama.

Those could probably be the reasons why they are still around till today.

Ooops...aaaaaAAAARGH

Bought my Moto last Wednesday.

Unintentionally slipped out of my hand and dropped it in a small wet drain yesterday.

Now I think I have a problem. The modem in the phone may not be working. The phone could not be detected when I wanted to update/synchronise certain features. May not able to claim warranty because dropping your phone in a drain (whether intentionally or not) would surely have been excluded in the warranty clause.

Aiyoo...tensionnnnya nih.

God help me. Apa punya ujian Tuhan nak bagi ni (another soft reminder from someone up above?)

Shopping Guide - Do not do this

First - do not buy in the spur of the moment.

Always plan what you want to buy. Check the prices. Resist any attempt to buy even though you were dumstruck with the beauty sleek design and all the wonders that thing could do for you. Happened to me when I was at Jeddah airport in the last days of Ramadhan en route to Madinah. Set my eyes on Sony latest digital camera - T11 at the duty free counter. Like the design and the features so much that I was willing to part RM2,600 for it without thinking twice. I was so convinced that I got good bargain for it.

To my horror, I found that the same camera is being sold for much RM1,799 at Sungei Wang Plaza. My Wife gonna kill me for this.

Second - never bring your friends - the types that were more than willing to make sure that you would spend your money.

Again, happened to me this afternoon. Met some friends for lunch since today is my 'raya day' after having completed my posa nam. During the lunch talked about buying a Bluetooth enabled phone. Guess what? They then drove me to Sungei Wang Plaza and after about an hour going around the telephone booths there, I ended buying this new Moto. Must admit that the saleswoman was impressive with her knowledge in the minute details of the phone unlike some other salespersons. Gonna spend the whole nite tonight to read the manual.
Now I got this HS820 Gigibiru.

Farewell....Sis

Went back early from office because I wanted to send off my Sister and her family at KLIA. Bro-in-law has been transferred to Ahmedabad, India and most likely he would be stationed there for at least three years.

What a teary affair it was - just like in one of the drama swasta episodes. Sis was sobbing when she hugged me before leaving. Had to consoled her that India is just 3 hours' flight away from KL. And more importantly, I told her that God has decided that her family's rezeki is to be in India - at least for the time being.

Glad that my nephews were seemed upbeat with the new adventures of their lives. My brothers and I were actually concerned about them because they looked so down and dejected when the news of the transfer was first told by my Sis. Even during the recent Hari Raya, my brothers went extra mile to give them support and comfort and literally bought anything that they wished to have - Real Madrid's jerseys, new football boots and their parents agreed to buy them playstation, hip-hop styled pants and shoes etc.

My two nieces were still too small to understand why so many relatives and friends were at the airport to send them off. They probably thought that they were just going off for another holiday trip.

Take care Sis, promise to visit you soon.

Presentation for KLIFF 2004

I thought I would not be involved in preparing any presentation material anymore as we are approaching the end of Y2004.

But suddenly I got SOS call from my partner to help him out in the preparation of his presentation materials for the KLIFF 2004. I was informed that he was 'upgraded' from being a moderator to become one of the speakers for one of the session.

Haiyoo, why this thing always happen when I am bogged down with some other extremely urgent things!!.

I have a love - hate relationship when it comes to preparing for seminar/conference presentation materials - whether for myself or for my partner. Most of the time the invitation would come well 3 - 4 months ahead of the scheduled programme date and give no excuse to decline ot to say that I will be busy or will have some other important engagements in the coming 4 months' time because you just never know whether you will have any assignment in the next four months' time. Sometimes you feel obliged because your expertise or experience is part of the knowledge that God has given to you to share with other fellows. So you said yes and agreed to become a speaker.

Four months down the road, when you are being piled up with all kinds of works/assignments and you are chasing deadlines, suddenly you receive a kind reminder from event coordinator asking about your presentation materials. That's the time when you feel like you want to pull your hair and scream - why the hell I have ever agreed to speak at that conference in the first place!!!.

But since it's not fair to the organiser to withdraw at the very last minute, you soldiered on - stayed up at nights trying to finish the presentation materials and send to the organiser at least a day before your scheduled event. During your session, you tried hard to keep the participants and yourself not to fall asleep.

After the event you just want to go back home feeling satisfied that you have managed the go through the crisis well but at the same time felt that you could have done better if you have more time to prepare(!!!). The same circle will repeat another time, another month.

Deciding what's best

My eldest daughter is entering primary one next year - that's just about a month to go.

As young parents, my Wife and I were sometimes worry whether what we were doing or what we decided would be good or for the best interest of our kids. There is no standard Parental Guide to help you in this area.

So most of the times, while we try to give the best education to our kids, want them to go to the best kindergaten/school, want them to do this and that etc, we always try to understand whether our kids are happy with what they are doing or with what we want them to do.

My first daughter has an interesting character. She is beautiful, petite and has a nice smile but rather quiet compared to her younger sister. She is bright in the school and always eager to go to school. While she never delay in finishing her homeworks on other subjects, she seemed to dislike doing her Abacus homeworks.

I decided to enroll Syakirah to an Abacus class after being informed during a briefing at her school that Abacus would be one of the compulsory subjects for primary Year One beginning next year. Since the classes were to be conducted at the school, I thought it was a good opportunity for my daugther to familiarise herself with the school environment where she would be spending her primary years and at the same time, learned Abacus before the actual school session started.

[However, surprisingly, when I asked my brother and her wife (both are teachers) whether Abacus would be a compulsory subject for Year One next year, the answer given to me was NO].

Lately, I found that she was becoming more and more reluctant to do/finish the homeworks given to her. She refused to do them with her mother and insisted that she would only do the homeworks with me. Most of the time, the works could not be completed before her weekly class.

So last Saturday, I sat quietly with my daugther and asked her whether she still wanted to continue with her Abacus class. As expected, she said no and I agreed. I didn't want to force her to do what she didnot want to do in the first place. She has been doing well during her pre-school since she was four. I guess I do not have to worry too much. I believe that learning for kids must be fun.

Belated Eid Mubarak

I promised in my last post that I will keep my postings short but more frequent. Hopefully I will not fail myself.

This is a belated Eid Mubarak wish to all of you. Maaf Zahir Batin.

I had the privilege of celebrating Aidilfitri one day earlier than in Malaysia because I was in Madinah for the last two days of Ramadhan. Had the chance to perform Eid prayer at the majestic Masjid Nabi before took a flight back to Jeddah at noon. Later that night boarded the plane back to KL. Reached KLIA at about 11.30 a.m. on Sunday.

Just could not describe my feelings when I went out of the arrival hall and were greeted by the sight of my three beautiful daughters wearing baju kurung with white tudungs (even my one and a half year girl was wearing matching blue baju kurung). My boy looked very handsome wearing blue baju melayu and songket sampin. And Wife too looked beautiful that day - you are always beautiful to me my dear.

I felt like I was the happiest and luckiest person in this world. I was happy that my Journey went smoothly and that I was able to perform my Umrah without any problem. Thank you God.

I pray and hope that I will be given another opportunity to visit the Holy Land again soon.

Giving up (almost)

I was thinking of giving up blogging and this blog because I could hardly find time to blog. The thoughts to blog most of the time came when I was busy with something else or when I was away from from my laptop.

Whenever I do have the time, I would spent hours bloghopping or staring blank at the screen and ended up not writing anything. There were also time when my laptop suddenly "hang-ed" and I lost all my post and I got fed up to retype my postings.

Above all, I must admit that I am not a good writer - that's the main reason, I guess. Works and hectic schedules are just excuses.

I have been doing some serious thinking whether I should continue having this blog or just let it die quietly. But suddenly everything changed when I visited Alia's blog and realised that she had put my blog in her bloghopping lists. What a pleasant surprise. An honour in fact.

So because of that I am all fired up to keep this blog going and to do that I resolved that I will keep my posting short and blog more regularly.

The Journey

Just received a call from my office's secretary telling me to get ready for the trip which will tentatively be either on the 1st or 2nd of November.

I was happy because finally at the very least the departure date is (almost) finalised. I have been keeping the news about my intended trip only to myself and Wife. How to tell some other people that you intended to go away for an important journey but you could not tell them when it would be if they would ever asked. Funny isn't it.

It was towards the end of the conversation that I realised, oh my God, I only have 3 days from today to be prepared! Suddenly many things rushed to my mind. I promise to complete and deliver a few assignments/documents by next week, got one meeting scheduled next Tuesday etc. I had earlier promised to my Wife to accompany her to look for her kebaya-raya. She didn't like what we had browsed at Ampang Point last weekend.

Got Iftar tonite at the Foster Homes in Damansara Utama. Tomorrow will be considered gone because I have three meetings to go through. Aaarghhh! *beep*beep* tensionnnn.

Need to cool down and re-arrange and prioritise the assignments.

OK, first thing to do is....to stop this writing and get going with the assignments now!!. Chow...

Pretty balls

The recently concluded ATP Madrid Masters was hit by controversy when the organiser decided to replace the normal young volunteer ball boys and girls with models wearing slit skirts and tight tops with the name of the sponsor prominently displayed on their ample chest. The 19- to 28-year-olds were drafted in as ball-girls to replace the young fans who usually run around picking up stray balls and handing towels to players and will work in most of the televised matches at the tournament.

Parents of the teenagers they ousted felt it was a heartless move as they said the move have killed the children's dreams of sharing a court with their idols.

In the final last weekend, the eventual winner Marat Safin was shown being srayed with champagne by one of the pretty girls as her model colleagues looked on. Just like in Formula One and MotoGP.

How the game of tennis have changed over the years!

I remember in the early eighties when the tennis players wore simple white tennis shirts and shorts - remember Steffen Edberg? John McEnroe? or their female counterparts, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graff and Gabriella Sabatini?. Things started to change when younger generations took over in the likes of Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras and in the women circuit, Monica Seles and Martina Hingis.

Agassi and Sampras were among the earliest players started to wear denim shorts and refused to follow the conventional 'dress code'. I remember at one time, the English press covering Wimbledon Open were more interested in Seles' grunts and her pink panties than her play.

Then came Anna Kournikova which was a classic case of commercialism and marketing endorsement rather than about playing good tennis. She was one of the highest paid player from appearances and product endorsement eventhough she never won any tournament. Of course the William Sisters with their outrageous fashion statement.

Today, you will see female tennis players wearing all kinds of sexy dresses and of course, the sponsors like them, the TVs love them and the crowd have extra reason to watch and cheer upon.

I wonder how long it will take for these commercialism to creep into the more asian dominated sports like badminton and table tennis. Yeah......could not wait for that to happen. I hate to see our women shuttlers wearing those oversized t-shirts and shorts.

They're singing in the rain at ol' trafford

What a match!

I am referring to the most anticipated match between MU and Arsenal last Sunday. Finally, MU ended Arsenal's unbeaten run with a 2-0 (controversial?) win. Well, the penalty was a bit dubious but nobody could deny the second goal by Rooney (I'm beginning to like this kid) was superb.

Arsenal however still retained the record of 49-unbeaten run in the modern premier league. It is unthinkable if there will be any team that could match that record.

I am happy that finally MU managed to pull their act together and won this important match. Otherwise they could just forget about the league title for this season.

But honestly I still think Arsenal is the most enticing team to watch. They have the best players for the whole departments (except may be, their german goalkeeper) . How I really missed those days when Cantona was playing for MU - that was the time when Cantona, Giggs, Keane, Beckham and Schemeichal were at their best.

Had fun sending SMS to ABU and SAP after the game.

Met THE MAN

Yes, finally I had the chance to meet THE MAN personally.

So much that I have heard about him - from newspapers and from other reliable sources. About the elusive, low-profile corporate figure. About his generousities, his charities. About his conglemerate and corporate undertakings. Publicity shy and very rarely give any interview in the press. My friend Azam of Utusan got his chance of a lifetime to meet and interview the man last week - that interview came out in Mingguan Malaysia last Sunday. The Man said he gave the interview because he felt he was compelled to correct certain misunderstanding about him.

He is tall (I think he's a six footer). Lean body or may be he looked a bit thin because of his height. But, there's something charming about this guy. I guess may be because of his smile. The smile that never left his face during the meeting. Or may be because of his eyes. The eyes that showed the warmth and genuine interest when he listened to what others have to say during the discussion. He constantly cracked jokes at any given opportunity as if trying to water down the seriuosness of the matters on discussion.

I'm glad to have met him. Like I always do when I met any other successful malay corporate figures who are very humble and remain down to earth and more importantly they are god-fearing persons. Not that many that I have met so far though.

But still there is hope. If there was any lesson that I learnt today, it was that you could still be a successful in this cut-throat business world without forgeting your root and more importantly without sacrificing your religion and your principles.

On Being a Leader

Had lunch with Dato' Ismail Kamus just a few days before Ramadhan.

We were talking about the qualities that a leader must possess and as usual, his view was simple and easy to relate. According to him, a leader must be like an imam in a prayer. If you are an imam in a prayer, you should not follow any other 'imam' or person in front of you. Because as an imam you are supposed to lead the makmum. At the same time the imam must always remember that a makmum could correct him if he (the imam) is wrong.

Those comments came about when we were discussing about the lack of decisiveness or firmness in decision making on the part of our current PM. Anyone familiar with the bidding to acquire strategic interest in DRB-Hicom from the Estate of the late Tan Sri Yahaya by two interested bidders would know that the final decision has not been out yet even after the bidding was closed some time ago.

Intense bidding by both parties seemed to make the situation more difficult for the PM to make his decision. It has been said that the PM has even appointed Azman Yahya (ex-Danaharta) to help to advise him on the matter and still, the decision not forthcoming as yet. Any group taking over that block of shares would surely need to have the government's blessings. One of the beneficiary of the Estate had even tried to throw the spanner by making an announcement that was reported last Sunday that the consortium led by NAZA had won the race.

But as far as the information that I knew, it's actually far from over.

Anyway, Dato Ismail Kamus has also adviced that nowadays, all imams need to add another phrase in their usual reminder just before the beginning of a prayer, "Penuhkan Saf, Betulkan Saf, Matikan Telipon!"

Ramadhan Mubarak

Ghadan Ramadhan Ya Abi!

That's part of the conversation that my friends and I always remember and make us laugh every time we talk about our 'favourite' subject at the University. It's a conversation between a son with his father about the coming of Ramadhan and the family is going to the market to buy a certain type of delicacies for breaking fast.

Nothing so funny about the story in our Arabic workbook though but the story reminded us of how we struggled to learn the language since all of us did not have any basic in Arabic. Of course there were many more instances that in our Arabic classes that will never fail to make us laugh our heart out.

Salam Ramadhan.

Puasa officially starts this morning.

No title

Dearest blog,

Apologies for not updating in the last few days.

Been busy with urgent works, very urgent works and extremely urgent works since last week. I did visit you regularly though - but just could not sit still and write something.

Daughters have been complaining that I have not been sending them to their kindie for the whole week. I am very sure Wife would want to complaint too, since she had to take over the "task" since last week. In actual fact, they were also frustrated that they could not catch me to express their dissapointment because by the time I reached home, Wife and kids all have long been asleep and the next morning I would rush to office even before Wife finished preparing breakfast for the kids. So much for a family life.

But this is going to end soon. Hopefully the assignment could be completed by next Tuesday. Then I will have to reward myself for all the trouble, stress, mental anguish etc that I have sufferred while attending to this particular assignment. I love happy ending........

What should I buy for myself? T630 would be nice...eh?

Going up...again!!!

Just got the news that the government has approved for a 5 cent per litre increase for petrol starting from tomorrow. Someone has alerted Jeff Ooi about the increase at about 2 p.m and Malaysiakini posted to confirm the (sad) news at about 6 p.m. this evening.

I thought the last increase was as recent as last April.

Haiyo, need to fill up full tank on my way back from work tonite because this weekend I need to drive down south to Ayer Keroh to attend a wedding. This is the second time this year the government has quietly approved for the price increase. Mmm, need to tell/sms kawan2 about this....

Help...Who did this?

I have not been doing justice to this Blog. Don't even have time to visit my own blog!!. That's terrible. When I checked out this morning, I realised that there was one comment from a visitor and were even more surprised that some of the words have been "linked" to a search page that was totally irrelevant.

How could that happened was a mystery for a guy with no IT knowledge like me.

Could any one help me to cancel or disable that "auto link" function before it starts to link every word in my blog?.

What? A free car for 276 people?!!!!

I was at home resting because I was not feeling well. My body was all aching. Maybe it's the effect of the massage that I had the day earlier. Called office to cancel two of my three appointments. Had no choice but to attend the meeting that needed me to finalise the terms for the Bridging Facility for a consortium of banks in the afternoon. And it was one hell of the meeting. Chaotic may be mild the describe the meeting that went on until quarter to 9.00 in the evening. Missed the dinner that I was suppose to attend at PWTC.

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It was while having breakfast that I caught the picture of Oprah (Winfrey) sitting atop on a Pontiac G6 outside her Chicago Studio surrounded by some of the lucky 276 (yes, two hundred and seventy six!!!) audience who each received one of the new cars.


Apparently Oprah celebrated the 19th season of her talk show by giving every member of her audience a free car. The giveaway would have cost Oprah more than 3 million pound sterling (a whopping RM21 million). But it was reported that the cars were a gift from General Motors. Could not believe what I read.

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I know that we also have Oprah-like talk show helmed by Anita Sarawak. Now in its third season, if I'm not mistaken. Didn't quite follow the program, but I know that it has the same format and it also gave out some freebies and surprises to the audience and guests.

I remember watching one of the series in its first season when topic of adoption was discussed. Anita invited a childless couple to talk about their longing for a child, the red tape involved in a lawful adoption process. The couple informed that they have spent about 4-5 years to adopt one particular child from an orphanage but was constrained by some technicalities. If I was not mistaken, the child did not have birth documents and the lawful parents could not be traced. For the past 4-5 years the couple had informally "adopted" the child by visiting the child at the orphanage as if the child was theirs. The only thing they could not do was they could not bring the child back home.

When Anita asked what was their wish, the couple said they just wanted to bring the child home like any other parents. And guess what, Anita (by then trying hard not to cry) said their wish has been granted and announced that the relevant authorites have sorted out all the required documents and told the couple that they could now bring back the child as they wished.

I almost cried when the child was introduced to the audience and were hugged by the couple.

Now, it may not be in million of dollars, but still, that gift was certainly precious.

Budget 2005

Pak Lah had revealed his first budget for the first time as the Prime Minister and Finance Minister on 10th September 2004.

As expected, smokers willl have to dig deeper into their pockets to sustain their habit. The tax have been announced to increase almost 40% per pack of 20 sticks. I am not a smoker but I found it interesting to note some of the reactions from the die hard smokers on the tax raise.

The Star on 11th September 2004 reported that many smokers interviewed would still continue smoking despite the increase. One male smoker said he would not quit smoking but will cut down on smoking [sounded too familiar?]. Another male interviewee said the increase would not stop him from smoking but he might opt for cheaper brands [again, had heard this somewhere before].

A female 21-year old college student said she would stop smoking if the price goes up to RM6.00 per pack. She said, health reasons are secondary to her. Her coursemate of 19 years old offerred an easy way out - she would be asking for extra pocket money from her parents!. Hmm.....clever girl.

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Sometimes when someone asked me why I did not smoke, jokingly I would tell him that I forgot to learn it when I was in school. Yes, those schooling years were the most critical time. It's also the time when peer pressure to smoke were at its peak.

I know how difficult it was then. I studied in an all boys' boarding school where smoking was the "in-thing". It's a symbol of the coming-of-age, macho, bravery, seniority and rebel etc. I would say 80 - 85% of my batch smoked - and most of them still are.

Blog, Blogging and Mindbogling

Managed only four posts since inception on 24 August. That's not good enough. Not that I did not have anything to share or blog about but honestly, I have been drowned with my works in the last two weeks. Got three big and urgent projects and a few advisory matters to attend by myself have forced me to sideline my urge to continue writing in this blog.

On several occassions I had brought back my laptop hoping that I could manage to spend some time to write and get off my mind from the office works but obviously I failed miserably. My body was too tired and my mind have been drained after long working hours.

No, I'm not giving up so soon. I'm gonna keep this blog alive. Just need to give more commitment and time....and a better work management.

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My first encounter with a weblog and blogging was about one and a half year ago. Amongst my first and favourite blog is Screenshot - helmed by Jeff Ooi. Now also known as "Malaysia's Most Influential Blog". I salute Jeff for his dedication and tireless efforts to highlight and discuss on transparency, accountability and trying to make Malaysia a better place to live in.

However, it was Pak Adib aka The Reader - who had introduced me to the whole new world of blogging. From his blog, I realised that there are substantial numbers of blogs and bloggers in Malaysia. It was from there on I started bloghopping from one blog to another and currently I have a long list of blogs of fellow Malaysians that I have bookmarked and frequented. I must mention that there are a few of them that I visted several times a day for their updates.

After that I learned that to create and own a blog may be as easy as - but to maintain and keep a blog alive and interesting, would be totally a different ball game altogether.

Anwar is freed!

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillha. Allahu Akbar

Thank You Allah, Thank You Allah, Thank You Allah. Allah is the greatest.

Yess! It is confirmed, it's official and it's not a cruel joke.

The Federal Court has finally redeemed itself and the judiciary in general when it allowed the appeal from Anwar on his conviction and sentence on sodomy charges.

I was expecting the verdict to be delivered during my meeting this morning and I knew the proceedings at the Federal Court has ended when SMSes and calls flooded my handphone. Luckily the phone was put on silent mode.

When one of the officer from my client's office who was sitting next to me showed the SMS that he had received, I could only managed to say Alhamdulillah and hope that it's not a bad joke. I know rumours have been circulating around since last few days that Anwar would be freed. I told myself not to be too gullible to believe until I could re-confirm with some other friends.

My sister called to confirm the news when I was driving back to office. Told her to wait 'till I check from Malaysiakini's website. Could not log into their website but managed to get confirmation from a news piece from BERNAMA's website. Some friends also e-mailed news from Bloomberg and Reuters.

So thank You God, You have answered our prayers. I just could not thank you enough. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

I am so happy that I could not construct a proper sentence. I am so delighted that I wanted to cry. I am happy for Anwar, I am happy for his family.

More importantly, I am very happy that the Court has finally have the courage to CORRECT what is WRONG and showed that all is not lost in the Malaysian Judiciary.

TAKBIIIIR. ALLAHU AKBAR.

Camping In the House

I wanted to stay late in the office last nite to finish off an opinion to a client when I remembered I had earlier in the morning promised to help Syakirah with her homework. My Beloved Wife was complaining that my first daughter has been playing all day since the school holidays started and has refused to do her homeworks. Yeah, even kindergarten kids have homeworks - lots of them for that matter.

I laid a bait for my daughter to complete her homeworks - if she could finish her homeworks, we would sleep in the tent that night. And walla!!. It worked. When I reached home for dinner, Syakirah was beaming with pride and showed me the homeworks that she had completed.

"Malam ni tidur khemah, boleh?"
"Okay".
"Sapa lagi nak tido khemah?"
"Abang nak....".
"Angah pun nak."
"Okay, malam ni semua tido khemah".

My kids have been asking me to buy a tent since early this year. I was glad when my sister came over last Saturday and brought a four men dome tent that her kids only used once long time ago. So I had put up a four men dome tent in front of the house for the kids to play with their cousins until evening and decided to shift the tent into the living room.

So all four of us slept in the tent last nite. Well at least for a while.

Soon after his two sisters have fallen asleep, my son was still wide awake. He had taken a long nap during the day so there's no point of forcing him to sleep.

Went upstairs to watch some TV and just listened to my son talking about what he did for whole day until he dozed off on my lap. Later Syafiqah came up when she realised that I was not sleeping beside her in the tent. Told her to sleep in front of the TV and I would carry her back to the tent. Both of us dozed off in front of the TV 'till morning.

What a Life

Now I feel a bit calmer inside of me. May be because I have got a blog that I have been wanting for some time.

So after my first post at about 8.00 p.m. last nite, I tried to quickly finish drafting an agreement wanted by a client. I had earlier promised the client that (by hook or by crook) he will receive the draft before 8.30 a.m this morning. Otherwise he will be fried because he needed the draft to show to his CEO. But I could not continue because my mind was already thinking of something else and my body was restless to leave office.

So packed up my lap top and went to Ampang Sports Planet for my weekly dose of badminton session with some friends. Only four of us turned up - so really sweat myself out for a good two hours. Went home satisfied.

Later started to work on the draft agreement again before I called it quit at close to 2.00 a.m. Woke up at 5.00 a.m and continued with the draft. Finished it after one and a half hour later, had a final look before I e-mailed it to the client.

Waited until after 7.00 a.m before sending a SMS that the draft has been e-mailed.

Fuuhh, what a life.

Had lunch with client at Pan Pac KL today. Bought a book, "Hitam Putih Darul Arqam - Realiti Di Sebalik Pengharaman" by Mohd Sayuti Omar. Have to find TIME to read.

I want it, I need it, I gotta have it

Yes, I want it, I need it and I really, really gotta have it.

And I'm talking about having my own blog. I have been wanting it long time ago, but I was just afraid to start one. All sorts of reasons flooding in my head why I shouldn't have it. TIME - is one of them. I do not have the luxury of time - to sit and start writing. I have lots and lots of work and crazy deadlines to meet.

But every time I ignore the 'urge' to have a blog, the more time I spent debating within myself why I should have it. The worst part, these 'debates' will get more serious at the time when I am supposed to be concentrating on finishing my works or catching deadlines.

But I couldn't take it any more. I gotta to have it.

And yesss! Now I have it.

Welcome, and see you soon..... (anyone there?)