Abah - Zabri Adil

There's just so many things to remember abah. But I find it so hard to begin anything with. Damn! I miss him so much. We all do with the passing of our love ones. We are just human.

April 19, 2012... is a date that will forever remain in my mind. It was the morning I received the call from one Inspector Shahrul informing me that my abah ie. Zabri Adil was involved in a fatal motor accident on MRR2 near Bandar Tasik Selatan at around 8am. My first reaction after the so called lightning through my body was... Abah? Fatal accident? Can't be! He's a very careful driver. He drives at 40km to 60km. Max he would go is 80km on highways. Can't be true!!!

In disbelieve, I asked for confirmation. He asked me to meet him at Forensic HKL. I put down the phone, sat down on the sofa and began to realize that it's true. Everything seems to creep into my mind instantly. My first thought was my mother. She was still on medication for her mild stroke. No way she can take this news! Just no way!!!

Then the thoughts of how abah has been caring for mak the past 3 weeks running through my mind instantly. He was a real gentleman. Despite mak's on-off-off-on "merepek-ness" he was very patience with her. A 78-year old gentleman caring for a sick 76-year old lady. Tabik spring abah!!! U did great!

As if God had planned it, my nephew ie. Airul arrived from buying his McD's breakfast and my wife arrived from a short trip home. In those few minutes, I managed to keep my cool. Only God knows how I felt! I broke the news to my wife while she was still in the driver seat. She was shocked! (Later she confessed her first thought was it was another joke of mine). I then called my siblings ie. Abang Long, Lokman and Ani to break the news to them. I decided not to break the news to mak until I see abah's dead body. I then broke the news to Airul and told him to manage the situation at mak's house while I go to HKL.

Along the way to HKL with my wife, my cell phone doesn't stop ringing. My standard answer to them was "I'm on my way to HKL. Until I see the body I can't confirm anything". So it is. When I saw abah's body lying dead on the hospital trolley and in the black body bag, my heart stopped for a moment. Its true. My abah is gone. Abah is dead.

It was a sad morning seeing him lying motionless and dead. However, his face looked so serene. So clean. A little smile. Like he was happy to go. Like it was not a painful death. I hope he went the way I had thought.

Everything went so fast that morning. Ani and Shah came by not long after I arrived. Kak Long came a bit later. Abang Long, Ady and Farah arrived about noon. And many more relatives and friends were there at Forensic HKL. I had to leave at about 1pm leaving Abang Long to station and manage at HKL. I have bigger and more complicated thing to do. To break the news of abah's passing to mak. Gosh! This is tough!!!

Back home Ani and Kak Long are managing mak and the situation there. Neighbours have started to throng the house. Mak, I was told, was getting more confused with the big crowd. All along the way home with my wife I was thinking on how to break the news to Mak. What's the right words to use? What should I do if she reacted hysterically? Boy... there's just so many things running through my mind.

In the end, I decided to just be bold and blunt in breaking the news to her. To my surprise, she wasn't hysterical. I guess her condition helps. Alhamdulillah. God works mysteriously. There's always a reason to what happened.

Once I have broken the news to Mak, I begin the deployment to prepare for the funeral. Alhamdulillah, friends and relatives were giving a helping hand. Ajak took care of the cemetery approval and arrangement. YB Temb, Pendi, Adi, Pak Tua and some others were with Abg Long at the morgue in HKL. Lokman took care of the operations like drinks, food and tents. The ladies took care of the preparation in the house.
By 3pm, there were not less than 100 people to pay their last respect to Abah. The numbers grew to about double by 5pm. Relatives from Gopeng and Ipoh arrived by 6pm.

Abah's remains arrived at almost 7pm. The autopsy and police reports took longer than I had anticipated. All arrangements were done there. Alhamdulillah... all went well. We let the family, friends and relatives to pay their last respect to arwah abah before we took it for burial just before maghrib.

It was pouring heavily when we took abah to the cemetery. When all was done, the rain stopped. I for one were very thankful that we managed to do all this the same day. Syukur alhamdulillah.

Abah, hanya doa yang dapat kami beri kan buat abah sekarang. Mudah-mudahan doa-doa kami diterima Allah SWT untuk abah. Kami sentiasa akan mendoakan abah dalam setiap solat. Sejahtera lah abah hendak nya di alam barzakh. Semoga Allah SWT mencucuri rahmat ke atas roh abah.

Al-Fatihah

The Day I Lost My Father

April 19, 2012 This is where & how my dad ends his life. Read Here is a great piece of writing about this wonderful person we called ABAH. Semoga roh abah di rahmati oleh Allah SWT dan di tempatkan bersama mereka yang beriman dan beramal soleh. Al-Fatihah

Anything Can Happen Instantly

In an instant moment, suddenly your life can change for better or for worst. Regardless of how it's going to be, just take it in good spirit and do the best you could. Insyaallah, God willing, things will get better.

March 25, 2012... a routine call from dad is all it takes. A short visit later, I discovered something is really not right with mom. She had difficulty remembering names, objects and other stuff and was 'merapu-merepek'. Gosh! This is not good man. The next day, upon advice from my lovely and hyper sensitive wife, I made a distress call to my doctor uncle. He's a psychiatrist professor. Nevertheless, I called him and seek for medically expert advice. My initial thought was that mom was going to the alzheimer stage. However, it can't be true coz its so sudden. Perhaps a mild stroke. But her physical was fine. She could walk, eat, bath and even make her routine phone calls!

She just cant recall names! Her objects orientation was also out of line. For 2 days, I dont have a name to her. Dad too. We were aliens to her. "Who are you???" "What's your name???" That were the standard questions she asked when we talked to her or when she make her routine phone calls to her friends or grandchildren. Dad had to quickly grab the phone and explain her condition to the person on the other side.

Fast forward... we took her to the UiTM medical faculty in Sungai Buloh the following day. It's right next to the Sungai Buloh Hospital. Apparently, Dr. Osman had arranged for her to do MRI to ascertain her sudden loss of memory. He had suspected a blood clot and hope it was a mere less than 0.5mm in size. That would be easy and fast to cure. The son in me was hoping the same or better.

45 minutes later, while she was still inside the MRI machine, Dr. Osman called and told that the the MRI confirmed of the blood clot in one of the nerves had covered the left side of her brain an area of about 5cm-6cm. Man! That's huge! 0.5mm vs 5cm??? I was like, "So, what's next???". Kept my cool and discussed all possible options with Dr. Osman. He consulted his neurosurgeon friend in Melaka and HUKM and all agreed that surgery is not the solution due to its complexity and 50-50 chance and can be partially cured with medication. OK... I take your advice. Mom will just take medication for the next 6 months and hopefully she'll recover 60%-70% of her lost memory. Insyallah. Mean time, it's back to nursing her as much as I could.

Thank you to all who have contributed. Mom is still recovering and hopefully she'll be ok soon. We all look forward to the day tho not 100%. Good enough God!

Faulty system ensures faulty outcome

Mr Prime Minister... "There have been weaknesses in the Bumiputra community in the past. It was not the people's fault but the corporate figure who lacked knowledge in running an organisation."


Why blame the corporate figure alone? Why not admit that the government machinery that oversees, evaluate and awarded the contract is equally at fault? If the awarding of government contracts is really on merit, as you said, these issues of "Contracts given to those who lacked knowledge and experience in a certain field would bring the nation down..." will be eliminated or at least minimized. 


Unfortunately, there are just too many of "the support letter culture" and "the know who culture" in the government machinery. It's an accepted norm and culture for ages. Thus, the evaluation process of each contract or tender submission is "overlooked" by the administrators. That in itself is an error. 


It's good to hear you said "... We should also do away with the support letter culture...". Talk is cheap. Let us all support the elimination of this culture and move forward to ensure that the award of any contract is solely based on merit and expertise. Shall we?


BTW, admission of fault is not a crime  Mr PM.


Najib: Bumiputra contracts must be given based on expertise

i-Think. u-Think.

I always believe that knowledge is a life-long learning process. No stopping in acquiring knowledge even if one has a PHd.Throughout the course of life, we'll still be learning. There are just infinite number of things we can learn and will learn in our lives. That's just how God created it. And that's how we survive the challenges ahead... However, I felt the Malaysian education system does not prepare the children towards building a THINKING society. Someone who is able to think out of the box ie. why 2+2=4 and not 5 or 6. Or why the glass is half empty instead of half filled. Or why cant we argue what's right or wrong or better ways to do things today with the elders or the authorities. Why can't we just do it first and see if it's working before we say it cant be done. At least we have tried. Unfortunately, it's always "take it or leave it". Period! There's no two ways about it. The education system wasn't built to encourage thinking students. It wasn't meant to propagate students to spell out their minds and argue based on research and facts. It wasn't meant to create a future generation to think "Well... that's good. But I think there's a better way to get it done. Shall we explore it?". Never! Calls for the improvement and change for a better education system has always fall to deaf ears amongst the power that be in the country. Somehow, they heard it but never listen to it. Talk is cheap. Any Tom, Dick and Harry can say "We heard you." and that's it! No one is brave enough or has the balls in the administration to carry the proposed arguments and challenge the authorities to at least look into it and seriously take some immediate actions to get it moving. Ziltch!

Today, it took another Prime Minister of the country to make a call to work on a new education system that will create students who has inquisitive minds instead of merely learning and absorbing information. God gracious! Why has it taken so long? Thank you Mr. Prime Minister for having the guts to propose this beyond the political boundaries of the education system that we are so used to. Read here I don't know the details of the i-Think program just yet. But I wanna be optimistic about the future of the program and the future of our children. Hopefully, the i-Think program will meet its holistic objective of transforming the education system to churn out "thinking students" and able to adapt to life's challenges. Innovative, analytical, adaptable, new ideas and problem solving are key to the success of this program and the creation of "thinking students". Change whatever you need to change to make it work Mr. Prime Minister. Be it the teaching or learning methods, the administrators or even the teachers. Just do it! Impossible is nothing! The "ultra groups of people" will make noise. Let them be. Do away with the archaic 3M system. It ain't working no more! We must move forward. Moving forward we must begin our journey from the grassroots. And it's the education system of the children. Its not about how you drive, its about how you arrive. Insyaallah...

RIP MASTER VINCENT FERNANDEZ aka CIKGU ZAHARI ABDULLAH

Tonight is a sad night for many Johannians who have been touched in one way or another by a great teacher, mentor and legendary hockey coach in MASTER VINCENT FERNANDEZ aka CIKGU ZAHARI ABDULLAH. At about 6pm today, March 11, 2012, Master Vincent Fernandez passed away at UH after a long battle with cancer. Salam takziah buat keluarga arwah ie. Cikgu Hjh Zabedah & children. Read here and here

We still listen attentively to him... Class of 84 reunion @ Park Royal Hotel KL in 2010.

Group photo... Class of 84 reunion @ Park Royal Hotel KL in 2010

S’gor govt urged not to sell part of Shah Alam National Botanical Garden

Mr Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Minister... if your ministry has the funds to develop the park why not work with the state government and channel the funds to good use. For the benefits of the people, the state and the country. Why do you have to 'sorok2' and 'kemut' and create unnecessary issues like this? Aiyo! Please la....

S’gor govt urged not to sell part of Shah Alam National Botanical Garden

Lorry with flat tyre causes nine-hour city-bound traffic jam & Flood in KL

Sometimes I just can't believe that this Bolehland country is run by *&%$#@! for ages. Excuse me for my bad English. Really can't find the words in the Webster dictionary.

Millions or perhaps billions of RM have been spent these last 3-4 months to entice the rakyat to believe in the present government. RM 100 for each school going children (tho not all get it!), RM 200 in the form of book vouchers for every local university student, RM 500 for folks whose household income is less than RM 3K (but I saw big expensive cars came by to collect the payment tho), RM 3K one time payment to all KEMAS  teachers (so much meh?), giving away the Bumiputera rights to the Siamese in Kedah (not that I am envy or racist), naming and identifying projects all over the country (wonder who will get them all), awarding a RM 2.2B highway project to their own lawyer (who happened to be a director to the engineering company awarded with the project), prior to this it was the Rawang-Ipoh double tracking billion dollar project... the list goes on and on and on.

This happens once every 4-5 years whenever the election creeps in. Make everyone 'look and feel' happy this way and hope they vote them back.

Having use all the means and power to excite the Bolehland folks, they cant even properly monitor and ensure that commercial transportations using the inner city roads are in perfect condition. Or at least in good condition. Where are the authorities responsible to ensure this? What are they doing? Why is that a flat tire trailer carrying iron rods is allowed to be in operation with a faulty brake system? Stalled in the middle of the city causing a 10km traffic snarl and not able to get it out till late nite??? Read here

Man! This is so unbelievable!!!

Haven't we learnt enough from all the express and tour buses accidents due to faulty brake system? I guess they never learn anything. Recent incidents... Read here and here

This type of incident should not be allowed to happen if the necessary precautions had been done by the respective organizations. Same goes with the flash flood a few days back. When the Smart Tunnel (or is it Semak Tunnel???) was built, it was promised to SOLVE the flash flooding issue in the city center. Pls take note... its to SOLVE ok! Read here and below.

SMART Project

Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 March 2012 12:26

 

Background

SMART is an acronym for Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel. It is an innovative project of the Government of Malaysia to solve flooding problem in the City Centre of Kuala Lumpur at Klang River and around the vicinity of Masjid Jamek, Jalan Tun Perak caused by Klang River overflowing its banks. The project also serve to ease the traffic congestion problem between Kuala Lumpur City Centre and Southern gateway at Sungai Besi. The Unique feature of SMART is the 3 km double-deck motorway within the 9.7 km tunnel which starts near the Kampung Pandan roundabout in the city centre and ends at Kuala 

Habuk pun tarak! Sroooopaaa dulu juga yincikkk... phuiiiii!!! Kasi biki orang susah la incikkk... Read here and see below







So sad la bro... :(

Link Note-: Lorry with flat tyre causes nine-hour city-bound traffic jam

Son checks mum into budget hotel and stops paying for accommodation

This is so unbelievable!
Son checks mum into budget hotel and stops paying for accommodation

Nenek Tua Si Pencuri Ubi Kayu

How I wish all judges have the heart of this judge. I'm sure the accused has no intention to "steal" the tapioca. I believe she would rather work and earn it. But, its always that God has every reason for every happening. In this case, its the heart of the judge. Kudos to the honorable judge!

Nenek Tua Si Pencuri Ubi Kayu

Mama vs Papa

Interesting ni... ;) Employer registration not your baby, Mama tells Papa

Tan Sri, lets start @ home 1st. Can we?

DPM calls for free flow of information among Asean members

What Do You Wanna Do With Her???

Seriously??? Apa mau bikin sama dia? ;)

Fantastic Fact!

Palm oil (and its products) has good resistance to oxidation and heat at prolonged elevated temperatures; hence, making palm oil an ideal ingredient in frying oilblends.

Dr Chua vs Guan Eng: What they said

Dr Chua Soi Lek “DAP is different from those days. Today, it has formed an opposition alliance with PAS and PKR. PAS will not easily give up their plans to make Malaysia an Islamic country and implement Hudud law.” - Why can't others form alliances? Tak aci la like that... ;) > “When PAS becomes dominant, the opposition will say don't worry, it will all be good. This is the biggest political lie. Look at Kedah - men and women need to sit separately. No alcohol in Kelantan, no cinema in Bangi. This clearly shows DAP is a slave to PAS. In DAP's history of 48 years it has only contested in Chinese majority areas, adopting the policy of using Chinese against the Chinese. The DAP wants to teach Umno a lesson but they dare not face Umno. In fact, they only challenge the Chinese based political party.” - Aiya CSL! Get your facts right 1st la wei! Men & women can sit together-gether ma. Can one... so long they keep their distance. Otherwise they end up like you and your ehem ehem video. Hahaha. Alo CSL! Kelantan also got alcohol sold la wei. You don't know meh? Next time do a little bit of homework la before you talk-talk. > “DAP gives false hopes and empty promises to the people and mislead them. The party is a Chinese-based organisation but it is packaged to become a multi-racial party.” - MCA not the same meh??? > “Guan Eng said Pakatan would remove toll if it takes over the Federal government, but even the toll at Sungai Nyior in Penang has yet to be removed.” - How to remove? Toll concession is under the purview of Federal government ma. Really meh? That is why must take over 1st in order to remove. ;) Lim Guan Eng “DAP wants a two party system where if BN is not performing, it should step down and let us become the government. And if Pakatan cannot deliver, we step down five years later.” - Ha! Like this la. Tell upfront. Cannot deliver, can chow. Replace! Baru la adil ;) > “If Pakatan rules, we will deal with inflation, remove toll and give RM1,000 to some 2.1 million senior citizens annually.” - Sounds good. But let's not get overboard with these promises. LGE... don't over sell lor... ;) > “Pakatan will ensure transparency by revealing assets and having open tender, and we will not tolerate corruption.” - Emmmm... yet to be seen. Consistency and sustainability are key. Cannot deliver kalu... kasi tendang! > “We do not agree the Prime Minister must always be a Malay because we want the people to decide.” - I'm not an expert on the Constitution of Malaysia. But here's what I think...Don't agree is fine. But you must also respect the Constitution. Change if it's necessary. Don't change if it ain't necessary. Justify your cause of action else you just have to deal with it. > “We treat everyone the same, regardless of their races. All of us are Malaysians.” - Wow! I hope this is true to all Malaysians. Honestly! Dr Chua vs Guan Eng: What they said

Swedish man survives for months in snowed-in car

Great Miracle...

Swedish man survives for months in snowed-in car

Super Bowl XLVI - Giants 21 Patriots 17

Who will win? Go Patriots!

Ugh ugh... It's the Giants again.... 2nd Super Bowl in 5 years. Congratulations to the Giants!

The Great Rivalry

Yes... that was the final score at the end of 90 minutes in the English FA Cup 4th Round match at Anfield - LIVERPOOL 2 MANCHESTER UNITED 1 The Kops progressed to the next round and Man U will focus on the Premier League and the Europa League from now on. Much has been said about these 2 clubs rivalry. Past, present and future they will continue to dominate the headlines on the bitter rivalries between the top two most supported clubs in England. Positive and negative comments will continue between the fans. Good friends can become enemies when these two clubs meet. Nevertheless, it's just ball game and all will be well and good again the next day.

Agger heading the ball past Man U defence for Liverpool 1st goal

Park Ji Sung lifted by Man U captain Evra after scoring the equalizer

Kyut's winning strike for Liverpool in the 88th minute

2 legends at the end of the match ie. King Kenny and Sir Alex

Proud owner - John W. Henry

You'll Never Walk Alone Kopites...

WE WON!!!

Fide et Labore

February 1, 2012 @ Maybank Stadium, Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, MALAYSIA.

A bunch of Johannians (class of 80s) got together for a friendly and fun soccer match. This was the second time it was held. The 1st time we had it at the FRIM padang in 2011. This year's turnout was batter than 2011. There were about 40 of us and more 1MALAYSIA. The Fide et Labore spirit was really at its best!

Never mind the match which was held over three 30 minutes quarters. What's more important was that the Johannians really had fun. Meeting old friends. Some new friends (juniors). School buddies that were lost is action since we left school. Their families. Man! It was awesome!

Some guys were still fit in the 40s. Some are goners! Perut macam tong drum (including yours truly... hehehe). Lutut longgaq tahap maksimum. Nafas pendek sangat. Ish ish ish... macam-macam la yang ditemui waktu itu. Including Cikgu Badiozaman who came with his family. In case we never told you that you did well in teaching all of us back then... Thank you cikgu!

All said and done, what's more important was the fact that everybody made the effort to come dressed in sports attire and ready to samba with other Johannians. That's the spirit guys! FIDE ET LABORE!

Novak is Super Human

Yes... that's him. Novak Djokovic the 2012 Australian Open tennis champion. After an almost 5 hour battle with Andy Murray in the semi final on Friday night, he beat Rafael Nadal in an epic battle that went almost 6 hours and into early Monday morning in Melbourne. Wow! That's really something! Super human perhaps. But I think Djoko has great talent,strong mind, big heart and huge will power to win. Stronger and bigger than his opponents. Talent and skill wise, they are about there equal. Phew! They way he played and pull those shots greatly showed his determination to win over his nemesis. He did just that!

At the end of the marathon match, he just lay down on the court and in a gesture of a true champion (plus told so by the TV) he showed the world his number 1 ranking is to stay for a long long time and many more of the Grand Slams to his taking.

As for Nadal, he is a champion too. He did all the right things to beat Djoko but sadly not good enough I would say. Djokovic is simply the best tennis player on earth now.

In the end, it was a great tennis match. Unfortunately, there's only 1 winner.

Hello guys... Lets put a stop to all these nonsense!

Come on people... stop it! Lets us all move on and make the country progress and the rakyat productive. What you guys are doing is regressing. It ain't progressing. This is not on! Cukup-cukup la tu. Boring la.... Bawa la cerita yang bermutu sikit. Like how we can make our GDP better than our Singapore neighbour. Or how we can ensure that we don't live in the thin line of racial segregation that we are in now. Or how we can convince our people that "we" don't need to use dollar and sen to win votes in every election. Pathetic la lu orang ni!!!

Thriller @ Melbourne Park

In an epic 5 hours semi final 5 sets thriller @ the Australian Open 2012, Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray 6-3 3-6 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 7-5. As put by former British number 1 player and now a BBC Sports commentator, John Lloyd, "...What a match. It was an epic. One of the best I've seen..." Indeed.

They both were fighting for every point. It was purely a great tennis match to witness. And great rivalry too.

Lets hope for another great tennis in the final this Sunday - Djokovic vs Nadal

RIP Razali Alias

Today I read the news on the passing of Razali Alias a former Selangor footballer due to Hepatitis B. He was 51. Read here Razali migrated from Singapore and played for Selangor in the 1980s. He won 3 Malaysia Cups with Selangor in 1982, 1984 & 1986. RIP

Ohio University Alumni Dinner

Recently on December 9, 2011 I attendede the Ohio University (OU) Alumni dinner @ PJ Hilton. Yeah... 1st time tho they have had it annually. This time they are celebrating the visit by OU's President Roderick McDavis to Malaysia.

I didnt realized there were a lot of Bobcats in Malaysia. Met my ex-boss, my new lawyer friend and a few others.

I also met my MBA classmates tho there were just 4 of us at the dinner. But it was still fun

Carling Cup 2012 Final... MALAYSIA vs ???

Yeah! Go Malaysia! Lets win the Carling Cup this year... hahaha

Cardiff City has just beaten Crystal palace 3-1 0n penalties in the semi final of the 2012 Carling Cup. A 7th minute own goal puts the aggregate score at 1-1 till the final whistle. Cardiff are the first team from outside of the top flight to reach the League Cup final since Birmingham in 2001. This will be its 3rd final visit to Wembley since 2008. Cardiff reached the FA Cup final in 2008 and the Championship play-off final in 2010. Who will they meet in the final? Liverpool?

Manchester City?

Update soon... ;) Oh ya.... Its Liverpool!