balik kampung

why do we do it? balik kampung, i mean. it happened on second hari raya. te short answer is, to visit the other half's relatives.
the real answer is, what is hari raya if you don't balik kampung.

so here we were on the long road back to penang. but we were lucky, it was "kenderaan bergerak lancar" all the way.
funny hapenngs, - no speeding, police everywhere -in the blue and white striped tents and on the watch towers by the roadside. except that all these were dummies, huge cardboard cutouts of policemen with cameras aimed at you so you have to slow down. but hoohaha...... you got fooled.
then there were these real dummies in yellow shirts waving at you (dok gawang kat hang) and you wonder why, no signages nothing, till you found out that there's a sharp corner ahead and you had to brake fast.

butterworth was great.this house we stayed at "pantai bersih" beach. except that the beach is gone - there's a highway right on what used to be the beach!!. the house had 7 rooms. and it's up for sale for 280K only. i am thinking...

the new market was just a wal away.nasi lemak daun pisang was only 50 sen. t-shirt with weired messages only RM5. pelita nasi kandak near cathay cinema down the road was supper and breakfast. it was the old butterworth that i knew. cool,laidback and nice people. ah ,penang and now butterworth, still my favourite place. i am thinking...

going back to KL was torture. the minute we got on the highway, we were already crawling for 3 km's before juru toll. then it was before taiping and the hill up to ipoh. and on and on .6 hour-journey instead of 3- and- a- half.

was it worth it? but of course....what is raya without the balik kampung torture.

lemang, rendang, bergambak, duit raya

hey hey hari raya. hey hey hari raya.

my raya started from yesterday when alin, my daughter flew in from melbourne. she had another new hairstyle. i knew my investment is berbaloi (she is a hairstyling student). later she showed me photos of her with trophies won as Victoria's "hairstyling student of the year 2008" and second place in the "rock pop" style category.

buka posa was was laksa.

today's breakfast menu was also laksa. plus ketupat, rendang, lemang and meehoon. consumed after solat raya at the setiawangsa mosque. which was packed, by people who this year decided to skip the balik kampung madness (wise move)

noon was a trip to our big bro's house in bukit jelutong where umi and all the bros and in laws and nephews,neices and grand nephews have gathered. TJ was surprisingly 15 minsearlier than us, but he was still "on the way " to see our umi who was inside the house.

after the makan,(lamang,ketupat and umi's legendary rendang,among other must haves ) it was photography time. and the official photographer, our MMU qualified Che Wan did a good job, with the help of 6 other amatures. Umi was overwhelmed and had tears in her eyes as she thought of three significant absentees, our dear and departed aruah ayah and aruah brother israf (alfatihah for them) and israf's daughters fifi, hadirah and hafizah, and wife maliah who are now in alor star after maliah's father passed away last 22 sept.

Umi at 87 is blessed with spiritual and physical strength. and her wealth of children, duaghters-in-law, children and great grandchildren. More important her great grand daughter Abigail is a kutianyir, who will inherit all her properties in Broelluck, Minangkabau Sumatera and carry on her warisan suku .

And after the photo sessions, it was duit raya time, and it was my turn to hulorg to the nephews, neices and grandnephews and grandneices.

Yes, hari raya is about family. And reunions. I thought about a friend who could not be with her mum and family because of differences in opinions and circumsatances, and I feel really sad for her. And for the 100 over indonesian workers whose tongkang sank last night in port klang (with 12 deaths ) because they were cheated and the tongkang was overloaded.

So we all should bersyukur for the blessings Allah has given us. Takbir!

jetset weekend buka posa

this ramadhan there's nothing better than buka posa at home. nasi , lauk dua mata, tamar dan ayak teh oh kosong. no more kueh mueh and lauk pauk that ends in the bin. we have learnt to be frugal .simple and practical. healthy even.after all the qoran says asting is to rest your staomach and digestive system once a year. our late grandpa lived to 105 on this simple rule.
but a corporate guy like me have to endure the pressure of buka posa with clients, and company employees- in hotels.

last weekend was an example. friday flew to penang. meeting with advertising students who wanted to hear my two sen worth of ideas for a project next year. these kids are amazing - great ideas, enthusiastic. then went to UUM in perlis. and back to prai for buka with my factory staff. ended at 12.30 midnite. no time to go back to umi's house so had to sepnd nite in a hotel

was up again at 6 am and straight to airport, landed in KLIA. slept at the lounge before taking off to JB. the whole afernoon i was cacthing up sleep till 5.30 and off to break fast at our factory in Tebrau. again ended at midnite after walking aroundsungai seget to take in the smelll and sounds of the real people of jb.

back to KL on Sunday but monday was off again to kuala tengganu- makang ikang. brakfast at factory, lepak till midnite and back to KL tuesday morning.

all this for one purpose - to express my appreciation to the factroy guys for their support. i do this every year. the token given to them was small - a sarong- but i believe that the thought and appreciation was bigger.

We are facing hard times. nothing is certain. meeting our employees hopefully will send a message that we care. as leaders our challenge has always been how to give our staff the best. how to better share the cake.

Ramadhan gives us the space to reflect and to project. to appreciate patience.

Footnote - Mana Ada System (MAS)
the flight to penang was delayed by one and a half hour due to a technical problem. as usual, the MAS people never made any
announcements. i had to join this aircraft which was suppposed to take off 2 hours earlier. so there were already other pasengers on board. finally tempers flew and a group of passegers decided to leave the aircraft, noisily

Apa ni MAS - mana ada system? no one knows what's going on.finally they told me that evrything is ready but they had to wait for the "paperwork". it took another one and half hours before we took off.

but not before they handed me the "paperwork" - (serious- no joke)

Dear Valued customer

We are sorry to inform you that your flight MH1138 bound for Penang scheduked to depart Kuala Lumpur at 9.15am on 12 sept 08 is now cancelled due to technical.

we have notified our office at your destination of this delay. your relative, friends or business associates will be informed if they were to contact our office to inquire about this flight at the airport....


HELLLO - the delay was to wait for this paperwork??? I hope any ex MAS guy reading this please dont't explain -wantaktau will be sufficient


Because through all these, and the rantings created by other passengers I was cool and calm. reading my nespaper. Fadhilat Ramadhan.

batu kawan, ipoh mali

on way back from permatang pauh, after the results were announced, we stopped in bukit tambun, batu kawan for seafood. the last time i was here was two days before the march 8 elections. koh tsu koon's was standing for his first parliament elections in this constiiuncey which was proved to be his waterloo. in fact at the time we arrived, the whole place was full of bn buntings and flags and a stage with a band to draw in the crowd to hear tsu koon's campaign speech. but until we finished our seafood, it was already 8 pm but now one had turned up. there were more jagakereta boys than cars.
This time , we came to celebrate the victory of the rakyat of pp.udang, lala, steam fish, kangkung, and a couple more dishes cost rm40. for two very hungry guys. can you kira. in kl it would be no less that rm100.
on way to tasik merah, we had to stop for petrol, but the car stalled about 4 meters from the pump. phew.. had to push it a bit to refill.
but more bad luck to come. 2 km from the gopeng junction, the mzda rx8 had a flat.it was already 11.30 pm, and in a dark spot. worse still this sports car have no spare tire, but got new technology - it comes with a sealant and a contraption to pump the air into the deflated tire until you get to the next tire shop. no, you guesed it. it didn't work. but we got to the gopeng toll and just in time to the petronas station nearby before the flat tire really kaput.
what else to do but to thumb a lift in a teksi sapu who happened to be waiting for us. this guy says that guys like us comes his way all the time.
So we got in the car for the 10km journey to hillside hotel near gunung rapat, ipoh. the teksi sapu really needed a sapu because its a honda civic 1978, which is dirty and smelly. and the driver probably have not had a bath in a week. tahan la. what to do.
the hillside hotel is really cool(RM118 for govt and media people) and i had breakfast on thbalcony.
After the tire change, we got to ipoh for nasi ganja jalan yang kalsom, the famous ayam goreng merah still the same since i was a student in star ipoh, many many years ago. The kopi tiam guy inherited the bisness from hs dad. The building in front was formerly the tanjung rambutan bus station. Anyway, it was a real ipoh mali lorr . The meal cost me RM5,, can you kira.

medan damansara landslide...can you kira!

got an sms yesterday from randir, (or tirrr)."Friends, finally it happened.Hillside development in medan damansara.slope collapsed damaginghouses with residents fleeing 4 safety.It happened at 4 am.Read about n pixes on the controversial project damansara 21."
This morning I called him to tell him that the story is already in the media. Randir has been the leading advcate in the camoaign to stop the ridiculous develoment in the mainly terace housing enclave. Obviouly another example of unseen hands working wth the powerful and poliically connected.He already warned DBKL of the danger of hillslope development and yesterday it happened.
Now is the time for the ACA to really probe into this affair and not just going after a dedicated and clean guy who did not get his dentist bill. Actually, they should also investigate the dentist who cleaned up bukit chelaka, (err.. cherakah ).

Randir said that a team of lawyers have come forward to volunteer legal aid for this case.What was more shocking was when he told me that this project has yet to get any approval from the authorities. Can you kira!!

(P.s. Randhir was the guy who always used th phrase "can you kira" which was oft repeated by my late dad (bless his soul), a keen golfer who used to have a few rounds with randhir whenever he comes to KL. )

permatang pauh d'layang

Last night permatang pauh finally sent the loudest signal about what the young people want. That they cannot tolerate pople who think they are fools who cannot think about what is good for their future.
The collective memory of people who grew up in Penang, and left it to go to the city like KL is that this is a sleepy hollow. IT WAS. Now it's another typical Penang place with all the modern amenities, like bayan baru, prai, seberang jaya or even kepala batas.And with it comes broadband interconnectivity and the internet (read:bloggers).
The voters of the constituency of the founder of the reformasi movement in malaysia have stood behind their leader in delivering the votes and the message (3P - permatang pauh ,parliament ,putrajaya) And broadband is probably the only thing that made that delivery possible. Blow by blow information was delivered via the webmedia and one new blogger that probably stood up was www.tukartiub.blogspot.com. In two weeks nearly 300 thouand visitors have visited the blog as it gave the latest account of the happenings in the run up and final conclusion of the by electon campaign. This again is proof of the power of citizen journalism.
Tukartiubdelivered wasdelib=vered in a simple, easy and straight forward manner with humour,sarcasm, satire and cynicism thrown in for entertainment.Tukartiub was inspired by youtube without the video but the power of the written word fuelled the imagination of the reader even to the point of feeling the atmosphere of the campaigning. Visitors to the blog came from all over the world, some regretting not being in pp to soak in the atmosphere.
I was there for two nights and on polling day. The atmosphere already told everyone who will be the eventual winner. It also confirms the fact that broadband and the young cannot be separated when it comes to putting across ideas and opinions. The mainstream media have to reinvent itself as its relevance is declining faster than you think.

cafe@lui

My Sunday mornings have always been reserved for motorcycle rides to the country side, ie on weekends when I am not in some other parts of the world. So this time it was to a newly discovered place called Cafe@Lui, after Batu 12 in Ulu Langat. The ride on my Vulcan was with my Dmystify..d brother and his Honda ST. As it rained last nite, it was a perfect morning for mists with the cool morning air making you feel sorry for the rest of the world who have never woken up before 10 am to exerience this wonderful feeling.
The winding ride to this place takes you across the short Ampang Hills and then by the Sungai Langat. Pass number of cyclists, including Mat Sallehs. Cafe@Lui is a wonderful place. The owners have successfully bred Kelah fish, a native of Sumatera. Having breakfast of Soto reminds me of my (parent's) Kampung in Broeluck (Dutch for Barulak) near Payakumbuh. Bathing in the river where the mata air or water source is, beats this place as it is very much cooler. But Cafe@Lui us much more well organised iwth modern amenities.And there are no tremours here. Last year, I eperienced my first earthquake (albeit lasting 3 seconds). 10 Km from it epicentre, it was zohor and I was about to have kari kambing by the sawah in Setujuh. The second tremour was at my uncle's house up the hill in Tanjiung Alam, some 5 Km from Batu sangkar and Pagaruyung, the seat of the Raja raja Minangkabau . The tremour had killed 85 people all over West Sumatra. And o think that I was at Bukit Tinggite day before and along the mountain roads where most of the victims were. The quake had destroyed homes along the hill slopes.

In fact, I visited the Kampung of my good frend and media business associate, Zul, who had just completed renovating the mosque in his kampung. The beautiful mosque was funded from profits of his business in Malaysia. You know what? He was praiyng in the mosque when the quake struck, followed by a loud bang and crashing sound. Rushing out he discovered that the beautiful minaret had crashed in to the huge fishing pond in front of the mosque. Allah be praised, no on was injured.
But Zul's trauma resulted in him not going back into his house that day until 3 am when I went to fetch him to go to Padang airport for the flight to KL.
Poor thing. he had slept in the Toyota Inova while waiting for me. There were minor tremours every half hour for the next 24 hours and I don't blame him for being extra careful. But as for me, I simply snored loudly in my mum's house Broeluck, through the night, drowning any effects of the tremours and giving the rest of my family confidence to sleep through the night.
At the Padang airport, Zul suddenly discovered he had left his wallet behind, save for his pasport . Furthermore, he never went back to Bukit Tinggi until one year later, to catch up with his buddies over an overnight game of Ginrummy.
Being at Cafe @Lui I realised how blesssed Malaysia is. No earthquakes. Not much excitement save for the political rumblings, swearings, tuduh menuduh and liwat meliwat that have coloured the changing political landscape of this country.
Hmm, I do fancy the Sifu Omar Mee in Tanjung Tokong Penang. So I will take a detour to Permatang Pauh tomorrow evening to experience the tremour of the last day of campaigning. And stay till the results are out to witness another moment of history in the making.
As I left Cafe@Lui on my bike, the sun was beginning to change the temperature of the morning. I kept thinking of how the owners (a retired naval officer and his son-in-law) have put in their resources and the rest of their lives to preserving one of the last beautiful pieces of God's land for us city folks to enjoy and for theirs and our children and grandchildren to claim what is rightfully theirs as inheritance of this earth. After what the dentist and his cronies did to Bukit Chelaka (oops Cherakah) I hope I will also have the resources to do what Cafe@Lui did. After all there is gold in them there hills of Hulu Langat.
Thank you, sir, for giving hope to us kampung-at-heart city folks. (worst case scenario, I will just head back to Broeluck...)Can you kira....!