Salam. Apa khabar. Hi!

Sekali sekali perlu menulis perkara yang terlintas di minda
There are times you must write what crossed the mind

Monday, September 17, 2012

PRE COMMERCE STUDENTS


The pre Commerce 1C group of students Hari Raya Dinner group photo. Photo taken on 7.9.2012 at Isma Resort, Pengkalan Balak, Melaka.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Mi Gulung Corner

A day out at Mi Gulung Corner


Students presentation: FORUM

The critical thinkers, because they signed for BEL313 Critical Thinking course, have to present forums in groups of four. They have interesting topics such as early marriage, working wives, hope school for pregnant teens, and instructional language for science and mathematics in Malaysian schools taken as issues for discussion.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

HARI RAYA @ UiTM, 30.8.2012

On 30.8.2012 the Eidul Fitri celebration was celebrated at UiTM in grand style.
 The UiTM Melaka community came out in full force with more than 30 stalls serving all sorts of delicacies.
 Students and staff had a wonderful day enjoying the food, food and food.
 Senior lecturers table. Strong force of the fairer sex.
The writer and students.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Today is the twentieth day of Syawwal, a month for Muslims who had succeeded in completing the Ramadhan fast to celebrate their success in the feat. Ask any non Muslim to abstain from food and drinks from dawn to dusk or 13 hours, and the majority will shy away. Muslims have to endure more than abstain from food and drinks, they also abstain from sins, bad deeds and sex with spouse during the fast.
   The eve of Syawwal is filled with takbir, when Muslims congregate and call the takbir together, glorying and gratifying Almighty Allah. The first day of Syawwal is the most important and merriest when nearly everyone dresses up with their best and attends the Eidul Fitr prayer at the mosque, of course food is aplenty for the taking after a month of fasting days. The next few days of Syawwal are normally filled with family activities, visiting each other and catching up with family developments.
   After 20 days the  Eidul Fitr mood is still swinging with open house invitations every weekend. Syawwal is also a choice month for marriages and this writer received 2 wedding invitations for Sunday 9th September.

Friday, August 3, 2012

accountants of the future

They were born before the present millennium, went through schools that did not teach using rote learning style as in the 60s and had more exposure to English during their secondary school days plus from the Internet.They are studying accountancy. How will they be accountants when the computer can do so much in so little time. Accounting soft wares are aplenty and easily available, will all of them be employed in accounting? The employment question is bugging job seekers, parents and governments too. While more people are educated and trained for jobs, the jobs are becoming more and more scarce due to IT at the workplace. Banks have installed more ATMs and servers so that the need for staff is reduced.
   Are they not worried? Deep down maybe, but at present they are happy to have a place in accountancy and nearly all plan to proceed to get a Degree in Accountancy after the diploma program. A few plan to do post graduate and become lecturers. May their aspirations be achieved, Ameen.

15 days of Ramadhan.

Its now mid Ramadhan, the holy month for Muslims, when we abstain from food and drinks and other worldly pleasures during daytime. Its also a month of extra hard commitments towards Allah, many Muslims willingly give alms and perform deeds within this month whence pious believers are fully occupied in their faith to Allah.
My other half shed off 5 kilograms during the first half of this Ramadhan, maybe the second half will be kinder to her and take her closer to or below the ideal BMI. Muslims are a lucky lot if they adhere to teachings by  Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the Al Quran. On a more universal scale all religions teach their followers to make life a worthwhile journey but humans are such that being good is sometimes not good enough and some get thrills doing bad.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Robert Raymer

An e-mail invitation to attend Robert Raymer's creative writing workshop in Segamat, Johor. This sounds a good opportunity to gain more knowledge on writing creatively. Not just that but also a chance to catch up with acquaintances from that town; place where this writer had served the ITM/UiTM branch for seven years before moving to this present location in 2002.

 Segamat is the town that brings lots of beautiful memories; bringing up the 2 kids, the balik kampong trips, the durian seasons, fishing escapades, motorcycling days with Segamat Bikers, reformasi and its political spillover on the writer and a paid trip to UK for the MSC Tesol at Stirling University; all during the Life in Segamat period.

This writer replied the e-mail after a month of contemplation, inquiring if there is any more available place in the workshop. The reply came later the same day, in the affirmative. That's putting the cart before the bull because Raymer is not yet a familiar name to me. So Google him up and went to http://www.borneoexpatwriter.com/about-robert.php to know this man better.

See you in Segamat, Raymer.

Monday, July 16, 2012

The 13th General Election.

The date for the next Malaysia general election is still a mystery, but the activities of the ruling politicians indicate it is any moment that the parliament may be dissolved, leading towards election. The top leaders of the country are going to the grassroots and addressing the issues that may give them the advantage to win the votes. They also go to the ground to fulfill the unfulfilled promises they made before the last election.
In this country, elections should be done every 3 years instead of the present 5. In the writer's opinion if the ruling government has a short time to fulfill their election campaign promises the man in the street or voters gain in terms of getting their dues earlier. The work culture of politicians here is to deliver before the next election; so have the next election soon and the promised benefits will be delivered to the masses sooner.
     This year has seen many people getting windfalls: public servants received a 13% pay increase, then the mosque officials, next the KEMAS officials including retired ones, uniformed unit personnel also got more perks. The mass lower income public were surprised with a one time no strings attached handout of RM500 per family, students in schools and tertiary institutions were given handouts of RM100 and RM200 respectively. In the FELDA schemes talk of handout was rife for more than six months because the amount was a hefty RM15K per household, albeit the restructuring of Felda Global Ventures, which this writer is not well informed of, and the felda settlers themselves do not study; so long as they get the carrot.
    The list of handouts can be really exhaustive, tyre for taxis, incentives for relief and volunteer organisations, youth associations and the list will go on and on, until we go to the polls.
      Another gain for the voter if election comes every 3 years is the frequency of getting election benefits or goodies increases. If election is once every 5 years - in 15 years the voters get election benefits such as paved roads or tax incentives only 3 times. If election is held every 3 years than in 15 years the bounties come 5 times or 66% more. So lets have elections more often and the general public gets the benefits.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Language Week competition. DIA1A


Practising for the challenge

Syaza & Syu during practice.
They(standing students) made it to final and came out third place.


Days of the week
Monday- very busy short and tiring day.
Tuesday - just as busy with a trip to Bangi after work to send mother to her youngest son.
Wednesday - life goes on
Thursday - middle of the Sya'aban month of the Muslim calendar. Fasting day, had a very good dinner with my other half.
Friday - a very long day. Started with seeing the students to their rehearsal for English Week closing ceremony. Then a meeting at IKaZ, then a drink with colleagues, Ust Abdullah and Zainal Fikri, followed by watching the ending of the students' rehearsal. The Friday congretational prayer was followed by a session with MRSM teachers at Ayer Pa'abas. Then back to Dewan Taming Sari for the ending of Language Week Closing Ceremony. Evening was for Tunas Mekar group dinner at Dima Arabian Restaurant Bukit Beruang. Very good meal, authentic Arabian cuisine.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

MID YEAR MUET WORKSHOP orgtanised by Akademi Pengajian Bahasa UiTM Melaka.

Group 14 of UiTM Melaka Mid Year MUET Workshop on 1st July 2012

Participants attempting the listening exercises prepared by the workshop organising committee.


Misunderstanding and its consequence.

The writer was once invited to a family function by a close relative some three weeks ago, supposedly to be on last weekend. Three days prior to the date a message came via sms that the function is on the 7th July. This writer had often received soft reminders of events a day or two before the real event. Thus without giving much thought the message was closed because yours sincerely had already noted on the room whiteboard that he will attend this family function. So on the fated Saturday morning, he managed his time getting matters done and drove the 90 kilometre distance to the stated function, only to see no people nor activity upon reaching the address.
To add salt to injury, the return journey had to be  detoured because the highway got congested and driving was a crawling job on the highway. All in all, it was 4 hours of driving and cost of petrol and toll for NOTHING. Thus readers, do take notice of messages and pay attention to written communication with an open mind.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Lifelong learning.

During the last fishing sojourn my fishing buddy Cikgu Aziz mentioned that, for us, there is no point of joining the paper chase because we are not looking for employment anymore; life is reaching phase 3 so "why bother." I tend to agree with that somewhat and answered "There's always lifelong learning for us to seek out." My buddy agreed.
Actually lifelong learning is available everywhere, it is only a matter of whether the learner is sensitive enough to learn from his surroundings. In most cases the normal man in the street is not aware of the things to learn from the surrounding, so the teacher becomes indispensable. It becomes a noble profession and students become enlightened because of the teacher.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

PhD

Terfikir juga nak tamatkan pengajian hingga PhD. Singkatan iini mempunyai tafsiran yang berbentuk negatif juga selain maksud sebenar ijazah doktor falsafah atau  'Doctor of Philosophy' mengikut bahasa asalnya. Ada disebut juga 'permanent head damage' dan ada juga 'Pengejar hasad Dengki' - mungkin segelintir sahaja yang begitu, tetapi kerana ada berlaku maka diperkata dan diperbesar-besarkan kisahnya.

Berbalik kepada persolan nak mengaji lagi; terfikir juga ekonomiknya; bagaimana dengan ROI pelaburan belajar tu nanti? Ditahap ini mestikah kita menjadi materialis lagi, memikirkan untung rugi dari segi material dan pulangan wang ringgit yang dilaburkan?

Tak perlu jawapan soalan ini rupanya. Biarkan sahaja ia tergantung.

Frequently asked questions

Since the new semester started, this writer met more colleagues often. On most occasions the opening question or one of the earlier questions to be answered would normally be on retirement. "When are you retiring?" or "Bila encik/tuan pencen?" sometimes "Pencen nanti nak buat apa?(What will you do after retirement?)" and many more to that effect. This writer then did not give a standard answer for all these question. It could be a sign of indecision or not yet decided to be exact. He is still keeping his options open, or rather as he used to say in many occasions before; we cross the bridge when we come to it. Whatever that may mean! In mind is the approach of the third phase in life after learning and working, although it will not be within this next six months it will be less than a year, to be exact less than nine months. Your sincerely has to make adjustments and plans for this new phase.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Students are back

The new semester for existing students started on 11th June 2012. We are now into the second week and getting back into the normal teaching and learning routine. This writer feels happy and excited into this new semester, with new students to know and refreshing himself on one course that has been left for nearly three years now, Introductory English for the first semester diploma level students.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Programs during semester break - students are away.

The interview for new students who may be UiTM students in June was done on 15 and 16 April 2012. Came to campus on 16th June to promote Kokominda Plus. managed to get a substantial amount of sales to the parents sending children to the interview.
The change from monotonous classroom job is a cherished experience. Meeting and interacting with people may not be easy but the most difficult part is to make people believe and part with their hard earned money in exchange for a product they have not tried or heard of before.

Tuesday 17th April
Drove wife to Masjid al Azim for her retirement orientation. It's a two day program for all teachers retiring in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Conducted by Jabatan Pelajaran Melaka with the cooperation of Bank Muamalat. After the day we drove to Gemencheh to deliver Kokominda to Aishah of UTEM, her husband Nazri from Hospital Tampin.

Wednesday 18th April
Again drove to send and fetch wife for her program. After that sent her printer to NCS computer for repair with Faaris joining in, and then dined at Putera of Kota Laksamana. Missed 2 days of al Quran class with Us Daud.

Thursday, 19th April.
Attended a meeting on Communicative Instructional Education to be implemented on 27th April. Its a weekly project for MRSM Alor Gajah.

Monday, March 5, 2012

300 days, what shall it be after that?

1 st March 2012 was my 54th birthday. It was a Thursday, on the same day the pre commerce students had their talent presentation day named "Destiny of Hope" event.
Received two birthday cakes, one from my students and one from colleagues. Students sent their cake during lunch hour break. Colleagues gave me the cake after the Destiny of Hope event, when we had tea. What a bash for my 54th birthday! it never happened (to me) before, 2 b'day cakes! Wow, thank you all those who made it happen.

2nd march starts the 365 day count-down to retirement. I had in mind to keep note of this last year or being a public servant. intend to write every day for the next 365 days into my blog. on this day I went to work but failed to achieve any meaningful job in the morning. Afternoon had to rush back to Tampin to get ready before leaving for KL. We would accompany a nephew, Faiz to be solemnized at Setiawangsa in KL. The occasion ran smoothly, we found our way to the rendezvous taking along a niece and her friend besides the three of us - papa, mama and abang. After solemnization there was a bit of fireworks and food.

3rd march. the wedding ceremony day for Faiz. Its a traditional type of occasion the ceremonial men-carried carriage for the couple, like the Malay kings of old. The lunch after that was good too, my wife and I was invited to take lunch with the brides. We left at about 3 pm for my in-law's birthday in Bangi. Left his house at nearly 6 pm. Reached Merlimau, to send my niece back to Polytechnic at about 9pm. We finally reached home at around 11pm.

4th march. The rest day. Sunday, late breakfast and all. Lunched at Kendong, the normal stall we used to patronise was closed but the alternative was just at par. Had a good rest while working at translating Dr Azam's questionnaire.

5 march. its been five days and I still have not done what I had planned on my 54th b'day. on this day I had to go to Shah Alam for the Tunas Mekar convocation. We left at 10.30 am and reached Intekma, Shah Alam at 12.30pm. It was too early since the convo starts at 2pm so we went for lunch at the Shah Alam Mosque. A very nice and quaint place for lunch. Then went for zohor and went back to Intekma. we left shah Alam before the daily evening jam started. Our driver En. Halim said the jam normally starts at 5.30pm. reached UiTM campus at 6.30 pm. I did not go home but stayed in office till 9pm looking at Facebook posts and updates by friends.

6th March. Today I manage to open my blog angd type this 6 days overdue plan to write. I will spend this day to mark the OM assignments and key in their marks. This evening I will probably skip the badminton time if the assignments are completely marked.