Salam. Apa khabar. Hi!

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

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.