Brave People of the Peace Boats

It is not everyday that we hear the bravery of the ordinary citizens of the world. By that me meant the Gaza peace mission organized by several hundreds peace loving people on their armada of peace boats which were brutally sabotaged by the forces of evil a few days ago.

Obviously, when the mission started, it was meant to end like it did - being stopped at all costs before reaching its intended destination - the destitute people of Gaza. It was like a well scripted ending with the exception of the death of several of the brave participants - who were blessed with martyrdom. When the other party to the conflict is well known to break all the rules of the civilized world, this is only to be expected.

The apparent victory this time around seems to be on the side of the evil forces. This is also to be expected if we just look through our naked eyes. But if we care to look through our inner eyes, the long term success is already guaranteed to be on the side of the peace loving people of the world - such as those who care to provide assistance and aids to the needy and desperate citizens of the Gaza strip.

Be patient, me brothers and sisters. This is only a small test for the Umma. Treat this as a catalyst for the Umma to rise to a greater awareness on the power of Iman and solidarity.

Belief me you, we have the secret weapon which even their nuclear arsenals cannot defeat. We have the ultimate key to victory even they cannot deny. Me truly belief as has been mentioned so many times before, victory will be near when we Muslims are united, when our actions are solidified into one - when our mosques are full during the morning prayer as it is now full during the afternoon Friday prayer. Then the demise of the evil forces will be undeniable anymore for they themselves will surely know that their end is truly near...

A Day in the Lion City

It has been quite a while since me last trip down south to Singapore. Last Friday me had the opportunity to take an AirAsia flight together with several of me colleagues for a day trip to visit a factory located in the Ubi Road area, about 20 minutes from the Changi airport.

Apart from the potential business collaboration that could be discussed further, the thing that really caught me attention was the factory owner and his lifelong struggle from having nothing, with only an idea and a bold determination, to achieve what he had achieved today, which he proudly called the "fruit of his labor" - only after more than 30 years of "bloods, sweats and tears".

Nothing came on a silver plate for this self educated man. From being a humble welder with a very poor family's background, the achievement that he had today is truly an amazing and a classic case of "rags to riches" story. It was not meant to be easy for him, from the day he first started back in the mid 80's until even today, the challenges still keep on knocking on his (factory) doors. But he took it all in good stride and never once saw the need to stop tackling the challenges, even how insurmountable they may be, as long as he still has the capacity to think and the will power to tackle and make good the problems at hand.

The story of his lifelong struggle, that was told within the few hours that me were with him that day, had really struck a chord in me psyche. It has always been in me interest to know what would be the best recipe to a successful life especially in the realm of doing business. Me learned from this man that not many would have the acumen and the patient needed to steer a successful business. Those unseen qualities, such as sincerity and humbleness which me noticed were bestowed on him would have provided him the internal strength which constitute an important prerequisite to success.

This brings us back to the all too familiar story of businessmen wanting to become instant millionaires. In their haste chasing the millions, they had inadvertently thrown all precautions and good traditional values out of the windows with some even forgotten their real purpose on this earth!. All too often, we have been made to belief that being in business is easy and glamorous and the one sure road to a quick easy life. Alas! it was not meant to be that way in reality....Without knowing the many pitfalls that may lie ahead, a lot of aspiring businesses would have succumbed to the horrible truth before they even reach their first year of operations...often ending up much worse than before.

Me always belief that we must possess inner strengths based on our Islamic values in order to confront the myriad challenges posed in our quest to building a successful business.

As exemplified by the factory owner that me visited, knowing to skillfully and patiently ride the ups and downs when building a business will always remain the essential ingredients to building a successful future.

Passing of the Malaysian "Toilet King"

Me only heard of his name a few days ago when news of his passing came out in the papers. There has been a lot of changes in the Malaysian political scene lately and him being a deputy minister would have to be contented with less public attention - hence not many, including meself, would have been familiar with his name.

However, the thing that grabbed me attention about his passing was his so called reputation as the "Toilet King". Apparently, unknown to most of us, this "Rags to Riches" man had been waging a relentless war against dirty public toilets in the country. Again, not many of us may have realized the fact that he spearheaded the "clean toilet revolution" in the country during his tenure as the Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister back in 2004. Along the way he also set up the first toilet association in Malaysia – Quality Restroom Association Malaysia (QRAM), in which he was its chairman from 2005 to last year!

Me cannot agree more when he said that “Public toilets are a gateway to a country and reflective of the country’s development and their people’s culture”.

The thing that made me want to make this entry was also to highlight the sorry state of the toilets found in most of our mosques in this country. Apart from many of the toilets not being kept clean, the accessories such as the water hose, hangers or locks were often found missing or faulty. Me once had the harrowing experience of rushing into a mosque's toilet and soon realized that there was no door to lock!

In stark contrast to most public toilets in this country, me still remember, during me Aussie days, there was even a toilet being used as a voting center as it was the most convenient and most cleaned place that the authority could find at that time.

No doubt we still have a long way to go in this respect, but never give up easily, all quarters should double up their efforts to educate the public especially our young ones on the importance of keeping things clean. These efforts should not only be left to the authority, it should also be the responsibility of us all.

We would not want the efforts started by the late "Toilet King" being wasted just like that, we should continue on his legacy to make our surrounding clean as we should all appreciate that cleanliness is a virtue that knows no boundaries....

Lessons from The Beatles

Me stumbled upon this article when going through The Malaysian Insider yesterday and thought it would be a good read for those Beatles fans out there. Me used to remember the Beatles during me younger days especially the unique "Temenggong Juggah" hair style which became the craze during those good old days back in the 60s.

What lessons we could learn from the Beatles? Well, as enumerated by the writer, we could look at the following good things which has come out from the "crazy" days of the Beatles mania if we want to succeed "big" in life:-

Firstly, when we do things, ignore conventional approach - do it differently and do it as we know best and most importantly it is to our liking. Secondly, never get too complacent too fast, get uncomfortable, get restless, try we must, on every "tricks" in the book while climbing the success ladder. Get to the bottom of what we really want to do and never give up easily eventhough the tasks in front of us looks too daunting and full of hurdles...the important thing is, to have a go first, and with a bit of luck, just like the Beatles, they managed to win "big" by conquering the US music audience after being successful and complacent in their home turf - UK.

Thirdly, the magic lies in the power of pursuit - as mentioned by the writer, "In order to succeed, sooner or later we had better take some action even before we are ready.Movement will educate us, especially if it involves getting out of our comfort zone. Maybe it’s just a normal part of the process of maturing and sharpening our skills, and holding back will only make us narrow our repertoire by doing things that we’re only good at, when you don't even start yet!"

Further, as he mentioned, "It’s possible to feel inadequate and crippled by the fear of failure – oh, don’t we all have that! – but perhaps mistakes can be good sometimes. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to actively seek failure but mistakes can tell us what to do and, more importantly, what not to do. It’s part of growing pains and maybe that’s why life is called The School of Hard Knocks" - as me always told meself, me, graduating from the University of Nothingness...

And finally, the greatest lesson of all is on the aspect of leadership, a true leader should not think of self glorification but should always put the welfare of others in the forefront, instead of his own success, a good leader should always pursue the success of his "flock" or the group he is leading, in this way, at the end of the day, if we are not too greedy and self centered, we will eventually get both, our self fulfillment as a leader and most importantly bringing success to the group that we led...

After reading the article above, time to enjoy the Beatles' nostalgia, me favorite Beatles song...



Room 721,
Concorde Hotel, Shah Alam
07 April 2010.

Dilema Melayu Kita

Me came across this You Tube clip lamenting on the pitiful state of the Malay folks by a Malay singer named Cikgu Naim from Kelantan...maybe a lot of you have come across this clip but to me, being from the west coast, the Kelantanese dialect of the song has added a witty twist to a rather cynical song dealing with a very serious subject matter touching on the sad state of affairs of the Malay folks even after more than 50 years of independence.

Indeed, as mentioned in me previous entry, the Malay Dilemma Revisited, the Malay folks are still the simpleton they used to be despite the valiant efforts made by the power that be, to propel the Malays into this modern world.

Hope you enjoy the song and take the cue of where we are at the moment and where we want to go in the future as a society...in comparison with other more progressive ones...



Transcript of the song in Malay...

"Apa erti kemerdekaan
Bagi umat Melayu kita
Tak seh terima perubahan
Anak cucu menjadi mangsa
Orang lain duk rebut peluang
Takkan kita nak tengok saja
Masa tetap berjalan
Sesaat tak tunggu kita

Dilema, dilema, dilema Melayu Kita

Orang lain hidup bersatu
Kita balah sama sekampong
Bangsa lain hidup maju
Bangsa kita masih mundur
Orang cakap jaya selalu
Angguk kepala macam Jepun
Ikut stail dulu-dulu
Jadi katak bawah tempurung

Dilema, dilema, dilema Melayu Kita

Anak orang naik kapalterbang
Anak kita naik teksi
Anak orang makan hotel
Anak kita kedai kopi
Anak orang jual barang
Anak kita la duk beli
Tak dok pitih rela hutang
Tanah pusaka jual lagi

Dilema, dilema, dilema Melayu Kita

Kereta orang kereta Mercedes
Kereta kita Moris Minor
Kereta orang asap nipis
Kereta kita asap bunga
Kereta orang hidup dengan servis
Kereta kita mampus tolak sokmo
Beli baru tak leh pitih
Beli beras pun hutang sokmo

Dilema, delima, delima Melayu Kita

Anak orang baca buku
Anak kita duk ghalit sekerap
Anak orang masuk ke U
Anak kita masuk lokap
Anak orang minum susu
Anak kita duk togok ubat
Macam mana kita nak maju
Kalau tak seh ubah sikap

Dilema, dilema, dilema Melayu Kita

Anak orang gi Masjid
Anak kita tepi jalan
Anak orang duduk mengatib
Anak kita duduk gewey
Anak orang perangai baik
Anak kita serupa jembalang
Duk cari bala penyakit
Tak seh fikir masa depan

Dilema, delima, delima Melayu Kita

Apa erti kemerdekaan
Bagi umat Melayu kita
Tak seh terima perubahan
Anak cucu menjadi mangsa
Orang lain duk rebut peluang
Takkan kita nak tengok saja
Masa tetap berjalan
Sesaat tak tunggu kita

Dilema, dilema, dilema Melayu Kita"

When come to dealing with cultural changes, it is not always easy to make the change especially with those steeped in their traditional values even though others around them have changed...we can only hope, one day, with knowledge and perseverance, the desired results would materialize in the future generations to come....

InsyaAllah...Ameen.