IKHLAS

In the name Allah The Most Benificent The Most Merciful

Once,  a large consignment of wine was being brought on a ship for a despotic king who was notorious for his tyranny. A pious man who happened to travel by that ship broke all the bottles or casks of wine except one. Nobody could stop him.

Everybody wondered how he dared to do this for nobody had the courage to face the cruelty of the king.

When the king was informed about it, he was surprised to learn that an ordinary man had the audacity to do all that . He also wondered why he left one cask intact.

The man was captured and interrogated. He said, "My conscience had urged me to do this, you may punish me as you like."

He was then asked why one cask was left unbroken?

He replied,"At first I broke the casks of wine out of my religious sentiments, but when only one was left....my heart felt elated. I then felt that breaking this last cask would be for the satisfaction of my ego. I, therefore, did not break it."

Finding him selfless in what he did, the king ordered his release.

To do good deeds you need 'Ikhlas'. It requires words, thoughts and deeds that should be compatible...
only for the pleasure of Allah s.w.t alone. Thus, we must constantly looked inside our heart whether our deeds are indeed because of Allah or because of our desire for worldly things.
    

HAPPY DAYS!

May peace be upon you.

I've been wrapped up doing translation which seems to be an endless effort. It gives 'Lost in Translation' a whole new meaning to me.

You know guys..sometimes even a mundane and boring work can be rewarding. It's how you look at it.

So today I decided I want to be happy.

 No matter how much work we have, how much problems burden us, how things don't go our way. Decide to be happy! Most importantly make someone happy today.

Buy a cup tea/coffee for a stranger, give a bouquet of flowers to your wife, give hugs to your friends, and to the old lady that pass by your house every morning...just give her a smile and say hello.

Giving doesn't need to be monetary. Giving is actually happiness.

I LOVE EXOTIC FRUITS!

      

May Peace be upon you.

It's the fruit season in Malaysia. Durians, rambutans, mangosteens can be seen almost everywhere especially sold by the roadside.

When I was a kid my family and I will usually spend our school holidays in my kampong (village).
The name of my kampong is appropriately known as Kampong Seronok. Directly translated 'Seronok' means Fun.

My kampong is in fact a really fun place to be. Well, when i was kid anyway. We didn't have to buy these exotic fruits. They were free. The only thing is you have to go and find them.

My late aunt lived in our old ancestral home. At that time, there was no electricity, no gas stove and the bathroom was outside the house. We went to sleep early since there was not much you can do without electric lights. But the nights were filled with my aunt's bedtime stories.

                       This is not my real ancestral house...but you get the idea how it looks like so many, many years ago. Now it is a brick house.

She would tell me a whole chests of stories which I would treasure for the rest of my life.

During the durian season, I would follow my aunt to the fruit orchard before dawn, when it was still dark, searching for the beautiful, pungent fruits. To people who do not know... you cannot pluck durians. You have to wait for them to fall on their own sweet time.

And why do we have to find them so early in the morning...? Simply because, any later, all the fruits would be missing. Durians are prized fruits, known as the king of the fruits, they could fetch quite a handsome sum of money.

Armed with just a torchlight, we would search for the fruits on the grounds under the durian trees. My aunt would say, "If you want to find durians, follow your nose not your eyes."

                                                            DURIANS

To me durians have a lovely,unique smell but to some especially foreigners, the smell is so strong that they even describe them having the same smell of a sewage?!

Another fruit that perhaps the young generation would not know is 'keriang'. A boy in my kampong would invite me to join his 'gang' to find this fruit.

 We had to go across the cemetery grounds where my dad was laid to rest. and climbed the hill and at the edge of the jungle we could find the 'Keriang' trees. I have no idea whether somebody planted them or they were wild fruit trees.

The fruits are deep purple in colour and if you're eating them, make sure you're not wearing a white shirt because the stain will stay forever...

                                              KERIANG/ KERIAN FRUITS

The Keriang fruits taste sour yet slightly sweet and bitter. Well... I had a great time finding them with my friends. This fruit is not popular nowdays, perhaps unknown to many youngsters today. What a pity because it is such an exciting, beautiful fruit with  a real exotic taste.

 

THE PRECIOUS THING IN YOUR LIFE

May peace be upon you.

Late one night, a man came home from a long tiring night working. When he arrived home the only thing on his mind was to rest and go to sleep before he started work all over again tomorrow morrning.

But to his dismay, he found his young son not asleep yet. He scolded his son and told him to go to bed.

Instead the boy asked him,

"How much do you make per hour, dad ?"

The question made the man angry.

"What? Non of your business, son."

"Oh! Come on dad, please tell me...how much do your boss pay you for one hour?"

Tired and thinking that his son will get off his back if he answered  the question,

"$100 an hour. Are you satisfied!?"

"May I borrow $50. I pay you back when I have the money."

The man was furious.

"You have the nerve to ask me for money! Do you know how hard I have to work everyday to earn that money? And you're going to use that money on some useless things. You go to bed right now, young man!" Ordered the man angrily.

The young boy marched to his bedroom gloomily.

After some time, after his anger subsided, the man started to think, and said to himself,
"What on earth does a small kid like him want that kind of money? There must be something more to this.."

So he decided to go and ask his son,

"Son, are you still awake?"

"Yeah..dad."

"I'm sorry I scolded you just now. Here's the $50. What do you want to do with the money?"

Gratefully the boy accepted the money and almost at the same time he took a few crumpled dollars under his pillow.

When his father saw this, he started to get angry again because he thought he was right that the boy just wanted to buy some useless expensive toy but before he can say anything, the boy said,

"All this money is for you, dad." He handed all the money to his father.

"Why? What for?" said his father bewildered.

"I would like to pay for one hour's of your time, dad so you could spend that time with me. I really miss you dad..."

The man hugged his young son with tears welled up in his eyes and just realized he was too busy with his work that he forgot the most precious thing in his life.....

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY MALAYSIA !

May peace be upon you.

Tomorrow MALAYSIA will be celebrating her 56th Independence Day. If she is human, she probably have a few grandchildren...

But most importantly...she is definitely matured and learned a lot through life experiences.

We live in a country where we have different races, religions and cultures. Malays, Indians, Chinese, Kadazans, Iban, Murut, Bidayuh.....

However... our differences are in fact our strength and not our weaknesses.

Let us respect each other...live together...help one another...so we can build a great nation.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, MALAYSIA !

                           MERDEKA!
                            
                           MERDEKA!

                           MERDEKA! 

A LITTLE MONEY, CARDIGAN AND FRIENDSHIP

May peace be upon you.


One day two good friends find themselves having to say goodbye. One of them, T had to go abroad to further her studies. Her friend,N, lived quite far away. So to make sure, N, came to see her at the airport, she gave her some transport money.

However on the day she supposed to leave, she waited and waited for her friend at the airport but was disappointed. Her friend never turned up. She was terribly sad because she thought her friend didn't care.

She went abroad and they lost contact for more than 20 years.

For so many years, N tried to find T and finally she did find her. T was surprised yet touched when N explained to her the reason she didn't go to the airport more than 20 years ago.. Tears rolled down their cheeks.


"I didn't go because I didn't want to say goodbye. I'm sorry I  didn't tell you earlier... I used the money you gave me to buy a cardigan.  Every time I feel cold, I will put it on so that it will remind me the warmth of your love and your friendship...."

KEMALANGAN BAS ....LAGI?

Dengan nama Allah yang Maha Pemurah lagi Maha Penyayang.

Di negara-negara luar rakyatnya mati kerana peperangan atau tidak cukup makan. Di Malaysia, rakyat mati kerana kemalangan jalanraya yang boleh dielakkan dan kerana terlebih makan yang juga boleh dielakkan.

Kemalangan ngeri di Genting Highlands bukanlah yang pertama malah kemalangan begini berlaku setiap tahun di Malaysia

Di dada akhbar diberitakan, Pak Menteri berkata jangan menunding jari...Huh? Patut lah kemalangan begini asyik berulang lagi dan lagi.

Soalnya jika malapetaka seperti ini terjadi, kita mesti cari sebabnya, puncanya.. kerana sesuatu kemalangan berlaku selalunya bukan kerana satu sebab tetapi beberapa sebab. Selepas itu, barulah kita akan dapat mencari cara-cara mengatasinya.

Pemandu-pemandu bas selalu menyalahkan brek tidak makan. Saya masih ingat lagi satu kemalangan di Gombak di mana sebuah bas dari Genting Highlands melanggar dari belakang sebuah kereta yang berhenti di simpang lampu isyarat. Kereta itu burst into flames dan kesemua pemandu dan penumpang kereta mati hangus. Kes masuk mahkamah dan surprise! surprise! pemandunya terlepas atas alasan... brek rosak.

Persoalannya... bukankah  pemandu dan majikannya mempunyai duty of care , kewajipan untuk memastikan bas dalam keadaan yang baik sebelum perjalanan. Kes begini berulang beberapa kali dan selalunya pemandu dan pemilik bas akan terlepas. Menghairankan...

Semua rakyat Malaysia tahu hakikat ini... hampir semua pemandu bas di Malaysia memandu bas seperti mereka memandu kereta F1. Yang peliknya kita amat jarang melihat bas2 ini ditahan polis.

  Lack of enforcement amat ketara di Malaysia menyebabkan pemandu2 yang tidak bertanggunjawb ini bermaharajalela. Saya masih ingat lagi semasa saya pergi on tour ke Eropah dengan menaiki bas persiaran, tiap-tiap 2 jam pemandu bas mesti berhenti berehat dan tiap-tiap kali dia berhenti ada sahaja polis yang datang memeriksa log book pemandu untk memastikan dia mengikut undang2.

 Di Jerman, kami di berhentikan di lebuhraya beberapa kali
oleh polis peronda semata-mata untuk memastikan pemandu mengikut peraturan. Polis peronda lebuhraya  mereka menaiki kereta Porsche lagi...

Di UK semasa menaiki bas dari Birmingham ke Heathrow Airport, saya rasa seperti floating atas kapas tetapi bila saya naik bas di Malaysia seperti naik roller-coaster. Kalaulah pemandu Malaysia boleh berubah sikap, alangkah amannya jalanraya di Malaysia.
 
Saya harap dari kejadian kemalangan ngeri ini, pihak berkuasa akan mengambil langkah2 yang tegas dan tepat agar malapetaka buatan manusia ini tidak berlaku lagi atau sekurang2nya dapat dikurangkan.

Takziah diucapkan kepada keluarga mangsa.