Archive for October, 2008

huh??? Shah Rukh Khan gets ‘Datukship’??

{ October 27, 2008 @ 1:22 pm } · { Current Issues }
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I could hardly believe my ears when a friend told me last week that the oh-so-popular Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan will be getting the new name of ‘Datuk Shah Rukh Khan’ this Wednesday from Malacca’s Chief Minister Dato’ Ali Rustam..!!

…and for what contribution does he get the honour of getting this award – the Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka (DMSM), to be exact? Can someone please tell me..! “Yes, thank you Mr…. oops.. Datuk Shah Rukh Khan for being such a great Bollywood actor… for helping Malaysia be rich in Bollywood films… I don’t know what Malacca would do without you..!!” Not! :-p

Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam sure knew what he was doing when he decided to give the DMSM to not only a person outside of Malacca, but someone outside of Malaysia – a great pick! Why is it only now that Datuk Ali Rustam decides to break the record of granting this award to a Bollywood celebrity (hrm, if there were any other person that had done so, do correct me)? He should have done so much before..!

So all people of Malaysia, well…the whole world in that matter… don’t forget to come down Malacca on Wednesday, 29th October 2008 (Date subject to change) to watch this historical event of Shah Rukh Khan accepting this DMSM award…! Hrm.I guess he couldn’t get any awards back in India, so it wouldn’t hurt to get one from Malaysia. :-)

Goodness, me oh my…still can’t believe Shah Rukh Khan’s getting Datuk ma…

Dialog for future children:

“So..children, do be a successful actor in Malaysia, because one day you can get an award from other great countries. Don’t believe Mama? See how Datuk Ali Rustam did in 2008? haaa, Chief Ministers like actors, so be one..!” aih…ajaran sesat

My Wish For Malaysia

{ October 22, 2008 @ 11:42 am } · { Current Issues, Self-Enrichment }
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Hermm… last week, there was this essay writing contest happening on campus.  I tried my luck and sent in an entry.  The title given is as shown above: “My Wish For Malaysia”.  Now, I couldn’t get too extreme in speaking my mind.  So I got a minor part of my thoughts through.

You must think it weird of me to suddenly be giving ya’ll my wish for malaysia, huh…well, it was for the sake of the contest.  On top of that, others can know what is actually good for Malaysia (it’s not that I know much, but i believe some people overlook this problem)..

MY WISH FOR MALAYSIA

“MERDEKA! … MERDEKA! … MERDEKA! … MERDEKA! … MERDEKA! … MERDEKA! … MERDEKA!”

About half a decade ago, Malaysia’s inaugural Father of Independence declared the Malayan independence with seven shouts of “Merdeka”, together with a new hope that the Malayan rakyat will be a people of true independence – prosperous of decent Malayan moral and civilized values. Time has elapsed – about three generations down – and it makes me wonder, would the late Tunku Abdul Rahman take pride of how the latest generation of the Malaysian people – our young generation today – are at present? I am not fervent to see anymore sky scrapers or new bridges stretched from any end of the peninsular, but my only wish for Malaysia is for a country where its people practices the ‘love-of-knowledge’ culture and does away with Western-influenced hedonism.

Ask any ordinary teenager in Malaysia, and I’ll bet you that they know more about the lamest Malaysian idol contestant than they would about the latest update in our country’s petrol prices (which, as a matter of fact, affects just about every being in the nation); entertainment is too important in a Malaysian’s life. Why is this so? For the past few decades, we can observe that the flow of Western hedonistic culture of excessive entertainment has gradually seeped into our country and is most obvious of its effect upon the young generation today.

The mass media plays a large role in delivering what they believe is meaningful towards their viewers. Sifting through Malaysian television channels is enough to show that the input that the mass media provides is mostly Western-influenced entertainment. The array goes on, from Akademi Fantasia to Gangstars to One In a Million, and the list goes on. This encourages the young to be less sensitive to the importance of seeking general knowledge because entertainment like these occupies their everyday life. The only thing teenagers read nowadays is what goes in their exams – that’s it. Hedonism does not only stop there. Malaysia has also adopted even dangerous ideologies like black metal-ism, Zouk-disco-ism, ludicrous-feminism, and anti-Hadithism which are all twisted philosophies from the West.

So how should we re-engineer this mayhem? The only way is to FULLY encourage all layers of the Malaysian society to carry in their hearts the love of knowledge. Shopping malls shouldn’t be the only hang out place for teenagers; Libraries should be a pit stop during leisure time. However, ‘Love-of-reading’ campaigns would not do enough. How to re-shape the society to change their perception and how to inculcate this culture is not an easy question to answer.

For a well-civilized and well-developed country, its people should be a people who’s always thirsty for knowledge and are constantly seeking it. The ‘love-of-knowledge’ culture requires much re-engineering of our society’s attitudes and values. Only time will tell when Malaysians will be more sensitive to the importance of this beneficial culture. With the ‘love-of-knowledge’ in every Malaysian soul, true independence is bound to be achieved. Hear my word, I will await the day when Malaysia’s young generation are no longer talking about today’s fun, but are busy talking about tomorrow’s opportunity. I believe that is what the late Tunku Abdul Rahman truly dreamed for.

P/S:  What’s your wish?

Off you go, Little Bro…!

{ October 19, 2008 @ 9:43 am } · { Life's Like That }
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My fingers quivered as I tried to take the last few shots, using my mom’s ever-so-intricate cell phone, of my little bro from behind before he disappeared beyond the security gates leading to his airplane platform. I could hardly believe at that time that my grown-up little bro was leaving me. Tears ran down my cheeks as he gradually disappeared beyond my sight, heading towards a new journey in his life…

~*`*~

Newest change in my life: my little brother went off to Egypt to pursue medical studies.

It seemed just like yesterday how we were ‘kanak-kanak ribena’ , bubbly kids.. he’d do his little Power Ranger kicks at my sister and me where he couldn’t tell the difference between TV and reality. Meanwhile, my sister and I were always busy with our Barbie dolls :-) Then there were the common sibling rivalries where we would ‘tattle tail’ on each other all the time; life was all about being a kid then…!

Years passed by. from pulling at each others’ hair during early childhood times to pre-teenage life where we almost didn’t care about one another. haha. Those were the days…then as we got older, the three of us (my sis, bro, and I) learned to respect and care and watch out for each other, and also take responsibility of our 4 ‘much much’ younger siblings.

Change in Life

Of course, as being the eldest, my going-away from home to campus-life didn’t give much impact to anything because I was the only one gone from home, however my little bro’s departure to Egypt several days ago is a big sign that our life (the three of us) is going to seriously take its turn. It’s no longer constantly being together under one roof anymore…hey, we’re growing up. It scares me sometimes wondering how ‘the next change’ in life would be like. But this is certainly the beginning of it. It seems that it also scares my parents too. Once upon a time about 2 decades ago they had said goodbye to my grandparents to go overseas. Now they’re watching they’re own son going off leaving them. And so continues, THE CIRCLE OF LIFE.

Now, there’ll be no more :

- being able to check on him whenever I feel like checking on him

- punching him (he’s big, so doesn’t hurt him)

- yelling at him for picking at our ‘much much’ younger siblings

- bossing him around to do house errands

- worrying bout him for not coming back home early

Change in life is something we all go through – Puberty, changing schools, changing homes, new additions to the family, tertiary education, and the like. However, all these experiences are unknown until we actually experience it – knowing about something is totally different than experiencing something. We all know that. Its just that you don’t know that you’re going to undergo something big ONCE you actually undergo it. As a matter of fact, I didn’t expect I’d feel that my little bro’s departure would affect as much as it did on my family and I.

Day by day, our circle of life continues. One thing turns to another. One challenge grows to another. Life is scary, but that’s the beauty of it – it’s unpredictable.

So… the tears at the airport that day wasn’t just because my little bro was going away, but it was because of a deeper feeling: our childhood years are no more because things will never be the same again….

~*`*~

Good luck in Egypt, Little Bro! Make our family proud… :-)

Be Grateful…!

{ October 1, 2008 @ 7:15 pm } · { Thoughts }
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Ramadhan 1429 had come to an end.

This makes it my 9th Ramadhan in Malaysia.  And each Ramadhan becomes a benchmark, or probably more accurately be described as a point at which I evaluate myself on whether or not I increased in my understanding of the month itself and the ‘training’ within the month…after a whole year’s practicing.

For this year’s Ramadhan, I tried to spend as much as possible time with my special seniors :-) .  Almost everyday I would try to spend at least a bit of time with them – whether it was spending iftar (breaking fast) together, discussing small matters together, or just meeting a short while on campus just to see their faces.  This is because I knew it was only this Ramadhan that I would be able to do so; they’ll be graduating by the time the next Ramadhan comes by.  Quite sad, if you come to think of it.  But hey! life must go on…

.

Enough of yesterday… moving on to today…

Today’s The Great Day of all days…!  The whole world is celebrating Eidulfitri…..

.

However, despite all the joy and merry in celebrating Eidul Fitri, Islam has set guidelines on how to celebrate it.  That is the beauty of Islam: each and every part of the human life has been given the  guidelines in how it should be executed.  Thus, celebrating Eidul Fitri draws blessing from ALLAH as long as it is within the boundaries of Islamic teachings.  In fact, HE highly encourages Muslims to celebrate this special day and celebrate for all the guidance HE has granted:

“…(He wants you) to complete the prescribed period (of fasting), and to glorify HIM in that HE

has guided you; and perchance ye shall be grateful.”

[Surah al-Baqarah: 185]

So, on this pleasant and blessed day, I would like to wish my family, friends (especially my ’special seniors’), all Muslims, and all mankind….

~*`*~ EID MUBARAK!!!! ~*`*~

For any fault, wrongdoings…. apologies from the bottom of my heart…! May this holiday be a time for us to not have fun with mere empty hearts, but be joyous in the name of ALLAH the Almighty..in hope that we can be grateful servants, grateful individuals for all that has been granted in our everyday lives.

- Subtle_Fortitude