Dari Allah kita datang, kepadaNya kita kembali

Disini saya paparkan beberapa imej di upacara pengkebumian arwah bapa saudara saya, Hj Mohd Nor @ Hassan bin Abdul Ghani pada hari Sabtu, 26 Januari 2008.


Jasad yang dapat dilihat buat kali terakhir



Arwah merupakan "penduduk" pertama di tanah perkuburan yang baru


Alhamdullillah, ramai juga yang datang menziarah beliau buat kali terakhir dan juga menunaikan fardhu kifayah solat jenazah.



Saya dimaklumka bahawa arwah telah semacam tahu akan akhir hayatnya. Pada hari Jumaat, beliau telah memanggil semua anak2 dan isteri untuk memberi pesanan terakhir. Arwah telah meminta maaf dari kesemua mereka dan meminta isteri beliau menghalalkan mas kahwin (orang dulu mas kahwin memang berhutang). Beliau kemudian berpesan supaya anak2nya menjaga ibu yang telah buta akibat diserang satu penyakit beberapa tahun dahulu. Sebelum itu arwah telah mengeluarkan RM300 dari bank dan memberi kepada anak2 untuk diguna ketika beliau tidak ada. Sebenarnya beliau telah merasa sakit dada sejak beberapa hari dan telah merancang untuk pergi ke hospital bersama seorang rakan. Apabila sahabat tersebut datang, beliau telah berjalan ke kereta tanpa di bantu. Setiba di hospital, beliau berjalan ke kerusi roda dan terus diserang sakit jantung. Beliau meninggal dunia tidak berapa lama selepas itu. Cukup mudah.

Begitu sedikit perbezaan antara hidup dan mati. Kesemuanya ketentuan dari Nya juga.

AlFatihah buat Hj Mohd Nor Abd Ghani.

Pak Anjang kembali ke Rahmatullah

Awal malam tadi (kira-kira pukul 9:00 malam) saya menerima sms dari adik di kampong menyatakan ayah saudara kami, Pak Anjang Hassan, telah pulang ke Rahmatullah. Saya terus menelefon beliau untuk maklumat lanjut tetapi beliau cuma diberitahu bahawa arwah meninggal di hospital Jasin.

Saya masih di pejabat ketika itu. Sebenarnya saya memang akan ke Melaka esok kerana ada mesyuarat di sana. Nampaknya saya terpaksa batalkan hasrat untuk ke mesyuarat. Bos terpaksa pergi tanpa saya. Kerana terpaksa menyiapkan sedikit kerja, saya mengambil keputusan untuk balik ke Melaka pagi esok saja. Anak2 pun tak ikut kerana semua ada program di sekolah.


Pak Anjang adalah adik kepada arwah ayah saya yang meninggal dunia hampir setahun lalu (Februari 2007). Walaupun saya tidak berapa rapat dengan Pak Anjang seperti rapatnya saya dengan seorang lagi adik beliau (Pak Ali), saya tetap merasa kehilangannya. Pak Anjang dan Pak Ali lah yang sentiasa melawat arwah ayah saya ketika beliau tidak sihat dahulu.

Seorang demi seorang saudara kita pergi meninggalkan kita. Semoga ini mengingatkan kita betapa hidup ini cuma sementara.

Al Fatihah untuk Pak Anjang Hassan bin Abdul Ghani. Semoga rohnya ditempatkan bersama roh mereka yang soleh, InsyaAllah.

Amin.

Suggestion to VK Lingam

I would like to suggest that VK Lingam wear a T-shirt with the following inscription:

"I look like me and sound like me but I'm not saying whether I'm me"

If he does that then we can confirm what Tengku Adnan said about him "He is either mad or drunk". Otherwise, he looks perfectly normal to me. In fact, he seems to prove what somebody told me about him that he has never lost a court case. It sounded a bit unrealistic for a lawyer to win all his cases.

Human behaviour continuously intrigues me.

HBO

Reading 0 : Man Utd 2

Man Utd controlled the game but they needed almost 80 minutes before they can break the deadlock when Rooney scored off a sublime pass from Teves. Then Christiano Ronaldo scored in extra time to calm everyone's nerves. Before that Reading had a few chances to take the lead or equalize. Ronaldo took maybe 10 shots at goal but only managed to get one on target when he scored. It was a good game. Kudos to Steve Coppell for choosing to attack instead of camping in their own half trying to prevent the opposition from scoring.

Lucky, we won as both Arsenal and Chelsea won both their games. It is becoming a three horse race for the league crown.

NGO Day

Wednesday, 16 January 2008

I've got 2 meetings after office today. At 5:00pm, PIBG AJK at Sri Permata and after Isyak, Masjid's AJK. It takes quite an effort for me to leave the office early. I'm so used to leaving the office after sunset (earliest by 9:00pm) so leaving early today was not easy. I had planned to leave by 4:30 so that I can reach the school by 5:00 or slightly after. Everyone knows I work "at the other end of the world" and they can surely forgive me if I'm a bit late. However, my boss only came in at about 4:20pm and he had to brief me about his 2 meetings he had with some very senior government officers. So I had to delay my departure.

I finally left the office at 5:15pm and reached the school 10 minutes before 6:00pm. The meeting was on the way and when I stepped into the room they were discussing my issues which are really close to my heart. The meeting only ended about 5 mins before 7:00pm. Some of us had to give loans to the school to pay the contractor who had done the roof for the assembly area. We are now short of RM100k. The PIBG and teachers gave a loan of RM60k, I think. The things we do for our children and the Education Ministry is still trying to take us for fools.

After Isyak, its the Masjid's AJK. This being our first meeting of the year there are a lots of things to discuss. To make it worse, the ustaz giving the night's pengajian decided to have an extended run, finishing his lecture at 9:00pm. Luckily his delivery was good. At the end we only start the meeting at 9:40pm after some food and drinks.

A jemaah managed to arrange for MDEC to donate 5 computers and a printer to the masjid. So the masjid's KAFA School children will now have computer lessons besides their religious subjects. Our Imam used to be a programmer/analyst before, so he will be in charge of the program. We also tabled our masjid's draft website to the AJK for comments. All Committee heads also tabled their programs for the year but what really caught me by surprise was that the Muslimat committee head told us that some of their members were very unhappy because they did not receive their share of the korban meat during Eidul Adha. We had decided then that only one member of the family will get the meat but now we have the Muslimat complaining. I'm really dumbfounded. How on earth, can people in this middle class area make a fuss about not getting one kilogram of beef during korban. I've always envied the Muslimats for the continuous programs and classes that they managed to organise each year. Now I'm beginning to wonder whether all these programs have really make them better Muslimats or are they a waste of time and efforts. We still have a long way to go.

The meeting finally ended at 12:10 am. Today, my NGO activities takes as much time as my normal work.

HBO

A trip to Kuching

On Awal Muharram, I had to make a trip to Kuching for a meeting with our Client. Over the past six months we have had meetings in Kota Kinabalu, Tioman, Langkawi, Genting, Melaka. It has been a tiring affair. As this was supposed to be our final meeting, a few of us decided to bring our wives along.

My wife was worried to leave our kids (actually some of them are no longer kids) on their own. The whole family was at the LCCT terminal to send us off. One of my kids remarked, "macam nak pergi haji pulak".




The flight was on scheduled and smooth and we arrived at about 11:30am. Our Client had made all the arrangements to pick us at the airport and everything was like clockwork. After checking in we went for lunch at a nearby food court.




The participants started to arrive as the day went on. After dinner, we had a "pre-council meeting" to prepare for tomorrow's deliberations. If past meetings were to be used as yard sticks, the pre-councils would take us past midnight. This time was no different but I left around 12:30.

On Friday, the meeting went on as planned. In fact, it was so smooth, that what was supposed to be a 2-day meeting was completed in one day. The MOU was finally signed at the end of the meeting. That night we had dinner at Thai restaurant. The food was nothing to shout about. The highlight of the dinner was each company had to send a representative to sing at the karaoke machine.

Saturday was a free day. The bosses chose to play golf while the rest of us had a day off. Our Client arranged for us to go to the border town of Serinda. This town in Malaysian territory but the customs and Immigration checkpoints are not at the border but about 2 kilometers inside. So, the Indonesians can practically walked into Malaysia unhindered and sell their stuff. The locals only collect rentals of the stalls. Quite a bit of things are on sale but the most prominent include textiles, curtains, mats, crystal (of all things).

There was another dinner that night. This time it was hosted by the Director of the State Dept. Another round of karaoke. I went to bed straight after dinner as I was quite tired and my right foot was aching after the long walk during the day. I woke up at 1:30 just in time to see man Utd trashed Newcastle 6-0.

On Sunday, we had another round of shopping at the "Waterfront" and Pasar Satok. Good local stuff at reasonable prices. At noon, we checked out and went straight to the airport. We had to pay more than RM1,500 in excess baggage but this include some of our equipment which we brought along for the meeting.

All in all a good trip. Air Asia did well for us. No delays.

Selamat Tahun Baru Hijriah

1 Muharram 1429

Alhamdullillah, kita masih dibenarkan oleh Allah swt untuk menghirup udara dunia ini, membolehkan kita sama-sama menyambut tahun baru Hijriah. Tapi sampai bila? Cuma Dia yang Maha Mengetahui. Oleh itu, marilah kita mengsyukuri nikmat hidup dan bagi kebanyakan kita juga nikmat sihat yang telah dikurniakan kepada kita.

Hari ini saya meninggalkan pejabat lebih awal dari biasa. Niatnya untuk kemasjid di taman kediaman saya untuk bersama-sama jemaah yang lain melafazkan doa akhir dan awal tahun. Tapi, saya cuma merancang, Dia yang Menentu segalanya. Jalan untuk saya kembali kerumah sesak. Saya cuma sampai dikawasan SS2 Petaling Jaya dan waktu telah melewati pukul 7:10 malam. Saya terus berhenti di masjid dikawasan tersebut. Lupa pula nama masjidnya. Sempat saya bersama jemaah tempatan memohon doa dari Allah swt untuk memaafkan segala kesalahan saya pada tahun 1428 dan kemudiannya memohon agar diberi kemudahan dan petunjuk untuk hidup dalam keimanan pada tahun 1429. Alhamdullillah, kalau tidak mungkin juga saya cuma sempat berdoa dalam kereta.

Kepada semua, saya ucapkan Selamat Menyambut Tahun Baru. Marilah kita sama-sama berazam untuk menjadi Muslim yang lebih baik dari apa yang telah kita capai pada tahun-tahun sebelum ini. Mari lah kita mengsyukuri nikmat iman yang telah dikurnia oleh Allah swt dengan melaksana apa yang disuruh dan menjauhi apa yang di tegah. Saya tidak punya ilmu mendalam dalam ugama, masih tercari-cari. Saya juga mengakui usaha mencari-cari masih terlalu lemah dan dengkel. Semoga Tuhan memberi kekuatan kepada saya dalam tahun mendatang. Amin.

Wassallam,
HBO

Bersama Keluarga

Bukan senang hendak mendapat peluang dimana semua ahli keluarga dapat bersama. Pada hari bekerja, saya dan anak perempuan saya akan balik lewat. Tentu tak berpeluang untuk makan bersama. Lagipun anak saya yang kedua, Arif, masih belajar di kolej.

Bila ada peluang kita cuba menafaatkan masa tersebut, seperti malam tadi, 5 Januari 2008. Aizat mencadangkan supaya kita makan Western. So, off we went to Cowboy Restaurant, by the Kelana Jaya Lake. Sebab Arif ada program selepas Isyak di Shah Alam we decided to have our Maghrib prayers at the nearby Masjid Kelana Putra.

The food was okay, I thought, but the place do not accept credit cards. Luckily I had enough cash with me. Kalau tak, buat malu jer.

Wonder when we can have a family get together again.

Alahai Hisham...

The new school year reopens on 3 January but on 2nd January the school held its registration and orientation for the Form One students. The PIBG Committee came in full force to provide support to the school management and also explain to parents the issues related to school fees. I took leave so that I can explain the PIBG computer program.

There were more than 300 new Form One students. The briefing went well and the consensus was that the parents had no complaints about having to make the necessary payments (or contributions as the politicians would refer them as). Even my request for the parents to contribute RM50 to support the PIBG's computer program did not receive any negative response.

We thought everything will be fine and we can start collecting the much needed funds. However, today's headlines in the mainstream papers dampened everything again. The Education Minister told a press conference that all school fees are optional and parents are not obliged to pay if they do not wish to do so. According to him all these fees were requested by the PIBGs but if parents do not want to pay it is up to them.

I have been involved in PIBG's activities for many years and I can attest that the school absolutely need the funds to function smoothly. Even with the fees, the school still require financial assistance from the PIBG from time to time. And now the Minister is saying that parents can choose not to contribute. I sure hope he will provide the schools with funds to operate because I've half a mind to organise a campaign to discourage parents from making the contributions. But I know if this happens, it is our children's education that will be affected and the politicians would not give a damn. After all their children are either in the elite schools which receives all the financial support from the government, private schools or overseas.

All the parents that I spoke to on Orientation Day had no qualms about making payments of about RM120.00 per year. After all, most of them pay at least that about a month to send their kids to kindergarten. The only problem is the government is not being honest with them. Why not just say that parents need to pay something for their children's education. However, for those who cannot afford it, the government will take care of them. Why ask schools to collect the money but tell the parents that they have an option not to pay. This makes it difficult for schools to collect the funds and also makes parents wonder whether the school "really" need the money to function.

Actually, the government could easily make education really free. The school reckons, it needs about RM120-150 per student per year to finance activities not currently financed by the government to run the school effectively. So assuming there are about 4-5 million school going children, the government would need about RM600-700 million per year which it can give to the schools without having to ask parents to pay for anything. Given the billions that the government spends on other less critical expenses, making education truly free should not be too difficult.

But they choose to play politics with education and I'm pissed off.

Post Pertama 2008

Hari in 1hb Jan 2008. Hari Cuti Am. Apa yang menyebabkan kita perlu bercuti pada 1hb Januari setiap tahun? Ia cuma legasi penjajah. Tapi kita akur tanpa sebarang soalan. Sampai bila kita harus jadi Pak Turut? Peduli apa jika semua orang lain bercuti pada hari ini? Kan kita akan bercuti pada 1hb Muharram? Mengapa kita perlu bercuti pada 1hb Januari jika kita telah memutuskan untuk bercuti pada 1hb Muharram?

Cuti pada 1hb Januari cuma berguna untuk mereka yang sibuk mengira kebelakang (10 hingga 1) pada menjelang 12:00 tengah malam 31hb Disember. Mereka ini akan pulang kerumah (kalau pun pulang) pada awal pagi, jadi agak mustahil untuk mereka ke pejabat keesokan harinya, iaitu 1hb Januari.

Kita boleh mengingati 1hb Januari kerana ia satu mercu tanda tarikh yang penting. Tapi, saya rasa, kita tak perlu bercuti. Dari pejabat pun kita boleh ucapkan:

"SELAMAT TAHUN BARU. Semoga hidup kita sekeluarga diberkati Allah sentiasa."

HBO