MCOBA Jalan Jalan Cari Makan #4

Sdr Salim '75, MCOBA JPM for Networking started a very interesting activity to promote MCOB-owned eateries via the Jalan Jalan Cari Makan (JJCM) series. Each time, one MCOB-owned is chosen and everyone would eat their heart out and go dutch on the final bill. I missed the first three but managed to join the fourth installment at Al Andalus Restaurant, Jalan Delima, KL.

Pictures courtesy of Sdr Zahid Serpent '78

16th December 2010

On this magical date, my second son, Amir Zharif came into the world at 8.57am, tipping the scale at 4.93kg.

Zharif outweighed his elder brother Amir Haris by more than 300g and also outgrowned him by 1cm.

However, we were put through a very anxious two weeks as Amir Zharif was detained at the hospoital; one day in the NICU and the rest in the 3rd floor nursery.

Cause : Fast respiration from birth.

All sorts of test was done on him, but Alhamdulillah, the doctors gave him a clean bill of health.

Welcome the world, Son.. and welcome to the family.

Changing Times

In 14 years, a lot of things have changed.

In '96, when I first registered at UW-Madison, the business undergraduate programme was ranked #13 in the US.

Money Magazine named Madison as the #1 city to live in.

In 2010, UW-Madison's ranking is #40
Money Magazine ranked Madison at #95.

Gosh...

Good Marketing

Get this.. China Press reported that Macau's Gambling King, Stanley Ho sent his personal jet to pick up 88 durians from Singapore. Talk about love for the King of Fruits.

Now, get this. The durians are from the Musang King variety, FROM MALAYSIA...

... why must he buy Malaysian durian in Singapore ?

.. it's all in the marketing... (the Singapore Lychee thing comes to mind, heheh)

Joint Bid For World Cup ?

It was reported in the news that Malaysia would consider a joint bid with Indonesia to host the World Cup.

Huh..? World Cup of what ?

Our team is languising in the 100s ranking. Before we can even consider such ambitious undertakings, please get the team's ranking to at least the top 99 ranked.

World Cup

I am not a die hard soccer fan. I do not go ga-ga over EPL matches at mamak stall and sometimes I think our local newspaper are going overboard when reporting 3/4 of the sports section with EPL or other European league news whereas our own league is lucky enough to get 1/4 page of report.

Anyway, befoe the World Cup started I made my mind to support Argentina. Except for Messi, I don't even know who is on the team but hey, with everyone talking about "their" team, I must have one too. Argentina did rather well, until of course, the famous drubbing by the German team.

OK, lets support a better team (i.e the team that beat Argentina) but hey, even Paul the octopus is not putting his tantacles on that.

Germany lost too..

... Viva La Roja ??

IS IT SAFE?

Sometime last week, Honey Dearest and I decided to take elevated Kelana Jaya-Subang Jaya elevated route to go back home. It was around 5.15pm and we thought that traffic wouldn't be bad (sometimes you can see cars basically motionless on the entire stretch of the elevated portion). Our plan is to take the exit right after SJMC and head to Sunway Pyramid for a quick bite.

OK, so the traffic is heavy and with the exit being an a very sharp angle and only a single lane, traffic starts to build up. The lady in the Myvi infront of us seemed to be utilising her time well, by putting up make up, at at times, I believe, removing some body hair (that was how it looked like from our car).

The jam, we can take. However, the entire road was wobbly beneath of us. We really felt it as we we stationary most of the time. So, my question is... is the whole stretch safe ? I am no engineer, but I am sure when they plan for it, they must have calculated the loading etc. However, when they did the calculation, did they consider the weight of stationary cars on the entire stretch of the elevated portion ?

Honey Dearest never wants to be on that road during peak hours, ever again.

Alternative Products

It is always nice to have an alternative to the products you use or consume.



We have in-store brand by hypermarkets of almost anythings, from laundry detergents to sausages.



It is also nice to know that we have an alternative to Kentucky Fried Chicken.



I have heard about Radix Fried Chicken for quite some time but since the outlets are only available in the north, I never had the chance to try it. However, a visit to Mydin Mall in Ayer Keroh, Melaka gave me the chance to try out the product.



The taste is good and the price is reasonable.



I will definitely come back for more.



.. oh, do open one in Shah Alam or Subang Jaya, ye ?

BN Lost

So, BN lost the Sibu parliamentary seat in the May 16th 2010 by-election.

Warning bells in the East Malaysia, BN ?

BN Wins

In one of the most closely fought by-election, BN managed to come out on top with a 1,725 majority. The BN candidate, P. Kamalanathan of MIC beat PKR heavyweight Dato' Zaid Ibrahim in an electorate whose demographical composition is almost reflective of Malaysia at large.

I am a fan of neither BN nor PR, but I feel this victory is good for both sides. For BN, it pays to be more on the ground (of course, many detractors will cry foul about the money being spent to "buy" support, but hey, if the situation is reverse, would it be any different?) and for PR, it is a wake-up call for them to be more realistic (and to come certain, be more humble and stop politicizing everything under the sun).

Politics

Is politics really about the better of two evils ?

I am not old enough to remember "the good old days" when politics was about "serving the community, the people, the country etc.". When I was old enough to understand (or take interest, yes, that would be the right word for it), Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim was going after Tun Ghaffar Baba for the Deputy Presidency of UMNO and everything thereafter was about being into politics to make money. Tonnes of money.

I came back to Malaysia from my studies abroad right smack into the Reformasi times. It was indeed an interesting time and I contemplated into getting myself right smack in the thick of it but somehow refrain myself from doing so.

Then the so-called "political tsunami" took place in 2008. I remember there was an eerie silent the following morning. Two years down the road, I definitely do not like where the country is heading. Instead of people uniting, I think it made people more divisive. There is now a clear divide between "us"and "them".

Mana-mana pihak yang menang, sama aje.

To the lady driving a champagne colour Honda CR-V (MAV 8***) on ELITE highway, northbound to KLIA on 13/03/2010 @ 6.20pm

From my Facebook Note

I am not a confrontational person by nature. I think the people who knew me would attest to that. However, what happened just two hours ago, well, to put it mildly... pisses me off..

So, what actually happened ?

I was driving back from Melaka, with the missus, my son Haris (who is already 1.5 years old) and my maid. We went back to visit my father in law who had to have an emergency surgery due to an infection to his right foot. So, there we were in the ever reliable Perodua Kembara, driving within the stipulated speed limit (in a full time 4WD like a Kembara, I can be assured of not getting a speeding ticket since there is just so much I can floor the pedal) and was about 3KM from the KLIA exit. I was in the middle lane and I wanted to overtake the car in front of me. Looking at the rear view mirror, I saw a Honda CR-V in the far distance, so I turned my indicator signal and started to overtake*. Within moments, the champagne-colour Honda CR-V was tailing me so close that I could feel the car was barely inches away. After over taking, I turned the indicator signal again and entered the middle lane again. This is when the CR-V drove passed me and the long haired lady driver gave me a look as she was passing by as if saying "Get out of my f****** way you f***** kembara" or "I drive a Honda CR-V as opposed to your Kembara so I have more rights than you on this highway". The car got in front of me and continue to drive leftwards and took the KLIA exit. It was then that I saw the MAV8*** plate number and the "A*** **** Oldboys" sticker on its back windscreen.

Granted, you may be late to the airport to fetch your husband/parents/maid/frien

d but what gives you the right to drive like that. If you don't want to be late, just leave your house a bit earlier. Don't have to endanger other people on the road.

To the wife of the A*** **** oldboy in the champagne colour Honda CR-V (MAV 8***), I don't give a rat's a** if you want to drive like a freakin' boy racer high on ecstasy but when your driving poses a risk to my family on board, here's what I can say to you...

...."**** ***"

I really really wish you are on FB and you can read this.

Pics.

Ramblings on a saturday night..

Aku bosan betul le dengan ADUN aku ni. Ada dalam facebook. Selalu la menghantar status update yang asyik mengutuk segala tindakan yang di ambil oleh govt of the day. Semua salah. Dia sorang aje yang betul. Parti dia aje yang betul. Parti dia aje yang truly Malaysian (ye lah tu... ramai orang lupa sejarah).

... no one says jangan pakai FB or Twitter, cuma bila pakai kena la jaga ethics and segala apa yang di post tu kena lah di analyze sebelum percaya bulat2.

... menteri tu was refering to the posting done by that chap who said he witness the devices being made in the church attacks, which was proven to be totally false.

.... and yg bagi comment bila dia buat this kind of remarks dalam facebook, tok sah cerita la. Kadok naik junjung...

.... tu pun masih nak berpecah belah lagi ....

.. bila nak sedar ??!!!

Fatherhood

I am blessed with a very very adorable boy, Amir Haris. Can't believe he is already a year plus today. Feels like it was only yesterday when I first held him in my arms after Honey Dearest gave birth to him at SJMC.

Haris is no longer walking, he is basically running around!

I entered fatherhood without even the experience of having siblings. You see, I am the only child in the family.

When Honey Dearest was pregnant with Haris, I always asked myself whether I can be a good father.

Alternative this Alternative that

We have so many people championing alternative views, under guise of so many different things.

Alternative ways of governing for instance.

Apparently, we were told that we have been "screwed" by the people who have been governing us for the 50 years or so.

Its refreshing to have alternatives, be it view or way of doing things.

However, what annoys me is that this people championing these alternative views think they could do no wrong. Everything being done by the establishment is wrong. Any actions taken by the people who are not for the alternatives are wrong.

What kind of alternative are we being presented here ?

Mission: Possible prt 2

Ok, I may not have achieved my target yet but from mid September 2009 until 31 Dec 2009, I have lost a total of 8kg...

... and the pants are fitting nicely !

Mission : Possible ? Prt 1

The doctor was quite straighforward.

"If you want to live longer, you better do something about your weight now"

The fasting month provided a useful kickstart to weight loss as I usually dropped a few pounds (which would gained back by the second day of Aidilfitri). This time I would like to try as much as I can to keep it off and even more.

Alhamdulillah, I am able to maintain some of the weight I have loss (well, plus minus here and there).

... who knows, I can put on my Oscar De La Renta suit which I only wore once during my graduation... way back in 1997...

... Impossible ?

Keeping it off

One of the best thing about Ramadhan is the almost assured weight loss. This is especially so if one does not splurge on the delicacies at the Bazaar Ramadhan.

I managed to shed some pounds.

... thats the easy part...

.... after a week of Aidilfitri, the question is whether I can keep it off...

Eid Mubarak

Two Days Before

We started our journey back to Hutan Percha, Melaka at around 10am (despite my earlier plan of leaving no later than 9am, in order to avoid the traffic congestion on the highway). My sis-in-law who is studying in Terengganu arrived in KL early in the morning and joined us for the drive. Traffic was amazingly clear (even at the usual Nilai, R&R and Seremban exit) and we arrived around 11.45am. Everyone were already back home except for my bro in law Azlan who would only be coming back tonight. Along got in on thursday, so too did Suhada. It was also the first time I met Along's son Raziq, whom Kak Ana gave birth in July. Haris now has another cousin to boss around, hehe!

In the evening, Along, Kema, Suhada and I went to the Pasar Ramadan in Alor Gajah. Talk about an IT savvy town, even the Medan Selera has frew WiFi. I can picture the UiTM Lendu students typing on their laptop at the Medan Selera, while savouring the cucur udang the town is famous for!

For the most part of it, everyone was fussing around Haris, who is happy to show his newfound mobility and his vocal cords. Haris somehow takes a bit of time to warm up to people but with Great grandma, he seemed to hit it off immediately.

The Day Before Eid

Early in the morning, I followed Along and Mak to Selandar to pick up the beef for the rendang. Selandar is about 15 minutes drive from Hutan Percha. Mak told me that the meat supplier has his own cattle farm and usually during festivities like Eid, he only takes orders in advance. Oh, and he also drives a brand new Mercedes E240 :)

The rest of the day is spent with the normal spring cleaning and cooking preparation. The menu for the Eid would be as follows:

1. Nasi Himpit & Ketupat
2. Rendang Ayam (Mak bought lotsa chicken at Mydin MITC)
3. Rendang Cili Padi
4. Lemang
5. Kuah Kacang
6. Sup tulang

The BIG day.. Eid

Everyone woke up very early. Luckily there was no mad rush for the toilets and bathroom. After one month of fasting, its time to celebrate the "victory", as prescribed by Allah in the Holy Al-Quran. Haris, Honey Dearest and I put on our matching maroon baju melayu and baju kurung and Haris looked extremely cute in it. It was off to the mosque for the solat sunat aidilfitri and after the performing the solat, we went to the Tanah Perkuburan to recite the tahlil for Arwah Datuk. The community here has this Mass Tahlil and in no time, it was full of family members visiting the grave of the departed.

My classmate from MCKK, Jani, hails from Hutan Percha and his house is not far from ours. Kema and Suhada joined us but unfortunately Jani had to stay back in KL because her mother in law was admitted to the hospital.

The whole family then headed to Tampin to have our family potrait taken at the photo studio (this so reminds me of the Lat cartoon, heheh) and imagine my surprise when almost all the phot studios are packed. We had to wait for about 45 minutes before we were ushered into the studio and had our family potrait taken.

It was then visits to relatives houses. More food and drinks. Darn, I need to maintin my weight loss!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir & Batin to all !

Menjelang Syawal

It has been an interesting Ramadan for me this year.

First and foremost, I was down with viral fever for most of the first half of Ramadhan. It was quite a harrowing experience, with me being on bed most of the time. It started before the fasting month and I guess I officially recoverd on the 15th Ramadhan. Luckily it wasn't H1N1 but just as precaution, I was prescribed the the anti-viral alternative to Tamiflu and I believe I became one of the statistic for ILI (Influenza-like illness), heheh! Alhamdulillah, I have recovered (and lose some weight too!)

The thing about not being well is that I miss a lot of Tarawih prayers at the mosque. I confess, I am one of the Gang of 8 (read: lepas 8 rakaat, cabut balik!) and instead of performing it at the surau near my house, I opt for the SS19 moque (for obvious reasons, you should be able to guess!).

Fatherhood, the First Year.

On the 10th of September, my son Amir Haris turned one year old.

It also means that I have completed a whole year of fatherhood.

Hari Jumaat

First and foremost, takziah to the family of Allahyarham Ust Asri Rabbani. He will surely be missed.

The air con in the office is functioning really well, thanks to some minor service done by the repair guy. We did som minor furniture rearrangment too, in anticipation of adding some new staff by the fourth quarter and the office is looking good too. What would make it better is some potted plants perhaps ?

Thursday 13th Aug 09

Finally, someone came to have a look at the aircon. The split unit at my corner is working fine, just pity the rest of the staff who had to sweat it out.

I told Scha to take the rest of the week of. Its better her to be fully rested and come back to work next week.

Wednesday the 12th

1106 hrs

Wong told me to get another contractor to fix my office aircon. He is booked solid until next week.

I wanted to visit the FHM09 exhibition today but decided to do so tommorow as it will be more in line with my travel plans. Need to "jimat" petrol, heheh :)

__________________________________________________________

1610 hrs

It's raining outside. Call me sentimental but when it rains, it reminds me of Madison during the fall.. Of all the seasons, fall will always remain my favourite.

I just got off the phone with Yong. Gosh, I will be in trouble tomorrow. Yong's staff can't complete the product by today and I can't deliver to Pulau Indah tomorrow. Apparently Yong's staff goes AWOL in him and yours truly becomes a victim. Yong agrees to write in to explain the delay and I will forward the letter to the client to explain why they can't get their things tomorrow.

Air Con down...

Nope, I am not involved in any airline or starting one to con anyone...

.. its just that the airconditioning is not working. To make matters worse, our regular service provider will only be able to fix it on wednesday (itu pun kalau dia free). Luckily the split unit at my place still functions so it is still bearable.

.. Scha, the admin clerk was hospitalized yesterday due to miscarriage. All of us at the office are truly sorry for your loss. She was discharged later in the evening and is on MC for three days. Have enough rest Scha, all is under control here.

.. gosh, Wong, if you can't confirm when you can come to fix our aircon, have to get someone else to do it...

"Perjuangan Siapa?"

Both organisers have been going on and on in the media about the impending demonstration. One for and one against. Both heading for the same destination.

In the end, one went ahead while another decided to heed the police's warning and instead sent a representative to hand over the memorandum.

I wasn't there, though I was caught in the crawl on Jalan SyedPutra en route to the MCOBA AGM. What I saw were only the newsfeed on Al Jazeera, Awani, Bernama and TV3. A few things came to mind.

1. Except for a handful of people, why are the protestors made up of Malays? What ever happened to the all the other political parties/NGOs who have been championing for the abolishment of the ISA ? Mana dia ? Mana orang-orang kuat parti "itu" ? The malays, really selfless and accomodating, ya ?

2. Has any of the organizers of the demonstration apologize to the petty traders who suffered losses for not being able to trade due to damages caused? Ok, one may argue that some of the goods were damaged due to the water sprayed by the FRU but it was you who started the demonstration in the first place.

Yes, I may tend to disagree on some aspect of the ISA and how it is being implemented but crippling the state capital in the name of abolishing the act is way too much. The government on the other hand should hasten the review and get these people who oppose the ISA so much to be in the working group.

Another By Election

From The Star Online today

Permatang Pasir assemblyman dies

GEORGE TOWN: Penang state assemblyman for Permatang Pasir Mohd Hamdan Abdul Rahman died at the National Heart Centre in Kuala Lumpur Friday morning. He died at 6.10am.

Mohd Hamdan, a two term state assemblyman and former Penang Pas commissioner, was 60.

He leaves behind a wife and six children.

A Penang government spokesman said Mohd Hamdan's body is expected to arrive in his constituency Friday afternoon and buried there.

In the general election in 2008, Mohd Hamdan beat Umno candidate Ahmad Sahar Shuib with a majority 5,433 majority to win the seat.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another by election is coming up, at another PR's stronghold.Will BN contest this time or chose not to like it did during last by election?

I remember Allayarham Hamdan as the person who defeated Dato' Ahmad Saad, Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Deputy at the UMNO Permatang Pauh.

VIVA SELANGOR!

Hail Selangor, the Super League Champion!!!

A Little Rambling Here and There

A lot of things seemed to have taken place these last two weeks or so:

1. MU -the By Election, not the football club (though more of that later in this post). So, as expected BN lost again to PAS. But what was not expected was the slim margin by which PAS retained the seat. In one of the online news portal, PAS was very confident of garnering a majority of at least 2,000 votes and with voters turnout of more than 85%, it was a possible. However, it never happened and PAS (and PR too) start to throw this accusation of money being handed out by the BN etc.

Oh, come on lah...

2. MU, the football team. No, I am not a supporter of MU and I don't really give a rat's ass on the EPL. Yeah, I have some affinity for Liverpool when I was younger but I am more into the local league.. true blue Selangor Fan.

It's always great to have your team in town, but please, you are Malaysian first and MU fan second.

I need not elaborate, the Malaysian coach K. Rajagobal has said it all about how the stadium was silent when Amri Yayhah (yeay, Selangor player!) scored the equalizer.

3. The Fall from 14th floor. Please la stop politicizing this issue and let the police do their job.

Logistics Update

Excerpts from Starbiz, The Star Jul 7, '09

"Trans-Asia Shipping Corp Bhd (TASCO) plans to buy a property for RM41.8mil from JVC Manufacturing Malaysia Sdn Bhd in Shah Alam for use as a logistics centre"

Is this the JVC plant near the famous JVC roundabout in Shah Alam ? Another factory closing shop?

On the other hand, that piece of property is perfect for TASCO's logistics hub.

My own logistics hub ? Hmmm... visit this blog again in 5 years and we'll see :)

My First REAL Home Made Pizza

I finally made my own pizza from scratch.

I am just crazy over pizza. My whole family can attest to it.

The ready made pizza base and using ready-made pasta sauce just won't cut it for me, so I decided to surf the net and search for recipe for making pizza dough and pizza sauce.

Just to cut it short, I tried both recipe and it worked out beautifully!

Here's for more home made pizza to come!

Wind Orchestra SBP

Limiting the A's

Sometime last week, someone wrote to the NST and said that there shouldn't be a limit to the subjects that a student can take for the SPM as this "would hinder the students capabilities esp for those who are academically gifted"

Huh ?

If you really want to develop these kids and challenge their mind, it is certainly not by taking irrelevant subjects and scoring A's. Rather than someone who is good in science taking some meaningless subject, why not introduce something like, say Advance Physics or "Additional" Additional Mathematics.

Wouldn't the A's they score in this subject righfully put them in a better position when it comes to scholarship pursuit ?

Golf

I certainly do not qualify as a weekend golfer, as I don't really golf on weekends.

I normally take a day off and play a round of golf whenever Lone is back from Singapore.

Hmmm, considering my game with Lone and Don yesterday at KGPA, I think it will be good for me to talk to Irwan and ask him to help with my swing. I can certainly do better.

Wouldn't want Haris to beat up my a** when he starts picking up golf kan ?

1 Malaysia

The concept of 1 Malaysia should be understood in a bigger context. Its about all Malaysians working towards one goal and uniting under one common bond; of that being a Malayian.

If you want to talk about political equality, why don't we talk about economic equality too? If you want to talk about power sharing, why don't we talk about economic sharing too?

The Dawn Of A New Era ?

At 10.11am today, the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato' Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abd Razak officially took the oath of office before SBP YDP Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin at the Istana Negara.

Congratulations to YAB Dato' Seri. You have made it to the pinnacle of your political career. But YAB Dato' Seri, on your shoulders now are the hopes of 27 million Malaysian (oppositions included, no puns intended). You took office at a very challenging time for the whole country.

Please look for a way to gain across political belief the support needed to ensure the country survive through this trying times.

The Next Step

Yesterday was the beginning of the UMNO General Assembly, the first since the disastrous performance of the 12th GE. I am basically apolitical but it this GA is something to my interest as the outcome of the various party post will determine the direction of the government, at least until the next GE.

Its that time of the year again

First and foremost, congratulations to the 6000 odd plus students who managed to get straight As in their SPM examination. Every year, we see an increasing number of students obtaining straight As.

Lets hope there are enough scholarship to go around, else we will be reading about the same grouses in the paper ... again

Let's All Work Together

No matter how much stimulus package is made available, it will not amount to anything if the execution is flawed and the benefit does not flow to the every day man on the street.

Not a criticism per se, just a friendly reminder to improve

I had quite a full day yesterday, running all over Shah Alam for banking (personal and company) and some initial market intelligence gathering (when times are like this, we just have to resort to creative ways to push our products, right?). Lunch was definitely something I was looking forward to, and I decided to try the Sate Ria outlet at the Risda building, a block away from Concorde Shah Alam.

I am sure some of you may recall SateRia from the early eighties. My memories of it is that of my parents taking me there after shopping at Jalan TAR and they served this two-stick gigantic satay which taste quite good too. It was suppose to be an effort to commercialize satay (these are the pre-Samuri days, but another great satay place at the time was at Sg Wang Plaza - Satay Anika) but unfortunately, the venture fizzled out and SateRia is no more.

The Sate Ria in Shah Alam is apparently the first outlet for the new Sate Ria franchaise. The last I check I did on the Malaysian Franchaise Association forum indicates that they are awating approval from the Registrar of Frainchaise (didnt know we have such body) and I assume the Shah Alam outlet is their Master Franchaiser's outlet. The logo is still the same and it is with that that I made my way enthusiastically to the outlet. Would they still have the gigantic two-stick satay.

Turns out that they don't. Before I elaborate further, let me run you through this simple timeline.

1300 hrs Enter Sate Ria
13o5 hrs A menu was handed to me and my order taken
1308 hrs A glass of "air suam" was served (a std fare)
1315 hrs My Ice Lemon tea was delivered
1335 hrs My plate of condiments (Nasi Himpit+bawang+timun) delivered. No explaination on
why my satay has not arrived
1352 hrs Manager apologized for the delay
1353 hrs My plate of satay (all ten sticks of it) delivered

It took them 50 minutes to have 10 sticks of satay delivered. Lets analyze the crowd. When I entered, there are two tables occupied. One table was occupied by two gentlemen who were wating for their food (since thay have their air bandung on the table) and the other table, a big group of ten people who were probably celebrating something. When I entered, the server was taking order from them. At that time too, the staff in the premises were as follows: 1 server, 1 cook, 1 kicthen helper and 1 cleaner. I do believe the lunch time rush starts at 12.30pm onwards right?

Besides their main menu of satay, they also serve items such as Laksa and various gravied noodle (I guess in line with their franchaise theme, cooking on site is kept to minimal). It shouldn't take long to serve e.g. laksa right ? I am sure you already have the gravy being heated all the time and all you need to do is to put together the rest of the ingredients in the bowl ? The large group of ten orderd both the satay and some noodles. I am sure even if all ten orders various types of noodle, it can all be delivered, latest by 1320 hrs ? It was not to be as even when my satay was served, bowls of noodles are still being delivered to the group. One reason given for the delay in my satay is the group of ten orders a big number of satay (by now, even the customer who came in after me were a bit annoyed). Assuming each of them ordered 10 sticks, thats only 100 sticks and being a SATAY restaurant, I am sure it can be easily fulfilled. By 1340 hrs, additional staff appeared but why would you have additional staff at the tail-end of your rush hour?

The satay is GOOD and that is something they should be proud of. Pure chicken meat, not "additives" etc (read:lemak and kulit).

I guess, I would really like to see them improve on the service. I would definitely come back for the satay but they really, really need to do something operationally.

Organic Food

Our new organic food division logo

The Bangkok Trip

I left for Bangkok last thursday for a meeting with our partner Kamol and a very lucrative potential business partner who is also flying in from KL to meet up with Kamol. Our first meeting was in KL sometime in December and this time, he would like to meet up with us in Bangkok to assess our operational capabilities before proceeding to the next step.

My flight was the first flight out to Bangkok on Air Asia, AK880 departing at 7.50am. Ayah has his routine IJN check up on that day, so Kak Ngah took the day off and followed him. So, early thursday morning at around 5.50am, all of us drove to LCCT to drop me off while ayah send Mak to her office before proceeding to IJN with K Ngah. Boarding time was at 7.20am and by the time I checked in, it was already 6.45am, so I decided to enter the departure hall and perform my Subuh prayer at the surau inside.

Th flight was 3/4 full, but I still managed to "conquer" three seats to myself, heheh... As usual, I will have the Pak Nasir Nasi Lemak for breakfast (which I never failed to do whenever I am on Air Asia but I do feel that the taste is not the same as before). The flight arrived on time at 8.50am Bangkok time and since there were only a handful of flight that morning, Immigration was a breeze. Caught the public taxi at Gate 10 and headed off to Baiyoke Suite at Pratunam area. I reached there around 10am but managed to check in (its ayah's "official" hotel for his monthly meeting and golf excursions, hence the early check in privilage and good rates) and I was given the room on the 29th floor. I like this hotel because the last time I was here during the fasting month, they actually prepared "sahur" for me.

I then took a taxi to Kamol's office on Suksavithaya Road (off Silom Soi 9). It was my first visit to the office since they shifted and its actually not bad at all. From there, Kamol and I drove to the airport to pick up our guest who flew in on MAS (well, with RM150 million annual sales, travelling full service airline is not a problem:). While waiting for him, Kamol remarked that tourist seemed to be coming back to Bangkok, judging from the number of people we saw arriving. After around 30minutes waiting, we met Mr C and exchanged pleasentaries. Of course, among my first question to him was about latest development on the Perak state government fiasco.

To save time (Mr C has other appointments too), we arrange for lunch at the office where Kamol's assistant bought some Briyani from the Halal restaurant behind the office. The foodwas not bad at all and after everyone has settled down, it was down to business. The meeting went well and we presented some radical ideas which I am pretty sure Mr C did not expect but he seemed to be considering it. Once our meeting was over, we sent Mr C to his hotel and after that that Kamol sent me back to Baiyoke.

We were supposed to have dinner with Mr C but since he already has some prior engagement, Kamol will have dinner with him tomorrow night as I will be flying back to KL on the 3.10pm flight. After resting for a while (and watching the movie "American Gangster" on HBO), I headed for Al-Maidah Restaurant, a Halal place just behind the hotel. Al-Maidah can a bit pricey but the food is good and the portion is quite huge. After having the Naan and roast chicken, I walked to the nearby 7 Eleven (they seemed to have it at every corner) and bought some drinking water and tid bits. Then, its back to the hotel and a good night sleep.

I woke up just in time to perform the Subuh prayers. Breakfast is at the Sky Lounge on the 43rd floor and view from there is simply marvellous. After breakfast, I decided to walk around the many shops around the hotel area though a lot of them are only started to open. I wish I had more time but well, I am here for work, so I checked out early and headed to the office.

To Sum Up The Week

1. The whole family went back to Melaka during the Chinese New Year break (more details at babychikjournal.blogspot.com). As usual, a lot of thoughts were put to making sure the journey will not be spent too much on the road and indeed the journey was really pleasent. Are there less people going back to their home towns or a lot of them are taking advantage of Plus' offer of discount for travelling during off-peak period ?
2. My son reached a very important milestone this week - dah boleh meniarap! He seemed pleased with his newfound abilities and been at it for most of the time!
3. Driving to work on Wednesday-Friday was truly heavenly. Barely any traffic on the road.
4. Met up with an old friend from my primary school days. I haven't met Yong Sean since after the SPM examinations. Even when I was in MCKK, we would meet up during our school break. A lot of catching up took place and since Singapore is just a bus ride away, I could always look him whenever I am next in the Lion City.
5. The online store is on track for launch Feb 1, 2009. Get ready for it :)
6. Also, its time to put something from the past behind.

I am 34 today

I turn 34 today. My wife would be laughing when reading this as I have been telling her that every year my age will be a year less than it actually is :)

Also today is the inaugration of Mr Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America. I remember watching "Are you smarter than a Fifth Grader?" where one of the question is on the inaugration date and it was told that January 20th was the date since 1937.

Physically... me

Its already the second week of 2009, with 50 more weeks to go. 2008 wasn't such a bad year (especially with the birth of the apple of my eyes:) but really hoping for 2009 to be a better one. Good signs are there but with the current economic situation, it will be more challenging than before.

Year in year out, there is always this one thing that will be on top of the list. Lose the pounds, brother. Again, year in and year, not happening as planned :)

I am not in the best of shape, when it comes to fitness. By weight and girth of the tummy, I would be catergorized to have in risk in god-knows how many types of disease, hehe! Not to forget the history of heart problem and hypertension in the family.

Every year I resolved to shed those unwanted (and un-neeeded) pounds and its not because I want to fit into some old Dockers pants (it'll be nice to fit in those, though) but its because I know that the longer I am in this current physical shape, the more risk I am taking with my health. True, ajal maut di tangan Allah but I do want to live long enough to see Amir Haris (and insya Allah, his siblings) grow up and become a Muslim that I would be proud of.

Now, where is that nice Docker Pants that I could fit if I lose another 5kg ? Heheh...

Gaza... are we just sitting here doing nothing ?

Are we?

The scenes on the TV during news everyday really breaks the heart. For innocent children to go through such deathly and traumatic experience is totally unacceptable. Israel is nothing but a war-crazy county hell-bent at obliterating the people of Gaza from their rightful land.

Multi Lingual

At best I am only bilingual : Bahasa Malaysia and English.

Rightfully, I should be able to command three more languages: Arabic, French & Mandarin.

Back in MCKK, we were asked to choose between Japanese and Arabic as our third language. I am not really sure what made me choose Arabic (I do believe I was trying to be more Islamic at that time, hehe) but I did quite well in my first two years. It helped that I had one year of Arabic at the "sekolah agama petang" so in form one, it made me look good ! However, as I moved up form (with SRP being the priority in form 3), I was neglecting the language and when I did took the SRP Arabic Paper in form 4, I was pratically marking the multiple choice answer sheet without actually reading the questions. Rugi tak belajar dulu...

In PPP/ITM, I took French. Yes, the thought of mastering the language of romance was a good enough reason to learn it. It was two semesters of "berbelit lidah" but I had so much fun learning it. Our teacher even gave us frenc name and mine was Jacque. It sounded cool, until I found out that Jacque in France is as common as Ali in Malaysia (No offence to the Alis, ya?) Lack of practice (yea la, kat mana nak pakai French in Malaysia ni ?) slowly diminish whatever proficiency I have in that language. Rugi tak practice...

I started work in 1998 and took my masters a year later. After completing my masters, perhaps due to lack of active social life (read: NO girlfriend), I decided to take the Mandarin class offered by the Language Academy of UiTM. At that time, I have two salesperson under me who are chinese-educated Malays and I thought with them around, I could at last have somebody to practice with. I took three semesters of Mandarin (which means that I am half-way through the Intermediate stage) and I was having a good time surprising some of my suppliers and clients when I spoke to them in simple Mandarin :)

Alas, due to lack of practice (my two salesperson left for greener pastures)... you know how this ends :)

2009

Its the first week of 2009 and with so many gloomy predictions on the economic climate for 2009, one tends to think that things just look almost impossible. A lot of industries has already felt the brunt of the downturn and even my small business is not spared the repurcussion : cargo movement at the port seemed to be slowing down.

In spite of it all, I truly believe that in times of crisis, there is always opportunity available for those who are willing to look hard for it.

Prefect Leadership Programme : MCKK

I have lost count the number of times I have gone back to Kuala Kangsar at the beginning of new year to play a small part in the leadership programme for the school prefects. I was among the first participant when it started in '92. Although there are some old boys who made fun of our effort but hey, this is one way I am giving back to the school, so buzz off :) Its heartening to see a group of young men with so much potential and not afraid to speak their mind.

This year, managed to sneak two golf games during our free time too :) Played a round at Taiping Golf Resort and another one a the KK Golf Club. Unfortunately the course was a bit soggy due to heavy rain during the week.

Outing at Restoran Puteri

We had an outing with the families at Restoran Puteri, TTDI last sunday.

Politics in everything

Malaysians can really incorporate politics into almost any topics.

I was browsing through a well-known local automobile site and the moment I open the reader's comment, lo and behold...

... all sort of comments relating to BN la, UMNO la, PR la, racism la..

... lets just enjoy reading about cars, boleh tak..

Happy Annivessary Honey Dearest :)

Our annivessary this year falls on Aidiladha, so it was a belated dinner for Honey Dearest and Me.

We had dinner at San Francisco Steak House which is like a two minutes drive from our house. It was the first time for both us to be having dinner here and indeed it wonderful. Both of us had steak but it was the dessert that proved to be the piece de resistance... the apple pie a la mode.. I would definitely be back for more

Honey Dearest, it has been a wonderful two years and I look forward for many years to come.

I love you so, so much.

DEDICATED TO THE FOURSOME BEHIND US AT KGPA ON DEC 4, 2008

Yes, this posting is dedicated to you guys. You old f**ts know who you are.

It was suppose to be a nice game of golf for my friend and I at KGPA. I have never played at KGPA, thus was really looking forward to the challenges of the green. Since there were only two of us (and we are expecting rain later in the afternoon), we played at a reasonable pace.

It must have been at the second hole where we notice these old f**ts playing behind us. We kept quite a reasonable distance with our pace and when we teed off at the fourth hole (which is a Par 3), these old f***ts were hitting shots approaching the green of the 3rd hole. My shot was spot on, landing squarely on the far side of the green while my friend had the unfortunately sliced his shot to the right of the green, quite a distance from the green.

While my friend was laying his shot, I managed to two put my ball for a par and waited for my friend to complete his shot. I was standing outside of the green by the tree while my friend's shot landed in the bunker. My phone suddenly rang (it was a call from the office) and I picked up the phone. Suddenly I heard a voice from far:

"Cakap telefon, woi, tak payah main golf la! Gi balik la"

One of the old f**ts shouted from the tee box and another shouted something incomprehensible (these are old f**ts anyway).

We ignored them while my friend finished off his shot as fast as he could.

Wei, old f**ts... "aku dah amik shot aku, and aku answer the phone kat bawah pokok tepi green, bukan kat atas green tu, b****h!"

"Ingatkan main pandai sangat. Yang pakai seluar panjang dgn setokin tutup seluar tu, OB jugak shot... you Org T** C**** ."

Things you would like to say

How things have changed ever since the last GE..

...............................

On this rainy day

Alhamdulillah, things have started to pick up again on the business front.

A new business opportunity presents itself in the form of an untapped captured market (who could have asked for more) and a great source of distribution channel. Obviously it is easy to get giddy over the possibilities but at this juncture, it is very important to not overstretch the already limited resources. With the economic outlook not expected to look rosy for the next few years, this discovery gives a sense of hope and an avenue to ride the economic uncertainty.

Talk about a moment of inspiration... while buying burger at the stall last night, I thought of something that the burger stalls can do with my beef and poultry products. I called the owner and we are meeting this friday where I will show the product concept to him. If thing works out tell, heck, it will be a new product offering at ALL burger stalls ALL over Malaysia... :)

The rain has subsided.

MCOBA Dinner

Long Overdue Posting..

On November 8th 2008, I attended the MCOBA Annual Dinner at the Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur. My attendance was truly at the very last moment due to come unforeseen cancellations by my other batch mates.

Adri took the lead by booking a table under our batch and managed to get ten of us in no time. A few of our batch mates who are now big shots in their "kementerian" and "company" attended the dinner under their own table, so it was qute a merry reunion of sorts for the class of 1992. I came to the dinner with Don (who got lost while on the way to my house, my fault for giving faulty directions) and we were greeted by sea of people in the hard-to-miss college striped tie. Batch members at our table were Vyn, James, Bogak, Aca, Ganj, Adri, Sarly and Badak while KE and Reza were seated at the CIMB table.

I do not wish to elaborate on the dinner itself (lest I offend some old boys who worked hard on the performance that night) but it was the after dinner gathering at the Pavillion which was really memorable. Nope, nothing took place that would worry the missus back home. Suffice to say, you guys rock!

The Last Few Hari Raya Open House

I would have missed it if my staff didn't remind me that today one of our biggest client is having their Aidilfitri Open House. Its the same every year, they would have their towards the very end.

The company may be my biggest client but not too long ago, it has something to do with my father and I. You see, not too long ago, we used to be a significant shareholder of the company. How we were removed is a stuff for novel (which one day, I will write) but I guess the point I am trying to put across is that in business, your friends and your enemy can switch in a blink of an eye.

Anyway, I arrived at their new installation facility located across from their current premises. The place has yet to be used so instead of putting up tents like they normally do around their compound, they have all the table and chairs indoors. The place looks good after being spruced up. It used to be a pet food factory but after it was auctioned, the new owner rented the place to the company for their project.

I met a few of the people who were around when I was there. I even bumped into an ex-staff of mine (another lesson in life.. about friends and enemies, the likes) and we chit chatted about the old days and days to come. He's doing rather well and I am happy for him. Perhaps we can work on some projects together.

The Aqiqah

Alhamdulillah, Amir Haris' aqiqah went well on Sunday, 28/10/2008.

It was a very good turnout of family and friends.

Haris slept throughout the Marhaban and Potong Jambul, heheh...

Market Reach

You can sometime be amazed by people around.

Just now, I had a chat with the cleaner who cleans our office and discovered that she could probably get me more market for some of my products as compared to some of my sales force. We sometime tend to overlook the smaller markets where personal relationship counts for everything and how the "local" factor can sometimes tip the balance to your side.

Worth exploring...

More Work Updates

1. I spoke to Kamol (our partner in Bangkok) today and he has some very promising news on the french buyer who will most likely purchase frozen ready-to-eat meal for the French market from our company. Way to go brother!

2. Without compromising who the "impossible client" is, I really wish she would stop insulting my products and not be so high-handed. I could easily refer her to her company's tender committee or even upper management but I do not wish to create trouble for her (though Allah knows how much she has spoilt my days and weekends too). Can't wait for the meeting this week where I will prove her wrong in front of her management (she called for the meeting, not me).

3. Whenever I provide my service to my client, I try to put myself in their shoes and I try to make sure they don't spend more than neccassary. However, it amazed me how some of them would waste money on storage fees; something they could easily avoid if they just provide us with the documentations on time.

Office Updates

1. My clerk went AWOL since after the Eid break. The last I heard from her was a day before Eid where she sent me an SMS (contents shall not be revealed), which among others, stated that her father no longer "allow" her to work at my company. Its her first job and its always difficult when parents interfere (macam kat sekolah pulak). I have been nothing but nice to her but if this is the way she is acting, then, good luck to the new employer.

2. After a week of evaluating, I've decided to get the office new copier from the company who happens to be across the street from our office. To think that I had companies from all over KL coming to submit quotations.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

This year I am celebrating Aidilfitri in my my mum's kampung in Masjid Tanah, Melaka. Lucky for me, Honey Dearest hails from Hutan Percha, which is just 25 minutes away. So, it is quite easy to have celebration on both sides.

This is the first time Honey Dearest and I are celebrating the Eid with our baby Haris. He is exactly three weeks old on 1 Syawal; too bad they don't make Baju Melayu for infant :)

A True Alternative?

I am pretty sure someone will now say it to my face, "Well, you did lament about not having a credible alternative to BN... so, how about now?"

We'll see...

By the way, what's the rush ? Why not the next GE ?

Pics of the Amir Haris

This is the among the first picture of baby Amir Haris just after the Honey Dearest gave birth to him on September 10, 2008 at 8.23am. All 4.32kg of him :)

babychikjournal.blogspot.com

Alhamdulillah... My Little Bundle of Joy @ 8.23am

At exactly 8.23am at SJMC today, my little bundle of joy came into this world, all 4.32kg of him :)

Alhamdulillah.

I will definitely write more.. at the moment, a bit exhausted with all the excitement :)

Smoking

During the last budget presented by our Prime Minister, the tax for cigeratte was increase quite substantially.

Guess what someone said when he was interviewed in one of the dailies regarding the higher cigeratte cost ? He said he will adjust by cutting back on other things!

Like what ? Food ? Shouldn't it be the other way round ?

Down Memory Lane: Ramadan circa 82-87

When I was in Standard One, I only managed ONE full of fasting. It was on a sunday and I remember I was practically on the couch the whole day. The rest of the fasting months were the "buka puasa tutup puasa" regime, where I would fast until noon and self declared that the fast continues after I have taken my lunch, hehehe.

It was only in standard two when I managed to extend it to 26 days of full day fast. The remainder 4 days I did not fast was because I was down with fever. In standard three, it improved to 28 days with two days of fever and finally when I was in standard four, I finally managed to complete one full month of fasting.

These were the days before the bazaar ramadan, so breaking of fast were practically like having early dinner, with some kuihs brought from street vendors who continue to sell at their lot even in Ramadan.

However, what was memorable during this time (especially in my std 5-std 6 years) were the Tarawih prayers. During that time, there was only one mosque for the whole of Subang Jaya (USJ was just a plantation back then) and it is the SS15 mosque. We would perform the Isyak prayer, a few rakaats for the Tarawih and all of us would head to 7 Eleven near the old pasar for Slurpee. Sometimes we would play with fireworks and firecrackers but it was evetually banned when on one fine sunday evening, someone decided to play during the day time and a stray firework landed on a pile of paper at mosque's entrance and caused a small fire.

Our Last Visit

Our visit to Dr Delaila is normally on a saturday but since she was on leave last saturday (being that long Hari Kebangsaan weekend), we decided to schedule our visit for today. As usual, we arrived earlier (or though we did) and by the time we took our number, it was already 8027. Luckily, about 23 of those above us have appointment for other doctors so we were fourth on Dr Delaila's schedule for that day.

After the normal check up and examination, Dr Delaila told us that due to the circumstances prevailing, Honey Dearest has to go through Caeserian Section. We were therefore asked to choose a date by the good doctor and we decided on Sept 10, 2008. 10.09.08... and it will read in his IC as 080910-10-XXXX.

Hehehe...

How come the anxiety has started to set in?

Ramadan Al Mubarak

I would like to wish all Muslims Selamat Menyambut Ramadan Al Mubarak.

Ramadan certainly brings back many memories to me. From my primary school days, the glorious MCKK years, the PPP/ITM times, ramadan in US, Ramadan when I first started working...

It'll be nice to reminisce all the ramadan, all over again.

The 51st National Day: Road to Nationhood

It is exactly 9.55pm on August 30th, 2008 when I wrote this entry.

I am back at my hometown in Melaka and was a bit disappointed with my wireless broadband service (heck, its only about an 10kpbs faster than my dial up connection). Then again, that would be a story for another day.

At the brink of Malaysia celebrating her National Day, there are a lot of things which I have been pondering, especially so since the last March 8 General Election. To put it in a nutshell, as a nation, are we really there yet? Was the last general election result really a sign of a maturing society dispensing its right to choose responsibly or was it an act of frustration of our society trying to teach "someone" a lesson but at the same time, maybe jeopardizing the very fabric of our social existance?

There are certainly a lot of pent-up frustration with the present governing coalition (with the main target being the backbone of it :UMNO) if the articles and comments on the blogsphere are to be taken. The people are becoming more vocal in their demands and when there are demands from certain quarters, there are bound to be uneasiness and sometime downright hostility to these demands. We are all for just society where everyone is treated as equals and given equal opportunity to succeed but given the very basis of the founding of our country, we should thread this issue with care. Nobody is promoting discrimination and no one is promoting the slave-master relationship (as being portrayed by the "ketuanan" issue) but unfortunately a lot of us seemed to forget our historical background and how independence came about.

Yes, we need to be progressive and look ahead, but not at the expense of discarding our history.

On this note, Happy Birthday, Malaysia.....

Something on the horizon ?

There was no question that Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim would win the Permatang Pauh by-election. The only question whether he would win with a margin more than his wife or less.

The question was answered resoundingly when DSAI beat Dato' Arif Shah Omar Shah with a 15,579 majority, which was more than the 13,388 majority garnered by Dato' Seri Wan Azizah during the March 8 General Election.

So, after an absence of 10 years, DSAI is back at the Dewan Rakyat and sits directly across from the Prime Minister as the new Opposition Leader. I am sure there must be a sense of deja vu when DSAI entered the parliament again to to be sworn in and while sitting at his place, it must have striked him that not too long ago he was only one seat away from the coveted position of the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

What will be on everyone's mind is that come September 16th, 2008, would he finally be able to take oath as the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia, as he has been telling to all of us ?

UiTM di Hatiku Part One

Wujudmu di sini di tanah anak merdeka
Bagai obor ilmu memayungi putera-puterinya
Pelopor hidup budaya bangsa
Agama Negara

OK, that's as much as I can remember on the UiTM song but I had the opportunity to sing in on two occassions : my ADP certificate presentation ceremony during my PPP/ITM days and during the convocation for my MBA (during the commencement for my degree at UW-Madison, I sang The Star Spangled Banner, heheh... hey, please don't question my loyalty to my Malaysia). My attachment to UiTM is also due to my parents whom are both UiTM graduates. Reminicsing back on stories told by parents, it was ITM that gave them the chance to improve themselves and makes them what they are today. If it wasn't for ITM, none of them would graduate with Bachelors and Masters degree from the United States and I would probably be writing this blog in Bahasa Malaysia.

So,when someone suggested opening 10% of UiTM intakes to the non-bumis, you can bet it touches a lot of nerve.

... more will be discussed.

MAHA 08

This is my first year participating in MAHA 08.

Our principal, a manufacturer from Kedah took up the booth offer from the Kedah state government to participate but with this year's event being 12 days in total, they have asked us to man the booth and conduct the sales on their behalf. After all, we are their Selangor/KL state distributor and we believe the exposure at MAHA would help in our marketing effort.

Looking around the hall C, most of the participants are "old hands" at participating in exhibitions as their deco, goods presentation and posters are all glossy and professionally done. Looking at what the manufacturers provided us (four buntings-2 for each flavour, samples and a pot), it will be quite a challange to make the booth decent.

Luckily, my staff Shida and her friends are quite creative and it was fun to watch them doing up the empty booth. Lo and behold, we finally looked like we are here!

Pak Lah spent almost half a day at the exhibition site, which at a total cost of RM240 million, is definitely one huge exposition center. Lets hope that it won't be used only once a year for MAHA.

I met a few fellow participants from programme organized by MARA and Matrade. Some of them have been doing quite well in the export market and it is something I aspire to do.

Since I will be here for another ten days at least, I will keep posting on the happenings.

Let The Games Begin!

It was indeed a spectacular start to one of the greatest sporting event in the world. The Beijing Olympic Games began on 08.08.08 at 8.08pm with probably one of the most elaborate and breathtaking opening ceremony ever. The highlight has to be the lighting of the Olympic torch, where former Chinese gymnast, Li Nang was suspended mid air and depicts the action of a runner while behind him unfurls all the venue of the Olympic Torch Run.

Malaysia is on the hunt for the elusive gold medal.

Who will be our first Olympic Gold Medallist/Millionaire ?

Month End July '08

I am back at my office again on a monday.

Honey Dearest, though her sprained ankle is improving, is practically immobile and is still on Medical Leave. We did went and see and orthopedic specialist last week but due to the pregnancy, x-ray can't be performed, thus its basically a guessing game on her condition. As the good doctor said, it is not likely to be a fracture but at this rate, it will take much longer than usual to be up and about.

I felt so pressured coming to work today, knowing that August would be a challenging month (cash-flow wise at least) and to some extent, I may have exhausted almost all my avenues.

We'll see...

Malaysia for all Malaysians (Penang Island macam mana?)

I read a very interesting comment someone sent via SMS to The Star today. I can't remember it verbatim but roughly it goes something along this line:

"Very easy explaination why road signs in Penang should also be in Chinese. Majority of population here Chinese and tourist from China are here all year around, not like the seasonal Middle East tourist, hence no need Arabic signage"

I can understand the argument (though not agreeing at all about it) on having the signage for Chinese tourist but too have it because of majority chinese living in Penang Island ? Excuse me, what is our national language again ? Whats this cry about "Oh, everyone is Malaysian.. should not be divided along racial/religious/sexual preferences/bank account lines.." while its ok to have signages in ones language because of majority of a certain race inhibits and island? I don't recall seeing any chinese signage in Singapore, for that matter.

If we must have another language, have it in English.

Dah tinggal 50 tahun pun takkan tak boleh faham bahasa kebangsaan kita ?

Honey Dearest Day In

Honey Dearest has been confined to the room for the last three days due to her sprained ankle. It wasn't so bad when it happened on thursday nite. In fact, she was able to go to work on Friday, albeit walking a bit slowly. However, by saturday morning she was not able to even stand up was at time in tears. Luckily my cousin Abg Razak was able to "urut" the affected leg and Alhamdulillah, she is now able to move around a little bit.

On another note, CONGRATULATIONS to Bogak on the arrival of his fourth son! Another one and he will have his own Cagers basketball team :)

Fatherhood beckons

If the calculations from the doctors were to be right, I will be a father in exactly two months from now.

That would be on September 16th, 2008.

I wonder who will be the Prime Minister of Malaysia on that day?

Arresting A Politician

Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, with his problematic back and age, is unlikely to flee or brandish a semi-automatic when faced by the police who came to arrest him.

Why then, the Unit Tindakan Khas with the ski-mask and all when they took him just a few meters before his house ? Flight risk ? Surrounded by armed supporter ? Hell, No.

The poor guy was given until 2.00 pm to present himself at the IPPK. Yeah, had it been 2.01pm, sure.. arrest him.

The Debate

Who would have thought Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim with lock horns with Dato' Shabery Chik in a live debate telecast by Astro Awani, Bernama TV and TV9? It did happened and the debate, which took place at Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka was moderated by Datuk Johan Jaafar. The format followed the US presidential debate but the same can't be said about the content.

Anwar was his brilliant self, playing to the gallery and camera. The topic "Hari Ini Bentuk Kerajaan Besok Turun Minyak" was about the current oil issue but Dato' Shabery Chik was more content on delivering personal attacks which has nothing to do with the topic.

... hmmm..

Monday Morning Traffic

I was on my way back from sending Honey Dearest when I saw the roadblock just before the Kota Darul Ehsan arch on Federal Highway. Lucky for me I was heading towards PJ/Shah Alam or else I would be stuck in a very very long gridlock. The jam lasted all the way until after the the Plaza Toll Batu 3 Shah Alam, a good 15-20km of it.

Business Networking

MARA invited me for a business matching cum seminar session at Golden Straits Villa Beach Resort, Port Dickson. The timing is a bit off as it coincides with the Malaysian International Food and Beverage Fair but luckily MARA moved it one day later and I was able to attend the opening day of MIFB.

I drove from Subang Jaya on friday, leaving my house at around 7.15am. It was indeed a pleasent drive, safe for the half hours spent just getting out of Subang Jaya ! After registration, we were given our accomodation which is an apartment unit with three rooms. The people I shared my units with are some of the nicest and we had a good time discussing and throwing ideas on how best to improve our business.

I wouldnt want to go deeper on the programme (of course, talks and seminars etc) but all in all, it was a fruitful session and I am looking forward to work more with my fellow MARA entreprenuers.

Ten Years Ago

Watching the TV the other day, it was as if it was ten years ago...

... with the sodomy charges and all.

You just have to admire the timing.

Accountability at GLCs

Taken from the headline of the Business Section, The Star today:

"SIME DARBY SACKS CFO

Sime Darby Berhad on Monday sacked its chief financial officer (CFO) and another senior executive following an in-depth inquiry into RM120mil losses from Crude Palm Oil (CPO) futures trading."

It's not often you read about senior officers of big businesses in Malaysia being dismissed. Normally, they would issue a statement where the officer has opt to "leave the company" due to all sorts of reason (among the famous ones are health or wanting to spend more time with the family) although in the real reasons tend to run abuzz in the grapevine. Therefore it is refreshing to see MNC/GLC such as Sime Darby taking step in upholding transperancy and corporate governance.

Mini Vacation

Courtesy of my mum-in-law, Honey Dearest and I spent the weekend at Holiday Subang (despite the hotel being a 5 minute drive from home, heheh). My mum-in-law has some vouchers expiring at the end of the month and since there is one for a free one night stay with breakfast, we decided to utilize it and treat it as a mini vacation for us.

We checked in promptly at 2.00 pm and were given the room 1507. Correction, it was SUITE 1507 and it was simply marvellous! It was at the corner of the hotel, with two views of us to enjoy. One is the view of the Tasik Subang Jaya and the Kelab Golf Negara Subang (with the federal highway sandwich in between) and the other is the view of Subang Jaya township itself (with the yet-to-be completed elevated road leading into/out of SJ being a prominent landscape now). I guess we didn't do much accept laze around and watch TV.

Then again, sometimes the best of vacations is just that... doing nothing :)

It's RM2.70 per litre, people...

Well, the inevitable just happened. The government just announced that fuel price would be increased by 40% to RM2.7o per litre while diesel is increased by RM1.00 to RM2.58 per litre.

It was just a matter of time before the fuel price has to be increased. The amount of subsidy that the government has to fork out has resulted in the balloning of the deficit.

Yes, everyone is affected by this. I was among the many who queued up at one of the stations near my house and managed to fill up Honey Dearest's and my car (I avoided the obvious popular stations such as Petronas and Shell).

Certainly a lot of things to say about this...

Wow... what a f*%k*d up place we live in

If we were to believe everything we read in the blog lately, then surely this country is the worst country for anyone to live in. You are sometimes put in a quandry; reading the mainstream media will give you the impression that all is right with the BN government and if were to read the blogs (esp the well-known ones, you know who they are), the Pakatan Rakyat is the true saviour of the "people" and everything BN/UMNO/Bumiputera/Malay/Islam is deemed to be "bad". No, don't give me that look. Lets face it, its what's out there now.

It is always good to have two sides of the matter to consider. In terms of governing, its good to have Check and Balances. If you are an ardent follower of certain blogger, you should also not totally boycott the mainstream media, vice versa. After all, it is you who can decide what you wish to believe in.

Some of the articles posted on the blogs are actually well-thought out and provoking piece which makes us ponder on the state of our nation. The arguments presented are not neccesarily emotional in nature but unfortunately, it is the comments from the readers which can sometimes be difficult to fathom. Many times you will come across people who take the opportunity to go into Malay/Islam bashing under the guise of "justice/fairness" for all and make racial/religious comments which frankly is unacceptable. Yes, you can sense that pent up frustration of years of being "discriminated" by the UMNOputras/Bumiputras/Malays, so is this so called "political tsunami" really a change for a better of Malaysia or its just a way to get back at the above ?

Makes you wonder..

Taking Credit

In The Star newspaper, there was a piece of news from Penang where the former political secretary of Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon has chided the Penang Chief Minister Mr Lim Guan Eng for claiming credit for two high profile FDI into Penang.

The new state government took control about 2.5 months ago suddenly they are able to bring in RM1.315 billion in FDI. Hmm.. and the two companies can decide in two months to invest such a huge amount of money, just like that.

Mr Lim, give credit where credit is due.. and this case, to your predecessor who did all the hard work to get the companies to Penang.

Congratulations to the MC Cagers '08

The Malay College Cagers basketball team managed to win the Piala Hamdan Tahir for the fifth time in a row during the recent Hari Kecemerlangan SPB in Jitra, Kedah.

The Wan Zaleha Radzi Encounter !

I was in still in MCKK when I had my major crush on Wan Zaleha Radzi. When everyone else was going ga-ga over singers and actresses (it was the Debbie Gibson-Tiffany-Raja Ema days, mind you), I was smitten by this petite yet stunning lady who read the news on TV3. I mean, its not often that you get an unbelievably stunning lady, who is educated and once represented the country in athletics (I came across the back issue of Dunia Sukan magazine which has a picture of Wan Zaleha during an athletic meet. I was estatic!). Wan Zaleha is truly "beauty and brains" personified and whenever she was on air (whether for Buletin Utama or Majalah Tiga), I would pay extra attention to the TV. Yet, despite all that, never once did I meet Wan Zaleha in the flesh. Sigh.

So, here I was with a friend at Ikea for lunch when I caught a glimpse of a petite lady wearing white jumper and her shoulder length hair tied back. Could it be after all these years? Lo and behold, it was Wan Zaleha having lunch there too.

I would love to rant more but I do remember that my wife reads this blog too, heheh:)

Indiana Jones...

Last friday, Honey Dearest and I made our way to the GSC at One Utama to catch the latest Indiana Jones movie. Honey is a big Harrison Ford fan (heheh, really BIG fan!) and since it's been 20 years from the last Indiana Jones movie, we decided to catch it early.

I remember back then, about 21 years back I was interviewed by Berita Harian (something about my scholastic achievement, which honestly, was not really something to shout about) and when they asked me what was my ambition, I replied "Archeologist" (which they wrote "Ahli Kajipurba"). The article actually appeared on bottom of the front page and made me a "mini-celebrity" at my primary school and "sekolah agama". But why the ahli kajipurba ? Hehehe, coz i wanted to be like Indiana Jones :)

Happy Birthday Sayang :)

Today, the 26th of May, 2008 is Honey Dearest's 30th birthday!

Baby, you dont look a day over 25 years 3 mnths, so here's for more wonderful birthday to come!

I love you so muuuccchhh!

JPA Scholarship : Part Deux

I would like to express the following in mixture of English and Bahasa Malaysia

Hari ni ada sorang lagi dok hantar surat kat The Star pasal tak puas hati tak dapat biasiswa dari JPA. Hish, sorang lagi yang nak main the "racial cards". Really spoil my morning bila aku baca the letter pagi-pagi buta masa aku nak breakfast dengan Honey Dearest.

Aku tak paham betul la bila sesetengah orang tu ingat, bila tak dapat something they want, it all boils down to discrimination (read: racial bias). Tolong la sikit. Hebat sangat ke engkau dengan 10A1 and A2 engkau. Kononnya "getting 10A1 and A2 for my EST has become more of a burden to me. I have become too good to enter matriculation but not good enough for PSD (JPA). Maybe I shouldn't have studied so hard and played more."

Apa yang engkau cakap ni ? According to him, dia rasa cheated sebab he thought "all students with 10A1 would automatically be given scholarship by JPA". Memang JPA akan bagi scholarship, tapi yang JPA gurantee is the scholarship for studying at local institution. Yang engkau minta tu overseas scholarship. Aku ada dua issue yang aku nak raise kat sini. First sekali, yang engkau mintak tu overseas scholarship. Engkau ni ada baca suratkhabar tak ? Engkau takkan tak tahu yang overseas scholarship under JPA ada 2000 tempat aje and engkau tahu tak ada berapa orang dapat straight As ? According to JPA, ada 6,262. Yes, read that again.. SIX THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED SIXTY TWO. Out of that entah berapa ribu yang dapat more than 10A1s, so sah-sah you know where you stand kan ? In fact, yang mintak for the scholarhip ada 15,000 orang and 7,500 made the cut. Congratulations, since you were among the 7,500 but paham le sikit, benda ni gila competitive. Besides, ada ke JPA bagitau engkau your marks for the interview, co-curricular activities etc. ? Mana engkau tahu you did well in the interview? Entah2 apa yang engkau jawab is not what they are looking for. Why do you people (well, some of you at least) assume that just because you get 10A1 and god-knows berapa A1 lagi, you guys are simply the very best? Hey, kalau engkau dapat full mark pun dlm the academic portion (by virtue of your 10As), setakat aktif dalam co-curricular activities, mana cukup ? Mungkin engkau presiden Interact Club but the other guy may have represented the country for some other activities. Sah2 le engkau lose out.

Lagi satu, apasal tak mention pasal applying for local universities ? Tak cukup BAGUS untuk yourself ke ?

"We are still the best. Let us hold our heads up and move on. I believe wherever we are placed, we will still shine because we have overcome the worst rejection and biasness"

HEY, apa yang engkau imply ni ? Granted, you did well by scoring that 10A1 and A2 but siapa yang reject engkau because of biasness ??? Dah tak dapat tu, as you said, move on la. Engkau tak mintak ke scholarship lain ? Engkau tak sudi ke nak belajar kat local U ?

Mr Lee of Kuala Lumpur... please la. Grow Up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Neigbourliness

I just want to find out.

When we buy a house, what constitute as our property is up to the front gate right? The road is considered as public property and the small patch of land between the drain out of our fence/gate and the road does not constitute as our property right ?

You see.. I had this rather irritating experience of neighbours (not immediate ones but about 5 houses away) who put potted plants or rubbish bins in front of their house so that no one can park in front of theirs. It so happened that there was this one particular night where I was back late and it was the ONLY parking spot available. So, I parked my car there (and its not I intend to leave it there for days or weeks) and whadda you see... a note in the morning "Please dont park your car infront of our house".

... and you park BOTH your cars inside your house!

So, to the SS18/** resident living at that particular house... %*&$&#@## u!

PSD Scholarships

Without fail, we will face this issue every year. 10As, 11As, god-knows how may As will write in the newspaper and complain that they will are being discriminated by some "upper hands" who tends to award overseas scholarship to undeserving "son of the soil". Standard arguments raised would be things like "...he/she only scores 4As, 5As"... " politically-connected family"... "high income parents".

I guess sometimes it just gets to me when these things are being brought up every single year. No, this time I am not going to join the PSD bashing but I think the people who are complaining and the political parties who are riding on the issues should really stop acting like victims.

Come on, its not like there are a handful of these 10As.... I think it comes to about a few thousands! The PSD DG explained it in an interview in one of the sunday papers that while academic score may consist 70% of the total mark for selection, the remainder 30% should not be totally ignored.

Obviously a few thousand will score 70% for the academic marks but with competition so stiff, it will take more than "being active in school activities" to tip the balance. You need to be really outstanding. Period.

Please dont forget about the interview session too. Sometimes you may do well in both the academic and the extra curricular activities but if you cant carry yourself well, then, sorry... other people who are better than you deserve it.

Please, stop making it a racial thing. It has come to an extend where if bumiputras were to obtain scholarship, there are "whispers" that "yea, must be some crony/well connected politician etc...".

Meritocracy is alive and well. Just because a bumiputera managed to secure a PSD scholarship, its automatically "a racial thing" again. Are you saying we are that DUMB ?

May Updates

I guess I am at it again... late in my updates. It has been a month since I last posted, but well.. like what Datin Seri Wan Azizah said in the media (albeit on a totally, totally different issue altogether), its better late than never.

May 6 2008
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Honey Dearest and I went for another checkup at Dr Ani's clinic. We found out that Dr Ani is also pregnant and will be delivering at about the same time as Honey Dearest :) It will be her fifth, if I am not mistaken.

Anyway, this is the fifth month checkup and with a scan to be done, I will find out whether Junior will be a going to koleq or to the school at bandar Enstek :) The scan wasn't very clear as Junior seemed to be good at playing hide and seek, but from what we saw, it will most likely be another Idris House member walking down the hallowed halls, heheh :)

May 7 -12 2008
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It's the MIHAS week, the Malaysian International Halal Showcase. For people in my industry, its THE trade show for the year. I have been attending the show for the past two years, and this year the venue is the Matrade HQ at Jalan Duta. I have requested for Kamol (my Thai partner at our Thai operation) to be in KL for the show and he has arrange for his flight to be on the 8th and returning to Bangkok on the 9th.

The first day of the show usually begins with the Incoming Buying Mission (IBM) meeting where local companies are matched with foreign companies interested to procure goods from Malaysia. This year, I have chosen companies from non-tradionational market such as Eastern Europe and Asean countries as the products I am selling normally will have a hard time to penetrate the stringent EU regulations or the complexity of the US markets (maybe later, when all things are in place). Matrade, sensing that they can make a killing in parking fees, charged RM5 per entry and by 10am, the parking lot was already full! It didnt help that the main exhibition halls are erected at one of the bigger parking lots, thus deprieving visitors more parking space.

The meeting for the two days of IBM went well and I made some good contacts and potential business. Kamol arrived at KL Sentral on thursday and I took him direct to the exhibition. Of course, the majority of the exhibitors are SMEs producing the traditional products such as sauces, spices, seafood etc... but we managed to identify a few products that got Kamol excited about its prospect in Thailand.

As always, Kamol puts up at Holiday Villa Subang and with the voucher from my mother-in-law, the price isnt so exhorbitant. For the night, Honey Dearest and I decided to spare Kamol the usual mall fare and we took him for dinner at SS13, where they have a nice "gerai" that serves tasty food. The problem with our "gerai" is that most of them employ cook from Thailand and serves a lot of Thai dishes, so we were careful to order food which has no resemblance to Thai food :)

On friday, after submitting a tender at Royal Selangor Club, Kamol and I went to MIHAS for one last look. I went for friday prayers at the Masjid Wilayah and after prayers, I sent Kamol to KL Sentral for him to take the shuttle to LCCT, en route to Bangkok.

The weekend
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Arrghh.. I was down with fever and flu.

The Halfway Mark

Honey Dearest is at the halfway mark of her pregnancy. Yes, its her 4 1/2 weeks today and Alhamdulillah, everything is going on fine. We have been going for the doctors visit together and Dr Ani (of Klinik Keluarga, USJ) has been really great!

The next visit which is sometime during the first week of May will be one where we will know (hopefully) the sex of the baby. I told Honey Dearest I'd rather be surprised but I don't think that's at all possible, especially when we start getting things for the baby!

Fatherhood... hmmm.. great!

Feeling Under The Weather

I was down with a mild fever last week. I consider it mild as it was practically curable with a pop of the ever trustwortyh panadol. I thought that was the end of my "under the weather" spell, until I woke yesterday with a sore throat.

Help!

The 9 Months Odyssey: A beginning

The next 9 months would probably be the most amazing journey that Honey Dearest and I will ever go through. After a few false starts and heartbreaks, this is finally it.