Happy Anniversary, 2779

Friday, 11 November 2009

Love makes people do crazy things. Romeo committed suicide because Juliet was dead. Although life is not always fair, but love never judges. Edward VIII gave up his throne to marry Wallis Simpson. Love is the light in the darkness, it moves us to do the unimaginable, to remain faithful and strong even when we are separated by the distance. Love needs no words to explain, it is felt inside your heart, the place where love resides. Love rejoices in seeing the happy faces of our loved ones, families, friends, and the one we are with, we want to be with, forever, till death do us part.

Men are not known to be good at showing their love with words, not even my dad can do that apart from the usual "love you" phrase when we kiss him goodnight or good morning. But being men, they show their love by going extra miles to make you safe, to make you smile when the day turns sour, and to protect you from the bad people who are out to get you at any cost.

Men like to be seen as useful, and one way he did it is by becoming a chauffeur. It started small, like picking me when I had meeting — he’ll cross downtown just to get me. This is soon followed by trips to Pavilion, because I like the cinema better. Finally, when I have to leave town to visit my parents (KL isn't that far from Putrajaya), he came up with a reason why we’re headed in the same direction, like he was going to pay his credit card at Citibank Jalan Ampang, and that is only 15 minutes away from my place. So we get to spend a few hours in a car together, sharing stories how the day went for us.

He went out of his way to do things to surprise me, like shipping my birthday gift across the ocean. He baked me a chocolate batik cake, and he cooked when I fell sick in Seoul during our course. He remembered important dates like my birthday, our anniversary, our first of eating dim sum together etc. He even knew when the emotional side of me will emerge, just by listening to the choice of words I use, and the tone of my voice, or how I will look to my left when we are in the car.

At 30, he is not a superman or a superhero with a slim figure, a gorgeous look or a pocket stuffed with cash. But he is for real and he is sincerely imperfect. He shares his own feelings with me, about his fears and the things that make him happy and sad e.g. kepantang besar etc. He isn't afraid to be emotionally vulnerable because that is who he is. When a man loves you, he'll open up to you.

So today, I want to take this opportunity to thank Allah for leading him to me. I want to thank my parents for their blessings and acceptance of our friendship, and more importantly, I want to thank him for being the best friend I ever had. May the days ahead be filled with blessings, prayers, and love. Happy anniversary my dearest, may Allah bless us always. May we become better human beings and servants of Allah.

The Danger of Being Judgemental

I was having lunch with ASEAN friends on Monday when the issue of people being judgemental was first raised, in lieu of Tiger Woods' transgression with other ladies. The discussion was interesting with each and everyone of us admitting to find it hard not to judge but over the years, we somehow or rather learn to compartmentalize our thoughts and start breaking information and inputs into its category, rather than jumping straight into conclusion, whatmore if its based on accusation, assumption and worst, FEELINGS alone rather than FACTS!

So suddenly as I was browsing the net, I discovered this article, which explicitly detailed out how unclassy it is to judge based on assumptions, rather than facts. I just remembered, someone confessed to me few weeks back, that "I dah judge you masa you mula2 sampai lagi". Masya Allah, lembutkan hati hambaMu agar mereka takut untuk memfitnah dan mengumpat, kerana takutkan dosa kepadaMu dan takutkan iman akan berkurangan.

This article made my day, I promise not to judge people based on assumptions, I will get to know people first. After all, Allah had never given you, me or any of us the right to judge people freely.

Happy reading!

Wartawan, MOHD. RADZI MOHD. ZIN dan jurufoto, ROY AZIS ABD. AZIZ menemu bual pensyarah Jabatan Fiqh dan Usul Fiqh, Kuliyyah Ilmu Wahyu Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia, Prof. Datuk Paduka Dr. Mahmood Zuhdi Abdul Majid bagi mengupas isu ini.

MEGA: Apakah perbezaan antara mengumpat dan fitnah?
MAHMOOD ZUHDI: Mengumpat itu adalah perbuatan mengeji atau mengutuk orang lain di luar pengetahuan orang tersebut. Fitnah pula adalah mengada-adakan sesuatu yang tidak ada atau mengaitkan diri seseorang dengan sesuatu yang tidak benar. Ia terhasil daripada persepsi atau gambaran dan bukannya berdasarkan realiti.

Rasulullah SAW bersabda: Tahukah kamu apa itu memfitnah? Para sahabat berkata: “Allah dan Rasulnya lebih mengetahui”. Baginda bersabda: Memfitnah adalah mengatakan sesuatu tentang saudara (Muslim) ketika dia tidak ada dan yang dia tidak suka. Ditanya: “Wahai Rasulullah jika kekurangan itu sungguh ada dalam diri seorang muslim, maka apa yang harus aku dikatakan?” Baginda menjawab: Jika apa yang dikatakan itu benar, maka itu adalah mengumpat. (riwayat Muslim) Fitnah ini bukan hanya berlaku sekarang. Saidatina Aishah juga pernah difitnah, begitu juga fitnah yang membawa kepada kematian khalifah Uthman Ibn Affan. Mengapa ia berlaku?

MAHMOOD ZUHDI: Dalam sejarah awal Islam, fitnah adalah berbentuk perbuatan mengadu domba atau melaga-lagakan orang. Sebabnya, orang Arab ketika itu masih kuat dipengaruhi semangat assabiyah atau kedaerahan. Apabila nabi wafat, maka berlaku cubaan merampas kuasa oleh orang Muhajirin di Saqifah Bani Saad. Bagaimanapun cubaan itu berjaya dipatahkan oleh Saidina Abu Bakar dan Umar. Selain itu, orang Yahudi menabur fitnah untuk memecah-belahkan masyarakat. Malah, pada ketika itu juga ada golongan yang ekstrem sehingga mewujudkan syiah (penyokong kuat) pemimpin tertentu seperti syiah Abu Bakar dan syiah Ali. Dalam al-Quran, Allah berfirman, …dan ingatlah (angkara) fitnah itu lebih besar bahayanya daripada membunuh…(al-Baqarah: 191). Mengapakah begitu besar ancaman fitnah ini kepada masyarakat?

MAHMOOD ZUHDI: Ayat di atas menjelaskan bahaya fitnah dalam masyarakat. Antara sebabnya adalah fitnah itu boleh dibaratkan sebagai pembunuh senyap yang boleh menjadikan sesiapa sahaja mangsanya. Mangsanya pula akan tertekan dan masyarakat jadi porak peranda. Berbanding dengan membunuh, ia hanya melibatkan nyawa. Sebab itu, dalam Islam hukum merampas barang orang dan mencuri berbeza. Mencuri hukumnya lebih berat kerana ia mengambil barang orang lain secara senyap dan menyebabkan masyarakat rasa tertekan dan tidak tenteram. Walhal, merampas barang orang walaupun berdosa tetapi hukumannya adalah dengan membayar ganti rugi. Di akhirat, orang yang menabur fitnah akan diseksa kerana ia adalah dosa besar. Bagi Muslim, perbuatan tersebut akan menghilangkan ‘status’ sebagai Muslim. Allah turut menjelaskan betapa buruknya perbuatan mengumpat dan fitnah itu menerusi firman-Nya: …dan janganlah kamu mengintip atau mencari-cari kesalahan dan keaiban orang dan janganlah sesetengah kamu mengumpat setengah yang lain. Adakah seseorang dari kamu suka makan daging saudaranya yang telah mati?…(al-Hujurat: 12) Sedangkan Islam menyuruh umatnya menutup keburukan yang dilakukan oleh saudara sesama Muslim. Bagi mereka yang menyembunyikan keburukan ini maka Allah akan sembunyikan keburukan mereka di akhirat. Ini dijelaskan menerusi sabda Rasulullah SAW.

Dalam surah al-Hujurat ayat 6, kita diingatkan supaya berhati-hati apabila menerima berita daripada orang fasik. Persoalannya, bagaimana hendak mengetahui kefasikan seseorang itu?

MAHMOOD ZUHDI: Pengajaran yang lebih penting dalam ayat ini adalah membudayakan berhati-hati apabila menerima berita daripada orang kita ragui. Demikian juga apabila mendapat berita sama ada melalui khidmat pesanan suara (SMS), khabar angin, tuduhan melulu atau melalui Internet yang boleh dipertikaikan kejujurannya atau ada udang di sebalik batu, maka ini juga tergolong dalam kategori fasik. Tentang maksud fasik ini ulama berbeza pandangan. Ada yang berkata, fasik itu ialah orang yang pernah membuat dosa besar. Satu pihak lagi mengatakan fasik itu ialah orang yang pernah melakukan dosa besar atau yang sentiasa membuat dosa besar. Ada juga berita-berita kecil yang disensasikan oleh media. Dan ada juga berlaku di mana orang yang terlibat itu seronok sebab berita tentang dirinya dapat liputan meluas. Padahal natijahnya ia menimbulkan kekacauan dalam masyarakat.

Apabila masyarakat terutama anak muda terbiasa hidup dalam suasana fitnah menjadi perkara biasa, mereka akan hilang sensitiviti. Akhirnya masyarakat jadi kucar-kacir dan menghakis idealisme perpaduan dalam Islam.

Bagaimanapun, masyarakat kini nampaknya lebih percaya kepada berita Internet berbanding dalam media arus perdana?

MAHMOOD ZUHDI: Dalam bab ini saya ingin memetik kata-kata Sheikh Mohd. Abduh, seorang tokoh di Mesir iaitu, “kebebasan yang tidak terkawal adalah lebih buruk daripada kongkongan yang stabil”. Sekarang nampak seperti akhbar dan televisyen bukan lagi sumber pertama berita. Sebaliknya, orang kini lebih percaya kepada maklumat secara ‘curi’ yang dipaparkan di Internet. Ini adalah budaya masyarakat dunia ketiga.
Kita tiba-tiba berhadapan dengan kebebasan maklumat yang tidak biasa dinikmati sebelum ini. Sistem tapisan kita masih belum mencukupi. Jadi ramai yang tumpas disebabkan kejutan budaya itu. Jadi, kita perlukan sedikit masa untuk stabilkan keadaan.

Analoginya, seorang kanak-kanak itu sukakan warna merah kerana coklat dan gula-gulanya berwarna merah. Namun, suatu hari dia termakan cili yang juga berwarna merah. Maka barulah dia tahu bahawa bukan semua berwarna merah itu menarik dan enak dimakan.
Dalam pada itu, media arus perdana yang mementingkan kebenaran berita perlu lebih menonjol dan merombak birokrasi di dalamnya. Ini supaya boleh menjiwai arus media picisan yang begitu kuat pengaruhnya dalam masyarakat sekarang. Ini tidak boleh dilakukan dalam sekelip mata. Dalam keadaan sekarang, setiap orang
terdedah kepada keburukan yang terhasil akibat kebebasan maklumat tanpa kawalan. Hanya mereka yang kukuh imannya akan selamat.

Apakah sikap dan tindakan yang perlu dilakukan oleh mangsa fitnah itu tadi?

MAHMOOD ZUHDI: Di dunia, mangsa berhak pertahankan diri dan minta pihak yang memfitnah itu kemukakan bukti dan kenyataan bagi menyokong kebenaran dakwaan tersebut. Dari segi doktrinnya, mereka tetap tidak bersalah sehingga dibuktikan bersalah di mahkamah. Dari segi agama, mangsa perlu bersabar dan tidak melakukan fitnah balas kepada orang yang memfitnah atau kepada pihak ketiga.
Kadang-kadang, kejadian ini adalah cubaan Allah untuk menguji keimanan seseorang. Baginda SAW sendiri pernah difitnah. Namun, fitnah atau tohmahan itu akan melahirkan peribadi yang lebih utuh. Namun, jika sudah tidak mampu ditanggung atau ditahan lagi, kita akan melenting dan boleh membawa kepada kehancuran. Apabila terkena fitnah atau musibah, ia bukanlah 100 peratus keburukan. Mungkin yang kena fitnah itu akan terima sokongan ramai yang bersimpati dengannya.

Barangkali juga kesulitan dan ujian Allah ini baik untuk kita sebagaimana firman Allah, …Dan boleh jadi kamu benci kepada sesuatu padahal ia baik untuk kamu dan dan boleh jadi kamu suka kepada sesuatu perkara padahal ia buruk bagi kamu. Dan (ingatlah) Allah jualah yang yang mengetahui semuanya itu, sedang kamu tidak mengetahuinya. (al-Baqarah: 216). Mari kita hayati kata-kata Imam Ghazali, “kekuatan itu bukan terletak orang yang boleh bergusti atau menang tetapi orang yang kuat ialah yang boleh menahan diri daripada bertindak liar apabila mereka dalam keadaan marah”.
Kebanyakan pemimpin dunia mempunyai sifat begini. Malah dalam Islam, kita juga perlu beriman dengan qada dan qadar. Ini membolehkan kita berasa tenang dan tidak resah gelisah walau apa pun yang berlaku kerana semuanya telah ditentukan Allah. Malah pergantungan terakhir adalah pada Allah Yang Esa.

Bagi budaya peradaban yang lebih tinggi, adalah dicadangkan supaya mangsa fitnah itu bersyukur kerana mujur tidak difitnah lebih besar daripada yang sekarang.
Apa pula reaksi orang Islam apabila berhadapan dengan hal sebegini?
MAHMOOD ZUHDI: Setiap Muslim tidak boleh terima bulat-bulat tohmahan atau fitnah yang
disampaikan kecuali setelah diperiksa kesahihannya.

Sebab itu Islam sangat menentang sifat jahiliah iaitu sifat yang menggunakan persepsi semata-mata untuk menentukan kebenaran atau tidak. Sebaliknya, umat Islam perlu menggunakan keyakinan data ilmiah dalam menentukan benar atau salah sesuatu berita itu. Bagi pengikut mana-mana individu, apabila berhadapan dengan fitnah hendaklah mereka bertenang dan tidak bertindak melampau. Sebagai manusia kita bukan maksum(terpelihara daripada dosa). Malah, apabila berlaku kematian kita menyebut Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilaihirajiiun (dari Allah kita datang kepada Allah kita kembali). Apabila mendapat nikmat pula kita menyebut Alhamdulillah (segala puji bagi Allah).
Mereka yang tunjukkan reaksi bukan menunjukkan sifat Muslim yang ideal. Bukanlah langsung kita tidak boleh bereaksi spontan seperti rasa marah. Yang dilarang ialah rasa marah yang berpanjangan. Sebabnya apabila emosi menguasai, kita tidak lagi menggunakan akal. Sedangkan yang sepatutnya akal menguasai emosi atau nafsu manusia.
Yang perlu kita ingat adalah apabila Allah turunkan bala, ia akan mengenai semua orang sama ada yang melakukan maksiat atau orang yang beriman.

Firman Allah: Dan jagalah diri kamu daripada (berlakunya) dosa (yang membawa bala bencana) yang bukan sahaja akan menimpa orang-orang yang zalim di antara kamu secara khusus (tetapi akan menimpa kamu secara umum). Dan ketahuilah bahawa Allah Maha berat azab seksa-Nya. (al-Anfal: 25)

Apakah pula kriteria yang membolehkan mubahalah dalam Islam?

MAHMOOD ZUHDI: Muhabalah (bersumpah dan memohon Allah melaknat orang yang berdusta) ini disebut dalam firman Allah: Maka barang siapa yang membantahmu mengenainya (agama) sesudah datang pengetahuan kepadamu, katakanlah kepada mereka: Marilah kita mengajak anak-anak kami dan anak-anak kamu, perempuan-perempuan kami dan perempuan-perempuan kamu, diri-diri kami dan diri-diri kamu, kemudian kita bermubahalah (dengan berdoa dan memohon) menjadikan laknat Allah ke atas ke atas orang-orang yang berdusta. (ali-‘Imran: 61) Sebab turun ayat ini adalah bagi menceritakan pada suatu ketika Rasulullah SAW mengajak kaum nasrani (kristian) agar memeluk Islam dan membetulkan pandangan bahawa Nabi Isa itu bukan anak Tuhan. Kaum nasrani kemudiannya meminta baginda mengemukakan bukti siapa lagi anak yang tidak mempunyai bapa selain Nabi Isa, lalu Nabi SAW berkata, Nabi Adam a.s.

Disebabkan tiada mekanisme untuk menyelesaikan pertikaian itu, maka baginda mengajak kaum nasrani bermuhabalah. Apa yang menjadi pokok dalam muhabalah ini adalah sumpah dan mohon binasa bagi pihak yang menipu. Bagaimanapun, kaum nasrani tadi khuatir lalu bertanya adakah cara lain selain itu, maka baginda menjawab ada iaitu melalui bayar jizyah. Dengan kata lain, muhabalah hanya perlu apabila sudah tidak ada jalan lain untuk menyelesaikan sesuatu masalah. Bagi kes lain termasuk pertuduhan jenayah, kita mempunyai institusi untuk menyiasat kebenaran dakwaan itu iaitu mahkamah sivil dan mahkamah syariah. Maka, dalam kes sebegini ia tidak perlukan mubahalah. Kalau mereka yang terlibat ingin bersumpah itu soal lain.

Thank You, Allah

Alhamdulillah, let us pray for better days ahead, let us all be better Muslims in days to come, God abiding and respectful of others regardless of their religion, age, race or social strata. Life is too beautiful to be spoiled by greed, jealousy, vendetta, rivalry, defamation, gossips, etc. Let us all strive towards equipping ourselves with amal ibadat to be carried with us to life hereafter. Let us all pray may He will membezakan yang hak dan yang batil, Amin. If there are anyone have sabotaged you or defamed you, let us all pray for the person to be returned to the right path. "O Allah, if such and such person is cruel against me, please punish him."

“Wahai Tuhan Kami, berilah kami perasaan takut kepadamu yang dapat menghalang kami dari kemaksiatan dan berilah kami ketaatan kepadamua yang menyampaikan kami ke syurgamu, dan berilah dan berilah keyakinan yang memudahkan kami menghadapi bencana di dunia.”

“Wahai tuhan kami berilah kami kenikmatan pendengaran, penglihatan dan kekuatan tubuh badan selama hidup kami dan jadikanlah dia mewarisi kami dan berilah pembalasan kepada orang yang menzalimi kami. Dan tolonglah kami terhadap orang yang memusuhi kami.Dan janganlah engkau jadikan bencana bagi kami dalam ugama kami dan janganlah jadikan keduniaan sebesar-besar cita-citanya dami dan tidak sampai batasan ilmu kami. Dan janganlah Engkau biarkan orang yang tidak menaruh kasihan balas terhadap kami, dapat menguasai ke atas kami.”

“Wahai Tuhan kami, kami pohon perlindungna dengan nur kesucian engkau dan berkat kebersihan dan keagungan sifat jalal engkau, dari setiap yang datang waktu malam kecuali yang datang dengan baik.” “Wahai tuhan kami, engkaulah penolong kami, maka kepada engkau kami mohon pertolongna. Wahai tuhan kami, engkaulah tempat kami menyelamatkan diri, maka kepada engkaulah kami pohon selamat. Wahai tuhan bagilah kelemahan dan kehinaan yang mana segala tengkuk pembesar dunia.”

“Dan tunduk kepadanya segala urusan dan kebesaran raja-raja Firaun, selamatkan kami dari penghinaan dan hukuman siksamu, ketika malam atau siang, ketika kami tidur atau berada di suatu tempat. Tiada tuhan bagi kami melainkan engkau demi kebesaran wajah engkau dan kemuliaan kesucian engkau, hindarkanlah kami dari segala kejahatan hamba-hamba engkau, berilah kemudahan kepada kami dengan limpah kurnia dari engkau wahai tuhan yang maha pemurah.”

“Wahai Tuhan sama ada engkau lembutkan hati-hati mereka untuk kami sebagaimana kamu lembutkan besi untuk Nabi Daud, dan kamu menundukkan mereka seperti seperti kamu tundukkan bukit bukau, gunung ganang untuk Nabi Sulaiman atau pun kamu lipat balik rancnagan jahat mereka supaya berpatah balik ke atas mereka sendiri , dan kamu hancur leburkan pakatan mereka dan kacau bilaukan kumpulan mereka dan goncangkan pendirian mereka dan Ya Allah turunkan bendera mereka rapat ke bumi, Wahai Tuhan yang tetap hidup yang mentadbir urusan makhluknya, Wahai Tuhan yang mempunyai keagungna dan kemuliaan, sesungguhnya Engkau berkuasa di atas tiap-tiap sesuatu.”

“Ya Allah Tuhan kami, limpahkanlah rahmat ke atas junjungna kami Nabi Muhammad S.A.W yang dengannya dapat emngubati hati dan menjadikan penawar, menyihatkan badan yang menyembuhkannya, menjadi cahaya bagi pandangan mata dan menyinarkannnya dan limpahkanlah rahmat dan kesejahteraan kepada keluarga dan para sahabat baginda sekalian.” Ya Allah Ya tuhanku aku tak berdaya lagi utk menjaga agamaMU kerana amat kuat serangan yg datang dari pelbagai cara. Oleh itu aku minta kepadaMU pertahankan agamaMU sebagaimana ENGKAU mempertahankan rumahMU dr serangan tentera abrahah.

Birds of the Same Feather

If a shopaholic feels alive upon seeing a mall, I felt satisfied upon listening to a confession of a judgemental person self-proclaiming that "We judge you bla bla bla.." In a nutshell, the hypothesis in which the premise was offered has its validity, and it was a sense of satisfaction to know how one admitted to its own judgemental approach, hence acting like a moral police or self-appointed "holier than thou" inspector. Its okay if they are comfortable to judge others, provied they will be open to be judged vice versa. But usually, they don't. They will point 10 fingers to others and hide theirs. Terrible but true.

In between juggling the words for NKRA SPKM and more acronyms that are easy to pronounce but hard to remember, two old proverbs sang to my ears "birds of the same feather flock together" and "baling batu sembunyi tangan". I had written earlier about guilt, as seen from the eyes of Noam Chomsky. If I were to put two and two together, I could be starting a judgemental assumption, but Alhamdulillah, I realized that I am not a divine intervention or Allah the Almighty to start judging and assuming things about others. Sufficient to say, life is not about sticking to a cocoon, thinking that you are holier than others by doing that. Worse, evading to answer a direct question, coupled with judgements made during ice age time, all lead to unresolved situations which to me are actually non-issue. To escape preying eyes of those who are looking and observing, the tactic may shift to blaming others, or worse assuming things based on hearsays, judgement, "first impression lasts forever" and all sort of immature justifications one can give to reason its inability to come to terms that they do have problems, perhaps inherently.

Few years back, a wise friend of mine taught me to laugh at myself, because life is too short to be competing for everything. Until today, I keep laughing at myself at how silly I was or how wrong I was in doing something, or how emotional I was when reading comments made by younger girls than me, when in actual I could do better than that. But after yesterday's confession, I think I may want to add on laughing at others (once a while) because indeed, people are funny. And more importantly, over the years, I come to appreciate the art of offering your hand of friendship or be the first to apologize in humility, because to me, if Allah loves people who often seek kindness, I pray that He will bless me with more warmth to admit my mistakes, apologize and become better.

Based on facts, I thought it was perplexing that one who is brilliantly au fait with schedules of sales at supermarkets, malls etc, or one who have no guilt to shop during working period, could than say others are bad for being honest. Funnier, apologizing by insinuating the help that one has given, is really ridiculous because it indirectly means, you calculate the amount of assistance you give others hoping that they will be grateful and indebted to you (so funny). Anyway, maybe we should start laughing at ourselves rather being defensive, as if the whole world will fall on us if we admit our mistakes. Sigh, is it really a competition?

When we go to meet Him, He will see what is inside our heart. He will see what we do with our hands, what we say with our words, what we do to our brothers and sisters behind their back, what we call other people's daughter/son/budak bawah etc. One will be judged only by Allah s.w.t who had brought us to this world, hoping that we will fear Him more than anything else hence we will only seek His blessings and rahmat.

My other half used to nag at me about all this things but I often take it lightly, but indeed I can't wait to tell him how I used his advise to my own good use. Thank you dear. My parents would be grateful, that they raised me well enough to respect everyone equally for everyone is from Allah s.w.t. I pray that the children of men will be more enlightened with knowledge, wisdom, virtue and more importantly, keredhaan Allah to lead a life ahead which are still uncertain.

As for me, I was humbled to learn that some people do read this blog, and perhaps owing to the fact that they know little about the writer, they do not know how to react. Good to read, bad to assume, worse to judge. Enough said.

I agree with observations made by highly intelligent men and women arond me who argued that, one need to be measured according to the level of education as well, for me to understand the psyche of them being to insecure and unable to adapt, whatmore to admit that the world is not as stagnant and static as their cocoon they built around them. People struggle to cover their weaknesses because they can never come to terms of admitting it. Indeed, thank you to all of them for sharing their insights. Just because people are different, does not make them any lesser than anyone, so said my mum.

So today, as I am waiting patiently for MH130 to take me home, I want to recite prayers to Allah s.w.t, Alhamdulillah, thank you for testing me with this trial, for it reinforces my conviction that Allah is not far from me if I wish for Him to be near. To all the advisors and my superior, thank you for putting things in perspective, devoid of emotional entanglement, judgemental and look-down-cause I had lived longer-than you-kinda treatment, for indeed, you have shown me the wisdom to all this.

I would like to end by quoting a wise man who used to invigilate me during one interview I had few years back, and he said to me in the car on the way to the airport "One can have either 1 experience repeated for 30 time, or 30 times of different experiences, depending on your attitude". Serik? Never in my dictionary, why should I be serik if I know I have good mentors advising me from behind, patiently moulding me into the woman I am destined to be.

Can't help but pondering at how the future will hold. Malaysia, here I come!

Surah An Nisaa'

Sometime I miss the days when I was in SMAP Labu. A good school to be, what I gleaned then, I use them now. Syukran ya ustaz wa ustazah, akhi wa ukhti.

Ayat : 112]
112. And he who commits a fault or a crime and then charges an innocent man with it, shall bear on himself the guilt of calumny and a flagrant crime.

[Ayat : 113]
113. But for Allah's Grace and Mercy(156), on you (O Muhammad) a party of them would indeed resolve to lead you astray; but they will mislead none but themselves, nor can they do you any harm. And (apart from that) Allah has revealed to you the Book (the Qur?an) and wisdom (profound knowledge), and taught you what you did not know before. And the grace of Allah upon you is indeed great.

[Ayat : 114]
114. There is no virtue in much of their secret talks: except (the secret talks) of the one who enjoins charity, kindness and making peace among men. And he who does this to please Allah We shall in time grant him an immense reward.

OFFICE POLITICS: PERSONALITIES IN THE WORKPLACE

Chilling out after a day of MNZFTA R&D....and perhaps a good reflection article on people we meet everyday at our work place ehehee....

1. Let’s have a meeting before a meeting

These people thrive in big offices where they can spend their days going to meeting after meeting instead of actually working.

2. How the hell did they get their job?
Every office has one – the person who never fails to baffle their co-workers with their incompetence.

3. I hurry, therefore I am
This type lives on a steady diet of stress – they can’t work without pressure and everything must be done in a rush even if there is no need for it.

4. I’m sick but too important to go home
These people flatter themselves that they are indispensable. They think the world will stop if they don’t go to work.

5. You must respect my authority
These types patronise those younger than them and have an inflated sense of their own importance. They are fond of lecturing their co-workers about how if they play their cards right, they might one day end up like them.

6. Have you seen whatshisname?
These people have a few clever tactics for how to not be around. They’ll leave their jacket on the chair and say I’ll be back in five minutes, then you won’t see them for three days.


7. Someone more important has come up
These types think nothing of ordering you in for a meeting, then taking a phone call and ignoring you for half an hour while you wait patiently.

8. I’m actually really nice
These people use email to devastating effect – they think nothing of writing a nasty note and concluding it with a smiley note.

9. I know stuff before you do
These people love to spread bad news. They feed off misery and love knowing before everyone else that job cuts are coming – which they will spread around the office with glee.

10. I, I….I
These types step in at the last minute and take all the credit for any success, without actually doing any of the work.



New Zealand Herald
Sunday, 6 September 2009

Bukit Kepong

It is my favourite movie for all time. How courageous the heroes were in defending our country. "Mereka telah gugur sebagai pahlawan demi mempertahankan negara ke titisan darah yang terakhir".

Alfatihah. Semoga roh ditempatkan di sisi orang-orang bertakwa di sisi Allah.

MNZFTA

From NZ Herald. Good news for thee, Malaysia

Top ministers head off on Asian trade blitz By Audrey Young

John Key leaves today for the East Asia Summit in Thailand - his first stop in something of an Asian blitz by New Zealand to cement relationships with important new Governments.

The Prime Minister will be joined in Thailand by Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

The pair will also visit Japan next week where the new Government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is settling into office.

After Thailand, Mr McCully will go to South Korea where he will meet new Prime Minister Chung Un-chan among others.

Mr Key will head to Malaysia on Sunday and Monday with Trade Minister Tim Groser, who will sign the free trade agreement with Malaysia.

Malaysia Prime Minister Sri Najib has held office only since April.

This week Mr Groser, a former ambassador to Indonesia and top trade official, has been at the inauguration in Indonesia of re-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhyono.

Mr McCully said New Zealanders might not realise the importance that Asia has played "in underpinning our economy during the economic downturn".


New Zealand, for example, had a 62 per cent increase in exports to China last year and its economy was back at 8 per cent growth.

There had been a dramatic increase in exports to Indonesia.

Exports to Vietnam had doubled in five years and New Zealand was putting in a "fair amount of work" into that relationship.

New Zealand had a free trade agreement with China, had negotiated one with Malaysia, was negotiating one with South Korea, and the Asean-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement was due to take effect on January 1.

"Those pieces of paper also require some follow-up at both a ministerial and a commercial level," he told the Herald.

"There's a lot of work going into consolidating on progress that has been made as well as making new progress."

The East Asia summit involves the 10 countries of Asean - Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Brunei, the Philippines and Indonesia - who will meet first.

The addition of New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, India, China and Japan completes the East Asia Summit membership.

If it manages to be held, it will be only the fourth meeting of the summit.

And it is the third attempt to hold the summit in Thailand, with tens of thousands of security forces expected to be present in the coastal town of Hua Hin.

Two previous attempts were postponed because of civil unrest, the most recent in Pattaya in April.

Of primary interest to New Zealand at the East Asia summit will be a report on a proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia, initiated by Japan. Mr Key said it had the potential to create the largest free trade area in the world.

TARGETING EAST ASIA

John Key
Thailand, Malaysia, Japan.

Murray McCully
Thailand, South Korea, Japan.

Tim Groser
Indonesia, Malaysia.

Of Open House and Knee Operation

Alhamdulillah, my open house went well, food was enough for everyone, paper plate estimation indicated that around 250 attendees came to my place for the makan2 session. Some even joked that I cooked for the whole of Wellington, but the truth is its rezeki, by word of mouth, and considering that it was a Sunday, and my place is right smack in the town, add up to the huge turnout at my place.

I had a great team assisting me in all aspects - that help to put things in order. Thank you to everyone who took the trouble to board the bus to my place, to cook additional dishes, to arrange plates, desserts etc, to buy bread as backup plan, to throw the rubbish to the bin, to fill up the food etc, thank you so much. It was a good team that led to such a wonderful outcome for all.

Officially, Aidilfitri for us in NZ will end tomorrow. Another interesting year ahead, in the embrace of Syawal. Thank you Allah for giving me another day to breathe.

And the usual divas and competitive people just cannot resist the temptation to sabotage but what can I say, Allah knows best cause I leave all to Him to decide. And today, had spinach lasagna and sparkling grape juice for dinner, another great dinner and great company. Another breath of gratitude to the Almighty for His blessings.

Mum just passed the word that wan will be operating her knees in November. Perhaps good time to consider a vacation back home. After being informed of tokchu's COD, I can't help but to hope that may I have enough time to be with them. Operation at such an old age is not a good option, as far as I am concerned. It shall not make things any better, especially if the body cannot take it. But if that's an option made, we have to respect it.

Hence, decisions have been made and I will be praying for the best for everyone. Whatever it is, I am savoring the good dinner and company I often enjoy here in Wellington. Thank you Allah.