Selamat Hari Merdeka

Sorry…its just going to be a quite empty entry. Tak boleh & tak pandai nak menggambarkan perasaan of being free and independent, cuma banyak bersyukur. Like for every Merdeka, I will spend it with my parents, its time to reflect and enjoy each others company. Kalau tak merdeka , I guess I wont be where i am right now. My parents wont be where they are right now. Syukur that me and my family live in a country which is truly blessed.

For me I’m grateful that my daughter lives in a free and democratic country where there are no wars, famine and what ever else bad is going through the rest of the world.

The future, my future

Selamat Hari Merdeka ke 49, Kerana mu Malaysia

Tandas

The other day in the papers, terbaca that in KL that DBKL (correct me if i'm wrong) nak install high tech toilets kat strategic placed around KL. Ni bukan tandas yang kat construction site or the portable one's kat concert tu. Based on the gambar, besar jugak. The paper shows the toilet being
installed kat Sg Wang.

Toliet cleanliness ni very sensitive topic, i remember few months back agak kecoh pasal the condition of toilets tak begitu memberangsangkan. Diharap dengan teknologi baru ni, masalah tandas ni dapat di bendung.

I got these pics from an email a friend of mine bagi, i guess some of you may have seen it. They say they have it in Switzerland. Betul or not i dont know cause i tak penah pi Switzerland. They say they make good chocolates :)

sila masuk

"can you pass me the tissue please"

Someone else's point of view

I think we've heard enough of the Sharifah Amani issue. Yes i do agree and yes there are things which i disagree. I, myself sound stupid when i express my self in Malay,i prefer to do it in English. Does that mean i'm not malay?does it mean i ni berlagak? does it mean i lupa diri? i guess the poor girl was excited and so "teruja" she said some things that offended some people.

Anyway, I got an email from a good friend of mine which i think i'll share it with you all (sapa yang baca this blog anyway). It was written by Yasmin Ahmad, who directed the movie sepet & Gubra which i consider a very good movie. The original article can be found in her blog "yasmin the story teller"

Pure Malay?

Let me begin by laying my cards on the table. I know next to zilch about the etymology of languages.

That's why it impresses me to no end when someone speaks, with utmost conviction, about the preservation of the purity of the Malay language. They must know something I don't.

Because given my limited knowledge on the subject, I often find Bahasa Melayu to be littered with words originated from places as far afield as the Middle East, India, China, Indonesia, Portugal and England.

Allow me illustrate my point:

"Jangan asyik duduk memuja televisyen tu, tolong abah buat kerja. Padamkan tanglung di luar tu, ambilkan mentega yang dalam peti ais, keluarkan pisau dalam laci, tapi kalau tak ada pisau, garfu pun jadilah. Pagi ni, abah nak makan sarapan roti sahaja."

Asyik: Rooted in the Urdu word 'ashiki' which means passionately, or with love.

Memuja: Rooted in the Sanskrit 'pooja' which means to worship, or prayer.

Televisyen: Hah! No prizes for guessing where this one came from.

Abah: Rooted in the Aramaic term for father. Also frequently used in ancient Hebrew.

Tanglung: Nice word, this. Cantonese for dragon light, I think.

Mentega: Portuguese for butter; in Spanish it's 'mantega'.

Peti Ais: 'Ais' is of course ice, phonetically transcribed.

Laci: Pronounced "lah-chee". Don't hold me to it, but I think it may have originally been Dutch.

Garfu: Portuguese for fork.

Sarapan: Breakfast in Malay, Minang, Javanese, and Balinese.

Roti: Hindi for bread.

There you go. Roughly 11 out of the 41 words used here are foreign. Nothing to be ashamed of really. It's the same with English.

An Englishman traversing our country once remarked to me, with more than just a hint of ridicule in the tone of his voice as he surveyed the signages on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, "Pejabat Pos? Hah! I presume 'pos' comes from the English 'post'. Why don't you Malays invent your own words instead of borrowing from ours?"

So I turned to him and replied, not just with a hint of ridicule, but with great relish, "Ah, but John, the term 'Post Office' isn't English at all, dear. They come from the Latin words 'postis' and 'officium'. Yes, Latin, mate. West-central Italy. Romans. Spaghetti-ville. Mothers with moustache. Yessiree, the English language is a mish-mash, haggis-like, illegitimate child of Latin, German, Scandinavian languages, Viking conquer-speak, Hindi (remember bungalow and veranda?), Malay (yes, 'amok' is Malay!), and who knows what else!"

John kept well silent after that.

Why, even my second sentence at the beginning of this article ("I know next to zilch about the etymology of languages.") has words more mixed up than Penang 'pasembor'. 'Zilch' is a cross-breed of two words - 'zero' (from the Arabic 'sifr', which is a state of being nothing) and 'nil' (from the Latin 'nihil'). 'Etymology' comes from, among several other words of different ethnic origins, the Greek 'etumologia'.

So much for the purity of language/langage/lingua (English, French and Latin, respectively).

Which brings me back to my point. The Malay language. Or Bahasa Melayu. (Is it still Bahasa Malaysia now, or has it gone back to Bahasa Melayu? Who knows? All too often it depends on the political agenda of the current guardians of the language, unfortunately.)

Being myself a Melayu (well, half Javanese, a quarter Bugis and a quarter Japanese, anyway), I wonder what all the fuss is about. Now that we've established no one speaks pure anything anymore, why the endless crusade for linguistic purity here in Malaysia?

Recently, a well-renowned Malay film director went up in arms over the sanctity of the term 'Filem Nasional'. (Not a very Melayu phrase at all, to begin with, given that we can easily unearth the origins of the words 'filem' and 'nasional').

In any case, a 'filem nasional', he insisted, must be in Bahasa Melayu. Which means that Malaysian-made films which have the actors speaking in Chinese or Tamil will not qualify as 'filem nasional'. In other words, they will be classified as foreign films, and therefore, will not be eligible for local film award shows, tax rebates, and worse, will be taxed as foreign films are taxed.

Poppy, and more to the point, cock! What is the point of all this self-important paranoia? Here we are, singing "Malaysia, Truly Asia" for all the world to hear and see, but here in our own backyard, it's "Malaysia, Truly Melayu" and everyone else can go to pots.

Come, come.

By Yasmin Ahmad (Gubra & Sepet)

So there you have it, i dont know what the fuss is all about? I remember reading Suraya Al-attas's column in the Sunday Times 2 weeks back. Everyone was so busy "slagging" Sharifah Amani but they didn't bother to notice or even comment when AR Badul "harrased" Ida Nerina on live TV. I guess its more acceptable to comment on someones "bumper" and look at a ladies ass on national/live TV.

Thats my 2 cents folks

Julia thanks for that email

Questions of the day

Stuff that's bugging me...

1. Why cant people accept change?

Is it that hard? Do we have to follow the same old mundane way?People want changes, but are really not ready for it.

2. Why do people complain?

Why are there people who love to complain? Example, theres this guy in the documentation department. The only time i see him, is when i finish my planning work. I dont even see him, everything is done via email. And yet he tell's everyone that i'm slow in my work. He doesnt even have the balls to tell it to my face.

3. Why are there insensitive people in this world?

I can take a joke, i can be the butt of jokes. I'm the type yang tak kisah.The thing that pisses me of is when "friends" who have reached that "40 year old" mark and "oh I'm so bored, cause I still cant get a job" type still joke about if they can hit it off (mengurat) with your sister who by the way is already married with 2 kids. I know its a joke but please there are limits. I guess if they read this they will sure say i have no sense of humor. Well how would it feel if i said the same thing bout your sister?

4. Why am I so tired?
Is it because I dont eat right? or is it because I sleep late? or is it because I work too hard

5. Why am i complaining a lot?
Guess you cant have everything.

Still looking for answers

Apa saya buat hari Sabtu

Pada hari sabtu, isteri saya ajak saya pi Midvalley Convention Centre. Kat situ ada Winnie the Pooh punya convention. Since my daughter minat giler Winnie the Pooh, so kena lah bawak dia pegi tgk. So sampai sana, the whole place was full of budak-budak kecik plus the school holidays baru start. My wife ajak my sister and dia bawak her kids. As usual I had to tag along, kalau tak memang kena leter the whole ride home.

Permainan budak-budak

Beg,kasut,baju..u name it they have it

Happy shoppers

After all the fun and the kids got to buy their stuff, we all headed to Chilli's for lunch. Its been quite sometimes since me and my sisters got to hang out. Usually the gang tak lengkap, either one would be out of the country or would be busy with work. So today consider special cause our spouses were there to join in the fun.

Before makan melukis dulu

Makan time!!

How was you're day?

Why should I care?

Its been almost 2 months since i left the old company, but the urge to know what is going on is still an interest of mine. For me its just good gossip (like Cik Siti getting married) Dont know why, maybe because of too many bad memories. It wasn't my intention to leave but because of too many politics and self interest i knew i had to go. I dont see my future there. I'm still in touch with my old colleagues, we went through the good and the bad together. So once in a while they do tell me whats going on in the company.

Before I left, I was required to fill up an "exit interview" form. Its the standard form, they ask you why you are leaving and how to improve things. The best part is they want you to answer truthfully. I'm the type of person who doesn't like to keep things inside. Its better to let it all out, like the saying goes "nothing better than the truth". Plus who cares 'cause you're leaving the company anyway.

Anyway, I'm not bothered that much on the going on of the old establishment. The thing that pisses me off is when people say eventhough I "bukak pekung di dada" but the same old things are still happening. The best thing is these people are getting promoted for doing it. Look, I did my part. I told the truth, whatever happens after that does not interest me. So okay these people who got promoted may have siphoned money and had the extra marital affairs. At least the Senior Management of the Group knew about it. If they got promoted because of it, well congratulations! At least my conscience is clear.

If my colleagues in the old establishment read this, please understand that I'm not pissed with them . Please understand that I did the best in my capacity by informing the management. Like I said at least i did something. On the day I left there were 3 of us leaving. I know from a fact that 2 of the exit interviews were answered just for the sake of answering. The truth was never told.

I dont know whether MKB will lead the company or not, but i know from a fact that if he does you guys wont have a future there. Just concentrate on finding greener pastures. The main thing here is whether the company can achieve that RM150m target. Well if by the 31st December of 2006, they do achieve it hats off to them. They have prooven me wrong. But if its otherwise then i'll be knocking on their door on the 2nd of January.

I'm tired of the old crap..bunch of bigots

Do we really want to know?

Is that so?

Please understand that i have nothing against Cik Siti but its just getting too much. Ever since Malaysia’s self proclaimed Diva announced that she was gonna marry this very rich duda dude. You can at least get one story about her in the papers, ie who’s gonna design the wedding dress to where they are going to spend their honeymoon.

Is it that important?

Frankly speaking I don’t care much about who she marries, the thing that pisses me off is that more important news are being sidelined because of her. Take for example, the day she announced her wedding people in Lebanon were getting their ass kicked. Guess who got front page coverage?

Do i care?

I guess its not just me who’s getting sick and tired of this whole fiasco. Come on lah Siti & Dato K, just get it over with and at least I can read some real news for a change.

Other important things than Siti

Peace?

Future?

Something to be proud of...

Got any news?

A Breath of "fresh" air

Nothing much to write about..no bahan plus been busy with work. Guess I'll write about something i like to do in my spare time.

In the previous company, the whole area was a smoking zone. I pity the people who worked there, especially the non smoking people. Even if you put a non smoking sign people just wont wont bother. People would even smoke during board meetings.

Now its a totally brand new ball game. In my new workplace, they really enforce the no smoking policy. There are only like 3 people who smoke, and that includes me. Basically we are a dying breed. The provided smoking area is basically at the stair case. There you will find other smokers who occupy the other floors.

Smoking Area


Ash tray paling besar


tempat duduk yg selesa


Matahari buatan


hmmm?

Since tak ramai smoker's the urge for me dah kurang which for me is a good thing cause i'm planning to quit. Nowadays a packet of 20's can last me 3 days plus the factor of no one asking me for a stick. Dont forget kids smoking aint good for your health, take it from me.

Until Next time..enjoy

To all you durian lovers

While driving back to my parents house, I would notice people selling durians by the road side. I have never bothered bout whether durian ni "tgh musim ke tidak" but i make a point to buy a few "bijik" when i go back to my kampung.

I got this email from a friend describing the type of durians they have in our country. So i decided to put it here in my blog (plus i dont have anything else to talk about).

D11 "Number Eleven" is a very popular durian in the 70's. It has creamy yellow flesh with a pleasant taste and a subtle smell.

The D604 was first cultivated by the late Mr. Teh Hew Hong of Sungai Pinang, Balik Pulau. The flesh is quite sweet, and has some "body" to it as the seed is small.

D600 This durian originates in Sungai Pinang in Balik Pulau. The flesh has a bittersweet taste to it, with a touch of sourness.

D700 The flesh is darker than D600, like chrome yellow. Also slightly hard. Crispy, but the smell is not very strong.

Ang Sim (Red Heart) Ang Sim is a durian with flesh which is quite soft and very sweet, and dark yellow in colour. It also has a nice aroma.

Khun Poh This durian takes the name of the late Mr Lau Khun Poh, who first budded it. Khun Poh has beautiful orangy flesh with a slightly bitter-sweet taste and a heavy aroma.

Actually banyak lagi variety of durian. Letih plak nak transfer all those pics. To all you durian lovers enjoy.

What will tommorow offer?

Jom lepak tepi Highway

An old colleague gave me a ring in the afternoon. Kereta dia breakdown kat Highway just 2km short of the Damansara exit. My colleague was on his way to submit a tender kat Siemens building just near my office when his tyre gave up on him (pancit lah). Anyway, being just nearby i headed straight to the tempat kejadian.

tuan punya kereta dgn gigihnya cuba menukar tayar

dgn gagahnya dia menukar tayar

"Pemerhati"

It took us 3 hours to change that tyre pasal tuan punya kereta takde spare tyre and he thought it would be a good idea to use my spare tyre. Unfortunately spare tyre Honda dengan tayar Alfa Romeo are totally different. So terpaksalah pusing area Damansara carik brand new tyres.

Kepada tuan empunya kereta, I wish him good luck in his new job. It has been an honor working with you. I guess its high time you bought that Toyota Wish you always talk about. since MISC is going to pay you big bucks to join them.

Next : Proton Walkthrough survey

Japanese Food,view from the top & how to repair your bonnet kereta

Last week had lunch with the new directors from Japan, every 3/4 years we would get new directors so now its my turn to "entertain" them. We went to the Kiku Restaurant loacted at the Peroleum Club situated way on the 43rd floor Tower 2 kat KLCC. The view was best giler. Didn't take too many pictures, dont want the bosses to think i was some crazy nut.

The day i had lunch, condoleeza rice (anjing suruhan George Bush) was in town, so there was a massive demo kat bawah tu. Couldnt see much if your on the 43rd floor.

I attended another vessel the other day, i'll be attending alot of vessels in the future,eventhough i'm not required to but it feels so relaxing biler lepak kat port. no problems and no worries.Anyway there were a few problems with the cars that were going to be exported (to Egypt). The bonnet of the Waja couldnt shut properly, the Proton guy was banging the thing like Israel pounding Lubnan..no mercy man. In the end the problem still tak solved, and the some egyptian guy is gonna get a banged up waja.

As usual still ada problem nak upload my pics.until then have a productive week.

Mari belajar mengexport kereta (Part 2)

Jom kita sambung our next lesson in exporting cars.

Seperti yang diterangkan sebelumnya, kereta boleh diexport melalui 2 pelabuhan utama iaitu di Pelabuhan Utara dan juga di Pelabuhan Selatan. Didalam latihan yang diterangkan kereta akan dihantar melalui pelabuhan utara.

Mv Maersk Sun (bahagian belakang)

Mv Maersk Sun (Bahagian depan)

Kereta-kereta yang diexport kebiasanya dijual dengan pelbagai aksesori tambahan, tidak seperti yang dijual for the local market. Sebagai contoh kereta savvy yang diexport ke Durban ini dilengkapi dengan "body kit" yang merupakan standard aksesori model ini.

Perhatikan bagaimana stevedore memastikan bahagian depan bawah kereta tidak kena pada "ramp" kapal.

Abg "stevedore" memastikan semua berjalan lancar

Tuan punya cargo@Proton juga memastikan cargo mereka selamat

Next lesson : Japanese food, view from the top & how to repair your bonnet kereta