BerRaya, time for forgiveness

Spent the first day of Raya yesterday at one of my father's family houses in Klang and that of his eldest brother's in Denai Alam.

Consumed quite a lot of lontong, rendang and lodeh.

There's also the ketupat plastic ones but I avoided that.

Miss the ones wrapped in weaved coconut leaves.

They taste different, okay.

Spent the morning at the house in Klang,

The best thing was that no one who came to berRaya there talked about politics.

 Had a long chat with an uncle who works as a security personnel at UiTM Shah Alam.

He was a bit worried because his contract will expire next year and there were talks that it will not be renewed.

"They just want to get rid of us and use those from private security company.

"Maybe some well-connected people with  friends inside there had been lobbying to get the contract.

"And the easiest way is to get rid of us," he said.

The uncle used to be in the army and at one time served in one of those United Nations peacekeeping mission in a war-torn country.

Such was the worries of an ordinary guy.

To provide for family and fulfill responsibilities.

Nobody talked about Najib, Muhyiddin, Mahathir, Guan Eng or even 1MDB....at least not to me.

However, at Denai Alam later in the afternoon, there was a bit of debate on such things between my Pak Long and youngest aunt.

My Pak Long is a former staunch Pas supporter who is now a staunch Amanah supporter. My aunt is a staunch non-member Umno supporter.

Pak Long was questioning Najib's innocence in the 1MDB thing while my aunt was defending the PM, his wife, children etc.

I can't help but to overhear their exchanges but tried not to listen too much.

It's Raya, okay. Time for peace.

So, I don't know who won.

Well, at least before I left the place, the duo had became okay again.

Alhamdulillah.

At least they are better than some other people who choose to become enemies for life just because of politics.

Really stupid that one.

I placed a lot of blame over that on people who peddle hate and enmity among us.

Either you are with us or against us.

Take no prisoners.

No retreat no surrender.

And other garbage like that.

I know la they need to earn a living and selling hate is the only talent they have, but don't be too much, okay.

I hope we can keep that in mind when we remember our friends who are now our enemies.

Berpada-pada lah, ya.

Hari Raya is a time for forgiveness....let's try to find that in our heart.

Okay, need to get ready for beRaya  today.

Cheers.

Stop goading Muslims to hate

Tomorrow is Raya and I woke up to this news just now,

Suicide bombers hit three Saudi cities

And yesterday, there was this story,

Puchong grenade attack first by IS in the country

Really spoils my Raya eve.

Why can't these people not resorted to these sorts of crazy things?

Why must there be so much anger and hate?

I seriously think that everyone needs to chill.

Don't talk about hate so much.

Muslims are being oppressed or about to be oppressed.

We must fight back.

No retreat no surrender.

We take no prisoners.

Do we need to talk or write like that all the time?

There are many nut cases among Muslims out there who may take those things too seriously and decide that they have to go to paradise because of it by blowing themselves up.

Seriously, that is a real possibility, okay.

Even in this country where the Muslims are generally docile people.

If you goaded them day in day out with hate talks, some of them may go crazy and do crazy things too.

You really think it's okay to everyday tell Muslims all sorts of shit such as the Chinese and Christians are out to get them?

And when all that crazy shit start to happen, are you going to turn around and accuse the Muslims as being bad people?

As for the shit that you said and write day in day out to rile up the Muslims about the evil Chinese and Christians, are you going to say "Oh, that's just politics".

Is that it?

I don't know lah, but I believe that sorts of things will turn around one fine day and bite us back in the ass.

Seriously.

Sometimes I tend to believe that all these things which make the Muslims being perceived as lunatics are all the works of the real enemies of Islam.

They pretend to like and want to protect Islam but in actual fact they are trying to destroy it from the inside by sowing the seeds of poisonous ivy which they hope will eventually destroy it.

And they hope that the Muslims are too blind and stupid to see what they are doing.

Come on Muslims, don't be fooled by such people, okay.

Think.

What are the motives of people who clearly reject Islam yet claim that they are there to protect it?

Ask yourself that.

Don't be fooled by them.

Check their background and whether they have even renounced their past hate of Islam and Muslims.

Don't simply agree to what they are peddling just because it suit our dissatisfactions with people such as the Chinese and Christians....or even Jews.

I'm begining to think that crazy maniacs such as Islamic State and Taliban-like Muslims in this country are works of such true enemies of Islam.

They want us Muslims to be crazy so that it's going to be easier for them to weaken and subjugate us.

Do remember, we Muslims are good people and our religion teaches us to be such.

Our religion doesn't teach us to hate others, and definitely it forbids us from blowing ourselves up to kill others.

Be true to the teachings of Islam, okay.

Be at peace.

Learn to play a guitar like Meliani here and still be a good Muslim,

It's better than preaching or writing or listening to hate.

Berhati-hati dijalanraya during Raya

Someone I knew died in a road accident near Rompin yesterday.

He was on his way home to his family in Kuantan from JB.

The last time I saw him was at his daughter's wedding a few months ago.

Alfatihah for the deceased.

May Allah placed him among those whom He favoured.

InsyaAllah.

Guys, please be extra careful on the road during this Raya.

Follow the speed limit and don't break any traffic regulation.

They said the police will not tolerate any kind of violation of the laws this time.

Those caught doing so will be taken direct to court.

So, don't fool around, okay.

And if you are tired, please stop and rest.

Try to learn to take a power nap to get rid of that sleepy feeling.

This advice is meant for everyone, including myself.

It doesn't matter whether you are pro-Najib, Mahathir's supporters, opposition supporters or whatever else you may be.

Your life and those of everyone else should not be wasted by inconsiderate and reckless driving.

Watch this if you are still not convinced that it's worth it to slow down and drive more carefully;

Be safe, okay.

Pre-Raya blues

Raya is just a few days away.

Went shopping a bit just now.

The place I went to was so packed with people.

I had to park my car quite a distance away from the shopping mall.

The roads leading there were jammed.

I should had taken some pictures but only realised I should had done it after I reached home.

So much for all the talks about bad economy.

Anyway, I didn't buy much.

Not really comfortable to shop too much because of the crowd.

Just bought some groceries, cleaning stuff for my computer and these for Raya,

It's Charles & Keith at RM189.90.

Okay la. Not so expensive.

Will be driving back to KL on Monday to celebrate Raya with my parents.

Hopefully mother will not be working on first Raya.

Politics?

Sudah mau Raya malas la nak tulis politik.

You all don't want to take a break from the nonsense ka for Raya?

Rest la a bit and be happy.

Don't fight all the time.

How I wish my friends, now fighting each other over politics can get back together and bermaaf-maafan di Hari Raya yang mulia....

I know, not much chance for that one.

But it's not wrong to hope, isn't it?

Here's a song to go with that hope,

Okay, that's all for today.

Cheers guys.

Number two is not so bad

I asked this on June 21,

• Badlisyah new Tabung Haji boss?

I asked because someone was telling me so and the whole thing looked interesting.

This is the story related to it yesterday,

Tabung Haji appoints Johan as MD and CEO

According to the report, Datuk Johan Abdullah starts work as the new Tabung Haji big boss today.

So, what happened to Badlisyah?

I called up the guy who gave me the info back then and asked him.

"Hey, how come the info you gave me about Tabung Haji that day was wrong? How come you were so sure about it that day?"

"They changed it last minute la," the guy replied.

"But Badlisyah got to be Johan's deputy, okay," he added.

"Are you sure? I didn't see any story on that," I asked him again.

"Aiya, you check la," he said.

I was actually not very eager about the story in the first place.

Corporate stuff are really not my cup of tea.

I don't even like corporate people too much.

They tend to be too cold and serious and only care about bottom-lines.

No way I'm going to waste my time trying to dig from Tabung Haji for that story.

If they want to be quiet about it, let them be lah.

Maybe they have their own reasons for it.

What difference does it makes anyway?

If Badlisyah got the number two post also not so bad what.

Better than nothing.

If Johan retires, let say next year, he can then take over lah.

One year is not too long. Really not so bad, right?

I however did the minimum - I goggled on it.

Found these,

Islamic Finance News‏@IFN_news

IFN can officially confirm that Badlisyah Abdul Ghani, former CEO of CIMB Islamic, will join Tabung Haji as deputy MD, effective 1st July.

Islamic Finance News‏@IFN_news

Badlisyah is also slated to become a board member of Bank Islam, pending regulatory approval. 



You can read Islamic Finance news at

http://www.islamicfinancenews.com/

Guan Eng likely going to prison....until he's 76

Saw this latest on Guan Eng at Bernama just now,

GEORGE TOWN, June 30 2016 : Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng claimed trial in the High Court here today to two corruption charges involving a piece of land and a bungalow.

On the first charge, he is accused of using his position as chief minister for himself and his wife Betty Chew Gek Cheng’s interest to approve the conversion of a piece of land from its status as an agricultural land to residential land and transferring it to a company, Magnificient Emblem Sdn Bhd.

Lim, 56, allegedly committed the offence while chairing a State Planning Committee meeting on the 28th floor at Komtar, George Town here on July 18, 2014.

The charge under Section 23 of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009 carries a maximum 20 years imprisonment and a fine of not less than five times the value involved or RM10,000, whichever is higher, upon conviction. – Bernama

Well, I'm inclined to believe that Guan Eng will really kena this time.

I'm sure the authorities had done their investigations properly and got all the necessary evidence.

A water-tight case, so to speak.

Otherwise, I don't think they would take the risk of prosecuting Guan Eng, who is a bit like a demi-god among his supporters.

One thing for sure, this will be the end of the DAP's Lim dynasty.

I remember back in the late 90's when Guan Eng went to prison for criminally slandering the then Malacca chief minister Rahim Thamby Chik, many DAP people abandoned him and his family.

He hardly have any friend when he came out of prison a year later.

I believe the same will happen again this time.

Of course DAP will try to win public sympathy over the case, but after a while they will have to move on.

Betty will go up and down the country to plead support for her husband but she won't be able to do that forever.

After the next general election which increasingly look like it's going to be a walkover for BN, the whole thing will fades away.

Once you are out, no one really loves you anymore.

In a way, DAP is also a bit like Umno....or is it the other way around?

It's the nature of the beast.

I just hope that they don't slap Guan Eng with the maximum jail sentence of 20 years imprisonment.

Can't imagine what Guan Eng looks like 20 years from now.

A 76 years old Guan Eng.....hmmmmm....

But I suspect he will still be looking like this,

Except older, I guess.

A story for angry people

I have this friend who once worked for a major newspaper.

He was some sorts of a senior editor or something like that.

The guy was dedicated, worked hard and was a loyal employee.

He worked there for donkey's years.

The problem with him was that he can't keep his mouth shut.

When he saw something was wrong, he would said something was wrong.

And he's very lousy at being nice to his bosses just to be in their good book.

Of course his bosses didn't like him for all that.

That, despite him doing his best and achieving relatively good results for his works.

Sometime early last year he realised that his bosses were really getting to hate him.

They gave him an annual assessment lower than his subordinates despite him working his ass off.

So, when the company offered a voluntary separation scheme to the employees, he applied for it.

Almost everyone who applied for it got it.

The guy would had gotten about RM250,000 in compensation if his application was approved by his bosses.

He thought of setting up a small laundry business using the money or something like that and retire to look after his family, especially his son who is a disabled person.

He didn't get it.

The bosses didn't approve his application for the scheme.

Instead, two months later they demoted him and transferred him to a place further away from his family.

It was clear that his bosses were forcing him to resign and maliciously doing so in a way that his years of service for the company were not to be compensated or appreciated.

He quit his job and now works quietly doing an editing job for a small publishing company own by a friend who felt pity for him and offered him the job.

The guy didn't complain too much though.

He sometimes joked about what happened to him and that was all there was to it as far as he was concerned.

The other day, we were at a buka puasa function when he bumped into his former big boss.

He said hi to the guy,  smiled at him and shaked his hand.

He even inquired about his former boss' health.

I can see that he was trying not to make the other guy felt too awkward.

Later I asked him,

"Why didn't you just punch the bastard in his face?"

"For what? I don't even hate him. My former boss used to be nice to me once and I rather think of the positive side of him," he said.

Later he explained to me why he can't hate his former big boss despite what he and the others did to him.

It went something like this,

"The guy did a lot of good things for me before he started to dislike me.

"He was the one who promoted me to my highest postion in the company.

"He treated not only me with kindness at that time but also someone else that I really care about.

"I appreciate him for all that.

"Of course I was angry when all those things happened last year but after I calmed down I told myself that what happened was fated by Allah.

"Allah made the whole thing happened because He has a good reason for it.

"The way I see it, that VSS money was simply not my rezeki.

"Allah must had wanted me to have a different kind of rezeki. That's why he opened the heart of my friend to give me a job.

'Maybe if I had stayed in the company I would sooner or later died of stress. 

"At least where I work now, there's no stress at all.

"Maybe Allah wanted me to have a longer life without the stress so that I can look after my family much longer."

Well, in a way my friend was right.

I agree with him that we should not despair when bad things happened to us.

Must always remember that things happened because Allah willed them to happen.

All we need to do is to manage ourselves in whatever situation fated by Allah.

Of course, we have to do our best with whatever we are doing.

But after that, we leave it to Allah to decide the outcome.

We must redha (accept) with the outcome because it's Allah's decision.

That way we would not have to hate anyone or be bitter about things.

If people do bad things to us and after all our efforts had been exhausted, we should just pray for Allah to take care of things.

And of course Allah will take care of things for us, one way or another.

I believe in that.