The grandchildren on Sunday...

Sunday. Yes it is a day of rest! right?. Well it is Yes or No. Anyway it is one of those day that we look forward. It is suppose to be the day that we do not have to wake up early and follow the daily ritual. It is suppose to be your day, my day and everyone day of rest or whatever you want to call it. In those days when our children was growing up we would take them out to the parks or for lunch or dinner together and came home dead tired. Well it is supposed to be our day of rest, so what happened!!. Anyway it was fun to have those kids around you but now we are in our golden age and now back to square one, the just two of us now. The kids are no more kids now. Our eldest daughter have their own kids now and going around with the ritual that we once did and enjoyed. Well, live goes on and here we are enjoying life in our golden age. Home alone, not really alone. I have my spouse around. The kids are living on their own now and lives goes on. And than...

Now some Sunday the grandchildren came over, they say they are 'balik kampong' although they live about two kilometer away, our house, their nenek and atuk's house is their kampong and they love to come over and make a mess of everything. The elders would help nenek to cook and the one still small kids would do whatever they like, playing with toys at one time, laughing at another time and then cry after quarrelling with their sister or brother. Another one would take over the computer and got lost in cyberspace. Then the younger one, the below seven years want to go to cyberspace as well. They are savvy on computer as well, taking to the computer like ducks to the water. But at time when they got stuck somewhere in cyberspace, they would shout to their elder brother or sister to help. When they did not get instant attention would cry and cry and cry until the grandma come over. And now grandma is somewhat became literate in computer. For a while there were peace in the house but usually it would not last long. One would start telephoning the Mom or Dad and complain of this and that, the other would be just happy that their parents are not around in the house. Azib the youngest would tell his parent not to come and take them until he call, and normally he would not call . When their Mon and Dad came to fetch them usually at midnight, they would left us with the mess. Anyway it was really fun having them around.

With them gone back to their house, nenek's house is in silence mode again. Happily we put the house in order again and continue with our lives until they attack the house again whenever they want to balik kampong. Have a nice day.

The rain....

Wake up to a wet Thursday morning. It had been raining since last night...Yes!!!, Rain. That source of life. Pouring water endlessly to our good earth. Making the largest species on our planet joy with happiness, for it is water that provides the input for growth. It nurtured the ground and activate the growth of young plants. Just look at the freshness that rain brought. Indeed it is so refreshing to wake up on such a morning.

Ever since I first got to touch the dripping of the rain, I have always love rain. Born and grew up on the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia where it would rains cats and dogs during the monsoon period, playing in the rains has been part of my growing up culture.

In those days where we do not had the luxury of umbrella, we would use large Yam leaves to act as a cover to get to school on a cold rainy morning. It was real fun then holding the large Yam leaves and walking in the rain to school. But then it was those days!!. Great and lovely days, that I still remember with fondness. Indeed a nostalgic past. We would just play in the rain and enjoy ourselves without getting sick. Actually care less of the world around us. The fun of the kid's world that only kids knows best. It was fun when the rain comes.

Now even at this age when it rain I would sit at the patio of my house and watch the rain. I could smell the rain and the freshness that comes with it. I have tried to catch the glitter of the rain drops with my camera but its has not been really that successful as yet. The above images are the best I got so far in trying to snap the images of rain as it pour down with that pattering sound . I am sharing these images with all. As much as I had enjoyed taking these images, I hope that others would enjoy it as well. Have a nice day.

Tun Dr.Ismail... the Book.. a forum

Wow!!! What a day to end the week. It was Friday the 20th of April. Here I am in the heart of Bangsar, a suburban of Kuala Lumpur where the young and the expatriates hangout for the evening, having their drinks or dinner with friends. Enjoying life after a hard day works. I am here today not for that but for a different reason. I was invited to be a panel of a discussion group on a book that was out recently. I posted in this blog a write up of that book. A biography of the late Tun Dr. Ismail, the then Deputy PM of Malaysia. Following that posting, I was invited to attend this forum. Here am I at the Valentine Willey, an Art Gallery in the heart of the buzzling nightlife spot of Bangsar. Bangsar indeed glitter with its neon by night. Cars are parked double side by side like sardine, a norm at Bangsar come evening. Bangsar a different world altogether come nights. Eh!! What a wonderful world we live in.

The Forum is an evening event and started at just after seven in the evening. Rocky was the organising man as well as the chairperson of this event. Four of us as seen in the image above are from right, Ron, Tawfik Tun Dr. Ismail, Dr. Ooi Kee Beng [the author] and Me. The image was snap by my good friend Zorro-unmasked. The room was packed with blogger and others who has read the book. You would notice that Sheih, Jeff, Nuraina was there together with the other blogger whom I met for the first time. There was also a young student from the University of Malaya who is doing a thesis on blogging for her Master. So as you can see blogging do create waves in the Malaysian society.

After having read the book many had wondered as to why the former Prime Minister Tun Dr.Mahathir was not interviewed. So the first question from the floor as voiced by the chairperson. Why is this so since TDM is one of the leader of UMNO at that period of time. The author replied that he did tried many times to get in touch with TDM but did not succeed in getting an interview with him. Well knowing the fact of the matter, the forum proceed with many more questions from the floor. The forum was indeed a serious exchange of thoughts, yet lively. Since the late Tun son's Tawfik was there and was able to explain in detail about why the biography was written that way, the audience got more then they came for. Indeed a bonus point for we get to hear of the other aspects of the life of the late Tun. As for me, I told the audience among other things that it is time that such a book is made available and like any written history it is as the saying goes " History is the product of the victor ". As a person who live throughout that period of our history, I found the book do give factual account of the role of this famous son of Malaysia in the history of this country. And I hope that this book could be made a textbook for our school, so that our young would know what this leader did for the country. At present most Malaysian of the Merdeka generation did not know much about this great leader of ours except that there is a housing estate call Taman Tun Dr. Ismail and a road Jalan Tun Dr.Ismail.

To me the gathering gave me the opportunity to meet the other blogger whom I had known only in cybersphere. Meeting the real person!! from an image in cyberspace to the real world. It was indeed great to get to talk to these blogger, mostly from my children's generation. Nuriana has been very helpful indeed in introducing me to the other blogger. As usual when blogger meet the talking never ceased, for like their writing blogger also love to talk. I suppose it is part of the blogger culture. They have so much thoughts and as such makes interesting exchanges of ideas.

This meeting also a first for me in meeting the author of the book. At the same time get to meet Tawfik the eldest son of the late Tun Dr. Ismail. I was given a complimentary copy of the book by Nuriana. Got the author to endorsed it, thus it became a special copy. A Bahasa Malaysia version of the book was shown to me by the author and would be out on sale by the end of the week. The BM version is title " Bukan Kerana Pangkat ". I thought indeed it is an appropriate title of the book in Bahasa Malaysia. A direct translation would not give the true meaning of the book.

Well, it has been fun as well, an evening with many well known Malaysian blogger, the author of the book, as well as meeting Tawfik, the eldest son of the Late Tun Dr. Ismail. What an evening!!!. In Bangsar!!! Friends, have a nice day.

Why Malaysian must blog...

Yes, it is about blogging in Malaysia. Can you tell me of a better place to share your thoughts with others or can you find any better ways of doing creative writing. To me other then writing a book or writing to the local Newspaper, there are no other ways. So blogging is the best and easiest way of doing creative writing and sharing your thoughts with the world. So I would suggest that as many Malaysian as possible blog. Right from the primary school children to the veterans like me should blog. In fact I would like to suggest that the Education Ministry should create a program to encourage our young to blog. It is in a way would help young Malaysian to be more creative. At the present time creative writing is so lacking in this country. Blogging among our young could be the beginning of a greater development for our literary world. Who knows maybe one of our young Malaysian could eventually be a great author of a great book in the not too distance future.

Another point that I would light to highlights is that blogging would help to create contents about Malaysia and its culture in the Internet. At present information about Malaysia are quite lacking in the Internet. Blogging could in a way provide more and more information about Malaysia in cyberspace. Remember blogger write almost in every subject under the sun, thus it expose Malaysians culture to the world. I notice that when someone do a search on any subjects, the result of that search could also be any of the Malaysian Blog. My own blog quite so often came out in search done by people all over the world. For that I am indeed happy that I could be of help to others in providing information they seek.

I have been blogging since September 2003 and love doing it. Not only that I blog but I do read other's blogs as well. Both the local and overseas blogs. In writing my thoughts I get to share it with others, at the same time get things out of my chest and activate my thinking cap, thus keep my thinking faculty active and healthy. At this age when I have plenty of time to use I do not want it to go to waste so blogging give me that space to makes quality times of my free times. Otherwise it would just go to waste. I write about every subjects that comes to mind and when there is a sort of a writer's block, I just post some images that would tell the stories by itself, like the saying Photograph says a thousand words.

I am going to sixty eight this year, come 17 August I would be that age. Still in the sixty plus, I am enjoying every minutes of this part of my life and hopes that my thoughts that I posted in my blog would in a way be of some use to the readers. A blogger who had visited my blog decided to give me an award called the "Thinking Blogger Award". It is indeed an honor and I thanks her for that. If my blog had been recognised then I think that the other blogger like Pok Ku, Pak Adid, Pak Desi, Pak Lias and Ana of Boston who always put on their thinking caps, should also be recognised as well. So to go along with this game I am extending this award to these blogger friends of mine. To Pok Ku, Pak Adib, Pak Desi , Pak Lias, [thoughts of folks in their golden years] and Ana of Boston, [a gem in faraway land] you all are been awarded with the "Thinking Blogger Award". Do read this blog [April 18 posting] for further direction.

Friends, Like I had often said before, giving is something that I love to do and that including my thoughts. It is the pleasure of giving, what's count. It shall always stay that way and to me to give is more important than getting other benefit from what I wrote. It is the satisfaction of getting my thoughts posted in my blog from time to time that really made my days. Just as much as I love to blog, I would also love to see more and more Malaysian blog. It would be great if more and more Malaysian put on their thinking cap and blog. For I truly believe that Thinking is better than believing. Have a nice day.

Yet another great evening...

Like everything in life sometimes things just happen. While coming back from Malacca on Sunday my spouse told me that we had been invited to dinner at a friend's home tomorrow evening [Monday]. So come Monday evening with another couple we went to the host's house at Jalan Maktab. It was raining and I took my time to drive by taking the elevated highway, got into Jalan Tun Razak and then right turn into Jalan Semarak formerly known as Jalan Gurney. This road was formerly named after the British Sir Henry Gurney, one of the last High Commissioner that was in charge of Malaya before independence. [Jalan mean Road]

Just before the Kuala Lumpur campus of University of Technology Malaysia we turn right and took the Jalan Maktab. UTM is one of the oldest university in the country. Before that it was the Technical College, an institute set up by the then British colonial government to train technical personal. After independence the college was upgraded to a university. A new main campus was built in Johor Bahru and the present campus in KL was left as just part of the University.

After a while of searching we found the house and there the couple was waiting for us. Together with them is an English lady who came for a holiday here. This English lady was living in Malaysia some thirty years ago and had been their neighbour. We got in and took our places at the living area, a rather cosy part of the bungalow. In the meantime the ladies took to the kitchen and makes themselves busy as usual at this part of the domain. Three of us, the men sat down and chat on various subjects and joke about old times.

Soon we were told that dinner is ready and we all then took our places at the dinner table and enjoy the spreads of western food, which I believe is the idea of the English lady guest. Well, we chat over that dinner on various subjects that just came to our mind and did enjoy the simple dinner. Then after the dinner and the tit bit that came with it, we move to the lounge and sat to continue with our little chat. As usual time passes fast when we are in such a situation. Before we realised it was past midnight. We then decide to call off the evening with a great thanks to our host. Image above is the gang at the dinner table. Have a nice day.

A unique flower...

It is a beautiful Monday morning. I thought to add color to the already glorious day I am posting the above image of a unique flower that I snap at a friend's house in Malacca. I was in Malacca yesterday to attend the EGM of the Owner's Association of the Mutiara Melaka Beach Resort. The about flower is not common in this country and when grown it takes its time to shows it magnificent flower that look like a bird, thus the name of the flower is the Bird of Paradise. Well, Have a nice day as well and take care.

Giving from the hearts...

Reading this blog Pi's TWIST bring the feeling of sadness to me and at the same time proud and happy that there are someone out there who would sacrifice times and resources for others. When I retired and enjoying the days in my golden age I told myself that it is the time of giving and from that moment onward I gave whatever I could including my thoughts via blogging. I am happy that there are others out there doing just that even before they retired. There are hopes after all for our species in this challenging world of ours.

This lady is yet another one of a kind, a rare one, for not many would do what she is doing. To do such service to the community you must have the kindness in your heart. Tireless and not asking anything in return except the sastification of been able to help others. The love of helping another being move forward is such a moving stories. It is this kind of person that bring back humanity to our species which sad to say, are totally missing from some. Like that Melayu Jadi as mentioned in this blog. Reading that comment from that Melayu Jati I get extremely mad and at the same time felt for the good hearted work of that lady Daphne. Who with her heart help that unfortunate kid. For just doing that she got that email from that evil person Melayu Jati. To blogger Daphne Ling you are indeed someone special with a heart of gold. How could such a person write such a disgusting letter to you is beyond my understanding, except to accept for a fact that the person is an evil person.

I have always says that evil are everywhere and in disguises in every means and ways and this time in the name of a race Melayu Jati. What an insult to the race. This person obviously is a very sick person and indeed an evil one. On the other hand we have that Malay lady whose blog that I had mentioned above, whose heart of gold makes her do the work of volunteering that not many would do. This is what goodness is all about. The giving and helping without asking for even a thank you.

Well friends that is life. Let us do all the goodness that we could so that others may be able to enjoy life as well. And we in return get that feeling of goodness as well. Have a nice day.

Tun Dr.Ismail... the Book..

I have just finish reading the book The Reluctant Politician - Tun Dr.Ismail and His Time by Dr. Ooi Kee Beng. I am indeed glad at last his legacy has been brought to light. Thanks to his son Tawfik, the generous support of Professor Saw Swee Hock and ISEAS, the publishing of this book has been made possible.

To me, a person who live throughout the period when the late Tun was the man that we all so revered, every page that I turn bring back memories that are so real. I was then an officer in the government and live throughout that period with great pride that I had the opportunity to served the country under the able leadership of this man. Proud that I had also the opportunity to be in the same room with this statesman a few times in the course of my duty. Especially so when he came for a briefing at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. I was then one of the young officer in the Youth Division. My boss was then the Director of Youth, Abdullah Hj. Ahmad, the present Prime Minister. Annuar Zaini, a Youth leader from GPMS now the Chairman of Bernama, one of the person that was interviewed by the author went with me to Ghana in the mid seventies to attend the Commonwealth Youth conference.

This book is very well written indeed and as such give a true picture of the Man that most of us from my generation would say as 'The Prime Minister the we never had'. Indeed everyone at that time of our history hope that when the time come, the person who would be the Prime Minister after Tun Abdul Razak would surely be Tun Dr.Ismail Abdul Rahman. But then fate had it that he was called to the Lord before the Tun, at an early age of 57 years old. I remember that day very well indeed for at that time he was our Acting Prime Minister. The Late Tun Razak the PM was then in Canada attending to an official business. Tun Razak rushed back and ordered that the Late Tun Ismail be laid to rest at the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur. The first person to be given the honour at the mosoulem beside the mosque. The whole country mourn the lost of this great man. Thousands line up the streets to pay their last respect to the late Tun. I was one of them among the seas of people, never seen the like in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian do love this man.

As a person who live throughout that period of our history, I am happy that Dr. Ooi Keen Beng did a good job of writing this biography. For the author did brought to light many things that most of my generation knew and the present generation knew nothing. The book to me is indeed a godsend document of the contribution of a great son of Malaysia. The Tun Dr.Ismail Abdul Rahman. His son Tawfik did a splendid job of getting this book published

Malaysian especially those of the Merdeka generation should read this book and understand the difficult period of our history that Tun Dr.Ismail brilliantly managed. Thus set forth the future of the Malaysia that we see today.

To all my blogger friends do take the trouble to read this book. One of a kind. And hope that the late Tun's works and thoughts would help the present Malaysian understand the reality of the Malaysia that we have today. Have a nice day.

Orchid farm...

It is Sunday. We decided to visit one of the orchid farm at Subang. It is approximately about forty five kilometers away from our place in Ampang Jaya. I took the elevated Highway and then via Jalan Tun Razak went to Jalan Duta and got connected to the North South Highway. Got onto this highway and just before Sungei Buloh took the left exit and then eventually got onto the old airport road. After a while we arrived at a farm where there are orchids in all sizes and varieties. The farm was a riot of colors. We browse around and bought a few and went home happy with our new collections of orchids. The images above is the orchid farm that we visited. Have a nice Day.

National Alliance of Bloggers...

Well, it look like things are moving fast indeed. Yesterday April 5, 2005 a group of Malaysian Bloggers set to form the first ever association for Malaysian bloggers. An institution in the making. A very important one indeed. After the Press Club, the National Alliance of Bloggers is an institution to watch. The formation of this club is indeed a historic event for Negaraku Malaysia. A pro-tem committee was set up to deal with the constitution and other factors for the registration of the association. Congratulation to Rocky and the gang for getting this off the ground. Read more on this, here and here. Have a nice day. [Image above with kind permission of Jeffooi of Screenshots]

To ponder...

It is a beautiful Friday morning. With sunshine and blue sky with patches of white clouds. It is indeed a great day to wake up and move on to enjoy life. Let us get out of the heat of the issue that has highlight the power of blogging in Malaysia. For today I am posting the above images, sharing my love for photography with my visitors. Hoping that in a small way it would made your day as great as mine. All in all it had been a wonderful week and hardly you knew it, it is already Friday. Well time passes by and I hope all of us are enjoying out time on this great planet of ours. Have a nice day and Take care.

Blogger and Parliament...

Well, it look like Blogging is making the news again in our Parliament . I urged the members of Parliament to wake up to the reality of the Blogging world. It is here to stay and to me it is a godsend tool for democracy. Instead of demonising the bloggers, the Government should encourage its citizen to blog. This would in turn create more Malaysian in creative writing. An aspect which is rather lacking in this country. I have been blogging since September 2003 and have been transparent in whatever I wrote. Actually I enjoy doing that for its alert my mental faculty and keep me healthy all the way. Although not that many bloggers of my generation blog but the few that blog do contribute with wisdom their thoughts to the society.

So I would suggest those in the government take a serious look at blogging and what good it would do to this country. I am sure that it would do more good than bad. It is a tool that is here to stay. A very powerful took indeed. Like the Printing Press when it first appear, the fear that most authority had were eventually diminished once they understood that there are more good than bad that the Printing Press could do to the society. Thus the fear vanished totally. Now in Blogging, I hope those government MP should go into blogging and help in the dissemination of information to the society instead of just talking about the negativeness of this new tool. Been naive would not help the society and the country. Come on let all of us blog and be responsible about it. I am sure it would do more good to the country. Have a nice day.

Tun Dr.Mahathir @.....

It happen yesterday the third of April. The occasion is the launching of a book, the author of whom is a close friend of mine. Dr. Mahathir our former Prime Minister was invited to launch the book and I was one of the guest that was invited to the High Tea launching. It was held at the Kelantan Delight restaurant on the forth floor of the KLCC. Incidentally the owner of this restaurant is also a friend of mine, whom I met when I was living in Boston, USA some years ago. He was then attending a short course on Entrepreneurship at Boston U.

Well on the dot, the former PM arrived and we all took our seats and soon the function began with the introduction speech, the speech of the author Syed Akhbar Ali and then Dr. Mahathir, who spoke on the theme of the book, launched the book. His speech though touching serious issue related to the book, is laced with pertinent jokes that kept the crowd laughing from time to time. I have read the book, a sort of a provocative book on the country relationship with Islam and the issue of The Failed States. Malaysian seldom get to write such book and at time it get banned. In this case it is still on sale at all the major book stores. The title of the book is ' Malaysia and the Club of Doom * The collapse of The Islamic Countries '.

Presence at the ceremony and the High Tea are friends of the author, Senior retired journalist, journalist from various News Agency and Bloggers. Among the bloggers are Rocky and Raja Petra. I had a chance to meet Raja Petra again and as for Rocky it is my first meeting with him. Later on he introduce me to the other bloggers and we sat to chat on the subject of the effect of Blogging in Malaysia. A very powerful tool for the dissemination of information using the Internet. For Malaysian it is indeed a godsend tools for the democracy.

Before the party start I had the opportunity to meet a young journalist of a sort who came with his dad and his sister. We had a short chat and from that I found that this young man with the big camera is well informed of the current issue, articulate and with good education. Later on he told me that he studies IT and now doing freelance photography and enjoyed doing it. We talk on various subjects and I found that this young man is very open minded and a wonderful person to talk to. He took my email address and says that he would keep in touch with me.

Well friends it was indeed a wonderful day. For it was an afternoon of meeting of so many like minded people. And then got the opportunity to shake the hand of a great statesman. The Dr. Mahathir, our former PM. He had served the country for twenty two years. The man that quantum leaped us to the first world. Today meeting the man at the KLCC or the Petronas Twin Tower, a building that was dreamed by this very man, is indeed an event of significant important to me. Meeting the Man himself in the nation monument of a sort, the Petronas Twin Tower is indeed a dream come true for me. Friends What a Day!!!. Have a nice day.

A friend...

I told him today that I am going to write about him when I am back at home. So here I am writing about this episode of my life. Let me start like this. I frequent a local supermarket at the Ampang Point Mall. Things at this supermarket are cheap compare to the other retail shops nearby. Since I have plenty of time to waste, I would visit this supermarket as often as I like whenever I am at the vicinity of the Mall. Been a frequent visitor I began to get to know most of the staff at this store. And among them I thought I would write about is this character that I often stop to chat. An interesting character indeed.

He was once in the Malaysian Navy. He left the navy and now work as a House Detective at the supermarket chain. So how do I get to know this stranger who work at the supermarket. Well being me it is not that difficult. It all start when I somehow got to talking to this man who seem to be everywhere doing his job in the supermarket. As usual with me he soon became a friend that often greet me whenever I am at the store buying things. I joke that been a sailor he must have cousin at all port of call. He just laugh it off with a smile. He live at one of the suburban area of Kuala Lumpur to the north of the city and travel up and down to get to work at this retail store.

Been a seasoned man he always have plenty of stories to tell whenever we met, like this morning. I believe he is rather bore with the routine of his work at the store so meeting me is a welcome sign to him for he could just break away from the monotony of his ritual. Been me I love to chat on any subjects that came to my mind. Usually after I had paid for the goods and just outside where he often stand guarding, doing his job of supervising the customers, at the same time looking for those who would break the law. With whatever time he had we would chat. And when he had to attend to his official business, the chat would end abruptly. But sometime I would excuse myself to get going with other errant that I had to do on that day. Another reason that I had to leave abruptly is that the parking fee at the basement is rather high, so if I park my car at the basement I would not spend times leisurely at the supermarket and chat. But if I park outside at the metered parking space which is cheap I would normally takes my times and chat with this friend of mine.

He is always seem happy to greet me and when the time permit he would come over to chat even when I am in the process of pushing my trolley looking for things to fill the cart at the supermarket. Well to me he is indeed a good person to know and befriend. And I am glad that I have made this man my friend. Well friends, that is life, let share it with others, so that we may enriched our lives as well. Have a nice day.

Veteran blogger..

Well, it look like they do notice us The Pak Blogger. Nice to know that the young are reading our blogs as well. It is the communication of the young and the old that made the world go around. I love to blog and happy that visitors do enjoy reading. Just as I love to read other's blogs, I am indeed happy that others do appreciate the thoughts of folks like use. It is only in the golden age that we have wisdom and sharing those wonderful thoughts with others is my goal. Trying of course, to make this world of ours a better place to live and enjoy life. Have a nice day.