SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM -- YOU!

KCW and CKL, my two Chinese bosses in a company I worked in in the 90s said to me one day, "When a problem happens, ask yourself how you contributed to the problem". Probably not original an advice, but funny how you tend to learn faster when confronted with the most dire of situations. In this case for me, I was not up to scratch in dealing with a client.

Using your resources to address any problem from the inside-out is less taxing, not to mention the value it brings to one's basic attitude.

BRIBERY IS NEVER OKAY, EVER

Heard in one of the sermons by a cool, black Muslim in the U.S.:

"It is better to admit that you are weak and therefore you have to subscribe to and use bribery in your dealings than to making excuses, like, `everyone's doing it, I'm forced to do it as well', `its how the game is played', `if I don't do it, I won't get the contract'...and so forth and so on".

Bribery, usury are hideous and should be avoided. Period. God willing. God help us all.

HALAL TUBE & COOL PREACHERS

I stumbled upon Halal Tube some months back and have been following some of the speakers quite regularly. It is actually quite intriguing to listen to these Muslim reverts and many a times, I feel so very embarrassed at myself, that I was born a Muslim but am getting `taught' about my religion from people who have embraced Islam only as adults.

Whilst I find that there had been much compromises in delivering the true teachings of Islam by most scholars in this country (unfortunately, due to political reasons), the champions of Islam in the Western countries like the United States do not cut corners, are very cut and dry albeit not in a condescending way and are so cool.

I suspect if I wanted my teenage children to start getting deeper into the religion (as they should, sigh!), they will find these Western speakers highly inspirational. After all, everything Western is so cool to them.

No. 3, Block F, Jalan Fryers, Perumahan Keretapi Tanah Melayu, Ipoh, Perak.

I wonder if any of the active Hindraf members is my friend, ... from yesteryears? 7 out of 10 of us kids growing up in the Railway Quarters in the 60s/70s are Indians, therefore, basically I had more Indian friends than I did Malay ones.

My dad sent me to Tarcisian Convent where Indians and Chinese made up 90% of each class. I wonder if any of the Chinese who are insisting on vernacular education these days is one of my friends then?!

For the longest time I felt really felt bad that my race, the Malays are purportedly discriminating my friends who are the Chinese and Indians. Now, I'm not sure anymore. Could it be that these friends of mine are doing injustice to themselves?!!

Orang Melayu Kedah kata, "Tak dak penyakit, nak cari penyakit". I say, "Janganlah penyakit di cari ambik".

WaAllahu'alam.

NOT VERY GOOD AT THIS I AM!

My last posting was on June 4th...sigh...then I resolve to actually make time to update my blog, for the sake of my children. No excuses, just plain don't know how to grab this bull by the horns on this one.

All the same, funny the husband is starting to complain about my being too glued to the computer, albeit reading other blogs - some of them are so good. I like The Scribe, Che Det, of course, The Malay Male when he's not his crass self, Penarik Beca when he is his rude self, Zubli's, Husin Lempoyang...

I will be well and truly a blogger once I've decided that I am not doing it other than to seek satisfaction for me, myself, I and God. Hope that will not be long coming, God willing.

IYAZ TURNS SEVEN - 3 JUNE 2008

With the birth of each of my six children, my life gets better - rezeki dari Allah as the Muslims would say it. Iyaz is number five and Iyaz realises that he needs to start praying cos for one, Bapak will insist that he did and he will get first-hand scolding from Bapak but he also realises that Allah is taking stock on whether he is being a good boy or not. At seven, he very much believes in Allah and that Allah is All Seeing, All Knowing - I pray that Iyaz and all his siblings remember that fact all throughout their lives - Mak will not be with you guys forever to remind you.

Iyaz celebrated his seventh birthday with his younger brother and five of his many cousins. His cousins were looking forward to sharing the blowing of the candles bit but that did not take place. It took a while for me to explain to the imps that celebrating birthdays is not Islamic, however you see it. I just only discovered this through a ceramah recently.

It actually makes sense i.e. not blowing candles -- why would you want to make a celebration out of blowing your life away?! After all, the sure sign of death for us all is in the passing of time...as time moves on, we are closer to take the calling from our Maker. So, celebrate a birthday if you are very sure that you are ready to meet Allah, otherwise, take it easy with the birthday celebrations.

Waallahu'alam. I thank God Iyaz understood.

MEE ARANG PAYA JARAS & PAKCIK MULTI-LINGUAL

No, the mee arang is not black in colour. Mee arang is an Achenese hawker dish cooked with coal - people have been known to insist that anything cooked with coal tastes better. My son Harris and I decided to try Mee Arang that one day when we were waiting for my husband to show up from work. It is quite unique, at least to me, as it is rather different from the mee goreng Mamak that I'm used to. Try it for yourself, I'm scared that I will not be able to do the dish justice by trying to describe it here.

The second time we decided to have the Mee Arang at the shop at the corner in Paya Jaras (near the Pasar Malam), a Pakcik, in his late eighties joined us as the table. He was not eating, he was just resting after a shopping spree at the Pasar Malam. We exchanged smiles but did not say anything - he smiled back and I immediately thought of Iyaz, our seven year old who is starting to loose his milk teeth, so sweet and innocent was the smile, straight from the heart. When our mee arang came, my husband did the usual "Makan, Pakcik...". Pakcik replied with the usual, "Sila, sila...", then, he launched off and did not stop talking for about an hour.

He spoke of his travels all over Malaysia, his experiences, his acquired wisdom throughout his life, his children, his grandchilden, his recent cataract operation and his multi-racial friends. We were in the mood, so he had our undivided attention. [I'm tired, I'll continue later...]

ANAZ TURNS SIX, GOING ON SIXTY

Anaz is number six and Anaz is turning six tomorrow, 29th April 2008. Last week Anaz asked me again, "Mak, kita dah cukup duit ke? Anaz nak beli game...". He knew from my expression what he needed to do immediately, next, he launched off : "Ya Allah, bagi lah Mak aku duit, Mak aku nak bayar hutang, aku nak beli game, Ya Allah, Amin."

Anaz does not understand the meaning of luxury because when he was two, my business started going downhill, now he will be six, we are still unable to bounce back yet.

I'm grateful to Allah for putting me through this test. I have learned to appreciate more. And I've become a better person in many, many ways. Most of all, I'm at peace with myself because I found God.

It is four years now that we are in the dumps and money is very scarce and hard to come by, ever. To top it all up, the business debts are so huge that I'd be lying if I say I can sleep at night most nights. If not for the faith I have in God, I would have gone cuckoo thinking of all the financial problems our family is facing now.

Anaz, like the other five of my children is God's ultimate gift to me. Anaz is such an inspiration. He said something that strengthened my faith in God, ever more. Once is a while, I would ask him, "Anaz, when is God answering our prayers to settle Mak's debts?". He replied in the most convincing manner, "Allah tengah loading tu Mak."

I told my husband about the remark which resulted in him grinning from ear to ear..."See, tak sia-sia main playstation and letting him you-tube with me".

Anaz, Mak knows that what you said is true, that Allah is in the midst of 'loading' the good tidings for us, Amin.

I've Decided...

For someone who claims that she cannot use the pen or pencil properly anymore because of having made to rely on the computer to `write', I have been ashamed at myself for not heeding my children's call to blog and face-book. For the longest time, I resisted starting a blog of my own and I continued to dream about having my thoughts published in paper-based publications. Starting today, I'm a changed person -- I will now post my thoughts on my blog, "For All That Matters...".

I'm pleased with myself because I finally found an overriding theme with which "For All That Matters..." will move forward. My theme is Human Inspirations. Once in a while, I may dabble in politics but we'll see.

Finally, for all that matters, I would like to use this blog to share my life's experiences with my six children - Ayuni, Nadia, Izura, Harris, Iyaz and Anaz.

LET’S SHELVE ‘KETUANAN MELAYU’ ONCE AND FOR ALL

There is no `race’ in God’s eyes. All human beings are equal and are but His servants.

Consider this observation:

"The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue."

This statement was made by a non-Muslim scholar.

To me, it does not matter who uttered those words, what is important is the value of the content. I find it highly relevant in our Malaysia -- forget `Ketuanan Melayu’, period!

And in Malaysia, if Melayu = Islam = Ketuanan Melayu, we are headed for the hellfire, bros and sis, for we have put ourselves as being superior to other races, but God does not recognize races, He recognizes good, fair and just human beings.

‘Ketuanan Melayu’ confirms that Malays are insecure. That feeling of insecurity is real but it is our own doing. A lot of times, we hear the Malays saying “Aku nak bagi project kat dia tapi takut dia tak deliver, so baik bagi kat Cina, sure deliver”. The Malays are the very people who would look up to the Mat Sallehs but at the same time scorn, “Ingat apa, Mat Salleh terror sangat ke?” Do the Malays strive to be as good or better as the Mat Sallehs, the Chinese, the Indians? No, most of the time, they coyly retreat, bask themselves in self-pity and blame others for their shortcomings.

Forget ‘Ketuanan Melayu’, fellow Malays. Let’s strive with all our fellow Malaysians to be good, fair and just human beings, God willing, our lives will be richer.