Of This One Big Man

Tonight I went outside, then suddenly I remember about this one elderly man. He is not so old. I think he is in his 30’s.

I stepped out from my imarah which is an Arabic word for building and I looked around. It has been a habit to look for that ammu which also an Arabic word we use to call an elderly man. He has a big body, wide shoulder, shaved beard and usually he wears worn out brown sweater with a black turban wrapped around his head.

However, he was not around tonight.

He usually cycles his bike every night along my street but tonight he was not. That one time I came back from a tuition class, I saw him stopped his bicycle at the roadside and quickly dig into a bunch of rubbish at one spot just beside the road.

Let me picture this to you. In Egypt, there is no concept of recycling nor separating rubbish and throwing them away into diferent different kind of dustbins or whatnots. It only needs one person to put their plastic of rubbish in a spot, then another people will follow and throw away theirs, exactly at the same place. That’s why sometimes the rubbish got messed up really bad here. But who cares? Nobody really cares because they are taught to coexist and live in rubbish since young.

So, this ammu dig into the messed up rubbish in front of my imarah. It was not a one time I see this ammu doing what he did. Almost every time I walk along the street at night, he does the same. And he carries along with him a huge somewhat-like-mengkuang bag (if you guys ever went to pick up durian in the farm, then you guys may know how this bag looks like) behind his back. So, imagine this sort of picture of him cycling and carrying round that huge mengkuang bag.

Yesterday also, I walked home from a tuition class. I spotted him at the other end of the road while my house is located at the other end, like 500m from where the ammu was. Still the ammu did his job looking for boxes or maybe glass bottles and aluminium cans; anything that can be sold.

Halfway of my walking along that street, the ammu intercepted me with his bicycle, but I realized that his mengkuang bag was not full like always. So I thought, it’s okay ammu, the night is still early. You still have a long time to search for more.

After several steps, I reached my building. Then, my eyes caught that ammu standing in front of the building, opposite mine. He spoke with the intercom and I can clearly hear what he was saying.

“Zibaleh?” He asked for a rubbish from person beyond the intercom.

The moment I heard that he was asking for a rubbish, I was saying this to myself “Really? Till that extend?” 

I stood still for a while and trying to confirm what I just heard. It was really happening.

What happened yesterday really shows us what a f***ed up place Egypt is. The rich continue to feed their greediness non-stop, while the poor try to survive just for another night.

To think of the ammu, as far as I know, he is a good man. Even though I can see hardships through his wrinkled forehead, I also can see kindness in him especially when he smiling back at me. Even sometimes I raise up my hand to greet him from afar. Always, he will reply that with his sweet smile.

Before this, I brought back home an extra wrap of rice with fried chicken. Coincidently, that ammu was there, so I told him to take the rice but he refused it nicely after I insisted quite hard, I think.

Maybe, it is a nature of someone who is sincerely working hard for a living, that he would never simply accept someone’s gift. Or maybe he wants to take care of his pride. Or also, and I think this is somewhat a reasonable reason, maybe he does not want to bring back home a food or a gift for one only, considering that there are few members of his family in the house.

He tries to be just and nice to his family, perhaps.

Rayu Sang Pencinta

Dingin malam yang menusuk tulang,
Selalu ku rebahkan badan penuh selesa,
Menutup hari penuh keringat dan penat,
Hari yang terisi durja seperti biasa,
Namun malam ni,,
Rebahku kerana kecewa,
Pabila khabarmu disunting kumbang ku ketahui,
Luluh rasa hati ini,
Janjimu bak manis madu lama dahulu,
Kau tinggalkan aku sendirian,
Memaut erat janji yang sama-sama kita patri,
Biarlah malam ini berlalu sekadar mimpi,
Bangunku nanti mahu kau bersamaku di sisi.

So, I made this malay version poem (absolutely no english version..no confident yet maa) and dedicate this to one of my seniors who lately going through hard times accepting his break up with someone which I don't even know her name.

But to console someone who recently broke his heart surely not as easy as it seems. You have to deal with someone's feeling and also when you just knew about the girl and the relationship thingy, like at that moment he told you the story between them, you don't have much to say to make the man feels great again.

However I tried, and I think he moved on already.

Lastly, a piece of advice here, never let anyone destroy you. It's okay to feel down and sad or even cry, but make sure this happens so quick. Figure yourself out from the misery and get yourself straight.

Find your new strength from the guy above. He would never left you alone anymore. Trust Him ;)

Politic & Disapointment

A tiny insight from me regarding the current political condition in Malaysia. We can see there is some of us who wage a war against corruption and power abuse. We also are rejoiced by the news about the new opposition block in Malaysia (this is me being sarcastic, okay). Hence, these what make Malaysia politic interesting. Always stay tune til the end because every politician will not stick to what they say now and things are viable to change anytime, anywhere.

1. People against scandals of Mr Najib Abdul Razak

Early this month we can see a coalition formed between each and every one who wants DS Najib Tun Abdul Razak to resign as the Prime Minister of Malaysia with some public figures in UMNO, Pakatan Harapan, Parti Sosialis Malaysia and several NGOs attended the event to sign the petition.

58 people who are considered as ‘Wakil Rakyat’ even stated themselves not as representatives from any political party but instead, referring themselves as individuals who care enough to not letting this country being destroyed by people in power today.

Concern with the stability of current condition in Malaysia, politically and economically, all of them came up and spoke for most of Malaysian that this country had enough of the scandals lingering the current PM, including 1MDB, the former AG fired from his office and the interference of executive power in free government agencies such as SPRM and PAC.

The key figure in this ‘coalition’ is apparently to be Tun Dr Mahathir, which is the former Prime Minister of Malaysia.

However, regarding many efforts put by many people to the success of the ‘coalition’ which we called ‘Citizen Declaration’, it seems that the ‘coalition’ is not offering any solution afterwards. After the PM is sacked out from the office, who will replace the vacancy? This was not answered by Tun M in the post-declaration’s PC.

2. Collaboration PAS-IKATAN

In the past Citizen Declaration event, there is not a single figure of PAS attended it. For a while, PAS was being silent in the political arena after the recent post Muktamar issue that led PAS and DAP to disengage from Pakatan Rakyat. Both were arguing about the issue of Hudud.

After some time, a group of several PAS figures made a decision to jump out from PAS and forming a movement called Gerakan Harapan Baharu which later led to the formation of Parti Amanah Negara (PAN).

The story gets interesting when PKR-PAN-DAP forms a coalition named Pakatan Harapan, after a short time which is to replace the former Pakatan Rakyat and carry out the similar consensus they had been agreed on previously. Meanwhile, PAS was said that it was willing to stand alone in the arena in order to get Hudud Law to be implemented in Malaysia, firstly to be done in Kelantan.

A few days before, I heard a rumour saying that PAS already made another opposition coalition with another party. However on that time, I did not take it so seriously because the news headline I was reviewing was from Utusan.

But later, the rumour was confirmed by various sources in the internet with a video of the press conference on PAS and its new ally, IKATAN, released by SuaraTV, Antara Pos and even Astro Awani in the Youtube.

In its new coalition with IKATAN, there are 3 contract that they are both agreed on. To quote from PAS press statement by Nasruddin Hassan:

5. PAS - IKATAN akan terus komited untuk:

a) menghentikan politik perkauman, politik dendam, politik tindas dan politik pilih bulu.

b) menyuburkan politik hubung baik (politik enggagement), politik penyelesaian dan politik rundingan.

c) menolak ekstrimisme dan diktatorship dalam kepimpinan.

To see and analyse the contract, there is not a significant different point which contradict the former Pakatan Rakyat consensus. Also, there is not a point regarding Hudud that is put in the contract between PAS-IKATAN. How can PAS be so sure that IKATAN will support the perjuangan of Hudud until the end? As far as I know, even IKATAN is mainly supported by mostly western-educated liberals and inherit the idea of nationbuilding from Tunku Abdul Rahman which was obviously want Malysia to be a secular country.

Personally, I feel that for PAS to start all over again with IKATAN is such a loss. But it is still better than fighting the war by itself.

Even me as an outsider who observes the political scenario of the opposition on this matter, it seems that PAS is not really disagree with DAP on the technicality of Hudud implementation (as TGHH said in the PAS-IKATAN PC, Hudud is not to be implemented in the short time), but PAS is more likely to having a dominant grasp of the former opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat. Maybe it is because the demand from the members below in PAS that caused PAS to disengage itself from Pakatan Rakyat, or to be precised - to disengage from DAP.

After all, it is up to the people outside to judge what is good and what is not for our country. Perhaps, the next general election is way more closer than we think.

Forum Perdana: Mengapa Hudud?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CHBAJmcVUI&feature=youtu.be

Facebook page DrMAZA.com dated 17 March 2016

https://www.facebook.com/DrMAZA/?fref=ts

Official PAS Press Statement by Nasruddin Hassan

http://www.pas.org.my/arkib/ketua-penerangan/7937-pas-ikatan-melestari-blok-ketiga

Press Conference PAS-IKATAN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCjmKkZ01P8 (SuaraTV)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz7M6Bgj2-M (Antara Pos)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdKC423rX-o (Astro Awani)

Oh My English!

I was quite sentap when I scrolled down my Facebook timeline and read this,

For most of the people (including me), we still write in bahasa because love it or not, it is always be our mother tongue. Personally, I think that, to start writing in English requires a bunch of new vocab. Looking at my condition right now, it seems that I don't have much of it and for that reason, I skip the option to write in English. 

Even sometimes, I got stuck halfway in making sentences because I lost that word that I used to say in bahasa and couldn't get it translated in English. So, it took me to change the whole sentence and replaced it with a new one, or to the extreme level, I shall give up on writing in English and start writing in bahasa instead. Haha.

But maybe (and Inshaallah) after this, I will start writing in English. That is one way to gain new vocabs, right? Make sure to have a dictionary by your side.

And for any mistake that I will be doing regarding my English grammar in the future, I would like to apologize in advance if that brings any of you inconvenience. 

For Grammar Nazis out there, please torch me out of the darkness of stupidity if I do wrong or at least don't bash me, okay? Hoho.

To think of it, what could go wrong if I start sharing my views on life and write it down in English? And what can turn bad if everyone can access what I want to say? Because to have an effective communication is by understanding each other.

Anyway, writing and speaking in English does not make me less Malay and Malaysian after all. So, keep calm everybody (and to me too, don't be feared easily by what people may say about you).

Random

Aku mempunyai satu soalan yang tiba-tiba muncul dalam kepala sewaktu aku berada di dalam bilik air. Aku pun tak pasti lah godaan syaitan mana yang sengaja meniimbulkan never-ending question waktu dalam bilik air ini. Nak buatkan aku berlama-lama dalam bilik air barangkali.

Persoalan ini asalnya persoalan biasa sahaja. “Kenapa orang Arab boleh kencing merata tepi jalan dan orang Melayu tak berbuat perkara yang sama?”

Menariknya, persoalan ini timbul setelah beberapa hari kejadian ‘ammu’ teksi berhenti tepi jalan untuk menyelesaikan hajat beliau.

Waktu itu aku dah lambat pergi lecture @ muhadharah (alamak..serius aku lupa perkataan ‘lecture’ dalam BM!). Tengah-tengah dalam perjalanan, si ammu driver teksi berhenti tepi jalan sambil membawa sebotol air yang masih berisi sedikit air.

Waktu itu juga aku dah memaki dalam hati. Aku dah lambat. “What the h*** mamat ni?!”

Lama kemudian, aku bermenung di hadapan cermin bilik air, aku tanyakan pada diri sendiri; “Kenapa jadi macam itu?”

“Apa beza masyarakat Melayu daripada mereka yang menyebabkan perkara yang sama tidak berlaku?”

Kalaulah masyarakat Melayu dan Arab berlainan agama, mungkin agama merupakan salah satu faktornya.

Tetapi realitinya bukan begitu. Kedua-duanya Muslim.

Sintesis dan analisis berkenaan tabiat itu akhirnya membawa aku kepada persoalan budaya. Sememangnya jelas, budaya kita dan mereka jauh berbeza. Masyarakat Melayu pemalu. Lain pula dengan masyarakat Arab. Mereka kisah apa kalau orang nak kata.

Mengimbas suatu masa, ketika aku dan ahli rumah berjalan kaki setengah jam ke pasaraya yang sedikit jauh. Dalam perjalanan pulang, kami berhenti sebentar ke kedai buku tepi jalan. Asalnya aku mahu membeli satu buku kanak-kanak berbahasa arab untuk mengisi masa lapang membaca dan menterjemah. Tetapi akhirnya kami menghabiskan masa berborak dengan pemilik kedai buku, Khaled, berkenaan politik Mesir dan sedikit tentang budaya masyarakat Arab.

Khaled bertanya, apa perkara yang kami tidak suka di Mesir.

Jujur kami jawab, tentang sampah adalah satu perkara yang paling tidak boleh kami terima dengan akal. Seolah-olah komuniti di sini tidak pernah menghiraukan pencemaran bau dan mata yang berlaku setiap hari.

Kata Khaled, mentaliti masyarakat di sini sangat ajaib. Walaupun kau seorang yang tidak membuang sampah merata-rata, kawan kau akan tolong buangkan sampah kau di mana-mana yang dia suka

“What are you doing?”

I’m keeping my trash so after I find one rubbish bin, I will throw this away.

“Why are you doing that?”

What’s the problem with what I’m doing?

“Noo. Are you saying that you’re any better than me because you’re not throwing away your trash?”

….

“Let me throw that away for you!”

Mereka tahu bahawa mereka bersalah membuang sampah merata-rata, tetapi mereka merasa selesa kerana ramai lagi yang membuat perkara yang sama.

Akhirnya kita tahu, wujud perkaitan di antara budaya dan mentaliti.

Oleh kerana itu, mentaliti yang dibentuk sejak kecil adalah esensi penting pembentukan masyarakat madani (bertamadun). Bagaimana membentuk mentaliti kelas pertama?

Acuannya adalah sistem pendidikan awal.

Soal pendidikan pula tidak pernah menjadi semudah ABC. Selain mendidik kemahiran berfikir, kemahiran tatasusila dan akhlak juga merupakan komponen penting. Natijah daripada penguasaan kesemua aspek pendidikan secara menyeluruh itu jugalah yang membentuk budaya kita.

Bagi aku secara peribadi, pendidikan moral dan akhlak itu perlu berlaku sedari kecil, bahkan perlu bermula dari rumah. Tanggungjawab mendidik anak kecil itu merupakan tanggungjawab bersama ibu dan bapa.

Kalau kita merenung kembali sistem kekeluargaan orang tua kita, kita dapat melihat beberapa perkara. Si bapa tugasnya mencari rezeki, dan apabila pulang ke rumah, tugas bapa adalah mengajar asas ilmu agama. Sebagai contoh, mengajar anak-anaknya mengaji al-Quran atau menghafal sifat Allah yang 20.

Sementara si bapa mencari rezeki pada waktu pagi, si ibu pula mendidik anak dengan etika dan akhlak terpuji. Didodoinya anak kecil dengan selawat sehingga anak itu ketiduran. Apabila terjatuh dan si anak melukakan kaki mereka, ibu datang sebagai doktor dan pada masa yang sama bertindak sebagai guru - menyuruh anak belajar dan tidak mengulangi kesalahan yang sama.

Hebat sangat tugas ibu ini. Kalau diminta menjadi chef, sekelip mata sahaja ditunaikan permintaan kita. Doktor juga boleh. Paling-paling kurang, si ibu boleh menyapu antiseptik pada luka atau menyelesaikan misi ‘earwax retrieval’. Menjadi guru juga dia. Menjadi tukang cerita juga dia. Menjadi kaunselor juga dia.

Jadi, persoalan yang dibangkitkan pada awal entri ini secara ringkasnya membawa kita kepada satu jawapan yang menjadi tunjang kepada pembentukan budaya dan mentaliti – iaitu pendidikan awal yang menyeluruh dan sejati.