Should I or should I not?

Since my return from the Holy land, I keep getting e-mails and text messages from friends I made there, asking me when I am going to start writing about the food, transport and treatment provided by Tabung Haji to pilgrims performing their Haj.

Sometimes, I feel that I should just keep mum. But then again, should I? I keep asking myself this one million ringgit question - should I or should I not let Malaysians know exactly what is in line for them should they decide to go for their Haj through Tabung Haji?

Initially I thought I should stop writing after my last posting (Madinah oh Madinah). Atleast those who have not been to the Holy land will know that not everybody walking the streets in Madinah and Makkah are pilgrims. There are thieves too. However, after some serious thinking I decided that I should speak out – to be pilgrims deserve to know.

GOD willing I will start my first posting tomorrow with the most basic issue – food.

Read more...

Madinah oh Madinah

I have a soft spot for Madinah. The 9 days a spent in Madinah were wonderful except for one small incident which I shall narrate now.

It was about 5.45 a.m. and I had just left the Prophets Mosque after fajr prayers. I walked in through a side lane and stopped in Movenpick coffee stall to buy me a cup of coffee and a cup cake before meeting my wife for real breakfast.

As a walked out of the crowd at Movenpick, I felt the side pocket of my jeppa a little light. I immediately checked my pocket only to realize that I have been picked. My wallet with slightly more than 300 Saudi Riyals had gone missing. Not so much the money but I had my credit cards, Identity Card and Driver’s license in my wallet. For once I thought that I will not be able to see these important documents anymore. With thousands of pilgrims making their way towards Movenpick, anyone in my position will think alike.

All I could do at that moment was to say a short prayer seeking divine intervention. And guess what? From the thousands walking the lane, I managed to single out a young Afghan, chased him, caught up with him and gave him a hard hit on his back. The young Afghan turned around, annoyed but at the same time gave me signals to body check him. I did but found nothing.

I looked around only to see a group of Indonesian pilgrims surrounding him as if waiting for my signal to bash him up. I had never been as embarrassed in my life as I was at that moment.

Suddenly, to proof me right, a shop keeper came out of his shop, tapped me on my shoulder and pointed his finger at my wallet lying amongst items displayed in his shop. The shop keeper pointed at the young Afghan as the culprit. The Indonesians immediately sought my permission to trash the Afghan up but I told them to hold until I check my wallet to see if the contents were intact. Every item including the money was intact and I told the Indonesians to let the Afghan go.

As I was smiling ear to ear, a group of Turkish pilgrims came to me and asked me how I managed to identify the Afghan from the thousands walking the lane. My simple answer to them – ALLAHU AKHBAR (GOD is great) which was followed by a thunderous similar roar from the Turks. And now I repeat ALLAHU AKHBAR. Have faith and ALLAH has HIS plans. Rest assured ALLAH will never let you down…

Read more...

I seek temporary leave

I sincerely apologize for not having updated this blog for sometime now. The truth is that this blog will not be updated for until at least the end of 2009.

I have been rather busy in office as my partner has been and still is on maternity leave and I have been commuting from Raub to Penang to supervise renovation works now being carried out in my soon to be launched Penang branch office.

I am also, at this moment, making last minute preparations for Haj pilgrimage. GOD willing.

I nonetheless, promise to post interesting and fresh stories once my partner returns, my office in Penang is set up completely and upon my return from the Holy land.

In the meantime, I take this opportunity to wish "eid mubarak" to all my followers.

Read more...

Speaking in schools

I elected to stay away from the demonstration for the abolishment of teaching mathematics and science in English. I am not against this particular government policy and neither do I support.

I have elected to do this posting in my personal blog rather than in my political blog lest I be accused of politicizing the language issue. I do not have any intentions of doing so.

Why am I harping on an issue that is dead and gone? The government has decided to scrap off the teaching of mathematics and science in English, so, why am I making my stand at this stage? To me, the issue is not dead. It will not die until 2012. Atleast, that is what Mr. Minister of Education had said. Again, while the government may have intentions to scrap that one issue, another bombshell was recently dropped on us - this time, making English compulsory in schools.

Should English be made compulsory in schools? The whole idea is actually very simple. I always ask myself one question – is it a sin or a crime to master a foreign language? I am tri-lingual and I have no problems with that. I speak Hindi when I am in India. English when in English speaking countries and Malay, when I am in countries where the national language is Malay. I am now industriously learning Japanese and Arabic.

The issue however, is, - are we ready to make English compulsory? Or will Mr. Minsiter of Education again stand up and say - we may have made a mistake. From where I stand, I feel that the government ought not rush as we do not have qualified persons to teach English in the English language. Period ...

I was watching the International Tilawah Al Quran on TV last night and to my surprise the commentator was speaking horrendous English. Was the commentator the best we could offer? I suppose the slot was telecasted all over the world or at least to the countries that participated in the assembly. I am sure listeners were having a jolly good time laughing at our product. In simple terms, majority of the younger Malaysian generation does not have good command of the English language.

It is not that we do not have good English commentators. Mahadzir Lokman is a good example. I am sure there are many more out there. These are the old school of thought. They are from the school were every subject, except for Malay, was thought in English. We, the old school, have the ability in speaking good English but the younger generation?

There is no denying that we want our younger generation proficient, in not only the Malay language, but in other languages too. However, if the teaching generation's English is going to be like that of the commentator, I really feel we should forget about the idea, atleast for now. We really do not have the resources and the infrastructure to pursue this issue.

Just look around you. Do you find the teaching generation available today able to teach English? I doubt it. Their command of English is at the lowest. Every sentence uttered by this generation is grammatically wrong. They are from schools where the medium of instructions were never in English. How would one expect a non English speaking person to teach English? However, it is happening in schools today. English is thought in the Malay language. I am surprised with the ingenuity of the teachers who are able to teach English in Malay. Beats me.

While I appreciate the fact that English is important, the future of our younger generation is also important. Do not spoil the future of the younger generation by teaching them things the teachers themselves do not know.

Maybe in 20 years time, when the now young generation has gone through the acid test and have taken control of the English language, English can be made compulsory. Now? We are not ready, believe me.

For the sake of mentioning. I was in the Court of Appeal the other day. The Honourable Gopal Sri Ram made an Order in the following terms - "I Order that the deposit be cheated ....". This young lawyer was blinking. Deposit be cheated? I suppose that was the question playing in his mind. What on earth does this Order mean?

Read more...