Mamat : I think I am a good person. I don’t cheat on my spouse and I love my children.
Minah : I am like that too.
Mamat : Ya ke? Well, in addition to all that, I am taking care of my sick mother.
Minah : Oh, thats nothing, my mother in law is staying with me, I mean, who would be okay with that nowadays?

Not wishing to indulge in the bragging competition, I just kept quite.

Mamat: So Akula, what about you?
Akula: You don’t want me to answer that. Seriously.
Mamat: Come on. You can tell us. Let’s talk about it.
Akula: I’ll pass.
Minah: La, cerita je lah. I am sure you must be taking care of someone.
Akula : Ok fine, but you asked for it. No 1, I dont go around bragging that I am a good person by doing all the normal stuff like taking care of my family, parents and in laws. It is our responsibilities and we are expected to do it. Its, NOT TAKING CARE of them which is not normal. No 2, you guys are so full of it, others do the same thing but they don’t brag about it.

I walked away, leaving Mamat and Minah stunned and speechless.

I am not sure how somebody would brag about being a good person by fulfilling their responsibilities. I mean, will they get a life achievement award for doing that? Taking care of your love ones is a normal thing to do. Its expected. It is demanded by our social norms and it is our obligation.

I wouldn’t mind at all if they said and brag about how they rescued street cats, fed them, loved them, gave them a home and turned their dwellings into cat shelters. That is not normal, since not everybody are willing to sacrifice their time and home to do that, including me. Plus, I wouldn’t have the patience to deal with screeching and scratching cats.

Turning an ordinary normal thing to some sort of a grand life achievements really doesnt mean anything. In my book, its just made those people an insecure, egoistically starved human being.

Download and installation were really easy. Blazing fast browsing. The interface is clean, devoid of any clutters and easy to navigate. Chrome will display thumbnail of your most visited sites on start up. Webpage bookmarks can be imported from either Firefox or Internet Explorer. Its still in beta, so expect more funtions to be fine tuned and added.

 I like it. 

Whatever it is, I do strongly believe he is on his last leg as the PM and the UMNO President. Which is a good news, to me at least.

I can’t say the same for those who had indicated that they would contest the Deputy President’s post, though. Zahid Hamidi was allied with Anwar during the reformasi days, and has yet to prove that he is a capable federal leader. Being closely linked to Najib, I really think that his offer to contest may have something to do with the fact that Muhyiddin Yassin is the current hot favourite to win the Deputy President’s post. And rumours has been circulating around that Najib do not have a good working relationship with the latter.

Ali Rustam, Mike Tyson too had announced their intention to be in the race for the coveted position. I dont have anything to say about them, just that, GOD help us if they do win.

I am of the opinion that Nur Jazlan, the Kulai MP made a good decision when he announced that he too is offering himself as a candidate. Honestly, I dont think he will get the desired nomination, but the fact that he’s still young, this will be a good training ground for him should he decide to move further up the UMNO hierarchy in the future.

Muhyiddin Yassin is closely holding his cards to his chest and had said that he will reveal his decision only after the PM’s announcement. I seriously think that he should go for the UMNO’s President post and battled it out with Najib. Considering his experiences and his strong grassroots support I am sure he is capable to mount a serious challenge to the current DPM’s ambition. And the more important thing is that, unlike Najib, he do not appear to have any excess baggage with him.

I am paying a very close attention to the UMNO election, although I am not affiliated in anyway with them, since whoever wins, will by convention be our country’s top leader as the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Well, unless they are toppled by Anwar’s Pakatan Rakyat first.

Now, about that. I took the opportunity to go around and had a lot of conversations with the local politicians (UMNO, PAS, PKR, BN) and supporters in my hometown during the Raya. I can’t say for sure but it seems that they would prefer a PAS Prime Minister rather than Anwar. While reaction from the UMNO, BN and PAS guys were expected, a comment by a local PKR leader surprised me the most when he said that he would rather throw his weight behind PAS, “At least we know what PAS stand will be, and with Anwar, we will never know for sure. Apart from that, PAS have a clear and visible plan in grooming their next generation of leaders to continue their struggles, unlike PKR, which centred around Anwar, and in the future, when he’s no longer there, I sometimes wonder what would happened to us (PKR)“.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Tripoli

Someone I knew.

Tashkent

A friend’s mother.
A colleague’s husband.

North Malaysia

The tomoi teacher, (my bapak angkat).
Love one’s grandmother.

Taiping

Schoolmate’s father.

I cannot say for sure I know how they feel.  I just wish them all to be strong in this trying time.

Hopefully, time will heal their pain and sorrow of losing someone very dear to them.

Unlike previous two years where I took my leave before Hari Raya, and started to work while all other people were still celebrating Syawal, this time it will be the other way around. I’ll take my leave until one week after Hari Raya, which means I will have almost 2 weeks of holiday.

I paid my zakat fitrah and for loved ones under my care in Jusco. Compare that those days when my father cycled to our local surau to settle zakat. Zakat collection counters in shopping complexes were unheard of. Now its very convenience. You can do your weekly shopping and pay your dues in one go.

I’ll be going to the Taman Ria Jaya mosque for the Aidilfitri prayer.

Well, thats that.

To those who knows me and their family in Los Angeles, Vancouver, Ottawa, Warsaw, Tashkent, Zagreb and Thailand, I wish you a bless and joyous Aidilfitri. Jauh di mata dekat di hati (hehe).

To all Nasi Lemak and Nescafe Tarik readers, I wish you all a very fond Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Be safe.

-akula-

“what is important is we did not ask for the women. He supplied them to us. If people sedekah (donate), don’t you want to accept the sedekah?”

Hmmm….. what?

Does giving sexual favours also means sedekah? Well, if its sedekah, who wouldn’t like (especially men) to donate their sexual services just for the sake of buat pahala banyak-banyak.

People like Lingam and him really should be smack hard on the head, repeatedly.

Correct, correct, correct?

Heroes Season 3 premiered in US recently. If you havent had the chance to watch it, you can download the first two episodes here.

Make sure you have WINRAR installed in your pc.

Whats a WINRAR?  Googgle it la!

You can also download movies at the following blog, Panggung Lido.

From BBC online.

“The case has been dismissed. The court said that Warner Bros had known the title of the film since 2005 and had delayed bringing the case to court until the last moment,” lawyer Pratibha Singh was quoted by news agency AFP as saying.

The Delhi High Court also said that consumers who read the Harry Potter books, written by JK Rowling, were sufficiently educated to know that Hari Puttar was different, the agency quoted the lawyer as saying.

Err…. yey?

*Sigh*.

My account was restored just now with few of my latest post went missing. If this continue to happen, I would seriously consider migrating to other web hosting services.

Boring giler!

Akula : Cik, saya nak bayar saman.
Police lady in uniform who looks like Umi Aida : No IC Encik?
Akula : XXXXXX-08-XXXX
Police lady in uniform who looks like Umi Aida : Oi, banyak ni. Dari tahun 98. 10 tahun punya saman. Encik nak bayar semua?
Akula: Ya, saya. Semua sekali.
Police lady in uniform who looks like Umi Aida: Encik dah tau ye?
Akula : Ha ah, saya dah check.
Police lady in uniform who looks like Umi Aida : Ok, semua sekali RM X,XXX.XX.

Yes. I got 10 of them. Since 1998. Since my first car, Honda Civic LX. Anyway, I paid them all, last Friday. Had to fork out quite a sum to settle it.

If you want to check yours, click here.

I think I delayed it long enough. Besides, Ops Warta is ongoing, and unlike previous years when I was abroad, I dont think this time I can avoid the dragnet since I am living here in Malaysia, now.

Better spend the raya with family members instead of strangers in a cell block.