Catatan Seekor Lipas

Sinatra_Z - 14 year old kid

2011-12-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

On a flight to Jakarta there was this boy who sat by me,
he said hi, introduced himself and asked me from where did I came from.

Now it was a KLM flight, it came from Holland and made a Transit in KL before landing in Jakarta. So the kid was somewhat curious to have a conversation with someone from a foreign land or something.

I said I was from Kuala Lumpur.

He was somewhat surprised, the pleasant sort of surprise.

"Oh really? I'm from Kuching!"

"Ahh that's nice, I was born in Kuching."

After a brief history on why I was born in Kuching kid continued asking..

"You go there for work mister?"

"No, I'm going for a short holiday"

"Wow really, me too, me and my family are going to visit my father's friend, he is a chinese guy who lives in Jakarta."

"That's nice..."

"You know, even though he is Chinese, he cannot use his name, because Indonesia don't like Chinese people, the last leader, Suharto dont like chinese so they say cannot all must throw the name. They a bit racist like that. Unlike Malaysia they don't want people from China to come and want the chinese to go back to China. So that's why ah they all don't speak chinese and there are very few Chinese people in Jakarta, my father's friend is one of the few of them there..."

"How old are you kid?"

"I am fourteen, why do you ask?"

"Nothing I was just wondering...."

I just couldn't bear to point out the irony that in a Dutch Airline, bound for Indonesia, we are two Malaysians conversing in English.

On the flight back to Kuala Lumpur, I was surrounded by a family of Indonesian Chinese, going for a holiday to KL I think, siblings with babies and such, pretty noisy bunch, by which during entire flight, they all spoke Indonesian...

I wanted to tell the kid that,
actually there are many Chinese in Jakarta, it's just that, Unlike in Kuching... In Jakarta you got to look really closely to tell the difference.

But he's just fourteen.... I'll let him discover porn first...

Sinatra_Z - Hectic

2011-12-13T07:03:00.000-08:00

LIMA is over,
was an exhibitor there.

Been sick the past 3 weeks or so,
hope to recover soon, which is why you don't see much update.

Hope to start again writing soon.

Anyway it's december,
time to reflect on the year, or in my case, time to take some time off to rest.

Good Night

Sinatra_Z - Spare me your SPAMS (BBM Users)

2011-11-24T07:33:00.000-08:00

I own a Blackberry,
a cheap curve 3G Blackberry, not that great. The rubber button on top which also is the MUTE button peeled off last month and since I had to press that button to Unlock this blackberry so I had to change the whole damn casing.

And Since Blackberry us no Nokia the whole thing costs me about 160. One hundred bloody sixty for the cheapest blackberry 3G model.

It's not that I can't afford a nicer model it's just that I'm cheap, so 160 pisses me off. Anyway, there was a bunch of casings to choose from and the shop owner suggested the original piece, but since I was going to blow some money over this might as well pick a casing that makes my blackberry look unique and lo and behold I pick a dark Blue casing.

Dude was looking at me and asking me twice whether I was sure, and so I was very darn sure.

And now I have a blackberry that looks like a blueberry and often people mistake it for a cheap handphone toy one may find at Giant Hypermarket Taman Permata.

Blueberry Blackberry.

But putting things aside, with it's price and crappy apps and OS I actually like my Blackberry and the chief reason for that is the Blackberry Messenger.

Blackberry Messenger is like the nut in M&Ms, without it it's just like a clourful sweet chocolate, makes the difference between M&M and Smarties.

But of course,
though I love the technology, like many things I just can't stand the bloody users.

Imagine getting spams daily,
these days out of the 10 dings I get from my BBM 9 of them would be some retard spamming something crappy, either some advice coming from someone, a list of crappy jokes or just some retarded greetings like

"Good morning my BBM frenszzzz Luv U allz 4eva!!"

And it get's really bloody annoying,
when I get a Ping in the middle of the night, and fearing that perhaps a lonely hot chick may need some company in the middle of the lonely quiet night and all she can think of is me though that may be quite remote and as unlikely as a million rabid monkeys typing shakespeare over some parallel universe BUT IT MIGHT HAPPEN...

Lo and Behold

I get an asshole spamming me with advices on how to be a good man or insignificant news like dogs getting rabies on the testicles in rural china so authorities are clamping down on dog meat buffets.

Please....

No matter How awesome you might think that advice may be,
or the fact that if you forward this message to your friends you dreams will come true.

Do me a favour..

Spare me your SPAMS

Sinatra_Z - Dalam hati ada taman

2011-11-24T03:39:00.000-08:00

Kalau anda bandingkan antara ucapan yang dibuat dalam Bahasa Melayu dan Bahasa Inggeris untuk tajuk dan isi yang sama, anda akan dapati Bahasa Inggeris hanya memerlukan separuh dari masa yang diperlukan berbanding dengan Bahasa Melayu.

Ini adalah kerana dalam ucapan Bahasa Melayu banyak masa akan dihabiskan pada perenggan pembukaan yang biasanya berbunyi seperti berikut:

“Assalamualaikum, Salam sejahtera, Salam Satu Malaysia, yang berusaha tuan pengerusi majlis, Encik Saapari Yakoop Deraman juga merangkap selaku tuan rumah kita pada hari ini. Yang Berhormat Dato Dr Tuan Haji Ahmad Supardi bin Dato Seri Tuan Haji Abu Hurairah, Adun bagi kawasan Gopeng Jaya, tak lupa juga yang berbahagia Tuan Haji Daud Deraman Misbun, Ketua Kampung Kepayang Hilir Simpang Pulai, Yang berbahagia Naib Ketua Kampung merangkap tok siak Masjid As Sobirin Kampung Kepayang Hilir, Cikgu Yeop Zambahari Kulop Udi, ahli-ahli Jawatankuasa kemajuan kampung, hadirin dan hadirat yang dirahmati sekelian. Syukur kepada Allah kerana dapat kita berkumpul pada hari ini untuk bersama-sama kita bersua dan memperbincangkan hal kemajuan kampung ini, namun sebelum saya meneruskan ucapan saya ini ingin saya memberikan serangkap pantun, Pulau Pandan Jauh ke…..”

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/11/24/dalam-hati-ada-taman/

Sinatra_Z - Penat Tahap Polis Angkasa Gaban

2011-11-17T08:47:00.000-08:00

Dalam alam cakerawala terutama dalam kawasan bima sakti terdapat banyaknya bintang-bintang dan kemungkinan bintang-bintang itu adanya planet mengelilingi mereka.

Pabila adanya planet mengelilingi maka kemungkinan adanya kehidupan flora dan fauna di situ dan pastinya mereka hidup aman, damai dan sentosa.

Namun lumrah makhluk ciptaan ilahi pastinya ada di antara mereka yang berhasat dengki, berhati busuk mahupun memang mempunyai niat jahat. Seringkali watak-watak makhluk yang membuat onar ini akan menganggu gugat ketenteraman awam sekitar alam cakerawala bima sakti.

Mereka akan berpindah dari satu sistem ke sistem yang lain dengan niat untuk mengacau atau menakluki planet-planet berkenaan. Ada yang berniat untuk merosakkan semata-mata dan ada pula yang mahu menjadikan penduduk asal planet berkenaan sebagai hamba abdi.

Gerombolan atau makhluk penjenayah jahat ini dikenali sebagai Raksaksa,
Sebelum ini oleh kerana jumlahnya kecil maka bumi belum pernah menerima ancaman raksaksa, namun sejak ekonomi bima sakti mula merosot akibat dari masaalah hutang dan kredit datangnya dari beberapa sistem di gugusan bintang Europa maka ramai makhluk yang menganggur mula beralih arah kepada jenayah.

Apabila meningkatkatnya kegiatan haram ini pengaruh kejahatan dan kegelapan semakin meluas di pelusuk bima sakti, bumi yang sebelum ini aman, damai, sentosa dan boleh main layang-layang kini menghadapi ancaman raksaksa.

Mujurlah, dalam sektor gugusan bintang mentari telah ditugaskan seorang pegawai polis angkasa yang berkaliber bernama Gaban. Saban hari Gaban yang tinggal di bumi akan menukar kepada pakaian perisainya dalam masa kurang dari 0.5 saat untuk menjaga keamanan bumi.

Dengan bantuan Naga Gaban, motor terbang serta seorang setiausaha wanita, Gaban seringkali berjaya menghadapi cabaran-cabaran mendatang.

Namun walau Gaban merupakan seorang anggota polis angkasa yang berketrampilan dengan begitu baik sekali, sehebat-hebat gaban sekalipun, perjuangan menentang raksaksa bukanlah mudah dan kadang-kadang Gaban juga merasa penat.

Namun penat bagaimana sekalipun, acap mana Gaban merasakan sukar menghadapi cabaran-cabaran tertentu, namun semua tugasan dan halangan mesti diselesaikan dan diatasi kerana Gaban tahu kegagalan beliau berbuat demikian akan terus menerus menimpa nasib ke atas bumi.

Maka begitu jualah semangat yang perlu kita ada,
walaupun penat sebagaimanapun, mahupun sibuk, perlulah ada semangat menyelesaikan masaalah dan menghadapi cabaran, anggaplah segala tugasan yang kita hadapi sebagai suatu tugasan yang amat penting bagi planet bumi sebagaimana Gaban juga.

Sesungguhnya,
biarlah penat tapi puas.
Kalau nak penat, biarlah Penat Tahap Polis Angkasa Gaban

Menyelsaikan masaalah, menjaga keamanan dan berjuang demi kebaikan sejagat, di bumi, di sistem suria, bima sakti dan alam cakrawala.

Ayuh, walaupun penat, walaupun sukar janganlah putus asa, marilah kita berjuang ke titisan akhir.

Sesungguhnya penulis kini juga penat tahap Polis Angkasa Gaban....

Sinatra_Z - Soal Hati

2011-11-15T08:00:00.001-08:00

Sesungguhnya,
Soal Hati itu bukannya mudah, sering kita selalu mendengar lagu-lagu sedih dan dendangan kekecewaan menyalahkan atau menanggap diri kita sebagai satu protagonis dalam sebuah drama yang hebat.

Oh lihatlah, kata kita pada diri kita, apa salahku ataupun mengapa jadi begini, mangsa dalam keadaan yang kita sendiri tidak dapat mengawal.

Akan tetapi,
inikan soal hati, masakan hendak kita menyalahkan atau kecewa, sedangkan soal hati sendiri pun tidak dapat dijangka.

Kan mudah,
kalau hati mengikut kata otak. Akan tetapi manusia bukan begitu, kalau soal hati dapat ditadbir berdasarkan hukum logik dan akal, maka hilanglah roh hati berkenaan.

Kadang-kadang ada terfikir jugak,
barangkali, secara tidak sedar, mungkin sebenarnya dalam di sudut hati suka bersendiri, keseorangan dalam gelap mendengar lagu-lagu berentak perlahan dan sekali-sekala bernafas keluhan pada diri sendiri.

Walaupun terasa seakan sedih, tapi sebenarnya jauh di sudut hati merasa selesa sebergitu. Kerana sunyi dan sendiri, sebenarnya membolehkan diri bergerak tanpa banyak beban dan meneruskan perjalanan dengan bahu yang ringan.

Orang selalu kata, "Tanya Sama Hati" Tapi........Hati kan selalu menipu diri sendiri.

Jadi Beginilah,
saya tinggalkan anda dengan serangkap gurindam buat bekalan kemudian hari

Tanya sama hati,
tapi hati selalu menipu diri,
Tanya sama Iman,
takut tak sanggup dengar jawapan,
tapi walau apa sekalipun,
jangan sesekali tanya Aiman...

Sekian,
Selamat Malam

Sinatra_Z - Bintang di langit

2011-11-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

Karangan Bahasa Melayu

Nama : Zaidel bin Baharuddin

Kelas : 5 Berlian

Tajuk : Bintang di langit.

Bila kita duduk di tengah padang,

pada waktu malam, mungkin kerana rasa perlukan angin segar ataupun melapangkan fikiran kita pun memandang ke atas.

Apabila memandang ke atas nampaklah bintang-bintang berkelipan dengan banyaknya sekali. Tapi kalau waktu itu bulan penuh dan terang maka susahlah, kerana cahaya silauan bulan akan mengenggelamkan kerlipan bintang-bintang. Ataupun katakanlah kita tinggal di tengah kota bercahaya yang terang benderang maka susah jugalah untuk kita melihat bintang. Ini adalah kerana cahaya lampu jalan, lampu rumah, lampu isyarat, lampu lintang stadium dan lampu neon kupu-kupu malam sedikit sebanyak mengenggelamkan cahaya bintang di langit.

Tapi kalau kita berada di kawasan gelap seperti di tengah sawah padi, di tepi laut ataupun di atas bukit yang tinggi yang mempunyai rumput yang hijau, di mana tiada di sekelilingnya tiadalah sumber cahaya buatan manusia seperti yang dinyatakan di atas, maka nampaklah kita akan bintang yang berkelipan dengan banyaknya di ruang angkasa. Jadi kalau anda pergi berkelah di Port Dickson atau di tepi Pantai Morib, cuba-cubalah untuk berjalan ke hujung pantai yang gelap dan mungkin kalau ada rezeki anda akan dapat melihat ribuan bintang berkelipan di angkasa raya diikuti dengan sahutan bunyi mergastua.

Tahukah anda walaupun kita nampak macam ianya berkelipan bersendirian, namun bintang, sebagaimana manusia bukanlah seperti apa yang dipandang dari mata kasar. Sebenarnya ada bintang di langit yang nampak seperti sebutir tapi sebenarnya berpasangan, namun kita tidak nampak dengan mata kasar kerana ianya terletak nun jauh di sana di suatu sudut Bima Sakti.

Bintang ini dipanggil bintang binari, ianya adalah sepasang bintang yang berpusing mengelilingi sesama sendiri, bagaikan merpati dua sejoli, contohnya bintang Spica yang kita lihat di langit sebenarnya adalah dua butir bintang yang berpasangan. Maka kalau nak diikutkan, bintang kita iaitu Matahari sebenarnya adalah bintang bujang yang masih lagi berseorangan belum menjumpai pasanganya.

Jadi kalau anda masih lagi bersendirian, janganlah terlalu sedih kerana ketahuilah, Mentari juga senasib dengan anda.

Adakah anda juga sedar yang cahaya, walaupun sangat laju, bukanlah selaju yang kita sering sangka. Sebenarnya, cahaya juga mempunyai had laju tersendiri, ianya tidaklah laju tidak terkira. Laju cahaya adalah 299 792 458 meter sesaat, ataupun 1 079 252 848.8 Kilometer Sejam.

Ini bermaksud, sekiranya anda berdiri sejauh Satu billion tujuh puluh sembilan juta dua ratus lima puluh dua ribu lapan ratus empat puluh lapan perluluhan lapan kilometer dari satu kebakaran, kemudian anda ternampak cahaya api, sebenarnya cahaya api kebakaran yang anda nampak itu adalah kebakaran yang berlaku satu jam lepas.

Sebagai contoh anda nampak kilat dahulu, kemudian baru kedengaran guruh, ini adalah kerana cahaya lebih laju dari bunyi.

Bayangkan ya, kedudukan antara bintang-bintang adalah begitu jauh antara satu sama lain, tersangatlah jauh menjangkaui berjuta-juta-juta-juta kilometer pun ada, ini bermaksud cahaya mengambil masa yang agak lama untuk bergerak dari satu bintang ke bintang yang lain. Maka cahaya kelipan bintang yang kita nampak pada malam ini, sebenarnya adalah cahaya yang telah lama bersinar, telah berlaku dahulu kala.

Sebagai contoh, bintang Spica tadi jaraknya dari bumi adalah sejauh 2459789922871008 Kilometer, jika dibahagi dengan kelajuan cahaya, ia bermaksud sebutir cahaya dari Spica mengambil masa sebanyak 260 tahun untuk sampai ke bumi.

Katakanlah, kita mempunyai teleskop dan berhampiran bintang Spica ada tinggalnya makhluk asing, dan kita ternampak melalui teleskop kita itu seorang makhluk asing sedang membuang air besar, dan kemudian ternampak tahi makhluk asing yang menggelikan itu, ketahuilah sebenarnya apa yang kita lihat adalah tahi yang telah dilepaskan pada 260 tahun yang lampau.

Semakin sensitif mata kita, atau kalau kita mempunyai alat yang boleh mengesan cahaya yang jauh lebih malap, atau yang boleh melihat dengan lebih jauh, maka semakin jauh ke masa lampau boleh kita lihat.

Maka apa yang kita lihat di langit adalah kejadian yang lepas, boleh dikatakan ibarat langit di waktu malam sebenarnya adalah satu buku sejarah yang maha besar, yang menceritakan kisah-kisah lampau dalam tulisan yang dinamakan cahaya. Malah kalau kita benar-benar memahami tulisan ini, dan mempunyai ilmu serta daya untuk mencari dan membacanya, mungkin kita boleh belajar tentang asal usul kita, bagaimana bumi lahir, bagaimana mentari lahir dan macam-macam lagi.

Sesungguhnya Allah telah memberikan kita suatu kitab yang amat besar yang mempunyai ilmu yang tidak terkiranya banyaknya, tidak terkira nilainya, tersembunyi di balik kegelapan cahaya malam, kitab itu namanya angkasa raya.

Alangkah baiknya kalau kita boleh membaca kitab ini bukan?

Selepas ini, saya yakin apabila anda berbaring di tepi lautan atau duduk di tengah padang melihat ribuan bintang berkelipan, anda akan pandang angkasa dengan suatu sudut yang lain. Suatu keindahan yang mungkin adalah terlalu hebat untuk minda kerdil kita ini benar-benar memahami, benar-benar menikmati dan benar-benar menilai.

Sinatra_Z - Hmm.......

2011-11-09T06:14:00.000-08:00

Been pondering lately,

Maybe this is one of those nights you know,

where things get a wee bit quiet....

Should I give up on her?

I wonder.

Sinatra_Z - Cinta Dramatik Muslimin

2011-11-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

Artikel ini merupakan tulisan mingguan ruangan saya di Free Malaysia Today (terbit setiap hari khamis)

Sejak meletupnya drama Nur Kasih maka tumbuh bagai cendawan suatu gaya penerbitan drama Melayu yang berkisarkan kisah cinta muslimin.

Mungkin kerana Maher Zain sudah menjadi kegilaan ramai anak-anak gadis yang impikan kekasih yang kacak, bersuara merdu, pandai berfesyen dan pada masa yang sama rajin ke masjid maka permintaan terhadap selera dan citarasa drama cinta semakin berubah.

Tidak lagi popular lelaki yang berpakaian ala barat menaiki motorsikal yang memberontak terhadap masyarakat.

Atau mungkin sejak Hana Tajima memaparkan gaya-gaya tudung berlipat-lipat yang menjadi ikutan orang ramai maka muncul suatu golongan ‘Muslimin Hipster’ atau ‘hijabster’ yang semakin hari semakin membesar, maka mereka memerlukan rancangan drama sebagai pelengkap gaya hidup baru ini.

Sambung baca di sini

Sinatra_Z - Trolololol

2011-10-27T02:33:00.000-07:00

-Update-

pass midnight...

It's about 1.8k, never thought it would be that popular.

I should be very happy...

But somehow I cant help but feel as melancholic as hell listening to Adele...

Mungkin sebab malam Jumaat kot ;)

So you want to be an Engineer

Has just passed the 700 mark,

and so I shall sing this song now

Come on kids.... Sing with me... One more time!!

Sinatra_Z - Imma Trolling

2011-10-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Check out my article at FMT folks Malaysian when convinient

Got some pretty angry response, especially from the typical rabid PR people that frequents FMT's liberal comment section.

However at the same time,
the article has surpassed 450 recommendations,
Meaning, those comments don't really reflect reality.

I'm supposed to write a respond, so here's a short one.

"OOOoooo Butthurt.... LOLOLOLOLOL!!11!!!"

But seriously...

"It seems that the comment merely strengthens the article itsels, serving as a proof that indeed my hyphothesis is correct, especially many quickly jump to the gun of NEP and Policies when they seem to fail or refuse to acknowledge this part of the article..

Thus the example above encompasses the massive irony of being Malaysian. Truth be told, many of us only want to be Malaysian only when it is convenient for us. We want to be Malaysian only when it comes to discussing the New Economic Policy, meritocracy or various other government policies. Though I agree to amending or scrapping some of them, it doesn’t really help much in terms of promoting a national identity.

Sure we do want to change this age-long affirmative action policies, but that is because we want a better economy and a system that works, we rather have a more efficient and effective method of wealth distribution that covers all Malaysians and secure a better future. Getting a 7% discount when buying a house or participating in an open tender, though good for the economy, doesn’t really make Ah Chong and Ahmad closer. The answer lies in the citizens themselves.

and so I end this retort with a quote from one of my favourite online character, Master Chief

"LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!11!!!1"

Meh.... It's a Sunday, should commence on to my afternoon nap soon.

Sinatra_Z - What have I been up to

2011-10-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

Right folks, been very quiet around the blogs lately, well actually am quite active but only not in Catatan Seekor Lipas, actively writing elsewhere you can say.

Anyway I got a new gig with Free Malaysia Today, I have a weekly column there, so far 3 articles are up.

Babyrina and Four Witnesses
All the glitters is not gold
Multi Level Melayu

Then of course as been mentioned here before, I have this project going on with J Shamsul called WirawanWeb W//W

Now with our spanking new shiny page check us out at W//W

Am also active with NRC11, an NGO that promotes nation building talks and various other social activies. Am a regular moderator at that Nation Building talks, I last moderated the talk with Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim.

Do check NRC11 out here

Then of course the usual gig of Teh Tarik Bersama YB with Zamiel Zukie and Uzaidi Udanis, the last one they had are the tourism talk and Teh Tarik with Dato Saifuddin Abdullah, deputy minister of higher education, pretty nice fellow.

Check out Teh Tarik Bersama YB

Oh the other day Me and the two boys (UU and ZZ) got into Bernama TV to talk about New Media, kinda groovy

This is the only picture I got. Meh....

Oh and old articles of mine from The Malaysian Insider can be seen here...

Of course,
the Political stuff that I do... Well many of em, by which one of them having me inhaling some tear gas, boy do they taste good in your throat..

And I guess that's about it folks...

Oh wait what?

Kahwin?

Hahahahaaa.... Itu lambat lagi kot....

That's my bro by the way...

Anyway,
catch me on twitter via @Sinatra_Z

And now I shall leave you with this....

Till Then

Good Night Folks....

Apo Kono Eh Jang

2011-10-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Eden tak tahulah kalau ado laie dio baco blog den ni,
Den harap dio bacolah, lama tak dongar kabau, marah kat eden ko? Kalau tak suko cakaplah, takpolah eden buleh terimo seadonyo, iyolah kito bukan artis, tak hensem macam Hans Isaac, eden paham lah tu.

Nak kato eden makan tak konyang, eh konyang jugak, bertambah pinggan ado laie, mandi tak basah tu ado la sikit tapi tu sobab lambat bangun nak poie kojo, mandi kambing la, tidur tak lena tu takdo laie sampai terbabas tido tu adolah.

Tapi ado lah..... Eden toringat malam-malam gini, risau, katonyo ado masaalah,

Harapnya tak sampai sini sajolah, den raso sonyum den lebarnya lobih bilo dongan dio.....

Jadi sobagai mengonangkan dio yang ilang ontah poie mano, ontah2 poie Mekah buek haji, mano la tahu, eden ingin mendedikasikan lagu ni khas buek dio.

Haaa tengok kau, bertapa letupnya Milah gadis kampung berbaju pink ittew diikuti dengan kehenseman jang dengan pakai spek pasar malam sepuluh hengget.

Nak kata hensem ni takdelah sangat, tapi kalau sekadar hensem macam Jang dalam lagu ni, rasonyo ado tu...

Selamat Malam.....

Sinatra_Z - Lagu Lama, Nilai Lama

2011-09-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

Masa saya sekolah rendah dulu, lebih kurang darjah tiga dengan darjah empat,
budak-budak sebaya masa tu tergilakan lagu Untukmu Ibu nyanyian kumpulan Exist.

Masa tu mamat penyanyi kumpulan tu,
kemudia bila masuk darjah 5 dan darjah 6 zaman KRU pulak,
Norman, Edry dan Yusri habis menguasai ruang udara radio dan budak-budak semua menyanyi lagu Awas dan sebagainyalah. Meriah.... 4U2C dan Fiona lama sangat, tu zaman kakak saya.

Yang peliknya, waktu budak-budak gilakan Exist dan nyanyikan lagu Untukmu Ibu, saya terbeli kaset warna hijau putih dekat pasar malam, lagu-lagu P Ramlee dan sangat gilakan nyanyi lagu Bila Mama Pakai Celana dengan Dengar Ini Cerita.

Kemudian masa AWAS tengah meletup saya beli kaset Louis Armstrong dan di hujung kelas saya nyanyi lagu Skokkian, What a Wonderful World, When The Saint's Go Marching In dan Moon River. Memanglah lagu tu lagu zaman dulu kala tapi saya baru dengar kali pertama jadi rasa macam meriah gila la.

Waktu tu saya je yang macam lain sikit,
dan satu-satunya kawan yang boleh layan saya dengar lagu-lagu aneh waktu tu ialah Ali Akbar, ketua pengawas. Dia memang minat muzik. Jadi semenjak dulu, saya memang suka benda-benda lama, terutama lagu dan gaya fesyen lah. Waktu budak-budak minat gila seluar Jun Saito dan Alien Workshop saya rasa teringin nak pakai suit kelabu, topi dan tie biru muda macam Frank Sinatra pakai dalam gambar album dia.

Jadi memang sejak dari dulu, minat dekat benda-benda lama ni membuatkan saya ni agak "lone ranger" sikit. Tapi saya tak risau sangat, kalau sekadar lagu-lagu dan gaya je apalah sangat, bukannya kesunyian mana pun, kawan masih ramai, minat masih sama dan sebagainya. Boleh dikatakan saya masih lagi agak "Main Stream"

Tapi kan,
saya selalu ingat, yang sesetengah perkara masyarakat akan simpan dan hargai walaupun zaman berlalu, iaitu budaya dan adat resam termasuklah nilai-nilai lama. Benda-benda macam, hormat menghormati, resam padi makin tunduk makin berisi, nilai-nilai moral dan keugamaan. Saya ni tidaklah alim mana, jauh sekali, tapi saya masih kekal pegang kepada nilai-nilai Islam dan masyarakat melayu, nakal tu adalah tapi tidaklah jahat.

Tapi sekarang ni bila tengok,
dulu tukang tadah tangan baca doa dekat perhimpunan sekarang steady dengan JD dalam tangan, anak murid kesayangan cikgu yang terkenal dengan sifat keislaman dengan selamba kesana-kemari sampai buat benda saya pun tak jangka boleh jadi.

Suddenly sleeping/drinking/screwing around becomes normal....

Ini apahal lah ni?
Tak lelaki tak perempuan, tudung ke tak tudung ke apa kejadahnya,

Aku sorang je ke,
bukan dulu masa sekolah dan sebagainya aku ke sepatutnya yang nakal?

Biarlah,
kalau nak jadi arus perdana atau "main stream" ialah untuk meninggalkan nilai-nilai yang kita telah diterapkan semasa membesar, saya lebih rela duduk di hujung dan menyanyikan lagu Louis Armstrong. Mungkin dalam perjalanan yang tampak macam sunyi ni, saya akan jumpa beberapa kawan dan rakan, yang boleh sama-sama duduk sekali layan zaman-zaman yang telah lama berlalu.

Sinatra_Z - The Incident

2011-09-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

Tonight it's the red BEN,
the one without the power steering, came back from his barbecue suddenly an SMS came into my phone.

At first I thought it was one of those tea drinking sessions in Desa,
Sh, Limau, Joe and the rest were probably plotting with a cup of teh o ais in their hand while we, quietly enjoy those great barbecue meat that he had always cooked.

Regardless of the subversive nature of our barbecue it was actually a good day. My article cam out in the portal, stoked some big attention arguing about the usage of Allah. Many-many angry comments which naturally makes me quite turned on by it but also many-many more quielty supporting it.

"Thank god, someone like you stood up for us" or "Nice argument bro, we need more people like you"

Being nice was no longer the option, time to burn right in front of their face, be it what they may call me but that's how I do it.

Then of course, the SMS came in.

"The Church in Taman Melawati got torched, some unknown assailants was seen throwing molotov cocktails into the compund."

Carefully drove down, hoping that this was a minor incident, perhaps maybe just a door or a window got burned. But it was not so, it was the real thing, with smokes and glass broken, the whole compouned was burned badly.

"This is a protestant church for crying out loud, not only are these idiots stoking some serious shit but they hit the wrong #*&(*#&$$(* Church, how dumb can they be?"

I parked my car,
called on Joe to get some confirmation and just stood at the side of the building. Quite some distance, and from afar I can see the three of them looking on the burning church, then her family came.

There I was sending messages to some of the boys saying

"Holy crap shit has hit the fan."

Speechless as ever, though I still stood firm on my beliefs yet can't help but feel really really bad inside of me.

After an hour plus and once I saw them going off, with smokes rising and firemen clearing up the scene I wen't back.

Then I saw the update

"A Church in Taman Melawati got torched today, unknown assailants came in and broke the window, Salam 1 Malaysia"

The the most Ironic part is that,
on the chat we talked about the article I wrote and how gung ho I was in defending what was right.

And Ironically, that night, that churched was torched.

I hardly have any Drama in my life,
but this..... well this is quite something.

And so,
I emailed my Editor.

Sinatra_Z - My first ever raya ad

2011-08-27T10:49:00.001-07:00

My first ever hari raya ad video, first try yo, amacam ok tak?

Hero, Heroine and Villains

2011-07-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

It was one of those usual Teh Tarik sessions we had, UU explained about this new gig that they're doing, people listen and after the usual on the fly documentation which is somewhat similar to a Multi Level Marketing meetup, naturally of course, like how rojak goes well with cendol, after the serious business we move on to the talking cock session.

Catching up, cracking jokes and the usual glances at some hot leggy chick that walks by, it was the usual hangout night with good friends atmosphere, standard. However, in between the jokes and friendly insults, one particular thing did caught my attention and it was when UU described what it means to be a Hero, a Heroine and a Villain. You see UU and ZZ recently went to this script writing course in FINAS and in one of the classes they had to define on what it means to be the main characters in a Malay movie. To sell a script you need to have a good story and to have a good story you need good characters.

Let me rephrase that again, to sell a script you need a story that people will buy and to have that you need characters that can easily be commercialised. The best way to sell a character of course is something that one can always relate to, or at least have the fantasy of relating. So before UU and ZZ start writing their best selling multi million dollar script, first they have to define on what it means to be a Hero, a Heroine and a Villain in the context of a Malay movie and this is what they came up with.

HERO - Someone who does stupid things (buat kerja bodoh), doing things the hard way or a person who does non sensible things. For example, let's take Rambo, in Rambo 4, Rambo went into the jungles of Myanmar facing a battalion of Burmese soldies because some missionary christian chick (who probably practices abstinence) touched his hand and that's it. Rambo masuk hutan, Rambo bunuh askar Burma, Awek terkejut tengok darah, awek nangis, awek peluk boyfriend dia, Rambo kecewa, Rambo balik kampung, THE END. How about Malay movies, look at almost all of P Ramlee movies, Kassim Selamat goes blind for love, Hang Tuah is the epic idiotic noble warrior while Sarjan Hassan goes deep in the Jungle waging a guirella war with the occupying Japanese for the sake of... Err... British colonisers.

HEROINE - A dreamer, loves fantasy and at the same time hard headed. She must marry and love that mat rempit, that lorry driver, she must not succumb to the pressure of her parents who although gives quite solid and sensible arguments, just don't understand the meaning of true love. She will wait patiently (Sabar) for that irresponsible husband/boyfriend who will someday, through the power of prayers, return on to the right path and 'insaf'. Eg Nur Kasih, in the drama her husband didn't love her, was forced to marry her, ran away, married an Australian chick, things don't go well with that chick so he ran back to Malaysia, had an affair with Nur without telling her that he's married, left his sick australian wife because he can't stand her, then there's this huge load of drama and somehow through the power of prayers and love, husband get's back with Nur, became pious and his Australian wife dons an Obedient Wives Club outfit and conviniently dies of cancer, which is somewhat a blessing for Nur.

VILLAIN - Someone who is sensible, realistic and pragmatic. Joker in Dark Night thought hey why do I work hard when I can just rob some money and be rich quickly, saving Gotham? Why so serious? They couldn't give a crap about you anyway. Darth Vader thought the best way to unite the universe is to obliterate all annoying rebelling systems while Hang Jebat thought why in the world should I listen to this stupid Sultan when I can take over his place, after all I am invincible thanks to Taming Sari. Why should I listen to the king when I can be king!

It made perfect sense to me and for a moment UU was like that travelling poet who tells far off stories and legends, he was like a wandering philosopher who gives out wisdom after years of meditation in some remote mountain, for a moment I had an ephiphany.

You see, these defenition, these characters dont only exist in movies, they actually exists in real life. Though not as clear as in the movies, these characters exists around us and chances are we are playing that role. Now I'm not going to write some long winded in depth argument regarding this matter, however I would like to present you this simplistic scenario as a conclusion.

The Hero is that person who keeps on pursuing for some idealistic cause, he keeps doing things the hard way on chasing his love because he thinks that through chivalry and hard work she will finally see his true quality, while on the other hand this heroine who keeps falling for that guy who is a douche and keeps cheating on her because she believes that deep in his heart there is good. While the villains are the ones that these two characters fall for, they're not neccescarily bad or evil it's just that it's nice for him to have a chick who cares and adores him while on the female side, she thinks that it's nice having free meals at fancy restaurants while having someone listen to you complain about things.

Of course, love isn't the only way to represent these characters, you can translate it into work, society or any sort of social engagements. But since we're talking about Malay dramas and movies, I thought that perhaps this scenario would be the best that we can relate to.

And so, as I facepalm thanks to this realisation of mine, I bid you good night, godspeed and of course the usual Dream A Little Dream of Me.

PATRIOT - MANIFESTO

2011-07-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum, salam sejahtera dan salam perpaduan, terima kasih kerana sudi meluangkan beberapa minit dalam tempoh masa kehidupan anda untuk membaca penulisan ini. Sesungguhnya kami serupa dengan sebahagian besar rakyat Malaysia yang cintakan keamanan dan kesejahteraan. Namun begitu kami akan tetap turun pada tanggal 9 Julai 2011 pada jalanan dengan berbaju merah, berarak dan berhimpun di kotaraya Kuala Lumpur dengan membawa nama Patriot.

Pastinya ada yang mempersoalkan kewajaran untuk diadakan himpunan Patriot ini terutama apabila demonstrasi jalanan bukanlah hasrat segenap golongan besar rakyat Malaysia.
Tuan-puan sekelian, memang kalau diikutkan langsung tidak mahu kami mengadakan perhimpunan ini, kami juga seperti sebahagian besar rakyat malaysia sudah bosan dengan permainan politik dan lebih rela sekiranya mereka yang dipilih, pemimpin dari segi kerajaan pusat mahupun negeri lebih menumpukan terhadap kerja, membangunkan negara. Namun suka atau tidak, dimulakan dengan September 16 satu-persatu drama politik cuba ditimbulkan tidak habis-habis. Malah sehingga masaalah peribadi juga cuba diheret dan dibawa ke jalanan, panggilan reformasi dan perjuangan yang digunakan untuk berselindung dan menyorok cita-cita dan masaalah peribadi pemimpin yang rakus.

Maka pada waktu ini, tatakala pelbagai cabaran menyusul satu lagi pentas drama cuba dibawa ke arus perdana. Diadakan himpunan yang dinamakan Bersih,konon untuk pilihanraya yang bersih dan adil. Tapi aneh, hanya diadakan himpunan ini setelah kalah berturut-turut dalam pilihanraya kecil. Kali terakhir diadakan bersih adalah tahun 2007 sebelum Pilihanraya UMUM dan tidak pernah pula dibawa masaalah pilihanraya sewaktu golongan tertentu memenangi pilihanraya kecil berturut-turut.

Sebenarnya dah terang lagi bersuluh, himpunan bersih hanyalah suatu himpunan politik yang berselindung di bawah nama demokrasi, keadilan dan kesaksamaan. Sesungguhnya ianya tidak lain tidak bukan hanyalah permainan politik sebagaimana permainan politik sewaktu september 16 dahulu, mereka perlu menimbulkan prasangka, menimbulkan kacau bilau untuk menyorokkan masaalah politik yang tidak-tidak habis membelenggu diri sendiri. Masakan pemilihan parti sendiri pun kacau bilau, apa hak untuk mengajar orang lain membuat pilihanraya, paku dulang paku serpih mengata orang dia yang lebih. Mereka mahu laba politik dari himpunan ini, sebab itu enggan diadakan di Stadium yang jauh lebih baik dan aman kerana kesannya yang tidak ketara tidak seperti di tengah-tengah bandaraya Kuala Lumpur.

Hari ini kami telah muak, bosan, menyampah lagi jelak melihat golongan kecil ini, golongan minoriti yang hanya kerana mereka lantang dan bising cuba untuk merampas halatuju negara. Golongan kecil ini yang turun ke jalanan untuk mendapat laba politik melalui liputan antarabangsa, golongan tak habis-habis bermain politik kerana kegagalan dalam mentabir, sudah tiba masanya untuk mereka diberitahu, dengan tegas dan lantang, bahawa masa untuk berdrama, mendesak dan menekan sudah tamat, bahawa kali ini majoriti senyap "silent majority" tidak akan berdiam lagi.

Maka kami memanggil semua untuk sama-sama turun pada tanggal 9 haribulan julai ini, mereka yang sudah muak dan jelak golongan ini yang tak habis-habis berdrama dan menyusahkan orang ramai. Menyatakan bahawa BUKAN golongan yang paling kuat berbunyi dan memekik adalah mereka yang sepatutnya menentukan paksi, Patriot mahu suarakan kehendak dan pendapat majoriti rakyat Malaysia, tunjukan bahawa kali ini, rakyat malaysia tidak akan berdiam diri lagi.

PATRIOT - Rakyat yang cintakan negara, berhimpun dan berkumpul untuk menyatakan bahawa cukuplah! Sesungguhnya kali ini, suara majoriti yang setelah sekian lama sunyi tidak akan berdiam diri lagi.

Kampung terbakar nampak asapnya, hati terbakar siapa yang tahu.

Mari kita sama-sama membawa bara merah di ibu negara pada Julai ini dan jangan benarkan golongan kecil ini merampas suara Malaysia.

Sinatra_Z - WTF??

2011-06-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

Sinatra_Z - MCMC Strikes Again

2011-06-08T23:20:00.000-07:00

Check out J Shamsul's posting on - MCMC Censoring the Internet???

http://wirawanweb.com/2011/06/09/mcmc-censoring-the-internet/

Sinatra_Z - Affordable Gadget Gifts for Father’s Day

2011-06-05T23:05:00.000-07:00

Father’s day is around the corner, that day where we celebrate that man who farts whenever his pinkie is pulled, he who would have made Liverpool won the premier league if only he was the manager and the person who wears the pants (or sarong) around the house. What better way to show your appreciation then a thoughtful techie gadget as a gift.

http://wirawanweb.com/2011/06/06/affordable-gadget-gifts-for-fathers-day/

Sinatra_Z - Gunakanlah Huruf Konsonan (Dari meja pengarang)

2011-05-30T20:23:00.000-07:00

Pada suatu ketika dahulu, sewaktu zaman telefon bimbit masih lagi tidak berwarna dan setiap pesanan ringkas (SMS) berharga antara 10sen ke 30sen setiap satu maka setiap SMS itu dianggap berharga terutama buat pasangan bercinta yang mahu meluahkan pelbagai perasaan dalam nilai kredit yang terhad.

http://wirawanweb.com/2011/05/31/gunakanlah-huruf-konsonan-dari-meja-pengarang/

Sinatra_Z - America’s Finest News Network

2011-05-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

Tired of the spinning the media elites spewing on to you? Those half cooked stories? Powers that be and people with money telling you how you should think? Fret no more, be gone with those liberal slanted socialist swinging media that promotes free medical and stifles democracy by limiting your right to own a gun, W//W presents you America’s Finest News Network

http://wirawanweb.com/2011/05/30/americas-finest-news-source/

Sinatra_Z - Ayat padu di #PickupLineMuslimin

2011-05-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

Adakah anda mahu mengorat gadis bertudung ala-ala Nur Kasih? Adakah anda mahu ayat-ayat padu mengorat yang mematuhi piawaian syariah? Dijamin halal? Jangan risau dan jangan kecewa kerana kini anda boleh menggunakan ayat-ayat padu cinta sebagaimana dalam Nur Kasih the movie dengan bantuan Twitter!

http://wirawanweb.com/2011/05/26/ayat-padu-di-pickuplinesmuslimin/

Sinatra_Z - Nostalgia Malar Segar di Internet

2011-05-22T18:52:00.001-07:00

Klasik Nasional, segalanya di sini menggamit memori. Itulah dia motto kepada rancangan radio yang memutarkan lagu-lagu lama di ruang udara negara kita. Dengan nama rancangan seperti “Malar Segar” (Evergreen) dan “Masihkah Kau Ingat” pastinya banyak kenangan lagu-lagu lama terdetik tatakala mendengar alunan lagu dan irama lama. Namun tahukah anda, selain stesen radio RTM ini ada satu lagi ruang yang banyak menerbitkan kenangan lama dan ianya tidak lain dan tidak bukan di – INTERNET

http://wirawanweb.com/2011/05/22/nostalgia-malar-segar-di-internet/

Sinatra_Z - MeMe Malaysia

2011-05-18T10:57:00.001-07:00

Assalamualaikum, salam sejahtera, salam 1 malaysia, salam email 1 malaysia dan salam 1 tube, pada penulisan hari ini ingin saya menyentuh mengenai MeMe Malaysia. Meme bermaksud satu ikutan, tidak kira dari segi slogan, ayat, perkataan, gambar mahupun apa-apa pautan yang tersebar dengan luas dan pantas dalam Internet. Contohnya pernah suatu ketika lagu dendangan Rick Astley berjudul “never gonna give you up” banyak digunakan untuk mengenakan orang dan ikutan meme ini dipanggil RickRoll. Hari ini mari kita melihat salah satu meme yang menjadi ikutan hangat di kalangan warga internet Malaysia.

http://wirawanweb.com/2011/05/18/meme-malaysia-usop-wilcha/

Sinatra_Z - Announces WiraWanWeb.com W//W

2011-05-17T05:33:00.001-07:00

SO yeah folks,
me and Jiboneus (of jiboneus.com) lanched this new portal called wirawanweb.com or W//W (our superhero logo). Basically it's a place where we write about the latest trends and news in and around the internet with a slight focus on Malaysia.

The Idea floated when we noticed that TmNet began censoring certain sites via streamyx and after the Internet Blackout in Egypt me and J thought that it would be great if there was a place or at least a group that monitors these sort of things.

We decided to call ourselves wirawanweb which when translated to English means web warriors to signify the concept of a Keyboard Warrior i.e a person who is immensely loud in forums and comments sections but rather timid in reality, just kidding.

Anyway do drop by and I will be posting updates of my writing there via this blog. Check out my first posting over here

http://wirawanweb.com/2011/05/17/apa-khabar-dunia/

Oh and to be clear, it's a bilingual portal so yeah.

Sinatra_Z - Commas

2011-05-15T10:01:00.001-07:00

Soh told me this actually

Compare these two sentences

A woman without her man is nothing.

and

A woman, without her, man is nothing.

Pausing makes a whole lot of difference.

Good Night Folks

Sinatra_Z - Zen Moments

2011-05-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

I picked up many wisdom during my Uni years.
In fact, I think campus taught me more about life than Engineering itself.

The usual academic stress does have it's toll I however have many Zen moments to cope with it back then.

Was never much into meditation let alone any form of vedic eastern yin yang nature asimilation sort of a guy.

Nor was I that religious so Zikir was only occasional.

My Zen moments was,

Crapping in the most comfortable toilet in campus, located at the main library, seated and always dry while reading Far Eastern Economic Review taken from the magazine aisle.

Sitting in front of the campus mosque, on top that green hill looking at sunset.

Drinking a cold jasmine green tea while listening to the wind chime hanging in my window ontop of my 6th floor room. My hostel was on top of a hill so it was always windy.

Quietly sipping hot tea at Razlan's room while listening to Keroncong on Best 104 fm.

hmm.....

Sinatra_Z - Abang.... Abang.... Abang.....

2011-05-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

Cerita yang mungkin atau tidak ada kena mengena dengan yang hidup atau yang mati mahupun yang bakal mati. Lantak korangla...

Perkahwinan itu adalah satu perjanjian antara dua insan yang telah bersetuju untuk bersama ketika mana senang, ketika mana susah dan ketika mana kebosanan mahupun kegembiraan. Walaupun sering orang mengatakan bahawa hidup itu pendek, akan tetapi ianya adalah terlalu sunyi untuk melaluinya secara berseorangan. Memanglah, ada sesetengah itu menganggap perkahwinan itu adalah ikatan cinta, apabila pasangan lelaki dan perempuan itu berkongsi lebih daripada haba badan sewaktu tiba di malam yang sejuk. Segala rahsia, rasa sangsi, keputusan malah harta juga dikongsi bersama.

Zah menganggap bahawa pasangan hidup itu selain dari tempat berkongsi segala macam duka dan gembira, juga merupakan saksi kepada kehidupan kita sendiri. Sesungguhnya manusia itu memerlukan seorang insan bagi menjadi bukti akan perjalanan hidupnya. Mungkin bunyinya seperti tidak masuk akal akan tetapi itulah pendapat peribadi Zah.

Namun kalau sekadar dua manusia yang duduk bersama berhari-hari pastinya tidak akan tahan, sebab itu anak-anak merupakan suatu kurniaan, kehidupan kita yang pada mulanya berpusat antara dua insan kini tertumpu sepenuhnya kepada cahaya mata. Maka kehangatan darah muda mula pudar dan berubah menjadi lain, kebahagiaan rumahtangga bertukar menjadi kebahagiaan keluarga, walaupun tidak sehangat api perkahwinan namun membawa keselesaan jangka panjang, kegembiraan yang kecil tetapi bertahan lama. Keseronokan mendengar anak perempuan kita jatuh cuba berjalan boleh membuatkan Zah senyum simpul sepanjang minggu.

Namun kita tidaklah ibarat merpati dua sejoli yang biasa, memanglah kalau nak diikutkan Zah adalah jauh lebih bahagia kalau diibarat mana-mana pasangan suami isteri yang lain. Abang pulang dari pejabat lepas jam 5 petang, mengambil Zah dari Klinik, Zah masak kari ikan pada malam isnin, asam pedas pada hari Selasa, ambil anak dari kelas fardhu ain dan bawa anak-anak ke Zoo negara pada hujung minggu. Sekali-sekala bersama dengan masyarakat melalui PIBG dan abang pada hari ahad main golf dengan kawan-kawan sekolah.

Tapi kalau abang orang biasa masakan Zah akan tertarik abang, masakan abang orang biasa akan Zah akan lari melawan cakap ayah bonda, masakan abang orang biasa akan kita bersama. Dari mula Zah melihat dan jatuh cinta pada abang, yang boleh mengatur dan menggerakan hati, minda ribuan anak-anak muda maka tergerak jugalah hati Zah. Memang indah dan bahagia menjadi biasa akan tetapi kadangkala dalam sesuatu perjalanan hidup akan sampai detik apabila orang biasa macam Zah ini akan menjadi saksi kepada lipatan sejarah. Memang sejak dari sekolah Zah bercita-cita tidak lebih dari menjadi seorang doktor, tak kisahlah pakar bedah atau doktor klinik kerajaan kampung sekalipun janji berkhidmat kepada masyarakat. Tapi Zah harus berkorban, kerana Zah sedari apalah sangat bakti kecil cita-cita perbadi ini kepada masyarakat berbanding dengan abang yang membawa arus perubaham, arus perjuangan, arus penerusan kepada ummah.

Memang, orang-orang yang beriman akan sering diuji oleh tuhan akan keutuhan hati mereka. Zah tahu abang dan Zah sentiasa faham akan sukarnya perjalanan seorang pejuang itu. Kini perjuangan itu bukanlah perjuangan abang, akan tetapi perjuangan Zah juga, perjuangan anak-anak kita dan juga perjuangan semua rakyat. Biarlah kita dizalimi kerana Zah yakin bahawa apa yang kita tempuhi ini adalah jauh lebih besar dari Zah, dari abang dan dari anak-anak kita. Memanglah mereka tidak dapat membesar sebagaimana anak-anak yang lain akan tetapi tidak seperti anak-anak lain mereka sudah kenal akan erti perjuangan dan erti hidup untuk sesuatu yang lebih besar, anak-anak kita belajar jadi mujahid. Biarlah anak-anak orang lain, macam anak-anak bekas kawan abang, belajar di luar negara hasil dari kekayaan ayah mereka yang merompak hasil rakyat. Biarlah mereka rasa pengalaman duduk di negara berdingin untuk segenap masa dan pulang dengan berbahasa loghat asing dengan pandangan dunia ala-ala cendekiawan berkulit cerah. Lantaklah dengan anak-anak bangsawan itu, abang tidak seperti mereka, anak-anak kita tidak akan menjadi seperti itu, anak-anak kita akan belajar pengorbanan, perjuangan dan bukan merompak hasil keringat rakyat marhaen tetapi bersama berpeluh, perhempas-pulas dan membanting tulang demi perjuangan yang hakiki, demi masadepan bersama yang lebih cerah.

Memang dulu masa Zah muda, perjuangan ini perjuangan abang, tetapi sekarang ianya lebih bersar dari itu, sesungguhnya perjuangan itu adalah lebih tinggi dari Zah dan Abang malah anak-anak kita sekalipun. Memang Zah sedar abang tidak sempurna, masakan lelaki mana yang sempurna, akan tetapi lelaki yang tidak sempurna inilah yang Zah percaya, Zah sungguh-sungguh percaya akan membawa obor perjuangan kita ini. Tapi abang lemah, sangat lemah, asyik berdampingan mereka yang merosakkan, mereka yang menikam belakang dan mereka yang sering membawa abang ke jalan yang salah. Sumpah Zah tidak membenci bekas ayahnda abang, biarlah dia menzalimi kita berdua tapi bukan dia yang menjatuhkan abang, kawan-kawan abang disekeliling itu yang menjatuhkan abang. Dia tidak yakin dengan abang tapi sesungguhnya Zah lebih mengetahui bahawasanya abang perlu meneruskan kerana walaupun abang lemah, abang tidak sesempurnya yang dia harapkan, namun perjuangan abang itu masih mulia, jauh lebih mulia dari perasaan dan cita-citanya.

Tapi masa itu memberi kesan, abang sekarang sudah lemah, terlalu lemah, tak tahulah Zah mungkin kerana terlalu kuat godaan ataupun kerana telah pernat berkorban sekian lama. Memanglah Zah marah abang buat perkara itu, memanglah Zah tersangat kecewa kerana perlu menghadapi mereka lagi, menidakkan, menentang dan mempertahankan abang dan pada masa sama menyorokkan hati yang telah robek lagi terguris ini. Namun kekecewaan Zah bukanlah kerana itu semua, itu semua boleh Zah telan, kunyah dan hadam dalam perut yang dah lali dengan kepahitan perjuangan ini, apa yang Zah kecewa ialah abang tumbang dalam perjuangan ini, abang tidak larat lagi untuk membawa obor kepimpinan ini yang telah sekian lama abang bawa dan kemudi dan abang telah mengkhianati perjuangan kita ini dengan kesilapan abang itu, sengaja ataupun tidak.

Abang, walaupun abang banyak berdosa pada Zah, Zah maafkan abang, memang Zah banyak kecewa dengan abang namun selama ini memang Zah percaya bahawa abang adalah orangnya yang akan memimpin kita semua, khalifah zaman baru ini. Akan tetapi mata dan hati Zah sudah terbuka, tidak sanggup lagi menipu diri dan menipu perjuangan ini, Zah terpaksa akur pada hati dan minda Zah bahawasanya abang bukan orangnya, suatu ketika dulu abang mungkin namun bukan abang pada hari ini. Zah harap abang maafkan Zah kerana lakukan benda ini, abang maafkanlah Zah kerana Zah juga banyak berdosa pada abang, tapi percayalah sesungguhnya Zah buat ini adalah kerana tidak sanggup melihat perjuangan yang kita tegakkan selama ini tumbang dan roboh begitu saja. Sesungguhnya dalam perjuangan itu memerlukan pengorbanan dan ini adalah pengorbanan Zah yang paling besar, mengorbankan seseorang yang amat Zah cintai.

Abang.... Abang..... Abang...

Abang jangan marah ya, jangan risau abang takkan rasa sakit, Zah kan doktor dulu jadi Zah tahu, Dr Hector dan janji pada Zah bahawa abang tidak akan rasa siksa, abang akan pergi dalam tidur nanti. Zah akan kata abang sakit jantung, biarlah kebencian, serangan dan sorakan mereka itu terpadam. Biarlah semua melihat abang tumbang dalam perjuangan, abang akan jadi mujahid, syahid demi perjuangan. Abang dah penat sangat dah ni, sebab itu banyak sangat tersilap, biarlah perjuangan ini Zah dan anak-anak ambil alih, abang rehatlah, sesungguhnya setakat ini sahaja abang akan pergi. Zah tahu abang cuba sedaya upaya namun apakan daya, manusia tidak lari dari kelemahan.

Selamat tinggal abang, salam perjuangan dan moga-moga abang maafkan Zah, Zah janji akan zah kekalkan kasih kita sehingga ke akhir hayat nanti dan akan zah akan sedekahkan doa buat bekalan abang selagi hayat masih dikandung badan. Biarlah kita berkongsi cinta bukan sekadar antara dua insan, akan tetapi cinta demi perjuangan dan sesuatu yang jauh lebih hakiki. Nanti kalau ada rezeki, mungkin Zah juga akan bertemu dengan abang tidak lama dari sekarang, namun itu semua bergantung kepada ketentuan ilahi dan semoga apabila tiba pada hari itu nanti, Zah akan membawa berita gembira kejayaan perjuangan yang selama ini abang bina dari batu asasnya.

Abang pergi dulu ya, nanti Zah akan ketemu abang.

Maafkan Zah ye Abang..... Zah betul-betul terpaksa, harap abang faham.

Selamat tinggal......

Assalamualaikum........

Sinatra_Z - On Randomness

2011-05-03T07:10:00.001-07:00

I believe humans are never truly random, we're psuedo random and the seed for our deterministic randomness comes from either the subconcious mind or an external intervention which is also known as fate.

-Zaidel Baharuddin-

Sinatra_Z - Immaturity

2011-05-02T08:23:00.001-07:00

Someone told me that sometimes she simply can't stand immaturity especially on a man who has passed a certain age.

I guess she does have a point,

Only,

I think,

we should keep a small portion of immaturity in all of us.

So that we may remember what it feels like to be excited over certain things, that we may wonder and ponder, marvel over things that else seemed mundane, yet amazing when one really thinks about it.

I think most important of all,

a little immaturity helps us keep that enthusiasm spirit alive.

Hair may be grey,

youth will not stay,

yet enthusiasm must never go away.

Sinatra_Z - Osama's Obituary

2011-05-02T02:37:00.000-07:00

Barrack Obama announced today that US special forces gunned down United States most wanted terrorist, Al Qaeda founder and main sponsor of the Sept 11 terror attack, Osama Bin Laden.

There were cheers of joy outside whitehouse and all across America. A baseball game was halted with chants of "USA, USA, USA" once the news hits mobile phone networks. Across the western world Prime Ministers and Presidents congratulate US on their victory in completing this gruelling and costly 9 year hunt.

On the other hand, in other parts of the world, there's a sort of sadness upon hearing the news, in some parts of the Muslim world and other third world countries, Osama is somewhat equivalent to a modern day Che Guevara. Seen as the symbol of anti Americanism, Osama like Che has his faces imprint on various T-Shirts and his posters don in some left wing/Islamist teenager's room.

And so, upon hearing a news of such magnitude, I am moved to write an Obituary, well maybe not so much as an actual obituary but rather how I feel upon hearing his death.

I do not celebrate nor do I jump with joy upon hearing of his demise.

Nor do I weep let alone felt any loss to his death.

However I do feel that justice had been done,
not in the manner of how Americans can relate to, instead for my very own reasons.

I felt that justice had been done in that the Americans had just executed

1) The murderer of Shah Al Masoud, The Lion of Pansjhir

2) One of the main sponsors of Sunni-Shia civil war in Iraq

3) Strong supporter of Taliban in Afghanistan which engulfs Afghan Muslims in darkness, depravation and halt of progress for many-many years.

But most of all, I sincerely hope, that from now on let it be a scientist, thinker, scholar, writer, leader or any form of progressive icon to take on the mantle of symbolism against the injustice in the Muslim World and to an extent third world countries.

Osama may be the icon for resistance, but he is certainly not the symbol of a better future.

Nonetheless,

Al Fatihah.

Sinatra_Z - Melayufied Hip Writer

2011-05-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

Selected Tweets

twitter.com/sinatra_z

I really hate it, when they bastardized the malay language with "Melayufied" english words, like "Investigasi" or "kougar

Tidak perlu menggunakan perkataan Inggeris yang dimelayukan untuk dilihat canggih.

Naratif Global kita perlu ada Misi dan visi RT @zakhirm: Kita perlu polisi komprehensif & konklusif yg berintegriti untuk demonstrasi....

Typical hip Malay writer - Kolaborasi aku dan Jean ibarat kapel yang rakus dalam cinta eksentrik, simbiotik, Ironi yang ekstravagan

Sinatra_Z - And so it begins.........

2011-04-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

And so it begins, like many other stories before it, was a vivid description of the weather. It was right after a rather heavy rain, the sky was still grey and since it's already late evening the chances of seeing the sun is rather low. By now the main roads have been cleared of puddles yet there's that dampness that tells you that untill recently, it was pouring. Sitting in an indian banana leaf restaurant, overlooking his recent real estate purchase, an apartment he bought cheap at an auction our protagonist writes on. Feeling bored as hell as he was writing this, he hopes that in between the mundane routine of things, whilst tamil songs playing in the background, something would spark, something along the line where one would consider as the work of a genius. Imagine, years from now after receiving his pulitzer award and when asked upon by a reporter on how did it all started, he can imagine himself smiling and saying "Well all it took was a cup of garlic latte (teh halia la bai) and some tosai"

Nonetheless life isn't like that, indeed, often one imagine the romanticism of a writer (while I do not consider myself being one) as sitting in some quiet fancy cafe writing down eloquently structured sentences that in the end becomes bestsellers. Yet, truth to the matter is, more often than not, it is not the well structured sentences that is being presented upon, rather boring works and useless mumblings by an out of idea author who hopes to create something by simply looking at his surroundings. Lazy bum I am.

He saw somewhere a picture of this writer who wrote three Malay Novels with dodgy titles, the sort that bastardized the Malay language with 'Melayufied' English Word, something like "Kougar" (Cougar) and "Investigasi" (Investigation). It said that the author took 3 months to complete his work and during the duration of his writing, all of it was done while he was on the bed. Impressive indeed, if he wanted to present himself as the bohemian eccentric writer, something along the line of Hishamuddin Rais then kudos to him for I am as convinced as a heart throbbing Angkatan Muda Keadilan activist who do not believe that his de facto leader banged a China Doll. Though one dodgy thought did come to my mind, if I am not wrong those books that he wrote was something along the line of a malay psuedo erotica and since most of the writing was on the bed, my guess is his right (or probably left) hand was busy doing extra work.

My pubescent years was filled with reading novels in the psuedo malay erotica genre. Since VHS smut (tape blue) was hard to get and before VCD became popular, we had to go along with these novels. Works like "Mona Gersang", "Permata yang Hilang" (malay Karma Sutra) and countless of articles on Web Melayu Boleh with titles like "Ustazah Nora". You see we had internet back then, only that there was a modem and we had to dial 1515 to connect to it. So live streaming of two homo sapiens exchanging fluids was not really on the table back then. Nonetheless thanks to the limitation of technology me and my peers develop a rather healthy sense of imagination.

Malay novels never did attract me. After all it's mostly about some dramatic love story involving characters speaking in a rojak manner eg. "You tak faham perasaan I, my feelings, I pun ada hati I'm not a toy you can play around Rizal" The sort of novels which is written by Ahadiat Akashah. Though I did got hooked on Ramlee Awang Murshid, there was this book called "Hatiku di Harajuku" though it sounds corny the story is filled with Yakuzas slashing people around, blod and gore, gangsters, murders and mayhem.

And so by now, like most of my writings, very few were actually finished in the same period of which it started. I wrote this in the evening, went for dinner, tea and second tea and now past midnight I am having trouble ending this train of thoughts. Sadly though, as expected nonetheless a little dissapointed, I don't think I will be winning any pulitzer soon, at least not from this one.

Thus with no spark in sight and the idea of having a quirky answer in a press conference is getting more and more unrealistic, I shall now cease to write. Good night, god bless and thank you for reading.

Sinatra_Z - Aspirasi Orang Muda

2011-04-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

Terdetik untuk menulis perkara ini ketika dalam perdebatan mengenai tunjuk perasaan yang diadakan oleh Perkasa di hadapan bangunan MCA beberapa hari yang lepas. Ianya bermula apabila salah seorang warga BBM dalam ruangan Pemidato Pemuda BN mengiklankan rapat umum berkenaan dan mendapat bantahan dari saya kerana sah-sah dalam kumpulan kami terdapat pemuda MCA.

Sebab dan musabab bantahan serta isi perdebatan saya itu tidak penting, apa yang ingin saya ketengahkan ialah sepotong kenyataan yang diluahkan olehnya yang berbunyi lebih kurang begini -

"Kita mesti berani, demo dan tunjuk yang kita tidak bersetuju, ini bukan lagi zaman dahulu sekarang kita kena berani, lantang bersuara menegakkan yang hak dan pendapat. Aspirasi orang muda tak mahu lagi tengok kita pasif dan berdiam diri."

Kenyataan di atas diluahkan dalam mempertahankan keperluan untuk mengadakan demonstrasi berkenaan dan pada masa yang sama sebagai alasan dalam mengwarwarkan rapat umum berkenaan.

Ini membuatkan saya terfikir, adakah benar pernyataan di atas? Kerana seringkali saya dengar orang menyebut begitu.

Saya tidak terkejut dengan kenyataan berkenaan kerana kebanyakan orang membuat kesimpulan berkenaan berdasarkan apa yang dilihat pada parti pembangkang terutamanya rapat umum anjuran Parti Keadilan Rakyat. Anwar Ibrahim dan orang-orang kanannya yang cukup terkenal dengan keupayaan untuk mengumpulkan anak-anak muda untuk pergi ke jalanan. Dengan suara laungan Reformasi, gegak gempita bantahan anak-anak muda di sekeliling jalan raja laut, masjid jamek dan jalan masjid india cukup membakar semangat, saya sendiri pernah meyaksikan depan mata saya keupayaan mereka dalam membuat perkara sedemikian.

Namunmelihat kedatangan pada rapat umum yang dianjurkan di hadapan pejabat MCA, yang mana jumlahnya sangat kecil dan kebanyakan yang hadir tidaklah boleh disenaraikan sebagai anak-anak muda.

Boleh dikatakan tidak seperti tahun 1998 dan 2008 rapat umum dan tunjuk perasaan ini tidak dapat menyentuh dengan jiwa dan nurani orang muda. Boleh dikatakan tunjuk perasaan itu adalah lebih kepada aspirasi orang yang telah berumur yang mempunyai mimpi serta tujuan tertentu. Walaupun ada kebenaran dalam pernyataan ini namun kesimpulanya tidaklah semudah itu.

Kita kembali kepada beberapa bulan sebelumnya apabila video tayangan seks Anwar Ibrahim mula muncul di Carcossa Seri Negara. Ketua Angkatan Muda Keadilan saudara Shamsul Iskandar menganjurkan demonstrasi di hadapan bangunan Risda bagi membantah penglibatan Rahim Thamby Chik dalam isu berkenaan. Namun, seperti demo anjuran Perkasa kedatanganya adalah hambar dibandingkan dengan sebelum ini.

Pada masa yang sama, kedatangan berpuluh ribu anak muda membanjiri PWTC menghadiri Pesta Kerja Pemuda BN (BN Youth Job Fair) yang dianjurkan pada tarikh dan masa yang sama dengan demo berkenaan. Dari situ dapat kita lihat perbezaan yang amat nyata.

Memang naluri anak muda itu mirip kepada memberontak, namun pada zaman dan era ini kurangnya pemangkin dalam masyarakat untuk menyalakan api pemberontakan ini. Barangkali kerana sudah bosan dengan drama politik yang tak habis-habis dimainkan, pemuda pemudi sudah mula lesu dengan politik dan pada pandangan mereka politik sebergini tidak membawa apa-apa faedah pada diri.

Contoh, bagaimana pemuda pemudi ingin bersemangat dalam sesuatu isu yang melibatkan orang ketiga atau ahli politik tertentu apabila pada masa yang sama dia sendiri mempunyai banyak lagi perkara yang perlu difikirkan. Pemegang Ijazah yang baru keluar Universiti biasanya akan membawa hutang PTPTN yang bernilai puluhan ribu mempunyai agenda yang lebih besar dalam mindanya. Itu belum termasuk dari pinjaman kereta, pembelian rumah, dana perkahwinan dan macam-macam lagi.

Kemudian anak-anak muda, terutama kebelakangan ini, jauh lebih tertarik kepada perkara-perkara yang melibatkan kreativiti, rekacipta, seni ataupun inovatif. Barangkali dengan zaman penembusan internet yang tinggi dan penemuan pelbagai teknologi kreatif serta jaringan maklumat yang meluas dan pantas, mudah untuk orang berkongsi hasil kerja mereka di youtube, facebook dan blog.

Kita lihat kelahiran penyanyi dan penggiat seni berbakat yang bermula dengan inisiatif sendiri seperti Zee Avi, Yuna, Ana Raffali, Meet Uncle Hussain dan pelbagai lagi. Zaman indie adalah takrifan zaman kenaikan penggiat seni yang bermula dengan inisatif sendiri (indipendent). Lahirnya kerja-kerja kreatif dan inovasi seperti karya Upin dan Ipin dari Les Copaque, Usahawan-usawahan muda seperti SM Nasarudin dan Jason Lo serta percambahan besar golongan ahli teknokrat (technocrats) yang berkerja di syarikat-syarikat berasaskan teknologi dan kejuruteraan seperti Intel, AMD, Dell, Shell, Petronas, HP dan lain-lain.

Malah jika dikaitkan kembali program Perkasa yang mendapat sambutan paling hangat di kalangan anak-anak muda adalah Himpunan Wira Perkasa anjuran Armand Azha dan rakan-rakan (mantan ketua wira perkasa). Dalam rapat umum anjuran itu, tiada pembakar semangat bantahan mahupun tunjuk perasaan diadakan. Akan tetapi lebih kepada penggiat seni yang terpinggir diberi peluang untuk menunjukan hasil mereka, mat-mat rempit yang meminati motor cuba untuk menghasilkan sesuatu yang baik dari minat mereka, golongan peminat-peminat kereta, ushawan-ushawan muda yang bermodal kecil dan macam-macam lagi.

Setiap zaman anak-anak mudanya mempunyai aspirasi tersendiri, memang ada yang menyatakan sejarah itu berulang dan seperti roda, apa yang berlaku pada tahun 60an boleh diulangi pada masa hadapan. Namun secara peribadi saya berpendapat zaman ini adalah zaman penciptaan, zaman invoasi dan kreativiti dan waktu yang mana anak-anak muda lebih tertarik kepada sesuatu yang membina lebih dari yang merosakkan. Jauh sekali kita lihat idola pada zaman ini langung tidak seperti tahun 70an yang mana motto hiburan adalah "Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll"

Barangkali sudah tiba masa, aspirasi anak-anak muda tidak dipimpin dan ditentukan oleh pemimpin lama yang mana takrifan aspirasi anak-anak muda adalah berdasarkan pemikiran mereka sewaktu zaman 70an.

Jom kita lihat, pemimpin muda mana yang akan mengambil tampuk berkenaan?

Sinatra_Z - Sesungguhnya kehidupan itu terlalu pendek.....

2011-04-26T09:39:00.001-07:00

*Perbualan antara 3 rakan lama tercetus peenakulan yang sedemikian rupa.

Kita jangan terperangkap dengan pemikiran yang rezeki tu terhad.

Contohnya, buat apa kau nak iri orang tu bawak Mercedes, sebab samada dia bawak Mercedes ataupun tidak engkau tetap pandu Proton Saga. Kemudian yang konon nak gembira yang dia jatuh atau gagal, bukanya bawak apa-apa keuntungan pun pada kita, yang kita suka tengok kawan kita contohnya gagal bawak mercedes tu buat apa, bukannya kita dapat kereta tu pun.

Nak marah atau dengki buat apa, bukanya kalau dia berjaya duit simpanan kita habis. Lainlah kalau kita tengok kawan kita berjaya kita tak puas hati dan kita nak berjaya jugak, itu baguslah, tapi kalau nak doakan dia gagal buat apa, baik kau doa dan berusaha untuk menjayakan diri sendiri.

Sesungguhnya kehidupan ini terlalu pendek untuk dihabiskan dengan iri hati dan dengki.

Sinatra_Z - Kopiah Doa

2011-04-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

Dalam bilik tingkat 4 kolej perdana di bawah sinaran lampu kalimantang putih, duduk saya mengadap dua orang rakan saya yang mempunyai markah CGPA yang jauh lebih baik daripada saya dalam alam pembelajaran Universiti. Berhempas pulas mereka cuba meyakinkan saya, pelajar yang mempunyai CGPA yang lebih rendah, yang masih enggan dan menutup mindanya dari melihat peluang yang baru dan lebih cerah. Barangkali dalam minda mereka inilah cabaran para nabi dan rasul zaman dahulu kala dalam meyakinkan ummat mereka dalam menerima ajaran wahyu.

"Zaidel, aku ni bukan apa la, takkan sampai bila kita nak makan gaji bila dah grad nanti. Aku bukan nak cakap apa tapi aku kenal abang yang mulakan perniagaan ni. Dia tu memang nak tolong kita, lepas tu kaedah dan perniagaan ni berasaskan aku tolong kau dan kau tolong aku, jihad ekonomi.''

Berpandukan kesaksian kedua-dua rakan saya mengenai kebaikan abang itu dan diikuti dengan beberapa potong ayat yang disulami dengan perkataan-perkataan arab dan hadis mereka berharap bahawa akhirnya minda dan hati saya akan terbuka dalam jihad ekonomi ini.

"Niat aku mudah je, aku nak tolong ibu bapa aku, supaya diorang tak perlu nak dibebankan dengan nak tanggung aku dekat Uni ni. Kemudian, insyallah, kalau rezeki murah mungkin kau boleh bayar balik PTPTN. Kau PTPTN kan?"

Lupa yang hamba ini menggunakan pinjaman PTPTN, tidak mendapat biasiswa JPA mahupun Petronas, tak seperti rakan. Pelik jugak kan saya ni Melayu, kalau nak diikutkan propaganda politik orang melayu kan semuanya ditaja, almaklumlah kita kan warganegara kelas pertama.

Barangkali kerana sudah penat mendengar atau tidak tahan nak tergelak maka minda jahiliyah ini tergerak untuk menzahirkan pendapat mengenai sistem perniagaan ala-ala islam yang diperkenalkan ini.

''Ok, korang kata sistem ni islamik la abang tu baiklah ni bukan piramid lah, kau suruh aku beli ubat cap apa ntah dengan harga yang jauh lebih tinggi lepas ikut sistem. Macam ni lah, aku ada satu cadangan yang jauh lebih baik. Itu pun kalau korang setuju dengar lah."

''Ok kami terbuka untuk dengar pendapat.''

"Baik, daripada korang masuk dalam perlaburan macam ni baik korang melabur dengan aku. Kalau korang melabur dengan aku, korang akan jadi pengasas jadi untung tu!"

Berikut adalah skim perniagaan yang saya cadangkan

Produk adalah Satu Kopiah Putih yang dipanggil Kopiah Doa. Yang mana kononya kopiah ini diperbuat dari benang khas yang mana setian utas telah dibacakan doa melincirkan belajar sesuai untuk Pelajar Islam yang sedang menuntut.

Kopiah dibeli dari Masjid Jamek dalam lingkungan harga RM 10 dan dijual dalam skim ini dengan harga RM 55 kerana setiap kopiah telah didoakan.

Dengan pakej RM 99 Selain kopiah Doa akan juga diberi Tasbih iman, Buku Nota Ulamak dan lain-lain lagi alat tulis yang membantu pembelajaran.

Kemudia jika membayar yuran tambahan sebanyak RM 48 maka layak menjadi ahli. Seterusnya ahli akan mencari dua pasang ahli lagi dan mendapat bonus.

Cukup pasangan ahli sebanyak 7 peringkat maka ahli akan mendapat pulangan samada dapat membayar sebahagian dari hutang PTPTN ataupun membeli kereta mercedes "second hand" yang boleh dibuat posing semasa ambil gambar.

Ini bukan sistem piramid, kerana ianya tidak berlandaskan satu kepada, akan tetapi 3 kepada (kami bertiga) maka ianya lebih kepada sistem trapezeum yang jauh lebih islamik. Setiap transaksi digalakkan untuk membaca bismillah, mengucapkan alhamdulillah moga ianya nampak lebih islamik dan halal.

Kawan saya yang ketika itu nampak marah mula mempersoalkan niat keikhlasan saya. Maka dengan tenang saya menjawab

"Kenapa marah sangat? Bukan kaedah perniagaan aku ni sama je ke dengan apa yang abang tu? Kurang-kurang aku punya lagi bagus, murah sikit modal permulaan."

"tapi kau nampak macam nak mainkan kitorang!''

"Ah ye lah, habis tu apa beza aku dengan abang tu?"

"Dia tu lain!"

"Yang cuma membezakan antara dia dengan aku ialah, aku korang nampak macam yahudi mabuk tapi dia korang nampak macam alim. Walhal, niat dan tujuan kitorang sama"

Berilmu belum tentu pandai, pandai belum tentu cerdik, cerdik belum tentu bijaksana.

Catatan seekor lipas, tidaklah sehebat pengembaraan seorang wirawan mahupun cedekiawan, namun sekali sekala terserempak dengan adengan-adengan yang cukup menarik.

Sinatra_Z - Drama or the lack of it

2011-04-03T09:57:00.001-07:00

Someone once complained to me,

that the reason why I lack any sort of empathy was the fact that I lacked drama in my campus years, during my early twenties. This is something that I pointed it out several times before in conversations so I have to say that the observation was quite accurate.

Indeed I did lack drama in my life, but that doesn't mean I have had a carefree happy go lucky campus life, instead, unlike of the usual boy meets girl love drama, what I had was problems, real ones by which the subject matter is not something that many composers tend to write songs about.

My freshman year was really tough,

I came from a standard kebangsaan school hence it was really hard for me to get acquainted to the culture of UTM which mostly consists of former MRSM and Chinese School students, i.e really smart nerds whose free time activity consists of studying and watching movies on the computer screen. They mostly come from these highly competitive schools and during the first year majority have yet to mellow down, everyone was for himself and since most were since in the high school mentality, students tend to flock together based on their Alma mater which leaves me in the minority.

So I was a lone ranger during my freshman year spending many hours wandering around the empty field in front of our hostel (I was later quite well known around the dorm for this), lurking into one comfortable corner in the library or simply strolling around the campus looking for a cave. Because of this, my studies got hit hard, really hard and I was considered by the counselling body as a student that was under probation. At that moment my Uni was in a transition period so the system was pretty much screwed and haywire causing stress to both students and lecturers, I vividly remembered being kicked out of a lecturer's office because I kept asking questions on something that he wrote in out textbook. Apparently he had little time to spend for students with low mental capability in understanding simple physics.

It was at one point where my physics lecturer, a chain smoking straight talking man in his late thirties told me that I need to change my ways. He called me to his office after I got appalling marks for a paper and without any sort of consultation nor counselling one of the first thing he told me was "Ahh You must be a lone ranger eh?"

Apart from the usual motivational talk and insistence that I personally submit all of my tutorials to him in the upcoming classes he told me that I needed to find my place in this campus just like I will have to find my place in society in the future and that for me to find comrades who will help me go through the tough coming times. As he predicted, I had a rather tough and at times very insecure times in campus.

Though holding through to the spirit of comradeship and several other tips and tricks I picked up along the way I somehow survived it and may I say had some fun along the way. I decided against on writing the various problems and incidents that I encounter back then because I don't want this post to be a long rant about me rambling on and on.

Suffice to say that along the way, though I lacked drama, there were plenty of insecurity, worries, sleepless nights, pondering and at some of the lowest point I felt truly lost.

But It was also compensated with laughter, joy, perseverance, optimism, friends helping out, hope and mostly the conclusion that in each problem that I faced was a lesson of life that I had to learn, better now than later.

So yes,

I do lack drama and perhaps that is the reason why I seemed cold and distant. But the reason for that is not because I lack emotions nor empathy, rather as I have learned in many of the real problems that I had to consent with back then is that life is simply too short for us to be upset with things that is beyond our control and rather than wailing about a situation it's better to do something about it even in a very tight spot.

Trust me I know what it's like to be depressed, lost and dejected.

But as I learned along the way,

That every problem can be solved and hey It could get worse.

A dash for hope, a pinch of laughter, a ray of optimism, a group of comrades, a little time taken for a quiet stroll would always help out.

And perhaps,

though I didn't get to have this luxury when I was in campus but I have to admit,

that a little warmth from a loved can make all the difference.

Good Night folks.

Sinatra_Z - Cinematic Adventures

2011-03-07T08:58:00.000-08:00

There used to be a time,

going to the movies would make me quiver.

Days where we would buy empty VHS tapes and set the timer on the VCR to record that movie playing over Mega Movies on TV3 or Final Countdown on TV 2.

Of course there was that P Ramlee reruns on TV 1 as well.

But somehow, these days the spirit is gone, I somehow lost it. Perhaps I am against the idea of spending time participating in a passive activity, by which I merely sit there and receive whatever the director has dictated and listen to whatever that state of the art sound system vibrates through the air.

Perhaps it's the inability to focus, to actually sit at one place and concentrate at something for two hours.

Maybe it's the fear of disappointment, the disappointment of paying a 13 bucks to watch yet another predictable cinematic CGI effect action pack Hollywood flick showcasing pretty women and men who somehow find time to have sex in between explosions and intense car chases.

Unless of course, it's something really good that I know of, something Tarantino.

Anyway,

Rambo 1 was great, it was all about a lost soldier who was pushed to a corner. It was realistic, it had soul, it had emotions and real action, logical awesome actions and explosions. Rambo 4 on the other hand was all about Rambo getting on a big machine gun and everyone shit brix, game over folks, Myanmar soldiers can just wait for their turn to get their head blown off.

Maybe I'm getting old,

it's hard to have movies stirring my imagination anymore. Maybe it's movie fatigue,over exposure of media content. Sadly though and I don't really know why, cinemas or movies no longer had that effect of transporting my mind and absorbing my subconscious into the reality by which the director had laid bare on the screen.

But there is an exception though.

And that is PIXAR

It seems quite ironic,

that the most humane movie that I can most relate to,

comes from animated pictures.

Probably because,

unlike normal movies,

when one minuses the stars, the glamour and hype. All that is left is storytelling.

And isn't that what movies are all about in the first place.

Storytelling.

Good Night Folks.

Sinatra_Z - Oh My.....

2011-02-15T17:21:00.001-08:00

This fever,

has really taken it's toll on me.

Sinatra_Z - Memories of Melancholic Melodies

2011-02-14T07:02:00.000-08:00

Few years back in Uni,

as I was lying in the dark trying to put myself to sleep,

there was this whispering melody vibrating in the air.

Curiously,

I tuned my ear,

only to find out that it sounds familiar.

Tunes of old songs that I listen to.

As I navigate myself to the source of that melody, I find myself in front of my friend's room.

"Dude, what's with the oldies?"

"Ahhh, you sure got good taste bro, I copied most of these songs from your computer."

"Glad you liked it, these sort of songs are this hour, what's up?"

After a long silence

"She's getting married tomorrow bro"

As he lit up another cigarette the story then flows,

no advice was given, no point of view was shared nor was any counter argument forwarded.

Only silent nods and bitter smiles exchanged.

The general rule is,

once the story is out it's time to leave him alone with those tunes.

And as I walked away, the soothing Sinatra Saloon Song fills the air...

Sinatra_Z - Gereja Roman Katolik dan Jakim sependapat tentang perayaan Hari Valentine

2011-02-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

Wahai para pembaca sekelian, tajuk di atas bukanlah satu kesilapan.

Ya memang,

Gereja Katolik di Vatican sependapat dengan Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia mengenai sambutan hari Valentine.

Sebelum saya menjawab persoalan yang bermain di minda anda sekelian izinkan saya memberi kata-kata aluan.

Teringat ketika di Universiti dahulu setiap kali menghampiri hari valentine, Persatuan Mahasiswa Islam Universiti Teknologi Malaysia akan menyebarkan risalah, papan kenyataan dan menjalankan kempen di kalangan mahasiswa untuk mencegah mana-mana pasangan bercinta untuk menyambut hari kekasih ini.

Antara sebab utama dalam penulisan mereka adalah kerana Hari Valentine adalah satu perayaan Kristian yang menyambut kematian St Valentine seorang paderi dari Rome. Kononya, St Valentine adalah paderi kesayangan Ratu Sofia dari Sepanyol dan telah dikaitkan nama Valentine ini dengan penghapusan umat islam di Cordoba.

Saya bukan marah atau tidak setuju dengan kempen PMI UTM ketika itu, jangan salah faham ye dan jangan cuba nak putar belit kenyataan. Cuma, satu perkara yang saya tahu tentang orang Malaysia ini dan penulis risalah PMI ketika itu ialah Fakta yang dipetik selalunya bak kata pepatah "Main Cedok" dan kebanyakan rakyat malaysia memang malas untuk buat kerja rumah.

Sesungguhnya semua fakta di atas adalah salah, melalut lagi rekaan semata-mata.

Baik Kisahnya begini.....

Tahukah anda,

memang sebelum ini Gereja Katolik ada menyambut Hari Valentine, yang mana nama Saint Valentine diletakkan di dalam Kalendar Sambutan Wali-Wali Kristian "Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints"

Namun terdapat satu masaalah tentang Wali Kristian yang bernama Saint Valentine ini, yakni, Gereja Katolik sendiri tidak pasti, sangsi dan tidak tahu tentang asal usul kewujudan Saint Valentine itu sendiri. Terdapat tiga kisah mengenai asal usul St Valentine iaitu

1) Seorang paderi pada zaman Empayar Rome yang membantu penganut Kristian sewaktu pemerintahan Claudius II yang ditangkap dan dipancung pada tarikh 14 Febuari.

2) Bishop (ketua paderi kawasan) bandar Terni yang dipancung juga ketika pemerintahan Claudius II

3) Seorang Paderi, kononya di Africa yang membantu pasangan muda berkahwin, ditangkap dan dibunuh yang mana anak gadis menulis surat dan memberikan hadiah kepadanya supaya dia tidak kesunyian di dalam penjara.

Namun semua yang dinyatakan di atas adalah khabar cerita dan bukan fakta penulisan sejarah, ianya hanyalah berdasarkan cerita popular yang menjadi buah mulut zaman berzaman. Boleh jadi St Valentine bukan salah satu dari mana-mana di atas.

Maka atas sebab itulah, pada tahun 1969, Gereja Roman Katolik telah membuang sambutan hari valentine dalam Kalendar Rasmi Gereja Katolik.

Maka sama seperti JAKIM dan kebanyakan Mufti Islam yang lain, Gereja Katolik juga tidak menyambut Hari Valentine sejak tahun 1969. Walaupun ada beberapa gereja tempatan yang masih menyambut namun ia hanyalah sekadar tradisi popular.

Asal usul Hari Valentine, sekiranya dikaji dengan lebih mendalam, mula-mula diperkenalkan oleh Pope Gelasius I untuk menggantikan sambutan Hari Lupercalia yang disambut oleh golongan pagan Rome.

Tibanya Hari Lupecaria, teruna-teruna muda Rome akan mencabut sebuah loteri yang mana di dalamnya tertulis nama seorang gadis. Kemudian, apabila loteri telah diabut dan nama diketahui, teruna berkenaan akan mendampingi gadis berkenaan sebagai teman seksual (friends with benefit) selama setahun.

Pope Gelasius yang dipercayai langsung tidak menggemari aktiviti penuh ghairah ini kemudianya telah memperkenalkan Hari Valentine dengan tujuan untul menggalakan anak-anak muda ketika itu menjauhi aktiviti berkenaan dan ubah kepada hari yang mana mereka menghantar surat dan hadiah kepada gadis yang mereka suka.

Barangkali, ini spekulasi sayalah,

Manusia tetap manusia, Hari Valentine telah diubah sedikit sebanyak kepada tradisi Leupcaria maka Gereja Roman Katolik pun merasakan bahawa tidak wajar untuk diadakan sambutan ini terutama bila kewujudan Saint Valentine itu sendiri dipersoalkan.

Maka,

Tidak seperti yang diperkatakan ramai.

Faktanya, sama seperti JAKIM, Gereja Katolik tidak menyambut Hari Valentine secara rasmi.

Rujukan

Asal Usul Hari Valentine - http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/ValentinesDay/origins.asp

Kalendar Rasmi Wali Katolik

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Calendar_of_Saints

Wikipedia Hari Valentine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day

Encyclopedia New Advent

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15254a.htm

Sinatra_Z - Prayers

2011-02-09T09:14:00.001-08:00

Our "Semboyan Lance Corporal" lit yet another cigarette, one of many that afternoon by which dozens of butts near his feet can bear testament to that. White noise coming from the HF Radio by now has assimilated into the background as we patiently await for a communication breakthrough.

Everyone was quite, sombre, fact is after many hours we have yet to receive any contact from the other side and I began to wonder what on earth is going on in the field. Maybe it was raining, maybe a blind spot but whatever it is I'm not going to call any more as my mobile phone bill had hit the ceiling.

It was then when Tok Mat dropped by, perhaps after looking that the young uniformed corporal he felt nostalgic, or maybe our insanely bored face prompted him to share his commando stories.

"So you were with PASKAU? (Pasukan Khas Udara)" Asked the Corporal

"Yeah I was, but it was a very long time ago when I was young, before you guys were even born, ahahahaha man I'm old. I was one of the first few batches you see."

"So what was the training like Tok Mat?" I inquired

"Well basically it was crazy, took me a while to assimilate back to society after that, they really brainwashed us good, not that it's a bad thing or what, after all we were trained for war and being a commando is mostly about operations behind enemy lines, so you know what it's like if we were caught by the enemy, but slowly after that we learn to intergrate and mingle with society."

"What do you mean by crazy, tough training?"

"Well tough training is one thing but more like crazy things, like this one instructor we had,."

"His name was... I can't remember but we called him Mat Kedil, you see every morning while the recruits were doing their push ups, Mat Kedil would walk to one recruit, randomly picked, different one each day, unzip his pants and does his morning routine piss on that fellow's head, suppose to test our mental"

"Holy crap! What did you felt when he pissed on you?"

"Well, as I can remember, it was warm."

"That was a long time ago, he is probably dead by now, the last time I heard about him was that he was wandering around his hometown with his mind going all bonkers, crazy, lost his head completely."

"The training was tough huh? Mentally?"

"Not really, after all he was the one doing the pissing, plus most of us turned out okay."

"Oh what happened? He got into an accident or something?"

"You see, imagine this, every morning he would piss on someone's head, every day during training season and each of the person he pissed on would curse him in their heart. Now you imagine how many people cursed him on a training season, hundreds maybe, say it goes on for 10 years, thousands of curses was thrown to him by thousands of different individuals."

"You're saying that he gone crazy because was cursed?"

"Sort of, you see there's the Malay saying that goes, if you say the same thing for more than 40 times it becomes a prayer."

"So?"

"Maybe, those curses, by which for the same reason, after so many times over became a prayer, perhaps god answered that prayer."

"But those recruits didn't pray any harm for him, plus isn't it forbidden to do so."

"Well, prayers need not necessarily be in it's literal form, a thought or a wish can be a form of a prayer after all. Which is why, those who help others always find themselves some sort of happiness even in the most dire situation, because of the kind wishes and thoughts that came from those who they had helped hence they are always blessed."

"Praying vehemently is good, but it's better to do good to people, because praying per-Se is a prayer from one person, but good deeds spread and it works both ways you know, it's the same for sins."

"I mean if you keep saying that 'I have no money to buy this or to do that because I'm poor' again and again and again when you're not really, perhaps someday god might grant you that wish"

"So always be mindful of your thoughts, of others as well, for prayers they may be."

Sinatra_Z - Rapunzel

2011-02-07T07:39:00.001-08:00

Rapunzel,

was a long haired blonde who was locked in a tower by a witch with reasons I am not that bothered enough to find out.

She was imprisoned there since she was 12 and many years after, possibly when she has arrived at the age of driving, legal drinking and out from the boundaries of "Statutory Rape" a handsome prince came and rescue her. Conveniently.

This of course, like any other fairy tale was her happy ending.

However unlike other fairy tales, there is quite an interesting distinction to be noted from Rapunzel's story. Cinderella was rescued from forced domestic labour, Snow White was rescued from an eternal sleep while Rapunzel, may I simply conclude, was rescued from boredom.

I mean she looked all fine and dandy and obviously she was well taken care off, after all it takes pretty good grooming to grow that long beautiful strong blonde hair. Imagine the amount of shampoo it takes to wash that. There was no dragon, the prince didn't have to battle anything and all he had to do was climb up and rescue her from that cursed life of staring and ponder.

Occasionally one may encounter with a Rapunzel or a variation of her. May not necessarily be bored to death but in waiting for a prince to come and rescue her from her life. Though female empowerment is quite the trend these days there are that one girl who awaits and dreams of that one man who would rescue her from that small town, a form of a tower.

And like Rapunzel,

one indeed is quite the fair maiden.

Sadly though, like Red Riding Hood, more than note, instead of a prince, she get's gobbled up by the big bad wolf who wears a convincing disguise.

You know,

I never see myself as a knight in shining armour what more a prince.

I don't have the glitter, persona what more the look of a prince nor do I see myself sparkle in a shining armour or to actually fit in one.

Rapunzel wanted me to rescue her,

Too bad, instead showing up in a white horse, I rode off to fight in a crusade, leaving Rapunzel in her tower waiting for someone else to climb up and rescue her.

I don't wager my life for the hand of the fair maiden,

Instead,

I'd wager it for king and country.

Perhaps,

maybe someday Rapunzel would learn to climb down herself, using her hair as rope and cut it off when she gets down. Instead of waiting, maybe she could get into her own adventures, learn and see things beyond her window, to actually dream of many dreams and rather than the usual "They lived happily ever after" it's "Off to another adventure!"

But then,

If she cuts off her beautiful hair, she would no longer be a princess and for some that may be a wee bit hard to do.

Well....

Screw it!

I'm off to hunt some Saracens!

Sinatra_Z - Drama lewat Mohd Romzi bin Abdul Hashim

2011-02-06T08:28:00.000-08:00

(Unedited, as raw as it gets)

Saya ni........

Kalau nak kata jahat atau nakal langsung tidaklah. Bukanlah nak kata saya ni alim atau tok imam sebagainya tapi nak kata buat benda tak elok tu seingat saya takdelah.

Nak kata saya ni AJK masjid tidaklah, tapi saya cubalah tak tinggal sembahyang lima waktu. Kadang-kadang terlepas tu biasalah, qadha lah kita. Tapi kalau nak diikutkan saya tak minum saya tak main perempuan saya tak menipu duit orang atau buat anaiya kat orang kiranya tidak langsunglah.

Zaman muda-muda dulu nak kata nakal sikit-sikit tu adalah tapi nak kata liar memang jauh sungguh lah. Ye lah masa tu nak kata bercinta pun takdelah meriah mana pun. Orang tua saya orang kampung biasa dekat mersing, bapak saya pencen sarjan polis mak saya pulak suri rumah, habis sekolah dapat belajar masuk ITM buat akaun, kat sana saya kenal lah bakal bini saya, ambik kursus perguruan, kenal sebab AJK asrama sama.

Biasalah, kenal-kenal, makan sama-sama lama tu bercinta la. Lama lepas dah habis belajar, bawak balik jumpa mak abah, diorang berkenan, biasalah orang kata tak baik bercinta lama maklum pun kahwinlah.

Orang kata senang kahwin cikgu ni, kerja sekerat hari, senang jaga anak, dapat macam-macam kemudahan kerajaan lagi, pinjam perumahan lah, hospital lah, macam-macam lah. Tapi bukan sebab tu la kami kahwin tapi nak ditunjukanlah waktu tu memang sesuai sangat lah kiranya memang takde sebab lah orang kata nak tak puas hati ke apa ke, kira baguslah.

Lama ye lah, dapat sorang hero lepas tu lagi sorang hero, bini teringin nak ada anak perempuan syukur dapat la pulak sorang puteri. Beli rumah, beli kereta, daftar anak pergi sekolah, hujung minggu pergi shopping, cuti sekolah balik kampung, benda-benda biasa.

Jadi nak kata saya ni sedih ke,

nak kata kecewa dengan kehidupan takdelah sangat, takdelah langsung kot. Kiranya nak kata mewah tu tidaklah tapi orang kata lengkap lah hidup tu.

Tapi entahlah,

kita ni manusia, orang kata hati ni susah sikit nak faham. Kalau ikut akal memang tak masuk akal tapi kita ni bukan robot.

Kalau dah 15 tahun, rasa macam lain sikit lah. Mungkin lah bila ditengok balik, rasa macam terlalu teratur, tenang tak pun orang kata bosan pun ada. Tak tahulah saya.

Nak guna alasan bosan dengan kehidupan tenang sebagai alasan macam tak kena lah pulak, tak sepatutnya lah tapi boleh kata salah satu sebab bolehlah kita anggap begitu.

Nak kata lawa macam 'artis' atau pelakon drama takdelah mana, jauhlah jugak tapi orangnya bergaya lah jugak. Ini bukanlah anak gadis muda mana, dia takdelah muda mana kira dekat sempadan anak dara dah lanjut sikit lah, biasanya perempuan umur dia ni dah kahwin tapi ye lah, mana lah kita tahu sebab apa kan. Muda lah dari saya tapi takdelah jauh sangat, kalau awak bayang Bung Mokhtar dengan Zizie tu memang langsung tidaklah.

Mungkin sebab bau minyak wangi ke, rambut dia perang sikit atau orangnya bawak semangat atau entahlah mungkin dia bawak benda baru dalam kehidupan saya yang dah macam berulang-ulang ni.

Nak kata saya mengorat dia tidaklah,

saya ni bukanlah macam Datuk-datuk mana yang berharta dok pasang awek muda cuma bila dia masuk mesyuarat tu kira seri lah sikit saya rasa.

Mula-mula tu memanglah kita seronok bila makan bersama tengah hari berborak pasal macam-macam tapi jauhlah saya nak fikir pasal benda-benda ni, ye lah saya ni makan gaji biasa je, pengurus takdelah pangkat besar mana langsung tak terfikir apa-apa pun.

Cuma saya rasa,

akan ada suatu detik atau waktu yang mana sesuatu berlaku yang merubah terus hala tuju kehidupan kita. Ada yang mengalami perasaan atau keadaan yang nyaris mati, ada yang melihat sesuatu kejadian atau satu tindakan drastik sebagainya, untuk saya dia mula dengan satu panggilan telefon pasal tayar pancit.

Bersambung

Sinatra_Z - Hiatus

2011-01-18T23:53:00.000-08:00

Ok folks,

it seems like I'm going for a Hiatus for a while.

Currently am busy getting involved in a project, getting pretty hyped about it and will keep you folks updates.

Oh till TMI publishes my articles, I guess there won't be any update soon.

Talk To You Later

Sinatra_Z - Surat buat Zaleha

2011-01-13T07:01:00.000-08:00

Buat Adinda Zaleha,

tatakala kekanda menukilkan surat ini, di kala malam hari baru selepas turunya hujan ke bumi. Sukma kekanda teringat akan masakan adinda yang memang kanda sentiasa kenangkan. Walaupun ikan pekasam adinda rasa bagaikan arang hangus dan lemak pucuk paku adinda pahit bagaikan hempedu namun rasa kasih sayang yang tersimpan tatakala adinda masak untuk kanda tetap tersemat di dalam kalbu. Cuma lain kali, adinda belilah bungkus dan perdayakanlah kanda dengan mengatakan adinda yang buat. Sesungguhnya tipu sunat tidaklah membawa hiba, durhaka mahupun nestapa kerana ianya diselangi niat yang murni.

err.....

aku mati akal...

Tidurlah

#JOM - Anwar and Wikileaks

2010-12-20T09:10:00.001-08:00

The JOM crew arrived at Pontian tonight which happened to be the parliamentary constituency of Dato Ahmad Maslan the Information Chief of UMNO. Together with the Public Speaking unit (Unit Pidato) of Pemuda UMNO led by Lokman Nor Adam the JOM crew attended a ceramah programme known as Pentas Pemuda.

It's like any of the usual ceramah, first Lokman Adam spoke about the issues in Selangor followed by Dato Ahmad Maslan who explained what happened in parliament during the Apco fiasco and how Anwar lied while explaining on several Felda issues. However what struck me most personally was when UMNO/BN Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin talked about Wikileaks.

Several weeks back, Sydney Morning Herald an Australian based newspaper published an article entitled "Caught in Political Sex Trap". It's an article based on leaked US Diplomatic cable communications between US Embassy in Canberra and State Department in Washington DC. The leaked document is basically a report about what was discussed between the diplomat and the ONA (Office of National Assesment) Australia's Intelligence service.

What struck out in that report was the short paragraph about Malaysia. The cable, dated back in Nov 2008 had this to say about the current (at that time) political situation in Malaysia
'The Australians said that Singapore's intelligences services and [Singaporean elder statesman] Lee Kuan Yew have told ONA in their exchanges that opposition leader Anwar 'did indeed commit the acts for which he is currently indicted'.''

The acts by which he is currently indicted as mentioned refers to the sodomy court case brought by Saiful Bukhari, Anwar's personal aide (at first he was just a coffee boy). Quite startling when one think about the fact that the Singaporeans can confirm that indeed Anwar is the sort of man that have that sort of sexual preference. But what is even more worrying is what is written after

The document states the Singaporeans told ONA they made this assessment on the basis of ''technical intelligence''

Technical Intelligence, defined in the term of intelligence work (spying) are information or proof of a certain event that is considered as quite solid. In this case "technical intelligence" would mean either they have proof in the form of pictures, videos, intercepted communication or maybe audio recording.

Now imagine this, the Singaporeans has "technical intelligence" on the Anwar Ibrahim, and let's just say that Pakatan Rakyat won in the next general election and Anwar Ibrahim became the Prime Minister. Upon being the Prime Minister one of the first country that he would negotiate with would be Singapore since we both have many outstanding issues, don't you think that the Singaporeans would use this trump card of theirs. There is no way PAS is going to allow a homosexual be the Prime Minister not with their Islamic State and Hudud.

Anwar Ibrahim would be caught in a quandary, what would stop him from conceding sensitive things like Sand, Airspace and water. This is the man who lied to the whole nation about Sept 16, blatantly lied to not only every single Malaysian but even the rest of the world as well with his botched up plan based on imaginary list of jumping MPs. This is a man who would not think twice in sacrificing the nation's sovereignty in order to save his political ambition. After all, he has done it many times before.

Of course they brushed it all off by saying that this is all a "conspiracy" and that the document is fabricated. But here's the thing, the document's source is from wikileaks the same source of 250 000 other diplomatic cables that was leaked and by now it has been confirmed even by the United States Govt that indeed their sensitive documents got leaked.

Second, up till today, we have yet to hear any statement by the Singaporean Govt nor the Australian Govt denying that the information in those cables were false or fabricated. Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo made no attempt to hide the authenticity of the cables that were reported by The Sun-Herald newspaper in Sydney but said “the views must be respected”.

Basically what Khairy tried to convey was that if indeed Anwar Ibrahim did become the Prime Minister of Malaysia, indeed we would be royally screwed. Now in the spirit of facts and figures, after all we're not from Pakatan Rakyat, here is the link to the actual cable by which was leaked to the Sydney Morning Herald

http://images.theage.com.au/file/2010/12/15/2096934/Cables.htm?rand=1292396653979

Search for the cable daved Novermber 2008, for simple search for the word Malaysia.

Excerpt -

17. (S//NF) Turning briefly to Malaysia, the Australians said that Singapore's intelligence services and Lee Kuan Yew have told ONA in their exchanges that opposition leader Anwar "did indeed commit the acts for which he is currently indicted," citing unshared technical intelligence. ONA assessed, and their Singapore counterparts concurred, "it was a set up job-and he probably knew that, but walked into it anyway.

Happy Reading folks.

#JOM Heboh

2010-12-19T08:10:00.000-08:00

No this is not that JOM HEBOH, that huge TV3 event but it's lively nonetheless. Jelajah One Malaysia apart from doing community services aims to engage the young people of this nation. Unlike Pakatan Rakyat though, folks in Barisan Nasional have this world view that there more to politics than 'ceramahs' and street demonstrations hence instead of causing havoc, JOM organised a concert. Technically it still cause some havoc, only the good kind.

Being December in Kuala Terangganu, concert or no concert the rain is here in all it's glory along with winds from south china sea. So there it was, a concert with bands blaring their mad skills accompanied by some showers and a melodious tune of the east coast wind. On the up side, it does give that effect of a Queen's concert live in Wembley. Don't we all miss Freddy Mercury.....

However, rain it may be, the crowd was there, people from young and old, with friends and families came over to listen to young people expressing their creativity via music. This concert though, keeping to the spirit of engaging with young people, feature not only established bands but also local acts as well. You get band's with names like "Kugiran Belia Marang" performing on stage for the very first time. It was quite a local event as fans, friend and family came over to show their support.

Rock ON folks!!!!

This concert also comes as a relief for the volunteers who welcome a new breath of air other than the usual house repairing and kenduris. Well for once, for Khairy at least, he gets to do something other than laying bricks for houses and cementing floors.

Rain or Shine, the programmes gotta go, Rock on baby! Rock On!!

Right catch you later folks, there's a road I got to travel to... JOM

#JOM (Jelajah One Malaysia) - Real Politics

2010-12-18T02:48:00.001-08:00

When one talks about politics the usual mental image that pops up in the mind would be either a fiery speaker holding a rally over thousands of people, street demonstrations with people wearing headbands shouting injustice over something or suited men debating (mostly shouting) in Parliament. But truth be told, beneath all of that supposedly happening picture of rallies and speeches, at least in Malaysia politics can be rather subdued most of the time, depending on which side your on at least.

Now they say that the most boring rallies are the ones organised by Barisan Nasional, I have to admit that. When you compare to rallies held by PAS or PKR especially, with their entourage of "pasar malam" stalls and a large arsenal of fiery speakers like Mat Sabu, Anwar Ibrahim and Mahfuz Omar it's like a carnival when these folks hold their rallies. Perhaps the only thing that could challenge their dominance would be a TV3 Sure Heboh.

The thing is, ceramah was never a BN's forte, BN politicians are prone to giving speeches about government policies, economic issues and actual facts which is quite boring to most. People want to hear about gossips, jokes or scandals, things that make their emotions stir, fiery speeches with brilliant rhetorical skills regardless of any substantive or actual facts.

Yet one may wonder, though ironic it may be to some, that most of Barisan's stronghold are located in the rural areas. It's because, though village folks are attracted to rallies and fiery rhetorical speeches, there's one thing that they would prefer more which is a rhetorics and that is actual, real, on the ground work which is something Barisan Nasional is very good at. Delivering real development.

To win audiences and popularity all you need is a good loudspeaker, very good rhetorical skills and the ability to conjure up amazing creative stories. However to win votes, you have to actually go on the ground, visit on your constituents, attending their events like weddings and funerals and solving their problems. That is "REAL POLITICS" at least in the context of Malaysian Politics. One of the thing that #JOM (Find us on twitter) highlights is the actual work of politics, where participants get's first hand experience in solving micro issues like repairing homes and delivering aids to those in need.

Eizwan visiting one of the repaired homes

Jamawi an UMNO Youth Exco taking pictures of the repairs.

This is a scenic picture in a typical malay village, yes that's about it :P

A competent Malaysian Parliamentarian is expected to have the ability to debate on issues, drive a taxi and basic construction skills.

Of course, apart from manual labour, volunteers (read city slickers) from JOM are expected to endure the usual kampung kenduri and by that eating local dishes (repeatedly especially during wedding season), hearing through a ketua kampung speech, greeting the locals and listening to their problems.

Nasi Dagang Be...

Kuala Nerus, Ganu kite.

Giat Mara CEO going down mingling with the village folks.

I admit, our nation is blessed with many young intelligent people, young people with opinion on how things should be done, how politicians should change and many other things. But commenting and writing about it on the internet is one thing, try going down the ground and actually experience what Malaysian Politics is all about. Regardless of what affiliation you may come from, Jelajah One Malaysia is searching for volunteers, young Malaysians who would like to contribute something to society but somehow lack the platform for it.

Interested in getting it down and dirty?

Drop a comment here and be a volunteer.

Jelajah One Malaysia #JOM - Circumcision Day

2010-12-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

Yours truly is currently in the entourage of Jelajah One Malaysia #JOM, a people centric programme initiated by Pemuda BN. Basically in this series of JOM, BN Youth will go on a whirlwind tour of 5 states (Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan) taking part in various community based programmes.

So today, were going to witness one of the most interesting event that is rarely seen these days in cities and towns but alive and well in rural malay village a typical kampung mass circumcision.

Circumcision is a medical procedure in which the foreskin of a penis is removed and is practiced in the Islamic faith. It's also a coming of age procedure for a young male muslim by which it is considered the first step in a transition into manhood.

The boys, they all seem brave now but wait till they see all the needles.

Right, the idea is that to make the whole circumcision procedure smoother it is best that if the penis is, well, shrink first and the best way to do that is by showering cold water in early in the morning and what better way to do that by having the local fire brigade spraying their hose on you.

And there it goes.

Imagine cold shower in unholy morning hours, only this time around, you do it in public.

Now once the showering is over the boys would change over to a sarong, now the reason for the sarong is that sarong, being a single cloth, is quite flexible in well, one having space for your penis to have some manouver and at the same time easily removed and wear before and after the procedure.

As you can see here, this young man is all gung ho and putting on a brave face because his family is standing outside and his friends all around. But wait till he see the needles below.

Even I shievered a little when I saw those.

Fear not, this is not some barbaric procedure and before anything is cut, clipped or sewed the err organ is... sedated, that's the word I think. According to the medical staff (and experience as well) basically the boy wont feel a thing and it's mostly a psychological issue. But try telling that to a 9 year old who just saw a bunch of scissors and knives about to go to his penis.

It only takes one kid to start panicking before the whole pack begins to crack and I had quite an adventure in pinning them down and at the same time convincing that it's all quite allright. I have to admit, it was quite amusing nonetheless. let's just say, I had never expected that I would be in a situation where I had to hold down a pair of legs while looking at his penis being circumcised while convincing him everything will be allright. It's like trying to sell a fridge t0 an eskimo.

These are Pros, trust me I have seen them in action.

The next batch.

Instead of the usual fiery ceramah or some political rally, which in the end divide people rather than achieving much other than political mileage having community based programmes like these, in my opinion is much more beneficial. Kudos to BN Youth for organising this, I for one never expected this in the first place, it was quite an experience. Anyway, it's late now and it has been a long and wet day (It's poring here) so I'm going to call the night. Check more updates tomorrow, for now, Sinatra_Z signing off from Kuala Terengganu....

Sinatra_Z - Sarimah and Relationships

2010-12-15T18:57:00.000-08:00

DEC 16 — It all started when Sarimah Ibrahim appeared on “Melodi”, a TV3 programme featuring entertainment news and gossip which is a staple for housewives.

Sarimah, who was hunted by a pesky “Melodi” reporter with corny questions regarding her relationship status (they probably saw it on Facebook), commented along the lines that she wouldn’t mind if her admirers, who happened to see her in public, were to say hi or talk to her (she won’t bite) and that she prefers men who have a good sense of humour.

It just so happened that yours truly spent many Saturday mornings during his university days following episodes of “Samurai X” and “Card Captor Sakura” (yes that magical high school girl who collects cards) on “Kids @ NTV7” and saw Sarimah Ibrahim jumping around with her funny voice entertaining kids.

Let’s just say, Kak Sarimah brightened my Saturdays with her glow and positive energy. Yes, I had a crush on her back then and I admit I still do. So now, she’s single, wouldn’t mind random nerds saying hi to her in public and likes funny guys... you do the maths. And just to be clear with you folks, NO I am not planning on being her stalker.

But then what she said got me thinking about men with a sense of humour. How I have heard that many times over with various other women saying the exact same thing. Yes, that is what we are going to be discussing today instead of my nerdy fantasies of a cartoon show host. We’re going to talk about women and what they say about relationships and what they actually mean. Quite a transition, no?

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/sarimah-and-relationships/

Sinatra_Z - Blogging

2010-12-05T09:09:00.001-08:00

Back then it was just about things that you do on your free time.

A space for you to rant, have an opinion or simply camwhoring.

Some use it as a creative space, posting up stories and pictures. Back then, blogging was a very personal thing.

Of course it was filled with menial rants of teenagers who is angry with society, or a place to bitch about your superiors. Sometimes it even shocks me at how vain people can be by reading what they write and god forbid if you have an opinion about it, prepare for a long counter post.

Yet,

No matter how corny, cheesy or overly dramatic those blogs may be, it was quite interesting. The fact that back then people treated blogs as an online diary, a place where you share those hidden thoughts. It's like a window for you to peer upon other people's lives. I had loads of fun scourging through the net reading about life, especially when in University, I had none whatsoever. I'm not being overly dramatic, it was seriously that bad. A typical saturday for me would be waking up at 11, lunch, anime, afternoon nap, wake up in the evening with a headache, head towards the lab with a can of coffee surfing the net reading on things.

It was like a cheap substitution for non fiction books.

Nowadays it's all either about politics, making money online or reviews of something. Blogging itself became a buzz word, when people ask questions like "are you a blogger?" I would always find it hard to answer. One could say that I am a blogger, after all I do own a blog and occasionally write things on it. It's just that, I know what they really meant and I hate it how the term 'blogging' has somehow been hijacked, even if it was unintentional.

I guess,

I just miss blogs that is very personal in nature, something quite rare these days.

Hell even I have to admit,

these days I keep on using it as a place to post articles I write for TMI.

I was asked once "Where is your funny blog?"

I know what she meant. I could say that tis is the season to be melancholy with all the rain and what not. I could say that I can't be funny all the time.

But truth be told, the real answer to that question is

"I don't know, I really don't know where it's gone to."

So yeah...

Maybe blogging was a bit more dumber and immature back then.

But at least it was raw and it was real.

And it was very personal.

And I missed it.

Good Night Folks......

Sinatra_Z - Khairy Jamaluddin Selepas Tsunami

2010-11-30T00:16:00.000-08:00

NOV 30 — Khairy Jamaluddin suatu ketika boleh dikatakan antara orang yang paling dibenci dan dimusuhi dalam arena politik Malaysia. Dilihat sebagai anak menantu kepada Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Perdana Menteri Malaysia ke 5, Khairy menjadi sasaran utama pihak pembangkang yang mengambarkan bahawa dia merupakan individu yang mempengaruhi hampir kesemua keputusan kerajaan. Tidak cukup dengan itu Khairy juga mendapat tentangan sengit dari dalam Umno apabila persepsi umum ahli parti menganggap Khairy sebagai salah satu faktor utama kekalahan teruk Barisan Nasional pada pilihanraya umum yang ke 12.

Penulis diminta oleh penyunting untuk menulis sebuah analisis tentang perubahan suasana politik semenjak berlakunya tsunami 2008. Namun kali ini, sedikit luar dari kebiasaan, saya ingin melihat kembali dan merencana perjalanan ahli politik muda yang sering mendapat perhatian. Setelah dipukul teruk oleh gelombang perubahan politik tanah air kemana telah dia tuju dan berada sekarang. Inilah kisah perjalanan saudara Khairy Jamaluddin selepas tsunami dari sudut pandangan penulis.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/khairy-jamaluddin-selepas-tsunami/

Sinatra_Z - Honesty isn't always the best policy

2010-11-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

Honesty is a trait that I really admire.

In fact I have been told by many it is something that is quite synonymous with me, by that I am the sort of person who finds little qualm in expressing his honest opinions.

But as I have learned along the way,

though Honesty is an admirable trait it may not be the best policy in certain situations.

Sometimes we have to tell white lies to give people some sort of encouragement and morale boosting,

I get that, I really do.

It's just that sometimes I get caught in those tricky situation, it's as if I was answering a tricky multiple choice question and pick the wrong answer and the end I feel really guilty about it.

I have learned my lesson, mostly the hard way, so today I am going to share it with you folks so that you may not repeat the same mistakes as I did.

#Lesson 1 -

When a girl is telling you something, usually a rant or an explanation of a certain situation, please don't get the illusion that she wan't to hear what you think about it.Though she may term it as "someone to talk to" or "Seeking advice" but she doesn't really want any form of advice or you talking back. Rather what she really want is for you to nod, sympathise and repeat what she says in a lower sombre voice.

#Lesson 2 -

If you're Malay and someone invited you to an event that you don't really want to attend, just say "Insyaallah".

#Lesson 3 -

When a girl ask a question like "If I were an animal what do you think I would be?" It's wise to pick something something that is either cute, majestic and proportional in size.

Good Answer - Cat, Rabbit, Tiger, Eagle, Dolphin, Lion, Horse etc..

Bad Answer - Elephant, Giraffe, Salamander, Gecko, Python etc..

#Lesson 4

When someone asks, what are you attracted to and by which they mean "the opposite sex" it's wise to pick something that is based on personality and always include in the word "chemistry".

#Lesson 5

When someone asks "So what did you do this morning?" It's wise not to tell everything.

#Lesson 6

When a someone asks "So what do you think of me?" What she really want it for you to tell good things about her.

#Lesson 7

"Am I such a (insert negative trait) person"

Good answer - "Of course not! Yes, sometimes you may be perceived as such but I think deep down inside you're really a...... "

Bad Answer "Yes"

#Lesson 8

You know the comment section underneath that "status update" isn't really about commenting. Why do you think there's only a "like" button?

So far that's all I could think of tonight.

Feel free to add some of yours.

Sinatra_Z - Want and Need

2010-11-18T07:03:00.001-08:00

In life Human beings have expectations.

Once they have acquired the basic needs such as food, water and a roof over the head we have this need to achieve things, having goals and dreams.

It's quite normal to have those,

in fact some say that it's good to dream big, to demand from oneself something truly worthy and that we should set high standards on ourselves for us to test our limit. There's a saying that goes

Aim for the moon, that way, even if you miss you'll still be amongst the stars!

W.Clement Stone

But sometimes,

we tend to expect things that we think would make us happy, but in truth it's not what we really need in terms of realisation, completing ourselves or in the simplest form of being happy.

Perhaps the influence of our surroundings, the illusion of our imagination coupled with our own vanity that acts as a catalyst it somehow distorts our aim in life.

Often,

we seem to be confused with what we WANT with what we NEED.

We think that what we want is what we need, but in truth more often than not, what we want and what we need are two very different things.

We may want to go fly away at some romantic windy place, underneath an oak tree in springtime reading books and learning at some old respected famous learning institution.

But what we really need to do now is to concentrate and graduate at this local college and get that damn degree before we could go anywhere.

Often men seem to think that the love they yearn for and dream about who would fill their hearts desire and bring happiness to their lonely nights.

When in truth their judgement is distorted more by the beauty of what they see rather than what they feel.

We want a big beautiful house, but what we need is actually a home.

We want a great adventurous romance, but what we really need is love.

We want to change the world, but what we really need is to change ourselves first.

Of course,

this is easier said than done, for your's truly frequently confused with what he needs to what he wants.

On several occasion I purposely set in my mind that the thing that I want is actually what I need when deep in me I know that this isn't true.

It's not that I'm discouraging you to dream big,

it's just that in life, time is limited and so do resources and energy. So don't go on wasting it all in chasing something that in the end proves to be of very little worth.

Perhaps before we go on setting our goals,

it's best for us to be honest to ourselves and clearly define the things that we need and the things that we want.

Of course,

this is easier said that done.

I amongst all can be the testament to that.

Just some thoughts on a quiet cold night that I thought worth writing about.

Till Then...

Sinatra_Z - Pecah Kaca Pecah Gelas

2010-11-17T20:05:00.000-08:00

18 NOV — Bercinta zaman sekarang ini adalah jauh lebih berbeza dengan sewaktu dulu, ketika mana telefon bimbit, SMS, Yahoo Messenger, Facebook apatah lagi Email masih belum wujud.

Kalau ada pun itu adalah melalui “modem dial up” 56k yang disediakan oleh Jaring. Juga, MIRC, itu pun tak ramai yang ada. Pada suatu ketika surat berwarna warni ditulis dengan menggunakan pen Kilometrico sambil disematkan kedalam sampul surat lalu diletakkan bawah meja si jantung hati sewaktu masa rehat.

Cinta remaja zaman sekarang memang mudah, yang perlu hanyalah untuk mendapatkan nombor telefon bimbit gadis yang diminati lalu dihantar pesanan ringkas (SMS) dengan ejaan yang seolah-olah huruf konsonan tidak lagi wujud.

“Hye, kte nak Knal dgn awak ble x?” (Terjemahan : Apa khabar, bolehkah saya berkenalan dengan saudari?)

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/pecah-kaca-pecah-gelas/

Sinatra_Z - Berkorban Apa Saja

2010-11-16T09:06:00.000-08:00

I know there's not many of you,

So to those few who is willing to spend a few minutes reading random insignificant thoughts from this cockroach I would like to wish...

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha.

I know that I haven't written much,

been quite busy lately. Or Lazy, either one.

But my black notebook is still here.

Do tell me if you feel like having coffee yeah.

Juice is fine too.

Anyway,

Since it's hard to find any Hari Raya Korban song,

I'll leave you folks with this instead.

Follow more of my random thoughts at twitter.com/sinatra_z

Till Then...

Sinatra_Z - Zaid Pun Melayu

2010-11-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

Sinatra_Z - How UMNO loses votes

2010-11-10T07:39:00.001-08:00

Was in the car a few months back with a fellow Pemuda UMNO man,

somewhere in his mid thirties an easygoing, funny, friendly man who has this penchant for well, err, slightly mature ladies.

You know the one that likes Janda and Datins sort.

I mean who am I to judge, whatever tickles his fancy.

Known to be quite the player (amongst these err ladies...) I had the chance to witness his game this one fine night,

we were in my car, I was driving he was texting.

"Siapa la ko sms bro?"

"Takdelah aku sms ni haa sorang ni, dia nak jumpa aku kat KL ni tapi aku macam malas la del, sibuk sikit la aku pun nanti takut rasa bersalah, ko maklumlah kalau dia nak jumpa mesti dia nak punya... Sekarang dia dah merajuk la"

"Tak paham aku dengan kau ni"

Teet teet! Teet Teet!

The he reads it out loud in a Kelantanese English slang

"Dia reply del"

"Eh hello, whose number is this? I don't know you"

"Aii Takkan you dah sampai delete number I?"

Teet teet!

"Sorry, I dah takmau tahu siapa you! I nak lupakan you, tak sanggup lagi ditipu. You dengan I dah takda apa apa hubungan."

"But I still love you dear"

"Ko biar betul bro nak hantar tu?"

"Ahahaha mestilah"

"Haha ko memang sial, dia tengah-tengah nak tidur confirm dah tak boleh tidur lepas ni."

Teet! Teet!

"No I takmau maafkan you, I dah tak sanggup lagi dipermainkan."

"apa la ko buat kat dia bro?"

"Takde apa pun bro!"

"Takpe apa apa?"

"Langsung tidak mengapa apakan dia, tu yang dia marah tu"

"Hahahahaha siot!"

To which our friend replied

"Dear maafkanlah I"

Teet Teet!

"Ah you tak boleh dipercaya, ni yang I benci dengan orang Politik ni, cakap berdegar-degar tapi masuk angin keluar asap, semuanya janji langit bumi tapi takde apa-apa, berpolitik memang pandai."

"Haa ko tengok ko bro! Kita dah hilang satu undi dah, confirm dia dah tak undi kita lagi dah lepas ni semua ko punya pasal"

"Itu yang aku tengah berusaha untuk mendapatkan balik undi dia ni Del."

These days folks,

every votes count, even from your disgruntled scandalous mature girlfriend.

Sinatra_Z - Batu Sapi Blitzkreig

2010-11-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

On Sunday with a 30 minutes notice I was asked whether I would like to hop in with the Pemuda UMNO's entourage to Batu Sapi the next day. Since Galas Gua Musang was a wee bit too calm I thought to myself, well why not. So on 3 pm Sunday, drove back to KL, unpack, repack and monday morning 4 a.m shoot out to catch the first flight to Sandakan.

The task was easy, just follow Khairy Jamaluddin's programme for Batu Sapi for two days and write about it. Little did I know however, how tiring and fast everything can be. Let's just say when Politicians do their rounds during by elections, there's more than just shaking hands and giving speeches. Let's let the pictures do the talking.

11 am touchdown on Sandakan Airport

Greeted by BN Youth Machinery (UMNO, PBS, LDP and etc...)

4WD convoy (Saudara Lokman Adam in front seat)

First stop was Tanah Merah where there was a short briefing on the statistics and stratergy by PBS in order to capture the votes in that area. It's a 'kampung air' with a predominant Chinese community. Most of them are fishermen.

Briefing on voters registration in that area

visiting fishermen

Ikan Masin :P nasib baik tak terpijak

Tongkang Association (sounds funny :P)

The usual "Hi, how are you, undilah barisan nasional"

Fangirls

Next stop was Kampung Gaas, the place where PKR candidate Hj Ansari fell into the sea twice, thankfully there was no similar incident. Officiating the opening of a new takraw court and the usual visit to the kampung folks.

From Taxi Driver to labourer.

Much to the amusement of the local youth.

KJ was here.

Penceramah Tersohor En. Lokman Adam

Salam salam undilah BN

Dedicated Photographer

After a brief stop at a nearby mosque for Zohor prayers the entourage heads for a Giat Mara workshop where a brief certification ceremony was held followed by a short ceramah.

To Be Continued....

Sinatra_Z - Dikir Barat vs Ceramah

2010-10-30T07:42:00.000-07:00

The literal meaning of "Ceramah" would be lecture, but when it is defined in the sense of Malaysian politics the word "rally" would be a better description, more like rally + lecture. Now it is quite a feature in Malaysian politics and even more in by elections as prominent national leaders would congregate to one constituency hence drawing huge crowds.

When a "ceramah" event manages to draw large crowds its a good indication for the popularity of the party or the speaker. However in the case of a by election, more often than not, crowds in "ceramah" can be quite misleading as prominent speakers tend to draw crowds not from actual voters but instead from supporters coming both from the machinery and nearby constituents.

A PAS ceramah in Bandar baru Gua Musang

As mentioned before Ceramah in Gua Musang don't really attract crowds, big speakers like Nik Aziz and even Anwar Ibrahim failed to draw much crowds with folks around here. Of course one could say that perhaps this is a sign of weakness by PAS but the reality is even BN sponsored ceramah's don't get much attention either. Which is why, early on BN by-election director Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who has been then long time MP in Gua Musang insisted on small scale dispersed campaign and house to house visit instead of big rallies with speakers and big screens.

Note that in this ceramah, most of the listeners are the machinery itself.

"When in Rome do as the Romans do" taken from one of my favourite Dean Martin's song 'An Evening in Roma' indeed it is a good advice to consider when it comes to this election. When in gua musang, do as the musang would do! So in the spirit of an old song sang by a dead Italian Crooner, BN Machinery did exactly just that.

Sorry for the blurry picture with a bad angle, but what you saw here is actually a famous Kelantanese tradition of "Dikir Barat". At one time PAS banned dikir barat in Kelantan due to the racy laguage used in the songs but few years back they reversed it seeing how popular it was (banning created a backlash). So instead of having the usual 'ceramah' Gua Musang's Pemuda UMNO division organised a 'Dikir Barat' in which political messages are channeled through the Tukang Karut. It's like a Dikir Ceramah, you channel your message through music and songs, kind of like Bob Dylan only with Cak lempong instead of a guitar and harmonica.

And so they came....

In between the shows the local Pemuda Division organised a lucky draw giving away Red Warrior's (Kelantan Football Club) merchandise. Each of the participant that came were asked by the MC whether he or she is a Galas voter and which polling station are they supposed to cast their vote to. Surprisingly all who came are actual voters since they even know which polling station they belong to (something that only a local would know).

Indeed it is a lesson that all political parties should learn from, the fact that what we may perceive as important, our perception can be very different from those of the rakyat. I noted that some speakers tend to talk about the 100 story tower or APCO issue but truth be told, folks here can't really relate much to it. It's not that there's a large intellectual gap it's just that folks here have other issues that is more closely related to them. Things like the housing problem, land acquisition and farming policies implemented by the state government.

So remember folks, always be humble, learn the local customs and as the saying goes "When in Rome do as the Romans do"

Till Then.......

Sinatra_Z - Grassroots Politics (Pictorial Essay)

2010-10-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

As has been mentioned before Pemuda UMNO have been taking a new route under the leadership of Khairy Jamaluddin by which it is now more focused on solving issues rather than the usual rallies and speeches. It's a cue from the Prime Minister's slogan of "People first, performance now" instead of having a bunch major programmes which would later termed to be as "syok sendiri". Combining this with Tengku Razaleigh's election strategy in Galas (localised and people centric) it's truly a grassroots politics here in Galas.

The thing I noticed in this by election is that things are awfully calm. It's not that there's anything awful about it, it's just that the heated, poster/banner wars and fiery ceramah's seemsto be missing this time around. PAS did try to play to their usual trump card by organising a gargantuan ceramah at Sungai Terah (PAS stronghold) by inviting speakers like Nik Aziz, Anwar Ibrahim and Lim Guan Eng, but it was, well, quite sombre. You can read all about it here.

http://www.pisau.net/2010/10/galas-calon-pas-tak-hormat-nik-aziz.html

As a result, so far the campaigns, or at least on BN's side, things are more dispersed, down to earth and small.

Caricature flyers are more effective rather than long boring propaganda newsletters.

Now one of the approach that UMNO took for this by election is the "Salam Sayang Sembang Petang" programme which is a joint venture between Wanita and Pemuda. Wanita UMNO's machinery will organise get together on various houses while Pemuda speakers will come and and have a little propaganda chat. Something like Multi level Marketing or a Tupperware party.

Just so happen that your's truly is one of these MLM agents :P

Local guide in blue kancil.

4WD, pfft! Kancil boleh.

Venue a small home on top of a hill.

kids having a picnic outside.

Folks here like to organise a "bacaan yasin" event, by which folks get together and recite the Surah Yasin followed by a small meal, a sort of a kampung style high tea. The usual itinery would be recital, light meal, political talk and feedback session. The feedback session is when locals would express their problems and various opinions on issues that they feel most related to.

Sirap and cakes.

Wanita UMNO volunteers.

Sembang Petang.

As the name says, Sembang Petang, instead of the usual 'ceramah' this approach is more relaxed as it's more of a conversation rather than one way marketing. It's quite an eye opener when one hear the feedback from the folks and realise that sometimes the issues that politicans play can be so far off from what is in the mind of the rural folks.

The biggest issue here would be the PPRT (Projek Perumahan Rakyat Termiskin) housing scheme and various problems in accessing government implemented policies or programmes. Seriously speaking, folks don't really car about Islamic State, 2010 budget or even the Merdeka tower, these so called big ceramah where they invite speakers from outside shouting on things slamming the opponent don't seem to work here, or at least to my observation.

View from the porch.

Perhaps one can say that this has been one of the most peaceful, relaxed and very local centric by election so far.

Then again, it's still too early to tell.

Till then.....

Sinatra_Z - Galas Campaign (a pictorial essay)

2010-10-28T10:44:00.001-07:00

Greetings and good evening oh fellow readers, forgive me for having a brief hiatus from the online world(Facebook, twitter and nasty anonymous comments in certain blogs) for this wandering cockroach has taken a sabbatical and travel to the land of wau, budu and bench arsonist football fans, yes Kelantan. While many spend their annual leave to go on a holiday in bali, get hitched by eloping into Golok yours truly spend his annual leave for a by election. Well we all have our own hobbies.

Gua Musang which at one time was "liberated" by the Malaysian Communist Party is now the stage for the latest by election a showdown between UMNO and PAS, two hardcore Malay party fighting over a state seat in Galas which happen to be one of the constituency in Gua Musang. Kelantan the PAS stronghold is headed by none other than Nik Aziz Nik Mat the legendary Tok Guru of the east coast spiritual leader of the Islamic party should have the upper hand here since it is their home turg. Though as venerable as Nik Aziz may be PAS had never managed to penetrate nor unseat the godfather of Gua Musang - Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. Only in 2008 did PAS managed to cause a slight dent in KuLi's armour by capturing Galas with a slim majority thus now, more than ever, UMNO headed by KuLi is determined to recapture Galas.

Godfather of Gua Musang

Though Ku Li did ruffle some feathers with his stance on the state oil royalty issue, BN leaders decided that it's best to let him run the show, after all he has been the UMNO's Division Chief for the last 50 years which speaks volume of his influence here in Gua Musang.

Note the scarf "Ambo Nok Parti Ku Li" - I support Ku Li's Party. It wasn't always UMNO you see, at one time it was Semangat 46.

Nomination day.

I came to Galas under the machinery of Pemuda UMNO, I wanted to come with Puteri but they rejected my application. If you folks think that UMNO boys have it easy with hotel rooms and fancy SUV's well guess what, I thought so too, until I got here and it seems that Proton and cheap hostel is the Pemuda roll. Well at least not when the room rates of various 1 and 2 stars hotel here skyrocketed to Hilton standard.

Unlike before, recently Pemuda has taken a rather different path, maybe it was because of the lesson we learned back in 08 but Khairy Jamaluddin is taking a different approach when it comes to campaigning. Started off with the recent launching of Jom 1 Malaysia in Gombak it seems that Pemuda nowadays are more concentrated on solving micro, daily bread and butter issues more than marches, demonstration or ceramahs. This can be seen with the various forums organised by BN Youth (MTUC minimum wage, BN Youth Lab) which are more issue centric rather than political in nature.

Caught Rembau/TwitterJaya MP chillaxing with a local.

Apart from the meetup in which Pemuda Leaders drop by coffee shops and mixing with the locals, Giat Mara under the gudance of BN Youth have been offering courses and workshops for rural folks to acquire some skills, from sewing to construction, something like a vocational school.

Kena ceramah dengan Veteran UMNO.

Of course the usual "listening to the rakyat" session, we in BN don't just give ceramah folks, we actually listen and do something about it. Betul tak tipu!

One of the first thing that we learned when arriving upon Gua Musang was that folks here are not really into Big fancy loud things, and by that the usual Ceramah dont go well (in attendance) here. I'm not exaggerating or anything it's just that even big names don't pull much crowd here, be it Nik Aziz or Anwar Ibrahim, the usual crowd puller, somehow loses their charm here where most of their ceramah was attended by fellow party workers.

Tengku Razaleigh focuses more on personal touch and small scales, he highlighted the fact that it's better to talk to say small group of 30 people, who are the real voters rather than holding a gargantuan ceramah with less than 10 percent are actual voters. So you're truly who is beginning to join the speakers unit under Pemuda often finds himself in houses talking to groups of people while trying to pass a decent Kelantan slang "kecek Kelate"

Dah macam MLM pun ada.

MC of the night. This is grassroots politics.

All in all, so far it has been quite a calm by election. Maybe it's too early and things are yet heated up but the usual clash, heated PAS vs UMNO by election is missing. Maybe it's a Gua Musang thing or maybe folks are just too tired of Politics I'm not sure but perhaps it's a good sign that Malaysians are more politically mature these days.

But the battle for Gua Musang, as I see it for now will be not on who can muster people on rallies, ceramah or the number of posters, instead on the party that can persuade voters in a more personal level. By which going to each household, solving problems one by one and focuses more on a two way discussions rather than the usual propaganda machinery. Should be quite a fight seeing that both sides are the government (PAS - State while BN - Federal) and in the end it probably boils down to which one is the better government.

More essays are coming up but before I end this there's one thing I need to do....

UNDILAH En. Abdul Aziz Yusof CALON BARISAN NASIONAL

Till Then....

Sinatra_Z - Akar juga perlu berubah

2010-10-21T19:45:00.000-07:00

Keutuhan sebuah pokok, rimbunan hijau dedaunya dan keteguhan dahan rantingnya semuanya bergantung kepada akar. Jika kuat akarnya mencengkam bumi, jika kena akarnya tersemat di dalam tanah yang subur maka sihatlah, tinggi lagi rendanglah pohon akan bertumbuh.

Maka begitu juga boleh diperkatakan dengan Umno, sebuah parti yang ditubuhkan untuk menentang Malayan Union dan memperjuangkan nasib orang-orang Melayu, kunci kekuatan Umno dari dahulu bukanlah kerana kehebatan pemimpinya semata-mata, akan tetapi struktur sokongan akar umbinya yang bermula dengan sekecil-kecil ahli cawangan.

Maka atas dasar inilah barangkali, dalam ucaptama Presiden Umno, Datuk Seri Najib Razak telah menekankan tentang perjuangan melayu dan hak-hak istimewa pada perhimpunan agung Umno tahun ini.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/akar-juga-perlu-berubah/

Sinatra_Z - Weary I may be

2010-10-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

Yea I'm so weary,

from things that I worry,

for things that has happened,

and those yet begun,

so I pray to heaven,

grant me strength to not flee,

may this make me stronger,

perhaps a little wiser,

so weary I may be,

halt I shall not,

for life is a journey,

let's see what it's got.

Sinatra_Z - Malaysia's Top 5 Divas

2010-10-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

OCT 15 — Assalamualaikum and Salam 1 Malaysia to my fellow readers, especially to those who keep reading my articles, get angry and leave highly emotional nasty comments to those who recommend my articles in their Facebook pages.

I would like to take this opportunity to say that I cherish all of you, yes all of you, especially the angry rabid ones because I like reading funny comments.

I have noticed that there is simply too much political drama going on around these days and it somehow brings people down. Of course being the biased writer that I am (I don’t pretend to be “neutral”) perhaps one might have expected that I would comment upon the glorious PKR elections that is being touted as the true form of “democracy” by their politicians and as the true form of “demokerusi” by others.

This time around I will be writing something that would enhance the Malaysian spirit amongst us, especially at a time when Indonesians are accusing us of stealing almost everything from them.

It would be great to highlight something that is truly ours, and what better way to do that than by featuring five of our most celebrated divas.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/malaysias-top-5-divas/

Sinatra_Z - Telur Setengah Masak

2010-10-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

Bila tengok Lizard* punya Honda EX5 teringat aku zaman masa kat UTM dulu.

Aku jalan kaki atau naik bas kampus la tapi selalu la pinjam moto kawan untuk pergi sini sana beli makanan ke, shopping kat Jaya Jusco Taman Universiti atau pergi ke perpustakaan Sultanah Zanariah.

Dan selalunya,

bila kawan aku yang suka tuang Sembahyang Jumaat, dapatlah aku pinjam motor diorang nak pergi masjid.

Teringat kat Motor EX5 ni.

Motor honda ni tahan, enjin dia bagus empat lejang dan senang bawak.

Tempat duduk dia kusyen yang disarungkan dengan PVC warna hitam. Aku memang suka bawak.

Jadi pergi sembahayang Jumaat dengan kain pelikat,

Sembahyang jumaat tengah hari buta panas, Khutbah UTM panjang, nak pulak aku suka datang awal sebab nak cari dinding atau tiang.

Jadi lepas sejam lebih bawah matahari,dengan tembat duduk PVC warna hitam,

bila aku duduk atas motor tu nak balik dengan kain pelikat.

Oh yeah...

P/S - Dah rasa macam Refleksologi Haba lah pulak, habis terbukak segala urat-urat.

*Lizard adalah nama samaran kawan aku.

Sinatra_Z - I tried to be EMO once

2010-10-13T08:57:00.000-07:00

So yeah there was this one time a poet friend of mine invited me to watch her rendition.

It was at this house somewhere in PJ, I think they called it Food not Bomb house. Single story, brightly coloured and have various ornaments and weird things hanging about the whole place, it's like a communal hippie home.

Kinda neat,

until I smelled shit. Probably some dog decided to leave a few scented souvenirs for these poet lovers.

Anyway,

all sort of people began to flock around after eight, some were dressed rather differently, some were overly dressed to get attention which is quite ironic since many tried to do that thus the uniqueness wears off. In fact the most unique person in that whole fiasco was my lovely poet friend who came wearing this dashing kebaya, probably her "baju raya", truly stood out from the hippies.

There was this chick with totoro plushie in her hand and dressed like an anime character, then there's that high drunk hippie, the ones that had to take several shots of JD before rendition.

But you know,

I did had an open mind, I had always fancied the 60s and woodstock and I love people who don't follow the norm. My initial thoughts was that this might turn out to be a very good night.

And I like poetry too.

At first it was decent, some music, some guitar strumming and what not.

Loved it.

Then of course came the real deal,

the deep angry emo against the establishment sort.

Of course there's also that girl who couldn't stop smiling and keeps saying the she loves everyone and everything then sings a song about death and 2008 general elections.

WTF?

All that talk about universal love came down to 2008 general elections.

There was this one dude who passionately rendered his poetry about Felda settlers, wow Felda settlers, I bet he has never even been to one and the fact that actual felda settlers are quite groovy about the whole plantation thing (I happen to know quite a few settlers).

Later on I found out this was the "Telawi" crowd, you know the Hishamuddin Rais sort, I personally like Hishamuddin Rais, on certain times and certain situations of course.

Well the sort that smokes weed then talk about love, communism, freedom and flaming the establishment.

I mean I guess I could try to blend in,

I would love to learn more,

it's just that

well....

I wish that some of them,

would actually......

Shower.

Malaysian Emo Scene,

Ain't about nicely combed jet black hair writing poetries about heartbreaks, no sir, It's all about angry hippies quoting philosophy books.

Oh well, it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

P/S

Oh the razor cutting part, well I used to use a razor for shaving and occasionally I'd cut myself. Does that count?

Sinatra_Z - When in Putrajaya, do what the Putrajayans do

2010-10-10T10:37:00.001-07:00

"Apa la best sangat Putrajaya ni?"

"Eh jangan kutuk Putrajaya ni tau, I really love this place, used to walk around here alot during my college days."

"Ahh yes MMU"

"Yeah it's nearby Cyber."

"What is there to see"

"Well there's that lovely lake with fishes and when I'm stressed or anything I would bring in some bread to feed them, I even saw some fishes grew as time goes by."

"Wow impressive, fishes."

"And the buildings are beautiful, plus I like to walk at this housing area where they place the high ranking civil servants and imagine I live in there."

"Okay look so it's nice, I admit, but as a tourist but to live in here"

"What's wrong with it? It's peaceful and quiet"

"Exactly it's peaceful and quiet, I seriously don't see settling down here, I mean after nine there's nothing here everything is closed, there's no nice coffee shop and places to go. Bandar macam mati, senyap sunyi, apa la kejadahnya nak buat malam kat putrajaya ni."

"Laa nak buat apa lagi MAIN lah!"

Who knew talking about Putrajaya with a girl can be so interesting. Do take note, that I don't really fancy living in Putrajaya.

P/S

Scene - Kedai Kopi Haji Tapah

"Betul bro aku pun buat macam tu jugak, bawak bini aku jalan-jalan lepas tu ye lah, ko paham je lah bila dah malam."

"Habis tu bila bini kau outstation?" (Note that his wife is working in Penang and she drops by once a week)

"Aku main game PS3 dengan XBOX aku, besok pasang UNifi, boleh main online game"

"Betul betul main ni"

Sinatra_Z - Thinking Out Loud

2010-09-26T10:51:00.001-07:00

Like I said,

It's thinking out loud, don't take it seriously or literally.

Merely a thought that I decided to pen (or type) about.

The thing is, I always tend to fall for, have a crush on, fancy or have the hots (whatever definition it may be) for those activist passionate with something NGO sort of types.

The sort that want's to change things for the better and always have some sort of issue with the status quo. I mean I too have issues with the Status Quo and I too want to change things, but these issues are more towars the current state of Malaysia and you know pretty much very hyped up about it.

Be it economically, humanitarian wise, democratically and various other selfless moral high ground agenda.

In other words the sort that, well, hates UMNO alot.

And me being the fanboy that I am, who whistles to the Party Song when I'm driving (I think it's catchy) and actually have a flag and other party paraphernalia in my hood in case there's a by election emergency, here is where the problem arises.

It's not that I have any problems or issues with any other sort of types, it's just that I always wondered what it would be like to get involved with someone opposite, sado masochism? Opposite attraction?

I was wondering would it be cool to fake the whole damn thing. You know, join an NGO with a cause I don't give two shits about, something about the rights of dogs or some other NGO with the name Something "Rakyat" in it. Sitting in a circle listening to some psuedo bohemian hippie wannabe's rendition of his horribly badly worded poetry against the evil imprisonment of the people while sitting beside that hot hippe chick pretending to be utterly concerned and feel to the words of that half drunk half high so called "reformist". We'd listen to bob dylan or something and love freely all around while run around on a football field pretending it to be a lush large grassland freeing ourselves from the shackles of society in the name of love.

Sounds sweet.

But the thing is, I'm very easy to be found on the Internet and once she reads my stuff, about how right wing I can be, I bet things are going to get pretty dicey. It's like those folks who met me at conferences and later follow me on twitter, Oooh he is Mr Right all right, Right Wing that is.

Mana mau cari lah a hippie activist chick who dosen't uses the internet.

Anyway it's just a random thought so don't read too much into it. Plus it's late and I always think of weird things at this hour.

I guess in the end what's the point of getting involved with someone if you can't be yourself no?

The right wingness, UMNO thing, sarcasm, frank sinatra belching, keris lover and lame corny pick up lines comes with whole package.

Well no one's perfect.

I think that's a good way to end this thought.

Good Night Folks!

Sinatra_Z - Melayu Arak dan Babi

2010-09-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

Penulisan Terbaru di TMI - http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/opinion/article/melayu-arak-dan-babi/

23 SEPT — Assalamualaikum dan salam sejahtera kepada para pembaca yang budiman sekalian. Sebelum nukilan ini diteruskan ingin saya mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya dan Maaf Zahir Batin sekiranya anda ada rasa terguris atau marah dengan penulisan saya sebelum ini.

Sesungguhnya yang baik itu semuanya adalah dari Allah Taala dan yang buruk itu semuanya dari Anwar Ibrahim. Oh ya sebelum saya lupa juga Selamat Menyambut Hari Malaysia pada 16 September dengan tema tahun ini “Harapan Menuju ke Putrajaya, Harapan Tinggal Harapan.”

Kali ini penulis akan cuba membincarakan isu yang cukup sensitif yang melibatkan orang-orang Melayu. Mengikut perlembagaan takrifan orang Melayu itu mestilah beragama Islam, jadi tak usahlah anda nak beria-ria terasa semangat Asabiyyah sebab tajuk perbincangan kita berkisarkan Melayu.

Pasti ada yang mempersoalkan apa kejadahnya si Zaidel ini tiba-tiba membincangkan mengenai perkara-perkara yang cukup sensitif di kalangan orang Melayu. Yakni dua perkara yang haram untuk diminum mahupun dimakan di sisi Islam. Tidak, bukanlah niat saya untuk mempersoalkan Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan atau mana-mana ahli politik yang bergelar Tuan Guru, akan tetapi sekadar pemerhatian saya mengenai sensitiviti yang jauh berbeza di kalangan orang Melayu mengenai dua perkara yang haram ini. Sebagai contoh mari kita lihat situasi di bawah ini.

Encik Romzi Talib Ibrahim (rekaan semata-mata) pergi makan di Restoran Makanan Laut Wong Kah Siang 888 (rekaan semata-mata) dan mula memesan makanan kepada pelayan berbangsa Myanmar yang jauh lebih fasih berbahasa kebangsaan dari kebanyakan rakyat Malaysia.

“Ni, ketam ni ketam laut ke ketam dua alam ni?”

“Ni ketam laut encik bukan ketam batu yang sungai tu.”

“Betul ke ni?”

“Ye encik semua makanan sini makanan laut yang halal” jawab Pelayan itu.

“Awak takde letak apa-apa minyak babi ke apa ke?”

“Minyak babi tak letak dengan ‘seafood’ encik, lagipun minyak babi mahal, rugi.”

“OK bagus, kalau macam tu bagi saya ketam cili, kailan, nasi tiga dengan ikan ni satu”

“Minum apa encik?”

“Ah kasi Carlsberg satu jug.”

Walaupun terkedu dengan pesanan Encik Romzi yang cukup mengelirukan, Mazhab manakah agaknya yang diambil kira ketika memesan makanan (Barangkali Mazhab Ayah Pin), namun kenyataan ianya begitulah. Yakni, orang Melayu ni anehnya yang begitu sensitif tentang soal babi tidak mempunyai sebarang masaalah tentang soal arak, maka di sinilah perbincangan kita bermula tentang mengapa dan pemikiran orang Melayu boleh jadi begitu.

Antara babi dan arak

Di dalam minda orang Melayu secara umumnya bila disebut babi, tidak seperti orang-orang China. Mindanya tidak akan membayangkan masakan-masakan enak babi panggang dengan kulit coklat merekah lagi berminyak. Akan tetapi terbayang di mindanya seekor binatang yang hodoh, gemuk serta memakan sampah, sisa kumbahan najis dan bau busuk yang mencemar sungai serta alam sekitar.

Pada masa yang sama apabila disebut arak, tidak pula terbayang wajah kanak-kanak yang mati akibat dari pemandu mabuk, atau air kencing iblis apatah lagi anggur basi yang dipijak kaki perempuan anak dara tua dari Eropah. Apa yang terbayang ialah Encik James Bond dengan berpakaian cantik memesan Martini yang dikocak, bukan dikacau.

Terima kasih kepada media massa barat yang menayangkan serta membawa budaya yang mengaitkan sesuatu yang haram itu kepada perkara-perkara yang menarik maka penerimaan terhadap arak itu adalah lebih baik dari babi dan saya syak ini berlaku bukan sahaja di Malaysia. Lagipun pernahkan anda melihat seorang pengintip antarabangsa memesan “bak kut teh” sambil ditemani gadis jelita? Sesungguhnya tidak!

Alang-alang dah haram....

Saya sendiri juga pernah mempersoalkan perkara ini, yang mana alang-alang dah buat benda haram, contohnya seperti meminum minuman keras, kenapa pula hendak menjaga tentang soal halal-haram yang lain. Sebab saya pernah terjumpa dengan dua golongan yang boleh dikatakan sedikit aneh yang mana, golongan pertama, lelaki Melayu yang main perempuan tetapi tidak minum arak, golongan kedua adalah Melayu minum tapi langung tak berani main perempuan sebelum berkahwin, zina dijauhi, apa kejadahnya?

Memang pelik kalau difikirkan akan tetapi pernah saya menerima jawapan bernas yang saya pasti merupakan corak pemikiran secara umum orang Melayu.

“Dah satu dosa tu cukuplah yang nak tambah-tambah lagi buat apa, ye lah aku dah buat salah, itu kelemahan aku tapi yang menggatal nak tambah dosa berbakul-bakul apa kejadahnya?”

Haram tetap haram

Sebab itu apabila saya terdengar golongan Melayu minoriti yang berbincang soal keMelayuan dan hukum Islam sambil memegang segelas wine merah hasil dari kekayaan kontrak DEB (kini menjadi pengkritik DEB) yang menyatakan sebenarnya batas undang-undang serta golongan haluan kanan yang menyebabkan Melayu secara umumnya tertekan untuk tidak menjadi lebih “liberal” itu adalah suatu kenyataan yang tidak berapa tepat.

Sebagai contoh kita lihat dalam kes sebat Kartika, yang mana walaupun dari segi suasana politik sekarang, masih tidak mendapat tentangan keras dari orang Melayu secara umumnya dan sesetengah pihak agak terkejut apabila tidak mendapat sambutan golongan perempuan Melayu muda. Yang nampak adalah golongan bukan Islam yang lebih kehadapan, malah lebih membuatkan isu ini kelam adalah apabila Kartika sendiri tidak melakukan apa yang sesetengah pihak harapkan apabila dia lebih pasrah dari marah, insaf dari bantah.

Kerana walaupun anda menjerit soal hak asasi manusia, soal hak wanita dan sebagainya, sebagai orang Islam perbuatan itu sendiri telah dianggap salah, iaitu meminum arak, apatah lagi di halayak ramai. Mentalitinya mudah, yang haram tetap haram walaupun kadang-kadang kita tidak berasa selesa denganya.

Kesimpulan

Barangkali itulah kesimpulan yang dapat kita lihat dari segi pemikiran orang Melayu secara umumnya (saya kata umumnya, bukan semua). Paling kurang pun, kesimpulan yang saya buat berdasarkan pemerhatian saya sendiri, tanpa apa-apa kajian mahupun statistik.Kalau tidak bersetuju nyatakanlah tanpa segan silu.

Bagi saya menarik melihat “paradoks” atau percanggahan pemikiran yang ada di kalangan orang Melayu dan ini bukan sahaja terbatas terhadap tajuk di atas sahaja. Sebagaimana ada perempuan yang tidak bertudung tidak membantah hukum hudud dan lelaki lembut (mahu jadi perempuan) boleh hadir menunaikan sembahyang Jumaat.

Bukan saya menghalalkan apa-apa tindakan di atas, cuma sekadar merenung sesuatu yang di perhatikan sejak sekian lama, pelik tapi benar. Barangkali kesimpulan yang terbaik boleh saya terbitkan adalah suatu ayat yang pernah saya dengar suatu ketika dahulu: “Orang Melayu ni boleh ajak minum, boleh ajak makan babi tapi jangan harap langsung nak suruh dia keluar Islam.”

Sinatra_Z - So I walked into a Casino

2010-09-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

Went to Genting the other day,

wanted to drink coffee in a cooler weather so that I can pretend that I actually drink Starbucks at New York.Ok yeah, poser in the highest degree but let's just say I was bored and Genting was just 20 minutes away so there I went.Upon arriving heard that the chinese dudes wanted to gamble for a bit so I decided to see what's the hoopla was all about.

Of course me being a Muslim we are prohibited entering a Casino (by Malaysian Law) but I figure if a baju Melayu clad uncle can get away buying Sports Toto on a friday afternoon I might as well try to check it out, it's NOT that I'm going to gamble anyway. Apparently the officers did try to stop me at the entrance, but me being me all excited simply dashed inside while they were calling

"Abang... bang... bang!"

In the end Carmen had to take the heat when the police officer, failing to stop me asked Carmen for her MyKad.

Anyway enough of that.

I have seen gambling parlour before in the form of horse racing slot machines cum a snooker centre mushrooming a while back around KL and Selangor but after the crackdown the only gambling thing that I ever witnessed was the betting during World Cup amongst my fellow peers. So when I entered the casino hall called "Hollywood" I was taken aback at how different it was. Instead of the image of nice sharp dressed looking people throwing cards and drinking martinis (Casion Royale of James Bond) the whole damn place looked like an arcade.

I still can't shrug off the Image of a 60 plus year old Uncles and Aunties playing "Star Wars" slot machines trying to get pictures of Darth Vader and Star Destroyers alligned three in a row.

It was quite fun though when Jason Chua became my tour guide, explaining and guiding me through the various games around the casino, from table to table. We watched people played Baccarat, Roulette, Poker, Dice and etc. It hit me then (to the amusement of Jason Chua) that most of these games (if not all) require very little intellectual or brain activity.

So throw away that scene in "God Of Gambler" where Chow Yun Fatt does that awesome card thingie where they try to calculate and bluff each other with their cards. NO, in a Casino, they try to have a minimal drama as possible because the more time spend on fancy card moves the less time they have in screwing over your money.

Perhaps the most mindless game of them all when Jason pointed me out to a table in which he describes as

"The fastest way to lose or win your money, mostly losing lah, hahaha"

It was this game in which the banker takes a card, then you take a card, then place your bets, both opens it and the bigger card wins.

"Eh Chua, game ni siapa card besar menang eh?"

"Yup! Hahahaha"

"Gila bangang!"

"Do you know that the minimum bet for this game is 50 ringgit."

Holy crap, throw away the image of sharply dressed spies and young women throwing dice over a table, majority of the place is filled with senior citizens spending away their savings and pension.

After that night I realised that amongst the vices, gambling (especially gambling at a casino) are probably the vice that I least understand. I mean say that you commit adultery or spend your hard earned money on prostitute, I get it, you waste your money on a service, fine, so yeah you can give yourself a hand job but you think that masseuse gives you more pleasure, it sounds stupid but hey at least you're paying for something that you get! Or the fact that you blow your money on drinking, okay it's expensive and in the end all you're going to do is get a hangover and throw up. But hey at least there's that momentarily intoxication, you actually getting something for your money, a product, a fancy looking water that makes women prettier, I get it. But gambling? Especially in a Casino where you know damn well the Odds are ridiculously stacked up against you, the fact that you put money to lose money in a game that you have very little control over, that I do not get. Literally you have people, putting money on the table, then he looks at the croupier shuffling cards, throwing ball or tossing dice and then take that money away from you. In certain cases you don't even get to hold the damn card.

But I guess it made sense when Tommy Sky puts it this way

"It's the act of Purchasing a Dream"

Which is why some commit suicide, I mean what's the point of living when you have lost your dreams.

Sinatra_Z - Logging Out

2010-09-20T23:55:00.001-07:00

For it is at times like these,

in the early morning hours,

where solitude rule and the occasional sounds of crickets and motorcycle speeding over the freeway,

my mind murmurs,

of mindless thoughts dancing prancing imagining away.

Solitude in a way,

can make you think thoughtful matters,

usually quite harmless,

yet sometimes solitude can conjure up pictures,

sometimes quite disturbing, unnverving and the occasional ridiculous ideas.

Maybe that's how Hitler wrote Mein Kampf.

You see I have been doing many things alone before,

always had the balls to go solo,

I watched movies alone when I felt like it,

karaoke, dine, stroll and even walk into a party filled with strangers,

In the middle of the field at night and just sit,

conjuring up images based on random cloud movements,

sitting alone listening to wind chimes,

thinking of things that happend back in those times.

Then on one fateful night,

One of those quiet lonely ones,

I dreamt of being alone, old and alone,

with all the power and influence that a man can hold,

in a lovely mansion with the occasional asistant dropping by,

relaying messages, commands or advice,

planning things behind the scenes,

the sort of man who control real power,

something like J Edgar Hoover,

and somehow in that dream,

I didn't feel alarmed, shocked and there was this absence of scare.

Null, Void, Zilch, to me it wasn't a nightmare.

Quite pleasant actually,

I seemed to be okay with it.

Sleeping alone in a lovely home,

It felt quite comfortable,

Which is why when I woke up,

I said so myself "Perhaps It's time to meet new people"

"And occasionally log out from the Internet"

Hi my name is Zaidel, Nice meeting you.

I think I'd better get back to the real world.

Good Night Folks

Sinatra_Z - Remember Remember

2010-09-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

Remember Remember,
16th of September,
Anwar's Treason and Plot,

For I find no reason,
for this deceitful felon,
SHOULD EVER BE FORGOT!!

Nursery Rhyme dedicated to Gay Fox

Sinatra_Z - Semangat Muhibbah

2010-09-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

I was driving Soh back,

somehow we got to talk on why I dislike Yasmin Ahmad's movies, it seems artificial and fake to me. Somehow it goes on to Petronas Ads usually involving your typical Ali, Ah Chong, Muthu doing something really gay.

"Bloody hell man, aku dulu masa kecik kawan baik dengan Ramesh tapi pergi mati la aku nak nyanyi lagu Ikan di laut asam di darat untuk dia!"

"Soh ko dengar sini, pergi matilah aku nak kawan dengan kau untuk semangat muhibbah ke, sebab ko cina ke, apatah lagi sebab ko makan babi takde kena mengena, muhibbah can go jatuh in the longkang! Aku kawan dengan ko sebab ko ni bangang sikit, macam aku. Hua hua hua"

Soh pun jawab "Babi sedap sial"

So to me,

thats what 1Malaysia is all about.

P/S

"Orang kata kawan dengan budak Cina nanti pandai matematik, tipu sial, kau dahlah selalu fail math masa sekolah dulu!"

"Orang kata kawan dengan budak melayu ni nanti berbudi bahasa, tipu sial, kau punya bahasa langung tidak budiman"

Sinatra_Z - Selamat Hari Raya

2010-09-08T11:05:00.001-07:00

Janda Baik indahnya hutan,

Janda Nakal indahnya lain,

Selamat hari raya saya ucapkan,

Pohon maaf zahir dan batin

Ikhlas Dari -

Zaidel Baharuddin @ Sinatra_Z @ Lipas Sepi

Sinatra_Z - Senarai 5 Lagu Patriotik Terbaik

2010-08-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Walaupun hari kebangsaan masih jauh lagi namun semangat cintakan negara tidak harus pudar di hati setiap warganegara Malaysia. Sesungguhnya kita selaku warganegara yang bertanggungjawab selain dari bangun berdiri ketika lagu Negaraku dimainkan, kita juga harus tahu lagu-lagu yang memberi semangat cintakan negara. Maka atas dasar kesedaran ini Jiboneus mempersembahkan senarai lima lagu patriotik terbaik yang anda boleh dengari untuk menyemarakan lagi semangat kenegaraan anda.

http://jiboneus.com/2010/08/18/5-lagu-patriotik-malaysia-terbaik/

Sinatra_Z - Kisah-Kisah Puasa

2010-08-12T10:03:00.001-07:00

Joe once called my home, during puasa,

Secondary school,

My mom picked up the phone

"Makcik Zaidel ada tak?"

"Oooh Zaidel tadi cakap dia pergi terawikh, ada apa-apa ke?"

"Takdelah, saya nak cari dia je takpe nanti saya telefon balik"

"Ahh tapi Zaidel tu cakap je dia pergi terawikh, tapi dia selalunya ada kat padang, awak cari lah dia dekat sana."

OMG

Then there is also this story

"Saya pengalaman aneh atau kelakar masa bulan puasa tu takdelah, cuma dulu ada la sekali masa nak balik mengaji waktu zohor, kitorang selalunya kena lalu tepi kolam ada sekali tu dalam perjalanan nak balik saya tergelincir jatuh dalam air lalu terminum sebotol air oren."

And finally -

Teka Teki "Dalam banyak-banyak binatang, binatang apa yang banyak muncul masa bulan puasa?"

Jawapan "Ular"

Sinatra_Z - Beg Plastik dan Hamper

2010-08-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

Tempoh hari saya ada hadiri satu majlis yang mana Ketua Penerangan Pemuda MCA, Dr. Kow Chong Wei adalah salah satu tetamu jemputan. Dalam ucapannya, Dr Kow ada menceritakan satu cerita,

Kisahnya Begini -

Tuan-tuan sekelian,

tempoh hari pada Mac 2008 pengundi ketika dalam perjalanan untuk mengundi membawa satu beg plastik di dalam tangan, di dalam beg plastik itu terdapatnya garam, gula, beras dan minyak masak.

Dalam perjalanan mereka terserempak dengan seseorang yang bernama Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar Ibrahim menawarkan mereka sebuah hamper.

Hamper itu besar, cantik, ada reben ada bunga dan dalamnya ada macam-macam benda seperti coklat, air sedap, gula-gula, manisan, biskut dan pelbagai lagi benda-benda yang enak.

Pengundi ini sudah pasti mahukan hamper itu, oleh kerana tangan mereka yang terhad untuk bawa barang maka diletakkan dan ditinggalkan beg plastik itu ditepi jalan dan dibawa pulang hamper itu.

Keesokan harinya, setelah dibuka hamper itu bersama keluarga dan anak-anak mereka dapati yang rupa-rupanya coklat itu sudah luput tarikhnya, biskut itu rupanya masuk angin, gula-gula itu kelat rasanya dan macam-macam lagi.

Maka barulah ketika itu mereka teringat akan beg plastik itu, barulah mereka sedar yang gula-gula walaupun sedap rasanya untuk seketika tapi tidak boleh menggantikan beras, minyak, gula dan garam.

Bila masa nanti mereka sedar yang walaupun beg plastik itu tidak mempunyai reben, tidak bersinar, cantik atau berkilat namun dalamnya ada benda-benda yang sebenarnya sangat berharga.

Dan pada ketika itulah, mereka akan kembali kepada tempat yang sama, di tepi jalan yang sama dan akan mengutip kembali beg plastik yang ditinggalkan itu.

Jadi biarlah kita mengikut resam beg plastik itu, memang nampak tidak menarik, tidak meriah tetapi sebenarnya apa yang kita bawa sangatlah berharga dan nescaya, percayalah, pengundi akan kembali kepada kita.

Dr. Kow Chong Wei

Sinatra_Z - Nukilan Pagi Buta

2010-07-16T12:12:00.001-07:00

Benih bertahun dahulu disemai,
dengan harapan hasil mendatang,
hampa duka semua digadai,
kerana gilakan takhta dijulang.

Pahlawan berani menabur jasa,
datuk laksmana kurniaan sultan,
pangkat gelaran apalah guna,
kalau kuasa tidak ditangan.

Berkokok kuat si ayam jantan,
gagah berani juara sabung,
cukup hebat tumbangkan lawan,
tapi sekadar jaguh kampung.

Pendekar Melayu silat diatur,
jurusnya cantik jiwanya kental,
apalah guna jaguh bertempur,
kalau akhlaknya cetek otaknya dangkal.

Resahkan Perempuan,
ku bersyair pujangga,
resahkan bangsa,
kelu seribu bahasa.