“Allah” (Malaysian Edition)

Published on Facebook on Sunday, 10 January 2010 at 14:02

So here’s another ‘hot topic’ of good old backward Malaysia…

Background: The Malaysia Courts have lifted a previous ban for Non-Muslims to use the word “Allah”. This has caused havoc in Malaysia’s approximately 60% Muslim population even resulting in Churches being burned etc.

The Losers’ Way: Limit Growth of Intelligence

So the big hoo-haa is because a previous ban of non-Muslims using the word “Allah” has been lifted. So now it’s perfectly legal for any religion/person in Malaysia to use “Allah” to describe “God”. Whilst many Muslims in Malaysia get vexed due to the uplifting of the ban, let’s take a more comprehensive approach to the issue. I mean, should it have been banned in the first place?

Let’s be frank here. Islam is a way of life that is based on intellectual conviction. That means there’s intelligent reasoning as to why Islam is the correct way of life. Therefore there’s no need to hide behind banning thought, rather we should encourage thought so that the truth eventually comes out.

The problem with the governments of today is that their intelligence falls so low that they have to result to the ‘Losers’ Strategy’ i.e. if you’re too dumb to beat them intellectually, then accept that you’re a dumbass and try plan B [ban them from intelligent discussion instead..or in this case, a lower level of thought has been applied by the government – ban them from using certain words!]. I mean, this takes me back to that fool Ex Prime Minister of Britain Tony Blair when he tried to ban the largest Islamic political organisation in the world to operate in the UK – Hizb ut-Tahrir (August 2007 right?) – purely because he was out of ideas on how to challenge true Islamic beliefs..of course, he wasn’t able to ban them as Islamic ideas are much stronger than the remnants of defecation that constantly falls out of his mouth. And what a fool his proposed ban made him and his government become.

So here we go – another classic example of how Malaysia has adopted the disease of the farcical West i.e. ‘dumbass-ism’…or to put more accurately the farcical Kufr nations – The Quraish put a ban on trading/interacting with the Muslims during the Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) time as they ran out of ideas how to stop other Idolaters from intellectually being convinced that idolism was incorrect and that rather Islam was rationally correct… well, shouldn’t Malaysia’s Brand Spanking New State of the Art ‘Islam Hadhari’ have embraced the ‘Hadharah’ (Culture) of Islam properly and learnt from the Kuffar’s mistake – i.e. that banning thought is a strategy for fools and the rational truth shall always prevail? – Of course not – It’s Malaysia remember?! Truly Asia, Truly Kufr!

Anyway as Malaysian society gets more and more corrupt each day, there’s natural concern on keeping up the morals in society (i.e. the Islamic principles). But since Malaysia’s already applied a banning on intelligent thinking (aw man, I can’t remember what the ‘thinking ban’ throughout Malaysian universities is called) and political dissent (e.g. ISA and banning of Al-Hizbul Islami in the UK) for decades (only in the past few years this has become a little more relaxed), then what’s happened is you get a society of people (inc government officers) who generally are not used to thinking outside of the box. So as a result the government – out of it’s concern that Islamic morals are being lost in society – applies things such as bans on non-Muslims using the word “Allah” – instead of for example, launching public discussions between differing beliefs to conclude on the correct and incorrect ways of life (hence elevating the level of thought in society – for Muslims and non-Muslims). Let’s face it, if the Muslims in Malaysia are all confident in intellectually presenting to others that Islam is the correct way of life, there’s no need for a puny ban on the word “Allah” as no Muslim would be able to be tricked into Kufr by a non-Muslim who merely used the word “Allah” as a ‘technique’ to confuse the Muslims..

The Issue with Words

So seriously, what’s the issue with these Words? I mean, Christians in the Middle East have been using the word “ilah” for time, yet there’s no problem here..I mean “Allah” derives from “Al – ilah” i.e. meaning “The God” as in Islam we only believe in the One God. If someone else wants to believe there’s only one God as well – how can that be a problem? Surely that’s one step closer to Tawheed (belief in Oneness of God) and hence also towards Islam right?

The thing with Malaysians – if fact, the thing with Malays – is that we as a culture adhere to a lot of backwardness. It’s like for decades we just can’t seem to accept the fact that language is merely a communication tool – and not a solution in itself. What next? Are we gonna get mad when other cultures start using specific Malay words? Or start taking anything that’s ‘Malay’ as their own ‘culture’? Just like a few months back when there was a big pointless hoo-haa about Indonesia getting mad because a tourism agency accidently claimed that a traditional Indonesian dance was actually a traditionally Malay dance? I mean – have you seen that dance – I’d say it’s a effing embarrassment, so why does anyone even want to claim it as their own?

Malaysia’s reputation of stealing other people’s or nation’s culture/work works into a very long list. Take the embarrassing car brand ‘Proton’ – not only is it one of the ugliest and worst cars in the world – but Malaysia didn’t even change the car…I’m not sure of the newer models (cos I can’t be bothered keeping up with such a lame company) but the initial models are all based on other branded cars – mainly Mitsubishi – in which Malaysia rips of the badge and puts on a Proton badge in its place..or Proton purchased a load of messed up Citroen AXs and just slapped on a Proton Tiara badge on it…anyway, let’s get back to the main point again..

The thing with Malays in general is that rather than understanding the root of a problem and treating that root, they prefer to be impatient and take shortcuts. So rather than doing the much needed ground work in Malaysian society i.e. elevating the societal intelligence of Malaysia to a level that Muslims in general are able to discuss issues regarding correct/incorrect Aqeeda with a non-Muslim and triumphantly convince the latter of the rational Islamic viewpoint, Malays instead prefer to keep the intelligence as child-like and try and patch each problem –one at a time- that comes out of this child-like mentality – which of course – is never ending…until the child grows up (if it ever does)!

That’s right – that’s the M-Factor (Malaysian Factor) in conclusion: Don’t treat the cause of the disease, treat the symptoms of the disease…no wonder Malaysian society gets more and more corrupt each day…the ‘doctors’ of the society are a bunch of fools with no real dynamic intelligence.

So what the heck is the short term solution?

There is no short term solution… Malaysia’s been a messed up country for so long …you can’t expect it to magically become OK again by a click of the finger! In fact the whole world’s been messed up for so long, so it takes time to heal. But the correct healing potion must be used with immediate effect. As previously mentioned, step one is for us to understand the root of the problem…why is it such a threat to Muslims in Malaysia that a non-Muslim uses a particular word?

Smart-Ass Snitch: What’s the root?

The root’s simple and was touched upon earlier. The Muslim ummah in general have no faith and confidence to discuss with non-Muslims such that they put an imaginary barrier in their own capabilities and just end up doing nothing but hoping someone else (i.e. the government) will help them do their work. Well, let’s be honest, the Malaysian government – like all governments in the world – is a government that rules by Kufr. It’s a government that ultimately commits shirk by stating that their law is higher than Allah’s law …fine there’s a so called ‘Shariah’ law in Malaysia, but what’s the point of having it when in the federal constitution it states that if there’s a contradiction between the Shariah law and the Federal law, then the Federal law prevails? In simple terms, what’s that called again, boys and girls? It’s called Shirk (associating partners with Allah) – in this case, it’s associating the Government of Malaysia with Allah – where they make an explicit claim that their law is superior to Allah’s law. We therefore say “F the Malaysian government”.

So tell me the solution babe

Well, for all of you who know me personally – you know exactly what kind of angle I’m coming from…for those of you who don’t..then in a nutshell, I’d say it’s high time we as an ummah explore the true systems of Islam (in order to implement)..the intricate details – e.g. how to prevent inflation, how to ensure a stable currency, how to ensure fair-trade, how to ensure religious tolerance, how to protect the non-Muslims of the Islamic state, how to achieve technological advancement etc… all these solutions are in the Quran and Sunnah but can I detail all this in one Facebook rant? – Nay my friend, however my email address and house address is always open for more in-depth discussion… and also some of the books of Islamic systems can be downloaded from here:

www.hizb.org.uk (Britain)
www.mykhilafah.com (Malaysia)
www.hizbut-tahrir.or.id (Indonesia)

Peace out – and I hope I offended the Malaysian government – at least a little..LOL.

F*** Malay Supremacy

I attended an event earlier this year (now last year – cos I wrote this article originally in dec 2008) by a new organisation called Malaysian Scholars Foundation (MSF). One of the speakers was the renowned Malaysian Scholar – Dr. Sheikh Afifi, the 1st permanent full-time Malaysian lecturer in Oxford University (from my understanding) and a very close friend of my family. He mentioned something to us which was quite interesting. Something along the lines of the following:

The word “Malays” is pronounced in the same manner as the English word “Malaise” meaning the following:

1. a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease.
2. a vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort.

Source: http://www.dictionary.com

Whilst his intention was not to say we have become what the English language has ‘defined’ us as, it was rather a wake-up call to us saying that we need to define who we are. If we want to be the best, then be the best. If we want to be the worst, then be the worst.

See, once a while a Malay person comes to me and when s/he understands my background s/he immediately says that I should be proud to be Malay. I normally just do a fake half-smile and walk away – but today I think I’ll try something different. I’ll analyse the situation more deeply and come to a conclusion – should we really be proud of being Malay? I mean, is it good or bad to be Malay?

Let’s take just some examples of what Malays really do in real life. And these examples are what my Malay friends (who were been born and raised in Malaysia) tell me:

1. Malays are always late when they make an appointment
2. Malays are lazy
3. Malays want everything for free (or at least a discount)
4. Malays like to show-off their wealth and/or status

Now, no-one’s actually told me the benefits of being Malay – so let me think of a few:

1. Malays like to eat like six times a day (I get fat in Malaysia)
2. Malays eat with their hands (saving money on spoons)
3. Malays eat rice (even if we just eat it with soy sauce, chilli sauce and fry a chicken)
4. Malays like to sing (although I prefer Gangsta rap)
5. Malays like to laugh (although not as much as Yemenis)

So to me, it’s obvious – there are some things which are good about the Malays and some things which are bad about us.

But the funny thing is when someone says that they’re so proud of being Malay such that they advocate the Malay race at every opportunity they have (even though they never explain what’s so good about being Malay and they completely ignore the bad things about the Malay race).

I wonder, does this guy/girl have edited posters of Hitler wearing a songkok (Malay hat) and samping (Malay sarong) in his/her bedroom?

Let’s face the facts. Each race has its own ups and downs. Furthermore, new races are being developed all the time (due to mixed marriages etc). Should we spend so much time, money and energy on fooling ourselves thinking there’s nothing bad about our own race? Or should we admit the problems we have and focus on devising practical solutions on overcoming these problems?

Is it not time for us to forget about who’s Malay and who’s not? Is it not time for us to just focus on helping each other regardless of ethnicity?

I mean, granted – some organisations (including one which I’m involved in) specialise in helping Malays, but not because they are ‘Malay Supremacy’ organisations, but rather because they are organisations which believe in specialisation. Therefore in order to ensure a better output, they specialise in specific target groups. The overall aim is not to make Malays Supreme, but rather to help us to develop into those which contribute more to the society positively whether the Malay community or outside of it.

Am I proud to be Malay?

One of my friends once said to me a very interesting analogy. He said he’s proud to be Malay because of the following reason:

Imagine a painting. That painting’s beautiful. The painting consists of millions of colours blending together to make it beautiful. Imagine that English people represent the white colours, French represent blue, Malays represent yellow, Africans another colour, Indians another colour etc. If you take all the yellows out (i.e. the Malays out), then the picture would suddenly become horrendous. Equally said, if you take any other colour out, it would also become horrendous.

So in that way, he was proud to be Malay because Malay to him represented God’s creation of an amazing multi-ethnic global community.

In this way, I’m proud to be Malay too. But in no way do I believe Malays should rule the world or are the chosen race from God. It’s just an appreciation of God’s creation.

I’ll take this analogy further. What nationalists (or those who advocate their ethnicity) do is that they try to put too much of their colour into the picture which makes the intonation of the picture also look horrendous. Or when the picture is modernised (cos its a special picture) hence does not require the same amount of yellow anymore – possibly require a different shade of yellow – a more modern colour – they still want to use the original yellow. Hence this old-fashioned yellow makes the picture look horrendous and backward and destroys the natural beauty and progression of the picture.

“O people, we created you from the same male and female, and rendered you distinct peoples and tribes, that you may recognize one another. The best among you in the sight of God is the most righteous.” [Al-Quran – 49:13]

Sorry that this post isn’t as funny as my previous post. Once a while I try to be more sensible.

F*** Malay Supremacy

Backward Business Practice: Maybank iz a Bitch

WARNING: Don’t read this if you’re a Malaysian nationalist who’s easily offended.

————————–————————–————————–————————–—-
Here’s a summary of some business practices:
—————
Malaysian Business Practice 1: When the customer complains, don’t accept responsibility, rather SHOUT at the customer.

Malaysian Business Practice 2: The customer is always wrong. Malaysian businesses are always right. Always accuse the customer of doing something stupid.

Malaysian Business Practice 3: When you don’t know how to use technology, go back to the days without technology – just for your satisfaction of experiencing a backward lifestyle again.
—————-
UK Business Practice 1: When the customer complains, don’t blame them immediately. Never raise your voice or shout at the customer. Remain polite.

UK Business Practice 2: The customer may be right. The business may be wrong. Don’t make conclusions until a full investigation has been raised.

UK Business Practice 3: If something’s wrong with the technology, admit it and apologise to the customer. If you can’t fix it, admit it.
————–
Indian Business Practice 1: When the customer complains, don’t blame them immediately. Never raise your voice or shout at the customer. Remain polite. Say you understand (even though you don’t). Say everything will be all right (even though it won’t be).

Indian Business Practice 2: Let the customer explain the situation, then say you understand the situation and pretend to record it in the notes, but in secret – you don’t know what’s going on so the notes you write are inaccurate. The next person reading the notes will need the customer to re-explain everything again. Repeat this practice several times for best results.

Indian Business Practice 3: Use the technology, but if it fails, send the customer to the UK hoping the UK branch will help (although it’s nothing to do with the UK branch) – hope the customer will just forget about it. As long as your call centre stats are looking good, that’s all you should care about.

————————–————————–————————–————————–—-

The above business practices are conclusions from a personal experience transaferring money from HSBC UK account (inc HSBCindia call centre) to Malaysia Maybank account

Maybank provides the incorrect SWIFT code / BIC number to my wife and obviously now blames me and my wife for making up the incorrect code. The case continues…

————————–————————–————————–————————–—-

Here’s my conclusion:

F*** Maybank to Hell. Hope it collapses and £21 flies back into my back pocket.

In order of professionalism – I personally believe in the following (most professional at the top, least professional at the bottom).

1. UK
2. India
999. Malaysia

Obviously, I’m not saying UK business practice is perfect – as I’ve been involved in many companies which are just downright stupid.. and I equally laugh at those who worship the UK.. but hey, this is just a simple comparison of existing practices..

————————–————————–————————–————————–—-
Calling all Malaysians in the UK – PLEASE RETURN TO MALAYSIA:

Returning to Malaysia has many benefits:

1. Pay
a. Get some of the most generous pay cuts possible in the world!

2.Benefits:
a. Work in one of the most unprofessional atmospheres in the world!
b. Work long hours for free!

3.Career Prospects – Fast track your promotion by:
a. Having FREE sex with your boss!
b. Worshipping the Malaysian flag more than your Creator!

Want my elaboration of this whole fiasco? Well, when I get a moment I’ll upload it to my blog.

If you’re offended by this, well..I did giveu a warning..

joining voluntary organisations is compulsory [small print in malay]

here’s a funny one..

some malay guy comes to me and basically says that i have to pay a certain amount of membership fee for some malay organisation…i mean, i must say – i was damn shocked..i mean whaddahell? ur tellin me that i gotta  join this organisation? i mean…for WHAT??

leme think..they want £24 (as i recall) for 1 year membership..was i given a list of benefits? nope… i was just given the fact that i’m malay…but WHATDDA EFFF?? i mean – thanks, but no thanks..i don’t need to pay £24 per year to be reminded that i’m malay…i’ll just get my mama to remind me for free(!) <— sarcastic exclamation mark.

so i dedicate 2 fingers in a shape of a V to all malay organisations that want my money..when they can give nothing back to me..i mean, as if i need their help when i got a problem ..as if i don’t know how to live my life independently and need the caress of some penghulu… as if i need their company.. as if i need anything from them… in fact, if anything, they shud pay me to become a member…

well, i don’t have any problem with joining malay organisations… in fact, i’m a dedicated member of SMSA (sheffield malaysian students association) – now that’s an organisation..that’s something useful…and wat makes it useful? well..simply put – the people behind it…there’s fresh minds, eager to learn.. eager to make impact..that’s a society that’s recognised in the university and known by thousands of non-malay/msian students.. [reminds me, i haven’t paid my membership fee this year] ….[ok, a few undergrads in the past have mentioned to me they’re unhappy with SMSA due to certain reasons – which is obvious but i won’t mention here – but come on, compare smsa to any other [non-malay/msian] student society in that university – smsa rocks – n a society can’t always plez everyone, that’s just the way it is.]

so why shud i pay for a different organisation a lot more money for nothing? in my opinion [and this is where i will offend people], I ABSOLUTELY HATE being around the company of most msian PhD students here in the UK…. these ppl are supposed to be the society molders of msia as most of them are lecturers @ university in msia… but here’s something that i’ll let you all know (my opinion)..

ever wondered why:

1. msian phd student’s development of the english language is SH** compared to their children’s english? [even though they both live in the UK for the same amount of time]
2. msian phd’s level of critical thinking is inferior to the level of an british 18yr old college student?
3. msian phd’s level of strategic thinking is similar to the strategic thinking of a primary school student in the UK.

let me elaborate

criticism 1 – slow learning curve

i’ve been to many PHD student’s houses…where i’ve seen the stark difference between the parents and their children.. the phd students obviously speak malay to me..and i speak malay back to them..but if u notice the kids, they are more likley to speak english.. and when u listen to the accents of the children speaking english – in a very short amount of time (maybe 5-6 months or so), they’re able to communicate confidently in their 2nd language in an accent which is almost authentically english..that’s amazing.. and u can’t use the fact that they;re kids so they pick up more…cos then i’ll slap u back with my personal example… i was in msia aged 20-21 (for 10 months) and it took me about 6-7 months before i could improve my malay to a level where nobody knew i’m from the uk..(and i learned my malay from the first 4 or 5 years of my life, then the rest from a book+individual study during my time in university) i.e. that means master the accent as well as enough grammatical knowledge + vocabulary…my key to success? the same as the phd student’s kids – we mix with people outside of our normal circle of contacts…so these kids are obviously in english speaking schools where everything’s in english.. i personally took myself out of my family and met ppl…e.g. i attended usrah as many times as possible (and although my teacher could speak 3 or 4 languages inc english), it was done in malay [from indonesian books] due to the other members of the usrah..

so what excuse has the phd student got to not improve their level of communication? well…its sheer laziness and the lack of understanding the importance of communication to be put frank.

criticism 2 – unmatured thinking methods

being with melayu uk, i get the opportunity to meet many young men + women (aged around 16-19) who are children of the PHD students.. or children of those who reside in the uk permanently.. and i must say, everytime i meet one of them, i’m guaranteed to be impressed by them.

recently in my travels to msia, a friend of mine introduced me to a young 19yr old lady, someone who did her a-levels in the UK when her parents were here…in fact, her family knew my family [but i just never met this young woman]… anyway, initially after conversing in malay, we switched to english ..and not only was her english one of the best i’ve heard coming from a malay (who’s only spent 3-4 years in the UK), but her thinking was impressive. i was taken back… we went into discussions of societal analysis and stuff…confident, clear, concise – her train of thought was clearly different to the malay norm (of nothing)..

i speak to other teenage malays born + raised in the UK – or lived here for a long time.. and its the same.. u can’t just tell them something and they’ll swallow the information like some baby.. nope – they’ll analyse it, critisize it, and if they disagree they’ll tell u they disagree – and they’ll put a strong arguement for their case..

compare that to a PHD student from msia – when u question them on something, they’ll startle – they’ll think “what kind of question is this?” – its too much for them to handle …they can’t take criticism..especially from a train of thought which is outside of the norm (i.e. the rest of the 6 billion ppl in the world are different in thinking) – so that goes to show their incapability and immaturity in mental development…what a shame that they have to raise the next generation of university students in msia…. such a shame to see them be one of the causes of a zombie-mentality rakyat.

Criticism 3 – incapability to strategise

take all the organisations that phd students get involved with..they are just organisations with standard kampung mentality..they have their penghulu who sits in the middle pretending his position is so important that if he wasn’t there the society would collapse..

[btw i have nothing against kampung ppl…and i certainly dont look down on them, see i think many kampung ppl hold on to crucial islamic moral values that those in the city let go of easily,,which makes the city so cold..and u cant judge  a person based on his/her welfare cos Allah provides + sets the rizq… but when an educated city person uses his intellect to expand in his career, but in his social work chooses to use a similar thinking thread to those who r uneducated – that just goes to show how he doesnt appreciate/value the education that he has..or that he wasnt taught well enough]

well, lets see what they do first. let’s list some of the things PHD organisations do

1. pick people up from airport, find them a house to stay in
2. organise buka puasa sessions and hari raya celebrations + terawih
3. manage a few yahoogroups
4. erm… erm… ermm….

ok, that’s all i can think of cos to be honest, i don’t see much from them.

ok, so when a new penghulu is appted, he takes over the reigns…there’s no mission statement for the organisation..just he controls wat structure someone set up decades ago.. so its purely organisational management with very little thinking…if someone comes to uk, penghulu will get somoene to pick them up from airport… the hardest thing is “who shall go to the airport? hmm..not such-n-such cos he’s just had a baby…not such-n-such cos he’s got his viva..ooo howabout such-n-such, let me call him” …this is the kind of stuff that kids in highschool do when they’re thinking when to play football and with whom after school.

so strategic management – i.e. the type of mgmt which requires the stategiser to clearly understand his ppl, understand the situation and where he wants to take the ppl to i.e. the next level..and how to get there..that vision of the future is absent in these phd’s minds…its like they’ve been zombified to not think about these things..

———–

ok..enough of the elaborations ..u see, i wouldn’t normally critisize a group of ppl like this so harshly – but wat makes me vexed is that most of them are so damn stuck up – they think that just cos they are the abang + kakak of the undergrads, that they know better and these budak2 undergrad are just learning as they’re all new in life..

and wat i also hate is when the undergrads look up to these ‘abang+kakak’ so much – for wat reasons? that they’re 10-15 years older? what F***ked-up reason is that.. come on undergrads – ur the future…u’ve not been poisoned so much by these F***ked up PHD students – u’ve still got eagerness to learn.. u’ve still got a forward-thinking mentality that’s required for the future of msia + the world. don’t feel u’r a lower level than these phd students… trust me, the best employers in the world would rather be interested in u as opposed to some old-fashioned backward phd student.. because they know its hard to change the minds (to improve) of older ppl..

it really saddens me when i sense an undergrad feels inferior just because a few phd students are present..i mean, i think its time undergrads began to teach the PHD students something.. (cos clearly, we don’t learn anything from them).

well…i got news for those phd students – if they even botherded to wake up and get out of their Fu***ed up malay-phd-supremacy organisation, they’d realise that they’re an embarrasment to society.. they live here for 4-5 years and go back to their fu**ed up jobs in msia, thinking they’ve accomplished the best of the best…

well, they may have a PHD – something I’ll probably never ever even bother to achieve – but what’s the use of a PHD when you’re level of thinking is less than that of a child? [a recent govt official i met said that he was suprised at the low level of questioning that the phd students asked him during his visit to the uk]

wat’s the use of having a phd and becoming a lecturer when u only recite the same verses of engineering year in and year out to your students who get younger by 1 year every year…yet u get older?

wats the point of being in such a place of influence and responsibility when you clearly don’t know how to influence a person (never mind a group of ppl) and ur skills of responsibility is similar to that of an unborn child?

F*** THEM ALL! I’D NEVER JOIN THEIR ORGANISATIONS.

I’ve got more pride than that.

Regards
Suhaib

PS. I’ve met a few cool PHD students though – recently just met one more – he’s doing something like new product design..so  as u can imagine, he’s always on the edge of things and always got a clear vision..THAT’s the kind of guy i look up to…if he had an organisation, i wouldn’t hesitate to join and pay the £24/ year.

PPS. for anyone wanting to join those organisations, i’ve got nothing against you… its just the ppl who are arrogant and stuck up – they’re the ones i got a problem with.

PPPS. these organisations are acutally good… i mean, it helps other ppl …but what i’m against is the arrogance that comes from them..thinking they’re so good… and also the fact that they choose to keep to a backward kampung mentality by not even thinking of how to drive their members forward to become better developed ppl..

Be Advised, An Adviser Advises.

I’m involved with a few organizations here n there. One of the organizations I act as an advisor. And one day after Friday prayer, a man approaches me and says ‘You’re Suhaib?’ so I said ‘yeah’ – he immediately asked to meet with me and it seemed quite important by the tone of his voice.

 

OK, so I agreed to shift my timetable to meet him the next week – I text him and said is it OK for 7-8pm (i.e. 1hr) – so he text back saying that’s cool etc.

 

On the day I’m supposed to meet him, he calls me during lunch hours – confirming I was still coming – then he said there’ll be food served (I was going to his house)..so I thought, that’s a nice man alhamdulillah.

 

So I went to his house – came there on time…and he invited me in…we sat down…he brought another friend with him…they talked and talked about Islamic issues – alhamdulillah that was cool…and I listened…I didn’t really say much, I was too tired to be honest and I just kept glancing at the clock thinking the hours gonna be over soon and the food’s not even arrived..

 

Well, the food finally arrived…alhamdulillah it was nice…but as harsh as I may sound..I was really hoping for some Pakistani food (as opposed to English dinner)…anyway, after we finished eating..it was about 9pm …we prayed isha. And then it was about 9:30pm – then he talked to me about what he wanted to talk to me about.

 

And what an appalling issue he discussed with me. Something so trivial – something that only he made big (out of respect of the organisation, I don’t wish to say anything). So I stressed to him – I hear what you’re saying but I’m an adviser to the organisation, not the president. So I can’t guarantee I can do anything.

 

Then he became happy! I thought… what???!!! Did I just promise I’d do something for him and make the changes he wanted to make? So I stressed again – ‘I can’t promise anything, I’m just an adviser’ …so he said something like ‘no problem brother’

 

By this time I was itching to get out of his house and back to my life …from a 1hr meeting, it turned out to be 3 hours. By the time I had come home, it was 10:30pm – I was tired and annoyed that I had used 4 hours of my life (including travel time) for something so ridiculously stupid that could have been over in 2 minutes.. so I pushed my life schedule back by not doing anything that nite – from what I recall, I just played on my guitar watch some malay drama and went to sleep…yep, I was in a mood..hah.

 

About a week later, he SMS’d me asking for a follow up meeting – well… I was busy doing other things so I hadn’t even bothered to think about his issue…so I didn’t even respond to his SMS. Also, the thing is, he SMS’d me on my public number (which he got from someone else) – and I only respond to my public number when I feel like it (and I only respond to my private number if I recognize the caller). Anyway…he didn’t bother me until the Friday prayer before I set off to Msia…he came to me with a smile on his face.. “A’kum brother Suhaib, good to see you…how’s life?” … I said ‘Alhamdulillah Brother, not so bad’ …so he asked ‘Have you done anything about what we discussed?’ … I said, ‘2B honest I’ve been BZ – and not been able to do anything much’ – (although its been about a month now)…then he kind of pulled a ‘P****** off face…so I said ‘Brother, I’m going to Malaysia tomorrow for 2 weeks’ …. so he asked – who’s in charge when you’re not around…I pulled a ‘are u stupid face’ and said – I was never in charge, I’m the adviser…you need to speak to [name of person omitted]’ – this really irritated him … he pulled a very P***** off face …and immediately turned away in frustration…then turned briefly back before storming off in a tantrum like a child..

 

I shrugged it all off and went back to my own life..heh.

Now I’m currently in Msia – with free time…so I thought I’d write a blog about it…kinda cool rite?

 

Is there a moral to this story?

Hmm….

 

Moral: If you’ve got a problem with someone, try going to the person direct – don’t go through someone else. If you go through someone else as a ‘style’ to get to the correct person, don’t get vexed when it doesn’t work out.

 

Normally, if you can’t convince the person direct – consider it might be your fault as well for not being able to put your argument across in a convincing way with that guy.

 

Lastly, if I say I’m an adviser…then I’m an adviser … that means to advise i.e. give advice (not make commands or decisions)… don’t think that I’m more than that…because I won’t act more than an adviser just for your purpose. My life doesn’t evolve around yours. Do u get me? (**laughter**)

 

 

Raising Kids in the West

One thing that really irritates me is when some people assume its so damn easy to raise kids up as good Muslims in the UK. And you know what they say to me to prove this phenomena? They say, ‘Your father’s done a good job with his 9 kids’.

 

Are you for real? Do you really think that just cos you consider me and my siblings to turn out ‘OK’ that its easy to raise kids in the West?

 

Have they got no idea as to how much abuse we (the children) had to go through in order to get ourselves to this ‘level’ which you assume to be good.

 

Let’s face it – a kid sleeps 8 hours per day… goes to school 8 hours per day… spends time in his room, watches TV, does homework, goes out with friends probably totaling the rest of the 24hrs left in the day…

 

So the parent doesn’t really teach the child. The parent sees the child when he’s watching TV or at the dinner table (although its TV dinners for most asian families). So society teaches the child… the child learns more at school than from their parents. Most of the times, the kid doesn’t even go in-line with the parent’s philosophy.

 

I got to all sorts of things during my school and college days – things which neither the Islamic or Malay traditions would approve of. In fact, many of the things I did, people would outcast me because of it – I’m not saying I’m proud of the wrong things that I’ve done – but I’m just saying that’s what a typical British Asian kid does.

 

Of course the parent doesn’t know these things happen.

 

I’m sick and tired of the parents who say to me …’yeah, but I want my child to be close to me and share everything with me’

 

GET REAL!! What child living in the 21^st century would want to even be seen with his/her parents. That’s equivalent embarrassment to ‘grassing’ someone up in school!

 

So the parents would say something like “yeah but it shouldn’t be like that” – erm…hello!!!! Did you not hear what I’m trying to say?

 

Parents are not the same as friends. Parents are parents. They are not friends. Yes, I agree that there are some parents who are almost like friends to their children. But judging by the number of Malay cases I’ve witnessed – this is a very rare occurrence in the Malay case.

 

Don’t think you can relate to your children. In most cases you can’t. That’s just a fact of life. Insha’allah, when I have kids (if Allah permits) – I’ll understand more about the difficulties of parenthood – but this article isn’t about parenthood – I’m just being the voice of the children.

 

MORAL: Those parents thinking its easy to raise children in the West – Stop living in a dream world. Especially if you yourself was not born and raised in the West – don’t claim to know what its like. It’s an insult to our intelligence.

 

So to all those Melayu UK members thinking its easy to raise their children here in the UK – please do your children a favour – don’t ever assume its easy. I’d hate to see a child going through what I had to go through.

Why a blogspot?

I’ve finally thought to myself, now’s the time to write a blogspot for myself. ‘Why?’, you may ask…. Well, it seems that the more I get involved within the Malay community, the more ‘Malay’ I become.

 

Of course, I don’t mean to say the normal Malay community, but rather the Malay student community residing in the UK and Ireland. It just seems to be that so many of my friends have got blogspots – so I guess, I’m just following the trend…

 

So what’s the aim of this blogspot? Well, I guess it’s the aim of all blogspots – to share personal ideas using a platform that the world can access … but I’m not looking to make this a political blogspot…nor an ‘Islamic’-orientated blogspot… nor an ‘organisation-focussed’ blogspot..

 

Yes, of course… I’ll always talk about those things – its part and parcel of life – but rather, I’m making this blogspot as a way of discussing my personal thoughts about life in general.. Not really bothered if no-one visits the site – I’m not really going to publicise it, I’ll share it with a few friends – that’s not a problem… but I guess, it’s a place where I can voice my own opinion about the things that I want…that I consider important… so away with MUSST, away with Melayu UK…forget all the ISOC activities, any university or extra-curricular clubs that I’ve been involved in… forget any other organisation in the UK or in Malaysia that I’ve ever worked with … I’m just here to voice my opinion about life in general…it’s a platform with the main objective of helping me – as opposed to helping anyone else (well, you have to be selfish sometimes – so I’m not going to feel guilty about it).

 

I guess though, in some ways I do want to voice out my opinion about a number of issues… I guess knowing that someone somewhere will accidently visit my blogspot, then he or she will want to share ideas more – so that’s fine, I’d rather have quality discussion with someone as opposed to having shallow banter with them… there’s some kind of satisfaction I get in letting others know how I feel… is that strange? Well, to be honest, I’m not really bothered about your opinion (yes, you the reader) – I’m more interested in developing my opinions.

 

So later in life…I can see how my thoughts change…do they change for the better or the worse? This is just my-time to myself… something that I believe will benefit me.

To GPS or not to GPS? That is the question (in Malaysia..)

So after pondering where I can get Satellite Navigation for Malaysia, I decided to try my luck at Low Yatt Plaza, KL – Malaysia’s largest IT shopping centre.

And not bad – saw a store with other O2 pdas – so they offered me original (without the CD) software for my PDA…inc peninsular msia, sabah, Sarawak…+ spore…

Back at home, i’m thinking…when will the GPS kick in? I mean, I’ve waited over 4 hours for my PDA to detect where I am…still no luck – maybe its jammed? (somehow)…any, I reset the programme – left it…when out..when i came back in about an hr….yes! success – detection.

So my 1^st attempt at GPS tech in msia…task 1 – I’m in section 7, shah alam – i want to goto UITM …but this is where the problem lies….why the hell is my GPS system taking me out of the federal highway? …and then some other crazy highway I’ve never heard of..let alone be on….nah…this is unreal….was the programmer on crack??!! Finally I thought that the fact that I’m approx 20km away from Shah Alam…I think the GPS is pretty much – PANTS…. anyway…during a few times I rerouted..the fact that it tried to get me to go against a no-entry sign isn’t best promising…

So that’s that. RM90 for a piece of software that’s no use.

But then i used it the next day…was on my way to puchong but then my auntie sms me to come to her house to bangi…well..bandar baru bangi doesn’t appear to be on the system…so forget it – I’ll just follow the road signs..

Upon reaching Bangi, we went off to Serdang – there’s this western food place near UPM …hmm…i’ve been there before with a few friends…we ordered the most expensive of everything…and I must say..when Malaysians try to be western..they fail…anyway, the  GPS took us quite nicely to the UPM – plus point!

So the next day or so…I thougt, now I need to get to Masjid KLCC for a meeting with MERC – this is the mission…I mean.. I’ve never been there before – didn’t even know it existed….so I set off around 2:45mins before my meeting..just in case the GPS starts talking crap again..

Hmm…so far so good…but some of the problems is that it wanted me to go through Jalan Petaling – i mean…come on now …that’s supposed to be 100% pedestrianized rite? (apart from a few vans loading and offloading goods for the traders)…hmm…but the re-routing works well enough…

Another problem in general is that the roads don’t appear to be that accurate…i mean…eg. turn left in 20 metres time actually means …turn left now..and sometimes for some reason, my car switches to the parallel road for a minute..before jumping back to the road that I’m on in real life..

So that’s the ups + downs of GPS in Malaysia.

I’d say though, that it’s a good start. It’s saved me time…kept me from getting lost…and all in all is a handy little gadget (Alhamdulillah)… hmm..those freaks at O2 are gonna pay – they’re so damn foolish – told me I had to pay loads to use GPS outside of UK…did their peers not train them correctly? A GPS receiver does not use internet…its the GPRS that uses internet…that’s the one you have to pay for…I mean…some fool at carphonewarehouse even told me that everytime the ‘GPS system’ says something like “Turn Left Now”…then the amount of Data Transfer there is so much and I’d have to pay for that…I said in return…”Ok, what if I turn the voice off – does that mean it’s free?” Of course..that sorry un-trained person said “ummm…don’t know” – WOW – what a professional company(!) – damn u car phone warehouse – but I’m still gonna get money back from u ..ur lucky i’m in Malaysia…but one of the 1^st things I do when I get back is to write a damn long complaint letter to your CEO!! (sorry, I’ve got a few issues with that company and this whole GPS business)…

So here’s what you want to know…do I recommend you buy a mobile fone with a GPS receiver for use in Msia?

ANSWER: DEFINATELY YES! The only thing wrong is the maps..but I’m sure the maps will improve through time… just one thing…make sure ur fone uses GPS for sat nav (and not GPRS), or else u’ll be paying a fortune! 8 out of 10