If there is a single 'deja-vu' feeling that is felt by many other people at the same time, it'd be during election times. What with the poster wars, the political talks and (certain) politicians taking turns in throwing slanderuos remarks against their opponents (luckily in Malaysia, no killings is involved). It all looks and feels so familiar as the same 'road' is taken, over and over again, whenever election time is near.
As I make a left turn at a junction, I notice how the corner of the road has become the centre of expressing one's artistic skill. Artistic indeed for not a single inch of the two lamp posts at the corner, is not covered with posters of a political party. Luckily the lamps do not suffer the same fate. Another political party does not want to be left behind by having a huge banner tied between the two lamp posts and a flag perched on top of a tree.
The same scenario can be seen almost everywhere. Posters of political parties and election candidates are by every road sides throughout Malaysia. Not just lamp posts and trees, some walls of buildings and road signs are also pasted with the same and practically everything that stands on pillars have strings of banners tied to them. Back in 2008, BN, the ruling party since Malaysia gained its independence, saw the worst defeat in history. 5 states were lost to the opposition parties (which consists of PAS, PKR and DAP), while for other states in the Peninsular, a significant number of the seats was lost. Although BN still ruled the country, in the Parliament, BN didn't actually win the 2/3 of the seats. What a shame...shame...shame...
When Pak Lah took the trone as the head of the country, many were dissatisfied and not enthusiastic with the idea for he lacked the leadership skills that someone in his position should have (that being one of the many reasons only).
One after another corruption cases and scandals involving some high-profile politicians were exposed, especially by the opposition parties. This inevitably resulted in the dis-unity among the component parties in the ruling government. The citizens were in a state of unrest for quite some time but managed to maintain peace.
The election this year marks a difference. While BN is about to crumble and probably turns to dust, the opposition parties are getting stronger. Those (the opposition candidates) who won have proved they are worthy of leaders and representatives of citizens' voices. PAS, PKR and DAP have also managed to put aside any differences and work together as one big strong team.
With PAS making sure that Islam is always put first before handling and carrying out other matters, it's apparent that their fight and efforts are solely for Allah and for the rakyat. PKR leads in the sense of strategic planning and execution, while DAP makes sure the interests and rights of the non-Bumiputeras are well-guarded and fought for, without having to eliminate the special privileges that the Bumiputeras have been enjoying all this while.
08 March 2008 (flashback)
We left our house to go back hometown about 8 in the morning. Coincidentally, my mother was in KL after helping out my wife taking care of our baby Ikhwan who was recuperating from chicken pox.
When we arrived in Muar, not wanting to waste any time, I decided to stop to cast my vote, since the voting centre was by the main road we took to go home.
My wife and mother fulfilled their responsibility after lunch. Wife voted at a different area, and both places saw the fight between BN and PAS candidates. Each of the PAS candidates was a doctor. The one at my area was our family doctor.
Night time - we eagerly awaited for the polling results. If we didn't watch the special TV programme that covered the election, we would constantly look at the results appearing at the bottom screen when a different programme was running.
Many anticipated the opposition would win big, although it was a tough call. As for me, I rooted for PAS and PKR. So, when the opposition won in 4 states and the Federal Territory (KL), with PAS managed to maintain their credibility by winning in Kelantan again, the news shocked the nation a little bit.
What's more? A few BN candidates who were known for their loud 'uninsured' mouths and arrogance (not to forget, stupidity?) were lost to the opposition candidates. Well, served them right, although in my opinion, more of them should have suffered the same public humiliation for their 'open secret' corruption cases and exploitation of people's money for their own good.
Johore (where Muar is part of it) has always been considered as BN's stronghold. But that year marked the beginning where the opposition landed their feet there. DAP won 4 seats, while the 2 seats where my wife and I cast our votes were won by PAS. I could say the trip back home was well paid off for I had helped PAS to break history!
Although I say I shall try to tally my quotation with my latest blog entry (see right column), this time around, I need to say something far more important, that has nothing to do with the quotation I already created, which is based on the TV series Damages (btw, Damages is very cleverly written, don't you think?).
Actually, I wanted to post a short story about the political scenario in Malaysia (thus, the above quotation) and how Malaysia has become 5 years from now. The story is written Damages-style, with some flashbacks. But then, since that story hasn't yet finished, I think that can wait coz like I said, the one I'm posting today, is far more important.
Based on the Islamic calendar, yesterday was 12 Rabiul Awal 1429H, a Maulidur Rasul day, i.e. the Prophet Muhammad pbuh’s Birthday (which was equivalent to 1st April last year). That means today marks our beloved son, Ikhwan, is now one year old.Both Ayah and Ibu are proud of you and love you so much Ikhwan!!! You can read/reminisce the day Ikhwan was born here.
In conjunction with the Maulidur Rasul day (also a public holiday here), the surau at our condo (surau is a place, which can be as small as a room, allocated for Muslims to pray but can cater only a small number of jemaah, unlike mosques) organised a 'selawat', 'berzanji' and a 'potong jambul' (Ikhwan and a neighbour's daughter joined in).
While in the surau, there was a time when Ikhwan crawled from his Ibu (mother) who sat about 2 metres apart from me, just to get to me. Seeing the happy expression on his face looking at me while he was crawling, was rather touching... I noticed Ikwan was also very friendly to those other people in the surau, young and old.
During prayers, again, my heart was deeply touched by the words recited by the imam, who pray not only for the 'potong jambul' babies, but also their parents, and not to forget, the rest of the jemaah and all Muslims. He even prayed for the author of the 'berzanji' book.
Talk about feeling touched, here's a little something:
TUHANKU, sesungguhnya aku tidak layak untuk syurgaMU, namun tak pula aku sanggup menghadapi api nerakaMU. Dari itu ampunkanlah segalan dosa aku, dan maafkanlah aku. Sesungguhnya ENGKAU maha pengampun segala dosa-dosa.
English translation:
YA ALLAH, I am not qualified to be in your Heaven, but neither can i bear your Hell fire. For that, please forgive me, for all I have sinned. For Allah is Most Merciful, Oft-forgiving of all sins, regardless of how big they are (as long as we don't worship other than Allah of course).
For some of us, take these words to our hearts, we might not realise there'll be tears forming at the corner of our eyes.
Ikhwan, here's verse 286, taken from Surah AL-BAQARA: On no soul doth Allah Place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Pray:) "Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; Help us against those who stand against faith."
Still reminiscing...... ever since only a few months old, Ikhwan always responds whenever his name is called, whether by turning his head around, or twitching his legs a bit, or slanting his head (I have finally recorded a video on this, which I shall put up soon), or uttering his baby words as a way to talk back to us or simply, by smiling/laughing. Nowadays, if he's busy playing or doing his exploring activites, he becomes so excited and sometimes he claps his hands or wriggles his body on the floor, especially when we continuously call his name in full, which is Ikhwan Rasydan. In this particular video, see how he reacted when I whispered his name...
I shall soon recount the things that he's able to do now, still learning to do and some memorable moments my wife and I had shared with Ikhwan this past year, Insha' Allah...
P/S: Tazkirah for the day Nowadays, it's common for parents (especially if both are working) to send their kids to be taken care of by baby sitters. Yes, kids these days spend most of their days of their weeks with people who are not their parents. But, despite of that, every single time, when the parents arrive at the sitter's place, the children would drop everything that they do and even 'toss' the sitters aside, to go home with their parents (provided that the parents are lovable to their kids laah!). So, it is in human nature for children to always feel the attachment with their parents and want to go back with them, regardless of what. Likewise, it is nature for all humans to return to the Creator whether or not they want it or they are ready. So, the question is, are we prepared to meet our Creator?
PP/S: In the above photo, Ikhwan was enjoying his meal while sitting down on his portable chair. What an ingenious design for a toddler's chair - it's lightweight yet tough, affordable and safe. I shall talk more about the chair when I share more of Ikhwan's gadgets.
I read from one reliable Internet source that individual children start developing at very different rates, i.e. they develop and learn at their own pace. In other words, as long as your baby is making steady progress, there's nothing to worry about. In fact, if anybody says otherwise, the website suggests responding back by saying that Einstein didn't talk until he was four years old :-)
The same applies to our kiddo Ikhwan. He masters his crawling skill quite later than one or two other babies of the same age, whose parents we know. But Ikhwan already has 8 teeth (as of today), compared to one other baby who still doesn't have any.
Put two guardians together and we have different patterns of how they they talk about their respective babies. Sooner or later they're bound to start comparing their babies' accomplishments, as though it were a contest (some doctors call such a 'competition' the Baby Olympics).
Speaking of comparison, here's an interesting one. I observe how differently two male guardians talk about their babies compared to when two female guardians are doing the same. The example here is just based on my own personal experience only, so DON'T take this as something that represents typical behaviours among any gender whatsoever.
Conversation between two male guardians:
Male 1: How are you and how's your daughter? What's her latest development?
Male 2: She already knows how to crawl and is learning to stand up by grabbing on to us or to a nearby furniture.
Male 1: Oh really, that's fast coz my son is hardly lying down on his tummy. He'd quickly flip over to lie on his back... guess that's because his skeletal frame is rather big, he gets tired easily. How many teeth does she have already?
Male 2: None, yours?
Male 1: The fourth one is starting to form...
Male 2: Is it true that babies will be down with fever everytime a new tooth is forming...?
Male 1: Not necessary, I mean that didn't happen to our baby. It's not that he fell sick everytime...
Conversation between two female guardians (the females here are not necessarily someone I know, ok! :-p): Female 1: The other day, my niece called me up. She is such a cute girl, so talkative now that she knows more vocabularies than before and knows how to call me... (conversation interrupted)
Female 2: Wait till you hear my niece's voice. Hearing her voice can make you feel like you want to go over to her place and squeeze her cheeks... (again, conversation interrupted) Female 1: Can you believe she asked me to go to the zoo, I mean how was that possible? I was at the office and her house is way over there, the other side of the city... (talking very fast, now gasping for air)
Female 2: I actually took my niece to that Aquaria last weekend. It was a blast and she enjoyed seeing those fishes very much. Maybe I'll take her to the zoo next time... (beaming with pride)
Hmmmm.... I wonder, who's winning here... heehehehe..
Anyway back to the topic. For babies to develop, it is common for them to explore and immitate. In fact, imitation and repetition are key ingredients in early brain development. They discover the use of their hands and fingers; try to mimic our facial expressions and words; finding everything as fascinating - from the wheels of the stroller, the mats, the cabinets and drawers, the ointment bottles... there's just so many things to explore, feel, bang together and bite on huh? :-)
My son is no exception - he is such a natural explorer and a good immitator, for a good cause of course. At times, whenever he's exploring something like playing with his toys or looking out the car window, I like to look at things from his point of view as well.
There was a day when Ikhwan, who was in his car seat, was focusing intently to a particular object. When I bent down, I realised he was looking at the traffic light. He must have seen how the traffic light changed from yellow to red. Upon realising my face was on the same level as his, immediately he said "Ohhh...", probably trying to tell me "The colors are the same like in the book you read to me last night" (or perhaps he was saying "Don't sit too close"? Haha).
Ikhwan has started exploring to use his mouth and tongue (for playing) since a few months ago. He can intelligently create some funny and weird sounds by 'manipulating' his tongue. Only until recently, did I manage to record such moments. This video made my wife and I smiled. But what really made me laugh was the voice of my wife in the background. It sounded really funny (to me at least, I mean she was a bit embarassed upon hearing it).
With the election in Malaysia is just around the corner, I feel like voting for whose voice sounds funnier. Hmmmm... for this case, I think I'd go for my wife's voice (sorry Ikhwan). But I'd still definitely vote for Ikhwan for being the main attention grabber (sorry Ayang, you are a different kind of attention grabber laaa, haha)... Hope you guys enjoy the video!!!
P/S: Speaking of the election (this coming 8th of March), who do you vote for, my fellow Malaysians? The ruling party seems to be trying so hard, with airing all those lengthy commercials on tv and radio. Enough is enough already. I mean haven't they heard, the harder you try, if you fall, the harder (I sure hope so) it must be. They (the commercials) are really starting to make me sick, literally... I wonder whose money did they spend on making those useless commercials and paying for so much airtime huh? Well, upon saying this, guess you know who I'll be voting for!!!!
PP/S: Speaking of tv commercials, currently, my son is sooo into that latest Nokia N82 (Storytelling) ad. He'd stop immediately from whatever he is doing at that time and stay glued to the screen during those few seconds. Only after the ad has finished, would he resume his earlier activities (yes, it can be a number of activities, hehe). I wonder what makes the ad so interesting to him...
The Oxford Dictionary says "boulevard" means wide city street, often with trees on each side. As for me, "boulevard" is the path that I thread my way through in life. At times, the trees give me protection from the hot sun above. While at other times, no amount of trees can comfort me when it pours. Come rain or shine, the road continues to provide me with the journey of life until it reaches its destination.
People say I'm sweet, kind, a gentleman, caring, romantic and observant (let's just concentrate on the good attributes). I love those who matter to me, and care about things that count. I'm a Malay Muslim and proud to be one. I DON'T think Islam should be judged by those nasty followers. Islam should be judged by the religion itself; its teachings and the purpose behind them. I mean, humans will still behave like humans right? Usually, regardless of religions that they embrace. It is also in my nature to please, since I believe that TO PLEASE EVERYONE IS AN IMPOSSIBLE FEAT, BUT NOT TRYING TO PLEASE ANYONE OTHER THAN ONESELF IS A POSSIBLE DEFEAT (own quote). Apart from sharing the things I read, watch and listen to, I'd also share my thoughts and feelings, and express my views on certain issues. Last by no means least, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM EVERYONE OF YOU OUT THERE ABOUT ANYTHING! If we knew each other 'in the previous life' and had lost contact, or we hardly contact each other nowadays, do email me or comment on my entries. Feel free to explore my blog & website (http://members.fortunecity.com/abdunmy/). Cheerio & Wassalam.
Sometimes, to boldly go (where no one has gone before) at warp speed may cause you unnecessary troubles.
Own quote, based on Star Trek
Lesson from the quote: Rushing to reach your destinations or goals may get you there fast, but may not always be the smartest thing to do!
"Note The Quote (Malay translation)"
Kadang kala, perjalanan (ke tempat yang tidak pernah ditujui) pada kelajuan maksimum boleh menyebabkan kesusahan pada diri sendiri.
Rekaan sendiri, berdasarkan dari Star Trek
Pengajaran: Terburu-buru untuk sampai ke destinasi atau matlamat hidup mungkin boleh membawa kita ke sana dengan cepat, tetapi langkah itu tidak semestinya yang terbaik!
You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you are doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle.
George Lucas (Film Director and Producer)
"Favourite Note The Quote 2"
A sign in a mosque on the need to switch off handphones:
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Penguin Rush
