the progress

baru je kebah from demam 2 hari
still masuk opis though
can't take leave at this moment
keje tak banyak, but need to settle it now
no fret, i managed, dah terbiasa gini
anyway, it was just selsema and badan seram sejuk
telan panadol for sinus yang kotak kaler biru muda tu
hilang la selsema tu for a while

camne boleh demam?
well, partly because lama dah tak jatuh sakit
and partly due to the weather is getting hotter now

here.. a photo as a proof..
i took yesterday afternoon
while driving back from opis

the temperature reading was 42 celsius
even from inside a car that was half-full blown
with good air-conditioning system

now, imagine, being outdoor
working on a construction site
pergghhh......

oh ya.. one more thing
i've been meaning to write about this one
updates on Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower)

last saturday..
this still-being-constructed skyscrapper
(one of the many more in the UAE)
has been crowned - the tallest building in the world
with 512 meter thus far
(passed Taipei 101 with 508 meter)
(predicted finally to stand at 700 meter)
with 141 floors for now
(no other building in the world even close)
(forecasted to have 160 floors)

"standing in the eyes of the world"
- my lurve Ella ;)

the groups

once, there were..
Search, Wings, Lefthanded, Rusty Blade, Gersang, May
BPR, Crossfire, CRK, Junctions, Sofea, Rockers, Mega
SYJ, Utopia, Dinamik, Blackrose, Bloodshed, Iklim
Ella and Shima and the Boys, Desire, Ekamatra, Illusi, Exist,
Febians, Fotograf, Graviti, Spring, Medicine, Lela,
Lestari, Putra, Qiara, Kris, Terra Rosa, Burnmark, Damasutra,
and banyak sangat la lagi... tak larat nak ingat semuanya..

irama dan lirik lagu zaman tu..
mendayu, tangkap lentok, feeling, layan..
pergghhhhhh..

and of course..
fesyen zaman tu.. haru biru gak..
zaman pakai seluar fit and senteng
rambut panjang menggerbang menjadi idaman
janji rockkkkk !!!!!!!!
kekeke..

then..
hip-hop and rap pun muncul
apa lagii.. hiyyyyaaaaaaa.. ayunnn bang.. ayunnnnn..
before adanya Too Phatt, VE, Ruffedge
of course the pioneer were 4U2C, Nico and KRU
then ada Feminin, Res2, MsTeen, Elite

(aku ingat depa ni je..
yang lain tu aku tak beli kaset dia..
hahahaha.. kantoiii..)

and of course, prior to that, there were
Kembara, Alleycats, Freedom, Headwind,
Black Dog Bone, Carefree, Flybaits,
Ginger Bread, Sweet Charity, Sweet September
Al Jawaheer, El Suraya, Blues Gang..

aku still suka dengar dan layan
lagu-lagu groups ni sampai sekarang
sebab dulu.. bila time cuti sekolah.. aku lepak kampung
and selalu joined naik lori kutip buah kelapa sawit
dengan sepupu and pak sedara yang lebih tua..
hehe..

nevertheless..
for me, those early years of
jiwang karat rock kapak songs
were better and more lentoq compare to from the much recent
such as New Boys, Budak Kacamata, Slam, Spoon, Spin, Spiranza,
Scoin, SOS, S5, Screen, Sau-Q, Sup, Stings, Spears, Success
dan macam-macam lagi yang SSSSSS.. (what's that about???)

tentunya..
pada mat dan minah rock yang 'old-school'
that period of time kiranya
macam dark ages for rockers le..

sebab?..
zaman tu.. lagu-lagu kumpulan ni
mostly takde feeling sangat
macam tangkap muat asal buleh je
lirik dan irama nya.. merengekkkk je lebih..

however, tetiba munculnya
revival from XPDC, Amuk, Def Gab C and the rest

aku dah tak follow dah lepas tu..
dah rasa tua and tak rock lagi kot..
hehe..

anyway..
bak kata pepatah;
esok bermulanya hari ni
hari ini bermulanya semalam
tanpa yang lama tiada yang baru
:)

make it again

lama dah tak layan bola sepak
by watching the games live via tv
but since last few weeks and till next week
rasa terlayan la plak.. hehe
- the Asian Cup

pasukan tanahairku Malaysia
kalah awal lagi... macam 'biasa'..
and tercorot dalam kumpulan
kalah in all games
even though played on home-ground

pasukan tanahpasirku UAE
juga kalah awal.. macam 'tak caya'..
but managed to avoid being tercorot
menang satu dari tiga games
even though was among favourites

di UAE..
the spirit and hope were very high
prior to the starting of the tournament
sebabnya, depa baru je menang Gulf Cup
sebagai tuan rumah.. early tahun 2007 ni..

hence..
kekalahan team UAE di Asian Cup ni
mengingatkan kembali
kepada peristiwa pada 1992
- Malaysia menang Piala Thomas di KL

i remembered watching the games
di celah-celah puluhan kawan-kawan
di bilik TV.. di asrama sekolah..
hehe.. (budak sekolah la time tu)

riuh betul bilik tv tu..
malahan satu Malaysia bergegar
bila Malaysia kalahkan Indonesia
sekaligus mengakhiri kemarau kemenangan 25 tahun

semua pemain..
mostly from keluarga Sidek
dianugerahkan pelbagai imbuhan oleh kerajaan
dilaungkan kebanggaan oleh rakyat

namun, sejak hari itu
badminton Malaysia masih terus cuba berjuang
untuk kembali ke zaman gemilangnya..

apapun..
di arena bola sepak.. tahun demi tahun
lebih banyak cemuhan dari pujian..
kegemilangan pasukan bola sepak kita
sering dibayangi dan dibandingkan
dengan zaman kegemilangan Super Mokh

apa yang menarik..
kalau dianalisa lebih mendalam
kekalahan awal pasukan Malaysia itu
dalam kejohanan Piala Asia 2007 ini
seperti memang telah dirancang dan dijadualkan

huh? betul ke?

well..
for this year Asian Cup
semi-final is scheduled on 25 July
and the final will be on 29 July

but..
pada bulan Mei yang lalu
FAM dan AFC kecoh bertarung dan bercakaran
untuk menentukan nasib perlawanan persahabatan
antara pasukan NEGARA Malaysia dan KELAB Manchester United
yang dijadualkan pada 27 July di Kuala Lumpur

akhirnya.. dan nasib baik..
management Man U yang mengalah dan menarik diri

now.. bayangkan..
kalau friendly match dengan Man U tu.. still on..
and Malaysia berjaya ke peringkat akhir Asian Cup
macam mana?

jadinya.. patut la..
pasukan Malaysia 'mesti dan perlu' kalah awal
sebab kita 'lebih tumpu' nak lawan Man U rupanya

hmmm.. apapun.. adalah menjadi harapan..
agar dihentikanlah aktiviti dan konsep
NEGARA lawan KELAB ni

sebab?
Man U (atau kelab EPL lain)
buat tour and friendly matches di negara-negara lain
semuanya lawan dengan the top clubs of that countries
bukan lawan pasukan NEGARA tersebut..

kat Malaysia je.. team Man U lawan team Malaysia
let alone.. sure kalah pulak tu.. mana pernah tak kalah..
and kalau 'boleh menang' pun.. penyokong Man U akan kata
"patut la Malaysia menang.. team NEGARA"

maluuu la oiiiiiii..

rasanya..
para penyokong negara Malaysia
bukanlah marah sangat kalau kalah
memang adat bertanding - ada yang kalah, ada akan menang

cumanya..
yang penyokong benci sangat
adalah kalau team kalah sebab
pemain macam tak bersemangat
dan main macam tuttttt *censored*

apapun..
doa ku tetap untuk pasukan tanahairku..
berusahalah.. kembalikanlah kegemilangan..
selamat berjaya hendaknya, Malaysia Boleh !!!

he did it again

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
the Vice President and Prime Minister
and Minister of Defence of the UAE
and Ruler of Dubai
did it again

well..
memang selalu dah dia buat surprises sebegini
among others were this, this and this

however
last weekend (Friday and Saturday)
he had set a new 'benchmark'

he went to Fujairah
(a nothern and not-so-urbanised emirate of the UAE)
and 'brought along' his members of cabinet

pada pagi Jumaat
a cabinet meeting in an informal setting


lepas tu.. tengaharinya
sembahyang jumaat di masjid berhampiran

he just sat in the middle section of the masjid
unlike our Raja, Sultan, PM, Menteris and VVIPs in Malaysia
yang selalunya pasti akan 'disediakan' saf paling depan sekali

lepas solat tu.. dengan tiba-tiba
salah seorang penduduk tempatan kawasan situ
telah mengajak beliau untuk makan tengahari di rumah beliau

and he accepted the invitation
together with most of the ministers

next, lepas habis makan
dengan tak disangka-sangka beliau mengumumkan agar
anak-anak tuan rumah (yang dah berkahwin) yang jemput dia tadi
diberikan/dihadiahkan sebuah rumah setiap seorang
dengan biayaan beliau sendiri

perghhhh....

seterusnya.. petang tu
sambung meeting

esok pagi dan tengaharinya
melawat kawasan sekitar kampung

petangnya
sebagai penutup dan sebelum balik ke Dubai
mandi-manda bersama some ministers

hehe..

these events, beyond reasonable doubts
had further uplifted his good image
in the eyes of the people living in the UAE
regardless whether it was a genuine day-to-day practice
or just another excellent public relations stunt

anyway..
a fellow Malaysian
cynically joking around by quoting
"our PMs pernah ke buat gini?"

i just simply replied by saying
"pernah! dan pasti akan buat lagi
bila? tunggu le musim pilihanraya"

:)

the joke is on

hmm..
i squeezed my guts
and wrote a response
to one of my (not that many) yahoogroups
in reply to this one particular email/sender

well.. in short..
for the past 3 days
he had been sending/forwarding
jokes and funny articles
on Jesus, Popes, Nuns and the likes

usually..
i would just red them and chuckled a bit
to these kind of things

but, the thing is that
the sender was the same guy
who was so furiously angry and almost went mental
over the Danish's cartoon issue, back in January last year

if we do not like it
that if someone (the non-muslims especially)
making any jokes, mockery and bad remarks
on our beloved God, Prophets and religion per se
why must we perpetrate the same sin against others?

if we want others to respect ours
it's only fair that we respect theirs, right?

no wonder..
issues like these
keep coming back and there's no end to it
as long as we could not agree upon
these kinds of mutual understanding

the line is on

at times..
don't you wish that the mobile phones
were never been invented?

hehe..

yes, no doubt it has bring in
more benefits than disadvantages
such as; easier to be in touch with people
to do work, to communicate
yadi yadi yada, bla bla bla..

cumanya..
yang sakit hatinya kengkadang tu
bila dengar ayat-ayat begini
as you were answering the phones;
- berapa kali i tried to call, kenapa tak angkat?
- you missed my calls, kenapa tak call back?

hmmm..
(no) thanks to Caller ID
of course you could know the caller/number

but..
other than several very very very important people
(like your bosses, parents, friends, relatives)
perlu/wajib ke jawab or ring them back, immediately?

dan kengkadang tu..
kalau kita tak angkat/jawab tu, mungkin
memang sebab tak sempat; in the middle of something;
tengah dalam toilet; takde mood nak cakap;
and perhaps simply memang tak leh/nak cakap

hmm..
at times like these
memang teringat nak kembali ke zaman;
only fix-land telephone lines were available
and there's no caller identification facilities

perhaps life could be simpler huh?

(as for the tele-marketing
here's a suggestion, how to deal with them)

anyway..
just a thought though
bila rasa bengang macam 5 minit tadi
hehe..

moral of the story;
- if someone doesn't pick up immediately
please try again and call (at least) twice
(and give it a 10-minutes gap between calls)
if it was really really urgent/important matters
- don't call someone, if you don't really need to
- do check the time, before making a call
i.e. praying time, weekend, etc

thank you..

:)

the race is on

yes..
it is hot during summer in this region
that's why most of them travel out during this season
to places like Europe, South East Asia and Australia

and as a result
of Malaysia's strong and all-out promotion
in its tourism sector especially
it's very hard to get or book a ticket
to visit Malaysia during July to August
Kuala Lumpur will look like another arab cities
during these upcoming 2 months;
Genting could be easily mistaken for Cairo;
and perhaps in the near future
Dungun will be mistaken for Dubai
hehehe..

nonethless..
it's not as hot
as the development projects in the UAE
with projects in Dubai has been estimated
and past the AED 1 trillion mark
as well as the projects in Abu Dhabi
hence, that's already AED 2 trillion
(about USD 550 billion)

why is this possible?

here's one example;

in May 2006
the Dubai government had launched Bawadi
the world's largest hospitality
and entertainment project
valued at AED 100 billion (USD 27 billion)


next, in late 2006
the Abu Dhabi government had launched Saadiyat
the 6 theme-island-districts tourism destination
estimated at AED 100 billion


later, in May 2007
it was announced that the Bawadi
will be doubling its project worth
to AED 200 million

why?
among others..
probably because
Dubai tak nak 'kalah' kepada Abu Dhabi

apapun.. perghhhhhhhhhhh...

oh ya..
have i mentioned already that
nowadays, in the UAE
projects with a million-dollar tag
are no longer making news?
are already considered peanuts?

apa kelas million.. kak kiah oii
bila billion is the new par/standard to beat?

well.. these projects
already stole all the thunders of that
earlier projects such as
Jebel Ali Airport (the biggest airport in the world)
Burj Dubai (the tallest tower in the world)
Dubai Mall (the biggest mall in the world)
The Palm Islands, The World Island,
et cetera and the list go on and on

hopefully,
the day would never come
the day they decided to topple
our only remaining hope and pride
(the Petronas Twin Towers still standing
as the tallest twin-tower in the world)
to be in the world record book
by building a taller twin tower
or perhaps a triplet tower

well..
we shall wait and see
or perhaps i just might have given them
the heads up.. oppppssss..
hmmmm..

the heat is on

it's July already?
my oh my, time flies

anyhow..
it's officially summer in the UAE
the heat already lingers around 43 celsius nowadays
with 65% humidity thus far

by hujung July till mid-August
merasa la lagi insyaAllah
up to 48 celsius


pohon-pohon tamar telah mula berbuah
kurma akan bertukar warna
dari hijau ke kuning dan merah-cokelat

bermula Julai juga, till 31 Ogos
in UAE, no workers are allowed to work
di tempat terbuka / outdoor
between 12.30 to 3 .00 pm
otherwise face the penalty of AED 10,000 per worker
(this is targeted largely for construction sectors)

and this is the 3rd year in a row
for such ban to be enforced
however, it's reducing its number by year
i.e. in 2005, it was for 12.00 till 4.00 pm
i.e. in 2006, it was for 12.00 till 3.00 pm

there has been rumours and discussion from last year
to actually scrap this ruling altogether
with a strong lobbying by the construction companies
thankfully, stronger empathy from NGOs and government agencies
did balance things up and prolong this humane ordinance

mabruk !

lost in translation

masih terkejut sebenarnya
apabila membaca / mendapat tahu
berkenaan keputusan Kerajaan Malaysia
melalui keputusan Mesyuarat Kabinet
pada bulan April 2007
untuk menukar (semula)
istilah Bahasa Melayu kepada Bahasa Malaysia

antara sebab-sebabnya, adalah;

KESATUAN
“The Malay language belongs to Malaysians of all races
and not just the Malays. The term Bahasa Malaysia
would instil a sense of belonging”
said Zainuddin Maidin

POLITIK
Zainuddin Maidin said the term Bahasa Malaysia
was introduced by Tunku Abdul Rahman
after the country's independence
to inculcate a Malaysian identity.
"It was generally accepted
and no one asked for a change until
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim became
the education minister (in 1986).
He dropped the term Bahasa Malaysia for Bahasa Melayu
and it has remained that way.
But now, we feel we should go back to the original term”

hmmm..
Persekutuan Tanah Melayu telah merdeka pada 31 Ogos 1957
Malaysia telah dilahirkan pada 16 September 1963
Bahasa Melayu telah digunakan sejak lebih 1,000 tahun yang lalu

cuba tanyakan..
pada mana-mana orang Melayu di Malaysia
adakah mereka merasakan bahawa Bahasa Melayu itu
adalah bahasa kepunyaan mereka sahaja?

apapun..
terdapat banyak bahasa utama di dunia ini
seperti English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Mandarin, Tamil
telah wujud dan digunakan oleh pelbagai negara dan bangsa
sejak sekian lama, sejak dari dahulu kala lagi

tapinya, sebagai contoh..
tidaklah pula negara Amerika mewujudkan Bahasa Amerika
(rakyatnya bertutur bahasa Inggeris)
tidaklah pula negara Brazil menamakan Bahasa Brazil
(rakyatnya bertutur bahasa Portugis)
tidaklah pula negara Mexico memperkenalkan Bahasa Mexico
(rakyatnya bertutur bahasa Sepanyol)
tidaklah pula negara Kuwait menciptakan Bahasa Kuwait
(rakyatnya bertutur bahasa Arab)
tidaklah pula negara China mewajibkan Bahasa Cina
(rakyatnya bertutur bahasa Mandarin)
tidaklah pula negara India menghasilkan Bahasa India
(rakyatnya bertutur bahasa Hindi)

errr...
selama ni, dengan penggunaan Bahasa Melayu
rakyat Malaysia yang pelbagai bangsa dan bahasa ini
bergaduh, berperang, kacau bilau, tidak maju ke?

masalah sebenar yang perlu dilihat
adalah tentang penggunaan Bahasa Malaysia itu sendiri
yang semakin ditinggalkan, dilupakan, dibiarkan
apatah lagi dianaktirikan dan dikelaskeduakan
di dalam negara Malaysia sendiri,
oleh rakyat Malaysia sendiri

hmmm..
berkenaan isu Bahasa Melayu kepada Bahasa Malaysia ini
tidak mengapalah, kita boleh/terpaksa menerima keputusan itu
demi Malaysia, keranamu Malaysia
lagipun, telah termaktub
- Bahasa Malaysia adalah Bahasa Kebangsaan

cumanya..
selepas ini, harap-harap nanti
janganlah pula ditukar semula lagi
nanti macam kita tidak ada jati diri

contohnya..
lambang kereta proton
dulu dah elok-elok ada ciri-ciri Malaysia
ditukar kepada lambang yang macam kepala harimau
lepas ini, kalau proton jatuh sahamnya
kepada Volkswagen atau Peugeot
akan di tukar kepada lambang kepala penguin agaknya

:)