Jubli Intan 65

JI65's Trip to K.Terengganu - Day 3 (2 May 2010)

2010-05-15T20:43:00.025+08:00

Group Photo taken at Motel Desa after the breakfast

Sunday, 2nd May 2010 was the third and last day of our visit to Kuala Terengganu. We left the chalet for breakfast at 8.00 am, which was one hour later than 7.00 am on the previous day. The breakfast this time was held at Motel Desa and kindly sponsored by Dr.Wan Peng. Located on a hill, Motel Desa, as I understood it from our Terengganu brothers, had been there for almost 20 years and there didn't seem to be signs of upgrading or refurbishment.

Tok Wan Ngah - breakfast at Motel Desa

Bab, Dr. Sulaiman, khalil, Tok Wan Ngah & LanK having breakfast at Motel Desa

The breakfast prepared by the motel was very "Terengganuish" and delicious. There were "nasi minyak", "laksam" and an assorted range of Terengganu "kueh-mueh" to chose from. We had the breakfast facing the swimming pool and it was served buffet styled.

The ladies having their breakfast

Hawari, Arbans, Dr.Wanpeng & Shahar at the next table

After breakfast, we proceeded to visit the Kaymarine Shipyard, which was located on the left bank of Sungei Terengganu. Our visit to the shipyard was on the invitation and courtesy of our brother Tok Yee (Wan Albakri), who happened to be Dublin in U.K. that day to be with his first grandchild and his family. Tok Yee is the Chairman of Kaymarine and with his arrangement, we
managed to see how a shipyard looked like in a closer range and had a ride in one of the boats produced by his shipyard.

Paying attention to the presentation on Kaymarine Shipyard

When we arrived, the gate was opened for us so that we could park our cars in the shipyard's premises. We were personally met at the gate by a representative of Kaymarine, a Mr. Shukri, who then led us to the "seminar area" at the shipyard. Shukri then gave us a Power Point presentation of Kaymarine Shipyard and its past and ongoing activities.

Inside the ship's "hangar"

Hawari & Khalil admiring the ship, while Bab, Shahar & Lank listened to the explanation by Shukri

When it was mentioned in the presentation that Kaymarine started its first business way back in 1997 by operating a houseboat at Tasik Kenyir, I remember vividly how I had the chance to experience staying in Kaymarine's houseboat for 3 days and 2 nights. Before that took place, Tok Yee asked me to design a website for the houseboat and in return for my service, I only asked to be given a free 3-day 2-nights' ride in his houseboat.

It was great to experience living in a houseboat for 3 days and 2 nights, especially at night when the boat anchored by the side of one of the "islands" and the next morning after I woke up, I saw a young reindeer sipping water from the lake.

View of one of the boats under construction

Anyway, to continue with the presentation given by Shukri, ever since that time, Kaymarine has built about 400 boats of various types and sizes for various Government Departments. So far, Kaymarine managed to get two overseas customers to manufacture boats for them, one from Nigeria and the other one from Australia. Kaymarine has about 350 employees and has branches in Kuantan, Lumut and Kota Kinabalu with a marketing-cum-head office in Kuala Lumpur (no wonder Tok Yee travels regularly to Kuala Lumpur).

After the presentation was over, we were taken around the shipyard to view the various boats under construction. After that, we were taken for a ride of Sg. Terengganu in two of the fast 12 boats to be delivered to Nigeria. Even though we already had the boat ride on the previous day from the "Bbeteng", it was still great fun to go for the boat ride again.

About to start the boat ride

After the boat ride, we were served "nasi minyak" for lunch at the shipyard. After lunch we thanked Shukri and other staff of Kaymarine who treated us well and answered all our enquiries diligently regarding the shipyard. We drove back to the chalet to pack our things to check out. We went to the reception and after settling all the bills, we bid farewell to each other. I stopped by Dungun for the night and returned to KL only on the following day. As I understand it, Shahar, his wife, Hawari and Khalil arrived at KL at about 9.00 pm, Arbans reached Seremban at about 11.00 pm and Bab reached his house at about 11.45 pm.

We wish to express our gratitude and thanks to Tok Yee, Tok Wan Ngah, Dr. Halim, Dr. Sulaiman and Dr. Wan Peng for sacrifing their time, money and effort in making our trip to Kuala Terengganu an enjoyable and memorable one. We also wish to thank their spouses, for as Bab, the President, commented, the trip had made our spouses closer and more acquanted with each other.

We look forward to the next JI65's trip, which is to be made to Penang sometime in October this year. We hope many this time will join us on this trip so that we can establish closer silaturahim with our brothers staying in the north.

VIDEO SHOTS :

Breakfast at Motel Desa on 2nd May 2010:

View of the shipyard :

View of the ship's "hangar"

Walking towards the river to board the boat:

View of Masjid Kristal & Taman Tamaddun from the boat:

JI65's Trip to Kuala Terengganu - Day 2 (1 May 2010)

2010-05-10T22:14:00.040+08:00

Group Photo at the Anjung Pantai Chalet

L-R: Bab, Arbans, Sharifah, Zul, Norasyikin, Shahar, Hawari, WanPeng & Khalil

At the break of dawn, I was already dressed up to get ready and looking forward to the day's activities. We planned to assemble and leave the chalets for breakfast near the "Masjid Kristal" at 7.00 am. Since the room where I was staying was facing the seafront, I couldn't help but noticed the beauty of the South China Sea at the break of dawn. I took my camera to record this scene in video, starting with Khalil in his room next to mine, who was still wrapped in his towel before I turned my camera towards the sea. As the video was taken, I could distinctly hear the crowing sound of the rooster in the background. For someone who stays in Kuala Lumpur, it was seldom that I have the chance to hear the "ayam berkokok" and when I heard it that morning, it really affected my feelings in a sentimental way. That's probably because it reminded me of the time when I grew up in Singapore in a "kampung" environment at Kampung Bukit Kasita. I grew up and lived there until I was eleven years old. The "kampung" life in Kg. Bukit Kasita was no different from the "kampung" life in Malaysia. Thus, coming to a place like the Anjung Pantai chalets where I could hear the crowing sound of the roosters in the early morning hours, the crickets at night and the waves that beat upon the shore were really different from the sound of the lorries, motorcycles and cars at Taman Kosas in Ampang.

L-R: WanPeng, Bab, Zul, Norasyikin, Sharifah, Arbans, Shahar, LanK, Khalil & Hawari with Masjid Kristal in the background

L-R:WanPeng, LanK, Bab, Shahar, Arbans & Khalil inside the Masjid Kristal

When everyone had assembled at the car park area at 7.00 am and led by WanPeng, we left the chalet to go to the "Bbeting" area on the right bank of Sungai Terengganu located not far from Masjid Kristal. The drive from the chalet to this destination took us about half an hour. Just like Dr. Sulaiman was kind enough to provide us for lunch at his farm on the previous day, this morning Dr.Halim was generous enough to provide us with breakfast at the "Bbeting". However, before the breakfast, we were taken for a walk by the river bank to view the beauty of Sg. Terengganu and the "crystal" beauty of Masjid Kristal. Watching the river itself and then Masjid Kristal, was an experience not to be missed by any visitor to Kuala Terengganu.

The ladies enjoing their breakfast

The loving couple Arbans & Sharifah not only enjoying their breakfast but also enjoying each other's company

L-R: Dr.Sulaiman, Dr. WanPeng, Tok Wan Ngah, Shahar, Hawari, Khalil, Bab

L-R: Bab, Dr.Halim, Dr.Sulaiman, Dr. Wanpeng, Tok Wan Ngah, Hawari, Khalil

After the visit to Masjid Kristal, we then had our breakfast. Dr. Sulaiman and Datok Wan Ngah and their spouses were there to join us. Just like it was nice to hear Dr. Sulaiman giving a talk about his farm on the previous day, it was also nice to hear Tok Wan Ngah's talk about his experience in the water industry. He had retired as a CEO of SATU (Syarikat Ayer Terengganu) and is now a Consultant.

Getting ready with the life jackets to board the boat

Getting ready for the boat to tour Sg.Terengganu

After breakfast, which consisted of "nasi dagang" and "keropok lekor" as the main dishes, we went to the floating jetty to take a 45-minute boat ride of Sungai Terengganu. The boat took us upstream to roughly where the museum building was located before it made a 180-degree turn to travel downstream towards the mouth of the river. After we passed under the Terengganu Bridge, we reached Pulau Duyong where we finally could see the hotel complex where the international Monsoon Cup event was held annually. Someone in the boat mentioned that the rate for a standard room there per night was RM1,000.00 but the hotel gave a 72% discount. Thus, one only needs to pay RM280.00 for a room for one night if one intends to put up a night there.

View of Masjid Kristal from the boat

After the boat ride

The boat made another 180-degree turn at the tip of Pulau Duyong to head back upstream towards Masjik Kristal. From the boat, we had the chance to see the buildings and development on the right bank of the river. At the same time we could also view the other side of Pulau Duyong from the boat. Someone pointed out Datok Wan Ngah's beautiful bungalow house located on Pulau Duyong.

The loving couple infront of the mini mosque in Taman Tamaddun

After we alighted from the boat, we returned the life jackets and proceeded towards Taman Tamaddun. Taman Tamaddun consisted of all the famous mosques in the world in miniature form. It was already mid-afternoon by that time and the heat from the sun was quite challenging. We could have chosen to walk to each mosque but decided that at our golden age it was not such a good idea to do that. So we decided to take the tram that was provided by the management. The tram travelled and stopped from one mosque to another and each mosque consisted of a museum displaying some artifacts about the mosque and an air-conditioned theatre giving a video show of the mosque. Of all the miniature mosques, the one that most caught my attention was the Taj Mahal, simply because the person manning the place at the entrance was all-dressed up like a Taj Mahal guard.

The tram that took us around Taman Tamaddun

We spent about an hour at Taman Tamaddun. By the time we visited the last mosque it was almost 1.00 pm. The tram dropped us at the exit point, where a restaurant was located. We made used of our RM3.00 food voucher to have our lunch there. We paid RM18.00 to the Taman Tamaddun management for the boat ride, entry to Taman Tamaddun and a RM3.00 food voucher. I had laksa penang, which cost RM4.50, for lunch. So I had to pay another RM1.50 to top up my RM3.00 food voucher.

After everyone had their lunch, we returned to our respective cars to go and visit the "Pasar Payang". I overheard one of the ladies as saying. "Visiting Terengganu cannot be considered as complete without visiting the "Pasar Payang"" Our original programme after visiting Taman Tamaddun was to visit the museum, but somehow the spouses managed to convince their hubbies to cancel the museum visit and replaced it with "Pasar Payang". When we reached "Pasar Payang" the place was crowded. It was a Public Holiday that day (Labour Day). Cars and buses were quieuing up looking for parking spaces and waiting to pick up the shoppers.

Arbans and Shahar accompanied their wife to shop at the market while Bab, Hawari, Khalil and I walked to a nearby coffee shop for a drink. At the coffee shop, we managed to get to know a bit more about Bab's background, about how he wanted to be a doctor and was already offered a MARA scholarship to do medical studies, but he ended up studying chemical engineering instead. We were also informed what made him chnged his job from Shell to Petronas.

We chatted at the coffee shop until 3.30 pm and then walked back to "Pasar Payang" to meet up with the rest. From there, we went to the floating mosque at Kuala Ibai where there was still time to perform "solat jamak takdim". After we completed our "solat", Dr. Halim came to the mosque to greet us and at the same time to "solat asar berjemaah" there. On behalf of Tok Wan Ngah, he invited us to go to the Terengganu Equesetrian Resort for a high tea.

Taken at the Floating Mosque at Kuala Ibai after the Jamaq Takdim

Locating the high-tea resort was not much of a problem for us because it was located close to the floating mosque. We helped ourselves to the dishes, which consisted of "Meehun goreng", "bubur kacang hitam", sandwiches and tea/coffee. Tok Wan Ngah, Dr.Sulaiman, Dr. Halim and Dr. Wanpeng were also there with us. My wife, Salmiah and her four kids joined the high-tea towards the end when everyone was about to leave for the batik shop.

High Tea at Terengganu Equesterian Resort

Something "anti-climax" that WanPeng must have said to make Bab laughed

This High Tea was sponsored by Tok Wan Ngah

Salmiah left Kuala Lumpur on Friday night for she could not avoid attending an important meeting during the day. With the traffic jam she could reach Dungun only at 3.30 am.

After the high-tea ended, Salmiah and I did not join the group to the batik shop. Instead, we went to visit Salmiah's niece, who just had an operation 3 days' back. We went back to reach the chalet at 7.00 pm and after a short nap, a shower and the "Jamaq Takdim" we went for the barbeque held at the chalet's open space.

The ladies helping themselves to the barbecue dishes

Kamaruddin, Tok Wan Ngah, LanK & Dr. Sulaiman

The barbecue was sponsored by members of Jubli Intan 65 who participated in the trip. Apart from Tok Wan Ngah, Dr. Sulaiman, Dr. Halim and Dr. Wanpeng, the other member from Terengganu who attended the barbecue was Kamaruddin Mamat. Dr. Azman and his spouse came all the way from Kota Bahru to join the barbecue. He also brought with him some "keropok leko" which he bought from Marang. No one from Kuantan Pahang managed to attend the barbecue.

The ladies taking a break from barbecue to have their photo taken

Something funny that Khalil must have said to make them laughed

Dr.Azman had not met some of us since he left MCKK and it was fun to see him trying to guess Hawari and Khalil. We had an uninterrupted flow of "teh tarek kurang manis" as we chat through the night and if it was not for the visit to Tok Yee's shipyard the next morning, we would have continued with the chat until the wee hours of the morning. The barbecue ended about 12.00 am.

Group photo taken before Doc Azman & wife left for Kota Bahru that night

Thus, that was Part 2 or the second day of JI65's visit to K.Terengganu. Please watch out for Part 3 or third-day of the trip, which is due to be posted in this blog soon. Meanwhile, you may wish to view some of the video shots taken on that day as follows:-

This video was taken at the break of dawn, when the sun was about to rise on the horizon:

This video was taken after we arrived at Bbeting and about to take a walk to Masjid Kristal:

Getting ready to board the boat:-

View of Masjid Kristal & Taman Tamaddun fron the boat:-

Barbecue at night at Anjung Pantai Chalet :-

Visit to Gob's Stall at Megan Phelleo Aveneu II

2010-05-05T22:49:00.013+08:00

Gobs & Fatimah at Stall No.1 of Food Court in Megan Phelleo Aveneu II

On Wednesday, 28th April 2010, Amek and I decided to drop by Gob's stall at the Foodcourt in Block C of Megan Phelleo Avenue II at Jalan Yap Kwang Seng, Kuala Lumpur. Amek drove there with his Mercedes while my wife, Salmiah dropped me at Jalan Ampang infront of Wisma Getah Asli.

Amek, Gobs, Fatimah & LanK

I had some difficulties in trying to identify the building in which Gob's foodcourt was located. Amek had to literally come out of the building to look for me and lead me to the foodcourt. I would say that for a first timer, it's quite a challenge to look for the foodcourt.

LanK, Amek, Gobs & Fatimah

When I finally reached Gob's stall, he and his wife, Fatimah were there to greet us with a broad smile each and they straightaway invited Amek and I to help ourselves to the food. It was already 11.00 am and the "lauk pauk" were ready to be served for lunch. Amek and I requested for nasi lemak (the left overs from the morning's menu). I couldn't remember what I had for my drink. It must be something diabetically friendly, either "teh C" or "teh limau kosong panas".

The place was rather barren at that time. We discussed on a variety of subjects, including asking Gobs how he landed himself at the foodcourt in the first place. Gobs said that he started his business at the foodcourt last January 2010, after closing down his restaurant at Senawang. When he was asked why he didn't inform us earlier about it, he replied that he wasn't confident that the business would thrive. Since it looked promising, he therefore informed Arbans about it. Arbans then forwarded Gob's sms to me.

We told Gobs that not many members of JI65 would feel comfortable at the foodcourt because there was no air-conditioners there. Gobs said that during the forthcoming fasting month the food court would be closed for two months to carry out extensive renovation work and by the time it is completed, the stall would be fully aid-conditioned. Gobs talked about his MLM Uptrend business too, highlighting the Ambank Mastercard Debit Card as being one of the most popular products.

Amek & Gobs with the background showing the increase in customers to his stall

By 12.00 pm, customers, who consisted mainly of office workers, started to trickle into his stall. By 12.30 pm, the crowd seemed to reach its peak and we observed that Gob's workers and his son (who was running the stall) seemed to be very occupied with serving the customers' needs. At that instance, we told Gobs to excuse us as we had been there long enough and won't want to deprive the customers of the seats we were occupying.

Before we left the food court, Gobs looked happy when I said to him that I would recommend to the JI65 Committee to hold a "brunch gathering" for JI65 at his place once a month on the first Wednesday of the month.

I said to Amek that I would be going back to my office by LRT/Komuter. Amek offered to drop me at the KL Sentral on his way to the EPF at Jalan Gasing. I accompanied Amek to his car parked at the basement, but not before he had paid RM7.00 for the parking. He asked me to remind members of JI65 who intend to attend the monthly brunch gathering not to park the car at the building but to take the LRT instead. Not only would it be cheaper to take the LRT, it would also be healthier due to the walking that had to be done from the KLCC LRT Station.

We hope members of JI65 would take the effort to meet Gobs at his stall on the first Wednesday of the month, not only to support Gob's business, but also to foster closer silaturrahim among members. THe following are the video shots taken at Gob' stall during the visit.

The above video was taken at about 12.15pm and the video below was taken at about 11.40am

JI65's Trip to K.Terengganu - 1st Day (30 April 2010)

2010-05-02T23:34:00.020+08:00

Group Photo at Dr. Sulaiman's farm

When they met for the first time on 6th November 2009, (http://jublintan65.blogspot.com/2009/11/committee-members-meeting-gathering-on.html) after being elected to the JI65 Committee during the 40th Anniversary Event at Kuala Kangsar on 17th October, 2009, one of the events being organised for 2010 was a trip to Kuala Terengganu from 30th April to 2nd May 2010. The event was also planned in response to the invitation by Tok Yee (Dato' Wan Mohd Albakri) to have the trip to Kuala Terengganu.

After much efforts were made to attract as many members as possible to participate in the event, by the time 30th April 2010 came, only the following eight (8) members participated. They were

Bab (Anuar Ismail)
LanK(Roslan Karimudin)
Shahar Karim
Arbans (Abd Rahim Abdullah)
Hawari Mohd Noh and
Khalil Mahfuz
WanPeng (Dr. Wan Ariffin Abdullah)
Kamaruddin Mamat

Bab brought along his wife (Zul), his two daughters, two son-in-laws, 4 grandchildren and two sister-in-laws, a total of 12 family members altogether.

I brought along my wife Salmiah and her 4 children and Shahar brought along his wife Norasyikin. Arbans brought along his wife Sharifah and finally Hawari and Khalil came on their own. Wanpeng decided to take the FireFly to K.Terengganu and Kamarudin decided to drive on his own to his hometown at Kg.Pasir Panjang on the day before.

It was arranged that every participants should assemble at the BHP petrol station after the Gombak Tol Plaza of the Karak Highway on 30th April 2010 at 9.00 am.

Group Photo at the BHP Petrol Station after the Gombak Tol Plaza

On that auspicious day, Arbans and Sharifah were the first participants to arrive, followed by Shahar, Lank, Hawari and Khalil in Shahar's Mercedes Benz. Hawari and Khalili travelled from Subang Jaya and Klang respectively by komuter and then took the LRT (Light Rapid Transit) to Wangsa Maju where they were picked up by Shahar. I parked my car at Shahar's house and accompanied him to pick Hawari and Shahar up at the LRT station. We congratulated Arbans for being the first to be there, considering that he came all the way from Seremban. We could understand why Bab couldn't be the first to arrive, even though he was staying nearby, because he had a "handful" of family members to handle, making sure that all precautions were taken to prepare for the long 3-day and 2-night's journey. Bab and his family members came in 3 cars to the BHP petrol station.

Hawari, Khalil & Shahar at R & R Gambang

Group Photo at the R & R Gambang

After taking a group photograph at the petrol station, we all left in a convoy of 5 cars at about 9.15 am. We arrived at the Rest and Recreation Area at Gambang two hours later. After about half an hour's rest and a bowl of "laksa penang" for me and "mee kari" each for Shahar, Hawari and Khalil, we then left the R&R Gambang to head for Dr. Sulaiman's farm in Durian Mentangau.

None of us had been to Dr. Sulaiman's farm and the only information that we had about its location was his phone conversation with me a few days before.

By the time we reached the junction to Durian Mentangau after the Paka town, we asked Hawari, who had taken over the control of the wheel from Shahar at the R&R Gambang, to watch the mileage counter. Dr. Sulaiman's farm was supposed to be about 6 km from the Paka-Dungun road junction.

After the mileage counter had reached 6 Km, we couldn't locate the landmarks that Dr.Sulaiman had described to me regarding the location of his farm. To make it rather more uneasy for us, Shahar said that his Merc's mileage counter was based on miles and not on kilometres. So, "theoretically speaking", we had already passed or overshot Dr.Sulaiman's farm! Being among the coolest people in the world, we did not panicked, but decided to proceed a few more kilometres hoping to find the landmarks, failing which we had to find a good place to make a U-turn to turn back to the Paka-Dungun junction to look again for them. Sure enough, after driving some distance, we saw the landmarks of Dr.Sulaiman's farm - 2 stalls on opposite side of each other by the roadside, one selling fruits on the left of the road and the other selling food on the right side of the road. I realise how our patience and "not-giving-up-so-soon-attitude had been rewarded by Allah the Almighty by letting us found the farm!

We all drove into the wooden bungalow house of Dr.Sulaiman's farm and a minute later our Kamaruddin Mamat also drove into the compound, followed a few minutes later by Dr. Sulaiman himself. They had just returned from performing the Friday prayer. We all greeted each other happily and after a few exchange of words, we were then led by Dr. Sulaiman to his "warung" located at the roadside, to have lunch there.

Some of Bab's family members

Lunch at Dr.Sulaiman's farm was great. We had generous helpings of the white rice with curry lamb and chicken dishes which we downed later with young coconut drink. We were also served fresh cucumbers and pineapple for desserts. After it looked like we already had enough of the generous helpings, Dr. Sulaiman delivered a speech, starting with a few words of thanks to us for visiting his farm. He described in detail how he got involved in the farm business, from being a doctor with his own clinic to becoming an "ADUN" ("Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri") when he contested and won the general election and later became a farmer to his 250 acres of land. He also mentioned the type of crops found in his farm and his future plans to further improve the farm's business.

Arbans, Khalili, Hawari, Bab & Shahar (his back towards the camera)

Our JI65 President, Bab, thanked Dr.Sulaiman on our behalf for his kind and generous hospitality. After that, Dr. Sulaiman guided a few of us to view his farm while the others stayed back to perform the "solat jamaq takdim". We then took a group photograph before leaving Dr. Sulaiman's farm.

Kamaruddin, Arbans, Khalil, Hawari & Bab (his head towards the camera)

Dr. Sulaiman giving a talk about his farm

Group Photo at Dr. Sulaiman's farm

Our next stop along the way was the Rantau Abang Turtle Sanctuary. When we reached there, the place was closed. We did not realised that it was closed on a Friday, which is a Rest Day for
Terengganu, just like Sunday is a Rest Day for Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. We then proceeded to Seberang Takir at Kuala Terengganu to check in at the Anjung Pantai Chalet. Along the way, Wan Peng (Wan Ariffin Wan Abdullah) called me to say that he had arrived at the airport and requesting for directions to the chalet. Someone in the car said that WanPeng must have lost touch with his hometown for not knowing where the chalet was located.

By the time we checked in and got our room keys, it was already 6.00 pm. I shared Room No. 3 with Wan Peng, and Hawari and Khalil shared Room No. 4. Shahar decided to take a room for himself at Room No.1 as his wife was scheduled to arrive at the airport at 9.00 pm that night. Bab took the Bungalow unit which consisted of 3 rooms for him and his family members.

After settling down, we met again at 8.00 pm that night to have dinner. We lost our way to the place that we wanted to go and ended up eating at a restaurant facing the airport's runway. We managed to view a few planes landing and taking off whilst we enjoyed our dinner. Wan Peng joined us after we had finished our dinner (earlier, he went to his sister's house). We returned to Anjung Pantai and were met by Dr. Halim, who had just arrived there. After a few minutes of greetings with Dr.Halim, we decided to go to a mamak stall not far from the chalet to have a "teh tarek" session. After that, Dr. Halim took us back to the chalet, where we said good night to each other to settle down for the night.

Hawari, Bab, Khalil, Shahar, Dr. Wan Peng & Dr.Halim having teh tarek

That more or less described our first day of the trip to Kuala Terengganu. The experience that we had on the second day would be described in the next posting. Please click on the photo to view a larger version.

Thank you for reading this far and watch out for Part 2 of this trip in the next posting. Meanwhile, let's watch the three videos taken on that day:

1. Taken at R&R Gambang:=

2. Taken at Dr. Sulaiman's farm upon arrival:-

3. Lunch at Dr. Sulaiman's farm:-

Akikah and Tahnik at Ad's Residence on 17 April 2010

2010-04-25T13:15:00.013+08:00

That Saturday evening on 17th April 2010, I had just finished my solat Maghrib at the R&R KESAS Highway, when I received a phone call from Ad, asking me why I was not there yet at his residence for the "Akikah & Tahnik khenduri" for his newly-born grandson.

"Astaghfirullah...." I said to Ad. I had totally forgotten about it.

Dolah Hamid, Dr, Jalal & Dato' Sidek

That day I was totally occupied with giving a one-day course on webpage design at Amek's office in Puchong that it totally "overwrite" my memory about the khenduri.

Mizi, LanK & Dolah

Ad said,"Try to make it here for Ishaq for "solat berjemaah" and don't forget to bring your family as well."

Bab, JoeMat, WanPeng & Grandpa Fadzil

So, I tried my best to reach my home in Taman Kosas as soon as possible, but the heavy traffic along the MRR2 on a Saturday night didn't make it easy for me. On the way, I called Salmiah to get ready for the khenduri.

Grandpa Fadzil, Zahar, Dolah Hamid & Ad

By the time I reached home, it was already time for Ishaq. So I had my Ishaq with my family at home before we proceeded to Ad's place. I guess we were the last to reach Ad's place because by the time we reached there, the guests had already started to help themselves to the dishes.

Dr. Jalal, Jed & Bab

Grandpa Fadzil & Zahar

Ad and Deb greeted us cordially as usual and straightaway asked us to help ourselves to the food. After I filled up my plate of rice from what looked like the lamb's stomach and some barbecued lamb's meat and fresh vegetables, I made my way to the man's section of the tent and met Dolah Hamid, Dr. Jalal, Datuk Sidek and Tarmizi at a table. At the next table were seated Ad, Jed, Zahar, GrandPa Fadzil, Joe Mat and WanPeng. Bab joined us later at the table.

The Ladies.........

GrandPa Fadzil was due to leave for Umrah two days' later (on 19th April 2010) and so was Tarmizi, who said he was also taking his family along.

The Ladies.........

I had the chance to take a peep at Ad's grandson, who was crying when I got to his cradle. He's probably disturbed by all the noises around him.

The mother giving an assuring love to the baby to stop crying...

I was among the last group to leave Ad's place that night and we thanked Ad and Deb for being such a very good pair of hosts. We all really enjoyed the company and the food.

Deb entertaining the ladies....

Wedding Reception of Arban's daughter on 27 March 2010

2010-03-29T22:25:00.021+08:00

It is not that often that I have the chance to attend two (2) wedding receptions organised by members of Jubli Intan 65 for their daughters on the same day. Thus, on that fateful day (Saturday, 27 March 2010), both Arbans (Abd.Rahim Abdullah) and Ironman (Hairudin Bakri) organised wedding receptions for their own daughters. Fortunately, the receptions were held at different times - Ironman's was from 12.00 to 4.00 pm at Taman Melati Intan, Gombak Setia, Kuala Lumpur and Arbans' was at 8.00 pm at Dewan Majlis Perbandaran Seremban. So you can say that we had free lunch and free dinner that day.

The following are the photos taken with the new shock-proof and water-proof camera Olympus 8010 with 14 MegaPixels, which was recently bought by the JI65 Committee to be used for all future JI65 functions and gatherings. The camera costs RM1,300.00, so don't be surprised if the photos turned out to be better than before.

A picture paints a thousand words. So I don't have to describe to you who they are in the photos, unless you couldn't recognise them. For the three video shots taken that night, please visit our own JI65 youtube at http://www.youtube.com/jublintan65

The Jubli Intan 65 e-group receives the following email from Arbans for your information:

From: "Abd Rahim Hj Abdullah@Arbans" <abdrahimjp@yahoo.com>
To: jublintan65@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, March 28, 2010 11:04:09 PM
Subject: Wedding Reception on Saturday 27March, 8pm, Seremban

To all JI65 members yang berkesempatan hadir,
ribuan terima kasih kerana turut menyerikan majlis.

As I said in my welcome speeh.,

Kami mohon maaf, kalau,
kuah terlebih garam
gulai terlebih pedas
mnisan terlebih gula
nasi ada yg mentah

Kami memohon maaf, kalau
ada wajah yg tersalah pandang
ada nama yg tersalah sebut
ada gelar yg tersalah ucap,
ada duduk disalah tempat,
maafkan kami.

This morning Sunday 28March,
I received sms from Gobs,
'my sister and my son ikut samo. Leh X'
I called him, and he said ' dulu Dr Nik buat kenduri pun den silap hari'

To Gobs,
Tak apo, ado dua oghang lagi.
Berniago di Kolumpo camno?
Tontu lobih maju

Wassalam,

Abd Rahim b Hj Abdullah @ArbaNS

Wedding Reception of Ironman's daughter on 27 March 2010

2010-03-29T21:48:00.011+08:00

Our Ironman (Hairudin Bakri) held a wedding reception for his daughter on Saturday, 27th March 2010 at Dewan Serbaguna, Taman Melati Impian, Gombak Setia, Kuala Lumpur from 12.00 to 4.00 pm. The traffic from Ampang Jaya was pretty bad that day and it took me more than one hour from my residence at Taman Kosas in Ampang to reach the Dewan where the reception was held. The following photos were taken and they show the members of JI65 who were still there by the time I reached the place. Please click on the photo if you wish to view the larger version.

Wedding Reception of Dr. Hamdan's son on 13/2/10

2010-02-28T19:16:00.008+08:00

I had to be in Dungun, Terengganu when Bro Hamdan held a wedding reception for his son at UPM on 13/2/10. Therefore I could not write anything about the reception because I was not there. However, the following photos were taken by Bro Shahar and each photo "paints a thousand words". You can click on the photo to see a larger version.

4D3N's Trip to Terengganu from 30/4 to 3/5/10

2010-02-20T00:45:00.010+08:00

During the Chinese New Year Festival, I went to Dungun to spend the holidays there. On Monday, 15th February 2010, Salmiah and I visited the Anjung Pantai Seberang chalets, located at Jalan Seberang Takir facing the South China sea. We talked to the chalet owners, Kak Pah and her hubby abang Narawi, about the plan by members of JI65 to spend 3 nights at the chalet from 30/4/to 3/5/10. We informed them that we were not sure of the actual numbers, but requested them to reserve rooms to accomodate 30 of us. They said that their chalets could comfortably accomodate a maximum of 48 pax. We also requested them to quote for "bed and breakfast", for we anticipate to have lunch and dinner outside the chalets most of the time. We also requested them to quote for a barbecue dinner at the chalet on one of the nights.

Entrance to the Kuala Terengganu Golf Resort

Kak Pah and abang Narawi informed us that there was a jetty nearby, with regular boat service that could take us to and from the Pasar-Kedai Payang in Kuala Terengganu for a small fare, which could save us time in driving and looking for parking if we use the bus . Not far from the chalets was also Pantai Teluk Ketapang. which was popular with the locals for the variety of local Terengganu food available there. We were then taken to view the wooden chalets amidst the beautiful landscape. For a view of the chalet rooms and the rates, please click at http://anjungpantai.com/room.html. Depending on the type of chalet rooms, it costs an average of RM50.00 per person per night to stay there.

The Kuala Terengganu Golf Resort Clubhouse

After saying goodbye and thanking Kak Pah and abang Narawi for their kind hospitality, we then went to visit the Kuala Terengganu Golf Resort which was a few minutes' drive from there. Since it was still a public holiday in Terengganu, the marketing officer was not there to discuss with us on the golf rates and they did not have a pamphlet to indicate the rates. I was given the marketing officer's business card and told to contact her for the rates.

Hole No.10 - Kuala Terengganu Golf Resort

After that we went to Kuala Ibai to visit the Green Acres Golf Resort. This golf course seemed to be more well-maintained than the Kuala Terengganu golf course. The rate for golf, which includes green fees, buggy, breakfast, lunch and insurance is RM125.00 per golfer on a weekday (Thursday to Sunday) and RM145.00 for weekend (Friday and Saturday) and public holiday, Being an ex-golfer, I knew that the rate was not expensive, if compared to the rate in the Klang Valley. For the benefit of the golfers, the course rating and the slope rating from the blue tee are 71.3 and 129 respectively. The golf club gave me one score card to take home with me.

View of Hole No.10 from the Blue Tee Box

Thus, in general, the cost per person for the 4-day, 3-night trip is as follows:-

1. Accomodation @ RM50.00 for 3 nights = RM150.00
2. Travelling by coach @ RM125.00 = RM125.00 (including visits)
Total = RM275.00
Say, RM300.00 per person to include breakfast as well.

The above rate does not include for lunch and dinner.
The candat sotong trip is expected to cost an additional RM80.00 each and the day trip to Pulau Redang also costs another RM80.00 each. The candat sotong and Pulau Redang trips are optional.

Entrance to Green Acres Golf and Country Resort

We request members of JI65 who are interested to join in the 4D3N trip to confirm your participation as soon as possibe to enable us to make arrangement to book the chalets and the air-conditioned coach in advance. Please contact Shahar at 019-3134348 or me at 013-2020998 for confirmation or further enquiries.

View of the golf course from the Clubhouse of Green Acres Golf and Country Resort

The tentative programme for the 4D3N trip can be viewed at http://ji65ctb.forumotion.net/forum-list-f1/4d3n-trip-to-kuala-terengganu-from-30-4-to-3-5-10-t11.htm .It is subject to change, depending on the situation that crops up but confimed participants will be advised either by email or by sms of the changes. You can also give your feedback on how to further improve the programme or the trip by giving your comments on this forum page or through our ji65 yahoogroups.

Amek, the Guitarist with green hands

2010-02-11T15:21:00.006+08:00

Amek showing Anuar Roslan the fine side to a guitar music

What do you know? Our Amek is also a guitarist and here you can see him tutoring my son, Anuar on the fine skills of plucking and strumming the guitar.

Amek is offering a course on playing the guitar for new learners. For 12 lessons, at one lesson per week, he charges RM80.00 per month, which is very competitive when compared to other places, which charge about RM110.00 per month. For those who wish to learn how to play the guitar and hasn't got a guitar yet, Amek is also selling wooden and electric guitars at very reasonable prices.

Potted Plants at Amek's Semi-D House

Amek also has green hands. He likes to grow fruit trees and decorative plants at his house. Here you can see that he doesn't waste any space at his semi-detached house. He makes sure that any empty land space is occupied with his potted plants.

After the plants have matured, Amek says he sells them to nurseries nearby. If you wish to decorate your house with potted plants, you are welcome to buy them from Amek instead of from the nurseries. You can make an appointment with Amek by calling his mobile number at 012-2213752.

Amek infront of his Semi-D house at Villa Damansara

Jubli Intan 65 First Usrah Session

2010-02-10T14:58:00.023+08:00

Ustaz Sofwan giving the "ceramah"

Assalamualaikum,

The following report is written and photos are taken by our brother Shahar Karim for your information:

From:"Abdul Shahar Karim"
To:jublintan65@yahoogroups.com

Assalamulaikum,

With regard to the Usrah Session held on 6 February 2010 at Doc. Jalal's house, herewith I enclose the report.

Sessi Usrah pertama Jublintan telah berlangsung seperti dijadualkan pada 6 Feb 2010 di rumah Doc Jalal beralamat N0.9 Jalan Utara Petaling Jaya. Walaubagaimanapun, kehadirannya tidak begitu memberansangkan kerana hanya terdiri daripada enam orang sahaja ahli Jublintan 65 iaitu hosnya, Doc. Jalal, Bab, Tok Zame dan Abdullah Hamid semua dengan isteri masing-masing beserta Dark Sir Lee (Rusli Adam) dan saya sendiri yang datang berseorangan.

From Left : Rusli Adam, Dolah Hamid, Doz Zame and Doc Jalal

Namun begitu Ust. Sofwan Badri telah menyampaikannya dengan begitu baik sekali berhubung topic Alam Barzakh yang menyentuh soal kematian. Walaupun beliau seorang warga Indonesia tetapi beliau begitu petah sekali menyampaikan usrahnya dengan diselang seli penggunaan Bahasa Inggeris serta cerita-cerita berunsur jenaka. Rupa-rupanya beliau sudah lama tinggal di sini dan telahpun berkahwin dengan orang Malaysia dan isterinya merupakan seorang akauntan dengan Kementerian Kesihatan.

Tanpa disedari ceramah berjalan hingga hampir 2 jam diikuti dengan sessi soal jawab. Berbagai perkara telah disentuhnya. Antaranya, dalam keghairahan kita mengejar harta sebenarnya ia membuatkan kita lalai terhadap tanggungjawab sebenar kepada Allah swt.

Beliau juga menyentuh berhubung kehidupan manusia yang melalui beberapa fasa - hanya Allah sahaja yang mengetahui kewujudan kita sebelum dimasukkan ke dalam rahim ibu. Menjelang 4 bulan berada di dalam rahim ibu kita ditentukan jantina. Apabila dilahirkan kita umpama kain puteh yang mana coraknya ditentukan oleh ibu bapa. Di zaman kanak-kanak kita asyik leka bermain dan apabila umur meningkat remaja kita sering pula lalai dengan dibuai keseronokan dunia – di mana kita asyik bergaya dipengaruhi ‘trend’ serta ‘brand’ semasa. Seterusnya kita saling bermegah-megah dengan pencapaian dan kemewahan dunia yang berlandaskan materialisma. Kita sibuk mengejar harta hinggalah ke peringkat apabila tahap kesihatan kita mula diduga oleh Allah swt. hingga ada yang terus nyanyuk tidak berupaya membezakan antara yang baik dengan yang buruk. Di sini Ustaz Sofwan turut membuatkan tetamu ketawa dengan menyelitkan istilah ‘lansia’ yang menurutnya di Indonesia bermakna ‘lanjut usia’.

Setiap yang hidup pasti akan menemui kematiannya. Kematian itu pula adalah sesuatu yang pasti dan tiada siapa yang tahu bila gilirannya akan tiba. Apabila mati kita akan hanya diselimuti kain kafan yang akan reput dimamah usia sementara menunggu kita dibangkitkan semula dan dikumpulkan di Padang Mahsyar.

Apa yang penting adalah kita perlu berusaha untuk mati di dalam Iman. Antara tanda2nya yang disebut sebagai ‘khostul khotimah’ adalah seperti mati pada malam atau hari Jumaat; mati ketika beribadat; juga syahid seperti mempertahankan diri, marwah, agama, harta dan sebagainya. Juga disebutkan sekiranya seseorang itu mati kdalam berkeadaan berpeluh sebenarnya ia juga memberi tanda yang baik.

Sesudah kita mati kita akan tinggal segala-galanya. Malah hanya dyang menjadi bekalan kita adalah 3 perkara, iaitu :-

1. Sedekah jariah;
2. Ilmu yang dimanafaatkan dan
3. Anak yang soleh

Juga diperingatkan bahawa masa yang paling baik untuk kita bersedekah adalah ketika kita sihat. Oleh itu, laksanakanlah tanggungjawab kita selagi termampu.

Majlis usrah tersebut kemudian disusuli dengan sembahyang Zohor berjemaah yang diimamkan oleh Ust. Sofwan dan diikuti dengan jamuan makan tengah hari atas ihsan tuan rumah, Doc Jalal dan isteri. Jublintan mengucapkan setinggi tinggi terima kasih kepada Doc. Jalal dan isteri. Juga, Doc Jalal dan isteri akan berangkat menyempurnakan umrah pada minggu ini dan kita sama-sama lah mengucapkan semoga segala yang dikerjakannya akan diterima baik dan mendapat berkat daripada Allah swt

From Left: Bab, Rusli Adam, Dolah Haamid, Shahar, Ustaz Sofwan & Dato' Zame

Sessi usrah yang berikutnya difahamkan akan diadakan pada 6 Mac 2010 dan Dr. Nik Ishak telah bersetuju untuk menjadi hosnya. Semoga pada usrah yang ke-2 ini nanti ahli-ahli Jublintan 65 akan dapat memberi sambutan yang lebih baik. Insya Allah.

Sekian.

WASSALAM
Shahar.

Teh Tarek Gathering at Kota Bahru on 5th February 2010

2010-02-07T00:11:00.012+08:00

Left to Right: Doc Azman, Zawawi, Fadzil & Roslan

When I wrote this article (at 12.15am on 6th February 2010), I was in Room 523 of Grand Riverview Hotel in Kota Bahru, Kelantan. I just came back from a late-night supper with my ex-MCKK friends, Dr. Nurul Azman, Zawawi (Awi) and "Grandpa" Fadzil at Ayam Percik Yati Restaurant. We knew we were at our golden age ("warga emas") and therefore not advisable to have heavy meals at night. Nevertheless we ordered nasi kerabu with ayam percik. On top of that, Awi and I also asked for "sup tulang". The food was great and we had lin chee kang as desserts.

Before I go on further, let me recall the chain of events that led to "Grandpa", Doc Azman, Awi and me being in Yati Restaurant that night. It all started when my wife, Salmiah invited me to accompany her to Kota Bahru from 5th to 7th February 2010 to attend a seminar on MANCID (Malaysian National Conference on Irrigation and Drainage). I advised her to go on her own by taking the flight because I wanted to attend the usrah at Doc Jalal's residence on the 6th February, 2010. It was advised later in the JI65 egroup that the usrah couldn't be held on that date because the ustaz had another commitment. Therefore, I confirmed with Salmiah that I could accompany her to Kota Bahru. However later on, Ad (Fuad) managed to convince the ustaz to attend and lead the usrah on 6th February 2010 as originally planned. Since I had already promised to Salmiah that I would accompany her to Kota Bahru, I therefore could not attend the usrah.

Doc Azman and Zawawi

On Thursday 4th February 2010, in our JI65 e-group I learnt that "Grandpa" was going to leave Kuantan for Kota Bahru on that day. I learnt from him at Kota Bahru that he went to babysit his gandchildren and not because he had opened a "branch" in Kelantan somewhere, as someone had cheekily hinted. So I called and informed him that I was also going to Kota Bahru. So we decided to have a "teh tarek" gathering with citizens of JI65 at Kota Bahru on Friday night. I then contacted Doc Azman and Awi about our intention and they agreed to be at the gathering on that Friday night at a place and time to be decided later.

By the time Salmiah, nine-year-old Syarah and I left Taman Kosas, it was already 9.00 am. We took the Karak Highway and took the junction to Bentong, where we passed Raub and then Kuala Lipis. We reached Gua Musang at about 12.45pm. Salmiah then took over control of the wheels while I took my forty winks. I woke up from my sleep when Salmiah stopped at a Petronas station in Kuala Kerai to fill up the tank. After performing my solat jamaq takdim at the surau there, we continued our journey to Kota Bahru. We reached the Grand Riverview Hotel at about 3.30 pm and after checking-in, we found ourselves in Room 523 overlooking the Sg. Kelantan river.

The hotel's swimming pool with Sg.Kelantan at the back

Doc Azman then text to me to say that he would fetch me at the hotel at 9.00pm. I subsequently informed "Grandpa" and Awi to be at the hotel before 9.00 pm so that we could all leave together in one car. "Grandpa" was very punctual. He was at the lobby at 8.45 pm. We sit down and chat for awhile before Awi arrived. Not long after that, Dr.Azman called us to say that he's waiting for us outside the hotel.

The three of us went into Dr.Azman's Mercedes Benz C200 and he took us to Restoren Yati. In the car we congratulated Dr.Azman for getting a new grandson. That was his fifth grandson and that ended the chain of events that led us to be sitting down together at Yati restaurant that night.

"Grandpa" Fadzil and Roslan

We talked on a variety of subjects as we enjoyed the meals. Doc Azman was kind enough to pay for the bills and by the time we were sent back to the hotel, it was already about 11.30pm. "Grandpa" said he's leaving for Kuantan the next morning and Awi said he's having a golf game. When I told them that I wanted to go visit the factory where I obtained my supply of Nigella Sativa ("habbatus sauda"), Doc Azman offered to take me there.

Left to Right: Roslan, Syarah and Doc Azman infrontof the factory

The next morning Doc Azman and I went to Pengkalan Cepa to visit the factory. We were introduced to the various herbal and cosmetic products manufactured by the company. Doc Azman bought some of the products and I too bought some Nigella Sativa to top up my stock in Kuala Lumpur. We then performed solat zuhur at the mosque nearby and then had lunch - I had laksa penang and Doc Azman had meehun sup. We each had young coconut water to quench our thirst on that hot day.Infront of Tok Guru Nik Aziz's house

We had our solat sunat dhuhah in this mosque

The next morning, Doc Azman fetched me from the hotel and brought me to tour Kota Bahru. He also brought me to the residence of Menteri Besar of Kelantan, Tok Guru Nik Aziz. It baffled me that there was no security guards to guard the Mentri Besar's place. Anyway, Allah SWT is the best security you can ever find. After that, Azman brought me to a place which served "nasi atas katil" for breakfast. There was this lady who sit on a wooden platform with the rice and lauk infront of and beside her and she reached out for the "lauk pauk" to fill the plate for each of the customers. She was the only one sitting down while all the customers were standing, waiting for their turn to be served the food that they wanted. Doc Azman and I had rice with "daging bakar". The food was simple but delicious. On the way back, Doc Azman stopped at a place where I bought two (2) pieces of frozen "murtabak Raja". This mustabak was thick and cost RM11.50 each. I found out later after we reached our home at Ampang that it tasted delicious, better than the ones at any of the mamak restaurant.

In Pasar Siti Khadijah

After we checked out from the hotel, we went to "Pasar Siti Khadijah" where I had the delicious "sup perut" at the first floor of the building. After that, we purchased "daging serunding", "keropok" and some vegetables which were cheap at RM1.00 per "segolonggok". By the time we left Kota Bahru, it was about 3.30pm. I drove from Kota Bahru until the Petronas station between Kuala Lipis and Gua Musang. We stopped there because it was already Maghrib time. After performing "solat jamaq takdim" Salmiah took over the wheels. We reached our house at Ampang at about 11.00 pm. My sincere thanks to Doc Azman and Awi for the kind hospitality and assistance when we were in Kota Bahru. I didn't have the chance to try "sup belut" and hope to visit Kota Bahru again in the not too distant a future to try it out.

Office and Restaurant

2010-02-04T16:27:00.014+08:00

Restoren Kawan Ku

It all started when Amek (Muhammad Alwi) decided to set up a seminar business in one of the rooms in his three (3) offices. Yes, he has 3 shoplot offices - one at Taman Seroja in Sepang and two (2) at Taman Puchong Utama in Puchong. Amek invited me to conduct a one-day course on webpage design. I agreed and decided to visit all the three places so that next time it won't be a problem for me to locate them. So Amek agreed to bring me there and set Wednesday, 3rd February 2010 as the date for the visit. Amek also offered two (2) other citizens of JI65 to join in the visit, but no one took up the offer.

We agreed to meet at 10.00am at Kota Damansara, where Amek lives. I parked my car near the mamak restaurant Alam Maju and Amek picked me up in his red Proton Savvy. After about an hour's journey, we reached his office at Taman Seroja, Sepang. It was a double-storey shophouse. Amek used the ground floor to sell miscellaneous items, from guitars to liquid fertilisers. Currently, the ground floor was closed for business but once Amek could get an employee he would open the place again. We then went up to the first floor where Amek had partitioned it into smaller rooms with the intention of renting them out.

The seminar room has the capacity to accomodate at least 20 course participants. I tried to test the streamyx wireless broadband there, but unfortunately the password given to me by Amek didn't match, so I ended up using my Maxis wireless broadband instead to get the internet conection.

A variety of "Lauk Pauk" to choose from

View of the interior of the restaurant

It was well after 12.00 pm when we left his shophouse to go to Taman Puchong Utama for lunch. Amek brought us to Restoren Kawan Ku, which was within a walking distance from his Puchong office. While Amek had white rice with sayur lemak pucuk paku and fried ikan keli, I also had white rice with sayur lemak pucuk paku but with curry beef. We both asked for air suam. The food and drinks cost us only RM10.00 and they were delicious. After I finished my meal, I snapped a few photographs of the restaurant including Amek paying for the food to the cashier. You can see from the photos that "a picture paints a thousand words". But I forgot to ask whether she's from Pahang.I wonder whether Amek was asking for the bill or her hands in marriage

Amek taking out the cash with his eyes somewhere else

After that, we made our way into the 2nd floor of a double-storey shoplot, where Amek had just rented the place. He intended to rent out three of the rooms, while maintaining one room as a prayer room. The seminar room was large and could easily accomodate 40 participants.

Two of the office rooms to be rented out.

We then dropped by another office on the first floor, which was a few minutes' walk from the previous office. This office had a smaller seminar room and could accomodate not more than five course participants, but Amek showed me another conference room, which was under renovation, which when completed, could accomodate at least 20 course participants.

Office Rooms to Let Out

Except for a projector, which Amek said he's going to buy soon, I told Amek that we are ready to start our first training course on Webpage Design. Initially, we shall have it over the weekend and as the demand arises, we can also have it during the weekdays.

We dropped by Masjid "Terapong" As-Salam for our zuhur prayer before we left Puchong to return to Kota Damansara. When we reached Kota Damansara, we had Nescafe Tarek at the Restoren Sayang Selasih and discussed about GDI (Global Domain International Business) business and our strategy for the training course. Before dropping me off at where I parked my car, Amek took me to his semi-detached house at Villa Damansara and said that in future I could park my car there instead of at the mamak restaurant. I told Amek we need volunteers to host the monthly usrah and his house looked very suitable for the occasion. AMek said he'll discuss with his wife and get back to me on the proposal. It was already 3.30 pm when I left Kota Damansara to go to my office at Batu Tiga.

Wedding Reception of Dr.Nik Isahak's daughter on 24th January 2010

2010-01-25T23:13:00.031+08:00

Salmiah and I together with daughters Sarah and Meena left our Taman Kosas house at Ampang at about 11.30 am to go to Taman Sri Muda, Shah Alam to visit Salmiah's sister. We performed our Zuhur at her house before we went to Wisma PKPS to attend the wedding reception of Dr. Nik Hawk's daughter.

It was not difficult to locate Wisma PKPS. All we had to do was to look out for the tall Grand Blue Wave Hotel building and when we reached there, Wisma PKPS was just across the road. There were ample parking space at the Wisma. We paid RM2.00 to park our Proton Persona at the open space located beside the Wisma.

All this while I had been wondering what "PKPS" stands for in "Wisma PKPS" and I didn't have the chance to ask around. When I entered the ground floor of the building, only then did I read at the reception counter that "PKPS" stands for "Perbadanan Kemajuan Pertanian Selangor". I also referred from the Oxford dictionary that "Cattleya" is the name given to a tropical American flower orchid with brightly coloured showy flowers and thick leaves. That took care of my curiosity why they named the ballroom as "Cattleria". At the same time I also wondered why they didn't use any local flower's name for the ballroom.

If it was not for a gentleman who was standing at the entrance to direct us to the 4th Floor, we won't know where to find Cattleya Ballroom. So after we took the lift, we made our way to the Ballroom. We observed that quite a number of the guests were queueing up to bid farewell to the wedding couple and Doc Nik Hawk was also standing there with them. I greeted Nik Hawk and handed to him our wedding gift for the couple. Nik Hawk then indicated to me where I could find the tables for citizens of JI65 (Jubli Intan 65).

When we finally reached the area, located near where the musicians were performing, one table was already fully occupied by Dato' Sidek, Tajudin, Zulkifli, Ad, WanPeng and their respective spouse. So Salmiah and I joined Jed, WanJah and their partners at the next table.

Not long after, Laili, Tan Sri Salleh, Hawari, Dr.Jalal, Kamaruddin Mamat, Bab, Dato' Zame, Dr.Hanif, Dr.Halim, Hamdan Patong, Dolah Hamid and Suhaimi Dahalan arrived with their respective partners and we had some photo sessions taken. Suhaimi, Tajudin and Zul were kind enough to volunteer to take some photos with my camera.

Ad and Deb were among the first to leave for they had to care for their daughter, who was not well and had to be confined to the bed. Tajudin said to me that I was very active in the e-group and I replied "dah pencen ni there's nothing much to do". Dr.Halim also said he's going to umrah on the 10th February 2010, 2 days after Doc Jalal was due to leave for the same purpose. Dr. Jalal said that so far only a few citizens of JI65 had confirmed attending the usrah at his house on 6th February 2010 and requested me to send another round of sms to remind JI65 about it. Laili asked me how my restaurant business was getting on and I said that I had sold it after operating at Bandar Sunway for less than a year. Jed and Salamiah were the only ones from JI65 who had been to all three locations of my restaurant located at Kota Damansara, USJ9 and Bandar Sunway. Tan Sri Salleh managed to talk to Salmiah a bit about their same hometown at Dungun, where he was brought up too. Tan Sri said that he went to the same primary school as Datok Yee, Allahyarham Muda Mat Amin and missing-in-action Rosman in Dungun. Hamdan Patong reminded us not to forget to attend his son's wedding reception at UPM on 13th February 2010.

After taking the group photographs, we finally left the Ballroom to go to our respective destination, leaving the "latecomers" behind to continue to enjoy the nasi briani meals. I also managed to take the photographs of the newly-wedded couple together with the bride's father before leaving.

When we left the Wisma PKPS the ground was wet, indicating that it had been raining. It looked like the rain had just stopped, so we had no difficulty making our way to where our car was parked. On behalf of JI65, I wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to Doc Nik Hawk for inviting us to the wedding reception of his daugter. The place was nice, the food was nice, the evergreen songs rendered by the group musicians were nice, the "buah tangan" to be brought back home was also nice, but the nicest of all was being able to meet and be together among citizens of JI65, even though it was just for awhile. Today, 25th January 2010 at 12.20 pm I received an sms from Doc Nik Hawk which stated,"Thank you for your esteemed presence at my majlis yang tak sepertinya ini". I guess the sms was also meant to be dedicated to all the citizens of JI65 who were present at the reception that day.

Click on the photo to view its larger version. To view the video shots, please go to our JI65 Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/jublintan65.

Wedding Reception of Ismail Yusof's son on 17th January 2010

2010-01-20T21:59:00.021+08:00

I'm not familiar with Putra Jaya. On some of the occasions that I went there, I got lost a few times. So a few days before the wedding reception of Ismail's son, I had a good look at the Google Earth Map to find out where exactly was this Kompleks Kejiranan Presint 9 in Putrajaya. Fortunately, someone had marked on the map the exact location of this complex and so I roughly had some idea about where it was located. However, that day in the midst of my busy work schedule, I procrastinated in printing a copy of the Google map and ended up without a map to bring with me to the wedding reception on that beautiful Sunday afternoon.

So it was on that beautiful sunny afternoon of 17th January 2010 that Salmiah, Syarah and I left Taman Kosas in Ampang at 12.30 pm. I wanted to be early at the wedding reception so that I could capture the photos of every single member of Jubli Intan 65 there with my 8.0-MegaPixel Canon A580 camera. At the last wedding reception (of Zul's son), I had missed taking the photos and videos of some of the JI65 members who were there and had already left by the time I reached the place. This time I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss any of them.

As I said earlier, I had "overlooked" printing a copy of the Google Map and therefore to get to the Kompleks Kejiranan, I had to depend on what I could remember when I was looking at the Google map. I also totally trusted on my instinct and the sign-boards to make my way to Presinct 9. When my handphone sounded the alarm to say that it was already zuhur's time, I started looking for the nearest mosque or petrol station along the way. It wasn't long before I encountered a Petronas service station somewhere in Precint 9. Yes, don't ask me how I did it, but somehow I managed to get myself into Precint 9 without a hitch.

After performing the solat zuhur, I was still at a lost at which part of Precint 9 were we. So I asked a taxi driver, who was filling petrol at that time, where Kompleks Kejiranan was. After that I went inside the Mesra shop to ask the same question to the girl at the counter. Sure enough, the girl confirmed what the taxi man had told me about the direction to the complex.

It turned out that the Kompleks Kejiranan was not far from the Petronas station. It was just across the road. By the time I reached the complex, the parking places closed to the complex were all occupied with cars. I had no choice but to drive further up and was fortunate to find a parking space under a tree. However, I had to do about 200 m of walking to reach Dewan Serbaguna in the complex. I thought it might as well be, for having an exercise was good for me, anyway. By the time we reached the wedding reception place, Ismail was standing at the door entrance. After greeting us, he brought us to sit at an empty table close to where the wedded couple would be taking their lunch. When I asked him whether any JI65 citizens were there before me, he said Dr. Hanif Jamil and JoeMat were there earlier and they had already left.

Not long after we were seated at the table, WanJah and Tijah arrived, followed by the following JI65 members and their partners:

1. Zul and Mazlina
2. Doc Jalal and Yuha
3. Dato' Zame and Datin Zaidah
4. Jed and Salamiah
5. WanPeng
6. Zahar and Jasmin,
7. Dato' Yee
8. Aznam and Ainon with daughter
9. Suhaimi Dahlan and Zainab
10.Dolah Hamid and Ungku Rauzah
11.Dato' Dolah Sani
12.Mok

Since Salmiah and I intended to perform the Haj this year, I asked WanJah about the contents of the appeal letter that he wrote to Tabung Haji to get a place to perform the Haj last year. I also spoke to Mizi a few nights before about his appeal letter too. So hopefully, Salmiah and I could get a place each to perform our Haj after we sent our appeal letter to Tabung Haji.

Zul said that he just got a job with KTM (Keretapi Tanah Melayu) for one year since the previous Monday. I asked him whether he had read the report that I wrote about his son's wedding reception. He said that his PC had been sent for repair and therefore had not read the report yet.

Doc Jalal told me that he and Yuha were going for umrah on the 8th of February 2010. I told him that Shahar Karim was also going for the umrah but on 28th March 2010 instead. When I asked him how the preparation for the usrah on the 6th February 2010 was getting on, he said he was quite worried because Ad had not confirmed with him yet about the availability of the Ustaz and how many members are coming. I told him that I would liaise with Ad regarding the matter and told him to relax and enjoy the meal.

When Tok Yee came to sit down at our table, he looked rather perturbed or confused. Before I could ask him, he said that he thought this was the wedding reception of Ismail Jusoff's son. So when he met Ismail Yusoff at the door, he thought he came to the wrong palce. I told him not to worry, he was not the first one who was confused. Before this, there were also many JI65 members who were confused between the two Ismails.

Dato' Zame came over to purchase the two bottles of Habbatus Sauda that I brought over there for him. I told him to take more than the recommended dose of the black seed if he wanted to feel the immediate positive effect of geting rid of any of the ailments that he had in mind.

WanPeng asked me whether we were going to go ahead with the plan to hold a gathering in Kuala Terenganu in May this year. I told him insyaAllah, if everything went as planned. I hinted to him that the JI65 members from Terengganu should sponsor a lunch or dinner each for the JI65 members there. He must have not liked the idea because he left the table not long after that.

Ismail Yusoff also introduced his wife to our wives because some wives, like Salmiah and Salamiah, had not met her before.

Suhaimi "Datok" said that I looked "very slim"- I didn't know whether that was a compliment or a concern, but I didn't ask him. Jed briefed me about the location of the wedding reception of Doc Nik Hawk's daughter at Shah Alam to be held on the following Sunday, 24th January 2010. Thanks to Jed I now roughly know where the place was going to be.

It was about 4.00 pm before Salmiah and I decided to leave the place. We went to see the host to thank him and his wife for inviting us and also to bid farewell to the other JI65 members with an "InsyaAllah" to meet each other again at the wedding reception of Doc Nik Hawks daughter at Shah Alam on the following Sunday. That night, Ismail Yusoff called to ask me to convey his grateful thanks to the members of JI65 for turning up at his son's wedding reception that day.

If you wish to view the video shots taken of the citizens of JI65 on that day, please go to our JI65 Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/jublintan65.

Small Gathering at Jed's residence on 15th Jan 10.

2010-01-16T22:20:00.015+08:00

A small gathering was held at Jed's residence on Friday night, 15th January 2010, to discuss on the trip to Kuala Terengganu which is proposed to be held from 30th April to 3rd May 2010, InsyaAllah.

Citizens of Jubli Intan 65 who were present at the gathering that night were :-

1. Jed and Salamiah (as the host & hostess)
2. Bab and Zul
3. LanK and Salmiah
4. Tok Yee
5. Rusli Adam
6. Shahar Karim

Salmiah and I were the last to arrive at Jed's place. At that time Tok Yee was in the middle of telling his experience with his doctor surgeon, who removed his kidney stone at Ampang Putri Hospital and who did not bother to see his patient before and after the operation. Tok Yee continued with his story until the end where the doctor was finally reprimanded for his lack of ethics with his patient.

Before the discussion on the Terengganu trip started, we were entertained by Jed and Miah to a nice meal consisting of the delicious "fried kuay teow" followed up with seedless red grapes and small golden mandarin oranges. For the drinks, we had "teh tarek" and "mas cotek" tea. Shahar also presented a sample each of the pure honey made in Yemen that he's taking to maintain his health and I also mentioned about Habbatus Sauda, which I explained was responsible for getting rid of my constipation, morning running nose and above-average and frequent toilet visits (probaby due to prostate enlargement).

After some pep talk, we adjourned to the condusive corridor of Jed's corner-lot house to start the discussion.

I briefed them that from the results of the poll carried out to gauge the citizens' preference, it was found that half of them voted for Kuala Terengganu and the other half for Pulau Redang. As for the "candat sotong", the majority indicated that they would like to participate in the activity. 90% of the voters said they would like to take their family along for the trip.

After some deliberations it was decided as follows:-

1. Instead of a 3D2N (3-day 2-night) trip, it was decided to go for the 4D3N trip instead. This was mainly because there are many activities to do and places to visit that a 3D2N trip would not be sufficient to cover them all. Furthermore, it was felt that it would be kind of a rush if we go on the 3D2N trip.

2. Due to the long distance and long hours of driving, it was decided to charter an air-conditioned bus to transport us to Kuala Terengganu and back to KL.

3. It was decided that the accomodateion be at one of the wooden chalets found along the Seberang Takir beach by the Gong Badak Airport (also near the collapse stadium). An 18-hole golf course is also located nearby.

4. The programme for the 4D3N trip is tentatively as follows:-

Friday, 30th April 2010.

8.00 am - Bus leaves MCOBA Building, K.L.
10.30 am - Bus stops at R & R Gambang for a rest and quick cup of tea. JI65 members from Pahang board the bus to join in the trip here.
11.00 am - Bus leaves R & R Gambang
1.00 pm - Bus stops for lunch (followed by jamaq takdim at nearby surau/masjid)
3.00 to 4.00 pm - Expected arrival at Kuala Terengganu.
After checking-in, rest and free activity.
After Jamaq Takdim, bus leaves for Marang to board a boat for "candat sotong".

Saturday, 1st May 2010

5.30 am Bus leaves for nearby masjid for solat subuh and ceramah/tazkirah
After breakfast, bus sends golfers to golf course and returna to take the others for a trip to Tasik Kenyir.
Have lunch at a place to be decided after the golf game and after trip from Tasek kenyir. After lunch and jamaq taqdim, bus leaves for Museum, Taman Tamadun Islam and Masjid Kristal.
At night after jamaq takdim, have barbecue dinner.

Sunday, 2nd May 2010

5.30 am Bus leaves for nearby Masjid for Solat Subuh and ceramah/tazkirah
After breakfast, bus leaves for Marang to board a chartered boat for a day trip to Pulau Redang Marine Park and other places.
After trip from Pulau Redang, bus stops at nearby Masjid for Jamaq Takhir. After Jamaq Takhir, bus leaves for hotel for a rest and free activity.
At night after Jamaq Takdim, have buffet dinner.

Monday, 3rd May 2010.

5.30 am Bus leaves for nearby masjid for solat subuh and ceramah/tazkirah
After breakfast, bus leaves for Kuala Terengganu town for shopping.
12.00 pm Check out from hotel
After lunch, bus leaves hotel to stop at "Floating" Masjid at Kuala Ibai for Jamaq Takdim. Along the way, bus stops at Kemaman to savour the famous Kemaman otak-otak and sata.
7.30 pm Bus stops at R&R Gambang for dinner and jamaq takdim. JI65 members from Pahang also disembark here.
10.00 pm Expected arrival at KL.

The above program is subjected to changes as and when the situation warrants it.

By the time we left Jed's residence, it was already 12.45 am. We thanked Jed and Miah for the kind hospitality and Tok Yee too for volunteering to help us to organise the trip in Kuala Terengganu.

Wedding Reception of Zul's son on 2 Jan 2010

2010-01-07T00:19:00.009+08:00

About 2 weeks after Dr.Jalal held a wedding reception for his daughter, Zulkifli Alias held one for his son, Najeeb, at his residence in Saujana Impian Golf Resort in Kajang on Saturday, 2nd January 10.

Salmiah and I left our house in Ampang after "solat zuhur" and made our way to Zul's house through the busy traffic, which was very unusual for a Saturday, but however, not very unusual for those staying around Ampang area. We took the MRR2 and turned to the Sg.Besi - Seremban PLUS highway. At first we intended to exit at the Kajang Tol Plaza, but mistakenly exited at the UPM Tol Plaza instead. We therefore had no choice but to make our way to Zul's residence using the Cheras-Kajang Tol Expressway, where the last exit was Saujana Impian. Being an ex-golfer, it wasn't that difficult for me to locate the Saujana Impian Golf Resort for I used to play golf there regularly before I gave it up for good.

By the time I reached the Guard House, I saw Shahlan talking to the guard, presumably asking for the direction to Zul's residence. I horned my car at him and indicated him to follow me.

I was so confident where to go because I had been to Zul's place before. So I drove on confidently with Shahlan's car trailing behind. How wrong I was, for it's confirmed now that age has caught up with me. I took the wrong junction, which finally led us to a no-entry road. We had to turn back and as we drove along, this time we were lucky when we saw the small signs to indicate to us where Zul's residence was. There were security guards along the way to direct us and finally we reached an open area, which was reserved for parking cars and manned by a healthy-looking she-guard. As we entered the parking area, we saw Dr. Jalal and Yuha leaving their parked vehicle and about to make their way to the wedding reception area.

After parking our car, we also prepared ourselves to walk to Zul's residence,
wondering how far it was going to be from there. We were pleasantly surprised to know that Zul had arranged for a buggy service to take his guests from the parking area to his residence. After waiting for a few minutes at the "buggy station", the 7-seater buggy finally arrived to take us there. When we reached the reception area, Zul was already there waiting to greet us.

The reception area was covered by a huge white tent pitched on an open space located next to Zul's residence. Everything was there, the buffet-style row of food, the live band, the "pelamin" and the dining tables - sort of all-in-one arrangement. Zahar, Dato Zame, Dato' Yee and Dato' Raj and their respective spouses were already seated at a table.

Dr.Jalal and Yuha, Shahlan and Salmiah and I seated ourselves to the table next to them. We helped ourselves to the sumptuous food whilst enjoying the music from the live band. It was rather difficult to converse with the sound of music at above-average level and so we ended up either not talking much to each other or had to raise our voices at each other if we are "talking".

Dr.Jalal said that he and Yuha just arrived from Rembau to attend a khenduri at his son-in-law's place. Someone said that the "pengantin lelaki" didn't look like his father, but Yuha said that Najeeb picked up his looks from his mother. I couldn't find Najeeb's mother among the crowd though to compare and ascertain about what Yuha had said about his look.

Before he left, Dato' Raj came to our table to greet us and then ask when are we going to make our trip to Kuantan. We told him "InsyaAllah, one day soon in the not so distant a future."

Dato' Yee confirmed that 1st May 2010 would be a 'no-problem" date for JI65 to organise a family and golfing trip to Kuala Terengganu. He said he would propose an itenary for places that could be visited for the JI5 Committee to put up a programme. On the question by Doc Jalal, Dato' Yee answered that he always come down to KL on Friday to Sunday and said that if the wedding reception or gathering organised by members of JI5 falls on one of the three days, he's bound to be present.

Not long after, Jed and Salamiah arrived, followed by Nik Ariff and Raja Hatta a few minutes later. Nik Ariff jokingly said that Panca Indera sent his best regards to me. We talked about the interesting discussion that was going on in our JI5 e-group with the recent entry of Ikram into the group's mailing list.

We had a group photograph taken with Zul and the wedding couple before we left the place. We thanked Zul and Mazlina for inviting us to the wedding reception, where we had a good time meeting fellow members of JI65, enjoying the food and the music from the live band. After bidding farewell to Zul and Mazlina, we took the buggy again to transport us back to the parking area. We left the golf resort at just after 4.00 pm and reached our home happy and satisfied with the day's event at Zul's son's wedding reception. We look forward to attending the wedding reception of Ismail Yusof's son at Putra Jaya on 17th January 10 and Dr. Nik Isahak's daughter at Shah Alam on 24 January 10. So, we hope to see as many members of JI65 as possible on those dates.

For a video shot of the event, please go to our JI65 youtube at http://www.youtube.com/jublintan65

The following are the comments, which were posted by Arbans, Hanif Jamil and Nawawi on the JI65 e-group and copied-pasted here to add and clarify on the above report:

Re: [jublintan65] Wedding Reception of Zul' son
Thursday, January 7, 2010 11:06 PM
From:"Nawawi"
To:jublintan65@yahoogroups.com

Assalamualaikum
Lank

Actually more were there earlier. When I arrived at about 1.00+, Dato' Sidek & son, Ismail Yusof, Shahar were already there on the table next to the pelamin. I joined them. Dollah Hamid & wife were two tables away from us. Later, Najib & wife joined our table. Dato' Ghaz & wife came slightly later & seated at another table. Doc Karim was also there dgn cucu & came to greet us at our table. When we were about to leave, the golfers (Wan Peng, Aznam, Bas & others) arrived and occupy one table. Nampak juga kelibat Arbans, tapi tak tahu dia duduk kat mana. The rest until you arrive or yg terlepas pandang maybe someone can fill up.

Salam
Nawawi

--- On Fri, 1/8/10, Mohamad HanifJamil wrote:

From: Mohamad HanifJamil
Subject: Re: [jublintan65] Wedding Reception of Zul' son
To: jublintan65@ yahoogroups. com
Date: Friday, January 8, 2010, 10:04 AM

Exuse me LanK,

A group of us were earlier than you - arrived about 2pm. Among them were Peng, Mok, Bastamam & partner, Aznam & partner, Ghazali & partner, and more. Tok Yee & partner, and Raj & partner joined me at the table vacated by the earlier group of JI65. I was at that time waiting for my daughter who incidentally is a close friend of Zul's daughter - also pengiring for the nikah ceremony the day before in Bangi. I was also waiting for the 2 mugs I ordered but had to go when I could not put you in my sights. Maybe at Putrajaya then.

Dengan Ikhlas dan Salam Hormat
(Yours Sincerely and Best Regards)

Dr. Mohamad Hanif bin Mohamad Jamil
International Affairs,
Corporate Affairs Division,
Malaysian Agricultural Research and
Development Institute (MARDI),
Serdang, Selangor,
P.S. 12301, 50774 Kuala Lumpur,
MALAYSIA.

Tel. : 03-89437009 03-89437009
Fax : 03-89437009 / 03-89416642
E-mail: hanif@mardi. gov.my , mhanifjamil@ yahoo.com

From: Roslan
To: jublintan65@ yahoogroups. com
Sent: Fri, January 8, 2010 9:42:10 AM
Subject: Re: [jublintan65] Wedding Reception of Zul' son

Assalamualaikum,

--- On Fri, 1/8/10, Abd Rahim Hj Abdullah@Arbans wrote:

Masih belum dapat collect the mug.
When I reached the beautiful 'constructed hall',
I met Sidek, Sani, Mok, Rashid, Tajuddin, Aznam, Wan Jah and Yee .

Arbans,
So you are among the late comers? Sorry, unable to include your photos in the report.
If you are coming for Ismail Yusof's son's wedding reception on 17 Jan 2010, maybe I can pass the JI65 mug to you at that time, but make sure you datang awal sikitlah.

Salam,

--- On Fri, 1/8/10, Abd Rahim Hj Abdullah@Arbans wrote:

From: Abd Rahim Hj Abdullah@Arbans
Subject: Re: [jublintan65] Wedding Reception of Zul' son
To: jublintan65@ yahoogroups. com
Date: Friday, January 8, 2010, 8:05 AM

Lank,
Masih belum dapat collect the mug.
When I reached the beautiful 'constructed hall',
I met Sidek, Sani, Mok, Rashid, Tajuddin, Aznam, Wan Jah and Yee .
Wassalam.

Abd Rahim b Hj Abdullah @ArbaNS

From: Roslan
To: jublintan65@ yahoogroups. com
Sent: Thu, January 7, 2010 12:56:20 AM
Subject: [jublintan65] Wedding Reception of Zul' son

Assalamualaikum,

For the report and the photos on the wedding reception of Zul's son on 2nd January 2010, please go to our Jublintan65 blog or click here.

I shall inform you in due course after the video shot has been loaded to our JI65 YouTube.

Salam,

Wedding Reception of Dr. Jalal's daughter

2009-12-27T16:11:00.037+08:00

On Saturday, 19th December 2009, Dr. Jalal held a wedding function for his daughter, Dr. Fariha Hanim and son-in-law Mohd Taufik at Hotel Singgahsana, Persiaran Barat, Off Jalan Sultan, Petaling Jaya, Selangor DE from 12.30 to 5.00 pm. Members of Jubli Intan 65 were also among those invited to the function.

Since it was going to be a table-served lunch, Salmiah and I made it a point to reach the hotel early. By coincidence, we met Ad and Deb and Dato' Yee at the car park area.

Together, we made our way to the hotel lobby. Dr. Jalal and Yuha were there to welcome us. We were then led into the dining area, where we were brought to the tables that were reserved for members of Jubli Intan 65.

Altogether, there were six (6) tables that were reserved for members of JI65. Jed, Najeeb, Wan Peng and their respective spouses were already there, occupying a full table. So were Awie, who made it all the way from Kota Bahru to be at the reception. Sitting beside Awie were Wei (Ismail Jussoh) and Dato' Imran. Whilst "salam-ing" them at the table, I managed to ask Awie, "Any "tanah" (land) to be obtained from Kelantan now that he's Tok Guru's right-hand Officer? He replied, "No problem, just bring a lorry and you can get a loadful of "tanah" (soil) to bring back with you."

Dato'Yee, Ad and I seated ourselves at the next table (Table No.28) with our respective spouses. Zahar and Shahar and their respective spouse were also sitting at the next table. Later on, Arbans, Gobs, Dato' Ghaz, Hanif Jamil, Adi Negara, Nawawi, Dolah Hamid and Dato' Seri Zame also arrived and seated themselves at the other tables that were reserved for JI65 members.

Before long the pair of "pengantin" arrived grandeurly accompanied by the "kompang". They were then seated on the "pelamin" and after the "salam merestui" ceremony was over, they made their way to the "santapan" area. As soon as they began their meals, we also began ours.

The meal was delicious, consisting of "nasi beriani" with a wide choice of "lauk pauk." I was not the only one helping myself to a second plate of rice, the others at my table went for the third and fourth helping too.

Whilst in the midst of having our lunch, I managed to chat with Gobs, who informed me that Dr.Jalal's son-in-law was related to him. I could not remember how he was related, but you can contact Gobs to know more details. Gobs also informed that he was moving his restaurant business to Kuala Lumpur soon.

I also asked Dato' Yee whether it was possible to hold a gathering at Kuala Trengganu to coincide with the Labour Day (1st May 2010). This was in line with the JI65's Committee's intention to hold a gathering each at the East Coast and one in Penang for the year 2010. Dato' Yee said that he would look into it and revert back to the Committee in due course.

I also managed to talk to Arbans about the JI65 mug, which I kept in the boot of my car and he could collect it after the reception was over. Arbans forgot to collect it during the 40th Anniversary at Kuala Kangsar on 16/10/09. He suggested that I brought the mug with me on 2nd January 2010 at the wedding reception of Zulkifli's son at Saujana Impian Golf Course at Kajang. Arbans also mentioned about the wedding reception of Ismail Yusoff's daughter at PutraJaya on 17th January 2010 and pointed to Wei (Ismail Jussoh) who was sitting at the next table. I clarified to Arbans that Ismail Yusoff and Ismail Jussof in JI65 were not the same person.

When it was time for me to bid farewell, Tarmizi, Dato' Sidek and Zulkifli Alias arrived with their respective spouses. They were not aware that the lunch reception was going to be table-served, thinking that it was going to be the buffet type and therefore took their time to arrive. I told Dato' Sidek that he was losing weight. He told me he was still contemplating whether to go for an operation on his large intestine, which somehow had "folded" and caused his stomach to bulge out. I told him I could not volunteer any advice as I am not a doctor.

I also managed to meet Rusli Adam, who said he was sitting "upstairs". I didn't know that Doc Jalal also reserved some tables "upstairs" for the guests. No wonder I didn't see him earlier.

Dr. Jalal was being a good host, moving around from one table to another and talking to his guests. I didn't manage to take his photograph with the guests, but managed to include him in a video shot.

We met Doc Jalal and the "pengantin" on our way out from the dining area. After we had our parking ticket endorsed and after some waiting for the taffic to clear, we finally manged to drive our car out of the hotel's compound.

Thank you Doc Jalal for the invitation to the wedding reception. We not only enjoyed the meals, but we also managed to meet other members of Jubli Intan 65 whom we had not meet for quite some time to foster closer "silaturrahim."

For the video shots of the above event, please visit our youtube at http://www.youtube.com/jublintan65

Allahyarham Ayub Taib

2009-12-10T11:03:00.005+08:00

At about 9.21 am this morning whilst I was driving to work, Mok called me to inform that Ayub Taib had passed away at the Ampang Hospital at about 9.00 am. I was rather taken aback because I didn't expect it to happen that soon.

It was only the night before that Mok had called me at about 10.20 pm to inform me that Allahyarham had been admitted into the ICU Unit of the hospital due to some "blood complications". It seemed that Allahyarham had been going for treatment for the past few months and he told his wife not to inform his friends about his illness. According to Mok, he and Wei only received the news not from the wife but from Rosli Yahya, a senior MCOB.

After they received the news from Rosli Yahya, Mok and Wei went to the hospital last night to visit Ayub, but he was in such a critical state that no visitors were allowed to see him, not even his wife or relatives, who had come down all the way from Kedah.

As soon as they received the news of the Allahyarham - Bab, Shahar, Ad, Wei and Zahar went to the hospital. The body was bathed at about 11.30 am and before noon, it left the hospital for Jitra, Kedah to be buried there. Our five (5) JI65 representatives managed to participate in the "solat jenazah".

Semuga Allah mencucuri Rahmat Nya kepada Ayob dan menerimanya dengan penuh Kasih Sayang, saling meredhai, dan menempatkan ruh nya dikalangan Syuhadak dan solihin. Dan semuga yang ditinggal menghadapi ketentuan dengan sabar dan penuh redha. Ameen......
--

"Help Monsa" Fund

2009-11-22T18:13:00.023+08:00

L-R : Bakaq, Dolah, Jed, Bab, Shahar and Zul

A rather kind of "emergency" gathering was held at Jed's (Aziz Ishak) residence in Subang Jaya on 21 November 09 at about 9.30pm over an urgent matter brought up by Ad (Fuad Rahman) regarding our less than fortunate brother Monsa (Mohd Nor Isa), whom Ad described as in destitute and dire need of financial support. The "help Monsa" case was first brought up in our gathering held at Bab's residence about two weeks ago (on 6 Nov 09).

Citizens of JI65 who attended the gathering at Jed's residence last night were

1. Anuar Ismail & Zul
2. Roslan Karimudin & Salmiah
3. Shahar Karim
4. Fuad Rahman & Deb
5. Abdullah Hamid
6. Nik Ariff Ahmad & R Norian
7. Shahlan Yob
8. Zulkifli Alias
9. Bakar Hashim
10.Bastamam Hamzah & Nor Azila

Shahar relayed the "salam" from Rusli Adam, who wanted to be at the gathering, but had to "abstain" himself from doing so due to his health problem.

L-R : Zul, Nik Ariff and Ad

After the 6th November 09 meeting, Ad had been in contact with Monsa regularly. That night he highlighted Monsa as being in a financially difficult situation and appealed for financial support from JI65. After having detailed discussions with Monsa, he proposed a financial support plan for Monsa as follows:

1. As an immediate measure, Monsa needs about RM2,700.00 to alleviate his present destitute situation.

2. As a short-term measure, Monsa needs about RM6,200.00 to pay for the outstanding arrears in his 12-month stay at the house he rented in Kuantan. The amount also included his cost to transport his personal belongings and "dadih"-making equipment from Kuantan to Bukit Mertajam, where he is staying ("tumpang") with his son-in-law.

3. As a long-term measure, he needs about RM37,400.00 in the first week of January 2010 to support his "dadih" business for the next three (3) months. Out of this amount, RM25,000.00 is for the purchase of a used delivery van to conduct his day-to-day "dadih" business.

L-R : Jed, Bab and Shahar

Immediately after Ad finished his briefing on the financial support plan for Monsa, members of JI65 who were present that night immediately contributed a total sum of RM3,100.00. Out of this amount, Bastamam is going to hand over RM1,000.00 personally to Monsa when he goes to Gurun on Monday, 23 November 09 and the next day, 22 November 09 Jed is going to bank in the sum of RM1,700.00 to Monsa's bank account. Thus, the immediate need of RM2,700.00 required by Monsa was "oversubscribed" by RM3,100 - RM2,700.00 = RM400.00! Syabas to citizens of JI65 who promptly responded to the call for the "help Monsa" fund by contributing the amount of RM3,100.00.

Ad then phoned Monsa to tell him about how the amount of RM2,700.00 was going to be disbursed to him and after he finished talking to Monsa, Ad informed us that Monsa cried over the phone after he heard the news.

L-R : Dolah, LanK, Jed and Bab

While the above immediate measures are being implemented, members of JI65 who were present that night would contact other JI65 members for contributions for the other short-term and long-term financial needs. Bab, as the President of JI65, would also write an email to the JI65 e-group to request and appeal for contributions from members of JI65 for the "help Monsa" fund. Please allow the following hadith to be quoted:-

It was related by Abu Huraira that he heard the Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) said: "Those who provide for the widows and the poor are like those engaged in a holy war ("berjihad") or like those who wake up at night to pray ("qiamullail") and like those who fast during the day."

Engaging in a "holy war" is among the most prime deeds, as per the following hadith:

It was related by Abu Hurairah, who said that: "The Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) was asked: "Which are the most prime deeds? He (prayers and peace be upon him) answered:
"Believe in Allah and His Prophet." He (prayers and peace be upon him) was asked again: " And then what?" The Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) answered: " Holy War Fi-Sabilillah." He was asked again: " And then what?" The Prophet (prayers and peace be upon him) answered:"The Haj that is accepted by Allah (Haji Mabrur)."

Thus helping the poor and the nedy is akin to engaging in a holy war.

Your contribution to the "Help Monsa" Fund will be written as an "investment" in akhirat as per the following verse in the Quran :

"... and whatever deed ye (mankind) may be doing, We are witnesses thereof when ye are deeply engrossed therein. Nor is hidden from thy Lord (so much as) the weight of an atom on the earth or in heaven. And not the least and not the greatest of these things but are recorded in a clear record. (Surah Yunus : 61).

Deb and Zul

Other matters that were discussed that night were as follows:

1. Ad is going to organise the first "uzrah" programme to be held at the end of December 09.

2. In line with JI65's new policy of generating an income for JI65 and not just depending on donations from members everytime there is a need for funds, members that night discussed on the proposal to teach or give tuition in English to foreign students as a source of income for JI65. Dolah Hamid said he had in mind and was working on an arrangement to use suitable computer programmes to teach English online to students. The teaching of English by the "classroom method" is still going to go ahead to be led by Bakar Hashim, who shall come up with the preparation and confirmation of our capability after the Hari Raya Haji. LanK also expressed his interest to give tuition on the use of the internet facilities if there is a market need for it.

Salmiah and Raja Norian with Jed and Bakaq in the background

3. Bab informed that he was about to close the account for the 40th Anniversary and would hand it over to Jed in the next meeting.

The gathering ended at about midnight and before we departed, we expressed our gratitude and thanks to Jed and Salamiah for being a kind and generous pair of hosts that night.

Visit to Hamdan Uda Mat Esa on Sat. 14 Nov 09

2009-11-14T23:17:00.015+08:00

Dolah, Shahar & Hamdan

It was narrated by Abu Hurairah r.a. that the Prophet s.a.w. said: "There are 5 rights of a Muslim to another Muslim, namely that he responds to a "salam", visits a person who is ill, accompanies a dead person to his burial ground, attends an invitation and responds ("mentasymitkan") to one who sneezes."(Muttafaq 'alaih)

In line with the above hadith, the JI65 Committee Members decided during the meeting on 6/11/09, that members of JI65 should be encouraged to visit fellow members who were ill. Two members who were presently recovering from their illness had been identified as Anis Kasan and Hamdan Uda Mat Esa.

On 7/11/09, Bab, Shahar, Rusli Adam and Dolah Hamid paid a visit to Anis Kasan at his house in Wangsa Maju. A brief report on this visit was emailed by Shahar to JI65 egroup on 8/11/09 at 4.40pm and read as follows:

Salam to all our JI brothers,

The JI group conducted a visit to bro. Anis Kassan’s house at No.1 Jalan 8/27D Seksyen 6, Wangsa Maju yesterday. The group comprised of Bab, Rusli Adam, Abdullah Hamid and me. Roslan backed out at the last minute due to some other commitment. We reached his house at about 4.30 pm during a heavy downpour. Alhamdulillah, bro. Anis is recuperating very well after underwent an open heart surgery about 2 months ago. He was discharged about 3 weeks ago and now is resting at home. He had to do 3 nos. of by-passes. Both his kidneys are also not functioning and now he has to go through daily dialysis (peritoneal) – which is done at home. Otherwise he appeared to be in high spirit and cheerful to greet our presence. Let us pray for his speedy recovery.

ABD. SHAHAR KARIM (019 3134348)

On 11/11/09, Shahar informed the JI65 e-group that a visit to Hamdan Uda Mat Esa was going to be carried out on 14/11/09 and anyone who's interested to participate should assemble at the surau after the Kota Damansara Tol Plaza at 4.15 pm. I happened to be free at this time and therefore took the opportunity to participate in the visit.

By the time I arrived at the surau, Shahar and Dolah Hamid were already there. As it was already 4.30 pm, we went to the surau to perform our solat asar.

After that we immediately proceeded to Hamdan's house at Sierra Damansara, which was located only about a minute's drive from the surau.

Dolah, Shahar & Hamdan

Hamdan was there to greet us with a smiling face and invited us to his comfortable and cozy corner-lot, semi-detached, double-storey house. We informed Hamdan that Bab (Anuar Ismail), our President, had to cancel his intended visit as his neighbour just passed away and Rusli Adam, who had intended to come for the visit as well, also had to cancel his visit due to the low blood presure in his body.

Hamdan informed us that he already went for the third of a total of twelve chemotherapy sessions to be carried out at the Damansara Specialist Hospital to get rid of the few remaining cancer cells left in his body. Though his condition was not serious, his doctor nevertheless advised him to go for the complete chemotherapy treatment just to be sure.

Hamdan also advised us on the type of healthy food that we should take, especially at our age and also spoke of the immense knowledge that he had gained about cancer through reading books and from the internet. He would probably write a book one day regarding his own experience with cancer.

Dolah, Hamdan & Roslan

We were treated to rojak buah, sandwiches, mata kuching and some fruits with green tea by ZamZam (Hamdan's wife). We also discussed on the people that we knew who had survived or not survived in their battle against cancer.

We were so engrossed with our conversations with Hamdan that we didn't realised that it was already closed to maghrib time and that it was time to bid farewell to Hamdan and ZamZam.

Hamdan & Roslan

We were glad to know that Hamdan was in high spirits and looked very healthy. We wish to thank Hamdan and ZamZam for being such a great pair of hosts and for allocating some of their precious time for us. By the time we left Hamdan's house, it was already 6.45 pm and the weather looked like a heavy downpour of rain was going to greet us on our journey back to our respective homes.

We wish Hamdan success in his chemotherapy battle against the remaining bit of cancer cells left in his body and look forward to see him again soon.

Committee Members Meeting & Gathering on 6 Nov.09

2009-11-07T11:12:00.016+08:00

After the 40th Anniversary event held at Kuala Kangsar from 16 to 18 February 09, the "newly -elected" Committee Members held their first meeting at the residence of Anuar Ismail on Friday, 6th November 2009 at 9.30pm.

Other than the Committee Members, who consisted of
1. Anuar Ismail
2. Roslan Karimudin
3. Aznam Abdullah
4. Shahar Karim,

the other members of JI65 (Jubli Intan 65) who attended the meeting-cum-gathering were
5. Dato' Wan Albakri (Tok Yee)
6. Syed Kadir
7. Abdullah Hamid
8. Rusli Adam
9. Fuad Rahman (Ad)
10.Bakar Hashim

The meeting discussed and agreed to implement the followings :-

A. WELFARE OF MEMBERS

1. Financially-strapped Members
Ad shall approach Monsa (Mohd Nur Isa) and find out how JI65 can assist Monsa to be financially independent. The same approach shall also be taken on Abbas Taib and other members of JI65, who are in the same situation.

2. Sick Members
Members of JI65 are encouraged to make a regular visit to our members who are sick and bed-ridden to give our moral support to them and their family members. To pave the way, the Committee members shall arrange to visit Anis Kasan at his house in Wangsa Maju on Saturday, 7th November 09 after solat asar.

B. PUSAT PENJAGAAN BAITUL QURAN

The above care centre is run by Ismail Jusoff (Wei) and his wife. It was decided that a new bank account be opened by the Treasurer (Aziz Ishak), preferably with Maybank, as a means for members to donate to the Baitul Quran each month. Whatever amount that JI65 members have deposited in the bank for that particular month shall all be withdrawn in the following month to be handed over to Ismail.

C. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

1. Outstation Visits
It was decided that at least three outstation gatherings should be held next year - one in the East Coast, one in the North and the other in the South. One gathering is to be held in Kuala Trengganu (East Coast) and another one in Penang (North). The location for the gathering in the South is to be decided later. It is preferable to hold the gathering to coincide with a wedding reception of a member's daughter or son there. So, if any member of JI65 intends to hold his son or daughter's wedding reception next year (2010), please contact Shahar at 019-3134348. Shahar shall also liase with Dato' Yee and Idris Jais for the dates and programmes for the gatherings at K.Trengganu and Penang respectively. The programme for the outstation gathering shall closely follow the event that was organised for the recent 40th Anniversary where, apart from golfing activity, visits to interesting places was also organised.

2. Golf Games
Aznam shall arrange for the golf activities to be held for next year and the balance of this year.

3. Monthly "Uzrah"
Beginning next month (December 09), Ad shall take the lead in organising an "uzrah" to be held once a month at the residence of members of JI65. It was proposed to hold the Committee members meeting at the end of each "Uzrah".

D. CTB (COFFEE TABLE BOOK) PROJECT

The response from members of JI65 so far for submission of articles have not been encouraging. It was decided that Bakar shall do a mock-up paper to provide a guide for members to have ideas and inspiration to write an article each.

E. FINANCIAL PLANS

Instead of always depending on the generosity of the members of JI65 when it comes to donations and contributions for any event, it was decided that JI65 should embark on a programme to earn an income and therefore be financially sufficient.
One of the ventures discussed was the teaching of English or any specialised subjects by members of JI65 to students. Abdullah Hamid shall take the lead in this respect and members of JI65 who are interested to teach English on a part-time or even full-time basis are requested to register your names with Dolah, who can be contacted at his new mobile no. 012-3246782 and email address at abdullah.hamid@gmail.com
Fees earned from teaching the subject shall be split with JI65 on a 50:50 basis.

The meeting ended at abut 1.00 am and on behalf of members who attended the meeting, I wish to express our many gratitude and thanks to Bab and Zul for being such a kind and generous host for that night.

Salam,
Roslan
Mobile +6013-2020 998

Waves and WooeR

2004-12-31T17:17:00.000+08:00

(Note: Click on each thumbnails for a bigger image, to copy it.)

A telltale day before Asian Tsunami
- a different sort of wave was created.
(25th December 2004)

Ground zero was pinpointed as in this email,

To: jublintan65@yahoogroups.com
From: "GrandPa" fadzil5069@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 07:33:04 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: [jublintan65] TV 3 weather report-delayed telecast

A'kum,

Pekan is 50km south of Kuantan (that is if you know where Kuantan is). Pantai Lagenda is a new word coined by I don’t know who...the original name of the place was/is actually Serandu. For your convenience, I have included a map to help you get there. Pantai Lagenda is actually Kampong Ketapang on the map. The real Kampong Ketapang is actually south of the bridge spanning the Pahang River.So as not to confuse matters, I prefer that you click on the link below and look at the map yourself.

As for the rain, in Kuantan and Pekan the weather is as dry as a bone today.

Glad I can be of help. I don’t know what is to become of you people without me around.
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;
GridE=103.3920&GridN=3.4871&amp;amp;amp;lon=103.3920&lat=3.4871&db=w3&overviewmap=&
country=Malaysia&scale=1000000&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;
amp;amp;lang=®ion=Pahang&client=public&cidr_client=none&place=Pekan

And without any GPS whatsoever, but guided by the map, we headed from KL for the location. To do battle in the "Jublintan65 PGA Tua Kuantan/Pekan Monthly Golf Challenge", to be held at Pantai Lagenda Country Golf Resort, Pekan. Travelling via Kuantan.

The main route we used was the new "Lebuhraya Pantai Timur (LPT)"

Myself and Tarmizi were passengers in Rashid Hassan's car.

Our navigator was Zainol Darus

The latest information that we had from the organiser, about our challengers, is from another email.

To: jublintan65@yahoogroups.com
From: "azmil azmil"
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 01:16:21 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: [jublintan65] Golf in Kuantan

UPDATE @ 15/12/2004
RESPONSE TODATE :
CONFIRMATION; GOLF / DINNER
=================
1) JOE OLDE; YES /YES
2) KAMAL DOLLAH; YES / YES
3) DATO FUAD IBRAHIM; YES / YES
4) DATO DOLLAH SANI; YES / YES
5) GUEST (DATO SANI); YES / YES
6) GUEST (DATO SANI); YES / YES
7) WAN HAMZAH; YES / YES + ??
8) RASHID HASSAN; YES / YES
9) JED D KK BOY; YES / YES + 3
10) AZMIL; YES / YES
11) TERMIZI; YES / YES
12) MASTER LEHO; YES / YES + 1
13) LEHO JUNIOR; YES / YES
14) ZAWAWI; YES / YES
15) WOOER; YES / YES
(I THINK DIA DAH DAPAT TRANSPORT)
16) GRANDPA; YES / YES + ??
17) GUEST (DATO FUAD); YES / YES

SINCE PANTAI LAGENDA MAY BE NEW TO SOME OF US, CAN I SUGGEST THAT WE MEET AT THE CAR PARK OF MASJID NEGERI AT MID DAY & GET OUR TOURIST GUIDE TO SHOW US THE WAY TO THE GOLF CLUB.
THOSE USING THE HIGHWAY, TAKE THE GAMBANG EXIT TO KUANTAN TOWN. U WILL BE PASSING THE AIRPORT ALONG THE WAY TO TOWN.
BETUL TAK GRANDPA??

PROVISIONAL (NOW CONFIRMED)
===========
1) WOOER LI (KALAU DAPAT TRANSPORT) - ANY TAKERS?

ALSO INVOLVED
============
1) MONSA; NO / YES + 2
(BALL SPOTTER FOR KAMAL DOLLAH)
2) ABU NON; NO / YES
(OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER)
(DIA LEBIH TINGGI DARI LALLANG KAT LAGENDA GOLF CLUB)

REGRETS
=======
1) DATO SIDEK - RELIEF WORK AFTER FLOODS IN MANILA
2) BASTAMAM - TAKUT WOOER MENANG THIS TIME ROUND
3) IDRIS INDIA - AIR ASIA TAK LAND KAT KUANTAN
4) FUAD RAHMAN - MIGHT JOIN, MIGHT MEANT A NO
5) SAHAR KARIM - DOCTOR TAK ALLOW
6) ISMAIL JUSOH - COUSIN KAHWIN KAT JB
7) LANK - KENA ARRANGE MANGKOK2
8) ANUAR BAB - CELEBRATE XMAS
9) IMRAN - KENDURI KAWIN
10) NASIR MAJID - TAK BOLEH LEBIH DARI S'GOR BORDER
11) NIK FALDO - KENDURI KAWIN
12) ZUL ALIAS - HOLIDAY DGN FAMILY
13) DATO SALLEHUDIN OTHMAN - JEMPUTAN BANYAK SANGAT

AS FOR THE REST, I SUPPOSE IN SERIOUS DISCUSSION WITH THE MRS.
HOPE THE NUMBERS FOR KUANTAN WILL INCREASE.
WILL UPDATE IN DUE COURSE.

TQ...MOK

However, we stopped at the Temerloh's Rest Area, to wait for Joe Olde.

Puffing away as much as we could before we got back into the car.

Tarmizi, Rashid, Zainol Darus and Azmil(Mok), with his children

Another email giving an alternative route, from

GrandPa wrote to Jublintan65 on Dec 15

>THOSE USING THE HIGHWAY, TAKE THE GAMBANG EXIT TO
> KUANTAN TOWN. U WILL BE PASSING THE AIRPORT ALONG
> THE WAY.

Mok
Thanks for including me in the YES, YES columns. As for the +? Well I am a one woman man (fortunately or otherwise). The one woman is not coming, so I am coming without a woman.

As for the direction...the Gambang exit is still the best.
You do not pass the civilian airport but you do pass the TUDM terminal and the south end of the runway. From there, keep to the right lane because. Do not take the left exit to Kuantan by pass, drive straight on until you reach a traffic light junction, which is at Taman Tas. On green (stop at red) go straight on towards Kuantan if you wish to go to KUANTAN but look out for the Pekan U turn. Keep on the right lane to avoid missing it.

If you do miss it, don’t fret because fretting won’t do you any good. Just drive on until you meet another traffic light junction. It is just before an overhead pedestrian bridge. To your left you will see a mosque. Make a U turn to Taman Guru but you don’t want to go to Taman Guru do you? You want to go to Pantai Lagenda, Pekan. 'So' (KL punya trend, mesti ada so) you drive straight on, after the U turn, that is, until you see Kolej Ugama Pahang. Now take the left lane and slow down, watch for the direction sign to Pekan. Drive on the deceleration lane on the left and follow it towards Pekan. Follow the direction to Pekan, Nenasi, Rompin Mersing, Johor Bahru. If you overshoot Pekan, turn back immediately.

From the Kuantan-Pekan junction drive on until you reach Pahang Tua, drive on and you will see padi fields to your right. It’s a beautiful sight so slow down, but watches out for the S bend for two reasons. One is because it is dangerous and Two, because about half a kilometre to your left is the junction to Pantai Lagenda, Serandu and Kuala Selangor. Drive on until you reach a T junction and take right to Pantai Lagenda, Serandu and KUKTEM. Don’t take left because it will take you to Kuala Selangor (it is a small fishing village and the road ends there.

You can’t miss Kelab Golf Pantai Lagenda.

My advice is printing this whatever, and takes it along in your car for reference because old brains like ours can’t remember every thing written even though it is written in a very simple and uncomplicated way.

Happy hunting!

But instead we caught up with each other at Kuantan Vistana Hotel Lobby, before we headed for Pekan

Some photographs taken, in the process

L: Rashid and Dato' Sani. R: Dato' Sani, Zainol Darus and Rashid

L: Zainol Darus checking-in. R: Dr. Wan Ariffin, Salleh O and Rashid

L: Aznam, Dr. Wan Ariffin and Rashid. R: Samad, Wan Hamzah, Dr. Wan Ariffin and Baharum

And managed to have a small group photograph session.

L-R: Wan Hamzah, Samad Nordin, Rashid Hassan, Salleh, Wan Ariffin, Fadzil, Baharum and Aznam's backside

Some casual chats....

When we arrived at Pantai Lagenda Country Golf Resort, we had lunch and waited for those latecomers.

Some edgy people...

And, then got ready to face the challenge.

L-R: Kamal Dollah and Mus (Guest)

L-R: Kamal Dollah, Mus (Guest) and GrandPa Fadzil Rahman

Zainol Darus, our 1971 Rugby Captain, stood guard.

L-R: Dr. Wan Ariffin, Faisal (Dato' Fauzi's son), Dato' Fauzi Rahman and Zainol Darus

After the game, we changed and got ready to go for dinner.

Another edgy moments, not knowing the results...

On arrival at Dato' Fuad's residence, we were greeted by Monsa.

L: Monsa greeted us. R: Zafrally ( SallehO's son) and Faisal (Dato' Fauzi's son)

There, the Golf Committee was counting the scores.

L: Johari with Zafrally, on first counting. R: Tarmizi, Rashid and Johari for the final decision.

The result was announced that night but only recently disclosed to other members.
(To disreetly avoid certain embarrasing scores)

To: jublintan65@yahoogroups.com
From: "johari"
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 17:17:06 +0800
Subject: Re: [jublintan65] JI TUA - PEKAN CHALLENGE

Assalamu'alaikom wbt.
Pleased to announce the results of the JI Tua Golf at Pekan recently (since Morky is quiet about it) as per attached.

Wooer Li triumphed with 32 stableford points; Tarmizi runner-up with 31 pts whilst third was Djet with 30 pts.
Hj Djet did not score an ace this time around but was one of only 3 who managed birdies, the others being master Leh 'O' and MacAzdul. Mizi scored the highest no. of pars scoring 5 in all with 4 from the 2nd nine. The champion managed only 1 par but that's golf.

Congratulations to Wooer. Now perhaps we have to call him Champ Wooer but make sure champ is spelt right.

Until the next Tua chapter,
Salam.
p.s. Abu Non won an award for being the most ardent follower dethroning Monsa who could not make it due to something.

The families also enjoyed the "silaturrahim", like we did.

Food galore...

Yes guys, and who could have expected that I can win at this game too?
And, as Dr. Wan Ariffin puts it,

From: wan ariffin wanariff@hotmail.com
To: jublintan@yahoogroups.com
Subject: tsunami & golf
Sent: Monday, December 27, 2004 12:12:11 AM

within hours after wooer was announced as the monthly champion of pg tua, the earth moved, cracks appeared on the Indian ocean bed 40 km below the sea level, 10 meter high tidal waves suddenly appeared out of nowhere in phuket, maldive, srilanka, penang etc.

the east coast of west malaysia was apparently unaffected except for the beachside lagenda golf course in pekan where the tournament took place. it was also attacked and flattened by tidal wooer.

awesome! gentlemen! we must not let this happen again!
too much damage to lives, hartabenda, economy and egos.

salam
wpeng
(wooer's innocent buggy and flight mate who was unfairly accused of bersubahat!! )

L: Dato' Fauzi, Faisal and Zafrally. R: Dato' Fauzi, Faisal and Dr. Wan Ariffin

Aptly, GrandPa Fadzil Rahman responded.

From: "GrandPa"
To: jublintan@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [jublintan65] waves and wooer
Sent: Sun, 26 Dec 2004 17:53:48 -0800 (PST)

Wan Peng,

My sympathy is to those who may be affected by the tsunami. The East Coast one was most enjoyable and I hope to be able to join the PGA tua again if the venue and circumstances is right.

Thank you Wan Peng for walking to our humble place in Sungei Karang and please feel free to do so again any time you are around.

Salam
GrandPa

L-R: Aziz Ishak, Azmil (Mok), GrandPa Fadzil and Mr. Tan (Guest)

Of course some of us were not expecting the result,

To: jublintan65@yahoogroups.com
From: "azmil azmil"
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 02:31:56 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: [jublintan65] waves and wooer

DOC PENG,
YOU SHUD HAVE CARRIED IN YOUR MEDICINE BAG SOME REDFACED BLUSING ANTIDOTES.
DESPITE THE REFLECTION OF THESPOT LIGHT VIA GRANDPA'S LUMINOUS TOP, THE RED FACE WAS VERY MUCH IN EVIDENCE. TAK TAU LAH DUE TO TOUR INNER CONSCIENCE KE OTHERWISE.
BUT PLEASE DO NOT WORRY COZ WE ALL KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH WOOER!!!...AND YOU AS WELL THE NEXT TIME ROUND.THAT DAY KAMI KESIAN KAT DIA COZ HIS MRS DIDN'T WANTTO SPEAK TO HIM FOR THE LAST 2 WEEKS.
NO OFFENCE DOC....MOK

But, we enjoyed most, our outing and the dinner.

L: Baharum and Mohd. Nor Isa (Monsa). R: Aznam Tan Sri Abdullah

Some of us could even laugh at their bad moments at golf.

L-R: Kamal Dollah, Aznam and Mus (Guest)

L: Zainol Darus (Non). R: Dato' Sani, Azmil (Mok) and GrandPa Fadzil

L-R: Zainol Darus (Non), Baharum Salleh and Mohd. Nor Isa (Monsa)

L: Non and Monsa. R: Dr. Wan Ariffin, GrandPa Fadzil and Mr. Tan (Guest)

GrandPa added further,

Mok, Wan Peng n All.

I had the wooden spoon, under normal circumstances...well, malu gak but since we were among literally old friends..to me, all that matters was that I had the opportunity to be among friends. To me the game itself did not really matter. It was just an excuse to meet. That is why after not having touched the club for 14 or 15 years, I joined in the fray. However, please do not be too confident that I will be wooden spoon again the next time...InshaAllah.

Our host and sponsor, Dato' Fuad Ibrahim, did a great job!

L-R: Dato' Fuad Ibrahim (Raj) talking to his son

L: Samad, Dato' Zul (Guest) and Dato' Fauzi. R: Salleh O and Dato' Sani

L-R: Dato' Sani, Salleh O, Dr. Wan Ariffin, Aziz Ishak (Jed) and Azmil (Mok)

I had to state my case.

To: jublintan65@yahoogroups.com
From: "Rosli Ali"
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 00:24:03 +0800
Subject: Re: [jublintan65] waves and wooer

All in JiTua,

These people think that WPeng was in collusion with my winning.Disregarding the fact that we also had Dato' Fauzi's son, Faisal, andLehO's son, Zafrally, as witnesses. My performance was nothing to shout about to begin with!

With a mere 32 stableford points, they could not accept the victory...just because I won. They stomped the ground in disapprovals, and the earth moved to give out the historic Tsunami the next day!

Don't you guys know that on earlier count, I was third? Until Tarmizi came, to double-check that allowed me the extra points from index holes, because I played on handicap 24. See, I've been trying to tell you guys to put me at a lower handicap, since I've already got the GIST of this game! (GIST meaning: Good Individual's Swing/skillTechniques.)

Mind you, it's Tarmizi who sacrificed himself into 2nd spot, that made Rashid go 4th (Jed came 3rd.). Tarmizi, Zainol Darus and me, were passengers in Rashid's car, AND WE SHARED THE SAME ONE HOTEL ROOM TOO.
I almost had to play golf again the next morning to prove my prowess at the game, because we were together in one room.

Anyway the golf that day was inspired by my mutual rivalry with LehO's son, Zafrally. He played well as our guest, with 38 stableford points, and I was merely trying to keep close at bay for pride, whilst at the same time coaching Dato' Fauzi's son, Faisal, to be confident with his strokes. All day I advised him, "Set your target, go for it and don't worry about what lies ahead. Afterall you already have astrong swing but occasionally do check the set-ups."

Bastamam was lucky in a way; he had the premonition that I was going to win against him to avoid embarrassment. But he and everyone else did not expect me to win this game over Aznam, Joe, Dato' Fuad and Tarmizi (all our Masters Champions) playing. Their usual game was not up to scratch.

And with that 32 stableford points, nothing could stop ROSLI MOHD.ALI from taking the CHAMPIONSHIP for the JI TUA KUANTAN/PEKAN 2004.

WooeR

L-R: Dato' Sani and Salleh O. R: Dato' Sani, Salleh O and Aziz Ishak (Jed)

GrandPa again wrote,

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 17:44:20 -0800 (PST), GrandPa wrote:

Congratulations Wooer (how did you get that nick?). I am sure you deserved the win. You know what, with the two week silent stint and all.

My former Standard 5 classmate, Shahlan Yob, chipped in.

To: jublintan65@yahoogroups.com
From: "Mohd Shahlan Mohd Yob"
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 12:35:34 +0800
Subject: RE: [jublintan65] waves and wooer

Mat Ali,
Aku rasa kemenangan kamu tu, tak banyak tak sikit kerana home ground advantage, and some good vibes from Peng.
Syabas.

Salaam.

L: Our local guest that night. R: Wan Hamzah, Samad Nordin and Zainol Darus

L-R: Dato' Zul (Guest), Dato' Fauzi, Dr. Wan Ariffin and Wan Hamzah

Here are some of the winners,

Third Placing (JI PGA Guest):
Dato Fauzi Rahman

Second Placing (JI PGA Guest):
Zafrally Salleh

First Placing (JI PGA Guest)
Ainon Aznam

Dato' Fuad presenting a momento to Dato' Zul
For giving away the prizes to our JI PGA Guests

Dato' Fauzi Rahman giving away the prizes.

Fourteenth Placing ( JI PGA Tua):
Fadzil Rahman (GrandPa) receiving from his brother.

Thirteenth Placing (JI PGA Tua) :
Baharum Salleh

Tenth Placing (JI PGA Tua):
Aznam Tan Sri Abdullah

Eight Placing (JI PGA Tua) :
Dato' Fuad Ibrahim, our host and sponsor.

Fifth Placing (JI PGA Tua) :
Dato' Abdullah Sani Hamid

Third Placing (JI PGA Tua) :
Abdul Aziz Ishak (Jed)

Second Placing (JI PGA Tua) :
Tarmizi Abu Hanipah

First Placing (JI PGA Tua) :
Rosli Dato' Mohd. Ali (WooeR)

(No photo taken, but Dato' Fauzi gave me a big hug!)

Salam and Thank You.

Selected Jokes

2004-12-17T19:47:00.000+08:00

Subject: Super CEO

A company, feeling it was time for a shapeup, hires a new CEO. The new CEO is determined to rid the company of all unproductive workers. On a tour of the facilities, the CEO notices a young chap leaning on a wall and relaxing. The room is full of workers who were busy working, except for this guy.

The CEO decides to let his staff know that he means business! The CEO walks up to the guy and asks, "And how much money do you make a week?"

A little surprised, the young fellow looks at him and replies, "I make $300.00 a week.........Why?"

The CEO then hands the guy $600 in cash and screams, "Here's two weeks' pay, now GET OUT and don't come back!". Surprised and in fear, the guy immediately leaves.

Feeling pretty good about having fired his first worker, the CEO looks around the room and asks, "Does anyone want to tell me which department that worker belonged to?"

With a sheepish grin, one of the other workers mutters, "He was the Pizza Delivery guy from Domino's."

Ms.Ong's (Pek Tan) Visit

2004-12-13T06:04:00.000+08:00

Our ex-Teacher, Ms Ong Pek Mooi (Pek Tan), visited us in KL on August 13th 2004.

These photos are posted again for the benefit of those that did not have the opportunity to see them before. The lead-ups to the event were initiated from the following communications by Anuar Ismail through Roslan Karimuddin.

“The Original Programme”,

From: Roslan <roslan12001@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sat Jul 17, 2004 3:36 pm
Subject: Fwd: MS ONG PEK MOOI (PEK TAN)

Assalamualaikum,

Message from Bab regarding the visit by Ms Ong in August 04. If you are interested, please contact Bab directly by sending an email to him or call him at012-2266935.

Rgds,LanK.

--- anuarim@petronas.com.my wrote:
> Subject: MS ONG PEK MOOI (PEK TAN)
> To: Roslan <roslan12001@yahoo.co.uk
>, azizih@petronas.com.my,
> abusamad@petronas.com.my, azizma@petronas.com.my,
> radzi@petronas.com.my> CC: jublintan65@yahoogroups.com, hassan@petronas.com.my
> From: anuarim@petronas.com.my
> Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2004 11:09:38 +0800
>
>
> Gentlemen,
>
> Our former Chemistry teacher which I am sure all of us cannot forget will
> be coming for a visit to her home country in early August. I have
> scheduled for her and her family to visit the Twin Towers, dinner followed
> by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Performance either August 13th or
> 14th. I look forward to as many of you as possible to join the company.
> Whilst I will take care of their dinner and MPO costs, I expect you guys to
> bear each of your own costs. I would encourage your spouses to also join
> us. Please advise me as soon as possible, deadline by July 25th,
> indicating dinner and/or MPO. Also, please spread the message.
>
> ANUAR ISMAIL
>

“Then came information for Plan Variation”,

From: zurina_ramli@petronas.com.my
Date: Wed Jul 28, 2004 1:59 am
Subject: RE: [jublintan65] Fwd: MS ONG PEK MOOI (PEK TAN)
To: drnikisahak@hotmail.com, roslan12001@yahoo.co.uk

Dr Nik Isahak,

Please see below our plan.
The MPO is however not on because I have justdiscovered that they are having their summer recess. I am looking atalternative shows.
Regards,
Anuar Ismail.

Ms Pek Tan's visit: Photo at Twin Towers/ Skybridge

Therefore, the program is approximately this:-

4.00 - 5.00 pm Visit the Twin Towers/Skybridge at Level 42.
(Iwill accompany her.)
5.00 - 7.00 pm Shopping at the Suria KLCC
(for her and herfamily).
7.00 - 10.30 pm Transfer to and dinner at KL Tower.

Ms Pek Tan's visit: Photo at Suria KLCC

Ms Pek Tan's visit: Dinner at KL Tower

Ms Pek Tan's visit: Dinner at KL Tower

Ms Pek Tan's visit: Dinner at KL Towers

Dr. Nik Isahak summed up the event:

From: "Nik Isahak Abdullah" <drnikisahak@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun Aug 15, 2004 1:59 pm
Subject: RE: [jublintan65] (unknown)

Peng,
Apasal you guys tak pergi the other night jumpa Ms Ong. Lucky Bab, Rosli andDollah and yours truly saved the day. Pasal tak ramai our MD/Co belanja bukan di Petrolium Club tapi di KL Tower.
Ms Ong has not lost her usual vibrance despite all the years. Semua cerita keluar including kes Patah dekat kena rogol by Prior di Penang etc etc. including aku kalah dengan Bab dalam division 2 800 meters sports day form four. I lasted only 1 round. Apa tidak, sebelum race masok toilet dulu for "refresment"
Could have been better if you guys were around! We were the last to leave the Tower.
Nik Isahak

Then,came Datuk Sidek’s reciprocal visit to Canberra.
He wrote here:

From: Datuk Md Sidek Ahmad <sidek@tnb.com.my>
Date: Tue Sep 7, 2004 3:46 pm
Subject: Re: [jublintan65] SIDEK, THE SVP

I'm in Canberra now for an annual leave to be with my eldest son, Rizalwho's turning 21 on 3rd Sept. Had a chance to meet up with Ms. Ong and hubby Michael.....to make up for not meeting her in KL last month. Instead she belanja me and family to a nice dinner at the "local" Thai restaurant in Dickson, Canberra. She and hubby were so thankful to youguys who took time out to be with her and giving her and family such awonderful treat that I get to enjoy the return favour.....so from her and meand our families, tq again all. salam.......sidek

And,

From: Datuk Md Sidek Ahmad <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jublintan65/post?postID=0khUh472INwsyyGDkASEce8EfdXzZZAZ2L1YgHn8N0agtRSlnITQY5JP2kC4hLEARd-RMgJhZ72d>
Date: Wed Sep 8, 2004 11:07 pm
Subject: Re: [jublintan65] SIDEK, THE SVP

I'll remind Ms. Ong to send in all the nice pic with you guys in KL.....and
with me in Canberra.

salam.....sidek
P/S: I'm off to Sydney tomorrow and hope the weather is better for apractice round there before Clearwater!

Datin Anne, Datuk Sidek and Ms. Ong in Canberra

PGA TUA in Legenda Golf Club, Pekan on 25th December 04.

2004-12-05T13:08:00.000+08:00

From:
"azmil azmil"
Date:
Thu, 2 Dec 2004 19:52:47 -0800 (PST)
Subject:
[jublintan65] Golf in Kuantan

PESANAN DARI DATO RAJ...

GOLF IN KUANTAN
DATE : 25TH DECEMBER, 2004 (SATURDAY)
VENUE : LEGENDA GOLF CLUB, PEKAN
DINNER : SATURDAY NITE

GOLF & DINNER WILL BE ON HIM. RUSA 2 EKOR.

TAPI ACCOMMODATION SENDIRI LER.

SIAPA YANG INTERESTED, PLEASE RESPOND ASAP TO
FACILITATE LOGISTICS. PLEASE CONTACT HJ. BASTAMAM AT
019 245 1643 / 012 606 0057 OR ME VIA EMAIL OR 019
3400 424. PLS SPECIFY YOUR REQUIREMENT
(SIUTE/DELUXE/STANDARD ETC).

TOLONG BERITAU MEMBER2 YANG NOT ON CYBERSPACE.

MORE DETAILS WHEN AVAILABLE. TQ.....MOK

Some Funny Cartoons

2004-11-21T11:02:00.000+08:00

Questions and Answers Session

2004-11-21T10:42:00.000+08:00

BOY : May I hold your hand?
GIRL : No thanks, it isn't heavy.

GIRL : Say you love me! Say you love me!
BOY : You love me...

GIRL : If we become engaged will you give me a ring??
BOY : Sure, what's your phone number??

GIRL : I think the poorest people are the happiest.
BOY : Then marry me and we'll be the happiest couple

GIRL : Darling, I want to dance like this forever.
BOY : Don't you ever want to improve??

BOY : I love you and I could die for you!
GIRL : How soon??

BOY : I would go to the end of the world for you!
GIRL : Yes, but would you stay there??

SHARON : Have you ever had a hot passionate, burning kiss??
TRACY : I did once. He'd forgotten to take the cigarette out of his mouth.

MAN : You remind me of the sea.
WOMAN : Because I'm wild, romantic and exciting?
MAN : No, because you make me sick.

WIFE : You tell a man something, it goes in one ear and comes out of the other.
HUSBAND : You tell a woman something: It goes in both ears and comes out of the mouth.

MARY : John says I'm pretty. Andy says I'm ugly. What do u think, Peter?
PETER : A bit of both. I think you're pretty ugly.

Girlfriend : "...And are you sure you love me and no one else ?"
Boyfriend : "Dead Sure! I checked the whole list again yesterday".

Teacher : "Which is more important to us, the sun or the moon?"
Pupil : "The moon".
Teacher : "Why?"
Pupil : "The moon gives us light at night when we need it but the sun gives us light only in the day time when we don't need it".

Teacher : "What do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?"
Pupil : "A teacher".

Waiter : "Would you like your coffee black?"
Customer : "What other colors do you have?"

Tom : "How should I convey the news to my father that I've failed?"
David: "You just send a telegram: Result declared, past year's performance repeated".

Teacher : "Now, Sam, tell me frankly do you say prayers before eating?"
Sam : "No sir, I don't have to, my mom is a good cook".

Patient : "What are the chances of my recovering doctor?"
Doctor : "One hundred percent. Medical records show that nine out of ten people die of the disease you have. Yours is the tenth case I've treated. The others all died".

Teacher : " Can anybody give an example of COINCIDENCE?"
One Student : "Sir, my Mother and Father got married on the same day and at the same time."

Teacher : " George Washington not only chopped down his father's Cherry tree, but also admitted doing it. Now do you know why his father didn't punish him?"
One Student: " Because George still had the axe in his hand."

More Golf Jokes

2004-11-21T10:32:00.000+08:00

The Golfer's Affair---------------

A married man was having an affair with his secretary. One day, their passions overcame them and they took off for her house, where they made passionate love all afternoon. Exhausted from the wild sex, they fell asleep, awakening around 8:00 PM. As the man threw on his clothes, he told the woman to take his shoes outside and rub them through the grass and dirt. Mystified, she nonetheless complied. He slipped into his shoes and drove home.

"Where have you been?" demanded his wife when he entered the house.

"Darling, I can't lie to you. I've been having an affair with my secretary and we've been having sex all afternoon. I fell asleep and didn't wake up until eight o'clock."

The wife glanced down at his shoes and said, "You lying bastard! You've been playing golf again!"

Chicken in the Kitchen

2004-11-12T16:01:00.000+08:00

Zaim Al-Amin
Ampang-Kelana Jaya
Tuesday 1428 GMT +08009
November, 2004/26 Ramadhan 1425
http://zaimhq.blog-city.com

Chicken In The Kitchen, or, Caklempong, Congkak & Playstation 2

It was that stray chicken crossing the road in front of our car that triggered my long train of thoughts. Call it a reactionary response ofmy subconscious mind if you like. Not unlike when this cop characterp layed by Shah Rukh Khan stumbled upon an old portrait on the wall and after a series of quick flashbacks realized that the crook he was about to kill was his own brother. Maybe I've watched one too many Hindustani movies, but the sight of that runaway chicken brought vivid flashbacks to my mind.Vivid flashbacks such as chasing chickens out of the kitchen. All of a sudden, I was a nine year old boy again. You see, I was a kampung boy then, and my grandma used to ask me to chase away stray chickens that found their way into her kitchen. For a fleeting moment, I could almost feel the energy, the mere radiance of youth manifesting itself; being very much alive and full of optimism. All those at a time when people were able to take simple values for granted. At a time when families were close knit and neighbours exchanged dishes everyday. A time when everyone knew everybody. And a time when each kenduri, or Hari Raya, always meant a big `gotong-royong'. It was a celebration of life in its purest sense.My eldest daughter asked me why I was smiling, and it jolted me back to reality. I was glad she did not notice that I also had tears in my eyes. Hastily, I put the car into gear and gently pressed the gas pedal. The stray chicken was no longer there, having crossed the road to whatever beckoned it in the first place.

This morning, when I took the elevator down my apartment block, a man and his daughter got in. The girl was clad in a familiar kindergarten uniform. We readily talked about our daughters, since mine went to the same kindergarten a few years ago. The conversation was cut short when the elevator door opened, and we went our separate ways. It struck me then that here was a man I had so often noticed but never bothered to talk to. At best, a lift of the eyebrow, Ziana Zain style. And I admit that I've been guilty of labeling my other neighbours as `the RedChevrolet', `the Silver BMW' or, simply, `MAV 8007'.Suddenly I felt so lonely. For a middle class professional living in a metropolitan city with a population nearing 1.5 million, that feeling can be strange. What more with the advent of the latest telecommunication devices such as the handphone and the internet, one should find it hard to fathom such loneliness.Perhaps it's because of our own desire for privacy. To have our own personal `room'. Or `space'. We tend to build walls; whether real or imaginable. And to transgress these walls would be to invade into one's privacy. A simple, friendly act like dropping by to say `Hi'could constitute trespassing and subject one to liability in tort. Pat a neighbour's kid a little too hard and you'd risk being charged with assault and battery. Try to exchange dishes with your neighbour, and chances are she would either think you're trying to show off or else trying to poison her dog. After a while you'd resign to that urban fact and sigh that ignorance is bliss, hence it's best to ignore.

In this era of computers, laptops and internet, one tends to take refuge from such self imposed exile in the form of e-mails,e-messengers and e-chatrooms, basking in the surreal comfort of the cyberworld; a world of make believe. You believe that you have a lot of friends, but not until you have a punctured tyre (or flat battery,or both) early in the morning would you wish that you'd known your next door neighbour. Your mailbox (I'm referring to the tradition alone) is empty, save for the occasional utility bills. Even the number of Hari Raya greeting cards keep diminishing each year. There's not enough greeting card for your wife or kid to hang around the house anymore, unless you choose to print all those Yahoo! and American Greeting cyber cards that floods your e-mail Inbox.

I can still vividly remember how I was first introduced to the computer. It was the year 1982, and one of my classmates at the MalayCollege had this Sinclair ZX 81 Personal Computer. It's a rudimentary piece of machine going by today's standards (the 286 type), but it was cutting edge technology at that time. And if you manage to type a love letter to your girlfriend at Tunku Kurshiah College using Wordstar and print it on a dot matrix, she'd look up at you as if you were the next Bill Gates. Now, just 22 years later, my nine years old daughter is sending e-mails to her friends, all the time wearing that `no bigdeal' _expression, and your neighbour's new BMW probably has more electronics than those on board the Space Shuttle.Tell your kids that there was once this thing called Black & White TV,and they'd bombard you with curious questions or simply shook their head in disbelief. Tell them that you survived your childhood watching just two TV Channels that started at 3.00 p.m. (and that just showing Sports TOTO results for the first one hour) and ends at 11.00 p.m.with just an hour of cartoons each day. Or that you actually saw all hundreds of episodes of Dallas, Peyton Place, Hawaii Five-O, SixMillion Dollar Man and Man From Atlantis. You'd have a tough time telling them that Charlie's Angels and Starsky & Hutch are not new.Tell them that you spent the better part of your days playing kites,guli (marbles), dam (checkers), congkak and caklempong.Well, I did just that, and even went one step further.

One fine weekend, I and my other half designated one whole day `going back to basics'. We went camping and brought with us fishing rods and kites (I couldn't find any congkak, and caklempong would be too ridiculous),and we spent the whole day teaching them how to fly kites and to fish.I loved watching their expressions, intently pulling the strings as I had painstakingly instructed, and jumping wildly when the kite soared effortlessly into the Ampang skies, and later jumping even wilder whenwe managed to get fish. I guess after that they partly believed my old time tales.

Happy as we were, I still felt a tinge of sadness. As the old saying goes, `Give me a fish, and I will eat for a day, but teachme to fish and I will eat for a lifetime'. But somehow I just knew this wouldn't be the case for them.Because come tomorrow, it would be back to Playstation 2â€¦

Cheers & best regards,Zaim Al-Amin, Esq. (MCKK Class of 84)

New Golf Instruction Book

2004-10-30T23:33:00.000+08:00

Subject: New Golf Instruction Book

The Truly Useful Golf Book by Tiger Sandtrap. It includes the following chapters:

* How to Properly Line Up Your Fourth Putt

* How to Hit a Nike From the Rough When You Hit aTitlist Off The Tee

* How to Avoid the Water When You Lie 8 in a Bunker

* How to Get More Distance Off the Shank

* When to Give the Ranger the Finger

* Using Your Shadow on the Greens to MaximizeEarnings

* Crying and How to Handle it

* Proper Excuses for Drinking Beer Before 10 am

* How to Rationalize a 6 Hour Round

* How to Find That Ball That Everyone Else Saw Go inthe Water

*Why Your Wife Doesn't Care That You Birdied the 5th

* How to Let a Foursome Play Through Your Twosome Without Getting Embarrassed

* How to Relax When You Are Hitting Three Off the Tee

* When to Suggest Major Swing Corrections to YourOpponent

* God and the Meaning of the Birdie-to-Bogey ThreePutt

* When to Re-grip Your Ball Retriever

Early Retirement for Good Health and Longevity

2004-10-24T17:38:00.000+08:00

ONLY HUMAN: Early retirement for good health and longevity

By Rose Ismail New Straits Times, Oct 24 2004:

THIS could be complete tosh and irrelevant to the Malaysian situation.
Or it might change your attitude towards retirement. It has mine.The article on work and life span came through a good friend in the World Bank, which I am sure was not responsible for this intriguing piece of research.It carries a weighty title: "Optimum Strategies for Creativity and Longevity", and was the hard work of a Dr Sing Lin, a member of National Council of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, USA/Greater New York Chapter.According to the academic, pension funds in many large American corporations (e.g., Boeing, Lockheed Martin, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, etc.) have in recent years been "over funded" because many retirees who work into their old age and retire after 65 tend to die within two years of retirement.Many of these late retirees, he observes, do not live long enough to collect their pension money.Dr Sing Lin says statistics gathered from several corporations indicated that the longer you work, the shorter your life will be.If people retire at 50, their average life span is 86. If they stop work at 65, their average life span is only 66.8.An important conclusion from his study is that for every year one works beyond the age of 55, one loses an average of two years of life.The Boeing experience seems to confirm this: Employees retiring at 65 receive pension checks for only 18 months, on average, prior to death. Similarly, at Lockheed, employees retiring at 65 receive pension checks for only 17 months, on average, before they die.Dr David T. Chai, another academic, whom Dr Sing Lin quotes in his research, says the Bell Labs experience is similar to those of Boeing and Lockheed. Chai bases this on his casual observation from newsletters on Bell Lab retirees.Hardworking retirees apparently place too great a burden on their aging bodies and minds, such that they become stressed out, says Dr Sing Lin.This leads to serious health problems which will force them to stop work.With such long-term stress-induced health problems, they die within two years of their retirement.On the other hand, people who retire at 55 tend to live long and well into their 80s and beyond.Dr Sing Lin acknowledges that early retirees are probably wealthier or more able to plan and manage their health and career, and this is probably why they can afford to stop work and still live comfortably.His observations also reveal that many early retirees do not idle their way into old age. They continue to do part-time work at a more leisurely pace, which reduces stress.He concluded his research with this advice: Plan your career path and save enough so you can retire comfortably at the age of 55 or earlier to enjoy a long and happy retirement life into your 80s and beyond."If you are not able to get out of the pressure-cooker or the high-speed battleground at 55 and have to keep on working until the age of 65 or older, you will probably die within 18 months of retirement," he writes."By working in the pressure cooker for 10 extra years beyond the age of 55, you give up, on average, at least 20 years of your life."Dr Sing Lin’s theory probably has huge gaping holes in it. We certainly don’t know how smoking, eating, exercise and the genes we inherit will lengthen or shorten our lives. What about individuals who love the hectic lifestyle and whose identity is so tied up with his or her work? For this lot, retiring at 55 may just about kill them on the spot!Nevertheless, the underlying message from Dr Sing Lin’s research is downright depressing: For those of us who have no choice but to work beyond 55 — and quite a number of us fall within this category — we might as well forget about that dream boat or living our last days by the sea.And as we’re told, if the average Malaysian uses up his or her entire EPF savings within three years of retirement, most of us are just about sunk.Whatever it is, retiring early and having nothing to do (for a while) is an enchanting thought.If I retire at 50, I may live longer, but I certainly won’t have enough to travel the Silk Road, live and paint for several years in Alaska and build my kampung house in Masjid Tanah.And I would probably be skimming the poverty line till I hit 93.Still, the thought of being free of encumbrances, of not rushing to meet deadlines, of waking up and having nowhere to go, is sheer bliss, indeed.

Hari Raya Gathering on Saturday, 20th November 04

2004-10-17T14:27:00.000+08:00

Message from Zahar Samad, received on 17th October 04: -

LanK,

During a coffee chat in conjuction with the recent MCOBA dinner Datuk President suggested that we hold a family Hari Raya Gathering. It has been decided that this will take place on Saturday 20/11 since TS Salleh also prefers the date.

The family gathering will be held in the afternoon at Kelab Golf Seri Selangor as soon as golfers have completed their Hari Raya Competiton.

Rashid will look into the sponsorship issue and we need to get a few to handle the organization (golf/gathering) part - let's hope this will be the biggest ever gathering since the last at Glenmarie. Please inform those without access to e-mail.

Can u form a small committee & hold a meeting as soon as possible perhaps at your Nasi Lemak- boleh start aroud 10pm.

Salam,

Zahar

Talk about Golf

2004-10-17T14:03:00.000+08:00

Golf can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by whatever tickles your fancy ........ !

1. Golf ! You hit down to make the ball go up. You swing left and the ball goes right. The lowest score wins. And on top of that, the winner buys the drinks.
2. "I wish I could play my normal game...just once."
3. "Golf is harder than baseball. In golf, you have to play your foul balls."
4. If you find you do not mind playing golf in the rain, the snow, even during a hurricane, here's a valuable tip: your life is in trouble.
5. Golfers who try to make everything perfect before taking the shot rarely make a perfect shot.
6. The term "mulligan" is really a contraction of the phrase "maul it again."
7. A "gimme" can best be defined as an agreement between two golfers...neither of whom can putt very well.
8. An interesting thing about golf is that no matter how badly you play; it is always possible to get worse.
9. Golf's a hard game to figure. One day you'll go out and slice it and shank it, hit into all the traps and miss every green. The next day you go out and for no reason at all you really stink.
10. I play in the low 80s. If it's any hotter than that, I won't play.
11. If your best shots are the practice swing and the "gimme Putt", you might wish to reconsider this game.
12. Achieving a certain level of success in golf is only important if you can finally enjoy the level you've reached after you've reached it.
13. Golf is the only sport where the most feared opponent is you.
14. Golf is like marriage: If you take yourself too seriously it won't work. and both are expensive.
15. The best wood in most amateurs' bags is the pencil.
16. To some golfers, the greatest handicap is the ability to add correctly.
17. In golf, some people tend to get confused with all the numbers...they shoot a "six," yell "fore" and write "five".
18. Swing easy. Hit hard.
19. If you find yourself pleased that you locate more balls in the rough than you actually have lost, your focus is totally wrong and your personality might not be right for golf...it is also just a matter of time before the IRS investigates your business.
20. Why is it twice as difficult to hit a ball over water than sand?

MCOBA Dinner on 9th October 2004

2004-09-19T21:27:00.000+08:00

We have booked one table for the above dinner. More sponsors are encouraged like the previous year when Dato'Raj and Dato'A.Sani sponsored some tables. It looks like this year it is a bit quiet. For further news update on this matter, please refer to WooerLi at 019-280 4995.

Curry can stop Cancer

2004-09-13T13:36:00.000+08:00

Nosh a red-hot curry by ADELE WATERS

A TRIP to the curry house can stop you getting cancer, an expert said yesterday.He revealed turmeric the spice that gives dishes a distinctive yellow colour protects against leukaemia.It contains a chemical called curcumin which stops the cancer cells multiplying, a London conference was told.Professor Moolky Nagabhushan also revealed the chemical blocks some of the harmful effects of cigarette smoke and processed food.The scientist told the conference on childhood leukaemia that the condition is often caused by a sufferer’s lifestyle and environmental chemicals that can damage DNA.Prof Nagabhushan, of Chicago’s Loyola University Medical Centre, added: Our studies show turmeric in the diet mitigates the effects of some of these risk factors.Blood cancer rates have been rising for 50 years in the West but its incidence in Asia is much lower. But turmeric is not the only curry ingredient that can keep you healthy. Cumin helps protect against heart disease and coriander is known to lower blood pressure.

MCOBA Art Exhibition at PETRONAS Art Gallery, KLCC on 24September 04

2004-09-12T19:00:00.000+08:00

Message from Bab, received on 12 Sept.04 at 3.54 pm - The above art exhibition will feature works donated by our Tuan Syed Bakar. 50% of the proceeds from the exhibition will go towards MCOBA's Centenerary Fund. On Friday 24 September 04, Tan Sri Hassan Marican will officiate its opening at 5.30 pm. You are all encouraged to attend.

MCOBA Batch'68 vs '69 Golf Competition

2004-08-29T21:12:00.000+08:00

The above golf competition will be held for the first time between MCOBA Batch '68 and our Batch at Saujana Impian Golf Resort at Kajang, Selangor on Saturday, 2nd October 2004. Interested golfers from Jubli Intan 65 are requested to express their interest to participate by calling or sms to Roslan at 013-4070120 or 013-2020998, Rashid at 012-3737881 or Rosli Ali at 019-2804995.

Welcome to the Jubli Intan 65 Web Site

2004-08-26T01:10:00.000+08:00

This web site is exclusively created for the Old Boys of Malay College Kuala Kangsar of the year from 1965 (Form 1) to 1969/71 (Form 5/Upper 6).

Interesting articles and comments by fellow members of Jubli Intan 65 will be posted on this web site, including photographs of members and eventful gatherings. It is hoped that members will make full use of this website as a point of reference for us to know what is going on around us.

Thank you

LanK.