O p E d: Cerita dari Padang - Apabila maut dah tiba....

O p E d: Cerita dari Padang - Apabila maut dah tiba....

The Housing Story - Suspicious Neighbourhood

Today is already the 26th day of Syawal.

More than 50 houses I've visited both in Singapore and Johore.
Beside doing my rounds celebrating 'Aidilfitri to reaffirm relationship, we touched on general conversations of the latest happenings.

While Singaporeans are wary of the economic downturn and how their lifestyle changed, Johoreans are more concern with safety of one's property or family members.
Why not?
Conversations strike will be narrowed to somebody's house, a neighbour's house or a relative's house has been burglared  .

People dare not leave their homes empty far too long.
Even when neighbours are around and in their houses, house-breakings are rampant.

Once, mid-afternoon, I was sitting at the verendah of a house in Kampung Melayu.
I saw a girl climbing up a neighbour's house through a window after removing a few of the glass panes.
A man was waiting outside, sitting on a motorbike.

I told my host what had just happened.
The host told me that the girl's mother usually locked the door in order not to let her children out and the window is the outlet for them to avoid the parents' suspicions.

Only later at night that I knew the said house was wipe-clean of all valuables by the couple I saw when the owners were at work and their children were attending school.

Yes, I saw the incident.
But did I know it was burglary?
Not at all.
After the above explanation of the said house neighbour, should I still be suspicious?

After all, I did not know the house-owner nor ever seeing their children.

If only my host would practice to be a more concerned neighbour...
And the neighbour is friendly and acquainted well with the neighbourhood...
Undesirable happenings can at least be avoided...

The Housing Story - Moving The Households

Hello Singaporeans,

If you have rented out or sell off your flats and intended to stay in Johor, please, please, please

Do not let the Johoreans pay the inflated house-price at the end of the day because of your "rental in JB is very much cheaper compared to Singapore."

2. Do not take cleanliness for granted. Do not complain of uncollected garbage and litters all around you because here, Bangladeshis are not employed to clean the area.

3. Do not complain of taxi-drivers not turning on the meter or overcharging your fare because majority will ONLY have RM notes. They rarely have small coins with them.

4. Do not take safety for granted. Walking around your neighbourhood all by yourself at 8pm is a DIFFERENT experience walking alone at 12midnight in Singapore.

5. Do not make yourself another target of snatch-thief with your thick wallet opened in full view of shoppers.

6. Do not make yourself the most-hated neighbour in your neighbourhood with your bragging remarks: "Lifts in Singapore are always in good service." "Buses in Singapore are punctual." Remember, nobody ask you to move here. YOU chose to move.

7. When your kids warn you not to reprimand them with their declining school results because of the time consuming journey to and from school and the insufficient sleep, if you have their welfare at heart, for goodness sake, uproot your family and go BACK to Singapore.

8. When your spouse hinted of being left alone far too long hours at home, before a mountain can be created out of a mold, for goodness sake, uproot your family and go BACK to Singapore.

9. The purpose of staying in JB is to keep the family intact. But the children's education should not be compromised and the existence of spouse should not be ignored.

10. Ask around - opinions of Singaporeans who have stayed for a very long time in JB.

'Aidilfitri And Padang's Quake

The last post I submitted was on the 22nd of June and today is the 5th of October.
3 months had passed.

Today is the 16th day of Syawal. A month long of 'Aidilfitri celebration after a month of Ramadhan fasting.

Almost everyday in the month of Syawal, neighbours, family or friends paid me a visit or I go around home-visit them.

In the month where we celebrated with good food and forgiveness, my heart goes out to the people of Padang, Sumatra.

In the midst of joyful rekindled-relationship and visitations, suddenly... the earth beneath them shaken.
The roof above them befell on their heads and the shaken earth trembled their fearful heart, running around searching for safe ground and safe-shelter roof.

I called up a cousin in Batam, Indonesia.
They did not feel the tremor unlike in Singapore where it was reported that more than 200 flats were shaken though it was later checked and found safe.

Almost after a week of the 30th September 7.6 richter scale earthquake, that forced open the earth to almost 50 miles deep, our call to a relative in Padang is still futile.
There's nothing much we can do except to keep calling, waiting for the latest news and... pray.

This relative of mine has not yet seen the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow although her life is full of determination and she has had put in lots of struggle.
Living always in-fear in fighting-for-independent Aceh give her no choice but to leave behind her herds of cows and acres after acres of padi-field.
She traded them all, just to live her life all over again on the rich soil of Padang.
Tsunami had decimated all of what she left behind in Aceh.

She had just bought a piece of padi-field last month after her small hut by the sea and at the foot of a mountain was flattened by yet another earthquake prior to this.

And now... what is left behind???

Not even our anxious calls was returned...

Welcome Back

How time flies.

It was almost 5 months ago that I last made my posting. I thought I could squeeze my time to blog but I was wrong.

Preparation for my Daughter's wedding occupied my mind that I just could not focus on this blog. Even the network-biz that I do is put on hold.

Now that everything is back to normal, I'm trying to reconnect myself to the norm.

Last Wednesday, I went to Woodlands Point, Singapore, to adjust myself back to the networking world.
I was at a seminar in Hotel Selesa, Johore Bahru, with my prospect 2 days ago, on Saturday evening and was in Singapore again yesterday with my biz-partners at Orchid Country Club.

I warmed up myself with laptop by catching up with reading, saving and deleting the hundreds of untouched mails.
Although I'm zero about the terms and guides used in internet marketing, but that world really fascinates me. I can for-see the vast opportunity lying ahead. If anyone could volunteer his / her time and effort in showing me the path, I would definitely appreciate it.

It took me quite sometime to access to my account. I've completely forgotten how to do it after a very long break. I hope there'll be no more break even as the holy month of Rejab is approaching, followed by the busy fasting month of Ramadhan.

I've harboured this desire for a very long time: That I can spend the whole Ramadhan in Mecca. I have this faith that this prayer will be answered very,very soon.

Amiin Ya Rabbal 'Aalamiin...

Mind Reading

I read a lot about bipolar disorder. Although I did not fully under-stand the whole situation, but I always see them as people with an extra God-gift.

A man in his 20's resented me whenever he's down with the disorder. His reason - I influenced his auntie's mind being me as her idol. He can read others' minds and he saw me as a challenger to him. I've to reason to him why she had to be firm in handling situation like this.

There was once when he saw himself as a 'superman' and drove his sister's car into a private water irrigation canal. The other siblings had to fork out a fortune lifting out the vehicle, sent it for repair and reimburse the loss of the other's party income.

Once we were performing our haj in Mecca when he voluntarily pushed a number of wheel-chaired pilgrimers circumventing the Ka'bah for a few days continuously before he was picked up with great resistance for refusing his medication. Another surprise of his another gift was, he could converse in fluent Arabic when meeting with any Arabs.

On other days when he's normal, he respect his elders and would turn to me for advice.

A woman I know refused to stay in the mental institution claiming she's not mad as others. Her children will know when the disorder will come. Then they will place their mum with companions just to talk out her problems which she rarely did.

When the disorder hit, she sings rhythmic songs with a very beautiful melody. Conversation in time like this is like hearing poems flowing endlessly.

She knows what her husband did behind her back. Sometimes, she would relate all his doings without him telling her, while riding him on his piggy-back just to vent her anger at him. He would accept all humiliation without fighting back. Even the grownup children detested the father for ignoring their mother.

Once I visited a patient in Institute of Mental Health situated somewhere in Hougang, Singapore. The patients I saw there are all with a serene with no worldly problem-face.

The man whom I visited said, he saw many evil satans living around the water piping area. He cautioned me to be extra careful when nearing any watering places.

He was directly involved in an accident years ago but the court saw him as unfit to continue with the case.

Sad to say, all these people are under great surveillance and under medication to sombre their activities as they did not see any demarkation line to excercise control of themselves.

Why Smoke?

A wheelchair bound man told me, not that he wants to smoke, but he has to ensure that his hands are not feeling the emptiness of not holding anything.

I asked his wife if he really mean what he's saying. Her reply was, he used to smoke 2 packets per day but has since cut down to 1 and a half due to price increase and his pension of RM 400 per month is not even enough to sustain himself.

Coming from a family of non-smokers, I really did not understand why people smoke.

But since I knew this man from his bachelor days, I can see that his health is deteriorating. He married my friend after his ex-fiance called off their engagement due to an accident that paralysed him.

Yesterday, she bought another 10 packets of Indonesian cigarette for RM40 for a week's supply. It used to be cheaper before. RM37 only, she said.

What???
That's cheap you said? His monthly supply takes up more than 1/3 of his pension.
His food?
His medication?

My, my, my...
Can anybody clarify to me why people smoke?
Why cigarettes take over food?
Why cigarettes are more valued than health?
Is cigarette really makes a man more outstanding???