SPEECH BY KU LI

This was published in Malaysiakini. A speech made by Ku Li recently. I hope you dont mind sharing on our blog.

Thanks.

regards,
Adzimi


Race: Time for a new beginning
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah | Aug 9, 09 8:49pm

The opportunity to study abroad is gift. I remember my days as a student in Belfast so long ago. Now as then, overseas study gives us the chance to be educated at some of the finest, best established institutions of higher learning anywhere, and to be exposed to the best that has been thought and done, and to measure ourselves against the highest standards. It is an opportunity to see the world.
MCPX

Travel and living abroad takes us far away from home, but in doing so it also brings us closer to ourselves, and closer to home. Have you experienced this? Have you felt time and distance making you more conscious of how unique and precious the places, relationships, colours, smells and yes, tastes, of home are? Distance can help us see things more clearly. Home is such an immediate, dense and total experience that we often need to go away to see its contours. Home is such an emotional experience that we often understand it better in the coolness of distance. We sometimes need the elevation of distance to see the map of our own country.

I want to use this privileged distance that we now share, here in Melbourne, to speak frankly with you today about a matter that is usually so tightly wound up, so emotional, that at a national level we have not been able to have a rational discussion about it.

I want to invite you to look across this distance at the map of the life in common that we call our country. I want to look across the distance of fifty two years of independence, across changes over my own lifetime, to understand where we have come from as a nation and where we are going. My topic is race and racial consciousness in Malaysian life, and especially in our politics.

Race in the political life of Malaysia

Our social and political life is racialised to a degree seen in few other countries in the world. There are historical reasons for this. Malaysia was, at its birth, a country deeply divided along communal lines. We negotiated and attained independence with a power-sharing arrangement between the leaders of the three major racial communities as represented by the Alliance coalition. The agreement and cooperation of these leaders ensured peace and stability while we modernised our economy. The skill and integrity of these leaders, and their clear authority among their own communities was key to the success of this model, which is sometimes described by political scientists as consociational democracy.

This arrangement lasted only 12 years. After the traumatic riots of May 1969, we underwent a period of rule under the National Operations Council before Parliament was restored. The New Economic Policy was drafted and put into action. A new coalition, the Barisan Nasional, was put together to ensure that every community had a place at the table. Once more, the idea was to resolve conflict within a consociational power-sharing arrangement. Each community was to have a place at the table. Conflicts were to be solved between the leaders of these communities, behind closed doors. This arrangement was useful and effective for its time, but we have to wake up to the fact that it no longer works.

It is important to understand why:

It was never meant to be a permanent solution. Our method of racial power-sharing is primarily a system for resolving conflict in a deeply divided society. It was designed as an interim work-around, an early stage on the way to “a more perfect union” and not as the desired end-state. Over the years, however, we have put up barricades around our system as if it were a fore-ordained and permanent ideal. In doing so, we have turned a half-way house into our destination, as if we must forever remain a racially divided and racially governed society.

Instead, our ideal must be to become a free and united society in which individuals can express their ethnic and religious identities without being imprisoned in them. We must aim for a society in which public reasoning and not backroom dealing determines our collective decisions.

The power-sharing model that we started life with is an elite style of government justified by the virtue and competence of natural leaders of their communities. It needs special conditions. It does not work when political parties are led by the ignorant and the corrupt who have no standing in the communities they claim to represent.

It needs genuine agreement and cooperation between leaders who command support in their own communities and are universally respected. It will not work if the power-sharing coalition is overly dominated by one person and the others are there as token representatives. Our founding fathers negotiated, cooperated and shared responsibility as equals and as friends within a power-sharing framework. The communal interests they represented were articulated within the overarching vision of a united Malaysia. In the intervening years, as power came to be concentrated in the Executive, we preserved only the outward appearance of power-sharing. In reality we have had top-down rule and power has become increasingly unaccountable. Each of our political parties has also become more top-down, ruled by eternal incumbents who protect their position with elaborate restrictions on contests. Umno itself has become beholden to the Executive.

Our decades under highly-centralised government undermined our power-sharing formula, just as it undermined key institutions such as the judiciary, the police and the rule of law. Our major institutions have survived in appearance while their substance has eroded. Seen in this light, the election results of March 8, which saw the Barisan Nasional handed its worst defeat since 1969, was just the beginning of the collapse of a structure which has long been hollowed out.

The end of the old, but not quite the new

The racial power-sharing model now practiced by Barisan is broken. It takes more honesty than we are used to in public life to observe that this is not a temporary but a terminal crisis. An old order is ending. Our problem is that while this past winds down, smoothly or otherwise, the future is not yet here. We are caught in between. Despite our having become a more economically advanced society, with many opportunities for our citizens to express richly plural identities, our races have become increasingly polarised. Large numbers of our electorate still vote along ethnic and religious lines. Much of our political ground is still racially demarcated. Although we have made some progress towards truly multiracial politics, both the Government and the Opposition are largely mobilised along racial lines. It is not yet time to herald a new dawn. Instead, we are in a transition full of perils and possibilities.

You are this generation caught between. You are the generation of transition. You will play a key role in determining its outcome. However well a certain kind of politics of racial identity may have served to reduce conflict in the past, it has come to the end of its useful life. We need a new beginning to racial relations in Malaysia, and you must pioneer that beginning. We need to re-design race relations in Malaysia, and you must be the architects and builders of that design.

In coming to that new design I hope you take advantage of the perspective of distance that your overseas education has given you to not take as your starting point the tired answers that are passed on as conventional wisdom. You must reformulate the questions and come up with your own answers. When it is clear that one generation may have run out of steam, it is time to generate your own. Where do you begin? May I suggest some perspectives and principles. Whatever the answers we come up with, I think the following elements are important:

Begin with our common humanity. Respect our common humanity must override all lesser affiliations, including race. One of Islam's most powerful contributions to human civilisation has been its insistence on the equality of all human beings. Islam tolerates no notions of racial superiority or inferiority. All human beings are equal before God. That same principle of equality is absolutely fundamental to democracy, and democracy is a foundational principle of our Constitution. Democracy is part of what makes us who we are as a nation. Even if we might still gravitate towards racial groupings, our allegiance to these groups must never overshadow our allegiance to the Constitution, and to the claims of equal dignity that it establishes firmly and permanently. Political parties based on race or religion must never be allowed to do or say anything contrary to justice and equality.

We must anchor ourselves in the Constitution and restore its primacy. This founding document of our country establishes definitively the equality of citizenship that is the bedrock of democracy. It gives us the framework of law and order within which we become a nation. It establishes the primacy of the rule of law, the sovereignty of Parliament, the independence of the judiciary and civil service and of our law enforcement agencies. These are the institutions which guarantee the freedom and sovereignty of the people.

We should acknowledge that while race is a category that unites people in common feeling, it can also divide, and divide disastrously. While it unites people who possess a set of social markers it often divides the same people from other communities. We should appreciate not just the fact that we are diverse but diverse in different ways. What I mean by this is that we are not diverse in the sense of being merely Malay, a Chinese, an Indian, a Kadazan, Iban and so forth. Each of us inhabits these particular identities in different ways. Each of us is not just a member of a race. There are other classifications which matter to us, such as location, class, social status, occupation, language, politics and others.

Is race the most important thing?

We would be terribly impoverished as persons if our identity was given ahead of time and once and for all merely by our membership of a fixed racial category. I would be a very dull person if you could tell who I was simply by looking up my race. We would never have unity if that is primarily how we regard one another. If you reflect on yourselves, you might find that all kinds of identity matter to you: that you are a graduate of such and such a university, that you speak these languages, support this football team, enjoy certain food or music, love to travel, can write computer code, have read such and such books, and have so-and-so as friends. Just reflect on how you identify yourselves in your facebook profiles. Is race the only thing you regard as important about yourselves? Is it the most important thing?

To expect our politics to be given by our race is to make cardboard images of ourselves, it is to retard our growth as individuals and hence as a society. Similarly to see no more of others than their race is to turn them into stereotypes and maintain a view of the world bordering on racist. I want to urge you, as the makers of the new social landscape we need in Malaysia, to reject taking race to be a unique and fixed categorisation, to reject race as a central category of social and political life.

Race is a constructed category, in the sense that people shape what they count as a “race” according to time, place and purpose. There is no unique and rigid concept of it the way there is a rigid concept of buoyancy, double-entry book-keeping, equilateral triangles and photosynthesis. I would be offended if you tried to measure and determine my racial identity, and it would tell me that there was something deeply wrong with your worldview. I am not Malay in the sense in which water is H2O.

Race is merely one among many identities we take up in life. We may not have much choice over how others categorise us, but we certainly have a choice about the relative importance to place on our own and therefore on the others' racial identity. We have a choice in how much weight we put on it, and in how high in our scheme of values we put it. The contrast I want to draw is between the view that makes race out to be a unique and fundamental category, and a view that sees race as one out of many kinds of identification we could prioritise.

If we see race as a watertight category, then you are either of race X or not, and everything else: your habits, thought-patterns, loyalties and politics must all follow from that. Then race becomes destiny. The politics of this kind of conception of race will always divide, and the ultimate solution to intra-racial problems it leads us to is, in the end, violence. It is easy to identify the practitioners of this kind of racial politics. They will rely on veiled threats of communal violence even as they take part in democratic politics.

However, if we understand that racial identity is just one of many identities we have to balance, then it becomes our duty as thinking persons to set relative priorities on all these identifications. We need to ask ourselves whether we want to draw our moral values and perspective from our common humanity or from our racial identity. As educated, reasoning people, we cannot but find our common humanity the more fundamental value. We cannot but find rationally chosen universal values more important than inherited tribal affiliations.

The ability to root ourselves in our common humanity first and foremost is the prerequisite for the development of a democratic society in which policies are decided by public reasoning rather than determined by violence and manipulation. This is because open public reasoning can only be carried out where there is equal respect for the dignity and rights of all citizens, and such respect must be firmly rooted in an understanding that despite sometimes clashing interests and identities, we are united by a more fundamental common identity: that of a shared humanity created by God. Our common humanity gives us moral obligations to one another, regardless of our lesser affiliations in a way that racial identity does not?

Time to embrace the diversity

We need to arrive at new ways of mediating conflicting claims between the races, new ways of bringing people to the table, of including everyone in the decisionmaking process.

These new ways must be based on more open conceptions of who we are. Malaysia's major races have lived together not just for decades but for centuries. Their cultures have interacted for millenia. In that time there has been mutual influence, admixture and cross-pollination at a depth and on a scale that our politics, popular culture and educational curriculum has largely pretended does not exist.

In my own parliamentary constituency, jungle covered, far inland and one of the most remote in the peninsula (it used to be known as Ulu Kelantan and covered half the state, and when I started there I had to travel to it by boat), is a six hundred year old Chinese community, perhaps the oldest in the peninsula, living in peace with their Malay and Orang Asli neighbours. Why pretend that we do not owe so much to each other that we would not be ourselves without each other? At the level at which people actually live we are already inextricably linked to each other.

It is time to embrace this real diversity in our political and personal lives. Our racial identities are not silos in a cornfield, forever separate, encased in steel, but trees in our rainforest: standing distinct but inexplicable without each other and constantly co-evolving.

While giving room to whoever wants to organise and advocate political interests according to our ethnic and religious affinities, we must now, very firmly, assert that such affinities must always recognise the priority and primacy of our common citizenship, our equal dignity, and above all, our common humanity before each other and before God. First we are human beings who are open to one another.

My young friends, I am not recommending anything novel. These are cardinal principle of our Constitution and the faiths we profess, most especially of Islam, and of reason itself. Let us have the sense of perspective to see our ethnic identities against these cornerstone principles of religion and ethics, and let us now educate our young, apprentice our youth, and conduct ourselves according to these principles. And then let us have a new beginning for Malaysia.

The above speech was delivered at Melbourne University at an event organized by the Umno Club.

SELINGAN

http://producten.hema.nl/

HEMA is a Dutch department store.
The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands .

Take a look at HEMA's product page. You can't order anything and it's in Dutch but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens.

Don't click on any of the products pictured, just wait and see what happens. And be sure you have your sound turned up.

This company has a sense of humor and a great computer programmer
.

MALE & FEMALE USB PORT

male USB port

Female USB Port

BUKAK PUASA....

For discussion purposes....

TENTATIVE AKTIVITI BUKAK PUASA

tarikh: 5 September 2009
hari: Sabtu
jam: time bukak posa daaa
tempat: Rumah Hasnor a.k.a. Kasnor 505
Address: 16, Jalan 7/2F, Bangi D'7, Seksyen 7, 43650 Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor.

lock your diary...

Comment?

KUEH RAYA!!

Ada kawan kita buat kueh raya... kalau ada sesapa yang berminat nak check out type of kueh raya boleh download kat [sini]
Webmod

Seperti di katalog, ada pilihan untuk biskut yang diperbuat daripada marjerin buttercup, butter buttercup atau butter tatura. sila emel untuk maklumat lanjut/pertanyaan

kalo sedap ke, tak sedap ke, saya hargai jika kawan kawan boleh beri ulasan/komen. insya-Allah ini projek pertama dan harap dapat diteruskan lagi untuk tahun tahun yang akan datang.

tenaga kerja agak mahal, sebab mereka ialah budak budak ipt yang nak cari duit poket lebih.tak amek indon, sebab tak berapa yakin dengan kualiti dan kebersihan kerja. harap harga berpatutan dan tidak membebankan.

harap kawan kawan sudi buat tempahan dan buleh panjangkan emel ini kepada kawan kawan yang lain... buat masa ni, masih lagi tercari cari emel kawan kawan yang lain.

sekian, wassalam.

lina @ end july 2009
blue.cheesee@yahoo.com.my
--Katalog--

Buah cempedak di luar pagar...

Buah kurma di luar pagar...

Bawa tangga tolong amikkan...

Alang2 kat sini ada..

Saja aku nak tunjukkan...

5 CORPORATE LESSONS

Corporate Lesson 1

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings.The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next door neighbor.Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you $800 to drop that towel." After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 dollars and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.

When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, "Who was that?". "It was Bob the next door neighbor," she replies."Great!" the husband says, "Did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?"

Moral of the story: If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Corporate Lesson 2

A priest offered a lift to a Nun. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?" The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?"?The priest apologized "Sorry sister but the flesh is weak." Arriving at the convent, the nun went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, "Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory."

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Corporate Lesson 3

A sales rep and a administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, "I'll give each of you just one wish."

"Me first! Me first!" says the admin. clerk. "I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world." Poof! She's gone.

"Me next! Me next!" says the sales rep. "I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life." Poof! He's gone.

"OK, you're up," the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, "I want those two back in the office after lunch."

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Corporate Lesson 4

A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A rabbit asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long" The crow answered: - "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested.

A fox jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.

Corporate Lesson 5

A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, but I haven't got the energy." "Well, why don't you nibble on my droppings?" replied the bull. "They're packed with nutrients." The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Moral of the story : Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Nasib Melayu di bumi Melayu

Oleh : Dr. Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah Pensyarah Kanan, Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia Disiarkan: Utusan Malaysia, 26 Julai 2009

Saya tidak menafikan bahawa kematian Teoh Beng Hock perlukan kepada pembelaan. Saya amat mengalu-alukan keputusan kabinet untuk menubuhkan satu inkues dan suruhanjaya bebas diraja untuk menyiasat dan menentukan punca kematian Beng Hock. Siasatan yang telus dan rapi mesti dijalankan tanpa rasa takut agar dapat memuaskan hati semua pihak, apatah lagi pihak keluarga dan parti pembangkang yang begitu bersungguh-sungguh dalam isu ini. Namun, saya merayu, semua parti berkepentingan, supaya bersabar menunggu sehingga siasatan selesaikan dijalankan. Di kala itu, kita akan mengetahui apa yang benar apa yang salah dan siapa yang benar dan siapa yang salah. Selepas itu juga, kita boleh bercakap dan berkokok berpuas-puasnya mengenai perkara ini. Hukumlah mereka yang bersalah, tetapi jangan jadi Tuhan sebelum sesuatu perkara dibuktikan. Saya amat takut politik mahukan jadi Tuhan yakni dengan membuat andaian pelik-pelik, yang mana hanya Tuhan sahaja yang Maha Mengetahui sebelum sesuatu perkara dibuktikan.

Dalam menganalisis isu ini, saya teramat hairan kenapa tiga parti politik Cina MCA, Gerakan (BN) dan DAP, serta parti pembangkang Melayu yang lain begitu bersungguh-sungguh membuat pelbagai andaian dengan menuding jari kepada pihak-pihak tertentu, tanpa menunggu keputusan siasatan. Saya tidak nafikan ada yang tidak kena dengan cara SPRM mengendalikan kes ini. Namun, tindakan menuding hari ini seolah-olah memperlihatkan mereka mahu memenangi hati orang Cina, demi kepentingan politik. Lebih-lebih lagi parti-parti komponen seperti Gerakan dan MCA yang telah mula hilang kepercayaan orang Cina.

Ketua Wanita MCA mengeluarkan kenyataan yang lebih ekstrim mendesak Menteri Dalam Negeri supaya anak yang bakal lahir yang dikandung oleh teman wanita Beng Hock ‘dibinkan’ atau diletakkan status anak sah taraf dan bukan anak luar nikah. Sedangkan kita semua tahu bahawa mereka belum berkahwin secara rasmi atau telah bersekedudukan tanpa nikah. Bermakna, anak itu tetap anak zina atau anak luar nikah (anak tidak sah taraf). Berapa ramai lagi anak luar yang ingin kita sahkan hasil daripada hubungan luar nikah ini.

Sedarkah ketua wanita MCA bahawa betapa ramai gadis-gadis Melayu Islam yang menjadi mangsa (bersekedudukan dengan pasangan Islam atau bukan Islam, sama ada secara paksa atau sukareala) melahirkan anak luar nikah tanpa dibinkan kepada bapa mereka? Kenapa MCA tidak memperjuangkan nasib mereka? Kenapa MCA tidak pergi berjumpa Menteri Dalam Negeri untuk mengesahkan semua hubungan sumbang ini? Apa pun jua punca kematian Beng Hock, hubungan yang haram tetap haram, ia tidak boleh disahkan, hanya kerana insiden ini?

Jika ditakdirkan Gautama Buddha (juga Konfucius dan Lao Tzu) masih hidup, sudah tentu tindakan ketua wanita MCA ini akan dicela kerana ajaran Buddha (juga agama lain, terutama agama Islam) mengharamkan sama sekali perbuatan bersekedudukan (zina) tanpa nikah, apatah lagi sehingga melahirkan anak luar nikah. Saya masih tidak faham kenapa hari ini, terlalu ramai di kalangan kita suka menjadikan wanita sebagai mangsa dengan melakukan hubungan seks (sehingga mengandung) sebelum dinikahkan? Ajaran agama manakah yang membenarkan hubungan haram ini? Saya amat mengharapkan parti-parti politik Cina bertindak waras dan jangan terlalu ekstrim. Fikirkanlah hati orang lain jua bila mengeluarkan sesuatu kenyataan, terutama orang Melayu. Orang Melayu tidak kurang yang menjadi mangsa seperti Beng Hock.

Further reading, please click here

Bengong

Bengong betul kawan kita sorang ni.

Takde ribut takde taufan, tiba-tiba dia pergi berenang kat laut.

Lepas tu dia kayuh basikal pulak kat tengah-tengah panas tu.

Tak cukup bengong lagi, dia pegi lari pulak daaahhh...

Korang tengoklah sendiri...

APA YANG KORANG BUAT TIKA INI...

04:05:06 - 07/08/09
&
07/08/09 - 10:11:12

BCL BY ADZIMI

UTUSAN PUBLIC APOLOGY

CHECKLIST YEAR 2009

1. Sesapa yang ada muka buku a.k.a facebook, tolong join group MRSM Taiping 1994/1995, created by Izaidy Ismail

2. Sesapa yang masih lagi tak register kat ANSARA, boleh soft register kat http://www.actorg.net.

3. Sesapa yang masih tak register dengan ACT sebagai ahli, boleh kontek aku untuk borang. Sekarang ni ACT tengah cari member seumur hidup

Harap maklum.....

MAKAN-MAKAN DI KUCHING

GROWTH METER

TQ to Nalin for sharing.... >_<

EPL YAHOO FANTASY IS BACK!!

Dear geng;

Its the time of year again where we pit our predictions skills against each other.

I personnally cant wait for the season to start, last season was quite close so I predict this year the competition will be tighter plus now ManU no longer have CR sooo no more ridiculous points for those who had him in their team.

I dah create our league as per below, please create your team and join the group, although we played for no prize but bragging right is enough I guess hihi.

Name: tepen 9495
Group ID#: 4205
Password: ihsan

Oh 1 more thing, since there's some new signings and moving teams, I hope later maybe you can comment on new signing to watch, whether Owen will do great in MU, your prediction on early leaders etc etc.

Thanks!
Naz.

Site? Click [here]

BOAT PENAMBANG

bot tambang kuching, sarawak
camera: iPhone, editor: GIMP

IBU MITHALI

tq adzimi for sharing.. bit long, but worth reading PENERIMA ketiga berjalan perlahan-lahan turun dari pentas. Di lehernya, telah terkalung pingat "Ibu Mithali". Tangan kanannya menggenggam erat satu sampul dan segulung sijil. Tangan kirinya pula memegang beberapa hadiah iringan. Anaknya setia melangkah di sisi. "Sekarang ...," suara pengacara majlis bergema kembali, "Tibalah kita kepada penerima anugerah "Ibu Mithali" yang terakhir. Penerima ini agak lain daripada yang lain dan sungguh istimewa. Untuk itu, dipersilakan Puan Afifah Rashid naik ke pentas bersama- sama Cik Nurul Humairah, untuk tampil memperkenalkan ibunya. Dipersilakan. " Mataku tercari-cari pasangan ibu dan anak yang bakal mengambil tempat itu. Di barisan penonton paling hadapan, aku dapati seorang anak gadis berkulit hitam manis dan bertubuh tinggi lampai, sedang berusaha memujuk seorang wanita dalam lingkungan usia 60-an untuk bangun. Aneh, kenapa ibu yang seorang ini nampaknya begitu keberatan untuk naik ke pentas? Kenapa dia tidak seperti tiga orang penerima sebelumnya, yang kelihatan begitu bangga menapak naik ke pentas, sebaik sahaja mereka dijemput? Hampir lima minit kemudian, barulah tampak si anak gadis yang memakai sepasang kebarung bertanah ungu dan berbunga erah jambu serta bertudung ungu kosong, bersusah payah memimpin ibunya naik ke pentas. Ibu itu pun menduduki kerusi yang telah diduduki oleh tiga orang penerima sebelumnya. Anak gadis itu kemudiannya beredar ke pembesar suara. Dia beralih pandang kepada ibunya yang hanya tunduk memerhati lantai pentas. Pelik sungguh ibu yang seorang ini. Lagaknya bukan lagak orang yang akan menerima anugerah. Dia tak ubah seperti seorang pesalah yang sedang menanti hukuman. Duduknya serba tak kena. Sekejap beralih ke kanan, sekejap berpusing ke kiri. Tangannya menggentel-gentel baju kurung biru muda yang dipakainya.' Dehem si anak dalam pembesar suara membuat aku sedikit tersentak. Tumpuanku yang sekian lama terhala ke pentas, aku alihkan pada buku notaku. Aku menconteng-conteng helaian yang masih putih bersih itu untuk memastikan penku dalam keadaan yang baik. Kemudian, aku memeriksa kameraku. Filemnya masih ada. Baterinya masih dapat bertahan. Sempat juga aku mengerling rakan-rakan wartawan dari syarikat akhbar dan majalah lain yang duduk di kiri kananku. Nampaknya, pen sudah berada dalam tangan masing-masing. Mata mereka sudah terarah kepada ibu di atas pentas dan anak yang sudah pun memulakan bicaranya dengan bismillah dan, memberi salam. Aku tersenyum dan mengangguk kepada rakan- rakan wartawan yang duduk semeja denganku. Tetapi, senyuman dan anggukanku sudah tidak sempat mereka balas. Aku lantas mengemaskan dudukku mencari posisi yang paling selesa. "Pertama sekali, saya ingin memanjatkan rasa syukur ke hadrat Allah, kerana dengan izin-Nyalah saya dan, mak berada dalam majlis yang gilang-gemilang ini. Seterusnya, saya ingin merakamkan penghargaan saya kepada pihak penganjur yang telah mempertimbangkan mak saya sebagai, salah seorang penerima anugerah "Ibu Misali" tahun ini." Suasana menjadi sunyi. Hadirin memberi tumpuan sepenuhnya kepada percakapan gadis itu. "Sebetulnya, ketika saya kecil, saya memang membenci mak. Darjah kebencian itu meningkat setelah saya mendapat tahu Puan Afifah hanyalah mak angkat saya. Pada masa yang sama, saya merasakan sayalah anak yang paling malang, disisihkan oleh ibu sendiri, dan diperhambakan pula oleh mak angkat untuk membantu menjaga anak-anak kandungnya" "Membantu menjaga anak- anak kandungnya? Mungkin, persoalan itu sedang pergi balik dalam benak tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sekarang. Persoalan itu pasti akan terjawab sebentar lagi, apakala saya mempertontonkan rakaman video yang memaparkan kehidupan anakanak kandung mak. Sebelum itu, saya harus menegaskan bahawa anak-anak yang bakal hadirin lihat nanti bukan terdiri daripada doktor, peguam, jurutera, pensyarah, ahli perniagaan, pemimpin masyarakat, dan guru, seperti mana anak ketiga-tiga "Ibu Mithali" yang baru menerima anugerah sebentar tadi." Suara hadirin yang kehairanan mula kedengaran. "Inilah dia abang-abang dan kakak- kakak saya!" suara hadirin semakin kedengaran. Mereka tidak dapat membendung rasa kekaguman. "Yang mengeluarkan berbagai-bagai bunyi itu, Abang Long. Yang sedang merangkak ke sana ke mari itu, ialah Kak Ngah. Yang sedang mengesot ke ruang tamu itu, ialah Abang Alang. Yang sedang berjalan sambil berpaut pada dinding itu, ialah Kak Anjang. Yang sedang berjalan jatuh dari dapur ke dalam bilik itu, ialah Abang Andak." "Seperti yang tuan-tuan dan puan-puan saksikan, tahap kecacatan fizikal dan mental abangabang dan, kakak-kakak saya tidak sama. Daripada yang tidak boleh bercakap dan bergerak langsung, seperti bayi yang baru lahir hinggalah kepada yang boleh berjalan jatuh dan, bercakap pelat-pelat, seperti budak berumur satu atau, dua tahun." Hadirin yang sebentar tadi bingit suaranya kini terdiam kembali. Mereka menonton video yang sedang ditayangkan itu dengan khusyuknya. "Untuk pengetahuan semua, abang-abang dan kakak-kakak saya, telah menjangkau usia 20-an dan, 30-an. Namun, meskipun telah dilatih dengan sungguh-sungguh, mereka masih belum pandai mengurus makan minum dan berak kencing mereka sendiri. Lihatlah betapa sukarnya mak hendak melayan makan dan, pakai mereka." "Sewaktu saya berusia enam atau, tujuh tahun, saya sering mencemburui abang-abang, dan kakak-kakak kerana mereka, mendapat perhatian istimewa daripada mak. Saya iri hati melihat mak memandikan mereka. Saya sakit hati melihat mak menyuap mereka. Sedang saya disuruh buat semua itu sendiri." "Mirah dah besar, kan ? Mirah dah boleh uruskan diri Mirah sendiri, kan?" Lembut nada suara mak tiap kali dia memujuk saya. Namun, kelembutan itu telah menyemarakkan api radang saya "Tapi, mak tak adil!" Saya kerap membentak. "Mak buat segalagalanya untuk kakak- kakak dan abang-abang. Kalau untuk Mirah, mak selalu berkira!" "Mirah, abang-abang dan kakak-kakak Mirah tidak secerdas Mirah. Mereka cacat!" Berkali-kali mak menegaskan kepada saya. "Sebab itulah mak terpaksa membantu mereka." "Mereka cacat apa, mak?" Saya membeliakkan mata kepada mak. "Semua anggota mereka cukup. Kaki dan tangan mereka tidak kudung. Mata mereka tidak buta. Yang betulnya, mereka malas, mak!" "Mirah ... Mirah belum faham, sayang." Suara mak akan menjadi sayu tiap kali dia mempertahankan kakak-kakak dan abang-abang saya. Tetapi, kesayuan itu tidak pernah mengundang rasa simpati saya. "Apabila difikirkan kembali, saya merasakan tindakan saya itu terlalu bodoh. Abang-abang dan kakak-kakak tak pernah kacau saya. Mak pun cuma sekali-sekala saja meminta bantuan saya menyuapkan mereka makan atau menukar kain lampin mereka. Itu pun saya tidak pernah ikhlas menolong. Saya akan merungut tidak henti-henti sepanjang masa saya melakukan itu. Jika makanan yang saya suap tumpah atau jika abang-abang dan kakak-kakak terkencing atas tangan saya, ketika saya sedang menyalin kain lampin mereka, tangan saya ringan saja mencubit atau menampar mereka. Saya tahu mereka tidak pandai mengadu perbuatan jahat saya kepada mak. Ketika itu, memang saya langsung tidak punya rasa hormat kepada abang-abang dan kakak-kakak. Kepada saya, kehadiran mereka menyusahkan hidup saya." "Hantarlah abang-abang dan kakak-kakak ke rumah kebajikan, mak." Saya pernah mengusulkan kepada mak, ketika saya berusia sepuluh tahun. "Lepas itu, mak dan ayah boleh hidup senang-lenang macam mak dan ayah orang lain. Mirah pun takkan rasa terganggu lagi." "Mereka anak-anak mak, Mirah. Jadi, maklah yang patut jaga mereka, bukan petugas-petugas di rumah kebajikan." Begitu reaksi mak setiap kali saya mencadangkan hal itu. "Saya langsung tidak menghormati, apatah lagi mengagumi pendirian mak. Mak memang sengaja menempah masalah. Mak tidak menghargai jalan keluar yang telah sedia terentang di hadapannya." "Rasa geram dan marah saya sampai ke puncaknya, semasa saya berusia dua belas tahun. Pada hari itu, mak demam teruk hingga tidak dapat bangun. Ayah terpaksa ambil cuti untuk membawa mak ke klinik. Lalu, saya ditinggalkan untuk menjaga abang-abang dan kakak-kakak di rumah. Sebelum meninggalkan rumah, biarpun dalam keadaan yang lemah, berkali-kali mak sempat berpesan kepada saya, agar jangan lupa emberi abang-abang dan kakak-kakak makan, dan menukar kain lampin mereka." Suasana dewan terus sunyi. Hadirin masih khusyuk mendengar cerita gadis itu. "Itulah kali pertama saya ditinggalkan bersama-sama abang-abang dan kakak-kakak, selama lebih kurang lima jam. Jangka masa itu cukup menyeksakan. Kebetulan pada hari itu, abang-abang dan kakak-kakak benar-benar mencabar kesabaran saya. Entah mengapa Abang Long enggan makan. Jenuh saya mendesaknya. Abang Alang dan Kak Ngah pula asyik mencirit saja. Letih saya menukar kain lampin mereka. Abang Andak pula, asyik main air ketika saya memandikannya. Basah lencun baju saya dibuatnya. Kak Anjang pula, asyik sepahkan nasi dan tumpahkan air. Penat saya membersihkannya. " "Apabila mak dan ayah pulang, saya sudah seperti kain buruk, tubuh saya lunyai. Saya sudah tidak berupaya melihat muka mak dan ayah. Saya terus melarikan diri ke rumah ibu kandung saya, yang terletak di sebelah rumah mak. Begitulah lazimnya. Apabila fikiran saya terlalu kacau, saya akan ke rumah ibu untuk mencari ketenangan." "Ibu!" Saya menerpa masuk lalu memeluk ibu. "Kenapa ibu bagi Mirah kepada mak? Kalau ya pun ibu tidak suka Mirah, bagilah Mirah pada orang lain yang lebih menyayangi Mirah, bukan mak." "Mirah!" Ibu merangkul saya. " Kan dah berkali-kali ibu tegaskan yang ibu bagi Mirah kepada mak bukan kerana ibu tak sayang Mirah." "Lazimnya ibu akan membuka kembali lipatan sejarah hidupnya apabila situasi itu berlaku. Ibu ialah kakak mak. Ibu sakit teruk setelah melahirkan saya. Selama berbulan-bulan ibu terlantar di hospital, mak yang telah menjaga saya. Setelah ibu sembuh, ibu dapat lihat sendiri betapa gembiranya mak dapat menjaga seorang anak normal. Justeru, ibu tidak sampai hati hendak memisahkan kami." "Ibu telah berasa betapa nikmatnya menjaga tujuh orang anak yang pintar dan cerdas. Jadi, biarlah nikmat itu turut dirasakan oleh mak pula dengan menjaga Mirah. Lagipun, dengan menyerahkan Mirah kepada mak, ibu masih dapat melihat Mirah membesar di hadapan mata ibu, walaupun Mirah tinggal bersama-sama mak. Dari pemerhatian ibu, ibu rasa, mak lebih menyayangi Mirah berbanding dengan anak anaknya yang lain." "Sayang apa? Ibu tahu tak yang rumah tu macam neraka bagi Mirah? Ibu tahu tak yang Mirah ni tak ubah seperti hamba di rumah tu?" "Jangan besar-besarkan perkara yang kecil, Mirah. Ibu tahu sekali-sekala saja mak membebankan Mirah dengan kerja-kerja rumah dan tugas menjaga abang-abang dan kakak-kakak Mirah. Itu pun Mirah buat tidak sesungguh hati. Nasi mentahlah, lauk hanguslah, abang-abang, dan kakak-kakak kena lempanglah." "Mak adu semua kepada ibu, Ya?" Saya masih mahu berkeras meskipun saya tahu saya bersalah. "Mak jarang-jarang mengadu keburukan Mirah kepada ibu. Ibu sendiri yang kerap mengintai Mirah dan melihat bagaimana Mirah melaksanakan suruhan mak." "Saya tunduk. Saya sudah tidak sanggup menentang mata ibu." "Ibu malu, Mirah. Ibu mengharapkan kehadiran Mirah di rumah mak kau itu dapat meringankan penderitaan mak. Tetapi, ternyata kehadiran Mirah di rumah itu menambahkan beban mak." "Saya benar-benar rasa terpukul oleh kata-kata ibu." "Ibu rasa, apa yang telah mak beri kepada Mirah, jauh lebih baik daripada apa yang diberi kepada anak-anaknya sendiri. Mirah dapat ke sekolah. Kakak-kakak dan abang-abang Mirah hanya duduk di rumah. Mirah dapat banyak pakaian cantik. Sedang anak-anak mak yang lain pakaiannya itu-itulah juga. Setiap kali Mirah berjaya dalam peperiksaan, mak sungguh gembira. Dia akan meminta ibu tolong menjaga abang-abang dan kakak-kakak kerana dia nak lihat Mirah terima hadiah." "Saya tidak sanggup mendengar kata-kata ibu selanjutnya, bukan kerana saya tidak mengakui kesalahan saya, tetapi kerana saya benar-benar malu." "Saya meninggalkan rumah ibu bukan kerana berasa tersisih daripada ibu kandung sendiri, atau berasa kecewa sebab tidak mendapat pembelaan yang diharap- harapkan. Saya meninggalkan rumah ibu dengan kesedaran baru." "Sesampainya saya ke rumah tempat saya berteduh selama ini,saya dapati mak yang belum sembuh betul sedang melayan kerenah abang-abang dan kakak-kakak dengan penuh sabar. Saya terus menghilangkan diri ke dalam bilik kerana saya dihantui oleh rasa bersalah. Di dalam bilik, saya terus resah-gelisah. " "Mirah," panggilan lembut mak seiring dengan bunyi ketukan di pintu bilik saya. "Mirah." "Saya cepat-cepat naik ke atas katil dan memejam mata, pura-pura tidur." "Sejurus kemudian, terdengar bunyi pintu bilik saya dibuka. "Mirah dah tidur rupa-rupanya! Kesian. Tentu Mirah letih menjaga abang-abang dan kakak- kakak semasa mak, ke klinik siang tadi. Maafkan mak, sayang. Mak tahu Mirah masih terlalu muda untuk memikul beban seberat itu. Tapi, keadaan benar-benar terdesak pagi tadi, Mirah. Mak janji, lain kali mak tak akan kacau Mirah lagi. Mak akan meminta ibu atau orang lain menjaga abang- abang dan kakak-kakak kalau mak terpaksa tinggalkan rumah" Sepanjang mak berkata-kata itu, tangan mak terus mengusap-usap dahi saya. Suara mak tersekat-sekat. Saya terlalu ingin membuka mata dan menatap wajah mak ketika itu. "Mirah, mak tahu Mirah tak bahagia tinggal bersama-sama mak." Suatu titisan air mata gugur di atas dahi saya. Kemudian, setitik lagi gugur di atas pipi saya. Selepas itu, titisan-titisan itu kian rancak gugur menimpa serata muka dan leher saya. "Walau apa pun tanggapan Mirah kepada mak, bagi mak, Mirah adalah segala-galanya. Mirah telah menceriakan suasana dalam rumah ini. Mirah telah menyebabkan mak berasakan hidup ini kembali berharga. Mirah telah. .." "Mak!" Saya lantas bangun lalu memeluk mak. Kemudian, tiada kata-kata yang lahir antara kami. Yang kedengaran hanyalah bunyi sedu-sedan dan esak tangis. Peristiwa pada hari itu dan, pada malamnya telah mengubah pandangan saya terhadap mak, abang-abang dan kakak-kakak. Saya mula merenung dan menilai keringat mak. Saya mula dapat menerima keadaan kakak- kakak dan abang- abang serta belajar menghormati dan, menyayangi mereka. Keadaan dewan menjadi begitu sunyi seperti tidak berpenghuni sejak gadis itu berbicara. Setelah meraih kejayaan cemerlang dalam peperiksaan penilaian darjah lima, saya telah ditawarkan untuk melanjutkan pelajaran ke peringkat menengah, di sebuah sekolah berasrama penuh. Saya telah menolak tawaran tersebut. "Kenapa Mirah tolak tawaran itu?" "Bukankah di sekolah berasrama penuh itu Mirah boleh belajar dengan sempurna?" "Betul tu, Mirah. Di sana nanti Mirah tak akan berdepan dengan ganguan daripada abang-abang dan kakak-kakak! " "Mirah tak menyesal ke, kemudian hari nanti?" Bertubi-tubi mak dan ayah menyoal. Mata mereka tidak berkelip-kelip memandang saya. "Mak, ayah." Saya menatap wajah kedua-dua insan itu silih berganti. "Mirah ingin terus tinggal di rumah ini. Mirah ingin terus berdamping dengan mak, ayah, abang-abang dan kakak-kakak. " "Tapi, boleh ke Mirah buat ulang kaji di rumah? Pelajaran di sekolah menengah itu, bukannya senang." Mak masih meragui keupayaan saya. "Insya-Allah, mak. Mirah rasa, Mirah dapat mengekalkan prestasi Mirah semasa di sekolah menengah nanti," balas saya penuh yakin. Mak dan ayah kehabisan kata-kata. Mulut mereka terlopong. Mata mereka terus memanah muka saya. Garis-garis kesangsian masih terpamer pada wajah mereka. Sikap mak dan ayah itu telah menguatkan azam saya untuk terus menjadi pelajar cemerlang, di samping menjadi anak dan adik yang baik. Selama di sekolah menengah, mak sedapat mungkin cuba membebaskan saya daripada kerjakerja memasak dan mengemas rumah, serta tugas menjaga makan pakai abang-abang dan kakak-kakak kerana takut pelajaran saya terganggu. Sebaliknya saya lebih kerap menawarkan diri untuk membantu, lantaran didorong oleh rasa tanggungjawab dan timbang rasa. Gadis yang bernama Nurul Humairah itu terus bercerita dengan penuh semangat, apabila melihatkan hadirin di dalam dewan itu mendengar ceritanya dengan penuh minat. "Saya terpaksa juga meninggalkan rumah sewaktu saya melanjutkan pelajaran di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia . Di sana saya membuat pengkhususan dalam bidang pendidikan khas. Bidang ini sengaja saya pilih kerana saya ingin menabur bakti kepada segelintir pelajar yang kurang bernasib baik. Di samping itu, pengetahuan yang telah saya peroleh itu, dapat saya manfaatkan bersama untuk abang-abang dan kakak-kakak. " "Kini, telah setahun lebih saya mengharung suka duka, sebagai seorang guru pendidikan khas di kampung saya sendiri. Saya harus akui,segulung ijazah yang telah saya miliki tidak seberapa nilainya, berbanding dengan mutiara-mutiara pengalaman yang telah mak kutip sepanjang hayatnya." "Sekarang, saya lebih ikhlas dan lebih bersedia untuk menjaga abang-abang dan kakak-kakak. Pun begitu, hati ini sering tersentuh apabila beberapa kali saya terdengar perbualan mak dan Ayah." "Apa akan jadi kepada kelima-lima orang anak kita itu lepas kita tak ada, bang?" suara mak diamuk pilu. Ayah akan mengeluh, kemudian berkata, "Entahlah. Takkan kita nak harapkan Mirah pula?" "Mirah bukan anak kandung kita." Mak meningkah. "Kita tak boleh salahkan dia kalau dia abaikan abang-abang dan kakak-kakaknya. " "Mirah nak tegaskan di sini, mak, yang Mirah akan membela nasib abang-abang dan, kakak-kakak lepas mak dan ayah tak ada. Ya, memang mereka bukan saudara kandung Mirah. Tapi, tangan yang telah membelai tubuh Mirah dan tubuh mereka adalah tangan yang sama. Tangan yang telah menyuapkan Mirah dan mereka, juga tangan yang sama. Tangan yang memandikan Mirah dan mereka, adalah tangan yang sama, tangan mak." Kelihatan gadis yang berkebarung ungu, berbunga merah jambu itu, tunduk sambil mengesat air matanya dengan sapu tangannya. Kebanyakan hadirin, khususnya wanita turut mengesat air mata mereka. Gadis itu menyambung bicaranya. Tiga bulan lalu, saya terbaca mengenai pencalonan anugerah "Ibu Misali" dalam akhbar. Saya terus mencalonkan mak, di luar pengetahuannya. Saya pasti, kalau mak tahu, dia tidak akan merelakannya. Saya sendiri tidak yakin yang mak akan terpilih untuk menerima anugerah ini, sebab anak- anak mak bukan terdiri daripada orang-orang yang disanjung masyarakat, seperti lazimnya anak- anak "Ibu Misali" yang lain. "Lorong dan denai kehidupan yang orang-orang seperti mak lalui mempunyai banyak duri dan, ranjau berbanding dengan ibu-ibu lain. Betapa keimanan mak tidak tergugat biarpun berdepan dengan dugaan yang sebegini hebat. Tiada rasa kesal. Tiada rasa putus asa. Tidak ada salah menyalahkan antara mak dan ayah." "Maafkan Mirah sekali lagi, mak. Hingga ke saat- saat terakhir tadi, mak masih tidak menyenangi tindakan Mirah mencalonkan mak, untuk menerima anugerah ini. Mak merasakan diri mak terlalu kerdil lebih-lebih lagi setelah mak mendengar pengisahan "Ibu Misali" pertama, kedua dan ketiga. Berkali-kali mak tegaskan yang mak menjaga anak-anak mak bukan kerana mahukan anugerah ini, tapi kerana anak-anak adalah amanah Tuhan." "Saya ingin jelaskan di sini bahawa saya mencalonkan mak untuk anugerah ini, bukan dengan tujuan merayu simpati. Saya cuma berharap kegigihan dan ketabahan mak akan dapat direnung oleh ibu-ibu lain, terutama ibu-ibu muda yang senang-senang mendera dan mencampakkan anak mereka yang comel, segar-bugar serta sempurna fizikal dan mental." "Sebagai pengakhir bicara, sekali lagi saya ingin merakam penghargaan saya kepada pihak penganjur, kerana telah mempertimbangkan mak saya sebagai salah seorang penerima anugerah "Ibu Misali" tahun ini. Semoga pemilihan mak ini akan memberi semangat baru kepada ibu-ibu lain yang senasib dengan mak." "Sekian, wassalamualaikum warahmatullah. " Gadis itu beredar meninggalkan pembesar suara. Penku telah lama terbaring. Buku notaku telah lunyai dek air mataku sendiri. Bahuku dienjut-enjut oleh sedu- sedanku. Pandanganku menjadi kabur. Dalam pandangan yang kabur-kabur itu, mataku silau oleh pancaran cahaya kamera rakan semejaku. Aku segera mengangkat kameraku dan menangkap gambar secara rambang tanpa mengetahui sudut mana atau, apa sebenarnya yang telah menarik perhatian wartawan-wartanan lain. 'Bertenang. Kau di sini sebagai pemberita. Kau seharusnya berusaha mendapat skop yang baik, bukan dihanyutkan oleh perasaan kau sendiri.' Terdengar pesanan satu suara dari dalam diriku. Lantas, aku mengesat air mataku. Aku menyelak buku notaku mencari helaian yang masih belum disentuh oleh air mataku. Aku capai penku semula. "Demikianlah kisah pelayaran seorang ibu di samudera kehidupan yang tidak sunyi dari ombak dan badai. Sekarang, dijemput Yang Berbahagia Puan Sri Salwa Najwa dengan diiringi oleh Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Pemilihan "Ibu Mithali" untuk menyampaikan anugerah "Ibu Mithali" serta beberapa hadiah iringan kepada Puan Afifah Rashid. Yang Berbahagia Puan Sri dipersilakan. " Nurul Humairah membantu maknya bangun. Kemudian, dia memimpin maknya melangkah ke arah Yang Berbahagia Puan Sri Salwa Najwa. Lutut maknya menggeletar. Namun begitu kerana dia tidak berdaya menahan perasaannya dia terduduk kembali di atas kerusi. Melihatkan itu, Yang Berbahagia Puan Sri Salwa Najwa sendiri datang mendapatkan Puan Afifah, lalu mengalungkan pingat itu. Setelah itu, beliau menyampaikan beberapa hadiah iringan. Air mata Puan Afifah berladung. Tepukan gemuruh bergema dari segenap penjuru dewan. Sejurus kemudian, seorang demi seorang penerima anugerah "Ibu Mithali" sebelumnya, naik ke pentas bersalaman dan berpelukan dengan Puan Afifah. Bertambah lebatlah hujan air mata penerima anugerah "Ibu Mithali" yang terakhir itu. Renung-renungkan dan Selamat beramal...

GRAND OPENING OF BRAIN CHILD LEARNING (BCL) BY 506 ADZIMI

Dear friends,

We will be opening the Brain Child Learning (BCL) centre at Kota Damansara, a children mental fitness centre next weekend. This is the place where you can find out more about your children, their inborn characteristics and how you could utilize their inborn strength to help them excel further.

For the sake of our children, take this opportunity on the 2^nd August to find out more. Scroll down further for more description.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear parents,

Is your child suffering from any of these symptoms?

- Stressed out at school

- Not enthusiastic about learning

- Poor memory and concentration level

- Poor social skills and confidence

- Confused and not knowing where their inborn talent lies

Or, would you like your child to excel further by equipping them with the right life and learning skills that they are missing in school?

Let us work together with you to help them! We can help to:

1. DISCOVER your child’s inborn traits and characteristics
   
2. AWAKEN your child’s hibernating brain
   
3. UNLEASH your child’s hidden potential
   
   

Give your child the opportunity to excel by understanding their natural inborn talent.

We will be having our GRAND OPENING and first open day. Please come by to learn more. Block your calendars now!:

Date: 2^nd August 2009 (SUNDAY)

Time: Between 10am to 2pm

Address: 22-1 (1^st Floor), Jalan PJU 5/21, The Strand, Pusat Perdagangan Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya

See attached for map, or visit our website http://bcl-kd.blogspot.com for directional information.

Call or SMS now to 017-9752352 to register your attendance and be entitled for a FREE MyDNA fingerprint test. Additional free gift for the first 50 families to register their attendance on the day.

(MyDNA is one of the pioneers in fingerprint technology (the kind you see on the CSI series) to decode one’s inborn characteristics with more than 95% accuracy. Isn’t that amazing!?

Here is the map

LDP Puchong Jaya Interchange: Major crack line found

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Structure: Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong,

Location: Puchong Jaya interchange (Exit 1114)

Affected: Puchong residents (335,419 population)

Owner/ Management: Lingkaran Trans Kota Sdn Bhd

Design, supervision, construction and commission: Gamuda

Problem: Crack lines at bridge soffit

Corrective action: To Conduct Condition Assessment on Bridges Located along Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong by Evenfit Consult

Original info. click here

KAKI DALAM KASUT

By Dr. Mahathir Mohamad on July 20, 2009 5:58 PM

Source:http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2009/07/kaki-dalam-kasut.html#more

1. Di forum anjuran Gempita dan UMNO bertajuk Kedudukan Raja-Raja Melayu dan Orang Melayu dalam Perlembagaan Malaysia di Zaman Liberalisasi dan Globalisasi, saya ditanya oleh seorang pensyarah Melayu dari UIAM (Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia) apakah saya pernah fikir untuk meletak diri saya di tempat orang bukan Melayu (put yourself in the shoes of a non-Malay) bersabit dengan diskriminasi terhadap mereka di negara ini.

2. Saya percaya penyoal berpendapat orang bukan Melayu berasa amat tertekan dan kecewa dengan "ketidakadilan" terhadap mereka di Malaysia (oleh Kerajaan yang dikuasai oleh orang Melayu).

3. Saya tidak tahu samada penyoal ini pernah bertanya kepada tokoh bukan Melayu soalan yang sama iaitu perasaan orang Melayu akan keadaan di negara nenek moyang mereka yang mereka sudah jadi kaum yang secara relatif termiskin dan masih ketinggalan.

4. Jika beliau bertanya dan tokoh tersebut menjawab secara ikhlas, beliau akan dapati bahawa orang Melayu amat kecewa dengan kemiskinan relatif mereka sehingga terpaksa meminta-minta sepanjang masa dan juga ketinggalan dalam pelbagai bidang.

5. Mereka cuba yakin mereka adalah tuan di negara mereka tetapi mereka tahu sebenarnya mereka bukan tuan. Orang bukan Melayu yang menjadi tuan yang sebenar.

6. Kerana mereka rela berkongsi negara mereka dengan kaum lain, kaum yang berasal dari tamadun yang lebih tua (4,000 tahun) dan lebih berjaya, hari ini yang sedikit yang ada pada mereka pun hendak dipisah dari mereka.

7. Fikirkan hanya berkenaan Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB). Agihan kekayaan korporat dalam DEB ialah sebanyak 30% bagi bumiputra (walaupun mereka adalah 60% dari penduduk) dan 40% bagi kaum lain serta 30% bagi orang luar. Tetapi setelah diusahakan selama 39 tahun bahagian yang terdapat bagi mereka ialah 20%, sedangkan yang terdapat bagi kaum lain ialah hampir 50%, walaupun mereka hanya 26% dari jumlah penduduk.

8. Nilai harta milik bumiputra pula berjumlah 15% sedangkan yang baki dimiliki oleh bukan bumiputra disebabkan harta di bandar bernilai lebih tinggi dari di luar bandar.

9. Tokoh bukan Melayu yang cuba duduki tempat Melayu (in the shoes of the Malays) jika ikhlas, akan rasa kekecewaan Melayu melihat hampir semua perniagaan dan perusahaan serta kekayaan yang diperolehi darinya dimiliki oleh bukan Melayu. Segala estet rumah mewah juga diduduki oleh bukan Melayu. Sikit benar orang Melayu yang tinggal di estat mewah ini. Lebih ramai yang tinggal di kawasan setinggan.

10. Mungkin semua ini disebabkan kesalahan orang Melayu sendiri. Mereka tidak guna peluang yang disediakan bagi mereka. Ada yang salahguna peluang-peluang ini pun. Tetapi jika seorang pengayuh beca diberi sejuta Ringgit, apakah ia akan dapat berniaga dan berjaya dalam bidang ini.

11. Social engineering bukan hanya dilakukan oleh orang Melayu sahaja. Sosialisme dan Komunisme juga merupakan sejenis social engineering untuk mengurang atau menghapus jurang antara yang miskin dengan yang kaya. Mereka juga tidak berjaya sepenuhnya walaupun mereka mengguna kekerasan yang dahsyat. DEB dilaksanakan dengan berhati-hati tanpa kekerasan, tanpa rampasan dan sering dipinda apabila menghadapi tentangan dari bukan Melayu. Apakah persepsi orang Melayu terhadap DEB?

12. Lihat sahaja sejarah perjuangan Melayu. Pada Pilihanraya 1955, diwaktu mereka menguasai 82% dari kawasan-kawasan pilihanraya, mereka rela memberi sejumlah yang tidak kecil dari kawasan - kawasan mereka kepada kaum lain dan mengundi calon dari kaum-kaum ini sehingga menang melawan calon Melayu lain (PAS).

13. Kemudian mereka anugerahkan satu juta kerakyatan tanpa syarat biasa kepada kaum lain sehingga peratusan rakyat Melayu jatuh dari 82% kepada 60%. Siapakah yang lain yang pernah lakukan yang sedemikian?

14. Pada ketika itu nama rasmi negara ialah Persekutuan Tanah Melayu. Apabila Semenanjung Tanah Melayu dicantum dengan Singapura, Sarawak dan Sabah, perkataan "Tanah Melayu" digugur dan cantuman negeri - negeri ini dinamakan Malaysia. Dengan itu hilanglah identiti Melayu dalam nama negara sendiri. Tidak pula mereka tuntut nama-nama lain digugur.

15. Tidak seperti di negara-negara yang membenar hanya bahasa kebangsaan mereka sahaja untuk semua sekolah nasional, orang Melayu bersetuju bahasa Cina dan Tamil dijadikan bahasa pengantar di sekolah bantuan Kerajaan. Bahasa Kebangsaan (Bahasa Melayu) tidak menjadi bahasa kebangsaan seperti di negara-negara jiran dan di Eropah, Australia dan Amerika.

16. Dan banyaklah lagi korban yang dibuat oleh orang Melayu supaya kaum lain mendapat apa sahaja yang dituntut oleh mereka, demi keamanan dan perpaduan rakyat dan negara.

17. Apakah gamaknya perasaan tokoh yang meletak diri di tempat orang Melayu, terhadap semua korban ini? Apakah dia masih fikir yang orang Melayu harus korban segala-gala yang dituntut daripada mereka?

18. Dengan rencana ini saya tetap akan di cap sebagai racist oleh racist bukan Melayu. Tetapi kalau mereka sanggup menerima yang benar, mereka boleh banding korban orang Melayu pemilik asal negara ini dengan korban mereka untuk kepentingan negara ini.

19. Saya berpendapat jika negara ini hendak aman dan maju, agihan kekayaan dan kualiti hidup semua kaum hendaklah adil (fair) walaupun tidak sama (unequal). Janganlah hendaknya mana-mana pihak atau kaum tanggung beban kemiskinan yang keterlaluan, sementara kaum lain hidup mewah. Mengumpan sokongan dengan mengambil hak satu kaum untuk diberi kepada kaum lain bukanlah caranya - lebih-lebih lagi mengambil dari yang kurang berada untuk diberi kepada yang sudah lebih berada.

Princess facing Saudi death penalty given secret UK asylum

By Robert Verkaik, Home Affairs Editor

Monday, 20 July 2009

A Saudi Arabian princess who had an illegitimate child with a British man has secretly been granted asylum in this country after she claimed she would face the death penalty if she were forced to return home. The young woman, who has been granted anonymity by the courts, won her claim for refugee status after telling a judge that her adulterous affair made her liable to death by stoning.

Her case is one of a small number of claims for asylum brought by citizens of Saudi Arabia which are not openly acknowledged by either government. British diplomats believe that to do so would in effect be to highlight the persecution of women in Saudi Arabia, which would be viewed as open criticism of the House of Saud and lead to embarrassing publicity for both governments. The woman, who comes from a very wealthy Saudi family, says she met her English boyfriend – who is not a Muslim – during a visit to London. They struck up a relationship.

She became pregnant the following year and worried that her elderly husband – a member of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia – had become suspicious of her behaviour, she persuaded him to let her visit the UK again to give birth in secret. She feared for her life if she returned to Saudi Arabia.

She persuaded the court that if she returned to the Gulf state she and her child would be subject to capital punishment under Sharia law – specifically flogging and stoning to death. She was also worried about the possibility of an honour killing. Since she fled Saudi Arabia, her family and her husband's family have broken off contact with her.

The woman has been granted permanent leave to remain in the UK after the Immigration and Asylum tribunal allowed her appeal. The Home Office yesterday declined to discuss the case. A spokesman for the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in London said that he would call back but subsequently became unavailable.

Relations between the UK and Saudi Arabia have been strained in recent years and were brought to a head in 2006 when Tony Blair intervened to end a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) inquiry into alleged kickbacks paid in a multibillion military aircraft deal between the two states. The Saudi royal family was deeply concerned about the idea that the investigators might try o open up their Swiss bank accounts, it was alleged at the time. This led the Saudis to threaten to restrict the sharing of intelligence relating to terror activity if the prosecution went ahead. They also threatened to pull out of other highly-lucrative arms deals.

Last year, the House of Lords ruled that the SFO's decision to drop the corruption investigation into the £43bn Saudi arms deal with BAE Systems was unlawful. In a hard-hitting ruling, two High Court judges described the SFO's decision as "an outrage".

One of them, Lord Justice Moses, said the SFO and the Government had given into "blatant threats" that Saudi intelligence co-operation would end unless the probe into corruption was halted. "No one, whether within this country or outside, is entitled to interfere with the course of our justice," he said. "It is the failure of government and the defendant to bear that essential principle in mind that justifies the intervention of this court."

The Middle East state has been shrouded in controversy over oppressive policies against women and homosexuals. Secrecy surrounds much of the Saudi legal system, but in a recent report on the use of the death penalty in the kingdom, the human rights group Amnesty International highlighted its extensive use against men and women. Adulterers face public stonings and floggings and, in the most serious cases, beheadings and hangings.

The high numbers of executions in Saudi Arabia in 2007 continued into 2008. There were at least 102 executions of men and women last year – at an average rate of two every week. Amnesty is aware of at least 136 individuals currently awaiting execution.

Last week, Saudi Arabia's religious police were blamed for the death of two sisters who were murdered in what was deemed an "honour killing" by their brother, after the sisters were arrested for allegedly mixing with men to whom they were not related. The Society for Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia said that the religious police had arrested the two sisters, aged 19 and 21, thus putting their lives in danger. Their brother shot them dead in front of their father when they left a women's shelter in Riyadh on 5 July, according to Saudi news reports.

In 2007, in a case that shocked Saudis, a woman from Qatif was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison after being gang-raped. She offended cultural expectations because she was unaccompanied when she got into a car with a former boyfriend. The man had agreed to hand back a photograph of the woman who was about to marry another man, but as they drove along a street they were stopped and seized by seven men who raped them both. The woman was originally sentenced to 90 lashes but the sentence was increased when she appealed. Eventually, after an international outcry, she was pardoned.

In 2007, King Abdullah II of Saudi Arabia was jeered during a state visit to Britain as dozens of demonstrators turned out to protest at his country's human rights record.

Malaysia tersohor hingga ke UK

Di-copy+paste dari most viewed news of The Independent bukannya The Star.

A woman allegedly stabbed her husband for returning home late after watching a match between Manchester United and Malaysia, Malaysian Police said.

District police chief Abdul Jalil Hassan said the man had promised to come back immediately after the match in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday evening, but his wife was "very angry" when he returned past midnight, nearly six hours late. He said that the woman stabbed him twice in the chest with a kitchen knife and then took him to a hospital. The man was recovering in a hospital. Police have not decided whether to charge the woman with any offence.

Manchester Utd defeated Malaysia 3-2 in their first match on an Asian pre-season tour.

The hidden ugly side of Singapore

Vijay Kumar Jul 3, 09 6:48pm

Source: Malaysiakini

In between the glamarous buildings and shoppings complexes of this city state, there is huge suffering that the world has never seen. Something that the Singapore government or media will try to hide from the rest of the world. And this is the lives of 80 percent of ‘true’ Singaporeans who live in the republic’s Housing Development Board (low cost) flats.

I, like many young youths, went looking for a better future in this Lion City of opportunity, After four years of working experience in Kuala Lumpur. It was my first experience outside Malaysia and I was very happy to be offered a job in Singapore with a basic salary of S$3,500. Then, with huge hopes, I started looking for a master bedroom to rent being single. I finally got a master bedroom in Clementi for S$700 a month but only after being rejected by many other landlords for being Indian.

The ensuing eight- month ordeal that I spent in this HDB flat really opened my mind to what Singapore is for those who can't earn. It made me ask if this is the type of development that I ever wanted in my country Malaysia. This is the first time that I felt gifted to be born in Malaysia. Anyway, I lived with a family of three (husband, wife with one daughter) who rented out their master bedroom to me while they slept in the common room.

It was a three-room flat (but unlike in Malaysia, a three-room flat has only two bedrooms). I did not believe it was the master bedroom that I was staying in until I went into the other room and saw that there is no attached bathroom there. I was given a bed and a mattress and also two fans. Then I noticed that the couple with their daughter sleeping on the floor with a thin mattress in the other room. Not even a fan in that room. Both husband and wife are born Singaporeans and were employed.

It was after one month that I realised that the daughter was not going to school regularly and most of the time there would be a quarrel in the early morning between the father and daughter as there was not enough money to pay for the bus to go to school. There were times when the daughter was very sick and father had no money to take her to see a doctor. It was a real pain in the heart to hear a small girl suffering through the thin walls of this HDB flat. It was unbelievable for me to see this happening in this ultra-modern city.

It took me another two months to realise that what was happening in this flat was not an isolated case of urban poverty in Singapore. It was every where in those HDB flats. There was a Chinese neighbour (an elderly man) and his son had no money to get a taxi to send his father to the clinic for daily diabetic wound-dressing. I soon understood that poverty in Singapore transcends racial boundaries. The whole family of my landlord got a shock that I own a car in Malaysia. My landlord would keep pestering me every time I come back to Malaysia to bring my car over so that his whole family could go sightseeing in Singapore. In all my life, I never believed people in a developed country like Singapore would ever consider car ownership a privelege.

Three months later, one fine day, I came back home and realised that there was no electricity in the house. This time, my landlord did not have the money to pay for the utility bills. I was back in the Stone Age, using candles. This lasted for days until finally he borrowed money from somewhere and settled the bills. My landlord as a person I have known during that period never come back drunk or looked like a gambler. He had to pay for his mother’s medical expenses, that much I know. This was the time in my life when I learned what is was like to live in that poor quality HDB flat, drying clothes in the rooms and listening to what the couple talked about in the next room via the thin walls.

It was this time in life that made me to think, ‘Is this what I want Malaysia to be? For those who talk great or look up to Singapore's success, have they ever come and lived in Singapore like I how I did? Have you seen a HDB flat and how it looks like? Bring your whole family for a dinner using public transport and then rush to catch the last bus. Is this what a 10% growth rate a year is about that we want boast? Does this growth figures mean anything in the first place? Do we want to open our country to expats so that they can progress at the expense of our own Malaysians? Do we want to ‘progress’ to a level that even our children can't buy a house in our own land?

Last, I ask myself. Do we Malaysians look at GDP growth as the only measure to choose our government or are we much more matured than that? Achievement at whose expense?

MATHS AND SCIENCE IN ENGLISH?

You may have your own opinion, but this is mine.

Did the government made the right choice? 100% yes.

The decision to change the teaching medium from Malays to English for Maths and Science is a BIG FAT no for me. Why? Simple, teachers are not equip to teach in English (I think you may heard one or two stories on students correcting their eacher's grammar and pronunciation) and students are not English savvy.

I brought up in a rural area and I have encounter kids who are not well verse in Malay (formal) and how do you expect them to learn Maths and Science in English?

I would say yes to the idea if they implemented on selective schools especially boarding schools and schools around big city such as KL, JB, Ipoh and Penang. The trial should be conducted a few years before government can implement it nationwide.

During the time when everyone went to Baghdad to gain various knowledge discipline, those in Europe does not learn Arabic. However they have intelects whom command of Arabic is high to teach students in Europe. A study carried out by UNESCO on native students in New Zealand found out that native students excels when they are taught in their mother tongue language and not in English. Why are we forcing our kids with little or no command of foreign language for learning? We may shy them away since they find it hard to understand the teaching.

Our education system is flawed ages ago. Look what we have now, gifted and talented kids with very poor communication skills, common sense, ability of critical thinking because we are too examination oriented. The pressure is to obtain straight A's in exam. However exam should not be the ONLY measure in evaluating students to further their studies.

From the history of muslim intelects, they became a Muslim first only then they become mathematician, phillsophers, scientist, researcher, etc. Believe it or not, Ibn Sina findings in medical is just part of his hobby. His true passion is on agriculture!!

The challenge for us as parents as well as our government now is to encourage kids to pursue their passion and not following current trend. The intelects have the obligation to share their knowledge with others. Another steps on our language is to have more scholars in language, translating more intelectual books in Malay which we lack.

TENTATIVE AKTIVITI BUKAK PUASA

tarikh: 5/6 september 2009
hari: sabtu / ahad
jam: time bukak posa daaa
tempat: tba (ada few options tapi masih terbuka utk sesapa yang sudi nak volunteer

please lock your diary...


Opinion / idea / suggestion?

NEW RECRUITMENT....

Short one, Adzimi will be admin of our muka buku tepen group.....

So far ada 122 org dlm tu & aku rasa geng2 kita ada lebey dari 200++ yg ada akaun muka buku....

Keep promoting!!

MARI BELAJAR BAHASA INGGERIS

E after I but not after C.. e.g Retr(IE)ve, rec(EI)ve, ach(IE)ve, perc(EI)ve

ADZIMI's BLOG

Sorry, sekarang tgh bz melampau tak sempat nak update blog. But I owe Adzimi on this.

Guys,

Just wanna introduce my blog:

http://joinmeinmyweightlossjourney.blogspot.com/

Join me in my weight loss journey, and help me through this journey by giving your support.

POLL

Our first Marathonger??

Anyone can certify that they did the marathon before June 2009?

If no one owes up, then I guess I can say this:

It is with great pleasure for me to announce Nik Fahusnaza as our batch's first MARATHONGER!

Err.. the wrong spelling is intentional. Not becoz I ate too much keropok lekor. It's plainly becoz I just like to humour things :)

My apprentice(cewah perasan nak mampos) is a marathonger in his own right! Read the details here.

So now my apprentice sudah jadi my sifu. So Sifu, sila beri tunjuk ajar macam mana lu buleh tahan lama.. hahahaha.. Gua sangat tabik sama lu!

p/s: Nik was in the same homeroom as me, Intan D. 10 points to Intan D for having a marthonger in its list of achievements!

pp/s: Nik, nanti kita bertanding pulak, siapa jadi Ironman dulu, OK? Well done, dude. Although organizer kekurangan air along the route, you did it and you made us proud!