Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Hj. Ahmad Termizi bin Mat Nor

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My dear beloved Father – Apak, to all his children – passed away last Sunday.

Al-Fatihah

buat

HJ. AHMAD TERMIZI BIN MAT NOR

Lahir 1.3.1936
Kembali ke rahmatullah 26.10.2008


Kembalilah ke sisi Penciptamu duhai Ayahandaku
Sesungguhnya kami akan mengikutimu
Engkau adalah orang yang terdahulu dari kami
Dan kami pasti akan menyusuli

Engkau sentiasa di dalam ingatan kami
Dalam ingatan anakanda, cucu serta semua keturunanmu

Diiringi do’a

Ya ALlah, Ya Tuhanku
Muliakanlah kedudukan Ayahanda kami
Gandakanlah pahala amalan-amalan beliau
Ampunilah segala dosa-dosa beliau

Ya ALlah, Ya Tuhanku
Cucuri rahmat ke atas roh beliau
Tempatkan beliau di kalangan orang-orang yang Engkau kasihi
Dan di kalangan orang-orang yang Soleh.

Amiin

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Pesta Bola Merdeka: Lawak antarabangsa

The good old days



In case you hadn’t noticed yet, this year’s edition of Pesta Bola Merdeka kicked off last Wednesday, 15th of October.

And have you looked at the list of countries that the FAM has invited to participate? If you ask me, quite honestly, it’s a disgrace to the name and memory attached to this (formerly) grand dame of Asian football tournament which was mooted to commemorate the birth of our nation.

The countries that made it to the FAM list are nothing but minnows of footballing nations ranked below 100 in the official FIFA ranking. The highest ranked is Mozambique at 100. The rest are as follows: Sierra Leone (133), Myanmar (157), Vietnam (165), Nepal (175), Bangladesh (179) and Afghanistan (179).

Its a joke!

But with Malaysia being at number 160, I guess one could see where this list is coming from. The FAM is desperate for wins. After all aren’t we the defending champions?

FAM, did you know that Abraham Lincoln once said: You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time?

Malaysian football fans are more knowledgeable nowadays. If you want our support then be more professional in managing our football and bring it to a higher level. You cannot gain respect and support by us beating nations like war-torn Afghanistan in a football match.

Come on la FAM, get real will ya’.


Sunday, October 12, 2008

Raya open house


Hari Raya open house, they say, is a Malaysian tradition. I guess its true. In Arab countries the celebration is decidedly very low key. Except for a small family feast, it more or less ends after the solat Aidil Fitri. My brother-in-law, Latif, who is working in Saudi Arabia told me over the phone that they only get one day official holiday there.

I held my open house yesterday. Just a small one, and nothing too fancy. For me, my priority for holding an open house is mainly friendship and silaturrahim.

Of course the food is there to be enjoyed too. Now, that's very important. After all, one wouldn't want a large group of guests with rumbling, empty stomach to congregate in one's house for too long. They might get riotous and take over the house !

But, most of all, the open house is a means for me to say thank you to my office colleagues for all their help and support at work, a chance meet up with old friends, as well as, an opportunity for me to have long chats with neighbours - a luxury for us (supposedly very busy) town people.

Alhamdulillah many turned up, and the event went without too much glitches. My only concern was that - at the peak of the event - I couldn't manage to speak for long with everybody. And secondly, at one point, my small house LOOKED just like it, i.e. a very small house which cannot hold that many people at one time.

But these are small matters which might be rectified with a little bit more planning.

Thank you to all those who attended and helped made it a memorable experience.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Of wet Raya and new biras

Alhamdulillah my family and I are safely back home from Raya celebration at the kampong.

My two sons, Syafiq and Anas, have also been sent back to their boarding schools today. But not after an arduous eight hour journey through heavy traffic jams and rain. They could have taken the public transport, or take a lift with some of their friend's parents. But, a man's got to do what a man's got to do. And their safe journey back to school is the most important thing to me. So I shall endure even worst challenges if necessary.

This year's Hari Raya celebration has been low-key, but a joyful and happy one nevertheless.

The first day of Raya we were in Sungai Petani, the Mem Besar's kampong. It rained and rained till water seeped through into my old car and wet the carpet inside - must be leaking somewhere!

But right after solat Aidil Fitri the rain stopped and out came the sunshine with all its glory. Subhanallah.

It has been quite sometime since we last celebrated first day of Raya in Sungai Petani. So it's a nice change. Plus, this year I got to celebrate it with two new "biras" (two of three that I shall have by end of this year).

One of them is a fan of English soccer, although not a Liverpool supporter I must say. Mamat told me that he supports Arsenal. Okay...I can live with that. As long as its not another one of those Man United guys, we'll get along fine :-)

On the second day of Raya I was in Ipoh with my parents and siblings.

We did not travel much because Apak is not doing too well. He can't walk that much due to his weakening legs and he also tires easily. So we stayed at home and received visitors instead, including one from a Pakistani friend of mine now teaching at the Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Tronoh.

But on the third day of Raya my siblings and I managed to make a convoy to six houses in and around Ipoh. These were visits to close relatives, some of whom we have not met for almost a decade.

To me, nowadays, this is what Aidil Fitri is all about. It is the occasion and opportunity to visit relatives and strengthen the bonds that exist between family and friends. Long gone are the days when Aidil Fitri is the time when I would don my new baju raya and make the rounds kutip duit Raya. That I leave it to my children now.

But I hope and pray that when their time come, my children too will hold up this tradition of visiting relatives - and friends of mine - in the name of establishing and strengthening silaturrahim.

Selamat Hari Raya and do not forget to start your Puasa Enam.

AZMAN AHMAD TERMIZI: 12 Januari 1964 - 30 Julai 2022

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