2013. New Year Ramblings.

Just went back from PKNS. Went there to celebrate new year by eating something fancy. So end up at KFC, tried the Percik Nasi Ayam. You know the 2 ketul ayam, 1 mankuk sup dan kuah percik. Quite okay la. Sitting and eating alone, had lots of time to observe other people.

This one's soup is bad. Mine is better.

The table in front of me was occupied by a single mum and her 2 children. She looks young, barely 30 maybe. Wore young people casual clothing. You know the seluar track, baju tshir and cardigan, tudung. Quite garang to her children.

Table beside me got 2 arab men with 2 children (a boy and a girl). They only ordered two sets of burger. The burgers went to the children, the 2 men just sipping the drinks a little bit. They talked happily. Cannot understand a word. 

After dinner I went jalan2 inside the mall. Went to the Syabab bookstore. Or more precise, islamic bookstore. You can find every kind of islamic books there. From simplistic islamic novels to the kitab2 arab apa tah. They even sell Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sahih Nisa. All full set. If i'm not wrong, the full set for Sahih Bukhari is RM4400. Sahih Muslim is RM2k something. Around those prices la. At least, thousands. Kitab2 Fiqah of course available too. 

What am I writing now? Haha.

In another 2 hours we gonna enter 2013.

Looking back at 2012, what had i done? A lot. Some very good, some okay2. Some very bad. 

Last year objectives? Some were finished, some are still dangling in front of me. And one of it is a very big objective, dancing in front of me. Mocking me. 

Damn.

Thought gonna go to Dataran Putrajaya to watch Sambutan Tahun Baru there. Want to see Hujan perform live. Long time since me join a gig you know. Miss those sing-along session and headbangings. Well, cannot go. Don't have transport to go and, this wednesday got exam. 

 

 Never got the chance to watch them live

Not to forget at the same time at Shah Alam got sambutan tahun baru islamik style. With nasyeed, ustaz2, ustazah, some artists-'born again muslim' and of course ustaz kesayangan umat melayu- Ustaz Azhar Idrus. Quite sure la the next days there will be posts mocking the government-tahun baru event at putrajaya. Itu event maksiat, kerajaan sajikan maksiat, bla3. Even the penceramah2 there tonight might say those things first on the stage, haha.

 

He looks like Serj Tankian. Don't know him? Go die now.

Don't know why but I don't feel anything special tonight. Maybe got exams kot, and still some more to cover.

Nevermind la, Happy New Year everyone.

Goodbye 2012, welcome 2013.

Restoran Melayu

Selaku student di UKM ni, saya kerap sekali untuk keluar dan makan di restoran2 kat luar. Be it fast foods or mapley or common restaurants, almost semua penah try dah. Kekerapan tertinggi? Of course mapley. Itu the best dan the most affordable one. RM3.30 can get u one plate of nasi lemak telur dadar and teh o ais. Murah woi!

Kalau restoran melayu, ada beberapa la kat sini yang sedap. Tapi....tapi.... there's always a tapi.

Restoran melayu ni...ada beberapa cliche yang saya rasa kamu semua pasti pernah alaminya sendiri. Saya amik contoh satu restoran melayu kat simpang empat jalan straight nak ke putrajaya tu (lupa nama jalan, haha).

Restoran dah besar. Orang pun ramai. Tapi...

1. Bumbung bocor. Kalau waktu hujan, ada 3,4 meja tak boleh duduk. Sebab air hujan menitis dari atas. Setengah orang kata 'ala rilek la ayaq hujan ja pun'. Ya rilek. Rilek la walaupun atas bumbung tu dan siling tu mungkin ada tikus-cicak-sampah-debu-taik cicak. Rilek je.

2. Tempat cuci tangan tak ada sabun cuci tangan. Even sabun ketul la paling leceh dan save cost- pun tak ada. Ruang basuh tangan punya besar, tapi sabun satu pun takdak. Dah tegur boss kedai ni (perempuan tua pangkat nenek), dia  macam terkejut (not sure honest ke tak) and the next time i went there sabun liquid dah ada. Tapi tu hal tahun lepas. Tahun ni, tak pernah ada. Dah habis, TAK RETI2 NAK REFILL.

3. Meja kotor. Bila ramai orang, pinggan dan cawan lambat gila diangkat. Kadang2 dah angkat, tapi tak lap meja tu. Tak cukup dengan tu, ada juga kotor debu dan habuk hitam. Especially meja2 belakang yang jarang orang duduk. Serius kotor. Sekali lap dengan tisu, HITAM TERUS. Lap dengan 6 TISU, MASIH HITAM.

4. Pelayan emo nak mampus. Ambik order macam nak gaduh saja. Tapi ini terhad pada sorang dua dari semua pelayan situ. Still, sangan emo ok.

5. Perabot (meja makan, kerusi) buruk dan senget-benget. Kerusi tu dah nak hitam dah. Meja melengkung2 tersenget2. Tak tukar2. Okay ada 5,6 meja baru design macam meja2 sesuai kat food court kat Mines. Tapi itu saja. Imagine, 6 meja moden and the rest (belas2 rasanya) are buruk2 punya. Serius pelik.

6. Kucing merata2. Ini klasik. Kalau restoran melayu memang banyak kucing. Untuk cat lovers tak apa la, diorang memang suka. Tapi yang cat haters? Atau just nak makan saja? Kacau woi bila tengah makan tiba2 kucing mai gosok2 kat kaki. Lagi power, lompat naik atas paha.

7. Boss. Ini pun problem. Entah kenapa saya tak berkenan dengan boss kedai ni. Duduk kat kaunter, duduk situ saja. Tak gerak2 dah. Sambil sembang2 dengan pelayan yang ada. Pastu tengok tv. Okay dia uzur kot. Dimaafkan lah.

Well...banyak tu. 7 points untuk satu restoran ni. Biarpun sampai 7th heaven dia punya problem, tapi saya tetap makan di situ. Why? Sebab masakan dia adalah the best dan paling sedap secara all rounder. Sesungguhnya rasa masakan tu penentu segalanya. Sedap, maka berbondonglah customer datang.

This all makes sense for mapley. Eventhough diorang tu takda la sedap sangat foods yg disediakan, tapi penuh selalu. Selain dari harga murah, the key is customer service. Sekali datang dalam 10 orang. Sorang anne datang. Amik order (kadang2 tak pakai kertas, just hafal saja) dan the next 5 minutes datang air untuk semua dulu. Next 10 minutes sampai semua jenis makanan yang diorder. Roti kosong, roti sardin, nasi lemak, kuey tiow kungfu, nasi goreng mamak, nasi putih ayam goreng kuah kari. All settle in 15 minutes. Dan tak lupa, anne2 sana tak emo. Dan selalunya mesra even though BM tahu sikit2 saja.

Tak semua restoran melayu teruk macam ni. Ada yang bersih, kemas, ceria, pelayan bagus, boss pun rajin. Yang bagus kita puji, yang buruk kita buat pengajaran. Nanti kalau2 bukak restoran jangan pandang remeh pada hal kecik macam tadi. Benda2 kecik ni yang boleh tarik atau halau pelanggan. 

Sekali satu group pelanggan datang dan suka akan restoran tu, dia akan heboh2kan pada kawan2 dia, family dia dan kat FB juga. Dari seorang, akan bertambah 4,5 orang mungkin. Dari 4,5 orang tu akan multiply jadi 30 maybe.

Kalau tak sedap atau kualiti restoran tu teruk? Dia akan heboh kat FB mungkin. Dia pastinya akan warning kawan2, family yang nak pergi makan di restoran tu supaya jangan pergi. And that's how you lose potential customers and money. Be aware ok.

Mistake.

We tend to have groups of friends. We take one simple example- a student in a university. Normally he will have groups of friends. Group A is football group. Group B is gamelan group. Group C is asrama group. Group D is coursemates group. Understandably he will have 'group preference'. What does it means? It means that he will more likely spend more time with one (or two) of those groups. The reasons are personal- those groups may be more funnier, or more hang-outs activity, or more serious and future-benefits, or whatsoever.

But in times of happiness and enjoyment, one tends to do mistakes. No matter how boring, how unproductive, how rubbish the group is he should never leaves the group. Be it intentionally or unintentional. Unintentional? How it could happen?

Well...he get immersed in one group for too much time and he started to turn down other groups activities invitations. Let me give you one simple example. 

Abu suka/rapat dengan group main bola dia. Almost hari2 Abu akan lepak dengan group main bola dia. Pergi makan, pergi karok, pergi tengok wayang, selalunya dengan group bola dia. Then occasionally seminggu dua tiga kali group gamelan dia akan ajak keluar makan, ajak lepak tengok bola. Tapi memandangkan at the same time group bola dia memang ada plan nak keluar, maka Abu tolak ajakan group gamelan tu. 

Group gamelan tu akan ajak untuk sekali. Then minggu depan ajak lagi. Then 2 minggu kedepan ajak lagi. Then bulan depan ajak lagi. Then tak ajak dah. Forever.

Can't blame group gamelan for not ajak-ing Abu again. Why waste energy (and money) to ajak him again if past record showing he 99% doesn't care about them?

And thus Abu had lost one of his 4 groups that he used to have.

Jadi pengajaran di sini, hendaklah kita menjaga silaturrahim antara kita dan rakan2 kita. Jangan dibiarkan lama tak contact. Yang penting sekali, jangan terlalu kerap menolak pelawaan kawan2 kita yang ikhlas nak bersama/bersosial/berukhwah dengan kita, biar sesibuk mana pun. Kerana sekali mereka makan hati, sekali mereka fed-up dengan kita, susah sudah untuk kita kembali.

And losing friends is not a good thing. You may suffer, when the time comes.

You may ask, why I take the pain to write this? 

Because I myself had done this mistake and I have no desire to enjoy seeing my friends doing this mistake.

Big Bad Wolf 2012 (He's Back!)

Book fair paling ridiculous dalam dunia sudah kembali. Big Bad Wolf is back! 

 

This time, venue dia adalah Mines International Convention Center a.k.a MIECC. Where is it? Okay just go to Mines shopping complex, there you'll surely see it.  The event started from 7th December to 23rd December. This time a bit longer than the previous one. Why? Because they got 3 millions books to sell. 3 millions. 3000000 books. That much yaw.

Upgrading from last year event, they created the Mission 63. Sales open from 6.30am on 7th December till 9pm of 9th December. Senang cerita, kedai depa open 24 jam untuk 3 hari. Gila baq hang.

And so as a big fans of books and BBW, my friends and I had planned to be the early birds for their opening sale. We managed to arrived at 650am and...bitch please. Hundreds of people were already inside. Gila betul. Make me wonder, "these uncles/aunties/abang2/akak2/lengchai2/lenglui2/macha2 ni semua tak pergi kerja ka?" Haha.

 

 Tanpa segan silunya

First day, first hour

This edition's books collections are more or less the same as previous one. The genres are aplenty. from 

1. Romance
2. Best sellers
3. Sci-fiction
4. Novels (adult/young)
5. Self help
6. Biography
7. Music
8. Art
9. History
10. New Age/ Religion
11. Reference
12. Games

Serius tak ingat dah. banyak lagi ada.

Personally for me, I am very satisfied with the books on sale. I found  books that interest me, books that i never thought could exist in the world, books that 'homagad tak sangka buku ni ada jual kat sini!'. There were some complains/feedback from the customers saying that this year's sale is not as 'exotic' as last year punya in terms of best sellers and series collections maybe. One of my friend said that there are not much of full-set book series as before. Well...maybe true. All I can say is...I found lots of Robert Ludlum's books there! Any tables that i take a look around the fiction area i will see his books! See I can even remember his full name! Why? Are his books so good? But I don't want to go there again like last time. Need to conserve my money.

About the event management...bravo to the pack (they the staff call themselve the wolf pack). Last year they didn't provide any foodcourt. No resting area after hours of standing around browsing books and paying them at the counters. No playground for children. No merchandises (caps/shirts/buttons) on sale. This time they improved A LOT. They really reflect and improved from last year. Hen hao! One complain! I don't think Mines/MIECC is a good venue considering the road to get there. Imagine, the only jalan nak masuk MIECC tu adalah one-lane road. Super duper extra combo jammed. Yes it is very public transport friendly but...sangat jammed ma... Honestly I prefer MAEPS halls, just like last year. No jammed traffic, no pusing2 cari parking and very spacious.

Oh one very important advice to all of you who planned to go there later. If you found a book that you really are interested with, just GRAB IT FIRST. Bawak sampai ke hujung, then do some screenings to pick the best. Again, kalau jumpa yang betul2 syok punya buku, BELI TERUS. Don't be like me. First day I found this one history books about battles throughout the world. It tells story about battles even from the B.C till the latest one (Iraqi Freedom). Oh what make it so special? The book stated the overall story, each sides preparations, the strength, the weakness and most importantly the step by step tactical flow of the battle. Very2 interesting. But sayangnya saya pada masa tu 'alamak rm20 la...nanti la beli lain bila datang lagi. Ni ada bertimbun2 ni, takkan habis punya'. Second day I went searching for it and it cannot be found. Anymore. Sedih. Rugi.

Anyway, bila crowd sangat besar, maka macam2 lah yang boleh kita tengok. Habit paling buruk yang customer2 ni tunjuk adalah lempar buku. Okay here's how they do it. Take one family la. A father, mother and 3 children. Mother grabbed 3 books, and saw another 2 books that interest her. She picked the books, flipped them for 2,3 seconds then throw it away. Yes, throw. Like saying "ehm this book macam best..let me see. *after flipping the pages* hm don't want la. this book is shit *throw it onto the table*" Bila dah throw, the books will fall to other books. If by any chance, they will fall down to the floor along with some untouched books on the tables. Lepas tu atas lantai takda sekor pun nak angkat. Then come another customer, dia pun nampak buku tu atas lantai, so dia pun buat taktik tak mau buku-lempaq saja atas meja. 

Memalukan. See, mostly yang buat perangai lempaq buku-tinggal buku atas lantai bawah escalator ni selalunya makcik2/pakcik2. Sorry to say but that's what i had been seeing. They just feel big and boss enough to arrogantly throw away any books they don't feel like buying, You know..the 'customer is always right' mentality. Always right my ass. Aiyo susah sangat ka auntie kalau nak jalan 30 meter pergi letak balik buku2 yang tak mau beli tu? What, cannot remember the table? How about put it in the right genre section. Just put it properly in the same genre one regardless of exact original table. What? So far away cannot afford to do? O orang dah buat event baik punya murah dan banyak buku you still got the arrogant feeling of not wanting to move and help a bit? Shame on you la, read so much books but got no ethics and morals. Stupid.

As if a heap of trash

From their (big bad wolf books) facebook page, you can see clearly some complaints that were put forward by the customers. Most are good criticism but some are just plain ignorant and kiasu. Some people if possible just want to lie on a bed with magical power that moves it while he lies and browsing those books and never want to waste enerygy beratur untuk bayar buku2 dia nak beli. Ini orang ar...sakit hati wo baca. Hahahaha.

Anyway enough of my ramblings. 

Overall, this event is a must go for any book lovers. Even the non-book lovers should go. Every book averagely is RM8 only, super bargain I must say. There are some Malay novels too but they are a bit outdated and old. The crews are very polite and helping, never miss a smile when dealing with customers. Those of you who planned to go, bring along your trolleys-baggage-kereta sorong. Or at least beg sekolah tu. You gonna need them. I saw various types of customer's buy. From 3 books to 5-6 boxes. Gila la wei. Ada yang sekali beli spend sampai thousands. Hundreds. Very ridiculous, but true. Wear the most comfortable attire. No need for sexy2 ketat2 daring2 punya clothes. No guys gonna peek at you at all. All their eyes were fixed to the books on the tables.

Well, below are some of the pictures of the event and the books.

 Bahagian masakan. Plenty of it.

 Interested to buy but...pass it.

 9gag army mesti kenal pose ini.

 Saja je letak sebelah2 kan?

 My books. Ok banyak ini saja. Cukup. No more books, I swear.

For the closing. Thousands and thousands (perhaps millions?) of people had flocked to this event. Surely that can debunk the once famous perception which say that Malaysians only read 2 books per year? Atau adakah mereka2 yang datang beli berpuluh2 (some of them-hundreds) buku ini cumalah trend follower?

 "Oh semua orang pergi beli buku la. Aku pun nak beli jugak la"

I still have untouched books from previous BBW sale, got no time to read all 20-30 books I bought before.

It doesn't matter as long as I keep on reading it bit by bit, page by page. Do it.

MAHA 2012

Last month start dari 23 Nov sampai 2 Dis ada event yang aku super suka. MAHA 2012. Malaysian Agriculture, Holticulture and Agrotourism International Show. Tempat? Macam biasa kat MAEPS Serdang. Lagi senang, dalam area UPM.

Event ni best sebab apa?

1) Ada bahagian jualan IKS (industri kecil sederhana). Macam2 produk ada dijual. Dari minuman, kuih, kerepek, kek, kepok lekor, nuggets, aiskrim, bla3, bla3~

2) Ada bahagian expo jualan barang dari international team. Iran, Korea, Jepun, Palestine, Indon pun ada. 

3) Ada bahagian jualan barang2 eksotik macam tongkat2 ali, akar kayu, madu raw, minyak aneh aku tak tau apa nama.

4) Ada bahagian expo dari government department punya agriculture macam RISDA, Perikanan, Pertanian, and macam2 lagi.

5) Ada bermacam2 food court. Yang paling awesome, satu foodcourt mega yang himpun semua makanan dari seluruh Malaysia.

6) Ada bahagian pameran ikan2. Ada tulang ikan paus paling besar di dunia (if i'm not wrong)

7) Ada satu bahagian tu macam Mini Malaysia punya chalet. Setiap negeri ada rumah pertunjukan masing2. Sangat cantik.

8) Ada pertunjukan haiwan2 veterinar dan penternakan. Meaning there are lembu, kerbau, kambing, rusa, kancil, arnab, ayam, kuda. 

9) Ada food court yang super awesome design dia kat area veterinar. Macam kat america zaman koboi.

10) Ada banyak makanan berasaskan kambing. KAMBING GOLEK, KAMBING BAKAR, BURGER KAMBING, LAMB CHOP. 

11) Ada banyak buah-buahan dijual.

Disebabkan oleh MAHA, aku baru sedar dan bukak mata bahawa sesungguhnya produk makanan IKS ni adalah SEDAP sebenarnya. Sangat SEDAP. Creative pun ada. Mak aku ada beli maggi segera yang dijual kat sana, dan ia memang SEDAP. Kek lapis aku tibai sampai 3, dan memang SEDAP. Sos 3 perisa keluaran Sudee pun aku beli dan ia memang SEDAP. Hairan aku kenapa aku boleh tak perasan brand2 ni kat supermarket. Ke memang diorang tak penetrate supermarket besar lagi? And thanks to this event, they can promote and jual sikit2 produk mereka. A little bit appreciation from me to the Government on behalf of my Malay sentimental.

One special candy that i bought from an Iranian there, sangat cantik woi! Dia punya crystallization dia sangat awesome! No wonder banyak student kimia kat UKM ni dari Iran.

Untuk bahagian haiwan, aku masih lagi kagum dan ternganga mulut bila tengok lembu2 dan kambing2 kat sana. Besaq dan gemuk2 baq hang... Dan of course, food court sana memang cantik gila, Dan banyak KAMBING FOODS i tell you.

Overall, aku pergi event kali ni sebanyak 3 kali. 2 dengan kawan2, sekali dengan family (my mum sanggup naik bas datang dari Kedah tu. Semangat). Memang berbaloi, cuma parking tu seksa sikit la. Sikit je. And boleh perasan improvement yang diorang buat banding yang previous punya event. Lebih organized, dan lebih besar. Tahniah untuk team MAHA (dan government). Terima kasih abah dan mak, din and kak mas.

Untuk yang tak pernah pergi (dan anda berada sekitar Selangor) maka anda layak dan patut untuk merasa rugi. Rugi. Rugi. Rugi.

Here are some of the pictures.

 Memang sesak. Tapi macam manapun still ada parking.

 Free tester memang banyak. Dan diorang cari kita ok. Bukan kita yang pergi kat diorang.

 Pintu depan untuk khemah yang jual produk IKS.

 Menanti Hazal siap solat.

 

 "Sajian Makanan Popular Malaysia". Very big i tell u.

 Depan sign board rumah Negeri Sembilan. Ni saja yang sempat bergambar.

Jambatan penghubung kat tengah2 Maeps. Wann berlaku comel di belakang itu.

Peta besar MAEPS. Seluruh area tu ada event. Gila. Dan aku rasa MAEPS lagi besar dari UKM.

 The view at tasik area rumah2 negeri. Very cantik actually.

 Second time visiting. With more friends.

 The magnificient Paytakh Candy. Iranian made. Sangat cantik woi.

 Ada awek ngorat Waida kat sini. Kami cuma melakon semula gaya mengorat dia.

 Syana yang layak untuk jadi model untuk advertising haiwan2. Very brave.

 Not sure wheter they are rusa-pelanduk-kancil.

 Ini adalah foodcourt pasang siap. Very elegant and stylish.

Menanti siapnya chicken grill dan lamb chop.

 Ini adalah sebahagian dari Lamb Shank yang arip beli. Memang raw dan rare.

 Waida dan Waida.

First time aku pegang arnab. Sangat fluffy woi.

In the future kalau ada lagi, dan aku memang berkesempatan masa dan jarak, insyaallah akan pergi lagi.

Palestine. Israel. War.

Isu palestine Israel ini sebenarnya adalah isu lama. Sudah 60 tahun lebih konflik israel-palestine ini berlarutan. Kalau dilahirkan seorang bayi pada tahun mulanya konflik ini, nescaya dia sudah menjadi atuk atau nenek yang mempunyai anak2 dan cucu2. Jika dia masih hidup, dia pasti berharap untuk pulang ke kampung halaman tanah tumpahnya darahnya. Jika sudah meninggal... harapan itu pastinya diletakkan pada bahu anak2 dan cucu2 nya...

Sejarah Awal

Pada asalnya, tanah Israel-Palestine tu adalah kepunyaan (majority) Yahudi. Di situ terdirinya dua kingdom yahudi yang agung satu masa dulu. And not to forget, Solomon Temple was erected there right at Jerusalem. But then the Jews became minority after the Roman empire invasion. By the 3rd century, the Christians were the majority. By the 7th century the Muslims were the majority...and now the Jews are back to their homeland. They formed the Israel state in 1948 which was blessed and agreed by the Western nations. From then on, they expand and expand and expand by the expanse of the Palestinian...

Jerusalem (satu dari daerah dalam palestine) is actually a holy land. A super holy land. Why? Because it is coveted by the three big religions- Islam, Christians, Jews. Bagi Islam, masjid Al-aqsa adalah kiblat pertama umat islam. Selain itu, di situlah juga terjadinya peristiwa Isra' Mi'raj. For the Christians,  there is the Church of Sepulchre where Jesus was crucified. For the Jews, there is Wailing Wall and the Old City. So...throughout the passage of time these 3 religions live next to each other...tapi tidak secara aman.

Jadi starting from 1948, orang2 yahudi serata dunia mula berhijrah masuk ke Israel. Mereka yang pada ketika itu adalah berkerakyatan negara masing2 (e.g England, Poland, Germany, USA, Spain, anywhere) diberikan kerakyatan Israel juga. National duality. Makin lama Israel semakin besar wilayahnya, dan Palestin pula semakin mengecil dan mengecil dan mengecil.... just like in the picture below which I'm sure a common picture you have seen in FB

Dihimpit dan Dihalau

Jadi kalau kita lihat pada peta masa di atas, obviously the Jews are expanding by the expanse of the Palestinian. Thus comes the question,

"Uih awat tequk sangat ni... pasaipa depa boleh membesaq sampai taqa tu? Palestine tak buat apa ka? Jiran2 depa keliling tu tak tolong? Bukan ke Islam tu bersaudara...?"

Surely the Palestine delegations/ambassador dah beberapa kali dalam meeting internationals hempuk meja sambil kata "Ini tanah kami! Apa hak kamu semua untuk sesuka hati buat negara lain dalam tanah kami? Ini satu kesalahan besar! Blasphemy!"...tapi it didn't stop the jews, or at least change anything. About the jiran2 Palestine..yes they did took part in the struggle. Oh firstly tanah Palestine ni dikelilingi oleh jiran2 arab dan mereka adalah Egypt, Syrian, Jordan, Lebanon dan Saudi Arabia. In history the arabs had some wars with Israel. For example, The Six- Days War. Allright lets talk about that war.

Ok perang ini dinamakan sebagai perang 6 hari sebab...ianya hanya selama 6 hari, haha. Yang berperang adalah Israel vs Jordan-Syria-Egypt. 1 lawan 3. Oh lupa, 3 sekawan itu juga dapat bantuan kecil2an dari lagi 9 arabic nations. Literally that brings up to 1 against 12. Kekuatan army yang dihidangkan oleh kedua2 pihak adalah menggerunkan. For Israel, 100000 troops deployed. Untuk Arab alliance ada 240000 deployed. That means the ratio is about 1:2.5. At the end, the casualties for the Arab alliance was 23500 killed while the Israel lost about 1000 of it's army. Though the ratio is quite balance for each side but the winner of the war was Israel. Yang mana akan buatkan kita hairan, celah mana depa boleh menang? 

The answer is: preparations, deceptions, intelligence and strategizing.

1. Sebelum perang lagi Israel's pilots and ground crews had trained extensively to increase their sorties number from 1 up to 4 times a day. So dengan ni Israel Air Force can do several attack waves to Egyptian Air Force. Not even only that, they even had rehearsed their operations for multiple times on dummy runways . All for perfection.

2. Tentera Egypt dah siapkan kubu pertahanan kuat pada Sinai. Egypt jangkakan Israel akan datang melalui jalan yang utama dan mudah. Tapi akhirnya Israel datang dari arah yang berlawanan (biarpun bentuk mukabumi agak sukar) untuk elak dari jumpa head to head. So...surprised attack. Panic to the Egypt defence there.

3. Perang pada Sinai desert adalah sangat meletihkan (panas, pasir). Jadi Israel arahkan untuk tambah supply air dari 1 liter sehari kepada 1 liter air setiap jam untuk setiap orang. So...energy tak berkurang, Egypt pula makin letih (kekal dengan 1 liter sehari).

4. Untuk perang dengan Syria pula, Mossad (israel secret team) hantar ejen2 rahsia menyelinap masuk menyamar jadi pegawai2 Syria. Dengan tipu buat2 kesian dan simpati, mereka (ejen2 tu) arahkan pokok ditanam pada tempat kubu2 tersembunyi untuk kurangkan panas bahang matahari army syria. And so, wujudlah landmark mudah untuk Israel bombers. Selain tu, ejen2 ni juga dapat maklumat2 rahsia macam laluan2 yang Syrian army tak prepare defense pun, so that Israel guna laluan2 tu.

5. Mossad juga ada spy2 yang berjaya kutip some embarassing personal information about some Egypt army men. Jadi, diorang blackmail insan2 malang ni untuk dapatkan lebih maklumat. Tak kurang juga dengan double agent. Egypt ada hantar sorang spy. Ditangkap israel, dan dihantar untuk jadi spy israel pula dengan mengutip maklumat dari pihak Egypt dan memberi maklumat palsu berkaitan Israel intelligence.

Casualties of War

See guys, when you enter a war, you should be cunning and smart. There's no guarantee a bigger army can win the war just because they got more men in their side. Like in Running Man, yang selalu menang adalah Ji Hyo right? Bukan Jong Kook walaupun dia badan besar dan kuat. Why? Sebab Ji Hyo ni licik. Buat fake alliance, berlakon depan orang, simpan key things baik2, berlakon lemah dengan buat muka comel, ambik kesempatan waktu semua orang perang cabut name tag. Haha...tiba2 masuk Running Man.

Banyak lagi kes2 penindasan dan pembunuhan besar2an yang dijalankan oleh Israel terhadap rakyat Palestine. Antara yang paling famous adalah Sabra and Shatilla Massacre. Kes ini adalah kes berat. I don't really remember the date but it's around 1980's camtu. Sabra and Shatilla ni adalah kem pelarian bagi rakyat2 Palestin. Dalamnya hanya penuh dengan rakyat2 biasa- men, women, boys, girls, elders. Hanya orang biasa. Tapi entah mengapa Israel menggila lagi. At one night tentera2 israel serbu masuk kem Sabra Shatilla. Merek bunuh Palestinian di situ. Tak guna pistol. Guna kapak, pisau, parang. Tak nak kejutkan team NGO atau penduduk di kawasan sekitarnya. Kejam. Saya ada baca dalam buku tulisan Dr Ang Swee Chai bertajuk Dari Beirut ke Jerusalem ( From Beirut to Jerusalem). Dia adalah antara witness kepada kekejaman tentera Israel terhadap rakyat Palestine. Dia ada melawat Sabra Shatilla sebelum dan selepas penyembelihan beramai2. Even team medical dia juga dibunuh sesuka hati oleh tentera Israel. Cari lah buku tu, bagus untuk up-close experience.

Retaliation Time

Apakah rakyat Palestine hanya berdiam diri saja melihat rumah mereka dirobohkon? Berdiam diri melihat bapa dan abang mereka ditembak mati di kepala? No. They fight back. They fight back with what they have.

From the civilians aspect, the most famous resistance they had ever upstaged was Intifada. Intifada ini adalah penentangan habis-habisan terhadap Israel. If I'm not wrong there were 2 Intifadas. First was upstaged from the year 1987 to 1993. 6 tahun tu, lama. Apa yang Palestinian buat waktu intifada? They boycott Israel products at the market, they didn't go to work, they make graffiti on the walls, they set up barricades...fight with whatever/however they can. Anda pasti familiar dengan gambaran rakyat palestin lempar batu kepada tentera Israel bukan? Ya itu mula famous masa Intifada.

 It's about sending a message.

Intifada ini telah mengorbankan 160 orang Israel manakala Palestinian pula kematian 2160 orang. However, about half of the 2160 tu adalah hasil dibunuh oleh Palestinian sendiri. Mereka dibunuh atas tuduhan 'spy' Israel. 1000 orang....banyak tu.
 
Dari segi ketenteraan, Palestine ada PLO-Hamas-Fatah. Merekalah pejuang2 negara, pejuang2 Islam yang dicop sebagai pengganas oleh pihak Israel. Tetapi Fatah dan Hamas tetap ada civil war mereka. Pada tahun 2006 Hamas dan Fatah berperang. Masing2 mengaku adalah the true representative of Palestinian. Akibatnya, tebing Gaza diserahkan pada Hamas manakal Fatah menerajui PNA (Palestine National Authority). Ini adalah satu yang memalukan. Really wasting time-energy-weapon-ammunition-lives. Israel sah2 tepuk2 meja gelak tengok drama ni.

Jews Are Ugly and Sadist People?

Rakyat Palestine terus dihalau dan ditindas oleh Israel. Sejak dari 50an sehingga sekarang, almost weekly akan keluar berita dalam paper yang 'X rakyat palestine mati dibunuh di pasar-hospital-sempadan-etc'. Kalau ikut pada facebook posts yang dishare, boleh kata hampir semua memaki hamun orang Yahudi. Post2 yang disertakan ayat Al-Quran yang menceritakan tentang orang yahudi bersembunyi di sebalik sejenis pokok~ ayat yang mengatakan bunuhla orang yahudi bila menjumpai mereka~ 

Full of raaaaaagggeee and hatred.

But let's stop for a moment. Apakah persepsi kita selama ini benar yang mana  kita percaya semua Yahudi adalah pembunuh kejam? Semua yahudi pandang bangsa lain sebagai goyim? Well... not everyone of them are like that. I believe that the Zionists are to be blame. The leaders in Israel government and army. They are the ones who planned things to do. They are the ones who created this mess first. If we look through their own rakyat jelata yahudi, we can't blame them too if they really really really hated Muslim.

Kita amik contoh seorang budak lelaki yahudi baru lahir kat Tel Aviv. Dari kecik dia dibesarkan dalam negara yang tertutup, penuh dengan dinding tembok besi. Occasionally akan ada roket2 yang sampai ke pekan dia. Bunyi alarm saja terus kena sembunyi meringkuk dalam safety bunker. Di sekolah atau di mana2 mungkin sekali dia diasuh bahawa Muslim itu pengganas. Apabila online maka lagi bertambah hatred towards the jews yang akan dia jumpa from the muslims around the world. Tambah2 lagi bila dia terbaca keratan ayat al-quran yang (lebih kurang macam ni) mengatakan bunuhlah yahudi di mana saja kamu jumpa. Can we really blame them if they all hate Muslims to the fullest extend?

There are Jews who has 'common sense' too. I've read stories about some of their army men who refused to serve in Palestine area, who refused the order to kill civilians, who got fed up with the senseless discriminations and killings and thus retire from the army. Not to forget, we can clearly see groups of Jews that do peaceful demonstrations around the world in which they oppose the oppressions and killings of innocent Palestinians and formation of Israel.

 

 Ada yang jernih. But few in between.

Whatever it is, Israel had killed, massacred thousands of Palestinian. Be it militants or civilians. That's a fact that they can't hide.

Boikot!

Last week, or last 3 weeks world got shook by the new attack on Gaza. Serang lagi. Kali ke berapa serang ni saya tak tau. Seperti biasa, seruan islam berkumandang baik di surau, masjid, suratkhabar, facebook mahupun pasar malam. Bantuan diberikan setakat yang mampu. Orang kata, kalau tak mampu pergi berperang, tolonglah setakat mana yang mampu. Maka keluarlah edisi boikot barangan israel...

Isu boikot ni sebenarnya adalah trending. Palestine kena bom? Boikot! Dah aman? Senyap je semua.... ok jangan marah ya tuan2 puan2, itulah kenyataan. Saya tak menghalang anda memboikot. Itu hak masing2 untuk memboikot atau tidak. Mungkin akan ada suara2 sumbang yang berbunyi,

"Hek eleh nak boikot konon...kalau nak boikot tu boikot la betul2~! kasi boikot semua la, boleh?"

Kemudian untuk defensif mode, jawapan yang diberikan

" kita boikot saja setakat yang mampu. sedangkan burung2 kecik pun bawa air guna paruh untuk padamkan api yang membakar nabi ibrahim..."

Haha...anyway yang saya hairan, kenapa mesti McD yang menjadi mangsa utama? Sedangkan kalau kita lihat dalam gambar di bawah ada berpuluh2 produk lain yang boleh tahan dominan nya?

Pick your favourites

Nevermind bout that.

Still, this boycott effort is, for me, useless. Why? Because almost half of what we have/use/eat are their products. It's not like their only international product is McD, if that's the case then surely they'll suffer from our boycott. But...they have hundreds of products. Not to say their import/export lagi... Ok 1 simple example.

McD. Saya tak tau pasal business, saya juga takda fakta apa sangat. Just andaian saja. Let say they have 200 sources of income through product selling/franchising. McD is 1 of it. Dan dalam 1 McD tu, Malaysia adalah 1 dari 100 negara yang ada network McD. So, kalau all Malaysians (termasuk Cina India sehati sejiwa) boikot McD, that means they lose....0.00005% of their income. Mungkin rasa macam semut ketik saja bagi mereka. Yang rasa tamparan hebat? Abang2, adik2, akak2, makcik2 yang kerja kat McD. Pengusaha2 tempatan yang pegang outlet McD. Orang Melayu, Cina, India kita. Mereka yang akan rasa sakit teruk, bukan the state of Israel...

Anyway, saya rasa kempen boikot tu fail teruk. Penuh saja orang pergi McD sepanjang Gaza dibom. Melayu Cina India semua ada. Hahahaha. 

Dulu, Kini, Selamanya...

Bumi Palestine tetap bermandi darah. Israel tetap megah beraksi di dunia. England football team pun ada pergi Tel Aviv untuk lawan bola dengan team Israel. Referee yahudi pun dah ada dalam Uefa Champions League. Facebook yang kita guna hari2 ni pun tak menunjukkan ciri2 lapuk. McD pun sentiasa penuh. Arsenal football club pun masih disayangi ramai. Coklat dan susu jenama Nestle tetap menjadi pilihan rakyat.

Kenapa mereka begitu besar? Kenapa mereka begitu berjaya? Bagi saya jawapannya cuma dua. Ilmu dan ekonomi. Dengan adanya ilmu, anda boleh generate economy. Dengan adanya economy, anda boleh kawal segalanya (well, not everything). Kita lihat bahawa orang Yahudi ini kebanyakannya adalah 'orang besar'. Bank2 dunia adalah milik Yahudi. Saintis pada zaman WWII juga ada banyak Yahudi di kalangannya. Even Albert Einstein itu Yahudi. Mereka rajin, mereka berusaha untuk mencapai matlamata. Pada masa silam mereka pernah dihalau dari kampung halaman sendiri, dijual menjadi hamba, dibunuh, dihina. Tetapi sekarang sudah terbalik. Mereka lah yang menguasai dunia. 

Oleh itu umat Islam juga wajar untuk ambil iktibar dari cerita orang Yahudi ini. Majukanlah ilmu di dada, tingkatkanlah ekonomi keluarga dan negara. Jangan pula kata kita hanya perlu balik ke ajaran asal Islam tetapi segala ilmu dan tanggungjawab duniawi terus dilupakan, mahu mencapai tahap zuhud tertinggi katanya. Umat Islam pada satu ketika dulu adalah maju ilmunya, maju peradabannya. Ketika itu Eropah yang berada dalam zaman gelap. Selepas itu Islam tenggelam dalam kegelapan. Kenapa? Kerana ulamak2 dan pemerintah2 pada ketika itu menekankan kepada hal akhirat semata2 dan melabelkan ilmu duniawi sebagai pembaziran masa dan pointless.

Baghdad House of Knowledge. During Islam's prime time.

Kita mungkin tidak mampu melawan Israel secara fizikal buat masa sekarang tetapi apa yang kita pasti mampu lakukan adalah menguatkan diri kita dengan keimanan dan juga ekonomi serta ilmu. Ingat, Allah tidak akan mengubah nasib sesuatu umat kecuali mereka berusaha mengubahnya.

Amin.

p/s: mungkin terdapat kesalahan fakta pada mana2 info, harap maaf dan saya alu2kan pembetulan. Kebanyakannya ditulis tanpa rujukan. Just write straight from my mind. Bottom line, nobody wants war. The whole world will perish if war keeps on repeating. 

"Why must we kill our own kind?"

Two Newborn Babies.

Two newborn babies in a hospital, lying on their cradles side to side. 

One from a poor family, one from a rich family. When they grow up, the rich baby will study at the highest quality level ever. Speak english in the house, got tuitions to improve the score. Enrolled in high standard school, further the study at high-class oversea university in UK. Speak like a Londoner, friends with europeans, dress elegantly. Come back home where the house is big and the life is luxurious, he enter business with some help from his father's connections/help. Got married to a girl from another rich family, datuk maybe.

While the poor baby has to help his family little business, selling kuih on the roadside. Study at normal sekolah kebangsaan and sekolah menengah kebangsaan. Due to part time work with family and maybe some irrational gang activities and maybe not enough encouragement to study hard, he will get just 'cukup makan' result. Thus he will not go for tertiary education. Secure a 'cukup makan' job. Got married to a girl from another poor family, and possibly same level of job.

Now both are men. The poor man lives in a low cost house, or rent house. Living in what people say 'kais pagi makan pagi, kais petang makan petang'. There's always a fear for money.

The rich man lives in a bungalow. Live luxuriously. Never ever a moment of worry for money.

Two newborn babies in a hospital, lying on their cradles side to side.