Fresh New Pictures

After being out of KL working life for almost 4 years now, I kinda misssed the hustle and bustle of the city. I went to a seminar at KLCC today. Not wanting to spend loads on the parking, I chose to go by LRT, like those good 'ol days ;).

It still have the same coaches ( no pink ones..hehehe..) They still have the free copy of The Sun at the station, but now there is additional Chinese daily (not the famous one though) and also Malay Mail. I saw more stalls in the morning selling variety of kuih (tapi tak sedap...)

It was raining on the way back, so there is still people making money out of the weather, few Indonesian ladies stood by selling RM5 umbrellas. The crowd are pretty much still the same, although I may say that most of the commuters are getting more civilised, having patiently waited for the people to come out before rushing to board the train.

Somehow on the way back, I caught myself eaves dropping a conversation between two patrons. (not really eavesdropping, as they made no intention to have the conversation privately..) It was between an old Malay man (maybe in late 50s going to 60s) and a Chinese school boy. The man was asking for direction and the boy explains on how to get where was asked. Somehow they start to have a little chat. Some of the gist that I caught was the boy telling the old man about his mother and a younger siblings. How he kinda fought with the mum and how he have to do most of the work (I think). And the old man start sharing his wisdom, in a way giving advice to the boy, on how to deal with the mum. There were quite few things mentioned but I have forgotten some of it.

The sweet thing is, the boy and the man can really talk and to make a teenager opens up and talk about their problem is not easy. I have been there once, we are more comfortable seeking advise from someone that knows no better, our own friends. Some parents could not really talk to their kids and always ends up blaming the rebellious teens for all the things that goes wrong.

I was seeing a very right picture on how our society supposed to function, the old guiding the young, irregardless what races we are, because we are all human, we need each other. And the fact that this boy can talk and take advise (at least that is what I see) from a total stranger is really refreshing.

I really hope I can be like that, where people can talk to me, and we can all talk to each other.

A Little Bit of This.....

Its been a while I have written, despite that I have so many things to talk about.

I watched the 2 eposides of History Channel special on Tun Dr M last Sunday. He will always be my favorite PM of all time and definitely best leader after Prophet Muhammad PBUH. My respect for him is even more than before after seeing the documentary. Despite all the allegation that were thrown to him, I believe that all the things that he have done for Malaysia are for the people's best interest, although people themselves did not acknowledge it. He is a no-nonsense person and speaks from the heart.

Maybe there are things that he did wrong, but hey, he is human to you know, and we humans make mistake. I was closed to reduced to tears when he said in the documentary that he failed in his 22 years to develop the Malay. I say he did not, although it was not a 100% success, but he did managed to shift Malay mindset, develop more Malay professionals than British or anybody could ever anticipated in short 50 years period. Not to mentioned, Malaysians graduate are employed worldwide more than ever before. I for one, is a product of his tenure, and so far am proud of myself and satisfied of what Malaysia has given me so far.

I have this quote on my workstation from him to get through the day,

"We must not antagonise everyone. We must win their hearts and minds. We must win them to our side, not by begging for help from them, but by the honorable way that we struggle to help ourselves. We must not strengthen the enemy by pushing everyone into their camps through irresponsible and unIslamic acts. "

Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Oct 16, 2003 in speech to a summit of 57 Islamic countries

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On another note, I watched the Barca-Real match on Monday and it was an entertaining ones. I only managed to catch the second half. Although C.Ronaldo was taken out due to injury, but the whole game was fast paced and both teams did their best. Barca is brilliant at counter attacking and Ibrahimovich goal is a result of precise pass from (I can't remember who) . Real did work hard but Puyol and Pique proves to be the solid defence Barca is ever thank for. Valdes was not tested much compared to Casillas on the other side (at least for the second half that I watched).
I have not seen much of Kaka, but believe me once he and C. Ronaldo found their pace, these duo will become unstoppable. However, Messi who has just been announced Ballon d'or (aka European Footballer of the Year) for 2009 is yet the true star. He can get the ball, entangled by 3-4 players and still managed to get away with it. His agility and quick footwork is amazing, and so does Iniesta.

I have always like La Liga compared to BPL. As a Portugal fan, if at all they made it for the final in SA, their greatest rival would be the Spanish team. Many of the Portuguese players either had played or now playing in La Liga, and the patterns and way of playing are very much similar. German would be the one to fear as well, but am thinking Spanish is much bigger threat.

There it is, a little bit of this and a little bit of that....

Merdeka Award Lecture Series

An email came in last 2 weeks, an invite to the Merdeka Award Lecture Series. The speaker? Prof DiRaja Ungku Aziz. I quickly asked my boss and he gave the green light and I booked myself a place for the talk.

It was last Thursday in KLCC. I have never been in any talk, or even in forum with Prof Aziz as the main speaker, but really was excited to hear his words of wisdom. I was the only one from PD and upon registration, no familiar faces that I manage to locate. I went straight to the front..mind you 4th row from the front..hehehe..most middle places are still vacant. So I sneak in between what I presumed to be Petronas staff (as this event organiser). Managed to get a seat that I considered good. (I would like to actually SEE the speaker when he speaks). The chair was seriously uncomfortable.

Upon the start of the event, there was screening of short video on how Malaysia comes about..starting from the Portuguese occupation in 1400, and only 2 minutes to the show, there was a power dip!! The whole hall is dark and organisers quickly apologise for the glitch. I was wondering..of all times and event, why is it happening today? well...things happens.

Enough on the minor stuffs, Prof Aziz is actually a very wise man. He is seriuosly not seriuos during the talk. It was not formal, not like some very high level speaker who are so high up that you don't even see the grounds anymore. He talks about everything including his meal plans and his secret to stay healthy at the age of 87. He still have most of his hair!! He is very witty and always cracking jokes in between his lecture.

(Note the old fashion ways of lecture)

During the Q&A session, he actually came down to see face to face with the person who is asking the question. And the person gets to shake his hands instead..I say that was awesome, how many of this VIPS actually step down and does what he did? Although most of the question does not come with a straight answers, I actually enjoyed the way he answers all of them (not straightforward, but some intrigues you to think more of it rather than being fed with the answers.)

The session ended around 4.30 pm and I was rushing to go back. If I was there with a friend, at least I will still have the energy to wait and snap a picture with him, but I was down with flu and the mucus won't stop running out of my nose (which makes it immpossible to stay any longer).

Glad that I attended the session, managed to get insights on how some of the most prolific figures in the country thinks ;)