Shaking hands with Dato' Abdul Rahman, Chairman of Penang Malay Chamber of Commerce
after interviewing him. Witnessing was Prof. Madya Dr. Zahir Ahmad from University of Malaya.

I always wonder what I would be when I grow older. I have always dreamt of being rich and successful and also a philanthropist. If I were to be somebody like Bill Gates, I would have settled all my debts with extra bonuses to those I owed from. Well, I guess that's everybody's dream. I even wish to buy a bungalow for every brother and sister of mine and buy back our family's piece of land in Pasir Mas and rebuild our grandfather's house exactly like it used to be before. I hate to see people suffering without food and proper shelter.

I always think that the world is very unfair to the poor. I could not help from shedding my tears when I witnessed the real world of the Jakarta poor and homeless people. I have never understood the cruelness of the authorities and power crazed politicians who could have given some aids to these tramps. I always hate to see Jakarta at night. It was almost 9pm somewhere around the Sarinah complex that I witnessed how small kids around 1-6 year olds were playing around the walkways while their mothers were laying cardboards as their beds. I could not help but shed my tears. I have always imagined how it is going to be like if one of them were Afiq, Atikah, Marsya or maybe Arif. It is the world of survival for the fittest. I have also witnessed my cabby's home somewhere in Padang. There was no proper flooring, only the solid earth with bamboo walls. My cabby was a graduate in Engineering! One fine morning in Jakarta I again saw this sweet 2 year old little girl emerging from inside her mother's makeshift Teh Botol stall's cupboard. I was quite shocked.

I tried to befriend the little girl by offering her a piece of fried chicken that I bought from A&W for breakfast. She was quite shy, so I handed over the chicken to a security guard in-charge of our book gallery hoping that she would accept it from somebody familiar. The security guard simply took the chicken and ate it right in-front of me and said the girl did not want the chicken without even asking the girl!!! How cruel is the world! From that very day I just realized why Indonesia had never been a stable country both economically and politically. It's their own people's attitude and mindset! Never bother to help! Just Let it Be! So, young Malaysians out there, take a good look around your own people and country and hopefully you will be gratefull to what you have been enjoying all this while.

I had another tear jerking experience when I was filming in Kompong Cham in Cambodia., a Cham Malay village. Asmadi my cameraman tried to distribute some sweets to the little children which I brought all the way from Malaysia. At first the children behaved well but when they were getting impatient a boy grabbed the whole bag of sweets and the sweets were spluttered on the ground. Suddenly there was a brawl between every child and they started exchanging punches and rolling on the bare ground just fighting for sweets which were considered a luxury in rural areas like Kompong Cham. Surprisingly their parents just watched without any urge to stop the fight. There was no emotion at all. I thought I should have brought a whole lorry load of sweets for them so that none of them would be hurt. I really regret witnessing the incident. Innalillah! What a cruel world again. Ya Allah, may all the children of Kompong Cham grow up to be successfull people some day. May Allah bless them all!

Reminiscing my childhood days

An old photosent by Eddy taken somewhere in Kemaman during the 60's.
Back row From left; My father, my mother, Abang Nan, Abang Dir, Kak Som
Front row from left; Me and Eddy

A photo of our family when my father whom I used to call 'Wan' was still around.
Clockwise; My father(Nik Yusoff Nik Mat), Kak Yam(Hjh. Nik Meriam), My Grandmother (Cik Munah),
My mother (Hjh. Nik Fatimah Nik Ab Rahman), Abang Nan(Hj. Nik Adnan), Kak Zan(Hjh. Nik Haizan),
Me and my beloved and closest brother, the late Abang Tar (Haji Nik Mohd. Mukhtar).

I could not remember much of my childhood days but when one day Eddy mailed me these photos I was quite delighted to view these photos again. I could not remember my father that much because he left us in 1972 when I was only 7. From what my late mother told me, he was a very quiet man and hardworking too. He left us when he was only 59 after a heart attack.

My late grandmother, Cik Munah or we called Cik Nah is my mother's mother. She was a good cook and also very good at handycrafts. She was quite petite while my late grandfather stood at almost 6 feet tall. Me and Abang Nan love to create tales about her doing wonders. such as doing flying kicks or magics. Hehehee... Well, actually we were not among her favourites anyway... but we actually love her very much. Cik Nah was a wonderful woman and a very enterprising one too.

I have always wished that my father could have lived longer to know and love him better. That wish has given me strength to survive a longer life to see my youngest son Nik Arif Muqri grow up as a young man. Insyaallah...

I will be back

I am very sorry I have not been updating my blog for the past 5 weeks. Been too busy and occupied with too many things. Amongst all I was in Sarawak for a week on assignment, been busy with family matters, busy entertaining Abu and family from Brunei, busy preparing our kids for the new schooling season and busy, busy, busy...

I will be updating my blog soon. Actually I am supposed to be in Kota Bharu for another auditing assignment by monday but I am still finding replacements. Amoiglam is busy with her first day of lecturing tonight. Hope everything goes well. In fact I am in the middle of editing a video project but just took a break for a while to write something to let everybody know that I am still alive and kicking.

I will be back soon...