Special Dedications

How are you doing Tun! Glad to be in the same club...

This afternoon I met Kak Hadijah Sani Ahmad my former colleague and also senior in ITM. She was quite shocked when she just got the news that I have gone under the knife 5 years ago, so she demanded me to write in my blog about my ops experience. I had no choice but to fulfill her wish so that she can read it.

Kak Hadi, this post is specially dedicated to you and the surgeons that have helped me survived until now especially Professor Wan Azman, Dr. Chong, Dr. Nik Sherina, Tan Sri Yahya Awang, Mr. Alwi Yunus, Mr. Thiru, Mr. Rais and the whole surgery team including the Anaesthetists, Nurses, Hospital Assistants, the extra blood despatch personnels and everybody from The National Heart Institute (IJN) that have succesfully opened, reopened and put everything in place and in the right order so as to save my life. For your info, heart surgeons are not called Doctor but they are called Mister. These are a breed of very special people with very accurate hands and excellent cutting and sewing skills. They are mighty good with their knives as well.

Maybe you are wondering why I showed my picture shaking hands with Tun Mahathir. It's not to show off but we actually have one thing in common. We share the same heart surgeon, Tan Sri Yahya Awang. Tan Sri Yahya Awang is the son-in-law of the late Tun Hussein Onn and of course the brother-in-law of Dato' Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein.

OK, back to my story. It all started in 2003. I was doing some video editing that was supposed to be shown at 3.00 pm that day. It was 3.00 am and I was alone in the editing room. Kamalisa my cameraman had dozed off in the next room. I had not slept for the past 2 days to finish the video. The computer for the video editing system were giving me lots of problems and suddenly I felt like something was crushing in my chest. I also felt like somebody had grabbed me from behind and squeezed my torso. I was so stupid that I could not figure out what I had encountered. I just took a deep breath and tears and sweat were gushing out. My heart was beating too fast and I was too nervous. It happened too fast and luckily I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. It did go off... phewww!!! After a few minutes I took a sip of cold teh tarik left on my desk and foolishly had a few puffs from my beloved Marlboro. Cool lah tu konon...

The following week, I was on my way to see my doctor Dr. Nik Sherina at the University Malaya Medical Centre. I parked my car at the parking complex near the hospital mosque and had to walk uphill and quite a distance along the corridors to the clinic. I did not go far until my chest started giving me problems again. I just could not walk and had to grab hold of the railing along the corridor. I was helpless and leaned against the wall. There was nobody around so I had to wait for a few minutes to regain my strength and walked to the clinic very slowly.

At the clinic I told everything to Dr. Nik and she arranged for a 'Treadmill' test the very next day. I went for the treadmill test and of course I FAILED with flying colours. Dr. Chong and Professor Wan Azman(my late Abang Ta's friend) performed the angiogram on me(they poked a hole in my groins and pushed the catheter tube deep into my arteries). I was so cool that I jokingly asked Dr. Chong when he was going to blow the balloon (angioplasty)? Dr. Chong looked straight into my eyes and said.... "Tak payah balloon lah.... Kita buat by-pass terus lah! All your three main arteries were 90%, 90% and 99% blocked!!!! Fabulous!!!

Prof. Wan Azman advised me to do the surgery within 3 weeks but could not get the UMMC surgeon Prof. Al-Jefri to do it because of the full booking for 6 months! Luckily Abg. Nan through his boss Hj. Said had made arrangements with Dato' Dr. Yahya from IJN. Dato' Yahya went through my angiogram film and agreed with Prof. Wan Azman's opinion. At last I went through the surgery on June 10th 2003, a day after Dato' Yahya received his Tan Sri from the King.

I had some complications within the critical hours after the ops. I had my ops starting from 8 am till 1 pm and had to be pushed back into the ops theatre and they re-opened my ribs after some excessive bleeding at 7 pm the same day. I was in coma for almost 3 days. I remember having dreamt of lying down in a boat all alone in a calm open sea before opening my eyes. Guess what? I saw a white figure in thin air standing at the left side of my bed right next to me and suddenly dissapeared. Abang Nan told me that our family had already held baca Yassin sessions at the surau at the kampung. I guess Allah still loves me and wanted me to live longer to love my family. Alhamdulillah...

It was truly a very valuable experience for me and my family. From these kind of experiences you will truly feel the love and care of your spouse, your children, your siblings, nephews, nieces, in-laws and everybody around you and be gratefull of being who you are now. Thank you everybody. I also must thank my boss and colleagues for being so understanding and accepting me the way I am now. I also wish to thank the management and the government for paying all my medical bills. I will never forget your good deeds.

Actually I had another surgery exactly a year after because 2 of the grafts(replacement arteries) were 60% and 100% blocked. It was not a by-pass but an angioplasty(balloon) procedure. The cardiologist could only save 1 artery. The other was abandoned because it could only be done through another by-pass, so my right side of the heart does not function well till now but I consider myself still very lucky to have at least have my heart beating. Cheer up and live life to the fullest bro! I guess that's all I could write for Kak Hadi....

Why Learn History?

A group photo with kids of Nunawading Elementary School, Melbourne.
These kids could speak a little Malay and sang 'Geylang Si Paku Geylang' for us.

amoiglam, Afiq, PW1(R) Nik Zainal Abidin(Abang Nal) and me
while visiting Afiq during his PLKN training earlier this year

Of all the subjects in the world, why learn history? I think Pak Lah was absolutely right when he suggested that the new Malaysian generation to learn about history while in their elementary school. I think I started learning history when I was only 8 years old while in Standard 3. I remember Mr. Basheer my favourite history cum English and also P.E. teacher taught us history in a very unique way. He was a very versatile teacher indeed. In fact he was the favourite of many pupils. He came from Penang. He used the method of making history as stories to tell and slit in some jokes. I remember him teaching us how to pronounce some unfamiliar words and terms like Alfonso d' Albuquerqe as 'Alfonso di Abu Kaki' so that we could remember easily or acronyms like the V.O.C. in full, that is 'Vereenigdee Ostindischee Compagnie' (The Dutch East India Company ). It really made our tongues twisted. See? I could still remember those words... In fact he made us to like history even though I always hate to remember the dates. That was what almost put a stop to my interest in history. I hate numbers but not when counting money!

Yes, if you are a government servant you will need to look back at our country's history and understand the importance of everything that had happened before and why things happened to be as it is now. History has got nothing to hide. Sooner or later the truth will prevail. We in the government service have to understand and analyze historical facts to pass in our compulsory government exams. Otherwise we would just have to quit and seek for other jobs. I am not saying that the government is always right, but as a Malaysian citizen we must truly understand how the multi-ethnic nation was built to seek independence from the British the gentleman's way. I am not with any political side but I think understanding the real history is essential to every living citizen of Malaysia.

In fact, the old education system has some positive agenda if not all. During my schooling age we were made to learn about the history of other countries as well. We learned about Joan of Arc, Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, Mahatma Ghandi, Pandit Jawarhalal Nehru, Jose Rizal, Kamal Attartuk, Sun Yat Sen and other people's struggle for freedom. That was how we manage to have some comparisons. We in Malaysia have never encountered such tremendous challenges like what these important names have had to go through just to achieve freedom and independence and yet we are still being ungrateful. We want change but we don't really know what kind of change that we are asking for. The truth is that we came from different education backgrounds, different living environments and totally different kind of upbringings.

Sometimes I have to ask our education policy makers, why they must change the good parts of the existing education system. Was it just for the sake of changing or was it because of some idiotic ideas of some arrogant politicians who would just want their names to be documented as somebody who changed the education system? The same thing refers to changing of teaching Maths and science in English. Did you ever realize that in our constitution, it is clearly stated that Bahasa Melayu is the official language to be used in our education system? I am not surprised if one day somebody would make a police report that the government has abused our own constitution, hehehe.... I am not suggesting, ok? Actually I have read a book by somebody who claimed that he was among the individuals who had suggested that Maths and Science be taught in English because he did not find the Malay language adequate in providing the right terms in those related subjects. Surprisingly this fellow was a former lecturer who had taught some Malay medical students during the early years in UKM which taught medical science in Malay and found difficulties in explaining them in Malay.

I think this fellow was not a good lecturer and has some attitude problem himself . That was why he kept on blaming the Malay language instead of his own weaknesses. The funny thing is that this so called Mat Salleh wannabe doctor now resides in Canada and has the guts to criticise our education policy. Is he that good? Why not just cari makan in Malaysia then? I don't want to reveal neither his book nor his name. Find it yourself then. Just for a clue, his name might start with the letter 'B'. I can consider him one of those who always worship whatever that is English to him...

I might be writing in English for some unexplained reasons but I have a very high respect for our very own unique Bahasa Melayu. Believe it or not, there are actually more than 270 million Malay speaking people in the entire world and Malay language stands among the top ten of international languages out of 6,500 languages of the world. Elementary schools in Australia have included the Malay Language as one of the languages to be taught as international languages for their students. Don't be surprised if you meet a small Australian boy or girl speaking a few simple Malay words when they meet you. Even The Military School in Australia also taught the same. In fact I have witnessed a few of them while visiting a school in Melbourne Down Under. Countries like China, Korea, Japan, The US, Germany, Russia, The Netherlands have their own Faculties of Malay Studies in their universities because they have long found that Malay language is important to them. The China Radio International (CRI) in Beijing has a Malay and Indonesian broadcast section which airs everyday in the Malay Language. You can find their live broadcast through the internet and are using their own Chinese nationals as DJ's. If you wish to visit Beijing and have a Malay speaking guide you'll be surprised that they have a shipload of them. These guys and beautiful gals speak fluent Malay sometimes better than our own chinese friends in Malaysia and even suggested to us the prayers time and stops during our tour around Beijing. They only use their Malay names to make us feel at home. Believe me... Go and check for yourself. They sure know the economic values of learning Bahasa Melayu...at least.

Forget about the politicians and our current political situation now. What we have to do now is to go back to the library and start reading about our own history and also read about other people's history and biographies of people like Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Dr. Ismail, Ghazali Shafie, Chin Peng, Ibrahim Yaacob, Ahmad Boestamam, Shamsiah Fakeh, General Tan Sri Ibrahim, Dato' Onn, Tun Razak and even Lim Goh Tong, then you will understand why... Don't simply listen to your friends or just read from the bloggers. Go and read my friends!

About Celebrations and Mournings

Definitely Not A Boy Band (Major Menon and The Hearts Club Band)

The Ghazali's Clan (amoiglam's side)

Ayah'sjamm and amoiglam with kids

This year's Hari Raya has a mix of many things. We did enjoy Hari Raya despite of having some hiccups. This week I have lost 2 people whom I used to know. One was my former staff and another was my former teacher and bandmaster. Haji Abdul Rahman, my former photographer, staff, good friend and also neighbour had passed on after suffering from diabetic complications. He was a very good friend and always willing to lend a hand whenever asked by friends. A former videographer and photographer who had worked under my supervision for more than 15 years. I used to live within the same neighbourhood with him in Serdang.

I remember he told me a story about him hitch hiking from Muar to KL when he was offered a job at our office in 1967. He was too poor to buy a bus ticket back then. A quite adventurous fellow. He was one of our earlier staffs. I remember learning a few things from him especially about microfilms and some electronic skills. We used to nickname him 'Man Guyver', just like McGuyver. He even renovated his present house all by himself and even helped a few friends to upgrade their homes at a very minimal cost. You just name it, and he will do it enthusiastically. ManGuyver was simply a great person. He started his job as an office boy and soon became a book binder. He has showed his interest in photography so he was assigned to be a microfilm operator by our former boss. Later on we found that he was also good in video works when I first joined the department in 1986 and he became our videographer. After many years we promoted him to hold the photographer's post until his retirement a few years back. We salute you Man Guyver.

This morning I received a message from my junior Jasri about Pak Simanjuntak's demise. Pak Siman was my former bandmaster and Warden in school. He was from Indonesia and taught the Matriculation students maths. He was also the bandmaster for our Brass Band. His son Haris was my junior and also a good friend. I remember during his time we had the chance to play a few beautiful numbers like The Marlborro song (Theme from Magnificent Seven), Theme from Hawaii Five-O, Theme from Bridge on The River Kwai (Colonel Bogey), El-Bimbo, Delilah and many other songs that were not very familiar to other school bands in KL during the 70's. When I entered Form Six he tried to persuade me to be the Drum Major but I was too worried about dropping the drum major's mace on somebody else's head, rather than tossing and flipping it high in the air and catching it with style. I was also too keen to play in the rock band instead. I guess I have made a wise decision. I would like to convey my deepest condolences to Haris and family and... Farewell Pak Siman.

To Blog or Not To Blog

Why the long silence? Ooops... the dragons were sleeping lah... Actually amoiglam and me always call ourselves Si Naga-Naga because both of us were born in the same lunar year of the DRAGON! We always dream of having our own little cafe by the name of Si Naga-Naga or probably Double Dragon. My brother-in-law Major Menon always like it to be named as Cafe Kitarongge from our son's Afiq's childhood favourite word when he's happy.

I decided to scribble something today after Eddie called and asked me asking for an update. I was also in the middle of writing an article for my office bulletin and happened to have a phone chat with Jiwa Rasa(jiwarasa.blogspot.com), another blogger from Penang and decided to write something to refresh my mind.

Actually I wanted to write something about Hari Raya but I still have the hari raya photos in my hard disk at home. Hari Raya this year was quite ok like before. This year I have tasted the best lemang ever, wonderfully made by Ayob my brother-in-law. he brought them all the way from Kuala Pilah for us in Shah Alam. I would call it 'Lemang Lemak Merdu'. I didn't even bother to taste the rendang with the lemang. It was awesomely lemak merdu eaten on it's own. It's palm lickin' good! I could only take 2 pieces or my gastric alarm would trigger. But it was really awesome. Ayob said the santan was from home grown ripe coconuts because his mother-in-law insisted on having their very own home grown coconuts santan. Nothing less than that! It's mandatory bro! If only Abang Uni could taste that lemang, I am sure he would have given it the trophy. Not recommended for those with heart problems...hehehe....

Hari raya this year was still joyful and full of food. I had my nasi dagang in Seremban! That was quite strange? My beloved sister Kak Som actually lives in Seremban so the family tradition still lives on. A combination of multi-cultural food spread. Our family in Kelantan would also want to have rendang, lemang, nasi impit, kuah kacang, lontong and soto every raya. These are all the toxicated taste buds of the Nik's clan that we got while growing up and living in KL.

I was always overjoyed by the word food. I guess every living human has the right to taste and enjoy their favourite food. I am a meat lover. Both cooked and raw I guess??? Hehehe... For people within my kind of species are definitely very familiar with terms like tenderloins, sirloins, knuckels, rumps, fillet, ribs and malay words like batang pinang, urat keting, harimau menangis and some Kelantanese terms like Lemusir, senonok, perut kitab, perut bulat and many others. The smell of fresh meat makes me high. The meat names just sounded like music to my half deaf ears. Yes...we always love to eat whatever that is forbidden to Zippers Club (ex-by pass surgery patients) members like me. Well....you can't blame me...It's already been fated.

Anyway, what the hell is daging 'harimau menangis'? Oh..the Kelantanese call it daging 'senonok'. It is a precious part between the cow's breast and the hind legs and covered with a thick layer of beautiful luscious fat. The content? MY GOD! It's crunchiness of a blend of meat and the fat within that sinfully makes the tiger CRIES when it has the chance to sink it's saber teeth into the precious meat...Roarrrrr!!!! I gues that's what the tiger told me before...hehehe...