MOUNT MARAPI, BUKIT TINGGI, WEST SUMATERA, INDONESIA (PART 1)

The Minangkabau Restaurant

Lake Meninjau - the birth place of Pak Hamka

Lake Meninjau 2

At one of the Rumah Adat (2007 trip wth in-laws)

Front view of Rumah Adat

Salam to all

A WORTHWHILE EXPEDITION

Sometime in September this year, my other half asked me " Rosman asked us to join them for Gunung Marapi mountain climbing".." very busy, I am behind schedule for my PHD work" I answered.. "Anyway I'll think about it" I said reluctantly.

In actual fact I truly was behind the schedule, the data I gathered waited for me to be mutilated and rigorously analysed for the analysis writing up..Two weeks later the same questions was posed to me. " Zie, must give the answer now because Rosman is on the line to book the ticket on Airasia web" persistantly the persuasion from my husband. "Is it higher than Mount Kinabalu?" I asked.."No no slightly lower than Mount Kinabalu, only around 2800 plus metre.." again he tried to convince me.."K lah book for me"..thinking that I would have a female companion because this expedition is a husband and wife team...

My husband and Rosman are officemates in UMW toyota group. Both are avid mountain climbers.. the other members are normally from our housing estates' friends..around 8 people..I joined the group the first time during "Gunung Nuang climb", then "Irau, Cameron Highland" and the last time was "the Mount Kinabalu expedition". I was the only female in the group ..later I stoppped..with the reason of wanting to concentrate on my study...hah..My husband and his group had conquered many mountains in Malaysia..that's why they wanted to do inter-boundary climb. In May this year the group went to Gunung Kerinchi, the highest peak in Sumatera..

Two couples only since no response from the group's other halfs. So we decided to go to Marapai(not Merapi --in Jawa Island, erupted last year if I'm not mistaken) near Bukit Tinggi and Padang West Sumatera. It is still active and not dormant...must be beautiful, I was thinking.

The starting point

We started our journey from home at 5.30 in the morning of 19th December..My household need had been taken care of by my sons and my sister..LCCT was full with people at the early hours..I remembered when we travelled through it, the first day it opened way back in 2006..to Jakarta, was easy..Oh not now, we have to be here 3 hours before that..Actually we almost missed the flight..luckily they had a counter ..for last minute check in..I mean less that 45 minutes..but we had to carry our bags here and there for the tags, payment, etc..oh no with the children..cannot do like this..

The plane departed on time, full of Malaysians may be holidaying at Minangkabau town (Bukit Tinggi). This was my second trip to Bukit Tinggi since December last year my husband and I accompanied my in laws here. The place is known to be serene and cool with mountainous landscape and background. The indigenous Minangkabau are also skilled craftsmen and good at needlework..so lots of beautiful "telekong" and embroidered clothes...."tak lama 15 minit je" but it would take more than 1 hour at each stop we made last year. My in laws are all fond of this type of embroidery. I heard one of the Malaysian Sultanah ordered her embroideries from here..

Food and juic

When we landed at Padang International Airport at 8.40 a.m local time which 1 hour ahead of Malaysia, the driver and guide were awaiting us..purposedly I did not take my breakfast, only a cup of milo in the plane..because I wanted to reserve my tummy for the delicious Minang food..hah..I was told by the native driver not to just called Padang food because each restaurant has its own speciality..e.g ikan bakar..ikan gulai etc..So we left to the driver to choose.. We departed the airport straight to Bukit Tinggi..about 1.30hour journey..stopped for food..

We tried lots of local delicacy...you know what, it cost around Rm10 per person only, with avocado juice, jeruk juice, tomatoe juice and cucumber juice(the drink I tried the first time here)..One thing I noticed in Bukit Tinggi, the mursolla and Masjid are so distinct and beautifully crafted even at roadside restaurants..

The beginning of ascending mission

After that we continued our journey and stoppped at Kota Baru(not in Kelantan ye) to buy mineral water and rice for our stock. ..Then went through highland prime agricultural land of corns, cabbage , carrot, tomatoes, chillies etc beautiful scenery and simple life of the Minangkabauans..

Suddenly the driver mentioned"pak dan ibu..ini tempatnya...ngak boleh pergi tinggi lagi hanya fourwheel"..That was the point that we would embark the expedtion of Marapi . Quickly changed our climbing gear and put the rest in Toyota Innova at the base..so it started at 11.45 a.m local time...

PUZIAH

p/s second part will be soon InsyaAllah..Salam Maal Hijrah.. 1430H to all..

My heart bleeds when I read in yahoo"..some 280 Palestinians have been killed and 600 people wounded..." on the eve of Maal Hijrah 1430H our brothers and sisters in the Gaza have been pounded with boms and mortar from the Israeli side..one masjid is at ground zero..Ya Allah protect them from the tyranny..gives them courage and strength..I feel so defenseless..Please say your doas to the "jailed Palestinians"..Is this what the world called justice and democracy...turning the blind eye to the world aggressor.....

Mount Angsi Expedition

Views on the top of Angsi

On the summit of Gunung Angsi We surpassed this group

Sulaim, Firdaus, Abrar and Ammar at base camp

Nurhanifan can sleep anywhere

Preparation before ascending

Tents and Waqaf

Assalamualaikum wbrt and peace to all,

The weekend of 13-14 th December was wet. It was a rainning season for Malaysia. My husband and his friend had planned to do mountain climbing at Ulu Bendul, Negeri Sembilan Malaysia. The planning was to camp at the base mountain with the children and only two of us continued the climbing the next morning..

Some deterrants
It was not a welcoming condition at the site when we arrived around 5.30 p.m on Saturday evening. The river was murky and not conducive to do any activity. The children showed their disproval kind of face.. After consulting the ranger, we finally found the spot near a 'waqaf' to put up our camping gear..Around 6.3o p.m I cooked simple dinner with eggs and sardines as main course.. added with cherry tomatoes and fried qurban beef.... After enjoying themselves in the murky river (not to the small children's eyes), Abrar, Sulaim and Ammar ate their dinner like a horse...big appetite...my simple cooking turned to scrumptious dinner..ha..ha...Amru and Nurhanifan also joined their little brothers...with even much bigger portion of food..Nuruddin (the eldest)was not with us, he was away doing community work at Yan Kedah with his schoolmates...

Later on, our friends Rosman and Nornaimah and his eldest son joined us and put his tent next to us..they also cooked simple meals but delicious..that is kangkung tauchu and dried fish called "bulu ayam"...With these added food we really enjoyed our dinner in the forest.

The next morning..the situation was much better, the river was clear and very inviting to the children to splash down..After a quick breakfast with tuna sandwiches and leftover rice..they quickly went to the river..

Ascending Mount Angsi

We prepared simple sandwiches, plain water, two cans of "hundred plus", some biscuits and two hard boiled eggs for our trip to Gunung Angsi..We left around 8.45 a.m to start our ascending climb..Amazing Firdaus 5 years old also joined his parents..A strong child.. Ahead of us a group of 59 secondary school children already startedd their journey may be 45 minutes earlier. we walked according to our phase.. as usual I liked to walk behind the group..so that I would not feel the pressure..We did stop at a few places for photo session and nature call..Finally around 12.45p.m we arrived at the summit of Angsi..nice view SubhanAllah..Actually we managed to surpassed half of the secondary group..means we arrived earlier than them...not bad hah..

Descending

After one hour of resting and lunch session, we descended back to the base camp..The journey was faster, it took 3 hours going down the mountain..As far as I can remember, Gunung Nuang is a more difficult track to go through..With less energy, we needed to be more extra careful and alert while descending the mountain.. Upon arrival I quickly settled down at a stall..guest what..I drank two glasses of "Cincau" and one glass of soya..one after the other..and ate one currypuff and one nasi lemak. Only after I felt some energy came in...well after 7 hours of walking..This trip was supposssed to be the trainning session because the next weekend we would do an expedition to Gunung Marapi, Bukit Tinggi Sumatera (19-22 December 2008).

Lessons

We need to work as a group while mountain-climbing..always be patience, self-determination..no selfishness, always helping each other..We need to have a proper and good gear ( I destroyed my shoes because it was not meant for mountain climbing) and most important enough water..you would sweat alot..only after 20 minutes of climbing..

Not to forget doas.."Bismillahillazilayadurrumaasmihisyaiunfissamawatiwalardh" We ask Allah for protection..the One who controls the earth and sky and its inhabitants...

PUZIAH AHMAD

p/s InsyAllah will write about Gunung Marapi Expedition

Olie oh Olie

Salam semua,

Olie

"Nie Puziah ke?" terdengar suara di hujung sana .

"Ya".

" Siapa nie" lontaran suara terkejut saya.

"Nie Olielah, kawan dulu" terdengar suara jawapan yang tenang.

"Ya, Allah" kejutan dari saya.

"Cam ne dapat nombor" soal saya.

"Google..taip nama awak..banyak keluar, check tapi link yang di UiTM ada gambar, telefon number dan e-mail.. jadi boleh contactlah" luahan Olie.

Kenangan dengan Olie
Itulah perbualan awal yang ringkas saya dengan Olie atau Khalidah yang berasal dari Ipoh Perak.. Inilah panggilan telefon terkejut yang ketiga yang saya terima untuk bulan November dan Disember ini. Manakan tidak Olie ini telah terputus hubungan dengan saya semenjak tahun 1984 lagi..sebabnya masa dia balik cuti hujung tahun ke Malaysia ketika belajar di Armidale University di Armidale New South Wales dia terus tidak balik lagi... rasanya sebab dia lonely di Armidale lebih 200 km dari Sydney..ke hinterland dan budak Melayu ada 2 tiga orang. dia seorang perempuan...lepas tu Mat Salleh suka kacau dia sebab dia tinggi dan putih.. Universiti-universiti di pantai seperti Wollonggong dan Newcastle walaupun jauh dari Sydney tapi ramai sikit pelajar Malaysia dan bandarnya lebih besar..

Olie yang lurus itulah kenangan dengannya... kami sebilik masa English course di PJ pioneer UiTM/JPA ala ala PPP UiTM..Kelas lain..tapi di hantar buat matrik di Sydney..sekolah lain-lain. Saya di Dover Heights High School, Sydney.. Olie rasanya di Hillsdale, Southern Sydney. Tapi saling berhubungan..sampailah ke first year..Universiti pun lain-lain saya di New South Wales. Tapi kursus adalah sama iaitu Town planning...Tup-tup Olie terus balik Malaysia..kahwin di umur 23 tahun..sunyi sepi aleh-aleh hubungi saya setelah 24 tahun menghilang..terkenang-kenang agaknya..masa anak dara dulu di Sydney...

Olie kalau sabar sikit..tentunya cerita lain..apa-apapun qada' dan qadar Allah..Tahun berikutnya dan seterusnya JPA hantar berkali ganda pelajar lepasan SPM ke Australia..Tahun kami pergi hanya 100 orang pelajar ke Australia daripada 1000 orang rasanya..700-800 ke U.S. sedikit sahaja yang ke UK dan NZ. Bagus ke US sebenarnya tak perlulah buat A level atau macam kami kena buat Higher School Certificate di New South Wales.. Mereka terus masuk kolej dan universiti. Lepas Olie balik ramai juga pelajar Malaysia yang sambung di Armidale termasuk pelajar perempuan Melayu.. Masa tahun kami juga tahun pelajar "cream" yang pergi sebelum keputusan SPM keluar, selalunya daripada pelajar-pelajar berasrama penuh adalah kumpulan yang terakhir dihantar lepas tu semua kena masuk PPP dulu...Bagus juga rasa macam ada dua darjat dan jurang..kami terkial-kial buat HSC dia orang dah masuk universiti..

Pengorbanan Olie

Kini dia memilih untuk menjadi surirumah sepenuh masa.Tabik untuk Olie..Berjaya mendidik anak-anak yang sulung sudah 20 tahun di UPM, rasanya yg keduapun diIPT dan dua orang lagi di sekolah rendah dan menengah....Saya masih terkejar-kejar dengan Ammar 4 tahun dan Abrar 5 tahun..Anak bongsu Olie sudah 10 tahun...sebab tu dia ada masa nak jumpa saya di cafe di Shah Alam. Suaminya juga usahawan yang berjaya .

InsyaAllah muga Allah kekalkan persahabatan ini..

PUZIAH AHMAD

Yang masih 'toilet-trained" anak ke 6..

Long Lost Friend

The whole group photo session(taken from Adib'sblog; the main organiser) at his parents' house , Bkt Kangkar Muar Johor

The session of cutting 'pulut kuning' by our primary school teachers (Cikgu Ramlah, Ms Chai, Cikgu Abdullah dan Cikgu Md Noor)- their dedications are always remembered by us..

Some of my long lost friends - many have left after the 'pulut kuning session'(from left Adib, Norlinda, Amik, Zalina, Alifah, Huzahim, Mohammed, Azman, Shafie, Ramin,Ronizain, Adnan, Norazman)

Ladies' corner- chit chatting session(The group that stayed untill 5.00p.m)..actually more than 100 people turned up..

Salam everyone,

The month of November I received surprised calls, one from a friend since standard one till form 1, and secondly my former housemate while doing my undergaduate in 1980s in Sydney Australia. Both traced me through UiTM web and UiTM telephone receptionist. However, each one tracked me for a different reason.

Reunion

Wow, the first one, the last time we met when we just finished our SPM. There were news and second hand stories but all in more than 27 years we do not see eye to eye. I just could not believe it when I heard the voice. The reason he called because he is organizing a reunion during Eiduladha, MasyaAllah what a noble job..hubungan silatulrahim..The job is just a tremendous hard work..to trace almost forty people. He would also extend his invitation to our primary school teachers..so nostalgic..so touching seeing our pictures in primary school days.

Pilgrimage

The second friend, was trying to contact me almost a month, Alhamdullillah she managed to talk to me. She asked for forgiveness and wanted to pay back 'something' she borrowed years ago which I could not remember at all. The reason she will perform her haj.. so touching I just said " dah..dah halal". No matter what amount ..I pray for her safe journey to perform haj and may get hajj mabrur ..Norhaneyma Md Said....Ameen.

Friendship

I like the quote written by Adib on the first page of reunion message..something like this "persahabatan yang jujur (ikhlas), tiada hasad dengki, iri hati, .. tiada istilah pandai atau tidak pandai" purely on friendship. Untill now we still cherish the moments when we were still children...like fighting, punishment, liking and disliking.. Growing up in small towns or rather a "pekan" gave advantages to us. We know each other quite well including family lineage and relatives. The reunion on the 8th December 2008 provides space for catching up news of others e.g who has B1, B2 or S1, or S2..da ..da.. guess what it means.

Something to remember for this Eidul Adha - 1429H

Puziah Ahmad

Someone who has been called as "Kecut" during the reunion...

10 December 2008/12 Zulhijjah 1429H

Yusuf Estee

Assalamualaikum wbrt

A Special talk

Alhamdullillah I managed to make myself available to attend an interesting talk given by Sheikh Yusuf Estee, a well-known dai'e from the US; once a Protestant Priest, a multi-media preacher and his web visited by millions of hits world-wide. The talk was held on Sunday , 23/11/08 from 8.30-11.00 a.m.at Audiotorium MBSA, Shah Alam with the estimation of 1000 audience.

Here are some excerpts that I gathered during his speech....He explained Islam in a simple way and yet very easy to grasp..no complex theory or philosophical terms. Islam means surrender, submission, obedience, sincerity, and peace. If we comply all levels of what Islam is..Surrender..sincerity, automaticcaly we will gain internal and external peace. Human beings are not given freewill but free choices..to do good things we gain hasanah and vice versa if we are doing the reverse. Da'waah means calling people to Islam not inviting as mentioned in Surah Ali-Imran : 104..Other interesting things Bidaah dunia is o.k not bida'ah faith...because syirkh is not forgiven by AllahAn-Nisaa'(4):16. At-Taubah (9) : 31 " The Jews and Christians worship their priests and rabbais.." why because they follow what they say even though the teachings are against the Holy book..

Simple yet meaningful

His easy manner really touches the audience especially those who are new in Islam..He prefers Takbir instead of hand clapping and growing beard has an act of loving of Rasullullah S.A.W. He does not cordone people of doing those acts but the two are his preference. I was told that, during the session at the Bukit Jelutong community centre the day after, he managed to convince a Chinese guy about 27 years old to profess Syahadah right there.The guy initially asked the question in written form something like this " I belive in Allah and I believe Muhammad is his messenger, but can I pray my own way?"..He called the guy then step by step guided the guy..what it means to be a muslim..syahadah and the rukun Islam..then Alhamdullillah right there he professed."There is is no God except Allah and the prophet Muhammad S.A.W is the messenger" in Arabic and in English..Wow this is his expertise.

He really believes in the cyber medium to spread the message of Islam to the world..Here are some of the links to Yusuf Esttees websites..www.911bible.com,bibleislam.com, islamevent.com, shareislam.com, scienceislam.com, bridgethefaith.com, 911islam, linktoislam.com...goes on

Conclusion

MashaAllah, for only 17 years as a revert to Islam, Sheikh Yusuf Estees is a calibre daie'..he continuously seeks for knowledge and implements his beliefs in his daily life...Do I do it..A born muslim and I receive the teachings of Islam since birth time..What are my contributions?..Moral of the story, seeking knowledge for life time to upgade iman and amal..Never taking for granted for what we have..

Puziah Ahmad

A wayfarer in this worldly journey..

ESQ is a spiritual journey

Salam to all,

A CHANCE

I was invited to join a training called "ESQ 165". I must thank Noli Husain from UEM who attended the in-house training for uem and his good nature has secured five seats.On the pretext of NGOs, the trainner Pak Aminul Rachman extended his invitation to us, JIM activists. Otherwise it would cost RM1380 per person. Alhamdullillah, I rearranged all my work schedule and social engagement for friday, saturday and sunday. So I was tentatively in the training session from 14-16th November at the Summit Hotel USJ. The training was not new for me because my son Nuruddin attended the course last year at " Teens ESQ Batch 3 Wisma Petanian Negeri Selangor Shah Alam". He is a kind of "different" person after the training (I am not saying 100 percent change)..that touches my 'motherhood' heart.

A SOUL JOURNEY

It was a journey looking at Allah's creation and to bear witness all the majestic cosmology, inner soul, physical, social and emotional relationship of Allah's mercy..

I was telling myself, that I would be o.k to attend. Mind you I was reminded that 'you would cry during the session'.. True enough, after the the first session of introduction, motto and other training related matters and rules and regulation..I entered the room with about two hundred people from various corporate and government agencies.. we were directed to sit by the volunteers of ESQ alumni... The trainer read "Arab Badwi berkata : Kami telah beriman". Katakan : "Kamu belum beriman tetapi kamu telah tunduk dan patuh, kerana sesungguhnya iman itu belum masuk dalam hati kamu..." (Al-Hujarat-49 : 14) This is the time I was knocked out with Allah's revealation..The ayah was memorised by me, But God , why I never questioned my iman..does the iman really into my heart..that's the dividing line ...for our deeds to be accepted or not..May Allah forgive me..Astaghfirullahallazim.. Why all this while I did not realize that all creations are submitting to the Creator..the orbit circles, the earth moves, our brains are in the submission position, tawwaf at Kaabah and our smallest atom in our body(DNA) without we realize are all circling in the same direction..in a way as Allah has prescribed ..." Sesungguhnya semua makluk itu tunduk memuji Allah dalam keadaan yang manusia tidak ketahui..."

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE

Why I did not realize the story of big-bang was told 1400 years ago by the prophet Muhammad bin Abdullah S.A.W....but ..God, the Quraish or rather the Jahilliyah did not believe him infact they yelled, tortured him physically and emotionally..but what was his reaction..even to the end of his life, he still mentioned "ummatti..ummatti.." He loves so much of his ummat but in return what do I do....Astagfirullah.. The Earth and the Sky as mentioned in the AlQuran were once one entity, with Allah ' Kunfayakun..then it split..with the cosmology stands on its own without any support..Stephen Hodgkin (quadraplegic scientist) proved it in the big-bang theory.

Billy Lim the author of "Dare to fail" on his account mentioned the three characters of a leader that shown by our prophet are enough to be recognized as THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN THE WORLD..one of the incidence when the prophet visited a blind and sick yahudi man who usually threw all kinds of thing to him everyday when he passed by the market... Ya Allah forgive me since I sometimes forget the journey of Ar-Rasul had to endure for his ummah to recieve the light of Islam. For further research read Ali-Imran : 190-193; Ar-Rad : 30, Ar-Rahman; As-Syams :1-7..Faatir ..goes on..

MY RESOLUTION

Continue my journey with the conscience of Allah always in life .. practicing Ihsan, Iman and Islam.. A human being is a musafir on this earth till the day of judgement..If you can get the chance to attend the training ..go for it.. so much to gain..I already registered my third son to the Teens training at Concorde Shah Alam , will be held on 23rd-24th December 2008.

Wassallam

PUZIAH
p/s Jzklh to Ellie (Jim-salam) for the beautiful NZ scenic pictures

Research and headache

Sulaim, Abrar and Ammar - The fun loving children

Ammar

Abrar

Sulaim and Ammar

Salam,

PHD tantrums

What do you do when as soon as you opened the door of your house, supposedly to find some peace of mind from PHD tantrums (eg not able to understand the theory, spinning head as the result of statistical methods and analysis..da..da goes on) you saw strewn clothes, the children were yelling at each other, crying as the result of quarelling on petty things, splashing water for fun. Yeh, it sounds like a 'zoo' or what..having fun because mum was coming back a little late. Being a superwomen the mum had to manage daily chores without paid helper..means asking volunteers from the members of the household to aid basic house management like picking up one's clothes and placing them in the correct clothing basket, throwing litter to the right place, washing your own dishes, and using toilet properly.

I guess I cannot complain with these little things, to some people, or rather the standard of housekeeping for some is o.k to be as in the above situation..

God not for me... basic cleaniness and housekeeping must be fulfilled before I can proceed with other work. So what was my reaction?.

Sleep theraphy

If I followed my gut feeling, smacking them was the best solution..but no..it would aggravate my spinning head..So I just ignored all..straight to the dining table, ate some light dinner and drank rosselle juice...pushed aside all strewn clothes and asked(not really but yelling) the elder brother of these smaller kids to get out of my side of the supposedly laundry thing and put to the right place..and a smack to the leader of the commotion... All the three fun-loving children were quickly running upstairs.. a little later taking my shower, drank a cup of milo then make myself to be comfortable and slept.

I woke up feeling better..why..?

"Sleep Deprivation...Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells." some quotes in my email.

Sleeping is a theraphy for brain stimulation..I think so. This episode happened to me two weeks ago...Anyone wants a try..!

PUZIAH AHMAD

Someone who wants the best for her academic sprint and offsprings

Other thing in life

Assalamualaikum wbrt everyone,

Some memories
Now is a hajj season. It reminds me my time overthere in Mecca and Madinah in 2002. Many sweet memory still lingers in my heart. One incident that shows Allah's Mercy on his servant, happened on Friday. I really prayed very hard to be able to perform Friday prayer in the Masjidil Haram( after the hajj). I was told about 3.5 million people were there and plus the local people, the number could be more. "If you were to find a space in the Masjid, you have to be there at least three hours before Zuhr" said a colleage in the same Tabung Haji muasassah .

I did not remember what time I arrived to the Masjid, but definitely within the 'three hours before Zuhr'. MasyaAllah the masjid was full already because the Masjid police did not allow anybody to go inside the Masjid except the roof top..While I was walking before that, my inner heart already said "the sun is really shinning brightly and its warmer nature is really felt"." Ya Allah, I really want to pray Jummaah..to feel its aura in this Masjidil Haram".

Fulfilling the wish
Some people just put their prayer mats outside their accommodation and hotels that surrounded the Masjid. My husband and I just nooded our head to signal that the intention was to be fulfilled..by following the order of the police to the rooftop which did not have any shield to camouflage its Jemaah. However, As soon as I stepped outside, with Allah's Grace and Mercy..I felt the floor was really cool and I looked up, Allahuakhbar, there were patches of clouds that shielded the jemmah, no more bright sun, instead cooling breeze blew through us. Immediately I said Alhamdulillah and prayed tahhayatul masjid since we had no experience to perform tawwaf on the rooftop. In performing tawwaf one must know the starting point before circling seven rounds.

At first not many people around us..may be most people would think about the sun. The floor and surrounding were so cooling as if there was an air-conditioner being put in the open area. In between reading the Al-Quran and Zikr, I talked to myself that Allah swt the Most Gracious and Merciful in a way wanted all his guests to be able to perform Jummaah prayer and experienced his 'gift'...Allahu'allam

May all hujjaj be able to get Hajj Mabrur!

Wassalam
PUZIAH AHMAD

PHD Tips

Salam everyone,
On the 30th of October I was asked to attend the Phd progress report presentation. I was there to observe and digest all comments given by the panels.

The Tips

1. Writting up (very much relevant to me) - The writer must tie up all the chapters.

2.Literature review should relate to the topic

3. The title of the thesis should reflect with what we are doing especially the keywords or concept.

4.Theoretical element must be strong.

5. If the research questions are clear, there is no need for "hypothesis statement"

6. There are differences of approaches or school of thoughts for theoretical parts...some prefer 'Conceptual framework', some put the theory under 'research methodology'.

7. The written title must be clear and embody what we want to do.

Actions
Well I have to check all above ..in my own piece of research..


Wassalam

PUZIAH AHAMD

Progress Report

This picture is from the mall of "Winter Sonata " town in South Korea..source of hiccups too


Assalamualaikum wbrt and a greeting to all,

My Phd Progres Report and Presentation

I am expected to present my progress on this " Empowerment Mechanism and effectiveness of poverty reduction programmes in Malaysian development planning" on 30th October 2008. By the way my supervisor Dr Dasimah Omar is away following the Research Institute study tour to Germany..She won a gold medal on the innovative product design. I finally managed to escape from the presentation on the two grounds; I already presented my data findings the previous semester and I need more time for the Phd writting up process. Do not get me wrong as if I am on time and a diligent Phd candidate. Mind you I have been saying 'this writting up process' since three months ago. Not much progress except I managed to complete two seminar papers for Arte Polis Bandung and Islamic conference on poverty alleviation in UM.

The Progress
So far I was on time for ; 1. The literature and methodology (6 months)
2. Preliminary investigation - semi-structured interviews ( 3 months)
3. Questionnaire design and pilot study 1 and 2 ( 1 year)
4. Data collection and re-collection (4 months)
5.Data Entry and preliminary data investigation (3 months)
6. Data Analysis and writting up (not yet completed)--this is the stumbling block; Whenever I left the thinking on the analysis and writting for say a period of two weeks or so..I have to re-read what I have done and some misunderstanding of my own data..it means rewinding process. I started this so called writting up thing since May 2008(Guys do not follow my step in data analysis)..naughty thinking ...may be the grace period of 6 months slowing me down.
7. Discussion and future implications (only Allah knows best)
8....

Some hiccups
Another thing is that since I am not the expert on SPSS..I have to always refer to "kitab " SPSS for a better digested understanding. Hari raya also means some hurdles in Phd because the break causes the rewinding process.

Self-discipline is easy to say than done. My productive time span is short may be sometimes is only 2-3 hours per day. However, Alhamdulillah with Allah grace Insyaallah I will continue my writing . As long as my family and other activities would not be ignored , I am happy. Health and endurance are two gifts from Allah for me to make full use for the completion of my study.

PUZIAH AHMAD
AP990 FSPU UiTM Shah Alam

Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development

Salam everyone,

A blessing month of Syawal almost bids farewell to us. In Malaysia it is a month of festival celebration. Sorry folks who are no way found in Malaysia either away for business or study matters, you all sure to miss the eventful moment.

Poverty Alleviation seminar
For me in between open house, on the 14-15th October 2008 I managed to attend Islamic International Seminar on Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development at the University of Malaya Centre of Poverty and Development. As usual I talked about Poverty and Empowerment : An Islamic Perspective..I was the first speaker..besides me an Associate Prof from UM and a Prof from UUM. All of us stressed on the importance of solving the issue through various means of government fund, zakat, and waqaf fund.

Another interesting point was raised by JCorp MD Tan Sri Mohd Ali Hashim with "Jihad Ekonomi". JCorp with the conglomerate's assesst exceeds 4 billion, but yet this Tan Sri is still a humble man. His objective in business mission is very clear; that is for "kemesalahatan ummah" not solely for individual pursuit and in contrary to capitalist economy. Capitalist is someone who maximise profit to satisfy his/her own desire which is unlimited in nature. In fact the world economic slowdown and recession is blamed by many espeially Islamic scholars caused by interest based transactions and human greediness. Economy is based on "bubbles" and in actual fact not really based on concrete needs e.g in the US, the lending firms were so laxed in giving out credits even to illegible borrowers. Later the manipulation, affects the credit industry..then the economic meltdown.

Waqaf
The Othman empire in Turkey was said institutionalised the waqaf fund..it survived till today. Another one is the Al-Azhar University which until now the waqaf insitution manages the fund and students of syariah courses are given free tution fees not only for the locals but overseas students as well. Actually JCorp wants to follow suit the noble idea by professionaly managed the waqaf dana and to revive the Islamic concept. It has established Waqaf An-Nur, to provide free healthcare for the needy. I just love the idea, I wish to be part of the Jcorp team.

Polygamy
During the Q & A session after the gender issue papers, the last question was posed by a Nigerian. "This question might be sensitive in Malaysia, but not in Nigeria..I wonder why the paper does not touch the issue of polygamy...da..da" Suddenly a lot of people raised their hands to further clarify or object the ideas..
So the arguments were heated up, with two camps..obviously protecting their rights..At one time I swayed my attention by reading Tan Sri Mohd Ali book's "Jihad Ekonomi". Hi guys I wanted to further explore the issue of poverty and Islamic approaches and not polygamy or monogamy issue (I exclaimed in my heart).

My conclusion
My conscience is straight forward..the syariah view and the rest are issues which sometimes are depending on situational condition....tricky..tricky..man and women..venus and mars..

At the most important thing..Islam provides the solution..

Wassallam
PUZIAH AHMAD

Ramadhan and Syawal

9 Syawal 1429H/9 October 2008
Salam EidulFitri to all muslims and a greeting to all.

Alhamdulilah I am back to work. After the festival mood and family gathering affair, and not to forget 9 days and 8 nights spent at the two states of Johor and Kelantan. Luckily no horrendous traffic jam encountered by us. My 'raya' routine started with visiting my beloved parents' graveyard and their closed relatives and friends. Normally I did this before raya itself (if Muar first)..so that I could give some presents to them. By now I realize the numbers are getting lesser.. and it shows I am getting older. My mother in-law Alhamdulillah is there to compensate the lost moments with my parents. I treasure very much the various festival food in Johor and Kelantan. In Muar Johor I will always have this ketupat nasi, rendang, lodeh, kuah kacang..The best thing some of the food were given by relatives and neighbours. So we always escaped from weaving the ketupat.

In Kubang Kerian Kelantan, we always have the Kelantanese speciality of nasi dagang and laksa/laksam as raya food. This raya, I mean third raya I managed to make mee bandung for my in-laws..Not that difficult because I bought some ready-made ingredients from Muar wet market called "mee bandung mak pon".. Just add squids, prawns, eggs and vegetables to the boiled ingredients, then ready to be served ..This raya also I was made known "kuih ulat bulu". God they like to call food..such as "tahi itik"..but those food are nice and scrumptious.

Talking about Ramadhan I missed the last ten days due to..syarie reason, but I prayed hard may Allah forgive my sins and accept my inadequate ibadah as amal soleh. Procastination is the evil for productivity. It happened to me the last two days. UM called me for the full paper for the next week International seminar entitled Islamic philantrophy and poverty eradication. Suppossedly it should be ready before raya. Time flies. My husband also experienced some kind of 'stone' problems since second raya. I could only advise him to to do some scanning..but the decision is his..the doctor at the DEMC also said " ikut sukalah" after he refused a jab, instead he opted for viral medicine to ease the pain..you could only bring the horse to the river. but you cannot force the horse to drink..


Eid Mubarak again
PUZIAH AHMAD

Refection of my deeds

Salam to all.

How are you my friends and relatives. As I write this, Friday prayer is on air ..the imam is reciting verses of Al-Quran with his melodious voice. It makes me so calm and remembers the Originator of the words. Actually I just visited Prof.Muhd Kamil blog, the UiTM Segamat campus director.. I admire him for his open declaration of reform..well you would know this if you read his Haji Travellogde. Then it makes me to think about myself especially with all the events that happened which sometimes are trying and needs my preserverance.

I considered the events as tribulations of being a human being and especially so for a person doing Phd. I was once being asked "what are your tribulations while doing Phd". Promptly I said, "normal things.household, children, husband and maid". I thought I can handle..then my maid suddenly wanted to go back to Indonesia after getting married with my permission! There you go, with some money she owed me she just left. Wow how to handle this, this son of mine only 3 years old plus..and never went to a kindy yet..and he is a person that needs special attention with tantrums and things like that..My decison was to bring him with me to the office and continue doing my work. Actually no intelectual thinking could be done throughout the period of February and March due to the constant nagging and attention seeker of this little boy.. Alhamdulillah later I found a montessori near my house that suit to his need. He likes the surrounding and teachers as well..One problem solved, actually a worrying one..

Life went on, with the daily routine..then suddenly I woke up at 6.00 a.m on the 2nd of July and told by my husband that my Kelisa was stolen. I looked out the window..yes it was gone.. God..No tears but almost..My first car was in memory.. Some maniacs stole the car then may be ransacked the parts, burned and left by the roadside at the Sungai Buloh highway. These stories I gathered from the police who came to my house on the same day I logded a police report. I never wanted to see the car..it hurts me.

So after almost three months, we, the family are still managing our chores with one car only. I can only consider buying a new car after receiving the compensation money from Takaful Etiqa..

" Do men think that they will be left alone on saying 'we believe' and they will not be tested? (29: 2)

Reflecting on the two events, I think I have to accept Qada' and Qadar and at the same time continously finding ways and means to solve these problems. There are people who only own motorcycles and even some rely on public transportation so what the hack..with owning only one van..life goes on.

People in Palestine are suffering more than me, they have to struggle everyday to get food, medicine and even going to school is known to be 'a no sure return journey'. Allah the Almighty has all the rights to test his servants..However I pray that "Layukallifullahhunaf san Illa usa'ha"(2:286) : On no soul do Allah place a burden greater than it can bear".

Grab the chance of the Lailatul Qadar. Rewards doing the ibadah on the night better than a thousand month..One ustaz told our family..from his learned teachers ..since Ist Ramadhan is on Monday..the Lailatul Qadar will be on the night of 21st Ramadhan..Allahua'llam, only Allah knows best.. I only convey the message..

Till then, Wassallam
PUZIAH

A weekend in the month of Ramadhan

Salam to all

Today is the 8th day of Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah, praises to Allah , the One grants this opportunity to bestow his mercy on us his servants. Ramadhan is a month of 'barakah' , so grab the chance. It is not a month for us to find excuses for staying inactive, instead increasing efforts to upgrade iman and amal.

Lately , besides the phd academic things..I was busy helping my NGO's colleages in JIM, planning, organising and executing some community projects. Alhamdullillah, yesterday(sunday) we mangaged to hold one project at Masjid Sultan Sallehuddin Aziz Shah, Shah Alam. The objective of the program was to inculcate true understanding and perception about Islam . The target audience was not the people of the same faith. In a short survey conducted by volunteers, including myself at busy shopping complexes in Klang and Subang Jaya, the findings are eye-openers for me. The majority about 68 %(out of 69 respondents) considers there are some positive aspects about Islam which they like. From the interview some respondents said : " I like the elements of respecting family members and elderly relatives among muslim".."practice muslim do not do bad things'.."I have no problems with muslim women wearing 'tudung'..they do not look sexy(male respondent)" ..."I like my muslim friends"..."I pity muslim women..I am afraid they feel hot in tudung".." all people are the same..all religions..some bad some good"..."all people in Malaysia live in harmony"..

Nine of my respondents (out of 11) received our little brochures about some detail explanation of Islam with no qualms. I was happy about that and deep inside my heart, I will always pray that one day they will accept the truth. Generally they are hungry for true information, not as being depicted by world media..(you know what I mean)..

May this Ramadhan Allah showers his mercy to all of us, the muslims..
Allah humma innaka afunwun karimun tuhihibbul'afwa fu'anni
(May Allah forgive our sins)

Planning and design in Ho Chi Minh City : A perspective

A photo taken infront of the Reunification Palace

A view from Reunification Palace shows French style of layout






Salam again to all.


The day of 26th August 2008(27 Syaaban1429H), is a very significant day in Malaysian politics. The battle of all politicians is set in Permatang Pauh (P44) by-election on this very day. It is a day of much talked about in Malaysian politics. As I write this , some voters may have relished their righths or still queuing up accordingly to different lines. Line 1 for the 50's and above age group, Line 2 for the 40's, Line 3 for 30's and Line 4 for 20's..So let the voters cast their rights. I think the best thing in a volatile political situation is 'not to let emotions overcome our conscience'..After all the responsibility or amanah as entrusted by Allah to all muslims as khalifatulardh (leaders of the earth) I think should be the guiding path. Everybody is accountable to his or her responsibilities, be it as a parent, a son or daughter, a manager, an 'imam', a politician, and even as an ordinary worker. Be mindful with what we are doing because we are servants of Allah..and in the Al-Mighty court we have no escapism to nullify our duty..



Maneuvering District 1 with a trishaw
A woman survived form the war ordeal









PLANNING AND DESIGN

Well talking about planning and design in Ho Chi Minh City should be the theme of this post. Vietnam has a population of 77 millions who reside mainly on the low-lying land. Overall it has some resemblance of French influence in its layout as well as in designing of old main buildings. The Reunification Palace and churches like 'Notre Dame' have these colonial elements. In the main part of the city, the emphasis of major roads as grand boulevard and pockets of rectangular shape of garden, and as well as 'classical grand roman pillar' dominates the old building facade are clearly remnants of French heritage. Asian influence came later as seen in new buildings. However, the Asian characteristics of its residents do influence the typical Asian look of the city, just like major cities of Bangkok and Jakarta.


CITY LAYOUT

Overall from my observation, just like other developing countries, the city can be divided into three categories; i) high class area ii) medium class and iii) 'not yet properly planned area'. The high class district is in district 1. By the way, the city is divided into various districts, from district 1--13(if not mistaken). The area places all five- star hotels and shopping complexes which sell branded stuff. It looks spacious and calm in the area. The medium class area is the area for the 'market style' shopping area, shop lots and may be selling some cheap stuff either locally made or 'made in China". One of the famous tourist spot is 'the Benh Tanh market'. Everything is under one roof..wet market, dried market, fruits, and stalls that sell everything..clothes, bedsheet, watches, bags, embroidery handbags and shoes..and so on. "Madame, mari murah-murah" is the typical welcoming note from the salesperson. Well it seems Malaysians are regular and familiar faces in the market. The fruits sold there are just marvelous. very fresh and yummy. A tip for shopping in this market is to 'bargain' to at least 30%, as I was told by a local.


The 'not yet properly planned area is the busiest place of all. This is the centre for the wholesales for the locals and ordinary local folks to do their daily shopping needs, ranging from food supply, household items, accessories, clothings and many others. So how do I feel.. I am not particularly an avid buyer.. so bargaining is not my field. If you are one then you can get cheaper products by bargaining and buying in bulks. Branded stuff almost the same price as in Malaysia.. However, I met some Malaysians who are wholesalers, regularly coming to Vietnam to get supplies of products.


A Mosque at Dong Ju St.(built in 1935) next to Sheraton Hotel




TRAFFIC AND CONFLICTS

The traffic is dominated by motorcycles. There are conflicts of users on the roads but the locals are very tolerant. I did not see any accidents happened in front of eyes yet. Millions of motorcyles dominate the mode of transport. Luckily, they use four cylinders so combustion process is complete therefore hardly black smoke is seen emitted to the air. I recommend foreign travellers to use metered taxis otherwise, we might be being cheated. The cheapest form of transport is using the motobike.. but how safe..I do not know. I think we will get used to the transport system after say 20 minutes in the city. The people are struggling to cope with daily life just like us, with the current inflation which jumps to 27% .


May be next post..some tips for muslim travellers

Happy Merdeka Day for Malaysians and Wishing Ramadhan Al-Mubarak to all muslims

Till then , Wassallam

A Trip to Ho Chi Minh City

Salam and my warmest greeting to all.

Well it was quite for me for more than two weeks. Actually August was and still a busy month for me to catch up with papers and seminars. First I had to rush for the 7th of August Artepolis2 Seminar at Institute of Bandung, Bandung Indonesia. My paper had to be finetuned and powerpoints must be ready before the seminar date. At the same time I was also in the midst of editing my first and second chapter of phd write-ups. Hopefully I can complete all four chapters before September so that I can submit to my sponsor for 'six months breathing time' or in other words study leave extension.

To add colour to my study leave period, I suppossedly joined UiTM planning department students' trip to Ho Chi Minh City for comparative planning tour. However, at the last minute due to the Vietnamese government policy of not accepting group passport, the students and accompanying lecturers withdrew from the trip. So only my husband and myself left to pursue the 'unkown journey'. Rima, a phd candidate at Deakin University told me that was a 'honeymoon trip'. Whatever it was, I determined to explore the unknown city of Vietnam with my husband. So we departed with Airasia at 5.30p.m on the 11th of August and arrived back on 14thAugust at 9.50p.m.

It was a worthwhile trip of learning and experiencing the ugliness and dirtiness of war and invasion. My memorable trip to the war museum would stay in my mind. Untill now the images of pictures that depicted the faces of war horror, scaredness, torture, killings and a host of other things unimaginable to normal human beings that happened during the period of 1962-1975 U.S war and invasion in Vietnam stucked in my mind. I do not believe anymore any justification of bringing justice and democracy in a nation through war. What happened in Vietnam before this did not really pitch my mind. After seeing the effects in Vietnam, it was just ugly..no words could describe that. The story or rather articles wrote by journalists could not match what on the grounds. 3 million people feared dead and hundreds of thousands missing. A notion of democracy promulagated by the invaders through war combats and killing not only land defenders but also defendless people of farmers, women and children could not justify that so called a noble act of bringing democracy to the people.

Later post I would comment on planning and design..For now wassallam

Choosing a research topic

A research topic is very important for a researcher. It is a topic that should maintain our interest and focus till the end. Without those elements, "extra mile effort' seem ardous and time-counsuming. This "extra miles" would make the difference in a quality research. Otherwise we would only satisfy with "mediocre' efforts and results. The difference can be detected when working with "passionate research people". I have this experience when I was working with "mat salleh friends" during my undergraduate years. This friend would try all possible avenues to gain better data that "mediocre" group would not dare to try. At the end of the day the friend produced quality data and tip-top proposal. My friend also earned recognition from parties outside the university and of course she deserved a first class hounours degree and a Vice-Chancellor medal.

This is the difference. The research means something dear to our heart and the memontum we gained should be able to make us noticeable in the field later on . I believe there is no easy way out. .

Embarking a research

Embarking a research. ...

It is a life passion job. Why? To find some answers on certain issues. ...well..just something to ponder;

TEN POINTS FOR US TO PONDER …………...Why we do Phd?
…..To ponder…to ponder…


POINT ONE…..
•IF.. Our aim to get promotion later
•…may be frustrated IF we don’t get it.

POINT TWO..
•IF…TO GET the title Dr….we might feel SAD IF people don’t call us Dr…


POINT THREE..
•IF to get extra self-esteem…
•May not be happy IF people don’t respect our opinions.

POINT FOUR ..
•..To be a learned person….NOBLE AIM but a waste IF we don’t practice what we found in the research..


POINT FIVE ..
•.. To be an expert..wise move BUT become redundant IF people NEVER refer to US..

POINT SIX ..
•IF.. To find proof, truth and rationale only…BUT WE CAN’T FIND …... May be “Pertinent headaches” set in.

POINT SEVEN ..
•IF ..DOING Phd..so that we can do our quantitative analysis THEN IF
•TYPE I error could not be rectified… may be a real ‘Phd’(Permanent Head Damage occurs)

POINT EIGHT ..
•IF WE want to be RICH or SUPER RICH might as well learn from BILL GATES

POINT NINE ..
•IF we want TO be FAMOUS…wrong industry..may be Hollywood or Bollywood the right industry…..

POINT TEN ..
•BUT IF FOR ALLAH”S SAKE…ALL THE WAY TO PHD’s SCROL WITH LOTS OF GOOD REWARDS(PAHALA) FROM ALLAH S.W.T
•Time to correct OUR INTENTION.. ….

These are some of the points that linger in my mind while at the confusion stage of doing Phd..

Salam..A greeting to all

29 July 2008 /26 Rejab 1429H

Salam to all..
This is my first posting in my blog.. well they say a blog is a place to pen down thoughts, feelings, creative writting and one most important thing is to share ideas and discuss things . May be in my case to get some ideas and platform for throwing out my 'inner thinking' in completing my post graduate studies. There are reasons for this.. I have been asked many times on issues pertaining phd study.. topics ranging from choosing phd topic, methodology, literature, choices of universities and as well as other phd related issues. Well, may be the blog ..a place to share these academic things and may be other things as well. My intention is about 'sharing' the experiences.. If this step is helpful to fellow researchers and other human beings, I would be most grateful....