Nak ke Tak Nak?

Terasa ingin menulis di saat peristiwa ini masih panas.

“Where do you live?”
“Earlsdon, Coventry. What about you?”
“I live in Coventry too. Do you know Hillfields?”
“Yes, I have heard of it and I think I have been there once. But I am not really sure where it is.”
“Are you leaving? And how are you going back?”

*****************************************

Malam ini aku pergi semula ke Universiti pada pukul 7 malam kerana ada perjumpaan Warwick Speakers (sebuah kelab ‘public speaking’ yang menggunakan model Toastmasters International). Memandangkan sudah lewat petang dan parking di universiti pula free selepas 6pm, aku pun memandu sahaja ke Uni.

Perbalahan yang membawa rasa segan

Baru sahaja selesai sebuah talk di Warwick Univ pada pukul 10 tadi. Amat JARANG Warwick mengadakan talk yang menjemput speaker dari Malaysia. Alhamdulillah, warga Postgrad dari Malaysian Coventry Society (MCS) mengambil inisiatif untuk mengadakannya. Yang dijemput pun bukan calang-calang orangnya, dialah Ustaz Zaharuddin Abdul Rahman.

Seperti biasa, talk kali ini mengumpulkan ramai warga Warwick walaupun diadakan pada hari Sabtu. Yang peliknya, yang paling ramai tidak hadir ialah 1st year. Berjalan-jalan mengenal UK barangkali. Lagipun promosi (yang diuruskan oleh saya) bermula sangat lambat.

Ramai yang membawa makanan yang sedap-sedap sebagai menyahut tema program iaitu Potluck. Namun ada juga yang tidak membawa makanan kerana risau pembaziran yang bakal berlaku.

Tajuk talk hari ini ialah Ibadah Haji dan Korban. Walaupun isi talk ini begitu mudah untuk dijangka, namun pengisian yang dibawa oleh UZAR amat menarik. Semua memberi perhatian penuh, kecuali anak-anak PG yang seronok bermain di dunia mereka sendiri.

Itu adalah latar tulisan ini. Talk UZAR di Warwick pada Sabtu malam.

Dalam banyak-banyak perkara yang disampaikan malam ini, ada satu perkara yang begitu menyentuh saya untuk berkongsi. Bila abang Zikri, bekas penghulu bertanyakan pendapat UZAR tentang isu penangkapan Dr MAZA dan Wahabi.

Penjelasan yang begitu ringkas dan padat telah diberikan oleh UZAR. Syabas. Namun, yang paling terpahat di memori saya ialah reaksi audiens semasa mendengar ringkasan perbalahan yang berlaku antara 2 pihak, iaitu ‘The So-Called Wahabi’ dan juga ‘The Wahabi Labeller’.

Cuba teka apa reaksi audiens selepas mendengar penjelasan UZAR?

Betul, mereka ketawa.

Tidak dinafikan pembawaan UZAR yang bijaksana membuatkan audiens terpaku, dan lawak jenaka serta susunan perkataan boleh membantu mengekalkan tumpuan audiens; tapi secara jujurnya, kisah-kisah sebegini memang layak ditertawakan.

‘Mengaji tinggi-tinggi, boleh jugak jadi macam ni?’ Fikir saya sendiri.

Jadi apa penyelesaiannya? Berlapang dada. Perkataan yang sering disebut. Malah ada yang ketawa bila perkataan ini sering disebut.

Tapi benar, berlapang dada ialah langkah terbaik. Saya suka untuk mengambil maksud berlapang dada secara literal.

Bila kita tengok orang buat sesuatu yang kita tak setuju, kita akan rasa berat dan sempit di dalam dada kita.

Maka kita perlu LAPANGkan dada tersebut. Cara paling mudah, tarik nafas dalam-dalam, dan hembus. Kemudian senyum.

Justeru, jika para bijak pandai, tidak kisahlah dalam bidang agama atau mana-mana bidang, bila mana ada seseorang membawa idea yang tidak kena dengan kepercayaan kita, berlapang dadalah. Tidak sama dengan kita bukan bermakna tidak benar. Macamlah kita tu betul sangat.

Dan yang membawa idea baru, berlapang dadalah dengan orang lain yang masih dengan idea lama. Berlapang dada. Dan bersangka baik.

Kalau orang yang belajar tinggi-tinggi pun macam ni, tak payah bising la kalau ada keluar berita tentang budak sekolah bergaduh. Yang dah habis sekolah pun gaduh lagi, inikan budak sekolah!

Dan ingatlah, kita semua berkongsi badan. Maka kita ada paha yang sama. Bila dicubit paha kiri, paha kanan pun terasa sakitnya! (heh, apakah ini?)

Sudah-sudahlah dengan perbalahan yang membawa rasa segan.

FUIYO Transportation

Assalamualaikum wbt.

The most awaited information is here! 

For the purpose of reading this page only, Gradbach YHA, which is the geographical venue for FUIYO will be referred to as THE FUIYO.

This page is divided to 2 sections: Going With Us & Going On Your Own.

Going With Us

The organising committee is delighted to announce that we are providing 2 coaches of 49 seats each. In total, we will be able to accommodate 98 people.

So, we are going to leave for THE FUIYO on the 22nd of December from Manchester at 3pm, and we will leave THE FUIYO on the 25th of December also at 3pm.

To be exact,below are the details:

Origin

University of Manchester Students’ Union
Steve Biko Building
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PR

Destination

YHA
Gradbach Mill
Gradbach
Quarnford
Buxton
Derbyshire SK17 0SU

Outward – 22 December 2009, 3.00 pm

Return – 25 December 2009, 3.00 pm

Then you can prepare for your big Boxing Day!

Going On Your Own

This section has 3 parts: by Train, by Coach & by Car.

By Train

You can check the time and cost from the National Rail website.

The station is BUXTON. It is 15 minutes away from THE FUIYO. We will provide shuttle services from and to Buxton Train station.

Please fill in the form HERE to book your shuttle service.

By Coach

Check out National Express website for more info about the time and price.

The station is BUXTON. There will also be shuttle service between the Coach station and THE FUIYO.

Book your shuttle service HERE!

By Car

If you are using a satellite navigation device (e.g. Tomtom, Garmin), just key in the postcode: SK17 0SU.

Or else, you can find your directions using Google Map. Use the given postcode. Or refer to the address given above, in the ‘Going With Us‘ section.

For any other enquiries regarding transportation, please feel free to contact the Logistics Officer at akmal.amri[at]gmail.com (please replace [at] with @) or +447515420795.

He is more than happy to help!

Depression

Week 6

The supposedly reading week for many students at Warwick is the most depressing week for me.

WBS does not take Week 6 as a reading week, hence the usual timetable.

4 more weeks before the term ends, have I got what it takes to finish this term with a bang?

International Financial Management, still a lot to catch up to.

Advanced Financial Reporting, I seriously need to start working.

Marketing Management, been doing OK so far, but need to shift to gear 5 very SOON. Essay is due in 1 month time.

Critical Issues in Management – work more for your group.

International Corporate Tax Planning – you definitely still have loads of work to do and COMPLETE!

Lectures and seminars, these are two most important things for students at Uni. Please turn up. Do turn up!

Depressed.

Books = Commitment

This is the first time I am writing about my personal life. But it is just to share my excitement.

Excitement for books.

I just got back from Jalan TAR in KL to buy some books. There are only 6 books in my list, with a budget of RM200, just in case my appetite and lust for books become uncontrollable.

And so it happens.

I left Pustaka Mu’min with the cashier having RM230 more in the cash register. I just bought 13 books! And a short walk across the road to the Minerva bookstore caused another outflow of RM20! Haha…

People believe, books equal commitment. Once you buy it, you have to read it. But for me, the feeling that you have The Books is already satisfying. And should I fail to read all before buying more books, still my friends may benefit from it.

Enough with the talking, now the list:

1. Kitab Fikah Mazhab Syafie – Jilid 1
2. Kitab Fikah Mazhab Syafie – Jilid 2
3. Fiqh al Harakah 1 (Abdul Hadi Awang)
4. Fiqh al Harakah 2 (Abdul Hadi Awang)
5. Fiqh al Harakah 3 (Abdul Hadi Awang)
6. Pengenalan Ringkas kepada Ilmu Usul Fiqh
7. Pengenalan Ringkas kepada Ilmu Usul Tafsir
8. Sejarah Khalifah Rasulullah
9. Saiyidina Mu’awiyah: Khalifah Rasyid Yang Teraniaya
10. 13 Mei (Kua Kia Soong)
11. 13 Mei – Sebelum dan Selepas (Tunku Abdul Rahman)
12. The Malay Dilemma (Mahathir Mohamad)
13. The Chinese Dilemma (Ye Lin-Sheng)

And I have a desire for another book, but due to the overspending and also the weight of the book, I delay the desire to another day. It is a 1200-page book based on a PhD thesis by a few professors on the fall of the Ottoman Empire. It explains a lot: the Arab nationalists, the Turks minority, British intervention, and Sultan Abd Hamid II.

And the price is RM100. I would love that for a birthday present.

Contingency – A Level

Result A Level baru sahaja keluar (kepada yang ambik CIE sahaja ye). Ada berita baik, ada berita kurang baik. Ada yang bernada manis, tidak kurang yang bernafas duka.

Namun segala ketentuan perlu dihadapi dengan tabah, bukannya dengan bermegah atau dengan sumpah seranah. Syariatullah perlu diiringi dengan sunnatullah. Barulah lengkap usaha kita.

Maka, kepada yang kurang bernasib baik, rancangan dan usaha perlu diteruskan. Saya ingin kongsikan beberapa dokumen penting yang boleh membantu anda sepanjang proses clearing bagi yang tidak lepas requirement univ. Ataupun kepada mereka yang tidak lepas syarat penaja untuk fly, panduan untuk anda juga turut disertakan.

1. Klik LINK INI

2. Download file yang bernama “UK Alternative Route Infopack.zip”

3. Extract file tersebut dengan menggunakan software WinZip ataupun WinRAR. [setelah install software berkenaan, right click pada file "UK Alternative Route Infopack.zip" dan klik 'Extract Here']

4. Anda sepatutnya memperoleh 4 Word documents:

• Alternatif Sambung Pengajian
• Clearing O Clearing
• Clearing Appeal Letter
• Contingency Plan

Sekian, harap membantu.

p/s: sila post di comment jika ada sebarang soalan

PPSMI

It is quite a new topic for me to comment on. But a recent experience has prompted me to share about this. About PPSMI (the teaching and learning of science and math in english).

To begin, I welcome the decision to discard the PPSMI.

Before, I always heard how students, especially those from rural areas suffer to learn science and math in english, since their proficiency in english is super low! I heard from my teachers, from my mum (who is a teacher) and also from media (which includes Youtube and blogs). Almost all comments are negative (except comment by chedet in his blog. Hurm..)

However, my personal experience being a part-time teacher in a secondary school reaffirms all the stories I heard.

It all started when I was assigned to replace a Form 2 science teacher who just gave birth to 2 cute twin boys. And the students were about to start with Dynamics – Understanding Force. So I taught them the topic.

“Tell me one type of force,” I said at a high pitch. (note that I was in class 2J)

Silence.

I approached a boy, and demanded an answer. He opened his textbook, and confidently said,

“Eraser.”

I was stunned.

The boy did not even understand my question, neither did he understand what is written in the textbook. What he did was just to read anything he saw in the book. Apparently, he was referring to an experiment about friction, which listed eraser as one of the apparatus.

The problem is not only about them not understanding the lesson in school. Worse, they cannot even study themselves. All books are in English, and they do not understand it.

Let us now focus on increasing the students’ understanding of Science, as well as English, by empowering the way we teach the particular subjects. Not by asking them to learn English and Science at the same time.

At least, if their English is bad, they still understand something in Science.

p/s: the school I teach is in Sg Buloh, which is an urban area. I wonder what experience PPSMI teachers in rural areas have.

Tunggu Aku Baik Dulu

Babak 1

“Ko tahu kan yang dakwah tu wajib ke atas semua orang, lebih-lebih lagi dengan keadaan kita yang  tiada khilafah ni,” ujar Zulkarnain yang cuba meyakinkan Samad untuk bersama-sama di jalan dakwah ini.

“Aku tahu, aku faham ayat 110 surah Ali Imran tu. Semua orang wajib berdakwah. Tapi aku ni belum cukup baik lagi la nak ajak-ajak orang ni. Nak tegur orang, diri sendiri mesti betul dulu kan? Jadi aku ingat aku nak baiki diri aku dulu lah. Tunggu aku baik dulu barulah aku join dakwah ni” jawab Samad yang agak keberatan untuk memikul tugas sebagai seorang pendakwah, yang diketahuinya adalah wajib.

Babak 2

“Terima kasih cu. Nenek memang tak sangka akan ada orang tolong nenek untuk lintas jalan. Ye la, waktu orang nak masuk pejabat macam ni mana ada orang nak berhenti.” Begitulah kata-kata yang diungkapkan oleh seorang nenek tua yang dibantu oleh Zaman untuk melintas jalan.

“Sama-sama nek. Tak ada apa-apa pun. Mudah je, tak sampai 5 minit pun.” Zaman gembira dapat membantu nenek tersebut.

Kemudian terdetik di hati beliau, “Uih, baiknya aku. Orang semua sibuk nak pergi kerja tapi aku boleh luangkan 5 minit untuk tolong nenek tu. Bagus jugak aku ni ye”

Dakwah dan Jadi Baik

Bagaimana? Apa yang korang nampak daripada kedua-dua babak rekaan di atas?

Dia makan ****, kita makan ****

500 ikut jejak Hashim jika keluar UMNO

Membaca berita tersebut, saya sungguh kecewa. Kecewa dengan tahap pemikiran orang kita. Apakah tindakan akal dan hati kita sepatutnya berkiblatkan individu? Mereka ni ahli UMNO atau ahli Kelab Penyokong Shahidan?

Semudah itu manusia dibonekakan. Hanya kerana mengagumi ketokohan seseorang, manusia itu bisa dilentur walaupun umur dah jauh melangkaui rebung? Mana perginya fungsi akal dan hati yang Allah anugerahkan?

Haih… Manusia manusia.

Ini baru Shahidan, dah beratus-ratus orang jadi lalang. Kalau Akmal?

Haih…

Sedangkan Rasulullah yang sempurna dan ‘maksum’ itupun Allah larang kita bergantung harap kepadanya, inikan manusia biasa bernama Shahidan mahupun Najib malah Nik Aziz sekalipun. Teringat kisah selepas kewafatan Rasulullah, bilamana Umar menjadi tidak keruan sekejap dan menghunus pedangnya dan menyebut,

Memori P-02

 

My attempt for Yearbook picture.

Only Prasath looks good in it. Maybe, Mojo Jojo suits him best?