Jasma Brand

Looking for halal pasta, bar-b-q, mayonaise, or chilli sauce? Well, search no more because now we have 100 percent halal products produced by our friend Kak Ju. The factory is located in Klang. This past Raya we were fortunate enough to visit her family in KL and to our surprise and excitement, Kak Ju gave us 4 bottles of sauces to take home! Wow! We have been buying her Mayo ever since she told us that Jasma is her products brand. Yesterday I decided to try her BBQ sauce on 1 whole chicken... and less than half an hour, the whole bird was gone! Mmm, mmm, finger licking good. I urge all my friends and readers to support these products. You can get them at Giant and some other super and hyper markets.

AGRO Bazar

It was Sunday the 13th of September. Suddenly we realized that we had exactly one week before Raya. That was the best available time to do our Raya shopping because we hadn't bought any clothes for the kids yet. We went to a shop near Parkson building and bought each one of us a "baju Melayu" and "baju kurung". After that we walked to Parkson to get some pants for the kids. On the way to Parkson I saw a stall selling halal products mainly produced by cottage industries around the region. There were so many of them, beautifully packed, and tasted so yummy. Now that we are provided with halal alternatives, I would like to invite all Muslim friends and readers around Kuantan to shop at this stall. If we do not support them who else will?

Peaceful

Almost as pieceful as being in this forest

Ramadhan is only 2 days left and Syawal is coming really soon. As usual, at this time of the Islamic calendar year, our campus is very peaceful and quiet because most of its inhabitants have left to celebrate Eid in their hometowns. Only students from Sabah and Sarawak do not go home but they usually go to their relatives' or friends' places. Just awhile ago, I stepped out of my office to go to the next block, there was not a single movement around. It felt great but spooky at the same time because the only time I felt like that was when I walked near a graveyard.

Cow Heads

Sometimes I wonder what people are thinking when they do something. Or they simply do not think at all. The case in mind is the group of Malays who stomped on cow heads in Shah Alam recently. Being upset about something is understandable, but being disrespectful to others is downright disgusting. All of us in Malaysia are so well aware that Hindus revere cows like we revere our Prophet (peace be upon him). Even if some people claim that they are not aware of it, ignorance is not an excuse. Have we forgotten how upset and hurt we were when some hateful European drew and published a horrendous caricature of our revered Prophet? So why do the unforgivable act unto others? Think! Islam is for those who think.

RM800?

I was shocked when I read an article about a demand that was made by a country to pay its citizen RM800 a month as a maid in Malaysia. Not only that, these maids are required to be given a day off and they must be provided with health insurance (even some of their employers do not own health insurance). I think, with this kind of provision, some of our single mothers would be willing to work as maids. I believe at some organizations in Malaysia, even clerks get a mere 600 – 700 Ringgits as their starting salary. In my personal opinion maids are not entitled for a complete day off. When we work in the office, school, factory, etc. from Monday until Friday or Saturday, we still have to work at home on our off days. I can understand why those foreign workers who are working in construction companies, restaurants, gas stations, and plantations should be given a day or two off in a week because they are staying in their “own” place. But in the case of maids, where would they go on their days off? Where would they eat? What would they do? Do the employers have to cook and serve them when they get back from shopping with their buddies?

Bidet and Squat Loo

When I first walked into Bangsar Shopping Center, I thought I was in a “Mat Salleh’s” country. There were so many of them around that you can easily have mistaken the place as Dallas or Toronto. Since the place has many western customers, the toilets are also westerner-friendly. There are more sitting toilets as compared to the squat type. Of course they do not provide any hose for water but instead they provided bidet. Personally, I think seated toilets are suitable with bidet but definitely not with the squat ones. On top of that, the squat holes which are available are the kind with water in it. Just imagine someone with a severe diarrhea using it every thing will be splattering around you-know-what! Wouldn’t that be a nuisance for practicing Muslim like me to pray afterwards with “najis” on my body? Washing it thoroughly is already out of a question because there are no water hoses!

The Great Wall Of KPTM

The Front Entrance

I was wondering why there were cement mixing machine and mountains of sand near the entrance of the College. The puzzle was solved as soon as I saw the poles being erected along the site where the old fence used to be. The College is in the process of building The Great Wall of KPTM! It should have been built a long time ago but I guess the College didn’t have the right amount of extra dough to burn. Ever since I can remember the fence has been vandalized by the raging- hormone occupants of the hostels who were too lazy to walk an extra meter to the gate. Every time a hole is fixed a new one will appear. It’s a losing battle and definitely an administrator’s nightmare! So we have many holes around the College which are really ugly to look at. Most of the time students use those holes to get to the nearby restaurants at meal times or to get in and out after “curfew” hours (between 11pm and 7am). As much as I hate seeing it and being surrounded by the prison-like wall, I think the decision to build it is helpful in solving the problem. When I was traveling in Mexico, I saw many houses were surrounded by high walls and they put broken pieces of glass at the top of the walls. I supposed to prevent intruders from climbing up their fortresses. I wonder if the College should do the same. Hmm… it would be interesting to see people’s reaction to that.

God willing, when the wall is complete, I will try to post another entry.