Merdeka

Selamat Menyambut Hari Kebangsaan, Happy National Day or is it Independence Day? Whatever!

Are we really independent? Why kebangsaan? Direct translation of Bangsa in English is "race". Does it reflect "1Malaysia"? Whatever!

Lately there has been a lot of controversy regarding this issues. But when I was in my school days, race was never an issue. I had several Chinese friends, yes many of them are hardworking and intelligent, and so are the Malay boys, we try to compete academically with them. The good old days of school.

Today's Merdeka day is a non-event, except the police road block here and there. Wonder why?

Ramadhan Al Mubarak

Muslimin & Muslimat,

Selamat Menyambut Ramadhan Al Mubarak, semuga di bulan mulia ini, dapat kita melipat gandakan amalan dan pahala. Jangan sia-siakan amalan puasa dengan perbuatan yang tak berfaedah, marilah sama-sama penuhkan dengan amal ibadah.

Ramadhan hanya 30 hari dalam setahun dan lailatulqadar hanya 1 malam dalam bulan Ramadhan, bila waktunya kita pun tak tahu. Bayangkan hanya dari satu malam kita boleh dapat pahala untuk 1,000 bulan yang bersamaan 83 tahun, sedangkan umur kita belum tentu akan melebihinya. Dari itu, kita sama-samalah penuhi Ramadhan ini dengan amal-jariah, agar kita mendapat keberkatan malam tersebut.

Malangnya dibulan Ramadhan jugalah hotel-hotel & restoran akan mempromosi majlis berbuka dengan harga yang mahal dan berbagai-bagai juadah yang sedap, bukan sahaja mengenyangkan tetapi juga melalaikan kita dari beribadah, kerana bila dah makan terlalu kenyang, badan tak larat untuk solat terawikh. Jika makan sedikit terasa rugi pula kerana telah membayar harga yang mahal. Bayangkan untuk seorang berharga RM70 sedangkan jika kita makan hari biasa di warung tak sampai pun RM7.00 sepinggan. Elakkanlah pembaziran & rebut peluang yang hanya datang setahun sekali...

Malaysian Nature Society Membership

Last Saturday, during The Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival (KLPF) at the Mid-Valley shopping complex, I managed to sign up as a member of Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) or Persatuan Pencinta Alam. I have been considering joining them for quite some time and this is the opportunity I don't want to miss.

Instead of buying cameras accessories on sale that day I joined MNS. Still, I felt my visit to KLPF is successful!

I care for wildlife, I adore nature, I keen on jungle trekking, I like travelling and my ultimate passion is photography.

Some time last year, I was approached by an international wildlife NGO's personnel handling a booth at some shopping complex. But they are more interested to coerce me into parting with my money to donate to them rather than making me a member. How do I know whether the monthly deduction from credit cards are properly channeled for wildlife conservation or for other purposes.

Might as well I become a member of a local NGO. I know they have lots of activities for my family and me, also for my interest in photography, and they are known to successfully manage an eco park in Kuala Selangor. I am now a proud member of MNS.

More on MNS at http://www.mns.my/

Panoramas

It has been a while I have not updated my Blog, well life has been very boring routine lately. Politic, is always the same BN vs PR, full of hypocrisy. Socially, we are all worried about H1N1, the Haze, dengue, crime rate. Everything to worry about...

Today, i just like to share some of the panoramas in Malaysia we can enjoy...

The lake garden (my first attempt on panorama using CS2)

The lake garden (my second attempt using CS3)

Morib Beachfront (the color of the water is not so tempting- makes me wonder why the west coast / Selat Melaka's water looks like teh tarik.