From the Land of Mata Ayer

Bismillah, I'm back in Malaysia after a soulful journey in Taiwan. It does irks me sometimes when Malaysians (in general) could not stop bickering over petty issues. We just kinda move from one small problem to another. Let's hope that it does not turn into a vicious cycle. Have we been too invested in politiking? To the point that we overlook other core issues that remain unsolved until now. I never expect a magic pill or a one-shot all-savers solution, it's just that, have we ever reflect which direction we are going, backwards or forward? upwards or downwards? On the contrary, I miss Taiwan's vibe. The cities are busy, but peaceful, crowded, yet syncs in harmony.  Ok, back to the point. I am due to register for my PhD in 2 weeks insyaAllah. This was after 2 times of postponement. Once was in March when I got accepted for the YSEALI Academic Fellowship, and another one was in July for my summer school.  Sometimes I wonder whether I'm taking the right decisio...

Bismillah, I was planning to make a 10-series posts on my experience in the United States for an academic fellowship under the Young Southeast ASEAN Leadership Initiative (YSEALI). Met awesome fellows over there, 21 of us, I still miss the positive vibes until now. But turns out that I forgot about this, and things get busier with Ramadhan & Eid (the first week of Ramadhan was a bit disaster as I was adapting to jetlags, asal pukul 4 petang je mengantuk).   . And here we are, 2 months post the program. Currently I am in Taiwan for a summer school in Global Governance for the next 6 weeks. New challenges, new experience, and new peers. I am very grateful for the opportunity given, knowledge seeking is a form of rizq that I am really grateful of Alhamdulillah. So after much negotiations with my parents (which quoted by Lance as the second visa interview), I flew to Taipei as a solo Malaysian delegate.  . Definitely a lot of things happened in between the months.  ...

Bismillah, It has been quite a long stretch since my last post. Lots of things happened, definitely. I'm trying my best to get the writing process smoothen up since (I guess) it has been getting a bit rusty.  Last month I attended an Almaghrib seminar by Syeikh Yahya Ibrahim on the Tafseer of Surah Maryam. It is a really great weekend class and I'm really grateful to be offered a partial sponsorship to attend this seminar. The experience of attending an Almaghrib class is priceless, you're going to miss the vibes, the spiritual boost, the people that you met, all of it. One of the things that Syeikh Yahya shared during this class is the power of du'a. If we look at the stories in Al-Quran, we'll notice that there are countless examples of the actors/characters making du'a. Prophet Zakariyya a.s prayed for a child (Surah Maryam), Imran (father of Maryam) also prayed for a son, Musa a.s prayed for a companion, and the list goes on. The point that ...

Ketika melawat Toul Sleng genocide museum di Phnom Pehn semasa workshop YSEALI tempohari, jurukamera berbangsa Kemboja yang mengiringi kami mencadangkan filem ini. Filem arahan Angelina Jolie ini merupakan adaptasi dari novel yang mempunyai tajuk sama, tulisan Loung Ung. Sedari mula, filem ini mengambil perspektif Loung yang menjadi saksi kekejaman Khmer Rouge (yang juga dipanggil Angkar) sepanjang tempoh hampir 5 t ahun dari 1975-1979. Loung merupakan seorang kanak-kanak perempuan berusia sekitar 7 tahun, mempunyai 7 adik-beradik dan hidup dalam keluarga yang agak berada disebabkan status bapanya yang berkhidmat sebagai kapten kepada pasukan tentera Lon Nol. Kehidupan Loung dan keluarganya berubah 180 darjah sebaik sahaja rejim Khmer Rouge mengepung Phnom Pehn dan memaksa semua penduduk untuk meninggalkan rumah mereka selama 3 hari. Alasannya Amerika Syarikat akan mengebom Phnom Pehn. Dengan itu, Loung dan keluarganya serta ribuan warga Phnom Pehn yang ...

Alhamdulillah, pertemuan Februari selesai diadakan Sabtu lepas. Tema bulan ini berkisarkan pendidikan dan ilmu. Mungkin agak berat bunyinya tapi sesi book circle ini diakhiri dengan konklusi bahawa semuanya berkait dengan pendidikan. Saudari Farhana berkongsi buku Anak Rantau tulisan A. Fuadi yang mengisahkan Epi seorang budak bandar yang ditinggalkan bapanya di desa agar dapat belajar berdikari . Jiwa muda Epi yang naif pastinya memberont ak kerana perubahan gaya hidup yang ketara juga ketegasan datuknya yang penuh disiplin. Dari situ Epi bertekad untuk mengumpul duit secukupnya agar dia dapat pulang ke bandar semula. Dalam tempoh itu juga Epi belajar tentang kehidupan dan mengenali manusia.  Saudari Aelina pula berkongsi buku Bad Science tulisan Ben Goldacre, seorang epidemiologist dan penulis terkenal di UK. Dalam buku ini, Ben mendedahkan ubat-ubatan yang dipasarkan dengan cara memanipulasi orang awam menggunakan 'dodgy claims'. Perbincangan...

Bismillah, Since last October, I have been coordinating a monthly book circle for women. Suri Membaca is actually an advocating movement to encourage more women to read even after their university years, being a career women or as a housewife.  This movement is started earlier last year in Klang Valley areas by Kak Nurul Suhadah Shuib and team.  Definitely, this is a teamwork effort since it is impossible to run a book circle only by myself. Luckily I met Kak Kamariyah, another booklover staying in Perlis. So we met and discussed about books and also how to run our first book circle in the northern states! 1) It is 'kind of' easy to start a venture, but more challenging to sustain Our first ever book circle was held at Blackwood Arau and we got 7 attendees who shared books of many wonderful genres. Even Maisarah came down all the way from Penang. Since it was the first time we ever gathered, the choleric-melancholic side of me imagined every possible o...

Bismillah, It has been many many months since the last time I posted here, Lots of things happened in between, of course, that's life. Continued my masters studies in Universiti Utara Malaysia at the School of International Studies since last September. Kind of a leap of faith as I went completely opposite from my chemical engineering degree to strategic studies, however I personally found the subjects to be very insightful.  Hopefully I can gather enough motivation to write about that soon insyaAllah. Alhamdulillah, made new friends here in UUM and generally Perlis. Seems that I'll be around Perlis for quite some time before settling down in the future. Lost 4 cats in October (Gemok, Awang, Tomyam & Bunga) most probably due to poisoning, but got a better replacement Alhamdulillah. Coordinated my first ever book circle in Perlis in October last year and this February will be our 5th meetup already, yeay! In short, life progresses rapidly. There are lots of things ...