Its a long week free from work. Monday's DO was good with 4 anticipated disturbances.
Went to Kukup Golf Resort on Wednesday morning after 15 years. However this was my first time driving there. With unfamiliar rural road condition and few missed turns, we arrived at Kukup Town 3 hours later. Hehehe just a short 90 km from the second link.


Kukup Town


Not much changes except a new international ferry terminal serving the Indonesian Karimun Island. We stopped for a drink and later drove to Tanjung Piai, the southern most tip of the peninsula. Not to our expectation but nice coastal country side though.


Tanjung Piai


After all the roadside tidbits, we checked into Kukup Golf Resort. Its the best resort in Kukup but I think it has seen better days. The surrounding was not well maintained. Ok, no complain la. Its typical of Malaysian property. Anyway we stayed for the night and left at noon the next day for ...............what else, shopping at Jusco Pulai, typical Singaporean past time. Reached home around 1800 hrs.






Waiting for dinner to be served at the club house.


Friday morning at 0545 hrs, left home to fetch Azman and Erik for a round of golf at Terring Bay Batam. This time there were 15 golfers playing. The game was organised by the newly formed TRACOM Golf Club. It was a good game with few tips from the better players.

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Bob, Sazali, Sukhdev and Prakash


Thats how I spent the week away from work.

Met my former school teacher from USTS last nite for the first time after 34 years. This meeting was made possible by Facebook with links from one contact to the other. Never expect this could happen.

The meeting was in effect a surprise birthday celebration for Chik Gu Sukhaimi organised by some ex students of USTS. This group meet quite regularly catching up with old friends. I was never in their group and never knew anyone of them except with one FB friend (never met b4 though). She was the one that link me to another FB friend etc etc etc. Finally......I was in the birthday party lastnite. Hehehe ......what a thick skin I am.

Anyway I am glad I attended the party driving through heavy rain along heavily congested express way from the West to the East (tak mandi lagi). Half way thru, body felt sticky...so terpaksa mintak diri dulu.

Hope to meet up with them again this June.

Left home early yesterday, around 0600 hrs for a round of golf at Pulai Spring with my usual golf kakis. We were alloted a 0730 hrs slot but get to tee off only at 0800 hrs due to the huge week end flights of Singaporean golfers. It is a norm for Singaporeans to travel to Johor on the weekend for golf due to the attractive rates the clubs there charge. Anyway we played for free as associate members. LOL


The 1st hole was a "horrendous" one (the term used by Rony) and one of us donated few balls to the club due to "lack of mileage" another term used by Erik. Anyway, it was an enjoyable round, and a precursor to a tournament next Tuesday. Here are ome pics to share

Created an account in facebook last week end. Still familiarising with the format. Hehe me, a bit slow I guess. Anyway, tried searching for long lost friends etc, etc and still searching. Some had familiar names but no response to "add friend". Perhaps its "wrong number".

Managed to connect with a former student from USTS but not from the same cohort though. Nevertheless, its nice to know someone associated to the same school you were once studying in. Thanks Dalina.

Today I attended a wedding reception near my place. Good food, good decor and accompanied by good music as well. The buffet table was nicely decorated and the waiters were in uniform. Everything was well done.

This reminds me of the old days where a wedding event was a "gotong-royong" thingy. This is the time when relatives and close friends would come by to help the host...from cooking to serving the guests. Everyone in the family and kampong plays a part.

This concept is hard to apply in todays context. The spirit of gotong-royong has watered down simply because more and more couples are working and any free time available will be spent with the kids. Thus people have no time for others.

But not to worry, we will leave this to the wedding planner. The result and presentation is more professional except....we need a bigger budget. On a positive side.......we are helping the economy and more jobs will be created.
Talking about global recession.

Has been selling off some of my hi fi gear lately. Well, to clear some space.
Item sold so far
1 Rotel Phono amp
2 Rotel Tuner
3 Speaker stand

Other items to go soon.
1 Arcam CD player
2 Lecson Integrated Amp
3 Sota Saphire Turntable (my precious)


Items on my shopping list
1 Horn Loaded speaker
2 Micro Selki 5000 Turntable
3 Sound defractor and absorber.

Sigh....there's no ending to this hobby.

In loving memory.

Tanpa banyak bicara
Di sisiku kau rebah
Membuat semua gelisah

Seminggu ku menanti
Sedia dan pasrah di lubuk hati
Akhir nya kau kalah
Kami di tinggalkan tanpa ayah

Pak Eh
Pemergian mu sudah di duga
Setelah tiada ibu tercinta
Keceriaan punah sudah
Walau expresi mu tiada
Kami semua merasa

Pak Eh
Kini kau tiada
Yang tinggal hanya kenangan
Hidup mu memberi kesan
Yang tak akan di lupakan
Akan ku abadikan segala pengorbanan
Doa ku iringkan.

Another poetry in Malay. This one is a bit lovey dovey.

Bila bertemu, hati berkata
Kau milikku, apa itu bisa

Aah! Bisa tak bisa
Langkah di majukan
Tapi sayang
Hasrat yang tersimpan
Masih tak kesampaian

Sudah di duga
Perpisahan pasti ada
Langkah di hentikan
Hati terluka

Ok lah. Even at home we speak English, I mean Singlish more often than the Malay language. So today to promote the Malay language, I am penning a poetry in Malay. Its a bit patriotic. It goes like this

Anak muda
Bangun lah dari tidur mu
Buka mata
Lihat yang ada
Buka hati
Tanya lah diri

Siapa kita
Siapa mereka
Di mana kita
Di mana mereka
Kenapa berbedza
Sedangkan kita tetangga

Anak muda
Tidur mu pasti ada impian
Jangan segan
Jadikan lah ia kenyataan
Jangan bosan
Kerna kau akan kerugian

Kenapa berbedza
Sedangkan kita tetangga
Bukan salah mereka
Tapi kita yang leka

.

More mosques in Singapore will use English for Friday sermon so as to accommodate the young who are more comfortable in the language so said MUIS the local Islamic authority. And yesterday at the Ashakirin Mosque where I did my Friday prayer, sermon was in English for a congregation of locals and some Bangladeshi workers.

Are we saying that the young in the Malay community are more comfortable in English and prefer not to speak in their mother tongue? If that is true, then I feel sad for them and the community as a whole.

During my school days, Malay language was a given subject. We don’t have to really spend time learning it but yet we could easily score above 90%. Today, kids are considered good if they can score 75% for the Malay language. Many just managed to scrimp thru. What’s happening? Perhaps, the “communal leaving”…….perhaps, the emphasis of English as business language…….perhaps this….perhaps that…….perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

Parents prefer to speak English to the kids and the Malay language is only use when they communicate with the grandparents. The number of Malay speaking family is getting lesser and when these grandparents are gone……. there goes the language as well.

Will the Malays in Singapore be like the Malays in Cape Town or Sri Lanka where the Malay language is foreign to them? Frankly speaking, I don’t know.

The language which was once the National Language and the lingua franca of the archipelago may be history soonest. Who’s to be blamed?

“Tepuk dada tanya selera”. Welcome to Singapore.

Before our independent in 1965, many of the community lived in an ethnic enclave. People were more comfortable living with their own kind. In fact the British policy of divide and rule contributed to this kind of lifestyle. Areas were demarcated based on ethnicity. For instance, the Cantonese would live around the China Town area, the Boyanese, Jalan Besar area, Javanese, Java Road area, Malay Geylang and coastal areas etc etc etc.

Although it does not promote interaction among different groups, it has its merit as well. Ethnic culture and language/ dialect thrive. Apart from the Malay Language as the main lingua franca, there were people from the Chinese community who spoke only the Cantonese dialect, and others who spoke only the Hokien dialect and so forth. Even within the Malay community, there were people who spoke the Boyanese or the Javanese dialect. In other words, these dialects/ languages were spoken by many because of communal needs.

Today after more then 40 years of independent, these dialects had lost their relevancy. Apart from English which has taken over the Malay language as the main lingua franca, The Chinese community speaks only Mandarin. We are not able to tell whether that Chinese friend of us is an Hokien, Hainanese or Cantonese for that matter. We are not able to tell whether our Malay neighbour is a Javanese or Boyanese because they don’t speak that dialect anymore.

Perhaps the policy of promoting Mandarin among the Chinese community contributed to the erosion of the Chinese dialects or perhaps by breaking the enclave left the Javanese and the Boyanese for that matter lesser opportunity to speak in their own dialect. Or perhaps it has lost its practicality……..perhaps its commercial value……perhaps this…...perhaps that.

Well, actually I don’t know. What I know is that I am not able to speak the Javanese language, my mother tongue. If only I can speak the language, the search for my roots in Java would be more meaningful. I should have spoken it when my parents were still around. Anyway it is not too late. There are more then 100 million people still using that language in the archipelago and I will learn it.

Today when I speak Hokien to my parents in law, my children would laugh because its sounds foreign to them. When my wife speaks Hainanese to her Mum, it makes me smile because it sounds so ‘colourful’. When these generations are gone, these dialects will follow them too. So now I am learning Mandarin because no Chinese in Singapore would understand my Hokien in the near future.
Perhaps this is the evolution of language. Welcome to Singapore.

Left home early yesterday morning for Pulai Spring Golf Resort. Not that I wanna play a round of golf, but actually to collect my PW left on the course carelessly at the 18th hole last Saturday.
Sign of old age!.............heheheheh I hope not. Was lucky this time round that someone returned
it to the lost & found counter.




Me and Eric on the 16th hole.

What a beautiful day. The weather was just nice, around...........alamak no thermometer la. Anyway it would be good for a round of golf. Unfortunately for some other reason, was unable to ):

After wondering around the house doing nothing, decided to set up my latest acquired clock.....the anniversary clock...co called cos you only need to wind it once a year. Marvelous 'old' technology indeed. Bought it from ebay and it arrived with the torsion spring accidently unhooked during transit, so need a sturdy hand and tools to fix it.

Tried my hand ...... after half an hour still unable to fix it....... hehehehehe. Perhaps will try it again the next time. Look at the pic ......nice clock right?



Still feeling restless.......oh what a christmas holiday. Then along came my daughter, "Ayah, a christmas present for you....its from Maris". She handed me a gift wrap. Its a Polo Ralph Lauren shirt......one of my favourite brand. Hehehehe...thanks Maris.



So much time at home cos wifey is not feeling well. Get to listen to 4 LPs this morning. Unfortunately the sound was not as expected. Perhaps the sound system has not being played on for quite a while. Will keep them on for the next few hours and hope it will sound better tonight. These were the LPs played.

Before heading for Central Java, I was met by a friend at the Jakarta Airport. He accompanied us to a bus station in Jakarta where we board a bus to Central Java. A 9 hour journey that took 15 hours. hehehe.


Getting tickets to Central Jakarta.





Having soto madura while waiting for the coach to Kendal. Thats Ismail Agus, a friend from Jakarta.

Before flying back to Singapore, we stop over in Jakarta to meet Ismail and his family.




Thats Ismail with his wife and daughter. Who's that guy, behind? Is he 'Selamat' in cognito? Oh no........

Just came back from Central Java for the Aidil Adha Festival. It was indeed a memorable visit where I got to meet relatives there for the first time. Life in the village is laid back and relax and people were very friendly.
Spent 2 nights at a cousin's place and many relatives came by to meet us. This visit will definitely strengthen the silatul rahim with family there. Some pics to share.



Luas mata memandang. View from the village.




My cousin, Raharjo a nice friendly man. Stayed at his place.




Wifey and another cousin, Tini.



Waiting to be slaughtered.

Will be going to Central Java next week .......tracking my roots. Spoke to a cousin who is living there about my visit. Never been there before and we have never met. Don't know how its gonna be.
Anyway, I need to start sometime - somewhere to reconnect with relatives there. Better late then never.

Hope this reconnection will be memorable. Insha Allah.

Was packing some stuffs and came across old albums. Saw pics of my 1991 trip to Edinburgh. Here are some pics for comparison. hehehehehe.



Carlton Hill 2008.....................................................................Carlton Hill 1991.

"Quiet not quiet" its almost the end of Shawal. Many house visits were done and many more still pending. Probably can't make it this Shawal. Well, friends and relatives....too many.

Today visited someone dear to the family. She was just a few months old when mum baby-sit her. And today she is a mother of one. How times fly. Anyway, managed to win two rounds of UNO with her 6 year old son. hehehehehe

Last night, tried to list down names of relatives. Wow..........after an hour, managed to list down more then 200 .....just from dad's side, and its not finish yet. Will continue listing the next time.

OK la, wanna listen to some music now. Gonna go to the range tomorrow morning. It has been quite a while not hitting that small white ball and probably will go for the ISSE at Park Royal in the afternoon.

Finally, all is done and all seems to be at the right place. Now can relax and listen to music. Oooops.......need to "anyam" ketupat la.

Ok....will do it 2moro. Now its time to rest. Look at the living room now.......so cleeeeeeaaaannnn.

Its the time of the year. Spring cleaning is back again in preparation for the Eid Festival. Last week I spring cleaned my personal items.......LPs, watch collections etc etc. Yesterday it was the general items.

Worst thing was to get rid one of the display cabinets. Foooahhh.... It took me almost 3 hrs to dismantle it...otherwise it wld not fit into the lift. In the end, no more energy to bring it down to the void deck.....so have to call for help. Hehehehe. As usual, the friendly block cleaner came to the rescue.




Look at the mess...........

Hope everything will be in place by this afternoon.

Today quite free. So...rearranged books and LPs. Number of LPs has been increasing. Bought around 10 pcs in July during sales at Gramophone few days before leaving for Edinburgh. Then bought a few more in Edinburgh and last weekend.......nothing else to, went to Adelphi....ended buying few more. hehehehe. Realised there are around 30 pcs of LPs that has never been played. Below are some LPs bought last weekend.

Somewhere in Scotland en route to Loch Ness


Lothian Burn Golf Club, Edinburgh

Oh dear, finally get to post something today. Tried it in Edinburgh few times but unable to. Hehehehe not familiar with blogging la.

Anyway, arrived back in Singapore on 1st Sept after more then a month in wetty Edin. It has been raining almost everyday unlike 17 years ago when I was there for the same purpose.....dont ask for what huh....secret.

This time around, wifey joined me at the end of my official duty. First time for her and it seems that she enjoyed the time there........shopping la, what else. Before flying back home, we get to stay in London for few nights and visited Paris for a day.

Some pics to share. Enjoy......

Princes Street, Edinburgh











St Andrew Golf Course

Hahaha. Today managed to get my girl to continue my blog construction. ( cam buat rumah gitu). Some pictures were also downloaded.
Trying to get a feel of blogging b4 leaving for Edinburgh 2moro nite.

Hehehe. Just remember this blog of mine. Tot of continue working on it.

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