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This blogspot is a medium to share my thoughts and adventures apart from promoting my books. Below are the books which have been written or authored and published by myself.


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti".

ISBN 983-42031-0-1, Jun 2006


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Membela Syiar yang Asal"

ISBN 983-42031-1-x, May 2007


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?"

ISBN 978-983-42031-2-2, November 2007


It is interesting to note that while these books were written in Malay it has gained enough attention to merit being part of the collections of the American Library of Congress and National Library of Australia. Look here and here.


While the first three books were published by my own company, the fourth titled "Rumah Azan" was published in April 2009 by a company called Karnadya with the help of the Malaysian national literary body Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. It features beautiful pictures along with stories behind selected mosques which could be related to the history of Islam and the Malays alongside the formation of the Malaysian nation. Look at the article A collaboration of old collegemates - the book "Rumah Azan".


My fifth book "Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and Malay Sultanates", an English translation and adaptation of the Malay book "Ahlul Bait (Keluarga) Rasulullah SAW dan Kesultanan Melayu" authored by Hj Muzaffar Mohamad and Tun Suzana Othman was published early 2010. Look here... My 5th book is out! Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and the Malay Sultanates... . For more information check out my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU.



Like my fourth book "Rumah Azan", the sixth book "Kereta Api Menuju Destinasi" is also a coffee-table book which is published by the company Karnadya with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (the main Malay literary body in Malaysia). Coming out January 2011 it features pictures and stories on the adventure travelling by train to all of Peninsular Malaysia along with the interesting places which could be reached this way.


My seventh book "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" in turn is a coffee-table book which is written, editted, designed and has pictures taken by me. Coming out of the factory October 2011, this book which combines family history with history of places such as Singapura, Johor, Batu Pahat, Muar and in fact the history of the island of Java and England has been reviewed with me interviewed live in the program Selamat Pagi Malaysia at RTM1. Look at the article Siaran langsung ulasan buku "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" dan temu ramah di Selamat Pagi Malaysia. Some selected contents have been featured in Sneak peek "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah".


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The "Berpetualang ke Aceh" series of novels could be obtained in e-book form. Enter http://www.e-sentral.com/, click general novel and go to page 4. You can also type the word "Aceh" at the search box. Or click straight Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.


Thursday, July 23, 2009

Looking for the Selangor-Perak connection along the Bernam river

You could say this is a continuation of the article with video clips The 'Bermuda Triangle' that is Lubuk Pusing in Sabak Bernam . Actually the clips were taken in a trip last Saturday. Look also at the articles Masjid (mosque of) Marzukiyah, Lubuk Pusing, Sabak Bernam and Makam (tomb of) Sheikh Sayyid Ahmad Marzuki in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) .

After watching remnants of the 'Bermuda Triangle', me and wife went deep inside the surrounding areas to look for the part of Bernam river closest to Lubuk Pusing. I did this because I'm trying to establish how the river could have been connected to the parts at Lubuk Pusing which the stories say later became land.


From Lubuk Pusing, we have to travel some 3km or so before we could find the closest point off the tarred roads as shown here. A villager whose house is close by told us, there is a part of the river where you could find a pedestrian bridge across.

For the record, the Bernam river marks the border between the states of Selangor on its south and Perak to the north. So I was taking this picture from the Selangor side while Perak lies across.

The prospect of walking across the states using a pedestrian bridge across the rather wide Bernam river urged us to find it using this untarred road as pointed out by the villager.


All along you could see the river behind the palm trees. But it seems in this picture you have to take a closer look. Sorry...


We soon arrive at this laterite parts...


To the left we could this hut besides the river. Now, the villager did mention something about a hut. But we couldn't see any bridge around.


So we decided to press on. At this juncture I have to walked out of the car to set aside a thorny bush or something which blocked the path.


We went on for another kilometre or so upriver and still no sign of any pedestrian bridge. The path started veering to the right getting further from the river and looked very unkempt with potholes and such. Something is not right here. So we decided to turn back to the point where there's a hut and walk towards the river.



Ah! Maybe this is what the villager meant by a bridge... a jetty actually. Or is it a bridge with some parts having been submerged over time?

Then when I think of it, it's quite impossible or rather unfeasible to erect a pedestrian bridge all the way over this wide expanse of water. For one it would block traffic of boats and such. Of course one could build a high enough bridge allowing all sorts of boats to pass under. Nut that wouldn't be feasible considering how far these areas are from modern civilisation.

Hmm... maybe we heard the villager wrong. Or maybe he described the matter unclear. What is sure, he did use the word bridge as he said it is used by people to get to the middle of the river. Then again he could have exaggerated the descriptions of this jetty or how far it actually extends across the water...


Anyway since we were already there, might as well enjoy the view. Here's one to the left heading towards the sea which should be some 30km away if directly seen in a map, maybe 50km or even more if navigating through the many curves of the river.


And here is an upstream view to our right. That's all.


The 'Bermuda Triangle' that is Lubuk Pusing in Sabak Bernam

Below are two video clips showing the mysterious small pools at Lubuk Pusing in Sabak Bernam which are said to be the remains of a whirlpool which used to pull down ships and such, much like the famous 'Bermuda Triangle' near the Americas part of Atlantic Ocean. It is said that decades ago, maybe centuries, the land seen here was part of a then much bigger river of Bernam. But somehow these parts have turned to land leaving remnants of the old whirlpool which you can see here. Have a look...










Injustice would destroy mankind

Nice pix huh? Picked from the Net...


Greetings all. Here's another voluntary translated piece I did today, as some sort of 'celebration' for having finally finished the much much harder and time-consuming translation followed by editting of a 500 page A4 book in Malay containing some 150,000 words. As for the subject here, I just followed the order of original Malay articles as available in the website http://www.shiar-islam.com/ . So there, any coincidence is unintended. Cheers! :]


INJUSTICE WOULD DESTROY MANKIND

By Ustaz Syed Hasan Alatas

Translation by Radzi Sapiee


Allah said in the Quran:

“How many a community We have annihilated because of their wickedness. They ended up in ruins, stilled wells, and great empty mansions. Did they not roam the earth, then use their minds to understand, and use their ears to hear? Indeed, the real blindness is not the blindness of the eyes, but the blindness of the hearts inside the chests.” (al-Hajj:45-46)

In these verses, Allah s.w.t. reminds us humans how many communities including major kingdoms have been destroyed by Allah because the inhabitants were unjust. Such was their calamity that their houses were ruined, the sources of water, the wells becoming dry. How many proud mansions including palaces went down until what is left are just the foundations. If we don’t believe this then we are asked to walk across the surface of earth and witness ourselves the truth.

Yes, if we were to go far in this world, we would see for ourselves how many kingdoms have been destroyed by Allah. Kingdoms of the Pharaoh, Nimrod, the Romans, Persians and many more are now ruined because of the wickedness done by its people, injustice and oppressions.

The earth is now getting hotter, hot not just because people carelessly intrude into nature destroying flora and fauna, natural habitats of other creatures but also to meet their boundless irresponsible passion, the need to sastisfy their own selfish personal needs. Such is the extent that justice has been set aside. Instead they offer a new definition of ’justice’ defined out of their own whims and fancies to protect their own interests. Thus we have parties that say; we have the right to have advanced weapons especially weapons of mass destruction like the nuclear bomb. And our friends especially those who are ready to support our cause are also allowed to have such weapons and develop it. In fact we will help them in this matter. But whoever are our enemies and not on our side, don’t even think of trying to have these sort of facilities. If your are working on one (even if it’s nuclear power to be used to generate electricity) then close it down fast. Otherwise you will be immediately boycotted.

It would be very good if true justice is really practised in this world. If we really want to save the earth, then every nation, every race without any exception must all destroy these dangerous weapons especially the ones in their own hands. When that is done, then only we could say we are being fair. God willing, the world then would be saved from destruction, and mankind can continue to live in peace and harmony.

Monday, July 20, 2009

A Level room 51C reunion pictures from last year for posterity

Last Thursday, when I was writing the article An A Level ad-hoc reunion at Pelita Jalan Ampang... here, I thought about putting a link to an old article regarding a previous reunion made with collegemates who used to stay in the same room of 51C. However I couldn't find the article and thus couldn't put the link although I'm sure I've made the article last year, just a day after the reunion was made. Perhaps I have accidently deleted it? Maybe...

Today, while going through old pictures in my handphone, I found the 3 pictures of that reunion which I snapped using the phone. I was thinking of making a new article using the pictures when I thought, what heck... let's try searching for that old 'lost' article again at my blogspots.

At first I searched in this blogspot using the search facility available at the top left side, the same way I did on Thursday. Nope... no result. Then I try making the search at my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU . Ah... there it is. I actually made a posting on the old reunion in Malay!

The funny thing is, I did try to search in CATATAN SI MERAH SILU Thurday but still couldn't find it. Maybe Allah wants me to find it today... only after I've made visits to certain places in Selangor and Perak over the weekend? Visits which has more meaning because it was made quite hot on the heels of my Aceh trip just about a month ago?

Whatever, the old article in Malay made in May 2008 is called Reunion bilik 51C "A"Level Batch 7 (tahun 1988)... . Here I would like to share the same pictures for posterity, and in case my old collegemates found me through this English blogspot. Don't mind the fact that it is not that clear for it is the memory which is priceless and never blurred. Cheers! :]