Hari Raya Aidilfitri 1441H / 2020M

Sambutan bulan ramadhan dan Hari Raya Aidilfitri yang tersangatlah berbeza pada tahun ini. Tiada siapa yang menjangka yang hidup kita pada beberapa bulan yang lalu sehingga kini dan seterusnya telah terkesan oleh sejenis mahluk halus yang tidak terlihat dengan mata kasar. Coronavirus - namamu akan tercatit dalam sejarah dunia sebagai satu musuh yang telah mengakibatkan bermacam angkara, kerugian kewangan dan korban nyawa.

• Tiada solat jemaah di masjid. Bermakna tiada juga solat tarawih di masjid sebagaimana tahun-tahun sebelum ini. Sebaliknya ini melatih ketua-ketua keluarga untuk mengimamkan solat tarawih di rumah masing-masing.
• Tiada solat sunat Aidilfitri di masjid.
• Tiada tradisi kujung mengunjung di kalangan sanak saudara dan sahabat handai.
• Tiada acara bersalam-salaman dan bermaaf-maafan secara sentuhan fizikal. Diganti dengan pertemuan secara alam maya melalui panggilan video menggunakan Whatsapp video call ataupun Zoom.

Selamat hari raya Aidilfitri untuk pembaca-pembaca sekelian. Maaf zahir dan batin. Taqabbalallahu minna waminkum...

Bonsai gardening... an update (2)

Bonsai gardening is a hobby that demands huge patience. It takes years of tending and care to see the plants grow into beautiful bonsai. Just like any other hobby, perseverance and dedication are essential traits to have.

In most situations, I consider myself a patient person. However a trickle of impatience does creep in at other times. In the few years I've been into this pastime, I've learned a number of things. Among these are :

1. Plants will get infected by bugs and diseases. Sometimes leaves turn yellow or curl up. Sometimes the leaves don't even grow.

2. Some plants will die.

3. Each type of plant has a different rate of growth. Some sprout new leaves and buds within a few weeks of pruning. Some can be easily propagated using stem cuttings while others require other methods such as air-layering.

4. A branch or two would definitely break when you first learn the wiring and bending process.

5. Pruning dense leafy growth is a hard decision to make.

Failures

I've had my fair share of failures.

• I had a dracaena tree growing in a normal pot for many years. I had trimmed the initial long stem to reduce the height and create branching. When the shape of the growth was pleasing, I transferred the plant into a shallow bonsai pot. It survived for a few months until I noticed that the leaves that fall off are not being replaced with new growth. I unearthed it from the pot and saw that root-rot had occurred. Cause of death : over-watering and possibly poor drainage.
• Somebody threw away unwanted ixora shrubs at a dumpster near my house. I scavenged a few and managed to re-grow them in poly bags. One of these shrubs is a tiny plant about five inches tall with four slim branches. New leaves were already growing well and it even had flowers on one of the branches. I decided to re-pot it in a tiny ceramic pot to create a small bonsai known among hobbyists as mame. I even wired the branches to create the bonsai look. It died on me after about two months. Possible cause of death : poor root structure due to being transplanted too early.

Moving on

Notwithstanding the failures, I'm pleased to note that some plants are growing well and are on their way to be good-looking (I hope) bonsai trees in years to come. Among these are a few ficus plants and a tree which I think, is a pulai species. The pulai tree was a shoot growing out of a crack in a concrete drain near a project I was involved in about a year ago. I had carefully prised it out from the crack, hoping to pull out as much of the roots as I can. I replanted it in a normal pot but then transferred it to a shallow pot when it quickly outgrew the initial container. Presently, I'm letting the leaves grow more and allow additional branching. My hope is to create a dense canopy with reduced leaf size. Something to look forward to in the coming years.

Pulai tree entering its 2nd year

Ficus retusa in training for semi-cascade style

Teacher's Day 2020

The following was a post on my Facebook yesterday 16 May 2020 to commemorate Teacher's Day.

It takes a big heart to shape little minds.

It is a humid and stuffy afternoon now. The dark clouds and occasional sound of thunder that threatened to burst into a thunderstorm had passed by my house as just a drizzle. Another area in JB is probably experiencing the heavy downpour.

Actually, it is such a good time to take an afternoon nap. But I've been taking too many daytime dozing sessions (especially in the situation of MCO and fasting) that it is becoming not such a good thing. So in conjunction with Teacher's Day, I've decided to explore my Facebook friends list and find out how many of them are teachers or do work related to the teaching profession (lecturers, librarians, counselors and the like).

Here's what I've found :

1. Facebook does not display my friends list in alphabetical order. Nor is it in frequency of interaction (some people who are inactive are found in the top half of the list while some who regularly respond to my posts are near the bottom).

2. I have a total of 466 Facebook friends (including some duplicates and those who have passed on). Of these, 46 are teachers. That works out to a whisker under 10%.

3. Fourteen (14) of those teachers are my fellow batchmates of MCE/SPM 1979.

4. Of my FB friends, I have seven (7) teachers who taught at MRSM Kuantan.

5. Four (4) persons on the list are family members (one sister-in-law, one daughter-in-law and two nieces). Yeah, ladies all of them. The guys in my family are not inclined to teach.

6. I have three (3) friends called Zura (Azura, Norazura and Maizura). Guess what.... all three are teachers.

`Selamat Hari Guru' to all my teacher and educator friends. All your combined weight in gold can never match the value of the knowledge you have imparted.

................................................

Wan Shahriza, Zulika Abdullah, Roswati Abdul Wahab (a), Kharmilla Abdullah, Siti Hamidah, Sir Peter Ng, Noordin Mohd Yusof, Nor Ezan, Azura Omar, Cahaya Malam, Rashidah Jailani, Shahrin Mohamad, Azie Amin, Norazura Abd Talip, Hazlin Nazri, Puan Faizah Aziz-Wells, Marz Zain Al Din, Roseline Mairon, Khairanum Subari, Paula Khoo, Eniey Ab Rahim, Cikgu Rahmah Sahamid, Daud Mohamad, Siti Zaleha Muhammed Said, Adriana Ismail, Nida Elias, Cordelia Mason, Cikgu Mohdzin Abu, Zulkafli Hassan, Fauziah Abdul Ghani, Saufie Ali, Cikgu Zakaria Mohdnoor, Ruzaini A Arshah, Wanmai Wanman, Cikgu Kandan Saikon, Yang Farina Abdul Aziz, Kak Yong Irna, Abdul Razak, Haziah Hashim, Rohana Mustapha, Nur Diyana Zainal Abidin, Atun Manap, Suzyanna Mokhtar, Pat Goh, Ana Wahid and Cikgu Zamri Mohamed Isa.

(Mohon maaf banyak2 jika saya ada tertinggal nama sahabat yg juga seorang cikgu atau pernah menjadi cikgu)
.............................................

Relaxing the MCO restrictions

The Malaysian government has seen a bit of light at the end of the tunnel...

Tomorrow Monday 4 May 2020 sees the relaxation of some restrictions imposed under the Movement Control Order. Many people have expressed their concern that such a move would cause a possible 3rd wave of Covid-19 infections. Among the words used to describe the government's decision include 'premature', 'risky', 'drastic', 'worrying' plus a few other unflattering terms. The recurrence of the pandemic at Hokkaido, Japan has been quoted as an example.

Such concerns and criticisms are understandable. 'We have held on for so long.... why can't we see it through for a few more days? The virus is not totally eradicated yet. Why sacrifice the hard work of all frontliners just for the sake of the economy?'

In this particular situation, I agree with the Prime Minister and his team. I am sure the government has made careful discussion and deliberation before arriving at the decision. I believe it was made upon consideration of the need to balance risk and necessity with due thought towards the capability of our healthcare system. Discounting the earlier blunders made by certain ministers and government departments, I support this move.

Not all of us have sufficient savings, stable jobs, or comfortable homes with internet connectivity. As I've read in a Facebook posting somewhere, we are not all in the same boat. Each of us face this crisis under different circumstances. There are many amongst us whose savings have dried up, live in cramped low-cost housing, and depend on welfare food handouts for their daily meals. The easing of restrictions may provide opportunities to some of these people to eke out a living or, at the very least, allow a few hours of respite outside their homes.

It is not like a free-for-all situation come this Monday. The Ministry of Health still imposes strict guidelines on how businesses are allowed to operate (the so-called SOP). A full lockdown can be imposed on selected locations should there be a breach of the rules. Therefore it becomes imperative that we, as responsible citizens, play our part to follow the government's directives. Of course, there would be doubters who say that not everybody would comply; just look at the number of MCO offences that have been committed so far. The only response I can offer is, as long as we call ourselves human beings, there would always be someone who has a mind of his own. I put my trust with the authorities to deal with such idiots.

Having said that, my only gripe with the relaxed MCO is still the closure of mosques and suraus. While the objective may be to prevent a large group of people from congregating, a partial (or sectional) opening of mosques should be made available. Most mosques in Malaysia have external corridors or verandahs, apart from the main prayer hall. These sections are enough to allow the occasional traveler, food-delivery guy, or policeman manning a roadblock to perform his prayer in peace and perhaps rest for a while. And he may use the moment to recite a du'a or two, asking the Almighty for assistance and guidance in this trying period. As it is now, we see photos of runners and cops praying by the roadside being posted on social media. Mosques in Singapore had made this facility available since the very start of their lockdown. They even marked out the prayer spaces on the floor so that no jemaah would stand close to one another. I fail to understand why we have not done the same.

I would even venture to suggest that the occasional 'solat berjemaah' be allowed, as long as the number of persons is small and appropriate spacing is practiced. An example of such a situation is when I stop at a mosque to pray and at the same time, there is another traveler with the same intention.

If the Prime Minister can allow Pak Salleh to open his restaurant provided the seating arrangement comply with the SOP, why can't he allow Pak Imam to open his mosque too?

In this month of Ramadhan, I am drawn towards a verse in the holy Al-Qur'an :

"And when My servants ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of the supplicant when he calls on Me, so they should answer My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way."

(Al- Baqarah, verse 186)

One local destination a month (2nd edition) - Part 3 : Masjid Raja Haji Fisabilillah, Cyberjaya

This delayed posting of the third place I visited this year would probably be the last one for quite a while. In the current global Covid-19 pandemic, local travel has been severely restricted. It is not clear when the lockdown would end but I guess it is better to remain at home rather than risk being infected and also spread the disease.

Our visit to the Masjid Raja Haji Fisabilillah at Cyberjaya, Selangor was made on 8 March 2020, ten days before the Malaysian government imposed the first Movement Control Order (MCO). We made the stop at the mosque on our way back to Johor Bahru after attending a friend's wedding reception at Shah Alam the day before. The mosque itself is nothing historical. It is of modern design, in line with most other buildings within the technocrat setting of the Cyberjaya township. My interest lies with the person the mosque is named after.

Raja Haji Fisabillah Ibni Opu Daeng Chelak (1727 - 1784) was a warrior of Bugis royal lineage. He was the younger brother of Raja Lumu who later became Sultan Salehuddin Shah, the first sultan of Selangor. Raja Haji was well-known for his bravery in fighting the Dutch colonialists. He was killed during a raid against the Dutch at Teluk Ketapang in Melaka. He was initially buried in Melaka but his remains were claimed by his descendants and re-buried at Pulau Penyengat near the city of Tanjung Pinang on Bintan Island in Riau, Indonesia.

I browsed Google Maps in search of the tomb (makam) of Raja Haji and was surprised to note that the cemetery at Pulau Penyengat is well-maintained and attracts many visitors and historians. The Indonesian government has also recognized the late warrior's achievement and awarded him with a posthumous title. In terms of straight-line measurement, the distance between the mosque at Cyberjaya and the tomb at Pulau Penyengat is only about 400km. Of course in seafaring terms, such a distance is quite amazing, considering the time period of those days.

If the Almighty permits, I would like to make a trip to Tanjung Pinang one day. As history has shown, the people of Selangor, Johor and Riau are closely related and were once the same nation.

Masjid Raja Haji Fisabilillah. Visited 8 March 2020

Side view

Interior of prayer hall

Commemorative plaque about its official opening

Open and bright hallway

Rear view

Google Earth image showing locations of mosque and tomb (click on picture to enlarge)