27 March 2012
We flew to Phuket, Thailand, for a short holiday break and it was indeed a pleasant trip. Phuket is really a holiday destination. Tourism is the big thing there. The locals are proud of the services they can offer to the holiday makers. We had good food, relaxing massages, and spent our time mostly outdoors.....

Whatever they say, I still prefer a Thai massage anytime!

Working in Malaysia

9 March 2012
My son Ammar Zaid, who is a graduate of Middlesex University in United Kingdom, has just been offered a job with Maybank, a premier banking institution in Malaysia. Syukur Alhamdullillah, after all his hard work in his studies and effort in job-hunting since he came back from England in early 2012, he has been offered a job at last.
Welcome to working life in Malaysia. All the best in your career, my son.
Psst...I had been working with the Government for the past 32 years before my retirement in 2005. It was a rewarding career for me....Afterall these years, I realised that I was in the wrong industry!. But I am glad that I am now an entrepreneur doing a small business in the retail trade. And I realised that whatever experience and training I have had in the government service proved useful for me to practice them in the world of small business.

Entrepreneurship Development

1 December 2011
I have been approached by a local University to be a part-time lecturer in Entrepreneurship Development last September . Hence, I started doing so in November 2011. My job is to motivate the students to start up business, particularly in the Kindergarten and Early Childhood Education sector. Entrepreneurship development is vital to our Malaysian economy, The future of our economy lies in the small and medium scale business, and encouraging small and business entrepreneurs is of the utmost challenge for me. As Bill Rancic (of Donald Trump's Reality Show Apprentice fame) once said, "Fear is the greatest hurdle in small business". I totally believe this....nobody wants to loose money, which businessman like to see their investment go down the drain without any ROI. In the business world, everybody wants to profit.
Hence, my job of nurturing the impressionable minds of the youthful students is a challenging one indeed. How do I tell the students not too make too much profit out of their kindergarten charges when prices of educational toys, food and other services are escalating. This is where business ethics exercised by the kindergarten owners play an important role in operations of the centre.
Our religion Islam taught us to be fair to our customers. Excessive profits is not the practice in Islam. Muslims around the world believed there is Life after Death, unlike other religion whose followers lived only for this world. Therefore, their business ethics differ totally - they are out to make a good profit and fast. It is now or never!
I just hope my approach is acceptable to the students, comprising 99% and 1% Christian.

Life must go on....

4 February 2011
Friday 4 February 2011 is the saddest day in my life.( next to Wednesday 13 January 1982, when my late father died 29 years ago). My mother, 84,  passed away peacefully that Friday. She has had a wonderful life, leaving behind a brood of children aged between 63-53, well brought-up and  successful in their own little ways.
Al - Fatihah......Semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atas rohnya. Semoga kubur Mak senantiasa di terangi dengan amalan yang telah Mak taburkan dan doa yang kami senantiasa di bibir kami. Semoga Mak telah berjumpa Ayah (seperti di dalam mimpi cucunda Nawal dan Aie). Semoga Mak bahagia disisi Ayah yang Mak merindui sejak 29 tahun dahulu. Semoga Mak dan Ayah sejahtera di alam barzah...sehingga kita semua berjumpa sekali lagi di dalam Syurga nanti......insyAllah.

Lifelong Learning

14-25 March 2011
Once again, my doa to be Tetamu Allah telah di makbulkan sekali lagi. My family of 15 members boarded the MAS flight to Jeddah enroute to Madinah Al-Munawwarah and Mekah Al-Mukarammah on 14 March 2011 to perform our Umrah (Small Haj). I feel very blessed to be in Masjidil Haram again....Alhamdullillah.
The landscape in Mecca has changed tremendously, no more small peddlers doing their business along the roadsides like before just before and after each solat/prayer. Big tall skyscrapers now dominate the skyline of the Holy City - the latest one Zam Zam Towers, known to be the tallest clock tower in the world, joining the earlier hotel blocks like Mekah Hilton, Inter Continental Hotel (formerly Sheraton), and still more blocks coming up facing the Umrah Gate.
Performing the Umrah or small Haj is a cleansing exercise for all Muslims, spiritually. We beg forgiveness from Allah The Almighty, to forgive whatever we had done, consciously or unconsciously, to our relatives, friends or foes. Upon leaving Mecca after the Tawaf Wida', we are actually without any sins at all, just like litlle new-borns, all our wrongdoings and sins have been cleansed by Allah, the Most Merciful.
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Syukur Alhamdullillah.....Ya Allah ya Tuhan ku! Jangan lah di jadikan tawaf dan ziarah hamba Mu ini sebagai kali yang penghabisan di Baitullah. Jika sekiranya ditakdirkan menjadi kali yang akhir maka aku memohon syurga sebagai gantinya dengan kemurahan Mu, ya Tuhan Yang Maha Pemurah lagi Maha Penyayang.
To me, the more we learn Al-Quran, the more jahil we become. To learn the Quran and the Sunnah Nabi is a lifelong learning process. Muslims are required to "Tuntutlah ilmu sehinggga ke liang lahad"

Lifelong Learning

1-3 March 2011
I feel happy and satisfied attending the Workshop on Harmonization of MPOB Codes of Practice(CoP) at MPOB HQ in Bangi for the past 3 days. The refresher course conducted by an experienced Consultant for MPOB is indeed an introduction to the world of technical auditing for me. I now understand why any industry see the need to get themselves audited - more so to improve on their work processes in order to cut costs, maintain a good public image. For MPOB, it is to assist the palm oil industry of Malaysia to produce Sustainable Palm Oil. Once the Board achieve its goal of becoming a Certified Body(CB), it would be in a better position to compete with RSPO(Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil) to guide all organizations in the palm oil supply chain in the country to practice quality management sytems, hence to produce good quality products and services. I personally feel that MPOB should stand tall, despite various challenges and threats posed by RSPO and other green NGO's, being the most authoritative body on the oil palm / palm oil.
Personally, it was wonderful for me to meet up old colleagues who are still serving the organization with loyalty, dedication and a fierce sense of belonging to the organization, the same feeling I had before I retired way back in 2005. Becoming an auditor in MPOB is one way for me to serve the Industry again and this is what I would like to do while I still can for Palm Oil........
Psst....I accidentally bumped into my former staff, Pn Robiah and Cik Noraziah on the way out there and one of them asked me...Datin belajar lagi? Of course, learning never stop, learning is for life!

Penang - Pearl of the Orient

8 January 2011

We took a trip to Penang over the weekend. Next to my hometown Malacca, the Pearl of the Orient never fail to impress me. We stayed at a beach hotel over looking the sea. Whenever I am on the beach, any beach for that matter, I cannot resist picking up sea shells. If I were to take count of the number of shells I pick up at all the beaches I have visited.....But the biggest shells I have collected at those from Hong Kong when we were served deliciuos seafood for dinner and I could not help putting the shells aside to take home after eating the insides.

Sea shells, from time immemorial, have been used as a currency for trading, just like coins, beads and other collectibles. Sea shells are unique in themselves because no two shells are really alike, in terms of shape, size, colour and pattern. To me, sea shells form a piece of the natural heritage from the sea.
We also went about town, walking the old streets along  Jalan Kapitan Keling, the ancient Kapitan Keling Mosque, Lebuh  Chulia and the surrounding area.  It was nostalgic to walk along these historic streets where so much trade was transacted during the early days when Penang, being the first British Straits Settlement in the late 18th century, was a bustling trading post. More than two centuries of unique history and heritage makes George Town a worthy recipient as a UNESCO World Culural Heritage Site in 2008, similar to Malacca.