Manage your life's journey

Have not touched my blog, emails and Facebook for past several days. Been having this cough and cold since before Christmas Day.
Recently, while awaiting for an audit appointment in Petaling Jaya, I met a couple of gentlemen. They were representing their company that provides training programs relating with NLP (neuro linguistic program). Among our conversation touched on how fast the year 2011 is coming to its end and how fast time flies.

Anthony mentioned "Do not just manage time, time flies. More important is to manage your life's journey. It is how you live your life with the given time that you have at hand".

Hmm. A good point to think about. Now, being 50 years old, I have to seriously plan to live my life to the fullest with whatever time I have on hand. There are still many things to do and places to visit.

Waiting time is over! As Nike's tag line says "Just Do It".

Updated my blog with pictures

Honestly guys, I am new to blogging, so forgive me for revising its presentation or looks from time to time. Just added some pictures to my blog.
Hope you like it.

Handsome Joes with fancy motor bikes

My 24 years old daughter appears to have high interest with young men with fancy motor bikes. Despite her mother and I advicing of the dangers, she just shruggs off with the reason that she is a high-spirited young woman who loves the thrills of riding a fast bike. She even intent to get a fast bike of her own. When I talked too much, she would say "Well, dad. You had your fun while you were young riding racing bicycles and learnt to skydive. This is my time to experience riding fast motor bikes."
Oh my daughter, how could you compare a racing bicycle with a fast motor bike? Where got even?

So I told her, I will ask all the "contenders" when they want her hand in marriage, something like this, "Alright chaps. My daughter has a few boy friends with fast bikes. So, anyone of you who are really serious about getting married to her, let's do this properly by the adat. Bring your parents to discuss and also let me inspect your motor bike".

Well, alright, that is just a joke. Anyway, should a father like me worry?

My family story#2 - My mother Part 2

My mom was a young mother and she had to quit her job as a nurse to take care of us. From two children the family grew to seven kids with my arrival in 1961. Must be tough on my dad to support a big family like ours on his small HA salary.

So, what was life with mom like? Ho ho, if dad was the stern one, mom was the fierce one. If you were ever in the wrong, got a scolding was alright, got a pinch on your tummy was bad and a slap was the worst. If she ever got into some disagreement with dad, her shouts would be the winner.

The good side of her was, she was good at cooking and baking and her passion for plants and flowers. In the days when eating out was so uncommon, we had all our meals home-cooked by mum. We never run short of vanilla butter cakes and Hari Raya cookies were all home-made.

Under my mom's orchids shed.

The garden would be filled with many kinds of plants and flowers like daisies, orchids, hibiscus and roses. Whenever we went to Ipoh to visit friends or relatives, she would always pester her Abang Mat (that’s what she called my dad) to stop at the many pottery shops along the Kuala Kangsar Road. We also would make a regular visit to the various plant nurseries around Taiping.  When we had a regular gardener (he came like once or twice a week), we even had our own vegetable patch. The land where our house was at Asamkumbang was not suitable for durians (sandy, former tin mining land) but mangoes and rambutans grew well.

Since my mom was a regular customer, many pottery and nursery owners knew her. As a former TMGS girl, she had friends from all races. The ones I remembered as her best friends were one Mrs Chin and Mrs Pillay.

Despite our house was situated on a former tin-mining land, there was quite a number of “wild-life” abounds. During the early years, there were snakes (usually young cobras) that seem to seek shelter among the flower pots. There was also the usual appearance of the monitor lizard and several species of birds. The birds commonly seen around the house were the tekukur, merbok, merbah and the burung “boot-boot”. Others were the Brain Fever Bird,  Ground Sparrow, Minors and House Sparrows. Of course, during the nights, you could here the calls from the “tong-tong” bird.

My eldest brother had set a few traps to capture a few of these birds alive.  We kept them in bird-cages. The few that he had caught were three Merboks and two “barau-barau”. We also bought a small aviary to keep the few Merbahs that my brother had caught. My mom would talk to the birds as if they were little children. Since I was the youngest and the only one still living with her, so, it was my duty to feed the birds and wash the cages.

One Saturday, the officers from Jabatan Mergastua (Wildlife Department) came to our house. They informed us that keeping those birds were against the law. They issued a fine and advised my parents to release the birds. I could not remember how much was the fine but my poor dad had to go to Batu Gajah to settle it (yes, the Perak State Wildlife Department was located in Batu Gajah). After that, we just released the birds from their cages and my mother cried.

Later on, my mom (with the gardener’s and the maid’s help) began raising chickens, ducks and Guinea fowl.  Of course, I had to help in feeding them and also was the one who had to catch them when we need fresh chicken meat.

My 12th birthday. Mom and dad, standing behind me.

To be continued.

Family Story#2 - My Mother Part 1

My mother's side came from the Alor Pongsu area (north of Taiping, towards Selama). According to Mom, her mother, Rokiah, got married at a very young age. She did not know her father because her father  left her mother while my mom was a child. Rokiah remarried and got a son (mother's step-brother) but again, the man left her. Such was the times in 1920's. My mom's auntie, Che Som, was a little bit better off because she got married to a Scottish Assistant Planter (a jock from the MacCally clan, embraced Islam with the name of Abdul Rashid). My mom's mother died young and her auntie (Che Som) adopted her and her step-brother (Darus). Being a childless couple, Che Som and Abdul Rashid even registered my mom and uncle Darus as Abdul Rashid's daughter and son. Remember that those were the years of 1920's where childbirths registration would take its own time. So, that was how I got a Scottish "grandfather". Abdul Rashid worked at a large rubber estate in the Larut&Matang district. They lived at Matang Gelugor. He even owned an small estate of his own and later bought a big house at Asamkumbang, along Kamunting Road. Other than my mom, Abdul Rashid and Che Som also adopted a few other poor children. From what my mother told me, she had one adopted brother and two adopted sisters. My mom schooled at first at the Matang Gelugor Malay School. When her family moved to stay in a rented shoplot in Taiping, she went to the Taiping Malay School (near Masjid India). Because of her good grades, she did her secondary school at the Treacher Methodist Girls School.
(Well, so, my dad was a KE boy and my mom was a TMGS girl. Sorry, I did continue this "tradition"). After mom completed her Senior Cambridge, she went to Government Nursing School. When she was a junior nurse, she got married to my father (a Hospital Assistant). They knew each other since their teens when the lived as neighbours at the rented shophouse behind the Government Toddy shop.
She quit her nursing job when she had two kids, my eldest siblings. By 1941, the clouds of war came to Malaya and the whole family (including Che Som and Abdul Rashid) left Taiping to take refuge at Matang Gelugor.
It is 2.30 AM now, got to go to bed. To be continued.

Family Story #1 - About my father Part 3

My Dad's 60th birthday, one month before he passed away 1976.

My dad had many friends and a few of them in "high" places. Among them were the Perak Menteri Besar those days, late Ghazali Jawi, one of his doctor schoolmate was the Director of Health Department and another a Director of Education Dept. I remember them because I followed dad to visit them on a few occasions. Dad's other friends that I remember were some Chinese and Indian shopkeepers. It was during some Chinese New Year visits that I saw my dad drank beer (he whispered to me "Don't tell your mom") but those were the times before he did his Hajj. Among his HA colleagues, I remember two - Mohd Isa and Thambyrajah.
My dad went to Mecca for his Hajj with the Tabung Haji Medical Mission in 1971. Those days, people went to Mecca on ships whether from Penang or from Port Klang. There were two ships chartered from a Hong Kong shipping company - the Malaysia Kita and Malaysia Raya (my mom went for her hajj in 1972).
For some years, after my father finally bought our house in Asamkumbang, he could not own a car. Dad only rode a Honda motor-cycle. The Honda motorbike was a 55 or 65 perhaps. So, how did I go to school in those days? I remember during my kindergarten, I rode a trishaw - "powered' by Pak Kassim and Pak Hassan. Pak Kassim passed away quite early but I once met Pak Hassan in my early years of working when he drove a taxi.
Early primary school years, I rode a neighbour's car driven by Chor Esah. She used to sent me together with her kids to school (Chor Esah was a widower. Her husband was a Captain Shukor who died in a Communist terrorist ambush in Pahang during The Emergency).
For several years, I rode a school bus and Form Two onwards, I rode my own bicycle right up to Form 5.
I remember my father bought a Fiat 128 in 1971 and upgraded to a Fiat 124ST in 1973 (That Fiat 124ST was handed down to me as my first car later).
One incident I got to share with you here. My dad was caught in a speed trap in the Kampar district while on a return trip from KL to Taiping. Those were the days of local trunk roads (no PLUS highways). The speed limit of JKR roads was 60 MPH and my dad must have exceeded that limit somewhere between Tapah to Kampar. The fine then was a RM10 per 1 MPH that you had exceeded. So, if the speed reached 70 MPH, 70-60=10x10=RM100. Poor dad. Back then, all fines can only be settled at the Police District concerned within 14 days and that incident being a Sunday, dad had to go back to Kampar later to pay his fine.
By the time father reached retirement, I was the only one left still schooling. So, on many a Saturdays, my dad would take me out together with him on his errands. Remember, those were the days when offices were opened half-days on Saturdays. On many occasions we would stop for tea and cakes at Yut Sun Restaurant. Sometimes he would treat me a beef or chicken chop. Since my mom was a regular home-maker, my dad would treat all of us for dinner at the Casual Market once a month.
Quite many times, my dad would also pickup his best friend, Thambyrajah, out for tea at the Yut Sun's (I would meet one of Thambyrajah's son, many years later at work - Dorasingam).
Dad did not live long. You see, dad had diabetes late in his employment which was under control with medication. While in retirement, he had a heart condition. His first heart attack happened one night but was saved because the ambulance took him to hospital in time. In th 1970's, heart medication and technology were not so good, unlike today with baloons, stents and better medicines.
My dad died of a severe heart attack while being treated at Hospital University KL in 1976. His remains was brought back to Taiping for burial. Many people turned up for his funeral and they were of all races. Other than family relatives, there were people from his old hospital staff, the Prisons Dept, Police and some Chinese shopkeepers. The sadest sight I remember was Uncle Thambyrajah, my dad's best friend. He had lots of tears when he visited my father for the last time (I paid my respects to Uncle Thambyrajah when he passed away some two years later).

So, that was my dad. He was only an ordinary Hospital Assistant but somehow, he had touched many people's lives. I was a boy of 15 when he died. Many of his friends came up to me told me to have patience and strong for my mother. So, what was my dad to these many people? They told me my dad (Mohamed bin Hussein) was good.

Salary Not Enough?

This morning over breakfast, my daughter talked about her job interview that she went to yesterday. She was told that if she were to be successfully employed, the gross package will be RM3000 per month. You know what did she say? She said the nett pay will be RM2400 (after less EPF and Socso), not enough. Not enough?
Oh my dear daughter, when I started working, my pay was only about RM500. The car I drove was a hand-me-down (my late father's car) and I paid all the house bills (I lived with my mom). And, I was able to get married after 5 years of working, when my salary was only RM1200 a month.
Why you kids say RM2400 not enough? The reasons are, you want to buy a new car, you want fancy new blackberry (a handphone, not a fruit,please) and wear new trendy clothes. And still could not afford to pay for your marriage after 5 years of working? Even to contribute RM120 a month for the house bills you say expensive.
Wow! What a world of differring attitudes in handling finance in just one generation.

Peak season this December holidays

Wow. have been trying to get some hotels reservation via my holiday membership but have not gotten any. The one  in Malacca is full, so is the one at Cameron Highlands. The HelpDesk staff proposed Kuantan or Cherating but my wife is not very keen about the two destinations. Now trying Pangkor Island. Hope this one goes through.

Quality of A Leader/ Manager

Got to share this with you. Just came to know that one Senior Manager (about 10 years old younger than me) is leaving our company for a new job, His new position is aVice President, heading a division of a local bank. As it is, he got the job based on his paper credentials and technical knowledge rather than his managerial/ leadership skills, a big jump from his present post.
His current position is as a manager of a small technical unit (no, I do not report to him but we do work together). He has 4 staff reporting to him. In the 7 years of working together, he had on several occasion seeked my "wisdom" in the issues of managing people. He had never had to manage a team before and now as a manager he has to be responsible and accountable for his team.  His next job is to be a leader/manager of a big IT division? Wow, I wish him good luck to that.

So, what makes a good leader or the qualities of a good manager?
1. Discipline - as a leader you have to set the good example to your team. Whatever you do or say, reflects upon you. Know your roles and responsiblities.
2. Level headedness (presence of mind) - stay calm and act sensibly in situation of crisis.
3. Self  respect - respect yourself , others will respect you (it is not about ego). Be mindful in how you behave, how you talk.
4. Wisdom in decision making - decisions are well thought-out and analysed. Decisions made in haste reflects badly on you.
5. Integrity - trustworthy and sincerity. Show that you really care.
6. Positive attitude - you need to motivate and inspire your team to achieve results.
7. Give credit where credit is due - remember that it is with your team members support that make you successful.
8. Ask if you don't know - learn from your staff. Some have been working there many years before you. Only from them you would know what makes them tick.
9. Provide guidance - as their leader, you are to help your staff to be better, whether in their work or in their lives.
10. Get, train and keep the right people.

Remember as leaders/managers, we are to work with other people to achieve results. Keep yourself in a "silo" or build a virtual brick wall around you, will spell disaster to your career and your team.

Family Story #1 - About my father Part 2

More about my dad. As a Hospital Assistant, my father was posted to several hospitals or clinics in the state of Perak. I remember vaguely the Taiping Prisons quarters when my dad was an HA there. The old wooden quarters was located behind the Taiping Museum. Typical of the workers quarters of the old days. The main structure was above ground on wooden beams while the kitchen and bathroom was on the ground, at the rear. By then, he had bought a second-hand car, a Ford station-wagon.
Then, we were at Bagan Serai Clinic. The Clinic was a two-storey building, where the clinic was the ground floor while we lived upstairs. When he was re-posted to Taiping Hospital, we lived at a rented house at Jalan Beringin, Asamkumbang. Later, father was posted to Lumut hospital (circa 1966 to 1968), the family was located at a rented house number 76, Creagh Road (now Jalan Muzaffar Shah). While he was posted at Lumut, dad would took me and my elder brother to stay with him during the school holidays. Since he was alone, he was billeted at the Hospital's batchelors quarters. It was a small room fitted with a single bed, a writing table and a cupboard. So, my brother and I slept on a matress placed on the floor.
I got to tell you this. It was at the Lumut government staff club that I first saw the jackpot machine. I think it was 20 cents per slot, any chap would try to strike it with a dollar or two in 20 cents coins.
By 1969, dad was transferred back to Taiping Hospital where he remained until retirement in 1971, in the position of Supervisor to the General Staff. The General Staff included the ambulance drivers, the office boys, the Hospital Kitchen staff and the labourers (gardeners and janitors or "amahs").
Father had many friends of all races. Many people seemed to know him wherever we went. The sellers at the market, the grocery shops, even the police and fire department. Maybe because Taiping was a small town. Today,  the towkay of a furniture shop in Taiping still remember my dad and family.
Dad's closest colleagues were Mohamad Isa and Thambyrajah.

I say, getting late. Sorry chaps. Got to pack up and go home.
To be continued....

70th World War Two Anniversary of the Pacific War

70 years ago (7 Dec 1941), Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, which opened the Second World War in the Pacific. After that, Japanese forces began their invasion of the Far East, the Philipines and swiftly down Indo-China, Thailand, Malaya, Borneo and the Dutch East-Indies (Indonesia).
My family (Father, mom, my eldest sister and brother) left Taiping and took refuge with some relatives village at Matang Gelugor. This village is located somewhere behind the Kota Ngah Ibrahim, Matang. My father was serving as an HA at Taiping Hospital, then. Mother told me of the retreating Australian soldiers who stopped to rest at the Kota Ngah Ibrahim. The soldiers were short of food and the villagers helped to provide whatever they could - bread, rice with dried fish. One day, a few Japanese fighter planes strafed the area. The Ozzie soldiers managed to downed one aircraft which crashed and damaged the brick fence of the Kota. The Ozzie troops left the area towards Kuala Kangsar when the Japanese troops reached Taiping. During the Japanese occupation, father stayed at the Hospital quarters and visited his family at Matang Gelugor on his offday. Hospital staff were spared ill treatment by the Japs, for obvious reasons, they also needed help to attend to their wounded.
Father told me of the poor walking-wounded British soldiers were rounded up by the Japanese and taken to Taiping Prison (later they were sent to Singapore Changi Gaol). Those that were badly wounded were shot.
Lacking proper currency, Hospital staff were paid with a monthly ration of rice, milk powder, sugar and salt, which was still barely enough to feed father's family of four. So, the famed tale of eating tapioca, keledek(yam) and potatoes by many people of that generation. Travel was by bicycle since fuel rations were for Japanese officers or Government vehicles only (anyway, only the "Tuans" had cars - DO, DE, OCPD, rich towkays and OBJs. Bicycle shop owners were considered well to do those days).
An uncle of mine was nearly beheaded by the Japs because he was caught with a revolver in his bag. He was however released after managing to convinced a Jap officer that he had found the revolver outside his home and was on his way to Taiping Police station to surrender the gun (fortunate for him that my other two uncles came to his aid as witnesses).
Everyone was happy when the Japanese surrendered in 1945 and the return of the British. However, there was gap of almost one month during which the Bintang Tiga (MPAJA) took control of various parts of the country. People lived in fear because the MPAJA seeked revenge by killing those who were suspected of aiding the Japs.
As Hospital staff, my father and family was not ill-treated by the MPAJA. The British Military Administration came and brought back some normalcy in the people's life.
I end this jot with a prayer to those who had lost their lives during the War and pray for World Peace.

Family Story #1 - About my father



With dad, a visit aboard a navy ship.

 Little was known about my father. What ever I remember about him was from when I was growing up from the age of 5, perhaps, until the day he passed on in 1976.
My mother told me that my father was brought to Malaya with his mother from Java. Seemed that on the promise of getting work and a better life, they came to Taiping. I could not remember what his mother did or worked as to raise him up but they were poor people. My mother's family were neigbours and they lived in a rented shophouse somewhere between the old Capitol Cinema and Tupai Road (along the lane where the Government toddy shop was located). My father first went to the Taiping Malay School, the one near the Masjid India. Due his good results, he did his Secondary schooling at the Kind Edward VII School, Taiping (the Principal was a Mr Walker). After his Senior Cambridge, father joined the Government medical service as a Hospital Assistant (now called Medical Assistant). He was encouraged to do his Higher Senior Cambridge but because of his ailing mother, he had chosen to get a job. Two of his classmates continued their studies and retired as doctors.
Funny, those days, the HAs were referred to as Dressers by the common people. That was because they dressed up people's wounds, not making dresses.
What was my father like? Well, he was just like any typical father of those "old days". He was strict but also kind-hearted. Being in the Government Medical Service, he had worked in several Government Hospitals or clinics. Some that I could remember were at Tanjong Malim, Batu Gajah, Lumut, Bagan Serai, Selama, the Taiping Prison clinic and of course, Taiping Hospital (spanned from the years of 1930's, right up to 1970's).
Something funny about my father, he scolded me for asking to buy a toy but he would surprised me with one on my birthday.

At my dad's ham-radio set.

Father had a hobby of tinkling with radios, he was a Ham Radio enthusiast. His call-sign was 9M2FT. I would remember sitting near his "radio shack" listening to him chatting away with other people he could raised in the radio. Strangely funny, while writing this, I could clearly imagined him watching me with his kind, proud, smile.
Well, it is 1.00 AM now. Time to go to bed. To be cotinued....

Caught flu today

Oh...have not updated my blog for few days. Been busy with work and lost ideas to write. Quiet weekend with my family. Went to CBTL Ampang Point, hoping to collect my Milk Frother which I had sent for repairs but the staff said it is not ready yet. Just bought a pack of Vienna Coffee refill and two cafe lattes to go.

Today, I woke up with very runny nose and sneezing. Went to to doctor and got an MC today.

Moving to Perak after retirement?

Hmm....after many years of working in Kuala Lumpur and approaching retirement, brings to mind where should I stay when I retire. Hey wait, I do intend to continue working but to remain in KL? I have been considering to move back to Taiping or Ipoh. Of the two, Ipoh appears to be the better option because it is in between Taiping and KL. It is also near to Cameron Highlands (my favourite holiday spot) and also to Lumut/Pangkor. Penang is also not that far away. So, if I have any jobs in KL or Penang, I could easily reach the two cities in good time. With the ETS train service, I do not need to drive. Just hop on the train, relax until I arrive at my destination. Well, got to do some research on properties in Ipoh.