Masjid Al Jabbar

The Masjid is around 300 meters from the junction of the Bintulu-Miri narrow bumpy coastal road – the so called Trans-Borneo Highway. It is very brilliantly designed and plot.

Ramadhan Kareem

Ramadhan el Mubarak is coming just round the corner. InsyaAllah, it is going to be our 2^nd Ramadhan (after coming back from our tour of duty in Egypt) in Bintulu and our first ever Ramadhan at our newly renovated own house in Bintulu. I will talk about the house later. Ramadhan always reminds us about Egypt. To all our friends around the globe, relatives, cousins, in-laws, brothers and sisters, we would like to wish a blessed fruitful Ramadhan that will us all a better persons in the Eyes of Allah swt. 

driving in Bintulu

Driving in Bintulu can really drive you crazy!!. despite all the trunks roads from Bintulu old town to Tjg Kidurong and other housing areas are dual carriage way?! Let me share you my thoughts and experience. Imagine a situation where you drive your car and accelerate at 80 km/hr. complying to the speed limit, while you are in hurry to your office, and right in front of you a MyVi taking its sweet time travelling at 40 km/hr. on the right hand side of the highway without feeling any sense of guilt and shame!? And, making it worst, when you try to overtake it from the left lane, the road condition in some stretches are not good – with potholes and bumpy. If you guys realized, the roads’ surfaces at many big three of four big traffic-light junctions around Bintulu are clumpy and bumpy…and it has been there many years ago without anyone (I mean the Authorities) looking at it seriously. There was once, right in front of my eyes, while waiting for the traffic light turn green at the Medan Jaya-Raya tee-junction, a motorbike rider skidded in the middle of the junction. Lucky, nothing really happened to him and his machine. Well, we cannot forever rely on pure luck! Should we? Another annoying experience I had (actually many times) was somebody stopped on the left lane waiting for no more vehicles moving on the road or coming to his side!!...and after that he actually wanted to go to the right!? In some situation, big heavy vehicles, like Lorries conquered the right lane as they like as if they own the lane. This vulgar, I think, with their couldn’t-care-less attitude accelerated recklessly on the right lane because the road condition on the left is relatively bad compared to the right lane, which was mainly due to the sub-standard quality of the road and heavily used by heavy vehicles. I would blame the authority and/or the engineer who design and made the road. They should have used their brains wisely and creatively, far sighted before they simply put their pen on the drawing board. Definitely, the authority who approved the blue print should shoulder the accountabilities…………and to carry the blames!! Or, it might be because along the way, somebody is making easy money? Damn to corruption…

d Faces of future YY generation

Mok Mah::Afiqah::Alisyas' belated birthDAY 2012

Kak Hjh Rahmah, Afiqah and Alisyas' belated birthday reception at ChatterBox Restaurant Mega Hotel Miri. It was organised in conjuction with Muhammad Faizin and Yayasan Yusuf's 'Majlis Doa Selamat'. Will be continued......

our1st ever Integrated StakeHolders Day

Our creative booth during the recent Integrated Stakeholders Day 2012. It won us the 'Most Creative Informative' booth, which had actually created unexpected controversy by those who envied the set-up.

just another REMINDER for me to move on

Quoted from one of my favorites prominent figure of Malaysian's Oil & Gas giant during his recent townhall meeting.

The tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching our goal. The Tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn’t a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream.
Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Half efforts do not produce half results. It produces no result. Work, continuous work and hard work is the only way to accomplish results that last. It is not the strongest that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change that survive successfully.

Whatever it is, our prayer answered; we got 5 months....

O Allah...please Grant us at least 5 months bonus

O Allah swt, the Most Compassionate and Most Merciful, we raise our hands before you seeking your Grace and Blessing. Please grant us good salary increment and bonus this year so that we can be closer to You as demonstrated by the Holy Prophet Muhammad saw (peace be upon him)...Amiin.

Excerp from the Star: "Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) posted a 29.6% jump in net profit of RM55.6 billion for the nine months ended Dec 31, 2011 compared to the same period a year ago on higher margins.
Revenue for the period under review rose 26.9% on higher realised prices and improved liquefied natural gas sales volume.
PETRONAS president and chief executive officer Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas said at a media briefing that crude oil prices would be under pressure this year despite the elevated prices in recent weeks.
“There's a lot of uncertainty in the business environment and we don't know for how long the fear factor which is fuelling the rise of prices will last but we reckon not too long,” he said"

Ta'lim : Part XXXIX

Hadrat Abu Hurairah Radhiyallahu anhu (ra) narrates that he heard the Prophet Muhammad saw (peace be upon him) saying, “A person who performs wudhu or ablution scrupulously, and the goes to the masjid and finds that the congregation is over, receives a reward equal to that of congregation. This would not diminish anything from the reward of those who have actually performed their salat or prayer with the congregation.”
This is indeed Allah swt’s great favor and beneficence that the mere effort and a slight exertion is enough to entitle us to a reward of Jamaah or congregation, though actually we fail to join it. Who is the loser if we ourselves get left, and miss the bounties of the most Bountiful?The hadith also shows that we should not postpone going to the masjid in apprehension of the Jamaah is over, we will still get reward thereof. If, however, we are certain that the congregation or Jammah is already over, then there is of course no idea in going to the masjid for the Jamaah.

M Asri the sportsman of d year!!

Inspired by his brothers, M Asri will run 1500 meters and 5000 meters for his school in the coming annual school athletic meets 2012. I salute this guy very much; apart for his courage and big heart, he is very independently hard-working in any aspect that he is in. His persistency is another thing I really admire out of him. Well..keep it up dude! And.., most of all do it for Allah swt. He has won champion of his category for 22 km run organized by Rotary Club, Alexandria chapter when he was the British School of Alexandria, Egypt. That was the time I started realising his potential.
And, here you are, M Asri with his new running shoe and shirt and off course his cute smile on his face. All the best to you.

d sLEEPy Brownie d Hamster..

I excitingly took these photos (around 22:55 hours today) of our funnly looking Brownie the hamster sleepy. Cute Brownie!!

my URIC acid maybe?

I have felt the pain on my right knee since last Wednesday after I came back from my business trip in KL. I thought I could survive with it with my diclofenac sodium, but the pain persist and slowly getting severe. On Friday that week, I had another workshop in Karambunai Sabah! O Allah, how would I endure it? I prayed before Allah swt to give me strength and capability to manage the facilitation of our first ever workshop on our Vision, Mission and Leadership Interventions. I will share you my Karambunai story in my next release. Now, let me continue with my ‘Uric Acid’ story. After the Karambunai trip I resumed my office as there were so many things need to be followed through, settled and organized. To cut the long story short, I realized that (on Friday night) the swell on my right knee and leg is getting bigger. I then, decided to go to the nearest hospital – Columbia Asia to seek doctor’s advice on the condition. Upon arrival, the security ushered me to the emergency counter and after about not more than15 minutes, a doctor named Vijay (I hope I get his name correctly) attended me. He advised me to see an Orthopedic. He immediately called and explained to the Orthopedic about the situation. The Orthopedic was about to come (as I was informed by Dr Vijay) but, unfortunately his administration staff advised him that I must have a Guarantee Letter to continue with the diagnosis. I didn’t want to argue about it but instead decided to listen to his advice (my blood pressure was then 99/139). He prepared me a Request for Guarantee Letter and asked to see our panel clinic the next morning. In the next morning, after having our breakfast at the new Refah Café, we went to the Bintulu old town, Medan Jaya and Raya looking for any reputable panel clinic. Luck was not on our side, some clinics closed at 12:00 noon, some are not ING panel clinic and some are lack of basic facilities, like parking, etc. But I believed there must be reasons behind it. Allah swt knows better for the imperfect human being like us.
I finally decided to go back home and informed our Company’s doctor and HR Manager via sms about my condition and situation, at the same time seeking advice from them. Our Company’s doctor never replies my sms until later in the evening. On the other hand, our HR Manager was sensitive and responsive enough, that he went to his office to prepare the Guarantee Letter and sent it to me at my house my hand. Millions of thanks to you, Hj Matnor, for your efforts, etc.!!. However, I didn’t visit the hospital that night. At about 09:15 my wife and I went to the hospital and informed the administration staff about the intent of my visit. They informed, there was no doctor on Sunday! I asked to call Dr Azani, the Orthopedic whom I supposed to meet yesterday. After about 30 minutes of waiting, Dr Azani arrived and greeted me. I think he has done his homework well that he knew everything about my leg condition. After shook hands with him, he ushered me to the treatment room and explained me the procedure that he planned to do on my knee. Speak fluent standard Sarawakian, this Kelantanees doctor married to a Kuching folk is relatively new in Bintulu. He assured me that I will feel better after the extraction of liquid from my knee. Immediately after injecting local anesthetic, he extracted about 50 ml of liquid (probably a mix of Uric acid and other liquids) out of my right knee. It took him about less than 15 minutes for the whole procedure and believed me; I felt no pain throughout the process…. Alhamdullillah, praise only to Allah swt and feeling better now. That was my first ever minor operation that I had to go through since I experienced the acute gout attack. Hopefully it was not due to osteoarthritis! O Allah the most Compassionate and most Merciful, please give us all good health. Below is the sample of the synovial fluid.

nobody could replace them...

Suddenly the Sudirman’s song – Pelangi Petang or literally the evening rainbow touched my mind and soul. My vulnerable eyes were flooded with glittering tears triggered by the nostalgic lyrics and sweet melody of the song sung by one of my favorite’s Malaysian entertainer – Sudirman Hj Arshad. Born in Temerloh Pahang on 25 May 1954, some described him as a ‘People Singer’; some called him a ‘Singing lawyer’; and to me he is just a humble creative honest philanthropist who has left a legacy to the music industry in Malaysia. He left us and this temporary world on 22 February 1992… no wonder his stories, songs or even his Chow Kit Road concert were broadcasted by all the local TVs last week!
The melody reminded me of my beloved mom who left me in December 1976, when I was 11 years old. I was crying the whole day till the reservoir of my eyes went dry, mourning and grieving about my future…. Alhamdullillah, praise only to Allah swt, somebody picked me up and brought me to Miri where life and hope was granted by Allah the Almighty. I was grown up in Miri then, until I married to the daughter of another woman whom I really admired and inspired – Hjh Baidah Binti Abdullah. Allah swt love her most, she departed this short span world alone…. I mean alone in her house at Piasau Jaya…none of her kids were around when the angel of death finally pulled her last breath.

“You came like a rainbow; with no light but you’d delighted us; and you had enlightened and inspired us..” chorus of Pelangi Petang by Sudirman Hj Arshad
May your soul rest in peace bless by Allah swt.

kudos to AFI...you have made us proud::alhamdullillah

Impressive...we can build this proposal at Batoo Satoo, can we?

Glancing through his 2nd year Retreat House project presentation. For someone who has no basic in architecturing thingy...I salute you Afi...!! Still has many rooms for improvement though but you have indeed made us proud. Keep it up dude....just put and do your best, do not worry with the results. It is not us anywayzz.....Keep the rest to Allah swt.
Expressing his points... to win the mind and hearts of the Assessors....and he did it successfully. Alhamdullillah, praise only to Allah.

With his friends and lecturers at the concourse of their Architecture building after the presentation. Wish you all the best.

....the trip that will bring us to another height::Karambunai Protocol

After months of preparation, propagation and deferment, finally on the 17th of February 2012 at around 09:10 hours, 13 (Vicky, Julie and Mai arrived a day earlier, while our MD was flying directly from KL in the evening) of us – the Think-Tank of the 2nd largest LNG producer at single site were flown directly by MASWings from Bintulu to Kota Kinabalu (KK). Arrived at the new KK international airport (better than any airports in Sarawak) around 10:20 hours, Vicky has waited for us with a 32 seats air-conditioned bus
After a very smooth 45 minutes trip to Nexus Karambunai, with tour guide explaining to us what KK has to offer us, we finally arrived and was given a warmth welcome by the staff. We were very exciting and grateful. However, the anti-climax was when we were told that the room is not ready for us. Being the chief Facilitator of the workshop, I have told my team to have a seamless check-in and they have informed the hotel weeks before regarding the arrangement. But, what upset me, the hotel was not discipline enough to ‘kick out’ the foreign guests, I guessed!! Vicky was trying to closely get in touched with the receptionist but they seemed to be helpless with the outgoing guests.
We were entertained with a welcoming drink at the lounge and 10 minutes, there was no sign of rooms made ready for us?! The Administrator suggested us to take early lunch (I mean before the Penyu Restaurant actually ready with the buffet). We were spoilt by varieties of foods and the service was superb.
However, we (Dzafri, Kabir, Zul, Major Ramlee, Ahmad Hussein, Kamari and me) have to cut short our lunch for our Friday prayer. We were supposed to perform our prayer at the nearest masjid at KKIP (Couldn’t recall the full name of this place) but instead the kind driver, brought us to one of the beautiful Masjids in Sabah – the University Malaysia Sabah’s Masjid. We managed to perform 2 raka’at solat ‘tahiyatul masjid’ just in time before the Khatib went up to the ‘mimbar’ or pulpit to recite the Friday sermon. Unlucky Dzafri, after the prayer, somebody by mistake (I think) took his pair of shoes away from the shoe rack.

In the second episode, upon our arrival at the hotel around 13:50 hours (10 minutes before our workshop start), we were informed that the rooms for Major Ramlee, Ahmad Hussein, Hj Kamari and me were still not ready?! What a standard for the so called 5-Star reputable hotel. All this while, I gave a very high regards to this Nexus chain of hotel, a place that I must visit. But with this kind of treatment to the local guest, like us, dejected and disheartened me! Lucky, Vicky quickly bounced back; he changed the start time to 14:30 hours.
Sharp at 14:30 hours, we resumed our facilitation at the Magibah I ball room of the Nexus Resort and SPA, Karambunai.

One of our Day 1 activities was a Vision Hunting at the One Borneo Mall. We went there at 16:30 hours after 15 minutes, the bus dropped at the main entrance of the so called largest Mall in Borneo (as claimed). I do not think so though coz’ there are many biggest malls (much bigger than it) in Jakarta Indonesia. True enough, after few hobbling steps into the mall, I did not feel the ‘wow’ factor. Well, nothing much to see and less to offer though as heard by my relatives and friends who had been there before. After less than one hour strolling along the corridor and window-shop the mall, we decided to wait for the bus for our next agenda – dinner at Nelayan Village.

We arrived 10 minutes before 19:00 hours. Though we made it before the expected time, but our beloved MD/CEO arrived 10 minutes earlier than us. Our dinner was quite private and exclusive, served by two locals Ruth and Amirah on a boat called Putri. The foods were not that I’ve expected for a well propagated restaurant. I mean not the scrumptious as I thought though the prawn and grouper were fresh from the aquarium. At 22:55 hours, we called it a day.

In the nutshell, the objective of the above workshop, which we called ‘Breakaway’, among others, is to revisit our Vision; Mission; our Roadmap –KITE that is due to expire by 2013 and also to look into short/long term interventions to address some of the issues that were surfaced through the recent POCS.

U R d 1st n d last::luv ya

O people..., let me tell you n share you all something!. The Cayenne never attrack me...and, it will never drive me crazy. But, the 'story' of how my brother-in-law managed to own it, is something that inspires me. Anyway, that was not the whole intent of this release though...it was about the person who is next to it. She is what I really craze about...she is more precious than the exotic Cayenne...I want her to be with me until the end of time. Luv ya.....

...after 50 years of service...still fit though

Built in the early 50s, the old wooden Bailey bridge had served obediently residents of Kampung Pulau Melayu, few villages in the area, Piasau Camp and those working in Shell and Petronas at Lutong town. Traffic is controlled at both ends of the bridge by traffic lights. It was then, the only alternative route crossing cross the Miri River before later the Lutong bridge was built.
“We propose to keep this bridge as a heritage bridge. With the new bridge opened, this bridge will be used by pedestrians, cyclist and motorcyclist,” said Assistant Minister of Communications Datuk Lee Kim Shin:: Borneo Post.However, since March last year, a new concrete bridge is constructed alongside to the nostalgic Bailey bridge. Built at a cost of RM 9 million, the 146-metre bridge has a six-meter wide deck for dual lane traffic, a 1.25-metre wide footpath, and navigational clearance of 16 meters for river traffic at the center span. This will definitely enable a smooth two-way traffic, reduce congestion and alleviate congestion at the river crossing. In my opinion, the new bridge should already be there long time ago!?.....

'BooBok' season in Miri

Bubok or small young baby shrimp season is hitting Miri!.giving fishermen the chance to earn a side income. If you drive along the Batu Satu or One Mile of Lutong-Kuala Baram coastal highway and go through the old Lutong Airport road near the BayView now, you will be amazed and forced to slow down your car by mountain of bubok display by the Lutong Fishermen communities…and, it is really cheap! I mean RM 4 per kilogram.

Full and part time fishermen can be seen at beaches in Miri, bringing their nets known as ‘pakak’ to catch the tiny creatures that they turn into ‘cencaluk’ (salted shrimp) or ‘belacan’ (shrimp paste). However, nowadays (after we clarified with them), people catch the shrimp by huge net offshore and not like before where ‘pakak’ the triangle like net donned to two pieces of 7-9 feet pole also as a handle for the person to push along the beach line.

...just wondering?

I wonder why the tombstone of the cemetries must be shaded by umbrellas??? In my opinion, this is one of our community's unexplainable and unlogical practices. In fact building something like what you see in the above photo to most scholars is totally prohibited.

Nek BOL in our memory and prayer.

..not in Paris; not in London; not in Brisbane...but at Nek Bol's cementry Senadin. Muhammad Aiman and Afiqah pray before the Almighty Allah swt besides their granny's graveyard. It is not really necessary to perform our do'a or prayer at the graveyard though, visiting cemetry is really encouraged. It will remind us about the purpose of our existence in this temporary world and would to some extend putting us back on track. To Nek Bol; yesterday while we were having our breakfast at Anggerik Piasau, we were talking about your strength and other qualities that you possessed and that had inspired us. May Allah swt's Blessing be always with you and may He grant you the best place in the life thereafter.

...finally, we found its new skin!

The story of the iPhone 3Gs's case: I think after more than a year of robust usage, it needs skin replacement. I have been looking around in many shops in KL, Kuching and Miri since months ago…and, finally today we found one at TTArt shop Miri…..and, it’s cheap! The soft light but vibrant green make it more egoistic that the old pinkish torn and shabby skin was forgotten forever diminished from her mind. Goes the famous Malay’s saying; ‘bagaikan kacang lupakan kulit’..

Afiqah's Totoro

On her 11th birthday, we bought her ToToro – something that she had eyeing for months back. I managed to get it from the Famous Amos PermyMall Miri. Lucky us, that was the last one left.

weekend with Imam Muda and Ustazah Pilihan

During our recent JKIM Carnival, Muhammad Asri, Muhammad Aiman, Afiqah and my wife Nana had a chance to mingle, chit-chat, face-to-face encounter and ultimately took photos with Ustazah Pilihan Firuz (the champion of another Malaysian reality show called Ustazah Pilihan), Ustazah Pilihan Aqidah, Imam Muda Ashraf, Iwan (the former ‘dangdut’ singer. Dangdut is one of the Indonesian song genre) and Akhwan Affendi – one of the Malaysian motivator.
In the above photo; Ustazah Pilihan Firuz, Afiqah, Muhammad Aiman, Ustazah Pilihan Aqidah, Nana and Muhammad Asri.

Her favorite was Ustazah Pilihan Aqidah but she likes Ustazah Pilihan Firuz as well. They gave her words of advices, sharing of good stories and exchanged of Facebook data!

Nana and Afiqah were having breakfast with both Ustazah Pilihan Firuz and Aqidah at Kidurong Club Bintulu.

Chinese New Year Open House invitation

Thank you very much to our Chinese community for inviting us to their Chinese New Year Open House. We were not only spoilt by the varieties of scrumptous foods but also had fun with the games that the organiser conducted. Afiqah won 2nd runner up in the 'ang pau' pack decoration competition.
They also had chanced taking photo with the ‘God of Prosperity’ who eventually gave them ‘ang pau’. See you again next year.

Photo collage::d Finalised version..

Finally, I managed to complete my little project!! Quite satisfied with it. Using 64 photos of various sizes glued to the white polysthrene, it took me more than 12 hours to do it and months of planning. I called it the TOGETHERNESS that I dedicated to my beloved wife and kids of Yayasan Yusuf fraternity.