A Sojourn in Labuan (1)

After so many years of travelling within and outside the country on government service before, I now get to travel to accompany the wife. A while ago it was to Langkawi. Yesterday afternoon I found myself here in Labuan. Haven't been here for some years.

Yes a lot of changes and development. According to En Rahman our ground pilot, the development in Labuan would not have happened if the island had remained under the Sabah State Government and not become a Federal territory.

The terminal building had been extended (see pic).


All the way to the Grand Dorsett hotel, modern offices and shopping complexes had sprung up, interspersed by new housing estates. The International Sports Complex is huge and sprawling, located by the seaside, with a full view of the harbour.(pic to be added). The hotel where I stayed could match any 5 star hotel in KL. Look at the view from the balcony outside my room facing the sea (pic).



My wife was here for the Pesta Air 2010 and a group of Cuti-Cuti 1 Malaysia dancers came along with the Ministry of Tourism officials. After rehearsal that night, we had a hearty meal at the warung closed to the hotel. The chicken wings and sup tulang were fantastic . Several plates of chicken wings and nasi goreng were enthusiastically ravished until late into the night.(see pics)





But lunch, the next day, was even more sumptuous.We had scallop, fish, lobster and a variety of veges.(see pic)



In spite of my ghout I finished my share of the crustacean delicacy. My wife threw her diet to the wind and Cik Norsiah, the hostess, tackled four of the scrumptuous denizens of the deep all by herself, three of which represented a salvation from a possible waste by three colleagues.



Look at the satisfied faces of the ladies after the lunch. I'm too sleepy myself to write now after such a heavy lunch at the Fisherman Wharf. So, see you later. Zzzzzz...


When I woke up it was alredy time for the Pesta Air concert to begin. The International Sports Complex was really crowded by people waiting to see the show.
But since many big screens were provided in the area from which the show could be seen, there was no jam-packed overcrowding. More about that later.

Ulu Bendul, Recreation and 'Sungai-Pool'...

Ulu Bendul, some 20km from Seremban going towards Kuala Pilah, then Pahang (North) or Johore Bharu (South), has become a popular recreational and bathing center with a 'sungai-pool'( swimming) facility. What's a 'sungai- pool'? A mountain-side rivulet
beautifully blocked and developed to create a huge swimming pool for the public to swim and splash in.(See pics).







The term was invented by my late father to attract the kids to go to the river which flows some yards away from our kampung home, for a good splash and swim. After that my kids always called a swimming pool a 'sunga'i- pool, getting very annoyed when someone tried to correct them.

Ulu Bendul used to be my secret meeting place with the boys in my and the surrounding villages. The river water was cold as ice and the surrounding jungle was full of flowers and birds. We had our picnic or party there and sometimes practiced our music produced by a five-piece band with an accordion, a guitar, a drum set, a clarinet and a violin. We played for our own entertainment and sometimes at weddings, specializing in songs written or sung by the late Tan Sri P. Ramlee. I remember playing at a wedding the night before taking my HSC examination. By some miracle I passed, spreading the belief that playing music can sharpen the mind.

Now Ulu Bendul has carved it's own identity as a recreational center close to Gunung Angsi,the highest peak in Negeri Sembilan. To go to Ulu Bendul before, one must go through the winding and narrow roads of Bukit Putus. Not now. A brand new 3-lane road ( 6 lanes both ways) enables ypu to get to Ulu Bendul in fifteen minutes from Seremban, the capital of Negeri Sembilan. A small food, drinks and shopping center has developed at the place where we once had our picnics and parites. See pics.





Want to know how many interesting places you can find at this recreational spot? Just look at the signpost with all the interesting places shown. (Must click on it to enlarge.)


All that I can say is that a day spent at the Ulu Bendul recreation and swmming center will never be forgotten and can provide an album of interesting photographs. My kampung home is just 2 km away but unfortunately I am seldom there to play host unless we can make by some prior arrangement.

The Bus Stand

Time was when the bus stand was the key spot in any small towns. It was the place where everyone must alight on reaching the town or come to take a bus home. It used to be the most crowded area in the town beside the market place and some of the bigger shops since supermarkets were not yet in vogue. It was the one place where you come to see people from all over the state and even the country.

For a small boy living in Negeri Sembilan, the two most important bus stands were in Seremban, the state capital, and Kuala Pilah
from where one can go to Bahau and Pahang or Tampin and to the south of the Peninsula. Between Seremban and Kuala Pilah was the infamous Bukit Putus, Crossing the hilly and winding road was a good substitute for riding a roller coaster. If you don't sweat and vomit as a passenger in the backseat of a car or bus with an impesutous driver, you should have no fear in going up the roller coaster. Unless. of course, you're claustrophobic or have a great fear of being "railroaded". Now, fortunately or unfortunately, you have an alternative route through Bukit Putus which allows you to drive in comfort and with the mad rush that you are accustomed to.

The bus stand was where hawkers and stall keepers used to make their fortune. Karipap, wong lai, kacang putih and all sorts of fast food and snacks used to be sold to hungry people who just arrived or about to leave the town, sold both outside and inside the bus. Not now of course. Food and drinks are sold somewhere in the terminal building and you have to go to them instead of they coming to you. The shops and the stalls are away from the where the busses are parked.

Kuala Pilah bus stand used to be my favorite place when I attended school in the town, way back in the 60s. It's located at the
meeting point of four parallel main roads, between which lie the elongated shopping blocks that formed the major business centre of the town. There were some small shops and food stalls around the bus stand which used to be well-packed with people. But the most interesting place was a little tody shop placed at one corner. Even my computer underlined 'tody' in red, denoting that it's a spelling mistake. No it's not except that you must spell it with a double 'd' although in Bahasa it's just 'todi'.! Toddy is a cheap alcoholic drink tapped from coconut trees, then selling at 50 sen per mug. A mug is enough to make an average person croggy. Two mugs can knock a person out.

It was a lot of fun watching the 'toddiholic' rushing up for their mug of the bublies, sitting down, squatting or just standing up under the shade taking a pull at their mug of nectar, talking with their friends, the level of conversation rising higher and higher with every pull of the gooey liquid. And after a while you see some of them dancing or staggering about, enjoying the effect of the spirit. The crowd enjoyed watching them as much as they enjoyed imbibing the booze.

That scene is no more. What you see today as as shown in the pics.


The bas stand is clean and officious from the front. But another change has occurred since you don't see any bus after 5 pm. They are parked elsewhere as the bus stand is taken over by hawkers and food sellers who put up their stalls in every little space available as shown in the second pic.


I wonder what happens to the busses after five. I was made to understand that business goes on as usual but the bus stops elsewhere in the town. Business at the food stalls were brisk. The stall keepers and the District Council must be happy with the money they collect while the public seems happy with the food and drinks they could enjoy. But what happens to the late travelers by bus? Where are they left off and where do they get their transport home?
I'll have to check on that later.

Trash, trash everywhere...Where's the Trash can?

We hear complaints everyday about public waste and trash being dumped in the wrong places or not collected by Alam Flora or the local authority concerned. This happens not only in the towns and cities but also in the rural areas. We see pictures of uncollected and decomposing trash in the papers and on TV. We see the trash as we drive along the streets and even as we sit at a corner coffee-shop or a 'maplei to enjoy some food or a cuppa.

A Report probably based on Dr Nazri Yahya's Ph.D dissertation on Public Waste Management in Malaysia, mentioned that Malaysians produced some 17,000 tons of waste or rubbish/day in 2002. This is projected to become 30,000 tons/day in 2020. According to Alam Flora's report in the internet (no date) it collects 7,100 tons/day covering an area of 72.3 thousand sq km. Though Alam Flora is only responsible for waste management in the Central and Eastern Regions of Malaysia, Southern Waste handles the southern region and local authorities handle the rest, a collection of 7-17 thousand tons/day would certainly fall short of the amount generated today which must be around 22-23,000 tons/day or more, based on the above projection.

A internet report by the National Solid Waste Management Department under the Ministry of Local Government and Housing (undated) doesn't give any current projection, nor an analysis of the full capacity of public waste management services employed by the government and local authorities today, to deal with the problem. But judging from the complaints that we hear everyday and the sorry sights of rubbles, rubbish and trash that meet our eyes as we travel through the towns and cities, what more in the rural areas, we know that not enough is being done to ensure a high standard of sanitation in this country. The phenomena of smelly rubbish dumps anddrains clogged with putrid filth in both the cities and rural towns are only too familiar to all of us (see pics).



The authorities always blame the public for not keeping their towns and cities clean. This may be true if one cares to observe how people throw all sorts of rubbish out of their cars as they drive along or uncaringly dump the paper wrappers, plastic bags, cigarette stumps etc, along the street as they walk by or sit in a coffee shop to enjoy a drink and some snacks. Even In restaurants and modern fast-food centres like Mc Donald and KFC, the habit of clearing up your own rubbish is not as yet the rule in this country.

Yes, the public need to share the blame if cleanliness is not kept to a respectable standard. But why do people throw away the rubbish and trash so uncaringly and not into the bins or trash cans provided?? That's the Malaysians habit? Ha ha, that's a very general accusation made by the authorities. Not all Malaysians are uncouth. Read this quote taken from the internet on Waste Management:

"Whether you are indoors or outdoors, a plastic trash can is an indispensable part of life. Remember last time when you didn’t find the can in its place at the garden? You felt awfully angry and betrayed because the waste was lying in your hands waiting to be disposed of.
Waste management is one of the most important parts of managing an office or a household. This is where plastic trash cans come into play. They have become a part of our lives. We use them in the morning, in the noon, in the evening and at night. Whatever you do, work, play or meal, you need a plastic trash can to dispose of the wastes you produce. May it be medicine foils, used ink bottles, use and throw objects, or sour milk you use a plastic trash can."


Are there always a trash can within easy walking distance to throw away the rubbish that suddenly appears in your hand after eating something well-wrapped up? More often than not you just can't see any trash can or dustbin anywhere along the shops corridor, the street or the parking lot. So, just throw it into the nearest drain or anywhere that has already collected some rubbish. That's how rubbish dumps grow at odd places in the cities and towns.


Yes, there certainly is not enough trash cans or rubbish bins provided either by the waste management authorities, the local authorities and the restaurant and shopkeepers, or even the stall owners themselves, to invite the public to throw their rubbish, without having to search around and walk some distance away. It is as if the public is expected to and must keep the wrappings, the unneeded plastic bags, and other disposables in their pockets then search around for a proper rubbish can or dumpster to throw them in. It is certainly the responsibility of the authorities, the shopkeepers and the coffee shop or stall operators to provide the facilities to throw the rubbish in at the places under their control. You can't blame them if they take the liberty to thrown away what is not needed anywhere at all if no facilities are provided at the place where the things they needed were acquired. Only at their homes can they be expected to acquire the facilities themselves.

House Warming Dinner

Sat 17. I was dead tired from working the whole morning up to 3pm. clearing up the old house in Ulu Bendul (See bio -pic). Weeds and grass have started to sprout at all corners and even under the house itself. Worked like a hired coolie under the hot sun, in loving memory of my late parents. Reached home after six and the wife sprang a surprise, She had no friend ( all having their own weekend agenda) to attend a friend's house warming party atTaman Impian Putera at Bandar Seri Putera, Bangi , and she wanted me to come along.

Do I have a choice? Nahi. It was a third request from the office colleague, the last house she bought. No more open house and my wife had missed the previous two. Willy nilly I slipped into a batik and off we went, after she checked with the collegue whether it was all right to bring a husband. Interesting point here. If a husband is invited to a function, taking the wife along is to be expected. But if a wife is invited in a more or less official capacity? You're not necessarily expected to hang along, Bro!

She received the OK and I decided to hang along, throwing the first impulse to just send her there than scoot somewhere else. If the girls want to have a shindig to themselves then I'd clear away. But lo and behold. I saw a number of ketayap and jubah clad people enjoying themselves under the porch where food was served. They were from the local "surau group" and I felt very much at ease. What a wonderfully religious idea, marrying the modern house warming or open-house concept with the traditional kenduri and baca doa.

The ladies were huddled up inside the brand new, well-lit semi D housing unit. I didn't have time to take a shot and so here's a catalog shot to aid your imagination:


Had a nice discussion with them on the religious activities in the new residential area. No surau yet but a house owner graciously allowed his yet unoccupied unit to be used as a temporary surau. According to the teaching of Islam for as long as people use the house for prayers and other religious activities, the owner will reap the"pahala". The same if you plant a fruit tree and let people enjoy the fruits.


Che Norsiah Patah, the hostess for the house warming party, was so non-assuming, friendly and casual. The food was excellent and being tired and hungry, I didn't waste time to have my fill. If my tummy looks a little ' terbonjol' in the picture it's because I ate too much perhaps. Met many wonderful people at the party including Irwan and his charming wife. Again I forgot to take pictures and hope that some will be forthcoming from other shutterbugs present at the occasion.

Sorry, no picture of the food spread for there's too many of such pictures around. Or of people eating.


Thanks Che Norsiah for a wonderful get together.

Teenage Love and Nuclear Arms

In the NST editorial page ( April 14, p.16). we have two very interesting but very contrasting issues. One is about the teenage girl (only 15) who fled home to be with her lover in Langkawi as commented on by the Editor and the other about keeping away nuclear arms from the terrorists written by Louis Charbonneau. The contrast, one on sweet love the other on war and destruction, really caught my attention. About love and hate, the extremities of human emotions.

The teenage love affair ( don't want to drag her name in again), led her to leave home, skip parents and school to be with her beau a supervisor in a restaurant, and when the parent and relatives came to take her home threatened to throw herself into the sea. That's love, true and unadulterated, which unfortunately smote a girl of 15, and makes it illegal for her to get married without the consent of the Syariah Court. She had to be 18 to marry without her parent's consent. I knew about the latter but not the former legal requirement. So it is the Syariah Court which can decide on whether a girl is "psychologically mature enough for marriage".( And I thought Islam allows a girl to be married at 14!)

As it is the girl's beau is in trouble and is being detained by the police for investigation. For what, I wonder. For seducing and underage girl? For casting a spell on her or using black magic to dominate her mind and soul? If he can do that then I would say that he's quite a guy but a little stupid fpr selecting an underage girl to be his victim. Or did he employ a bomoh to 'steal' away the girl's roh or semangat? That's taking us back to the days of magic and mantras.

I'm pretty sure that this is just a case of a girl having a crush on someone and getting to know a boy for the first time, away from home and the very tight control of the mother. The fist taste of romance and love is certainly intoxicating and getting a severe reproach from the mother rather than a kind and loving advice would send a girl "ballistic". This is where I feel that a girl should be allowed to get to know the boys, under close supervision though, so that no single boy will try to play her out.
I don't belief that the Syariah Court and the legal system should be dragged into this as suggested by the NST editor.

It's the Nuclear Arms thing that should deserve more serious attention. Our PM had attented the Nuclear Security Summit assembly in Washington where the US president, Barack Obama, called on the leaders of 47 countries to draw up an action plan to secure their nuclear weapons material, to prevent it from passing into the hands of the terrorists.

"The summit - the biggest US -hosted assembly of world leaders in Washington in six decades - was a test of Obama's ability to rally global action on his( itlics mine) nuclear agenda." He was urging all nations to reduce or give up their nuclear stockpiles (or fissile materials for making nuclear weapon) and secure them against the terrorists. "Galucci and other nuclear security experts said that securing ...(the) stockpiles was agood place to start , but insufficient. They said it was time to agree to a ban on producing fissile material for nuclear weapons."

We all know by now who or which countries the US feel must be stripped of their nuclear stockpile immediately. While US and Russia had earlier agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals by 30% in ten years, China,Iran, North Korea, Israel, India, Pakistan (and God knows who else) had refused to undertake any such action. The Washington Summit set out to get all the 47 world leaders (only 46 attended the Summit for Israel refused to come) " to agree on an action plan ...to secure all of their nuclear weapons material within four years so that it was no longer vulnerable to theft."

One can interpret the US' intention in any way one wants to. But one its obvious implications is that whatever body is created to ensure and enforce the implementation of the agreement will have the power to search and investigate all installations having to do with the development of nuclear energy for peaceful use or otherwise. Would Iran, Israel, India, Pakistan, North Korea agree to that? Our PM had already explained to President Obama Malaysia's stand on the issue and that we do not support any plans by any country to develop nuclear weapons. The question is if the agreement as envisaged by the US is signed would if give the US the right to go into any country to see that no nuclear weapon is being developed? Would it also give US the right to wipe out any installation considered as likely to develop nuclear weapon and the country itself in the process? Iran is, of course, the immediate target for such a possibility while there does not seem to be any effort by US to bring Israel into the picture.

How's that set against the Issue of a 15 year old girl running away from home to be with and get married to the boy she loved?
I'd go for an Editorial on the nuclear issue any time.

(PS. The NST Editorial today April 15, focused on the issue and stressed on a country's right " to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes". But who will determine whether a nuclear plant is set up for peaceful purposes or otherwise? Who will come, inspect the plant and call for its demolition if alleged to be otherwise? Iraq was destroyed because of such allegation which had not been proven until today. Allowing US or an independent authority with US interest to come into an independent nation to investigate its power plant, would tantamount to compromising the country's sovereignty. Hence the Editorial suggested that Malaysia maintains a balance between sovereignty and cooperation. Can you when pushed to a corner like
Iran?)

Awan....Where Are You?

Our dear tomcat Awan, whom we raised from small and who stayed in our bedroom like a member of the family until he's about a year old, has disappeared. He has often followed me very early in the morning to go to the Surau for Subuh prayer and will wait for me to walk home. Hiding under a bush or sometimes under a car ( he knows when to run away as soon as the engine starts), he will jump out to greet me as I come by along the road after the prayer. We would then walk home and have breakfast together.

But five or six mornings ago. he overslept and did not follow me to the Surau when I left the house at 5.40am. When I returned home he made a lot of noise as if he missed going out . When my wife opened all the doors and the gate to go out to work, Awan followed her. We have allowed him to go out several times already since he had grown up and a few "friends" had been waiting for him. He would come in again when I opened the door to go out and feed the fish. Since I work only at home after retirement, he will spend all day playing or sleeping in the room. I always leave the door open for him to come and go as he pleases.

When I came out of the house on the April 7, to go and feed the fish, Awan did not come to greet me. He always does so even when he comes into the room when I am reading or busy at the PC. He will rush towards me and extend a hand or even two sometimes to catch the hand that I extended to him. He will wait for us to return home from shopping and we even took him out sometimes. Every time we step out of the car he will rush at us and then roll over on the grass or even in the centre of the road itself, until we pick him up. He will sometime sleep at my feet while I'm reading or writing. And when the chair is vacated he he will waste no time to occupy it just sitting down and resting or sleeping. We sometimes quarrel over the chair since he won't vacate it once nicely settled down in it.

His real fun time is when my wife is sitting on the bed with her Notebook. Awan will sleep behind the opened cover and once in a while pop up his head and stretch out a hand to help her with the typing on the keyboard. When my wife shouts out to stop him from disturbing Awan will hide again behind the cover and pretend to be asleep, only to pop up again with his game of peek-a-boo.

The moment my wife lays a hand on him either to stroke him or wave him aside, Awan will grab her hand and start to pull or make mocking snaps with open jaws, making my with shriek with fear. He also does the same to me although it's often myself who will grab his head or hands and legs to avoid the mocking snaps that he makes.

Now he's gone, has not returned for 6 days and we missed him very much. I'm sure someone has caught and caged him for otherwise he will surely run back home. We've lost two other cats this way. The funny thing is that there are many stray cats moving round our place and no one seems to be interested in them. Why is it that some one always want to deprive us of our beloved pat? Does it make him, her or them happy to see us going all over the place calling for our cat? No, there's no sign of any cat being run over by a car. Our cat must have been held in captivity or otherwise sent somewhere else for whatever reason we don't know for Awan is not Persian or anything special. Just an ordinary tomcat but is most playful and childlike.

The pics are from our album and printed here to keep up our memory and our hope that:
AWAN will return, ALIVE.
Click here to see how Awan came to us.