Old Pontian Road, Skudai

Once an old sleepy town of Taman Sri Skudai has bustled into a university town in 1984. The growth has also caused a chain reaction to the neighbouring Taman Universiti (Taman U), Taman Sri Pulai, Taman Teratai,Taman Sri Pulai Perdana, Taman Teratai and as far as Pekan Nanas and Ulu Choh.
Located at a junction between a trunk road Senai-Johor Bahru-Pontian, Sekudai has experienced a considerable growth since 1984 when Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has moved its main campus from Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur to Skudai, Johor. Skudai has become a synonym with UTM.
Early January 2008, the construction of a fly-over was completed an opened to vehicles to the relief of thousands of road users plying between Pontian, Pekan Nanas, Kangkar Pulai and Sekudai to Johor Bahru and vice-versa. The long-awaited fly-over has eliminated wasted waiting time to thousands of vehicles daily especially in the morning and evening. Vehicles' queue from Senai-JB Road into Pontian Road (Skudai) could be as long as two or three kilometer if no queue-cutting was practiced every evening. Today, there i practically no hassle at all if you were traveling from Pontian to JB or from Senai to JB and vice-versa. The only unfortunate issue (if it is to be labeled as unfortunate) is traffickers have to make two u-turns if they are coming from Senai to Taman Sri Skudai (TSS) as the original traffic light into TSS has been demolished to cater for the fly-over. Sometimes, a sacrifice has to be made by a small group of people in-lieu of benefits to be gained by thousands of others. Hopefully, the small sacrifice made by the people of Taman Sri Skudai for the sake of others will be rewarded in other forms, Insya-Allah.

KLIA 10th. Anniversary

It has been quite sometime that I did not post anything in this blog...Just a bit bz ...

Last Sunday, I rushed to KLIA at around 10.30 p.m. to send my nephew, former SAFF Head of Admin & Finance Officer, Wan Fairuz Wan Chik. He was taking a flight to Amsterdam, Holland to present his proposal for a PhD in Human Resource & Management. Let us pray that his 1-week visit and presentation w\in Holland will bear some fruit for his future career development.
While at KLIA I accidently noticed few banners and posters bearing wordings KLIA ANNIVERSARY .... then I realised that it has been 10 years since KLIA was opened by the former Prime Minister. It seems that time has flown by too fast.. it is a sign of the Day of Reckoning is approaching us too.. may be faster than an aeroplane flying and touching down at KLIA..
Where was I 10 years ago i.e. sometime in 1998? Yes..yes... I remember now...
It was in 1998 when I was still struggling setting up SAFF Consultants and SAFF Testing and Supervising Services ... just 3 years after I resigned from my Chief Engineer post in UTM...
It was a big decision in my life... The reasons why I left... there are several ... :-))
One of the reasons : I was offered a place as a lecturer in Elect. Eng. faculty in UTM itself...
After receiving the offer, I consulted my (Acting) Pengarah Kerja at that time, Ir. Anton Alfred Sebastian, a senior JKR Civil Engineer seconded to UTM. He requested me to ask from the Registrar for a postponement for 2-3 months so that I could finish off some of my current jobs.
I was surprised to receive a reply from UTM Regitrar office stating that if I did not report for duty, the offer would be withdrawn and I have to re-apply again when I am ready ...
I was just wondering about the reply...was it made on purpose or was there any other reasons.. I could not accept the decision as I did not report for duty immediately not because of my own personal benefit BUT because the assignment I was still carrying on UTM projects... I was the UTM Chief Engineer then, responsible to matters pertaining to all project and maintenance issues in UTM..
Well, few months after that... I resigned at the age of 37 years old...
In 1998, I was 40 years old ... and now I am almost 50 years...
An old man who still strive to give whatever experience and knowledge to anyone who needs them...
Knowledge is from Allah and I am just a medium of transmission...
Those who need them are most welcome to see me or email to me...
Those who feel that I am very 'stingy' in departing my knowledge and experience, I am sorry for making you to feel that way...
I could not claim that the experience and knowledge is mine ..
I am just a medium of transmitter..
I could only give what I have (of course we could not give something that we don't own or have) ...
Salam..

Taiping - My Alma Matter

I spend six years during my secondary school days at this Everlasting Peace town from 1971 t0 1976. My King Edward VII Secondary School is one of the oldest school in Malaysia (slightly younger than Penang Free School).
Nestling at the foot of Maxwell Hills, a resort built by the British during their brief rule of Malaya until 1957, lies this pensioners' home town where they choose to spend the rst of their remaining days. The hill resort is still a tourist attraction until today as its cool weather has made it suitable for the westeners.
Taiping is also well-known for its Lake Garden, formed by mining activities. Our history informs us that there were the two clans of Ghee Hin and Hai San who always fighting against each other to gain control of the mining rights before the British came. The first railway line of the country was build in 1884 linking Taiping to Port Weld, which acts as the port to export tin overseas.
Taiping is also known to be the town with heaviest rainfall in Malaysia (24 inches per year)..

What fascinates me is the panoramic views of Taiping Lake Garden.. Whenever I re-visited the town, normally I will just drive around the Lake garden just to appreciate the wonder of the earth bestowed to us by the Almighty Allah, The Creater.

So, this peceful Taiping town is worth a visit should any of you happen to pass through Changkat Jering on the North-South Highway to the north of the country.

Iqra' ...

Ayat IQRA' merupakan satu yang paling sinonim dengan semua Muslim di dunia. Ia merupakan ayat pertama yang diminta Rasulullah S.A.W membacanya oleh malaikat Jibril sewaktu Rasulullah SAW menerima wahyu ketika diangkat menjadi Rasul di Gua Hira'.

Ayat yang membawa erti BACALAH ... merupakan rujukan utama umat Islam terutama apabila membicarakan tentang menuntut ilmu dan falsafah ilmu itu sendiri.

Berdasarkan rujukan unggul inilah, adalah dirasakan pihak pengurusan Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) telah membina sebuah arca yang dibuat dari Stainless Steel di bulatan utama pintu masuk Utama USIM, berhadapan bangunan pentadbirannya. Arca yang dilengkapi dengan perkataan IQRA' itu akan menjadi tumpuan pertama setiap pengunjung, pekerja, pelajar, ibu bapa dan siapa sahaja yang memasuki kampus ini.

Adalah diharapkan USIM akan memertabatkan ilmu ini ke tempat yang sepatutnya di mana proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran, bukan sahaja kepada para pelajarnya, malahan kepada semua kakitangan serta insan-insan lain yang terlibat dengan pembangunan serta pentadbiran IPTA ini.
Segala urusan harian dari bermulanya pembinaan kampus hinggalah ke proses penggunaan danpentadbirannya hendaklah berlandaskan kepada konsep IQRA' ini di mana segala urusan hendaklah berasaskan kepada ILMU yang Allah berikan dan digunakan ke jalan yang betul.

Maksud :
Bacalah (wahai Muhammad) dengan nama Tuhanmu yang menciptakan (sekelian makhluk), Ia menciptakan manusia dari sebuku darah beku....

(Surah Al-'Laq, ayat 1-2)

Surah ke-96 ini diturunkan di Makkah mengandungi 19 ayat. Ia dinamakan al-'Alaq yang membawa maksud 'sebuku darah beku'.

Di antara pengajaran dari ayat-ayat surah ini ialah :

1. Allah Tuhan Semesta Alam, Yang Maha Esa dan Maha Kuasa, yang wajib diingati dan dipatuhi dalam semua keadaan;
2. Manusia yang telah diciptakan oleh Allah Ta'ala dalam sebaik-baik keadaan dan diberikan berbagai keistimewaan berbanding dengan makhluk-makhluk yang lain;
3. Nikmat ilmu pengetahuan telah diajarkan oleh Allah Ta'ala kepada manusia melalui pena dan tulisan;
4. Allah Ta'ala menggambarkan sifat-sifat dan tabi'at sesetengah manusia : Apabila ia senang lenang dan banyak hartanya, ia berlaku sombong bongkak, lupakan Allah yang mengurniakan nikmat kepadanya, tidak menghiraukan suruhan Allah dan larangan-Nya, sehingga akhlak dan budi pekertinya tidak lagi berperi-kemanusiaan..

(petikan dari Tafsir Pimpinan Ar-Rahman, m.s.1703)

Semoga tertegaknya arca IQRA' ini akan sentiasa memberikan peringatan kepada kita tentang ilmu serta kejadian diri kita yang akan kembali kepada-Nya kelak.