BERPETUALANG KE ACEH: 2013-02-24

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This blogspot is a medium to share my thoughts and adventures apart from promoting my books. Below are the books which have been written or authored and published by myself.

"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti".

ISBN 983-42031-0-1, Jun 2006

"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Membela Syiar yang Asal"

ISBN 983-42031-1-x, May 2007

"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?"

ISBN 978-983-42031-2-2, November 2007

It is interesting to note that while these books were written in Malay it has gained enough attention to merit being part of the collections of the American Library of Congress and National Library of Australia. Look here and here.

While the first three books were published by my own company, the fourth titled "Rumah Azan" was published in April 2009 by a company called Karnadya with the help of the Malaysian national literary body Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. It features beautiful pictures along with stories behind selected mosques which could be related to the history of Islam and the Malays alongside the formation of the Malaysian nation. Look at the article A collaboration of old collegemates - the book "Rumah Azan".

My fifth book "Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and Malay Sultanates", an English translation and adaptation of the Malay book "Ahlul Bait (Keluarga) Rasulullah SAW dan Kesultanan Melayu" authored by Hj Muzaffar Mohamad and Tun Suzana Othman was published early 2010. Look here... My 5th book is out! Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and the Malay Sultanates... . For more information check out my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU.

Like my fourth book "Rumah Azan", the sixth book "Kereta Api Menuju Destinasi" is also a coffee-table book which is published by the company Karnadya with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (the main Malay literary body in Malaysia). Coming out January 2011 it features pictures and stories on the adventure travelling by train to all of Peninsular Malaysia along with the interesting places which could be reached this way.

My seventh book "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" in turn is a coffee-table book which is written, editted, designed and has pictures taken by me. Coming out of the factory October 2011, this book which combines family history with history of places such as Singapura, Johor, Batu Pahat, Muar and in fact the history of the island of Java and England has been reviewed with me interviewed live in the program Selamat Pagi Malaysia at RTM1. Look at the article Siaran langsung ulasan buku "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" dan temu ramah di Selamat Pagi Malaysia. Some selected contents have been featured in Sneak peek "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah".

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The "Berpetualang ke Aceh" series of novels could be obtained in e-book form. Enter http://www.e-sentral.com/, click general novel and go to page 4. You can also type the word "Aceh" at the search box. Or click straight Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.

Friday, March 01, 2013

A niece's Malay-'Scottish' wedding ceremony

Peace be upon you all. Today Friday the date is 1st March 2013 or 1.3.13. The nice date made me feel compelled to make new postings in every of my blogspots starting with this one.

Last Sunday, me and family went to a niece's wedding ceremony.

The niece is the eldest daughter of my wife's brother.

First we sat waiting under a canopy.

The wedding ceremony (the niece and husband have officially tied the knot a week earlier) was held at a hall in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) campus, Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur.

Walking around I saw what is a rather curious sight for a Malay wedding ceremony, a 'Scottish' band with kilts, bagpipes and all waiting to spring into action.

The ceremony was started with the family procession walking into the hall...

The band led in front playing their music. By the time I took this picture they were practically out of sight.

The band then settled at a corner.

The wedded couple also took their place...

A look around.

The wife and our baby, Johan.

A guest which used to be a quite popular singer, a middle-eastern guy known as Imad was invited to belt out a piece. For the record this is the 1,111th article in this blogspot.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

The vast lake at Taman Metropolitan

Continued from A television interview on Islamic economics and finance.

The following day, after going somewhere which I've forgotten where, I rode my bike through the MRR II heading westward to Kepong. Passing by a public park called Taman Metropolitan I decided to make a stop.

The park has quite a vast and scenic lake.

It was almost sunset and I decided to enjoy the views...

A television interview on Islamic economics and finance

This is something quite special...

Last Thursday I went to a lawyer friend's office to honour an invitation.

Me and the friend, Taufiq Khalid Sahan were to be interviewed for a cable television program.

The program is called Islamic Finance Today, the host is lawyer-turned-financial consultant Amirul Haji Mohamad. That's me wearing a traditional Malay nobleman custome. Guess which one is Taufiq, which one is Amirul.

We were interviewed as members of a body called HIKMAH which I've founded on 12th October 2012. The body aims to empower Malay Muslim rights and sovereignity through increased awareness of pertinent matters like real history according to our people, not those written by the colonialists and orientalists. For the program our views on world economics were sought. This we did under the name HIKMAH's Islamic Economics Study Circle.

Before recording we had rehearsals which also served as sound-checks.There were plenty of jabs and such. Everybody had fun.

After a while the actual recorded interview was completed.

Next, we have to give out one-liners to promote the program...

That was not all. Later we were joined by another friend, journalist Shamsul Yunos who was also a law graduate. Shamsul has been specialising in motoring for many years and was just returning from conducting a high-profile interview of an industry captain.

You see there were two sessions of interviews meant for two episodes of the program.

For this session Shamsul did plenty of talking while Taufiq looked on.

By the way, I was the only one who was not a law-grad. By training, I was meant to be a mathematician but turned out very much different...

There, second session done.

Then we did a promo posing with silver dirhams.

By the way Islamic Finance is shown on Unifi's channel 127 after Sunday 10 pm. The first session is due to be aired next week 3rd March, the second 17th March. Do tune in if you have the chance...