Category: Random rambling

Mutiara sabah

“Dr. nak apa-apa tak? Saya kat Sabah ni” mesej yang diterima dari seorang pelajar. “Dr nak mutiara Sabah tak?” tanyanya lagi.


Aku melihat mesej yang dihantarnya malam semalam. Hati aku sedikit terhibur apabila ada orang masih mengingati diri ini ketika dia bercuti. “Mutiara? Mahal” balasku pendek. “Tak mahal. Murah je” dia membalas.


“Mutiara kalau murah, dah lama Mikimoto tutup kedai” ujarku. Agak lama dia mengambil masa membalas mesejku kali ini. Mesti dia mencari maklumat tentang Mikimoto.


“Tu mutiara lain. Ini mutiara Sabah” balasnya lagi. “Bila awak nak hantar RS2?” tanyaku mengingatkan dirinya tentang tesisnya yang belum dihantar lagi. “Ala Dr ni. Ingatkan saya pula. Saya dah buat pembetulan. Esok saya nak hantar. Nanti borang Dr tanda tangan ya?” balasnya


“Dr nak tak mutiara Sabah? Saya offer ni?” dia bertanya lagi. “Tak payah la beli apa-apa. Janji awak hantar tesis esok” balasku.


Daripada mendapat mutiara darinya tetapi dia gagal menghantar tesisnya, lagi memeningkan kepala aku. Elok tak dapat mutiara tapi tesisnya dia hantar.


Nota: Ini adalah pelajar perempuan. Pelajar lelaki selalunya tidak akan menawarkan untuk membeli barang perhiasan sebegini. Hadiah dari pelajar lelaki yang aku pernah terima adalah buku dan penanda buku.

Hadis Rasullullah SAW tentang gila kuasa

Aku pernah ternampak satu hadis tentang tanda-tanda akhir zaman dan tentang zaman di mana ramai orang gila akan kuasa, pangkat dan status. Di era sekarang, agak senang mencari maklumat tetapi untuk mencari maklumat yang sahih perlu sedikit usaha untuk membuat analisa.

Alhamdulillah setelah beberapa hari, akhirnya dapat jumpa satu buku yang diterbitkan oleh seorang ahli akademik dari USIM bertajuk 40 hadis tentang politik dan kepimpinan.

Hadis pertama mengenai sifat manusia yang sememangnya suka akan pangkat, kuasa dan status. Boleh rujuk dari Sahih al-Bukhari, no: 7148.

Akan tetapi, Nabi Muhammad SAW ada berpesan supaya mengelakkan diri dari meminta untuk diberikan jawatan. Boleh rujuk dari Sahih al-Bukhari, no: 7146.

Dalam konteks sekarang, adakah menghantar permohonan untuk tujuan kenaikan pangkat atau mengisi borang untuk jawatan pentadbir dikira termasuk dalam larangan Nabi Muhammad SAW? Ini membuat aku berfikir panjang dan banyak kali untuk proses kenaikan pangkat. Ada yang mungkin berfikir, “Ala, apa yang nak disusahkan sangat? Tekan butang je dalam sistem. Apa yang diperlukan adalah berdasarkan penilaian tahunan dan bukti yang dimasukkan setiap tahun yang terkumpul seperti bilangan menjadi penyelidik utama, bilangan penerbitan dan sebagainya”

Pangkat berbeza dari jawatan? Dari satu sudut, ianya adalah berbeza tetapi dari satu sudut lain, ianya merujuk kepada tanggungjawab dan kebergantungjawapan seseorang berdasarkan pangkat, jawatan, status (boleh melabel apa jua istilah). Mungkinkah ini yang akan menjadi penyesalan di akhirat nanti seperti yang dinyatakan dalam hadis Nabi Muhammad SAW?

Mungkin ada yang berpendapat bahawa terdapat nabi yang meminta diberikan jawatan, seperti Nabi Yusuf AS. Persoalannya ialah, layakkah kita hendak membandingkan diri dengan seseorang yang Allah telah menaikkan taraf dirinya sebagai Nabi? Bahasa orang yang biasa didengari: “Kena sedar diri la kan, kita ni siapa“. Akan tetapi ada kelonggaran untuk memastikan kepentingan masyarakat terjaga dengan “mencalonkan” diri untuk jawatan tertentu dengan syarat tertentu yang perlu dipenuhi.

Dalam apa jua keadaan, sekiranya kita diberikan jawatan, perlu dilaksanakan tanggungjawab dengan baik, dan tidak menzalimi orang lain dengan tindakan dan juga keputusan yang diambil. Dalam bentuk tulisan dan percakapan, ianya sesuatu yang mudah untuk dilaksanakan tetapi dalam bentuk perbuatan, ianya bukan mudah. Semoga Allah permudahkan urusan orang yang diberi jawatan untuk melaksanakan tugasan dengan adil dan saksama.

Guess who’s coming to dinner

It was the second of Ramadhan. Two days after I had my viva. How time flies! It has been nearly ten years since I had my viva. Feeling a bit overwhelmed with what I experienced two days ago and now, I was on my way back to see my family to share the good news. Well, technically they already knew the news immediately after my viva. Even though my friend, Putri lent me her phone to call my family back home but I just informed my sister using FB.

Normally, I would sleep throughout the journey but not this time. I was fasting and I decided to watch whatever movies available. I decided to watch “Guess who’s coming to dinner”. A classic movie. I was mesmerised with the story line. It is beautiful!

Sydney Poitier is a great actor. The story line and great actors and actresses make the movie a class of its own. It is a rare thing to watch a movie like that nowadays.

When it was about the time for me to break the fast, a stewardess handed me a tray of meal with few packets of dates and biscuits. I was so engrossed watching the movie that I finished the whole thing on the tray without realising it. When I wanted to return the tray, a stewardess asked me if I was still hungry. I replied sheepishly that I was still feeling a bit hungry. She gave me few packets of biscuits and chocolates.

After returning back to my seat, the guy who was sitting next to me asked if I enjoyed watching the movie. I just smiled while saying Yes. He told me that it is one of his favorite movies. Our conversation ended shortly after that as both of us knew that we needed to rest well. He fell asleep not long after that. I was fully awake. My mind kept on thinking about the movie.

Racism, social class, generation gap and parental concern are things that we find it difficult to overcome at certain times. But what matters most is to be open-minded and willingness to take a risk in life. Life is too short to be egocentric and not willing to take any chance that life provides.

COVID-19: Reunion

I am not that keen to have a reunion. But I just went along with the idea to keep in touch with my primary school mates. Alhamdulillah I got a chance to meet my former school mates after more than 30 years leaving school.

10 October 2020. It was a year ago when I had the reunion with my primary school mates. How time flies! Indeed.

What is wrong with this picture?

It was one of the days that I have packed schedule starting from 815am. Is it normal? It is normal but what makes it challenging is having to attend more than one event at the same time. Some people can do it well. I am not one of those people.

I had a meeting about a course and we needed to decide on the rubric etc. While attending that meeting, I also attended the Majlis Apresiasi FSSK. Using two devices, it seemed things could go smoothly. But there is only one “me” with one brain that needs to process overloading information at once. By 12pm, I was exhausted. Then someone asked me about a copy of course information that he cannot open using his laptop. I gave three versions: Words 2003, Words docx and PDF versions. He still cannot open any of the files. *sigh* My patience was wearing thin. I still remembered back in the days when I used a “dumb” phone. He chided by saying “Apa ni telefon cap ayam?”. I have the urge to say the same thing to him now “Apa ni laptop cap ayam?” but I bite my tongue and said “Try to open it again using PDF version and then you convert the PDF to Words”.

What makes me wonder is he taught the course last semester and thus it does not make any sense to ask me to give him the course information this semester. He should have the course information already since last semester. It is the same course information that will be used in the upcoming semester. I am not even the course coordinator. What is wrong with this picture?