Month -3-06, Jul

Still in Fishy Mood; Jul 01 Sat

May in Kenyir, Jun in Bidong, July? Well while the mood is still on, Muzani and I drove to Selayang Wholesales Market (Pasar Borong) in the wee hours of July the first day Sat. There are two such markets in Selayang; ordinary passer-by may or may not get confused. One is (on the left side no one would miss) along the trunk road from Selayang new town. This is the one that was moved from Jln Ipoh. In the 1990 this market swelled again. A new premise was built on the opposite side of the road, rather hidden - and name Kuala Lumpur Wholesale Market. This one operates with a peak at about two in the wee hours; fish in long containers were at berth along the side of the unloading bays. Since then the old premise became "daily market" - Pasar Harian Selayang - which officially operates 5-12 am, but practically peaked at 5. For retailers, price-wise is subtantially significance, depending on the amount of the purchase. For psuedo-retailer a.k.a. consumer, the extent is not significant. No matter how hard we try to convince the wholeseller that our "retail shop is very small", they could easily tell the consumer from from the "small retailer". For consumerisme practical purposes, it is the same in Pasar Harian Selayang or in Pasar Borong Kuala Lumpur; except the peak times.

Up to late 1970's, the wholesales market was in Jalan Ipoh, the site of what it is now PWTC, and partly PUSRAWI. In those years, I frequented for my kitchen, once a month. It was a lot of 'fun' to buy the sea-stuff there because the fish that we like were not available in the minimarkets (which began to appear in the housing estates to cater for 'cut-off' residents from going to the wet markets) because others did not know how to deal with it. And it was lower price and fresh and a wide variety of choices. It was the time when RM50 in Pasar Borong would buy sufficient fish for a month: kerisi, aya, tenggiri, squids, crabs, kembong; and for a couple of ringgit more for the melons, cucumber, brinjals. Per kilo it was the time everything was below 50 sen; and the fruits and vege were below 20 sen. For a less good-looking melons, it was auctioned per 'longgok'. The good-looking melons sold under the tree 'camps' was 10 - 15 sen. I remembered when my #1daughter was born in 1978 Oct, MakNgah reminded me about Azizah when I brought home from a camp-stall in Sect 17 a very tempting fat compact red melon; it was only 12 sen a kilo.

Obviously, Pasar Borong Selayang is much bigger than that of the Jln Ipoh, but I noticed that was to cater for more traders to cater for more consumers. Many things were missing. The variety of fish was very much reduced. It was about the common varieties: kembong, selar, selayang, cecaru; those of the 'pukat rimau' catches. Still plenty of squids and crabs, but the sky-high price (typical squid: RM13) turned them into poorly visited stalls. Less types of big fishes and less exotic types. It was worth a trip for the price (the sellers knew I was a consumer, not a retailer) was 20-30% lower than in Bangi. But for vege it was not that worth of a trip for its perishability.

2006 July; New Session 2006/2007; Technically my Last Academic Session


A foggy early July; it was actually a fogging procedure, lately very often, around Science building; Jul 5 Wed 6.30 pm, when all the 'freshies' were having their (open air) meal in the college compound;

The first Jul weekend was 'long'. New session intake 2006/07 flocked Jul 2 Sun, Abdullah et al and Omar et al, both checked-in their son and daughter respectively, and popped in our home for a coutesy visit. With Alya was in her SESERI 'Perkhemahan Perdana', we had ample time to have both families (the former in the afternoon, and the latter in the evening) to have their times with us. The day Asrizalni was taken (with quite a fever from last night) by Azizah (and CB) for his Sukan in Permata Stadium, in B Baginda; the same place when it was SB's time in 2000; after which Asri showed some elasticity in term of his need for his mother to be with.

Jul 3 Mon, Aspa of deanery called first thing in the morning, that she asked me to fill in some figures which in other cases she could have accomplished it easily, indicating that I had the vague figures about my previous 'goodness' that the dean could not figure out clearly. Even detail print in the Appendixes were rendered useless. It dragged to the following Wed when the Chairman had to be dragged to 'intervene'. It appeared that the arithmatics of form filling the staff was asked to, and that the Pentadbir had to work out from it were of two different schools; ironically drafted in the same source room. The deanery committee was set to meet sometimes Fri, and thus appeared not to be a good start. Felt the heat of it Mon that followed when it was rumoured, ok, but the mode was "secret"; a typical hard way to tell one do not get what one wants.

Jul 4 Tue, attended the meeting of the claimed "Program Biofuel Negara" by Pioneer Bio Industries Corporation in Istana Hotel. It was a human resource exploration beefing; the place I could perhaps scratch in hard times or ask for a meal a day.

FIFA Germany 2006 World Cup Final, France-Italy was on Jul 9 Sun in Berlin; wee hours Jul 10 Mon local time. The event took more than three hours to conclude. It wasn't very much a football as it used to be. The players were very cautious so that they survived to the end without red card (never mind the yellow, this is the last game). Many palyed "stail yahudi": commit a crime even in day light, then pretend to be victim, yelled to the universe demanding for "justice". Apparently much effort were put to win a penalty kick, even tactically, instead of scoring a goal. Perhaps winning a goal is a personal win, whereas wining a penalty kick is a win for the country.

Actually the first ten days of July were the end period of "peace time" in the campus. On one side of the coin, events were very choppy: TAE sphoradic non-start but harmless, forgotten WFV tax expiry date but during the weekend, WCG returned to incomplete combustion, sure intermitant power failure of 2154 sector on the second floor, PKRISC erratic server, the nearest washroom locked, a ripple in 1113 and two 2922. And equally were on the other side of the coin.

2006 July 10, The First in english

Jul 10 Mon was the first day lecture for this session. All first year Science and Math papers were delivered in english of malglish dialect. The new students have the chance to see the so many comedians trying hard to "pull the crowd". No body knew exactly who would benefit from this exercise. No one could put forward a rationale for it, except those who still could not make a parallel extrapolation from the pre-1960 years. And those who actually wanted to move to their own mother tongue, but hiding behind english to get away from Bahasa Melayu. They regressed into the colonial epoch of human civilisation, like they said Islam is regressing into the dark arabic years; even the american is pulling away slowly from english, linguistically. It was so stupid seeing a guru stammering in a language he does not master to a group of murid who do not understand either. The murid look to each other while the guru is at lost for a vocab; even the chinas were talking in their own born tongue; even between two of them, right infront of us, in our office. They do not afraid to talk using their own tongue infront of any body, not even their superior. It's amazing to watch the virtue of power at work, subduing even the intelligensia the virtue of which created the virtue of the power.

2006 July 15, Met by the People Who Had Met Me Before

Hari Anugerah Cemerlang SESERI. I was more for moral support to YDP En Adnan, because others seemed to prefer their own sweet time. But more important was one of the invited VIP: The Pengetua SBPI Gombak, Puan Hajah Norlia Mohd Shuhaili who unlocked it all. Since last years many events in SESERI, this was the first time she managed to clear the time. In waiting since last year she was destined to carry with her the "key" to unlock, all the way from Perak where she was recently transfered from. It started here, and it needed to restart here to trace the link. She was in F5 here in 1970; she was in the flock in the bus who went to visit SAS in 1970 Mar 21 Sat, she was a close friend of the HG Norilam. She kept in touch through the years to today; she confided each other, from that 1970 Mar. I could tell that, and she instantly knew that I was prepared to. She kept on towing; and while moving on with the itinery in the occasion, by Norlia's key to unlock, I was on her phone across the Titiwangsa relinking the dots from the cold winter 1974/75. As always, an occasion like today, the lunch was the fullstop; after the lunch I thanked Norlia at the goodbye. I would like to see Norlia again in a more informal cause. Had she met me in 2005 Jan, I would have asked her to have Alya transfered to her school; after all, a bunch of Alya's friends were in her school and Alya would not have the inertia she had when she first checked in SESERI Jan last year 2005. But, no, it was meant to be here, in Kolam Air; the place at one time, long ago, I always wanted to have a reason to go. That is how it was destined to happen.

2006 Jul 22 Sat, another Sat in SESERI, The "Ikrar" Day, for those taking SPM in 2006; in Gelanggang Anggerik Sari. Perhaps functionally, it was only a form of psychological support. Tuan Haji Mohd Kholil Mohamad, the head of Academic and Examination Management Unit, of SBP Sector, witnessed; the same person I first met when he was invited VIP in 2005 April 1 Dinner. I reckoned the ceremony was too ceremonious. Parents were called to co-sign the "pledge", otherwise a teacher was authorised to represent the parents. It was decided that later it would be sufficient to be done during, or a few moments after they were first registered in SESERI. At least some of the times and energy could be diverted for more intense focus in other activities. But again, the apparent current trend is identical every where: ceremony will envelop a non-filled content. This is the only beauty left in the full board school. In other fronts, the daily schools could easily excell. Last year I missed this occasion - 2005 Jun 18 Sat - to attend the "non-event" SAS Alumni #21 AGM in Putrajaya's SAS. This year, I do not need alternatives for both reasons: Alya and PIBG. We arrived within time, but still late in the Q: M3.

At home, Jul 28 Fri, TDM had a very small "adventure" in Kota Bharu; to everyone's puzzle, why, and for what it should be so. He described the incident in which he was hit by pepper spray as very scary. It was frightening because he had difficulty breathing, could not speak and his throat felt painful while his eyes, nose and lips were smarting; he told reporters. Police have arrested a man believed to have sprayed chemical from a canister in the direction of him moments after the former prime minister arrived at the Sultan Ismail Petra Airport in Pengkalan Chepa yesterday for a one-day visit. The man, a Datuk, was arrested at 10.30pm, almost 12 hours after the incident, in Pasir Tumbuh. Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan confirmed the arrest. Kelantan Police Chief Datuk Zulkifli Abdullah said Saturday the businessman was arrested at his house in Pasir Tumbuh at 10pm by a police party Friday. "The suspect will be remanded today and it is up to the magistrate to determine the detention period, which could help solve the case," he said at a press conference here. The case is being investigated under Section 328 of the Penal Code, which carries a jail sentence of up to 10 years and fine, he said. TDM who was surrounded by hundreds of supporters, was standing inside a Pajero, with his upper body sticking out of the sunroof, and speaking to the crowd when the incident occurred at about 11am Fri. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad condemned the incident, saying he was angry and regretted that it had occurred. He has ordered the police to investigate the incident and take stern action against the person or people responsible for the attack. Dr Mahathir was met on arrival by two groups – one led by veteran politician Datuk Paduka Ibrahim Ali and the other by businessman Datuk Nik Sapeia Nik Yusoff.


Chapter dated Jul 31 Mon, 2006