Happy 80th Bday Tok Uteh!

(The backdrop of the event)

Last couple of months on the 8th February was a great day. My family & all of our extended relatives were celebrating the 80th birthday of our granduncle Mohd Ghazali Bin Mohd Seth known to our relatives as Pak Uteh, Tok Uteh or Tok Tan, but he’s more familiar to me as Tok Uteh. The event was held at KLGCC Bukit Kiara. It housed most of our fellow Johorean family which comes from the bloodlines of Seth – Abdul Rahman – Onn, who were related by blood & marriages and were once a great name in Johore back to its early formation until Malaya’s independence. The event started around 12pm and end around 5.30pm. Uncle Jaja @ Reza Ghazali was the emcee of that day handling most of the talking until the very end of the celebration.

(Tok Uteh being greeted by family members at the hall)

My family arrived at the KLGCC around 11.30pm. Arrived early, I had the opportunity to meet and greet all my aunts & uncles whom we were not often see due to our busy schedule. After chatting with them for few minutes, I realized that there were some people missing. “Where are all my cousins?” Aunty Nina @ Rowina Ghazali replied, “They are all getting dressed up and preparing for the dance show” and I was like “What?!”. I was totally shocked to hear this, but I’m sure it’ll be great for Tok Uteh seeing that his grandchildren will be performing something for his birthday and not some hired dancers. Probably they were inspired by Sasha Bashir’s ‘Dansa’ show :-).

(Cultural dance performed by Aliya, Marissa & Ilyana)

After the cultural performance by my cousins, all the guests were allowed to take the food served by way of buffet. While eating, we were entertained by a 20mins video clip of Tok Uteh / Tok Tan compiled by Aliya, Marissa & Ilyana. The clip shows the story about his early life until he retired as a General in the Malaysian Armed Forces. The video clip was definitely entertaining. I stopped eating the whole session just to enjoy it because it’s not often for you to get to see the rare old photo albums of your granduncle.

(Unc. Jaja @ Reza Ghazali the emcee of the day)

Next, the event was followed by Quizzes. The questions were mostly about our dear granduncle. Some of the questions were; 1. What’s his full name? 2. What doesn’t he eat? 3. What’s his motto in life? 4. What was his nickname when he was young? Etc. To answer these questions, each of us were required to flap our wings, not raising our hands. I manage to answer 1 question. Yana present me a gift for manage to answer that question. It was a box of chocolate! Woohoo! J

(Playing BINGO with my siblings)

After that, we were all given a BINGO card to play with. Though some people manage to get hold of more than 2 cards to increase their chances of winning the game :-p It was definitely an entertaining game. My little brother Mohamed Ridhuan Firdaus aged 7 years old were the youngest person to win the BINGO game that day. It was definitely the talk of the people! What a lucky fella!

(2nd cousins reunited)

Nearing the end of the event, we took once whole big family pictures. The elders & their offsprings, me & my cousins etc. I guess it could have been the biggest tagging picture ever I had. Sadly though the picture was not taken by my camera but some hired professional photographer hired for that day. Oh well, it’s a matter of time til I get 1 copy of it.

(The General's grand-nephew)

Anyway, it was a great day. I definitely enjoyed it.
Happy 80th Bday Tok Uteh! We will cherish our memories with you in our hearts & thoughts. As General Douglas McArthur once said during his Farewell Speech to The Congress “An old soldier never dies!”

The book launch of the Malaya’s First Year At The United Nations: Tun Dr Ismail Reports to Tunku Abdul Rahman.

(Hundreds of copies were sold on that day according to Gerakbudaya)

Last couple of weeks on the 20th January 2009 at the Royal Lake Club, Lake Garden, Kuala Lumpur I attended a book launching event entitled ‘Malaya's First Year at the United Nations: As Reflected in Dr Ismail's Reports Home to Tunku Abdul Rahman’. The book launching was officiate by The US Ambassador to Malaysia; Ambassador James R. Keith and the Guest Of Honour who attended that day was HRH Raja Nazrin Shah (The Crown Prince of Perak)

(Dr Ooi, Me & Seth were some of the 'peyambut tetamu' waiting for HRH)

Speaking at the event, Ambassador Keith thanked not only the book’s co-editors (Tawfik Ismail & Dr Ooi Kee Beng), but also “all those public servants, either paid or unpaid, official or unofficial, who help every day to advance U.S.-Malaysia relations, through their writing, through their networks, and through their work on academic, social and cultural exchanges between our two countries.”

(HRH Raja Nazrin with other VIPs)

It was in this speech where Ambassador Keith also mentioned about the US-Malaysia relations through the American Field Service @ AFS aka Antarabudaya Malaysia @ ABM in Malay which is a non-profit organization who helps the secondary schools students in Malaysia to engage in the student-exchange programme. Both my brother & sister have benefit from this programme when they sent them to Japan few years ago (Azad to Nagoya & Shahrina to Kyoto).

(An opening speech by Tawfik Ismail)

This book can be considered as the sequel / expansion of the bestselling previously released The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr Ismail & His Time and the Malay version which is the Bukan Kerana Pangkat: Tun Dr Ismail dan Masanya. Tun Dr Ismail was given a heavy task for being the person who was responsible to bring Malaya to the recognition of the United Nations. Nevertheless things goes on smoothly & the Federation of Malaya was admitted to the world body’s by being 82nd member on the historic day of 17th September 1957.

(The grandnephews, granddaughter & grandsons of Tun Dr Ismail)

Generally speaking, this book covers much of him being a diplomat to the Washington D.C., USA before returns to Malaya in 1959 and continues to serve as the Minister of Commerce & Industry. I must say it is an interesting reading material besides the ‘Number One Wisma Putra’ which I'd bought last year. For those who loves reading Malaysian history & foreign affairs, this book is a must buy!

True Singapore Ghost Stories Comes Alive at Borders!

(Meet-the-fan for autograph session)

It has long since i posted my last blog here. Oh well, here it goes for the 1st blog entry this year.

Last Sunday I had the opportunity to meet Russell Lee, the author of the famous book of the True Singapore Ghost Stories at the Borders bookstore at The Curve Damansara. I’ve never thought I could see the man in person, though his face is covered with black stocking mask. His voice could clearly be heard among those who present there.

(The author's printed autograph on one of his books)

I used to read the book when I was in Primary & Secondary school back then as I consider it as a good English language reading material. His language is simple but manages to portray a good story out of it. But ever since I forfeit reading it, I’ve lost count the number of series of the book until recently that I’ve been informed that it has now reached Book No.18. So many years have passed. :-p

(Book No.1 - No.18 available for purchase being displayed at the side mounted shelf)

Oh well, it was great meeting the author of the book. I'm looking forward for more events coming up this month. Anyway, Happy New Year 2009!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri & Maaf Zahir Batin 2008!

(Berbuka puasa at Seoul Garden Korean barbeque couple of days before Raya)

As usual my Hari Raya will start from Alor Gajah Melaka down to KL. First day of Raya is the day where my family will be going to my grandparents house & other granduncles houses. The elders will usually have a headstart visit by generations after them in order to pay respect & to seek forgiveness & blessings from them. From Atuk Besar to Tok/Pak Uteh to Tok Pa to Tok Neno's house (this year's at Unc.Zamak's house coz the house at Jalan Tun Ismail has been sold...a house that i like to visit besides Pak Uteh's house for its Johorean delicacies).

(This year my family's baju raya colour is Blue + Red = Johore? :-p)

Honestly speaking, this year's Hari Raya weren't so great compared to last year probably due to the difficulity to get firecrackers. I've been searching it high & low almost everywhere but to no avail. The customs did their job well in raiding a lot of firecrackers suppliers. (Sigh) what is a Raya without firecrackers? Luckily my cousin from JB manage to get some 'bunga api @ sparklers' to entertain the younger siblings.

(with Tok Nell at Pak Uteh's house)

Today is the 5th day of Raya & i've been going to many open houses already. An average of 4 houses per day. Eating all kinds of food served which varying from satay, lemang, johorean harissa / arissa, laksa johore, briyani, etc. I've eaten so much that i don't think i'm able to go Hari Raya-ing to lots of peoples house.

(With sis enjoying the food at Pak Uteh's house)

To many people... young mens & ladies alike. Hari Raya is great because the elders will give 'duit raya'. Some people will usually give only to small children & there are people who give more to young adults. Being a grown-up (but yet not fully independent in which my dad still have the duty of paying the zakat) i'm not much into asking the elders for duit raya, but more interested in seeing all my external uncles, aunts & cousins in which we dont get to see everyday.

Syawal is still around, more places to go & visits. Whose house next ya after this? Hmm....let me looks into the Santa's list...hehehe.

Tun Dr Ismail: The Last Days - A Musical Journey.

Last Saturday night was fabulous! My family booked 5 tickets to watch the Tun Dr Ismail’s musical at Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre @ KLPAC which begins at approximately 8.30pm. We leave home by 6pm and reached there around 7.30pm. Arriving at the KLPAC, we met Unc. Muthanna & his family having some bite at the café. If the opening night were attended mostly by VIPs, that Saturday night was the night for Ismail & Neno’s nephew & grandnephew & grandnieces instead! The theater was performed at Pentas 1 upstairs. There were some memorabilia of the musical & some related books regarding the late Tun were selling there. My sis bought me the programme book which I find quite interesting reading it.

(L-R: Neno, Gopal, Ismail, Delia, Razak)

I remember about 3-4 months ago, KLPAC were having an audition on the Tun Dr Ismail musical. It was a small article printed on The Star / NST. I thought I could give it a shot until my dad deny me & told me to concentrate on my studies. (Sigh) Oh well, I could only hope for the best back then that the musical would really be something that I should be looking forward to once it’s ready to show to the public.

(Making ourselves comfortable before the show begins)

In this musical for the main characters were Malik Taufiq who plays as Tun Dr. Ismail; Tisha Zarina Zainal as Toh Puan Norashikin @ Neno; Tunku Alizakri Alias as Tun Abdul Razak; Lim Soon Heng as Frederick (Though I think it should have been Robert Kuok); Belinda Richardson as Delia (TDI’s crush at Aussie); Ari Ratos as Gopal (TDI’s butler?). The ensemble of the musical were not bad either, most of them have the experience in the stage performing previously. Credits & many claps to the Orchestra team who really blows the surround sound effect at us with a THX cinema quality performance!

(Ismail explaining to Neno his duty for the country)

The musical was something not to be missed, even for a nanosecond! I find Act 1 i.e. the first part of the musical very much to my liking. The scene of this part takes place at the Heroes Mausoleum at Masjid Negara KL; A street in KL; The Queen’s College JCR; and at the Frederick’s Party. The songs in this Act 1 include 1. Overtures 2. Come Out, You Cowards! 3. Today 4. Dream of Tomorrow 5.Come Out, Come Out! –Reprise 6. Do You Remember? (My fav. English song in this musical) 7. Kekasih 8. Paradise 9. Ish The Son Of Abdul 10. I Cant Go On 11. Party 12. Sahabatku 13. My Love (I love this song too!).

(Neno & Razak at the final part during Ismail's funeral)

The second part of the musical i.e. Act 2 were set in the darker times of the late Tun. Some of the scenes including A Street in KL; Ismail’s House (I’m going to miss this place ;-p); The Queen’s College; The Sultan Sulaiman Club; and the Heroes Mausoleum again where he was buried which marks the last part of the musical. The songs in Act 2 were not bad either, these includes 1. Entr’acte; 2. A New Beginning 3. Which Way Now? 4. Pak Uteh (The only Malay song that I love in this musical) 5. The Choice 6. He Loves Me / She Loves Me 7. Delia’s Vision 8. Kekuatan Jiwa (I think this was the edited part where the GPMS should hold responsible for causing TDI’s heart attack?) 9. Last Request 10. Finale.

(Ismail & Neno with their grandnephews & grandnieces)

At the end of the musical, my family had the honour of meeting Malik Taufiq & Tisha Zarina who plays the character of Ismail & Neno respectfully in person. Malik told us that they rehearse for 3 straight months to make the musical successful. We were told that he’s working in the F&B at The Curve in KL and theater is only his part time job! Tisha on the other hand gets a lot of complements from our relatives telling her that she has the uncanny resemblance with Tok Neno herself! Generally, I enjoyed watching this musical. It is so good that I might possibly go for a second-round!

Post Chelsea Samsung Asia Tour friendly vs Malaysia

The match between Malaysia vs. Chelsea yesterday kicks-off at approximately 8.45pm. I parked my car at the Tesco hypermarket not far from the stadium. It just takes me & my sis less than 15mins to walk to the stadium but its worth escaping the massive traffic jam & double parking at the parking lot near the sidewalk by the roadside.

(With my sis at the Shah Alam Stadium that night)

For the 1st time I’ve experience having being surrounded by 45,000 Blues fans gathering at one time at the same place. Not bad at all. Compared to their visits in 2003 where there’s only about 5,000 – 10,000 Blues fans attended the FAPL Asia Cup at Bukit Jalil in July 2003. The Blues have definitely established & expanded their Asian fans here & I’m damn proud of it.

(Malaysia's Amirulhadi dribbles past John Terry)

Malaysia played well yesterday eventhough we lost 2-0 to the English giant. It’s a match known to many as the David vs. Goliath when Malaysia currently ranked 166th according to the FIFA statistics (June 2008) while Chelsea FC ended runner-up in English Premier League 07/08, UEFA Champions League & English League Cup last season.

(Anelka high-fived Terry after scoring the 1st goal for Chelsea)

Chelsea’s (No.39) French striker Nicolas Anelka breaking the deadlock by scoring at the 26th minute during the 1st half passing by defender Norhafiz Zamani & goalkeeper Mohd Helmi while their English Defender (No.3) Ashley Cole scored in the 54th minute on the 2nd half. However, I must say that Malaysia defended their half very well to avoid more damage being done to their side. I guess they’re being motivated by ‘do anything to prevent conceded’ attitude. After all losing 2-0 is not that bad compared to our last meeting when we lost 4-1 to them. We even lost 2-0 to Arsenal during their visit in 1999 and a whooping 6-0 with Man Utd in 2001, and 4-0 to Birmingham City in 2003.

(Ashley Cole reacts after scoring the 2nd goal for Chelsea)

At the end of the game, it was announced that (No.8) Frank Lampard won the Man of the Match (MOM) award. I saw at cardboard held by Frank that the MOM award-winner will get the latest Samsung handphone PDA like? Correct me if I’m wrong but I think that’s what I saw. With regard to the MOM award, I think the ones that deserve it should have been the Malaysian goalkeeper Mohd Helmi Eliza Elias because he manage to block & save crucial shot by Deco’s volley, Anelka’s, Essien’s & Terry’s shot-on-target. Maybe the award was to make Chelsea’s ‘fan-favourite’ to stay longer at Stamford Bridge? Remember this, when we held the pro-beach soccer at Batu Buruk, Terrengganu last time Eric Cantona won the MOM award w/out even laying 1 goal on the opposition’s net!

(In front of the Chelsea-Adidas official merchandise booth)

After the match ended, I decided to pay a visit to the Chelsea FC official booth which sells all sorts of merchandise. There were lots of people who wanted to buy the merchandise but there were only about 3 staffs attended to the throng of customers there. (2 at the counter 1 checking the stocks) While I was waiting patiently queuing up to be serve…there were some Malaysians who take the opportunity to steal some merchandise including the keychains & 1 white training CFC jersey. There was nothing that I can do, it all happens so fast. But I can tell that those snatchers look like some desperate uneducated & unethical mat-pit of mat-rempits who takes an advantage on the sellers. I waited there for 15mins and since none the staffs were able to entertain me, I decide to walk off the jammed-packed area w/out buying anything.

(Celebrating with other Chelsea FC fans right after the game)

Anyway, I really enjoyed the night. Although I missed the opportunity to go to Pavillion’s Adidas store at Kuala Lumpur the day earlier to meet the players. Seeing them on field is enough to satisfy my Chelsea footy enthusiasm. I wish I’ll get to go to Stamford Bridge in the near future…hopefully during my brother’s graduation sometime in 2010 Insyallah @ God’s willing.

Thank you Chelsea FC for your memorable visit of the pre-season friendly match & congratulations to the Malaysia Team for yesterdays’ best effort against The Blues. All the best for the next month’s Merdeka Cup @ Pestabola Merdeka football competition!

My Chelsea FC love-affair Part 1

(Chelsea FC 2nd official visit to Malaysia for a friendly pre-season match)

On the 29th JULY 2008, Chelsea FC will versus Team Malaysia at Shah Alam Stadium in Selangor, Malaysia. It is a game i look forward to attend. The team visit to Malaysia & some other Asian countries are part of the pre-session warm up session before the English Premier League @ EPL kick-off somewhere in the next month. With the recent signing of Deco & Jose Bosingwa, the new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari who manage Portugal in the Euro 2008 are looking to forward to beat up our national team...just like what every EPL team did on their every visit.

(Glenn Hoddle signing superstar Ruud Gullit into the club which begins the Chelsea revolution)

I've been a long Chelsea FC fan. Long since the age of Ruud Gullit era and there were next to none of Chelsea fans that I can find circa 1995-1999. I have a great respect for Glenn Hoddle who manage to bring Ruud Gullit who has many European league experience into the club to boost the morale & confidence within the players. Me & my brother Azad see a potential for the West London club to bloom. It's only a matter of time til reached its superstar club after successful wins under the management of Ruud Gullit, Gianluca Vialli, Claudio Ranieri & Jose Mourinho.

(The Stamford Bridge, home of the The Blues)

On September 1999, my family went to the UK because my dad had to attend a course in Cambridge University. The time we spend there was priceless & memorable. There i had the opportunity to visit Stamford Bridge ie Chelsea FC stadium but our visit there were spend on visiting more valuable visiting places such as Wembley Stadium, Hyde Park, Harrods, Royal Albert Hall, Picadilly Circus, etc. So we end up our visit to UK w/out visiting Stamford Bridge. How sad. But we didn't return emptyhanded. My brother got himself the Chelsea HOME jersey with No.9 Vialli on its back & I got myself Chelsea AWAY jersey with No.10 Casiraghi on the back of my jersey.

(Gullit's players during Vialli's era)

Ruud Gullit was an great player on the field & even a better manager on the bench. With vast experience in the european competition, he knows exactly who to bring into Chelsea. Thus begins the evolution of Chelsea with its european players. Di Matteo, Vialli & Zola were the first 3 Italian signing that change the tempo game of Chelsea.

(Gullit's first honours as manager of Chelsea FC beating Middlesborough 2-0 in the final)

Under Ruud Gullit, Chelsea won:

FA Cup Winners 1997

Runner Up to the Charity Shield in 1997.

(Vialli is the 1st Blues manager who manage to bring Treble Honours in 1998)

Then when his apprentice Gianluca Vialli succeeded him. Under his helm, Chelsea won numerous titles namely:

Coca Cola Cup Winners 1998
UEFA European Cup Winners Cup Winners 1998
UEFA Super Cup Winners 1998
FA Cup Winners 2000
FA Charity Shield Winners 2000

(Ranieri's sole silverware for Chelsea in 2004 ie the FAPL Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur vs. Newcastle in the Final)

In the year 2000, Claudio Ranieri succeded Vialli and managed the team from year 200-2004 but only manage to get:

FA Cup Runners-Up 2002
FA Barclaycard Premiership Runners-Up 2003/2004

(The Special One manage to bring the EPL title back to Stamford Bridge after 50 years wait, he did the same feat. the following season.)

The best among all the managers were most likely to be Jose Mourinho who lead the team to several major titles namely:

Carling Cup Winners 2005
FA Barclays Premiership Champions 2004/2005
FA Community Shield Winners 2005
FA Barclays Premiership Champions 2005/2006

(Avram Grant is by far the only Blues manager who manage to bring Chelsea to the European Champions League Final)

However, after Mourinho's departure from Chelsea, I find Chelsea less to my liking when they hired Avram Grant to do the job. Grant however manage to get Chelsea in a good spot after taking over the Blues from Jose Mourinho. He manage to get Chelsea into 3 runner-ups title namely:

League Cup / Carling Cup Runner-Up 2008
English Premier League Runner-Up 2008
Champions League Runner-Up Champion in 2008.

(The new manager for Chelsea FC hired to get back the EPL title)

Oh well, now that Chelsea have a new boss ie Luiz Felipe Scolari i look forward to see a successful management under the man.