Dr. Farish Noor and books

..the blogger, Dr. Farish Noor (sporting a new beard) and Suraya (surprisingly, I bumped into my ex-schoolmate, Suraya at the end of the lecture)

This is actually Dr. Farish Noor's third OtherMalaysia.org Lecture Series held at The Annexe Gallery, Central Market, Kuala Lumpur. I missed out the first two series due to my Saturday classes. After looking at the topic of the lecture, "Of Rajas, Dewarajas, Maharajas and Kerajaan: 4000 Years of Feudal Politics in Malaysia and Southeast Asia" on Facebook, I didn't think twice and decided to attend it. Although I often disagree with some of his "liberal minded" writings especially his views on Islam, the notion of the 'Malay' society, the Allah-Malay bible controversy and etc, published on Off The Edge magazine; I still regard him as one of the most prolific writer in Malaysia. I think it's the same case as Hishamuddin Rais, in which, I don't have to agree with much his writings to actually enjoy reading them.

Dr. Farish's lecture aside, the other interesting part of the lecture series is that the majority of the participant which includes some Mat Sallehs as well, got to know about the Lecture Series through Facebook!


..Nelson Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom, Kassim Ahmad - Mencari Jalan Pulang: dari Sosialisme Kepada Islam & Noam Chomsky - Failed States: The Abuse of Power and The Assault on Democracy

Above are the latest books in my so-called 'mini library'. I've been holding back from buying Nelson Mandela's autobiography for quite awhile until I found out about the paperback version of it. Thanks to MPH Online for the 30% discount!

"Mencari Jalan Pulang: Dari Sosialisme Kepada Islam" would be the second book by Kassim Ahmad that I have read. The first was "Universiti Kedua: Kisah tahanan di bawah ISA", which he recounted his experience being detained under the ISA in the 1970s.

I'd like to quote an interesting comment from Tun Dr. Mahathir's foreword in the book;

"Namun kita harus ingat bahawa seseorang insan akan melalui tiga fasa hidup dalam pegangan politik mereka. Semasa muda mereka agak radikal dan mirip kepada pemikiran dan ideologi kiri. Apabila menempuh umur pertengahan, pandangan dan pegangan mereka lebih mencerminkan "centralist" dan kecuali. Apabila sudah berumur mereka lebih suka mendokong sikap dan pandangan puak kanan atau konservatif. Saudara Kassim sudah melalui ketiga-tiga fasa ini.."

The book cover is nice, the content is good but sadly, I feel the editing part of the book is weak. It contains a lot of tatabahasa errors and spelling mistakes. And another interesting part of the book is that I noticed Kassim Ahmad used a lot of Kedah dialect in the book, which I feel many might find it hard to understand. Some Kedah dialect examples; "Kadang-kadang kami berjalan dan kadang saya naik pungkur basikal ayah", "kami mengambil air minum di pancur.."

[Note: The term pancur or pancoq is a common word for water pipe in the nortern states of Penang, Kedah and Perlis. While in other states, the word 'paip' is more commonly used.]

Some of these words or dialects appears a bit funny when you read it, as it is very uncommon for words like 'pungkur' (All words ending with -ur is pronounced as -uq in Kedah dialect) being pronounced as it is written or being published in any written document, i.e. books, magazines etc. Alright, let me finish off reading the book first. :)

Lastly, to all book lovers out there, head over to Bandar Bukit Puchong (view map and address) this weekend (4-6 July) for another Clearance Sale by Pay Less Books.

Pay Less Books Clearance Sales
From RM1.00

All Non-Fiction is at a FLAT Price!
Soft Cover - RM1.00
Hard Cover - RM2.00

[Info taken from shoppingnsales.com]

Palestine: Peace not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter

I've finally finished reading Jimmy Carter's book (left). It is definitely worth reading I would say. The book is written in an autobiography style based on Carter's experience in propagating peace in the Middle East as President of USA in late 70s to date.

As a short review of the book, it is clear that it is the Zionist Israeli government (I shall mention Zionist Israelis here as there are a few minority group of peace loving Israeli citizen and Jewish rabbis who are against the Israel's imperialism policy in Occupied Palestine) who does not want to establish peace in the Holy land, because peace means; withdrawal of Israeli armed forces in the occupied Palestinian territories and the dismantling of the illegal settlement in Arab lands in occupied Palestinian territories. If this were to happen, it would halt the Zionist goal of creating a 'Greater Israel' comprising the current state of Israel plus the West Bank, including the whole of Jerusalem (Baitulmaqdis).

The Palestinians and the US have made it clear that there should be no preconditions to achieving peace, but Israel thought otherwise. The Zionist Israel leaders have decided to impose a ridiculous sets of preconditions to the Roadmap in 2003. We've always hear calls of Western and Zionist Israeli leaders on Palestinian and the Muslim world to accept Israel's right to exist. Admittedly, though painful as it seems (77% of Palestinian lands were confiscated by Israel in 1948), most Palestinian political leaders have long agreed to recognize Israel's right to exist. This is also part of the Oslo Agreement 1993 which was signed by former Palestinian President Yassir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Rabin was soon assassinated by a far-right-wing Israeli radical) and witnessed by the then, US President, Bill Clinton.

But when Ariel Sharon (the butcher of Shabra and Shatila) became Prime Minister of Israel in 2001, he rejected all the points in Oslo Agreement 1993. Why? Simple. He wanted to continue the Israel policy of colonization of Palestinian territories and for this to happen, peace cannot prevail. To the Zionist, peace can only happen if all Palestinians migrate to Jordan or other neighbouring Arab nations and when Israel has completely annexed the West Bank into its territory.

The question that should be asked to the Zionist leaders and the future President of the USA (I hope it's Obama, not McCain) instead, is, do they recognize the right of the establishment of the state of Palestine? To me, that should be the main point. Ending the occupation in West Bank and Gaza should be the top criteria in solving peace in the Middle East.

While reading the book, I found out that the US policy is actually clear on the Palestinian-Israel issue, that the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories of West Bank and Gaza are "illegal and obstacles to peace", but question now is, do they have the political will to take any action? The whole world know the answer. Since the last 50 years or so, any American President candidate have never failed to give speech to the influential pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee). That's just shows how important it is the issue of Israel to any aspiring American president candidate.

Take the example of the first Gulf War in 1991, the moment Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait on the basis that Kuwait is part of Iraq, immediately the US together with their allied Arab nations responded strongly to attack Iraq. If only the same treatment is given to Israel (Israel has been occupying West Bank and Gaza since winning the Six-Days-War of 1967), the world would be at peace long long time ago.

Countless of U.N. resolutions on Israel have been passed, one peace talks after another; all failed because of Israel's failure to honour any of them. Although some of the peace plan resolutions, i.e. the Camp David Accord in 1978, Oslo Agreement 1993 seemed to be bias toward Israel, but after reading 'Palestine: Peace not Apartheid', I note that the consistency of the peace resolutions are clear; two of the key points clearly state that; Israel must honour U.N. Resolution 242, 1967, which says, "Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict" (referring to the humiliating Arab defeat in the Six Days War of 1967) and U.N. Resolution 465, 1980 - calling on Israel to dismantle existing settlements in the Arab territories since 1967, including East Jerusalem.

But as the world has witness to date, the Israel have failed to honour the agreements. And what made it worst was that they used the peace accords to their own benefit. Illegal settlements in Gaza and the West Bank continued to be built at an even faster pace until now.

The withdrawal of the illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza few years back means nothing because in reality, what the Zionist Israel government really want is to colonize the West Bank. Just take a look at the map of West Bank. It is shrinking day by day. To prove this issue, Israel, in one of the peace talks with the Palestinians have proposed a "land swap" with the Palestinians, in which the Israel government intend to give 10% of Israel land in Southern Israel, near Gaza as a swap for lands in West Bank, which the Palestinian negotiating team rejected it outright.


..Israel's illegal prison wall snakes through Palestinian villages (image source: tgnyc.org)

The illegal prison wall is another sad state of affair. According to the Zionist Israeli leaders, it is to prevent terrorist attack by the Palestinian terrorist, i.e. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Brigade, etc. If indeed it is built to stop terrorism, why it must be built inside Palestinian territories? The wall cuts deep into the West Bank separating the Palestinians from their families and relatives. The Wall cuts off 200,000 Palestinians in Jerusalem from their relatives, property, schools and businesses. To quote Carter from his book, he says "Imprisonment wall" is more descriptive than "security fence".

Touching on the illegal Zionist prison wall, I'd like to quote an interesting comment by one Palestinian Christian priest, Claudio Ghilardi.

"For nine hundred years, we have lived here under Turkish, British, Jordanian, and Israeli governments, and no one has ever stopped people coming to pray. It is scandalous. This is not a barrier. It is a border. Why don't they speak the truth?"

He added, "The Wall is not separating Palestinians from Jews; rather, Palestinians from Palestinians."

To conclude, I'd like to quote a short and unequivocal comment by Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian chief spokesperson, which Carter has included his quote in the book. Responding to Israeli claims, Hanan says;

"So far, they have succeeded in holding the peace process hostage to this mentality on the one hand. And on the other hand they have provoked tremendous violence by acts of incitement like shelling, bombing, house demolition, uprooting trees, destroying crops, assasinating political leaders, placing all Palestinians under closure in a state of total immobility - a prison. And then they wonder why some Palestinians are acting violently! And then they want to have the right to exercise violence against the captive population. Then, they like to make non-violence on the part of the Palestinians a precondition for the Palestinians to qualify for talks, let alone for statehood."

Carter concluded his book by saying that the two obstacles of permanent peace in the Middle East are:

1. Some Israelis believe they have the right to confiscate and colonize Arab land and try to justify the sustained subjugation and persecution of increasingly hopeless and aggravated Palestinians; and
2. Some Palestinians react by honoring suicide bombers as martyrs to be rewarded in heaven and consider the killings of Israelis as victories.

Free Palestine. End the Occupation!

Hishamuddin Rais's latest book!

[image source: Malaysia-Today]

According to Malaysia-Today, filmmaker/writer/activist Hishamuddin Rais will be launching his new book, entitled 'Keganasan, Penipuan & Internet: Hegemoni Media Daulah Pecah'. The book will be launched by the author himself, on 1st of May at the Annexe Central Market, KL.

Even though I never believe in his socialist ideals, I've always been a big fan of his writings, be it in Bahasa Melayu or English and been following them consistently since the days of his 'DotMai' column in Malaysiakini during the height of 'Reformasi' and now on Off The Edge magazine and his 'Dari Jelebu' column in MT. I actually have been waiting for years for him to publish a book and am glad that finally the waiting has now ended. I don't really have to agree with all his thoughts and ideas to admire and enjoy his writings and to me, Hishamuddin Rais, is one of the few Malaysian writers whom I would categorize as - 'one of a kind'. Personally, I think writers like, Dr. Farish Noor, Kam Raslan, Faisal Tehrani, Allahyarham Usman Awang and of course, Tun Dr. Mahathir, to just name a few - fits into this so-called 'one of a kind' category nicely. Each is unique in their own sense, which you can't compare them with the others. Well, this is entirely my own opinion. :)

Anyways, another interesting point to note is that, the book will be available in all major bookstores; MPH, Kinokuniya, Borders and etc (if what I read is true). Good stuff.

p/s: A quick glance at the book cover will probably trigger many people to at least flip through the pages. A marketing strategy perhaps?

KL International Book Fair 2008 - "Book Empowers"

This is an annual event not to be missed. Thankfully last Saturday, my afternoon class was cancelled and so I took the opportunity to go to the book fair in KL. I happily bought home three books (Ibn Khaldun: His Life and Works by Mohammad Abdullah Enan (first published by Muhammad Ashraf in 1941), In the Time of Mishmish by Alijah Gordon and How to Write a Thesis by Azirah Hashim (I need this too :p) and a 2001 issue of National Geographic mag for RM5.

Quick, tomorrow is the last day for final bargain! From 10am - 9pm, at Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), KL. See their website for more details!

Here are some of the scenes at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC).


..the hall entrance


..view of the Klang river. here's a nicer version of the Klang river and the KL background. Shot by Philip Lim


..the crowd of mostly young girls thronged the MPH Publishing booth to have a closer look at the Angkasawan Negara, Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. Launching his new book I guess.


..three books and a magazine

Related blog entry -
KL International Book Fair 2007
shahnon mobile blog

On another note, MPH is offering discounts on selected books in commemorating with the World Book Day starting from April 15 to May 5. Visit www.mphonline.com for more information. [source from The Star]

Growing Up in Trengganu - Awang Goneng

'Trengganu did exist once, as Terengganu does now. I grew up in the former and live now outside the latter; so in the title of this book and in the writings herein it is Trengganu for me..' - Awang Goneng

'Growing Up in Trengganu' by Awang Goneng (pen name of writer Wan A. Hulaimi) is the latest book on my bookshelves. The book is a compilation of his writings in his blog (kecek-kecek) from 2004 - June 2007. It is written in a storytelling style about his childhood days in the kampung and the history of 'Trengganu'.

I've been meaning to buy this book for quite some time, but only after the third or fourth MPH visit that I decided to buy it. In constrast to previous three to five years ago, I am now quite picky in choosing new books to buy. I no longer just go to the non-fiction or History or the Biography section of a bookstore and pick anything that's interesting, unless if it's really something that I've been waiting for, i.e. Tun Dr. Mahathir's memoirs. Another reason is, I've been buying more books than I could finish reading them. Sigh.. No good. My bookshelves are overflowing. Thankfully I now have two beautiful Ikea bookshelves to accomodate the number of books in my small room. Nice. :)

Books aside, my wisdom tooth is growing! It hurts very much. How much longer should I wait until the swelling goes down? My curiosity about wisdom tooth led me to this article; "To Keep or Not to Keep: Wisdom Teeth". Argh damnit, I hope mine is not an impacted wisdom teeth! I'm not so keen on visiting a dentist/orthodontist though. Kena pegi la jugak nampaknye.. :s

Off The Edge Issue 38

..Off The Edge February 2008 Issue 38

Hey all, don't forget to grab a copy of the Off The Edge's February Issue (Marina Mahathir cover). For the first time they're giving a free complimentary cd, entitled 'Faith, Hope, Chaos' - Malaysian Contemporary Music Vol 1. I haven't listen to the music yet but free cd is always good to have. :P

I always think that Off The Edge is the best magazine in town, in terms of their content at least. I shall mention this that I have no any interest with Off The Edge (OTE), just thought of sharing my thoughts on the magazine. I'm now a loyal subscriber of the mag and enjoy 25% discount. In OTE, you have a range of excellent writers like Farish Noor, Hishamuddin Rais, Patrick Teoh and Kam Raslan (author of Confessions of an Old Boy: The Dato' Hamid Adventures), just to name a few. I don't have to agree with what they write all the time to enjoy reading their piece every month. I feel that in some way, OTE has shaped and increased my thinking, views and knowledge on certain things.

I think Kam Raslan is one of the best English writers that we have. If you have been following his writings on 'The Dato' Hamid Adventures' published on OTE for few months until around mid last year, you must've been very dissapointed like me to know that Dato' Hamid is in fact a fiction character! It's like so unbelievable! The way he narrates the whole story surrounding is so real. Anyways I'm not going to write a review of the story here though. If you haven't heard of the name or his book, click here.

I like what Hisham Rais commented about the book;

"As an Old Boy of MCKK [the Malay College of Kuala Kangsar], I was so convinced that Dato' Abdul Hamid bin Dato' Sidek was indeed my school senior. Then one day I was told that Dato' Hamid was the creation of Kam Raslan. I was dumbfounded. How could Kam Raslan create such an illusion and I fall for it. Until today I am not willing to accept Dato' Hamid as a fictional character. To me Dato' Hamid is the missing link between secular Malaysia and the born again Malay Muslim of today's Malaysia" —
Hishamuddin Rais
Writer, film-maker and cultural activist

Later folks!

Dr Mahathir's Selected Letters to World Leaders

..Dr Mahathir's Selected Letters to World Leaders (2008 Marshall Cavendish)

I happened to came across the book during lunch time at KLCC few days ago. I would usually visit the Times Bookstore to kill some time while waiting for my queue number to be called at the post office. It didn't took long to decide to buy even though it is quite pricey (sighh). I wish our government would subsidies the price of books! Books in Malaysia is too damn expensive! How would you want to cultivate reading habit among the public, if the book price is too expensive? Yes, we do have public libraries but it makes no point having a beautiful library but is inaccessible in the middle of a congested road (read: National Library, Jalan Tun Razak). Libraries, I think should be built near housing areas which have an easy access to public transport and other basic amenities.

Okok anyways, this book is definitely one of the books to look forward to read.

From Jeff Ooi's blog, I found out that the book launching event was held yesterday. Dr. Mahathir officiated the launching at the Perdana Leadership Foundation, Putrajaya.

The book is a compilation of 71 letters by Dr. Mahathir, Bush, Chirac, Blair and Thatcher among others with an introduction and commentaries by Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad (aka Dollah Kok Lanas). The letters covered wide area of issues from terrorism, economic and diplomatic relations as well as war and conflicts. I haven't actually start reading it yet but flipped through a bit and found some interesting piece of letters written in simple yet understandable English by Dr. Mahathir. It amazes me to think how a busy Prime Minister like him still had the time to write these kind of letters. Initially it is said that Dr. Mahathir wanted to publish about 200 letters (whoa..), which none have been published before, but due to certain restrictions or whatnot, only 71 were published in this book.

Here are some excerpts from the last two paragraph in one of the letter in the book. The letter below was sent to the then President of USA, Mr. Bill Clinton in September 1998. (urm, I know that the following posting is illegal by law, but I'm posting it here on the basis of writing it on my personal space, so I hope it would be alright.he he);

..Mr President, Malaysia fought hard against Communist terrorists from 1948 to 1990. We have no love for terrorists or terrorism. But we also abhor State terrorism. No one, not even the State should use terror tactics against its own people or others.

Mr President, I regret that Malaysia cannot be associated with, or in any way condone, the missile attacks by the United States against Sudan and Afghanistan. Such attacks should be directed at the murderous Serbs. It is a travesty of justice that whereas the Serbs are free to terrorise Albanian children and old people, the Afghans and the Sudanese are killed indiscriminately.

[signed]
DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD

The above letter is an example how direct and straight forward his letters were. It was sent after the bombings of Al-Shifa factory, a pharmaeceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan. A factory that was supposed to be visited by Dr. Mahathir. The US, without any evidence, claimed that the factory produces chemical weapons that it belonged to Osama bin Laden. What a preposterous claim to bomb a sovereign nation.

I am also aware that Dr. Mahathir now is in the process of writing his memoir. I suppose many would be eager to wait for it. I can't wait too.

Lastly, Selamat Hari Wilayah Persekutuan and happy holiday to all KLites!

Natasha Hudson and her plagiarised poems?

This blog entry is perhaps a bit too late to post, but I just found out about this awhile ago from Mat Jan's blog, and later I found that it all started from this blog entry Here's another blog post on the same topic.

Gosh, this is so embarrassing. I pity her actually cos it is so obvious that her so-called "personal collection of poems" and "were written many years ago" is in fact a piece of plagiarised work. Even her poems sounds really odd in Malay, seriously. Allow me to post some exerpts from her poem. Not one, but three identical direct translated poems!
Below are two of them taken from her book, Puisi Indah Si Pari-Pari (I'm beginning to think that she probably got the name of her book from Zamani's song, 'Syair Si Pari-Pari' :P).

Kek Coklat by Natasha Hudson
Saya mahu satu kehidupan,
Kamu mahu sesuatu yang lain,
Kita tidak dapat makan kek coklat,
Jadi kita makan sesama diri.

Cake by Roger McGough
i wanted one life
you wanted another
we couldn't have our cake
so we ate each other.


Si Kura-Kura Kecil by Natasha Hudson
Ada seekor kura2 kecil
tinggal di dalam kotak
berenang di tepi tasik
memanjat di atas batu

dia cuba menggigit nyamuk
dia cuba mengigit kutu
dia cuba menggigit berudu
dia cuba menggigit aku

dia berjaya menangkap nyamuk
dia berjaya menangkap kutu
dia berjaya menangkap berudu
tetapi dia tidak berjaya menangkap aku

The Little Turtle by Vachel Lindsay
There was a little turtle.
He lived in a box.
He swam in a puddle.
He climbed on the rocks.

He snapped at a mosquito.
He snapped at a flea.
He snapped at a minnow.
And he snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.
He caught the flea.
He caught the minnow.
But he didn't catch me.

Honestly, some her direct-translated poems doesn't even make sense in Bahasa Melayu. I'm not a BM expert, but what is 'Jadi kita makan sesama diri' ?? It sounds, really odd.

This reminds me of the former NST Group Editor, Brendan Pereira, whose alleged plagiarised weekly column was highlighted by famous blogger, Jeff Ooi back in October 2006, which the NST then, attempted to sue BBC for publishing this 'false' news. Soon after, the case was settled out of court between the two parties.
You can click here for related news.

Book Sale and Books

..Gerak Budaya Year End Sale 2007, Petaling Jaya. This is not your typical book sale. :P I can see some weird looking eyes here.

This is another late blog entry. Should've post this up last month. Anyways, I found out about this event from an ad posted on Facebook, so, many thanks to Facebook and my friend, Firdaus. Being a warehouse sale addict, I can't resist myself from not going. Books were sold from 30% up to 70%! And mind you, some books were sold for free! But, you won't find any books from Danielle Steele, JK Rowling and the likes here. There were only books on history, politics, Malaysian Studies, International Affair and such. So I bought 7 books, which some of them are related to my studies.


..7 books for RM50! How cool is that! 2 of them are free, though

Books of 2007

Here are my booklist of 2007. There is a slight drop compared to the previous year, probably due to workloads and studies, I guess. Note that I didn't include in tonnes of my academic journals here. heheh. I'm hoping to read more books this year! andd lose weight a bit. Ha ha. :p

Local/Asian interest:
1. Kekasih Sam Po Bo - Faisal Tehrani
2. Bahaya Syiah - Ashaari Muhammad
3. Singapura: Basis Israel Asia Tenggara - Rizki Ridyasmara
4. I Am Muslim - Dina Zaman
5. Skali Lagi: One More Time... - Tengku Farith Rithaudeen
6. Singapore and The Many-Headed Monster: A New Perspective on the riots of 1950, 1964 and 1969 - Joe Conceicao
7. Political Awakening - Tunku Abdul Rahman
8. 13 Mei: Sebelum dan Selepas - Tunku Abdul Rahman

International:
1. The Palestinian Issues: Its Background and Development Up To 2000 - Dr. Mohsen M. Saleh
2. The World is Flat - Thomas L. Friedman
3. Who Moved My Cheese - Dr. Spencer Johnson
4. Osman's Dream - Caroline Finkel
5. The Google Story - David A. Vise
6. The High Priests of War - Michael Collins Piper
7. Like The Flowing River - Paulo Coelho
8. The Cuckoo's Egg - Clifford Stoll
9. People Like Us: How Arrogance is Dividing Islam and the West - Waleed Aly