Paintballing!!

Amman, Sunday - A big gunfight broke out between the forces loyal to the warlord Abdullah Bey and the Jungle Squad in the mountains northwest of Amman, yesterday. The Jungle Squad, working on information obtained from torturing the locals, finally managed to find and encircle Abdullah Bey's field command post. The result of the 1 1/2 hour battle is total defeat for Abdulla Bey, where he along with his loyal fighters were taken prisoner. Here are some details about the battle.


2 pm : The battle started. Abdulla Bey, with Lt Ramsy as his 2nd-in-command, led his men valiantly to break the tightening enemy noose with an uphill assault on an enemy post. Halfway up the hill, the attack broke down and Abdulla Bey ordered a retreat.

2.25 pm : 3 soldiers of the Jungle Squad made a suicidal charge right through the defences of Abdulla Bey's camp shouting Allaahu Akbar!! but they were cut into pieces just before they could grab Abdulla Bey's flag.

2.35 pm : A friendly fire incident happened when Sgt. Halfi mistakenly shot Lt Ramsy who was retreating from the advancing enemy. Luckily Lt. Ramsy didn't suffer any life threatening injuries and he was back fighting at the front lines in no time.

2.45 pm : Being pushed back deep into their own territory, Abdulla Bey's forces were finally forced to flee the base and head to their last outpost. The Jungle Squad secured the newly captured territory and searched for intel. They shot all the wounded who were left behind. Barbarians!

2.55 pm : Abdulla Bey's forces are now defending a hilltop position. But the Jungle Squad had placed a sniper on a communication tower nearby, making any movement of Abdulla Bey's forces susceptible to the sniper's fire. Abdulla Bey lost a couple of good men just to this sniper alone. Later the sniper was identified as S Sgt. Izham.

3.10 pm : The battle rages on. 3 assaults from the Jungle Squad was beaten back, but at the same time, attempts by Abdulla Bey to break out were also stopped with heavy casualties. Abdulla Bey himself was hit in the face but miraculously he survived to command his troops to the bitter end.

3.15 pm : A couple of heroic actions by Pvt 1st Class Nazirul together with Pvt Nadzeem ,Pvt Halim and Pvt Afiq managed to hold back the enemy for some time before they could regroup and plan another attack.

3.25 pm : A final assault by the Jungle Squad brought the battle to an end. The men of Abdulla Bey were so exhausted that despite all the encouragements given by Abdulla Bey, they just couldnt take it anymore. The white flag was flown at 3.30 pm GMT +2.

Prisoners of War

With Lt Ramsy

With S Sgt Izham

With Lt Sameeh of the Jungle Squad. Notice the hit around Abdulla Bey's right mandible

Moments before the execution of Lt Ramsy

Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris

Dahulu saya pernah sekali melihat rancangan Dogfights(pergaduhan anjing dalam BM..maksud sebenar adalah pertempuran udara antara kapal terbang pejuang,bukan antara kapal terbang pejuang menyerang kapal terbang pengebom,itu namanya intercept), maka tukang cherita(narrator) itu sedang mencheritakan bagaimana salah satu daripada pesawat yang berperang itu telah mendaki(climbed) terlalu tinggi sehingga dia hilang halaju udaranya yang cukup untuk mengekalkan daya angkat(lost sufficient airspeed to maintain the lift) sehingga pesawat itu tidak lagi mampu terbang akibat tidak cukup laju dan jatuh ke bawah(stall).

Semasa saya sedang menonton,memang di fikiran saya terlintas perkara2 yang tertulis di atas. Jika kita menggunakan BM sepenuhnya dalam Sains dan Math, ayat2 seperti berikut tentulah akan dijumpai kerap-kali.

Actually there's nothing wrong with it, and to be honest, I find it quite elegant.

this

or this

Now on to the topic.

I have read the arguments from both sides, and I've got to say both have valid points.

I love to look at this issue from a purely objective point of view. Put Nationalism or whatever sentiments aside. Language evolves. The Malay language is not purely Malay. No offense,but for those who is overly proud of Malay, they should realize that they are actually proud of the ability of our forefathers to take words from other language and somehow make it a unique language,which is actually not a bad thing. I'm not saying that we cant be proud of our language, just don't overdo it. And even English took many words from other languages. So we can say that Malay and English are almost the same in the context of acquisition of loan words and vocabulary,but with English having a far more established pool of scientific words. Maybe Malay too has it own unique scientific words, but they are not as famous as the English ones, or sound 'uncool' to the majority of it speakers, who knows?

Jikalau mereka yang berkata, pengajaran dalam BM adalah salah satu cara untuk memartabatkan Bahasa Melayu, adakah period sebelum ini(iaitu sebelum implementasi PPSMI) telah berjaya memartabatkan BM?Atau adakah selepas PPSMI BM jatuh martabatnya?Honestly saya sebagai rakyat biasa di jalanan(bukanlah ahli pemikir atau intelek) tak nampak pun beza sebelum dan selepas. Bagi saya, martabat sesuatu bahasa bukan diukur dengan berapa luas penggunaanya, tetapi ia diukur dengan pencapaian para petuturnya. Jikalau orang-orang Melaka tidak hebat pada zaman kegemilangannya, adakah Bahasa Melayu akan menjadi lingua franca? Maka bahasa bergantung pada petuturnya, bukanlah petutur bergantung kepada bahasanya. Apapun, Bahasa Melayu memang sentiasa di hatiku.

Membandingkan penggunaan English dengan negara2 lain yang lebih maju(or in some cases lebih mundur) adalah tidak relevan. Mereka mempunyai sejarah(long established scientific traditions),budaya dan banyak lagi faktor yang berbeza dengan Malaysia(contohnye on average orang Melayu pemalu dan segan tak tentu arah). Kalau nak tengok negara Arab ajar dalam Bahasa Arab, tak maju pon diorang.Haha. We have to do what is best for us. Its not about the language. Its about the system. And the will of the people. Which IMO is severely lacking among us.

So at the end of the day, kita haruslah buat keputusan berdasarkan kemaslahatan anak2 kita yang belajar, bukanlah kepentingan kita yang dah tua yang masing2 mempunyai agenda masing2, baik dari kedua2 belah pihak. Anak-anak kita juga akan suffer dengan orang2 tua mereka yang pening2 untuk buat keputusan.

The current PPSMI looks like a failure. I agree. So lets find a solution.

Saya rasa tiada masalah mengajar didalam BM, tetapi berdasarkan keperluan pada masa kini, haruslah diikuti dengan English yang mantap. Adakah orang Melayu ini terlalu lemah untuk menguasai paling kurang pon 2 bahasa sahaja? Bukan nak suruh cakap macam slang orang Ireland, tapi at least a working knowledge lah. Nak kata kita tak diexposed, tengok cerita sume English, paper pon English, news TV3 Nightline pon English.(Maybe lately banyak yang tgk korean or japanese kot haha). Bangsa lain ok pulak? Mana lemahnya kita? Genetics? Tak juga, sebab Melayu ni sebenarnye adalah a mix of other races. So should be better lah from a scientific point of view. So, ini semua masalah sikap, and the environment that we were brought up in.

“I Speak Spanish to God, Italian to Women, French to Men, and German to My Horse” -Charles V, king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, 1500–58

That said, tak salah kita nak cuba membantu rakyat kita. So dalam konteks isu ini, saya rasa ada dua cadangan. Pertama ialah menggunakan English, tetapi bukan dengan perlaksanaan sekarang ini. Kenapa saya cakap English?Ada yang berkata bahasa lain juga banyak melahirkan saintis2 hebat dan akan mengambil alih English sebagai bahasa Sains, but will it happen in the near future?Honestly I dont think so. Not in our lifetime. All those researches in foreign language will eventually be translated into English no doubt about it. Lagipon memang dari dulu lagi ramai saintis dari Europe that are non-English, but English is still the most widely used language in the scientific community. English will remain the scientific language for quite a long time, just as Greek was the scientific language during the Classical Period, and Arabic during the Middle Ages.

And its not just about sciences, its about to how project yourself internationally. Like it or not, English is also an important language in a huge number of fields, including entertainment, law, and diplomacy(Remember Zainuddin Maidin on Al-Jazeera?That guy was a joke and total embarassment.haha).

So lets talk about how to implement it. We cannot change the system abruptly. My idea is that we start to train a new batch of teachers how to teach fully in English. Which will take around 4-5 years,corrrect me if I'm wrong. In the mean time, we let the current teachers teach in BM(assuming they dont have that good command of English) and at the same time retrain them in English. 4-5 year is enough I think to train an experienced teacher some basic concepts of English.It's not like English is totally foreign to them anyways. And mind you, these 4-5 years the teaching will all be in BM.

After we have produced the first batch of teachers fully capable of teaching in English, and at the same time the old timers have been retrained, then we are ready to proceed to the next level. Teach Science and Mathematics fully in English, and wait for the results.

Yeah it takes a lot of effort and money, but hey I think we could muster a couple of bucks if our politicians are not so busy dealing with their own interest and stuffs like that you know what I mean?haha.

Atau cara kedua. Tak perlu semua orang pandai English. Macam agama, bukan semua orang faham Arab untuk faham agama. Orang Arab sendiri pon banyak x paham agama.haha. Merepek plak. Ok kita boleh teruskan mengajar didalam BM, tapi pastikan subjek English itu sendiri comprehensive dan menyeluruh.Its not just about science, English will no doubt help you to compete in the real world. Dan saya cadangkan buat entrance exam ke universiti untuk subjek2 yang perlukan English lebih susah dan lebih strict. That way, bagi mereka(dan ibu bapa mereka) yang benar2 mahu berusaha, akan brush up on their English semenjak kecil lagi. Saya tidak ambil MUET maka tak tahu bagaimana ia dijalankan, maka ini terpulang la pada orang yang familiar tentang perkara ini. Apa yang saya dapat lihat dari keadaan ini adalah hanya golongan berpendidikan sahaja yang akan dapat menguasai English dengan baik.(Itu tak termasok golongan2 remaja uptown haha)

Tapi dalam masa yang sama, penekanan terhadap BM harus dikekalkan juga. Pada hemat saya, BM penting dari aspek jati diri bangsa dan sebagainya, dan English penting(sekarang ini) untuk memajukan bangsa. Saya tak kata BM tak boleh majukan bangsa, tapi agaknya masing2 boleh nilai sendiri kot. Maka kedua2 penting. Mana yang perlu lebih diberi penekanan?BM kita cakap hari2, baca hari2, manakala English pula boleh dikatakan kurang lagi exposure dari BM, maka mana yang perlu lebih ditekankan demi mencapai keseimbangan terma?

Tapi the best is to change our education system. Dont spoon feed. Make it more interesting. And make it in a way that it will produces lions, not sheeps. Thinkers, not people who follow blindly. Students who understand how things work, not just memorize how they work.

One more thing, for us Muslims, having a good command of English will help us tremendously in our Dakwah.

Kalau salah tolong tunjukkan. Semoga isu ini akan berakhir dengan baik. Semoga generasi akan datang akan lebih hebat dan mengambil iktibar dari kekalutan generasi kita sekarang(cewaahh cakap macam orang tua plak haha).

Selamat.

Kanak-kanak bermain salji

I was browsing old pictures when I came across this funny(at least for me) video.

That was in Ajloun, when we were in the first year. Here is the list of famous people in the video :
Acap(me), Hazim, Afiq, Mun, Bro Fird, Abg Rahmat , Sopee, Abg exchange dari UIA x ingat name(sape ingat tolong bgtau) dan unknown cameraman.

:)

Of Pattani and Palestine

Right now I am trying to keep my eyes open so that I can finish reading Nelson. But I couldnt. So I have decided to write some of the things that have been in my mind lately.

Last week, there was a conference held in Irbid which involved delegates of Malaysian students studying in the various Arab countries. They call it PERTAMA. So this conference was supposed to be about how the 'mahasiswa' can be more mature, more proactive and aware of the issues happening around the world. You guys can read more about it from the website itself.

So pada hari kedua, ada satu kejadian yang berlaku yang menarik minat saya. PERTAMA ini diadakan di dewan Al-Kindi, Universiti Yarmouk, dan ianya dibawah penyeliaan pegawai-pegawai universiti itu. Pada masa rehat tenghari, para mahasiswa telah set-up booth-booth untuk menjual pelbagai barangan antaranya barang-barang dari Palestin(ini adalah perkara biasa memandagkan semangat orang Melayu terhadap isu ini). Apabila pihak universitesi dapat tahu bahawa mereka menjual barang-barang Palestin(walaupon hanya souvenir bukanlah poster Hamas atau lain2), mereka telah mengarahkan supaya dewan ditutup dan PERTAMA dibatalkan untuk hari itu.(Alhamdulillah pihak penganjur berjaya menjalankan juga program di tempat lain hasil kebijaksanaan mereka).

Reaksi dari pelajar kita sudah tentulah "Hey terok betol la arab ni!", "Sengal la arab ni", "Tak gune nye arab!" dan lain2 lagi yg sewaktu denganya. Di sini saya ingin mengetengahkan beberapa points untuk kita sama2 fikirkan.

Pertama, sejauh manakan kita faham tentang politik dalaman Jordan?Kita mendakwa hendak membahaskan isu-isu internasional, tetapi apakah tahap pemahaman kita terhadap isu-isu tempatan?Adakah suara rakyat sama dengan suara kerajaan?Isu Palestin di negara ini adalah amat sensitif. Tahu sejarah perang 48?Perang 67?Black September?Tahu tak Syria pernah nak cuba menyerang Jordan ketika Jordan dan PLO sedang bertempur di Amman?Dan kita harus faham bukan semua orang melihat isu ini dari kaca mata Islamik. Ada yang melihat isu ini sebagai isu Nasionalistik Arab, dimana campur tangan orang luar tidak dialu-alukan. Lihat sahaja reaksi Liga Arab terhadap kritikan PM Turkiye Erdogan dalam isu Gaza. Lagi-lagi isu ini adalah isu panas(baru sahaja berlaku).Kerajaan Jordan dah cukup ditekan oleh rakyat mereka, will they appreciate us(foreigners) meddling in their internal affairs?Ada diantara kita yang kata inilah masanya untuk kita berjuang untuk Palestin(yakni defy kerajaan Jordan), I say to them, they(kerajaan Jordan) will not give a d*mn to what we say or do. On the contrary, they could easily tell us to pack our bags and take the flight home. To my brothers, I say, pick your battle carefully, and be patient, kerana this is not our playing field *yet*, dan masa yang betol akan tiba ensyalla. Our mission here is to complete our studies, and a good soldier will always try to complete his mission, even if it means he has to go stealth atau elak dari bertemu musuh.

Jadi how come kita agak ignorant tentang keadaan dalaman Jordan?Maybe ada beberapa sebab, tetapi yang utama adalah saya rasa sikap kita kurang ambil tahu dan kurang minat. Ini berpunca dari sikap kita yang kurang bergaul dengan masyarakat setempat, which in turn adalah hasil sikap kita yang suka duduk sesama kelompok Melayu kita in our own comfort zone. Maka demi kebaikan kita haruslah kita lebih aktif ye rakan-rakan. Seperti motto negara Turkiye, Yurtta Sulh, Cihanda Sulh yang bermaksud 'Peace at home, peace in the world', memahami keadaan setempat adalah langkah pertama dalam usaha kita untuk membawa perubahan kepada dunia.

Kedua, kita mengkritik kerajaan Jordan kerana tidah bertindak untuk saudara kita di Palestin. Tetapi sudah lupakah kita dengan apa yang berlaku dengan saudara2 kita di Pattani(dan juga masyarakat Islam lain yang tertindas di Asia)? Kalau nak ikutkan,bukankah tanggungjawab kita untuk membantu mereka adalah lebih besar dari tanggungjawab kita terhadap orang2 Palestin kerana meraka adalah jiran kita. Tapi kenapa kita tidak begitu bersemangat bila membincangkan hal Pattani?Tiada demonstrasi jalanan, tiada ceramah-ceramah, tiada rancangan untuk membebaskan mereka?Are they less Muslim from the Palestinians? Apa kerajaan Malaysia telah lakukan untuk membantu rakyat Pattani(tindakan yang significant)?Ada orang cakap ini isu politik,sebab tu tak boleh nak buat ape. Gotcha!Maka samalah juga kita dengan Jordan ni ye kawan-kawan.

Harap apa yang saya tulis ini dapat memberi sedikit sebanyak manfaat. Bukan niat untuk menyalahkan sesiapa, just a few points for us to ponder upon. Kalau salah sila betolkan. Salamat.

Pergaduhan antara Melayu dan Arab

Saksikanlah, A&A Productions mempersembahkan

Argh

Why why why
The sky is so high
Why why why
So many birds can fly

Look look look
The writing on the book
Look look look
Dont want to be a cook

Say say say
What you want to say
Say say say
I dont know what to say

Haahahahahahaah am amused by my ability to write such a masterpiece lol ahahahahaha

(Actually tibe2 terasa depress so terus menulis randomly)

Selamat Hari Raya

Salam.

Walaupon i doubt anybody is still following this blog, nevertheless saya still mengucapkan selamat hari raya aidilfitri maaf zahir batin kepada semua.


Selamat.