Decisions decisions...

Phew! That was tough. I was expected to fly back to London tonight in time to start work with Maybank UK on Monday. In a sudden turn around, I was offered by MNRB to join their industrial training scheme with Guy Carpenter (or other companies) in January.

After godzillion times of rejections in the midst of recession, it's quite understandable how the UK companies are not keen on employing foreigners especially dodgy Malaysians who have the reputation of abusing their Visas. However, I focused on getting Maybank London and MNRB since I am supposed to be working with PNB (or be sent to court to settle the bond). As you can see, they are the subsidiaries of PNB and after my conversation with Puan Rukiah A. Samad, I am quite positive PNB will let me go.

Some people just don't care about legal matters. I do.

The opportunity came when my father was asked by a neighbour during his Raya Open House about me doing Actuarial Science . Being a prominent figure in MNRB, he is willing to help me get a job in the UK because he understands how hard it can be these days. My father texted me about this matter and I said I would be delighted to be given that opportunity and would return for the interview on the 18th November.

However, 3 days before my flight, I received a call from Mr. Tan from Maybank London. He told me that Maybank is employing and invited me to the interview on the same day later in the afternoon. It went quite well despite I was being told off by the General Manager for writing unprofessionally to them earlier this year asking if there was a job vacancy. I got the feeling that I excelled because I sounded desperate for the job by saying "yes" to all their offers/terms. I got the job but had a mixed feeling about it as it is non-actuarial. I told Mr. Tan to let me balik kampung and think about it first.

After one week since the MNRB interview, it seemed that there are so many obstacles. MNRB asking for a release letter from PNB but the latter would only do that when an offer letter could be presented. The thug-of-war scenario made me feel quite uncertain of getting the placement. Finally, I was prepared to take Maybank because they were so keen of employing me and the question of uncertainties did not arise. I wrote to Mr. Tan that I will be flying back to start work with Maybank. The whole of two-week was full of drama, and then two days ago, I received the offer letter from MNRB.

Then after a long thought, I decided to take the challenge to qualify as an actuary i.e. rejecting Maybank in the process. I was offered a 1.5-3 years job at Guy Carpenter while taking actuarial exams. The bond would be for the maximum of 6 years. However, all this is subject to getting a written consent from PNB. Fingers crossed everything will be done or I will have to fork out RM95,000 to pay them off.

I am happy with my decision. I hope my decision is right. The last time I did was very troublesome (signing up with PNB). However, with the likes of Puan Rukiah in the HR, it is hoped that one day PNB will realise that they have to change their views on their scholarship restrictions/terms/system.

Pray for my success.

Snippets

On Arsenal's Carling Cup win over Wigan...
The youngsters have shown yet again they can be a Premiership side. Carlos Alberto Vela was superb but overall I would give the Man of The Match to Aaron Ramsey. I wonder if the Senior team can give a better score against the same strong Wigan side in December.

On the 'one woman two husbands' issue in Malaysia...
I am surprised where are the liberals or seculars or that 'Thilaga and friends' group protesting over the rights of this woman? The Mahkamah Syariah (the power that some so-called fatwa hating people question most) has asked politely the woman to file a divorce with one of the men. However, according to your liberalised minds that the woman is just doing it for LOVE! My God! When will these people learn that there must be some limitations in life. In-denial. Unbelievable!

On anyone can become the PM of Malaysia...
Realistically speaking, like Singapore, a predominantly Chinese nation, it is still hard for Malaysians to have a Non-Malay Prime Minister. I am surprised Pak Lah and Mahathir both disagree on this opinion but I am just being realistic. However, it depends on the people. If the people want a Chinese or Indian Prime Minister it's really up to them. As long as the PM can control the nation. I am just pissed with all this chaos in Malaysia. Oh well, the people voted for a change but 2/3 was not achieved by any of the parties. Of course the Malaysians are restless now.

On abolishing ISA...
I don't understand these morons on the streets thinking we are safe from terrorists. I understand their feelings over the misuse of ISA but come on, again, abolishing ISA is not right at all! What we can do is to remedy it. To make it as a better tool for the nation. Not for political purposes. Nama pun Internal Security Act. How much I detest Raja Petra over his Islamic comments, I don't think he is a terrorist. He is just an uneducated Islamic preacher liberal wannabe.

On Ivy Josiah comment regarding fatwa...
She has got no right to comment. Her sources are.. Sisters in Islam and Anwar Ibrahim. That's not good enough sources for you to absorb and tell all. I think she lets the hate got into her to see how Syariah law is bad in every way. Anti-Islam. Racist. And I am sure, like Thilaga and Friends, her actions would spark some discontent among the Muslims. This is avoidable.

On Malaysiakini...
I used to respect this media as unbiased... but clearly it does incline towards the Oppositions. The postings of inappropriate videos further pile the pressure on their credibility. It's hard to get unbiased sources these days. What we can do is gather all information and make good judgment. But yeah, most readers just follow it blindly. Like idiots.

On vernacular schools...
After a thought provoking conversation with a friend, who seems OK to 'let the Chinese and Indians win these small battles of having vernacular schools', in his own words, I still think in the future there should only be one school. I have nothing against the Chinese or the Indians and I am not racist. What I really want is the people of Malaysia to be integrated starting when they were kids. This can only be achieved with one school for all. And yeah we are Malaysians. We are not from China or India or Saudi Arabia. This is Malaysia. And we can still speak Arabic, Tamil, Mandarin, Hokkien, Haka and even French or Japanese in schools through subjects. I am sure if my son were to learn Mandarin from Standard 1 until he reaches 19 in the University, he could be fluent in that language if the syllabus is right! So I hope you get my point.

On going home...
I am sorry I can't take anymore kiriman from friends as I have about ten people asking me to bring home some stuffs. Some, unluckily, I have to charge them as I am having a cash-flow problem no thanks to certain people who hate Pak Lah for being slow and 'bodoh', but do not realise how they are slow as well. Probably slower. We are still waiting for the deposit from our last house. Proper documents are not completed yet and the landlord can't return the deposit to us. It's been over one month since we left the house.

I won't say it's a holiday it's more like an important trip back to Malaysia to discuss things with some companies. I expect myself to be busy each day. However, some kickabouts and wedding ceremonies wouldn't hurt.

Kingston Rules Notts Games 2008

We won. Yes, we won! Not Birmingham, not Dublin, not even star-studded UEL.

The Kingston University Football Team won the Notthingam Games Futsal Tournament 2008...

...for the best team spirit.

I don't remember feeling so happy being beaten in all games in a tournament throughout my football life. But to be honest, the feeling is true!

The real Kingstonians were only Shahmir and Arman Zakry, the rest were me, Jason, Hu, (all Cass), Abbas, Izham (both Cardiff), Muza (Bradford) and our aspiring leader Shahrin (Westminster). A make-shift team, it promotes football-loving culture, great team spirit and the main goal is to have fun.

And real fun we had. We were shocked to be pit in our first match against fancied side UEL comprised of Rafie, Taufiq, Herman, Abu (3rd choice keeper) and others I met during the UMNO League last year. The City Bus reached Notts quite late and we had to settle for four players and we conceded only 3 goals in the first half. We were beaten 5-0, something we can be proud about because we were expecting a double digit score from that side.

We went on to frustrate Imperial, UMNO Hull and Liverpool in the later games and how much we enjoyed ourselves on and off the pitch. The atmosphere was wonderful. Thanks to Arin's charm, I couldn't see anyone in our team grumbled for not having the minutes on the pitch. Everyone had every chances to impress.

We were there to have fun. Of course we knew from the start we were not gonna win anything!

I have to admit, even we didn't score any goals that day, the mood was incredible. Just look at the picture up there. We have proven again Notthingham Games is not World Cup. We veterans had a great time, one to be cherished forever.

Izham our goalkeeper, made wonderful saves that spared us the blushes from getting nailed to the double digit scoring from the oppositions. The tireless Abbas who was on a jovial mood since finishing his ACA papers recently. Muza the super sub holding the ball calmly. Arin the enthusiastic, witty defender whose leadership quality is flawless. Determined striker Rainy Hu who was our latest signing on the same day that showed remarkable impact. Shahmir (Adik Arin) and Arman showing great youth potentials and lastly our true Juventus fan lanky defender Jason Ong who is veteran at age, but very young at heart. This is sort of team with great characteristics that I respect a lot in order to make something special out of nothing.

Meanwhile, I also had the chance to become the referee for the match between Leicester and Newcastle A. I started the match like an old joker figuring out how to use the stop watch. The game was exciting and I think I faired well in that game. Amid the pressures from the young, darah-muda players, my decisions were firm. I did not move at all when the fans were calling for penalty or the goal-scorer was thought to have entered the D. My explanations were simple. Number 4 from Newcastle A entered his own D and he did not do it intentionally nor disrupting play, so I gave him a warning. The goal was valid for Leicester as the goal-scorer hit the ball outside the D but his foot touched inside the D as a follow-up and the goal should stand. Some rough tackles were allowed as they were seen as 50-50 challenges (although some loud noise could be heard). This is football. Some jokers were even trying to convince me that it was not a goal. I should have given him (the tall guy Italian wannabe) the yellow card for dissent. Hehe. It was fun umpiring. Will do it again next time.

On that same day, I was further buoyed by the result at Emirates. Arsenal won 2-1. Although this is seen as a good result, I am still pessimistic we can do it this year.

Next tournament, Kingstonians?

Bali bombers shot dead by firing squad

According to Qisas under the Islamic Law, death should be paid by death, i.e. capital punishment. Imam Samudra, Ali Ghufron and Amrozi Nurhasyim who were responsible for the Bali bombings, were killed yesterday by the Indonesian firing squad. In those bombings in Kuta, innocent civilians were killed who were mostly Australians, and Islam does not condone killing innocent civilians.

For this case, justice is served. However maybe, lethal injections or decapitations should be used instead to provide instantaneous deaths.

But who actually masterminded all this terrorism acts? Who came out with the wrong fatwas? Osama Bin Laden is not fit enough to come out with any fatwas. He is not an ulama' and God knows if he even studied Islam or even practices it. However, what would be the source of the problem?

The western media always support the fact that Muslim leaders are terrorists and that's the reason why Iraq and Afghanistan were being invaded. Is it really because of justice? To liberalise the people in those two nations? Or for the raw materials? North Korea has been very vocal about their nuclear warheads programmes but still the U.S has done nothing to 'remedy' it.

In the likes of Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, with its nuclear power enriching programme for the former, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is being put into so much pressure as if he IS a terrorist. Why do you think the Iranian President is being questioned of his good intentions? Is it because he's a Muslim? Or is it because of the raw materials?

Terrorists attacked the hardest during George W. Bush's regime. World Trade Center came crashing down in Sept 11, 2001, Bali bombings, embassy bombings and others to be so painful to be reminded of. The nosy Americans from Bush's Government were not welcomed. Obama has a lot to do.

The President-elect must move away from the tyranny regime of Bush's administration. George will be known for the worst American President the world have ever seen. Obama promises change. I am a bit optimistic he will do it. It's simply because I believe in a better, peaceful world.

"Stupid fatwas everywhere"

I am left annoyed with these girls demonstrating as if they understand the religion Islam. They talked about oppressing women, but in Islam, it is clear that boys shouldn't be girls, and girls shouldn't be boys. Islam promotes accepting natural sexual preferences and to encourage that, girls should dress femininely and the boys, masculinely.

They said "Short hair who cares, stupid fatwas everywhere". For a start I love girls with short hair. As long as you don't go baldy-baldy. It's kinda appealing to me. But "stupid fatwas everywhere"??

I am very sure that fatwas are meant for the Muslims to be practiced. These girls are clearly Non-Muslims, and that is fair, but the thing is that though they are not sensitive enough to know how they have provoked Muslims in Malaysia. They got it wrong from the start. The Majlis Fatwa is just reminding the Muslims not to indulge in homosexual activities (which is sick and harram) by coming out with this fatwa.

Thilaga in the video said she has short hair and women like her actually prefer guys! So be it. Noone has a problem with that! The problem is when a tomboy/pengkid, who acts like a tough cookie with hairy legs, involves with homosexual/lesbian activity and this is truly unacceptable in Islam.

Islam is the official religion as stated in the Malaysian constitution. Muslims are still the majority in Malaysia. Ridiculing Islam in this way will spark anger among the Muslims, Malays or not. I am absolutely angry. I know there are some bills passed are weird to me but I don't go call all fatwas stupid or call Buddhism is trash, do I?

For example, Yoga shouldn't be harram. As long as you do it for health. It is suggested solat is a better workout than yoga but for me, there is no big deal with yoga. It's as weird as Sure Heboh is harram that would scare some people a bit. Especially the people, Muslims or not who do not know about Islam and wanna talk cock.

Dina Zaman for example... Thilaga... and Lee Wei San from this video.

What the Majlis Agama should do is be careful when saying out fatwa. They have to educate the people in the correct way. Not simply come out with something which is hard for the society to understand. Or confusing. There is no harm explaining. They can't treat people like herds of cows. Some people need to be told of the reasons. Why this why that?

Haih. I am so ashamed with Malaysia now. We were so peaceful. Now racial tension is at a record high. Social contract is now being put into question. Even Islamic Laws. However it's quite OK-lah since the Muslims do not retaliate in the worst manner. Peaceful rally is OK. MP Zulkifli from PKR was just protecting Islam, his religion. I don't see why he should be under pressure or get the grilling from anyone.

But some so-called leaders should step up a bit. To have control over these things. Where is Pak Lah or even trying-to-please-everyone Anwar Ibrahim, when Islamic Laws are being put into question? Thank God we still have the Sultans.

Some people say Pak Lah is a weak leader. Do you think Anwar is firm? Where is Anwar when social contract was being debated? Or Islamic Laws being questioned by the BAR Council?

What we need is a strong and firm leader. Like Mahathir but minus the corruptions, greed and tyranny. I believe this kind of leader exists. I've met many good people who are also firm with their philosophy, principles and religious belief.

Where is this perfect leader? Go and find.