Final frontier

To be able to watch a historic moment in our lifetime is indeed awe-inspiring and humbling. I was virtually glued in front of the television last night to watch the first Malaysian's flight into space. The news can be read here and the historic visual here. The full list of space travel by nationality can be obtained here.

Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor became the first Malaysian astronaut. I am sure this historic achievement is a day to be remembered by all Malaysians. Interestingly enough, while Dr. Sheikh may not be the first Muslim in space, he will be the first to be celebrating Eid there. The honour of the first Muslim in space went to a Saudi prince, Salman al-Saud in 1985.

In any case, I pray that the docking of the Soyuz TMA-11 at the International Space Station scheduled for tomorrow will go smoothly and that our first astronaut will return home safely in about ten days time.

This is certainly one for the history books. Just like Yuri Gagarin is remembered as the first man in space and Neil Armstrong honoured as the first man on the moon, Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar will be remembered as the first Malaysian in space by all Malaysians. Syabas!

10th October 2007 will forever be remembered as one of the most important dates in Malaysian history.

Sensational coverage

Yesterday in Utusan Malaysia, an article I wrote on the issue of organ donation was published. The original article was longer. Some parts were edited out. Though somewhat diluted if compared to the original article, the published one still managed to get the point across.

Have a read here.

Drive safely

Today, I drove back to my hometown in Kulim. The whole journey took under five hours. And the drive itself was pleasant - no jams, not so many lorries and the weather was just nice. I left immediately after Subuh, therefore avoiding the unnecessary jam in Kuala Lumpur.

I heard on the news that on the second day of Ops Sikap XIII, there has been a total of 23 deaths on the road. So, to all who will be travelling this festive season, drive carefully and safely. May this Aidilfitri be celebrated with joy and happiness with our loved ones.

Second heart transplant

Tee Hui Yi has rejected the first heart transplanted into her. And she has gone back into the operating theatre for a second heart transplant in 24 hours. Details of this can be read here. Hui Yi is lucky that there have been two donors in a short period of 24 hours. Had there been no second donor when her body rejected the first heart, it'd have spelt trouble for her.

Let's pray that she'll do better with this second heart.

[Update: Hui Yi is reported to be responding well to the second heart she received.]

Wide coverage on organ donation

I think today, more than any other day, the media coverage on organ donation has been most wide and comprehensive. Utusan Malaysia alone carries so many write-ups on the issue, including one which was written to look like they have interviewed me. [What they did was actually quoting an article I wrote which was published in January 2006]. I don't mind as this goes towards better awareness on the need for organ donation.

Below are the links to the articles in Utusan Malaysia for quick reference:

1. Penantian Hui Yee berakhir
2. Sumbangan terakhir anak saya
3. 13 kes lagi menunggu
   
4. Fatwa harus menderma organ
5. Faktor agama bukan alasan utama
6. Bisik-bisik Awang Selamat
7. Menyusuri sejarah panjang pemindahan organ
8. Soalan lazim mengenai pemindahan organ
9. Kempen mencari jantung mesti diteruskan

I hope that this kind of exposure would continue and not just be seasonal. In any case, I am also pleased to learn that there was another mercy flight, this time to Johor, to harvest organs from another donor last night. Not much information about this donor as yet. But I sincerely hope that the number of donors would increase.

Heart for Hui Yi

Last night at around midnight while watching the news, there was an item on a TUDM mercy flight from Subang to Ipoh. The mercy flight carries a team of specialists from IJN to harvest organs from a donor. I was pleased to hear this piece of news because deep in my heart, I hope that at least this offers hope for 14-year old Tee Hui Yi.

Today, I spoke with Sister Jamaliah Kario of the National Transplant Resource Centre (NTRC) who was also on the mercy flight. She confirmed that Tee Hui Yi indeed received a heart that she has been waiting for. I wanted to know whether there were other organs donated as well, but decided not to ask Sister Jamaliah as she sounded exhausted from last night's journey.

In any case, I came home this afternoon and got online. [Yes, the Internet connection at the office is still problematic]. There were some updated from the local papers on this. Utusan Malaysia carried the news on the mercy flight. I noticed aside from Sister Jamaliah, another name that I recognise is Dr. Mohamad Ezani Md Taib of IJN.

And this updated piece informs us of the heart harvested has been transplanted to Hui Yi. We also get more information of the donor from the same news article. The donor is apparently a Malay teenager who was killed in an accident, and his parents decided to donate the heart, lungs, kidneys and liver. Again, I am happy with this information. It goes to show that the level of awareness on organ donation amongst Muslims in the country have increased. I believe most Muslims in the country are becoming more informed that Islam does not prohibit organ donation.

Nonetheless, I beg to differ with the Minister of Health's statement as reported in this article in The Star. While it is true that there are greater number of pledgers compared to donors, I disagree that this is because families or next of kins object to organ donation. We have a good number of pledgers because of increased awareness. However, this number does not translate into donations because we have to understand that organ donation only takes place if the donor is brain dead while at the same time, the heart is still pumping because of the presence of a ventilator. If a pledger dies of natural death, then we would not be able to harvest organs such as heart or liver. We could only harvest tissues such as corneas, heart valves and the likes.

In most cases, people who die of brain death are not pledgers. Therefore, the doctors would have to ask their family members whether they wish to donate or otherwise. So, I don't think it is accurate to say that organ pledgers do not donate their organs when in truth, most of them are still alive and well. Even when pledgers die of old age, we could only take certain tissues, and not organs. The imperative phrase here is "brain death." For organ donation to take place, the person must be diagnosed as brain dead. Those who pledge, I believe, may not find themselves in such a situation unless they are involved in accidents or suffer from serious head injury.

This however does not mean that we should not be pledgers. By becoming a pledger and more importantly by letting your family members know that you are a pledger, should the need arise, for example if the pledger is diagnosed as brain dead, then the doctors and family members would know what needs to be done.

Another point that I would like to differ with the Minister is the reason for not becoming a donor. I disagree that it is because of religion. I have been giving talks on organ donation and religion since 1998, and I find that the masses understood that religion does not prohibit organ donation. Most of them said that their unwillingness or reluctance stems from the fear of the unknown (that is death). I think this is psychological in nature rather than religious.

Sorry for the rather long entry today. It's just that organ donation is a subject very close to my heart. And I would like to see Malaysians, who are always credited with virtues such as willingness to help others, take this esteemed virtue to a higher level. By donating organs, this could certainly give hope to a lot of patients with end-stage organ failure to carry on living. There is no greater gift than organ donation.

In the meantime, I pray that Tee Hui Yi would react positively to the heart she received. I am told that she is still in critical condition. My prayers also go to the other recipients of the other organs donated.

A special prayer to the unnamed donor in Ipoh. May this gift given in Ramadan be translated into bounties for the donor and his family in the Hereafter. And may Allah SWT bless the donor's soul.

High dependency

Since last Thursday, my office was disconnected from the rest of the world - cybernetically-speaking of course. It is quite frustrating when something like this happens. I had to put off all my e-mail correspondences until I get home. Earlier today, I even had to use the facilities at a cybercafe nearby as there were urgent matters that needed to be settled.

It is certainly no stroll in the park when using facilities at a cybercafe. The noise pollution was certainly a nuisance.

In any case, I am very happy now that the Internet connection is back on at the office as of mid-day. It is times like this that I realise that I have become highly dependent on the Internet.

Nabbed

Four men have been remanded in connection with Nurin Jazlin's murder. Initially five people were arrested but only four were produced in court for further investigation. In a way, I'm glad that the police managed to trace the possible murderer(s). And I hope justice will be served.

Discharged

Alhamdulillah, my son has been discharged from hospital on Thursday afternoon after spending 4 days and 3 nights there. His jaundice has subsided to a level in which he is allowed to return home. Having said that though, he still has to come back to the hospital on Saturday for a follow-up which includes another blood test. In any case, I am glad his health is better and that he's home again.

Homonyms

My newborn son has been admitted into hospital on Monday afternoon. He has neonatal jaundice and is undergoing phototherapy. Alhamdulillah, his condition is improving and I have been informed that if this keeps up, he will be discharged tomorrow.

Anyway, what I'd like to blog today is an amusing observation that I made when I told people that my son has jaundice. A typical dialogue would go something like this:

Me: My son is in the hospital. He has jaundice.
Mr A: Oh, yellow fever!

And when I said that my son has yellow fever, the dialogue would go something like this:

Me: My son is in the hospital. He has yellow fever.
Mr A: Oh, jaundice!

It's interesting to note that most of us (myself included) have this tendency of providing homonyms for certain words. I think most of us do this subconsciously and unintentionally. It's just a spontaneous response.

But I have met people who do this on purpose to show off their vocabulary power. Truth be told, I am not easily fazed by such people. However, I would be impress if such people know what "icterus" is.

Catch that beast

Officially I am still on paternity leave. But I decided to jot this in my blog because I feel strongly about this. Words fail to describe my feelings on this matter.

I know that by now, most of us have heard of the tragedy that has befallen Nurin Jazlin Jazimin. She has gone missing since 20th August. Last Monday, a girl's body was found in a bag. DNA tests have confirmed that the girl is Nurin Jazlin. While her father is understandably still in denial, the police have said that they are closing in on the killer.

News like this one certainly sends chills down my spine. I acknowledge that the responsibility to look after the children lies mainly on the parents. Nonetheless, as a father of two very young children, I am left wondering whether the neighbourhood is safe for our children anymore. Nurin Jazlin after all went missing in her own neighbourhood.

I certainly hope that whoever that did this be brought to justice soon. I cannot imagine what sort of person - nay, beast - is capable of doing such a heinous act. I don't even know whether the killer actually deserves the worldly punishment under the judicial system that we have.

I do not know Nurin Jazlin in person. Neither do I know her parents or family members. But I most certainly share their grief, sadness and anger for losing a child. I pray that her family members be given the strength to carry on without Nurin Jazlin by their side.

May her soul be blessed by Allah SWT. Al-Fatihah.

Update: Nurin has been laid to rest on Friday afternoon. The Star has the story, video and pictures here.

Ramadhan joy

Alhamdulillah, praise be to Allah SWT, at 1.40 a.m. on Monday 17th September 2007, my wife has safely given birth to our second son. Both mother and son are well and have been discharged yesterday.

I will post pictures of my newborn son soon.

May this birth in the blessed month of Ramadhan brings great bounties to my newborn son. Amin!

Tagged for the third time

Looks like I have been tagged again, this time by a friend from Down Under, Arsaili.

Okay then, here goes...

Eight random facts/habits about me:

1. Likes things to be in order:
Order out of chaos, that's me. Remember the Periodic Table of Elements that chemists use? Well, the table is constructed as a means to make sense of the chemical world. I am just like that. Everything has to be in sensible order. Even my clothes hangers are colour-coded. Red hangers for t-shirts, green hangers for Nehru-collar shirts, pink hangers for office shirts, etc. Weird, huh?

2. Cringes at the sight of spelling mistakes:
I am one of those who are so particular about spelling mistakes, be they in English or Malay. I can forgive unintentional typos but deliberate mistakes would make me cringe, especially if I find them in books or newspapers which are supposed to be well-edited.

3. Loves good food:
I love eating. Never mind I don't eat that much but the fact is that I enjoy good food. Over the years, I have developed a taste for the European, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, North African and Indian food aside from the usual Malay and Malaysian dishes we have here. However, I still can't get the hang of Japanese food.

4. Blog addict:
I am a blog addict. 'Nuff said.

5. The pen is mightier than the sword:
I like to write. Writing used to be a hobby of mine. But now it has become an essential part of my life. I am not a good speaker, therefore writing is the preferred medium for me to air my views.

6. Bookworm:
I think I am stuck with this image even from my school days. I love reading. I think I can read almost anything as long as I can understand the language.

7. Punctuality freak:
I am most particular about punctuality. I prefer to be early than have people waiting for me. Usually, when a promise is made, I would make sure I'll get there at least 15 minutes before the actual time. I believe that the ability to be punctual shows a lot about a person's character.

8. Weird sense of humour:
I appreciate intelligent humour which is hard to come by. I don't like slapsticks or in-your-face humour. Instead I prefer the more subtle type where you don't see it coming. Just watch "Blackadder," "Fawlty Towers" or "One Foot in the Grave," and you'll know what I mean. Perhaps my time spent in Britain made me more accustomed to the British sense of humour.

Tagging rules:

1. Each blogger must post these rules.
2. Each blogger starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. Bloggers that are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and to read your blog.
   

People I'd like to tag:

In alphabetical order, they are:

1. Fikri
2. Izza Aripin
3. Jie
4. John Norafizan
   
5. Nor Ash Burn
   
6. Opah De
7. Pinky
   
8. Temasik Temagi

When plates collide

I arrived home from the masjid after the terawih prayers last night only to be greeted with news of an earthquake that hit the west of Sumatera. None of us in our area noticed the tremor that occurred around 7.15 yesterday evening. Only those living in high-rise buildings felt the tremor which measured at 8.4 on the Richter scale. And at around 7.50 this morning, another earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale hit western Indonesia.

My prayer goes to the victims of the earthquake in Indonesia. One of the worst hit places this time is Padang in the province of West Sumatera. I was in Padang a few years back. It is a coastal city rich in history, culture and intellectual heritage. One of Nusantara's greatest scholars came from this region: Allahyarham Professor Hamka, someone whose thoughts and ideas I greatly admire.

I did geology in my first two years of university. One of the first things that we learnt in geology was on the theory of plate tectonics. When I read about the news of the earthquake, I suddenly remembered this interesting theory. A country like Indonesia is definitely prone to earthquakes. This is because most of the Indonesian islands are situated on the very edge of a tectonic plate known as the Eurasian Plate which is colliding with another tectonic plate called the Australian Plate. Collisions of tectonic plates would result in earthquakes. What I wrote here is merely a concised version of the theory of plate tectonics, but if anyone is interested, the details can be read here.

Looking back, I have written quite a bit on earthquakes in this blog. The entries can be read here, here, here and here. Personally, I believe that the earthquakes will continue to happen from time to time. I don't think we can stop earthquakes from happening. The real question is how well-equipped are we to prepare for an earthquake and manage the aftermath?

Ramadhan Karim

Tomorrow is the 1st of Ramadhan. As such, I would like to take this opportunity to wish my Muslim friends who frequent this blog, "Ramadhan Karim." May the Ramadhan of 1428 Hijriyyah bring us bounties and rewards aplenty, insya-Allah.

Lights on

Last Thursday close to midnight, I drove back from Shah Alam to Kuala Lumpur. Instead of using the usual highway that I use, I decided to take the Federal Highway and drove inside KL before heading towards Hulu Kelang where I live. After all, traffic that night was very light.

I seldom drive at night, so I don't really get to see KL at night time. I noticed that some of the buildings in the capital are well-lit at night, so much so that you'd forget that they're so bland during the day. I have to say that three buildings in particular caught my attention for being very beautifully-lit.

Too bad I didn't bring my camera. Even if I did, it'd be difficult and dangerous to capture these buildings while driving. In any case, the following are my Top 3 favourite buildings which are, to my eyes at least, resplendent:

1. The DBKL Headquarters at Jalan Raja Laut: The colourful lights lighting up the building tower is nothing short of majestic and eye-catching.
2. The Medan MARA Building at Jalan Raja Laut: The blue lights adoring the building's blue columns certainly made this otherwise dull-looking building during the day shines with great splendour at night.
3. The Istana Budaya at Jalan Tun Razak: The rainbow coloured lights that shines this building makes this theatre look magical.

There you go. I suddenly feel like a building critic though.

While I was away

Today is actually the first time I am online in the past 5 days. Things have been pretty hectic that I had to prioritise.

I was away from the office on Thursday and Friday attending a convention organised by IIM in Putrajaya and moderating a workshop organised by JAKIM held in Shah Alam.

Then on Saturday, I had to rush the missus to the hospital. As some may already know, she is pregnant with our second child. She is into her 35th week of pregnancy. During the wee hours of Saturday morning, she started to have contraction pains. Because of that, she was warded for observation before being discharged on Sunday evening.

Although the contractions have lessened considerably, we are expecting that the baby will be coming very soon.

I am praying that everything will be okay.

Machiavellian streak

Hmmm... if this test was to be believed, then I am "somewhat Machiavellian."

You Are Somewhat Machiavellian

You're not going to mow over everyone to get ahead... But you're also powerful enough to make things happen for yourself. You understand how the world works, even when it's an ugly place. You just don't get ugly yourself - unless you have to!

How Machiavellian Are You?

Not sure whether this is good or not.

Happy 50th birthday, Malaysia

Friday the 31st marked Malaysia's 50th birthday. The golden jubilee of Merdeka was celebrated with such grandeur befitting this important landmark.

I can only pray that the country will continue to be blessed with this invaluable gift of independence. Let's not take Merdeka for granted, and let's all be thankful by working hard to preserve independence.

MERDEKA!

Hyperdrive

It has been over a week since I last blogged. Not that there's nothing to blog, but I just felt I needed some time away from blogging to focus on my writing. I may take more time off from blogging again when the need arises.

Essentially, much of my time last week has been devoted to finishing my second novel. I couldn't do much writing at night as my son has been sleeping late. So, I had to use whatever free time I have during the day for writing.

I have nearly finished Transgenesis. The way it has turned out is quite a pleasant surprise for me personally. Just three more chapters to go before I pen my final word for the novel.

All throughout the week without blogging, I have also started thinking on other plotlines that could be further developed into either novels, short stories or drama scripts. This is what happened when the brain goes into hyperdrive all of a sudden.

So, if I suddenly become quiet right here in the blogosphere, you know where my brain is... in hyperdrive.