Voices in my head

That famous and oft-quoted line from the movie The Sixth Sense suddenly comes to mind. "I see dead people...," so said Cole Sear, the character played brilliantly by Haley Joel Osment.

Don't get me wrong. I do not see dead people. But I have been hearing voices in my head. More specifically, when I read books.

For the past couple of months, I have noticed that whenever I read books written by people I know personally, the words on the pages "speak" to me when I read them. And the voices that I hear are the voices of the people who wrote them, right down to their intonation. It is a surreal experience, most definitely, because I find myself hearing the words rather than reading them. It is as if the authors are speaking to me instead of me reading their work.

Somehow I don't feel that this is something that I should get freaked out with. Instead, I find this experience rather stimulating. It makes reading more interesting. I guess that is one of the reasons why I could finish reading three books at one go, virtually cover to cover, last night. Rather than reading as a mere visual experience, reading has now become an auditory experience as well.

I mentioned this experience to a friend earlier this afternoon. I may be off-tangent, but he seemed somewhat worried with what I told him. Anyone else has a similar experience, or at least knows of anyone else going through this experience? Do share.

Like I said earlier, I am not freaking myself out by this development. I prefer to look at this from a positive point of view. It enriches my reading experience. Either that, or I have obtained a mutant power.

"I hear my books talking."

New personal benchmark

I have been writing academic articles for journals since 1998. All these articles are mainly for locally-published journals. During this time period, I have not actually written anything for international journals, even though I have presented academic working papers in international conferences and also contributed to chapters in internationally-published academic books.

A few months back, Professor Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman of the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya asked me whether I would be interested in co-writing an article for an international journal. Most definitely, my reply was in the affirmative. Earlier this evening, I received an e-mail from Professor Adeeba informing me that the article has been accepted for publication. The article will be published in the journal's issue due in April 2010.

The journal is the International Journal of Drug Policy, which is an ISI-WoS journal with a high impact factor. Professor Adeeba, by the way, ranks at number 15 in the Top 20 academics in Universiti Malaya who publishes in these high impact factor academic journals.

I am very grateful to Professor Adeeba for giving me this very valuable opportunity, and I am also thankful to Allah SWT for providing me with this avenue for my academic development. This first step is actually a new personal benchmark for myself. I hope to continuously challenge myself to do better in all that I do.

Writing mode in full swing

Writing is something that I love doing. But as with most things, writing is also something that is very much dependent on mood swings.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been writing quite a lot. Most of the things that I write lately seems to focus more on academic stuff. Creative writing seems to be temporarily on hold. Of course, my attention lately is more towards writing up my thesis.

I pray that I be given the strength and good health so that I can continue to write consistently (and subsequently complete) my thesis.

[Note: The picture in this posting has nothing to do with this blog entry. It's there just for a smile or perhaps a giggle].

Heartfelt condolences

The news of the passing of Datuk Pian Sukro, the Chairman of the Energy Commission took me by surprise this morning. He passed away in Rome, Italy. I do not know him personally but I most certainly know his wife, Professor Datin Dr Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian whom I worked with way back in 1997-1998.

My heartfelt condolences to Professor Kobkua and her family.

Al-Fatihah!

The perfect straight line

I am currently editing a compilation of articles for a philosophy book to be published by the Centre for Civilisational Dialogue, Universiti Malaya. I came across a phrase I personally feel very interesting:

Science is not about drawing the perfect straight line.

Of course, this phrase can be interpreted in many ways. To me, most people look at science as a means to achieve perfection. But ask anyone who is a scientist, in conducting experiments, it is well-nigh impossible to draw a perfect straight line from the data gathered from the experiments conducted.

Students who study science have the tendency to manipulate and change their data so that they can draw the best straight line. Such manipulation is a manifestation of insincerity, and hence affects the students' integrity as future scientists. For, if this is to be allowed and if this is a common practice, are we to say that in the search for perfection, we are allowed to cheat? What then is the meaning of perfection when the road leading to it is far from perfect?

To me, these are thought-provoking questions. As a part-time lecturer teaching History and Philosophy of Science, I believe that the above-mentioned phrase can be a topic for a lengthy discussion all on its own.

Less blogging, more writing... and other things

I can't seem to get myself to blog as often as before. I am unsure why this is so. I still have much to comment on, but most times when I get on the Internet, I just could not bring myself to focus on blogging. At the most, I would only blog hop friends' blogs.

I hope to be able to blog more frequently although not as often as before. Blogging is a good training to polish up on my writing. But at the same time, there are other commitments that have taken up quite a bit of my time.

Although 2010 is still a couple of months away, I can say in almost certain terms that blogging won't be heading the list of things to do in 2010. I have several targets that I have set for next year, and most of them involve writing but blogging, fortunately or otherwise, is not one of them.

My number one priority is of course to finish up the writing of my PhD thesis. I do not wish to prolong this any longer. All the materials for writing up the thesis have been gathered. What I need to do now is to push myself to sit down and write it all up. Sounds easy, but believe me, I find myself staring at the computer screen without actually doing much.

I have also tasked myself to be more productive in coming up with academic journal articles. This is perhaps an avenue which I haven't actually pushed myself into doing in the past. Actually, if everything does go as planned, my first international journal article will be out in the first quarter of next year. More info on this in the future.

Aside from this, I also owe my publisher the manuscript for my third novel. I have started writing this, but it is quite difficult for me to find the momentum to keep going as I get sidetracked with other things. Coincidentally, I am writing two novels simultaneously - both of which I hope to get published in 2010.

The work at the office also involves a lot of writing and editing. I am currently editing an autobiography, re-editing the second print of a book that Yayasan Ilmuwan published some time back, assisting with the writing of another autobiography, co-writing a book, co-ordinating the editing process of a number of other books, and trying to write a few books myself. I know this sounds like quite a workload but this is actually far less than what I had to shoulder at my old work place. By comparison, this is more like a breeze rather than a storm.

For the past few months, I have also been active in presenting working papers and giving talks at least once a month. Next month, I will be presenting a paper at Bio Malaysia 2009, the biggest biotechnological event for the country. The conference programme can be seen at this link.

I know it sounds like my life revolves around writing. And to most people, I guess, this sounds boring and monotonous. The fact of the matter is that I am loving what I am currently doing, and I do not plan to stop doing this, at least not in the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, I am trying to spice up my routine by doing things that I don't normally do, or by doing things which I have stopped doing for a long while.

One of this is travelling. Having said this, I have to admit that my travelling plans are not exactly holiday trips but rather working trips. I have quite a list of countries to go to beginning December. I will shed more light on this when the details are clearer and firmer. But probably as a hint or a teaser, the December trip will be like returning to a place where I was most fond of.

Respect thy customer

I am a firm believer of giving credit when credit is due. If a service rendered goes beyond expectation, I think that it is only fair that the service be praised as exemplary. An example is the experience at the Immigrations Department that I blogged a few months ago.

I am also a person who does not tolerate rudeness and non-professionalism. Again I have blogged about this before in this entry. To me, a service that is given in a manner not professional and worse still, rude is a service that does not deserve my patronage and hard-earned money. If I had a bad experience at a place, I will no longer go to that place.

This past couple of weeks, I have been extremely busy with work at the office. As such, I don't really have that much time to spend on meals. Most times, I would choose one of the three cafes in my office compound as they are the most convenient.

On Thursday, at around 11:45 a.m., I decided to have an early lunch since I had an appointment at 12:30 p.m. at the office that will most likely eat up my normal lunch time (no pun intended). The cafe that I went to is literally just a few steps away from my office. Anyone who is familiar with my office would know which cafe I am referring to. I chose this "red" cafe (which supposedly promotes Penang, the "island" where I was born) to have my lunch simply because it was the nearest and most convenient. Should my guest arrive early, I could easily hurry myself back to the office.

When I arrived at the cafe, there were only three other people sitting at one table. I noticed they were waiting for their take-away order. A waiter almost immediately attended to me. I put in my order, and about five minutes later my drink arrived. While waiting for my food, I sipped the drink I ordered.

Around this time, I noticed that the three people at the next table who were waiting for their take-away order actually ordered something for 15 people! I knew at this point in time that my order would take a while to be ready. I also noticed that there was only one cook in the kitchen, which to my mind was odd, because lunch time is a busy time for an eatery. To only have one cook during a busy period was plain ridiculous.

I glanced at my watch. The time was already 12:10 in the afternoon. I had already waited for almost 25 minutes. Even the three people who ordered take-away meals for 15 people were still waiting for their order to be ready. My glass was almost half empty.

Knowing that there was no way I could have my lunch in time before my 12:30 appointment, I called the waiter to inquire how long it would take for my food to be ready. Innocently (and I must say quite rightly), the waiter went into the kitchen to ask the cook. At this juncture, I could distinctly hear the cook scolding the waiter (and indirectly scolding me) with a very loud voice. He said something to the effect that, "Be patient! Can't you see there's only one of me? Can't he wait?"

The cook's voice was indeed audible. I heaved a heavy sigh. The cafe's captain then came to me apologising for the lateness (but not for the cook's outburst). I told him just to cancel my order, and I would pay for the drink I just had. After paying, I walked back to the office without even having lunch. By then, I had also lost my appetite.

This is just another example of people who are not professional and sincere in doing their jobs. In the first place, there seems to be no respect for the paying customer. The principle of "the customer is always right" does not seem to apply. Scolding a customer whether directly or indirectly is something that should never be done. Chances are, as in my case, you will lose your customer.

Secondly, the management of the cafe should have been more professional in managing the running of the cafe. Anyone with a logical mind would be able to say that there should be more people during peak hours. Frankly, you would never face this kind of a problem at a mamak stall.

Sometimes I truly wonder if there is ever a place "where everyone knows your name". As I said earlier, places like this cafe do not deserve my hard-earned money. I have decided not to step into the cafe again. After all, there is no point going to a place if you don't get the respect a customer deserves.

And when you choose to do that to a blogging and Facebooking customer, then word would certainly spread almost instantaneously!

Wishing her well

My colleague Encik Mazilan and I went to Seremban on Monday to visit Puan Adawiyah Yassin. As a result of her stroke, she has been bed-ridden for a month now. In spite of her condition, she remains strong-willed.

I pray for her recovery. Her strength in facing this test is indeed a motivation to everyone.

Joy and sorrow

I was back in Kedah over the weekend. My parents organised a kenduri kesyukuran as they will be going to Makkah for their Haj in about two weeks time. Many relatives and friends came over to wish them a safe journey. It was quite a touching scene actually to so many people coming over and praying for my parents' safe sojourn for their pilgrimage.

On the same day of the kenduri, two friends namely Szakif and Sholihin were at the International Islamic University Malaysia for their convocation ceremony. My heartfelt congratulations to the both of them on their academic achievement, and I pray that they will continue to achieve success in their respective careers.

Later that same evening, I received a text message from the son of someone I have known for many years. His mother Puan Adawiyah Yassin, affectionately known as "Kak Ada", had suffered a stroke and is now unable to speak. Kak Ada was my producer back when I was a contributor to the Voice of Islam, a radio channel aired by RTM. According to the message, Kak Ada has been discharged from hospital and is now in Seremban. The news took me by surprise. I pray that her health will improve and that she and her family be strong in this trying times.

Around the same time I received the text message regarding Kak Ada, I received another text message from my colleague Encik Mazilan who informed me that our executive chairman at Yayasan Ilmuwan, Dr Khairul 'Azmi Mohamad, had just underwent a surgery in Johor Bahru. He is recovering well from the surgery. I pray for his speedy recovery.

Quite an eventful and emotional weekend indeed.

Congratulations, Prof Abu Bakar

Yesterday, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Professorial Lecture of Professor Dr Abu Bakar Abdul Majeed at Universiti Teknologi MARA. His lecture was on the issue of cloning and other bioethical issues entitled "To Clone or Not To Clone... and Other Ethical Issues in Pharmacy and Medicine".

I have known Professor Abu Bakar since I joined the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM) way back in 1998. In more ways than one, he was my mentor and teacher when I was then a junior officer at the institute. His articles and talks are always thought-provoking and inspiring. His Professorial Lecture yesterday was no different.

I must congratulate Professor Abu Bakar on his lecture that was awe-inspiring. I noticed many in the audience gave great interest to his delivery, and even after the lecture many people went up to him to not only congratulate him but also to get his further comments on the issue that he put forward. Rarely do people talk about cloning from the academic point of view. To hear Professor Abu Bakar talk on cloning from an academic and an Islamic point of view was indeed fascinating.

I wish Professor Abu Bakar all the best in his future undertakings. He has recently been promoted to the rank of Assistant Vice Chancellor of UiTM. I believe he has a bright future ahead of him.

Subtitling gone wrong

I cringed when I watched an episode of "National Geographic" on TV1. The narrator mentioned the word "deforestation".

And the subtitle read "stesen depot".

Huh?

More subtitling horror here.

A week away for Aidilfitri

I have not had that many opportunities this year to return to my hometown up north. So, this year's Aidilfitri was the opportunity for me to head up to Kulim for about a week.

I left the capital on Saturday morning right smack into a seven-hour drive to Kulim. On a normal day, it will take just over four hours but because of the long festive holiday, people were leaving Kuala Lumpur in droves.

The weather throughout Aidilfitri has been quite unpredictable this year. I didn't actually move around that much, just jetting from my parents' house to my mother-in-law's house throughout the week. Relatively speaking, this year's Hari Raya was quite quiet.

The week away was also good in that I stayed away from the Internet. It's quite a relief to actually have a life outside the virtual world. Anyway, now that I'm back in KL, chances are it will be back to routine.

In any case, allow to me to take this opportunity (belated though it may be), to wish all my friends and blog visitors, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and maaf zahir batin.

Blame it on Facebook

I know I haven't been blogging in quite a long while. Blame it on Facebook.

I also know that I don't get that many visitors anymore. Blame it on Facebook.

I noticed that the number of physical Hari Raya cards sent and received this year has dwindled tremendously. Blame it on Facebook.

I also noticed that not many shops actually sell Hari Raya cards this year. Blame it on Facebook.

I noted that the number of e-mail notifications has increased twenty-fold. Blame it on Facebook.

I also noted that I don't actually send out that many e-mails anymore. Blame it on Facebook.

I observed that many friends have taken up virtual farming. Blame it on Facebook.

I also observed that many colleagues are enjoying the virtual world more than the real world. Blame it on Facebook.

But bottom line, in my case at least, I have managed to get in touch with many long lost friends. You can blame that on Facebook too.

Mistaken identity

This happened twice to me in the last two weeks.

Last week, I received news that "Prof Halim" of Universiti Sains Malaysia passed away. But it turned out that the "Prof Halim" who passed on was the one in Universiti Malaya.

Tonight, I received news that "Dato' Ismail Kamus" passed away, when in actual effect, it was "Datuk Ismail Salleh" who passed on.

It is understandable that people would spread news of someone's death without giving it a second thought. But one lesson I think we can all learn from all this is that, whatever the news may be, in this day and age of fast information, it is worthwhile to stop and check first.

Online forms not original?

Last Monday, I took my parents to the Immigrations Department to have their passports done. As I had blogged some time back, my experience dealing with the department was pleasant. The experience on Monday was similar. The service provided by the department was efficient, prompt and pleasant. The whole process took less than one hour much to my parents' delight.

However, there was one thing that I found somewhat "odd". My parents had to fill a form in order to get their passports. It was the same form that I had to fill up when I renewed mine. So, I went to the department's website to download and print the form. My parents had the form filled up at home before going to the department.

Here comes the odd part. When we got there, the officer at the counter informed us that the downloaded form could not be used. Instead we have to use the "original" form. I find this pretty absurd. Why have the forms online for people to download and print, when people have to use the original forms?

Ramadhan is here again...

I know this post is somewhat late as Ramadhan has started on Saturday, but nonetheless, may I wish all Muslim friends and visitors a blessed Ramadhan.

Where can I get this?

I received this picture in my e-mail. Any idea where to get one of these delicious-looking keyboards?

Reading Room

Two of the books I edited when I was with IKIM are reviewed in a column called "Reading Room" in The Star. Incidentally, these were the last two books that I edited during my tenure at the institute.

Unfortunately, I could not find any links online for this column. As such, I am reproducing (by retyping) the part which featured the two books.

READING ROOM

Compiled by ROUWEN LIM

Food and Technological Progress

Author: Multiple authors; edited by Shaikh Mohd Saifuddeen Shaikh Mohd Salleh, Azrina Sobian

Publisher: MPH Group Publishing

193 pages

We all need to eat to live. Common food-related issues that are raised globally include famine and poverty, nutrition, ethics, and shortages. The subject of food in relation to Islamic beliefs is rarely, if ever, raised in detail. This book delivers an Islamic perspective on the subject of food security; the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe food; and the ability to acquire food in socially acceptable ways. It maintains that it is important to fulfil the criteria of halalan tayyiban (lawful and of good quality).

Genealogy and Preservation of the Progeny

Author: Multiple authors; edited by Shaikh Mohd Saifuddeen Shaikh Mohd Salleh

Publisher: MPH Group Publishing

223 pages

This is a guide to upholding the tenets of Islamic religion against the challenges of the biotechnology age. It kicks off its argument with referencing Islam as a way of life and goes on to explore various dimensions of biotechnology in relation to preservation of the progeny. It is likely the first book to link one of the objectives of Islamic law, maqasid al-shariah (preservation and safeguarding of the progeny), to advancements in biotechnology.

That one decision in life...

I am somewhat nostalgic, perhaps overly-nostalgic, this afternoon. For some reason, I got myself thinking about my memories of Scotland, a place where I called home for nearly half a decade. Without actually realising it, it has been 13 years since I left Scotland. Time does actually fly, I guess.

Never in my wildest dreams when I was growing up would I think that I would wound up in Scotland. But alas, that decision that I made in December 1991 changed the course of my life. Regrets I have none. Only fond memories of the lochs and the bens of Scotland, as well as its unique culture and friendly people that I got to know over the years.

While it is true that there is no place like home, and home to me is Malaysia, I have to say that if ever there is a second home for me, then Scotland would be the place.

H1N1 music video

Message through music.

It's funny but I hope it drives home the message.