Sunday 23 September 2012

It's gadgets time again!

It is time for me to try different gadgets for this blogspot/website. Sometimes this entire blog will disappear. Do not panic. I am not an expert blog developer but it pays to try a few things. I will add a few things. So far this website is not worth as much as my other website, which is worth USD1mil. So don't panic. Stay calm and come and visit another time when this website is doing fine. I will make a copy of this blog before I venture into gadgets. Usually I will destroy my entire blog when I fall asleep, only to discover I have lost my blog when I wake up! It happens. So don't expect it doesn't happen. Unexpected things happen. My eldest daughter keeps reminding me to save a copy of this blog - I have never done it. I will now save a copy just in case this entire blog disappears. There's always a 3-month's grace in anything electronic before it totally gets deleted from the Blogger server, so there is still a safety margin or grace there in itself. Tak payah nak takut-takut nak cuba sesuatu yang baru,. That is what IT is to me. You don't try the unexpected, you will never get anywhere unexpected.

How to export/import a blog & How to save (backup) a blog:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2A2NATnKhss

I have saved this blog as an XML file, which is 6.76MB.
There are altogether 734 posts, of which 64 are drafts and 670 are published.
Published comments 164
Pageviews today 278
Followers 17
This blog has existed for 3 years, 3 months and 3 days.
The blog hit is presently 73,825.
This blog ranks at 5,382,401 (#1 is best).

I have created the TEMD Toolbar using Alexa, but it only works in Firefox and IE.
You can write a review about this blog (click the Alexa review button at right).

Resources on Accessible Web Design:
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Resources/web-design.html

Ismail bin Abu Sittee

I was browsing the USM collection of videos hosted by the Engineering Campus and saw this Hari Raya 2012 video. I decided to give it a try to see if the video runs on my laptop. It does run in HTML mode. It doesn't seem to work in the FLV mode (wonder why).
http://u-channel.eng.usm.my/videos/1406/klip-raya-kampus-kesihatan-2012

Anyway, half-way through the video, I saw my former schoolmate/classmate(?) from Std 1 at Sultanah Asma Primary School in Alor Star, Kedah - that was 1965. She is Asma bt Ismail, now Prof Asma Ismail.

I managed to write to her just before my book went to print. I was hoping to fix a passage for her in my book but maybe because I was hurrying through the last stages of editing, I totally omitted her info about her father. Who was he?

Asma's father, Encik Ismail, as he was known, was an educated man who served in Jitra, together with Tan Sri Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin (arwah). Tan Sri had requested me to find out about one man who appeared twice in 2 of his photos. At the time, it was a difficult request to fulfill and I thought it would be next to impossible to locate a man from 1965 today. His features would change and he may not look like he did in the photos that Tan Sri gave me. I was worried but I promised myself I would search for the man and made a photographic imprint of him so I could spot him if I saw him (a very big hope).

One day, I was going through a list of my schoolfriends from childhood; there were a few I remembered from 1965, in Std 1. One was Fauzaih Fakaruddin. Another who I knew much later at Tunku Kurshiah College (TKC) in 1974 and right through Form 6 at Methodist Boys' School in 1976, was Asma Ismail.

Asma's mother worked for my maternal grandfather, Dr Che Lah bin Md Joonos, a Penangite from Jelutong. I met the mother on a trip to the community clinic (Klinik Desa) at Sungai Dua. She worked there. When I met her she asked if I was Dr Che Lah's granddaughter and I replied yes. I had never met her before.

I later visited Asma and her family at home. I met her mother again, her 2 brothers and herself (eldest). Her father was not at home when I was there but for a brief time. Then her father returned and that was the first time I met him. He looked a bit like Tunku Abdul Rahman and I got confused. Why would Tunku appear in Asma's house? Then I was told that he was the father. In case you haven't noticed, the men in those days, they all wore their pants up high on the waist - I think it was a trend at the time.

Mr Ismail, as I remember him, was a quiet man of few words. He didn't say much. I probably told him who I was and he knew. Then I left. Her 2 brothers were my brothers' friends.

When Tan Sri Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin requested for me to search for a 'Mr Ismail', I hadn't the faintest idea that he was Asma's father. Time was a factor and he had changed. I couldn't figure out that this Mr Ismail, father of Asma, was the same man that had worked with Tan Sri Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin at the RHTC in Jitra, Kedah. It was only when I emailed Asma to ask about her father that we both discovered the missing link! That was after 9 email exchanges. It was great news for me but I could not get the new info in time into my books on The Early Malay Doctors. Asma's father died in 1992.

This is Asma's description of her father:

My father was Ismail bin Abu Sittee. He was the chief public health inspector of Penang. While in the Health Centre in Jitra Kedah he served as phi and health trainer under Raja Nordin and then under Siti Hasmah. My father was at Jitra till we transferred to Penang in 1969 when I was in Std 3. not in 1964. He was transferred to pg to take up the post of chief phi. He was a health trainer, a very good one at that. My public speaking ability in all probability followed his footsteps. I cannot make out the pictures sent. Pls resend. I have his pictures at home but would not be able to find the old pictures. My father was at Trengganu but never in Kelantan. He was big in malaria eradication but am not aware of yaws. He hardly spoke of yaws. I am privy to work done by my father in malaria since he brought home the gurus in the field from WHO. I met them all. I hope have shed some light on my father. Thank you for re living nostalgic memories. Pls ensure that the facts are right difficult as it is to dig up the past. Raja Nordin punya son Norman may shed more light. We played as kids in the Health Centre at Jitra. Don't think he remembers me. wassalam. 
Asma

Asma's father had also worked with Tun Dr Siti Hasmah in Kedah. I guess he would be in some of her earlier pictures taken in Kedah, before 1969. I have to ask Arkib Negara Malaysia if it can search for Encik Ismail, formerly at RHTC, and later as Chief Public Health Inspector in Penang. I will also need to search my grandfather's old photos for Encik Ismail.

Asma's father, Encik Ismail bin Abu Sittee (left) and Norman's father, Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin, at the RHTC in Jitra, circa early 1960s.

Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin is seated at the table edge. Encik Ismail bin Abu Sittee is standing at left, helping out with filming of the Malayan Yaws Campaign in Kelantan, in early 1960s.
Portrait of (Tan Sri) Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin bin Raja Shahbuddin, in 1965 when he went to UC Berkeley to  complete his MSc in Public Health. His Academic Supervisor was Prof Beryl Josephine Roberts.

Asma's mother, Hjh Aminah bt Yusoff, is linked to the first Malay doctor, Dr Abdul Latiff bin Abdul Razak.

Hjh Aminah Yusoff (photo was obtained from an A4 collage of female descendants of the Bugis Daeng warriors contributed by Zainuddin Dato Yahya). Dr Abdul Latiff was Hjh Aminah's granduncle.
Prof Asma Ismail (photo frame created from USM Aidilfitri 2012 video made by Zamri et al, UKAST). Her great-granduncle was Dr Abdul Latiff.

RAWATID

Assalamualaikum w.w.


KLINIK RAWATAN ISLAM DAN TRADISIONAL PUSAT ISLAM KAMPUS KESIHATAN (RAWATID)

Sukacita dimaklumkan Klinik Rawatan Islam Dan Tradisional Pusat Islam Kampus Kesihatan (RAWATID) telah dibuka pada setiap minggu mengikut maklumat seperti berikut:

Hari : Setiap hari Sabtu (9.30 pg hingga 12.30 tgh)
Tempat : Masjid Kampus Kesihatan USM

Warga kampus dan masyarakat sekitar yang mempunyai masalah penyakit terutamanya yang berkaitan dengan penyakit kerohanian dan gangguan makhluk halus dipelawa untuk mendapatkan rawatan tersebut. Rawatan ini adalah dengan kerjasamasa Darussyifa’ Kelantan. Klinik ini tidak menetapkan sebarang bayaran. Hanya Tabung Derma disediakan bagi pesakit yang ingin menyumbang derma ikhlas. Untuk mendapatkan rawatan bolehlah terus datang pada waktu klinik dibuka atau bagi mendapatkan maklumat lanjut bolehlah menghubungi Pusat Islam Kampus Kesihatan USM di Ext: 1067/ 1068/ 013-2331150 (Ustaz Rosdian)

Rosdian Hassan
Penyelaras Klinik

Malay beliefs and concerns

I will share with you some of the emails I received re Malay beliefs and their concerns. I cannot interpret them nor do I understand everything but I will share them here with you. You can interpret them.

[1] 8 December 2010

sekadar bertanyakan pendapat..

kebanyakan bpendapat,org tua2 dulu banyak 'memakai' dan bnda tu manjadikan beliau susah nak meninggal dunia kena 'pelepas' dengan barbagai cara.Sejauh mana benda ni benar dan bagaimana pula dengan isu 'menteri' dan 'main makyong' itu ..adakah benda ini blh diambil kira atau secara kebetulan??Pohon penjelasan dari yang lebih arif...nauzubillah drpd dilaknati Allah. 


[2] 8 December 2010

Tak kalamulo, sebutkato muluk, sederak pado hati, 
melaye pepeh, bogolek mari, jatuh kemano, jatuh kemato  melerat ke hati,
asal titeh anak rajo mudo, mano mari asal segunung tujuh, tujuh puteri,
puh kane, puh kiri....

Ilmu ore dulu-dulu. Ado (Banyak tahyul+ khurafat)
Memakai tu Wajib...Kalau tak pakai itu HARAM.. (tak tutup aurat)..
Keyakinan kepada Allah lebih utama.
(Ilmu hitam dan janji Iblis pengoda yang akan menyesatkan umat Anak Adam sehingga akhir zaman).



[3] 8 December 2012

Tengok keadaan
Makyong ,menora, wayang, kulit, selampit adalah sejenis hiburan terdapat juga unsur khurafat.
Mainteri, bageh tu untuk rawatan sah guna makhluk halus

orang dulu-dulu orang biasa pun "memakai" lebih-lebih lagi ahli dalam bidang tersebut diatas.
Ada kumpulan makyong sekarang ini menyatakan mereka tidak mengamalkan unsur khurafat.
mereka cuma lakonkan sahaja upacara-upacara yang diamalkan oleh orang lama-lama.


[4] 8 December 2010

Kita tak leh blame orang lama, kerana itu aje ilmu yang digalakkan oleh Inggeris selama 500 tahun. Orang baru ni patut dipersalahkan, kerajaan kita dah banyak membantu. Tapi yang balog liat tu dok macam tu juga.


Alam Melayu

Back in 2010, I was still struggling with the definition of the word 'Malay' or 'Melayu'. I visited ATMA UKM website and studied about the Malays there (online). This is the ATMA UKM Site Admin's email to me at the time. It is a good site and has a lot of stuff about the Malays.


Subject: Malaycivilization.ukm.my Portal Transformation
Sent By: "malaycivilization portal" <malaycivilization.portal@gmail.com>  
On: November 20, 2010 3:17 AM
To: Prof Faridah


Dear Faridah Abdul Rashid,

Greetings of the Day!

Pleased to inform you that Malaycivilization.com portal has been transformed successfully. This portal was developed by the Institute of the Malay World and Civilisation (ATMA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 2002 to meet the information needs of local and international researchers in Malay world studies. It is now ready to be accessed by users at its URL address malaycivilization.ukm.my with lots of content and interactive features like blog, discussion, review etc.

Please explore it and provide your valuable feedback or suggestions.

Thanks & Regards,
Site Administrator

Useful links:
Institute of Malay World and Civilisation (ATMA): http://www.atma.ukm.my
Prospectus ATMA: https://smp.ukm.my/kemasukan/gsb/pdf/ProspectusATMA.pdf
SARI (ATMA journal): http://www.ukm.my/sari/

Contact:
Director
Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu (ATMA),
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 
43600 UKM, Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel : 603 8921 5254 / 5280 Faks : 603 8925 4698
Website : http://www.atma.ukm.my
E-mel : pghatma@ukm.my

USM Convex 46

Here are the photos of the promotion for the book, Research on the Early Malay Doctors 1900-1957 Malaya and Singapore at the USM Convex 46 in Penang on 19-23 September 2012. The students did the promotion (Fatihin - Science Forensic 2, Zaki - Biomedicine 2, Aiman - Sports Science 2, Shaada - Medic 2 and Vani - Medic 2). This is the first public display and promotion of the book. Will be doing more promotions in future, insyaAllah.

Contact person:
Ahmad Fauzan Zainal Bakri
Year 2 Medicine
USM Medical School
16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia
syabab_addeen@yahoo.com


USM Health Campus booth
Theme: Alternative Medicine




Book on display at the first booth, Introductory Booth ...