23rd - 25th November 2010: This time we visited Sydney which is one of metropolitan cities in Australia. It was a short visit but surely a memorable one. It was also a tiring visit because mostly we spent time walking from one attraction to another.
As most of people who visited Sydney, we didn't waste any opportunity to see with our own eyes the beauty of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. We arrived there at the afternoon with bright and hot sun on top of the head. It was a hot day indeed.
Also, we took a short ride on a ferry to Watsons Bay which is famous for its seafood. We spent about an hour and had our lunch there.
During the evening we walked around the Darling Harbour which has lots of nice restaurants, a mall and a very beautiful and relaxing scenery.
Other than sightseeing, we also visited a number of nice eating outlets in Sydney. Foods are delicious but a little bit pricey for us. And for sure we didn't forget to shop for a couple of souvenirs for the sweet memories we had in Sydney.
Some of the memories are captured in photos and you can see some of them in flickr.

Tuesday, 16th November 2010: Today is the day of AidilAdha (Eid al-Adha), a 'Festival of Sacrifice' day. In Australia, we celebrate it a day earlier than Malaysia. It is a very important religious day for Muslims because it is a day to commemorate the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Prophet Ismail as an act of obedience to Allah. But later Allah intervened to provide Prophet Ibrahim with ram instead.
The celebration starts after the pilgrims to Mecca descend from Mount Arafat where they performed wukuf or 'standing' which is one of hajj requirements.
This year is the fourth year we celebrate AidilAdha in Australia. Although it doesn't matter where we celebrate the day, but we really miss the celebration in Malaysia.
We would like to wish all Muslims a very happy and meaningful AidilAdha. We pray that Allah will bless us and accept all of  our good deeds especially on this auspicious day.

Eid Mubarak, Taqabballahu minna wa minkum.

Yesterday was the first day of Syawal month and also known as Aidilfitri (Eid ul-Fitri). It was a very special day for Muslims as it was a day for all Muslims to celebrate their success in performing one of the pillars in Islam, fasting from dawn to dusk in the month of Ramadhan. Although the special day is only one day but usually the celebration continues for the whole month.
As last year, we celebrated the day by performing Solat Aidilfitri at the Monash University Sport Complex with other members of Muslims community. The hall was totally packed and I believed some of the attendees couldn't pray together with us. But at least they were willing to come and then managed to hear the sermon delivered by Brother Fadhil Fachni.
Well, after that we straight went home because that day was a working and school day. My wife went to the university to continue her work, and Anis went to school because she had to submit a class project. As for Aina and Arfah, they stayed with me at home eating some hari raya foods prepared earlier by their mama.
For this year celebration, the Postgraduate students' open house was not on the first day of Syawal, instead it was organized on the second day which was on Saturday. The host for this year was Brother Azwardi who are living in a house with a spacious backyard. It was time to eat hari raya foods!

Happy Hari Raya Aidilfitri to everyone ...

Monday, 6th September 2010: Arfah turns 4 today. Our little sweet little baby has grown up to become a very talkative, active and smart toddler. In addition to that she is also a very discipline and problem-free kid. We are so lucky and blessed.
Nothing much to say on this special day. Just want to wish her a very Happy Birthday. May Allah bless you with a happy and meaningful life. And sorry because there is no birthday party this year.

Today is a great day for Malaysia. It is the 53rd Merdeka Day. The day Malaysians from all walks of life celebrate and commemorate Malaysia as a free and independent nation. It was 53 years ago that the Federation of Malaya gained independence from British colonial rule. It is a historical and important day that shouldn't be forgotten by all Malaysians.
On this important day, I want to wish to all Malaysians a very happy and meaningful Merdeka Day. Hopefully, everyone is celebrating the day in your own unique and meaningful ways together with family, friends, neighbours and fellow Malaysians. Please don't let the differences between us, let it be in the form of political inclinations, views, religious background, languages and ethnicity stopping us from celebrating this day

Happy 53rd Merdeka Day

Saturday, 21st August 2010: Today is the birthday of our sweet little girl, Aina. She is 9 this year. Indeed time flies so fast, it seems like yesterday we played with baby Aina. Today she is all grown up and her age has increased for another year.
There was no birthday party today because of fasting month. But, we did go out together to break our fast at the KFC in Endeavour Hill. It is Aina's favourite place to eat chicken burger and fried chicken. The birthday cake will be made tomorrow and Aina has planned to bring cup cakes to school on next Monday.
It really brought back sweet memories when we looked at our collection of Aina's photos. All her childhood behavior and whims really touched our heart.

So, happy birthday Aina. We pray and hope you have a very successful life and your future is full with happiness. We can't ask you to stop growing up but we can ask you for not stopping loving us. May Allah bless you always.

24th - 27th July 2010: Finally we managed to set foot on the Gold Coast, Queensland; a must go destination if your are in Australia. Some people say that you are not considered to have visited Australia, if you do not reach Gold Coast yet. So, we were there to fulfill those saying and to have a good holiday.
We visited three main attractions in Gold Coast, namely the Warner Bros Movie World, Dreamworld and also the famous Surfers Paradise beach. We had only 3 days. One day, one attraction.
For the kids, they really enjoyed the theme parks especially Anis and Aina. They rode almost all the rides, even the scariest ones. They even asked for more. We just realized that they are adrenalin junkies.
A number of golden moments was captured in the form of photos and videos. Some of the photos are available at my Flickr album. More photos will be added later including the videos.

Another edition of the World Cup came to an end  early this week. The 2010 edition took place successfully in South Africa. It was the first country in the African continent entrusted to host the World Cup. And trust is rewarded with a very good organization, on par with the previous hosting countries. Congratulations to South Africa.

There are some interesting things about the World Cup in 2010. First, the Vuvuzela introduction to the whole world. It is a traditional musical instrument that is widely used in football stadiums in every tournament in South Africa.

Second, the failure of World Cup 2006 finalists, Italy and France to go beyond the first round. Both teams failed to win any games and even struggling to have a draw. The controversy created by the French team also made this World Cup quite interesting. The list of controversies are so long but the famous ones are the sent home of Nicolas Anelka after he was at odds with the manager, the French players boycott training sessions, and also impolite behavior of Raymond Domenech refusing to shake hands with the South Africa manager Carlos Alberto Parreira after France lost to South Africa in the last match of the first round.

Third, the failure of favorite teams, Brazil and Argentina in quarter finals after giving promising and exciting performances in the first and second rounds. Most surprising was the defeat of Argentina to the Germany team with a 4-0 scoreline.

Lastly, worthy to mention is the success of the Spanish team qualified into the final for the first time and then ultimately become the champion. Spain managed to defeat 3 times finalist, the Netherlands with a late goal from Andres Iniesta at extra time. The World Cup 2010 has a new champion. Spain is now in the list of countries which managed to become the World Cup champion.



So, that is the summary of this year World Cup. I had been following the games for a month through live and delayed telecasts, TV and online news, and even joining the Yahoo! Sport Fantasy world cup. Unfortunately, I didn't watched the games which were aired at 4:30 in the morning, too late for me. This include the semi-final and final games. But, I managed to record the games in my laptop and then watched them next morning.

For information, I didn't watch all the games on TV but instead I was using my little laptop. The screen is not big but the quality of the live telecast especially the high definition ones were excellent. My laptop is equipped with a good DVICO hybrid high-definition TV tuner which I bought for the purpose of watching World Cup. At least by watching the games in laptop, I could do other things when the game bored me, and it also gave me opportunity to immediate give comment on my Facebook.

Well, this is the end of World Cup 2010 story. See you later in World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

Today, we have two big news in Australia or at least that are the news people are talking about now. First, the Socceroos are out of World Cup despite 2-1 victory over Serbia. Second, Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd is ousted from the office and Australia will get first ever female Prime Minister.
I believe the second news has more followers than the first one. It is expected because football (or soccer here) is not a number one and a famous sport in Australia. People are more into Australian rule football, rugby, cricket and tennis. That is the reason why we rarely find any live telecast of local football match in Aussie TV (is there any?).
But, at least Aussies can be proud of their team achievement to reach the World Cup and has a good world ranking although it is not a famous sport here and doesn't have many enthusiasts. Malaysians should learn something here and don't always too obsessed with the underperformed teams in Malaysian League.
The following is Socceroos 2010 World Cup Achievement:
a. Against Germany, Lost 0-4
b. Against Ghana, Draw 1-1
c. Against Serbia, Won 2-1

Today is the first day of May which is a Labor Day in Malaysia, and as usual it is a non-working day. For years, 1st of May is considered an important day by working people in Malaysia, or at least to those are actively involved in the labor unions. For the majority of them, the day is another holiday where they can rest at home or spend time with family.


There will be a May Day march in Kuala Lumpur where a few hundreds people shouting and demanding for better salary, better working environment and hours, better benefits and better God knows what. Also, there will be a big gathering in indoor stadium or hall where the local or federal government appreciating the workforce for their hard works and then announcing a few things about new labor rule or if lucky new salary schemes.
Whatever it is, happy Labor Day and holiday to all working people in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, here in Melbourne is totally different story because May 1st is not a Labor Day. But, it is a day for scary undead creatures to stalk Melbourne streets. It is a day where hundreds of zombies are marching toward CBD with their wide-eyed, scary moaning and dripping bloods. The undead will chant "brains" loudly at every turns and surely will shock many onlookers. The day is well-known as "Zombie Shuffle". Until now nobody knows the agenda of the zombie and maybe nobody cares.
Although the zombies are undead, they still have to follow strict rules such as road rules. The reason is simple, the authority doesn't want any zombies getting killed by cars or trams. They are also not allowed to intentionally frightening children, the elderly and animals. They are going to be the most well behaved zombies ever.

The two weeks school holiday is almost over. And what the kids have been doing all this while? Honestly, nothing much. Most of the time they stay at home playing computer and video games, watching TV and also playing with their friends next door. Not to forget endless activities which caused our home looks like a sinking ship especially their room.
Last weekend during Easter Sunday, we went to the Caribbean Gardens and Market which is located at Ferntree Gully Road near Scoresby, to give the kids opportunities to see the outside world and take fresh air. The kids got a chance to go around the Lake Caribbean by riding a boat which is known as Jungle Cruise. After a short visit to the market, we spent time at the playground before heading home.
Meanwhile, last Tuesday we went to the Hoyts cinema in Chadstone Mall to watch movie together. It was our first time going to the cinema in Australia. The movie was Nanny McPhee and the Bing Bang which was selected by the kids.
But before that we had a lunch at the Pancake Parlour restaurant. We were having varieties of menu such as Short Stack, Barramundi Fillet Plus Cottage Fries and Queen of Hearts. All of them are of course pancake related menu.

It seems that Australian federal MPs have nothing to do nowadays. Most of them are blurred and don't have any idea how to solve their own country problems. Yes, Australia has a lot of internal problems which are mostly being denied by the government and then swept under the carpet. Aussies MPs and government are living in denial.

Racism is deeply rooted here which has a couple of famous slogans, such as 'Fuck Off We Are Full!' and 'If You Don't Love It, Leave!'. Lately, Indian nationals paid a hefty price for being Indians in Australia. They were attacked and killed, but as usual the government is in denial by giving many funny excuses.

Then, religious freedom which is mentioned in Australian Constitution is selectively implemented. It seems that this freedom doesn't include Islam. It is so common that Islam and Muslims are being stereotyped, demonised and ridiculed in the electronic and print medias. There is no good thing mentioned about Islam and Muslims. Everything is bad and dangerous.

Unfortunately, in the desperate effort to cover their weaknesses in managing the country, the Australia federal MPs diverted the attention of Australians by talking bad about other countries including Malaysia. These unethical efforts are of course supported by biased Australian medias.

Recently, there was a group of more than 50 MPs who interfered with Malaysia's internal affairs by protesting the sodomy trial of Anwar Ibrahim. The protest was organised by Melbourne Labor MP Michael Danby who I believe never been to Malaysia before.

For your information Mr. Michael Danby, it is a crime in Malaysia to be involved in an act of sodomy. Although your country already de-criminalised sodomy (Tasmania was the last state to de-criminalised sodomy in 1997) and recognised same-sex couples, we in Malaysia still consider it a disgusting and forbidden act. Please don't force your questionable so-called human rights on us. Who are you? Are you better than us? We have our own values which we believe is much more better than yours. (Do animals ever involve in a sodomy act? Do animals have same-sex couples? Do we want to place ourselves lower than animals? Open up your eyes and your minds, the answers are in front of us all)

It is so shameful and unacceptable for those 'busy-body', 'not-so-smart' and 'clueless' Australia federal MPs to spend their time to protest about Malaysian judiciary system. They were voted in by Australians to become MPs in Australia not in Malaysia. So, they better clean up their own backyards which are still full of filthy rubbish rather than disturbing others. Please stop being a 'busy-body' and start working for people who voted you in.

It is better for all Australians to reject those politicians from representing them in the future. They are not doing the jobs that they are supposed to do which is to take care the welfare of all Australians. Instead, they are wasting Australians' tax money to interfere with other countries' internal affairs. They are wasting time talking and gossiping about other countries rather than thinking to solve problems in Australia. Reject them and Australia will become a better country.

And for Australian journalists, editorials, electronic and print medias, we advise you to mind your country own business. Why you never tired to demonise, bad-mouth and belittle Malaysia? Is your country too perfect, so you don't have anything to talk or write about it anymore? Please spend time to look more inside your own country. And if you still can't find anything bad, please look yourselves in the mirror. I am sure you can find some dark spots and blemishes here and there.

For people like Barry Wain who has some kind of grudges with Malaysia, I advise you to bug off and get a life! You are an old Aussie who should go back to the land down under, spend your life there and start contribute something meaningful to your own country. Stop making money and accumulating wealth by talking and writing bad things about other people. It is not a nice thing to do and it brings shame to all Australians. And we in Malaysia are wondering why you like Anwar Ibrahim so much ...