Goodbye KK - 19 May 08

We woke up at 7am, and got to the breakfast room at 8am. It was full, and we got a table near the back and promptly got down to some serious eating. Since our airport pick-up was at 1030am, we rushed back to the hotel to finish packing, and left the room to check-out at 10am. Our coach arrived at 1045am and we reached KK's LCCT at 11am.

While waiting to board the plane, an AirAsia staff turned a lot of heads. She turned out to be a stewardess on our flight, thank god. There was friendly banter among the men in the queue, and Azie encouraged us even more. I have never enjoyed a 2 hours flight than today's. I even paid attention when they had the safety briefing!! Anyway, I managed to speak to the lovely stewardess when I said to her, 'one nasi lemak and one nasi beriani'. She even spoketo me, "would you like a drink, sir?'

The food arrived in plastic containers, that doesn't do justiceto the RM8 bucks we paid for them. We arrived LCCT at 230pm and missed the first AirAsia coach to KL Sentral. We got the next one and reached Sentral at 330pm tired and hungry. Got some lousy food at the mamak restaurant next to the Monorel station, and caught a cab home. I couldn't wait to reach home, and I wasn't dissappointed when we were at the gate when our daughters screamed with delight to see us.

After a long 2 days, I was finally reunited with the lights of my life. Uploaded the latest pictures and showed mum and the girls our little holiday. After dinner, we set off for Sentul to send Rini and Adah home. Bg Meor looked well and his knee can bend more than 90 degrees. Got home at 10pm and put the girls straight to bed. While I was rocking my babies to sleep, I realised how much I loved them, and what would I do without them around. It just wouldn't be the same and that made me love them even more. I fell asleep with fond memories of the flight home, and my terrible nasi beriani meal and .......zzzzz

Kota Kinabalu Day 2 - 18 May 08

I woke up at 524am with a bad back ache, due to the walk and the soft mattress. Got dressed and left the room at 715am to go for breakfast. Found out breakfast was served at another hotel, Imperial, whichI thought was silly and the hotel should inform their guests by providing directions or briefing them.The restaurant was located on the rooftop and was quite nice, which cooled me down a lot. Had a nice egg omellette with toast but the coffee was weak.

After a hearty breakfast, set off for the tamu at 8am. Instead of going to the Jln Gaya tamu, we went to the seafront, where we found a small tamu right next to the Filipino Market. Discovered some weird things like green barnacles, edible brown corrals and live rock garoupa that didn't swim around. Just before we left the tamu, we saw a lady frying something in 3 little woks. It looked too oily so we didn't buy any.

When we reached the roadside, Azie hailed a bus which happened to be heading for Kampung Likas. It was a small mini bus, with loud Hindustani music blaring for its speakers. The bus followed a coconut tree-lined coastal road and entered the kampung area, which had an equal number of wooden and brick houses. I then understood why some Sabahans envied the development that is taken for granted by their countrymen on the Peninsular. Our driver and conducter then decided that it's time for their breakfast, and proceeded to pull over to buy some mee hoon at a roadside stall. At the end of the journey, we were told that the Yayasan Sabah building was only 'about' 1 km by foot,and it's 'just over the bridge'. So, we set off on foot, crossed the busy road and over the bridge,and then realised....oi, it's more than 1 km!! Anyhow, we reached the roundabout in front of theYayasan Sabah building (which was nothing to shout about), and then decided to go back to town on the first thing that we can get, which happened to be a van.

We got off near Kampung Ayer as we wanted to check out the tamu along Jalan Gaya. Well, we found out the hard way again that Jln Gaya was a very long road, and we joined the tamu somewhere in the middle.It's quite an interesting tamu, with a nice mixture of stalls selling pearls, wood carvings, freshorchids, different snacks, clothes, shoes etc. We got our stock of Sabahan snacks and made our wayback to the hotel. Azie got into a movie on TV, while I went over to the cafe to update my holiday pics.

After a much needed rest, we set off by taxi at 445pm to Tanjung Aru. We were dropped off at the main building, which housed a modern upmarket seafood restaurant. We then walked along the path fronting the sea, and got our first view of the Sabahan coastline. Wished I had my swimming trunks with me as the water really looked inviting. At the far end of the path we found a large complex that has close to100 small stalls selling all types of food. I saw an interesting way of displaying different types ofpickled fruits (jeruk), and fresh fruits. When we decided to sit down for a snack, I ordered an ABC while Azie ordered Satay Punggung Ayam. My ABC was interesting, the bottom part has a condensed milk base with black grass jelly (cincau), red cendol, sweetcorn, topped off with slices of watermelon and honeydew and 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream. After finishing off the pickled fruits, steamed groundnuts and corn on the cob, we continued our walk on the beach to catch the sunset.

Tanjung Aru (Bay of Pines), is a huge crescent shaped bay. At 6pm, the beaches had dots of people here and there. We headed for the far end of the beach but realised that it's about another km away, so we stopped at a boat carrier. While waiting for sunset, I chatted with Azie, and only later I realised that we haven't chatted like that since we had Adriana and Alyssa. Gradually the sky turned redder by the minute, and eventually the sun became a red circle, and then the sky transformed into this beautiful kaleidoscope of colours, with shades of red, orange, yellow. It was a spectacular scene, and I kept busy taking shots of the sunset, as well as sillhouetes of Azie.









By 6:55pm it was all over, so Azie suggested we eat a snack of sotong panggang (barbequed squid). The service was so slow that we walked off, and took a cab back to town to go to the pasar malam area. We found a huge seafood restaurant near Kampung Ayer,and decided to have our dinner there. We ordered BBQ squids and Cantonese noodlesw which was delicious, but the squids were a little salty. After dinner, we walked around the area and saw GSC, and simply walked in and bought tickets for Iron Man. It was an entertaining movie, but I thought they could have developed each character further. Anyhow, we enjoyed the movie, and had a nice walk back to the hotel, and reached our room at 11pm. All in all, today started off interestingly, and ended with a great movie. Boy, were we tired, and the sight of our made up room was a sight for sore butts...er I meant...sore eyes...LOL

Return to Kota Kinabalu - 17th May 08

Got up at 215am and got ready by 230am. Didn't want to disturb the girls as they were fast asleep. Cab arrived at 245am and went straight to Sentral to catch coach to LCCT. When we arrived Sentral, we were hijacked by an Aerobus tout who sold their ticket at RM8 and said their bus leaves at 315am, 15 minutes before AirAsia's coach. We were conned and bought the ticket and boarded the bus, which only left at 330am. The drive was fine until they changed drivers at the UKM toll, who drove at 120 km and left us flying in our seats. Arrived LCCT at415am, and went for breakfast/supper at McD's. Had Azie's Chicken McDelight, while she had a porridge, kept the spare McChicken just in case. Checked in at 510am and went to Gate 9. Boarded at 630am, sat on 2nd row from the front, and the plane did take off at 650am.

Even though it was an Airbus, the seats were very tight and cramped, my knees had just 1 cm of clearance which made it really uncomfortable. Both of us got some much needed shut-eye which left us with a bad neck ache. We arrived KK at 905am, and the landing was smooth which ended with a tight left turn. We were made to wait for 10 minutes for our luggage, and only got out of the airport at 945am. Our airport transfer was also nowhere in sight, so I started my survey of KK by getting a map from the Sabah Tourism counter.

Our coaster finally arrived, and we proceeded to our hotel, Radius International. We passed Sutera Harbour, which looked really grand from the outside. I got a shock when the coaster dropped us off in front of some grubby shops opposite Centrepoint but found out that Radius was located on the 7th floor of the building. We got out into a compact and modern looking lobby. Checking was painful as they took forever to sort out our 6 rooms. Then we found out breakfast was not included, which was sorted out with Kelly's travel agent. Since it was only 1030am, our rooms were not ready so we left our luggage and decided to go for a walk. Our feet brought us to Sinuran Complex where we found our breakfast at Kajjol Restaurant, which served nice crispy roti canai with milky but weak Nescafe Ais. The shop next door looked interesting as they served steaming soups, and the crowd that thronged the shop looked satisfied. Told the young man behind the counter that we'll be backfor lunch.

We then explored the Warisan shopping mall, which was interesting as they had small double storied shops. The central courtyard had small kiosks selling ice cream and steamed sweet corn and a playground. Went went back to the hotel at 12pm and were given the keys to Room 101, which was small and had no windows. I went back to reception and managed to get room 601, which was exactly the same size, but had a window looking out into a 'courtyard'. Took a much needed shower, and rested for a while by down loading pictures from my camera and mobile to my trusty laptop.
By 230pm we were hungry, and got dressed to get some food. We headed for the soup shop and we were not disappointed. I ordered Soup Tulang (Beef Soup) with white rice, while Azie ordered Noodle Soup(Mee Sup) and Rojak Mee (Noodle Rojak). The drinks reached our tables within 30 seconds, and all our food arrived within 1 minute after ordering!! I was pleasantly surprised as the restaurant was heaving with people, but service was outstanding!! The beef broth was interesting as it didn't have the taste of the normal spices I'm familiar with, like cloves, star anise, cinnammon stick and cardammon seeds. The taste was of boiled beef bones, some fried shallots and spring onions.

My 3 big pieces of beef came on the bone, which explains why the broth tasted so wholesome. We were also given a tray filled with condiments such as white vinegar, thick soy sauce, and a tub of fiery chilli sauce. Azie tried mixing the thick soy with the chilli sauce, which added the perfect zing to our beef broth. The beef itself was tender and was heartily downed with spoonfulls of mildly spicy beef broth. My white rice was also the perfect accompaniment to the soup. The rojak was also interesting as the gravy was thick and full of flavour, with keledek to make it thick. Instead of the usual squids, they added pieces of chicken breast and sliced beef to go with the julienne of cucumbers and tofu. We somehow managed to finish off our meal, which only came up to RM17, and Azie commented that this simple meal was more worth it compared to the McD's breakfast at the LCCT which cost us RM27!!

After checking out rows of interesting shops, we made our way back to the hotel for a rest. I went to get some drinks at Centrepoint, while Azie waited at the hotel. Finally found a supermarket at the basement and got some crisps and drinks. Got back to the hotel, took a hot shower and sat down to upload pictures. Azie called Rini, and we talked to our daughters for a few minutes. I then realised how they've grown as we're having an intelligent conversation with them. After speaking to them, I didn't feel so bad leaving them behind. Managed to get online, so updated my online family tree. Watched a hisdustan movie, followed with a monster crocodile movie until 530pm. Azie had dozzed off by then and I decided to take a nap and set my alarm clock for 7pm as we planned to check out the night market. Well, we must have been tired as we slept for 12 straight hours and only got up on Sunday morning!!

The day before leaving for KK - 16 May 08

The day started off as normal, with us bundling the girls into the carfor the journey to KL to send their mummy. Breakfast was at celah bedahwhere the bibik can't get enough of Alyssa & Adriana. Got home and brought mak to the pasar tani with Alyssa to get some veggie and to Giant to get chicken. Stopped by the pharmacy and got home at 11am. Since it was too hot, didn't go to for my jog.

Mak started to prepare lunch and since she was cooking my favourite sambal goreng, decided to start my video documentation of her famous recipes. Got some nice shots of the ingredients and videos of her cooking the dish. Mak Lim arrived at 4pm. After Friday prayers, sat down with a large tupperware of iced syrup and got busy with my online family tree. Got an sms from Unt Nik that she was arriving KL at 6pm.

Left home at 510pm and headed straight for PWTC. Since I was passing Sentul, thought wrongly of picking the girls up. By that time they were already on the LRT so abandoned the idea and went to PWTC. The girls were already in front of Legend, and Azie arrived10 minutes later. When we got to PWTC, Unt Nik was nowhere in sight, Azie found her behind the Putra Terminal. KL was badly jammed, so headed for Bank Negara roundabout, and went thru Penchala Link and reached home at 715pm.

Dinner was served and at 9pm left home to send the ladies to Cik Ka's house. On the way Unt Nik told some juicy gossip about the BP wedding, which continued at Cik Ka's house. Got home at 10pm, and only started packing at 1030pm. Went to bed at 1140pm and set the alarm clock for 2am.

Another day in my paradise - 13 May 08

Today is the anniversary of a dark point in the history of my nation. My hope is that our future generations will look back and vow never to allow such a thing to happen again. I also hope that we never forget the innocent lives that were lost through no fault of theirs, so that their deaths were not in vain.

After a quick wake-up call, Azie somehow got the girls ready in 5 minutes, and we set off for KL at 0725 hrs. The Federal Highway was in its normal state, jammed up with thousands of cars, so the drive was a slow laborious one. Thank god the girls are around, at least they entertained us with their versions of Rock A Bye Baby and It's A Small World After All!!

After a breakfast of toast and half boiled eggs, I dropped Azie off behind StanChart Building, and made our way home. We made our customary stop at the small Indian shop to get the girls' ration of crisps, and went straight home. Felt a bit tired, so decided not to go for my job, but caught up on local news by burying myself on the NST till lunch time.

Updated my family tree website and created a new blog on Wordpress to hold Mak's recipes. Found one of her old recipe books in the storeroom, and keyed in a recipe for Roti Kurma Bergulung.

Since Azie has some late appointments, I went for my jog at 1800 hrs on the new route. Somehow the neighbourhood looks so much different in the evening sun, with my long shadow 'running' infront of me as I make my way in the heat. Found 2 houses under renovation, made a mental note to go in and check out what these owners planned to do with their houses.

After a quick dinner of Black Pomfret cooked in Tomatoes, Japanese Crabstick and Chinese Cabbage Broth, and Spicy Egg Omelette, I went to the mosque for Magrib prayers, and immediately after I got home, we left home to pick Azie up in KL. As usual, the Federal Highway was packed, and to avoid the grief, I exited Armada Hotel and went through UM and cut through Pantai and Bukit Damansara to get to central KL. Arrived Pavilion at 2030 hrs, and went straight home. Got home at 2100 hrs, and with my eyes burning, I put the girls to bed by doing my human-rocking-bed-thing. I eventually passed out and came to at around 0130 hrs and couldn't will my eyelids to shut. So, I got up and sent that letter to the Editor of The Star on our low class football and asked the morons in FAM to resign. Happy with myself, I forced myself to sleep at 0230 hrs and zzzzzz...............

Man United 2 - Wigan 1 - We are the Champions!!!

Manchester United was crowned Premiership champions for the 10th time last night, after a testy game against a determined Wigan side, coached by United legend, Steve Bruce.
The day started off with me reading up on the football news in the local newspapers, as well as online news portals.

From the league table, it is obvious what the Reds have to do in this allimportant game. With United and Chelsea both on 84 points, United will win the Premiershiptitle if they draw with Wigan and Chelsea loose at Bolton, or United wins at Wigan and Chelseawins at Bolton. However, if United slip up and loose at Wigan and Chelsea draws Bolton, thenChelsea will win the Championship.

After a quick breakfast, Azie got the girls dressed up and went out with Shida to Subang Parade, leaving me and mum at home to our devices. I basically parked myself infront of my trusty laptopand got 8 hours of internet research under my belt. Thay came home at 2pm and nap time for the girls, so some peace and quiet for 3 hours. After a dinner of chicken rice and magrib prayers, I left home at 840pm and made my way to Syed Bistro to catch the game.

United played with their hugely successfull 4-4-2 formation, with Rooney and Tevez up front, Park, Carrick, Scholes and Ronaldo in midfield, Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand and Brown in defense withvan der Sar in goal. When I saw the teamsheet, I felt relieved and confident that we'll giveWigan a run for their money.

It started off the exact opposite with some positive attacking play by the home side at the JJBStadium. Within the first 10 minutes, Wigan tested United's defense by exploiting their aerial power courtesy of their captain, Emile Heskey. The brilliant 6'7" Chris Kirkland made some important saves, one effort from Scholes was goal bound, until Kirkland made a stunning save low to the right hand side.

In another attacking play, Wigan gave away a free kick 25 yards out, prime Ronaldo country. But again Kirkland pulled off a magnificent save to deny the Premiership Player of the Year. United pressed forward, and in a goalmouth scramble, Rooney was brought down and a penalty was awarded. Ronaldo as usual stepped up, and with supreme confidence buried the shot to the right, sending the travelling fans at the JJB Stadium, as well as the United fans at Syed Bistro jumping up and down with joy. 1-0.

After half time, United piled on the pressure with some brilliant passing play. Park and Evralinked up perfectly down the left flank, and when Park was substituted for Giggs, Park was given warm applause by the United faithful, while Scholes was taken off for Hargreaves. Wigan continued their onslaught, with some scary counter attacks and set-pieces, with Heskey coming close up to 5 times with his aerial power.

However, the defining moment was when Giggs was picked up right at the top of Wigan's penalty box, with a shrug of his shoulders, he calmly wrong footed Kirkland to put United 2-0 up to guaranteeUnited's championship.

At the final whistle, I breathed a sigh of relief, and after a hard fought campaign, we clapped our heroes for another brilliant win away, and our 10th Premiership crown. I promtly conveyed my feelings in an SMS to non-United supporters, with many of them preferring to keep mum and some cheeky Arsenal and Chelsea supporters daring a sarcastic rebuke!! All in all, I was a happy bunny and drove home with a satisfied smile on my face. That night I dreamt of flying free-kicks, dancing girls in United jerseys, red black and white balloons, and a brand new Premiership cup in my glass cabinet.....zzzzzzzzz

Sunday 11th May 2008 - Internet research at home

The entire Sunday was spent doing basic research on stuff like Javanese migration, Javanese in Singapore, 17th century religious teachers and Javanese in Johore.I found some pretty interesting websites, one of which explained how and why Javanese labourers were brought to Malaya by the British to work in the coffee, pepper and tobacco plantations.

Because the Javanese were thought to be of the same stock with the Malays, they were much more preferred than the Chinese and Indian labourers who dominated the tin mining and rubber industries respectively. I guess that would explain why so many of my family members had so many pieces of land in Batu Pahat due to their enterprising and hard workingnature.

Mother's Day Steamboat Dinner

On Saturday morning, Azie suggested that wedid a steamboat dinner to celebrate Mum'sDay, so after some furious SMS'sing, itsarranged for 6pm, so all of us were bundledinto the car to get the food stuff likedumplings etc at Giant. It was also my niece Aishah's birthday so my sister Kak Lin brought a birthday cake which we ateafter we cleared up the steamboat!! Boy,was I stuffed after this dinner!!

After my sisters left, I did some researchon other people's family tree, and stumbledupon a great one titled Pak Da Mud. Afterspending close to an hour checking out itsmany cool features, I thought this is thetool that I was looking for all this time.
So, I got my brand new website registeredas www.kiyaikendilwusi.tribalpages.comand I spent the entire Sunday keying inthe first page from my master family treeinto it.

Another day in paradise

Today started off like any other day, with my daughters voices breaking the still of the chilly morning. After a quick shower, I bundled the girls into the car and sent Azie to the Kelana Jaya LRT Station. On the way back, we did out customary stop at the University Garden 7-11 Store to get my Sun, and went looking for some crisps for the girls. Back home, and Bibik took over the girls by feeding them their lunch while they watched their 'Island Princess' vcd for the thousanth time.

I trawled through Star Jobs for anything interesting, and after finding an interesting one, I simply called to ask if a particular position has been filled. Aziah on the other line said it's still vacant and said that I can just come today as they are conducting walk-in interviews.

I then asked Bibik to iron my favourite white shirt and jacket, and got down to print an updated resume. Untie Wan and Untie Laila came, and after a quickly taken lunch, I left home at 2pm. I go the hotel at 230pm, and was ushered into a waiting room to fill up the application form. There were 6 other people in the room, and my turn eventually came at 4pm to meet En Rafi. I initially thought Rafi was the HR Manager, in actual fact he is the GM. As he went through my resume, he noticed that I worked at the KL Hilton, where he was also working as an Income Auditor with Ms Tham!! Since he worked under the same GM, Mr Andreas Bossard, I don't understand why I can't remember him. Anyway, the interview went well, and I believe I sold myself well. He promised to get back to me by early next week.

When I got out, it was raining cats and dogs. Azie said KL was packed so she'll stay back to finish her work, so I went straight home. Azie SMS's me to pick her up at 730pm, so I bundled the girls into the car and brought her home, and stopped over at Selera Utara for supper of Kuey Teow. By the time we got home its bedtime for the girls, so I became their human rocking chair and managed to put them to sleep by 11pm.

Pretty happy with today, and hope that something fruitfull will come out of it, insyallah.

Manchester United 4 - West Ham United 1

Last night saw a determined but under-strength West Ham United loose 1 - 4 to a rampaging Manchester United team who are due to wrap up another successfull Premiership campaign.

United fielded a strong 4-4-2 side with Tevez and Nani up front, supported byRonaldo, Scholes, Carrick and Park, with Evra, Brown, Ferdinand and Hargreaves and van der Sar at the back. West Ham fielded the best team available consisting of Zamora, Ashton, Boa Morte, Parker, Mullins, Noble, McCartney, Tompkins, Neill, Pantsil and Green in goal.

The game started off with a flurry of brilliant attacking play by the champions, with Ronaldo opening the floodgates in only the 3rd minute from a trademark meandering run down the right flank. With a deft flick of his right heel, he changed directions which caused the West Ham left back to slip, giving Ronaldo the extra millisecond to sprint 10 yards into the opposing penalty area and let loose a low hard shot that deflected off a defenders shin and into Green's goalmouth. 1 - 0.

From another attack down the right, Hargreaves intelligently changed to his left foot almost parralel to the penalty box and floated a beautifully weighted ball to Ronaldo, who somehow managed to manouver the ball goalwards with a swivel of his hips. 2 - 0.

United by this time are on auto cruise, and penetrated West Ham's defense at will. From another passing masterclass in the middle of the park, Carlos Tevez picked up the ball on the left halfway line, switched the ball to his favoured right foot, and let loose a screamer of a shot that swerved all over the place leaving Green pawing thin air. 3 - 0.

West Ham are playing like men possessed and their resilience was rewarded when Dean Ashton latched on Brown's mistimed headed clearance right in United's penalty box. The ball bounced once, and with Ferdinand backtracking to clear the ball, Ashton with his back to the goal executed a brilliant bicycle kick that arrowed into van der Sar's goal that made the travelling West Ham faithfull jump up with joy. 3 - 1.

Then in a moment of madness just before half-time, Nani headbutted Neill, and even though both players fell to the ground theatrically, the referee brandished the red card to Nani.

5 minutes after the restart, Carrick picked up the ball in the centre circle, and seeing acres of space, made a goalward dash and smashed a hard low shot, which took a lucky deflection off Neill making the scoreline 4 - 1, which stayed on till the final whistle.

Pakatan Rakyat Talk on 2nd May 08 at SS3/14 Hall

Last night I attended a talk organised by Pakatan Rakyat at the SS3/14 Community Hall near my house. It was touted as a "Program Pemimpin Bersama Rakyat Sempena Hari Pekerja' (Leaders with the People Programme Inconjunction with Labour Day). It was scheduled to start at 9pm so I decided to beat the crowd and left home at 815pm. When I arrived, the hall was empty so I visited the 10 odd stalls to while the time away.

The stalls are largely the same as during the campaign talk at Sungai Way in Mar 08, with some vendors selling drinks, boiled peanuts (kacang rebus), Malaysian style kebabs, a guy selling sinus (resdung) medicine, another dude selling massage oil (minyak urut), and 6 vendors selling VCD's of previous talks and t-shirts. I bought myself a black t-shirt with PKR's logo that looks like a Superman logo, 3 VCD's and a RM2 pass.

Before going in I stood outside the entrance and was approached by 3 very polite Chinese gentlemen, who asked about the speakers expected. From our lively discussion on past ceramahs, I found out that these gentlemen live closeby, and we had a whale of a time comparing notes on the transgressions committed by the old guard. It was also acknowledged by all that the talk organised by Pakatan Rakyat can never be possible before the tsunami hit our political shores. It was nice to see PAS supporters wearing skull caps working hand in hand with their allies from PKR and DAP in making last minute arrangements. Isn't this the true essence of what being a Malaysian is all about, the muhibbah spirit that transends race and religion that is all too lacking in our present society?

The muhibbah theme is again amplified by the speaker line-up for the evening with YB Nik Nazmi (PKR DUN Seri Setia), YB Dr Hatta Mohd Ramli (PAS), YB Ronnie Liu (DAP EXCO Selangor DUN Pandamaran), YB Nurul Izzah (PKR DUN LEmbah Pantai), Ybhg Ustaz Misbahul Munir Masduki (Political Secretary to MB Perak), YBhg Ustaz Ramli Sidom (PAS), YB Lau Weng Sun(DAP Kg Tunku) and YBhg Mr Arun (Kelab Penyokong PAS Puchong).

The talk started off with Ust Ramli Sidom taking the lectern, where he gave an interesting run-down of what has taken place in Selangor, from a PAS and Pakatan Rakyat perspective. He then invited Mr Arun to speak, who is an Indian and represents Kelab Penyokong PAS Puchong!! Arun provided an interesting insight on why such a club exists, and described his recent trip to Kelantan where he met Tok Guru Nik Aziz and managed to kiss his hand. The audience by this time warmed to him, and his emphatic speech, half of which was in Tamil, drew warm applause and cheers from us. He stressed that the key principle that Tok Guru asked him to hold true is 'kebajikan, kebajikan and kebajikan'(welfare, welfare and welfare). Only through this will the Indians open their hearts to supporting a party that will support them at their time of need.

Arun then passed the microphone to YB Nik Nazmi, who updated us on what he has done as MP for Seri Setia, as well as his activities as Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim's Political Secretary. He is obviously busy, but comes across as an intelligent, level headed and mature your man, with a thought provoking and well designed blog to his credit. Lau Weng Sun (DUN Kg Tunku) was next, and started off by thanking the rakyat for being brave and not voting along racial lines, which was the norm in past elections. He highlighted certain issues in his constituency and promised to resolve them with the help of the State Govt to show the rakyat that our trust is not taken for granted.

Next up was Ust Muhibul (MB Perak's Political Secretary), who gave a witty account of what happened in Perak. Since the resounding win, the Perak MB has received numerous speaking invitations and Ust Muhibul said to please give his boss 100 days so that the new Perak Government can plan programmes, search for lost files, study past contracts etc. YB Ronnie Liu (Exco Selangor and MP Pandamaran) was next and started off by promising that the fiasco involving the RM9.9 million BALKIS funds will be thoroughly investigated. He lamented that till today, even though police reports have been filed, no investigations has commenced as yet. He also explained his role as Selangor Exco and MP for Pandamaran, and touched on issues like eradicating corruption and poverty in his areas.

The MC then proceeded to invite Makkal Sathy supporters in the audience on stage to give each of the speakers a floral garland. The audience gave each speaker thunderous applause and the loudest was saved for Nurul Izzah, who in fact received the largest floral garland I've ever seen, which must have measured close to 5 feet long!!

Nurul Izzah was next who was met with warm applause. Being the rose among the thorns, her aura and sense of presence on stage did not go un-noticed, and caused a hush over the audience. I believe many people were not only taken aback by her slight frame and stunning good looks, but more so her polite demeanour, excellent oratory skills (just like her father), and her passion for what she believes in. It went dead quiet when she described what went through her mind during her swearing in at Parliament recently, as well as the last 6-7 years when Dato Seri Anwar was still in jail.

Last but certainly not least was Dr Hatta (PAS) who not only woke the audience up with his witty one liners, he also made us realise just how corrupt and power hungry UMNO-BN really is, which is why they are such sore loosers after their defeat in 5 States. When commenting on the recent demonstrations that he and YB Ronnie Liu helped organise, he added that they only know how to get people to come together, but left the Police to ask the crowd to disperse!! The talk ended at 1230 am and the audience left with a feeling that our decision to shun UMNO-BN was a correct one. I managed to shake YB Ronnie Liu's hand and asked him to keep up the good work.

My sincere hope is that the rakyat in the other ignorant states can see the changes happening in the Pakatan Rakyat administered states, and will defect to us in the next general elections. The talk gave me a boost in terms of my conviction that all's well in Selangor, however, I'd like to see the changes that they talk about with my own eyes just to be on the safe side.