Wiser as you grow older

People say that you become wiser as you grow older. That is the usually cycle in life though there are on occasions older people act childishly or repeat the same mistake they made before. That's why in holy Quran and even in bible, God repeatedly mention certain verses again and again to remind mankind to do good and avoid bad things. Man are forgetful creatures.

I'm human too. A man who make mistakes, sometimes unknowingly and sometimes knowingly. I'm not an angel or a robot. Most of the time, I realize my mistakes and try to do the right thing and not to repeat the same mistake.

Everyday, before going to bed, i will try recall all the bad things i did. Usually, people think about all the good things they did but in my case, i will analyze all the bad things. It doesn't mean that everyday i do bad things. I say, if there are bad things that i did, i will try to think back why i did it.

Sometimes, i do bad things on purpose so that other people learn new things in their life or make them a better person. But most of them don't know or realize that, they only see the bad side of you and think what an asshole you are (sorry for the nasty word). Anyway, God knows what kind of a person you are and that matters the most. The intention of why u do some things matters. I have diverted away from the original topic i intended to write..let me bring back to the topic.

I learned and experienced a lot of things in life. One of my friend use to say "what goes around will come around". Do good and good will come to u. Do bad and bad will come to u.

The older you get, u will learn what to say and what not to. But I sometimes say my piece of mind. That doesn't go well with some people. Most people want us to say good things although the reality is bad. I'm not a hypocrite.

What matters most is God knows that you are doing the right thing.
Not many people become wiser as they grow older.

The higher you go, the more difficult it becomes

I didn't write quite some time. I have been very busy with work and was traveling alot this year. Life is so complicated, as i always say. Working environment too is complicated. All of you do experience the same thing whether you work in a factory, firm or government office and whether in Malaysia, England or New York. It doesn't matter. The higher u move up the tougher it becomes and more eyes will be watching u. The eyes watching u maybe happy, supportive but more often those eyes will be jealous of u. The higher u move more hands will be pulling u down. Its like climbing a mountain, the higher u climb the dangerous it becomes, less oxygen to breath and u may die. My advice the higher you move, search for more friends though there will more hidden enemies. Do what you think is right and be sincere in your work. Don't step on others and god willing you will succeed.

The Trip to Kota Bahru

Its been quite sometimes I haven’t been to KB though I was born in KB. My parents have migrated to Ipoh where as myself, I have become the so-called permanent resident of Subang Jaya, Selangor. There are of course some differences, the most notable is traffic jam. The so many cars on the road and the traffic system is not properly managed. No police traffic officers or city council enforcement officers to oversee the flow. People just park cars where ever they like disrupting traffic flows. In addition, the roads are narrow and most roads are one-way as well as pedestrian crossing the roads with no over-head crossing bridges.

The driver took me to the Pasar Siti Khadijah, telling me I can buy what ever local delicacies from there. The market is dirty as usual and most of them doing business there are women. Where have all the Kelantanese men have gone, I was wondering….

The town is dirty as usual. Rubbish thrown everywhere and drains are cloaked. May be this is one of the reasons for the easiness for flood to take place. The meeting that was asked to attend with Tok Pa was regarding the development of Kelantan. One of the issues discussed was pertaining to the conduct of Kelantanese football fans burning chairs during the final match against Negeri Sembilan team at Bukit Jalil stadium.

The Kelantan Government under PAS rule doest not bring much changes to the state. Old friends whom I met say that the Kelantanese are happy under PAS rule. They don’t want to be rich but earn enough to support their daily lives. Anyway this is their personal opinion. As for me more needs to be done. Infrastructure facilities are so far behind. Changes required to take place fast if the state want to be on par as other states. Islam does not forbid its ummah to progress and developto achieve success in this world. Success in this world will bring success in the hereafter.

My Trip to Kota Kinabalu (2/4 to 4/4/2010)

This is my trip to KK after 10 years. There has been tremendous progress with new high rise buildings including shopping malls, hotels and eateries. However, you can still see the poor living tilted houses built along the coastal and estuaries. These are mostly fishermen. My trip there was to attend the FELCRA board meeting and visit Pulau Banggi and some other projects tasked to Felcra to be implemented.

I took a plane from KLIA at 3.00 pm on Friday 2/4/2010 and arrived at 5.30pm the same day. I was picked up by felcra officials and taken on a four drive cruiser to Kudat. Kudat is about 180 kilometers from KK. Arrived in Kudat at about 8.45 pm and taken to a restaurant called Terminal Tom Yam owned by a Kelantanese army officer and his wife. The food was ok but not that fantastic. After the dinner, we checked into the Marina Golf and Beach Resort. The next day we have to assemble by 7.00 am to take a speed boat to Pulau Banggi cause we want go early during low tide and come back by 2.00 pm before the sea gets rough. I was told there were incidents where boats capsized due heavy sea currents. It took us one hour to reach Pulau Banggi. We boarded on the jetty and walked towards the mainland, saw the signboard written Kpg Karakit ( I was told this is the main town where kampong people gather for any major activities especially during dignitaries visits. There were some buildings which look new including shopd, a small hospital with wards amd a new medium sized masjid.

I was told the total population of Pulau Banggi is 14,600 and they are scattered all over the island which is bigger than Pulau Langkawi. More than 90 percent of the population are fishermen. They are very poor and some senior citizen doesn’t even speak Malay. There are 14 primary schools and one secondary school. It seems last year, three schools nobody passed the UPSR exam. Durlng Pak Lah’s time, he gave special attention to Pulau Banggi in Sabah and Gahai in Pahang. Now continued attention need to be given, if not these places will be left out. We have achieved independence more than 50 years but these places are like pre-independence days. Something drastic needs to be done

A srong and dedicated team

I'm lucky i'm heading the economics and international division (BEA). I consider this division is the heart of treasury. Though the division doesn't deal with public or handle so-called glamorous stuff like contracts, privatisation, budgeting or loans but it deals with crucial stuff like the formulating of national budget speech, the economic report, monitoring of the economy, international negotiations and meetings. It sort of pull together what the other divisions are doing. I told my officers if they have served in BEA then they can survive anywhere in the civil service and even in the private sector companies. The officers are dedicated and often work late hours. English is the main language in the division both for communication and paper works.

I said I lucky earlier because i have officers who are knowledgeable, hard working, high caliber, with team spirit and helpful. i'm not saying this because my officers read my blog but it is from my sincere feelings from the bottom of my heart. Its difficult to have this kind of high quality officers. Some of them i call "world class officers" because if you put them anywhere in the world they can work and survive.

Thanks for all of your support and without which i won't be where I am now. Mind you one day those of you who have contributed to my success and BEA excellence will be rewarded.

You don't have to proof, put ice or jack me. Sincerity and your hard work will automatically reward you.

Presentations by KEs and PEs

Every year we in economics and international division (BEA) organize presentations by Principal assistant secretaries (KEs) and assistant secretaries ((PEs.) The topics covers a wide range usually pertaining to current economic development in the country. The presentations are tailored to the issues to be addressed in the upcoming budget.

This year's presentations ( the third one since it started in 2008) showed great improvements. especially in terms of confidence level and communication ability. of course, the new officers were a bit nervous and some old ones still didnt show any improvement.

I would like to suggest that BEA officers should communicate in english. ENGLISH should be the language of comunication in BEA.

so touched

When I broke the news that i was not going to MOE and stay put in MOF. There was a big clap by most of BEA officers instantaneously. The sincerity really touched my heart. Thank my fellow officers. I wont be where I am today without all of your support and ideas.

I love all of you