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This blogspot is a medium to share my thoughts and adventures apart from promoting my books. Below are the books which have been written or authored and published by myself.


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Mencari Diri dan Erti".

ISBN 983-42031-0-1, Jun 2006


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Membela Syiar yang Asal"

ISBN 983-42031-1-x, May 2007


"Berpetualang ke Aceh: Sirih Pulang ke Gagang?"

ISBN 978-983-42031-2-2, November 2007


It is interesting to note that while these books were written in Malay it has gained enough attention to merit being part of the collections of the American Library of Congress and National Library of Australia. Look here and here.


While the first three books were published by my own company, the fourth titled "Rumah Azan" was published in April 2009 by a company called Karnadya with the help of the Malaysian national literary body Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. It features beautiful pictures along with stories behind selected mosques which could be related to the history of Islam and the Malays alongside the formation of the Malaysian nation. Look at the article A collaboration of old collegemates - the book "Rumah Azan".


My fifth book "Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and Malay Sultanates", an English translation and adaptation of the Malay book "Ahlul Bait (Keluarga) Rasulullah SAW dan Kesultanan Melayu" authored by Hj Muzaffar Mohamad and Tun Suzana Othman was published early 2010. Look here... My 5th book is out! Ahlul Bait (Family) of Rasulullah SAW and the Malay Sultanates... . For more information check out my Malay blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU.



Like my fourth book "Rumah Azan", the sixth book "Kereta Api Menuju Destinasi" is also a coffee-table book which is published by the company Karnadya with the cooperation of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (the main Malay literary body in Malaysia). Coming out January 2011 it features pictures and stories on the adventure travelling by train to all of Peninsular Malaysia along with the interesting places which could be reached this way.


My seventh book "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" in turn is a coffee-table book which is written, editted, designed and has pictures taken by me. Coming out of the factory October 2011, this book which combines family history with history of places such as Singapura, Johor, Batu Pahat, Muar and in fact the history of the island of Java and England has been reviewed with me interviewed live in the program Selamat Pagi Malaysia at RTM1. Look at the article Siaran langsung ulasan buku "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah" dan temu ramah di Selamat Pagi Malaysia. Some selected contents have been featured in Sneak peek "Jejak keluarga Yakin : Satu sketsa sejarah".


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The "Berpetualang ke Aceh" series of novels could be obtained in e-book form. Enter http://www.e-sentral.com/, click general novel and go to page 4. You can also type the word "Aceh" at the search box. Or click straight Book 1, Book 2 and Book 3.


Sunday, February 03, 2008

Reminiscing the teenage years in Kluang - Part 2

OK. Continuing from Reminiscing the teenage years in Kluang - Part 1 ... By the way, I'm writing this from Rawang, another 30km before returning back to Kuala Lumpur...

31st December 2007, the last day of the year. It's time to rise and shine...

I've already decided what to do for the day. As I came to Kluang to reminisce on my teenage days there while hoping to come to terms with some memories of the past and heal some old wounds more than 20 years old, I thought it apt to visit my old secondary school, Sekolah Menengah Sains Johor...


But first, breakfast at the railway station about 100 metres from the cheap hotel where I lodged at. For information, they serve such a fine home-blended coffee here that they even have special coffee shops just like Coffee Bean and Starbucks opened elsewhere...

Then it's time to do some walking... Starting with the street along the railway tracks with lots of Indian shops (can't remember the name of the road)...


Soon enough, I arrived at the railway crossing...


From there I could see the Kluang main mosque, the green building behind the greens in the background. The mosque sure hold some memory... Being cooped up most up the time during my teenage years of 1983-1986 in Sekolah Menengah Sains Johor, a full-boarding school, then the one with the smallest compound in the whole of Malaysia, it was always a relief to go to the mosque for the weekly Friday congregational prayers...


From the railway crossing, I walked up another road along the railway tracks but going the opposite way, that is to the north. The road leading to the mosque is on the left...


I had a quick look to the right and saw this pedestrian bridge across the tracks. Actually I could have taken a shortcut by using the bridge from the railway station but I went on the longer route taken just now just to remind me of the walks I used to take when on outing from the boarding school.



There, the road leading to the mosque...

I turned 180 degrees and took this picture with Gunung (mount) Lambak in the background just for perspective...



The walk is continued past the police district headquarters...


Then past Sekolah Tinggi Kluang (Kluang High School) or STK as it is popularly known, a strong rival to my old secondary school especially in the games of hockey and rugby... Oh, by the way, I was a rugby player and played up to the state level... So there's definitely loads of "rubbing around" with the equally tough boys of STK as we often represent the Kluang district in the game...


The Kluang main mosque is situated next to STK. So there's no avoiding dealing with our rival schoolboys... Being Muslims (98 per cent or so of the student at Sekolah Menengah Sains Johor or SMSJ for short, in fact most if not all students at such government boarding schools are Malay Muslims!) and under strict boarding school rules, the boys MUST go to the mosque for Friday prayers...

Then again, that's when many disappeared in action... Then's when some went looking for cigarettes to smoke or go elsewhere... Some just loitered around the steps at the mosque, all clad in white Baju Melayu with Samping (full traditional Malay suit) which clearly defined we are SMSJ boys without actually doing the prayers.

Anyway, Fridays were definitely a breather for us after being cooped up all week within the school compounds. Once every fortnight, after the Friday prayers, we went for outing, alternating between the girls... That is, the girls went outing one Friday, the boys another the following week... That's when we were allowed to spend sometime outside until 6pm where we have to return back to the reality of being cooped up again inside the boarding school.


I went inside the mosque to conduct the non-obligatory Dhuha morning prayer and reminisce the times here. After all, it's been 20 years since I stepped anywhere near this mosque...


Then the walk is continued along the same road, heading the same direction... That is towards the east.

I remembered plenty of government quarters then along this road including one belonging to a dear old friend and his family, a place where I used to stop by a lot on Fridays. Now, there's only a few quarters remaining and my old friend's are among the ones gone...


At the end of the road lies the main entrance to a military camp. I took the left turn towards the nearest main road and stopped to look back and take this picture...


The main road leads to the towns of Air Hitam and Batu Pahat... It also leads to the small road up a hill to my old school...


Ah... Finally, the foot of the hill leading to SMSJ. Plenty surely have changed. I remembered this area as full of greens. Now it is wholly developed with shophouse extending the boundaries of the town of Kluang...

A pictorial story on my old school will be made in the blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU afterwards. Do have a look. Cheers! :]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Salam
Saya pun ex-SMSJ 86-90. dan saya mmg org Kluang pun & skrg menetap di Pasir Gudang. Setiap bulan balik kluang menjengok org tua sementara mrk masih ada.

saya ucapkan tahniah kpd saudara krn menghasilkan artikel berkenaan SMSJ. Seronok rasanya... ejet

Radzi Sapiee said...

Wassalam. Alhamdulillah jika tulisan saya dapat menolong menggamit kenangan...