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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.


Friday, August 08, 2008

Revisiting the memories of my old school SMSJ...

OK. Sometime after completing the article A look at Melaka from the Taming Sari tower..., the second article written here for tonights session of writing, then I realised that is the 231th article in the blogspot. Coincidently at the time, I've just added two more articles in the blogspot SENI LAMA MELAYU (MALAY OLDEN ART) to make a total of 155 articles there while getting ready to post two for the blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU to make the total there 383. That's when my weird sense of numbers wanted to me to create a following 'symetry', by adding one more article here to make it a total of 232. The question is about what...

I left the question a while to prepare for the coming article in CATATAN SI MERAH SILU . Then somehow I felt like making a Google search on a certain subject and found the blogspot http://sajoha.blogspot.com/ which happened to be the unofficial blogspot for my old school SMSJ (short form for Sekolah Menengah Sains Johor or Johor Science Secondary School), my alma mater more than 20 years ago! That's when I found and article there posted 1st August referring to my old articles written half a year ago on Kluang (the town where the school is situated at) and the school itself. Suffice to say, it is so refreshing to find some friendly comments from the old boys on my article although many of them came from different periods of schooling...

So that pushed me to have a look at the old articles. The ones on Kluang were from this blogspot, the titles being Reminiscing the teenage years in Kluang - Part 1 and Reminiscing the teenage years in Kluang - Part 2. The one on the school itself was written in the blogspot CATATAN SI MERAH SILU and the title is Memori lama pahit getir SMSJ, Kluang, Johor...

Here, let me republish the pictures from the article Memori lama pahit getir SMSJ, Kluang, Johor... ya. While the article itself is full of words as I reminisced what happened during my school days, here let us just have the pictures with brief descriptions for posterity. So here it is, while making the number of postings in this blogspot to the more 'symetrical' 232. Good night! :]


The small road off the main road leading to the school.




The schoolyard entrance.



The walkway heading to the school buildings.



A corner which used to be outside the school compounds when I was still studying here more than 20 years ago!


The building which houses the canteen next to the workshop for industrial studies.



A look from the top of the hill besides. The top of the hill used to be a jungle outside the compounds, now it is inside...


A look at the buildings housing the classes from the top of the hill.


A look at the top of the hill area from the sides...


Oh... There's a basketball court on top of the hill!


The back of the school's main hall...



Time to walk closer to the classes...



The canteen...


The nearest block of classes...


A look to the left shows the front of the main hall.


Then a walk besides the main sports field...




Hmm... There's a stadium-like theatre building besides, one of the new buildings built sometime after I'm out of school I guess...


A look to the left of the field shows the school's initial SMSJ and the initials for Kluang, KLG...


The dormitories building...


My old room is somewhere up there!


The girls' dormitories across with the food hall in-between...



A block of classes with walls which used to double as the 'screen' for the once-a-week or so movie shows for the students during weekends...


This used to be the main entrance more than 20 years ago...


Now the school-yard extends well beyond!


So much so that it is some 500 metres out to the current entrance...


And so it's time to leave. Do have a look at the old articles which actually lead to this visit to my old school at the end of 2007, in fact on 31st December, the last day of the year!

Reminiscing the teenage years in Kluang - Part 1

Reminiscing the teenage years in Kluang - Part 2

Bon voyage! :]


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