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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.


Thursday, April 30, 2009

A bicycle race and the sacred number 313

Last Sunday I was on the way to Kuala Lumpur to attend the last day of the 2009 Kuala Lumpur International Book Fest when my wife insisted we stopped at a place in Rawang to photocopy a document of hers. Since she wanted to make 100 copies, it would take a bit of time. Thus we decided to have breakfast at a restaurant across the road. That's when we noticed the road was suddenly cleared.


What happened was the cyclists for the ongoing Jelajah Malaysia (exploring Malaysia) race were passing this way. Thus the road, at least this part of the road was closed for a good 10 minutes or so.

This reminded me of the time I followed the first Jelajah Malaysia, I can't remember properly was it in the year 2000 or 2001. Back then, the race which covered major roads all around the Peninsular was fully conducted by the police... thus it had a lot of backing from all quarters including five-star hotels which I believed wanted to be in the good books of the police.
I was then still a sports journalists with the major English daily The New Straits Times. Me and a few others were whisked all around the distance over a period of more than a week via a dedicated van manned by 2 or 3 dedicated police personnels. We stayed at the best hotels and treated like VIPs. Why, even operators of night-clubs we happened to visit at tried their best to please us... upon realising the identity of our entourage which included top police investigators and their likes as in the CID.
The memory made me wanted to take the pictures above and weave it into a story. As it turned out, this article is my 313rd posting in this blogspot and the number 313 has a lot of significances in Islamic history.
For the record 313 is the number of early Muslims who along with Prophet Muhammad SAW fought againts the unbelieving Quraish of Mecca in the battle of Badr, the first battle between the Muslims and their enemies. 313 is also said to be number of persons in the army of Talut against Jalut, or as written in the Bible, army of Saul againts that of Goliath, in the time of the Prophet Daud or David. In Islam, 313 is the total number of messengers God sent throughout the history of mankind while the prophets numbered 124,000. 313 is also the number of the main walis or saints and this number is maintained until the end of time with each deceased wali replaced by a newly appointed one. That's all! :]

2 comments:

Amirul HM said...

Tuan, 313 is also the Outward Bound School(OBS), Lumut-Perak course no. Course 313 which I attended in 1986.

Radzi Sapiee said...

What course is that Amirul...