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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.


Saturday, November 11, 2006

Kiss this too!


Funny order of things today, I mean tonight, sometime after midnight...
The posting above was written earlier than this one but was kept first as a draft.... Why? To allow this posting to be made in a way more pleasing to the eye just because I don't know how (yet? perhaps yet?) to put two pictures inside a posting and have the text interspersed in between.
So if earlier, I had to break the picture of the "Berpetualang ke Aceh" book into two to make the details more readable, here I have to break the originally-intended posting into two and set the order of publishing of the resulting two postings too so that the front cover would appear on top, the back cover below. Kind of ironic isn't it?...
Anyway, since I have to go through all this trouble, might as well make it worth the time by translating the poem on the cover, a Malay poem I cooked up spontanously almost two years ago when out of the blue I decided to try my hand in designing the book cover on my own and in the process learn how to use Microsoft Paint... So there... And here's the translation -
Woopsie... Now that the back cover has been added to this text, then only I realise, even the original Malay poem is not as readable as it should be because the images posted are in GIF format... Why? Because I tried to download it direct to this blog using the browse option but the result became discoloured... Nay... More than that... Totally blue-coloured.
The other option within my still limited IT knowledge (my learning curve currently is more on the need to use basis) is to resort to Photobucket, that is by downloading the pictures there. The problem is the original JPEG format created using Photoshop did not go down well there so I had to use Paint to convert it to GIF with the result the resolution is compromised... So there.
Anyway, here's the Malay poem at the cover:

Bertahun kembara tak henti-henti,
Mencari erti dan juga diri,
Jiwa sepi menangis sendiri,
Harta dicari tak kesampaian lagi.
Lalu ke Aceh membawa diri,
Harapkan berkat moyang yang 'ali,
Maka asal usul ku telusuri,
Juga sejarah bumi bertuah ini.
Dari Perlak ke Samudera Pasai,
Membawa syiar agama yang asal,
Turun ke Melaka menyambung tali,
Agar Melayu gagah berdiri.
Bumi Aceh bumi para wali,
Di sini asal harta sembunyi,
Galilah balik jati diri,
Agar tercapai hidup abadi.

And here's the English translation made on the spot too...

Ages of travelling and no end in sight,
In search of meaning and understanding the self,
This lonely heart that cries inside,
The treasure yearned still elusive at large.
So went to Aceh looking for solace,
Hoping the dead-ancestors would grant their hand,
Family roots uncovered so goes the quest,
Along with the history of this abundantly blessed land.
From the kingdom of Perlak to Samudera Pasai,
Spreading forth the light of the original faith,
Then to Melaka to extend the chord,
So the Malays can stand tall and proud.
The land of Aceh the land of saints,
The source of hidden treasure is within its gates ,
Let us search back our real and true selves,
So that life everlasting shall we all revel in and taste.

Hopefully, this crude translation is enough to convey the deep meaning immersed in the story present in the book... God Willing! For He alone bestows real understanding...

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