BERPETUALANG KE ACEH: 2013-07-07

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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, July 13, 2013

The waterfall of Bantimurung

Continuing from Leang Leang prehistoric park.

From Leang Leang we went to another side of the limestone hills, to a place called Bantimurung.

This area is practically besides Leang Leang if one can cut through the hills. But by road one have to go around it...

It seems this place attracts many visitors.

Once you see the waters you can understand why.

For this place is practically a waterpark.

That is the Bantimurung waterfall.

With waters rushing from limestone hills I wish I could enjoy it too.

But with my foot injury all I can do was sit and watch...

Leang Leang prehistoric park

Time to get back to the Makassar trip stories...

The last article on the trip in this blogspot, On to Makassar city referred to the second day of the trip, 4th May 2013. The following day we visited a number of places near Makassar before resting for 3 days. On 9th May we started making visits again by going out quite a distance outside of Makassar. starting with a place called Taman Prasejarah (Prehistorical park of) Leang Leang.

The park is situated within an area with a long limestone hill range.

I was told it is famous for prehistoric drawings inside its caves.

Along the way to the caves there are some interesting rock formations.

See my right foot in bandages? Well, it was actually in half-cast up to my thigh due to a fall on 23rd April which caused a serious bone fracture and torn ligament.

As it turned out it is quite a distance to get to the caves. And then one have to climb up quite high up staircases. I'm afraid it would be too much strain (and pain) for me to walk so far with injury and on crutches.

So I decided to just sit on a bench and watch the rock formations while others went to explore far...

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

How the Malays' economic dominance was usurped by the non-Malays

Peace be upon you all. A few hours ago a friend of mine who is an activist in Islamic finance gave me a pdf copy of an academic study of how the Malays' economic dominance was usurped by the non-Malays through the introduction of fiat money and banking. She passed it to me via Facebook and I wanted to share it with others through that media. Unfortunately my other friends have trouble uploading it. So I decided to change the whole pdf document to jpeg and put it here...