Tuesday, 3rd November 2009: We took the opportunity of Melbourne Cup (about Melbourne Cup) holiday to go to a party. No, it was not a party related to horse racing in a racecourse. But, it was a barbecue party conducted in Monash University.

On Sunday, 1st November 2009, one of our friends here in Australia went back to Malaysia for good. Although Azhar Mohamed Burhan, Normazla Ahmad Mahir and their 3 children just arrived here early this year, they had to go home ahead of schedule due to some personal reasons.There is a truth in this saying: 'We are only able to plan, but God determines everything'. Anything that happens must have something good behind it.The evening before the departure day, we visited them at their house to say goodbye and to wish them well in the future undertakings.Hopefully, everything is going good in Malaysia for them now and they manage to continue with their daily lives as usual.

I read some where about one interesting fact about Big Mac, a famous burger from McDonald's. Unfortunately, it is not about the recipe or the nutrition information. But, it is about the Big Mac's price in different countries all around the world.The price comparison is used informally to measure the purchasing power parity (PPP) between currencies. And the comparison is well-known as Big Mac Index which is published yearly by The Economist paper.The index for the year 2009 was released on the last February which shows one interesting fact. The cheapest Big Mac can't be found anywhere in the world except Malaysia. Yes, the cheapest Big Mac is in Malaysia. The Big Mac has a price tag of USD1.70 in Malaysia, placing Malaysia in the number one spot in the most affordable Big Mac Index. No wonder McDonald's outlets in Malaysia are always full although during the economic recession time.Meanwhile, the most expensive Big Mac can be found in Norway (USD5.79) followed by Switzerland (USD5.60), Denmark (USD5.07) and Sweden (USD4.58).As of Australia, the Big Mac is sold with the price of USD2.19 per piece. Well, it is not so cheap and also not so expensive. Unfortunately, we still don't get any opportunity to buy Big Mac yet because as for now we can't find any McDonald's restaurant that serves halal burger.

Sunday, 27th September 2009: It was a time for us to visit one of the most beautiful places during spring season in Victoria, Australia. It was a place where we could see the magic of colourful tulips. We went to Tesselaar Tulip Festival to see hundred varieties of tulips. On the same day, there was a Dutch Weekend on the location where we could enjoy Dutch food, games and entertainment.Unfortunately, we couldn't fully enjoy ourselves on that day because it was a cold, windy and rainy day.

Last Sunday we celebrated the first day of Syawal month; a month of celebration after successfully performing good deeds and fasting in Ramadhan. It is known as Hari Raya Aidilfitri and the celebration continues for the whole month.We started the celebration of Hari Raya day by first going to a sport hall in Monash University Sport Complex at around 8a.m to perform Solat Aidilfitri together with other members of Muslim community. The hall was totally packed on that morning with everyone were wearing their most beautiful outfits. After the solat, everyone gathered outside the hall to have some complimentary drinks and foods. The moment was also used to wish Happy Hari Raya to each other and to take photos.After that we went straight to the South-Eastern suburb Post-graduate students' Open House which we were also one of the co-hosts. Lots of foods there which included satay, soto, lontong, nasi briyani, laksa, mee goreng, lemang, rendang ayam, rendang daging and many kinds of kuih. We spent about 4 hours there doing nothing except wishing happy hari raya, eating and gossiping about latest news with friends.The next stop was our friend house near Clarinda where we ate again. The main dish was pulut kuning which Anis and Aina really enjoyed it.We went home before Maghrib and that was the end of our first day of Hari Raya this year. Next weekend we will go to another open houses.

Insyallah, we in Melbourne will celebrate the arrival of 1st Syawal this coming Sunday, 20th September. It is going to be the second time we celebrate Aidilfitri here in a foreign land. Although we have many Malaysian friends who are going to celebrate this glorious day with us but the celebration will never the same without our beloved family members in Malaysia.As the end of Ramadhan is just a day away from all of us, we would like to take this opportunity to wish Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all families in Malaysia especially in Klang and Batu Pahat. Not to forget family members who are studying in Moscow, Russia and Adelaide, Australia.Kami memohon ampun dan maaf jika ada kesalahan, kekhilafan dan ketelanjuran yang disedari ataupun yang tidak disedari di sepanjang tahun ini.We also would like to wish Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all of our friends (school, university and workplace) wherever they are now. Hopefully they celebrate this coming Aidilfitri with full of gratitude and happiness.Lastly, we would like to thank those who sponsored a set of beautiful baju raya for Anis, Aina and Arfah. Thank You Nanny and Atuk in Klang for the new colourful baju kurung. And Thank You Nenek and Atuk in Batu Pahat for the new attractive T-Shirts and Jeans. We really appreciate those baju raya and thank you again.SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI. MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN

Tuesday, 15th September 2009: After breaking fast, we attended Celebration Night event in the Clayton North Primary School to see the achievement of Anis and Aina in school for this term.First, we watched the recording of Aina's presentation about her project on insect. She was well prepared and could give a good presentation in front of her classmates and teacher. It was surely a good achievement from Aina.Then, we went to see class project by Anis which was about human's organs and body parts. She had to make a model of human's brain and also a short description of it. And Anis managed to show a good understanding of her project.Before going home, we watched choir performances by students in the school hall. Anis and Aina were in the choir team and they gave a really fantastic show. They sang two songs and one of it was called 'We Still Call Australia Home'

This coming Monday, 31st August is Malaysia Independence or National Day. Malaysia has become an independent country for 52 years. I hope all Malaysians, whether inside or outside the country still remember this historic day and celebrate according to their own way.But keep in mind to celebrate with events that symbolize love for Malaysia, not with something that has nothing to do with our Independence Day.There is nothing more sad for a country when people do not remember her birth day. And must always remember that good or bad a country is determined by its people themselves. Never denigrate your own country and never insult its symbol, the flag.Wish all Malaysians a very Happy Independence Day. May we all stay united.

Month of Ramadhan comes again. Thanks to Allah the Almighty because we are given the opportunity to meet this blessed month again.This year is the second time we celebrate Ramadhan and fasting in Melbourne, Australia. Undergo ibadah puasa here is no different from home, apart from a relatively short period of fasting duration. In general Imsak time is at 5:25 am, while the breaking of fast starting at 5:55 pm. The only one thing that we are surely missed is pasar Ramadhan.As for solat sunat Terawikh, it is held every day at Monash University Islamic Center (Beddoe Mosque) starting at 8:30 pm.We want to take this opportunity to wish all Muslims Happy Ramadhan al-Mubarak and let's hope our good deeds in this holy month are accepted by Allah SWT. Amin.

Recently, it was reported in the news that Australian men make the worst husbands in the world or at least among 12 selected developed countries. The finding was concluded in a study carried out by an economist from Oxford University.One main reason for the poor ranking is that the Australian husbands are found to be more unlikely to do household chores. As the result, Australian women have a tough time to find a husband who is willing to help out with the routine housework. Instead, the women will get a better chance for a helping husband if they look in Norway, Sweden or Great Britain.

I missed to update this blog again for the last 3 weeks. The reason that I can think of right now is that there is not much to write about lately (at least it seems that way). But, I believe the main reason is has to do with my interest in blogging has been taken over by playing an online game.The game that I am talking about is called Evony, a free, web based, online, medieval war game. In the game I have to build cities, armies, collect resources and then go to war. I need to challenge and play with thousands if not millions of other players worldwide. In fact, I have made a few friends in the game.You too can play the game if you are interested in this such anti-social activity because it is a free game. But beware of addiction. Once you are hooked with it, only yourself can get rid of it. You can join the game by visiting Evony site.

Today, according to ABC news, the government of Victoria has dumped Connex as the operator of Melbourne's rail network . Connex which has contract until December this year will be replaced by a consortium owned by the Hong Kong company MTR.The decision to replace Connex is widely expected due to heavy criticisms received by the operator earlier this year after a series of mass cancellations due to the heat.According to the Victorian Premier John Brumby, MTR was selected after an exhaustive selection process. The new operator is said to have a proven track record and represent value for money.

Today, Malaysia government through Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican has advised everyone who are returning from Australia to quarantine themselves at home for seven days. This directive is also applicable to those who are arrived from the United States, United Kingdom and Philippines.The reason given for the directive is that most of imported cases of the influenza A (H1N1) reported in Malaysia involved people who returned from those countries.It is reported that a total of 58 cases have been recorded in Malaysia so far, with 7 locally-transmitted cases.Meanwhile, Australia has recorded the second swine flu death after a 35-year-old man from western Victoria diagnosed for having the virus had died in hospital on Saturday evening. A 26-year-old West Australian man was the first Australian with swine flu to die last Friday.So, anyone who is planning to visit Australia especially Melbourne, please do take necessary precaution steps as advised by health authority. Most importantly please don't forget to bring mask because you may need to wear it at the airport.

Father's Day was celebrated last Sunday in many countries including Malaysia but not Australia. In fact, Australia will only celebrate the day on this coming September. As the result, there was no big buzz about Father's Day here and this had caused me to skip a special posting about the day in this blog.But, after reading a few posts about Father's Day in friends' blog, I just realized that I have to write something about this special occasion. The reason is simple: my father and father-in-law are in Malaysia, so they deserve a Happy Father's Day wish on that day.For this special and meaningful day, I would like to wish a very Happy Father's Day to my father and father-in-law. May Allah will always bless you with great health and happy life. And thank you for everything you have done for us your children.And I also want to take this opportunity to share with everyone the following touching post about Father's Day which I found in my friend's blog. By the way, if you want to write a comment about the post, you can visit I Love/Hate America blog by Bingkee.DON'T BE LIKE ME: ADVICE ON FATHER'S DAY

I wanted to post something about how I miss my father today. It is Father's Day, and it is just so sad to wax melancholic about the good times I had with my father. I used to be very close with my Papa until I learned devious, rebellious ways while being a selfish, arrogant teenager. But a few months after I graduated from college, my father lost his life. He died of cardiac arrest at age 47, nineteen years ago. Since, the intimacy was not restored, I did not feel how much I miss my father until I realized everybody have fathers and I have no one.

But because I don't want to write something about how I feel today about him, I just want to let you know that I learned a great lesson. In his last few years, I was never able to say to my Papa how much I love him. For such a long time, he did not hear those words coming out from my mouth. He knew I love him but words sometimes can make a great difference especially when it's coming from the heart. Of course, I love him, but because of my pride and my obnoxiousness, I did not say it. It was years after he passed away that I realized he needed to hear it.

If you still have fathers and you love them, please articulate those words they long to hear. Not just through a cheapo card. Nor through a ridiculously expensive techno-gizmo that will soon be just forgotten. Tell them that you love them in your own words. Because I learned that a lot of important things in life really can be too late. Don't be like me --regretting the past; should have done this or should have said that.

You probably heard this cliche-ish and trifling advice from somewhere, from someone, somehow. And maybe you won't take this seriously because you think your issues are different than mine. But I tell you, with a rue that's gripping me so hard, I should have told him that I love him when he was still alive. And right now, on Father's Day, his absence just makes it worse. I have no father to say, "I love you Papa, Happy Father's Day!" I should stop writing now before I begin to cry.

So this Father's Day, take heed of something that really matters.

Meanwhile, I greet every father who hops into my blog;

It is almost 3 weeks since my last post in this blog. There is a few reasons for that and the main one is that I was busy doing winter cleaning. No, not cleaning my house during current cold and wet winter, but actually cleaning my laptop. It has not been cleaned completely since I bought it in early 2007. So, this time I took the opportunity to clean the laptop inside and outside.The first step of the cleaning process was to find a reliable manual to open up or disassemble my Dell XPS M1210 laptop. Fortunately, after a few search in Google, I found a detailed and official manual from Dell support website.I disassemble the laptop's parts one by one according to the manual until I reached to the mainboard. It was not a difficult process because the laptop was designed for easy servicing. The main areas to be cleaned was fan, hot air exhaust opening and thermal-cooling assembly. Lots of dust accumulated there that can prevent efficient cooling of my laptop. After putting back all the parts together, the next phase of cleaning was to clean the hard disk from all old programs and Windows unused traces that could slow down the laptop. Firstly, I transferred all important personal documents, photos and data into an external hard disk. Then, I formatted the laptop hard disk and installed back Windows Vista with all the necessary software. I also installed the latest drivers for the laptop's hardware.Now, I have a new laptop again with no more sluggish performance and hot CPU.

Recently there is a rising number of violent attacks against the members of Indian community in Melbourne. The attacks actually have been occurring for more than a year now. Most of the attacks had caused serious injury to the victims.The latest attack came into sharp focus last weekend when student Sravan Kumar Theerthala, 25, was left in a coma and fighting for his life in the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He was stabbed with a screwdriver by a 17-year-old boy at a party.The Australian police claimed that all of the attacks were not racially motivated and argued that the victims were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But India's top diplomat in Australia, High Commissioner Sujatha Singh, rejected the claim and argument.Meanwhile, the attacks have caused outrage in India and the media has dubbed Australia as a 'racist' country. Even the Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan believed that he should turn down an honorary degree from a Brisbane university in protest against the wave of attacks on Indians in Melbourne.Today, 31 May 2009, more than a thousand members of Melbourne's Indian community have marched down Swanston Street in the city's center to protest against the attacks. The protesters chanted and cheered as they made way towards Parliament House.According to a news report, a few protesters were arrested for causing disturbance and destroying public properties during the protest. The situation was getting tense when a number of Australian youths yelled racial slurs towards the protesters.The protest was organized by the Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA). And based on the statement made in its website, the purpose of the protest was to create an awareness about an increasing number of hate crimes in Victoria and to promote racial harmony and peace.

The current condition of swine flu in Melbourne is really worrying. Until yesterday, the number of people contracted with this disease has reached an alarming level of 99 cases. The Victorian Government is predicting that the number will increase further.Most of the people with the disease are around the age of 15, and the vast majority come from Melbourne's northern suburbs (just for an information, we are currently living in Clayton which is located at south eastern suburb). That areas can be considered as the ground zero and should be avoided if there is nothing important to be there.And what make the situation gets worse is that the winter season is coming in a few days. In fact, the weather here now is like winter; daily temperature below 17 Celsius and wet. Usually, this is also the season of common flu.The government has reacted with the increase in the swine flu cases by opening 7 dedicated swine flu clinics across Melbourne. One of the clinics is located at Clayton community rehabilitation center.In the last couple days, all three of my daughters and my wife have runny nose and also coughing. But, they do not have one crucial symptom which is fever. Currently, they are self-treating themselves by taking common flu, runny nose and cough medicines that we bought from nearby pharmacy.If their conditions do not improve in another 3 or 4 days, they should go to GP clinic to get proper treatment. Especially my wife who has the worst the condition. Hopefully, they will be OK in the next few days.

According to the AAP, based on the Servcorp International Business Confidence Survey, one in five international businesspeople believe Australia is the best 'place to be' during the current economic crisis. Australia is considered as the country best surviving the recession. The survey was conducted on April which involved 7,500 people in more than 24 nations.The purpose of the survey was to gauge business sentiment and the impact of the economic downturn on businesses all around the world. It appeared that Australian businesspeople are relatively unaffected.Other countries in the top 10 of the survey include, in order, China, India - Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, Japan - Qatar, New Zealand and Malaysia - Sweden - Vietnam.

It was reported in a Malaysian press that a controversial blogger and an editor to the online news portal Malaysia Today, Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK) is currently hiding in Brisbane, Australia.And the report was confirmed by a police source. According to the source, RPK had contacts in Australia who had arranged accomodation for him and his wife Marina Abdullah.RPK is wanted in Malaysia after a warrant of arrest was issued against him for failing to turn up in the Session Court on April 23. And on Friday, 22nd May he failed again to attend the trial.Now, he is considered as a fugitive who is hiding somewhere in the land of down under.

A doctor from a small town about 90km from Melbourne had saved a 12-year-old boy life by making a hole on the boy's skull using a common power drill.According to the ABC News, Nicholas Rossi suffered bleeding to the brain and began drifting in and out of consciousness. He was reportedly fell down from his bicycle near a friend's home in Maryborough, Victoria.The doctor had used a drill from the maintenance room to bore into the boy's skull and relieve the pressure on his brain. The drill had to be used after Dr Rob Curson realized that the local hospital did not have the necessary surgical equipment.The life-saving procedure was carried out by the doctor with a given advice on the phone from a leading Melbourne neurosurgeon David Wallace.The boy's father, Michael Rossi said that his son may have died if not because of fast action from Dr Rob Curson.By the way, the power drill's manufacturer is Black and Decker.

Saturday, 16th May 2009: We followed a group trip organized by Monash University Chemical Engineering Dept. to a historical town of Queenscliff near Geelong. The town is famous for a 19th century Coastal Artillery Fort (Fort Queenscliff) which is one of the largest and preserved forts in Australia.In order to shorten the travel time, we were brought to Sorrento in Mornington Peninsula to take a ferry across the Port Phillip Bay. We spent about 40 minutes on the ferry before arrived at Queenscliff. The kids really enjoyed to be on the ferry although it was a windy day and it was a little bit scary to be on the top deck.

Every year on 15 May, the people of Palestine commemorate the beginning of their displacement and dispossession during the 1948 Palestinian exodus from the homeland. It was a result from the 1948 Arab-Israel War.Nakba Day (al-Nakba) means "Day of the Catastrophe" which marked as the day the Palestinians lost their lands, homes, belongings and country.

It was reported by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) that a restaurant owner in Melbourne was fined A$25,000 for bringing in a Malaysian to work as a chef, and then paid him only A$9,650 over 18 months.Businessman Hong Poh Meng who owns Penang Kayu Nasi Kandar Ltd, had admitted that he breached 11 work place laws. Among the offences are underpaying a full-time cook A$76,000, and 2 casual waitresses A$4,876 and A$899 respectively.The Melbourne's magistrate court also penalized his company A$158,400 for the breaches which occurred between 2005 and 2007. Magistrate Kate Hawkins also ordered the company to pay the chef A$65,341 in outstanding wages and another A$4,128 and $841 to the waitresses.

There is a change of power in the silver state of Perak, again!. This is the third time since the last general election on March, 2008.After the election, the state administration changed hand from Barisan Nasional - BN (a coalition leads by UMNO) to an informal and unregistered coalition of oppositions, Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The PR coalition is consisted of three major political parties namely DAP, PKR and PAS which each one of them has a totally different ideology.The results of the general election showed that the people of Perak had chosen 18 representatives from DAP, 7 from PKR and 6 from PAS . Meanwhile, BN only managed to secure 28 seats; 27 from UMNO and 1 from MCA.Initially, when PR wanted to form a state government, DAP as the party who won the most seats in the coalition, wanted to appoint someone from the party itself as a Menteri Besar, MB (Chief Minister or Premier). Unfortunately, the constitution of Perak only allows a Muslim Malay to be a MB and non of the selected reperesentatives from DAP is a Muslim Malay.As the result, a compromise was made between the members of the coalition where the MB was selected from PAS. In returns, DAP got most of the Executive Councilor (Exco) positions in the state administration. The Speaker and Vice-Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly were also from DAP.Those kind of arrangement had caused a speculation to emerge that the MB from PAS was only a puppet and the puppet master was DAP. The speculation worsen when the MB was seen as agreeing with all political agendas from DAP such as giving certain people a right to stay on the state's land for 999 years.Then, on early 2009, two elected representatives from PKR and one from DAP decided to quit the party and become independents that support BN. This caused PR to loose the majority and the MB immediately went to see Sultan for a permission to dissolve the State Assembly and have a fresh state election.But, after discussions were carried out with both sides, the Sultan did not agree with request instead ask the MB and all of the Excos to resign immediately. The Sultan then hoped that BN will propose a candidate as a new MB as soon as possible.The request was ignored and not fulfilled by the MB from PAS and he insisted that only a vote of no confidence carried out in a formal sitting of Assembly, can relieve him from the post.On the same time, BN quickly announced the candidate for the new MB and was accepted by the Sultan. The new MB was inaugurated in Istana Negeri a week later. Then a new line-up of Excos was also being named a few days later.After that a political fiasco started to happen in Perak with both sides claimed they have the right to form a government. Starting from an assembly conducted under a tree by PR elected representatives to suits were being filed at the courts by PR and BN.And one of the suit was to challenge the validity of the appointment of the new MB from BN. The suit is very crucial because if the court decides that the appointment is invalid, it means that the new line-up of Excos is also invalid and PR can still form a minority government in Perak.On Monday 11th May, the KL High Court which ironically has been accused as biased and not transparent by PR, ruled that the appointment of the new MB from BN was invalid and declared that the previous MB from PAS is the rightful mentri besar of Perak.Now, Perak has a new state government again. It is not sure until when this political games will continue as both sides are still in fighting moods.