Monday, January 19, 2009

I Thought It Would Be An Uneventful Day Today

The election fever gripped the whole nation for the past week and ended with a convincing PAS/PR win over UMNO/BN. Though it was just a by- election for the Parliamentary constituency of Kuala Terengganu in the laid back state of Terengganu, the concern for the outcome kept the whole nation and me glued to the internet till late evening of the 17th January 2009 to know the result. Read al the SOPO blogs to feel the mood.


Since today is already the second day after the election day and I have fulfilled my promise to write a short article about the Tomoi Scene In Kelantan for the soon to be published BoxxTomoi magazine's maiden issue, I felt relaxed and wasn't in a hurry to do anything. I didn't even bother to switch on my phone. Afterall who is there who would call me? If they are close relatives or friends they can always get me on the housephone.

It was quite a surprise as immediately after switching on the phone a call from Sherry of Kuantan came in. A call from Sherry can only mean something to do with Mat Cendana. It is always that way with Mat Cendana lately, everything must be routed through Sherry in Kuantan. I wonder why he cannot deal directly with me. Then I remembered that I had just switched on my phone. So how could he reach me? Maybe he had tried.

Sherry's call came in at 10:37 AM asking me to meet Mat at the Pasir Mas' Syariah court to bail out Mat Cendana or something which she herself wasn't clear about. Later I saw Mat Cendana's SMS at 9:38 AM. The SMS read (dengan izin) ,
"I'll be sent to prison if you don't come to jamin me. No need money...just to sign."

Poor bloke. He must have been desperately trying to get me for the past one hour. In desperation he must have called Sherry to try and reach me somehow.

After a quick bath I put on my clothes. Initially I wanted to put on my sloppy dress. Realising that I was going to the Shariah Court I had to change my mind so I dressed up in my Baju Melayu with a black pant. A skull cap would give me a more respectable look I thought.

Sherry did mention something like RM1000.00 was required and she asked for my account number to remit the money. My call to Mat confirmed that the money will only be necessary if he failed to come back to court on the coming hearing on the 11th of February 2009. This time the court had to impose this bail because Mat had not made his presence at the first hearing sometime ago. I know he didn't go as he went to Kota Bharu instead. It was quite foolish of him as it will give the judge a bad impression of him and can be charged for being in contempt of court. Anyway he must have his reasons.

When I reached the Syariah court I was surprised to see a well dressed Mat Cendana wearing a white long sleeved shirt with a shiny songkok a size bigger than his head. He looked rather smart. I was surprised too as he was not being handcuffed. I had wanted to bring a coat along as it seems to be the fashion when you are handcuffed, a coat is used to cover the cuff. Or fashionable still to have the face covered like those in the Altantuya murder case.
One of them asked me about my relationship with Mat to which I gave a single word answer of 'kawan' and they didn't pursue the matter further.

Back to Mat's case I was told by the female court clerk to produce my identity card. I asked whether I have to pay the RM1000.00 cash to which she initially said yes. I told them I had to go to the bank to get the cash as I didn't bring much cash with me and I was in a hurry to stop at the bank earlier. After consulting her other colleagues she decided that there was no need for the cash there and then. Cash will only be needed if Mat were not present on the coming hearing on the 11th of February 2009. OK fine I thought.

I really looked foolish when I can't locate my identity card in my wallet. All the other cards such as credit cards of which I have several and loyalty cards for Bonuslink, Tesco, Mesra and what have you (loyalty my foot hehehe) but my identity card was nowhere to be found!. Flipping my wallet over several times failed to get an identity card. My hands was shaking from the failure to produce it and the lady clerk told me to take it easy and be calm. To her eyes she must be thinking that I was another drug addict who was craving for a dose to keep me calm. Well for a hypertension fellow like me, a situation of high excitement will always result in such shaky hand condition with my heart beating in hyperactive mode. Then I remembered that I had scanned my IC to email it to my daughter in Labuan for something she needed. I must have left it there in the scanner. I asked for time to go back and get it. Then the lady clerk said my driving licence would be enough in lieu of my IC. Smart girl.

After both of us had signed the letter of guaranttee, Mat was allowed out. We went for a small makan. I wasn't hungry but I guessed Mat could do with one so that he doesn't have to have lunch again after that. After the meal Sherry SMS me to thank me for the help to which I shot back: "What friends are for?" to which she replied "To help and 'basuh' @kutuk2 as well..ha ha." She seemed to be in a happy mood even though she wasn't feeling well.

We drove to my home. I had wanted to let Mat knows where I live as when he needed me, he knows where to come and look for me later.

At my home I switched on my wifi and asked him to try the wifi with my notebook. He was ecstatic at the speed of the broadband and was almost on the verge of orgasm when he downloaded my website even though it was full of pictures.

"I am so used to driving a Kancil and now I am driving a BMW" he modestly quipped.

"Next time you just take a bus and come over here to enjoy streamyx at a higher speed". I offered him an advice.

I had to send him back to town to enable him to look for something he wanted and take the bus home. While in town he told me that now there was free wifi at Bangunan Serakai Mas provided by the Majlis Daerah Pasir Mas (MDPM). The wifi will be provided free for a period of 3 months ending at the end of March after which a fee of RM30.00 per month will be charged. This is something to blog about.
From Adi Cafe this small notice can be see.


Amother notice on the other side of the building

While moving around the building I saw a technician servicing a printer. I asked him if he could service a Lexmark printer to which he said yes. This is something good as my printer had not been able to print for sometime after the first ink had dried out and no amout of ink refilled could bring it back to satisfactory printing situation. Leaving Mat there I went home to get my two printers the other one being the Jurassic Epson Stylus C20SX which the boy said he could try servicing too. I brought along my camera and laptop to test the wifi provided by MDPM. My initial try at Adi Cafe was unsuccessful as my notebook failed to detect the wifi from MDPM. Moving to the center of the building my notebook detected the Kel PMnet with two bars of strength with the speed of 11kbps. High enough speed to download my blogsite.

A call to MDPM confirmed that it was on free trial for 3 months and I came to know that they were available at several other spots beside Bangunan Serakai Mas, there is the Dewan Majlis Daerah, Plaza MARA, Sekolah Menengah Sultan Ibrahim 1, Sekolah Rendah Abdul Rahman Talib and at another location in Lemal of which he wasn't sure exactly where.

Just to check I went to Dewan Majlis Daerah to test the speed there and I got the same reading.

I had a nice surprise as there was a function going on over there. The hall was full of people and outside of the hall, long tables were laid with food for lunch for those attending the event. Hey there was no publicicity about it and I didn't know about the event. Otherwise I would have made an attempt to cover it.

With my camera I took some shots of the event. Everone was smiling at my camera thinking that I was from the media. 'Sinaran' was the one being mentioned by a few of them which I managed to overhear. I just kept mum and not reveal that I wasn't from any media but just a blogger.

From the back drop, this was the infomation I could glean:



PROGRAM CAKNA KESIHATAN DAN KEBAJIKAN BAGI WARGA EMAS, OKU DAN ORANG MISKIN JAJAHAN PASIR MAS.

The event was officiated by the Director of the State Welfare Department.


Some of the VIPs.

I was in time to witness the handing over of a mock check for RM20,000 to a village committee.




These were some of those who attended.

Well those were the events of the day. I will make sure that Mat Cendana attend the coming hearing on the 11th of February otherwise otherwise either me or Sherry will have to fork out RM1,000 for the failure. Mat Cendana, dead or alive I will get you there hehehehee.
Read Mat Cendana's side of the story here.

43 comments:

sherry said...

Salam Pak Zawi.

Immediately after reading your post, demam i kebah !!!!! hahaha.

So, To Bro MC, please take note : THE WARNING at the last paragraph of "i thought it would be an uneventual today" IS THE FIRST AND LAST! u have no choice.

mamasita said...

hahahaha,
I can imagine you grappling your wallet macam Mr.Bean masa nak cari your IC!
I cant help laughing out loud sebab I too have many loyalty cards in my wallet!Yeah!Loyalty my foot!!

O menyamar jadi reporter Sinaran ye?Mat??Tangkap P.Z.!!hehehe

Pak Zawi said...

sherry,
Alhamdulillah kalau demam dah kebah.
I think the warning to Mat Cendana is very clear and I will enforce it to the T hehehehe.

Pak Zawi said...

mamasita,
I am really glad you found it funny. Read Mat Cendana's take about the same thing minus the Cakna Kesihatan event.
Tak menyamar cuma diorang ingat gitu la. Tak glamer la kalau nyamar jadi reporter akhbar tu.

Anonymous said...

salam abg wi
pasir dah pon ada wifi percuma selama 3 bulan
daripada mdpm ke sis,daripada sek cina ke pantai timur..
pasir mas dah advance dah sekarang
lusa ada berita gempak pertama kali dalam sej mdpm...pos sitaan pada pembayar cukai pintu ingkar

Kak Teh said...

zawi, salam, what a day! but did you mean 2008 or 2009?

Unknown said...

Dear White Knight, sir,
Savior of the day huh? ;)
Yes, I have witnessed your thick, many loyalty card, sir, when i was there with you to get that twinhead of yours; yup, you got tad too many of them :P
Wi-fi-ed already? tak tahu pun? I bet they upgraded the bandwidth over there also. Last time I check, only got GPRS on my radar...:0

Pak Zawi said...

razihan,
Wassalam. Wah saya nak pergi cover la kerja kerja menyitar besok. Terima kasih kerana memberi tahu saya.

Pak Zawi said...

Kak Teh,
2009 hehehehe. Thanks. I did the correction already. I am always a year behind.

Pak Zawi said...

Akmal,
Ingat diorang boleh terima credit card. So tayang la yang Gold punya. Rupa nya kat Mahkamah tak laku crefit kad tu hehehehehe.

Anonymous said...

21/jan/09 abang wi hehehe
saya dapat maklumat di sekitar seksyen satu pasir mas
kedai yang mungkin kena ialah kedai kian lee.perabot kasturi,kedai tel kat tepi bangunan dr rosyadah,mutira auto hehehe

Mat Cendana said...

I had come here earlier but was too hurried to leave a comment then. It's kinda good that blogs aren't "like coffeeshops" - they don't close after midnight.

HAHAHA! It's really funny when we see it in a humorous light. But I assure you that before I managed t contact Sherry and you, it was anything but funny! Seriously, I was already imagining that dreaded big gate of Pengkalan Chepa.

Well, Thank You for coming. Plus the brunch (delicious! But I'm really not happy with you paying for it). Plus finally seeing "real broadband" in action. BTW Sherry's blog was the first that I visited -it had felt like the blog was actually on the harddisk!

Okay, don't worry Bang Zawi and Sherry - I'll be there this 11 Feb. Even if I'm sick. Honestly.

Pak Zawi said...

Razihan,
Thanks for the info. I will be there this morning.

Pak Zawi said...

MC,
Blogs are the 27/7 coffee shop. You can come in anytime and leave as many messages as you like. That is the beauty of it.
No doubt it was a serious matter but taking it in a light manner will lessen the burden of it.
You didn't see my hands shaking because I was facing the other way round so you can't really figure how bad it was feeling embarassed infront of those people.
There should be more stories about the happenings behind those big gates in Pengkalan Chepa as not many of those who had the privilege to go in and leave the place have the knack to write the way you do. Write a series of short stories and maybe we can compile it into a book for publication one day. Maybe we can get AADK's assistance to turn it into a compulsory reading material for all graduates of rehab centres. Can you figure the potential market for it?
The brunch is a small matter. Nothing worth mentioning at all.
I guess you must be dreaming of a broadband speed after tasting it at my place.
If you need transport on the 11th, you can count on me to come and fetch you. I should be back from KL on the morning of the 10th. Will be in Kl for 2 days to cover the Tomoi event there for BoxxTomoi Magazine.

de minimis said...

Bro Zawi

You are truly a good soul. Mat C is so blessed to have a friend like you. I really had a good laugh at your fumbling over your wallet looking for your I/C. I know that feeling well :D

mekyam said...

tokleh nnyawo semeta ambo baco pasa pok wi keno gi ikat jamin mc kak mohkamoh. hilang semangat jap!

i'm so relieved it was nothing more serious than not making a court date.

mc, please don't give us a scare like that again, bro.

Unknown said...

mujur gi jjamin oghe.

takut2, gi nok nnikoh soghe lagi deh? Hehehe...

Pi Bani said...

Pak Zawi
11th Feb nanti, pulas telinga Mat Cendana... tarik dia pergi mahkamah...

Pak Zawi said...

de minimis,
I guess anyone else in my shoes would have done the same when a friend urgently needs your help. Afterall it was just a simple help.
The feeling of fear was all the more so because I was exposing myself for not having my IC infront of uniformed personnel looking like the police. You know it is an offence not carrying the IC with you.

Pak Zawi said...

mekyam,
I know it was for a minor thing since I know he didn't attend the hearing on the 31st of Dec 2008 (Kak Teh I got the year right this time!). I was expecting to meet him then to provide his lifeline. My was fear was that he maybe charged for not paying his alimony or palimony since I wont be able to help him much on that score.
Thanks for reminding your good friend not to miss the hearing on 11th Feb 2009 (Kak teh I got it correct again hehehehe).

Pak Zawi said...

VersedAnggerik,
Nok nikoh soghe lagi? Not in this life. I prefer to wait for my forty angels in my afterlife. I hope I will be stronger and healthier than I am at present. So now you understand why I still need the address of that place that you went chilling out with your friends. Hehehehe.

Pak Zawi said...

Pi Bani,
I promised to Sherry that by hook or crook I will get MC to the court on the 11th of Feb. I will bring along a length of rope that I will tie to MC's neck and pull him along with my trusted motorbike.

Anonymous said...

Pak Zawi,

dont wait till 11th feb. 10th feb go get him and put him in your own 'lockup' 1st, i am sure MC wont mind... what more you will feed him good... the stay overnight package includes high speed broadband.

MC, what say you bro? :)

Fauziah Ismail said...

Salam Pak Zawi
AC (for Ahmad Cendana as he is known on Facebook) told me what happened.
Good to know that you'll make sure he will be present on that day ... or else he would not be able to blog and ber-facebook in the lock-up, or can he?

Pak Zawi said...

cjcm,
A very wise advice indeed. I will offer him that lock up with the high speed wifi, aircond and hotwater bath. Transfers will be inclusive in the deal.
Anyway it doesn't matter really as his good friends in Kuantan has promised to underwrite the payment should tbe bail be forfeited.

Pak Zawi said...

Fauziah,
MC or AC will be happy to be locked up at my Pasir Mas home as he will be able to blog to his heart's content should he be locked up there. Should he be detained at the Pasir Mas police lock up he may still be able to blog there as the area is now provided with free wifi for a period of 3 months by Majlis Daerah Pasir Mas.
His greatest fear is if he were to be detained in Pengkalan Chepa prison where the memories of his last sojourn there mayhaunt him to death.
Dont worry, he will be there :).

sherry said...

@ Pak Zawi..

Demam i dah betul2 kebah ni.

Btw, Nanti i pujuk VersedAnggerik , agar jangan kedekut nak bagi address tukang urut tu!

And for ur info, "provision" RM1K tu dah abis..Beli TSHIRT XL for u! Plus beli bola bowling baru nak lawan Team Pak Zawi and MC nanti..SO, another LAST WARNING to Bro MC-PLESE BE THERE-

Pak Zawi said...

Sherry,
Alhamdulillah kalau dah kebah.
Dun worry about the address. She has promised to take us there personally so there is no need for it any more. We will go to the 'place'after the game.
Oh the T Shirt is bought from the provision? Thank you Sherry.
As to MC, cjcm gave me the best advice of locking him up at my own place to ensure attendance. What more with the provision gone, I will have to cough out the whole 1K myself.

Mat Cendana said...

@cjcm
Sounds like a good idea.
But don't worry - for this one, I'll be present; if only because Zawi had given an assurance to the court that I'll be present. Whatever my faults, I do try my best not to get OTHERS in trouble. And Elviza had sent a couple of SMS last night (19 Jan) to express her shock of my audacity and nonchalance when it comes to "the law". Plus a reminder of the "consequences"...

BTW I had "my reasons" for not attending that one. Can't explain them here, but Sherry knew/knows. Not that she had sanctioned my decision in not wanting to go. But she UNDERSTANDS...

@mekyam
Okay, *I* was definitely at fault; I accept that. However, "other people" were responsible too - especially `someone' who knew an arrest warrant had been issued on 31 Dec, BUT didn't tell me about it. Plus, I was due in court yesterday - Was only told about it at 7.45AM.

On the other hand, my fault is that, I should have called the court to enquire about the date. And `this someone' was also sore about my non-appearance that day, so I guess she (Oops!) didn't feel any special need to keep me informed.

"Ada ubi ada batas, ada hari kami balas"? Well, in MY case; I DIDN'T, WON'T. Thanks to another dear friend, Shakirah Md Zain of This is My Legacy, I've become "more patient, tolerant and understanding" due to something she had SMS me that morning when I was being detained at the office and waiting for Bang zawi to arrive.

@Bang Zawi: I might be around in KL with you; if things works out... 6 & 7 Feb (this `things' also depend on `unimportant factors like "pitih masuk ko dok" at that time)... IF I can take leave from the work I'm doing on those days.

Sherry & Mie had already promised to undertake that?... Hai, ni macam demo tu tak confident I'll be there:-P I'm 100% sure Sherry will CALL me at 5.30AM on that day... and every 30 minutes until you confirm that I'm indeed inside the coutroom.

Say, what's that particular Jamin called again? They had given you a copy of it - want to continue with Part 2 at my blog; about "How the whole thing became something Positive".

Pak Zawi said...

MC,
I wasn't wearing my reading glasses so I couldn't read anything at all on that piece of paper that we both signed. So I can't tell you 'Jamin apa tu'.I thought you read it. Hehehehe I just signed blindly.

Mat Cendana said...

I had written the second part of it here at Consequences of "The Chuck Norris Influence".

To those who have read Mohd Zawi's account here, this part in particular helps explain how he came into the picture.

But anyway: If I have time, I might start a third part - of how the whole thing had actually HELPED ME; as the final lines indicate.

We often hear of this line - of "Hikmah disebalik" something. With me, this incident has definitely been beneficial. And I was aware of it from very early on - from when Che Pah (Sherry) had sent the sms I had quoted in the second part.

Maybe I should mention a bit here: Before that drama in court where my physical freedom was being threatened, mentally, I was really jaded - the work over the past two months had gotten to me... hours and hours of sitting at the terminal. And I'd stop only when very close to the point of total exhaustion.

Actually I love doing this - the researching and all. Yes, "working" is good, but I had been overdoing it, and had been neglecting the other important things in life. And food too (that brunch we had - it might be `normal' to you but actually was the most nutritious food I've had in DAYS. Ah, now you know...)

But the shock from having my freedom threatened - it helped me put things in the right perspective again. And that's the most important thing for me from that drama. If it had not happened, I'd probably still be in the same condition - obsessed with "researching, researching, researching" and not much else of anything.

Pak Zawi said...

MC,
It is time you change your sleeping and researching (working)hours. Since you are working from home, it shouldn't be a problem. Make sure that you give your brain and body some rest and sleep after midnight and wake up for the Subuh prayers at about 6 AM (I guess you must be missing alot of Subuh's with your present routine).
I could see you not having a proper diet after seeing you throw away those stale bread on the day I visited you. And realizing that you may have come early to the Syariah Court, I took you to breakfast immediately. You certainly need balanced food to stay healty. Bread alone is not good enough. You need to be fitter to challenge the Sherry-Nazmi team at their game of bowling what more with Nazmi returning good scores lately.

Unknown said...

IS Health Care Centre,
No. B-18, Tingkat Bawah, Lorong Tun Ismail, 25100 Kuantan,
Pahang Darul Makmur!

I takut Sherry datang serang I for witholding this information from U!

Pak Zawi said...

VersedAnggerik,
LOL! Takutnya you dengan Sherry. I already told her that that you will be taking us all to the place so no need for us to know. If we ever get to Kuantan hehehehe.

sherry said...

Ehem..ehem....

Ahan..u choose nak masuk team mana nanti for Bowling Tournament Kuantan VS Kota Bharu...Pak Zawi kata lepas bowling kita gi sama-sama kat that 'place'.

Pak Zawi said...

Sherry,
Ahan will be on my team to represent Kelantan together with Mat Cendana. The winner will have to pay for the services at the Health Center.
Now with the revealation of the Health Center's address, you will find a flux of visitors coming to the place.

zaitgha said...

Pak Zawi,

Read this a few days before and i laughed until my eldest son asked whats so funny he he...i was thinking lucky that police lady tak hold u in lock coz tak bawak IC or document perjalanan yg sah ha ha ha...

you are one kind soul Pak, may Allah bless you and your loved ones...

take care

Pak Zawi said...

Zai,
Well at least you had a good laugh. We were both intent on making the entry a laughable matter to ease the tension. I guess we have succeeded.
Kalau dia tahan I pula I kena la cari orang lain pula datang jamin kita dua orang. Mungkin I kena panggil kawan I yang kerja kat balai polis Pasir Mas. Just to show them that I have friends too even though I am unknown here.
Tolong kwawan la Zai. You would do the same thing if you were in my shoes.

Mat Cendana said...

Bang Zawi: Believe it or not, Subuh is often NOT a problem! But it's not because "I wake up early" - it's because "I've not slept yet".

"Going to bed" might mean 8AM. "Getting up/breakfast" - Sometimes it's 6PM... My hours have gotten all screwed up. I'd sometimes think of Gambang - and remember fondly of that time when "there was a system"... a time for everything.

Out bowling competition: Yes, that's a good prize for the bowling winners. Very fair too, for the humiliation they will heap on the losers.

I'm going to have to try it *soon* - I've gotten extremely interested in this... I'm trying to imagine how heavy the ball is, how to roll it... BTW Nazmi seems to be in super form - him coming in SECOND during that last tournament is simply fantastic! If he keeps this up, he'll take all the glamour away from Sherry - and she won't be too happy with that!:-)

Mat Cendana said...

zaitgha
One of the good things that came out of this for me is this one - It's an opportunity to know who your friends are.

And speaking of this, I'm trying to think what the "bad" things are from that drama - To me, there aren't any, actually! Yes, honestly - There's truth in this principle:

"It's how you respond to something that is most important; NOT the thing that had happened to you in the first place."

Among other things - Despite being angry with "the other side" for not having told me earlier about the appearance on that day, I tried things that I had learned; including what Shakirah had enlightened me (this is someone who knows a lot of things)

I looked at ME, not "them, her, him"... It was my fault for not attending the hearing on 31 Dec... Plus I should have called the court to enquire when I didn't receive a letter informing me (there usually is).

Acting on Shakirah's advice, on my way home, I chose not to be angry with anyone - including myself. I'll just "go with the flow", as she had comforted me. And she knows what she's talking about...

Pak Zawi said...

MC,
Alhamdulillah you don't miss your Subuh prayers.
Since losing ain't going to cost anything, don't worry much about not winning. All we need to do is not to lose too badly to remain respectable. I have my strategy on how to do that.
To tell you the truth I have never bowled before even though my children always asked me to join them for a family game. Due to my bad knee I always declined. So don't tell anybody that I have not bowled before OK? Just hope that my knees will hold that day and as long as we can throw the ball in the right direction, it will roll towards the pins. May not hit the pins though if it goes into the drain too early.
I am looking forward to the visit to the Health Center more than the game itself. That is why we must lose the game as the winner will have to foot the bill. Kita mana ada wang kan?

Unknown said...

ZA: I just posted a brief comment at your post on the visit to Pak Idrus's house written on Dec 18, 2007. Thinking you might not see it anytime soon, I'm alerting you to it here. Give my regards to MC. Hope the fund from which the bail is mortgaged to will not run dry ...

Pak Zawi said...

ZR,
Saw your comment on my email alert. Seen it and responded to it.
So now you have arrived at PI's home. You must have been fed with the best food at that couple's home. Kak Asmah is a great cook.