Zaid's 60th Birthday....

Wednesday, 27th April 2011

Pakdokter was one of the many, among friends and family members, who gathered at the " No Black Tie" restaurant in downtown KL to celebrate Zaid Ibrahim's 60th birthday. Zaid was one of pakdokter's friends when we were in secondary school together at the STAR in Ipoh.

Zaid was once the patron and Chairman of an NGO involved in the promotion and preservation of some of the old cultural practices in Kelantan which were threatened to be sent into oblivion because of the religious edicts and pronouncements of the PAS government of Kelantan. And it was a fitting tribute to him that his 60th birthday party started of with a presentation of the " Main Puteri" - a traditional spiritual healing commonly practised in the past for the purpose of treating psychotic and depressive illness.

Accompanied by a band of folk musicians, the healer danced into a 'trance' during which state he was supposed to be able to 'exorcise' evil spirits which may have dwelled in the body of the psychotic or depressed client.

some guests from the floor were coaxed

(or became 'possessed'?) to join the healer in the dance....

Happy Birthday Zaid....

After a set of songs from the 60's through the 80's by the club's resident band, Zaid blew off candles from his birthday cake...

Zaid's 60th Birthday....

no political speech

the birthday party was also dedicated

to a friend who did not make it to 60....

Zaid's 60th Birthday: Kau Lah Segala Nya by Allysya and Suliana..

Zaid's family members are a talented lot. Supported by Suflan, Zaid's brother-in-law, who played the piano, and his two sons, Kazran on the guitar and Ezra on the drums, they formed a formidable band and entertained the crowd with their tribute to Zaid...

Below, Zaid's daughter, Allysha, and her mother, Suliana, , sang Ruth Sahanaya's evergreen for Zaid...

Zaid's 60th Birthday: Hanim's Song for Zaid

Hanim, one of the lawyers and partner in Zaid's law-firm, ZICO, sang this Billy Joel number for her former boss....

Zaid's 60th Birthday : Kazran and Ezra....

Kazran and Ezra then took their turn...

Zaid's 60th Birthday : Kazran and Ezra sang The Beatles...

a medley of Beatles' songs..

Zaid's 60th Birthday : Kazran Sang ' Hijau'....

and finally Kazran's rendition of 'Hijau'.....

To Zaid, pakdokter wishes you many more healthy and happy years

Cheers.....

The Singapore Story : Lee Kuan Yew's Memoirs (1).....

If you enjoyed Mahathir's ' Doctor in the House' then this book should also be equally interesting to you. Mahathir and Lee Kuan Yew wrote in very similar style - easy and simple to read. While Mahathir gave the impression that he worked on the book single-handedly ( he only brought in some people to edit at the later stages on recommendation of his daughter, Marina) , Lee Kuan Yew assembled a team of academicians, archivists, journalists, researchers, ex-diplomats etc etc to help him work on the book.

Within the last one week, pakdokter had managed to finish about 200 of the 700 or so pages of the Singapore Story. The 15 chapters making Part 1 of this book gave a clear description of the early years of Singapore upon seperation from Malaysia. Lee Kuan Yew was wary of the threat of his neigbours. His feared most the threat of the communists as well as the 'Malay Ultras' - leaders from Umno in Malaysia - which pakdokter conclude include people like Syed Jaafar Albar and Mahathir Mohamad. He did not even trust the small batallion of soldiers left in Singapore as these soldiers were from the Malaysian Armed Forces. Lee described in good detail how he went about building up his own armed forces and started the National Service Programme to create a 'combat-ready' pool of citizen soldiers. There was a tinge of ' paranoia' when he discussed the security issues. But this was quite understandable then.

How Lee went about dismantling the Chinese medium Nanyang College and Ngee Ann College into an English medium world class universities should also be good reading with lessons to learn for our leaders in Malaysia.

People have critised Lee Kuan Yew for his so-called authoritarian ways and intolerance to 'press freedom' - but read his explanation to his actions and decisions - and pakdokter came out with empathy to his cause.

How Lee Kuan Yew dealt with the threat of massive unemployment following the British Army withdrawal also made interesting reading. Lee Kuan Yew brought in industries which gave these otherwise jobless masses work in the factories. ( Malaysia took a similar approach and got labour-intensive factories to the country as well.) His decision to build Changi Airport also boosted tourism by making Singapore a travel hub. And to complement this he made Singapore 'green' and cleaned up the Singapore river.

Lee Kuan Yew's success is there for all of us to see! And for us Malaysians, there is no harm reading this book and learn from its many pages......

Nearest to the Pin!......

Pakdokter played for RSGC against KGNS this weekend. 30 pairs from each club competed for the Musa Hitam Trophy. The first game was played at the RSGC on Saturday afternoon. Pakdokter partnered Ahmad Khalid and played against KGNS pair of Kamal (12) and Shamsuddin Hussein (14). Pakdokter played to a handicap of 24 and Ahmad Khalid 10. The game was played on a 4-ball-best-ball format. Ahmad Khalid had lost his usual form and fortunately pakdokter's game had come back and managed to keep the KGNS pair at bay utilising pakdokter's stroke advantage to the maximum. We were square until the last hole 14. Pakdokter's drive was the longest and the second stroke with an iron-9 saw pakdokter's ball regulation on on this par-4 hole. Pakdokter helped take the match without needing to use the stroke.

And pakdokter also hit a good drive on the par-3 hole 12 which played to a long 197 yards. Pakdokter used a wood-3 and took the nearest to the pin prize of the day.

RSGC led KGNS 48 points to 8 points on the first day.

The second game was played at KGNS on Sunday morning. Pakdokter partnered AK again against Shamsul (10) and Chong (12). It was again a closely fought match and pakdokter's pair contributed 1 point to RSGC when we came square against our host's pair. The Sunday match was played on a best-stableford points format.

Although pakdokter did not stay back to the end of the prize-giving event - the results that trickled in suggested that RSGC was likely to take home the Musa Hitam Trophy.

I Did Everything I Learnt at the Golf Academy......

anchor your feet.....
swing through the ball..

don't look up.....

tapi........

semua tak jadi jugak.......

(photos courtesy of Yuzer Yusof at Beringin)

STAROBA Monthly Medal at Beringin..

The Staroba Monthly for April was played at the Beringin Golf Club. For once this game was played on Sunday morning instead of in the afternoon as was the practice in the past.

39 golfers took part and many were newer and younger players which was encouraging for the club. Pakdokter, Arham Salam, Ahmad Khalid and the members of the SGC committee make up the half of the more senior members of the club.

Pakdokter (24) partnered batchmate Ahmad Khalid (14) to bet against Yuzer Yusof (16) and Arham Salam(22). Ahmad Khalid was generally a good and consistent golfer and pakdokter was relying on him to take the match as pakdokter had been rather tired and off-form of late. However AK missed so many putts that we lost to our opponent a total of 10 balls at the end of the game. YY was in his element - when pakdokter managed to par on a par-3 hole, he cooly 'birdied' the hole much to pakdokter's disappointment. Anyway, it was all in great fun for a weekend outing.

None of the golfers in our flight made it to the winners list.

For a listing of the results - please go to www.starobagolfclub.blogspot.com.

Arham at the tee...

what a birdie!...

AK can still drive quite long...

Things They Don't Teach You at the Golf Academy...

PakAzman is one of pakdokter's regular golf buddy at the RSGC. This weekend pakdokter played with him in the club's monthly medal. Both pakdokter and pakAzman played to a handicap of 24.

The other two players in the flight was Tan Sri Gen Yunus Tasi and Kamarulzaman Omar. Tan Sri played to a handicap of 22 and KO to 19. We all played in the 'C' Medal category.

Tan Sri had his pocket camera with him and could not resist taking some pictures of pakAzman at play. What intrigued us all was pakAzman's drive at the tee. Despite such an akward looking ''drive' which was followed by a forward kick of his right leg - he was almost always in the centre of the fairway and on many times was the longest amongst the four of us!

These are things you will not be taught at the golf academy but it certainly worked for pakAzman. And for the record, pakAzman won almost 'full-house' against pakdokter in our usual bet that afternoon. And he also came out winner in the 'C' Medal category, returning a nett score of 70 in the stroke-play competition.

The second picture was taken by Tan Sri when pakAzman anchored his legs as normally advised by the golf instructors - and what do you think happened? He duffed his shot to be followed by his usual p#####k, s##t, b##i, etc etc remarks which is a trademark to his character.......

These stress-reduction exercises ( frustration coping measures) are usually also not taught at the golf academy..........

The Bali Holiday of June 2009...

Pakdokter's last visit to Bali in June 2009, coincided with pakdokter's 58th birthday. It looks like the upcoming tour of Bali for the 3rd Edition of the Staroba-Koba Invitation 2011 will almost co-incide with pakdokter's 60th birthday. How time flies.......

Scrolling through old pictures, pakdokter had then stayed at Tembok, the YTL's Resort on the northern coast of the island. This small boutique hotel was a pleasant retreat away from the maddening crowd.

Pakdokter had also gone around looking at several 'villas' for sale and almost took hold of one if the owner then had accepted pakdokter's price. To her loss, and perhaps to pakdokter's good luck, the sale did not go through, and, 2 or 3 months later the world suffered the sub-prime financial meltdown!

The property agent came back to pakdokter with a slight discount but pakdokter did not take the bait. Interestingly, just 2 months ago the same British estate agent had emailed to pakdokter describing how exciting things are in Bali now with so many new developments coming up which had drawn so many worldwide interests. He painted a very 'bullish' picture of the real-estate scene in Bali but at the same time told pakdokter that the property which pakdokter had offered to buy is still available at a price below what pakdokter then offered!

Susah nak faham the 'logic'.........

Anyway, perhaps this would be an opportunity to go 'smelling' around......

the YTL Resort, Tembok, was small and intimate

isolated and away from the crowd

a great place to rejuvenate....

the 'kecak' dance was showcased

during the garden dinner party...

Tembok offered a complete range of 'spa' treatment

to pamper one's tired body.....

pakdokter nearly became an owner of this villa.....

Staroba-Koba Invitation 2011 : The Third Edition: May 2011 in Bali

Belum pun lagi sempat pulih dari rasa 'capek' yang amat sangat selepas kembali dari perjoangan di Staroba-Koba Invitation 2011 Edisi 2 di Bandung minggu lalu, pakdokter di kabarkan bahawa Edisi ke-3 sudah di confirm pada tanggal hujung bulan May ini di Bali.

Staroba-Koba Invitation Edisi 3 ini akan di jalankan dengan format biasa di New Kuta Golf Resort - lapangan golf terbaru di Bali di mana perlawanan Indonesian Open telah di adakan beberapa tahun yang lalu.

Pakdokter telah pernah sekali bermain di lapangan golf ini pada bulan Juni 2009 - kali terakhir pakdokter berwisata di pulau indah ini. Pakdokter sememangnya ' looking forward' untuk mencoba lagi 'skill' pakdokter di lapangan ini.

Di bawah, pakdokter upload kembali beberapa foto dari lawatan pertama pakdokter ke New Kuta Golf Course itu. Terletak di kawasan altitud tinggi di Jimbaran, lapangan ini agak mencabar sekali. Angin kencang dari lautan menjadi satu faktor yang mesti di ambil kira. Pemandangan sekitar pulau indah dari lapangan golf ini juga sungguh menakjubkan....

See you guys in Bali, come this May.....

2 tahun dulu pakdokter lebih 'fit' dari sekarang...

pakdokter main 'berseorangan' atau

sendiri-sendiri saja di samping kedi pakdokter....

sekurang-kurangnya ada dua hotel di lapangan golf ini...

kawasan ini mungkin sudah di bangunkan

dalam dua tahun ini....

senario ke arah Uluwatu dari New Kuta Golf Course...

resort di pantai Jimbaran....

And Finally, this one was for pakdokter....

and, finally, Chitra obliged pakdokter's request for her to sing one of pakdokter's favourite evergreen, Ruth Sahanaya's "Kau Lah Segala Nya...."

Thank you, Chitra.....

Another Night with Chitra (4)....

pakMarzuki ini is a 'man of many talents'....

main soccer bisa..

main golof bisa.....nyanyi bisa..

semua nya bisa ya pak?.......

Another Night with Chitra (3)...

Chitra has a powerful vocal and could carry pop, R&B and evergreens....

two of the band members are her siblings...

Another Night With Chitra (2).....

PakZaher Zainul can execute great 'pitching' both on the golf course and on stage....

Another Night with Chitra (1)...

Chitra and her band played to a very responsive crowd in Monday night and as the STAROBA contingent still had another night at the resort - she was requested to come back on Tuesday night to perform at the lounge. She was happy to do so and the STAROBA golfers, despite being in subdued mood from the defeat that morning, chiiled up to her songs and one by one many of them went up on stage to try out their skills at singing. The video clips below are samples of pakRais Mansor's effort....

KOBA President's Closing Address...

Pak Kamaruddin, the CEO/President of Koba Tin Indonesia then addressed the group to put a closure to the three eventful days.

Staroba-Koba Bandung Invitational : Closing Address..

'STAROBA 'chef de mission' pakRoslan Chik addressed the crowd and congratulated everybody for a very sporting 2nd inter-team competition. He also announced that a 3rd and a 4th interteam games have been discussed already and will be confirmed in due time.

The Staroba-Koba Bandung Invitational 2011: The Inter-Team Winner is.....

As pakdokter had already reported the results of the team competition in the previous post, below are some pictures of the players having their lunch and waiting for the official result and prize presentation ceremony.

the looks on the STAROBA players faces told the story....

The Staroba-Koba Invitational 2011, Bandung:The Individual Winners...

The mood in the STAROBA camp was gloomy when pakdokter checked in. It seemed most of our players came home defeated. In pakdokter's flight, Tg Azman managed to defeat Erik IndraDewa. So the 'King' managed to vanquish the 'Angel' However the others were nicely thrashed by the Koba players. In the total tally out of the 20 points at stake on the 3rd day, STAROBA only managed to secure 6 points! KOBA convincingly won the tournament this time..........

below are pictures of the individual day winners...

pakYanni

pakChandra..

pakMiswanto..

pakFakhrunasri, one of the few STAROBA players

who earned some money on Tuesday..

pakTg Azman was jubilant to earn 2.5 million rupiah...

pakNordin also made some money....

overall champion on the 3rd day

pakMatthias....

The Staroba-Koba Invitational 2011, Bandung: Day 3 : Pakdokter's Return Match against pakMesha..

Tuesday, 5th April 2011

The final day game of this tournament was played on an individual matchplay format. The 20 pairs in the competition was arranged after the auction and bidding of players by the respective captains which took place after the second day game.

Pakdokter bidded to play against pakMesha, whom pakdokter lost to at the last hole in the final day matchplay in Jakarta last month. Pakdokter paid 100,000 rupiah to buy the opportunity to play against Mesha.

Pakdokter's handicap was increased to 25 based on the second day's scores while pakMesha had his handicap of 30 retained.

Erik IndraDewa, pakdokter, Tg Azman and pakMesha...

pakdokter and pakMesha....

pakdokter and pakdokter's caddy, Tefi.......

Pakdokter and pakMesha had had quite a number of drinks at the lounge the night before. PakMesha was quite an accomplished singer and he would definitely make a good R & B crooner if his game of golf takes him nowhere.

We both started our game still struggling to shrug off the effects of our indulgence. Pakdokter's caddy, Tefi, a sweet 18 year old who had just started caddying for about 8 months, was also a significant distraction. Her soft and gentle demeanour and her two deep sweet dimples on each cheek each time she smiled made pakdokter's heart missed a beat every time she did so! As a result pakdokter quickly went 4 down by the time we finished our 1st Nine.

Luckily pakdokter managed to come back in the 2nd Nine. Pakdokter crawled back to reduce the deficit and was lucky enough to square the game at the 17th hole. So it came down to the last hole once more.

The last hole we played was a long par 3 over water. As pakdokter had won the previous hole, it was pakdokter's homour to tee of first. Pakdokter had easily sent pakdokter's ball across water in the previous 2 days and so thought it should be no problem again. But fatigue and excitement must have come into play and pakdokter topped the ball which went rolling into the lake. PakMesha hit strongly but his ball came just across the lake in a depression before the green. Pakdokter took the 3rd shot, sent a good drive which looked like it would easily fall on the green, but alas the strong wind kept it back and the ball hit the far concrete wall of the lake and the ball bounced back into water. Pakdokter shook hands to give the game to Mesha but still went to the drop zone and hit the 5th which went up nicely about 1 yard below the pin. Mesha should have no problem with his chip but overhit and his ball went rolling into the top end bunker. Now this would be a difficult sand play as a slight mistake would send his ball out and down back into the lake. Despite having shook hands, pakdokter told him the game was not over yet! He had to earn his victory. His shot out of the bunker fortunately was not strong enough to roll down into the lake but far down to the bottom fringe. And the pin was at the top end. He putted short well below pakdokter's ball. His fifth missed the hole and went above for a difficult fast downhill putt. And pakdokter now felt pakdokter had a chance to square the game if pakdokter could putt in for a 6!

But as fate would have had it, pakdokter missed the uphill putt for a 7 and Mesha made sure he was in for a 6.