A doctor in the house: the memoirs of tun dr mahathir mohamad.

--> I had been wanting to buy this book since it first released in around March 2011. I was in Sumatra Indonesia and hence couldn’t get the book which was not yet available here.

So, I was elated when finally able to buy this book during the almost 2 weeks-off I took from my clinical as a medical student at the teaching hospitals in Medan. The holiday was necessary as I had to settle some of the immigration stuffs and needed to go to the Indonesian embassy in KL. Since my temporary residence card expiry date falls on raya, I couldn't be more grateful.

But the buy of this book itself was quite an issue for me, personally as I'm coming from a low middle-class family in which money is use with extra care and only spend it when necessary.

And of course a books that costs me RM100 book is unnecessary. When my sisters found out that I bought this book, it since then continually became a point of validation of me not spending money wisely. And later associating me as someone who is immature, who can’t decide which is more important as later they also found out that I complained to my parents that I don’t even have any underwear to wear anymore. Though having none was merely an intended exaggeration, I truly needed a shopping as the last one I did was 5 years ago paid by my sister. Hence, needing a few new pants, I tried to get some sympathy from my parents and that explains the exaggeration. It finally paid off when my dad gave me a few bucks of money and I did the much needed shopping. So the immature part is simply when I chose to buy the book instead of the clothes.

Unexpectedly the MARA loan which normally gets in the bank account at the end of each month wasn’t there by the time when I was already in Malaysia. Having to pay for the visa, I borrowed some money from a friend. And my sister too, I thought wanting to help, handed me RM100. I used the extra money that I had borrowed to buy this book.

I was so eager to read this book that as soon as I bought this book at Konikuniya KLCC, I sat on a bench outside the shop and started reading and finished a few chapters. The book is really good. I love memoir in general and this book, having written by one of the best Malaysian leader made it even more interesting.

I read it during the busy raya holiday. And when I was back in Medan to continue my duty as co-assistant here, I couldn’t read much as I was too busy, especially week 9 in surgery department. Finally on the last day in surgery, that Saturday night I finished reading this book. And it was 3 a.m. I found the last paragraph was quite sad.

I love every chapter of this book. Dr Mahathir is really somebody who deserves all the praises given to him. The unusual ways he took to face the financial crisis and the visions he has for the future Malaysia is outstanding. Even though he mostly discussed serious national matters (compare to a more personal in others) in his memoir, I sometimes find myself smiling or even laughing to it. I don’t know whether this is appropriate or not as I think reading this book is more entertaining than watching a movie during free times. The movie I played in my computer always playing itself alone without getting any attention from me when I have this book in my hand.

The book tells a story of Mahathir in his early life, how he sees his Malay communities, the colonies, the politics and also his study in medical college. I find this is very interesting especially when he said that he was really scared of dead bodies in his early years as me too actually have the same problem.

There are 62 chapters in this 843-page book. The ex-premier touched on a variety of issue that really shows how careful and wisely he handled each one of them. Being a medical student he admits he lacked some knowledge on economy or law but he glad he wasn’t an expert on these subject which makes him not aligned or subject to general expert believes and see the whole thing from more clearly and unattached view. I also glad when he explains on the financial crisis, why he thinks it happened and what measures actually taken by Malaysian government then to overcome it.

His dislike for the western developed country is quite clear and I quickly understand why as I read. His personal life is not much written in the memoir but I am really satisfied with his take on everything else such as on physical projects which he thinks are important infrastructures to build a modern Malaysia. His account to every issue such as the sacking of his deputy or other issues also clearly explained from his point of view.

Somebody responded to my tweet on twitter by suggesting me to read the maverick mahathir written by an Australian. But I don’t think m gonna read it as m not interested in finding somebody’s flaws. The writer also is not really someone who has contributed to our country (at least not to my knowledge) so I don’t think he deserve my attention to read his work.

I also hope other leaders in Malaysia such as Anwar Ibrahim, Nik Aziz or Tun Abdullah to also write their memoirs too as I want to see things from their perspectives and to learn something from it and from their life.



 Having finished reading this book, I totally not regretting buying it in the first place. It’s totally worth it. A must read to all Malaysians and everyone.

parents visit

this post has been written 1 week ago before being posted here.

it's 2.30am and I'm on a night shift duty as a co-assistant in surgery dept. it's my turn to receive a surgery patient, and my other friends are all asleep as they're done with their patients. I've been waiting since midnight and it seems like no surgery patients coming yet, the ones that come mostly medicine patients.

so here I am writing in my 'batik' book (as it has a Javanese batik motive as cover) that normally I used to jot down notes during meeting or bed-side teaching or ward round. now, being abnormal, I wanna write a bit about my parents visit last week and later post it in my blog.

my brother's message in facebook a months ago really taken me by surprise. he who is now in UK told me that he's buying flight tickets for my parents to come visit me here, in medan Indonesia, for the first time since I started studying here more than 4 years ago.

they scheduled to arrive in here at 1.20pm on saturday 16th July. as i was in my final day in anaesthesiology, I supposed to sit for post-test and not gonna be able to pick them at the airport. but I was glad when a friend, Afiq said he can do that for me. so the night before, i made a sign using a cardboard with my parents names on it so that my parents will notice that afiq is waiting for them. Syaf also later agreed to go with him. I was so glad for their willingness to this. on saturday i finished my exam early, so we all went to the medan's polonia airport together. as there were many people coming out of the arrival gate, i asked my friends to guess as which ones are my parents. Afiq has made quite a number of wrong guesses while Syaf, being very careful, got the 1 guess correct. ten marks for him!

we took my parents to ayam penyet and it seemed like the food were tad too spicy especially to my mother. then we took them to our house as my parents were just gonna stay in my room. my mother quite alarmed by the number of cats I have at my house haha. though she doesn't like cats, she tolerated with the cats well. as long as the cats not going too far haha.

few hours later we started our long journey to lake toba. the journey which normally takes 4 and a half hour took us almost six hours. no thanks to the massive congestion on the way there as there was a bridge being build somewhere along the way and no proper temporary road or lencongan was made.

we stayed in Siantar hotel in Prapat and we could see a breathtaking night view of lake toba and feel the breeze through the windows. as it was already late, my parents went to bed while me, syaf, afiq and also ridzuan went out and enjoyed the refreshing lake night breeze. Ridzuan and syaf were busy taking photos of danau toba using their expensive DSLR camera. haha

it's already quite late when i woke up on the sunday morning, syaf and ridzuan already awake with their camera on tripod near to the window, taking the sun rise view I guess.

we decided to bathe at the beach for 1 hour before going to samosir island. yes, toba lake is so big that it has beaches at it's side. 1st we went to the lake-bathing place we'd been to few years ago but unfortunately it was closed. there was only i public bathing place opened nearby but it was super crowded that made it impossible for us to bathe. so we went to samosir island right away.

Lake toba is one of the most beautiful place that I've been to, but sad to say that the management of the place is quite disappointing.

Even the ferry we boarded took longer than it supposed to to samosir island, the boat went around near the prapat hotels, the same place again and again looking for more passagers. suach a waste of time. and it moved so freakngly slow that it took 1 hour toreach tomok in samosir island. and we were given only 1 hour to shop in tomok, off course we 9or my mother to be specific) needed more than that.making a long stody short, we missed the ferry to go back to prapat. haha.

and on the road way back to medan, it was jammed again. it makes me wondering why can't they build a better road to such a high-potential place for tourism.

on monday i could not hang out with my parents as i was in my first day in surgery dept. spending all day in hospital and only be back at home at around ten o'clock.

uckily dearest friend, tipz voluntereed to take my parents to a pajak ikan, a famous shopping heaven for kain telekung and other txtile products. not only she brought my parents there, she also spent her time with them untill nght. shopping with tips would be the most wanted experience for everybody as she knows how to get the best stuffs with the best deal. haha. she also made my parents tasted several local delight like bakso, pempek palembang & others.

and in the morning before i left for the hospital on the same day, i bought the famous lontong and nasi gurih for my parents to taste the indonesian breakfast. alo bought a few risol, a cylinder shape kuih with raw chili in it! be carefull if u're to try it later!

i came back home at ten, and fauzan suggested that we borrow hanim's car and take my parents out for the medan night sightseeing. so that night we went to the majestic raya mosque, and also to the Maimum palac,the only remains of the melayu deli sultanate which now has perished.

we had supper at warung pak Im by the roadside in Pringgan (the place for cheap malaysia's teh tarik) and before heading back, my parents wanted to see the adam malik hospital the place where i'm doing my clinical.

we reached home at 2am and we only had 2 more hours before going to the airport. at 5 am my parents went inside the airport leaving me in medan, homesick than ever.

my parents visit was okay i think. and i wish they stayed longer as there are still many places they haven't been to, food they haven't tried and most of all, i wish we had more money to spend on. haha!

and 1 thing I can say when looking back into this, I am so glad and touched with the help of my beloved friends who have helped me a lot in many possible ways.

should we boycott mcD?

I'm going to blog about why I’m boycotting mcD and why you too should do the same.

I’ve been boycotting mcD for 1 month and this is my second attempt. The first time I boycotted mcD because during that time there was an intensive campaign in Malaysia urging everyone to do that, even our beloved ex-Pm Tun Dr Mahathir asking us to boycott the states products. But I wasn’t consistent and as time flew I gave up and started eating again as the campaigns slowed down and finally not heard-of anymore.

I admit this is not something easy to do because I love mcD so much. I used to eat mcD burgers or fries or ice cream at least once in two days. But now I’m starting to do this again, boycotting them. Because I think this is the least I can do to help our brothers in Palestine.

Quoting as what written in Vivapalestina, according to website of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, McDonald's Corporation is a major corporate partner of the Jewish United Fund(JUF). JUF "works to maintain American military, economic and diplomatic support for Israel; monitors and, when necessary, responds to counter negative media coverage of Israel".

In the site also said: It provides financial aid annually to help the development of Kiryat Gat and to promote further illegal settlements there. This city is built on stolen Palestinian land - the lands of the villages of Iraq al Manshiya and Al-Faluja whose residents were ethnically cleansed in 1949 in contravention of International Law.

Reading this makes me decide to not buying mcD food again. I don’t want to contribute even one cent to a company that clearly has violated international law and human right. Imagine if it is our land that was taken.

For further reading visit this site: http://vivapalestina-my.org/



But I think it isn’t fair if we only listen to one side of the story. Hence I visited mcD malaysia website and I found this:



so what do you think. should we boycott mcD?

the break-up

This is not easy. I have been trying to do this for the past several months. I think I have to do this. Just for once.

Me and my girlfriend, we broke-up.

Phew. There I said it. It is very embarrassing, because many of my posts in this blog are about her. I blogged when I met someone I think “I kinda like”, I blogged when we became boyfriend and girlfriend, and the last one I wrote about how a couple in relationship should be together for the rest of time, to stay in the relationship even when the excitement slowly disappears and that love build to last forever. Now it hit me back right in the face.

Serve me right. Some things are easier said than done.

The decision to break up was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. Sheis someone I promised myself the only one I will marry. And honestly I was still in love with her when I reluctantly decided to end the relationship.



Now, after almost 4 months since we broke up, I still unable to totally get over it. It affects me quite badly, consumes lots of energy, time and attention. But a decision has to be made even though it hurts when it’s for the best.

Talking about this makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. For the reason why we break-up, I don’t think I should announce it here in this blog. But all I want to say is that, when in love, you want to make the person you love, happy. But one thing I’m sure you shouldn’t ignore is your own happiness. You should be happy too or else it’s not going to work.

Now I’m not looking forward to be in any relationship anymore, or just yet. I will concentrate on my study and help my family financially first.

theodore Boone & i am no 4

After haven't posted anything in this blog for some time, here I am posting something. hehe

I'm just gonna write about two books that I read recently, amid busy schedule and studying. really? hehe also busy watching movies and series.

I've just done reading a novel by John Grisham which I bought few days ago at The Times bookstore here in Medan. It's the only bookstore here that sells English books. other bookstores only sell translated ones.



I'm not really a fan of John Grisham's books because his books mostly about law and justice which I have little interest. but a few days ago I bought one titled Theodore Boone, because it lseems not too complicated. The synopsis says, it's about a 5 year-old boy whose parents are lawyers, knows about a 'faceless' witness in a murder trial.

The book turned out to be awesome. I love it. I really enjoyed reading it and the story is not that heavy. and it is like what book-critics always said, totally a page turner!

The other book that I've read is I am number four which is now a movie playing in theatres worldwide. unfortunately the movie is still not playing in here, not sure when exactly they gonna play it. really anticipating this movie.

the malaysia-indonesia open debate

Like always, I was going for burger as dinner rather than.. another plate of rice. Tonight I cycled, out to a burger stall not really far from my house, alone, because my friend who I always have dinner with, he’s already started his tight diet programme. (haha)

Once there, the lady asked me, 'like always?' And I said yeah. She knew that I would always order a burger without chilli sauce, just mayo.

While waiting, I had a little chat with her husband who has worked in Malaysia for 15 years. He admired Malaysia very much, the place, the people and their working attitude. I’m glad he had a good time working in Malaysia.

But tonight a guy from the next shop interrupted our conversation by started asking, why Malaysian always treated Indonesian as a second class human? Wow what an intimidating question. He looked mad. I was shocked by his sudden anger lash-out, though it wasn’t my first time, really. But the guy who has worked in Malaysia defended and be in Malaysian side. Then there went a quite heated-up open debate regarding issues between both countries.

I’m not going to write here what were the exact points they made, just like the same boring points that came up like any other debates or writings about the Malaysia-Indonesia issues. The different is that the guys who defended Malaysia has worked in Malaysia for 15 years and the other guy has a sister still working in Malaysia as maid.

What impressed me is that their openness to such open debate. Though both are Indonesian, I don’t feel scared or threatened, because they actually just expressing their opinions and thoughts based on their experience and what they heard/ read. It's a healthy way of channelling ones' anger or dissatisfaction over something, and such open debate is actually a good thing.

At least it’s better than a lady in a car who lowered her car’s window while me and my friend on a bike next to her car, waiting for the traffic light to turn green, and she said in a harsh tone, ‘hoi Malaysia! Awas ya, kalo tertabrak dikit aku hajar kau!’. And we’re like... what the?

Okay now.. I’m going to eat my burger. It’s getting cold.