Prime Minister Najib meets Queen Elizabeth II on 14 July 2011.
Picture from The Sun. I noticed that it was removed at 12.44am, and then added back at 12.50am. So, I thought best if I just post it here in case it is removed again.
July 15, 2011 • 1:00 am 2
Prime Minister Najib meets Queen Elizabeth II
April 30, 2011 • 1:01 pm 0
The Royal Wedding
Millions of people must have watched the royal wedding live on TV, and millions more would have seen in online too. The full YouTube video of the historic event can be accessed here.
The best part for me is from minute 47:00 to 49:25. Nothing beats a good singing of Jerusalem. And, on top of that, nothing beats the last paragraph of the hymn.
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land
April 29, 2010 • 10:21 pm 0
Brown’s going down
September 27, 2009 • 11:42 pm 1
Farewell dinner
Lady and Lord Sheikh invited us for a farewell family dinner tonight at the West Lodge Park Hotel. Lord Sheikh is chair of the Conservative Muslim Forum, of which I was Head of Policy. It has been quite an adventure!
Just after dinner with Lady and Lord Sheikh
September 25, 2009 • 10:32 pm 0
I am officially unemployed
Today, at around 6pm, I officially became unemployed. (How do you register for Jobseekers’ Allowance?)
Today is my last day at Social Enterprise London (SEL), having been there since 19 June 2006. I don’t think you can find a better place to work in London than SEL. The company, the people, and the projects there make you want to wake up early in the morning and stay in the office till midnight. There are some exciting projects taking place there, and I have no doubt that SEL will put London firmly on the map as the global social enterprise capital.
After saying goodbye to everyone at SEL, I went to see a trustee of the Malaysian Europe Forum. Just arrived home 15 minutes ago. Must now rush to help fellow Malaysians in Luton prepare chicken satay for our Eid party tomorrow afternoon.
And then, from tomorrow evening onwards, I have to continue working on two MTT papers – one on agrotechnology and the other on counterfeit drugs – which have been put on hold for several weeks because I cannot find the time to complete them.
September 23, 2009 • 1:11 am 2
Toleransi majoriti kulit putih di Aidilfitri
Artikel di bawah telah disiarkan dalam kolum saya di Utusan Malaysia hari ini.
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Toleransi majoriti kulit putih di Aidilfitri
23 September 2009
Tahun ini merupakan tahun ke tujuh belas saya meraikan 1 Syawal di perantauan. Memang suasana hari raya di tempat orang berbeza dari tempat sendiri. Tetapi ia tetap meriah.
Saya sekeluarga menyambut Aidilfitri kali ini di Luton, sebuah bandar kira-kira 50 kilometer ke utara London.
Kami memilih untuk tinggal di Luton kerana kos sara hidupnya lebih rendah berbanding London. Tambahan pula ada perkhidmatan keretapi dari Luton terus ke stesen London Bridge yang betul-betul bersebelahan dengan pejabat saya. Maka lokasi Luton memang amat sesuai untuk kami.
Bilangan penduduk di Luton ialah sekitar 185,000 orang. Sudah pasti majoriti penduduknya berkulit putih. Kaum minoriti hanyalah 35 peratus sahaja. Umat Islam di sini pula tidak sampai pun 15 peratus.
Filed under: Britain
June 14, 2008 • 6:02 pm 1
Is it possible to have unity in a diverse society? A case study of Malaysia
The Conservative Muslim Forum is organising a series of Policy Roundtables to look at various issues. Our aim is to produce a short Policy Briefing for the Party following each Roundtable. We therefore expect the Roundtables to be ‘learning dialogues’ in which we hope participants will actively join in the debate and contribute ideas to the discussion.
Places for all Roundtables are strictly limited. To attend, please register your interest by sending your details (name, occupation, contact details) to me via email wansaiful@gmail.com. Please register your interest early so that we can confirm your seat allocation.
Theme: Is it possible to have unity in a diverse society? A case study of Malaysia
Date: Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Time: 6.00pm for 6.15pm start, to 7.45pm. Please allow 20 minutes to pass security
Venue: House of Lords, Westminster, London.
Background: Malaysia’s is a diverse population. Ethnically, it comprises of Malays, Chinese, the indigenous people, Indians, and various tribes in the Borneo island. Religiously, the proportion of Muslim to non-Muslim is almost equal, with a healthy number of Christians, Buddhists and Hindus. The country has been working hard to maintain harmony between the different groups. With Britain becoming an increasingly plural society, what can British policy-makers and the Conservative Party learn from the experience of its former colony, Malaysia? How can we ensure unity in the increasingly diverse British society? Dr Ooi Kee Beng, Fellow, Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISEAS) and an expert commentator on the sociopolitics on the South East Asian region will present his thoughts. Join us to discuss this important issue.
This event is jointly organised by the Conservative Muslim Forum and the Malaysia Think Tank London.
To attend, please send your name, occupation, and contact details to me via email: wansaiful@gmail.com
February 27, 2008 • 5:33 pm 1
Liverpool
I am on the train back from Liverpool. I was there for two days (since yesterday) for a conference at the Arena and Convention Centre at the Albert Docks. The last time I was in Liverpool must have been at least six to seven years ago. The city has changed quite a bit.
I stayed at Thistle Hotel, Atlantic Tower, which is not far from the Albert Docks. While the hotel was good, it was not that close to the places I really wanted to revisit. Time was not on my side either. I only had a few hours after 5pm on Tuesday to go places. But I did manage to go to a few places.
First stop was The Olive Tree on Renshaw Street. This was, and probably still is, the only shop in Liverpool city centre to sell Islamic books. I almost missed it because its facade is now painted red. Previously it was green. Stepping into the shop, I saw a familiar face but this time looking just a little bit older. Sister Somayya, the owner of the shop, was sitting at the counter. She said I have grown a little bit. She must have meant I have fatten up since Liverppol!
Next stop was the University, in particular, the Guild of Students. As I stepped into the building, I saw a poster advertising a play “Jebat”. I was president of the Liverpool University Islamic Society in 1999 and 2000 so unsurprisingly my next stop would be the prayer room, at the basement under the Guildmore Bar (is that the right name?). Not much have changed, but there was more people there during the Maghrib prayers. And I am glad to see that the wudhu area is now more properly done relatively to when I was leading the ISOC. During my time, we made several requests to get the Guild to install something like a shower basin and a pipe so that people don;t have to put their feet into the sinks when making wudhu. It didn’t happen even when I left, but there were two basins there now.
After a quick walk around the Guild of Students, I made my way to Smithdown Lane. When I was in my second year, I lived at either 27B or 28B Smithdown Lane – can’t remember the exact number. But it was on the top floor, and my room was on the furthest left of the building. I then got married and moved to Huntley Road, near Liverpool FC’s Anfield football stadium. And then I moved back to Smithdown Lane, this time number 31. So, I know the landlord – Mr Kassim, an Iraqi – quite well. The area around Smithdown Lane was well known as a prostitute area during that time. Don’t know if it still is, but when I was there yesterday there was no one asking me if I wanted “business”!
By this time, it was almost 8pm and I was getting hungry. So, after a short bus trip towards town, next stop was Master Chef – used to be my favourite Indian restaurant. The food is still quite good. I had dinner with Dr Jeevan Naidu. We were at Liverpool University together and the last time I met him must have been back in 1999. Had a very interesting chat about Malaysia, and, since it is election time, you can’t run away from Malaysian politics. By the time we finished I was too tired to do anything else so straight to the hotel and to bed.
I got up this morning to the news that Britain had its first earthquake for many years last night. Some people at the hotel were actualy woken up by the tremor which was at around 1am. I must have been half-dead because I didn’t feel anything.
Today, just before boarding the train from Liverpool Lime Street station, I paid a visit to Mr Mann, another former landlord of mine. After Smithdown Lane, I moved to 37 Princes Avenue, one of the properties owned by Mr Mann. He has a shop at St John’s shopping centre called Basic Design.
Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to visit Ar-Rahma Mosque ofthe Malaysia Singapore Association. Next time, hopefully.
February 25, 2008 • 3:46 pm 0
Face to Face interview on Malaysia Today
Face to Face published an interview with me today.
One of the points picked up by commentators was that I said oil price hike is inevitable. One person commented that it was silly to compare Malaysia with Britain.
First of all, I was not trying to compare the price GBP vs RM. That would be silly. A more accurate comparison would require comparison of purchasing power parity (PPP), but I did not intend to do that. I was just trying to make the point that in the UK fuel prices have been on the rise for many years, and the price figures were there to illustrate how the price has gone up (not to compare the actual prices).
Secondly, one person also said that you cannot compare Britain to Malaysia because, according to the commentator, “Dear wan comparing our oil with Britain is stupid since they import oil not export oil. Bodoh.” I am afraid the bodoh-ness goes back to the person who said this becuase it is obvious he does not know what he was talking about. The reality is, fuel price in the UK has been rising since I first arrived in 1993. During that period, the UK was NOT a net oil importer. In fact, they were, on average, a net oil EXPORTER. In 2005, an expert analyst said: “The UK will eventually have to import”. That means, even in 2005, the UK was still exporting but they expect to have to import soon (the UK became a net importer only in 2006). So, even when they were a net exporter, fuel price still went up.
Oh, by the way….. one of the sources of funds for the British “welfare state” government, to pay for their welfare provisions, is tax on fuel.
February 24, 2008 • 7:00 pm 2
Of the Archbishop again
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the lecture by Archbishop Rowan Williams has been picked up in Malaysia (see Subky Latif’s article here). And the framework of the argument, in its simplest term, is this: “Even the Archbishop is now supporting shariah!”. This is both not at all surprising and couldn’t be any more wrong.
I have touched on this previously, but, for the record once again, the Archbishop was not advocating shariah. He was advocating choice in arbitration.
It is not only the “seculars” who oppose his statement. Malaysians should know that mainstream Muslim leaders in Britain do not fully endorse the Archbishop’s statement, nor do they support the introduction of syariah in this country.
However, I do support his statement. But I support him because, as a libertarian, I believe in choice, including choice in arbitration.
I would not be surprised if one day a conspiracy theory arises claiming that the Archbishop has converted to Islam. But I do not believe that he said what he said because of his conviction in Islam as such. There was no sign of that. I see it more as a sign that he believes in choice, which, in this particular context, is a sign of a liberal.
Filed under: Britain
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