Alhamdulillah.... Most precious doa given to mankind

From my humble opinion, the phrase "Alhamdulillah" (or its meaning in English praise to God Al-Mighty) is one of the most beautiful doa that been blessed by Allah to his servant - short, sweet and simple.

A lot of people neglect this phrase and tend to forget about it including me. However, a brief encounter with a Lebanese guy, Fadi, during one of my outing had enlightened and reminded myself how ungrateful I've been to Allah be it consciously or unconsciously. While we were chatting and having our 'air kosong tarik' (not being stingy but being health conscious) he asked the crowd (about 5 of us) a question,

" My brothers, when do you think human will remember God? "

All of us unanimously answered when they fall into perils. Tak kira Islam ke, Kristian ke, Buddha ke, atheis ke, everyone will  mostly pray  to their own respective God for help or at least think thought of a higher power when they are in peril. Nothing wrong with that since it is part of human nature. However, the beauty in Islam is that we are supposed to always remember Allah ALL THE TIME - especially during our good times. Tapi most of us conveniently forget to be grateful to Allah when we are blessed with prosperity. Insyallah, by instilling the habit of saying Alhamdulillah all the time in due time we will not forget Allah. Also Allah will blessed us with more prosperity and rezeki. 

I would like to end this with a short but meaningful story
" There was a king and his wazir (advisor) in a kingdom. They were close and the king will always go to him to complaint about his trouble and the wazir would reply with Alhamdulillah. One day, the king went out for his hunting game and while hunting he accidentally blow one of his fingers off. In pain and grief he told the wazir about it and as predicted his reply is Alhamdulillah. Being taken aback, the king ordered the wazir to be sent to prison and the wazir just said Alhamdulillah causing the king to get more angry.
After a year, the king went out for his hunting game again. This time, another mishap happen where his whole troop got caught by a cannibal tribe in the jungle. Since he is the only survivor, the cannibal decide to sacrifice him to their God. As he was tied up to the pole and about to be thrown into the boiling pot, the chief of the tribe ask the 'chef' to examine the king as they need a sacrifice that is without defect and much to their dismay, the 'chef' noticed that the king had lost a finger. Thus he was released and ask to go home. The king then run all the way back to his castle never looking back. Once he reached his castle the first thing he did was to go to the prison to meet with the wazir and told him about the ordeal. 
' Wazir, now I know why you said Alhamdulillah when I lost my finger a year ago. My life is spared because I lost my finger!! But I still don't understand why you said Alhamdulillah when you were sent to prison'
' My dear king, if you didn't sent me to prison a year ago, I would have been the sacrificed by the cannibal today'...

dLan: gonna do my best to always be grateful and remember Allah and say Alhamdulillah for everything that happen to me. 

Melia & Wan: And they live happily ever after

Selamat pengantin baru!!! 

Tema arini serba biru. abis pekan kodiang diwarnai dgn warna biru langit (Yes, I tend to exaggerate a bit - ok... a lot)
menu consist of ayam percik, kari daging, kurma daging n pajeri nanas. Fuih... sedap giler. Dah lama x makan kenduri kawin ala royong yg sedap gini.
Overall, I think it's a successful event. Even the weather is on our side today. Pak long and mak long can take a long breather tonight.
Tu Melia and Wan - selamat pengantin baru!! Semoga kekal bahagia ke akhir hayat.

Congratz Angah!!

Alhamdulillah.. First part already settle. Seronok jugak ikut org p bertunang. It's very red today in jitra sbb their engagement theme is red. Bloody red red - my favorite color. 

Ni la dia most eligible bachelor yg dah x eligible lagi 

mum with her future daughter in-law - myna 

Hantaran 5 balas 7

Hantaran together with myna

Anyway, very happy for you lil' bro. Semoga kekal sampai ke jinjang pelamin - D-day 13.9.2013

dLan: teringat time den sendiri bertunang dgn preparation nak kawin... huhu

Happy New Year and Selamat Balik Kampung

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR to all Malaysian and especially my fellow chinese friends. Hope the year of snakes will help you slither your way to success this year....

I'm currently at my comfy mom's house in Alor Setar. Just arrived after 6 hours journey from Seremban. If not because of attending my lil' bro engagement event and my cousin's wedding reception, memang takde nak redah traffic balik. The journey was a bit gloomy as it was drizzling most of the way and pretty uneventful except for a few minor accidents happening here and there along the way. (thank god, I'm not involved in any of them). Anyway, a few things I wanted to remind myself after this:

• Don't travel on the highway during peak hours unless REALLY REALLY necessary. I'm the kind of guy that can't really stand traffic jam- can feel my pressure rising especially if the cause is simply because people slowed down just to watch an aftermath of an accident. Why la so busy body??? Why??? If you're not going to help then please just drive away. No need to check the plat number for your 4D. tak kena punya!!

• Should try to consider public transport as mode of transport to go back kampung next time. Of course more convenient kalau travel sendiri tapi quite costly jugak fikir-fikir balik... travelling by train looks quite tempting especially the bed koc (Should take note for future reference) I've manage to make some cost analysis travelling back to Kedah with my beloved 5-years old BLM (sebelum ni tak pernah terfikir nak calculate)
• petrol consumption: RM 120 (about 13.5km/L - not bad I may say for a 'seasoned' car)   
• toll fee: RM54.20 (seremban/PD to Juru) + RM 13.50 (Sg Dua to Alor Star Utara) = RM 67.70

• Make sure to prepare tidbits and refreshment prior to travel. Tidbits at R&R and Petrol station tend to be more expensive than normal. Not to blame them for it as that is their way of making money but if I can use RM 5 -10 extra cash for petrol, that would be good.

dLan: drive safe and if possible do follow the schedule proposed by PLUS to easy our journey. Can refer here. Kudos to PLUS giving us ang pau in the form of rebate - 20% (on 7th and 15th) and 30% (on 10th) of toll price

Today is NOT a good day to die

Just watched die hard 5. Kecewanya aku. Was expecting more but there was not enough 'kick' as compared to previous movies.
Don't worry. I will not spoil the movie for you here. Go watch it yourself. Pretty decent action movie. Aku bagi rating 6.5/10 (dLan rating )
Decent storyline for an action movie with some predictable twist.
Action-wise, could have been better with more lorry chasing, gun blazing and explosion scene. (A bit sedih...  was really expecting more)
Chemistry between John and Jack was quite good. Can feel the awkward love-hate dad-son relationship between them.
Well, if you are a die hard fan like me, you should check this movie out. But on a personal note I think Die Hard 4.0 is the best thus far.
dLan: gonna go home and watch all 4 die hard movie later. Huhu

yippie ki yay Motherf**ker

hola... was watching CSI:NY just now when suddenly the ads showed the preview for Die Hard 5. Really got me excited now. Gonna go watch the show tomorrow (later). Had been and will always be a 'Die Hard' die hard fan. Starting from 1988 when John still have a lot of hair till 2007 when he got bald - never once in the movie did he forget to say yippie ki yay motherf**ker. To me personally the best was the 4th movie - Live Free or Die Hard. In fact, I might say John keep on raising the bar with every movie. So now I'm really fired up and full with expectation over the 5th movie.

 

So, guys lets put on our gear and get ready for another ride of Die Hard roller coster. Yippie Ki Yayyyyyy mother russia.....

Footnote: John aka John McClane is the hero of the franchise starred by Bruce Willis. In case you're wondering who the hell John is. 

A junction on the road - Security vs freedom (part 2)

Now, here comes the tricky part- the procedure you need to go through to jump ship. (This is mostly gonna be beneficial to junior doctors). I'm going to share my experience in hoping you can use this to ease your way leaving government. So, from my experience, there are a few steps you will need to go through when you're quitting government as a doctor (I'll eleborate further later)

1. confirming mentally you are leaving
2. have a family conference with your love ones and inform them about your decision and your future plan ::optional:: this will really help in the long term
3. confirming your compulsory status from MMC
4. dealing with your study loan provider (JPA, PTPTN, MARA etc) 
5. sending your resignation letter

1. confirming mentally you are leaving

remember earlier I said you need to weigh the pro's and con's? That is basically the first thing you should do. List down the all the goods and bad things about both your current and future workplace. Below is my own list to illustrate an example with you guys:

Like I said earlier, I didn't really ponder much to jump ship simply because of the income and the time flexibility. I always remember a quote from a close friend of mine who is also one of my financial mentor about leaving current work for a new one 

"Macha, if you're leaving your current job you better make sure you new job can give you at least 2-3 times more salary. Then, baru berbaloi leaving government."  

2. Having a family conference 

I'm not sure about you but my parent still have their say (trust me - I managed to mellow them down a lot) in most of my decision. But first, I got to convince my other half - which proven to be easier (bless her, she always backs me up in whatever I do. Even if I do something stupid) Having her by my side really helps when 'conferencing' with my parent. Needless to say, this time around, even to my amazement the conference went through without any blood drop.. 

3. Confirming compulsory service status

Okay, now the tricky part. As all or part of you know, we doctors in Malaysia are supposed to perform a compulsory service to the nation as according to the Medical Act 1971. The service will be counted starting from  the day after you completed your housemanship. There should not be a break during the 2 years period ie no "cuti tanpa gaji, cuti separuh gaji" (Do refer to my other post for more info) 
You'll also need to have a copy (or two) of your service book (green colour book) to be sent to MMC for confirmation of your compulsory service completion - this is usually needed to be done if you quit within first 5 years of service. 

4. dealing with your study loan provider

So, for some or most people who is financially incapable to pay personally for their tertiary study-like me, definitely they would have been sponsored by someone (parent not included) So, besides the need to deal with compulsory service, you will also need to make sure to check with your loan provider especially JPA whether you have any 'side contract' that needed you to serve in government for X amount of years. (for JPA usually 10 years) In my case, I was sponsored by MARA and there was no extra years of service attached in my agreement so I'm free after 4 years. 
Footnote: Please, for your future's sake, pay your loan back if you haven't. Be responsible and be good - you are a doctor!!

5. Sending your resignation letter

Now, you can send your letter to the respective PKD. (District Health Office) You don't have to write 3-4 pages long letter. Suffice with a simple letter stating your latest post, grade and salary. To those too lazy to write your own, here I provide a template - just change the name and date accordingly... on a second thought - write your own la lazy bum.. hehe 
Oh ya, forgot to mentioned about this important stuff. You have the option of sending in your resignation with a 3 month notice, 1 month notice or 24 hours. The 3 month notice will be the most advised to you by the office staff as they would have 2 months 2 weeks to procrastinate on your letter (I know it sound a bit harsh but hey, all the office procedure can be done in 2 weeks - yes, I ask and check with the staff) Personally, the best would be 1 month notice as you don't have any penalty or waiting to long to 'cabut' (waiting can be very agonizing...)
In my case, due to some unforeseen circumstance I decided to deliver a 24-hours notice. By doing so, I was ordered to pay a fine - a total of 1 month pay. Take note here that you'll only need to pay your basic salary NOT including your other allowance. If the finance department staff ask you to pay more ask them to look into the "Surat Pekeliling Perkhidmatan 2011 bil 10" (page 6)

A Junction on the Road - Security vs. Freedom (part 1)

I had quit working for the government... No,no. Don't get me wrong. I don't hate the government and no I don't hate my previous job (okay, maybe just a little bit) I'm now working in one of the private hospital in Seremban. I really enjoy myself working there for the last 3 weeks and apparently even my wife noticed it - She said she had never see me go to work in a happy mood for the past 2 years+ we were married. hehe... This is a story about me making a big leap for a chance of financial freedom by 'sacrifing' my financial security

A little about me before we go on.... I've completed my studies and obtained my MBBS from one of the private uni in Malaysia. Despite a small glitch during my studies (I had to repeat my final semester) I managed to grad in Aug 2008. I immediately started working my bum off in Nov 2008 and started to receive my first salary on Jan 2009. Yup, first 2 months of working I had to get a loan from the 'FaMa' Bank (I'll save the story for another day- if I can remember hehe) After 2 grueling years as a house officer, I managed to graduated from what we-(doctors)-call "lowest being in the medical world" to a lesser being or as layman people call medical officer. Then, I got transferred to rural clinic in Tampin district for almost 2 years before got shifted back to Seremban in Dec 2012. (I was asking to be transferred to hospital but got sent to health clinic instead) On the 9th Jan 2013, after 4 years 1 month and 23 days, I submitted my letter to FIRE my boss.  

To my fellow junior colleagues and friends - You should know that there are a few things you should REALLY consider before leaving your job ( I think these can be applied to others as well)

1. You better be damn well sure that you want to leave your current work (in my case MoH) and better have another working place ready.
2. Weigh and list down the pro's and con's leaving your current job to a new one
3. Have at least 2-3 months of savings in case of emergency (trust me on this one)

Majority of  the reason why people leave their job for a new one fall into one of these reasons

• financial stand
• working environment
• got sacked ( this have been getting more rampant recently especially those from foreign company )

Well, my reasons are simple - I want and need more income and I want more time and freedom for me to do what I want to gain financial freedom. And guess what, my new workplace provide both to me. That's why I didn't hesitate much to jump ship.

Compulsory Service for Medical Officer

Kali nie aku rasa nak blog dalam Malay lak. Penat dah speaking sedas-dua sebelum ni. Dalam previous blog  aritu aku ada mention pasal berhenti kerja dari sektor kerajaan and ada sebut pasal compulsory service. So, skarang aku nak citer pasal compulsory service ni.

Compulsory service ni dah lama dah implement kat Malaysia ni- sejak 1971 based dari Medical Act 1971 (act 50). Korang boleh baca sendiri kat sini. Bagi yang malas nak membaca or takde masa nak baca akta yang panjang lebar tu meh sini aku terangkan sedikit sebanyak benda yang penting dari akta tu.

Basically, akta ni menyebabkan doktor-doktor warganegara Malaysia kena berkhidmat wajib selama 3 tahun selepas abis housemanship. Good news is, since 2009 kerajaan dah turunkan tempoh tu kepada 2 tahun saja sebab housemanship period dah naik ke 2 tahun. (housemanship period start jadi 2 tahun sejak tahun 2008 tapi news pasal pengurangan tempoh khidmat wajib menteri announce tahun 2009)

Bagi yang nak berhenti dari bekerja kat spital atau klinik kerajaan (note: berenti as in quit qovernment bukan tukar kementerian) atas sebab-sebab tersendiri adalah digalakkan untuk pastikan tempoh khidmat wajib dah lengkap. Cane nak pastikan? Senang je. Call MMC di nombor-nombor ni 03-22628480 or 03-22628481 dan mintak untuk disambungkan ke extension 103 (bahagian compulsory service) Staff tersebut akan guide anda untuk step-step seterusnya.

Ada orang tanya, apa yang penting sangat nak kena buat compulsory service ni? simple je jawapan dia - kalau kau still nak jadi doktor kat dalam Malaysia tapi luar government yang LEGAL kena buat compulsory service ni. Sebab, kalau tak cukup 2 tahun tanpa sebab-sebab yang boleh diterima 'practising license' anda akan ditarik dan degree MBBS anda akan menjadi sekeping kertas yang tak berharga lagi. huhu

Lupa lak nak inform-compulsory service ni kena berterusan tanpa henti untuk tempoh 2 tahun tau!! Maksudnya, tak leh amik cuti selain dari cuti bergaji. So, let say kalau ko terpaksa sangat-sangat nak berhenti sebelum cukup tempoh 2 tahun, bole ke tak? Boleh je... tapi ko kena buat surat rasmi direct kepada DG (director General MoH bukan DiGi) mintak sama ada pengecualian, pengurangan atau penundaan tempoh khidmat wajib. Usually kita akan dinasihatkan oleh staff MMC untuk mintak pengurangan je. Surat reply akan diterima dalam masa 2-4 minggu.

A new start

It's 3.56am in the morning. Was half-heartedly hoping that this would not be a busy night at work and so far here I am- lying in bed wide awake thanks to a nice dose of mamak 'neslo kaw'.  Being wide awake in the middle of the night do make one's mind ponder on lots of thing. In my case it's mostly about my past, current and future life.. Well, mostly about my past; things that I should have done and things I shouldn't have done and bulk of the issues were on financial stuff. While doing all that, I suddenly had an epiphany. (dah lama teringin nak pakai that word correctly) why not if I just share my mistakes and experiences so that other people including yours truly won't be making the same mistake again? Hmmm... good job brain *patting my head* for giving this excellent idea.

Back in the old days- when I was still young (I'm still young by the way) I used to write my 'blog' and comments in my diary(Yep.. I used to have a diary) That blogging didn't last long since I can get easily forget and get bored in doing repetitive stuff - that problem of mine still haunt me every now and then. Anyway, thinking back I guess I really do enjoy doing that and I'm gonna start blogging again - this time online. 

So, before I start to forget and my scumbag brain start to ponder on something else I better write down what I'm thinking of writing...

• financial planning
• financial experiences
• interesting daily experiences (hmmm, this might be tough)
• other stuff that I want to blog.. lol

So, I hope this small project of mine will be continued for as long as possible. please pray to Allah that I won't get bored and forget to blog ^_^ also, may other people and myself enjoy reading my blog in the future..