Jönköping

Kawan-kawan... aku ada ofis mate baru... Nama dia Li Jengtao... Sempoi... Skang baru aku ternotice.. Aku slalu tulis blog lepas jumpa ngan supervisor :P. Well this time, sempoi giler the discussion. Before the discussion, mesti call mama dulu.. for comfort.. gelabah gak. Tambah pulak this time nak discuss ngan 2 bangsa yang penah menjajah kita.

Best gak tgk gelagat orang pandai nie. Sembang ilmiah laa katakan. Rasa mcm orang kaya pon ada bila dalam bilik discussion tu. It started on a few questions which was difficult for me to answer(nervous kot). Anyway, Justin started with a few complement regarding my proposal. Like "Now I can see where you're going" ..... "Much better than the last time we met"...He even pointed out the term "eurocentricity" that I often use and the optimistic view of maybe de-eurocentricise certain theories like Post secularization, pre-secularization and secularization. Alot of things that I need to develop clearly especially in methodologising my ideas. Coz, as justin said, research is not just intuition and ideas. It is lso about mathodolgising yer ideas

And alhamdulillah my abstract has been accepted (walaupun antar 1 month late) thanks to God, my mum's prayer n papa n prof Westlund, at least thats the first step on publishing my work.

The discussion about the paper was also quite interesting. There are two opposing views regarding the format of my paper. Prof Henk coming from a quantitative empirical backrground like numbers n heading while Dr J. Beaumont would prefer it in an essay and philosophical form. Well I think both of them are right. Of course prof has the ultimate authority :)...yes boss. But I think different academic view will increase academic vitality :).

I also e-mailed Prof Abd Lateef Abdullah an American and an ex protestant now a Muslim convert about my work and he said that there are many reason why people dont pay Zakah besides secularization. He said that I've justified the use of Zakat as a measure of religiosity, I still need further justification. Prof henk added that I need to add the rationality and irrationality of religious belief and start on the data analysis :) Well there's a lot of work.

It is safer to believe in god because if good doesnt exist, than the impact on you is not very significant. However, if you dont believe in god, and it turned out that god really exist, then you're in deep shit. Bleise Pascal ..... I like this one haha anyway I rephrased it so that it sounds funny. Take that Karl Marx!

The next week amir mai with Juan. I've made tempoyak ikan tillapia and ayam Kurma sedap gila... Everybody ate with their hands. Vincas is an expert in eating with hand :). Juan n Claudio nampak cam kekok sikit haha... N thanks to vincas for baking the Apple pie. I was great!!! Luv it!!!

P/s.... I know somebody has been stalking my blog... I guess you googled my name :)..... What u did to me was horrid. There are some mistakes that is unforgivable. You've lost my trust and respect which u dont deserve in the first place. Nevertheless I forgive you but plz stop it. Can be quite irritating sometimes :).

A word from a philosopher that I look up to. "Only take care and care for the person who cares for you"

J.B Khairy, Amir...Gro->Hilv->Ams

Anyway, Prof e-mailed my about his suggestion for Dr Justin Beaumont to be my co-supervisor. He's gonna supervise me on the theoretical part and Prf will be supervising on the econometrics part. I said ok aaa...Actually its more like BRILLIANT! coz when I met Justin also, he did ask whether I need him to supervise, but I have Henk already so skang mmg happy.

By the Way Dr Justin Beaumont is an Englishman..Got his Phd from Durham... I just discovered how to pronounce Durham... NOT Durr Hamm BUT Durrem.... Silent H... Hehehe orang biasa ngan dutch mana tau semua2 nie "poyo" . Anyway, he is a very energetic suave, charismatic n a person with style with a strong intelactual touch. The choice of word that he uses reflects countless books that he has reads and write and his in depth research not just abot planning but in Theology as well. He has collaborations especially theologeans, planners, geographers and reverants from churches. In fact he has organised a conferences just recently about Dutch religious situatiation mainly about faith based organization and from that conference he compiled all the research work into a book that will be out soon, July maybe....

First impression of him, he has made research as more fun for me. I think the research about postsecularization that he's doing is fun!!! sadly i dont think it can be applied in Malaysia..not yet Coz Malaysia's secularization is still latent..... N my research is to crystallise it. What he want from me for now is what is the Aim for my studies and my propose chapters in my thesis. After that we will sit together with henk in my office n discuss about my phd future...Nie yg gelabah nie

Anyway, KHairy mai, n lama aku tak jumpak Amir... So 2 birds with one stone.. Jumaat malam aku gerak gi Hilversum n spent the night there. N the next morning(More like afternoon) me n Amir gerak gi Amsterdam n wait for khairy. Unfortunately Khairy sampai lambat n we waited for hours. Not Khairy's fault anyway coz It was raining n they had trouble with the holland pass. So, Amir n I had nothing to do except being hooligans in Amsterdam. Our mission cari MELAYU.. haha... Especially awek... Tp unfortunately time kami nak cari, takde pon Melayu. Yang ada orang Indo... Anywayzz we did found a group of Malay, tp u guys know kan typical Malaysian students yg study dekat UK, buat deeek ja dkt kami so lantak lah. Kami, Malaysians yg study dekat Holand nie kalau jumpa other Malaysians, kami apreciaaaate sangat.

Anyway after hours of waiting, finally we get to meet Khairy n Also Hawa Hanum.... Aww she's so cute. We need to rock her pram so that she's asleep, if not she wakes up. We took some pictures n aku n Amir pon letih sangat... we had some lite dinner n head back.

The next morning b4 I headed back, I cooked Kuah durian... We had to open all the windows so that the Gas incidence never happen again. It was spring n prettey warm outside so we ate outside...mmg sempoi.. Orang puteh pon heran kami makan kuah durian kat luar sambil main guitar n nyanyi.... How oftern do you hear 2 Malaysian guys eating kuah durian in Hileversim netherlands?....

Deliks Defence

Lamanya aku tak tulis blog.... Kalau dah sampai Pire pon bole tanya pasal apa lama tak post blog , maknanya lama la tuuu. Well, alot of things has happened this few weeks. Well remember my last post mentioning about how prof like my work. Well, a week after that fuhh memacam complain especially on my conceptual model.

In doing research, we have to be neutral. By neutral is really NEUTRAL. There is one statement that my prof is really critical about. The statement sounds something like this. "Muslims belief towards Islam remains strong. In fact, it becomes strongger" something like that laa tp ayat yang lebih acedemic, aku pon tak berapa ingat cemmana aku tulis. Anyway I quoted that statement from a book and articles that I've been reading mainly from Earnest Gellner. Anyway, I certainly can write that kind of statement BUT the refference towards it mesti panjang berjela. From what I understood, there must be some sort of concencus from alot of acedemics in order to support that statement

Thats one thing.... and another thing is AGAIN my structure. Prof is so nice to even drew me the stucture especially for my dependent n independent variable. First is the hypothesis, then WHY?? n then support with literature. AGAIN n AGAIN he wants me to be fast. Yes Boss!

After the discussion, both of us wen to see Delik's defence. FYI Delik is a very nice chap. He's a lecturer in Bandung. Umor dekat 30 arr to anak dah dua..... I went there with abang ucop n we went to buy a book for him as present. About the defense, My prof n my 2nd supervisor was there to ask questions. As usual, the profesors n the Decents(lecturers) marched like royalties. Only the professors wear the robes n the special hat. The docents pakai baju coat aaa. And they we sitting on a should I say communal throne. Mmg cantik Aula hall tu.

Anyway, professors will take turn to ask questions about Deliks thesis according to their respective expertise.N my prof tanya soalan paling susah, n delik pon kata camtue hehehe, n the kind of question that he was asking delik is the kind of question that he asks me every time we meet. Delik nampak mcm gelabah tp pastu cool je. Anyway, I was hoping dia pakai baju yang macam magician ka, rupanya dia pakai baju suit beasa jaaa. He managed to complete his Phd within 3 years..impressive.. tp Masters dia 2 tahun n dia sambung Phd ikut masters dia...Hurmmm aku tak tau aaa. He gave me Alquran for free...mmg baik. I wish him success utk mendidik anak Bangsa...

After the Phd presentation, there was a banquet. I did't go, I was thinking, kita nie apa laaa sangat. Ingatkan banquet nie utk proff prof n tetamu diraja jaaa... Rupanya, everybody who attended mmg dijemput. N prof was looking for me, n I know that the next morning when Stiny told me... kesian prof, dia tu usaha aa cari aku, rupanya dia tolong carikan co supervisor utk aku Dr Justin beaumont.

Ps. Khairi cakap dia nak datang from UK bawak Hawa Hanum, his cute lil daughter

Comedy night

Ive been reminding claudio from last month about the comedy night. I've missed it 3-4 times already coz it's always on the first thursday nite of the month. Oh yeah and the above picture is when I cook Nasik Padprik(tak jadi). Pedak plak tuuuu kesian claudio. Vincas sental jugak.


Kami bertiga naik laaa basikal sampai De korrenbourg(One of the landmarks of Groningen). N gi la ke comedy nite show tu.... Best gilerr... Its like a groningen version of "Who's line is it anyway" cuma the input from the audience is selected by random shouts from the floor instead of writing it down in a paper. Any inputs from the audience which are accepted in the show, the oudience will get a free beer. Ha ha... The actors are natural, bukan buat-buat n bukan lawak spastic. I loughed my pants off!

Muka penuh kebencian pasal aku kutuk dia. Saja jaaa sindir dia... Aku tanya dia.. Pasal apa malam nie pakai smart sangat?? nak cari awek ka??? BTW aweks2 kat sini fuhhh....

This is a typical lithuanian soup. Its some sort of desert made from fruit mixes and starch. Sapa lagi yg buat kalau roomate aku Vincas

Oh yeah and thanks to claudio for showing me the way. Kalau dak sesat laa akuu. This is his 3rd time here. Anyway, the ambiance dalam dewan tu mmg unique. Dinding color merah with wallpaper merah bunga2. Ceiling pon color merah with beautiful chandeliers mmg suasana europe abes lah! Should've taken pictures...

Cant wait for the next showw next month!

Dui!

Geen Weekend voor mij...

Sepatutnya spring tp snow mencurah-curah.... I LOVE IT!..... Dok antaq laa progress kat prof, dok heran laa pasai apa dia lambat balas.... Rupa-rupanya dia suda gi US utk conference naseb baik US.... Time gempa bumi tu aku dok rasa cuak jugak, isyyy takut prof gi Chille pulak jadi apa2 kat dia, MASAK aku!

Cheee at this moment Ive accomplished 2 stuff!!!

1) Mintak prof fill in progress report....Cheee dia fill in "laa laa tu" immediately.. juga.. Sepatutnya mende tu confidential tp prof open jaaa... Ok laaa Average banyak... Semua very good tipu aaaaaaa....

2) Mintak cuti mid June for Nawal's wedding... Dia approve!! Alhamdulillah...Happy siot!!!

Rgarding my progress...

Prof duduk depan aku n said "You have progressed!" Pastu dia mcm Berkerut n fikir balik...Pastu aku mencelah "I need to progress faster am I?" pastu dia kata "yes! yes!"

He gave me a paper by Dutta and ask me to follow within his lines!

About dutta's paper, I notice that there is specific section for literature review...n I ask him why???

He said

"its a matter of style, literature review doesn;t have to be a specific section it can be anywhere".

I still have this undergrad mentality that loterature review must be in one exclusive section.

"The literature review that you wrote is a combination of Introduction and the Conceptual model"

That means i have to restructure my literature review and saperate it into Intro and conceptual model

I've traced back related literatures dated back in the 17oo regarding religion and economics which starts from "The wealth of Nations" by Alex Weber until Azzi and Ahrenberg 1975 which is the foundation of my conceptual model.

Azzi and ahrenberg said: Religiosity can be measured by various indicators namely church attendence and religious contribution. The main point which many literatures point out is "RELIGIOUS CONTRIBUTION IS A SUBTITUTE FOR CHURCH ATTENDANCE" as a measure of religiosity. Based on this, I will use Zakat payment as a measure of religiosity. Insyaallah by next week Ziad nak data! from Jabatan perangkaan.

The other thing that Prof point out is the motives of Church attendance/religious contribution. I did mention the 3 motives in Azzi and Ahrenberg

1)salvation motive-> Church attendance for the purpose of afterlife consumption. Maksudnya buat kerana Allah aaaa ikhlassss

2) Social Motive-> Church attendane for social preasure= Mcm lalang aaa,... 4-5 orang pi Mesjid/sedekah, yang lain pon ikut

3)Consumption Motive-> Nie pi mesjid/Sedekah utk dapat business contact....

All these 3 motives professor wants me to model it in such a way, there is sort of an equilibrium between Earthly motives and the salvation motive.... Hampeh! aku tak terpikiaq pon mcm tu... Thats why he's the professor and I'm the Idiot

And then AGAIN he wants me to structure my points and use bullets for my dependent and independent variables. Dia siap tulis lagi kat draft aku sebijik - sebijik....

Oh yeah tensen2 aku dok dengaq lagu nie.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06CWxWx2k0o&annotation_id=annotation_460684&feature=iv

Hilversum apple chicken

During the weekend, I went to Amir's place. It was a really great experience. I was treated like his big bro. Really honoured to be at his place. His hospitality was great and his friends are super cool.

This is Juan Amir's friend a super smooth Columbian Dutch guy.

Vincas sed "I wanna cook Apple chicken!" and I sed "Let Me buy the Chicken!". It was friday and Friday is the day for fresh chicken!! yesss!!. It was veeery yummy especially with my Nasik Kunyit and all of us were eating with our hands. Vincas was eating with both of his hands of course.

This is Pijus cutting the chicken. It was very soft and tender and most importantly Halal coz I bought it. Vincas tgh lapas sekarang actually pastu Pijus dok buat slow haha panas aa kawan

The right picture is me waiting for good old Pijus to cut the chicken. Dori... I think she's having her meatloaf

I know, I'm supposed to arrange the picture but I dun reallly have the time for it so hantam sajalaaa.

Apple pie....

Betapa Syumulnya Islam sampai Earnest Gellner pon kata dalam Buku dia yang Orang Islam dan agamanya tak dapat dipisahkan. There is no Secularization in Islam. Kepercayaan Islam adalah sama kuat macam sekurun yang lalu dan mungkin lebih kuat kata Gellner. Dia bukan mcm kepercayaan orang yang bukan Islam seperti yang dikatakan oleh pensyarah dari pakistan Abida Eijaz dimana ada kontradiksi diantara kitab2 sebelum kitab "Kalamullah yang latest" yang menyebabkan trend secularization menjdai lebih teruk. Ye lah, kalau dah berlawanan dgn sains mmg lah orang tak mau. BTW, kalau hangpa nak tau, Earnest Gellner nie adalah seorang berketurunan daripada negara yang passport kita tak bole pergi... Paham-paham lah. Yang bestnya any articles yang aku baca pasal Secularization in Islam, memula sekali depa akn cite mamat nieh. Atas sebab2 nie lah yang aku dok buat research aku pasal economic development and secularization.

Anyway, dah mintak dah data kat "Cik Y" cun woooo.....N En Zakaria pon bagi positive feedbak... Update ngan prof, dia nak jugak data utk single household soooo takpah ikut cakap boss/pak mentua/mentor/hoogelaren/Professor walaupon aku rasa n Cik Y rasa data tu tak represent the whole of Malaysia. Nak kene spend aaa skit utk data tu tp takpalah utk masa depan. Aku estimate dalam RM10000...mmg banyak tp... anggap je 2000EUR pastu pandai2 laaa aku claim kat USM keee Rijkuniversiteit Groningen kee...They dont call Rijkuniversiteit for nothing... Rijk means rich!....

Social life....

Seronok ngan kerenah bebudak lithuania nieh. Roomate aku nie perut dia lagi Melayu drp aku!!.

Few days ago, aku nampak dia masak NASIK GORENG!!!! Hampeh! aku pon tak penah masak nasik goreng. Pastu aku nampak dia goreng teloq.... siap bubuh kicap, cili n rempah apa ntah, bau maaacam masakan Melayu. Cuma malam tadi dia buat apple pie utk aku...Apple pie bujang hahaha. I felt like it was my birthday!! Mmg sedap, Smaak Lekker. Teringaaat dekat Vaiva dan Indre, depa pon suka buat apple pie dkt aku jugak

Rasa mcm birthday aku....Depa semua tgk muka aku time aku tgh makan apple pie... sedap giler... Aku cuba control ekspresi aku tp tak bole maaa

Muka control nikmat Apple pie

Yang nie tak bole blah, tangkap gambor mesti posing maut

Yessss Dapat gambaq nikmat.....Mmg sedap pon pie nie.. Nak buat pon simple giler.... 2 cups Manni((Letuva)/griesmeal(nederlands)/Samolina(English) dalam BM aku tak tau.... 2 cups tepung n 1 cup gula pastu mix it together satu layer campuran mende2 tu satu layer apples(potong2 aaaa) n satu layer tepung2 tu n atas taruk butter pastu tauk dalam oven. Lepas sejam Voilla!

Bawah Nie aku tgh kebosanan menunggu Vincas beli kasuit

Ronda satu Groningen tak jumpa yg berkenan...kalau nak cari bini tak tau laa cemmana

Nie, aku tgh bawak depa jalan2 perkenalkan Groningen. Tgk...Melayu nieeeee la jugak yang dok bawak depa tour groningen.... Tunjuk kat depa, Bank kat mana pejabat tu...pejabat niee...Grootemarkt.

Mcm nie laaa aku dok ulang alik drp kitchen aku utk masak. Rilek jeee pakai kain pelikat...Kekadang boleh lari dan lompat.