Its lol

This really made my day :D

I am excited

I am very excited  right now but at the same time I feel nervous about it. I was accepted to be a Field Engineer at Schlumberger Brunei. The first induction program which is the OFS-1 (OilField Service induction) was supposed to be held on 7th Jan 2014 in Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately, due to only small number of new recruited staff signed up for that induction program, it was cancelled. What a bad news for me.

I was informed by my recruiting manager that the next induction program is in February and he will put me for that slot if it is still available (what, if it is not available? Then I have to wait for March one). I fell down to learn that my OFS-1 induction was cancelled.

But 2 weeks ago, I was informed that there is one OFS-1 slot available and the recruiting manager asked me if I am interested to go for that one. Of course I am, especially after being informed, the training will be held in Abu Dhabi!!

I really want to visit this building- Burj of Arab. Photo courtesy of link

Now everything are like what have been planned, I have received my return ticket via email. I will fly to Abu Dhabi via KL and the transit time in KL is 6 hrs. urghhh.. Few days to go :)

What is OFS-1 actually?

Based on information I received through friend and mostly are from blogs I read, OFS-1 is just an induction program to introduce SLB, what they are doing, signing a contract, Quality, health, Safety and Environment (QHSE) briefing. So they are mainly lectures. Only after attending this OFS-1 I will be qualified to work at the base and workshops.

I will write more on this upon my return back to Brunei after my week long induction program.

The first few things that come up on my mind after being informed about Abu-Dhabi, I pictured Burj of Arab and Kebab (its proper name is Doner Kebab- Actual definition of  Kebab is just a skewer !!. Yea I have been craving for Middle-East kebab- which is not available anywhere in Brunei.

Doner kebab. Photo courtesy of link

When I was in Sydney, I only realised the uniqueness of Quad Kebab- which is available at my Uni' food courts few months before I was back for good. What a loss! Now 6 months have passed and my craving is still there and growing.

Sometimes, I found myself a bit too much weirdo- where I will stare at kebab photo in my computer. I Can't help to satisfy my desire!. What a story of my life!

I haven't tell you why I feel nervous. Next blog post (next time)

I think I miss Sydney (again)

My first and last visit to Tarong Zoo

 It has been 6 months and a week since I left Sydney for good. I completed my final exam in June 2013 and I left Sydney on 13th July 2013. It feels like it was just yesterday. Sometimes, I feel myself is still in Sydney; not because I don't like to return back but the nostalgia and memories are still clearly visible. 

While on a ferry- with Sydney Bridge at the back

I wish I can jog down from my home to the Coogee beach now, then lying my back on the wide, flat rock next to beach, listening to the sound of the waves hitting and losing their energy as they are approaching the beach.

Jenolan Cave at Blue Mountain region

I always picture myself walking down to IGA shop which is 5 mins away from my home at Meeks street. That was my hobby when I feel stressed out and feel bored for doing nothing. I will go around the IGA to look for something I need to buy... 

I miss going to EastGarden for grocery shopping, miss South Juniors for the gym, miss Sydney city for window shopping, miss blue mountain for hiking up and down the China stairway to heavens staircases,  miss Cronulla for its unique beach, miss bankstown for the large rack of steak, miss Gangho for the best Char Kway Teow, miss Bondi junction for their large shopping complex, miss uni basketball court for Jumaah prayer, miss Uni's Squarehouse for Free foods during iftar, miss green herbal Iran unique rice for such a great tasty meal which only available during ramadan, miss  my colleagues for their uniqueness, miss my housemates for being very supportive, miss my uni for providing unforgettable sleepless nights, miss lectures for the hard timing I encountered during group project, miss Prince of Wales hospital for fixing my 3 times shoulder dislocation, miss my juniors for always sleepover at my place, miss my naqib for never ending support and encouragement,  miss Papa Roti for their best bun, miss Mochi for their best topping, miss Ayam Goreng99 for their best ayam bakar, miss Nasi Goreng for their signnatured hot and delicious Ayam Sereh, miss walking alone at night for being mugged- sigh, miss Maroubra for their beautiful bbq place, miss Broadway for being unique place to go, miss Fishmarket for their fresh oyster, miss Its Time For Thai for their authentic bbq chicken and Penang curry, miss Quad foodcourt for their best kebab, miss Wollongong for sight and sea seeing, miss group projects for a fight, miss mathlab for being hard, miss Lakemba for its unique fresh carrots juice during ramadan, miss north Sydney for iceskating rink, I miss everything..

I guess this must be effect from Gloria Jeans coffee (an Australian Franchise) which I just had -   on top of the soft background music playing in the cafe.

Having a gup of Cappucino at Gloria jeans, City Square

Job Hunting Secrets

Interview at KL

On 1st October 2013, I attended an interview at Kuala Lumpur for Field Operation Professional- for Brunei placement. One of the question is,

" In Malaysia, the unemployment rate is increasing, yet we have a lot of fresh and old graduates who are still looking to find jobs. We have many opening available yet many of them are still there to be filled. What do you think the factors that contributes this unemployment issues?".

The above question remind me to several free career workshops I attended in my former University. These workshops are totally free but I am the only Bruneians in my University who  love to attend and hear this self-marketing and self-improvement seminar.




Strategy to get yourself hired

source: 

Having A+ scores in the University won't necessary make you always worth more than others but it is still bring advantage and potential to get hired. There are some strategies that you should learn how to market your-self. In the workshops, I learned few important things which later helped me to get part-time job during my long summer vacation in Sydney and nowthose tips are proven to be undeniable. They were proven to be valid not only during my jobseeking period but was also proven when I wanted to pursue my study to Master Degree.

Hidden Job Opportunity

One of the thing that surprised me is about 70% of job market are hidden- they are not published anywhere either in the websites, newspapers or company portals.  This is the thing that really surprised me and I made use of this information to grab me a part-time job in Sydney.

When I was in Sydney- I tried to get a part-time job (during my 3 months summer holiday) through some famous job-seeking websites such as Gumtree. Unfortunately, I received no luck- I rarely received interview request or even a replied from them.

So after knowing this 'secret', what I did- I submitted my resume to many shops which didn't publish vacancy opening on their door or at any job-seeking website. I talked to the shop managers asked if they have any available vacancy in their shop. Yes, I was employed after sending my resume following this tips. I was offered two part-time job during that summer period. 

It really surprised me where they are plenty of vacancies available in many shops, but they were not published. 

Lesson no 1: If you are looking for job- don't limit your self to newspaper, pelita brunei, websites- advertised opening only. Visit the company, ask if there is vacancy available and leave your resume with them.

Networking

This is the easiest way to get your self employed by a company. Lets me clarify the confusion that people always have on mind about Networking. Some people were confused that getting a job via networking is unfair, biased, and unaccepted norms in society. It was labelled as family-friends benefits types of corruptions. 

Photo courtesy of link

To tell the truth, it is not!

Networking is the most successful, proven ways to get yourself employed. Through networking, you can ask your friend or university colleagues to recommend you to their hiring-manager to hire you. If you still think this is a bad attitude, I am sorry to say, you need to open your mind.

Again, as mentioned before, many job opportunities are hidden. some jobs need to fill in faster, but the process for them to get advertised takes time- due to company policies, the manager are busy (and forget) to inform HR, or because the HR had filtered many candidates based on their preferences not based on department preferences of candidates- so your chance to get hired is lower.

So if you are interested to work in the same company as your friend, you should ask help from your friends to 'advertise' you to their manager. You might ask, what if the recommended friend is not a potential candidates, you lie about their working credibility for sake of helping a friend?. Maybe it might happen but many will avoids those from happen.

When someone recommend a friend to their boss, they will only recommend their friends who has potential. You don't want to get blame by your boss to get not-worth candidates which will lower your image in the company. You must consider this before recommending a friend to work in the same company as you.

Since your friend know you well, your friend will/will not advertise yourself to their manager depending on your strengths and weakness.

Besides that, your networks friends might know some opening in their companies and can direct you to the right person to contact.

I also learned that, before I quit my job from the shops, my manager asked me to recommend anyone I know to work with them. It didn't happen once but twice. From there I learned that it is easy to get a job via networking.

Currently people are using a famous website for job hunting via networking. It is called Linkedln. I learned from a friend that one of his colleagues receive a lot of job offers each month through Linkedln. Linkedln also the medium which helped his colleagues to get a job in Brunei.

So Lesson no 2: Good networking with people- and get job via networking

Profile page

I learned this strategy from a friend who works in BLNG- this technique was recommended by her Manager.

When I showed  my profile page to some of my friends, many believed a long profile page shouldn't be put in a resume.  Many of us still want to follow old-traditional methods of resume styled. We need to crack an interview hidden secrets to secure a job. We need  to understand the reason behind those profile page.

I would recommend, everyone should have a profile page attached with their resume.

Photo courtesy of link

What is a profile page actually?, It is simple, it is just a summary of your working experiences, educations and etc but you make use of this information to tell your proven credibility in handling and managing something to your hiring manager. For example:

"My good time management and self- independent is proven where I was able to spare some of my weekly busy schedules to work as a part- timer while I was studying for my University Degree. In 2011, I hold two positions in the XX society as an IT officer and Religious officer. My leadership and commitment towards the positions are proven when I- one of the main organisers was successfully organised the first-time religious event which was participated by at least 30 students and attended by officers from the XX. Besides that, I was also responsible as an organiser for several events such as interview by local radio, Eid greeting videos and trips to several places. 

In terms of teamwork and team-leader, I experienced a number of student group projects where I delivered a strong commitment to the group such as organising group creation, initial group meeting, medium for files and document sharing, job segregation, ideas and solution and etc. I also make sure each member are committed to the group such as by introducing the idea of job-role rotation within the group.  In the recent student group project, Enhanced Oil Recovery, as a group leader, I raised and idea to accommodate and to ensure everyone have an opportunity to be the chairman/woman or minutes writer for each meeting. This helps everyone to feel the importance of their present in the group hence better teamwork experience, communication and responsibilities. "

When I first created my resume, I only have 4 lines of simple profile information which I learned were not very useful to market myself.

If you still can't realised the difference between profile page and resume; in resume, you only put your experiences and etc in bullets points without elaboration. Whereas, in Profile Page - you link your experiences to your strange, and how these strange will benefits the company. 

When you show that you are a good team player and team member besides having goods results  in your profile page - Tell me, who can ignore you?

So Lesson no 3: put a long profile page in your resume.

There are many other tips that I would like recommend everyone to try and master by themselves. But for the time being, I only have time to write the above information. I hope the above information are useful. I will add  more information on job-seeking startegy next time (if I am free to write more).

Oil news is coming

I still haven't talk about petroleum industry or news in this blog (besides the old imported blog posts). It is not because they are boring, but it is just that I haven't have feeling to talk about petroleum now. Insha Allah I will cover about petroleum industry/news in Brunei soon.

Failure of BlowOut Prevention (BOP) in Mario game!

Tariq Ramadan rejects Hudud?

In late October 2013, Tariq Ramadan was invited to give a public lecture at the University of Brunei Darussalam. About 100 people consists of students and public attended the afternoon scheduled lecture. I can't recall the topic discussed but it was interesting but hard to be understood by engineer student (me).

Tariq Ramadan view on Hudud

On November 2013, Brunei Times published a complete article interview with Tariq Ramadan regarding the proposed Shariah Penal code in Brunei. I was shocked and confused on regards to which side Tariq Ramadan actually standing regarding to Hudud.

"I launched a call about 10 years ago suspending the [three punishments in the] penal code. The three things - stoning, the death penalty and corporal punishment. Saying to the Muslim-majority countries, you first have to start with what is the beginning [of Syariah] - social justice, education for all, protection of citizenships, whatever is religion. " - Tariq Ramadan (source: click here)

However, based on the above quote, we can see that Tariq Ramadan is actually proposing for a moratorium (temporary banning) of 3 Hudud punishments from  Shariah Penal Code in any coutries implementing Shariah law. This article received less/no objection from anyone in the country (based on my reading and research).

After reading this Brunei Times article, I shared with my colleagues and asked for their feedbacks. Most were not aware about the moratorium proposal by Tariq Ramadan as published by Brunei Times. Although Tariq Ramadan clearly mentioned his points about the moratorium,  unfortunately the mentioned reasons are not strong enough to stop muslims from still go for Hudud.

Authentic hadiths about Stoning for adultery

The hudud about stoning for is clearly mentioned by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as reported in several Sahih Bukhari hadiths. The following authentic hadith is among tens hadiths available about stoning for adultery.

Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar: The Jews came to Allah's Apostle and told him that a man and a woman from amongst them had committed illegal sexual intercourse. Allah's Apostle said to them, "What do you find in the Torah (old Testament) about the legal punishment of Ar-Rajm (stoning)?" They replied, (But) we announce their crime and lash them." Abdullah bin Salam said, "You are telling a lie; Torah contains the order of Rajm." They brought and opened the Torah and one of them solaced his hand on the Verse of Rajm and read the verses preceding and following it. Abdullah bin Salam said to him, "Lift your hand." When he lifted his hand, the Verse of Rajm was written there. They said, "Muhammad has told the truth; the Torah has the Verse of Rajm. The Prophet then gave the order that both of them should be stoned to death. ('Abdullah bin 'Umar said, "I saw the man leaning over the woman to shelter her from the stones." Sahih Bukhari 4:56:829

more hadith regarding hudud can be read here

Tariq Ramadhan launches attack on Hudood (2005)

In 2005, Tariq Ramadan  published a paper relating to his disagreement or certain hudud punishments from being carried (Read here).

Some of texts from his calling for temporary banning of certain hudud punishments.

"The application of the Islamic penal code - known by the widely misunderstood term sharia - in Muslim societies is one of the most controversial subjects in the dialogue between the west and the Muslim world. The imposition of corporal punishment, stoning and execution in the name of religious texts on an entire society cannot be accepted. We must condemn such repressive applications, which are carried out without due legal process." -Tariq Ramadan ((Read here).

This article received many condemnation and frustration from many Ulama.

And the same call was ordered by Tariq during his visit in Brunei on last October 2013.

Hadith about people rejecting Rajam

Narrated By Ibn Abbas: 'Umar Ibn Al Khattab Said, "I am afriad that after a long time has passed away, people may say we do not find the verses of rajam(Stoning to Death) in the Holy Book, and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the Penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercource, if he is already married, and the crime is proved by witnesses, pregnancy or confession." Sufyan added, "I have memorised the narration in this way. "Umar added, "Surely Allah's Apostle carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him". - Sahih Bukhari, Vol8, Book 82. Punishment of Disbelievers At War. Hadith Number 816.

Sultan' Titah on Hudud

photo courtesy of muzir

“WHO ARE WE, in the presence of Allah (SWT), to say ‘no or wait’; considering that (Islamic) law was not only formulated, but has been stated in Al-Quran and Al-Hadiths for more than 1,400 years.”

"We have no other choice than to obey all of Allah’s (SWT) commands.”


“If we are still saying no or wait first, (then) this does not make sense,” His Majesty said.

Replies on  Tariq's call

1 It is not methodologically fitting to introduce a paper calling for a moratorium on hudud in the countries executing them—as Ramadan has done—without mentioning the reason behind this call.

2. It is also not methodologically fitting to charge that executing hudud is cruel. This happened many times in the paper published on Professor Ramadan’s Web site, but without introducing statistics to clarify this “cruelty.”

3. Methodologically, it is inappropriate to base the call on the argument that the reach and the poor are being treated discriminately, without presenting simple statistics that show the average income of persons punished by hudud in comparison to other persons in other cases where hudud was not carried out. 

4. The same can be also said with regards to women; Ramadan said that executing punishment is restricted to women without providing any figures or statistics.

(source: click here)

5. With all due respect to Tariq Ramadan, no one has the right to propose a morotorium on a particular form of punishment. He may make the point that the punishment recommended in Islamic Shariah will require certain conditions to be met before it can be implemented. However, to reject a law in the Shariah, ridicule a ruling or hate a ruling in the Shariah takes you out of Islam. To believe that we are now living in modern times so that the Shariah is no longer relevant or barbaric also takes you out of Islam. The the Laws are eternal for all times and places. I am surprised and disappointed by this statement from Tariq Ramadan. 

We are really living in Jahiliya. What is more barbaric than people with HIV spreading it to others, paedophilia by priests, abortion of an innocent child, war for oil, torture of Muslims by the US, rape of Bosnian Muslims by the Serbs and the continued filthy Israeli humiliation and genocide of innocent Palestinians.(source:click here)

My comment

Sometimes I wonder if liberalism make people to reject Allah's order in order to please human preferences.  Unfortunately, human will never feel satisfy and always find reason to fulfill their nafs (nafsu). This reminds me of a story about shadow, if you want to catch a shadow, you won't be able to catch it. So don't follow the shadow, but turns away from the shadow, the shadow will follows you. This is the same about Dunya, don't follow the duniya, lets the duniya follows you.

and again, I am here not to judge either Tariq' decision on Hudud is right or no. He has his own reasons like what he had mentioned. And this discussion not means to blame or condemn anyone.

Special Edition: No RIP condolence by muslim to non-muslim?

When news of Paul Walker killed in an accident spread out,  many people feel sad and sent their condolence message via facebook and other social websites. Many muslim fans were also sending their condolence including leaving text "RIP to Paul Walker" on his facebook wall.

Few days after that, my facebook thread was flooded by shared info stating that "muslim are not allowed to say RIP to non-muslim". I don't want to cover the full details why it was stated as sinful acts, you may find the reason via google search engine.

A week ago, I watched a video with title  "Are Paul Walker & Nelson Mandela going to hell?" by Ustaz Majed Mahmoud. The video was very interesting and should be watch by everyone. In his video, Ustaz majed covered about different aspect of non-muslim categories. 

To simply, he is stating that "not all non-muslim when died will be put into hell fire", it depends on the category. You should watch this 6.49 mins video to learn. May this video clarify our doubts and may Allah forgive us for the wrong idea we had before. (Click here if the below video is not working)