Saturday, April 25, 2009

The Coat of Arms of Malaysia

Lambang Malaysia menunjukkan bintang pecah 14 menandakan 13 buah negeri yang terkandung dalam Persekutuan Malaysia dan Kerajaan Persekutuan, manakala bintang bersama-sama anak bulan itu tanda Agama Islam - agama rasmi Malaysia.

The coat of arms or armorial ensign of Malaysia shows a 14-pointed star representing the 13 constituent states within the Federation of Malaysia together with the Federal Government, while the star and the crescent together symbolise Islam as the official religion of Malaysia.

Lima belah keris itu tanda Negeri-negeri Melayu Tidak Bersekutu dahulu (Johor, Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan dan Terengganu). Bahagian sebelah kiri perisai itu menandakan Negeri Pualu Pinang dan bahagian sebelah kanan dengan pokok Melaka itu Negeri Melaka. Kedua-dua buah negeri itu adalah sebahagian dari Negeri-negeri Selat dahulu.

The five Kris represents the five former Unfederated Malay States (Johor, Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu). The left-hand division of the shield represents the state of Penang and the right-hand section shows the Malacca tree that depicts the State of Malacca. These two states formed part of the former Straits Settlements.

Dalam empat jalur yang sama besarnya dalam bahagian tengah itu, warna-warna hitam dan putih ialah warna Pahang; merah dan kuning warna Selangor; hitam, putih dan kuning warna Perak; merah, hitam dan kuning warna Negeri Sembilan. Empat buah negeri ialah Negeri-negeri Melayu Bersekutu yang asal. Tiga bahagian di sebelah bawah itu menandakan negeri Sabah di sebelah kiri dan Sarawak di sebelah kanan.

In the four equal sized panels in the centre, the colours black and white are colours of the State of Pahang; red and yellow are colours of the State of Selangor; black, white and yellow are the colours of the State of Perak; and red, black and yellow those of the State of Negeri Sembilan. These four States formed the original Federated Malay States. The three sections below represent the State of Sabah on the left and the State of Sarawak on the right.

Di tengah-tengahnya ialah Bunga Raya - Bunga Kebangsaan. Harimau-harimau yang ditunjukkan sebagai penupang jata Negeri-negeri Melayu Bersekutu dahulu itu dipakai dalam Lambang Malaysia.

In the centre is the hibiscus, the national flower. Flanking the shield are tigers, a design element retained from the earlier armorial ensign of the Federation of Malaya (and before that, of the Federated Malay States).

Cogan - Besekutu Bertambah Mutu - ditulis dengan tulisan rumi di sebelah kiri dan tulisan jawi di sebelah kanan. Warna kuning pada awan-awan itu ialah warna Di Raja Yang Maha Mulia Raja-Raja.

The motto in Romanised-script on the left and Jawi (Arabic) script on the right reads “Bersekutu Bertambah Mutu”, the Malay equivalent of “Unity is Strength”. The yellow colour of the scroll is the royal colour of the Rulers.

Program Pengurusan RT Zon 2 & Zon 5

12th April 2009: We were invited to participate in this programme organised by JPNIN in Dewan Sekolah Wawasan, Seremban 2. The Pengerusi, Setiausaha and Bendahari represented Emerald Park at this function. The objective of the programme was to brief key AJK members in each RT kawasan on how to run the RT efficiently. A comprehensive power-point presentation was done by En. Nasariddin on the structure, duties of the key AJK members in each kawasan, maintaining records, and organising night patrols. YB Datuk Hasim, EXCO Kerajaan NS ended the function with words of encouragement for all the participants. We, on our part, would like to thank En. Mohd Fazli, En. Nasariddin and En. Mohd Hakim for organising this programme so that we are better informed to carry out our duties in RT in Emerald Park.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Camping for Children

21st March 2009: The idea of providing a camping experience for the children in Emerald Park has been brooding in the mind of our AJK member, Lee Heng Lee, for a long time indeed. Chaired by Mazlan and all AJKs, we were able to launch this project with a participation of 33 children ranging from toddlers up to school leaving age. The response was overwhelming and we had to limit the numbers to about 30. We started the evening around 6pm with the children bringing 9 tents of their own and 5 tents were provided by the NS Rescue Team, making a total of 14 tents, all pitched up in the basketball court for the night. Meanwhile, food, organised by Mej Hidayat, was being prepared at the other end of the basketball court. A BBQ pit was set up and all had a hand in grilling marinated chicken pieces, lamb chops, prawns, and sausages. We had also arranged for fried noodles, fried rice and drinks to be provided. Just after dinner, it was time for some games for the kids. A carefully thought out treasure-hunt, devised by Elynn Lee and provided with all the paraphernalia required to execute the game, was launched with the help of college students : Nahvin Jayaratnam, Rajpal Singh, and Bajwin Singh. The children were split into 5 groups randomly and the interaction among them to solve the clues was both entertaining and fascinating! Since the game finished at 11pm, there was no time for other games that had been planned. So the kids and the adult AJK minders all retired for the night. Fortunately, the evening and night saw no rain except for a slight drizzle in the early hours of the next morning which anyway did not dampen the spirit of the campers. Breakfast was nasi lemak and milo for all and the camping came to an end at 10am on Sunday. This camping programme was a trial run for us to gain experience and know-how in terms of logistics so that we can have a similar camp open to all the children in Emerald Park, hopefully during the school holidays at the end of the year. Nevertheless, all those who were involved will admit that it was a resounding success!