Razali's blog

Bas malam 8.00pm hanya tiba 9.20pm dan bertolak 9.30pm. Semoga selamat jalan dan selamat sampai. Dan selamat dan berjaya hendaknya menggalas impian membina sahsiah ke masa depan yang gemilang dan penuh berkat. Tie, our prayers are for you. Whenever you feel down, remember that we are behind you, supporting you always in spirit, in love. Keep steadfast and.... Pasang niat elok-elok..

On The Bus

Poster on an express bus.

Nature Malaysia

MEMORIES OF A MAJESTIC STADIUM

I happened to be in neighbourhood of this Stadium when overseeing the Kuala Terengganu Airport Project, vying with each other to complete the facility to meet the target date of The State of Terengganu. The Stadium was to host the 2008 SUKMA Games. The Opening Ceremony was targetted at 10.05.2008, to be oficiated by the Yang Di Pertuan Agong; Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, at which date the Stadium's name will be announced. From the photos, the roof frame was still substantially to be completed at Feb 2008.The temporary supports were still very much in place and the cladding yet to be started.

The first layer of roof cladding started to be installed in early Mac and cranes were frantically installing the members. Is the installation process supposed to be this way? I wonder how the behaviour of the structural members could be predicted with roof cladding already fitted while the space frame members are still being installed. With 330m span of light weight space frame members, it is expected that settlement of the nodes will occur and this have to be allowed for in the design and installation process.The members should theoretically be fitted slightly proud of actual position so that when the supports were taken away, the members would systematically settle down to the designed shape. These must be predicted right at design stage.

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With that assumption, the roof cladding installation should be defered until the whole roof structure is complete and supports taken away. The the cladding should be systemically installed in alternate position to balance the load on the structural members. Any imbalance would cause the shift in equilibrium and centre of gravity with long term hazardous consequence. I do not know whether these installation consideration was gven due emphasis or was sacrificed to meet the May 10 target. When a Yang Di Pertuan Agong was the one to officiate the opening ceremony with a month of preparation by the performers, the pressure on the construction team were indeed very tremendous.

The completed stadium was indeed a grand monument of architecture. I was there with the family, waiting from 8.00pm with stadium packed for the ceremony which only started at 9.30pm, waiting for his August Presence. The traditional performance was a great choreography of art, rarely seen anywhere. The performers performed in drizzling to heavy rain which did not dampen their fast pace. The Princess of Malaysia Pop; Dato' Siti Nurhaliza performed in drizzling rain, so too Anuar Zain with his magical tremourous soprano of vocal mastery delivering his magic number; Ketulusan Cinta, raising his voice to the music, oblivious of the rain. It was a really grand occasion in an equally grand stadium. The seats were comfortable, spacious and easily accessed because of the space alocated. The complete absence of any obstruction in the line of vision which is the main reason for space frame construction makes the occasion really special and memorable.

Now, what was left of those sweet memories are majestic ruins. The Terengganu dream was shattered by this totally unexpected event and Chief Minister Dato Ahmad Said went on crusade against JKR, the agency the State had depended for so long to spearhead the infrastructure development of Terengganu with budgets coming from 3 hefty sources; the State budget, Federal budget and the Wang Ehsan (Oil Royalty money packaged under different name). JKR had served the State well but with a slip here; though still not yet determined the real cause, all those were swept down the drain and JKR was made to look like an incompetent elephant. This is the scenario we see time and time again. JKR is being made a scapegoat for political milestone that missed and yet this country still cannot afford to dismiss JKR's role in professional engineering services. The moment they tried like in the case of The Makmal Komputer, it came back to JKR to clear up the mess done by other ministries trying to chalk their own path to glory. 

More than 200km away, I still remember the majesty of this stadium and the satisfaction of watching the Opening Ceremony, SUKMA games and opening of World Edurance Championship. The crumbled roofings made those memories all the more special..

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I got a surprise today. This cute little girl that resembles my Baby Nana quietly came up and climb onto my lap. This is extraordinary because kids around my extended family normally stay a distance away.. somehow this lovable face and smiling countenance exude some persona that they find a bit intimidating. However this girl whom I had fancied for quite a long because of the resemblence to my 2nd daughter Nana when she was small, came up and climbed onto my lap and not only that, tilt her head to touch mine... I felt so TOUCHED.

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I saw this eye catching Mini Couper at Kg Peramu, off Tanjung Lumpur, Kuantan when we were looking for a Nasi Belauk shop as mentioned by a friend.

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I smell fish

I smell fish

I smell fish

If I cant catch you, the next best thing is drink the water you live in..

My Brother In law was given a second chance at marriage following the sudden demise of his late life-partner that saw him reeling for balance. The late wife was a wife, partner, supporter, kids-mother, office mate that saw them complementing each other. Suddenly she was gone early in the year without preset warning. He lost his balance and overwhelmed by the task of being father-mother-bread earner-widower that made him decided that he needed a replacement of roles; not replacement of heart. After getting acquiescence from his children he embarked on taking a second chance at marriage..... On 11th June 2009 they were declared Man and Wife...

On the day of his second marriage, he was emotionally overwhelmed by the sudden change he made, by the task of bringing somebody else into the emptiness left by his late Life Partner; the one that had borne him 5 children and fill the his house with love and care as only a wife can do. Now this role is to be filled by somebody else by convenience of marriage but NOT MERGER OF HEART. This I think made him very emotional. Adjustments have to made, physicallly and emotionally.

However he is a man of action. He sees it as a course he must take for the sake of his children; to give them a home, with a mother. Sacrifices have to be made and he sacrifice his heart for that... That is a mark of a man.

Hantaran Penghubung Kasih....

Teman baru perlu disambut ke rumah; yang akan menjadi Rumahku-Syurgaku terpulang kepada usaha masing-masing untuk merealisasi impian murni ini mewujudkan satu Taman dari Taman Syurga dalam Mahligai Perkahwinan yang diberkati... Semoga pengorbanan ini membuahkan hasil tersebut, insyaAllah..

Abah ummi's

14/06/09

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After moving in to Kuantan and settling down, I went to my new office at Sungai Ular in the Gebeng Industrial Site. I spent the morning part getting to know the scope of the project and attending a presentation given to the DG of APMM; our client for the Project. The I had to go to KL for coordination meeting the next day; 05th June.

My 3 children wanted to come down as well. So we drove to KL, the 4 of us; me, Nana, Eti and Fadhil. After checking in Vistana Hotel, my favorite hotel in KL, we went to KLCC cineplex for a the movie; Terminator Salvation. It has become a hype; all those robots hunting down human and the human resistence headed by John Connor.

The second night we went to Bukit Bintang area for a revisit of the Egypt Cafe. We had been here before and I love the dishes and the tea. I had a kebab served with Arab rice and some gravy. Nana had a Nasi Goreng Kampung (of all the dishes available here!!!), Eti had a pasta and Fadhil spaghetti. However the size is Arab size; just look at Nana's plate.. The good part is she finished it!!!!!

I like the atmosphere of internationalism here. The middle eastern seemed to converge on this place; Arabs, Turkish, Iranian.. I was mesmerised by a Turkish ice cream seller who seemed to enjoy selling the stiff ice cream and made antiques that made us grin 360 degrees. However that will be a subject of another blog post...

This was a proud stadium, aptly named Stadium Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin. It was opened a year ago to host SUKMA Games and Terengganu emerged champion, contesting on home ground, in a proud new stadium just completed the day before opening ceremony. 2 weeks before that the long spanning roof frame were not yet connected. JKR Terengganu were under tremendous pressure to complete the stadium in time. The Pengarah said if he was an ostrich, he would have buried his head in the sand.

Now the proud stadium came tumbling down. The failure was the proud 330m space frame arch that shelters the royal podium and main bulk of the seating capacity. Now that the head elephant came tumbling down, vultures zeroed in for a share of the carcass. JKR's name once again will be drag through the slime and a barrage of unending questions will be lining up for answers. Heads will be downcasted, the faint hearted better stay at home. The DG will find smiling such a heroic feat to accomplish. The Terengganu MB already showed his true self; shooting at anything on sight that has anything to do with the previous administration. The KT Airport that was opened in record time was not spared, but almost immediately being made a target of his verbal attack. The proud Terminal building featuring traditional architecture housing modern facilities costing Rm123 million inclusive of all related buildings and facilities which if done via private initiative would easily cost twice as much was condemned as 'shoddy'. This despite the theme and design being specified by the MB himself; albeit from the previous administration.

Whatever, the mishap should earn us valubale lessons to shape the construction industry in coping up wih proprietary system.

How do we ensure the proprietary system will work in different environment from the originating country? What type of assurance do we need to impose on the contractor? How do we ensure the system will work safely during the intended lifetime? What kind of independant checker do we need to impose and is it feasible since the system was developped within the company and they know their product best? Who is to verify the installation process? What parameters do we check during all phases of installation? What instrument do we use? In case of space frame, how to verify that each node is in the precise location as designed? Is a theodolite good enough? Do we just assume that the 'manufacturer's installers' are good enough to give the necessary assurance? There is so much to answer and the answers will give new direction in dealing with proprietary system..

Collapse Stadium, Collapse Pride