UEFA 026 - Zimmermann

Dave was so nice and caring that he looked for me in my hotel room the night of his arrival. We had dinner in the Heerbruggerhof restaurant and chit chat of his first experience in Switzerland.

Next morning we had breakfast together and then walked together to the factory. In the evening I did not see him. He told me later, that his instructor brought him to see his house. They had dinner there.

There were quite many evenings that he was out with the German and Austrian instructors. It was perhaps due to his nice and friendly character.

I was also out in 2 evenings with my own circle of contacts. The first one was with Mr Zimmermann. He was the Regional Sales Director for the Far East, encompassing Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Korea and Japan.

He had been to Singapore several times promoting the sales strategy of Leica Instruments and participating in trade Expo. During those visits we used to talk, as my sales manager brought me along to lunch and dinner with him.

Mr Zimmermann was a very professional executive. He was about 35 and looked more like an actor than a Sales Director. He was an ardent football fan, but I do not remember which club.

The first instance he sat with me during lunch at Leica's canteen,then he call for coffee and introduced me to some of his friendsin Leica. We chat for quite some time.

This is not picture of the canteen, but, just to show that Zimmerman was here in Singapore to help promote our sales strategy during the Expo.

In another instance, Zimmermann invited me for a luxurious dinner at a cozy village restaurant nearby Heerbrugg. After that, he brought me to a club It was near to Austrian border and it was a quiet village pub. He must have been a regular as many people there knew him.

There was no music, but, only the humming of whispers. They chat in low voices. There were no shouts and no shrieking sound. It was so much different from our pubs in Geylang area in Singapore.

This picture above showed the response at our Expo in 1996 where Leica had a bridge in the Expo to depict its philosophy as project partner.

I was always involve in the many Expos Leica had in Singapore.

Zimmermann was comfortable chatting with me that night, though I only had coke. He asked for my comments about the hotel and training.

I took that opportunity to mention about my bad experience with the Mr Jungker, the training instructor and Mr Mueller, my Division Manager in Singapore.

He replied that, it will slowly change, as Leica is also changing its global sales approach.
They are adopting and paving a friendlier approach to users, customers, agents, representatives and competitors. Likewise, the factory environment was also changing towards the same direction.

Thus the proud leader of surveying instruments was turning into a helpful project partner.

As Leica was changing I was changing too. Maggie Lim said in the Gold Breakfast Show, just the other morning, that changes come into a person during his/her midlife crisis. I am not sure if I was going thru that. But I had other reasons than just midlife crisis.

It was related to GOD. During that time my spiritual situation was stirred-up with some philosophical attitude and human relation. I was upset that GOD did not fix things with flying colours in my life.

I was asking why did HE left me neglected and unattentended by almost everyone, when HE knows exactly that I cannot withstand such pressure. That was the time I always tell people that I went thru some kind of a depression. I was depressed thinking of my unreligious behaviour towards GOD.

Have you seen this guy before? Guess who? Sorry no offer for recognising and finding him.

=+=+=+=+=+=+ to be continued =+=+=+=+=+=+

395 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 03.05.2007 at 0039hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

005-9c The Cave 18 : 23 - 24 - Do not be over-confident

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi.

Literal Translation of verse 23.
And never say of anything, "Certainly, I shall do that tomorrow."

Commentary by Jalalain.
'ghadan', the last word in this sentence means atime in the future.

Commentary by Muhammad Asad.
And never say about anything,"Behold, I shall do this tomorrow."

Commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.
Nor say of anything,"I shall be sure to do so and so tomorrow."

Commentary by Muhammad Taqiuddin & Muhsin Khan
And never say of anything,"I shall do such and such thing tomorrow."

======================================================

Literal Translation of verse 24.
Except, "if God wills it". And remember your Lord. When you forget, then say,

"May my Lord shows me nearer to this Truth."

Commentary by Jalalain.

Except by saying, "if God wills".

Which means that we surrender the execution of the matter in the hands of God.
And remember your Lord. If you forget, meaning if youhave forgotten in the beginning and then realize it later, and Al-Hasan said that if you are still withinthe same incident, then, say,

"May my Lord guide me to a nearer truth than this."

Which refers to the story of the Men of the Cave,to show the truth of my prophethood, and Allah didshow the Truth.

Commentary by Muhammad Asad.
Without adding "if God so will" And if you forget, thencall your Sustainer by saying
"I pray that my Sustainer guide me, even closer than this, to what is right."

Muhammad Asad wrote in his footnote that, according to almost all commentators, verses 23 & 24 was primarilyaddressed to Prophet Muhammad, who, on being asked by the pagan Quraysh as to what really happened to the 'Men of the Cave', is said to have replied,

"I shall give you my answer tomorrow."

As usual, the Prophet was expecting revelation from God to answer them. However, revelation was temporarily withheld from him in token of God's disapproval.

In the second instance, this exhortation expresses ageneral principle addressed to all believers. That is, we must always say "if God so will" when making promises and/or commitments.

Commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.

Without adding "So please Allah!"

And call your Lord to mind when you forget and say,

"I hope that my Lord will guide me closer than this to the right road."

Verses 23 & 24 are parenthetical. We must never relyon our own resources as much as to forget God. If by any chance, we do forget, we must come back to Him and keep Him in remembrance, as did the Companions of the Cave.

In Geometry, the perfect circle is an ideal. Any givencircle that we draw, is not so perfect, that we cannotdraw one closer to the ideal.
So in our life, there is always hope of drawing closer and closer to God.

[My understanding is that, God is telling us, not to be over-confident in making promises and commitments, without asking for help and guidance from HIM.]

=================to be continued=====================

Guess who is she.....?

Hey whose cheek is this.........?

and.....whose back is this........?

Oh....no.....!!! she is Altis

Aw......this is her lips.....

Wow......she has got a twin sister...............

but SGE is better looking than her twin

Too good that the guy behind couldn't resist to kiss her.

UEFA 025 - Dracula

On one weekend I cycle to the rear entrance to Leica, that is from Widnau. There was a train level crossing with barrier.

On other weekend I used to walk up the hills in front of Leica factory. It was a satisfying walk, as I found out now, what I used to wonder about, each time when I passed by the main road in front of the factory. It was indeed a small castle.

I came very close to the house that looks like Dracula’s castle and its vineyards. The trainees used to say that it was the house of Mr Henry Wild, the founder and owner of Wild Heerbrugg Ag. I was not able to confirm that during my walk, as I could not find the access to the house, and also I was worried if the owner would accuse me of trespassing or peeping.

During this training trip, there were 2 other technicians from Singapore who were also doing training at Leica Factory in Switzerland, same time as me. One of them was Dave from Leica factory in Teban GardenSingapore. Dave who came later to do binocular training, also stayed in Hotel Heerbruggerhof.

Together with Dave, I went again to Lindau. I became like his guide. We were amazed at this "giant chess competition" in Bregenz

The other was Ron, who was already there for four months doing training on microscopy instruments. Ron stayed in the Leica Apartment just next to the factory. It was a very quiet place out there.

I had a chance to visit it when visiting Ron. It was a nice apartment but too quiet at night. And it was frightening to walk in and out of the apartment from the main road. Perhaps that was the reason for the telephone bills of that apartment became very high. Mr Aerni used to make some unfavorable remarks about its telephone bill.

Dave, Ron and I were at different training places. Therefore, we only met after the training. We went out together on a couple of nights and weekends.

I remembered a night when Ron brought us for a raw oyster dinner at one Italian restaurant. Ron was slurping the raw oysters like scooping touw-huey. I also slurped 3 or four of them, but, frankly speaking, I did not really enjoy it. It was more for the sake of experimenting on new things. Dave was like me, brave to discover new things.

Dave was a very nice young guy. Before, coming for this training he did consulted me on the products that he was to be trained. It was the military binocular. You know..…Leica lenses are the best in the world. You must see thru one of the binocular if you ever have a chance.

I had been doing the repair and service of those binoculars, but, with new commitment in the motorized theodolites, it became almost impossible for me to cope.

438 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 03.05.2007 at 0034hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

005-8e The Cave 18:22 - Three Five or Seven?

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi.

Literal Translation of verse 22.

They will say that there were 3 of them and the forth was their dog, and they will say that there were 5 of them and the sixth was their dog, as their guess of the unseen. Then they will say that there were 7 of them and the eight was their dog. Say,

"My Lord knows best their numbers. None knew their numbers except a few."

Therefore, do not dispute about their affairs, except physical debate only, and do not ask about

it from any of them.

Commentary by Jalalain.

The people during Prophet Muhammad time disputed about the number of the youths in the cave. Some said they were 3 and the 4th was their dog, some others said they were 5 and the 6th was their dog. These 2 opinions came from the Christians in Najran, which were only speculations, as there were no evidence to substantiate their narration.

Then another opinion, among the Muslims, said that they were 7 and the 8th was their dog.

Imam Jalalain explained that the grammatical arrangement of the original Arabic words and sentences, shows that, the third opinion is the acceptable one.

He also narrated that Ibnu Abbas, whom Prophet Muhammad said was well-versed with the knowledge of the Quran, declared that he was among the "few" who knew the correct number

of the youths in the cave, and he said there were 7 of them.

Therefore, do not argue anymore about this matter anddo not ask anyone, not even the people of the book, or the Jews.

Commentary by Muhammad Asad.

And in times to come some people will say they were three and their dog is the fourth. Some others will say they were five and their dog was the sixth, as they idly guessing without any knowledge, until some people will say that they were seven and the eighth of them being their dog. Say,

"My Sustainer knows best how many they were. None but a few have any real knowledge of them. Hence, do not argue about them otherwise than by way of an obvious argument, and do not ask any of those storytellers to enlighten you about them."

Muhammad Asad wrote in his footnote that, the future tense in the first word "sayakuluna" points to the legendary character of the story, and implies that all speculation about its detail is irrelevant to its parabolic, ethical purport. Do not argue about them except for self-evident ethical lesson.

Commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.

The controversy is after ages about the number of the Sleepers: were they 3 or 5 or 7?
People answered not from knowledge, but from conjecture.

Gibbon's version, which has now become well-known, makes the number of Sleepers seven.

The number is immaterial. We should pay attention to the spiritual lesson.

The true significance of the story is known only to a few. Most people discuss the details which are not in their knowledge.

It is unprofitable to enter into such immaterial controversies, and many other controversies

that have been waged about religion by shallow men from time immemorial.

Yes, if there is a matter of clear knowledge from experience that matters, we must openly proclaim it, so that the world may be brought to listen to God's Truth.

Vulgar story-mongers as such know little of the true significance of stories and parables.

We have a clear exposition in The Quran. What need is there to go into details of the

number of men in the Cave, or of the length of time they remained in it?

Commentary by Muhammad Taqiuddin & Muhsin Khan

Some say they were 3 and the dog was the 4th. Others say they were 5 and the dog was the 6th, guessing at the unseen. Yet others say they were 7, and the dog was the 8th. Say,

"My Lord knows best their number, none knows them but a few."

So debate not except with clear proof. And consult not any of the people of the book, Jews and Christians, about the affairs of the people of the Cave.

Commentary by Harun Yahya

Such speculation is wrong as they were only guessingat the Unseen. Muslims must not arguebut just say that

"ALLAH knows best."

Obviously, there is no point in listening to arguments based on hearsay, conjecture and ignorance.

ALLAH warns against such arguments,


"Do not pursue what you have no knowledge of. Hearing, sight and hearts will
all be questioned"

[Chapter Al-Isra' Verse 36]


However, ALLAH do reveals some of the unseen to HIS messengers.


"HE is the Knower of the Unseen, and does not divulge HIS Unseen to anyone -
except a Messenger with whom HE is well pleased, and then HE posts sentinels before him
and behind him"

[Chapter Al-Jinn Verse 26 - 27]



--------------to be continued--------------------

UEFA 024 – Les Bicyclettes

UEFA 024 – Les Bicyclettes


On Sunday, after breakfast I went to Bregenz in Austria, with the intention to explore a town Lindau in Germany.

It was a successful trip and I took many photos along the way.

The buildings in Lindau are very historic and had detailed architecture.

From the museums and city centre I walked to Ferry Point. This is tne entrance of theport. I did climbed up the lightouse and it was an interesting climb.

As a son of a man who worked in the British Navy, I love the Lindau port very much. This picture was taken by my frind from the top of the lighthouse. Surely you would have noticed the castle wall which looks like the castle in the movie about Robin Hood. This castle has got the design of the Moors' castle.

Then I walked down to the main attraction of the port, the Ferry Point, where you can board ferries to many other places within the Lake of Bodensee, which is connecting Lindau to Bregenz in Austria and Roschahch in Switzerland, Schauffhausen and all the way to thw west German town of Stuttgart . With a special Swiss travel pass, you can board all the public transport, without having to pay any more extras. The tickets include also land and water transportation. But, of course, did not include the air planes.

Out transport system in Singapore should also implement such easy travel for tourists ticket system. One ticket can take all kinds of transportfor a certain period of time.

The crowd was at the ferry point. I saw a father and son was crawling on the floor at the walkway of the ferry point, doing floor art with crayon. The father was paintinga beautiful portrait of a sweet little girl.

In Bregenz, it was much quieter. The train and bus station was lonely.

From the train & bus station I walked to the town centre of Bregenz and the streets was also quiet. Along one of the lonely street I saw an old Mercedes, probably used during Hitler’s time.

Then it was time to go back to Heerbrugg in Switzerland.

This is a view of the yard nearby Leica factory. I managed to rent a bicycle from Mr Aerni, my training manager, so that I can go to more places during the weekends on bicycle. I also cycle to the factory every morning.

Wild Heerbrugg factory is an old 4-storey building, but, was undergoing major renovation. As a result our training was temporarily located at level one of the red administration building. Thus the training room became quite cramp. However cramp it was, there was always space for coffee room, where Mr Jungker will call us for break at 10am and 3pm.


After lunch I would walk around the neighborhood of Leica factory with Mike and Yakhzan. We strolled from streets to streets and made a loop back to the factory. During one of the afternoon stroll I saw Mr Jungker,my instructor in Leica, was riding on a bicycle home. He stayed nearby the factory. Therefore, driving was unnecessary.

As I had known, the Swiss are very particular about saving the Earth from pollution, and less driving means less carbon monoxide are produced. Even Mike also rode from Hotel Heerbruggerhof to the factory. He had managed to hire a bicycle from Mr Aerni.

When Mike finished his training he handed the bicycle to me to continue the rent. I must tell you that I really enjoyed the bicycle rides as long as I was in Heerbrugg. I rode to the farm behind Leica factory to see what were grown in the field. I also saw beautiful horses in their barn. It was a very free and tranquil experience. It was only me, nature and my Lord.

On another incident I also rode to the edge of River Rhine, but unfortunately, it was the new river bank which I am sure is a modified concrete river. I did not manage to go to the waters, because it was too far down the slope. Must have been the flood prevention strategy.

One weekend I rode the bicycle to a place near Au, about 5km from Heerbrugg. At this place there were many small huts. Each huts had a small compound where vegetables and flowers were planted. I learned later that it was a kind of weekend pastimes of the Swiss, i.e. doing gardening in a small garden. It reminded me of a German word ‘kindergarten’ which means ‘garden for the young’. But, this one is ‘garden for the old’.

484 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 03.05.2007 at 0029hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

005-7e The Cave 18 : 21 Signs of Doomsday

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi.

Literal Translation of verse 21.

That is how we show them, so that they know that the promise of God is true, and that there is no doubt about the coming of The Hour. When they were contradicting about their affair, some people said,

"Let us built on their cave a building. Their Lord knows best about them."

The people who were dominating their affair said,

"We will built on it a place of worship."

Commentary by Jalalain.

The awakening of the people of the cave, is a sign of the truth of the Day of Resurrection and also as a sign to all people, that ALLAH, The Most Powerful, can put them to death for a long time in their sleep and their body were still intact without food and drink. Thus ALLAH is Very Powerful to bring the dead back to life.

The people of the town had conflicting opinion about building a memorial structure at the location of the cave. The non-religious people preferred a building to cover them up, while the dominating religious faction unanimously agreed to build a house of worship at the entrance of the cave.

Muhammad Taqiuddin Al-Hilali

commented that it was, most probably, the non-religious faction of the people who won the case and build a house of worship over them.

Commentary by Muhammad Asad.

And in this way We have drawn people's attention to their story, so that they know that God's promise of resurrection is true, and there is no doubt about the coming of the Last Hour.

Some people suggest to build a memorial building. Finally, the prevailed opinion agreed to built a house of worship in their memory.

Note that Muhammad Asad did not mentioned wether they were religous or non-religious factions.

Harun Yahya

mentioned in his book "Signs of the End Times in Surat Al-Kahfi",

that, this verse contains clear signs of the End Times and The Hour.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!to be continued!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UEFA 023 – St Moritz

On the first Saturday, I planned to go to St Moritz. I checked at the Heerbrugg train station and bought a ticket to and from St Moritz, which is valid for a few days. That means I can take my sweet time up to St Moritz. The fare system is such that you are free to stop anywhere along the way, stay overnight somewhere, and then continue the journey the next day.


I took the train from Heerbrugg southwards to Chur. I stopped for a while in Chur to look around and survey the Bus Terminal which was high above the train station.

From Chur, I need to change to another train to St Moritz. This was a special train that was designed to climb steeper rail tracks up along the mountain side of the Swiss Alps.

Along the way, the train meandered above fast flowing streams, which still had traces of snow on its sides, though it was already in the spring time of April. The breathtaking view of villages, bridges and mountains put me glued to the window. Of course the train did go through long tunnels in the depth of the Swiss Alps.

St Moritz was really enchantingly beautiful. I am unable to describe it.I will try to sent you the pictures separately, and suggest you take a look at the pictures yourselves.

I walked for about 1 km from St Moritz train station, went around the lake and reached to the foothills where there was still plenty of frozen snow. I managed to get a passerby to record my first encounter with the snow.

The sun was hot. Therefore, the snow was already melting, especially where they meet the water in the lake. I plunged my foot a few times in the melting snow. I realized later that, it could very dangerous to walk along melting snow; I could have plundered into a deep hole and became history.

With that realization, fear and worst still, I was all alone by myself in that dangerous area, I walked back to the train station. From far, I could see the beautiful view of one of the most famous winter resort town in Switzerland, St Moritz.

There were many other tourists. I managed to ask an Italian lady to take a few of my shots in St Moritz, before leaving for Heerbrugg.

=========TO BE CONTINUED=========

400 words

Drafted on 07.04.2007

Edited on 03.05.2007 at 0018hrs

At Woodlands Avenue 5

005-6e The Cave 18:20 - Stone throw away

Translation, Commentary & Explanation of Chapter 18 Al-Kahfi.

Literal Translation of verse 20.
Certainly, if they know where you stay, they will throw stones on you. Or they will force you back to their religion, and you will never succeed forever.

Commentary by Jalalain.
Possibly they will kill you with the throwing of the stones.If you are forced to revert to their religion, then there will be no success for you forever.

Commentary by Muhammad Taqiuddin Al-Hilali
If they come to know of you, they will stone you to death or turn you back to their religion. In that case, you will never be successful.

[My Understanding]

After the 7 youths woke up from their 300 years of sleep, they were hungry.

They discussed about going to the town to buy food. Due to tyrannic

ruler they had, they were very cautious not to exposed themselves, or else,

the king will killed them.

===========to be continued=====================