HOW KETO CAUSED MY DIABETES

I am a 60-year-old male that was diagnosed with Non Insulin Dependent Type 2 Diabetes a year ago in Oct 2017. My HbA1c was 7.5% on Jan 10 2018 and has since lowered to 6.7% on Sept 5 2018.

I suspect I became insulin resistant because I started on a ketogenic diet from Nov 2016. Initially, I was just trying keto out but starting from Ramadan (May) 2017, I went full steam ahead on a nutritional ketosis diet. The main downside was the high oil and fat intake caused lipoprotein overload and made me insulin resistant by Sept 2017. Basically, lipoproteins block insulin receptors at the cellular level, denying glucose entry into cells, where it would have been burnt up as fuel. Instead, glucose remains in the blood at elevated levels - the definition of diabetes.

Having only learnt about this yesterday, I’ve now embarked on a diet for diabetics.

The dietary requirements for Diabetics is very specific. Its not vegan or vegetarian as such. It is plant-based, yes, but is it also whole food, meaning no processed or refined plant products such as oils, sugar, flour or alcohol.

Oils are to lipids as refined white sugar (white sucrose crystals) are to carbohydrates.

Whole food means you can eat coconut or kelapa parut or kelapa parut blended in water but not coconut oil, VCO or santan squeezed from kelapa parut without the coconut hampas. This is what is meant by whole food—minimal or no processing, refining, or extraction processing involved. This leaves your food whole, with all antioxidants, leptins, micro-nutrients, vitamins, enzymes, trace elements, and etc. intact. 

As oils are refined products, they are excluded but, more importantly, they are excluded because the main cause of insulin resistance is lipoprotein overload as oil (fatty acid) molecules block the insulin receptors of our cells. When the insulin receptors are blocked, insulin is unable to allow glucose to enter the cellular tissue to be burnt up as fuel. Instead, glucose remains circulating in the blood - and this what diabetes is defined as - high blood glucose levels.

Diet for diabetics is also mainly raw food because nutrients like vitamins, enzymes and antioxidants are damaged by heat.

Think of insulin as a key, literally. The insulin receptor as a keyhole. Insulin unlocks the door that allows glucose to enter your cells to fuel your cells, giving the energy to allow your muscles to contract and for you to move.

But correct nutrition is just one aspect of controlling diabetes, exercise is another. All that excess glucose in your blood needs to go somewhere (your cells) and be burnt up. Even if the glucose door to your cells is open, glucose will not enter if there is no need for it. Its only needed when you exercise. Without exercise, glucose will still remain circulating in your blood. Exercise doesn’t have to be hard work; any form of daily exercise that makes you sweat for 30 minutes daily is sufficient. This is better than working out for three hours once a week. The daily consistency is required to continuously remove glucose from your blood.

There are five biomarkers to determine whether someone is insulin resistant or truly insulin sensitive. They can be summed up by the acronym PILAF:

P - (blood) Pressure

I - Ideal Body Weight

L - Lipid Profile

A - HbA1c

F - Fasting Blood Glucose 

All five indicators need to be seen as a whole to get a complete picture of what’s actually going on. Looking at just fasting blood glucose (which I check once a week) and HbA1c (check every 3 months) is insufficient.

And as they say in CBT, understanding what’s going on, in itself, cures you.

I’ve come to this level of understanding after one year of researching about diabetes and insulin resistance as a patient because both my physician and my nutritionist are next to useless, they simply don’t have enough time to educate me on my condition. I believe we as patients have to be responsible and accountable for our own health, we cannot abdicate this entirely to our healthcare providers. 

And, I’m still learning...

https://www.masteringdiabetes.org/recipe/

Copyright 2003-2018 Azlan Adnan. This blog post is sponsored by The Green Party of Malaysia

ON DIABETES, EXERCISE & KETOSIS

More on Diabetes, Exercise & Ketosis

About exercise, I just saw a video where a nutritionist explains that exercising for ten minutes every hour is more beneficial that exercising in one 30-minute session per day:

https://youtu.be/MXqVRPF9lrg

A good indicator of the level of exercise intensity you need is sweating. It doesn’t really much matter what kind of exercise you do, as long as it makes you sweat. The skin is the largest organ in the human body and one of its functions is as an organ of elimination. Water-soluble toxins are eliminated in your sweat.

I go for a morning walk about 0900 hrs to the laundry or kedai runcit/supermarket daily and also for another walk between asar and 0630 hrs. If it rains, I sweat it out in my FIR sauna.

In my experience, the single-biggest factor in determining my fasting blood glucose is nutrition, not just what I eat but how much of it. Next is exercise or movement. Next is medications and last is supplements and herbal remedies. If I have known this a year ago, I could have saved thousands of ringgit on supplements. Be very wary of MLM distributors - they will recommend all sorts of expensive and unnecessary stuff of dubious efficacy. When you complain got not results, they will say have to take for minimum six months before can see any results.

For immediate results, I have done coffee enema at Pure Detox in TTDI. The first time I did it, so much fatty gunk came out of my liver, selonggok macam nasi lemak bungkus. It was a congealed mass of fatty substance. I know its fat, as it wasn’t water-soluble. It took me ten minutes to hose it down as it wouldn’t dissolve in water.

Another treatment modality with immediate results is bekam or wet cupping. I do this at Akubekam, also in TTDI. It is particularly effective at removing uric acid. If I have a gout attack and can’t even walk, I get relief 45 minutes into my bekam session. The first thing I notice is that movement in my fingers are flexible and supple, from stiff and rigid. By the end of the session, not only can walk, but I feel lighter and sprightly. If I have elevated liver enzyme levels, I do both bekam and coffee enema. One session of each is sufficient to normalise elevated levels of uric acid and liver enzymes.

Both have contraindications, so best to have a consultation before starting on either.

I am very open about my health challenges and write about them publicly on my foodscape FB page. One downside of this, is that I become a prospect of every MLM distributor in town. At first, I was naive and gullible and bought chromium picolinate  lah, and almost four thousands of ringgit of Unicity products. Dah serik so last week, when an Amway distributor started prospecting me, terus aku block.

You can also do a free online clinical course on diabetes from the University of Copenhagen at:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/diabetes-essential-facts

This course is a gold mine of information, with lectures and interviews with leading experts and researchers on diabetes from around the world.

At the end of the day, the best investment I made in my health is education. Understanding what’s going on, cures you. Why? Because not only you will learn what to do, but more importantly why. Its the why that will motivate you, to stop giving excuses and prevent procrastination. I’m very aggressive in trying new treatment modalities. I was very gung ho with nutritional ketosis (aka LCHF) diet until I learnt that it only works in the short term (3-6 months) and I got diabetic in the first place because of keto. You see, the cause of insulin resistance is lipoprotein (fat) overload. The lipoproteins block the insulin receptor sites at the cellular tissue level. When the sites are blocked, insulin is unable to unlock the pathway to allow glucose into the cells to be metamobolised and provide energy for muscle contraction.

This results not only in elevated blood glucose but also in elevated insulin levels as the pancreas keep producing more and more insulin. Insulin only has a half life of 4-7 minutes, this is hard to detect. But in the long term, the dangers of elevated lipoprotein, glucose and insulin levels outweigh the short term benefits of a keto diet.

Can you imagine how shocked I was to learn that it was keto that caused my diabetes in the first place? I did keto to reduce my weight. Ended becoming diabetic. Celaka betul. Luckily, there is a plant-based, whole food (60% raw food -ulam) insulin resistance reversal diet.

I was such an advocate of keto, but keto is only half the picture. I would really advise all keto advocates to study the facts as presented at 

http://www.masteringdiabetes.org 

to see the big picture. It will be a life-changing (and life-saving) experience. Some of the material appears counterintuitive, its only when you learn and understand the micro-details that you understand exactly why.

You really need to invest your time to study this. Luckily, the resources are freely available at no cost!

Copyright 2003-2011 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice Copyright 2003-2011 Azlan Adnan. This blog post is sponsored by The Green Party of Malaysia

ON HAVING EARLY DINNERS

INSIGHT

Just figured something out. Was advised to have dinner within 3 hours of sunset. At first, I thought was a crackpot woo woo New Age idea that was. Until I realised why it made sense.

Its to do with this thing called intermittent fasting. Think about the word “breakfast,” which is a compound word derived from “break” and “fast.” In pre-modern days, with no electricity or artificial lighting, people used to have dinner before dark and go to sleep soon after sunset. While they sleep, they need just a minimal amount of calories, just a subsistence level. Anyway, while asleep, there are not eating so they are fasting. And then, next morning, they wake up and eat something, breaking their fast.

Since we don’t need much calories at night, it makes sense of eat light at night and/or to eat early as well. While we sleep, our body is just ticking over; as we don’t need much energy, we might as well be fasting at night.

Anyway, the term “intermittent fasting” means different things to different people. My former psychiatrist introduced the term to me when he told me about people who fast on Mondays and Thursday from sunrise to sunset. The rest of the week, they eat normally. That was what he meant by intermittent fasting.

Other people use the term differently. Someone I met who does intermittent fasting says he fasts 16 hours daily. He only eats between 1500 hrs and 2200 hrs. No breakfast, no lunch. Just teatime and dinner.

I guess the whole idea is to consistently starve yourself to a low blood glucose level, of say 4.0. A glucose flush, if you like. If you do this consistently daily, you’ll get a lovely fasting blood glucose level and thence a low HbA1c level in the longer term.

Copyright 2003-2018 Azlan Adnan. This blog post is sponsored by The Green Party of Malaysia

THE TRUTH ABOUT CANCER: A GLOBAL QUEST

Hey Azlan,

The Truth About Cancer: A Global Quest

Ty and Charlene Bollinger have made the whole series free to see this weekend (October 20 & 21).

Click here to watch The Truth About Cancer®: A Global Quest docu-series:

https://go.thetruthaboutcancer.com/

(Users opting in will be given the opportunity to view the documentary series for free and optionally purchase the series on DVD or Digital after the broadcast.)

Episode 1: The True History of Chemotherapy & The Pharmaceutical Monopoly

https://youtu.be/KqJAzQe7_0g

Episode 2: Cancer Facts and Fictions, Breast Cancer, Hormones, Skin Cancer & Essential Oils

https://youtu.be/VK_sX5ko8SE

Episode 3: Cancer-Killing Viruses, Cancer Stem Cells, GMOs, Juicing & Eating the Rainbow

https://youtu.be/cG101EWOrMM

Episode 4: Excitotoxins that Fuel Cancer, Nature’s Pharmacy and Healing Cancer with Sound & Light

https://youtu.be/GnorynIfHZs

Episode 5: Cancer-Causing Blindspots, Toxic Vaccines, Homeopathy & The Power of Emotions

https://youtu.be/fnHzcGaPLfI

Episode 6: The NOCEBO Effect, Healing Vaccines, Advanced Detoxing & Going Inside A German Cancer Clinic

https://youtu.be/Fw08yq00s38

Episode 7: Heal Cancer with Clean Electricity, Unique Water, Natural Sunlight & Combining Superfoods

https://youtu.be/SGgPD5CI3oo

Episode 8: Cannabis, Nature’s Epigenetic Switches, Peptides & Healing with Micronutrient Therapy

https://youtu.be/HOOVKgPxAZM

Episode 9: Cancer Conquerors & Their Powerful Stories of Victory

https://youtu.be/Bu532NMkXTY

This thought-provoking docu-series has been seen by millions of people all around the world. And it’s changing the way they think about cancer forever. (You’ll know why when you watch the series.)

Playlist of all 9 episodes plus two Q&A sessions with Ty and Charlene Bollinger

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc6MYnZ0oyNQJzGBsvPVqswMyCm6iLoR6

You’ll see that cancer is no longer a death sentence. 

Sincerely,

Cyrus Khambatta, PhD and Robby Barbaro

(both living with type 1 diabetes)

P.S. The experts interviewed in this series about cancer share many of the same dietary philosophies as us, and are generally proponents of plant-based, whole-food nutrition. Some of the views shared in this series may not be fully congruent with the Mastering Diabetes program, but despite this, the truth about diabetes and cancer has been hidden from the public for many years, and this series does a great job of exposing the truth in the same way that we expose the evidence-based truth about optimal nutrition and lifestyle habits for diabetes. 

Mastering Diabetes

171 Pier Ave. , Suite 507

Santa Monica, CA 90405

United States

www.masteringdiabetes.org

Copyright 2003-2011 Azlan Adnan. This blog post is sponsored by The Green Party of Malaysia

DAY 5, INSULIN RESISTANCE REVERSAL DIET | MONDAY, OCT 22 2018

MONDAY, OCT 22 2018

DAY 5, INSULIN RESISTANCE REVERSAL DIET

THE VIDEO VERSION

This is the first time I checked my fasting blood sugar since I started my 70-15-15 INSULIN RESISTANCE REVERSAL DIET on Oct 18, 2018. I must say I’m pleased with the result of 6.3 and am confident as I deplete my store of lipoproteins through exercise, it’ll get even lower. Restricting my oils and fats intake to 15% is one thing, but the existing store of lipoproteins need to be depleted, too.

This was after my two ulam with rice meals for lunch and dinner yesterday. See the video.

Keto advocates had better hold your horses and wait for 90 days when my INSULIN RESISTANCE REVERSAL DIET should show some definitive results.

Five days is too early to jump to conclusions, but I’m happy I’ve already made a small step in the right direction.

The key takeaway: a keto diet of 70% oils and fats causes lipoprotein overload thence insulin resistance which manifests itself as high blood glucose indicating a diagnosis of Non-Insulin Dependent Type 2 Diabetes.

EXERCISE

Walked to Kakak Yuni the tailor, then Alpro. Checked fasting blood sugar. Walked to S Win  Banana Leaf, had tosai. Walked to laundry, the Pasar Mini UKAZ, then SEGI Fresh. Bought kyuri and red capsicums. Then harvested ornamental palm seeds. Still needed to sweat more, so pruned ficus hedge, then cut three bamboo poles. Dragged them to my Pinz.

Kak Yuni was still sewing the pockets of Mark 2 of Plebeian Panache hessian bags. She said will be completed after she picks her kids from school. She’s moving in Dec as her landlord has sold the land for development. She’ll be opening a counter at a laundry in Jalan Mawar - more excercise for me as its further.

On another development, spoke to the JMB management and have secured an allotment at the carpark - suitable for lemongrass and turmeric.

Finished at 1245 hrs and then had a scalp massage followed by an FIR sauna.

Collected my bags about 1630 hrs and then went to Petaling Street to check out the bags sold there. Around 1800 hrs, suddenly felt hypo and had a herbal tea and grass jelly without the sugar syrup. Hands were still shaking and jittery. Had a rojak and a young coconut at a stall along Cecil Street. Baru rasa lega. This doesn’t happen on a keto diet, the sudden crash. Mental note to self - have to be careful and obviate this in future. The other thing I noticed is that my farts are beginning to get stinky and bau masam. When on keto, flatulence tends to be sweet and aromatic, thanks to the ketones.

Then, around 2030 hrs had a bowl of fish ball soup at The Chicken Rice Shop in 1Utama, drink was air kosong. The next time I check my fasting blood sugar will be on Wednesday morning. Will make another report then.

This video is available on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/S3dnpl7R9Ew 

Copyright 2003-2018 Azlan Adnan. This blog post is sponsored by The Green Party of Malaysia

PATIENT EDUCATION

On Patient Education

Patient education is so critical because, as they say in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), understanding what’s going on, in itself, cures you. Understanding what’s happening empowers you, motivates you to do what you must and stops you from procrastinating. 

I have always advocated patient education. By getting informed on your health condition, you are in a better position to have intelligent and meaningful discussions with your healthcare provider and make more informed decisions about your treatment options.

Patients need to be accountable and responsible for your own health. It is too precious a thing to abdicate to your healthcare providers. Take courses. I’ve taken plenty of free online courses from www.coursera.org 

You need to manage your lifestyle, not just for your physical well-being but also for your mental hygiene. The more knowledge you have, the better the choices you make.

I archive stuff about organic gardening, food, nutrition and health matters here:

https://m.facebook.com/Azlan.Foodscape/ 

I archive stuff about the mind sciences, sex and relationships here:

https://m.facebook.com/MentalSciences/ 

I curate loads of playlists on subjects and topics that interest me on YouTube. Check out the playlists at my main channels here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnkwzgsRC1HNqdZLpNw8Qiw

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCflIhiaSelwOXT29iwTuZMA

Copyright 2003-2018 Azlan Adnan. This blog post is sponsored by The Green Party of Malaysia

ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

In criminology, there are four reasons for punishment:

1) retribution

2) reformation 

3) rehabilitation

4) deterrence

Retribution is “an eye for an eye.” You did something bad, now you pay for it. Do they really need to pay for it with their life? This is an ethical and philosophical question beyond the scope of criminology. The global consensus is a resounding “no,” with 142 countries having abolished capital punishment.  

Reformation. With capital punishment, the offender is not reformed but, hopefully, society is.

Similarly, with rehabilitation, the offender is not rehabilitated, but then neither is society. 

The goal of both reformation and rehabilitation is similar in that the offender is made to see the error of their ways, to feel remorse and to turn over a new leaf. In the Dutch and Swedish criminal justice systems, the emphasis is on this with counsellors, social workers, probation officers, psychologists on hand as required to turn offenders into useful, productive citizens again. Their systems have been so successful that they have been closing down prison facilities, due to lack of “customers.” But, I suspect, this is only part of a larger education system that emphasises morals, civics and the role of individuals in society.

Sad to say, Malaysians are hardened to the point of being selfish, having an “everyone for himself” attitude towards surviving a hard life. That’s why the majority of people in Malaysia (and here I do include blue collar, uneducated migrant workers) just throw rubbish everywhere they like, ride motorcycles on pavements (kaki lima) and footpaths. They are either too stupid, ignorant, selfish, apathetic or just don’t know any better. Generally speaking, they are a combination of those factors but please don’t discount the fact that ignorance, being unaware of the law, of what is the right thing to do play a big role. To save three sen worth of petrol, motorcyclists daily pull all kinds of funny stunts. I see this with my own eyes on a daily basis. I have to struggle very hard to restrain myself from taking the law into my own hands and mete out physical punishment myself.

But I do curse these people. My curses are very powerful as God hears me, the injustices done to me and expedites the offenders’ karma. People who have done injustice to me, after being cursed by me have gone blind, two have died (one of a sudden mysterious illness after attacking me with a parang, another was a drunk taxi driver who whacked me with a plastic chair after I reprimanded him for harassing my daughter and I by the roadside). 

Sometimes you need to appeal to a higher authority when the criminal justice system is woefully inadequate.

Deterrence has two aspects. Firstly, by meting out the punishment, the hope is for the offender not to re-offend. Capital punishment doesn’t quite serve this purpose but it does guarantee that the offender has no chance of doing anything, let alone re-offending, by putting his life to an abrupt end.

The other aspect of deterrence is to deter other members of society from committing the same or similar offences. However, when there is lack of enforcement, there is no deterrence and people will do what they like including, but not limited to, parking on white lines, parking at bus stops, parking at T-junctions, throwing and dumping rubbish by the roadside, on the pavements, and etc. I have made a playlist of hundreds of videos and photos of such offences in my neighbourhood and posted them on my neighbourhood FB pages, YouTube channels, sent the links to Mr Danny Chan Keat Peng, the MBPJ councillor for my Zone (PJU 6A), my YB Jamaliah Jamaluddin, the ADUN for N036 Bandar Utama but either apathy reigns or they have other priorities, inadequate resources or whatever. My letters of complaint to the mayor of PJ go unanswered, forget about their stupid and useless hotline or website complaint forms - there for show only.

Coming back to abolishing capital punishment. What do you propose as the alternative? Life imprisonment?

Do you know the cost of keeping someone incarcerated for a year is more than the annual tuition fees for a medical student? Have you done a cost-benefit analysis? There is a price to pay for abolishing capital punishment. Are we willing to pay the price? If we want to abolish capital punishment, we need not only be prepared to pay the price, but know what the price is in the first place.

With the world population at 7.65 billion, isn’t it about time we cull those that are a waste of space, of resources, of air? If they choose to not serve or contribute to society in a meaningful manner, why are they here? To procreate even more the likes of themselves?

I haven’t touched on why people turn to crime in the first place. I’ll save that for another post...

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/10/10/law-minister-no-more-death-penalty-death-row-inmates-to-get-reprieve/

SCAMMER | Nur Shamsinar binti Sabri | Maybank 162674074485

Nur Shamsinar binti Sabri | Maybank 162674074485 | 0176424542

BEWARE OF SCAMMER 

ON TINDER: barbie girl, 24 | Nardia Abdullah | Farah Elina

ON INSTAGRAM: prettyybaby_ | farahelina_ 

Real Name: Nur Shamsinar binti Sabri
IC (partial): XXXX-14-5996
Address (partial): 1D/24, Subang

Maybank Account No: 162674074485

Handphones: 0172687033, 0176424542

https://m.facebook.com/Nur-Shamsinar-Sabri-Scammer-Alerts-878014782292116/

Maybank Report Number 01YG5MS8V 

Reported on Oct 13, 2018 at 1925 hrs

Please ask all her victims to call Maybank 1300886688

to report her. Give her account number 

162674074485

and transaction details. Under AMLA, banks will get into trouble if they do not KYC and report to BNM or to police sources of funds from suspected illegal activities. I had previously reported her to Maybank on Sept 1 2018 but Maybank did nothing about it.

She lives in Subang Jaya, apparently.

THE INVITATION | Oriah Mountain Dreamer

The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, 'Yes.'

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Copyright 2003-2011 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice Copyright 2003-2011 Azlan Adnan. This blog post is sponsored by The Green Party of Malaysia

BECOMING AN ORGAN DONOR

Copyright 2003-2018 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice This blog post is sponsored by The Green Party of Malaysia

BUS ROUTES | MRT TAMAN TUN DR ISMAIL

BUS STATION AT MRT TAMAN TUN DR ISMAIL 

Jalan Damansara

6000 KUALA LUMPUR 

Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

+60 3-7885 2585

https://goo.gl/maps/sKuXbq6GJB72

Feeder Bus Routes serving this station

http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus/t813.htm

http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus/t814.htm

See master list of feeder bus routes:

http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus/

Legal Notice Copyright 2003-2018 Azlan Adnan. This blog post is sponsored by The Green Party of Malaysia

BUS ROUTES | MRT BANDAR UTAMA

MRT Bandar Utama

Persiaran Bandar Utama

Bandar Utama

47800 PETALING JAYA

Selangor, Malaysia

+60 1-800-82-6868

https://goo.gl/maps/jvFZUzmSPUn

BUS ROUTES | MRT BANDAR UTAMA

http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus/t811.htm

http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus/t812.htm

506 Putrajaya Central to 1Utama also stops briefly at MRT Bandar Utama

https://www.myrapid.com.my/traveling-with-us/how-to-travel-with-us/rapid-kl/bus/number?routeid=U5060

See master list of feeder bus routes:

http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus

BUS ROUTES | PUSAT BANDAR DAMANSARA

BUS STATION AT MRT PUSAT BANDAR DAMANSARA 
Pusat Bandar Damansara
Bukit Damansara
50490 KUALA LUMPUR 
Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
https://goo.gl/maps/Wwg1MaGajAy 

Bus Routes serving this station
http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus/t817.htm
http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus/t818.htm
http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus/t819.htm
http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus/t820.htm
http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus/t852.htm

See master list of feeder bus routes:
http://www.mrt.com.my/feeder_bus/

My Early Education - Influences

I went to St John’s Primary School 1, some kind of Christian school, possibly Catholic, because there’s a St John’s Cathedral next door. We never once prayed in my six years there although I know of ladies who went to mission schools who had to memorise Christian prayers by heart. It was only a Catholic school in name even though the headmasters, Brother Anthony, then Brother Patrick Arikiosamy, were "brothers" who wore white gowns (jubah, in Malay). I'm am reliably informed that these "brothers" are not ordained priests.

When Brother Anthony passed away, we were lined up and marched two by two to St John’s Institution (SJI) next door where his mortal remains were lying in state. I was in shock and was kinda mortified as we were not told we were going to see a dead body. Nobody had prepared us or told us Brother Anthony had died. Anyway, we just solemnly walked around the body in silence and went back to class. No prayers of any sort, as far as I can recall.

I think, in Malaysia, all the religious stuff, by law, had to be confined to the church grounds. Its illegal in Malaysia to proselytize to Muslims so I think that explains the “secular” nature of my primary education.

We Muslims were expected to go to ugama class, but it was optional and the form master didn’t really insist on it. I went once, the ustaz was teaching about the end of the world (Earth) - all fire and brimstone, earthquakes and volcanoes. However, he was a little confused and taught it as it were the end of the universe. I was a precocious kid in those days and thanks to Eagle, Look and Learn, and the astronomy books I had been reading already, knew about the Cold Death Theory of the end of the universe - where we slowly tend towards absolute zero (-273º C or 0º K) due to entropy. So I dismissed the ugama teacher as a moron of inadequate intellect unfit to teach me anything (I can be quite unforgiving in that way, now even). Also, all the “cerita-cerita nabi” (biographies of the prophets) seemed like tall tales belonging more to the realm of mythology and fiction what with prophets living to the very ripe of 800 years old, prophets commanding thousands of birds to drop stones onto the enemy’s army and destroying it, parting of the seas, and etc. It took too much suspension of disbelief to my young mind—it was so much easier to dismiss all this religious stuff as stupid crap for fools.

So that, in a nutshell, was how my “Catholic school education” made me dismissive of all ulamak at such a tender young age. What I heard from ulamak since then have only confirmed my early impression of them.

I had no impression of Christian religious teachers because I was never exposed to any, so never formed an opinion about the veracity of what they espoused.

But later in life, I met Catholic priests, rabbis (Rabbi Hugo Gryn came to give a talk at AC, I was impressed by his intellect and oration and we became friends and communicated by snail mail until his death). What stuck me about them, in contrast to Muslim ulamak, is that as part of their religious training, quite apart from they learn about divinity and theology, it is compulsory for them to learn comparative religion. And this is reflected in their worldview. Ulamak not only do not learn comparative religion but it is haram (forbidden) for them to read scripture of other religions, which accounts for their uniquely parochial and insular worldview. Of course, I’m making generalisations, but for the most part, my experience of them just confirms that this impression I have of them holds true.

Once notable exception was a Filipino ustaz, who was a Catholic priest before he converted to Islam but his enlightened worldview had more to do with his Catholic priest training than his competency in reciting classical Arabic.

My final conclusion is that religion is just a guide to life, but an inadequate one, as it is silent on so many pertinent matters that really affect us and our lives in the here and now, on planet Earth. Anybody who studies science knows its a work in progress and that there are so many phenomena and stuff that needs to be quantified and rationalised. 

I had my first exposure to comparative religion when, in my early teens, I chanced upon an English translation of The Tibetian Book of the Dead. Here was a text, a manual, actually, not about life, but about the whole process of death - all quantified in such detailed minutiae - that it seemed unlikely to be a work of fiction. I was impressed by how far this one religion - Tibetian Buddhism - had progressed in his one field, leaving other religions so far behind.

My views on religion were also influenced by Russell. I first started reading about him the day after his death, when the New Straits Times reported that a British mathematician and philosopher had passed away. “Philosopher” was a new word to me (I was eleven then) so I looked it up in the OED, which in its uniquely circular way had to make me also look up “philosophy.” "Love of wisdom," it said. "I could get into this," I thought. And that was how I got started on not just Russell (An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth, Why I am not a Christian, History of Western Philosophy, his pacifism - he was jailed in WWII for his anti-war views, imagine that a British Lord jailed for being anti-war!), but on philosophy as a way of thinking.

Anyway, Russell's pacifism influenced me in much the same manner as Gandhi did and made me very receptive to, and a prime candidate, for my UWC education, where Theory of Knowledge (and epistemology, later) made a lifelong influence.

Copyright 2003-2018 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice Copyright 2003-2011 Azlan Adnan. This blog post is sponsored by The Green Party of Malaysia