Monday, August 31, 2009

SALAM MERDEKA


SALAM MERDEKA UNTUK SEMUA RAKYAT MALAYSIA
MERDEKA DARI PEMIKIRAN YANG JUMUD DAN CETEK,
MERDEKA DARI KONGKONGAN KEZALIMAN,
MERDEKA DARI MENTALITI CHAUVANISTIK BANGSA,
MERDEKA DARI UNDANG-UNDANG PENJAJAH,
MERDEKA, MERDEKA, MERDEKA, MERDEKA.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Lembu Punya Kepala, Islam Yang Dapat Nama

Memang tak bertanggungjawab dan berfikiran sempit la orang yang buat kerja ni.

Dalam kitab Ustaz mana entah diorang dapat Dalil bahawa kita boleh menghina agama lain demi mempertahankan Islam. Bukan ke dalam Quran dah ada sebut, "jangan hina agama lain, nanti diorang akan hina Islam" (terjemahan lebih kurang).

Islam ajar kita supaya berfikiran terbuka... Jangan sempitkan fikiran tu. Islam juga ajar kita hormat kat agama lain... Supaya diorang hormat pada Islam.

Walaupun nak jadi hero, janganlah sampai nama Islam tercemar. Negara ni ada undang-undang dan peraturan... Ada mahkamah... Kalau rasa tak puas hati, gunakanlah saluran yg betul. Janganlah lembu yg tak berdosa tu jadi mangsa pulak.

Lagipun, bukan ke lembu tu makanan kita... Kenapa lak di'kaki-kaki'kan... Mak bapak tak ajar ke hormati makanan?

Satu hal lagi... Badan lembu tu pegi mana? Buat kenduri ke? Makan masa bila tu? Hehehe, tak elok tau buat kerja-kerja camni masa bulan Ramadhan yg mulia ni.

Sent from Haza Hilmy's BlackBerry® device

Thursday, August 20, 2009

The Holy Guest is Here.... Again....

Ramadhan.... the holiest of month... is just around the corner....

It's time to reflect the ups and he downs since last Ramadhan....

But for me, I am truly greatful that Allah has allowed me to welcome this Holy Guest again this year....

To everybody.... I wish you RAMADHAN KAREEM....and please forgive me for everything I had done wrong since last Ramadhan.... Let's make this Ramadhan the best we ever had so far....because we wouldn't know if this is the last Ramadhan for us....

-------------
I just received a good news that my mother will be discharged today....alhamdulillah....

But then, my father-in-law was hospitalized a few days ago due to (guess what).... Diabetes as well.... He has been suffering from a cut on his toes since a few weeks ago.... It wouldn't heal and the doctor had to resort to the extreme measures....

I hope everyone is facing these predicaments with an open heart. Allah always tests those people who are the most righteous. Our prayers are with our loved-ones in Malaysia....

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

My mother

My mother has been hospitalized since a few days ago due to a diabetis-induced complication. If I could have it my way, I will take the next flight out of Dubai, to KL, to be by her side.

Even then, it could never repay what she has done for me... for my sister & brother... and for the whole family as well. Her sacrifice is beyond reimbursable.

“Tell him not worry about me”, my sister related to me the other day. My sister said that Mak will feel much better knowing that I am OK... not worrying.

But as a child, the eldest son who is supposed to shoulder the responsibilities to his parents, no one can blame me if and when I get worried. I am thousands of mile away when I was supposed to be with her.

Anyhow, for her sake, I’ll stay put and just wait for any updates from my sister and brother. Thanks to the modern technology called the Internet.

May all the blessings of Allah be with her.

This is a beautiful song from Brother Yusuf Islam... I dedicate this to my mother...with love from your son and family in Dubai.


Your Mother
Who should you give your love to

Your respect and your honour to
Who should you pay good mind to – after Allah,
Comes your Mother,
Who next? Your Mother
Who next? Your Mother
And then you Father

Cause who used to hold you
And clean you and clothe you?
Who used to feed you
And always be with you?
When you were sick, stay up all night,
Holding you tight?
That’s right no other, your Mother

Who should you take good care of
Giving all your love?
Who should you think the most of – after Allah?
Comes your Mother,
Who next? Your Mother
Who next? Your Mother
And then you Father

Cause who used to hear you
Before you could talk?
Who used to hold you
Before you could walk?
And when you fell, who’d pick you up?
Clean your cut?
No one but, your Mother, your Mother

Who should you stay right close to
Listen most to?
Never saying no to – after Allah
Comes your Mother,
Who next? Your Mother
Who next? Your Mother
And then you Father

Cause who used to hug you
And buy you new clothes?
Comb your hair and blow your nose?
And when you cried who wiped your tears
Knows your fears?
Who really cares?
Your Mother

Say Hamdulillah,
Thanks to Allah
Thank You Allah for my Mother

A generation of activist idealists

AUG 11 - A trauma can make or break a person. It can make or break a generation, too.
In an inconspicuous house in Bangsar, a group of individuals belonging to the generation that I identify myself with has been meeting consistently for the past few weeks. There is only one agenda in their list and it involves a very global issue of climate change.
They endeavor to spread awareness regarding it to Malaysian youth. More ambitiously, they seek to influence national policy on climate change.
The idea began modestly and has been very much fueled by conviction and commitment to a cause. Friends and strangers met and discovered that they share a passion. With that passion, they banded together to act.
They started making calls and sending email seeking support among larger circles of friends to garner resources required to get the ball rolling.
Climate change was an issue close to my heart. A number of factors prodded me into the realm of economics, and climate change was one of the topics that caught my attention.
It was back in the late 1990s, when I was still a teenager, that I found myself attracted to a concept where a person could trade carbon as currency. With no training in economics whatsoever at that time, it was easy for me to be amazed at the concept.
The concept – pricing carbon to combat negative externality – and many more ideas surrounding the issue are not alien to me any longer.
Just as understanding of physical sciences inevitably render what used to be perceived as magic and supernatural events by the unenlightened into natural phenomena, so too does command of economics wash away my awe of this strange concept.
Ironic as it may seem, economics has made me less enthusiastic about the subject. The tools of economics have made me realise how hard it is to solve the issues.
Meanwhile, the politics of climate change conspire to make it impossible. Just weeks earlier, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd admitted that the odds of success at the much-anticipated climate change meet-up in Copenhagen, Denmark are bleak, and rightly so.
Yet, there they are in Bangsar, speaking so passionately about the issue, trying to affect and effect it. A row of ants standing in the path of an elephant, as I first saw it.
I am tempted to be sceptical about how much they can achieve, especially given the reality of climate change politics. Each time I want to express my scepticism however, my mind races back in time to the day of my graduation.
Amid a melancholic mood, uncertain of what the world holds for me, the president of my alma mater, Mrs Coleman, inspired me. She said, “…stand up for what you believe in, and what is right. You just might change course of events for the better.”
This is the hallmark of an idealist.
A friend of mine jokingly called them the Planeteers (remember the cartoon?)
Jokes asides, these Planeteers are but one example of idealists who make up this generation below 30s.
Another group of friends is working hard to share educational opportunities that exist in the United States with students in Malaysia.
They are out that to smash the myth that gaining admission into the best schools is either impossible or expensive, or both. They are already in those schools and they are inspiring others to be ambitious, just as they had been.
Together, they hold an ideal that Malaysians should have access to not just basic education but fulfilling the quality education that many in my circles believe that the Malaysian system is simply unable to provide, for various reasons.
Yet another set of brilliant cohorts with sterling education joined politics in drove as interns and assistants to politicians whose ideals they share. And they, too, sign up out of conviction, not for power.
There is a dangerous generalization here for surely, in every generation, there are dishonest individuals out merely to acquire power. That seems irrelevant to my circle of friends. In their eyes, I see a cause.
This surprises me greatly. For a generation condemned by others as highly disinterested in politics and societal issues at large, and only out and about listening to unbearable noise on their iPod and out large at night in roaming the city, the manner in which they have come in to shape politics is one big finger to such condescending generalisation.
A common criticism directed against idealists is that they are still young and naïve. The real world, sooner or later, will break them.
This generation of mine, or at least my circles, in a trend so overwhelming like a 50-metre tall wave to a sampan, is different. They are a different kind of idealists, for whom criticism is like a hard stone to a knife.
These idealists recognise harsh reality. Contrary to typical characterisation of an idealist, these idealists found their ideals out of disappointment and from that disappointment, a call to activism.
They have been all over the world. They witnessed it, made judgment about it, made comparison out of it. And they are disillusioned with Malaysia.
They are angry at everything that is true. All promises have been broken and they are posed to inherit a broken country with disrepute institutions, diminished national pride and worsening race relations.
While the older generations tend to dismiss this generation as unappreciative of past sacrifices, this new breed of idealist activists see that the older generations have failed them.
What else can so comprehensively explain why the nation's youth, in so overwhelming a manner, voted against the establishment in 2008?
The disillusionment is traumatic, but it has hardened, not broken, them.
Rather than consoling themselves, they decide to not tweak their ideals, but almost outrageously go out to fix the reality. They endeavor to close the gap between ideals and reality, to improve the lamentable state that we Malaysians are in.
These circles of mine have been privileged but not overly so in their upbringing. After all, not too many attended the likes of Harvard, Dartmouth, Colby, Berkeley – and, ahem, Michigan – among others.
Experience tells me that outliers exude contagious confidence. The arithmetic mean is susceptible to outliers.
Such confidence is bound for greatness. It is individual confidence that is no longer dependent on the state or the community. They are, by themselves, individually, a whole army.

At maddruid.com, Hafiz Noor Shams shares how he is proud of his generation.

"Permata (Untuk Isteri Ku)"

Telah ku siapkan satu daerah paling sunyi
Dalam hati ini untuk kau isi sebagai isteri
Untuk kau penuhi dengan kemuliaan seorang wanita
Untuk kau beri erti dengan kelembutan
Untuk kau hargai dengan kasih sayang

Ku ingin kau jadi wanita mulia
Yang tahu harga budi dan hati
Seorang lelaki bernama suami

Kerana engkau isteri
Ku ingin kau mengerti bahawa hidup ini
Tak semudah yang kita janjikan
Yang kita janjikan
Kerana kau isteriku

Artis: Kopratasa
Lirik: Allahyarham Abdul Aziz HM

Monday, August 10, 2009

Fraudulent defenders of our faith — M. Bakri Musa

This is a nice and a thoughtful piece of article that I found HERE. It make us think about ourselves as a Muslim... Have we done enough to better ourselves before we go around "defending" our cause?

AUG 10 — With Ramadan soon upon us, Muslims everywhere are caught up in a heightened sense of spirituality. That is the good news.
Take last Thursday evening, for example. The San Jose, California, masjid was inundated with believers staying late into the night. It was the 15th of Shaaban, an especially blessed time in the Muslim calendar. Shaaban is the month before Ramadan, and serves as a “warm up” to it. As my imam Ilyas noted wryly in his Friday khutba, what struck him was that many that evening had never before set foot on the premises. That is the bad news.
Malays too are struck by this wave of religious fervour with the impending arrival of Ramadan. Thus the recent local authority raid on a 7-Eleven store in Selangor, stripping the store of its beer inventory. Never mind that the store had been selling that beverage for decades without any harassment from the authorities.
Then there was Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin calling on his PAS counterpart to “unite” against DAP (and thus Pakatan) for allegedly “insulting” Islam. Not to be outdone, Datuk Khir Toyo, a fellow “fighter” in Umno Youth, chided PAS for not standing up to the Pakatan state government’s “insulting” Islam by ordering the beer loot be returned to the store.
It turned out that the local agency had no authority to conduct such a raid. Alas, observing the niceties of the law has never been a strong point with these Malaysian jihadist wannabes.
Our Malaysian jihadists may consider themselves “modern” and of a different breed. After all Khairy has been to Oxford while Khir is a trained dentist. Alas they are “modern” only in their outward appearances, what with their fancy suits and palatial bungalows. In mindset and attitude, however, they are no different from those madrasah-educated, dishevelled bearded Talibans dwelling high in the caves of Afghanistan.
More to the point, I am not all assured that these overzealous “defenders” of Islam are doing our faith any favour. On the contrary, these fraudulent defenders of our faith are smearing the image of Islam.
As my imam Ilyas rightly pointed out on noting the large crowd at the masjid on the evening of 15th Shaaban, while he was pleased with the turnout he gently reminded us that it is far more important to do the many little “good” gestures required of us by our faith all the time than be focused on doing the spectacular ultra religious deeds during Ramadan.
For example, it is much more important to be generous throughout the year rather than making a highly publicised generous donation during Ramadan. On another level, there is no point for us to live a life of vice and corruption and then once a year undertake a haj or umrah in an attempt to “cleanse” ourselves.
If the average citizen can see through the hollowness of such “pious” gestures, rest assured that Almighty Allah would have minimal difficulty figuring out the hoax.
The late Zakaria Mat Deros, a former railway guard turned fabulously wealthy politician with the obscenely ostentatious bungalow squatting amidst the squalor of the Malay kampung in Port Klang, was a prime example. He was accompanied on one of his frequent umrahs by no less than the head of Islam Hadhari, then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
I wish that characters like Mat Deros were the exception; unfortunately they are the norm. Consider that self-admitted adulterer Razak Baginda. Not only did he try to cleanse himself religiously by visiting (yes, “visiting” is the appropriate term) Mecca, he went on to “purify” himself by going to Oxford. Presumably he thinks that a doctorate from that august institution would purify him in the eyes of the secular crowd.
I wonder how Razak Baginda felt when he undertook his umrah knowing that a young girl his daughter’s age was blown up to smithereens as a consequence of his philandering. Did he offer any prayers for the soul of his former lover and for her still grieving family? Charity and generosity after all are one of the pillars of our faith.
These Malays should heed the advice of my young but wise imam. They should instead focus on being “good” in their everyday existence instead of trying to display their piety in dramatic ways during special occasions.
The central injunction of our Quran — Amal makruf, nahi mungkar (Command good, forbid evil) — should be our daily creed. Frequent trips to Mecca, glamorous iftar parties during Ramadan, and having a surau as part of your palatial mansion will not make up for your ignoring this elemental and recurring Quranic refrain.
I wish that Khairy and Khir, being young and the future leaders of Umno, as well as others would address the gross injustices perpetrated on our citizens, the corruption that is infesting our society, and the poverty that blights far too many Malaysians, instead of being unnecessarily obsessed with 7-Eleven stores selling beer. In the same vein I do not see Khairy, Khir and others of their ilk being outraged at Umno stalwarts serving on the boards of Carlsberg and the Genting casino company.
The pair’s selective outrage baffles me. Or stated differently, I, like others, readily see through their hoax.
There is nothing Islamic about a society infested with corruption, dehumanised by poverty, and riddled with injustices. It would be the height of hypocrisy, and mocks our great faith to boot, for Khairy and Khir Toyo to claim the mantle of Islamic leadership if they are a part of the state apparatus that allows these evils to continue. — bakrimusa.com

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

ISA

Beberapa hari lepas puluhan ribu rakyat Malaysia dari pelbagai agama, kaum dan bangsa berkumpul di Ibukota. Tujuannya hanyalah satu... untuk menyampaikan satu memo kepada YDP Agong tentang perlunya suatu undang-undang yang bernama Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) dimansuhkan (khabarnya ada juga kumpulan yang berhimpun untuk menyokong akta ini pada hari yang sama, tapi kurang mendapat perhatian... terutama dari pihak berkuasa).

Pada hematnya aku bukanlah ahli politik atau aktivis untuk mana-mana badan... tetapi aku dah banyak baca tentang bagaimana akta ini digunakan untuk mengekang mereka-mereka yang di”cop” boleh membawa bahaya kepada keselamatan negara.

Ya, baiklah...ada juga logiknya ISA ni. Tapi apa yang menghairankan, hanya mereka yang menjadi peneraju dan penyokong parti yang tak sehaluan dengan parti-parti kerajaan pulak yang selalu kena tangkap. Khabarnya akta ni membolehkan pihak berkuasa menangkap mereka yang disyaki boleh membawa bahaya kepada keselamatan negara. Jadi sejak beberapa tahun ni, maka ramailah mereka yang di”cop” sedemikian ditangkap. Yang bestnya, mereka yang ditangkap ni, majoritinya, tidak dibawa ke muka pengadilan.... Cuma “disimpan” dipusat tahanan untuk disoal siasat. Hehehe....ada yang kena soal siasat sampai 8 tahun....

Ini menunjukkan pihak berkuasa kita ni tak pandai menyoal siasat.... mungkin tak belajar betul-betul dari siri-siri TV macam Law & Order, CSI, Numb3rs, TJ Hooker, Starsky & Hutch dan lain-lain. Kalau tak, takkanlah ada yang dah bertahun-tahun terpaksa berpisah dengan anak isteri....dan dah bertahun-tahun anak-anak hilang kasih sayang ayah dan isteri hilang belaian suami. Banyak dah keluarga yang menderita sebab hilang orang yang selama ni jadi “bread winner”. Atas alasan apa mereka ditangkap? Wallahu a’lam... Takkan nak soal siasat ambik masa terlalu lama?

Tapi yang pastinya, akta ni memang sepatutnya dah takde lagi dah.... Kalau tak salah Allahyarham Tun Razak dulu kata akta ni hanyalah untuk mengekang bahaya pengganas komunis. Rasanya Arwah Bapa Pembangunan Malaysia ni pun tak pernah terfikir pun yang akta yang dia bawa ke Parlimen dulu akan digunakan oleh kerajaan (termasuklah anaknya PM sekarang ni) untuk tangkap ustaz-ustaz, aktivis-aktivis hak asasi manusia, pemberita, penulis blog...dan yang lebih teruk lagi ialah ahli-ahli politik dari parti-parti pembangkang (tak pernah pulak dengar ahli-ahli politik dari parti-parti kerajaan yang kena tangkap.....Pelik, kan?). Ada juga yang sepatutnya jadi saksi, jadi plaintif...ditangkap.... Pelik juga, kan?

Selalunya bila aku cakap macam ni.... maka adalah di kalangan kawan-kawan dan sahabat yang kata aku ni anti-kerajaan lah, sokong pembangkang lah, tak bersyukur kat kerajaan sebab bantu bayar untuk pendidikan aku lah.... Dari satu segi memanglah betul.... Tapi sebagai seorang Muslim, kita diajar supaya berlaku adil... tak kiralah kepada siapa....tak kiralah samada orang-orang tu berlainan fahaman agama atau ideologi politik... ataupun sekadar berbeza pendapat. Jikalau betul seseorang tu bersalah...siap dengan bukti-bukti dan saksi-saksi...maka hadapkan dia ke mahkamah, dakwa dia....bagi dia perbicaraan yang adil.... kalau terbukti bersalah tanpa keraguaan yang munasabah, maka hukumlah dia.... “Innocent until proven guilty”....

Kalau keadilan tak ada dalam negara, maka visi untuk jadi negara maju akan tinggal visi sahaja..... Sebab dalam sesebuah negara maju, kerajaan dan rakyatnya juga mestilah ada mentaliti negara maju.... Apa dia mentaliti negara maju? Kalau nak tulis....”confirm” menjela-jela.... Faham-faham sendirilah...cubalah tengok negara-negara maju.... tapi tengok yang “part-part” yang baik je lah...kemudiannya, cuba “assimilate” ke dalam konteks negara pelbagai kaum macam kita.... Mungkin susah, tapi kalau tak mula, sampai bila pun kita akan “tersangkut” kat “3rd World mentality”.... sampai bila pun kita takkan maju...

Rakyat berdemo, bukan sebab rakyat benci kerajaan.... tapi sekadar untuk suarakan ketidakpuasan hati kepada sesuatu isu.... takkan lah itu pun membahayakan keamanan.... “come on” la bang.... Cuba ingat balik, kerajaan dipilih oleh majoriti rakyat.... ye betul...tapi janganlah lupa kepada yang “minoriti”. Diorang pun rakyat Malaysia jugak...bayar bermacam-macam cukai kat kerajaan.... Tapi bila diorang cuba “tegur” kerajaan....kerajaan buat “dek” je.... terlalu sibuk meng”hibur”kan hati yang majority tu je.... mana boleh...tak adil lah namanya....

Jadi sebagai penutupnya.... renung-renungkan lah.... jangan jadikan kuasa yang ada pada kita tu sebagai benda yang buat kita buta.... dan jangan lupa, nanti di Hari Akhir kita akan ditanya oleh Allah apa yang kita buat dengan kuasa yang kita ada....

Apa kita nak jawab nanti?

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Back In DXB

How time flies so fast when you are enjoying yourselves. It was about a month ago when we packed our things and went home to the Motherland.
I am still trying to remember things that we did, ate... and places that we went...people we met.
All this will be posted in the next entries, insyaAllah...


Sent from MY BlackBerry® device

Football honours Sir Bobby Robson

Sir Robert William "Bobby" Robson, CBE (1933 - 2009)

Leading figures from the world of football and politics have paid tribute to Sir Bobby Robson after his death at the age of 76 following a long battle with cancer.


Robson was a renowned and revered figure in football and led England to the World Cup semi-finals at Italia 90, the closest they have come to repeating their 1966 success on home soil. Fellow managers, his former players, Prime Ministers past and present, and the presidents of Fifa and Uefa were among those saluting his life and achievements.


Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson mourned the passing of a "great friend, a wonderful individual and tremendous football man."


Former Prime Minister Tony Blair called him "one of the nicest, most caring and genuine people I ever met - a real Geordie gentleman".


Here is a selection of the tributes paid by the football fraternity and others to one of the game's most respected and popular figures.


MANCHESTER UNITED MANAGER SIR ALEX FERGUSON
"I was never too big or proud to ask him for advice which he gave freely and unconditionally. And I'm sure I am speaking for a lot of people when I say that.

"In my 23 years working in England there is not a person I would put an inch above Bobby Robson. I mourn the passing of a great friend, a wonderful individual, a tremendous football man and somebody with passion and knowledge of the game that was unsurpassed.


"His character was hewn out of the coal face, developed by the Durham mining background that he came from. His parents instilled in him the discipline and standards which forged the character of a genuinely colossal human being. He added his own qualities to that which then he passed on to his sons.


"The strength and courage he showed over the past couple of years when battling against his fifth bout of cancer was indescribable. Always a smile, always a friendly word with never a mention of his own problems.


"The world, not just the football world, will miss him. Let's hope it won't be long before another like him turns up because we could never get enough of them."


FORMER ENGLAND MIDFIELDER PAUL GASCOIGNE
"I'm speechless. I'm devastated. Bobby was like my second dad. I was like a son to him.


"I can't describe how much he meant to me. I've just been crying for three hours, and I've come to see my mum and my dad. It's just unbelievable.


"He gave me a chance to play in the World Cup. I can't really talk that much because I just want to cry, that's all.


"I love him. And his wife Elsie - I'll always be there for her. I'm sort of numb."


FORMER ENGLAND CAPTAIN BRYAN ROBSON
"He called me his Captain Marvel and it stuck for the rest of my playing career. It made me very proud but it was only typical of the respect he earned from myself and the rest of the dressing room.


"I have never come across anybody with such a passion for football. We had a tremendous personal relationship as manager and skipper.


"Any criticism he had of a player was kept very private and publicly he gave all of us his total backing.


"We stayed pretty close even towards the end and, along with many other friends, I enjoyed his company in Portugal playing in his Golf Classic. He will be missed by everybody who knew him."


PRIME MINISTER GORDON BROWN
"I was extremely saddened to hear of the death of Sir Bobby Robson. I had the privilege of meeting Bobby on many occasions. He epitomised everything that is great about football in this country.


"His passion, patriotism, dedication and professionalism knew no equal during his time both as a player and a manager.


"His remarkable achievements as manager of Ipswich Town and then of England are among the most distinguished in English football history, and he was able to replicate that extraordinary success during his time at PSV Eindhoven, Porto and Barcelona."


"Over the past few years, he fought cancer with his characteristic tenacity and good humour.


"He will be sorely missed - not only in Newcastle and Ipswich, both of whom he served with such devotion, but by all sports fans in our country. My sincere condolences go to his wife Elsie and his family."


INTER MILAN BOSS JOSE MOURINHO
"Bobby Robson is one of those people who never die, not so much for what he did in his career, for one victory more or less, but for what he knew to give to those who had, like me, the good fortune to know him and walk by his side," said Mourinho, who was Robson's assistant at Barcelona.


"My thoughts and embraces go to all his loved ones."


SCOTLAND MANAGER GEORGE BURLEY (& EX-IPSWICH PLAYER)
"It was a big decision for me and my parents to make such a long journey at that age," said Burley, who played under Robson after leaving his home in Ayrshire to join Ipswich as a 15-year-old."


"But Sir Bobby was like a father to me, taking a personal interest in me right from the start, always checking whether I was happy. His support and enthusiasm was the perfect cure for homesickness and helped my career to get off the ground and thrive."


"I'll never forget when in 1973, the day before we played Manchester United at Old Trafford, he took me to one side and told me I would be making my first-team debut. I was 17 and the player I had to mark just happened to be George Best."


"My parents came down from Scotland to watch the game and I remember him getting off the team bus and presenting them with two directors' box tickets. We lost 3-0 but Sir Bobby was magnificent, telling me how well I'd played. It did wonders for my confidence."


"I went on to play over 500 games for Ipswich in a side that drew inspiration from its manager. From 1972 we qualified for European competitions nine out of 10 years which was remarkable considering the size of our squad and our standing as a small-town club."


"That was all down to his man-management, tactics and judgement. No finer example of that was when, after we won the FA Cup, he sold Brian Talbot to Arsenal for £450,000 and spent less than that to bring in that fabulous Dutch pair Arnold Muhren and Frans Thijssen."


"I could not possibly get my head round how my career would have gone had it not been for Sir Bobby Robson. I owe him everything and I only hope I can be guided by the example he showed me."


ENGLAND MANAGER FABIO CAPELLO
"Sir Bobby was a wonderful man, a real gentleman. I remember very well the times I managed my teams against him."


"The first time being when Bobby was manager of Barcelona and I was in my first season with Real Madrid. Later, when he was Newcastle manager and I was with Roma we faced each other - as opponents, but always friends."


"Of course, I recall Bobby as a manager with Ipswich, but more so with England. To manage the national team for so long was a remarkable achievement, and we all remember how close he came to leading England to the World Cup Final in Italy."


"He went on to enjoy success with PSV Eindhoven, Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Barcelona before returning to 'home' with Newcastle."


"Earlier this year I spent some time with Bobby when he opened the new cancer treatment centre, for which he worked so hard to raise funds. He was a fantastic man, and loved by so many people. His spirit and courage was incredible. To fight cancer so many times really showed the strength of the man."


"All the time we spoke over a cup of coffee with his close family, his passion for football shone through."


"He loved the game and was extremely proud of his country and the North East region."


"I also recall the tribute dinner the LMA [League Managers' Association] hosted for Bobby when he wasn't planning to say more than a few words. In the end he stayed on the stage for a very long time, telling story after story, much to everyone's amusement."


"It's extremely sad that Sir Bobby has lost his final fight against cancer, but he will never be forgotten. He really was a great man."


FORMER NEWCASTLE CHAIRMAN FREDDY SHEPHERD
"It's very sad, especially on Tyneside. The whole of Tyneside will be grieving. Sir Bobby Robson was a great man and will be sorely missed."


"I worked with him for five years every day. He was certainly the best manager I ever worked with at Newcastle. He never put me under pressure and always tried to see my side."


"He wouldn't put up with fools and didn't take any nonsense. He came across as a very kind guy but underneath was very tough. He thought about football 24 hours a day and he would ring me at all hours of the day and never stopped thinking about football."


BARCELONA COACH PEP GUARDIOLA (who played under Robson in the 1996/97 campaign)
"It was a pleasure to know him, not only as a coach but also as a person. It was a marvellous experience."


"It was a very difficult season, even though we won three trophies. Despite the problems of that year, he never lost his composure and always behaved like a gentleman."


FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT PRINCE WILLIAM
"I am deeply saddened to hear about Sir Bobby Robson's death.


"His contribution to English football as a player, manager and superb ambassador for our national game has been immense."


"He will be sadly missed by football fans everywhere, and I am thinking about his family at this difficult time."


FORMER ENGLAND AND BARCELONA BOSS TERRY VENABLES
"It is a really sad day. He has always been a fighter and he has really fought everything that has been thrown at him but he has just run out of luck this time."


"We came across each other many times whether on ITV for World Cups, or playing against each other - we go back that far."


"You just thought he was indestructible and he would get over everything, but of course it comes to everybody. He has been suffering for a while and he has shown great bravery and always in a dignified fashion."


"He has been a credit to everybody, he has been a credit to his country, his family and himself. I spoke to him five weeks ago on the phone and he was as you imagine to be, still talking about football and he was trying hard to battle away."


FORMER ENGLAND MANAGER GRAHAM TAYLOR
"I first met Bobby in the very early 70s when I was a young manager at Lincoln City, just finding my way."


"I met him on a coaching course at Lilleshall. From that meeting, he invited myself to spend a day with him at Ipswich to see what he was doing, what he was trying to do."


"He was so enthusiastic. For a manager to do that for a young manager now, you don't get that too often. So I owe Bobby Robson a lot."


FORMER ENGLAND MANAGER SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON
"First of all he was beyond football a great man, one of the kindest people I ever met."


"He helped me a great deal when I was a young coach and I visited him in Ipswich. He took me, an unknown coach from Sweden, down into the dug-out and explained the tactics."


"The year after Ipswich won the Uefa Cup, my team Gothenburg won it and he came and presented the trophy to me."


"When I became coach of England I called him many times and he was always generous with his advice and helpful."


"It seems he was as friendly to everybody as he was to me. In fact for me, he was the special one."


UEFA PRESIDENT MICHEL PLATINI
"He will be remembered not only for his playing career and his outstanding managerial career at both club and international level, but also because he was a truly warm and passionate human being."