Allah said....

Salam…hi all

Yesterday, I received an uninvited/unsolicited/unpleasant letter from the Income Tax Department. In the letter it’s stated that I still owe the government $44 thousand ringgit! What?! That much?! That’s a lot of money! My income tax was paid thru my salary deduction (schedule tax deduction) every month without fail for the past 10 years! What happen to all the money?!

I went thru the letter from top to bottom; over and over again hoping that it’s a typo. Nope....It’s true… I'm in debt with the government; $44k…period! Oh dear…what am I going do now?

Immediately I made some calls…frantically calling my friends seeking for advice. Through some family members I was told one of my cousins living up north is an employee of the Income Tax Department. I called him…” I'm in trouble with the government on my tax issue. Please help…what should I do now?” My 2^nd statement after saying “Assalamualaikum…”

I was advised to go to Income Tax in Shah Alam (my tax file office) to have a chat with the officer there.

And I did as advised; start the car engine and rushed to Shah Alam this morning. It took me approximately 35 minutes drive to get there. It was a slow drive, wound down the window and enjoyed the morning breeze and at the same time trying to calm myself down…”$44K! $44K”…lingers in my mind….sigh…

I arrived at the lobby of Peransang Building at 10am; found the elevator to go up to the 9^th Floor. There are 4 elevators and there were at least 40 people waiting upfront! Ok…my luck is getting bad to worse now…what next?

Approximately 7 minutes to get onto one of the elevator and finally I'm at the Income Tax office. Yeay!

I walked up straight to the information counter and there’s a sign “Please press button ‘A’ for Personal Income Tax”…I pressed the button and the machine print out a number for me…”1074” and on the print out its stated “Now serving 1050”…What! Another 24 people to go! Sigh…my luck is getting really bad…

Its 1015am and another 24 people to go. Rather than wasting time sitting at the waiting area for my turn, I decided to go back to the lobby and look for a restaurant. I saw one earlier opposite of Peransang Building a restaurant called Uncle K. Looks fancy and clean. And hopefully there’s Wifi so that I can log-in to my blog and start writing and I can also check my email.

Got down to the lobby, looked for direction and I started walking and I grabbed a seat at Uncle K…oh my goodness! Uncle K is a mamak shop! Mamak again?! hmmm…oh well…Mamak just loves my money! I'm just too lazy to look for a different restaurant. The good thing is I saw a Free WiFi signage on the wall of the restaurant. Ok…it’s a plus point.

I ordered “pull tea” and Roti Canai…and ask the lady; “WiFi kat sini ada password ke?” (The WiFi here requires password?” And the lady responded “Maaf Encik…router rosak…tak de WiFi hari ni” (Sorry sir…the router is broken…no WiFi today”

Hahahaha! I just laugh at myself….oh my…The almighty is really playing tricks on me today…one after another huh…

Ok...”you” are testing my patience…right? Bring it on! That was the content of my “email” that I just sent to the Almighty…

I ended up reading a newspaper that a customer left on the table next to me…it’s just heart sick to turn on the laptop with no WiFi service…

Now, its 12noon…I better go back up to the 9^th floor.

At the waiting area, I looked at the display unit at the information counter…”Now serving 1073”…oh yeah…oh yeah…luck is getting better now…the Almighty loves me!

5 minutes later…” Number 1074…counter 15” over the PA system…“Its me!!! Me!!!...I said it to myself of course…

And I sat at the counter doing my sad face seeking for mercy from the officer…..

I started the conversation with “Assalamualaikum…..tuan…” (Assalamualaikum sir…) blah..blah…blah…da…da..da…

And after 15 minutes of conversation, the officer told me “Sebaik nya saya cadang kan, Encik pergi ke pejabat kami di Jalan Duta untuk semakan semula dan rayuan” (Sir, I suggest, the best you should do now is to go to our office in Jalan Duta for reassessment and appeal).

Oh my…First, you want more money from me. Than you made me wait for 2 hours and after 15 minutes of talking, you are telling me to go to another office!!!!! Arrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!

I decided to walk away before I blew my top…

I walked back to the car…while walking…”problems not solve….not solve” going in my head…

Its 12.45noon…I’m worried like hell! What to do now? I can only go to the Income Tax office at Jalan Duta on Monday. That’s another 2 days! I won’t be able to sleep for the next 2 nights!

I need to stay calm…

Its Friday…the day of all days…it’s time for me to seek help from the Almighty…

I drove my car to Selangor State Mosque.

Wow…it’s my first time here…it’s such a beautiful mosque! The Shah Alam people should be proud to have such grand mosque in their community.

**The picture of the Selangor State Mosque main hall

And there I was; sitting at the back “saf” (line) listening to the Khutbah (sermon) of the day. After I performed the Friday prayer; I decided to stay on for “solat sunat”, “zikir” and I end it with a “doa”(prayers)…seeking help from the almighty….

Through out these processes…the issue of $44k debt didn't bother me at all. It didn't even cross my mind.

I found peace in the mosque…..

I found peace when I “talk” to the Almighty…

I was at peace...Thank you Allah...

Moral of the story: In the remembrance of Allah; do one heart finds peace…The Quran 13:28

Have a good weekend peeps!