to ponder...............

Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.

~Sicilian Proverb

Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds. ~Albert Einstein

ROYALTI : SIAPA YANG CELUPAR ?

Pada umumnya, Orang Melayu ini beragama Islamlah. Akan tetapi , apabila ada parti Melayu dan pemimpin parti Melayu sebut agama lain politik lain maka inilah masalah. Ini kecelaruan pemikiran dan ini keceluparan. Keceluparan jenis ini tidak terbanding dengan keceluparan saya seperti yang dituduh Dato’ Awang Adek dalam kenyataannya di Pasir Mas pada 6 Disember 2009. Saya dilihat celupar semata-mata kerana mempertahankan hak rakyat Negeri Kelantan untuk mendapatkan royalti. Saya dilihat celupar kerana ingin terus berdoa kepada Allah SWT agar Allah membuka pintu hati Perdana Menteri dan tidak terus menzalimi rakyat Kelantan. Saya dilihat celupar semata-mata kerana menegur presiden Umno diatas keengganan beliau untuk memberikan royalti itu kepada sebuah kerajaan negeri yang sah. Saya dipandang celupar kerana mendoakan kemusnahan kepada sesiapa jua yang zalim kerana royalti itu hak dari perut bumi kami. Ia hak yang termaktub melalui sebuah perjanjian bertulis yang sempurna di tahun 1974. Celuparkah saya semata-mata kerana jujur membaca dan menafsir maksud perjanjian itu tanpa keliru? Kenapa harus ditukar pemberian dari royalti kepada wang ehsan dan diberi pula melalui sebuah jabatan kerajaan? Semua orang tahu, JPP itu bukan kerajaan. Seperti Jabatan Pertanian atau Jabatan perkhidmatan Haiwan, ia cuma Jabatan kerajaan. Pada saya sikap Umno yang sekular selama inilah yang menghalalkan dia bertindak sebegitu liar. Ini kerana Ugama Islam telah diletak diluar dari kandang politik dan pemerintahan. Dia(Umno) meletakkan soal dosa pahala diluar dari urusan pemerintahan. Barangkali bagi Umno, agama tidak lebih dari pengertian “religion” seperti apa yang difahami oleh orang barat. Inilah punca atau ibu kapada segala keceluparan Umno baik dalam isu royalti di Kelantan atau pelbagai isu keadilan, rasuah, demokrasi dan good governance disepanjang 52 tahun pemerintahan. Sikap Umno yang menolak Islam syamil yakni Islam komprehensif padahal Allah Taala sebut, “ud khulu fis silmikaafah” iaitu hendaklah kamu terima Islam secara keseluruhan ini amat-amatlah mendukacitakan. Sepanjang berpuluh tahun menegur pendirian yang salah ini, seingat saya, saya belum lagi menerima respons Umno baik secara bertulis ataupun lisan. Ini yang menyebabkan kita tidak sanggup lagi ditipu melalui coklat Kit Kat bernama Kerajaan Perpaduan. Itu pertama . Kedua, sesungguhnya amalan ia bercanggah dengan amalan Nabi SAW sendiri. Pada bila-bila masa sekalipun, tidak ada ruang dalam hidup Nabi, dalam hidup para khalifah dan para sahabat r.a. yang mengasingkan politik dengan agama dan agama dari politik. Yang ketiga, didalam al-Quran; segala keperluan hidup manusia meliputi masalah sosial, masalah akidah, masalah ekonomi, masalah rumah tangga, masalah aman dan damai, masalah protokol dan hubungan diplomatik termasuk mengirim surat kepada semua raja dan pembesar negara- semua sekali ada disentuh. Ia disempurnakan lagi oleh riwayat dan hadith-hadith Nabi SAW. Yang keempat bila kita asingkan politik dari agama, kita nak ganti dengan apa di tempat yang lompang itu? Ia sama ada kita turut penjajah atau turut nafsu ammarah kita. Dengan amalan songsang berkenaan apa jaminan di akhirat kelak, apa yang kita tiru selain dari Islam itu, akan mendapat keredhaan Allah? Yang kelima, jika hidup kita dapat diurus sendiri tanpa perlu menurut Islam, apa gunanya kita dikirimkan oleh Allah SWT seorang Nabi? Manusia boleh fikir sendiri dan berbuat sesuatu mengikut nafsu sendiri? Pegangan dan amalan ini cukup sinonim dengan parti Umno. Inilah parti dan orang yang sebenar-benarnya boleh kita gelarkan sebagai bermulut celupar. Seingat saya, sewaktu isu hak royalti mula-mula timbul, “orang ini” jugalah yang menyebut bahawa Kelantan tidak ada hak ke atas royalti. Ini terang-terang mendahului Perdana Menteri. Macam mana PM yang juga Presiden Umno di ketika itu, belum kata apa-apa dan belumpun putus apa-apa lagi, tiba-tiba Timbalan Pengerusi Umno Negeri sudah membuat keputusan? Ini orang panggil mendahului bos. Ini sebuah keceluparan yang melampau. Lebih melampau lagilah apabila kita hubungkan sikap celupar Dato’ Awang ini dengan sikap menolak Islam Umno yang lebih besar. Keceluparan jenis ini dua kali ganda lebih berbahaya. Dengan pengisytiharan Perdana Menteri Malaysia terkini yang Kelantan akan diberi wang ehsan pula (walaupun saya tetap tidak boleh terima dan tetap akan terus berdoa), maka sahlah yang Dato’ dari Bachok ini sudah melampau batas. Dengan menyalahi segala tertib dan protokol, dia sudah menjadi terlebih celupar. Hari ini pula, Perdana Menteri berkata bahawa beliau hanya akan mengikut undang-undang. Setahu saya, Akta Pembangunan Petroleum 1974; itulah undang-undangnya dan Kuli lah yang terlibat secara langsung dalam merangka serta menentukan kandungannya. Melalui blog beliau dalam Razaleigh.com misalnya, kita diberitahu dengan jelas bahawa perjanjian yang ditandatangani oleh semua Kerajaan Negeri dengan Petronas di ketika itu dibuat dalam Bahasa Malaysia dan Bahasa Inggeris yang sangat mudah hingga mana-mana budak sekolahpun boleh faham.( That agreement is made out in language simple enough for a schoolboy to understand, in both Bahasa Malaysia and English). Dalam konteks hak royalti 5% Kerajaan-Kerajaan Negeri, Yang Amat Mulia Tg. Razaleigh menyebutnya begini:”The States’ rights to 5% of profit derived from the extraction of any petroleum resources is based on a quid pro quo according to which the States vested entirely and in perpetuity all their rights and claims to petroleum resources to PETRONAS. In return for this PETRONAS is legally bound to pay the states the 5% directly.” Pada saya ini terlalu jelas. Keengganan pusat memberi royalti kepada Kelantan dengan menukarnya dalam bentuk pemberian wang ehsan bukan sahaja akan melanggar Akta Pembangunan Petroleum 1974, bahkan lebih besar, kerajaan Pusat juga akan dilihat menidakkan perjanjian yang sama terhadap negeri-negeri lain sekaligus menafikan hak rakyat di negeri-negeri tersebut. Mustahil kerajaan-kerajaan negeri lain tidak khuatir dengan sikap dan pendirian Kerajaan Pusat pimpinan UBN yang tidak konsistan.Dengan sedikit kajian seperti yang saya kutip dari analisis di atas, saya betul –betul tidak faham bagaimana boleh seorang Perdana Menteri, masih yakin yang beliau bercakap mengikut undang-undang. Undang-undang mana lagi sedangkan apa yang Kuli sebut itulah undang-undangnya ! Di sini,salahkah jika mana-mana rakyat yang waras beranggapan yang Perdana Menteri mereka sudah meracau? Lebih teruk dari Awang Adek, Presiden Umno sendiri boleh dilihat sedang bercakap merapik dan bercakap celupar ? Dalam menangani hal-hal yang berbelit-belit seperti inilah kadang-kadang, hati saya cepat terluka. Dalam keadaan-keadaan beginilah juga, kedua belah tangan saya menjadi cukup ringan untuk diangkat ke langit. Jika orang marah saya berdoa dan mengadu kepada Allah secara kuat dan terbuka ditempat ramai dalam kes penganiayaan ini, maka siapakah yang boleh menghalang saya dan rakyat saya dari terus berdoa dalam gelap di malam buta biarpun bersendirian? Saya pasti, pada akhirnya Allah tidak akan bersama dengan orang-orang yang menindas, zalim dan menekan. "Bahkan Dialah (Allah) yang kamu seru lalu Dia hapuskan bahaya yang kamu pohonkan kepadaNyajika Dia kehendaki dan kamu lupakan apa yang kamu sekutukan (dengan Allah dalam masa kamu ditimpa bahaya itu.) - Maksud Surah al-An 'am, Ayat 41-

Tuan Guru Dato’ Nik Abdul Aziz bin Nik Mat
Menteri Besar Kelantan.
Tanggal: 21 Zulhijjah 1430 / 8 Disember 2009

If you as parents cut corners, your children will too. If you lie, they will too. If you spend all your money on yourselves and tithe no portion of it for charities, colleges, churches, synagogues, and civic causes, your children won't either. And if parents snicker at racial and gender jokes, another generation will pass on the poison adults still have not had the courage to snuff out.
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN:

Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. ~Albert Einstein

At a certain age some people's minds close up; they live on their intellectual fat. ~William Lyon Phelps

An educational system isn't worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn't teach them how to make a life. ~Author Unknown

The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men. ~Bill Beattie

to ponder.........

The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.  

~Bill Beattie

Indeks rasuah merudum: Ahmad Said didesak letak jawatan

KUALA LUMPUR, 18 Nov: Ketua Pesuruhjaya Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM), Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan didesak meletakkan jawatan ekoran kejatuhan ranking paling teruk Malaysia dalam Indeks Persepsi Rasuah (IPR atau CPI) dunia.
Desakan itu dibuat oleh Lim Kit Siang, Penasihat DAP yang juga anggota Parlimen Ipoh Timor dalam satu kenyataannya hari ini."Ini adalah kejatuhan paling teruk dalam ranking CPI dan nilai yang diperolehi Malaysia sejak CPI diperkenalkan oleh Tranparency International (TI) pada tahun 1995, di mana Malaysia telah dinilai pada kedudukan ke 23 di kalangan 41 negara yang dinilai. Ketika itu Malaysia mendapat 5.28," katanya.
Menurut laporan semalam, TI meletakkan Malaysia ditangga ke 56 dari 180 negara dan ketiga di kalangan empat negara di Asia Tenggara.
"Ini adalah kemaluan besar untuk negara ketika negara baru diperkenalkan dengan SPRM dan satu penghinaan kepada Perdana Menteri baru, YAB wakil rakyat Pekan yang telah mengishtiharkan gerakan melawan rasuah sebagai satu dari enam keutamaan KPI dalam pentadbirannya," kata Lim Kit Siang dalam kenyataannya.
Bagi beliau, punca kegagalan ini adalah kerana sikap SPRM yang memberikan tumpuan kepada iklan bilis dan pemimpin pembangkang.
Semalam, Presiden TI-Malaysia, Paul Low mengedarkan CPI dalam satu sidang medianya.Dalam sidang media itu, dia memuji kerajaan negeri Selangor di bawah pimpinan Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim yang bersungguh-sungguh mahu membanteras rasuah.“Saya yakin MB Selangor mempunyai kehendak politik yang kuat untuk memerangi rasuah sebagaimana yang ditunjukkannya di Selangor," kata Paul dalam satu sidang media selepas mengumumkan Indeks Persepsi Rasuah 2009,di Kelab Golf Di Raja Selangor.Beliau menambah, pentadbiran terbuka yang diamalkan Selangor dan perkembangan yang berlaku di negeri ini harus menjadi contoh kepada semua tanpa mengira fahaman politik supaya negara bebas dari rasuah.Dalam sidang media yang sama, TI-M memaklumkan, indeks persepsi rasuah Malaysia yang dipimpin Datuk Seri Najib Razak terus menjunam.Malaysia menduduki tangga ke 56 daripada 180 negara dalam Indeks Persepsi Rasuah (CPI) dunia 2009.Malaysia mencatatkan penurunan dalam indeks persepsi rasuah pada tahun ini dengan hanya memperoleh 4.5 mata berbanding 5.1 mata pada 2008 dan 5.28 pada tahun 1995.Kemerosotan berkenaan jelas menunjukkan kegagalan negara memerangi rasuah walapun pelbagai janji dibuat pihak berkuasa untuk menanganinya.Peristiwa lompat parti sehingga menjatuhkan kerajaan antara yang telah memberikan sumbangan utama kepada persepsi ini, kata Paul Low.

to ponder....

I have great wealth that can never be taken away from me; that I can never squander; that cannot be lost by declining stocks or bad investments; I have the wealth of contentment with my lot in life.

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~Confucius

Do I love you because you're beautiful,
Or you are beautiful because I love you?
-Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, Cinderella

27 Aug 2009
BEBERAPA KENYATAAN MENGHINA ISLAM OLEH PEMIMPIN UMNO DAN AKIBATNYA
Kategori: Isu Semasa
Dalam akhbar HARAKAH bertarikh 30 Syaaban – 2 Ramadhan 1430/21 – 23 Ogos 2009, saya tertarik dengan dua fakta yang ditulis oleh Mohamed Hanipa Maidin dalam artikel beliau bertajuk “Sejak bila Umno tidak hina Islam.” Ia berbunyi seperti berikut:i) Ucapan Dato’ Rais Yatim di Hotel Equatorial, Bangi semasa merasmikan seminar Inter Faith Commission (IFC) antara lain menyatakan (dalam bahasa Inggeris) yang terjemahannya: “(Dalam masyarakat majmuk) tiada orang yang boleh mendakwa bahawa agamanya adalah agama terbaik dengan mengenepikan agama-agama lain kerana dengan mengatakan demikian akan memusnahkan prinsip persamaan (agama) dan prinsip kemanusiaan.” Ucapan Rais Yatim ini telah diterbitkan di dalam Infoline Majlis Peguam. ii) Dato’ Nazri Aziz pernah secara terang-terang di satu forum anjuran Majlis Peguam berkata Umno terpaksa menggunakan Islam kerana jika parti itu tidak berbuat demikian ia akan hilang undi kepada PAS. Buat Rais Yatim dan orang-orang yang berfikiran seperti beliau, saya ingin bertanyakan begini. Dimana nak diletakkan pengesahan Allah S.W.T tentang taraf ugama islam melalui Ayat yang bermaksud: “Sesungguhnya Deen (agama) yang diredhai Allah hanyalah Islam? Inna deen na in dallah hil Islam? (Sebahagian Ayat 19: Surah Ali’Imran).” Inikah caranya seorang pemimpin Islam membuat kenyataan? Dengan kata-kata seperti ini, syahadah kita yang bermaksud “tiada Tuhan yang disembah melainkan Allah” akan menjadi satu lafaz kosong. Ia bo;eh menukarkan “Asyhadu” ; langsung tidak berfungsi. Sepatutnya secara pengertiannya yang bergerak, dia(Asyhadu itu) memberi erti bahawa kita yakin sampai sanggup menjadi saksi. Perihal seriusnya kalimat syahadah ini sampai ia tidak boleh diwakili kepada orang lain untuk dilafaz. Ucapan dan pegangan pemimpin Umno yang sebeginilah sebenarnya yang perlu direnung oleh seluruh umat Islam. Inilah salah satu puncanya sehingga saya berani membuat penegasan bahawa Umno ini membawa Islam dari benih kacukan. Islam dari jenis palsu dan plastik. Memang tepat sungguh sikap PAS yang telah menolak sebulat suara teori Kerajaan Perpaduan. Jika samalah kedudukan rakyat yang ada agama seperti Islam, Kristian, Hindu dan Buddha maka apa pula halnya dengan mereka yang berfaham Atheis yang langsung tak beragama? Apa pula kedudukan golongan komunis yang menolak agama dalam kerangka pemikiran Rais? Sama? Tak serupa? Atau serupa tapi tak sama? Yang peliknya, dalam hal semangat Melayu, pemimpin Umno bermati-matian pula mempertahankan ketuanan Melayu. Apakah Rais bermaksud, faham kebangsaan Melayu itu berada di atas dari segala-galanya termasuk Islam itu sendiri? Malu sangatkah untuk iktiraf ketuanan Islam? Tidakkah Islam itu tempatnya di atas dan tiada yang mengatasi ? Sedarkah kita bahawa jika dilayan logik pemikiran pemimpin bertaraf Menteri di Kementerian Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan ini, maka bila semua agama ini serupa tidakkah Hukum Murtad sudah tidak lagi diperlukan? Kubur muslim dan Non- muslim pun sudah menjadi tidak perlu kerana semua orang boleh ditanam bersekali? Mayat muslim pun apakah halal dibakar? Sedarkah kita bahawa pemikiran jenis ini boleh membawa kita kepada fenomena perkahwinan campur antara muslim/non-muslim yang berleluasa tanpa perlu menukar agama. Ini juga bermakna Mahkamah Syariah tidak diperlukan lagi. Tak timbullah isu sebat Kartika sama ada perlu dibedal atau tidak mengikut peraturan dan syariat Islam. Pendek kata, kenyataan ini sudah tidak syak lagi telah menimbulkan keresahan yang bukan sedikit kepada umat Islam. Menyentuh tentang kenyataan Dato’ Nazri Aziz pula, yang secara terang-terangan berkata di dalam satu forum anjuran Majlis Peguam bahawa Umno terpaksa menggunakan Islam untuk meraih undi kerana bimbangkan kehilangan sokongan kepada PAS jika tidak berbuat demikian; maka jelas di sini bahawa Umno tidak menjadikan Islam ugama untuk mengabdikan diri kepada Allah SWT. Kenyataan ini mengesahkan bahawa Islam bukan menjadi landasan perjuangan Umno. Islam itu bukan “a complete way of life”. Sahlah dengan ini, Umno hanya menggunakan Islam untuk tujuan-tujuan upacara dan “ritual” semata-mata. Ugama Islam hanya sekadar untuk cari makan dengan mengekalkan kekuasaan? Jika timbul keperluan, Islam itu boleh diperalatkan. Yang penting ialah hegemoni dan kekuasaan politik. Jika begitu apa pula fungsi tilawah, perarakan maulidurrasul atau sambutan maal hijrah di sisi Umno yang dianjurkan selama ini? Dalam hubungan ini, jangan salahkan rakyat jika mereka menuduh Umno sebagai parti yang hanya pentingkan kuasa. Segala komitmen terhadap projek-projek agama hanya bertujuan kosmetik, pameran atau bahan perhiasan semata-mata untuk tujuan-tujuan materialistik. Sebenarnya, inilah yang mendorong saya untuk mengatakan bahawa Umno ini sebuah parti politik sekular yang oportunis. Ia gemar dan selalu menggunakan faham kebangsaan dan Islam bagi mengelirukan orang Melayu. Umno menggunakan kesempatan sistem sekular yang memisah agama dengan kehidupan dan kadang kala mencampur adukkan segala benda itu untuk hidup sepenuhnya dalam tubuh pergerakan Umno. Ini yang menjadikan perjuangan mereka berkecamuk, tidak berhaluan dan tidak berdasar. Dasar Umno ialah “tiada dasar”. Inilah juga alasannya ; saya mengistilahkan Umno ini sebagai parti yang mengamalkan Islam dari baka kacukan. Inilah juga Islam palsu yang saya telah namakan kepada parti Melayu ini kira-kira dua minggu yang lalu. Saya kata Umno ini beramal atas Islam plastik, dia memfitnah saya pula yang kononnya saya mengatakan mereka mengamalkan Islam Palestin. Inilah susahnya bermain dengan parti yang tidak menjaga agama dan menjadikan dosa pahala sebagai dasar, agenda dan program perjuangan. Pendek kata sebelum Umno menuduh saya sebagai orang yang kononnya sedangkan mengelirukan umat mengenai Islam maka melalui bukti-bukti ini rakyat sekalian boleh melihat siapa dan parti manakah sebenarnya yang sedang keliru dan tekun mengelirukan rakyat dalam segenap segi. Sambil-sambil beriktikaf di masjid dalam bulan yang semulia ini, eloklah juga kita semua membuat renungan bagaimanakah cara yang sebenar untuk menyelamatkan Islam dan umat Islam dari tipu daya rakan-rakan kita dari Umno ini ? Sebagai penutup, izinkan saya berundur dengan menumpang doa Nabi Allah Ibrahim a.s. yang berbunyi, “ya Tuhan kami, beri ampunlah aku dan kedua ibu bapaku dan sekalian orang-orang mukmin pada hari terjadinya hisab (hari kiamat).” (Surah Ibrahim : Ayat 41).
NIK ABDUL AZIZ BIN NIK MATBertarikh : 5 Ramadhan 1430 / 26 Ogos 2009.

“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong”
Voltaire

Same Old UMNO, Same Old Ethics

Same Old UMNO, Same Old Ethics
M. Bakri Musa
Biar mati anak, jangan mati adat! (Sacrifice your child if need be, but never your tradition!) Growing up in Negri Sembilan, that wisdom of my culture was continually drummed into me. To those outside the clan, that adage may seem extreme, an ugly manifestation of unyielding and irrational conservatism.
With my children now grown up, I recognize the verity of that village wisdom. Yes, it was hammered into me on the importance of our cultural tradition of fealty towards elders (our parents in particular), but there was also the equally important reciprocal tradition for the elders (who are presumably wiser) to be more patient and forgiving of their young.
It is this fidelity to adat that made my parents not put a guilt trip upon me when I chose a path that was not what they had expected. Cognizant of this adat too is what made me not stand in the way of my children when they too decided to venture on a journey beyond what is familiar to me.
My old Negri saying could be more accurately re-stated as: Jaga adat, jaga anak! (Save our tradition, and save our children!) Such an intricate system of social norms however, would easily be shattered if any of its component parts were to be compromised or exploited.
Consider the esteemed cultural trait of respect and loyalty to leaders and kings, and the associated severe penalty for derhaka (treachery). In tandem with that however, there is the reciprocal tradition encapsulated in the saying: Raja adil raja di sembah; Raja zalim raja di sanggah (Venerate the just king; defy the tyrant).
Yes, my culture demands that I revere and be loyal to my leaders and elders, but they must also be fully aware of the traditional countervailing restraints not to abuse that reverence I have of them.
Consider the nomination of Isa Samad to be UMNO’s standard bearer in the upcoming Bagan Pinang by-election. He was a Mentri Besar for 22 years and a Federal minister for a few years after that. He is the archetypical ‘local boy done good.’ His fellow villagers in Port Dickson have every right to be proud of him. To them, no honor however exalted would be adequate for him; they would wish upon him even more.
Thus it should not surprise us or Isa Samad that they would want him, and no one else, to have the singular honor to represent them in the state legislature. The surprise is that many are surprised by this expected and proper gesture of generosity on the part of Isa’s people towards him.
As per our adat however, it is not for the people to deny Isa Samad this honor; that would leave a bitter taste in their collective mouth as well as an affront to their cultural sensitivities. Rather it is for Isa Samad to have the wisdom and magnanimity to decline that honor. If he were to do that at the first round, again as per custom, they would once more beg him to reconsider, and again Isa Samad should decline.
The social norms demand that these back and forth offers and declines would go on for at least three rounds, all to demonstrate (or at least make a show of) the “genuineness” of the gesture. Anything less and it would risk being interpreted as perfunctory, and less than genuine.
It is through such displays of finesse and subtleties that our culture and traditions have stood the test of time and smoothed our social order. Alas today our traditional values and generosities have been abused not by outsiders but by our own people. It is our own leaders and kin who betray us and our values, as so crudely and ruthlessly demonstrated by Isa Samad.
Nonetheless true to our tradition of “Raja adil raja di sembah; Raja zalim raja di sanggah,” we should not hesitate, and do so in no uncertain terms, to sanggah (defy) these leaders.
UMNO’s Wet-Finger-In-the-Air Leaders
When UMNO chose a disbarred lawyer to contest the recent by-election in Penang, I commented that the next time around expect the party to scrounge even lower in search of even slimier characters to represent the party. I ventured that it would be difficult to find someone more unworthy than a disbarred lawyer, but trust those UMNO folks, they would find someone. I did not expect to be proven right, and so soon.
In Isa Samad UMNO has someone who had been expelled from the party for “money politics,” the euphemism for corruption. Knowing UMNO’s shady ethics, to be expelled for that must take some doing.
In justifying his party’s pick, UMNO’s Deputy President Muhyiddin Yassin declared, “We have decided that this is what the people want.” He was jubilant when making that declaration. Surrounded as he was by senior leaders of the Barisan and fellow ministers, and judging by their beaming smiles and other body language, they too shared his enthusiasm for the candidate.
Just in case we might miss the point, Muhyiddin went on to reassure everyone that the choice was made “after much thought and scrutiny.” Meaning, it was deliberate.
Even ignoring Isa Samad’s blatant bribing of UMNO delegates and then bragging about it (the reason for his expulsion), the more fundamental issue is this. The man has nothing more to offer the state after serving as Mentri Besar for over 24 years. If he had any talent or innovative ideas, that should have been obvious during all those years.
At this stage of their careers, leaders like Isa Samad should be seeking out and mentoring the next generation of leaders, not desperately hogging the stage, and their followers’ fast dwindling reservoir of respect and gratitude.
Only last week Muhyiddin was at pains to point out that he was intent on seeking fresh talent, especially after the Bagan Pinang branch folks brazenly declared that Isa was their only choice. In succumbing to local pressure, Muhyiddin’s leadership is nothing more than wet-finger-in-the-air variety. That is fine in leading a herd of kerbau (water buffaloes) but not a nation aspiring for Vision 2020.
There is nothing wrong with a leader sticking his wet finger in the air to check the prevailing wind if that would lead him to trim his sails and steer his ship of state better, while keeping his eye on the compass. Indeed that is the hallmark of a skilled skipper. However, if you keep changing course and be oblivious of the compass, you will never reach your destination.
The earlier rhetoric about UMNO having “to change or be changed” is now proven to be nothing more than just “cock talk,” to put it in the local vernacular. Muhyiddin is also Deputy Prime Minister, a heart beat away from the nation’s top job. This preview of his leadership does not reassure me.
In picking Isa, Muhyddin obviously had to compromise his principles and abandon his commitment to reforming the party. He should be reminded of the old Xeno mathematical paradox: You will never reach your destination if you are satisfied at reaching only the halfway mark at every try.
Once you start compromising your principle at the first obstacle, then it gets easier the next time. Soon you would have no scruples compromising all your principles. By that time you would not only be willing to dispense with your adat but you also would be willing to part with your first-born, just to get your way.
Your corruption then would have been complete, with nothing worthy left to defend or honor. Then it would be: Mati adat dan mati anak (Death to your culture, and death to your children).

to ponder...........

It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.

Robert Green Ingersoll

To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.
Confucius

SALAM AIDIL FITRI

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. ~Mahatma Gandhi

If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed and color, we would find some other causes for prejudice by noon. ~George Aiken

September 6th, 2009
Voters Drawing the Line
M. Bakri Musa

In the heyday of UMNO the joke was that the party could field a dog as an election candidate and it would still win. The party leaders must still harbor that delusion for in the recent Permatang Pasir state by-election they fielded a disbarred lawyer. This time however, voters wisely drew the line at the dog.
The surprise was not that Rohaizat Othman successfully hoodwinked UMNO leaders to secure the nomination rather how easily those senior leaders were taken in by this shyster. Now that their candidate has been thrashed, those UMNO leaders were belatedly bemoaning the fact that their chosen man had been less than truthful to them. That is the quality of UMNO top leadership, folks!
Even after the sordid details of the man’s sleazy professional past and checkered personal life had surfaced, UMNO leaders still vigorously defended their choice. They had the nerve to suggest that those critics were trying to smear the UMNO candidate. Those UMNO leaders obviously did not realize that their man was already soiled.
Reflection on Muhyiddin
Consider UMNO Deputy President Muhyiddin Yassin’s comments. He went to great lengths defending the integrity of his party’s standard bearer. He likened the Bar Council’s sanctions as nothing more than a traffic violation! I recognize that traffic in Malaysia is terrible, but really! I wonder what it would take to be branded a crook and thus be disqualified by Muhyiddin’s reckoning. I am making a huge assumption here, that is, the man has some standards.
A commentator in the mainstream media reported that Muhyiddin was apparently livid on hearing the details of Rohaizat. Only his severe poker face belied his anger, so she claimed. If Muhyiddin was truly angry he sure did not reveal it in his actions; he was ‘gung ho’ right to the end. That commentary revealed more about the writer – ‘sucking up’ to Muhyiddin so early on. She should try a better excuse next time.
It is a recent tradition with UMNO that its deputy leader be in charge of by-elections. This Permatang Pasir election was the first to be under the direct leadership of Muhyiddin. Hence his comments and actions bear scrutiny.
Muhyyuddin’s decision to continue with Rohaizat’s candidacy despite all the revealed blemishes says volumes on the judgment as well as ethical standards of Muhyiddin. Not to scare readers, this character is also Deputy Prime Minister, and going by our recent history, he could very well be Prime Minister one day.
If a two-bit disbarred country lawyer could easily dupe Muhyiddin, imagine him as Prime Minister negotiating with his counterpart across the causeway on selling our precious fresh water, or his participating in crucial international treaty conferences! That is a scary thought.
The brief Permatang Pasir election campaign revealed more than we ever wished to know about this crooked lawyer and his equally slimy personal life. While Rohaizat was disbarred by the Bar Council, he could still practice in the Shari’a court. This is the same court that recently sentenced a young mother to be whipped for drinking beer. That should tell us something of the ‘Islamic’ (at least the Malaysian variety) standard of ethics.
To me, the Permatang Pasir campaign revealed more about UMNO, specifically its culture and top leaders. What has been revealed should scare all Malaysians who are concerned with our nation’s future.
Muhyiddin’s ethical blind spot was disturbing enough. More reprehensible was his performance during the campaign. He fell into the predictable pattern of past ambitious UMNO leaders-in-waiting. There he was, freely and irresponsibly playing up the race card, eerily reminding me of Najib’s and Hishammuddin’s brandishing of their kerises. Aspiring UMNO leaders like Muhyiddin have this primitive urge to display their chauvinistic manhood during tough election campaigns. That is their culture.
Unfortunately, as the party still garnered over a third of the votes (presumably Malay votes), UMNO leaders will continue with their bigotry. Now they are blaming non-Malay (specifically Chinese) voters for abandoning Barisan.
UMNO of The Future
To be sure there were a few – very few, in fact only two – UMNO leaders who spoke out against Rohaizat, and did so early. Mahathir wondered out loud whether a liar could be a people’s representative. Tengku Razaleigh was much more forceful, “… UMNO is projecting the image that it lives by a different moral code from the rest of Malaysia.”
“Either that, or this is the best we can do,” he continued. Indeed!
Alas, both Mahathir and the Tengku represent UMNO’s past. To gauge UMNO’s future, look at the leaders of its Youth and Puteri wings. They not only endorsed Rohaizat but aggressively campaigned for him. I would like to ask UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin specifically whether he feels that a disbarred lawyer and a man who lied about his wife is a worthy representative of UMNO.
The situation with UMNO Puteri is even more interesting. I wonder how those pretty young girls in their distinctive pink baju kurong feel about campaigning for a man who took a second wife secretly, and then lied about it publicly. The Puteris’ stand-by-your-man stance may be praiseworthy in other circumstances but not when your man is a cheat and a crook. Instead of campaigning for him, Puteri members should be contacting the second wife to see whether her man had been providing for her.
The Permatang Pasir by-election could have been a splendid opportunity for UMNO to shine if only their leaders had been smarter and pursued a radically different tack. Imagine if upon knowing the sordid details of Rohaizat, UMNO leaders publicly admitted their mistake and demanded their candidate withdraw on pain of being expelled from the party.
Yes that would give PAS a walk-over, but that would not have changed the end results. Besides, UMNO had done this a few months earlier in the Penanti by-election. Think however, the message the party and its senior leaders would have sent to their members and Malaysians generally, and the impact that would have on all. UMNO would have won a great moral victory. As it is, UMNO lost the election as well as the moral high ground. The party had set a new low on what is acceptable.
Judging from the post-election comments by UMNO leaders, from Najib Razak and Muhyiddin on down, UMNO has yet to learn this pertinent lesson from this latest debacle. The party still harbors the delusion that even its flawed candidates could still win.
The next time around expect UMNO to reach even lower to a new bottom in their search for talent. I must admit it would be difficult to find someone more unworthy than a disbarred lawyer. Trust me however, UMNO will find one.

to ponder.....

Islamic teaching in the Quran and Hadith states that Allah has created mankind into tribes and races so that you may get to know each other. So why can’t we?.....

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up." Mark Twain

If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get. ~Frank A. Clark

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has. ~Epictetus

Fraudulent Defenders of Our Faith

August 9th, 2009

Fraudulent Defenders of Our Faith
M. Bakri Musa
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 fervor with the impending arrival of Ramadan. Thus the recent local governmental agency 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, 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, disheveled 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 favor. 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 publicized 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 Hajj or umrah in an attempt to ‘cleanse’ ourselves.
If the average citizen could 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 kampong in Port Kelang, 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 Abdullah 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 every day 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 Jamaluddin and Khir Toyo, 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, dehumanized by poverty, and riddled with injustices. It would be the height of hypocrisy, and mock 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.

Himpunan Anti ISA: Pengalaman pertama bersama rakyat.

Himpunan Anti ISA: Pengalaman pertama bersama rakyat
Zaid Ibrahim Thu Aug 06, 09 10:26:35 am MYT
Hari ini (1 Ogos 2009) buat kali pertama dalam sejarah hidup saya, saya menjadi mangsa bom gas pemedih mata. Pedih sungguh mata dan hati saya! Inilah pengalaman saya berhimpun dan berarak bersama dengan berpuluh ribu rakyat Malaysia di Kuala Lumpur. Ia benar-benar membuka mata saya di samping memberi banyak pengajaran.

Saya amat terkejut kerana tidak menyangka betapa kejamnya polis bertindak terhadap rakyat yang hanya berhimpun dan berjalan secara aman. Rakyat hanya mahu meluahkan perasaan tentang buruknya Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) yang perlu dimansuhkan secepat mungkin. Rakyat kita tidak membawa senjata, mereka hanya membawa anak-anak untuk menyedarkan warga kecil betapa kejamnya ISA.
Lelaki, perempuan, tua dan muda, pelbagai kaum, bermacam agama, semuanya berhimpun secara aman di ibu kota. Hak untuk berhimpun secara aman adalah hak asasi rakyat. Tapi nampaknya hak yang dijamin oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan ini sudah tidak ada guna lagi. Hak kita sudah hancur kerana polis yang bersenjata, yang berkuasa penuh, yang sombong dan angkuh, kini telah menentukan hak kita.
Bila polis kata perhimpunanan itu haram, maka kita semua yang berhimpun atas dasar kebebasan dan hak yang telah dijamin oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan, telah menjadi mangsa kekerasan polis. Ya, polis yang mengaku diri sahabat rakyat, kini menunjukkan belang sebenar mereka. Tak sangka, dengan sedikit kuasa itu, mereka sudah merasakan diri seperti Fira�un.
Saya sebagai warga Malaysia yang prihatin telah turut sama menyertai perhimpunan aman ini. Tapi saya bersama dua anak saya dan kawan-kawan lain tak tahu ke mana mahu dituju kerana polis telah tutup banyak jalan. Kami hanya mahu ke Istana Negara untuk menyaksikan penyerahan memorandum anti-ISA.
Kami telah tersepit di sebatang jalan dekat Masjid Negara. Ramai yang berarak menghala ke Jalan Kuching ke arah Selangor Club, kami pun ikut sama. Niat kami hanyalah untuk bersama-sama orang ramai menunjukkan sokongan. Tetapi bila sampai sahaja di belakang Selangor Club, polis dengan ganasnya telah menyembur gas pemedih mata dan menggunakan pncutan air tekanan tinggi. Lintang-pukang orang berlari. Saya pun tunggang-langgang lari.
Polis kemudian meminta orang ramai bersurai. Tetapi ke mana nak bersurai kerana semua jalan sudah ditutup. Tak ada cara lain kecuali patah balik ke arah Masjid Negara. Saya pun bersedia untuk bersurai. Tapi bila sampai dekat dengan Masjid Negara, ada pula sekatan jalan polis. Di situlah saya lihat orang ramai angkat tangan supaya polis membenarkan mereka bersurai ke arah bagunan Dayabumi.
Saya juga angkat tangan kerana kami memang nak bersurai. Ada dua orang wanita tua bersama saya yang merah serta berair mata mereka di samping terbatuk-batuk akibat bom gas pemedih mata. Seorang peserta lelaki yang cacat anggota dengan crutches nya tidak dapat lari. Saya tak tahu apa nasib manusia berani ini. Kasihan saya melihat mereka semua.
Rupa-rupanya polis sudah berniat jahat. Tanda angkat tangan tidak ada erti kepada mereka. Walau pun melihat ramai antara kami yang sudah mahu bersuara, polis terus melepaskan bom pemedih mata. Saya dapat lihat wajah-wajah polis berkenaan, kebanyakannya orang Melayu, yang penuh benci dan kesumat dendam.
Maka terpaksa lagi kami berlari elakan diri. Tapi nak ke mana lagi? Di Jalan Kuching dekat Selangor Club pun polis sudah melemparkan bom pemedih mata. Bom dari canisters yang tidak ada jenama kata kawan saya. Bererti bom jenis buatan haram. Dinegara kita apa pun boleh dilakukan Ramai orang termasuk saya terpaksa lari masuk ke dalam hutan kecil berhampiran Jalan Kuching dengan melompat pagar bangunan di situ.
Mujur juga ada pengawal keselamatan di situ yang baik hati yang telah melepaskan kami keluar dari perkarangan bangunan tersebut. Semoga Allah membalas budi baiknya. Di sana barulah kami dapat keluar untuk bersurai. Masa itu mata kami semua sudah merah, suara parau dan seluar koyak akibat terpaksa melompat pagar. Saya pun baru sedar bila sudah berumur begini lutut sudah tidak sekuat waktu muda dulu.
Memang jelas hak dan kebesan kita semakin terhakis. Apa yang polis lakukan dengan cara mengepung orang ramai yang hanya mahu berhimpun secara aman dan membelasah mereka dengan semburan air dan bom pemedih mata adalah untuk menunjukan kepada rakyat bahawa kerajaan Barisan Nasional tidak peduli dengan kehendak dan keperluan rakyat.
Mereka mahu mengajar rakyat Malaysia bahawa era Pak Lah yang mahu mencuba membuka ruang kebebasan sudah tidak wujud lagi. Ini era Najib yang tak mahu dengar dan tak terima pandangan rakyat.
Bagi polis yang jelas bekerjasama dengan Umno dan Barisan Nasional, mereka mahu rakyat takut kepada mereka. Mereka tidak mahu kita di Malaysia bebas seperti Indonesia dan Filipina yang memberi rakyat peluang bersuara dan berhimpun secara aman.
Mereka mahu semua rakyat sedar bahawa Malaysia adalah Negara Polis seperti Myanmar. Sesiapa yang berhimpun dianggap bersalah kecuali mereka yang berhimpun untuk menyokong Najib dan pemimpin Umno yang lain. Inilah mesej 1Malaysia ciptaan Najib yang memberi amaran kepada rakyat bahawa kekerasan akan digunakan pada bila-bila masa sahaja demi mengekalkan kuasa.
Tapi rakyat Malaysia termasuk saya juga ingin menyampaikan berita kepada Najib. Kita akan berkorban apa saja untuk menentang kekejaman dan kezaliman. Kita yakin kita di pihak yang benar kerana kita menentang salaha guna kuasa, penyelewengan dan rasuah. Kuasa rakyat akan menang juga suatu hari nanti di negara Malaysia yang tercinta ini,
InsyaAllah. Pejuang Rakyat akan sentisa dingati selalu, InsyaAllah.
(Penulis adalah bekas Menteri di JPM, bekas MP Kota Bharu yang kini menyertai KeADILan). - mr_

H1N1, bala dan keengkaran orang agama tegur kemungkaran - Tok Guru

H1N1, bala dan keengkaran orang agama tegur kemungkaran - Tok Guru
Wan Nordin dan Salmah Mat Hussin Wed Aug 05, 09 7:35:09 pm MYT
KOTA BHARU, 5 Ogos (Hrkh) - Menteri Besar Kelantan, Tuan Guru Dato' Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat mengkiaskan, virus H1N1 yang semakin serius melanda negara hari ini adalah satu bala atas kemungkaran yang berlaku.

Bala ini katanya akan datang tidak mengira samada di kawasan itu ada golongan agama atau sebaliknya, semuanya akan ditimpa.
Lebih-lebih lagi apabila ada golongan agama yang 'membisu' yang tidak mahu menegur atau menasihati kemungkaran yang berlaku, ujarnya sinis.
Beliau berkata demikian ketika diminta mengulas mengenai perkembangan terkini virus H1N1 yang melanda negara yang kini menyebabkan 12 kematian.
Beliau ditemui di pengkalan kapal, Pengkalan Kubor sebaik menyambut ketibaan delegasi MISI ROYALTI 2009 yang membuat pelayaran ke Pelantar Minyak Cakrawala, sempadan Malaysia Thailand 4 hingga 5 Ogos.Misi itu dikepalai Exco Kanan Kelantan, Dato' Paduka Husam Musa.
Bercakap lanjut mengenai isu H1N1, Tok Guru bagaimanapun berharap semua pihak berdoa kepada yang Pencipta selain berusaha dengan kaedah perubatan.
Beliau turut mahu semua pihak berganding bahu bagi mengatasi kemelut ini, kerajaan pusat, rakyat mahupun kerajaan-kerajaan negeri.
"Kita kena serah kepada Allah, bala ini bila mari(datang) dia jangan kata tak ada kena mengena dengan tuhan, alim ulama sebut ia akan kena termasuk kepada orang baik, kerana apa mungkin kerana dia tidak nasihaa dan tak tazkirah.
"Oleh itu kita kena kerjasama semua sekali, rakyat mahupun kerajaan kena bekerjasama, jika tidak habis kena bala, bumi ini tuhan punya, justeru kita tidak boleh buat pandai-pandai," katanya.
Sementara itu dalam perkembangan terkini, seorang lagi kanak-kanak, berusia enam tahun, meninggal dunia 2.30 pagi ini di Hospital Batu Pahat akibat wabak selesema babi A (H1N1), menjadikan jumlah seluruhnya 12 orang meninggal dunia di seluruh negara sejak dua minggu lalu.
Dua korban terbaru wabak tersebut yang dilaporkan sebelumnya terjadi di Melaka.
Seorang lelaki 20 tahun dan remaja 12 tahun dari negeri itu - masing-masing menghidap lelah dan kegagalan buah pinggang - menjadi korban terbaru kes selepas kematian kanak-kanak tiga tahun disahkan akibat virus tersebut.
Mangsa kesembilan Iffah Syazwina Samsuddin dilaporkan meninggal dunia pada 4.30 petang semalam di Hospital Melaka.
Korban kelapan membabitkan seorang guru 51 tahun dari Kuala Selangor yang meninggal dunia Ahad lalu. Sekolah tempat guru itu mengajar ditutup pada 27 Julai.
Setakat ini, 1,476 kes selesema A (H1N1) dilaporkan di seluruh negara, termasuk 16 kes terbaru termasuk kematian tersebut.
Korban ketujuh, ibu 24 tahun dari Miri, Sarawak yang baru melahirkan anak sulungnya dua minggu lalu meninggal dunia Ahad lepas. Anaknya bagaimanapun dilaporkan selamat.
Keenam, murid lelaki berusia 11 tahun dari Johor Bahru meninggal akibat komplikasi, 2 Ogos lalu.
Kelima, seorang kanak-kanak perempuan berusia 10 tahun dari Bagan Serai, Perak meninggal dunia Jumaat lalu.
Pada 28 Julai lalu, wanita berusia 20 tahun dari Melaka meninggal dunia akibat pneumonia teruk yang dijangkiti dari persekitaran.
Sehari sebelumnya, seorang lelaki berusia 42 tahun mati akibat wabak itu setelah disahkan menghidap selesema A (H1N1).
Si mati yang mengalami pelbagai komplikasi meninggal akibat pneumonia yang serius dengan kegagalan beberapa organ setelah 10 hari mendapat rawatan.
Korban kedua wabak itu di negara ini, lelaki 46 tahun yang meninggal dunia di hospital swasta di Subang Jaya, 26 Julai.
Lelaki tersebut dilaporkan mati akibat "pneumonia teruk dengan kegagalan pernafasan bersama kejutan septisemia dan kegagalan buah pinggang akut" selepas tujuh hari di unit rawatan rapi.
Pada 23 Julai lalu, seorang pelajar Indonesia berusia 30 tahun yang menuntut di Pusat Antarabangsa Pendidikan Kewangan Islam (INCEIF) di Jalan Raja Laut, Kuala Lumpur menjadi korban pertama berkaitan wabak selesema A (H1N1)./wann_

Enough of Pledges! We Need Actions!

August 2nd, 2009
M. Bakri Musa

Prime Minister Najib Razak’s pledge to improve six key areas (crime, corruption and poverty reductions as well as education, infrastructure, and public transportation) would have met widespread applause if only he had indicated just a wee bit more on how he would go about achieving those lofty goals. Malaysians are rightly fed up with highly optimistic targets and stirring slogans; what we desperately need are leaders who could execute things and get us there.
Najib refers to those objectives as national “Key Results Areas” (KRAs). If he is not diligent and imaginative in the execution, Najib’s KRA could very well end up as KeRA (monkey). Kera would then join up with Najib’s earlier glokal Malay to be the next laughing stock of the nation.
The very manner in which Najib made the announcement does not give us much confidence. He made it at a huge gathering of civil servants and on a working day. Thus during that entire morning work at the various government offices was at a standstill.
More than likely the afternoon too was a washout, with those officers busy rehashing the speech. With their superiors absent, the subordinates would even be more sluggish than usual. I pity members of the public who had urgent businesses with the government on that day.
Najib has acquired one of the many bad habits of his predecessor. Abdullah Badawi used to convene his ministry officials for a monthly lecture a la school assembly. And just like a headmaster, Abdullah would stand on the podium sermonizing in his soporiferous monotone voice, putting everyone to sleep. That is, if he himself had not dozed off first. Of course work at the ministry would come to a screeching halt.
The Chief Secretary to the government Sidek Hassan has not thought of advising Najib to use other more effective and cheaper ways to communicate, like newsletters or even taping the message onto a CD and then distributing it. Perhaps Sidek is in awe of Najib, imagining him to be the civil service’s Steve Jobs. Apple’s Jobs used to gather his employees in a huge hall at the launch of a new product or to make significant announcements.
If only Najib has a fraction of Job’s charisma and executive ability, perhaps such large gatherings could be excused and defended as a means of rallying and inspiring the troops. Having seen the videotape of the assembly however, it was more a torture session, torture for those civil servants to remain awake!
Najib deludes himself if he thinks that simply assigning a responsible minister would solve the problem of execution. None of the six ministers he has selected had excelled themselves or impressed us with their executive talent. Muhyyuddin, for education, has not ‘wowed’ us with his flip flopping on the policy of teaching science and mathematics in school. As for Hishammuddin, responsible for crime reduction, his previous tenure in Education did not enthrall us with his competence.
Then there is Ong Tee Keat, responsible for infrastructure development. This poor soul has yet to explain the rapidly ballooning boondoggle that is the Port Klang Free Zone Development scandal.
I would have been more impressed had Najib in assigning the areas of responsibility also indicate the price for nonperformance. Would Hishammuddin be relieved of his cabinet post should he fail to reduce the crime rate? Heads must role when there is a major lapse. That is the only way to make people accountable and take their responsibilities seriously. If there is no price to pay for failure, there is little incentive to perform, much less excel.
Take crime reduction; Najib is needlessly reinventing the wheel. All he has to do is revisit the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Police of four years ago. Along the same vein, if during the tenure of the present Police Chief Musa Hassan the crime rates have soared, that is compelling enough reason not to renew his contract.
My hunch is that Najib will renew Musa’s contracts, thus making a mockery of the commitment to crime reduction. Najib would do more for crime reduction by firing the glaringly ineffective and incompetent Musa Hassan. Otherwise all those lofty goals would merely be cakap kosong (empty talk), KRA morphing into KeRA.
Likewise in his battle to curb corruption, Najib would do well to get rid of the present director of MACC, Ahmad Said Hamdan. His agency’s record in the two latest high-profile cases is abysmal. Then there is the tragic death of one of its ‘friendly’ witnesses.
Simply upgrading or renaming the old Ant Corruption Agency to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission would not combat corruption if you are still stuck with the same personnel, procedures, and mindset.
A Better Approach
A more effective approach would have been for Najib to gather his assigned minister and the relevant senior officers to a private meeting where he would lay out his goals and inquire from them the steps and initiatives they would recommend in reaching those goals.
Those meetings would be working sessions, dispensing with time-wasting unnecessary protocols. Everyone would literally roll up their sleeves. That is not the time to be in your three-piece suit. There is much heavy lifting to be done, with ideas critically examined, resources allocated, and markers put in place.
Such meetings would not only be cheap they would also not disrupt the normal workings of the various departments, especially if they are held outside regular office hours. Those meetings would be the time to monitor progress, get feedback, and modify strategies accordingly.
Najib’s meetings thus far have been heavy on press coverage and laudatory comments especially in the mainstream media. This is not the time for premature accolades; there will be plenty of time for that later those objectives are achieved. Meanwhile we should all be critical lest these leaders get carried away with premature and unmerited applauses.
Like his predecessor Abdullah Badawi, Najib is satisfied merely with making highly publicized public pronouncements instead of attending to the necessary nitty-gritty of governance. It is attention to such practical and mundane details on which the success or failure of a policy would depend.
Najib must act more as chief executive and less a sultan satisfied merely with issuing endless titahs (edicts). Malaysia has enough sultans already with the nine that it has; there is little need to add to the roster.

Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy. ~Cynthia Nelms

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality. ~Albert Einstein

Semakin ramai ‘jantan tak berguna’

Penulis seorang lelaki tetapi kali ini mahu mengutuk golongan sejenis. Kini semakin ramai lelaki termasuk dalam ‘spesies tidak berguna’ – misalnya di sekitar kediaman penulis, ada beberapa bujang terlajak yang enggan bekerja, ada yang menghisap dadah dan ada pula yang hanya tahu makan, minum dan tidur saja.Di persekitaran pejabat penulis, ada juga beberapa lelaki ‘tidak berguna’. Bahasa yang penulis pakai memang kesat, maafkan penulis, tetapi itu adalah hakikatnya.Seorang pemuda yang penulis kenali sebagai Ramli, suka sangat duduk, baring dan tidur di sebuah masjid berhampiran (Balai Islam). Kerja bujang terlajak dalam usia kira-kira 35 tahun ini, meminta-minta wang daripada pengunjung. Kadang-kadang dia mengorek-gorek tabung derma. Dalam meminta-minta itu, kerap juga dia merokok.Sudah berbuih mulut penulis menasihatkan dia agar mencari kerja. Kalau tidak dapat kerja, cari dan kumpulkanlah kertas, kadbod, besi buruk atau bekas tin minuman untuk dijual. Itu lebih baik untuk menampung diri daripada berterusan meminta-minta, kata penulis padanya.Suatu hari penulis lihat Ramli bekerja di sebuah gerai. Tetapi kejap saja. Katanya, dia tidak sesuai bekerja. Kerja penat, katanya. Saya katakan kepadanya mana ada kerja yang tak penat. Dia tidak peduli. Maka tidur baringlah dia di masjid sepanjang hari dan untuk makan minum, dia meminta-minta daripada pengunjung.Saya katakan kepada dia, lebih baiklah dia keluar mencari kayu api (berdasarkan hadis Nabi s.a.w.) daripada duduk ‘berlingkar’ dalam masjid. Dia buat tidak tahu; jadi lebih baiklah saya tutup mulut daripada menasihatinya lagi.Demikianlah semakin ramai lelaki yang ‘tidak menjadi’ berbanding perempuan dewasa ini. Di universiti, di tempat kerja; kebanyakannya dikuasai perempuan. Orang lelaki sudah hilang, ke mana agaknya mereka? Agaknya perempuan sibuk ke universiti mereka sibuk ke pusat serenti.Naib Canselor Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Datuk Seri Profesor Ibrahim Abu Shah mengakui siswi melebihi pelajar lelaki dalam jumlah yang besar. Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi menganggarkan nisbah pelajar lelaki/perempuan di IPT adalah 40:60 manakala ada pihak meletakkannya 35:65, malah 30:70.Apabila semakin ramai warga perempuan mendapat pendidikan tinggi dan memenuhi pelbagai profesion pekerjaan, sedangkan semakin ramai lelaki ‘tidak menjadi’, tentulah ia mendatangkan pelbagai natijah buruk kepada masyarakat. Kini anak gadis semakin sukar mendapat pasangan hidup yang sekufu kerana lelaki ‘tidak berguna’ semakin banyak di pasaran.Penulis tidak berhajat mengulas ketandusan lelaki berkualiti untuk dijadikan suami oleh wanita yang semakin ramai berpendidikan tinggi, tetapi lebih berminat memberi perangsang kepada lelaki yang sengaja memasukkan diri mereka dalam kategori ‘jantan tak berguna’.Ini kerana lelaki dalam kumpulan inilah yang semakin bertambah dalam masyarakat. Ada yang mahu membujang sampai mati sebab tidak mahu bertanggungjawab (kalau kahwin kena sara keluarga), ada yang sudah hanyut dalam dunia dadah (asyik suntik diri sendiri), ada yang malas tidak mahu bekerja dan ada pula yang mahu orang lain menanggungnya.Ramai lelaki kecewa, tidak mahu ambil ‘pot’ akan kehidupan mereka, seolah-olah tidak mahu hidup lagi. Kehadiran mereka kononnya tidak membawa erti kepada sesiapa pun. Ini tidak benar kerana seorang bijak pandai mengingatkan bahawa seekor nyamuk pun boleh menggugat kehidupan seseorang apatah lagi seseorang manusia, dia mempunyai peranan besar dalam kehidupan orang lain.Dalam saya merenung-renung akan kehidupan ‘jantan tidak berguna’ yang berada di persekitaran saya, saya ketemui sebuah artikel dalam risalah Suara Al-Azim (Masjid Negeri Melaka) bertarikh 10 April 2009 sangat menarik yang mungkin dapat merangsang orang yang berasakan diri mereka tidak berguna lagi.Antara lain dalam rencana ‘Demikianlah Masa Menceritakan Kepada Kita’, ditulis: “Makhluk yang paling rendah dan hina di alam ini adalah adalah manusia yang hidup sehariannya hanya makan, minum dan tidur. Sumber manfaat dalam dirinya sudah tidak mengeluarkan air lagi, lembah kebaikannya sudah kering, oleh itu kewujudannya berhak untuk tidak dianggap kerana ia telah menghapus namanya dari daftar kehidupan, menghapus nombornya dari papan pencatat karya dan pengorbanan.“Ia umpama berada dalam kematian, perbezaannya bahawa ia masih makan dan minum. Ia pun telah berada di alam kubur, perbezaannya ia masih tertawa dan tidur. Orang-orang seperti ini mempunyai peranan yang besar dalam kenaikan harga barang keperluan utama, kerana banyaknya makanan yang ia santap. Ia juga memiliki peranan yang besar dalam mengakibatkan terjadinya kekeringan, kerana banyaknya air yang ia minum.”Saya mengamati-amati apa yang ditulis ini, dan tidak dapat mengelakkan daripada mencari persamaan dalam cara hidup ‘jantan tak berguna’ yang semakin ramai sekarang ini. Ya, berhampiran rumah dan pejabat saya ada jantan jenis ini; kerjanya makan dan tidur pada siang hari dan keluar pada waktu malam. Ada yang ‘berlingkar’ macam ular sawa di masjid pada ketika orang sedang sibuk bekerja dan apabila lapar, tanpa segan akan meminta-minta kepada pengunjung. Akhir sekali, harap-harap penulis tidak termasuk dalam kategori ‘jantan tidak berguna’ ini kerana ‘bercakap atau menulis tidak serupa bikin’ atau kata orang, ‘nyamuk di sebarang lautan nampak, gajah di depan mata tidak nampak’.Penulis sedar siapa diri ini untuk menyatakan seseorang itu berguna atau tidak berguna kerana hakikatnya Allah SWT yang tahu nilai seseorang itu. Lagi pun penulis tidak tahu sama ada diri ini bernilai atau tidak di sisi manusia lain apatah lagi di sisi Allah SWT. Untuk itu penulis memohon seribu kemaafan, apa yang ditulis hanya berdasarkan luaran (fizikal) untuk mengingatkan diri sendiri dan pembaca agar tidak tergolong dalam kumpulan ‘jantan tak berguna’.
Posted by Lanh Sr. at 10:05 AM

Kematian Teoh Beng Hock dedah pekung Barisan Nasional
Oleh : Mohamed Hanipa Maidin

Kematian Teoh Beng Hock dekat pejabat Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) Selangor pukul 1.30 tengah hari Khamis lalu membuka pelbagai pekung Barisan Nasional.Kematian Teoh Beng Hock menimbulkan isu teknik siasatan SPRM yang secara jelas bersifat satu seksaan ( torture ) ke atas mereka yang disiasat oleh badan itu. Teknik “torture” ini juga dilakukan oleh pihak polis ke atas mereka yang ditahan di bawah ISA. Yang menghairankan Nazri Aziz tidak segan silu menyokong teknik penyiasatan SPRM tersebut.Ketua Polis Selangor mengesahkan bahawa rakaman CCTV menunjukkan Teoh iaitu mantan setiausaha politik kepada Ean Yong Hian Wah memasuki bangunan itu jam 5.15 petang Rabu. Bagaimanapun siasatan hanya berakhir jam 3.45 pagi Khamis. Siasatan untuk tempoh yang lama tersebut dengan menafikan hak Teoh untuk tidur adalah semata-mata bertujuan menyiksa mental dan emosi Teoh bagi memudahkan SPRM mendapatkan pengakuan dan maklumat-maklumat tertentu dari Teoh.PAS menentang cara penyiasatan yang berbentuk penyiksaan sebegini kerana Islam melarang sebarang bentuk “dhorar” berdasarkan hadith Rasulullah s.a.w “ La dhorar wala dhiror fi al-Islam” ( tidak boleh menyiksa dan tidak boleh disiksa dalam Islam” ). Al-Quran sendiri secara jelas menyatakan bahawa “ Allah telah memuliakan Bani Adam” ( Al-Isra’ : 17 : 70 ).Jenayah penyiksaan ( torture ) pemerintah ke atas rakyat telah dinyatakan di dalam Al-Quran melalui kisah Firaun . Di dalam Surah Tho Ha, Allah s.w.t menyatakan "Oleh itu, pergilah kamu berdua kepadanya ( Firaun ), kemudian katakanlah: "Bahawa sesungguhnya kami ini Rasul-rasul dari Tuhanmu, maka bebaskanlah kaum Bani lsrail mengikut kami, dan janganlah engkau menyeksakan mereka” ( 20 : 47 )Dalam hadith yang diriwayatkan oleh Abu Dawud dan Ahmad di dalam sanadnya , Rasulullah s.a.w menyatakan “ Sesungguhnya Allah s.w.t akan mengazab mana-mana orang yang menyiksa manusia di dunia ini.” ( lihat Sunan Abu Dawud Vol 1V m/s 865 dan Musnad Ahmad b.Hanbal Vol 111 m/s 404 al-Maktab Al-Islami , Cairo )Dalam satu lagi Hadith yang diriwayatkan oleh Ibnu Umar ( radiyallah ‘an huma ) , Rasulullah s.a.w menyatakan bagaimana seorang wanita akan masuk neraka kerana penyiksaan yang perempuan itu lakukan ke atas seekor kucing .Rasulullah s.a.w menyatakan “ Telah masuk seorang wanita ke dalam neraka kerana beliau mengikat kucingnya dengan tidak memberi makan kepada kucing itu dan tidak melepaskannya untuk makan makanannya yang melata di muka bumi” ( lihat Sahih Bukhari , Vol 1V m/s 337 )Dalam Kitab Al-Kharaj karangan Abu Yusuf dilaporkan bahawa Khalifah Umar Abdul Aziz telah menulis kepada pegawai-pegawainya dengan melarang mereka mengikat para banduan dengan rantai atau gari dan memerintahkan mereka member makan secukupnya kepada para banduan dari wang Baitul Mal ( Lihat Abu Yusuf, Kitab Al Kharaj m/s 314-315 )Imam Ibn Hazam pula menyatakan di dalam Al-Muhalla bahawa Al-Quran atau Al-Sunnah atau Ijma’ tidak membenarkan sebarang penyiksaan dalam bentuk elemen pukul, pemenjaraan , ancaman atau penghinaan bagi tujuan mendapatkan pengakuan seseorang kononnya beliau melakukan jenayah . Ibn Hazam menyatakan bahawa larangan penyiksaan tersebut adalah berasaskan bahawa kulit, darah dan kemuliaan insan adalah suatu yang suci dan tidak boleh dicabuli melainkan dengan satu nas yang terang dan jelas atau dengan satu ijma’.Berdasarkan nas-nas di atas , PAS menentang sekeras-kerasnya teknik dan gaya penyiasatan yang dilakukan oleh SPRM ke atas mendiang Teo kerana ianya adalah satu kaedah yang tidak menghormati kemuliaan manusia tanpa mengira kaum atau agama mereka.PAS meminta mereka yang didapati terlibat dengan penyiasatan ala Gestapo tersebut atau mereka yang mengizinkan teknik penyiasatan tersebut di bawa ke muka pengadilan . Seksyen 331 Kanun Keseksaan mungkin boleh digunakan ke atas mereka yang terlibat dengan penyiksaan ke atas mendiang Teo sehingga membawa kepada kematian beliau.Kes Teo juga menunjukkan satu amalan diskriminasi yang ketara di pihak SPRM. SPRM seperti biasa agak cepat bertindak jika tuduhan rasuah atau salah guna kuasa dibuat ke atas ahli-ahli politik Pakatan Rakyat . Bagaimana tahap kelajuan penyiasatan kes rasuah dan salah guna kuasa akan berubah dengan drastik jika ia melibatkan para pemimpin Umno.Dalam kes di Selangor , SPRM cepat menyiasat Mentei Besar Tan Sri Khalid dalam kes korban lembu di mana Pengarah SPRM dengan sombong dan bongkak menyatakan “ kita ada bukti yang kuat untuk mendakwa Tan Sri Khalid” . Dalam kes penyiasatan ke atas Teo kita juga dapat melihat ketergesaan SPRM. Namun apabila terdapat aduan rasuah dan salah guna kuasa melibatkan Khir Toyo kita tidak melihat kelajuan yang sama.Untuk peringatan, Menteri Besar Selangor, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim pernah sebelum ini mendedahkan tiga penyelewengan Datuk Seri Khir Toyo ketika memimpin negeri itu sebelum pilihanraya umum 8 Mac lalu.Penyelewengan berkenaan membabitkan tindakan cuba mengelak cukai, menukar sistem perakaunan anak syarikat kerajaan negeri, dan pembelian apartmen di Mekah “untuk tujuan yang meragukan”.Tan Sri Khalid berkata, Khir semasa menjadi Menteri Besar mempengerusikan tiga syarikat negeri dan mendapat imbuhan tiga buah kereta tetapi ini tidak diisytiharkan kepada Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN).“Salahguna kuasa kedua yang dilakukan Khir Toyo ialah menerima hadiah jam tangan bernilai RM 150,000 daripada Permodalan Negeri Selangor Berhad atau PNSB,” katanya.Beliau berkata, apabila menyedari menerima habuan seperti itu adalah satu kesalahan, Khir cuba membayar balik secara memasukkan wang tunai RM150,000 ke dalam akaun syarikat.Selain itu, kata Tan Sri Khalid, Khir Toyo juga membuat pembelian apatmen di Mekah untuk “kegunaan beberapa anak Selangor yang terpilih sahaja” dengan perbelanjaan lebih RM 9 juta.Dan yang terbaru adalah pendedahan Adun Sekinchan ke atas kos banglo mewah Khir Toyo yang didakwa terlalu tinggi.Kita ingin bertanya apa yang SPRM telah lakukan ke atas Khir Toyo?

Leaders To Bring Us Together
M. Bakri Musa
In having to appoint a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) following the death of one of its witnesses, Prime Minister Najib clearly demonstrated his lack of leadership and inability to be in command of a rapidly evolving crisis. Essentially, events forced Najib’s hand; he was reacting, not leading.
Najib is not a leader, at least not the type Malaysia desperately needs today. His meteoric rise in the party and government is less an expression of talent, more the gratitude his party has for his late father. For his part, Najib has not shown any indication that he benefited from those splendid opportunities. On the contrary, like a spoiled child, those amenities merely indulged him.
Unfortunately for Najib, more so for the nation, there are no ‘training wheels’ to the Prime Minister’s office.
Najib’s deputy Muhyyuddin is in the same kampong league. Earlier, Muhyyuddin dismissed calls for a royal commission, insisting that the police and the MACC are quite capable of undertaking the investigations. It reflected his low standing in the cabinet that many, including fellow UMNO minister Rais Yatim, pointedly pushed for the setting up of the commission. Even the lowly UMNO Youth leader did not share Muhyyuddin’s faith in the police and MACC.
Consider a different scenario. If upon his return from his Middle East trip, Najib had summoned his Home Minister Hishammuddin and the Director of MACC for an immediate briefing. They of course would not be able to give a coherent explanation. Whereupon Najib would at a press conference announce his directing the MACC to put the involved officers on immediate administrative leave pending a full independent investigation.
Had Najib done that, with his commanding baritone voice, he would have projected an image of a decisive leader who was on top of the situation. He would also put an immediate end to the current ugly spectacle of an unfortunate death degenerating into a polarizing political and increasingly racial issue.
As senior statesman Tengku Razaleigh noted, there have been too many deaths while under custody, and Teoh Beng Hock’s demise marks a watershed in the attitude of the public towards the government, setting a new low. This essence is missed by many in the government.
The ordering of a coroner’s inquest or Royal Commission should have been an executive decision; Najib does not need to involve his cabinet. The cabinet should be deliberating substantive issues, like how to make our economy competitive or reform our rotting education system.
Najib should have learned how his late father handled the national tragedy of the May 1969 race riot. Tun Razak stood in front of the cameras and in a solemn voice and serious demeanor announced the immediate imposition of martial law and a “shoot to kill” order for the police and military. He struck a reassuring and take-charge image, in stark contrast to the hapless weeping Tengku Abdul Rahman, who was then Prime Minister.
The world may condemn him as a dictator or worse, but there was no disputing that Tun Razak established law and order quickly. To put that in perspective, the modern flare up of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland began at about the same time as our 1969 riot. Today, while to most Malaysians that nightmare is but a dim distant memory, the folks in Northern Ireland are still busy settling old scores.
The evolving public furor over Teoh’s death shows every sign of continuing its destructive downward spiral, fed by racist opportunists of all flavors and colorations, with Najib on the sideline reacting and not leading.
What stunned me were not the responses of the bigoted and uneducated; their chauvinistic views were expected and perhaps excusable because of their ignorance. It would be too much to expect them to have a perspective beyond their clan or kampong. To them this crisis is nothing more than yet another ethnic Chinese-Malaysian victimized by Malay officialdom, or the belligerent Chinese not missing an opportunity to mock Malays.
What took me back instead were the responses of those ‘educated’ ministers and leaders. They just could not comprehend the public outrage over the MACC’s interviewing a ‘friendly’ witness into the wee hours of the morning and who would later be found dead outside its premises. Perhaps those civil servants were trying to impress the public on how diligent and hard working they were in attending to their duties! If that was how MACC’s personnel treated their ‘friendly and cooperative’ witness, I shudder to think the reception a suspect would get.
Far from expressing condolences to the poor bereaved family, these ministers went on to impute evil motives on the victim and those who were outraged by the needless tragedy. How would these ministers feel if it was their son who had been victimized? Don’t they have any empathy?
To their credit Najib Razak and his Women’s Affairs Minister Sharizat Jalil did convey their condolences to the family of the deceased. The two were the exceptions. Najib was even thoughtful enough to send his personal representative to the funeral. The vulgar behaviors of the others, especially Muhyyuddin, were eagerly picked up by the toadying commentators and columnists in the mainstream media. They fueled the fire.
In seeking answers and justice to this cruel death, we must refrain from injecting additional unnecessary and divisive elements. The case is complicated enough; there is no need to inject or impute extraneous factors. As The Star columnist and law professor Azmi Sharom rightly observed, people are angry over the needless death of a young Malaysian, not a young ethnic Chinese, and what they perceive as the abuse of power by MACC officers, not the abuse of power by Malay officers.
We need to mobilize the masses to this injustice. We are a democracy and public opinion matters. Thus far public outrage has caused the cabinet to set up the Royal Commission, but that is not enough. Without continued public pressure the commission’s findings would suffer the same fate as befell the Police Commission and the one investigating the so-called Lingam Tape. Nothing happens. We need continued public pressure so the coroner’s inquest and the Royal Commission would be conducted openly and transparently, their findings readily available.
There is an art to mobilizing public opinion, and I am not attuned to its many subtleties. However, I do know that many share my disappointment that at one public rally over Teoh’s death most of the speakers were unable to convey their outrage in our national language. Many were young and presumably born and raised in Malaysia, yet they were unable, unwilling or uncomfortable to speak in our national language. That is definitely not the way to go about seeking broad public support.
I was similarly unimpressed with the rallying cry of HINDRAF, Makkal sakthi (People Power). That would be fine to gain public support in Kerala, but if it is fellow Malaysians you wish to influence, then you had better articulate your arguments in our national language. HINDRAF would have converted a few more to it cause had it substituted its slogan with Kuasa Rakyat.
Being a plural society Malaysia faces many challenging and continuing centrifugal forces threatening to rip it apart. We need leaders who must recognize this grim reality and then mobilize countervailing forces that would bring us together. We need leaders who would view our diversity not as a liability but an asset, and a valuable one at that.
Unfortunately his much-touted slogan of “1Malaysia” notwithstanding, Najib Razak is not that kind of a leader. Neither is his deputy Muhyyuddin Yassin. Instead, we need leaders the caliber of Tengku Razaleigh, Anwar Ibrahim and Zaid Ibrahim. The challenge for Malaysia is to make sure that they prevail.

A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study. ~Chinese Proverb

Isu pegang lilin hanya bersifat politik - Nik Aziz
Salmah Mat Husain Foto Rizal Tahir Thu Jul 23, 09 8:17:49 pm MYT
KOTA BHARU, 23 Julai (Hrkh) - Tuan Guru Dato' Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat menyifatkan mereka yang menghebohkan isu anggota parlimen Bukit Gantang, Dato' Seri Nizar Jamaluddin memegang lilin pada satu program di Ipoh lebih bersifat politik.

Mursyidul Am PAS itu berkata, tindakan Menteri Besar Perak, Dato' Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir memintanya mengeluarkan fatwa mengenai perkara itu tidak lebih sebagai kenyataan politik.
"Zambry ni orang politik bukan orang yang kaji Islam, apa kena mengena dengan fatwa agama, fatwa demokrasi pun dia tak pakai, lagi pun keluar fatwa ni tugas mufti," ujarnya ketika diminta mengulas kenyataan Zambry yang memintanya mengeluar fatwa berhubung isu memegang lilin.
Beliau ditemui pemberita selepas merasmikan Hari Peladang, Penternak dan Nelayan Kelantan 2009 di Dataran Warisan di sini, petang ini.
Menteri Besar Perak sebelum ini meminta ulama PAS mengeluarkan fatwa berhubung tindakan Nizar memegang lilin ketika hadir pada satu majlis di Perak Jumaat lepas.
Adun Titi Serong, Khalil Idham Lim hari ini menafikan majlis menyalakan lilin yang turut dihadiri beliau dan Nizar majlis berkabung memperingati kematian Teoh Beng Huat.
Menurutnya gambar tersebut merupakan majlis menyalakan lilin diadakan semasa sesi sidang media 17 Julai lalu bertempat di Wisma DAP Ipoh.
Idham juga menjelaskan amalan memegang lilin dan colok bagi orang Cina adalah budaya nenek moyang yang sudah turun temurun dan bukan amalan agama.
Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz juga berkata, sekiranya beliau dijemput masyarakat Hindu atau Cina ke tempat ibadat mereka, beliau akan bertanya terlebih dahulu adakah program keagamaan atau adat resam.
"Saya kata kalau soal agama saya tak boleh pergi, tetapi adat resam atau budaya saya boleh pergi.
"Tiap-tiap tahun anak cucu kita menyambut ulang tahun kelahiran mereka dengan memacak lilin atas kek mengikut umur.
"Kalau setahun sebatang lilin kemudian menghembuskan, jadi lilin ni digunakan sebagai satu perkara yang simbolik terhadap sesuatu perkara lain. Begitu juga dalam masalah yang diheboh sekarang ni," ujarnya.
Menurutnya Rasulullah saw menghantar surat pada raja-raja Mesir, Iran dan India menggunakan ayat al-Quran. - mj _

Bukan majlis berkabung - Khalil Idham Lim
Johari Jaafar Thu Jul 23, 09 5:23:27 pm MYT
PARIT BUNTAR, 23 Julai (Hrkh) - Ketua Penerangan PAS negeri yang juga Adun Titi Serong, Khalil Idham Lim menafikan majlis menyalakan lilin yang turut dihadiri beliau dan Dato' Seri Ir Mohamad Nizar Jamaludin adalah majlis berkabung bagi memperingati kematian Teoh Beng Huat seperti didakwa pensyarah Jabatan Fiqh Universiti Islam Antarabangsa, Profesor Dato' Dr Mahmood Zuhdi Abdul Majid.
Gambar tersebut dan majlis menyalakan lilin itu diadakan semasa sesi sidang media 17 Julai lalu bertempat di Wisma DAP Ipoh.
Sidang media itu dianjurkan Sekretariat Pakatan Rakyat yang dihadiri 20 Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) Pakatan Rakyat dan pemimpin parti.
Idham Lim yang juga bekas penganut Buddha menjelaskan, amalan memegang lilin dan colok bagi orang Cina adalah budaya nenek moyang yang sudah turun temurun diamalkan.
"Saya ingin jelaskan bahawa menyalakan lilin adalah budaya yang diamalkan oleh bangsa kami turun temurun malah ia menjadi amalan kepada penganut Islam di negara China.
"Sebab itulah jika kita berkunjung di mana-mana masjid di China kita pasti akan dapat membeli colok yang dijual di masjid," katanya.
Beliau yang memeluk Islam ketika berusia 23 tahun berkata, di negeri China para imam, ahli jawatankuasa masjid dan umat Islam akan berbaris masuk ke dalam masjid dengan memegang colok yang dinyalakan sambil mengalunkan takbir raya.
"Sebelum melangkah masuh ke dewan sembahyang, colok itu ditinggalkan di luar. Saya ada koleksi gambar mengenai upacara ini sebagai bukti," ujarnya.
Menurutnya, beliau dan Nizar bersama Adun Pakatan Rakyat yang lain memegang lilin sebagai menghormati acara selingan yang diadakan dalam sidang media tersebut dan bukannya bertafakur seperti diminta.
"Sebelum ini sudah banyak kawan-kawan bukan muslim yang menghormati upacara membaca doa dalam pelbagai majlis," jelasnya.
Idham Lim turut mempersoalkan motif isu itu diperbesarkan tetapi di dalam masa yang sama persoalan asal yang lebih besar iaitu tindakan meragut nyawa manusia yang merupakan hak Allah tidak dipersoalkan.
"Saya bimbang pihak berkenaan hanya berani berkokok dalam isu ini tetapi apabila melibatkan pemimpin Umno, golongan ini tidak bersuara menegur," katanya kesal.
Banyak lagi tindakan dan perlakukan pemimpin Umno yang mengaku beragama Islam wajib ditegur tetapi golongan tersebut hanya berdiam diri.
"Antaranya adalah upacara meletakkan kalungan bunga di Tugu Negara yang telah difatwakan haram (oleh Majlis Fatwa Kebangsaan), kenapa golongan tersebut tidak berani menegur," katanya.
Beliau berharap penjelasan ini dapat meredakan suasana resah yang sengaja ditimbulkan golongan tertentu khususnya Umno bagi mengelirukan rakyat.
Baru-baru ini Adun Pangkor, Dato' Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir dalam kenyataannya di sebuah akhbar menggesa Mursyidul Am PAS, Dato' Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat 'mengeluarkan fatwa' berhubung tindakan Nizar menyertai majlis nyalaan lilin bagi memperingati Beng Hock.- tajdid_

Our minds are lazier than our bodies. ~François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Maxims, 1678

Stop trying to grow your organization. Work on people's attitudes. If you do that, your organization will experience 10 percent growth overnight.
John C. Maxwell.

The difficulties of life are intended to make us better - not bitter.

Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, eat your breakfast first. ~Josh Billings

You are only an attitude away from success!

“Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing.”
Bill Cosby

to ponder.........

"Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him."
Aldous Huxley

BUMI DAH PENAT

BUMI DAH PENAT
Kita selalu/biasa membaca di dada akhbar ata melihat di kaca televesyen tentang bencana alam dan malapetaka yang berlaku di serata dunia. Sungguh menakjubkan atau memeranjatkan kerana peristiwa sebegini mengganggu kehidupan seharian kita. Kita merasa sedih dan kasihan melihat mereka kehilangan tempat tinggal, kehilangan perniagaan, kehilangan harta benda malah kehilanagan nyawa. Malahan ada bencana yang menghancaurkan seluruh komuniti.
Bencana alam/malapetaka ini adalah berlaku secara semulajadi, tetapi melalui sains dan teknologi kita dapat meramal/menjangka sesuatu malapetaka akan terjadi, malah kita mungkin juga dapat mengelak dari berlaku malapetaka tersebut.
Penting bagi kita memahami mengapa malapetaka berlaku. Mudah pada abad yang lalu mempotraitkan malapetaka sebagai huru-hara, tidak dijangka dan tidak diramal.
Alasan yang selalu diberikan keatas kejadian malapetaka ini adalah balasan tuhan keatas manusia. Maka segala malapetaka yang menimpa manusia seperti, gempa bumi, kebuluran, banjir, rebut taufan merupakan balasan tuhan keatas kemungkaran manusia.
Abad ke dua puluh member kita kefahaman bagaimana bumi berfungsi. Sekarang kita boleh menerima; banyak malapetaka boleh dijangka atau diramal. Malah ada malapetaka yang berlaku dapat diramal dan tindakan mengelak dapat diambil. Kebanyakan malapetaka adalah akibat kuasa semulajadi alam, tetapi terdapat juga elemen manusia yang memburukkan lagi keadaan.

Semester Julai 2009....

Hari ini bermula semester baru untuk tahun 2009, jam 8 pagi aku masuk ke bilik kuliah, bilik gelap tak de seorang pun pelajar dalam bilik tersebut....di mana kah mereka? setelah hampir 20 minit menunggu aku ambil keputusan untuk meninggalkan bilik kuliah.....persoalan nya di mana kah pelajar ini??? adakah inin sikap pelajar2 kita???.....

Incompetence At All Levels

Incompetence At All Levels

M. Bakri Musa



Malaysiakini.com, June 4, 2009


Nothing demonstrates the perverted priorities if not plain idiocies of Chief of Police Musa Hassan when he sought the help of Interpol in finding Raja Petra Kamarudin. Then as if to remove any residual doubt we have of him, his senior officers questioned DAP Leader Lim Kit Siang over an allegedly seditious speech.


Unfortunately Musa Hassan reflects a more general and disturbing observation. That is, he, like all our other leaders beginning with Najib Razak and all the way down, is too incompetent to fulfill the obligations that we have entrusted unto him. Unable to execute their duties, these leaders resort to indulging themselves in silly things so they can keep themselves occupied and looking busy.


They are like the incompetent mechanic who cannot fix your car, so he busies himself wiping the dirt off the windshield. Meanwhile you still cannot drive your car out of his repair shop, and your bill for the ‘non-repair’ keeps piling up.


The chief function of a police force, its reason for being, is to maintain public safety. No sane Malaysian would consider Raja Petra or Lim Kit Siang posing a threat to public order. The only threat they pose is in exposing corruption and dereliction of duty at the highest levels of our government.


To average citizens, crime – from the violent purse snatchers to multibillion dollar corruption – is now the biggest worry. Obviously Musa Hassan and his senior officers were too busy interrogating Lim Kit Siang that they did not read the Port Klang Authority multibillion dollar debacle that reeks of corruption at all levels. Musa Hassan must also not have visited his many officers in hospitals who have been assaulted by criminals. If Musa had listened to his many subordinates who had been victims of violent crimes, he would know what is worrying Malaysians the most.


Musa Hassan’s calling in the Interpol is a particularly egregious example of his incompetence. Yes, the Interpol is an international organization to help police units apprehend fugitives. What the organization has in mind are fugitives that would pose serious public danger, as for example the recent case of Mas Selamat. With Raja Petra, the police already know that he is in Australia, specifically Brisbane. If that were the case, why seek Interpol’s intervention? A simple call to the local Australian embassy for assistance should suffice.


Musa Hassan is abusing his authority and wasting the expensive resources of Interpol to boot in doing what he did. Interpol’s constitution prohibits ‘any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.’ Musa Hassan has to be particularly ignorant not to know that Raja Petra’s activities are exclusively political, specifically exercising his rights of freedom of speech and to dissent.


I have yet to hear or read Raja Petra asking his readers to brandish their kerises or to have them dripped in the blood of non-Malays. That would be criminal – inciting hatred – especially in a plural society. Where was Musa Hassan when Hishamudddin did his race-taunting bit with his keris a while back?


Raja Petra’s pen (or more correctly, keyboard) has been more powerful than those ketchup-dripped UMNO kerises. He had in no uncertain terms declared his mission early to ensure that the incompetent Abdullah Badawi would not last long as our Prime Minister. Likewise, Raja Petra also single-handedly took on Malaysia’s political crown prince wannabe Khairy Jamaluddin very early on when his star was shining bright. It turned out not to be a star but a flicker from a cheap firecracker.


Having those trophies hanging in his den, Raja Petra is now on to his next hunting trip. This time the stakes are much higher, and the mission much nobler: to ensure that those who occupy the highest office in our land must have unquestioned moral authority and personal integrity.


Like many Malaysians, I support Raja Petra in this. Indeed, what he is doing should also be the duty of all Malaysians. Unfortunately, not many have his courage. Our nation should count its blessings in having a brave and tenacious citizen as Raja Petra. A lesser mortal would have given up a long time ago.


Yes, Raja Petra has made many serious allegations against our leaders, including and especially Najib Razak. However, to invoke the criminal statutes on such matters clearly demonstrates abuse if not corruption of the criminal justice system. If Najib Razak feels that those allegations are baseless or libelous, resort to the tort system. Hire your own lawyers and not have the public funds support your personal defense or private suits.


Raja Petra’s many articles pertaining to Najib Razak contain numerous specific facts, named many individuals, and cited precise locations that they could easily be corroborated or denied by resorting to physical forensic evidences. Raja Petra’s allegations are not of the ambiguous ‘he said, she said’ variety.


Malaysia could probably tolerate incompetence in one departmental head, but when that is the norm, then we are headed for the pits. Consider the head honcho, Najib Razak. With the country facing one of its severest economic crises, he saw fit to meddle in the local politics of Perak. It would have been commendable had he solved or in any way improved the situation. Instead, since his involvement four months ago, the political leadership in that state remains murky and unsettled. Now he is desperate to extricate himself from the mess. And Perak is an economically important state.


Najib’s deputy Muhyyudin Yassin is no better. With our school system continuing its rot, he has yet to make a decision on such simple matters as continuing the teaching of science and mathematics in English or limiting the ridiculously high number of subjects students have to take for their Sijil Persekutuan Malaysia examination.


The incompetence does not stop there. Three Foreign Ministers and a year later, we still do not have an ambassador to the world’s most important capital, Washington, DC. Obviously our leaders are too ignorant to know that America is, among other things, our most important trading partner. We also missed out on the most important moment in recent American history: the election of its first Black president. Of course our leaders are too incompetent to comprehend the significance of such an event.


Chief of Police Musa Hassan’s erratic and incompetent leadership would have been tolerable if it were the exception. Unfortunately, his is part of a general pattern, with no hope of change in the foreseeable future. That is the sorry and continuing mess Malaysia faces.