SEMINAR MEMPERINGATI 100 TAHUN BAPAK MOHAMMAD NATSIR

http://adi-rawi.blogspot.com/2009/01/100-tahun-m-natsir-di-malaysia.html

100 Tahun M. Natsir di Malaysia
Afriadi Sanusi

Belum pernah ada acara seratus tahunan di Indonesia yang meriah dan
dihadiri
oleh peserta seramai ini kata seorang presenter dari Indonesia. Pusat
konvensyen Kolej Universiti Islam antarabangsa itu dipenuhi dengan peserta
yang membludak sampai ke atas dan ada yang berdiri. Makalah habis dan
harus
di cetak ulang, banyak yang tidak dapat tanda nama sebagai peserta,
makanan
kurang karena peserta terlalu banyak yang hadir dan diluar dugaan panitia.

Rasa beruntung saya hari ini karena dapat menghadiri acara seminar 100
Tahun
M. Natsir walaupun mendapat sms dari kawan Muhammadiyah di hari-hari
terakhir. Ceramah pertama tentang M. Natsir disampaikan oleh Menteri Besar
Selangor Tansri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim yang menceritakan panjang lebar
tentang
Natsir yang membuat saya malu sebagai orang Indonesia. Disaat acara
pembukaan dan pidato tentang Natsir disampaikan oleh Datuk Seri Anwar
Ibrahim saya bertambah malu sekali. Ternyata orang lain lebih mengenal dan
menghargai Natsir sebagai tokoh yang dihormati daripada saya sebagai anak
bangsa Indonesia dan berasal dari daerah yang sama dengan Natsir. Saya
melihat beberapa kawan Malaysia yang membuat thesis PhD juga hadir dan
nampak berminat sekali dalam seminar itu.

Turut hadir adalah para saksi hidup dan pengkaji tentang M. Natsir,
seperti
oleh anak almarhum Ibu Asma Faridah Saleh. Prof Dr Redzuan Othman sebagai
moderator, Dato` Dr Sidiq Fadzil dan pembicara antara lain oleh Prof Dr
Laode M. Kamaluddin, Chrish siner Key Timu, Prof Madya Muhammad Nur
Manuty,
Syuhada` Bahari, Prof Dr Mohd Kamal Hasan, Dr Gamal Abdul Nasir Hj Zakaria
dari Brunei dan ditutup dengan sebuah resolusi oleh Hj Ab Halim Ismail dan
Dato` Haji Mohd Adnan Isman.

Dengan tema "berdakwah di jalur politik dan berpolitik dijalur dakwah"
para
pemakalah menyampaikan keunggulan Natsir sebagai seorang pendakwah,
politikus, ahli agama, pendidik dan sebagainya. Menyinggung mengenai
politik
dakwah and kacau balaunya suasana perpolitikan Nasional saat ini, maka
penulis teringat akan kepribadian Natsir yang dapat menyatukan Islam
traditional, Islam modern dan berbagai kelompok Islam lainnya dalam satu
wadah partai bernama Masyumi.

Saat ini terdapat banyak sekali partai Islam atau partai yang mengaku
Islami. Saya sebagai orang yang agak terpelajar saja bingung, apalagi
masyarakat awam dikampung yang tidak begitu membaca berita. Dan nampaknya
kelebihan satu partai Islam saat ini hanya mampu mengurangi suara partai
Islam lainnya saja dan tidak mampu mengurangi suara-suara yang ada di
partai
Golkar atau PDIP serta partai lainnya.

Kekuatan Natsir yang saya lihat adalah bahwa beliau ikhlas dalam berjuang.
Keikhlasan inilah yang membuatnya melihat segala penderitaan, siksaan dan
kesusahan yang dialaminya bagaikan sebuah irama yang merdu, bagaikan
hidangan yang nikmat dan bagaikan keindahan panorama yang begitu
mempesona.

Bangi, 10 January 2009
Afriadi Sanusi

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Exposing Our Leaders To Competition

Exposing Our Leaders to Competition
M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com

The recent installation of Tunku Muhriz as the 11th Yang Di Pertuan Besar
of Negri Sembilan (the equivalent of a sultan in the other states)
illustrates one important point. When the top position is not
automatically handed to the putative Number Two and instead you widen
your choice, you are more likely to end up with a far superior candidate.

The consensus among the rakyat as well as the establishment is
that Tunku Muhriz is a far superior candidate, and a better person to
boot, than the other contenders, the three sons of Tuanku Jaafar.

It is too late for the three adult sons of Tuanku Jaafar to
appreciate and benefit from the wisdom of my observation. It is hard to
learn as an adult the lessons you should have learned as a youngster.

Tunku Naquiyuddin, Tuanku Jaafar's oldest son, must have felt
the sting the most. After all, his father had named him Regent, or
acting Yam Tuan, during his recent extended overseas tour. As such
Naquiyuddin must have felt that the throne would rightly be his. He had
already begun acting as the Yam Tuan, as he did recently when he called
for the restoration of the Sultans' absolute royal immunity. At the
personal level, he was already behaving only too well as a feudal king.

As for Tunku Muhriz, he had learned his lesson well, and
early, way back in 1967 when the Undangs (Territorial Chiefs) instead
bypassed him to pick his father's half-brother Tuanku Jaafar as the 10th
Yam Tuan to succeed Tunku Muhriz's father. Sensing that the royal throne
would not be his, he wisely prepared himself for life in the real world
outside the palace. By all measures he has done well, having obtained a
law degree and acquitting himself credibly in the private sector.

More importantly, he has also imparted those valuable lessons
onto his children. They too have all done well academically and
personally san their royal titles, making their achievements that much
more credible and praiseworthy.

The Badawi Disaster

The wisdom of my observation is universal. Note the disaster when Deputy
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi automatically assumed the top slot upon
the retirement of Dr. Mahathir. Had Mahathir been aware of the wisdom of
my observation and widened the choice of candidates to succeed him,
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Malaysia would have been
spared the incompetence of Abdullah Badawi.

This pattern of the number two automatically becoming number
one is rampant if not standard practice in the civil service. Those
senior civil servants behave like airplanes stacked at a busy airport,
each patiently waiting his turn and not daring to upset the established
pattern lest it would threaten his position and prospect.

I have seen this pattern broken only rarely, as in the early
1960s when Dr. Majid Ismail, then an orthopedic consultant, was tapped to
be the Director-General of Health, bypassing many senior bureaucrats. He
upset the entire hierarchy at the Ministry of Health; Majid later proved
himself to be one of the most farsighted and enlightened health
policymakers. Today that Ministry remains one of the few that do not hew
to the strict "tunggu geleran" (waiting your turn) pattern of the civil
service. It is thus not a surprise that it is one of the more
professionally-run ministries.

Come this March with the current Number Two Najib Razak
automatically assuming the Number One position with Abdullah's leaving
office, Malaysia risks repeating the same mistake. There will be no
contest to select the best candidate for the top slot for in its wisdom
UMNO has adopted rules and traditions that stymied competition especially
for the top post.

Prior to his elevation to the throne, Tunku Muhriz had the
title of Tuanku Besar. Though its literal translation ("Big King") is
misleading, nonetheless in Negri Sembilan the Raja Besar is equivalent to
a Raja Muda, the Crown Prince or heir apparent in other states. That did
not help him when his father Tunku Munawir died in 1967; the four Undangs
in their wisdom bypassed Tunku Muhriz. Nor did that help him with the
late Tuanku Jaafar for he named his son Tunku Naquiyuddin instead as
Regent.

The public reason given back in 1967 for bypassing Tunku
Muhriz was that he was too young – he was only 18 then – to be the Yang
Di Pertuan Besar. Additionally, the political establishment then led by
Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman lobbied the Undangs hard for Tuanku
Jaafar, believing that he (and his family) would be sympathetic to UMNO.

Whatever the reasons, the Undangs' decision was well received,
especially by the villagers. They wisely noted that Tunku Munawir died at
the relatively young age of 47 from what we would term today as "lifestyle
diseases." They were concerned that the young Tunku Muhriz would follow
in his father's footsteps, in the village tradition of bapak burek, anak
rentik (fig: Like father, like son).

As it turned out, Tunku Muhriz was anything but like his
father, both in personality and accomplishments. Nevertheless like many,
I do not fault the Undangs for their decision back in 1967. By any
objective criterion, it was a wise pick, considering that Tuanku Jaafar
was a British-trained diplomat while Tunku Muhriz was barely out of high
school then.

Today's Undangs are a far different breed from their
predecessors of a mere generation ago. The position of Undang is also
hereditary but not in a strict linear fashion, just like that of the Yam
Tuan. The various clan chiefs would gather and pick from among the many
entitled to be Undang, just as the Undangs would pick the Yam Tuan from
among the many eligible princes. A primordial form of democracy and
representative government, as it were.

Following my theory, the caliber of Undangs should improve
because of the competition among the eligible contenders. Yet we have
the perverse situation today where the present generation of Undangs
being even more poorly educated and of lower caliber than their
predecessors. While a generation ago we had a lawyer and a university
graduate among the Undangs, today we have a former utility meter reader
and a petai seller.

The erosion in the caliber of today's Undangs is of course
directly related to, like everything else in Malaysia, corruption. Yet
despite that, today's Undangs were able to collectively come to a wise
decision. The erosion in quality and integrity of individual Undangs
notwithstanding, the institution itself was able to deliver a wise
decision. This demonstrates the vital role of institutions. Imagine how
much good these Undangs would do for society if only they were more
competent and less corrupt.

The aberration that is today's Undangs remains the exception
that proves my theory. Nonetheless what is relevant is that because we
have the institution and process in place, the right decision was made,
those deficiencies in personnel notwithstanding.

Najib's Dangerous Mindset

The experience with the Negri Sembilan royal selection process illustrates
the wisdom of exposing our leaders to continuous competition, and of
having the right institutions and processes in place to ensure that.
That is the best if not only way to hold these leaders accountable. The
biggest mistake would be to make them "President for Life" or heap some
such similar honors upon them. Such excessive accolades are what
corrupted otherwise sensible leaders. Even once wise and patriotic
leaders like Sukarno ultimately succumbed to and became a tyrant simply
because he was not held accountable or subjected to rigorous checks and
balances.

UMNO once had the fine tradition where its leaders were
routinely subjected to regular challenges. Even such venerable leaders
as Bapak Merdeka Tunku Abdul Rahman were not spared. Today we look
askance at such once brave figures as Sulaiman Palestin who would not
hesitate to challenge any leader regardless how popular that leader was
at the time. In contrast, today's UMNO leaders are given a free pass,
all in the misguided quest for "party unity."

However, only through such constant competitions could we
"toughen up" our leaders. During the recent American Presidential
primary season, many members of the Democratic Party were upset that
Candidate Hilary Clinton would not give up her race earlier and let the
leading candidate Barrack Obama be the nominee sooner. As it turned out,
the long primary was beneficial to Obama as it toughened him up such that
he could easily withstand the subsequent onslaughts from his Republican
opponent.

UMNO is making a terrible mistake in letting Najib Razak take
over the top slot without subjecting him to a tough campaign. Such
grueling leadership competitions are necessary for "baptizing" a leader.
It would help sharpen his leadership skills as well as let party members
and voters preview his abilities.

Because he was not subjected to any competition, Najib Razak
now feels that the country owes him the Prime Minister's office by virtue
of his being the son of the much-revered Tun Razak. That is a dangerous
mindset for anyone, especially a leader, to have. Ultimately it is the
citizens who would bear the burden of such hubris in our leaders.

The many effusive comments about Tunku Muhriz would not easily
go this head. Having once been bypassed for the top slot, Tunku Muhriz is
fully aware that he could only secure his position by doing an excellent
job and by diligently attending to his royal duties. In contrast, Najib
Razak has had an easy ride all along; he has yet to learn this important
lesson.

Malaysiakini.com January 8, 2009

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Malaysia is like Israel

Malaysia is like Israel
Helen Ang | Dec 31, 08 3:37pm

Air strikes on Gaza over the weekend have aggravated the Israeli
Arab's growing disaffection with the state, suggest some Israeli
writers.

Popular author Benny Morris, who is professor of Middle Eastern
history at Ben-Gurion University, wrote an opinion-editorial in the
New York Times on Monday titled Why Israel feels threatened on the
challenges Israel is currently facing, including fraught relations
with its minorities.

Allow me to compare Morris' description with our own situation here.
There is no exact parallel as we're not in a war zone but Malaysia is
somewhat like Israel in some ways.

The national policies of both countries contain elements of apartheid
which serve to segregate communities. Israel is constitutionally a
Jewish state in nature and its founding document reflects a race-
preoccupied social contract too. The Declaration of Independence
mentions only the history, culture and collective memory of the Jewish
people; too bad for the Arabs who form one-fifth of Israel's population.

Its `law of return' allows Jewish immigration from any part of the
world and Israel has received among others, African Jews and Indian
Jews plus an influx of Soviet Jews when the old USSR disintegrated.

On the other hand, an Arab who is an Israeli citizen cannot just as
easily bring home his Palestinian bride from West Bank. Compare with
Malaysia's permanent residency requirements for foreign spouses of the
different races.

In Israel, its religious law halacha mandates conversion to Judaism in
mixed marriages. In Malaysia, anyone marrying a Malay must convert to
Islam. On matters relating to birth, death and marriage, an Israeli
cannot turn to a civil court, meaning he has no secular recourse in
these areas. Neither does the Malay who is governed by syariah.

Restaurants, factories and public buildings are obliged to adhere to
the kosher practices of Jews, and public space are Judaisised under
state policy. In Malaysia, we adhere to halal practices and
additionally in schools, and public space are Islamised.

Israel's law recognises and protects Jewish holy sites alone.
Cemeteries, seminaries and religious institutions are built for Jews
but not for Arabs. Palestinian legal aid organisation Adalah, in a
report titled `Institutionalised Discrimination', said during the
1990s typically 98 percent of the Religious Affairs Ministry budget
was allocated for Jewish houses of worship and religious services.

Need I elaborate on Malaysia's practices in this respect?

Why Israel/Malays feel threatened

With apology and thanks to Prof Morris for my borrowing his writing,
let's explore the ideas below.

Morris on Israel's siege mentality: `First, the Arab and wider Islamic
worlds…have never truly accepted the legitimacy of Israel's creation
and continue to oppose its existence.'

Some Malays regret my Chinese forefathers coming, and do not accept
the full legitimacy of my presence – hence my second-class citizenship
– while willing to grant a first generation Muslim from Indonesia or
the Philippines bumiputera privileges.

Morris writes: `Second, public opinion in the West (and in
democracies, governments can't be far behind) is gradually reducing
its support for Israel as the West looks askance at the Jewish state's
treatment of its Palestinian neighbors and wards. The Holocaust is
increasingly becoming a faint and ineffectual memory and the Arab
states are increasingly powerful and assertive.'

Public opinion in the West is gradually looking askance at Malaysia's
treatment of its minorities. The countries of origin of these
minorities are increasingly powerful and assertive; Indian Malaysians
revolted with Hindraf and Chinese Malaysians are grumbling louder.

Morris writes: `But the attack will not solve the basic problem posed
by a Gaza Strip populated by 1.5 million impoverished, desperate
Palestinians who are ruled by a fanatic regime and are tightly hemmed
in by fences and by border crossings controlled by Israel and Egypt.'

The verbal attacks by Umno ministers and their agents on Hindraf
supporters, as well as the authorities punishing the movement and its
leaders – and even Jerit cyclists – will not solve the basic problem
posed by a Tamil underclass of impoverished, desperate Indians who are
ruled by a fascist-like regime and tightly hemmed in by state-erected
social barriers, a lack of upward mobility and exclusion from
affirmative action programmes.

Sense of wall closing in

Malaysia's existence is not threatened but the recent spate of
demonstrations and fiery rhetoric on Malay special rights indicate how
some insecure folks see their minority neighbours as existential
threats.

Morris writes: `The fourth immediate threat to Israel's existence is
internal. It is posed by the country's Arab minority. Over the past
two decades, Israel's 1.3 million Arab citizens have been radicalised,
with many openly avowing a Palestinian identity and embracing
Palestinian national aims.'

a. Radicalised: Have the Indians been radicalised by Hindraf? If you
read or listen to only the mainstream, especially Malay mass media and
official channels spewing government propaganda, what would you think?

Have the Chinese been radicalised by March 8? If a Malay reads or
listens only to the official mouthpieces, what would he think?

b. Identity: Undeniably, Chinese Malaysians over the past two decades
have become increasingly sinicised. Today between 90 and 95 percent
are estimated to attend Chinese schools.The Star group editor Wong
Chun Wai is in favour of bringing back the English-medium of
instruction and calls the Chinese educationists `racist groups'.

c. National aims: Morris writes that Israel believes the loyalty of
its Arabs lies with Palestinians rather than with the state.

When prime minister designate Najib Razak says his government wants to
assist the advancement of Malays elsewhere who are of other
nationalities, what does it reveal of his racialist orientation, not
to mention his low regard of our common nationality?

And what about those who want to put immigrant-squatters on a boat
`balik Tongsan' (China) and `balik Kalinga' (India)? What does this
popular demand tell about that Umno-type mindset?

Morris writes that `most Jews see the Arab minority as a potential
fifth column'.

If Israeli Arabs are alleged to identify with their country's enemies
Hamas and Hezbollah, some Malays accuse Chinese Malaysians of siding
with Singapore and another segment expects the Chinese to cheer for
China should our two national badminton teams or players meet.

Unreal reflection in the mirror

Demographics offer another interesting comparison and contrast. The
birthrates for Israeli Arabs are among the highest in the world with
four or five children per family, according to Morris. He writes: `If
present trends persist, Arabs could constitute the majority of
Israel's citizens by 2040 or 2050.'

Minorities are dwindling rapidly against the Malay prolific annual
birthrate and this coupled with emigration and religious conversion
will see the numerical ratio of bumiputera at a most satisfactory
Muslim majority sooner rather later.

In Malaysian blogosphere now, there is the usual schism. The Malay-
Muslim voices have been unequivocally pro-Palestinian. The non-Malay,
non-Muslim voices have tended to be more accommodating of Israel's
self-justification.

Predictably, there was a protest against Israel at the American
embassy yesterday and anger over the deaths in Gaza – `several hundred
Hamas fighters were killed' says Morris but he omits to mention the
civilian casualties.

During the recent terrorist attack (right) on Mumbai, similarly,
several hundred Indian security forces, civilians and foreigners in
total were killed and injured.

Did the Malaysians, who are now bristling at Israel, earlier show an
outpouring of rage for the dead in Mumbai? Did the ones chanting
slogans at the American embassy extend condolences to the family of
the Indian Malaysian victim?

Yesterday, it was reported that 400 people were slaughtered in
Christmas massacres in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo –
burned alive in their homes, villagers decapitated or killed with
machetes, axes and clubs. Where is the Malaysian outcry?

Malaysia is akin to Israel in insisting the international community
should view the country just as the wonderful, fair-minded democracy
it miraculously manages to see itself in the smoked mirror.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/95644

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Malay-language edition of Catholic paper banned: editor

Malay-language edition of Catholic paper banned: editor
Jan 1, 09 1:08pm

A Catholic newspaper has been ordered by the government to cease its
Malay language edition until courts resolve a ban on the paper's use
of the word "Allah", its editor said today.

Herald newspaper editor Father Lawrence Andrew said the move was part
of a series of restrictions put in place by the government when it
renewed the paper's licence on Tuesday.

The Herald, circulated among the country's 850,000 Catholics, nearly
lost its publishing licence last year for using the word "Allah" as a
translation for "God", with authorities saying it should only be used
by Muslims.

"The constitution says Malay is the national language so why can't we
use the national language in Malaysia?" he told AFP.

He called the ban "unacceptable" and said he intended to take action.

Many Catholics are East M'sian bumis

Andrew (left in photo) said the ban did not make any sense because a
large proportion of Catholics in Malaysia are bumiputera who mainly
speak Malay.

The term "bumiputera", or "son of the soil", refers to ethnic Muslim
Malays and the indigenous inhabitants in peninsular Malaysia and on
Borneo island who are mostly Christian.

"More than 50 percent of our congregation are bumiputera and two of
our bishops are bumiputera," he added.

The issue will be decided by the courts next month, while Home
Ministry officials told the New Straits Times daily today they will be
monitoring the paper's actions closely.

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Puasa sunat pada 10 Muharram

Dalam bulan Muharram hari yang paling bertuah ialah hari ke-10 atau lebih
dikenali dengan nama Hari Asyura'. Pada hari tersebut kita disunatkan
berpuasa.

Malah dalam mazhab Imam Hanafi puasa hari ke-10 dalam bulan Muharram ini
adalah satu-satunya fardhu puasa yang pertama sebelum difardhukan puasa
bulan Ramadhan.

Hadith daripada Aisyah: "Sesiapa ingin berpuasa (sunat 10 Muharram) maka
bolehlah dia berpuasa. Dan sesiapa yang tak ingin berpuasa maka boleh dia
tinggalkan". Hadith riwayat Bukhari dan Muslim.

Malah dalam sebuah hadith riwayat Muslim Nabi berpuasa pada 10 Muharram
kerana pada hari tersebut diselamatkan Nabi Musa a.s daripada lemas dan
juga
daripada buruan Firaun.

KELEBIHAN

Baginda bersabda: "Berpuasa sunat pada 10 Muharram akan menghapuskan dosa
setahun sebelumnya". Riwayat Muslim.

BEZAKAN PUASA DENGAN ORANG YAHUDI

Oleh kerana orang Yahudi juga berpuasa pada 10 Muharram maka disunatkan
umat
Islam berpuasa sejak 9 Muharram lagi bagi membezakan dengan puasa orang
Yahudi. Hadith ini dikhabarkan oleh Ibnu Abbas dalam sebuah hadith riwayat
Muslim dan Abu Daud.

Atau kalau tidak dapat dikerjakan pada 9 Muharram maka boleh juga
digandingkan 10 Muharram dengan 11 Muharram.

SEJARAH 10 MUHARRAM

Imam al-Ghazali menyebut dalam kitabnya Mukasyafatul Qulub bahawa pada
tarikh tersebut:

1. Terbunuhnya Sayyidina Hussain (cucu Nabi) di Karbala'.
2. Diterima taubat Nabi Adam a.s.
3. Dicipta Adam a.s.
4. Dimasukkan Adam a.s ke dalam syurga.
5. Dicipta arasy, Kursi, langit, matahari, bulan, bintang-bintang.
6. Dilahirkan Nabi Ibrahim a.s.
7. Selamat Nabi Ibrahin daripada api Namrud.
8. Selamat Musa dan pengikutnya.
9. Lemas Firaun.
10. Dilahirkan Nabi Isa a.s.
11. Diangkat Nabi Isa kelangit.
12. Diangkat Nabi Idris ke langit.
13. Mendaratnya kapal Nabi Nuh dengan selamat di atas bukit Judy.
14. Nabi Sulaiman diberi kerajaan yang besar.
15. Dikeluarkan Nabi Yunus dari perut ikan Nun.
16. Nabi Ya'kub dapat melihat kembali selepas daripada menjadi buta.
17. Dikeluarkan Nabi Yusuf daripada telaga buta.
18. Disembuhkan Nabi Ayyub daripada penyakitnya.
19. Hujan yang pertama turun dari langit kebumi.

14 perkara yang sunat dilakukan pada hari Asyura :

1. Melapangkan masa / belanja anak isteri
fadhilat - Allah akan melapangkan hidupnya pada tahun ini.

2. Memuliakan fakir miskin
fadhilat - Allah akan melapangkannya dalam kubur nanti

3. Menahan marah
fadhilat - Di akhirat nanti Allah akan memasukkannya ke dalam golongan
yang
ridha

4. Menunjukkan orang sesat
fadhilat - Allah akan memenuhkan cahaya iman dalam hatinya

5. Menyapu / mengusap kepala anak yatim fadhilat - Allah akan mengurniakan
sepohon pokok di syurga bagi tiap-tiap rambut yang di sapunya.

6. Bersedekah
fadhilat - Allah akan menjauhkannya daripada neraka sekadar jauh seekor
gagak terbang tak berhenti-henti dari kecil sehingga ia mati. Diberi
pahala
seperti bersedekah kepada semua fakir miskin di dunia ini.

7. Memelihara kehormatan diri
fadhilat - Allah akan mengurniakan hidupnya sentiasa diterangi cahaya
keimanan.

8. Mandi Sunat
fadhilat - Tidak sakit (sakit berat)pada tahun itu lafaz niat : sahaja aku
mandi sunat hari Asyura kerana Allah Taala.

9. Bercelak
fadhilat - tidak akan sakit mata pada tahun itu

10. Membaca Qulhuwallah hingga akhir seribu kali
fadhilat - Allah akan memandanginya dengan pandangan rahmah diakhirat
nanti

11. Sembahyang sunat empat rakaat
fadhilat - Allah akan mengampunkan dosanya walau telah berlarutan selama
50
tahun melakukannya. lafaz niat : sahaja aku sembahyang sunat hari Asyura
empat rakaat kerana Allah Taala. Pada rakaat pertama dan kedua selepas
fatihah di baca Qulhuwallah sebelas kali.

12. Membaca "has biallahhu wa nik mal wa kila nikmal maula wa
nikmannasiru"
fadhilat - Tidak mati pada tahun ini

13. Menjamu orang berbuka puasa
fadhilat - Diberi pahala seperti memberi sekalian orang Islam berbuka
puasa.

14. Puasa Niat - Sahaja aku berpuasa esok hari sunat hari Asyura kerana
Allah Taala.
fadhilat - Diberi pahala seribu kali Haji, seribu kali umrah dan seribu
kali
syahid dan diharamkannya daripada neraka.

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ISTIDRAJ

ISTIDRAJ

Minggu lepas, kawan seofis Fendi tanya "Kenapa kadang kala kita lihat
seseorg insan tu sentiasa dapat kegembiraan spt dapat naik pangkat, murah
rezeki dll sedangkan dia tu selalu melakukan kemungkaran?". So, Fendi pun
jawablah yang kdg kala sesuatu anugerah Allah swt kpd seseorg
individu tu bukanlah sebab Allah sayangkan hambanya itu tetapi kerana
Allah
nak tengok sejauh mana keikhlasan orang itu. Allah nak tengok adakah
hambanya itu akan menyedari bahawa Allah amat bermurah hati dengannya jadi
sepatutnya dia bersyukur dan berubah menjadi baik. Tapi jika individu itu
masih tidak reti bersyukur maka sesungguhnya dia telah menimbulkan
kemurkaan Ar-Rahman.

Teringat juga Fendi pd satu penjelasan ustazah sekolah rendah dulu. Ada
member tanya kenapa kdg2 kita dah banyak kali berdoa tapi belum dapat apa
yang diimpikan. Ustazah kata itu tandanya Allah sayang pada kita.
Sebabnya
Allah tahu kalau kita lambat atau belum dpt yg diimpikan, kita akan terus
berdoa dan mengingati Ilahi. Sebenarnya Allah amat rindukan suara
hamba-hambaNya merayu dan memujiNya. Kalau sekali berdoa terus dapat,
kemungkinan besar lepas tu kita kita taksub dan lupa utk bersyukur pd yg
Esa.

Tup-tup dpt pula artikel ni drp seorg rakan. A very relevant and
interesting article. Semoga Allah beratkan timbangan ibadah kita drp
timbangan dosa di Pdg Mahsyar nanti. InsyaAllah..

Apakah dia istidraj itu?

Ianya adalah pemberian nikmat Allah kepada manusia yang mana pemberian itu
tidak diredhaiNya. Inilah yang dinamakan istidraj. Rasullulah s.a.w.
bersabda :"Apabila kamu melihat bahawa Allah Taala memberikan nikmat
kepada
hambanya yang selalu membuat maksiat (durhaka), ketahuilah baha wa orang
itu telah diistidrajkan oleh Allah SWT." (Diriwayatkan oleh At-Tabrani,
Ahmad dan Al-Baihaqi) Tetapi, manusia yang durhaka dan sering berbuat
maksiat yang terkeliru dengan pemikirannya merasakan bahawa nikmat yang
telah datang kepadanya adalah kerana Allah berserta dan kasih dengan
perbuatan maksiat mereka.

Masih ada juga orang ragu-ragu, kerana kalau kita hendak dapat kebahagian
di dunia dan akhirat kita mesti ikut jejak langkah Rasullulah saw dan
berpegang teguh pada agama Islam. Tetapi bagaimana dengan ada orang yang
sembahyang 5 waktu sehari semalam, bangun tengah malam bertahajjud, puasa
bukan di bulan Ramadhan sahaja, bahkan Isnin, Khamis dan puasa sunat yang
lain. Tapi, hidup mereka biasa sahaja. Ada yang susah juga. Ke napa? Dan
bagaimana pula orang yang seumur hidup tak sembahyang, puasa pun tak
pernah, rumahnya tersergam indah,
kereta mewah menjalar, duit banyak,dia boleh hidup kaya dan mewah. Bila
kita tanya, apa kamu tak t akut mati? Katanya, alah, orang lain pun mati
juga, kalau masuk neraka, ramai-ramai. Tak kisahlah! Sombongnya mereka,
takburnya mereka. Rasullulah s.a.w. naik ke langit bertemu Allah pun tak
sombong, Nabi Sulaiman, sebesar-besar pangkatnya sehinggakan semua makhluk
di muka bumi
tunduk di bawah perintahnya pun tak sombong! Secantik-cantik Nabi Yusof
dan
semerdu suara Nabi Daud, mereka tak sombong. Bila sampai masa dan
ketikanya, mereka tunduk dan sujud menyembah Allah.

Manusia istidraj - Manusia yang lupa daratan. Walaupun berbuat maksiat,
dia
merasa Allah menyayanginya. Mereka memandang hina kepada orang yang
beramal. "Dia tu siang malam ke masjid, basikal pun tak mampu beli,
sedangkan aku ke kelab malam pun dengan kereta mewah. Tak payah beribadat
pun, rezeki datang mencurah-curah. Kalau dia tu sikit ibadat tentu boleh
kaya macam aku, katanya sombong."

Sebenarnya, kadang-kadang Allah memberikan nikmat yang banyak dengan
tujuan
untuk menghancurkannya. Rasullulah s.a.w bersabda: "Apabila Allah
menghendaki untuk membinasakan
semut, Allah terbangkan semua itu dengan dua sayapnya" (Kitab Nasaibul
æIbad)

Anai-anai, jika tidak bersayap, maka dia akan duduk diam di bawah batu
atau
merayap di celah-celah daun, tetapi jika Allah hendak membinasakannya,
Allah berikan dia sayap. Lalu, bila sudah bersayap, anai-anai pun menjadi
kelkatu. Kelkatu, bila mendapat nikmat(sayap), dia akan cuba melawan api.

Begitu juga manusia, bila mendapat nikmat, cuba hendak melawan Allah swt.
Buktinya, Firaun. Nikmatnya tak terkira, tidak pernah sakit, bersin pun
tidak pernah kerana Allah berikannya nikmat kesihatan. Orang lain selalu
sakit, tapi Firaun tidak, orang la in mati,namun dia masih belum mati-mati
juga, sampai rasa angkuh dan besar diri lantas mengaku dirinya tuhan.
Tapi dengan nikmat itulah Allah binasakan dia. Namrud, yang cuba membakar
Nabi Ibrahim. Betapa besar pangkat Namrud? Dia begitu sombong dengan
Allah,
akhirnya menemui ajalnya hanya disebabkan seekor nyamuk masuk ke dalam
lubang hidungnya.

Tidak ada manusia hari ini sekaya Qarun. Anak kunci gudang hartanya sahaja
kena dibawa oleh 40 ekor unta. Akhirnya dia ditenggelamkan bersama-sama
hartanya sekali akibat terlalu takbur. Jadi kalau kita kaya,jangan sangka
Allah sayang, Qarun lagi kaya,akhirnya binasa juga. Jadi,jika kita kaji
dan
fikir betul-betul,maka terjawablah segala keraguan yang mengganggu fikiran
kita. Mengapa orang kafir kaya, dan orang yang berbuat maksiat hidup
senang
/mewah. Pemberian yang diberikan oleh Allah pada mereka bukanlah yang
diredhaiNya. Rupa-rupanya ianya adalah bertujuan untuk menghancurkannya.
Untuk apa hidup ini tanpa keredhaanNya?

Tetapi jangan pula ada orang kaya beribadat, masuk masjid dengan kereta
mewah kita katakan itu istidraj. Orang naik pangkat, istidraj. Orang-orang
besar, istidraj. Jangan! Orang yang mengunakan nikmatnya untuk kebajikan
untuk mengabdi kepada Allah bukan istidraj. Dan jangan pula kita tidak
mahu
kekayaan. Kalau hendak selamat, hidup kita mesti ada pegangan. Bukan kaya
yang kita cari, juga bukan miskin yang kita cari. Tujuan hidup kita adalah
mencari keredaan Allah. Bagaimana cara untuk menentukan nikmat yang
diredhai Allah? Seseorang itu dapat menyedari hakikat yang sebenarnya
tentang nikmat yang diterimanya itu ialah apabila dia bersyukur nikmatnya.
Dia akan mengunakan pemberian ke jalan kebaikan dan sentiasa redha dan
ikhlas mengabdikan diri kepada Allah. Maka segala limpah kurnia yang
diperolehi itu adalah nikmat pemberian yang diredhai Allah.

Bila tujuan hidup kita untuk mencari keredhaan Allah, niscaya selamatlah
kita di dunia dan akhirat.

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Islam and the Malay Mindset: What Went Wrong?

Islam and the Malay Mindset: What Went Wrong?
M. Bakri Musa

This was the topic for a small group discussion at a recent seminar
organized by Kelab UMNO New York/New Jersey. I was a passive participant
at this dialogue, at least initially.

In the ensuing discussions, the students duly reaffirmed the
greatness of Islam, citing many ready examples. Islam emancipated the
ancient Bedouins out of their Age of Jahilliyah (Ignorance), and did it
all within a generation. Islam then spread as far westward as
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Andalusia and eastward
right up to China. In the process Islam inspired and created great
civilizations and empires that lasted till at least the early part of the
last century.

After over 1400 years however, Islam (at least the physical
empire, though not the faith) was done in by European colonialism. With
colonialism's ending, there was a quick resurgence of Islam. Today it is
the faith of a quarter of the world's population, and fast growing.

Islam has been part of the Malay world for well over half a
millennium. It is very much an integral part of our "Malayness" such
that the statutory definition of a Malay is tied to the faith. Our
embrace of Islam remains firm if not enhanced, despite being under
complete Western (specifically British) colonial domination for a good
portion of the time.

With the resurgence of Islam, Malays like Muslims everywhere
yearn for the return of those earlier glorious days. Thus far that is
all there is to it – just a yearning; much of the Muslim world remains
tragically mired in poverty, with its citizens deprived of their basic
human dignity and rights.

In Malaysia, the achievement gaps between Malays and
non-Malays continue to widen despite the political leadership and public
institutions being dominated by Malays. This glaring disparity remains a
continuous source of communal angst, triggering more than just a few
occasions of mass "acting out" behaviors as keris wielding and shrill
calls for Ketuanan Melayu.

Why is Islam unable to emancipate Malays as it did the ancient
Bedouins? What went wrong? Being true believers, the students rightly
asserted that there is nothing wrong with this great faith, rather with
our understanding – and thus practice – of it.

We are obsessed with rituals at the expense of appreciating
the essence of Islam, the students observed. The universal message of
Islam is lost with the associated Arabism, they continued. We are
consumed in being Arabs, or at least aping them in the belief that it is
the same thing as being Islamic or pious.

In teaching our young we are too preoccupied with being
punitive and not enough with being positive. When they are naughty or
grab a toy from another child, we would admonish them by saying that God
would punish them by burning them in hell. Such concepts are beyond the
comprehension of young minds, except to imprint on them horror-filled
images of suffering and torture.

A more understandable and thus effective way would be to teach
those children to imagine how they would feel if someone were to steal
their toys. Such an approach would also be an excellent way to impart
upon them the Golden Rule, to do unto others what you want done to you, a
basic precept in all faiths.

We make our young recite and even memorize the Quran at a very
early age without expending commensurate time and effort in teaching them
the meaning or significance of those verses in our every day lives. We
have reduced this great religion to a series of rituals instead of being
a guide to a "total way of life" that is righteous, pleases Allah, and
leads to a harmonious society. We pray, fast, pay our tithe, and
undertake the pilgrimage but then go right ahead and accept bribes,
neglect our jobs, and ignore our families and society.

We go to great lengths avoiding pork and improperly slaughtered
chicken and cows, rightly considering them haram, but we have no
compulsion in accepting bribes or neglecting our duties.

The students did a credible job of societal
self-introspection. As they were summarizing their conclusions to
present to the larger group, I enquired how we as a society have strayed
from the central message of Islam. More relevantly, how could we
rediscover the essence of Islam so that it too would do for us what it
did for the ancient Arabs?

Taqlid, Bidaa, and Tajdid

Taqlid and bidaa are two central concepts in the learning and transmission
of Islam. Taqlid refers to following the teachings of those more learned
and pious than and before us. Specifically, it refers to adhering to the
practices of one of the established schools of jurisprudence or mahdhab.

The Arabic root of the word means to place a collar around the
neck, as we would to guide an animal. The operative word there is
"guide," to lead us along the straight path.

Malay villagers however, do not put a collar around our kerbau
(buffalo) rather a ring through its nose. It serves the same purpose, and
more. For in addition to leading the animal we also effectively control
it.

Therein lies the problem. Does taqlid mean letting us be
guided or be controlled? Is taqlid a collar slung loosely around our
neck to nudge us to the left or right as a rein to a horse, or a ring
pierced through our nose as with our kerbau? There is a vast difference
between paying deference to precedents (as lawyers and judges do) versus
being held captive by them. If it were the latter, slavery would still
be legal in America.

Likewise with bidaa; with every khutba the Imam would duly
warn the flock of the awesome Hellfire that awaits those who would dare
engage in bidaa. Invariably the word is translated as "innovation."
"Innovation" means more than just change; it implies change for the
better, and thus something commendable and to strive for. Bidaa
obviously does not mean innovation; it is closer to corruption or
adulteration, hence the dire warning against partaking in it!

My point here was to sensitize the students to the potential
treacherous trap in interpreting the meaning of words especially where
translations were involved. Such dangers exist even without
translations, as words can change their meanings and connotations over
time. During the prophet's time for example, poets were held in low
regard, as clearly stated in some Quranic verses, as they used their
talent to mock the prophet.

Thus when a religious scholar quotes a verse from the Quran or
hadith and then confidently assert with such certitude, "And the verse
means … ," that belies an arrogant mindset, impervious to reasons and
intolerant of differing interpretations. A more humble and also accurate
way would be to add the proviso, "When approximately translated."
Translations are at best approximate and provisional.

Our Prophet Muhammad, s.a.w., anticipated this erosion and
corruption of the faith, as had happened to earlier revelations to other
prophets before him. Hence the Quranic references to the appearance of a
"prophet amongst us every hundred years" to renew the faith by getting rid
of the inevitable accretions of extraneous practices and beliefs that
would inevitably develop over time. "Prophet" here of course means
"leader," as to Muslims Muhammad, s.a.w, was the Last Prophet.

This concept of renewal or tajdid is a long established
tradition in Islam. However, we cannot have renewal if we remain a slave
to precedents, or if we consider every change a bidaa or an affront to
taqlid. Islam has never been short of reformers, right from the first
rightly-guided caliphs to the rationalists Mutazilites and many
modern-day reformers. Like reformers in other faith, some have paid
dearly for their attempts.

America with its freedom provides fertile ground for the
renewal of Islam. America is also fortunate in having many brilliant
Islamic scholars who have been driven away from their native land for
their innovative ideas. To their folks back home, these reformers are
engaging in bidaa, a mortal sin.

We are also fortunate in America to have the freedom to
explore the rich and varied traditions of our faith. In Malaysia you
could be detained under the ISA for reading Shiite literature! To put
that in perspective, that is the same punishment if you were to engage in
subversive or communist activities. Add to that the favorite past time of
our leaders: banning books and restricting speakers! That ring through
our noses can be very restricting!

What went Right

To end the students' discussion on a positive note, I asked them to
consider the flip side of their query, to ponder what went right. I
nudged them to imagine what would have happened had Islam not landed on
our shores.

One student reacted with horror at that prospect as we would
then still have our animist ways and Hindu beliefs. At which point I
enquired whether the Balinese (who are racially Malays) are somehow
inferior to us because they are not Muslims. Or for that matter the
Protestant Bataks in Sumatra.

As that seemed to dampen the discussion, I volunteered that
there are many things that went right with Islam and Malays. Seeing it
strictly from my professional perspective, I am glad that Malays are
Muslims. When I was a surgeon in Malaysia, I never saw a single case of
alcohol-related injuries among Malays. Before America had its strict
drunk driving laws, a large part of my work as a surgeon was to repair
the horrible damages wrecked by drunks. In the Philippines,
alcohol-related crimes and injuries are rampant.

I wish our Quran would have similar explicit prohibitions
against drugs and corruption as it does against alcohol!

On a higher level, Islam introduced the written word to our
world. Once a society adopted a written culture, there is a quantum lap
in its intellectual development. Yes, before the arrival of Arabic
Malays had Sanskrit, but that was a dead language. Many of the ancient
Malay literature are adaptations of stories from the Middle East, and our
language borrows heavily from Arabic.

On that positive note we ended the discussion. What went
wrong is not with Islam rather how we have missed the essence of this
great faith in our obsession with its peripherals.

December 21, 2008

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The failed Muslim states to come

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JL16Ak02.html

The failed Muslim states to come
By Spengler

Financial crises, like epidemics, kill the unhealthy first. The
present crisis is painful for most of the world but deadly for many
Muslim countries, and especially so for the most populous ones. Policy
makers have not begun to assess the damage.

The diplomatic strategy of the industrial nations now resembles a
James Clavell potboiler, in which an earthquake interrupts a
hopelessly immured plot. Moderate Islam was the El Dorado of the
diplomatic consensus. It might have been the case that Pakistan could
be tethered to Western interests, or that Iran could be engaged
peacefully, or that Turkey would incubate a moderate form of Islam. I
considered all of this delusional, but the
truth is that we shall never know. The financial crisis will sort them
out first.

As I commented in the late autumn, the world is not flat, but
flattened (see Asia Times Online, October 28, 2008), leaving the
economies of the largest Muslim countries in ruins. It is hard to
forecast the political fallout, for when each available choice leads
to a failed state, it is a matter of indifference which one you adopt.
As state finances crumble, states will become less important, and
freebooters will seize the stage. Think of the Mumbai terrorists as a
political cognate of the Somali pirates, and the character of a Middle
East made up of failed states comes into focus.

Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad controls Iran through a
kleptocracy of Central African proportions, dissipating the country's
oil windfall into payoffs to an "entire class of hangers-on of the
Islamic revolution", as I wrote in June (see Worst of times for Iran,
Asia Times Online, June 24, 2008), when oil still sold at US$135 a
barrel. What will Ahmadinejad do now that the oil price has collapsed?
According to my Iranian sources, the answer is: Exactly the same
thing, but without the money. [1]

The point of the joke is that Iran's regime cannot reduce subsidies or
raise taxes without losing control of the constituencies that brought
it to power. They are the peasants and the urban poor who barely
afford shelter and food as matters stand. Despite the oil-price
collapse, the government has not reduced energy subsidies that the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) puts at more than a fifth of gross
domestic product (GDP). A proposed value-added tax was withdrawn last
October after strikes in the bazaars, starting in Isfahan and other
provincial towns and spreading to the capital Tehran. Iran is eating
through its $60 billion of foreign exchange reserves, unable to adjust
to a collapse of its only significant revenue source.

Iran must break down, I argued last June, or break out, through a
military adventure. The sand is slipping out of the hour glass, and
the regime must decide what to do within a few months. If it does
nothing, the default position, as it were, is Pakistan.

Iran's Ahmadinejad rules through massive subsidies. Pakistan's
President Asif Ali Zardari does the same thing, but without the money.
Pakistan ran out of foreign exchange reserves in November and obtained
emergency financing from the IMF. Its current account deficit was
running at an alarming 14% of GDP, or about $20 billion a year, a
small sum, but an important one for a country two-thirds of whose 175
million people subsist on less than $2 a day.

Pakistan received just $7.6 billion from the IMF, covering a third of
its current account deficit, which means that imports must be reduced
drastically (although lower oil prices may help a bit). Inflation is
running at 25% a year.

Pakistan has one of the world's youngest populations and an enormous
capital requirement. Young people borrow from old people, and
countries with young populations should import capital from countries
with aging populations. That is out of the question, for the world
markets have turned Pakistan into a pariah. The cost of credit
protection on Pakistani sovereign debt is now more than 3,000 points
(or 30%) above the benchmark London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR),
reflecting a complete shutout from capital markets.

Cost of credit protection for Pakistan government debt (5-year term,
in basis points of spread to the London Interbank Rate).

Shown on the right-hand scale is the most populous Muslim country,
Indonesia, where investors pay 1,000 basis points (10 percentage
points) above LIBOR for five-year credit protection.

Pakistan was at least able to raise a modicum of official support.
What will Iran do if its reserves run out? The same thing as Pakistan,
but without the money, for Iran is a geopolitical pariah without
access to official aid.

The Muslim risk premium has become so pervasive that investors are
looking cross-eyed at Saudi Arabia. The cost of credit protection on
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has jumped since August, and now is
considerably higher than Israel's.

Cost of 5-year credit protection on Saudi Arabia and Israel

Israel credit protection trades at 185 basis points above LIBOR, about
the same as Italy, while Saudi Arabia is at 236 basis points.
Considering the kingdom's resources, that must be interpreted as a
political risk premium.

Turkey has been able to keep afloat through the crisis, but barely so.
The Turkish currency has fallen by a third, its stock market has
fallen by nearly 80% in dollar terms, and the central bank must keep
interest rates at a punishing 20% to prevent money from fleeing the
country. Turkey has a real economy with a few first-rate manufacturing
companies, unlike Iran and Pakistan, so the comparison is not quite
fair. Nonetheless, Turkey relied heavily on short-term interbank
borrowings to finance its balance of trade deficit, and the crisis has
pulled the carpet out from under its economy. In August, before the
crisis erupted in force, Turkey had 10% unemployment. It will get much
worse.

Turkish lira and Turkish 1-year interest rate

Turkey was the poster-child for the so-called carry trade, in which
hedge funds and other investors borrowed in low-interest currencies,
for example the Japanese yen, and lent the money in high-interest
currencies, of which Turkey's lira was the highest. The carry trade
was the main source of money for Turkish business. What will Turkey do
now that the credit crisis has made the "carry trade" a painful
memory? The same thing, but without the money.

Pakistan is about to become a failed state, and Iran and Turkey will
be close behind. As I commented to Chan Akya's report of December 2 on
this site (see The hottest place in the world), Pakistan's
military-age population is far greater than those of other Muslim
military powers in the region. With about 20 million men of military
age, Pakistan today has as much manpower as Turkey and Iran combined,
and by 2035 it will have half again as many.

Half the country is illiterate and three-quarters of it subsists on
less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank. That is to say that
Pakistan's young men are more abundant as well as cheaper than in any
other country in the region. Very poor and ignorant young men,
especially if their only education has been in Salafi madrassas, are
very easy to enlist in military adventures.

The West at present is unable to cope with a failed state like
Somalia, with less than a tenth as many military age men as Pakistan,
but which nonetheless constitutes a threat to world shipping and a
likely source of funding for terrorism. How can the West cope with the
humiliation of Pakistan's pro-American president and the inability of
its duly-constituted government to suppress Islamist elements in its
army and intelligence services? For the moment, Washington will do its
best to prop up its creature, Zardari, but to no avail. The
alternatives will require the West to add several zeros to whatever
the prevailing ceiling might be for acceptable collateral damage.

A final note: several readers have asked me to comment on the terror
attack on Mumbai in November. I will do so with great caution, given
the absence of accurate information. I have good reason to believe
that the Indian authorities lied about the attack. India claimed that
10 shooters were involved, because nine were killed and one captured.
The actual number is closer to 30, I am reliably informed, not
counting support personnel in Mumbai who arranged safe houses with
extra ammunition and explosives months in advance of the attack. It
was not a suicide attack at all, but a new kind of urban terror
assault, in which the participants had a reasonable expectation of
survival, and the majority did in fact survive. That is an important
wrinkle, for a better class of combatant can be recruited for missions
in which survival is at least possible.

No analyst I know has answered with confidence the question, cui bono?
To whose benefit was the attack? It has been suggested that al-Qaeda
diverted a Pakistani military intelligence team from Kashmir to
Mumbai, in a demonstration of power against India. But there may be
another dimension. The Mumbai attack has been a test of a different
kind of warfare, the kind that emanates from failed states: the
tactics of the Somali pirates applied to random destruction of
civilian lives.

The lights are going out across the Middle East; states are failing,
and it is not in the power of the West to make them whole again. All
the strategic calculations that busied policy analysts and diplomats
are changing, and the West has a very short time to learn the rules of
a new and terrible game.

Note
1. This appears to be a variant of a joke told in many countries. One
peasant asks another, "How does a telephone work?" The second replies,
"It is like a big dog, with the tail in Isfahan and the head in
Mashdad. You pull the tail in Isfahan and it barks in Mashdad." The
first replies, "But how does a cell phone work?" The second replies,
"The same way, but without the dog."

(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

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Malaysia-Today interviews the Home Minister

Malaysia-Today interviews the Home Minister
Tuesday, 09 December 2008 17:31

Today, Malaysia Today interviews the Home Minister to get his take on a
range of issues that have been the bone of contention with most
Malaysians. This article is of course just a satire and any similarities
with persons still alive, already dead, or about to die is purely
coincidental.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin
Malaysia Today: YB, thank you for agreeing to an interview with Malaysia
Today's No Holds Barred column.

Yang Berhormat: Thank you for inviting me. It is very seldom that the
alternative media would interview a member of the Cabinet so that we can
set the record straight and correct the lies and wrong perception about
the government, which are spread by the alternative media. Normally, the
alternative media just reports rumours without obtaining the government's
side of the story. I congratulate the alternative media for becoming more
mature in giving the government space to inform the public of the truth.

But before we start, I would like to offer my condolence to the Indian
government on the recent tragedy in Mumbai. I thank God that Malaysia
does not suffer such acts of terrorism, primarily because we have the
Internal Security Act, which allows us to detain terrorist before they
can cause any harm to society. This shows that the Internal Security Act
has been very successful in maintaining law and order and in safeguarding
the security of this country.

MT: Since you have brought up the matter of the ISA, YB, can we start by
talking about that?

YB: Sure.

MT: The people criticise the ISA and…….

YB: Which people? The alternative media always talks about 'the people'.
But which people are you talking about?

MT: Well, I suppose the civil society movements and human rights
movements.

YB: These people are in the minority. The majority of the people voted for
the government. So this means the majority support the ISA. If not they
would not have voted for the government. It is the majority that counts,
not the minority. We can't make laws or abolish laws just for the sake of
the minority. We must do what the majority wants. The ISA is to prevent
terrorism. If, in 2001, the US also had the ISA, their Twin Towers would
still be standing. Malaysia's Twin Towers is still standing because of
the ISA.

MT: But the ISA is not used against terrorists. The government has always
said that Malaysia does not have any terrorists. The ISA is used to deny
the people freedom of speech.

YB: There is still freedom of speech in Malaysia. Who says that there is
no freedom of speech?

MT: It is not freedom of speech which does not exist in Malaysia. It is
freedom after speech.

YB: That is different. Then you can't say that there is no freedom of
speech in Malaysia. There is freedom of speech. Of course, if you say the
wrong things, then you run the risk of being detained under the ISA.
Berani cakap, berani tanggunglah!

MT: Okay, then what would you regard as 'saying the wrong things'?

YB: Well, like inciting the people to hate the government or saying
something that may start racial problems.

MT: But we already have so many other laws like the Sedition Act, Criminal
Defamation, PPPA, and so on, to charge those who may have broken the law.
Why the need to detain them under the ISA? Just charge them in court..

YB: That would not be so easy. We will need evidence to charge them in
court. Without evidence how to charge them?

MT: But how do you know all those people who the government has detained
under the ISA have committed a crime? Is it not possible they are all
innocent?

YB: No, we have evidence. That is why we detained them.

MT: But if you have evidence then why not use this evidence to charge
them?

YB: I already said there is not enough evidence to charge them.

MT: But there is enough evidence to detain them?

YB: Yes. The evidence is enough to detain them, only not enough to charge
them.

MT: But when you sign the Detention Order you must first see all the
evidence. Is this not so?

YB: That is true. Only when I am satisfied there is enough evidence will I
sign the Detention Order.

MT: But you still feel that the evidence, though sufficient to detain
them, is not sufficient enough to charge them.

YB: That is correct. But the detainee still has a chance to appear before
the Advisory Board within three months to argue his case. If the Advisory
Board is of the opinion that the detainee is innocent then he will be
released. So we are quite fair.

MT: Have many people been released through the recommendations of the
Advisory Board so far?

YB: Well, not many…..maybe none so far. But this only means we were not
wrong in detaining them. If not, surely the Advisory Board would have
recommended their release.

MT: But there have been reports that, from time to time, the Advisory
Board has recommended the release of some detainees. However, the Home
Minister has always overruled their recommendations.

YB: Yes, that is true. This is because the Advisory Board was mistaken and
we did not agree with their recommendations. So we overruled them.

MT: This would mean the Advisory Board is a lame duck and has no power. It
is the Home Minister who has the final say. Would this not be so?

YB: That is not true. The Advisory Board does have power.

MT: Power to do what?

YB: Power to recommend the release of the detainee.

MT: But the Minister does not follow their recommendation and overrules
them. The Minister has the final say.

YB: But this does not mean the Advisory Board does not have power.

MT: If you say so YB. Okay, can we now talk about the Umno party elections
and the numerous complaints about corruption in the party?

YB: What corruption are you talking about? There is no corruption in Umno.

MT: But the mainstream media has been reporting the many complaints of
money politics.

YB: That is money politics, not corruption.

MT: Is there a difference?

YB: Of course there is. Corruption is when you pay to get something. Money
politics is not corruption.

MT: What would you call money politics then?

YB: Money politics is……..well, money politics.

MT: And that is not corruption?

YB: Of course not.

MT: Okay, whatever. Now, on the matter of race relations, don't you think
that Malaysia is very dangerously being pushed to the brink of racial
problems?

YB: That is why we have so many times said that the opposition is stirring
the sentiments of the many races.

MT: But it is not the opposition that is doing this.

YB: Then who?

MT: Umno.

YB: Umno is a responsible party. We do not play the race card.. It is the
opposition that is doing this.

MT: In what way is the opposition doing this?

YB: They are asking for the government to abolish Ketuanan Melayu and the
NEP. This makes the Malays angry and may cause the Malays to mengamuk.
The opposition should stop all this nonsense before the peace and harmony
of this country is compromised.

MT: But is it not time we treat all Malaysians equal and no longer treat
one race as having more privileges than others?

YB: Aiyah, how can! That is the kind of talk that makes the Malays angry.
It is dangerous to suggest such things. We must maintain the harmony
between the many races and not say things like that.

MT: But what gives one race the right to have more privileges than others?

YB: That was the agreement when we gained Merdeka in 1957. How can we go
back on what was agreed?

MT: What agreement?

YB: The Social Contract that was agreed by the Malays, Chinese and
Indians.

MT: Many say that the Social Contract does not exist. Have you ever seen
it? Can Malaysians see a copy?

YB: It was not a written contract. It was a verbal contract.

MT: When was it made and under want circumstances was it made?

YB: It was agreed upon when Umno, MCA and MIC jointly negotiated for
Merdeka from the British.

MT: And what were the terms of the contract?

YB: That Malay would be the National Language and Islam the official
religion plus the Malays would be accorded special rights and privileges
such as certain quotas in the civil service and in educational
institutions.

MT: But has this not since been amended many times in breach of the
original Social Contract?

YB: No! In what way has it changed? Everything still remains the same.

MT: The government imposes new rules such as companies must be 100%
Bumiputera before they can get import permits or APs and 30% of houses
built must be sold to Bumiputeras according to the land area and so on.
This was not part of the so-called Social Contract agreed by Umno, MCA
and MIC before Merdeka. They are new rules made up as we went along.

YB: True. But the non-Malays accepted them.

MT: How do you know they accepted them?

YB: Because they continued to vote for the government. If they did not
agree then they would not have voted for the government.

MT: But they did not vote for the government. 49% of the Malays and more
than 80% of the Chinese and Indians did not vote for the government in
the last general election. This means they do not agree with the
government policies.

YB: But we still won more than 60% of the Parliament seats.

MT: That is only because of Gerrymandering. Malay majority seats like
Putrajaya, where the voters are 98% Malay, have only 5,000 voters while
seats that are 80% or more non-Malay have 120,000 voters or more. That is
why the government still won and not because the majority voted for it.

YB: That is beside the point. We still can't deny the fact that we won 140
seats and the opposition won only 82 seats.

MT: Yes, but if the votes were evenly divided between constituencies with
a variation of plus-minus 20% the government would have fallen by now. It
is only through Gerrymandering that the government managed to hold on to
power.

YB: That is your opinion. It does not mean it is true.

MT: Thank you, YB, for the interview. I am sure you have helped enlighten
Malaysians with your view of things.

YB: Thank you. I hope I have managed to rebut the opposition lies and
propaganda and I look forward to similar sessions in future where the
government can be given an opportunity to set the record straight.

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English-Medium Islamic Schools

English-Medium Islamic Schools
M. Bakri Musa

The Minister of Education will soon decide whether to continue the
teaching of science and mathematics in English in our schools. That
decision will not materially change the continuing decline in educational
achievements of Malays.

This harsh reality is the consequence of our national schools
– the default choice for most Malays – being abysmal failures. Most
non-Malays as well as affluent Malays are fully aware of this and thus
have long ago abandoned the system. Observe the steady stream of school
buses and private cars full of young non-Malays heading south on the
causeway every school-day morning. As for affluent Malays, ask where
Najib Razak and Hishammuddin Hussein send their children for their
education!

In today's economy, the most advantaged are those with high
science literacy and mathematical skills, as well as being fluent in more
than one language, with one of those languages being English, the language
of commerce and science. Fluency in English is no panacea of course; a
visit to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />India and the Philippines
will quickly disabuse us of that assumption.

The next most advantaged will be those fluent only in English.
The least advantaged would be those literate in only one language, and
that language is other than English. This unfortunately is the fate of
Malays today.

While one could attain high levels of science literacy and
mathematical skills without knowing English, that is true only if one's
primary language is Japanese, German, or any of the other already
developed languages. It is not true for Swahili or Urdu. It is
definitely not true for Malay, no matter how passionately our language
nationalists assert to the contrary. Even with those Germans and
Japanese, the crucial point often overlooked is that they are also
literate in English. Japanese children for example, learn English right
from kindergarten.

These educational deficiencies of Malays are long standing;
they cannot be solved through expensive investments in facilities and
personnel alone.

The problem is most critical, and equally most difficult to
overcome, with rural Malays. The cultural, intellectual, language and
other ambience at home and in the community are not conducive to these
children lifting themselves out of their trapped environment. They need
help desperately. To effectively do so, our leaders must be daring and
exceptionally innovative; resorting to pat answers would not do our
students justice.

English Schools in Rural Areas

In my earlier books I proposed setting up English schools in the kampongs.
It makes sense to begin there as those Malays are the ones with the
lowest proficiency in English, and thus would benefit most from such an
initiative. With their already high usage of Malay at home and in the
community, these pupils would not likely "forget" their native tongue if
they were to attend these exclusively-English schools.

This is not a novel or risky social experiment, rather the
resurrecting and improving of an old successful one. That was how Malays
of my and earlier generations received our education. And as Tun Mahathir
noted, we have not become any less Malay for the experience. Nor have we
degenerated into "brown Mat Sallehs," the expressed mortal fear of the
nationalists. Indeed that was how those ardent defenders of Malay
language as Nik Safiah and Hussein Ismail received their education and
enhanced their intellectual development. Now they want to deny today's
young Malays – their grandchildren – the very same opportunities that
they had enjoyed and benefited from.

While my proposal would be an improvement over the present
system, there are problems with its implementation. Politically, there
could be similar demands for such schools to be set up elsewhere,
especially in areas where the background level of Malay in the community
is low. Then we could potentially end up with situation akin to the bad
colonial days where students would be fluent in English but at the
expense of their proficiency in Malay. That would be unacceptable as
Malay is now our national language. Further, it would divert resources
and personnel away from rural areas, where the need is most desperate.

Then there is the ire of the nationalists. They would go
ballistic seeing those village children heartily singing Baa Baa Black
Sheep instead of Nyet Nyet Semut, fearing the cultural and other
"polluting" influences on our young. Telling them that those children
would continue singing our melodious Malay lullabies at home would not
reassure these nationalists.

A more practical problem would be in getting good teachers to
serve in rural areas, although this could be alleviated through generous
incentives like higher bonuses and providing living quarters. Not
readily surmountable would be that such schools would necessarily be
small; hence their academic offerings would be limited.

English-language Islamic Schools

To bypass these problems, I propose setting up English-medium Islamic
schools. Again I am not suggesting anything radical here, merely
extending an already successful experiment. I am simply proposing that
the successful formula of the International Islamic University (IIU) be
extended down to the school level.

Like IIU, these Islamic schools would use English as the medium of
instruction, be open to all, and teach religious as well as "secular"
subjects. These schools could be set up anywhere, not just in rural
areas. Consequently they could be in major towns and thus be of
sufficient size to offer a varied and rich curriculum.

In fact IIU already has its Islamic School, also using English as the
medium of instruction. Unfortunately its curriculum and pedagogical
philosophy are more madrasah-like, the antithesis of a modern educational
institution even though the school prepares its students for the GCE "A"
examination. The emphasis at that school is on students learning the
rituals of Islam and memorizing the Quran. I would prefer that those be
done outside the classroom.

The Islamic school I have in mind would be modeled after the many
excellent Christian – in particular Catholic – schools in America. Their
academic standing is such that they are the first choice for many
non-Christians, including Muslims. These schools are first and foremost
academic institutions, concerned primarily with education. They are
interested in making their students better citizens, not on producing
future priests or on proselytizing.

These schools regularly matriculate their students to highly competitive
universities to become engineers and doctors. Only a tiny fraction, if
any, would end up in the clergy. Likewise, my version of Islamic schools
would produce Malaysia's future scientists and scholars. These schools
are not meant to produce converts to Islam or turn students into ulama.

There are now many such Islamic schools in America, and their number is
rapidly growing such that the University of California, Irvine, currently
offers a teachers' credentialing certificate in Islamic Education.
Ultimately these schools would lead to the establishment of an
English-medium Islamic University modeled after and of the caliber of
Georgetown. Meaning, they would offer solid liberal education in a
rigorous academic environment but with an Islamic ambience, akin to the
Catholicism of Georgetown.

A more local but historical model of my Islamic school would be our old
missionary schools. They did a credible job in educating many
Malaysians, including our present Minister of Education Hishammuddin.
Just substitute their Christianity for Islam.

English-medium Islamic schools in Malaysia would overcome many
of the problems associated with my earlier suggestion of having English
schools in rural areas. For one, such schools could be set up in urban
areas and thus be of sufficient size to offer a rich and varied
curriculum. There would also be fewer difficulties in recruiting
teachers.

While English would be the medium of instruction, Arabic (and with it
jawi) would be taught as a second language. Islamic Studies would be
taught in English, but the emphasis there should be on teaching it as an
academic subject, not as theology.

In a typical seven-period day, one period would be devoted to Arabic and
another to Islamic Studies. The remaining five would be for regular or
"secular" subjects, including English, science, and mathematics. Science
and mathematics would be taught as per the current understanding, and not
as some presumed "Islamic" variant. The curriculum must include the
performing arts, and the extracurricular programs robust and varied to
include sports.

The emphasis should be on solid liberal education and critical
thinking. Literature for example would be taught not only as a means of
learning the language but also to develop the students' critical
faculties, as per Louise Rosenblatt's "Literature as Exploration"
philosophy. Students would be discussing Shakespeare's sonnets as well
as Rumi's rhymes.

Using English would go a long way in disabusing Malays of the
negative psychological connotation associated with learning that
language. We would no longer view English as the language of colonials
and infidels but as a necessary intellectual tool. For another, such
schools would truly educate their students, teaching them to think
critically as well as imparting to them modern skills and knowledge. Far
too often what goes on in existing Islamic schools is nothing more than
indoctrination – masquerading as education.

Properly executed, these schools would attract students from
abroad, especially the Middle East. These schools could be viable
business investments as well as contribute to making Malaysia an
educational hub.

Since these schools are open to all, they should get state
support. There is precedent for this; the old Christian missionary
schools also received governmental funding. Additionally such schools
should get a generous slice of the huge zakat and wakaf endowments. I
would also impose a surcharge of RM100 for every Hajj and umrah ticket
towards funding these schools.

As can be readily seen, my version of the Islamic school is
very different from the current Sekolah Kebangsaan Agama (SKA). Apart
from differences in admission policy and language of instruction (SKA
admits only Muslims and uses Malay), there would also be profound
differences in mission and teaching philosophy. SKA aspires to nurture
future pendakwah (missionaries), and like IIU's version, is more madrasah
than a modern educational institution.

My proposal transcends politics; it is also be a splendid way
to initiate conversations between Malay leaders in the various parties
for the betterment of our people. This dialogue is desperately needed as
our leaders are determined to go their separate and divisive ways. They
seem intent on erasing any commonality of objectives in the relentless
pursuit of their political goals.

English-medium Islamic schools may prove to be the effective
avenue to propel Malays up the educational ladder. The Islamic
imprimatur always sells. Our language nationalists would not dare oppose
such schools even if English were to be the medium of instruction. We
should capitalize on this. These schools could be the salvation for
Malays, just as Catholic schools were for impoverished and marginalized
Irish immigrants in America at the turn of the last century.

These are the issues I expect Hishammuddin and his senior
officers at the Ministry of Education to deliberate on, not flip flopping
on major policies. That they are not doing so is a gross dereliction of
duty. Unfortunately it is our young who bear the terrible burden of this
negligence.

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End the NEP in the universities - LKS

End the NEP in the universities as the first step to restore a world-class
university system Malaysia is losing out in the unrelenting battle for
international competitiveness among nations, with Malaysian universities
even losing out to universities in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines –
something completely unthinkable in the first three decades of our
nationhood.
 
For the second consecutive year, Malaysia had fallen completely out of the
list of the world's Top 200 Universities this year in the 2008 Times
Higher Education Supplement (THES) - Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World
University Rankings.
The national shame of Malaysia falling completely out of the list of the
world's Top 200 Universities this year in the 2008 Times Higher Education
Supplement (THES) - Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings is
being compounded by the ignominy of Malaysian universities losing out not
only to top universities in Singapore, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan
and South Korea but also to other South East Asian nations like Thailand,
Indonesia and Philippines.
 
For the second consecutive year, there is not only not a single university
in the 2008 THES-QS  Top 200 Universities list, there is also not a single
university in the separate ranking of Top 100 Universities for five
subject areas – Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities;
Life Sciences and Biomedicine; and Technology.
 
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Malaya (UM) were in
the 2006 Ranking, placed No. 185 and 192 respectively.  UKM plunged to
309 last year and improved to 250 this year while UM fell to 246 last
year improving slightly to 230 this year – but both remain outside the
Top 200 Universities ranking.
 
The government named Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) as the Apex
University but it has a dismal international rankings after being
included once in the Top 200 Universities list – No. 111 in 2004, No. 326
in 2005, 277 in 2006, No. 307 in 2007 and No. 313 in 2008.
 
It is both sad and pathetic that our Apex University, the USM, at  No. 313
ranking, is not only  left far behind in South East Asia by  Singapore
(National University of Singapore No. 30 and Nanyang Technological
University  No. 77) but also by Thailand (Chulalongkorn University No.
166), Indonesia (University of Indonesia No. 287) and the Philippines
(Ateneo de Manila University No. 254 and University of the Philippines
No. 276).
 
Until last year, Malaysian universities were all ranked well ahead of the
Indonesian universities, but in the 2008 THES-QS World Top Universities
ranking, Indonesian universities are catching up with Malaysian
universities in leaps and bounds.
 
Last year for instance, the three top Indonesian universities were all
ranked behind the Malaysian universities – University of Indonesia (UI)
No. 395, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) No. 369 and Gajah Mada
University (UGM) No. 360, as compared to the three top Malaysian
universities University of Malaya (UM) No. 246, Universiti Sains Malaysia
(USM) No. 307 and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) No. 309.
 
In this year's ranking, University of Indonesia has improved by 108
placings to be ranked as No. 287, Bandung Institute of Technology No. 315
and Gajah Mada University No. 316.
 
This means that in the 2008 THES-QS Ranking, University of Indonesia (No.
287) has narrowed the gap with University of Malaya (No. 230) and
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (No. 250), while ahead of Malaysia's apex
university, Universiti Sains Malaysia (No. 313), University Putra
Malaysia (No. 320) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (No. 356).
 
The performance of Malaysian universities in the 2008 THES-QS Top 100
lists for the five subject areas are even more dismal, with not a single
university making into the five lists   for two years consecutively
although Malaysia secured four of these 500 prestigious slots in 2006 -
University of Malaya was ranked 49 in Social Sciences and 95 in Natural
Sciences, UKM was placed No. 62 in Natural Sciences, and University Sains
Malaysia placed No. 96 for Life Sciences and Biomedicine.
 
For the 2008 THES-QS ranking, National University of Singapore (NUS) (No.
30) is ranked among the Top 100 Universities for all the five categories
while Nanyang Technological University (NTU) (No. 77) is ranked among the
Top 100 universities for three categories, viz: Technology (No. 26); Life
Sciences & Biomedicine (No. 78) and Social Sciences (No.89).

NUS is ranked No. 11 for Technology; No. 17 for Life Sciences and
Biomedicine, No. 31 for Natural Sciences; No. 18 for Social Sciences and
No. 30 for Arts & Humanities.
NTU is ranked No. 25 for Engineering & IT; No. 99 for Natural Sciences and
No. 88 for Social Sciences.
 
Even Thailand's Chulalongkorn University is rated among the Top 100
Universities for two categories – Technology (No. 86) and Social Sciences
(No. 72);   Indonesia's Bandung Institute of Technology rated as among the
Top 100 universities for Technology (No. 90) and two universities in
Philippines ranked among the Top 100 Universities for Arts and Humanities
- Ateneo de Manila University (No. 79) and University of the Philippines
(No. 82).

After being placed in four of the 500 slots in the five Top 100
Universities for the five subjects in 2006, Malaysian universities has
been conspicuously missing from all the five listings of Top 100
Universities for the five categories for the past two years.

There are over 30 "elite of elite" universities, which are not only ranked
in the Top 200 Universities list, but also ranked in every one of the five
Top 100 subject list.
 
Universities in the Asia-Pacific region which are in this exclusive 
"elite of elites" list include six in Australia, two in China, one each
in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.  Why is Malaysia not in
this "elite of elites" listing and when will Malaysia have a university
which will have all-round excellence as to be included in this list?
 
Malaysians have not been told the real and true reasons for the shocking
performance of Malaysian universities in the THES-QS Top 200 Universities
ranking. Malaysian universities have been consistent in increasingly
deplorable results in world rankings, whether the THES-QS, Shanghai Jiao
Tong University World's Best 500 Universities or the Newsweek's Top 100
Global Universities.

If the government is serious about its slogan of "Cemerlang, Gemilang,
Terbilang" to create a world-class university system to transform
Malaysia into a knowledge-based innovative economy, it must end the New
Economic Policy (NEP) in the universities and fully restore the policy of
meritocracy and academic excellence coupled with social need to provide
university education opportunities to economically-backward Malaysians
regardless of race.

It is the NEP policy and mentality which caused University of Malaya to
fall 200 rankings behind University of Singapore in less than four
decades as both universities had started on the same footing some 50
years ago. University of Malaya is ranked No. 230 as compared to the 30th
ranking for National University of Singapore.

The government must recognize that so long as the NEP is kept in place in
the universities, there would be no way for any Malaysian public
university to compete with other universities from other countries. This
is why Malaysia is also losing out to universities from Thailand and
Africa – which was unthinkable four decades ago!

If Malaysia is to get back to the trail of world-class academic
excellence, all universities should be allowed to enroll the most
qualified students, employ the most competent professors and researchers
with competitive remunerations and restore a culture of academic
excellence and freedom.

One simple test of whether the government is seriously committed to
abandon the baggage of past NEP policies to create a world-class
university system is whether it has the political will to end the annual
brain drain depriving Malaysia of the best and brightest for the
development of the country.

For a start, the Higher Education Minister should ask the Cabinet to check
the annual four-figure brain-drain of the best and brightest STPM students
and Chinese Independent Secondary school students to Singapore by
providing them equitable higher education opportunities at home to
demonstrate that the government is serious in wanting to build a
world-class university system.

Secondly, the Higher Education Minister must ask the Cabinet to end the
present fraudulent meritocracy using both STPM and matriculation by
having a common university entrance examination.

This is the recommendation of the World Bank study on "Malaysia and the
Knowledge Economy: Building a World-Class Higher Education System"
submitted to the government in March last year.

Otherwise, the Higher Education Ministry is only continuing to pay lip
service to university excellence and quality without the political will
to bring about the institutional changes without which there is no way
for Malaysian universities to return to world-class university status.
 
Lim Kit Siang

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Ketuanan Melayu Rebutted

According to PSM’s Nasir, the implementation of the NEP which
focused on one race soon gave currency to the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric.
But he says ketuanan Melayu is just a red herring. “Name me one Malay
who is a pure Malay. There is virtually none - all Malays are
mixed-blood to some degree.”
By Shanon Shah, The Nut Graph

“IF you live in Malaysia, you cannot have ketuanan Melayu. The word
‘ketuanan’ is alienating. Malaysia has Eurasians, Indonesians,
Chinese,
Indians, and so on. If anyone deserves to be called the ‘tuan’ of this
land, it’s the Orang Asli.”
Most Malaysians would be forgiven for thinking that it was a
non-Malay Malaysian politician speaking out against ketuanan Melayu.
But these sentiments were articulated by Nur Farina Noor Hashim, the
People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Puteri bureau head.
“I just had no interest to join Umno,” Farina, who joined PPP in 2004,
tells The Nut Graph. PPP is a component party of the Barisan Nasional
(BN), of which Umno is the dominant party.
Farina is, of course, referring to the position taken by Umno
leaders that suggests ketuanan Melayu is synonymous with Malay rights,
and that Malay rights are under threat. Or rather, any questioning of
ketuanan Melayu is tantamount to threatening the Malay race.
The consistent message from these Umno leaders of late seems to be
that only Umno is capable of defending Malays. Or that Umno is the
Malay race. And their currency is ketuanan Melayu.
Farina is not the only Malay Malaysian politician to view with some
amount of circumspection Umno’s position as defender of the Malays and
their supremacy.
“I love Malays and I love Malaysia,” says Gerakan central committee
member Dr Asharuddin Ahmad. “But this country cannot survive without
non-Malays. We are all Malaysians. The future of Malaysia lies with
multiracial parties,” he tells The Nut Graph.
Future of Malaysia lies with multiracial parties, says Asharuddin
Interestingly, Asharuddin is a former Umno member. He joined Umno in
1988, but left to join Gerakan 10 years later. He says he has been
branded a traitor to Malay Malaysians, but asserts that joining Gerakan
does not make him “any less Malay or more Malay”.
“Umno’s struggle is not wrong, but I prefer Gerakan’s multiracial
approach,” Asharuddin says.
“Ketuanan” alienates
Umno leaders’ defensiveness around the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric is
not new. Their recent rancour in attacking dissenters within the BN, such
as former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Zaid
Ibrahim and Gerakan Wanita chief Datuk Tan Lian Hoe, was therefore
alarming yet unsurprising.
The question, however, is whether Malay Malaysian politicians have a
future outside of Umno, especially if they want to remain within the BN.
In that sense, the case of Gerakan’s Asharuddin is interesting,
having crossed over from a party that champions ketuanan Melayu to a
multiracial one.
But Asharuddin is not alone. Another ex-Umno member who jumped ship
to join a multiracial BN component party is Datuk Nik Sapeia Nik Yusof
from PPP.
Nik Sapeia was invited by party president Datuk Dr M Kayveas to
join, even though he is still facing court proceedings for the charge
of attacking former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2006. Nik
Sapeia is now the party’s Kelantan chief.
“Before I came along, nobody believed PPP had
any supporters in Kelantan,” Nik Sapeia tells The Nut Graph. “Now in
Kelantan, every time I organise an event I get thousands of people
attending and supporting it. The Kelantanese are ready and they want
change to happen in the political scenario here.”
He says the Kelantanese are increasingly seeing that PPP will bring about
this much-needed change.
Asharuddin and Nik Sapeia are undoubtedly minorities among the BN’s
multiracial component parties. However, they are slowly coming out of the
woodwork, especially since the BN’s unprecedented losses in the 8 March
2008 general election.
Farina feels that Umno’s outbursts and threats will only backfire in the
long run.
“Malaysians are very open-minded and intelligent now,” she says.
“Our politicians must be on par with the rakyat’s intelligence,
because
it’s the rakyat who want change and will eventually change this
country.”
Multiracial politics
The voices of these non-Umno Malay Malaysians within the BN join
those in the Pakatan Rakyat that have also been upping the ante against
Umno’s ketuanan Melayu rhetoric.
As part of its election campaign, PAS launched
its “PAS for all” tagline. The Islamist party also continues to
aggressively recruit non-Muslim support via Kelab Penyokong PAS.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leaders, such as Datuk Seri Anwar
Ibrahim and Dr Syed Husin Ali, have been promoting “ketuanan rakyat”
instead of “ketuanan Melayu”. And the DAP also
scored a coup when it recruited Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim as the party’s
vice-chairperson. He was formerly vice-chairperson of Transparency
International’s board of directors.
The Pakatan Rakyat parties are therefore, in varying degrees,
grappling with their respective multiracial futures. The previously
monoreligious, monoracial PAS is trying to
appeal to a wider section of Malaysians. In an interview in the
November 2008 issue of Off the Edge, even party spiritual advisor Datuk
Nik Aziz Nik Mat said, “[I]f there is a Chinese person in Kelantan who
is good, pious and clean, I will campaign for him to become chief
minister. As long as he is qualified, as long as he is a Muslim, I
don’t care what ethnic background he comes from.”
Nik Aziz Nik Mat (© Murdfreak)
The Chinese-dominated DAP is
trying to increase its appeal to non-Chinese Malaysians, specifically
Malay Malaysians. And high-level Malay Malaysian leaders in PKR are trying
to consolidate the party’s tentative multiracialism.
A little-known fact is that two other opposition parties, albeit
non-Pakatan Rakyat members, are multiracial and led by Malay
Malaysians. They, too, are vocal in their opposition to the ketuanan
Melayu rhetoric.
Historical miscalculations
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) national chairperson Dr Nasir Hashim
says Umno’s racial outbursts are rooted in historical miscalculations.
“We made a mistake, even after Merdeka, when we were emerging as a
nation. We should have talked about helping the poor among all races
and not just zero in on one race,” he tells The Nut Graph.
Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) president Hassan Karim concurs. He tells The
Nut Graph: “The NEP (New
Economic Policy), being capitalist and race-based, only benefited a
minority of Malays. What about analysing it from a class perspective?
Not all Chinese are rich either, you know. There cannot be ketuanan
Melayu or ketuanan bukan Melayu. There must be justice for all.”
According to PSM’s Nasir, the implementation of the NEP which
focused on one race soon gave currency to the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric.
But he says ketuanan Melayu is just a red herring. “Name me one Malay
who is a pure Malay. There is virtually none � all Malays are
mixed-blood to some degree.”
Rather, Umno’s outbursts can be seen as the increasingly desperate
acts of a party frustrated by its loss of power, he argues. “Umno is
frustrated by its losses during the general election, and continues to
use race and religion to divert the anger of poor Malays,” adds Nasir.
“Because as so-called leaders of the Malays, Umno has failed. It has
not even been able to help poor Malays and Malay entrepreneurs,” he
asserts. Therefore, the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric conveniently redirects
the frustration and anger of disenfranchised Malay Malaysians towards
other races. Herein lies the danger of Umno’s rhetoric, says Nasir.
“In times of economic difficulty, the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric will
likely give rise to fascist tendencies. When people are feeling the
pinch and they are frustrated, you just need to cucuk them and then
they’ll meletup. Umno knows this only too well,” he says.
Again, PRM’s Hassan concurs. “Ketuanan
Melayu will destroy our country. I’m a Malay too, you know, but I
believe that what Umno is fighting for is feudalistic. We cannot move
forward if we follow Umno.”
The Malay Malaysian leaders interviewed all say that interest in
their respective parties, both in the BN and opposition, has risen
since 8 March, especially among Malays.
It is definitely heartening that there is a diverse and growing
number of Malay Malaysian political leaders speaking out against
supremacist rhetoric and for an inclusive society. But it is even more
encouraging that they are gaining support.
Perhaps this, then, is the most encouraging indicator yet that racial
politics is losing currency in Malaysia

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