Too polite to comment on Islam?

Sorry for the absence. I will be away on business for about two months and shall get back to “business” here once I return. Wish good luck in all your endeavours.

Regards.

Dato Onn Jafaar did not have the internet. Dr Bakri & yourself are using this equaliser to the fullest. Lets hope your bros & sis in UMNO would not abandon you as quickly as people who used to avoid the used-to-be inhibitants of Sungei Buloh.

“We are glued to our differences, instead of building on the richness of our pluralism and cultural diversity. We, Malaysians, have commonalities to build on, yet on grounds of political expediency we magnify our differences. To what purpose? We seem to forget the interconnectedness of our lives which requires us to stay away from perpetuating the “US versus Them” paradigm.”

Perhaps to answer the question above. The layman may call it ’self interest’; the politically inclined ‘political expediency’; the human right activists ‘racial discrimination’; the opposition ‘corruption’; the social scientists ’social engineering’; the extremists ‘genocide’; the professionals ‘ketuanan’.

I call it ‘inertia’. A term in physics called Newton Laws of motion that states that a body in motion tends to stay in motion and when stationary tends to stay stationary. Any changes to a state of motion would be resisted and required more force and energy to change the existing state. You want changes you need more effort. In business, especially the sales department, it is often said ‘the harder you work the luckier you become’.

You used the word very appropriately - glued. Yes we are glued by ‘inertia’ - status qou. In management circles they use the phrase ‘don’t rock the boat’. Like I am now stuck to my chair reading Dr Bakri and physically reluctant to move my butt. This is the power of inertia.

I remember someone used the term 500,000 ton tanker and it takes huge effort to even stop it what more to turn it around.

You prepared to shoot the rapids?

You want to move? Go kick butts!

A close friend amd researcher, Dr Farish Ahmad Noor, has this to say about the state of our political discourse and our politics, and I quote:

“Since 1957, Malaysia’s political culture has been determined by the three cardinal points of Malaysian politics: Malay communitarianism, modern authoritarianism(that is founded on neo-feudalism), and politicized Islam”. (p.235 in his latest book titled “From Majapahit to Putrajaya”).

Malay communitarianism is “Ketuanan Melayu” and its lineage to Article 153 of our Constitution, that famous bargain between the leaders of UMNO, MCA and MIC before Independence. I am afraid we are caught in this trap, since it is now an integral part of political culture, and continues to dominate our ongoing discourse, even on this blog/website.

We are glued to our differences, instead of building on the richness of our pluralism and cultural diversity. We, Malaysians, have commonalities to build on, yet on grounds of political expediency we magnify our differences. To what purpose? We seem to forget the interconnectedness of our lives which requires us to stay away from perpetuating the “US versus Them” paradigm.

I have often wondered whether we, the Malays, are still insecure and need to hide behind Article 153 for ever, or is it UMNO’s fear that if it does not champion the cause of the Malays against “imagined enemies”, it would lose its political relevance and its hegemony over the community. Our other Malaysian brothers too must be more sensible and should learn accept certain realities.

Politicized Islam is a fallout from Mahathir’s failed Islamisation policy. Let us recognise it and learn from this. Iran and the Talibans can no longer inspire us in the 21st century. For starters, this rivalry between PAS and UMNO, using Islam as hostage, must end. Maybe somebody from UMNO Youth, the keris brandishing band of future party leaders, and the new PAS leadership can answer this for us.

I would have thought that after nearly 50 years, Malaysia should be a “progressive” not a regressive, exclusivist and religious police state, and that we, the Malays, should be more confident of our achievements, these being quite considerable, thanks to Mahathir, compared to those times in the 1950s when Keris-always and I were growing up in Bakaq Bata, Alok Stag, Kedah.

As if this is not enough, UMN0 champions neo-feudalism on the pretext that this is Malay identity. I see this as a paradox. On the one hand, we seek to modernise our economy, and are moving to towards embracing
globalisation with a modernist Islam Hadhari as our spiritual vanguard. On the other hand, we are pushing towards religious and racial discord. What we need is a more open, tolerant, and liberal society. We need it because that what true Islam is about.

Islam respects the dignity of difference. Islam is free of ideological bias, color, race and class, and here I accept Dr. Farish’s thesis. The Tawhid is the unifying factor of not only Muslims, but all humanity (a lesson that George W. Bush and his supporters in the Christian Right ought to appreciate). So I agree with Dr. Farish that “Islamisation race” between UMNO and PAS is self-destructive because it has effectively “sidelined and silenced the other voices in the country on all levels, from the political to the economic and cultural” (p.235, op.cit).

Maybe we should relook at how our history is being written and taught. If it is too Malay centered, then it should be urgently reviewed. We are (and will always be, I hope) in an enlightened Malay-led Malaysia, not just a parochial Tanah Melayu which shuts out others, the so-called orang asing, who are born, bred and will probably die here.

Not just our history but also our core values which must embody the true spirit of Rukunegara. How about starting with our national education system? Dr. Bakri has devoted a book on what can be done about our national education policy and system.

Can our present Prime Minister Badawi do it, or will UMNO’s institutional inertia hold him back?

I welcome your views. Thanks.

Will Mr. Baju not take off his shirt and respond? Thank you.

“To teach mankind abt the beauty of Islam which teach that this world is transitory and the hereafter is eternal.

Like there will be a welcoming committee of 72 virgins waiting for you?

“Each will be asked about how his wealth is derived and where does one spend it unto. The more wealth one has the more questioning there will be.”

Following the same logic, you should give away all your wealth so that you will not have any question to answer. Spare yourself the interrogation.

“To advise the rich of the above hoping they will be more generous in spending as much as possible of their wealth to help out the poor. Don’t just give the fish, give the rod as well when spending on others..”

I’d rather keep my rod. I need it to procreate. You can have the fish.

“For the poor not to despair of their state. Remain patient, steadfast, seek the help of HIM and slowly work your way out. Remember in matters of the world look at the one below you and you will be grateful of your state despite the fact that you are still considered poor”

If I were to look below I am going to see only Mr. Baju. If I look up I may find God.

“To advise generally that if you are able to eat in the day, to have a clothes behind your back and shelter to sleep on this is suffiecnt for the world need.
What is more important to preserve is to remain steadfast in matters of the deen.
Don’t worry abt getting nternet, handphones, house furniture etc etc etc…these are material items those materialist cant do without. We don’t need them”

I’d rather have clothes on my back then behind my back. I’d rather have a shelter over my head than a shelter to sleep on.

“Keep pursuing knowledge. Never flinch from this despite the your state of affair”

Flinch? I am not sure I want to flinch.

“To advise the govt take more from the ultra rich and channel to the poor . To employ these on contract basis for economic activities in country and keep changing the group of people every so often so that new groups of people are being engaged each time.”

Robbing Ah Kow to pay Mutu? Then rob Mutu to pay Ahmad?? Amend Art. 153?

“To ask the questioner’s father , who once presided a country for 22 years, what would he have done to reduce this given the fact that he had the whole nation under him and he could have done sth but , unfortunately, as the results shown till now, nothing of significance had come out of him.”

You are referring to the good doctor? I didn’t know he had the whole nation under him. There was the ruling national Coalition (Barisan Nasional) which ruled the country – and still does. I didn’t know he was supposed to have stuff coming out of him. Was he supposed to shit bricks or something??

The different races in Malaysia should stop blaming each other for the current state of affairs in Malaysia. They voted the government and they get what they wanted. Malaysia is not ruled by UMNO only. Malaysia is ruled by BN which comprises of UMNO, MCA, MIC, Gerakan and numerous smaller parties, crossing racial lines. In 1999 UMNO was on the verge of losing its leadership position Malays were not voting for UMNO even in Malay majority constituencies. Who then propped up UMNO and allowed them to win? Wasn’t it the Chinese and Indian electorates? You had a chance to clip UMNO’s majority in both Parliament as well as State Assemblies but no you were afraid of the opposition and believed the bogeyman stories of UMNO. Had the electorates decided to vote the opposition BN will have less than the 2/3 majority in Parliament and no laws can be passed without the 2/3 majority.

1. “ Allah ( THE Creator of the Universe) knows and you do not know”
… Quran 3:66

“ Fear Allah, and He will teach you” ( 2:282)

All knowledge originates from HIM and HE is the one who enables us to put into use all practical knowledge for everyday’s purpose

2. “ Messengers are sent to explain to mankind the guidance from Him” ( 16:44)
“ He ( Muhammad saw) does not speak from his own desire but what has been inspired unto him” 53: 3-4
Messengers were sent to all mankind, the last being Muhammad (saw) and one of their major duty is to EXPLAIN the guidance of Allah to mankind so as to preach mankind to follow the straight path.

3. “ Ask those who know if you do not know” (21:7)
“ …those who conducts their affair in mutual consultation ( shura)…( 42:23)

The principle above shows for those who take upon to answer any questions would ask those who are MORE of an EXPERT in that knowledge and they will discuss the answers to be provided via mutual consultation

4. “…When it is a knowledge of the deen ( matters of akhira) , take from me and if it is a matter of worldly nature, YOU ARE MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE of that affair’
Sahih Hadeeth Bukhari.

The statement above referred to the advise the prophet (pbuh) giving advise to the farmers of Madeenah to change their method of agriculture of certain trees and when the people did it, the harvest decresed in the following year and the people came and mentioned this to the prophet and he (saw) said the above.

To indicate that for wordly affairs, the experts in this field are more knowledgeable.

Having said the above principles ( these are just a few, there are many more, but the above suffices for the moment), it is obvious that many pf the questions posed are really outside the jurisdiction of uelema as many of them are matters of wordly affair.

BUT …BUT it does not mean that the uelemas could not provide some of their knowledge to these experts for them to incorporate in their study for application purpose.

For every affair , the uelema has a role but for some of these they are more of advise for the experts to incorporate into their studies so that the recommendation that the latter may give may be a lot more wholesome as they now work together with uelema advise ( shura..mutual consultations).

So lets try to take them bit by bit…

“What do you think should be done to reduce global poverty?”

1. To teach mankind abt the beauty of Islam which teach that this world is transitory and the hereafter is eternal.
2. Each will be asked about how his wealth is derived and where does one spend it unto. The more wealth one has the more questioning there will be.
3. To advise the rich of the above hoping they will be more generous in spending as much as possible of their wealth to help out the poor. Don’t just give the fish, give the rod as well when spending on others
4. For the poor not to despair of their state. Remain patient, steadfast, seek the help of HIM and slowly work your way out. Remember in matters of the world look at the one below you and you will be grateful of your state despite the fact that you are still considered poor
5. To advise generally that if you are able to eat in the day, to have a clothes behind your back and shelter to sleep on this is suffiecnt for the world need.
What is more important to preserve is to remain steadfast in matters of the deen.
Don’t worry abt getting nternet, handphones, house furniture etc etc etc…these are material items those materialist cant do without. We don’t need them

6. Keep pursuing knowledge. Never flinch from this despite the your state of affair
7. To advise the govt take more from the ultra rich and channel to the poor . To employ these on contract basis for economic activities in country and keep changing the group of people every so often so that new groups of people are being engaged each time.
8. To ask the questioner’s father , who once presided a country for 22 years, what would he have done to reduce this given the fact that he had the whole nation under him and he could have done sth but , unfortunately, as the results shown till now, nothing of significance had come out of him.

“The world’s richest 500 individuals own a combined income that is greater than that of the poorest 416 million. What do you think should be done about reducing this massive gap between rich and poor in the world?”
1. To teach mankind abt the beauty of Islam which teach that this world is transitory and the hereafter is eternal.
2. Each will be asked about how his wealth is derived and where does one spend it unto. The more wealth one has the more questioning there will be.
3. To advise the rich of the above hoping they will be more generous in spending as much as possible of their wealth to help out the poor. Don’t just give the fish, give the rod as well when spending on others.
4. Unfortunately almost 98% of these wealthy individuals are from western world and have a very secularistic outlook.And their govt rewards those capitalist .So to advise the govt to take any actions of those wold require massive change on theor govt.
5. As such we could only advise to these only.

70% of the world’s people are uneducated, with only minimal schooling. Do you think this is a bad thing, and what would you do about it?
1. Yes this is bad. But I also think mix school ( boys & girls ) are bad too and the first thing to do is to segregate the schools.
2. To train up individuals in each village certain teaching skills and provide them necessary reward package for teaching and to start from scratch education in those respective schools.
3. To work with the expert on their plan and strategy to overcome these problems.

According to the latest UNDP Human Development Report, every hour 1,200 children die around the world, mostly because of poverty. What do you think would be the best way to help children such as these?
1. I take this stats with a pinch of salt. I belive this is a bias result. Most assuredly A LOT more people die from heart attack, hypertension,stroke,cancer etc , majority of which somehow relates to overweight , therefore overeating.
2. I stand by the statement, For every 1 person who dies from poverty 10 dies from disease of overeating.

Income inequalities are not the only thing that disadvantages people. Gender inequalities also play a part. In India, the death rate for children aged 1-5 is 50% higher for girls than it is for boys. In Pakistan, two million more girls would be in school if there were gender parity. What do you think should be done to address these gender inequalities?
1. People are ignorant about the importance of education for both. Teach them this.
2. As it is, most of the politician in the govt like to talk nonsense abt individuals etc rather than doing their work by going to the field and see the need of the people.
3. Before he became a muslim, Omar Ibn Alkhattab ( the second caliph) wanted to murder the prophet (saw). But when islam enters his heart and him assuming the position of caliphate he would roam the streets of Madeenah surreptitiously DURING THE NIGHT to see what sort of complains people have about the leader and his governors so that he could take actions to rectify them.
I would want to ask her to to see if this sort of noble practice was EVER done by a former leader of 22 years of a certain country, or for that matter by any other leader under him or of leaders from the rest of the world?

Imbibe this sort of noble traits of genuine concern for the plight of people in every leader , and soon those sort of problems and many more will come to pass.

“According to the report also, the development of any country is influenced by the status of women in that country. Hence, Malaysia ranks only 61st in the Human Development Index (HDI) because women make up only 13% in Parliament, 24% in managerial and administrative positions and only earn 47% of men’s income. Nothing much has changed for women for the past 30 years. But we are not the worst off. The countries with the least empowered women are all Muslim countries, including Pakistan and Yemen. What do you think of this? “

1. Yes this is bad. But woman forgetting about their role of being a mother to the family is even worse than all that you mention above. Ensure that for every woman who wants to take up a job outside their home, they do not leave off the MOST IMPORTANT role a married woman has on the face of this earth, being a caring and loyal wife and a loving mother ( if they have kids)
2. Pls get me those stats of how much the above has been fulfilled from those woman in parliament, managerial etc etc etc, then lets compare notes and comment on each others stats

“Although terrorism in developed countries is most in the news, in fact the poorest countries in the world experience more conflict. These conflicts only fuel under-development. For instance, nine out of the 10 countries with the lowest HDI have experienced conflict at some point since 1990. Conflict also plays a part in five out of 10 countries with the lowest life expectancy, in nine out of 10 countries with the highest infant and under-five mortality rates and in eight out of 10 countries with the lowest primary school enrolment. What do you think should be done to resolve conflict so that these countries may prosper? “

1. People are ignorant especially the fact that they don’t get nothing out of each other whne they clash with each other for no reason . teach them.
2. And I will start with the US troops…just get out from Iraq. The world situation is getting worse with all these ‘war on terrorism” came on board.
3. And mind you, the one who started out first in this war on Iraq is a country who suffers the least as what you mention of the stats above.
How much of a rise in fuel prices do you think people can take?

1. Ask the economist. For all I know these are exploitation from those giant multinationals. This is what I have thought all this while.
2. Mind you the congress in US are now summoning those big bosses for congressional hearing on this.
3. Get the greed out of people and you’ll get less of this.
4. How you do that??? …Tell them abt this teaching call Islam…

What do you think can be done to prevent cross-border environmental problems such as the haze?
1. Don’t talk about cross border. Lets deal with those greedy pigs local timber companies who goes about chopping woods from our own forest illegally.
2. Warn these people of grave consequences. Forget abt charges in court.
3. Engage the army to go into forest. If you see any machineries that aren’t suppose to be there, just shoot them butty machines out and tell those timber guys to walk out of the jungle on their own. Yeah you got it right there..tell them to take a hike. In this way these guys will start to learn abt the maxim…who wear pants in the jungle , eh!!! Don’t mess around when it comes to jungle , cos these are my territories.

What do you think should be done so that disabled people are not left behind in our country’s development?
1. help them with the necessary infrastructure.

Our country spends only 2% of GDP on health and 2.8% of GDP on military expenditures in 2003. Do you think this is right?
1. The experts know better. But I would say increase our budget for education, real education.
What do you think of the Millenium Development Goals? Malaysia failed one of the 6th MDG, which relates to health. What do you think we can do to redress this?
1. Sorry no comment…I don’t even know what this Millinem Goal is. I think we are even struggling with our 2020 goal, what more with this foreign goal being pushed to us.

In 1975, 37.7% of our population lived in urban centres. Since then, our people have become more urbanised with 63.8% in 2003 and a projected 71% by 2015. Is this a good or bad thing, and should politicians recognise this fact and act accordingly?
1, I belive this is extremely bad…but do you know which particular leade who spurred this in the first place????Hmmmm…you’d be surprise, madam…it could be someone nearer to home.
2. Ask him why he did it???? Now that the problem occur, ask him to provide the solution now….
While we are ranked 61 in the Human Development Index, many Muslim countries are ranked even lower, even so-called “rich” countries such as Saudi Arabia (77). There are also many Muslim countries ranked very low such as Iran (99), Egypt (119), Pakistan (135) and Yemen (151). The small oil-rich United Arab Emirates are the highest-ranking Muslim country at 41. What do you think of this?
1. In the first place we need to ask, what criteria are these guys using when they say development? And I wont be surprise if they say the ability to posses many “unwanted” material as a major criteria for development.
2. If only u would realize that many of the middle eastern country you talking abt has the least crime rate as compared to New Your or London, you would have seen that it is so much more safer to live in these countries vis a vis the western countries.
3. Things are even worse now where they have laws for them to detain even for mere suspicion of being a terrorist…don’t belive, ask them Guatanamo Bay prisoners and they’ll tell you what heaven on earth means!!!
4. Compare Gauuatnamo Bay vis a vis Taliban when they treated the journalist Ridley when she was caught sneaking into Taliban group. People coming out from Bay would never cease to curse from A-Z for the rest of their lives against their captives.
5. As for Ridley, she decided, out of her own will and desire, to convert to religion of her captive.
6. Now that is my Heaven on earth comparison. Islam comes to teach his followers how to humanely treat other so that they will see the beauty of islam.

041.034 Nor can goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (Evil) with what is better: Then will he between whom and thee was hatred become as it were thy friend and intimate!

041.035 And no one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self-restraint,- none but persons of the greatest good fortune.

( Quran 41:34-35)

So you can relieve your breath now, madam. Things are not difficult to answer you see. People would have thot that these answers are simple , rudimentary and would never be adopted by anyone now.
But you gotta take it out of the box. Alternative is the only sedative that we have as an option now.

Unforgettable in every way
And forever more, that’s how you’ll stay
That’s why, darling, it’s incredible
That someone so unforgettable
Thinks that I am unforgettable too

Unforgettable in every way
And forever more, that’s how you’ll stay
That’s why, darling, it’s incredible
That someone so unforgettable
Thinks that I am unforgettable too