It's all politics

No, I am not going to discuss about the endless drama that is the actors are those in tudung tak cukup kain nak cover jambul kat depan but the international ignorance of giving aids to those who are in need. A program in a news network questions the aids given by the US where terrorism was widespread. So, the idea is that it is okay to let more hungry people die when there are terrorists who would have killed them anyway? Nice, job rich West nations!

Steve Jobs' death focused all homo sapien's attention to him. He was rich. He was influential.

It is not one, but thousands of Somalians die every day (even today!) and there is none of their stories featured on the front page of newspapers today while Steve Jobs' biography still tops the booksellers list.

I wonder where on earth the so-called human right activists in Malaysia who championed the Seksualiti Merdeka gone to defend these Somalians to have 'basic human rights to food and water'? Isn't that one of the most important human rights too? 

Getting access to food and water is more important than the freedom to go outside and show your queer without fear I would say. 

Or do you just care about sex? Based on what you are not doing now, I think you are. It's a sex nation.

Why not make an assembly to alert the Malaysians about this situation? I know you won't because this is neither about Cleaning the Politics or Sex Freedom. No one will come. 

Well Mrs. MM, that is why you must go back to the reasons explained in the Al-Quran. My father said 'when people are so smart but forgot to refer to Al-Quran, they will feel they are in greater knowledge of the world than the Al-Quran'.-The Chukai Insider

It is a warning after all

"wahai orang-orang yang beriman, kenapakah kamu mengatakan sesuatu

yang tidak kamu kerjakan?! AMAT BESAR KEBENCIAN di sisi Allah jika kamu mengatakan apa-apa yang tidak kamu kerjakan"

[Surah As-saff, 61:2-3]

Upon seeing these words of Allah SWT posted by my friends in a blog with a title of 'Warning' (which made me to take it more seriously) and on Facebook's feed, I stopped doing anything for quite sometimes. The world stopped. The universe was brought to a halt. It brought me to think of it as a big message of how responsible you are for what you said, preached or talked about.

We do this is in our daily lives. I posted about Be Islamic, be critical before and upon reading how a friend of my friend passed away, the message was deeply embedded in my mind. The phrase 'amat besar kebencian di sisi Allah jika kamu mengatakan apa-apa yang tidak kamu kerjakan'  should go to our minds on a daily basis. 

Yes, I did talk many things about Islam, morality, how should we behave etc. and sometimes I do not feel they resonate in my heart. Let's change ourselves and others. It is 'ourselves' that comes before 'others' and the 'and' is there means we should do them (changing ourselves and others) together. 

We have always talked about how morality and justice should be placed in our life. There are always the Islamic guidance that we follow, but sometimes we do make mistakes of not following Allah's words. Not going to classes, I would say is one of the thing that my friends and I should be regretted of doing. When do it regularly, it became a normal thing. And for me, why did I choose class to go to? Was it my choice to decide which lecturers are boring or not?

And yet, sometimes I 'lectured' others for not going to classes which I considered important. In what way other classes were not important?

In times like this, the need of friends are vitally important. What will happen if there was no one reminding us about this? It is always a friend who are always honest to us to make us a better person. And that is why, choosing good friends are of equally important.-The Chukai Insider

Be Islamic, be critical

When people put a final dot on someone, as in the person is supporting this and that, I wonder what will happen to the world when the person put the wrongs as rights and the rights as wrongs. How can we see black and white? Grey?

Is it a common thing for you to see when someone 'seemed' inclined to a political party, he or she will be forced and fed with the dogma that all of the things done by the so-called 'inclined party' are supported by him or her. 

Then, where is the room for critical thinking and judgements on your side?

Why is the divisive acts continue to exist in our daily conversations? Why do we believe that once the leaders of any organisations made a statement, the lower groups of people ARE surely in parallel believes with the leader?

We are all striving for a better Malaysian. And yet we choose different inclinations of doing things. With our own ways. And hence, different 'inclined support to a political party'.

But at the same time, it does not mean we fully agree to every detailed actions and efforts made by the party. That is why critical thinking is first and foremost important! Think people, think! Don't jump to conclusions straight away otherwise you will place yourselves with the same level as today's politicians whom I have little credit to give for and hence, much less respects.

My word is- you may choose sides. Part of the reasons is because of the way you were brought up, as my friend suggested. But all of us want a better Malaysia. 

Do you think when the Other Side is ruling, the root problems will die away? No. They are embedded in the society and societies are made up of us, and so it depends on us. And so, this quote could not be further from the truth- ‎"Tegakkanlah daulah Islam di dalam hati-hati kalian, niscaya dia akan tegak di negeri kalian" (Hasan Al-Hudaibi).

A critical society would know when to know what is wrong and right because it does not mean when you are Red, the Green is wrong. And when you are Green, the Red is wrong all the time. Although we see many flaws in the Pale Blue, it does not mean they are all wrong, a little credit should go when it is right.

So, at the end of the day, we are all the same. So, don't divide yourself further from each other. Make Greens and Reds work together, and I would be much happier.

Did the Prophet Muhammad SAW denied the questions of the deniers? Did He not answer each single question with proofs and full of grace to make the other side happy and accept the Truth? Did He slammed the other side with harsh words? Did He just leave us with nothing to follow with? Simple questions like these are hard to be answered. Why? Because even these basic things are hard for us to follow.  -The Chukai Insider

At least we are exposed to English. And understanding comes straight after that.

I was educated in a daily school in a place where urbanisation transcends the village-look of the district. Worth to mention, that my place is located in a state in which education is a very serious thing. Another thing worth to mention, the parents of most of the students are not educated in the sense that majority of them only pass primary school level. As in the case of my father. 

More importantly, it is a stupid thing to mention again and again that when we want to apply for high-income jobs (which could eradicate poverty of the parents),  they interview and ask for your level of proficiency in English. Well, I was born a Trengganu, with minimal-educated parents, never speak English at home, exposed to Sesame Street as a kid (but failed to understand most of the words, except for One, Two, Three and A, B, C, D, E ...). Then, in what sense will I get exposed to English so that my Trengganu tongue is flexible enough to say 'the' the correct way? Or flexible enough to say 'What is your name?' instead of 'Wak is yor neng?'. 

Some quarter of people say you cannot master the English even you are exposed to the language through Science and Mathematics. Boo ya! 

I made efforts to understand the language so that I will not be left behind in those subjects. Only Allah SWT knows how many Goosebumps I read when I was in Form 1 just to build up my confidence in the language. When others read the books when they were in Primary school, I crawled when reading them. 

My parents made efforts to make sure that I really focused on my studies. And surprisingly they are very very supportive. And so was other parents. Because they know the importance of English. To them, this is their access for their children to be 'on-par' with the children of the West Coast. To them, most parents in West Coast speak English to their children, and so the language is really their Second Language. To us, there was only One Language.

Teachers made tremendous efforts to master their teaching in the language, although some failed but their efforts were shown, and the students felt the urge to study and even become better than their teachers in English. Most importantly, we did not learn English. We learn sciences and mathematics, but our mind was set in English and hence, words of 'increase, decrease, set instead of sex' came out of our mouths. Even to those who were 'considered' back-class students (students kelas belakang). Oh, maybe because of your school, it's located in an urban area where most of the people can speak English. Boo ya! This is Chukai where most parents don't speak English, and do not allow their children to be exposed to excessive entertainment (hence less English language exposure!), no English ads whatsoever but they are made in Jawi!

So, yeah we can learn from the environment! Boo boo ya!- bullshit that comes never end from politicians.

* My father's word- It does not matter what language they are teaching you, it depends on you to succeed or not. If others can do it, why not you? 


He was right, hence the issue of students dropping performance because of English, is stupid because they are not on numerical basis. Numbers cannot deceive. In common sense, if students cannot even motivate themselves to study in English, how much better they are motivated to study in Malay? For Trengganu, the so-called bahasa baku is sometimes different than our Mother Tongue. So, whatcha say?

Thus, it should be Dr. Mahathir that I should thank.

*Read the cat's line. You can find the message there. The Truth is always the best!

To those who said English dropped the student's performance, what can you say to the reports during my examination result that says 'student's performance increase' which implies 'PPSMI worked for students, even for the rural ones'. 

Where is the numbers? I thought previously you said
students are performing even the teaching
is in English.

There was no studies conducted and then BANG, you switched again. 

What's the fuss with English? Well, to the most uneducated parents of Trengganu, it matters.

They want their kids to get exposed to the language, because they cannot provide the environment, and they want them to get used to the language, and so they can get jobs which are high-income from Shell, Schlumberger, Petronas, Exxon Mobil (from what they see in Kerteh probably) which requires you to SPEAK, WRITE, LEARN ENGLISH. 

Barbers, farmers, fishermen, pembuat keropok lekor, satar, otok-otok, pembuat lemang Kijal will ask their sons and daughters to do this "Gi wat keje mu, gi belajo" (go do your work, go study) because in their minds that is the only way for their sons and daughters to succeed and help them later on. Hence, if you educate them the wrong way, don't you think that you deny their rights of access to good education? 

If you want to switch back, ask not international companies, but your local companies such as Petronas, Bank Negara, Khazanah or TNB to speak in Malay during their functionaries because so far as I can remember, they always say 'I will proceed in English because we are a multinational company and we have employees from many different countries' and not just that, even the companies which are confirmed to have most Malaysians working for them like the Bank, still English is the medium language.

How can you answer that Mister TPM M? I know, the same old crap we are strengthening the English teaching bla bla bla. 

Wait wait, where are the politicians' sons and daughters educated? I think PM's son was sent to an English school in UK and then sent to America. Why my Trengganu people cannot get that?-The Chukai Insider

Again on Hudud

This is a simple article just to make my stand on Hudud issue clearer. 

1. It is a matter of choice of Muslims in today's conditions. Not in the context of today's 'world' as Al-Quran is relevant throughout the time. Today's conditions means the situations do not allow us to implement it due to many reasons- unfair institutions, elitism, separation of powers between the leader and the people, unequal distribution of wealth etc. And this matter is already agreed by neutral and unbiased Islamic scholar like Dr. Asri since we are not yet able to provide an adil situation in which all basic conditions of human be met (easy marriage is an example). To put it simple, work on to eliminate those things to implement Hudud. Yes, this goes to you too the Greens. 

On this basis, Hudud law cannot be implemented now. (The Chukai Insider's stand)

2. If you believe that Al-Quran is the Allah's sayings to the Muslims, and you yourself are in efforts to become a Muslims (the lowest level of iman) then you should be in effort to make hudud laws as a way of societies' lives. But never to the point where you implement the whole hudud law but the societies are not yet ready for it. Then, what is the purpose of hudud law if the believers don't even believe in the reasons behind the laws. It would be extremely stupid and very wrong on your side.

3. Hence, priorities should be given to educate the law to the people- not bashing each other on the basis of which one is right. For a wise Muslim, it is the ultimate goal to go with Allah's sayings (decree) and hence we must understand the reasons behind the law. We do not just publicise the law to the public and just say that we should do this and this. It is stupid to implement something in which even the people (rakyat) still do not get to understand and practice. 

4. No example could be better than this- 'some' Saudi Arabians on plane already took off their covers (tudungs/jilbab) once they are outside the country. Does this show that once they are outside the law, they can go against it? This shows lack of deep understanding (fahmuddaki') on their believes. The same thing could happen in Malaysia. Or if it is allowed in the Constitution to implement it in some states, many will fled out of them. And it is not their fault that they feel scared since they don't understand the law. Politicians on both sides argued who is better but everyone wants to be accepted in Allah's views. Perhaps. Hence work together to make sure the conditions where Hudud law can be implemented be realised. 

5. To the championista of Hudud law, it is the responsibility of the Muslims then to support the efforts of going for Hudud law. But the most important thing is education to the people. It is extremely stupid to implement without people understanding it. Even Rasulullah SAW took 13 years to educate and to the level that is far better than today's. I doubt even in Kelantan the leaders can provide the same conditions that Hudud may be implemented in the near future. 

6. This is the truth- in Kelantan or Terengganu. There is always a stark difference between those who are the religous and not. But the vocal ones are the religious person (in this context, practising Muslims) but please do educate others first before you chanting Hudud to the public.

7. I never saw an imam approaching the mat rempits (it may happened but I do not think so since I never saw one approaching the latter) and at least try to converse with them and then make them interested with the religion. When you implement Hudud, what will happen to this cluster of people? They were not educated the proper way and not even acknowledged the reasons behind the law and then get punished.- When you later on say that this group will get scared after the law is implemented, then will they do nothing and be kinder? No, you must remember that there is a possibility that they will get worse and flee away. So, you leave the states full with so-called good people and let others do their bad things somewhere else? Think!

8. Who do you think they will blame?

9. When da'wah is the branch of politics (I saw this with the Greens) then it is hard to make people understand about it. Ilmu as mentioned in the first Surah of Al-Alaq should be given the highest priority to make people understand Hudud law-even to the so called a Muslim columnist championing the human rights. How about the rights to practise my religion- in this case Islam and Hudud? Can you answer that Z Anwar?


 Educating those in power should be prioritised. However, it is so sad to see that even those wearing kopiah on top of their heads saying bad words and 'trying' to educate the less-educated the wrong way and they call themselves the 'knowing' and 'holding Allah's trust as khalifah on this earth'.

There is no point you post pictures of people under punishment of Hudud law if you want that to happen. You must go deeper to yourselves and reflect on how do you understand the law in the first place. I have lots of friends posting photos of Hudud law implementation but fail to make others to understand the law but keep their friend distancing themselves from understanding the law. Maybe your niat is good but the way you transmit the message could not be more wrong. The key word is: educate. Educate yourself first then others.

10. Hudud is a must. Education to understand it is much much more needed.-The Chukai Insider

You’re part of the problem or part of the solution

We want to effect change in our society. Or do you not?


READ MORE>>

I was born Malaysian

Location: Kundasang. Photo: The Chukai Insider

Malaysia Day has passed us. I do not know how your version of celebrating Merdeka and Malaysia Day but surely is something that we have always taken for granted.

I leave the space to tell about our histories to the newspapers, documentaries and to some both clever and stupid politicians. Besides, there are lots of versions of the history of Malaysia than any other time in the media today. Go to The Star, you will have the snippets of its own version of history and The Malaysian Insider features many articles with many different opinions. Watch a politician’s Youtube video, you will totally get another different version. Aren’t they enough for you to get interactive learning of your nation’s history? Duhh.

However, we must take stand to so that we know we are heading in our process of understanding. It does not mean we are closed for discussion and further corrections when we take our stand. For me, the notion that our nation had never been colonised before is just playing with semantics. Why not? (You can read all the legal stuffs portrayed by the historians at other websites). Colonisation was not just about playing with legal words, agreements and paper works. It is beyond that. So, when some quarter of people saying that we were not colonised before made me think of how we view our dijajah era. Was it just about the technical details that marked the colonisation period? Was there no penjajahan (colonisation) to the minds of the people?  Or as in Malay ‘penjajahan minda’?

But it is good that we have this kind of thing in Malaysia. Our society has begun to mature and able to accept people’s views and synthesise from it. From there, we would be able to judge which are the best opinions and the most perfect version. Mind you that we live in a democratic society and open discussion and projection of ideas are things that make us a blooming democracy. In my Trengganu words- gining baru kelas, nampok pandai-pandai orang Malaysia. Dok la ikut belake cakap orang! Hok mane betul tu betul gok! Nampok macang negare maju skit! Dok ke kelas gitu?

How can it be more interesting than to live in today’s political landscape? Many things are happening in our political world which we cannot run away from since it shapes our society and consequently shaping us. Don’t you think we would have been a different person if we were born in a communist country? Yes, Mat Sabu. Anything to add? Or the pain on your right/left leg come again and you are not able to answer that? I thought the expensive medicine made the pain gone? No?

Enough of that.

Or would it be different if we were born in a nation where there was only one religion, one race or even one party? That would be worse for Muslims in Malaysia. Where would there be space for you to get to know each of different people when our religion says that we must get to know each other?

Overall, Alhamdulillah that I was born in Malaysia. Alhamdulillah too that I was born in 1990 when after 21 years after that was the most interesting period of the political landscape of my beloved nation. Let's do something good for Malaysia!-The Chukai Insider

Being CLEAN

Let's face it- people see what they want to see. Either you, me or another third party, there is always a feeling 'I am the one who is right'. Seeing at a glance of my Facebook homepage, I can't help but feel the uneasiness inside my stomach. Why? Politics have succeeded in robbing the moralistic and rationalistic point of views of many of my friends. 

Again, let's face the hard truth that our current politicians are not smart but very cunning and sneaky. And of course again, let's face it there is always a bunch of people who follow the lead and sad to say my friends are among them. I feel scared of writing my thoughts because I have many friends with differing views. I am not scared that my ideas are not well received but most importantly, I have my own weaknesses in arguing other people's views which most of the time, I think are not as good as they are supposed to be and that lead to uncomfortable feelings. If you get what I'll be saying, then good because there will be a lot of interpretations on your own that have to be done after reading this. As said before, I am more afraid of the loss of good relationships with people around me than putting ideas that I am not sure will bring me anywhere. But again, seeing Facebook photos of friends make me feel the distance between those who are pros and are not grow larger and larger and that is not good.

CLEAN, The Yellows, Ambaiga, Mr.Nj, The Reds, The Greens, The Light Blues, The Rockets, The Blue Blood Prefects, The Supposedly-Impartial Vote Counter and The Yalam are the central themes of this so-called article. 

To simply answer my friends's question with regards to my stand on CLEAN, I would answer what my religion has taught me. I read this from Dr.Maza's. It's about Intention (Objectives) and Actions (to be taken to fulfill the objectives). The CLEAN's objectives are excellent. Check the very-not-beautiful website of the CLEAN and look for the Demands. Well, they are significantly true but no details about the reasons, events or empirical evidences behind the Demands and I'm not so fool to receive that fully to my own understanding. Sadly to say, many in Malaysia accepted what they think as right straight away without fully covering the knowledge that they should have about the specific matter. Well, the bottom line is that the Intentions of the CLEAN which are translated through the Demands are good. I am fully supportive of that.

Who does win now? I read all newspapers from the extreme right wingers to the extreme left wingers. I know, come to my house and you will see how my father is like the newspapers librarian.

All segments who were involved in it think they have won the so called ‘battle’. The CLEAN was able to penetrate the security and that was considered a success. The police controlled the whole situations with ‘their own ways’ which they considered success.

What have made me wondered is the true cause of this supposedly-CLEAN CLEAN. If it is suppose to be impartial, then why the face of the campaign at the whole level seems to be very one-sided. It’s obvious that the DEMANDS are excellent and as the so called democracy experts said (which I know some of my friends are although I’m very sure most don’t even know the whole reasons and stories behind the concept), it is the vital part of the element of democracy. The voices of the majority. But really? Again, you believe what you want to believe.

So where do we go from here?

Why do we have to choose sides? Why bother preaching others when we ourselves are not that clean either? I’m not choosing side but feel very very sad looking at the current situation. Why do we have to choose side and distance ourselves from each other? Where this will bring us?

Why the I-know-it-all-so-you-have-to-shut-up-and-follow-me attitude is still here? I’m wondering too if you really know what you are fighting for.

The bottom line is, if you are sincere enough then, all parties should be in it for the cause, isn’t it? That seems logic to me. Well, we have different thoughts. With emotions rising, everyone thinks they are the right ones. How human-human relationship has lost its shine during this time.

ps: The concept of democracy also involves the free speech. So, the rulers-ruled media also have their own free speech. That's why you cannot criticise the media for choosing sides because that's what they do (well, actually you can because it's free speech as well, but that's why our first Rukunegara tenet is Kepercayaan Kepada Tuhan, so does Allah want us to create hatred among ourselves?). My advise (agreed with Hafiz)- read all sources of news. And if you happen to not like one-sided media, then don't read it if you think it will make you to hate them. Don't create unnecessary hatred among people. If you are a muslim, I strongly urge you to prevent yourselves from hating others. You may hate the Actions, but not the people. People are given chances to change. What if suddenly the sides are reversed? Anything can happen. Moderation as laid out in Islam therefore should be the best way.