Freedom of Speech

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

Islam and Muslim has again been put under the limelight, and this time by the stupid (mind my language) Kouachi brothers who takes matters to their own hands when they attacked the Charlei Hebdo HQ (where they publish the cartoon that mock Rasulullah SAW) and massacred police and civillian alike. Not long after that, another episode of terror happened in Paris, making the impact of the attack even more severe.

Today, Paris held a rally to demonstrate solidarity with Charlie Hebdo and people all over the world (at least around Europe) also held the same rally, shouting for Freedom of Speech. What is freedom of speech? Can you just say anything about anyone? Really? I don't think so.

Charlie Hebdo has produced the satire that mocks Rasulullah SAW, and they even mocked the monarch, the Christians and any other things that they fancy. So when all these people go on those rally, and carrying out the banner, fighting for freedom of speech, does that means these people are fighting for vulgarity? foul languages? mockery? Is that what today's world has become?

Its sad...when people are condoning foul languages out in the open. I pity the cartoonist that died, but there are not innocent either. If they choose a more respectful way to critic in their work, it would not lead to this event. Every action has a cause, what are the cause of all these? Its purely uncalled for provocation. While I condemn that magazine and what their products are, I 200%  do not condone killing them.

"I do not know of single (XXX words not clear) in the whole world of whatever mazdhab, of whatever methodology or theology who says that a lone Muslim, anywhere in the world can become judge, jury and executioner. and just go and start killing people and rampaging, this is especially in a land that never claims to be rule in the laws of Islam."

As Sheikh Yasir Qadhi rightly said, what Charlie Hebdo is fighting for is not freedom of speech, rather, its freedom to insult Islam. 

Wallahua'lam. Till next time, wassalam.

Syria...where do we stand?

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh...

Felt the urge to post this, hence giving it a go via phone. Pardon for the potential cosmetics mishaps..hehehe..

Ok..back to business. 3 hours of watching CNN has triggered this question. For now White House is looking for allies to take military action on Syria. The last chemical weapon attacks to the civillians has strengthen the decision even more. They were intially looking at Britain to join them in yet another mission to save the world.

Surprisingly, more than half of Britain's parliamentary rejected the motion..leaving the Prime Minister to say NO to White House's proposal.
CNN showed the footage of the debate and there was a clear vibe among the parliament members that they want to avoid another Iraq...where up till now the WMD has yet to be found.

They will at least wait until the UN investigation concluded on the last incident that killed mostly among them women and kids, then they'll probably decide once again whether or not to join their ally, the US.

Back in the states, it was not a unanimous decision either...rallies were held in some part, refusing war on Syria. They too are strongly against another yet a repeat of Iraq invasion. They demand for solid proofs before any military action to be taken..

The states secretary are confident that the action is a go, regardless there allies to it or not. Russia refused to support the war on Syria. And while most of the countries in the world had condemned Assad and his regime, none of which are strongly behind the idea of war on Syria.

If US strike on Syria does happen, Assad will be greatly supported by Iran, and not to mentioned...the Isreal as well. It will be a very long battle. One could imagine what kind of war facilities Iran has up on their sleeves.

The question is...as a Muslim, we detest what the regime has done to its people. Its clearly a Sunni-Shiite conflict. We all wish Assad to be defeated. But how? On one hand, one of the world's veto power has initiated what we wish we could do. But on the other hand, we know once US sends its troop to a country, much more casualties to be expected. Plus, the country will no longer be ruled by its own people. All kinds of puppet show will go on once US started to meddle into the country's business. Iraq and Afghanistan is the living proof of that.

So the question remains, where do we stand? hoping for Obama to stay true to his words and launch attack on Assad? Or at all cost avoid foreign invasion on Syria and let Assad and his dogs to continue mutilating our brothers and sisters over there...? Honestly, I don't know which one is better.

Pray to Allah SWT all the best to Syrian people. Its a long battle for them, to a point it is unimaginable to us. Being brought up in a free country, we should really appreciate what we have. The peace, the stability, the platform to say our piece, all of these did not come for free. And to maintain that will take even more hardwork and sound mind.

Selamat Hari Merdeka untuk semua rakyat Malaysia. Doa saya moga Malaysia kekal aman dan kita akan berada di tempat yang membolehkan kita terus membantu umat Islam seluruh dunia...aamiinn.....

The Egypt Conflict for Dummies - a translated version

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh....

(Its been a while I had two post in two days in a row..hehehe..) mojo is back? you wish...hehehe...

Received an email from a colleague, she asked whether am I interested to do some pro-bono translation work. She was referring to this link.
http://angelwearsgucci.blogspot.com/2013/08/konflik-mesir-untuk-dummies.html.

From the trail of comments, seems like they need help to get it translated to English. I am not saying I'm good in English, but I know enough and I think I can contribute in this way.Without much thought, I agreed. I honestly hope nothing gets lost in translation, insya Allah.

So here goes, my small deeds to spread the awareness of the current conflict in Egypt. May Allah bless our brothers and sisters over there and gives them the best. Allah knows best of what is good for them and for Islam in general.

Those highlighted portion are my comments, minor disputes with the original writer...hehehehe.. (nak jugak..!!) I even copied the pictures from the post, just to add some colour to this yet to be long and serious post :D

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When I was asked at Pengicau, “Who is as-Sisi?” I knew that I had to pen down this post.
Based on the format of Israel-Palestine conflict for Dummies that was written quite some time back, Insya Allah I will be sharing facts and important points in relation to the on-going crisis in Egypt right now, for the benefits of all.

Of course, I will not be able to tell all about the crisis in this post and therefore I would only focus on 2 things for the time being:
1. Important facts on the on-going crisis
2. Significant historical background of the crisis.

Hopefully, after going through this post, you will, more or less have a clearer picture on what is actually happening in Egypt. Thereafter, it’s my wish that you would share these facts with friends, families, neighbour, or anybody you wish to. There are still a large amount of people out there that are still not aware of the actual situation in Egypt and relying heavily on the biased local mainstream media mostly originated from the West.

(I beg to differ, we have been given the freedom to choose, there will always be sources of news that is questionable, but lo and behold, I've watched TV Al-Hijrah almost every night and they are mainstream, but they do provide trustworthy news. Don't be too quick in judging the local mainstream media. They do have integrity)

And if you wish to know further, by all means you can go ahead and kick-start your own research. If you want to know more than that, the only way is resort to doing a live coverage from Egypt itself!

Fact #1
Let’s first have a look at Egypt’s history, so that we can further understand the socio-political condition that provided the base of turmoil that is currently happening in Egypt.

Egypt itself is rich in history. Among the earliest civilization that sees the rise of great monuments such as pyramid, the Sphinx and the Obelisk, not to mentioned, belly dancing too. Egypt was also part of the background location for Yusuf AS’s history that ends with the typical happily ever after when he was elected as the minister that took care of Egypt’s financial affair. And as it is widely known, he was reunited with his dear father, Ya’qub AS and the rest of his brothers.

Egypt has also been a witness to Musa AS’s and his brother Harun AS’s da’wah to Pharaoh laknatullah ‘alaih. Pharaoh’s cruelty was clearly mentioned in Al-Quran when he ordered the murder of all babies which are boys of Bani Israel and when his wizards turn their backs against him. Pharaoh and his men were finally drowned in the Red Sea, before he was able to seek repentance from Allah SWT.

And then there was a warrior named Saifuddin al-Qutuz, who had beaten the ferocious Mongols during his reign in Egypt. There is also Salahuddin al-Ayubi, the man responsible to free Baitulmaqdis from the Crusaders who was also originated from Egypt.

It’s clear, how significant Egypt is as a blessed land not only because of the anbia (the Prophets), but also because of many significant figures that fought their battle to uphold Islam.

Fact #2
The army involvement in Egypt’s modern history is not something new. King Farouk, the last monarchy of Egypt was overthrown by Muhammad Naquib and Jamal Abdul Nassir, which are both army officers. Muhammad Naquib later went on to become the first president of Egypt, and consequently was overthrown by Jamal Abdul Nassir after only one year in the office.

The military reign on Egypt was later continued by Anwar Sadat which was later assassinated by his own officers in the year 1981. Anwar was later replaced by Hosni Mubarak, whom ruled Egypt until early 2011, when he was later overthrown by the people during the infamous Arab Spring.
From the era of Jamal Abdul Nassir until Hosni Mubarak, the power was fully given to the military, over a period of 44 years.

Insane.

(Based on my limited knowledge and reading, though its military based, there were still legit election held at the early stage of Mubarak's reign, but the election becomes questionable later on, so I am not sure how to classify what type of ruling (full military or not) and I am no political expert, so I am merely translating here..)

The Naguib and Jamal conspiracy

Fact #3
The turmoil that is currently happening in Egypt is the effect of military coup, led by General Abdul Fatah as-Sisi on President Muhammad Mursi who was brought down on 3rd of July 2013. In response to that, President Mursi’s supporters hold protest and peace demonstrations all over Egypt, but the main focus is in the capital, Cairo.

The overthrow of President Mursi was seen by many parties as illegal and illegitimate due to the fact that he won the election fair and square, when he secured more than 51% of the people’s vote. Ironically, the parties that hold demonstration to bring down President Mursi claimed themselves as fighters for democracy.

Fact #4
Egypt’s 2011 election, which for its first time in many years was hold fully transparent and fair, with almost no involvement by the military and deceit by the government sees Party al-Huraiyyah wal ‘Adalah (Freedom and Justice Party) which is the political wing of Ikhwanul Muslimin, had a big win when they managed to gather 37.5% of total votes, followed by Party Salafi an-Nur (27.8%) and Party al-Wafd (9.2%). Both FJP and an-Nur are based on Islamic ideology, so indirectly, the Egypt’s parliament has been dominated by those that are fighting to uphold Islam. This is an obvious threat to the liberal groups in Egypt.

Party al-Hurriyyah wal 'Adalah (Freedom and Justice party) 

In the beginning FJP did not want to send candidate to contest for the Presidency, as it is not their main goal. However, after seeing the potential harm of not contesting, and the greater good that needs to be defended, they have decided to send Khairat Shatir to be in the running for that position.

However, due to technical difficulties that to me I considered as small and petty, Khairat Shatir’s nomination has to be cancelled. Muhammad Mursi, which is the president of FJP, was sent in as the replacement. He officially won the presidential election on 24th June 2012 and became the first Egyptian president that was elected by a democratic election.

Fact #5
Among those that are behind the demonstration and protest that leads to the downfall of President Mursi are Muhammad el-Baradei, Amr Moussa, Hamdeen Sabahi and Hisham Bastawisy, almost all of them lost in the Egypt’s presidential election. Now, do you see what is at play here?

El-Baradei

There were claims from Ikhwanul Muslimin how el-Baradei and his man are in cohorts with the Israeli Zionist and United States of America in planning the chaos in Egypt which ends up overthrowing President Mursi.
El-Baradei was appointed as the new Vice President for the temporary government that is after being protested by many parties that disagree to the proposition to elect him as the new Prime Minister.

Latest, el-Baradei has resigned as Vice President because he disagrees with the military action that killed the protesters in Rabaah Square and the area surrounding it.

Oh el-Baradei, that still would not clean your hands from the blood of the people of Egypt.

Fact #6
It’s an open secret that US, Israel and other enemy of Islam are behind the scheme to overthrow President Mursi and ends FJP authority in the parliament of Egypt.

The Tamarrud Campaign, a name given to protesters which is against President Mursi was proven to have received funding from the US, as reported by Al-Jazeera.

Among the first action taken by the temporary government led by President Adly Mansour is to close down the border at Rafah, which previously opened up by President Mursi. This border has been an important link to the Palestinian in getting their basic daily supplies. This closure has clearly shown the coalition between Israel and the new Egyptian government.

US and Israel is the real fighter for democracy..? really?!!

Fact #7
The other Arabic countries also play a part in the despicable conspiracy in overthrowing President Mursi. As soon as Adly Mansour was appointed as the new president for the temporary government, Saudi Arabia is among the first that sends its congratulatory message to Egypt.

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and UAE, each funds their financial support that worth billions of USD post the downfall of President Mursi. These countries are well known not in favour of Ikhwanul Muslimin for fear of the ideology that it brings.

On the other hand, two countries that been loudly voicing out their protest on the coup are Tunisia and Turkey. The president of Turkey, Reccep Tayyib Erdogan did not acknowledge the temporary government led by Adly Mansour and demand that President Morsi to be released and returned to his original position.

Fact #8
On July 3rd 2013, General Abdul Fatah as-Sisi announced on the Egypt’s national TV that the military has taken over the power from President Mursi due to his failure to fulfil few demands by the Tamarrud and the ultimatum was given by the military. President Mursi was arrested in an unknown location, apart by the military.

Who is as-Sisi? He was appointed by President Mursi to replace Muhammad Hussein Tantawi as the Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces. He is seen as a moderate figure due to his strong religious stand, the most suitable candidate to replace the old Mubarak regime. Who would have known that he will be the main player in overthrowing his own boss?

After appointing Adly Mansour as the president for the temporary government, as-Sisi appointed himself as the new Minister of Defence apart from the Deputy Prime Minister.

As-Sisi, how much blood has you caused to shed? Have that answer ready in front of Allah SWT.

Fact #9
What/Who is Ikhwanul Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood)?
It would be nuts to explain about IM in one single fact!

Imam Hassan al Bana

Ikhwanul Muslimin is a da’wah movement that was founded by Imam Hassan al-Bana in the year 1928, as a direct response to the downfall of the Uthmaniah Caliphate in the year 1924. The history of this movement is very long and colourful, and suffices to say that the history of modern Egypt is heavily influenced by this movement.

The clash between the military and Ikhwanul Muslimin (IM) is very well known. IM members have been massively detained, thrown into jail and reprimanded during the era of Jamal Abdul Nassir, and total members that was caught was estimated to reach millions all over Egypt. Many of them were released when Anwar Sadat reign, but was later captured again when Hosni Mubarak took over. Among the prominent IM figure that lost their life during the dictatorship includes Sayyid Qutb, Abdul Qadir Audah dan Syaikh al-Faraghli.

Since then, IM was banned from actively moving, even more so in the political arena as the rulers sees them as a major threat. However, IM members keep on moving within the society hiding behind different names or different organization.

The popularity and influence of IM within the people is obvious when finally they are allowed to contest in the election post Mubarak downfall, it was an easy win in most places especially in rural area. Apart from that the people’s uprising against the overthrow of President Mursi involves millions of Egyptians that describes the solid support to the movement that is almost reaching its centenary.

To date, IM plays and important and active role in painting the picture of socio-political and economical of the Egyptians.

Fact #10

The massacre that happened to the protesters starting from 14th August 2013 happened when the military decided to clear the Rabaah Square, al-Nahda Square and Mustafa Mahmud Square in Giza off President Mursi’s supporters. Before this, there has been attack during early morning (Fajr) where Mursi’s supporters were shot by sharp shooters while performing Fajr prayer on 8th of July 2013. This is syaitan at play.

But the massacre that took place on the 14th of August is far worse and out of bound. They were not only murdered, the mosque was set on fire, the dead bodies of the martyr were burned and some were rolled over by bulldozers alive!! Total fatalities were quoted differently based on different sources, but the highest reported is more than 2,200 lives. This is outright cruelty that went way too overboard, and to make it worse, it was done by the Egyptians, to their own people. Some even describes the military’s action was pretty much a plot by Israelis and US, far more despicable and  sickening from Bashar as-Assad’s killing of his own people and the Israel towards the Palestinians. Their actions have violated all humanity values that have ever existed.

World’s reaction, as usual is predictable, only capable of condemning the cruel act of as-Sisi and his dogs. Even the US themselves, which the hands are smeared with the blood of the Egyptians joins the world to condemn the act.

Fact #11
Do I need to mention, what is the real reason President Mursi was overthrown? Or what was the justification used by the Tamarrud and the military to bring down President Mursi?

They claimed President Mursi had failed to keep his promise when he was first appointed as the President of Egypt. He had failed to reinstate the bad economic condition, apart from a few other political, economic and social factors. This includes more job opportunities, the police that vandalize the protesters and many others.
That was their justifications.

The truths is, it’s unreasonable for President Mursi to reinstate fully the almost ruined Egypt from all aspect post Mubarak’s regime years of ruling in just one year. Mursi would need Harry Potter’s wand or countless magic spells to turn Egypt to a prosper, peaceful country in the blink of an eye.

Regardless, President Mursi’ biggest ‘sins’ that really cause uneasiness among the opponents are:

1. Increase the productivity of wheat production from 20% to 60%
2. Developed industrial factories such as electronics, arms and cars that open up job opportunity and reduce Egyptian’s dependence on import materials.
3. Given the freedom to media, to a point they were not ashamed to slander him almost every day. Regardless, he was cool with it and handles that with patience. (if it happened in Mubarak’s time, the editor would have gone straight to jail)
4. Memorize the al-Quran completely and became the imam at masjid.
5. Refused to live in the president’s castle and refused to be protected by private bodyguards.
6. Support the fight of the Palestinians, Syrians, and Myanmar, by opening up the Rafah border for the convenience of the Palestinians. 
7. Freed up the Egyptians government from the military rule.
8. And many others….

These are the real factors why he was brought down. The real factors as to why President Mursi was overthrown are because he brings out the Islamic ideology in his ruling. It’s fair, just, trustworthy, clean and wise. How can taghut (one who exceeds the limit, worship anything but Allah) and jahilliyah (stupidity or ignorant) resting quietly seeing such leader in power. If they let Mursi and IM continues bringing changes that leads to full implementation of Islamic nation, they know Islam will rise again. Therefore, they started to seed their evil ploy to bring Mursi down.

So that is it.

Now, you know a thing or two on what is happening in Egypt? As I mentioned earlier, a post this brief might not give a comprehensive understanding on the turmoil that is happening in Egypt. But I believe it is enough for you get a rough picture of the current situation.

The on-going crisis must not be taken lightly by any of us. Egypt is a blessed land that needs to be defended. It’s the entry point to free the al-Quds. And it’s not impossible that it might be the starting point to Islamic victory that just beyond reach!

I am very confident, whatever that our Egyptian brothers are facing right now is part of Allah’s test, to eradicate any existing elements of jahiliyyah and taghut, before Allah lift them to a higher standard. What our brothers and sisters are facing in Egypt is a trailer from Allah before he grants the more superior victory!

Allahu Akbar!

While we here in Malaysia, keep on sending our prayers for our brothers’ and sisters’ safety and victory in Egypt. Share and spread the trustworthy news and facts about what is currently going on. Educate our society to be aware on what is happening outside.

Because Egypt is not just a country in the Middle East, the Egyptian is not just a group of Arabic people. Egypt is not just a country that holds the legacy of Pharaoh, Haman, and Qarun.

It’s not impossible the condition in Egypt will be prolonged and leads to Civil War. Nauzubillah. If that happens, it would be much worse and even more atrocious than what happened in Syria. At least in Syria it’s a clear dispute between the Shiite and Sunni, but in Egypt, it’s between brothers of the same belief.

Their pain, suffering and tears over there, are ours too. 

The defeat of Egypt is our defeat too. But with the winning of Egypt, the superior light of Islam will be shining bright, Insya Allah!

Narrated Abu Hurairah: Allah’s Messenger said, “He who removes from a believer one of his difficulties of this world, Allah will remove one of his troubles on the Day of Judgement; and he who finds relief for a hard-pressed person, Allah will make things easy for him on the Day of Judgement; he who covers up (the faults) of a Muslim, Allah will cover up (his faults) in this world and in the Hereafter. Allah supports His slave as long as the slave is supportive of his brother; and he who treads the path in search of knowledge, Allah makes that path easy, leading to Paradise for him.” (Muslim)

So where does that leaves us? Do we turn a blind eye, keep it silent and refuse to hear. While our brothers and sisters are being victimized, slaughtered and brutalized by the evil taghut..?

Go ahead and don’t forget to have a very good excuse to defend ourselves in front of Allah at Masyar later.

-gabbana-

I have received request to include the reference sources to the facts that was presented. Most of the fact that was shared is widely known, so either it’s easy to get it online or based on memory from my previous reading.

Insya Allah, the facts that I have shared is legit and true, no reason for me to fabricate and twist the facts. Indeed, I am very scared of Allah’s punishment. But if however you found that the facts are doubtful or inaccurate, please correct me, so that we only share facts which are true and legit here.

There are request to translate this article to English. Honestly I do not have the capacity to do that for the time being. I welcomed any party that wish to do that.

Alhamdulillah, the feedback for this article is very welcoming. Please share and upgrade if you find it beneficial for the ummah and give the awareness to us that there is a lot more tarbiyah and da’wah that we need to do. Verily the victory for Islam is near, but it will not come without the sacrifices be it monetary, our energy and our soul.

May Allah bless us, biiznillah!
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Alhamdulillah, I think I managed to keep it 90% close to the original post. All the good things are from Allah, and the bad one are my own doing. Wallahu 'alam...

The version that I choose to read - Lahad Datu

Assalamualaikum w.b.t,

Terpanggil sangat nak post pasal ni sebab kat FB dah macam-macam versi dari jurucakap rakyat yang tidak bertauliah, yang share post tanpa sumber yang sah atau yang sengaja nak post one liner so that dapat himpun banyak 'like'. Semuanya mengutuk politician menangguk di air yang keruh..padahal sampai la ni saya tak terbaca kenyataan ahli politik (kerajaan atau pembangkang) yang buat kenyataan yang tidak sesuai. Yang awak tu layak sangat ka buat statement? Polis bukan, tentera bukan, paling habis engineer yang dapat news pon dari FB tercinta awak tu. You have little idea how the law works, how complicated the situation is and how the people involved are doing their best to make the decision based on their ability, knowledge and power for the good of the masses. So stop speculating, pray for the best and quit pointing fingers.


Sesungguhnya saya bersyukur kerana mempunyai teman2 rapat di dalam polis dan atm...semakin faham dengan konteks sebenar tentang permasalahan di lahad datu, kalau nak harap tgk post org lain..semua nak sebut the 'p' word. If you detest it so much..why did u even mentioned it...?
Saya percaya Allah akan bagi kita jumpa apa yang kita niatkan untuk cari...if you look for controversy, you'll definitely gets it. Likewise. Terima kasih skuad rotu uitm batch 21.

This one particular links summarize the background story pretty much perfectly, highly recommended.
http://andakjauhar.wordpress.com/analisis-pencerobohan-lahad-datu-oleh-tentera-diraja-kesultanan-sulu/

Another message from whatsapp budak-budak rotu :
Quote "


Persoalan Kenapa guna polis tak tentera?

1. Jika kita guna tentera dahulu bermakna kita dalam perang dengan Sultan SULU.
2. Juga bermakna kita mengiktiraf Sultan Sulu secara lansung sebagai kerajaan yang sah yang mengistiharkan perang kepada kita.
3. Dan jika ini berlaku ianya akan tertakluk kepada Geneva Convention dan beberapa protocol antarabangsa.

Jika Polis sebagai pemerintah operasi bermakna

1. Kita masih anggap mereka itu penjenayah dan penceroboh bukan combatant perang.
2. Polis kita akan menangkap dan menahan (perkatannya untuk polis ialah menahan bukan menawan - Menawan ialah perkataan Tentera ada beza di antara keduanya)
3. Untuk mengelakkan mereka menjadi Tawanan Perang. Cukup sekadar sebagai tahanan penjenayah. Maka tuduhan di Mahkamah Awam boleh di lakukan. Seperti tuduhan yang boleh kita buat di atas lanun Somalia yang kita tahan sedikit masa lalu. Mereka tidak di anggap tawanan perang.
4. Boleh di ektradisikan dengan lebih mudah ke Filipina. Kalau tindakan ketenteraan atau kita anggap perang susah nak bicara dan mana nak tempatkan mereka dan diklasifikasikan mereka ini? 
5. Maka jadilah macam kisah CIA dan Black Sitenya untuk WAR on TERROR mereka. Kita kena la buat macam Guantonamo BAy juga. Susah macam tu.

Itu sebab kita mengambil langkah Polis dahulu. Jika tentera ambil alih sudah jadi kes lain.Jika keadaan tidak boleh di kawal lagi maka LOCAL AREA EMERGENCY (darurat setempat) boleh di isytiharkan.

Dengar cerita darurat telah di istiharkan dan curfew di kuatkuasakan di sana. Ini bermakna tentera sudah ambil alih di Lahad Datu atau kawasan pencerobohan sahaja (kawasan yang lebih kecil)

Ianya seperti darurat waktu ribut banjir New Orleans dahulu- tentera USA ambil alih bukan lagi polis tempatan)

Dalam keadaan ini bermakna bukan satu negara Malaysia darurat dan bukanlah bermakna perang kerajaan Malaysia dan Sultan Sulu. Darurat hanya untuk keselamatan sahaja dan LOCAL AREA SAHAJA. Rasanya bukan seluruh Lahad Datu pun. Hanya kawsan pencerobohannya sahaja. Nampak hati-hatinya dan telitinya Kerajaan dalam hal ini? Menurut langkah satu persatu?

Nota Tambahan : Ingat kes al-Maunah dahulu? Mula-mula polis. Kemudian Tentera ambil alih. Dan setelah tentera ambil alih tuduhan kepada Mohd Amin (ketua Almaunah)yang membawa hukuman mati ialah tuduhan mengistiharkan perang kepada YAng Di Pertuan Agung.
Beliau tidak di tuduh sebagai orang awam iaitu tuduhan Membunuh (i.e; Bunuh polis SB tu). Beliau di tuduh combatant Perang.

Persoalan sempadan bolos. Mereka masuk sikit demi sedikit dengan bot pancung dalam kawasan yang mana sempadan adalah kabur dan menjadi tradisi penduduk tempatan berulang alik. Lagi pun kawasannya luas.Tiada ada negara dalam dunia yang tidak di tembusi sempadannya.

Yang sukar sedikit ialah Israel dan Vatican. Israel sebab temboknya dan Vatican City sebab di dindingnya dan juga di kepung oleh bandar Rom. Hatta USA pun sering di cerobohi sempadannya oleh orang Mexico. Negara China yang terkenal dengan Great Wallnya sering di cerobohi orang bangsa Mongolia Nomad atau bangsa padang steppe yang berulang-alik (serupa dengan kes Lahad datu - golongan yang tidak mempunyai sempadan).

"Unquote

Tepuk dada tanya akal. Kalau masih nak cari kontroversi dalam setiap permasalahan, silakan, anda akan menyumbang ke saham-saham itu dia akhirat kelak.
Wallahua'lam.

Save Maryam

Assalamualaikum w.b.t,

Dearest brothers and sisters, this was shared to us during the recent Al-Kauthar's course. The campaign is led by Mercy Mission UK. Its really happening, and if nothing is being done, what we fear will come true. Please help to spread the word. A strong reminder to all to keep our aqidah checked. Not just for ourselves, our family's and our dear friend's too. May Allah help us. Amiinnn......

Talkative Tuesday : 30 and solo ;)

Its been a while, and I have yet to finish on my Middle Earth trip. Thanks for all the prayers for my friend, she has been officially transferred to normal ward, despite being in the ICU for ~3 weeks ++. She has a long road to recovery though, but nonetheless, we are grateful, alhamdulillah.

Off late, this topic has been revolving around me. I attended a course over last weeked, A-Z of Love & Mercy. It talks abouth Fiqh of Nikah and Divorce, and before you get too excited, no, I am no position of tying the knot soon :P Like any Al-Kauthar courses, it was just hard to miss. We always know that nikah is not wajib, rather it is recommended, if you already have the various means to shoulder the responsibility. The common feedback or statement made by those 'aunties' or whoever that has everything to say in my life pertaining my condition of being single at this age is, 'Kalau tak kahwin Nabi tak mengaku umat tau...'

I agree that we have to try our best to live up the the sunnah, but looks who's talking, if they really stick to the sunnah, they will not be making the statement in the first place. There are various reasons as why people my age remain single, you can only guess. I won't dwell into details on the rulings of marriage, as to when it is wajib, recommended, makhruh and haram, and I won't put myself in any position, except that I am not in the wajib category yet, insyaAllah. Honestly, I don't think I fall into that category, I am not about to commit zina just because I am not married yet, and I also in no mood to steal anybody's husband just to get married. Plus, I will not just take on any Ahmad, Sulaiman or Iqbal (muslim's version of Tom, Dick and Harry :P) so just that I can silenced the question of marriage. People say beggars can't be choosers, but I am not a beggar. I have qualities, (questionable and debatable, but I still do) and I was hoping to find someone that at least of the same level to spend the rest of my life with, (the higher, the better). But even then, if the guy is no more educated than I am, what matters most is his deen. If that is not right in the first place, than as the Sheikh said, assalamualaikum warahmatullahiwabarakatuh... (with hands waving off...)

Its not like I have never tried to find, I did, but nothing positive turns out yet. Last Twins of Faith conference, they had this Marriage Facilitation session. They took the speed dating concept and tried to matchmake any interested brothers and sisters in a halal environment. I signed up, not knowing what to expect. The initial response shows that the split was around 20 : 80 (brothers : sisters). Okaaayyyy.....that is so appropriate :P The organizers tried their very best to bring in more brothers, but how can they? the conference participants are made of at least 70% women. The remaining male are either married or small kids.

Anyhoo...they managed to close the gap by getting the volunteers to participate as well. When we finally had the session, these are my observations:
1. Almost 70% of the sisters are from the age 27-35, working professionals ranging from Master student, high school teachers, doctors, curators and engineers (yours truly)
2. Almost 50-60% of the brothers are foreign students (age 22 and below)

Now, tell me, how do you match make these majority group? Which leads me to few more questions.
1. Where are all the 27-35 years old man? They are either married or they have made their choice. Those that is still single and in 30's don't go around attending Islamic conference, else we would have them in the session.
2. Where are all the sisters below 25? They are either in college, busy studying or just started of their career.

*I wouldnt want to pick a brother that is 22 years old, no doubt he has good intention of staying away from the haram by getting married early, and the fact that he joins the conference tells me that he got his priorities right, but, I need somebody that is ready financially, (or the very least emotionally). I need him to be my rock, I wouldn't want to take on the burden of playing big sis in a marriage.

So session no. 1 was not a success to me definitely. Without losing hope, the following week, they have another Al-Kauthar course, Home Sweet Home, and they had another session of marriage facilitation. Same thing happened. Majority of the brothers still belongs to the same age range. Again, no success there. Sheikh keeps on emphasizing that if we are looking for a mango, go to a mango market, you will not find it in the lemon market. The session is claimed to have the mango that we are looking for, but for me, all the mango are way too young, the ripe mango are off the market :P

I saw first hand how the market in Malaysia looks like, maybe I have not been to enough Islamic event to see the actual number of good practising Muslim male out there, but from my limited observation, we seriously in deficit for good quality Muslim men. It turns out that this is actually a global issue. The number of unmarried Muslim female all around the world is increasing. This sister in the US was looking for solution, but turns out she is being mocked by some of the 'highly educated' readers. What I experienced in the conference has been shared by another sister in UK. So tell me now, don't we have a greater ummah issue here? Latest poll in Malaysia still show that higher number of unmarried male than female, but do we go into details to see how many of these men are good practising Muslim men?

A phone call from an old friend yesterday almost break my heart, but not quite. She was saying that there is talk among them to match make me to a certain somebody, but they were quite certain I will reject the person because to them I have 'high taste'. How can I not? At work, I've met many good Muslim men, more than I have ever met anywhere else in my life. Seeing that these species existed, wouldn't I set a high standard as well? Before you get any ideas, they are all married :) What I'm saying is this, I am not looking for just man (any Malay man for that matter), he has to make the first cut, a good Muslim, and it breaks my heart that some of my friends could not see that.

From last week's course, the Sheikh keeps on mentioning few scholars that remains single throughout their entire life, namely Imam An-Nawawi, Ibn Taymiyah and Imam al-Tabari. Are these scholars not a good Muslim? Then why do they remain single until end of life? People can argue maybe they have female slaves, but they off all people knew the greatness of marriage, how it double-triple your rewards for any good deeds, then why are they not following sunnah? The answer is simple. They may have their own reasons for being single, but look at what they have left for the ummah, their studies has helped many people living by the right way of Islam. Their publications has reached generations and generations of muslim, and nobody can deny that insyaAllah, Rasulullah SAW is proud to have them in his ummah.

This morning, I was approached by Dr K. He's the lead for all the da'wah work in the office. They started this young parent club and they had their first meeting, I was invited but could not joined then. The objective of this group is just to socialize and share as much wrt Islamic way of life and one of the major focus is parenting. Dr K actually asked me to organize one of the event. My first reaction to him "I am not a young parent." He was caught off guard, maybe he never thought that I would counter with that statement. No offence, I was just joking and alhamdulillah he got it. Anyhow, like it or not, I am in the club, kids or no kid, spouse or no spouse :P

So for now, I will continue what I am doing, I am working to become a better Muslim. I pray to Allah that I get a mate that is better than I am, the one that can guide me to Jannah. If so Allah send him anytime soon, and I am destined to get married, alhamdulillah. If Allah choose to delay granting my prayers, even better, because I have the full confidence Allah will keep His promise somehow, and the best is to be given in Jannah. So what I do now, is work towards Jannah, and the rest will fall into places, insyaAllah. I am happy with my condition now. I enjoy my freedom, and as long as I am not doing anything that can invite fitna, or against the shariah, I will let Allah be my sole judge. The remaining mortal jury can say all they want, but I know Allah is always with me ;)

*and I don't need lecture on accepting polygamy, that may just invite another post :P 

From here



Rasa Bersalah...

Assalamualaikum...

Saya rasa sangat bersalah tak dapat kongsi benda berguna sempena Maulud Nabi yang lepas. Saya juga tak tahu berapa ramai orang muda yang singgah ke blog ini. Yang saya tahu, ramai yang se'muda' Kak Tek. Apa yang saya nak kongsi ni sesuai untuk golongan yang muda sikit je dari Kak Tek...hehehehe.. ;)

Sila klik pada imej untuk resolusi lebih besar.

Harap-harap pengunjung muda belia dapat ambil pengajaran dari sini..insyaAllah... :)

p/s: I am starting to write the post on the Journey to the Middle Earth, gambate!! p(^o^)q

Relevankah?

Assalamualaikum w.b.t,

Baru balik dari usrah, hadis yang kami bincang hari ini melibatkan 3 keadaan seorang Muslim dibenarkan dibunuh, 3 perkara itu ialah :

•  Janda yang berzina
• Orang yang membunuh orang lain tanpa sebab yang munasabah
• Orang Muslim yang murtad

Dan pastilah topik yang paling menarik, yang akhir sekali, seorang akhwat mula berkongsi bual bicara dalam TV AlHijrah tentang soal murtad ni. Aku tak sempat tengok. Kalau menurut dia ada 3 panel, antaranya Dr Zaharudin, (Dr Z), Presiden (ke Pengerusi Majlis Peguam Muslim) (PMPM). Antara inti perbincangan Dr Z menyatakan pendirian beliau tentang isu murtad, beliau tidak menyalahkan pihak-pihak Kristian dalam menyebarkan agama mereka, kerana itu sebahagian dari dakwah mereka, yang beliau lebih tekankan adalah peranan Majlis Agama dalam menangani isu murtad, aku setuju.

Dalam perbincangan itu timbul pula isu umat Islam yang murtad disebabkan kemiskinan. Aku tak pasti apa yang Dr Z cakap, tapi akhwat ni menyuntik sentiment Majlis Agama (Baitulmal) tidak melakukan tugas mereka dengan berkesan bila menyangkut urusan pembahagian zakat fakir miskin. PMPM ada menyarankan bahawa masyarakat juga boleh main peranan seperti membawa fakir miskin ke pejabat zakat untuk memohon bantuan. Akhwat ni siap memperlekehkan cadangan PMPM itu, katanya tak lojik.

Aku dah tak boleh diam. Pantang jugak bila orang mula memperlekehkan Baitulmal. Aku mula buka mulut,

“Saya bercakap dari pengalaman, saya rasa Baitulmal KL sangat main peranan. Sejak kecil keluarga saya terima wang zakat, dari bantuan makanan bulanan, ke bantuan masuk U, semuanya kami dapat. Awal mula kami menerima bantuan zakat bila mak selalu beli barang kat satu kedai runcit ni. Agaknya pakcik itu boleh agak tahap ekonomi keluarga kami, dia pun bagi borang permohonan zakat, mak disuruh ke masjid, jumpa amil untuk mohon bantuan zakat. Dari situlah kami sekeluarga mula dapat bantuan lain. Memang lumrah, dengan kemiskinan, kebanyakan orang naïf, tak tahu apa bentuk bantuan yang boleh kita mintak. Kena ada ahli masyarakat yang tahu, tolong tunjukkan ke arah yang boleh kita lalui”

Point aku kat sini :

Janganlah kita memperlekehkan cadangan orang lain. Hanya kerana orang itu berbeza fahaman politik, kita memperkecilkan pandangan dan saranannya. Akhwat itu dari awal menyatakan PMPM itu pro-kerajaan, jadi apa pun yang keluar dari mulut PMPM, aku boleh agak dipandang ringan oleh akhwat ini. Aku memang join usrah, dan usrah ni bawah kelolaan IKRAM, yang aku tahu rata-rata orang kuatnya sangat tidak pro-kerajaan. Kalau ikutkan pendirian politik aku, memang dah lama angkat kaki, tapi aku ingat balik niat aku join usrah, untuk tambah ilmu agama yang tak seberapa ni. Memang kadang-kadang lebih 50% isu yang dibahas, mesti ada terselit unsur politik, tapi aku abaikan.

Ada juga dibahas isu HIMPUN, persoalannya kenapa slogan perjuangannya fokus pada bersatunya Melayu akan mendaulatkan Islam. Nanti apa perasaan Muslim dari bangsa lain? Cina Muslim, India Muslim? Kenapa nak memperkecilkan skop orang Islam di Malaysia dengan hanya melaungkan sepanduk Melayu? Aku faham, mungkin perjuangan ini kurang tepat kalau imej Islam jadi taruhan, tapi pernah tak akhwat-akhwat ni terfikir, mungkin salah satu sebab penganjur fokus pada Melayu adalah sebab di atas, pandangan sesama professional Melayu sudah diperlekehkan dari orang bawah, macam mana nak bersatu kalau masyarakat kita berfikir dengan berlandaskan fahaman politik, bukan secara objektif isu yang diperbahaskan. Mentang-mentang yang bagi pandangan bukan sehaluan politik, terus pandangannya dipandang remeh? Mungkin sebab itulah penganjur HIMPUN nak fokus pada orang Melayu dulu, tapi aku bukanlah menyokong HIMPUN, sebab aku pun tak pernah ambil tahu apa pucuk pangkal perjumpaan itu, jadi aku tak nak ulas lebih-lebih…

Point kedua, orang yang tidak pernah merasa, janganlah terlalu cepat menghukum pihak yang kita tak tahu tatakerja mereka. Contoh sini senang sangat. Kalau bab mengutuk Baitulmal tak adil, tak buat kerja dan sebagainya semua orang bersemangat nak bagi pendapat. Mereka ni orang-orang yang hanya memberi zakat, tapi tak pernah ambil tahu, bagaimana zakat itu diagihkan, bagaimana kakitangan Baitulmal berjalan kaki ke rumah-rumah memantau keluarga yang diberi bantuan zakat. Bagaimana ahli-ahli Puteri Umno buat roadshow bagi kesedaran pada masyarakat tentang bantuan yang boleh diminta. Mereka ini golongan yang hanya tahu menuding jari, padahal mereka golongan terpelajar. Ini yang buat aku risau, mereka orang berilmu tapi sering terbawa emosi saat berbahas soal macam ni. Takut nanti kata-kata mereka diambil oleh orang yang kurang arif, dan dianggap itulah kebenaran.  

Serius, aku akan terus hadiri usrah untuk ilmu agama, bab isu politik ni aku akan cuba abaikan. Tapi kalau isu yang aku rasa aku punya pengalaman untuk menjawab, aku akan jawab. Biarlah aku dilabel pro-kerajaan. Aku tahu tak ada kerajaan yang sempurna dalam dunia ni, dan aku tahu dengan cara mengutuk, isu itu tak akan ke mana. Biarlah orang lain sibuk berapi nak cakap siap betul, siapa salah, yang penting aku tahu pendirian aku, dan kalau boleh satu hari nanti aku akan cuba perbaiki keadaan, insyaAllah…

Talkative Tuesday: Bersih 2.0 Exposed – Bersih Is Politics

Following dieya's talkative Tuesday theme, I would like to share something that I received last week via mail from an internet acquaintance. I hope this goes viral. Its a long read, but worth it.

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The Bersih 2.0 rally on the 9th July 2011 caught the attention of our political leaders as well as the international media.

I am fortunate to be working overseas for the last 10 years. I do love Malaysia and look forward to come back once I have completed my career goals. As a proud citizen of Malaysia, I would like to provide an independent assessment and inject some rational thinking on the current situation.

Many Malaysians who joined the rally on the 9th July 2011 have witnessed the level of unity in rallying for the same cause, i.e a fair elections for the country. There has not been one event in Malaysia for some time that has rallied so much support to fight for one cause.

Whether it is planned or unplanned, the NGOs and the organizers have rallied support from the political leaders (mainly opposition) to catapult this rally to a different level. While the objectives of the rally were apparently focused purely on electoral reform, most Malaysians surely would recognise that the Bersih rally has become – whether rightly or wrongly – political in nature, much like the protest rallies which took place during the Reformasi days of Anwar Ibrahim in 1997. The logic and rationale behind getting 20,000 – 50,000 people to show up on the streets remains a mystery despite the existence of various open and civilized channels. Even more interestingly, the leader of Bersih 2.0, Datuk Ambiga, was granted an audience with the King several days before the date of the rally, which was ostensibly called so that Bersih 2.0 can hand over a memorandum to the King!

However you look at the Bersih 2.0, one has to give all credit to the organizers for orchestrating a successful event / rally, especially in terms of impacting the thinking of the mass population of Malaysians.

On that note, I think there are generally two groups in this country. The first group is the silent majority (i.e those who prefers to stay home and be with their families in the wake of a rally). This group probably constitutes 80% of our population. Most of the time, they are happy to lead their own lives, and are mostly happy with the way things are in Malaysia. There are probably one or two things they aren’t too happy with, but nothing that would spur them to complain to the newspapers or in the blogs.

The second group is what I consider to be the loud minority. These are folks who are perpetually unhappy over the way things are in our fair country. Maybe they don’t like certain policies which have been put in place (and which have likely contributed in some way or other to the current prosperity and success of our country!) In any case, these are the ones who usually speak (and sometimes scream) the loudest on blogs and Youtube, injecting truth and lies and using emotional or racial sentiments to make their point.

While I respect the right of the 20,000 – 50,000 people that attended the Bersih 2.0 rally to demonstrate peacefully, I feel that they were mostly taken for a ride by the loud minority.

If one were to interview the people on the street who came to the rally on the 9th of July 2011 and ask them the question “What are you fighting for today, sir?”, I can guarantee many of them are not able to answer accurately. The majority of those who turned up on the streets are rempits, pakcik tua on the street, people from the village and some unfortunate urban poor people who were given false hope that rallying alone can somehow change the country.

While many Facebook supporters have “liked” Bersih 2.0 before the rally, you can see only a handful of professionals, private sector people, gathered on the street on the actual day.

What you will hear generally are various answers such as “Walk of democracy”, “We want fair democracy”, “We hate the Government”, “Say no to Corruption”, “Reformasi”, “Allahuakbar”, etc.

From here, you can witness inconsistencies of understanding among those who claim to support Bersih 2.0. This is not surprising, since the Bersih 2.0 organizers are rallying a vast number of different groups (NGOs as well as politically-motivated groups) to support one cause. Hence, the understanding and true intention of Bersih 2.0 was “simplified” to ignite more fire and encourage a herd mentality amongst the people.

The problem with the whole Bersih 2.0 campaign is that people forget to really look at the 8 points that the Bersih proponents are pursuing. Most of the people in the street rally don’t even have a clue about any or all of the 8 points and the argument for and against each of them. The whole thing has evolved into a war of perception which is based on a simplistic divide:

(A) If you support Bersih, then you reject corruption and embrace democracy and you are righteous

(B) If you reject Bersih, then you are dirty, corrupt, anti democracy and wicked

Given this war of perception, it is clear that (A) will win over (B) in terms of popular public support. The opposition joined in on (A) and the Government and the EC, including Barisan Nasional is demonized.

When I watched the Youtube videos on Bersih 2.0, the organizers were being very rhetorical about the rally, and why Malaysians should attend the rally. Because Bersih 2.0 has now “transformed” from the original 8 demands into the subject of “Cops are bad, look at this country”, most Malaysians are now fueled with anger. Nonchalantly, the 8 demands has now been quietly swept aside without any discussion or debate or clear explanation from the present Government.

That is why I would like to return to the original point of Bersih 2.0: the 8-point demands for electoral reform from Bersih 2.0. Let us, Malaysians, return back to the subject. The 8-point demand.

I hope my independent assessment on the 8 demands by BERSIH v2.0 will inject some rational thinking and perspective so that all Malaysians can appreciate the context and content rather than marching on the streets aimlessly without any clear objective or reason.

Lets now look at the 8 demands raised by Bersih and subject them to scrutiny:

1. Clean the electoral roll

The electoral roll is marred with irregularities such as deceased persons and multiple persons registered under a single address or non-existent addresses. The electoral roll must be revised and updated to wipe out these ‘phantom voters’. The rakyat have a right to an electoral roll that is an accurate reflection of the voting population.

In the longer term, BERSIH 2.0 also calls for the EC to implement an automated voter registration system upon eligibility to reduce irregularities.

RESPONSE:

Based on the CIA World Fact book, death in Malaysia is 4.93 per 1,000 population (based on July 2011). Through extrapolation, for 28 million population, the estimated number of deaths in a year is 138,040 persons. Assuming the information is not updated in JPN over a period of 5 years, on a worst case scenario, the total “un-updated record of deceased persons” is 690,020 people.

According to the EC, we have 11.4 million registered voters. Assuming EC did not update their database due deceased people, this represent 6% inaccuracy of the true / actual registered voters.

Malaysians should ask: can a 6% “inaccuracy / irregularity” (on a worst case scenario) be a strong point to bash the EC or the Government for being unfair? I think this is absurd and politically motivated.

The fact that the opposition won more states in the next GE showed that fair election / democracy is in place.

Therefore, my question for those who are politically inclined: does the 6% translate into a sure win for the the political parties (including opposition) in the next GE?

For automatic voter registration as proposed by Bersih v2.0, many people have expressed disagreement on this subject.

There is a writer who posted something in Malaysian Insider that I would like to share…

“Not that I have anything against people registering to vote.

I am a registered voter myself. However, to force something on someone — be it religion, racism and even voter registration — is something I just can’t agree with.

It’s against a person’s free will. I see it as similar to parents determining their kids’ religions at birth; performing circumcision on a kid who doesn’t know any better; or even how parents of a male child with no penis would show off their kid in a photo opportunity for the Malaysian media, as we saw in 2009.

There are many fears in having an automatic-registration system, primarily on the basis of privacy.”

As for voters registered with a non-existent addresses, everyone knows that we move from one place to another as we grow. Let’s assume that Ali was born in Kuala Lipis. He has an IC which has the address of his family in Kuala Lipis. 20 years later he migrated to Kuala Lumpur, then 5 years later he was posted to Terengganu for offshore assignment with Murphy Oil. 6 years later he was posted to lead a project in Sarawak. Does it mean he has to update his IC address and inform EC every time he moves to another address?

If let’s say 10 million of our population is affected by this, do you think it is practical to enforce it in reality my dear fellow Malaysians?

In short, Bersih’s demand of the automatic voters registration basically forces people to be registered. And that cannot be seen as democracy!

It definite contradicts Bersih’s principles of having a fair democracy.

2. Reform postal ballot

The current postal ballot system must be reformed to ensure that all citizens of Malaysia are able to exercise their right to vote. Postal ballot should not only be open for all Malaysian citizens living abroad, but also for those within the country who cannot be physically present in their voting constituency on polling day. Police, military and civil servants too must vote normally like other voters if not on duty on polling day.

The postal ballot system must be transparent. Party agents should be allowed to monitor the entire process of postal voting.

RESPONSE:

According to the Government website, Malaysia has approximately 1.2 million civil servants. The police & military are consistently on duty and geographically dispersed throughout the country. In fact, they are on duty too during elections, etc.

If the police, military are forced to vote normally, then they are forced to leave their duty in various locations. Imagine leaving the jungle, strategic border locations just to vote. I think this is not practical at all.

On this note, Bersih 2.0 also made a proposal to EC for party agents to monitor the entire process of postal voting. Well, this has not happened in any other countries. Please name me one country which allows parties on both divide to “intervene” in the EC processes or postal voting.

Also, postal voting happens not only for police and military personnel who are on duty, but also Malaysians who vote overseas. If Bersih 2.0 wants party agents to be allowed to monitor the entire process of postal voting, does that mean that party agents need to be posted whenever and wherever there are Malaysians voting overseas? (I’m sure some of them don’t mind having the excuse to have a nice holiday overseas, “in the name of democracy”!)

I think this proposal suggests deep paranoia and mistrust of key institutions in the country, including the Elections Commission (SPR), which I think is simply pathetic.

In conclusion, there has not been any real issues in terms of postal voting, whether in Malaysia or in other countries. After all, from a bigger picture perspective, the impact of postal votes is small compared to the actual votes in the various constituencies.

As a citizen who support fair elections in this country, I suggest that we should be focusing on the actual voting mechanism at the various constituencies rather than debating day and night on postal voting, which, in reality, produces a minimal impact to the election results.

For those who are politically inclined to dwell on the numbers and think that this is still not fair because the postal votes can ensure a better win, imagine this: Assuming 100% of the 1.2 million servants are forced to do postal voting, that represent 10% of the 11.4 million registered voters in this country. Assuming ceteris paribus, if you divide 11.4 million registered voters by 222 constituencies, that is 51,351 votes for each constituency. Therefore the postal votes (i.e 10% of 11.4m) constitute 5,400 votes vs. 51,351 votes.

With all the anger and insult which I hear from the political leaders and Bersih organizers, my conclusion is simple. The impact of postal voting to the overall result is minimal.

The majority swing or “success” for each political party is based on the actual voters who attend, register and vote on the actual election day. Surely as Malaysians, we shouldn’t be so easily fuelled and vortexed into something so small until we lose our logical reasoning.

I ask again the question to my dear fellow Malaysians. Looking at the maths, is this something worth fighting for? Is this what we call unfair election or democracy by the opposition?

3. Use of indelible ink

Indelible ink must be used in all elections. It is a simple, affordable and effective solution in preventing voter fraud. In 2007, the EC decided to implement the use of indelible ink. However, in the final days leading up to the 12th General Elections, the EC decided to withdraw the use of indelible ink citing legal reasons and rumours of sabotage.

Bersih 2.0 demands for indelible ink to be used for all the upcoming elections. Failure to do so will lead to the inevitable conclusion that there is an intention to allow voter fraud.

RESPONSE:

Less than 20 countries out of 194 countries use inedible ink in their elections. Indelible ink is NOT used bydeveloped countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Japan and many others. It is used mainly in less developed countries with large populations.

Some of the countries include Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Gambia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Mauritania, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tchad, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

It is also worth to note that indelible ink is not a fool-proof method and has its disadvantages such as:

· Indelible ink itself can be used to commit electoral fraud by marking opponent party members before they have the chance to cast their votes; and

· There have been cases in Afghanistan where “indelible” ink have washed off voters’ fingers using bleach; such ink was blamed for contributing to fraud in the first Afghan presidential election in 2005.

In short, if Malaysia decides to use indelible ink, for a country that has a comprehensive database and biometric identification of its citizens, it can be viewed as step backwards for the nation and not a step forward. Remember, less than 20 countries out of 194 countries uses indelible ink in their general elections.

For those countries who don’t use inedible ink, do you regard them as corrupt?

Bersih organizers have really managed to divert the attention of the public on this. Pure deception

4. Minimum 21 days campaign period

The EC should stipulate a campaign period of not less than 21 days. A longer campaign period would allow voters more time to gather information and deliberate on their choices. It will also allow candidates more time to disseminate information to rural areas. The first national elections in 1955 under the British Colonial Government had a campaign period of 42 days but the campaign period for 12th GE in 2008 was a mere 8 days.

RESPONSE:

There is no standard or best practice in any countries to determine the optimum campaign period. For example, Singapore has a 9-day campaign period, the United Kingdom has 17 days and Philippines has a 90-day campaign period. The misconception by the public at large is that the campaign period (whether it is 5 days, 21 days, 40 days, 60 days or even 100 days) guarantees a fair election.

Campaign activities must be viewed as an on-going activity by the ruling and opposition parties and not a one-off activity due to General Election. Both parties must work hard daily or throughout the year to ensure support from grass roots and voters at their respective constituencies. The all year round consistent campaigning throughout each constituency guarantees better results than a one-off GE campaign approach. This is particularly true in the modern world’s 24-hour news cycle, where politicians constantly jostle for media and public attention.

I feel that regardless the campaign period, both parties are not privy to the actual General Election dates (while it is true that in Malaysia, the incumbent Prime Minister has the upper hand due to his constitutional role in advising the Agong regarding the dissolution of Parliament, we know that even ruling party politicians play constant guessing games regarding the exact timing of polls). Hence, it is in the interest of both parties (ruling and opposition) to identify winnable candidates and strengthening their grassroots support through regular campaigning. I believe both sides are working equally hard at the grass root level to gain support.

In short, Bersih organizers and supporters should not view the campaign period as a key determining factor to ensure fair elections. Again, they have deceived the public and caused unnecessary anger.

5. Free and fair access to media

It is no secret that the Malaysian mainstream media fails to practice proportionate, fair and objective reporting for political parties of all divide. Bersih 2.0 calls on the EC to press for all media agencies, especially state-funded media agencies such as Radio and Television Malaysia (RTM) and Bernama to allocate proportionate and objective coverage for all political parties.

RESPONSE:

I feel this is a lob-sided request by Bersih 2.0. Free and fair access to media has been a hot topic of debate since Tun Mahathir’s time. At the same time, we are aware of the existence of alternative media which provide differing views which are sometimes being perceived as unfairly critical of one side or the other.

Lets look at some facts.

According to ITU (United Nation specialized agency for ICT), Malaysia has 17 million internet users in 2010. According to Nielsen research in 2010, newspaper in Malaysia has approximately 15 million readership (54% of population).

Malaysiakini recorded 1 million visitor in January 2011. For one year, it is estimated the total visitor is around 12 million people. And remember, we have other online news portal such as Malaysia Insider, Malaysia Reserve, etc.

On another data by Malaysian Digital Association (MDA) in April 2011, Malaysiakini recorded higher number of unique visitors at 2.7 million compared to the Star online at 2.4 million.

Therefore, if you compare the mainstream news vis-à-vis the alternative / online media, the equal number of visitors/ readers for both shows equal playing field if you want to view it politically. Why Bersih is making a big fuss out of this ?

Another strong point to note is that the Government does not ban or censor Malaysiakini, Malaysian Insider or any other internet portals must be viewed as a significant step compared to other countries. Despite much provocation from opposition-leaning portals, the Malaysian government has kept to its commitment of free and open Internet since the launching of the Multimedia Super Corridor, and I think the Government deserves a bit more credit for not emulating China in this regard.

In recent times, we have seen the birth of “invisible & anonymous online cybertroopers” whose job is to consistently post negative comments on any article that appear in various Internet portals.

Whilst we all know that these are either planned or posted by a small handful of individuals, we have not witnessed any censorship from the Government on the strings of unintelligent and provocative postings, including comments relating and blaming everything on the present Government.

The silent majority knows that most of the comments posted online at Malaysia Kini and Malaysia Insider are fabricated / scripted by certain quarters. Postings / ramblings such as “Hidup Pakatan”, “Wait for the next GE”, “Lets vote PR”, “Government bodoh”, etc are “recycled” and appeared in different articles.

If we want to scrutinize further, Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider journalists have the tendency to post a negative title to capture the attention of the readers/ visitors. This makes certain quarters feel that the online-media are pro opposition.

So to sum it all, both political parties have equal playing field judging from the number of readers/visitors for both mainstream and alternative media. To allow fair reporting for all political parties, my view is that Bersih 2.0 must also call for the EC to ensure that online media such as Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider practice proportionate, fair and balanced reporting.

6. Strengthen public institutions

Public institutions must act independently and impartially in upholding the rule of law and democracy. Public institutions such as the Judiciary, Attorney-General, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC), Police and the EC must be reformed to act independently, uphold laws and protect human rights. In particular, the EC must perform its constitutional duty to act independently and impartially so as to enjoy public confidence. The EC cannot continue to claim that they have no power to act, as the law provides for sufficient powers to institute a credible electoral system.

RESPONSE:

I fail to comprehend how Bersih 2.0 can make this call for “reform” of the institutions mentioned, when the Government has been doing precisely this for several years now, beginning with the Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysian Police, the establishment of the Judicial Appointments Commission, as well as the establishment of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission.

In other words, the transformation of various national institutions is an ongoing process. And so, rather than continuing to lambast and ridicule vital institutions of the state such as the MACC and the police, I suggest that the Opposition and their friends in Bersih 2.0 should start being more productive and suggest concrete measures to transform our institutions for the better.

This is especially true for the Elections Commission. Other than continued calls from the Opposition for the EC to “report to Parliament” (what does that mean, anyway? Who is Parliament should they report to? How would reporting to a committee made up of squabbling politicians be any improvement from the current way that the EC is established?), we have not heard any specific and concrete measures to improve the EC.

Stop hiding behind vague rhetorical statements, and try to be more specific and concrete about what changes you propose to make.

7. Stop corruption

Corruption is a disease that has infected every aspect of Malaysian life. BERSIH 2.0 and the rakyat demand for an end to all forms of corruption. Current efforts to eradicate corruption are mere tokens to appease public grouses. We demand that serious action is taken against ALL allegations of corruption, including vote buying.

RESPONSE:

I agree and support Bersih 2.0’s call for war on Corruption. I am totally behind this as no one likes or condones corrupt practices in this country.

It took me several days to study this in greater depth and looking at what the present Government is doing vis-à-vis other countries. I am very passionate to share my findings with my fellow Malaysians who are there in KL raving about corruption.

My view can be simplified as follow.

Fighting corruption is an on-going battle, and I believe each country have to come up with preventive measures to curb corruption. When I looked at developed countries like Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States, it took them more than 10 years to fight corruption to a level where it is acceptable by global standards.

One of my ex-colleague is in a top 3 global investment bank and she had the opportunity to sit in to listen to the Government Transformation Programme (GTP as popularly known in Malaysia) update during an analyst roadshow in Singapore and Hong Kong. From her discussion with many other analyst, Malaysia has placed a number of significant game changer initiatives to prevent corruption and this is clearly reflect in the GTP annual report (which I’m told can be downloaded for free).

As this most hotly debated topic in Malaysia, I did some research on the web to get a better understand on what she meant by “significant game changer initiatives”.

For the first time, a Whistle Blower Act has been gazetted and now every Malaysians can submit a case and his/her identity will be protected. This is something new for all of us in Malaysia.

Next was the announcement of 18 corruption courts expedite corruption cases so that swift action can be taken. I think this is a brilliant idea! Not many countries have this.

From the MACC website, I found out more than 800 people have been arrested for corruption in 2010 alone. And 200 + confirmed cases have been published on the MACC website with names, IC number and photographs. This is indeed a significant milestones for this country if you ask me. I think we are following closely the Hong Kong model. For the record, ICAC of Hong Kong do publish the statistics of the convicted cases on their website.

I also managed to check how transparent the Government is in publishing the government award contracts, I have found this website called MyProcurement. Quite rough but it fits the purpose of listing more than 3,000 government award contracts. Not bad if you think about it.

Overall, although more can be said about Malaysia’s effort in fighting corruption, I feel Malaysia in the recent time has made leaps and bounds to build preventive measures.

At the end of the day, the corruption case may not reduce to zero overnight, but as a Malaysian, we have to give some credit on MACC’s effort.

Coming back to Bersih 2.0. Yes, I do support this demand/request by them. In fact, Bersih should work with the Government to bring the corruption cases along with the evidence forward as they have 18 corruption courts to expedite the matter. Anyone can make vague and unsubstantiated claims about corruption. Why Bersih 2.0 did not bring forward actual corrupt cases and work with MACC or EC remains unclear.

So Bersih should stop riding on this demand knowing the fact that Malaysia is doing everything they possibly can to fight corruption. In fact, stop being rhetoric about such pronouncement of intent. Rather, please work withMACC and bring solid corruption cases ! The public at large are sick of talk and debating about rhetoric stuff and all we need is to bring more corruption cases forward!

8. Stop dirty politics

Malaysians are tired of dirty politics that has been the main feature of the Malaysian political arena. We demand for all political parties and politicians to put an end to gutter politics. As citizens and voters, we are not interested in gutter politics; we are interested in policies that affect the nation.

RESPONSE

If there is one demand from Bersih 2.0 that I like, then this will be it. We must stop dirty politics on both sides.

Politics in Malaysia is still at infancy stage. Fact based argument is often twisted to inject doubt in the society. Racial sentiments are always played to spark racial divide. Personal allegation and remarks between political leaders are often chosen as the best method as opposed to fact based arguments or healthy intellectual debate.

If you look in the last 10 years, the existence of a digital community has changed the landscape on how we think and altered our perception on they how we view a particular subject. More predominantly when everyone can express themselves through a combination of facts, fiction, lies and emotions on the web (i.e blogs, online media), then things start to change. This is coupled with the existence of “invisible cyber troopers” (from both sides) starting to post comments on negative things about this country.

Slowly but surely most of us in Malaysia are now blaming the Government’s education system for our kids’ lack of achievement despite given scholarship, good residential schools, etc. We blame the Government for the high cost of living despite having the lowest interest rate for car loans, property loans, etc. We blame the Government for not giving the rakyat enough subsidy despite being one of the most highly subsidized countries in the world. We blame the Government for not having sufficient investors into the country despite our Bursa Malaysia reaching 6 times record high in 2011 alone, etc.

I hope we do not come to a stage where we blame the Government for climate change too.

On the statement by Bersih 2.0 on “ we are interested in policies that affect the nation”, I managed to do a quick research about the Government Transformation Programme and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) that the Najib administration talked about. After hours of research and reading, I almost fainted to count the number of articles and report from financial analyst/economists around the world on the national transformation agenda. Whether it has impact or not, one thing for sure the stock market in Malaysia has record high at 1580 points in 2011. That excludes that the fact the our stock Market has reach at least 5 times record high in 6 months of 2011 !

I mean, on one hand we demand “policies that affect the nation”, one one hand we forgot about the very achievements which are taking place infront of our eyes.

Dear fellow Malaysians, reading and observing how we act as a country, for a homogenous society, we need to embrace and forgive our differences.

We should be grateful. Malaysia is blessed with so many positive things surrounding us vis-à-vis our neighbouring country.

Each of us have a role to play.

Rallying and street demonstration doesn’t guarantee a better future.

Let’s stop the bickering and dirty politics.

Let’s focus on building this country together.

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My 2 cents? I don't have the energy to do what this guy did, which is checking all the facts, hence I was neither here nor there wrt to the whole thing. But one thing I know, things that was overly publicized and causing a lot of difficulties to the masses, something is wrong somewhere, though not entirely. We can challenge his points by double checking all the facts that he laid down, as he clearly stated his source, by all means, be my guest. As for me, this is a wake up call, next time anything like this comes up, we should at least dig out some facts first before gets carried away with the sentiments. But then again, its a free country, its your choice.