Kartika, Whipping and Malaysia’s Image

1. This case has now brought about an international frenzy, and everyone seems to have something to say about it. It’s fair to say this is now an emotional issue and is being as a litmus test on Malaysia’s positioning and posturing on Islam and the basis of a Syariah-based administration. The PM is on record on saying it’s best to emphasise more on tarbiyyah rather than punitive punishment.
2. Let’s tackle the various concerns head-on, which are a) this is ‘barbaric’ and does not educate (b) this will create international outrage, (c) more intangibly, Syariah-law is subservient to civil law, and at the first opportunity to run it down, let’s all bloody do it!
3. For point (a) I suppose there could be an argument for this. Umar r.a. himself was reportedly had softened hudud laws where it would be more advantageous to do so. Here, what is the educational value that we seek to bring about here? Under the current circumstances, society at large will reject this punishment, and vocal Muslims will be at the forefront of this opposition and bring about a clarion call for non Muslims who abhor Islamic restrictions on their way of life an amplified voice against Islam. We’ve seen a similar dynamic, but on a much greater scale, with 9/11, and suicide bombings without a cause as seen in Jakarta.
4. As for international outrage, I would think there is very little to be worried about here. People have raised this issue of the backwardness of Taliban-style Muslim leadership when a Chief Minister wears his white turban and tunic for the past 19 years in the form of Nik Aziz, but yet this did not prevent them from hailing Nik Aziz as a paragon of virtue if it fits their political aims. Hypocrisy at its worst!
5. And going on from point 2(c) and point 3 is the ultimate danger in this. There is nothing wrong with Syariah law. But perceptions cloud our mind.
6. I would think that had this not been the punishment, it wouldn’t create this controversy, as once it has, there is no other option other than to execute it. Backing down would create impressions that we are not serious about Syariah law to regulate the lives of Muslims, although in its present form too, it is not reflective of the Syariah justice as it was intended to be. Khalwat cases are nothing more than soft slaps on wrists, rather than the heavy punishment meted out for zina, although in no way am I equating khalwat to zina here, just a comparison of the various forms of punishment which we take.
7. Kartika wanted it. Let’s not question her intention to do that. In the best of cases, she wants to repent and clear her conscience in this world. And if this is how she views her religious beliefs, then so be it. We don’t stop kavadi carrying devotees to self-mutilate themselves, although the trance-like state apparently prevents pain or scarrings to occur, but that is their religious belief and we will have to respect that. That should be the essence of Islam, and furthermore Islam in a multi-racial society.
8. Let’s prevent this frenzy to develop any further.

Oi Jeff! An Old Blogger is the New Goblog in Malaysian Politics!

I came across Zaid’s answer to Oi Jeff, and a very nice put-down in the very first sentence by calling him by his registered moniker, rather than the westernised sobriquet he would prefer to deny his true colours. (pun intended). And despite a very civilised and rational call here by JIM’s president, Oi Jeff has refused to apologise, and thereby rendering gullible voters who think this goblok of a blogger has his facts right. One of them even left a comment which said, “Oh Jeff will have additional non-public information.” Err… like how ISA is being justified? By the way, in this instance, he did, except that he had chosen to wage war against the extremism he sees in calling for Syariah rule. And the party this goblogger represents insists on maintaining their way despite transgressing the law, as per DAP Kedah’s support for illegal pig abattoirs right smack in Alor Star town.

Talk about narrow-minded, myopic, biased – and this is an elected representative as an alternative to BN? Pluhheaaaze… Oi Jeff – go back to repairing servers la…

Zaid’s statement is attached.

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Answering Jeff Ooi

Wan Muhammad Wan Ibrahim

YB Ooi Chuan Aun, Member of Parliament for Jelutong, better known as Jeff Ooi, is still campaigning to remove Mohd Razali Abdullah, a Penang Municipal Councillor from the OSC (One-Stop Centre) Committee.

Jeff Ooi had persistently cited Mohd Razali’s membership of Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM), an Islamic NGO, as the reason for calling for his removal. To Ooi, Mohd Razali’s membership of JIM put him in a conflict-of- interest situation, alleging that he will put the Islamic interest before the interest of the Pakatan Rakyat and the people.. We assert that the Islamic interest would also serve the good interest of the people. We are confident that his Islamic credentials and professional experience will make him better equipped for the assigned responsibility.

YB Ooi was also reported to have said that Mohd Razali’s appointment was a “dangerous precedent”, alluding to JIM’s vision of a Malaysia that fully implements the syariah. If YB Ooi had not noticed, living by the syariah (Islam) would be the shared aspiration of Muslims not only in Malaysia but all over the world. We are perplexed as to why an appointment of a person that is true to Islam be a dangerous precedent. Islam had been around for so long that surely, peoples’ recent misunderstandings and prejudices against it would not efface its nobility or its relevance to society. This is the same Islam that built a modern civilisation which had great influence on the West. This was the safe haven that welcomed the Jews from the terror of the Inquisition. It would not be beyond the common man to understand and appreciate its beauty.

JIM will continue to advocate for the understanding of Islam as Islam is. We prefer to present Islam as a choice, work on building an acceptance and consensus while leaving it to the people to make their choice. Contrary to Ooi’s assumption, we believe our position has a stronger claim according to the Malaysian Constitution than the secular position he seemed to be championing.

As a responsible NGO we stand for preserving peace, upholding law and order and justice for all. We will continue to campaign for human rights and dignity, good governance (transparency, accountability, efficiency) and for the empowerment of the individuals and communities through effective participation in the democratic process.

Mohd Razali was a PKR appointee to the OSC committee, appointed on the basis of his political association and not for his NGO affiliation. As this is an internal matter, we urge the Pakatan Rakyat and the Penang Government to look into the underlying reasons for this very public spat. However, we expect Mohd Razali to be judged by his performance.

Zaid Kamaruddin

President

Pertubuhan Jamaah Islah Malaysia

Press Statement

4 Ogos 2009

Jeff Ooi is now a DAP crusader fit to polish Karpal and LKS's shoes

It was only a matter of time wasn’t it? The extremist political group DAP, using Jeff Ooi’s self-anointed powers of information dissemination through his at one-time hit blog, is now using their political power in Penang to wage war with Islamic groups fighting Syariah.

These brainless DAP politicians, which I have blogged about for a bit previously and expressed my extreme regret for giving my vote to them (although thankfully that guy lost), and that includes Kit Siang, Karpal and others short-sighted, idiotic ideologues fail to realise is, if the Malay-Muslim dominated majority in Malaysia expresses their preference for Syariah rule through the democratic vote, then there’s just nothing they can do about it. Spouting rhetoric of over dead bodies and extremist organisations, endears them to their Chinese support base and alienates a huge segment who has given Pakatan Rakyat whole-hearted support in the last election. That’s PR by the way, for myopic DAP buggers, not DAP. Your votes are just incidental, or you can just focus your energies on the service centres in Jelutong, Melaka, Seremban and Ipoh Timur. You DAP guys are just popular in selected urban centres, and even in rural towns I know that apart from a small cadre of troopers and good organisation, nobody bothers two pennies about these blokes.

Jeff Ooi should resign, and Pakatan should really consider if they’d need to bring this burdensome carcass with them next time.

My visions for Malaysia

One thing we haven’t been good at is how we approach our development. Take KL, it’s hot, suffocating, roads are jammed, public transport is crowded and unsafe and everything else you can think of to moan and complain about. Little can we boast of to compare with beautiful cities that incorporates the environment within its development context – I’m thinking Zurich, Johannesburg (well, according to my wife), St Louis – well, Frontenac anyway, perhaps Singapore from the pictures that I’ve seen. Having said that, we’ve followed the path of London, Seoul to a certain extent, Munich – from what I can remember – where industrialization priorities overrides all else.

That was my opinion until I came across pictures of the Belum Resort (link here: http://www.belumresort.com/hotel.html) and I was blown away. This just looked the most pristine location that I’ve seen here in Malaysia. So, there is something we are good at, and perhaps this can be a model for our development, where our co-existence with nature is emphasised, and sustainability is a design element.

The unravelling of the fabric of society... what is Gen Y's motivations?

1. There is no real point when discussing society nowadays, except that individualism has created a soulless society, unable to see beyond ourselves, and without faith, has nothing to look forward to. It’s very depressing, but, there is some semblance of truth to it, and it’s something to take heed.
2. Internet, PS2, Cable TV. Accessible porn. Free newspaper. Gazillions of songs to suit your mood and reinforce your attitude to any given issue. What else is there for a Gen Y to need outside of these? Generally, wealth – even for middle-class families – ensures there’s food on the table, a school to go to no matter how reluctant you may feel as there is inadequate equitable return to the child’s feelings relative to the emotional sacrifice to attend it, so really there are no basic human necessities to ponder over.
3. Society’s needs should be handled and managed well by the Government of the day, failing which we shall change them as it is now our democratic right.
4. A bit hedonistic these values if I may say so. But the thing about values is the relativeness of it all. What’s right for you isn’t right for me. Might is right, and hence political power determines who decides on societal values.
5. At the end of the day, these are all driven by values. And judging by headlines of babies chucked in refuse chutes or flushed down toilets, Mongolian models being blown up, illegal racin

broad positions - ISA and societal constraints

1. Two opposite positions stand when discussing ISA. Any discussion is bound to fail if we don’t subject this within a context, and the only relevant context is society-building, and we can’t run away from providing a framework of providing justice for all citizens and equitable distribution. Isn’t this the maqasid and the cornerstone of all civilized societies?

2. Hence, ISA is an injustice, where pre-emptive detentions and no recourse for trial is an obsolescence, and a Bushism to boot. Mahathir was crowing on how the US imitated Malaysia’s ISA when Bush introduced Gitmo, but was strangely silent when Obama removed it. ISA is, by all accounts, an injustice that should be consigned to the history books, like slavery and other inequity society has outgrown. These are strong words, indeed, fully knowing the argument it is to enhance internal security and peacekeeping, but these are relics of a military dictatorship of an administration insisting that it alone knows best and the nation’s citizens should disavow thinking. And we still wonder why we are relatively immature.

3. Has the ISA succeeded in keeping the communist threat? I believe the communist threat was nullified through good intelligence, strategies and execution of our military troops back in its day. Yet even in the 60s, we have seen that the ISA has been abused to dissolve political threats, rather than threats to the country. So, why still keep it?

4. In that respect, ISA should be removed.

5. So, when people demonstrate on the streets, knowing there are lives affected NOW… listen and take bloody action, and I don’t mean spray laced water at demonstrators and labeling them traitors. From Barisan’s strategic point of view, the best way to overcome this growing dissident voice on the ISA is to take concrete action steps now, not to hide behind “we will review” remarks.

6. Next question will be – is the demo justified? I would say yes, until the bloody thing is repealed, and wiped off our law books. It is not an escape clause for desperate and immoral politicians, of which it has become an obedient and hateful lapdog to its political masters.

7. Innovation in Malaysia is hindered. And the reasons for these are? I would like to point out to our education system, but also more importantly, how society utilises and celebrates success, while rare, is hardly ever featured prominently in the national psyche. We celebrate solo round-the-world voyages, world-class sportsmen, make-it-big businessmen living off easy licenses but who then spins story of how difficult things were if it were not for his intrinsic capabilities (step forward, Francis!) and of course, Datuk Siti Nurhaliza and Mawi for making it big. That’s quite a list.

8. The point here is that, society is too confused when looking at role models, some more eligible than others judging from my list above. Whence innovation, scientific inquiry and endeavour, fact-finding and research? In the meantime, we’ll live off rumour mongering yet again. Omar may be the next Chairman of Petronas and Azman his CEO, haven’t you heard?

Delayed residuals

010609

A few thots which i need to lock-in. Firstly, being transparent and honest in relationships are fine, particularly when dealing with feelings of perceptive and sensitive people. Workplace, however, is different and entails getting a bit cleverer and manipulative in terms of getting to where we want to be.

Secondly, i need to carry myself better. Or risk others seeing me as LSS's assistant. I've probably subconsciously taken pride when being referred to as OTH's right hand hatchet man, but at a point in future, beginning now- I'm in charge of my destiny. What i do affects what i become, and hence every action should be done with vigour and commitment- and that includes everyday 'mundane' things that I've taken for granted like solat and do'a and interacting with the kids and wife.

280709

Quite heartwarming to find that my desire not to be underestimated (blogpost 010609) has not been plaguing me continually.

As things stand, i'm slowly developing this execution mindset- what do i do if i'm C-level? What do i do if i'm board-appointee? What are the trends that could affect us? How would this implicate us? What do we do now? Long may this continue.

It should also be noted that uncertainties abound looking into the future- hence, humility in this fact and in the face of greatness of Allah's Knowledge is all-important. Looking at trends and scenaric approach should be second nature by now.

Execution mindset also demands that i stick to a disciplined and regulated schedule daily, and deviations only as reward of completion. Otherwise, the nearly man tag, "potential", not up to mark will be labels that could be quite difficult to move away from. There is also a need to be a bit more "kiasu"- and wanting the best, and only the best, not settling for second, and good is the enemy of great mentality- as this is the differentiator with my competition, or even with Islam's competition. If i dont start talking in these terms, then whatever agenda i profess to pursue will always be overwhelmed.