what's right with Malaysia

Continued from before:

11.    Understanding the weaknesses allows us to pinpoint the areas of our contribution, the priority points if you like.

12.    Education, first and foremost. Academic as well as inculcating characters. Academically, middle eastern universities are flourishing eg KAUST, Jordan U, even IIUM etc. Character building will have to be supplemented by usrah based on ukhuwwah and ilm. Hafazan schools with emphasis on sciences would be excellent.

13.    To be on the lookout and prepare for meta-trends of permaculture as a sub-genre of sustainability and earth stewardship, Islamic finance as a viable alternative to shenanigans in the prevailing economics of financial ecosystems, to be foremost in self-promotion and relationship building in an age of narcissistic primadonnas utilising the latest disruptive technologies of the internet, and to be ready to participate in the growth of these sub-genres as a possibility of commercial enterprise and livelihood.

14.    To supplement these actvities with promoting, leading and thinking about societal needs in education and offering the products necessary to stem the flow of gradual but inevitable decline of the existing societal worldview in Malaysia, whose alternative and successor at this moment is still unclear. The void needs to be filled by an Islamic principle based solution especially in the fields of education and funding. It is within these two realms that applied dakwah and offerings must be focused on.

15.    To think of ways and means to participate in shaping the political thinking that can help to expedite the changes to push it to an environment, a paradigm that could help the country to flourish and society to co-exist peacefully.

 

 

To address what's right with Malaysia, we need to stocktake things that are wrong with Malaysia now

1.       Titled as above so as not to look like this is trying to rundown this little country, my country, our country. Granted that the following is a rant that probably needs a lot more thought in categorization and such.

2.       Gradual decline of societal values, rise of violent crimes, petty crimes everywhere, porn vcds (pirated some more) available by the roadside, liberalism competing against rising extremism, murders most foul of a group, individuals, and helpless and weak babies. The list goes on.

3.       Abdication of responsibilities by our political leaders allowing racism, inequalities and injustice to prosper for the sake of self-interest and extension of political might, leaving their constituencies (their amanah it must be said!) to lead in the fight for civil rights (GMI, etc), charity (Mercy Malaysia) and the media’s gross over-sensationalisation of poverty and suffering in favour of commercial benefits, overemphasis on rights and privileges over developing internal capacity and capabilities.

4.       Increasing polarization arising from number 3 above.

5.       Declining economic competitiveness. Forget the rankings, surveys and stuff. When a survey is constructed and aggregated at such macro-level it has no value to the human spirit of competitiveness and innovation. What matters is at the personal level, what is the output, contribution that can be expected from the individual. Looking at the outputs from our high-level academic institutes now, there can only be depression at the lack of apathy, inarticulate, lack of moral standards and such. Those who could escape such a damning environment find that in the work environment lack of role models amongst their superiors to teach simple character-building, strong, principle-centred mujahid dakwah, or at the very least, good mentors to lead. The system just fails to produce enough critical mass for nation-building and cohesive society building.

6.       As a result of 5, bureaucrats, employees and the labour force turn to their survival instincts in the face of insufficient income levels to match with growing needs and demands and the various offerings available to the upper crust of society. Inflationary pressures by itself has created a need for the ‘proletariats’ to supplement their income stream with earnings from mlm and various other moon-lighting jobs (foot patch, score A, zhulian, stuff). Who can blame them?

7.       A whole generation of Malays are just lazy fat cats rolling around waiting for their rights and privileges to fall from the sky. Perkasa is just so wrong, so wrong on so many levels. By extension, so is Tun M. His time has passed, and maybe he should be passing time, although some are saying he should be doing time. The present leadership should stand up, look him in the eye, say the above and politely ask Tun M to stand down. The other implication is to tell our children that nothing falls down from the sky if we don’t work for it. Let’s not blame our inabilities on the wrongs perpetrated by others, as we are responsible for our own fate. Allah will not burden us with things that we cannot bear.

8.       Economic policies, subsidies etc. Yes, these are the rights of society upon the government, as this is the essence of Saidina Abu Bakr’s proclamation speech on his elevation as Khalifah, … speaking about the rights of the weak, the responsibilities of the strong, the essence of a democratically elected “representative” of a “popular” vote on the basis that he is the best to carry out the functions and purposes of a just, strong government… The Government should stop talking about the need to reduce subsidies and conduct an investigation into where the revenues coming from Petronas has gone to. At the end of the day, is there leakage and misallocation? How much? Where is it flowing to? How should the network of dependencies and patronage be decimated, or at the very least reconstructed so that merit prevails, and not patronages and corruption.

9.       Restructuring of society, allowing for the flourishing of Islamic sciences and research, allowing for the creation and sustainance of a proper Islamic industry so that there are no undue concerns and fears of compromised halal-ness, be it for food or even for funding and financing. Allowing that Muslims and non-muslims, all Malaysians respect the cultures and traditions of religion, the ummatic principle, the rational and tolerant basis of religion and spirituality and not the rituals and fear-mongering of religious adherents. Agree with LKY on the percentages of new townships so that there are no longer Kepong or Cheras Baru, which are antiques and should be removed as such. To begin with the decimation of Chinese schools and the reconstruction of Chinese private schools with curriculum that emphasizes Malaysiana.

10.   The reconstruction of education curriculum that emphasizes objectivity and respect. No such thing as a 5,000 year old civilization being superior to those which are newer and such. Base everything on the basis of scientific inquiry, rationalisation, curiosity, evidence-based, and infused with God-given spirituality to compensate for the limits and boundaries of scientific knowledge. Infuse national schools with learning of scriptures, hafazan, and deen-based knowledge as the overarching philosophy that binds all bodies of knowledge at a philosophical, pedagogical level that leads to the above.  

11.   Priorities, priorities. Leadership needs to take stock of all these weaknesses. Leadership needs to understand the destination of leading society. At a lower level, middle managers, executives need to understand the big picture. We all have a role to play in this.

 

 

Reflections of Eid, and the future

1. Fikiranku kusut dan tidak teratur akibat cuti dan perayaan. I also
submit that I'm single-tracked and find it difficult to imagine
juggling the many issues and perspectives related to it, or what is
commonly associated with cognitive dissonance, the latter a trait of
great political leaders.

2. Eid
Eid is a day of going back to fitrah. And alhamdulillah the last days
of Ramadhan allowed me to connect a little beyond the superficial, and
I realise what I've been missing now. Maher Zain's message is deep,
and tears flowed freely as I relive the dua and enduring hope of Mercy
from the Almighty.

Somewhat soured were the familiar familial dissatisfactions expressed
by my other half. I can only try to pujuk and ask for patience and
forbearance, as that shown in the Sunnah, and that espoused by good
character.

3. LTIP and wealth distribution
Alhamdulillah for the bumper payout. Two concerns are on what are
allocations for distributions, and also, how does this risk / impact
the planned leaving of K.

4. Dakwah and personal contribution
I still want to remain true to this trajectory and ask Allah that I am
strengthened in my resolve.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Corporate man now an agarwood producer

Corporate man now an agarwood producer

HAVING spent 18 years in the corporate world, Edmond Liew was convinced the time was right for him to quit his job and invest in the ‘black gold of the forest’.
“A friend introduced me to agarwood, the plants that produce fragrant oleoresin, and I decided to jump onto the bandwagon,” he said.
Now a director of Eco Midori, Liew paired up with a partner and a professional team from Thailand to manage an agarwood plantation in Seremban.
It has been two years and he is ready to share his experience and technical know-how with more people.
“It is not a business for only the rich. Farmers and white-collar workers too can get into the business,” the Johorean said.
Precious woods: The wood chips of agarwood tree can also be traded.
Liew explained that in order for an agarwood tree to produce oleoresin, it has to be treated with vaccines when it reaches five years-old.
“As part of its self-defense system, the tree will react to the vaccines and form dark, resinous patches.
“The tree will be harvested two years later and the oleoresin is obtained through hydraullic extraction.
“Oleoresin of higher grade, which is darker, is made into powder while the rest is made into gaharu oil. Its bark and wood chips can also be traded,” he said.
Liew added that every 10kg of the wood could produce 12g of gaharu oil, which fetches a good price at RM300 per 12g.
The tree is valued for its medicinal and therapeutic properties.
It can be used as medicine, perfumes, incense, sculptures, beads, boxes, shampoos and essential oils.
Spreading the word: Liew shares his experience and know-how in agarwood plantation.
Agarwood is known as eaglewood, aloeswood and gaharu too.
Realising the economic values, the Kelantan government launched a project in 2007 to encourage individuals to cultivate the trees.
Liew said in Malaysia, most of the wild agarwood trees are found in East Malaysia and their numbers are dwindling as they are highly sought after for their resin.
“Like rubber trees, the agarwood trees are suitable to be planted on hilly lands,” he said.
In August and September, Eco Midori will be having seminars in Johor Baru, Batu Pahat, Kluang, Muar and Segamat.
For details, call 012-713 8899. (Liew).

Just sharing - In Singapore, a More Progressive Islamic Education (The New York Times)

Just sharing - In Singapore, a More Progressive Islamic Education (The New York Times)

Community spirit and the detriment of its excessiveness

1. TNB prides itself in its HR benefits - "the best in the country", "from womb to tomb".. and such like. The country prides itself in protecting the nation from colonial influence (though results vary hugely from the boasts), protecting the malays rights and priviledges, safeguarding malay interests and such like. We are a community-based nation, where we do things for the sake of everybody else, and the guys who can think and fend for themselves are the ones who are running the country. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

 

2. And so here we are again. The HR powerpoint says, we shall take care of your talent development, we will guide your careers. These relics of the ancients continue to think, just like their Pharaonic predecessors who thought they could control the rise and ebb of the Nile, that they can dam enthusiasm of the people and release the talents to the competitive forces as and when necessary. Hogwash! Rubbish! Nonsense! There is nothing that can suppress the human spirit. Postponing it with the transactional equivalent of the promise of development is the main reason that BN has remained in pwoer for the last 50 years and more.

 

3. The human spirit needs to be released, guided and nurtured. Let them understand where the flow takes them. The role of those in authority is to create best-practise benchmarks that the spirits could choose to endeavour itself within. And the best is that which follows the guidance of the Quran and what has been demonstrated by His Messenger. The world's best practices are deemed as such when the spirits choose their vocations based on what and where their passion takes them towards. Guidance is that of the signposts placed there by those responsible. Let people decide. let them feel their emotions, and their inner voices callings be heard. That's where the strengths will be.

 

4. The extent of the need for the PMS is to decide how much remuneration we can take home as a result of the year's work. And that is enough. The talent development and "strategic" consolidation on a centralised level, forget it. The bitter on-off centralised decentralised power struggle between corporate and divisional HR in TNB before was living proof that centralisation doesnt work.

 

 

Knowing thyself

1.       This is a question that I avoid trying to find the answer to, knowing that I may not like the answer. But again, the confusing thing about it is that there is no reason to dislike, but using the answer ad infinitum to find the actions, tasks, efforts and initiatives necessary to achieve significant legacies and success. This objective being defined and guided by need to achieve the highest values of mardhatillah

2.       The most difficult thing to do is to overcome the inner compunction to avoid, to let it be, not to kacau stuff. On that score, I am reminded of Hasrizal’s (Saiful Islam) article on the goose that lay the golden egg. Isnt this similar to the goose committing suicide? Isnt this death before its time? Isnt this the cowards way of retreating at the mere mention of an impending doom sometime in the future.

3.       How difficult it is to fill the heart with courage when the mere mention of risk scurries the body away from meeting its fiend. Strengthening the heart is of utmost importance. The greater the deed, the greater does its strength need to be.

4.       And within this context is where the beauty of qiyam lies. The vulnerability of the helpless slave prostrating in front of his rightful Lord, untainted by all other false Lords and devils feigning authority. The stripping away of this weakness helps to fill the heart with courage and strength. Emotions will trump intellect in the larger dimensions of war and competition. Witness the various ayaah, the various historical relics and evidences, and yes, the various football results where the little trumps the large when character comes to the fore.

5.       Ya Allah, please help me develop this strength of heart and character to be your slave with Your Glorious Mercy. Allow me to taste the sweetness of fighting for your cause, in the name of a war that You approve, the Jihadul Akbar that Your Prophet has called for, my Lord.