the Covenant

***SIARAN AKHBAR***

(UNTUK DISIARKAN SEGERA)

Anugerah Pengurus Dana Islam Terkemuka untuk 2 tahun berturut-turut

Anak syarikat milik penuh Public Bank, Public Mutual memenangi anugerah Pengurus Dana Islam Terkemuka bagi 2 tahun berturut-turut di majlis penyampaian Tahun 2008 Anugerah KLIFF (Forum Kewangan Islam Kuala Lumpur) Kewangan Islam ke-5. Anugerah tersebut disampaikan oleh Y.B Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Menteri Kewangan II kepada Pengerusi Public Mutual Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Teh Hong Piow di majlis penyampaian anugerah tersebut yang diadakan pada 18 November 2008 di Hotel Istana Kuala Lumpur.

Tahun 2008 Anugerah KLIFF Kewangan Islam ke-5 dikendalikan oleh The Centre for Research and Training (CERT) dengan Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC), dengan kerjasama Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes (DJIM), the International Institute of Islamic Finance (IIIF) dan Messrs Hisham, Sobri & Kadir (HSK).

Tan Sri Teh menyatakan perasaan bangga bahawa Public Mutual sekali lagi memenangi anugerah yang berprestij ini. “Anugerah ini merupakan anugerah ke-121

yang dimenangi oleh Public Mutual sejak tahun 1999. Memenangi anugerah tersebut bukan sahaja memperkukuhkan kedudukan pemimpinan kami di industry unit amanah Islam tetapi juga mengesahkan komitmen kami dalam mencapai kecemerlangan,” tambah beliau. Tan Sri Teh mendedikasikan anugerah tersebut kepada lembaga pengarah Public Mutual, badan pengurusan, kaki-kakitangan, pasukan agensi and para pelabur atas sokongan dan kepercayaan kuat yang diberikan tahun demi tahun.

Public Mutual merupakan pemimpin dalam sektor dana unit amanah Islam swasta di Malaysia. Pada akhir bulan September 2008, syarikat tersebut menguruskan 24 dana Islam dengan jumlah aset Islam di bawah pengurusan syarikat sebanyak RM8.5 bilion. Ini merupakan 50.7% daripada bahagian pasaran sektor dana unit amanah Islam swasta. Syarikat tersebut juga merupakan pengurus dana unit amanah Islam yang paling banyak menerima anugerah di Malaysia, memenangi sebanyak 32 anugerah dana Islam. Ini termasuk “Pengurus Dana Islam Terbaik di Asia untuk tahun 2006 and 2007” daripada Failaka Advisors, Dubai, pemimpin yang diiktiraf dalam bidang penyelidikan dana-dana Islam.

Public Mutual merupakan syarikat unit amanah swasta yang terbesar di Malaysia, mengurus sebanyak 62 dana. Syarikat tersebut mempunyai seramai lebih 2,000,000 pemegang akaun yang diservis oleh seramai lebih 40,000-perunding unit amanah. Pada akhir bulan September 2008, jumlah nilai aset bersih dana yang diuruskan oleh syarikat tersebut adalah sebanyak RM24.1 bilion.

Photo caption:

Pengerusi Public Mutual Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Teh Hong Piow (kiri) berbangga menerima anugerah Pengurus Dana Islam Terkemuka daripada Y.B Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Menteri Kewangan II

WE must admit that our present education system is not doing our nation any favours, as far as race relations is concerned. In fact, we can even go so far as to conclude that it is working against national unity.

Our Constitution, of course, guarantees us a variety of schools. There are now about 6,000 national primary schools, 1,200 Chinese primary schools and more than 500 Tamil primary schools.

More and more non-Malays now send their children to vernacular schools — for example, nine out of 10 Chinese kids enter Chinese school, it seems — while the national schools are predominantly Malay, leading many to now refer to them as Malay schools.

Thus, here we are, a fork at the road that leads to three paths, and we took all of them and if they ever meet, we will never know. Our schools are now effectively defined by races. There are exceptions of course, but exceptions do not count.

Now, this cannot be good for the nation.

In urban areas, our children are likely to go to the same kindergarten, but would be separated at six or seven, and for some, perhaps, to be re-united at 13.

However, during the six important formative years, they would only see their kind and in a multi-racial country like ours, it should not happen. How can they make friends with kids of other races, share their food, play catch, or be on the same team if they are never together?

Many will argue that there are other causes of racial polarisation, and all of them can be valid, too. But we all cannot be frozen by inertia as we wait for things to be to our liking before we act. We must strive to change because we desperately must.

The first step is to admit that not having our kids in the same classrooms is not doing us, the country and the future generations, any good. Getting them together may not cure all our racial ills, but it can go a long way towards improving them.

It is, of course, convenient, and at times therapeutic, to blame politicians for all our ills, but in this case we may not be too far wrong. With one hand waving the Constitution and the other leading the populist charge of the need to keep racial and cultural identities, they seem to have found comfort that keeping our children separated is actually good.

In many political parties, it is burned into their characters that vernacular schools must be preserved, come hell or high water, or presumably the consequences to the nations.

Our kids are being governed by our politics, ideology and agenda. Surely, they will pay for the sins of their fathers.

But while some take their kids away from national schools, others stand still as national schools are being taken away from us, evolving into something that we do not recognise now. They have become as intense in championing their Malay-ness, as vernacular schools in their Chinese and Indian identities.

I would consider the current situation as critical. But no one, it seems, from our alphabet soup of political parties, from either side of the aisle, seems to be seriously concerned, the Constitution notwithstanding, with the consequences of institutionalised polarisation of our seven-year-olds.

Perhaps, the government should consider stopping funding new vernacular and religious schools for the very fact that their existence work against national integration. Nevertheless, as per the Constitution, such existing government-funded schools shall continue to be supported.

At the same time, serious effort must be made to make national schools the destination of choice, compelling and attractive propositions for all races.

Many claim vernacular schools, especially Chinese schools, are good for education. One can argue about the benefits of rote-learning, but many parents are convinced of the value. Parents also say their charges get to be in touch with their roots and learn Mandarin or Tamil.

Now, if children’s mother tongues are required, let’s have them during school hours. If we can include Arabic into religious study, we surely should be accommodating Mandarin and Tamil.

Not enough qualified teachers? Hire on contracts teachers from Taiwan, China and India, not one, but a few to a school.

Similarly, national schools should encourage and push for English excellence as opposed to basic proficiency. Hire native speakers, a few to a school, too.

Some of the biggest opponents of the teaching of science and mathematics in English are representatives of Chinese schools, and Chinese politicians, who want to revert to Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin and Tamil. To each their own, but make sure that national schools continue with the policy.

Get more non-Malays into the profession, even if there is a need for preferential treatment. Hire sports coaches, drama teachers, build swimming pools, etc. Make the schools great.

Let us make strengthening the national school a national mission, like promoting integrity or abolishing corruption. It is bigger than the problem of fuel prices or urban mass transport.

Most of us will be dead 50 years from now, but surely our biggest sin for the future generations would be to guarantee them a country destined to be divided.

zainul@nst.com.my in nst

Bismillah..

Terdapat beberapa perkara yang mempunyai kaitan dengan kesusahan atau secara lebih khusus sebagai penyebab ditimpa kesusahan dan penderitaan yang mana pada kebiasaannya kita mengambil ringan tentang perkara tersebut. Dalam kitab Al-Barakah fi Fadhl lis Sa’yi Wal Harakah yang disusun oleh Abi Abdillah Muhammad bin Abdul Rahman Al-Habsyi telah diterangkan perkara yang mempunyai hubung kait dengan kesusahan seseorang.
1. tidak sembahyang atau solat.
2. tidak membaca Bismillah ketika hendak makan.
3. makan atas pinggan yang terbalik.
4. memakai kasut atau sandal memulakan sebelah kiri..
5. menganggap ringan apa2 yang terjatuh dalam hidangan makanan.
6. berwuduk’ di tempat buang air besar atau air kecil.
7. suka bersandar pada pintu rumah.
8. suka duduk di atas tangga.
9. membiasakan diri mencuci tangan di dalam pinggan selepas makan.
10. membasuh tangan dengan tanah atau bekas tepung.
11. tidak membersihkan rumah.
12. membuang sampah atau menyapu dengan kain.
13. suka membersihkan rumah pada waktu malam.
14. suka tidur di atas muka.
15. membakar kulit bawang.
16. menjahit baju yang sedang dipakai.
17. mengelap muka dengan baju.
18. berdiri sambil bercekak pinggang.
19. tidur tidak memakai baju.
20. makan sebelum mandi hadas.
21. tergesa-gesa keluar dari masjid selepas menunaikan solat subuh.
22. pergi ke pasar sebelum matahari terbit.
23. lambat pulang dari masjid.
24. doakan perkara yang tidak baik terhadap ibubapa dan anak-anak.
25. kebiasaan tidak menutup makan yang dihidangkan.
26. suka memadam pelita dengan nafas.
27. membuang kutu kepala dalam keadaan hidup.
28. membasuh kaki dengan tangan kanan.
29. membuang air kecil pada air yang mengalir.
30. memakai seluar sambil berdiri.
31. memakai serban sambil duduk.
32. mandi junub di tempat buang air atau tempat najis.
33. makan dengan menggunakan dua jari.
34. berjalan di antara kambing.
35. berjalan di antara dua perempuan.
36. suka mempermainkan janggut.
37. suka meletakkan jari jemari tangan pada bahagian lutut.
38.. meletakkan tapak tangan pada hidung.
39. suka menggigit kuku dengan mulut.
40. mendedahkan aurat di bawah sinaran matahari dan bulan.
41. mengadap kiblat ketika membuang air besar atau air kecil.
42. menguap ketika solat.
43. meludah di tempat buang air besar atau air kecil.

Azly Rahman

http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/

There is nothing mysterious about the collapse of casino capitalism. As familiar as John Reed’s Ten Days that Shook the World. It is simply following the logic of the Rostowian stages of growth – and of the Social Darwinism of greed.

The question is: what then must we do as we spiral down in a world of socialism for the filthy rich? Must we go back to the barter system and create communes and live a life of basic needs without our large screen TVs, iPHONES, designer clothes, and the toys and tools and technologies that are amusing us all to death?

“This American system of our, call it Americanism, call it what you will, gives each and every one of us a great opportunity if we only seize it with both hands and make the most of it.”

– Al Capone, American gangster 1920s

Must we stop consuming all those brand name luxuries produced by those 12-15 year olds in sweatshops in Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Mexico, etc – those kids do not go to school but worked for an American dollar a day so that Sean “Puff Daddy”, Michael Jordon, and the rappers and the hip hoppers in the Bronx can have their fame and fortune?

Must we stop visiting all those malls that sell junk of the hypermodern world? Must we stop going to all those malls in Malaysia too? Why not stay home and not watch TV to cleanse our minds of the split second commercials that numb our brain cells to have us buy and buy and buy things we do not need? Why not switch off the TV and have the family read good books?

Malaysians, think of what the TV channels have done to you and your children? Think of what kind of ideology has shaped your mind and those of your children. Why do we need 100 channels? What is the worth of the news channels when we are being stoned glued to propaganda? Why do we need those soap operas?

Through those million Ringgit per thirty second commercials in-between news and views on Prima Media channels, we are fed with hours of junk per day – from informational to infotainmental to soap opera and political sandiwara junk after junk.

What do we do with a government that is taking the EPF (Employees Provident Fund) money and not telling us how our life savings (like the 401Ks) are going to be gambled away? It is difficult for depositors to withdraw money for their children’s education but easy for the government to take our 5 billion Ringgit without permission? What kind of government is this? What guarantees do we have when Americans too continue to lose a large chunk of their own Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja?

That’s the effect of the drunken Wall Street we in Malaysia too are feeling; because like the New York Times Square, we too have Berjaya Times Square. Like American Idol, we too have Malaysian Idol. Like anything many things America has. Like America, we too are losing our souls, lost in the dance of the drunken monkey in the tiger’s eyes.

Let us go back to the village and start reflecting upon the beauty of Nature; Nature that has not been turned into Capital through the culture of materialism that transformed all of us into Labor. Let us de-evolve. Switch off the TV, stop visiting the malls — those warehouses of cultural imperialism — and start reading books and closely reading ourselves as a creature of signs and symbols yearning to evolve into higher beings.

While we now watch the KLSE get drunk and vomit as well, let us enjoy what the Beat poet of the 1960s Allen Ginsburg said about Wall Street. Aaahh.. the world is too much for us.

I’m delighted by the velocity of money as it whistles through the windows of Lower East Side

Delighted by skyscrapers rising the old grungy apartments falling on 84th Street

Delighted by inflation that drives me out on the street

After all what good’s the family farm, why eat turkey by thousands every Thanksgiving?

Why not have Star Wars? Why have the same old America?!?

George Washington wasn’t good enough! Tom Paine pain in the neck, Whitman what a jerk!

I’m delighted by double digit interest rates in the Capitalist world

I always was a communist, now we’ll win an usury makes the walls thinner, books thicker & dumber

Usury makes my poetry more valuable my manuscripts worth their weight in useless gold -

Now everybody’s atheist like me, nothing’s sacred

buy and sell your grandmother, eat up old age homes,

Peddle babies on the street, pretty boys for sale on Times Square -

You can shoot heroin, I can sniff cocaine,

macho men can fite on the Nicaraguan border and get paid with paper!

The velocity’s what counts as the National Debt gets higher

Everybody running after the rising dollar

Crowds of joggers down broadway past City Hall on the way to the Fed

Nobody reads Dostoyevsky books so they’ll have to give a passing ear

to my fragmented ravings in between President’s speeches

Nothing’s happening but the collapse of the Economy

so I can go back to sleep till the landlord wins his eviction suit in court.

Allen Ginsberg

How do we create this new Malay mind out of the ruins of a dying ultra-nationalist Malay ideology no longer in sync with the principles and progress of neuroscience in the age of deconstructionism brought about by high-speed Internet access and nano-technology?

Azly Rahman

http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/

The decision by Umno to create the “Hulubalang Umno” class, some time ago, interests me. It asks us the question of reason and revolution in the rise and fall of nations and how combative must politics continue to be. I have some thoughts on the kind of mindset to be created.

In an age wherein the neuroscientist and bio-semioticians talk about “brain gain”, “the global mind”, “brain power industries”, and “the need for renaissance thinking” must the Malays emulate the thinking of the Arabs, the Jews, the Chinese, the Japanese, the European, the French, or the American?

Or should they go back to the drawing board of conjuring what is good, progressive, rationalistic, and ethical from all these “peoples” and turn this new model of the “Malay mind” so that it will become a powerful synthesis of outlooks that will help the Malays evolve gracefully for a thousand years to come? How might this model be fluid enough to help the Malays work together with other ethnic groups in Malaysia in a peaceful and collaborative manner so that the wealth of this nation can be shared equitably?

The Malays must not continue to be known as a people whose only tool of social change is the keris and amuck. They have never wanted to be known as such a people.The Malay mind has more exciting, stimulating, and positive neurons that are eager to developed and to be made into neural connections that would make the Malays become known as a nation of philosopher-rulers rather than the “hulubalang class of gung-ho soldiers of fortune” proud to be “yes men and women” and always ready to follow orders however questionable and unethical they are.

The Malays have been for centuries colonised by the mental model created out of the feudal mode of production; a mode that continues to perfect itself from the age of the Malay rulers to this age of neo-feudalism characterised by the cybernetic frame of consciousness. In all the stages of growth, the interplay between culture and technology has shaped the kind of thinking that either enables or disables the creativity of the Malays.

Top down reform and “mental revolutions” versus “bottom up” grassroots movement in the revolution of consciousness has characterised the push and pull factor and the thesis/anti-thesis character of the evolution of the Malay mind. Much of the evolution has been dictated by the political-economic elites over successive generations; the evolution facilitated by institutions of power relations that shaped ideology and inscriptions of the Malay psyche.

Mental model

The Malays need to find a mental model of how they should think and be able to ride the wave of globalisation. They must become the subject of this new mental revolution and not merely become objects of consciousness to be manipulated and indoctrinated by those who own the means to control others. They must evolve gracefully and synthesise the elements of “best practices” in formulating a worldview that is going to take them to newer heights.

Even Arjuna, an embodiment of the Kshatriya gets to ask questions to Krishna on the battlefield of Kuruksetra. The dialogue on whether to go to battle against one’s family members in the name of dharma or higher goals attest to the need even for the warrior or “hulubalang” to think hard on the issues of ethics and pragmatics in the face of possible destruction.

There is a need for a pragmatic-philosopher class to be created among the Malays. The class can be created out of a bricolage of multiculturalist thinking. The Malays need to create the “gentleman class” of thinkers able to not only become guardians of culture and deconstructionists of their worldview as well. They need to create radical, world-wise multiculturalists amongst their best and brightest; a class that is less ultra-nationalistic and parochial but more cosmopolitan and universalistic and socialistic in outlook.

In Confucionist thought, the scholars or the “jen” or the gentlemen class sits at the pedestal of Chinese society. The Malays can learn from the need to train the mind in the rigours of the Classics as in The Analects or the Taoist text of I Ching and to reflect upon the fate of society and on good ethical governace.

Again, there is no need to create a “hulubalang” class. The ethos of “Hang Tuah” is no longer suitable to be embodied by the Malays nor the “spirit of Hang Tuah” to be further refined to be used as a mental construction of the neo-feudalistic Malay mind.

How do we create this new Malay mind out of the ruins of a dying ultra-nationalist Malay ideology no longer in sync with the principles and progress of neuroscience in the age of deconstructionism brought about by high-speed Internet access and nano-technology?

We need to go back to the drawing board or possibly rewrite the history of the Malays. But first, we must banish our Official Historians.

By Farish A. Noor

October 30th, 2008.

It is odd, to say the least, that after more than fourteen centuries there remain some people who claim to be Muslims but who still have not internalised the universal values of Islam. Odder still that there remain those who on the one hand can embrace Islam’s universal claim of brotherhood (and sisterhood), but still cannot get around to understanding the simple idea that Islam and racism do not mix.

Evidence of such discrepancies can be found pretty much everywhere these days: It has, sadly, become the normative cultural norm in so many Muslim societies today that those who are fair are better off and given the privileges that they feel is the natural right of all light-skinned people. It is also interesting to note that Muslims tend to rejoice whenever a white American or European converts to Islam, but seem less enthusiastic in their recognition of the fact that thousands of Africans and Asians are converting to Islam every year.

Furthermore when it comes to governance and politics, it remains painfully clear that some Muslims still place blood and race above competency and merit til today; and that despite their profession of faith they remain embedded in the stagnant mode of racialised thinking that operates on the basis that some races are better than others.

One such case has popped up recently in multi-culti Malaysia, where a row was sparked off by the nomination of a Chinese woman – Low Siew Moi – as the head of a state institution linked to the economic management and development of the state of Selangor, the PKNS. Despite the fact that Low Siew Moi was selected by the Chief Minister of the state, Tan Sri Khalid, on the basis of merit; some quarters chose to publicly disagree with her appointment on the grounds that the Malay-Muslims of the state would object to the appointment. But objection on what grounds? On the basis that she is a Chinese woman?

Here the already convoluted waters of Malaysia’s racialised politics turns a shade murkier; for among those who objected to the appointment of Low Siew Moi were some members of the Malaysian Islamic party PAS.

Malaysia’s politics has been defined by racial concerns and the communitarian demands of the various religious and ethnic groups of the country since its independence in 1957. Over the past three decades, however, the tone and tenor of the country’s conservative, right-wing ethno-nationalist politics was further coloured by the Islamisation race in the country with the Malaysian government attempting to further inculcate Islamic values into the norms of governance in Malaysia as well.

Ironically however, Malaysia’s Islamisation programme seems to be more concerned with book-banning, fatwas on social behaviour (including the recent revelation that there may be a fatwa on Yoga soon, wait for it), and moral policing instead. Where, the Islamic scholar may ask, were the universal values of Islam in the midst of all this social engineering? Did the leaders of Malaysia not realise, or forget, the simple idea that Islam is an egalitarian faith that is colour-blind; and that the concept of ‘race’ is an alien idea in Islam?

The dilemma that Malaysia is facing now is the same dilemma faced by many other Muslim societies where the defence and promotion of Islam often goes hand-in-hand with the defence and promotion of the communitarian interests of Muslims. In Malaysia’s case, where Muslims are overwhelmingly Malay, then this also translates as the defence of Malay interests – to the extent of propagating the ethno-nationalist idea of Malay cultural dominance as well. Now what on earth is Islamic about this?

Here is where orthodox Muslim scholarship has to come in and make its timely intervention: For it has to be remembered that the success of Islam and the success of Muslims are two entirely different things, that may also clash and negate each other at times. The victory of Islam, so to speak, has to be understood as the victory of universal values such as egalitarianism and equality before God. The victory of Muslims, on the other hand, may at times be understood as political victories that may or may not conform to the standards of Islamic ethics. The defeat of the Kuwaitis at the hands of Saddam Hussein, for instance, was a case of one Muslim state defeating another: but was this a victory for Islam? Likewise, when Muslims openly and abrasively demand special rights and privileges for themselves at the cost of equality and meritocracy, is this really a victory for Islam?

Those who have criticised and opposed the appointment of Low Siew Moi as the head of PKNS on the grounds that the job should have been given to a Malay-Muslim instead should therefore look closely at themselves and ask: What is it that you are fighting for? Malay-Muslim dominance or a better form of governance that is based on merit and equality? The Islamic scholar will remind you that the latter is Islamic, while the former is not.

In any case, for Muslims to even think in racialised communitarian terms is a misnomer of sorts as such modes of communitarian, sectarian thinking has no real place in Islamic orthodoxy and ethics. To quote Tuan Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat, spiritual leader of the Malaysian Islamic Party PAS: ‘tell me, what race was Adam?’. ‘Nuff said I think.

Begitu indahnya sifat fizikal Baginda, sehinggakan orang ulama Yahudi yang pada pertama kalinya bersua muka dengan Baginda lantas melafazkan keislaman dan mengaku akan kebenaran apa yang disampaikan oleh Baginda.

Di antara kata-kata apresiasi para sahabat ialah : - Aku belum pernah melihat lelaki yang sekacak Rasulullah saw - Aku melihat cahaya dari lidahnya.. - Seandainya kamu melihat Baginda, seolah-olah kamu melihat matahari terbit. - Rasulullah jauh lebih cantik dari sinaran bulan. - Rasulullah umpama matahari yang bersinar. - Aku belum pernah melihat lelaki setampan Rasulullah. - Apabila Rasulullah berasa gembira, wajahnya bercahaya spt bulan purnama. - Kali pertama memandangnya sudah pasti akan terpesona. - Wajahnya tidak bulat tetapi lebih cenderung kepada bulat. - Wajahnya seperti bulan purnama. - Dahi baginda luas, raut kening tebal, terpisah ditengahnya. - Urat darah kelihatan di antara dua kening dan nampak semakin jelas semasa marah. - Mata baginda hitam,dengan bulu mata yang panjang. - Garis-garis merah di bahagian putih mata, luas kelopaknya, kebiruan asli di bahagian sudut. - Hidungnya agak mancung, bercahaya penuh misteri, kelihatan luas sekali pertama kali melihatnya. - Mulut baginda sederhana luas dan cantik. - Giginya kecil dan bercahaya, indah tersusun, renggang di bahagian depan. - Apabila berkata-kata, cahaya kelihatan memancar dari giginya. - Janggutnya penuh dan tebal menawan. - Lehernya kecil dan panjang, terbentuk dengan cantik seperti arca. Warna lehernya putih seperti perak sangat indah. - Kepalanya besar tapi terlalu elok bentuknya. - Rambutnya sedikit ikal. - Rambutnya tebal kdg-kdg menyentuh pangkal telinga dan kdg-kdg mencecah bahu tapi disisir rapi. - Rambutnya terbelah di tengah. - Di tubuhnya tidak banyak rambut kecuali satu garisan rambut menganjur dari dada ke pusat. - Dadanya bidang dan selaras dgn perut. Luas bidang antara kedua bahunya lebih drpd biasa. - Seimbang antara kedua bahunya. - Pergelangan tangannya lebar, lebar tapak tangannya, jarinya juga besar dan tersusun dgn cantik. - Tapak tangannya bagaikan sutera yang lembut.

- Perut betisnya tidak lembut tetapi cantik. Kakinya berisi tapak kakinya terlalu licin sehingga tidak melekat air. - Terlalu sedikit daging di bahagian tumit kakinya. - Warna kulitnya tidak putih spt kapur atau coklat tapi campuran coklat dan putih. - Warna putihnya lebih banyak. - Warna kulit baginda putih kemerah-merahan. - Warna kulitnya putih tapi sihat. - Kulitnya putih lagi bercahaya. - Binaan badannya sempurna, tulang-temulangnya besar dan kukuh. - Badannya tidak gemuk. - Badannya tidak tinggi dan tidak pula rendah, kecil tapi berukuran sederhana lagi kacak. - Perutnya tidak buncit. - Badannya cenderung kepada tinggi,semasa berada di kalangan org ramai baginda kelihatan lebih tinggi drpd mereka. KESIMPULANNYA : Nabi Muhammad sa.w adalah manusia agung yang ideal dan sebaik-baik contoh sepanjang zaman. Semulia-mulia insan di dunia…untuk mengingatkan kita.. Tiba-tiba dari luar pintu terdengar seorang yang berseru mengucapkan salam. “Bolehkah saya masuk?” tanyanya. Tapi Fatimah tidak mengizinkannya masuk, “Maafkanlah, ayahku sedang demam,” kata Fatimah yang membalikkan badan dan menutup pintu. Kemudian ia kembali menemani ayahnya yang ternyata sudah membuka mata dan bertanya pada Fatimah, “Siapakah itu wahai anakku?”.”Tak tahulah ayahku, orang sepertinya baru sekali ini aku melihatnya,”tutur Fatimah lembut. Lalu, Rasulullah menatap puterinya itu dengan pandangan yang menggetarkan. Seolah-olah bahagian demi bahagian wajah anaknya itu hendak dikenang. “Ketahuilah, dialah yang menghapuskan kenikmatan sementara, dialah yang memisahkan pertemuan di dunia. Dialah malaikatul maut,” kata Rasulullah, Fatimah pun menahan ledakan tangisnya. Malaikat maut datang menghampiri, tapi Rasulullah menanyakan kenapa Jibril tidak ikut bersama menyertainya. Kemudian dipanggillah Jibril yang sebelumnya sudah bersiap di atas langit dunia menyambut ruh kekasih Allah dan penghulu dunia ini. “Jibril, jelaskan apa hakku nanti di hadapan Allah?” Tanya Rasululllah dengan suara yang amat lemah. “Pintu-pintu langit telah terbuka, para malaikat telah menanti rohmu. Semua surga terbuka lebar menanti kedatanganmu,” kata Jibril. Tapi itu ternyata tidak membuatkan Rasulullah lega, matanya masih penuh kecemasan. “Engkau tidak senang mendengar khabar ini?” Tanya Jibril lagi. “Khabarkan kepadaku bagaimana nasib umatku kelak?” “Jangan khawatir, wahai Rasul Allah, aku pernah mendengar Allah berfirman kepadaku: ‘Kuharamkan surga bagi siapa saja, kecuali umat Muhammad telah berada di dalamnya,” kata Jibril. Detik-detik semakin dekat, saatnya Izrail melakukan tugas. Perlahan ruh Rasulullah ditarik. Nampak seluruh tubuh Rasulullah bersimbah peluh, urat-urat lehernya menegang.”Jibril, betapa sakit sakaratul maut ini.” Perlahan Rasulullah mengaduh. Fatimah terpejam, Ali yang di sampingnya menunduk semakin dalam dan Jibril memalingkan muka. “Jijikkah kau melihatku, hingga kau palingkan wajahmu Jibril?” Tanya Rasulullah pada Malaikat pengantar wahyu itu. “Siapakah yang sanggup, melihat kekasih Allah direnggut ajal,” kata Jibril. Sebentar kemudian terdengar Rasulullah mengaduh, karena sakit yang

tidak tertahankan lagi. “Ya Allah, dahsyat nian maut ini, timpakan saja semua siksa maut ini kepadaku, jangan pada umatku. “Badan Rasulullah mulai dingin, kaki dan dadanya sudah tidak bergerak lagi. Bibirnya bergetar seakan hendak membisikkan sesuatu, Ali segera mendekatkan telinganya. “Uushiikum bis-shalaati, wamaa malakat aimaanukum - peliharalah shalat dan peliharalah orang-orang lemah di antaramu.” Di luar, pintu tangis mulai terdengar bersahutan, sahabat saling berpelukan. Fatimah menutupkan tangan di wajahnya, dan Ali kembali mendekatkan telinganya ke bibir Rasulullah yang mulai kebiruan. “Ummatii, ummatii, ummatiii!” - “Umatku, umatku, umatku” Dan, berakhirlah hidup manusia mulia yang memberi sinaran itu. Kini, mampukah kita mencintai sepertinya? Allaahumma sholli ‘alaa Muhammad wa’alaihi wasahbihi wasallim. Betapa cintanya Rasulullah kepada kita. NB: Kirimkan kepada sahabat-sahabat muslim lainnya agar timbul kesadaran untuk mencintai Allah dan RasulNya, seperti Allah dan RasulNya mencintai kita. Kerana sesungguhnya selain daripada itu hanyalah fana belaka. Amin… Usah gelisah apabila dibenci manusia kerana masih banyak yang menyayangimu di dunia, tapi gelisahlah apabila dibenci Allah kerana tiada lagi yang mengasihmu di akhirat kelak.

Islam is a message for all mankind. The Quran addresses mankind, not just Muslims. Muslims should, in fact, give the Quran to non-Muslims as gifts so that Islam can be better propagated and the message of Islam can reach all mankind, far and wide.

Malays have the impression that we should only preach to Muslims. If you just talk to Muslims sitting cross-legged on the mosque floor then what are you achieving? You are merely preaching to the already converted. It is the unconverted whom you should preach to even if only to make them understand Islam better and to eradicate the misconception about Islam and clean up the negative image that Islam has acquired over the last seven years or so.

We should be proud that non-Muslims find the message of Islam appropriate. When non-Muslims talk about Caliph Umar and amar ma’ruf nahi munkar we should hold our heads high. Instead of criticising Islam, non-Muslims are quoting Islam.

This is something we should be elated about. Instead of condemning these non-Muslims we should be shouting far and wide that even non-Muslims are quoting Islam, even if it is just amar ma’ruf nahi munkar. So Islam can’t be all that bad as some people are trying to suggest.

“A man cannot choose to be born as part of a certain race or ethnic group, and therefore discrimination must cease to exist,” said Murdaya, who is Indonesian-Chinese.

By Farish A. Noor

October 17th, 2008.

As an aside to the academic work I normally do, last week I was given the opportunity to meet with Tuan Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the Spiritual Leader (Murshidul Am) of the Malaysian Islamic Party PAS at his office in northern Malaysia. Despite the frail health of the man and his taxing schedule, we managed to pack in close to two hours worth of interview on tape and this will now be my headache for the next week as all of this information has to be transcribed for publication purposes.

One thing, however, struck me somewhere during the second half of our meeting. I remarked to the Ulama that his home was suprisingly similar to that of Ho Chi Minh’s in Hanoi, Vietnam, and that both he and the revered ‘Uncle Ho’ chose to give up their stately government mansions to live in humble wooden houses. I also remarked to him that he was using the same cheap, plastic BIC ballpoint p! en that I had seen him use when we first met in 1999. This occassioned a laugh and a smile from him, but it struck us both that these observations were far from pedestrian.

The truth is that for both revolutionary Islamic and Communist movements alike the world over, the democratic impetus and the drive for revolutionary politics was accompanied by a strong sense of disdain for worldliness, and a respect for a spartan way of life. Whatever you may say about Ho Chi Minh, one thing you could never accuse him of was corruption and the easy life. The same applies to Nik Aziz as the spiritual leader of the Islamic party of Malaysia.

The same however cannot be said of the secular modernising elites of so many post colonial societies that rather quickly got used to the comfy life of the former colonial masters they condemned and demonised, so what gives?

As someone who studies the various modes of religio-political behaviour in the Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Buddhist worlds respectively, I am left with the rather simple conclusion that the ‘moral economy of the peasant’ that was talked about in the 1970s is as relevant now as it was then. With the global economy in a tailspin and many an Asian economy precariously hanging in the balance, we already see the repeat of the mistakes of the past. The list of errors and complains sound surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly) similar to those that came to the fore during the asian crisis of 1998: indiscriminate credit expansion, contracts given to government contractors or those close to power, etc.

Time will tell whether this imminent global recession will see political heads roll as it did in 1998, when public protests brought down the governments of Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia, and rocked the political foundations of Malaysia too. Then, it was apparent that the economic crisis was as much a political one as it was financial, due to the murky dealings

of political fixers and the unfettered role of political parties and elites in so many asian countries.

If this were to happen though, the credibility of religio-political leaders like Tuan Guru Nik Aziz will remain intact, for the man himself has nothing to lose in the first place. Nik Aziz, above all, understands the meaning of the poverty of riches and the riches of poverty. His wealth lies in his cultural capital as a pious man whose hands are clean. And in any case he has no luxury items to give up: After all, he still uses the same plastic BIC pen today that he used ten years ago!

By Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj editor@thenutgraph.com

13 Nov 08 : 9.00AM

ON 11 Nov 2008, the Prime Minister’s Department answered a question about income distribution that I had submitted before the start of the current parliamentary session.

The reply was read by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department SK Devamany, who gave the following figures based on a 2007 Statistics Department survey of households:

The figures, if accurate, reveal several realities about our society. The first is that 38% of Malaysian families have a monthly household income of less than RM2,000. I believe that RM2,000 should be used as the poverty line and not the current unrealistic standard of RM720 per month for a family with three children. Only 5% of Malaysian families have a monthly household income of less than RM720.

The second significant point is that the prevalence of poverty among non-Malay bumiputera groups is much higher than that of the Malay community - 25.8% of Kadazan families and 35.8% of Orang Asli families receive household incomes of less than RM1,000 compared to 9.9% of Malay families. Numerically, however, Malays still make up a huge majority of the poor in Malaysia because of their population size.

Why have we failed?

Why the high incidence of poverty among the Malays despite four decades of targeted affirmative action? (© Paulo Correa / sxc.hu)

Why is there still such a high incidence of poverty among the Malays despite four decades of targeted affirmative action? This is an important question to address. Only if we understand why we haven’t managed to eradicate poverty among the Malays can we successfully address poverty among other groups like the Kadazans, Ibans and Orang Asli.

My Pakatan Rakyat friends will pin the blame on corruption, cronyism and wastage by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government. While it is true that corruption and cronyism do siphon away government funds, it cannot be denied that the BN government has for the past 40 years tried hard to address Malay poverty.

Massive resettlement schemes for the landless, for example, have resulted in more than 120,000 families of Felda settlers. Irrigation projects in rice growing areas and agricultural subsidies such as for fertilisers, and price guarantees have also been implemented. Then there is the comprehensive education programme from primary right up to tertiary education, the good network of rural clinics, and other measures.

Why have all these efforts not succeeded?

The answer becomes apparent when we ask ourselves, just who are the Malays who are poor? In 1957, about 75% of the Malays were poor farmers.

Today, less than 30% of Malay families are farmers. And even among this 30%, more than 130,000 are Felda or Perlop settlers.

The majority of the Malays have migrated to urban occupations, and many are working in low-wage jobs in factories and in the service sector.

There are those who are chronically under-employed because many Malaysian bosses prefer to hire more suppliant foreign workers. All of them are affected by the government’s low-wage policy, further reinforced by the active policy of opening the floodgates to cheap foreign labour (out of the Malaysian workforce of 13 million, three million are foreign workers). Escalating costs because of the privatisation of basic amenities is another significant factor leading to Malay poverty.

FDI at workers’ expense

Fewer Malays want to work in agriculture (Source: sxc.hu)

Low wages and privatisation are the macro-economic policies that our government implements in order to entice Foreign Direct Investment or FDI. Both BN and Pakatan Rakyat leaders believe these are essential for Malaysia’s economic wellbeing.

Privatisation becomes necessary because the government wants to reduce investors’ tax burden to make Malaysia as attractive as Singapore and Thailand, which have lower corporate taxes.

Ahmad Boestaman, Dr Burhanuddin Helmi and Chin Peng were right. In the late 1940s, they argued that in addition to winning political independence, the country also needed to redefine its dependent and subservient stance vis-à-vis the imperial centre. The Left believed that an independent Malaya would need to re-negotiate its position within the world economy. The conservative Alliance elite that took over from the British did not see the need to do so (one main reason why the British passed the reigns of government over to them).

As a result, we remain dependent on the investments, technology and markets of advanced countries up till today. The price we pay for that is the “race to the

bottom” where we have to compete with Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore to attract foreign capital. Along the way, our workers’ interests are compromised.

You can’t solve poverty in our ranks through welfare handouts, not when 38% of our population requires such assistance. We need to re-open the issue of what exactly constitutes a just wage in this day and age. We need to return to the pre-Merdeka debate regarding our subservient position within a globalised economy where corporate profits are far more important than the basic needs of the majority. We must bear in mind that that debate was settled in favour of the conservatives and the economic elite by a process that was far from democratic.

Unless we resolve these issues, the avarice of the global economic system that is based on profits for the largest corporations will ensure the continued poverty of a large portion of our rakyat.