Pendekatan Berhemah dan Saintifik Menghadapi Isu Transeksual - Mufti Perlis Dato Murshid Dr Juanda Jaya

It is a complimentary boost to the image of Islam to note the compassionate and knowledge based approach taken by the Mufti of Perlis in the issue of transgenders.

I believe such an approach will bridge the widening gap between the clerics and the people..

Peace !

Arab Emirates Child Slavery

Watch the Arabs in jubah enjoying the poor children jockying the camels !






And some people want to Look Middle East !!!

Peace !

Aftermath of Bersih 3.0 and The Mirror

How could I not follow Bersih 3.0 when my guys and gals from MobTV.My have so bravely gone to get live coverage for the people of Malaysia? It is after all a group of NGOs – all non-partisan – trying to exercise their right of free speech and freedom of assembly as enshrined in the constitution. Dato’ Ambiga, the co-Chairperson of Bersih and the steering committee, promised a peaceful rally. 

Rapera is all for peaceful expressions of views or even dissent by thinking and responsible citizens. However, Rapera is unambiguously against violence among its citizens. 

Around about 1pm, when I had to go off from the Bersih event, I was happy to note that the event was peaceful and almost carnival like. I was pleased, at that moment that my worst fears of confrontation had been proven wrong. I was confident that the Bersih crowd will not go beyond the barricades that was erected around Dataran Merdeka (DM). 

However, as events unfolded subsequently, my fears were unfortunately proven correct – political parties and several irresponsible quarters hijacked the Bersih event and turned it into of Malaysia’s most violent and shameful exercise of freedom of assembly.  This is why I had always held  that it is not politicians that can save the Nation but savior citizens or Raperas.

You can just youtube to see the shameful behaviours by some of our citizens, whom, I would say should be prosecuted under the law for their irresponsible and violent behaviours. At the same time, the behaviours of any police officers who had been over zealous in exercising their power should also be investigated. If this does not happen, there will be these accusations: Firstly, that politicians are exempted from the law. Secondly, that there are agent provocateurs arranged by Barisan Nasional and hence they are not prosecuted. Thirdly, that there is selective cover-up.  

Many I met seem to believe that PKR has simply hijacked the event in the most irresponsible way and are contributory to the violence and rioting that ensued. This has to be verified by PKR itself. Many people I 

know already perceive PKR as a party that would do anything to wrestle political power.

 Politicians and political parties should have just stayed out and let it be an NGO event.

In retrospect I wonder if all these unwanted events would have occurred if the Datuk Bandar had simply not interfered with Bersih’s intention to sit-in at the Dataran. I had voiced the view before that Bersih 3.0 is unstoppable and so the most logical thing for the authorities to do would be to simply provide police protection for the sit-in and for them to facilitate the event. The moment I heard that DBKL took the position that DM was off limits for Bersih 3.0, I was concerned that this may be a catalyst for disaster.  In fact, I was of the view that even the “occupydataran” by the students should have police or DBKL protection instead of the opposition they had experienced. These are after all college kids learning to exercise their right of expression, even though they may not be correct on the issue.  Such “training” if properly “guided” may make them mature Raperas in the future.  However, old methods of exercising authority seem to die hard. My views too seem to have fallen on deaf ears or “dinosaurous” ears!

On another perspective, one must also ask why was there such a huge turnout? How and why did so many people turn up for the event? On one hand, it is heart warming to note that more and more Rakyats are beginning to learn that they cannot depend on ANY politician but on themselves.

Hence, if I am the ruling party, I would not be automatically defensive. I will embrace the Rakyat’s interest in the well being of their Nation. On the other hand, if I am the Opposition, I will not automatically gloat and think that I have the support of the people. I will be wary of the way I serve in politics. This and other such events could very well be a sign that the Rakyat seriously do not trust politicians anymore, which is a good thing. This is, in my view, taking back control of the destiny of our home, our Nation.

Freedom of expression and assembly aside, the sanctity of the law must also be protected. There is simply no excuse for any irresponsible persons to destroy or to cause to destroy or incite anyone to destroy public property which, we must remember, belongs to the Rakyat. I believe that the genuine Bersih folks are peaceful. Hence, the urgency of prosecuting the culprits who have marred the exercise of a fundamental constitutional right.

May peace always prevail among us.

NEXT: Bersih 3.0 and A Cleric (God Willing)

Human Beings Born Free and Equal - Quranic Perspective

Peace !

Are You A Child, An Adult, or a Mentally Retarded Adult by Choice (MRAC)?

If you ask anyone if they are proud of themselves, the almost defensive answer will be: “of course. I am proud of who I am”. But who are you?  How would you define yourself? Even if you have not consciously defined yourself, the fact is you have been defining yourself by the life you live.  I will bet my last dollar that many of us have been defining ourselves completely contrary to what we think we are most parts of our lives.

When you were in kindergarten, you just behaved as you would behave. You can get along with some friends and with some others you cannot get along. Most probably, you never even knew why you could not get along other than being just uncomfortable. Sometimes, it is probably because you figured the other boy or girl is just not sharing her toys or things with you. Or maybe, being a child, you have not yet developed social and discerning skills. It is acceptable and sometimes it can be cute to hear a child say: “ I am going to complain to my papa about you”. Or, “I don’t know, let me ask my mama about it”.

When a child or even teenager says something like; “ I have get my parent’s permission first before I can do it”, we consider them well brought up and disciplined. What if an adult says something like that all the time?

For instance, in deciding what clothes to wear or what speech to make, the adult tells you: “I have to ask the permission of Mr X”. And Mr X is a stranger to him! Or say, you ask him, “What do you think of freedom of thought?”. And he replies, “Can you give me two days to get Mr X’s views of that please? I do not want to get it wrong”.

What am I talking about? I am talking about adults who live a child’s life. An adult who lives like a child is not cute but mentally retarded. I am sure this is an acceptable proposition? Let me illustrate:

Somewhere in the growth path of your life, someone comes along and tells you that since you are a Muslim, you cannot do this and that. Or cannot say this or that or wear this and that. In fact this person even tries to control what you think and feel. Now, this person who is telling you how to live your life is not even your father or mother. He is not even your remote neighbour. He is some paid civil servant whom you are meeting for the first time. He does not only tell you, he has been given the legal power to punish you if you do not abide by his dictations. He can have you caned like a child for disobeying him.

Remember, while with your own parents, you may disagree with their view of things since you feel that you have now become an adult, it is not necessarily the case with the paid civil servants. Your parents may finally accept that you have grown up, capable of making responsible decisions and after all you are now supporting them. It is not so with the paid civil servants. Their word, their world view and their interpretation of life is law. You have no choice but to abide by their views unless you want to commit a crime.

Yes, a crime for not agreeing to someone’s world view of how you should live your life. It does not matter that your world view does not cause any physical or moral harm to someone. It also does not matter that you have a higher level of intelligence and better discerning powers than the paid civil servants. The point is: they have been given authority to treat you like a child and somewhere along the line, you had, either ignorantly or recklessly, given them that authority.

And just like everything else in life, a nightmare or fantasy actually acted out in daily life ultimately becomes a norm. You even tend to forget that you are being treated like a child. You become what you are and you accept that as a fact of life. Once you do this, unconsciously you have limited your thinking capacity to that of a child. However, since bodily you are not a child, your behaviour is actually idiotic or at best childish.

Your mind tells itself not to develop and you find normal adult things complex. Just like a child you get used to being dependent on the very thing that limits and controls your life – the paid civil servants.

Try to multiply this childlike people into a group or a community and see what you get.

You would probably get a community of people who have child-like fears that adults should not have. They would forever need to be protected by someone else to whom they consider superior or capable of protecting them. They would want someone else to get them the toys that they want without having to work for it like adults.

They will ask for permission before they want to speak on something in case they are rebuked. Maybe too like a child, they do have the capacity to distinguish between foolishness and maturity. Unlike a child who is growing, they, the child-like adult have surrendered their thinking responsibility to the paid civil servants – and are happy with it!

I have often said that everyone grows old and few grow up. However, when the growth ability of human beings are systematically retarded by the system, we have imbecilic adults and a culture of mediocrity. Such a community actually legalizes institutions that treats them like a child (or imbeciles, since they are now adults) without realizing that they are lowering their dignity and surrendering their lives to paid civil servants.

What seems to escape everyone’s attention is that the paid civil servants are also a product of the very system that created the mediocrity culture. Hence you have mediocre people in authority creating an even more mediocre environment for the rest. You, the adult become subjected to this because of the label that you are legally given.

In other words, you have allowed the law to turn you into a child-like state where people in authority can dictate to you how you live. Adults are supposed to have the ability to think for themselves and decide on personal matters without external interference. However, once the law says that something is no longer personal but it concerns the interest of the State, then your personal liberty is now taken away. Like a child, you become a custodian of the disciplinarian, the State officials. They now have power over your lives. You are trained to stop thinking for yourselves.

In a mediocre, child-like environment, the adult who chooses to behave like an adult is frowned upon by the MRACs. When you go to a kindergarten, you will find the children playing with the children, away from the adults.

Do you understand what I am saying and if you do, does this in anyway affect your dignity as an adult?

Are you comfortable being an MRAC?

Or maybe like a child, you lack the ability to think and lack maturity?

Peace!

The Water Wars - the next War for Mankind???

I have been thinking about this for a long time. Of course just 40 years ago, if you were to say you were going to sell water, everyone in Malaysia will think you are mad. Why would anyone want to buy a bottle of water when they can get clean water off the tap or just from a stream somewhere? That was how water was taken for granted before we became "civilized" and "developed".  In today's Malaysia, water is no longer safe to be drunk straight from the tap. (I suspect this is the same in most parts of the developed world).

Have you ever wondered why the water from the tap suddenly seemed to be dirty with the advent of water filters being sold by private companies? Or was it just a coincidence? The mineral water industry has grown and become big - all over the world.

We all know that life cannot exist without water. He who controls water, controls life. In this sense therefore water is a security and essential industry in any country.

Have you ever been concerned with the commercialization and privatization of this very vital component of life? Who controls it here or in the world? Did you know that billions of people in the world do not have access to water?



The issue with water is very complex, and has ironic issues. If human beings were to assimilate into their environment naturally, the it is possible that natural "clean" water may be more readily available. However, humans like to "develop", re-engineer the geography of the nature and hence, "artificial" water sources need to be developed. As I said, there are various complex issues concerning water today.

In 1995, Ismail Serageldin, the Vice-President of the World Bank predicted about the future of world wars saying: "If the wars of this century were fought over oil, the wars of the next century will be fought over water". Obviously, the war strategists and capitalists will sniff out this future much earlier than the citizens of the world living in their comfort zones (Never mind Malaysians!).

Water is a human right. Why is it that we do not hear clearly of International Treaties, laws and seminars on this issue? I am sure there are politics involved in this issue too - maybe someone wants to research this and enlighten us? The following is interesting (and frightening reading):


"We are on the verge of a water crisis.

By 2025, more than half of the nations in the world will face freshwater stress or shortages and, by 2050, as much as 75 percent of the world’s population could face freshwater scarcity. International Alert has identified 46 countries, home to 2.7 billion people, where climate change and water-related crises create a high risk of violent conflict. A further 56 countries, representing another 1.2 billion people, are at high risk of political instability. That’s more than half the world.

And we are becoming a much thirstier world. Growing populations spur demand for more industries and farmland, draining water resources more quickly than ever. Climate change is expected to exacerbate the problem as it alters rainfall patterns. And, unlike carbon reduction, there is no alternative, no substitute to promote".



I am getting nervous and that makes me thirsty...gonna grab and appreciate my mineral water.

Peace !