Khamis, Disember 24, 2009

Mohon bantuan Membina Ma’ahad Tahfiz Qira’ad Addin Kg. Lubuk Katak Tapah

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

Disertakan sedikit maklumat untuk memudahkan pehak tuan menyiarkan artikal bagi memohon bantuan kewangan untuk pembinaan Ma’ahad Tahfiz Qira’ad Addin Kg. Lubuk Katak Tapah.

Untuk makluman, Maahad Tahfiz Kg. Lubuk Katak Tapah Perak adalah Ma’ahad Tahfiz persenderian dan ianya telah beroperasi semenjak tahun 2001 diatas tanah yang diwakafkan dan bangunan lama di Kg. Lubuk Katak.

Pada masa ini Ahli Jawatan Kuasa Pembangunan Ma’ahad Tahfiz ini telah berjaya membina bangunan baru bagi menampung pelajar-pelajar untuk tahun 2010 ini.

Bangunan baru ini terdiri daripada satu bangunan pejabat, satu bangunan dua tingkat untuk asrama dan kelas belajar, satu bangunan kantin pelajar dan 3 pintu rumah guru. Bangunan ini pada keseluruhannya telah siap 75%.

Pembinaan bangunan ini adalah bersumberkan sumbangan orang ramai dan para-para dermawan dari muslimin dan muslimat, buat masa ini keadaan kewangan Ma’ahad Tahfiz Kg. Lubuk Katak ini tidak cukup bagi menyiapkan lagi 25 % bangunan ini.

Oleh itu JK Pembangunan Ma’ahad Tahfiz ingin merayu kepada semua dermawan di seluruh Malaysia dan dunia agar dapat membantu untuk menyumbangkan wang Ringgit agar bangunan Ma’ahad Tahfiz ini dapat disiapkan dengan sempurna. Semoga Allah jualah yang dapat memberi ganjaran yang tinggi diatas sumbangan saudara-saudara semua.

Untuk makluman semua, kos bagi menyiapkan keseluruhan bangunan tersebut dianggarkan RM 350,000.00 (Tiga Ratus Lima Puluh Ribu Ringgit) diperlukan.

Kepada dermawan-dermawan yang berhasrat untuk menyumbang, bolehlah berbuat demikian dengan:-

MENYALURKAN SUMBANGAN KEPADA :

TABUNG PEMBANGUNAN MTQ-4. KG LUBUK KATAK

NO. AKAUN: 558127311239 MAY BANK CAWANGAN TAPAH.

ATAU MENGHUBUNGI:

1. UTZ. HJ AMINUDDIN B HJ ABDUL HAMID DI TALIAN 054011563 - SELAKU PENGERUSI PEMBANGUAN MA’AHAD

2. TN. HJ. ABDUL WAHAB B HJ ABU BAKAR DITALIAN 0195976284 - SELAKU TIM. PENGERUSI PEMBANGUAN MA’AHAD

3. EN. ABD. MUAZ B HJ. ABD AZIZ DITALIAN 0135288084 - SETIAUSAHA PEMBANGUNAN MA’AHAD

4. TN. HJ. MOHAMAD KHALID B ABDULLAH DITALIAN 0195036367 - SELAKU BENDAHARI PEMBANGUAN MA’AHAD


Sebarang maklumat tambahan, mohon hubungi :

Abd. Mu'as bin Hj. Abd. Aziz
SETIAUSA PEMBANGUNAN
MA’AHAD TAHFIZ KG. LUBUK KATAK
35000 TAPAH PERAK.

e-mail: kgdmth@gmail.com

Marilah kita menyumbang ke Jalan ALLAH. Moga amaln sedaqah kita walau sedikit diterima ALLAH hendaknya. AMIN

Khamis, Disember 10, 2009

HOW TO RECRUIT THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB?

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

Put about 100 bricks in some Particular order in a closed Room with an
Open window. Then send 2 or 3 candidates in the room and close the door.
Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours and then analyze the situation..


If they are counting the Bricks. Put them in the Accounts Department.

If they are recounting them.. Put them in Auditing ..

If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks. Put them in Engineering.

If they are arranging the Bricks in some strange order. Put them in Planning.

If they are throwing the ricks at each other. Put them in Operations.

If they are sleeping. Put them in Security.

If they have broken the bricks into pieces. Put them in Information Technology.

If they are sitting idle. Put them in Human Resources.

If they say they have tried different combination, yet not a brick has been moved,
Put them in Sales.

If they have already left for The day. Put them in Marketing.

If they are staring out of the window. Put them in Strategic Planning.

And then last but not least...

If they are talking to each other and not a single brick has been moved. Congratulate them and put them in Top Management.

Rabu, Disember 09, 2009

How our inner EGO sometimes misjudges a PERSON

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

A lady in a faded grey dress and her husband, dressed in a home-spun suit walked in timidly without an appointment into the Harvard University President's outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in Harvard.

"We want to see the President "the man said softly. "He'll be busy all day " the secretary snapped.. "We'll wait" the lady replied.

For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't and the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president..

"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll leave" she said to him. The President, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.

The lady told him "We had a son who attended Harvard for one y ear. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."

The president wasn't touched....He was shocked. "Madam " he said, gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."

"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly, ” we don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard."

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard."

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university ? Why don't we just start our own?"

Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the University that bears their name: -
Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

Most of the time we judge people by their outer appearance, which can be misleading. And in this impression, we tend to treat people badly by thinking they can do nothing for us. Thus we tend to lose our potential good friends, employees or customers.

Remember

In our Life, we seldom get people with whom we want to share and grow our thought process. But because of our inner EGO we miss them forever.

It is you who have to decide with whom you are getting associated in day to day life.


Small people
talk about others,
Average people talk about things,
Great people talk about ideas.

Jumaat, Disember 04, 2009

POWER OF THE DEADLINE

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

Everybody knows the power of deadlines — and we all hate them. But their effectiveness is undeniable.

People procrastinate. Deadlines help. They speed up performance and, paradoxically, reduce the anxiety of uncertainty.

So when United States President Barack Obama announced on Tuesday night a strict timetable of 18 months before the US would begin to draw down its troops in Afghanistan, how did that affect the psychology of the nation? The emotional effect of the pronouncement depends on the party involved.

For the military brass, 18 months is a blink of an eye, so the deadline could motivate them to perform at their peak, or it might paralyse them with fear.

For the troops and their loved ones, 18 months is an eternity.

But for all those with an immediate stake in the war, a clear timetable reduces uncertainty — at least along the “when” dimension, if not the “what” dimension. After all, no one likes to wait. And the only thing worse than waiting is waiting with uncertainty.

A team at Emory University examined what happened when people waited for an impending electrical shock. Some people dreaded the shock so deeply that they chose to receive a more powerful shock earlier rather than wait for a lesser shock to arrive at a later, random time.

One of the key jobs of the human brain is to simulate the future, and the less information it has to work with, the more anxious it becomes.

Pinning things down in time makes waiting less troubling. With a clear idea about the order and timescale of events, people are more patient and less anxious. And that is the hope implicit in Obama's declaration of a timeline. But what about those people with a less immediate stake in the war? Here, the President's task becomes more complicated.

Some years ago, psychologists posed a deceptively simple question: If I were to offer you US$100 (RM340) right now, or US$110 a week from now, which would you choose? Most subjects chose to take US$100 right then. It didn't seem worthwhile to wait an entire week for only US$10 more. And the further an event lies in the future, the less people care about it. So, if offered US$100 now or US$500 18 months from now, many people still take the US$100. The consequence is that there's little difference between Obama promising 18 months from now versus 18 years from now. In the human ken, both are obscured in the mists of the distant future.

So, for his timetable to have emotional power, Obama would do well to define and adhere to intermediate goals. A year and a half offers little in the way of reassurance, but everyone can value action month by month.

I don't want to imply that people care only about the short term — after all, people do build college saving funds and retirement plans. It's simply that the present holds more sway than the future. Recently, researchers used brain imaging to monitor people making money-now-or-more-later decisions, and they discovered that the neural networks involved in short- and long-term decision-making are fundamentally separate. In situations of choice, the two systems are often locked in battle against each other.

Sub-prime mortgage offers are perfectly optimised to take advantage of the I-want-it-now system, as are chocolate cookies, temptations for marital infidelity and all manner of things that people choose now and regret later.

People manage the influence of the short-term systems by proactively binding their future options. We see this when a person in good health signs an advance medical directive to pull the plug in the event of a coma, when an alcoholic rids the house of drink to avoid future temptation, or when a person socks money into a Christmas account to keep himself from spending it before December.

Such deals with oneself are what philosophers call “Ulysses contracts”, named after the hero who decided in advance to lash himself to a mast to resist the sirens' song. The present, calm Ulysses was negotiating with his future, more emotional self.

In the same way, by drawing a line on the calendar, Obama hopes to favour his administration's long-term strategy over the unknown siren songs that will be heard over the next year and a half. Nations, like people, are continually buffeted by the winds of short-term events. In deference to a long-term strategy, the President hopes to bind the US to the mast to ensure it sticks to the plan. — The Straits Times

Rabu, November 25, 2009

Beware, guys! Bottled up anger can kill

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

THE Malaysian adage “Jangan marah, nanti cepat tua” (Don't get angry, you will age fast) might not carry much weight for men, especially in the work environment.

This is if the findings of a Swedish study are to be believed.

The study by the Stress Research Institute of Stockholm University says men who bottle up their anger at being unfairly treated at work are up to five times more likely to suffer a heart attack, or even die from one, than those who let their frustration show.

The study followed 2,755 employed men who had not suffered any heart attacks from 1992 to 2003.

“It is not good just to walk away after having such a conflict or to swallow one’s feelings,” study co-author Constanze Leineweber, a psychologist at the institute.

The study did not specify good ways of coping with work-related stress – “We just looked at the bad side of coping,” Leineweber explained.

The study doesn’t advocate being belligerent at work, Leineweber cautioned. “Shouting out, and so on, is not proper coping,” she said.

But venting one’s anger outside of the workplace didn’t seem to take a cardiovascular toll, at least. “Getting into a bad temper at home” was not associated with an increased risk of heart attack or cardiac death, the study authors found.

Leineweber stressed that what is true for men might not be true for female workers. While the study included more than 2,000 women, too few of them had heart attacks or died of heart disease to allow conclusions to be drawn.

“Earlier studies have indicated that women use different coping strategies than men,” Leinewaber said. “So for women, strategies such as going away and not saying anything might not be good.”

Women in general appear to handle stressful situations better than men, noted Dr Bruce S. Rabin, director of the Healthy Lifestyle Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

“Social interaction, having people to talk to, is extremely important,” Rabin said. “If you keep things to yourself, you have high levels of stress hormones. Women are more comfortable in social interactions than men. They talk more, while men tend to keep within themselves.”

A study, conducted by the Swedish researchers in 2005, found that women did not have the same levels of cardiovascular risk factors as men, Rabin noted.

There is no one key to handling on-the-job stress, because the level of stress depends on an individual’s environment, at work and in the home, he said.

“Work environment is important,” Rabin said. “You need interaction between people so that everybody feels they can express their opinions about their work. You shouldn’t come to work with a feeling that no one cares.”

“And when you go home, it is very important to share your feelings with whomever you are sharing with,” Rabin added. “Also, you should understand that children learn from the behaviour of parents. You can have a meaningful effect on the long-term health of children by being good role models. The message is that the environment you culture can affect not only your health but also the health of those who are important to you.”

Lack of sleep

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

For those who can't sleep - PAY ATTENTION, DEAREST!!!!....

Ranjan Das Passed Away on Wednesday, 21-October-2009 *


SAP India CEO Ranjan Das Dies After Gym Workout *

Ranjan Das, CEO and MD of SAP Indian subcontinent
died after a massive cardiac arrest in Mumbai on Wednesday.
One of the youngest CEOs, he was 42


Carried : Wednesday, 11-November-2009
What killed Ranjan Das and Lessons for Corporate India * **

A month ago, many of us heard about the sad demise of Ranjan Das from
Bandra, Mumbai. Ranjan, just 42 years of age, was the CEO of SAP-Indian
Subcontinent, the youngest CEO of an MNC in India . He was very active in
sports, was a fitness freak and a marathon runner. It was common to see him
run on Bandra's Carter Road . Just after Diwali, on 21st Oct, he returned
home from his gym after a workout, collapsed with a massive heart attack and
died. He is survived by his wife and two very young kids.

It was certainly a wake-up call for corporate India . However, it was even
more disastrous for runners amongst us. Since Ranjan was an avid marathoner
( in Feb 09, he ran Chennai Marathon at the same time some of us were
running Pondicherry Marathon 180 km away ), the question came as to why an
exceptionally active, athletic person succumb to heart attack at 42 years of
age.

*Was it the stress?*

A couple of you called me asking about the reasons. While Ranjan had mentioned that he faced a lot of stress, that is a common element in most of our lives. We used to think that by being fit, one can conquer the bad effects of stress. So I doubted if the cause was stress.

*The Real Reason*

However, everyone missed out a small line in the reports that Ranjan used to make do with 4-5 hours of sleep. This is an earlier interview of Ranjan on NDTV in the program 'Boss' Day Out':

Here he himself admits that he would love to get more sleep (and that he was not proud of his ability to manage without sleep, contrary to what others extolled ).

*The Evidence*

Last week, I was working with a well-known cardiologist on the subject of ‘Heart Disease caused by Lack of Sleep’. While I cannot share the video nor the slides because of confidentiality reasons, I have distilled the key points below in the hope it will save some of our lives.

*Some Excerpts:*

· Short sleep duration (<5 or 5-6 hours) increased risk for high BP by 350% to 500% compared to those who slept longer than 6 hours per night. Paper published in 2009. As you know, high BP kills.

· Young people (25-49 years of age) are twice as likely to get high BP if they sleep less. Paper published in 2006.

· Individuals who slept less than 5 hours a night had a 3-fold increased risk of heart attacks. Paper published in 1999.

· Complete and partial lack of sleep increased the blood concentrations of High sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-cRP), the strongest predictor of heart attacks. Even after getting adequate sleep later, the levels stayed high!!

· Just one night of sleep loss increases very toxic substances in body such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumour Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-alpha) and C-reactive protein (cRP). They increase risks of many medical conditions, including cancer, arthritis and heart disease. Paper published in 2004.

· Sleeping for <=5 hours per night leads to 39% increase in heart disease. Sleeping for <=6 hours per night leads to 18% increase in heart disease. Paper published in 2006.

*Ideal Sleep*

For lack of space, I cannot explain here the ideal sleep architecture. But in brief, sleep is composed of two stages: REM ( Rapid Eye Movement ) and non-REM. The former helps in mental consolidation while the latter helps in physical repair and rebuilding. During the night, you alternate between REM and non-REM stages 4-5 times.

The earlier part of sleep is mostly non-REM. During that period, your pituitary gland releases growth hormones that repair your body. The latter part of sleep is more and more REM type.

For you to be mentally alert during the day, the latter part of sleep is more important. No wonder when you wake up with an alarm clock after 5-6 hours of sleep, you are mentally irritable throughout the day (lack of REM sleep). And if you have slept for less than 5 hours, your body is in a complete physical mess ( lack of non-REM sleep ), you are tired throughout the day, moving like a zombie and your immunity is way down ( I’ve been there, done that ).

Finally, as long-distance runners, you need an hour of extra sleep to repair the running related damage.

*In conclusion:*

Barring stress control, Ranjan Das did everything right: eating proper food, exercising (marathoning!), maintaining proper weight. But he missed getting proper and adequate sleep, minimum 7 hours. In my opinion, that killed him. If you are not getting enough sleep (7 hours), you are playing with fire, even if you have low stress.

I always took pride in my ability to work 50 hours at a stretch whenever the situation warranted. But I was so spooked after seeing the scientific evidence last week that since Saturday night, I ensure I do not even set the alarm clock under 7 hours. Now, that is a nice excuse to get some more sleep.

Unfortunately, Ranjan Das is not alone when it comes to missing sleep. Many of us are doing exactly the same, perhaps out of ignorance. Please forward this article to as many of your colleagues/friends as possible,especially those who might be short-changing their sleep. If we can save even one young life because of this article, I would be the happiest person on earth.

Khamis, November 19, 2009

Can England Win The 2010 World Cup? They need a goalie

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

At last all the 32 spots for the 2010 World Cup had been decided with few surprises. Only Slovenia & New Zealand can be termed as a surprise. Don't worry fellow Malaysians, Malaysia are not in the qualified list .. as usual and as consistent as we wish for (hehehe) . How on earth can we qualified if we were ranked 6th in the soccer weak-Southeast Asia. Lets the so-called experts in Malaysian football deals with it. I rest my case.

Now, back to the topic. England, one of our ex-colonialists (By the way, all our colonial powers managed to qualified ... Portugal, Holland and even Japan). The one and only title was way back in 1966, as the host. Can Cappello able to add what have been Sir Alf territory? Only Sir Bobby managed to get so close to the title in Italia 1990.

For the generation of Nevilles, Lampard, Terry, Gerrard and Beckham, the 2010 edition will be their last opportunity. After the failure to qualify in USA 1994, penalty losses in 1990 and 2002 as well as defeat to Argentina in 1998 ... the 2010 edition must be won at all cost.

Lets briefly analyze the goalkeeping department.


Since the day of Banks, Shilton-Clemence, Woods-Seaman, England seem unable to find a world class keeper in the mould of Buffon (Italy), Van Der Sar (Holland)and Casillas (Spain - they also have the world class Reds in Pepe Reina!). The first choice gooalie list of BPL consists few English. The top four for so long depend on non-Englishmen as goalkeeper in the likes of Van Der Sar (Man U), Cech (Chelsea), Reina (LFC) and Almunia (Arsenal). The remaining BPL does not look encouraging withe likes of Friedel of Villa (USA), Howard of Everton (USA) and Given of Man City (Irish). Worst still, even the reserve goalie are non-English.

The only notable English goalkeepers were James (Portsmouth), Green (West Ham), Kirkland (Wigan), Robinson (Blackburn) and Man U's 3rd choice, Ben Foster. One can imagine the task faced by Capello to prepare a consistent and world class goalkeeper for South Africa.

The choice ?

A. the aging David James, the keeper for bottom of the league's Pompey
B. Robert Green in a struggling Hammers team
C. McLaren's favorite, Paul Robinson who played for leaking Blackburn
D. Injury prone Chris Kirkland
E. Error-prone Ben Foster (hey, where's the gadget you used during the penalty shoot-out of 2008 Carling Cup Final?)
F. The much travelled, ex-Reds, Scot Carson at WBA
G. Non of the above

Its up to the manager but the choice is not that encouraging. Good luck Fabio Capello.

Rabu, November 18, 2009

Transparency puji Selangor, indeks Malaysia terus jatuh

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Walaupun para pegawai Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) silih berganti membuat siasatan ke atas pemimpin kerajaan Selangor, Transparency International Malaysia(TI-M) memuji negeri Pakatan Rakyat itu bahkan wajar dijadikan contoh.

Presiden TI-M, Datuk Paul Low berkata sikap kepimpinan Menteri Besar Selangor, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim dalam memacu Selangor jelas menunjukkan kerajaan negeri ini merupakan kerajaan yang adil dan telus mencakupi semua aspek.

Katanya, peranan Khalid dalam menangani rasuah di Selangor merupakan satu perkembangan positif dalam arena politik negara.

“Saya yakin MB Selangor mempunyai kehendak politik yang kuat untuk memerangi rasuah sebagaimana yang ditunjukkannya di Selangor," kata Paul dalam satu sidang media selepas mengumumkan Indeks Persepsi Rasuah 2009,di Kelab Golf Di Raja Selangor.

Beliau menambah, pentadbiran terbuka yang diamalkan Selangor dan perkembangan yang berlaku di negeri ini harus menjadi contoh kepada semua tanpa mengira fahaman politik supaya negara bebas dari rasuah.

Katanya, pentadbiran telus yang diamalkan Selangor bukan sahaja penting bagi aspek intergriti tetapi dalam menjaga kestabilan ekonomi negara.


Indeks Malaysia menjunam

Dalam sidang media yang sama, TI-M memaklumkan, indeks persepsi rasuah Malaysia yang dipimpin Datuk Seri Najib razak terus menjunam.

Malaysia menduduki tangga ke 56 daripada 180 negara dalam Indeks Persepsi Rasuah (CPI) dunia 2009.

Malaysia mencatatkan penurunan dalam indeks persepsi rasuah pada tahun ini dengan hanya memperoleh 4.5 mata berbanding 5.1 mata pada 2008.

Kemerosotan berkenaan jelas menunjukkan kegagalan negara memerangi rasuah walapun pelbagai janji dibuat pihak berkuasa untuk menanganinya.

Menurut Presiden TIM,Paul Low, banyak faktor yang menyumbang kepada berlakunya kemerosotan negara memerangi rasuah.

Namun, beliau menekankan pencegahan amalan rasuah haruslah bermula dari pemimpin dengan nilai intergriti yang tinggi untuk membanterasnya.

“Jika anda mempunyai pemimpin yang tidak memberikan tauladan yang baik unjtuk diikuti, anda tidak boleh harap golongan muda kita mengikut apa yang baik kerana mereka hanya mengikut apa yang pemimpin buat.

"Di Malaysia, ia bukan isu mempunyai negara yang demokratik atau pilihan raya. Kita ada tetapi dalam masa yang sama kita dengan banyak tentang lompat parti dan isu berkaitan dengannya, ada yang dibayar. Jadi ia bukan soal demokrasi tetapi soal kehendak politik," katanya.

Dalam laporan berkenaan, New Zealand berada di kedudukan pertama negara yang kurang kegiatan rasuah dengan catatan tertinggi 9.4 mata, manakala Somalia berada di kedudukan terakhir kerana mencatatkan amalan rasuah tertinggi dengan catatan CPI 1.1 mata.

Perbandingan antara negara Asean menunjukkan Malaysia berada di tempat ketiga selepas Singapura dengan catatan 9.4 mata dan Brunei dengan CPI 5.5 mata, manakala Indonesia di tempat keempat.

Walaubagaimanapun, Indonesia mencatatkan kenaikan,apabila mencatatkan CPI 2.8 berbanding 2.6 tahun lalu.

Khamis, November 05, 2009

Mencari motif sebenar penahanan Dr Asri dan cabaran buat Dr Hasan Ali

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

Ahmad Lutfi Othman
Thu | Nov 05, 09 | 4:08:27 pm MYT

Malam Ahad lalu saya agak uzur dan tertidur awal. Walaupun telefon bimbit diletakkan di bawah bantal, SMS wartawan Harakahdaily, Azamin Amin, lebih kurang jam 12 tengah malam gagal mengejutkan saya. Sehinggalah saya terjaga bila terdengar isyarat SMS kedua Azamin, sekitar jam 4 pagi, membawa berita yang esoknya menggemparkan negara: Bekas mufti ditahan kerana mengajar agama tanpa tauliah.

Sebenarnya isu tauliah bukanlah perkara baru. Di Selangor sendiri, pada zaman BN, rasanya ramai tokoh-tokoh pendakwah terkemuka juga tidak mendapat tauliah, antaranya Dato' Ishak Baharom, bekas Mufti Selangor sendiri. Tokoh-tokoh agama tersohor, termasuk yang pernah terbabit dalam proses pentauliahan kepada pendakwah lain, seperti Ustaz Ismail Kamus dan Dr Haron Din juga tidak terkecuali dilarang mengajar agama di negeri termaju itu.

Malah, rasanya, Mufti Perak, Dato' Seri Harussani Zakaria turut tidak dibenarkan berceramah agama di negeri tertentu.

Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin yang ditahan JAIS itu memang boleh dianggap tokoh yang sering mencetuskan minat media, terutama selepas dilantik menjadi Mufti Perlis.

Meskipun perwatakan seseorang mufti selalunya jarang diteropong media, namun sosok Dr Asri dilihat berbeza. Banyak ideanya mengundang kontroversi berpanjangan. Khabarnya kolum beliau dalam Mingguan Malaysia diminati bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Pada pagi Isnin, 2 Nov, di Mahkamah Rendah Syariah, Gombak Timur, Marina Mahathir turut memberikan sokongan buat Dr Asri, selain Pengarah Sisters in Islam, Zainah Anwar.

Lebih menarik apabila ada wakil rakyat PAS dan KeADILan bersama Dr Asri, bukan saja di mahkamah pagi itu, tetapi juga semasa kuliahnya.

Serentak itu, banyak persoalan berbangkit. Ramai tertanya-tanya apakah alasan (baca: motif) sebenar Dr Asri ditahan? Pihak JAIS, melalui Pengarahnya, Mohammed Khusrin Munawi memberikan alasan mendatar, iaitu Dr Asri melakukan kesalahan mengajar tanpa tauliah.

Mencurah-curah sanggahan yang mempertikai alasan berkenaan termasuk daripada Perdana Menteri Najib Razak.

"Saya tahu banyak lagi orang yang buat macam-macam ceramah, tak didakwa pula, tetapi bila Dr Asri, dia ditahan," tegas Najib sambil menekankan penahanan itu dibuat oleh kerajaan negeri dan tiada kena mengena dengan kerajaan pusat.

Mungkin Najib, yang juga Pengerusi Perhubungan Umno Selangpr, sudah dapat menelah bahawa ada tuduhan tangan-tangan ghaib yang mendalangi penangkapan itu akan dilemparkan kepada Umno.

Bukankah Umno sentiasa cuba mencari jalan pintas menawan negeri itu atau sekurang-kurangnya untuk memburuk-burukkan pemerintahan Pakatan Rakyat Selangor? Sukar diterima akal bahawa tiada motif terselindung di sebalik operasi penangkapan yang mengejutkan itu, malah ada pihak yang begitu gemar mengaitkannya dengan teori konspirasi. Dan mereka tentu ada alasan tersendiri.

"Cuma yang peliknya, kenapa Umno bersungguh-sungguh membantah dakwaan terhadap Dr Asri," kata Naib Presiden PAS, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man. Beliau menjangkakan jika hal sama berlaku di negeri bukan Pakatan, misalnya Johor, mungkin kenyataan yang dikeluarkan Umno berbeza. Sedangkan, tambahnya, sikap PAS sentiasa konsisten dalam hal 'mengajar tanpa tauliah' ini. Kata Tuan Ibrahim, mana-mana tokoh agama sepatutnya mempunyai autoriti atau hak dan tidak perlu tauliah daripada Jabatan Agama untuk menyampai kuliah atau ceramah.

Ada juga yang menghubungkan peristiwa tangkapan itu dengan memorandum bantahan kepada Yang di-Pertuan Agong oleh Persatuan Peguam Syarie Malaysia, pada 30 Oktober lalu agar baginda menarik balik perlantikan Dr Asri sebagai Yang Dipertua Yadim.

Dr Asri, menurut kandungan memorandum itu, didakwa sentiasa bertentangan pandangan dengan para ulama dan mufti negeri-negeri lain. Semasa menjadi Mufti Perlis, beliau didakwa kerap kali membelakangkan pandangan jawatankuasa Mufti Kebangsaan dan "sentiasa lari dari berdialog secara tertutup dan beradab, sebaliknya mencari populariti di media".

Dr Asri turut dituduh tidak mengiktiraf iktikad ahli sunnah wal jamaah dari empat mazhab fiqh. Beliau bagaimanapun menafikan tuduhan itu.

Memorandum yang turut disokong 13 NGO Muslim itu juga mendakwa, "sebagai seorang yang terlalu muda serta gagal menghayati budaya adab sopan umat Ialam di Malaysia, Dr Asri lebih banyak mengundang kontroversi dan merupakan seorang yang keras, ekstrim serta tidak dapat menerima teguran, pandangan dan kritikan orang lain". Namun, ramai terkejut apabila mendapat tahu bahawa antara NGO terbabit adalah ABIM, Persatuan Alumni Kolej Islam, JIM, Persatuan Ulamak Malaysia, Persatuan Ulamak Kedah dan Teras.

"Tidak semestinya NGO yang menyokong memorandum itu bersetuju dengan tangkapan JAIS," kata seorang pemimpin sebuah badan Islam, "ia isu berbeza sama sekali, malah mungkin ada pemimpin NGO tersebut tidak membaca sepenuhnya kandungan memo berkenaan. Tapi, yang lebih penting, perbezaan pendapat dan pendekatan dalam hal agama mesti diselesaikan secara bijaksana, bukannya tangkap dan dakwa di mahkamah."

Hampir semua SMS dan emel yang saya terima mempunyai nada hampir sama, dan membantah keras penahanan Dr Asri tetapi turut mengaitkannya dengan tangan-tangan ghaib kuasa politik. Mereka menjangkakan ada motif lain yang lebih besar dan tidak percaya JAIS bertindak atas pertimbangan sendiri hanya atas alasan "tiada tauliah".

Dalam pada itu, Presiden JIM (salah satu pertubuhan yang menyokong memorandum Dr Asri tidak dilantik Yang Dipertua Yadim), Zaid Kamarudin mencadangkan agar JAIS mengambil ksempatan daripada krisis keyakinan terhadapnya ekoran penahanan Dr Asri untuk meneliti semula enakmen-enakmen pentadbirannya. Selain menyuarakan rasa terkejut di atas cara tangkapan yang mengaibkan, Zaid menegaskan: "JIM berharap JAIS akan bersikap amanah, jujur dan profesional dalam melaksanakan siasatan yang bebas, adil dan telus ke atas Dr Asri. Pemeliharaan keadilan dan hak asasi serta karamah insan haruslah menjadi pegangan."

Semasa ramai mempertikai kebijaksanaan JAIS menangani isu ini, timbul saranan agar proses pentauliahan di negeri-negeri Pakatan Rakyat dikaji semula. Penguat kuasa pula usah bertindak sembrono semata-mata atas alasan menurut undang-undang.

Apa pun, bukan segalanya buruk buat JAIS. Bulan puasa lalu mengingatkan kita betapa meriah dan kudusnya penghayatan Ramadan di Selangor, begitu juga dengan majlis tazkirah, tadarus, kuliah-kuliah agama dan khutbah Jumaat. Begitu ramai tokoh agama yang selama ini tersisih dapat menyumbang ilmu mereka di Darul Ehsan ini.

Exco Agama, Dr Hasan Ali, yang menjadi perhatian (dan sasaran) utama menjelang seminar khas PAS 7 Nov, pastinya terbeban dengan isu ini. Banyak soalan yang perlu dijawabnya sendiri. Orang ramai tidak mahu mendengar penjelasan Pengarah JAIS. Mahu tidak mahu ia sudah menjadi isu politik dan orang politik seperti Dr Hasan sajalah boleh menjernihkannya walaupun kuasa dalam hal agama ini pun banyak sekatannya.

Pakatan Rakyat harus 'memanfaatkan' isu ini bagi memperkukuh gabungan, begitu juga PAS, dan jangan pula ia tambah mengusutkannya dengan menjadikan isu ini untuk mengeruhkan lagi keadaan dalaman parti.

Diakui Dr Hasan memang dalam keadaan sukar, terutama menguruskan karenah JAIS yang khabarnya masih "menjadi lubuk Umno", di samping menjaga sensitiviti pihak istana. Bagaimanapun, krisis selalunya akan mempamerkan kehebatan seseorang tokoh dalam mengendalikan konflik berbangkit dan ini satu cabaran buat Pesuruhjaya PAS Selangor itu.

Selasa, November 03, 2009

Controversy follows ex-mufti



Analysis by JOCELINE TAN

Who are the ‘black hands’ behind the arrest of the charismatic but controversial former Mufti of Perlis?

THERE is little doubt that the controversial religious figure Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin has a following as evidenced by the big group that turned up to support him at the Gombak Syariah Court.

His biggest supporter is Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, the former Perlis Mentri Besar, who is in London. Otherwise he would have been there as well.

Dr Asri, the former Mufti of Perlis, was released on police bond after being detained the night before by the Selangor branch of the religious enforcement unit JAIS.

He was giving a religious lecture in a private home in Gombak at the time.

He is likely to be charged for preaching without a permit but those in the know said that events behind the scenes had been building up to this moment.

Some are even talking about “black hands” trying to fix up the charismatic preacher who had made waves with his unorthodox views on religious issues and matters the past few years.

They blamed the PAS-controlled religious arm in Selangor for the crackdown on Dr Asri.

Others said the “black hands” belong to those who are out to block Dr Asri’s appointment as head of Yadim or Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia, the prestigious Islamic outreach arm of the Government.

Apparently, Dr Asri was to have been appointed as Yadim head on Nov 1, replacing Datuk Nakhaie Ahmad who has held the post since the 1990s.

It is believed the appointment has not proceeded because of opposition from Islamic groups.

There is no evidence connecting the Yadim appointment to Dr Asri’s Sunday night arrest but 17 Islamic NGOs had sent a letter to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Prime Minister protesting the would-be appointment.

News of the protest leaked out when one of the signatories, the Syariah Lawyers Association, posted the letter on its blog; the posting has since been removed.

“There are no black hands or whatever you may call it. The point is that there are Islamic bodies who are very uncomfortable that Dr Asri may be appointed to Yadim,” said former Abim president Yusri Mohamad who was a signatory to the letter.

Shahidan, who remains one of Asri’s closest associates, has slammed the opposition to Dr Asri as the work of selfish people.

“We carry out dakwah (outreach) work without harming people. We are trying to explain Islam to non-Muslims. What is wrong with that?” he said.

Shahidan also asked Dr Asri to reject any offer from Yadim and in a tit-for-tat move, has asked for a thorough audit of the accounts of Yadim.

The soft-spoken and baby-faced Dr Asri is quite glamorous for an ulama. He is acquainted with a number of entertainment celebrities and has been courted by both Umno and PAS.

Earlier this year, there was talk that he was about to join PAS but, according to Shahidan, Dr Asri consulted Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who advised him to stay politically neutral if he wished to be accepted by the general populace.

He also writes a weekly column called Minda Maza or Thoughts of Maza (Maza being the acronym for Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin) in the influential Mingguan Malaysia.

But Islamic intellectuals complain that his views on religion do not reflect that of “mainstream Muslims or the traditional scholars.”

They pointed out that during the recent fasting month, his column had analysed an obscure text by a medieval scholar on the question of performing a major ablution (mandi wajib) after sexual intercourse in an abnormal situation.

“There are so many pressing issues in Islam and he uses his column to talk about that,” said Yusri.

Critics such as Yusri have accused Dr Asri of promoting a body of thought that is harmful to the unity of Muslims in the country.

“He should be aware that by continuing to promote his particular view on Islam outside of Perlis, he is inviting action on himself,” said Yusri.

But Dr Asri’s ideas resonate among a segment of moderate Muslims and non-Muslims. They see him as a modern and progressive ulama.

His supporters find his views refreshing and in tune with modern Malay society and issues.

Among his champions are groups like Sisters in Islam who are drawn to his unconventional views on social issues and women in Islamic society.

But the storm blowing around Dr Asri has yet to subside for as Yusri promised: “We will continue to oppose his appointment to Yadim.”

Isnin, Oktober 26, 2009

YB Azmin Ali Jejak Kaki ke Rumah Azwan Selepas 9 Tahun




dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

p/s - Mana Ummi Hafilda? Tak nampak pun?

DI muka pintu rumah personaliti Azwan Ali, wajah ibu tercinta Mak Tom menunggu dengan penuh debaran kelibat anak tersayang, YB Azmin Ali.



Kedatangan Azmin, Ahli Parlimen Gombak, Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri Bukit Antarabangsa dan Naib Presiden PKR, ke rumah adiknya Azwan petang itu amat bermakna sekali bagi mereka anak beranak.

Manakan tidak, sudah 9 tahun kasih terputus dan jalinan tali persaudaraan yang bertaut kembali pada petang itu bagaikan sebuah episod jejak kasih.

Debaran menanti "tetamu istimewa" Azmin menjadi lebih syahdu apabila Mak Tom memecah kesunyian dengan berkata, "Ini yang makcik tunggu-tunggu selama ini. Alhamdulillah tuhan kabulkan doa makcik.

"Siang malam, makcik tak henti-henti berdoa terutama pada bulan Ramadan yang baru ini. Makcik minta tuhan satukan anak-anak makcik sebelum makcik tutup mata...," jelas Mak Tom, 74 tahun dengan nada yang separuh sebak.
Walau apa pun sengketa yang pernah berlaku, air cincang tidak akan putus...



Meskipun Mak Tom tidak berapa sihat, ibu tua yang penyayang ini bertungkus lumus di dapur bersama beberapa orang pembantu Azwan, menyiapkan juadah untuk semua anak-anaknya.

"Azmin kata dia akan datang....kejap lagi sampailah tu," jelas Mak Tom dengan penuh harapan. Tidak beberapa lama kemudian, kelibat abang tersayang, yang disapa dengan panggilan 'Pak Teh' berjalan masuk ke rumah Azwan.

Azwan terus mencium tangan abangnya sambil diperhatikan Mak Tom dengan mata yang berkaca.

Azmin, 45, yang datang dengan isterinya Shamsidar Taharin serta lima orang anaknya petang itu, disambut mesra seolah masa yang memisahkan mereka seperti tidak pernah berlaku.
Kemeriahan di rumah Azwan tatkala menerima kedatangan Azmin jelas membayangkan bunga-bunga sebuah keluarga bahagia

Seorang lagi abang yang tua, Azman Ali, 46, seorang ahli perniagaan, muncul sejurus kemudian dengan keluarganya. Bertambah meriah suasana di rumah banglo berkembar dua tingkat milik Azwan yang terletak di Taman Andaman, Ukay Perdana petang tadi.

Nasi minyak istimewa dari air tangan Mak Tom bersama rendang tok dan dendeng berlada menanti di meja makan. Azwan pula tidak menang tangan melayan anak-anak buah yang berlari riang di dalam rumah.

Biarpun sudah besar panjang dan mempunyai keluarga masing-masing, baik Azmin, Azwan dan Azman tetap dilayan dengan manja oleh Mak Tom.

Sebagai hos yang terkenal dengan aksi riuh rendahnya, Azwan berjaya mencuit hati Azmin. Mungkin juga beliau rindu melihat gelagat begitu selama ini.

Sesekali, Azwan meminta izin abangnya untuk bergambar bersama.Dan setiap kali lensa kamera di arah ke wajahnya sambil Azwan berposing di sebelahnya, Azmin yang kelihatan agak kekok pada mulanya, hanya tersenyum.
Azwan menyajikan nasi mintak untuk abangnya Azmin dan isterinya, Shamsidar

"Saya tak biasa....," tuturnya lembut.

Ketika ditanya tentang karier Azwan, Azmin berkata adiknya itu sememang dilahirkan untuk menjadi anak seni.

"Dari kecil lagi, Azwan suka menjadi pengacara. Waktu sekolah dulu, kayu di belakang rumah akan dijadikan mikrofon dan dia akan beraksi seolah-olah dia seorang pengacara.

"Saya sokong apa jua karier pilihannya cuma saya tidak berapa minat hiburan. Jarang saya membaca ruangan hiburan. Bukan tidak mengikuti karier Azwan tapi saya terlalu sibuk," jelas Azmin.

Katanya lagi, "Apa pun yang kita buat, mesti ada kesederhanaan (There must be moderation in everything)."



Azmin melahirkan rasa syukurnya dengan pertemuan hari ini sambil mengimbau apa yang pernah berlaku satu ketika dulu.

"Pada tahun 2000, waktu saya melakukan umrah buat pertama kalinya, saya memohon agar Tuhan satukan kembali kami adik beradik. Alhamdulillah setelah 9 tahun, doa saya dikabulkan. Saya rasa sungguh gembira dengan pertemuan ini.

"Sekarang kami seperti satu keluarga bahagia ...one happy family again. I miss this for some years. Sememangnya ini yang saya harapkan setelah insiden tahun 2000 itu... supaya keluarga saya jadi kuat dan bersatu," katanya dengan penuh makna.

Kata Azmin lagi, "Saya hargai pertemuan seperti ini sebab itu saya tolak undangan open house yang lain untuk hadir ke rumah adik saya. Saya ada 17 jemputan 'open house' hari ini. Saya terpaksa menolak undangan beberapa rumah kerana ingin datang juga ke rumah Azwan."

Ternyata pertemuan adik beradik petang itu yang disaksikan Mak Tom, membawa lembaran tersendiri yang cukup indah dan bermakna.

Menurut Azmin, kesibukannya sebagai ahli politik, selalu menjadi momen begini terlalu sukar.

"Tapi insyaAllah kalau ada kesempatan lain, saya akan datang lagi. Saya cukup menghargai kesempatan seperti ini," jelas Azmin, anak keempat dari 6 beradik./MStar Online

Liverpool 2 - 0 Manchester United ( Man Who?)

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

Liverpool's David Ngog struck six minutes into injury time to clinch a vital 2-0 win over Manchester United at Anfield, adding to Fernando Torres' earlier strike. Both sides finished a dramatic tie with ten men after Nemanja Vidic and Javier Mascherano were dismissed.

Liverpool fans (yours truly included :->) will dream again now... until the next crisis.

Fernando Torres and substitute David Ngog left Manchester United reeling as Liverpool brilliantly halted their four-game losing streak.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez had said prior to the game that one win would change everything, and what a result his team delivered to ease the pressure on the Spaniard. The champions were eventually beaten after a stunning performance of defiance that followed days of the worst crisis Liverpool have suffered in decades.

If the critics were to be believed, boss Benitez was for the chop, Liverpool were all washed up and facing financial ruin. Well not after this cracking Premier League battle. Liverpool restored their pride with a victory over, for them, the best victims possible.

Torres forced his injured frame through the game and grabbed his ninth goal of the campaign midway through the second half to get Liverpool really firing.

Ngog hit the second in stoppage-time, with the match at boiling point. United had by that stage lost defender Nemanja Vidic to his third red card in successive matches against Liverpool.

Javier Mascherano saw red too, but it was Liverpool who inflicted the second league defeat of the season on United to restore faith among their worried fans.

As expected, Steven Gerrard missed the match with a groin problem, but Wayne Rooney recovered from a calf injury to play for the champions. Liverpool had Torres and Glen Johnson back after both missed the Champions League defeat to Lyon on Tuesday, while United also had Ryan Giggs, Patrice Evra and Michael Carrick back in their starting line-up. Michael Owen, facing his former club, started on the bench and on his introduction received a punishing reception from the fans who once worshipped him.

United's supporters made the most of Liverpool's recent misfortune. Beach balls, Eric Cantona masks and insulting banners were smuggled into the away section.

The banner that hurt most, no doubt, was "You told us to come back when we'd won 18 titles...well, we're back''. Watching on were co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, sitting side by side in the directors' box, but not in the exposed front row.

The atmosphere was electric, the noise deafening, as Liverpool set about trying to restore their battered reputation. Evra was booked after two trips on Torres in as many minutes, and from the free-kick Fabio Aurelio sent in a curled effort that Edwin van der Sar clawed away. It went straight to Dirk Kuyt, whose follow-up was also saved by his Dutch countryman. Then Lucas robbed Paul Scholes and gave Kuyt another chance, this one guided wide of the far post.

Rooney, who had seen one effort disallowed for offside, rose to met an Antonio Valencia cross, but his header was held low to his right by Jose Reina.

United had better possession and hit Liverpool with pace and slick movement, but Van der Sar was again needed to plunge to his right to keep out an Aurelio header from Yossi Benayoun's cross. Then Dimitar Berbatov was booked for a trip on Lucas, with the game finely balanced as the half ended.

Kuyt should have scored early in the second period when he was played in by Johnson, but he chose to pass rather than blast an angled effort, and the chance was lost. Then Benayoun's touch sent Torres away on the right, but his lack of genuine pace following his groin problem did not see him shake off Rio Ferdinand, and again the opening went begging.

It then needed a block from Johnson on the far post to keep out Rooney's header from Giggs' free-kick. But Liverpool were growing in confidence and they grabbed the lead after 65 minutes. Benayoun's pass sent Torres beyond Ferdinand, onside only by inches.

The Spaniard was not going to be denied this time. He held off the England centre back and lashed a shot into the roof of the net. The roof almost came off Anfield too.

Mascherano was booked for a foul on Evra before Anfield had its first sight of Owen in a United shirt as he came on for Berbatov and Nani replaced Scholes after 74 minutes. Owen's arrival was greeted with jeers and chants of "Where were you in Istanbul?" as well as "Once a Manc, never a Red".

Vidic was booked for a foul on Torres, and then after 80 minutes Torres could run no more and Ngog took his place.

Valencia saw a cross-shot clip the Liverpool bar and Owen was searching for any inch of space. He almost had a chance when he chased a through-ball, only to be hauled down by his good friend Jamie Carragher. The Liverpool skipper was booked.

With just a minute of normal time left, Vidic pulled down Kuyt as the Dutchman raced into an empty half. Red followed a second yellow, and the Serbian was sent off for the third successive game against Liverpool.

Three minutes into added time Mascherano was also sent off for a challenge on Van der Sar, the Argentinian's second yellow-card offence.

Then came the killer blow to United. Liverpool broke from deep defence, Lucas delayed his pass to sent Ngog away on his own and the striker slid the second past Van der Sar. Anfield, and Benitez, could finally celebrate.

Ahad, Oktober 18, 2009

BPL : Play 9 Lost 5 ... Now What RB? even a beach ball can score against LFC

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Mendan writes on LFC :

Sunderland + beach ball 1 Poor Poor Livrpool 0. Sunderland don't need a striker to score. Even beach ball can patner Darren Bent and still score a goal (punt intended). Worst still, LFC got 7 extra minutes and still couldn't score.

What next? Try to win cups? Since the League title have to wait for another painful year and MAN U can still grab their 19th title, RB surely had to win a cup or two. Based on the situation, its not a good one. League Cup against the free scoring Arsenal. Even their reserves managed the trounced LFC two seasons ago. Two games against rejuvenated Lyon in Champions League also mean that its a daunting tasks. Maybe LFC can aim for Europa League after eliminaton from the CL. FA Cup? 3rd round match against Man U is possible. What about against Villa, Chelsea or Sunderland?

Now back to the game against Steve Bruce's Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. Its obvious that LFC squad is smaller than Villa. Spearing and Lucas in the midfield spells disaster. How on earth can you put a youngster in a big away game like that? Remember, Sunderland never lost at home this season. Lucas for Alonso? Since when a jogger can be considered as a direct replacement for a world class playmaker. Rafa tried to offload him the previous summer (to replaced with Barry) and LFC had to pay the consequences. Voronin and Ngog are not producing goals and this is embarrasing since evn the beach ball scored in that game! There's no urgency from LFC in that game. There's no leder, no proven goalscorer, not even a winger to cross the ball and worst, no idea at all. Even Maradona's Argentina far better can score goals in the last minutes.

Worrying still, Benayoun is said to be on the radar of super rich Man City. The dissatisfied Mascherano could go as well. How on earth a world class midfielder and the captain of his country could be asked by RB to perform in order to get a payrise? With weekly wage of 30k for a world class, you don't need a human resource manager to teach you the Maslow theory of Motivation. And ... I'm not talking about the captain of Malaysia, he is the captain of Argentina for heaven sake.

On the broader aspect, RB should stop blaming th US owners for the lack of funds. Its a fact that LFC was the third highest spender this season wich includes the purchase of an injured Italian for f20m. Why on earth you refused to sign Owen for f20m less?

RB, are you GERRARD HOULIER in disguise?

Khamis, Oktober 15, 2009

Give promotions to the deserving, please

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

from The Star Online dated 15th October 2009.

*******************************************************************************

ONE of the most pressing issues that need to be addressed under the 1Malaysia concept is over the issue of deserving people being sidelined where promotions are concerned.

Every promotion is a recognition of those who can perform well and who would be doing more and better in the higher hierarchy of administration.

I believe the cry of the many people like Disillusioned of Ipoh is very real “Trauma of being sidelined’ (The Star, Oct 13).

I venture to say that cases like this is not isolated. It is rampant in the government service to the point that people who excel in their job scope get frustrated and disillusioned all too often.

The fault is people of questionable integrity are placed in positions of decision making. They act unjustly to favour one and deprive another out of a poor understanding of what promotion is all about and who should be elevated.

This is causing trauma not only for the individual concerned but to the whole service which is plagued by the unjust way employees are selected for promotion. The service will ultimately suffer when the selection is not based on performance.

The nation needs to rise up, to recognise and reward those who excel on the basis of excellence, nothing else.

The call to remove race from all government forms is to remove any prejudice against any race in any application.

The time is now ripe and let us not push the nation backwards and retard our progress as a nation. Cases of being sidelined due to one’s racial origin should be a thing of the past.

If the 1Malaysia initiative cannot address this issue, all hopes pinned on our Prime Minister’s noble idea will just a mere dream.

TENG,
Batu Pahat.

Masalah Kenaikan Pangkat Dalam Organisasi

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SATU daripada masalah yang paling mendesak yang perlu ditangani dalam pengurusan sumber manusia di Malaysia adalah mengenai masalah orang-orang yang layak sering tersisihkan bila masa tiba untuk kenaikkan pangkat atau yang bersangkutan.

Setiap kenaikkan adalah pengiktirafan kepada mereka yang boleh melakukan tugas dengan baik dan biasanya siapa yang akan terbukti menyumbang dengan cemerlang akan dinaikkan ke hieraki yang lebih tinggi pentadbiran.

Saya berani mengatakan bahawa kes-kes ketidakadilan dalam kenaikkan pangkat bukan satu kes terpencil atau bersendirian. Hal ini berleluasa dalam kerajaan dan organisasi milik kerajaan hingga ke tahap membawa kepada keadaan kecewa dan frustrasi di kalangan para pekerja.

Masalah ini akan kerap terjadi sekiranya pembuat keputusan terdiri dari orang-orang yang diragui integriti dan pengalaman mereka. Mereka bertindak secara tidak adil dan sambil leka tanpa menilai secara mendalam tentang apa yang patut dinilai.

Ini menyebabkan trauma tidak hanya bagi individu yang bersangkutan, tetapi untuk seluruh perkhidmatan yang tergendala dan terjejas kerana cara yang tidak adil dalam menaikkan pekerja . Seluruh organisasi akan terjejas dan akhirnya akan memberi impak negatif kepada negara secara holistik.

Selasa, Oktober 13, 2009

PAS, you need to find your way back fast!

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

Satu artikel yang sangant menarik dan telus oleh TohKongMosjid, seorang pemuda bukan Islam yang meminati PAS.


TohkongMosjid
Mon | Oct 12, 09 | 8:08:48 pm MYT
ANALYSIS

5435! 5435 from 2333, an increase of 133% in majority votes. Yes, I hope PAS was humbled by that number, and this loss is worst than UMNO's loss in Permatang Pasir (4551 votes).


Honestly PAS, don't you feel sad? After spending over 50 years in Malaysia being attacked by UMNO/BN day-in-day-out as the extremist Islamic party; to being able to overcome that perception on March 2008; only to lose it all 19 months later in Bagan Pinang? You were supposed to be on your way to replace UMNO as the biggest party in Malaysia. Have you asked yourself, what has gone so wrong?

1. Stop the blaming game. Take it as it is, and find the answers from within

Don't blame the voters.
Don't try to blame it Tan Sri Isa's popularity either.

The fact that you lost with a bigger majority to a tainted candidate like him, regardless whether Bagan Pinang was his stronghold or not, there must be something VERY wrong about you.

Why did 75% voters in Bagan Pinang voted against you? Ok, perhaps you wanted to say they had 4600 postal votes in hand. Fine, let's take out the 4600 votes then. Yet you still lost by 3413 votes to 2,578 votes.

So, don't even try to pin it on postal votes as well.

Image But the question remains, why did 57% of ground voters in Bagan Pinang voted against you across all races?

How come voters in Bagan Pinang viewed PAS's candidate in such low quality, that he was not even given the chance to beat Rohaizat's (the disbarred lawyer) score? To voters, by hook or by crook, whether it was a crook or a hook, they had to choose one before 5pm, and PAS certainly failed miserably to provide them with enough reasons to at least show some support for PAS's candidate.

So, what went wrong? Was it due to a campaign strategy gone wrong? Or was it due to the dented image of PAS caused by controversial statements from its own leaders?

2. Campaign strategy of exposing Isa Samad's bad records.

Attacking Isa Samad's past record as a MB was a very unintelligent move. Come on lar, for 22 years he was the MB, there must be so much that he had done right, compared to his wrongs, right? If his money politics scandal did not deter people from nominating him, what makes you think people will hate him for his past failed projects? Even for a very successful corporate leader, there must be some broken projects under his belt along the way.

You cannot underestimate the number of voters in Bagan Pinang that Isa Samad had helped directly and indirectly during his tenure as MB. Your actions of exposing Isa's failed projects as a MB would certainly piss them off and set off a chain reaction of disgust.

Mind you, 22 years was a very long tenure, even the baby that was born on Isa's 1st year as a MB has turned into a eligible voter in Bagan Pinang today! Most of the people grew up into eligible voters under Tan Sri Isa's leadership.

PAS's campaign strategists forgot about those young voters who benefited from MB Isa while their parents were struggling to send them to schools or universities in the past 22 years.

Image How would those parents of these young voters feel when they see PAS puts up so many posters about Isa Samad's past which to them, were not comparable to the good deeds he had done as a MB? I believe they would have told their children (the young voters) something like this: "PAS was no where to be seen when your father or mother was struggling to feed you. MB Isa helped us before. Don't vote for PAS because they had smeared Isa's name as MB."

Instead of attacking Isa's past, PAS should have adopt the psychology attack strategy in wooing the young ones in Bagan Pinang by increasing their political awareness. By playing the sentiments over Isa's candicacy against their morale barometer and religion beliefs would have driven more young voters over to PAS.

The young voters (in the age of internet) were way easier to convince compared to their parents. Once we were able to convince the young ones, they could have go back and shared with their parents about the country's future if they were to vote for BN. They could have convinced their parents that a vote for BN is a vote to endorse their corruption practice and their super lousy way of governing the country. They could have set off a chain reaction to make people accept PAS and PR as the better party for Malaysia.

This wrong strategy by PAS had drove an extra 1,551 votes to BN instead of reducing the majority. There's a valuable lesson to be learnt here by PAS's think-tank and election strategists.

3. Confusing Signals from PAS

Fortunately for PAS, you need not to look far, as the answers were staring right in your face. The answers were so clear that there's something wrong with PAS when Zulkefly Omar could not answer these questions (below) posted by TheNutGraph (on 7 Oct 2009 http://www.thenutgraph.com/zulkefly-omars-dilemma):

a. What is his stand on concert banning, as called for by central PAS Youth against both Danish soft-rock band Michael Learns to Rock and US R&B diva Beyonce Knowles.? b. What is his stand on the open sale of alcohol? c. What is his position on the whipping sentence dropped on Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor?

Have you give it a thought on why Zulkefly Omar (ZO) refused or could not offer any answers to the 3 questions above? Was it his fault to not able to answer those questions?

Perhaps....

i. 1st possibility - ZO did not know what was the real party's stand on those 3 issues.

Whenever PAS-DAP-PKR met and came out with the statement "the matters were solved" at then end of the meeting, he did not know exactly what they really meant by the word "solved" because PR never explained how the matter was solved. PAS did not explain what was their final stand on those issues. If ZO was confused about his party's stand, I believed the voters were even more confused.

Image Whenever there's a controversial statement made by a certain PAS leaders, PAS top leaderships never responded quickly enough to counter those statements.

More often than not, they let those controversial statements to float around until enough damage was done before stepping in. Most of the time, they would tell everyone that 'The matter is now closed' without telling us exactly what's their final stand was. In the end, the people are left alone to judge PAS's stand on their own, and this is bad for the party.

ii. 2nd possibility - ZO had the answers to the above questions, but he knew his answers were going to piss off Pakatan Rakyat leaders or the non-Muslim voters so he decided to stay mum.

But can you blame ZO for not answering? Who dug up those holes for him to walk in? PAS itself dug the hole subconsciously for playing the rat race with UMNO to prove who is more Islamic between them.

For instance, in the beer fiasco, PAS Selangor was probably trying to prove themselves they are the real protector of Islam instead of UMNO. It was just a mind game without strategy to prove a useless point using the wrong way.

Why PAS's top leadership never thought of using the signboards "Judi adalah haram di sisi agama Islam" hanging in the 4D gambling shops as an example to do some real study? If those signboards cannot deter a Muslim from betting, does it really matter if those beers are sold in the Muslim-majority area?

Is there a need to prove PAS is more Islamic than UMNO by playing such high-stakes game? Is there a need to be caught up in this game while getting yourself being cornered politically?

4. Something is terribly wrong with the people perception of PAS lately.

Subconsciously, after a series of victory in Peninsular by-elections, PAS has lost track on its real focus. They did not realize they had started playing with empty rhetoric, meaningless slogans while trying hard to label UMNO as a corrupted party. During these times, PAS did not do anything to improve itself, instead they are actually regressing to the old PAS.

Since March 08, PAS has stopped putting in more effort into turning 'PAS for ALL' slogan into actions. They hallucinated that the non-Muslims votes are going to stay with them as long as 'PAS for ALL' slogan is chanted everyday like the 1Malaysia slogan. They forgot about the 'value of the people believing' in 'PAS for ALL' slogan was the recipe why people across racial divides decided to vote for them in all previous by-elections.

PAS's internal bickering since the unity government fiasco had sent a variety of confusing signals about PAS's real identity to the rakyat. 'The benefit of the doubts' that the rakyat gave to PAS on the past few by-elections are now gone for good.

Image PAS has to restart to brand themselves all over again. Rhetoric and slogans can only last so long as they refused or ignorant to learn from current UMNO's predicament.

5. Who are the real you, PAS?

If you happened to forget who you are, PAS, allow me to remind you.

PAS is a multi racial party who fights for Islam. You are not a Malay party like UMNO, but you are just a party dominated by Malays.

So, now how does PAS want to show its Islamic side to be accepted by all MALAY-sians?

The rakyat knows that PAS and Islam is inseparable. Therefore, fighting for Islam is completely acceptable to non-Muslims. The only problem is that lately it seemed very evident to the non-Muslims that PAS put more focus on petty issues rather than the big picture in their fight for Islam, which is to emphasis on fighting corruption, "kebajikan awam", fairness and transparency in all PR state's government.

PAS, you need to find your way back fast! Remember "PAS for ALL" was your best selling slogan, now you just have to focus to put it into actions. It is just that simple!

You paid a very cheap price in Bagan Pinang to realise that something has gone wrong in your struggle and focus. You should be glad that "Status-quo" is the cheapest price to lose an election for a good wake-up call!

(Penulis adalah seorang Pemuda bukan Muslim yang sangat suka kepada PAS tetapi kadang-kadang mempunyai pandangan tersendiri terhadap parti Islam ini)

Isnin, Oktober 12, 2009

Appointing ‘outsiders’: Wrong move by PKR

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP


Paul Sir's article should be seriously considered by the top guns of KEADILAN. Lots of interesting points to be pondered upon. Even KEADILAN is also having a problem of leadership in Selangor with a local as the leader.


Paul Sir
Monday, 12 October 2009 12:49

OPINION For the sake of giving an honest view of this subject, allow me as a Sarawakian to call a spade a spade.

While I can readily call myself a Malaysian, at times not with much pride (for obvious reasons), I will also consider those from Peninsular Malaysia ‘outsiders’. By that, I mean they are not Sarawakians but “Orang Malaya”.

I’m sorry but I have to say this. Because of the ways so many events have been played out in our nation, I have yet to fully grasp the 1Malaysia Concept espoused by our prime minister. To me, Najib Abdul Razak’s slogan is also nothing new. We have been talking about one Malaysia since Independence.

The term ‘outsider’ can be considered quite ‘undiplomatic’. It connotes an unwanted presence – as ‘outsiders’ mean those not from within but, as its name implies, outside.

However, I have no qualms about using the word when discussing politics. It’s all part of straight talking as politics is also about the art of courageously using the ‘wrong’ word (deliberately even) at the correct time when situations warrant it.

anwar-srwak-sbah2.jpgLet me try to give a clearer explanation by reviewing the situation of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in Sarawak and Sabah today.

In March this year, PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim took over as state PKR chairman in Sarawak and Sabah. To party members in the two East Malaysian states, Anwar is considered an ‘outsider’. He is not a resident from either state.

Anwar an 'acceptable' outsider

Well, the PKR boss may have valid reasons for doing so. Previous chairmen of the party’s state liaison committees in the two states might not have lived up to his expectation. So in a move to revamp and improve the set-up of his party in Sabah and Sarawak, Anwar took over as its chair.

So far, there were no complaints from party leaders and members in the two states. If there were any, it did not enter the public domain. So we can assume all was okay.

Anwar also has the clout and stature even though he is an outsider. We can conclude that he was an acceptable outsider to PKR members in Sabah and Sarawak.

Two months later, however, Anwar gave up the posts citing heavy commitments at home and abroad. He just could not give much of his time nor attention to party affairs in Sarawak and Sabah.

He appointed two persons to replace him. Party vice-president Mustaffa Kamil Ayub took over the Sarawak chair while another veep, Azmin Ali, the Sabah side.

And I believe this is when problems started to arise within PKR in the two East Malaysian states. And this is where the term ‘outsiders’ has a very negative connotation.

Right from the time when their appointments were announced, many local PKR leaders in Sarawak and Sabah already did not take it too kindly.

With due respect to the two gentlemen, Mustaffa and Azmin just do not possess the Anwar charisma nor stature to lead the party in the two states. In short, they were ‘unacceptable outsiders’.

I think I am able to appreciate and understand local sentiments. If I were a PKR member (which I am not) I would find it difficult to accept Mustaffa as my top leader in Sarawak.

Think of the reversed situation

Why? Simple. I don’t even know him. I wonder how many PKR leaders and members in Sarawak know who he is.

He may be a good and able leader but that’s not the point. The issue is why a local Sarawakian or Sabahan not appointed to head the party in their own states. Why appoint ‘outsiders’?

gabriel adit.jpgPut it this way. Try appointing Gabriel Adit (right) to head Selangor PKR or Dominique Ng to lead Penang PKR and see whether they could be accepted by party leaders and members in those two states.

Local sentiments will make it difficult for them to function effectively there because Adit and Ng are considered outsiders in Selangor and Penang.

Similarly, I doubt PKR people in Malacca or Negri Sembilan would be able to accept Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, a Sabahan, as their state chief. Why? Because Jeffrey is an outsider.

Anwar Ibrahim had said that the appointments of Mustaffa and Azmin were only temporary but a mistake has been made, even if it is only a temporary mistake. Damage has been done.

Anwar should have allowed senior PKR leaders to elect an acceptable local leader from among themselves. In Sarawak, don’t tell me that people like Nicholas Bawin, Baru Bian, Jewah Gerang, Adit, Dominique and others are not qualified nor suitable to lead the party in the state.

Granted, they may have differences among themselves (but isn’t that normal in politics) but a local leader, and not an outsider, would still be the more preferred and acceptable choice.

DAP has done very well in this aspect. All their leaders in Sabah and Sarawak are locals. PKR can learn a thing or two from their ally in Pakatan Rakyat.

It’s the same situation in Sabah. Why were Jeffrey Kitingan, Ansari Abdullah or Kong Hong Ming not appointed to head Sabah PKR?

Why was Azmin Ali appointed instead? What is so right about Azmin that is so wrong with Jeffrey, Ansari or Kong Hong Ming.

As far as I know, these three are very senior politicians and Azmin can be considered very junior in comparison.

In Sarawak, Gabriel Adit is a five-term state assemblyman and Jewah Gerang is a veteran MP. Mustaffa is nowhere near Adit or Jewah in terms of experience and seniority in politics. So how can you expect these veterans to accept a junior as their boss.

jeffrey-kitingan.jpgAnd let’s not forget that most politicians have very big ego.

The notion of finding a ‘neutral’ man to lead in Sabah and Sarawak does not hold in this case. Local sentiments is paramount. It’s a pity Anwar did not pay much attention to this…or did he?

Trouble brewing

Last week, we begin to see tension and disillusionment within the ranks of PKR in Sarawak and Sabah. I believe it has a lot to do with the ‘outsider’ issue.

azmin ali.jpgGabriel Adit is on the way to form a new party, speculated to be named Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak. His party is scheduled to be launched on Oct 15. Ten months ago, he was given a rousing welcome when he joined PKR.

Where did Adit or PKR go wrong? We can continue to speculate but at the end of it all, Adit must have realized that PKR may not be the political platform he was looking for.

Over in Sabah, a group of division chiefs have expressed no confidence in the leadership of recently appointed state chief Azmin Ali. They wanted Azmin removed and proposed Jeffrey Kitingan to take over.

Azmin had since responded that he was prepared to give up the Sabah chair and would notify Anwar of his decision.

It is clear in the case of Sabah that the PKR leadership was wrong to have appointed an ‘outsider’ to head the party in the state.

Anwar Ibrahim will have some soul-searching to do and must act quickly as trouble is already brewing within his party in Sabah and Sarawak where he is, unfortunately, also an ‘outsider’.

(This article first appeared in The Borneo Post but has been updated. Comments can reach the writer at paulsir99@hotmail.com)

Status Quo di N31 Bagan Pinang

dari ChangkatNingkeBTP

Calon Barisan Nasional Tan Sri Mohd Isa Samad mengekalkan kerusi BN-UMNO di Bagan Pinang dengan majoriti undi 5,435. Beliau menndapat undi sebanyak 8,013 manakala calon PAS-PR Zulkefly Mohamad Omar mendapat 2,578.

Kemenagang ini menamatkan kemenangan berturut-turut PR dalam PRK di Semenanjung sejak PRU-12 2008. Ia juga membuktikan bahawa selain di PRK Parlimen Kuala Terengganu, tiada perubahan ketara dalam corak mengundi rakyat Malaysia. Semua PRK kecuali di KT sejak Mac 2008 menyaksikan parti penyandang mempertahankan kerusi masing-masing.

Walaubagaimanapun, sesuatu perlu dilakukan oleh PAS terutama jika diambilkira apa yang berlaku di PRK Manik Urai dan Bagan Pinang. Persoalan seperti menurunnya sokongan terhadap PAS bukan satu perkara yang boleh diambil ringan. Satu bentuk kajian perlu dilakukan segera bagi menilai semula kekalahan dan pengurangan undi di kedua-dua kawasan.

Jumaat, Oktober 09, 2009

Rafa Oh Rafa ....

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mEnDan says ...

Something is not right with Liverpol FC (LFC) right now. The 0-2 defeat to Chelsea meant that LFC have now lost 3 games from 8. The 0-2 defeat to Fiorentona meant that LFC have lost 2 consensecutive games. What more with Dark October coming with games against the unpredictable Sunderland (A), The Old Enemy of Man U & Owen (H) (for heaven sake Rafa, please win that game)and followed by Murphy's inspired Fulham. In addition, the mighty Lyon (2 games) are waiting in the Champion's League. That's massive. Carragher & Skrtel should beware. The Defense have been very generous now. Ten goals already in the league.

It does not help with the conflict between Rafa and the co-owner, the psych war against Sir Alex. Does it works Rafa? Nope for sure. So, what now? The the Kops have enought patience? Sure for now. Its because of the passion. But, for how long? Remember Gerard Houlier? The one who was initially appointed along with Ronnie Evans as co-manager. After Evans left (remember Spice Boys of Fowler, Babb, McAteer etc?), GH won us 5 thropies in a row. The League Cup, The FA Cup, The UEFA Cup, The Charity Shield and the Super Cup (Do the last 2 thropies meant so much? I doubt). He was celebrated for sure. The worf the Reds Revivals were mentioned then. Unfortunately, it failed to materialized. Not only that, the famous youth academy factory that produced among others Fowler, Owen, McManaman, Carragher, Warnock, Thompson, Gerrard etc were almost destroyed by GH. There're no new Gerrard, Carragher or Owen for the past 8 years. Only a handful of fringe player could be named such as Patridge, Hobbs, Nemeth etc.

So Rafa, please rebuild the academy. Its have been to long the academy faled to produced stars. The youngsters should be thrust into the first time. Nemeth (now on-loan to Greece) is much better thah Voronin and Ngog. What about others? How on earth can Lucas be in the first XI? For sure there's somebody in the Reserve or Youth Squad than can be thrusted into the midfield.

Anoher main concern is the partner of F. Torres. Neither Ngog nor Voronin suits Torres. Look at other teams; Berbatov-Owen -Rooney of Man U, Anelka-Drogba of Chelsea, van Pierse-Ashavin of Arsenal, Bent-Jones of Sunderland, Agbonlahor-Carew of Villa, Keane-Crouch-Defoe-P'chenko of Spurs, Saha-Jo of Everton. Need I say more? Liverpol ? Torres - Voronin - Kyut or Babbel-Ngog? Does the LFC's list convincing? Remember old days? Rush-Aldridge, Rush - Dalglish - Beardsley- Barnes - Walsh. Even Collymore - Fowler is formidable. What about GH's English trio of Heskey-Owen-Fowler? What happen if Torres injured or off form. We canot rely solely on Gerrard. Do get a new world striker. Nor in the mould of Morientes please. David Villa fits just nice.

On the brighter side,Standard Chartered Bank will be replacing the danish brewery, Carlsberg as the shirt sponsor. Thank god for that. It is important to note that LFC have not won the league since 1990-2009 when Carlsberg became the main sponsor. Irony. Hopefully with the new sponsor, LFC will sober enough throughout next season to win its 19th league title. For this season? I'm not very sure. Furthermore, with the new sponsor, it's time for the Kops to visit Malaysia for a friendly or two. Maybe Lverpool VS Selangor ? I'll be waiting for that moment. As well waiting the Middle East investors, the F6 Group. Ahlan Wa Sahla Ila Liverpool.

YNWA

Rabu, September 30, 2009

PRK Bagan Pinang : Tan Sri Isa Samad (BN-UMNO) VS Zulkefly Mohamad Omar (PAS-PR)

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Berdasarkan pengumuman pada hari Selasa 29 September 2009, ternyata desas-desus berkenaan calon-calon yang akan bertanding bagi PRK Bagan Pinang menepati ramalan para pengkaji politik tanahair.

Walaunpun negara telah melalui 8 PRK sejak PRU ke-12, PRK kali ini lebih menarik dan akan menjadi medan pertempuran politik yang hebat. kedua-dua BN dan PR mempunyai kelebihan dan kekurangan sendiri dalam menghadapi PRK kali ini. Tambahan pula , ini hanya kali ke 2 selepas di PRK Parlimen Kuala Terengganu di Semenanjung BN dan UMNO akan mempertahankan kerusi mereka. PRK yang lain menyaksikan PR berjaya untuk mengekalkan staus quo dengan mempertahankan kerusi mereka di Parlimen Permatang Pauh, Parlimen Bukit Gantang, DUN Penanti, DUN Bukit Selambau serta yang terakhir DUN Permatang Pasir. Menariknya di Terengganu adalah PR yang diwakili oleh PAS berjaya merampas kerusi Parlimen Kuala Terengganu dari tangan UMNO/BN.

Persoalan yang menarik perhatian umum ialah mampukah PAS mengulangi kejayaan PR di Kuala Terengganu? Adakah pencalonan Tan Sri Isa Samad, bekas MB NS selama 21 tahun satu strategi yang baik buat UMNO? Adakah calon PAS yang merupakan Pesuruhjaya PAS Negeri Sembilan tetapi bukan orang Teluk Kemang satu pilihan yang tepat? Apakah isu-isu tempatan yang akan dibawa oleh BN dan PR di Bagan Pinang? Mampukah isu-isu nasional memberi impak kepada pengundi? Apakah masalah dalaman PR terutama di Selangor memberi kesan kepada para pegundi di Bagan Pinang? Adakah undi pos lebih 5,000 akan memberi kelebihan kepada BN dan UMNO? Banyak persoalan yang akan terjawab sebaik sahaja perngumuman keputusan PRK tersebut pada minggu depan. Sama-sama kita tunggu. Apa yang penting, proses demokrasi ini perlu dilaksanakan seadil-adilnya kerana rakyatlah yang perlu diutamakan.

Ahad, September 27, 2009

The Opening of Constantinople to Islam During the Osmanli Devlet

dari Changkat Ning

Introduction

Sultan Mehemmed II or famously known as Sultan Fatih were one of the most important Caliph in the Osmanli Devlet. One of his greatest contributions towards the spread of Islam is the opening of Constantinople to Islam. The city which is the capital of the Byzantine Empire for centuries, finally fall to Islam and mark the end of one of the oldest empire in human civilization. It is a very important city and its opening to Islam were mentioned in the Hadith of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) which clearly mentioned that the city of Constantinople will one day fall to Islam and will be open by a nice army lead by a nice commander.

The commander mentioned in the Hadith is certainly Sultan Fatih who command the opening of Constantinople to Islam. The pious Caliph of the Osmanli Devlet is not only superior academically, politically and militarily, but also religiously intelligent ; the criteria of a truth caliph of Islam. The opening of Constantinople really confirmed his superb leadership and his sacrifice in the way of Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him).

Past Attempt To Open Constantinople

The most notable and major attempt to open the city to Islam by an Osmanli caliph is in the period of Sultan Yildirim Bayezid Khan (1389-1402). Bayezid decide to open the city of Constantinople in order to spread the empire of Osmanli Devlet. His first attempt were disturbed by the Hungarians Empire who sent a big number of troops to attack the Islamic Devlet.

However, Bayezid managed to defeated the Hungarians in 1391 and the victory able him to resume the attack to the Byzantine’s capital which resulted the Byzantine have to accept a peace agreement with the Osmanli Devlet. Unfortunately, due to the a crusade by the Christians formed by the Pope, Bayezid were forced to lift the siege of Constantinople. After the victory against the Christians’ crusaders, he continued the siege with a new strategies; using blockade and at same time stop foods supplies to the city. The strategy were almost to its success until suddenly Timurlenk emerged in the East which caused lots of trouble to the Devlet. The problems of Timurlenk forced Bayezid to stop the attempt to open Istanbul . Constantinople were not open to Islam until the period of Sultan Mehemmed II Fatih in 1453, 64 years after Bayezid start his attempt to open the city to Islam.

The Siege by Sultan Fatih

On Friday, April 6, 1453 , the Osmanli gazis began their attack to captured Constantinople. They have to face a very difficult tasks in order to open the city as the city equipped with a very strong defense. The city were covered by a double layer high walls , 7 meter wide of moat around it. The army have to tackle these obstruction to able them to cross to the city. Although the walls along the Golden Horn are a bit weak compared to the other parts, the Byzantines managed to cover it by stretching a strong chain in the mouth of the gulf. This created a big problems to The Osmanli’s fleet to enter from The Golden Horn.

The first Osmanli’s attack were made in the night of 18th April by try to enter the city by digging holes through the walls . It was a fruitless attempt as the Byzantines defended well . On the other hand , the Byzantines managed strengthen their military capabilities when 3 Genoese ships sent by the Pope arrived in Constantinople on April 20.

The Osmanli Kapudan-i Derya ,Baltaoglu Suleyman Beg fought bravely with his men against the Genoese and were injured in the naval battle. The Genoese were superior than the Osmanli fleets because they have a very strong naval fleet compared to the Osmanli.Hence, the Osmanli navy failed to prevent the Christian navy. This resulted of the dismissal of Baltaoglu Suleyman Beg and was replaced by Hamza Beg as the commander of the navy.

Another attack by the Osmanlis began on the night of 21-22 April which included 70 ships from Tophane to Kasim Pasha the wooden slipway and into the Gulf to destroy the weaker walls of the city. This is a successful attacks and affected the moral of the Byzantines.

On May 6, 4 hours after sunset, another attack was started but unfortunately the attack unable to defeated the firm defence of the Byzantines . The failed attack did not demoralized the Muslims and the start another attack 6 days later (May 12) and this time the soldiers were successful to enter the holes that have been made earlier. However, the Byzantines sent more soldiers there and managed to stop the attacks.

18 brave soldiers lead by Ulubaldi Hasan try another attack by climbing the high wall but all of them were martyred . The bravery of these soldiers raised the moral of other soldiers and many of them climbs all those high walls to attack the Byzantines.

However, at the time when victory are almost in hand, some problems exist regarding to other parts of the Osmanli Devlet. Hungarian ambassadors arrived with news that Jan Hunyadi was dethrone by King Ladislas who planned to gather a large number of troops to attack Osmanli Devlet if the Muslim did not stop the siege. Sultan Mehemmed II seeks the opinions of his advisers and they came with various opinions. Cenderali Halil Pasha who have confronted the Christians in many battles feels that the Muslim should withdraw from the siege and concentrate on the Hungarians . In contrast with it , Spiritual Master of the Sultan, Sheyh Akshemseddin and Vezir Zaganos Pasha feels that it is worthwhile to presume the attacks against the Byzantines. They , finally came to the decision to resume the attacks towards the city of Constantinople.

The city of Constantinople were captured after the final attack before the subh prayer on Tuesday, 29th. May 1453; through Topkapusu Gate.The troops of the mujahid were victoriously enter the city that had for decades, stubbornly resisted many attacks of the Muslim.


After the Historic Victory

On the day of the opening of Constantinople to Islam, the young, 21 years-old Sultan Mehemmed II converted the Hagia Sophia Cathedral to a mosque and he leads the first juma’ah prayer there. He also offered a general amnesty to the city’s citizens and later on conveyed a big number of Muslims from Anatolia to the city. The next step is he appointed Gennadois , one of the most notable person there, as the Patriarch of the Orthodox. This mean that non-Muslims are free to perform their own religious beliefs. Then, with the help of his spiritual master, Sheyh Akshemseddin who help him identified the burial place of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari; he built a beautiful tomb and mosque in respect of the great companion of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Significance

The opening of the city marked the beginning of the Modern Era and the demolition of the Medieval Era as Osmanlis have made the city a metropolitan city in the sense that the citizens were treated equally and with justice regardless their religious belief or color of their skins in the city that were after the opening, rename Istanbol.For years later, Istanbul become an important center of Islam under the administration of the Osmanli Devlet.

As Sultan Fatih’s opening of Istanbul marked the end of the East Roman Empire, the Devlet now were regarded as the sole leader of the Muslims and at same time marked the declining era of the Mamluks and other small Islamic states .

Economically, the open of the city greatly benefited the Osmanli Devlet as it now controls the trades of silk and spice. The benefit were so great that managed the Devlet to strengthen its power and used the money to improve the Devlet.

For the Christians, the opening of the city really shocked them as they have to face greater military, spiritual , economy and social conflicts against the Osmanlis. They have to find ways to break the monopoly of the Muslims in those fields.

Conclusion

The conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Sultan Fatih formally ushered a new era , that of the empire of Osmanli. The Caliph installed himself astride the Bosphorus with one foot in Asia and the other in Europe . His expanding domain made him heir not only to Byzantine but also, through the destruction of the Mamluk power, the successor states of the Arab caliphate. The inheritance of lands from both East and West had its counterpart in the inheritance of ideas , and the combined heritage is perhaps the most pregnant fact in the history of the Osmanli Devlet.

Sabtu, September 19, 2009

Salam Idul Fitri & Maaf Zahir Batin

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salam Idul Fitri Wal Faizin ... Maaf andai ada terkasar bahasa, tersalah tulis dan terlajak bicara. Moga Ibadah puasa kita diterima Allah Ta'ala jua. Amin.

Rabu, September 09, 2009

Surat Ahli Parlimen Shah Alam. YB Ir Khalid Samad kpd. Penduduk Seksyen 23, Shah Alam

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Surat Terbuka Untuk Penduduk Seksyen 23



2hb September 2009 M
13 Ramadan 1430 H

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

Kehadapan penduduk Seksyen 23 yang dihormati,

Semoga surat ini menemui tuan-tuan dalam keadaan sihat wal afiat serta keimanan yang
teguh dan jitu berkat bulan Ramadhan ini.

Saya
mengambil kesempatan ini untuk mengingatkan diri saya serta tuan-tuan akan Firman Allah, Surah Al Maaidah ayat 8 yang bermaksud;
“Bertindak adil! Ianya lebih rapat dengan keTaqwaan.”

Semoga dalam usaha kita membina keTaqwaan dalam bulan Ramadhan ini, kita mengingati hakikat bahawa ‘keTaqwaan’ yang diusahakan itu mempunyai hubungan rapat dengan keadilan. Keadilan ini pula perlu dilaksanakan terhadap semua, walaupun terhadap yang tidak disenangi.

Ini ditegaskan di dalam ayat yang sama yang bermaksud, “dan jangan oleh kerana kebencian kamu terhadap sesuatu kaum menyebabkan kamu tidak berlaku adil…”Kalau terhadap kaum yang dibenci sekalipun dituntut keadilan, apatah lagi terhadap jiran sekampung dan warga sekota? Walaupun mereka tidak sebangsa dan seagama, hakikatnya mereka tidak memusuhi kita atau memusuhi Islam. Maka, mereka layak mendapat layanan yang adil. Adakah adil sekiranya kita menafikan mereka hak tempat beribadat yang berhampiran dan sebaliknya memaksa mereka ke seksyen 22, di tengah-tengah kawasan Industri berat, jauh dari kawasan kediaman?
Tiada apa di sana kecuali kilang-kilang.

Saya hanyalah seorang wakil rakyat yang dipilih oleh tuan-tuan melalui pilihan raya yang diadakan pada masa-masa tertentu. Saya tidak berhak memaksa apa-apa pandangan atau keputusan ke atas tuan-tuan semua. Saya hanya mengharapkan keputusan yang tuan-tuan rumuskan sendiri berhubung cadangan pemindahan kuil ke Seksyen 23 mengambil kira persoalan keTaqwaan dan keAdilan seperti di atas.

Islam adalah agama yang adil.
Keadilannya mampu menawan hati semua manusia. Yang paling saya takuti adalah tindakan yang memberikan gambaran bahawa Islam adalah sebaliknya. Allah murka terhadap mereka yang bertindak dengan cara yang merosakkan imej Islam sehingga menyebabkan manusia terhalang untuk mengenali keadilannya. Allah berfirman ayat 94 Surah An-Nahl yang bermaksud:-

“Dan kamu ditimpa kehinaan kerana menjadi penghalang kepada jalan Allah (disebabkan tindakan buruk kamu) dan untuk kamu azab yang amat dahsyat (pada hari akhirat kelak)”

Ada yang bertanya kepada saya, tidakkah saya khuatir saya kalah dalam Pilihan Raya yang bakal tiba oleh kerana isu ini. Bagi saya sekiranya itulah kehendak pengundi, apakan daya? Yang penting sejarah akan menjadi saksi bahawa ada Ahli Parlimen dari parti Islam yang memperjuangkan keadilan untuk semua walaupun orang Hindu. Seperti kisah seorang raja Islam di Mysore, Bangalore, India pada abad ke 18 yang bernama Sultan Fateh Ali Khan Tippu (Tippu Sultan). Rakyatnya terdiri daripada orang Islam, Hindu dan Sikh. Hingga ke hari ini rakyat India masih menceritakan mengenai pemerintahan beliau yang berasaskan Islam sebagai sebuah pemerintahan yang adil.

Semoga Allah memberkati kita semua dan memimpin kita ke jalan yang diRedhaiNya.

وسلام عليكم و السلام على من التبع الهدى
YB KHALID BIN ABDUL SAMAD
Ahli Parlimen Shah Alam

Sabtu, September 05, 2009

Pilihanraya Kecil ke-8 , DUN Bagan Pinang : Satu Analisa Pra PRK

dari Changkat Ning

Terlebih dahulu, takziah diucapkan kepada keluarga Allahyarham. Moga roh beliau dicucuri rahmat dan keampunan Allah jua lebih-lebih lagi beliau meningal dunia dalam bulan Ramadhan yang penuh Berkah ini.


Nampaknya demam PRK belum berakhir. Minggu lepas menyaksikan negara menghadapi PRK DUN Permatang Pasir di Pulau Pinang. Satu lagi PRK akan berlaku dalam jangkamasa terdekat apabila ADUN Bagan Pinang Negeri Sembilan, YB Azman Mohd Noor dari UMNO meninggal dunia pada 4 September kerana masalah jantung.

Dalam pada itu, PRK ini akan menyaksikan persaingan yang amat sengit kerana beberapa perkara :
1. Senario politik masa kini menyaksikan tsunami politik pasca pRU-12 belum menampakkan perubahan trend pengundiaan teruta di Semenanjung dimana PR memenangi kesemua 7 PRK.
2. DUN Bagan Pinang merpakan kubu kuat UMNO. Jika dibandingkan dengan 7 PRK sebelum ini, 6 berlaku ddi kerusi milik PR (3 darinya di kubu kuat DSAI , Permatang Pauh). Hanya di PRK parlimen Kuala Terengganu sahaja PR menang dan merampas kerusi dari BN. Jika BN menang, ia akan membuktikan BN masih kuat di kerusi-kerusi tradisional mereka. Jika PR menang, ia merupakan pukulan hebat kepada BN terutama UMNO dan akan mengurangkan majoriti BN di DUN Negeri Sembelian kepada 5 kerusi. Sudah tentu BN akan berhabisan mempertahankan kerusi tersebut.
3. Keunikkan Parlimen Teluk Kemang sendiri amat menarik perhatian. Komposisi pelbagai parti yang menguasai kerusi-kerusi di kawasan tersebut adalah sesuatu yang luar biasa. Parlimen Teluk Kemang dikuasai KEADILAN. Dari 5 DUN dibawah Parlimen Teluk Kemang, 2 milik UMNO, 2 milik KEADILAN dan 1 milik DAP. Ini akan menyaksikan satu persaingan hebat dalam PRK tersebut.
4. Kawasan tersebut mempunyai komposisi 66% pengundi Melayu; 19.9% India; 10.5% Cina dan 3.5% lain-lain kaum. Ini amat menarik. Adakah undi Melayu sudah kembali ke BN? Bagaimana undi kaum India yang besar jumlahnya di DUN tersebut? Mungkinkan uni kaum Cina kekal kepada PR. Jika dilihat dari PRU 12, calon PAS yang bertanding berjaya mengurangkan hampir separuh majoriti jika dibandnkan dengan apa yang diperolehi oleh BN-UMNO pada PRU 11 .
5. Selain isu-isu lokal, isu-isu nasional kebelakangan ini menampakkan terdapat kemungknan perubahan pola pengundi Melayu dan India. Isu peminahan kuil di Selangor dijangka antara isu utama yang menjadi bahan kempen. Begitu juga isu Kampung Buah Pala. Respon pengundi Melayu dan India akan menentukan kejayaan parti yang bertanding. dalam pada itu, kematian Beng Hock masih boleh dijadikan isu yang menarik untuk perhatian pengundi Cina. Pepecahan MCA, PPP dan MIC sendiri juga akan menjejaskan BN. PR juga menghadapai masalah dalamnya sendiri. Hubungan PAS-DAP walaupun nampak sudah kembali utuh selepas PRK Permatang Pasir, masih boleh dijadikan isu oleh BN terutama di kawasan pengundi Melayu. Persoalan parti manakah akan menjadi wakil PR dalam PRK ini juga akan menjadi tanda tanya. Sudah tentu KEADILAN yang menguasai 1 Parlimen dan 2 DUN di kawasan tersebut ingin meletak calon mereka. Walau bagaimanapun, mengikut konsensus PR, calon PAS akan diletakkan kerana PAS yang bertanding pada PRU 12 di situ.

Apa yang pasti, PRK kali ini lebih menarik jika dibandingkan 7 PRK sebelum ini. Ini kerana majoriti keputusan sebelum ini hanyalah mengekalkan status quo parti yang memegang kerusi pada PRU-12 kecuali di Parlimen Kuala Terengganu. Apakan respon pengundi di kerusi milik BN-UMNO kali ini? Pengundilah yang akan menentukan. Selaras dengan semangat demokrasi, selamat bertanding diucapkan kepada BN dan PR.


Hamdan Mohd Salleh


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