Anyone who read my column in The Star today will notice my nomination of Dr Asri Zainol Abidin, Mufti of Perlis, for this award. Don't worry if you've never heard of this award, I just invented it. Anyway I thought the gallant young fellow deserves support for his take on things Islamic and for actually not keeping quiet. Of course, his brother Muftis ( and of course, they are all brothers, no sisters) are calling a meeting to discuss what he's said about khalwat. Already the condescending tone has set in -- "he's still young", "it's just his personal opinion" - so no doubt they're getting ready to give him a severe rap on the knuckles for not toeing the line. Already the Perak religious department, led of course by Pope Harussani, is defiantly saying that they will continue to cleanse their state of sins by raiding hotel rooms (by the way, can some lawyer clarify this? Aren't hotel rooming lists confidential? If you call up any hotel, they won't give you any guest's room number.)
We should all make sure that Dr Asri knows that he has support from us all (You could visit www.perlis.gov.my/mufti but it's yet another useless government site.). We need people like him who have the credentials and are brave enough to say what they think is right. My fellow blogger Walski is correct in saying that the way our federation is set up, Dr Asri can only implement change in his own state. And Perlis has enough problems with its eager promotion of polygamy, and the absence of surat taklik (marriage contract) for Muslim brides.
I must say however that I won't become a full-fledged fan of Dr Asri's until I know his stand on two things, women and apostasy. Ulamas are not always consistent, especially when they don't approach things from a rights perspective. (Except when it's the 'right' of religious departments to raid hotels, homes, that sort of thing.) So they might be OK on one thing but very not Ok on something else.
But still, the fact that the National Fatwa Council has had to call a meeting to discuss what Dr Asri said is already interesting. They can afford to ignore when the rest of us say something. But one of their own? They have to either listen to him or quash him. Dr Asri, gambatte kudasai!! ( That's Japanese for 'good luck', though literally it means 'Fight!")
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
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Hello Marina, always a fan of your writings in The Star and Rantings is a great open portal too.
Yes, I also thought Dr Asri was logical and his writing made sense. Good luck to him and hope there are other Muftis that will come to his support. On another matter, can someone explain to me why, when such issues like khalwat, dresscodes, women's right are making headlines under the pretense of Syariah laws, whilst murder, extortions, gambling, rape etc are not?
I read about it, humour in truth. I do so despise the extra hair coming from their ears and noses, come on, don't they care??? and we women busy waxing and shaving becos once you accidently "terselak" your kain and expose your unshaved legs, they started to show their disgusted faces.
anyways, I've been through the khalwat thing, not me, I mean, my friend experienced it altho she weren't doing anything, they were just hanging out in front of the tv having dinner while I'm in my room, but it was, just, hurm, its hard to explain.
but the thing is, I went through the acts and legislations. there are fines for male tranvestites selling sexual services, and there are an average of 10 male tranvestites selling sexual services in the same area every single night out in the open where they raided my friend's place the night I was there. so, I just don't get it. I seriously don't get it. I read the acts over and over again. I think its more than RM1000 fine (please correct me if I'm wrong) for male pretending to be female and wears female clothing, and I think its quite the same for khalwat. so, why the bias in raids and such?
If their intention is to protect the muslims from committing sins by means of helping the ummah, I think they should priorities what should be done and how. Its a disgrace for younger generation to see a group of religious officers snooping around hotels and in a way, scaring off our tourists and whatnot. please go down to bukit bintang street and clean up the vices there where all of our tourist love to do their walking and sightseeing.
a general opinion from a young lady.
While I applaud Dr. Asri's courage to speak up on what many "young people" have been quietly grumbling about, it is sad confirmation how the voice of the young (and future generation) is quickly dismissed in serious matters involving religion and personal liberty.
I have grown suspicious of new muftis. They usually try to make an impression on us when they first assume office, and then fizzle out due to peer pressure and political interference. Let us Dr Asri of Perlis has sustaining power.
Yes, he is definitely very refreshing compared to Pope of Perak. I am wondering how long that Pope will remain as Chief Mufti to this tin state.
LOL LOL LOL.....Pope Harussani....damn funny lah you Marina. I think I too want to wish Dr. Asri well -God's (not a typo obviously) luck to you for the meeting!
Dr Asri Zainol Abidin, the Mufti of Perlis must be commended for his stance.There are many things that are swept under the carpet.I would like to bring to mind the Rayappan issue as well.Things must always be dealt with logically,'ignorantia juris hand excusat'Ignorance of The law is No Excuse.Women's issues have always been given less importance.We are on the thresholds of an era that determines maturity and reasoning.It should be the twilight zone,all men are created equal in the eyes of the creator.The pre-dawn raid on the couple in Langkawi was no way of highlighting to the world we are the essence of Asia.It's time to stand up and be counted.I am glad that Dr.Asri has decided to do that, like him there are many out there waiting for their turn. Anyway, please click this site it could well be the be the mother of all interviews
http://www.theinterviewwithgod.com/popup-frame.html
Dear MM,
Welcome to the world of blogging
MarinaM,
An interesting news not entirely out of context with your posting
Utusan.com/Luar Negara
21hb Disember, 2006
Yusuf Islam kembali menyanyi di pentas
NEW YORK 20 Dis. – Yusuf Islam atau lebih dikenali dengan nama Cat Stevens mengadakan persembahan pentas buat julung kalinya untuk mempromosikan album pop pertama beliau setelah tiga dekad meninggalkan dunia muzik.
Gabungan lagu baru dengan lagu popularnya suatu ketika dulu seperti The Wind, Oh Very Young dan Peace Train dinyanyikan beliau dengan suara lembut berbanding zaman kegemilangan beliau pada era tahun 1970-an.
Penyanyi yang meninggalkan dunia hiburan pada tahun 1978 itu kembali dengan album terbarunya, An Other Cup pada bulan lalu.
“Ia satu langkah kecil bagi seorang manusia, satu langkah besar bagi akal yang sihat,” kata Yusuf, 58, berhubung kepulangannya dalam industri muzik.
Sebelum ini, beliau hanya melakukan persembahan jemputan yang dihadiri oleh profesional industri muzik dan pihak lain di Manhattan.
“Saya terlalu ‘besar’ dan perlu ‘mengempiskan’ diri dan perlu kembali menjadi orang biasa,” jelasnya.
– Reuters
I agree with you that Dr Asri is refreshing.
Dr Asri has presented Islam in a modern light. I detected from his answers, the progressive vibe that I have always believed Islam is all about. To me it has to do with understanding of the broad picture at the end of the day. To be modern, living and at the same time magnanimous, that is Islam.
On that note I would like to add that life would be better I'd say, if we humbly suggest that the custodian of our religion rallied and dwelled and get on with broader progressive issues like (not in any order of importance, I list as I think):
-more ideas to elevate levels of education say
-suggest making our ummah speak 4 or 5 languages
-suggest ideas bringing together brilliant financial experts from around the world to better the regional economy
-ideas to be included in the curriculum to empower better universal values in our young ones as a form of effective character building through story telling and group projects perhaps, and hope they'll end up as well guided adults, sensible adults, caring and generous to faults (so less wars)
-ideas to encourage the interest to read amongst all, by building more libraries nearer to LRTs for easier reach and access, if we meant to get more of our people to be well read and knowledgeable
-make suggestions and ideas to reduce traffic jams by widening the roads, well of course that will involve acquiring adjacent surrounding land but devise intelligent compensation to them in a fair manner for the common good
-suggest to call english English and not BI
-ideas to combat poverty in all manners leaving no stone unturned
-ideas to combat illitercy, make us world class citizens, everyone
I can add a million more to the list, but I shall not. All these are Islamic moves, ideas and suggestions to create the dynamic ummah. Here, I am illustrating that Islam has many big issues to combat and it is about time we should be done with trivialities.
Marina just found your blog. I am indeed glad that you start blogging. For the first time in our history we have the mean to express our thoughts freely, which in the past had been the exclusive privilege of the few. To me blogging is a godsend tools. A media for us to share our thoughts with fellow Malaysian and the world. thanks.
Loved your column in the Star. Find your blog not 'pedas'-lah. Maybe it's still early days. Good luck to the young mufti but I doubt he'll make any headway against the hardliners.
On another note, why the deafening or eloquent silence from the Police, ACA & relevant authorities (in the mainstream papers) regarding
1. seditious speech by UMNO members
2. delay by HB Klang to treat accident victim
3. Former IGP's son's ramadhan stall caper (2005)
4. Senator in cloned AP scam
and I can go on & on. Sigh!!!
The question that I've always wondered about is why there are separate laws in our country for muslims and non-muslims. This feels very weird to me and I have some trouble explaining this to my foreign friends.
Not a biggie, but it's actually "ganbatte" since it's an "n" in hiragana.
(Too much japanese anime for me!! haha!!).
Puan Marina, is the rights perspective your perspective? If something is not ok with you, does it means it's wrong?
I'm sorry Hamizan, I don't understand your question. By 'rights perspective' I mean human rights perspective. It's the assumption that religions protect human rights, especially of their adherents. And yes, that's my approach to most things.
Datin paduka,
Although this is the second time i've posted, the first one somehow didnt get thru- must be something i did or didnt do thru the Google verification process- m not new to surfing bt still an ignoramus soo i'll have to consider this as my first.
As such before leaving my two cents on the topic, i'll have to repeat what i initially sent to u in my first posting. It is as follows:
Dear Datin Paduka,
Thank you for taking the decision to partcipate in a blog and wanting to share your perspective and unique insights with the other denizens of the blogesphere. It'l l definately add colour to our surfing experiance
Anyway any decision to write or in your case, to write even more, must be celebrated by all Malaysians.
Because, in a sense, creating a writing society is even more important than creating a reading society- after all, to be a good and interesting writer, one must have a voroacious appetite for reading- its almost a prerequsite
And before i forget, thanks must also be given to sambal belacan. Notwhistanding the fact that he didnt follow the proper protocols, if not for him the good Datin Paduka might not have taken the plunge
So thanks Sambal Belacan for setting the wheels in motion and thank you Datin Paduka for taking it in the best posible spirit- by setting up your own blog
Dear MM,
It's always inspiring to read your article. You are so much of resemblance of your great father, honourable TDM. I am his die-hard fan and he's been my idol from childhood. It's good that now his daughter is writing as i am longing to read his writing.
Kudos to you and your blog. Keep up the good spirit of bringing this country to a better place for our future generation.
Thank you.
Dear Marina,
Perhaps you can also be the advocate for GLCs' productivity. Here let me share with you my experience.
GLCs Oh GLCs!
All the calls from our PM seem to have fallen into ignorant ears rather than deaf ears. In these modern days with all technological advancement, even the deaf would follow instructions. Sadly, some corporate figures, especially at the helm of GLCs, still lagging behind in adhering the PM’s calls and thus letting the companies they are leading offer the lowest level of “customer service” in decades – perhaps worse than during the era of colonization.
Imagine this. Yesterday I went to Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Penang HQ, to terminate my electricity supply as I had moved out from a rented house effective 15th December 2006. In fact this was my second visit and I purposely drove to Penang to settle this issue and few others. In my first visit which was on the 11th December 2006, I went there to notify them of my intention to move out by 15th and very much hopeful to get some opinions on how to go about terminating the electric supply (never done this before.) The one who sat at the enquiry table asked us to come on 13th December 2006, instead (couldn’t figure out the reasons for the two days delay.) Politely I said that by then I shall be in KL to see my new house and any day after that before the 15th would be packaging and transporting days. And cleverly we were advised to come anytime after we finished our traveling, packaging and transporting. Talking to this man and his manner, how I wished I wouldn’t deal with this sort of employee ever again in my whole life! He was plainly rude.
Yesterday (Thursday 21st December 2006), my wife and I went there again and were given a form to fill-up (which I don’t see the rationale as all the records are there in their system). Again, being so unlucky, we were made to see the same man. We couldn’t help but noticed that he was rude to almost everyone who went to him for assistance. Mercy them, and us too! Soon I realized I had committed a big sin, not having a pen with me when I need to fill-up the form. Again, politely I asked whether I could borrow from him. He said he only got one pen and that forced me to look around for a pen. Unbelievable! At the writing counter of a Malaysian corporate office like TNB, there wasn’t any pen at all! That would translate to only one possibility; there is not any customer service at TNB at all! Simply, a giant arm of the Government like TNB has less to offer to uphold basic needs of a customer. What a pity and shameful too! I went out and borrowed from a security guard instead.
Right after that I went to Telekom Malaysia (TM) Penang to return my phone as required upon cancellation of PSTN line. Again, I went there for a second time. My first visit, I didn’t bring along the phone as I didn’t know of the requirement. I was made to fill-up a form with all the details were readily available in their system. I couldn’t think of any reason why TM needed me to fill-up the form. Are these procedures, or merely a red-tape? If it is blamed on procedures (as asserted by its customer service representative), I like to call it a red-tape. How could such a great entity and a company which is synonymous to country’s telecommunication industry has been so lackadaisical in their operations which involved customers? And that had made me to think where are all those brainers at the helm who supposedly being tasked to change the landscape of GLCs? What are they thinking? Certainly couldn’t careless! Not surprised.
Driving back to KL and thinking all these bitter experiences, I wonder how Malaysia is going to face 2020 challenges or even RMK9 for that matter. Are we ready or ever willing to make ourselves ready? I hate to say that some of us are certainly not ready. The persons entrusted to bring about changes are busy making money for themselves perhaps, not for the productivity and profit of the company they are charged with. They are certainly far-fetched from Jack Welch or any other great CEOs who drive and hands-on on every matter of the company. They are trained to gain and gain only for themselves. They have learnt a lesson well from most of their peers, their corporate world is indeed a short-lived.
To add salt to my wound, upon arriving in KL, I couldn’t make any call from my handphone. Fearing the line was barred (which was never happened before), I quickly asked my wife to call my phone number to check whether her phone is able to make call. Also, her phone couldn’t make any call. Not satisfied, I asked my two children (one on prepaid) to make call from their phones. Also failed. I received SMS (surprisingly SMS was working) from a friend who experienced the same thing. What’s really happening? Again, where is that flamboyant CEO of GLC mobile telco? Was he aware of this downtime? What was he doing all this while to curb this from happening? This is truly fundamental. A customer expects no service interruption at all. In contrast, every each customer experiences this sort of interruption over the time. Unacceptable, really!
And yet again, these people received all the praises and one even received the CEO of the Year. This is certainly a case of a blind leading a blind.
My piece of advice to CEOs of the GLCs, please go back to basics. For every single sen paid, a customer needs to be satisfied and not being troubled by a nonsensical, intolerant glitches and red-tapes of GLCs. Otherwise you are not justified to be there at all, no matter how intelligent you are or how flamboyant you are! The fundamental is so simple; the more satisfied customers, the more you’ll get your revenue. You’ll be lots better than your mediocre competitors. Otherwise you’ll stay put at what you are now, least choice by ever demanding customers albeit you are the forerunner of the Government. Despite being a pride, you will become a pariah.
Buck-up GLCs for the sake of nation, race and religion.
ddunfortunately for every one of Dr Asri, there's probably 50 more like Harussani. these religous hard-liners are either living in a world detached from reality or are living in denial.
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