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Theocratic 3 P's - prohibit, persecute & punish
BN Bosses Fight Over NCR Landgrab! – EXCLUSIVE
Why does the Muslim world suffer from deficits of freedom, development and knowledge?
Kemampuan Kewangan Luar Biasa Ahli Parlimen Ampang Sejak Bergelar YB Empat Tahun Lepas
Dato’ Onn Jaafar – the man who defined “Malay”
Skandal AES: Syarikat Ditubuh Lepas Dapat Kontrak AES

Theocratic 3 P's - prohibit, persecute & punish

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 10:48 PM PST

Two factors have influenced the unusual non-Muslims' change of political preference for an Islamic party, one which they had previously feared (prior to the last general election). These factors have been:

(a) Their revulsion, particularly by Chinese Malaysians, for UMNO's utter corruption and unabated greed, vile, frightening and hurtful racism and, most of all, the sheer unabashed feral and teflon-ized arrogance, combined with total disgust for the sycophantic effeminate ineffectual political voice/influence of MCA, MIC and Gerakan, and

(b) PAS presentation of itself with a softer face, a party more concerned with combating corruption than religious proselytization, one that will promote social welfare and justice, and an antagonist, antithesis and antidote to the monstrous UMNO, as exemplified by the attractive personalities of Nik Aziz, Mat Sabu, Khalid Samad and most of all, Nizar Jamaluddin. Recently, even anti-Valentine Day's Nasrudin Hasan, the Chief of PAS Youth, has moderated his right-wing stance to assume a more affable persona.

popular and trusted Nizar Jamaluddin

But from time to time there have been slips by PAS where we caught glimpses of their true face, even of/from the leaders we had deemed very tolerant, those whom we could trust, respect and even love.

In August 2010, the frail grandfatherly-looking Pak Haji Nik Aziz showed his hard face when he called for the death sentence for those who dumped their babies born out of wedlock, but without mentioning or considering the social, cultural and yes, religious circumstances which left those young and probably teenage mums no or very little other choice.

The treatment by a secular state would have been diametrically opposite to Nik Aziz's cruel crushing capital punishment for those very much frightened 'mums', already suffering from desertion, desperation, and deprivation of love, support and compassion.

We should be placing emphasis on education, guidance and counselling rather than stoning people to death. And if society has been more understanding, and parents or families of the unfortunate young women provide support in accepting and caring for the unwanted babies, we would have less of 'baby dumping'.

As if that was not cruel enough, he shocked us further by demanding that illicit (unmarried) lovers be stoned to death.

It's bad enough to have capital punishment without that barbarous Middle-Eastern atrocity, which is best left to the Arabs and Israelis (recall in which country was this first said "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her"?).
In Malaysiakini's Karpal locks horns with Nik Aziz over baby dumping, Karpal Singh commented that Nik Aziz's proposal was far too harsh, when more should instead be done to study the root cause of the baby dumping.

Bhai stated: "I am somewhat disturbed by the statement of Nik Aziz, who not only supports the use of capital punishment for those found guilty of dumping babies but has also asked for those committing illicit sex to be stoned to death.

"Nik Aziz should realise we do not live in primitive times. In the present time and age, the punishment of stoning to death, which is a cruel and unjust punishment, does not, and cannot have a place."

"What is required is an in-depth study of the reasons which lead to what has become a topic of grave concern ... what has to be looked at with the eye of a hawk is not the symptoms, but the cause, before resorting to cries for the death penalty."

Mind you, UMNO couldn't claim any high grounds on the baby dumping tragedy, because Malaysiakini also told us that:

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil had previously called for cases of baby dumping to be filed as attempted murder or murder cases. According to the Penal Code, anyone convicted of murder carries a mandatory death sentence.

Datuk Paduka Marina Mahathir had once lamented in her Star column (as best as I can recall, in my own words) that one of Malaysia's deficiencies in its Islamic programs and implementations has been the poor educating of the government's Islamic clerics.

Now, if PAS' learned Mursyidul Am (spiritual advisor) could be so ferociously cruel in his outlook towards some Islamic 'crimes' (instead of being compassionate), what hope then is there for balanced and compassionate considerations from those less educated and less learned than him, plebes like those intrusive Kota Bharu municipal officers.

Then to add chillies to the sad tragedies, as reported by Malaysiakini's Valentine's Day blamed for baby dumping PAS Youth Chief Nasrudin Hassan bizarrely blamed celebrations on Valentine's Day and New Year's Day as the root cause, where these celebrations encourage free sex that has led to ... yadda yadda yadda ... culminating in baby dumping.

Nasrudin claimed: "It's an indication that the 'mating season' occurred during the New Year's Day celebrations."

My dear Nasrudin, New Year's Days and Valentine's Days have been celebrated all over the world, yet other countries haven't had our kind of baby dumping. Why?

'Coz their societies are far more humane, compassionate, caring, supportive and less misogynistic. And we could certainly do with less of such nonsensical PAS self-interests-driven pronouncements.

Quite frankly, I have never heard of any theocratic state which was tolerant, balanced or compassionate, not even in medieval theocratic (Buddhist) Tibet.

Invariably, lowly educated or/and young clerics or religious enforcement officers, given almost unrestrained powers, would sense an uncontrollable compulsion to prohibit, persecute (not prosecute, though that'd come subsequently), and punish - if anything, just to show their powers, and to invoke fears (which they possibly mistake for respect).

Posted: 23 Nov 2012 07:30 PM PST

In July a group of 12 villagers from Kampung Gerunggang had decided to sell some of their NCR (Native Customary Rights) land to a keen buyer.

That purchaser, no surprise to learn, was none other than a BN politician. Aaron Dagang is the PRS MP for Kanowit, who will be standing again for office in the up-coming federal elections.

Dagang seems to think that his salary for serving his constituents is not enough for his needs and had set about parting this poor community from their birthright lands for what is doubtless a good price that will give him a good profit.

The agreement shows he planned to buy the 77 acres, not far from Kuching, for RM231,000, which is then to be converted to yet more oil palm. Given that Chief Minister Taib Mahmud's brother Onn Mahmud has been touting his own oil palm plantation at RM31,000 per acre, this land should eventually be worth ten times the price that the villagers have agreed to sell it for.

From the agreement drawn up between the PRS MP Aaron Dagagang to buy 77 acres of Native Customary Rights Land from villagers in Sampadi

So, Dagang must have been pleased at the way he was 'looking after the interests' of the trusting people, who had voted for BN and were then selling him their heritage for what to a poor person might seem a life-saving amount.

Encouraged by the prospect of the sale and following the advice of the Land & Survey Department, the villagers spent a considerable sum of money to get their land properly mapped and surveyed and they were informed by the Land & Survey Department that their plot was 155 Block 8 Sampadi District.

'Block 154′ – expensive mapping that was to prove a waste of money!

Raziah got there first!

However, as the parties set out to finalise their transaction concerning the purchase of Lot 155 Block 8 Samapadi Land District, they made a discovery that was shocking to both sides.

'Replaced' by Lot 154 – the Lot 155 which used to belong to the villagers has been absorbed without notification or of course payment!

It seemed that Lot 155 had suddenly disappeared from the records!

After much research and many weeks it emerged that the lot had somehow become "replaced". According to a note in the Land Registry, this meant it was now part of the neighbouring Lot 154.

And it turned out that this very much larger Lot 154 had already been granted by the Land & Survey Department to another company in 2010.

This meant that the villagers are no longer the officially registered owners of their NCR land. Yet they had never been told a thing about it and had even been encouraged to go ahead spending money on useless plans!

So, who was the influential person that was able to achieve such an alteration to the Land Registry without even a notification being made to the rightful owners?

"Replaced" – the scribbled alteration in the Land Registry that removed these people's land and gave it to Raziah Mahmud!

A search of the Land Registry shows that in 2010 Lot 154 (now including the old Lot 155) was sold by the Department in the guise of 'state owned land' to the company Saradu Plantation, which grows bananas. The company used to be named Emerald Discovery:

Posted: 22 Nov 2012 05:15 PM PST

In his seminal book Muslim Society, Ernest Gellner boldly asserts: "By various obvious criteria – universalism, scripturalism, spiritual egalitarianism, the extension of full participation in the sacred community, not to one, or some, but to all, and the rational systemization of social life – Islam is, of the three great Western monotheisms, the one closest to modernity" (Gellner, 1983: 7). He goes on to say that had the Arabs won at Poitiers and gone on to conquer and Islamize Europe, we should all be admiring Ibn Weber's The Kharejite Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism that would conclusively demonstrate how the modern rational spirit and its expression in business and bureaucracy could only have arisen in consequence of neo-Kharejite puritanism in northern Europe and not if Europe had stayed Christian "given the inveterate proclivity of that faith to a baroque, manipulative, patron-ridden, quasi animistic and disorderly vision of the world" (Gellner, 1983: 7).

But that's not how it turned out. Today, any observer would have little difficulty assembling volumes of data from the United Nations and World Bank Development Reports to demonstrate the acute development and freedom deficits in the Muslim world. This has given rise to a contentious debate about the causes of these deficits. The culprits identified by social scientists include Islamic theology and culture, oil, Arab-specific culture and institutions, Palestinian-Israel conflict, "desert terrain and institutions", weak civil society and the subservient status of women.

Development Deficit

Perhaps the most contested debates on the causes of economic backwardness and democratic deficit in the Muslim world center on whether Islam is the main cause of these twin deficits. In regard to economic backwardness the evidence shows that before the balance of power had shifted after the European expansion in the 17th century, the Middle East was economically just as dynamic as Europe. Muslim merchants were just as successful in carrying their commerce and faith to far corners of the world as their European counterparts. According to economic historian Angus Maddison, in the year 1000 AD the Middle East's share of the world's Gross Domestic Product was larger than Europe's – 10 percent compared with 9 percent. By 1700 the Middle East's share had fallen to just 2 percent and Europe's had risen to 22 percent. Among Western scholars, the standard explanations for this decline are that Islam is hostile to commerce and bans usury. But these are unsatisfactory because Islamic scripture is more pro-business than Christian texts, and as for usury the Torah and Bible say the same. The Prophet Muhammad and his first wife Khadija were both successful merchants. Many Muslims, however, blame their economic backwardness on Western imperialism. But then why did a once mighty civilization succumb to the West?

Turkish-American economist Timur Kuran (2011) persuasively discards these and related explanations. He marshals impressive empirical evidence to show that what slowed the economic development in the Middle East was not colonialism or geography or incompatibility between Islam and capitalism but laws covering business partnerships and inheritance practices. These institutions had benefited the Middle Eastern economy in the early centuries of Islam but starting around the tenth century they began to act as a drag on economic development by slowing or blocking the emergence of central features of modern economic life – private capital accumulation, corporations, large-scale production and impersonal exchange.

Islamic partnership, the main organizational vehicle for businesses of the Muslim merchant classes, could be ended by one party at will and even successful ventures were terminated on the death of a partner. As a result most businesses remained small and short-lived. Most durable and successful business partnerships in the Muslim world were operated by local non-Muslims. Inheritance customs hindered business consolidation because, when a Muslim merchant died, his estate was split among surviving family members which prevented capital accumulation and stymied long-lasting capital-intensive companies. According to Kuran, then, the resulting organizational stagnation prevented the Muslim mercantile community from remaining competitive with its Western counterparts.

Democratic Deficit

Research by the Harvard economist Eric Chaney (2011) debunks the theories that its root cause is Islam or Arab cultural patterns, oil, Arab-Israeli conflict or desert ecology. Chaney shows the democratic deficit, as reflected in the prevalence of autocracies in the Muslim-Arab world, is real. But it is a product of the long-run influence of control structures developed in the centuries following the Arab conquests. In the ninth century rulers across this region began to use slave armies as opposed to the native population to staff their armies. These slave armies allowed rulers to achieve independence from local military and civilian groups and helped remove constraints on the sovereign in pre-modern Islamic societies. In this autocratic environment, religious leaders emerged as the only check on the power of the rulers. This historical institutional configuration which divided the power between the sovereign backed by his slave army and religious elites was not conducive to producing democratic institutions. Instead, religious and military elites worked together to develop and perpetuate what Chaney calls "classical" institutional equilibrium – which is often referred to as Islamic law – designed to promote and protect their interests.

Ostensibly, religious leaders devised "equilibrium institutions" to protect the interests of the general public but in effect this institutional configuration cast an autocratic shadow across centuries. Rulers came to rely on slave armies, freeing themselves from dependence on civil institutions. Religious leaders cooperated with the army to design a system that proved hostile to alternative centers of power. This concentration of power and weak civil societies are the enduring legacy of this historical institutional framework in regions conquered by Arab armies and which remained under Islamic rule from 1100 AD onwards.

However, regions incorporated into the Islamic world after they were conquered by non-Arab Muslim armies, such as India and the Balkans and where Islam spread by conversion (e.g. Indonesia, Malaysia, and sub-Saharan Africa), did not adopt this classical framework. Their institutions continued to be shaped by local elites which preserved their political and cultural continuity. Consequently, the democratic deficit has remained an enduring legacy in the Arab world and in lands conquered by the Arab armies that remained under Islamic rule from 1100 AD onwards. But in the Islamic countries incorporated into the Islamic world by non-Arab Muslim armies or by conversions, democratic developments have followed a more progressive trajectory.

Knowledge Deficit

In the recent 2012 Times Higher Education world rankings of universities, not a single university from 49 Muslim majority countries with a population of 1.2 billion or 17 per cent of world's population found a place in the top 200 universities in the world. This has been a recurrent pattern over many years and signifies a serious academic and intellectual crisis. By comparison the United States, with less than 5% of the world population, had 75 universities in the top 200.

Several factors can account for this crisis, the most important being the meager resources allocated by Muslim countries to research and development. The science budgets of the Organization of Muslim Countries (OIC) are near the bottom of the world league. According to a recent estimate, based on the UNESCO and the World Bank data, between 1996 and 2003 the average annual research and development for OIC countries spending was 0.34% of GDP, much lower than the global average of 2.36% over the same period. Many OIC countries, particularly the richest, spend more on armaments than on science or health. Six of the world's top ten military spenders as a share of public spending are OIC countries: Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria and Oman spent over 7% of their GDP on arms. While the science spending is among the lowest, spending on education is more variable. Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Morocco, Tunisia and Iran were among the top 25 spenders on education in 2002 (Butler, 2006).

Posted: 21 Nov 2012 04:15 PM PST

Sebelum di pilih sebagai Ahli Parlimen Ampang pada tahun 2008 Zuraida adalah seorang penjual buah di kawasan Ampang. Selain menjual buah beliau juga secara sampingan turut menjual ubat-ubatan tradisional termasuk minyak angin.

Penglibatannya dalam PKR bermula selepas dia menyertai sebuah pertubuhan pro pembangkang yang dikenali sebagai Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA. Hasil pergaulan dan perkenalan beliau dengan orang-orang pembangkang dalam pertubuhan itu membawa beliau menyertai PKR. Kebetulan pada masa itu PKR berada dalam keadaan hidup segan mati tak mahu dan tidak ramai orang yang sanggup menerima jawatan -jawatan dalam parti. Kesempatan itu di ambil oleh Zuraida untuk menonjolkan dirinya dengan suara-suara lantangnya yang akhirnya membawa beliau berjaya memegang jawatan Ketua Wanita PKR.

Zuraida yang terkenal dengan bau badan yang masam di kalangan orang-orang PKR telah dipilih oleh PKR untuk menjadi calon mereka di Ampang dalam PRU ke 12 memandangkan pada waktu itu tidak ramai orang-orang PKR yang berminat untuk jadi calon. Tuah ayam nampak di kaki tuah manusia siapa yang tahu. Zuraida menang di Ampang dan dalam masa yang sama PKR berjaya membentuk kerajaan di Selangor. Ramai orang-orang PKR yang terlopong melihat orang yang selalu diperli dengan bau badan masam sebelum itu diangkat sebagai ahli parlimen oleh pengundi-pengundi Ampang.

Bermula Mac 2008 kehidupan Zuraida sekeluarga berubah setelah bergelar wakil rakyat di sebuah negeri yang diperintah PKR. Zuraida tidak perlu lagi menjual buah. Selain sibuk sebagai ahli parlimen Zuraida juga sibuk memenuhi undangan-undangan ceramah di seluruh negara untuk membongkar 'penyelewengan dan rasuah Umno'.

Sebelum menjadi wakil rakyat di negeri yang diperintah oleh PKR Zuraida hanya menggunakan kenderaan Perodua Myvi yang dibelinya pada tahun 2005. Itulah satu-satunya kenderaan yang dimiliki beliau pada masa itu.

No kenderaan : WNL 8994
No enjin : E94A84B
Model : Perodua Myvi 1.3 Ezi (Auto)
Tarikh daftar : 31.10.2005
Pemilik : Zuraida Bt Kamaruddin
KP : 580314 71 5206

Namun seperti yang kami katakan diatas tuah ayam nampak di kaki tuah manusia siapa yang tahu. Daripada seorang penjual buah dan ubat-ubatan tradisional yang hanya menggunakan kenderaan Perodua Myvi kehidupan Zuraida berubah sekelip mata selepas menjadi wakil rakyat.

Beberapa bulan selepas diangkat sebagai ahli parlimen dan PKR membentuk kerajaan di Selangor Zuraida telah membeli sebuah kenderaan baru seperti berikut.

No kenderaan : WRL 575
No enjin : B5254 T2 A027402
Model : VOLVO XC90 2.5 T
Tarikh daftar : 01.07.2008
Pemilik : Zuraida Bt Kamaruddin
KP : 580314 71 5206
Harga kenderaan : RM 355,000.00

Bayangkan daripada Perodua Myvi yang berharga RM 40k terus melonjak kepada Volvo yang berharga RM 355k. Itulah yang dinamakan rezeki.

Tahun 2009 tidak ada sebarang kenderaan baru yang dibeli oleh Zuraida. Manakala pada tahun 2010 Zuraida membeli sebuah lagi kenderaan seperti berikut.

No kenderaan : WTY 1547
No enjin : 2KD650 8915
Model : Toyota Hilux Double Cab 2.5 AT
Tarikh daftar : 31.05.2010
Pemilik : Zuraida Bt Kamaruddin
KP : 580314 71 5206
Harga kenderaan: RM 99,000.00

Mungkin dua kenderaan baru belum mengcukupi untuk menggantikan Perodua Myvi yang dimilikinya sebelum itu, maka pada tahun 2011 Zuraida membeli lagi sebuah kenderaan seperti berikut.

Posted: 21 Nov 2012 04:01 PM PST

Here is the man who, according to his nephew, Professor Dr Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, gave the definition of "Melayu" in the Federation of Malaya Agreement 1948. The same definition is then adopted in our Federation Constitution (article 160) which stands till to date. Here is also the man who requested the good Professor to draw up the UMNO logo. That logo was apparently adopted at a meeting attended by, among others, Dato' PanglimaBukit Gantang, Dato' Zainal Abidin Abas, Colonel Musa, who was also known as Pak Lomak, who was the originator of the Malay ghazal. That logo too stands as UMNO logo till to date.

Perhaps Dato' Onn's humility and his tireless fight for freedom and independence could be gleaned from the advice that he gave the author when the latter was a teenager. He said the "Malays should never "sembah" anyone except God." And when somebody from a higher social order meets with somebody from a lower social order, the latter should not be ignored.

He did not only say that but he actually practised what he said. In 1927, Dato' Onn was told to leave Johor by HRH the Sultan for criticising the Sultan. As a result he spent almost 9 years in exile. On this, Dato' Onn said:

"I opposed my own Ruler because his actions towards his subjects, and as a result, I was dismissed from government service. Later, because of my subsequent opposition to the Ruler for his injustice towards his subjects, I was once again removed from my government and was banished from the State of Johor.... Are such actions the actions of one chasing after wealth and grandeur for himself?"

In 1936, he was recalled to Johor by HRH Sultan Ibrahim. He did come back. However, after the war, when he was the Chief Minister of Johor and the drive for independence was taking shape, HRH the Sultan gave him an ultimatum. He was told to choose whether to remain as the CM or accept the post of UMNO President.

Dato' Onn resigned as CM of Johor and took the position of UMNO President. He then moved to Kuala Lumpur, living in a single story house at Stonor Drive. Even though he was appointed to a post which was equivalent to the current Home Minister by the British Government and the country was in the middle of an emergency, he did not have any police protection. He said "even if you have many bodyguards, when it is time to go, you will go!"

He was clear in his direction. His understanding and appreciation of the duties and responsibilities that came with his position as a leader would put many leaders and civil servants to shame. On the UMNO Presidency, which he held from the formation of UMNO in May 1946, he said:

"The post of President of UMNO is not one that I desire, it is one entrusted to me by the representatives. I do not wish for this or that. I was willing to shoulder the responsibility because I was aware of my responsibility, as long as the Malay people and the members of UMNO placed their trust in me."

Again, Dato' Onn practised what he said. In 1950, when accusations were made that he was not doing enough for the party and the Malays, he willingly resigned from the post. The post of UMNO Presidency, to him, is not one which is to be cavorted and held on, especially when one is not wanted. He said:

"Had I known that there were some from amongst the UMNO members and the Malay people, who did not have faith in me, it would have been appropriate for me to resign, in order that the post be held by one more qualified and skilled..."

After resigning, he went back to Johor. However, appeals were made for him to retract his resignation. Thousands of UMNO members marched to his house. Finally, on 27.8.1950, he was once again elected as the President of UMNO.

Clearest in his mind was the concept of fiduciary duties owed by the people in power. And the duties, in his mind, are owed to the people of the nation as a whole, and not to any particular race or people. To him a Minister is subject always to the law. And he or she must discharge his responsibilities solely for the benefit of the country and the people. He said:

Posted: 21 Nov 2012 12:07 PM PST

MP Pokok Sena, Datuk Mahfuz Omar mendakwa kontraktor Sistem Penguatkuasaan Automatik (AES) hanya mendaftarkan syarikat tersebut selepas memperoleh kontrak untuk memasang sistem itu.

Beliau membuat kesimpulan itu berdasarkan butiran syarikat Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd dan ATES Sdn Bhd yang diperolehi dari Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM).

Menurut Mahfuz, butiran pada pendaftaran syarikat itu menunjukkan syarikat berkenaan memperoleh kontrak tersebut sebelum syarikat itu didaftarkan lagi.

Satu dokumen yang ditunjukkan Mahfuz kepada pemberita, didakwa daripada SSM, menunjukkan ATES Sdn Bhd mendaftarkan syarikat tersebut pada 12 Februari 2009, manakala Beta Tegap Sdn Bhd pula pada 7 Februari 2004.

"Bagaimana dua syarikat ini tahu mereka dapat jaminan kerajaan sedangkan Kabinet meluluskan AES pada tahun 2006 dan saringan tender dilakukan pada 2006?

"Mereka daftar syarikat semata-mata nak dapatkan tender.

"Ini menunjukkan ada perkara yang tak kena. Ini bukan untuk selamatkan nyawa manusia tetapi untuk mengayakan kroni," dakwanya dalam sidang media di bangunan Parlimen hari ini.

Kredit: www.malaysia-today.net

Ahad, 25 November 2012

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News

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