Ujian

Kalau anda ingat, saya pernah menceritakan dalam entry kedua saya mengenai diri saya didiagnos dengan penyakit hepatitis B carrier. Waktu itu, dunia memang terasa kelam. Walaupun saya mndapat tahu berita ini pada tahun 2006, setelah habis medical check-up untuk masuk ke Kolej Mara Banting, tapi ketika itu saya hanya menganggap perkara ini bukan masalah besar memandangkan saya hanyalah carrier kepada penyakit tersebut, bukan acute.

Tapi selepas saya mendapat tahu permohonan visa ke New Zealand saya gagal kerana masalah penyakit tersebut, saya berasa sangat sedih. Ketika inilah dunia saya gelap, betul-betul gelap. Semua impian saya untuk belajar di luar negara musnah dalam masa yang sangat singkat. Tapi alhamdulillah, Allah masih beri peluang kepada saya dengan tawara twinning program di Sheffield.

Tiba di Sheffield, saya bertemu dengan seorang senior pelajar tahun akhir perubatan, saudara Mas Afzal. Orangnya sangat baik, dihormati dan boleh dianggap sebagai seorang abang kepada semua pelajar di Sheffield. Ketika akhir tahun 2008 ketika semua orang sedang sibuk dengan persediaan peperiksaan, Mas Afzal mendapat berita dia menghidap lmyphoma, suatu kanser yg sudah berada di tahap ketiga. Ramai pelajar terkejut. Waktu itu, saya rasa betul-betul ditempelak dengan berita Mas Afzal. Di saat saya pernah berasa sangat malang dengan penyakit saya, masih ada yang jauh kurang bernasib baik daripada diri saya.

Tidak ingin saya bandingkan saya dengan Mas Afzal, dia jauh lebih hebat daripada saya. Ibarat langit dan bumi. Cuma saya nak ajak kita renung apa reaksi kita bila Allah datangkan dengan ujian. Saya bukanlah seorang yang sangat rapat dengan Mas. Tapi banyak yang saya pelajari daripada kisah dia. Pertamanya ialah syukur dengan ketentuan Allah. Ramai antara kita selalu mendegar frasa “perancangan Allah itu lebih baik daripada perancangan manusia” tapi berapa ramai yang betul-betul percaya dengan perancangan Allah. Terus terang saya cakap saya gagal ketika Allah uji dengan masalah visa tersebut kerana saya memang berputus asa dengan impian menyambung pelajaran ke luar negara. Bila kita berputus asa, ertinya kita memutuskan hubungan kita dengan Allah sebab itu berputus asa adalah sesuatu yang tidak baik.

Kedua, saya belajar erti menghargai nikmat yang Allah berikan. Semua orang tahu mengenai lima nikmat yang Allah berikan iaitu sihat sebelum sakit, lapang sebelum sempit dan seterusnya. Siapa tahu mungkin sekarang penyakit saya di tahap carrier tapi tidak mustahil penyakit ini boleh menjadi lebih serius (na’uzubillahi min zaalik). Suatu peluang untuk muhasabah diri saya sendiri.

Buat saudara Mas Afzal, saya ucapkan selamat maju jaya dalam menghadapi ujian yang Allah berikan kepada saudara. Anda seorang yang tabah dan merupakan inspirasi kepada semua pelajar di Sheffield. Saya pasti ujian ini adalah tanda kasih Allah kepada saudara dan saya percaya dengan janji Allah yang akan mengganjarkan hambanya yang taat dengan nikmat yang sangat besar, pengakhiran yang baik di sisi Allah.

Kepada rakan-rakan lain, kita sama-sama berdoa kepada Allah supaya diringankan kesusahan saudara Mas Afzal. Jika setiap hari semua orang berdoa, iAllah sekurang-kurangnya akan ada satu doa yang akan sampai kepada Allah. Ujian Allah itu tidak mengenal hambanya, sebagaimana hidayah Allah itu tidak mengenal hambanya. Fikir-fikirkan.

Mak

I address my mum as ‘mak’ at home. I love her chicken curry. It is very delicious. If there is extra chicken curry, I will finish it with bread later in the night. When I came back home for summer holiday, she prepared me chicken curry. She told me she never used coconut milk instead, she uses ordinary milk. She told me it is good for my health. Maybe because I am overweight now .

My mum never let me down although I always let her down with my attitude. When my New Zealand visa application failed, I gave up any hope of pursuing my study abroad eventhough MARA offered me Sheffield twinning program (special thanks to cik Ayuslina). But, my mum and my dad never give up and kept persuading me to take the offer. Now, I realized that that offer was a big one to throw away. Too big.

Time past by but my mum is still the same person. Her favourite shopping place is still SOGO when there is megasale. Up until now, she still keep on reminding me to brush my teeth everytime I went away from home. And yes tonight, it is her 49th birthday. (18th January 1961).

Happy birthday, mak. Along doakan yang terbaik untuk mak, kekal sihat dan gembira.

Mak, lepas grad boleh kahwin?

Allah

Last night I bumped myself into a discussion thread regarding the use of the word Allah issue. Although in the previous entry I wrote that I am not going to write an entry about the issue, but I still think maybe I could share my opinion about this issue. What I am going to write is similar with that I wrote in the discussion thread but maybe with a little bit additions.

To start it of, let me quote Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradhawi answer about this issue, ‘There is no any single verse in the Quran that ban the muslims or non-muslims from using the word Allah”. From my understanding, syara’-ly there is no problems for the non-muslim to use Allah. Even Christians in Arabs country have been using Allah for years referring to their ‘trinity’ concept.

But you have to consider certain factors from Malaysia context as a multiracial and multireligious country. You might heard of masolih al-mursalah, the method use by the ulama’ to outline a hukum based on the state/conditions of certain people in certain environment (maslahat).

In my opinion, I have to agree with what had been decided by the national fatwa council after their latest muzakarah session, that the word Allah is exclusive for muslims only. The first reason is we are living inthe country where the mainstream media love to play racial card that causing the inclination of certain people to overreacting. You don’t believe me? remember the ‘keling’ issue? Tun Dr Mahathir gave a simple example in his blog, chedet. He wrote in USA, most of the people believe that God is dead. If the word Allah is used instead, it will goes like this “Allah is dead”. I am very sure this could cause an outrage among the muslims especially Malay. Statements like this are very easy to manipulate  by the media and I am sure most of us know how the media (actually this one particular newspaper) had been manipulating on several occassions before.

My second reason is the vulnerable state of aqidah of the Muslims in Malaysia. I am not saying this to everyone but I refer to the majority of Muslims in Malaysia. If you don’t believe me, you can check the statistics of murtad case at the jabatan agama and i can affirmed you that, the numbers are staggering.

No one can blame the Christian for spreading their words because that is their job, to spread their faith. The only people that we should blame about this is ourselves, Muslims. For years we were ‘protected’ by the constitutional law that prohibits any personnel to question Islam as the main religion in this country. This is actually a flaw in the system because it causes us not to deepen our knowledge about Islam. In western country, the debate between faith is something usual but in Malaysia, you would be put under such heavy scrutiny if you question the constitution. Therefore when this issue arises, we tend to defend the constitution right through demonstration instead of defending our aqidah through debate or discussions. Am I right on this?

I would agree to allow the Christians to use Allah word if the two reasons mentioned above could be diminished. The situations or environment in Arab country is different compared to Malaysia. Persevering the aqidah of the fellow muslims should be a priority or al-aulawiyat. But the authority need to take actions in solidifying the aqidah of the Muslim. For how long should we keep on living protected by the constitution? This is the time that we should make a change within ourselves to deepen our knowledge about Islam so that we are not frightened of any threats from the Christian. That is what Allah said in the 1st wahyu, iqra’ (bacalah!).

However this issue raises one question in my mind. Malaysia are known as an Islamic country and even ISNA acknowledge Malaysia as an example of Islamic country. And we also knew that National Fatwa Council had decided in 2008 that Allah is exclusive for muslims only. How on earth did the court disobey the fatwa? This means that the court got a higher authority power than the National Fatwa Council. Doesn’t this contradicts with the notion of Islamic country? Maybe you can enlighten me on this.

Now, I would like to end up this entry with a hadith form prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h :

“hampir tiba suatu masa di mana bangsa-bangsa dari seluruh dunia akan datang mengemuruni kamu bagaikan orang-orang yang hendak makan mengerumuni talam hidangan mereka. Maka salah seorang bertanya : “adakah kerana kami sedikit ketika itu?”. Nabi S.A.W menjawab, “bahkan kamu pada hari itu banyak sekali tetapi kamu umpama buih ketika banji. Dan Allah mencabut rasa gerun terhadap kamu dari hati musuh-musuh kamu dan Allah akan mencampakkan penyakit wahan ke dalam hati hati kamu.”. Seorang sahabat bertanya, “apakah penyakit wahan itu hai Rasulullah?” Nabi menjawab, “cintakan dunia, takutkan mati”
Maybe we are approaching the period mentioned in the hadith, or maybe we are already in it. Wallahu’alam.

Kisah stadium Merseyside merah.

Last night I went to Liverpool to watch Liverpool vs Reading, 4th round of FA cup. I went there with other 5 friends, khai, naim, pakdin, mahfuz and faiz. The only Liverpool supporter is Naim. We departed from Sheffield around 345 p.m and arrived at Liverpool Lime St station around 530 p.m. Liverpool is much much colder than Sheffield. Maybe because the city is very near to the sea so it is very windy and enough to make you visit the toilet frequently.

Liverpool is a special city. It is the home of the Beatles and Liverpool FC, arguably one of the most successful club in England and Europe, boasting 17 premier league titles and 5 European cups. But, I don’t care any of it. The reason why I agreed to go to the match when pakdin offered me ticket is because I wanted to feel the real atmosphere of English football. Liverpool fan, known as the Kops or scousers are said to be the best supporters in the country and the atmosphere inside the stadium is also said to be brilliant. Even Thierry Henry admits that. The famous anthem for the Kops would be ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and it is played before the match started. During the song, the scousers will raise the muffler up and sing the song together. I watched some of the videos at youtube and I think yes, the atmosphere was very brilliant. So I am very excited to sing the anthem together that I even memorized the lyrics. Pakdin memorized the Fernando Torres song and Khai memorized the Steven Gerrard song.

Somehow, we spend too much time looking for place to eat before the match and I managed to have my seat 2 minutes after kick-off. So, I was a bit dissappointed. To make it worse, Fernando Torres played for 30 minutes only while Stevie G is withdrawn at the half time interval. Again, I was so dissappointed.

I think Reading played well. They managed to put in some decent crosses into the penalty box and frankly, Jamie Carragher was really out of shape. Reading could score at least 1 goal in the first hald had they been more clinical in their finishing. Liverpool finished the first half with one goal lead thanks to a deflected Gerrard strikes. Liverpool improved however in the second half. Alberto Aquilani displayed some brilliant touches and his passing game also is good. I think he will get better and better once he adapts to the English football. Pakdin kept believing that Reading will score and it did happen on the 92nd minutes when Liverpool conceded a penalty and Reading levelled the score. The old guy in front of me kept swearing and shouting, venting his anger for conceding a late late goal. I and Pakdin pretended to be unhappy.

FA cup never lost it’s magic. During the extra time, Reading took the lead. Again, the defensive unit is responsible for that goal. They did not clear out the cross eventhough there were 5 Liverpool players marking the striker. So final score, 2-1 to Reading and the Royals are through to the next round. But for Liverpool, the season looked gloomy and gloomy. Out of the Champions League, FA cup, Carling cup and maybe losing out on the Champions League spot. It seems like a catastrophe after almost dethrone Man United from the premier league crown.

Again, I was dissappointed because it was a mediocre match. The only thing that impressed me was the supporters particularly, the supporters at the Kop stand. They kept on singing for the whole match even when Liverpool are trailing the score. Seriously, the atmosphere was amazing.

So Man United and Liverpool are already out of the FA Cup. See, FA cup never lost it’s magic.

Tukul-tukul besi.

Last week there were so many things happened in my country. Particularly about the use of ‘Allah’ word in a catholic-published newspaper. Well I do not think I have the credibility to write about it so let’s just leave the case there. Maybe you can refer to what Ustaz Zaharuddin wrote in his blog. But I do know one thing, Sheikh Yusof al-Qaradawi answer to this issue is simple, there is no any single and particular verse in the al-Quran that ban the muslim or non-muslims from using the word ‘Allah’. Wallahu’alam.

And there are also one shocking news in Malaysia last week, the rumour of  Tony Fernandes to take over West Ham United or famously known as the Hammers.  Wow he seems bold enough to launch a takeover bid for the premier league outfit given the current football spending trend. But one thing for sure, Tony Fernandes is not a typical Malaysian, rooting for the Hammers instead of the ‘Big Four’ as he claimed he is an avid fan of the Hammers. I think some people might be thinking that some of Malaysian footballers could have a shot of playing in the premier league. But I doubt whether the players have the quality to break into the team even the reserve team. Malaysian football is far from that level although it is getting better and better.

Let say if the takeover bid did materialised, it is something good for the sake of Malaysian football. People in Malaysia know West Ham just as a Premier League club but not many people know about the club academy. It is called the Academy. This is the academy that produced some of England top players such as Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole. I think West Ham deserves the pride of England tagline. Spain got Barcelona’s canterra (academy) producing Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, France got Clairefontaine producing top players in the form of Thierry Henry and William Gallas and the Netherlands got Ajax academy producing legends like Marco Van Basten and Dennis Bergkamp. So, England got West Ham United.

These academy train young and upcoming stars the philosophy of football. Note the word, philosophy. They were trained with tactical knowledge, not only physical training. That is why the term used by the pundits is ’schooled at Clairefontaine’ not trained at Clairefontaine. I do not know how the system works in Malaysia whether the method is better or bad. So if  Tony Fernandes really succeed in hos takeover bid, Malaysia could benefits by sharing the method used in the Academy of West Ham United.

We all know the creativity and skills of Tony Fernandes. He started with Air Asia, a low cost airlines company than expands his chain of business to Tune hotel and recently Tune talk. Sounds like Malaysia’s Sir Richard Branson eh? So for the sake of Malaysian football, I hope he can utilises his creativity and skills to the Malaysian football academy from his observation at West Ham Academy.

Malaysia for World Cup 2018?

Tahun baru.

New Year is celebrated around the world last 5 days. Every cities celebrated it with fireworks, concerts and other typical activities. But for me, sitting alone in my room in fornt of my laptop doing the design project is enough. Less hassle and less probability of doing something un-beneficial.

The other typical thing about new year is new resolutions set by someone once 1 January arrives. Few years back I asked myself whether new resolution is that something really important? Is it a big deal to set some new ‘targets’ and objectives within one year of period to do it? I think the answer lies in a hadith narrated by the Prophet Muhammad p.b.u.h which goes like this :

“Seseorang yg hari ini LEBIH BAIK dari hari semalam, ia orang BERJAYA. Seseorang yang hari ini SAMA dengan hari semalam, ia orang yang SIA-SIA. Seseorang yang hari ini LEBIH BURUK dari hari semalam, ia orang yang CELAKA.“

From this hadith it is clear that having some resolutions is quite vital so that you will not fall into the 3rd group. Maybe with resolutions, you set a new level for yourself improvement. Every Muslim must be a successful person so what is the point of having the same level of yourself year after year right?

Some people set many resolutions and some people set only one resolution. I think quality is more important than quantity. Sometimes people set 5 resolutions and maybe able to achieve only 3 of it. But if every year you fail to achieve all the resolutions within 365-days period and carry the resolutions to the next year, than I think it is useless because there is no improvement in, maybe let say your attitude and etc.

I don’t have any particular resolution. My only resolution is to have a better year ahead than the previous one and so far, I think I did manage to complete it. But not for Arsenal of course. It has been a bumpy ride for the past 3 years and I wonder if their 2010 resolution is to win the Premier League back. Well, hopefully.

So happy new year to all my friends and may you have the very best of things in 2010.

p/s : I have a big resolution for year 2012.

Yang mana satu?

Winter kali ni ke Scotland untuk turut serta dalam Jalinan Ukhuwwah Musim Sejuk ISMA Eropah 2009. Walaupun ini kali pertama dianjurkan, alhamdulillah perjalanan program boleh dikatakan agak lancar walaupun pasti ada sedikit cacat cela. Biasalah adat program mesti ada cacat cela plus, this is the 1st big event organized by ISMA Eropah. Jadi insya-Allah tahun depan program akan lebih teratur. Juga satu muhasabah untuk diri sendiri sebagai AJK penginapan.

Ada satu pembentangan yang sangat menarik perhatian. “Antara Ijazah dan Risalah”. Sebelum ni pernah terdengar perkara ni tapi tak pernah dapat kesempatan untuk dengar pembentangan tajuk ini. Secara rumusannya, tajuk ni ajak kita berfikir mana satu yang perlu diberi keutamaan, ijazah atau risalah? Sebenarnya, kedua-dua perkara ni penting dan melengkapi satu sama lain. Ataupun dalam bahasa romantik orang bercinta compliment each other.  Rumusannya, ijazah itu satu alat tapi risalah itu satu matlamat.  Jadi bila dengar rumusan tu, satu perkara bermain-main di fikiran, apa matlamat aku belajar selama  ni?

Dari zaman sekolah bawa ke zaman kolej sampai ke zaman universiti, matlamat aku belajar ni satu je, nak dapat ilmu yang membolehkan aku berjaya dalam bidang kerja aku nanti. Tapi, kenapa kadang-kadang banyak perkara yang aku sendiri lupa kalau kawan-kawan tanya.  Matlamat dah ada, usaha pun dah ada tapi mana silapnya? Terus terang kadang-kadang aku cemburu dengan coursemates mat salih yang rilex je jawab soalan lecturer dalam class. Silapnya satu je, matlamat aku belajar tak cukup besar untuk membolehkan aku kuasai ilmu tu semaksima mungkin. Boleh jadi sistem pembelajaran di Malaysia yang terlalu exam-oriented salah satu sebab kenapa aku cepat lupa apa yang aku belajar. Tapi pokoknya ialah matlamat aku belajar tu sendiri yang tak cukup besar.

Apa matlamat terbesar? Matlamat terbesar ialah meletakkan Islam itu kembali ke tempat asalnya. Susah kan? Kan dah cakap, matlamat kena besar so logik la kalau susah nak buat.

Kalau kita kaji sejarah, orang yang kuasai ilmu dia akan kuasai dunia. Zaman tamadun Abbasiyyah terkenal dengan perpustakaan al-Makmum, juga bagaimana zaman gelap Eropah berakhir dengan usaha mencedok ilmu-ilmu tamadun Islam melalui penterjemahan karya-karya ilmuwan Islam. Zaman Renaissance berlaku serentak dengan kejatuhan kerajaan Abbasiyyah. Pada zaman Renaissance, lahir bijak pandai seperti Leonardo da Vinci, seorang yang versatile dalam penguasaan bidang ilmu. Apa beza antara Leonardo da Vinci dengan diri kita yang membuatkan beliau seorang yang hebat di zamannya? ataupun apa bezanaya kita dengan Ibn Sina, Ibn Khaldun dan ilmuwan-ilmuwan lain?

Pada pendapat aku, bezanya ialah bagaimana mereka meraikan dan menghargai ilmu itu sendiri. Hasilnya, mereka memberikan sesuatu kepada masyarakat untuk diguna pakai sampai hari ini. Ini budaya sistem pendidikan di barat yang mana mereka mementingkan contribution seseorang itu kepada bidang ilmu. Golongan cerdik pandai ni tidak melihat ilmu itu sebagai ilmu semata-mata tapi satu ruang untuk meningkatkan potensi diri sendiri. Secara umumnya susah nak jumpa golongan ini di Malaysia termasuklah diri aku sendiri. Umum tahu yang majoriti pelajar kita belajar untuk lulus peperiksaan tapi bukan belajar kerana ingin menyumbang sesuatu kepada masyarakat dan ilmu itu sendiri. Jadi bila kita berfikir, kita akan berfikir secara cukup-cukup makan bukan berfikir secara analitikal. Buktinya, kebanyakan pelahar kita bergantung kepada lecture notes walaupun perpustakaan bersepah dengan buku-buku rujukan tambahan. Mungkin ini kenapa Malaysia susah untuk bersaing dengan negara-negara maju lain walaupun tiap-tiap tahun berlaku lambakan pelajar straight A dalam peperiksaan besar.

Masa perjalanan pulang dari Newcastle ke Sheffield sempat singgah sebentar di rumah ustaz Maszlee. Dia menceritakan bagaimana sistem pelajaran di sekolah anaknya yang memang menarik. Pelajar umur 8 tahun diberi tugasan mengenai perang dunia kedua tanpa sebarang rujukan atau teks. Kenapa? Sebab pelajar-pelajar ini dilatih untuk mencari sumber sendiri dan tidak hanya bergantung pada satu pendapat semata-mata. Ini beza cara pelajar kita dan cara pelajar negara barat dilatih berfikir.

Jadi, matlamat mesti besar supaya usahanya turut sama besar. Meletakkan martabat Islam itu kembali ke tempatnya adalah tugas semua orang. Tapi, tugas itu haruslah disiap sediakan dengan penguasaan ilmu yang baik dan mendalam sebab secara mudahnya, orang yang berilmu itu dihormati ramai.

Ijazah ialah alat, risalah ialah matlamat.

Victoria, Concordia, Crescit

note : entry ini mungkin emotional.

I was there, Emirates Stadium.

I started to know international football when I was in standard 5, year 1998. Maybe the World Cup in France had it influence on me at that time. I supported Brazil which was the month-long tournament runner up, beaten by Zinedine Zidane’s brilliance in the final at the Stade de France.

That year also, I started to learn a thing or two about foreign league in the name of English Premier League. Manchester United and Liverpool were no doubt, the most supported club in Malaysia. Arsenal was famous also, but still minority compared to the fame of the Red Devils of Manchester and the Reds of Merseyside. But yeah, I decided to support Arsenal, a club formerly known as Woolwich Arsenal and based in the north of London. And I made the decision without any reason, maybe the name ‘Arsenal’ sounds cool.

The only player that I knew at that time was Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars and Thierry Henry, the all time Arsenal leading goalscorer and also, a legend. The trio were very instrumental in Arsenal march to the first domestic double, claiming the Premier League and the FA cup before Man Utd strikes back with a treble a season after. This was achieved a year after the arrival of Arsene Wenger, the man who Sir Alex Ferguson welcomed simply by asking to the journalists, “Arsene who?”

2 years after, Arsenal claim another domestic double but still unable to capture UEFA Champions League, the Holy Grail of European football to cement their status as a major force in European football. And of course, 1 year after Arsenal did what others still fail to match, finish 2003/04 as the champion of England without losing any single game. That season, Thierry Henry was the lord of Highbury, running wild on the left flank supported by Pires and score goals for fun. That was the highest and the last achievement Arsenal had before the club  start to diminish in form little by little although we still claimed the FA cup the season after and went into the final of UEFA Champions League against Ronaldinho-led Barcelona FC at Stade de France, the place where I started knowing football. Unfortunately, we fail to win the match and still, no Champions League trophy to be display at Highbury.

The transfer from Highbury to the new 60 355 seaters at Emirates Stadium definitely had it’s impact on Arsenal as we fail to win any trophy until now. People said Arsenal is in a transition state but in my opinion, it’s just a normal cycle. But yeah, a lot had changed compared to the Highbury times. No more Thierry Henry, no more Robert Pires and no more Patrick Vieira. Now we often cross the ball into the penalty box instead of playing neat passes to stretch open the defence. No more lightning pace attack from both flanks instead most of the attack came from the centre, courtesy of some brilliant through ball from Cesc Fabregas. The current squad is still lacking behind compared to the invincible squad.  Maybe the cange of formation from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 required some times to match the Invincible squad display.

A lot had change but the love for the club is still there.

That evening, Barcelona confirmed their status as the best club in the world, beating Estudiantes in final Club World Cup 2009. But I was there, sitting at the upper tier of Emirates Stadium singing,

“And it is Arsenal,

Arsenal FC,

We by far the greatest club,

The world has ever seen”

Good luck, lads.

Angels and Demons.

Yesterday, as i walked myself to class, a bus passed me by with an advert board on it. This time the advertisement is about a new movie titled, ‘Angels and Demons’. At one side of the advert borad features tom hanks with caption written Robert Langdon. I thought this must be another screenplay adaptation of Dan Brown’s masterpiece. I never read the novel but the way they present the advertisement attracted me a lot. So when i got back from class, i decided to watch the movie’s trailer on you tube.

The beginning of the trailer is quite mysterious so i think this could be a great movie. But something appeared in the trailer that caught me the most. The word ‘Illuminati’. I am not sure if everyone knows what Illuminati is all about. The first time i heard of it was around August last year during a camping in Perak. There was a presentation of a book titled ‘Pawns in The Game’ written by William Guy Carr. I was really tired that night so i miss about half of the presentation. However i managed to catch some important information yet quite interesting. Well, Illuminati is an organization spearheaded by the Devils (Iblis). At first, i was quite shocked to know that there is such a devil’s organization. But yeah, it is true. This organization has their own temple which is called ’synagogue’. Wow just now they mentioned a Devil organization and now, a temple? Pretty amazing.

So how this organization works and what is the impact to the world? This organization’s sole objective is to damage the peace and harmony of the world. Their modus operandi is very subversive and secret. They control the people that have a major influence to the world such as the kings and International Monetary Fund (IMF) organization. Through these people and this organization, they create the havoc and provoke for wars to happen. They build a civilization and once they think it is time to establish a new world order, they destroy the civilization and build a new one. The sign when the civilization is about to be destroyed is when the palace is no longer a noble and sacred place. If u ever watch Batman Begins and you will notice the similarity between this organization (Illuminati) and the League of Shadow. So what happen in world war 1 and world war 2 is actually caused by Illuminati. and the writer of the book even predict the next big thing to happen will revolve around the Palestine-Israel conflict. It will require a month to explain everything about Illuminati. But try to have a look at ‘Pawns in The Game’ book and maybe you will find a better explanation. I am writing this based on what i could remember from the presentation on the basis of sharing information.

So after the exam finished, I am planning to watch the movie because I personally think  it would be a great movie. But first things first, exams!

p/s: this is the link for trailer i mentioned before,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASVeN-58HKk

Of Bumiputras and Quota Reduction.

Last two days, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak made a shock announcement. After more than two decades the bumiputras enjoyed the 30% quota of rule in equity, the quota had been dropped off. Mixed reaction could be seen from Malaysian. For non-bumiputras, this would be like a ‘reform’ to the economic system of Malaysia however, for some bumiputras this is not a good thing to be happy about. Many theories were also drawn on why the prime minister made this such bold move. Some say it was to improvise the state of Malaysian economy comes the credit crunch and some say this is intended to win back the Chinese voters who turn their back on Barisan Nasional coalition during the last general election.

Let’s put all these theories and reactions aside first. Now I like to draw our attention on one thing especially for bumiputras (including myself). Are we fail to stand on par with the non-bumiputras in economy?

I’ve done some research about this 30% of bumiputras’ rule of equity thing. This motion was initiated from ‘Dasar Ekonomi Baru’ in 1970 with one of the objectives was to establish 30% of equity rule for bumiputras, 40% for non-bumiputras and 30% for foreign investors. When we outline our objective 5 key elements are important which are Spesific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time spesific and these 5 element can be shorten by an acronym S.M.A.R.T. The time frame set to achieve the DEB objectives was 20 years which mean at 1990s, the bumiputras rule of equity should be 30%. However, this was unsuccessful. The greatest percentage of bumiputras rule of equity was recorded at 13%, not even half from the objectives set. Thus it is fair to say that the program had failed in enhancing the competency of bumiputra in economy. The government then replaced DEB with Dasar Penswastaan Negara and during the presentation of national budget (I can’t remember which year) Dato Najib’s predecessor, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi gave a new breath to DEB through the launching of Ninth Malaysia Plan (RMK-9).

My teacher used to told me, if you try something but you fail, there is something wrong with your plan and you should change it. So when Dato’ Seri Najib announced the reduction of the quota for bumiputras equity rule, actually I do not think it is a bad thing at all for the bumiputras. I mean, if you plan is fail, why should waste more money and time into it?? simple logic innit?? The problem with the bumiputras actually is the mental block. How long do we want to be helped by the governement policy?? Everything had been given to us be it in education, subsidy etc. and I do not think we ever experience how difficult is to get something like the non-bumis experienced. And that explains why the non-bumis perform very well in economy because when u get through something that is very difficult, u learnt a lot from it and somehow you will appreciate what you got and try as hardest as you can to protect it.

Plus, this announcement was made just two days ago but hte bumiputras are beginning to feel that this will ruin their economy activity and feel like they have lost something that is very, very big. Okay I might sound a bit harsh because I do not know how difficult it is to compete with non-bumis but lets look this situation like this; if you start something with this mindset, you can’t go as high as you wished. I think there is a malay quote which goes like this, “pantang beralah sebelum melawan”. Somehow i fnd this quote was ironic with some bumiputras’ attitude in dealing with this matter.

I admit I am not a big fan of Dato Seri Najib but lets face the reality; this quota reduction could be a stepping stone in creating a competitive and hardworking bumiputra. 2020 is getting nearer and my uncle used to told me that ho do not see Vision 2020 would be successful because the Chinese hold a major proportion of Malaysia economy and right now, China is on their way to become one of the big player in world economy and suffice to say, this would attract the chinese in our country to return to their home country. This could hurt our economy very bad and at the same time, Vision 2020 looks very difficult to be achieved. So it is up to the bumiputras to make this vision a success as how it should be. Somehow, there is a bless in disguise in this reduction. Let’s spare a thought.