Yesterday in the evening I was thinking to myself and this morning the same topic keep ringing in my ears. I have the habit to think aloud and also to talk to myself. Sometimes in public places when I go into this mood they think I am mad. But madness and sanity to me lies side by side as it shows in the recent Allah issue. I am happy that I feel I have been validated. I always belief that this country should remain Secular, it irritates and mollify my friends. A Muslim is suppose to make Islam Adddin i.e. it means politics and Islam must be pursued together. Muslims should not divide Siasah or politics from the religion, it is wrong, it is against Islam, it is heretic, a grave Sin. I beg to differ.

I am not against penerapan nilai nilai Islam or installing Islamic values but I am dead set against Islamisation ever since it was introduce by the evil genius Tun Mahathir. The softer approach of Islam Hadhari or Islamic Civilization was something I applauded but as expected shot down by the Evil Genius! But Allah prove once and for all I am right! The views of the traditionalist is so divided that you have Datuk Dr Haron Din and Jakim agreed to the total banning of the word Allah to Dr Mohd Asri and PAS leader stalwart like Nik Aziz who says it is not necessary Hadi Awang gave a political answer as expected!

“In conclusion, we can not forbid them to use the word God in themselves, in their worship and their practices, although one purpose and meaning of the original language by us. Adapun menggunakan perkataan Allah oleh mereka terhadap masyarakat Islam untuk menyebarkan agama mereka dengan fahaman mereka, atau menjadikan perkataan Allah sekadar mengubah jenama bagi melariskan barangan dalam masyarakat Islam, tidak boleh dizinkan sama sekali. As for using the word Allah by them against the Muslim community to spread their religion with their ideology, or simply change the word of Allah to popularize the brand of goods in Islamic society, can not dizinkan altogether. Ini adalah kerana menyalahgunakan perkataan Allah yang Maha Suci kepada umat Islam dan bercanggah dengan makna mengikut bahasa yang diamal oleh umat Islam, adalah dikira menodai kesucian dan kemurnian kalimah Allah di hadapan umat Islam. This is due to misuse the word "Glory to God that Muslims and contrary to the meaning of the language according diamal by Muslims, is calculated menodai purity and innocence in front of the word Allah Muslims.”

excerpt taken from http://dppks.blogspot.com

Yes, I agreed totally to it! Because we cannot stop them from using the word but we can regulate them. And I think the former Ministers in charge did well but the evil genius decided to add a prohibition clause to it in 1986, a sly weapon of the wily old fox to appeal to the hawks but never enforce. Surely the Mamak understand this is ultra vires the constitutional guarantee enshrined in the constitution?

I am happy that ever since then, we see leaders from PAS ( although I do not agree with their political views) emerge like Dr Dzukilflee Ahmad and Khalid Samad. We have idiots like Zulkifli Noordin from PKR, Tajuddin Abdul Rahman Datuk from UMNO whose rhetoric should have landed them in Jail for inciting and fanning racial hatred. So there you see it, the public lost confident in UMNO is because of the perceive double standard when it comes to law. Utusan can get away with murder but other papers are ask to toe the line if not they will lose their publication permits! Disseminating of views are perceive as one sided and unbalance. I have not read any malay dailies for ages unless if I need to understand the party wishes or for the daily gossip like all Malays cherish!

The reason for RukunNegara of pledge of the Nation was to remind Malaysians of their duty and in the fourth pledge kedaulatan Undang-undang or the sacrament of the laws,if are not respected and abuse by the establishment, why do we need to support them? If UMNO and BN keep going this way then it is doom, common sense dictate it and sadly many Malays lost their common sense a long time ago. In fact many Malays seem to lost their marbles when it comes to Allah and other issues!

That is the reason why I believe in secularism, if Muslims cannot agreed on one another on things that are khilaf or procedural only, then why do I want to have Islam for Malaysia because what is the face of Islam are we talking about?

Banyak pihak mendesak saya memberikan pandangan tentang penggunaan nama Allah oleh agama lain khususnya agama Kristian di Malaysia ini. Pada awalnya, saya selalu mengelak, cuma memberikan pandangan ringkas dengan berkata: “Isu ini bukan isu nas Islam, ianya lebih bersifat pentadbiran atau tempatan.

Excerpt from Dr Asri ex Mufti of Perlis blog

The issue that plague the Muktazilites and the Sunnis and the Syiah are on Khilaf as far as I know! The Muktazilitte belief in free will but the traditionalist say we do not have free will thus Man can plan but God decides. This issue plague Ghazali that he nearly went mad until he found Sufism that quell his thirst, yet here we are hell bend in dishing out hukum on others. I am call a liberal Muslim, I prefer to be call an enlightened one! I prefer not to judge others for having different views. I belief that Islam encourages pluralism of thoughts for with it we can find knowledge and create new things. And if Muslims hanker for the golden age, than we must let free the mind. The right of ijtihad must be given back to the people, for every muslims is responsible to himself and not answerable to others.

What is wrong if the Syiah belief in Iman Mahdi or the Messiah? It is not about faith but of belief. So what if they add in their syahadah or bai'ath after Muhammad, Ali r.a. And the rest of his son. Does it nullify the Bai'ath or shahadah? If so then Muhammad saw punishment on stoning of adulterers is it not adding on God punishment which only proscribe whipping? God forbid if this is so, you see none of those additions nullify the law or the shahadah because it does not change the material of it. I believe that there is no God but Allah and I believe Mohammad is the messenger of God. Is adding other suffix nullify the Shahadah?

This are all Khilaf, we Sunni have own hadiths and our own school of thoughts. We teach but if they take our teaching and came out with a more progressive one, why punish them? Dr Asri incarceration by the traditionalist spoke volume in my distaste of making Malaysia as an Islamic nation. We have many issues to address, the poverty, the lack of knowledge in the ummah must take precedent. To infuse hatred under the guise of Islam is against what I was taught. I want to see Malays being leaders not being lead, to see them proud, standing among the races of the world. To spoke intelligently and agreed to disagreed, not to be emotive but to colour their actions with sincerity that glows from their heart. Am I asking too much?

Still hopeful for Umno, Malaysia

By Cheong Suk-Wai

KUALA LUMPUR, JAN 12 — Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has for many years been a voice of reason in Umno, and Malaysia too, and he has always been ready to point out what is not right with the country. He believes that for Malaysia to reform itself, the leaders must show the way.

One of Tengku Razaleigh’s most vivid memories from boyhood is that of following the funeral procession of his father’s Hainanese cook through the streets of Kota Baru, Kelantan.

The cook had died from an infected wound sustained after his employer’s pet tiger swatted his hand while he was retrieving meat from the man-eater’s cage.

Tengku Razaleigh (picture), 72, the scion of Kelantan’s first post-independence chief minister, told this story in his blog recently to stress how well Malaysians of all races used to get along with one another.

The still youthful Kelantanese prince, who is married with no children, was one of Malaysia’s ablest finance ministers. He almost became its premier too, but lost the post to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad by a whisker in a bitterly contested race for Umno’s presidency in 1987. The old Umno was deregistered after that and Tengku Razaleigh — affectionately known as Ku Li - led Semangat 46 (The Spirit of ‘46) from October 1989 to October 1996, when he rejoined Umno.

Over sweet tea and chocolate chip cookies last Thursday, he told me why Malaysia as it is currently constituted has no future and why it has to change.

Why did the political system work when you were a minister, but not now?

Because there’s so much accent on materialism now that people have lost their moral fibre.

When did Malaysia give way to materialism?

It started with so-called influence peddlers who became commission agents through their connections with party bosses. They acquired bad habits and the people around or below them copied their habits and that soon became part of the culture. Even people in government departments, such as peons, expect something, which is not good.

Why is it that Umno always seems to play the race card when in a tight spot?

Not only the race card, but also the religion card — anything. It’s about putting fear into the minds of the people. And fear that they may lose their positions.

Why do you insist that Umno’s very structure has to change to make Malaysia better?

Because... it’s becoming less democratic. When Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Abdul Razak were the leaders of the country, we sensed that anybody could hope to rise to the top — not that everybody wanted to... There were contests, yes, but they were among friends — but, of course, in politics, there’s no such thing as contests among friends! You have to be ambitious.

The one point I want to stress is that there was comradeship. If you went anywhere and met a fellow party member, you felt he was like your brother.

So what’s changed?

(Those contesting party polls these days) are going in because they want power and because of power, they want money. Their cronies band around them so in return they will be well off. But that’s not politics... If you wallop the country’s resources, that’s not the way to build leadership.

What brought about such a mindset?

I think the patronage system is at fault. You go to villages and encourage people there to work hard and be self-reliant. But you start giving them subsidies. And so the minute subsidies are withdrawn, they find it difficult to make ends meet and, naturally, get angry. I think we have to teach our people slowly so that we all buck up.

The No 1 problem anywhere in the world is poverty. In countries like mine, education, proper nourishment and health care are still wanting. The main means of overcoming poverty is education and ensuring that people earn enough so they don’t expect handouts.

Where would you begin?

The leaders must be disciplined. If they cannot discipline themselves, they cannot discipline the people... I’m not being critical here when I say that Singapore leaders are seen to be very clean people who are leading the way by being hard-working, competent and efficient. Those under them have to emulate otherwise they cannot keep in step with the standards set by their leaders.

If other countries can become developed, why can’t Malaysia? And we are rich compared to Singapore. What has Singapore got?

Our central bank lost RM32 billion (S$13 billion) in six months dabbling in foreign exchange. Where in the world have you heard of a central bank losing over RM30 billion and not going bust? But Malaysia’s so rich, it can support such losses.

What will happen when its oil runs out?

We have not restructured our economy... If we want to provide for the future, we have to choose industries so as to find niches in the market. That’s going to take up to 15 years. Will the resources now supporting us last until then? If we don’t think quickly, a lot of our young will be unemployed.

I think we have depleted a lot of our oil resources which should have been kept underground for the future. Do we need to exploit all that oil?

What of Premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s moves to free the economy of affirmative action requirements?

The New Economic Policy (NEP) ended in 1990, but overzealous civil servants and politicians continued to impose it. Tun Dr Mahathir had thrown the NEP out when he introduced the National Development Policy (NDP) of 1990 and he sometimes implemented the NEP as if it were part of the NDP. But don’t forget that Dr Mahathir was never involved in the formulation of the NEP.

And you were?

Yes, but not directly. It was for a noble cause.

What was so noble about it?

Well, the NEP was to bring everybody together. But people took advantage of it, exploited it and abused it for their own personal, or sectional, gains.

And yet you’re hopeful about Malaysia?

I believe in people. They have faith in themselves, are generally good and can be taught... We as children learnt very quickly, didn’t we?

But as adults?

Quicker still! But the leaders must show the way. I’m not so sure they will. But we’ve got to keep trying.

We hope to push for reforms — not just for Umno — to fight corruption, provide security and make sure that education is reformed so that Malaysians will be more competitive globally.

But they’re losing out already!

Yes, but they don’t feel it yet. They’re always in a state of denial.

Looking ahead to future Umno polls, what are your plans?

It’s too early to talk about that.

If you’re called upon to lead again, would you heed it?

If I could be of use to the party and country, I’m available.

Would you try for the top party post again?

Well, I don’t know about trying again — it’s another three years down the road. But even at this juncture, I’m prepared to offer my services — to serve in, say, an advisory role. But not necessarily for a post in the party.

Why are you still in Umno?

Because I have hope! I believe in what Umno stood for — fair play, justice, equality — not what the present Umno is doing.

But the Umno you believe in is long gone?

Well, the other parties don’t offer much choice either. They’re in disarray and don’t exercise leadership.

Do you regret founding Semangat 46?

Semangat 46 was not founded by me. That’s the propaganda of Umno Baru. It was founded by Tunku. He wanted a new party formed since he, Tun Musa Hitam and I were not allowed to join Umno Baru. Tunku said: “Let’s form a party because otherwise our supporters would go to Parti Islam SeMalaysia.”

I was asked to lead Semangat 46 to bring all these people under one wing. They said: “If Dr Mahathir is prepared to talk to you after a while, you bring everybody together again and become one.” So when we were able to talk, an agreement was reached, we disbanded Semangat 46. It was there not to fight anybody, but to provide a home (for us and our supporters).

Someone once said that it’s better to be the man whom everyone wants as premier than a premier whom nobody wants. What say you?

The position doesn’t matter. What matters is what happens to the people. China had Deng Xiaoping. He was not Communist Party chairman. He was not prime minister. He was not president. But he was able to effect change. And I’d like to do that, if it’s possible. — The Straits Times