LET THEM SPEAK

Salam

This is not a new issue but it is actually an ongoing issue that still not reaching the very end of it. Sensitive to say the least and at times, provocative. Sure, as a Muslim, the best way to handle this kind of problem is through 'hikmah' cause emotional outburst or comments won't lead to anywhere.

The issue of non Muslim one their voice heard talking about Islam is not a small issue. It is very sensitive in whatever way we see it and of course will bring out a lot of prejudices among the Muslim in general. Muslim are afraid of the voices of the non Muslim while for me personally it should not has happen at all. Why we should feel intimidated by their voices? Although we are not encouraging anyone to talk about Islam without clear knowledge, we can't stop them forever. Allowing them to voice out is actually one way of trying to understand the level of knowledge that they have and the way to know their feelings about us.

The freedom of speech is not something evil but the way they use it and they way we handle it that will determined the consequences. Of course we are not entertaining just anyone but this is our opportunity to further educate many of the people out there about Islam in general. I am very sure that Islam has the answer for everything. The only thing is many of us even up there in the hierarchy are not prepare to handle any issue properly which is unfortunate. Instead of becoming rather repressive of all the dissenting voices about Islam, we should go into the 'offensive' mode. By saying 'offensive' means we should be more effective in tackling any misunderstanding about our religion.

I am very sure that we have a capable Muslim scholar in the country that if they are given any chance, they will definitely become the trump card in developing the understanding of Islam. Let the non Muslim -even the Muslim- talk and the scholar explain. Explain in intellectual ways not emotional and I am quite convince that everyone will respect and understand.

We can't effort to educate everyone through the system but by hearing their voices, this is the good chances for us to make use of it. Of course with some help with the government, no one will feel insulted. The growing voices of the non Muslim who think they can speak about us can be turn into a very potent point for us in the long run. The end result, we are not only educating them and allaying their fear, we are also educating the other Muslim who also think like the non Muslim and misunderstood the religion.

DIA BUKAN MUSLIM

assalamualaikum

Di sini saya ingin berkongsi cerita. ia bukan cerita saya, tetapi ia cerita dari seorang doktor pakar berbangsa india dan beragama hindu. Cerita ini berlaku hampir 20 tahun yang lalu. Hospital Tawau pada ketika itu hanya ada seorang pegawai perubatan yang bertugas menjaga 2 wad dengan kapasiti pesakit pelbagai kategori maksimum 40 orang pesakit dalam satu-satu wad. selain wad, pegawai perubatan tersebut juga bertanggungjawab menguruskan klinik pesakit luar. hanya dia seorang..bayangkan..

Suatu hari, menghampiri jam 4.45 ptg, seorang pesakit berusia 8 tahun dengan masalah anemia baru sampai ke klinik untuk temujanji doktor. Pegawai perubatan yang masih muda dan berdarah muda ini mula naik darah dan terus memarahi pesakit ini yang datang bersama abangnya yang berusia 16 tahun. Hanya setelah itu baru dia sedar bahawa dua beradik tadi sudah keluar dari rumah untuk ke hospital sejak awal pagi. Mereka terpaksa menaiki bas dengan tambang rm15 seorang kerana mereka tinggal jauh di kawasan pedalaman sabah.

Tambah memilukan hatinya, si abang tadi bekerja sebagai buruh kasar di sebuah ladang dengan gaji rm6.50 sehari. Sebagai menebus kesalahannya kerana memarahi mereka, pegawai perubatan tadi memohon maaf dan mahu memberikan duit tambang untuk mereka pulang tetapi kerana sikap menjaga maruah dan bertanggungjawab seorang abang, mereka enggan menerima wang tersebut.

Sejak hari itu, pegawai perubatan tersebut belajar tentang satu perkara yang kelihatan 'simple' dan tidak penting tetapi hakikatnya memberikan impak yang besar kepada seorang pesakit iaitulah SENTIASA PASTIKAN DI MANA PESAKIT ANDA TINGGAL.

Kisah kedua berlaku setelah pegawai perubatan tadi mencapai status pakar di sebuah hospital di utara tanah air. Seorang ibu mengucapkan terima kasih kepadanya kerana melihat pesakit dengan cepat tetapi efektif sehingga membolehkan ibu tadi pulang bersama anak-anak dan makan tengahari di rumah. Makanya ibu tadi boleh berjimat belanja tanpa perlu makan di luar memandangkan dia datang dari keluarga yang miskin.

Sejak itu, pegawai perubatan tadi lebih berazam untuk datang seawal 6.30 pagi ke tempat kerja supaya dia boleh melihat pesakit dengan lebih awal dan pesakit dapat pulang awal ke rumah untuk makan tengahari.

Mind you, pegawai perubatan yang juga doktor pakar ini bukan seorang muslim. Berapa ramai dari kita yang mendabik dada mengaku muslim, mengaku beriman kepada Allah tetapi dari segi akhlak tidak mencerminkan mukmin yang sebenar. Saya sebak mendengar cerita dari doktor tersebut, membuatkan saya muhasabah diri, sejauh mana hati kita benar-benar ikhlas membantu dan meringankan beban mereka yang miskin. Sebaliknya ramai antara kita yang merungut terpaksa melakukan kerja hakiki kita. tak kurang ada segelintir dari mereka yang kaya sanggup pula menindas mereka yang miskin dengan mengamalkan budaya kerja yang tidak professional, rasuah dan pecah amanah.

Saya mendoakan doktor pakar tadi diberi taufik dan hidayah oleh Allah swt untuk beliau kembali kepada Islam supaya segala kebaikan yang beliau lakukan itu tidaklah sia-sia dan segala dosa yang dilakukannya terampun. Lebih penting, sekiranya beliau kembali kepada Islam, akhlaknya yang baik itu pastinya mencerminkan peribadi seorang Mukmin yang patuh kepada Tuhan Yang Menciptakan kita semua.

ANUGERAH BIASISWA NASIONAL

Salam
Interesting to discuss regarding the inaugural recipient of the anugerah biasiswa nasional that is considered as a performance based by merit and totally colour blind in Malaysian context. As colour is always being the daily culprit for almost everything in the country and of course the most difficult and sensitive issue, it is very important to stress that there is no colour element in this scholarship. (as per reported by the media)

Enough said that how many times they are trying to stress out that it is totally colour blind, there will be scores of unhappiness outside there that shout that it is tainted by colours. (again). So Malaysian.

For me, I would just like to hilight a few points from the result.

From the list below we notice that:
1. Majority are from sekolah harian and not from asrama penuh

• Daily school: 17
• SBP: 7
• MARA JSC: 4
• Religious school: 1
• Private: 1

2. SBP and MRSM is considered as elite school in terms of selectivity of the student who enter the school. No other daily school can boast a highly concentrated high achiever in a school (if UPSR and PMR result be considered) compare with SBP and MRSM but somehow the so called high achiever did not translate to high scorer in the result. This I found a bit unfortunate because we are expecting them to do better due to the environment, the ability and their potency. Is this because they don't have the high quality competitor compare with daily school? I am not sure but one thing I found lacking was the spirit to compete due to the so called comfort zone in the system. I could still remember when I first entered one of the boarding school after my PMR, the first thing that I learn was, the one who enter that school will definitely go to the university and to certain extent, will definitely go abroad to further their study. Depends on how you look at it, of course my school was the best in the MRSM system during that time and almost every year the school will beat all the other MRSM but this is not the thing you want to hear first if you want to keep competing. This kind of comfort environment create an artificial sense of safety of the hassle of trying to compete with very best and definitely will left them behind in the long run. I, definitely very sure that they are comparable if not better than those high achiever but something must be done to make sure that their potency can be translated into a very satisfactory level of achievement. If not, there is no reason to pool them all together in a boarding school with the so called cream of the cream if the end result is nothing special. With counts of SBPs and MRSMs in every state, they should do better. Only 11 is a pittance number. What is lacking? Competitiveness. Motivation. Drive to excel.

3. The best part is could anyone figure out any of the said school below come from small district? small town maybe. Kampung? Remote area and any place that is far from big town? Ya, maybe three from Buloh Kasap, Matang and Tangkak. Any reason? Thousands can be said.

Here are the listed names

1. Gladys Tan Yee Kim (SMK Green Road, Kuching)
2. Grace Kiew Sze-Ern (SMK Perempuan Sri Aman, Petaling Jaya)
3. Khadijah Ahmad Jais (SM Agama Persekutuan, Labu)
4. Akmal Hidayat Sabri (SMK Derma, Kangar)
5. Syamilah Mahali (Kolej Tunku Kurshiah, Seremban)
6. Amelia Lee Wei Ling (SMK Taman Melawati, Gombak)
7. Nur Syuhadah Muhamad (SM Sains Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra, Kota Baharu)
8. Lai Yin Kwin (SMK Tinggi Melaka)
9. Corinne Gunn Huey Min (SMK Taman Melawati, Gombak)
10. Hu May Khei (SMK Convent, Taiping)
11. Muhammad Amal Aiman Mohd Yusof (MRSM Kota Baharu)
12. Kuah Jia Ying (SMK Bukit Jambul, Pulau Pinang)
13. Chean Chung Shen (SMK Methodist (ACS) Sitiawan)
14. Ahmad Zhafir Zulkfli@Zulkifli (SBPI Temerloh)
15. Goh Diangde (SMK Derma, Kangar)
16. Ameenah Azman (Kolej Tunku Kurshiah, Seremban)
17. Erin Chuah Wei Yen (SMK Seri Bintang Utara, Kuala Lumpur)
18. Mohamad Syukri Azmi (MRSM Kota Baharu)
19. Muhammad Syafiq Kamarulzaman (SBPI Selandar, Melaka)
20. Neelam Devi Nath (SMK Buloh Kasap, Segamat)
21. Ooi Hui Lynn (SMK Convent Green Lane, Pulau Pinang)
22. Nurliyana Sanusi (MRSM Kota Baharu)
23. Gan Li Fang (SMK Tun Mamat, Tangkak)
24. Muhammad Sallehuddin Mansor (SMK Matang, Perak)
25. Muhammad Izzat Solihuddin (MRSM Tun Ghafar Baba, Melaka)
26. Nurizzati Zainal Nazeri (Kolej Yayasan Saad, Melaka)
27. Khairunnisa Che Bahrun (Maahad Ahmadi, Tanah Merah, Kelantan)
28. Nurulaida Mohd Darus (SBPI Jempol, Negeri Sembilan)
29. Loh Sook Yin (SMK Tinggi St David, Melaka)
30. Malathy a/p Balakrishnan (SMK Ibrahim, Sungai Petani)