Sunday, January 28, 2007

NST 28.01.2007 : Mufti : Allow Chinese to Build Mosques

This was what I wrote on page 29 of The Malay Ideals (GBC 2002):

Greater number of non-Malays could also be summoned into Islam through a scheme whereby the government lends assistance to the Chinese as well as Indian Muslims to establish their own brand of Muslim Cultures.[1] They must be assisted in building their own mosques with all its cultural elements professed in their architecture and settings. Their dress code will also be Chinese and Indian costumes and dresses such as the cheong-sams and saris, that are tailored towards Islamic needs. The same goes with languages, writing, foods, customs and other idiosyncrasies. They have to be maintained and upheld as long as it is not against Islam. When such cultures exist in Malaysia, it will therefore be more acceptable to the Chinese and Indians to reflect upon Islam without harboring any racial prejudice or bias. Hence, they would be more open to dialogues. It would demonstrate the feasibility of being a Chinese or an Indian and yet be a Muslim at the same time. The presence of large numbers of Chinese Muslims in China and Indian Muslims in India testify to this. Although they are a minority in these states, nevertheless, their numbers far exceed the number of Muslims in Malaysia itself. They have crystallised their own Muslim cultures which incorporated their racial nuances and idiosyncrasies into the Muslim element.

Therefore in Malaysia, Chinese Muslim and Indian Muslim cultures need to be established. Only when all of these elements exist in Malaysia, would the non-Muslim Chinese and Indians contemplate on the possibility of coming to Islam in large numbers and consolidate upon our integration. In the same breath, the Malays must remember never to entice the non-Malay Muslims into accepting the Malay culture as being the only "Islamic" culture in Malaysia. They must allow the non-Malays to develop their own cultures. Until then, other programmes would only be of limited success. In other words, to segregate the image that a Muslim must always be Malay[2] is a core factor to successful da'wah and integration in Malaysia.

[1] MACMA (Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association) which is affiliated to PERKIM as an associate member, could be a starting point. The objectives of MACMA are to promote Islam as the universal religion, to propagate the teachings of Islam and to promote Islamic Brotherhood.
[2] Traditionally a non-Malay person of non-Muslim background who chooses to adopt and embrace Islam is often labelled as "masuk Melayu" literally "entering Malay" (becoming a Malay).

Friday, January 26, 2007

The Greatness of An Individual and the Greatness of a Racial Group

Most of the Malays are too used to having a laid back attitude.

There is no sense of urgency in their work or action.They prefer to take it easy.

Since they are very accomodative in character and tolerant of other's faults, they too assume that others should treat them the same. They assume that their laid back attitude with work or standards would be forgiven by others.

Take for example the attitudes of government servants, and Malay dominated corporate world such as TM (excluding Petronas) and you see this glaring problem.

Petronas is an exclusion because eventhough they are dominated by Malays, Petronas selects Malays with a different mindset and of higher quality Malays. The rest cannot be said of government servants or other Malay entreprises.

The goverment sector for example will absorb all Malays whether they are hardworking or lame. All are treated the same. When you select inferior individuals to run your organisation, then quality and work performance suffers. You may even try to hire top execs as the boss, you will not succeed when only few individuals at the top are top class whereas the rest of the organisations have a couldnt care less attitude. You cant change the organisation overnight when most of these Malays are inferior Malays. You may even hire donald trump, still he will also be powerless.

If these organisations are to succeed, they can hire Malays, but hire only capable Malays. Better, they should hire anyone possessed of merit regardless of race. If Petronas could do it, why cant the others?

"A race will never be great if the great majority of the individuals constituting this particular race is mediocre. Before you can change a race, you have to change the individuals making up that race. If the Malays as a people wish to be great, every single individual Malay must strive to be great."

Monday, January 15, 2007

Resign, If You Are Incompetent!

Yes, you heard me right, resign.

This goes for every one of us. If we are not doing our job the way we should, just leave. Civil servants, workers, labourers, bosses, politicians, top execs, ministers, councillors, you name it, all must bear responsibility.

If you think you can fool around and get away with it, you are just dragging everybody down with you. The honourable thing to do is to give up that position of yours, if you do have some honour in you. Don't fool others and certainly don't fool yourself.

If you sleep when you are supposed to be chairing a meeting, if you sleep if you are at your work desk, if you asks someone else to punch your card, if you slip out during inappropriate hours to have your extended breakfast, if you slip out from the office running your personal errands, if you do not do your job properly and with the standard expected of you, if you constantly arrive late at work or at meetings, if you think that your work can be done tomorrow instead of today, if you wished you had not had to come for work, if you wished you could get your salary without working or with doing the minimum amout of work and hope others do not notice this, if you do not wish to do the work of others but expect others to do your work, if you think that your work is unimportant, if you think that it does not matter if your work gets done or not, if you are too slow at work, if you contantly make mistakes, or if you make even one great and dire mistake that gravely affects many others etc etc...then you must go.

Does not matter if your income is less than a thousand a month or more than ten thousand a month.

Do the honorable thing. Resign! Truly, this is better for us. And truly, this is better for your soul!

Friday, January 12, 2007

The Two Books





These are the two books I have written in the past. The first book is a serious work which deals with social politics of the Malays and the various races in Malaysia whilst the other is written in a lighter vein and spirit, meant for light reading a guidance to youngsters especially.

Due to a busy schedule, and a less pressing issue has not materialised or even perhaps the lack of some spark of inspiration, I have not been writing as much as I wish.