Masha Allah, Open Your Eyes La!

Since Justice Lau's brave decision to allow the Herald to continue publishing its Malay language edition using Malay-speaking Christians' normal term for God ("Allah"), there has been a flurry of condemnations from several quarters.

One of them, Dato' Ariff a.k.a. Sakmongkol wrote an especially incisive article in his usual strong intellectual thrust. In that article, he postulated that the issue was not about the legality or right of Christians to use the term. The real issue was that "Allah" is the exclusive reference to God for billions of Muslims worldwide "and hence, the hijacking of its ownership through some legalistic twists, constitute a rape and pillage on the Muslim person."

He further asserts that this ownership of the term Allah "rests on the altar of worship supported by the pillars of faith jealously guarded by UNREASON" and therefore not open to rational discussion.

Respectfully, I must strongly disagree based on the following points.

1) The "exclusive ownership" argument has been rebutted ad nauseam, ad infinitum. I am loathe to repeat it. You can read my extensively researched arguments against this flimsy premise here. I'll merely briefly mention here that the term "Allah" (and its various permutations) have been in use to refer the the "One Supreme Being" in the Middle East region since before Islam, Christianity or even Judaism! These great monotheistic religions simply adopted the word to express their faith.

So what exclusive ownership?

2) Equating non-Muslim use of the word "Allah" as raping the Muslim personhood? Come on la!

If we were to accept this argument, then Christians should demand that all references to Jesus Christ should be stricken out from the Quran! Because belief in Jesus resides in the hearts of all Christians. Belief in the doctrines about Jesus Christ also rests on the altar wof worship supported on the pillars of faith! Should Christians regard Islam's reference to Jesus in a completely different doctrine as a rape and pillage on their faith and personhood?

Since Christianity came 600 years BEFORE Islam, by virtue of seniority Muslims should respect and obey the wishes of Christians should such a claim arise that the Quran's Jesus conform to Christian doctrine or be stricken out altogether, just as some Muslims expect the same of Christians re "Allah"!

I'm not saying we should get into a semantic tug-of-war. But put forward your arguments by all means, just let's not be hypocritical about it!

3) To state that "The word Allah...rests on the altar of worship supported by the pillars of faith jealously guarded by UNREASON" is, I think, Dato' Ariff's most damaging statement to his cause.

In all of Creation, God created only Man to have reason. It is by the exercise of reason that Man is able to control his base desires and grow in his faith, through spiritual disciplines such as worship, prayer, fasting, study and reflection. No other creature in the world is able to do such things simply because they are beings without reason!

Since God created Man as the only creature with "reason", and Man's growth in his faith in God rests on activities that require the exercise of reason, the implication is that as Man grows in his closeness to God, he exercises MORE of his reason.

Stating that faith is guarded by UNREASON is surely an insult to the sincere spiritual seeker!

NEEP- New Economic Empowerment Policy

This is another gem of a write-up from Sakmongkol.

I really enjoy reading his blog as he presents many lucid views. He allows free debate on his comments section and rarely interferes in the discussions, although he is quick to dispatch those who offer nothing more than insults as a rebuttal to his points.

Although his views are sound, it seems they are not shared by the UMNO majority. Or if they were, those that think like him don't dare to stand up and be counted. For openly sticking his neck out to articulate his views which often runs contrary to the entrenched UMNO mindset - he gets my full respect.

More than anyone else, he has proven to me that decent, intelligent people still exist in UMNO. Unfortunately, they seem to be in the tiniest minority, the majority seem to be the corrupt, aspiring corrupt and the spineless followers tagging along in the hopes of getting a few crumbs from the big boys.

Here are some excerpts from his piece. You can read the full article here.

--------------------------------

...I am trying to discover answers on how to jack up our economy. Why Terengganu and Kelantan? Terengganu is a perfect example on how to apply excess revenues while Kelantan serves as an example on how to optimise whatever money one has. Both states are predominantly Malay, so they can provide useful control-room test results which could be used as generalisations.

Each time I never ceased to be amazed by the energy, drive and vigour of the common people. Thus, if a state remains poor and backward, its condition cannot be explained away by the lack of trying by the common people. Perhaps like Ludwig von Mises said, the fault lies with the leadership elite.

...Terengganu then should become one of the richest states in the country. The task of lawmakers in the state is to how to apply the money so that it can further stimulate the economy.

The task is also to avoid the Arab disease (a contextual variation of the Dutch Disease) gorging themselves with giddy spending that do not add to the productive capacity of the state or enhance the capability of its citizens. The number of poor, illiterates and disenfranchised remain large in Arab countries.

....It seems to me, it would have been better to distribute the outlay for building such mosques to the local population. That would certainly place cash in their hands- money to spend and do business. That would be an immediate way to stimulate demand.

The energy and drive of the common people are clearly evident. Kemaman used to be a sleepy hollow during the days when I was schooling in Kuantan. Kuala Kemaman was selected by Ungku Aziz to produce his seminal work of poverty. It is now a thriving town where trading and business are brisk. People do all sorts of work. They want application. Save for the very old and sickly and the drug addicts, people want to work. People want to do business. They want to earn a living. That should immediately discredit the accepted explanation that Malays just want a free ride. The free riders are the elite who hide behind the questionable Bumiputera policies. Once again, I say, it's the bumi who are left behind, while the puteras surge ahead.

...Where has been the concrete application of its oil money? In KT you can of course see the ostentatious symbol such as monsoon cup facilities, a few good hotels; beautiful mosques have sprung like mushrooms even in small villages. You can gaze in awe at the crystal mosque and the floating mosques and whatever. Undoubtedly these facilities are enjoyed and used by people in Terengganu and from elsewhere.

...The Other Terengganu has something akin to Harrington's Other America. It can also be a tale of squalor- many lived in squalor, beaten down houses. You can even see these houses weaved in between glossy buildings and facilities.

Perhaps now, we can look at concrete steps to get out from the unNEP policies to policies that actually empower the masses economically. They will be looking at a National Economic Policy that will not be sabotaged by the little and big Napoleons and the cawangan gauleiters. Give resources to those who actually operate the economy.

Cyber-hangin' wid Sakmongkol AK47

I love hanging out at the venerable Dato Sakmongkol's blog. He makes some very interesting observations and asks some very penetrating questions. There's usually a lively debate on his blog and he is often not spared the vitriol of the UMNO bigots, even though he's aloyal UMNO man himself.

Sakmongkol's latest post has highlighted some very pertinent questions about the future of the Malays in this country and I think it has generated some very intelligent debate. This is a comment I left on Dato Sak's blog, and some excerpts of the discussion to give you a little background. You can read them here and here to get the full picture of what's being discussed over there.


Dato Sak wrote:

Hence we have a society divided. One section is composed of the fortunate ones because we allowed them to become so, the other, consists of the less fortunate because we allowed to become so too. How do we explain this to be so? The inadvertent answer is because the Malaysian environment has made this so.

The question is, if the environment that presides over all of us is common, how is it that one section can pull ahead of us, while the rest stagnates? Could it be that the section that pulls ahead has inside them, an ideology of struggle imbued? That perhaps the response to the Toynbeean challenge within that section of society left behind has not been adequate.


Some comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not ok to accept disparity and social injustices. The other side may think it unjust to continue the NEP? No. It's unjust not to continue it. They already have so much wealth. They should accept NEP if they expect a true Bangsa Malaysia to emerge.

Maybe the response to the challenge within that society is inadequate. But everybody knows that our community has a shorter history, and whatever comes with it, than the others. This is no excuse to be lackadaisical. But let's be fair to ourselves. We have tried, our kind.

Let's be realistic and admit we cannot compete at par. We need the NEP.


Anonymous said...

Sdr Kuldeep

Apa kah sdr fikir Melayu boleh capai tahap kekayaan dan kebolehan berniaga hampir dengan Cina? Secrara realistik nya?

Bukan kah sejengkal Melayu maju dalam perniagaan, Cina akan maju 3-4 jengkal?


kuldeep said...

Of course Malays can be as good or even better than the non Malays...we fail only because we as a group are not sincere and forget that we hv to struggle to succeed

We fail because we don't trust each other..do not network nor strive to develop our own "supply chain" but prefer the easy way to get things done.

If u want Malay success stories all of us can contribute by naming a few...I can cite Mazlan of MMVitaoils...and Dahlan the chocolate King.Can u name a few?

Lets begin to appreciate our own ppl and try to replicate their success.


Anonymous said...

kuldeep

You yourself said we fail because: we are not sincere .. forget to struggle .. don't trust one another .. do not network .. do not develop our own supply chain .. prefer the easy way .. new leadership new cronies will destroy .. opportunities not given to the right people .. etc, etc.

Do you think these, many of which are manifestations of Malay racial characteristics, will disappear in time to come? Early enough for us to catch up or at least be near the Chinese economically? I don't think so.


kuldeep said...

no sir...these are not characteristics of the real malay...its the tendencies of the opportunistic few who became successful peddling their knowwho..

Mazlan and Dahlan >> they succeed thru knowledge,creativity and focussed business sense...and they are building malay networks and supply chains...and they are competitive.


And my own two sen...

kuldeep,

i hear you and i agree 100% your views! Malays need not regard themselves as somehow inadequate. There is no such genetic trait as inadequacy in any race!

Affirmative action is fine, but there must be a deadline for the objectives to be achieved. And the primary objective must be to develop competence, competitiveness and human capital. Otherwise the affirmative action programmes will just be an endless series of free lunches.


Dato Sak, this is a good question:

"Could it be that the section that pulls ahead has inside them, an ideology of struggle imbued?"

I say no. CIRCUMSTANCES force people to respond.

Let's not forget that the first chinese immigrants here were the underclass. Most had no money, all had no rights of citizenship. As such they were extremely vulnerable segment of society. And they still had to find a way to survive despite the odds. if the chinese are economically dominant today, it is despite the difficulties they faced.

My own family is a good case study on how circumstances mould our responses.

As i had said, my uncle was given preference, privileges and protection all his life. and he turned out an utter failure in the end.

His sister, my mum, was treated as something of a maid of the family. My dad was abandoned and had to start working at age 5 to earn his keep.

They both worked their way up in life and was able to give us kids a comfortable middle-class life.

So Dato Sak, there is no such thing as cultural makeup at the genetic level. Individual responses to circumstances will determine the characteristics of a culture. If enough people respond in a certain way, then a culture is created.

As you have said, the desire to succeed cannot be legislated. That's why i proposed the concept of keagungan Melayu. because when enough Malays succeed in their pursuit of personal eminence, a culture of eminence will emerge.

kuldeep has a valid point about this when he mentioned Mazlan and Dahlan. They succeeded not with know-who but with know-how, anchored in their own personal eminence.

Look at these Malay economic heroes. Learn their traits. Emulate their success. Invite them to conduct trainings. Ask them to mentor new entrepreneurs.

This way, the Malays will no longer need the NEP in 20 years. They WILL control their fair share of the economy. And they would have done it by themselves, competing on equal footing.

Salam hormat, Dato