Category: Society

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Society

[1009] Of Perlis: from Indera Kayangan to Darul Sunnah

I patrol Wikipedia rather religiously. I used to make countless edits on it but lately, I haven’t had much time to spend on it. Nevertheless, because of the frequency of my visits, it’s relatively easy for me to spot vandalism on pages that I maintain watch on. While most acts of vandalism are easy to catch, some aren’t. Sometimes, legitimate edits could be mistaken as vandalism. One of such edition concerns the page Perlis. On that page, it’s easy to find anonymous editors changing the noun Perlis Indera Kayangan to Perlis Darul Sunnah.

At first, I thought the switch was purely vandalism or some newbies were having fun on Wikipedia. Later however, the changes were becoming above average in frequency and more importantly, consistent. Given that, I toyed with the possibility of me being wrong and the anonymous editors being right. To ascertain it, I ran a little research on the net and surprisingly, I found countless hits containing “Perlis Darul Sunnah”. One of those hits is an article from Harakah:

KANGAR, 26 Sep (Hrkh) – Pesuruhjaya PAS Perlis, Ustaz Hashim Jasin menyeru agar gelaran Indera Kayangan bagi negeri Perlis ditukar kepada Darul Sunnah secara rasminya.

That roughly translates into:

KANGAR, 26 Sept (Hrkh) – Perlis PAS commissioner Ustaz Hashim Jasin urged to officially change Perlis’ title from Indera Kayangan to Darul Sunnah.

The Department of Environment, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment also used Perlis Darul Sunnah instead of Perlis Indera Kayangan. The Department however isn’t consistent in its usage.

Indera Kayangan, by the way could be rendered to English as “land of dreams”. Dream as in when a person sleeps, the person dreams. As a person in the comment section has commeted and after consulting a dictionary, “land of gods” is the accurate intepretation.

Further search brought me to a forum which it’s stated that the Chief Minister of Perlis declared the name switch on July 2 2006. The forum might not be credible and so, handle this information with a healthy dose of skepticism.

What is wrong with Indera Kayangan anyway? Is it too unislamic?

If it is so, then I hope people of whom are making effort to change the state title realize that being a Muslim isn’t about being an Arab.

Categories
Education Society

[1006] Of a suggestion to increase the appeal of national schools

The Malaysian government is committed towards the national school system. From time to time, the current government reminds us of that; today, the Prime Minister reiterates his support for the system:

KUALA LUMPUR: National schools will become the schools of choice again, according to the Prime Minister.

Lamenting their decline yesterday, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said: “Everything is being done to make the schools attractive to all the races.”

Abdullah said the government had realised that national schools played an important role in nation building and bringing the various races together.

I have a suggestion, out of few, on how to make it a system of choice of many Malaysians.

Bring religion, in most cases Islam as far as national schools are concerned, to where to belong — as equal among many other courses.

When I was a students within the national school system, I loathe the very idea that religion was being forced upon me. I dislike that fact that because I’m a Muslim, I had to do things that are deemed as Islamic by my religious teachers. I’m sure some girls disagree to being forced to wear headscarf at school, just because they’re Muslims.

For me personally, the reason I attend school is to learn arts, humanities and sciences, not to have my personal life and belief dictated upon by strangers.

Further, I believe all the stress on Islam makes believers of other religions, atheists, agnostics and even Muslims that are uninterested in religious conservatives’ wet dream alike feel alienated. Surely, that doesn’t increase the appeal of national schools to many.

Categories
Liberty Personal Photography Politics & government Pop culture Society

[987] Of satire at Istana Seri Menanti

It’s 2 AM on a Sunday. I just got back from a dinner event at Istana Seri Menanti.

To those that organized the sketch, I salute thee. It takes courage to stage it in front of the King and the Chief Minister of Negeri Sembilan. Thanks goodness that we still have some freedom of expression in this country, despite daily erosion.

Some rights reserved. By Mohd Hafiz Noor Shams.

If this is the kind of quality play held at every annual MCOBA dinner, I wouldn’t mind attending the next edition. And the next too. Great job guys.

And, haha, thanks to Project Sayong for sponsoring my ticket. But I wonder, would this play hurt the project? LOL!

p/s – Nik Nazmi describes the play.

Categories
Liberty Society

[951] Of Islamic law for southern Thailand and Singaporean killing fest

Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont suggested the introduction of Islamic law in the troubled south:

BANGKOK, Nov. 7 (Reuters) — Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, in another significant gesture to Muslim insurgents in the far south, said Tuesday that Islamic law should be given a bigger role there.

He also said the only condition his post-coup government would impose for talks with the insurgents was that there should be no discussion of separation.

Mr. Surayud told the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand that Shariah, or Islamic law, should be allowed in the area, where 80 percent of the people are ethnic Malay and Muslim.

Does the insurgency in southern Thailand revolve around Malay separatism/nationalism or the demand for Islamic law?

It might well be both but in my opinion, granting autonomy power to the Malay Thai states would be a better solution to a top down introduction of Islamic law by Bangkok.

In Singapore:

[…] they do not respond to government campaigns and directives. So they have to be shot.

“I myself have killed, I would say, about 40,000 of them,” Mr. Lim said, working in spare time from his job as a Web site editor.

Alright. Alright. I quoted it out of context. It really was about crows culling. Still, it isn’t too different to Singaporean politics, is it?

Not to mention the barbaric act of killing itself…

Categories
Politics & government Society

[948] Of defining Bangsa Malaysia

What is Bangsa Malaysia exactly?

Is it an assimilation policy to create an united race?

Is it a multicultural policy that celebrates cultural diversity?

Is it simply about the citizenship of Malaysia?

Is it about equality?

Is it about Malay rights?

Is it something else altogether?

Is it about nothing at all?

Somebody. Help me. Please.

A lot of people are giving me contradictory answers and I’m officially confused. For instance, Dr. Rais Yatim said:

IDENTIFYING oneself as Bangsa Malaysia does not mean that one forgets one’s race, culture, heritage and other practices, said Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

“Each of us is a Malay, Chinese, Indian or other race first, but at the same time, we belong to Bangsa Malaysia. This is because we share a common destiny, common interest socially, politically and economically,” said the minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage.

But Dr. Mahathir said:

In August, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad made a plea for “Bangsa Malaysia” – a united Malaysian Nation in which being a Malaysian is the thing, not being Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban or Kadazan. It means “people being able to identify themselves with the country, speak Bahasa Malaysia and accept the Constitution,” said Mahathir.

Then, Najib Razak said:

JOHOR BARU: The Bangsa Malaysia concept is the state of an individual’s mind and does not infringe on Malay special rights and privileges, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Deputy Prime Minister said Bangsa Malaysia was a concept and had nothing to do with the Constitution or national policies, but was related to an individual’s state of mind.

“Bangsa Malaysia means we do not evaluate someone by his skin colour, race or religion,” Najib said when closing the Johor Umno Convention at Persada Johor here yesterday.

“It does not question the special rights of the Malays, our quota or anything of that sort.”

Before we start banging on each other head, let’s define the term first, shall we?

I hate shooting bullets at somebody while not knowing why am I shooting the bullets in the first place.