When Everythings Seems to go Wrong…..

Another tragedy costing Malaysia 295 lives (if there are no survivors) has hit us. MH17 shot down at 33,000 feet in the air, four months after MH370 was lost in thin air without any trace. Up to now the remains of the plane had still not been found.
hell fire in the sky

On the ground armed terrorists in Sabah and armed law-breakers on the streets seem to have no fear at all of the law enforcers in the country. While the Traffic Police are issuing thousand upon thousand of summons for traffic offences, angry drivers are getting more inconsiderate and ruthless with the traffic jams getting worse on all major roads and thoroughfares.Slow drivers hugging the right lanes on highways can cause a lot of accidents yet they are never taken off the road. So are drivers who run over the double lines to overtake others, even at corners.

terrorists gathering forces
I'm not qualified to comment on political development and the intriguing things that are happening.But the views we read from political analysts and seasoned commentators seem to only generate a lot of heat but no light. What's really happening in the corridors of power and who is in real control is still a great mystery. The public can only see things going wrong on many issues. But no one can put his or her finger on the actual cause(s) of the problem.Sudden interruption in the water supply is still a frequent occurrence in KL and elsewhere while government's battle cry "rakyat didahulukan,kecekapan diutamakan" ( the public is of first concern and efficiency is a priority) has often been quoted as an insult. Some public services are still not up to the mark or not giving priority to the poor and helpless.
no problem if you can pay up
But thank Allah, everything seems okay on the surface. Yes, on the surface of things Malaysians are enjoying a peaceful and prosperous life, Never mind if the price of houses, cars, gas, power, food, clothes etc are doubling up (even a slice of pineapple curry can cost RM1.50 when before it was just 50 sen and a small fried catfish up to RM3), if your income is enough to cope up with the rising cost. If not, wait for BRIM to help you out i.e. if you don't starve before its issuance. For the rich Malaysians, life here can even be a party or a ball. All the monetary fines imposed by law on Malaysians who break any of them would not hurt the rich: only the poor and low-income people will suffer more. Even in criminal offences the rich seem to be able to fight any case against them until it drags on for years and ultimately end up with an
acquittal. It's the same with any civil case against a powerful personality. Nothing happens in the end….

As long as the law and its enforcement is not equally applied on the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, without fear or favour, everything done to foster development and justice will go wrong somewhere, made wrong or bent or stretched to favour the rich and powerful. For so long as the punishment for wrong doing is
monetary in nature, the rich in Malaysia wouldn't care two hoot for the law. They can pay the fine, even buy their way out or turn a small issue into a big political battle by turning it into a racial problem.

Malaysia has enjoyed stability, peace and harmony before. The leaders were very concerned with rural poverty and the unfortunate Malaysians. Now that even those who were poor and unfortunate before (ike the early settlers of Felda) have become rich, greed sets in and everyone wants to make a pile as quickly as possible. It has become a land of greedy opportunists and wealth seekers. If the leaders realize this fact, they might begin to take action to set things right and not allow what is right to go wrong.

Abolishing the Paupers and Beggars...

What a blow for the host country of the World Cup to suffer 7 goals to 1. It just shows that anything can happen in football for there can be many a slip between the feet and the ball. I hope Brazil had not been frolicking too much the night before the game. The worst defeat can come in the best of time.
Oh no, Brazil is out

And the worst thing can also happen in the most auspicious time of the year in any country. Malaysia as in other Muslim countries, for example, is respecting the month of Ramadhan when prayers, good deeds and helping the unfortunate people in society are given top priority. Giving food and alms to the paupers, the beggars and the impoverished, is considered as a way of cleansing the soul and washing away your sins.

But, the media is agog with the anger of common Muslim citizens over government efforts to rid the country of paupers, beggars and the the homeless who are roaming the streets to take advantage of the month's drive for kindness and compassion for the unfortunate. At any food bazar where Muslims are busy selling and buying food for breaking their fast and the crowd is overwhelming, the beggars and alms-seekers also proliferate. You will not only see the beggars and physically impaired souls holding out their tin-cans or begging bowls to the crowd passing by, but you can also see well-dressed volunteers holding out colourful collection boxes to collect contributions to certain foundations of funds.
where else to go for help?

Many kind hearted Muslims are crying out against the authorities' efforts to round up these beggars and impoverished charity seekers and put them in welfare homes. Even free food kitchens where these unfortunate members of society can get some chow for their empty stomachs, are being viewed as encouraging pauperism and must, therefore, be abolished. The effort is seen as a necessary cruelty to clean up the streets from the bad image and nuisance caused by these unfortunate lots.
free food is encouraging begging?

This sounds more like trying to abolish poverty by decree. Taken to the extreme even alms givers and good samaritans may be fined or taken to task for "encouraging" pauperism and street begging. Can we ever overcome poverty by abolishing the street beggars and alms-seekers - not including those collecting donation for certain foundations of funds of course? Where do you want to place all the beggars and 'miserabs' if government is not even building enough welfare homes or home for the poor and disabled to accommodate and care for them, let alone establish a "social security system" that guarantees some monetary allowance for the poor, unemployed and handicapped. In Malaysia most of the 'old folks homes' are run by voluntary organisations.

Brazil, the host country for world Cup 2014, is now out of the competition.That doesn't mean that the Samba Festival should end. Even if Malaysia is proclaimed by its leaders as doing very well economically, should it try to abolish poverty with a cruel hand, and especially in the month of Ramadhan, the month of charity and compassion?

Ministers as Technocrats.

As the world Cup moves to Quarter final on July 4th staging France vs Germany and Brazil vs Columbia and 5th July staging Netherland vs Costa Rica and Argentina vs Belgium, Muslims will end their first week of fasting. The war in Iraq goes on with the Shias and the Sunnis going all out against each other while the Kurds look on. The sudden appearance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with its proclamation of its leader as the Caliph of the Muslims, makes the entire situation in the Middle East more complicated and volatile.In Afghanistan the Talibans are coming back with renewed strength.

We in Malaysia are jolted by the news that there are four new militant groups operating in the country under the acronyms AKAW, BAJ, DIMzia and ADI. One of the suspects involved as a Tier One personality is a university professor, who had all these while used the university premise as a place to recruit and train new members.How such thing can happen without being detected until the groups had recruited so many followers, no one knows.The authorities in Malaysia seem to be in the habit of not letting the public know what dangers are building up around them until they cannot contain the news any longer. This include the fact that some Malaysian officers (civilian and military) posted overseas are not giving the country a good name.We only hear about them after that are hauled up in the court of the country where they served.
the suspects in Malaysia are being hounded

Once known as one of the most stable and peaceful countries in the world, Malaysia has indeed transformed itself. 'Malaysia boleh' as a slogan for promoting achievement in sports has become a mockery to mean that everything is possible in Malaysia. Through politics an almost unknown party leader can suddenly become a full minister without any experience in a lesser capacity such as a Political Secretary to a Minister or an Assistant Minister as used to be the case. This has led the Cabinet of Ministers to swell in number to 35, ten of whom are Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department. They were before called Ministers without Portfolio. The number of Assistant Ministers has increased too.
The 2013 Cabinet members and the additions

It looks as if the Ministers and Assistant Ministers are taking over the job of senior technocrats and professional administrators. In the olden days Minister consulted and sometime sought the views and advice of senior officials before making an important policy decision.By doing so all the untended consequence of any policy action can be removed or reduced to give the action maximum impact. Now it seems that the Minister will just consult his political boys and go a ahead with any plan of action. Civil servants and administrators just carry the instructions out.Do as told or get out. When things become a terrible mass or theunintended consequences bedevilled the entire program, only then will the administrators be called upon to solve the problem. Or otherwise they will be blamed for not implementing the program effectively.
The Civil Servants:Do as Told

There many other things that led to the mockery of the slogan 'Malaysia Boleh'. It reminds me of the one time popular Indoenisian saying "Bisa diurus, Pak." Everyone knows that even the almost impossible thing can happen here now if the price is right. I wonder if the 35 member Malaysian Cabinet - is that more than the number of Secretary Generals in the Government? - can wash away the mockeries and the insults that this country has brought upon itself in recent years. Malaysia is still a stable and progressive nation in spite of the mockeries and insults but we can certainly pull up far ahead of others without them.

Ramadhan Cometh Again.

Soon Ramadhan will come around and Muslims all over the world will fast from sunrise to sunset. It will be a month of cleansing the soul, intensifying our prayers and subjugation (ibadah) to Allah SAW., making peace with the material world and seeking peace for the life hereafter. It is a month in which Muslims will devote their days and nights to doing obeisance to the Creator of Heaven and Earth.welcome, month of peace and devotion

But will the world respect this obligation of the Muslims and not start any provocation? Will the world let the Muslims have their month of search for spiritual peace and harmony, through sacrifice and devotion to the performance of good deeds according to the demands of the Islamic faith(amal makruf) and staying away or observing all prohibitions (nahi munkar). Will their refusal to be drawn into anything that contradicts the above concern be properly understood and accepted? Will their refusal to retaliate to any provocation be not considered as an act of cowardice?doing good in the community

More importantly: will the Muslims themselves respect and honour the right of their neighbours and fellow Muslims and fellow citizens to observe the sanctity of the month of Ramashan in peace and full concentration ( khusuk nd tawadhuk)? Will the Muslims in war-torn countries stop their animosity, belligerence and ferocity towards each other for whatever reason be it political, sectarian or just personal? Will they stop aiming and pulling the trigger of their weapons of death at their enemies, who are also Muslims though of a different order or who belong to a different political interest group? Are they willing to be Muslims first and let all other consideration take a back-seat? Can they for a while stop evaluating and judging each other on the "correctness" of their interpretations of Islam, just concentrate on your own understanding of the al-Quran and Hadiths (if you accept them), and let Allah decide on who is right or wrong when the time comes to do so.

It is my belief that the misgivings and antagonism between the Muslims themselves are more divisive and destructive than outside interference. Even in this age of instantaneous communication, unlimited sources of reference, ample opportunity to exchange views and share common values and understanding, the Muslims in different countries and in the same country are more divided than the non-Muslims. Call yourselves the adherence of a religion of peace (Islam) yet you cannot tolerate a neighbour who understands the al-Quran or Hadiths differently from you, or perform his or her prayers differently in certain aspects. The more rigid the rules you adhere to the more critical you become of those who advocate different rules as interpreted by different Imams. But aren't you all praying to the same Allah and seeking the same blessings?
What makes you so sure that you're right and the others are wrong? After all only Allah knows what is the absolute right….

No, I'm no preacher. I just think that the killing and bloodshed between Muslims as brothers are just non-Islamic and not even human. The weapons you hold in your hands are like Shaitan and succumbing to the pleasure of squeezing the trigger with the weapon aimed at a human being is a Satanic act. Satan can promise you anything at all in this world but succumb to its command, and you're destined for hell.Satans in your hand


Let the coming Ramadhan be a month of peace and total devotion to Allah SWT.

In Search of Peace

It's true that searching for peace is one of the most difficult things to do today. Either we're so busy with work and improving the standard and quality of our life or the society we live in is so full of political or economic stress that we can hardly find any peace at home. Even the family at times fails to give us the peace and tranquility that we all longed for and instead gives us the stress and stress that make us miserable.

And so we try to find the peace and tranquility that we so much desire in several ways. Some of us who are so rich will find a remote place to build a palatial home where the hustle and bustle of urban life will not disturb us. Or else we just find a place away from home and often in the remote countryside to hide away at times from the pressure of life in our very competitive society. Some chose to become weird ascetics, living in secret places where the craziness of modern living could not bother them.

For many, the easiest escape from the pressure of life is to go on vacation in an exotic country with enchanting sceneries and lovely people which the tourist magazines or leaflets describe as a paradise on earth. The Pacific islands are a favourite spot although we now have lavish and grandiose holiday resorts in countries like Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Qatar and many of the less developed countries. Of course, they are mostly for the very rich and wealthy where hotel charges for one night might go up to US20 to 30k. Even the less expensive places can burn a hole in the pocket of the middle-income people.

For the average income earner, there are of course many holiday packages available today in the tourism-conscious world.
Just book a package and the sole family can visit a distant country as tourists for a few days with everything arranged by the organisers. Some people are perpetually booked on such holiday packages since it's the easiest way to find peace and relaxation from the stress of earning a living and serving bosses who try to squeeze every ounce of energy from you.

But the astounding and depressing thing about taking holidays and vacation in search of peace and tranquility is that: you feel awfully tired and spent after the vacation. You sometimes feel that you need another vacation. Those who had run away to secret hiding places to find the peace will come back feeling more exhausted and strained. The more so when you're living in a trouble-infested country with political instability and economic crisis. You can't be running away all the time to find the peace and tranquility that you want. And where can you run to if you must work for a living?

Where indeed can we find peace and tranquility in today's world of politics, business dealings, competition even among friends, crimes, cheats etc. I asked a friend and his answer was simple. You can only find the peace and tranquility you want in prayers, when you prostrate yourself before God and seek His help and blessing.
It's only in prayers that you can free yourself from the material world, the world of political conflicts and struggles, economic crisis, relentless competition even among friends, crimes, cheats, double-cross, etc. It's the only time when you're alone with God, to repent, seek His protection and blessings, and appreciate what He has bestowed on you all these while.

It's that appreciation plus the humble seeking of further protection and blessings from Him which will give you the peace that you so much desire in life and which no vacation or holidays can give you.

Religion and Science…..

Many people view religion and science as opposed to each other. A very religious person puts all his or her faith in the All Mighty to determine the course of his or her life while a worldly man or woman puts his or her trust on worldly knowledge, technology and science to guide and determine his or her future. Many see the Muslims as belonging to the first category while westerners belong to the second category. I say westerners,not Christians, for there certainly are many devout Christians who believe the good Lord determines everything. Man proposes God disposes. Followers of other religions in the east tend towards the first category, giving emphasis to prayers and God's blessing to achieve their ends, over and above their humble human efforts.

We even see religion and Science as two factors pulling people apart. When you believe more in science (secular knowledge, technology etc) as the determinants of life, you rely less on faith and religion. You rely less on prayers and humble appeal to God to help you achieve whatever you want to do and depend more on planning, research and applying modern technology to accomplish what yuo desire. But the easterners, the Muslims especially, will pray harder and appeal more humbly to God (Allah) to fulfil their hope and ambition. The Muslims even hold special prayers to request Allah for rain during a spell of dry season, to end the senseless war and killings in some Muslim countries like Syria and Egypt, and even for the return of lost relatives as what had happened in the case of flight MH370.The prayers are, of course, accompanied by continuous efforts and actions to make their hope a reality.


Based on the existing views of the apparent conflict between Religion and Science, must we therefore see people and the world being torn apart, one group allowing religion to dominate everything while the other allowing science to determine everything?
Must the youths of today face the problem of becoming more scientific or religious, trusting science more than the will of the Creator? Must the advancement of science and technology push religion to the back seat as it seems to happen today among the young people of the world, and religion is 'reembraced' as one gets old and faces the uncertainties or fear of death?

I think there's a better way of examining ourselves and our nation in terms of religious and scientific proclivity or inclination. We can create a graph charting our religious or 'Belief in Faith' and 'Believe in Science" mix by presenting the first on an X axis and the latter on a Y axis, starting with 0% and rising to a full 100%, as in Fig. 1 Figure 1.


We can then place ourself or our nation at the most appropriate spot or reading along the X and Y axis. For example a devout Muslim could be placed at 95% along the X axis (belief in faith/religion) and, maybe only 10% on the Y axis (belief in science. An eminent scientist could be placed at maybe 10% or less on the X asia and 99% on the Y axis. This will give us a graphic presentation of their religious-scientific standing in determining the direction of their lives. Fig 1.

If we agree that both religion and science are important in out life, we should then aspire for a more comprehensive mix as in Fig 2. Otherwise we or our nation can become a lopsided kind of entity which can cause a lot of problems in choosing the priorities of life as a common goal.
Figure 2

Quality of Life vs High GDP

I was very attracted by Cina'a policy of putting the pursuit of a high GDP in the back seat in preference for improving the Quality of life. See pic as reported in the NST. It sets me into thinking that Malaysia should follow this example because the pursuit of a high GDP and income Per Capita seem to have dominated the thinking of the government in the interest of achieving a developed nation status by 2020,less than 6 years away.
a commendable policy
Meanwhile so many problems affecting the quality of life of the people have emerged. The most predominant concern is the escalation of prices for popular food at food stalls and restaurants, increase in the price of essential consumer goods such as rice, sugar, fish, vegetables etc, the sudden increase in evaluation rates for land in urban areas now considered as industrial while it carries an agricultural status before and is still undeveloped, the sky rocketing prices of modern houses both in the urban and rural areas, the increase in charges for electricity and water, increase in toll rates etc.
eating place for the average Malaysians
The overall impact of these increases seem to far outweigh the relief that people get through some increase in wages, reduction in taxes, and the BRIM handouts.You can never get s good meal for the family at the restaurants anymore for less than RM50. Don't try the exclusive ones if you have less than a few hundreds. Even a good breakfast at a roadside stall for one person might cost you no less less than RM10. Evaluation rate for an acre of land can go up to RM12,000 whereas before it was only a few hundreds. A semi-D house can now cost more than RM800k while a terrace house can cost some RM300k. Soon, only the rich businessmen can stay in the cities and town areas….
many places don't have the facility
Cost control, and for that matter Quality control for both consumer goods, services and housing facilities seem to have been neglected or just not effective enough. Cracks in new building and homes, power failures, water shortages, etc had become a common heartache. Although there has been some improvement of late in the cleanliness of the urban and town ares, there are still a lot of rubbish lying around, especially in areas where 'pasar malam" (nigh markets are dele. The Authorities alone are not to be blamed for we still see people throwing rubbish and smelly refuse on the road from their cars. This makes me question whether some Malaysians are still not civilised enough to become citizens of a developed nation, even by 2020.

The quality of life in the modern sectors of Malaysia can certainly be called developed even now. Except, of course, for the slump areas. But some services still fail to make the grade. Facilities for the old timers and handicapped people to move around in wheelchairs are sadly lacking, few trashcans can be seen by the corridors of shophouses and on roadsides to enable people to learn throwing rubbish where it belongs. The smell at eateries and open air restaurants can sometime hurt the olfactory.

Quality of life is certainly not determined by income alone, both at the national and personal level. It depends a lot on the quality of goods and services given by the providers. When the price goes up and the quality comes down, it means a downgrading of life, even if the nation and the rich are rolling in money. What differentiates a developed country from an underdeveloped one is the quality of goods and services that citizens of the former enjoy and what citizens of the latter are deprived of.