SeaDemon Says

So, Nazri Aziz has announced of a settlement deal between the Government and Tajuddin Ramli over legal cases involving the latter and several Government-linked companies (GLCs) that includes a case of breach of contract. The GLCs are Atlan Holdings Bhd., Naluri Corp Bhd., Telekom Malaysia Bhd., Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd., and Malaysia Airlines (MAS).

In light of the recent MAS-Air Asia fishy tale, people are wary of this deal announced by Nazri. He said the proposal was made after Tajudin approached certain ministers for help in the matter. He was quoted to have said:

“What is wrong to settle the matter? The cases did not go for trial (yet)”

Of course it doesn’t look wrong if you look at it that way. What of the moral duty to the rakyat whose government’s GLCs have suffered for almost a decade because of wrongdoings? Would it not send the wrong signal to other CEO of GLCs?

You know who, you know how, you can go home now.

Mana Ada Sistem?

Siapa yang tak faham OR-CARE! tu merujuk kepada jin, atau binatang, atau orang, sila layari posting-posting berikut: OR-CARE! dan OR-CARE part 2.

Entahlah.

Kadang-kadang aku tak faham nasib aku ni.

Kat area dining dalam rumah aku tu ada dua jenis entrance. Pintu daun biasa yang ada satu tombol berserta extra lock; dan sliding “door.”

Satu malam minggu lepas, lepas bersahur, aku tengok pintu daun biasa tu tak berkunci. Aku pun tanyalah si OR-CARE ni kenapa tak berkunci. Dia jawab dalam bahasa aliennya (yang aku lebih kurang faham):

“Iya. Sudah!”

Bila aku tanya kenapa pulak sampai time gitu pun tak berkunci jugak, dia jawab:

“Iya. Sudah dikunci tapi bibik lupa untuk kuncinya.”

Boleh?

Malam-malam berikutnya eloklah berkunci pintu tu. Maka, subuh pada hari aku nak balik kampung minggu lepas, hati aku rasa tak sedap. So, aku check pulak sliding door.

TAK BERKUNCI!!!

Tak sempat aku nak remind dia pasal sliding door tu. Aku pun balik ke kampung dengan wife aku untuk beberapa hari. Bila dah balik ke rumah, satu malam lepas sahur, aku check lagi sliding door.

MASIH TAK BERKUNCI!!!

Dan perkara ni berlaku lagi malam tadi.

So, pagi tadi bila aku alihkan kereta aku supaya tak block kereta anak aku (pukul 4 pagi ye kawan-kawan), aku tengok si OR-CARE ni keluar juga untuk membuang sampah dapur. so, aku pun ambik la kesempatan ni untuk nak beritahu dia pasal sliding door yang tak berkunci tu.

AKU: “Bibik, kakak udah kasi duit gaji bibik?”

OR-CARE: “Gaji….(pause 5 saat)….duit…(pause lagi 5 saat)…udah (pause 5 saat lagi)….terimah kasih”…(pause 5 saat)….SENGIH MACAM KERANG BUSUK

Aku tak faham kenapa banyak sangat pause tu. Mungkin dia belum clearkan cache memorynya; dan aku tak expect model alien macam dia ada virtual memory. Jadi bila RAM penuh, system slow.

AKU: “Bik, (sambil tunjuk ke arah sliding door) pintu tu tak berkunci malam tadi.”

OR-CARE: (sambil pandang ke arah jari aku dengan penuh blank) “Iya (pause 5 saat)…udah dikunci.”

Aku: “Saya yang kunci pintu tu malam tadi. Dah 3 malam dah pintu tu tak berkunci.”

OR-CARE: “Ya Allah! Tiga malam? Ingat bibik udah dikunci. Lupa bibik! Masfafnjsw;gbsdjka*(&^76r senr9yq39230902 ssdpr113r9ujmcmsdklASFJMVFPWE, ASTAGA! Nanti bibik tengok.” (dia mula keluar bahasa alien dia yang langsung aku tak faham.

Lalu dia bergegas lari masuk rumah sambil aku ikut dari belakang. Elok dia lepas dari pintu masuk, dia pusing, tutup dan KUNCI PINTU DARI DALAM DENGAN AKU TERCEGAT KAT LUAR!!!! AKU NAK MASUK MACAM MANA, BENGONG???!!!

Aku tengok dari luar dia tengah check kunci sliding door. Aku pun buat gesture suruh dia buka pintu depan sebab aku nak masuk. Dia tengok aku, pause 5 saat, terus berlari dan buka pintu depan.

AKU: “Kenapa bibik kunci? Saya nak masuk!”

OR-CARE: “Iya…(pause 5 saat)…udah dikunci.”

AKU: “Apa yang dah kunci?”

OR-CARE: “Itu…pintu kaca itu (sliding door).”

Tolonglah, wahai Alien, tunjukkanlah apa dosa aku di bulan yang mulia ni!!!!

Okay, everyone else has had their share of what to say about a certain offensive/racist/sexist Ramadhan public service advertisement shown recently on TV8. It was said to be stereotyping the chinese community in Malaysia, and everyone including Patrick Teoh went to town about it.

But nobody gives a damn about the Payu Up, Ombak Besar and most controversial of all, KOPI JANDA. KOPI JANDA (Divorcee’s Coffee) is shown almost nightly in between TV3’s Nightline segments and has that seducing voice saying out its tagline “Bukan nak menggoda, cuma nak berniaga (I’m not enticing, I’m just selling).” I believe it is downright sexist, and somehow implies that divorcees are out there to entice men to sell their business products. Furthermore, it is marketed under JANDA (Jaringan Amanah Niaga Demi Ad-Din or Business Trust Network for the Religion).

Perhaps because the advertisement seems to target only the malay audience that is why nobody gives a damn.

But it is nevertheless sexist and degrading.

Kopi janda, bukan nak menggoda, cuma nak berniaga

So, in light of the JAIS fiasco over the raid on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church, the Menteri Besar has issued the most democratic order yet: the GAG ORDER. All State Executive Councillors as well as staff from JAIS have been barred from saying anything pertaining to the issue. The Menteri Besar is also said to want to hear what the Sultan of Selangor has to say.

If my memory serves me right, the current Menteri Besar of Selangor was never one who would listen to His Majesty the Sultan. Take for example the tussle over the appointment of Datuk Mohd Khusrin Munawi as the State Secretary. As a matter of fact, the Selangor State Government has also shown its disrespect to the Raja Permaisuri Agong by not attending the International Islamic Songs Festival held in Selangor that was graced and officiated by Her Majesty.

Barisan Nasional, too, has had its fair share of “not listening to the Sultan” when the Palace of Terengganu insisted on having the current Menteri Besar replacing the previous one. We know how that turned out. But Pakatan Rakyat seems more riddled with episodes of dissing the respective State’s Royal Institution:

1. Nizar Zakaria, the former MB of Perak, refused to heed to the Sultan’s call to vacate his post as the Menteri Besar after losing majority support in the Perak’s Dewan. In a press conference, Nizar was quoted to have said:

“Saya dengan rendah hati mohon derhaka dengan berkata kepada baginda ’patik sebagai MB dan pemimpin kerajaan, mohon tidak letak jawatan”

He requested to disobey the directive from His Majesty the Sultan. Anyway, Nizar still maintains the prefix “MB” in his Twitter ID, for reasons best known only to him.

2. V Sivakumar, the ADUN for Tronoh from the DAP, had to be forcibly removed from the Dewan. He also went against the Palace when, as the then-Speaker (or so he thought), he suspended and banned the new Menteri Besar and six state Excos from entering the Dewan.

3. Not to be outdone, also in Perak, the ADUN for Pantai Remis (again, from DAP), Nga Kor Ming, attended the Dewan sitting not dressed in the ceremonial dress WITH THE RAJA MUDA IN ATTENDANCE, while his cousin, Ngeh Koo Ham, the ADUN for Sitiawan (yet again from DAP) wore the ceremonial dress, but without the songkok.

4. In Johor, Boo Cheng Hau (DAP-Skudai) also did not don the songkok in the state’s Dewan, in the presence of the Sultan of Johor. Perhaps, wearing a songkok to him would be an insult to his race (since he is always harping on race issues).

5. Also in Johor, two years earlier, Gwee Tong Hiang (DAP-Bentayan), wore only a blue business suit to the Dewan’s sitting. However, the Speaker ordered him to do so, 15 minutes before the opening ceremony. Ong Kow Meng (DAP-Senai) also did the same.

6. Two years ago, during the 217th Malay Rulers Conference, the Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng (also from the DAP) did not don a songkok in the presence of His Majesty the King and His Royal Highnesses the Sultans, Raja and Yam DiPertuan Besar as well as His Excellencies the Governors of Sabah, Sarawak, Melaka and Pulau Pinang.

7. Most recently, DAP state excos in Sarawak did not don the songkok at the state Dewan sitting in the presence of His Excellency the Governor of Sarawak.

Therefore, since when has the Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor state government started listening to what the Palace has to say?

To God belongs the East and the West,
Wheresoever you look is the face of God.
Qur’an 2:115

During my A-levels, I studied in a Grammar school in England. I was the only Muslim in that school. Every day during assembly, students would sing the hymn. I had to sing to; in fact, I had a hymn book of my own. We would also cite the Lord’s Prayer, which ’til this day I still memorise (in fact I also memorise the Shri Ganesha Shloka). I have also made four pilgrimages to Mecca.

So, what am I by JAIS’s definition? A Christian or a Hindu?

The raid by JAIS on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church is nothing short of damaging, not only to the image of Islam, but to the image of Pakatan Rakyat that has been struggling to demonstrate the cohesiveness among its member parties on the issue of religious tolerance despite differences especially caused by the stance of PAS.

Politics aside, I do not see any reason for Muslims not to be allowed to attend functions held at a church, or any other non-Islamic religious institutions. Let us use our brain for a moment – if Islam is that restrictive, will it be viewed as an open and welcoming religion by non-Muslims? Read that verse from the Quran at the top – I can even perform my prayers in a church if I so wish, for example when I take refuge from rain outside (as long as the Christian community do not feel offended if I do), because wherever I go, I will be treading on God’s Earth.

I do not see any wrong done by the Muslims who were there to join their Christian neighbours, as I do not see any wrong for a Christian attending a tahlil for a Muslim deceased. I do not even see any wrong for Muslims to participate in events organised by a Church for as long as it is for the betterment of the community. And I was ever ready to defend the local church from attacks by misinformed Muslims early last year.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) even made a promise to the Christians when a delegation from the Saint Catherine’s monastery asked for Muslims’ protection in 628 A.D:

“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.

Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by God! I hold out against anything that displeases them.

No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims’ houses.

Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God’s covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.

No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.

No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world).”

Dare JAIS brand Muhammad (pbuh) an infidel?