Perspectives.... a short life in Cardiff

I am a wife! I am NOT a prostitute!

2011-06-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I am not a feminist neither a women liberation advocate.

As a wife for almost 23 years, I am trying to be fair in giving out my opinion. When it comes to the roles and responsibilities of a wife and a woman in a family, I always try to be unbiased as it evolves around myself. I am full-time working wife, what is more now... I am struggling with another huge responsibility as a student. A trust not from a husband but from a nation which belongs to an ummah back home.

However, I was actually startled with the sub-headline in one of the mainstreams (online) last night. I thought... it must have been due to desperation! Didn't we have any other way of raising the issue!

In the first place... I don't have much time to dig further on the issue... my academic work is waiting there... but the burst of the news compelled me to drop few words here.

Why is it always a wife or a women becoming an issue in a marriage relationship?

How do we see a marriage?

What is the foundation of our marriage?

A wife is a complementary in a woman-man relationship that solemnised in the name of Allah. The beauty of this relationship is stipulated in the Quranic verse which says: "they are your garments and you are their garments" (Surah Al Baqarah 2:187).

So, she is complementing the man's life - roles and responsibilities and vice versa! Both a wife and a husband has her/his responsibilities towards each other... a wife towards her husband and a husband towards his wife! A wife has rights towards her husband and vice versa!

Allow me to quote a description of a husband-wife relationship by Dr Sherif Muhammad:

'Indeed, spouses are like garments to each other because they provide one another with the protection, the comfort, the cover, the support, and the adornment that garments provide to humans. Just imagine a journey in the winter of Alaska without garments! Our spouses provide us with the same level of comfort, protection, cover, and support in the journey of our lives on this earth as garments would do in the Alaskan journey.'

Having a clear understanding of what a marriage is.... problems in the institutions would have always be contributed by both parties, the wife and the husband... be it emotional issues or even sexual issues! In my perspective 'Sekiranya suami sanggup menyediakan segalanya....sudah tentu isteri boleh menyediakan segalanya untuk suami!' If this is not the case, be realistic and practical in handling a marriage dear husband.

So, Kelab Taat Suami may be welcome by most husbands but not all thoughtful wives... because a true husband-wife relationship is not a one-sided one but a reflection of both parties. In the case of the sexual demand anyway, the use of the word 'pelacur' or 'prostitute'... I would say it was overly-exaggerating and very inappropriate. Why should we degrade ourselves to that extent?

A wife is always a WIFE and NEVER be a prostitute!

In any extent you serve your husband, you are always dignified as a WIFE. A prostitute is anyone beyond the world of a marriage that is owned by a husband and a wife.

If you are male chauvinist, you must have not agreed with my perspectives... as you would always perceive that a wife should be in the position of submitting towards a husband unconditionally! To what extent?

Beating the rise in prices?

2011-05-21T00:14:00.000-07:00

The weather today over here is very nice...cool but sunny! This is the beauty of spring season... in fact we are now approaching towards summer. Masha Allah... the four seasons in a year somehow make me to have certain expectation for the future. The cool flowery spring is always being fond of by the people here... come after is summer time... the heaty and prickly temperature, it's a time for tan-skinned lover. But I'm always indifference... naturally tan! I love autumn anyway... though its going to be windy most of the time, the colour is really breathtaking and more importantly it tells you that life would never be 'green' throughout...after such a nice, cool and sunny time... there's always time where you have to face in life...the 'fall' of leaves.... preparing for a bitter season of winter!

Spring in Cardiff 2011

Autumn 2011

Huh! so much introduction! But it's just to reflect the perfect creation of Allah...the four seasons come into picture naturally in our life or structurally into the man-made systems. Everybody is aware that we are experiencing the impact of economic downturn, almost in every single corner of the world. Neither an economist nor a theorist, but a two-year stint doing A Levels economics make me understand a bit of the cycle in the economy... the downturn will be there! And to a certain extent is predictable!

Fuel price triggers the economy! Even my mother who had never gone to any economics school could comment on the effect of the rise in fuel price... 'kalau naik harga minyak...nanti barang lain pun naikla tu...'. Now with almost £1.40 per litre of unleaded, what could you expect?

Would we enjoy pumping at this price again?

Indeed waking up in the morning with news of more increases in prices of goods is really an awful experience. As a person... a consumer... and a mother of 5 kids, the impact of the economic downturn this time round is really pinching us. Being in the foreign country, indeed, we are struggling to survive... insya Allah for a better future as the sweet and flowery spring comes after the bitter and cold winter!

What choice do we have to beat this economic downturn?

Be positive, this is the period for us to learn managing the economic affairs of our family effectively. Usually the wife or mom leads the way like me! It's good to get the kids involve in the economic management of the family as well ... be the economist and money-keeper for the family... by the way it does not involve the live and death situation!.

Try these out and the lists are actually endless:

Grocery shopping

shop at bargain stores like Home Bargains, Lidl, Asda or Tesco...but do compare prices (usually moms are more alert with price differences!) through the internet FOC. For marketing sake, these stores have the tricks in charging prices. Anyway, take advantage of the price war over here.
buy the supermarket brand confidently. These products are ridiculously cheaper than the established brand but the quality is still superb. Most of the time brand kills your pocket! Normally supermarkets have the high and low range of products. The high end is still very much cheap than the establish brand. Have a thought about it if you are brand mania person.
Take advantage of loyalty cards membership. We could enjoy some discounts through vouchers sent to us from time to time and the reward point system. However, I reckon Sainsbury is only good for its fuel and not for the groceries
'Reduced price' really keeps our purse but we have to strategise our visit to supermarkets. Evenings on weekdays and late afternoon on weekends give you good bargains. Don't worry with the quality... still edible! You could have 2 kg of carrot for just 20p and I had once bought 2 sticks of lemon grass for 1p!

Travelling

Plan your travel well in advance as you could save a lot on the accommodation bills. Travelodge is good for this. Grab the £9 per room offer and it is not a gimmick. I had this ridiculous price for our London trip and North wales break recently. After all it's just for us to have a tight sleep after wandering around the places.
Bring our own pre-cooked food as much as we can. For a big family like mine, it does safe a lot on the food bills. Anyway, our time is saved from looking for halal takeaways...confident and comfortable! Unless if go to Bradford, Manchester or Leeds where you could have loads of choices and the prices are appealing.

online shopping

beat the fuel price and time! Go for the free delivery and don't forget the review for the sellers!
in making decision to shop online, please also take into account non-monetary costs...driving time, queuing time, looking for goods in ever changing aisles...another marketing trick by supermarkets!

Carbooting

enjoy carbooting... the unbelievable prices! But don't just buy things for the price sake! Think about re-selling! Anyway it is part of saving the earth...recycling.
Bargain the price if possible.
Look for non-traders and non-regular carbooters if you are a regular shopper.

cheapest bargain or FOC

always look for bargain sales...charity shop is a good place. If you want a good and quality charity, go to British Heart Foundation...though a little bit expensive than others, the stuff are of good quality and clean. But don't forget Islamic Relief also does have its charity shop and proces are very affordable, OR
bid at ebay...am not good at bidding but friends do recommend this. Atleast the 'Buy it now' prices are sometimes better than the superstore/high street prices.
join the local/community yahoo group... members will be posting stuff to be given away FOC...sometimes almost new! Again a good practice of recycle... save the planet and save your money!

Keep abreast FOC

take advantage of the online newspapers...unless there's free local newspaper
go for METRO...definitely FREE

cook and serve fresh food

Eat out really tax your money over here...avoid eating out or even takeaway...special occasion is fine, anyway.
if you are super duper busy...wife...mom...student...employee...it's like 4 in 1, plan your routine of cooking... practice makes perfect!
always stock up with blended onions/shallots+garlic+ginger for one week ration as well as blended chillies. That's really save your time!
if you are asking help from your other half, make sure the above is ready and do not forget to label all your spice containers...it does help, otherwise he gonna call you just asking about the kurma powder while you are convincing your supervisor on your research!
and never any waste food...be creative in cooking. Anyway, cooking is actually an art...the basic is there...the taste is depending on how we manouvre the measurements...if you don't believe, try it yourself! The common example is never throw away bread crust...kids do not like it...so could easily have a big container of crust...prepare for versatile bread pudding...simply soak with fresh milk and mix with butter, sugar...simply add in anything sensible to make it tasty...dusted cereals, raisins or mixed fruits are all welcome...

Owh...too long, but hopefully they are useful for us.... but the list would never end!!!!

Dedicated to all husbands...

2011-05-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

Just to share a piece of wise thoughts of a Muslim brother who I believe he himself must be a husband and is practising them himself... otherwise it would not be just so natural....

Don't worry! All of you are great guys ...

Alsalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

It is very important for every husband to understand his wife. Remember, A woman is like melted wax, and her husband can mold her into any shape he likes, with his love, tenderness and trust.
Prophet Mohammad (SalAllahu alaihi wassalam) said, "the best amongst you are the ones who are best to their wives." So dear muslim brother! Your obligations towards your wife are not limited to earn money and support her financially. A wife needs love from her husband, and emotional support to.

10 Tips on How to Be a Successful Husband

1. Dress up for your wife, look clean and smell good. When was the last time us men went shopping for designer pajamas? Just like the husband wants his wife to look nice for him, she also wants her husband to dress up for her too. Remember that Rasul Allah - sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam - would always start with Miswak when returning home and always loved the sweetest smells.

(Dress up for your wife when you are at home also. Some brothers only dress up when they go out and that is not a good practice. A husband should dress up for his wife when they are at home. it makes a wife feel special)

2. Use the cutest names for your wife. Rasul Allah - sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam - had nicknames for his wives, ones that they loved. Call your wife by the most beloved names to her, and avoid using names that hurt their feelings.

(Remember, you are your wife's only boyfriend, and her only best friend. She does not go out seeking boyfriends and she shares a halal relationship with you. Love her unconditionally for the sake of Allah. And express your love to her. A woman likes to be told that she is loved. Call her from your work to make sure she is doing fine. I have seen my dad calling my mother several times a day, just to make sure she has been eating well. And my husband calls me at least twice from work to make sure I am doing well. These things are very important in a relationship.)

3. Don't treat her like a fly. We never think about a fly in our daily lives until it 'bugs' us. Similarly, a wife will do well all day - which brings no attention from the husband - until she does something to 'bug' him. Don't treat her like this; recognize all the good that she does and focus on that.

(Whenever there is a fight or argument, just remember all the things she does for you. she cooks for you, she takes care of your home, she takes care of your children and the most important thing is that she guards her modesty. So do not upset her if she is upset with you. hold her and tell her that you love her. Only your love can repel her anger. Communicate with her and discuss with her if there is any misunderstanding.)

4. If you see wrong from your wife, try being silent and do not comment! This is one of the ways Rasul Allah - sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam - used when he would see something inappropriate from his wives - radi Allahu 'anhunn. It's a technique that few Muslim men have mastered.

(Do not criticize her all the time. Trust her and trust her decisions. If she is doing something that you don't like, or that goes against the teachings of Islam, then do advice her gently.)

"A companion asked Prophet saw: what is the right of a wife over her husband?’ He said, «That you feed her when you eat and clothe her when you clothe yourself and do not strike her face. Do not malign her and do not keep apart from her, except in the house." -Abu Daud.

5. Smile at your wife whenever you see her and embrace her often. Smiling is Sadaqah and your wife is not exempt from the Muslim Ummah. Imagine life with her constantly seeing you smiling. Remember also those Ahadith when Rasul Allah - sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam - would kiss his wife before leaving for Salah, even if he was fasting.

(Do let your wife know that you are very happy and blessed to have her. A wife always wonder how her husband feels about her. She may have some insecurity about you, so make her feel secure. Always give her a hug whenever you come back from work. appreciate her and thank her for taking care of everything whole day. If you are not too tired, go out for star gazing for an hour or so.)

6. Thank her for all that she does for you. Then thank her again! Take for example a dinner at your house. She makes the food, cleans the home, and a dozen other tasks to prepare. And sometimes the only acknowledgement she receives is that there needed to be more salt in the soup. Don't let that be; thank her!

(Write thank you notes for her and place those notes in her books, her purse, her socks, and anything else that belongs to her. You can use your own creativity to thank her. You can thank her by writing something on a mirror with her lipstick, so that she can read it when she wakes up in the morning. You can also thank her by arranging a candlelight dinner AT HOME, you be the cook and let her rest. So far I have learnt that a nice romantic dinner at home is much better than going out for dinner. This way a couple saves themselves from many fitnahs. You can thank her by writing her letters and emails. Remember, in Islam, everyday is special. So celebrate wife's day with her, and do it very often without having a particular date. She will always wonder when the wife's day is going to be. You can also give her a certificate of appreciation, or a best wife award on wife's day. Do everything by yourself that day and let her rest, this way you will also know how difficult it could be to do household chores. Thank her by building a webpage for her, write a note there and a poem and then ask her to visit your webpage. Thank her by recording a voice message on a cd for your wife. She will love it! Thank her by giving her a gift, and a gift does not have to be expensive. Be creative! You do not have to give her Roses, you can give her a leaf too! (My husband gave me a leaf once, instead of roses, and I was very happy and surprised, and I appreciated his creativity). So remember, thoughtful and creative gifts makes a wife feel secure and happy. Thank her by ordering a halal pizza for her, ask the restaurant to cut it in a heart shape and have it delivered with a personalized note. Thank her by thanking her in a family gathering. A woman likes it when her husband gives her attention. If you visit her parents or your parents, hold her hands and tell your parents how happy you are after marriage. Give your wife an Islamic book as a gift after praying Tahajjud. Use your imagination and think about unique gifts. Remember, she does not need a diamond, she needs your sincerity and your heart, so always give her the gifts that are thoughtful. Whenever you do something to make her happy, observe her facial expressions and ask yourself about how you feel when you become her happiness.)

7. Ask her to write down the last ten things you did for her that made her happy. Then go and do them again. It may be hard to recognize what gives your wife pleasure. You don't have to play a guessing game, ask her and work on repeating those times in your life.

(Also ask her to write down the things you did that she did not like, or the things you did that made her unhappy. Try to not do those things in future. If she falls ill, let her lay down, and read different surahs from Qura'an while placing your hand on her forehead. When I got sick, my husband recited Qura'an for me, it really helped a lot mashaAllah. Remember, a wife needs her husband the most when she is not feeling well. Take good care of her because a healthy wife makes a healthy family. Do not expect too much from her when she is sick.)

8. Don't belittle her desires. Comfort her. Sometimes the men may look down upon the requests of their wives. Rasul Allah - sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam set the example for us in an incident when Safiyyah - radi Allahu 'anha - was crying because, as she said, he had put her on a slow camel. He wiped her tears, comforted her, and brought her the camel.

(If there is a time of sadness, give her your shoulder to cry on. Hold her and tell her that everything will be fine. Alhamdulillah, my husband and my dad are amongst those muslim husbands who would even have tears in their eyes if their wives are sad. Remember, a woman does not like to cry alone in a corner. She needs someone to hold her when she is sad, so never let her feel lonely. Remind her the verses from Qura'an that talks about Patience and Piety.)

9. Be humorous and Play games with your wife. Look at how Rasul Allah - sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam - would race his wife Aisha - radi Allahu 'anha - in the desert. When was the last time we did something like that?

(Sense of humor plays a very important role in a marital relationship. Most women wish to have a husband who has a good sense of humor. Tell her decent and modest jokes that make her happy. Wife appreciates it very much if her husband makes her smile. You can play various games at home. Play with crayons, or have a pillow fight. Or hide different notes in your bedroom and ask her to find it. Think of different games you can both play. Do let her win sometimes! Do adopt interesting hobbies, such as reading, cooking together and gardening (grow a surprise rose plant in your garden, when you have the first rose blooming, take her to the garden and show it to her).
Newspaper and Sports Issue!
Men like to watch sports, or read newspaper. Most wives consider newspaper as their co-wives. So be very careful. If you are watching sports, turn the TV off if your wife comes around. Give her attention. Do not spend too much time reading newspaper, and do not read newspaper on the breakfast table, rather have an Islamic discussion. If you want to get her to like newspaper, then try to find something that interests her. Such as, try to find a news about Hijab. Or try to find a news about Muslim women for her.)

10. Always remember the words of Allah's Messenger - sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam: "The best of you are those who treat their families the best. And I am the best amongst you to my family." Try to be the best!
In conclusion: Never forget to make Dua to Allah - azza wa jall - to make your marriage successful. And Allah ta'ala knows best !!

(And once again! Your wife is your best friend, and your girlfriend. Share everything with her. Remember she is your garment and you are her garment, so hide her faults and mistakes. Learn to forgive her. Also communicate a lot with her family. It really makes a difference if husband communicates with his in laws. It helps both husband's and wife's family to share a beautiful relationship. Respect her parents and show your love to her family. This will inspire her to love and respect your family. If her family is not muslim, do dawah to them in a beautiful way.)
Spend lots of time praying to Allah swt. Do fast often even if it is not Ramadan. Fasting brings patience and taqwah. Lead her in the prayer. There is nothing better than praying together. Remember Allah, so that Allah remembers you.
May Allah bless us and guide us all, Aameen.
Ma'a-salama -UY

by: Daily Qur'anic Verses by Toufique H. Sumon

Simple event for a huge goal

2011-04-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that with the loads of study work to be done, attending my kids' needs sometimes become the second in priority. But at times, the guilt is just can't be tolerated... I have missed quite a number of events in which my kids participated.

On last thursday morning, I personally excused myself to give my fullest support to my boy, Hafiz who participated in a simple sporting event conducted by the Welsh Atheletic at UWIC Cyncoed Campus. His school. Adamsdown Primary School was one of the three schools in the Adamsdown area participated in the programme.

Hafiz competed for the 400 metres race

The programme have a great objective of raising awareness of higher education among the children. The kids were aspired by being shown off the facilities and environment of higher education through sport events. It was really fun for them... and the way it was conducted amazed me. Unlike back home, kids are normally pressured with lectures and so-called 'motivation' talks for this sort of 'noble' purpose... pressured with unnecessary expectations!

Talking about the sport event on the day itself was totally different with the way sport events are conducted back home. It was full of sporting spirit and fun. Participants (pupils) were not pressured for any trophies or medals...they were there to take part... fun and exercise!. The accompanying teachers repeatedly say the events were for educational purposes... Hafiz himself is not a sporty kid, I suppose. He joins the football club out of the interest to have fun in the after-class sessions with friends. He never switched on sport programmes at home... I reiterate never! He is more into 'nerd' TV programmes! Ask him about programmes on aircrafts, dinos, space, documentaries... name them, either he'd done with it or he gonna stick himself to watch them! But he enjoys the sport activities at school.

So... when we arrived at the indoor arena, Hafiz was about to start with his 400 metres race! What??? He never run that far... I said to myself. I was a bit worried about him...but he did it and managed to be the fourth out of 8 pupils... and on top he was competing with the year 5 and 6 kids. He's just 8... so well done as he survived! He was very happy indeed with the performance ...so did other kids, I gathered. Interestingly in other events like long jump, high jump...javelin.... the coaches demonstrated the games right before the events took place...it was more like having routine exercises! It sounded ridiculous but it did work here, at least for the event I attended. And... nothing seemed to be wrong! Hafiz surprised us in the high jump anyway!

Hafiz and friends were being coached for the high jump event

Despite what I have described above, kids were enjoying the events and trips to UWIC. At the end of the event, they were ranked not so much by the individual performance but overall performance of the school. It was so cool and no pressure... they were cheering up each other... there you go, medals for each participant. Every kid went back to their schools showing off to other pupils their medals of fun and exercise!!! And Hafiz wants to go to UWIC for his university time!!!

Medals for having the fun and exercise!

Some people may have different opinion altogether about what I have written but I am always a believer of no pressure in learning if not necessary. Stressful approaches and rigidity in learning tend to hold back the learning interest of a kid. However, appropriate guide and support are very crucial for them. I know it is easy say than doing it... but we have to do it, otherwise who gonna change it.

GROWING OLD WITH YOU!

2011-02-24T17:47:00.000-08:00

11 February....

How do I begin to tell you how honoured I am to have you in my life?

Was it a dream came true? Oh! no! no! It's a fate! And I humbly thank Him for sending you to be 'my best friend in the good times and my rock in times of sorrow' and 'you're the reason for sweet yesterday and my promise for tomorrow' if Allah permits.

Another year has passed for you dear, and I'm not a poet to shower you with sweet and pleasing words...I'm not a good cook to bake a cake for you to cut and celebrate... and I'm not bulged with wealth to indulge you with presents and bouquets...but one thing I'd like to present you...

GROWING OLD WITH YOU!

It means so much to have you in my life, spending my precious seconds of life, sharing the love and friendship...as we passed each year of our life, our bond just seems to grow and grow...it's just your warm and giving nature, helps create the special times together that I treasure everyday!

No chocolates! No roses! No presents! only a Du'a:

"Ya Allah, Put affection amongst our hearts, set right our matters between ourselves, guide us to the ways of peace, save us from the darkness towards the light, save us from all kind of indecency, the apparent as well as hidden, and give us barakah in our hearing, our seeing, our hearts, our spouses, our children, and turn in mercy upon us. Indeed, You are the One who Greatly accepts repentance, One who is repeatedly Merciful' (Al Hakim)

May Allah Bless The Rest of Your Life Here and Hereafter...Happy Birthday!

Politics - a HAZY word yet ubiquitously used and craved for

2011-01-28T03:19:00.000-08:00

Why I suddenly feel that politics is everywhere around us?

Back home in Malaysia, a small kampung in Johor, DUN Tenang is now suddenly overwhelmed with unexpexted guests and events. The people there will be casting their vote this weekend in a so-called by-election due to the death of its state assembly man in early January this year. Hope this by-election will be as serene as the name of its constituency, Tenang!

Malaysians, generally, are no longer foreign with by-elections as since the latest GE, there have been several by-elections in Malaysia. Although it is seen as reaping off the public funds as each by-election could cost as much as half a million (RM), both the politicians and the affected electorates would be 'looking forward' to have it. Just imagine... 'out of nowhere' constituent is talked about nationally, 'unexpected' top-guns flock in... every now and then, the constituency flashes in the media! Unjustified promises is everywhere!Quite happening, isn't it?

I would say, it is more like a political festival with happening events... and to a certain extent the relevant parties tend to forget their main objectives of having the by-election... simply to ELECT a right person to REPRESENT the constituency. The person must be ABLE to convey the messages of the electorates. It is just that... but why must by-elections be tainted with all the nonsense promises, corruptions and personal back fightings.

Generally, politicians from either parties would regard by-elections as an indicator for the on-going support for the parties and at the same time strengthen their existence within the constituency concerned, at least. This should be a bargaining platform for both the competing political parties and the electorates. The electorates should be at the very advantageous side as the focus of all parties are currently on them. But, does this happen in actual by-elections so far?

No doubt, politics is a hazy word. An obscure word. But literally it has a nobel meaning as the Wikipedia says:

...is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions.

But why is that some people just crave to be in politics... crazy to be politicians?

Ops! Wikipedia further says, politics consist of 'social relations involving authority or power' and normally describes 'the bahaviour of civil servant'.

Indeed, the authority and power afforded to politicians nowadays motivate some people to get involve in politics, be they understand or not the basic and naive meaning of politics. They are supposed to represent us, discuss our welfare... safeguard us... thus making decisions that are of agreeable and beneficial to all of us, the public and electorates. You are NAIVE if you have that thinking! You are out of mind if you have that in your mind. It's far from their mind...

No doubt, politicians are dubbed as human beings who crave for authority and power. Believe it or not, they are around you and they have power over your life!!! Are they shrewd? Is it too harsh? No! They are designed to be powerful and authoritarian and we voted them to be in that system.

I used to have quite a significant interest in this area... I mean politics. It developed naturally, perhaps because of my upbringing. Power and authority... the struggle of my family because of the absence of power and authority still vivid... but I now rest the interest to my inspiring daughter who is pursuing political science. May she discern the nobel meaning of politics and pursue the meaning in the real life. Best wishes my dear!

Selamat mengundi DUN Tenang!

Two more coming... Pelabuhan Kelang and Merlimau!

Subjek Tawarikh...Sejarah...History

2011-01-12T03:12:00.000-08:00

Saya cukup allergy dengan subjek Sejarah masa sekolah dulu sebab seolah-seolah saya perlu menjadi mesin menghafal tarikh sahaja. Saya memang tak suka sebab saya tak suka menghafal!

Seingat saya, subjek Sejarah ini dikenali sebagai Ilmu Tawarikh masa saya di sekolah rendah dalam tahun 1970an. Rupanya perkataan Tawarikh berasal dari bahasa Arab yang bermakna Sejarah. Jadi Ilmu Tawarikh bermakna ilmu Sejarah yang bagi saya mempunyi maksud yang lebih luas dan mendalam! Nama subjek ni macam diperingkat universiti... sebab itulah rasanya kemudian ditukar kepada Sejarah! Seingat... saya mula belajar Ilmu Tawarikh semasa di Darjah Lima dan Enam. Walaubagaimanapun saya tidak ingat apa sebenarnya yang saya belajar ketika itu. Yang pasti ia banyak berkait dengan tarikh dan saya kena menghafal!

Kemudian saya diwajibkan sekali lagi belajar subjek Sejarah ini semasa di Tingkatan 1-3 untuk tujuan peperiksaan Sijil Rendah Pelajaran (SRP). Saya melalui mimpi ngeri bila saya gagal untuk subjek ini masa ujian bulanan pertama di sebuah sekolah berasrama penuh! Aduh! sebab saya tak hafal banyak tarikh! phew!!!

Selepas tu saya memang berazam menghafal tarikh-tarikh 'keramat' dan hasilnya saya dapat markah penuh untuk peperiksaan semester 1 dan maintained dalam top ten untuk subjek Sejarah untuk keseluruhan sekolah hampir dalam setiap kali peperiksaan. Okay jugak! Tapi memang saya tak berminat dengan subjek ini sebab saya tidak rasa ia memotivasi diri saya! Saya selalu ngantuk dalam kelas dan saya banyak belajar sendiri...rasanya sebab tu tidak dapat menghayati subjek ini. It was so dull and boring!

Tapi bila Kementerian Pendidikan mewajibkan supaya subjek Sejarah ini menjadi salah satu subjek wajib lulus, saya fikir itu satu keputusan yang tepat. Walaubagaimanapun dengan syarat subjek Sejarah ini melalui prose 'overhauling' supaya ia menjadi satu subjek yang boleh membentuk generasi masa depan yang yakin diri.... ada jatidiri!

Subjek ini bukan hanya dipenuhi dengan tarikh-tarikh keramat tetapi yang lebig penting adalah iktibar-iktibar yang tidak memihak sehingga boleh membakar semangat dan daya juang anak-anak muda. Umpamanya biarlah subjek Sejarah ini memberi maklumat sebenar tentang kelahiran Malaysia supaya masyarakat Malaysia pada masa depan tidak menjadi masyarakat yang hipokrit.

Juga...biar kita semua tahu kenapa adanya 3 kaum utama di tanahair. Kenapa perlu adanya hak-hak istimewa Melayu. Kenapa dan bagaimana Islam menjadi agama perlembagaan. Apa peranan kesultanan Melayu di Malaysia dan seterusnya dan seterusnya....sepertimana apa yang dikatakan oleh Tan Sri Muhyidin "Sejarah adalah sejarah. Mengapa kita harus takut dengan sejarah kita sendiri".

Biarlah ia direalisasikan sebagai subjek yang menyumbang kepada keutuhan dan perpaduan negara. Penyampaian subjek ini perlu diolah agar ia menjadi subjek yang hidup dihati pelajar-pelajar serta apa yang penting guru-guru. Jangan sekadar hanya melepaskan batuk di tangga... sekadar mengejar sillibus yang perlu diselesaikan! Subjek ini seharusnya dihidupkan dengan mengaitkan sejarah dengan kehidupan dan keadaan masa kini negara.

Wajib lulus subjek Sejarah bukan keputusan politik, kata Muhyiddin

Oleh Lee Wei Lian

November 02, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, 2 Nov — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin mempertahankan keputusan mewajibkan Sejarah sebagai subjek wajib lulus di peringkat Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) sambil menegaskan, langkah itu tidak bermotifkan politik.
Timbalan Perdana Menteri berkata demikian menjawab kritikan-kritikan DAP yang mendakwa “minat secara tiba-tiba” terhadap subjek Sejarah dilihat membawa penekanan selektif terhadap hak-hak dan peruntukan berkaitan orang Melayu dan kebimbangan di kalangan ramai bukan Melayu bahawa kandungan mata pelajaran itu akan berakhir dengan elemen bias terhadap mereka.
Jangan terpengaruh dengan pihak-pihak yang mengatakan langkah ini sebagai inisiatif buruk, kata beliau pada sidang media selepas merasmikan Forum Ekonomi Kedua, mewakili Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak, di sini hari ini.
“Jangan bersikap prejudis. Kita mesti ada minda positif memandangkan yang (keputusan) ini dilakukan dengan tujuan baik demi anak-anak kita,” kata beliau.
Justeru, kata beliau, pakar-pakar sejarah termasuk kemungkinan wakil kaum Cina dan India akan dilantik, yang bakal menilai sukatan dan akan memperkenalkan kandungan yang lebih baik.
Muhyiddin yang juga Menteri Pelajaran berkata, sukatan subjek ini akan dikaji supaya ia membawa fokus tambahan berkaitan perlembagaan dan pembentukan Malaysia.

Britain juga mengambil langkah yang hampir sama dengan negara kita. di sebut bahawa kurang kefahaman sejarah negara boleh memberi impak yang kurang sihat keatas perkembangan negara. Gagasan Better History Britain telah membuat kajian tentang kelemahan sillibus Sejarah ini dan kesannya kepada pelajar.Pada hemat gagasan ini:

"Ultimately, we have a subject which is devalued in society. History is part of people's identity and if they discover parts of it that haven't been taught, they become angry. We have seen this with Black history."

Sejarah...adalah kenyataan hidup yang perlu di teladani untuk kebaikan masa hadapan!

Tahun Baru

2011-01-12T02:10:00.000-08:00

Rasanya belum terlambat kalau saya berbicara mengenai sambutan tahun baru. Bagi umat Islam, kita juga baru di ambang tahun baru dan masyarakat lainnya masih mabuk dengan tahun baru 2011.

Setiap tahun baru bermula, banyaklah ucapan-ucapan yang diberi. Bukan sekadar ucapan dari orang awam tetapi tidak ketinggalan ketua-ketua kerajaan. kalau di Britain, Ratu Elizabeth sebagai ketua negara memang dalam agenda tahunannya akan membuat ucapan tahun baru (New Year Message) selang beberapa hari selepas ucapan selamat hari Natal (Krismas). maka akan di gariskan aspirasi-aspirasi serta harapan-harapan beliau sebagai ketua negara yang non-partisan. Berapa ramai agaknya rakyat yang benar-benar menyelami harapan beliau?

Sedari dulu saya memang tidak teruja dengan memberi ucapan-ucapan sebegini kepada teman-teman, baik rapat atau tidak. Mungkin saya di lihat tidak seiring dengan pembangunan moden yang dipenuhi dengan 'wishes' dalam apa jua upacara. Saya tidak nampak apa relevannya memberi ucapan yang sekadar manis di mulut sahaja tetapi tidak mendalami aspirasi disebalik permulaan sesuatu tahun baru. Sekadar ucapan dan gembira dengan kedatangan tahun baru! Justeru, melalui pengamatan yang sedikit, generasi yang tidak memahami ini akan hanya menyambutnya dengan ucapan dan disusuli denga pesta-pesta sosial dan maksiat.

Ini bukan sahaja berlaku dibarat yang dikatakan telah bobrok budaya kemanusiaannya. Negara-negara Islam turut menyanjung kedatangan tahun baru sepertimana negara-negara yang tidak berpaksikan kepada Iman dan gagasan Islam. Kedatangan sesuatu tahun baru hanya di penuhi dengan perhimpunan-perhimpunan sosial yang kebanyakkannya di sulami dengan aktiviti maksiat dan tidak bermoral.

Pemberian cuti umum oleh sesebuah negera atas kehadiran tahun baru tidak memberi apa-apa makna langsung secara makro... apa rasional pemberian cuti umum kalau hanya dipenuhi dengan aktiviti tidak bermoral. Kalau di tanahair, sudah menjadi budaya, maksiat akan berleluasa seolah-olah itulah resolusi hidup mereka untuk tahun baru! Seolah-olah itulah titik tolak hidup mereka!

Kalau dulu anak-anak muda yang terkinja-kinja di perhimpunan-perhimpunan ini, tapi sekarang generasi 'mak-bapak' turut serta! Yelah yang dulu anak muda sekarang dah jadi mak/bapak! Maka agensi agama pun menjadi sibuk membuat penangkapan keatas kesalahan yang sungguh menjelekan. Apakah ini budaya yang di harapkan dari permulaan tahun baru?

Bahkan pemberian cuti umum untuk tahun baru Muharram juga tidak nampak rasionalnya... Kalau sekadar satu dua upacara kebangsaan boleh sahaja dilangsaikan tanpa cuti umum. Bahkan saya fikir, tanpa cuti mungkin semangat kedatangan tahun baru baik awal muharram atau tahun baru gregorian akan lebih bermakna...dipenuhi dengan acara-acara yang memberi semangat, motivasi serta muhasabah di dalam organisasi ataupun masyarakat umum. Seumpama sambutan Hari Guru yang dipenuhi dengan aktiviti-aktiviti santai disekolah yang mengakrabkan hubungan antara murid dan guru-guru mereka. Bukankah itu lebih bermakna?

Kedatangan tahun baru memberi makna bahawa usia segalanya makin pendek tetapi tugas dan tanggungjawag makin banyak dan berat untuk dilangsaikan. Muhasabah atas apa yang sudah dilewati untuk tahun yang sudah berlalu. Mencorak resolusi bagi melalui tahun yang bermula dengan semangat dan motivasi yang tinggi. Manis ucapan tidak memberi makna apa-apa... biar esok akan lebih baik dari semalam

Sekolah Islam di UK di pertikai

2010-11-26T17:24:00.000-08:00

Dalam masa 3 tahun, sudah 2 kali isu ini dibangkitkan, sebelum ini pada tahun 2007 dan sekali lagi baru-baru ini pada 22 November 2010. Ini bukanlah isu gempar disini. Islamophobia masih lagi membelenggu kalangan masyarakat bukan Islam Britain. Keraguan terhadap Islam ini bukanlah sesuatu yang asing atau baru. Banyak perkara yang perlu di renungkan semula... kita janganlah cepat menuding jari kepada sikap mereka terhadap Islam. Mungkin orang Islam sendiri yang terus-menerus menebalkan pemikiran ini dalam diri mereka. Orang Islam sendiri yang tidak memahami erti 'hikmah' dalam pengluasan ideologinya.

Apakah Islam ini perlu disinonimkan dengan radikal? Marah! Memang semua orang Islam di seluruh pelusuk mana pun akan marah! Tapi siapakan yang telah melakukan pengeboman "tube' di London pada 7/7 enam tahun lalu. Lebih lima puluh orang awam terbunuh. Mereka ialah orang Islam. Baru-baru ni lagilah ada budak-budak Muslim sekolah, baru sekolah rendah... siap buat 'club' jihad dan masuk lagi dalam fesbuk. Siapa puncanya... Bagaimana saya akan mengatakan bahawa orang Islam ini berhikmah dalam kehidupannya?

Tidak kurang juga yang menjalankan demonstrasi-demonstrasi yang akhirnya berlaku keganasan. Anda berada di negara mereka. Walaupun anda telah menjadi warganegara tetapi pada pandangan mereka anda masih menumpang! Cuma mereka tak akan kata secara terang-terangan sebab adanya undang-undang! Sebab tu kenaikan mendadak ahli British National Party (BNP). Fikirlah... jangan syok sendiri!

Islamophobia ini memang tidak akan kurang... sebab orang Islam sendiri. Orang Islamlah yang terlibat dengan pengedaran dadah, jadi ringleader lagi, jenayah seksual dan macam-macam lagi. Orang Islam juga terlibat dengan penipuan professional...jenayah kolar putih. kadang-kadang agaknya orang Islam sendiri jadi cuak dengan orang yang mengaku Islam di sini... memanglah bukan semua tapi... kalau sebab nila setitik ni, habis semua orang kena.

Lagi satu... memanglah benda kecik-kecik tetapi pencerminan peribadi tu sangat penting sebenarnya. Kalau memandu...siapa yang langgar lampu merah... pemandu yang mengaku Islam! Kadang-kadang parking ikut suka hati pulak tu...

Jadi tak payah nak marah-marah pada mereka yang akan sentiasa memantau apa jua gerak dan geri orang Islam. Lebih baik jadikan pedoman, nak marah-marah pun malu... di mana agaknya kita meletakkan Islam sebenarnya?

Walaubagaimanapun, ingatlah peringatan Allah dalam surah Al-Kafiruun:

قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْكَافِرُونَ (١)لا أَعْبُدُ مَا تَعْبُدُونَ (٢)وَلا أَنْتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ (٣)وَلا أَنَا عَابِدٌ مَا عَبَدْتُمْ (٤)وَلا أَنْتُمْ عَابِدُونَ مَا أَعْبُدُ (٥)لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ

1. Katakanlah: “Hai orang-orang kafir!” 2. aku tidak akan menyembah apa yang kamu sembah 3. Dan kamu bukan penyembah Ilah yang aku sembah 4. Dan aku tidak pernah menjadi penyembah apa yang kamu sembah 5. dan kamu tidak pernah (pula) menjadi penyembah Ilah yang aku sembah 6. Untukmulah agamamu, dan untukkulah agamaku

Berikut adalah keratan akhbar The Guardian serta sedutan rancangan Panorama BBC1 untuk dikongsi dan renungan bersama.

BBC's Panorama claims Islamic schools teach antisemitism and homophobia

Thousands of British schoolchildren are being taught Saudi national curriculum, according to programme

Haroon Siddique and agencies
The Guardian, Monday 22 November 2010
Article history

Children in Islamic schools are being taught antisemitic and homophobic views from textbooks, the BBC's Panorama will claim tonight.

A textbook used in some weekend schools reportedly asks children to list the "reprehensible" qualities of Jews, according to the programme.

It claims to have found 5,000 Muslim schoolchildren being taught that some Jews are transformed into pigs and apes and that the penalty for gay sex is execution. Some textbooks are said to teach the correct way to chop off the hands and feet of thieves. A spokesman for the programme said the pupils, aged six to 18, attend a network of more than 40 weekend schools across the country which teach the Saudi national curriculum to Muslim children.

One book for children as young as six is said to ask them what happens to someone who dies who is not a believer in Islam – the correct answer is "hellfire".

Investigators claim to have also found a text for pupils aged 15 which reads: "For thieves their hands will be cut off for a first offence, and their foot for a subsequent offence."

British Schools Muslim Rules, which will be aired tonight on BBC One at 8.30pm, says other texts for the pupils are said to claim that Zionists want to establish world domination for Jews, a spokesman said.

Michael Gove, the education secretary, told Panorama: "Saudi Arabia is a sovereign country. I have no desire or wish to intervene in the decisions that the Saudi government makes in its own education system. But I'm clear that we cannot have antisemitic material of any kind being used in English schools."

At present, part-time weekend schools are not inspected by Ofsted but Gove said the educations standards watchdog would be reporting shortly on how to ensure part-time provision is better registered and inspected in the future.

In a written response to the findings, the Saudi ambassador to the UK said the teachings were not endorsed by the Saudi embassy.

Sebahagian dari rancangan Panorama di BBC 1 dibawah ini

BBC Panorama: British Schools

Is education a scapegoat in the economic turmoil?

2010-11-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

Britain secara amnya sedang mengalami tekanan ekonomi yang paling teruk pada dekad ini. Hutang yang mencecah trillion pound, pengangguran yang meruncing, lambakan pendatang dari negara-negara sekutu Eropah dan masih lagi dalam proses memastikan kestabilan kerajaan campuran konservatif dan Liberal Demokrat. Adakah keruncingan-keruncingan ini memungkinkan sistem pendidikannnya menjadi kambing hitam dengan kenaikan drastic yuran pengajian tahunan sehingga mencecah 13,000 pounds dan terkini pengetatan pemberian Visa pelajar kepada pelajar dari negara bukan sekutu Eropah.

Britain tengah kepeningan... polisi-polisi yang tidak sinkronise terutama yang berkaitan dengan aspek pendidikan. Memang benar mereka kalut. Puluhan ribu anak muda berdemontrasi mengecam polisi mengenai kenaikan yuran... keluhan akademia tentang visa pelajar luar negara yang diketatkan. Barulah mereka nak mengaku betapa mereka bergantung kepada yuran pelajar asing selama ini... jangan berbangga sangat ya. cuba baca di bawah ni.

Universities warn migration limit cuts won't just hurt their finances

Cuts to migration limits will mean less of the £2.2bn overseas student share, universities warn, and a drop in research staff

Universities have warned that cuts to migration limits will affect their budgets – and their academic reputations. Photograph: Alamy

Universities fear limits on migration will hit their finances and their academic output and reputation, despite Theresa May's plans to include talented scientists in the number of highly-skilled workers without job offers who can come to the UK.

This is is an expanding market – last year income from international students' fees was worth more than £2.2bn to British universities – a total of 9% of the sector's income. Institutions like the London School of Economics, University College London and the University of Manchester, who all take high numbers of international students, are likely to be worst affected by any changes.

Such students' contributions to the local economies where they are based are also worth billions, according to the vice-chancellors' body Universities UK. In research last year it found that they spent £2.3bn off-campus.

But it is not just about money. Overseas students' academic contribution is also key, vice-chancellors say, with over 40% of postgraduate students coming from overseas, and international students sustaining the teaching and research base in engineering, sciences and mathematics. Universities UK's analysis of staff data has shown that non-EU nationals made up 11% of all academic staff in 2008-9.

Almost half the postgraduate research students studying here are international, compared to one third in the US. University heads fear a cap will make it harder for the UK to attract the world's best researchers and compete against countries like China and US, where investment in higher education continues.

And although May played to public concern about "bogus colleges" by singling out students coming to do sub-degree level courses, legitimate colleges point out that half the overseas degree students recruited by universities start out on these programmes. They warn that cutting the numbers allowed to come in by this route will penalise quality providers and universities who need tuition fee income, while the unscrupulous will carry on looking for loopholes.

Demonstrasi pelajar-pelajar di kota London pada 24 November 2010, klik

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11566509

Pertunangan Prince William dan Kate Middleton

2010-11-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

Semalam dan hari ini boleh dikatakan seluruh akhbar di UK ni menyiarkan berita pertunangan Putera William dengan orang kebanyakan atau 'commoner' Kate Middleton. Banyak-banyak berita kenapalah berita ni yang nak di kongsi disini...saya pun bukanlah orang 'raja'.... Semasa Charles-Diana kahwin, saya masih disekolah menengah, kemudian 'terpaksa' mengikuti perkembangan perkahwinan mereka yang sensasi sebab saya bermusafir di London dalam tahun 90an. Seterusnya berpeluang menyaksikan London yang disirami dengan kalungan bunga meratapi kematian mengejut Diana pada tahun 1997. Kini mungkin bakal menyaksikan (dalam TV je!) perkahwinan anak mereka, William...walaupun ceritanya tidak sehebat Charles-Diana.

Pasangan William dan Kate semasa di interview selepas pengumuman pertunangan mereka

Apa yang menarik untuk dikongsi?

Perkahwinan ini nanti menyaksikan keliberalan keluarga diraja Britain khasnya dan rakyat Britain sendiri untuk menerima orang kebanyakan sebagai bakal ratu. Putera William merupakan waris kedua selepas ayahandanya, Prince Charles, manakala Kate Middleton adalah orang kebanyakan 'middle-class'. Orang tuanya adalah staff penerbangan yang kemudiannya menjalankan perniagaan online sehingga kini. Kebobrokan perkahwinan Charles-Diana adalah mangsa polemik diraja Britain yang mahukan ratu mereka sekurang-kurangnya berdarah aristokrat. Diana adalah anak kepada Earl of Spencer, yang digelar 'Lady'. Saya masih ingat lagi bagaimana Charles telah di'pertemukan' dengan sekalian gadis baik dari kalangan aristokrat ataupun orang kebanyakan. Pelbagai telahan sehinggakan warna rambut yang menjadi pilihan Queen Elizabeth menjadi antara pengukur kepada gadis yang akan menjadi calon isteri Charles. Yang terakhirnya, Charles telah dipertemukan dengan Diana yang mempunyai package yang diperkenan oleh baginda Queen. Namun, perkahwinan mereka dilanda dengan episod-episod sensasi dan kemungkinan peristiwa tersebut telah melembutkan hati nenda Elizabeth untuk menerima gadis kebanyakan ini. Nampaknya baginda Queen seperti tiada halangan...dia pun dah penat jadi Queen!

Pasangan ini juga bakal memberi gambaran kepada keluarga diraja Britain yang lain bahawa 'perkufuan' adalah elemen penting dalam institusi suami-isteri. Masyarakat kini melihat sekufu lebih kepada intelektualisma pasangan mereka. Justeru keduanya mampu berbicara dalam nada dan bahasa yang sama. William dan Kate adalah graduan Universiti St Andrews di Scotland dan disini jugalah titik perkenalan mereka bermula. Seumpama apabila di tanya bertubi-tubi mengenai kemasukannya kedalam keluarga diraja dan dibandingkan dengan Diana, Kate yang menyifatkan sebagai 'daunting' dan 'will be doing at my stride'. Kenyataan ini disokong oleh Putera William yang menyifatkan 'nobody coud fill my mother's shoes'. Kesefahaman seumpama ini sangat perlu apatah lagi selepas ini Kate bakal di telusuri setiap pergerakannya oleh sekelian rakyat Britain. Jadi bahan beritalah dia ni!!!! Ini sangat berbeza dengan Charles-Diana. Charles lulusan Cambridge, manakala Diana tidak mempunyai latarbelakang pendidikan tinggi yang setaraf dengan Charles...Charles dilihat sebagai dominant dan authoritative dalam pasangan ini...tapi mungkin ia menjadikan Diana seorang yang penyayang!

Cuma, mungkin pengumuman pertunangan ini kurang 'kick' apabila dibuat pada masa Britain dilanda krisis ekonomi yang parah. Bajet tahunan diraja telah dipotong sebanyak £3juta untuk tahun ini... kalau ini diambilkira, mungkin pesta perkahwinan mereka tidak sehebat orangtuanya, Charles-Diana yang telah mampu meraih 750juta penonton secara 'live' seluruh dunia. Itu pada tahun 1981 yang medianya hanya bergantung kepada TV dan seumpa dengannya!

Walaubagaimanapun, bagi kerajaan campuran Cameron-Clegg, berita ini sekurang-kurangnya dapat mengalih pandangan masyarakat seketika dari kemelut pentadbiran negara. Rata-rata stesyen penyiaran memberi tumpuan kepada pertunangan 'of the year' waris takhta ini. Dan yang pasti, perkahwinan ini juga bakal mencairkan business memorabilla souvenirs dan seumpama dengannya. Semalam umum bertunang.... hari ni dah keluar iklan souvenir tu.... hebat! hebat! Saya akan tunggu di CBS!

Walau apapun, kita ke'raja'an di Tanah Melayu lebih dulu menerima rakyat jelata sebagai 'royal consort'....Tuanku Bainun, Tuanku Siti Aishah, Tuanku Nur Zahirah... tiada apa yang kurangnya pada mereka.

Power vs Students

2010-11-12T07:13:00.000-08:00

Education should stand as neutral without any standing of political milestones. By far it should not be commercialised. But now, it seems inevitable for students in the UK to bear the pinch of politicians on them. The almost confirmed rise in the fees pushed them onto the streets... voicing out their worries and not to forget hopes.

They want to be heard... they are concerned of future generations... but they are helpless.

Student fees protest: 'This is just the beginning'
(The Guardian, 10 Nov 2010)
Tens of thousands of students took to the streets of London in a demonstration that spiralled out of control when a fringe group of protesters hurled missiles at police and occupied the building housing Conservative party headquarters.

Ministers and protesters acknowledged that the demonstration – by far the largest and most dramatic yet in response to the government's austerity measures – was "just the beginning" of public anger over cuts. Police, meanwhile, were criticised for failing to anticipate the scale of the disorder.

An estimated 52,000 people, according to the National Union of Students, marched through central London to display their anger over government plans to increase tuition fees while cutting state funding for university teaching.

A wing of the protest turned violent as around 200 people stormed 30 Millbank, the central London building that is home to Tory HQ, where police wielding batons clashed with a crowd hurling placard sticks, eggs and some bottles. Demonstrators shattered windows and waved anarchist flags from the roof of the building, while masked activists traded punches with police to chants of "Tory scum".

Police conceded that they had failed to anticipate the level of violence from protesters who trashed the lobby of the Millbank building. Missiles including a fire extinguisher were thrown from the roof and clashes saw 14 people – a mix of officers and protesters – taken to hospital and 35 arrests.

Sir Paul Stephenson, Met police commissioner, said the force should have better anticipated the level of violence. He said: "It's not acceptable. It's an embarrassment for London and for us."

While Tory headquarters suffered the brunt of the violence, Liberal Democrat headquarters in nearby Cowley Street were not targeted. "This is not what we pay the Met commissioner to do," one senior Conservative told the Guardian. "It looks like they put heavy security around Lib Dem HQ but completely forgot about our party HQ."

Lady Warsi, the Tory party chair, was in her office when protesters broke in. She initially had no police protection as the protesters made their way up the fire stairs to the roof. Police who eventually made it to Tory HQ decided not to evacuate staff from the building but to concentrate on removing the demonstrators.

The NUS president, Aaron Porter, condemned the actions of "a minority of idiots" but hailed the turnout as the biggest student demonstration in generations. The largely good-natured protest was organised by the NUS and the lecturers' union the UCU, who have attacked coalition plans to raise tuition fees as high as £9,000 while making 40% cuts to university teaching budgets. The higher fees will be introduced for undergraduates starting in 2012, if the proposals are sanctioned by the Commons in a vote due before Christmas.

The NUS president told protesters: "We're in the fight of our lives. We face an unprecedented attack on our future before it has even begun. They're proposing barbaric cuts that would brutalise our colleges and universities."

Inside parliament the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg – the focus of much anger among protesters for his now abandoned pledge to scrap all tuition fees – came under sustained attack, facing 10 questions on tuition fees during his stand-in performance during prime minister's questions. He said there was consensus across the parties about the need to reform the system.

Labour's deputy leader, Harriet Harman, said the rise in fees was not part of the effort to tackle the deficit but about Clegg "going along with Tory plans to shove the cost of higher education on to students and their families". She said: "We all know what it's like: you are at freshers' week, you meet up with a dodgy bloke and you do things that you regret. Isn't it true he has been led astray by the Tories, isn't that the truth of it?"

Meanwhile one student won an unexpected concession from the coalition. In answer to a question from a Chinese student during his trip to China, David Cameron said: "Raising tuition fees will do two things. It will make sure our universities are well funded and we won't go on increasing so fast the fees for overseas students … We have done the difficult thing. We have put up contributions for British students. Yes, foreign students will still pay a significant amount of money, but we should now be able to keep that growth under control."

Additional reporting by Rachel Williams and Matthew Taylor

Tak pasal-pasal

2010-11-10T02:17:00.000-08:00

9 November 2010 Last updated at 17:53
Director resigns after University of Wales concerns

Fazley Yaakob has four hit albums to his name

Concern at uni's overseas degrees Uni's US college link 'damaging'Second uni to award own degrees. The executive director of a Malaysian college offering University of Wales degree courses has resigned after questions about his own qualifications.

Fazley Yaakob, a pop star who runs the Fazley International College (FIC) in Kuala Lumpur, has two degrees from a bogus university.

Week In Week Out examined the way in which the University of Wales validated courses in overseas institutions.

The university has said concerns relate solely to Yaakob and not the courses.

The programme reveals that Yaakob claimed to have both a masters and a doctorate in business administration. But both were from a bogus university.

Yaakob, who has four hit albums to his name, claimed to have qualifications from the European Business School (Cambridge), an offshoot of the Irish International University - which was exposed as a sham by the BBC in 2008.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

I sincerely apologise for having caused the university and its officials embarrassment. ”

Fazley Yaakob
Fazley International College
He said the University of Wales did not ask about his credentials, which were displayed prominently on the college website, until he was confronted by BBC Wales' education correspondent Ciaran Jenkins in Kuala Lumpur.

In his resignation letter, Yaakob said: "My role in Fazley International College is one of an investor.

"Though I hold a director's position, I have never been a part of the academic team nor have I sat at any of the academic meetings.

"As such, you can be assured that at no stage was the academic standards or the reputation of the university put at a compromise. To be honest I have only sat in at management meetings.

"Upon further reflection, I consider that to continue as a director could be damaging to the college, its student community and the dedicated staff who have worked hard to uphold the academic standards and integrity.

"It is quite clear that this continuing public controversy will undermine the reputation and the good relations between the college and the university, which I cannot, in any circumstances, allow.

'Public confidence'

"Therefore, I have decided to tender my resignation as the executive director of the college.

"It is my intention to keep fighting to clear my name and restore public confidence of my reputation.

"I sincerely apologise for having caused the university and its officials embarrassment.

"I do hope that the matter will be laid to rest and that the link between the university and FIC can be restored."

The University of Wales has suspended its relationship with the college - one of three educational institutions it collaborates with in Malaysia - following the controversy.

The university signed an agreement with FIC in 2007 and saw the first students admitted to its validated courses the following year, having gained provisional approvals from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency.

But it has now decided not to recognise any additional admissions to its BA (Hons) Business Administration and MBA courses at the college until concerns have been fully investigated. The 35 students currently enrolled on University-validated courses will not be affected.

University vice chancellor Marc Clement said: "The principal doesn't himself teach on the course and I don't want to pre-judge the case, but I've taken this decision as a precaution to protect the reputation of the University of Wales.

"We are proud of the work we're doing internationally to take the educational values of a great Welsh institution to people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to study on validated courses, and it is important this mission isn't diluted by doubts about any of collaborative centres.

"Our validation team is experienced and highly skilled and travels regularly to collaborative centres to check the quality of the provision and work with local people to build capacity.

"Their job is to validate the courses we recognise, not the institution itself, and we're confident the university's validated courses at FIC meet our high academic standards.

"Our concern relates solely to the fact that the head of the institution has informed us of a controversy relating to his personal academic qualifications.

"This would not normally be relevant to the validation process, but we feel we have a duty to go beyond the letter of our rules so that the integrity of our courses is beyond any doubt."

The University is the second largest degree awarding body in the UK after the University of London. In 2010, it awarded 20,000 degrees and other awards and had around 70,000 people studying on its courses, of which 13,704 were on validated programmes outside the UK.

Week In Week Out: University Challenged is available on the iPlayer for seven days from its transmission date, Tuesday, 9 November.

Obama di Jakarta - "Pulang kampung nih"

2010-11-10T00:41:00.000-08:00

Sekalian rakyat Indonesia pastinya tahu yang Presiden Amerika Syarikat itu akan datang melawat negara mereka. Makanya Universiti Indonesia yang dijadikan tempat sebagai ucaputamanya itu khabarnya dicutikan untuk tujuan persiapan (ini menurut seorang teman yang berkerja disitu). Nah! Mungkin tidak sia-sia kerana ia mampu meraih seramai 5,000 hadirin kesitu bagi menyaksikan seorang Presiden Amerika Syarikat yang bukan calang-calang... tapi yang nostasgik ialah beliau pernah menghirup udara Jakarta...bukan sebentar tapi empat tahun!

Namun di kala ini Indonesia sedang benar-benar digugah dengan pelbagai ujian dari Pencipta. Dari gegaran mukabuminya di Sumatera lantas disusuli dengan pancuran tsunami yang cukup menghiris setiap manusia yang melihatnya.Belum pun pulih dari kocakan itu, maka Indonesia sekali lagi di gegeri dengan letusan Merapi. Sungguh berat benar ujian ini bagi rakyatnya yang sudah sedianya banyak diuji dengan kemiskinan.

Lantas apakah ziarah seorang ketua negara yang katanya mampu menerajui dunia ini menjanjikan apa-apa? Apatah lagi ini bukan ziarah sebarang ziarah tetapi kepulangan ke tempat permainannya. Kalau kita berziarah mangsa musibah, pastinya ada huluran yang boleh menulusi hati mereka, makanya apa yang bakal di huluri oleh Obama ini kepada mereka? Omong-omongan manis belum cukup untuk merawat duka mangsa ini...mereka tentunya tidak hairan Obama masih bisa menuturkan bahasa Indonesia... apa yang lebih dibutuhkan mereka adalah secubit bantuan untuk memulakan kehidupan bersama keluarga!

Atau 'kepulangan' Obama ke Indonesia tidak ubah seperti ke'pulangan'ku ke negeri Inggeris ini? Aku rakyat marhaen yang tidak punya apa-apa...sekadar ingin melampiaskan nostalgiaku disuatu masa dulu.

Obama... oh! Obama... Siapa kamu sebenarnya????

JAKARTA, Nov 10: US President Barack Obama opened his address before a crowd of around 5,000 people at the University of Indonesia, telling the story of his childhood in Indonesia.

WHEN YOU ARE IN INDONESIA... First Lady Michelle in a Muslim scarf during a visit with her husband to Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque, early today

“Pulang kampung nih [This is my homecoming],” Obama said in Indonesian to a roaring applause.

He went on to say he had spent four years of his childhood in Indonesia, arriving in Jakarta in 1967 when the country was facing economic difficulties.

At that time, he said, the highest buildings in Jakarta were Hotel Indonesia and Sarinah mall on Jl. M H Thamrin.

He also recalled a time when he lived in Menteng Dalam, and street hawkers’ cries of "sate" and "bakso" filled the night.

“Indonesia bagian dari diri saya [is part of me]," Obama said, adding that his sister, Maya Soetoro, was born when he was in Jakarta.

Obama’s mother also spent much of her life in Indonesia working to help the community through her award-winning research on microfinance.

“When I went back to Hawaii, no one would anticipate that I would return [to Jakarta] as the President of the United States,” he said

Source: Jakarta Post/Kompas

Mangsa bah kian kurang

2010-11-09T13:03:00.000-08:00

Alhamdulillah setelah banjir semakin reda...semoga mangsa-mangsa banjir redha dengan ujian daripada Allah. Semoga ujian ini akan menguatkan keimanan dan ketaqwaan kepada Allah. Bagi yang berkemampuan, bantulah mereka... dan janganlah pula mereka ini dijadikan mangsa kepentingan diri dan peribadi. Allah Maha mengetahui akan apa yang tersurat dihati walaupun sebesar zarrah!

Sumber: Berita Harian

2010/11/09

Penghuni pusat pemindahan di Kedah 22,829; Perlis 7,947

ALOR SETAR: Keadaan banjir di dua negeri utara Semenanjung semakin baik apabila jumlah mangsa yang ditempatkan di pusat pemindahan berkurangan kepada 22,829 orang di Kedah dan 7,947 orang di Perlis.

Di Kedah, daripada 22,829 orang yang masih menghuni 56 pusat pemindahan membabitkan 5,761 keluarga adalah dari daerah Kota Setar dan Kubang Pasu, manakala semua tiga pusat pemindahan di Pokok Sena dan Pendang sudah ditutup selepas 1,245 mangsa sudah dibenarkan pulang semalam.

Jurucakap Bilik Gerakan Banjir Majlis Keselamatan Negara (Kedah) berkata, daerah Kota Setar mencatat penurunan jumlah mangsa apabila hanya 16,760 daripada 4,112 keluarga masih menghuni 39 pusat pemindahan sementara berbanding 21,116 orang kelmarin.

Di daerah Kubang Pasu pula, katanya, hanya tinggal 6,069 mangsa yang masih ditempatkan di 17 pusat pemindahan dan banjir di daerah itu kini beransur pulih.

Tinjauan di beberapa lokasi di bandar raya ini semalam mendapati ramai mangsa banjir sibuk membersihkan rumah yang dipenuhi lumpur berikutan air bah turut membawa selut tanah merah.

Sementara itu, Malaysia Airports Berhad (MAB) belum memutuskan tarikh operasi Lapangan Terbang Sultan Abdul Halim (LTSAH) di Kepala Batas, di sini sehingga kerja pembersihan dilakukan terutama di landasan dan jalan termasuk sistem pencahayaan landasan.

Pengurus MAB Kedah, Azmi Darus berkata, pihaknya dalam proses mendapatkan kontraktor untuk kerja pembersihan.

“Kini Unit Bomba MAB membersihkan sekitar terminal yang tidak membabitkan kawasan luas,” katanya.

Di KANGAR, jurucakap bilik gerakan banjir negeri berkata, sehingga semalam, 7,947 mangsa membabitkan 1,666 keluarga masih ditempatkan di semua 20 pusat pemindahan di Perlis, iaitu semuanya di Kangar.

Katanya, 13 lagi pusat pemindahan ditutup semalam selepas semua mangsa dibenarkan pulang ke rumah masing-masing.

Tinjauan mendapati kebanyakan mangsa sibuk membersihkan kediaman masing-masing, terutama di beberapa lokasi sekitar bandar ini yang dilaporkan baru pulih mulai semalam.

Key holder to the Ka'bah passes away

2010-11-08T01:09:00.000-08:00

Source:Arab News/harakahdaily

MAKKAH, Nov 8: Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Sheibi, the keeper of the Holy Ka'bah's key, passed away Sunday morning. He was 82. His body was buried in the Maalla cemetery after funeral prayers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

Al-Sheibi family has been holding the position of the Ka'bah key keeper since the time of jahiliya (pre-Islamic period). It was inherited by the eldest member of the family and did not transfer from father to son. Age was the basis for the key’s inheritance.

All Muslim rulers have respected Al-Sheibi family being the custodian of the Holy Ka'bah and its key. The family of the present custodians is linked with Sheiba bin Othman Abitalha who lived during the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Al-Sheibi family has been holding the position since the time of Qusay bin Kilab who lived before Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). King Faisal gave the Ka'bah key to Sheikh Ameen, brother of Abdulaziz. Sheikh Abdulaziz has been keeping the key for the last 16 years. Al-Sheibi family has been serving the Holy Ka'bah for the last 15 centuries. There are 370 members in the family and most of them live in Makkah.

The Holy Ka'bah is cleaned twice a year; once in the middle of the lunar month of Shaaban and the second in the middle of Dul Qaada using Zamzam water mixed with rose water and perfumed with Oud.

According to Abdulaziz, the Holy Ka'bah was kept open three times a month for people to enter and pray inside. But when the number of people seeking to enter the holy edifice increased it was stopped.

The key of the Ka'bah does not change with the change of its door. During the time of King Khaled, the door was changed but the key remained unchanged. The Holy Ka'bah’s door is 2.40 meters high and 1.70 meters wide. The present door is made of pure gold.

Elder kids and Charity Week

2010-11-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

'Mak, somebody asked me to coordinate a charity week at Cathays High',one day my eldest daughter prompted me with that statement. 'that's good for you, good exposure!' my husband intervened our coming-back school chatting. In most cases, I would be normally the first person to respond to the children's issues, but not this time. Back in my mind...it's a big event and she never had the experience to lead... as followers, she's good in that. Though, I consider her to be the most vocal and expressive as compared to the other three of my elder kids, even to us sometimes...

Indeed, it's going to be a good exposure for her and the other two as well. Furthermore, this is the first time their school is participating in such an event. So, more work need to be done by her and her team. Fortunately, there'll be some help and assistance from her seniors who had such kind of experience. On top of that Islamic Relief Cardiff is willing to provide some guidance and help as well. So, eventually, their collections will be going to orphans - a relief programme by the Islamic Relief.

There you are...this week is the Charity Week in their school. I wasn't that aware though my facebook has been flooded with messages of Charity Week in Cardiff University. I wasn't sure myself if it is a coincidence.They were very excited sharing their experience at school with us especially my eldest as she's the coordinator. So, it seemed that everything went well and the support from her friends and teachers are very encouraging. Nothing great, I would say in terms of the activities. Simply cake sales, fancy dress, legged walks, sponsored silence, sports and makeovers for the girls...but what I do admire most are their spirit and commitments, regardless of who they are. All activities are carried out during lunchtime only and few after school, which mean their normal school activities are not interrupted. And yet they managed to collect in total of £500++ for the week, which means £100 per day. On average, I would say every pupil and staff contributes at least 50p a day for the charity event. Well done!

And I believe this must be one of the most unforgettable memories during her time here. She simply enjoy doing it. Another big thumb up from me! Hope this will give her and the other two an opportunity to see the new perspective of life and be forever with all of you!

Obama-Coalition-Pakatan

2010-11-04T03:28:00.000-07:00

Seperti biasa, antara itinery pagi sesampai di 'pejabat' Cardiff University ialah baca emel dan rangkaiannya 'mukabuku'. Hmmm... tak ada emel yang menarik! Pun begitu dalam 'mukabuku'. Posting biasa...next item is newspaper scanning. Huh! menarik juga bila bukak The Guardian online. Baru saya teringat semalam (3 Nov) midterm election in US. Apalah nasib Barrack Obama? Apa sudah jadi pun di seberang sana pun tahu, kita hanya melihat dari jauh. Republican dah took over the House of Representatives (macam Parlimen di Malaysia!) tetapi parti Obama (Demokrat) masih mengusai House of Senate. Menarik! Tapi mesti pening untuk Obama dan yang pastinya bakal memberi kesan keatas pentadbiran US. Apa-apa usul/bill/legislation pun perlukan approval from both houses. Antara kesan yang dijangkakan akibat 'angin baru' ini ialah reformasi ekonomi US bakal tergendala dan mungkin kesannya akan di rasai oleh sekutu-sekutu US (semua oranglah tu!)sekurang-kurangnya sehingga 2012 iaitu tahun penentu Obama sebagai presiden. Yelah dah kalau 2 kepala dalam tu, bukan senang nak dapat mutual agreement on critical government issues. Apa-apapun ini pengajaran untuk Obama, orang kata wake-up call that the public should not be underestimated in any decision.

Indeed, it has never been easy for any shared/coalition government to manouvre the state administration. As simple as each party must have its own principles, priorities, mission and not least to mention is its political direction. Bercakaplah atau berjanji apapun masa berkempen...bila dah form government...hampeh! (Sorry to use this word!)The tolerance of the parties within the coalition government will always be sceptical. To what extent each of them would be willing to give up their principles as they have their own political milestones. Being a political entity, you could never put aside that from your main priorities, politics. The present British Conservative/LibDem coalition government is experiencing this. In putting up policies that thought to be of their best interest to the public, instead result to confusing priorities and thus perceived as ridiculuos by the public.

Not to mention the so-called longstanding of our National Front (Barisan Nasional, the bond among the parties within the coalition is just so fragile...on the tip of the horn (macam telur di hujung tanduk!). Memang selalu dinafikan oleh pemimpin tapi rasanya rakyat taklah sebodoh yang disangka... Used to be kept warm under their blanket, but has now started be openly discussed. Panas tu lama-lama bawah selimut yang sama bertahun-tahun!

Pakatan pun begitu juga... I guess the basis of the coalition pun not very clear and in fact the difference in aspiration is just so diverse among them. One is socialist and the other is Islamic based which one would find just impossible to compromise. Not to mention the PKR, which is still not firm in its direction within the Malaysian politic. Sebab tu lah banyak frog-leapping and this situation has jeopardised the trust of the public.

Jangan disangka ber'pakatan' akan memudahkan jalan kedepan...makin kusut mungkin. The process of give and take must be undertaken in a civilised spirit. The extent of compromise need to be seriously thought beforehand. Selalu jugak saya rasa penat membaca janji-janji mereka yang tidak jelas dan membingungkan rakyat jelata. Kesana janji ini dan kesini janji itu. Be steadfast with your aspiration. So much politicking, anyway, does not help the development of the nation and civilisation of the ummah. Maknanya kalau satu katakan satu, kalau Islam katakan Islam. Believe in His promise, one day you'll be in success.

Cardiff City-Bola-Hafiz

2010-11-02T02:03:00.000-07:00

Saya memang bukan peminat apa-apa sukan pun. Baik bolasepak, rugby, golf... kalau ada pun tennis... Mungkin saya tidak di latih untuk berminat dengan apa juga sukan. Pada zaman kanak-kanak, orangtua selalu cakap... daripada nonton/dengar sukan, baiklah pergi kebun, adalah hasil! Kami memang orang susah, setiap waktu dan detik sangat berharga untuk kami, versi moden orang sekarang...'time is money'.

Namun, sebagai tidak menjadikan diri ni buta sangat mengenai perkembangan sukan... adakalanya ambil tahu jugak mengenai sukan, sekurang-kurangnya players yang dikatakan hebat! Sekadar untuk tahu siapa Tiger Wood, David Beckham, Belammy (!!!), sapa lagi ya... Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Williams twin.

Dan hujung minggu baru-baru ini dan berlarutan hingga ke minggu ini masyarakat pelajar di Cardiff ini telah diserang oleh demam bola... Alkisahnya, kelab Cardiff City ni dah diambilalih (dibelilah!) oleh tycoon Malaysia, Vincent Tan. Maka di setiap kali perlawanan pun setelah pengambilalihan tu, adalah bendera Malaysia tergantung...tapi tak taulah dalam stadium ada ke tak, tapi yang pasti di gate dan pagar-pagar stadium memang ada.Cuma baru-baru ni Cardiff City bagi tiket free kepada masyarakat pelajar yang berminat untuk menonton perlawanan Cardiff City-Norwich, ini adalah atas inisiatif Sdr Taufiq yang bernegosiasi dengan pengurusan CC.Jangan tak tau, 250 dapat tiket free! Dengan takdir, menanglah pulak! Maka berceritalah segala media di tanahair mengenai kemenangan CC ni... TV3 ada, The Star ada, NST ada... cuba tengok gambar dibawah ni... menarik jugak, pakai baju melayu dan first announcement was in Malay!

Kebetulan, Hafiz pulak di sekolah dah mula dengan dengan football club pada hari ini. Hmmm...mula tendang bola dalam rumah! Mula pulak sebut Tores (betul ke ejaan tu). Hope he merely plays for fun and nothing else.

It was and is still a joke about me talking about football...how idiot they are (players) exhausting themselves just for A ball, where they can have loads outside! What more of the spectators! My kids was saying 'It's too much of your PhD mak!'

Dunia Hafiz - Dinosaur

2010-11-01T05:37:00.000-07:00

Kami sendiri tidak sedar bila minat Hafiz terhadap dinosaur bermula. Tapi yang pasti setelah kami berulangkali 'shopping' di CBS (Car Boot Sales). Setiap kali terjumpa apa jua barangan yang berkait dengan dinosaur, memang dia tidak akan berganjak sehinggalah kita beli untuknya. Sehingga kekadang saya pun merungut...'bukan ke dah ada kat rumah?'...'No, that's different, this is xxxsaurus (saya memang tak ingat dan kurang minat makhluk ini!. Dalam hati...'mujurlah di CBS!

Minatnya telah memaksa kami sekeluarga mengambil tahu mengenai makhluk purba ini. Hafiz mempunya koleksi dari sekecil-kecil dino sehingga sebesarnya. Kami pun menjadi sentiasa sensitif dengan apa saja berkait dengan makhluk dinosaur ni... terutama bila pergi ke CBS... akan menjadi salah satu barangan yang dibeli.... baik patung, majalah ataupun buku-buku mengenai dinosaur. Ditambah lagi dengan minatnya suka membaca, Hafiz boleh mengingat nama-nama dinosaur yang bukan sikit! Kalau program TV berkait dengan dinosaur ada... jangan harap orang lain boleh tengok program mereka. Di komputer, youtube dinosaur jadi pilihan dia... Muizlah menjadi peneman setia Hafiz!

Mujurlah, semua abang dan kakak-kakak dia boleh tolerate... kenalah mereka meredah Dinosaur Park di Swansea, muzium dinosaur di Oxford University serta Natural History Museum di London hanya semata-mata kerana dunia Hafiz! Tapi sekurang-kurangnya sekarang kami dah aware jugaklah dengan mahkluk dinosaur ni!

Muiz sudah di Reception Year

2010-10-31T03:01:00.000-07:00

September 2010...Muiz sudah melangkah ke Reception Year. Ini bermakna dia sudah diiktiraf sebagai pelajar sepenuh masa sekolahnya. Pembelajaran hariannya bermula pukul 9am hingga 3pm (6 jam). Lamanya kan? Memang lama, tapi alhamdulillah setakat ini dia belum lagi bosan untuk kesekolah setiap pagi cuma dia sering menyebut-nyebut guru dia semasa di nursery tahun lalu. Tentu ada yang istimewa pada Mrs Davies ni...yang pasti untuk menambat hati anak-anak kecil, guru kenalah seorang yang caring...sehinggakan menjadikan seorang anak kecil seusia 3 tahun rasa selamat di bawah asuhannya! Aktiviti Nursery lebih untuk mengajar anak-anak membawa (handle) diri seperti belajar bergaul dan berinteraksi dengan rakan sebaya. Di bawah ni gambar Muiz semasa masih dalam Nursery.

Sekarang semasa dalam tahun Reception, dia mula belajar mengenal huruf dan nombor. Setiap hijung minggu dapat 'book bag'. Guru akan membekalkan dengan buku cerita tanpa tulisan. Ibubapa perlu bersama anak bercerita berdasarkan gambar. Tujuan proses ini adalah untuk membina 'vocabulary' anak. Setakat ni memang Muiz sangat teruja dengan aktivit ini. Berulang-ulang dia minta untuk bercerita bersama. Cuma Muiz masih belum begitu mengenali huruf dan nombor. Ini cabaran baru untuk saya. Seperti sekolah-sekolah di tanahair disini mereka guna sistem phonic. Hai... zaman saya dulu guna sistem mengeja...anak-anak yang terdahulu lebih banyak di ajar oleh guru-guru di tadika mereka. Hafiz pulak, memand minat semulajadinya 'membuku', jadi dia tak perlu sangat bimbingan kami. Saya pun cuba melayari internet dan youtube... wah banyak sungguh resources... dan yang ini agak menarik http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/load.htm?f. Cubalah... Anak-anak zaman sekarang memang suka belajar guna ICT dan it helps parents a lot. Dia seperti biasa suka aktiviti lasak....

Tiga bulan di tanahair (April-Jun 2010)

2010-09-16T05:33:00.000-07:00

Tujuan utama balik ke tanahair ialah untuk urusan pengajian, lebih tepatnya ialah urusan pengumpulan data. Memang dah ada dalam rangkakerja pengajian, cuma bila nak balik yang bergantung pada jadual kerja...orang selalu tanya sebab apalah nak cari data kat Malaysia, lepas tu kena tinggal family di Cardiff, bukan sekejap 3 bulan...kadang2 goyang juga dibuatnya...selamba aje jawapannya...dah banyak duit gomen abih...buatlah sesuatu yang dapat menyumbang kepada negara!

Dengan jawapan itu sebenarnya besar impaknya terhadap skop dan tajuk pengajian. Explorasi! Maka kenalah mencari maklumat ke seluruh tanahair, dari utara ke selatan, barat ke timur bahkan menyeberang Laut China Selatan. Sendirian bertemankan rawakkal 'ala Allah. Perit! Berlakulah proses penagihan simpati dari pegawai-pegawai yang ada maklumat yang di kehendaki. Mereka bukan tidak mahu menolong tapi...memang depa ssssibuk. Alhamdulillah dan terimakasih atas kesudian semua yang meluangkan masa untuk ditemubual walau kadang-kadang kena drive up and down the towns, tunggu kat pintu ofis seawal 7 pagi....alhamdulillah...insya Allah kita akan kongsi maklumat ini nanti.

Gambar-gambar di atas adalah sebahagian dari tempat-tempat yang di 'serbu' untuk tujuan 'pencarian maklumat'.

Tak salah suami membantu isteri

2010-06-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

Pertamanya saya ucapkan terimakasih kepada seorang sahabat yang ‘post’kan rencana ini di dalam Facebook beliau. Mungkin tak ramai yang membacanya, samada tak berkaitan atau tak perasan atau tak berminat atau apa jua alasannya. Saya tertarik dengan artikel ini yang secara kebetulannya ia sangat relevan dengan kehidupan peribadi saya. Saya seorang isteri dan ibu yang bekerja dan tambahan pula pada masa artikel ini ditulis saya sedang melanjutkan pengajian. Lantas kehadiran seorang suami yang dapat memahami dan menyelami keadaan saya adalah sesuatu yang sangat berharga. Mari kita baca dulu ya……

Men who help with housework have happier marriages

By FIONA MACRAE
Last updated at 11:05 AM on 14th May 2010

Teamwork: Couples are more likely to stay together if the husbands help with chores around the house

Forget boxes of chocolates and romantic weekends away.

The secret to a happy marriage is to roll up your sleeves and help your wife with the housework.

Research shows that unions in which the men muck in with the chores and childcare are more likely to last the course.

And the more elbow grease a man puts in, the lower the odds of him heading to the divorce courts.

The results of the study of thousands of British couples will be music to the ears of millions of women.

Men, however, are likely to be a little less keen on the idea that they should be taking on their share of 'women's work'.

Researchers from the renowned London School of Economics, normally used to dealing with more weighty academic affairs, have turned their minds to the hoovering and washing up.
They tracked the fortunes of 3,500 married couples who had their first child during one week in 1970 - an age when most women with young children stayed at home.

When the children were five years old, the women were asked about how much their husbands did around the house, including helping with housework, childcare and shopping.

Just over half didn't help at all - or only assisted with one task.

A quarter carried out two tasks, and the remaining quarter did three or four, the journal Feminist Economics reports.

Around 7 per cent of the couples had divorced by the time the child was ten, rising to 20 per cent by the youngster's 16th birthday.

Enlarge
When the two pieces of information were crunched together it became clear that the more a man helped out, the more stable his marriage was.

It showed that although divorce became more common when the mother went out to work, this increase could be kept to a minimum by the father pulling his weight around the house.

Researcher Wendy Sigle-Rushton said: 'The results suggest the risk of divorce among working mothers, while greater, is substantially reduced when fathers contribute more to housework and childcare.'

Marriages in which the father stayed at home and took responsibility for the childcare and chores were as stable as those which followed traditional gender roles.

The finding, claimed Dr Sigle-Rushton, exploded the theory that marriages work best when comprised of a stay-at-home mother and a working father.

She added: 'The structure of the labour market, rates of female labour market participation, rates of divorce, and expectations about men's and women's gender roles have all changed considerably since 1975.

'But this study underscores the importance of taking into account relationships between men's behaviour and marital stability.'

Latest figures show that single women put seven hours into housework, while wives and live-in girlfriends do more than 12 hours every week. Men, however, only put in four or five hours a week.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1278137/Divorce-likely-husband-helps-housework.html

Sememangnya sekali membaca tajuk di atas ini, saya seperti bias terhadap diri sendiri ‘memang betul pun, takkan asyik semuanya orang perempuan yang kena buat’ detik hati yang ber’penyakit’. Memang seronok rasanya kalau ada pihak yang menyokong detik hati jahat ini.

Walaubagaimanapun, ada kebenaran dengan apa yang dikaji dan dipaparkan oleh tulisan di atas. Zaman ini menyaksikan seperti sudah satu kemestian seorang wanita, isteri dan ibu turut keluar untuk membantu mencari rezeki bagi menampung keperluan keluarga. Sebenarnya isu isteri turut membantu suami dalam urusan mencari rezeki bukanlah suatu perkara yang baru, ianya sudah diamalkan sejak puluhan tahun dahulu. Isteri-isteri pada zaman ibubapa hatta nenek-datuk kita pun turut turun membanting tulang untuk memenuhi keperluan hidup berkeluarga. Cuma bezanya, dahulu mereka bekerja tidak ada waktu-waktu tertentu atau secara formal seperti kita sekarang dan yang nyata….bayarannya kalau ada tidak selumayan sekarang!

Justeru, saya selalu melihat persetujuan suami membenarkan isteri turut bekerja untuk mencari rezeki sebagai suatu kesepakatan di dalam sebuah institusi keluarga. Si suami sepatutnya melihat kesanggupan seorang isteri menggalas tugas tambahan ini selain dari mengurus rumahtangga dan suami sebagai satu bonus. Seorang isteri pula melihat keizinan suami membenarkan bekerja sebagai satu pengorbanan suami untuk mendapat layanan yang sempurna dari seorang isteri. Andai kesepakatan seumpama ini dapat dicapai, seharusnya semua urusan keluarga diurus bersama-sama oleh suami isteri dari sekecil-kecilnya sehinggalah urusan besar.

Si suami tidak seharusnya berat tulang membantu isteri dalam urusan rumahtangga dan anak-anak apatah lagi sekiranya tiada pembantu rumah. Suami juga tidak seharusnya minta dilayani seperti seorang raja sekembali dari bekerja…seperti kajian di atas…singsinglah baju, bantulah isteri…itulah kebahagiaan untuk si isteri!

Bagi isteri pula, keizinan bekerja dari suami seharusnya di gunakan untuk benar-benar membantu suami memenuhi keperluan keluarga dan anak-anak. Bantulah suami meringankan beban kewangan. Hindarkan diri dari berbelanja untuk kepentingan diri sendiri…walaupun suami tiada hak keatas pendapatan isteri, namun isteri tetap mempunyai ‘hutang’ keizinan dari suami.

Jika suami isteri benar-benar memeterai kesepakatan, sepatutnya tidak timbul isu ego atau ketidaksehaluan dalam urusan rumahtangga. Biarpun mungkin si isteri berpangkat atau berpendapatan lebih tinggi dari suami, kesepakatan yang termeterai tadi menjadikan dia seorang isteri dan ibu yang bertanggungjawab ke atas keluarga. Dia tidak akan merendah-rendahkan keupayaan suami. Sikapnya tidak akan menjadikan suami merasa tercabar dengan kedudukannya. Suami juga tidak seharusnya tercabar dengan kedudukan isteri. Rumahtangga bagi mereka adalah sebuah institusi yang berlainan dengan tempat dan tugas kerja mereka.

Kesepakatan tersebut pula akan lebih kukuh sekiranya disandarkan kepada lunas-lunas Islam. Islam meletakkan tanggungjawab memimpin sebuah keluarga ke atas suami. Dengan ini suami seharusnya melaksanakan tanggungjawabnya yang berat itu dengan sebaik mungkin. Suami perlu melengkapi dirinya dari aspek jasmani, rohani, ilmi dan emosi untuk memimpin sebuah keluarga yang bahagia dan berjaya dalam hidup di dunia dan akhirat. Tidak ketinggalan isteri juga harus bersedia melengkapi diri untuk melaksanakan tugasnya sebagai isteri dan ibu yang dedikasi mendidik anak-anak. Kesepakatan ini, insya Allah akan merealisasikan baiti jannati!

Yang anda tulis adalah anda!

2010-05-19T08:53:00.000-07:00

Salam kembali…lama sungguh blog ini menagih input…tertangguh dan tertanguh dari sehari ke sehari. Bukan tiada isu yang boleh di bicarakan di dalam blog ini. Sememangnya banyak...tetapi untuk memilih serta mencerna dan seterusnya menampilkannya di sini bukanlah mudah.

Sebenarnya penulisan blog yang positif boleh membawa kepada penajaman pemikiran kerana sesuatu penulisan adalah merupakan refleksi pemikiran. Cara dan gaya penulisan dikatakan mencerminkan minda seseorang. Pemikiran adalah refleksi pengamatan (observation). Pengamatan pula berkait rapat dengan tahap pemikiran. Putaran ini memberi impak kepada tahap kematangan seseorang!

Saya sebenarnya sendiri tidak pasti akan kebenaran hipotesis atau andaian di atas. Sekadar membuat suatu hubungkait di antara elemen-elemen diri. Mungkin ahli psikologi atau ahli kemanusiaan boleh memberi input keatas andaian yang dangkal di atas.

Sekadar membuat pengamatan di laman social seperti FACEBOOK, TWITTER dsb yang sudah menjadi salah satu budaya masyarakat kini. Cuba anda amati cara dan gaya penulisan rakan-rakan anda. Apakah yang dibincangkan atau dicanangkan di laman-laman ini. Apakah bersahaja? Berjenaka? Serius? Bersosial? Melatah? Menaja unsur-unsur ilmiah? Unsur-unsur lucah? Melampiaskan stress? Cuba anda kaitkan mereka dengan status, usia serta kerjaya mereka. Dimana mereka?

Selepas itu cuba anda pula amati penulisan-penulisan yang dimuatkan di dalam akhbar-akhbar perdana. Saya kira setiap dari kita pasti membaca akhbar-akhbar ini sebab itu ia di panggil akhbar perdana dan apa yang anda baca akan memberi impak kepada pemikiran dan kematangan anda. Apakah isu-isu yang di ‘highlight’ oleh editor akhbar-akhbar ini? Politik partisan/non-partisan? Ekonomi tanahair/dunia? Sukan tanahair/dunia? Kriminal? Pendidikan? Hiburan? Apakah isu yang mendapat peratusan pembacaan tertinggi? Apakah halatuju akhbar-akhbar perdana ini? Komersial? Mendidik masyarakat? Melepas batuk di tangga? Hilang pedoman?

Cuba bayangkan kalau setiap hari anda disogokkan dengan berita kriminal/jenayah?

Sejarah membuktikan (hatta untuk tanahair kita sendiri!) akhbar-akhbar (penulisan!) memainkan peranan penting mencorak minda masyarakat … bukankah semangat nasionalisma dicerna melalui penulisan-penulisan….siapa yang banyak menyemarakkan semangat ini kalau bukan penulis. Siapakah Pendita Zaaba yang kita sanjung?

Pada masa kini cuba kita lihat diri kita dan sekeliling kita, apakah yang kita baca, tulis, bicara dan amati? Apa yang anda lihat pada diri anda? Jangan anda menafikan yang anda juga harus menjadi seorang pemikir kerana setiap yang anda lakukan seharusnya anda fikirkan terlebih dahulu. Itulah tahap kematangan anda!

Kenapa boleh jadi begini - politik Perak?

2009-05-11T02:31:00.000-07:00

Hari pertama minggu ini, setelah kepenatan dengan urusan kelauarga di hujung minggu, melayari suratkhabar tanah air, dengan harapan dapat berita yang menyuntik semangat dan harapan. Setelah sekian lama di jamu dengan berita memualkan politik tanahair. Saban hari bergaduh kuasa, baik diantara parti pemerintah dengan pembangkang ataupun, sesama sendiri didalam parti. Memang susah mungkin menjadi ahli politik ni ... duduk diluar gelanggang yang sentiasa bergelora dan sekarang ini adakalanya sehingga ke tahap tsunami.

Minggu lepas dipadati dengan kekecohan Perak. Sebelum itu, Terengganu. P. Pinang pun tidak kurang hebatnya dengan kisah timbalan menteri besar. Selangor, Kedah, Kelantan kekadang tercuit jugak. Lain-lain, mungkin menunggu masa sahaja. Masing2 seolah sedang memmegang bom jangka saja. Ledakannya mungkin lebih serius dari selsema babi yang segang menggugat keselesaan dunia seluruhnya.

Cuba lihat perkembangan di Perak ni. Kerusi menteri besar tu yang sememangnya panas (mungkin dibuat dari perak!) menjadi lebih panaslah hari ini dengan keputusan mahkamah tinggi mengesahkan Dato' Nizar sebagai MB yg sah. Bayangkan baru minggu lepas MB (baru) bergelut dengan 'pembangkang' untuk memastikan Speaker lama turut dilucurkan jawatan, hati ini mahkamah tinggi memutuskan MB pakatan adlah tetap sah sebagai MB. Pening betul dibuatnya. Mari kita baca 2 keratan akhbar pergana , berita harian pada minggu lepas dan hari ini.

http://www.bharian.com.my/Saturday/BeritaUtama/20090508224907/Article/index_html

Berita I:
Kecoh di DUN Perak jejas imej negara

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak kesal dengan tindakan pembangkang yang mencetuskan kekecohan ketika persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Perak, kelmarin kerana ia jelas tidak menghormati undang-undang serta memburukkan imej Malaysia. Perdana Menteri berkata, kejadian itu amat memalukan negara kerana Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (Adun) yang dipilih oleh rakyat, bertindak untuk membelakangkan undang-undang. "Kalau kita tidak menghormati peraturan dan prinsip undang-undang, maka akan berlaku keadaan yang mirip undang-undang rimba dalam negara ini. Ini sudah tentu perkembangan yang tragik dan memalukan kita.

"Ia memalukan imej Malaysia sebagai negara mengamalkan demokrasi yang matang," katanya dalam sidang media selepas merasmikan Pencapaian 10 tahun Muzium Kesenian Islam Malaysia, di sini, semalam. Najib mengulas kekecohan yang berlaku pada mesyuarat pertama DUN Perak kelmarin berikutan sikap bekas Speaker, V Sivakumar, enggan berganjak daripada kerusinya selepas dewan meluluskan usul memecatnya. Najib berkata, kejadian itu tidak sepatutnya berlaku kerana demokrasi di Malaysia diamalkan adalah dengan menghormati tatasusila dan prinsip berasaskan kepada peraturan dan undang-undang.

"Kalau kita tidak suka apa-apa pun, kita tak boleh menekan pendirian kita sehingga menafikan hak orang lain. Masing-masing ada hak, kerajaan ada hak, pembangkang ada hak. "Tujuan kita mewujudkan peraturan dan undang-undang ialah untuk menentukan bahawa sistem demokrasi di Malaysia ini berjalan dengan lancar dan dengan tertib," katanya. Perdana Menteri menafikan kekecohan itu berpunca daripada sikap Barisan Nasional (BN) yang tidak mengikut perlembagaan selepas tiga Adun pembangkang keluar parti menjadi Adun bebas dan menyokong BN. "Apa yang dimaksudkan dengan tidak berperlembagaan itu? Menukar parti perkara biasa dalam sistem demokrasi berparlimen dan ia pernah dilakukan Winston Churchill (bekas Perdana Menteri Britain) dan yang terbaru di Amerika Syarikat, senator Republikan bertukar menjadi Demokrat.

"Ia tidak salah dan bukannya tidak berperlembagaan atau tidak sah. Jangan lupa bahawa ada usaha untuk tubuhkan kerajaan pada 16 September lalu dengan menggunakan prinsip dan kaedah yang sama iaitu cuba memujuk 31 ahli Parlimen BN menukar parti. "Apakah itu bukan perbuatan yang boleh menimbulkan pertikaian. Jadi kalau kita anggap perkara itu boleh dilakukan, kenapa tidak tiga Adun yang menyokong BN," katanya. Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, berkata kelakuan yang ditunjukkan Adun dari Pakatan Rakyat ketika sidang DUN kelmarin jelas menunjukkan mereka tidak menghormati Institusi Raja dan demokrasi di negara ini. Beliau berkata, kelakuan mereka itu bukan budaya rakyat Malaysia dan bimbang ia ia akan menjadi 'trend' pembangkang selepas ini. "Ini bukan pertama kali pembangkang membuat kecoh di Perak tetapi kejadian kelmarin itu adalah yang terburuk. Kelakuan mereka itu jelas tidak menghormati Pemangku Raja Perak (Raja Dr Nazrin Shah) yang terpaksa menunggu lebih lima jam," katanya. Beliau berkata, sebagai Adun yang dilantik rakyat, mereka perlu mengawal emosi dalam apa juga keadaan sambil menegaskan tindakan polis membawa keluar Sivakumar dari dewan, adalah atas arahan Bentara DUN berikutan kekecohan yang tidak lagi dapat dikawal.

http://www.bharian.com.my/Current_News/BH/Monday/Nasional/20090510232107/Article/index_html

Berita II:

Mahkamah putuskan MB Perak (Nizar) sah hari ini

Oleh Norhashimah Mohd Radzali norhashimah@bharian.com.my

Perundangan selesai kemelut berpanjangan sejak 3 bulan KUALA LUMPUR: Persoalan siapakah Menteri Besar Perak yang sah antara Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir dan Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin, akan diputuskan Mahkamah Tinggi di sini, hari ini. Keputusan itu akan dibacakan Hakim Mahkamah Tinggi (Bahagian Rayuan dan Kuasa-Kuasa Khas), Datuk Abdul Aziz Abd Rahim pada jam 2.30 petang ini, berikutan semakan kehakiman dikemukakan Mohammad Nizar bagi mendapat perisytiharan mahkamah beliau masih Menteri Besar Perak sah. Ia adalah keputusan amat dinanti-nantikan seluruh rakyat negara ini bagi mengakhiri kemelut politik negeri Perak yang berlarutan sejak tiga bulan lalu.

Bagaimanapun, keputusan itu masih belum muktamad kerana pihak yang kalah boleh mengemukakan rayuan terhadap keputusan di Mahkamah Rayuan. Mohammad Nizar memfailkan semakan kehakiman itu pada 13 Februari lalu, memohon perintah injunksi bagi menghalang Zambry, yang dilantik Menteri Besar pada 6 Februari lalu, atau ejennya daripada menjalankan tugas sebagai Menteri Besar. Mohammad Nizar juga memohon perintah supaya Zambry memberikan tunjuk sebab bagaimana dan mengikut dasar atau kuasa apa beliau berhak memegang jawatan itu.

Beliau turut memohon perisytiharan mahkamah, Zambry bukanlah Menteri Besar Perak dan tidak berhak menjawat jawatan itu. Selain itu, Mohammad Nizar juga memohon mendapatkan takrif mengenai Perkara 16 (6) Undang-undang Tubuh Kerajaan Negeri Perak (UTKP) sama ada jawatan Menteri Besar boleh dikosongkan jika:
· Menteri Besar sudah memberi nasihat kepada Sultan supaya membubarkan DUN.
· Tidak berlaku pembubaran DUN.
· Tidak ada undi tidak percaya terhadapnya di persidangan DUN, dan
· Tidak berlaku peletakan jawatan oleh beliau.

Pada 6 Februari lalu, Zambry mengambil alih pucuk pimpinan negeri Perak selepas Barisan Nasional (BN) mendapat sokongan 31 Adun berbanding 28 Adun bagi PR. Sokongan kepada BN bertambah selepas Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi (PKR-Behrang), Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu (PKR-Changkat Jering) dan Hee Yit Foong (DAP-Jelapang) keluar parti masing-masing untuk menjadi Adun Bebas serta menyokong BN. Sepanjang prosiding empat hari bermula 4 Mei lalu, Mohammad Nizar memberitahu mahkamah beliau tidak memohon Sultan Perak membubarkan DUN atas alasan beliau sudah kehilangan kepercayaan majoriti Adun. Beliau menafikan kehilangan kepercayaan majoriti sebagai Menteri Besar oleh Adun ketika pertemuannya dengan Sultan Azlan Shah bagi berbincang berhubung krisis politik Perak pada jam 5 petang, 4 Februari lalu. Peguam Negara, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail yang bertindak sebagai pencelah dalam semakan kehakiman itu, berhujah Sultan tidak memecat Mohammad Nizar sebagai Menteri Besar, sebaliknya beliau tersingkir daripada jawatan itu mengikut Perkara 16(6) UTKP apabila beliau kehilangan kepercayaan majoriti Adun Perak. Sehubungan itu, beliau berhujah Sultan mematuhi Perlembagaan Perak dan sudah menimbang dengan teliti semua fakta serta perkembangan sebelum membuat perisytiharan BN mempunyai majoriti dalam DUN Perak pada 5 Februari lalu. Peguam Mohammad Nizar, Sulaiman Abdullah pula berhujah pelantikan Zambry sebagai Menteri Besar Perak tidak dibuat mengikut perlembagaan.

Adhab - An element of a civilised nation

2009-05-07T02:42:00.000-07:00

Sebenarnya saya sedang mencari maklumat untuk penulisan akademik, dan terpandang lalu terbaca artikel menarik di bawah. Sedang membaca artikel berkenaan, saya teringat pula rungutan suami minggu lepas selepas solat Jumaat di salah sebuah masjid di bandar Cardiff ini. Memandangkan sebuah lagi masjid utama sedang dibina semula, masjid ini telah menjadi tumpuan sebilangan besar warga Muslim dari pelbagai bangsa. Sebahagian besar ahli jemaah katanya memang dari Timur Tengah (negara-negara Arablah tu!).

Apa yang menjadi isu disini?

Walau kita sering diingat supaya menilai Islam menerusi hakikat Islam tetapi telah menjadi fitrah manusi untuk menilai Islam melalui pengamalnya. Sebab itu timbul suatu kaedah berdakwah secara berhikmah ... lantas apa yang telah berlaku pada hari Jumaat itu?

Disebabkan ramainya para jemaah, lantas ada diantara para jemaah yang terpaksa mendirikan solat di atas jalanraya beralaskan jaket sahaja. Walaupun jalan berkenaan adalah laluan utama, kesediaan orang awam memberi laluan untuk solat patut dihargai. Mereka juga mungkin kagum melihat kesatuan umat Islam dalam mematuhi perintah Pencipta melalui ketertiban mendirikan solat Jumaat. Namun apa yang mengecewakan sepantas kilat mereka telah juga dijamu dengan tindakan yang tidak patut oleh sebilangan besar jamaah. Selesai solat...mereka berbincang (mungkin berborak!) di atas jalan tanpa menghiraukan kenderaan yang hendak lalu. Apalah salahnya kalau pergi ke tepi jalan. Ini kenderaan pula yang terpaksa berhenti!!! Mungkin perkara ini dianggap remeh oleh sesetengah orang, tapi saya berpendapat inilah yang dikatakan adhab. Kepantasan menilai sesuatu tindakan secara rasional dan menepati nilai-nilai murni Islam.

Penulisan dibawah ini memberi sedikit peringatan kepada kita tentang kepentingan adhab.

Ihsan dari laman web IKIM (7/4/2009)

There Is No Greater Inheritance Than Adab

Suzalie Bin Mohamad

Fellow

07/04/2009

It has been narrated by many scholars of Islam that if parents have any inheritance, there is no greater inheritance than Adab. Al-Walid ibn Numayr said that he heard his father say ‘righteousness is (a gift) from Allah, but Adab (right conduct) is from parents".

Adab plays an important role in society. The actions of members in society are considered immoral or bad if they lack manners. Indeed, having good manners and doing few good deeds are better by far than doing many good deeds and having no or little manners.

Adab is central to the teachings of Islam. Due to the great importance of Adab in everyday life, Imam Bukhari separated the discussion on Adab in a special book entitled al-Adab al-Mufrad. If one were to survey the books of Hadith, one would discover that each have chapters on Adab.

The narrators of Hadith have reserved special elaboration for Adab in their books. For instance;
1. The Muwatta' of Imam Malik: The book of good behaviour 2. The Sahih of al-Bukhari: The book of manners3. The Sahih of Muslim: The book of duties, ties of kinship and manners4. The Sunan of Abu Dawud: The book of manners5. The Sunan of al-Tirmidhi: The book of manners, and the book of duties and ties of kinship6. The Sunan of Ibn Majah: A Chapter on manners.

Adab can be taught. We learn by example. Therefore, it is crucial that we encourage good habits and deeds, although bad habits are perhaps the easier to acquire. Knowledge alone is insufficient to build a sound and balanced personality. What use is knowledge to us without exemplifying those mannerisms and etiquette that really define us as Muslims? A Muslim scholar mentioned that "knowledge without Adab is like fire without wood, and Adab without knowledge is like a spirit without a body".

Suffice it to say that Adab is acquired naturally, it is not really taught or learnt, but is naturally developed. Children learn Adab from their parents, students from their teachers, the less experienced from the experienced. One may have knowledge but lacks ‘Adab'; and one may have Adab but lacks knowledge; however without Adab, one cannot know which knowledge is more prior.

Today it is painfully obvious that material gain regardless of how it is acquired, has taken priority over virtue. The spiritual development of humanity has fallen far behind its intellectual growth. It would seem that looking back through history, our greatest search for knowledge has been for the knowledge of destruction, and our greatest discoveries are the result of an all-encompassing drive for power.

The destruction and violence of war is obvious. At the touch of a button millions of people die, whole cities are destroyed, and poisons remain to defile our earth for all generations to come. I wonder, if we were to or must struggle and fight among ourselves, could we return to a less sophisticated time when the battlefield was filled only with the screams of soldiers killing soldiers? War is only a word to much of a modern society. Removed by technology, many have never seen the pain in the eyes of a starving child chewing at his or her dead mother's breast. All these are the result of a loss of Adab.

Far worse is that in our daily lives there is an insidious violence, although, perhaps not quite as obvious, one that is just as surely affecting our consciousness and destroying our world. Let us take for example, the modern lifestyle. Sanitation departments and waste disposal systems are overburdened with waste that cannot be disposed of. In addition to this, the requirements for hospital beds and mental institutions are increasing at an alarming rate as our minds succumb to the pressures of insecurity and the stress of modern life. Greed, intolerance, irresponsibility and thinking only for personal economy and comfort seem to be the rule of thumb today. Humanity has become a global parasite, robbing the earth of its richness and rewarding it with poisons. We have created an economic dead end due to our selfishness.

Why is it difficult to control our egos? You cannot touch the ego, you cannot see it. It has no concrete form. Some say one cannot control the ego because the ego is an illusion. But one's actions are manifestation of that ego. We can observe our actions and behaviours, and we can control our actions.

We must set an example through our actions. We must not allow ourselves to become controlled and consumed by power struggle and political conflict which expose us to fear, selfishness and blind following. If one is staunchly selfish, one cannot be free. If one embraces righteousness, such that the embrace is one of fanaticism, zealousness, and extremism, then one cannot extend ones hand to another in friendship. I remember reading the advice of a martial arts master to his students.

The master said,
"You must learn the freedom of no desires. If you grab water or air, the essence will escape. If you want to drink, you must cup your hands lightly. If you want o breathe, you must first open you mouth to exhaust the old air. If I give you gold and you grab it as tightly as you can, fearing its escape, you cannot touch the diamond that I offer".

Lying, hypocrisy, oppression, selfishness, and other vices are all detrimental to human happiness and perfection. In fact, casting all virtues aside contributes to the social disasters and untold misery in society.

A society without Adab will perish. For this reason previous great civilizations were destroyed because they were bankrupt of Adab. Thus, it is imperative that those with no Adab are given a serious lesson lest they destroy those virtues that Allah has bestowed upon us. Those people, if not handled in a proper manner, will destroy civilization.

There is a Malay poem which refers to this condition;
"Seandainya terdapat seribu orang yang membina yang disusuli dengan seorang meruntuh, itu sudah cukup untuk meruntuhkannya. Bagaimana pula jika hanya terdapat seorang yang membina tetapi terdapat seribu orang yang meruntuhkannya?".

Pengalaman Muiz II

2009-04-29T03:27:00.000-07:00

Sepertimana ibubapa lain disini, kami mendaftarkan Muiz untuk memulakan alam persekolahan sebaik sahaja dia melangkah usia 3 tahun. Alhamdulillah juga, ada kekosongan di sekolah yang berhampiran dan sekaligus sekolah abangnya, Hafiz. Cuma yang masih merisaukan kami ketika itu ialah Muiz masih memakai lampin pakai buang! Pengalaman rakan disini mengenai kengganan sekolah menerima anak-anak yang memakai lampin agak merisaukan ... maknanya kami perlu melatih Muiz tanpa lampin atau istilah disini 'potty training'. Kami cuba berbincang dengan health visitor ... alhamdulillah ada sistem sokongan disini.

Mungkin sesuatu yang pelik bagi orang lain, betapa kami yang punya anak lima masih teragak-agak dalam urusan 'kecil' ini. Di Malaysia, urusan sebegini banyak dibantu oleh baby sitter atau bonda dan kekanda, disini kami mengadu pada yang boleh diadukan ... betapa mereka tidak memilih 'siapa' yang perlu dibantu. Apa yang menjadi faktor kerisauan kami ialah cuaca yang sejuk, rumah yang dilambaki dengan karpet dan situasi Muiz yang belum petah berbicara! Akan tetapi sistem sokongan disini membuat kami lebih konfiden. Anak-anak lebih mudah menerima arahan sekiranya arahanitu tidak mengelirukan anak-anak. Umpamanya kalau kita sudah sepakat tidak mahu dia memakai lampin, jangan sesekali dipakaikan lampin kecuali diwaktu malam tanpa disedarinya ... kami dilawati 3 kali oleh health worker untuk tujuan potty training ini. Cathy memang dedikasi dan komited terhadap tugasnya!

Muiz juga dibawa ke kelas 'Language and Play' untuk anak-anak dibawah empat tahun. Saya sentiasa teruja dengan approach sistem pendidikan anak-anak disini sejak dari kelahiran sehingga 11 tahun. Mereka menggunakan approach 'learning through playing' dan seringkali ditekankan kebebasan dan kreativiti anak-anak melalui seni. Anak-anak pastinya gembira bila melakukan aktiviti sebegini dan apa yang penting setiap aktiviti akan di sertai dengan rasionalnya ... semudah kenapa apabila ingin menyuapi anak, si ibu turut menyicip makanan si anak didepannya? sebab si anak akan 'meniru' apa jua aktiviti si ibu ...bukankah ibu ayah cermin si anak. Kita secara umum menerima idiom seumpama itu ..tetapi selalu lupa bagaimana implementasinya. Kita selalu mengaitkan dengan isu-isu besar seperti kalau ibu ayah tidak solat bagaimana anak patuh untuk solat .... benar! Tetapi banyak lagi cabang perkembangan anak-anak yang menggunakan prinsip itu dilupa atau dilekeh oleh kita, para ibubapa. Umpamanya ibubapa sering mendengus kenapa si anak tidak makan buah atau sayur ... cuba fikirkan bagaimana mahu si anak makan buah atau sayur? Sesekali bawalah si anak ke pasaraya memilih sendiri buah atau sayur kegemarannya ... biar dia yang memotong dan memasak! Pasti dia akan makan sayur itu! Jadi, janganlah kita kecewa bila anak-anak tidak menyicip pun sayur lemak pedas kegemaran kita, kerana mereka juga punya citarasa yang tidak salah!

Belajar melalui bermain? Salahkah anak-anak bermain? Bukankah itu dunia mereka? Cuba kita perhatikan setiap langkah anak-anak bermain ... pasti mereka belajar sesuatu dari permainan itu. Ibu bapa sewajarnya menilai aktiviti permainan anak-anak dari sudut perkembangan anak-anak, baik fizikal ataupun mental. Memang saya tidak menyanggah penatnya melayan anak-anak bermain, lagipula kalau yang punya anak aktif seperti Muiz. Tetapi selagi minda mereka berfungsi selagi itu, anak-anak akan menggerakkan fizikal mereka dan itulah yang dikatakan 'bermain'. Cara anak-anak 'melayan' gerak fizikal mereka itu sebenarnya melahirkan kepantasan minda mereka. Kalau anda duduk sebentar memerhati si anak bermain, saya pasti anda akan teruja dengan koordinasi fizikal dan mental mereka. Mereka akan menjadi kreatif dan akhirnya produktif! Jangan kongkong aktiviti yang menjadi fitrah mereka.

Pengalaman bersama Muiz di sini sering menggugah kami dalam mendidik anak-anak. Peluang membesarkan Muiz di sini melalui aktiviti komuniti membuat kami teruja dengan pendidikan anak-anak. Buat anak-anakku yang telah melewati usia ini, bonda mohon maaf kalau ada kecelaruan dalam mendidik kalian. Moga kalian tidak mengulanginya dalam mendidik generasi akan datang.

Kabinet Baru Najib

2009-04-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

Agak sedikit sibuk sejak akhir-akhir ini sehingga lewat sekali menitis minda mengenai kabinet baru Malaysia … kini kabinet yang dibentuk Perdana Menteri sudah hampir sebulan bertakhta. Sang Perdana Menteri pun sudah menziarahi jiran tetangga, Indonesia, bersama-sama pak-pak menterinya … seronok sekali bersantapan dengan Bapak Presiden dan Timbalannya…

Apa yang menariknya dengan kabinet baru Najib ini? Tiada yang menarik selain ungkapan Najib “Kabinet Rakyat”. Bagi saya ungkapan itu amat besar ertinya …paling tidak pun, setiap anggotanya mesti mempunyai iltizam untuk bekerja setulusnya untuk rakyat yang memilih mereka.

Namun, cuba difikir sedikit kabinet baru ini:
i. Satu Kementerian (Kementerian Pembangunan Usahawan) yang dianggap penting untuk memajukan negara telah ditutup. Kementerian ini mempunyai fungsi yang besar dalam menyuntik dana dan semangat kepada usahawan yang baru untuk menapak dibumi sendiri. Kementerian cuba mengeluarkan orang Melayu dari stigma karat ‘berniaga’ kepada ‘usahawan’ yang lebih dinamik dan maju ke depan. Sekarang satu agensi penting dibawah kementerian ini, MARA, akan diserap ke Kementerian Luar Bandar dan Wilayah. MARA mengubah pelan tindakan dengan membuat pembelian ruang kedai di bandar-bandar sebagai langkah membolosi pasaran bandar dan sekaligus memberi ruang kepada usahawan kita. Memanglah kalau mahu dinilai prestasi MARA dalam membangun orang Melayu sejak RIDA dulu memanglah banyak … tetapi sesungguhnya banyak pelaburan yang telah dilaksanakan oleh MARA sehingga MARA seringkali dikaitkan dengan masalah kewangan. Saya menunggu rasional yang mahu diberikan oleh kerajaan, tetapi sehingga kini masih belum diwar-warkan lagi. Paling tidak, untuk apa bangunan MECD yang tersergam indah di Putrajaya itu?
ii. Anggota kabinet yang bertukar-tukar. Dari pemerhatian politik, mungkin tindakan ini suatu yang positif … tetapi bagi ahli pentadbiran, ianya tidak begitu menguntungkan. Pertukaran menteri bagi pegawai kerajaan bermaksud pertukaran polisi dan fokus! Menteri baru punya pelan tindakan baru yang boleh dinilai dari pelbagai sudut, ada yang positif dan sebaliknya. Halatuju yang berubah-ubah akan lebih mengelirukan tahap implementasi apatah lagi evaluasi polisi, yang akhirnya tidak memberi kesan positif kepda kumpulan sasar, rakyat secara amnya. Polisi pendidikan negara umpamanya yang berubah-ubah dalam tempoh 10 tahun memberi kekeliruan kepada pelajar dan juga pendidik. Dan adakah wajar kita meletakkan tanggapan negatif terhadap prestasi umum pelajar. Bayangkan dalam masa enam tahun, mereka perlu menjadi ‘dictionary’ kepada sains dan matematik … automatic reversion from English to malay …jgn2 malay to English semula. Dan negara membayangkan generasi ini akan pintar! Berapa banyak masa mereka dihabiskan untuk proses translasi dwibahasa … belum ditambah dengan subjek berkenaan lagi!
iii. Siapa menterinya? Baru? Lama? Senator? Ahli MT? Yang kalah? Yang menang? Dalam hal ini, kabinet baru ini merangkumi semua! KJ vs Mukhriz, menarik untuk diulas…tetapi tidak berminat dilontarkan disini kerana permainan politik ini memang memeningkan dan pelik tapi itulah yang berlaku. Tapi, PM perlu ingat pandangan beliau mengenai isu ini tidak dapat menyanggah apa yang sudah bertakhta di minda rakyat. Cuma yang diharap oleh rakyat …kabinet ini benar-benar memperjuangkan kepentingan rakyat … ingatlah peluh rakyat yang menitis saban detik untuk keenakan dan keempukan hidup kalian di Putrajaya! Turunlah …jengahlah mereka yang tidak tentu arah kehidupannya, ditambah dengan gelombang ekonomi yang parah kini.

Dapur Bonda perlu ditutup sementara …penat sungguh berbicara sampai menumbuk sambal belacan dirantau orang. Tidak lupa sambal belacan menu hidangan, namun minda ini tetap maju kedepan. Insya Allah … cintaku untuk tanahair tetap utuh!

Debar Kabinet Najib yang bakal diumumkan esok

2009-04-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

Sudah seminggu Malaysia dipimpin oleh Perdana Menteri baru, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak Datuk Hussein. Beliau bukan orang baru dalam pentadbiran Malaysia mahupun arena politik tanahair. Penceburannya ke gelanggang politik bermula seusia beliau 26 tahun dengan mengekalkan kerusi Pekan (tak pasti DUN/P) ayahandanya, Tun abdul Razak. Ini bermaksud sudah hampir 3 dekad beliau berkecimpung dalam politik serta pentadbiran negeri dan negara. Memang beliau orang politik dan datang dari keluarga yang berpolitik (lihat salasilah namanya!) tetapi tidak pasti samada darah politiknya bakal ada penerusnya.

Walauapapun telahan rakan dan seteru politik, ahli pentadbiran negara atau rakyat, beliau memang mempunyai 'pengalaman' untuk mentadbir negara. Bagaimana dan apa bakal hasilnya? Pengamatan ini akan berdasarkan kepada perspektif dan dimensi minda masing-masing. Umpamanya, barat tidak meletakkan harapan yang tinggi terhadap perlantikan Najib sebagai PM. Ada media yang membuat kenyataan lesu (lebih kurang) "Malaysia: New PM but no new direction", walaupun ditanahair Najib sememangnya bersemangat sekali dengan janjinya untuk membuat kejutan atau reformasi dalam pentadbirannya. Tidak payahlah bercakap mengenai pembangkang .... tiada apa yang diharap dari beliau. Yang memberi harapan menggunung mungkin Tun Mahathir! (walaupun dilihat keluar masuk UMNO seperti keluar masuk kedai kopi!).

Secara peribadi saya memang turut berdebar menanti pengumuman yang dikatakan bakal 'mengejutkan'. Semasa pengunduran Tun Mahathir dulu spekulasi tidaklah sehebat ini! Mesti ada sebab musabab kenapa saya berperasaan begini! (walaupun saya hanya rakyat biasa yang jahil politik!). Mungkin saya hampir pasti Pak Lah pada ketika itu tidak akan melakukan kejutan besar. Siapa yang bakal di'tenggelamkan' dan siapa yang bakal di'timbulkan'? Secara adatnya, pemilihan UMNO yang baru ini menjadi pengukurnya, namun... dalam politik, apapun boleh berlaku! Umpama 6 boleh jadi 9! Adat mungkin sudah tidak relevan di dalam situasi ini.

Walauapapun, pentadbiran PM akan melalui banyak halangan. Halangan pertama sudah ditempoh dan nampaknya BN hanya mampu meraih satu dari tiga p/raya kecil. Rakyat menanti komentar PM tetapi pasrah dengan komentar calon timb. presiden yang kalah. Apapun hasilnya, itulah mandat rakyat yang sayangkan negara dan PM sewajarnya menghormati pilihan rakyat yang bijak. Pintar dan bijaknya rakyat sewajarnya menjadi kebanggaan negara kerana itulah antara teras Wawasan 2020. Rakyat semakin kritis terhadap permasalahan pentadbiran, ekonomi dan sosial negara. Ekonomi negara yang lemah, sistem sosial yang rapuh dan sistem pendidikan yang mengelirukan pastinya akan menjadi agenda pemikiran rakyat yang kehausan ketelusan dan integriti pemimpin.

Semakin kuat arus ditentang, semakin kuat dayung dikayuh.

Lecturers reveal watered-down degrees

2009-04-02T02:02:00.000-07:00

Isu ini juga menjadi bualan para ahli akademik di tanahair. Mungkin ini adalah kesan dari pengkomersilan pendidikan.

Academics are breaking ranks to expose a grim picture of higher education
by

Jack Grimston

A GROUP of academic whistle-blowers have warned that British higher education is being blighted by watered-down degrees, rampant plagiarism and systematic pressure from university authorities to inflate the grades of weak undergraduates.
The complaints by the academics — working at universities including Oxford, Sussex, Birmingham, Cardiff and new institutions such as Central Lancashire and Manchester Metropolitan — have been presented in a 500-page dossier to an MPs’ inquiry.
One reports a student begging “please don’t dumb down any further”, while another says students are more interested in sending text messages in class than paying attention.
The problems are blamed on two decades of relentless university expansion without adequate funding.
The evidence increases pressure on John Denham, the universities secretary, to take steps to guard quality as he prepares to announce a strategy for higher education this summer.
One source at the select committee said: “It has to be quite a brave person to stick their necks out like this.
“There is sufficient commonality between their concerns to be worth taking seriously – it is incumbent on the authorities to do so. The worry is they are inclined to dismiss rather than investigate.”
Those who have given evidence include Sue Evans, an economics lecturer of some 30 years’ standing at Manchester Metropolitan University.
She describes a disappointed Slovakian undergraduate saying last term: “This university is like high school in Slovakia.”
Another begged the department: “Don’t dumb down the subject any more than you already have.”
Evans also provides extensive allegations of marks frequently being revised upwards without justification. She says she has raised her concerns “repeatedly” with the university but without any response.
Her complaints are echoed by Stuart Derbyshire, a senior lecturer in psychology at Birmingham University. On one occasion, he said: “When I complained, he [an external examiner charged with scrutinising standards] stated that it was no longer 1986 and that we cannot mark like we did in the past.
‘We must’, he said, ‘look harder for excellence’.”
Some of the submissions raise concerns over the commitment of students themselves.
The dossier includes warnings from some of Britain’s most senior academics. Alan Ryan, warden of New College, Oxford, wrote that, while he approved of expanding university education, too much of it is “remedial secondary education passed off as something else”.
At Oxford, he said, “anyone who remains awake and is tolerably well organised can get a 2:1”. He added that there is a “dumbing to the middle” at the university in which compliance with government quality procedures is more important than “waking up minds”.
Peter Dorey, a politics academic at Cardiff, said: “They often sit in seminars with only their mobile phone in front of them on the desk . . . but no books or notepads.”
He told the inquiry: “Many of them are semi-literate,” adding that he was starting to feel “as if I am wasting my time with today’s students”.
Some of the greatest concerns raised are over the quality of science education.
Janet Collett, emeritus biology lecturer at Sussex who also holds a post at Harvard, warned the committee of “serious slippage of standards”. She said many leading American academics believe “sharp critical thinking and fostering independence are no longer the hallmarks of British university education”.
Collett said this weekend that American colleagues complained that even Oxbridge science graduates “just didn’t know enough”.
Higher education is now more popular than ever, with figures released last month showing applications to start degrees this autumn up 7.8% on last year, when 413,000 started at university.
However, there are signs that head teachers at the most academically successful state and independent schools are starting to steer the brightest pupils to join a steady trickle across the Atlantic.
Andrew Halls, headmaster of the independent King’s College school in Wimbledon, south London, claimed that at a recent parents’ meeting, half the 200 or so present said they would consider sending their children to America.
“US universities are starting to have a real edge,” said Halls. “The more they [British universities] water down their degrees, which they patently are, the worse.”
David Willetts, the shadow universities secretary, said there was still widespread excellence, but added: “A lot of students who get in touch with me are raising issues such as how crowded their seminars are, how rapidly they get work returned with a mark. Those are the types of issues students and parents really worry about. Universities have to listen.”
Universities contacted this weekend to respond to the submissions denied there were quality problems or that staff were pressed to change grades.
A spokeswoman for Manchester Metropolitan added: “Miss Evans expresses a lot of very personal views but presents very little objective information. There is no evidence staff are put under any pressure to bump up grades. We are extremely disappointed and upset that a colleague has chosen to raise these issues externally.”
David Boucher, head of the school of European studies at Cardiff, said: “The school does not recognise the picture of students Dr Dorey paints.”
From The Sunday Times March 8, 2009

G20 Summit - UK berbelanja 10juta pound untuk keselamatan

2009-04-01T00:58:00.000-07:00

10juta pound bukan sikit tapi itulah harga keselamatan G20 di London yang akan bermula secara rasminya esok - 2 April 2009. Jumlah ini juga dikatakan jumlah terbesar yang pernah dibelanjakan oleh Britain (unprecendented amount) untuk program seumpama ini. Kalau saya sebagai penduduk Britain, tentu sekali saya marah ... dalam kegawatan yang dahsyat ini ... wang rakyat digunakan sebegitu rupa. Keselamatan pemimpin 'negara kaya' yang telah miskin menjadi isu utama. Sepatutnya kalau mereka mahu selamat, bawalah sendiri anggota keselamatan masing-masing! Tapi Brown kata tak manis begitu, orang datang bertamu ditempat kita, kenalah kita yang menjaganya. Umpama orang dah biasa senang, kenalah juga tunjuk kesenangan walaupun anak-anak didapur sekadar menjilat jari!

G20 kali ini pun dikatakan yang paling 'hangat' sekali berbanding sebelum ini. Kebejatan ekonomi dunia dan pemanasan global akan menjadi agenda utama mereka. Brown juga turut mengambil kesempatan menyeru 'kengkawannya' untuk bersatu menangani dua isu besar ini. Dua isu ini juga yang telah menggugah para pendemonstrasi di Eropah ini. Entah-entah mereka ini sekadar ingin melawat-lawat kota London yang telah kekeringan wang. Serta makan-makan dengan Queen Eli yang sudah disanggah usia. Dan mungkin menjenguk iron lady yang hampir nyanyuk, Maggie Tatcher!

Justeru, ada kalangan yang berjanji untuk berdemonstrasi secara aman tapi tidak ketinggalan juga yang memberi isyarat untuk melakukan keganasan semasa demonstrasi. Ekoran dari inilah seramai 5000 anggota keselamatan telah dikerah mengawasi kotaraya London. Ada premis yang tidak beroperasi untuk tempoh ini dan pekerja-pekerja dinasihatkan untuk tidak datang kepejabat. Rasanya tidak ubah seperti di Malaysia dizaman reformasi dahulu!

Tapi tidak kurang juga kesangsian orang awam serta ahli politik terhadap integriti anggota keselamatan dan media yang sengaja menggembar-gemburkan isu ini. Lihat ini:

Four Liberal Democrats – Baroness Williams of Crosby, Simon Hughes, Chris Huhne and David Howarth – will act as legal observers at the climate camp to prevent violence initiated by police, rather than protesters.
Mr Howarth, the MP for Cambridge, said that police and media were guilty of “talking up the violence”, adding: “The danger is that they are putting off peaceful protesters, and attracting the wrong sort.” (The Times, 1 April 2009)

Tidak banyak rupanya beza operasi polis mereka ini! Agaknya inilah yang menjadi antara syllibus kepolisian! Secara umumnya mereka tak serupa tapi sama operasinya. Cuma kekadang mereka ini lebih bijak operasinya berbanding ditempat kita.

Pengalaman Muiz I

2009-03-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hari ini kami sekali lagi dilawati oleh pekerja kesihatan (health worker) yang mesra bernama Cathy. Ini adalah susulan lawatan pelawat kesihatan (health visitor) pada minggu lepas. Kedua-dua lawatan ini adalah berkait dengan perkembangan anak bongsu kami, Muiz, yang berumur 3 tahun. Memang menjadi kebiasaan disini untuk dilawati oleh salah seorang dari mereka untuk memantau perkembangan anak-anak dibawah 4 tahun. Dan bukan itu yang menjadi bicara saya disini sebab di Malaysia lawatan sebegini juga ada (walaupun saya tidak pernah dilawati dengan anak seramai lima orang!)

Apa yang ingin dikongsi ialah kemantapan support system untuk anak-anak seawal dari kelahiran lagi. Saya juga tidak mahu berbicara secara umum tetapi lebih menjurus kepada pengalaman kami yang sedikit di bandar Cardiff ini dan lebih berkait dengan pengalaman kami bersama Muiz sejak setahun yang lalu.

Tidak lama selepas kami mendaftar dan membuat pemeriksaan di GP, kami dilawati oleh seorang health visitor (HV). Pada masa itu, usia Muiz hampir dua tahun. Bicara mengenai perkembangannya, tiada apa yang merisaukan kami. Dia adalah anak kami yang paling aktif sejak di dalam kandungan lagi. Sejak saya mengandung tujuh bulan, terasa seperti nak melahirkan sehingga terpaksa mengambil ubat. Dia memang bayi yang punya tulang 'kuat' dan dalam usia seminggu sudah mahu mengangkat kepala! Secara ringkasnya, gerak tubuh tidak merisaukan kami cuma dia agak lewat bercakap. Ini bandingan kami dengan anak-anak yang terdahulu.

Kami suarakan kepada HV dan dirujuk kepada speech therapist (ST). Dua bulan selepas itu, kami diminta untuk membawa Muiz berjumpa speech therapist. Ujian utama untuk masalah sebegini ialah ujian pendengaran dan alhamdulillah tiada masalah dari segi pendengarannya. Cuma apa yang ditekankan oleh ST ialah gunalah bahasa ibunda bila bercakap dengan anak-anak. Itulah bahasa lidahnya! Kami terpana sebab ingatkan penggunaan bahasa Inggeris digalakkan memandangkan Muiz akan juga kesekolah disini. Kami risau dia akan menghadapi masalah komunikasi!

Menurut pengamatan ST melalui perbualan dengan kami, Muiz lebih kepada masalah kecelaruan bahasa. Kami menggunakan dwi bahasa yang membuatkan dia bingung dan sekitarannya pula bahasa Inggeris. Perkara ini memang perkara biasa untuk anak-anak sebab mode utama anak-anak belajar bercakap ialah melalui 'peniruan' atau 'imitation'. Maka ibubapa atau sesiapa yang bercakap dengan anak-anak perlu menggunakan bahasa yang sama supaya anak-anak tidak celaru!

Kemudian lagi, ibubapa memang perlu banyak bercakap dengan anak-anak. Jangan senang hati bila anak-anak duduk didepan TV atau bermain sendirian. Mereka belajar melalui komunikasi. Lebih banyak kita berkomunikasi, lebih banyak bergerak mindanya! Muiz mungkin tidak begitu bernasib baik dalam hal ini. Walaupun dia tidak dihantar ke nurseri atau babysitter seperti abang2 dan kakak2nya, dia tidak banyak berkomunikasi dengan kami! Saya sibuk dengan urusan belajar dan sering duduk di u sehingga lewat. Ayahnya pula kekadang agak senang hatibila Muiz setia didepan TV dan membuat aktiviti lasak. Lantas komunikasi kami terbatas ... dia tiada aktiviti 'peniruan' dari kami.

Kerisauan kami bukanlah suatu yang luarbiasa tetapi sokongan yang kami dapat dari sistem di sini sangat baik. Pada awalnya, adakalanya kerisauan kami memuncak ... yelah dah hampir 3 tahun tapi belum 'bertih' tuturnya, tetapi setiap kali kami mengadu mengenai perkembangan Muiz, kami sering diingatkan yang dia tiada apa-apa masalah dan jangan sesekali bandingkan anak-anak!

Apa yang ingin dikongsikan disini ialah mengenai komunikasi serta perbandingan anak-anak. Kita sebagai ibubapa kekadang terleka dari berkomunikasi dengan anak-anak kecil. Mereka juga perlukan kita! serta cuba jauhkan membandingkan perkembangan anak-anak kita. Setiap dari mereka mempunyai kelebihan dan kepantasan masing-masing.

Muizku memang pintar!

Politik tanahairku

2009-03-30T09:37:00.000-07:00

Satu persoalan yang sering terbuai didalam mindaku yang jahil politik ini adalah "Ke mana arah tuju politiking Malaysia?"

Saya tidak bermaksud menyebelahi mana-mana gagasan politik, baik kanan atau kiri, kerana mungkin sebenarnya tiada pun gagasan politik yang mempunyai seratus-peratus kejujuran dalam berpolitik. Saya andaikan masing-masing mempunyai kepentingan untuk mengepalai Malaysia. Saya sering bertanya kepada diri sendiri 'Sejak PRU12 tahun lalu (Mac 2008), berapa banyak janji manis sudah mana-mana MP atau Adun yang terlaksana?'

Tidakkah mereka asyik berbicara tentang lompat 'katak' yang tidak pun nampak kelibatnya?

Tidakkah mereka asyik berbicara untuk membeli 'kerusi kulit' semata tanpa mempersoalkan atau menghormati kepercayaan yang telah rakyat berikan kepada seseorang 'wakil rakyat'? Angkara pembelian 'kerusi kulit' ini saya andaikan satu pencabulan hak rakyat sejagat!

Belum selesai isu pembelian kerusi yang seterusnya melibatkan 'rampasan kuasa' kerajaan yang dibina dengan titik peluh rakyat (ingat!!! keringat siapa yang berlimpahan semasa kempen dan hari mengundi?), mereka terus disibukkan dengan pilihanraya parti pula... Justeru, saya buat congakan kasar, dalam setahun memerintah negara (selepas PRU12), mungkin tidak sampai 3 bulan daripada tenaga dan buah minda dikhususkan untuk kepentingan rakyat! Sembilan bulan yang lain banyak di 'curi' oleh kepentingan politik sendiri!

Umpamanya bukan senang mahu bertanding kerusi Ketau Pemuda, kalau memang umum mengetahui palitan busuk dimuka. Juga bukanlah suatu jalan mudah kalau sudah punya rekod politik wang untuk menangkap posisi ahli MT. Ada yang mungkin setiap hari sebu memikirkan pemilihan parti dan lebih sebu dari memikirkan rakyat yang dibuang kerja saban hari akibat kegawatan global ekonomi.

Memang nyata ada kesengalan didalam sesetengah parti politik di Malaysia. SiPolan yang sepatutnya tidak di namakan langsung pun boleh menang jawatan penting parti! Malahan yang anehnya dipuja!!! Aneh memang aneh ... pelik tetapi itulah apa yang terjadi. Itu belum lagi berbicara tentang si polan lain yang sudah terang dan nyata kebobrokannya baik secara publik atau personal... juga diangkat menjadi ketua negara. Oh tidak! Apa sudah jadi dengan tanahairku ...

Kenapa perlu bersimpang dalam membawa Islam?

2008-11-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

Persoalan ini sebenarnya satu persoalan nostalgia. Sudah hampir satu dekad meninggalkan bumi dingin ini dan kini kembali menghuninya untuk beberapa tahun lagi. Saya hanyalah manusia biasa yang inginkan Islam ini subur dimana-mana termasuklah bumi dingin ini. Kita yang berhijrah sementara kesini turut membawa harapan agar dapat membersihkan minda dan jiwa dari segala kekalutan sewaktu ditanahair. Bagi mereka yang terlampau disibuki dengan urusan pencarian sumber rezeki, mungkin disini keadaannya agak berbeza. Tumpuan dan sekitarannya mungkin agak berbeza. Jaringan teman mungkin juga berbeza ... jika diizin Allah, mungkin ada yang ditemukan dengan teman dan sahabat yang mendorong kepada kebaikan dan keinsafan.

Cuma saya masih lagi terganggu dengan persoalan diatas. Kenapa perlu kita yang mencintai Islam dan ingin terus menyuburkannya bersimpang? Kemana kita ingin membawa masyarakat sebenarnya? Islam yang lengkap? Islam yang indah? Islam yang sejahtera? Atau membawa masyarakat lebih kepada platform atau gerakan kita? Apakah yang lebih utama dalam rencana kerja dakwah kita?

Persoalan ini masih lagi bukan sekadar membayangi rakan-rakan pencinta Islam, bahkan ianya membeliti mereka secara tidak sedar atau mungkin sedar! Bila disuakan dengan persoalan ini, meruntun hati ini kerana nampaknya kita yang mendabik dada mengatakan sudah bergerak ke millenia baru dalam membawa Islam rupanya masih lagi bergelumang dengan isu-isu yang tidak membawa kepada kematangan dan kekadang ... menyuarakan hipokrit kita secara sunyi.

Sekiranya keikhlasan ingin menyuburkan Islam mengatasi segalanya .... berjalanlah dengan selari. Kenalkanlah Islam yang lengkap, indah dan sejahtera kepada rakan dan sahabat kita. Islam itu penyelesai keserabutan hidup ini. Jangan serabutkan minda dan jiwa masyarakat dengan unsur-unsur kepentingan diri atau ideologi sendiri. Suburkan jiwa dan minda masyarakat dengan Islam terlebih dahulu dan marilah kita bersepakat melayarinya .....

Wimbledon 2008 - 5 dan 6 Julai

2008-07-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

Roger Federer dan Rafael Nadal

Serena dan Venus Williams

Tahun ini sekali lagi saya dan keluarga (selepas 15 tahun tidak berpeluang!) termangu didepan kaca TV menonton kejohanan ulung tenis di UK, atau lebih dikenali dengan Wimbledon. Wimbledon adalah satu tempat yang terletak di baratdaya London (SW19) dan menjadi tumpuan peminat tenis dunia setiap kali hujung bulan Jun/awal Julai. Antara keunikan kejohanan ini ialah gelanggang rumputnya (grass court) dan kekadang lagi disebabkan gelanggangnya terbuka, selalunya terdapat gangguan sekiranya turun hujan sekalikan gerimis (drizzle). Itulah...Britain dengan kecanggihan yang pelbagai, masalah stadium untuk kejuaraan yang hebat begini belum ditangani. Walhal, saban tahun masalah ini dihadapi... hujan... tangguh... hujan... tangguh... Sepatutnya, stadium ini dibekalkan dengan 'retractable cover' yang boleh dibuka atau tutup mengikut keperluan. Setelah berpuluh-puluh tahun kejohanan ini dibuat, khabarnya baru tahun depan ianya bakal dipasang di centre court.

Yang menariknya tahun ini boleh dibicara dari 2 perspektif; keluarga dan finalis perseorangannya. Dari perspektif keluarga, kali ini saya ditemani oleh anak perempuan yang 15 tahun dulu dia baru mula melunjur...Sekarang dia sudah menyokong pemain lawan kepada pemain yang saya sokong. Dulu saya bertaruh dengan suami, kini saya bertaruh dengan anak sendiri, sang suami tenggelam dalam sorakan kami berdua. Lihat betapa usia kami telah meningkat....

Pertemuan dua beradik, Serena dan Venus Williams sangat menarik untuk dikongsi. Pada hari yang sama (5 Julai) dan di gelanggang yang sama mereka telah berkongsi kejuaraan bagi beregu wanita. Petangnya mereka berentap bagi meraih kejohanan wanita Wimbledon. Masing-masing mahu mempertahankan kejuaraan tersebut namun secara professional. Akhirnya Serena kecundang kepada Venus...berkongsi keupayaan dan tega melepaskan sesuatu yang sangat diingini kerana keterbatasan kemampuan. Kemampuan kita terbatas dan ianya unik untuk seseorang individu, kita berusaha dan berusaha...pasrahlah kepada yang kuasa.

Perseorangan lelaki pula lebih hebat. No 1 dan no. 2 dunia berentap selama lebih 5 jam dengan 2 selingan (terhenti) kerana hujan. Hampir kecewa dengan penangguhan tersebut...Nadal dan Federer lagi kecewa agaknya. Pertandingan yang sengit dan menurut pemerhati tenis, ia merupakan permainan yang terbaik dan paling sengit untuk tempoh 26 tahun. Nadal mahu menggondol kejuaraan bagi negaranya, Sepanyol, yang pernah dimenangi terakhir pada tahun 1966 dan sekaligus yang ulung bagi dirinya, biarpun ini bermakna menundukkan idolanya! Federer mahu mengekalkan kejuaraannya bagi kali ke-6 setelah menyandangnya selama 5 tahun berturut-turut. Apa yang boleh dipelajari.....kita tidak akan selamanya diatas...ingatlah putaran hidup akan mematangkan kehidupan kita didunia dan mengajar kita bahawa ada orang yang lebih baik dari kita. Sentiasalah memperbaiki diri...biar esok lebih baik dari hari ini.

Sekian dulu Wimbledon 2008, apakah ada Wimbledon 2009?

Politik Malaysia Yang Memenatkan

2008-07-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

Saya bukanlah seorang yang berdisiplin dalam mengikuti perkembangan politik tanahair, jauh lagi menjadi penganalisa politik. Namun minat yang sedikit ini kadangkala bila berkesempatan menyorong untuk meneropong gelagat politik tanahair dari beberapa jendela. Teruja dan terkedu. Terasa penatnya politik di Malaysia. Bagi orang yang tidak berpolitik...ia sangat memenatkan. Penuh dengan prasangka dan mungkin fitnah semata. Setiap hari dada akhbar utama atau alternatif disarati dengan panahan tuduhan parti pemerintah atau pembangkang. Entah siapa yang salah entah siapa yang benar! Bagi rakyat marhain yang dari pelbagai lapisan, apalah untung mereka dari menyorak cerita-cerita ini. Takkan masih mahu disogokkan dengan cerita tilam setiap dekad seolah-olah itulah kekuatan politik Malaysia. Jika begini, harapan mereka untuk melihat perubahan entah kesampaian entahkan tidak.

Dari pengamatan saya yang naif dalam pemerintahan negara, berfikiran banyak lagi masalah negara yang kronik perlu dtangani...yang sudah cukup membebankan rakyat. Kesan kenaikan harga minyak masih panas dirasai oleh sebahagian besar rakyat...harga minyak naik, segalanya naik...harga beras naik, harga sayur naik dan segalanya...rakyat tidak punya apa-apa kecuali tangan untuk memangkah kotak. Belum lagi bicara pengangguran yang meruncing, kebejatan akhlaq anak-anak muda, sistem pendidikan terlampau menjurus dan mungkin kurang stabil?

Tidak boleh mereka ini bicara dan kritis dalam menangani isu rakyat. Berdebatlah mengenai polisi siapa yang akan memberi kebaikan kepada negara dan justeru rakyat. Jadikanlah rakyat sebagai pandu ukur politik dan pemerintahan. Jangan hanya pandai membida orang lain atau ... publisiti politik murahan, gossip, fitnah dan omong kosong dan kontang. Sebagai rakyat, saya rasa penat, lelah dan bosan dengan debat sodomi.

Esok lusa mengharapkan tumpuan orang penting negara beralih untuk lebih bertanggungjawab keatas rakyat dan bukan untuk kepentingan diri sendiri. Kalau sudah tidak mampu menggalas amanah rakyat, maka lebih manis mengundurkan diri. Pasrahkan pada mereka yang punya responsibiliti dan kredibiliti. Ingatlah rakyat kedahagaan ..... mahu pemerintah yang prihatin akan nasib mereka bukan sekadar berkokok tatkala berkempen. Ingatlah...tangan rakyat sudah celik dan kenal erti cinta pemerintah!

Shariah Law in the UK

2008-07-04T06:06:00.000-07:00

Satu berita menarik untuk dikongsi bersama walaupun pada dasarnya ia umpama lantunan sebiji batu di tengah lautan. Kalau mereka boleh terfikir, mengapa tidak kita...

Sharia law could have UK role, says lord chief justice Phillips says Islamic law could benefit society · He calls for system to govern marriages

Patrick Wintour and Riazat Butt
The Guardian,
Friday July 4, 2008
Article history

Britain's most senior judge reopened one of the most highly charged debates in Britain last night when he said he was willing to see sharia law operate in the country, so long as it did not conflict with the laws of England and Wales, or lead to the imposition of severe physical punishments.

The remarks by the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, in a speech to the London Muslim Council yesterday, had a conscious echo of the comments made by the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in February who argued that sharia law could sometimes be used in Britain. The archbishop, who suggested "sharia law was rooted in the sense of doing God's will in the ordinary things of law", was later forced to retract the statement.

Phillips insisted last night there was "widespread misunderstanding" of the nature of sharia law, and argued: "There is no reason why sharia principles, or any other religious code, should not be the basis for mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution [with the understanding] ... that any sanctions for a failure to comply with the agreed terms of mediation would be drawn from the Laws of England and Wales." He also suggested sharia principles should be applied to marriage arrangements.

Less controversially, Phillips backed the creation of specialist financial products and services which comply with sharia principles, something the UK Treasury has acknowledged since 2002. The lord chief justice, in an address broadly designed to reassure the Muslim community that it was treated equally under British law, stressed that he was not countenancing "any notion of sharia courts operating in this country and seeking to impose such punishments". He said: "There can be no question of such courts sitting in this country, or such sanctions being applied here. "So far as the law is concerned, those who live in this country are governed by English and Welsh law and subject to the jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts."

In the most controversial section, Phillips said: " It was not very radical to advocate embracing sharia law in the context of family disputes, for example, and our system already goes a long way towards accommodating the archbishop's suggestion. "It is possible in this country for those who are entering into a contractual agreement to agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law. Those who, in this country, are in dispute as to their respective rights are free to subject that dispute to the mediation of a chosen person, or to agree that the dispute shall be resolved by a chosen arbitrator or arbitrators. "So a Muslim woman who divorced according to Sharia principles would be free to marry again, but not if she only went to a civil court.

"But as far as aspects of matrimonial law are concerned, there is a limited precedent for English law to recognise aspects of religious laws, although when it comes to divorce this can only be effected in accordance with the civil law of this country."

Although he admitted some Muslim countries interpret sharia law as calling for severe physical punishment, Phillips insisted there was a misconception that sharia law is "only about mandating sanctions, such as flogging, stoning the cutting off of hands or death for those that fail to comply with the law".

Usama Hasan, imam at Al-Tawhid Mosque, Leyton, and an adviser to the Islamic Sharia Council, the longest-established body of its kind in the UK, gave a cautious welcome to Phillips' speech. He said: "[Phillips] is talking about provisions that are already out there for mediation and conflict resolution. Muslim couples would prefer to have their personal disputes to be settled by a sharia scholar because such a ruling would affect their status. "Aspects of Jewish divorce law have long been part of English law and it seems reasonable for Muslims to have the same treatment, but it can't lead to inequality or a splintering of British society."He added that it was difficult to have a sensible discussion about sharia law in the UK because the issue is "like a red rag" in the public's mind.

Backstory

Parts of the lord chief justice's speech read like a more coherent version of what the Archbishop of Canterbury said in February regarding Sharia law. Indeed, Phillips chaired Williams' address at the Royal Courts of Justice. Both agreed that it was possible for individuals to voluntarily conduct their lives obeying Sharia principles, without this being in conflict with rights that were guaranteed by English law. Williams said some aspects of Islamic personal law, relating to marriage for example, could benefit from being included in the legal system as a way to accommodate Muslims who did not defer to British law. At no point did he, or Phillips, endorse Islamic law's harshest penalties. Nor did they call for a parallel legal system for Muslims living in Britain.

About this article

This article appeared in the Guardian on Friday July 04 2008 on p4 of the UK news section. It was last updated at 00:06 on July 04 2008.

2008-04-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

Selamat Datang .. Welcome .. Ahlan wa sahlan

2008-04-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

Salam pertemuan maya. Terimakasih atas kesudian singgah di blog ini. Blog ini bakal menjadi platform kepada kami sekeluarga berinteraksi dengan pengunjung-pengunjung yang sudi singgah mengenai isu-isu semasa berkaitan pendidikan, kekeluargaan, keagamaan, kemasyarakatan, politik atau apa saja yang difikirkan dapat membantu membina minda. Memandangkan kami sekarang sedang merantau di negara orang, UK dan yang lebih tepat Cardiff, diharapkan blog ini akan mengeratkan tautan kami di sini dengan tanahair. Kami akan cuba berkongsi pengalaman hidup disini dengan harapan ianya dapat membantu membuka perspektif kita. Kekadang pengalaman disini sangat berbeza dengan pengalaman hidup di tanahair.

Ini adalah kali kedua perantauan kami sekeluarga kenegara ini. Pengalaman 15 tahun lalu tidak dapat dikongsi secara bermanfaat dengan rakan taulan ditanahair. Justeru, kali ini kami mahu ianya dikongsi untuk manfaat semua. Semoga kita dapat berkongsi pengalaman dan ilmu untuk hidup yang lebih sejahtera.