No more honour in men

I was at a grand wedding dinner function in Seberang Jaya with the wife. I had the fortune or misfortune, whichever way we want to put it, to be in the esteem company of UMNO bigwigs at our table. It occurred to me that the person sitting right in front was none other than the former YB for Permatang Pasir. We had met once before on a solemn occasion at Masjid Cherok Tokun way back in 1998 on the eve of Anwar Ibrahim’s inglorious sacking. This person was the sole UMNO dignitary accompanying Anwar officiating the mosque newly installed ICT facilities except for the many stern looking standard issue bodyguards who were all about the place. It looked to be that Anwar was being deserted. It was then indeed a foreboding sign of things to come.

Well, let us go back to the wedding and our dinner table. As the former YB sat down, he spewed forth expletives condemning Anwar Ibrahim as a traitor to the Malay race and implied that in Anwar’s greed and eagerness to become prime minister he had even sold Penang to the Chinese by handing over the Chief Ministership to DAP.

Now we have all heard this fanatical mantra before, and we shall continue to hear them and UMNO is repeating it in unison this time, over and over again. Even the DPM is leading the same regurgitated tune unbecomingly. It is the usual Anwar bashing but in an orchestrated and fever pitched manner spouted profusely and spun in a frenzy by the media as if there is some frenetic mass political trance going on in the party. It is now made out in incendiary terms, extreme and as racial as one can get.

Yes, the stakes are being raised up to dangerous levels built upon fallacies, desperation and the malicious invectives are simply plucked from figments of delusional rage and agitation. The former YB and the DPM as well as others were friends, supporters and comrades of Anwar in the hey days of the party. Suddenly they became declared enemies and now they have emphatically sworn to remain enemies. Fortunately for them they did not need to suffer the tribulations that their reviled and denounced colleague had to go through because their loyalty was frail and they did not want anything to do with it. Actually, if they are just honest with themselves, it was they who let him down. He was not only put down but he was made to crawl in the gutter and many thought that Anwar would never be able to come out of this horrible black hole. As one blogger puts it aptly: - Anwar is by far the most talented of Malay leaders in his generation by keeping the PR coalition together and by marching forward in the face of overwhelming odds and a terminator-like enemy.

Anyway, back to the dining table, just after the former YB expressed such unsavoury words, I looked to my wife and she smiled and gave me the smirky look. A live band was playing by so the noise and din was just too loud. I thought of a terse reply but the atmosphere was just not right so I kept it to myself. Providence had it then that the host came by and upon recognizing the dignified guest, he was ushered away to the main table to gather with a gallery of party officials.

I am certain now that there is no more honour in such men.

Memaknai PRU-12

Memaknai PRU-12

Perubahan pada tahap nasional yang semakin jelas riak dan gejolaknya ialah Tarikh 8 Mac 2008 (PRU ke-12) peristiwa penting yang cukup momentous, tidak hanya dalam konteks politik kepartian, tetapi juga dalam konteks perkembangan pola fikir umat dan rakyat. Ia sebagai jelmaan wisdom of the crowd yang berintikan aspirasi perubahan, politik idealisme, kemampuan berfikir dan keberanian bersikap. Ia dapat membangkitkan ghairah dan optimisme baru dakwah pencerdasan dan pencerahan.

Bagi kaum da`i, pemaknaannya harus dengan catatan bahawa misi dakwah tidak terbatas pada perubahan politik dalam erti sekadar pertukaran parti pemerintah. Yang kita perjuangkan adalah misi islahi, perubahan substantif-kualitatif, perubahan yang menepati idealisme pemerintahan yang adil dan beradab, sesuai dengan prinsip dan nilai syari`at.

Kita cuba memahami dan menangani perubahan yang sedang terjadi, dan seterusnya menggagas senario perubahan yang kita inginkan. pemikiran umat telah mulai terkondisi untuk menerima perubahan; malah mereka telah berani menuntut perubahan, termasuk pelayanan yang selayaknya sebagai rakyat yang bermaruah dan berharga diri.

Mereka menolak politik wang dan politik pembodohan. Mereka malu berada di tengah keleluasaan budaya rasuah dan amalan kroni, mereka malu berada di tengah ketempangan sistem kehakiman dan kepolisan, dan mereka malu berada di bawah pimpinan orang lemah. Mereka juga marah terus-menerus diperbodoh.

Krisis Harapan dan Krisis Kepercayaan

Tamatnya era Mahathir dan bermulanya pentadbiran Badawi telah tumbuh segunung harapan perubahan. Era Badawi hanya berisi declaration of intentions, pengumuman demi pengumuman tanpa perubahan yang bererti. Badawi mengakhiri kerjaya politiknya dengan mewariskan krisis harapan dan krisis kepercayaan yang serius. Penggantinyalah yang harus memikul beban warisan di samping beban peribadi yang tidak kurang beratnya .

Krisis yang membelit memang cukup gawat kerana liputannya telah meratai hampir segenap sektor. Institusi kehakiman yang tercemar dengan skandal video Lingam belum dapat memulihkan kredibilitinya. Mereka yang terlibat, termasuk dalang utamanya tetap berleluasa memencak-mencak, mendabik-dabik dada, bercakap besar di sana sini.

Tanpa tumpuan yang secukupnya, ekonomi negara yang memang sedia bermasalah akan menjadi semakin parah. Hingga ke saat ini tidak banyak yang dilakukan untuk memperbaiki kadar petumbuhan ekonomi yang jauh di belakang negara-negara jiran, “Malaysia is in trouble. It shouldn’t be. … And in many respects Malaysia has done well. But it could have done so much better. Instead of being successful, too often Malaysia has tried to buy the ornaments of success -- the world’s tallest building, an unnecessarily large international airport, and so on. But in 2025, the one commodity that has paid for much of this -- oil -- is due to run out.

Tidak kurang celarunya adalah bidang pendidikan yang tanpa henti menjadi sasaran kritik dan protes rakyat. Nama kementerian dirubah dari pendidikan kepada pelajaran tanpa justifikasi yang rasional, Falsafah Pendidikan Negara yang kemudian menjadi Falsafah Pendidikan Kebangsaan semakin tidak dipedulikan, protes terhadap PPSMI terus berlarut-larut tanpa pelayanan yang positif, malah digawatkan lagi dengan protes baru terhadap isu wajib lulus bahasa Inggeris dan pembatasan 10 subjek.

Apa yang sedang terjadi adalah krisis kependidikan yang telah menggugat esensi pendidikan sebagai humanizing process atau proses pembinaan dan pengutuhan insan.

Akibat politisasi dan komersialisasi yang berlebihan pendidikan lebih terorientasi ke arah memenuhi keperluan politik dan permintaan pasaran sehingga mengabaikan asas keinsanan. Krisis kependidikan tentunya membawa implikasi besar dalam pelbagai bidang lain, termasuk bidang sosial .Terlalu banyak masalah sosial yang sedang menggejala, terutama yang melibatkan generasi muda .

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Bahagian Ketiga sedutan intisari daripada Amanat Pimpinan WADAH
Dato’ Dr Siddiq Fadil
Muktamar Nasional Ketiga Wadah Pencerdasan Umat Malaysia (WADAH)