Politik
1.Menyemak dan menyusun semula perjanjian Persekutuan Tanah Melayu bagi disesuaikan dengan hasrat rakyat.
2.Berusaha supaya sekalian Ahli-ahli Majlis Mesyuarat, sama ada Majlis Mesyuarat Persekutuan, Negeri, Jajahan, Selat dan Bandaran, hendaklah semua sekali dipilih oleh rakyat.
3.Mengakui kedaulatan Duli-duli Yang Maha Mulia sebagai raja-raja berperlembagaan.
4.Berusaha menghapuskan dasar pintu terbuka, yakni menahan kemasukan orang-orang dagang ke Tanah Melayu, yang membahayakan kedudukan anak negeri.
5.Menjamin kebebasan beragama dan hak asasi manusia.
6.Berusaha dengan bersungguh-sungguh supaya Bahasa Melayu diamal benar-benar sebagai bahasa rasmi kerajaan dan kebangsaan.
7.Berusaha supaya tiap-tiap orang hanya mempunyai satu taraf kerakyatan sahaja.
8.Berusaha dan berikhtiar dengan bersungguh-sungguh bagi mencapai kemerdekaan Malaya dengan secepat mungkin.
9.Berikhtiar bersungguh-sungguh supaya peraturan-peraturan Islam dapat dijalankan dalam masyarakat dan urusan pemerintahan dari satu masa ke satu masa hingga terlaksana cita-cita Islam.
Ekonomi
1.Berikhtiar dengan bersungguh-sungguh supaya dapat didirikan usaha-usaha untuk memajukan pertanian, perusahaan,perniagaan dan pelayaran.
2.Menghapuskan perniagaan yang berupa pembolotan ekonomi (monopoli).
3.Berikhtiar supaya negara tidak berharap semata-mata kepada luar negeri untuk kehidupan rakyatnya.
4.Berikhtiar mengadakan rancangan dan usaha yang tegas bagi membantu perkembangan ekonomi orang-orang Melayu.
5.Berikhtiar supaya penanaman modal luar dapat dihadkan.
6.Berikhtiar mengecilkan perbelanjaan negara dengan seberapa kecil yang boleh dengan memotong segala perbelanjaan yang tidak mustahak.
7.Berikhtiar mengadakan peraturan-peraturan untuk melindungi hak-hak tani, nelayan, buruh, perniagaan, perusahaan dan sebagainya.
Ketenteraan
1.Berusaha supaya diadakan satu askar kebangsaan sahaja untuk menjamin keselamatan negara.
2.Berusaha supaya askar-askar luar dikurangkan dengan seberapa banyak yang boleh dan supaya tempat mereka diganti dengan askar-askar kebangsaan sahaja.
3.Berikhtiar dengan sehabis tenaga supaya Darurat dapat ditamatkan dan supaya undang-undang darurat dihapuskan.
4.Berusaha supaya diadakan perkhidmatan negara untuk menjaminkan keselamatan negara.
5.Menggalakkan supaya rakyat mula mengambil sebahagian dalam pertahanan negara ini,
Pelajaran dan pendidikan
1. Mengambil langkah supaya tiap kanak-kanak mendapat pelajaran percuma yang bersesuaian dengan kemajuan.
2. Pelajaran agama Islam hendaklah diberikan kepada kanak-kanak beragama Islam.
3. Berikhtiar supaya pemerintah dapat mengadakan sekolah-sekolah dewasa dengan seberapa segera, terutama pada bahagian pertukangan dan ekonomi.
4. Berikhtiar dan berusaha supaya sekolah-sekolah Melayu yang ada sekarang ini menjadi pokok bagi sekolah negara dengan memperluaskan dan mempertinggikan tingkatan darjah pelajarannya bersesuaian dengan dasar negara.
5. Berikhtiar mengambil perhatian yang berat terhadap perkembangan pendidikan akhlak bagi meninggikan mutu dasar pelajaran.
Kebajikan
1. Berikhitiar dengan bersungguh-sungguh supaya tahanan-tahanan Darurat dapat dibebaskan dengan segera atau dihadapkan ke muka pengadilan.
2. Berikhtiar supaya dapat menjalankan undang-undang terhadap perkara-perkara pelacuran, perjudian, minuman keras, pemakanan riba dan sebagainya.
3. Mengadakan peraturan-peraturan yang tegas mengenai penghiburan, pertunjukkan, bacaan, filem-filem dan sebarang apa juga yang boleh menyebabkan jatuhnya akhlak rakyat.
4. Berikhtiar membaiki kesihatan, terutama di kawasan luar bandar.
5. Berikhtiar memperbaiki nasib fakir miskin dengan mengadakan rancangan-rancangan yang menjamin hak hidup mereka.
6. Berikhtiar dan berusaha supaya hal-hal kebajikan tempatan diselenggarakan dengan sebaik-baiknya.
-------------------------------------
*Manifesto PAS bagi menghadapi Pilihan raya Umum 1955, dalam Kamarul Zaman Haji Yusoff, 1999, Perjuangan Penuh Cabaran, Kota Bahru: Qamar Publishing, hlm 5-6.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
gluttony at ramadhan
setiap kali datangnya bulan ramadhan, saya akan teringat akan artikel ini yang ditulis oleh mendiang m g g pillai. biarpun ditulis oleh seorang bukan-muslim dan pahit isinya, namun saya kira ia benar dan tepat. dan sebagai kebenaran, ia wajar diterima dan diinsafi biar dari manapun ia datang...
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Gluttony at Ramadhan
By M.G.G. Pillai
Gluttony is not what one associates with Ramadhan. In Malaysia it is. One need not look far to see why. The 14 hours of fasting is seen as an imposition that must end with a banquet, to eat as much as one would not at other times, whatever it costs.
Hotels find creative ways to encourage patrons to eat as much as they can as expensively as possible. And people do not break their fast alone. They bring along friends and bills of RM600 a day are common.
One hotel offers a Ramadhan Special for RM400, for which you get a better-than-average room, the breaking of fast and the early morning repast before beginning it the next morning; another offers a Ramadhan buffet at RM75, though most charge RM50 each.
It is an occasion, as Islam requires, a time for reflexion, thanksgiving to Allah, strengthen one's faith by knowing what it is to suffer hunger pangs, that faith does not come easily. Instead it has become an excuse to flaunt one's wealth, or rather expense account, by turning it into a gastronomic festival. It is now an excuse to throw parties in the name of Islam, with a perfect reason to do so.
Those who cannot afford these astronomical prices are encouraged to gluttony by the smaller and less well-known establishments with a smaller selection and far cheaper. But make no mistake. They also offer gluttony as the main course. This is officially encouraged. When the Prime Minister and his cabinet break fast, it is to partake in a feast.
The Pesta Ramadhan, which are a feature of the fasting month, sells mostly food. The stalls that open up during the month, usually illegally, come to sell food. Ramadhan is now an officially sanctioned licence to ignore the tenets of the faith, and pig at the dining table.
A friend of 40 years, a retired civil servant, apologises for the "poor" fare at his table. "I was working then and could afford a better table", he said as if it explained everything.
In a sense, it does. Ramadhan in Malaysia is to show off one's usually ill-gotten wealth. When cabinet ministers, mentris besar, and state executive councillors get an official allowance (for cabinet ministers, it was once RM10,000 for Hari Raya and for breaking fast, but it must be higher now) it encourages this nationwide chasing the tail to show one's importance.
It is an arrogance of the newly rich, usually without working for it, that encourages this deliberate gluttony. Every need and desire is reduced to a value, and it is this that determines where one stands in society.
Malaysia is not alone in this. I first noticed this in Pakistan more than a decade ago. The very rich are very rich indeed, and gluttony at Ramadhan is one way they tell the world they are who they are. But they are strengthened by the civil servants and other denizens of the middle to upper classes in almost every society where this is all too prevalent.
Walk into any diplomatic function in the sub-continent, and you find every one rushing for the food that it is soon picked so clean that the vultures would be jealous.
But is this how Malaysians break their fast? I saw a Malay labourer, his wife and child break fast with KFC fried chicken. It was cheaper than cooking at home. Stall food is cheap but one tends to eat too much and "I cannot afford that".
In Malaysia, even amongst the poor, Ramadhan is linked to food, lots of it. But non-Malay Muslims break their fast differently: they eat a sweet fruit, if dates are unavailable or unaffordable, tea and a savoury. It is much later that they sit down to a modest meal.
The Indonesian stops eating about midnight and fasts for about eighteen hours, breaks it with a light meal and eats nothing until midnight. The Indian Muslim generally is abstemious about his food during the fast.
Fasts like Ramadhan exist in every religion. The Christians have Lent. Hindus do fast before and during some festivals and always before and during a pilgrimage, the most common is the 41-day milk-and-banana fast that devotees undertake pilgrimages.
In the other religions, there is no licence to gluttony as we see amongst Muslims in Malaysia. The food served on feast days at temples, both Buddhist and Hindu, are for devotees and the poor.
One should therefore take fasts in one's stride. A religious observation should not be a licence for indolence. But it has become. One need look far to confirm this. Professional Malays behave as if obligations should not be met during Ramadhan, and often absent themselves, or turn up for work late. It is a national disease.
This general tiredness, officially encouraged if not discouraged, makes it certain that work does not get done and mishaps aplenty. This is now so prevalent that little gets done during the month. It should not. But the government encourages this, by not making examples of those who blatantly flout it.
Somehow Malays in Malaysia believe that the forms of the Ramadhan fast is more important than observing it for what it is, as an article of faith. So, it was not surprising that a Malaysian brigadier and several senior officers of a Malaysian division in East Malaysia during Indonesia's confrontation were shot dead during their evening fast.
The Koranic rules have exceptions when doing one's duty exceeds the rituals and forms of the religion. Nothing as dramatic has happened since in Malaysia. Nothing would. But does it need to?
When millions of Muslims believe they should be compensated and allowed special rules when observing the requirements of their faith. But this is still no excuse for the annual gluttony at Ramadhan. (Harakah, 15th January, 2001)
------------------------
Gluttony at Ramadhan
By M.G.G. Pillai
Gluttony is not what one associates with Ramadhan. In Malaysia it is. One need not look far to see why. The 14 hours of fasting is seen as an imposition that must end with a banquet, to eat as much as one would not at other times, whatever it costs.
Hotels find creative ways to encourage patrons to eat as much as they can as expensively as possible. And people do not break their fast alone. They bring along friends and bills of RM600 a day are common.
One hotel offers a Ramadhan Special for RM400, for which you get a better-than-average room, the breaking of fast and the early morning repast before beginning it the next morning; another offers a Ramadhan buffet at RM75, though most charge RM50 each.
It is an occasion, as Islam requires, a time for reflexion, thanksgiving to Allah, strengthen one's faith by knowing what it is to suffer hunger pangs, that faith does not come easily. Instead it has become an excuse to flaunt one's wealth, or rather expense account, by turning it into a gastronomic festival. It is now an excuse to throw parties in the name of Islam, with a perfect reason to do so.
Those who cannot afford these astronomical prices are encouraged to gluttony by the smaller and less well-known establishments with a smaller selection and far cheaper. But make no mistake. They also offer gluttony as the main course. This is officially encouraged. When the Prime Minister and his cabinet break fast, it is to partake in a feast.
The Pesta Ramadhan, which are a feature of the fasting month, sells mostly food. The stalls that open up during the month, usually illegally, come to sell food. Ramadhan is now an officially sanctioned licence to ignore the tenets of the faith, and pig at the dining table.
A friend of 40 years, a retired civil servant, apologises for the "poor" fare at his table. "I was working then and could afford a better table", he said as if it explained everything.
In a sense, it does. Ramadhan in Malaysia is to show off one's usually ill-gotten wealth. When cabinet ministers, mentris besar, and state executive councillors get an official allowance (for cabinet ministers, it was once RM10,000 for Hari Raya and for breaking fast, but it must be higher now) it encourages this nationwide chasing the tail to show one's importance.
It is an arrogance of the newly rich, usually without working for it, that encourages this deliberate gluttony. Every need and desire is reduced to a value, and it is this that determines where one stands in society.
Malaysia is not alone in this. I first noticed this in Pakistan more than a decade ago. The very rich are very rich indeed, and gluttony at Ramadhan is one way they tell the world they are who they are. But they are strengthened by the civil servants and other denizens of the middle to upper classes in almost every society where this is all too prevalent.
Walk into any diplomatic function in the sub-continent, and you find every one rushing for the food that it is soon picked so clean that the vultures would be jealous.
But is this how Malaysians break their fast? I saw a Malay labourer, his wife and child break fast with KFC fried chicken. It was cheaper than cooking at home. Stall food is cheap but one tends to eat too much and "I cannot afford that".
In Malaysia, even amongst the poor, Ramadhan is linked to food, lots of it. But non-Malay Muslims break their fast differently: they eat a sweet fruit, if dates are unavailable or unaffordable, tea and a savoury. It is much later that they sit down to a modest meal.
The Indonesian stops eating about midnight and fasts for about eighteen hours, breaks it with a light meal and eats nothing until midnight. The Indian Muslim generally is abstemious about his food during the fast.
Fasts like Ramadhan exist in every religion. The Christians have Lent. Hindus do fast before and during some festivals and always before and during a pilgrimage, the most common is the 41-day milk-and-banana fast that devotees undertake pilgrimages.
In the other religions, there is no licence to gluttony as we see amongst Muslims in Malaysia. The food served on feast days at temples, both Buddhist and Hindu, are for devotees and the poor.
One should therefore take fasts in one's stride. A religious observation should not be a licence for indolence. But it has become. One need look far to confirm this. Professional Malays behave as if obligations should not be met during Ramadhan, and often absent themselves, or turn up for work late. It is a national disease.
This general tiredness, officially encouraged if not discouraged, makes it certain that work does not get done and mishaps aplenty. This is now so prevalent that little gets done during the month. It should not. But the government encourages this, by not making examples of those who blatantly flout it.
Somehow Malays in Malaysia believe that the forms of the Ramadhan fast is more important than observing it for what it is, as an article of faith. So, it was not surprising that a Malaysian brigadier and several senior officers of a Malaysian division in East Malaysia during Indonesia's confrontation were shot dead during their evening fast.
The Koranic rules have exceptions when doing one's duty exceeds the rituals and forms of the religion. Nothing as dramatic has happened since in Malaysia. Nothing would. But does it need to?
When millions of Muslims believe they should be compensated and allowed special rules when observing the requirements of their faith. But this is still no excuse for the annual gluttony at Ramadhan. (Harakah, 15th January, 2001)
Friday, July 23, 2010
getting crafty
after the wc2010, i was rather preoccupied with work and some creative projects, i.e. designing and making paper lamp shade. all 100% hand made and assembled. just trying out some ideas, first out of boredom, but eventually it seems interesting to dwell into a little bit more seriously, but surely it was never out of frustration because spain won the cup.
just an example...
or two...
or three, why not...
just an example...
or two...
or three, why not...
Thursday, July 08, 2010
my vengeance
just a simple, plain and basic one: octopus tempura, fresh herbs, a dash of sambal belacan and some rice. the tempura tasted exceptionally sweet, considering the occasion.
as for dessert, i had tapai pulut. yup, just to add some ethanol to the system, to slow down the digestion process so that my body can really savour the taste and juices of paul the slimy, throat wrangling and back-stabbing octopus.
i washed it all down with a glass of iced-lemon tea. then, i was whistling my victory with some dannish tobacco on my old faithful british pipe.
what an eventful and satisfying day knowing that your enemy is diminishing peacefully inside your very own bowels, while you walk the earth with your head held high and a whistle on your lips. hah!
spain or holland can celebrate their eventual WC 2010 victory any way they like, i am enjoying mine.
sambal sotong
2nd semifinal WC 2010: germany 0, spain 1.
i would like to have paul the octopus as my sambal nasi lemak tomorrow morning. clearly, as predicted even by me, germany were just out of juices. they were never in the game at all.
bah, what a boring final it would be, unless holland and spain really rise up to the occasion for football's sake. if not, this WC 2010's final will be a dull, forgettable anti-climax. no great ideas and imagination and no great characters. zilch.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
pada waktu ini tahun lepas...
pada waktu ni, satu tahun yang lepas, ayahanda abah saya kembali ke rahmatullah di hospital sultan hj ahmad shah, temerloh. beliau meninggal dunia di katil hospital selepas minum pagi. arwah sempat bergurau dengan emak, betapa 'sedapnya' kalau dapat merokok ketika itu.
petang sehari sebelumnya saya membawanya ke wad kecemasan hospital berkenaan kerana beliau mengadu sakit-sakit belakang. itu bukan kali pertama saya membawanya ke hospital atas sebab yang sama, tetapi pada petang itu, keadaannya agak cemas sehingga beliau dimasukkan ke zon merah wad berkenaan.
menyedari keadaan tersebut, saya bergegas balik ke rumah emak untuk memberi makluman, sekali gus meminta keluarga bersiap-siap kalau-kalau ajal abah tiba. keadaan abah agak pulih selepas itu, tetapi dimasukkan ke wad untuk pemerhatian. keadaannya stabil sepanjang malam.
pada pagi keesokan harinya, kakak, yang bermalam di hospital bersama-sama emak, menghantar pesanan ringkas menyatakan tekanan darah abah jatuh sedikit, saya menjangka barangkali itu kesannya ubat penahan sakit yang diterima beliau dan juga kerana keletihan.
justeru, ketika tiba di hospital, saya agak lengah di tempat parkir. akhirnya, ketika masih di tempat parkir, saya sekali lagi menerima pesanan ringkas daripada kakak bahawa abah telah kembali menemui tuhannya dengan mudah dan pantas di katil sakit. emak dan kakak berada di sisinya.
lalu saya mula menghantar pesanan ringkas kepada saudara-mara, keluarga dan rakan-taulan arwah abah seingat mungkin. rakan-rakannya ramai, jadi tak berupayalah saya menghubungi semuanya. saya hanya menghubungi rakan-rakannya yang saya jangka akan dapat menghubungi rakan-rakan yang lain pula.
alhamdulillah semuanya berjalan lancar dan pantas sekali. terasa seperti arwah tidak lagi mahu menunggu lama. beliau seperti mahu berlumba kembali ke bumi. daripada pengurusan jenazah, penyediaan tanah kubur, perjalanan terakhir ke rumah, lalu ke masjid, semuanya seperti air jeram sungai tembeling, deras dan bersih.
arwah sempat disembahyangkan sebanyak tiga kali, iaitu di bilik jenazah hospital, di rumah dan di masjid. akhirnya arwah telah disemadikan di tanah perkuburan masjid kg tanjung besar selepas solat asar. semuanya kemudiannya selesai sebelum maghrib.
mati mudah di sisi keluarga dan dihantar ke kubur oleh rakan-taulan. datok abd rahim bakar, rakan rapat arwah abah sejak sekian lama, yang telah menjejakinya ke perkampungan abadi selang dua bulan selepas itu, turut hadir mengucapkan selamat jalan. indah.
-----------------------------
Nota foto: Jeram Perahu, Ulu Tembeling.
boring
1st semi-final WC 2010: holland 3, uruguay 2.
finally holland made it to the finals after a lapse of 20 years. to me, this game was an anti-climax. both teams have played their juices out in the previous one. not much ideas, nor imagination. it was a routine and boring weekly league game, not a world cup stuff. both teams do not make interesting finalists. unlucky ghana should be a better choice.
2nd semifinal WC 2010: germany vs spain.
i think germany will have a tough time this time around. spain is surely a no push over. they might face the same syndrome as holland and uruguay, i.e reaching their peak in the quarter-final game against argentina. if they are not careful and their hunger for victory have somewhat subsides, then iniesta, xavi and villa will be their doom.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
oooppssss...
germany 4: argentina 0.
i'll reserve comment so as not to hurt the feelings of our last tango in cape town friends, but i will say this: arRgeNTinA was blitzkrieged by a TEAM called germany. hehe.
Thursday, July 01, 2010
you shall not pass...
my take on saturday’s clash of the titans between germany and argentina in WC 2010 third quarter finals, would be like the duel between gandalf the grey, of the lord of the rings, with balrog, the fire of udun, on the bridge of khazad-dum of moria, and hence his famous command and warning, ‘you shall not pass’ and eventual transformation into gandalf the white.
since i am betting on the companionship of klose, podolski, muller, lahm, schweinsteiger, khedira, oezil and all, to finally face brazil in the final battle, i guess the question of who represents the hordes of balrog, cave trolls and orcs, should be considered as purely academic...
---------------------------------
BE WARNED: whosoever supports argentina, so willingly and consciously supports the idea of diego armando maradona running buck naked on the streets of buenos aires. oo lord, please no. an act of total disgrace to all MANkind and the greatest humiliation to the proud tradition of the rugged cowboys of the pampas, the gauchos, and of course, the passionate and classy tango.
as for diego himself, he will surely fall from grace as the man who single-handedly salvage the pride of his nation over losing falkland islands to united kingdom with his ‘a little with the head of maradona and a little with the hand’s of god’ little dark trick in WC 1986.
LO AND BEHOLD: some things are just meant for private viewing and usage...hehe.
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