Pirates of Aden - Remember ICU, Anyone?

For the last few months, we have been hearing about piracy in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia. As Muslims, we are very sad to hear the news, especially when we all know that the culprits are also Muslims. It is even worst when two of our country's ships, have also been hijacked at this location.

Somalia is a country with a very weak and ineffective central government since 1990s under the control of Somali warlords. In late 1990s, all four Islamic courts in Somalia united to form Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and they were responsible to restore public order in Somalia and had wide public support.



In 2006, they even managed to capture Harardhere, which had become safe haven for pirates and also reopened Mogadishu International Airport, which had been closed since 1995 and the Mogadishu port, which had been closed for ten years. They managed to capture most of Somalia through negotiation rather than through the use of force. As stated by Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, ICU's leader that 'Our priority is people's peace, dignity and that they could live in liberty, that they could decide their own fate. That is our priority. Our priority is not land; the people are important to us'.

Unfortunately, the dirty hands of foreign superpower(s) started to play their parts in destroying peace and stability based on Islamic principles as what they had done to Algeria. An alliance of Somali warlords collaborated with Ethiopia and US, which openly intervened by sending its gunships and managed to defeat ICU by end of 2006.

During the rise of ICU in 2006, pirate activities subsided but with the fall of ICU, Somalia is back to chaos and unrest and lately, pirates began to hit back and became totally out of control. All major trading countries and those using the Gulf are paying heavy price by passing the area since the route becomes unsafe. The world has the opportunity of having a stable Somali Government which can restore peace and order back to the anarchic country by helping ICU. Instead, they have lost the opportunity by helping those mad warlords in overthrowing ICU and putting Somalia back in turmoil. Now they are tasting their own medicine.

By looking at their backgrounds, I am confident that all the figures in ICU are very sincere in restoring peace and stability for their homeland. Prof Ibrahim Hasan Addow and Sheikh Fuad Mohamed Qalaf would not leave a comfortable life in the US and Sweden respectively and return to their homeland if they are not sincerely committed in struggling for their country. The same goes to Sheikh Hasan Aweys and Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. Alleging ICU of supporting terrorism was just an excuse for the US to justify the invasion of Somalia to overthrow ICU.

With the fall of ICU, piracy in the Gulf of Aden suddenly escalated from only one case in 2006 to 5 cases in 2007 and more than 30 cases this year. By overthrowing ICU, the US has killed a 'cat' that has been faithfully guarding the house, and now the 'rodents' are having their days in causing damage to the house. So, remember ICU, the West and US?

Islamic Countries have also been on the receiving end of these pirates. So far, ships from various Islamic countries such as Turkey (2 ships), Malaysia (2 ships), Saudi (2 ships), UAE, Jordan, Nigeria and Iran have been hijacked (with the biggest catch being Sirius Star owned by Saudi laden with USD100 million of crude oil, temporarily causing a rise in oil price). These countries are the backbone of OIC and the OIC should take the necessary step in fighting piracy in Somalia by supporting a faction which has a record as the most capable in maintaining peace and stability there. Remember ICU, Mr. OIC?

إن أريد إلا الإصلاح ما استطعت و ما توفيقي إلا بالله عليه توكلت و إليه أنيب(I desire naught save reform so far as I am able. My welfare is only in Allah. In Him I trust and unto Him I turn (repentant)- alQuran 11/88.

salaam

Down Memory Lane - Carnegie

Time to tone down a bit on my entries after a series of heavy stuffs.

Sesiapa yang biasa dengan bandar Kota Bharu tahun 70an dan awal 80an pasti akan tahu di mana perpustakaan Carnegie. Ini adalah perpustakaan awam negeri Kelantan yang telah diasaskan hasil bantuan 1,000 pound sterling dari Yayasan Carnegie, New York. Perpustakaan Carnegie adalah perpustakaan pertama di Malaya dan ditubuhkan pada tahun 1938. Perpustakaan ini dahulunya bertempat di Jalan Doktor sebelum dipindahkan ke bangunan baru sekarang di Jalan Mahmud pada tahun 1982. Mungkin tapak bangunan Tabung Haji sekarang adalah tapak bangunan Carnegie dahulu.

Tempat inilah yang menjadi tumpuan kami adik-beradik setiap musim cuti sekolah ataupun hari minggu (Sabtu). Of course there would be no objection at all from Ma when we asked her permission to go there. Looking back, this library played an important role in our overall education.

As a boy who came from a poor family (but put a great emphasis on education), we did not have the luxury of getting all the books that we wanted (even to buy text books, we have to 'hunt' on the first day of schooling every year to get the best bargain from the seniors for the used books). Other than my father's 'kitabs' that I used to read (Nurul Yaqin fi sirah sayyidil mursalin, kitab perbandingan 4 mazhab etc) and also a stack of majalah Mastika (those days this magazine is full of information, and not like today's Mastika), Dewan Sastera and Dewan Bahasa owned by my elder brother, Abdul Hadi, and sometimes my elder sister's textbooks for her SPM or STPM (Sejarah Islam by Dasuki Ahmad, Keluarga Gerilya by Pramoedya Ananta Toer and Hikayat Hang Tuah by Kasim Ahmad), Carnegie is another place for us to satisfy our thirst for reading materials and knowledge.

Perpustakaan Carnegie hanyalah sebuah bangunan satu tingkat seakan-akan rumah bungalow yang amat simple, tetapi bangunan inilah yang menjadi tempat kami menimba maklumat dan sumber utama bahan bacaan kami. Di sinilah kami mula mengenali sasterawan-sasterawan negara (melalui buku-buku mereka) seperti Shahnon Ahmad, Pak Sako, Keris Mas, Tongkat Warrant dan S. Othman Kelantan serta beberapa tokoh sastera Indonesia seperti Hamka, Marah Rosli dan Moechtar Lubis. Novel-novel mereka amat memberi kesan, seperti Shahnon Ahmad dengan Ranjau Sepanjang Jalan, Rentong dan Srengenge yang menggambarkan kehidupan golongan petani dan perjuangan mereka dalam menempuh kehidupan, Pak Sako dengan novel Anak Mat Lela Gila dan Putera Gunung Tahan, S. Othman Kelantan dengan Angin Timur Laut, Hamka dengan Tenggelamnya Kapal Van Der Wijck, Di Bawah Lindungan Kaabah dan Lembaga Budi, Marah Rosli dengan novel Siti Nurbaya dan Moechtar Lubis dengan novel Harimau!Harimau!. Agak panjang untuk disebut semuanya di sini, tapi ayat-ayat dalam novel-novel ini seakan-akan masih segar dalam ingatan dan memberi kesan yang besar dalam memberikan perspektif tentang kehidupan kepada kami dalam usia belasan tahun masa itu.

Itulah jasa Perpustakaan Carnegie yang kami kunjungi setiap hujung minggu dan setiap hari semasa cuti sekolah, dan buku-buku yang dipinjam akan digalas berjalan kaki beberapa kilometer balik ke rumah. Hanya bila musim banjir perpustakaan ini terpaksa ditutup kerana biasanya air akan naik agak tinggi di kawasan ini.

Perpustakaan Carnegie juga adalah alasan paling valid yang diberikan kepada Ma untuk mendapat permission keluar rumah. Cuma sekali-sekala kami akan melencong sedikit sama ada ke Sungai Kelantan untuk mandi di bawah Tambatan Di Raja ataupun mandi di Paya Tok Gading (termasuk menangkap ikan laga dan main rakit). Minta maaf banyak-banyak, Ma. Anyway, anak Ma yang paling suka mandi paya dan bela ikan laga tu dah dapat PhD dan dah ada title Dr pun.

salaam.

Al-Fatihah Untuk Seorang Syahidah

Memperingati seorang ibu tua, Fatma Omar al Najjar, yang syahid untuk bumi barakah Palestine tepat dua tahun lepas pada 23 November 2006. Reproduced here for all to share.

Satu Belasungkawa

Ibu tua itu
Telah menyaksikan penderitaan bangsanya di hari-hari Youm Al-Naqbah
Menjadi mainan makar sahyuni dan salibi
Telah melihat bangsanya menjadi pengungsi di mana-mana
Sedang ummahnya masih lena dalam tidur panjang

Ibu tua itu
Telah menjadi saksi kepada semua kekejaman
Di Deir Yasin, di Tel Al-Zataar
Sedang ummahnya bungkam bisu tanpa bicara

Ibu tua itu
Telah mendengar tangisan anak-anak
Telah mendengar ratapan ibu-ibu
Telah melihat darah syahid para pemuda
Telah menyaksikan satu ummah terus dihina
Oleh satu bangsa daki-daki Khaybar
Di Sabra dan Shatila, Hebron, Jenin, Ramallah, di mana-mana
Dan ummahnya hanya mampu bersuara di meja persidangan

Ibu tua itu
Mungkin pernah bertanya dirinya
Di manakah seorang Al-Faruq ummah ini
Yang mampu meruntuhkan kuasa salibi
Atau di manakah seorang Salahuddin
Yang dapat mengembalikan Al-Aqsa ini

Ibu tua itu
Air matanya telah kering kerana satu penderitaan panjang

Melihat anaknya syahid di tangan kotor sahyuni

Menyaksikan suami dan lima anaknya di balik jeriji besi Yahudi
Hatinya terus membara kerana kemandoman ummah yang tidak berkesudahan
Jiwanya menjadi kental kerana ummah terus leka dengan keduniaan

Dan hari itu
Matanya melihat mayat-mayat kaku
Kanak-kanak, wanita dan orang tua
Telinganya mendengar ratapan penuh sayu
Darah merah memenuhi bumi barakah Palestin
Di satu hari di Beit Hanoun

Ibu tua itu
Nekad menuju ke arah soldadu sahyuni
Dengan cekal ingin menemui syahidnya
Dan jasadnya berkecai di atas tanah Palestin
Bumi barakah itu

Sejuta doa untuk seorang ibu tua menuju taman Firdausi
Satu belasungkawa untuk satu ummah yang masih lena dibuai duniawi


anaktimurlaut
30 November 2006

Another Jew

The proposed Treasury Secretary under Obama is Timothy Geithner, another Jew. Keep on counting.........

Big 'achievement' for a race with only about 15 million people, with about 7 million of them are in US.

salaam

Bila Si Kurang Cerdik Mentadbir Si Cerdik

Pelantikan Naib Canselor UM yang baru telah menjadi isu hangat hingga menjadi panas di Parlimen. Maka timbullah cabar-mencabar dan ugutan saman oleh pihak tertentu sehinggakan keluarlah beberapa statements yang tidak berapa sedap didengar ('thing between the legs', 'they can appoint monkey' etc). Seterusnya isu ini menjadi isu politik oleh seorang menteri pencen yang menyifatkan penamatan Datuk Rafiah sebagai satu diskriminasi terhadap wanita.

Memang Datuk Rafiah mempunyai 34 tahun perkhidmatan yang cemerlang sama ada dalam dunia akademik ataupun bidang korporat. Dalam bidang akademik, beliau adalah bekas Dekan Law Faculty, UM sementara dalan bidang korporat, beliau pernah menjadi executive director ICLIF, General Manager di Maybank dan Assistant Secretary General for United Nations Human Resource Management. Pencapaiannya meningkatkan penerbitan UM dari 3,300 kepada 5882 tahun ini dan menaikkan ranking UM dari ranking ke 246 tahun lepas kepada ranking ke 230 tahun ini adalah sesuatu yang boleh dibanggakan.



Isu di sini bukanlah untuk membandingkan di antara Datuk Rafiah Salim dan Datuk Ghauth Jasmon. Kedua-duanya mempunyai kelebihan masing-masing yang perlu dihormati dan dihargai (walaupun secara peribadi, tentunya seseorang yang memiliki higher academic credentials mempunyai kelebihan dalam memimpin satu pengajian tinggi). Isu di sini ialah tiadanya basic human decency dalam menamatkan perkhidmatan beliau. Dalam masa yang sama, Timbalan Menteri Pengajian Tinggi agak kurang cerdik dalam memberikan jawapan di dalam parlimen yang seolah-olah merendah-rendahkan keupayaan bekas VC ini.



Inilah bahananya bila manusia yang kurang cerdik mentadbir golongan yang lebih cerdik darinya. Si Timbalan Menteri perlulah melakukan sedikit homework dan berfikir sebelum mengeluarkan statement yang mungkin agak offensive, terutama ke atas golongan ultra cerdik ini yang mempunyai ego yang tinggi. Sepatutnya credit mestilah diberikan where it is due dan statement yang dikeluarkan perlu berhikmah. Fenomena statement bodoh ini sudah menjadi satu trend di Malaysia di mana telinga kita selalu disantakkan dengan komen-komen bapak menteri yang seolah-olah menganggap rakyat seperti golongan yang tidak boleh berfikir. Tambahan pula ahli-ahli politik masih beranggapan yang mereka boleh melakukan apa saja dan cakap apa saja semasa mereka sedang memegang kuasa.

Senarai komen-komen bodoh dan kurang cerdik oleh bapak-bapak menteri ini amat panjang dan nampaknya tidak akan berhenti dalam masa terdekat ini. Cuba lihat contoh-contoh betapa 'bernas'nya komen-komen berikut:

Hamid Albar : 'Penahanan wartawan Sin Chew Daily, Tan Hoon Cheng adalah bagi menjamin keselamatannya'.
Nazri Aziz : 'Saksi akan diberikan identiti baru di bawah Witness Protection Act (mana ada Wittness Protection Act? kena masuk balik kolej, belajar Law 101)
Zainudin Maidin : His interview with AlJazeera confirmed his stupidity.

Senarainya agak panjang untuk ditulis di sini. Itu belum lagi dikira tindakan bodoh seperti memberikan gelaran Dato' kepada Khalid Jafri dan Shah Rukh Khan atau melarang lawatan kakitangan kerajaan negerinya ke Kelantan.

Sampai bilakah orang-orang yang kurang cerdik ini akan mentadbir kita? Yang merisaukan, ada di antara mereka ini yang akan mencuba nasib untuk menjadi orang No. 2 dalam parti nanti. Dan Malaysia nanti akan terus dipimpin oleh manusia yang tidak begitu cerdik.

Albert Einstein pernah berkata: 'Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe'.

Semoga yang akan memimpin ummah ini adalah yang terbaik di kalangan kita.

salaam

A Black President – Black Days Ahead for Muslims?

One of the first actions taken by President-elect Obama is to appoint Rahm Emanuel as the White House Chief of Staff. Who is Rahm Emanuel?

His full name is Rahm Israel Emanuel, an American Jew whose first name was given by his father in remembrance of a Lehi fighter who died in war with Arabs. His father was a member of Irgun, a Zionist militant group during the British Mandate of Palestine. This group was also involved in the bombing of King David Hotel, which housed the British Military HQ in 1946, killing 91 people (Israeli ex-PM, Menachem Begin was the leader of Irgun). Irgun group originated from Haganah, a Jewish military group which was committed in defending all Jewish people in Palestine and this group became core of the Israeli Defense Force. His uncle who was killed by Arabs, was also a member of Lehi group, a Jewish terrorist gang, which was an offshoot of Irgun group. The Lehi group, called Stern Gang and was branded as a terrorist group by British Govt, is another splinter group from Irgun, and one of its leaders was Yitzhak Shamir. These groups worked together and were responsible for Deir Yassein massacre and other massacres committed on Palestinians, which led to the Palestinian exodus in 1948 (Youm anNaqbah). Rahm Emanuel himself once served in Israeli Defence Force during the first Gulf War.

Another interesting development done by Obama is the apppointment of his chief strategist for his presidential campaign, David Axelrod who will become a Senior Advisor in the White House. David Axelrod is another Jew in Obama circle and a close friend of Rahm Emanuel (no wonder that he performed his prayer in Jerusalem's Wailing Wall during the campaign).

The third development is the possible appointment of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Hillary Clinton is known to enjoy a strong support from Jewish community due to her standing as popular senator from the state with the country's largest Jewish population, New York.

With those developments, what message Barack Hussein Obama is sending to Muslims? Looks like this President-elect is being surrounded by Jewish lobby who will dictate his future direction. I’ve never seen a person with such a ‘scary’ background serving as White House Chief of Staff such as Rahm Israel Emanuel. Even the present Chief of Staff, Joshua Bolten, himself a Jew, pales in comparison with this guy. Rahm's father, Benjamin Emanuel was quoted as saying that 'obviously, he will influence the President to be pro-Israel'. I cannot disagree with this statement. What can we expect from a son of an Irgun fighter, a nephew of a Lehi fighter and a former serviceman in Israeli Defense Force to act once in power?

Looks like there would be black days ahead for Muslims, especially in this Blessed Land of Sham (Bilad al-Sham). I’m not anti-Jewish (that is racism), but surely I am anti-Zionists and all Jews in the occupied land of Palestine, which are considered ‘harbi’. I maintain my opinion that he will become another instrument in the hand of the Zionists. Just read again the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. On our part, let’s do our best in helping our brothers there through various possible means (at least by sponsoring orphans, etc), because their struggle is our struggle.

اللَّهُمَّ وَانْصُرْ المُجَاهِدِينَ فِي سَبِيلِكِ في كُلِّ مَكان

Alahai Kak Ijat

Membaca artikel ini semalam di NST agak menarik perhatian saya. Apa dah jadi, Kak Ijat? Kalau benarlah apa yang ditulis dalam artikel ini, maknanya Kak Ijat tak ada proper planning dalam langkah politik Kak Ijat. Sampaikan macam kena lenyek dek steamroll oleh Makcik Fidah dan lain-lain makcik dalam UMNO masa meeting tu dan di label sebagai too soft dan meek. That's not a good impression that you gave to ahli-ahli Wanita UMNO lain. Sampaikan tak dijemput open house Raya pun kena grill dek Mak Cik Fidah 10 minit.

Seperti yang disebut dalam artikel ini, Kak Ijat tak sepatutnya attend meeting tersebut. Keputusan menghadiri meeting sedangkan Kak Ijat tahu akan kena bombard kiri kanan sampai supporter sendiri pun tak boleh defend adalah lebih teruk dari keputusan General George Armstrong Custer dalam Battle of the Little Bighorn melawan Red Indians yang dipimpin oleh Crazy Horse dan Sitting Bull. Sekurang-kurangnya Gen. Custer ada assumptions masa nak redah serang Red Indians, walaupun assumptions tu semuanya salah.

Kak Ijat memang tahu yang dalam meeting tu terlalu ramai crazy horses dan bulls, yang mungkin raging bull atau dalam keadaan tertentu, mungkin boleh jadi crying bull.

Kalau macam ni susahlah nanti karier politik Kak Ijat. Nak dapat balik Lembah Pantai amatlah malap dek penangan Puteri Reformasi. Nak balik negeri kat Penang, UMNO dah tak berapa laku dah kat sana. Nak ke Kelantan, negeri suami Kak Ijat, tak mungkin sekali sebab UMNO dah lama expired kat sana.

Dok teragak-agak lagikah nak lawan Mak Cik Fidah tu? Memang bukan senang nak lawan Rafidah AP Aziz ni sebab dia memang banyak duit. Kak Siti Zaharah pun dah rasa bahananya lawan Mak Cik ini, sekarang dah masuk political black hole. Kalau perlantikan berdasarkan tender seperti cadangan 'the articulate minister' Rais Yatim, memang Kak Ijat tak ada can langsung. Apa tidaknya? Dalam proses tender kat Malaysia ni, duit kena 'donate' start dari nak dapat tender sampai nak dapat final payment. Ish, banyak kena belanja tu. Dalam toilet PWTC masa persidangan pun , donation masih berjalan.

Apapun Kak Ijat, semoga meeting itu tidak menjadi Kak Ijat's Last Stand sebagaimana Little Bighorn menjadi Custer's Last Stand. Semoga Kak Ijat akan dapat membuat keputusan yang tepat nanti dan berjaya menjadi No. 1 dalam Wanita UMNO. Cuma untuk lebih berkat, rasanya lagi afdhal kalau tudung atas kepala tu Kak Ijat letak kemas-kemas sikit tanpa menampakkan jambul tu. Tak kesahlah colour apa tudung tu, merah pun tak apa, janji tutup semua, macam Kak Kamilia. Kan Kak Ijat dah bergelar Hajjah? Nanti dikata orang macam Hajjah Siti Nurhaliza pulak.

Tahniah, Prof. Ghauth Jasmon

My congratulations to Prof. Datuk Dr. Ghauth Jasmon (B.Sc, Ph.D, FIEE, FIEAust, SMIEEE, CPEng), who will become the new UM Vice Chancellor and will start his duty on Tuesday 11 November 2008. He will be the first engineer to be the VC of UM (the first engineer closest to be UM's VC was Prof. Emeritus Chin Fung Kee (the man behind Penang Bridge, who was the Acting VC for one year during the 1960s).

With such an excellent credentials (1st Class from Imperial College, PhD in less than 3 years, professor at the age of 36, Deputy VC at 39), I am sure that he will be able to contribute greatly to UM. He was responsible in making Multimedia University from nothing to a university with 7 faculties and 20,00 students.

I think MMU's loss will be UM's gain. In his farewell greeting, he wrote that his term of MMU's President 'has been determined to end' on 31st December 2007 (note the passive sentence). I hope he will be able to chart the future of our oldest university without any interference from outside. Knowing him for about one year when he was the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Development) of UM, he made quite an impression on me with his no-nonsense approach of doing things. To work with a workaholic and perfectionist like him was not easy. To him, 'students are customers' and I think he brought this motto when he was in MMU, endearing himself to the students there. We in the Development Dept of UM were under intense pressure to work under a Deputy VC who came to work at 6.30 am and went back after Isyak prayer. When I was in Mecca for my haj in 2001, I met one of his ex-staff in MMU who had just been discharged from CCU and subsequently resigned from MMU. The reason was the pressure that he got from working under this Prof.

In a speech, he once described Bill Gates (who visited MMU in 2000) as 'not very brilliant but knows what he is doing' (I tend to disagree with this - Bill Gates achieved 1590 out of 1600 in Scholastic Aptitude Test, even though he took a leave of absence from Harvard) . You might call this as an arrogant statement, but this reflects his level of confidence which most of the times will make him at odds with others. Maybe his frankness and straightforward style also contribute to his exit from MMU. I hope that with his renowned status academically, he would be able to transform UM's ranking back to at least the Top 100. And I hope not to see him appearing in newspapers boasting about the lecturers 'menggondol sepuluh pingat emas di Geneva Exhibition of Invention'. (Have Imperial College, MIT, Caltech, Tokyo University or even NUS ever participated in this event? Are there any commercial values on the 'inventions'?)

I'm sure that his re-entry into UM will send shivers down the spines of some of the academicians there. Hopefully, di UM nanti tidak akan ada mana-mana dekan atau ketua jabatan yang masuk CCU selepas Prof Ghauth memulakan tugasnya sebagai VC. If everything goes well, he might be quite long in UM.

On a lighter note, lessons learned are:

1. Brilliant people are health hazards to others.
2. You don't have to be very brilliant to become a billionaire. Just be a bit smarter and know what you are doing, and maybe you will become a successful businessman. Be a brilliant person, and you will end up to be a professor or a monthly paid professionals.

salaam.

A Black President in the White House

Again, Barack Hussein Obama sets another record in his many firsts, the latest by becoming the first black president of the United States. He was also the first presidential candidate who was born in Hawaii, and also the first African American to serve as president of Harvard Law Review. We can add more on other firsts - the first president with an extended families in two continents, Africa (Kenya) and Asia (Indonesia), the first First Family to be multiracial etc.

With such a colourful background, naturally he was favoured by the rest of the world for the presidency. It was said that if the world other than Americans could vote for the US president, he can get more than 90% of the vote. More so when the world has suffered so much under the current president, a Texan cowboy who has been described by Chris Patten as 'deeply uncurious intellectually'. What could we expect from a former member of Yale University's secret society, Skull and Bones to do? I still remember during his attempt for his first term of presidency many years back, he was asked the names of Taiwan's president and India's PM. He failed to answer any of them, but he has the gut to shoot back at the interviewer by saying 'do you know their names?'. The interviewer replied 'I am not quite sure either, but I am not running for presidency, Mr Bush'. I am still baffled why the Americans voted him for his second term.

As for Muslims, we hope that this world could become a better place and all the injustices to our brothers in all occupied lands will eventually stop, and all our brothers who are being caged in Guantanamo Bay will be released or tried according to the law. I do really pray for that. But at the same time I too remain skeptical of his capability to change the status quo. Can we expect anything from a person who has performed his prayers at the Wailing Wall and put his tzetzels at its crevices. I have nothing against what he wrote in the note, but I think the Jewish lobby must be very pleased with that. To me, a US president is only an instrument to achieve and maintain whatever objectives/goals 'The Elders' have set before.

I attach below my poem on this. I think the message is clear.

I hope I am wrong. I really hope so.

Sang Kaisar Romawi

Di balik sebuah istana putih

Seorang Kaisar itu

Begitu rakus mengatur bidak-bidaknya

Dengan bantuan uskup-uskupnya

Di balik dana dolar bermilyar

Menyusun makarnya di segenap benua

Sang Kaisar Romawi itu

Masih tega melimpahkan darah

Di balik sungai Furat dan Dajlah
Juga di celah gunung ganang Asia Tengah

Telah melihat kaisar-kaisar sebelumnya

Menyembelih kelumpuk pribumi di Wounded Knee

Membunuh secara massa di My Lai

Menumpahkan darah manusia di Sungai Mekong

Menyuramkan sinar suria di Hiroshima dan Nagasaki
Membuat makar hina serata benua

Sang Kaisar Romawi itu

Punya seorang Uskup Besar

Yang berkata 'ugama itu memang ugama teror'

Katanya ada satu bajingan membuat onar di setiap ceruk

Yang telah meruntuhkan menara gah di buminya

Dan ingin menghapuskan tamadun hedonisnya

Dan yang perlu mereka perangi bersama

Sang Kaisar Romawi itu
Sebagaimana kaisar-kaisar sebelumnya

Rupanya adalah juga satu bidak

Yang begitu akur dengar segala perintah

Yang datang dari seorang Uskup Agung

Yang sedang bersila angkuh

Di Tel Aviv

shah alam
06 Oktober

salaam.

Why blogging and why Berek 12?

At last, I managed to create my own blog. Why blogging, then?

I think writing is one of my hidden skills that I've so far neglected for so long, and being an engineer further contributed to this neglect. During my school days in Kolej Islam Klang, I still remember that my essays used to be read in front of other classes, and I was then chosen to represent KIK in an essay competition. Dapat tempat 2 or 3, and the prize was RM50. Big money those days.

My flirtation with the world of writing totally stops when I started my career in civil engineering. Engineers deal with 'dead' things (machines, buildings/structures etc) and in my case, dealing with rough people in the construction industry, who are mostly spiritually 'dead'. And in my field, I found it difficult to find a person who shares my interests (except for my former boss, a Hungarian, with whom I could speak on various topics from history, politics, religion etc, even though he is an Atheist).

I am a person with very few words, and I think people around me will find me as an enigmatic person. It would be good to shed the image, especially for those who are close to me. By blogging, I would be able to share my thoughts and opinions with others, and those close to me can further understand my way of thinking.

And why Berek Dua Belas?

Berek 12 is a place where I spent my formative years, and where I passed through everyday to start my journey of few kilometers walking to school. Less than 10 years, but it has really shaped my perspectives in life, where I met very nice people and also 'gedebe' type of persons. It offered me a simple life, and shaped me into a humble person (my former boss used to reprimand me for being too humble by saying 'it is good for others, but not good for you'. What could I do, Gus? I am a simple kampung boy, and you were brought up under a tough life in Budapest under Russian occupation). Even 30 years of living in the Klang Valley cannot change me.

See you in my next posting, which will be more serious in nature.

salaam.