BAHASA MENUNJUKKAN INTELEKTUALITI

Oleh – Hesmel Faznee Faisal

Salam, kepada para bloggers dan pembaca blog yang syok sendiri ini!

Saya menjadi orang yang paling gembira (I’m not quite sure about the rest as I do not have the ability to read people’s mind!) apabila membaca sebuah berita di sini.

Secara peribadi, saya bersetuju dengan tindakan Kerajaan untuk berbuat sedemikian kerana beberapa factor.

Antaranya ialah seperti berikut;

a) Kedua negara yang bertutur di dalam bahasa demikian kini mula mengorak langkah menjadi negara utama dari aspek ekonomi, serta perkembangan IT.

b) Negara China sudah mula bersikap terbuka dan secara perlahan menganut fahaman ekonomi pasaran bebas. Melihat kepada kapasiti dan saiz negara itu, ia memberi ruang dan peluang kepada rakyat Malaysia untuk mengorak langkah berniaga di sana.

c) Kebanyakan daripada tenaga professional (kecuali mereka yang bertugas di “belakang mati” Jose!) di dalam bidang IT mahupun perniagaan dan sebagainya datangnya dari negara-negara tersebut.

Walaupun ia hanya baru di peringkat cadangan sahaja, Kerajaan patut meneruskan usaha tersebut memandangkan cara ini sahajalah yang mampu mengerakkan kita ke arah yang lebih inovatif. Tidak dapat dinafikan, masyarakat Cina secara amnya akan menunjukkan rasa hormat mereka seandainya seseorang itu yang bukan berketurunan Cina mampu bercakap dengan fasih mahupun cekap menulis Mandarin.

Saya tidak nampak kekurangannya jika generasi baru kita mampu belajar dan fasih di dalam bahasa selain daripada Inggeris mahupun Malaysia. Amatlah merugikan jika ada di antara kita yang bermegah dengan pertuturan Inggeris slanga Amerika, Inggeris atau Inggeris Oxford namun tidak pandai dan tahu bertutur di dalam bahasa Mandarin atau Tamil.

Saya berpendapat, kita perlu tahu di mana tanah kita pijak dan dengan siapa yang kerap kita berurusan. Dari konteks rakyat Malaysia, kita banyak berurusan dengan masyarakat Cina dan India, baik dari aspek perniagaan, sosial dan lain-lain. Tiadalah salah jika kita mempunyai kecekapan menulis dan bertutur di dalam bahasa Inggeris. Tetapi kita akan lebih dihormati dan digeruni jika kita tahu juga bertutur di dalam bahasa selain daripada bahasa tersebut!

Saya amat yakin dan benar-benar yakin, melihat kepada pertumbuhan ekonomi China dan juga jumlah penduduknya yang hampir mencecah 3 billion orang, bahasa Mandarin ini akan satu masa nanti menjadi bahasa perantara utama, selepas bahasa Inggeris.

Masakan tidak, jika sesetengah daripada kita melayari laman web mencari kerja seperti Jobstreet, ramai yang akan merasa hampa kerana ada di antara syarikat yang menawarkan pekerjaan meletakkan syarat calon hendaklah juga tahu menulis, membaca atau menulis Mandarin.

Ada juga suara-suara sumbang yang mengatakan lebih baik pelajari bahasa Arab kerana bahasa tersebut bahasa Quran. Saya berpendapat bukan bahasa yang menjadi persoalan di dalam memahami Al-Quran namun intelektualiti seseorang itu yang menjadi asasnya.

Masyarakat Arab yang sememangnya fasih di dalam bahasa Arab dan membaca Al-Quran persis kita membaca novel picisan Melayu, ada segelintirnya tidak mengikut ajaran Islam yang disarankan di dalam Quran. Di manakah kesilapan di sini?

Terdapat blog yang mengatakan bahawa Islam sebenarnya di bawa ke Melaka menerusi Laksamana Cheng Ho atau Haji Mahmud Shams. Jika ini dibukti kebenarannya, maka ia akan menjadi satu tamparan hebat kepada sesetengah orang yang terlalu memandang golongan Arab ini Islam dan Islam itu Arab.

Bagi saya, bahasa dan bangsa bukan menjadi pokok persoalan di dalam menentukan kebanggaan sesuatu agama.

Iman itu serta initiatif mencari ilmu itu mengatasi segalanya.

Kita Kan Tersesat Pabila Malam Menjemput Bulan Semula Ke Sangkar Waktu – The Salam Connection.

THE RECYCLED STRAW

By – Hesmel Faznee Faisal

Salam, to fellow bloggers and readers of this self pitiful blog!

The habit of recycling materials made from plastic, papers and aluminum, whilst is a good way in preserving the longevity of the environment, at the same time has higher repercussion to public as well.

As reported in the local newspaper recently, the fact that not all items are suitable for recycling purposes should be put into consideration before decision being made to reuse it again and again!

Plastic straws have become the highest natural wastage in the world; with millions of it collected in the disposal area as most of us seldom reuse it due to hygienic purposes.

According to a website, we should never put our trust on biodegradable straws made from bioplastics like PLA, since evidence shows that there's not a whole lot of biodegrading going on with them—they just break up into smaller bits of plastic than other straws, and still release methane in the process.

Not all drinks (with the exception of smoothies!) require the usage of straw. Conceivably, some may find it inappropriate to drink directly from the glass or mug without using a straw but I believe most of us might have second thought on using it after reading the news above!

Whatever reasons it maybe, consider this every time we visit our favourite curry house shop and drink a glass of ice coffee; do they serve it with a new straw or a straw that was used by a person who has syphilis?

Kita Kan Tersesat Pabila Malam Menjemput Bulan Semula Ke Sangkar Waktu – The Salam Connection

SAUDARA JAUHKU

Oleh – Hesmel Faznee Faisal

Senjakala bagai mengingatkanku,

Betapa hampirnya aku pada noktah hari,

Apa yang telah kulalui sewaktu itu?

Apa yang telah kulakukan sewaktu ini,

Untuk menolong saudara jauhku?

Saudara jauhku,

Yang pasti berbeda dari rupaku,

Yang pasti lain dari bicaraku,

Yang pasti sama dengan agamaku,

Saudara jauhku,

Mati menjadi teman hidupmu,

Korban jadi tajuk perbualanmu,

Yang mati tetap mati,

Yang hidup pasti mati,

Saudara jauhku,

Kematianmu berulangkali,

Tak kecapaian langkaui tuamu,

Saudara jauhku,

Yang belum tahu bagaimana hidup keesokan hari,

Yang tahu keluarnya itu kembalinya mati,

Yang pasti yakin akan temui Kekasih hati,

Kekasih hati dari Azali,

Saudara jauhku,

Tanah itu dagingmu,

Serban itu rerambutmu,

Bebatu kecil itu peluhmu,

Saudara jauhku,

Kisahmu diulang berkali-kali,

Sedihmu itu satu legasi,

Pilumu itu satu tragedi,

Semenanjung Gaza,

Apakah ia medan perjuangan menuntut hakmu,

Atau sekadar sebuah medan,

Yang menjadi alas buat tidur panjangmu?

10 Jun 2010, Damansara Utama

SANCTIONING ISRAEL: ANYONE DARE TO DO THAT?

By – Hesmel Faznee Faisal

Salam, to fellow bloggers and readers of this blog.

There have been a lot of discussion in our country both intellectually and emotionally on the attack of the Peace Flotillaby by Israeli terrorists (Well, don’t you think attacking a flock of boats carrying civilians is a form of terrorism, Jose?) .

At this point of juncture, I believe it is not the Zionist’ terrorist regime that should be put on blame (We know that a terrorist will forever remain one) for the attack but the blame should be shifted to some Muslim countries who has been conspiring with the Zionist state. If all Muslims are united as one, none of this will ever take place!

I have said once, and will say it again. My main concern here is not on the attack by the Zionist regime but the attitude of Muslim countries who had denied the peace convoy from entering Gaza through their territory.

Some of them have diplomatic ties with Israel and I believe they had done it in order to maintain the cordial relationship between two countries!

Such despicable act by these Muslim countries must be condemned by other Muslims!

There is however a main problem that has been bugging them all this while; Muslims can just unite as one (perhaps the Arab League should a thing or two from Malaysia, especially on the idea of 1 Malaysia!) and have often backstabbing one and another!

How many times must we see burning effigies in the streets or in front of mosques and other places during Peace Rallies but have yet to see any single action taken by the UN or for that matter other powerful states (I have to admit that I have completely lost my confidence in President Barack Obama and began to have strong doubt in his administration!) in condemning Israel’s atrocity?

There are no alternatives at the moment to stop Israel from continuing its maniac oppression against Palestine; not even through rallies or protests, passing a motion to condemn Israel in Parliament or otherwise.

We have seen hundreds and thousands of rallies plus a number of burning effigies but none of these have fallen into attention of the Israelis. There is a possibility that they are laughing all of these as it happens!

The only way to stop Israel is through sanction and I don’t think none of the leaders in this world are brave enough to do so!

Kita Kan Tersesat Pabila Malam Menjemput Bulan Semula Ke Sangkar Waktu – The Salam Connection.

MINISTRIAL SENATOR

By – Hesmel Faznee Faisal

Ipoh Barat MP, Lim Kit Siang as usual had criticized the decision made by Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Mohd Najib Razak to appoint a number of Senators to fill in the Ministerial post in his recent cabinet reshuffles. Read here.

The credibility of a person (it is likely from this context that none of our politicians have high credibility, Jose!) is not considered as the main issue. The main issue here is that the decision made by the Prime Minister is something to be follow suit. A person who has no political interest is a free person. He is free in term of making decision and are not seen as having inkling with any political party.

If my memory serves me correctly, I had written once in this blog that a senator should be given more priority for the post of a Minister. This will not only allow them to stay focus on their job but will avoid from being drawn in the politicking activity within party ranks.

I hope and pray that Dato’ Seri Najib will appoint more Senators in his next cabinet reshuffle.

Kita Kan Tersesat Pabila Malam Menjemput Bulan Semula Ke Sangkar Waktu – The Salam Connection.

THE DOUBLE STANDARD PRACTISE

By – Hesmel Faznee Faisal

Salam, to fellow bloggers and readers of this self confessed blog!

Life is all about practicing double standard and sometimes it goes beyond our imagination.

We had yet seen any actions taken against the Israelis for attacking the Aid Flotilla a.k.a the Freedom Boat carrying civilians, (Malaysians are among the passengers Jose!) whose main mission was to lend humanitarian aid to our Palestinians brothers and sisters in Gaza.

All that can be heard are condemnations and criticism by world leaders, but as time goes by those voices will slowly fade and people are likely to mend their own business shortly after that!

According to a news reported here, they condemned Israel for using a disproportionate aggressive action against all international laws and human values.

While criticisms by world leaders began to build its momentum as reported here, I doubt neither UN nor any of the country members (they are Japan, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, EU and the US!) in G8 would condemn Israel’s dastardly attack on the aid fleet.

Whilst we pray for the safety of those on board, lest forget that this incident will indeed spark wider protest by Muslims followed by violence. I quote Yoda, the Jedi Master in the Star Wars movie trilogy; “Fear leads to anger, Anger leads to hate, Hate leads to Suffering”!

As I had mentioned earlier, why must countries who condemned Israel’s filthy act can only do so but dared not show their firmness by imposing sanction against that pea sized area (I was making a reference to Israel, Jose!)? I considered this as another double standard practice by those countries.

They are not willing to cut off the diplomatic ties with Israel as they fear Jewish leaders in the American Congress might “whisper” or influence the puppet designated US President to take action against them!

In the end, all we can hear is numerous criticisms by country leaders on Israel but all will fall on deaf ears!

Kita Kan Tersesat Pabila Malam Menjemput Bulan Semula Ke Sangkar Waktu – The Salam Connection

HANTU DI RAJA MALAYSIA

Oleh - Hesmel Faznee Faisal.

Salam, kepada para bloggers dan pembaca setia blog syok sendiri ini!

Saya tidak pasti, samada ingin merasa takut, ketawa atau bingung apabila membaca berita yang “menyeramkan” di sini.

Rasanya, saya pernah menulis mengenai cerita hantu di dalam tulisan awal saya dan betapa saya tidak langsung merasa terpegun mahupun tertarik dengan cerita hantu jembalang ini.

Bagi saya, hanya “hantu” sahaja yang mempercayai hantu!

Sebagai seorang Islam, kita harus memahami konsep Khalifah di muka bumi ini. Maknanya, kita telah dipilih Allah SWT untuk menjadi “wakil” Nya di Bumi ini. Kita adalah makhluk ciptaan Allah yang paling sempurna dibandingkan dengan ciptaanNya yang lain.

Masakan Allah menyuruh semua Malaikat sembah dan tunduk kepada Nabi Adam, kerana dengan cara ini Allah “mengiktiraf” Nabi Adam A.S (yang mewakili keturunan manusia, Jose!) sebagai khalifah yang dipertanggungjawabkan untuk memelihara dan menjaga bumi ini.

Namun sayangnya, ramai yang terlepas pandang dan terlupa tentang tanggungjawab mereka sebagai khalifah di muka bumi, terutamanya kepada golongan manusia zaman sekarang!

Berbalik kepada cerita di pautan di atas, saya menganggap cerita ini sebagai satu perbuatan yang hanya merugikan pihak PDRM dan tidak lebih kepada publisiti murahan yang melucukan!

Apakah pihak polis, yang dipertanggungjawabkan melindungi keselamatan dan memastikan kita semua tinggal dalam keadaan aman menjadi takut kepada hantu?

Tidakkah penulisan di atas mencadangkan bahawa polis, selama hampir 200 tahun penubuhannya, serta pernah melalui zaman perit menentang komunis dan kumpulan subversive menjadi ketakutan hanya kerana seekor hantu?

Secara peribadi, penulisan di atas hanyalah sebagai satu provokasi kepada orang ramai agar mereka menilai dan menimbulkan perasaan prasangka terhadap PDRM!

Mungkin, sekadar mungkin ada unsur-unsur yang tertentu ini wujud kerana bertujuan untuk melemahkan karisma PDRM yang kebelakangan ini tercalar, saya tidak pasti.

Apa yang pasti, editor dan juga penulis berita tersebut harus berfikir semula tentang kesan sampingannya terhadap masyarakat.

Kelak, kita mungkin akan terpaksa bergantung kepada pasukan Ghost Busters yang kerja mereka hanyalah menambahkan lagi perasaan takut di dalam diri ini!

Hanya tinggal 10 tahun lagi sebelum mencapai tahun 2020. Sekarang saya faham mengapa pencetus idea Wawasan 2020, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad sendiri mulai pesimis dengan sasaran untuk Malaysia menjadi Negara moden menjelang 2020. Beliau sendiri dilaporkan berkata beliau kini hilang keyakinan sasaran itu akan tercapai.

Pemikiran masyarakat Malaysia, orang Melayu secara khususnya walaupun mereka membawa kereta Porsche, BMW, menjamah makanan tengahari di hotel mahupun di restoran mewah, mempunyai perasaan malu untuk berbicara bahasa Melayu, masih lagi membawa mentality nenek moyang mereka yang kalau hendak menggambarkannya ialah dengan satu perkataan, iaitu kolot!

Maka tidak hairanlah, hantu-hantu ini akan terus bersarang di dalam pemikiran kita, hingga ke satu peringkat yang mana kita telah menjadi negara moden namun mentaliti kita persis masyarakat yang hidup 500 tahun nan lampau!

Kita Kan Tersesat Pabila Malam Menjemput Bulan Semula Ke Sangkar Waktu - The Salam Connection.

FOREVER AFTER

By - Hesmel Faznee

Salam, to fellow bloggers.

The forever after jam near the USJ Summit traffic light.

I wonder what the authorities are doing to overcome this problem.

And why aren't the Subang Jaya MP do something to solve it?

Dear USJ'ans.. That's what you get when you put a dumb lad in the August house.

LOST IN A PREEMPT BATTLE WITH OUR OWN AMMUNITION

By – Hesmel Faznee Faisal

Salam, to fellow bloggers and readers of this self-proclaimed blog!

The intellects are known for their mind boggling quotes.

Martin Luther King, Jr (to those who did not learn history, read more about him here) for instance, quoted; “We are not makers of history. We are made by history.”

True to its word, all of us are a product of history. Thus, we now could perfectly understand why most of us are likely to repeat mistakes, again and again. The reason is simple; we did not learn anything from the past!

The Government through the National Archive has at last decided to set up a memorial to pay tribute to MCA founder and one of the political figures who fought for our Independence, the late Tun Tan Cheng Lock.

There is however, another flip of the coin. I presume the decision was made only when his families have made the decision to hand out all of his personal documents to a foreign institution.

The fact that the Minister, who is in charge for the Ministry responsible in safe keeping our entire historical treasure can only whine and said something that portray him as a sore loser is something we should look at.

There is no good for him to keep on whining. What he should  be doing now is to lead his Ministry into planning of ways on how to reclaim back other precious historical documents that are now under the hands of people in foreign lands.

If everyone could still remember, we lost our claim for the sovereignty of the White Rock Island (Or Pulau Batu Putih Jose!) to Singapore in the International Court when the Singapore government presented to the court an old documentation signed by the then Sultan of Johore with the British government to say that His Majesty will not or any words to that effect claim the rights of the tiny island!

Someone with a rightful mind would agree with my argument that the pride of our country is slowly depriving if we keep on losing all of the important documents that records important moments of this country!

Does anyone in the Ministry ever realize how important Cheng Lock’s document is for the Government?

Can’t they for once use their creative thinking and start wandering what if, what if some of the documents contain important facts that can later be use to make more claim and demands by Singapore?

I have nothing against Singapore or the people there except that I’m quite disturbed with the laissez faire attitude of Malaysians towards history!

It is said that original copies of precious agreement, such as the Pangkor Treaty and many more are tucked safely in foreign historical institution located in the UK and other places.

Imagine all of this can be done just by accessing those documents, should they decided to make more claims on our sovereignty (If you know who I was referring to, Jose!).

There might be interesting facts and figures written by Tun Tan Cheng Lock on our country. And now all of these have fallen under the hands of Singaporean intellects who would love to do a microscopic research about us. Though Singapore was once part of Malaysia, they have long been considered as foreigners no matter what.

Are we willing to see foreigners do research and find out important facts about Malaysia and later use it against us?

I rest my case..

Kita Kan Tersesat Pabila Malam Menjemput Bulan Semula Ke Sangkar Waktu – The Salam Connection

HANTU H1N1 DAN IMAGINASI MANUSIA

Oleh – Hesmel Faznee Faisal

Salam, kepada para bloggers dan pembaca blog syok sendiri ini!

Imaginasi manusia itu merupakan suatu kuasa yang cukup menakjubkan!

Cara dan kaedah kita menggunakannya itu, bergantung kepada individu itu sendiri. Jika imaginasi itu bersifat “syok sendiri”, ianya mungkin membawa kepada jalan yang agak diragukan.

Namun, ada juga imaginasi yang dibangunkan berdasarkan kepada inspirasi dan juga keinginan untuk melihat masyarakat dan bangsa itu diinjakkan darjatnya ke tahap yang lebih tinggi.

Saya tergerak untuk berbincang mengenai imaginasi ini berdasarkan kepada satu sebab, iaitu rasa ralat dan jelik melihat terlalu banyak drama dan filem yang diterbitkan di Malaysia ini, ratanya berkisarkan kepada kisah seram (baca hantu dan dunia ghaib) dan lain-lain.

Mungkin ramai yang akan berhujah kita diharuskan percaya kepada benda-benda halus. Benar, tetapi aqal yang dikurniakan Tuhan kepada kita juga menyuruh kita berfikir dengan logik, apakah kita perlu tunduk kepada benda halus atau sebaliknya?

Mungkin ramai yang akan berhujah menyebutkan tentang hukum hakam mahupun Rukun Iman. Bagi saya, mereka ini sekadar ingin “menghalalkan” apa yang difikirkan dan ditegakkan oleh mereka selama ini, iaitu wujudnya “entiti” atau kata lain hantu dan makhluk halus!

Saya tidak menafikan bahawa makhluk halus ini wujud. Malah, ianya berada di depan saya, semasa saya sedang menulis pojok ini.

Ianya keluar dan masuk ke dalam tubuh saya, tidak lain tidak bukan ialah udara! Tidak juga ketinggalan kuman dan pelbagai lagi spesis halus yang ada disekeliling kita.

Selain daripada itu, kuman H1N1 yang merupakan salah satu daripada "makhluk halus" yang sudah nyata merbahaya telah kembali menganggu masyarakat kita, seperti yang dilaporkan di sini.

Masyarakat kita pada kelazimannya, lebih takut dan gentar kepada sesuatu yang diwujudkan oleh imaginasi mereka (baca hantu!) dan langsung tidak gentar dengan “hantu” H1N1 ini. Para peniaga misalannya, mereka masih lagi mengamalkan pendekatan “tidak apa” di dalam menjaga kebersihan makanan yang dijual.

Hantu, makhluk halus dan H1N1. Semuanya kian mengganas. Hantu dan makhluk ganas ini hanya mengganas di dalam imaginasi kita, seperti watak Freddie Krueger dalam filem Nightmare in Elm Street (I don’t care whether its the new version or the old one!).

Namun kuman H1N1, mengganas di dalam diam dan jika tidak dijaga kesannya adalah amat lebih buruk dibandingkan dengan “hantu” di dalam imaginasi kita!

Kita Kan Tersesat Pabila Malam Menjemput Bulan Semula Ke Sangkar Waktu – The Salam Connection

THE MALAYSIAN MENTALITY TOWARDS PUBLIC AMENITIES

By – Hesmel Faznee Faisal

Salam, to fellow bloggers and readers of this fetish blog!

Let me be frank, I am quite skeptical towards the mentality of Malaysians, especially on their attitude towards public amenities.

More often than not, Malaysians with itchy fingers just love to destroy public property. There is a probability that these offenders might be suffering from mental disorder, we can’t even tell. Even then, there was a research being conducted on vandalism in Malaysia, to determine how bad the problem is!

When the Deputy Information, Commu¬nications and Culture Minister suggests that local museums should feature more interactive displays as reported here, all I could say is that this will lead to more quandary and problem!

There is no doubt that this is another way to increase the public interest to visit the museum (Imagine,  having to view in a 3D display, the final battle between Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, Jose!) and for them to experience it first hand through the reenactment of the Pangkor Treaty via interactive display. Or, visitors are able to “interact” with the late Tunku through the marvelous technology of the hologram!

There are numerous ideas, opportunities to explore with and wonderful gizmos to enliven public to visit the museum and to understand history.

However, there is one point that will always remain unanswered; how to determine those equipments can still be fully functioned, a day after its launch?

This is something for us to ponder with.

Kita Kan Tersesat Pabila Malam Menjemput Bulan Semula Ke Sangkar Waktu – The Salam Connection