Pearls & Gem : Dr Asri Zainal Abidin

Friends ,

In a year when we have the 'Altantuya affair' ,SCOMI ,Eurocopter debacle and the 'Scorpene affair' all thrown into the public domain it is perhaps poignant that Dr Asri's recent resignation or rather to put it more correctly refusal to continue his tenure as Grand Mufti of Perlis in preference to leading a quiet academic life in Lampeter ,U.K , not to be viewed as an insignificant, quite unrelated event .

We all have to salute this man for his frankness and intellectual honesty and refusal to accept and stomach the rot in a society that is increasingly getting too materialistic ,uncontrolled greed and avarice from within the upper echelon of power .Indeed ,intellectual honesty and frankness are two qualities that are very hard to come by nowadays in this Land of Serba Boleh ,especially within the professionals ,academia and even within the learned circles ,even amongst the so-called ulamak .

I reserve this space today for Dr Asri Zainal Abidin for his candour :

" AKU BUKAN MUSUH HARTA "

mereka kata :
mengapa kita tidak kaya raya ?
tengoklah Si Fulan itu ,bermewahan saja
aku bertanya :apalah caranya untuk aku kaya ?
tapi...secara mulia dan tanpa berdusta .

bukan kita tidak tahu
jalan ,denai dan liku
agar harta ditemu dan disapu
tapi semuanya cara palsu dan tipu
bukan kita tidak mahu
tapi kita tidak mampu
takut dan terkedu
mengenang Yang Maha Satu
Yang Tiada Baginya sekutu

Ya ,telah kaya para pengkhianat
dengan harta yang sarat
tapi mereka lupa akhirat
balasan yang berat
di dunia ,jiwa bertukar menjadi keparat .

Ya ,telah kaya para pendusta
syarat mereka :lupakan Yang Esa
harta raayat semua disebat
harta awam semua dibekam
hukum syaitan ,mereka bertuhan .

Kita pun ingin kaya
ada harta ,ada kereta istimewa
ada rumah mewah yang melimpah
ada hidangan yang bukan sebarangan
ada duit yang bukan sedikit .

Tapi jalannya hendaklah suci
bukan seperti saorang pencuri
jika ada jalan yang mulia
di hujungnya ada harta

Kita cuma musuh pengkhianat bangsa dan negara
apatah lagi pengkhianat agama .....


Syabas Dr Asri Zainal Abidin .We need such candour and frankness from our academia ,intellectuals and everyone .Only then will our politicians ,policy makers and those in power exercise more care and accountability when they deal with public fund.Accountability starts from the top and percolate downward .It does not start with the poor meter reader or the poorly paid policeman and hope to move upward .It starts with the PM and his cabinet ,down to the KSN and KSU's and move downward ,right down to the humble road sweepers .[ have you ever met a London porter or train drivers ?They appear happy and proud of their work .Ken Livingston who was a Labour Party London Mayor at one time ,did not drive to work .Stayed in a bedsit even when he was Mayor .Red Ken they called him .All of them are not Muslim but as a rule most Londoners from mayor to just the humble train porter have a high sense of human values and rule of law .Dr Asri will find that out if he stays there a while longer .Doc M may have difficulty comprehending this aspect of London life . ]

Ist and foremost there must be a real,not imagined or feigned ,political will to fight against corruption , nepotism and this unchecked ,unaccounted porosity of public fund,and this has to start right from Sri Perdana Putrajaya ,right through the Ministries .The small crabs just look at the big ones how to walk .If the big ones walk sideway ,they is no way to expect the small ones to walk straight .So goes a well known Malay proverb .

We claim to embrace Islamic values in our everyday affairs but our public facilities remained underfunded ,our public roads excessively overpaid but third rate ,our defense facilities archaic though we have to pay through our nose ,our public hospitals under-budgeted ,our education system 3rd rate and directionless ,our top politicians and their families and cronies'overfed',etc etc and etc .

Then we have the IJN deal or nearly 'done deal' if not for the very public uproar .Now there is this rumours going around the grapevine that they are going to replace Hassan from Petronas with some clowns from god knows where who know a bit of 'creative accounting' here and 'financial manipulation' there .Petronas is a high tech high finance and well driven company well managed for the last 2 decades or so ,why change a winning formullae ?It is not an ordinary 'cari makan' construction firm where any Ahmad ,Ali or Mohideen a/l Mohd can lord over as chairman and churn or siphon the money out without specialised indepth knowledge and wisdom of the global oil business .Hassan ,at least for the next few years is irreplaceable and I am not saying this because he happened to be my form-mate at the Malay College !

We ,the 'raayats' do not want any third rate politician to have a run at our grandchildren's last legacy through any third rate nominee .As it is now we spent 1st rate 'money' but living like a 3rd rate nation.

We just have too many 'fat cats' waiting for 'free meals' at every level of government !" Pendusta and pengkhianat negara dan agama " as Dr Asri alluded to .

Our leaders have to buck up otherwise please give your place to someone else who are more qualified and more God fearing !Pleaseeeeeee !

50 years of nonsense is enough .If the government of the day does not want to change the governed must change !

Dr Nik Howk