ateng_batigol

salam….

i somehow agree with u my fren….anyway the world oil crisis will inevitably affects every single country in the world….its anywhere….plus Petronas keeps on loosing money as they need it to compete internationally even more vigorously than ever….the scarcity of oil has embarked a new kind of desperation for oil companies…every major oil player of the world now is doing a "machiavellian" way of surviving in the market especially in deep sea exploration…if we keep on holdong the hike…it will in the end make Petronas even  "ketinggalan" in the competition in technology and in the end will force the government to increase the oil price even more due to Petronas failure. Remember petronas is one of Gov major financial booster.

Plus, Malaysia’s gov is still controlling the oil price to make it standrad while in other places it is up to the oil companies whatever they wanna charge….so the Gov has to pay those international companies a certain amount of money to compensate their loss….so like it or not the situation does not allow the gov to side the public by avoiding price hike….

talking about Mahathir….there was no major oil crisis during his time…one was way back in 1979 and it recovered along the way until 2004 if im not mistaken…u can check the oil price graph on the internet…..then suddenly 2005 it jumped up to the highest price after the 1979 crisis…..so in my opinion it is not right to blame pak lah’s cabinet in this particular issue….yes he seems vulnerable but the gov decision for hiking oil pricis in definitely inevitable….

I guess it is about time to change to hydrogen power supply for cars….I dont think that it will cost that much….just that the gov and the people in malaysia need to consider alternatives for eenergy esp for vehicles……a renewable energy like i said above…hydrogen…..check it out in the internet…

anyway i gtg….correct me if im wrong…..nice essay najwan….ade benarnya ur essay….we will discuss again ok….

salam

Najwan wrote:
> Why hike 30cent to RM1.92per liter when the
> government can make it easy by hiking it up to
> RM2.00 ?
>
> That would at least make it easier for the low
> income consumers to buy petrol.
>
> I know a lot of people do not like Tun Dr. Mahathir
> during his premiership as Prime Minister of
> Malaysia.But looking back at how he do things
> and protect the oil prices from hiking up every year
> like now, regardless what people say about him,i
> still wish he’s the Prime Minister now instead of
> Abdullah Badawi.
>
> A sudden hike to 30cent and no other hiking up for
> this year.Yea right!! And i’m sure it will be hiked up
> again next year,maybe it’s gonna be 50cent.The
> government can make it easier to the Malaysian
> people by hiking it up on stages,10 cent every 4
> month.
>
> I just don’t understand it.I do not see a Government
> that’s fighting for it’s peoples welfare and future,but
> a government that is making things worse each
> and every year.With the new but old cabinet line
> up,what does these corrupted people can do,hike
> more prices to make Malaysians suffer?!

In 1980s it was difficult for Western people to
really understand and comprehend the violent
Muslim reaction to Salman Rushdies fictional
portrait of Muhammad in his insensitive book The
Satanic Verses. Inevitably, the murderous hatred
and vigorous reaction from the Muslim world stood
as a proof of the incurable intolerance in Islam.
This issue has resulted a disturbing atmosphere
among the Britains have they failed to appreciate
how Muslims value their beloved prophet. This
clash between religions and cultures proceeded
with a death penalty from a fatwa given by
Khomeini which was very much been condemned by
most of other Muslims leaders saying that this is
not Islamic.

Related to the above, recently we were shocked by
another portrayal of Muhammad; now in a visual
form. This caricature issue was first initiated by
a newspaper in Denmark that publishes a cartoon of
our beloved Muhammad in such a disgraceful way.
Personally I dont want to touch further on how
the images were presented as I believe that it has
been published and forwarded to almost everyone. I
appreciate those people who had sent me the
cartoon but no offence, there is a question in my
head saying, how would I be different to those
newspapers that intentionally publish the image
again and again in other places as information to
the public?. Why are we angry to them while many
other Muslims who want to share their concerns
over this issue keep on forwarding the
caricature? What is the difference?

Providing history as a point of thought, in 850,
there was a monk called Perfectus in Cordova,
al-Andalus. He was asked by a group of Arabs
whether Jesus or Muhammad was the greater prophet.
He knew that it was something beyond that simple
but tricky question. He understood that it would
be a major offence to insult or degrade
Muhammad.Even so, he suddenly labeled the prophet
as a sexual pervert and antichrist. since that the
Muslims were very much a solid civilization, they
didnt do anything to him as he was not a threat
to Islam. If we read the history of Andalusia,
this event was extremely unusual when Muslim and
Christian and Jews had a content life together and
enjoyed the religious liberty. After the
Perfectuss case above, it has inspired several
more insensitive groups to do the same until the
Qadi in charge was forced to sentence them all to
be executed.

Surprisingly the caricature of Muhammad started
1000 years ago when he was portrayed in various
forms. The latest one has repeated the history
itself. Have they not learned even after a
millennia? I cant say that they are not aware of
the rapid outcome that might occur from the Muslim
Block nor help myself from not being prejudice for
such irresponsible act. There are however many
questions that need to be answered before we can
proceed arguing this very case.

How would our reaction being justified? Is it
culturally relative in how we should act and take
action? Are we being fair to those people? Or one
would ask, should we show love and mercy instead
of warning? I have once read that some people said
that, we have no right to forgive them just like
Rasulullah did during his time when people treat
him so bad simply because we are not Muhammad SAW.
to recall he didnt react to the Thaif people that
threw stones and other things even after being
offered by Jibrail to collapse the mountain on
them. Instead he pray to Allah and show mercy to
them Offering another point of view, base on
history, our prophet even blocked Hamzah from
resolving matters with violence. Above all, the
people who commit this fault need to be informed
and told "islamically" that what they are doing is
wrong and must not be done again in the future.
Apart from that, this event has the potential to
bridge the muslim and non-muslim world to the next
level of understanding.

TO BE CONTINUED…

jazlan

beside me and said assalamualaikum.I turned and
saw a cute friend of mine, Ain staring at me with
amusement and her eyes were red. Mixed emotions I
would say. She was in her early twenties, with a
beautiful sophisticated look, provocative and
exciting personality, a decent muslim lady with an
elegant tudung anywhere she goes.
She helped me and accompanied me to Holborn, where
I was to be staying with another friend, Yusof
(usop). When I arrived, he was not there as he was
having a holiday trip with his parents in Italy. I
settled down and rest for the whole day in his
room. The next day, Saturday, as planned, all
KTJs friends of mine came to LSE and had dinner
together. We laughed, chatted, and picked on every
single of us just like the old days.

On Sunday, we were expecting a group from Angkatan
Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM). They were abang
Jufitri, abang Wira and abang Edy. Briefly, abang
Ju, a slim figure with a pair of spectacle, a very
warm and friendly bright young man, always curve a
smile on his face. He was the chairman of the Grup
Pengkaji Tamadun Dunia (GPTD). Abang Wira was the
Secretary of ABIM pusat, a tall hunk who was so
calm in anything he does, loves poetry and above
all a very well-read man. The other person was
abang Edy, a dark fellow, youngest of them all,
looked very active with his JackWolfskin Gotec
set, armed with his gadjets as he was the gifted
cameraman of GPTD. We had dinner together and rest
for our tiring journey tomorrow. Five of us,
including me and Ain, we woke up at 4 and ready
ourselves to catch the 6.55 am Ryan Air cheap
flight to Granada, Spain. It was a miscalculation
by our lady Ain for the journey to the Stansted
Airport. Perhaps she had long stopped learning
mathematics as she is now reading Law in LSE.
Anyway, it was not absolutely her fault and we had
no one to blame accept our own self. We arrived at
6.45 am and we missed the flight. We had no choice
but to buy new tickets which cost us 40 pounds
each for a single journey. Hahaso sad.but
syukur, we finally departed from London later in
the evening after we almost made the airport our
own bedroom!
When we arrived in Granada, Spain, we rent a car
and find a place for the night. In the next
morning, we did some survey around the place and
make our final research and study on the history
of Andalusia as we were still waiting for two more
people from London, Usop and Farhana (Paan). Usop,
my friend from Kolej Yayasan Saad, was a
tall-athletic-build young guy, always concern and
good in picking what to wear, and was currently
studying Actuarial Science in LSE. Another person
was a happy-go-lucky Brit rock fan, a young lady
who loves to make surprises, and beyond that she
is our savior in moody days. Thanks Paan. 
A short history of Andalusia (Spanish:
Andaluca), it was a region of Spain and its
capital was Seville and  was bounded on the north
by Castile-La Mancha, on the east by Murcia, on
the south by the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic
Ocean and Gibraltar, and on the west by Portugal
[1]. The name Andalusia was derived from the
Arabic name "Al Andalus", which referred to the
parts of the Iberian Peninsula which were under
Muslim rule [1].  We start our first day in
Granada by visiting a mosque which was located on
the other side of the city (opposite of Alhambra).
This mosque possessed an unexplainable feeling of
tranquility. Historically, Spain didnt allow any
azan to be made public for 700 years and
alhamdulillah, in 2003, millions of people of the
world became witnesses of the first azan ever in
Spain in this small white mosque. Form here we
could see ……

TO BE CONTINUED…

Orthodox legal and philosophical definition on
persons and things is distinct and clear cut. In
the Western world eminent philosophers of
political and legal liberty like John Locke and
Immanuel Kant are often cited to provide these
definitions. According to Kant a person cannot be
property and so cannot be owned, for it is
impossible to be a person and a thing, the
proprietor and the property.  Hence being a
person means not being a thing and being able to
own other things. Locke echoes this definition in
his book The Second Treatise of Government by
condemning slavery as it makes a person be
subjected to the will of another and hence is
infringing the freedom and autonomy of a person.
The notion of human sanctity is also reaffirmed in
many theological definitions. The status of a
human being is generally agreed to be elevated
higher than that of an inanimate thing.

A commodity on the other hand means a product,
goods, or article of trade. Hence similar
definition to what is a thing. A commodity can be
bought and sold and in order to be tradable must
have a value in a market. The commodity must also
have an owner which has property rights over it
and when is sold or bought, the rights of
ownership will be shifted respectively. Therefore
arguably the human body including any parts of it
should not be allowed to be sold or bought or else
it would be degenerated into things. This belief
brings rise to a fundamental argument that since
human beings are not things, hence even we
ourselves do not have any property rights over our
own bodies as in doing so would recognise it as a
commodity. This theory seriously backfires as
demonstrated in the case of Moore v. Regents of
the University of California. Since a person does
not have the property rights to his or her own
body, one cannot claim any monetary benefits
derived from his body substances although it was
taken from it. This case becomes an ironic example
of how the law recognises property. The law
acknowledges the property rights of the doctors
and researchers namely Golde by granting him the
patent rights as according to Lockean theory of
property he has ingeniously mixed his labour and
voila it becomes his. However the law deprives
Moore from any benefits as the law does not
recognise self-pertaining proprietary rights in
his body.

However on the other hand, to even allow human
body or even parts of it as commodity will surely
ignite furious ethical and religious debate. This
factor is probably due to the fact that the human
physical body is more than just corporeal it
relates to the personhood or personality of a
person. In modern times, technology complicates
the distinction between persons and things as it
has made selling hair, blood, organs, sperms, eggs
and even genes possible. Do these situations
infringe a persons dignity? There is a difference
on peoples response to the selling of different
body parts. The question is how should the law
make a distinction on what can or cannot be sold?
Based on the current law, justification of
property in body parts includes a mixture of its
function, scarcity, utility, and potentiality.
Despite its vital function, blood is legally
commoditised in America. This might be perceived
as less of a moral issue as blood is not scarce
and is constantly renewable in a human body.
Tissues and blood will have subsequent important
use to researchers and patient, hence it is
allowed to be commoditised. Controversially sperms
and eggs probably because it is renewable to a
certain extent are also commoditised despite of
its large significance in life making potential.
This haphazard view of the laws reflects the
conflicting and complex dimension of medicine,
science and commerce.

The law in this area has not helped this dilemma
of persons and things, at all, as demonstrated
above there is no clear line of argument over why
is a particular body part is allowed to be sold
over another. One should also take note that there
are variances between laws across the world
regarding this issue. Different standards apply
when determining which parts of the body can
legally be sold or even sold at all. European
Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine state
that The provision [Art. 21 of the European
Convention] does not refer to such products as
hair and nails, which are discarded tissues, and
the sale of which is not an affront of human
dignity. Again, the laws are vague as it contains
arbitrary terms such as human dignity.

Ethical issues arises when body parts becomes
partially legalised as it creates a market. When
body parts becomes a commodity, the profits gained
will give an incentive to people to find raw
materials for body parts albeit through an
unethical and immoral means. .Extreme cases have
been reported includes allegations of organ
harvesting from aborted babies in the USA and
scandals of taking tissues from pregnant women as
seen in the Myriad case and in the United Kingdom
itself, the Alder Hey case where organs were taken
without consent.  The Human Tissue Bill created
soon after the scandal, proposes a regulating
authority to make sure that consent is obtained
before organs and tissues are kept by hospitals.
Partial legalisation for selling body parts also
pushes the boundaries betweens persons and things.
Another probable consequence would be creating a
floodgate where scientists will keep claiming the
legality of commoditising body parts. An example
which we now see is in gene patenting.         

However why is patenting genes more controversial
than say selling sperms and eggs? After all, there
is underlying noble intentions form all these
research for the benefit of mankind, especially
for medical purposes, diagnostic and the
therapeutic uses. The notion of using body parts
to research the essence of life is not new.
Eighteenth century culture of dissecting whole
human bodies for medical research is echoed in
Mary Shelleys fictional Frankenstein, in
similar ways the modern day scientists creates
potential life from minute chemical structures and
substances taken from human bodies. DNA generally
meets all the requirement of patentable objects as
under the European Patent Convention is new, an
invention with industrial application and is not
methods of treatment. However there is great
argument whether genes are now merely a discovery
and not an invention as the process has been
simplified through use of extensive databases and
the inalienable nature of genes. Another strong
issue is that it is against ordre public to give
exclusive rights to a single corporation over
genes which may be regarded as public property.
Patenting genes is also against moral philosophy,
religious beliefs, and environmental ethics.

In conclusion, the issue of whether or not human
body parts, least of all human genes should be
treated as commodity eludes clarity as it depends
on which moral, ethical or religious principles
you rely upon. There are certain situations which
one might justify the use of patents or property
over body parts for example to encourage research
and ultimately help cure disease and increase
quality of life. Ethical and moral issues are
compromised to meet this end.  However these
ethical and moral standards vary according to
culture, religion and region. As discrepancies
over the legality of patenting genes and
commoditising body parts becomes global to erupt
world wide as this issue becomes global, there
should seriously be consideration to create a
streamlined international law. However unless
there is readiness amongst states to compromise
and settle for uniformity in moral, ethical
standards, this suggestion will remain unfeasible.

By: Qurratul Ain Zainul

It was a peaceful night when I was having my
dinner with friends of mine in London School of
Economics (LSE). We cooked and sat together catching
up stories among us that has long been
discontinued. Everyone looked different but above
all it was nice to gather back together in such a
nice place. I came all the way from the US for
several good reasons.

To start with, I was supposed to pursue my degree
level in Imperial College, London when I managed
to secure a place in that prestige institution;
indeed one of the best engineering universities in
the world when I was doing my A level in Kolej
Tuanku Jaafar (KTJ). Even so, if I would have gone
there, I might not be able to be a petroleum
engineer, as that course was not offered there and
the closest was only Geology. There was a conflict
in me whether to take a step further in the
recently ranked third best engineering school in
the world doing Geology or having my dream course
in hand and proceed another 4 years in Colorado
School of Mines (CSM), US (which is apparently a
year longer than in UK). Just like the name
represents, obviously it is not as popular as
Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Texas
University or any other big ATUs. Prior to that, I
was only told by my sponsor, the generous
Petronas, that all petroleum engineering student
will be sent to CSM 3 days after my final A level
exams was over. Cut the story short, I end up with
my latter option and end up in awe when I
discovered that CSM has one of the best Petroleum
Engineering Department in the world.

My trip to Europe started on the 16th of December
2005. I departed from Denver with Arthur, my CSMs
mate, at noon on that day after 3 times being
delayed and stopped at Chicago for my connection
flight.  The flight was estimated to take only a
couple of hours but in the end due to bad whether
and air traffic we end up accumulated another
couple of hours. Sadly, I missed my flight to
Heathrow, London, as Arthurs flight was at 10 pm,
and I had to line up again to book for the next
flight. It was a big hassle as Chicago Airport was
one of the busiest airports in the US. Luckily my
name was put on the waiting list for the next
flight to London but for the slightest hope as my
name was the last one on the 130 waiting list!
Owh Allah, help me. If not I would have to wait
a couple more days stranded in that sardine-packed
airport. I kept on praying until all my
adrenalin expanded with excitement when I heard a
name called, Mr Zulhaimi. Alhamdulillah.

10 hours later I found a city through my window
and I knew it was London. I arrived at Heathrow
Airport with smile but there was one more problem,
my luggage. I had to find it all over the luggage
section and waited for a very long time for a bag
with a pink ribbon tied on it to be visible.
Alhamdulillah. Now, it was 12 noon and I was
expected to arrive 6 hours earlier. What could
have happen to my friend?, is she still
waiting?. I wonder

I walk slowly with my neck extended for a better
view and my head couldnt stop turning left and
right. I couldnt see anyone there waiting for me.
I was about to open my wallet and see whether I
have any coins to make a call..and suddenly there
was someone

TO BE CONTINUED…

Assalamualaikum WBT.

Terima kasih atas respond yang diberikan.

Soal yang berdemo tu ikut sunnah atau tak ikut sunnah, BUKAN BAHASA ARTIKEL ini. Artikel Ustaz Pahrol tu bertujuan mencari cara yang paling optimum dan terbaik untuk menzahirkan respond cinta kita kepada Rasulullah SAW.

Saya paling kesian dengan cikgu-cikgu di Islamic School di USA dan Canada sebab dalam mailing list kami, almost 100% cikgu-cikgu tu menyatakan penderitaan tugas mereka dalam nak counter attack tuduhan USA yang sekali lagi dapat membuktikan Islam ni ganas. Susah sekali nak clearkan pemikiran pelajar-pelajar sekolah di sana yang menjadi bahan ketakutan kawan-kawan non muslim. Kita mungkin tak merasanya di sini, namun saya boleh appreciate concern mereka itu sebab saya pernah berada di posisi cikgu-cikgu berkenaan.

Antara isi email di mailing list tersebut, ada guru besar sekolah Islam di sebelah South (around Texas) yang kata, hari ni si Bodoh Denmark tu hina Rasulullah SAW hanya dengan melukis karikatur. Tetapi di zaman Rasulullah SAW sendiri, orang hina Rasulullah dengan letakkan perut unta dan najis langsung di atas kepala Baginda. Orang pernah rentap selendang dari tengkuk Nabi SAW sampai berbekas merah. Namun, bagaimana respond Baginda? Ada ke Rasulullah SAW bakar rumah Abu Jahal atau sekutu-sekutunya?

Mungkin kita kata itu Rasulullah. Oh tidak, semasa Umar beberapa kali nak bertindak keras, rasulullah saw melarang beliau.

Tapi Rasulullah SAW teruskan dakwah. Paling utama, Baginda berdoa sehingga penjahat tu mati di Perang Badar, seluruh Thaif masuk Islam, bukannya dihempap dengan gunung Thaif  atau Mekah. Agaknya kalau malaikat offer hari ini, mungkin ramai kita yang pilih Gunung Everest untuk hempap Denmark dan kedutaan-kedutaannya.

Sebab tu, cikgu2 tu buat resolusi, mereka tak setuju dibuat edaran Quran percuma sebagai respond.  Sebaliknya diedarkan buku yang directly memperkenalkan rasulullah SAW. Mereka buat conference, panggil journalist2 ke seminar tu untuk discuss tentang peribadi Rasulullah dan mengapa Baginda terlalu istimewa untuk kita. percaya tak kalau saya katakan, orang barat tak faham kenapa kita sensitif sangat bila Nabi Muhammad SAW dihina, sebab pada mereka, kita orang Islam yang jadi pengikut Rasulullah SAW , tak istimewa pun di mata mereka.

Janganlah anggap saya dan ustaz pahrol pelik hanya kerana kami memilih untuk mengutamakan pendekatan lain.

Maaf kalau pandangan saya terlalu berbeza, ia sekadar huluran idea seorang hamba yang lemah,  seperti saya.

ABU SAIF

A thought from my sahabat Fadhli…

Slm..

The reaction of Muslims all around the world
regarding the caricatures of our beloved prophet
Muhammad s.a.w. shows just how much we all
love him. Are we angry? Of course we are, but
what has Rasulullah s.a.w. taught us? Did he
teach us to retaliate whenever we are threatened?
No, he didn’t.

He taught us to be patient, to be loving, to be
forgiving. One is considered to be strong not
because one is an expert in martial arts or
because one is very aggressive, but one’s strength
depends on one’s patience. If you’re a maths
student, you can say that strength is proportional
to patience.

If we join violent demonstrations to oppose these
caricatures, what is the message that we are
spreading? Although people will see that we do
love our prophet Muhammad, they’ll also think that
Islam is not a peaceful religion. Remember fellow
Muslims, we’re all ambassadors of Islam, so
whatever we do, people will think that is the
Islamic way.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t do
demonstrations, but just do it peacefully. Prove
that we love prophet Muhammad s.a.w. by
showing love to others, not by spreading hatred
towards other people, especially the Danish. Don’t
go burning Danish flags or rioting in front of Danish
embassies. I mean, how would you feel if non-
muslims burn our mosques every time some "very
clever" Muslims bomb a certain place using ‘jihad’
as their reason?

About the "Boycott Danish products" that’s
happening in certain places. Why should we
boycott their products? Not all Danish companies
suppoer the caricatures. Just imagine what will
happen if one of these companies experience a
massive loss. Many people will lose their jobs.
What if these people really need their jobs to raise
their children? What if they need it just to keep
ends meet? Is this what we want? Is this what our
prophet s.a.w. taught us?

If we stoop down to their level, we’re just as bad as
them. Now I don’t think that’s Islam… do you? So
just ponder about it brothers and sisters. Think
about it. And if anything that I’ve written is
incorrect, please do correct me. After all, we’re all
humans and we make mistakes, but what makes
a good Muslim is not only how much right he/she
has done, but also how many mistakes that
he/she has corrected.

Wassalam…

faDhLi

MARAH KERANA CINTA, BUKAN KERANA BENCI…