ateng_batigol

http://www.mines.edu/academic/epics/

http://www.mines.edu/academic/epics/

Abidah bt Adam menghembuskan nafas terkahirnya pagi 17 Ogos 06 akibat kemalangan jln raya di minnessotta. Beliau pernah menjadi penuntut di  KISAS (01-02),  UTP(jan 03),  KTJ (03-05), Uni of Minnessotta(05-06). Merupakan seorang yang sangat baik hati, lemah lembut dan murah dgn senyuman.

Mari sedekahkan Al Fatihah, mengadakan tahlil dan mendoakan semoga rohnya dicucuri rahmat olehNYA.

Materrazi Vs
Zidane

Piala Dunia yang
baru berakhir menamatkan debaran 30 hari sengkangan mata peminat bola sepak
seluruh dunia. Sudah tentu ramai di antara kita yang sudah muak dengan santapan
sukan ini yang disiarkan secara langsung hampir setiap hari (tidak termasuk
siaran ulangan, highlights dan juga analisis). Tidak ketinggalan juga dengan
hentaman media cetak dan elektronik yang memaparkan iklan secara “melampau”
seolah menjadikan Piala Dunia medan jualan murah, sale atau karnival membeli
belah. Tidak berakhir di situ, tawaran-tawaran menarik dari pelbagai syarikat
untuk melariskan product masing-masing turut memualkan mata dan telinga. Piala
Dunia juga tidak pernah bersih dari spekulasi dan kontroversi. Bermula dengan
isu mengatur perlawanan dalam liga Italy, Rooney dibuang padang, sehinggalah
Zidane menanduk dada Materrazi. Pemikiran umat manusia secara amnya tidak
pernah lari dari bola sepak walaupun seketika sepanjang sebulan ini dan boleh
penulis akui pembudayaan “makan bola, tido bola” sungguh sukses mereka serapkan.

Persoalan untung
rugi mengheret justifikasi panjang dalam konteks bisnes, keadilan, perang dan
keselamatan dunia. Bisnes umpamanya sudah tentu menguntungkan pembuat barangan
sukan, syarikat telekomunikasi, dan juga pemilik gelanggang futsal. Dalam soal
lain pula, tidakkah Piala Dunia mampu dilihat sebagai “alat” untuk mengalihkan
perhatian masyarakat dunia dari isu yang “layak” untuk diperkatakan dan
dipentingkan? Ini tidak ubah seperti pedekatan bijak Soekarno yang mengkaburkan
mata rakyat Indonesia dengan slogan ‘Ganyang Malaysia’ untuk menutup masalah
ekonomi yang melanda Indonesia pada ketika itu. Oleh itu tidakkah wajar kita merasa
sedikit ‘jelik’ dengan sorakan dan concern kita yang berlebihan terhadap
sukan ini tatkala ‘syaitan putih’ menyembelih sesuka hati sambil ketawa
terbahak bahak melihat kita obsess pada ‘alat’ mereka seperti budak
kecil tekun bermain kereta mainan baru?

Jika ditumpukan
pada apa yang berlaku pada perlawanan akhir, sudah pasti orang lebih
memperkatakan tentang kes kad merah Zidane berbanding kualiti perlawanan secara
keseluruhannya atau siapa pemenangnya. Semua orang nampak apa yang berlaku pada
ketika itu, Namun tiada siapa yang tahu apakah sebenarnya yang dituturkan oleh
Materrazi sehingga boleh menaikkan darah pemain setenang Zidane.

Umpamakan
Materrazi sebagai musuh-musuh Islam (secara analogi sahaja). Provokasi,
tohmahan, tuduhan, kejian dan penghinaan sudah lama menjadi lauk pauk umat
Islam di atas nasi putih yang suci. Masih ingat lagikah sahabat semua pada kes
Salman Rushdie yang menghina Islam dalam bukunya ‘The Satanic Verse’? tudingan
jari dunia diketuai Washington yang “mempertanggungjawabkan” September 11
kepada Islam? isu karikatur Nabi Muhammad baru baru ini? Seorang murtad Hirsi
Ali yang terus terusan memburukkan Islam? Tidakkah semua ini dianggap provokasi
hebat musuh yang lapar dan dahagakan reaksi dan latahan mentah dari umat Islam?

Lihat pula Zidane. Seorang pemain bola
sepak tersohor yang sangat dihormati dalam arena sukan ini. Mempunyai karakter
yang sangat tenang, dan sentiasa kelihatan berfikir dan bijak. Sepanjang hampir
15 tahun kariernya sebagai pemain bola sepak professional, amat sukar untuk
kita lihat reaksi seumpama apa yang terjadi tempoh hari dari pemain ini.
Andaikan Zidane pula sebagai umat Islam (beliau dilaporkan beragama Islam dari
keturunan arab Algeria), yang tenang and full of wisdom boleh bertindak
sedemikian selepas dicerca hebat Materrazi. Sudah tentu “kasar” sungguh ayat
yang digunakan manakan tidak ditanduk dada oleh pemain se-cool Zidane. Drama
itu bermula dengan kad merah pada Zidane dan diakhiri dengan kedua-dua pemain
didenda FIFA (Zidane didenda lebih). Persoalannya di sini ialah, adakah
tindakan Zidane itu wajar atau tidak? Adakah dia dianggap mempertahankan maruah
dan diri? Mari sekali lagi kita anggapkan Zidane mewakili komuniti Islam, dan
sekiranya ditekan hebat dengan pelbagai cara termasuk lisan dah fizikal, adakah
kita patut memberikan reaksi atau adakah kita patut sabar dan berdiam diri?
Semuanya tertakluk kepada situasi dan keadaan. Walau apapun, kes ini banyak
memberikan bukti dan pengajaran secara analogi yang sesuai kepada penulis dan
semua. Musuh Islam akan buat sehabis baik untuk memporak porandakan emosi dan
mencalar maruah Islam sehingga kita marah dan bertindak balas dan akhirnya
siapa yang akan dilayangkan kad merah? Tanya pengadil.

-jazlan-

salam

I was amazed when I noticed how she became a muslim. IYvonne Riley first caught my attenion when I was reading Harakah’s English section back in 2005. She was a feminist journalist from the land of the United Kingdom. Her experience in Taliban’s prison had opened ger heart to accept Islam and submit herself to Allah S.W.T.

check it out here  http://turntoislam.com/content/view/111/27/

jazlan

Taken from Islamic-World:

Wouldn’t
it be wonderful if we could resolve the problem of young Muslims
straying from what Allah has allowed in relationships with the opposite
sex by simply reintroducing youthful marriage, which has traditionally
been accepted within Islam? I have thought long and hard over this
matter and I have not been able to come up with any other viable
solution to the multifaceted problem of Muslim youth disobeying the
command of Allah to participate in wrongful relationships with the
opposite sex other than reinstituting early marriage as the norm within
our ummah.

If we are going to suggest early mar riage as the
solution to the relationship difficulties facing Muslim youth then we
must do everything within our power to help ensure the success of those
early marriages. I see two important hurdles which must be overcome in
order to give early Muslim marriages any real chance for success. There
will be other difficulties to be sure, but if we can find a solution
for these two then we will be well on our way toward making happy and
successful early marriage among Muslim youth an achievable
accomplishment. The first prerequisite for success will be to find some
way to make sure that young Muslims make the right choice of a marriage
partner. The second precondition for success would be to find some way
to make sure that the young Muslim married couples do not succumb to
the tremendous burden of financial stress during those delightful but
fragile beginning stages of married life.

We must get over the
widely accepted idea that so-called ‘love marriages’ are somehow more
desirable than marriages arranged for good Islamic purposes. That is a
completely untrue belief that has been wrongly conditioned into the
minds of many young Muslims by the powerful influences of a Godless
decadent culture. Young Muslims must come to realize the full meaning
and deep truths behind the much repeated cliché, ‘love is blind’. Most
young Muslims would have no idea at all how incredibly and exceedingly
blind love can be. When the heart experiences love the eyes and the
mind can become totally oblivious to the most obvious of faults.

Although
arranged marriages have recently fallen well out of fashion, they
really did have a lot going for them. There is no question of the
reality that arranged marriages have generally been happier, more
successful, and long lasting. There are many logical reasons for this.
First and foremost among the reasons is the obvious fact that parents
will have a much more objective perception of the overall suitability
of the prospective marriage partner for their son or daughter. Even if
modern Muslim youth do not want to give their parents complete
responsibility for choosing a good marriage partner for them, they
should at least have a wholehearted acceptance of the fact that they
must never marry the person they choose for themselves without the
unqualified approval of their parents. To refuse their parents full
right of approval would indeed be to court disaster.

The other
crucially important circumstance that must be taken into consideration
is the financial situation. In many cases youth in their late teens
will either be going on for further education or they will not be able
to have access to employment that provides sufficiently for the
financial needs of the young married couple. It is only right if we
want to successfully reintroduce marriage at a young age that Muslim
parents, relatives, and Islamic society all be prepared with a
generous, loving heart to help the young married couples financially to
the degree that money never becomes a hindrance to a happy and
successful marriage.

If done rightly and with sincerity the
return to youthful marriage within our Muslim Ummah could provide other
benefits besides helping to ensure right relationships and loving
marriage for future generations. It could help reinforce the
traditionally strong Muslim family relationships as generations work
together helping their children have happy and successful marriages. It
could vastly increase the feeling of love and appreciation by Muslim
youth for their parents and their extended family relationships. It
could bring the attention of our ummah to the fact that the original
practices of Islamic life according to the limits set by Allah are
indeed still the very best way to live, even in the hectic modern
world. It might motivate our Muslim Ummah to work ever harder to help
transform the very wrong society of today’s world into a much more
right Islamic society as we attempt to provide the best possible social
environment that can nurture our most dear Muslim youth as they strive
to have happy and successful Islamic marriages. And importantly, it
could help protect young Muslims, during the often perilous university
years, from harmful social influence and participation in wrong
activities, and at the same time it would likely focus their minds more
fully on their studies, their family, and their future.

Aku tidak henti henti menyakiti….

Hidupku tidak lebih dari memusnahkan harapan dan impian org lain…hurm….Ya Allah…aku lemah….lemah mengawal diri dari dosa…dan lebih teruk aku tarik manusia lain ke jalan yang salah….membuat perkara yang hanya akan mengukir pedih yang lebih dalam…..dalam…dalam…..

Aku lemah Ya Allah…sungguh lemah….aku sedih memandangkan aku sekarang…sedih aku makin berjauhan dariMu…..keadaan dan situasi yang semakin menjauhkan aku dari kelompok manusia yang aku sayang……ampun kan daku Ya Tuhan….Ya Rahman…Ya Rahim…..

“The rich have a moral obligation to give away
their fortune”. This very quote was said by a
noble person named Andrew Carnegie. Interesting
enough he was the first one to publicly urge the
rich, the wealthy and the prosperous to have some
kind of a responsibility and commitment to help
the community. It was his book “The Gospel of
Wealth” that successfully started to promote his
idea of public awareness among the upper class of
the society. He is most remembered as an
industrialist, businessman, millionaire and
humanitarian who strongly believed that the
well-heeled had a duty to share his fortune. He is
also noted for his endless donation that had
successfully boosted the living quality of the
community as a whole especially in education and
promoting peace. One of his first contribution was
dedicated to his native town and then he funded
and created several more philanthropic and
education organizations in the United States and
Europe including the Andrew Carnegie Free Library
in Dunfermline, Scotland and Carnegie Corporation
of New York.

A glance of Carnegie history, he was born
originally from a poor Scottish family in 1835 and
thirteen years later he migrated to the United
States with his family and settled down in
Pennsylvania. He started working at this age as a
bobbin boy at a cotton mill earning $1.20 per week
and then continued to work with Western Union and
the Pennsylvania Railroad.  At the age of 30, he
resigned and started his own business that
eventually leads to organizing the famous Carnegie
Steel Company in Pittsburgh which has created a
firm foundation of the iron and steel industry in
the United States. Just about three years later,
his annual income had become $50 000, considered
to be among the highest during his time, he then
declared to himself by writing a note saying,
“Beyond this never earn, make no effort to
increase fortune, but spend the surplus each year
for benevolent purposes.”

His humble, modest, self-effacing, and
down-to-earth attitude together with his sharp
thinking skills that was also well equipped with
his efficient strategies and hard work, had put
himself to a level that was way beyond other
businessmen during his time and even now. He had
created his own league of “nobility” when he
successfully re-defined public commitment amongst
the wealthy with his generosity. Carnegie’s life
came to an end when he died in Lenox,
Massachusetts, on August 11, 1919. His may not be
here physically, but his words and contributions
will always remind us how great example he is to
the wealthy world.

-jazlan-

Reference:
1.Carnegie Corporation of New York, 20th April,
makeURL(”2006, http://www.carnegie.org/sub/about/biography.html”,”eHNsL2J1bGxldGluLnhzbA==”);2006, http://www.carnegie.org/sub/about/biography.html

Twenty one years ago, in the month of December, around half a million people were exposed to toxic chemicals during a sudden catastrophic release of about 30 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. The disaster took place at the Union Carbide pesticide plant and had caused an official death toll of more than 7,000 people within days [1]. A further 20,000 died in the following years and almost 100,000 people are still suffering chronic and severe illnesses due to the after effects for which treatment is largely ineffective and forever changing the public’s trust of the chemical [1]. Some of the health problems that they have been suffering from that moment until now are eyes disease, neurological damage, neuromuscular damage, mental problems, cancers, gynecological disorders, etc.

The Bhopal disaster shocked the world and raised some crucial and fundamental questions about corporate, engineering and government responsibility and the role of both the environmentalist and humanitarian activist for the catastrophic industrial accidents which have destroyed both the human lives and the environment. Awkwardly, twenty years is still too short for the responsible party to be held accountable for the leak and its appalling consequences. It is important to note that most of the survivors are still waiting for a just compensation, an adequate and reliable medical assistance and treatment, and a comprehensive economic and social remedy [2]. Even worse, due to the failure to clean up the plant site, the toxic waste is still polluting the environment and contaminating the water that is currently supplying the need for the surrounding communities.

In order to pursue this case study, historical perspective is beyond crucial to extend the articulation of this saddened disaster. During the late 1970s there was an increase in pesticide production use and in order to achieve self-sufficiency in agricultural production, they have decided to manufacture the pesticides in India as to avoid from relying on imports and also parallel to India’s goal of preserving foreign exchange and its policy of industrialization [1]. The Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) was established in 1934 when Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), one of the first US industrial companies, invested in India [5]. The Bhopal plant was built in 1973 and it was owned and operated by UCIL with a very noble mission; to produce pesticides for use in India as well as helping other countries to improve their agricultural productivity. The plant was also part of India’s Green Revolution that aimed to improve the yield of crops in India. This will undoubtedly contribute to meeting the food demand for the most populated region in the world.

As a third world and developing country, India was vulnerable in their infrastructure such as communication and education that were required to maintain the technology. However they were desperate to rectify the ever expanding starving problems in India. Therefore, they decided to compete globally and attract multinational companies for their investment and capital by offering low-cost labor, access to markets, and lower operating costs to set up and maintain their industry.

As expected, this had captured such an enormous amount of interest from multinational companies. Even so, safety and health violations will most probably be taken for granted and often be ignored as only a small amount of money are being spent and a very limited number of skilled labors being hired for an extremely risky gigantic industrial project. In other words, the Indian government did what was “best” for their people at that time as they had no better options that can help stabilize the situation of the over-demanding for food in India and yet it turned out calamitously. Generally, governments have the major responsibility for protecting the human rights of communities endangered by the activities of corporations, especially those employing perilous and risky tehcnology.

The past
twenty years has invoked an endless effort by
survivors’ organizations and activists to use the US and Indian court systems to see justice being put in its
place and gain adequate redress have so far been futile. Surprisingly, the
transnational corporations involved –UCC and Dow Chemicals which took over UCC
in 2001 – have managed to defy all the public pressures and overtly stated that
they have no responsibility for the leak and its consequences or for the
pollution from the plant [2]. In response, they claimed that they were sabotaged
by disgruntled employees who were unhappy with their wages.

In 1989, the Indian government agreed for a settlement, approved   by the
Indian Supreme Court, stated UCC paying US$470 million [2]. Nevertheless, this inadequate
sum has still not been distributed in full to the victims. About 30% of claims for injuries have
been rejected by the government, around 16,000 claims are outstanding, and
most of the successful applicants have received minimal amounts of compensation
[2]. At the time of writing in September 2004, around US$330 million of the US$470
million remained held by the Reserve Bank of India [2]. In the perspective of human rights, the right of
the Bhopal people has been violated for more than twenty years and
has yet to spark any positive step for a promised future. Who should take the
blame and be accountable for all their suffocation? In particular, what is
their ethical basis for their risky and irresponsible decision in the last two
decades? For obvious reason, the situation is more complex than what
meets the eye.

[1]
“Bhopal Disaster,” http://www.american.edu/TED/bhopal.htm
Accessed November 19 2005.

[2] “Cloud of Injustice: Bhopal Disaster 20 years on,
Amnesty International, http://web.amnesty.org/pages/ec-bhopal-eng
Accessed November 19 2005.

-jazlan-