Sins of Unfaithful/Against Father & Mother

I did my Friday Prayer at Masjid Melayu Pekan Ampang this afternoon. The title of the ‘Khutbah’ was "Sins of Unfaithful/Against Father & Mother."

Most parents today were very happy when their children got 5A’s in UPSR, 8A’s in PMR, and 8 to 10A’s in SPM. While, at the university level, parents would be happy if their children could get CGPA above 3.50 that enable to get the Dean’s awards.

How many parents do think what awards that their children should get from Allah? Especially in the day after? When the parents already dead who were going to reduce their sins/burdens in the graves? Alhamdulillah, if they left children who always beloved and blessed them forever.

In the country today, many incidents that reported children against their parents mentally and physically. Found sons killed their parents even while the father or mother was praying. Nauzubillah!

During the life of Rasulullah, it happened a case of Alqomah who was waiting to die could not utter ‘That there is no God other than Allah, and Muhamad is the Messenger of Allah.’ Prophet Muhamad then assembled his closed followers included Bilal bin Rabah to discuss on it.

After all agreed, hence, Muhamad and his followers went to Alqomah house and met his wife.

“Is Alqomah still has parents?” Muhamad asked.

“Yes, Rasulullah. He still has a mother,” said his wife.

Muhamad then asked one of his followers to call Alqomah’s mother to meet him.

Later she came and was asked by Muhamad, “What I know, Alqomah is one of my good followers. He has done everything for the sake of Allah and the Prophet. Has Alqomah done something that makes you unhappy or insinuated?”

“He is a good son of mine, he has done nothing wrong to me,” the mother said.

Muhamad further insisted her to tell the truth and not hide anything, so that Alqomah could pass away peacefully.

The mother said, “Yes, one day I was marginalized by Alqomah of preferring his wife on certain trivial matter.”

“Have you pardoned him?” Muhamad further said.

“Not really,” the mother said.

“So you have to pardon him now,” Muhammad said.

“No,” said the mother.

After several persuasions, the mother still stick to her decision, Muhamad then ordered his followers to compile firewood to burn Alqomah’s body.

When heard that, the mother immediately pardoned Alqomah.

“Are you sincere?” Muhamad insisted.

“Yes,” said the mother.

Let’s see Alqomah now,” Muhamad told his followers.

Then only they saw Alqomah could utter the words of shahadah, “That there is no God other than Allah, and Muhamad is the Messenger of Allah.”

We as the Muslim parents, please should not treat disobedience towards parents as trivial matter. Prepare our children for the bright future and the day after along the path permits by Allah only.

Bear mind, the world is getting old. “Anything that starts, will ends.”

The Late Sultan Alang Iskandar Shah & Late DPM & Deputy CEO

Tale 1

Once upon a time, one night there was an old man cycling in the small town of Kuala Kangsar at about 10pm. His old bicycle had no lamp. He was caught by a policeman on duty then. The old man pleaded to be freed. The policeman did not bother his appeal, instead brought the old man to the KK Police Station. On the way the man claimed to be the Sultan of Perak at that time. The policeman then thought that old man was really mentally ill because rode a bicycle without lamp then claimed to be the Sultan.

At last they reached the police station. There, in front of his colleagues he laughingly told about what the old man had said to him. Most of his friends who knew who was the old man were startled. Quickly, one of them whispered to the policeman and informed that the old man was truly the Sultan. Yes, he was the Late Sultan of Perak, Sultan Alang Iskandar Shah.

The policeman paled. He did not know what his fate in the following morning after the Sultan returned to his palace. The policemen bowed and pleaded great regret to the Sultan of the unexpected incident, except the policeman who caught him, who was mentally blanked.

The Late Sultan Iskandar was a very humble man. Between him and his people, there was no separation or casts. In his town, he could drink at the stall with anybody. He was really the people’s Sultan. Could we find one today?

Tale 2

When he was no more a minister, at any functions most of his previous colleagues kept distant from him. Most of them found later closed with the VIP in power or the ministers.

Suddenly, he was appointed by the Late PM Tun Razak to become the DPM. Not to forget he was the Late Tun Dr Ismail.

Then, those who kept distant previously from him when he had no power, returned to close to him. Frankly, he told them, he did not require persons of their types. He disliked hypocrites!

Me? Beware…

Tale 3

One day I went down a lift from Level 20+ to Level 1. To my surprise accidentally I met my Deputy CEO fully dressed as the VIP. Surely, he did not recognize me. I knew him of his white hair although still young age below 40. At that time, I only wore slippers and without necktie because to do praying at the 'surau' located at the bottom of the building. My name tag was in my pocket. I never greeted him anyway because of my slippers, which might cause misinterpretation. So, better not to say anything. I was insinuated previously with also a VIP but in the different scenario and location.

On reaching the gate at Level 1 that to pass it needed a card to be touched on top of the gate, abruptly I saw one lady security personnel ran fast to open the gate for him. In my mind the task just by touching his name card on it which no need someone of low rank to run like a dog to open the gate for him. I do remember one case at Putrajaya; the Chief Secretary General of Ministry of Health at that time did not use a lift or a hobby to chase the lift with other staff to go to their respective offices, instead used the stairs to go to his office at level 16, if not mistaken. He reasoned, since he was so busy no time to exercise that was one way to do it, and hope others to follow.

To any VVIPs, VIPs, directors, to be an excellent and efficient with full integrity and credibility leaders, posh dressing does not count and surely would get respect from the people. In history, read back and see the story of Mahatma Ghandi!

Being A Cunning Malaysian Citizen: Legal Issues to Ponder

By RPK

When one senior prosecutor refused to fix up RPK’s sedition trial by falsifying the evidence he was removed from the case and within 24 hours transferred to a court that hears cases involving unpaid credit cards and car installments. That is what the A-G Chambers has been reduced to; a tool to fix up cases of those opposed to those who walk in the corridors of power. It is time, however, that those of us inside the A-G Chambers speak out and reveal the truth. And today we are going to do just that.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

From Inside the A-G Chambers

Malaysians must be reminded that GP and MH are today Malaysia's A-G and IGP respectively as a reward for fixing up Anwar Ibrahim in the Sodomy I trial in 1998-1999. They remain as the IGP and A-G under NR's rule as a further reward for burying the Altanturaya murder case for which Razak Baginda got away scot-free while RPK got charged for sedition and criminal defamation based on trumped-up charges and fabricated evidence.

To their mind, it should not be too difficult to get RPK convicted and stopped from being a nuisance to their plans. All they need is a police department, A-G Chambers and Judiciary working in tandem and in compliance to those who walk in the corridors of power in Putrajaya.

The modus operandi of fabricating evidence and amending the charges several times in the midst of a trial -- as what happened to Anwar -- have since become the SOP (standard operating procedure) in all cases where A-G GP and IGP MH are involved. That happens because: i) they fix up cases; ii) because of sheer incompetence, they don't know how to fix the cases properly; iii) they know the courts will still help them to fix these cases even if they botched up badly.

This collaboration is a good example of NR's 1Malaysia.

To those who play by their rules, be prepared to suffer. Just look at how Anwar was convicted. And now they are doing the same to him in the Sodomy II trial as well. Even if you win the first round before some brave Sessions Court Judge or High Court Judge, you will still get fixed at the Court of Appeal or the Federal Court - the Superior Courts as these are called.

And I don't need to tell you why they made TS Zaki the Chief Justice -- this despite the fact that the Shariah Court was about to punish him for taking a second wife without proper permission from the Qadi.

To disprove the woman's claim that she was his second wife, (or was it third or fourth?), Zaki burned the marriage certificate which was evidence of his illegal marriage to that woman. So, without that evidence, all it proved was that he had merely convinced that woman they were already married so that she would allow him to screw her. Hey! Isn't that also an offence? Never mind, though. Today, he is the Chief Justice and Muslims are not supposed to dig up someone's bad past. So let’s leave that for another day.

The point is this. The Superior Courts (but don't let them tell you the legal brains there are superior than that in the lower courts), which is closely monitored by TS Zaki, will cover-up for the A-G and the IGP. But if anyone else makes any mistake, you will surely pay for it, no matter how trivial. That's what happened to Karpal Singh when he filed Anwar Ibrahim's appeal in English. The Court of Appeal summarily dismissed the appeal -- not that these Judges do not understand English.

In RPK's sedition and criminal defamation trials, the police fabricated evidence by doing a cut-and-paste of Malaysia Today's website and tried to pass it off as a downloaded printout of the articles RPK was alleged to have written. When RPK's counsel, Gobind Singh, caught them red-handed, the A-G amended the charge.

That was not the only fabrication. There were many more.

They did that too in Dato' Ramli Yusuff's case. In case you have forgotten, Dato' Ramli was the former Director of the CCID PDRM who had investigated the Along money-lending syndicate's connection to MH. IGP MH needed to take Dato' Ramli out. So HM went to GP and GP advised him to use the MACC where MH's in-law was one of the Directors.

So they got the MACC to launch an investigation against Dato’ Ramli and roped in the mainstream media to create this sensational news that Dato' Ramli was a corrupted cop who had RM27 million in his bank account. But they could not make that charge stick after Dato' Ramli engaged his friend and lawyer, Rosli Dahlan, to prepare his defence. Since Rosli was a hindrance, he too must be taken out.

The game plan was easy. Publicly humiliate Rosli so badly so that all his clients would run away. They knew Rosli's partners and corporate clients would not have the stomach for these things. After they charged Rosli, it was so easy to get to Ramli because everyone else got scared and could be made to toe the line -- or else face the same consequences as Rosli.

Then they charged Ramli -- but not for the RM 27 million originally bandied about because there was never any RM27 million in the first place. It was just a nice figure they plucked from the air. Instead, they charged Ramli for abuse of power in using a police Cessna plane, and for some small change.

Already, the Court in Kota Kinabalu has discovered MH's hidden hands in making that false charge and acquitted Ramli without even calling for his defence. But A-G GP instantly filed an appeal.

Malaysians would still remember that A-G GP did not want to file an appeal vs Razak Baginda's acquittal. So why the appeal against Ramli? Because Ramli will be very dangerous to them if he comes back to the Police Force. Well, we will just have to wait and see what happens to the A-G's appeal in the Superior Courts.

So that you get a clear picture, Ramli's trial lasted 57 days (longer than most murder trials) in which IGP MH was the 75th as well as the star witness, literally, as he has 4 stars on each side of his shoulders. Since his acquittal, Ramli has lodged a police report against the ACA officer Sok One a/l Esen who, as part of MH's conspiracy, fabricated a false charge against Ramli. Ramli is still hopeful that the Police Force will protect their brothers in blue and will investigate the MACC for it's abuses against someone as senior as he was. Let's see if Ramli's hopes come true.

In the meantime, Rosli Dahlan, who was also involved in preparing the CCID's affidavits when A-G GP refused to represent the CCID in the Along investigation case, has launched a RM50 million claim. Despite Utusan Malaysia having profusely apologised for their “unethical journalism”, he still sued that UMNO newspaper and 11 officers of the MACC and A-G Chambers for fixing him up. Rosli remained furious that they did all that to him just because he defended Dato' Ramli. Rosli has also filed a second suit against The Star and their pimp editors, Dato Seri Wong Chun Wai and Dato Lourdes Charles. Word has it that Rosli is also gunning for another mainstream media, the culprit which frontpaged the “RM 27 million Cop story”.

We are not sure if Rosli is aware that he is treading on very dangerous waters by taking on all the mainstream media, the MACC and the A-G Chambers all in one go. He must not forget that Goh Cheng Poh @ Tunku Goh, who was released by the A-G and who instead charged the six policemen for gathering false evidence against MH, is still waiting to take him out.

These days, lawyers get hit very easily and the Police won’t give a damn if Rosli gets hit. Whatever may be Rosli’s motivations, he must either be very brave or is simply mad to take on all of them. You can rest assured they will start another propaganda to make Rosli look every inch the crooked lawyer, whereas the likes of VK Linggam is cleared by the A-G and DNA.

But what do you tell to Rosli who still believes the Courts is the last bastion of justice?

In typical GP's bumbling style, he directed his Chambers to file six statements of defence for 11 of the officers named, when only 1 would be sufficient as they are all government servants. But no, the A-G wanted to file six defences, as if the number of defences filed mattered. Well it did, when it was pointed out that the six statements of defence were filed wrongly!

The A-G Chambers had filed six statements of defence in the wrong court for a wrong court file number. That counts for six mistakes in one go! Under ordinary circumstances, that could be fatal and could lead to a judgement in default against these officers, in the manner Zul Rafique took such a judgement for Dato' Azim against RPK. That's also what the great Dato' Shafee Abdullah did. And both claimed they had a big victory over RPK. Did they?

Coming back to Rosli, did he do that? Did he take a default judgment against these officers? You would expect he would. After all that they did to abuse and assault him in front of his staff; after they handcuffed him till his wrist bled; after they mistreated him in the ACA dungeon lock-up; after they threw him into the ACA dungeon and refused him bail just to make sure he really suffered and will never not forget that one very long night in Ramadan 2007; after they humiliated him the next day by parading him handcuffed along the court's corridors. And they did all that, just one day before Hari Raya Aidilfitri in October 2007 just to inflict the greatest pain and embarrassment to him, his wife and three kids. You would say fair game if he took default judgment against these officers the way Dato' Azim and Dato' Shafee took judgment against RPK. Did Rosli do that? No!

Instead of taking judgement in default against his abusers, Rosli politely called and wrote to the A-G's Chambers to tell them of their mistake and requested they rectify the mistake. The following two letters show Rosli's counsel writing to A-G Chambers and the AGC's reply. Do you see a thank you in the AGC's reply? Obviously not.

In case Rosli is deluded by his friends and counsel (and let me reveal that some of them are moles planted to distract him) into believing that his sense of fair play would be reciprocated by them, let me say just one thing: STOP DAY DREAMING MAN! These ungrateful bastards won't think twice about pinning your balls on the wall. They do not deserve to be treated with decency. You just have to hit them hard and hit them with all that you got. Read that loud and clear Rosli!

Rosli may be a smart lawyer who does not need anyone to teach him the law. But there is something we inside the A-G Chambers can teach him about beating the abusers of the law at their own game. And this is what we want to tell you, Rosli. You want to win your case badly? Then trick them the way they have tricked everyone else just to win a case.

See what RPK did to the sedition and false declaration charges? Today, RPK has been discharged and MH is red-faced after making a public declaration that he will bring RPK back the latest by October 2009. MH, it’s already mid November. Your time's up!

So Rosli, look at what has happened and don't ever say we did not tell you - don't bother being a gentleman with this AG, IGP or even the Courts!

Malaysian Maverick & A Broken Legacy

By Khoo Kay Peng

DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang wants Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to set up a royal commission of inquiry to determine if his mentor Dr Mahathir Mohamad had 'burned' RM100 billion on grandiose projects and corruption during his 22-year reign.

The book penned by former Asian Wall Street Journal managing editor Barry Wain, entitled 'Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times' has pointed the finger at Dr M for the legacy of "wasting or burning up" RM100 billion in his long tenure.

I have not read the book but would welcome the government to lift the restriction for it to be sold in all book stores. It should be a good Christmas gift for a few good friends too.

The call for another royal commission of inquiry is laughable and still premature. It is natural for Lim wanting to score a few political points. But Dr M is already paying the price for his broken legacy.

The numerous royal commissions have been quite 'unroyal' and a waste of useful resources. The government, and not only Dr M, must respond to the allegations contained in Wain's book.

Then again, the best way to avoid more limelight is to stay mum in Malaysia. Malaysians are quite forgetful. Soon we will go back to the old way of kissing the dirty hands of these politicians.

The government PR guys, APCO, must be doing a good job. Yes, less or none (reply) is more (advantages).

The New Year verdict is BN is not capable of a real reform. We are going to waste our money paying the salary of both KPI Ministers Koh Tsu Koon and Idris Jala. Bung Mokhtar is a smart ass. It is better to spend it on his mistress.

Damn Low Salary for Local Malaysian Graduates

By Ng Khoo

Recently, I received a spam e-mail from a recruitment firm looking for candidates to fill up executive positions in a call center at Cyberjaya.

First, I felt a bit shocked and insulted as the salary offered was between RM1,300 to RM1,800 for graduates with at least three years working experience. This was the starting salary I got many, many years ago as a fresh graduate!

What has gone wrong in Malaysia that the salary of graduates has been decreasing over the years? RM1, 500 at today's value is equivalent to about RM500-RM600 in 80s after we factor in the inflation rate.

How can Malaysia grows to become a high-income country with such meager salaries paid to our graduates? We should ask Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak for this 'boleh' phenomenon. I'll give you my own analysis first before you get the rhetorical answer from the government.

Firms in the Cyberjaya are free to take in foreign workers, hence these employers have better bargaining power to suppress salaries for local fresh graduates. This is not the full story yet.

I also got to know that some foreign software engineers are paid RM20K to 30K per month by those same companies at Cyberjaya. Now I can say the influx of general purpose graduates from low-cost countries like India, China, Philippines etc. is pushing down the salaries for local graduates to unreasonable levels.

Besides, our local universities like Mara churn out a mass of uncompetitive local graduates under the name of the NEP. Mismatching in supply and demand for generalist and specialist engineers make things even worse.

I summarize the local graduate's dilemma into two scenarios:

1. Local graduates are paid cheaply due to their low academic quality and lack of skill sets to meet market demand;

2. Local graduates with the right skills and experience are also under paid due to free and fierce competition from low-cost countries.

Whether you are a fresh or experienced engineer, you are a condemned loser under the present BN government policy which favors the employers and their low-cost foreigners.

This also explains why many Malaysian engineers and talent choose to work in overseas for better salaries.