And The Winner Is.....

The mufti of Perlis, Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, will produce an album of poetic songs sung by many singers (Aishah plus others). The lyrics of all the songs are written by Dr Asri. It seems that he is really into writings...

That was quite a surprise. But when it comes to be a Mufti of state producing an album of sing songs, it really hit me!! Is it good? I don't know. I definitely want to hear the songs first. But I am more concern that people may get confused. Normally Men Of The Garb only write religious books, giving sermons, ceramahs and reading the doas. To have a Mufti mingling with artists (nasyid) , wow!! what to say.. However, I believe when the dust settles and the realization will become clearer, a Mufti is in the music industry could be acceptable!

I don't say it's bad but it's certainly new to me. Last year in a PAS function, I did watch a performance by Tok Guru's P.A giving out his number of melodious poems recital. But a Mufti!?!?
The next question is, will Dr Asri compete in the Music Industry for the many awards, pricely available (nearly every month of the year). The likes of Raihan, In-Team and Rabbani surely should be aware now... because Dr Asri could be a staunch competitor in the same playing field. HAH!!

Then, could there be an event as below.....

..and the winner in the Best Lyrics Category goes to....The Mufti Of Perlis Darul Sunnah! Dr Asri Zainul Abidin! ..... (..and the award was given away by DS Rosmah Mansor)

...aahhh...... da'awah in its many approaches...

Krisis Bekalan Beras: Salah Siapa?

Seperti biasa kami sekeluarga pergi membeli-belah untuk barang-barang keperluan dapur semalam. Supermarket yang biasa kami kunjungi itu seperti biasa ramai dengan pelangan yang sibuk memilih barang-barang keperluan sambil menolak troli masing-masing. Semua itu perkara biasa saja tapi ada perkara yang luar biasa berlaku di bahagian jualan beras. Memang kami sekeluarga datang untuk membeli beras yang akan kehabisan tak lama lagi dan memang bahagian beraslah tempat pertama di dalam supermarket itu yang kami kunungi.

Terdapat dua pasangan kelamin sedang memilih-milih jenama beras mana yang harus dibeli. " Apasal beras mahal sangat ni!" tanya lelaki yang berbaju merah pada isterinya. Si isteri seperti dalam keadaan terkejut hanya mampu mengiyakan soalan suaminya.

"Tak ada langsung beras gred super tempatan" kata seorang lagi lelaki berbaju kuning. Isteri beliau pula puas membelek beberapa paket beras 10kg untuk mencari beras super tempatan yang barangkali biasa mereka beli.

Saya pun hairan di mana perginya beras jenis gred super tempatan. Kenapa yang ada cuma beras gred super spesial tempatan dan beras import samada dari Thailand danVietnam. Mana perginya beras super tempatan?


Sebenar apa yang terjadi ada jawapan yang amat mudah. Beras gred super tempatan adalah bahan kawalan manakala jenis-jenis lain tidak dikawal dimana harga ditentukan oleh pasaran. Harga super temapatan 15% hancur adalah RM16.50 untuk kampit 10kg. Manakala gred yang sedikit atas yakni super spesial tempatan berharga sekitar RM28.00 sekampit 10kg. Harga beras wangi Thailand lebih RM40 sekampit 10kg. Rata-rata harga beras telah melambung sebanyak 20%-25%!! Harga naik mendadak sebanyak RM5 ke atas!.

Jadi para pemborong dan peniaga beras samada menyorok beras kawalan super tempatan dan menjual hanya beras bukan kawalan ataupun memalsukan gred super tempatan menjadi super spesial tempatan. Seorang pengilang di Jitra telah di tangkap baru-baru kerana memalsukan gred super tempatan kepada super spesial tempatan semata-mata kerana mahu memanipulasi pengredan beras untuk mengaut keuntungan yang sangat lumayan.

Tidak di nafikan harga beras dunia meningkat disebabkan kekurangan bekalan dan sudah pastinya ini memberikan impak kepada suasana beras negara kita. Tetapi soalannya adakah kita patut menghadapi krisis kekurangan beras kronik di negara yang amat subur ini? Apa saja yang di tanam pada tanah bertuah Malaysia pasti akan tumbuh subur. Kita mempunyai tanah yang subur, hujan banyak dan cahaya matahari sepanjanag tahun. Tiga faktor ini cukup menjadikan Malaysia sebuah negara yang di cemburui kesuburannya. Jadi kenapa kita masih menghadapi krisis bekalan beras? BN mesti jawab nih!!!! 50 tahun UMNO BN perintah Malaysia ..beras makin kurang...tapi Malaysia tanah subur?

Pulau Batu Putih ; Maruah Yg Terguris

Kau sekadar hamparan batu
di tengah laut selat
putihmu mengilau mata
para nelayan yang mencuba nasib
di tengah semudera


Hamparan batumu
menyimpan seribu rahsia
sejarah Melayu dan Kesultanan Johor-Riau
mungkinkah di atas batu itu
Sultan Mahmud mengail gelama....


Betapa pada batuan itu tersandar
sebuah maruah bangsa
yang di injak rumah api Pedra Branca
bagi Benggali Putih tiada beda
hanya pulau batu tiada warga


Namamu Pulau Batu Putih
seputih ombak melanggar hamparanmu
setia kau menunggu laut membumbung awan
dibiar tanpa sedar oleh
anak bangsamu


Dan tiba tiba
tersentak anak bangsamu
setelah beratus tahun kau di situ
hanyut kau dari genggaman


Pergi kau tanpa titis darah pejuang
lolos bolos di celah jejari penguasa
menggenggam tanpa tenaga
ada ringgit di balik kata?


Kini Pedra Branca namamu terjuih
bukan lagi Pulau Batu Putih
kan tiada lagi si pengail gelama
walaupun darah keramat anak raja
hanya tinggal rugu tangis selamanya...
di atas MARUAH bangsa yang terguris.....

Ezam Rejoins UMNO... But Why?

This is a mind boggling newsbreak! when Mahathir and familty left UMNO...Ezam a stature of corruption-buster..rejoins UMNO...why joining a sinking ship or is it? What is in place for him in UMNO. He left PKR after much heated power struggle with Azmin and called Anwar a dictator.
What a timing to rejoin UMNO. Will he now try to wash up UMNO from inside...again...?? What happen to his vociferous GERAK. What happen to all those files?

Ezam this is sickening... I misjudged you. For all the political party he would join, it UMNO that he chooses. I really thought it was PAS. This is more a surprise then Mahathir leaving UMNO!!.

Good luck to you.

So Mahathir quits.....Do you buy that?

So Mahathir quit his party today. After 20 years of UMNO (Baru), the No. 001 member is so pissed off with his hand-picked PM that he threw in the towel! Wah.. so desperate one ah...?? If he still had a post in UMNO, say an advisor or whatever.. he would have resigned from that.. not as a member but, alas.. he has no post in the party... so resigning from being a member would do lah.......

Is this a desperate act to oust the President a.k.a the PM a.k.a the Finance Minister? Is it because Mahathir is so worried sick that PM Badawi would bring Malaysia deeper in shit? Or may be it's a clever manoeuvre by Mahathir to save his skin from being taken to task of his part in Lingamgate? I think it is so.

It is an open secret that Mahathir wanted his chosen succesor to be Najib, but due to seniority and age Najib was not ripe enough to take the no 1's chair. So Badawi was given the chair for a term. But hey! Badawi is not stupid. It's a kind of "Cina Buta" situation where the chosen temporary husband wants the wife to himself forever. So Badawi started his own ploy to shut out Mahathir. Mahathir people were taken out one by one during and after the 12th GE. And with Lingam's tape, Badawi could take out a few more in one move including the Grand Old Man himself. The findings in the royal commission show all fingers to Mahathir, T.Adnan, Vincent Tan, Ahmad Fairuz and could be more. So Mahathir could be in jail for misuse of power!

So Mahathir quit UMNO and putting a condition to rejoin UMNO with the stepping down of PM Badawi. This put tremendous pressure to PM Badawi. Stepping down means bowing to his old 'tuan' but hanging-on at the top create major discontent in UMNO and many more UMNO member leaving the party en-bloc. Surely, which way, Mahathir is triggering a 2nd political tsunami and laying the final prayers to UMNO/BN demise.

The Pakatan Rakyat would easily take up the helm when Anwar's 43 'sleeper' MPs joining the PR. By doing so Mahathis actually hasten the empowerment of PR. And this he does a favour to Anwar and hopes that Anwar will forgive him and PR government will let him off the Lingamgate hook. ( fat chance!! eh??)

Anwar will forgive him alright as well as us the rakyat. But we want justice to be upheld fairly and squarely. Sorry old man...you must answer your previous misdeeds in the court of law !!

CRY OF BMC...Unblock The Road Now!!

I'm touched with events unfolding in Bandar Mahkota Cheras. How people are robbed by toll concessionaires in broad daylight. Instead a nice drive through a developer built access road , they are now forced to go 6km kilometers detour pay RM0.90 toll to go to KL.


The following is an excerpt from a post by fellow reader in Malaysia Today (written by middlepath, May 09, 2008 23:03:32), regarding the events and rakyat fracas with FRU in trying to prevent Grand Saga(with police backing) to reinstate the blockage on the access road to the highway;

Dear Friends,
I am seeking your awareness and support on the Bandar Mahkota Cheras free access road, which was illegally barricaded by the Grand Saga toll concessionaire in October 2005.

This Mahkota Cheras free access road was built by the developer during the construction of the Sg Long and Bandar Mahkota Cheras townships.

When Grand Saga toll concessionaire built the Cheras highway, they blocked off this existing access road, with the support of the Barisan Nasional BN government, to force the people into paying a 60 cent toll for the concessionaire to make money. This toll was then increased to 90 cents, increasing the people's burden even further in the midst of economic downturn.

Pakatan Rakyat, the Opposition Coalition comprising DAP, PKR and PAS, in the 12th General Election, promised that if they won the Selangor State Government, the road will be opened for public use. Promptly keeping true to their promises, within one month after their victory, the road was opened for use on 21 April 2008, amid protests by the toll concessionaire and threats of arrests from the police.

Upon further checking, it has been confirmed that the road is under the State (Selangor) government jurisdiction, and the road itself belongs to the developer, therefore Grand Saga has no right to block this road.

On 7 May 2008, another historic day in Malaysia, the Royal Malaysian Police (Polis DiRaja Malaysia) once again proves their loyalty to the BN Federal Government and the toll concessionaire by launching an offensive against the Rakyat to allow Grand Saga to block the access road once more using one ton concrete blocks, barely two weeks after it was opened by the Selangor State Government. Within one hour after they reblocked the road, the Rakyat stood UNITED and by hand, they managed to remove the concrete blocks.

Yesterday, 8 May 2008, in another BLACK DAY for Malaysians, when FRU and police sealed off the area and allowed Grand Saga to destroy the road by digging a 2 feet wide by 1 feet deep trench, thereby preventing any vehicle from accessing it.

Between 10.30pm to 11.30pm, MP Segambut Lim Lip Eng (DAP) was assaulted by police and FRU personnel for trying to stop them from firing tear gas and chemical-laced water cannon at the Rakyat.

You can see the videos at http://www.youtube.com by searching for mahkota cheras , or you can view my videos at http://www.youtube.com/leongcp
Power to the Rakyat! Makkal Sakthi
ALEX

The Moon Represent My Heart

We've just done 12th GE, however 11th GE @ 2004 General Election was best remembered as I was one of the forefront runner in our campaign. I was a member of the UKC (Unit Keselamatan Calon) an elite group formed among Dewan Pemuda to take charge of the security our DUN Semenyih candidate Bro. Mohd Khairudin Othman. PAS DUN Semenyih was the first one to set up such a proper disciplined unit and it was well received by our top leadership.

We were sort of bodyguards for our calon. If you want to mess up our calon you have to pass through us first. Beside being 'kaki pukul' we were also party frontline campaigners. We will escort our calon everywhere there were people/voters. We went to pasar malams, pasar pagi, town centres, mamak restaurants, super markets, housing estates, kampungs, etc meeting as many voters as possible. We gave out political pamhplets, went to door to door visits, did instant roadside ceramah, public ceramah, visited kampungs, estates and even our opponent's bilik gerakan/centres. It was very tiring but fullfilling 9 days campaigning.

We had a uniform; round collared short sleeved white shirt with green buttons, black trousers and black shiny shoe. One feedback we got from our informers in UMNO was that we were called 'Tentera Putih'. People would say 'here come Tentera Putih!' whenever we arrived at certain location (especially UMNO areas). We could feel a kind of encompasing goodfeel aura decended upon the place when we stoped to do our campaign work. We were warmly welcomed everytime.

One of our main activities were to woe the chinese voters. With us, we had a group Chiness PAS supporters from Broga who campaigned equally hard. They were fighting to stop the now defunct Mega Solid Waste Incenerator project in their beautiful green Broga. It was one of our manifestos to stop the potentially hazardous and environment degrading project. So we joined forces with them to get the Chinese voters to vote for us. Special appreciation should be given Ms Alice, Mr Gan and the Broga people.

One unique activity we did among the Chinese voters was singing a mandarin song titled "The Moon Represent My Heart" We sang it at chinese pasar malams and kampung baru. It was embarassing but enjoyable. I dont know wether our pronunciation was correct or not but I think everyone enjoyed it. ( or loughed at us...har har har...)

The pingyin transliteration and english translation of the song is as below.... plus the actual singing by Teresa Teng. Do enjoy the song.

Lastly, eventhough we lost the 11th GE (by mere 3000+ majority), but we did set a standard in UKC and put up a good base for PAS campaign in Semenyih and Hulu Langat. For the record, PAS won the Hulu Langat Parlimen in 12th GE!. DUN Semenyih however was contested by PSM (on PKR's ticket) and lost by just 1100 votes.


The Moon Represent My Heart

ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen
wo ai ni you ji fen
wo de qing ye zhen
wo de ai ye zhen
yue liang dai biao wo de xin

ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen
wo ai ni you ji fen
wo de qing bu yi
wo de ai bu bian
yue liang dai biao wo de xin

* qing qing de yi ge wen
yi jin da dong wo de xin

shen shen de yi duan qing
jiao wo si nian dao ru jin

* ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen
wo ai ni you ji fen

* ** ni qu xiang yi xiang
ni qu kan yi kan
yue liang dai biao wo de xin

Repeat *

Repeat **


Note: The singer Teresa Teng died of Asthma at young age.

English Translation:

You ask me how deep my love for you is,
How much I really love you…
My affection is real.
My love is real.
The moon represents my heart.

You ask me how deep my love for you is,
How much I really love you…
My affection does not waver,
My love will not change.
The moon represents my heart.

* Just one soft kissis enough to move my heart.
A period of time when our affection was deep,
Has made me miss you until now.

* You ask me how deep my love for you is,
How much I really love you.

* ** Go think about it.
Go and have a look [at the moon],
The moon represents my heart.

Repeat *
Repeat **

Makan Di Hotel 5 Bintang...?

Wawancara dengan 2 orang chef yang di jemput untuk program Radio 24 bersama Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia (PPIM) sangat menarik dan perlu di beri perhatian yang serius oleh JAKIM dan penguasa halal negara. Berikut adalah email dari seorang pendengar berkenaan wawancara tersebut.

http://www.muslimconsumer.org.my/ppim/news.php?extend.556