We did not start the fire

We did not start the fire - the wreckers of  this country did.

The politicians did. The religious bigots did. The overzealous NGOs did. The greedy businessmen who bribed their way into the corrupt world of decision-makers ie politicians and government servants.

Obviously, the rest of us suffer from their doings, their instigations, their policies and their insistence. Laws are passed in the Parliament and sometimes, it stopped short there -- never get to be implemented by the Government at the end of it. The people are restless and sleepless over the hike of food essentials and electricity, just to name a few.

The politicians probably are the worst type of wreckers. They wrecked the sanctity of racial harmony and added fuel to the already tense religious misunderstandings. We have seen these politicians circumvent and making fool of the system, when they interpreted and ballooned the differences between races in this country into a myriad of issues that make us, the rakyat, suspicious of each other. They brought religious adherents into two extreme ends - we become polarised that we are forced to take sides. They instigated on frivolous sensitive issues under the name of democracy and under the roof of the Parliament.

The religious bigots are killing us at every turn. There are bigots at each side of the religious adherents. The issue of Allah have been twisted and bandied around that we have become people who hate other people who profess other religions. They turn normal people who used to lead rustic simple life into bigots like themselves. We have become socially demented and confused and thus, losing control of our logic and letting the restless emotions into the run.

Then there are the NGOs who took the streets into their hands, demonstrating on so-called social injustices and there are also NGOs who hogged on race supremacies that have made us the worst kind of racists. How in the world did the ROS ever approve their existence in the first place? Some NGOS are just hell bent to usurp power and influence of the existing political parties to achieve their agenda - which in turn split us into many halves. It is really painful to see street fights over issue of races and religious differences.

The businessmen and the corporate world in this country are not helping either. Crooked businessmen with ulterior motives of getting richer funnelled their wealth into helping politicians to win contracts in both Federal and State Governments. They bribed their way into getting favours from influential politicians who much needed the dough to stave off opposition in their own parties. It is just not happening in the Government of the day, it is also happening in Opposition controlled States. Politicians tricked their way into rewarding corrupt Government officers to achieve what they have in mind. 

It is just pitiful to see this is still happening in this country. We need a fresh, new wind of change to blow into our country. These wreckers should be put in jail, once and for all. We are tired. We have been tricked by political parties who over promise, we have been duped by the Government and thus, social injustice meted out to the people like us are allowed to continue.

The way forward is to change and to keep changing. The power of the people is vital and it is imperative for us to understand and utilise for our own good. We will be annihilated by unjust political system; and our happiness will be perished in the flames of greed, corrupt and politics, if we do not attempt to take initiatives to stop these.

We did not start the fire -- someone else did.

 

Air Jampi

Air jampi.

Ia juga dikenali sebagai air penawar atau lebih parah, air Yassin. Orang Melayu lebih suka menganggap bahawa air jampi itu adalah air penawar atau air Yassin kerana air jampi mempunyai konotasi yang negatif kerana ia datang dari pawang atau bomoh yang mengamalkan ilmu hitam. 

Air jampi.

Yang selalu tidak menjadi, apa lagi mujarab. Air jampi lebih dipercayai (yang dijadikan perantaraan untuk mengubati orang-orang yang sakit) dari kita sendiri mengangkat doa di hujung malam untuk memohon terus kepada Allah SWT.

Kita mungkin jatuh kafir kerana percayakan air jampi. Air jampi yang kononnya dibaca oleh ustaz akan mengubati orang yang sakit dari mereka yang sakit akibat gangguan Iblis kepada mereka yang sakit fizikal. 

Bukankah Allah menurunkan Quran untuk kita sendiri baca dan amalkan? Bukankah Allah meminta kita sebagai makhlukNya untuk terus bermunajat kepadaNya? Bukankah Allah menyuruh kita sujud kepadaNya di akhir malam dalam tahajjud kita?

Orang-orang lama lebih mempercayai ikhtiar mencari ustaz dan bomoh daripada mengangkat doa kepada Allah Yang Maha Esa. Itu yang memelikkan aku.

Aku lebih percaya kepada usaha dan ikhtiar kita sendiri. Aku juga percaya kepada mereka yang ahli dalam ilmu sains yang diberikan kemahiran dan keilmuan oleh Allah untuk mengubati kita yang sakit. Bukan aku tak percaya kepada ustaz tetapi aku percaya kalau kita yang sakit meminta ustaz atau mereka yang alim untuk berdoa untuk kita. Cukup setakat itu. Doa-doa orang-orang alim sememangnya dapat membuka tabir-tabir kekangan.

Aku pernah menyaksikan sebuah majlis membaca Al-Quran beramai-ramai dan secara marathon malam Jumaat. Dan, di tengah-tengah mereka ratusan botol-botol yang berisi air mineral yang terbuka tutupannya supaya jisim air itu bertukar menjadi air yang dapat mengubat atau menjadi penawar kepada orang-orang yang sakit, yang bebal, yang susah nak solat dan berbagai lagi malaise orang Melayu Islam. Aku bimbang bukan semua hadirin dapat membaca Ayat Yassin dan ayat-ayat syifa' dengan baik, atau dengan tajwid dan makhraj yang sempura. 

Seringkali kita mendengar alasan orang Melayu bahawa air jampi adalah satu ikhtiar. Tetapi sebenarnya, mereka lebih mempercayai kemujaraban air itu daripda mempercayai ikhtiar doa mereka sendiri kepada Sang Pencipta. Tetapi, dalam hati mereka dan dalam diam-diam, mereka mempercayai air jampi yang dibacakan Ustaz itu lebih mujarab. Mereka sering menggunakan alasan bahawa Allah yang menyembuhkan mereka yang sakit tetapi sebenarnya, mereka yakin kepada air itu. Air itu adalah makhluk Allah jua dan mereka yakin kepada air itu, bukan Allah.

Lalu, aku jadi takut.  Takut kepada iqtikad yang lari dan kekafiran yang mungkin tercetus dari pengubatan secara ini. Aku lebih percayai bahawa ayat syifa' terbaik adalah Al-Fatehah yang dibaca dari hati yang galau, yang tidak berhenti berharap kepada ihsan dan rahmat Allah. Al-Fatehah itu harus dibaca sendiri dengan tekun dan jujur, merafak rendah kepada Allah supaya doa-doa kita itu dimakbul Allah. Yang penting adalah komitmen kita kepada Allah di hujung malam di mana kita dapat bertahajjud dan bermunajat kepada Allah Yang Maha Kuasa dan Maha Mendengar serta Maha Penyayang lagi Pengasih.