ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

The March 2008 election is over but yet the political wars have not ended. When are they going to implement their manisfestos and prove to their constituencies that they are capable of doing their jobs and make a difference?

Instead, day after day all i read in the papers are the blaming games both sides are playing. Enough is enough! Making the previous administrations look bad does not make the new ones look better. The time for campaigning is over so lets get on with the job! The Police has better things to do then to check on every police reports on claims of mismanagement by the both sides of the political parties. The Police core business should be providing security to their citizen.

When do the people get served? Five months have passed, the only things i see are the blaming games, witch hunts, preoccupation with internal party conflicts, somebody's personal quest to become PM, rumors on defect by MPs and uproar over racist remarks. All these are happening while the economy tumbles, the citizens get brutally murdered by the day by illegal immigrants from the neighbouring country, inflation sky rocketing and we lost an island to our neighbour down south. Where are your priorities? Are your political careers and egos more important than the sake of our country? It is time to get your hands dirty and govern, enough is enough!

TO DO OR NOT TO DO

I am very concerned nowadays with the style of administration of the current Malaysian government on imposing policies and enforcing them.

A lot of new policies seemed to be imposed without in-depth studies and debate, either as a knee-jerk reaction to a situation or a method to show power. Lets take the decision to ban offensive blog sites about two or three weeks ago as the after effects of Raja Petra's court case as an example. The authority is in the right to impose such ruling in order to control the ever increasing blog sites in the net which posted seditious posts and damaging rumours because they can cause instability in the country. The owners of the blogs are bound by cyber-laws which even exists in the United States.

However, i feel the decision yesterday to reverse the decision left me wandering what is happening in the enforcement part of it. Did the government reverse the decision because it cannot withstand pressure from the media and various NGOs, or Raja Petra's threat that he going to make a circuis out of this, or the decision to block the blog was made at certain level and not discussed with the big Boss? If it is the former, then the current government lacks political strength to impose an already existed law and keep changing their minds under duress. If it is the later, then it is worrisome as it shows lack of control and coordination with various ministries which will not improve the BN's image after March 2008 election. The government should stop try to placate everybody and become a populist government.

The same goes for the Cabinet decision's yesterday not to impose Windfall Tax on IPPs and instead they only pay a one-off payment. This happened after much objections from the IPPs eversince the policy was announced. Again, it shows lack of strentgh under pressure.

The government of the day cannot be back-tracking everytime certain groups object to the policies or laws that do not favor their interests, as this will result in lack of respect and adherance to the government and the laws of the land. If our own citizens do not even respect the authority and the government, how do we expect other countries and their citizens to do so? The laws and policies should be well thought of, debated and studied of its effects on the people and its relevancy with the times before approved and gazetted. Maybe, before they are approved and gazetted, the draft should be published for the citizens to give their opinions. At the end, the majority rules.

I feel there are a lot of current laws which were gazetted long time ago need to be reviewed to keep them relevant with the current times. The onus is on the government to make it happen.

RAMADHAN

Everytime Ramadhan month approaches every year, i become excited as this month offers opportunities for Muslims like me to test my spiritual and mental strength and rewards for good deeds during the whole month. Of course, one must not wait only for this month to do good deeds and improve one's spiritual level. Nevertheless, it is the month that has been blessed by the Almighty and rewards for good deeds and religious ritual will be multiplied thousand times.

For me, it always a challenge to better my achievement in the previous Ramadhan. It has been eight days so far and i have not missed a single fasting day, and i performed Terawikh prayer almost everyday.

The most challenging thing to do is not to think of negetive things and control my anger or say bad things as sometimes they come out instantaneously maybe because of old habits. Opening my fast in moderation is also a challenge as after a long day of fasting, shopping at pasar Ramadhan with all the delicacies sold there is very tempting. Most of the times we end up buying more that we can eat and the leftovers become wasted. Despite all that food, i am happy that so far i have lost 5kg just in eight days of fasting. Funny, some ladies have to pay thousands of ringgit at slimming centers just to lose that kind of weight and yet i can lose easily just by fasting. Fasting also give our bodily organs a chance to rest and recuperate, and to reduce accumulated toxin in our bodies. Our bodies will be lighter and easier on our joints.

But the most beneficial outcome of fasting is the improvement of our mental and spiritual strength. Our minds will be trained in resisting hunger and the binge for all sorts of unhealthy food. At the same time, it will make us realised how lucky and blessed we are that we are only experiencing this only one month of the whole year, not like the poor who have to endure this almost everyday in our country and across the world. It is God's intention to impress upon us this feeling so that we will be humble and open up our minds to other people's problems that we can find kindness in our hearts to help them by donating whatever we can afford to alleviate their suffering even for a day. Muslims are asked to pay the compulsary tithe ( Zakat Fitrah) during this month but before the Eid to be channelled to the unfortunate.

Spiritually, fasting is a mean to test one's faith in carrying out God's instruction. How much can Muslims endure to carry out his/her duty to practice one of the five pillars of Islam. Once human can overcome the hunger and thirst by giving up their most common bodily needs from sunset to sunrise for the sake of his/her faith, then he/she has gained a higher level of spiritual development. Of course, there are those Muslims who do not fast comes Ramadhan and will find all sorts of excuses to avoid it. To these Muslims, we hope they will change as they are only fooling themselves but not God. It also sad that this group of Muslims is giving Islam a bad name through their behavior. One can only call himself/herself a Muslim by practicing the teachings not through birth right, as Islam means surrender oneself to God and his commands.

As we go through this holy month of Ramadhan, i will pray that we can do it in peace and harmony, among Muslims brothers and sisters, and other citizens of Malaysia. I call for all Malays from all political parties to stop bickering, name calling, throwing sensitive statements regarding other races and respect this holy month. By the same virtue, other races should do the same and diffuse this unnecessary tension that goes around gathering strength. Lets not be like some countries where their citizens have to live in hostility.

Happy Ramadhan and Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, maaf zahir dan batin.

Drive home carefully, the best part about the long journey is the journey itself, take it easy.