Halal Certificate: Lesson to all Jabatan Agama

2 weeks ago, a friend of mine forwarded me an email containing a letter from Jabatan Agama Islam from one of the states in Malaysia revoking a halal certificate from a well known poultry product manufacturer in the country.

The email shocked me as the letter was dated in Nov 2008, while i just heard about this news 2 weeks ago. For some people, this type of news has became a norm to Muslim Malaysian and the best way normally is to avoid consuming the product.

I'm saddened with the news as the news was not announced to the public. As a result, devoted Muslims in Malaysia may have consumed the products without knowing that it is haram.

I wrote a letter to the Jabatan Agama to suggest a proper procedure on the announcement. Further to that letter, I'm following up with the staff of the Jabatan Agama. However, the responds that I received so far are hopeless.

I attach herewith my letter to them for your reference. I'll keep following up and update my blog for any update. I woould not release the name of the company at this point as I need further confirmation from the authority.

7 May 2009

Pengarah & Timbalan Pengarah
Jabatan Agama Islam **

Yg Bhg. Hj [*]

HEBAHAN UMUM PENARIKAN BALIK SIJIL PENGESAHAN HALAL

Saya merujuk kepada perkara di atas.

2. Sebagai rakyat Malaysia dan juga seorang Muslim, saya amat khuatir berkenaan penarikan balik sijil halal yang tertera di surat yang bertarikh 3 November 2008 dari pihak tuan.

3. Bukan sahaja saya khuatir dengan pengharaman tersebut, tetapi saya lebih khuatir tentang langkah penghebahan yang diambil oleh pihak tuan. Hanya baharu sekarang, saya mendapat berita yang produk dari Ayam [***] tidak menepati hukum syarak.

4. Lebih menyedihkan lagi, sumber yang saya terima adalah dari sumber yang tidak formal.

5. Hal sebegini sepatutnya boleh ditangani dengan cara penghebahan yang lebih meluas dan telus, contohnya pengumuman formal di suratkhabar tempatan, media eletronik dan sebagainya. Malangnya, penghebahan dibuat hanya untuk pegawai-pegawai di jabatan pihak tuan sahaja.

6. Seterusnya, langkah lebih proaktif perlu diambil untuk menarik balik lesen perniagaan pihak-pihak yang telah menyalahgunakan sijil halal kepada umum. Langkah-langkah berikut perlu diwartakan di dalam proses rasmi pihak tuan dan juga seluruh jabatan agama di Malaysia. Ini adalah sangat perlu, untuk membendung aktiviti-aktiviti sebegini dan juga bertindak sebagai pengajaran untuk semua pihak.

7. Walaubagaimanapun, saya masih ingin mengucapkan tahniah dan berterima kasih kepada Jabatan Agama Islam Perak, sebagai sebuah badan yang bertanggungjawab, yang telah berjaya mengesan kegiatan oleh pihak-pihak syarikat persendirian yang telah menyalahi hukum syarak.

8. Dengan ini, saya harapkan pihak tuan boleh memberi penjelasan kepada saya secara bertulis ataupun menghubungi saya melalui telefon, [ ]. Jika tiada respon yang dapat saya terima dalam masa 2 minggu dari tarikh surat ini, adalah dimaklumkan yang saya terpaksa mengambil tindakan seterusnya termasuk menghubungi media dan juga membuat laporan kepada pihak-pihak berkuasa.

9. Saya harap tindakan saya ini tidak dianggap sebagai tindakan mengugut pihak tuan, sebaliknya sekadar sebagai nasihat yang ikhlas untuk kepentingan semua.

Sekian, terima kasih
Shahrir bin Mohamad Subki

Happy New Year 2009

It is time to start afresh and rejuvenate our decades old resolutions and to forget about it all over again.

I wonder why people are urged to make new resolutions every time we reach 1st January? Why can’t we renew our resolutions every month or week? I guess the timeframe is too short then it would impossible to achieve anything, unless your resolution is a short term one such as driving home fast so that you can catch your favourite TV show. But don’t you think 12 month would be too long? Too long that it makes you forget all the resolutions that you’ve set early of the year.

I never had any New Year resolution. Or probably I just totally forgot that I had one. Maybe I was not the ‘forward-thinking’ type. I just braced a new day without knowing what’s gonna happen. That was me. But as I grow older, I began to understand the importance of goal or resolutions in life. It sets stability to my course of life and to those who has to live with me.

I’d like to put 2008 behind and straighten up my focus for 2009. I look forward to new challenges in 2009 and hope it’ll be kinder to me this year. Happy New Year everyone. Wishing you a great year ahead.

Drifted away from reality

It has been a while since I read the Quran. I can’t remember when was the last time I flipped thru those pages and applying the words of wisdom to my daily lives. I’ve always put the Quran on top of my bookshelf, a sign of respect to the book sent by the Creator. But now it’s covered with dust and becoming more like an ornament to my bookshelf and as an indirect aide memoire to my guests that this house belongs to a Muslim.

Next to my bookshelf is my TV. I spend most of my time at home watching pointless TV programmes. But today, while I was watching my TV, I accidently had a glimpse of the Quran which was standing next to it. As usual, I ignored.

Then, before I got myself to bed, I prayed my Isya’ around midnight which took me less than 3 minutes. My prayer was emotionless. Switched off the lights and was ready to have a good sleep.

But not tonight. A slight feeling of shame blocked me from continuing my sleep. So I woke up. The feelings changed to a feeling of longing and yearning. As if I was missing my long lost friend. But just that this time, it is not a normal friend...Shame on me, it has always been there..waiting for me.

The book didn’t leave me. It’s still there on my bookshelf. I read the cover page – Al Quran “The Recitation”. Simple. Next page, Al- Fatihah “the Opening” , the mother of all surah (scriptures). A short surah but it’s the most recited surah by all Muslim. It reads

“In the name of Allah (“God”), the Most Affectionate and Most Merciful”

“All praise unto Allah, the Lords of all the Worlds”

“The Most Affectionate, The Merciful”

“Master of the Day of Requital (in Hereafter, the Day of Judgment)”

“We Worship You alone, and beg You alone for help”

“Guide us in the straight path”

“The path of those whom You have favoured. Not those who have earned Your anger and nor of those who have gone astray”

The short surah moved me. I’ve been reading the same surah everyday during my daily prayers. But I never had the same sensation. I feel much better now. I thanked Him for waking me up now and send me back to this surah, the same surah he conveyed to all of us through Prophet Muhammad (May Allah’s blessing and peace be upon him).

It’s so clear that there should be no one that we should beg to except God and the right path is so clear and simple. We, human being are making things look complicated. Do the good things and stop all the bad things. That’s all what He ask for.

The Surah alone is enough to show His kindness and love to all of us. I remember my ustaz (religious teacher) told me when I was a kid. Allah is very merciful and He loves all of us. More than love of a mother to her child. I remember he said more than 40 times of mother’s love. But I’m sure it can be more. He has been kind enough to give me a good life, parents, wife, home, friends and other good thing in life and He never asked for anything in return except for prayers and to practise all His simple commandments.

I’ve been away from Him for quite a while. I’ve sinned and may sin again in the future. I pray that God will give His mercy to all of us. I hope I can see clearly the right path and to stick to it.

I wish to recommend all the readers to flip thru the Quran and read the translation if you can’t understand Arabic. Keep it near to you. All of us should read the whole set of Quran at least once in our lifetime. Allah has been kind enough to provide us with his own words.

For non-Muslim, please read any of your own holy scriptures, bible etc and please understand and appreciate the teachings. For me, any good things come from God, no matter what kind of God we believe in. Plus, it makes us a better person.

I took out the Quran out of the shelf and put it next to my bed. This book will be my bedtime storybook from now on. From the bestseller author of all times, the God himself.

Paul Potts...An outstanding star in the making..

I was browsing Britain's got talent video in youtube just now..i came across this performance from Paul Potts..

He is your 'average Joe' type of guy that works as a mobile phone salesman during day time but has a dream to do what he love most..singing opera..

He has a heavenly voice..i really hope he'll be very successful one day..he won the 2007 Brit's got talent and he just recently released his own album..

BTW, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Maaf Zahir Batin to all my dear friends and family..

Enjoy....

Malaysia: Where are we heading to? (Part 1)

The beginning of Malaysia

Malaysia was built from the unity of various states in peninsular Malaysia with Borneo states i.e. Sabah and Sarawak. Peninsular Malaysia which was known during pre-independence as Malaya and Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, was originally populated by indigenous people (orang asli) and Malay.

The peninsular Malaysia was governed separately by Malay Sultanate without any evidence of powerful civilisation comparable to China dynasty including our state of Melaka during year 1400-1500. Nevertheless the civilisation of Melaka is relatively advanced as compared to neighbouring states and countries in the region.

The glory of Melaka came to an end with the occupation by Portuguese on 1511. Then slowly western occupations creeping to the whole peninsular and other parts in the region including Indonesia and borneo. This mark the beginning of the dark ages of the Malay Sultanate.

The Tanah Melayu continued to be occupied for more than 400 years later until we achieved our independence from British on 1957. While under occupation, foreign traders and labours came in without any limit. As a result, the race composition of Tanah Melayu (then changed to Malaya) comprises not only of Malay as the dominant race in terms of numbers, but also Chinese, Indian and others. Back then, the British had never tried to assimilate all these races. All these races lived separately as planned by the British; Malays in rural kampongs, Chinese mostly traders and businessmen in the main cities and Indian mostly hard labourers in the estates.

The separation system continued for years before the advent of Japanese invasion in Malaya on December 8, 1941. A horrible nightmare for Malaya but an eye opener for occupied Asians. During the Japanese occupation, British fled the country leaving behind struggling locals including Chinese and Indian defending their rights to live. Realising that the British was never keen to protect the locals, the hidden call for independence was unravelled.

Japan lost the World War 2 to the allied forces in 1945. Then in 1946, Republic of Indonesia gained its independence from the Dutch by force. A sudden sentiment of Asian power began to intensify.

Either an act to weaken the nationalist spirit in Malaya or simply a plain act of stupidity, the British announced the formation of Malayan Union on August 1945. All existing local state governments to be centralised under the British rule which was absolute. For once, Malay Sultans and Malays all over Malaya united to protest the proposal. Then United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was born, led by Dato’ Onn Jaafar. The unity was a phenomenon but unfortunately, we have never seen the same level of unity among Malays till now.

Due to enormous pressure from the Malays, on February 1948, Malayan Union was abandoned and replaced by the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu (Federation of Malaya). The fighting spirit of all Asian countries at that point of time was at its pinnacle, Mahatma Gandhi, India’s revered statesman was killed, giving the British a significant pressure from International world on their colonialism policy.

A different group of separatist, who is frustrated with the dawn of democracy in Malaya, launched an armed revolt against the government of Persekutuan. The group is called Communist Party of Malaya led by Chin Peng. The act of terrorism continued for almost 12 years even after independence. It was the longest period for Persekutuan to be in the state of Emergency.

Population of Persekutuan around 1949 is about 5 million, Malays filled up half of it and the rest are Chinese, Indian and others. The only workable way for independence of multiracial country was through an alliance of all races. Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) was formed in 1946 and Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) was formed in 1949. UMNO, MIC and MCA created a history of the first grand scale unity of all races in Persekutuan to form Parti Perikatan (Alliance Party). In the first public election of Persekutuan, Parti Perikatan won 51 out of 52 seats. Tuanku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, the President of UMNO who was also head of the Parti Perikatan, became the first Chief of Minister of Malaya. A dim light of independence began to shine.

On January 7, 1956, our founding fathers of Malaysia, went to London for talks on independence. February 21, 1956, Tunku announced, “Bismillahirrahmannirahim (In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful and the Most Compassionate), I hereby proclaim on behalf of all people of Malaya that full independence for the Federation of Malaya within the Commonwealth, in accordance with the agreement reached in London, will take effect by August 31, 1957. InsyaAllah (If Allah permits).”

At the stroke of midnight on December 31, 1957, a great roar of all Malayan people, Malays, Chinese, Indians and others, to tell the world that we are now a nation.

This should complete the first part of my article of Malaysia: Where are we heading to? The reason why I want to bring back to the origins of Malaysia is to remind us of the real objective and purpose of Malaysia, a great nation who struggled for more than 400 years with the British and others and few years after to unite all the different races to give birth to a nation we all share.

This first part is crucial to keep us on track of what Malaysia’s real objective should be. To ignore the history is to deny the core truth of our nation. Our current politicians currently are making more than suicidal actions to be in power without having the real objective of what real leaders should act or behave.

Sadly Malaysia now is in unchartered territory in political turmoil. Too much politics have been played and too much real developments have been ignored. My article will not try to pick any side, it is up to the readers to decide, but I hope all readers should take an objective stand to think really hard of what we really need now in our current conditions. Also to think very deeply, where our beloved country is heading to.

(To be continued)

The revamp of KL city centre

It's that time of the year again when most Malays will be crowding Jalan Masjid India and Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman (Jln Tar) for Hari Raya Eid-Il Fitr shopping. Almost all kinds of traditional Malay dresses and cuisines will be available during this holy festive season.

And almost every year I’d expect and be disappointed with the lack of development in that area. How could this area be left behind in terms of development, market value and architectural design as compared to other parts of KL? Location wise, Jln Tar is situated in between Bkt Bintang and entrance of PJ and it’s only 5 mins away from KL golden triangle.

One honest question lingering my mind..Is this because this place only caters local Bumis (particularly Malays who are earning lower income as compared to others in Malaysia)? My honest answer is yes. Just look at Kampung Baru as an example. The next question would be, what can we do with this?

Vision 2020 is only 12 years away. We do have the once tallest office towers in the world and other mega structures in the city, but please look around the city..it’s utterly embarrassing. Most embarrassing is the fact that this area is controlled by Malay/ Indian Muslim. The leaders especially the Malay leaders need to do something about this NOW.

I would suggest either state owned property funds like Pelaburan Hartanah Bumiputra Berhad (PHBB) or PNB (under the property investment arm) to acquire the whole block of shophouses at Jln TAR and Jln Masjid and turn it into top commercial areas in KL. Take Heritage Row for an instance, a private owned property investor acquired the whole street and turn it into high end café and clubs..and guess what? the location is nearby Kampung Baru and Jln Tar!!

This is the time to change the image of Kuala Lumpur..This is the time to change the perception that low end area to be associated with Bumis..Let’s make this a National Agenda or something that can be built by any Malay Party..

For the Bumis..this small piece of land is ours..let’s show to the world that we earn the rights to own it and we are capable to turn it into something legendary.

Failure of our system

Let's think about these few events that have happened recently:-

1. The crash of subprime mortgage markets which resulted to the collapse of 2 top investment banks with others struggling to survive
2. The dependency of crude oil and sharp spike in oil prices beyond expectation

First point, simple math..you give mortgage debts to the unprivileged funded by securities with a promise of extremely high yields in return for 'manageable risks'. Nothing to be scared about, these securities have been rated by credible rating agencies, insured by top insurers and advised by top market players. Any simple man can say something is wrong with this structure..but look now what had happened from this failure..global markets have been punished, bank with history of nearly 200 years had filed for bankcruptcy..thousands of high flying bankers are left unemployed..just count the math of next dominos effect.

Oil price, trigger point - the recession of US economy..simple analysis could've been made easily..crude oil price is traded with USD as a denominator..sharp turn in a value of USD has an adverse impact to oil price..next thing you know oil price soared up to the sky..China and India were blamed for future increase in consumption..but one may ask? why now? and why so sudden? shouldn't this one particular comodity that is so crucial to our daily lives be hedged against any single variable? the implication? global inflations. Is the current price reflects the real value of oil price? get the OPEC members to give you the answer.

Both events have one similarity..both were bubbles which were expected to blow but no one dared to disagree.

Does this indicate the failure of human macro economics management? should someone be blamed for all of this? Does 'check and balance' system really work in our global economic system? It's time the global risk management to revisit this system..what can we expect from our our top economic leaders out of this?

yes, another bubble that's on the way to burst...