PEACE AND STABILITY

1. I have often been asked by foreigners regarding Malaysia’s successful transition from an agricultural country to an industrialised country. Just as often, they wondered how a multi-racial country could stay peaceful and stable, thus enabling the transition to be made.

2. I myself did not, in pre-independence days dream that there could be stability for Malaysia and that it would change its economic base and prosper. I did not dream of this because when we were struggling against the Malayan Union and then for independence, the country was poor and there was a great deal of animosity between the Malays and the Chinese.

3. We have almost forgotten it now but the Japanese surrender saw the mainly Chinese Anti-Japanese guerrillas emerging from the jungles, declaring that they now rule the country. There were clashes between the Malays and the Chinese and several were killed on each side.

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OIL

1. Oil drives the world. Ever since the invention of the internal combustion engine, the demand for oil has been increasing by leaps and bounds.

2. Today the estimated total consumption of oil per day amounts to 70,000,000 plus barrels. Engines has been made more efficient i.e. consume less oil for a given power. But still the demand for oil continues to rise.

3. In 1973 the price of one barrel of crude oil was just 3.50 USD. The oil producing countries were being robbed. They remained poor and at the mercy of the Seven Sisters – the biggest and richest petroleum companies of the world. They dictated the price. And they paid royalty amounting to only 20% or so of the price of crude to the poor countries.

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JAWAPAN KEPADA HILAL

1. Saya ucap terima kasih kepada Hilal Asyraf kerana menjawab dengan panjang lebar soalan-soalan saya.

2. Sebenarnya saya membuat soalan-soalan kerana ingin mendapat pengesahan berkenaan reaksi terhadap apa yang telah diucapkan oleh saya berkenaan hudud.

3. Jawapan Hilal mengesahkan apa yang saya syaki, iaitu Hilal dan mungkin ramai orang Islam lain berpendapat bahawa wahyu Allah s.w.t. seperti yang terdapat dalam Al-Quran adalah setaraf dengan Hadith sohih Bukhari, iaitu kesahihan yang dibuat oleh manusia biasa walaupun pakar dalam bidang Hadith.

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MONEY

1. I wrote recently on the financial problems of Europe at the invitation of the Financial Times. Of course it is not erudite as would those who studied economics and finance would write. Strangely some people agreed with my views.

2. During the financial crisis of 1997-1998 I was forced to read up on the subject. Today I know a bit more about money and finance. But the most important thing about money which everyone of us knows without need to be an economist or financial expert is that if you spend more money than you have you will be in trouble. Simply put, if you have one hundred Ringgit but you spend one hundred and ten Ringgit, you will be in debt to the amount of ten Ringgit. But if you have 100 RM and spend 90 RM you will not face trouble.

3. No big deal. But when you have a million or a billion, your 10% overspending will put you in debt to a level which you may not be able to pay and the person you owe money to may not be so ready to forgive.

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HUKUM HUDUD

1. Saya ucap berbanyak terima kasih kepada adik Hilal Asyraf (mungkin cucu lebih tepat kerana saya sudah mencecah 87 tahun Masehi – iaitu 90 tahun mengikut Hijrah) kerana membuat teguran terhadap ucapan saya di UNIMAS baru-baru ini.

2. Sebelum saya menjelaskan maksud saya di dalam ucapan itu, saya harap adik Asyraf dapat menjawab secara ringkas (Ya atau Tidak) beberapa soalan yang ingin saya tanya kepada adik.

3. Soalan :

i) Punca ajaran agama Islam ialah Al-Quran, Hadith, fatwa, ajaran ulama’-ulama’ dan guru-guru agama. Diantara punca-punca ini yang mana satukah yang diutamakan?

ii) Sekiranya terdapat perlanggaran atau percanggahan antara hadith, fatwa, pendapat ulama’ dan guru-guru agama dengan apa yang terdapat dalam Al-Quran, apakah kita harus tolak Al-Quran (terutama ayat-ayat yang jelas) dan terima hadith, fatwa dan lain-lain?

iii) Ada pihak yang mendakwa bahawa Al-Bukhari telah mengkaji sebanyak 600,000 hadith tetapi menerima hanya 7000 sebagai sahih.

iv) Apakah kesahihan hadith-hadith ini semuanya sama dengan sahih pengkaji hadith lain termasuk Muslim, Tarmizi dan lain-lain. Apakah kita harus tolak kajian-kajian lain dari Bukhari?

v) Apakah ingatan manusia lebih tepat dan kekal dari catitan, seperti wahyu dari Allah s.w.t. kepada Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. dicatit, kemudian dibukukan sebagai Al-Quran.

vi) Bukhari membuat kajian hadithnya 200 tahun selepas wafat Nabi. Apakah orang pertama yang melihat atau mendengar Nabi bersabda mencatat apa yang dilihat dan didengar dan catitan ini disimpan sehingga Bukhari mengkajinya? Atau apakah Bukhari bergantung kepada riwayat yang diperturunkan melalui beberapa generasi sehingga sampai kepada Al-Bukhari?
(Di sini jangan mula cap saya sebagai anti-hadith. Saya pegang kuat kepada hadith asalkan ia tidak berbeza, bercanggah dan menafi ayat-ayat Al-Quran. Saya sedar saya tak mungkin tahu bagaimana sembahyang jika saya pegang semata-mata kepada ayat-ayat dalam Al-Quran. Menuduh seseorang itu anti-hadith seperti menuduh seseorang itu kafir adalah cara mereka yang tidak dapat pertahan kefahaman dan pendapat mereka).

vii) Tuhan menjadikan manusia berbeza dengan haiwan kerana manusia diberi akal fikiran. Apakah agama Islam melarang manusia dari mengguna akal dan berfikir?
Saya menunggu jawapan daripada adik Hilal Asyraf supaya dapat saya betulkan diri saya.

PEPERANGAN MESIR MELAWAN NGO

1. Baru-baru ini pemerintah Mesir telah menangkap lebih daripada 10 rakyat Amerika Syarikat.

2. Siapakah mereka ini?

3. Mereka, mengikut laporan dalam sebuah majalah Amerika, Newsweek, adalah ahli beberapa NGO dari Amerika yang terlibat kononnya untuk membawa demokrasi kepada Mesir. Diantara mereka adalah NDI (National Democratic Institute), IRI (International Republican Institute) dan Freedom House. Semua mereka mengikut Newsweek “receive U.S. Government funding”.

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MINIMUM PAY

1. We all would like to see Malaysia become a high-income country. However we must also be concerned about our competitiveness. Increasing incomes must raise the cost of production unless there is a corresponding increase in productivity.

2. But already we are having far too many holidays. To the 52 Sundays, have been added, 52 Saturdays. We now have holidays for the holy days of all religions, however small the followers. We now automatically replace any holiday which falls on Sunday or Saturday with another day of holiday. When we work a lesser number of days our productivity must decrease. So it will not be easy to increase productivity with the increase in minimum wages which will trigger pay increases throughout, so as to maintain the parity between the different grades of the employees. Working during holidays will also cost more. So will contribution to EPF and rates of pensions.

3. Between higher pay and shorter working hours, plus all the other costs, the cost of production of goods and services must increase considerably.

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SECURITY OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL


1. Kenyataan yang dikeluarkan oleh Dato Seri Anwar merupakan percubaan untuk mengalih perhatian terhadap pendiriannya iaitu, “Saya sokong semua usaha untuk melindungi keselamatan negara Israel” (I support all efforts to protect the security of the State of Israel) kepada soal pengiktirafan negara itu.

2. Israel telah mengambil sikap bahawa untuk keselamatan negara, ia akan mengganas lebih daripada pengganas (out terrorise the terrorists). Sebab itu kita lihat tindakan Israel apabila menuduh pihak Palestin melaku keganasan kepadanya, ialah dengan serangan yang keterlaluan.

3. Demikian kerana kononnya Israel diserang oleh puak Palestin, Israel melancar serangan yang dahsyat supaya penduduk Jenin sebuah bandar kecil Palestin terbunuh beramai-ramai dan bangunan-bangunan diroboh semasa penduduk-penduduk masih ada dalam ruman dan bangunan. Penduduk Jenin yang terdiri daripada orang awam, lelaki, perempuan, tua dan muda termasuk kanak-kanak di bunuh. Ini adalah balasan Israel untuk kepentingan sekuritinya.

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JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE

1. According to the former chief justice Tun Mohd Dzaiddin Abdullah, “The Federal Constitution lost its fundamental structure when Article 121 was amended in 1988 and the provision in reference to the judicial power in the constitution removed”.

2. What is the amendment about? It is about the procedure giving the Attorney General the responsibility for specifying which court should hear a case. Originally Section 418A (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code reads, “Notwithstanding the provision of section 417 and subject to Section 418B, the Public Prosecutor may in any particular case triable by a Criminal Court subordinate to a High Court issue a certificate specifying the High Court in which the proceedings are to be instituted or transferred and requiring that the accused person be caused to appear or be produced before such High Court”.

3. In December 1986 when Datuk Yap Peng was charged with criminal breach of trust, the public prosecutor issued a certificate under Section 418A of the Criminal Procedure Code requiring the case to be transferred to the High Court.

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