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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Cat Stevens, hijrah para artis dan faktor keseimbangan

Posted: 09 Oct 2012 04:44 PM PDT

Oct 10 — Saya adalah penggemar muzik dan lagu singer-songwriter kelahiran British , Cat Stevens atau nama muslimnya Yusuf Islam. Mula mendengar lagu-lagu beliau di awal tahun 80an dulu sehinggalah ke hari ini.

Cat Stevens adalah antara singer-songwriter yang terbaik sebanding dengan singer-songwriter yang saya kagumi seperti Lennon, Jackson Browne, Dylan, McCartney, George Harrison, Al Stewart dan Harry Chapin .

Banyak lagu-lagu dan lirik beliau yang memberi inspirasi dan mengajar saya makna hidup dan perjalanan seperti lagu Sitting, On the Road to Find Out dan Oh very Young antaranya.

Album favourite saya Mona Bone Jakon ( 1970) dan Numbers ( 1975 ) dan semua album beliau yang lainnya. Kalau kita nak kenal Cat Steven dan siri perjalanannya, kita dengar semua album beliau dari album Matthew & Son ( 1967) sampailah ke album Roadsinger ( 2009).

Cuma saya agak terkejut bila Cat Steven masuk islam pada 23hb disember 1977 dan menukar namanya menjadi Yusuf Islam. Tapi bila mendengar album-album terdahulu beliau ianya tidaklah menghairankan kerana setiap manusia ada musim dan perjalanan yang harus mereka tempuhi.

Apabila beliau agak drastik dan tegang dengan kefahaman dan musim barunya, saya agak ralat kerana bagi saya itu bukanlah watak beliau yang sebenarnya.

Apabila Yusuf mula berjubah , berserban dan berjambang seperti orang Arab yang ekstrem masalah mula timbul antara beliau dan persekitarannya. Bertambah pula di waktu isu Salman Rushdie dan bukunya 'Satanic Verses' yang penuh kontroversi meledakkan kemarahan umat Islam sedunia yang mana ianya turut melibatkan Yusuf sehingga mengambil masa untuk meredakan ketegangan dari pelbagai pihak.

Seperkara tentang hijab manusia dan prosesnya, kita akan berasa kita ini sangat betul dan selesa dengan apa yang sedang kita lalui dan jalani. Sehingga kita kadang-kadang lupa setiap manusia itu juga punya roh dan mereka juga punya cerita, versi dan kepercayaan dan sebaiknya faktor keseimbangan itu adalah jawapan yang terbaik untuk segala persoalan.

Sehinggalah saya kembali melihat watak Cat Steven yang dulu yang muncul dengan album yang menggunakan nama Yusuf pada 2006 ( An Other Cup ) dan Roadsinger ( 2009).

Kita kadang-kadang terkeliru dengan watak kita di dunia ini. Kita melalui pelbagai musim sepanjang hayat menjadi manusia selama berada di sini. Kita berhijrah untuk singgah dari satu tempat ke satu tempat. Tidak ada jaminan untuk kita kekal di satu-satu tempat itu kerana hidup ini hanyalah sebuah perjalanan yang panjang selagi kita bernyawa sebenarnya.

Saya percaya setiap agama mengajar umatnya untuk berbuat baik antara sesama makhluk. Saya lebih percaya kepada nilai kemanusiaan pada setiap individu dari nilai keagamaannya.

Dan yang lebih penting saya percaya pada nilai keseimbangan dan keterbukaan yang ada dalam diri kita sendiri.

Kepercayaan dan iman adalah sesuatu yang personal dan suci antara kita dan pencipta. Bagi saya ianya dinilai melalui kehidupan watak kita dan bagaimana kita menjalani juga menanganinya.

Keasyikan atau taksub kadang buat kita berasa terkejut dan shahdu untuk tempoh musim yang sedang kita lalui, pun jika itu bukanlah watak kita yang sebenarnya kebenaran akan terungkap juga.

Itulah yang dilalui oleh Cat Stevens ( Yusuf Islam ) dan beliau juga mengakui akhirnya. Jika kita menjaga nilai hormat kita antara sesama saya percaya Tuhan juga akan menyukainya.

Itulah juga seperti yang saya lihat pada artis- artis yang berhijrah seperti Hairee Othman, Bob Isabella, Sham Kamikaze, Abby Abadi antaranya.

Adakah itu watak mereka yang sebenarnya atau ianya hanya sekadar beralih musim ? Adakah mereka mendapat apa itu yang namanya 'bahagia' atau ianya hanyalah sekadar watak yang singgah Cuma sementara ?

Apatah lagilah jika hijrah itu motifnya hanya berpindah dari satu parti ke satu parti dalam satu landasan politik yang bulak balik permainannya dua kali lima sahaja.

Pun begitu bagi saya tidak semestinya untuk kita mencari nilai islamik yang sebenarnya maka kita perlu berpindah dari parti UMNO ke parti PAS atau PAS ke UMNO contohnya.

Saya percaya nilai baik dan jahat itu ada di dalam setiap individu tanpa mengira mereka itu di parti mana pun. Segalanya bergantung kepada nilai kefahaman kita sendiri dalam menilai makna hidup yang kita cari selama ini.

Saya masih ingat tentang cerita seorang sahabat yang berkerjaya sebagai seorang pelukis yang pernah meninggalkan kerjayanya lantas menjadi seorang yang bukan orang dengan kepercayaan dan imej barunya.

Apabila lama dia berkeadaan begitu, maka dalam tempoh beberapa tahun kemudian datanglah kesedaran dan pertanyaan maka berguru dan berjumpalah sahabat saya itu kepada gurunya yang baru.

Gurunya pun bertanyalah tentang kerjayanya. Maka sahabat saya menjawab yang katanya dia adalah seorang pelukis. Apabila gurunya melihat gaya pakaian, jubah dan serbannya maka kata gurunya mengapa sahabat saya itu tidak seperti gaya seorang pelukis?

Pertanyaan gurunya itu nyata memberikan signal yang jelas tentang sahabat saya, perjalanan dan wataknya di dunia ini. Maka selepas itu kembalilah sahabat saya itu menjadi seorang manusia yang semakin berjaya dalam kerjaya dan kehidupannya sehinggalah ke hari ini.

Saya suka melihat artis Azmil Mustafa , Dr Sam Rasputin dan Iwan Dangdut. Tanpa sebarang publisiti dan gembar-gembur mereka berhijrah dan konsisten dengan imej serban, janggut dan jubah mereka hingga ke hari ini tanpa perlu menyertai mana-mana parti politik pun.

Pun akhirnya seperti saya melihat Cat Stevens kembali bergitar setelah lama menyepi dari dunia hiburan dan muzik , saya kira faktor keseimbangan adalah perkara yang perlu kita sematkan ke dalam jiwa kita kerana manusia itu adalah semulia kejadian yang dijadikan Tuhan , maka hormatilah cerita alam ini seadanya.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Years of living precariously in Malaysia

Posted: 09 Oct 2012 04:24 PM PDT

Oct 10 — Malaysians are living in the grip of fear, not necessarily because of the spike in crime. Perceived or otherwise. Nor is it necessarily because of the number of deaths on the road which has risen over the years.

And certainly not because of two jet engines — as well as large amounts of money — that have somehow flown out of the country.

No. It is because there are "devils" — in various manifestations and aberrations — lurking in modern-day and technology-savvy Malaysia.

Why, quite recently Malaysians were warned by the federal government — which is visibly concerned for the common good of ordinary Malaysians especially those who can be quite impressionable — of the cunning and naughty attempts by "foreign elements" to topple the present-day government through their funding of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Suaram, Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and online newspaper Malaysiakini.

Indeed, this is an issue of national import that would not and should not escape the rapt attention and deep concern of serious newspapers worth their salt. This explains why dailies such as the influential and socially responsible Utusan Malaysia had front-paged this plot in the hope that fellow Malaysians would be patriotic enough to be on high alert and to defend their beloved country when the occasion arises.

The Scorpene case is a classic example of how some foreign powers have tried to infiltrate into our defence and security systems. For these wily foreign elements are fully aware that Malaysia desperately needs a submarine or two to check and prevent piracy along the popularly-plied Straits of Malacca; ascertain the depth of the South China Sea to help enhance deep-sea fishing that would in turn ensure our food security; and also to monitor the Earth's movement for early and invaluable detection of tsunami, both geological and political.

Indeed, to play footsie with these foreign elements, like some Malaysian human rights-based NGOs have done, is only to invite trouble, big time. That is why a number of Malay-based NGOs are clever enough not to be easily seduced by the sweet talk of these foreign elements. As a premeditated act of defiance, these patriotic NGOs had figuratively shown their middle finger, or literally bared their bums, to these foreign elements.

In this era of uncertainty and globalisation, you have to be very careful about who you befriend at the international level. For before you know it, there would be a communist hiding under your bed, trying to be your strange bedfellow.

Or at the very least, a Jew or two to bring chaos to our prosperous nation that has become the envy of many countries in the world.

Viewed from this perspective, one would appreciate the conscientious action taken by the Najib administration to ensure that our national security has not been and will not be compromised. Hence, the seemingly high-handed move by the government against Suaram and its ilk. Surely, a government that has the ordinary people's interests at heart can warm the cockles of the collective heart of concerned Malaysians.

It is within this larger scheme of things that we can begin to fully understand what former premier Mahathir Mohamad was trying to say when he contended that it's better the devil you know than the angels you don't.

Additionally, we should also be able to understand better by now what Prime Minister Najib Razak, who once declared that Malaysia was the "best democracy in the world", was trying to arrive at when he said that it's taboo to vote for the Opposition.

Surely to give support to those voices that criticise the ruling elite would only open doors to our foreign enemies via our local civil society groups.

As one astute MP rightly alerted us, co-operating with the local NGOs is one way in which these dangerous foreign elements try to influence our government in their long-term strategy to weaken our big neighbour and world's economic powerhouse, China. We are truly indebted to this politician for his intellectual prowess and precociousness.

We are indeed living in extraordinary and dangerous times. That is why it really isn't far-fetched when a Cabinet minister dexterously proclaimed that — in the aftermath of the massive Bersih rally — salt and water bottles could be weapons of mass destruction! Moreover, in this age of the Internet and YouTube (which is a Western invention), you could actually learn the delicate method of mixing salt and water (from foreign experts) and — voila! — transforming them into something really volatile after shaking them in a certain calculated fashion.

This sense of being extra careful with our country's sovereignty and security is well placed and must be instilled in Malaysians from an early age. Thus, it makes a whole lot of sense when certain schools in the country recently categorised the Bersih movement as "illegal" in the trial exam for the subject of Moral Studies. Clearly this is a matter that goes beyond the mundane business of getting more A's.

It is also imperative that we acknowledge the fact that the "devil" in these foreign elements stem from the human rights that they've been fighting for and flaunting all these years. As Mahathir pointedly revealed, the freedoms advocated by these foreign elements have been taken to the extreme to the extent that mothers, particularly the ones in the US, have had indiscriminate and free sex all in the name of human rights!

Surely Mahathir wasn't off the mark if we consider the fact that Malaysian mothers have been well behaved to a large degree. With the exception of a few misled teenagers who dumped their newborn in bins and toilets, most of the Malaysian mothers spend their time gainfully in the shopping malls, peacefully and patiently searching for that prized Prada and other coveted handbags.

That said, Malaysians should not be unduly worried about the security and prosperity of their progressive country as they're in the good hands of the federal government.

As Mahathir and his BN friends would caringly tell you, necessity is the mother of invention, and one would find ways and means to survive and jealously protect one's interests against any attempt to undermine one's position.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Rabu, 10 Oktober 2012

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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