Thursday, April 30, 2009
Gaji Rm18 Sehari Nak sambut Hari Buruh?
Perdana Menteri Malaysia yang baru, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, menyatakan Malaysia bukan lagi boleh dikategorikan sebagai negara pengeluar dengan pasaran buruh yang murah. Tetapi Malaysia juga belum mencapai status negara yang mempunyai tingkat teknologi yang mampu menjadi penaraju sektor pembuatan. Oleh itu, usaha untuk menarik pelabur dengan dasar kerajaan dan sektor perkhidmatan yang cekap adalah suatu yang perlu dirombak untuk mengekalkan daya saing Malaysia. Saya masih ingat suatu masa dulu(tidak beberapa lama), Menteri Perdagagan Antarabangsa ketika itu, Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz semasa memasarkan peluang pelaburan di Malaysia, menonjolkan aspek buruh yang murah sebagai kekuatan yang ada pada Malaysia.
Berapa murah? Jawapan saya RM18 sehari. Jika dikali 26 hari bekerja sebulan maka secara kasar pekerja tersebut memperoleh Rm468 sebulan belum ditolak caruman KWSP dan SOCSO. Maka gaji bersih hanya lebih kurang RM400. Cukupkah RM400 dalam kehidupan hari ini? Inilah yang dinamakan faqir walaupun bekerja. Bayangkan berapa jam keja lebih masa(OT) yang perlu untuk memperoleh pendapatan RM1000 sebulan?
Gaji lebih kurang RM18 sehari adalah gaji standard bagi operator pengeluaran. Malah kebanyakannya adalah berdasarkan gaji hari, tiada kenaikan tahunan dan tiada bonus tahunan. Saya pernah bekerja di sebuah syarikat antarabangsa yang mengeluarkan peralatan elektronik terkenal. Pekerja-pekerja gaji RM18 sehari ini mula bekerja pada pukul 8 pagi, hanya rehat sepuluh minit pada waktu pagi, setengah jam waktu tengah hari, dan 10 minit lagi pada waktu petang sebelum balik pada pukul 5.40 petang. Dan ia selaras dengan Akta Buruh. Ada sesetengah mereka yang nampak gah dengan kereta baru dsbnya, tetapi hakikatnya mereka membanting tulang dan mengikat perut untuk membayar installment bulanan.
Beberapa bulan yang lepas saya menghadiri suatu seminar, di mana dalam seminar tersebut menunjukkan fakta bahawa sektor perusahaan sawit merupakan penyumbang no.2 pendapatan Malaysia pada tahun 2008 selepas minyak dan gas. Dijangkakan dengan harga sawit yang kompetitif dan penurunan harga minyak mentah, ia akan menjadi penyumpang terbesar perolehan negara. Tetapi bagaimana dengan nasib buruh di ladang sawit dan kilang sawit. Mereka masih lagi hidup dalam kepompong kemiskinan. Gaji asas operator kilang sawit yang dipersetujui oleh Persatuan Pekerja Sawit,, hanyalah RM13.50 sehari, itupun setelah kenaikan RM1 hasil dari perjuangan belasan atau puluhan tahun. Yang mengaut keuntungan hanya tokey2 sawit, pengarah2 agensi kerajaan dan mereka yang terlibat dengan niaga pasaran hadapan sawit. Malah kestabilan BSKL banyak dibantu oleh pasaran derivatif sawit. Tetapi,mereka yang benar-benar pekerja di industri ini kekal bagai hamba abdi menanggung kesenangan mereka yang duduk senang lenang di atas.
MASALAH BUROH ADALAH AKAR PERJUANGAN SOSIALISME YANG DIKOSMETIKKAN KAPITALISME
Kita tahu asas kebangkitan sosialisme adalah penindasan kapitalis kepada buruh. Revolusi Bolshevik adalah lambang kejayaan mereka dalam memperjuangkan nasib golongan ini. Tetapi mereka hanya bertahan sekejap sahaja. Kapitalisme memasukkan konsep ini dalam ideologi mereka. Tetapi hakikatnya, BUROH TIDAK LEBIH DARI HAMBA ABDI BERBAYAR DALAM SISTEM KAPIATALISME.
Dalam Islam, hubungan antara pekerja dan majikan adalah menerusi akad ijarah yang wajib dipenuhi rukun dan syarat sahnya. Dan menjadi kewajipan negara untuk menjaga kemaslahatan kedua-dua pihak ini agar selari dengan hukum Islam. Selagi mana khilafah Islamiah tidak tertegak, selagi itulah buruh akan menjadi hamba berbayar dan kesejahteraan hidup dalam nauangan Islam tidak akan kita kecapi.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sudahkah anda menyerahkan borang income tax?
Wah... income tax pun dah ada iklan TV. Kena pula Afdlin Shauki yang melakonkannya, saya kira iklan ini cuba serba sedikit meredakan kegeraman pembayar cukai. Apa pun, kepada mereka yang makan gaji, tarikh akhir penyerahan penyata income tax adalah 30 April ini, jika tidak anda akan didenda. Saya sendiri baru hari ini nak isi, e-filing saja mudah. Saban tahun, jumlah income tax yang perlu saya bayar meningkat sampailah sekarang mencecah 4 angka. Malah potongan cukai berjadual(PCB) pun makin besar. Memang sakit hati apabila duit titik peluh kita dirampas oleh orang lain. Tetapi tiada pilihan lain, jika tidak bayar malah boleh dikenakan interest dan tindakan mahkamah. Inilah sumber pendapat negara kapitalisme.
Mungkin bagi mereka yang tiada maklumat sumber pendapatan negara Islam, mereka merasakan cukai adalah perkara yang perlu. Ramai juga yang berpendapat zakat adalah sumber pendapatan negara Islam. Malah dalam draf belanjawan yang dikeluarkan oleh PAS suatu masa dulu, turut meletakkan sumber cukai langsung dan tidak langsung sebagai sumber pendapatan utama. Haji Hadi masa menjawab persoalan tersebut, menyamakannya dengan kharaj.
Kerajaan kapitalis BN memang wajarlah mereka berfikir secara kapitalisme. Dalam sistem kapitalisme, sumber cukai langsung, cukai tidak langsung dan hasil dari faedah adalah merupakan sistem pendapatan utama negara. Tetapi bagaimana pula Haji Hadi sebagai Presiden Parti Islam Semalaysia, menyamakan cukai hari ini dengan kharaj? Walhal Malaysia bukan tanah kharajiah yang dibenarkan oleh syara' dikutip kharaj.
APA ITU TANAH KHARAJIAH DAN KHARAJ?
Tanah kharajiah adalah tanah yang Islam masuk melalui aktiviti ketenteraan. Keistimewaan kepada Makkah kerana walupun pembebasan Makkah melalui aktiviti tentera tetapi ia tidak dikategorikan sebagai tanah kharajiah. Bagi tanah kharajiah, maka dikutip kharaj ke atasnya.
Manakala bagi wilayah yang Islam masuk secara damai(tidak melalui tentera) seperti Malaysia, ia dikategorikan sebagai tanah usyuriah. Bagi tanah usyuriah, dikutip usyur ke atas hasil pertaniannya.
Jelas, tindakan PAS suatu masa dulu mengemukakan Drad Belanjawan yang berasaskan cukai dengan mengatasnamakan kharaj adalah bertentangan dengan hukum Islam. Pada saya, ia adalah suatu usaha untuk menyesuaikan perlaksanaan Islam mengikut konteks sistem sekular hari ini.
Sedangkan dalam banyak hadith rasullah menyatakan keharaman mengutip cukaki, antaranya
"ashabul maksi finnar"
pengutip cukai tempatnya adalah di neraka(HR Imam Malik)
Sumber Pendapatan Negara Islam
Sumeber pendapatan Negara Islam yang merupakan hak negara antaranya adalah
1) Kharaj
2) Usyur
3)Jizyah
4) Fai
5) Anfal/Ghanimah
7) Marafik
8) Khumus
Manakala ada banyak hak milik ummat yang dikelolakan negara Islam, antaranya adalah
1) Air
2) Bahan bakar
3) Bahan galian yang tidak terbatas
Sedangkan zakat adalah rukun Islam yang negara wajib mengelolakannya mengikut asnaf yang telah ditentukan dan tidak boleh dipelbagaikan kepada yang lain.
Saya tidak redha terhadap cukai yang dipaksakan keatas saya
Cukai adalah suatu yang haram. Saya tidak redha cukai yang dipaksakan keatas saya, kerana harta itu milik saya. Yang wajib saya bayar adalah zakat, bukai cukai kufur ini. Jelas, kita semua sedang dianiaya. Doa orang teraniaya adalah makbul. Maka dari itu, marilah kita berusaha dan berdoa supaya sistem kufur ini hancur dan kita dapat sama-sama hidup sejahtera dalam naungan Negara Khilafah Islam.
Monday, April 27, 2009
TORTURE MATTER OF POLICY UNDER BUSH
A Senate inquiry published on Wednesday directly implicates senior members of the Bush administration in the extensive use of harsh interrogation methods against al-Qaida suspects and other prisoners round the world. The 232-page report, the most detailed investigation yet into the background of torture, undercuts the claim of the then deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, that the abuse of prisoners in Iraq was the work of "a few bad apples".
The report says: "The abuse of detainees in US custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of "a few bad apples" acting on their own. The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorised their use against detainees." The report says that instructors trained CIA and other military personnel early in 2002 on the use of harsher interrogation techniques but warned that information obtained might be unreliable.
World losses top $4 trillion says IMF report
Financial institutions in the United States, Western Europe and Japan face credit losses of more than $4 trillion as the global economy continues to deteriorate during its deepest and longest recession in more than 60 years, the International Monetary Fund reported Tuesday. U.S. financial institutions face asset write-downs totalling $2.7 trillion, nearly double the $1.4 trillion in write-offs that were projected in October, the IMF said in its latest Global Financial Stability report. The gloomy report, released in advance of this weekend's IMF meeting in Washington, predicted that "the global credit crisis is likely to be deep and long lasting." The report said capital flows to emerging markets have "come to a halt." IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard predicted at a briefing that "it is going to take quite a while until we see a return to capital outflows" to emerging markets, even "if the banking system is slowly repaired in advanced countries." As financial institutions see their credit losses soar, they face "further pressure" to "raise capital and shed assets," the IMF said
www.khilafah.com
Saturday, April 25, 2009
PBB HENDAK KE MANA?
Pertubuhan Bangsa-bangsa Bersatu (PBB) adalah pertubuhan dunia yang terbesar dan dianggap menjadi tempat rujukan dan penyelesaian masalah. Tetapi hakikatnya ia adalah alat kepada US dan negara kuasa besar untuk melegalkan tindakan dan dasar mereka. Kegagalan PBB menghalang serangan US keatas Iraq pada 2003 memberi tamparan hebat kepada kepercayaa dunia kepada PBB. Walhal, telah sekian lama PBB membuat keputusan yang condong kepada US dan sekutu.
Pada 1947, PBB telah menyerahkan tanah Palestin kepada Israel melalui Partition Plan 181. PBB jugalah yang telah mengenakan embargo ekonomi kepada Iraq sejak 1991 selama 8 tahun, akibatnya ramai rakyat Iraq yang mati dan menderita. Pada Perang Balkan 2005, PBB menyerahkan ummat Islam Bosnia kepada tentera Serbia. Sejak 2003 hingga hari ini, PBB jugalah yang telah menyediakan zon penampan bagi memberi keselamatan kepada Israel.
Jelas bahawa PBB adalah kufur yang menjadi rujukan dan pembuat keputusan antarabangsa. Sedangkan jelas keputusan-keputusan PBB adalah mengikut telunjuk US dan menzalimi ummat Islam. Allah menjelaskan bahawa haram bagi kita menjadi orang kafir sebagai pemimpin dan barang siapa yang menjadikan orang kafir sebagai pemimpin sebenarnya mereka itu adalah sebahagian dari mereka.
WAHAI ORANG-ORANG YANG BERIMAN, JANGANLAH KAMU MENJADIKAN ORANG-ORANG YAHUDI DAN NASRANNI SEBAGAI PEMIMPIN, SEBAHAGIAN MEREKA MENJADI PEMIMPIN YANG LAIN. BARANGSIAPA YANG MENJADIKAN MEREKA SEBAGAI PEMIMPIN, MAKA SESUNGGUHNYA ORANG ITU TERMASUK GOLONGAN MEREKA. SESUNGGUHNYA ALLAH TIDAK MEMBERI PETUNJUK KEPADA ORANG-ORANG YANG ZALIM. (ALMAIDAH:51)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Wilders Sedang Menerbitkan Filem Hina Islam Yang Kedua
sumber: http://hizbut-tahrir.or.id
Anggota Parlemen Belanda yang terkenal ekstrim, Geert Wilders mengumumkan bahwa saat ini ia sedang memproduksi film baru tentang Islam. Film barunya ini merupakan penyempurnaan atas film “Fitnah” yang isinya pelecehan terhadap al-Qur’an sehingga menimbulkan reaksi dan kemarahan setelah dipublikasikannya film tersebut pada tahun lalu.
Dalam keterangannya kepada surat kabar Inggris “Telegraph”, Wilders mengatakan: “Film yang baru, yang produksinya akan selesai tahun depan akan mencerminkan sejauh mana fenomena kemajuan Islam di Barat”.
Dia menambahkan: “Akan ada film versi baru dari film ‘Fitnah’, tetapi berupa periode perkembangan”. Dikatakan bahwa dia ingin memperlihatkan melalui film tersebut akibat migrasi besar-besaran dari negara-negara Islam ke Eropa.
Menurut Wilders: “Film yang baru akan berfokus pada masalah-masalah yang berhubungan dengan kebebasan berbicara dan mengkritisi aturan Islam yang sangat ketat”. Dan tidak sedikit para produser film profesional di New York dan Hollywood yang menawarkan bantuan kepadanya, namun mereka menolak untuk menyebutkan namanya.
Mengikuti jejak film “Fitnah” yang dipublikasikan pada bulan Maret 2008 di beberapa situs-situs internet, yang isinya berupa pelecehan oleh Anggota Parlemen Belanda terhadap al-Qur’an al-Karim. Tidak ayal film itu telah mengundang banyak kecaman dari Uni Eropa, Organisasi Konferensi Islam, Sekretaris Jenderal Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa, dan negara-negara Islam. Film itu dinilainya sebagai sumber kebencian, dan satu bentuk diskriminasi terhadap umat Islam.
Hal ini juga menyulut dilakukannya berbagai macam demonstrasi di beberapa kota dan pemerintahan Islam. Akibatnya pemerintahan Belanda menghadapi banyak serangan diplomasi, sehingga memaksanya untuk menarik diri dari film dan pendapat yang diadopsi oleh Wilders yang menyerang dan melecehkan Islam, dan dari pendapatnya yang menghubungkan agama Islam dengan kekerasan.
Dan pada tanggal 21 Januari tahun ini Pengadilan Banding di Amsterdam memerintahkan Jaksa Penuntut Umum untuk memberikan tuntutan hukum terhadap Anggota Parlemen Belanda yang ekstrim ini. Pengadilan telah mendakwa Wilders membuat provokasi kebencian melalui berbagai pernyataannya yang menyakiti umat Islam dan juga melalui film “Fitnah”. Pernyataan-pernyataan yang dikemukakan oleh Anggota Parlemen sayap kanan dari partai kerakyatan ini dinilai sebagai bentuk memprovokasi kebencian, baik dalam hal isi maupun cara penyampaiannya.
Pengadilan berkata: “Sesungguhnya penyebaran kebencian dalam sistem demokrasi merupakan perkara yang bahaya dan dilarang, sehingga perlu dibuat aturan yang jelas demi kepentingan publik”. Untuk itu keputusan yang dibuat oleh pengadilan itu merupakan hal biasa dalam mencari penyelesaian secara politik.
Jaksa Agung di ibu kota Yordania, Amman mengajukan lima dakwaan kepada Anggota Parlemen Belanda sayap kiri yang ektrim tersebut. Jaksa Agung juga telah mengeluarkan surat perintah penangkapan untuk Wilders melalui Polisi Internasional “Interpol”.
Begitu juga akibat dari film ini pihak berwenang Inggris mengambil keputusan untuk menolaknya masuk ke dalam wilayah Inggris pada bulan Februari lalu, dan pihak berwenang Inggris juga menolak memberinya visa masuk setelah dia tiba di bandara “Heathrow” karena pendapatnya yang rasisme terhadap Islam dan umat Islam, di samping juga filmnya yang melecehkan al-Qur’an.
Wilders menilai Inggris yang seharusnya membolehkan dia untuk memasuki negara, namun dengan alasan bahwa keberadaannya mungkin menimbulkan masalah keamanan sehingga menolaknya sebagai bentuk “kegilaan dan kepengecutan”. Menurutnya insiden ini merupakan hari yang menyedihkan terhadap kebebasan berekspresi di Uni Eropa.
Setelah dua minggu sejak keputusan yang melarangnya masuk wilayah Inggris, maka Anggota Kongres Amerika dari partai Republik sayap kanan mengundang Wilders untuk mengunjungi Amerika Serikat dalam rangka memperkenalkan filmnya “Fitnah” yang isinya melecehkan Islam itu.
Dikatakan bahwa Wilders akan mengambil bagian dalam konferensi anti Islam di negara bagian Florida. Konferensi yang akan diselenggarakan oleh organisasi “Dewan Keamanan Florida” ini mengambil tema “Kebebasan berekspresi”. Iklan tentang konferensi itu telah disebarkan di internet. Dalam iklan itu dipasang foto Anggota Parlemen Belanda di samping slogan yang berbunyi: “Dilarang masuk London …. Diadili di Belanda …. Divonis di Yordania …. Dan disambut di Florida”. (mediaumat.com)
Anggota Parlemen Belanda yang terkenal ekstrim, Geert Wilders mengumumkan bahwa saat ini ia sedang memproduksi film baru tentang Islam. Film barunya ini merupakan penyempurnaan atas film “Fitnah” yang isinya pelecehan terhadap al-Qur’an sehingga menimbulkan reaksi dan kemarahan setelah dipublikasikannya film tersebut pada tahun lalu.
Dalam keterangannya kepada surat kabar Inggris “Telegraph”, Wilders mengatakan: “Film yang baru, yang produksinya akan selesai tahun depan akan mencerminkan sejauh mana fenomena kemajuan Islam di Barat”.
Dia menambahkan: “Akan ada film versi baru dari film ‘Fitnah’, tetapi berupa periode perkembangan”. Dikatakan bahwa dia ingin memperlihatkan melalui film tersebut akibat migrasi besar-besaran dari negara-negara Islam ke Eropa.
Menurut Wilders: “Film yang baru akan berfokus pada masalah-masalah yang berhubungan dengan kebebasan berbicara dan mengkritisi aturan Islam yang sangat ketat”. Dan tidak sedikit para produser film profesional di New York dan Hollywood yang menawarkan bantuan kepadanya, namun mereka menolak untuk menyebutkan namanya.
Mengikuti jejak film “Fitnah” yang dipublikasikan pada bulan Maret 2008 di beberapa situs-situs internet, yang isinya berupa pelecehan oleh Anggota Parlemen Belanda terhadap al-Qur’an al-Karim. Tidak ayal film itu telah mengundang banyak kecaman dari Uni Eropa, Organisasi Konferensi Islam, Sekretaris Jenderal Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa, dan negara-negara Islam. Film itu dinilainya sebagai sumber kebencian, dan satu bentuk diskriminasi terhadap umat Islam.
Hal ini juga menyulut dilakukannya berbagai macam demonstrasi di beberapa kota dan pemerintahan Islam. Akibatnya pemerintahan Belanda menghadapi banyak serangan diplomasi, sehingga memaksanya untuk menarik diri dari film dan pendapat yang diadopsi oleh Wilders yang menyerang dan melecehkan Islam, dan dari pendapatnya yang menghubungkan agama Islam dengan kekerasan.
Dan pada tanggal 21 Januari tahun ini Pengadilan Banding di Amsterdam memerintahkan Jaksa Penuntut Umum untuk memberikan tuntutan hukum terhadap Anggota Parlemen Belanda yang ekstrim ini. Pengadilan telah mendakwa Wilders membuat provokasi kebencian melalui berbagai pernyataannya yang menyakiti umat Islam dan juga melalui film “Fitnah”. Pernyataan-pernyataan yang dikemukakan oleh Anggota Parlemen sayap kanan dari partai kerakyatan ini dinilai sebagai bentuk memprovokasi kebencian, baik dalam hal isi maupun cara penyampaiannya.
Pengadilan berkata: “Sesungguhnya penyebaran kebencian dalam sistem demokrasi merupakan perkara yang bahaya dan dilarang, sehingga perlu dibuat aturan yang jelas demi kepentingan publik”. Untuk itu keputusan yang dibuat oleh pengadilan itu merupakan hal biasa dalam mencari penyelesaian secara politik.
Jaksa Agung di ibu kota Yordania, Amman mengajukan lima dakwaan kepada Anggota Parlemen Belanda sayap kiri yang ektrim tersebut. Jaksa Agung juga telah mengeluarkan surat perintah penangkapan untuk Wilders melalui Polisi Internasional “Interpol”.
Begitu juga akibat dari film ini pihak berwenang Inggris mengambil keputusan untuk menolaknya masuk ke dalam wilayah Inggris pada bulan Februari lalu, dan pihak berwenang Inggris juga menolak memberinya visa masuk setelah dia tiba di bandara “Heathrow” karena pendapatnya yang rasisme terhadap Islam dan umat Islam, di samping juga filmnya yang melecehkan al-Qur’an.
Wilders menilai Inggris yang seharusnya membolehkan dia untuk memasuki negara, namun dengan alasan bahwa keberadaannya mungkin menimbulkan masalah keamanan sehingga menolaknya sebagai bentuk “kegilaan dan kepengecutan”. Menurutnya insiden ini merupakan hari yang menyedihkan terhadap kebebasan berekspresi di Uni Eropa.
Setelah dua minggu sejak keputusan yang melarangnya masuk wilayah Inggris, maka Anggota Kongres Amerika dari partai Republik sayap kanan mengundang Wilders untuk mengunjungi Amerika Serikat dalam rangka memperkenalkan filmnya “Fitnah” yang isinya melecehkan Islam itu.
Dikatakan bahwa Wilders akan mengambil bagian dalam konferensi anti Islam di negara bagian Florida. Konferensi yang akan diselenggarakan oleh organisasi “Dewan Keamanan Florida” ini mengambil tema “Kebebasan berekspresi”. Iklan tentang konferensi itu telah disebarkan di internet. Dalam iklan itu dipasang foto Anggota Parlemen Belanda di samping slogan yang berbunyi: “Dilarang masuk London …. Diadili di Belanda …. Divonis di Yordania …. Dan disambut di Florida”. (mediaumat.com)
Sunday, April 19, 2009
BAIKNYA ORANG ACHEH KEPADA PELARIAN ROGINGYA
Saya pernah mengulas tentang pelarian Rohingya dalam posting sebelum ini. Mereka dizalimi hingga ramai yang terbunuh tetapi tiada satu negara ummat Islam yang membantu mereka. Mereka dibiarkan tanpa pembelaan. Akibatnya ramai yang melarikan diri dan mati sewaktu dalam bot, aduhai seksanya kehidupan mereka.
Semacam ada satu perasaan yang timbul dalam diri saya apabila membaca nelayan miskin di Acheh sanggup membantu mereka apabila menjumpai mereka hanyut di perairan. Walaupun mereka sendiri hidup dalam kemiskinan, orang-orang Acheh ini sanggup membantu mereka. Hanya Allah sahajalah yang dapat membalas jasa baik kalian.
Jika sekarang orang Acheh membantu pelarian Rohingya, tetapi tahukan kita Acheh pernah selama 300 tahun mempertahankan aqidah ummat Islam di Tanah Melayu dari usaha pengkristianan oleh penjajah setelah kejatuhan Melaka pada 1511. Tetapi sedihnya usaha Acheh sebanyak 6 kali untuk membebaskan Melaka digambarkan satu serangan kepada Melaka. Banyak sungguh fakta yang telah diputarbelitkan dari pengetahuan kita.
Kembali kepada persoalan Rohingya, mereka layak menjadi warga Negara Islam. Tetapi tiada satu pemimpin ummat Islam yang sanggup mengiktiraf mereka sebagai warganegara. Jawapannya hanya kepada khilafah Islam. Semoga ia kembali tertegak, amin.
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Indonesia’s Poor Welcome Sea Refugees
IDI RAYEUK, Indonesia — The only solace for the almost 200 men living in a squalid refugee camp here is the freedom they now have to pray.
“In Myanmar, if we pray, we are killed,” said Alam Shah, 38, a member of the Rohingya Muslim minority, who fled the predominantly Buddhist Myanmar last year. “I’m scared they will send us back there. It is a very, very dangerous country.”
The Rohingya here were found floating at sea on Feb. 2, after having spent three weeks aboard a wooden boat with no motor, no food and no water. When they were found by an Indonesian fisherman off the coast of Aceh, Indonesia’s northernmost province, many were close to death.
A few months before, another boat with about 200 Rohingya refugees landed in Sabang, on the northern tip of Aceh, where they are now being held at a naval station. Several more boats were found by the Indian coast guard carrying almost 400 Rohingya.
Research by nongovernmental organizations suggests that all the refugees had passed through detention camps on islands just off the coast of Thailand. According to interviews with the refugees, the Thai military towed and abandoned at least six boats at sea between November and January, when the international news media picked up the story and the so-called push-backs were halted.
The expulsions reversed a policy in which Thailand had allowed thousands of Rohingya to land in recent years, mostly on their way to Malaysia. The Thai military had denied accusations of pushing the refugees out to sea, but Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva of Thailand said in February that some boats had been towed out to sea and that he intended to investigate.
About 1,200 men are known to have been pushed out to sea, more than 300 of whom drowned, according to the Arakan Project, a nongovernmental human rights group. There are fears, however, that many more Rohingya from Bangladesh and Myanmar, formerly Burma, are still missing.
“It is difficult to say what the exact numbers are,” said Chris Lewa, an expert on Rohingya issues who runs the Arakan Project. “But based on the interviews we have done with refugees that have ended up in India and Indonesia, we think there were many more push-backs than have been confirmed.”
“What does seem clear,” Ms Lewa said, “what is consistent among all the interviews we have done with the refugees, is that they were detained on islands off the coast of Thailand before being towed out to sea and set adrift by the Thai military.”
Last week, after months of delays, the United Nations began the process of “status determination” for the 391 men being held in Idi Rayeuk and Sabang. The process, a series of interviews with refugees, will determine if they are in need of protection and can stay in Indonesia, or if they are economic migrants who should be returned to Myanmar.
At the same time, on the resort island of Bali, leaders from around Southeast Asia, including from Myanmar, are beginning discussions about regional migrants, including the Rohingya.
Indonesia, which regional analysts have praised for its leadership in matters like human rights, disaster reconstruction and other issues involving Myanmar, fears a flood of thousands of Rohingya to its shores if the men in Aceh are allowed to stay.
“Indonesia is trying to play a leadership role in this situation,” said Lilianne Fan, a humanitarian worker who has worked in Aceh and Myanmar and is now advising the Acehnese governor.
“Compared to other regional governments, the Indonesians have responded very well, especially since they have engaged international organizations,” she said.
The United Nations estimates that about 723,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar, where the military government considers them foreigners and denies them citizenship, passports or the right to own land. There are also hundreds of thousands of Rohingya living in Bangladesh.
The Rohingya in Myanmar live mostly in the northern state of Rahkine and in the past fled through Bangladesh and into the Middle East. But new travel restrictions imposed by Bangladesh’s government have forced the Rohingya to find alternative destinations like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The process of status determination and the negotiations that will need to take place between Myanmar and Indonesia could take many months. Meanwhile, the few aid organizations in Idi Rayeuk are concerned that the camp is not equipped to house refugees for long.
The men were greeted generously by the local Acehnese, many of whom live in abject poverty themselves but can relate to the Rohingya’s situation. Many Acehnese here have family members who were forced to flee a separatist conflict that raged in Aceh for 30 years until a peace agreement was reached in 2005. Idi Rayeuk, in fact, was once a central launching point for Acehnese trying to flee the country.
“The support has been unreal and an inspiration for the rest of the world,” said Sara Henderson, president of the Building Bridges to the Future Foundation. “They are still giving free fish to the camp when they have barely enough to eat themselves.”
But the generosity of the Acehnese and the local government is nowhere near enough, Ms. Henderson said. The men still live in tents on wet, muddy ground. Sanitation, food and water remain basic, and security is almost nonexistent. Seven men fled the camp last Monday morning, apparently afraid they were about to be deported, but they were all later caught.
Several of the refugees are also suffering from serious health problems, like tuberculosis, but the camp lacks qualified doctors and money for health care.
The Building Bridges to the Future Foundation, which was founded in response to the December 2004 tsunami in Aceh, has been pressing for donations to help coordinate the camp and provide necessary logistical support. The local government has offered to provide a larger plot of land if money can be raised for necessities like temporary barracks, sanitation and food.
“The local community and the government do not have the funds to support a refugee camp of 198 men,” Ms. Henderson said. “They barely, and rarely, have the funds to take care of themselves.”
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wanita Afghan Terpengaruh Dakyah Emansipasi?
Islam sekali lagi dialetakkan dalam kandang tertuduh, topik biasa- hak wanita. Sayangnya tidak sedikit yang terpengaruh dengan dakyah kapitalisme ini. Saya tidak bermaksud untuk mengulasnya sekarang. Tetapi apa yang berlaku di Afghanistan ini jelas ada jarum Pejuang Hak Asasi(Baca: Pejuang Sekularisme) untuk menimbulkan rasa benci dan kekeliruan di kalangan ummat Islam. Apa yang terjadi, wanita Islam sendiri menyerang konsep dalam agama mereka akibat tercucuk jarum HAM ini.
AFGHAN WOMEN PROTEST NEW LAW
KABUL, Afghanistan — The young women stepped off the bus and moved toward the protest march just beginning on the other side of the street when they were spotted by a mob of men.
“Get out of here, you whores!” the men shouted. “Get out!”
The women scattered as the men moved in.
“We want our rights!” one of the women shouted, turning to face them. “We want equality!”
The women ran to the bus and dove inside as it rumbled away, with the men smashing the taillights and banging on the sides.
“Whores!”
But the march continued anyway. About 300 Afghan women, facing an angry throng three times larger than their own, walked the streets of the capital on Wednesday to demand that Parliament repeal a new law that introduces a range of Taliban-like restrictions on women, and permits, among other things, marital rape
It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.
With the Afghan police keeping the mob at bay, the women walked two miles to Parliament, where they delivered a petition calling for the law’s repeal.
“Whenever a man wants sex, we cannot refuse,” said Fatima Husseini, 26, one of the marchers. “It means a woman is a kind of property, to be used by the man in any way that he wants.”
The law, approved by both houses of Parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai, applies to the Shiite minority only, essentially giving clerics authority over intimate matters between women and men. Women here and governments and rights groups abroad have protested three parts of the law especially.
One provision makes it illegal for a woman to resist her husband’s sexual advances. A second provision requires a husband’s permission for a woman to work outside the home or go to school. And a third makes it illegal for a woman to refuse to “make herself up” or “dress up” if that is what her husband wants.
The passage of the law has amounted to something of a historical irony. Afghan Shiites, who make up close to 20 percent of the population, suffered horrendously under the Taliban, who regarded them as apostates. Since 2001, the Shiites, particularly the Hazara minority, have been enjoying a renaissance.
President Karzai, who relies on vast support from the United States and other Western governments to stay in power, has come under intense international criticism for signing the bill into law. Many people here suspect that he did so in order to gain the favor of the Shiite clergy; Mr. Karzai is up for re-election this year.
Responding to the outcry, Mr. Karzai has begun looking for a way to remove the most controversial parts of the law. In an interview on Wednesday, his spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, said that the legislation was not yet law because it had not been published in the government’s official register. That, Mr. Hamidzada said, meant that it could still be changed. Mr. Karzai has asked his justice minister to look it over.
“We have no doubt that whatever comes out of this process will be consistent with the rights provided for in the Constitution — equality and the protection of women,” Mr. Hamidzada said.
The women who protested Wednesday began their demonstration with what appeared to be a deliberately provocative act. They gathered in front of the School of the Last Prophet, a madrasa run by Ayatollah Asif Mohsini, the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric. He and the scholars around him played an important role in the drafting of the new law.
“We are here to campaign for our rights,” one woman said into a loudspeaker. Then the women held their banners aloft and began to chant.
The reaction was immediate. Hundreds of students from the madrasa, most but not all of them men, poured into the streets to confront the demonstrators.
“Death to the enemies of Islam!” the counterdemonstrators cried, encircling the women. “We want Islamic law!”
The women stared ahead and kept walking.
A phalanx of police officers, some of them women, held the crowds apart.
Afterward, when the demonstrators had left, one of the madrasa’s senior clerics came outside. Asked about the dispute, he said it was between professionals and nonprofessionals; that is, between the clerics, who understood the Koran and Islamic law, and the women calling for the law’s repeal who did not.
“It’s like if you are sick, you go to a doctor, not some amateur,” said the cleric, Mohammed Hussein Jafaari. “This law was approved by the scholars. It was passed by both houses of Parliament. It was signed by the president.”
The religious scholars, Mr. Jafaari conceded, were all men.
Lingering a while, Mr. Jafaari said that what was really driving the dispute was not the Afghans at all, but the foreigners who loomed so large over the country.
“We Afghans don’t want a bunch of NATO commanders and foreign ministers telling us what to do.”
It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.
With the Afghan police keeping the mob at bay, the women walked two miles to Parliament, where they delivered a petition calling for the law’s repeal.
“Whenever a man wants sex, we cannot refuse,” said Fatima Husseini, 26, one of the marchers. “It means a woman is a kind of property, to be used by the man in any way that he wants.”
The law, approved by both houses of Parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai, applies to the Shiite minority only, essentially giving clerics authority over intimate matters between women and men. Women here and governments and rights groups abroad have protested three parts of the law especially.
One provision makes it illegal for a woman to resist her husband’s sexual advances. A second provision requires a husband’s permission for a woman to work outside the home or go to school. And a third makes it illegal for a woman to refuse to “make herself up” or “dress up” if that is what her husband wants.
The passage of the law has amounted to something of a historical irony. Afghan Shiites, who make up close to 20 percent of the population, suffered horrendously under the Taliban, who regarded them as apostates. Since 2001, the Shiites, particularly the Hazara minority, have been enjoying a renaissance.
President Karzai, who relies on vast support from the United States and other Western governments to stay in power, has come under intense international criticism for signing the bill into law. Many people here suspect that he did so in order to gain the favor of the Shiite clergy; Mr. Karzai is up for re-election this year.
Responding to the outcry, Mr. Karzai has begun looking for a way to remove the most controversial parts of the law. In an interview on Wednesday, his spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, said that the legislation was not yet law because it had not been published in the government’s official register. That, Mr. Hamidzada said, meant that it could still be changed. Mr. Karzai has asked his justice minister to look it over.
“We have no doubt that whatever comes out of this process will be consistent with the rights provided for in the Constitution — equality and the protection of women,” Mr. Hamidzada said.
The women who protested Wednesday began their demonstration with what appeared to be a deliberately provocative act. They gathered in front of the School of the Last Prophet, a madrasa run by Ayatollah Asif Mohsini, the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric. He and the scholars around him played an important role in the drafting of the new law.
“We are here to campaign for our rights,” one woman said into a loudspeaker. Then the women held their banners aloft and began to chant.
The reaction was immediate. Hundreds of students from the madrasa, most but not all of them men, poured into the streets to confront the demonstrators.
“Death to the enemies of Islam!” the counterdemonstrators cried, encircling the women. “We want Islamic law!”
The women stared ahead and kept walking.
A phalanx of police officers, some of them women, held the crowds apart.
Afterward, when the demonstrators had left, one of the madrasa’s senior clerics came outside. Asked about the dispute, he said it was between professionals and nonprofessionals; that is, between the clerics, who understood the Koran and Islamic law, and the women calling for the law’s repeal who did not.
“It’s like if you are sick, you go to a doctor, not some amateur,” said the cleric, Mohammed Hussein Jafaari. “This law was approved by the scholars. It was passed by both houses of Parliament. It was signed by the president.”
The religious scholars, Mr. Jafaari conceded, were all men.
Lingering a while, Mr. Jafaari said that what was really driving the dispute was not the Afghans at all, but the foreigners who loomed so large over the country.
“We Afghans don’t want a bunch of NATO commanders and foreign ministers telling us what to do.”
It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.
With the Afghan police keeping the mob at bay, the women walked two miles to Parliament, where they delivered a petition calling for the law’s repeal.
“Whenever a man wants sex, we cannot refuse,” said Fatima Husseini, 26, one of the marchers. “It means a woman is a kind of property, to be used by the man in any way that he wants.”
The law, approved by both houses of Parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai, applies to the Shiite minority only, essentially giving clerics authority over intimate matters between women and men. Women here and governments and rights groups abroad have protested three parts of the law especially.
One provision makes it illegal for a woman to resist her husband’s sexual advances. A second provision requires a husband’s permission for a woman to work outside the home or go to school. And a third makes it illegal for a woman to refuse to “make herself up” or “dress up” if that is what her husband wants.
The passage of the law has amounted to something of a historical irony. Afghan Shiites, who make up close to 20 percent of the population, suffered horrendously under the Taliban, who regarded them as apostates. Since 2001, the Shiites, particularly the Hazara minority, have been enjoying a renaissance.
President Karzai, who relies on vast support from the United States and other Western governments to stay in power, has come under intense international criticism for signing the bill into law. Many people here suspect that he did so in order to gain the favor of the Shiite clergy; Mr. Karzai is up for re-election this year.
Responding to the outcry, Mr. Karzai has begun looking for a way to remove the most controversial parts of the law. In an interview on Wednesday, his spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, said that the legislation was not yet law because it had not been published in the government’s official register. That, Mr. Hamidzada said, meant that it could still be changed. Mr. Karzai has asked his justice minister to look it over.
“We have no doubt that whatever comes out of this process will be consistent with the rights provided for in the Constitution — equality and the protection of women,” Mr. Hamidzada said.
The women who protested Wednesday began their demonstration with what appeared to be a deliberately provocative act. They gathered in front of the School of the Last Prophet, a madrasa run by Ayatollah Asif Mohsini, the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric. He and the scholars around him played an important role in the drafting of the new law.
“We are here to campaign for our rights,” one woman said into a loudspeaker. Then the women held their banners aloft and began to chant.
The reaction was immediate. Hundreds of students from the madrasa, most but not all of them men, poured into the streets to confront the demonstrators.
“Death to the enemies of Islam!” the counterdemonstrators cried, encircling the women. “We want Islamic law!”
The women stared ahead and kept walking.
A phalanx of police officers, some of them women, held the crowds apart.
Afterward, when the demonstrators had left, one of the madrasa’s senior clerics came outside. Asked about the dispute, he said it was between professionals and nonprofessionals; that is, between the clerics, who understood the Koran and Islamic law, and the women calling for the law’s repeal who did not.
“It’s like if you are sick, you go to a doctor, not some amateur,” said the cleric, Mohammed Hussein Jafaari. “This law was approved by the scholars. It was passed by both houses of Parliament. It was signed by the president.”
The religious scholars, Mr. Jafaari conceded, were all men.
Lingering a while, Mr. Jafaari said that what was really driving the dispute was not the Afghans at all, but the foreigners who loomed so large over the country.
“We Afghans don’t want a bunch of NATO commanders and foreign ministers telling us what to do.”
AFGHAN WOMEN PROTEST NEW LAW
KABUL, Afghanistan — The young women stepped off the bus and moved toward the protest march just beginning on the other side of the street when they were spotted by a mob of men.
“Get out of here, you whores!” the men shouted. “Get out!”
The women scattered as the men moved in.
“We want our rights!” one of the women shouted, turning to face them. “We want equality!”
The women ran to the bus and dove inside as it rumbled away, with the men smashing the taillights and banging on the sides.
“Whores!”
But the march continued anyway. About 300 Afghan women, facing an angry throng three times larger than their own, walked the streets of the capital on Wednesday to demand that Parliament repeal a new law that introduces a range of Taliban-like restrictions on women, and permits, among other things, marital rape
It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.
With the Afghan police keeping the mob at bay, the women walked two miles to Parliament, where they delivered a petition calling for the law’s repeal.
“Whenever a man wants sex, we cannot refuse,” said Fatima Husseini, 26, one of the marchers. “It means a woman is a kind of property, to be used by the man in any way that he wants.”
The law, approved by both houses of Parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai, applies to the Shiite minority only, essentially giving clerics authority over intimate matters between women and men. Women here and governments and rights groups abroad have protested three parts of the law especially.
One provision makes it illegal for a woman to resist her husband’s sexual advances. A second provision requires a husband’s permission for a woman to work outside the home or go to school. And a third makes it illegal for a woman to refuse to “make herself up” or “dress up” if that is what her husband wants.
The passage of the law has amounted to something of a historical irony. Afghan Shiites, who make up close to 20 percent of the population, suffered horrendously under the Taliban, who regarded them as apostates. Since 2001, the Shiites, particularly the Hazara minority, have been enjoying a renaissance.
President Karzai, who relies on vast support from the United States and other Western governments to stay in power, has come under intense international criticism for signing the bill into law. Many people here suspect that he did so in order to gain the favor of the Shiite clergy; Mr. Karzai is up for re-election this year.
Responding to the outcry, Mr. Karzai has begun looking for a way to remove the most controversial parts of the law. In an interview on Wednesday, his spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, said that the legislation was not yet law because it had not been published in the government’s official register. That, Mr. Hamidzada said, meant that it could still be changed. Mr. Karzai has asked his justice minister to look it over.
“We have no doubt that whatever comes out of this process will be consistent with the rights provided for in the Constitution — equality and the protection of women,” Mr. Hamidzada said.
The women who protested Wednesday began their demonstration with what appeared to be a deliberately provocative act. They gathered in front of the School of the Last Prophet, a madrasa run by Ayatollah Asif Mohsini, the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric. He and the scholars around him played an important role in the drafting of the new law.
“We are here to campaign for our rights,” one woman said into a loudspeaker. Then the women held their banners aloft and began to chant.
The reaction was immediate. Hundreds of students from the madrasa, most but not all of them men, poured into the streets to confront the demonstrators.
“Death to the enemies of Islam!” the counterdemonstrators cried, encircling the women. “We want Islamic law!”
The women stared ahead and kept walking.
A phalanx of police officers, some of them women, held the crowds apart.
Afterward, when the demonstrators had left, one of the madrasa’s senior clerics came outside. Asked about the dispute, he said it was between professionals and nonprofessionals; that is, between the clerics, who understood the Koran and Islamic law, and the women calling for the law’s repeal who did not.
“It’s like if you are sick, you go to a doctor, not some amateur,” said the cleric, Mohammed Hussein Jafaari. “This law was approved by the scholars. It was passed by both houses of Parliament. It was signed by the president.”
The religious scholars, Mr. Jafaari conceded, were all men.
Lingering a while, Mr. Jafaari said that what was really driving the dispute was not the Afghans at all, but the foreigners who loomed so large over the country.
“We Afghans don’t want a bunch of NATO commanders and foreign ministers telling us what to do.”
It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.
With the Afghan police keeping the mob at bay, the women walked two miles to Parliament, where they delivered a petition calling for the law’s repeal.
“Whenever a man wants sex, we cannot refuse,” said Fatima Husseini, 26, one of the marchers. “It means a woman is a kind of property, to be used by the man in any way that he wants.”
The law, approved by both houses of Parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai, applies to the Shiite minority only, essentially giving clerics authority over intimate matters between women and men. Women here and governments and rights groups abroad have protested three parts of the law especially.
One provision makes it illegal for a woman to resist her husband’s sexual advances. A second provision requires a husband’s permission for a woman to work outside the home or go to school. And a third makes it illegal for a woman to refuse to “make herself up” or “dress up” if that is what her husband wants.
The passage of the law has amounted to something of a historical irony. Afghan Shiites, who make up close to 20 percent of the population, suffered horrendously under the Taliban, who regarded them as apostates. Since 2001, the Shiites, particularly the Hazara minority, have been enjoying a renaissance.
President Karzai, who relies on vast support from the United States and other Western governments to stay in power, has come under intense international criticism for signing the bill into law. Many people here suspect that he did so in order to gain the favor of the Shiite clergy; Mr. Karzai is up for re-election this year.
Responding to the outcry, Mr. Karzai has begun looking for a way to remove the most controversial parts of the law. In an interview on Wednesday, his spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, said that the legislation was not yet law because it had not been published in the government’s official register. That, Mr. Hamidzada said, meant that it could still be changed. Mr. Karzai has asked his justice minister to look it over.
“We have no doubt that whatever comes out of this process will be consistent with the rights provided for in the Constitution — equality and the protection of women,” Mr. Hamidzada said.
The women who protested Wednesday began their demonstration with what appeared to be a deliberately provocative act. They gathered in front of the School of the Last Prophet, a madrasa run by Ayatollah Asif Mohsini, the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric. He and the scholars around him played an important role in the drafting of the new law.
“We are here to campaign for our rights,” one woman said into a loudspeaker. Then the women held their banners aloft and began to chant.
The reaction was immediate. Hundreds of students from the madrasa, most but not all of them men, poured into the streets to confront the demonstrators.
“Death to the enemies of Islam!” the counterdemonstrators cried, encircling the women. “We want Islamic law!”
The women stared ahead and kept walking.
A phalanx of police officers, some of them women, held the crowds apart.
Afterward, when the demonstrators had left, one of the madrasa’s senior clerics came outside. Asked about the dispute, he said it was between professionals and nonprofessionals; that is, between the clerics, who understood the Koran and Islamic law, and the women calling for the law’s repeal who did not.
“It’s like if you are sick, you go to a doctor, not some amateur,” said the cleric, Mohammed Hussein Jafaari. “This law was approved by the scholars. It was passed by both houses of Parliament. It was signed by the president.”
The religious scholars, Mr. Jafaari conceded, were all men.
Lingering a while, Mr. Jafaari said that what was really driving the dispute was not the Afghans at all, but the foreigners who loomed so large over the country.
“We Afghans don’t want a bunch of NATO commanders and foreign ministers telling us what to do.”
It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.
With the Afghan police keeping the mob at bay, the women walked two miles to Parliament, where they delivered a petition calling for the law’s repeal.
“Whenever a man wants sex, we cannot refuse,” said Fatima Husseini, 26, one of the marchers. “It means a woman is a kind of property, to be used by the man in any way that he wants.”
The law, approved by both houses of Parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai, applies to the Shiite minority only, essentially giving clerics authority over intimate matters between women and men. Women here and governments and rights groups abroad have protested three parts of the law especially.
One provision makes it illegal for a woman to resist her husband’s sexual advances. A second provision requires a husband’s permission for a woman to work outside the home or go to school. And a third makes it illegal for a woman to refuse to “make herself up” or “dress up” if that is what her husband wants.
The passage of the law has amounted to something of a historical irony. Afghan Shiites, who make up close to 20 percent of the population, suffered horrendously under the Taliban, who regarded them as apostates. Since 2001, the Shiites, particularly the Hazara minority, have been enjoying a renaissance.
President Karzai, who relies on vast support from the United States and other Western governments to stay in power, has come under intense international criticism for signing the bill into law. Many people here suspect that he did so in order to gain the favor of the Shiite clergy; Mr. Karzai is up for re-election this year.
Responding to the outcry, Mr. Karzai has begun looking for a way to remove the most controversial parts of the law. In an interview on Wednesday, his spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, said that the legislation was not yet law because it had not been published in the government’s official register. That, Mr. Hamidzada said, meant that it could still be changed. Mr. Karzai has asked his justice minister to look it over.
“We have no doubt that whatever comes out of this process will be consistent with the rights provided for in the Constitution — equality and the protection of women,” Mr. Hamidzada said.
The women who protested Wednesday began their demonstration with what appeared to be a deliberately provocative act. They gathered in front of the School of the Last Prophet, a madrasa run by Ayatollah Asif Mohsini, the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric. He and the scholars around him played an important role in the drafting of the new law.
“We are here to campaign for our rights,” one woman said into a loudspeaker. Then the women held their banners aloft and began to chant.
The reaction was immediate. Hundreds of students from the madrasa, most but not all of them men, poured into the streets to confront the demonstrators.
“Death to the enemies of Islam!” the counterdemonstrators cried, encircling the women. “We want Islamic law!”
The women stared ahead and kept walking.
A phalanx of police officers, some of them women, held the crowds apart.
Afterward, when the demonstrators had left, one of the madrasa’s senior clerics came outside. Asked about the dispute, he said it was between professionals and nonprofessionals; that is, between the clerics, who understood the Koran and Islamic law, and the women calling for the law’s repeal who did not.
“It’s like if you are sick, you go to a doctor, not some amateur,” said the cleric, Mohammed Hussein Jafaari. “This law was approved by the scholars. It was passed by both houses of Parliament. It was signed by the president.”
The religious scholars, Mr. Jafaari conceded, were all men.
Lingering a while, Mr. Jafaari said that what was really driving the dispute was not the Afghans at all, but the foreigners who loomed so large over the country.
“We Afghans don’t want a bunch of NATO commanders and foreign ministers telling us what to do.”
Friday, April 3, 2009
PERSIDANGAN G20 : ISLAM SEBAGAI ALTERNATIF
Persidangan negara-negara G20 menimbulkan reaksi banyak pihak. Pelbagai bantahan dan demonstrasi diadakan di negara-negara Eropah termasuk di London sendiri. Ini menunjukkan rakyat di sana mengetahui apa itu G20 dan tujuan persidangan tersebut. Tetapi saya kurang pasti apakah rakyat Malaysia mengetahui apa itu negara G20, matlamat dan kesan persidangan tersebut kepada dunia amnya dan umat Islam khususnya. Saya pasti jika kita memahami situasi yang sebenar nescaya kita akan dapat melihat satu lagi rangka tindakan kapitalis yang sedang bergelut untuk keluar dari krisis ekonomi yang sedang dihadapi. Pastinya mereka akan mengeluarkan pelbagai resolusi dan pelan untuk memulihkan keadaan ekonomi dunia hari ini yang saya pasti ia akan memberi kesan kepada kita. Dari sisi kapitalisme ia mungkin membawa kesan baik(jika ia berjaya) tetapi yang menjadi mangsanya adalah kita, ummat Islam. Saya katakan sedemikian kerana apabila sistem kufur ini dirasakan boleh membawa kemakmuran maka ramai dari kalangan ummat Islam sendiri tidak dapat melihat kefatalan sistem tersebut dan malah cuba menyesuaikannya dengan Islam.
Undang-undang Kewangan Baru dan USD1.1 trillion telah diluluskan
Chanselor German sebelum persidangan ini telah menyatakan bahawa betapa sistem kewangan dunia perlu dirombak dan melihat kepada sistem kewangan Islam. Itu juga yang dinyatakan oleh ramai pakar ekonomi barat. Mereka telah melihat kezaliman sistem ekonomi sosialisme dan sekarang kerapuhan sistem ekonomi kapitalisme. Mereka dapat melihat sistem ekonomi Islam sebagai suatu alternatif yang lebih stabil dan mampan.
Itu juga yang dinyatakan oleh Mantan Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir dalam ucapan dalan satu sidang sempena Persidangan G20 semalam. Beliau menyebut bahawa sistem kewangan dan perbankan dunia perlu dirombak. Apabila Dr M menyebut bahawa persetujuan Bretton Woods perlu dikajji semula menunjukkan beliau melihat suatu rombakan besar dalam ekonomi dunia perlu dilakukan. Saya tidak menonton ucapan sehingga tamat, tetapi saya percaya sebagai pemikir Dr M dapat melihat ekonomi Islam sebagai alternatif yang lebih baik.
Politik Ekonomi Islam
Ekonomi adalah suatu urusan yang sangat rumit. Oleh itu, sistem ekonomi Islam hanya boleh dilaksanakan apabila ada entiti politik yang melaksanakannya. Berbeza dengan pemikir barat yang hanya melihat kebaikan sistem ekonomi Islam dari aspek rasional semata, bagi kita yang beraqidah Islam kita meyakini bahawa hukum Islam wajib diterapkan kerana ia adalah perintah Allah swt, bukan untuk mendapat kemanfaatan semata.
Barangsiapa yang memahami asas sistem ekonomi Islam dengan benar, nescaya akan mendapati bahawa satu-satunya entiti politik Islam yang dapat melaksanakan ekonomi Islam adalah Negara Islam, iaitu khilafah. Inilah akar kepada penyelesaian masalah ekonomi ini. Selagi mana khilafah tidak tertegak, maka selagi itulah sistem ekonomi Islam tidak dapat dilaksanakan.
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