Anies Baswedan's Impressive Debut

 Anies Baswedan’s Impressive Debut

M. Bakri Musa

October 24, 2023

 

Indonesia’s Presidential hopeful Anies Rasyid Baswedan’s speech on October 11, 2023 at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) was impressive. He epitomizes President Jokowi’s finest legacy of bringing many outstanding young talents into his administration. In the final analysis that is a leader’s greatest and most enduring legacy, not his long tenure or grandiose monuments.

 

            Judging from his speech as well as past performances, Baswedan’s election would assure and indeed accelerate Indonesia’s current already impressive trajectory. That would be good not only for that country but also Malaysia and the region.

 

            Thanks to modern technology I could participate in real time (at least virtually) in that as well as other presentations all over the world. In Malaysia, one series that attracts me is the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization’s World Professorial Lecture (ISTAC/WPL). My praise however, is not unalloyed. Of over two dozen lectures thus far I could recall archiving only a few.

 

            One was the July 3, 2022 talk by Aria Nakissa. A Penn graduate, he obtained his Masters in Islamic Studies at IIUM and then went on to get his JD and PhD at Harvard. He presented his novel research on Islamic Studies utilizing cognitive science, “big data,” and non-traditional sources. The only other distinguished IIUM graduate who had entered my intellectual world was the late Singapore-born Pakistani Shahab Ahmad. A Princeton PhD and a Harvard faculty, he wrote the monumental What is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic.

 

            A few observations on Malaysian presentations. First, the long distracting introductions that are not respectful of listeners’ intelligence and precious time. Then there are the irritating technical snafus. Could the organizers not have their staff do a dry run and show the guests how the various gadgets work beforehand?

 

            Fluffs as well as long preambles drown your central message, or worse. To wit, instead of saying, “Ladies and Gentlemen, food is now served,” just seven crisp direct words, a Malaysian host starts by apologizing for the “humble” offerings while profusely thanking the guests for “honoring” the occasion and the chefs for their culinary extravaganza. Then the prolonged effusive salutations and equally-dragged out obligatory supplications. Meanwhile the food gets cold.

 

            Baswedan’s lecture was the rare and refreshing exception. His few slides had a high data/byte ratio and were free from “chartjunk.” Uncluttered and thus informative! He must have read Edward Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.

            

            The program, “The Malay World Civilization’s Future And Its Contribution To Global Discourse On Sustainable Development” lasted over 130 minutes! Baswedan however did not begin to speak till 50 minutes into the program, what with the many long introductory remarks. One speaker gushed with admiration and later broke into tears in his praise for the man. Precious time wasted. People came to hear the speaker, not the host, emcee, introducer, or assorted hangers-on.

 

            Those other speakers added nothing. Not one speaker alluded as to why this man is creating such a buzz with his running for the presidency of Indonesia. Had Baswedan not mentioned that as Governor of Jakarta he successfully tackled that city’s notorious congested streets by improving its public transportation system, I too would not know of his remarkable accomplishment. He mentioned that not to show off, rather as an example of problem solving using our traditional mesyuarah (negotiations) and gotong royong (working together) approaches.

            

            Reflecting the rigor of his American PhD training, Baswedan spent only 27 minutes for his formal presentation, leaving plenty of time for comments. I highlight this because Malays are easily mesmerized by long speeches that deliver nothing but bombastic words. The local social media was abuzz recently over a nonagenarian scholar who spoke for over two hours, and nobody could remember what he said. 

 

            A refreshing feature, because it is so rarely seen these days,) of Baswedan’s presentation was that he could compose his sentences in complete Malay (or Indonesia) without resorting to the irritating jumbling or rojak speech of Malay and English, even in mid-sentence.

 

            The students’ questions were probing and insightful. One asked whether Baswedan’s Malay World was based on geography, culture and language, or genetics. He confessed his ignorance of genetics. Another, from a business major not surprisingly, asked about the possible impact of the proposed Kra Canal.

 

            Baswedan’s simple response was, “Change is inevitable. As such we must be prepared for it.” He did not elaborate on how, but I could after listening to him. Emulate him! Get the best education, learn English (today’s universal language), and continue seeking knowledge. Then leverage our time-honored cultural traditions of mesyuarah and gotong royong to solve problems and get things done.

 

            A senior faculty member hogged the Q&A session to boast of his papers on Biswedan’s illustrious grandfather. Had the moderator not prompted Biswedan, he would not have commented.

 

            Biswedan’s topic interests me as I have just completed the draft of my next book, Malay Civilizational Encounters:  From Pre-Islam Through Colonization And The Digital Age. I congratulate ISTAC/WPL for inviting him. Prime Minister Anwar would do well to have Biswedan address the Malaysian cabinet. If he could solve Jakarta’s horrific traffic mess, shaping up Anwar’s cabinet would be a walk in the park, or on today’s Jakarta streets. While he is at it, Anwar would also do well to ponder grooming his own Anies Biswedan. The greatest legacy for a leader is for him to endow the nation with an ever greater successor.

Cast From the Herd Excerpt #100: Back For The School's Third Term

 Cast From The Herd:  Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt # 100:  Back for the School’s Third Term

My former Malay College classmates Yusof Sidek, Wan Mahmud, and Ramli Ujang were in the inaugural class of the new medical faculty at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, which started that May 1963. One weekend Ramli visited me in my village to share his campus experience. He confirmed the stereotype I had of local lecturers. They were aloof; you dared not ask questions lest they would throw the book at you, Ramli related. As for his biochemistry class, his lecturer had not yet returned from his doctoral studies in London. For anatomy, another feared subject in medical school, Ramli said that they were given a cadaver per group of seven students and a dissection manual, and then left on their own. 

            That did not faze me; I had been doing that for biology at Malay College. Back at TMS during my last year there, I studied the entire last half of my class syllabus on my own. Nothing new or scary there! Being the pioneer class, Ramli’s batch received considerable national attention, and I envied him. 

            Meanwhile at my Sekolah Idris the second term was fast coming to a close for the short August holidays. One day my headmaster asked me if I would be back for the third term. Seeing that I would not leave for Canada until mid-September, I replied that I would. He was relieved. 

            We went over the syllabi. He was pleased that I was ahead in both classes. He confided that he was desperate to find my replacement and thus far had no luck. He pleaded with me to stay as long as possible. I was more than happy to oblige. 

            No science teachers, inadequate textbooks, and no biochemistry lecturer, at both high school and university levels. Why couldn’t the authorities plan better? Then they blame the students for not performing well!

            As for my poor students, their next few years, in fact their whole future, remained cloudy. The kindest view would be to regard them as pioneers blazing a new trail. In my heart however, I knew that they were but sacrificial lambs for a dubious cause. During those last few weeks I could barely look them in the eye. Those young innocent faces, so full of hope, were destined for great disappointments. 

            I wondered whether those leaders knew the impact of their policies. They were aware of the lack of teachers, books, and curricula; so why did they push hard the new untried system? Why not start small, test the model, correct the deficiencies, and once established, only then sell the idea? Those leaders must have had supreme confidence in their policies and their ability to execute them. Either that or they considered those young Malay minds expendable, cannon fodder for the nation’s battle for the supremacy of Malay language. 

            If that were so, then those innocent young souls should have been so told. At least then they could savor some sense of sacrifice. They and their parents would then not have their hopes soar so high. In their arrogance, those leaders zealously exhorted others to do their bidding, and those young promising minds bore the burden of their policies’ idiocies. 

            My second term holiday was consumed with preparing for my big trip to Canada. When the third term resumed, my students were surprised to see me back; they thought I would have been long gone. It was tough seeing them during those last few weeks. I felt a heavy burden. I realized that they would be stuck with one substitute teacher after another when I am gone. I consoled myself that they too could be blessed with a wonderful substitute teacher like Mr. Noh earlier who inspired me with Chairil Anwar’s poetry. 

            I tried to rush the syllabus, but the more I did the more resistance I encountered. Even normally diligent students balked, and I faced more disciplinary problems. One day my cousin and fellow teacher Baharuddin approached me. I was unsure what he was driving at, but he finally blurted out that there had been an ugly rumor that my scholarship had been withdrawn and that was why I was back for the third term. I assured him otherwise. Nonetheless he suggested that I should begin talking about my immediate future, of Canada, of becoming a doctor, in short anything to reassure my pupils that their teacher was not a flunky. No student wants a loser to be his teacher; hence their now less-than-respectful attitude towards me.

Next:  Excerpt #101: Threatening Clouds 

Cast From The Herd Excerpt #99: Meeting A Polished Canadian Diplomat

 Cast From The Herd:  Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt # 99:  Meeting A Polished Canadian Diplomat

By February that year (1963), the Higher School Certificate examination results were released. I passed, but Malay College’s aggregate performance was again disastrous. As with the year before, nearly half of my classmates failed to secure a full certificate, the culprit again being the notorious General Paper. Remember the soporific Mr. Tan? No further explanation needed! However in Malaysia, as my parents reminded me earlier and often, the teachers and system were never at fault, only that the students were not diligent enough. 

            Nonetheless the ugly reality remains. The curse of a less-than-diligent teacher goes far and deep. Mr. Tan dashed the hopes of so many of my promising classmates. That burden was borne not only by them but also their families, present and future. I would also add, the community.

            As a physician I am aware that if I were to perform at less-than-my-best, the impact would be felt only by my patients and their families. Not so with a teacher or leader. The curse of a less-than-diligent leader would be borne by the entire nation, and for generations. Likewise, the damage inflicted by a derelict and incompetent teacher goes far beyond his or her classroom. 

            On the flip side, the best that even the most competent physician could do would be to bring her patients back to their pre-illness status, nothing beyond. For an imaginative and inspiring teacher however, there is no limit to the potential achievements of her students once she has ignited their passion for learning. Never underestimate the power, for good and bad, of a teacher. 

            In the meantime I was busy preparing for my departure to Canada. I had received from the university a thick package. After going through them I felt that I knew the place. I visited the Canadian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur for my visa. When I told the receptionist that I would be attending the University of Alberta, she led me in to meet one of the officers who would be leaving the service soon to return to that university. That was how I first met Ivan Head. He was the Third Secretary, the junior-most professional position at the embassy. 

            Seeing that he was so young looking, I asked him what he would be taking, thinking that he would be pursuing graduate work. He smiled and said that he would be joining the Law School faculty. Oops! I was face to face with a soon-to-be Professor of Law! Before I could be embarrassed, he was already taking over the conversation. He updated me on the university, assuring me that its medical school was well regarded. Being an alumnus, he was able to tell me a lot more, as with the campus being in the midst of a massive expansion to accommodate the baby-boom generation. 

            As I sat there now at ease, the thought struck me that this gentleman right across from me would be a Professor, and of Law at that, while I would be but a lowly freshman come that September. He shattered all the stereotypes I had of professors being aloof and imperious. 

            On his desk I saw clippings of Malaysian newspapers. I felt guilty snooping but he showed me his work as Third Secretary. Apart from processing visa applications and answering questions from interested visitors like me, he read what was written in the local media about Canada. 

            I commented that the Canadian Foreign Service must be very competitive to have a law professor as its Third Secretary. Ivan Head laughed. He related that he had enjoyed his assignment in Malaysia and indicated that he did not intend to make the Foreign Service his career. His first love was academia. He had picked Malaysia as his first and only choice; had he not been posted there, he would have stayed in academia. I did not know whether that was the polished diplomat in him speaking or a genuine expression of his love for my country. 

            Encouraged by his lack of formality, I asked him whether I should buy warm clothing in Malaysia or wait till I arrived in Canada. He advised me to wait as whatever I could buy locally would not be warm enough. That sent a chill through me. Besides, there was the matter of style. “That is important for a young man,” he added, with a twinkle in his eye. 

            In that brief visit I knew a little bit about this impressive diplomat, something more of the university, and a lot about Canada. In addition, I learned what a junior diplomat’s work entailed. Quite an education, all in less than half an hour! Ivan Head was the second Canadian I had met; the first being my math teacher earlier, Mr. Brown. I was favorably disposed to both. Good omen! 

            Later that fall in between classes at the University of Alberta, I dropped by the Law Faculty then located in the old Arts Building to look up Professor Head. I found him in his office eating his home-made sandwich. Beside him was a metal lunch pail, the type carried by construction workers. He welcomed me and profusely apologized for being unable to share his sandwich as it had ham. Instead I accepted his apple after he offered it for the third time. There he was thousands of miles away from Malaysia and still remembering the common Malaysian courtesies, as his offering me the apple three times. 

            Professor Head became the faculty advisor to the Malaysian Students Association on campus. He and his wife Ann entertained us often at their home. I also found out a lot more about him. He was a star track athlete and had excelled as an undergraduate as well as in law school, before going to Harvard for his LLM. His particular expertise was the law of the sea, with emphasis on the Canadian Arctic. His seemingly arcane specialty would later be at the center stage of international affairs, with the possibility of a north-west passage. 

            Not long after, he became principal adviser to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Canada’s Kissinger as the press dubbed him. I crossed paths with him again at the Banff Springs Hotel. His first comment on seeing me was to inquire about developments in Malaysia. Here was a key advisor to the Canadian Prime Minister with a special interest in Malaysia. I wondered whether the Malaysian ambassador in Ottawa was taking full advantage of that fact. 

            My last official business before leaving Malaysia was a briefing from a certain Mrs. McCoy, the “Principal Establishment Officer.” From her name I thought she was a leftover colonial officer who had missed out on her golden handshake, or one who had gone native. Imagine my shock to find a smallish Indian lady clad in a bright flowing saree with her black shiny hair pulled back severely in a tight bun. 

            “So you figure yourself pretty smart to get this scholarship?” She chided me. “If you are not careful you could end up like the rest of them; having too much fun and flunking out.” She was a more threatening school mistress, less a helpful public servant. 

            Who was she to lecture me? She did not even know me. The nerve of her! Only the knowledge that she was in charge of my scholarship made me listen meekly and endure her bullying. That only encouraged her; she went on and on. 

            At last I was let out, but not before she blasted out a final barrage. “Come back with only the certificate issued by your university,” she snarled. “Don’t bring home marriage and birth certificates!” 

            That was it. No goodbyes or good wishes. If she had meant her last statement to be a joke, I missed it. I could not help comparing this experience to my earlier one with Ivan Head. And the Canadian government, not Malaysian, would be funding my studies. 

            People judge others as they would themselves. Mrs. McCoy thought others were like her, irresponsible and not diligent; hence her treating me that way. Ivan Head on the other hand was smart and conscientious; he believed others too were like him, and he treated them likewise.

Next:  Excerpt # 100:  Back for the Third School Term

Leverage Islamic Studies To Make Malays Trilingual

 Leverage Islamic Studies To Make Malays Trilingual

M. Bakri Musa

October 17, 2023

 

In January 2023 Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim declared that Islamic studies in schools and universities be reviewed to emphasize universal human values. A decade earlier at a Symposium on Higher Education in Muslim Societies at the Wilson Institute, Washington, DC, he asserted, “The crisis in higher education in many Muslim countries is manifested in myriad ways. . . . Among the root causes are those related to choice, content, and quality . . . . Islamic education has not much progressed . . . [beyond] Qur’anic and hadith studies.” 

 

            Dispensing with rhetoric, I suggest using Islamic Studies to make Malays trilingual:  Malay, English, and Arabic. As per modern neuroscience, multilingualism confers many cognitive advantages, quite apart from expanding your mind and worldview, together with conferring other advantages beyond mere economics. Non-Malay Malaysians are successful because most are functionally trilingual:  Malay, English, and their native tongue. The Apek in Ulu Kinta who could speak only Hakka or the rubber tapper in Ulu Tiram only Tamil is unlikely to improve himself, much less contribute to the nation. Likewise the Malay fisherman in Ulu Marang who could communicate only in his Terengganu dialect.

 

            In his 2024 Budget, Anwar allocated a whopping 20 percent to education, including and especially the resumption of government grants to religious schools, together with building new ones. The budget for the latter exceeds that for STEM improvements for the entire nation! Even the proposed Artificial Intelligence Faculty at Universiti Teknoloji Malaysia gets far less. Stop funding religious education, much less build new schools, until its roles and objectives are rationalized.

 

            Islamic bureaucracy also gets a whopping allocation. The strength of Islam is with and in the people, not with massive bureaucracies and sprawling magnificent edifices.

 

            There is a more fundamental issue with Islamic education. Muslim educators and teachers view it as less to sharpen minds, more to fill them with dogmas. Less education, more indoctrination. Syed Naquib Alattas put it more elegantly but the essence remains:  to produce individuals with adab, the consequence of their having acquired knowledge (ilmu), and with that hikmah (wisdom). In Malay, adab means etiquette or good behavior. Know things and their proper place and role, as per the good Syed. For mere mortals, know your place!

 

            Alas that’s the big rub. Who decides what is proper? Throughout history progress depended on those rare brave individuals who had challenged the natural order. In Islam, as per our Syed, that would be biadab. Challenge corrupt leaders as Hang Jebat did, then you would be far worse than biadab but derhaka(treasonous). Obey your sultan and you would be a hero, heaped with royal titles, and be venerated forever! You could even mess around with his concubines, as Hang Tuah did. On the other hand, had my late grandfather “knew his place,” I would today be a hamba (slave) at the palace in Sri Menanti.

 

            Many dismissed modern education for being secular, devoid of values, good only for producing mere pegs for the cogs of the capitalist machinery. Pegs or not, the diligent worker who wakes up every morning to pick up your garage or attend to the electrical grid is serving his community. Spend all day at ratib (prayers) may get you to heaven, as per your reading of ancient texts, but you are not contributing to society. You are but a societal parasite. At least biological ones provide a useful service; they help tune up your immune response, that is, until they overwhelm you!

 

            Munshi Abdullah likened a child’s mind to a parang, to be sharpened, not a dustbin to be filled with dogmas. Education is that sharpener. With a sharp parang you could hack yourself out of a jungle, or carve exquisite pieces of sculpture. All you could retrieve from a dustbin is what you had thrown in, minus what’s stuck at the bottom.

 

            Anwar Ibrahim should ask some tough questions of his education ministers. Are our schools and universities for rigorous intellectual pursuits or vocational training to produce future ulama? Even if we were to opt only for the latter, at least produce thinking ones, not those who could only recite pat answers gleaned from moldy tomes when faced with today’s complex dilemmas.

 

Mereka Yang Sebenarnya Bersalah Dalam Kes Ahamd Zahid

  Mereka Yang Sebenarnya Bersalah Dalam Kes Jenayah Ahmad Zahid

M. Bakri Musa

 

October 10, 2023

 

Keputusan Mahkamah bulan lalu (September 4, 2023) melepaskan tanpa membebaskan (DNAA – nama singkatan dalam Bahasa Inggeris – Dismissal not amounting to an acquittal) Timbalan Perdana Menteri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi daripada tuduhan rasuah jenayah dan pengubahan wang haram berkaitan dengan dana Yayasan Akalbudi RM 31 juta mencetuskan banyak bidasan dari pakar undang-undang serta orang ramai. Ia juga nyaris menyebabkan satu pertunjukkan perasaan yang besar di ibukota. 

 

            Kemarahan dan perasaan kurang puas hati diarahkan pertama kepada Perdana Menteri Anwar Ibrahim; kedua atas kelemahan dan kurang kecekapan pentadbiran kehakiman dan undang undang negara. Zahid ialah Timbalan kepada Perdana Menteri Anwar. Oleh sebab itu, tohmahan pertama boleh agak difahami walau pun tidak berasas dan mungkin tersasar. Bandingkan dengan tiadanya bantahan ramai apabila bekas Perdana Menteri Muhyiddin Yassin dibebaskan daripada tuduhan rasuah melibatkan jumlah yang lebih besar, yakni RM 232.5 juta.

 

            Dari segi kelemahan pentadbiran kehakiman, itu pun tidak bertempat. Malaysia adalah salah satu daripada beberapa negara yang telah berjaya mendakwa dan mempenjarakan bekas Perdana Menterinya. Itu menunjukkan pentadbiran kehakiman yang beres. Tetapi dengan Zahid pula, hasilnya jauh berbeza. Mengapa?

 

            Perlu di perhatikan dan mesti diingatkan bahawa bersabit dengan kes bekas Perdana Menteri Najib Razak, Peguam Negara (AG) berkenaan, Tommy Thomas, dan ketua pendakwa raya, mendiang Gopal Sri Ram, bukanlah pegawai tetap Perkhidmatan Awam. Berdua di ambil khas dari dunia swasta. Ini menunjukkan bahawa kita akan lebih bermanfaat jika memereksa bukan cara perhakiman negara tetapi sebaliknya kepada dramatis personae, atau mereka yang berkait dengan pendakwaan Zahid.

 

            Pertama ialah Peguam Negara kes Zahid, Idrus Harun. Dia memohon kepada mahkamah untuk melepaskan tanpa membebaskan (DNAA) Zahid hanya beberapa hari sahaja sebelum beliau bersara. Kedua, teliti sedikit kelulusan dan pengalaman dia. Ijazah undang-undangnya dari universiti tempatan dan dia tidak pernah pun berkerja di luar perkhidmatan awam. Pendek kata, dia mencerminkan mereka yang memperolehi kelulusan serta kerjanya atas atau melalui hak istimewa Melayu.

 

            Yang lebih penting dan amat pelik, Idrus meminta DNAA itu semasa pertengahan perbicaraan yang sudah berlalu terpanjang, memakan lebih 53 hari mahkamah, mendengar daripada 99 saksi, dan selepas hakim memutuskan bahawa terdapat bukti prima facie (sepintas lalu) dan memerintahkan Zahid membela dirinya atas semua tuduhan.

 

            Alasan Idrus Harun ialah (kononnya dalam katanya kepada Perdana Menteri Anwar) "untuk membersihkan hati nuraninya [Idrus] sebelum bersara." Patutnya hati nurani Idrus sudah tentunya jelas apabila dia memulakan pendakwaan Zahid.

 

            Bagi pehak ketua pendakwa raya Zahid yang awal, Raja Rosela Toran, gaya persembahannya serta tatatertip beliau di dalam mahkamah menunjukkan bahawa dia tidak sedikit pun gentar atau hairan dengan kedudukan tinggi Zahid. Raja Rosela juga, tidak seperti Idrus Harun, telah memilih untuk bersara lebih awal lagi untuk memasuki sektor swasta. Perbuatan sedemikian bukanlah satu kebiasaan kepada mereka yang berjaya tanpa bergantung atas hak istimewa Melayu. Ini disahkan seterusnya. Raja Rosela, tidak seperti Idrus Harun, bukan seorang graduan tempatan.

 

            Bagi hakim Yang Arif Collin Lawrence Sequerah pula, dia tersekat atas pendapatannya serta apa yang dia boleh buat. Tangan dan mulutnya terikat oleh undang undang negara serta tertatartib mahkahmah. Boleh tak boleh dia mesti membenarkan kehendak pendakwa yang memohon DNAA untuk Zahid. Dia hanya dapat membidas pendakwa serta kerajaan dengan cara halus. Yakni, pembicaran yang sudah pun berpanjangan merupakan satu lakuan yang membazirkan dana rakyat dan masa kakitangan kerajaan. Di sebalik kesopanan perutusan undang-undang itu, Yang Arif sebenarnya mengecam Idrus Harun.

 

            Saya tidak tahu di mana Hakim Sequerah memperolehi kelayakan undang-undangnya, tetapi dia perpegalaman luas diluar perkhidmatan awam. Serta dengan namanya, dia tidak mungkin seorang yang tergantung kepada hak istimewa Melayu untuk mendapat kelulusan atau jawatannya.

 

            Pengganti Idris Harun sebagai Peguam Negara ialah Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh, seorang lagi graduan undangan tempatan. Dia juga telah menghabiskan keseluruhan kerjayanya dalam perkhidmatan awam. Tidak mustahil jika ia akan mengikut langkah si Idrus Harun.

 

            Semasa Anwar menjadi Perdana Menteri saya mencadangkan supaya beliau menggantikan Peguam Negara Idris Harun dan Ketua Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia. Jika difikirkan semula, adalah kebijaksanaan Anwar yang dia tidak membuat sedemikian. Bayangkanlah jika Peguam Negara baru yang dilantik oleh Anwar memohon DNAA untuk Zahid! Malangnya pemerhatian isyarat ini terlepas oleh mereka yang mengecam Anwar dan mendakwa dia bercampur tangan politik dalam kes DNAA Zahid.

 

            Sebaliknya jika Anwar pada mulanya melantik seorang luar yang berkaliber seperti Tommy Thomas sebagai Peguam Negara, bekas Perdana Menteri Muhyiddin Yassin mungkin hari ini sudah dalam penjara menyertai si Najib Razak. Begitu juga Ahmad Zahid. Renungkan sedikit berapa rengannya masaalah serta pening kepala Anwar sekarang! Maklumlah, Zahid akan di ganti oleh Mat Hassan sebagai ketua UMNO serta terus menjadi Timbalan Perdana Menteri yang baharu. UMNO tidak mungkin meninggalkan gabungan Anwar kerana pemimpin mereka kini sudah syok menikmati faedah mereka sebagai menteri.

 

            Anwar sedar dari awal semasa dia melantik Zahid sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri bahawa dia (Zahid) sudah pun menghadapi tuduhan jenayah tersebut. "Tidak bersalah sehingga dibuktikan bersalah" adalah amalan undang-undang dimahkamah jenayah. Tetapi di dunia luar, seperti memilih seseorang untuk jawatan tinggi seperti menteri kerajaan, itu semestinya memerlukan taraf amanah yang lebih tinggi, seperti tidak ada sedikit pun bau yang tidak sedap atau kelakuan yang tidak wajar.

 

            Walau pun demikian rakyat Malaysia dalam kebijaksanaan mereka tidak memberi Anwar mandat majoriti dan dengan itu dia tidak bebas untuk memilih sesiapa yang diingginnya untuk menjadi menteri. Dia terpaksa memilih ranting yang diberi padanya oleh rakyat. Mewujudkan gabungan politik banyak ceritanya. Itu bukanlah satu perbuatan untuk mereka yang murni atau lemah semangat.

 

            Inilah kelebihan besar Anwar. Akibatnya sudah nyata. Negara pada hari ini mempunyai kerajaan yang stabil. Yang lebih penting lagi, negara dapat menjauhi kepimpinan kolot bolot Mahathir. Dia sedia dan tidak habis memburokkan kerajaan Anwar Ibrahim. Renungkan lebih sedikit sekali lagi. Oleh sebab kebijaksanaan politik Anwar negara sekarang tidak di bawah pemerintahan PAS dan Perikatan Nasional. Kedua dua nya korup serta tidak cekap. Bagi mereka yang sekarang mengutuk Anwar, ingatkanlah sedikit bahala yang negara kita sudah dapat elakkan. Fikiran sedemikian patut menginsafkan kita.

 

            Saya harap Jawatankuasa Pilihan Parlimen akan meneliti kes DNAA Ahmad Zahid dengan teliti, terutamanya peranan kaki tangan kerajaan dari pihak pendakwa bermula dengan bekas Peguam Negara Idrus Harun. Saya harap keputusan Jawatan Kuasa Pilihan Parlimen tersebut akan mendorong Anwar untuk menggantikan Peguam Negara serta Ketua SPRM semasa dengan profesional dari luar yang berkelayakan dan pengalaman mantang. Ini adalah keputusan yang sudah terbukti. Penyerapan mereka dari luar yang berbakat serta beres amat diperlukan oleh negara pada masa ini.

 

The Missing Culprit(s) In Ahmad Zahid's Court Case

 The Missing Culprit(s) In Ahmad Zahid’s Court Case

M. Bakri Musa

 

October 10, 2023

 

Last month’s (September 4, 2023) dismissal not amounting to an acquittal (the now infamous acronym DNAA) of criminal corruption and money laundering charges related to the RM 31M Yayasan Akalbudi funds against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi triggered a torrent of responses from local pundits, lay as well as legal. It also prompted a failed mass demonstration.

 

            The fury was directed primarily at Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and only secondarily on the presumed flaws in the system. Zahid being Anwar’s Deputy makes the first understandable, though still misplaced. For contrast as well as perspective, note the lack of outrage when Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was acquitted of corruption charges involving the mega sum of RM 232.5 million.

 

            As for the presumed flaws of the system, Malaysia remains one of the few countries that have successfully prosecuted and jailed her former Chief Executive. Same system but vastly different results. What gives?

 

            In the conviction of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, it is well to remember that both the Attorney General (AG) Tommy Thomas and lead prosecutor, the late Gopal Sri Ram, were not career civil servants. That suggests it would be more fruitful to look not at the system rather the dramatis personae in the Zahid’s case. 

 

            With Zahid, AG Idrus Harun, now safely retired, was a local law graduate who had never spent a day of his career outside the insular civil service, typical of an affirmative action product. More significant, he requested the DNAA just days before retiring and amidst a long trial that had already consumed over 53 court days, heard from 99 witnesses, and where the judge had earlier ruled that there was prima facie (at first glance) evidence and thus ordered Zahid to enter his defense on all counts.

 

            AG Idrus Harun’s purported reason to seek a DNAA at this late stage was, as reported by Prime Minister Anwar, “to clear his [Idrus] conscience before retiring.” I thought Idrus’s conscience was (or should have been) clear when he first filed those charges.

 

            As for the initial lead prosecutor, Raja Rosela Toran, her courtroom performances indicated that she was not in the least intimidated by Zahid’s exalted position. Unlike Idrus Harun, Raja Rosela had opted for early retirement to enter the private sector, not typical for a product of affirmative action, further confirmed by the fact that she, again unlike Idrus Harun, was not a local law graduate.

 

            As for the trial judge, The Honorable Collin Lawrence Sequerah, constrained in both his options and opinions, could only comment that asking for a DNAA at this late stage was but a massive waste of taxpayers’ money. Behind that legal decorum, he was in fact excoriating AG Idrus Harun.

 

            I do not know where Judge Sequerah obtained his law qualification, but he had spent a chunk of his career in a major law firm before becoming a judge. That, together with his name, suggests he is unlikely to be a product of affirmative action.

 

            Idris Harun’s successor as AG is one Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh, another local law graduate who had also spent his entire career in the civil service. He is also most likely an affirmative action product. As such, expect another Idrus Harun performance.

 

            When Anwar became Prime Minister I suggested that he replace both AG Idris Harun and Chief of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. In retrospect it was wise that Anwar did not. Imagine the uproar had an Anwar-appointed AG were to seek Zahid’s DNAA! Alas this signal observation is missed by those who claimed political interference in Zahid’s DNAA.

 

            On the other hand had Anwar appointed another AG in the caliber of Tommy Thomas, former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin would today be in jail joining Najib. Likewise, Ahmad Zahid. Anwar would then be relieved of a major political headache, with Zahid’s deputy in UMNO, Mat Hassan, now becoming the new Deputy Prime Minister. UMNO is unlikely to leave Anwar’s coalition as UMNO leaders are now enjoying their perks.

 

            When Anwar appointed Zahid, Anwar was aware that he (Zahid) already faced those charges. While “innocent till proven guilty” is a fine legal precept in a criminal courtroom, not so when choosing someone for positions requiring high trust. The standard there must of necessity be more stringent, as with not even a hint of impropriety. However, Malaysians in their wisdom did not give Anwar a majority mandate and thus that privilege or freedom of choice is denied him. He had to reach out to Zahid, no doubt fingers to nose. Crafting a political coalition is not for the purists or faint-hearted.

 

            It is Anwar’s political genius that Malaysia today has a stable government. More significantly, Anwar has spared Malaysia the malignant leadership of the discredited Mahathir and his band of incompetents in PAS and Perikatan Nasional. For those now critical of Anwar, nothing focuses the mind more than to think of that alternative. 

 

            I hope Parliament’s Select Committee will grill all the major players in the Zahid case, except of course the Judge. Anwar should also seize that opportunity to replace the current AG as well as MACC Chief with competent professionals from the outside. An infusion of fresh top talent is what the nation desperately needs today.

Cast From The Herd Excerpt # 98: Getting My Driver's License

 Cast From The Herd:  Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt # 98:  Getting My Driver’s License

Meanwhile the country was distracted by the hot political issue of the day:  the proposed political union with the remaining British colonies in the region – Brunei, British North Borneo (now called Sabah), Sarawak, and Singapore – to form a greater Malaysia. Prime Minister Tengku Abdul Rahman first mooted it in May 1961, instigated and blessed by the British, and the idea caught on quickly. For the British, it was a convenient scheme to let go of its colonies and not be worried that they would fall into communist hands. This was at the height of the Cold War. With the staunch anti-communist Tengku, the British were reassured. 

            The enthusiasm however, was not universal. In Brunei there was an armed rebellion that December 1962, led by one A. M. Azhari. The sultan had to flee to Singapore until he was returned to his throne, with the help of British Gurkha troops. In the end Brunei bolted out, and Malaysia’s establishment was delayed to September 16, 1963 instead of the targeted August 31st, the sixth anniversary of merdeka. 

            Fierce opposition also came from neighboring Indonesia and the Philippines; the latter through the more civilized route of a diplomatic petition to the United Nations, the former, with brutal military actions, konfrontasi. No wonder the government was distracted. 

            When the second school term began, I was happy to be back teaching. After a week in school it was again the end of the month, and then much to my surprise, another full paycheck. They paid you even during holidays! 

            During that holiday I decided to get my driver’s license. I already had my learner’s for a few years but just to be sure, my father enrolled me in a driving school, one of those mom-and-pop operations owned by a Chinese man who could barely speak a word of Malay or English. We managed through grunts and hand gestures. 

            On the day of the test he accompanied me to the Motor Vehicle Agency. There he demanded duit kopi (‘coffee money’), for the tester. I refused as I did not want my license tainted. After much argument and a warning of the dire consequences through grunts and sign languages, my instructor submitted my application without the extra cash. 

            The tester, a middle-aged Malay man, well-endowed in his mid-section, gestured to me to get into the driver’s seat. Still silent, he motioned me to proceed while scrutinizing my papers. We came to a junction; I stopped and waited for further instructions. Not getting any, I proceeded to turn right, at which point he jammed on the auxiliary brake on his side. Without waiting for me to recover from my jolt, he gestured to me to turn left. 

            After about 15 minutes of driving, he directed me, again through gestures, to return to base. He got out and headed straight to his office. My instructor rushed over to me, shaking his head in disappointment. An hour later the clerk called me. Sure enough there was a big “X’ across my application. I had failed! I went ahead and made another appointment for three weeks later, the minimum required waiting period. 

            This second time my instructor again insisted on the extra cash. As I could not afford any delay, I complied. The instructor took my money and partially tore the right upper corner of my application form to make it look like an inadvertent rip. 

            Soon my turn came; the same Malay tester, same dirty name tag, big belly, and gruff demeanor. We drove around for about ten minutes and when we returned my instructor signaled to me that I had passed. How on earth did he figure that out so soon, but he was right. That seemingly inadvertent tear in the top corner of my application form was the signal difference this time, marking it as “special.” 

            A few months later there was a spectacular arrest at the agency. I recognized the name in the headlines. They listed his houses, stable of luxury cars, and assorted wives, all on his meager salary. Then as if to prove that he was indeed guilty, he hired the most expensive criminal lawyer from Singapore, a certain David Marshall. That high-priced lawyer did not help. As an aside, Marshal would later become Chief Minister of Singapore under the British. 

            What a contrast to my Canadian driver’s test a year later. I spent about 20 minutes driving as my tester made running commentaries. “I would go a little slower on that turn!” and, “You should anticipate that fellow on the left not giving way.” I learned more about safe driving from him than I ever did from my illiterate Malaysian instructor. And no bribes! My Canadian tester even wished me good luck with my driving. 

Next:  Excerpt # 99:  Meeting A Polished Canadian Diplomat

Malay Leaders' Shameless Lack of Dignity (Takde Maruah)

 Malay Leaders’ Shameless Lack of Dignity (Takde Maruah)

M. Bakri Musa

 

October 3, 2023

 

The recent blip in the local news about the son of former Religious Minister and longtime Federal Mufti Zulkifli Albakri receiving zakat funds to pursue religious studies in Jordan drew a yawn from me. That reflects less of me, more on the current entrenched lack of shame (takde maruah) among Malay leaders of all stripes, religious as well as secular.

 

            That this involved zakat funds (tithe) meant for the poor should have caused an uproar, but even that fact did not. On the contrary, both Albakri and the religious officials who approved the “award” went at great length to justify their actions. That reveals the extent to which our norms and values (including religious) have been degraded.

 

            I would be generous and compliment that young man, as well as his father, had he (the son) pursued Quantum Physics at Caltech or Harvard. However, this was a scholarship for religious studies at a third-rate university and in the Third World to boot. Malaysia should not be sending her students there. Besides, Malays need another Islamic scholar like we need another rainy day during the monsoon season.

 

            I see so many children of Malay elite getting government dole. As such my threshold for shock is high. That notwithstanding, let us call Albakri’s son’s case for what it is, a “scholarship” or “study award” it is not.

 

            How did our community get degraded to this shameful stage?

 

            Then consider this. Long before that perennial and loudest self-professed champion of berdikari (self-reliance) and Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Hegemony) Mahathir Mohamad became Prime Minister, he had a thriving private medical practice. That notwithstanding, he put all his children on the dole by their attending government residential schools, thus sparing himself what other parents had to pay:  tuition fees, room and board, as well as textbooks. Likewise their university education, sanitized as “scholarships!” All these while running up and down the country exhorting Malays to emulate the Chinese by being self-sufficient. Today at 98 years old and rejected by voters, he changes his tune. Mahathir now blames pendatangs (non-Malays) for our sorry plight.

 

            I am no longer shocked by such revelations as with Albakri’ son. Instead I choose to remember the rare exceptions when Malays break from this “waiting for government handout” mentality. Years ago, a senior minister’s son who had just graduated from an Ivy League university confessed to me why he did not return to Malaysia. He was on his father’s ‘scholarship’ and as such was spared such an obligation. He feared that whatever achievements he made in Malaysia would forever be tainted as a consequence of his family ties. Refreshing perspective! Many a Malay Oxford graduate would exploit that relationship.

 

            Six decades ago when my youngest sibling was awarded a university scholarship, my parents asked her to decline the offer. Instead, they paid her way. We had been blessed to have all her older brothers and sisters getting scholarships, my late father reasoned, that it was time to give others the chance. My parents were then close to retirement. Nonetheless with a Malay schoolteacher’s salary, even with both working, that was a struggle, but my parents managed it. I was never more proud of them.

 

            Once a physician in government service chided me for criticizing Malay professionals sending their children to these expensive fully-subsidized residential schools.

 

            “It’s fine for you to say that, Bakri. You are in private practice and in America to boot. Remember how lousy your pay was as a government doctor back in Malaysia!”

 

            Agreed! So the exceptions would be for those Malay professionals in public service. Give their children scholarships but only if they were to attend top universities, and pursuing other than revealed knowledge and prophetic traditions.

 

            Many years ago on the occasion of his son graduating from an elite university, I complimented my late friend Ahmad “Kim” Sabian, a retired furniture salesman. He and his wife Rose were well known to generations of Malaysian students here in the San Francisco Bay Area for their wonderful satay. I congratulated him (and his son Hisham), remarking that he had one up over those Malay ministers back home in that he did it without having to depend on MARA or some such bodies. Kim could hardly hold back his tears. Those tears were less of joy, more a sense of self-pride and accomplishment.

 

            It is this sense of accomplishment and self-pride that we must instill in our people if we Malays were to have our rightful slot in this world or even Malaysia. Endlessly shouting that Malaysia belongs to Malays would not do it. Save your breath!

 

            I am certain that in his next khutba, Albakri would at great length quote chapter and verse on the importance of giving zakat. However, it would never occur to him to even contemplate the flip side of that, that is, the reciprocal obligation of not consuming precious zakat funds.

 

            Tunjuk lah maruah sikit! (Show some self-dignity and self-pride.) You owe that to yourself, your children, and most of all your congregation and community. During this Maulud Nabi when we are asked to emulate our Prophet, s.a.w., Mufti Albakri should ask himself whether our Prophet, s.a.w, would do or approve of what he (Albakri) did.

 

            The only redeeming feature to this whole shameful saga is that there was someone in that Religious Department with a modicum of integrity and self-pride. He emulated our beloved Prophet, s.a.w., in that when he saw evil being perpetrated, he did the right thing. He leaked that information in the hope that it could be stopped. It did not. Nonetheless his action gives me hope.

Cast From The Herd Excerpt #97: The Novice Teacher

 Cast From The Herd:  Memories of Matriarchal Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

Excerpt # 97:  The Novice Teacher 

Mr. Norton had earlier discussed my being a temporary teacher at Malay College during the hiatus before going abroad. I was thrilled to be considered. While prestige was a factor, the more practical reason was that I would have some money before going to Canada. 

            So that early December after leaving Malay College, I was anticipating the letter from “Headmaster, The Malay College” inviting me to return. January came and there was none. Disappointed, I went to my old Tuanku Muhammad School (TMS) in Kuala Pilah, but it had already made its selection. I scoured the “jobs wanted” ads but scored zero. 

            Later in the week my cousin Baharuddin who was teaching at the new Idris English School in Tanjong Ipoh, a couple of miles from my home, dropped by and said that his school was desperate for a science teacher. The headmaster, Mr. Chin Chin Ngan, happened to be my former home-room teacher during my Form Two at TMS. So that very afternoon I went to make my application. He was still in his office and better yet, remembered me. After a brief interview he offered me the job. 

            I started the very next day and was issued the science syllabus and textbooks. The textbooks were translations of a discarded series once used in the English stream. They were so outdated and full of errors that I was surprised the government saw fit to translate them. Perhaps they had the cheapest royalty payments. To refer to them as books would be too generous. They were but flimsy mimeograph sheets stapled together, with the print bleeding through, making reading them a challenge. The frequent irritating and glaring typos only made things worse. 

            The translations were appalling and erratic. They had translated the word instead of its root through slight alterations in the spelling as with reaksi for reaction (chemical). That only complicated matters when it came to finding the appropriate derivatives like “reactivity.” The translations were also inconsistent and haphazard, with “reaction” variously translated as reaksi and tindakbalas. In other instances they were simplistic, as with kotiliden for cotyledon. 

            I dispensed with the textbooks’ amateurish (or more accurately, half-assed) translations, reasoning that whether it was kotiliden or cotyledon, both would be new terms to my students. So why not learn the original English? That would help them with the reference books. I remembered the old brochures of the Rubber Research Institute’s extension department that my father used to receive where they maintained the original scientific terms. I reasoned that if my father could readily understand them, so could these bright young students. 

            I also ignored the obsolete experiments and made my students do the same ones I did at their level. I also designed new ones on seed germination, for example, and made them collect tadpoles and banana leaf moths to observe and record their metamorphosis. Those exercises served as a good introduction into science by sharpening their powers of observation and stimulating their interest in the natural environment. 

            Although these students came up through Malay primary schools, they were very different from my classmates at my mother’s old school a decade earlier. These students were more like those in the English stream:  smartly dressed with socks and shoes, far from the kaki ayam (barefooted) with ragged shirts and pants that were the standard attire back then. 

            Like my prep school students at Malay College the year earlier, these kids were eager and diligent, but subdued and not assertive. A few may have been on par intellectually with the boys of my prep school, but as a group I could tell the difference. Part of the problem was their limited English proficiency. It did not help that they were put among English-stream schoolmates. Then there was their teacher – me, raw and untrained. 

            Between the excitement of a new job and the challenge of teaching science in Malay, the day went fast. Soon it was the end of the month and payday. What a pleasant surprise! I was told that my pay was $310.00 per month, the standard rate. My paycheck however, was considerably more, almost equal to my father’s, and he had been teaching for decades. I had not factored in the assorted allowances like COLA (Cost of Living Allowance). Right there I was impressed with the value of education as an investment. It paid, and did so very well for me. 

            My father often discussed filial obligations with us. He reminded us that when we get our first paycheck we should offer him a portion, however small, as a symbolic gesture. So I did. To my surprise he refused it, as did my mother. She advised me to save the money as I would need it in Canada. So for subsequent paychecks I banked almost the entire amount as I had no living expenses being that I lived at home. 

            How fortuitous that I was not offered the Malay College job. The pay would have been the same but I would have had all those living expenses. Whoever made that decision did me a great favor. Later I discovered that I was indeed offered the position, but the appointment letter was misaddressed to a Kampung Tengah in Perak, not Negri Sembilan. 

            There was one major embarrassment. My younger brother Adzman was in Form Two of the English stream, and I had to teach his class Art. I was a dud when it came to anything artistic. Now I had to teach it – to my brother! It was a source of endless embarrassment for me. 

            I read all the books on art I could get. One in particular was helpful, Art and the Human Form. I learned much that would help me later in my anatomy class at medical school. My parents also helped me with my lesson plans by letting me read theirs. 

            When the first term holidays came, I was more than ready for it. Earlier I had approached my headmaster whether there were courses over the holidays I could take, as with those earlier “normal-trained” teachers. There were none. Six years after introducing Malay secondary schools, they still had no formal program to train the teachers, especially for critical subjects like science and mathematics. This to me, and the earlier problem with textbooks, represented a dereliction of duty of the highest order by the country’s top leaders.  Their victims? Again like today, young poor Malay kids.

Next:  Excerpt # 98:  Getting My Driver’s License