Originally published in The Malaysian Insider 05 September 2014
Taken from a post by Horn bill unleashed
https://hornbillunleashed.wordpress.com/2014/09/06/63116/
SHERIDAN MAHAVERA, LOOI SUE-CHERN, QUEK YIING HUEY
In our continuing series on the high cost of living in Malaysia, we
ask low-income families whether ‘luxuries’, such as an Internet plan and
Astro subscription are now necessities? Can people do without them?
Have Internet connection plans, mobile data plans and Astro become as indispensible as mobile phones, computers and cars?
The Malaysian Insider spoke to several families in the Klang Valley and
Penang on whether these services were things that even low-income
families cannot do without.
What emerges is a picture of how these “luxuries” compensate for the
inability of low-wage earners to provide other things like recreation or
childcare for their children.
Ghafar Mohamad, who lives in Klang, Selangor, believes that any
family with secondary school students like his own could not do without
an Internet plan.
“Primary schoolchildren nowadays have homework which requires them to
go on the Internet,” said the 52-year-old business consultant with four
children. Three are between the ages of 11 and 16.
Ghafar himself needs to go online for work, so the family spends RM68
a month on a basic Internet plan. Since he and his wife bring in about
RM 6,500 a month, he is willing to ensure their children do not have to
rely on cybercafes.
“With cybercafes, you’re not sure what they are doing there. At least with home Internet, you can monitor what they’re surfing.”
His sentiment was shared by all but one of the 13 families
interviewed. The only household that did not need the web was Tee Seng
Yean’s. The 78-year-old has no children or grandchildren living with
him.
Even fathers who cannot afford a home Internet connection, such as
Ojaran Fakharurrazi Omar, 37, from Penang, are willing to shell out
money for their children to use a cybercafe, despite its risks.
“I
have given my son money to use the cybercafe for Internet access to get
his schoolwork done,” said Ojaran, of his nine-yeMohd Hafiz Abd Aziz
says a data plan is necessary for work despite the high cost of signing
up for one.
Mohd Hafiz Abd Aziz says a data plan is necessary for work despite the high cost of signing up for one.
Mobile Internet plans, however, are considered a necessity by four of the 13 families interviewed.
Ghafar, Michael De Cruz and Yazid Othman of Kuala Lumpur, and Mohd
Hafiz Abd Aziz of Penang, claimed a data plan was necessary for work.
“A mobile data plan is a must. It’s necessary to communicate with
friends,” said Yazid, 33, who works as a delivery person for a watch
company.
Datuk Paul Selvaraj of consumer group Fomca said as the Internet had
become a primary method of communication for school and work, it could
be considered a necessity.
“But there are still issues of how much (bandwith) is a necessity and
what people use it for. The government should consider regulating the
industry so that there is a basic package that can be offered to
low-income families.”
When it came to an Astro, the number of households who thought it was
a necessity was about the same as those who felt an Internet connection
was necessary.
Those with Astro claimed that in this day and age, television viewing was almost impossible without it.
Ghafar had an interesting take on why his family needed Astro.
“You save on other forms of entertainment. You don’t need to spend on
movies any more and it helps keeps your children at home instead of
having them wandering around so they can get kidnapped.”
Zainal Ahmad echoed this, even though he only earns RM2,100 a month from manning a burger stall.
“My children complain that I don’t take them out. But I can’t take my
children out any more because money is short, so I have to provide an
alternative way to entertain them and keep them occupied.”
If he takes his wife and children to the mall, for example, Zainal
would have to spend on petrol, parking and food for six people.
A one-day outing could set him back by RM80 to RM100. In comparison, his Astro package is RM130 a month.
And then there is that other benefit, both Zainal and Ghafar agree,
for schoolgoing children in the form of TVIQ, an education-based channel
that provides exam and study tips.
Selvaraj, however, said cable television such as Astro should not be classified as a necessity.
“We are not ready to consider Astro a necessity. People will claim that they watch educational programmes.”
* This article was originally published in The Malaysian Insider on 05 Sept 2014. Since the website is no longer around, I am reposting it here for my own record. Many thanks to The Hornbill Unleashed for reposting the original.
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Saturday, September 3, 2016
Batam-based Radio Hang’s dangerous network of Islamist extremists ― Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman and Aida Arosoaie
FROM MALAY MAIL ONLINE
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/batam-based-radio-hangs-dangerous-network-of-islamist-extremists-mohamed-na#sthash.aEvzpho8.dpuf
SEPTEMBER 3 ― The recent arrests of two Singaporeans planning to join the Islamic State group has cast a spotlight of a Batam based radio station, Radio Hang, which according to Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), radicalised the two individuals.
Two others placed on Restriction Orders were also found to have been radicalised by Radio Hang, highlighting the blurred lines between violent and non-violent extremism, and a growing network of transnational Islamist extremism detached from power dynamics.
Radio Hang was founded by former bank officer Zein Alatas in 2002 and was given a licence to operate a regular radio station. In 2005, Zein was influenced by the ideas of Ustaz Abdul Hakim Amir Abdat, a puritanical Indonesian Muslim scholar, and started airing the lectures by Hakim Abdat.
A decision was made about a year later to cease airing music largely due to the puritanical belief that music is prohibited in Islam. The station began exclusively airing Islamic sermons and lectures by puritanical scholars from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and visiting scholars from the Middle East.
It has a following in the Riau Islands, southern Malaysia and Singapore.
In response to MHA’s statement, Zein Alatas has vehemently denied that Radio Hang promotes terrorism and radicalisation. Yet, a closer scrutiny of the sermons and of scholars featured on Radio Hang has revealed the opposite.
Promoting intolerance and violence
The preachers of Radio Hang are known for their vilification of other Muslim sects that do not subscribe to their conception of Islam. Hakim Abdat is known for denigrating the minority Shia Muslim sect, referring to them as infidels and warning radio listeners about the purported threat posed by Shiahs to Islam.
In the same vein, Rasul Dahri, a Singaporean preacher who is currently jailed in Johor for teaching Islam without accreditation, accused those who celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (long a practice among South-east Asian Muslims) as having committed a sin bigger than murder. Such intolerant views are common themes discussed on Radio Hang and it is disingenuous for those running it to disavow its links to extremism.
This is because the station’s exclusionary and dogmatic discourse insidiously creates a systematic classification of the world in binaries of good and evil which condones the use of violence in particular circumstances.
In this context, as the sermons aired by the radio station vilify other Muslim sects such as the Shias, the undertone of their message justifies attacks against Shias in certain circumstances.
The juxtaposition of the preachers’ supreme authority in Islam and consistent push for puritanism command their followers to adjust their behaviour in response to the alleged threat to their religion.
This can be read as an unconditional readiness for violence. Furthermore, some of the preachers who go on air explicitly call upon individuals to take up arms in the name of Allah.
In a broadcast in October 2013, Ustaz Abu Saad, a freelance preacher who is featured regularly on Radio Hang, encouraged his listeners to embark on a “violent struggle” in Syria.
He referred to the act as the highest form of worship. Abu Saad has been active in fund-raising efforts for radical groups in Syria and has travelled there to disburse these funds and carry out humanitarian activities.
It must be qualified that the preachers on Radio Hang have openly criticised Islamic State and referred to the group as a divisive, deviant one.
But this is not due to their aversion to violent ideology of IS but rather because of their ideological leanings which are in line with other violent groups linked to al-Qaeda.
What is perhaps more worrying is that while the preachers on Radio Hang are actors with clear political allegiances, their followers appear to form a more loose movement detached from these power networks.
The case of Radio Hang shows the transnational network of puritanical Muslim scholars. In 2011, Singaporean preacher Rasul Dahri organised a fund-raising dinner in Kuala Lumpur for Radio Hang, aimed at sustaining its operational cost and building a secondary school to teach puritanical Islamic teachings.
Fathul Bari, a key leader of the youth wing of United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and a popular Muslim preacher, also supported these fund-raising efforts for Radio Hang. Both have spoken about the important role of the station in spreading the puritanical Islam teachings in Singapore and southern Malaysia.
Unlike the clerics, however, their followers’ penchant for the Islamist extremist rhetoric is based on a religious morality which bypasses political and strategic concerns.
The choice of joining IS in spite of the explicit pro-al-Qaeda rhetoric of Radio Hang indicates that these individuals are disinterested in the political divides that separate the two groups.
Since it was IS, not al-Qaeda, which claimed to have re-established the Caliphate, these individuals oscillated towards the former based solely on the group’s alleged association with the perceived righteous form of Islam.
Most South-east Asian individuals who joined IS in the past two years cited the purported creation of the Caliphate as the seminal factor in their decision to join the group.
As such, the politically-motivated Islamist extremist discourse employed by Radio Hang clerics has created an Islamist extremist movement which is governed solely by uncritically hateful beliefs.
The current trajectory of radicalisation in the region is worrying because of two important reasons.
First, the increasing number of a bottom-line transnational Islamist extremist movement that transcends political calculations will certainly bring along the increase of reactionary Islamophobic discourses throughout South-east Asia.
Secondly, the emergence of these parallel networks will make it increasingly difficult for both security advisers and policymakers to tackle the threat of violent extremism.
While established networks of Islamist extremists are easier to track, the seemingly autonomous Islamist extremist network which takes up arms based on individual considerations will be much harder to trace and tackle. ― TODAY
* Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman is assistant professor and coordinator of the Malaysia Programme in S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and Aida Arosoaie is a senior analyst at the Malaysia Programme, RSIS.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/batam-based-radio-hangs-dangerous-network-of-islamist-extremists-mohamed-na#sthash.aEvzpho8.dpuf
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/batam-based-radio-hangs-dangerous-network-of-islamist-extremists-mohamed-na#sthash.aEvzpho8.dpuf
SEPTEMBER 3 ― The recent arrests of two Singaporeans planning to join the Islamic State group has cast a spotlight of a Batam based radio station, Radio Hang, which according to Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), radicalised the two individuals.
Two others placed on Restriction Orders were also found to have been radicalised by Radio Hang, highlighting the blurred lines between violent and non-violent extremism, and a growing network of transnational Islamist extremism detached from power dynamics.
Radio Hang was founded by former bank officer Zein Alatas in 2002 and was given a licence to operate a regular radio station. In 2005, Zein was influenced by the ideas of Ustaz Abdul Hakim Amir Abdat, a puritanical Indonesian Muslim scholar, and started airing the lectures by Hakim Abdat.
A decision was made about a year later to cease airing music largely due to the puritanical belief that music is prohibited in Islam. The station began exclusively airing Islamic sermons and lectures by puritanical scholars from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and visiting scholars from the Middle East.
It has a following in the Riau Islands, southern Malaysia and Singapore.
In response to MHA’s statement, Zein Alatas has vehemently denied that Radio Hang promotes terrorism and radicalisation. Yet, a closer scrutiny of the sermons and of scholars featured on Radio Hang has revealed the opposite.
Promoting intolerance and violence
The preachers of Radio Hang are known for their vilification of other Muslim sects that do not subscribe to their conception of Islam. Hakim Abdat is known for denigrating the minority Shia Muslim sect, referring to them as infidels and warning radio listeners about the purported threat posed by Shiahs to Islam.
In the same vein, Rasul Dahri, a Singaporean preacher who is currently jailed in Johor for teaching Islam without accreditation, accused those who celebrate the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (long a practice among South-east Asian Muslims) as having committed a sin bigger than murder. Such intolerant views are common themes discussed on Radio Hang and it is disingenuous for those running it to disavow its links to extremism.
This is because the station’s exclusionary and dogmatic discourse insidiously creates a systematic classification of the world in binaries of good and evil which condones the use of violence in particular circumstances.
In this context, as the sermons aired by the radio station vilify other Muslim sects such as the Shias, the undertone of their message justifies attacks against Shias in certain circumstances.
The juxtaposition of the preachers’ supreme authority in Islam and consistent push for puritanism command their followers to adjust their behaviour in response to the alleged threat to their religion.
This can be read as an unconditional readiness for violence. Furthermore, some of the preachers who go on air explicitly call upon individuals to take up arms in the name of Allah.
In a broadcast in October 2013, Ustaz Abu Saad, a freelance preacher who is featured regularly on Radio Hang, encouraged his listeners to embark on a “violent struggle” in Syria.
He referred to the act as the highest form of worship. Abu Saad has been active in fund-raising efforts for radical groups in Syria and has travelled there to disburse these funds and carry out humanitarian activities.
It must be qualified that the preachers on Radio Hang have openly criticised Islamic State and referred to the group as a divisive, deviant one.
But this is not due to their aversion to violent ideology of IS but rather because of their ideological leanings which are in line with other violent groups linked to al-Qaeda.
What is perhaps more worrying is that while the preachers on Radio Hang are actors with clear political allegiances, their followers appear to form a more loose movement detached from these power networks.
The case of Radio Hang shows the transnational network of puritanical Muslim scholars. In 2011, Singaporean preacher Rasul Dahri organised a fund-raising dinner in Kuala Lumpur for Radio Hang, aimed at sustaining its operational cost and building a secondary school to teach puritanical Islamic teachings.
Fathul Bari, a key leader of the youth wing of United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and a popular Muslim preacher, also supported these fund-raising efforts for Radio Hang. Both have spoken about the important role of the station in spreading the puritanical Islam teachings in Singapore and southern Malaysia.
Unlike the clerics, however, their followers’ penchant for the Islamist extremist rhetoric is based on a religious morality which bypasses political and strategic concerns.
The choice of joining IS in spite of the explicit pro-al-Qaeda rhetoric of Radio Hang indicates that these individuals are disinterested in the political divides that separate the two groups.
Since it was IS, not al-Qaeda, which claimed to have re-established the Caliphate, these individuals oscillated towards the former based solely on the group’s alleged association with the perceived righteous form of Islam.
Most South-east Asian individuals who joined IS in the past two years cited the purported creation of the Caliphate as the seminal factor in their decision to join the group.
As such, the politically-motivated Islamist extremist discourse employed by Radio Hang clerics has created an Islamist extremist movement which is governed solely by uncritically hateful beliefs.
The current trajectory of radicalisation in the region is worrying because of two important reasons.
First, the increasing number of a bottom-line transnational Islamist extremist movement that transcends political calculations will certainly bring along the increase of reactionary Islamophobic discourses throughout South-east Asia.
Secondly, the emergence of these parallel networks will make it increasingly difficult for both security advisers and policymakers to tackle the threat of violent extremism.
While established networks of Islamist extremists are easier to track, the seemingly autonomous Islamist extremist network which takes up arms based on individual considerations will be much harder to trace and tackle. ― TODAY
* Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman is assistant professor and coordinator of the Malaysia Programme in S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) and Aida Arosoaie is a senior analyst at the Malaysia Programme, RSIS.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/what-you-think/article/batam-based-radio-hangs-dangerous-network-of-islamist-extremists-mohamed-na#sthash.aEvzpho8.dpuf
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Mengapa Kelantan lebih sibuk dengan aurat wanita?
First published Malaysiakini https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/345429
Kerajaan Kelantan sepatutnya memberi lebih tumpuan kepada menyiapkan projek perumahan bagi semua mangsa banjir 2014, yang ada antara mereka masih hidup di dalam khemah, berbanding mengawasai aurat wanita.
Malaysiakini melaporkan Jabatan Ketua Audit Negara pada April 2016 mendapati hanya 59 peratus daripada 1,101 rumah baru yang dijanjikan kepada mangsa banjir di Kelantan telah disiapkan.
Maknanya, 41 peratus daripada rumah tersebut masih tidak siap dan ada mangsa yang masih tinggal di dalam khemah.
Akan tetapi, berbanding mengerah tenaga dan masa untuk memastikan projek perumahan tersebut berjalan lancar dan dapat diselesaikan, kerajaan Kelantan nampaknya lebih berminat terhadap pakaian wanita.
Akhbar The Star melaporkan seramai 31 wanita Muslim ditangkap penguatkuasa agama kerajaan negeri kononnya kerana tidak mematuhi Enakmen Jenayah Syariah 1985.
Walaupun 24 daripada mereka dibebaskan dengan amaran, tujuh yang lain diarahkan untuk menyertai kursus pemulihan yang semestinya dibayai oleh dana awam.
Soalannya, tidakkah wang dan tenaga kerja penjawat awam yang digunakan untuk kursus tersebut, dan operasi menangkap wanita terbabit, lebih baik disalurkan kepada usaha menyiapkan projek rumah mangsa banjir?
Tambahan pula pengkaji cuaca meramalkan negara sekali lagi akan dilanda bah besar antara Oktober dan Disember tahun ini disebabkan fenomena La Nina.
Oleh itu dana awam yang dibelanjakan untuk Ops Aurat lebih baik dimanfaatkan untuk persedian menghadapi banjr besar dan musim hujan yang semestinya akan memudaratkan lagi situasi mangsa banjir 2014 yang kini tinggal di dalam khemah.
Gembleng tenaga sediakan rumah
Mungkin ada yang berhujah bahawa operasi seperti Ops Aurat dan dasar seperti melaksanakan hukuman hudud boleh berjalan serentak dengan projek perumahan mangsa banjir.
Akan tetapi, peristiwa beberapa hari lalu dengan rang undang-undang persendirian Ahli Parlimen Marang Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang menunjukkan sebaliknya.
Kerajaan Kelantan nampaknya memilih untuk menumpukan perhatian terhadap melaksanankan hudud dan menjaga pakaian wanita daripada menggembleng seluruh tenaga untuk membina rumah mangsa banjir.
Persoalan timbul ialah, wajarkah kerajaan Kelantan memperuntukkan lebih masa, tumpuan dan kakitangan kepada operasi mengawasi aurat wanita sedangkan sumber tenaga tersebut sepatutnya boleh digunakan untuk menyiapkan rumah mangsa banjir?
Seperti yang kita sedia maklum, Kelantan antara negeri yang temiskin di Malaysia.
Setiap sen yang kerajaan negeri ada harus dibelanjakan untuk program dan dasar yang dapat memberi manfaat kepada seberapa ramai penduduk yang boleh.
Bukan sahaja rumah mangsa banjir yang menjadi isu, malah Kementerian Kesihatan mendapati tahun lepas, Kelantan mencatatkan kes penyakit leptospirosis paling tinggi di negara ini dengan 365 jangkitan.
Leptospirosis berpunca daripada najis tikus dan kebelakangan ini penyakit tersebut terjadi di tempat-tempat riadah seperti kawasan air terjun dan kolam yang banyak sampah sarap.
Sampah dan sisa makanan yang tidak dibersihkan menarik tikus yang mencemari air sungai dan kolam tersebut. Seramai 78 orang telah mati akibat jangkitan leptospirosis di tempat-tempat riadah tahun lepas.
Tidak mustahil jika majoriti 365 kes leptospirosis di Kelantan merupakan kanak-kanak dan ibu bapa di negeri itu sendiri yang mengunjungi air terjun semasa cuti sekolah.
Daripada mengerah pegawai dan menghabiskan duit dalam operasi aurat, lebih baik kerajaan negeri menyalurkan sumber tenaga dan dana tersebut kepada usaha-usaha pembersihan alam sekitarnya.
Amat malu apabila dunia melihat bagaimana kerajaan Kelantan bermegah dengan label agamanya lebih berminat dengan aspek pakaian wanita berbanding menolong mangsa banjir, memelihara alam sekitar dan menjaga kebersihan tempat awamnya.
ends
Kerajaan Kelantan sepatutnya memberi lebih tumpuan kepada menyiapkan projek perumahan bagi semua mangsa banjir 2014, yang ada antara mereka masih hidup di dalam khemah, berbanding mengawasai aurat wanita.
Malaysiakini melaporkan Jabatan Ketua Audit Negara pada April 2016 mendapati hanya 59 peratus daripada 1,101 rumah baru yang dijanjikan kepada mangsa banjir di Kelantan telah disiapkan.
Maknanya, 41 peratus daripada rumah tersebut masih tidak siap dan ada mangsa yang masih tinggal di dalam khemah.
Akan tetapi, berbanding mengerah tenaga dan masa untuk memastikan projek perumahan tersebut berjalan lancar dan dapat diselesaikan, kerajaan Kelantan nampaknya lebih berminat terhadap pakaian wanita.
Akhbar The Star melaporkan seramai 31 wanita Muslim ditangkap penguatkuasa agama kerajaan negeri kononnya kerana tidak mematuhi Enakmen Jenayah Syariah 1985.
Walaupun 24 daripada mereka dibebaskan dengan amaran, tujuh yang lain diarahkan untuk menyertai kursus pemulihan yang semestinya dibayai oleh dana awam.
Soalannya, tidakkah wang dan tenaga kerja penjawat awam yang digunakan untuk kursus tersebut, dan operasi menangkap wanita terbabit, lebih baik disalurkan kepada usaha menyiapkan projek rumah mangsa banjir?
Tambahan pula pengkaji cuaca meramalkan negara sekali lagi akan dilanda bah besar antara Oktober dan Disember tahun ini disebabkan fenomena La Nina.
Oleh itu dana awam yang dibelanjakan untuk Ops Aurat lebih baik dimanfaatkan untuk persedian menghadapi banjr besar dan musim hujan yang semestinya akan memudaratkan lagi situasi mangsa banjir 2014 yang kini tinggal di dalam khemah.
Gembleng tenaga sediakan rumah
Mungkin ada yang berhujah bahawa operasi seperti Ops Aurat dan dasar seperti melaksanakan hukuman hudud boleh berjalan serentak dengan projek perumahan mangsa banjir.
Akan tetapi, peristiwa beberapa hari lalu dengan rang undang-undang persendirian Ahli Parlimen Marang Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang menunjukkan sebaliknya.
Kerajaan Kelantan nampaknya memilih untuk menumpukan perhatian terhadap melaksanankan hudud dan menjaga pakaian wanita daripada menggembleng seluruh tenaga untuk membina rumah mangsa banjir.
Persoalan timbul ialah, wajarkah kerajaan Kelantan memperuntukkan lebih masa, tumpuan dan kakitangan kepada operasi mengawasi aurat wanita sedangkan sumber tenaga tersebut sepatutnya boleh digunakan untuk menyiapkan rumah mangsa banjir?
Seperti yang kita sedia maklum, Kelantan antara negeri yang temiskin di Malaysia.
Setiap sen yang kerajaan negeri ada harus dibelanjakan untuk program dan dasar yang dapat memberi manfaat kepada seberapa ramai penduduk yang boleh.
Bukan sahaja rumah mangsa banjir yang menjadi isu, malah Kementerian Kesihatan mendapati tahun lepas, Kelantan mencatatkan kes penyakit leptospirosis paling tinggi di negara ini dengan 365 jangkitan.
Leptospirosis berpunca daripada najis tikus dan kebelakangan ini penyakit tersebut terjadi di tempat-tempat riadah seperti kawasan air terjun dan kolam yang banyak sampah sarap.
Sampah dan sisa makanan yang tidak dibersihkan menarik tikus yang mencemari air sungai dan kolam tersebut. Seramai 78 orang telah mati akibat jangkitan leptospirosis di tempat-tempat riadah tahun lepas.
Tidak mustahil jika majoriti 365 kes leptospirosis di Kelantan merupakan kanak-kanak dan ibu bapa di negeri itu sendiri yang mengunjungi air terjun semasa cuti sekolah.
Daripada mengerah pegawai dan menghabiskan duit dalam operasi aurat, lebih baik kerajaan negeri menyalurkan sumber tenaga dan dana tersebut kepada usaha-usaha pembersihan alam sekitarnya.
Amat malu apabila dunia melihat bagaimana kerajaan Kelantan bermegah dengan label agamanya lebih berminat dengan aspek pakaian wanita berbanding menolong mangsa banjir, memelihara alam sekitar dan menjaga kebersihan tempat awamnya.
ends
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