Asian Diplomatic Ambiguity: Calming The South China Sea? – Analysis

The ongoing standoff between Beijing and Manila over their rival claims in the Spratlys may never be resolved through standard frameworks of international law. The best way forward may lie in the Asian way of diplomatic ambiguity.

By Alan Chong and Emrys Chew

RECENT ATTEMPTS to prescribe solutions to the ongoing standoff between Beijing and Manila over their rival claims to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea combine large doses of good intentions with a clinical approach to international law. These are unlikely to be taken seriously simply because they ignore the thick political contexts entangling the rival claimants.

For starters, some international legal consultants have suggested that Chinese positions may well be untenable according to baselines asserted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that are drawn from a submerged “Macclesfield Bank”. Likewise, Filipino claims to Scarborough Shoal via the argument of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extending from the Republic’s main islands are equally contestable in a court of international law. Then, in late April, an International Crisis Group report attributed Chinese aggression to severely inadequate inter-ministry coordination and the political exploitation of nationalism by the Chinese Communist Party.

All these prognoses assume, dangerously, that history, memory and informal maritime practices on the ground are marginal to the current standoff. The reality is that these non-litigable and non-technical factors loom very large in the daily practice of Asian international relations.

History and memory in Asian international politics

Many policy circles forget that 21st century Asia still grapples with the crippling legacies of past centuries. The traumas of alien jurisdiction imported under colonial conditions from the West have left scars etched deeply into both psychological mindscapes and political landscapes.

China, expressed in terms of the collective destiny of a People’s Republic unified in 1949, was heir to a grand nationalist revitalisation project. Commencing in the late 1880s with Sun Yat-sen’s global outreach to rally the Chinese diaspora towards a modern political awakening, such nationalism brooked no compromise in pursuing a restoration of unity to the Chinese people. It was emphatically territorial: from the xenophobic attempts to regain sovereignty conceded from opium wars, gunboat diplomacy and unequal treaties over a “century of humiliation”; through the studied obstinacy of Chinese communist officialdom towards Chris Patten’s policies in the run-up to Hong Kong’s handover; to the non-negotiable goal of “recovering” Taiwan.

The Filipino struggle, expressed militarily and intellectually, first against Spain and then the United States, was about proving themselves ready for national independence. Ironically perhaps, it would take José Rizal’s writings to demonstrate how a Chinese-Filipino mestizo could become the equivalent of a Johann-Gottfried Herder of the Filipinos, awakening a spiritual nationalism that located its homeland in the Philippine archipelago.

For Filipino and Chinese nationalist alike, World War Two was significantly about fighting a just war for one’s pride and home against an imperial foreign power. The Cold War reiterated the territoriality of Philippine nationalism when the United States concentrated a vital part of its Cold War containment facilities at Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base. The US military had to evacuate those bases by 1992 owing to resurgent Philippine nationalism in a more fluid post-Cold War order. Both the Chinese and Philippine nation-states would thereby embody a collective spiritual need to defend or recover “lost” territories.

Porous borders, fluid frontiers

The collective nationalist urges to dominate and demarcate territory notwithstanding, history has also yielded boundary-defying patterns of social commingling between peoples on the ground. Before the militarisation of rival claims in the mid-1970s, virtually all reports on the Spratlys indicate that fisherfolk from claimant countries availed themselves regularly of the abundant fish stock in these waters without heeding the maritime boundaries. Commercial vessels of all sizes and flags have transited the disputed waters on their cargo routes.

Significantly, Beijing and Manila have both promoted tourism in the disputed zone, even though both governments argued simultaneously that such activities reinforce territorial sovereignty. It emerges that the nature of human social activity has added a seemingly universalistic layer of virtual claim on a “regional commons,” thereby defying any straightforward assertion of sovereignty.

Yet such mixed-usage, boundary-defying patterns of human activity are rooted historically in Asian political cultures, pre-dating even the Western import labelled as the nation-state. Itinerant traders, nomadic fisherfolk, international tourists and pan-Asian missionaries of every religious persuasion have crisscrossed Asian maritime frontiers without regard to sovereignty as we know it. Occasionally, these travellers and traffickers were subjected to piratical attack, but just as frequently, they put into ports along their transit routes in the South China Sea and Malacca Strait on the basis of the port’s reputation for just governance, religious piety, and “value added” commercial services.

An informal variant of “proto-soft power,” to use today’s fashionable term, thus attracted respect for territoriality on the open maritime commons since ancient times. It is hardly surprising that the sources of piracy in Asian waters continue to baffle modern Asian governments.

Virtue of diplomatic ambiguity

The current impasse in the Spratly Islands dispute is therefore unlikely to be resolved through neo-Westphalian, legalistic frameworks. Both Beijing and Manila, alongside the remaining four claimants, will need to reconcile the conjoined histories and memories that drive their sovereign territorial nationalisms with the informal maritime practices on the ground.

There is already a guide to handling this – the structural face-saving ambiguity inherent in the ASEAN Way. Both Manila and Beijing could find some non-political reason such as maritime safety (or specifically, safety of fishermen on the open seas) to produce a common reason to stand down. Even the ongoing third party-involved joint oil exploration and extraction ventures could be considered a continuation of the time-honoured practice of sharing an Asian commons.

Ambiguity is not necessarily a political taboo, much less a sin against national public opinion. Rather, it presents an alternative way out of complex entanglement that cannot be unravelled through legal technicalities. Indeed, the Chinese would do well to heed their own peaceful slogan – “shelf disputes, jointly develop” – thus laying to rest the spectre of a gunboat diplomacy that recalls their own troubled past.

Dipetik dari - Eurasia Review

Ucapan takziah atas pemergian Timbalan Pengerusi MILF

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Is Asia Ready for a Great Transformation?

ADB says maybe no, maybe yes. It’s up in the air

If ever the Asian Development Bank’s schizophrenia was summed up in one document it is the draft report entitled “Asean, the PRC and India: The Great Transformation?” unveiled at last week’s annual meeting of the bank in Manila.

Depending on how you read it, the document could be a replay of mid-1990s Asian hubris, a stern lecture to assorted governments on their failure to address fundamental domestic and cooperation issues, or a statement of China’s long-run superiority over both India and the Asean nations.

At several points the document asserts that a Great Transformation is taking place so that by 2030 all will have collectively quadrupled their output and will play a role in the international arena commensurate with their size and wealth. “The ACI nations are on a trajectory which will affect all critical dimensions of global economic activity.” Yet, as the very title itself displays, there is a large question mark over this optimistic forecast.

The question mark does not seem to have bothered those compiling the gross domestic product projections for the years to 2030. They see China’s GDP continuing to grow at an annual average of 7 percent a year so that by 2030 it will hit $15,548 per head a year. India will grow slightly faster at 7.6 percent but the per capita gap will continue to increase so that India’s will have only reached $4,312 by the same date. (These are using market prices. The gap is narrower using Purchasing Power Parity but the trajectory is the same).

The report appears to see China having no real problem breaking out of the so-called “middle income trap” and following the path to rich country status of South Korea and Taiwan. However, its middle-income Asean neighbors are facing a much grimmer future, at least according to the data projections. Thailand is forecast to grow at a relatively miserable 4.8 percent so that by 2030 its per capita income will be a mere $9,702 per year or just 62 percent of China’s. Malaysia is in much the same boat and though its current per capita income is almost twice that of China by 2030 they will be similar.

This will be music to China’s ears but may raise issues of possible cultural or political biases towards “chopstick’ and neo-Confucian societies which may grate with some members.

The projections for Asean drag up the whole to an annual average of 5.6 percent thanks to that for Myanmar, at 9 percent but coming off a very low base, Vietnam at 7.3 percent and with Indonesia plodding along at an unremarkable 5.5 percent. In general these Asean projections seem rather more realistic than the numbers for China or even India.

They do however contain one big surprise, perhaps a bow in the direction of the ADB’s headquarters: 7 percent growth for the Philippines. It would indeed be welcome if the perennial laggard could finally reach a sustained growth level which would make a real difference to the lives of its still fast-growing population. However, it is a statement of pious hope rather than reflection of past attainment.

The overall projections, particularly for China, sit rather oddly too with some other recent ADB analyses. The most recent Asian Development Outlook, published in March, drew attention to the impact of wide income gaps on future growth potential with China’s Gini co-efficient (which measures income inequality) rising towards the stratospheric levels of perennial low-growth Latin America. The ACI report mentions this too. And it points to various other crucial issues which have to be tackled if the Great Transformation is to become a reality. These include environmental degradation, corruption and governance issues, water and power waste, weak financial systems, and declining levels of growth in productivity of both labor and capital. Unbalanced growth is unsustainable with China having excess investment and much of the rest of the region having insufficient.

Even more crucial is the question of regional cooperation in an environment where the old developed world, long the engine of demand growth for the developing world, is growing very slowly. It is certainly possible that regional integration will continue to increase led by the Asean free trade links to China, Japan, Korea and Australia, and that India’s trade with east Asia will continue to grow rapidly – and presumably too that India improves its trade links with its populous South Asian neighbors.

It is certainly possible that trade barriers in Asia will continue to fall and regional currencies, including the yuan and rupee become fully convertible and thus agents of cross-border flows of goods and investment. But the question mark is very necessary.

The numerous caveats in the report are typical of an ADB that has generally never been as uncritically gung-ho about longer-term Asian growth prospects as some commentators. Read these and they put the GDP growth projections into the realm of the possible rather than probable. But even with caveats it glosses over some problems that will make the next 18 years more difficult than the past 18.

One is the demographic transformation which is now a negative for China and Thailand as well as for the major regional developed economies – Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. Another is that the change in industrial systems, partly driven by China’s emergence as a manufacturing base, which have driven so much East Asian trade, is slowing and may even reverse in response to issues including supply-chain weaknesses as revealed by the Thai floods and Japanese tsunami, and rising wages and currencies, political tensions and threat of trade wars.

But for all its gaps and apparent inconsistencies, the report makes interesting – if repetitive -- reading. Interesting too will be the final version to emerge after member countries have commented on this product of the ADB’s Tokyo-based research arm, the ADB Institute.

Dipetik dari - Asia Sentinel

The Visit Of Sultan Of Brunei To Turkey And Turkey’s ASEAN Policy – Analysis

Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izaddienWaddaulah of Brunei paid a remarkable visit to Turkey between April 7 and 11, 2012. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was preparing for his own visit to China and on April 10 held a summit with President Abdullah Gül.

New Era with Brunei

Brunei is one of the smallest countries in the world with an area of 5,765 square kilometers and a population of around 400,000 people. Oil and natural gas resources that it possesses make Brunei one of the world’s wealthiest countries.

This visit by the Sultan of Brunei was the first high-level visit between the two countries and as such it is of great importance for their bilateral relations. There had previously been almost no senior-level visits before. The first visit from Turkey paid by Sadi Türel, the Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, in February 1985, just after Brunei has gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. However, bilateral contacts did not seem to have subsequently increased.

The highest-priority step to be taken in developing bilateral relations is the opening of embassies in each other’s capitals. As neither country currently has a mission in the other, Turkey’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur is accredited to Brunei and Brunei’s embassy in Amman is accredited to Turkey. The fact that consular and diplomatic services are provided only via Malaysia and Jordan makes it difficult for people to people contacts. During the Sultan’s visit, an agreement on lifting mutual visa requirements was signed and thus an obstacle in the way of bilateral relations was removed.

During their meeting, President Gül and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah reached an agreement on the opening of embassies in Ankara and Bandar Seri Begawan in order to ensure regular diplomatic contacts between Turkey and Brunei. Agreements were also signed to hold business forums at regular intervals and for exchanges of students and academics, as well as increasing the number of high-level official visits. This will enable both Turkey and Brunei to know each other better and develop bilateral cooperation.

Brunei offers Turkey a number of other economic opportunities. The country is rich in oil and gas, and just like the Arab Gulf states, it imports a wide range of consumer goods and food products. Turkish companies ought to be able to pick up a larger share of Brunei’s annual spending of $2.5 billion on imports. As of 2011, the annual volume of trade between Turkey and Brunei was about $7 millions. Developing commercial relations with Brunei in order to bring variety to the Turkish economy will also be useful in opening up the Southeast Asian market. Brunei has one of the highest incomes per capita in the world at around $50,000 dollars a year, and it could certainly be an attractive market for the Turkish tourism industry. Furthermore, Brunei is one of the rare countries in East Asia with which Turkey has a trade surplus.

During his visit to Turkey, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah signed agreements providing for an increased volume of trade with Turkey, increased bilateral investment, and cooperation on defense projects. An agreement was also reached on increased cooperation in tourism, science, culture and art. In addition to its trade surplus with Brunei, Turkey would like to attract investment from that country.

Brunei’s Role for Turkey in ASEAN

Though Brunei is a tiny country, it plays a very active role in Asian organizations such as APEC and ASEAN. Consequently, Turkey can look forward to much closer cooperation with Brunei as it starts to develop its relations with ASEAN.

In July 2010, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu took part in the 43rd meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Hanoi and signed the ASEAN Agreement for Friendship and Cooperation on behalf of Turkey and the Turkish Ambassador to Jakarta, also accredited to ASEAN. Turkey’s next aim is to establish a dialogue partnership with ASEAN. Relations with ASEAN are very important for Turkey in terms of developing more institutionally-structured cooperation with the rising economies of Southeast Asia. Besides, Brunei will occupy the rotating presidency of ASEAN in 2013 and Brunei’s support to Turkey will help foster relations with all ten members of ASEAN. Turkey and Brunei are two countries which are also able to cooperate within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

One can say that following the visit of the Sultan, cooperations between Turkey and Brunei are likely to grow much faster in many fields.

Author:
Selcuk Colakoglu, USAK Center for Asia-Pacific Studies

Dipetik dari - Eurasia Review

Titah Majlis Pertandingan Membaca Al-Qur'an Bahagian Dewasa Peringkat Akhir Kebangsaan Tahun 1433H/2012M

Titah Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam di Majlis Pertandingan Membaca Al-Qur'an Bahagian Dewasa Peringkat Akhir Kebangsaan Bagi Tahun 2012 (malam ketiga) pada hari Khamis (malam Juma’at), 12 Rabiulakhir 1433 bersamaan 3 Mei 2012 di Dewan Plenari, Pusat Persidangan Antarabangsa,Berakas.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh

Alhamdulillah Rabbil ‘Alameen, Wabihiee Nasta’eenu ‘Alaa Umuuriddunya Wadden, Wassalaatu’ Wassalaamu ‘Ala Asyarafil Mursaleen, Sayyidina Muhammaddin, Wa’alaa Aalihee Wasahbihee Ajma’een, Waba’du.

Beta bersyukur ke hadrat Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala, kerana berpeluang lagi untuk mendengarkan kalamullah oleh qari dan qariah pada malam ini.

Al-Qur'an itu apabila dibaca dengan suara yang merdu ia membawa pengaruh kepada jiwa. Bukan sahaja mendatangkan ketenangan dan kekhusyukan malahan juga menimbulkan inspirasi yang sihat. Di samping itu, Al-Qur'an juga boleh merawat dan mengubati segala penyakit.

Pada umumnya, Al-Qur'an bukanlah untuk dibaca sahaja tetapi juga untuk diikuti segala ajarannya.

Beta difahamkan, tema Majlis Pertandingan Membaca Al-Qur'an Bahagian Dewasa Peringkat Kebangsaan pada tahun ini ialah 'Al-Qur'an Panduan Kesempurnaan Insan'.

Tema ini tepat, kerana Allah Subhanahu Wata'ala memang menurunkan Al-Qur'an itu sebagai panduan. Barangsiapa yang mengikuti petunjuknya maka orang itu akan beroleh kesejahteraan dan kebahagiaan. Sebaliknya orang yang enggan akan kecewa dan binasa.

Jika umat Islam benar-benar berpegang dan mengamalkan Al-Qur'an maka Allah akan mengangkat darjat mereka.

Kerana itu, tidak ada jalan lain untuk umat Islam merebut semula zaman kegemilangan mereka, melainkan hanya dengan kembali kepada Al-Qur'an sahaja dengan menjadikannya sebagai pedoman, panduan dan cara hidup yang lengkap.

Dalam bidang pembangunan fizikal pula, Al-Qur'an tidaklah menghalangi umat Islam dari melakukannya asalkan sahaja tidak melangkahi batasan-batasan hukum.

Pembangunan fizikal dalam Islam, di samping untuk menjana kemakmuran ia juga untuk memelihara kesejahteraan serta dengan konsisten menghindari sebarang kerosakan dan kebinasaan di muka bumi selaras dengan peringatan Allah dalam Surah Ar-Rum ayat 41 yang bermaksud:

“Telah nampak kerosakan di darat dan laut disebabkan oleh perbuatan tangan-tangan manusia…”

Kerana itu, di samping pembangunan fizikal, di dalam Al-Qur'an juga banyak membincangkan tentang pembangunan insan kerana pembangunan insan itu adalah merupakan tunggak kepada pembangunan fizikal yang sempurna, seperti telah dijelaskan oleh Allah, bahawa kemusnahan manusia itu sendiri adalah berpunca dari maksiat dan penyelewengan yang mereka lakukan. Sebaliknya jika mereka itu beriman dan bertaqwa, Allah pasti membalasnya dengan kebajikan sebagaimana firman Allah dalam Surah Al-A'raf ayat 96 yang bermaksud:

“Dan jika penduduk di suatu negeri itu beriman dan bertaqwa, nescaya Kami limpahkan kepada mereka keberkatan dari langit dan bumi.”

Akhirnya, beta sukacita mengucapkan tahniah kepada para peserta di kesemua peringkat pertandingan, khasnya mereka yang dapat bertahan sehingga ke peringkat akhir kebangsaan ini. Ketentuan siapa di antara mereka yang akan menjadi juara, maka sama-samalah kita menunggunya. Kepada qari dan qariah yang berjaya menjadi juara dan seterusnya akan mewakili negara ke Musabaqah Tilawah Al-Qur’an Peringkat Antarabangsa di Kuala Lumpur nanti, beta berharap mereka itu akan semakin meningkat sehingga sampai ke tahap yang dihajati.

Sekian. Wabillahit Taufeq Walhidayah, Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Awas Ulama' Jahat

Idris haji Ahmad

Ulama' ialah pewaris Nabi SAW dan memegang amanah agama setelah ketiadaan para Rasul. Nabi Muhammad SAW adalah nabi yang terakhir, maka tidak ada lagi Rasul yang diutuskan. Urusan ini akan diambil peranan oleh para ulama’

Ulama' ialah mereka yang menguasai ilmu agama dengan meluas. Mereka mesti menguasai ilmu bahasa Arab, Ulum Hadis, Ulum Tafsir, Akhlak, Feqah, Usul Feqh, Tafsir, Tarikh Tashrik, Qawaid Feqhiah, ilmu balaghah dan memahami isu semasa. Seorang ulama' wajib takut hanya kepada Allah SWT sahaja. Jika seorang yang mempunyai ketinggian ilmu tetapi takut kepada manusia maka ia bukan digolong sebagai ulama'.

Ulama' mesti beramal dengan ilmunya dan mengajar pula kepada orang lain, dialah dikira sebagai orang yang mewarisi para nabi. Jika berlaku sebaliknya maka ia mewarisi kerja syaitan.

Manakala ulama' al-Su' (jahat) ialah ulama' yang memutar belitkan tujuan agama yang benar kepada yang lain demi kemaslahatan dirinya dan pemerintah walaupun bertentangan dengan agama.

Nabi SAW telah mengigatkan tentang bahayanya ulama' jahat di dalam sabdanya:

"Aku bimbang ke atas kamu orang yang lebih dahsyat dari dajjal. Bila ditanya: siapa mereka itu? Jawab Baginda: ulama' su'.

Ulama' jahat juga seorang munafik yang durjana kerana dia sendiri tidak dapat manfaatkan ilmunya dan ia pula memudaratkan orang lain.

Awas! kita hendaklah membezakan antara ulama' jahat dengan ulama' akhirat.

Orang alim yang bersikap demikian ialah syaitan yang durjana yang bertopengkan manusia dan paling bahaya kepada agama Allah. Merekalah virus perosak yang paling merbahaya untuk membinasakan iman umat.

Kejahatan orang awam kesannya tidak seteruk kejahatan orang alim, kerana mereka menjadi suri teladan kepada orang lain. Segala fatwa mereka akan mempengaruhi cara hidup dan pemikiran orang lain. Jika seorang doktor silap memberi ubat maka ia hanya boleh mematikan seorang pesakit sahaja.

Sebenarnya ulama' jahat ia telah dilantik oleh syaitan menjadi wakil mereka untuk menyesatkan mereka dan memudah kerja syaitan untuk menyesatkan orang ramai. Ulama' jahat ini dipandang dan oleh Allah seperti keldai dan anjing

Firman Allah SWT:

"Perumpamaan orang yang dipikulkan kepadanya kitab Taurat, tetapi mereka tiada memikulnya, bagaikan keldai yang memikul kitab-kitab. Amatlah buruk kaum yang mendustakan keterangan-keterangan Allah, dan Allah tidak memberi petunjuk kepada orang orang yang menganiaya dirinya” (al-Jumaah: 5)

Firman Allah SWT:

"Dan bacakanlah kepada mereka berita orang yang kami berikan keterangan-keterangan kami kepadanya, lalu dibuangnya. Sebab itu mereka didatangi syaitan dan syaitan itu termasuk orang-orang yang sesat” (al-Araf: 175)

Allah mengibaratkan ulama' yang jahat seperti anjing,

"Perumpamaannya sebagai anjing, kalau engkau mengahalaunya dihulurkan lidahnya, dan jika engkau biarkan dihulurkan juga lidahnya” (al-Araf: 176)

Ulama' jahat ini muncul sepanjang zaman kerana mereka ini akan hidup sama hayat dengan kehidupan manusia untuk menyesatkan manusia. Kita mudah untuk berhadapan dengan syaitan, sudah cukup dengan membaca ayat kursi dan Auzubillah. Tetapi syaitan manusia yang bertopengkan agama ini agak sukar untuk kita menghadapinya, kerana mereka juga boleh membaca al-Quran.

Ulama' jahat ini mereka berbicara seolah-olah mereka tidak takut kepada pembalasan Allah SWT. Mereka boleh mempermainkan ayat dan hadis tanpa sandaran yang kukuh.

Mereka akan cuba mencari dalil untuk menghalalkan tindakan pemerintah yang rakus semata-mata untuk kepentingan dunia mereka. Walaupun hati kecil mereka tidak boleh menerima apa yang mereka memberi pandangan tersebut kerana ia bertentangan dengan disiplin ilmunya. Tetapi oleh kerana dunia dan kedudukan mengatasi segala-galanya maka kesemua itu diketepikan.

Realiti yang berlaku kehidupan ulama' jahat ini akan dihina ketika berada di atas dunia lagi. Pihak pemerintah hanya menyanjung mereka ketika mereka mampu mencari ayat yang menghalalkan tidakan mereka. Tetapi apabila mereka sudah tidak mampu mengeluarkan ayat-ayat yang menyenangkan pemimpin yang zalim mereka juga akan diketepikan.

Akhirnya hidup mereka berada di dalam keadaan yang hina sehingga akhir hayat mereka. Apa makna kehidupan sebegitu rupa, jika di dunia sudah tidak mampu mendapat darjat kedudukan yang baik maka di akhirat nanti akan menerima pembalasan daripada Allah SWT.

Di antara ciri-ciri ulama' jahat ialah takbur dengan pandangannya walaupun tidak betul dari segi kaedah pengambilan hukum. Melebihkan dunia sehingga mengabai tugas akhirat. Takut kepada manusia, tetapi tidak takut kepada Allah dan tidak merasa bimbang dengan apa yang mereka lakukan kepada Allah SWT.

Tamak kepada dunia dan pangkat. Pengampu kepada pemerintah yang zalim. Takut memberi nasihat kepada pemimpin yang zalim. Tidak ada rasa sensitif terhadap penyelewingan yang dilakukan oleh pemerintah seperti rasuah dan penindasan. Mereka hanya memikirkan tentang kepentingan perutnya sahaja, biarlah agama dicerca.

Bijak bermadah punjangga untuk menarik perhatian orang ramai walaupun salah dari segi fakta. Bercakap tidak serupa dengan bikin. Tidak memaparkan akhlak Islam yang sepatut ada kepada seorang yang ada ilmu agama. Keluarganya tidak menunjuk contoh suri teladan yang baik seperti anak isteri tidak memelihara aurat.

Dipetik dari - Laman Ustaz idris Ahmad

LAIN BUDAYA, LAIN FATWANYA

Prof Madya Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin

Minggu lepas saya tidak menulis. Saya agak sibuk melayan rombongan Ahli Majlis Fatwa Perlis yang melawat UK dan Spain. Rombongan disertai S.S Mufti Negeri dan beberapa ahli fatwa yang lain. DYTM Raja Muda Perlis sebagai diPertua MAIPs mengetuai delegasi. Sebagai bekas Mufti Perlis dan masih menjadi ahli Majlis Agama Islam Perlis (MAIPs), saya yang berada di UK ini mengambil peranan bersama rombongan di sini dan Spain.

Seperti biasa, Raja Muda Perlis akan mengenakan jadual yang agak ketat kepada ahli-ahli rombongan beliau. Lawatan, perjumpaan dan perbincangan di sana dan sini. Setiap ahli diberikan tugasan menganalisa tempat yang dilawati ataupun perjumpaan yang diadakan. Kemudian dibentangkan. Saya melihat banyak manfaat yang jika dihayati akan berperanan dalam pembentukan fatwa.

Sebenarnya, kembara dan memerhati perbezaan budaya dan latar manusia adalah penting sebelum seseorang meletakkan sesuatu penilaian ataupun hukum. Ramai orang melawat tempat orang lain, tetapi hanya asyik melihat bangunan dan pemandangan cantik sahaja tanpa mempelajari perbezaan budaya dan adat manusia.

Dalam fatwa memahami latar budaya dan adat amatlah penting. Mengetahui latar isu sebelum sesuatu fatwa itu dikeluarkan adalah satu kemestian. Hanya kebelakangan ini apabila munculnya golongan literalist terutama di beberapa Negara Teluk, mereka membid’ahkan apa yang disebut sebagai Fiqh al-Waqi’ (understanding the reality in the light of jurisprudence) ataupun fekah berdasarkan realiti. Kejumudan yang seperti itu boleh menatijahkan fatwa yang menyusahkan dan tidak kena pada tempatnya.

Golongan yang menentang fatwa berasaskan latar realiti ini kononnya kerana menganggap hukum Allah semua sama di setiap tempat, zaman dan individu. Pada asasnya, kenyataan itu mungkin betul jika setiap tempat, zaman dan individu mempunyai keadaan dan latar yang sama. Namun realitinya dunia sentiasa berubah.

Budaya dan masalah di setiap zaman dan tempat juga tidak sama. Nabi s.a.w sendiri dalam pelbagai hadis memberikan jawaban yang berbeza-beza bagi satu soalan yang sama disebabkan latar penyoal dan keadaan semasa. Sebab itu kita dapati jawapan Nabi s.a.w bagi soalan seperti “Apakah amalan yang terbaik?” dan “Berikan pesanan untukku” berbeza-beza berdasarkan latar penyoal.

Demikianlah hukum agama dalam Islam ini. Terdapat perkara yang tetap tidak boleh berubah seperti solat, puasa, haji dan yang seumpamanya. Namun terdapat banyak hukum yang berkait dengan latar keadaan manusia terutama yang membabitkan urusan muamalat seperti urusan jual-beli, sewaan, riba, pakaian, pergaulan dan seumpamanya.

Al-Imam Ibn Qayyim dalam karyanya yang terkenal I’lam al-Muwaqqi’in meletakkan satu bab Taghaiyur al-Fatwa wa Ikhtilafuha bi Hasbi Taghaiyur al-Azminah wa al-Amkinah wa al-Ahwal wa al-Niyyat wa al-‘Awaid (Perubahan fatwa dan perbezaannya berdasarkan perubahan zaman, tempat, keadaan, niat dan adat).

Fahami Budaya

Justeru, para ulama Usul al-Fiqh menegaskan hal ini sejak dahulu. Kata al-Imam al-Qarafi (meninggal 684H):

“Jika kita keluar dari satu negeri ke negeri yang lain yang adat (kebiasaan) mereka berbeza dengan adat negeri kita maka kita berfatwa berdasarkan adat negeri mereka dan bukan adat negeri kita. Demikian juga jika seseorang datang dari negeri yang adatnya berbeza dengan adat negeri kita, maka kita tidak boleh berfatwa melainkan dengan adat negerinya bukan adat negeri kita”. (Al-Ihkam fi Tamyiz bain al-Fatawa wa al-Ahkam, m/s 218. Syria: al-Matbu’at al-Islamiyyah).

Bahkan al-Imam al-Qarafi sekali lagi dalam karyanya al-Furuq dengan tegas menyebut:

“Jangan sepanjang hidupmu jumud dengan baris-baris ayat dalam kitab. Apabila datang seseorang dari negeri yang iklim (budaya) berbeza denganmu meminta fatwa, jangan engkau hukum berdasarkan keadaan negerimu. Hendaklah kamu tanya keadaan negerinya dan nilai serta fatwalah berdasarkan keadaan itu. Bukan keadaan negerimu dan apa yang tertulis dalam kitab-kitab. Inilah kebenaran yang nyata. Jumud dengan petikan-petikan (kitab) pasti satu kesesatan dalam agama, kejahilan terhadap maksud para ulama Islam dan golongan salaf yang lampau”.

Inilah yang kita lihat kepada sesetengah fatwa ulama zaman ini yang tidak mengikuti keadaan semasa. Tidak memahami realiti baru umat Islam dan perubahan dunia. Ada yang begitu literal sehingga mengambil fatwa-fatwa muamalat dan siyasah dari para ulama yang dangkal tentang hal politik dan berada dalam iklim yang berbeza serta kepentingan yang tersendiri.

Inilah yang berlaku kepada golongan literalist di Barat yang memetik fatwa-fatwa muamalat dan politik dari negara-negara Teluk seakan wahyu yang boleh diubah. Apa kurangnya juga di negara kita apabila ada yang menganggap semua fatwa dalam kitab dahulu, ataupun dari ulama dokongan mereka itu sesuai untuk semua keadaan tempat. Ada pula yang memetik fatwa sempit tertentu kononnya mengundi dalam pilihanraya itu haram sebab zaman sahabat tiada pilihanraya!

Al-Imam Ibn ‘Abidin (meninggal 1252H) menyebut dalam Nashr al-‘Uruf:

“Kebanyakan hukum berbeza disebabkan perbezaan zaman, perubahan keadaan, suasana darurat ataupun kerosakan di mana jika hukum itu kekal seperti sebelumnya akan menyebabkan kesusahan dan mudarat kepada manusia. Sedangkan kaedah-kaedah syarak itu dibina atas meringankan, memudahkan dan menghalang mudarat dan kerosakan. Oleh itu, uruf (kebiasaan) berubah dan berbeza disebabkan perbezaan zaman. Jika berlaku uruf yang baru, maka mufti pada zaman kita hendaklah berfatwa berdasarkan uruf itu dan hendaklah berbeza dengan apa yang tertulis dalam kitab-kitab mazhab.

Maka golongan yang terkemudian yang menyanggahi apa yang tertulis dalam kitab-kitab mazhab dalam perkara-perkara yang pernah dibahaskan dahulu, sebenarnya tidak menyanggahinya melainkan disebabkan perubahan zaman dan uruf. Mereka tahu, jika tuan punya mazhab berada pada zaman mereka akan memberikan pendapat yang sama. Maka mufti hendaklah memberikan fatwa berdasarkan uruf zamannya sekalipun menyanggahi ulama terdahulu”.

Ikuti Perkembangan

Maka bagi golongan ulama pada zaman ini, di mana dunia teknologi berkembang begitu pesat, penting untuk mereka melihat hukum hakam syarak dan pendekatan agama luar dari kerangka kitab yang mereka baca. Mereka mesti mampu untuk keluar dari kerangka petikan-petikan hukum yang lampau yang mempunyai konteks yang berbeza. Masyarakat di Eropah umpamanya dalam hukum-hakam muamalat dan siyasah tidak boleh terikat dengan fatwa-fatwa Arab Saudi ataupun Malaysia yang tidak luas dalam hal-hal seperti itu. Latar keadaan juga berbeza. Apatahlagi jika sesuatu fatwa mempunyai pengaruh budaya dan politik tertentu.

Maka malang, jika mereka yang belajar di Negara-Negara Teluk cuba menegaskan agar wanita di negara lain turut memakai pakaian hitam seperti wanita Teluk. Itu hanya adat mereka yang bukan warisan salaf untuk dihayati. Demikian juga memakai purdah amat tidak sesuai untuk difatwakan di Barat ini.

Bahkan al-Imam Ibn Taimiyyah (meninggal 728H) menyebut dalam Iqtida Sirat al-Mustaqim tentang keadaan muslim yang berada di negara bukan muslim:

“Sekiranya muslim berada di negara musuh, ataupun negara kufur yang tidak musuh maka dia tidak disuruh untuk berbeza dengan mereka dari segi penampilan zahir kerana itu akan memudaratkan. Bahkan digalakkan ataupun diwajibkan menyertai mereka di sudut penampilan zahir jika itu terdapat kemaslahatan agama seperti untuk dakwah mereka kepada Islam dan memerhati keadaan dalam mereka untuk dimaklumkan kepada orang muslim ataupun menghalang bahaya mereka terhadap orang muslim ataupun selainnya yang merupakan niat yang baik”.

Maka, penafsiran hadis-hadis Nabi s.a.w dan penukilan fatwa terutama yang membabitkan soal muamalat dan politik hendaklah dilihat dalam kerangkan teks dan konteks. Bukan kerana sesuatu nas hadis itu tidak sesuai, tetapi latar keadaan yang telah berubah. Ia memerlukan ijtihad baru dalam kerangka yang baru. Kata Syeikh Mustafa al-Zarqa dalam al-Madkhal al-Fiqh al-‘Am :

“Betapa banyak hukum yang dahulunya perongkai dan penyelesai masalah yang berkesan dalam suasana zaman tertentu, namun selepas beberapa jenerasi ia tidak lagi mencapai maksudnya. Mungkin memberikan kesan yang sebaliknya disebabkan perubahan keadaan, pendekatan dan akhlak… di atas asas ini diletakkan kaedah fekah “Tidak dinafikan perubahan hukum disebabkan perubahan zaman”.

Kembara dan memerhati suasana orang serta memahami budaya mereka amatlah penting. Ramai yang mencerca Barat dan mereka yang tinggal di Barat, tetapi tidak memahami latar budaya dan falsafah mereka dalam kehidupan. Lebih buruk lagi, ada yang ingin mengenakan fatwa sempit di negaranya kepada umat di Barat ini. Lebih buruk ada yang ingin mengenakan hukum-hakam syarak yang dirumuskan oleh ulama untuk umat yang hidup di kurun-kurun yang lalu kepada umat yang hidup di kurun teknogi dan segala kecanggihan dan perubahan cara fikir dan budaya hari ini. Maka, penting untuk memahami realiti sebelum berfatwa, jika tidak kita akan menjadi fatwa itu literal yang sempit dan memundurkan umat.

Dipetik dari - Minda Tajdid DrMAZA.com

Titah Kebawah DYMM di Majlis Pertandingan Membaca Al-Qur'an Bahagian Dewasa Peringkat Akhir Kebangsaan Bagi Tahun 2012

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Khamis, 3 Mei. - Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam bertitah, Al-Qur'an bukanlah untuk dibaca sahaja tetapi juga untuk diikuti segala ajarannya.

Titah baginda, Al-Qur'an itu apabila dibaca dengan suara yang merdu ia membawa pengaruh kepada jiwa. Bukan sahaja mendatangkan ketenangan dan kekhusyukan malahan juga menimbulkan inspirasi yang sihat.

Di samping itu baginda bertitah menyatakan, Al-Qur'an juga boleh merawat dan mengubati segala penyakit.

Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia bertitah demikian di Majlis Pertandingan Membaca Al-Qur'an Bahagian Dewasa Peringkat Akhir Kebangsaan Bagi Tahun 2012 malam ini di Dewan Plenari, Pusat Persidangan Antarabangsa di sini.

Baginda bertitah, jika umat Islam benar-benar berpegang dan mengamalkan Al-Qur'an maka Allah akan mengangkat darjat mereka.

"Kerana itu, tidak ada jalan lain untuk umat Islam merebut semula zaman kegemilangan mereka, melainkan hanya dengan kembali kepada Al-Qur'an sahaja dengan menjadikannya sebagai pedoman, panduan dan cara hidup yang lengkap," titah baginda.

Dalam bidang pembangunan fizikal pula menurut titah baginda, Al-Qur'an tidaklah menghalangi umat Islam dari melakukannya asalkan sahaja tidak melangkahi batasan-batasan hukum.

"Pembangunan fizikal dalam Islam di samping untuk menjana kemakmuran ia juga untuk memelihara kesejahteraan serta dengan konsisten menghindari sebarang kerosakan dan kebinasaan di muka bumi selaras dengan peringatan Allah dalam Surah Ar-Rum ayat 41 yang bermaksud 'Telah nampak kerosakan di darat dan laut disebabkan oleh perbuatan tangan-tangan manusia'," tegas titah baginda.

Kerana itu baginda menambah titah, di samping pembangunan fizikal di dalam Al-Qur'an juga banyak membincangkan tentang pembangunan insan kerana pembangunan insan itu adalah merupakan tonggak kepada pembangunan fizikal yang sempurna seperti telah dijelaskan oleh Allah bahawa kemusnahan manusia itu sendiri adalah berpunca dari maksiat dan penyelewengan yang mereka lakukan.

"Sebaliknya jika mereka itu beriman dan bertaqwa Allah pasti membalasnya dengan kebajikan sebagaimana firman Allah dalam Surah Al-A'raf ayat 96 yang bermaksud 'Dan jika penduduk di suatu negeri itu beriman dan bertaqwa nescaya Kami limpahkan kepada mereka keberkatan dari langit dan bumi'," jelas titah baginda.

Menyentuh mengenai tema baginda bertitah, tema Majlis Pertandingan Membaca Al-Qur'an Bahagian Dewasa Peringkat Kebangsaan pada tahun ini ialah 'Al-Qur'an Panduan Kesempurnaan Insan'.

Tema ini tepat titah baginda, kerana Allah Subhanahu Wata'ala memang menurunkan Al-Qur'an itu sebagai panduan. Barangsiapa yang mengikuti petunjuknya maka orang itu akan beroleh kesejahteraan dan kebahagian. Sebaliknya orang yang enggan akan kecewa dan binasa.

Dipetik dari - Pelita Brunei

Road to democracy in SE Asia long, bleak

The international world may have celebrated the emergence of democracy in Myanmar, when the country held its by-elections on April 1, and become hopeful of further changes in Southeast Asia, but democracy is not being fully implemented in the region, a meeting concluded.

The Second Meeting of the Inter-Regional Dialogue on Democracy in Jakarta on Tuesday agreed that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the umbrella organization that manages cooperation between 10 member countries in the region, had not been successful in bringing about a uniform shift toward democracy as it currently had only two member countries that could claim to be democracies: Indonesia and the Philippines.

Other members still have either monarchial or authoritarian governments with just one ruling party. Cambodia and Singapore are examples of one-party states.

In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen seized power from the then co-prime minister Prince Ranariddh in 1997 and has been in power since, while King Norodom Sihamoni’s role is largely ceremonial.

Brunei Darussalam remains an absolute monarchy, whereas Vietnam and Laos are ruled by communist parties. Both Malaysia and Thailand have applied formal democracy, but political parties are harassed continuously by the military or the ruling regime.

ASEAN secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said that the association had not been given a mandate to democratize those countries.

“ASEAN can only bring gentle and soft reminders to them without a clear written mandate from all the members. The changes will also depend on the other member states, whether or not they want to pursue democracy in those countries,” he said on the sidelines of Tuesday‘s meeting.

Surin added that the citizens in those countries should seize the democratization process if that was indeed what they wanted.

“We try to give them more space. After all, different countries have different processes and systems,” he said.

ASEAN is not the only regional organization that faces such issues. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), for example, has never discussed democracy in its meetings.

“Strangely enough, we have never talked about democracy even though one of our members is India, the largest democracy in the world,” said SAARC’s secretary-general, Ahmad Saleem, who was also present in the interregional meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat.

Besides India, SAARC’s members are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Ahmed said that the member countries had always avoided talking about “contentious” issues and democracy was one of them.

Meanwhile, Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, warned that even though at the moment democracy was growing, many of the established democracies worldwide were becoming dangerously dysfunctional because the societies in which they existed were facing real and painful problems, and democracy couldn’t cope with them.

He pointed out Greece, the symbolic birthplace of democracy, as an example.

“You can say that the problems are only temporary. That may well be the case. Possibly there are deep structural reasons in the countries. Democracies should be a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

“But in practice, it is the government of the people, by the people, but for special interests,” he said.

Dipetik dari - The Jakarta Post

Brunei must diversify economy to avoid 'Dutch Disease'

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Wednesday, May 2, 2012

PETRO-STATES like Brunei have to look at ways of diversifying their economies, a study conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) states.

In the paper "New Energy Architecture: Enabling an effective transition", which was released last month, the WEF said that countries that capitalise on their hydrocarbon resource base depend on oil and gas exports heavily to boost their economies.

This in turn puts a heavy toll on the environment and the economies, it added.

Brunei, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Kazakhstan, among others, are categorised by the WEF study as "capitalise" countries, or those with large hydrocarbon reserves and have the energy infrastructure to focus on sustainable ways of harnessing them. Referred to as petro-states, countries under the archetype typically export oil and gas.

"Key opportunities for these countries involve diversification of economies and leveraging experience to enable expansion across the energy value chain," the study states.

It adds that "options with regard to maximising energy sector returns are not necessarily sustainable", and that they must be "carefully considered and executed to ensure co-benefits across government, society and environment".

It notes that these countries often rely on oil and gas exports to generate economic growth and maintain social stability, often taking a heavy toll on their environment and resulting in large fuel subsidies.

These countries, the study states, run the risk of a range of economic problems, including Dutch Disease, where oil exports push up prices and harm other industries.

Heavy focus on oil and gas could also divert capital earmarked for other investments, the study notes, adding that "reform fatigue", where structural economic problems are not tackled due to potential future wealth, may also affect these countries.

"The common challenge for these countries is to ensure that the opportunities for longer term economic development are not lost to economic distortion and ensuring political and social pathologies," the study states.

The WEF study covered 124 countries, which were categorised into four archetypes. Aside from the "capitalise" countries, the other archetypes are: "rationalise" countries, or mature economies, mostly members of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, that focus on reorganising their energy architecture to balance the needs of the environment, government and society; "grow" countries, such as China, which are focused on securing energy supply in light of rapid economic growth; and "access" countries, like Cambodia and Bangladesh, which struggle with providing its people with basic energy needs at affordable prices.

The study categorised the countries based on their economic growth and development, including energy intensity or the amount of energy they use to produce a unit of gross domestic product, the cost of energy imports, and a combination of GDP and human development index, among others; environmental sustainability; and energy access.

The study aims to present trends that are common to groups of countries with similar needs and objectives, to enable policy-makers to understand the broader consequences of their actions and the trade-offs they entail. It also presents ways for countries to effectively transition into a "new world energy architecture" according to their archetypes, given the radical shift in the way the world sources, transforms and consumes energy.

Data from the study show that the world will need US$38 trillion worth of investments in energy supply infrastructure between 2011 and 2035.

It also points out that global cost of fossil fuel consumption subsidies will reach US$660 billion in 2020 if reforms are not instituted, from US$409 billion in 2010.

World energy consumption, meanwhile, is expected to grow by 40 per cent between 2009 and 2035.

Dipetik dari - The Brunei Times