It’s not about national or vernacular schools; we need to master various languages

It’s not about national or vernacular schools; we need to master various languages — Liew Chin Tong

February 19, 2012

FEB 19 — Let me begin by saying that we need a new framework for a new era. The dichotomy between vernacular languages and the national language is an outmoded one. The old thinking presupposes that each of us can only master a language and not more than one. And hence the politics of which language should be taught at school.

Language gold mine

But the reality is that Malaysia is sitting on a “language gold mine”, just like Switzerland, Spain, Finland and Belgium, where everyone speaks at least two languages fluently. Some of us, let’s say a Chinese Malaysian from Kuala Lumpur, who has travelled overseas would have an experience of speaking near-perfect Mandarin with Chinese from Beijing, impeccable Cantonese to someone from Hong Kong, and some form of Bahasa to Indonesian friends.

The world is amazed with us Malaysians, yet we are not treating the diversity of languages that we have as our national asset. We are still caught in the thinking of the 1920s and the debate of the 1960s.

Before I talk about 1920s and 1960s, let me digress a little to reminisce some more recent history.

In 2002, when Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was thinking about retirement and his legacies, he thought of reviving English medium schools, which he closed down in the 1970s as Education Minister.

But the resistance from among Umno ranks was too strong.

So, typical of Mahathir, he came up with a quick fix – let’s teach mathematics and science in English. PPSMI, as its Malay acronym is known, was introduced hastily against the wishes of many.

Some were against it from the point of view of language vanguards. Some said no because there were just not enough good mathematics and science teachers, even fewer who can teach the subjects in English. And, frankly, there is not much language content in mathematics and science.

What should have happened is to give more weight to English lessons at all schools. Dr. Mahathir had no time for that. He was indeed a man in a hurry, all the time.

The issue of lack of teachers who were proficient to teach mathematics and science in English, especially in the rural areas, was brought up at the Umno general assembly of June 2002. Dr. Mahathir reassured the Umno delegates that the subjects would be taught through sophisticated electronic material. The teachers, said Dr. Mahathir, can learn English together with the students through the use of PowerPoint and other software.

RM5 billion was allocated to push for this policy over five years. The government spent RM3 billion on LCD projectors and laptop computers in the first year. As they say, the rest is history.

Likewise, when the then Prime Minister said Sekolah Agama Rakyat were bad, these schools immediately felt the brunt of the whole government machinery crushing them.

My point here is that in the last 55 years, power has concentrated in the hands of one party initially and in one person later. However ridiculous the policy was, it was bulldozed through.

Other BN party leaders in the government were just bystanders in the policy process, at best trying to tweak the outcome from the margin, such as the 243 formula.

Three lessons for Malaysians

So, lesson one, absolute power in the hands of a one-party state is not good for education.

Let us ask, where do we get the idea that schools must only focus on one language, one national language? The model came from the Sumpah Pemuda of October 28, 1928. The Indonesian revolutionaries wanted to establish an Indonesia with “satu bangsa, satu bahasa.”

I was in Surabaya in last December. My visit to JavaTV was extremely educational. The producer proudly announced that democratisation in Indonesia since 1998 came with media freedom, which in turn allowed media like his to flourish outside Jakarta while decentralisation since 2001 enabled the economies of cities outside Jakarta like Surabaya to boom. And more interestingly, the combined effect of democratisation and decentralisation was that his TV station became the promoter of Bahasa Suroboyo. No more language police to insist on just one language.

I would imagine when democratisation finally takes place in Malaysia, there will be a Kelantan TV promoting Bahasa Kelate or a Sarawak TV promoting Iban language.

Therefore, lesson two, even Indonesia, the source of Umno’s mono-lingual nationalism, has moved on.

Sadly, we are still caught in the debate of the 1960s. A week ago on February 11, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said in Ipoh that the national education system is undergoing a comprehensive review. He said the education system has not been subjected to such review since the Razak and Rahman Talib reports on the system.

As an MP, I am surprised to hear such a review being conducted in secret. But then again that’s BN for you. Anyhow I agreed with Tan Sri Muhyiddin that the education system has not been reviewed for a long time. Mind you, Tun Razak passed away in 1976 before I was even born and the Razak report was released 55 years ago in 1957 while the Rahman Talib report was released 52 years ago in 1960.

In the 1960s, Malaysia was in the middle of the most volatile region in the fight between the West and the Communist bloc. The government, the United States and the Western bloc saw the Chinese language as the language of infiltration. But that was so long ago. There is no more Mao Zedong, no more Berlin Wall, no more Soviet Union.

Even if we do not consider the cultural value of being multilingual, it is an economic imperative for Malaysia to be multilingual.

Today, the declining US and European economies means Malaysia’s immediate economic future lies in our ability to connect with China, India and Indonesia, among others. Isn’t it that our language diversity an asset? Aren’t we sitting in a language gold mine?

Let’s be clear, lesson three, and I have to state the obvious, 2012 is not 1960. We need a new paradigm.

Lip service by means of recognising the contributions of Chinese and Tamil schools is not the way forward. More money to the schools in an “I help you, you help me” form is not going help Malaysia to unleash our full potential.

We can master more than one language

It is time for us to recognise that each of us can master more than one language; that we must not plan education by one man or one party’s wish, that we must move beyond the 1928 Sumpah Pemuda of Indonesia because they have moved on; and that 2012 is a different world from 1960s.

Bahasa Malaysia is and will always be our national language. And we are proud if it. Yet we should face the reality, and do our best to realize our full potential. At least think of our children, and our children’s children.

Let me close by saying, Malaysia deserves better, Malaysians deserves a better government. — The Rocket

* The writer is DAP MP for Bukit Bendera. This is his speech delivered at the Malaysian Chinese at the Political Crossroads conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.


(Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/its-not-about-national-or-vernacular-schools-we-need-to-master-various-languages-liew-chin-tong/)

Integrasi dalam pengetahuan

Fikrah: 

Apakah yang dikatakan sebagai 'integrasi pengetahuan' (integration of knowledge)?

a) belajar ilmu fardhu kifayah pada waktu persekolahan rasmi, kemudian belajar ilmu fardhu ain pada waktu petang?

b) belajar ilmu fardhu kifayah dan ilmu fardhu ain pada waktu persekolahan rasmi?

c) belajar ilmu fardhu kifayah diserapkan ilmu fardhu ain pada waktu yang sama?

Dalam sistem pendidikan KBSM hari ini, pelajaran agama Islam disisipkan dalam satu mata pelajaran yang wajib diambil oleh semua murid beragama Islam iaitu subjek 'Pendidikan Agama Islam' (PI). Subjek ini diletak dalam linear yang sama dengan subjek lain, seperti Matematik, sains, Bahasa dan lain-lain. Ini termasuk masa pengajaran dan pembelajaran (P&P yang telah ditentukan dalam sistem, iaitu 5 waktu seminggu.

Sekiranya  P&P PI telah dijalankan di sekolah, maka apa perlunya lagi murid untuk hadir ke sekolah agama petang (KAFA) untuk mempelajari lagi tentang ilmu fardhu ain? Antara sebab yang sering diterima adalah masa pembelajaran di sekolah pagi (SK) tidak mencukupi bagi membina kualiti murid dalam pengisian rohani mereka. Tidak salah sepenuhnya. (Ada betulnya juga). Yang betulnya, masa diperuntukkan untuk fardhu ain seharusnya melebihi keseluruhan ilmu fardhu kifayah atau sekurang-kurangnya menyamai keseluruhan waktu p&p tersebut. Yang salahnya, pembelajaran sebegini tidak menepati konsep integrasi pengetahuan.

Pada hari ini, umat Islam terperangkap dalam sistem sekular, iaitu sistem yang memecah-mecahkan sistem pengetahuan dan pengamalan. Harus ditegaskan, semua Ilmu adalah dari Allah. Sama ada ilmu fardhu kifayah, mahupun ilmu fardhu ain. (Ilmu tadbir alam, dan ilmu tadbir insan) Dalam ilmu tadbir alam, perlu diserapkan aplikasi Islami untuk melihat dan mengenal Tuhan, dan begitu juga dalam ilmu tadbir insan, perlu diserapkan aplikasi Islami untuk melihat dan mentadbir alam. Perhubungan antara kedua-duanya perlu seiring dan tidak harus dipisah-pisahkan. Ini konsep sebenar pengintegrasian pengetahuan dalam kerangka Islamisasi pengetahuan (Islamization of knowledge) 

Seorang kanak-kanak perlu melalui alam kanak-kanak, dan kurikulum untuk mereka perlu memahami fitrah manusia (nature of human being). Ini adalah sangat penting dan perlu diperbetulkan. Model kurikulum sebegini perlu dibentuk. Sememangnya perlu digali diceruk mana kurikulum yang menepati ciri ini? 

model alternatif:

1) http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pondok_Modern_Darussalam_Gontor

2) http://www.iis.edu.my/secondary/

Leave teachers alone

Leave teachers alone!

Azly Rahman

‘Educate! … but first, we must educate the educators.’ - Frederich Nietsche

'Teach your children according to the (changing) times they live in.' - Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

My weekend was spent thinking about poverty and education, and the shape of Malaysian education to come, particularly as we await maybe yet another new educational blueprint to go public, preferably after the 13th general election, depending on who wins.

Will our children become great thinkers and good and tolerant Malaysians? Or will they become good labourers in the international labour system and continue to be more sophisticated racists?

This is how powerful education is as a contested terrain.

Having been an educator and a student of transcultural philosophies for almost two decades, I find the practice of educating constantly shifting whereas its core remains stable.

After teaching close to 50 courses (in the field of education, politics, civilisation, arts and humanities, philosophy, language, international relations, American history and cultural studies) and developing more than 20 graduate courses, I am still learning what Malaysia is trying to do with its  educational system.

Today, I have a perspective to share with its education minister and with the thousands of dedicated teachers. I am fortunate to have practised the gentle profession of teaching in two different worlds - Malaysia and the US.

My analysis of Malaysian education is that we seem to borrow too much without thinking, and like the late 1990s Smart Schools project, we seem to achieve many different types of successful failures in our educational reform effort.

Teachers, the labour force in the world of knowledge capitalism, become subdued, silent, and silenced followers of the whims and fancies of state mandates. We love hype more than substance. We love intoxicating ourselves with buzzwords. We bully our teachers into working hard and not allowing them time to grow and become ‘reflective teachers’.

What if we teach teachers to empower themselves by becoming good and creative curriculum designers? What if we give them a less teaching load, less students, less bureaucracy, less political preaching and less time to prepare for school visits by wakil rakyat and Yang Berhormat who may not have any sense of what the daily toil in a classroom is like?

What if we stop wasting their time on non-teaching matters and let them grow as teachers? When teachers are free from these mental imprisonments, they can then become liberators of our children's imagination.

What if we try all these? Miracles can happen in our classrooms, I believe.

Over the weekend, I picked up an important book on curriculum and education, Conelly and Clandin's ‘Teachers as Curriculum Planners’, a text for my reading at Columbia University back in my doctoral days. As I finished reading it, I asked this question: ‘When will our teachers become masters of their own destiny, helping children become makers of their own history?’

The book provides perspectives which are not entirely new to teachers involved especially in the ‘Whole Language’ approach to teaching. Tools such as journal writing, biography, picturing and document analysis are among those which have been in use in Language Arts in addition to a range of other tools in the domain of creative movement, reading, writing, media and speaking which are personalistic in nature.

The authors have essentially tried to contextualise the principles and strategies within the field of emerging curricular practice partially using the rhetoric of postmodernism. Refreshing, perhaps, is the authors' Gestalt and transcendental analytic approach to curriculum planning they call the ‘rediscovering of curricular meaning’, framed to include the learner, teacher, subject matter and the milieu.

The strength of the work lies in the comprehensive range of suggestions on how to create an inclusionary and meaningful approach to such a rediscovering which in turn would scaffold learners' construction of knowledge. It is thus constructivistic in approach permeating all levels - from administrators to learners.

I find the idea relevant to our realisation of the terms ‘situated cognition’ wherein teachers are also required to define their philosophy and exercise their reflective ability so that they and the learners are together subjectivity knowledge; echoing the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran's idea that ‘... your children are not yours… they come out of you but not of you’ and ‘… children are like arrows of which you are the bow which launch them’ and in Socrates' idea of the innateness of knowledge in the human being.

Teachers as meaning-makers

Teachers, in this postmodernist context, are ones who live in a shared milieu but do not necessarily claim monopoly to knowledge, for in Arthur C Clarke's words, ‘the future is a different world … they do things differently’.

For learners, we are preparing them for a future which, in fact, is a present consisting of an archived past. Through apprenticeship and guided participation, learners appropriate knowledge, skill and understanding of ‘situations’ via scaffolds erected by teachers. Learning then becomes situated, dynamic and transformative.

Reading the underlying assumptions of Conelly and Clandin's work, I could sense a strong undercurrent of complexity and chaos theory, anti-foundationalism, subaltern narratives and reflexivity and futurism as strands. If I could envision the results of many decades of mass deployment of their strategies in all schools, something such as below would develop:

State-mandated curriculum would be transformed in character; from one of ‘rock logic’ to one of ‘water logic’ in nature in which fluidity in growth and shifting grounds in its parameters will be the feature.

Within the disciplines, knowledge will be organic, mutative, and morphic, much more than inter-disciplined. An analogy of this organic-mutative-morphic nature of knowledge construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction (the ‘Brahma-Shiva-Vishnu’ nature of things in Hindu philosophy) would be the three-dimensional pattern created out of Artificial Intelligence - generated patterns derived out of mathematical equations as in the Mandelbrott set manifested within the paradigm of Chaos and Complexity theories.

The water logic transformation as such can give birth to (Thomas) Kuhnian paradigm shifts, which would be characteristic of integrative, comprehensive and complex systems based upon the principles of ‘perpetual transitions’.

Scenarios of change

Since state-mandated curriculum legitimises the state and hegemonises over the minds of those being schooled (echoing the claims of Theodore Adorno and Antonio Gramsci), decades of ‘water logic’ transformation of bodies of knowledge (especially in the area of ‘soft ideological sciences’ such as social studies and history) can soften the state and pave the way for its dissolution, echoing Thomas Kuhn's idea that paradigms will shift when contradictions can no longer be contained. Just as capitalism within a particular nation can no longer carry its own weight and therefore had to transform into imperialism.

Such a dissolution of the postmodern state can then set the stage for peaceful revolutions which can give rise to the leadership of the techno-mystics as such dreamed of by Socrates and Plato who saw the beauty of the republic governed by philosopher-rulers.

Perhaps the nature of world politics will change if the most powerful nations on the face of our Spaceship Earth are governed by techno-mystics who will then spread the message of goodwill through the use of technology towards moral ends and through the sharing of creative products in altruistic ways.

Wouldn't there be beauty in looking at a perfect world, one that would be ruled by those who have understood the ancient Persian maxim, ‘I wept when I had no shoes until I saw a man with no feet’?

Managers of virtue (curriculum implementers, principals, teachers, curriculum committees) will become de-centered and ‘empowered by being dis-empowered’ by the postmodern possibility of personalistic interpretation of knowledge constructs while freedom will exist for the individual to make his and her history to demystify power and to deconstruct invented realities.

All these can help create a positive atomisation of society as a critical, creative, futuristic and life-long learning organic entity. Everyone can then find their own meaning for living and truth within themselves and achieve wisdom in their own lifetimes.

The ‘McDonaldnised’ idea of state-legitimated schooling for economic development and social advancement can be transformed into the notion of learning as living and living as learning with the ‘truth always out there, within and everywhere’.

Perhaps the notion of 'Trust no ideology’ (with the greatest apologies to the makers of ‘The X-Files’!) can be the dominant idea of the age. Such comments as above thus reflect the link between the ideas proposed in Conelley and Clandin's work and the possibilities which can emerge if we look at these from speculative philosophical and futuristic perspectives.

A teacher's vision

I have provided a scenario based upon the principles of futurism (trend analysis/scenario- building) from which ideas when extrapolated can perhaps predict changes.

Just as the postmodern perspective can provide us with tools to critically analyse modernity and modernism, Connelly's and Clandin's suggestions - which are postmodern in character - can provide educators with the means to build scenarios of living, learning and creating which must be made more and more humane.

The idea of growth, then, can be looked at not necessarily as one spiraling upwards and acquiring more and becoming material in the process but would mean to live, to simply live and to continually ask the ontological, epistemological and axiological questions of living. In short, to reflect upon Kung Fu Tze, for we may then continue to live with questions and to ask the ones which are simple.

For, echoing Socrates, aren't the simplest questions the most profound?

Teachers unite - you do not have anything to lose except your chains of boredom and dying creativity.

---

DR AZLY RAHMAN, who was born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York) doctorate in International Education Development and Master’s degrees in the fields of Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 300 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience spans Malaysia and the United States, over a wide range of subjects from elementary to graduate education. He currently resides in the United States.

(Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/184481 )

Potensi yg tidur

1) potensi yang ada dalam diri perlu dikejutkan dengan berfikir secara tenang.
2) Pertama, perlu bangun dari lena!

Dosa yg lebih besar daripada berzina

Pada suatu senja yang lengang, terlihat seorang wanita berjalan terhuyung-hayung. Pakaianya yang serba hitam menandakan bahwa ia berada dalam dukacita yang mencengkam.

Kerudungnya menutup hampir seluruh wajahnya tanpa hias muka atau perhiasan menempel di tubuhnya. Kulit yang bersih, badan yang ramping dan roman mukanya yang ayu, tidak dapat menghapus kesan kepedihan yang telah meroyak hidupnya.

Ia melangkah terseret-seret mendekati kediaman Nabi Musa a.s. Diketuknya pintu perlahan-lahan sambil memberi salam.

Maka terdengarlah ucapan dari dalam,
“Silakan masuk”

Perempuan cantik itu lalu berjalan masuk sambil kepalanya terus merunduk. Air matanya
berderai tatkala ia berkata,
“Wahai Nabi Allah. Tolonglah saya. Doakan saya agar Tuhan berkenan mengampuni dosa keji saya.”

“Apakah dosamu wahai wanita ayu?” tanya Nabi Musa a.s. terkejut.

“Saya takut mengatakannya.”jawab wanita cantik..

“Katakanlah jangan ragu-ragu!” desak Nabi Musa.

Maka perempuan itupun terpatah bercerita, “Saya… telah berzina”.

Kepala Nabi Musa terangkat,hatinya tersentak.

Perempuan itu meneruskan,
“Dari perzinaan itu saya pun… hamil. Setelah anak itu lahir,langsung saya… cekik lehernya sampai… mati,” ucap wanita itu seraya menangis sejadi-jadinya.

Nabi Musa berapi-api matanya. Dengan muka berang ia mengherdik,
“Perempuan bejad, pergi kamu dari sini! Agar siksa Allah tidak jatuh ke dalam rumahku kerana perbuatanmu. Pergi!”…teriak Nabi Musa sambil memalingkan mata kerana jijik.

Perempuan berwajah ayu dengan hati bagaikan kaca membentur batu hancur luluh segera bangkit dan melangkah surut. Dia terantuk-antuk keluar dari dalam rumah Nabi Musa..

Ratap tangisnya amat memilukan. Ia tak tahu harus kemana lagi hendak mengadu.. Bahkan ia tak tahu mahu dibawa kemana lagi kaki-kakinya. Bila seorang Nabi saja sudah menolaknya, bagaimana pula manusia lain bakal menerimanya? Terbayang olehnya betapa besar dosanya, betapa jahat perbuatannya.

Ia tidak tahu bahwa sepeninggalnya, Malaikat Jibril turun mendatangi Nabi Musa as. Sang Ruhul Amin Jibril lalu bertanya, “Mengapa engkau menolak seorang wanita yang hendak bertaubat dari dosanya? Tidakkah engkau tahu dosa yang lebih besar daripadanya?”

Nabi Musa terperanjat.
“Dosa apakah yang lebih besar dari kekejian wanita pezina dan pembunuh itu?”
Maka Nabi Musa dengan penuh rasa ingin tahu bertanya kepada Jibril.
“Betulkah ada dosa yang lebih besar daripada perempuan yang nista itu?”

“Ada!” jawab Jibril dengan tegas.

“Dosa apakah itu?” tanya Nabi Musa.

“Orang yang meninggalkan solat dengan sengaja dan tanpa menyesal. Orang itu dosanya lebih besar dari pada seribu kali berzina”.

Mendengar penjelasan ini Nabi Musa kemudian memanggil wanita tadi untuk menghadap kembali kepadanya. Ia mengangkat tangan dengan khusuk untuk memohonkan ampunan kepada Allah untuk perempuan tersebut. 

Nabi Musa menyedari, orang yang meninggalkan sembahyang dengan sengaja dan tanpa penyesalan adalah sama saja seperti berpendapat bahwa sembahyang itu tidak wajib dan tidak perlu atas dirinya. Bererti ia seakan-akan menganggap remeh perintah Tuhan, bahkan seolah-olah menganggap Tuhan tidak punya hak untuk mengatur dan memerintah hamba-Nya.

Sedang orang yang bertaubat dan menyesali dosanya dengan sungguh-sungguh bererti masih mempunyai iman di dadanya dan yakin bahwa Allah itu ada, di jalan ketaatan kepada-Nya. Itulah sebabnya Tuhan pasti mahu menerima kedatangannya.

Demikianlah kisah Nabi Musa dan wanita pezina dan dua hadis Nabi, mudah-mudahan menjadi pelajaran bagi kita dan timbul niat untuk melaksanakan kewajiban solat dengan istiqomah.

Rang Undang-Undang Perhimpunan Awam 2011

Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM) sekali lagi mengulangi bantahannya terhadap penggubalan Rang Undang-Undang Perhimpunan Aman 2011 di parlimen semalam. ABIM menilai penggubalan undang-undang ini seakan tidak menghiraukan sensitiviti serta pandangan yang diketengahkan oleh pelbagai pihak  berhubung implikasi negatif yang bakal dicorakkan menerusi kelulusan undang-undang ini.

Dalam hal ini, ABIM amat menyesali  sikap tertutup kerajaan yang enggan membicarakan penggubalan rang undang-undang ini secara terbuka dan meluas sambil membabitkan konsultasi awam dan suara masyarakat sivil di negara ini.

ABIM memandang keengganan tersebut bertentangan samasekali dengan komitmen keterbukaan yang menjadi intipati agenda perubahan yang dilaungkan oleh pihak kerajaan  di bawah kepimpinan Y.A.B Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak.

ABIM menanggapi pendekatan tersebut tidak lain dan tidak bukan, seakan menzahirkan wujudnya agenda “pembebalan”  ke atas masyarakat sehingga ke peringkat akar umbi, dengan menutup serta menafikan sama sekali  ruang ekspresi bersuara  di kalangan rakyat.  Adalah amat menyedihkan kerana ia hanya akan menghalang kepada perkembangan wacana demokrasi dan kenegaraan yang sihat serta progresif di negara ini.

Demokrasi merupakan intipati penting kepada perkembangan sesebuah negara maju. Lunas-lunas demokrasi meraikan sebarang perbezaan pendapat dengan menjamin kebebasan bersuara di peringkat akar rumput. Demokrasi juga merupakan wahana penting yang merapatkan jurang di antara rakyat dan pemerintah  menerusi komunikasi dua hala rakyat-pemerintah dan rakyat-pemerintah.

Kelulusan rang undang-undang perhimpunan aman 2011 sekaligus menafikan fungsi serta potensi demokrasi itu sendiri sebagai agen perkembangan ekonomi dan politik di negara ini. Adalah amat malang amalan demokrasi dinafikan di atas nama prerogatif menjaga ketenteraman awam, walhal ia (demokrasi) merupakan wahana paling berpengaruh dalam menjamin keamanan serta kestabilan politik di sesebuah negara!

Menilai implikasi-implikasi tersebut, ABIM ingin mengulangi gesaan agar rang undang-undang ini ditarik balik. ABIM juga menggesa pihak kerajaan agar bersikap terbuka terhadap sebarang teguran serta mengadakan konsultasi awam sebelum menggubal sebarang undang-undang di masa akan datang!

AMIDI ABD MANAN
Presiden, Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM)

Pelaksanaan MBMMBI pada tahun 2012

surat siaran ini perlu dibaca bersama dengan pekeliling SPI 12/2011(http://www.scribd.com/doc/72361300/SPI-12-2011-Pelaksanaan-MBMMBI)
Surat Siaran KPM Bilangan 6 Tahun 2011

Let a Root remains as a Root: Issue on PPSMI

Tulisan ini dibuat bagi menjawab persoalan PPSMI yang sehingga ke hari ini, masih banyak orang keliru apa tujuan dasar ini diketengahkan. Secara tuntas, saya mengulas kenapa tujuan yang salah akan mengelirukan; baik dari aspek falsafah dan pelaksanaan; dan sudah tentu tidak akan mencapai kebenaran dan kejayaan!

Let a Root Remains as a Root

Asalkan hatinya baik?

Anak muda di hadapan saya terus mengasak saya dengan hujah-hujah logiknya. Senang melihat anak muda yang berani dan berterus-terang begitu. Hujahnya tajam dan menikam.

“Tidak semestinya wanita yang menutup aurat itu baik, “ tegasnya.

“Saya kenal beberapa orang wanita yang menutup aurat… perangai mereka ada yang lebih buruk berbanding wanita yang tidak menutup aurat,” tambahnya lagi.

Saya diam melihat dia berhujah dengan akal dan pengalaman. Namun pengalamannya agak terbatas. Berapa ramai wanita yang dikenalinya dalam usia semuda itu? Dan akalnya juga terbatas – aqal perlu dirujuk kepada naqal. Mesti memahami prinsip ilmu wahyu terlebih dahulu, kemudian barulah kita bebas menggunakan fikiran dan pengalaman tanpa terbabas.

“Sebenarnya, apa yang cuba awak sampaikan?” tanya saya lembut.

“Saya nak tegaskan bahawa wanita yang baik tidak semestinya menutup aurat.”

“Justeru, wanita yang jahat itu ialah wanita yang menutup aurat?” jolok saya melayan pola logiknya berfikir.

“Er, er, bukan begitu. Maksud saya, baik atau buruknya perangai seseorang wanita tidak bergantung pada pakaiannya, samada dia menutup aurat atau tidak.”

“Apa ukuran awak tentang nilai kebaikan seorang wanita?” kilas saya tiba-tiba.

“Jujur, terus-terang, pemurah, lemah-lembut…”

“Itu sahaja?”

“Ya. Pada ustaz pula apa ukurannya?”

“Kita hanya manusia. Akal kita terbatas. Ukuran dan penilaian kita juga pasti terbatas. Jika diserahkan kepada manusia mentafsir apa itu kebaikan, akan celaru dibuatnya.”

“Mengapa?”

“Kerana setiap manusia ada jalan berfikirnya sendiri. Saya bimbang nilai kebaikan akan menjadi suatu yang relatif dan subjektif, padahal kebaikan itu juga seperti kebenaran… ia suatu yang objektif dan mutlak, ” akui saya terus-terang.

“Habis, untuk apa kita diberi akal? Kita harus rasional dan logik!”

Saya cuba senyum lantas berkata,” akal perlu tunduk kepada penciptanya, Allah. Fikiran mesti merujuk kepada Al Quran dan Hadis. Itu kan lebih tepat… Ilmu kita terbatas, ilmu Allah Maha Luas.”

“Jadi akal kita untuk apa?” desaknya lagi.

“Untuk memikirkan apa hikmah kebaikan yang telah ditentukan Allah dan bagaimana melaksanakannya dalam kehidupan.”

“Ertinya akal kita terikat?”

“Akal kita bebas, tetapi dalam lingkungan syariat. Sama seperti bumi yang sedang ligat berpusing ini… tetapi tetap pada paksinya.”

“Bukankah agama ini untuk orang yang berakal?”

“Betul. Tetapi tidak semua perkara dapat dicapai oleh akal. Lebih-lebih lagi perkara-perkara yang ghaib, tidak akan terjangkau oleh akal. Syurga, Neraka, Titian Sirat, Mahsyar misalnya, wajib dipercayai dan diyakini tanpa perlu dilogik-logikkan lagi. Itulah iman.”

“Ah, jauh kita menyimpang. Bukankah tadi kita berbincang tentang wanita yang baik? Saya ulangi, wanita yang baik tidak semestinya menutup aurat, betulkan?”

“Separuh betul,” jawab saya.

”Kalau dia wanita yang jujur, terus-terang, pemurah dan lemah lembut… ya dia ‘baik’ di sudut itu. Tetapi jika dia mendedahkan auratnya, dia telah melanggar perintah Allah di sudut yang lain. Dia ‘tidak baik’ di sudut berpakaian, kerana hukum menutup aurat telah termaktub dalam Al Quran.”

Anak muda di hadapan saya muram. Nampaknya dia belum berpuas hati.

“Tetapi dia jujur, amanah…”

“Orang yang baik menurut Islam ialah orang yang baik hubungannya dengan Allah dan manusia. Menutup aurat perintah Allah.”

Anak muda di hadapan saya masih tidak puas hati. Perlahan-lahan saya tusuk dengan hujah yang memujuk,  “namun percayalah jika benar-benar hatinya baik, insyaAllah lambat laun dia akan menutup aurat juga.”

“Apa hujah ustaz? Pengalaman? Fikiran atau telahan?”

“Masih merujuk kepada Al Hadis.”

“Hadis yang mana?”

“Hadis riwayat Bukhari mengisahkan seorang wanita pelacur berbangsa Yahudi yang telah memberi minum seekor anjing yang kehausan. Atas sebab sifat belas kasihannya itu dia mendapat hidayah lalu menjadi wanita yang solehah.”

 “Apa kaitan cerita itu dengan subjek yang kita bincangkan ini?”

“Secara tidak langsung  itu menunjukkan bagaimana jika hati seseorang mempunyai sifat-sifat baik seperti kasih sayang, belas kasihan dan pemurah, sekalipun kepada anjing, itu boleh menjadi sebab Allah kurniakan hidayah untuk dia beriman seterusnya menjadi wanita solehah.”

“Maksud ustaz?”

“Jika seorang wanita itu benar-benar baik hatinya insya-Allah lambat laun dia akan menutup aurat walaupun sebelumnya tidak menutup aurat.”

“Oh, begitu. Kenapa ya?”

“Allah menilai pada hati. Jika hati itu baik,  lambat laun hal-hal luaran pasti mengikutnya jadi baik.”

“Apa pula pendapat ustaz tentang wanita yang menutup aurat tetapi akhlak dan perangainya buruk?”

“Bab aurat dia telah selamat. Alhamdulillah, kewajiban menutup aurat telah dipatuhinya. Apa yang tinggal… dia perlu membaiki akhlak dan perangainya. Dia perlu terus berusaha.”

“Jika ada berpura-pura? Menutup aurat hanya untuk menunjuk-nunjuk atau sekadar tuntutan fesyen dan trend?”

“Hati manusia kita tidak tahu. Kita tidak tahu hati wanita yang menutup aurat tu jahat atau tidak, samalah seperti kita tidak tahu samada hati wanita yang tidak menutup aurat itu baik atau tidak. Soal hati hak Allah…”

“Tetapi katalah hati wanita yang menutup aurat itu benar-benar jahat…”

“Jika hatinya benar-benar jahat… lambat laun dia akan mendedahkan auratnya semula.”

“Mengapa?”

“Menutup aurat adalah pakaian wanita yang solehah. Wanita yang jahat tidak akan mampu memakai pakaian wanita solehah.”

“Patutlah saya lihat ada wanita yang dulunya memakai tudung labuh, tapi kemudiannya tudungnya semakin singkat, lama kelamaan mula memakai seluar ketat, kemudian berubah kepada memakai baju T sendat… lama-kelamaan bertudung ala kadar sahaja.”

“Perubahan luaran gambaran perubahan hati. Yang tidak menutup aurat… akhirnya perlahan-lahan meningkat untuk menutup aurat kerana hatinya beransur jadi baik. Sebaliknya, yang menutup aurat… secara beransur-ansur akan mendedahkan auratnya jika kualiti hatinya semakin merosot.”

“Siapa wanita yang paling baik?” tiba-tiba anak muda di hadapan saya bertanya sambil merenung muka saya. Serius dan tajam renungannya.

“Tentulah isteri-isteri dan anak-anak nabi Muhammad s.a.w.” jawab saya pasti.

“Bagaimana pakaian mereka?”

“Tentu sahaja mereka menutup aurat. Dan mereka juga pasti memiliki hati yang baik. ”

Kali ini dia pula terdiam. Melihatnya begitu saya terus mengasak, “kalaulah hati yang baik sahaja jadi pernilaian Allah, tentulah isteri-isteri dan anak-anak perempuan Rasulullah tidak perlu menutup aurat. Hati mereka sudah baik. Namun tidak begitu, hati yang baik bukan alasan untuk mendedahkan aurat.”

“Wanita yang baik mesti menutup aurat?”

“Ya.”

“”Wanita yang jahat mesti mendedah aurat?”

“Tidak semestinya, kerana ada wanita yang berhati baik tetapi belum menutup aurat kerana mungkin dia sedang berusaha untuk mengatasi halangan-halangan luaran dan dalamannya untuk menutup aurat.”

“Apa yang boleh kita katakan kepada wanita begitu?”

“Dia sedang berusaha menjadi wanita yang baik.”

“Bagaimana pula dengan wanita yang menutup aurat tetapi buruk perangainya? Wajarkah mereka mendedahkan aurat supaya tidak hipokrit.”

“Perangai yang buruk bukan alasan mendedahkan aurat. Bagi mereka ini, tuntutan menutup aurat sudah ditegakkan, alhamdulilah. Tinggal satu lagi, tuntutan memperbaiki akhlak… itu sahaja yang perlu dilaksanakan. Satu selesai, tinggal lagi satu. Namun bayangkan jika disamping perangai buruk, mereka juga turut mendedahkan aurat … Itu lebih buruk lagi. Dua perkara tak selesai, bab aurat dan bab perangai!”

“Jadi apa kita nak kata tentang wanita yang menutup aurat tetapi buruk perangai ni?” Sekali lagi dia mengajukan soalan yang sama.

“Wallahua’lam. Boleh jadi mereka juga sedang berusaha mengatasi halangan dalaman dan luarannya untuk memperbaiki perangainya. Dan nauzubillah, boleh jadi juga iman mereka sedang merosot sehingga menjejaskan akhlak mereka… yang lama kelamaan jika tidak diatasi akan menyebabkan mereka kembali mendedahkan aurat!”

Dia senyum. Alhamdulillah.

“Saya tahu apa yang saya akan lakukan sekarang…”

“Kenapa? Mengapa? Punya kekasih tidak bertudung tetapi baik hatinya? Atau dikecewakan oleh wanita bertudung tetapi buruk perangainya?”

Soalan akhir itu tidak terluahkan oleh saya. Saya simpan sahaja di dalam hati. Biarlah anak muda ini belajar dari pengalamannya… insyaAllah esok apabila dia mengalaminya sendiri, dia akan ingat satu persatu apa yang didengarnya pada hari ini!

(sumber : http://genta-rasa.com/2011/11/11/asalkan-hatinya-baik/ )