Meningkatkan Pencapain Murid Mealy

Meningkatkan Pencapaian Murid Melayu
M. Bakri Musa
 
Dalam ucapannya kepada kakitangan Kementerian Kewangan pada Rabu lepas 12 Feb 2025, Perdana Menteri Anwar Ibrahim menekankan semula keperluan untuk “memperkukuh penguasaan Bahasa Melayu (BM) . . . dan penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris (BI) yang mantap sebagai bahasa ke dua dalam kalangan pelajar.” 
 
            Beliau juga melahirkan rasa kecewa dengan kelewatan dan kajian yang tanpa berhabisan di Kementerian Pendidikan. Anwar sedar atas kepentingan pendidikan dalam pembangunan negara. Bagi Malaysia khususnya, kemajuan masyarakat Melayu. Yang tidak dinyatakan tetapi difahami dengan baik oleh pendengarnya dari khalayak kakitangan penjawat awam yang hampir semuanya Melayu, Anwar merujuk kepada murid Melayu.
 
            Malaysia menghantar guru ke Finland untuk mencontohi sekolah di sana yang di taraf terbaik dalam dunia. Yang lebih baik serta sesuai ialah Kanada, dan bukan hanya cara meningkatkan taraf sekolah tetapi juga mengendalikan dwibahasa secara khususnya dan hubungan antara kaum secara amnya. Masyarakat Finland satu rupa; Malaysia lebih serupa Kanada dari segi bahasa dan bangsa rakyatnya.
 
            Rakyat Kanada sekarang faham bahawa kemahiran dwibahasa (Perancis dan Inggeris) adalah satu keistimewaan dan kebolehan yang pasti, dan bukan seperti pandangan terdahulu, yakni "menyerah kepada mereka." Sekarang dwibahasa bukan lagi satu masalah memecah belah masyarakat. Sukar untuk kini membayangkan bahawa Kanada mengalami “Krisis Oktober 1970” di mana pihak mereka berbahasa Perancis merusuh kepada mereka berbahasa Inggeris. Sementara itu di Malaysia kenangan zaman gelap Mei 13, 1969 itu sering ditimbulkan dengan semangat berapi-api.
 
            Pendidikan di Kanada adalah tanggungjawab negeri, bukan persekutuan. Maknanya model sekolah yang sesuai adalah di Alberta dan British Columbia. Kedua-duanya mempunyai majoriti berbahasa Inggeris tetapi minoriti Francophone pun besar. Alberta mempunyai sistem sekolah awam yang cemerlang, baik aliran sekular mahupun "terpisah" (maknanya, Katolik). Sekolah swasta tidak langsung dapat pasaran di sana!
 
            Pendidikan dwibahasa di kedua-dua wilayah itu amat disukai oleh rakyat kerana mereka sedar bahawa kefasihan dwibahasa memberi kelebihan yang besar dalam sektor awam dan juga swasta. Pakar neurolinguistik menganggap bahawa kefasihan lebih daripada satu bahasa membawa banyak kelebihan kognitif (berfikir) dan faedah lain, termasuk ketegasan angka otak serta keupayaan untuk mengenali corak dan penyimpangan. Lebih kecil lagi seorang itu mendapat kemahiran itu, lebih baik. Tidak hairanlah senarai ibubapa yang ingin anak mereka memasuki aliran Bahasa Perancis (BP) amat ramai.
 
            Alberta mempunyai tiga aliran pendidikan dwibahasa, dan menyerahkan pilihan itu kepada ibu bapa. Pertama ialah sekolah menggunakan BP sebagai penghantar dengan BI diajar sebagai satu mata pelajaran. Ini seumpama di Malaysia, dengan BM menggantikan BP. Kedua, BP ialah bahasa pengantar (kecuali semasa kelas BI) tetapi hanya untuk bilangan tahun yang terhad, seperti tiga atau empat tahun permulaan. Selepas itu BI digunakan kecuali untuk kelas BP. Ketiga, di mana BP diajar hanya sebagai satu mata pelajaran, biasanya untuk satu tempoh sehari, seperti pengajaran BI di Sekolah Kebangsaan hari ini.
 
            Ketiga aliran itu boleh diubahsuai untuk Malaysia. Pertama, sekolah penuh BI dengan BM hanya satu mata pelajaran. Ini berbeza dengan sekolah kolonial dulu di mana BM tidak langsung diajar dan kurikulumnya penuh dengan hal di England.
 
            Mengembalikan semula sekolah kolonial lama tanpa ubahsuai, seperti yang dicadangkan oleh sesetengah pihak, sudah tentunya tidak boleh diterima dalam suasana politik semasa. Tambahan pula itu langkah kebelakangan. Mengubahsuaikan, seperti meletakkan sekolah BI hanya di kampung dan kawasan luar bandar di mana kefasihan BI di keliling rendah. Juga hadkan kepada kanak-kanak dari keluarga yang lazimnya bertutur dalam BM di rumah.
 
            Saya bersekolah BI di zaman penjajah. Saya tidak diajar BM sehingga beberapa tahun kebelakangan apabila negara merdeka. Yang peliknya, saya tidak dikehendaki mengambil BM dalam dua tahun terakhir (Tingkatan Enam). Namun oleh sebab BM ialah bahasa ibunda, saya kemudiannya boleh belajar menulis dalam BM moden tanpa kesukaran.
 
            Kita juga akan meningkatkan kemahiran BI jika mengajar Pengajian Islam dalam BI atau mengadakan Sekolah Agama saluran BI seperti di Amerika Syarikat. Pasti itu akan laku di masyarakat kita. Maklumlah Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia adalah aliran BI.
 
            Walaupun terdapat pembaharuan tidak berhabisan dan pelan tindakan yang tidak berkesudahan dalam sistem pendidikan negara, cabaran penting masih kekal dan belum lagi diselesaikan. Beban dan akibat sekolah daif memberi kesan yang lebih teruk kepada masyarakat Melayu. Itu menyumbang kepada kedudukan kita yang agak ketinggalan di negara ini, kecuali dalam perkhidmatan awam. Dan itu dicapai hanya melalui perintah.
 
            Sekolah kebangsaan juga gagal menyediakan pengalaman yang dikongsi bersama antara murid berbagai kaum. Kini murid sekolah kebangsaan hampir semuanya Melayu. Itu tidak sihat untuk masyarakat majmuk. Hanya Sekolah Kebangsaan Jenis Cina sahaja yang meningkat jumlah pelajar bukan Cina (khususnya Melayu). Sekolah agama dengan muridnya yang semua Melayu menambahkan masalah ini.
 
            Sekolah Kebangsaan juga gagal dalam meningkatkan kefasihan BI, kecekapan STEM (Sains, Teknologi, Engineering [Kejuruteraan], dan Matematik), dan kemahiran berfikir kritis antara murid mereka. Sementara itu aliran agama langsung mengabaikan masalah ini. Kegilaan mereka hanya indoktrinasi dan ritual keagamaan. Yang menjadi mangsa kedua-dua aliran pendidikan ini ialah orang Melayu. 
 
            Begitu juga dengan saluran 60:40 peratus STEM dan bukan STEM yang tidak habis di hebohkan. Yang lebih penting ialah berusaha untuk memastikan supaya semua pelajar meningkatkan pemahaman mereka tentang dunia di dalam dan di sekeliling kita (teras pengajian sains) dan beberapa kemahiran kuantitatif (berfikir dengan angka) tanpa mengira pilihan kerjaya pilihan penuntut pada masa depan.
 
            Sebarang pembaharuan sistem persekolahan bermula dengan menerima tiga realiti teras. Pertama, ibu bapa dan bukan ahli politik atau kakitangan Kementerian Pendidikan yang faham apa pilihan terbaik untuk anak mereka. Ke dua, tiada satu sistem yang sesuai untuk semua. Maknanya, kita perlu membentuk model yang berbeza serta senang di ubahsuaikan supaya ibu bapa boleh memilih. Ketiga, tanpa berpendidikan yang bermutu susah masyarakat membangun.
 
            Dalam syarahan beliau, Anwar juga menyenaraikan cabaran lain yang dihadapi oleh sektor awam, memetik fikiran teragung Ibn Khaldun dan Malek Bennnabi, antara lain. Walau bagaimanapun, masalah pendidikan negara jelas, malah orang kampung sudah sedia mengetahuinya serta mengalaminya. Apa yang dikehendaki ialah kemahuan dan kecekapan untuk membatasinya. Doa dan rayuan sahaja tidak mencukupi.
 

Enhancing Malay Educational Achievements

 Enhancing Malay Educational Achievements

M. Bakri Musa

 

In an unusually introspective speech at his Ministry of Finance monthly gathering on February 12, 2025 to introduce the I-Payment system, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim reemphasized the need for “strengthening Malay [language] proficiency . . . and robust English proficiency as a second language among students.” Left unstated but well understood by his nearly all-Malay civil servant audience, Anwar was referring to Malay students.

 

Anwar expressed frustrations with delays and prolonged studies at his Ministry of Education. He is aware of the importance of education in the development of a nation. And for Malaysia specifically, the advancement of Malays.

 

            Malaysia sends her teachers to Finland to learn as Finnish schools are rated as the best. A better model would be Canada, and not just on improving schools but also handling bilingualism specifically and race relations generally. Further, Malaysia is like Canada in language as well as population plurality; Finland is homogenous.

 

Canadians recognize that being bilingual (French and English) is an invaluable asset, and not as per earlier views of “giving in to the other side.” Bilingualism and biculturalism are no longer divisive there.

 

I differentiate between bilingualism versus proficiency in two languages. With the former you express concepts and ideas using tones, imageries, and symbolisms unique to each language and culture. You also dream in both languages. Anything less and your translations are but literal and utterances rojak style, a laManglish (Malaysian English).

 

Education in Canada is a provincial matter. Thus, the appropriate models would be Alberta and British Columbia. Both have an Anglophone majority but a substantial Francophone minority. Alberta has such excellent public schools, both secular as well as “separate” (Catholic), that private school operators see little market there!

 

There is considerable demand for bilingual education as Canadians recognize its advantages in both public and private sectors. Neuro-linguists tell us that knowing more than one language confers many cognitive and other advantages. The younger one gains that ability, the better. Hence the waiting list for bilingual schools.

 

Alberta has three versions of bilingual education and leaves the choice to parents. One is where French is the medium of instruction, with English taught only as a subject. This is similar to Malaysia today, with Malay instead of French. Two, “early immersion classes” where French is the language of instruction but only for a limited and variable number of years (as with the first three or four). The remaining years would use English except of course for French language classes. Three, French is taught as a subject, typically for one period per day throughout the school years, as with the teaching of English in Malaysian national schools today.

 

Those models could be adapted for Malaysia. One would be to have all-English schools with Malay taught only as a subject daily. Those schools would be unlike the old colonial ones where Malay was never taught and the curriculum consumed with ye old England.

 

The old colonial English schools were excellent. The problem was one of equity, specifically of access. Being few in numbers (just enough to satisfy colonial conscience) and located in urban areas, rural Malay children faced considerable obstacles.

 

Resurrect those old colonial schools but with a twist. Have them only in areas where the level of English fluency in the community is low, as in the kampungs, and restrict admissions to children from homes where Malay is habitually spoken. Another would be early immersion schools where English would be used exclusively for the first few years.

 

Like Anwar, I attended the old colonial English school and was not taught Malay until my last few years when the country became independent. Perversely, I was spared from taking Malay in my last two years (Sixth Form). Yet just with that I could later learn on my own to write in Malay with ease as it is my mother tongue.

 

Teaching Islamic Studies in English or having English-medium Islamic schools as in America would also help increase English proficiency among Malays. Afterall, the International Islamic University Malaysia is English-medium.

 

            Despite endless reforms and blueprints, crucial challenges remain with Malaysian schools. That disproportionately impacts Malays, and is the major contributor to Malay laggardness except in the civil service. That exception is by fiat, not merit.

 

The colonial schools of yore did provide young Malaysians with some shared experiences. It was this that convinced the Brits to grant the nation independence with little fear that it would degenerate into another mini-Indian subcontinent. Perversely today, only National-Type Chinese schools with their increasing non-Chinese (specifically Malay) enrollment provide this valuable shared experience. The proliferation of exclusively Malay religious stream only compounds this problem of lack of shared experience.

 

Malaysia dabbled briefly with Dual Language Program as well as the teaching of science and mathematics (PPSMI–its Malay initials). “Dabbled” is exactly the right word. There was minimal planning or solid research underpinning both adoption and later discontinuation except for the plethora of local “scholarly” papers published in predatory journals. Likewise with science streaming, another distracting obsession. The religious stream ignores those problems. It focuses instead on indoctrination and religious rituals. The victims here are again Malays. 

 

It need not be that way. Morocco’s Al Qarawiyyin and Egypt’s Al Azhar, together with Harvard and Yale all began as religious institutions, with the first two established centuries earlier. Today those institutions together with their supporting societies could not be more different. That difference is in their ability to adapt and change to meet evolving societal needs and challenges.

 

STEM streaming, the current obsession, is another distraction. Make all students understand the world within and around us (the essence of science), together with enhanced quantitative skills regardless of their future career choices.

 

Reforming education begins with acknowledging three realities. One, parents, not politicians or Ministry of Education bureaucrats, know what is best for their children. Two, no one system fits all; hence the need for different models as well as flexibility. Three, society cannot develop if its members are not well educated.

 

In that presentation, Anwar also enumerated other challenges facing the public sector, quoting luminaries like Ibn Khaldun and Malek Bennnabi. The problem however, is less with acknowledging those problems (they are obvious even to kampung folks), rather the will and competence to rectify them. Pleas and prayers alone would not do it.

 

jakIM Mencekam Umat Islam Malaysia

JAKIM Mencekam Umat Islam Malaysia

M. Bakri Musa

 

Islam adalah akidah teragung serta tahan lasak. Ia boleh mengatasi perselisihan dalaman pada awal lagi yang sehingga kini belum dapat dipulihkan, yakni perpecahan antara kaum Sunni dan Syiah pada Abad ke-7 CE. Islam juga terselamat daripada ancaman luar teruk seperti pencerobohan Monggol pada abad ke-13 CE. Sebaliknya, mereka yang bertukar menjadi kaum Islam. Maknanya, Islam sebagai agama tidak memerlukan sebarang pembelaan, lebih lagi oleh mereka yang kaki dan gila kawalan dalam JAKIM.

 

            Percubaan terbaru JAKIM untuk kononnya “membela” Islam ialah kenyataan pada 5 Februari 2025 di Parlimen oleh Na’im Mokthar, Menteri Hal Ehwal Agama di Jabatan Perdana Menteri. Yakni badan bukan Islam mesti mendapatkan kebenaran terdahulu dari JAKIM dan mematuhi garis panduannya apabila menjemput orang Islam untuk "acara perayaan, pengebumian, atau acara yang diadakan di rumah ibadat bukan Islam."

 

            Kementerian "Hal Ehwal Agama" sendiri mempunyai kelirunya sendiri. Kementerian itu hanya berurusan hal ehwal Islam sahaja dan bukan agama amnya. Lebih tepat lagi, hanya urusan duniawi umat Islam Malaysia khasnya orang Melayu. Pada hakikatnya JAKIM adalah sebuah badan birokrasi yang terbesar dan berbelanja berbilion untuk mengawal pemikiran dan acara hidup umat Islam Malaysia. Pada mereka di JAKIM, umat Islam tempatan seumpama kanak-kanak yang rapuh. Imannya senang sahaja terganggu jika meraikan hari Krismas atau Tahun Baru Cina bersama sahabat, jiran dan rakan sekerja tanpa bimbingan dari JAKIM.

 

            Menurut perbadanan Sisters-In-Islam, garis panduan terbaru ini adalah satu lagi percubaan "untuk mengawal dan mengasingkan, bukan untuk menggalakkan keharmonian." Mengasingkan pasti; tetapi mengawal? JAKIM mempunyai pengaruh yang tipis dan terus surut di kalangan masyarakat Melayu. Jika benar JAKIM masih boleh mempengaruhi masyarakat Melayu, saya lebih suka jika pejabat itu menggunakannya untuk menanam rasa takut kepada Allah kepada pemimpin yang pecah amanah dan bermain rasuah serta mereka yang biasa menziarahi tempat judi.

 

            JAKIM hanyalah satu pejabat awam yang terbesar istimewa untuk memberi kerja kepada ribuan yang berkelulusan dalam Pengajian Islam. Mereka tiada mempunyai kemahiran yang berguna kepada majikan swasta dan masyarakat amnya. Bayangkan perkembangan besar pejabat serta kakitangan jika JAKIM mesti menyemak dan meluluskan setiap permohonan untuk orang Melayu dijemput ke pesta Krismas. Ini hanya sifat buat kerja sahaja.

 

            Saya gembira kerana Perdana Menteri Anwar Ibrahim telah membuang idea bodoh Menteri Hal Ehwal Agamanya. Anwar harus pergi lebih jauh lagi dan mencontohi Presiden Trump dengan terus menutup JAKIMdan memecat menterinya. 

 

            Fikirkan kehilangan peluang (lost opportunity). Renungkan jika dana berbilion yang diperuntukkan keJAKIM itu digunakan untuk membeli peralatan mengorek untuk mendalamkan sungai dan tali air yang berkeladak, itu akan mengakibatkan banjir kurang berlaku. Begitu juga jika dana itu disalurkan untuk memodenkan sekolah kampung dan memberi murid makanan percuma seperti apa yang di buat oleh Indonesia sekarang. Anak kampung kita mungkin lebih cenderung pergi sekolah akibat perbuatan demikian!

 

            Korah pekerja JAKIM keluar daripada pejabat mereka untuk misalnya mengawal lalu lintas di luar masjid semasa solat Jumaat. Atau bersihkan jalan raya dan taman awam. Saya tidak tahu sama ada itu akan memberi pahala cukup untuk mereka memasuki Syurga dan menerima bahagian anak dara yang dijanjikan, tetapi ini tentu sudah pasti. Yakni jalan raya dan taman awam pasti akan lebih bersih. Itu akan memberi manfaat kepada semua.

 

            Yang Di Pertuan Agung kini, Sultan Ibrahim dari Johor, pernah mempersoalkan mengapa Jabatan Agama negerinya memerlukan berbilion-bilion setiap tahun. Tiada jawapan. Agung sekarang patut mengulangipertanyaan itu kepada Perdana Menteri Anwar.

 

            Garis panduan JAKIM itu di isytiharkan sehari sebelum hari lahir Pramoedya Ananta Toer yang ke-100. Pegawai JAKIM patut memperluaskan bacaan mereka daripada hanya risalah Arab kuno. Bacalah sedikit sastera dan karangan kita semasa. Renungkan cerpen Pram "Sunat." Acara sahaja seperti bersunat tidak akan menjadikan seorang itu Muslim yang baik serta sejati, bahkan tidak akan merasa pun seperti seorang Muslim. 

 

            Melihatkan serta mengalami kemiskinan dan kemelaratan di kampungnya, Pram mendorong pembacanya kepada kebijaksanaan nenek moyang kita:  Kemiskinan mendekati kekufuran. Kemiskinan adalah penghalang terbesar untuk kita memasuki Syurga, sama ada versi Al-Quran atau pelbagai jenis duniawi. Kurangkan kemiskinan dan anda akan kurangkan maksiat. Tidak semena-mena penderaan suami isteri, anak terbiar, dan penyalahgunaan dadah berleluasa di Kelantan, negeri yang dianggap paling “Islam”. Terkilan besar sebab JAKIM mengalihkan usaha kita daripada menyelesaikan masalah kemiskinan Melayu ini yang sukar diatasi.

 

            Perintah utama Al-Qur'an ialah "Biasakan yang baik; jauhi yang jahat!” Ayat beribu yang lain ituhanyalah ulasan dan perincian tentang tema sulung ini. Siapa yang menganggap bahawa mengukuhkan ikatan antara kaum dengan mengambil bahagian dalam perayaan satu sama lain sebagai tidak membawa kebaikan, atau melihat garis panduan yang dicadangkan mereka sebagai usaha soleh untuk melarang kemungkaran, tidak patut diberi layanan atau di hormati. Begitu juga mereka yang mempunyai pandangan yang sama.

 

            Dengan menolak cadangan Menteri Agamanya yang tidak berfikir, Perdana Menteri Anwar telah menunjukkan bahawa kerajaan Madaninya juga Kerajaan Muhibbah. Anwar adalah pemimpin semasa yang boleh menentang mereka yang merebak ajaran Islam yang sesat di dalam dan juga di luar kerajaan. Oleh sebab itu dia perlu pergi lebih jauh lagi. Garis panduan Naim Mokthar itu tidak patut diterima oleh masyarakat majmuk, lebih-lebih lagi dalam kabinet.

 

            Dengan tindakkan yang terang serta muktamad, Perdana Menteri Anwar telah memberi isyarat jelas kepada menteri yang lain untuk supaya tidak menarung fikiran angkuh yang seumpama.

 

            Kontroversi terbaharu ini menghidupkan semula kenangan buruk pergunaan istilah “Allah” oleh mereka yang bukan Islam. Perdana Menteri Anwar bertanggung jawab kepada rakyat Malaysia, sekarang dan akan datang, bahawa perkara yang mungkin memecahbelahkan rakyat tidak akan timbul lagi.

 

            Anwar patut merenungkan warisan pemimpin Yugoslavia, Presiden Tito. Dia berjaya mengamankan penduduk Yugoslavia yang dulunya yang berpecah belah beralasan kaum dan agama. Bahkan Sarajevo pernah menjadi hos Olimpik Musim Salji pada tahun 1984. Walau bagaimanapun, selepas tiadanya Tito, Milosevic dan gengnya timbul dengan kebiadaban pembersihan etnik dan membalas dendam.

 

            Tanggungjawab Anwar jelas dan amat berat. Yakni untuk menentukan supaya Malaysia tidak memunculkan Milosevic tempatan. Oleh itu Perdana Menteri Anwar perlu membersihkan badan menterinya supaya mereka seperti Naim Mokhtar tidak membiak.

JAKIM Control Freaks

 JAKIM Control Freaks

M. Bakri Musa

 

Islam is a great and resilient faith. It had withstood the deep irreversible internal dissensions early in its formation as with the 7^th Century CE Sunni/Shiite split. It also survived the near-existential external challenges of the 13^th Century CE Mongol invasion. Instead, the Mongols became Muslims. Meaning, Islam does not need any defending, least of all by those control freaks at JAKIM (the acronym for the Malaysian government Islamic agency).

 

            The latest attempt by JAKIM to “defend” Islam was the statement on February 5, 2025 in Parliament by Naim Mokthar, Religious Affairs Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department. It would have non-Muslim entities get JAKIM’s prior approval and conform with its guidelines when inviting Muslims for “festive events, funerals, or events held in non-Muslim houses of worship.”

 

            The Ministry of “Religious Affairs” itself has an Orwellian odor to its tag. That Ministry deals only with Islam. To be precise, the worldly affairs of Malaysian Muslims. In reality JAKIM is but a massive and expensive bureaucracy to control the thoughts and activities of Malaysian Muslims. To the minions in JAKIM, Malaysian Muslims are but a fragile infantile lot. As such their iman (faith) could easily be disturbed if they were to attend Christmas or Chinese New Year Celebrations of their friends, colleagues, and neighbors, sans guidance from JAKIM.

 

            As per Sisters-In-Islam, this latest guideline is yet another attempt “to control and segregate, not to promote harmony.” Segregate definitely; control? JAKIM has minimal and fast receding influence among Malays. If indeed JAKIM has any influence left, I would rather that the agency uses it to instill the fear of Allah on our corrupt leaders and those patronizing gambling premises.

 

            JAKIM is but a vast public works program for the glut of otherwise unemployable Malays qualified in Islamic Studies. Imagine the massive expansion of bureaus and personnel if JAKIM had to review and approve every application for a Malay to be invited to a Christmas party. Great job security initiative!

 

            I am glad that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had jettisoned that idiotic idea of his Religious Affairs Minister. Anwar should go further and adopt a Trumpian posture. Shutter that whole Ministry and dump its Minister. That guideline proposal should not have had a cabinet hearing in the first place.

 

Think of the huge lost opportunity costs. Had the billions spent on JAKIM been used to fund the dredging of silted rivers, imagine the good that would do in reducing floods. Likewise, if channeled to modernize kampung schools and providing free meals. Those children would then be more likely to attend school.

 

            Then imagine if those JAKIM bureaucrats were to be forced out of their offices and made to control traffic outside mosques during Friday prayers. Or clean streets and public parks. I do not know whether they would garner enough pahala (religious brownie points) to enter Paradise and get their share of promised virgins, but this much would be certain. The streets and parks would definitely be cleaner. And that would benefit all.

 

            The present Agung, Sultan Ibrahim of Johore, once questioned why his state JAKIM’s equivalent needed billions every year. No answer. Now that he is Agung, he should repeat that query to Prime Minister Anwar.

 

JAKIM’s guidelines were proposed on the eve of what would have been Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s 100^th birthday. In his autobiographical short story “Sunat” (Circumcision), Pram made the pointed observation that rituals do not make one a good Muslim, or even feel like one. Instead, the appalling poverty and abject deprivation that he saw in his village and among fellow villagers only confirmed our forefathers’ wisdom:  kemiskinan mendakti kefukuran (poverty invites impiety).

 

Poverty is the greatest impediment to our entering Paradise, the Qur’anic version as well as the earthly variety. Ameliorate poverty and you reduce impiety. It is no accident that spousal abuses, abandoned children, drug abuse and other “sins” are rampant in Kelantan despite it being the most “Islamic” state. JAKIM with its silly obsession on these guidelines only diverts us from solving this core intractable problem of Malay poverty.

 

The Qur’an’s central injunction is “Command good; forbid evil.” The rest are but commentaries and elaborations. Those who think that strengthening intercommunal bonds by participating in each other’s festivities as not commanding good, or view the proposed JAKIM guidelines as forbidding evil, have no place in plural Malaysia.

 

By rejecting his Religious Minister’s idiotic proposal, Prime Minister Anwar has demonstrated that his Madani government is also a Muhibbah (goodwill) one. Anwar is the only leader who can stand up to these misguided Islamists in and out of government. As such he needs to go further. Characters of Naim Mokthar’s persuasion have no place in a plural society, much less be in Anwar’s cabinet. Firing Naim would send a clear strong signal to the other ministers not to toy with similar dangerous cockeyed ideas.

 

This latest controversy rekindles ugly memories of earlier ones, as with the puerile and divisive issue on the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims. Anwar owes Malaysians now and in the future that such divisive issues will never arise again.

 

Anwar must not risk leaving a Tito-like legacy. Tito managed to keep the ancient tribal savage instincts of the inhabitants of the old Yugoslavia at bay. However, once he was gone Milosevic and his ethnic cleansing barbarism of his tribe emerged with a vengeance. Anwar owes Malaysia a solemn duty not to have a future local Milosevic emerge. Hence the need to purge, and do so early, the likes of Naim Mokhtar.

The Power Of The Pen: Remembering Ananta Pramoedya Toer

 The Power Of The Pen

Remembering Pramoedya Ananta Toer

M. Bakri Musa

 

Allah in His infinite wisdom has endowed every community with its share of the gifted and talented. What it does with this divine gift will determine the community’s fate. 

 

            This Thursday, February 6^th 2025, would have been Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s 100^th birthday. When he died on April 30, 2006, I wrote a tribute to him in The Sun Daily (May 4, 2006). To my surprise, mine was the only mention of this great man of letters in the Malaysian papers. Back in Indonesia, there was a similar paucity. I anticipate this same lack of acknowledgement this Thursday, February 6^th, 2025. 

 

            In that tribute I wrote, “I am ashamed of Pramoedya’s treatment by his own kind, but I am even more ashamed of our culture. A culture cannot aspire to great heights if it does not value its gifted and talented.” 

            

              A prolific writer, Pram as he was fondly referred to, was also a trenchant critique of the capitalist system. America’s support of the brutal Suharto’s Ode Baru (New Order) dictatorship only increased Pram’s contempt for both. Despite that, in 1999 soon after the downfall of Suharto, Pram was honored by the University of California Berkeley with its Chancellor’s Distinguished Honor Award. Earlier he had received an honorary doctorate from the University of Michigan. My greatest regret was not being able to meet Pram when he was at Berkeley. 

 

A year later came the Fukuoka Prize with this citation, “Mr. Pramoedya's writings will continue to influence not only Indonesian literature but also that of the world.” Pram was nominated for the Nobel Prize many times and would have won it except for the very active negative lobbying by the Suharto Regime. Imagine your own government doing that!

 

When Pram was awarded Philippines’ Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1988, there were considerable protests back in Indonesia. His fellow and earlier Indonesian honoree Mochtar Lubis (of Senja Di Djakarta[Twilight In Djakarta] fame), returned his award in protest simply because of their parochial domestic political differences. In contrast, Google honored Pram on what would have been his 92^nd birthday with a doodle depicting the novelist at work on his typewriter. 

 

Not one Malaysian university had seen fit to invite much less honor Pramoedya. Only Jakarta’s Trisakti University recognized, and early, Pram’s talent by appointing him as an adjunct professor despite his not having any formal academic qualifications. 

 

Triskati is Indonesia’s Univeristi Tunku Abdul Rahman equivalent, meaning, established by and catered primarily to Indonesian Chinese. They recognize talent even when not among their own.

 

Pram treasured those honors not for personal glory rather that “every award … is a slap against militarism and fascism in Indonesia.” As for his long battle against Suharto, he had this to say, “Ode Baru has fallen but my writings have been translated into 40 languages.” Truly a magnificent and enduring manifestation of the power of the pen! 

 

Pram was jailed by the Dutch from July 1947 to December ‘49, and also by Sukarno, a leader Pram admired greatly. Despite that, he praised Sukarno for being able to bring that polyglot archipelago under one political entity.  

 

It reflected the basic humanity and decency of the Dutch that despite their brutal colonization of Indonesia, they too recognized Pram’s talent. They invited him and his wife to Holland for an extended stay (1953-54) through STICUSA (its Dutch acronym), an entity “to reform the substance of ties between the Netherlands and its [former] empire.”

 

A poignant passage in his Buru Tetralogy describes the scene one Ramadan when the prison authorities had invited an Imam to give a sermon to those skinny starving prisoners on … the importance of fasting! The cruel irony escaped the Imam. That also reflected the irrelevance of much contemporary Islamic teaching in the Malay world. For contrast, the local Catholic Church donated pen and papers, the only allowed items, to Pram and the other prisoners. 

 

I first heard of Pramoedya Ananta Toer in secondary school in the late 1950s. My Malay Language teacher referred to him as the new generation of postwar writers to rival prewar ones like Chairul Anwar of “Aku” fame.  After I read Maxwell Lane’s excellent translations of Pram’s “Bumi Manusia” (This Earth of Mankind) and “Anak Semua Bangsa” (Child Of All Nations), the first two of his Buru Tetralogy published soon upon his release from Pulau Buru in 1979, I was determined to collect and read all of his works, the originals as well as translations. 

 

Quite a challenge as Suharto’s goons had confiscated and destroyed much of Pram’s works. Further, no library or academic institution in Malaysia or Indonesia has seen fit to collect Pram’s voluminous output, literary as well as his equally sharp political commentaries. The only extensive collection I am aware of is Alex G Bardsley’s at Cornell’s e-Commons. Another good start in Indonesia is Bukulaaela’s “Perahu Yang Setia Dalam Badar” (Steady Boat In A Storm, 2001). 

 

In Alfred T Ticoalu’s “Satu Hari Dalam Kehidupan Pramoedya Ananta Toer” (A Day In The Life Of Pramoedya Ananta Toer), Pram gave this advice: “Kamu jangan takut untuk maju dan bicarakan ide-ide kamu. Sekali kamu takut, kamu kalah.” (You should never fear to advance and argue your ideas. The moment you are afraid, you are already defeated.” 

 

Suharto and his goons are now long gone (except for his son-in-law Prabowo who recently became President). With Suharto gone, Indonesia had seen a blossoming of her artists and writers. Remarkable, considering that Indonesia does not have such artificial props like Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Malay Language Agency) or Sasterawan Negara (National Literary) Award.