Prof. Dr. Nasoha Saabin

Each of us belonged to a particular race, and we love our race. A person who loves his or her race cannot be said to be a racist. It is natural for a person to love his or her race. In other words, it is abnormal for a Chinese or Malay not to love his own respective race. We become racist only when the love for our race causes us to be unjust to people of other races. Many call Tun Dr Mahathir a racist because he loves the Malay race more than any other race. Many even called him as ultra-Malay. But it is natural to love our own race as it is normal to love our own children. It is unnatural not to love your own race as it is unnatural not to love your own children. Has Tun Dr Mahathir done any injustice to other races because of his love for the Malays? Tun Dr Mahathir has never done any injustice to the Chinese or the Indians just because he loves Malays. Tun Dr Mahathir loves Malay race and he wants the Malays to be economically at par with other races. In Dr Mahathir’s opinion, the Malays’ prosperity will help stabilise the country as Malays form the majority in Malaysia. Only when the country is stable can other races live in peace and harmony in Malaysia. As the majority race in Malaysia, Malays should not be an underprivileged race because this will be detrimental to the stability of Malaysia. If Malaysia is unstable, other races will not be able to live happily and accumulate wealth in Malaysia. Tun Dr Mahathir loves Malays and Malaysia. Although Tun Dr Mahathir loves Malays, he has not done any injustice to other races. Therefore, Tun Dr Mahathir is not racist. On the other hand, Hitler loves the German race and because of this lunatic obsession, Hitler killed all Jews in German. Since he was unjust to other races, Hitler was a racist and a racist cannot become a good leader.
Racism is bad but to love one’s race is good. All people of the three main races in Malaysia love their own race and work hard to improve the condition of their own race. The three main component parties of BARISAN NASIONAL, namely UMNO, MCA and MIC, belonged to three main races in Malaysia, which are the Malay, Chinese and Indian respectively. Each party look after the interest of their own race and also Malaysia. Although the three main races are independently promoting their own interests, all of them have one common need, that is to be able to live peacefully and in harmony. Only when there is peace and harmony can all of them work and accumulate wealth in Malaysia. Without peace no race will be able to prosper and to work and accumulate wealth in Malaysia. With the formation of Parti Perikatan or later known as ‘Barisan Nasional’, Malaysia seems to find the answer to gain peace and prosperity. However, the May 13, 1969 incident prompted Malaysian leaders to review or revisit the formula of peace and prosperity which they formulated during independence in August 1957. The incident taught the leaders that unequal prosperity between the races created instability to the country .Compared to other races, the majority Malays who is said to be the ‘son of the land’ is relatively poor. Prior to May 13, there was no economic policy to help the Malays to get out of poverty. After May 13, a new economic policy was manifested to help them to become more prosperous or at least comparable to other races, particularly the Chinese. The government aimed to achieve at least 30% of the country’s prosperity to be in the hand of Malays. Prior to May 13, many Malays hated the Chinese, because the Chinese immigrants were richer than them. The Malays primarily lived in the villages and they were generally poor. The Malays did not blame their own weaknesses for the poverty that they were in. Instead they blamed the government and the Chinese. The Malays watched in envy the Chinese who lived in bungalows, drove big cars and having better facilities. Unlike the Malays, many Chinese resided in cities, with good facilities such as good schools, good roads and good hospitals. Prior to May 13, there were very few university educated Malay students and even fewer Malay doctors and engineers. In contrast, there were many Chinese and Indian doctors and engineers. During that time, generally Chinese students received good primary and secondary education and many of them were able to study at universities, either locally or abroad.
Prior to May 13, the government was unaware that the Malays poverty would lead to instability in the country. The May 13th, 1969 was a blessing to Malaysia and to Malays. The incident had opened the eyes of Malaysian leaders to formulate a new economic policy which main aim was to make the Malays more affluent or at least at par with the Chinese. Consequently peace, stability and prosperity in Malaysia were achieved. Due to the new economic policy, many Malays became successful business entrepreneurs. Many bright Malay students were sent to study abroad to become doctors, engineers and other professionals. Now the number of Malay professionals and entrepreneurs in Malaysia has increase dramatically. Many of these products of new economic policy Malay professionals later join politics. They join politics only when they were given higher party posts and opportunities to become party leaders. Since there was less opportunity to do so in UMNO, many ended up joining the opposition parties particularly PAS and PKR. During the implementation of the New Economic Policy, there was an emergence of the work of Dakwah in Malaysia. Because of this, many Malay professionals were inclined towards Islam. They did not have the real Islamic qualities and principles but they had an increased desire towards Islam. They did not have real strong faith in Allah, but they did have the increased desire to follow Islam. Whoever told them that this is an Islamic movement, they would follow the movement. One of the movements that most of these professional joined was PAS.
Their increased inclination towards the adoption of Islamic values and principles in government lured them to join political parties such as PAS which theoretically aimed at establishing an Islamic country. Many of these young Malay professional who has Islamic inclination will join Pas and the less religiously inclined ones will join PKR. Now in Malaysia, among the Malays, particularly the young professionals, there exist two groups, relatively of equal strength. Both are antagonizing each other because of differences in priorities. The first group continue the struggle to upgrade the Ketuanan Melayu as their top priority, whilst the second group struggle to establish Islam as their top priority. On the other hand, our Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib would like to form the third group which struggle to establish one Malaysia as top priority. Unfortunately the Prime Minister’s idea is a very new idea. Many Malays, Chinese and Indians are not yet ready to embrace One Malaysia concept. In my opinion, many Malays, Chinese as well as Indians love their own race more than they love Malaysia. They will certainly struggle to establish the supremacy of their own race above the struggle to establish the supremacy of Malaysia. It is, therefore, hard to establish a new race. ‘Satu Malaysia’, the new race proposed by Prime Minister Najib, is not real. It cannot be established only by songs. Out of respect or fear of the Prime Minister, many people may seem to accept the concept of ‘Satu Malaysia’. In my opinion, I don’t think they sincerely accepted the concept.
In Malaysia, the Malays formed the majority and most dominant race. The Malay unity is of paramount importance in maintaining Malaysia’s stability. Without united Malays, Malaysia cannot become a politically stable country. As a result, Malaysia cannot become a prosperous and peaceful country. Many Malays think and feel the concept of ‘Satu Malaysia’ is undermining the concept of Malay supremacy or ‘Ketuanan Melayu’. The Malays think that Prime Minister Dato’Seri Najib is fighting for the interest of all races, instead of for the Malays. They think that they are not ready to adopt the system of meritocracy where everyone struggle on equal platform and opportunities, and the best will survive. In the past, Malays were pampered by the government and given priorities over other races. Malay students were given priorities to study abroad and the government gave them scholarships. With the concept of ‘Satu Malaysia’, all races have equal opportunities to become successful and the best race will survive. Many Malays are restless vis-a-vis ‘Satu Malaysia’ concept as they are not really ready to compete with the other races. Now with the Malays divided into two groups and a Prime Minister who does not belonged to either, can the Malays be united under the present Prime Minister? Who can unite the Malays? What are common factors that will make the Malays unite?
In my opinion, no one can make the Malays united except Allah. Malays can be made united not by the concept of ‘Satu Malaysia’ or by the concept of ‘Ketuanan Melayu’. Malays can only be united based on the truth, as Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. was reportedly said that, “My ummah cannot be made to unite on falsehood”. All Malays are Muslims and no Malays who are not Muslims. A Malay is a Muslim, and non-Muslims can never become Malay. Malays can only be made to unite on truth and the truth is the orders of Allah. When Malays are ruled by the orders of Allah, the Malays will be united. Only a leader who has the orders of Allah in his life can rule the Malays with the orders of Allah. Malays can introduce the orders of Allah in their life, when their ultimate desire is only to win the pleasure of Allah. Desire to win the pleasure of Allah will make the Malays obey Allah’s orders in the way shown by Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. Once they obey the orders of Allah in the way shown by Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. with the intention to please Allah until Allah is pleased, Allah will place the desire to earn the love of Allah in their heart. Once the Malays have Allah in their heart, Allah will make the Malays united as Allah is the only source of love. Everyone who has the desire to have Allah will definitely get Allah. Allah will not make a person who wants Allah to become frustrated. A person who wants Allah will definitely get Allah. A person who has Allah will have everything that he or she wants in this world and the hereafter. Allah has ordered us to make Allah as our lover and everyone who wants Allah will get Allah. When the desire of the world is in the Malays hearts, they can never be made united. Allah has made the Malays to become educated, professional and rich by virtue of the New Economic Policy. However, without ‘iman’ and good deeds they cannot become united. No one except Allah can make the Malays united, and Allah will make the Malays united if they have the desire to have Allah or the pleasure of Allah. Love of Allah will be the common factor that binds men with another man. Love of worldly materials will tear the Malays and the whole mankind far apart from each other.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
October 2011
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre

Allah has created all the material things of this world and ordered us to use them. Allah is the One who put benefit or harm in all the material things of this world. Other than Allah cannot give benefit or harm. None can gives benefit or harm except Allah. Allah has made all the material things either to give benefit or harm to mankind. However, Allah can change the benefit into harm in the materials which we often see as giving benefit. Benefit or harm does not come from the material things themselves but it comes from Allah. We use materials that we believe can give us benefit and we do not use materials that we believe can gives us harm. We believes material things can give benefit or harm because we see with our own eyes, material things to give benefit or harm since the day we were born. We have been told to believe whatever we see as the truth. The common idiom being spoken by many of us is; “seeing is believing”. Whatever we see, we tend to believe it. Many are completely convinced, whatever they see is true. On the other hand, Allah tells us in the Quran, whatever we see is not true. What is the truth? The truth is everything that happens in this world, happen with the permission of Allah. The doer of everything is Allah and not the material things that we see. None can do except Allah. Even though, Allah is unseen but the doer of everything is Allah. Allah is the One that gives benefit and harm.
When we are hungry, Allah ordered us to eat. After we have taken the foods, our hunger will be satisfied. Our own experiences tell us that the foods are the one which satisfy our hunger. We see that the foods satisfy our hunger and not Allah. We tend to believe that foods can satisfy our hunger and whenever we are hungry, we immediately recall our past experience that foods are the one that satisfy our hunger and not Allah and we immediately look for food. Whenever we are hungry we think of foods and we make effort to find foods in order to satisfy our hunger. When we have found the food and we have eaten the food, our hunger immediately got satisfied. We have been experiencing this, since the day we were born and we tend to believe strongly in whatever we have experienced in the past. Our believe that foods can satisfy our hunger is strong in our heart and it becomes stronger as we get older. However the truth is not in whatever we see and experience, but the truth is in the unseen. The doer of everything is not the things that we see or experience but the doer of everything is the unseen Allah. The truth is “there is no God but Allah” and there is no one that can give benefit or harm but Allah. Good and bad comes from Allah. When we believe the doer is Allah, we believe in the unseen. We can see the material world with our eyes but we cannot see the unseen with our eyes. We can only see the unseen with the eyes of our heart. When our eyes are blind, we cannot see the material things of this world. But when the eyes of our heart are blind we cannot see the unseen. We will be able to see both the materials world as well the unseen world when neither the eyes nor the eyes of the heart are blind.
What causes our eyes to become blind? Our eyes are the most transparent part of our body. In other words light can pass into our body only through our eyes. Among the most transparent part of the eyes are the cornea, the lens and the vitreous. Cornea is the outermost part of the eyes and it is also the most sensitive part of the body. Whenever there is debris in the eyes, no matter how minute the debris is, immediately we feel pains and we will do something to remove the pain in our eyes. Our cornea is continuously being lubricated by a layer of fluid known as layer of tears and the layer of tears help the cornea to breathe and kill germs. When a person has a disease known as dry eyes, it means the cornea of the eyes are not sufficiently lubricated by the layers of the tears and the main symptoms of the disease is continuous pain, while reading or whenever the eyes are exposed to wind or bright light. When the cornea is dry, it can causes corneal opacity and corneal opacity will prevent light to pass into the eyes and a person with corneal opacity can become blind. Another most common cause of blindness is cataract. In cataract the lens of the eyes become opaque due to the oxidation of the lens’s protein inside the lens. Len’s protein oxidization is due to poor nutrition or excessive exposure to harmful rays. When the lens becomes opaque, it also prevents light from reaching the retina. When light cannot reach the retina of the eyes, the eyes become blind. Blindness due to cataract and corneal opacity can be cured by operation. Another cause of blindness is when the retina, the nerves of our eyes and the brain are damaged due to diseases such as diabetic, hypertension and glaucoma. Whenever the nerves of our eyes are no longer able to process the light that enters the eyes, we also become blind. When our eyes become blind we cannot see all the material things. In order to see the material things we need the physical light to be able to enter our eyes, and the light can be transmitted by our nervous system and analyses by our brain.
How eyes of the heart become blind? Eyes of the heart become blind when our heart has the love of the material worlds. When our eyes see the material world, we perceive the material world as being able to give benefit or harm to us. When our eyes perceive the material world as being able to give benefit or harm, it means we have been deceived by our own eyes. The truth is none can give benefit or harm except Allah. All the material things that we see cannot give harm or benefit. Allah says in the Qur’an “our vision is deceiving”. What we see is not true. We see things are giving benefit and we see things are giving harm and we do not see that Allah is giving benefit or Allah is giving harm. When we tend to believe in whatever we see as true, we tend to believe that the one that gives benefit or harm is the material things that we see and not Allah. Because we believe material things are the ones that give benefit, we tend to love the material things. Because we believe some material things can give harm to us, we tend not to go near to them. Because all of us love money, we fear of losing money and we always want to have more and we do not want to spend our money. All of these are signs and symptoms of loving money. Why we love money? We love money because we believe with money; we can have all the things that we love, such as a bungalow, a Mercedes car, a beautiful wife or handsome husband and so on. We see with a lot of money we can buy all the luxurious things in life. We also see those who have a lot of money can buy all the expensive things, can travel oversea, can dine in expensive restaurant and can wear beautiful and expensive clothes. We do not see and understand when we have Allah, we can have all the expensive things in life. Allah says in Hadis Qudsi with approximate meaning; Make me as your aim. Make me as your purpose and make me as your lover. If you got me, you will have everything. Although this Hadis Qudsi is true but even Muslims do not want Allah but they want money.
When the love of money and material things in our heart is more than the love of Allah, then our heart is considered to be completely or partially blind. When in our heart there is only some love of money and material things, but the love of Allah is more than the love of the material things, then our heart is not considered blind. When our heart is either blind or partially blind, we cannot accept, transmit and understand the spiritual light. What is the spiritual light? Spiritual light is the words of Allah and the words of Prophet Muhammad SAW. Qur’an and Hadis are the spiritual light that can only be understood by the heart which is not blind. A heart is considered not blind when the heart has the love of Allah and His Prophet more than the love of the material things. One that has the sharpest vision of the heart in the entire mankind is our Prophet Muhammad SAW. Our Prophet Muhammad SAW has the heart full with the love of Allah and without the slightest love of this material world. Only the heart which is not blind can understand and practice the Quran and Hadis correctly. The heart which is completely or partially blind cannot understand and practice the Quran and the Hadis. Non-Muslims cannot understand completely the Quran and Hadis. Muslim with no iman also cannot understand the Quran. Muslims with weak iman also cannot understand the Quran. Only Muslims with iman that reaches the level Allah wants will understand and practice the Quran correctly.
Why our heart becomes blind? Our heart becomes blind because we love the material things. Our heart tends to loves the material things because with our eyes we see; the material things give us benefit. With our eyes we do not see Allah gives the benefit or harm. Although there are some Muslims who know that Allah is the One that gives harm or benefits but they are still at the stage of knowing but not at the stage of believing. Muslims who belongs to this group, still loves the material things more than they love Allah and their hearts are still considered to be blind. They will not understand the Quran and Hadis although they, maybe able to read and understand the meaning of the Quran simply because they have learned the language of the Quran. Because we believe in the things that we see, our hearts become blind. When our heart is blind, we love the material things more than we love Allah. We see the material things are giving benefit and we are not negating whatever we see. So we tend to believe in whatever we see as giving benefit to us. We do not love Allah because we do not see Allah as the One who gives benefit to us. We may know, Allah is giving benefit to us but in the heart we believe the material things are giving benefit to us. Because of this wrong believe, whenever we use any material things, we will use them because we think that they are giving benefit to us and not because it is the order of Allah and to please Allah. Similarly, we are running away from any material things that we believe can give us harm is because we think that the material things are giving harm to us and not because it is the order of Allah and to please Allah. When Allah orders us to do something that looks like non-beneficial by our eyes we refuse to do it. Because we believe in the things that we see with our eyes, we are willing to become disobedience to the orders of Allah. Allah says in the Quran with the approximate meaning; Alif Lam Mim, truly this is the book (Qur’an) without doubt is the guidance for those who are having the fear of Allah in their heart. Who believes in the unseen, who perform the obligatory prayers and who spent in charity of whatever we have given them. In order to become those who have fear of Allah in their hearts, we have to believe in the unseen and not to believe the things that we see with our eyes.
How to prevent our heart from becoming blind? In order to prevent our heart from becoming blind, we must counter whatever we see with the Great words given by Allah to the whole mankind. What is that Great words? That is the words given by Allah to all the Prophets and with that words, Allah has ordered all the Prophets to call the whole mankind. The same work given to all the Prophets is also given to all the umat of Prophet Muhammad SAW. The Great words or Kalimah given to all the Prophets and to all the umat of Prophet Muhammad SAW are; “there is no God except Allah” which also means; there is no one able to give benefit or harm and good or bad except Allah. Allah has given the umat of Prophet Muhammad SAW the work of calling peoples to the Great words as Allah has given to all the Prophets. If all the umat of Prophet Muhammad SAW call the entire mankind to this Kalimah, the whole umat will not have blind heart and the whole umat will become the best of umat who will call peoples to good and prevent peoples from evils.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
May 2012
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre

Our Prime Minister Dato’Seri Najib launches the slogan of Satu Malaysia with the aim of unifying Malaysian. After about 54 years of independence, Malaysia come out with the slogan of Satu Malaysia with the hope, the slogan will help to unite the various races in Malaysia. Satu Malaysia is only a concept that must be accepted and understood by all Malaysians. Do all Malaysian want to become one Malaysia? Or understand what it means by one Malaysia. In my opinion, the concept of one Malaysia means; there will be a time in Malaysia, when everyone in Malaysia is treated equally regardless of their race and religions and when everyone in Malaysia will be having equal opportunity to excel and progress regardless of their race and religions. During that time everyone will have equal opportunities to become successful but the ones who are successful are those who are taking advantage of the opportunities by working hard. With the concept of one Malaysia no particular race is favoured above other races and only the hardworking persons will excel above others. Only songs and slogan will not made the concept of one Malaysia a reality. Only having slogan of one Malaysia is a disaster. It creates havoc and confusion particularly among the Malays. In order to make the concept of one Malaysia a reality, correct actions and planning must be developed by the government. One Malaysia is only a concept and it cannot be implemented immediately by the government. When the government want to implement the concept of one Malaysia immediately, it will cause chaos and anarchy between the various races in Malaysia. Only with correct planning and actions, a time will come when the concept of one Malaysia becomes a reality in Malaysia
In my opinion currently the Malays are not ready to even accept the concept of one Malaysia. In the heart of many Malays, Malaysia is their land and the Chinese and the Indians is the migrant to this land. Similarly in my opinion, in the heart of some Chinese and Indians, China and India is still their motherland. As migrants to this land, the Chinese and the Indians are both hardworking, when compared to the Malays. Malays are leading a life of more complacent, compared with the Chinese and the Indians. Do the Malays ready to compete with the hardworking Chinese and Indians? In my opinion the complacent Malays are not ready to compete with the Chinese and the Indians.Beacuse the Malays are in majority and in a democratic system, the majority rules, so since independence Malays have taken over the task of administering Malaysia. With the political power in the hand of the Malays, the government being Malays is trying to use the power to upgrade the economic standard of the Malays. Malays are favoured by the government and are given by the government many opportunities to excel in various fields particularly in business. Malays are pampered by the government and they love to be pampered by the government and it takes a long time for the Malays to change their mentality. Malays believe that they have come to this lovely nation much earlier than other races and they believe that they deserve a greater portion of the richness of this country than other races. Malays have acquired a complacent lifestyle because they have lived in this country of comfort and plenty many hundreds of years ago .Malays are not used to competitive lifestyle. In order to survive the Chinese who came to Malaysia during the last one hundred years are forced to have a hardworking lifestyle. Chinese who came to Malaysia in the last hundred years have not acquired the complacent lifestyles which have been acquired by the Malays.
As far as I know, since Malaysia gains her independence in the year 1957, Malaysia does not have any plan to integrate her various races that live in Malaysia. It seems the Malaysian government is not interested in racial integration. Malaysian government seems to allow the various races in Malaysia to live in any areas of their choice, built their own vernacular schools and establish their own political parties. Except for the mosques which are built by the government, temples and churches are built privately by each community. Logically in my opinion, Malaysia after gaining her independence should have a plan to integrate the various races in Malaysia. Only after the process of integration of the various races is achieved, the next Malaysian plan will be to unite the various races in Malaysia to become one Malaysia. Only then the concept of one Malaysia will become a reality. Without any plans to integrate the various races in Malaysia we cannot have racial unity in the country and we cannot have the concept of one Malaysia. The government lead by Barisan National had failed to integrate and to unite Malaysians and when racial tension start to surface again as it was in 1969; Barisan government led by Dato Seri Najib quickly comes out with the concept of one Malaysia. One Malaysia is only a concept and singing only the concept will not make Malaysians to become united. Behind the concept of one Malaysia, there must be started with years of hard work to integrate and to unite Malaysians.
With integration Malaysians will start to mingle and mix with each other. When Malaysians start to mingle with each other, they start to become friendly towards each other. When Malaysians start to become friendly towards each other they will start to become more understanding towards each other. With more understanding between the races, they become friendlier with each other and only when they become friendlier with each other they become united towards each other. With only having the concept of satu Malaysia, singing the song of one Malaysia, saluting with each other with the slogan of one Malaysia will not help to integrate or to unite Malaysians. With the concept of one Malaysian, Malaysians are not coming even near to unity but coming closer to racial disunity. When we have the racial riot in 1969, our leaders at that time came to the conclusion that the disunity was the result of economic disparity between the Malays and the Chinese. With the incorrect understanding, the government at that time which was led by Barisan National embarked on the new economic policy aimed in narrowing down the economic disparity between the Chinese, Indians and the Malays. Now, although economic disparity between the Malays, Indians and the Chinese is narrowed down but racial tension remain high. Now we know that racial tension is not caused mainly by economic disparity between the Malays, Indians and the Chinese but the main reason for racial tension in Malaysia is due to the lack of understanding between the Malays, Indians and the Chinese. This misunderstanding is caused by the lack of intermingling and interaction between the Malays, Chinese and the Indians. Our government in the past had failed to adopt policies that enable the various races in Malaysia to interact and mingle among them. With the current political scenario and racial tension that exist in Malaysia, many are in the opinion that racial riots can occur anytime in Malaysia.
How to make the Malays to mingle and integrate with the Chinese and the Indians? Malays are Muslims and the Chinese and the Indians are mostly non-Muslims and Malays as a Muslim is not ready to visit the Chinese and the Indian houses and eat with them the food cook by the non-Muslims but Chinese and Indians can come and visit their Muslims houses and eat their food. Government should not encourage the Malays to celebrate Chinese New Year and Depavalli or Thaipusam with the Chinese and the Indians respectively as they will not be able to visit the Chinese and the Indians houses and eat their non-Halal foods. Instead the government should encourage the Chinese and the Indians to celebrate Muslims Festivals particularly Hari Raya Puasa with the Malays. On the day of Hari Raya Puasa all the Chinese and the Indians should be encouraged by the Government to visit their Muslim Malay houses and celebrate the festival together with the Malays. Malays must to be told to invite not only their Malays friends but also their Chinese and the Indians friends to their houses and to celebrate Hari Raya Puasa together. Government must make the celebration of Hari Raya Puasa to be the national celebration of all the three races in Malaysia. It should be made the national festival holiday for all the races in the country. On Hari Raya Puasa all the three main races will have the opportunity to mingle and interact with each other’s. However Chinese New year should be a holiday only for the Chinese and Thaipusam and Depavalli, should be a holiday only for the Indians. Malaysia should have a national festival day for all the three races in Malaysia. In my opinion Hari Raya Puasa is the best festival day for all the races in Malaysia.
Allah has made the Malays to become Muslims. As a Muslim, the Malays have the responsblity of inviting the Chinese and the Indians who are not Muslim to become Muslims. Allah has ordered the Muslims (Malays) to invites others to Good and prohibits others from evils. The greatest evil committed by men is many men do not want to accept Allah as the only God and Muhammad saw as the Prophet of Allah. Allah has ordered the Muslims (Malays) to prohibit these evils by inviting non-Muslims to Good. Inviting the non-Muslims to Good means to invite them to accept and to recite the Great Kalimah, I bear witness that there is no God except Allah and I bear witness Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. The greatest evil committed by those who have recited the Great Kalimah is many of them have forgotten the meaning of the Great Kalimah and many of them have forgotten to convey the Great Kalimah to the non-Muslims and many of them have forgotten to perform obligatory five times daily prayers.
And to invite the Muslims to Good means to remind Muslims about the meaning of the Great Kalimah and to invite those Muslims (Malays) who are not doing the work of inviting non-Muslims to become Muslims to start doing the work and to those Muslims who are not observing the obligatory five times daily prayers to start performing five times daily prayers. In order to enable the Malays who are Muslims to do the work of inviting to Good and prohibiting the evils, Allah has ordered the Muslims (Malays) to show good behaviours to their non-Muslims counterpart, the Chinese and the Indians. When the Malays meet their non-Muslims neighbours and friends such as the Indians and the Chinese they must be saluting towards each other’s. Malays being Muslims must be encouraged by the government to visit their non-Muslims neighbour’s houses and to give them presents such as food or fruits and to invite them to become Muslims by inviting them to recite the Great Kalimah. Malays must be told to regard the Chinese and the Indians who are not Muslims as also belonging to the members of a great family of Allah. Government must tell the Malays to regard the Chinese and the Indians as one Family and not to regard them as enemies but instead to regard them as members of one family and to love them.
Daily the Malays who are Muslims must be encouraged by the government to spend about 45 minutes to visit the houses of their Muslims and non-Muslims neighbours in their locality. When they meet Muslims they must remind them about the meaning of the Great Kalimah and to invite them to obey the orders of Allah. The first order of Allah that they should invite a Muslims is the order which all the Muslims in the whole world have forgotten, the order to go and visit the non-Muslims and to invite them to recite the Great Kalimah. The second order of Allah which a Muslims should do is to perform five times daily prayers. When the Malays meet the non-Muslims, they must invite them to become Muslims by asking them to recite the Great Kalimah. When such activities are encouraged by the government, we will find the process of intermingling and interaction between the various the Malays and the various races in Malaysia will definitely take place. Whether the Chinese or the Indians become Muslims or not is not the main intention of visiting the Chinese and the Indians. The main intention of visiting the Chinese and the Indians is to obey the orders of Allah of inviting them to recite the Great Kalimah and to please Allah. When the Malays, Indians and the Chinese start to know each other, then only they will start to respect, to love and to be united with each other.
In order to encourage intermingling and interaction between all the races in Malaysia, the government must not allow any kampong, villages, township, residential and business areas to be dominated entirely by one particular racial group. All new housing schemes and business shop-lots must be designed and the old ones to be redesigned in order to include all the three races together. The ratio of the Malays; Chinese and Indians should be preferably the ratio of 6; 3; 1 .There should not be any residential or business areas in Malaysia to be dominated by only one particular race. Government must have the policy that all shop lots and residential houses must be given to all the races with the ratio stated above. The Malays being the majority race in the country should occupy the greater proportion of the houses or shops in any locality in Malaysia. We have to make every residential and business area to be truly Malaysians. All building contractors must comply with the government regulation, before they are allowed to build any houses or shop lots in any areas of the country
Our children, Malays, Chinese and Indians should only go to one National School System and all other private school must also follow the same education system. Medium of instruction in the National and private schools must only be Bahasa Malaysia, with English, Chinese and Tamils are thought as secondary languages. All our students must have credits in Bahasa Malaysia and English and at least pass in Chinese and Tamil languages. Science and mathematics are thought in Bahasa Malaysia with the scientific terms maintain in the original language. Except for international schools, all the present Chinese, Tamil and other schools must be converted to using Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction. The current Chinese and Tamil schools are to increase the intake of other races particular the Malays into the schools. All schools in the country will have to follow the same education system. Madrasah which teaches Quran or Islamic study or any other schools of other religion must also follow the same education system. Quran or Islamic courses and the study of other religions must be made as an additional optional course offered by the schools. All schools in Malaysia must teach all the compulsory basic courses and compulsory optional courses. Compulsory basic courses include Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese, Tamil, Mathematics, Science, History and Geography. Optional subjects include Islamic study and it is compulsory only for Muslim students, Christianity is compulsory only to Christian’s students and so forth.
All schools must have the intake of the Malays; Chinese and the Indians with the ratio of approximately 6:3:1. All Malaysians children until the age of seventeen are compulsory to study. It became and offence for parents not to send their children to school. With the same education system, all Malaysians of various races would be able to mingle and to interact with each other’s. There are five days of schooling and students are compulsory to talk to each other’s Bahasa Malaysia for two days in a week, to speak one day for English, to speak one day for Chinese and another day for Tamil. With the same system of education, Malaysians will be able to know each other’s and to be able to communicate withs each other’s and with this Malaysians will have greater understanding between each other’s. With more understanding Malaysians will have less friction between each other’s and more chances of national integration and unity.
No one is allowed to open a school without having prior permission of the government and all entrance into a school is decided by the government. All the present Government Boarding Schools that cater only the Muslims Malays must be changed to cater all the races with the Malays as the majority race that occupy the greater proportion of the students. Government Boarding school must give preference to the unfortunate and the weak ones and it should be the mixture of the good and the weak students among the three races. Our current system of separating the weak and the good students in separate classes must be abolished. Instead we should have in each class the good mingle with the weak students with the proportion of the good more than the weaker students. Our school syllabus must be designed base on the outcomes that our country wants to achieve. Our school assessment system must be an outcome base system and it should not be based entirely on final examination results. Assessment must be continuous and it should also include on manual skills, communication skill, innovative inclination and behaviours which include religious and social.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
January 2012
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre

In Labuan there are about 40 karaoke premises with each karaoke premise there are about 30 young Filipino girls working as GRO. How true it is I do not know but this is the stories told to me by taxis drivers and those whom I have met while I was in Labuan last weekend. Labuan is a free port and alcoholic drink is cheaper than the carbonated drink. One man that I met in Labuan told me that Labuan used to have 70 karaoke premises but now the number has decreases to 40. A small island like Labuan, a distance of about 30 kilometres from the north to the south and with only 80 thousand population but has 40 karaoke premises is indeed a record worth to note. I do not know anywhere else in this world that has so many karaoke premises in such a small area as Labuan. In Labuan for every two thousand population there is one karaoke premise. The presence of karaoke premise far exceeds the presence of hospital, clinics, schools and mosques in Labuan. Only looking at the statistics of karaoke premise and the number of population in Labuan, we may lead to a wrong conclusion that the peoples of Labuan are peoples who loves to dance, to sing and to enjoy illicit sexual relationship with girls. It seems the needs to dance and to sing far outweigh the needs for good education, health and religion. Why so many licences are given to open karaoke premise in Labuan? Do the peoples of Labuan really needs that many karaoke premises or the demand of karaoke comes from the peoples who had comes to Labuan without their wives or the demand comes from the workers of the oil company who have to be away from their wives because they have to work offshore for some weeks and when they come on-shore they become sexually excited like the hungry animals looking for their foods. The rules of demand and supply also apply in Labuan. The Filipino girls fulfil the demand and the demands are created by the men who live in Labuan but without their wives and the frequent visitors of Labuan whose sole purpose are to enjoy sex with many types of girls. I am sure there is an agency that deals with this business. Which is the agency that supplies the girls to the 40 karaoke premises in Labuan? What do the Islam religious department in Labuan is doing? Is the Islamic religious department in Labuan aware of the presence of 40 karaoke premises in Labuan? Or they know but they pretend as if they do not know and they are not willing to do anything about it. Once peoples are addicted to certain bad habits, it is difficult to stop it. The presence of 40 karaoke premises in Labuan is helping to nature the bad habits among the island population especially the youths. I am sure there are among the local young men of Labuan who are infected with the bad habits.
Sexual needs are one of the most important needs of men. Armies and sailors who are often away from their wives for several months often fulfil their sexual needs by visiting prostitutes and Labuan is one of the places that fulfil the needs of these sailors and soldiers. We may call this as sexual tourism and as other modes of tourism it generates income to Labuan. There are countries like Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia which are seriously involved with this industry. Thailand and Philippines are countries that export their girls to other countries in order to fulfil the demand of this industry. Prostitution is rampant among the poor nations of the world and sexual tourism has become a main source of revenues for certain countries of the world. Sexual tourism is among the oldest industry that men have developed. The city of Mecca before Prophet Muhammad saw declared as a Prophet, was a city of prostitutes and it was a city for the travellers and the traders that pass through Mecca on their way to either to Syam or Yemen to fulfil their sexual needs. Sexual needs are as old as the creation of men themselves and these sexual needs cannot be suppressed or made extinct but probably to a certain extent can be controlled. Prostitutes in Mecca at the times of Prophet Muhammad saw advertised their services openly to the public and to them at those times prostitution is a business like any other businesses. Prostitution at that time was a completely legal and it was also a profitable business. Prostitutes offer their bodies to be used by any men and in return the men promise to pay a certain amount of money to the prostitutes. Business is a contractual venture between two parties who have agreed upon certain rules and regulation. In non-Muslims countries like Mecca at the time before Prophet Muhammad saw declared as a Prophet, prostitution was a completely legal business. Mecca at that time had no source of income. Mecca has no income either from agricultures or manufacturing industries. The source of income for the peoples of Mecca during that time was only from trading and prostitutions.
Many women who are without iman and without any qualification to have a dissent jobs will choose prostitution as an easy and lucrative source of income. When women become a prostitute, they will gain both money and enjoyment and the business of prostitution become very flourishing, particularly when there are demands as in Labuan. Many men from many countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia came to Malaysia without their wives and how would these men fulfil their sexual needs other than with the prostitutes. Once they acquired the bad habit of visiting prostitutes to fulfil their sexual needs, it becomes difficult for them to leaves the bad habits. In west Malaysia there are many girls from China and former Soviet Union countries who come to Malaysia with students or tourist visa but in actual fact they are coming to do the business of prostitution in Kuala Lumpur. Many are caught with the charged of using visa for a wrong reasons. Many agents who are doing the business of prostitution are willing to bribe either the police or the religious officers so that the business of prostitution can continue to flourish. As long as there are demand on prostitution there will be continues supply of girls to meet the demand of the industry. Charges impose on these prostitutes by the police are a very light charges. The business of prostitution can never be abolished as long as men are still alive on this world. Rules and enforcement of rules on prostitution will never made the business of prostitution to cease from existing. As long as there are demand on elicit sexual needs, there will always be supply of prostitutes.
Laws on prostitution cannot be enforced in Labuan as well in many parts of Malaysia as prostitutions are part of money generating business in Malaysia. Without the business of prostitution or sexual tourisms no one may like to come to Labuan as there are no other tourists’ attractions in Labuan. In order to stop the business of prostitution we have to reduced or stop the demand for illicit sex. Can we reduced the demand by passing laws in the parliament or by writing or talking more about the evils of prostitutions or by displaying pictures or photographs of the persons inflicted with diseases related to illicit sexual habits? None of these can reduce the demand on prostitution. Having Hudud laws will not reduce the demand of illicit sex. As long as there is a demand for illicit sex, the business of prostitutions will remain alive. If it cannot be done openly it will be done secretly. Even in the so call the Islamic city of Kota Baru, Kelantan there is the business of prostitutions and it is situated not far, around 500meters from the office of Menteri Besar, Dato’ Nik Aziz. Even in the so call clean and Islamic states of Brunei, there is the business of prostitutions. What is the best ways to reduce the demand of illicit sex and automatically to reduce the business of prostitutions? Actually, the best way is by doing the effort of inculcating in the hearts of men the desire to obey the orders of Allah only to please Allah until Allah is pleased.
What is the other effort of inculcating the desires to obey the orders of Allah in the heart of men, other than the effort of Muhammad saw or also known as the work of Dakwah or the work of the Prophet? We cannot stop the business of prostitutions by closing down all the karaoke premises or night clubs all over sudden in one time which PAS will probably be doing if they are governing Malaysia by implementing Hudud laws. We also cannot stop the business by driving away all the illegal Filipino migrants from Labuan or by making frequent ambush to the 40 karaoke premises in Labuan. PAS government had closed down all the centres of prostitutions in Kelantan but the illegal centres still continue although PAS has ruled Kelantan for more than two decades. Although, prostitution centres are closed in Kelantan, but Kelantanese who have the habit of illicit sex are going to Thailand for their needs. Whenever there are demands of illicit sex, definitely there will be a supply of prostitutes. They businessmen who are involved in the business of prostitutions will get the supply of prostitutes either legally or illegally. In case local girls are not available, they will get the supply from foreign countries and foreigners will become the prostitutes. This is what exactly happens to Malaysia. When they cannot get the locals to become the prostitutes, they will get the prostitutes in whatever ways from outside Malaysia.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
April 2011
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre

The underlying principle of conventional banking system is to make more money and not to make more good actions. However the underlying principle of a true Islamic banking system is to make more good actions than to make more money. Allah loves good actions and not money and similarly all believers love good actions and not money. All the non-Muslims and Muslims who have not become believers also love money and love to make more money. However the underlying principle of true Islamic banking system is to have more good actions than to have more money. True Islamic banks must be established in order to help both Muslims and non-Muslims to have their needs fulfilled and not to make more money out of the weakness of others. Islamic banks should be doing more good actions than to make more money. By lowering the profit margin to the maximum of 10% of the cost price, Islamic banks will be able to help many peoples to obtain their needs. Allah loves those who help others and Allah does not love those who exploit others. Because of this, Allah has forbidden any form of riba or interest in our business transaction. With the involvement of riba or interest in our business transaction the rich will exploit the poor and the needy. In the societies that practice riba or interest the rich become richer and the poor become poorer.
One other most important facility that conventional banks are offering is providing loans to those who wanted to do business but not having sufficient money to start their business. Conventional banks will provide loans facility to them with certain percentage of interest and the loans are to be paid back with monthly installment of certain amount of money for a certain number of years. Giving loans with interest is not the principle of Islamic banks. Islamic banks are not allowed to give loans with interest but Islamic banks are allowed to do business on profit sharing with others. Conventional banks obtain money from the interest or riba on the loans which is forbidden in Islam but Islamic banks obtain money through profit sharing with others. Muslims are not allowed to loans money with interest to others. Allah forbids Muslims from involving themselves in businesses involving riba or interest. Muslims are not allowed, even to eat a morsel of food which is obtained with the money associated with riba or Interest. As Muslims are not allowed to drink liquor, Muslims are also not allowed to associate themselves with any activities associated with liquor. Similarly Muslims are not allowed to charge interest on money they loan to others and Muslims are also not allowed to earn their living in banks which are associated with riba or interest.
Muslims are allowed to give loans to others provided there is no interest or riba involve. Allah loves those who love to give loans to others without interest. Those persons who loans their money to others without interest are continually drawing rewards from Allah, as long as the loans are not yet being paid to them. Allah loves the persons who help others by giving loans without interest and Allah does not loves the person who gives loans to others with interest or riba. There are many Muslims who want to do business and yet there are no banks which can give loans without interest. Muslims must only deals with banks that give those loans without interest. Is there any bank that can give loans without interest? There is none in this world. Some may wonder, how a bank can survive if the banks are to give loans without interest? I am sure there are many Muslims who do not believe that banks can flourish even better when banks do give loans to others without interest. Banks does not have to give loans to others with interest but banks can do business with others and obtain profit from the business. Giving loans to others with interest is not the only way for the banks to earn money. One other way for the banks to earn money is by having business partnership with others. There are many who have the expertise to do a business but they do not have money to start the business. Islamic banks can have partnership with those who have businesses that the banks believe will gives them a good return. In this case, the Islamic bank will own fully or 100% the business as the bank provides all the money to start the business. Initially the one who has the expertise will become the workers and as the workers buy the share of the business, soon they will also become the shareholders. In Islam the profit of the business is shared between the owner and the workers.
Beside salaries the workers would have a share of about 2/3 of the total profit and the owner and the government will have a share of about 1/3 of the total profit. All the workers of the business are allowed to buy shares of the business from the bank and become shareholders or owners of the business. As the business grows the banks will have the choice of either maintaining the ownership of the business or to sells all the shares to the workers. In my opinion, and it is more Islamic ,once the banks have gained more than the money, the bank has injected initially as the capital of the business, a good ethical practice of the bank is to sell all the shares to the workers. In this way, the Islamic banks are helping either Muslims or non-Muslims to become successful entrepreneurs in this country. Muslims in all over the world are waiting for such Islamic banks to exist in this world. One of the very important reasons why Muslims in all over the world are reluctant to do business is because in today’s world, Muslims have no choice but to use the facilities of banks which are in principles are not Islamic. Nowadays many Muslims are forced to do business with banks which are not Islamic and it has become fardu Kifayah for Muslims to set up banks in this world with a truly Islamic principles.
With smart partnership both the Islamic banks and the workers have equal responsibility to make the business a success. Both banks and the workers will equally suffer if the business fails. Banks should not only gives loans and obtain money from interest as done by the conventional banks in all over the world but both the banks and the workers must have equal responsibility to make the business a success. Because both the banks and the workers have shares in the profit of the business, both the banks and workers must work hard in order for the business to grow and start making profit. With the principle of sharing profits between the banks as owners and the workers, both the banks as owner and the workers will have equal responsibility to make the business, a success. As the business grows and starts making profits both the banks as owners and the workers will have benefits as both have shares in the profit of the business. Both the banks as owners and the workers will be happy and are at peace with each other when the businesses are making profit. As the profit of the business grows and multiply, the banks may obtain even more money than the conventional banks. With healthy business partnership Islamic banks can help many to grow to become a successful businessman and businesswomen. In this way, many including the non-Muslims will be happy and willing to have business partnership with Islamic banks. With the grace of Allah, when the bank follows the true principles of Islam, it will grow to become one of the biggest banks in the world. When the banks are able to create peaceful relationship with their clients, then the banks are truly Islamic bank. I believe in no time, the banks that operate with the true principles of Islam will soon replace all the banks in this world which are not Islamic. Islam means peace and a true Islamic banks will emanate peace to their clients.
Banks are owned by some peoples who acted as the main shareholders of the banks. Nowadays the workers of the bank are not the shareholders of the banks. In Islam, workers are encouraged to become shareholders of the business. In Islam the workers of the banks will also have the share in the profits of the banks. As workers of the bank, they will earn about 2/3 of the profits earn by the banks. Beside the main shareholders, all those who deposited their money as fixed deposit to the banks are also the shareholders of the bank. All the shareholders of Islamic banks, including those who had deposited their money as fixed deposit to the bank will have a share of about 1/6 of the profit earn by the bank and the other 1/6 of the profit is given to the government. All the shareholders, depending on the amount of money they contributed as capital to the banks will get the 1/6 share of the profit obtain by the bank. Since the workers of the bank will obtain about 2/3 of the profit, the workers of the bank will certainly work hard and smart, in order for the banks to have more profit. When the workers work hard and smart, businesses of the banks will certainly increase. As businesses increases, the profit gains by the bank also increases. With more profit both the shareholders and the workers of the bank are happy and at peace with each other.
Nowadays a person who has no money but having expertise will not be able to start a business unless he or she takes loans with interest from the banks. Many such persons with expertise will decide finally not to do business, because it is difficult to obtain loans from the banks, without collateral. All banks including the current Islamic banks want collateral from a client who wants to borrow money from the bank. When they do not have collateral, they cannot obtain loans from the banks and they cannot start the business. Many of those with expertise finally decided not to do business but to become only workers. Among those who have collateral, some have the fear to start a business because they fear they might lose the collateral in case their business fails. Many peoples have expertise in many fields but do not have the expertise in financial management. Many, who borrow money from the bank, end up with failure, because of poor financial management. Many, who borrowed money from the banks, end up a bankrupt and because of that they are unable to have anymore loans from any banks.
Both, conventional and current Islamic banking systems are not business friendly. With our current banking system, banks are only responsible to gives loans with interest to the clients and other that they are not interested. Banks are only interested in the money making and not in developing the business of their clients. What does our current banking system really want? Our current banking system only wants the clients to pay back the amount of money borrowed from them, together with the interest. What our banks really want is the money. Our banks are not interested with the business of their clients. Nowadays even with the high interest rate and collateral, many who wanted to do business are forced to borrow money from the banks. In order to do business many are forced to use their own houses or their parent’s land as collateral. Many who have failed in their business have to let go their own houses and their parent’s land to the bank. Many are without houses and they loose almost everything they have, because they are forced to use their own houses and lands as collateral when they borrow money from the banks. Many are scared to have loans from either the conventional or the so call Islamic banks and many are forced to go to the along or private money lender for loans. Many of those who use the services of along or private money lender end up with problems and months of nightmare. How to solve these problems? These problems will only be solved when Malaysia have a banking systems which adhere strictly to the principles of Islam.
True Islamic banking system should be customer friendly. The Islamic values adopted by Islamic banks are helping the creations of Allah. The slogan of an Islamic bank should be “helping others who are in needs, with the intention to please Allah”. Allah forbids Muslims who are in the position to help taking advantage of those who are in needs of our help. Those who are in needs of our help, Allah order us to help them and our intention of helping them is only to please Allah. When we charge interest on the money that we loan to others, who are in needs of our help, we are not helping, but we are actually exploiting them. By charging interest on the loans we give to those who are in needs, we are actually increasing their financial burden. Allah strongly forbids the Muslims from involving in all activities which associate with interest or riba. Interest or riba is haram and anything associated with the practices of interest or riba is also haram.When we buy our foods with the money which is haram, our foods also become haram. When we eat foods which are haram, our prayers or doas are not accepted by Allah. Islamic banking system is customers friendly. Both Muslims and non-Muslims will like to use Islamic banking system in all their business and daily activities. Islamic banking system will helps the country to create new business opportunities and to create many new business entrepreauners. Islamic banking system will also help those who have no money but having expertise in various fields to start new businesses by accepting them as partner with the Islamic banks. Islamic banks will guide them in financial management and to finally guide them to have businesses of their own. With Islamic banking systems, everyone can own cars, houses and all their needs with minimum costs.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
July 2012
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre

Basically the industry of banking arises out of men’s desire to protect and safeguard their money. When men have acquired so much money in cash, it is a natural desire of men to protect the money. It was a practice in olden days, in order to protect their money; they deposited their money with someone they trusted. The work of the trustworthy man was only to keep the money and whenever those men, wanted their money back, the money was always available. In other words banking system had been existed for a very long time. It had existed even at the time of Prophet Muhammad saw. During the time of Prophet saw, many peoples kept their money and other valuables with the Prophet Muhammad saw. At that time, Prophet saw was regarded as the most trustworthy person in Mecca. Beside Prophet Muhammad saw saw, there are few others, whom the peoples trusted and deposited their money and valuables to. At the same times in Mecca, there are also many Jews and Arabs, who were doing business on money lending. With a certain amount of money they give loan to others and they will charge a certain amount of interest. They were known at that time as money lenders. Money lenders are persons who want to make more money out of their money. They lend their money to the poor persons who are in need of money and they charge interest or riba on whatever amount of money they lended to others. In this way these money lenders will make more money, out of their money. During the time of Prophet Muhammad saw, the money lenders were mostly the Jews and because of money lending business, many of the Jews who lived in Mecca and Medina were very rich.
After the demise of Prophet saw, there is one companion of the Prophet saw by the name of Hazrat Jaafar, who was also trustworthy and many peoples had also deposited their valuables and money to him. Hazrat Jaafar wanted to spend the money which was deposited to him on the poor and the needy. He told to the depositors to regard him as the person who had borrowed their money. He also told them that they can obtain any amount of their money or valuables, at any time they wanted. Whenever any of the depositors came to him to withdraw back their money or valuables, Hazrat Jaafar will pray to Allah to give him the amount of money, he wanted to give to the depositors. When Hazrat Jaafar was about to passed away, he passed on his work to his son, Abdullah and he told his son, Abdullah to pray to his Master, who is Allah, whenever he had any problems paying to the depositors. During the time of Prophet Muhammad saw, a trustworthy person such as our Prophet Muhammad saw or the shrewd Jews who practice money lending with interest which are similar to the practice of our present conventional banking system, will acts as the bank for peoples to deposit their valuables. The current philosophy of our banking system is probably similar to the philosophy of the shrewd Jews during the time of Prophet Muhammad saw who uses money in order to make more money and help only those who have money. Our current banking system encourages people to deposit their money in the banks, so that with the high interest rate, offered by the bank the person who deposited their money with the bank will be able to make more money. Our current banking system allows only the rich to borrow money from the bank, because in order to be able to borrow money from the banks, all banks including our current Islamic banks require collateral. Only the rich can provide collaterals to the banks. Collaterals act as a guarantee to the bank, in case the person, who borrows money from the bank, cannot pay back the loans to the bank. Who has collateral? Only those who are rich can provide collateral to the banks and because they have collateral, they are able to secure loans from the bank. Where the poor will go, in order to obtain loans? The poor will have to go to the money lender or in Malay, along or Chattier in Tamil, who will charge the poor with much higher interest rate than the banks? More often that not, many of these poor peoples are not able to pay back the loans and become the criminal victims of these along.
Nowadays, banks are like the rich Jews at the time of Prophet Muhammad saw, who used money in order to makes more money. Even today, the owners of many great banks of the world belong to the Jews. A person who charges interests on the amount of money borrowed from him is known in Islam as a person who practices the system of riba and it is forbidden in Islam. Allah allows business transaction without riba but Allah forbid business transactions that involve riba or interest. Whoever eat foods with the money obtain through riba or interest are eating foods which are haram. Whatever the name maybe given, it is riba or interest when it works on the principle; when you borrow money, you have to pay more than the amount of money that you have borrowed. When the amount of money which is paid to a person is more than the amount of money which is borrowed, the money is called riba or interest.
Let take an example of a person name Abu who is in need of a car and he wanted to buy a car using a loan from a bank. In order to buy the car, Abu needs to borrow from the bank, the amount of money of about RM 58,000.00. With such amount of loans, and taking into account the interest rate of 5.9% Abu would have to pay back to the bank, a monthly installment of RM 826 for 9 years. Abu has to borrow from the bank the amount of only RM 58,000 because Abu has paid to the bank in cash the amount of RM 7,000 and the actual price of the car is about RM 65,0000. Although the price of the car is only RM 65,000 but in 9 years, Abu will be paying to the bank the amount of RM 89,208 and plus the amount of RM 7,000 which Abu had paid previously in cash to the bank, Abu is actually paying to the bank the amount of about RM 96,208. The cost of the car is only RM 65,000, but because of interest, the cost of the car has become to about RM 96,208. Because of interest, Abu has to pay to the bank an extra amount of money of about RM 31,208 and this extra amount of money, which is paid by Abu to the bank is call riba or interest. Our current Islamic banking system named the extra amount money paid by Abu to the bank as profit. Many Muslims are in the opinion, when we change the names of something which is not Islamic to an Islamic names, it will become Islamic. Other than the names, the principles used by both conventional and Islamic banking systems are the same. In order to understand better the different between Islamic banking and conventional banking system, we can take the example as follows; a conventional bank will sell a car to you at the price of RM 58,000 but with a yearly interest rate of 5.9% and you have to pay back to the bank for nine years with a monthly installment of RM 826. However an Islamic bank will sell the same car to you at the price of RM 89,208 and you also have to pay back to the bank for nine years with a monthly installment of rm 826 which is the same amount to be paid to conventional banks. In reality both conventional and our current Islamic banks are the same. Both are using the same interest rate except in Islamic banks, instead of charging interest on your loan, the Islamic banks sell the car to you at prices which already include the same amount of interest money as charged by conventional banks. Our current Islamic banks are different from the conventional banks only in names but in principle both of the banks are the same. Both banks are using the same principle of making money out of lending money to others and this principle is not an Islamic principle. However, many Muslims including Dato’ Nik Aziz, Menteri Besar of Kelantan, Mursyidul Am of Pas, regards our current Islamic banks as truly Islamic.
What is so special about our current Islamic banks other than the name Islam? Outwardly or cosmetically our Islamic banks appear to practice Islamic principles. Instead of using the term interest, our Islamic bank uses the term profit. The amounts of profit obtained by Islamic banks are very high and this is not Islamic. Islam does not allow us to have such a high profit on selling such crucial commodities such as cars which are in reality in this modern era have become needed commodities to everyone. In Islamic banks, the profit is very high, because in calculating the final price of the commodities, Islamic bank takes into account, the interest rate which is almost the same rate as in conventional banking system. Many think in Islam, we can have as much profit as we want as long as both parties agree with the price. This is not true, particularly on commodities such as cars which have become a need to everyone in this modern era. On commodities which have become a need to everyone the maximum profit margin in Islam, in my opinion should only be 10%. In Islam, the more the commodities are needed to be used by everyone, the cheaper should be the price of the commodities sold to the peoples. In the case of our current Islamic banks, the buyers of the car have no power at all in deciding what would be the most affordable price of the car to the buyers and to a certain extent buyers are forced to accept whatever price offered by the bank. If that is the case, our current Islamic banks have committed an act of exploitation towards the buyer of the car and this is not Islamic. In my opinion, both conventional and the current Islamic banking systems are oppressive and exploitative. It is highly important for Muslims in all over the world to develop a truly Islamic banking system which exercises fairness and justices to both customers and the bank. As I had written and explained previously, the word Islam means peace and a truly Islamic banking system, will certainly gives peace to both the banks and the customers.
What is the truly Islamic banking system? Before we go further into the discussion of the topic, let us discuss first the concept of borrowing money in Islam. Love of money is the basis of all evils. All men love money and love to have more money and fear to loose money. It is easy for men to borrow money than to give away money or to pay men’s debts. It is easier for men to have debts than for men to pay their debts. It is hard for men to pay their debts because in order to pay their debts, men need to give away the money that men love. It is easy for a person to borrow money because when a person borrows money, that person will have more money and all men love money. In Islamic banking system, these principles are to be observed; Money can be given to a person as a loan, when the person is a good pay master and he has the capability of paying back the loans and no interest should be charged on the person who borrows money. According to Islamic principle, when an interest is charged to a person who borrows money, it means the person has been exploited by the person who loans him the money. Secondly in Islam, money should not be given as a loan to a person who is not a good pay master and who does not have the capability of paying back the loans. Only with the two above conditions Islamic banks are allowed to give loans to the peoples. Certainly there will be no banks which are able to gives loans to peoples with the above said conditions. Banks are not a charitable body and therefore banks with the above two conditions cannot give loans to anybody. One of the most difficult conditions to be followed by the banks is to give loans, without interest. Without interest the banks would not be able to make money, out of money. However in Islam, the aim of giving loans to anybody is to lessen their financial burden. Allah does not allow us to give loans and to charge interest rate on the loans as done by the Jews and the conventional banking system. In Islam this practice of charging interest rate is considered exploitative and Allah forbids us from exploiting others. As Islamic banks are not charitable bodies, Islamic banks are not allowed to give loans to anybody. Since Allah allows us to do trading and the Islamic banks, instead of giving loans with interest as conventional banks, can do trading with the peoples. With trading the Islamic banks can earn profit and to earn money through profit is allowed in Islam.
Many low income earners want to buy cars and houses but they do not have sufficient money to buy them in cash. Cars and houses are not luxuries but are necessities of our lives. In our modern era, almost everyone needs to buy a car in order to go to work. Similarly everyone needs houses of certain standard, in order to protect themselves and their families from the sun and the rain. How would they obtain all these necessities of life, when they do not have so much money? Who would help them in buying cars and houses? Houses, cars, and foods are all needs or necessities of our lives. In order for their needs to be fulfilled, banks should help them. Which bank will help them to obtain their needs? In my opinion the true Islamic banks should help them to obtain their needs and the intention of helping them is only to please Allah and not to gain exuberant amount of profits. How the banks would help them to obtain their needs and at the same time obtain some profit? Allah allows us to do businesses but Allah does not allow us to associate our businesses with the practice of interest or riba. Allah allows us to do business and to obtain some profit out of our business. The amount of profit on commodities that have become a need to everyone should not be more than 10 % of the cost price. Let us take one example of a person named Ali who is a teacher and receives a monthly salary of RM 5,000. Ali needs to buy a car which cost about RM 68,000. How Islamic bank would help Ali to obtain the car? Islamic bank can help Ali to obtain the car if Ali has the record of a good pay master and Ali has the ability to pay back the loans on installment basis.
Islamic bank will buy the car from the manufacturer at the price of RM 65,000 and then sell the car to Ali at a price of only RM 71,500. With this price of RM 71,500 the bank would obtains a profit of about RM 6,500 which is about 10 % of the cost price. Islamic bank will allow Ali to pay to the bank on a monthly installment of RM 662 per month and the payments will take the period of about 9 years. With Islamic banks, Ali needs to pay a monthly installment of only RM 662 but with conventional bank, Ali needs to pay a monthly installment of RM 826. Islamic banks will be more customer friendly than the conventional banks. Islam means peace and everyone is at peace with Islamic banking system. A truly Islamic bank should be established in Malaysia in order to help both Muslims and non-Muslims. Our current Islamic banking system is not truly Islamic and is unable to help even the Muslims to fulfill their needs with peace. To be continued in the next article in PART 2
Prof. Dr. Nasoha Saabin
July 2012
Dean of Faculty of Optometry
Twintech International University College of Technology
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Houses are indeed a need to everyone and not a luxury. Men need houses or shelters in order to protect themselves from the rain and the sun. All newly married couples wishes to have a new house of their own. The demand of houses is always high because everyone wants to have houses of their own. As our population grows, accordingly the demand of houses also grows. The demand of houses increases as our population increases. As our population grows, the area of land to built houses decreases and the price of land increases. As the price of lands increases, accordingly the price of houses also increases. In some cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore, the prices of the houses are very expensive. In those cities, people are forced to live in high rise apartments or flats, instead of houses. High rise flats or apartments are built in those cities in order to compensate for the increase in population and the decreases in land areas. In those cities, prices of the houses are very expensive and only the super rich can afford to live in houses. In Malaysia, particularly in Kuala Lumpur, the prices of houses are soaring high. An average income earner will not be able to buy a house in Kuala Lumpur.
As for example, a normal terrace house of three bedrooms in Kuala Lumpur will costs about two hundred and seventy thousands ringgit. A house in Kuala Lumpur which previously costs about nine thousand ringgit three decades ago is now costs about two hundred thousands ringgit. In order to buy house of such prices a person need to obtain a bank loan of more than two hundred thousands ringgit and with this amount of loan, a person on the average, will have to pay a monthly installment of about one thousand five hundred ringgit. Beside the house, a person in Kuala Lumpur also needs to pay a monthly installment of about eight hundred ringgit for the car. On the average, a person in Kuala Lumpur will have to pay more than two thousand ringgit monthly only for the car and the house to the bank. A typical family of three children in Kuala Lumpur will have to spend about three thousand ringgit on car loan and the house, about one thousand ringgit on food and other needs of the house, another thousand ringgit on petrol, medical and education making the total monthly expenditure of a typical family of three children in Kuala Lumpur to an average of five thousand ringgit.
Thus, in average the spending requirement of a family of three children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is about five thousand ringgit. In order to obtain a monthly income of more than five thousand ringgit in a month, both husband and wife will have to find job that will give them the total earning of more than five thousand ringgit in a month. This is the monthly expenditure of an average income earner of a family of three children in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With an increase in the population in the next decade, the price of an average house in Kuala Lumpur will probably be double the price from what it is now. The prices of houses depend on the demand. As the population grows, the demand of houses will increase and accordingly the prices of houses will continue to increase. But, will the income of an average income earners in Kuala Lumpur in the next decade also increase? Usually there is a limit to the increase in salaries of workers, but probably there is no limit to the increase in the prices of the houses. When the locals cannot afford to buy the houses, the houses will be sold to the rich foreigners who would like to make Malaysia as their second homes. Most of our contractors only want to sell their houses at the highest price possible. According to the contractors, it is irrelevant whether the houses are sold to the locals or the foreigners. As long as the houses are saleable to the public, the contractors will continue to build expensive houses. As the contractors are only interested in making money and so they are more interested in building expensive houses. When the houses are very expensive, only the very rich locals or the rich foreigners will be able to buy the houses. In Malaysia there is a policy of making Malaysia as the second homes. Why our government is making this policy? This policy is made in order to enable the rich foreigners to buy very expensive houses in Malaysia. Our contractors are becoming more interested in building expensive houses rather than to build low cost houses. When they built expensive houses, they will make bigger profit. More and more Singaporeans are buying houses in Malaysia. I think if this policy continues and not put to a stop, a time will come where more foreigners own expensive houses than the locals. Malaysian government allows foreigners to buy houses in Malaysia just because our contractors are building houses which are too expensive for even the rich locals to buy.
What about the houses for the low and average income earners? Who will build low cost houses? Is there any contractor who is interested in building low cost houses? All our contractors are interested in building expensive houses. It is normal that all men, with the exception of the few real believers, wanted to become richer than all other men in this world. It is also normal that all men with the exception of the real believers will never be satisfied with whatever money they have. Men always want to have more wealth and more money. When there are opportunities to become rich, all men except the real believers will take the opportunities to become rich. All men with the exception of the real believers think and believe that the more money I have, the more successful I become. Our contractors are all normal human being, who want to have more and more money. Our contractors will not easily be persuaded into building low cost houses because it does not generate more money to them. The government will not be able to persuade them into building more low cost houses as no one wants to do projects which do not give them a large profit margin. If nothing is done by the government to control the situation, a time will come in Malaysia; where there will be only houses for the rich and none for the poor and the low income earners.
Who will build the houses for the poor and the low income group? How would the poor and the low income group be able to buy houses which are too expensive for them to buy? In any countries in the world, there are always more poor and the low income earners than the rich. The poor and the low income group are important group in our communities. We need the poor and the low income group to become the workers of the factories which belong to the rich. We need the low income group to work in our farms and supermarkets. Our government has to build houses for them to live. Our government has made mistake by requesting the private sectors to build houses for the poor and the low income groups. When the contractors build the low cost houses, they also think of money and not of services. Although the houses should only be bought by the poor and the low income groups but to the contractors whoever comes first with the money, the houses will be sold to them, irrespective whether they are poor or rich. As usual those who are rich want to become even richer. The rich also want to buy the low cost houses as an investment. The rich want to buy the low cost houses and then rent the houses to the low income group. At the end even the low cost houses are owned by the rich. The poor and the low income earners will have to live on rented apartments belong to the rich. Currently this is the situation in Malaysia. The poor and the low income groups are not able to own their own houses and they rent apartment and flats belong to the rich and the rich will live in bungalows. In this way the rich becomes richer and the poor and low income earners continue to live in rented houses belong to the rich, until they die.
The prices of any commodities will be determined by the law of supply and demand. The more the commodities is demanded, the higher the prices of those commodities. Houses are certainly not a luxury items. Everyone needs house in order to be able to live comfortably. Houses are included in the items which are called needs of men. Allah ordered men to work in order to fulfill their needs. Houses are one of the most important needs of men. What our governments do to provide houses to the poor and the low income earners? Our government only persuades the private contractors to built low cost houses for the poor and the low income earners. This is not good governance. Do our government control or monitor who the buyers of the low cost houses are? Our government does not control or monitor who the buyers of the low cost houses are. Our government does not have any control on the private contractors who build the low cost houses. Our government is only interested to have the tax money of the contractors. Does our government help the poor and the low income groups to buy houses? Both the government and the banks are not helping the poor and the low income group to buy houses. Banks give loans to buy houses only to those who have collateral. Only the rich can provides collateral to the bank and so only the rich in Malaysia can buy houses. The rich will buy the low cost houses and rented it to the poor or the low income earners. Who own the houses? At the end of the day, only the rich who owns houses while the poor and the low income earners will live in rented houses.
Although Malaysian government did build low cost houses for the poor and the low income group but the government does not want to sell those houses to them. Some of them have been renting the houses from the government for more than ten years and yet they are not able to own the houses. It was only recently, when the government decided to sell those flats which had been rented to the poor for so many years. Why it was not done before? Many believe it is an election campaign of this current Barisan government. Our government should have known that everyone in Malaysia should have their own houses long time ago. Houses are human needs and are not luxury commodities. A good and responsible government should provide opportunities for each of its citizen to have his or her own houses. I have been traveling quite often to many parts of Malaysia. I have seen many Malaysians particularly those who lives in Sabah, Terengganu, Kelantan and Sarawak, live in houses which are in very poor condition and not suitable for people to live. Government of Malaysia should take the responsibility to build houses for its citizens particularly those who are poor and come from the low income group. Houses are important needs of the peoples and the government must ensure that every citizens of the country own houses. Government of Malaysia should not have given the responsibility to build low cost houses to the private housing contractors. Private housing contractors should be allowed only to build houses for the rich while the government should take the responsibility to build houses for the poor and the low income earners. Government should ensure every citizen of Malaysia to own dissent houses, which comply with certain standards, the standards which are also in line with the standard of houses in other countries.
Does Malaysia have standards for building houses? I don’t think Malaysia has standards for houses. In Malaysia everyone can build houses to whatever standards they want. In order for Malaysia to become a progressive country, houses in Malaysia should be built in accordance to housing standards of an advance and progressive countries. In order to become a progressive country, everything made or build in Malaysia must follow certain standards which are in line with the standards of other progressive countries in this world. Malaysia may have its own standards but the standards must be at par with the standards used by other progressive and advance countries. I think Malaysia is in the process of establishing standards in various technical areas but I am sure Malaysia does not have standards for houses. What is currently being practiced in Malaysia does not seem to suggest that neither Malaysia has its own standards for houses nor is in the process of implementing standards for building houses. What should be the standards for houses in Malaysia? In order to establish the standards, we have to take into consideration the culture, habits and the religion of most Malaysians.
Let take an example of average Malay, Muslim family in Malaysia. Usually an average Malay and Muslims family in Malaysia consists of about five to six individuals, which include the father and the mother and three to four other children. In case one room of the house is for the father and the mother, there should be at least another three rooms for the children. All rooms should be of equal size that should be able to accommodate at least two persons in the room. According to Islam, the boys and the girls must be placed in separate rooms. Beside the bedrooms, there should be another three other rooms, which include the toilet and bathroom, a large living room, kitchen and dining room. In other words a standard house in Malaysia should have at least seven rooms. Whether the houses are of flats or apartments or single story houses, it must have the minimum number of seven rooms. Beside the adequate number of rooms the houses should be made from materials which are of standard quality, comply with international standards and the houses must be painted with standard paints which should also comply with international standards.
How can the government implement the policy; everyone to own houses? I think the Government should form a housing company specifically responsible for building low cost houses for the poor and the low income group. Initially the company is wholly owned by the government but later on the company can be owned by the public. The starting working capital of the company comes from the government. In the beginning, the main shareholder of the company is the government. The main task of the company is only to build new houses and to repair old houses for the poor and the low income earners of the country. The poor and the low income earners will buy the houses from the banks that operate on true Islamic principles and the government must own the bank. They will pay the monthly rent to the bank which is the amount equivalent to monthly installment of the houses to the bank. The bank will buy the houses from the government at cost price and in turn will sell the houses to the peoples with no profit. When the buyers have paid the entire monthly installment in the numbers of years as agreed with the bank, the ownership of the house will be transferred to the buyer. In this way the poor also can own houses. Government should make houses just for the service of the peoples. Government belongs to the peoples and the main responsibility of the government is not to make profit but to serve peoples.
As with other companies in a country which practice Islamic principles, government should sells all the shares of the company which belongs to the government finally to the workers of the company. A time will come when the ownership of the company is transferred to the workers of the company. When the shareholders of the company are not only from the government but also from the workers of the company, the company at that time can sell the houses to the bank with some profit of not more than 10 % of the cost price. According to the Islamic principles, 2/3 of the profit of the company should be given to the workers and 1/3 of the profit should be shared equally between the government and the shareholders of the company. When government is involved in building and providing houses to the poor and the low income earners, the price of the houses for this class of the society will always be maintain at the price which is affordable to the poor and the low income group. In this way everyone in Malaysia can own houses and all the houses are following standards which comply with the standards of houses in other progressive countries. Houses are the basic need of men. There is no point in becoming a progressive country only on the basis of per capital income, when there are so many Malaysians living in rented houses or houses not build according to international standards. When the above suggestions which I have made are adopted by the government of Malaysia, a time will come when everyone in Malaysia enjoy living in their own beautiful, dissent and practical houses and couple with the good roads that we currently have, I believe we will definitely make the outward appearance of Malaysia really similar to other advance and progressive nations of the world.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
August 2012
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre

Hang Tuah was synonymous with bravery and heroism. He was a Malay legend and a symbol of obedience without question to the Sultan. Hang Tuah had served the Sultan as Laksamana and had led many expeditions outside Malacca as ambassador to the Sultan of Malacca. He was very loyal to the Sultan and was willing to take the order of the Sultan even to the extent of killing his most trusted and loving companion Hang Jebat. Hang Tuah was the symbol of loyalty. Loyalty is a much needed quality in any establishment. The stories of Hang Tuah have been narrated over and over again throughout the ages and the stories have sometimes become a myth rather than a true historical fact. Although some stories about Hang Tuah do not seem to be logical but they are continually being narrated over the generations until today. These stories were written in our history books and are being read to our children. Stories about Hang Tuah have also been made into a movie and a theater and were watched by all of us from time to time. Are all the stories about Hang Tuah plain truth or mixed with lies? Are our historians making any research on the many stories about Hang Tuah? We should not write any lies and spreading lies about Hang Tuah. Our many generations to come will read whatever written in our history books. We should only write the truth and not lies. In case we are not certain about the truthiness of certain stories , then we should not write that particular stories in our history books. Whatever written in our history books should be authentic and proven by research and plain logic.
I have been many times to Malacca but during my recent visit to Malacca I was somehow became interested with the history of Malacca. I wanted to know about a great Malay warrior, known as Laksamana Hang Tuah. I was told that Hang Tuah had a well in Kampong Duyung, the village that Hang Tuah was supposed to be born. I went to the village and visited the well. Upon entering the village I saw a mosques by the name of Hang Tuah Mosques and then I saw a Chinese grave yard but there was no Chinese living in the village. Where have all the Chinese gone? There are two possibilities, either all the Chinese have converted to Islam and became Muslims or the Chinese have migrated somewhere else. It was possible that Hang Tuah was a Chinese who can no longer speak Chinese like the Chinese baba and nyoya and has adopted Malay cultures. Hang Tuah was employed by the Sultan to be a Laksamana and the title Hang was given to him because he was a warrior. The word Tuah could have come from the two Chinese words, Tou and Ah and was pronounced by the Malays as Tuah. Hang Tuah was the greatest Laksamana of the Sultan of Malacca and he had served all the five renowned Sultans of Malacca before Malacca was taken over by the Portuguese. In my opinion the stories about the well of Hang Tuah is only a legend. There is no scientific study to prove that the well was built and used by Hang Tuah. The legends associated with the well are not supposed to be told or written anywhere, as by doing so, we are only spreading lies about Hang Tuah to the people. As a great warrior, having a well was not an object of pride, whereas Hang Tuah should be better associated with a Kris or any other weapons of his time.
Where is the grave of Hang Tuah? Some said that Hang Tuah just disappeared and thus has no grave. Some said that Hang Tuah’s grave is in Tanjong Kling. I went to Tanjong Kling to see the grave. I was curious to know whether the grave that has been labeled as Hang Tuah’s grave was truly belong to Hang Tuah or actually belong to someone else. Why Hang Tuah, who was a noble and a warrior should be buried in Kampong Kling, a place far from the administrative centre of Malacca. When Malacca was taken over by the Portuguese, where Hang Tuah was living? Could Hang Tuah being living in an Indian village? Tanjong Kling was the village of the Indians and Indians during those times were known as Kling. When I saw the grave, I knew it has no characteristic of either a Malay or a Chinese grave. The grave has the characteristics of an Indian grave. The grave is long and it looks similar to the grave in Pulau Besar, Malacca. In my opinion the grave belongs to an Indian Muslim who had come to Malacca to preach Islam and is not Hang Tuah’s grave. Hang Tuah must had been buried in an area very closed to the administrative centre of Malacca and a possible site could be in Kampong Hulu. To prove whether Hang Tuah was a Muslim or not, requires other studies to verify. Hang Tuah could had been a non-Muslim but later on converted to Islam and this is another area that Malaysian historians can research.

The Chinese had come and live in Malaysia since the time of the Sultanates of Malacca. Are those generations of the Chinese that had lived since those ancient times Bumiputra or non-Bumiputra? Are the descendants of Hang Tuah Bumiputra? Malays are Bumiputra and Malays are defined as those who can speak Malay, is a Muslim and has adopted Malay cultures. Kadazans and Ibans are also Bumiputra but a Chinese like the descendent of Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat is not a Bumiputra. A Kadazan or an Iban is not a Muslim and does not adopt a Malay culture but he or she is still regarded as a Bumiputra because their ancestors had come to live in Sabah or Sarawak hundreds of years ago. In my opinion we have to redefine what Bumiputra and non-Bumiputra are and our definitions must be fair and logical. There are many who are not truly Malay but are being regarded as Malays. They are considered as Malays because they speak Malay language, they are Muslims by birth and they adopt Malay cultures. As I wrote in my previous article about the origin of the Malay people, the Javanese, Achiness and Bugis people are not Malay people but are being regarded as Malays because they speak Malay language and they practice Islam. The real Malay people as I have hypothesized is one of the tribes of Bani Israel who had migrated from the Mediterranean region to this part of the world thousands of years ago.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
October 2010
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre
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Bribery or in malay rasuah is a rampant activities in many countries, either Muslims or non-Muslim countries. In some countries the activities of bribery or rasuah has become a way of life. Bribery in those countries has become so common, to the extent; it is no longer regarded as evil. In order for any applications to the government to be processed promptly, in those countries rampant with bribery, a person must give bribes. Most governments in those countries were trying to curb bribery but without much success. Most governments know, bribery is endangering the very survival of their nations. When bribery is not eradicated, many are able to do illegal activities or activities without observing standard procedures. Foreign investors would not like to invest in those countries where bribery is a way of life because it is unprofitable to invest in those countries. It is unprofitable because in such countries, business activities will not comply with procedures of international standard making the qualities of product to decreased and become unmarketable. In countries rampant with bribery, the rich will be able to run away from procedures by giving bribe. The most eligible persons may be deprived of many opportunities because they could not give bribe, because they are poor. On the other hand, the least eligible persons can have many opportunities because they are rich and can give bribe. In countries rampant with bribery, the poor becomes poorer and the rich becomes richer.
Bribery is evil and it causes injustices to prevail in the communities. With bribery the rich can have whatever they want and the poor will be at the mercy of the rich. With bribery, illegal things can become legal; falsehood can become the truth and the one who is not eligible can become eligible. Allah has forbidden Muslims from giving and accepting bribery. Bribery is regarded as evils in Islam. Bribery is rampant mainly in poor Muslims countries. In poor countries, many are forced to practice bribery, because the amount of salary earned by an average worker cannot even meet their needs. When their needs are not met, the poor has to accept bribery in order to fulfill their needs. It is a normal rule; when there are markets for a product, the products will be produced according to the market demand. In poor countries, there are many who want to accept a bribe and there are also many who want to give a bribe.
As an example a policeman in a poor country is having a wife and three children. Eid celebration is coming and all the children and the wife need food to eat and new clothes to wear during the celebration. It so happen during that time the policeman does not have enough money to buy all those needs. If there is an opportunity during this time to get more money, will the policeman grab such opportunity or he will avoid it? One day while on his duty the policeman has caught a man driving without a license and according to the law, summon should be given to that person. The person pleaded to the policeman not to give him summons and in return the person promises to the policeman to give him some amount of money. What would the policeman do in this situation? Should he gives summon or should he not? In the mind of the policeman are pictures of his wife and children, who will go without food and new clothes during the next coming eid festival. Realizing this, the police immediately come to the conclusion that he needs the money. Without much hesitation the policeman decided to accept the money. This is called bribery or rasuah. Bribery is sinful. When a Muslim committed an act of bribery, syaitan will inject delicious sensation or lazat in his heart, which will make the Muslim to continue committing the act of bribery. Once a Muslims has accepted a bribe, the next time, he will certainly accept another bribe. In this way the activities of bribery increase and become common and rampant among Muslims.
Bribery is not done only by policeman but also by other government officers. Whoever can impart power to the public will be prone to bribery. According to a survey conducted in Malaysia, only those who are working in the weather forecast department were less prone to bribery while other officers in other ministries are susceptible to bribery. Let take a case, on how officers in the Ministry of Housing can commit bribery in Malaysia. Government of Malaysia wants to build five thousand houses for the low income groups and the government welcomes all the private companies to participate in the projects. All private companies who would like to participate in the project are requested to submit their proposal to the government which include their company profile and the costs of the project. In order to avoid bribery, the government ordered the selections of the companies to be based on open tender and the company which has quoted the lowest cost to the government will be selected to take up the project. It happens during that time, the officer who is in charge of the project has so many debts to pay and the current salary that he draws is not sufficient to pay for the debts and the expenses of his luxurious lifestyle. Immediately the officer sees that, this project gives him the opportunity to commit bribery. He sees that in this project he can commit bribery because he knows that the power to decide to whom the project should be given lies in his hand.
He knows that the project should be given to the contractor who quoted the lowest prices to the government. Since he wants money so deliberately, he starts to make plan on how to commit bribery. He has committed many acts of bribery in the past and until now; no one could get hold of him. He thinks this time as in the past; he will commit bribery and as usual he will escape from being caught by the authority. He started to negotiates with one contractor who is the director of a company named A, and promises to the contractor that the project will certainly be given to his company, provided the company is willing to quote the lowest prices as ordered by him and in return the company should give him a one percent share of the profit. On the day when all the companies including company A, are called to present their proposals to the committee, the person in-charge of the project who had done negotiation previously with director of company A, also happens to be the decision maker in the meeting, will definitely choose company A to undertake the housing project. In reality the project has been given by direct negotiation and not by open tender. The meeting is conducted only to camouflage to the higher authority that the project is given by open tender. This action is call bribery. The officer has misused the power that he has and instead of using the power, to benefit the government, he uses the power to benefit himself. On the surface, it looks as if everything is done according to procedures but in reality bribery is being committed. When such sinful acts are committed in such project, the blessing or in Malay the Berkah of the project is gone. When the blessing or the Berkahof the project is gone, the government, instead of building low cost houses for the poor is building high cost houses, of lower quality to the poor.
Because of bribery the poor need to pay much higher costs for a house of much lower quality. Since everything on the surface is conducted according to procedures, the government fails to smell the aroma of bribery in the project. Because of bribery, the poor has to pay more for a lower quality houses. Houses built with bribery will not have qualities. In short, when any acts of bribery are involved in any projects, the end result, the projects will have lower qualities. Not only government officers can commit bribery, ministers also commit bribery. How ministers commit bribery? A minister can commit bribery even on major projects. The power to give major projects is only in the hand of ministers. When a person becomes a minister, he or she cannot own companies. This rule is made in order to prevent the minister from committing bribery but on the other hand the ministers can have companies by appointing others to be his or her proxies. Proxies are persons who are made by the minister to become the directors of companies own by the ministers and who would do exactly according to the wishes and the orders of the ministers.
The minister will gives many projects associated with his or her ministry to the company belong to his or her proxies. In this way, the ministers are seen to the public eyes as not committing any acts of bribery. In reality, briberies are rampantly committed. Almost all ministers in the world commit bribery and because of bribery many ministers in the world have become millionaires and billionaires. In order to avoid from being track, the ministers will keep their money in banks outside their countries. In order to give the projects only to companies belong to his or her proxies, most of the projects given by ministers are of direct negotiations. Some companies belong to the ministers do not have technological competency and in order to make the projects a success, the project need to be given to another sub-contractor who are competent technologically. The projects are given to the sub-contractor provided the sub-contractor can pay commission of certain percent to the main contractor which actually belongs to the ministers. In this ways the ministers made millions of dollars. Commission to the ministers, causes an increase in the cost of the project and in order to compensate for the increase in cost, the sub-contractors would use cheaper materials of lower quality which do not comply with international standards.
When a person becomes a minister, many businessmen would like to become the cronies of the minister. When a person becomes the cronies of a minister it would be easy for that person to obtain projects from the ministers. Ministers will surely give projects to his friends, members of his families and cronies. In order to become cronies to the minister, ones need to become friendly to the ministers. In order to become friendly with the ministers, ones must attend all the functions attended by the ministers and must give expensive services or presents to the minister. Businessmen give presents to the ministers because the businessmen want the ministers to give them projects. It is actually not a present but a bribe. What present should be given to the ministers? In order to know the correct present to be given to the minister, the businessmen must know what does the minister loves most? In case the minister loves women, the businessmen will give the minister, women as present. In case the minister loves expensive cars the businessmen will give the minister expensive cars. How would the businessmen give to the minister, beautiful women? The businessmen will give the minister a free air tickets to some tourist destination and accompanying the minister is a beautiful woman who will acts as social escort to the minister. All food and hotel expenses for both the minister and the woman are fully paid by the businessman. In the name of a free holiday package to the minister, the businessmen are actually bribing the minister. In case the minister loves expensive cars, the businessman will send as a present to the minister an expensive car park in front of the minister’s house. It looks as if the car is a present to the minister but actually it is a bribe to the minister. Will a businessman give an expensive car to another man whom he has no vested interest? The presents are not given to the ministers for nothing. The businessman gives the present to the minister because he wants the minister to give him projects. In Islam that is not a present but a bribe or rasuah. In Islam a person who holds power cannot receive presents from anyone who in the past had never given him any presents.
As for an example, Ahmad had never invited Hussein who happens to be his neighbour for food in his house. Only when Hussein is appointed as minister, Ahmad invites Hussein for food in his house. In Islam the action of Ahmad is an act of bribery. Hussein should not accept bribe. Ahmad invitation to Hussein to have food in his house is an act of bribery and must be politely turned down by Hussein. Ahmad is committing bribery because the invitation is not sincere. Ahmad invited Hussein to have food in his house in order to gain closeness to Hussein. Once Ahmad is closed with Hussein, Ahmad will use the closeness to gains material wealth from Hussein. The intention of the invitation is not sincere and it has an ultra motive behind it. Inviting someone for food in our house is a good action when the intention is to please Allah. When the intention is not to please Allah, the action is an act of bribery or rasuah. A person who holds power should not accept presents from those who in the past had never given him any presents. Muslims are not allowed to give and to accept bribery.
Allah allows Muslims to accept presents but not bribe or rasuah. When Muslims eat foods given as a bribe, the foods are haram and those who eat even a morsel of haram foods, their prayers (doa) in forty days will not be accepted by Allah. As a precaution it is wise for those who holds power not to accepthadiah or presents from anyone. It is wise for those who holds power not to receive presents or hadiah but to gives presents or hadiah to others. Once a man who holds power accepts presents or hadiah, he will have the tendency in the future to accept more presents or hadiah. All government servants who are in the position to give contracts and projects must not accept presents from the public. If we want to abolish bribery, prime minister, ministers and all government officers who have power to give projects must not be allowed to receive presents from the public. Whatever forms of presents given to person with power are in reality not a presents but a bribe. Even a present as small as a pen given to a person who holds power is an act of bribery. It is wise not to accept at all any presents from the public. Bribery is rampant in poor countries such as Indonesia and Bangladesh. In Indonesia, bribery is practiced even in matters; as to enter universities or to obtain employment from the government. In such poor countries as Indonesia the salaries of the policeman are very low. The received salary in a month of an ordinary policeman in Indonesia cannot even fulfill their monthly basic needs. Situation in Indonesia has forced them to practice bribery. In order to be able to live in highly competitive society, a person in Indonesia is forced to practice bribery in order to become even a policeman, a soldier or government teachers. We cannot expect a teacher or policemen in Indonesia not to practice bribery when at the beginning of their career, they are forced to practice bribery. In Indonesia, only the rich can practice bribery and only the rich can become government teachers, policemen, studied in government universities and to become soldiers. The poor cannot afford to practice bribery and so in Indonesia the poor will remain as farmers or general labourers. In my opinion, bribery in Indonesia can never be eradicated until the government is able to solve the problem of poverty in Indonesia.
How to eradicate bribery? Bribery is synonymous with poverty. In order to eradicate bribery the government must eradicate poverty. Government must create more jobs by encouraging labour intensive industries. There must be a minimum salary for private as well as government workers. With the minimum amount of salary per month a person should be able to fulfill their needs in a month and with some extra money for holiday. In order to eradicate bribery, instead of the love of money, the love of Allah must be instilled into the hearts of the peoples. Love of Allah will be in the heart of men, when men are involved in the work of calling peoples to Allah, which mean the non- Muslims are invited to recite the Great Kalimah and Muslims are reminded about the Great Kalimah and be invited to obey all the orders of Allah. Such activities which should be done in jemaah must be established in all the mosques in the countries and all the Muslims living around the mosques must be invited to participate in the activities and the non-Muslims to be invited to become Muslims. Such activities will increase the love of Allah in the hearts of the Muslims and when the love of Allah increases, the love of money decreases. When love of money decreases, the activities of bribery will also decreases. In order to encourage the public to reports to the government about cases involving bribery, the person who made the reports must be rewarded but their names must not be disclosed to the public. In this way bribery in the country can be eradicated. Bribery is indeed the number one enemy of a country and a country rampant with bribery will not become a progressive country.
Prof Dr Nasoha Saabin
July 2012
Integrative Holistic Wellness Centre