Acts of God? A Malay Perspective on UMNO'S Disasters Angry Malays call MACC ‘Malay murderers’

Still no arrests despite committing a crime

Anwar himself is in Sarawak, busy leading the Pakatan Rakyat campaign to topple the BN government at polls due for balloting on April 16.

He has accused Najib and Hisham of being involved.

"Najib is involved. If not, how can they (the 'Datuk T' trio) get cleared? The criminals are clearly getting away with this. They don't care about the truth even after it is established. They just want to create a issue," Anwar told reporters on Monday night.

He was referring to the three men who called themselves the Datuk T trio - former Malacca mentri besar Rahim Thamby Chik, Perkasa treasurer Shuaib Lazim and businessman Shazryl Eskay, who have confessed to 'finding' the tape and screening it to a group of reporters, editors and select PKR leaders.

Despite committing a crime, none of the men have been arrested. They have surrendered the tape - which they claimed was the only one they possessed - to the police last month.

It is a crime to possess and screen pornographic material in Malaysia.

The increasing accidents should be a concern of all.

THE KHINZIR TOYOL ON LOOSE

There's a famous joke that purports to describe the difference between religions. I'll clean it up a little so this can be published:

TAOISM: Bad things happen. BUDDHISM: If bad things happen, it isn't really bad. HINDUISM: This bad thing happened before. ISLAM: If bad things happen, it is the will of Allah. PROTESTANTISM: Let bad things happen to someone else. CATHOLICISM: If bad things happen, you deserved it. JUDAISM: Why do bad things always happen to us?

What all religious tradition traditions seem to have in common is the truth that things happen that many people experience as bad. And, as the atheist position in the joke proclaims, some people blame God. In fact, the term "act of God" is used in a legal context for "an event which is caused by the effect of nature or natural causes and without any interference by humans whatsoever." Was the tragedy in Japan unleashed by the earthquake and tsunami, as well as the damage to the nuclear power plants, an act of God?

Of course, it depends on what kind of God you believe in. If you believe in the literal word of the Bible, that God really can split the sea or that God is responsible for a flood that wipes out the whole earth, then you might believe that God is responsible for the earthquake. But that is not the God I believe in. I don't think it is the God of Jewish tradition either.

Jews don't read the Bible literally. We read it through the lens of generations of interpretations and acknowledge the evolution of human understanding of God. The Talmudic image of God is vastly different from the image of God presented in the Bible. The God described in Talmud is not responsible for what we call "acts of God." Two classic Talmudic texts make this point very clearly: "Suppose a person stole a measure of wheat and went and sowed it in the ground; it is right that it should not grow, yet the world pursues its natural course, and as for those who transgress, they will have to render an account. Another illustration: Suppose a man had intercourse with his neighbor's wife; it is right that she should not conceive, yet the world pursues its natural course."

The tradition is claiming that God doesn't interfere with the natural course of the world. Earthquakes happen. Things that don't seem fair from the perspective of morality happen because of laws of nature. People suffer as a result, but not because God has willed this specific tragedy to occur.

A second text is even more powerful. It plays off the two biblical commands, which carry the reward of living a long life: honoring your parents and shooing away a mother bird before you take her eggs, presumable to spare her feelings.

"The boy's father said to him: 'Ascend to the loft and bring me the eggs in the nest...' If the boy ascends, dismisses the mother bird and takes the young, and on his return falls and dies, how can it be explained?" (After all, the boy was fulfilling the two commandments that come with the reward of long life -- he was honoring his father and he was shooing away the mother bird.) After offering possible explanations for why this bad thing might have happened, Rabbi Eleazar says: "It was a rickety ladder, so injury was likely. Where injury is likely one cannot rely on a miracle."

Earthquakes happen. We can't depend on miracles. But we are responsible for the rickety ladders in our lives. The earthquake, the tsunami -- that is the world pursuing its natural course. But building a nuclear plant so close to a fault line? That is the rickety ladder. We are responsible for that.

Bad things will happen. People will get sick and die. Hurricanes will devastate a city. Tornadoes, earthquakes, drought -- this is the world pursuing its natural course. But we are responsible for the rickety ladders, the extent to which global warming is created by human beings, the dangers posed by depending on energy sources that are dangerous, and the connection between our consumption and the planet's inability to sustain all of us. We can't depend on miracles, only on our resolve to take responsibility for what we can change to make the world safer.

So was God in the earthquake? Not in the way fundamentalists use the term. But perhaps in a different way, captured by the classic story:

"A young man once came to Menachem Mendel of Kotzk. 'Rebbe, I can no longer believe in God. I can't believe in God because the world is so filled with pain, suffering, ugliness and evil. How could there be a God in such a world?!' 'Why do you care?' asked the Rebbe. 'What do you mean, why do I care? How could I not care? Innocent people suffer; the world is ruled by cruel people. Why does God allow it?'

Again, the Rebbe inquired, 'But why do you care?'

The young man screamed out: 'Someone has to care! Someone has to see the pain of the world and cry out! If not, all the suffering is meaningless. I care because I want a better world, not only for my children but for all children!'

The Rebbe responded, 'If you care that much, then God exists. You see, God exists in your caring.'"

POEM: Corruption admonishes Anna Hazare

[Veteran social activist Anna Hazare is currently on indefinite fast at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, to demand the passage of 'Jan Lokpal Bill ' in Parliament to check corruption in India. Dr. Mustafa Kamal Sherwani has written this poem aptly pointing out the present situation in the country as far as corruption is concerned. – IMO]

Corruption!

Dear Mr.Anna Hazare!

You may have indefinite fast, you may die,

But nobody will be ready to hear your cry;

At my feet, the mightiest of politicians lie,

With them, I am having an unbreakable tie.

You are risking your life at this stage,

All will call you a villain, and not a sage;

For you, it is not wise to incur my rage,

I feel pity on you at this advanced age.

Law-making bodies are my breeding-ground,

From there, I come down with a strong sound;

In the veins of the majority, my love is found,

On you, from every corner, people will pound.

You may   be senile, but must not be  a fool,

You are, no doubt, angry, but keep your cool;

Your admirers are using you as an easy tool,

You will disappear if you dip into   my pool.

 I have become an adjective of India’s name,

With untiring efforts, I achieved this fame;

On my shining career, you are putting a blame,

You, an outworn species!  Have some shame!

I admonish you to follow the modern trend,

The Gandhian times have come to an end;

I have a firm resolve, which none can bend,

Lastly, you will be left alone, with no friend.

]

Over 100 forwarding agents gathered in front of the Customs department’s import/export division upon hearing of Ahmad Sarbani’s death. — Pic by Shannon Teoh

PORT KLANG, April 6 — An innocuous negotiation at the Customs office here over the use of a new import form system turned ugly after news of Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed’s death leaked out to forwarding agents who had come to get their forms cleared.

Calling the assistant director in the Customs Department’s import/export division “their favourite officer,” over 100 agents gathered outside the gates of the premises where Ahmad Sarbani used to work.

They hung posters on the gates with slogans such as “Suruhanjaya Pembunuh Rakyat Malaysia” as they expressed their anger both at the Customs Department and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

“He was the cleanest and most helpful officer. The MACC was tipped-off by other officers who were jealous of his good relationship with us,” said A. Kumaran.

Another agent who refused to be named said that Ahmad Sarbani, who fell to his death from the third floor of the MACC building in Cheras this morning, could be counted on to understand their problems.

“Every day that our forms are not cleared, we get charged for storage of the containers. He understands when we need to close our shipments,” he said.

The gates of the Customs department were plastered with angry messages condemning the MACC for the death of “their favourite officer”. — Pic by Shannon Teoh

The 56-year-old officer had returned to the MACC office today despite already giving his statement in relation to an investigation into a Customs syndicate worth billions in unpaid taxes.

MACC investigations director Datuk Mustafar Ali said the Customs officer’s body was found sprawled on the first floor at 10.15am.

The death comes even as a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) is being conducted into the anti-graft body’s operating procedures following the death of former DAP aide Teoh Beng Hock, who also fell to his death from an MACC building.

Teoh was found dead on July 16, 2009 on the fifth floor of Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, where the Selangor MACC office was then located.

Last week’s nationwide Customs dragnet swept 84 forwarding agents, a holding company and its 24 subsidiaries, and also led to the raid of 25 Customs premises.

Airfreight Forwarders Association of Malaysia (AFAM) chairman Walter Culas, who had been negotiating over the delay in processing the K1 forms, told The Malaysian Insider that the agents had become “emotional because they have been frustrated that their forms have been held up.”

“They like this officer but the main issue is the forms,” he said.

Customs introduced a new system last week where forwarding agents are no longer allowed to choose which officer to file their forms with.