A Man Deserving of Respect.

There are many men in this present time who is deserving of respect - those whose name are well known, and those who are not. For those whose name are well known, a great majority may hold them in great esteem, while a small few may view them in contempt, perhaps due to some misunderstanding on issues which or may not be personal. These men deserving of respect, are known to the public by name and by sight, with their pictures perhaps flashed in the media regular enough to be recognised.

For those men whose names are not well known however, only the lucky few may know them and their true story. We may see them often, but we do not know them. They may be the stranger we pass by everyday on our way to work - the old man sitting on a public bench; the old woman who walk the distance from her house to the morning market; the akak who vacuums the office carpet every morning; the abang who returns home every morning after his 2nd daily job as a jaga; and even the young man who works as a roadside cobbler, having have to quit school early due to his family's financial situation.

Though this entry is not about the latter - the old man and woman, the abang and akak, and the young man mentioned above - I include them in the introduction to remind myself of them, and a verse from the Holy Quran: Truly the noblest among you in the sight of God is the most righteous among you (atqakurn). 49:13; this entry is about a man who shot to fame recently. Personally, I do not know him at all though I was fortunate to have met him in the most ironic of circumstance, a time of sadness when my mother's elder brother, Arwah Mohd Nor Jetti, passed away.

As I have related in my entry at that time, I had sent text messages of the sad news to many members of the family as well as friends, including people whom I know knew my arwah uncle personally. The message was sent without much thought but for the news itself, and I had not expected this recipient to come. But when he did, I was greatly surprised and greeted him with the respect I have for him since many years before.

Back in 1995, this man stood his grounds against one of Malaysia's most infamous politicians, and was sent to jail. Unlike the Black14 incident which led to DSAI's incarceration and shouts of 'reformasi' echoing throughout the country, very few people stood up for the injustice that was delivered to this man. Sadly, perhaps very few people cared then, blinded by the difference in skin colour, the same blind that caused them not to think that this man stood up for one of their own - a 15year old girl of the same skin colour as them. This man, a man of different skin colour and religious belief, was sent to an 18months imprisonment for the brave stand he took against the head of a State Government! Since then, began my burning hatred towards the hypocrites in ameno and their allies in BN.

But Allah s.w.t. is Most Kind, Most Fair, and Most Merciful towards His downtrodden servants, even if they have yet to acknowledge Him as the One God, and the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. as His messenger. In March 2008, this man who was unjustly imprisoned, became the Chief Minister of Penang. This entry was prompted by the email I received below, and would like to share with my friends here. I would like to think the email as true, as a similar report was written here.

May Allah grant him hidayah to be a Muslim and a Mukmin. May Allah s.w.t. grant us hidayah to be a Mukmin.


From: MUHAMMAD FAUZY BIN MUHAMMAD HIFFNY
Subject: Antara Sayyidina Umar Abdul Aziz & Lim Guan Eng

Cerita menarik yang saya perolehi dari sahabat2 di Kedah dan
Penang ...

Baru-baru ini Guan Eng (Ketua Menteri Penang) turun dan bertemu
rakyat. Dalam ucapannya, dia kata dia nak jadi macam khalifah Umar
Abdul Aziz.

Seorang AJK Dewan Ulama' yang turut hadir berkata (dalam
hati), "Paklong ni dia hanya pandai sebut Umar Abd Aziz. Dia bukan
tau siapa dia Umar sebenarnya. Dia pakai sebut ja kot..."

Tak semena2, Guan Eng meneruskan ucapannya dan sepanjang ucapan itu
dia hanya bercerita kisah kehebatan Umar Abd Aziz. Umar tak ambil
duit rakyat. Umar pulang balik peruntukan kerajaan kepada dia. Umar
padam lampu kerajaan kerana anak dia datang nak tanya urusan
peribadi dan berbagai2 lagi.

Dan Guan Eng kata, sejak sekian lama, Umar Abd Aziz menjadi
idolanya. Dan dia berazam nak jadi pemimpin macam Umar. "Kini saya
sudah jadi Ketua Menteri dan saya berazam akan mengotakan janji saya
untuk menjadi Umar Abd Aziz."

Untuk pengetahuan, Guan Eng tak duduk rumah rasmi Ketua Menteri dan
dia tak ada rumah sendiri. Dia menumpang di rumah bapanya. Bila Mohd
Sabu tanya kenapa tak duduk di rumah rasmi, dia kata, untuk masuk
rumah tu, ia perlu di renovate. Kosnya sekitar RM 300,000.00. Saya
tak rela duit rakyat dibazirkan untuk kediaman seorang ketua
menteri....

Balik semula kpd kisah tadi... Dalam sessi soal jawab, ada seorang
hadirin tanya: Mana tuan tahu kisah Umar Abd Aziz ni. Orang Islampun
ramai yang tak tahu.... Guan Eng jawab, dulu semasa saya di penjara,
antara orang yang kerap mengunjungi saya ialah Dato' Fadhil Noor (Al
Marhum Presiden PAS). Dan dialah yang membekalkan kepada saya buku2
berkaitan Islam, termasuk satu buku tentang Umar Abd Aziz. Bermula
dari situ saya kenal tokoh yang hebat ini.....

Bagaimana kita orang Islam?....