2 Reminders and Media Statement

Just a reminder for 2 events and a Media Statement from Doctor Lo'lo'.

First, the Pesta Buku Selangor has begun at the PKNS Complex in Shah Alam. It was officiated earlier today by Puan Mastura, and end on August 3, 2009. For more info, please click here.

On a more serious note - not that the above is not - the Anti-ISA March this August 1, 2009; kindly refer here. Anyone who would like to read in depth the suffering of not only of those who are being held illegally by the stooges of BN, but also the suffering of the families who are left to fend for themselves and not knowing when the father of their children would be realsed, please read Puan Norlaila's account here.

It is interesting to note that a group calling themselves Pewaris and very much pro-ISA, have announced to march at exactly the same time and date mentioned. However, I do wonder if they - those so called supporters of ISA - know what they are getting themselves into, or what their real stand is. Clearly to me, they are there as provocation and nothing else, remembering the blundring oaf of a former Minister who is famous for his stammers and 'erection' (instead of election), who mentioned on live international TV "What if we, we, also march at the same time. C...can you imagine what would happen?" He was referring to the BERSIH March, which is famous to justice-seeking citizens of Malaysia, but infamous to the clowns who wants to keep Malaysia in their tight grips.

And what have the Police to say about this now? Nothing, not a single word! Perhaps they want to wait for a bloodbath to happen before joining in, on Prowaris side, undoubtedly. But enough of that.
With regards to model who has been sentenced to be caned by the Syariah Court in Kuantan, kindly read Doctor Lo'lo's Media Statement as below:

Kenyataan YB Dr. Lo’lo’ isu hukuman sebat ke atas pesalah minum arak untuk membetulkan kenyataan media.

Dari YB Titiwangsa, Doctor Lo'Lo',

Artikel Themalaysianinsider.com bertarikh 23/07/2009 dengan tajuk-tajuk berikut “Outrage Over Caning For Model” dan “Syariah Lawyers Association Regrets Shahrizat’s Statement On Whipping Of Model” adalah dirujuk. Di dalam kedua-dua artikel tersebut ada menyiarkan seperti berikut :

a) Titiwangsa MP Lo'lo Mohd Ghazali, who is also head of the women's wing of the opposition PAS, said that punishment should educate and not cause hurt.
b) Shahrizat said she was shocked by the Syariah Court decision and called for a fair and just punishment.

Meanwhile, Dr Lo'lo was surprised that whipping of women was sanctioned by the Malaysian syariah law adding punishment should be educational, and not to cause hurt.


Petang semalam saya telah dihubungi oleh wartawan meminta saya memberi sedikit komen berkaitan hukuman oleh Mahkamah Syariah Kuantan yang menjatuhkan hukuman sebat terhadap seorang model sambilan atas kesalahn meminum arak. Saya telah memberikan komen saya dengan sucihati megikut pengetahuan saya berkaitan hukuman dan realiti masyarakat Malaysia. Malangnya terdapat pihak-pihak yang melihat kenyataan di akhbar dari konteks yang lain.

Pertama, saya terkejut dengan hukuman yang dijatuhkan oleh Mahkamah Syariah Kuantan ke atas model tersebut. Memang saya terkejut kerana ada juga Mahkamah Syariah di Malaysia yang berupaya menghukum pesalah dengan hukuman sebegitu walaupun peruntukkan tersebut telah lama ada. Tetapi baru sekarang hukuman sebegitu dijatuhkan bagi pesalah kesalahan tersebut. Saya amat bersetuju dengan hukuman tersebut kerana sekurang-kurangnya hukuman tersebut begitu hampir dengan hukuman Hudud.

Di dalam Hudud, hukuman bagi pesalah minum arak adalah 40 kali sebatan malah ada ulamak yang mengatakan sehingga 80 kali sebatan. Sebelum ini tiada Mahkamah yang menjatuhkan hukuman sebegitu walau pun Mahkamah Syariah sepatutnya menghukum mengikut hukuman Allah tetapi di Malaysia ini hukuman yang dikenakan tidak seperti yang ditetapkan Allah dalam Al-Quran dan Sunnah Rasulullah S.A.W.

Apabila Mahkamah Syariah Kuantan menjatuhkan hukuman sebat ke atas model tersebut, ini membuatkan saya terkejut. Bukan terkejut kerana hukuman tetapi terkejut kerana keberanian Hakim Mahkamah Syariah tersebut. Syabas kepada beliau.

Kedua, saya mengatakan sebarang bentuk hukuman yang dikenakan samada denda, sebatan atau penjara, semuanya hendaklah dalam bentuk untuk memberi pengajaran kepada pesalah, bukannya untuk mendera atau menyebabkan kecederaan kepada pesalah. Hukuman di dalam Islam adalah untuk memberikan pengajaran kepada pesalah dan khalayak supaya menginsafi perbuatan itu.

Di dalam kes ini, saya berpendapat masyarakat umumnya masih tidak memahami kaedah bagaimana sebatan ke atas pesalah dilakukan. Adakah ianya dilakukan sama seperti pesalah-pesalah jenayah lain di dalam undang-undang jenayah sivil. Masyarakat umum mengetahui bagaimana hukuman sebat dilakukan ke atas pesalah jenayah sivil seperti di dalam kes pengedaran dadah, merogol, meliwat dan sebagainya.

Adakah hukuman sebat di Mahkamah Syariah dilakukan dengan kaedah yang sama? Inilah kebimbangan yang saya sebutkan kepada wartawan tersebut bimbang hukuman sebat ini dianggap sebagai hukuman Mahkamah Sivil sehingga memberi tanggapan buruk kepada Mahkamah Syariah, lebih-lebih lagi yang dihukum seorang wanita. Ini yang perlu diperjelaskan. Inilah maksud saya bila saya mengatakan hukuman sepatutnya untuk tujuan pengajaran, bukan untuk mendatangkan kecederaan. Saya merujuk kepada "Titiwangsa MP Lo'lo Mohd Ghazali, who is also head of the women's wing of the opposition PAS, said that punishment should educate and not cause hurt."

Artikel ini dengan jelas tidak tepat kerana saya bukan Ketua Muslimat PAS seperti yang didakwa. Justeru saya mengharapkan agar tiada pihak yang sewenang-wenangnya mempercayai sebarang tulisan di akhbar sebelum mendapat maklumat secukupnya. Saya kira sudah sampai masanya pihak berkuasa di Malaysia iaitu UMNO/BN “merotan” Pengurus MAS yang menyebabkan semua mereka yang berada dalam satu-satu penerbangan terlibat secara langsung dengan arak, iaitu dari pramugara/i yang hidang arak sehinggalah pilot yang mengemudi kapal terbang tersebut. Begitu juga perlu “disebat” pihak yang terbabit berpuluh-puluh tahun membiarkan orang-orang Islam terlibat secara langsung dengan arak di hotel-hotel, 7- Eleven, pasaraya-pasaraya dan pekerja-pekerja Islam di kilang Carlberg.

Akhir sekali, SYABAS KEPADA MAHKAMAH SYARIAH KUANTAN dan Syukur Alhamdulillah kepada Puan Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor yang telah menginsafi perbuatan tersebut. Moga Allah menerima taubat hambaNya yang menyesali kesalahan. DI SINI SAYA LONTARKAN PERSOALAN INI KEPADA SEMUA ORANG ISLAM DI MALAYSIA, SIAPAKAH YANG SEPATUTNYA DISEBAT DALAM ISU ARAK DI MALAYSIA??...

A Head Banged In!

Now, how should I begin this? After my last entry and with my friends kindly enough contributing thoughts and ideas, I may put everyone's hopes - and myself - too high. Perhaps it was the exposure I had in advertising agencies and other offices which led me to think the Harakah Brainstorming Session that was held earlier today, would be similar. In a way it was. But in many ways, it was not. A point to be taken into consideration, is that I was invited only for the morning to afternoon session. Thus, I really cannot say for certain the outcome. Whatever, towards the end of the morning session, I had a feeling that I really should go bang my head against the nearest wall.

The morning started off with 2 invited speakers, which perhaps I would be wiser not to name them as a precaution against any snooping eyes from the Sarkas people or the Sarkas Branch. Won't say much about their talk as - forgive me - they were not convincing enough for me. Further, as they come from rival publication, my instinct tells me not to trust them. The organiser would have done better had they invited media personalities such Tan Sri Kadir and even RPK (though he was invited much earlier to give a different talk). Speaking of the man, RPK had just texted a message as below:

"I have been ordered to surrender at the Jln Duta magistrate court 9.30am 2moro, Tue, to be chagred for sedition" Petra.
Thus, anyone who would like to give him moral support, insyAllah, I'll see you guys tomorrow.

Back to the sesion. Soon after the 2 talks, participants were then invited to voice their opinions on how to further improve Harakah and make it more appealing to the public. More than half took turns at the microphone as did that cakapaje guy. Without any credibility as a reporter, he went shooting his mouth off, but luckily not like a six-shooter. Having received tips from Ahmad Lutfi to 'jack' the staff first, cakapaje then pointed out the weaknesses of the print as well as the on-line daily, as mentioned by Elviza in her comments. He later put forward everyone's suggestions, but the one which was particularly well-received was the suggestion for a consumer pull-out, giving special attention to the daily needs of the people especially with the looming food crises and possibility of another hike in oil prices. When everyone was done with, Ahmad Lutfi (AL) then began to talk of his views for Harakah.

One of the things AL mentioned was that Harakah is in a unique position. It is not a daily paper, relying on the sale of its twice a month tabloid to generate income. Yet it provides daily news quite like M'kini, which does not have a paper of its own, and generate income via its English news site. For its print edition, Harakah would have to include many of the news which is produced free. In other words, they are stale news for the Internet savvy readers.

AL does intend to have a subscribed daily news section similar to M'kini, but on a different scale - to provide the subscribers with quality read which may either be news or articles of noteworthy read. However, to do that, Harakah would need to invest in new technologies as well as reporter staff. That, is the main setback - Harakah is not a cash rich organisation. Its income was severely affected by the twice monthly restriction ruling by Sarkas Dalam Negeri, from the twice weekly sales it enjoyed prior to that.

As I mentioned earlier, I was only present for the morning session and that was all to it. InsyAllah, I will keep everyone abreast of any latest development, particularly regarding the suggestions everyone had given.

Now, this is the part where I feel the need to bang my head in - for seemingly disappointing my friends with high expectations yesterday. Please forgive me.


ps. Point to note: The BS was organised by SIASAH which had their session in a different room, totally removed from Harakah.

A Head-banging Session

Now, before anyone gets the wrong idea already, no, the title does not suggest that the session I am referring to has anything to do with Ecstacy or any designer drugs. Though, if I ever do get to know any of the pushers, I would get them to peddle their business in PWTC come this December. I know it does seem a cruel idea for me to ask the pushers to do so, most especially when you take into account that during that month, PWTC will be filled with people who will be nodding their heads endlessly and perhaps more vigorously than Ecstacy takers themselves. But then, who knows, perhaps we might get the pushers to realise their wrongdoing and 'taubat', upon looking at those 'sarkas' people in PWTC.

Anyway, insyAllah this Monday, I will be attending a Brainstorming session with some news-people in KL. I do not know whether I should mention this, but since no one said I can't, I thought it would be a good idea to put it to my friends and bring the feedback to the session. After all, the whole idea of the session is to attract more readers.

I should feel fortunate to be invited to this Brainstorming session by Harakah. Though I have been active with them for the past 4 years, I was always looked upon as an outsider. It was only till quite recently that several of the people there come to recognise the little contribution I have made, and allowing me to voice out my opinion.

In view of the PRU12 results and the huge gain made by Pakatan Rakyat, Harakah is now looking at ways to improve and gain more readers in order to get the message of PR, particularly PAS, to the public. In other words, Harakah is looking to expand beyond the public's conception of it being merely a PAS news organ; it wants to step out of that mould and make itself more accessible to the public.

One would be surprised, as I was, that much prior to PRU12, there were people, Malays at that, who were afraid even to touch what else read, Harakah! To these people, Harakah was like something totally alien and to be avoided at all cost! This mindset was, undoubtedly, ingrained in them by those 'sarkas' people via RadioTV Sarkas and Media Sarkas Network, as well as Berita Sarkas and Utusan Sarkas. It is this mindset which Harakah harbour hopes to break and I, on their behalf, would be grateful if my friends here can give their thoughts to.

Before putting in your thoughts though, please take into accounts that though Harakah does provide free news through Harakahdaily.net, it still need to generate income in order to give better news coverage. Currently, its main source of income is through the sale of Harakah tabloid which is published twice a month as forced onto it by those same Sarkas people.

On Harakah's behalf, I thank you in advance. But please, in whatever you do in wanting to give out your thoughts and ideas, do not go banging your head at any solid object :)