Malam ini saya menjadi gila. Dada saya terasa seperti mahu meletup. Secebis iman dalam diri rasa bagai lahar berapi yang menggelegak melempah. Kepala ini serabut dan songsang fikir dibuatnya. Saya terasa bagai sedang berdiri di atas sebelah kaki di pinggir mulut perigi neraka. Semuanya gara-gara joget lambak kenduri kahwin di belakang rumah saya. Belakang rumah saya itu juga adalah kubur ayah saya dan sebelahnya juga adalah masjid tempat saya menyembah Tuhan semenjak kecil.
Saya serba salah untuk menegur. Anak-anak muda sudah macam orang gila berjoget terlambak sana sini sambil sinar lampu khemah kenduri itu menyinari batu-batu nesan ayah, datuk dan nenek saya. Bukan sahaja keluarga saya, bahkan batu nesan datuk pengantin, serta batu nesan abang pengantin yang mati kemalangan jalan raya tiga tahun lepas, saya juga yang menyempurnakan jenazahnya. Saya serba salah hendak menegur bukanlah kerana memikirkan diri, atau kecut perut dengan mereka. Yang saya runsingkan adalah ibu saya yang telah tua. Ibu saya yang selalu terpaksa saya tinggalkan sendirian di rumah takut diserang anak-anak muda gila itu. Mereka akan memaki hamun dari tingkap. Mereka membaling kulit pisang ke pintu rumah saya. Saya bimbang teguran saya akan jadi bencana kepada ibu saya yang ketakutan itu.
Joget lambak itu satu hal. Lebih menghiris hati saya, ia diadakan bersebelahan masjid. Ia diadakan betul-betul di sebelah kawasan perkuburan seisi sanak saudara kaum keluarga kami sekampung.
Saya tenggelam punca melihat keadaan ini. Ya Allah, di kampung saya sudah berpuluh tahun joget lambak terhapus. Kampung saya tiada tuan guru. Masjid kampung saya juga tiada kuliah pengajian yang hebat-hebat. Tetapi kesan 'kesedaran Islam' masuk juga ke kampung. Sanding-sanding dah makin jarang. Joget lambak jauh sekali. Tetapi malam ini saya rasa seperti saya kembali ke era 20 tahun lalu.
Ya, saya memang rasakan yang Malaysia hari ini sedang dibentuk supaya menjadi seperti 20 tahun sudah. 20 tahun lalu, joget lambak adalah hal biasa. 20 tahun lalu, orang-orang tua yang senja usia memang biasa kita lihat masuk pertandingan menyanyi tiru P. Ramlee. 20 tahun lalu memang biasa konsert-konsert dilambakkan siang malam pagi petang. 20 tahun lalu, memang orang Melayu sangat rasi dengan tari menari. Daripada Mak Yong, disko, sampailah kepada joget lambak di kampung-kampung. Hari ini semua itu jadi biasa semula.
Saya baru sebulan kembali ke Malaysia. Tetapi tidak ada satu detik pun saya dapat mententeramkan diri. Tekanan darah saya naik saban hari. Semalam saya dua tiga kali memeriksa tekanan darah, dan bacaan tidak berubah-ubah di sekitar 140/100. Kepala saya pening dan jiwa saya tertekan. Jiwa saya tertekan sama seperti 20 tahun yang lalu.
Saya teringat kepada interview bersama Rais Yatim. Saya ingatkan beliau yang hebat Law itu dimasukkan ke Kementerian Kebudayaan sebab UMNO mahu memandulkan karier politiknya. Rupa-rupanya UMNO mahu menggunakan kebijaksanaan beliau membudayakan Melayu dengan budaya 20 tahun lalu. Di dalam interview tersebut beliau mati-matian mempertahankan tari menari sebagai darah daging orang Melayu. Beliau mahu hidupkan kembali Mak Yong. Beliau mahu orang Melayu hidup cara Melayu, iaitu penuh tari-tarian. Dan bukannya hidup ala Arab bersama ketayap dan janggut. Temuramah itu hanya beberapa bulan yang lalu. Tetapi saya sudah nampak sangat-sangat kesannya. Orang Melayu hari ini sudah kemaruk hedonisma. Semua nak menyanyi, semua nak berjoget, semua nak melambak. Dan saya amat merasakan yang sekeliling saya sedang melangkah 20 tahun ke belakang.
Masakan tidak, pengamalan Islam di kalangan masyarakat sudah berpatah balik 20 tahun ke belakang. Orang sudah berani kembali mencaci hina Islam seperti zaman wanita bertudung diludah di ITM 20 tahun lalu. Kebetulan pula, nama Kementerian Pendidikan sudah ditukar kepada Kementerian Pelajaran, iaitu nama kementerian tersebut 20 tahun sudah. Apakah perubahan ini semua suatu kebetulan? Fikir singkat mungkin boleh menjawab ya. Tetapi dunia ini amat sukar untuk dibaik sangkakan dengan kebetulan-kebetulan yang banyak itu.
Semenjak Islam Hadhari menjadi syiar Malaysia, semenjak Perdana Menteri kita seorang 'ustaz', semenjak rakan-rakan saya semuanya masuk UMNO sebagai Pegawai Hal Ehwal Khas Agama, inilah keadaan negara saya. Joget lambak, caci Islam, konsert siang malam pagi petang, orang tua ganyut masuk pertandingan nyanyi, masjid kelam dan sunyi, orang PAS ambil jalan mudah tinggalkan masjid dan berjemaah di markaz, Islam terhina, Islam tercela, Kementerian Pendidikan sudah jadi Kementerian Pelajaran, bahasa baku sudah tidak laku, orang bergurau tentang Islam semasa berhibur sama seperti zaman P. Ramlee bermain tentang hukum kutu babi dan sebat zina dalam Semerah Padi. Semuanya adalah seperti Malaysia 20 tahun yang lalu. Apakah itu strategi terancang atau hanya kebetulan? Kepala saya sakit memikirkannya.
Saya fikir UMNO sudah tidak mampu hendak bertahan jika unsur Islam dibiarkan di dalam tubuh badan mereka dan masyarakat. Dalam bahasa UMNO, mereka mesti mengembalikan masyarakat kepada era pra Anwar. Zaman tiada Anwar, zaman tiada penerapan nilai-nilai Islam, zaman tak kisah jika pemimpin minum arak dan judi lumba kuda asalkan memerintah dengan baik. Zaman Malaysia 20 tahun yang lalu!
YA Allah, ke manakah saya hendak lari? Tiada jalan keluar, inilah masyarakat yang ada di sekitar saya. Saya pasti esok pagi, apabila jemaah tetap masjid seramai 6 orang itu bersolat subuh bersama-sama saya, kami hanya mampu menangis di masjid. Kami hanya mampu mempersembahkan kepada Allah iman kami yang amat lemah ini. Malam ini orang cela masjid, orang perbodohkan kubur-kubur di sebelah itu. Malam ini ayah saya menangis di liang lahadnya, malam ini Pak Berahim, datuk pengantin perempuan itu teresak-esak tujuh kaki di perut bumi. Tapi saya dan 6 jemaah masjid yang datang solat subuh hanya ada iman yang mampu menangis.
Islam yang kugenggam adalah ibarat bara api yang membakar. Ya Allah, dengan tekanan darah yang naik melonjak-lonjak ini, saya tidak tahu bagaimana hendak menyusun perjuangan. Bagaimana mungkin saya lena? Semenjak sebulan saya kembali ke tanah air, hanya wajah ibu sahaja yang menjernihkan hati dan perasaan. Manakala segala yang ada di sekeliling, semuanya menjadikan saya ghuraba'... terasing di bumi sendiri...
Yang Lemah dan Berdosa
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“Stop ‘Arabising’ Malay culture,” Rais Yatim
Ms June H.L Wong of The Star interviewed the Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, earlier this week. Due to space constraints, The Star did not publish the entire interview. For those who would like to read the full text of the interview, FAC News, in our section called LOONY MALAYSIA, is publishing the full text of that interview.
On the point that many Malays ‘ape’ the Arabs, especially in terms of dressing:
“Malays should put a stop to the ‘Arabisation’ of their own culture and challenge those who condemn deep-rooted practices and traditions of the Malay community as unIslamic,” said Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.
“The Malays are not Arabs. Therefore, it is important that we do not ‘Arabise’ the Malay culture to the extent that everything that the Arabs do, we must do.”
“The Malay culture arose from time immemorial, even before 1409 when Islam came to Malacca, and we cannot simply ignore that period from which we came.”
“I am not anti-Arab culture and this does not mean I hold contra-views against the Arab culture. In fact, the Arab world has many aspects that have benefited and enriched the world in terms of medicine, art, poetry and so on.”
“Even Bahasa Malaysia is imbued with salient influences from Arabia. But the community should not be influenced to the extent that they are blinded into thinking all that is Arabic is good for them.”
"Take the beard an an example. Why must Malays copy the Arabs and sport beards? Olden days Malays did not have beards."
"Malays feel that it is Islamic to sport beards. As our previous beloved Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamd, once said, Prophet Muhammad did not shave because Arabia then did not have Gillette shaving blades. It is not a sign that you are a Muslim."
Asked whether the Government is concerned with this situation, Dr Rais replied:
“It is and this concern has not been publicly or adequately expressed. Even traditions like wayang kulit, which had been condemned as unIslamic by some people, have gone unchallenged.”
“We just, in chorus, say, 'Aha, perhaps so', but we never fight back to say that this is a deep-rooted tradition of the Malays since time immemorial. We should ask, 'Put to us which Islamic tenet is being violated?' Nobody says that.”
“Therefore, my ministry is concerned with such a development and we are not going to accept it just because somebody says it is so.”
“This fervour began in 1983 (during the Iran Revolution) in accepting as gospel anything with the world ‘Islam’ in it. That seems to be changing now with Islam Hadhari that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is talking about lately. That is the practical, progressive sort of Islam we should accept.”
“I promise to put on the map again what has been lost such as the Mak Yong and Manora dances which had been banned by PAS in Kelantan and Terengganu. This is where I would say politics and culture don't seem to mix in the hands of those responsible in the past decade.”
“I am also interested in the buried past of the Baba and Nyonya in Penang and Malacca, and the Sanskritised elements of the culture. They are all very rich. I think studies must be encouraged and we would like authoritative, serious people to go into these fields and produce research for us.”
When asked what is meant by ‘Islam Hadhari’ and why have we never heard this term used before, Dr Rais had this to explain:
“Islam ‘Hadhari’ means ‘modern’ or ‘progressive’ Islam as opposed to outdated Islam, Islam ‘Badwi’, which means ‘village’ or ‘outdated’ Islam. As you know, the Arabs call all those country bumpkins ‘Badwi’. The English word for this is ‘Bedouin’ or uncultured people. These are people of the desert.”
“In fact, when any Arab acts uncultured, we refer to them as ‘Badwi’. This is of course not to be confused with ‘Badawi’, which is the family name of our most beloved new Prime Minister.”
“Islam Hadhari is in fact not a new thing. Our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj, was a propagator of Islam Hadhari or modern, progressive Islam. He set a good example of what a Hadhari Muslim should be like.”
“If you can remember, our equally beloved recently-retired Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, once openly criticised Tunku Rahman for gambling with his Chinese friends while there was rioting on the streets on 13 May 1969. Mahathir was then sacked from Umno for this criticism of the Tunku.”
“But that is another matter. The point I am trying to make is the whole country admits that the Tunku gambled. He also owned race horses and never missed his weekends at the Turf Club.”
“The Tunku also never denied he indulged in liquor and told everyone his sin of drinking is between him and God and does not concern any other mortal. All that matters, said the Tunku, is that he was a good prime minister and his gambling and drinking did not make him a bad prime minister.”
“The Tunku, in the 1960s, had already taught us what Islam Hadhari is all about. Then, in the 1980s, all this changed and we became radical Muslims. We need to bring Malaysia back to the days when we were liberal Muslims, modern Muslims, progressive Muslims, or Hadhari Muslims, not radical Muslims like today.”
With regards to the contradicting policies of the government in implementing Islamic rules:
“I agree, in the 1960s, Muslim couples could court in the Lake Gardens without any disturbances. I remember couples would be necking in dark corners, under the trees, and behind the bushes in the Lake Gardens. They would also park their cars along Jalan Duta and the road leading to Carcosa Sri Negara and have sex in their cars and no one would come and disturb them.”
“Today, even non-Muslim, Chinese couples, get arrested merely for holding hands. And they did not even do this is dark corners, yet they get arrested.”
“I agree that this is a contradiction of sorts but it is the overzealous religious department officers who should be blamed. These people are probably influenced by the PAS propaganda and do not understand the concept of Islam Hadhari or modern Islam.”
“This must change or else we will be the laughing stock of the world.”
“PAS does not allow males and females to dance with each other in public. But Malay culture is all about dancing. Even our martial art, Silat, is actually a dance rather than unarmed combat. How can you separate the Malays from their dancing?”
“Men and women must again be allowed to dance in public. If not, all our Malay culture will disappear.”
“And this is the first priority of my ministry, to re-introduce dancing in Terengganu. Maybe we can have a three-day dance festival or pesta like the Mardi Gras. The Terengganu people are going to find that this is the greatest benefit they will receive by kicking out PAS and voting Umno back into power in Terengganu. They will once again be free to dance and to practice the concept of Islam Hadhari or modern Islam.”
“We shall reject PAS’ version of Islam and the Islamic State they wish to introduce to Terengganu. We will ensure Terengganu remains a secular state and that the Islam Hadhari of our Bapak Merdeka, Tunku Abdul Rahman, is practiced to the fullest.”
