Day: September 5, 2016

M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
5.9.2016

Luqman Al-Hikmah (Luqman The Wise) is revered in Islam. There is a Surah (31) in the Koran named after him, chronicling his sage advice to his son. Those are wise words for anyone, anytime, and anywhere.

Legend has it that once as a slave, his master ordered him to slaughter a sheep and bring its best and worst parts to him. Luqman did, and brought the animal’s heart and tongue. Intrigued, the next day the master asked him to do the same thing but this time to bring the worst parts. Luqman brought him again the heart and tongue.

When asked, Luqman explained that when a sheep is halal, the heart and tongue are the sweetest parts. When it is haram, the two are the worst. Likewise with leaders; halal leaders’ words (the consequence of their tongue) and deeds (heart) inspire and bring out the best in their followers. They in turn make the world better. In contrast, the words and deeds of a Hitler agitate his followers and bring out the worst in them. They in turn wreck the world, theirs and ours. Brandishing a ketchup-soaked keris and stretching out a stiff-arm salute are but different deeds from the same heart.

With individuals, the same attribute may be venerated in a pious person but detested in the corrupt. Prime Minister Najib values loyalty above everything else in his staff and ministers. Loyalty is the finest attribute you can heap upon a leader, but only when he is halal, meaning honest, competent, and does not betray the faith and trust you have in him. When he is not, then that loyalty is not only misplaced but also your most hideous attribute. You betray not only yourself and your values but also your fellow citizens’ and theirs.

Hang Jebat put it best, “Raja adil raja di sembah; Raja zalim raja di sanggah.” Continue reading “Luqman Al-Hikmah Versus Najib Al-Kebas”

Imagine a Minister who can be confused between a turtle egg and a chicken egg accusing me of being confused between a civil and criminal case over the US Department of Justice (DOJ) billion-dollar forfeiture lawsuits over 1MDB-linked assets in the world’s biggest single kleptocracy and money-laundering action and the mystery of MO1!

Sabri may be hoping that the world’s biggest kleptocracy and money-laundering 1MDB scandal will end up like his “turtle-egg” scandal – lost in a maze of contradictory statements, denials and bureaucratic inertia.

Can Sabri enlighten Malaysians what is the outcome of his “turtle egg” scandal in Sandakan last August?

When Sabri’s “turtle egg” scandal first broke in November last year about his feast of “turtle eggs” with Beluran UMNO division chief James Ratib in Sandakan three months earlier, he put the blame squarely on Beluran UMNO as the organiser of the function responsible for serving turtle eggs.

Sabri denied eating turtle eggs as he had eaten fish at the dinner, claiming that it had been “a long time since I’ve eaten turtle eggs” as it is “high in cholesterol”.

When Sabri said it was “a long time since I’ve eaten turtle eggs”, was it a confession he had violated the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 which protected turtle eggs under Section 41(1) with a fine of RM50,000 or a jail sentence of up to five years, or both, upon conviction?

Later, new photographs appeared in the social media showing a half-eaten, full-boiled egg on Sabri’s dinner plate, and the fresh evidence provided a new impetus to the investigations by the Sabah Wildlife Department.

Sabri should tell Malaysians of the outcome of the investigations into the “turtle egg” dinner of the Umno Beluran division meeting dinner at Restoran Indah Keranamu in Sandakan in August last year before his creates new confusion over the 1MDB global scandal which is clearly completely out of his depths. Continue reading “Imagine a Minister who can be confused between a turtle egg and a chicken egg accusing me of being confused between a civil and criminal case over DOJ billion-dollar forfeiture lawsuits over 1MDB-linked assets and MO1!”