Hukum mahkamah sivil & fatwa = Bah. 3

Saya cerita di sini dan sini tentang keadilan dalam faraidh, dan pembahagian harta kepada isteri apabila suami meninggal. Setelah tercetus isu ini di Temasek Darul Sekular.
Semalam (Ahad), The Star ada membuat laporan panjang lebar mengenai isu ini.
Lihat! Ada tiga laporannya, bukan hanya satu - sini dan sini juga.

Terima kasih Maam Shahanaaz Habib dan para editor Star kerana kini kita dapat penjelasan lebih jelas untuk umat di Malaysia.
(Saya segan dengan si Shahanaaz ni, the bravest female reporter I know. Perang di Baghdad, Yahudi serang Gaza, tsunami Aceh, Padang earthquake antara tempat beliau dah berjuang. Wajahnya macam minah Arab campur Bollywood).

Hukum mahkamah sivil & fatwa di Singapore = Bah. 2

Khutbah Jumaat satu Singapore hari ini ialah mengenai isu terpanas di pulau kecik - faraidh. Pembahagian harta.

Semua khutbah di sini dikeluarkan oleh Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, Muis.
Isu originalnya di sini.


Muis memang pantas meletak khutbah Jumaat di websitenya.
Jadi anda boleh baca sendiri khutbah itu - dalam bahasa Melayu, Inggeris atau Tamil - boleh download.
'Keadilan, Rahmah dan Keihsanan Dalam Pembahagian Harta'.
Bahasa Jawa dan Bangla belum lagi kot.

Isu ini penting benar untuk umat Islam.
Baca cerita asal saya di sini, dan juga komen saya di bawah posting yang sama - mengenai orang tamak di sini yang memaksa flat HDB dijual atas nama faraidh dan Islam (khutbah Muis pun dah kondemn mereka!).

Khutbah Muis menekankan peri penting dalam Islam isu JUSTICE atau KEADILAN ini.
Bacalah sendiri.
Sama ada banyak harta atau tidak, cepat-cepat selesaikan isu ini dengan wasiat, misalnya.
Lebih-lebih lagi, ahem, mereka yang suka merokok. Jangan marah ah.

Hukum mahkamah sivil Singapore mengatasi fatwa

Kesnya begini: Mr O dan isteri mempunyai sebuah kondominium di atas nama bersama.
Mr O meninggal tanpa meninggalkan wasiat. Maka kondo itu tinggal atas nama isterinya.
Cerita dan latar belakang di sini dan sini.
 
Tapi estet Mr O - iaitu kaum keluarganya yang lain - membuat permohonan kepada Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Muis) bahawa sebenarnya setengah daripada kondo itu mesti diberi kepada mereka.
Maknanya harta itu harus dikongsi dengan keluarga Mr O.

Muis bersetuju, menurut fatwa yang ada dikeluarkan di websitenya (wooi, website dalam bahasa orang putih, you. Donch playplay).
Fatwa itu menyatakan bahawa apabila seseorang meninggal dunia tanpa wasiat, dan ada 50:50 joint ownership (milik bersama), maka harta itu (wang atau harta lain) dibahagi dua.
Setengah untuk joint owner. Manakala yang setengah lagi untuk waris lain.

Tetapi minggu lalu, Ketua Hakim Temasek, Chan Sek Keong melalui Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan) berkata bahawa fatwa hanyalah "moral guidance" untuk umat Islam, dan undang-undang sivil perlu diikuti di Singapore.
Ini bermakna, kondo itu menjadi milik sepenuhnya untuk isteri Mr O.

Muis pula, dalam jawapannya, menerima apa yang telah diunjurkan oleh Ketua Hakim. Baca di sini di mana Muis berkata fatwa sebenarnya telahpun di update agar tidak membebankan umat.
Dan Menteri bertanggungjawab hal ehwal Islam di Singapore (kau ingat Malaysia saja ke yang ada menteri jaga Muslim!?), Yaacob Ibrahim, berkata fatwa akan terus diupdate dan setiap kes akan dikaji dengan teliti. Juga di sini (ada gambar pak menteri ni).

Sebab problem brader, kalau suami dah mati, lepas tu isteri kena kongsi flat 50:50 dengan ahli keluarga lain.
Yang keluarga lain ni mungkin paksa flat dijual agar mereka untung dapat wang.
Tapi kat mana si isteri ni nak tinggal lepas itu? Laki dia dah mati, anak ramai, rumah dah kena jual.
Ini kan zalim namanya. Maka adakah ia masih dipanggil fatwa yang munasabah dan membantu Muslim?
Atau sesuatu yang membebankan?
Seorang lawyer Muslim Singapore buat komen sikit, menyatakan fatwa terbaru Muis ini - iaitu isteri dapat 100 peratus rumah itu, adalah baik.


Menarik benar apa yang berlaku ni.
Bayangkan jika kita orang kaya, dan meninggal tanpa wasiat. Tiba-tiba nama banglo yang di atas nama isteri dan kita sebagai suami, tapi diclaim oleh keluarga lain.
Bagaimana agaknya.
Apa pula dengan Ferrari kita yang hanya atas nama kita saja. Isteri kena kongsi dengan ahli keluarga lain?

Kalau mereka semua bersefahaman tak apa. Boleh tolak ansur - "Tak apalah, ibu/makcik. Ibu/makcik boleh simpan semua, kami tak akan tuntut apa-apa".
Tapi kalau banglo tu berharga RM1 juta (apa lagi kalau RM10 juta!) dan Ferrari baru dibeli, tak berebut semua!!!

MENGENAI isu ini, saya tak tahu langsung tentang undang-undang ni - baik di Singapore mahupun Malaysia, dan juga tak tahu menahu mengenai fatwa Islam tentang perkara ini.
Jadi nak komen pun tak pandai.
Cuma saya teringat - jika isu ni berlaku di Malaysia, kecoh jugak.

Dan saudara dan Datin,
Jika ada harta, lekas-lekas ya, tanya ulama dan peguam, cara nak bahagikan kepada orang yang tersayang sebelum terlambat.
Dan jangan lupa juga wang kita di CPF (di Singapore) dan/atau EPF (di Malaysia). Pergi ke pejabat mereka dan letakkan dalam tulisan - kalau aku kojol besok, wang ini nak dibahagikan kepada siapa.

Tak manis jika kita meninggal kelak, anak-bini gaduh tentang harta. Kalau gaduh sebab ada tiga banglo, empat kondo dan lima kereta mewah tak apa juga.
Yang pernah saya dengar, pergaduhan hanyalah kerana berebut setakat S$5,000 atau S$10,000.
Malulah.

GAMBAR ATAS: Mahkamah lama Singapore binaan British. Di celah tu, bangunan yang berbentuk seperti spaceship itu ialah Supreme Court yang baru! (Kalau sesiapa didapati bersalah, mungkin terus diterbangkan ke Mars kena jail kat sana! Hahaha)
GAMBAR BAWAH: Supreme Court dari sudut lain, pada siang hari, dengan dome mahkamah lama di sebelah kanannya.

Children, don't grow up to be like this!

A successful lawyer parked his brand-new Lexus in front of the office, ready to show it off to his colleagues.
As he opened the door, a truck came along, and completely tore off the driver's door!
The attorney immediately grabbed his cell phone, hit speed dial for 911, and had a policeman there in 3 minutes.

Before the cop had a chance to ask any questions, the lawyer started screaming hysterically.
He said he had just picked up the Lexus the day before.
Now it would never be the same, no matter how good a job the body shop does.

After the lawyer finally wound down from his rant, the cop shook his head in disgust and disbelief.
"I can't believe how materialistic you lawyers are," he said.
"You are so focused on your possessions that you don't notice anything else."

"How can you say we are materialistic?" the lawyer said indignantly.

The cop replied, "You didn't even notice that your left arm is missing from the elbow down! It must have been torn off when the truck hit you."

"OH, NO!" screamed the lawyer in shock.
"Where is my Rolex?!"

Karpal, don't be bizarre, ask for assurances

I find it strange that the "renowned" (Malaysiakini's term) lawyer Karpal Singh is asking for interrogation of suspects be conducted only between 8.30am and 5.30pm.
The reason is this: If something major and traumatic has happened, like a missing Canny Ong or Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, do we want the police to stop probing suspects (if there are any) at 5.30pm and begin again at 8.30am?
I bet you the same public would shout 'polis Melayu pemalas' and 'polis tak boleh harap' in a heartbeat.

I also think IGP Musa Hassan was wrong to just dismiss Karpal's push for investigation of suspects should stop at happy hours (after 5.30pm it's happy hours for lawyers, no? Or do they work through the night for important cases??).
Instead of saying all police stations should just close at 5.30pm and all police reports handed to Karpal (kau nak mampos, si pembangkang ni pandai cakap aje, bukan pintar buat kerja), IGP should perhaps give the public some assurances.

After all, in the death of Teoh Beng Hock and others in custody, the public anger is not so much about them being held overnight, but about tactics allegedly used behind closed doors.
The anger - imagine if you will, a relative of yours, a son or your father held overnight by police - is how they are TREATED DURING or AFTER office hours.

There should be the assurances asked and given by all sides.
Not some childish polemics for the sake of gaining imaginary points for your side.

In between interrogations, kasi depa makan nasi lemak dan minum teh tarik pun okay, kot? :-) Nanti depa syiok duduk kat balai, tak mahu pulang.
Itupun jadi isu nanti oleh pembangkang.
'Kenapa polis kasi suspect makan nasi lemak!? Siapa yang bayar!?'
'Kenapa tak kasi makan roti canai dan kopi kosong!?'
Macam-macam.

World finance hubs - NY, Singapore, then London

Yahoo!
Singapore has beaten its old colonial masters to be the World's second preferred place to do finance. Just by one percentage point!
So says a Bloomberg survey of investors, traders, analysts.

Their choices:
New York 29 per cent.
Singapore 17.
London 16.

Interesting is the rise of Shanghai. It collected 11 per cent of the votes.
So what happened to Hong Kong?
Tokyo got only 1 per cent now.

What's next for lil Temasek the red dot?
It wants to be an arts centre for the world.
Which shows you that restricted media freedom and tough I.S.A. laws - supposed to be BAD for business, and especially the arts - don't really matter. Or am I reading too much into one set of data?


THE END



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And now, some personal history. No need to read lah.
Ini cuma syiok sendiri writings.
I began writing a few lines to caption the picture above, but got carried away retellling my own history of 1992-1994.
Well, maybe my kids will read this one day and appreciate the junk their father had to do to earn a living.
Life was hard because I had zero knowledge of finance and had to learn real fast by reading books, and talking to investors, analysts, economists, money managers and traders in the "market".
I was covering the Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES, now SGX) and Clob shares, Simex futures, currency trading and the Singapore economy in general.

The words just flowed tonight, so I ran with it - this was the first time I am putting these thoughts and my miserable history into words.
Plus, I feel so old already, going through the nostalgic rumps below.
Wow, 15 years have passed already! Sigh.
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PICTURE: I used to work smack in that financial hub of Singapore, Raffles Place, with a superb view of the bay (as Financial Correspondent for AP-Dow Jones, in the early 1990s). I can't remember whether it was on the 17th or 37th floor. Or was it 10th or 20th?
The Stanchart HQ building then was near to the Singapore stock exchange, the-then Simex futures trading floor, all the world's big banks, stockbrokers, financiers, the works.

In movies, we often see the floor traders of the New York stock exchange - you know, running around and shouting orders, as the electronic ticker tape flies past.
Well, the Simex (Singapore International Monetary Exchange) trading floor used to be as exciting as that. Dozens of guys (and many girls too) shouting out orders like crazy and using fingers to signal sell and buy orders and wagging pieces of paper.
The trading pit of Simex Nikkei futures was the craziest. And the noisiest.
But since then they have introduced electronic trading, sigh, everyone sits at their table and click orders. Quiet as a barn. No fun.

The infamous Nick Leeson, then a manager at Baring Futures (I still have his name card) was just another Simex guy that reporters called. No, I didn't know him well at all, because the futures traders at the-then Big Four Japanese securities houses were the major players - Nomura, Daiwa, Nikko and Yamaichi - not Barings. Today, I think only Nomura is left.
I wonder what's happened to all my friends there.
Leeson did his financial shenanigan about a year after I had left Singapore to join Reuters in KL.

Your head will start to spin when you had to decipher where Eurodollar Futures and Euroyen Futures were going! (too susah to explain, just trust me that these are linked to big money players and how they would be affected by interest-rate movements in the US and Japan).


Here, in Raffles Place, was where my interest was perked to go to KL, because at that time I covered the Singapore stock markets, and it included Malaysian shares traded in Singapore using Clob (Central Limit Order Book). Remember those???
Most of the time, the KL shares were the active ones! So I said: Yeah, I wanna be there where the action is!
Dr M was at his prime in dishing out mega contracts and Malaysia was growing like 8 per cent a year.
If you remember then, you had to queue nearly one year to get a Proton! And you can use it for a few years and then sell it for a Profit!!! Crazy, heady days.

And I also had to cover world currency movements. I had to watch - in market terms - dollar-mark, dollar-yen, dollar-aussie, and the so-called currency "crosses" - sterling-mark, dollar-swissie, swissie-mark.
(US Dollar, German Deutschmark, Japanese yen, British sterling, Australian dollar, Swiss franc).
The ringgit and Sing dollar were very stable then.
One US dollar was then at 2.5 ringgit (Now a very weak 3.4 = a 26 per cent drop in 15 years!) The Singapore dollar then was at around 1.8 ringgit. Now it is at 2.4! (a 25 per cent drop!)

Yes guys, Dr Mahathir Mohamad later spoke of "rogue currency traders" based in Singapore. This was during the Asian financial crisis of 19987-1998.
I mixed with these guys who worked for the treasury departments of the banks.
Some of my closest friends were these traders! We traded news and rumours about our beloved "market".
I must say most of them were young boys - around 25 to 35 tops. Rogue traders? Yes, they have that attitude because it was their jobs to push currency around to make money for their banks.

But the most interesting thing covering currency movements was when these traders whisper "Negara's in the market".
You see, Bank Negara Malaysia was then a big speculative player in Singapore. Aha!
It had what it will later call "active treasury management".
That is like gambling, babe.
I won't go into details of fancy stories I have heard (hearsay they could be, later kena sue, susah), but suffice to say that was another reason I thought KL was the happening place!

This was in between hearing from the market about the central banks' market interventions - the "Fed" (US Federal Reserve Bank), "BOJ" (Bank of Japan); or "Soros", "stop-loss", "resistance levels", "butterfly spread", "the Dow" and "Greenspan says".
Then there were "US housing starts", "FOMC meeting", "fed funds rate", "tankan report" and "Crab index".
And then someone would whisper the magic words: "Negara is in".
Wah, bank pusat "negara Melayu" disegani seluruh dunia.
It really moved the global currency market!
This later turned to huge forex losses, see here. When the crash came for Negara, the whole world was laughing at a "Malay central bank" that was naive and stupid.
I won't say more except that when you are a big player, you should shut your brokers up instead of letting them spread the word about your positions. The market punished you together for being naive. Kerja bodoh.

Now, 15 years later, I must say that I don't miss Raffles Place, because it's too much of a bloody rat race. There's too many big egos there.
Too many rumours, speculations and gambling-like mentality in trying to make it big.
Tetapi cari makan dulu, 'bang.
(Reading the above, in case you get the wrong idea: No lah, I was not a big name at all in the market. I was just another reporter).

Then again, the world of politics is the same!
Too many rumours, speculations and gambling-like mentality in trying to make it big.
Big egos too.
Same old same old.
Only a different "market".

'Nuff said.
G'nite.

Singapore defends tough I.S.A. laws

Two days ago I penned some thoughts to discuss how Singapore's Law Minister K. Shanmugam looks at the local media and its role, and the government's way to curb media excesses.
I was not asking for anyone's agreement, just to show this is how Press Freedom is viewed at in the country south of the Causeway.


A day later, the minister went up against a group of mostly American lawyers and spoke about something which I strongly support in Singapore - the Internal Security Act (ISA).
The issue is naturally controversial. And especially in Malaysia where there are loud voices for its abolition, especially after what were seen as clear-cut abuses in the recent past involving the former home minister of Malaysia.
And of course, there were suspicions of other abuses in the past.



In a neighbouring country, Indonesia, the ISA - much abused during Suharto's era - has been killed.
Everybody was happy until the terrorists in the likes of Dr Azahari Hussin and Noordin Top appeared. They bombed here and there, but Jakarta does not have laws that allow the government to nab these terrorist-types, their suspected sympathisers and financiers BEFORE something happened.
The preventive laws that allow the authorities to reel in suspects although there was not enough evidence to court yet, despite there being strong suspicions by the police, had been deleted after all.
Indonesia struggled on this and there are now voices about bringing the laws back. Some form of the I.S.A. law is being discussed - under another name.
They are discussing this although they know very well that much more checks and balances are needed this time around.



In Singapore, there are of course critics of the law - that it too was supposedly abused on political opponents of the PAP government.
A name that one will hear mentioned often in this debate is that of Chia Thye Poh, a former (?) Communist guy who was detained for long, long years under the I.S.A., because the government said he did not want to disavow violence for his cause (The critics have their own views on this, of course).


Anyway, let me tell you why I support the ISA law in Singapore.
It is simply that I have seen it being used against people who would have done a lot of harm to Singapore. A hell of a lot of harm.

Read Shanmugam's views on the I.S.A. here , and its checks and balances - see below the posting to see what critics say. Yes, there ARE websites critical of the Singapore government too, dolt.

And the minister spoke about Singapore's tough laws also, that made everybody feel safe, ie low crime rate (I didn't say 'zero').

Raya di Temasek - Isu kemasukan pekerja asing

Salah satu isu terbesar di Temasek ialah kemasukan pekerja asing.

Isu ini semalam menjadi sebahagian daripada topik Khutbah Hari Raya.
Pak Imam, membacakan teks khutbah (wajib menggunakan teks Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura) yang menyatakan kita perlu hidup saling harmoni dengan kaum pendatang. Cuba faham-memahami.
Inilah salah satu perkara yang sedang ditekankan oleh pemerintah sebab ramai orang gelisah kerana kemasukan warga asing yang dirasakan mendadak, tetapi tenaga mereka diperlukan.
Ah, jadi di sini saya nak cerita sikit tentang isu pekerja asing ni dan negara sebesar noktah kecil merah (little red dot).

Pemerintah tahu ramai orang Singapore marah kerana orang luar dirasakan mengambil tempat pekerjaan rakyat tempatan.
Dan satu lagi problem: Di kedai kopi, mahupun supermarket dan di shopping mall atau di stesen pam minyak, ada pekerja asing frontline tak pandai bertutur bahasa Inggeris.
Misalnya, saya sendiri pernah ke kedai kopi order teh dalam bahasa Inggeris, si pekerja tak faham sebab dia dari China dan menjawab dalam Mandarin. Buat aku marah.
Problem tambahan: Kerana ada 478,000 warga asing yang menjadi penduduk tetap, mereka menaikkan harga rumah di sini. Warga asing tidak boleh membeli flat direct dari HDB (public flats), tetapi mereka boleh membeli kondo dan flat HDB di open market.
Kerana ramai yang masuk ni pekerja profesional, maka mereka mampu membayar harga lebih tinggi.

Argumen pemerintah ialah ekonomi Singapura berkembang pesat beberapa tahun lalu (bukan sejak 18 bulan ini) maka pintu masuk dibuka luas kerana sebagai negara kecil tak cukup pekerja.

Tetapi gelisah orang Singapura bukan main kerana bahasa yang menyatukan kami di sini ialah bahasa mat salleh ni. Kalau tak pandai bahasa Inggeris, lebih baik jangan masuk arena pekerjaan di sini. Baik drebar teksi, office boy dan security guard pun cekap berbahasa Inggeris kalau tidak susah nak kerja.
Jadi orang marah: Jika si asing ni tak faham bahasa Inggeris macam mana pemerintah boleh benarkan sang majikan bawa dia masuk!? Bukan saya seorang yang kata begitu.

Daripada 4.8 juta penduduk Singapore, 3.2 juta warga Temasek.
Sebanyak 1.6 juta dari luar. Mereka termasuk 478,000 penduduk tetap (permanent resident, PR).
Maknanya terdapat 33 peratus pekerja asing.
Seorang dari setiap tiga penduduk Temasek ialah orang asing!

Bandingkan dengan Malaysia di mana penduduk tempatan ialah 27 juta (jumlah pekerja 11juta) dengan kira-kira 3 juta pekerja asing. Katalah 4 juta kerana ramai pekerja asing tanpa izin.
Maknanya, tenaga kerja asing di Malaysia ialah 8-10 peratus.
Dan kebanyakan tenaga kerja asing di Malaysia pekerja blue-collar: pembersih pejabat dan pekerja restoran.
Sedangkan di Singapore warga asing bekerja dari di atas sekali - CEO bank dan pengarah syarikat, hingga di bawah sekali. Jadi jika anda warga Singapore ada PhD atau MBA pun, apply kerja kena lawan warga asing ni, yang mungkin sanggup mengambil gaji lebih rendah!

- Di Singapura, ramai golongan atas warga asing ni adalah PR. Mereka golongan profesional seperti banker dan peguam, akauntan, dan jurutera dan arkitek.
Mereka tetap pegang pasport negara asal - baik Malaysia, Amerika, Eropah atau Indonesia.
Singapura dikenali sebagai negara di dunia yang mempunyai golongan jutawan yang paling tinggi di dunia (Nak kira anda millionaire ni gunakan US$ bukan ringgit atau Singdollar - baca tulisan saya sebelum ini).
Jadi termasuk golongan yang ramai menjadi PR Singapore ialah puak kaya ini.
Baik jutawan dari India, Amerika, Russia, Indonesia dan Britain (Malaysia pun ada ler) mereka beli kondo mewah dan kereta di sini, Singapore My Second Home.
Mereka buat duit di Delhi, Jakarta, KL dan Moscow, simpan duit dan keluarga di Temasek Darul Dollar.
(Di sini pun ada orang miskin ler, jangan ingat semua orang Singapore kaya - baca cerita di sini).
Yang dah syiok sangat dengan Singapore jadi rakyat, seperti Jet Li dan Gong Li.

- Baki PR di sini ialah mereka yang menggunakan pas pekerja tahunan, seperti puluhan ribu pekerja yang duduk di Johor dan menyeberang masuk setiap pagi. Pekerja blue-collar.
Misalnya, saya pasang cable TV di rumah du tahun dulu, yang pasang orang Malaysia. Saya pasang aircon di rumah tahun lalu, pekerja pun dari Malaysia. Ke shopping centre beli barang elektronik Raya tahun lepas, budak Cina berbahasa Melayu dari Malaysia; di stesen pam minyak Shell pun ada pekerja budak India dari Johor.
Yang lain termasuk ratusan ribuan dari China, Bangladesh dan India.

- Dan ada pekerja di tahap pertengahan profesional (marketing executives, wartawan, bank clerks, senior nurses, junior engineers). Mereka boleh bertutur bahasa Inggeris tentunya, tetapi dirasakan 'mencuri' peluang pekerjaan rakyat tempatan kerana sanggup menerima gaji lebih rendah.

Kerana dah banyak sangat komplen, maka pemerintah berkata baru-baru ini bahawa ia akan slow sikit bawa masuk pekerja asing.
Tetapi ia juga mahu rakyat berdiri di bumi nyata: Pekerja luar ni membawa banyak experience dan negara kecil tak ada pilihan lain tetapi membuka pintu masuk.

Kartika lepas, Malaysia kena sebat teruk

Jika Kartika dah melanggar undang-undang dan hukumannya kena sebat, cepatlah jalankan.
Saya tak faham kenapa kerajaan khayal selama tiga minggu apabila cerita ini mula keluar.
(Jika itu hukuman, just do it!)

Sehingga sampai klimaks pada pertengahan minggu lalu, apabila wartawan akhbar saya di KL menjadi wartawan yang pertama dapat berbual dengan Kartika melalui telefon. Kartika duduk di Sungai Siput, Perak, rumah bapanya.
Dia kata nak sebat-sebatlah di khalayak ramai. Tunggu apa lagi.

Lepas ceritanya keluar di Straits Times Singapore, keesokan harinya wartawan kami di KL itu di telefon oleh AFP, Al Jazeera, BBC dan CNN. Semua nak tahu bagaimana hendak menghubungi wanita itu.
Lepas itu cerita meletup.

Itu pun kerajaan masih tidor.
Maka keluarlah cerita yang menggambarkan Malaysia ini negara kampung zaman batu, negara kuno, agama kejam dan sebagainya yang keluar di media antarabangsa.

Saya yang memantau di meja berita rasa malu.
Keluar di banyak sangat akhbar seluruh dunia!
Jika dulu orang Afrika, India, Eropah dan Amerika tak pernah dengar nama Malaysia Darul Islam ni, sekarang semua dah tahu dah.
Tak payah buat kempen pelancongan.

Itupun pemerintah terus rilek.
Sehingga sampai Isnin (semalam), Kartika disumbat dalam van di rumahnya di Sungai Siput - di depan kamera-kamera dan wartawan media asing - untuk dibawa ke penjara Kajang.
OKlah tu saya ingat. Biar lekas cerita ni habis.

Fulamak! Selepas 15 minit keluar, van patah balik. Setengah jam selepas masuk van, dia dihantar kembali ke rumah bapanya.
Eh! Apa dah jadi????

Rupa-rupanya selepas tiga minggu, nama Malaysia dah disebat bertubi-tubi, dihitamkan oleh media, dimomokkan orang bukan Islam, baru kerajaan sedar ini masalah besar.

Saya rasa Kartika dan bapanya harus diberi tugas baru oleh kerajaan Malaysia - jadi adviser macam mana nak maximise public relations. Mereka lebih pandai dari Fox Communications.
Pandai mereka spin cerita agar orang belas. Di Amerika, mereka ni main 'victimhood' - di mana orang yang bersalah main cerita agar dilihat sebagai victim/mangsa!

Benda ini dah meletup satu dunia, terpalit najis di muka Putrajaya.
Akhirnya:
Kartika 1, Malaysia 0.


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Sebenarnya Kartika bukan wanita Islam pertama yang dijatuh hukuman sebat atas nama agama di Tenggara Asia.
LIHAT GAMBAR.
Di Acheh, perempuan kena rotan di khalayak ramai di depan masjid sering berlaku di hujung Sumatra (di seberang laut dekat Penang).
Memang kontroversi.
Tetapi bila dah jatuhkan hukuman, cepatlah jalankan.

Lagi satu contoh - tak lama dulu Singapore nak gantung seorang rakyat Australia kerana kesalahan dadah. Memang Temasek tak kasi chan. Kau main dadah, kena gantung.
Tetapi ramai warga Australia sehingga perdana menterinya pun, meminta agar dimaafkan saja budak Australia yang keluarganya berasal dari Vietnam ni.
No deal.
Bising satu dunia. Undang-undang kejam, negeri kuno, hak manusia disepak.
Tetapi Singapore terus gantung dia pada 2005.
Lepas tu cerita habis. Media dah penat komen, buat cerita lain.


Tetapi kerana selama tiga minggu isu Kartika ni tak diselesaikan apabila dah keluar di media, dan hari ini baru nak ditangani, dah busuk nama negara.
Cara ia diatasi pun masih penuh kontroversi.
- PM Najib kata Kartika boleh mohon appeal. Lepas tu dia cakap boleh bertaubat dan dimaafkan.
- Shahrizat kata hukuman hanyalah disuspend - bukan dibuang kes.
- Hishammuddin pula kata pegawai penjara bodoh - sebab dia kata Kartika tak akan disebat sebab penjara tak pandai nak sebat cara syariah.

Saya nak syorkan: kalau minum beer yang mungkin memudharatkan diri sendiri disebat 6kali, apa kata kita sebat orang yang mencuri duit rakyat 100 kali.
Boleh?
Baru orang hormat sikit Malaysia ni agaknya.