Elaun Bersalin Guru KAFA Johor Dihapuskan

Dewan Pemuda PAS Negeri Johor (DPPNJ) telah menerima satu salinan surat yang telah dikeluarkan oleh Bahagian Pendidikan Agama, Jabatan Agama Johor bertarikh 17 Februari 2010 dengan bilangan surat Bil (3) PPAJ/06/02/07(32) berkaitan dengan tindakan terlebih bayar elaun Guru Kelas Agama dan Fardhu Ain (KAFA) yang telah bersalin.

Surat yang difotokopi dan diserahkan kepada semua guru KAFA yang terlibat ini iaitu mereka yang telah mengambil cuti bersalin sejak tahun 2007 dan mereka telah menerima bayaran elaun selama dua bulan sepanjang tempoh cuti tersebut.

Apa yang mengejutkan setiap guru yang telah menerima elaun tersebut telah diarahkan untuk membayar kembali elaun yang telah diterima kepada Bahagian Pendidikan Agama JAJ dan perlu dijelaskan selewat-lewatnya pada atau sebelum 1 Mac 2010.

DPPNJ mendapat maklumat bahawa :-

1. Elaun yang diterima oleh guru KAFA di Johor yang mengajar selama empat setengah jam akan menerima RM812 sebulan manakala guru KAFA yang mengajar selama tiga jam akan menerima elaun sebanyak RM612 sebulan.

2. Sebelum tahun 2007, guru-guru KAFA yang bercuti kerana bersalin menikmati elaun penuh selama enam puluh hari cuti bersalin. Selepas itu, guru KAFA terpaksa mengambil cuti bersalin tanpa gaji.

3. Pada 26 Jun 2008, Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Agama Johor, YB Zainal Abidin Osman telah menjawab soalan YB Halim Suleiman (BN-Puteri Wangsa) pada Sidang Dewan Undangan Negeri Johor dengan menyatakan bahawa kerajaan negeri menerima peruntukan sebanyak RM14.1 juta setahun daripada Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim) bagi tujuan pembayaran elaun kepada 1,850 guru dan penyelia Kelas Agama dan Fardu Ain (KAFA) di negeri ini dan kerajaan Johor telah menambah peruntukan tersebut sebanyak RM5.6 juta setahun.

4. Laporan Audit Negara seperti mana yang telah dibentang oleh Ketua Audit Negara, Tan Sri Ambrin yang telah dikeluarkan pada tahun 2009 telah menyatakan bahawa kesemua guru KAFA di Johor tidak menikmati imbuhan tahunan kakitangan awam walaupun mereka berhak menerimanya seperti diumumkan kerajaan melalui pekeliling pada 2006 dan 2008 dan ia boleh menjejaskan motivasi guru-guru terlibat sehingga mengganggu perjalanan sistem KAFA.

Terdapat beberapa perkara yang saya ingin mempertegaskan di sini iaitu :-

1. Guru KAFA di Johor yang telah terlibat dalam perkara ini terpaksa membayar kembali elaun yang mereka telah terima sebelum daripada ini sedangkan mereka tidak tahu menahu bahawa JAJ telah menghapuskan peruntukan kepada guru KAFA yang bersalin. Dengan elaun yang kecil, guru-guru ini sudah tentu tertekan dengan surat yang ingin mereka membayar kembali elaun tersebut. Secara tidak langsung ia adalah satu penindasan kepada guru KAFA di Johor sedangkan guru KAFA di Selangor menikmati elaun penuh semasa cuti bersalin.

2. Kerajaan negeri Johor sepatutnya mengambil iktibar di atas sikap kerajaan Pulau Pinang yang dipimpin oleh Pakatan Rakyat yang telah mengambil tindakan paling awal ketika berjaya membentuk kerajaan baru dengan tambahan elaun khas kepada Guru-Guru Kelas Fardhu Ain (KAFA) seluruh Pulau Pinang sebanyak RM863 ribu bagi jumlah 1,450 guru dan 11 penyelia guru KAFA. Menurut YAB Lim Guan Eng, beliau meletakkan nombor satu tentang soal pendidikan kerana guru KAFA sanggup meluangkan masa untuk mengajar anak-anak bangsa ke arah pembentukan akhlak.

3. Saya bimbang dengan perkembangan ini kerana ia secara tidak langsung menggambarkan kedudukan ekonomi negeri Johor yang semakin merosot sehingga menyebabkan JAJ terpaksa mengambil keputusan untuk menghapuskan elaun cuti bersalin kepada guru-guru KAFA di Johor. Apakah kerana desakan ekonomi yang semakin merudum ataupun kerana tidak ada rasa keprihatinan terhadap kaum wanita yang sanggup berkorban untuk mendidik anak-anak ke arah yang lebih baik. Sedangkan, negeri yang lain seperti Selangor memberikan cuti bersalin bergaji selama enam puluh hari.

Maka, Dewan Pemuda PAS Negeri Johor :-

1. mendesak supaya JAJ memperjelaskan perkara ini kepada umum tentang elaun guru KAFA yang dihapuskan dan mengapa perlu membayar semula elaun cuti bersalin yang telah diberikan terlebih dahulu sedangkan JAJ tahu bahawa ia adalah berpunca daripada kelemahan JAJ sendiri.

2. mendesak agar elaun cuti bersalin yang telah diterima oleh guru KAFA yang terlibat dengan bersalin tidak ambil kembali dan perlu diberikan kembali elaun tersebut pada masa akan datang.

DPPNJ akan membuat tindakan susulan terhadap perkara ini dalam masa terdekat termasuklah penyerahan memorandum kepada Jabatan Agama Johor.

Sekian

PEMUDA PENGGERAK PERJUANGAN

Yang benar,
KHAIRUL FAIZI BIN AHMAD KAMIL
Ketua Dewan Pemuda PAS Negeri Johor (DPPNJ)

Tuntutan Royalti Minyak Kelantan

Saya merujuk kepada artikel oleh Professor Shad Saleem Faruqi yang diterbitkan dalam edisi The Star semalam. Oleh kerana penulis tersebut adalah Pakar dalam bidang Perlembagaan, jadi tidak menghairankan jika sebahagian besar daripada rencananya menyentuh tentang masalah Tuntutan Royalti Petroleum Kelantan daripada sudut pandangan Perlembagaan. Oleh yang demikian, ia memetik semula sebahagian daripada Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang tidak relevan dengan tuntutan kami, melainkan ia berpendapat bahawa Akta Pembangunan Petroleum (PDA), 13 Perjanjian dengan 13 Geran Penyerahan Hak yang ditandatangani oleh 13 Negeri dalam Malaysia dengan Kerajaan Persekutuan adalah tidak mengikut Perlembagaan dan oleh kerana itu maka ianya tidak sah. Dengan itu hasilnya nanti akan membawa kesan luar biasa kepada Petronas itu sendiri kerana ianya ditubuhkan di bawah PDA, Hak Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk menerima 5% royalti dari hasil Petroleum yang dihasilkan di mana sahaja di dalam Malaysia juga merupakan hasil dari PDA serta Perjanjian dan Geran Penyerahan Hak dengan 13 Negeri.

PDA memberikan Hak ke atas Petroleum yang dijumpai dan diperolehi di daratan atau luar pantai Malaysia kepada Petronas. Di bawah PDA, setiap daripada 13 negeri dalam Malaysia yang memeterai Perjanjian dan Geran Penyerahan Hak yang sama kepada Petronas pada tarikh yang berbeza dalam 1975/1976 terhadap pemilikan Petroleum masing-masing kepada Petronas, dengan pertimbangan bahawa Petronas hendaklah membayar kepada setiap Negeri di mana Petroleum yang dihasilkan samada di daratan atau luar pantai dengan bayaran tunai dalam bentuk jumlah tahunan setara iaitu 5% daripada nilai petroleum yang dihasilkan di mana-mana Negeri yang berkenaan.

Mengikut PDA, kesemua 13 Perjanjian dan 13 Geran Penyerahan Hak menggunakan istilah "bayaran tunai kepada Kerajaan Negeri berkenaan". Perkataan yang popular digunakan oleh semua pihak ialah "royalti". Namun, tidak ada yang berubah mengenai bentuk pembayaran iaitu bayaran tunai kepada Kerajaan Negeri.

Istilah-istilah yang digunakan dalam PDA, 13 Perjanjian dan 13 Geran Penyerahan Hak adalah "di daratan (On-Shore)" dan "luar pantai (Off-Shore)" untuk maksud Petroleum yang dihasilkan di daratan dan luar pantai. Tiada dinyatakan sama sekali samada di dalam Akta Pembangunan Petroleum 1974 (PDA), 13 Perjanjian dengan Negeri-Negeri mahupun 13 Geran Penyerahan Hak tentang sekatan hak setiap Negeri untuk menerima bayaran tunai bagi pengeluaran Petroleum di luar pantainya berdasarkan kepada jarak dari pantai. Oleh kerana itu, baik PDA, 13 Perjanjian mahupun 13 Geran Penyerahan Hak tiada menyekat pembayaran tunai bagi petroleum yang dihasilkan samada 3 batu, 12 batu, 200 batu atau jarak lain daripada pantai kepada 13 negeri kerana jarak tersebut tidak dinyatakan sama sekali di dalam PDA, Perjanjian dengan Negeri-Negeri dan Geran Penyerahan Hak. Sebaliknya perkataan umum yang digunakan ialah "Off-Shore".

Pada bulan Mac 1978, Petronas memaklumkan Kerajaan Terengganu bahawa Petroleum telah dihasilkan di Pelantar minyak yang bernama Pulai yang terletak sekitar 150 kilometer dari pantai Terengganu. Pada Jun 1978, Petronas telah membuat bayaran tunai pertama kali kepada Terengganu bagi pengeluaran minyak luar pantai Terengganu (di Pulai). selama 22 tahun berturut-turut, iaitu dari tahun 1978 hingga Mac 2000, Petronas telah membuat bayaran tunai kepada Terengganu iaitu sebanyak dua kali setahun dibawah PDA, Perjanjian dan Geran Penyerahan Hak, meskipun minyak dihasilkan ratusan batu di luar pantai Terengganu. Hanya apabila PAS mengambil-alih Kerajaan Negeri Terengganu selepas Pilihan Raya Umum pada November 1999, Petronas berhenti membuat bayaran tunai kepada Terengganu, walaupun Petronas masih lagi menuai minyak di luar pantai Terengganu.

Professor Shad tampak seperti kurang pasti atau tertanya-tanya apakah estoppel digunapakai oleh pihak berkuasa awam. Petronas ditubuhkan di bawah PDA dan ianya juga merupakan Syarikat Awam (Berhad) yang ditubuhkan berdasarkan Akta Syarikat 1965. Petronas adalah Syarikat Gergasi Minyak Multi-Nasional, setanding dengan Exxon Mobil, Shell dan BP di dunia ini - Satu Penghormatan yang tinggi bagi Petronas Malaysia yang telah menandatangani perjanjian dengan Kelantan (seperti yang dilakukan dengan 12 negeri dalam Malaysia), tetapi ianya merupakan noda kepada Reputasi Antarabangsa Petronas jika ia tidak menghormati perjanjian tersebut. Tentunya, estoppel mengikat Petronas, seperti juga syarikat dagangan dan individu lain. Untuk maksud estoppel, Petronas bukanlah Pihak Berkuasa Awam.

Sehingga PDA mulai berkuatkuasa pada bulan Oktober 1974, asas perundangan bayaran royalti kepada Sabah dan Sarawak adalah undang-undang yang di buat oleh pihak kolonial Inggeris. Setelah wujudnya PDA dan pembentukan Petronas, Sabah dan Sarawak diperlakukan dalam cara yang seragam sebagaimana 11 negeri yang lain di Semenanjung. Jadi, satu-satunya asas perundangan bayaran tunai kepada Sabah dan Sarawak sejak Oktober 1974, adalah PDA, 2 Perjanjian mereka dan 2 Geran Penyerahan Hak mereka. Kedua-dua negeri tersebut berada dalam kedudukan yang sama dengan Kelantan, Terengganu dan 9 negeri lain di Malaysia. Semuanya dilayan sama di bawah PDA untuk mengelakkan diskriminasi di antara 13 Negeri di Malaysia.

Ringkasnya, Kelantan mempunyai asas tuntutan yang sangat kuat terhadap bayaran tunai/royalti bagi minyak yang dihasilkan di luar pantai Kelantan. Mudah-mudahan, kewajaran dan pertimbangan yang baik akan menang, dan Presiden baru Petronas akan mengambil langkah segera untuk membayar atau tindakan sewajarnya.

Dato’ Haji Husam bin Haji Musa
State Executive Councillor
Chairman of Economic Planning,
Finance Welfare,
Kelantan State Government

*dibawah ialah tulisan Prof Shad Saleem Farudi yang dikeluarkan oleh portaL web The Star pada hari Rabu (24hb. Februari, 2010).

Oil claim and the Constitution
REFLECTING ON THE LAW By Prof SHAD SALEEM FARUDI
http://www.blogger.com/shadsaleem@yahoo.co.uk

The constitutional rights of states in the peninsula are confined to fees for permits and licences for extraction of petroleum from their land and territorial waters. However, there are moral and political issues at play here.

DOES Kelantan have a constitutional right to the oil and gas being extracted off its shores? This question raises engaging issues of constitutional law, of federal-state relations, and of the interpretation of the Petro­leum Development Act 1974, the Petroleum Mi­ning Act 1966 and the “Assignment Deed” between Kelantan and Petronas dated May 9, 1975.

If one were to believe Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, the highly respected Kelantan Prince and former Petronas chief and Finance Minister, the answer is clearly in the affirmative. If one were to read the 1975 “Assignment Deed” signed respectively by the then Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Haji Mohamad Nasir and Tengku Razaleigh, then Petronas chairman, the answer then is in favour of Kelantan.

The Assignment Deed states that Kelantan grants in perpetuity to Petronas exclusive rights to “petroleum whether lying onshore or offshore of Malaysia”. In return Petronas, in a separate agreement, promises a yearly sum amounting to “5% of the value of the petroleum won and saved in Kelantan and sold by Petronas”.

Unfortunately for Kelantan, the matter cannot end with these two agreements. There is a supreme Constitution in Malaysia with a federal-state division of legislative and financial powers. The constitutional allocation cannot be altered except by constitutionally permitted procedures and amendments. Even mutual agreements cannot override the constitutional scheme of things because jurisdiction is a matter of law and not of consent or acquiescence.

Federal powers:

In Schedule 9, List I of the Federal Constitution, the following topics are assigned to the Federal Government:

> Except as to State rights over permits and licences, the Federal Government has rights over development of mineral resources, mines, mining, minerals and mineral ores, oils and oilfields, petroleum products, safety in mines and oilfields: Para 8(j).

> Gas and gasworks, production and distribution of power and energy: Para 11(c).

> Foreign and extra-territorial jurisdiction: Para 1 (g).

> Treaties, agreements and conventions with other countries and all matters which bring the Federation into relations with any other country: Para 1(a) and 1(b).

Peninsular Malaysian States:

When it comes to Peninsular Malaysian States, the following matters fall in State hands:

> Land: Schedule 9 List II, Para 2(a). Under the Interpretation Acts, 1948 and 1967, Section 3, land includes “the surface of the earth … all substances therein… all vegetations and other natural products… whether on or below the surface… and land covered by water”. The territorial waters of Kelantan will come within the definition of “land covered by water”. Territorial waters are defined by Section 4(2) of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance No 7, 1969. Subject to some exceptions, they refer to three nautical miles.

> Revenue from lands: Schedule 10, Part III Para 2.

> In addition to the income from land, one notes that in Article 110[3A] there is provision for discretionary payment on such terms and conditions as maybe prescribed by or under federal law of the export duty on “mineral oils” produced in the state. Petroleum comes within the meaning of “mineral oils” under Section 10 of the Petroleum Development Act.

Sabah & Sarawak:

In addition to the rights of other states, Sabah and Sarawak enjoy some special sources of revenue.

> Schedule 10, Part V, Para 1 assigns import duty and excise duty on petroleum products to Sabah and Sarawak.

> Schedule 10, Part V, Para 3 assigns royalty and export duty on “mineral oils” totalling 10% to Sabah and Sarawak. “Petroleum”, as defined in the Petroleum Development Act, falls within the meaning of “mineral oils” and, therefore, 10% combined royalty and export duty on it constitutes part of the guaranteed revenue for Sabah and Sarawak.

From the foregoing, it follows that the constitutional right of Peninsular Malaysian states is confined to fees for permits and licences for extraction of any petroleum that is derived from their land and territorial waters.

Anything beyond territorial waters, e.g. on the Continental Shelf, is entirely in federal hands. All gas is in federal hands.

From what is known the present extra-territorial exploration of oil and gas is approximately 150km from Kota Baru. Sadly, Kelantan has no constitutional right to regulate it and to receive compensation for it.

Assignment Deed: What about the explicit provisions in the Assignment Deed of May 9, 1975 between Kelantan and Petronas? The Assignment Deed grants to Petronas all rights to petroleum “whether lying onshore or offshore of Malaysia”.

With all due respect to the drafters of the 1975 Assignment Deed, it contains serious legal defects and must be interpreted under the “doctrine of severability” to sever or separate the legal from the illegal.

This doctrine is employed routinely whenever legislation is questioned as unconstitutional e.g. s. 298A was severed from the Penal Code in Mamat Daud v Government (1988). See also Murugesan v Krishnasamy (1958) on the severing of illegal promises in an agreement for sale and purchase of land.

The Assignment Deed contains the following defects. First, it is unconstitutional. The Assign­ment by Kelantan gives to Petronas the ownership of all petroleum “whether lying onshore or offshore of Malaysia”. Obviously this was an overstatement. Kelantan has no rights to what lies off the shores of the whole of Malaysia.

Furthermore, under the Federal Constitution, extra territorial operations are clearly in federal hands. States cannot transfer rights over something they do not own. In the case of Kelantan and any other Peninsular Malaysian State, the Deed should have been worded to refer only to onshore petroleum.

Second, the Assignment Deed is ultra vires the agreement between Kelantan and Petronas dated May 9, 1976. The Agreement is quite clear that Petronas shall pay “5% of the value of the petroleum won and saved in Kelantan”. There is no mention of offshore petroleum as indeed there cannot be under the Federal Constitution’s division of powers between Federal and state governments

To make legal sense of the Assignment, it must be interpreted in such a way as to make it fall in line with the Federal Constitution, with the Petroleum Development Act and with the Principal Agreement between Petronas and Kelantan. All references to “onshore or offshore of Malaysia” should be interpreted to mean “onshore in Kelantan”.

Equitable estoppel:

In the light of explicit provisions in the Assignment Deed signed by both sides with the concurrence of the Federal Government, can Petronas be prevented from denying its promises to Kelantan? In administrative law, it is generally understood that a public body with limited powers cannot bind itself to act outside its authorised powers. If it has done so, it can repudiate its undertaking.

A public authority may not vary the scope of its statutory powers and duties as a result of its own errors or the conduct of others: Brooks & Burton Ltd v Secretary (1976). If the matter is litigated, a court is unlikely to force a public authority to comply with any illegal parts of its agreement.

Fiscal federalism:

Having noted the constitutional provision, it nevertheless needs to be said that there is more to life than law. Besides the constitutional dimension, there are moral and political issues at play in the Kelantan claim. Our Constitution does not show adequate concern for “fiscal federalism” i.e. an equitable sharing of the sources of national revenue between the Federal and state governments.

It is estimated that for every ringgit the Federal Government collects in tax, the states collect only 10 sen. All West Malaysian states, therefore, have legitimate cause to seek a review of federal-state division of revenue especially in matters of income earned from minerals and mineral oils.

Such a review will require amendments to our basic law. Till then the constitutional position is that in respect of offshore petroleum and gas, there is no legal right. However, the Cons­titution permits discretionary payments.

Article 109(3) permits discretionary grants for specific purposes. Article 109(6)(b) allows payments to the State Reserve Fund. Under Article 110[3A] export duty on “mineral oils” may be shared on such terms and conditions as fixed by federal law. Therefore, there is no need to refer to such payments by the patronising term wang ihsan.

*Shad Saleem Faruqi is Emeritus Professor of Law at UiTM and Visiting Professor at USM

Sumber - :: Selamat Datang @husammusa.com

Agenda "Perpaduang" Adalah Agenda SIngapura

Malam kelmarin saya makan malam bersama seorang Professor dari sebuah university di Singapura. Beliau berkata Lee Kuan Yew pernah berkata:

"Dengan hanya S$300 juta, saya boleh membeli keseluruhan UMNO"

.Lee Kuan Yew dengan selamba membuat kenyataan demikian secara terbuka untuk media-media Singapura membuat liputan. Malangnya, tiada media Malaysia yang melaporkannya.

Kawan saya menambah, sebab lagi satu yang Lee Kuan Yew berani membuat kenyataan begini adalah kerana beliau yakin 100% bahawa setengah dari UMNO sudah pun berada dalam poket beliau. Ramai perwakilan2 UMNO mungkin tidak sedar mereka telah pun dibeli oleh Singapura.

Kalau tidak, mengapa Khairy Jamaluddin mampu memenangi kerusi Ketua Pemuda UMNO? Ada sesiapa boleh jawab?

Kawan saya menambah, parti yang ditakuti oleh Singapura adalah PAS dan sememangnya dalam majlis-majlis tertutup, kepimpinan Singapura mengakui kehebatan ahli-ahli dan penyokong PAS. Yang lebih mereka takuti adalah kebolehan ahli-ahli dan penyokong PAS melawan godaan wang dan tawaran dunia. Singapura mendapat laporan terus bagaimana wakil-wakil rakyat PAS telah ditawar 3-4 juta tapi mereka masih menolak dan tidak boleh dibeli.

Ada pula kes calon PAS di Johor pada 2004 yang cuba dibeli UMNO bukan sahaja gagal tapi telah ditangkap "red handed". Semua kisah-kisah ini menyeramkan Singapura di dalam menghadapi situasi politik masa depan.

PENGALAMAN PERIBADI

Sewaktu saya menjadi Pegawai Khas PJ Selangor, saya sering bergaul dan bercakap dengan para wartawan dan penganalisa politik. Wartawan-wartawan tersebut termasuk wartawan antarabangsa. Ke semua wartawan antarabangsa memberitahu saya maklumat mereka dapat dari Singapura adalah Terengganu akan jatuh ke BN semula.

Sedangkan maklumat2 yang kami dapat menunjukkan yang sebaliknya. Kesemua maklumat dalam negeri yang kami dapat menunjukkan Terengganu kekal dengan PAS. Di waktu itu, hanya maklumat dari Singapura sahaja yang menyatakan Terengganu akan jatuh kepada BN semula.

Akhirnya, kesemua maklumat dalaman kami terbukti salah dan hanya maklumat Singapura sahaja yang benar. Ini bererti penembusan Singapura dalam struktur kerajaan kita telah begitu mendalam.

AGENDA PERPADUAN/MUZAKARAH MULANYA UNTUK MENYELAMATKAN PAK LAH

Kenyataan kawan saya itu membuat saya terfikir. Bukankah agenda Muzakarah dan Perpaduang pada mulanya untuk menyelamatkan Pak Lah? Siapa Pak Lah? Siapa di belakang Pak Lah? Bukankah dibelakang Pak LAh itu adalah Khairy Jamaluddin?

Siapa KJ ni? Mengikut kawan saya ini, KJ adalah seorang yang amat rapat dengan kepimpinan Singapura terutamanya dengan pentadbiran Temasik Group.

Dan, baik Muzakarah mahupun Perpaduang, kita sering mendengar yang ianya bertujuan untuk bekerjasama dengan Pak Lah dan mempertahankan Pak Lah.

Jika itulah motivasi utamanya, maka jelaslah kepada kita bahawa agenda Muzakarah dan perpaduang adalah agenda mempertahan proksi Singapura dalam kerajaan Malaysia.

SYUUUUUUKUUUUURRRRRR PAS tidak mengorak langkah menjalin hubungan dengan UMNO kerana bukan sahaja PAS akan berakhir sebagai parti sampingan dalam Kerajaan Malaysia, PAS juga akan berakhir sebagai Parti Tunggangan Lee Kuan Yew.

PENUTUP

Kepada sesiapa yang masih meragui tindakan dan usaha bloggers serta mereka yang digelar sebagai “Erdogan”, saya minta supaya berfikirlah semula.

“Ulamak” yang kamu sokong rupanya membawa kamu menjadi hamba pada PAP dan Singapura.

Tulang Besi

MCA Menentang Hukum Sebat. Mana Suara UMNO dan PERKASA?

NOTA EDITOR: Di bawah adalah kenyataan rasmi MCA berkenaan dengan hukum sebat kepada pesalah zina yang dilakukan oleh JAWI baru-baru ini. MCA berkata hukuman sebat itu berlawanan dengan Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Pendek kata, pendirian MCA tidak jauh beza dengan apa yang diperkatakan oleh media-media asing.

Ke hulu ke hilir puak2 UMNO dan Pro-UMNO dalam PAS memberitahu DAP anti Islam, PAS mesti bersama UMNO sebab DAP anti Melayu dan Anti Islam. Tengok-tengok dalam kelambu sendiri, anti Islam lagi teruk.

Tapi yang herannya, takda pula demonstrasi? Takda angkat kepala lembu? Takda pula bakar tokong oleh puak2 UMNO ni?

Kenapa? Sebab yang cakap ni MCA dan MCA adalah parti komponen Barisan Nasional. Dengan kata lain, bagi UMNO kalau anda sebahagian dari BN, anda bebas memaki dan mengutuk Islam.

Hahahahaha sepandai-pandai tupai melompat, akhirnya jatuh ke tanah jua. Terdedahlah kemunafikan dan pembohongan UMNO yang selama ini mendakwa memperjuangkan Islam.

Tulang Besi

P/s - Di bawah adalah kenyataan rasmi MCA yang diambil dari Sin Chew Daily.

MCA lashes out at caning of Muslim women
2010-02-20 15:02
LETTER

MCA views with concern the caning that was meted out against the three Muslim women recently and the disturbing trend of syariah law enforcement in our country.

While MCA accepts that syariah laws are personal laws and syariah jurisdiction applies to Muslims only, its application should in no event contravene the Federal Constitution.

It is well known that Section 289 of the Penal Code forbids the caning of women. Corporal punishment towards women is inhumane and degrading in nature.

The apparent dual criminal justice system now is most unsatisfactory. It serves to confuse the rakyat, and the disparity in criminal justice enforcement arising from whether one is a Muslim or a non-Muslim is most undesirable. This may be seen as an alarming development that sends a wrong signal about our criminal justice system.

MCA laments the speedy and stealthy manner of the caning cases by the relevant law enforcement authority has conveyed a distasteful impression of our criminal justice system, especially when the same is conducted at a time the suitability of caning of women has been widely debated following the Kartika case.

MCA maintains its position that supremacy of the Federal Constitution whereupon Article 8 reads that there should be no discrimination on the basis of gender therefore equality for all, including equality towards Muslim women must be upheld.

Further, Malaysia is a member country that ratifies the international Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (CEDAW) covenants. We have a duty to uphold the international covenants to eliminate all forms of inequality against women. The caning of women has also attracted negative international attention and inevitably tarnish our image as a plural multi-racial country.

Gan Ping Sieu
MCA Spokesperson
MCA Political Education Bureau ChairmanKuala Lumpur
19 Feb 2010
MySinchew 2010.02.20

Kelantan Anjur Diskusi Khas Royalty Minyak

Kelantan akan menganjurkan satu Majlis Penerangan Khas Diskusi Tuntutan Royalti dari Perspektif Undang-undang di sini, pada 6 Mac ini.

Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Penerangan, Pembangunan Maklumat dan Teknologi Negeri Dr. Mohamed Fadzli Datuk Hassan berkata ia sebagai respons kepada penjelasan Kerajaan Pusat berhubung wang ihsan yang akan diberikan walaupun yang dituntut oleh Kerajaan Negeri ialah Royalti.

“Kami harap dengan adanya diskusi ini ia akan akan dapat merungkai persoalan yang menimbulkan tanda tanya rakyat berhubung isu Tuntutan Royalti Minyak yang diperjuangkan Kerajaan Negeri,” katanya kepada pemberita di Kota Darulnaim di sini, hari ini.

Menurutnya majlis itu yang akan diadakan di Pusat Perdagangan Kelantan (KTC) menghimpunkan beberapa pakar dalam bidang undang-undang dan Pegawai Tinggi Petronas sebagai anggota panel.

Sumber - GEGAR

Bukti Arkeologi Membuktikan Tamaddun Manusia Disebabkan Oleh Agama

Seorang ahli arkeologi bernama Professor Schmidt sedang menggali satu situs arkeologiu yang berbentuk sebuah “kuil”. Tempat itu adalah di Turki dan dipanggil dengan nama “Göbekli Tepe”.

Yang memeningkan kepala ahli-ahli arkeologi sedunia dengan penemuan ini adalah ia menghancurkan kesemua teori berkaitan tamaddun.

Teori Barat menyatakan bahawa tamaddun manusia bermula dengan manusia belajar bertani dan kemudiannya berdagang seterusnya membina bandar dan kota dan akhir sekali baru mencipta agama.

Penemuan “Göbekli Tepe” menghancurkan teori ini sama sekali. Malahan, ia menunjukkan bahawa sebelum manusia belajar bertani, mereka terlebih dahulu “mengamalkan agama”. Kuil ini dibina sebelum wujudnya kerajaan atau manusia pertama lagi. Dan kuil ini dibina kira2 11 ribua tahun sebelum wujudnya tamaddun manusia yang pertama dalam sejarah (Tamaddun Sumeria).

Ini menunjukkan sebelum manusia membina tamaddun, mereka terlebih dahulu membina tempat beribadat. Dari tempat ibadat ini, baru mereka belajar bertani, berdagang dan akhirnya membina kota disekeliling tempat ibadah mereka.

Prof Schimdt berkata ada tanda-tanda menunjukkan bahawa manusia pada zaman itu hidup secara nomad tetapi berkumpul di tapak “Göbekli Tepe” untuk beribadah. Setelah lama beribadah, maka mereka mula membina “tempat ibadah” seperti yang dijumpai itu. Maka, tempat ibadah itulah kemudiannya yang telah menyebabkan manusia berhenti hidup secara nomad dan akhirnya membawa kepada kehidupan bertamaddun.

Dengan kata lain, tempat ibadah inilah yang menjana tamaddun manusia, bukan sebaliknya. Ini selari dengan apa yang kita belajar dalam Al Quran dan Hadeeth bahawa Nabi Adam AS setelah dihantar ke Bumi mengembangkan generasi manusia dengan mengajar mereka agama terlebih dahulu, bukan tamaddun.

Nabi Adam yang pernah duduk di Syurga masakan tidak mengetahui ilmu-ilmu berkaitan pembinaan kota dan tamaddun. Namun, yang diajar oleh Nabi Adam kepada generasi manusia selepas beliau adalah agama semata-mata.

Maka, sekarang terbukti agamalah sebabnya manusia menjadi bertamaddun dan bukan sebaliknya.

Penemuan arkeologi “Göbekli Tepe” membuktikan apa yang kita belajar selama ini berkenaan dengan kisah Nabi Adam AS.

Wallahualam bissawab

Tulang Besi

History in the Remaking
A temple complex in Turkey that predates even the pyramids is rewriting the story of human evolution.

Berthold Steinhilber / Laif-Redux
A pillar at the Gobekli Tepe temple near Sanliurfa, Turkey, the oldest known temple in the world
By Patrick Symmes NEWSWEEK
Published Feb 19, 2010
From the magazine issue dated Mar 1, 2010

They call it potbelly hill, after the soft, round contour of this final lookout in southeastern Turkey. To the north are forested mountains. East of the hill lies the biblical plain of Harran, and to the south is the Syrian border, visible 20 miles away, pointing toward the ancient lands of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, the region that gave rise to human civilization. And under our feet, according to archeologist Klaus Schmidt, are the stones that mark the spot—the exact spot—where humans began that ascent.

Standing on the hill at dawn, overseeing a team of 40 Kurdish diggers, the German-born archeologist waves a hand over his discovery here, a revolution in the story of human origins. Schmidt has uncovered a vast and beautiful temple complex, a structure so ancient that it may be the very first thing human beings ever built.

The site isn't just old, it redefines old: the temple was built 11,500 years ago—a staggering 7,000 years before the Great Pyramid, and more than 6,000 years before Stonehenge first took shape. The ruins are so early that they predate villages, pottery, domesticated animals, and even agriculture—the first embers of civilization. In fact, Schmidt thinks the temple itself, built after the end of the last Ice Age by hunter-gatherers, became that ember—the spark that launched mankind toward farming, urban life, and all that followed.

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Göbekli Tepe—the name in Turkish for "potbelly hill"—lays art and religion squarely at the start of that journey. After a dozen years of patient work, Schmidt has uncovered what he thinks is definitive proof that a huge ceremonial site flourished here, a "Rome of the Ice Age," as he puts it, where hunter-gatherers met to build a complex religious community. Across the hill, he has found carved and polished circles of stone, with terrazzo flooring and double benches. All the circles feature massive T-shaped pillars that evoke the monoliths of Easter Island.

Though not as large as Stonehenge—the biggest circle is 30 yards across, the tallest pillars 17 feet high—the ruins are astonishing in number. Last year Schmidt found his third and fourth examples of the temples. Ground-penetrating radar indicates that another 15 to 20 such monumental ruins lie under the surface. Schmidt's German-Turkish team has also uncovered some 50 of the huge pillars, including two found in his most recent dig season that are not just the biggest yet, but, according to carbon dating, are the oldest monumental artworks in the world.

The new discoveries are finally beginning to reshape the slow-moving consensus of archeology. Göbekli Tepe is "unbelievably big and amazing, at a ridiculously early date," according to Ian Hodder, director of Stanford's archeology program. Enthusing over the "huge great stones and fantastic, highly refined art" at Göbekli, Hodder—who has spent decades on rival Neolithic sites—says: "Many people think that it changes everything…It overturns the whole apple cart. All our theories were wrong."

Schmidt's thesis is simple and bold: it was the urge to worship that brought mankind together in the very first urban conglomerations. The need to build and maintain this temple, he says, drove the builders to seek stable food sources, like grains and animals that could be domesticated, and then to settle down to guard their new way of life. The temple begat the city.

This theory reverses a standard chronology of human origins, in which primitive man went through a "Neolithic revolution" 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. In the old model, shepherds and farmers appeared first, and then created pottery, villages, cities, specialized labor, kings, writing, art, and—somewhere on the way to the airplane—organized religion. As far back as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, thinkers have argued that the social compact of cities came first, and only then the "high" religions with their great temples, a paradigm still taught in American high schools.

Religion now appears so early in civilized life—earlier than civilized life, if Schmidt is correct—that some think it may be less a product of culture than a cause of it, less a revelation than a genetic inheritance. The archeologist Jacques Cauvin once posited that "the beginning of the gods was the beginning of agriculture," and Göbekli may prove his case.

The builders of Göbekli Tepe could not write or leave other explanations of their work. Schmidt speculates that nomadic bands from hundreds of miles in every direction were already gathering here for rituals, feasting, and initiation rites before the first stones were cut. The religious purpose of the site is implicit in its size and location. "You don't move 10-ton stones for no reason," Schmidt observes. "Temples like to be on high sites," he adds, waving an arm over the stony, round hilltop. "Sanctuaries like to be away from the mundane world."

Unlike most discoveries from the ancient world, Göbekli Tepe was found intact, the stones upright, the order and artistry of the work plain even to the un-trained eye. Most startling is the elaborate carving found on about half of the 50 pillars Schmidt has unearthed. There are a few abstract symbols, but the site is almost covered in graceful, naturalistic sculptures and bas-reliefs of the animals that were central to the imagination of hunter-gatherers. Wild boar and cattle are depicted, along with totems of power and intelligence, like lions, foxes, and leopards. Many of the biggest pillars are carved with arms, including shoulders, elbows, and jointed fingers.

The T shapes appear to be towering humanoids but have no faces, hinting at the worship of ancestors or humanlike deities. "In the Bible it talks about how God created man in his image," says Johns Hopkins archeologist Glenn Schwartz. Göbekli Tepe "is the first time you can see humans with that idea, that they resemble gods."

The temples thus offer unexpected proof that mankind emerged from the 140,000-year reign of hunter-gatherers with a ready vocabulary of spiritual imagery, and capable of huge logistical, economic, and political efforts. A Catholic born in Franconia, Germany, Schmidt wanders the site in a white turban, pointing out the evidence of that transition. "The people here invented agriculture. They were the inventors of cultivated plants, of domestic architecture," he says.

Göbekli sits at the Fertile Crescent's northernmost tip, a productive borderland on the shoulder of forests and within sight of plains. The hill was ideally situated for ancient hunters. Wild gazelles still migrate past twice a year as they did 11 millennia ago, and birds fly overhead in long skeins. Genetic mapping shows that the first domestication of wheat was in this immediate area—perhaps at a mountain visible in the distance—a few centuries after Göbekli's founding.

Animal husbandry also began near here—the first domesticated pigs came from the surrounding area in about 8000 B.C., and cattle were domesticated in Turkey before 6500 B.C. Pottery followed. Those discoveries then flowed out to places like Çatalhöyük, the oldest-known Neolithic village, which is 300 miles to the west.
The artists of Göbekli Tepe depicted swarms of what Schmidt calls "scary, nasty" creatures: spiders, scorpions, snakes, triple-fanged monsters, and, most common of all, carrion birds. The single largest carving shows a vulture poised over a headless human. Schmidt theorizes that human corpses were ex-posed here on the hilltop for consumption by birds—what a Tibetan would call a sky burial.

Sifting the tons of dirt removed from the site has produced very few human bones, however, perhaps because they were removed to distant homes for ancestor worship. Absence is the source of Schmidt's great theoretical claim. "There are no traces of daily life," he explains. "No fire pits. No trash heaps. There is no water here." Everything from food to flint had to be imported, so the site "was not a village," Schmidt says. Since the temples predate any known settlement anywhere, Schmidt concludes that man's first house was a house of worship: "First the temple, then the city," he insists.

Some archeologists, like Hodder, the Neolithic specialist, wonder if Schmidt has simply missed evidence of a village or if his dating of the site is too precise. But the real reason the ruins at Göbekli remain almost unknown, not yet incorporated in textbooks, is that the evidence is too strong, not too weak. "The problem with this discovery," as Schwartz of Johns Hopkins puts it, "is that it is unique." No other monumental sites from the era have been found. Before Göbekli, humans drew stick figures on cave walls, shaped clay into tiny dolls, and perhaps piled up small stones for shelter or worship. Even after Göbekli, there is little evidence of sophisticated building. Dating of ancient sites is highly contested, but Çatalhöyük is probably about 1,500 years younger than Göbekli, and features no carvings or grand constructions.

The walls of Jericho, thought until now to be the oldest monumental construction by man, were probably started more than a thousand years after Göbekli. Huge temples did emerge again—but the next unambiguous example dates from 5,000 years later, in southern Iraq.

The site is such an outlier that an American archeologist who stumbled on it in the 1960s simply walked away, unable to interpret what he saw. On a hunch, Schmidt followed the American's notes to the hilltop 15 years ago, a day he still recalls with a huge grin. He saw carved flint everywhere, and recognized a Neolithic quarry on an adjacent hill, with unfinished slabs of limestone hinting at some monument buried nearby. "In one minute—in one second—it was clear," the bearded, sun-browned archeologist recalls. He too considered walking away, he says, knowing that if he stayed, he would have to spend the rest of his life digging on the hill.

Now 55 and a staff member at the German Archaeological Institute, Schmidt has joined a long line of his countrymen here, reaching back to Heinrich Schliemann, the discoverer of Troy. He has settled in, marrying a Turkish woman and making a home in a modest "dig house" in the narrow streets of old Urfa. Decades of work lie ahead.
Disputes are normal at the site—the workers, Schmidt laments, are divided into three separate clans who feud constantly. ("Three groups," the archeologist says, exasperated. "Not two. Three!") So far Schmidt has uncovered less than 5 percent of the site, and he plans to leave some temples untouched so that future researchers can examine them with more sophisticated tools.

Whatever mysterious rituals were conducted in the temples, they ended abruptly before 8000 B.C., when the entire site was buried, deliberately and all at once, Schmidt believes. The temples had been in decline for a thousand years—later circles are less than half the size of the early ones, indicating a lack of resources or motivation among the worshipers.

This "clear digression" followed by a sudden burial marks "the end of a very strange culture," Schmidt says. But it was also the birth of a new, settled civilization, humanity having now exchanged the hilltops of hunters for the valleys of farmers and shepherds. New ways of life demand new religious practices, Schmidt suggests, and "when you have new gods, you have to get rid of the old ones."