INVITATION: OPEN DIALOGUE WITH KHALID SAMAD MP July 3, 2009
Posted by wansaiful in Malaysia, PAS, Politics.1 comment so far
I would like to invite you to an open dialogue, details as follows:
Main speaker: Khalid Samad MP
Date: Saturday 11 July 2009
Time: 2pm, for 2.30pm start to 4.30pm.
Venue: Hyde Park Suite, Holiday Villa Hotel, 37 Leinster Gardens, London W2 3AN (click here for map)
Chair: Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Director General, Malaysia Think Tank
In this moderated dialogue, Khalid Samad MP will elaborate his ideas and thoughts on PAS, Pakatan Rakyat, and the future of Malaysian politics.
Khalid Samad is PAS Member of Parliament for Shah Alam. He was recently appointed as a member of the Opposition’s Cabinet Committee monitoring the Prime Minister’s Department and the Ministry of Transport. Khalid created controversy recently when PAS Shah Alam, of which he is head, proposed that the group Sisters in Islam should be banned, which he later clarified as a mistake. Khalid was also one of the 10 PAS MPs who signed the open letter rejecting ‘unity government’ proposition.
On 27 March 2008, Khalid became the first elected Muslim Member of Parliament to step into the Roman Catholic Church of the Divine Mercy, Shah Alam, since it was completed in 2005. He spoke about his ideas and Islamic principles. The congregation gave him a standing ovation.
When studying at Leeds University in the 1970s, Khalid was active in the group Suara Al-Islam. Seeing that PAS under Dato Asri was heavily influenced by Malay nationalism, members of Suara Al-Islam tried to register Parti Negara Islam (Islamic State Party) upon their return to Malaysia, but their application was rejected in 1981. Khalid joined PAS in 1983, after the party committed itself to the concept of “leadership by ulama” (kepimpinan ulama)
Light refreshments will be served. We encourage a donation of at least £5.00 per person (optional only) to help cover costs, which will be collected at the door.
For further information, please contact Wan Saiful Wan Jan (wansaiful@gmail.com / 07920 132233) or Khalid Samad’s office via blog@khalidsamad.com.
See also: www.khalidsamad.com
Nik Aziz vs Nasha June 19, 2009
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Scroll to minute 2.20 onwards and look at the frustration and anger.
Apa buat sampah ni? Takdak moral!
For PAS, ‘jamaah dalam jamaah’ is wajib June 16, 2009
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PAS is obviously not homogenous. There are more than one school of thought in the party. The two most obvious schools are the conservatives and the “more-liberals”. I hesitate to call the latter “liberals” as many of them stop short of believing in classical liberal ideas. But they are definitely more liberal than the conservatives.
And I also hesitate to use the term “ulama group”. There are those who are not religiously educated but still hold to a conservative worldview. In reality, some of the ulama are just a subset of the conservatives, and not all ulama are conservatives.
Anyone who denies the existence of ‘jamaah dalam jamaah’ in PAS is, to put it bluntly, either ignorant or lying. ‘Jamaah dalam jamaah’ exists in PAS. Fullstop.
It is not just the conservatives and the more-liberals. If we take a step back we will find that there also those labelled as “ex-IRC” (Islamic Representative Council) or “ex-JIM” (Jamaah Islah Malaysia), those who came from ABIM, the Jamaat Tabligh, the Sufis and followers of individual leaders.
But the concept of ‘jamaah dalam jamaah’ is something that the conservatives have tried to curb for so long. They say that the existence of ‘jamaah dalam jamaah’ is wrong, un-Islamic, and dangerous for the party. Of course the arguments are peppered with religious logic. This concerted effort to curb the spread of ‘jamaah dalam jamaah’ have been so successful such that, among some people in the party, being accused of participating in a ‘jamaah dalam jamaah’ becomes a big hurdle for their political career progression. Just ask those who were formerly with JIM.
(Please forgive me for repeatedly using the term ‘jamaah dalam jamaah’. Here I am discussing a very specific concept in PAS such that if I were to translate it into English – i.e.: “groups within the party” – the message I am trying to convey may be lost in translation)
Conservatives’ success
Without doubt the most established ‘jamaah dalam jamaah’ is that of the conservatives. They successfully institutionalised their group within the party, forming the Majlis Syura Ulama and the Dewan Ulama. Even the Dewan Pemuda now looks more like a youthful Dewan Ulama, after conservatives won many top posts.
The conservatives jealously guard their power base. Take the recent party elections. The conservatives conducted what could have been one of the most two-faced campaigns in the history of any political party in the world.
On PAS November 24, 2008
Posted by wansaiful in Malaysia, PAS, Politics.3 comments
I had the pleasure of hosting Dato Kamarudin Jaffar MP (PAS Sec-Gen) and YB Dr Syed Azman (ADUN Batu Buruk) over the weekend. I am sure info about some of the meetings will be in Harakah soon. Later tonight I will be hosting the former Secretary of Dewan Ulamak Pusat. Exciting.
Of course, with all the Pas figures coming over, one cannot avoid but to talk and think about the party.
Clearly PAS is now in a very new territory. The party’s recent decision to accept non-Muslims as members I think will ruffle feathers, particularly among fellow “puritan” friends – ie: those who say people joining PAS, or party leaders, must have pure “fikrah”, untainted by the fikrah of UMNO, JIM, ABIM, Tabligh, etc.
With the new decision, we could possibly have non-Muslims holding leadership positions in the party. How can the party stay “pure”?
And that is not yet adding to the fact that PAS Vice President, Haji Mohamd Sabu, spoke approvingly at Socialism Malaysia 2008. Many moons ago socialism would be considered as very near to sesat. Now….??
I wonder what the real “fikrah” of the party is…..
Report in Harakahdaily June 4, 2008
Posted by wansaiful in Malaysia, PAS, Politics.3 comments
Report published in Harakahdaily .
Pergerakan Islam antarabangsa kagumi kejayaan PAS
Anis Nazri
Wed | Jun 04, 08 | 11:43:57 am MYT
KUALA LUMPUR, 4 Jun (Hrkh) – Kemenangan PAS dalam pilihan raya umum ke-12, 8 Mac lalu mendapat penghargaan, selain berjaya menyuntik semangat baru kepada pejuang Islam di seluruh dunia daripada wakil-wakil gerakan Islam antarabangsa.
Penghargaan tersebut dinyatakan kepada Presiden PAS, Dato’ Seri Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang, ketika beliau menghadiri Kongres Antarabangsa Gerakan Islam Sedunia, di Istanbul, 29 hingga 30 Mei lalu.
Ustaz Hadi turut diberi penghormatan menjadi tetamu kehormat kongres itu, selain memberikan ucapan di majlis pembukaan kongres yang dianjurkan Parti Saadet, pimpinan bekas Perdana Menteri Turki, Dr Necmettin Erbakan.
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Istanbul 4 June 2, 2008
Posted by wansaiful in PAS.7 comments
Because we didn’t arrive back to the hotel until the early hours this morning, day 4 was more like a “decompressing” day. After all, the conference finishes last night with the celebration at Sakarya. We didn’t go out until around 1 pm.
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Istanbul 3 June 1, 2008
Posted by wansaiful in PAS.1 comment so far
Day 3 was a very long day, which actually continued into a very long night.
We started with a press conference by Recai Kutan at Pierrelotti. All the main guests were seated with him at the head-table.
Then, we were taken for a Bosphorus lunch cruise. I was lucky to be seated next to Ahmad Recai, a board member of ESAM. We talked about how ESAM operates and how it spreads its ideas.
But, it being a cruise, we couldn’t resist going to the upper deck to enjoy the marvelous view. The Bosphorus connects the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea. It also marks the meeting point of Europe and Asia. I got talking to more delegates while on the upper deck. So, firstly, here is Temel Karamollaoglu, Vice President of Saadet Party:
And here is the three of us enjoiyng a short chat with Atif Ozbey, Private Assistant to the Chairman of Saadet Party, Recai Kutan.
And here is YB Dr Dzul with Recai Kutan
Then, it was a 2 hour drive to Sakarya to join the celebration of 555th anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul by Sultan Muhammad Al-Fatih. This was organised by the Anatolian Youths, another group supporting the Saadet Party, and part of the big Milliegurus movement family. It was held in the Sakarya stadium, and when we arrived, almost 10,000 people were already waiting inside. Ustaz Hadi gave a rousing speech which was very well received by the crowd.
Loyalty to Prof Erbakan, head of Saadet couldn’t be any clearer throughout. Whenever any speaker mentioned him, the crowd roared. And, they chanted “Mujahid Erbakan!” throughout the event.
The event finished late, at about 11pm. We went for late dinner at the nearby restaurant, where I had the pleasure to talk to Irfan from Islamic Society of Montenegro. We left Sakarya just after midnight and arrived back at Turquhouse Hotel at almost 3am. I will upload videos and pictures of Sakarya later. Dr Dzul wants to borrow the laptop..
Istanbul 2 May 30, 2008
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I managed to find some time to visit a few places today. Pics below:
View of Istanbul from Turquhouse Hotel at Pierrelotti where I am staying:
Istanbul 1 May 29, 2008
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Let me start by saying, TAXI DRIVERS IN ISTANBUL ARE CRAZY!!! The one who took me back to the hotel just now did 80 in a crowded pedestrian area!
(The legendary Brother Faruqi is sitting next to me as I type this blog entry(!), so I have to behave)
Now that that’s off my chest, I should say that I arrived in Istanbul airport midnight last night. It was a very good flight. This trip is to attend a formal meeting of Islamic movement leaders from around the world organised by ESAM (Economic and Social Research Centre), the think tank of Erbakan’s Saadet Party. So, in other words, if last month I attended an event organised American conservatives, this time I am attending a meeting of Muslim conservatives.
I am here as part of the PAS delegation, which initially was supposed to be a total of five people. But, due to the situations in Malaysia, only YB TG Dato Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and YB Dr Dzulkifly Ahmad are here. They arrived before me.
The host – ESAM – went all out to honour their guests. To start with, as soon as the flight door opened, Mustafa Kaya, Deputy President of Saadet in Istanbul was already waiting. So, from the flight, straight to the VIP lounge, and then to Turquhouse Hotel in Eyup, all within a relatively very short time. I am in the same room with Dr Dzul for the next few days. So that will give us a good chance to catch up.
The International Muslim Communities Union Congress is an annual conference organised by ESAM. This year is the 17th conference. It’s a great opportunity to rub shoulders with the great and the good of the international Islamic movements from many countries including Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, etc. But the memorable one is when I got the chance to talk to Recai Kutan, leader of Saadet and head of ESAM.
Ustaz Hadi spoke at the opening session this morning. And the discussion session was good. The official report can be seen here in Turkish. I know the picture in the report is very small, but the photographer caught me getting up from my seat on right hand side of the picture. And, if you scroll down the report, you will see that they call me “Malezya İslam Partisi İngiltere Temsilcisi Wansaıful Wanjan”. I have no idea what that means, but I hope it is good!
And these are two more snaps from the first day of the conference.
PAS leaders in London May 20, 2008
Posted by wansaiful in Malaysia, PAS, Politics.Tags: hindraf, London, PAS
2 comments
At lunch on Friday, 16 May 08, YB Dr Syed Azman and YB Dato Kamarudin Jaffar – both of whom were in London – asked if I could arrange a meeting with Waytha Moorthy, chairman of Hindraf. A quick phone call later, the meeting was set in West London at 5pm. It was a good, cordial meeting. I don’t think I should disclose the content of the discussion, but I am sure an official announcement will be made in Harakahdaily very soon.
In any case, I asked Waytha a question that has been burning in my mind – since Hindu Rights Action Force is an ethno-religious grouping, is he not taking Malaysia a step backwards? Waytha, in his usual calm manner, provideed an answer that helped me to understand why things are the way they are. I personally would not do it that way, and I told him that. But at least I understand.
Some pics of the meeting:
And then, on Saturday evening, we had dinner at Ibrahimsa’s house. Joining us was the legendary Brother Faruqi, editor of Impact Magazine.
