The Star Online: Nation
The Star Online: Nation |
| Posted: 31 Dec 2011 03:05 PM PST The Orang Ulu of Balui are now turning to eco-tourism in the Bakun Dam region. THE 101-door longhouse in Uma Belor was eerily silent as all lights in the hallway had been switched off, leaving only flickering flames from the candles held by eight Kenyah women. It was a solemn yet surreal moment as the Govina dance was re-enacted. First performed half a century ago, the Govina was held to mark the peace accord struck between warring Orang Ulu tribes living in the vicinity of the Kalimantan border during the Indonesian confrontation. In the recent performance held at the longhouse in Sungai Asap in Bakun, Belaga, Penghulu Saging Bit took on the role of a tribal chief as he listened to his people's advice to make peace so that they can go on living harmoniously. The Govina could have been just another dance at a cultural show but for the tribal people of Balui who moved out from their ancestral homes to make way for the Bakun Hydroelectric Dam 16 years ago and in Sungai Asap, the performance reflected their inner emotions as they came to terms with the changes wrought on them and move on in life. For Nora Igang of Uma Belor, 16 years of bemoaning the loss of their ancestral homes in the rainforest is too long. "We need to move on. We need to revive the survival spirit of the Balui people and make our peace. Now, we just have to take whatever opportunities given to us to put food on our table," said Nora, who is barely five feet tall but harbours a big dream for her people. The primary school teacher hopes to promote the tranquil Sungai Asap as the biggest homestay hub in Sarawak. The settlement is located between a man-made lake (Bakun Reservoir) and one of the world's largest hydro dams the Bakun Dam which is already a tourist attraction. The dam equivalent to the size of Singapore is situated at Sungai Balui, a tributary of Rajang River and 37km from Belaga town in the Kapit Division. About 9,000 indigenous Orang Ulu, mainly subsistence farmers and hunters in the upstream and downstream areas of Sungai Balui were relocated from 15 longhouses to Kampung Sungai Asap over three years. Flooding of the Bakun Dam began in October last year, putting 700 sq km of land underwater. Many of the tribal people who could not fit into the communal settlement at Sungai Asap have moved back into the jungles while some had migrated elsewhere. Those who remained in Sungai Asap now welcome government plans to develop fishing and tourism industries within the Bakun Dam. Nora, 42, a Kayan, believes that the people must take "the bull by the horns" to survive. And one way to do so is to open their extra rooms to visitors under the homestay programme. Nora has been playing a pivotal role on the ground she has been busy over the last two years trying to start the homestay project in Bakun whenever she is not working at SK Sambop in Belaga. Her sentiment is shared and supported by important members of the community the Marens (aristocrat leaders) namely Maren Uma equivalent to village headman Ajang Bit of Uma Belor, Penghulu Saging Bit, Hulu Rejang MP Datuk Billy Abit Joo, Pemanca Tony Kulleh and many others in Sungai Asap. With their support, she has rallied 11 other relatives staying in Uma Belor to attend homestay courses organised by the Tourism Ministry recently. Now, they are duly certified as licensed longhouse homestay operators. As a pioneer homestay operator and project coordinator, Nora has to develop tourism products as well as get tour operators to market them. She also has to mobilise the local folk to put up cultural performances and get involved in logistics like food, transport and guiding. "I know I will be facing many challenges ahead but am staying focused as I believe this project can help boost our people's income," said Nora. "We have lost our traditional homes along the Balui, we cannot afford to lose this place again. What we are doing is to get people to see the beauty of this setting and our lifestyle." Sungai Asap, during normal working days, is rather deserted as many locals work outside the settlement. Those left behind are housewives, old folk and children. The womenfolk, who make up about 70% of population, stay behind to man the village fort. Ajang said the government has been very supportive of the whole project and has even organised courses and promised grants for the operators. One staunch supporter is Mary Wan Mering, Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) marketing manager. In Sungai Asap recently, Mary said: "The spirit of the Balui has touched you and me and now is the time to rejuvenate." Mary is a Kayan from Ulu Baram while I am a Melanau from Mukah, both outsiders linked to the people of Balui through our professional involvement (myself, as a journalist covering the plight of the Balui people since 1995). From the first time I stepped foot on Balui until the people were evacuated in 1998, I have witnessed the their emotional reaction that ranged from bafflement to fear, anger, confusion, helplessness, resignation and hope. But it is perhaps the tenacity of the people that touched me the most the human capacity and spirit to survive as epitomised by Nora and many of her fellow settlers at Sungai Asap recently. Mary, who participated in a familiarisation group visit organised by the State Ministry of Tourism and Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) recently, is confident the homestay programme has great potential. "We already have the Bakun Dam as an attraction, the people's varied cultures are an added bonus. Where else in Sarawak can you find all five different indigenous groups of people staying within one area?" she said. There are 15 longhouses in Sungai Asap inhabited by the Kayan, Kenyah, Lahanan, Ukit and Penan Talun people. The Kayan and Kenyah communities first migrated downstream from the Mahakam river in East Kalimantan to the Balui river about 500 years ago whereas the Kayans of Uma Belor had crossed over the Balui as late as the 1920s. The Lahanan, Ukit and Penan Talun are minority groups in Sungai Asap. Billy, a Kayan from Uma Belor, aptly described their situation in Sungai Asap: "This is a nice place to live in beautiful sceneries everywhere but we have to be realistic. "We cannot depend on farming anymore because we do not have any land to farm other than the 1.2ha allocated by the government to each household. "That is why we are turning to tourism. We need to put food on the table." The Sungai Asap settlers are hoping that Bakun Dam will be the pulling factor where tourism is concerned. As Nora put it: "Bakun Dam has taken our homes. Now, it is time for Bakun to return the favour." Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 31 Dec 2011 03:05 PM PST As Islamic conservatism gains ground in the country, progressive think tank the Islamic Renaissance Front aims to open up space for a more diverse discourse. IT is a bit startling, and even a little unnerving, to open an English translation of the Quran and find the words "For People Who Think" on the first page. But it is exciting because it actually makes people sit up, pause and think. Which is really what the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) a two-year-old organisation promoting "progressive" and "democratic" Islam is trying to do: to make Muslims think, and think rationally. The IRF is pleased that the authorities (specifically the censorship committee on religious books chaired by Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria) have given the thumbs up for the Message of the Quran translated and explained by Muhammad Asad to be published and distributed in Malaysia. This is the book that proclaims it is "for people who think". As IRF's founder and chairman Dr Ahmad Farouk Musa puts it, Asad's translation and commentary is contemporary because it gives a context and meaning to the words of the Quran. It does make people think, he argues. "The thrust of Islam is rational. If you believe religion is only about faith, then it would exist only as blind faith without you really knowing why you believe in it. "And if we say that everything is codified in the Quran then what is the reason for God to give us the faculty of reason, our akal, our wisdom? If there's no place for reason at all," he asks. Dr Farouk makes it clear, however, that he is not questioning the rukun iman (pillars of faith) or the rukun Islam (pillars of Islam) which are sacred and fundamental to Muslims. "We don't question things like prayer, fasting, zakat (tithes) or the Haj. But there are day-to-day activities where there are no strict rules and that is where we require the faculty of reason," he says. He believes that God did not lay down strict rules on political aspects because the Quran is timeless, universal and because Islam is relevant today as it was during the Prophet's time and as it should be in the 23rd or 25th century. Why else, he says, would God in the Quran ask people to reflect upon God's creation, the earth, the sky, sun, moon and the stars. "If everything is codified, then the Quran would not be valid because time and civilisation changes," says Dr Farouk, a cardiothoracic surgeon and an academic who admires Muslim leaders like Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Tunisia's new leader Rached Ghannouchi. The IRF drew inspiration from Islamic reformist thinkers like Tariq Ramadan (grandson of Hassan al Banna who founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt), Muhammad Asad, Malik bin Nabi, Muhammad Abduh, Ibn Ashur, Dr Salim Al Awa, among others who have pushed for a study or re-interpretation of the meaning of the Holy Quran and its objectives. Like them, the IRF believes that people should not just rely on the text interpretation by clerics of yesteryears but to use reason to keep up with changing times. Crucially, the IRF does not shy away from controversial topics such as the so-called proselytisation of Muslims, freedom of religion, Islamic state, hudud (Islamic criminal law) and even sex change. All these, they believe, are and should be open for discussion and debate. "Everytime you question something like hudud they say you can't question such things because this is Islam, this is the word of God. We want to dispel this. We are not questioning the religion or the laws written in the Quran but we are questioning whether we can achieve maqasid (objectives) if we implement the laws and the interpretation. That is okay to question. "The maqasid, the higher intention of the syariah is to establish justice. But we can see that in countries all over the world where hudud is implemented, the segments of society that are punished are the poor and the women. Is this just?" IRF's target is to engage the young generation of Muslims undergraduates, postgraduates, working professionals and young adults and empower them with knowledge, understanding and the desire to think things through rationally. But Dr Farouk doesn't believe in getting them too young because "we don't want to be indoctrinating our ideas into young minds" and "we want to allow them to develop their maturity first". Nor does he believe in going for the older generation because "there's no point trying to change their minds because they have kind of made up their minds". "We believe in engaging people who can really think, discuss and debate with us from different angles." As the IRF is a think tank and an intellectual movement, Dr Farouk says, they want to keep it small. For now, it has 20 to 30 active members. "We are very selective of our members. We don't want to be a cult or a mass movement like Abim and Jim (Jemaah Islah Malaysia). They are more about getting numbers but we are more into shaping minds. "We want to be the voice of conscience. We want to keep the numbers small so that it is easier for us to maintain and educate and then perhaps it will grow," he explains. Two of the young men on board the IRF are Fuad Rahman who has a masters in politics and social philosophy and Edry Faizal Eddy Yusof, a graduate from the Multimedia University. Fuad who is a research fellow with the IRF is happy with keeping things cosy and family-like. "By keeping the numbers small and the network loose, people will be freer to speak their minds and be more comfortable. We have got to start with the base which are professionals and urban." But what religious credentials do these people have to speak about Islam? "I am a Muslim so I have the right to speak about what I believe. Everybody needs to speak up. Different views are important in a democracy. You may think that the conservative voices are the majority but they may not be, they are just the most vocal," says Edry. Fuad believes that one does not need to have a turban and a long beard plus Islamic credentials to discuss Islam. "Islam interacts with other issues with politics, with medicine, with arts, with literature so while you may be trained to memorise the Quran, you may not know the first thing about medicine or political science or philosophy. "Religion is always interacting with all other spheres of society. That's why dialogue is important. "Even though we are not classically trained (in Islam), we know at an instinctive and human level when something doesn't sound right. "For example if they say women shouldn't be politically active', this runs against our human instinct and we will say wait a minute, why do you say that'. We want to bring discussion back down to earth," he says. This is not something alien or new to Islam. Fuad points out that when Baghdad and Andalusia were the centres of Islamic civilisation, knowledge especially the sciences thrived due to the widespread appreciation that Islam is a religion of rational discourse which encouraged various debates. "It's just that now we are at a different time where the more conservative elements have taken over and our position looks odd. "Islam had a Golden Age because we were encouraged to think, explore and question whereas now everything is all taboo." He highlights that the first constitution ever written is the Madina Constitution where there is no mention of the hudud while the rights of the Jews are protected. "It shows that people can come to a consensus in an open rational discourse about what they want in a society. This has been in our practice. We just have to rediscover it," he adds. Diversity of thought If religion is taught and communicated well, says Fuad, people will be able to make the right decisions for themselves and there would be no need for snoop squads and a nanny state. "Any moral judgment is meaningful only if it is made out upon free will. "You can't force somebody to be good because then the person isn't really a good person if he is forced to be good. It has to be based on conscience. It is better that a person does something because he thinks it is the right thing to do than because he doesn't want to get caught. "The choice to do good must come about freely and not coerced." Fuad, for one, has a bone to pick with the recent Himpun Rally held to protest against the proselytisation of Muslims. Nobody can even agree on the number of Muslims who purportedly converted to Christianity, he says. "One person says it's 260,000, another claims it's 135,000 but the official census says zero'. We can't even diagnose the problem because everybody is busy getting heated up and speaking out of knee-jerk reaction. "They should just pause and ask themselves what are the facts, what are the problems, what is the solution. Nobody is taking the time to really reflect." Dr Farouk takes it a step further. He believes Islam allows a Muslim to leave the faith if they choose to, citing the often quoted verse 2:256 in the Quran that "there is no compulsion in religion". Dr Farouk says this verse only makes sense if there is no coercion in matters of faith. Hence, Dr Farouk opposes any moves for a so-called Faith Crimes Act which he says is contrary to Islam. Fuad feels that one peculiarity in Malaysia is that the Malay identity and Islamic identity are so closely defined to one another that any perceived affront against Islam is seen as an attack on the race. He tells of Muslims who are not religious at all but become defensive of the hudud because they see it as an attack against the race. In other countries, the definition of race and religion is far more elastic, he says, while "in Malaysia you can live your whole life in this country and never meet a non-Muslim Malay". That is why the Malay politicians can easily play the Muslim card, he opines, "They know they can get an audience that way. It is hard to have rational discussions when the sensitivities are so high. The easiest way to react is to get angry and that is what you have here." One of the ways the IRF discusses issues is through what they call a book dissection. Here, one of them will present what he or she understands from a particular book of an Islamic scholar and the others will discuss it. Something a little unusual for Malaysia is that most of IRF's events and discussions on Islam are in English. Explains Fuad, the authors they discuss like Muhammad Asad, Tariq Ramadan, Malik Nabi and Abdul Wahab Effendi have not been widely translated into Malay. "So a lot of the thinkers we turn to as resources appeal more to the English speaking crowd because the works are written in English." He notes that in comparison the Malay discourse on Islam is dominated by conservative writers who do not necessarily focus on contemporary issues. This, he says, is because most of the Malaysians who study Islam have had their training and education in very conservative places like Pakistan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia so they are exposed to conservative thoughts and these are the kind of ideas and influence they bring back with them. "You have people who memorise the Quran but cannot speak about the philosophy of it, the higher intention of it. The challenges in the modern world is so complex that memorising isn't enough," he adds. Dr Farouk chips in that those who know Arabic in Malaysia are not inclined to translate the works of Islamic reformist thinkers and seem to lean towards the works of orthodox conservative thinkers such as Saudi cleric Bin Baz. He feels that due to the Saudis' funding of education, the Salafists movement is becoming very strong in Malaysia and are allegedly infiltrating various sectors. Edry says they are friends with the Salafists and other Muslim groups too but unity does not mean uniformity. Next year, the IRF hopes to bring the different groups of Muslims the Salafists, the Shi'ites, the traditionalists and reformists together to share knowledge and for discussions. "Hopefully, we will be able to build bridges among these different groups. "We are trying to make them understand that irrespective of the different beliefs, we still have a common ground to hold on (Islam) and a common understanding of what religion is. And that the differences are all political opinion. "Nobody has done this here before. I don't know if it will be successful but the important thing is to try." Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Orang Minyak: Mythical monster or perverse criminal? Posted: 31 Dec 2011 03:05 PM PST A BLACK-GREASED man, clad only in equally greasy, black underpants, creeping into a room through an open window that is the image many have of the Orang Minyak. Of course, for most, it is reinforced by the repeat watchings of P. Ramlee's 1956 classic Sumpah Orang Minyak (The Curse of the Oily Man). Legend as reprised by the Malay hit movie has it that the orang minyak is a regular person, but is pursuing the dark arts. To complete this course of "learning" and for his ilmu (knowledge) to be "effective", the orang minyak is supposed to rape a certain number of virgins. Different numbers of virgins needed have been bandied about, from one to 40 and 99. Some say that the numbers of virgins depended on the orang minyak's master, but luckily, the orang minyak has the ability to "recognise" real virgins. According to another popular tale, the orang minyak became what it was because of a black magic ritual gone wrong, and it was only by raping the 40 virgins that he could break the dark spell binding him. An Islamic faith healer from Kasturi Syifa says he has heard that if the orang minyak rapes the required number of virgins, he will get his wish granted some common wishes are to be good looking and to have the ability to sweet-talk and charm people. "They say, the person made a deal with the devil," he adds. He, however, insists that he does not believe in the orang minyak 100%, as he has not come across one yet. He points out that all the orang minyak that have been captured turned out to be either thieves or mental health patients. Ustaz Ismail Kamus, an Islamic faith healer from Darussalam, explains that the orang minyak douse their body in oil to evade capture. They cannot use violence and can only use their magic to evade capture, he adds, "It also keeps on coming back to the same place to taunt the people and show off its abilities'." Although he has not met one personally, Ustaz Ismail believes that the orang minyak exists. He notes, it would take a few months to learn the black magic, but once mastered, the orang minyak would be able to walk through walls and vanish into thin air. He adds, the orang minyak is also believed to be very agile and can get strength by sucking out the water from a banana bud (jantung pisang). Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Nation To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan