Great two weeks
The last two weeks had been excellent.
First I had the chance to host three academics who made me work my brain.
And then from Saturday to Monday I had the great honour of hosting PAS' President, YB Tuan Guru Dato' Seri Haji Abdul Hadi Awang.
Of course I took the opportunity to raise a few issues to him.
First was on proportional representation. In the last muktamar, YB Dato' Seri argued that the best system to use in Malaysia is proportional representation. I suggested that perhaps it is best for PAS to lead the way by using PR in our internal election.
Second was about the Malay special rights. I presented my arguments why I think the special rights should be abolished and Malaysians be treated as equals.
Thirdly was about the rights of non-Muslims to have their own religion taught in schools. How can it be fair for us Muslims to be able to learn Islam in school while those of other religion, be it Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, etc be clumped together into Moral Education?
His response in general were very positive.
And, there are two things said by YB Dato Seri that I want to share.
YB Dato Seri explained how, in order to grow the economy of the states governed by PAS, PAS encouraged the creation of "pasar borong". He believes that the "pasar borong" will encourage open and free competition among vendors, thus benefitting customers by forcing prices down. He also added that state governments under PAS distributed land to the people in order to foster property ownership and increase the people's wealth. He also argued that Muslim countries in general need to create an open market in which they can trade freely.
I see elements of free-market economy - open market, competition and private property ownership - being advocated. Excellent.
Additionally, when PAS came into power, the guiding principle was to help those who are in need of help based on merits, not race or religion. YB Dato' Seri quoted an example of what PAS did in MAPEN by demanding the government to assist the poor regardless of race. As a result of this proposal, Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia was set up with the aim of alleviating poverty in all races. People of any background will be helped as long as they merit the help.
I see elements of meritocracy being advocated (even though the word was not used). Once again, excellent.
posted by PROVOLUTION at 9/22/2005 06:50:00 pm
2 Comments:
I guess I was not too far off the mark when i described PAS as an organisation similiar in ideals with the Christian Democratic movements of Europe. My only disagreement with PAS is on the implementation of Syariah. Apart from that, I find that PAS consists of many honest and sincere people in which Malaysia would be quite fortunate to have as leaders.
I understand the argument that non Muslims should not be concerned about the Syariah as it would not apply to them, but in many cases, it won't be as clear cut as that. Hence my concern and inability to accept PAS' agenda as it is today.
I did, however, read some articles and opinions about what is identified as a "post-fundamentalist" movement in Harakah and that is one development I am interested in. I shall be following it closely.
Excellent indeed.
I have read that one of the first acts of the early caliphs when acquiring new lands for Darul Islam was to privatise as much of the land and infrastructure as possible (using a principle similar to Locke's theory of acquisition developed a millenium later).
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