The Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister Department had gathered heads of Ministries and Senior Officials for a briefing on 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015). Interestingly one of the strategic approaches to be adopted in the Plan is to develop creative and innovative human capital with 21st century skills. In addressing this issue one cannot deny that…
Four days ago, Muslims in Malaysia again did what may by now be deemed as their official annual routine; the commemoration of the Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday-or more famously known in its Arabic equivalent, Mawlidul-Rasul-in special gatherings. As many authoritative scholars have explained, the Mawlid gatherings, in terms of validity, are like any other type of gathering. If such gatherings involve righteous…
Crass materialism and anti-intellectualism which manifest in any society betray the following fact: that the emphasis of its imbalance educational system is simply on the physical, material and quantitative aspects of man. In Islam, the objective of education emphasizes rather on the mind and soul, which define and refer to the reality of human being.…
In the continuing debate on social and moral stability in modern Malaysia, the family unit is consistently a prominent focus. Despite the wealth of other institutions which create and reinforce values and behavioral norms – schools, work, peer groups, the mass media – the family is still regarded as the fundamental focus and agent of…
Last week we heard that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested thirty four people including a special officer and a private secretary to two politicians for bribery involving sand mining and smuggling activities. It is very unfortunate that corruption cases seem do not diminish in spite of various efforts taken by the government to…
By now, Malaysians are generally aware that there have been disputes between the Muslims and the Christians from among them pertaining to the use of the key term “Allah” by the latter. Unfortunately however, it seems that of the whole controversy most Malaysians can be sure only of that much. The rest, judging from the…
William Godwin, a renown English political philosopher, once declared that man’s “moral improvements will keep pace with his intellectual” progress, as long as “sound reasoning and truth [are] adequately communicated” to him. Godwin’s statement is remarkably parallel to some aspects of Dr Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas’s definition of education in Islam. In the latter’s The…
Recently, at one of the conventions on good governance I attended in Kuching, there was a clarion call for the development of human capital and character building. Most presenters and participants agreed on the vital role of human factor as the prime and utmost important element in achieving good governance: a government which is efficient,…
Every rightly guided Muslim holds that he is obliged to follow the law of Allah, namely the Shari’ah. It is the revealed law, the path shown by Allah through His messenger, Muhammad. To the mind of an unbeliever, perhaps, it is rather strange that the Muslims today still want to maintain and follow the law…
In order to understand the concept of divorce, one must appreciate the different nature of marriage from the Islamic perspective. The difference in the concept of marriage is reflected in the approach adopted for divorce. In Western society, marriage is viewed from the perspective of individual happiness. If notion of romantic love and individual happiness…
