Posted: 04 Aug 2012 01:15 AM PDT

The following letter was sent to me by a Peniaga Plaza Larkin in Johor Baru. The complaint sounds sincere.

This is their side of the story. They have appealed for someone to read this and intervene to solve their problems. Considering that their complaint is about five years old, obviously an amicable solution has not been found. I hope someone will read this and offer a better and long lasting solution.

Being a 'peniaga' myself I can understand what these people face.

Tuan Syed,

Izinkan kami menggunakan ruang ini untuk meluahkan perasaan tertekan dan teraniaya, berniaga di premis MARA, Plaza Larkin, jauh di selatan (Johor Bahru). Premis ini bertaraf kompleks beli belah tetapi dari segi pengurusan sama saja seperti arked MARA / premis MARA yang lain.

Sebelum ini pihak MARA telah melakukan beberapa perubahan dari segi pengurusan contohnya menggajikan syarikat luar sebagai Pengurus Bangunan (Damansara Aset 2007-2009). Namun akhirnya pihak pengurusan tidak berminat meneruskan kontrak kerana tekanan dari penyewa-penyewa yang beranggapan faktor pengurus ini menyebabkan harga sewa yang tinggi.

Merumitkan lagi keadaan, kadar sewa sekaki persegi juga berbeza di antara penyewa. Kami merasakan ada unsur ketidakadilan dan pilih kasih di sini. Faktor kurang pengunjung semakin jelas. Namun kami bertahan disebabkan telah banyak melabur termasuk pengubahsuaian wajib.

Kemudian pengurusan di ambilalih kembali oleh MARA, sebelum di sewa kepada "Master Tenant" (South Land South Wind Sdn.Bhd,2009-2010). Keadaan semakin malap, tiada 'event', tahap kebersihan sangat rendah, kecurian hartabenda premis, pengunjung Singapura semakin berkurangan.

Kesimpulannya keadaan semakin teruk, pengunjung amat kurang tetapi permohonan pengurangan sewa tidak diendahkan. Peniaga tidak dapat membayar sewa sepenuhnya menyebabkan 'Master Tenant' juga tidak menyambung kontrak.

Pada April 2011, MARA sekali lagi mengambil alih dan kami sekali lagi memulakan balik proses permulaan penyewaan seperti deposit dan sebagainya. Penyewa lama terasa seperti bola, juga sebagai bahan eksperimen bilamana MARA menukar "style" pengurusannya.

Kami yang tidak ada tempat untuk memindahkan perniagaan, masih tinggal di sini dan menanggung tunggakan sewa yang terkumpul setiap bulan. Kami mula dengan sejumlah modal tiada hutang, dan sekarang rata-rata peniaga terawal plaza mempunyai tunggakan. Ini belum cerita pinjaman yang tidak dapat dibayar.

Tahun ke 5 ini, percampuran penyewa lama dan baru. Bagi orang lama permohonan pengurangan sewa (melalui Persatuan Usahawan Plaza Larkin) di ajukan hampir setiap tahun seawal 2008. Kami menyatakan bahawa pengurangan sewa itu hanya bersifat sementara sehingga pengunjung Plaza Larkin meningkat. Namun sehingga sekarang tiada keputusan.

Penyewa silih berganti, kedai kosong sememangnya banyak. Keadaan luaran premis amat tidak menarik, sehinggakan orang luar tidak menyangka di dalam mempunyai kompleks beli belah.

Telah banyak pertemuan, pebincangan dengan pihak MARA Daerah mahu pun MARA Negeri Johor. Antara jawapan pihak MARA apabila di tanya tentang masalah di atas :

i. "hanya pihak ibupejabat boleh buat keputusan"

ii. "kami tak boleh buat apa-apa"

iii. "apalagi hendak, bangunan, pinjaman semua dah diberi"

iv. "kami adalah pemilik bangunan, bukan pengurus bangunan, jadi bukan tanggungjawab membuat "event".

Buat pengetahuan,Tuan Syed, isu ini telah kami bincangkan dengan pihak tertinggi MARA di Kuala Lumpur pada tahun lepas, dan mereka berjanji berbuat sesuatu tetapi sehingga sekarang tiada apa-apa keputusan. Kami juga telah membawa isu ini kepada Menteri Besar 3 tahun lepas, juga tidak ada apa yang belaku.

Rata-rata penyewa awal plaza mempunyai tunggkan sewa. Sekiranya tiada ada apa-apa tindakan penyewa-penyewa baru juga akan menghadapi masalah yang sama kerana kadar pengunjung yang amat kurang. Kami tidak mendapat kepuasan berniaga disebabkan masalah promosi, 'event' dan sewa sentiasa membelenggu.

Jadi kami berharap sangat dapatlah kiranya dari penceritaan kami di blog Tuan Syed ini, ada pihak Kementerian yang berkenaan turun ke Johor ini dan membantu kami yang tersepit di Plaza Larkin.

Kami telah berusaha berbagai cara untuk terus bertahan di Plaza Larkin. Kami rasa tertipu Plaza Larkin ini tidak dapat memberikan persekitaran yang kondusif untuk perniagaan berkembang.

Kadang-kadang terlintas di hati, kenapa kebanyakan premis MARA bemasalah, di Johor saja ada dua tiga premis lagi.

Kami tidak memohon sesuatu yang luarbiasa, hanya keadilan yang sepatutnya di praktikkan oleh pihak MARA.

Yang benar,

Teraniaya,

Johor Bahru.

The Amen From The Bible

Posted: 03 Aug 2012 08:13 PM PDT

When Christians pray, often they say 'Amen' at the end of the prayer. The Muslims also say 'Amen' but it is Arabised to sound 'Aaa-meen'. The Spanish and Latin Christians also say it closer to 'Aa-meen'

The "Amen" is found written in the Bible. Here is some information about the Amen in the Bible.

What Does "Amen" Mean? BY WAYNE JACKSON

Question : "Occasionally, while the preacher is presenting a lesson, someone in the audience will say, 'Amen.' Is this practice in keeping with the Bible? If so, what does 'Amen' mean?"

Answer : The term "Amen" is common to both the Old Testament and the New Testament, and it has a variety of uses, depending upon the context in which it is found.

The Hebrew word, amen, means "surely, indeed, truly." It derives from a root form, aman, which signifies "to be firm, steady, trustworthy, faithful" (again, the context can suggest which of these shades of meaning is most appropriate in a particular setting). The following is a sampling of the major uses of this important word.

Amen: An Agreement or Affirmation : "Amen" was used as an affirmation, asserting comprehension of, and agreement with, certain laws imposed by Jehovah upon the nation of Israel.

Read carefully Deuteronomy 27:15-26. For example: "Cursed be the man who makes a graven or molten image (an abomination unto Jehovah), the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, 'Amen'" (v. 15).

Here is Deuteronomy 27:15-26 (New International Version (NIV))

15 "Cursed is anyone who makes an idol —a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of skilled hands—and sets it up in secret." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

16 "Cursed is anyone who dishonors their father or mother." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

17 "Cursed is anyone who moves their neighbor's boundary stone." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

18 "Cursed is anyone who leads the blind astray on the road." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

19 "Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

20 "Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his father's wife, for he dishonors his father's bed." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

21 "Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with any animal." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

22 "Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

23 "Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

24 "Cursed is anyone who kills their neighbor secretly." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

25 "Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

26 "Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"

In Deuteronomy here the "Amen" is appended to a long list of curses. They say Amen here to curse people who are in breech of one thing or another in the Bible.

There is no 'Amen' in the Quran.

Dr Farukh Saleem

Posted: 03 Aug 2012 07:20 PM PDT

By Dr Farrukh Saleem

The writer is the Pakistani Executive Director of the Center for Research and Security Studies, a think tank established in 2007, and an Islamabad-based freelance columnist.

Dr. Farrukh Saleem is a Pakistani journalist and political analyst who is currently also the executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies. Originally a financial professional by occupation, he managed an eight figure equities portfolio invested in the New York Stock Exchange between the years 1988 and 1994.

Saleem has been a columist for The News International, Pakistan's largest English-language daily, for over 5 years. Prior to that, he wrote weekly columns for the Dawn newspaper in 1996. Throughout 1996, he also worked as a correspondent on issues related to Pakistan, India and Iran for the Vancouver Sun, a Canadian newspaper.

Farrukh Saleem has additionally been a guest columnist for the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review.[2] He has served in capacity as the CEO of Dominion Stock Funds Limited, a KSE-listed company, and currently lives inIslamabad.

Why are Muslims so powerless?

There are an estimated 1,476,233,470 Muslims on the face of the planet: one billion in Asia, 400 million in Africa, 44 million in Europe and six million in the Americas . Every fifth human being is a Muslim; for every single Hindu there are two Muslims, for every Buddhist there are two Muslims and for every Jew there are one hundred Muslims.

Ever wondered why Muslims are so powerless?

Here is why: There are 57 member-countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), and all of them put together have around 500 universities; one university for every three million Muslims. The United States has 5,758 universities and India has 8,407.

In 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an 'Academic Ranking of World Universities' , and intriguingly, not one university from Muslim-majority states was in the top-500.

As per data collected by the UNDP, literacy in the Christian world stands at nearly 90 per cent and 15 Christian-majority states have a literacy rate of 100 per cent.

A Muslim-majority state, as a sharp contrast, has an average literacy rate of around 40 per cent and there is no Muslim-majority state with

a literacy rate of 100 per cent.

Some 98 per cent of the 'literates' in the Christian world had completed primary school, while less than 50 per cent of the 'literates' in the Muslim world did the same.

Around 40 per cent of the 'literates' in the Christian world attended university while no more than two per cent of the 'literates' in the Muslim world did the same.

Muslim-majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims. The US has 4,000 scientists per million and Japan has 5,000 per million.

In the entire Arab world, the total number of full-time researchers is 35,000 and there are only 50 technicians per one million Arabs. (in the Christian world there are up to 1,000 technicians per one million).

Furthermore, the Muslim world spends 0.2 per cent of its GDP on research and development, while the Christian world spends around five per cent of its GDP.

Conclusion: The Muslim world lacks the capacity to produce knowledge!

(My comment : The Muslim world does not appreciate nor respect knowledge)

Daily newspapers per 1,000 people and number of book titles per million are two indicators of whether knowledge is being diffused in a society.

In Pakistan, there are 23 daily newspapers per 1,000 Pakistanis while the same ratio in Singapore is 360. In the UK , the number of book titles per million stands at 2,000 while the same in Egypt is 20.

Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to diffuse knowledge.

(My comments : They can always say 'Insha Allah')

Exports of high technology products as a percentage of total exports are an important indicator of knowledge application. Pakistan 's export of high technology products as a percentage of total exports stands at 1%. The same for Saudi Arabia is 0.3 %; Kuwait , Morocco , and Algeria are all at 0.3 %, while Singapore is at 58 %.

Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to apply knowledge.

Why are Muslims powerless?

.....Because we aren't producing knowledge,

.....Because we aren't diffusing knowledge.,

.....Because we aren't applying knowledge.

And, the future belongs to knowledge-based societies.

Interestingly, the combined annual GDP of 57 OIC-countries is under $2 trillion. America , just by herself, produces goods and services worth $12 trillion; China $8 trillion, Japan $3.8 trillion and Germany $2.4 trillion (purchasing power parity basis).

Oil rich Saudi Arabia , UAE, Kuwait and Qatar collectively produce goods and services (mostly oil) worth $500 billion;

Spain alone produces goods and services worth over $1 trillion,

Catholic Poland $489 billion and

Buddhist Thailand $545 billion.

..... ( Muslim GDP as a percentage of world GDP is fast declining ).

So, why are Muslims so powerless?

Answer: Lack of education.

All we do is shout to Allah the whole day ! and blame everyone else for our multiple failures !

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jom berjuang bersama rakan bloggers di Facebook!

Tunjukkan sokongan anda! Sila Like.

OutSyed The Box

OutSyed The Box

Why are Muslims so powerless?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Eksklusif Oleh :

Lagi...Bongkar!