A Statement from Anwar Ibrahim

http://www.asiasentinel.com/images//dsai-statement-from-the-dock.doc

STATEMENT FROM THE DOCK

My name is Anwar bin Ibrahim. I am the leader of the Opposition in Parliament. In the 1990s, I was the Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister until September 1998 when then Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad sacked me after I had refused to resign. He had told me to resign or face dire consequences including criminal prosecution for alleged sexual and corruption offences. I refused and all hell broke loose. My unceremonious and grossly unjust dismissal simultaneously orchestrated with a trial by media under Mahathir’s complete control triggered mass and widespread demonstrations throughout the country and launched the movement for change and reform known in our history as the Reformasi era.

After a series of show trials during which every rule in the book on evidence and criminal procedure was violated with impunity at the hands of the prosecution and the courts, I was convicted and sentenced to a total of 15 years.

Ringgit sukuk sales head for record as Gulf taps market

Assalamu 'Alaikum,
                                 Whilst government use of Islamic instruments is always good for the growth of Islamic finance we need to keep a close watch on total foreign borrowings so that it won't go out of hand. That's the danger about debt, its unforgiving. Pakistan played with fire a long time ago and now borrows foreign funds to pay their civil servants salaries. In 1968 Ecuador took a billion dollar loan they dont need and today 50% of annual budget revenue is to pay World bank interest. Its always best not to borrow unless you really have to. If you have to, let it be for clear cut foreign revenue earnings project which is self redeeming in terms of repayment. To borrow for grandiose domestic project is always a gamble.

Today I read a letter which touched my soul

Assalamu 'Alaikum

Today I read a letter which touched my soul

To those of my generation mollycuddled into a safe life by circumstances will never understand the desperation of a graduate without a job. In our times a graduation is a ticket to a comfortable and safe life. The idea of a graduate not getting a job is beyond our comprehension. This is what we have governments for, to think far into the future to avoid such pitfalls. In 1980s to anticipate that in 2011 there will be thousands of young graduates without a job is the reason we placed these people in government. This is the trust we placed in them so that we can go on with our daily lives; happy with the thought we have appointed and paid these people to think about our children’s future. We certainly did not elect them to plunder the country to enrich the selected few.

America in Decline by Noam Chomsky - A Review by a Malaysian Muslim

America in Decline by Noam Chomsky - A Review by a Malaysian Muslim

Corporate power’s ascendancy over politics and society – by now mostly financial – has reached the point that both political organizations, which at this stage barely resemble traditional parties, are far to the right of the population on the major issues under debate.

For the public, the primary domestic concern is unemployment. Under current circumstances, that crisis can be overcome only by a significant government stimulus, well beyond the recent one, which barely matched decline in state and local spending – though even that limited initiative probably saved millions of jobs.

For financial institutions the primary concern is the deficit. Therefore, only the deficit is under discussion. A large majority of the population favor addressing the deficit by taxing the very rich (72 percent, 27 percent opposed), reports a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Cutting health programs is opposed by overwhelming majorities (69 percent Medicaid, 78 percent Medicare). The likely outcome is therefore the opposite.

The Program on International Policy Attitudes surveyed how the public would eliminate the deficit. PIPA director Steven Kull writes, “Clearly both the administration and the Republican-led House (of Representatives) are out of step with the public’s values and priorities in regard to the budget.”

The survey illustrates the deep divide: “The biggest difference in spending is that the public favored deep cuts in defense spending, while the administration and the House propose modest increases. The public also favored more spending on job training, education and pollution control than did either the administration or the House.”

The final “compromise” – more accurately, capitulation to the far right – is the opposite throughout, and is almost certain to lead to slower growth and long-term harm to all but the rich and the corporations, which are enjoying record profits."

They are talking about America here, right? :)

"Two major elements were financialization (the shift of investor preference from industrial production to so-called FIRE: finance, insurance, real estate) and the offshoring of production. The ideological triumph of “free market doctrines,” highly selective as always, administered further blows, as they were translated into deregulation, rules of corporate governance linking huge CEO rewards to short-term profit, and other such policy decisions.

The resulting concentration of wealth yielded greater political power, accelerating a vicious cycle that has led to extraordinary wealth for a fraction of 1 percent of the population, mainly CEOs of major corporations, hedge fund managers and the like, while for the large majority real incomes have virtually stagnated."

Implementation of Islamic Economics would put this right.

America in Decline

America in Decline

Friday 5 August 2011

by: Noam Chomsky, Truthout | Op-Ed

“It is a common theme” that the United States, which “only a few years ago was hailed to stride the world as a colossus with unparalleled power and unmatched appeal is in decline, ominously facing the prospect of its final decay,” Giacomo Chiozza writes in the current Political Science Quarterly.

The theme is indeed widely believed. And with some reason, though a number of qualifications are in order. To start with, the decline has proceeded since the high point of U.S. power after World War II, and the remarkable triumphalism of the post-Gulf War '90s was mostly self-delusion.

Another common theme, at least among those who are not willfully blind, is that American decline is in no small measure self-inflicted. The comic opera in Washington this summer, which disgusts the country and bewilders the world, may have no analogue in the annals of parliamentary democracy.

The spectacle is even coming to frighten the sponsors of the charade. Corporate power is now concerned that the extremists they helped put in office may in fact bring down the edifice on which their own wealth and privilege relies, the powerful nanny state that caters to their interests.

Corporate power’s ascendancy over politics and society – by now mostly financial – has reached the point that both political organizations, which at this stage barely resemble traditional parties, are far to the right of the population on the major issues under debate.

Al Quran & Science

Al Quran & Science

(5 Ramadhan 1432 Hijrah) 5/8/11

Honey Bees
The worker bees, those who gather pollen and make the honey, are actually all females. The male bees do not make honey. This was only known recently. However more than1400 years ago the Quran refers to bees that generate the honey as females (the Arabic grammar is in the female mode):
^{[Quran 16.68-69]}
And your Lord (Allah) revealed to the bees: Build your hives in mountains, trees and in what people build. Then eat (for females) from every fruit and follow (for females) your Lord's enslaved paths, fromtheir bellies (for females) exits drink of different colors, in it healing for man. These are signs for those who contemplate. (Surah An Nahl 16:68-69)
For the word "eat": "Kuli" is for females; "Kul" is for males. The Quran used "Kuli" (females).
For the word "follow a path": "Usluki" is for females; "Usluk" is for males. The Quran used "Usluki" (females).
For the word "their bellies": "butuniha" is for females; "butunihim" is for males. The Quran used "butuniha" (females).

 
Seas
The difference in temperature, salinity and CO₂ concentrations in seas cause water to separate into layers. This was only known recently. However Moslems knew about it all along:
^{[Quran 55.19-20]}
He [Allah] has made the two seas meet, between them a barrier that they don't transgress. (Surah Ar Rahman 55:19-20)


Not only light cannot reach deep waters but also the water layers down there are not flat but wavy, that is, the seas have internal waves just as they have surface waves. However Moslems also knew about this long before it was discovered:
^{[Quran 24.40]}
Or like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with waves topped by waves, topped by clouds: depths of darkness, one above another: if a man stretches out his hand, he will not see it! If Allah does not give light to a person he will not have light! (Surah An Nur 24:40)
The Quran talked about internal waves long before it was discovered. Also, sunlight cannot penetrate more than few hundred meters into the seas. It is so dark down there that you cannot see your own hand.


The water cover about 71% of the Earth's surface. This is also the same ratio the word "water" and word "Land" appear in the Quran. "Water" 32 times and "Land" 13 times. The ratio of "Water" to the total (Water + Land) = 32/(32+13) = 71%.

Tectonics
Earth's crust has been slowly moving for billions of years. Not only mountains are still slowly moving but also whole continents. Moslems say that this is what Allah says:
^{[Quran 27.88]}
You see the mountains and think they are firmly fixed: but they are moving away just like the clouds are moving away: (such is) the artistry of Allah, Who disposes of all things in perfect order: For He knows all what you do.
(Surah An Naml 27:88)

Cloud Seeding
During cloud formation, water can become supercooled, that is, it can get below freezing point but remain not frozen! This stage is so unstable that we can add some catalyst molecules to trigger rain. Historically humans used silver iodide, frozen carbon dioxide and some salts to trigger rain. This is known as cloud seeding.

However nature uses different material to seed the clouds. Nature uses both sea salt and land dust to trigger rain: Wind at the surface of the seas causes waves to roll. Those waves release aerosols into the air carrying the sea salt. The wind carry both the sea salt and the land dust to the clouds. The sea salt and land dust cause the supercooled water to coalesce and trigger precipitation.
^{[Quran 15:22]}
And We send the seeding winds, then cause the rain to descend from the sky, therewith providing you with water, though you are not the guardians of its stores. (Surah Al Hijr 15:22)

Atmospheric Pressure
Atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude; The higher the altitude the more difficult breathing becomes. Moslems say that this is what Allah says. The Quran says that as we ascend to the sky it becomes more difficult for us to breath:
^{[Quran 6.125]}
Those whom Allah wants to guide, He opens their chests to Islam; And those whom He wants to leave astray, He makes their chests tight and constricted, as if they are ascending to the sky: Such is the penalty of Allah on those who refuse to believe. (Surah Al An’Aam 6:125)

Brain Functions
For centuries it was thought that the frontal part of the human brain handled vision (simply because it is near the eyes). Today we know that this part handles speech, not vision. (the part that handles vision turned out to be at the rear of the brain
The Quran says that disbelievers will be dragged from there liar forehead, that is, the speech part where they utter lies is at the forehead.
^{[Quran 96.16]}
A lying sinful forehead.(Surah Al-'Alaq 96:16)


Genetics
Females have XX chromosomes, that is, they can only give one X chromosome. But since males have XY chromosomes then men can either give the X or the Y chromosome. This means that it is actually the males who determine the sex of the baby (by giving either the X or the Y chromosome).
^{[Quran 53:45-46]}
And He (Allah) creates pairs, male and female, from semen emitted.
The Quran says that it is the semen that determines whether the baby is male or female. But since semen only comes from males then this means that it is the males who determine the sex of the baby.

(Surah An Najm 53:45-46)



These are just some of the facts which shows that:

The Qur'an, this extraordinary book which was revealed to the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad (PBUH), is a source of inspiration and true knowledge. The book of Islam-no matter what subject it refers to-is being proved as Allah's Word as each new piece of historical, scientific or archaeological information comes to light. Facts about scientific subjects and the news delivered to us about the past and future, facts that no one could have known at the time of the Qur'an's revelation, are announced in its verses. It is impossible for this information, to have been known with the level of knowledge and technology available in 7th Century Arabia.