Ulasan Novel : "Tuhan Izinkan Aku Menjadi Pelacur!.." - Kekecewaan yang mengundang kepada kekufuran...

Melihat judul dari novel ini membuatkan aku tertarik untuk membacanya, apatah lagi setelah aku mengetahui bahawa novel ini adalah Sebuah kisah yang katanya merupakan kisah nyata perjalanan hidup seorang wanita solehah yang akhirnya menjalani kisah hidup yang amat memilukan. Cerita tentang kehidupan seseorang yang dianggap begitu hina dan kotor oleh sebahagian orang, yakni menjadi seorang pelacur. 

”Beribadah itu pelan-pelan... Jangan terburu-buru ingin melakukan segalanya. Yang penting kontinyu” 

Pesanan ini, menurut saya, telah menyatakan tentang apa yang terisi dalam keseluruhan buku ini. Jawapan ini juga yang akan saya berikan kepada Nidah Kirani, watak utama dalam cerita ini, andai kata saya bertemu dengan insan sepertinya. Saya tertarik untuk membaca karya dari Muhidin M. Dahlan ketika saya masih dizaman mahasiswa lagi. Kebanyakan bukunya yang begiru kontroversial dan banyak karya-karya bukunya yang telah dilarang untuk diterbitkan membuatkan perasaan ingin tahu saya terhadap buku-buku karya beliau semakin membuak-buak. 

Harapan saya begitu tinggi terhadap isi buku ini. Judul yang provokatif membuat saya mengagakkan adanya pemikiran yang begitu kontroversial sehingga mampu membuat saya mempertanyakan tentang keimanan saya. Namun, dari bab demi bab dalam buku ini yang saya baca hingga titik pengakhiran cerita yang bagaikan tak kunjung tiba membuatkan jiwa saya bergolak. 

Nidah Kirani, sosok manusia yang begitu besar keinginannya mengabdikan dirinya terhadap Tuhan berakhir kepada kekecewaan. Saya melihat ada kekosongan begitu besar dalam diri Nidah. Ia tak sabar dalam mengisi kekosongannya. Ia menginginkan semua jawapan datang begitu cepat. Sehingga proses yang lambat dan sedikit masalah sudah cukup membuatkan keimanannya goyah dan kemudiannya menyalahkan tuhan dan takdir diatas kekecewaan yang dialami olehnya. 

Walaupun begitu, saya tak mengerti jika buku ini boleh menyinggung perasaan beberapa alim-ulama dan orang yang arif tentang ahli agama. Menurut saya, dengan iman mereka yang seharusnya begitu kuat tak perlu merasa terhina dan terganggu dengan isi buku ini. Saya setuju bahawa terhasutnya seseorang ke jalan yang tidak baik kerana buku ini bukanlah salah pada apa yang terkandung didalam buku ini. Semua bergantung pembaca dan saya yakin pembaca mampu menentukan yang mana benar dan yang salah. 

Satu kata-kata yang ingin saya titipkan dalam ulasan saya mengenai novel ini, 

"Iman yang tak digoncangkan, se-pengetahuanku adalah iman yang rapuh dan iman yang menipu. Oleh itu berhati-hatilah!..." 

Selamat membaca!

北風 ～君にとどきますように.

   

 
    君がこの雪に気付いてないなら
    誰より早く教えたい　心から思った

    小さなストーブじゃ窓も
    曇らないような夜
    毛布を鼻まであげて君のことを考えるよ
    だけど知らないことばかりで
    思い出せることは
    斜め40度から見たいつもの君の横顔だけ

    さっきよりひどく窓がないてる
    カーテンそっと開けて僕は言葉なくす

    北風がこの街に雪を降らす
    歩道の錆びついた自転車が凍えている
    今君がこの雪に気付いてないなら
    誰より早く教えたい　心から思った

    どれだけたくさんの人に
    囲まれていても
    なぜか一人でいるような気持ちがずっときえなくて
    でも無理に首を横に振っていたけれど
    きっと誰もがみんな違うとはいえずにいるはず

    誰かを愛したその時から
    家族の意味さえ変わってしまう

    手の届く距離で君を
    感じる度に
    かっこ悪い位何も話せなくなるよ
    明日もしこの雪が積もっているなら
    小さく好きだといっても
    君に聞こえない

    北風がこの街に雪を降らす
    歩道の錆びついた自転車が凍えている
    今君がこの雪に気付いてないなら
    誰より早く教えたい　心から思った

    北風がこの街に雪を降らす
    歩道の錆びついた自転車が凍えている
    明日もしこの雪が積もっているなら
    小さく好きだといっても
    君に聞こえない

万延元年のフットボール (Escape from the Wasteland...)

The story's by Nobel Prize winner Kenzaburo Oe, takes place in Japan in the late 1960s, following Mitsusaburo, his wife Natsumi and his brother, Takashi as they return to the rural valley community where Mitsu's family has lived for over a century. Mitsu is an anti-hero of the lowest calibre, weak-willed, ugly and inert and from the beginning of the novel there is a significant amount of tension in his marriage as Natsu has succumbed to alcoholism. 

The opening of the novel sees Mitsu finding himself crouched at the bottom of a hollowed-out pit formed for a Septic Tank, ruminating on the recent suicide of his friend. Alone and pitiful, he tells of his infant son locked away in an institution after an operation to remove a tumour from his head left him a near vegetable. Like so much refuse, he has no job and no one in which he can confide. He is called a rat, and he adopts the persona, becoming rat like in his behaviour. 

When his brother returns from America they travel, along with his brother's teenaged protégées, to the valley of their ancestors. Mitsu spurns Takashi for his juvenile behaviour, though Takashi is confident and charismatic, as his brother wants to follow in the footsteps of their great-great-uncle who, in 1860, started a rebellion in the village. 

The Silent Cry is a more serious work than many of his other novels and give us plenty to contemplate. The plot develops and builds steadily toward a shocking climax. This is arguably Oe Kenzaburo's masterpiece. The story is filled with plenty of psychological tension in under three hundred pages. Like all his novels, it is about family, the protagonists being two brothers, who return to their hometown from Tokyo after many years of absence. 

There is a stream of conflict, which builds quietly, but when the brothers are confronted with some hidden truths upon selling their family home, it turns their lives upside down. This leads to more conflict, through a subsequent series of stark revelations and a betrayal. 

Oe sets up the entire story so methodically that we can not help but admire his skill. His portraits of the brothers are emotionally affecting. He carefully probes into man's psychological state with a keen understanding of our fears and desires. This story will reverberate in your mind long after you are finished.

"Invisible Hands" in the White House administration has been revealed...

Reading this book's I got the impression that Francis Fukuyama is a very serious man. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and welcomed the clarification over the Author's previous "End of History and the Last Man" validation of the omnipotence of Liberal Democracy and Capitalist economy. 

In his mind, Fukuyama does indeed tackle some very serious issues, and does so very capably, ranging from hardcore theory to its practical manifestations, as well as reality on the ground and what we can practically expect as outcomes or potential solutions. The book was written as a counterpoint to the "Bush Doctrine" or pre-emptive war; the "War on Terror", and the circumnavigation of International institutions in favour of the construction of the fabled "Coalition of the Willing". 

The Author argues that the imposition of the Patriot Act; the rhetorical war against Al-Qaeda, and the elevation of the hunt for Bin Laden to a comparable "war against Islam" have served only to de-stabilize and alienate, compromising US relations throughout the World, fostering distrust and undermining the vision of American Freedom as a viable model for aspirant nations, particularly in the wake of the illegal Iraq War. 

In essence, the A-political Last Man whom triumphed over the "Evil Empire" in the former Eastern bloc, has been hoist by his own pertain. The Author argues for the adoption of "realistic Wilsonian" which seeks to create "overlapping institutions" within the international political circuit which would negate the need for the Neo-Conservative World View and doctrine of "Pre-emptive" war by resolving the imperfections within institutions such as the UN and NATO. 

This is a recommended read for anyone whom wishes to gain an inside view of the Neo-Conservative doctrine and how it's administration has created an inherently poisonous and short-termite view, based upon pre-supposed American moral superiority versus the rest.

One of his core points, that a national "regime" is more than just the figurehead but rather encompasses a societal attitude, makes a lot of sense both in context of the 2003 Iraq intervention and for those who hope to see a brighter future in the Arab World with the removal of leaders such as Hosni Mubarak and Zine El-Beden Ben Ali.

The Jungle War : Only the experts can win

The Jungle is Neutral: The memoir of a British lieutenant in WWII Malaya who conducts guerrilla warfare against the Japanese. It’s not a very gripping story. All the successful guerrilla work takes place in the first quarter of the book, and from there on it is one long anticlimax of malaria, dysentery and thrashing through the jungle. 

Its all about stay behind parties in the deepest jungles, tricky enough in peacetime but when as googolplex of japanese over run the islands well they didn't count on nutters like Spencer F. Chapman, all I will say is that if the British army breaks and runs well any sane person would try and run faster than they can, but hell no, one man turned and strolls into the jungle to commence a random sort of guerrilla warfare on them. 

So whilst the British and entire commonwealth military scarpered or surrendered (very bad option with hindsight!) he set up a kind of scratch force and decided to fight back, slowly and rather painfully Chapman ended up on a massive jungle learning curve and after a lot of suffering cracked it. Its well written and funny with a particular British cruelty to the gallows humor as well. 

His major accomplishment between all the not succumbing to illness is training up the Malayan Communist Party cadres in tactics. The book ends with the war so I’m left wondering to what degree the post-war MCP insurgency against the British was more effective because of the good lieutenant’s training. 

Worth a read if you are into guerrilla warfare...  =)

一つ願い (Hitotsu negai) One Wish...

いつでも僕らは
(itsudemo bokura wa)
At anytime we're,

この空の上で
(kono sora no ue de)
Above this sky,

手をつないでいる
(te wo tsunaideiru)
Always holding hands

世界のどこかで
(sekai no dokokade)
Somewhere in the world,

今も誰かが
(ima mo dareka ga)
Even now, someone

助けを求めてる
(tasuke wo motometeru)
Seeks help

笑顔を持つことが
(egao wo motsu koto ga)
Possessing a smile,

僕らの喜びだと信じて
(bokura no yorokobi to shinjite)
We believe that to be joy

誰もが幸せであることを
(daremo ga shiawase de aru koto wo)
Waiting everyone to be happy,

願いたいから
(negaitai kara)
We wish for them all

One wish, keep in your heart
One dream, keep in my heart

The "Great Expectations" about love and destiny

Five things you must know when you reading about this story

1. Tea

2. Snow

3. Cats

4. The Wire

5. Great Expectations

Don't trust anyone who says that they do not like all of the above, for they are of dubious character and are probably plotting to kill you.

A lot of Charles Dickens' stories are now to some extent like folk or fairy tales; they have become embedded in our collective consciousness and even if one has never read the source material one could outline the plots and name the principle characters.

If this is the case with Great Expectations [and it is] why should you read it? Why afford it the time and effort it requires if you already know what is going to happen, if these characters are as familiar to you as your own genitals?

The answer: because Dickens was a tremendously skillful writer. No TV adaptation could convey the wit and charm of his prose. Furthermore, he understands humanity; his characters, although larger than life, speak with great insight and wisdom.

Moreover, for all the tiresome complaints about 'plausibility and unbelievable coincidences' [since when has literature been solely about gritty realism? This isn't the best film Oscar nominations] his novel is well-structured, fast-paced, and doesn't diminish in quality at any stage. Dickens has, to paraphrase dead rapper The Notorious BIG:

"Techniques dripping out his butt-cheeks."

There isn't a doubt in mind that this is the greatest British novel ever written (stop sulking Middlemarch, you're awesome too). Spellbinding.(less)

Membersihkan tandas = Membersihkan hati

Sebesar mana dan betapa hebatnya diri kita pasti ada yang tercalit satu ruang yang mesti dijaga rapi agar tidak diketahui orang. Betapa busuknya hati kita dan buruknya akhlak kita pasti dikunci rapi untuk mengelak dari diaibkan, apatah lagi diketahui orang lain. 

Tandas tempat kita sering kunjungi di waktu-waktu terdesak. Banyak lagi tempat lain yang kita kunjungi sepanjang hidup kita. Bersihnya tandas menjadikan kita lebih peka terhadap keperluan kebersihan dimana-mana jua. Baik tandas, baik rumah, baik kereta, baik pejabat, tempat kerja, baik surau, baik masjid. Membersihkan tandas kita sendiri memang itulah yang sebaiknya. 

Kita juga selalu bersihkan diri selepas buang air kecil/besar, kecuali waktu kita kecil, dan mungkin waktu kita sakit, terlalu tua dan uzur(juga bila kita sudah nyanyuk...). membersihkan tandas samalah lebih kurang membersihkan hati juga dari sebarang kekotoran yang terpalit pada diri kita. Kalau malu dan takut dilihat tak macho, kita boleh tutup pintu tandas supaya orang tak nampak. Kalau orang nampak sekalipun apa nak dihairankan. Biarlah kita dilihat sebagai seorang pencuci jamban dari dilihat sebagai seorang yang pengotor. 

Tempat yang bersih juga cermin kepada jiwa yang bersih. Jiwa mesti bersih dalam ibadat, dalam kerja, dalam berniaga, dalam aktiviti sosial, juga bersih dalam politik, bersih dalam apa jua. Cuma masalahnya kadang-kadang kita terlupa menjaga kebersihan. Hati yang bersih wajar bersyukur waktu dapat rezeki, juga waktu rezeki sedikit merosot. Waktu senang dapat apa yang kita mahu kita bukan main gembira, waktu tak dapat apa yang kita nak kita mula maki-maki, syak yang bukan-bukan, seolah-olah hanya diri kita saja yang layak mendapat rezeki dari Allah SWT. 

Begitu juga dengan kuasa politik, memang kita sedia maklum, Allah bukan ada agreement dengan sesiapa dari kita untuk kekal berkuasa. Bila dah turun atau diturunkan, kita redha sahaja. Jangan kita terlalu biasa memaki-hamun tuhan dan manusia. Kita bukan sehebat manapun disisiNYA. Hati yang bersih bebas dari syak-wasangka buruk terhadap orang lain, sentiasa sabar dalam apa-apa jua dugaan, tidak melabelkan orang lain dengan sebagai itu dan ini. Hati yang bersih tidak melemparkan tuduhan yang tidak baik keoada sesiapa sama ada kepada orang lain dan juga kenalannya sendiri. 

Saya pernah dengar kata orang tua-tua bahawa tabiat membersihkan longkang(atau tandas) akan menjadikan seseorang itu tidak sombong dan angkuh. Tidak tahulah sejauh mana kebenarannya tetapi ramai jugalah pekerja-pekerja Majlis Tempatan yang tidak sombong apabila saya berbual-bual dengan mereka. Wallahu'alam. 

Betapa cantiknya Islam, mengajar kita dari sekecil-kecil perkara seperti mencuci tandas hinggalah kepada urusan yang besar seperti hal-hal pemerintahan sebuah negara, tapi peliknya bila diri kita sendiri lebih cenderung dan masih menganggap Sains dan Teknologi yang menemui segalanya tanpa menyedari yang Al-Quranlah segala isi kandung Alam yang diciptaNya, cuma kita yang malas mengkaji dan memahami apa yang tersirat.

War Diaries : Let's to know about strategics, plans and tactics used by Alliance army in World War II

This is not a book to be read cover-to-cover. Instead it is a wonderful companion volume to the study of the war, especially if one is studying some of the key personalities involved; such as Montgomery, Eisenhower, Churchill, or George C Marshall. Part of the value of a work like this is in what is not addressed as we'll as what is covered. Also, it is fascinating to watch how Alan Brooke's views evolve over time-especially toward Churchill and Eisenhower. 

If you read this book, or even use sections for reference, be sure to read the editor's notes concerning the different fonts and typefaces, which represent various revisions made to (or added to) the diaries after the war. these diaries has gave an extraordinary insight into the day to day working of the war rooms; they gave a great insight into Allan Brooke's doubts about Churchill. But they also gave an insight into an older world. Must read if you want to know why the launch of the Second Front was postponed for 3 years, how Sevastopol in 1944 looked like, how allies became enemies, and many other things. 

Alan Brooke is the brains behind the Allied victory in WWII, according to these diaries. He published them in response to Churchill's self-glorification in his history of WWII. They show that Churchill was quite eccentric and almost mad, but then it would take a genius bordering on the brink of madness to have the courage and determination to see the war through. If it was not for Alan Brooke, what may have happened? 

The first 50 pages are rather boring, and it is not until he is made Chief of Imperial General Staff in British Armed Forces, that the history comes alive. The fight with the Americans troops over Italy and Stalin over the opening of a second front is vividly described, but in the end, Alan Brooke is vindicated as one of the greatest military strategist ever, and the real reason that Britain and the Allies won the war in Europe. 

Some entries are very banal and almost boring, but you also get fascinating in sites into how the top brass in Britain in World War II worked, thought, disagreed etc. It's very good. 

It's a strange reading material, mostly for any student of WWII and military history researcher like me.

The top secret of the former U.S. President's we never know

This is a very good biography of JFK, focusing principally on his presidency. The author's, Robert Dallek obviously admires Kennedy, but that does not prevent him from being critical of his subject when he believes that the criticism is warranted.

Dalleck details Kennedy's extensive womanizing, both before and after he married Jackie, and which continued unabated during his presidency. Dalleck speculates that perhaps this compulsion resulted from the example that JFK's father had set and from Kennedy's fears about his own mortality because of his medical problems. Again, Dallek concludes that his womanizing did not distract Kennedy from the larger tasks that confronted him and so did not prevent him from being an effective president. 

Though many reporters and others knew or speculated about Kennedy's philandering, as quaint as it now seems, the press still believed that a president's private life was off limits. Dallek also points out that many of the journalists and editors who covered the Kennedy administration had extra-marital affairs of their own and so did not want to cast the first stone. Dalleck again assumes though, that no candidate with Kennedy's record in this department could be elected today. 

He also concedes that Kennedy came slowly to the cause of civil rights and tempered his actions by calculating the political consequences, which is hardly surprising. He also insists, though, that Kennedy learned from his mistakes and grew to be a better president as a result. Dallek gives Kennedy very high marks for his handling of the Cuban missile crisis, and reading his account one realizes how perilously close we came to the possibility of nuclear annihilation. 

Kennedy was determined to give diplomacy every chance to work, even against the advice of military figures and others who argued for an attack on the missile sites and an invasion of the island. Considering some of the trigger-happy people who have occupied the office since 1963, one reads these chapters and becomes enormously grateful for the fact that this crisis fell to JFK and not to some of his successors. 

Probably the greatest argument left from the Kennedy administration is the question of what JFK would have done with respect to Vietnam. Dallek covers in great detail Kennedy's handling of the problem and, based in part on new evidence, concludes that, had he lived, Kennedy almost certainly would not have enlarged the war. Dallek also concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of the President. 

This book's is a rich of many information we never know, compelling book and may be the best biography of Kennedy that I ever have. Reading it, one can only regret that, even for all his faults, JFK did not live long enough to serve a second term as president.

Kembara ke Tokyo...

Sedikit perkongsian mengenai kembara percutian di Tokyo pada bulan Mac yang lalu. Disini saya titipkan beberapa keping gambar sebagai kenangan sewaktu bercuti disana. Untuk pengetahuan para pembaca ini adalah kali ketiga saya terbang kesana, tapi untuk sesi percutian kali ini adalah yang paling panjang yang pernah saya nikmati dan kali pertama menyaksikan sambutan musim bunga di sana. 

Ini merupakan sesuatu kenangan yang amat berharga bagi diri saya disamping dapat berkenalan dan menambah bilangan rakan-rakan tempatan disana. Paling menyeronokkan percutian kali ini dapat menambahbaik penguasaan bahasa Jepun saya untuk di praktikkan disana. 

Sebenarnya saya amat berharap sekiranya ada peluang dapat berkhidmat di negara tersebut untuk mendalami cara hidup masyarakat Jepun yang dilihat amat berdisiplin dan berhemah dalam apa jua yang mereka lakukan, sama ada dalam aspek pekerjaan mahupun dalam aktiviti di rumah mahupun secara bersantai. Kerana saya benar-benar amat mengagumi budaya dan cara hidup masyarakat Jepun begitu juga dengan sosiobudaya serta kesenian yang ada di negara tersebut. Moga dengan titipan ini dapat memberikan sedikit sebanyak info mengenainya.

Kampus Universiti of Tokyo.

  

 Tokyo Tower

 Tokyo National Museum

 'Hanami' Spring Festival

 Insha Allah, saya akan kembali semula ke Tokyo pada Disember 2013 untuk menikmati musim sejuk disana...