poli'tick'-whatever, as long as you tick me

Salam álaikum.

I miss writing. The other day someone called me up to get ' career advice' and asked me what my plans were. I said

' i want to become an author'

And he said ' really? Then why did you take accounting?'

Good question. Back then you could ask me to take a degree in garbageology (don't be surprised, there's a lot of stuff you could learn from people's garbage. If you looked through my bin you'd know that i still eat mamee monster -.-) and i'd take it because all i wanted to do was go overseas.

We never really know allah's plans. If i'd never got into LSE i'd probably never knew how much fun history was (may you perish, form 5 history textbook).

"History,blueghh. Too many dates"' so you say.

Well, did you know that

Even before independence, there was a group of people who had brown skin like us, spoke the same language as us, wore kain pelekat and ate belacan like us

BUT

They were struggling to fight the british. And they were proposing to rule based on what Allah sent down and they were fighting for unity of the ummah.

Rasulullah said "a group among my ummah will not back down, upholding the truth"

They were, unfortunately, unsuccessful in the worldly sense. Because in the days of independence, in the 1st half of the 20th century the strongest currents in our country (and arguably the world) were race-centric (which explains why the ruling parties were organised based on races) and they ultimately won the battle for the people's hearts and minds.

But now, now the time is ripe for a new current. The communist system, is, for the lack of a better word, the subject of garbageology. The capitalist system is slowly tearing apart. Fact: in a lecture by Niall Ferguson that i went to, the cost of the 2008 financial crisis is 3 trillion, and the Iraq and Afghan War cost around that much. Allah declares war on riba', literally. AMAZING!

So the historical conditions are right for a new awakening. TV stations like alhijrah and astro oasis are sprouting up, mosques could be packed for a popular ustaz, signalling that there is demand for a return to the truth.

But there is still much work to do to win the battle for hearts and minds. We must instill a true understanding of islam, and not just play around with islamic sentiments.

Islamic sentiment: kurang ajar! Pijak quran!(curse you! You step on the quran) *punches the guy in the face,picks up quran and puts it on the shelf and goes to mamak stall for teh tarik. Reads quran after retiring*

Islamic understanding: "these people are stepping on quran and throwing it behind their backs every day. They like a quote from gandhi but pull faces if they hear a quranic verse".

And that is what i think of politics in malaysia. Politics is a clash of values. You could be politicking even without a party. The Ikhwan were politicking long before they had a party. And when they eventually had their own party, they already had millions of supporters.

Because the values were already in the people's hearts and minds and they will choose leaders who uphold those same values.

So let us work hard to put true values in people's hearts. Then we wouldn't need to worry, because they'll know who to choose.