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Lanjut Usia Tak Bererti Puasa Terganggu
DALAM meniti usia yang semakin senja, apa lagi yang diharapkan selain dikurniakan kesihatan yang baik, kebahagiaan dan kesenangan hidup di samping keluarga dan anak cucu.

Namun, warga tua tidak boleh mengambil ringan dalam mengecapi kehidupan dan kesihatan ketika meniti bulan puasa nanti.

Keprihatinan inilah yang bakal dikongsi oleh pakar geriatrik, Dr Nur Farhan Alami, sempena bulan Ramadan bagi mempersiap warga senja menjalani puasa dengan lancar.

Dr Nur Farhan akan mengupas tajuk Sudah Tua, Masih Boleh Puasa Ke? dalam Bengkel Kesihatan Pra-Ramadan anjuran Berita Harian pada Sabtu, 4 Jun.

Beliau, antara lain, akan menyentuh tentang langkah berjaga-jaga yang perlu diambil oleh warga emas semasa berpuasa.

Dr Nur Farhan juga akan membentangkan aspek fisiologi orang tua – perubahan biologi dan psikologi mereka – yang akan berlaku pada setiap tahap kehidupan.

Impak penuaan juga menyebabkan seseorang individu kehilangan atau tidak dapat mempertahan keseimbangan badan.

Segala perubahan ini perlu diketahui dan difahami oleh penjaga warga emas bagi memastikan mereka benar-benar dapat menyesuaikan diri dengan peranan warga emas yang dijaga.

Bahaya jatuh dan hilang upaya juga akan disentuh oleh Dr Nur Farhan.

Justeru, beliau akan menerangkan tentang perlunya warga emas memiliki kemahiran menjaga diri agar mereka berada dalam keadaan fizikal dan psikologi terbaik semasa mengharungi bulan puasa.

Dr Nur Farhan ialah antara tiga anggota panel dalam bengkel ini.

Imam Masjid Al-Muttaqin, Ustaz Muslim Amad, akan turut tampil dan memperkatakan tajuk Hidup Sihat Keluarga Bahagia.

Doktor Keluarga, Dr Elly Sabrina Ismail, pula akan memperkatakan tentang Fit Ramadan Bersama Famili. Makan Dan Senam Sihat Ketika Ramadan.

Secara umum, mereka akan menyentuh tentang menjaga kesihatan sepanjang bulan Ramadan yang perlu sentiasa diberi keutamaan.

Apabila badan cergas seseorang dapat meneruskan puasa tanpa masalah kesihatan.

YANG DAFTAR AWAL DIDAHULUKAN

Penganjur: Berita Harian
Tarikh: 4 Jun 2016
Tempat: Berita Harian, News Centre, Singapore Press Holdings, 1000 Toa Payoh North
Daftar Masuk: Bermula 9.30 pagi
Bengkel: 10 pagi hingga 1 petang
Panel:
- Ustaz Muslim Amad, Imam Masjid Al-Muttaqin
  Tajuk: Hidup Sihat Keluarga Bahagia
- Dr Elly Sabrina Ismail, Doktor Keluarga
  Tajuk: Fit Ramadan Bersama Famili.
  Makan Dan Senam Sihat Ketika Ramadan
- Dr Nur Farhan Mohd Alami, Pakar Geriatrik
  Tajuk: Sudah Tua, Masih Boleh Puasa Ke?
Source: www.beritaharian.sg
May 27, 2016
A Confused Muslim, Once Again

I found myself sucked into a debate while having breakfast at a mamak restaurant recently. It all started with a friendly chat about the call by Penang Opposition Leader, Jahara Hamid to remove a Taoist shrine from Armenian Park in Georgetown.

“You are a Muslim. Tell me why Muslims do this?” asked an uncle who joined me for my morning nasi lemak.

“Apparently they are confused,” I replied with a chuckle.

“I don’t think so. This is something they are doing on purpose. You should know – you are a Muslim.”

Getting somewhat defensive, I blurted, “Not all Muslims are the same.”

“So you don’t practice your religion?” the uncle shot back.

Realising the conversation had taken a serious turn, I tried explaining: “I do practice my religion to the best of my ability. But that is not what we are talking about here.”

“It is precisely what we are talking about. The lady who wanted the shrine to be removed; the man who wanted ‘No Pork’ signs to be banned, the group who wanted the cross taken down – you all have the same faith. You all read the same Holy Book…”

“I disagree. You can’t judge everyone based on the conduct of a small group of Muslims. I do not go around persecuting people. I do not go around telling people how to live their lives. I support freedom and human rights. I am no extremist. Most Muslims are not extremists.” I was clearly upset by now.

“Girl, you follow your Holy Book and so does the confused Muslims and the extreme Muslims. If all Muslims accept the one and only Holy Book and live by it, they are no different from one another. They are all extremists – including you.”

“I disagree. I do not condone discrimination, violence and terrorism. Islam is not a religion of violence. Islam is a religion of peace,” I argued, as the uncle had gotten on my nerves with his blanket judgements.

“Your Holy Book promotes violence. There is even a verse saying: ‘Go and kill.’ Now how can a religion which promotes killings be a peaceful religion?”

“There are more than six thousand verses in our Holy Book – why emphasise on the negatives? Why aren’t you talking about the messages of kindness, love and compassion in most of the verses?” I countered, not realising that I had raised my voice in the process.

The uncle laughed, “Girl, religion is not like a plate of mee goreng you order at a mamak shop. You don’t get to tambah pedas or kurang pedas; tambah taugeh or takdak taugeh; tambah telur or tambah ayam. You can’t be selective of which content suits you and drop those you disagree with.”

The uncle got me thinking. If a good Muslim accepts every single verse in the Holy Book without any argument, does that make me, a cherry-picking liberal Muslim and a moderate, a bad Muslim?

I went home that day, quite confused.

There are approximately 30 million people in Malaysia, 60% of whom are Muslims. If a mere 1% of Malaysia’s 18 million Muslims are extremists, why is it that we haven’t witnessed violence or crime perpetrated by some 180,000 extremists?

Clearly, that could mean only one thing – extreme Malaysian Muslims don’t even make up 1% of our Muslim population. That makes me wonder – why then did the uncle get so worked up over a tiny number of people?

More importantly, if 99% of Malaysian Muslims are non-extremists, why haven’t we seen even 1% of the 17,820,000 non-extremists fighting against extremism in our country?

Maybe that’s what makes us – the non-extreme, moderate ones – bad Muslims. We do not fight injustice and cruelty. We are after all, moderates – in thinking and behaviour. We can talk for hours about Arabisation, Islamaphobia, Zakir Naik, Zionist and Shariah law. But when it comes to fighting extremism and terrorism, we hide behind our moderate robe. That’s the problem with being a moderate Muslim. We tolerate nonsense.

Perhaps that is also why we moderates like to insist that Islam is a peaceful religion – it allows us to justify our laid back attitude. In response to any extreme movement, we, the moderates peacefully make a peaceful statement, clarifying how peaceful Islam is, so we can get back to our peaceful lives, sipping kopi O at Kedai Kopi Ahmad.

In conclusion, although I do not agree with the uncle on most counts, I believe he got one thing right – we are not good Muslims. As long as we tolerate nonsense, the moderates are equally as bad as the extremists.

Source: www.freemalaysiatoday.com

May 27, 2016
SMRT Contractor Suffered Burns After Electrocuted Doing Maintenance Work

A rail worker survived a 750-volt electrical shock yesterday in what appeared to be another serious safety lapse at SMRT.

In an incident that came just two months after a pair of SMRT trainees were killed by a train while they did maintenance work on a track, a contractor sustained burns while working on a power-supplying third rail. The incident happened at around 1.50am near the Sembawang station.

Like the two dead trainees, the injured man was in his 20s. He was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in a Singapore Civil Defence Force ambulance, and was discharged after being treated for electrical burns to his left hand.

SMRT spokesman Patrick Nathan said: “Three SMRT staff, along with two contractors, were on the track by the platform of Sembawang MRT station to conduct maintenance work during engineering hours.

“One of the contractors was using a third-rail gauging bar to measure the height and distance of the third rail from the running rail, to ensure the correct positioning of the third rail, which supplies power to the trains. While carrying this out, the contractor sustained a burn injury to his left hand.”

Mr Nathan said “the necessary approval was given to the team to access the track for the maintenance work”.

“Our findings show that the contractor proceeded to an adjacent sector instead, for which prior approval had not been sought and where the traction power had not been switched off,” he said.

The incident triggered a circuit breaker at the switch room at the Sembawang station.

According to former SMRT employees, there are several layers of protection for workers on the track. Beyond authorising access, workers must be told where they can go. Short circuit devices are also installed, so that in case a third rail is accidentally switched on, workers are not electrocuted by the 750 volts of direct current.

The Land Transport Authority said it would investigate.

On March 22, two SMRT workers were killed by a train travelling at 60kmh near the Pasir Ris station. They were part of a team sent to check a potential equipment flaw.

Last month, SMRT admitted that safety lapses led to the incident.

In a blog post yesterday, National Transport Workers’ Union executive secretary Melvin Yong cited the incident and stressed the importance of workplace safety.

“While service excellence is important, workplace safety should never be compromised,” he wrote.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

May 27, 2016
Wanita Melayu Yasmin Harunnarashid Antara Penerima Tauliah Kadet Spesialis SAF

Lebih 1,200 pegawai ditauliahkan sebagai Kadet Spesialis Angkatan Bersenjata Singapura (SAF) hari ini (26 Mei).

Mereka terdiri daripada anggota Angkatan Tentera Darat, Laut dan Udara Republik Singapura yang selesai menjalani kursus intensif selama 22 minggu.

Sarjan Ketiga (3SG) Yasmin Harunnarashid, gadis bertubuh kecil yang mampu memandu lori seberat lima tan!

Malah beliau ialah salah seorang daripada hanya dua pegawai wanita yang bertugas sepenuh masa di Unit Khidmat Sokongan Pertempuran, bahagian pengangkutan.

Yasmin berkata kerjaya itu menjadi pilihan kerana minatnya terhadap kenderaan besar.

Ia juga dilihat sebagai satu cara memenuhi impian kedua-dua ibu bapanya.

“Mereka (ibu bapa) menyokong pilihan saya dengan sepenuh hati kerana dahulu, mereka pun mahu menyertai SAF tapi mereka terlepas peluang. Jadi apabila saya berada dalam bidang ini saya harap saya dapat menunaikan impian mereka dan membanggakan mereka,” Yasmin memberitahu BERITAMediacorp.

Berkongsi lebih lanjut mengenai pengalamannya sepanjang latihan, Yasmin berkata beliau tidak pernah diberikan layanan istimewa hanya kerana beliau seorang wanita.

Maka itu beliau tidak pernah menggunakan jantinanya sebagai alasan untuk tidak melakukan tugasan yang sama seperti rakan-rakan lelakinya yang lain, meskipun berdepan dengan pelbagai cabaran fizikal dan mental.

Seorang lagi perajurit berjiwa kental ialah Sarjan Ketiga Muhammad Ihsan Ruzani Mohammad Swandi.

Atas kelakonannya yang cemerlang, beliau diberikan Anugerah Bayonet Emas – satu anugerah berprestij yang diberikan kepada 10 peratus kadet terbaik dalam satu-satu kohort.

Ini katanya hasil tunjuk ajar serta kesabaran komander platun yang memimpinnya sepanjang latihan.

“Apabila kami menjalani latihan di Thailand, saya diberi tugasan sebagai Sarjan Platun. Dan walaupun saya banyak membuat kesilapan, Komander Platun saya tidak putus-putus memberi nasihat kepada saya. Saya amat berterima kasih kepada Komander Platun saya kerana tanpa dia saya tidak akan sampai ke tahap ini dan lulus kursus ini dengan cemerlang,” kata Muhammad Ihsan.

Sarjan Ketiga Ihsan dan Yasmin di kalangan lebih 1,200 Kadet Spesialis yang lulus dalam satu latihan lasak selama lima bulan setengah.

Hadir bagi memeriksa Perbarisan Pentauliahan Kadet Spesialis tadi ialah Panglima Angkatan Tentera, Mejar Jeneral Perry Lim.

Menurutnya para kadet spesialis akan memainkan peranan yang berterusan dalam menjaga keamanan serta keselamatan negara.

Tambah beliau, keupayaan tentera untuk bertindak terhadap sesuatu ancaman bukan hanya terletak pada peralatan ataupun struktur pertempuran.

Ia juga bergantung pada keupayaan, komitmen serta semangat juang para anggotanya.

Maka itu penting untuk mempunyai kepimpinan yang kuat di kalangan semua anggota SAF – tidak kira yang berpangkat tinggi mahupun berpangkat rendah

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

May 27, 2016
Panelists: “Creeping Arabisation” Phenomena Could Be Due To Inferiority Complex

KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 ― Self-loathing, ignorance and insecurity were among the main reasons for “Arabisation” taking root in Malaysia’s Malay community, pundits told a forum here last night.

Sociologist Syed Farid al-Attas and historian Eddin Khoo said while the issue may have a more complex origin ― mostly from geopolitics stemming from the Saudi-Iran conflict ― the Arabisation phenomenon here could simply stem from inferiority complex.

“For some reason the Malays often feel very low about themselves. So when they ape the Arabs they believe they are the more authentic (Muslims),” Syed Farid said.

The term “Arabisation” is used among the country’s moderate and progressive Muslims to describe the rapid spread of Islamic conservatism within the community that once prided itself as the global poster boy of progressive Islam.

Khoo noted that prior to the Arabisation phenomenon, the Malays were known for their ability to “internalise” Islam with their own culture.

The result was a rich mix of identity that became unique to this region, he said.

But much of it, like Kuda Kepang and Dikir Barat, have been systematically erased as the community became more eager to prove who is the more “authentic” Muslim, Khoo added.

“There is an internal struggle within the Malays… Malay culture has become the victim of the battle between factions vying for control over who is more Malay (and Muslim),” the historian said in reference to the political rivalry between nationalist Umno and Islamist PAS.

Historian Eddin Khoo speaks at the ‘Arabisation’ forum in Kuala Lumpur, May 23, 2016.Amid the clash of ideologies between the two political parties, there are alarming signs that the more extreme strain of Islam, namely Wahabbism, has crept into the mainstream, Syed Farid said.

This can be seen in the growing intolerance shown by hardline Muslims here towards diversity and religious pluralism, he added, noting that the autocratic ideology of “salafism” appealed to Muslims who wanted to impose their beliefs on others.

“What we are importing is not the faith but the practices and beliefs from a culture from Saudi Arabia.

“So what it is actually is not Arabisation, but the salafisation or Saudi Arabisation process… this is dangerous as this narrow interpretation of Islam can undermine (the diversity) of our religion,” he said, adding later that he was a staunch anti-salafist.

Whistleblower website WikiLeaks revealed recently that Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars, often in covert campaigns, to spread Wahabbism globally.

Wahabbism, a Saudi invention, is a radical, exclusionist puritanism strain of the Sunni sect. Salafis on the other hand are fundamentalists who believe in a return to the way of life of the first three generations of Muslims

The funds are used to spread the belief through the building of mosques, madrasas, schools, and Sunni cultural centers across the Muslim world, leaked documents showed.

Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir speaks at the ‘Arabisation’ forum in Kuala Lumpur. May 23, 2016.

Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, the third panellist at the forum, argued that one of the reasons why Malays want to appropriate Arab culture is because they ignorantly equate the community with Islam, whereas Arabs made up just 15 per cent of the world’s Muslim population.

“Malays have this simple thinking that everything Islam is Arab. But there are so many types of Arabs in the region… so when we try and emulate Arabs, which one are we talking about?” she asked.

Khoo also said adoration of the Arabs by conservative Muslims was likely a psychological problem.

He said some Malays believe weaving Arabic words into their daily speech made them come across as more knowledgeable about Islam.

At the end of the public talk, Syed Farid said cultural assimilation was normal as the Malays had imported various cultural elements from different civilisations throughout history, including from the Arabs.

But he said it was crucial for the community to preserve its own identity while practising Islam.

Source: www.themalaymailonline.com

May 26, 2016