Madrasah Salihiah - What's With Azizan's Over Enthusiasm?

Does anybody know what is up with mb azizan? There has been so many voices of concerns about him, mostly even from pas members. I mean, here we are, at an age and health where so many devote so much of their time in prayers and repentence...well, unless if you are one of the yellow-wearing, yellow bellied anwar supporters...and here we have azizan adamant about tearing down the 100 plus year old Madrasah Salihiah and have Sony Ho transform the Waqf land which was meant for Islamic religious activities into a shopping center. Even azizan's stanchest supporters have kept themselves quiet, too afraid if they are asked.

In a time, since 2008, when many developers from Kedah complaint that the state government is not promoting property development, it was a shocking move when azizan decided to create a joint venture, PKNK with a Penang-based company, Belleview overnight, to develop several chunks of prime state lands, making it one of the most massive property development in Alor Setar in years. As can be seen in the image below, the areas lined in yellow are the areas which are to be developed by Belleview. It is easy to recognize the areas: they are gated with zinc gates with the name of Belleview and ABAI spray-painted on many parts of them.

The blue square is where Madrasah Salihiah is located. Looking at the size of the development to be done by PKNK-Belleview, what is it about the Waqf land where the Madrasah Salihiah stands that azizan and sony ho feverishly wanted to take so much?

Alor Setar, and in fact, the whole state of Kedah has no shortage of developers, but many of them question of deciding on Sony Ho over them. Perhaps azizan finds Kedah developers too much of a small fry.

Many Kedahans wonder why it was so important for azizan to get rid of the surau and is it so important to have a shopping complex built over a Waqf land? We have seen pas, through their misguided exco and spin-dogs try their best to tarnish the image of the surau, such as, it's an insurance office, no jama'ah has ever been conducted there, the surau is not proper etc etc, but they failed miserably to dispute the fact that the Waqf land status remain as it has always been, no matter how much dirt they try to pile on. I mean, this is not a pas headquarters where filth sticks around all the time, this is a Waqf land.

Perhaps it is just azizan trying to have his way as usual? Azizan has always been known to be hard-headed in doing things his way. It's always his way or no way at all. It has never been a secret that the Kedah exco members loathe their own MB: they usually make themselves scarce after exco meetings and any functions that require their presence with azizan. In fact, it has been a weekly gag of Wisma Darulaman staffs betting amongst themselves on "sapa kena tembak" (who got screamed at) during the exco meeting of the day. Phahrolrazi and Amiruddin have been the only two exco members loyal and thick-skinned enough to withstand azizan's choleric tantrum. Then again, many have heard phahrolrazi and amiruddin complaining as, to azizan, his words are the law, no questions asked. He will not listen to your advice, only his own. If you question his decision/advice/ruling, be prepared for the biggest, skin-peeling, sweat squeezing, stomach turning dressing down ever. You think his outburst during the post Banjir Kedah 2010 was bad? Wait till join his exco. Well, on this, we must say that at least Kedah did not end up like Perak's pakatan government where you have Nga and Ngeh of DAP playing power through their dummy from pas, nizar.

But really, why would somebody like azizan  get so engrossed and striving so hard to demolish Madrasah Salihiah? We understand that Azizan's many decisions have earned the ire of fellow pakatan members. In fact, anwar spent so much time conspiring to get rid of azizan ever since day one of his MB tenureship. His lack of priority of giving million-dollar projects to fellow pakatan members have resulted in many quarters chanting about digging azizan's grave, his defence on the College and University Act almost destroyed pas Kedah from within. This time, however, on his obsession to demolish Madrasah Salihiah, pas quietly follows behind him. Of course, to some people, it is obvious why.

With that much enthusiasm, especially with the statement saying that the demolition might be done even while the courts are still discussing about it, azizan sounds like he'll be in the front row, cheering and clapping while watching the surau being demolished on the Waqf land.

Madrasah Salihiah: Ghani's Excuses Full of Tripe

I was reading again the article from Sinar where the Kedah State Exco, Abdul Ghani was giving statementys on why Madrasah Salihiah should be demolished. Below are the points simplified from his rambling excuses:

1) Surau won't be lost - demolish 1 and get 2 in the shopping complex

2) No congregation, no prayers were held in jamaah

3) Surau only open at Zohor and Asar

4) Surau is not 102 years old

5) Madrasah Salihiah is NOT a House of Allah because it doesn't meet the requirements

Based on the points derived, it's clear that he was trying to downplay the status of the surau there and divert attention from the actual matter: the waqf land.

The waqf land where the Madrasah stands was bequeathed more than 100 years ago with the niat for a surau or a mosque to be built there. Even without the surau, buildings meant for other than Islamic religious activities are not permitted.

Ghani's attempt to blindswipe the public by comparing the project to Al-Bukhary Complex was downright stupid...which is not that surprising. The actual waqf land where the original Masjid Alor Malai stood is now empty, surrounded by the Muslim cemetery. Souq Al-Bukhary is NOT located there.

Let me give you another example. Pas supporters love to go to Masjid Al-Irfan, or better known as Masjid Derga as they feel that the friday sermon there is a bit more political than the others which are too religious. As they come in the entrance gate, they will notice that the entrance is semi-circle in shape, with pavement and with seats, other than that, the wide entrance has nothing, oh yes, a very small area parking. The entrance to the parking in front of the mosque is actually where the original Masjid Derga used to stand before it was demolished and a bigger mosque was built. Tell you what, Ghani, why don't you take that waqf land and  use it either to sell kacang putih, your load of tripe or better yet, open a karaoke pub & grill, maybe you can pray that Haji Hamid won't chase you out with a huge stick.

My point is: it is a waqf land, how do you justify building a shopping complex all the way right down to the waqf land? The 2 examples given show that even after demolition, the land was left empty, no shopping complex, no markas pas etc. Ghani has not given any reasonable justification, just the usual gibberish on how the end justifies its means. Still with the "matlamat menghalalkan cara."

So how much did the developer ACTUALLY pay for the land which a portion of it was used to compensate the heirs? RM1.48m is too little for a prime land located in the city under the commercial zoning, isn't it?

Anyway, why the surau? How come the church is not involved? Is the old surau sticking out like a sore thumb outside the modern-designed shopping complex? Will the call to prayer sound too odd for the shoppers in the mall? It is strange that Ghani condemns the surau in almost each and every statement that he made, but deviates away from the status of the waqf land. He can condemn, spit, lie as usual and even huff, puff and blow his own cheap toupee down, but the actual status of the waqf land has been breached by PIS so that they can have a development that they can show during the elections.

So there's no 24/7 jamaah activity, the status of the land remains the same.

So the building's not 102 years old, but the status of the land is

Even if Madrasah Salihiah is not considered a surau proper by PIS' standards, there are still religious activities going on there, and the status of the waqf land remains the same.


With all that, which mosque would you like to compare your project to now?

We have just received news that Persatuan Kerabat DiRaja Kedah (PKDK), led by Datuk Tengku Zainol Rashid Tengku Yahya has joined the wagon to oppose the demolition of Madrasah Salihiah. Here are the excerpts from his statement:

"Saya dilahir dan dibesarkan di bandar raya ini dan saya rasa sejak kecil lagi Madrasah Salihiah sudah wujud di Kancut.

"Apabila kerajaan negeri mahu merobohkan madrasah ini, saya sebagai anak jati Alor Setar berasa sedih kerana kerajaan negeri langsung tidak prihatin dengan nilai sejarah yang ada pada madrasah tersebut.

"Madrasah Salihiah patut dibiarkan beroperasi ditapak asal jika kerajaan negeri tetap mahu meneruskan projek pembangunan di kawasan tersebut.

"Di dalam kompleks beli-belah pihak pemaju memang perlu sediakan surau, jadi jangan jadikan alasan surau yang akan dibina ini menjadi ganti kepada Madrasah Salihiah yang telah lama wujud di Kedah," - Tengku Zainol Rashid

I guess by now, Azizan, Ghani and the whole PIS-led state government are really PIS-sed off, but they are still being PIS-sed on.

Madrasah Salihian: PIS' Dressing Up Act Gets A Dressing Down

When they announced the redevelopment of the Tengku Yaakob Plaza, everybody was quite pleased to see that finally the 35+ year old abandoned project has finally given a new light, albeit with a developer whose credentials are quite well known in Penang which drove him here. The developer has vowed to create the plaza as "The O)rchard Road" of Alor Setar...hopefully without the transexuals...

Where is the actual project? Here's a google satellite image to further illustrate:

1) The area marked in yellow is the land belonging to Tengku Yaakob.

2) The area marked in light blue is the area taken over by the developer and PKNK to develop as part of the shopping complex

3) The red dot marks the location of Madrasah Salihiah

It's quite strange to see that the original complex has nothing to do with the areas outside of Tengku Yaakob's original plan. Still, whatever it is, PIS is very determined to demolish the 102 year old Madrasah Salihiah. In fact, their exco, Ghani has given the excuses on why. Most of what he said are rhetoric and formulaic, but I find these statement quite boggling. Here are the excerpts:


Exco perjelas isu madrasah (Click here for the full article)
Oleh : ROSLINDA HASHIM
Tarikh : January 1, 2012

Excerpt:

“Masjid Alor Malai pernah dirobohkan untuk bangunkan kompleks Al-Bukhari, yang menempatkan kompleks perniagaan. Sebuah masjid baru dibina bukan atas tapak lama, tetapi di lokasi lain dengan kaedah istibdal, sama seperti kaedah Madrasah Salihiah,” katanya.

Menurutnya, ianya tidak dijadikan isu kerana ketika itu Kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN) memerintah, dan Pas selaku pembangkang tahu hukum hakam dan tidak membantah.

This statement really caught my attention: “Masjid Alor Malai pernah dirobohkan untuk bangunkan kompleks Al-Bukhari, yang menempatkan kompleks perniagaan. Sebuah masjid baru dibina bukan atas tapak lama, tetapi di lokasi lain dengan kaedah istibdal, sama seperti kaedah Madrasah Salihiah,” katanya.

As usual, pas tries to justify its means by relating the issue to something which sounds similar but not even close to being the same. For this, allow me to illustrate with the picture below:

Above is a satellite image of Kompleks Bukhary...no, mahfuz, looking at a satellite image DOES not make you an ANGKASA-1!!!

Circled in white is the actual site of Masjid Alor Malai. The land was made waqf by Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar's grandfather, with the niat for an Islamic worshiping place, in short, a surau or a mosque. The waqf land is the mosque a part of the surrounding Islamic cemetery, and that's it. The claim by Ghani stating that a building for commercial activity (shopping complex) was never built on the waqf land. Souq Al-Bukhary is built on a patch of land which was once a wet market, bought by Yayasan Al-Bukhary from the former Majlis Perbadaran Kota Setar. In short, it was already a place of commercial activity, enhanced by Yayasan to be a bigger and more prominent business complex. You can find Giant, Bank Muamalat, DRB-Hicom and retail outlets there.

The Kompleks Al-Bukhary consists of the Al-Bukhary Mosque, administration complex, an orphanage dormitory and the Al-Bukhary International University, and these too, are not built on the waqf land. The complex, the mosque and the university is not connected to the shopping complex either.

There is no business activity at the complex, so how can an Exco for Kedah State Government cannot recognize the difference between the mosque, the complex and the souq? Or is it really he couldn't recognize. So, is this another one of pis' method of informing people by misinforming them? Or is this another one of pis' "menghalalkan cara?" Or maybe pas just had to keep the money?

By the way, if the surau is replaced as a seperate building, why demolish it in the first place? If the new shopping center is as shown, where will the surau be? Basement? Or is it in the parking bay? Don't you think religious activities other than praying with the congregation be affected? Will there be any teenagers joining the congregation with all those shopping mall activities going on? If there are musical events there, will it affect the religious activities there? I thought PIS always promote religious events, but maybe the next tilawah will be organized by pas in a karaoke lounge, next to the cocktail bar.

By the way, Ghani said that those who came to protest are from Taman Wira Mergong. Does he know that a number of descendants of the man who left the waqf land actually live there? But as an exco, I don't think he spends his time researching.

The Kompleks Al-Bukhary and Souq Al-Bukhary were never an issue. It is true that it was done in the istibdal way, where the old Alor Malai mosque was demolished so that a bigger, Al-Bukhary mosque was built but, no part of the complex and the shopping bazaar/souq were ever built on the waqf land. To PIS (Party Islam Se-Malaysia), never ever justify your wrongdoings with issues that never were. Stop blinding people in one eye, that is just un-Islamic...but then again, whoever said that PIS was Islamic ever? All we know now is that, the PIS-sed off Parti Islam Se-Malaysia Kedah is getting PIS-sed on.

Where is that Imam Mahadi of Permatang Pauh with his bent sword? Is he coming to serve justice by ramming his sword into people's...err..back?

Hey look, the New World Order is coming...

As Pas Clowns Around, The Madrasah Shall Fall...

Just like pas to have it their way, not in a religious way. To them, the end justify the means, or shall i say it more approproately, matlamat menghalalkan cara. To me, this is never a surprise, remembering that pas has always bowed to their old codger called nik ajis, who always try hard to claim himself as an ulama.

I remembered how n.ajis stated that it is alright to use money contributed by the jewish-controlled NED to operate Bersih 2.0 because in the end, Malaysia will be free...of course, we have no idea from what. Yes, maybe free from Barisan but right into the hands of the New World Order. It doesn't even matter if the money comes from the same piggy bank that is used to fund the unrest in the middle east and killing of more Palestinians in Palestine, the end justifies its means.

There are times that we feel humbled, especially when we enter God's house, where we see how insignificant we are and how everybody is equal as you are. Of course, with pas as a religion, that can be very hard. Why is that so? Well, anybody who chooses pas as their path instead of Islam usually has their status elevated to that of an ulama' or at least Ustaz (teacher).

Take Bob "The Clown" Lokman for example. Many people consider him the king of clown on the networks, but now his status has been elevated, he is now a high priest of pas, branding Johoreans infidels and so on. In short, he is now the chief clown of the masses, equal to mahfuz omar. The choice of bob, mat sapu, mahfuz as leaders of a so-called religious party only goes to show how close we are the prophecy on the end of days, where people who are not even educated religiously (or primarily) will be appointed to lead the Muslims or a group of Muslims.

A man passed away, bequeathing his land to his children/heir, intends its use as a surau/madrasah, and along comes pas with a high-profiled developer, wanting to demolish the madrasah so that a shopping mall can be built. Of course DAP will not step in, unless pas is destroying a nature conservation and replaced with a parking lot. Is the need for a shopping center that great for pas that it chooses to sacrifice the madrasah? What type of kebajikan is that?

Madrasah Salihiah was built in 1909 on a wakaf land. For 102 years the madrasah has become the religious point for its qariah within 5-8km radius, and now, after a century or so, the Pas State Government sent a notice to vacate the building so that it can be demolished. Say, weren't they the ones who made such a big noise to have the old, rotting shophouses in Penang NOT to be demolished for heritage's sake? But then, dap has always been self-centered, racist and selfish anyway.

It is quite strange that in 2010, the Jawatankuasa Fatwa Kedah declared that the madrasah should be preserved and continue its religious activities. But what is Jawatankuasa Fatwa Kedah against the might of a party who has the power to brand non-pas supporters as heretics and infidels? Pas is indeed the all powerful, never do wrong, never make mistake kind of people...most of them with one eye blind.

According to the state government, the madrasah will be replaced by a surau in the shopping complex. Savvy, huh?

To those who would want to see the Madrasah Salihiah continue its existence as a religious center of the area, and/or as part of Kedah's heritage, we would invite you to this event:

PROGRAM MUNAJAT PERDANA - SAVE MADRASAH SALIHIAH

Date : Saturday 31st December 2011

Time: 12noon - 5 p.m.

Location: Madrasah Salihiah, Jalan Tambang Badak, Alor Setar, Kedah

Program:

- Zohor and Hajat Prayers

- Talks on "The Honor of Jihad" by Al-Ustaz Fathul Bahri Mat Jahaya

- Marhaban & Selawat Nabi

- Food & refreshments

- Signature campaign for Save Madrasah Salihiah

Come one, come all.

It's a sad affair, the revered Sultan Kedah is now KDYMM Seri Paduka Baginda Yang Dipertuan Agung for the 2nd time in his life, and the state government, controlled by seemingly professional and religious people, giving a black eye to Islam so that they can have their "Orchard Road of Alor Setar."

Perhaps it is the time for many in pas to return to Islam as their way of life. Just maybe, maybe, they can find a way to make the end justify its means when they answer to the Everlasting?