[My previous post was not intended to provoke anyone. It was purely the heartfelt lament of me with regard to the issue. Alhamdulillah, I did receive some feedbacks and they were positive. The feeling was overwhelming when you know that there are someone out there was supporting you. This post is not specifically confined to UNISSA but Brunei as a whole.]
The “ripple effect”
The title, per se, is self-explained and understandable, which is the ripple like effect of water. The effect, in which, the initial impact would produce waves that spread out in a circle incrementally, and depending on the size of the water container and the initial impact the effect varies. And when the ripple has reached the end it will come back to where it begins. This theory is widely used in economics, sociology and other sciences and it is rather relevant in analyzing this particular issue. But what is the water, the object initially dropped into it, the ripple, as well as the boundary or container of the water?
The Titah of his Majesty was the initial impact whereby it has caused a ‘disturbance’ and has created an ‘impact’ on the calm surface of the water, UNISSA. The ripple is the finger-pointing and antagonizing that happen after that and the boundary is the religious aspect of Brunei. There are actually several points of the Titah which has caused a chaotic ‘ripple’ in the pool. One of them is the expectation of the purity of Islam in UNISSA’s education. And His Majesty provided us with the definition of ‘Islam Tulin’, i.e. Islam of the Prophet without any addition of elimination of any kind. Having established that notion, it is worth reflecting back to ourselves, our country and our religious practices in Brunei. How has our religious beliefs and practices differ from the Islam Tulin? Do all our ‘amal ibadat’, culture and traditions are compliant with the ‘Islam tulin’? If yes, prove it? If no, why? Why is UNISSA being forced into this Islam Tulin thingy, as in reality our country’s Islam is not that pure? Who to blame? Who is responsible? Why? The’ ripple’ keeps on going…
Secondly, about the quality of Quran recitation of UNISSA’s students… it was mentioned that it is a compulsory that all UNISSA’s students must be able to recite the Quran very well and it would be such a shame if the students of the Arabic School is better than UNISSA’s. Well, majority of UNISSA’s student were from the Arabic School and Tahfiz Institute so they are excluded. It was meant for those with non-religious background or the English medium courses (Islamic Finance, Law and Business management). But who are responsible that they are not able to read the Quran fluently? Is it UNISSA? Or their parents? Parents cannot be blamed as they have sent their children to the religious school when they were small, from ‘darjah 1 to darjah 6’? So is it the religious school, then? the ineffectiveness of the religious education system? Or is it the students themselves? The list continues… the ripple keeps going…
Thirdly, with regard to the ‘worthless investment’ if we are unable to produce ulama within 4 years of undergraduate study… is it really a useless investment, investing in knowledge? How about our investments all these years? Have we produced enough ulama in Brunei? Which figure in Brunei can be called ulama? Or they are just merely symbol? White and read head gears and long black graduation robe? Is it really a void investment building a university, giving chance to those who want to learn about their religion? The chance that they didn’t previously have? Which of our investments is the most successful, that has benefited us, which are shared equally among the people? None but the massive losses of our money here and there, now and then… the ripple keeps on…
The fourth point is the marketability of UNISSA undergraduates. His Majesty the Sultan (or someone giving him this idea) seems to disagree with the idea of enhancing the marketability of UNISSA graduates. He said that UNISSA does not have to worry about the job prospect of its undergrad as it will take away the focus of giving enough education in producing quality ulama/scholars. Let say we agree to this idea, and we take it as it is, and we implement it in our University what will happen? UNISSA has to eliminate its major stakeholder, i.e. the employer. Be it the government or the private sector. When this happen, UNISSA won’t receive any input and feedback from any of these employer because why should they bother? UNISSA is not interested in them and the employers are not consulted at the first place… Moreover, they are not interested in employing those with no market-based skills (which UNISSA has worked so hard for the students)… Then what will happen to the graduates of UNISSA? Who wants to feed them? Who can they blame for their bad market value? UNISSA? Are there any job opportunities for them? Given the fact that with average marketability there are more than 5000 unemployment in Brunei… how about none? the ripple doesn’t stop…
Earlier this year, His Majesty the Sultan, questioned the MOE regarding the SPN 21. Why religious studies are not made compulsory to the students, and why it stands with music and drama lesson… but I wonder why after such period of time only this matter was raised? Why not during the research and development of the system? Same thing with ‘sepadu’ previously? Why discontinued it before having any results from it? Now there is the differentiated curriculum being implemented? Why change the rules before finishing the game? Who to blame? What must be done to avoid this thing to happen in the future? The questions continue, alongside the ripple…
From late last year to the middle of this year, we were having though times in Brunei. Floods, swine flu, fire, and haze are some of the problems. Even the royal Birthday celebration has to be cancelled and postponed. And this was the time when his majesty questioned the Royal Birthday Committee on such a wasteful event. He asked why the sponsors sponsored, how merrier the event should be, how grand do they want it… but the question is… who de we blame for this matter? The committee, which I remembered saying we must “memeriahkan lagi sambutan ani sebagai tanda syukur kepada ALLAH”? The sponsors? The people? You tell me… the finger-pointing started, so does the ripple..
Zakat was a major phenomena in Brunei just a month ago.. his Majesty’s distributed the zakat fund to all the rightful recipients and declared Brunei as a poverty-free country. It was shocking to see such numerous ‘fakir n miskin’ as well as ‘gharimin’ are there in the Sultanate, a country that is known as wealthy, oil rich, small, and peace. So whose fault is this? The fakir, miskin and gharimin themselves? The able citizens of Brunei, for not helping one another? The employer for not giving local people jobs? Low wages and salaries? The banks, for offering loans? The unequal distribution of natural resources? On and on, the questioning will keep on going… like the ripple in the pool..
These are just some examples which I can think of. And like any ripple on a close container, after it reaches the wall, it will bounce back and eventually meet again at the exact point where it all begun. Then it will repeat again and again until all the energy and momentum fade away. And in our case, this will end only when those in-charges are more responsible and aware of what is actually happening here in Brunei.
this post is not meant to accuse, provoke, undermine anyone anywhere and in any kind, it is just a personal thought and opinion with regard to this matter. And please dont quote any of my words out of context. Any mistakes, inadequacy, fault, harshness in any of my posts are totally regretted and I beg an apology.]