Tribute to Kedah: State's Office Secretary 1900

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

The exact date of the term "State Secretary" being first used in Kedah is not so clear. Some administrator figure of Kedah such as Che Muhammad 'Ariffin bin Muhammad Arshad had already being given this title and assuming this position since the 3rd of Shawwal 1323 (3rd October 1905). It is also used in official letters for state office for example in State Secretary's official letter in 17 Dzulhijjah 1323 (12 February 1906) (Malay is still written in Classical Arabic writing and our state was using Hijrah calender, not like today):

"The letter to Che Muhammad 'Ariffin Secretary to Che Awang 'Othman in Penang regarding the matter of marble purchasing which will be used at the Sultan's residence". 

In the same time, Che Muhammad 'Ariffin also used to write his position as "Sultan's Secretary". This could be seen in the notes of State's Meeting Council which enlisted the attendance of the Council's members each time the meeting was conducted. He wrote his position such as: "Secretary of His Highness Sultan." In this matter, it could be seen that Mr. Muhammad 'Ariffin was the secretary of the state and the secretary of the Sultan.

In the Kedah administration hierarchy since before the World War II, the highest of the structure was our Sultan. The State's Secretary was the highest administration officer in this Malay country. Before 1921, the Kedah Civil Service was not yet in existence and the administration officers were known as Malay Civil Service. The head of the administrators were known as Kepala Pekerjaan or Ketuha Pekerjaan. Both of these terms mean Chief of the Job. Notice that they still used Proto-Malay word, which is ketuha (chief).

Referring to the Annual Report of 1937, there were about 61 servants in the Kedah Civil Service with 21 cadets. The office of the State's Secretary began in the Balai Besar or Grand Hall just like the office of State's Office Council. In 1911, it was shifted to one level building which was build with woods located in the Middle Fort Palace Complex beside today's State's Building.       

Besides Secretariat, other name for the State's Secretary Office usually known by the public as Opis Dalam. It means internal office in English, hahaha. It does not mean that the office is inside the palace complex or in the palace but it refers to the function and the role of the office in handling our state's internal affairs. 

In 1348 (1929), the office was again shifted to the two levels house made with bricks. It exists until now. This building is located close to the earlier office which was later being demolished. When Japanese Imperial Army invading our state/country around December 1941, the army regime administration was then introduced by Mayor General Sukigawa Seiji who assumed the position of Governor and K. Shiba as his adviser. They made the State's Secretary Office as their head quarter. So, Arabs in Kedah had also experienced being invaded by Japanese. I wonder what will happen if Japanese managed to invade Middle East jah? Maybe Middle Easterners could also learn some Bushido or Shindo or bowing to the East to Tenno Heika, LOL.       

In 18th October 1943, the official ceremony to return the power on Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu by Japanese to Thai empire happened in Alor Setar which is our capital until now. Thai General Governor who was responsible in the affairs of these four Malay states/countries was Khun Rongchart while the Governor of Kedah was Khun Pramod Chongchareum. Both of them used the same office used by the Japanese as their head quarter until the end of the Thai empire administration in September 1945. Haji Muhammad Shariff 'Othman was maintained as the Kedah State's Secretary while the Thai Governor for Kedah acted as the adviser for him.

We learned a subject known as Pengajian Am (General Knowledge) when we were in Form Six which was the highest academic level for high school and it took us two years for any subject that we choose. The subject deals with our country's judicial system, administration and decision-making. Basically, we think differently from people who consider a political party is the same as government because it is different, lol. For history, I think students before my time could choose to study history such as South East Asia, Islamic Civilization and etc. I found few books of my elder sisters and I saw that they also learned about Thailand and other South East Asian countries like the Philippines and Vietnam. Quite interesting. Not many people today understand regional history in Malaysia. We were not simply a country but previously nation-states. The model of political and in Malaysia is exactly the model of colonial British. We said British this and that. But I think we actually love them, hahaha. Thank you Great Britain : )    

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love amin!

Tribute to Kedah : Some of History of Administration in 19th C II

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

I put this post here so foreign students who study in our university be it from South East Asia or other parts of the world could also access about the original possessor of Pulau Pinang where our institution is build on. Penang was the belonging of Kedah Sultanate. The same goes to Perlis state, hahaha. I don't care what Penangites wanted to say about this and I would like to be blunt that their form of Malay is not nice to my ears because they also commented that our Malay sounds more nasal, fast, difficult to be understood and weird. Some of my undergraduate colleague from Penang maybe pretended that they don't understand my Kedah Malay maybe to boast that they are urban people and we are from village. I live in Kuala Lumpur most of my life and never in my parents village (only sometimes with grandparents in Perlis) but I still can speak in our state Malay and not so fluent in others' Malay. I use English or Chinese when people do not understand my Malay. Most Chinese people in Penang that I found actually can speak in Kedah Malay as compared to those Malays (mamak or Indian Muslims) who speak in Indian style of North Malay language.

Penangites should be aware about this fact that they belong to us no matter if the island was already sold by trick to British. In the same time, when I mingle with some foreign students, I found that it is quite disappointing because they are not aware about their local friends origin nor bother trying to find out about their local friends but they had lived here more than a year. As for me I am aware about them all be they from India, Pakistan or China including about Indonesians and each main islands' history though I never been to their countries. Their people are abundant here especially in southern Malaysian states including who were issued with identity card from government officials in 1970s-1990s onward because they share ethnicity with southern Malay states citizens.

I also read Indonesian authors' book be it of socialism, communism and religious ideologies (Hindu and Islam) though I don't understand the vocabulary used as the veteran writers in Indonesia used Dutch words and other ethnic languages as compared to them who read nothing about their neighbors' books or literature so they are not aware that people are different. They assume that people in Malaysia might be the same or serumpun with them because of the language used in institutional Malaysia was standardized with their language but the fact about citizens is not like that. I also talked about the treatise of Arab descents that I found in our old house in the issue that the Ministry of Education tried to banish the usage of Arabic script in Malay documents simply because they want to standardize Classical Malay with more "modern" Indonesian language and another reason is to make Malay wider spoken by non-Malay and non-Arab ethnics. Our elders actually do not like the idea because it makes younger people and other Muslim ethnics becoming far from scripture studies.

Last time we have huge Arabic and Farsi terms in Classical Malay and these were also used in Kedah high level of speeches. It still survives in our form of Malay that I used to speak with our elders for example such as :

Persian Origin
 
1. Haram zadah/jadah - bastard
2. Dastar - turban
3. Faranggi - European, nowadays elders begin to use local word such as orang puteh (whites)
4. Samaan - bag, furniture, carpenter
5. Paqqir/Faqir - a sufi term to refer to one self when speaking to other respectable person as a sign of humility. It actually means I and I sometimes translate this into Chinese too when speaking to fellow Muslim Chinese brothers but I dunno if they understood this, hahahaha
6. Narang - orange

Arabic Origin and Pronunciation

1. Wazir - minister, supervisor
2. Daqqtour - doctor, Arabic style pronunciation, lol
3. Buzah - Buddha
4. Ittihaad - economy
5. Siyaasah - politics
6. Sundoq - piggy bank
7. Kitab - books no matter what ever book
8. Rodyu - Radio
9. Talavizen - Television
10. Jahannam - ruined, actually in real Arabic it means hell
11. Habeeb - usually used by Yemenite mission order people to refer to fellow brothers
12. Nazam - arrangement
13. Mishwarah - meeting
14. Mutakallim -  speaker, moderator, academic speeches
15. Fikrah - idea
16. Madrasah - school, sometimes we also say melele which refers to religious school
17. Toffah - apple, this is imported fruit, Kelantanese if I am not mistaken also use the same word

These word actually were still used 15 years ago when I mingled with our elders. Even now when I am writing in Malay also I am using some of these words an terms and many other friends actually do not understand it. It is only used among our people but sometimes I had forgotten and using them with non-Arab descent friends while talking. It also denotes our ethnicity and how orthodox we are in term of culture. Elders would also use the word according to period of time. Nowadays very difficult to hear these kind of speech anymore because many have passed away. Many youngsters now had abandon these simply because they found it as not modern and orthodox and nobody teach them these. So, this is the price that we pay just because we wanted to be looked modern or in the same level with others. I don't think if this is important but my experience now only shows that we will receive disappointment when we try to imitate others because others are also not strong in their identity. Why not we be proud with the identity that we already possessed? We are also proficient in our villages style of speech when we make friend with village folks. When rewinding these words, it makes me wanted to seriously learn Farsi and polishing my Arabic but now I am still occupied... huhuhuhu.....  

I would like to advise as a Muslim who are not bounded by geography, try to be aware and caring about each other. Recognize diversity and differences. Don't be selfish and thinking that only we are the one who inhabit the earth. If we have this kind of attitude we won't be mercy-compassionate to ourselves and others.      

Figures from Kedah post-Malaysia 1957

Tunku Abdul Rahman

The Sultanate of Kedah has leaders who looks far to the future. They think also about the future of the sultanate and its safety. Among them is Tunku Abdul Rahman who was the first Prime Minister of Malaysia. He was the son of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah from the Sultanate of Kedah. I am sure Indonesian friends know about him because he was the figure who was involved in the Confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia where Soekarno at that time was the President of the Republic of Indonesia. Tunku Abdul Rahman mother is a Mon ethnic of Martaban royal family from today's Myanmar and she was a Buddhist. Mon is an ancient ethnic of Myanmar and Thailand. They are not identical to Thais. When their country was annexed, the Mons and their royalties ran to Siam and seeking refuge because the emperor of Siam has family connection with the Mons royalties. The Mons are devout Theravada Buddhists, Buddhist missionaries and their ancient country were known as Phra Nakorn Sri Dvaravati which consists of ancient city-states in modern Thailand today and Myanmar. There was a temple dedicated to the maternal grandmother of Tunku Abdul Rahman in Alor Setar. My late maternal grandpa call it as melele which means temple to gain meritorious deeds. Melele also refer to Islamic madrasah in our state language.

Mahathir Muhammad

Other one who become known in federal stage is Mahathir Muhammad. He is from Alor Setar. His father is an Indian Muslim whose origin from Kerala state of India.  I was born in his era where he begins his career as a prime minister in 1981 the year where my third sister was born and he resigned in 2003 where I was an O-Level student in Semenyih in Selangor. I will be honest here too. I do not like this guy for some of his ideas, I don't care about his visions and I think he is an ego though he is from my state but during his time he also tries to bring back our state's ancient connection with Cambodia because we can watch many Cambodian and Thai movies in government television channel. Because of this, we are aware also about other ASEAN countries as compared to other ASEAN countries citizen. Because of him too I am now a political studies student and not a religious studies student. He said that we, madrasah and religious studies students will only be tukang kukuq nyiuq (coconut grater guy) in the village. It also means that when trying to catch up with materialism development, we have to look down on religious studies? Actually religious studies students were aware about the need of technology and we never look down at physical science studies but we were attacked by politicians and becoming the victims of situation. People even in religious school had also lose respect to their own self when listening to this kind of speech and we become not confident with our selves and for me I lose faith in our own religion after listening to this. People are of different nature, inclination and ability. That is the fact that this guy should realize.

So, two of Malaysian Prime Ministers were from Kedah Sultanate. One who was known as Abdullah Badawi was from mainland Penang and it was our territory too. Actually I am not trying to be proud with all of these figures because I don't care at all about them. I just care about my state and our sultanate like our ancestors did. If people asking me what is my citizenship now, I will first say I am from Kedah no matter if people recognize it or not in world map. Then only I will say I hold Malaysian passport. So, this is the complexity of Malaysia as a Federation of states/countries.   

Figures in Kedah in Pre-Malaysia

Before 1957, there were two figures being appointed as Kedah Chief Minister. At this time only our status as a country being degraded to a state so our officials like Prime Minister have to be called as Chief Minister to represent the authority of our country/state.

The first is Haji Muhammad Sharif bin Osman (1948-1954) and the second is His Highness Tunku Isma'il bin Tunku Yahya (1954-1959). Both of them were the pioneer for today's administration system in our sultanate. They had revolutionized our sultanate education system, religion, public health and medical system, communication and urban development. They are all in social, economic and political development.

When Malayan Peninsula achieved its independence from British Empire or the Great Britain, Kedah Sultanate begin to receive new projects and infrastructures according to phases through our Chief Ministers chosen by citizens who tried to defend our rights at Federal Territory level. 

Those who became Chief Ministers of Kedah after 1957 were :

1. Sayyid Omar bin Sayyid Abdullah Shahabuddin, 1959-1967

2. Sayyid Ahmad bin Sayyid Mahmud Shahbuddin, 1967-1978

3. Sayyid Nahar bin Sayyid Sheikh Shahabuddin, 1978-1985

4. Osman bin Arof 1985-1995

5. Sanusi bin Junid, 1995-1999

6. Sayyid Razak bin Sayyid Zayn Barakbah, 1999-2005

7. Mahadzir Khalid, 2005-2008

8. Azizan Abdul Razak, 2008-2012

Urm, most of these ministers are of Arab descent and actually were Malayan Arabs or Hadramis/Yemenis just like my self and others who are now considering themselves as Malay. Now I will call them Arab who deny themselves or Arab tak sedar diri, hahaha. How do we know that they are non-Malays? They used the title Sayyid. There are also Arabs who used the title Wan like my previous post talked about, those who used the title Sharif or Malay folks will call them as Soreahh, those who only used the title Sheikh to denote their religious teacher ancestors and also those who omit their title because of few reasons. Besides that, there are also Indian Muslim who put the name Sayyid to their son who is born in Friday especially from Penang. This one is not Sayyid of Arab ancestry. It is known as Sayyid Juma'at, hahaha. Usually orthodox Arab descents will only permit their people to marry their daughters or those who are related to them because of their interpretation of their traditional school of jurisprudence, Shafi'ie madzhab. Immigrant Arabs were not as orthodox as this, hahaha. Nowadays, some do not really care about this anymore. I am also laughing to this kind of people if they still exist, hahahaa.

I am not sure about the ethnicity status of the fourth Chief Minister of Kedah Sultanate. My dad served his office as a secretary around 1994-1995 in Wisma Darul Aman. At this time I had to move with my family to Kedah state like what I talked in previous posts. Sanusi bin Junid is an Achehnese by ethnicity. So, Malayan Arabs actually were involved in our state affairs. All of these people were representing the Malay Nationalist party so I guess that is why I am also forced to be assumed as other ethnicity though I am not a politician. The current Chief Minister, Mr. Azizan Abdul Razak is not from Malay Nationalist party but from Islamic brotherhood party.

I don't care much about political party but this is the scene of our politics. I assume the seventh and the current Chief Minister as Malays too but who knows they might also have Arab or Indian ancestry too. It is a very personal matter unless if they themselves talk about this or showing their lineage lists according to their family oral traditions of elders. Usually younger generations do not care much and elders also do not care to tell younger generations unless if the younger one ask them or forcing them to speak out. 

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love amin!          

Tribute to Kedah : Some History on Administration in Late 19th Century

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Introduction

I am a bumiputera (native) of the state of Kedah but I am not a Malay. Our people during British period were registered as Malayan Arabs and divided between immigrants Arabs who came after British double administration and Malayan Arabs who were invited by the Sultans to serve the court and nobility in term of religion and others during the period of 15th to 17th centuries. Immigrant Arabs in our olden days state mostly were from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Malayan Arabs originally were Yemenis who came from Yemen and India/Pakistan. Today the word Arab is omitted from our identification as to make it easier for them so people are calling us Malays and grouping us as Malays. It is not correct.  In other Malay states, we were not considered as natives. That is why we lived like 19th century immigrants and having to live like poor people in our federal territories. When some Malays are talking about this rights and that rights, we understood how immigrants feel. We tell some Malay brothers that we are also non-Malays and why must you talk like that? But they called us as Melayu tak sedar diri or Malays who deny themselves as Malays.

We are not Malays. My throat sore each time I talk with people from other states including with non-Malay compatriots who keep asking me.... wo kan ni bushi huaren, ni yinggai shi malay ren (It seems like you're non-Chinese, you must be a Malay) : S It is so frustrating. Only people from our state and from our state's palace know about us and our ethnicity. I do not prefer to be grouped as Malays because we are already the natives of our states. I don't hate Malays and many of my relatives are married to Malays but why we are forced to be something which we are not? We speak in the language because it is our state's national language. It is in the form of Kedah Malay with smattering of Arabic and Persian words as compared to other natives like Malays of Kedah because they speak in another form of Malay. We do not speak in the southern Riau Malay (Indonesian island next to Singapore) which was chosen to be the slang and the national language of Malaysia. Actually when I speak in Malaysian Malay, my Malaysian Malay sounds more like Thai slang which is mistaken by some people who never mingle with Thais as Chinese Malay slang and I am only fluent in my state's Malay.  

We still call Kedah state as the Sultanate of Kedah. Last time I talked with a Phd student from China at our level. I did not get the chance to ask his name because he was so eager to know about Malaysia. He asked me whether I am a Chinese or a Malay? I just answered him I am not a Chinese nor a Malay. I am not an Indian also. I am an Arab descent and only a Muslim. Our state traced its history since first century. The sultan today traced his ancestry from previous Hindu rajas. We have gone through a very long history in Malayan Peninsula and we were not yet apart of Malayan Federation until 1948 and later forming a state in Malaysia until 1957. Not all people could have access to museums right? So this site is also serving the people as a museum. It is more interesting than European studies, hahaha.  

Brief History

In the end of 19th century, while we were suppressed as Siamese vassal state in the south, we already have our own developed administration system. The system was quite modern. Beginning in the era of Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin (1853-1879), Kedah sultanate become a modern state and increasingly developing.

This situation goes on until the exchange of vassal authority from Siam Empire to British Empire in 15th of July 1909. Our 25th sultan, which was Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah (1882-1943) in the beginning of his rule had managed to visit few countries such as Thailand, India, Burma and Europe in order to get some ideas on how to manage the country. Yes, we were a country, not a state like today. These efforts was initialized by his father before it becomes more stimulating when Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah assume his throne.  

In this efforts of developing our sultanate, the sultan was assisted by few able leaders who among them are the member of royalties themselves such as : 

1. Tunku Abdul Aziz (Young King)

2. Tunku Ibrahim

3. Wan Muhammad Saman

People with the title wan were aristocrats of Arabian ancestry but absorbed into the court. I found that the same thing also happened in Brunei and Sarawak in Borneo Island. In 1870, during the era of Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Mukarram Shah, Wan Muhammad Saman was appointed as the Prime Minister of our country (Kedah). Malaysian historian such as Khoo Kay Kim emphasized that Kedah had developed its political system in a more systematic way as compared to other Malay nation-states in Western coast of the Malayan peninsula. Before British interfering in our country affairs, Kedah already posses few experienced government officials who played significant role in the administration and management system of the state. Because of that too, Kedah Sultanate did not have to depend on many British officials in the more southern countries such as Perak and Selangor.     

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!

How Policies are Made in EU II

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Policy Making: Differences between Policy and Decision

Decision

Decision is choice or solution that ends some uncertainty or reduce contention (Peterson & Bonberg, 1999). Choice made is a decision. Decisions are building blocks of policies. Decision answers questions on what to do regarding something, when to do something, who are involved, and where it is applicable. 

Policy

Policy refers to action or inaction by public authorities who are facing choices between alternative courses of public action (Peterson & Bonberg, 1999; Colebatch, 1998). In some circumstance, official policy could also has overt and covert policies. Overt policies means policies which could be founded in papers while covert refers to policies of major implementation.

Pillars of European Union (EU)

1. First Pillar is of supranational in nature, European Commission (EC).

2. Second Pillar is intergovernmental in nature, Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).

3. Third Pillar also intergovernmental, for example Justice and Home Affairs for policy such as immigration.

Each of them has specific decision making procedures and methods of cooperation between states and the EU. If we compare this to ASEAN, ASEAN is more haphazard but now it also has few pillars. We are ASEAN member countries' citizens but we know nothing about the organization right? The same goes to European citizens. 

First Pillar

It comprises of common policy areas governed by the EU as a supranational system of governance. Decisions and policies are made by acting through EU institutions which are the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament (EP). Policy areas affected are such as Europe Monetary Union, citizenship, movement of people, and single market. They tend to be legalistic and binding under EU law. Co-decision procedure is usually used for policies in first pillar.

Second Pillar

It deals with CFSP. EU wide defense policy and capability at dealing with conflicts within the EU and surrounding areas. It deals with disasters, peace keeping duties, humanitarian aids and relief operations. The cooperation between member states in the EU in this regard is intergovernmental in nature. Decisions are political than legalistic. The decisions are non-binding under the EU law. Decisions are made using consultation procedure.

Third Pillar

It is under the Justice and Home Affairs where it includes the asylum and immigration policies. There are cooperation between police forces and courts to prevent cross crimes. It apply common rules on common external problems. Although purely intergovernmental, but under the Treaty of Amsterdam (TEA) some areas have been transferred into the first pillar. Consultation procedure is commonly used for decision making while the member states drive the process.

Refer to part I

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin! 

How Policies are Made in EU I

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

State House, Malacca

Try to compare everything with Shariah Islamiah which is our Way of Life. Compare with our own countries and look at how those politicians behave no matter at the coalition or alternative side. As an ex-religious studies student, I urge that the Qadis (Jurists), Muftis and fellow pure religious studies students to begin looking at these matters seriously! The end is very close but we are not certain when, only He knows. We are currently in Economy Crisis and check what happened in the Europe which also dragged the World into a series of world wars. His Mercy must be exercised dear beloved brothers and sisters! 

Don't just wait, act now and the initial step is to understand what are those Westerners think through their own framework! It does not mean that we abandon our Lord when we study them. It is a precaution to avoid from disasters from human faults. Establish the study for these in your institutions. I am actually begging brothers and sisters on my knees. I don't care if people are listening or not. I do this because I love my brethren, may everyone be blessed!

We also have decision-making process which is divinely and naturally revealed by the God while the ones that we are holding and practicing right now are from human being who have to think hard and boasting around (they are spiritually and morally empty). We had already learned that human could also receive inspiration from the God if not the Revelation like prophets or messengers of the God. But inspiration is not as equal as Revelation.

For Muslims, we have the Quran and Sunnah which should be the basis of our constitutions as they are natural but we refused them for man-made ideologies. We create terms which is not natural to explain certain theories and matters that happened. Choice is with us, not on others. I will be lying to say that I don't care. I am disappointed and sad with people who call themselves Muslim but they are skeptical with the Revelation which is the basis of our faith to Him. Changes does not come in a day, but it comes gradually. Its principles are the same with the principles of exercising the Guidance of the Lord which is His Mercy. I wish this benefit my beloved brothers and sisters, it's not easy to jot down all these notes from the source. I'm just performing a qurbana (sacrifice) for brethren of nations, may everyone receive His Love.

Introduction

Complexity in Policy-Making Process

Policy making process is the most complicated process in the European Union (EU). There are several reasons on why it is complicated: 

1. EU is both a supranational and intergovernmental body.

2. It has to use different ways in policy-making.

3. There are sets of factors involved in policy-making (Nugent, 2006)

    

a. those involved in EU institutions.

b. those involved in the policy-making are governments and EU member states.

c. those involved with Euro currency and national interests. 

4. Considerations on the levels of actors' motivations for participation:

    

a. circumstances and possession of legal or political power. 

b. different set of actors have different level of power.

c. these different actors at different level of power has overlapping influence and crosses between tiers.

d. level of priority given to particular issue and consequences of involvement.

e. level of power resources at disposal of actor.

5. Channels of participation also contribute to complexity in decision-making:

a. channels for decisions vary in the levels of their complexity and exhaustiveness.

b. some channels are easy and straightforward, others have multiple actors competing to determine outcomes.

c. multilevel governance - differences in relative importance of EU, member states, sub-national levels and between linkages between different levels, this could also be linked to immigration policy.

d. level of security involved, it depends on level of forums they've conducted e.g at ministerial level, heads of states, council, COREPER, committees, or working groups.

e. level of formality and structure involved whether the process takes place within the Council, European plenary sessions or joint European Parliament (EP) and European Council delegation meetings.   

Part I done... Try also read materials in Europa about Decision-Making Procedures.

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!