Review Filem Perempuan Berkalung Sorban

Saya terdetik untuk menonton filem ini setelah membaca reviewnya di blog Saudara Faisal Tehrani. Ini merupakan filem kedua yang berunsurkan Islamik daripada seberang yang telah saya tonton setelah Ayat-ayat Cinta. Saya tidak gemar sebenarnya untuk mengklasifikasikan filem-filem yang bermotifkan cinta dan disulam dengan nuansa Islamik sebagai filem Islamik, tetapi tak dapat pula memikirkan satu terma yang lebih tepat. Ini kerana jika kita begitu pantas menyatakan sedemikian, seolah-olah kita sudah meletakkan satu persepsi bahawa filem Islamik itu hanyalah yang bercorak sebegitu rupa sedangkan ia boleh lebih meluas lagi dan tidak semestinya hanya berkisahkan pesantren/madrasah/sekolah agama atau berlatarkan negara timur tengah.

Mungkin ada yang akan menganggap filem Perempuan Berkalung Sorban lakonan Revalina S. Temat ini sebagai terlalu ekstrem, tidak masuk dek akal dan tidak pula melambangkan Islam dan Muslim yang sebenar. Namun begitu, saya melihat mesej yang ingin disampaikan adalah baik. Saya tidak pasti apa benar di Indonesia masih ada pesantren yang mengamalkan gaya hidup yang sebegitu rupa, di mana martabat seorang wanita itu diletakkan rendah sekali (tidak dibenarkan belajar tinggi, dipaksa kahwin, tidak dibenarkan berpendapat , tidak dibenar membaca buku-buku moden dll.) tetapi kita harus ingat bahawa di dunia ini, sememangnya masih ada penindasan yang berlaku ke atas kaum wanita.

Dan di sinilah kita dapat lihat semangat seorang wanita yang bijak dan cantik bernama Anissa yang ingin merubah dan mengatasi penindasan yang dilakukan ke atasnya. Jiwanya memberontak. Dia yakin bahawa apa yang diajarkan di pesantren yang dimiliki ayahnya itu bukan Islam yang sebenarnya. Dia dipaksa berkahwin dengan lelaki lain, didera mental dan fizikal, tidak dibenarkan menyambung pelajaran dan pelbagai dugaan lain yang terpaksa dihadapi.

Walaupun nampaknya seakan merendahkan pesantren ataupun Islam itu sendiri, tetapi saya beranggapan bahawa bukannya Islam itu yang berupa sedemikian, namun ia berlaku disebabkan oleh kesilapan manusia itu yang merasakan hanya dirinya yang betul dan sudah cukup sempurna dan tidak dapat disangkal, serta boleh pula menggunakan agama sebagai alasan untuk membenarkan perbuatan mereka serta dengan mudah menyalahkan pihak lain.

Jadi adakah Anissa berjaya membebaskan dirinya serta teman-teman lain di pesantren daripada “penjara” jiwa ? Tontonlah filem ini untuk mengetahuinya. Semangat seorang perempuan berhati lelaki – tabah, berani, kuat, cekal. Ada baik dan buruknya filem ini, yang baik dicontohi, yang tak baik dibuat sempadan. Satu lagi sebab untuk anda menonton filem ini adalah kerana ia menimbulkan kontroversi yang agak besar di seberang! Layan dan timbangkan sendiri tanpa sebarang bias , apa pendapat anda? Saya beri 4*. Jauh lebih baik daripada filem-filem Prof Razak Mohaideen & David Teoh pastinya ;P

Tips on how to enjoy reading

As I was thinking about what to write in the next post, then came this idea. To list down several ways on how to make reading fun & interesting. Mind you these tips are suitable for adults, as for children, the methods are quite different.

1. Start reading on topics/genre/authors that you like

For me this is the most important tip. Why stress and force yourself to read something that you don't like? Know your likes and dislikes. This is somehow like a treasure hunt for most readers . Sometimes it will take a while to find your perfect cup of tea. Do you like thrillers, chic lit, classics, non-fiction books? Figure that out. Get your friends to recommend books or join book clubs, but please don't blame your friends if you don't enjoy their recomendation :)

And your interest may differ from time to time. As for myself, when I was a kid I totally
enjoyed Enid Blyton - Fairies, Gnomes, Goblins, fairytales, hehe (I don't understand why some parents discourage their kids from reading these types of books, of course in time the kids will know that the characters are not true, its just the same as believing in Santa Claus oppss, no kids around right ;P), then I moved on to real stuffs such as dinosaurs, animals and plants, then came this Sweet Valley fever, then RL Stine, Christopher Pike, Harry Potter and so on. So I guess its a journey.

2. Share your readings

Tell others about what you have read and share your thoughts. This will make reading more interactive since reading is always perceived as a passive hobby. Share your books so other people can read what you have read. And thats a great thing to do.

3. Have a wild imagination

When you are reading, let your imagination run wild. Imagine yourself as the character in the book, think about what will happen next, what will be the ending, what would happen if the story is written differently?

4. Start small

Start by reading articles or short stories (books with compilation of short stories) before trying the 500+ page books.

5. Bring reading materials everywhere

This is a simple tip. If you are going anywhere, bring something to read. You can definitely fill your time while waiting for your ride or someone, and since you don't have anything to do but wait, you might as well read.

6. Don't give up

Don't give up on reading. Although sometimes it is frustrating not to finish a certain book, give it a try. Try reading other books, make yourself comfortable when reading and you will soon be hooked by reading!

“There is an art of reading, as well as an art of thinking, and an art of writing.”
- Isaac D'Israeli

Interfaith dialogue?

Obama in his meeting with ASEAN leaders praised Malaysia for the role played in culturing peace within the region. He told that Malaysia should continue and improve dialogue between the West and Islamic country. (Click here for news)
Interfaith dialogue? For real? Do you have to earn any qualifications? I mean we are talking about a major issue here. The speaker will not only speak about his own religion, but other religions too. So you have to earn a qualification to speak about every other religion? And to think about just how many dialogues regarding interfaith matters have been held in Malaysia...I've never been to one apparently. What I heard from the news is that there have been restriction against such dialogue

In my humble opinion, we still don't have the capabilities esp in terms of knowledge
to host such dialogue. As I said in 1 Malaysia 1 World, how many of us understand other religion besides our own? In fact, I think that we don't know much about our own religion either. Those that do know in the other hand, always seem to have different opinions and always think that they are right and everybody else is wrong.

You can never have a balance and well coordinated dialogue with that attitude. When can everybody understand, that in a healthy debate, or dialogue, the floor is open to any opinion, supported by sound facts, not just simply forcing everyone to accept what you're saying. The key point here is facts, knowledge. By the way, Islam should never be forced on anybody. Those who understand will learn that they are the one attracted to Islam because of its beauty.And of course there are differences, and that diversity should be our strength, not our weakness.

And can you just imagine any issues that could be discussed within these various religions...Are we able to discuss about seriuos matter such as humanity? global warming issues? world peace? And lets say if these various religous figures come out front, giving quotation from The Bible, Torah, Hindu and Buddhist Scriptures and comparing it to verses from the Quran. How many of us have read their scriptures and books? Can we just ignore them and say that their book is wrong! Your scriptures have errors! The text in your scripture/books have been altered, therefore it can't be quoted and you are wrong! How can people understand if we don't understand them, how they think and what their religion is about.

My last point would be, how many of Malaysian figures that are knowledgeable about our religion can hold a conversation in English? As I was writing this sentence I was still questioning "There must be someone...there must be someone..." but nobody came to my mind. If there is anyone please inform me. It is an interfaith dialogue, to be held between the West, English speaking countries and the Islamic nations, so of course it has to be held in English right? This is so embarrassing. Someway or another, I don't think Obama is serious. Either he doesn't quite know the situation here in our country, or he is just saying it cause he knows that it aint going to happen here.

Snippets: Where on earth am I?

Minggu lepas, saya ada menceritakan mengenai isu kebanjiran warga asing di Malaysia yang semakin menjadi (lihat disini). Pada hari ini, Utusan turut mendedahkan isu yang sama

Warga Afrika Banjiri Malaysia

But mind you, kebanjiran warga asing bukan setakat dari Afrika sahaja...

Where on earth am I?

This one day I decided that it was like a perfect day to unwind, relax my mind, and distress myself. So what other treatment would do as well as shopping err more likely WINDOW shopping hehe tight on budget laaa. OK anyway, me and my friends decided to meet up at an LRT station ( No point driving to KL anyway, hate traffic jams). So as I waited for my friends a foreigner came to me and asked “Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to KLCC?” As we Malaysians are courteous to tourists in our country (esp westerners, opppss), so I politely explained to him how to get there with a certain feeling of proudness because as I looked around there were some other tourists, so I guess that Malaysia is a great place to visit. But then again…are they really tourist? they don’t look like tourist though, they look quite comfortable here, as if it is their own home sweet home.

Anyway, my friends arrived and we head to the mall. We were hungry so went straight to the food court. We ordered our food, but apparently this guy (definitely not Malaysian nor Indonesian) couldn’t quite understand what we were saying (why did this restaurant hired them anyway?)And then, when I looked around to the other restaurants, I realized that the workers (or is it possible that they are actually the owners?) are mostly Indonesian.

Then we went pass this shop where this middle eastern couple were arguing with the owner about something. In another corner, their kids were playing and messing around with the stuffs in the shop. But anyway, we continued our mission to window shop every single shop in that mall. After a whole day and we were sure that our feet could barely move , we made our way back to the LRT station. And there was this group of Bangladeshi and that looked and stared at us. That really made us feel nervous.

When I saw the news later in the evening, an African guy raped, beat and killed this girl, the child of his girl friend. I thought ...where on earth am I? Feeling insecure at our own place, it is like we don’t belong here. Who can tell me that they are not afraid.? Don’t get me wrong here by labeling me racist or anything. Yes of course they are open to live here, to work here, to study here, but with all these cases involving them nowadays are really bugging me (not just bug actually). Oh yes, and anyway, it is not impossible that we maybe will be having US immigrants maybe?

1 Malaysia, 1 world? Hmmm..now I know….

Tips on speed reading

http://www.everystockphoto.com/

I definitely like and enjoy reading, so fast reading and better comprehension is important to me.So I did some research and found out some tips on how to increase your speeding pace without of course compromising your comprehension.

1. Get to know the subject matter
Before you start reading, go through the summary/synopsis of the book and also look at the content table that shows each chapter, title and subtitles. By reading this, before you go through the content, will help you to somehow give you a better idea on what to expect and what to look for when you proceed with the reading.

It is also important to identify what type of reading materials that you are reading. Is it a novel? is it a text book? newspaper? journal? etc. Some reading materials require more focus, and some you can relaxly read.

2. Skimming
When you have an idea of what the content of the book or chapter is about, it will be easier for you filter the text accordingly. Sometimes you don't have to read word by word, letter by letter. Not all of those words matter. What you can do is skim and look for important keywords, based on the title/subtitle of the chapter/book. Go through the words and filter all the information.

3. Read in blocks/chunks
As Is said earlier on, it is not necessary for you to read every letter/word one by one. You can read it in blocks/chunks. This actually explains this theory that says that the letter
that matters in a word are the first and last, the others can be mixed and jumbled, but still readable. Try this:

"Tihs is aziamng inst it, you can raed tihs steencne eevn tohugh it is mxied and jbmueld up"

So practice reading in chunks.Word by word, three words at a time, 5 at a time, in time maybe you can read a whole sentence in a time who knows...practice makes perfect!

4. Avoid rereading
Have you ever read something, and then somehow reread it again? AVOID this habit. Maybe you can use your finger, or if your reading the computer monitor, use the cursor as a guide.

Ahah! and during this little research, I found another interesting tip. I always have this problem whereby when I read fiction, I tend to get anxious and I just can't wait to know the ending of the story. Well, normally fictions are of course easier to read, compared to other reading materials, so I will read as fast as I could. Of course you understand the storyline, you know what's it all about, but you will be missing the details, the beauty of the language used and so on. I guess I will have to read a little bit slowly next time and really enjoy the book :D

Happy reading!

"Baby Boom", X, Y & Z

Generasi "Baby Boom" (tak pasti terjemahannya dalam B. Melayu tuh apa), Generasi X...Generasi Y..Generasi Z.. Generasi berbeza, yang sudah semestinya ada nic mereka sendiri, pendapat mereka sendiri, pemahaman dan pemikiran mereka masing-masing. Bagi mereka yang mungkin tidak begitu arif dengan istilah-istilah ini, harap penerangan ringkas berikut dapat membantu



Disebabkan apa yang dialami oleh setiap generasi itu berbeza, maka, bolehlah dikatakan corak pemikiran, sikap dan tingkahlaku turut mempunyai perbezaan. Ini amat ketara antara Generasi "Baby Boom", X dan Y (Generasi Z kecik lagi kan).

Sebagai contohnya, mungkin di zaman "Baby Boom" kebanyakan ibu mereka tidak bekerja (suri rumah), masih duduk dalam persekitaran luar bandar kerana pembangunan belum lagi begitu pesat, ketiadaan peralatan digital - PC, internet, ipod, satelite TV. Generasi X pula saya nampak seolah satu transition daripada "Baby Boom" kepada Y. Kepada satu generasi di mana pembangunan sudah semakin pesat, dunia tanpa sempadan, telekomunikasi tanpa talian dan segalanya mahu didigitalkan.

Memang berbeza. Saya rasa kesan yang paling besar adalah dari aspek media, di mana maklumat dapat diperolehi dan disampaikan dengan pantas. Tidak perlu tunggu suratkhabar lagi untuk mengetahui sebarang berita, berita di TV pon kalau tak ditonton, sudah tahu apa yang hendak dibicarakan dengan hanya satu klik sahaja. Sumber yang boleh dirujuk pula amat meluas. Sumber dalam negara, luar negara,Twitter, facebook, Blogs, malahan emel pon mungkin boleh saja diletakkan dalam kelompok media konvensional.

Ini menjadikan Gen Y lebih terbuka, kerana didedahkan dengan pelbagai maklumat dan merupakan salah satu contoh perbezaan dalam generasi yang wujud sekarang. Sebenarnya dari dulu lagi sudah wujud konflik perbezaan di antara generasi tua dan muda ini. Kaum tua VS Kaum muda, familiar kan? Jadi tidaklah hairan mana sekiranya sejarah ini berulang. Tak kisahlah dari aspek sosial ke, politik ke, dekat opis ataupun di sekolah ke, memang akan ada gap ni.

Bagi saya, seme golongan pon ada keistimewaan dan kelebihan masing-masing. Kaum tua, senior nih memang banyak pengalamannya. Dah terlebih dahulu makan garam. Namun begitu kaum muda ni lebih berani, proaktif, masih cergas (mungkin sbb belum menemui zon selesa), kreatif dan paling penting dapat memberikan perspektif dari sudut yang lebih moden. Bukan nak cakap dulu tak moden, tapi masa kini, kebanyakan orang dah tak boleh terima kaedah sumbat dan sumbat je seme maklumat. Tak boleh diterima semberono tanpa penjelasan dan bukti terlebih dahulu. Itu yang kami perlukan. Untuk melihat sesuatu tu dari sudut yang rasional dan logik.

Sebab tuh nama pon Gen Y...suka bertanya. Mungkin dalam kelas senyap je kan kebanyakan orang, tapi sebenarnya dalam minda mesti banyak perkara yang difikirkan. Esp. bila masuk zaman pasca universiti. Jadi bagi seniors, bimbinglah kami, beri panduan, dan pada masa yang sama dengar juga buah fikiran dan ide kami. Dalam Islam pon, terdapat ramai orang muda yang boleh diambil sebagai contoh tauladan. Saidina Ali sendiri semasa menerima Islam, sangat muda umurnya namun banyak menyumbang dan membantu perjuangan Rasulullah. Bagi yang seangkatan dengan saya, hormati seniors, bagi pandangan dengan berhemah. Janganlah sampai kedua-dua golongan ini seperti 2 garisan lurus yang tiada titik pertemuannya...