I was puzzled. I asked my Chinese friends: why support the opposition and yet vote government? And these Chinese told me: “Barisan Nasional may be the devil, but better we vote for the devil we know than the angel we don't know. We know Barisan Nasional and we know how to handle them. We don’t know the opposition and we are not sure what they will be like if they came to power.”
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Kenyataan Mahathir memakan diri
Dalam al-Quran tiada istilah malaikat lebih buruk berbanding syaitan
Khaulah Azwar, FMT
Timbalan Mursyidul Am PAS, Datuk Dr Haron Din, menegaskan tidak ada istilah atau ayat di dalam Al Quran yang menjelaskan syaitan lebih baik dari malaikat.
“Di dalam al Quran juga tidak terdapat ayat yang mengatakan malaikat sama ada dikenali atau tidak dikenali sebagai makhluk Allah yang lebih buruk atau derhaka kepada perintah Allah.”
“Malaikat dijadikan Allah sebagai makhluk yang patuh dan tidak derhaka akan perintah-Nya. Mereka akan kekal begitu sejak dari awal hingga ke akhirnya.”
“Ia berlawanan dengan sifat syaitan kerana mereka memang diakui sebagai makhluk yang jahat dan derhaka kepada perintah Allah,” katanya.
Pemimpin PAS itu mengulas kenyataan dibuat bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dalam blognya www.chedet.cc pada 22 Ogos lalu yang berharap rakyat tidak memberi mandat kepada Pakatan Rakyat (Pakatan) dalam pilihan raya akan datang.
Dr Mahathir menulis, “better the devil you know than the angel you don’t” yang membawa maksud “lebih baik syaitan yang anda kenali daripada malaikat yang anda tidak kenali”.
“Tiada istilah atau ayat di dalam al Quran yang menjelaskan begitu”, katanya.
Dr Haron seterusnya berkata, kenyataan Dr Mahathir itu ternyata memakan diri sendiri dan Umno-BN kerana umum terutamanya umat Islam mengetahui syaitan itu adalah makhluk Allah yang paling kejam dan derhaka.
Sebagai bekas pemimpin tertinggi negara dan pernah mengetuai Umno-BN untuk tempoh yang lama, tambahnya, adalah amat tidak wajar Dr Mahathir membuat kenyataan sedemikian rupa dengan melabelkan sesuatu pihak atau pertubuhan dengan nama seburuk itu.
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Learn English Today
English Idioms & Idiomatic Expressions
Idioms are words, phrases or expressions which are commonly used in everyday conversation by native speakers of English. They are often metaphorical and make the language more colourful.
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How many of you who went to a Malay-medium, Chinese or Tamil schools learned English? And did they teach you idioms or expressions in your English language class? Let me give you some examples of idioms:
Better the devil you know.
Letting the cat out of the bag.
Barking up the wrong tree.
Adding fuel to the flames.
Bite the hand that feeds you.
Breathe down your neck.
Build bridges.
Burn your bridges.
Burn the candle at both ends.
Bury your head in the sand.
Bury the hatchet.
The carrot and the stick.
Clipping someone’s wings.
Cramp someone’s style.
Cross the Rubicon.
Dig one’s own grave.
Drag your feet.
Eat dirt.
Eat out of house and home.
Err on the side of caution.
Pardon my French.
Fall over backwards.
Fiddling while Rome burns.
Follow one’s nose.
Follow in someone’s footsteps.
Those are actually just some of so, so many ‘colourful’ sayings in the English language. And I just love these sayings and use them all the time, especially when I talk -- though not so much when I write because many readers do not understand English well enough to even detect sarcasm even when it bites them in the arse (another idiom).
When Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad first came out with his ‘better the devil you know than an angel you don’t know’ idiom, every man and his dog (another idiom) jumped onto the bandwagon (yet another idiom) to whack the daylight out of him (I think this is an idiom also).
Actually, ‘better the devil you know’ is the shortened form of the full idiom, 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't'. That is the correct English version. In Malaysia, however, especially amongst the Chinese, they say 'better the devil you know than the angel you don't know'.
I learned the ‘power’ of this idiom back in 1999. That was soon after the birth of the Reformasi Movement and not long after the 10th General Election of 29th November 1999. The Malays voted opposition while the Chinese voted Barisan Nasional. Even those who hated Barisan Nasional and supported the opposition voted for the ruling party.
I was puzzled. I asked my Chinese friends: why support the opposition and yet vote government? And these Chinese told me: “Barisan Nasional may be the devil, but better we vote for the devil we know than the angel we don't know. We know Barisan Nasional and we know how to handle them. We don’t know the opposition and we are not sure what they will be like if they came to power.”
It was then when reality hit me. The Chinese, as my Chinese friends kept reminding me, are pragmatic people. They are not emotional like the Malays. So they use their head and not their heart to vote. And they will work with the ‘devil’ rather than the ‘angel’ if the ‘devil’ is a known factor and the ‘angel’ is an unknown factor.
In other words, stick with what you know even if the alternative may be better because there are uncertainties with the alternative.
Not many years later, Dr Mahathir said the same thing when he was interviewed soon after the retired in 2003. Dr Mahathir was asked about what he would consider as his greatest regret in his 22 years as Prime Minister and he replied: my greatest regret is I failed to change the Malays. And he lamented: the Malays are too emotional and too feudalistic. Why can’t the Malays be more pragmatic like the Chinese?
Dr Mahathir was, of course, referring to the 1999 General Election where the Malays voted opposition while the Chinese voted for ‘the devil they knew’, which was Barisan Nasional.
Last week, when Dr Mahathir made that quip, many Malaysians jumped and said that Dr Mahathir admitted that Barisan Nasional is a devil while the opposition is an angel. I was so tempted to write this article but I knew that most readers would interpret this as a show of support for Dr Mahathir. So I refrained from writing about it.
Actually, this is not a show of support for Dr Mahathir but a show of opposition to stupidity. I am opposing stupidity, not supporting Dr Mahathir. But stupid people will view it as my support for Dr Mahathir rather than my opposition to stupidity.
Then the renowned cleric, Datuk Dr Haron Din, started quoting the Qur’an (read the news item above) and tells us that what Dr Mahathir said is not in the Qur’an. Then I thought I had better say something before people start whacking Islam, the Qur’an, Prophet Muhammad, etc., and bring ridicule to the religion.
Of course it is not in the Qur’an. Dr Mahathir was not quoting the Qur’an. Dr Mahathir was quoting an English idiom, which has been ‘Malaysianised’ from 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't' to 'better the devil you know than the angel you don't'.
Must we keep arguing Islam and quote the Qur’an for every issue? General elections are also not in the Qur’an. Choosing governments through the ballot box is also not in the Qur’an. Getting 222 Members of Parliament to formulate laws is not in the Qur’an either. There are millions of things not in the Qur’an -- such as detention without trial, hanging people who traffic in drugs, jailing people who drive dangerously and kill someone walking beside the road, and so on.
Bank accounts are not in the Qur’an. Paying your workers monthly salaries is not in the Qur’an. Paying your workers’ salary by cheque is not in the Qur’an. Stocks and shares, Amanah Saham included, are not in the Qur’an. Driving licences are not in the Qur’an. Business licences are not in the Qur'an. Signboard permits are not in the Qur'an. Police permits for rallies are not in the Qur'an. Gun licences are not in the Qur’an.
If we follow the Qur’an, then you must pay your workers at the end of each and every working day in gold or silver (not with ‘worthless’ paper), and we can drive and own a gun without the need of licences. We can also carry bows-and-arrows, spears, swords and knives when we leave the house. The Qur’an does not allow the government to arrest us for carrying dangerous weapons in public.
Bersih is not in the Qur'an. ABU is not in the Qur'an. Islamic parties are not in the Qur'an. Pakatan Rakyat is not in the Qur'an. Election Commissions are not in the Qur'an. Anti-Corruption Commissions are not in the Qur'an. Human Rights Commissions are not in the Qur'an. State governments are not in the Qur'an. Prime Ministers are not in the Qur'an. Members of Parliament are not in the Qur'an. Income tax is not in the Qur'an. Import duty, sales tax and road tax are not in the Qur'an. Insurance and EPF are not in the Qur'an. You name it and most likely it will not be in the Qur'an.
Oh, and according to the Qur’an, we can also own slaves. We can either buy these slaves from the market or invade someone’s territory and capture them. And slaves are our property so we can have sex with them. That is not zina (illicit sex).
Why pick and choose certain items from the Qur’an? If you want to talk about the Qur’an then there will be many things to talk about. And one thing that PAS will need to do is to announce that it will NOT be contesting the coming general election because this is not what the Qur’an says we must do and this is not the way that governments are chosen in Islam.
Will Pakatan Rakyat now just be PKR and DAP? At least that will solve the current impasse regarding Hudud. Problem solved. No more PAS in Pakatan Rakyat so no more Hudud.
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