'Plagiarism' of religious sermon: An unethical conduct

The very first day upon registration for my first degree years ago, we were briefed about the unethical conduct of plagiarism of academic writings. We were strictly told of the dire consequences that we would face should we involve in such act. Though I could not say for sure whether the message was well received by all, but I knew not of any who were caught in the act of plagiarizing the academic work of others. 

And so, I am particularly very upset when upon attending a religious sermon to 'witness' a 'bizarre' plagiarizing act in action. And it was a religious sermon. Such a disgrace and shameful. My heart 'bleeds'. And what makes me feel even more bitter and angrier was the fact that the sermon was supposed to honour the birthday of our Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.). May Allah s.w.t. forgive us all for our lackadaisical attitude in ensuring a good succession of religious 'leaders' among the younger generation.

Frankly, I am not a regular at the mosque myself. But, that does not give me an excuse not to enhance my religious knowledge every now and then. In fact, it is an obligation and becomes more so in this present era in order to help keep our mind and heart 'clear' of the right behavior to adopt based on religious teachings. Fortunately, with the technology that we have now, it makes it even easier to listen to religious sermons every now and then, despite the busy schedule.

So, I have my own 'favourites' among the religious teachers in the country. There are a few. I need not mention names here. But, there is one particular religious teacher who is a bit 'controversial'; i.e especially among the religious teachers themselves. He speaks his mind from the bottom of his heart. Making clear of what is wrong and what is right based on the Holy Quran and Hadiths. And he likes to sing; i.e. from the oldies of the sixties to the Hindi songs to the modern songs of the younger generation. It is his way of making his audience 'glued' to listening to his sermon while at the same time 'stressing' on the important aspect of that religious teachings.

We keep a large collection of his CDs and VCDs at home as his sermons are being recorded and sold. And I am lucky to have a husband who shares similar passion that he will voluntarily make an effort to download more religious sermons from the internet; i.e. of that particular religious teacher and others as well. So, when we are both in the kitchen or even when it is only one of us in the kitchen having breakfast or lunch or dinner or cooking or washing the plates, he will play the recordings so that we could listen to these religious sermons, since having demanding boisterous growing-up children surrounding us in most of their waking hours, having a time of our own is sheer luxury. And what better way to eat than with good words being 'consumed' together with the food.

And so, when I heard a 'replay' of his sermons being unashamedly used and imitated ( almost word by word), from the anecdotes right to the songs being sung by this unethical young man of supposedly coming from an academically-religious background, my heart was pounding hard. Frankly, I do not know who I am angry at more. The speaker, for his unethical conduct or the audience, who simply make themselves so ignorant? What was supposed to be a solemn event for the remembrance of our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. became an 'entertaining' event filled with meaningless laughs and low-class  unrelated jokes coming from a 'younger' speaker directed to a more mature audience, as again, 'form' takes precedence over  'substance'. I could not help but think, where did they find this 'bogus' speaker in the first place?

Obviously, 'Faith' (i.e. iman and taqwa), is not hereditary; and have we forgotten that our beloved Prophet Muhammads(s.a.w.) was 'illiterate' himself? Thus, it makes it even more important to reread his 'sirah' in this competing knowledge era, which is widely based on paper qualification (i.e a superficial form). The simple fact is that, anything is possible if Allah (s.w.t.) the Most Compassionate, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful wills it. But, I must say, with his skilled imitation, this young man surely is a suitable candidate for our local TV programme : 'Raja Lawak Season 4'.

I am indeed very very angry.

May Allah s.w.t. forgive us all and not take His blessings away from us.

Peace be upon Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) the Messenger of Allah s.w.t.

Of Peace and Pluralism : A 'UNIVERSAL' concern

It had been hectic for me the past few weeks. This explains my 'absence' here. I actually miss my writing 'affair' with you. After all, it is my heart and soul. But, I am not the kind of person who could juggle everything at one time, although there are people who kindly believe that I am a 'superwoman'. Frankly, I love to 'dream' myself to be as such. Well, if only I could. And so, there are of course, sacrifices to be made as we try to fulfill our commitments; i.e both within personal and professional realms. This is one of the crucial times when you have to decide which is more urgent, or more important, or important but not urgent, or urgent but not important, etc., and in the process, you may 'anger' certain people who could not see the 'urgency' of your work from your point of view. Well, to have to decide on this crucial matter is actually a 'tiring' mental exercise.

As it happened, there were people (within my personal and professional circles) with good intentions who wanted me to go out from my secluded 'confined' state of physical being and to meet 'real' people of the world in person, whom I should interact and have 'lively' and 'noisy' discussions with. And so, last week (with a heavy heart, at first), I finally succeeded in making myself to 'physically' attend the 1st International Conference on Exploring Leadership and Learning Theories in Asia, in USM, Penang, from 15th to 17th February 2011. Well, my dear readers, I must humbly confess that it was actually my 'debut'; making an entry into the world of scholars. In fact, I did feel like a 'debutante' myself, ( i.e. relatively, a 'mature' one, of course). And the feelings....? Well, I did not expect to have  this 'serendipity' kind of feeling but frankly, I felt very much 'at home'.

Upon reflection, it is funny thinking how it all began. Honestly, I must admit that I have a friend who have this 'specialty' in making people 'trapped' in the process of doing things that they did not dream of doing in the first place. I must say, he is really good at it. And I know that it is to his satisfaction to have me admitting here, (I could actually see him smiling as he reads this), that I really had had such a good time there. But, please do not think of future collaboration as I will not be letting myself to be  easily drawn by any 'provocative' thoughts anymore. Well, my dear readers, our collaborative effort was not without its obstacles. There were of course, misunderstandings, frustrations, hiccups, confusions, setbacks, disturbances, etc. which occurred along the way as we embarked on our collaborative effort. It was indeed, a time of great test; i.e mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. And it really took a strong faith to persevere.

And so I believe that to most of the ELLTAs of 2011, it was a 'first' time experience to them as well. It was obviously so for the organizers; the dynamic 'trio' in the names of Anders Ortenblad, (from Sweden), Muhammad Babur and Roshni Kumari (both from Pakistan). Though I had not been able to have a personal chat with Roshni, the 'batik-wearing' Anders and the 'sweet-looking' Babur left an indelible impression on me. Well, there must be a 'strong' connection among these 'three', for 'space' and 'time' seemed not to be able to dampen their spirit in ensuring that ELLTA 2011, would commence as planned; away from their own countries of origin. As I am one who does not concern myself much about 'form', I am particularly pleased indeed that there is actually a strong 'substance' in ELLTA.

I also had had the opportunity of meeting other first-time participants of international conference as well as visitors of Malaysia. Well, on the first day, I met a young Japanese chap, Yusuke Suzumura whose fine manners and innocent looking appearance made us (the Malaysians), felt so obligated to help him search for his other country-mates, (i.e. if there were any, that is). Indeed, there was. And we (the Malaysians) were the ones who became over-excited when we met Sophi, a beautiful Japanese lady, who by that time had already found another first-time participant and visitor to Malaysia, as her 'companion'; i.e Suvendu Baral from Bangalore, India, who indeed kindly offered his hospitality should we plan to go there. Alas, our match-making attempt was futile after all, for we could not simply take Sophi away from this kind gentleman.

I also had had the time to engage myself in interesting academic discussion with young scholars who are  both novices as well as experts in their specific areas. Well, an academic discourse with Tyo from Indonesia concerning English language was interesting as he diligently fed me with his vast knowledge on his subject. I also met Gerry, a recovery expert, who is currently working in Japan, whose nature of work I might not be able to compute at this moment still, who nevertheless, emanated a strong sense of confidence and is indeed proud of his work. And there was also Fatima from Pakistan, a young lecturer (both in age as well as in working experience) who made me feel that I was not alone at the conference for we were both still 'raw' in this industry. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to have a long chat with another young lecturer, a local who is now on her Phd leave, Nazuar from UUM.

The Gala Dinner held by the organizer at Equatorial Hotel further provided me with opportunities to meet other participants whom I did not have the chance to meet during the day. Interestingly, I met with three jovial Indonesians : i.e. Ibu Yanki, Ibu Umi and Bapak Adi. It was funny how they innocently asked us (me and my colleague), about the meaning of 'Rumah Kelamin', a signpost that had created a 'disturbing' image; i.e. as upon coming into contact with the word, their mental lexicon conjured up a different image altogether. Well, our languages are said to come from the same 'ancestral' origin, but we do indeed have differences in meaning of the same words.

With us during dinner was also Gioko, from Kenya, who was a sport as he learned to use the chopstick to eat rice. In fact, he was good at it. He imitated whatever Yanki was saying in Indonesian language, though we suspected that he understood nothing of what he was 'parroting'. He actually brought his 'warriors' to the table, and it is his custom of which we know we should have to respect. In fact, he was telling us the other day of how in his village, when a man marries a woman, he can get another one as a 'compliment'. But, when we asked him whether he has two wives, he answered that, unfortunately for him that upon his marriage, there was no other woman who offered herself to be his second wife. Funny. And he was after all, a good company with a great sense of humour.

Apart from the diversities in terms of place of origin and professional undertakings, ELLTA 2011 was also a place where I met some important 'gurus'; i.e. real 'experts' of their own field. On the first night, I attended the 'special' seminar. I felt so 'related' with Prof. Abdul Rashid Moten (from IIUM), as  when I heard his speech that night, I could not help but felt his strong love of Allah s.w.t. and Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.). And I said to myself that I will be his 'student' if he takes me. It was also an invigorating experience listening to the talk of Prof. Michael W. Apple from University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose sharp and critical observations, as well as his blunt and witty remarks had left a lasting impression on me. I also had had such a 'cute' encounter with Dr. Zane from Monash Universtiy, whom I met shortly before my presentation, and who, after listening to my presentation was indeed generous with her praises and compliments. Such exciting experiences, indeed.

ELLTA 2011 was without a doubt, a place which provided me with fruitful learning experiences. Of course, it really depends on how we look at things. To me, from the point of view of a participant, the conference, though young and immature it may be in terms of its period of conception and organization has much greater potentials, yet to be unleashed. In fact, the diversity as existed in terms of nationality, race, gender, age, academic fields, religious beliefs, cultural values, etc. illustrate a colourful existence blended in harmonious relations that make ELLTA one of its kind. Of course, we may differ in our religious beliefs (and that is a fact that will never change), but the fact remains that we can have common grounds in aspects of humanities. And for that, I believe each and every one involved in ELLTA 2011 would agree with me if I say that we do have a UNIVERSAL  concern ; i.e to have the existence of PEACE despite the 'cacophony' of our PLURALISM realities.

Well, having said all these and almost nearing to the end of my writing, you might have thought that I had missed one important point. Of course I had not and did not intend to. How could I be when, with the blessing of Allah s.w.t., it is through this great man that people of diverse background could actually meet and mingle in harmony and share different views of important matters. His name needs not mention whatsoever, even more so in this little blog of mine, but, I would bring more disgrace to myself than to him should I attempt to 'ignore' his great contribution to ELLTA. He is none other than the great Professor Dato' Dr. Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid, whose 'passion' in his work is so obvious to the eyes of many.

I was actually introduced to his name much much earlier than to the person himself. And finally, at ELLTA 2011, I took this golden opportunity to simply introduce myself to him as he obviously did not need to introduce himself to anybody. I was told by colleagues of his great leadership since they had had the opportunity to be under his guidance, of which I am among the unfortunate ones who do not have that. Well, I must admit that I understood the reasons for the great 'admiration' that people have of him. I do not wish to be great myself, but I would be a fool if I do not take the opportunity to learn great lessons from this man. It is in fact, an obligation to always seek knowledge to better ourselves and it is even more so to learn from the wise ones whom we have the opportunity to cross path with. So that whatever new knowledge we acquire we could further generate for the betterment of mankind.

Well, my dear readers, again I could not entertain you with beautiful pictures of events happening during ELLTA 2011. I have not make it a habit yet to capture events in 'still'  or 'moving' moments. Forgive me for my 'stubbornness'. Nevertheless, I do hope that I have somehow been able to 'illustrate' through my wordy expressions, the 'substance' of ELLTA 2011. And that, my dear ELLTAs and readers, remains very much 'alive' in my memory.

What do you know when you know a word?

If I were to ask you "What do you know when you know a word?", honestly, what would your answer be? I bet most of you will answer that knowing a word means knowing what its meaning is. Of course, that is basically, the function of a word : i.e to carry 'meaning' of some abstract concept or to be a direct reference to a concrete entity. Nevertheless, in any interaction, it only eases the flow of communication when the meaning of a word is mutually understood by both the sender and receiver.  This means that both participants need to have the same 'schemata' in order to mutually agree on the meaning of a "term' ; i.e a shared knowledge based on previous experiences, derived from either personal or professional endeavors. I purposely used the word 'term', due to a simple fact that in this knowledge-based era, new words are constantly being coined to appropriately suit its context of use.

Quite recently, a friend asked me of a suitable term to use in the web he's creating and maintaining. He asked of the correct term to use concerning the payment mode. He was contemplating on using the widely used term "payable to". Still, having me as the person he consults regarding language matters, he feels a strong obligation to ask for my opinion. Well, I, a 'straight' government servant, coming from a linguistics background with a qualitative nature of thinking would always try to give the best  of my judgment, and in this case to best situate the meaning of the term to its 'suitable' context of use. So, my 'bizarre' suggestion was for him to use the term "to be paid to", instead. Simply straight-forward. No 'implied' alternative. The only problem: i.e it is not a 'popular' term.

My friend, who was once a 'Physicist', of course, found it difficult to accept my suggestion since he believes in a 'general' accepted opinion. Being always a 'balanced' person in unchanging environment, well, that is understandable. Still, he repeatedly asked me to consider the first term, of which out of exasperation I told him, he actually is at a liberty to choose the term which he himself feels comfortable in using. My answer was only a suggestion. Nevertheless, coming from a linguistics background, I would say that I am more receptive to change since I believe that language and its users are dynamic social entities.  In fact, that is how language evolves because there are always dynamic people who are bold enough to introduce new words to provide new meanings to the ever-changing environment that we live in.

So, when the term K-economy was first coined and landed on our local shores about more than a decade ago, it became a buzz word. Indeed, I would definitely agree that it is a catchy term coined in an economical manner. Being in the teaching line, it was not hard for me to figure out the meaning of the term. Naturally, it made us (i.e. the educationists) realize that as knowledge workers we need to 'empower' ourselves through learning, unlearning and relearning processes so that we would always be informed of new knowledge and be aware of our obsolete ones in order to continuously generate new wisdom. Many were in fact, inspired to embark on advanced knowledge-seeking endeavors in order to maintain their competitive edge in this challenging global era.

The term indeed has a larger impact on our society and its social structure. Being highly knowledgeable actually puts one at an advantage in securing better positions and status  (i.e both within personal and social domains). In terms of economic advantage, the advanced knowledge that one has successfully acquired, undoubtedly enhances one's entrepreneurial value  which is facilitative in acquiring wealth. At a macro-level, with the knowledge that we have successfully acquired, we undoubtedly become the 'human capitals' of the country. And with the government aim to develop first-class human capitals among its citizens who could further take the country to reach greater achievements in both the local and global domains, it becomes a 'moral imperative' for us (the educationists) to provide a succession of highly knowledgeable citizens among the younger generation. Of course, this could only be done through public education where equal quality learning opportunity is provided for all to ensure social mobility especially among students who come from poor-income families.

Well, this is my actual understanding of the meanings of the terms 'K-Economy', 'human capital' and 'moral imperative' as they are widely used within our social domain. From the perspective of an educationist, of course. However, as a linguist I am  very much aware that meanings of words or terms, more often than not, reside in the individuals themselves. This means that each individual actually carries a particular meaning of the word when he or she uses it in human interaction. Within a wider context of social use, the same term may denote different meaning to different social groups depending on how they perceive the term to be in relation to their role and function in the society. In other words, my educationist' understanding of the terms 'K-Economy', 'human capitals' and 'moral imperative' may differ from other social groups such as the economists.

Being a language person by nature (i.e my 'innate' capital) enhanced through advanced academic knowledge (i.e my competitive edge in K-Economy), I feel a strong obligation (i.e my moral imperative) to offer an alternate meanings of these terms from a different perspective to aid in  making better judgment for self-evaluation and self-regulation behavioral purposes. But first, I must admit that most of my thoughts are guided by the great thoughts of Drucker, who simply posit that : "There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer." This simply means that in 'K-Economy' where knowledge is an important commodity, the economists have to think of 'potential' customers since the present older generation and the existing social structure would not be able to sustain its meaningful existence in the future.

And this consequentially gives a new and different meaning to the term 'human capitals'. Indeed, humans are the capitals; i.e the targeted consumers (not producers) for which the knowledge products are being produced, distributed and consumed. Of course, to have a longer life-span for the product to stay in high demand, the younger generation is the correct age-group to be targeted as the consumers. With the 'moral imperative' of business people is to maximize the profit, they have to make their knowledge product attractive to the ones having economic means by making quality knowledge product as a social privilege that clearly distinguishes the social status between the empowered social class and the others.

Well, this is my illustration of how meanings of terms may be differently conceptualized by different people or groups in a society. I could actually provide you with another alternative for the meanings of these terms, probably from a religious stand-point, but at this juncture, I would say, that it is suffice in making my point vividly clear about my initial question of "what do you know when you know a word". We may speak the same language but the essence of what we speak actually differ in the meanings that we ourselves have conceptualized which may be based on various factors such as the social class we belong to, our academic background, the beliefs that we hold and many more. Still,  in line with our ongoing effort to sustain the progress of our nation and to achieve our aim to become a developed country, as an educationist, I firmly believe that generating first-class 'holistic' human capitals among our younger generation, IS, without doubt, our moral imperative. This, of course is greatly aspired in our national education policy of which the public education is based on.