Syed Mokhtar: Pesanan ibu bawa berkat

Oleh HELMI MOHD FOAD

PUTRAJAYA 10 Jan. – Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, 56, yang diumumkan sebagai Tokoh Maal Hijrah 1429 akan sentiasa mengingati pesanan ibunya, Sharifah Rokiah Syed Abdullah supaya menyumbangkan separuh daripada pendapatannya bagi membantu golongan kurang berkemampuan.

Beliau berkata, separuh daripada pendapatan pertama ketika membantu bapanya, Syed Nor Albukhary berniaga lembu sebanyak RM1,500 ketika tahun 60-an telah diserahkan kepada ibunya yang kemudian memintanya mengagihkan wang itu kepada 15 keluarga miskin di Alor Star, Kedah.

‘‘Saya guna pesanan ibu itu supaya separuh daripada pendapatan diberikan kepada orang kurang mampu, itulah yang telah memberikan saya keinsafan.

‘‘Malah sampai sekarang, sumbangan kepada 15 keluarga tersebut terus diberikan, kalau yang meninggal dunia diganti dengan orang lain.

‘‘Tuhan sudah memberikan segala nikmat, semuanya saya dah rasa, apa lagi yang kita mahu, maka nikmat itu perlu digunakan bagi faedah kepada orang ramai terutama pelajaran,” katanya.

Beliau ditemui pemberita pada majlis Sambutan Maal Hijrah 1429 Peringkat Kebangsaan di Pusat Konvensyen Antarabangsa Putrajaya (PICC) di sini hari ini.

Majlis penyampaian anugerah tersebut disempurnakan oleh Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin.

Melalui anugerah tersebut, Syed Mokhtar yang juga Pengerusi Yayasan Albukhary menerima hadiah wang tunai sejumlah RM60,000 yang disumbangkan oleh kerajaan manakala RM20,000 lagi oleh Yayasan Ubaidi.

Perniagaan

Syed Mokhtar yang berasal dari sebuah keluarga Arab Hadhrami kurang berkemampuan di Alor Star kini merupakan ahli perniagaan bumiputera terkaya di negara ini dengan harta bernilai RM4.16 bilion sebagaimana dinyatakan dalam Senarai Bilionair Dunia Forbes 2007.

Syarikat Kumpulan Albukhary yang dibangunkan oleh beliau kini terbabit dalam beberapa industri utama negara antaranya pengangkutan, logistik, utiliti, automotif, pertahanan, makanan dan perbankan Islam serta kewangan.

Kumpulan tersebut menubuhkan Yayasan Albukhary pada 1996 sebagai sayap kerja-kerja kebajikan dan menyalurkan dana bagi kerja-kerja amal yang kini berkembang sebagai entiti amal global antaranya penubuhan Muzium Kesenian Islam Malaysia dan Program Biasiswa Albukhary.

Sehingga 2006, yayasan tersebut menyumbang hampir RM1 bilion secara langsung kepada usaha kebajikan termasuk menyertai proses membina semula kehidupan pelarian Afghanistan, bantuan mangsa gempa di Pakistan dan Iran serta mangsa bencana tsunami di Aceh, Indonesia.

Selain itu, yayasan tersebut sedang berusaha menubuhkan hospital AIDS di Uganda, membantu kanak-kanak jalanan di Afrika dan merintis program bantuan kemanusiaan bagi mangsa perang di Iraq dan Lebanon.

Menurut Syed Mokhtar, mengenangkan kejayaan yang dicapainya sekarang daripada pesanan seorang ibu, Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi meminta beliau menyerahkan hadiah wang tunai yang diterimanya itu kepada ibunya.

‘‘Saya tanya pada Pak Lah nak buat apa dengan duit RM80,000 ini, dia kata bagilah kepada ibu kerana dari situlah asal saya,” katanya.


Kejayaan

Syed Mokhtar yang mengakui inilah kali pertama beliau mendedahkan kisah hidupnya kepada media berkata, meskipun telah mengecapi kejayaan, beliau sebenarnya hanya sekadar manusia biasa dan Yang Maha Kaya itu adalah Allah.

‘‘Daripada keinsafan itu, kita cari rezeki macam tidak ada hari esok, saya usahakan sejak dari tahun 60-an dan telah melalui kepayahan dan kesakitan.

‘‘Dan sehingga hari ini syarikat lori dan beras yang merupakan perniagaan awal saya di Kedah masih terus beroperasi.

‘‘Saya adalah anak kelahiran Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB), melalui bantuan Mara serta UDA saya mengembangkan perniagaan tetapi melalui proses pahit maungnya dahulu,” katanya.

Jelas beliau, apabila mendapat rezeki yang banyak, ia digunakan untuk kebajikan lebih 67,700 kakitangan Kumpulan Albukhary dan selebihnya bagi membantu golongan kurang berkemampuan.

Syed Mokhtar berkata, kesempitan kewangan ketika zaman kanak-kanak sehingga tidak mampu membayar yuran peperiksaan menyebabkan beliau kini berusaha membantu pelajar-pelajar kurang berkemampuan untuk mendapat peluang pelajaran.

‘‘Saya bersekolah setakat tingkatan lima tapi tak sempat ambil peperiksaan kerana tidak mampu bayar yuran.

‘‘Jadi, mengenangkan dulu saya tidak ada peluang, bila saya dapat peluang dalam perniagaan saya fikir kena beri peluang pendidikan kepada mereka yang tidak mampu,” katanya.

Katanya, aktiviti kebajikan melalui Yayasan Albukhary diteruskan pula melalui pembinaan Kompleks Albukhary di Alor Star yang berkonsepkan pondok moden dengan dilengkapi masjid, rumah anak-anak yatim dan sekolah.

Selain itu katanya, yayasan tersebut yang dijana oleh syarikat Kumpulan Albukhary turut menyediakan program tuisyen yang sehingga kini telah melibatkan 22,000 pelajar kurang berkemampuan sejak empat tahun lalu.

Tambahnya, pihaknya kini sedang membina Universiti Antarabangsa Albukhary yang dijangka siap penghujung 2009 sebagai tempat pelajar-pelajar cemerlang kurang berkemampuan itu untuk menyambung pelajaran.

‘‘Pelajar-pelajar kurang mampu itu kita beri peluang dengan kita gajikan guru untuk mengajar mata pelajaran Sains, Matematik dan Bahasa Inggeris dan alhamdulillah kebanyakannya dapat maju ke depan,” katanya.

Katanya, hasil pesanan ibunya, beliau turut mengembangkan aktiviti kebajikan kepada masyarakat minoriti Islam yang tertindas dan miskin di luar negara dengan membawa pelajar-pelajar miskin tetapi cerdik untuk menyambung pelajaran di sini.

Setakat ini, katanya, seramai 372 orang pelajar dari 47 buah negara minoriti Islam sedang menimba ilmu di Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM) di bawah tajaan Yayasan Albukhary.

Yayasan berkenaan juga menaja umat Islam kurang berkemampuan dari segi kewangan bagi menunaikan ibadah haji serta memberikan bantuan pembinaan masjid-masjid termasuk membiayai projek membaik pulih Masjid Negara di ibu negara.

‘‘Usaha membaik pulih Masjid Negara timbul apabila satu malam saya ‘berpusing- pusing’ (meninjau) kawasan sekitar Muzium Kesenian Islam, saya dapati ia terang-benderang tetapi Masjid Negara gelap... macam mana boleh macam ini,” katanya.

AP System To Be Abolished By Dec 31, 2010

March 22, 2006 20:21 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 (Bernama) -- The Approved Permit (AP) system will be phased out by Dec 31, 2010, the Prime Minister's Department has said.

The move was taken under the much awaited National Automotive Policy (NAP), which was announced, here Wednesday.

The AP system, which provides the license for local companies to import cars for distribution in the country, became a hot topic among Malaysians following allegations that the APs were being awarded to certain favoured crony companies and individuals.

The department said that in the interim, APs will be made available based on economic contribution.

It said the APs were primarily used as a monitoring and data collection measure.

Priority will be given to vehicle assemblers that have committed to a significant increase in production volume (with significant exports) in a particular model and require APs to import models that complete their product range for the Malaysian market.

The Prime Minister's Department said that APs will be made available for a limited number of vehicles not assembled in Malaysia to ensure a sufficient choice of products for Malaysian consumers.

Moving forward, the government policy and support would be focused towards automotive industry participants providing sustainable economic contribution. The key drivers for such contribution would be economic scale, industry linkage and competitive value added activities.

-- BERNAMA

Malaysia, Indonesia both facing Malay malaise

Julia Suryakusuma, Melbourne When my brother and I were small we fought all the time. We both felt we couldn't get on, and so our youth was marked by constant squabbling. As we grew older (and wiser!) we realized just how much we had in common: We have the same parents, shared family background and history. Of course our personalities and characters are different, but as adults we can acknowledge these differences, respect them and see ourselves as complementing each other. Indonesia-Malaysian relations have been similarly characterized with this kind of childish competition. Our two nations have been bickering since our younger sibling Malaysia was born. President Sukarno's policy of Konfrontasi with Malaysia led to a political, and eventually military, fight over the future of Borneo/Kalimantan from 1962 to 1969. At its height, this conflict drew in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. But our sibling rivalry reached new heights of immaturity this year when both nations claimed ownership rights to the Rasa Sayange song, used extensively by the Malaysian tourism industry. Prominent Indonesians rushed to save the song, including lawmakers, parliamentarians, ministers, heads of political parties, heads of musicians' unions, the governor of Maluku, and the director-general of intellectual property rights at the Human Rights Ministry. Rasa Sayange was created by an Ambonese man from the Mollucas, in 1907, they insisted, and had been "stolen" by Malaysia. A phonograph record given by President Sukarno to participants in the Asian Games in 1962 was dug up. It contained Indonesian folk songs, including Rasa Sayange. Proof, the Indonesian authorities proclaimed. (Hmmm, this must be one of the very rare occasions that our nation, famous for sweeping the past under the carpet of modern political convenience, has given two hoots about historical accuracy!) An inflammatory Rasa Sayange petition was posted on the Internet, tempers flared and self-righteous calls were made to sue Malaysia for stealing our national heritage. What irony! Indonesia, of course, has long been one of the world's greatest infringers of intellectual property rights, pirating software, branded goods, CDs, DVDs and, yes, songs too. And just to prove the point, if you are after fakes, you need go no further than the lobby of the Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights, where there is actually a kiosk selling knock-off watches, bags, belts, socks, wallets and CDs! The absurd storm in a teacup over Rasa Sayange is just an outlet for the resentment Indonesians feel towards Malaysia, because of a long list of irritations between the two countries. These have included the haze (caused by forest fires in Kalimantan and some in Malaysian Borneo too); illegal logging (of which both countries are guilty), territorial disputes over Bintan, Sipadan and Ligitan islands, and more recently, Ambalat in the Sulawesi Sea, the brutal assault of an Indonesian karate referee by a Malaysian, the detention of an Indonesian diplomat's wife, and claims of ongoing mistreatment of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia. I suppose it's easier to fuss over a song than to resolve the longstanding problems of our migrant workers, who face horrendous problems in both sending and receiving countries. Neither Indonesia nor Malaysia have good track records when it comes to human rights, and Indonesia still has problems upholding workers' rights, despite recent reforms. But this doesn't justify what Indonesians consider to be Malaysia's rampant abuse and exploitation of our migrant workers. Even Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and still a leading political figure, has exhorted Malaysia to treat our migrant workers humanely and not be arrogant in dealing with Indonesia -- and he should know what he's talking about, given his own bruising experience of Malaysian law enforcement! Like my brother and me, Malaysians and Indonesians share family similarities. We both come from the same Malay ethnic stock (roughly a cross between Indian and Chinese, with occasional bits of Arab thrown in), and are predominantly Muslims. But, also like my brother and me, there are huge differences as well. Indonesia is almost six times the size, and has a population almost 10 times bigger than Malaysia. The 300 ethnic groups of Indonesia make us far more culturally diverse than Malaysia, which has three main ethnic groups (Malays, Chinese and Indians) as well as indigenous minorities, such as the Orang Asli and tribal groups in Borneo. Much of Malay culture is derived from Indonesia, including language, food, music, angklung (bamboo musical instrument), kebaya-blouse, batik and wayang shadow puppets. They even love our crappy soapies! So what does it matter if they say that Rasa Sayange is theirs? We have much more where that song came from, so why worry? In fact, why worry at all if Malaysia acts up? Everything Malaysia has, Indonesia has more of, including problems and we need to get on with doing something about them, rather than fighting over a tacky song. In fact, managing a country the size and complexity of Indonesia is no simple matter. It's much easier to focus in a small nation. Mahathir, Malaysia's strongman of 22 years proved this, spearheading the phenomenal growth of the Malaysian economy to become one of the largest in Southeast Asia. In the end, though, wealth ain't everything. Malaysia is perhaps what we call in Indonesia OKB (orang kaya baru -- nouveau riche), needing conspicuous consumption, and large scale national projects like the Petronas towers to make up for the fact most of the cultural heritage and rich history of the Malay archipelago -- Borobudur, for example -- is located next door in Indonesia. Indonesia is not even close to eradicating poverty to the extent Malaysia has. In fact, most of our social indicators are still pretty awful. But in the long run, we may have more going for us. Our greater size means greater problems but it also means greater resources, markets and power. We need to capitalize on the blessings of our wealth and abundance by managing and distributing our resources better, rather than wasting our energy on juvenile spats with our younger and smaller neighbor. Why show off our inferiority complex? If we could develop a less fragile ego and if Malaysia can learn to resist prodding us in our sore spots, there is a chance that Indonesia and Malaysia could recover from their Malay malaise, and develop a healthy, mature sibling relationship that benefits us all. After all, my brother and I get on famously now and if we can do it, anyone can!