Wednesday, April 15, 2009

US products and US bounds

*This was written by a good friend of mine, Emir Anuar. He post it up for a while and retracted it from his blog to protect his relationships with people. I for one, find that it is a shame for this not to be up on the net, and I trust people around me would be open minded enough to accept another person's point of view*


US products and US bounds

I heard and read a lot of students urging to boycott US and Israeli products.

And it amazed me that some US bound students urged the same thing too.

Shouldn't the first thing they do is to drop the scholarship? It would be a hypocracy if they don't. The TAXPAYERS money is being used to finance the education in US universities. And where the money goes? What happen to to the boycott? Didn't you guys realized that by going to the US, you are making the government pay MILLIONS of ringgit to the country you are urging to boycott?

Seriously, it doesn't make sense. If I am wrong, give justifications. So don't go or stop being a hypocrite.

At least those people buying Big Mac are using their own money and it is about 100000times cheaper than an education there.

Please don't criticize without any negations or justifications.


* * * * * * * * * * * *

As for my personal view on this matter, I would say that I'm not against the idea of boycotting US products. I can really respect their cause, and see where they're coming from. But for a government sponsored student bound to the US to do such a thing - I have a great deal of 'APAKAH?' accepting that. I agree with Emir, that demonstrates a bit of hypocrisy.

I mean, it is obvious that these people, despite their beliefs, refuses to "drop the scholarship" because of their fear of loosing something important.

Ergo, my arguement is, if you yourself can relate to the fear of losing something out of this - You would actually be the person that'll be most empathethic of the situation that you yourself put the local McDonalds retailers into. Who by chance, could be a Malay Muslim as well.

The same goes to the Intel factory workers in Kulim, who now, are fearing for their jobs, and the incapability to provide their underprivileged family.

*I rarely...wait, NEVER post up anything political here, but this one caught my interest*

15 comments:

munir said...

Apa yang aku lihat skrg, disebabkan kerajaan inginkan sgt plajar utk sambung keluar negara, x mnyumbang byk pun utk negara, sedangkan itu duit rakyat.
Bagi aku, kalo nk wat master atau PhD tu mmg OK la..tapi kalau degree yang sama je dengan U tempatan, tak berbaloi pun utk negara keluarkan beribu2, yg scara langsung mnyumbang kpd pndapatan negara tersebut, macam US yg kita boikot ni.

Jadi, ape pendapat En. Anwari kita?

Anwari Ashraf said...

Tepat sekali En. Munir. Dalam atau luar, sama sahaja, yang lebih penting ialah mentality dan cara seseorang itu bawak diri.Dan ya, kalau antara student2 ni mmg dah niat xnak berjasa dkt negara lpas grad, aku pun xtau nak kata apa dah.

Dalam issue boikot ini, aku akui tidak mempunyai pegangan yg hitam putih, sbb aku cuba tgk things on both sides, dan dapati there's bigger things going on than what we see on the surface level. Boikot atau tidak, aku respect keputusan masing2, namun Munir, setuju atau tidak dengan aku bahawa contradiction yg ditunjukkan oleh pelajar bound ke US memboikot produk US itu sedikit frown-upon-able?

I just find it 'wrong'.

Retail2 McDonald dan bagai yg mereka boikot ini ada certain portion of income yg mungkin dialirkan kepada negara kapitalis tersebut. Namun duit untuk pelajaran mereka2 ini disumbangkan STRAIGHT kepada negara yang mereka sendiri nak boikot itu.

So, help me out! I don't get it!

munir said...

kurang phm sket la...
maksud ko?

emiranuar said...

En. Munir, anda tepat sekali.

munir said...

erk...ape yg aku tepat?
xphm..
adakah yg korg maksudkan ialah
"knp perlunya hantar plajar ke US sedangkan kita dlm usaha boikot dorg"

gitu ke?

munir said...

Jika kita lihat, Allah dah katekan dengan jelas dlm Al-Quran bahawa Yahudi dan Nasrani tidak akan redha dengan agama Islam yg dibawa Nabi Muhammad s.a.w., tetapi kenapa kita masih lagi nak tolong mereka??
Kenapa masih lagi perlu bekerja dan mengharap pada mereka, sedangkan dari dulu lagi dorg nak rosakkan agama kita.

Cuba lihat sejarah kerajaan Uthmaniah pada tahun 1924, bagaimana mereka menjatuhkan kerajaan Islam yang agung dan memecahkan kerajaan Islam kepada 'negara2' macam kotak2 jika kita lihat pada peta arab..masyaAllah...

tapi mungkin kerajaan n masyarakat kita xnmpk lg saluran duit ni, sbb tu negara masih hantar student ke sana...yg mane US sndiri menjadi sekutu pada Yahudi...
bkn Malaysia je sbnrnye, ngara islam sekitar2 Palestin pun masih mgharap n takut dgn Yahudi n US..

Amin Jamil said...

ada betulnye pe yg korang ckp.
aku ada pendapat sendiri.

mungkin aku pun termasuk antara yang hypocrite, tp aku pun boycott mc'd dan beberapa product US yang lain.

pada pendapat aku, usaha ni mungkin kecik. tp usaha kecik ni je usaha yang termampu untuk sekurang2nya bantu sedara2 kita yg tgah berjuang di Palestin, juga di negara2 lain yang menjadi mangsa.

memang boleh dikatakan mustahil untuk boikot 100% product diorg. aku pikit buat sekadar yang termampu, dan step by step.
start dgn satu product, n bila dah konsisten, baru boikot yang lain.

ckp pasal scholars, islam x larang kita untuk menuntut ilmu walaupun drp musuh. Perang Khandak menunjukkan tentera Islam menggunakan strategi peperangan orang bukan Islam dengan menggali parit sebagai strategi peperangan.

dan dengan belajar di US, students kita mungkin bukan saja dapat belajar ilmu fardhu kifayah drp diorg, tp diorg bleh tgk sendiri cara hidup diorg. dan ini boleh dikongsikan dgn sedara2 muslims yang lain untuk mempertahankan Islam (referring to the attacks by the non-muslims, especially mentallity attacks).

correct me if i'm wrong.

Anwari Ashraf said...

amin dude,

this conversation is way over. hahabtw, its nt about belajar from musuh. its about boikoting, but in the mean time, making the government pay a whole lot more amount of money to the people they're boikoting, its about the money.

the people's money.

the tax money

emiranuar said...

Yeah, why is it so hard not to go to US if he/she is serious about the boycott?

The argument "kte buat apa kte mmpu" really doesn't make any sense.

I think its better to buy 1 big mac than have the taxpayer pay the education in US. Really, its 100000 times cheaper. Like wari said, the McD's owner might be a Malay Muslim and it contributes to the nations GDP.

Do you really think ALL of thousands of students that went to US went back and develop the nation? If they do, I really think that the nation should be better than we are today.

Amin Jamil said...

u guys are right.

the boycott is done only by individuals. the goverments don't do anything about it.

yea, the argument of the boycotting US bound students still pursuing to study in US makes sense.
for me personally, i might not inderstand and i don't judge their desicions of still studying there, which i believe more towards their own 'kepentingan'. but i salute their effort to boycott some of US products. like wut i said, "kita buat apa yg kita mampu".

Anwari Ashraf said...

i admit being quite judgmental about this, and understand that it is for their own sake, and i can totally relate to that. Heck, i might even do the same thing.

My personal point is as written

IF they can relate to the fear of losing something out of this, (demonstrated by the fact that they still hold their scholarships close and dear)

they should be the MOST EMPATHETIC of the situation they put these people (mentioned) they put in trouble to. Who again, might be a fellow Muslim, in a similar situation with a lot to loose out of this.

I'm a bit defensive about this, many people close to me and my family are working for intel. Including bakal bapak mertua ku.

emiranuar said...

We are not against boycotting US products here. We are against the urge to boycott US products while having the TAXPAYERS money being used to finance education at the very country those guys are all that are being paid for asked to boycott.

Sounds ridiculous, because it is.

And again, like wari said, it is, to some extent, hurting our own people.

Anwari Ashraf said...

I realize this has become a topic i wish to avoid - To boycott or not to boycott. Fair enough then.

When I say that I understand that where the people who are urging these boycotts are coming from. i totally mean it, thus the respect I have for it.

It is done mostly out of sense of self-righteousness. To them its the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, the world isn't black and white. They are too many shades of gray. Right or wrong is subjective to different people.

So when they say they want to boycott, I can respect their decision. If some people say they don't want to boycott, fine by me as well.

About this matter however. I cannot respect at all the action US bounds boycott US products and eagerly wants to study there and let the government pay for a nation that he/she himself/herself has urged to boycott.

The contradiction they demonstrated between their words and actions has made me lose my respect to them.

munir said...

Tepuk dada, tanyalah iman... Kalau pmblajaran kita tu menyumbang kepada kematian saudara-saudara kita kt Palestin, kita tanye la diri kita sndiri...

Bukan pasal kita nak boikot atau x, nak ikut pihak mane..tapi ianya dari HATI kita sendiri... Yg paling penting skarang, kita sedar tentang keadaan saudara kita.. Apa tanggungjawab kita?

Kalo kita xleh rasekan bagaimana prasaan dorg kt sana, itulah sejauh mane iman kita..

"Sesungguhnya mukmin itu bersaudara, kerana itu damaikanlah antara saudaramu, dan bertaqwalah kpd Allah agar kamu kamu mendapat rahmat" -Al-Hujurat, ayat 10-

"wahai orang2 beriman! Taatilah Allah dan taatilah rasul, dan ulil amri diantara kamu. Kemudian, jika kamu berbeda pndapat tentang sesuatu, maka kembalikanlah kpd Allah (Al-Quran) dan Rasul (sunnahnya), jika kamu beriman kepada Allah dan hari kemudian. Yang demikian itu lebih utama dan lebih baik ksudahannya" -An-nisa, ayat 59-

Jika kita ada slisih pndapat, yg tbaik ialah kita rujuk pd Al-Quran n hadis rasulullah... Mmg tiada boikot diprintahkan kpd kita.. tetapi diterangkan tentang tanggungjwb kita sbagai seorang MUSLIM..

hakha said...

sori klo ako x ikot PERBINCANGAN kat atas.. haha.. just nk share ape yg ader kat otak..

pendapat ku mengenai boikot dlm isu yg dibangkitkan..

klo la, bbdak tuh mmg pilih nk ke US... tuh mmg depa hipokrit rr.. sbb?? dh nmpk sgt depa yg nk merase bg duet kiter ke saner ngan study fee n jgk living expenses yg depa akan pakai kat sner..

tp, setahu ku.. (yg x luas pon) kbnykn tmpt sponsor yg anta.. or, sponsor yg nk anta.. [msti korunkt x paham kn]. thus, not genuinely kehendak students tuh (or let say certain students)

so, aper point nyer dicini.. boikot nih kehendak dri sndrik..
bbdak yg nk g us boykot us pdku mmg hipokrit..
tp, bbdak yg dihantar ke us boykot us, still ader logiknyer.. dihantar ke us tuh bukan keputusan deyall, so yg tuh out of the box.. kiter x ley nk demand orang smpi drop studies. biler deyall choose nk boikot (yg kebanyakan dlm list tuh syarikat yg menyumbang kepada negara haram yahudi, bukan sembarangan syarikat jer yg dipilih)at least ader portion yg x ke saner...

haha.. nih pendapat ku jerk.