Tuesday, April 29, 2008
AKU SEBUAH..
Setiap hari aku melihat pelbagai karenah manusia. Ada yang datang dan ada juga yang pergi. Gembira apabila melihat manusia masih mahu menemui TuhanNya. Sedih pula apabila manusia hanya singgah untuk berehat tanpa segan silu meninggalkan tanggungjawab padaNya. Suatu hari, seorang gadis menjadi tetamuku. Dia selalu menziarahi aku selepas itu. Aku suka pada sikapnya yang tidak menunjuk-nunjuk, sentiasa mahu beribadah. Dia suka bercerita dan meluahkan perasaannya. Dia tidak menyedari bahawa aku memerhatikannya. Setiap kali menemui Tuhan, dia akan menyendiri tatkala yang lain sibuk pada dunia. Dia akan merintih dan menangis semahunya pada Tuhannya. Adakala aku juga sedih mendengar rintihannya. Begitulah hampir setiap minggu. Aku berasa bersalah padanya kerana tidak mampu membelainya. Aku yakin dia mahukan belaian kasih sayang. Tidak pernah aku mendengar dia mengeluh mahupun merungut pada teman-temannya. Suatu hari Allah datangkan seorang teman baik untuknya. Pada saat itu, dia sudah tidak tahan lagi, mahu juga dia menumpahkan air matanya di depan temannya itu. Dia meluahkan perasaannya pada temannya. Begitu aku terharu melihat belaian kasih sayang dua orang sahabat ini. Semoga Allah memberkati mereka dan mempermudahkan urusan mereka. Begitulah rutin harianku, menjadi tempat persinggahan manusia menemui Tuhannya.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
JANDA BAIK
Perjalanan yang dimulakan dengan ziarah ke rumah dua beradik; Syazwan dan Atiqah sesuatu yang bermakna. Mengenali ahli keluarga mereka sangat terkesan di hatiku. Layanan yang diberikan megningatkanku pada keluarga di rumah. Begitulah adab sopan bangsa Melayu, meraikan tetamu. Seterusnya. Kami menuju destinasi utama, Kem PTS Janda Baik. Memandu di lereng-lereng bukit buat pertama kali Alhamdulillah tidak menakutkan aku. Risaunya sebab membawa bakal ibu di sebelah. Kehadiranku disambut oleh kucing-kucing peliharaan Puan Ainon. Banyaknya..Itu perkataan pertama keluar dari mulut. Kebetulan sudah lama tidak bermanja dengan kucing. Teringat kisah ku dengan seekor kucing. Sewaktu kecil, aku memelihara seekor kucing. Sayangnya aku padanya bukan kepalang, ke mana saja ku pergi, ku bawa bersama, tidur dan makan bersama. Sekarang aku sudah lupa nama dan tempoh kami bersama. Malangnya, pada satu hari sehinggalah lebih kurang satu atau dua minggu, kelibatnya tidak kelihatan langsung. Risau bertamu. Akhirnya, kucingku dikhabarkan mati dijadikan lauk atau ada juga spekulasi mengatakan kucingku mati dilanggar insan tidak berhati perut.Sedih berhari-hari juga aku dibuatnya. Semenjak itu, aku tidak mahu lagi menjadikan kucing atau apa-apa haiwan sebagai peliharaan, takut kecewa lagi. Kucing mula menjadi haiwan peliharaan ketika aku mendapat adik bongsu lelaki. Dia sahaja selepas aku yang suka memelihara kucing. Banyaklah kucing di rumah. tapi sekarang, bilangan kucing-kucing sudah semakin berkurangan semenjak keluarga berpindah rumah. Biasalah, kucing pun adakalanya tidak biasa denagan tempat baru. Perbincangan serius dengan teman-teman sepanjang program Retreat ditemani kucing-kucing yang berkeliaran meringankan berat di jiwa. (Terima kasih kepada keluarga Atiqah, Hawa, Raudhah dan dua orang bakal ibu, Mun dan Kak Ita dan teman seperjuangan)
KEMBARA
CATATAN KEMBARA TIMUR
KELANTAN-TERENGGANU-PAHANG
Layari www.pkpim.net
Alhamdulillah, tercapai juga cita-cita melawat pantai timur setelah tiga tahun berada di tanah Semenanjung.
KELANTAN-TERENGGANU-PAHANG
Layari www.pkpim.net
Alhamdulillah, tercapai juga cita-cita melawat pantai timur setelah tiga tahun berada di tanah Semenanjung.
Monday, March 31, 2008
WHY, SUFIAH?
Maths prodigy who won an Oxford place at 13 is now a £130-an-hour HOOKER
By Keith Gladdis
SHE was a child maths genius who won a place at Oxford University aged just 13—but now the only sums Sufiah Yusof is interested in are the ones she earns as a HOOKER.
For sad Sufiah the daily equation she has to solve is simply sex equals £130 as she sells her body to punters over the internet.
The gifted girl with the winning smile had the world at her feet ten years ago and should be a rich woman by now—but last week she was busy subtracting her underwear for our undercover reporter in her dingy back street flat.
"Would you like to start your half hour now?" said Sufiah, 23, as she danced on the bed, displaying her body for examination.
Then she listed all the sleazy plus points she would throw in for our man if he took up her offer.
Calling herself Shilpa Lee, the former child prodigy still juggles with figures on a hookers' website, describing herself as a "very pretty size 8, 32D bust and 5'5" tall—available for booking every day from 11am to 8pm."
She says she is a "sexy, smart student" who prefers "older gentlemen"— but a former pal who has witnessed her downfall told us: "It is all desperately heartbreaking.
"With her amazing brain she should be able to make money any way she wants. But instead her life has spiralled completely out of control."
Life has never quite added up for Sufiah. Her descent into prostitution in Salford, Manchester, is the latest in a long line of tragedies to have engulfed her since the sunny day when she posed with her university mortar board for the world's press outside prestigious St Hilda's College.
Our shock revelations today come in the week her domineering dad Farooq was jailed for sexually assaulting two 15-year-old girls as he home-tutored them in maths.
And he was always at the root of all her troubles— even as she passed the further maths A-Level she needed for entry to Oxford at the age of 12. In those days Sufia was a strict Muslim child who prayed five times a day and was subjected to her father's famous Accelerated Learning Technique.
Her days involved stretching and breathing exercises in freezing rooms to keep her brain attentive.
Sufiah would then study hard and be forced to play tennis with just as much intensity as fanatical Farooq drove her on. The routine was so effective Sufiah was seeded number eight in the country for under 21s.
But three years into Oxford, the 15-year-old sparked a massive police hunt after running away.
Abuse
At the time her father bizarrely claimed Sufiah had been kidnapped and brainwashed by an organisation seeking the key to her intelligence.
But Sufiah sent an email to her family describing her life under her father as a "living hell".
One message to her sister read: "I've finally had enough of 15 years of physical and emotional abuse. You know what I am talking about."
Sufiah was missing for two weeks before being found in an internet café in Bournemouth where she had been working as a hotel waitress.
She refused to go back to her parents and instead was taken into the care of social services.
It was then revealed that Farooq had been jailed for three years in 1992 for his part in a £1.5m mortgage swindle. Before that—at the age of 19—he had been sent to borstal for his role in a conspiracy involving £100,000.
Free from the spell of her father, Sufiah returned to Oxford to complete the final year of her Masters in Maths.
But she was now more concerned with enjoying herself—and failed to finish the course after meeting trainee lawyer Jonathan Marshall.
They were married in 2004 when Sufiah was just 19 and Jonathan 24. But the strains with her family were still there.
Despite being invited, Sufiah's parents and four brothers and sisters failed to turn up to the wedding.
Her dreams of a happy life with Jonathan were shattered when the couple divorced just a year later.
Now, in her sad little flat, she uses her body to pay the rent. Sufiah met our man, posing as a punter, at the entrance to her building wearing a tiny skirt, leather boots and a tight t-shirt. She was carrying three mobile phones.
She laughed and joked as she led him to her small apartment where a bed was already set out in the lounge.
She told him it was £130 an hour and offered him a glass of water before putting some music on to a cheap portable stereo and nervously stripping down to her red lace bra and knickers.
Sufiah then peeled off her underwear and danced on the bed. She told him she did full sex with a condom and oral sex without protection.
After our man had made his excuses, Sufiah kept him talking by telling him how she was studying for a Masters degree in Economics on a part-time two year course in London.
The former prodigy added: "I've got exams coming up and I'm thinking ‘Oh my God!'"
Once described by her parents as "naïve and unstreetwise" , she works alone from her flat without any obvious physical security or protection.
She even admitted to our reporter: "It's always a surprise who you are going to meet."
Cheerful Sufiah gave no indication of any sadness at the jailing of her father the previous day. On Wednesday Farooq, 50, was sentenced to 18 months at Coventry Crown Court for touching two 15-year-old girls when he was home tutoring them at maths.
The court heard how in May last year Farooq arrived at one of the victim's home for a maths lesson.
He started whispering in her ear and kissing her hair and cheek. He also touched her breast and told her she was a genius and pretty before putting her hand on his upper thigh.
Destroyed
Farooq's defence lawyer Tim Hannam said: "He's been back in prison for over five months and knows there'll be no more teaching and any hope he had of gaining an income from the teaching method he had developed to a high degree of success is lost to him. His reputation is destroyed."
Now it's clear the daughter who fled his strict regime has almost been destroyed too.
Her friend said last night: "Sufiah has suffered so many knocks in her life. I just hope she can drag herself out this life she has got herself into.
"She is a good person and deserves a much better life than this. Her gift really has been a curse."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pada saat saya membaca berita-berita di akhbar, internet mahupun emel seperti di atas, saya begitu teringin bertemu dengannya. Pada usia sebaya saya, saya mengagumi dia kerana Allah telah menganugerahkannya kepandaian luar biasa, namun kehidupannya hari ini, cukup mengelirukan..
Suatu ketika dulu, saya ada juga mengikuti perkembangan hidupnya, suatu fenomena keajaiban bagi saya. Jika saya di tempatnya, entah apa yang akan saya lakukan pula. Jika dia tahu, berita2 yang dipaparkan tentang dirinya tidak lain hanya sikap mengambil berat Umat islam terhadap saudara seagama, pasti dia akan mengenepikan segala pandangan negatif dunia terhadapnya dan cuba kembali memenuhi segala anugerah dengan sepatutnya.' Big powers comes big responsibilities"
Kenapa Sufiah harus melakukan perkara2 seperti itu? Haruskan mencari siapa yang patut dipersalahkan atau sekadar menyebarkan ceritera tentangnya tanpa ada insiatif? Saya tidak berhak mempersoalkan apalagi mencadangkan penyelesaian.
Memang dia sebaya saya, samakah perasaan yang kami alami? Saya doakan dia menemui cahaya. Jika kita tidak dapat berbuat apa2 untuk membantunya, dan jika segala bantuan telah dihulurkan namun gagal, hanya berserah pada Tuhan jalan penyelesaian sebaiknya dan sepenuhnya.
By Keith Gladdis
SHE was a child maths genius who won a place at Oxford University aged just 13—but now the only sums Sufiah Yusof is interested in are the ones she earns as a HOOKER.
For sad Sufiah the daily equation she has to solve is simply sex equals £130 as she sells her body to punters over the internet.
The gifted girl with the winning smile had the world at her feet ten years ago and should be a rich woman by now—but last week she was busy subtracting her underwear for our undercover reporter in her dingy back street flat.
"Would you like to start your half hour now?" said Sufiah, 23, as she danced on the bed, displaying her body for examination.
Then she listed all the sleazy plus points she would throw in for our man if he took up her offer.
Calling herself Shilpa Lee, the former child prodigy still juggles with figures on a hookers' website, describing herself as a "very pretty size 8, 32D bust and 5'5" tall—available for booking every day from 11am to 8pm."
She says she is a "sexy, smart student" who prefers "older gentlemen"— but a former pal who has witnessed her downfall told us: "It is all desperately heartbreaking.
"With her amazing brain she should be able to make money any way she wants. But instead her life has spiralled completely out of control."
Life has never quite added up for Sufiah. Her descent into prostitution in Salford, Manchester, is the latest in a long line of tragedies to have engulfed her since the sunny day when she posed with her university mortar board for the world's press outside prestigious St Hilda's College.
Our shock revelations today come in the week her domineering dad Farooq was jailed for sexually assaulting two 15-year-old girls as he home-tutored them in maths.
And he was always at the root of all her troubles— even as she passed the further maths A-Level she needed for entry to Oxford at the age of 12. In those days Sufia was a strict Muslim child who prayed five times a day and was subjected to her father's famous Accelerated Learning Technique.
Her days involved stretching and breathing exercises in freezing rooms to keep her brain attentive.
Sufiah would then study hard and be forced to play tennis with just as much intensity as fanatical Farooq drove her on. The routine was so effective Sufiah was seeded number eight in the country for under 21s.
But three years into Oxford, the 15-year-old sparked a massive police hunt after running away.
Abuse
At the time her father bizarrely claimed Sufiah had been kidnapped and brainwashed by an organisation seeking the key to her intelligence.
But Sufiah sent an email to her family describing her life under her father as a "living hell".
One message to her sister read: "I've finally had enough of 15 years of physical and emotional abuse. You know what I am talking about."
Sufiah was missing for two weeks before being found in an internet café in Bournemouth where she had been working as a hotel waitress.
She refused to go back to her parents and instead was taken into the care of social services.
It was then revealed that Farooq had been jailed for three years in 1992 for his part in a £1.5m mortgage swindle. Before that—at the age of 19—he had been sent to borstal for his role in a conspiracy involving £100,000.
Free from the spell of her father, Sufiah returned to Oxford to complete the final year of her Masters in Maths.
But she was now more concerned with enjoying herself—and failed to finish the course after meeting trainee lawyer Jonathan Marshall.
They were married in 2004 when Sufiah was just 19 and Jonathan 24. But the strains with her family were still there.
Despite being invited, Sufiah's parents and four brothers and sisters failed to turn up to the wedding.
Her dreams of a happy life with Jonathan were shattered when the couple divorced just a year later.
Now, in her sad little flat, she uses her body to pay the rent. Sufiah met our man, posing as a punter, at the entrance to her building wearing a tiny skirt, leather boots and a tight t-shirt. She was carrying three mobile phones.
She laughed and joked as she led him to her small apartment where a bed was already set out in the lounge.
She told him it was £130 an hour and offered him a glass of water before putting some music on to a cheap portable stereo and nervously stripping down to her red lace bra and knickers.
Sufiah then peeled off her underwear and danced on the bed. She told him she did full sex with a condom and oral sex without protection.
After our man had made his excuses, Sufiah kept him talking by telling him how she was studying for a Masters degree in Economics on a part-time two year course in London.
The former prodigy added: "I've got exams coming up and I'm thinking ‘Oh my God!'"
Once described by her parents as "naïve and unstreetwise" , she works alone from her flat without any obvious physical security or protection.
She even admitted to our reporter: "It's always a surprise who you are going to meet."
Cheerful Sufiah gave no indication of any sadness at the jailing of her father the previous day. On Wednesday Farooq, 50, was sentenced to 18 months at Coventry Crown Court for touching two 15-year-old girls when he was home tutoring them at maths.
The court heard how in May last year Farooq arrived at one of the victim's home for a maths lesson.
He started whispering in her ear and kissing her hair and cheek. He also touched her breast and told her she was a genius and pretty before putting her hand on his upper thigh.
Destroyed
Farooq's defence lawyer Tim Hannam said: "He's been back in prison for over five months and knows there'll be no more teaching and any hope he had of gaining an income from the teaching method he had developed to a high degree of success is lost to him. His reputation is destroyed."
Now it's clear the daughter who fled his strict regime has almost been destroyed too.
Her friend said last night: "Sufiah has suffered so many knocks in her life. I just hope she can drag herself out this life she has got herself into.
"She is a good person and deserves a much better life than this. Her gift really has been a curse."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pada saat saya membaca berita-berita di akhbar, internet mahupun emel seperti di atas, saya begitu teringin bertemu dengannya. Pada usia sebaya saya, saya mengagumi dia kerana Allah telah menganugerahkannya kepandaian luar biasa, namun kehidupannya hari ini, cukup mengelirukan..
Suatu ketika dulu, saya ada juga mengikuti perkembangan hidupnya, suatu fenomena keajaiban bagi saya. Jika saya di tempatnya, entah apa yang akan saya lakukan pula. Jika dia tahu, berita2 yang dipaparkan tentang dirinya tidak lain hanya sikap mengambil berat Umat islam terhadap saudara seagama, pasti dia akan mengenepikan segala pandangan negatif dunia terhadapnya dan cuba kembali memenuhi segala anugerah dengan sepatutnya.' Big powers comes big responsibilities"
Kenapa Sufiah harus melakukan perkara2 seperti itu? Haruskan mencari siapa yang patut dipersalahkan atau sekadar menyebarkan ceritera tentangnya tanpa ada insiatif? Saya tidak berhak mempersoalkan apalagi mencadangkan penyelesaian.
Memang dia sebaya saya, samakah perasaan yang kami alami? Saya doakan dia menemui cahaya. Jika kita tidak dapat berbuat apa2 untuk membantunya, dan jika segala bantuan telah dihulurkan namun gagal, hanya berserah pada Tuhan jalan penyelesaian sebaiknya dan sepenuhnya.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
INVITATION
FAITH & POWER: WOMEN IN ISLAM
Event: Faith & Power: Women in Islam
Date : 04 Apr 2008 - 04 Jul 2008
Category : Exhibition
Muslim women have occupied positions of power for as long as Islam has existed. This ranges from the trading might of the Prophet Muhammad’s first wife, Khatija, to the more formal position of the 12th century Yemeni ruler, Malika Arwa. The Qur’an alludes to women of power from as long ago as the Queen of Sheba. In more recent times, the political leadership of Islamic states such as Pakistan and Bangladesh has drawn heavily on the female half of the population. The exhibition Faith & Power: Women in Islam explores a rich history that has often been overlooked. Examining the lives of these women, and attitudes to them, the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia is also able to provide a physical dimension with artefacts from distant times and places. Jewellery, clothing and the accoutrements of power bring new vigour to the lives of forgotten queens, consorts and wielders of influence from behind the throne.
AZEERA ARIFIN
BANGI
Event: Faith & Power: Women in Islam
Date : 04 Apr 2008 - 04 Jul 2008
Category : Exhibition
Muslim women have occupied positions of power for as long as Islam has existed. This ranges from the trading might of the Prophet Muhammad’s first wife, Khatija, to the more formal position of the 12th century Yemeni ruler, Malika Arwa. The Qur’an alludes to women of power from as long ago as the Queen of Sheba. In more recent times, the political leadership of Islamic states such as Pakistan and Bangladesh has drawn heavily on the female half of the population. The exhibition Faith & Power: Women in Islam explores a rich history that has often been overlooked. Examining the lives of these women, and attitudes to them, the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia is also able to provide a physical dimension with artefacts from distant times and places. Jewellery, clothing and the accoutrements of power bring new vigour to the lives of forgotten queens, consorts and wielders of influence from behind the throne.
AZEERA ARIFIN
BANGI
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