[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Do You Yahoo!?
Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger.
---------------------- Forwarded by AbdulHalim Fakurudin on 05/02/2000 11:31 AM --------------------------- AbdulHalim Fakurudin 05/02/2000 10:04 AM To: ZulWizaratain Abdulhadi@Seagate cc: Subject: Former Al-Arqam redefines itself Former Al-Arqam redefines itself By Joceline Tan 30 April 2000 Send to a friend | Printable Page IT was the type of morning which promised to mature into a blistering afternoon, but in the cool shade of the shadow cast by a row of still unoccupied shophouses, a troop of Malay boys were practising march steps to the beat of the kompang. They might have passed off for the average secondary schoolboy were it not for their darkly-lined eyes and the thick turbans wrapped around their heads. Several other boys sat around watching with an air of mild boredom as I drove past three times, each time, gazing curiously at their exotic headgear and made-up eyes. The boys belong to the Sekolah Menengah Agama At Tahalli. This is a religious school that occupies the bulk of an adjacent block of shophouses. The entire stretch of the two uppermost floors have been converted to rows of classrooms, a surau and hostels. The schoolboys are also mostly children of members of the former Al-Arqam movement, some of whom have started a new life in Rawang, or to be more specific, in the fledgling township known as Bandar Country Homes about 2km from Rawang town. Al-Arqam, although best-known for its peculiar, and since renounced brand of Islamic practices, was also a multi-million ringgit business outfit before it was banned in 1994 and its leaders arrested under the Internal Security Act for preaching deviationist Islam. A segment of its former and key followers have begun new business enterprises under the flagship Rufaqa Corporation Sdn Bhd since April 1997. But it has only been late last year that Rufaqa (Arabic for "true and loyal companion") began seriously setting up base in Bandar Country Homes. Its headquarters on top of several shophouses has yet to have a signboard to it, while the staff _ many of whom started work only early this year _ sit at desks that seem remarkably free of paperwork. "Al-Arqam is no more ... it's finished. Now it's only business," was the somewhat strenuous comment from Rufaqa corporate affairs manager Mohd Fazel Mohd Salleh. Only Rufaqa staff and family, he insisted, live in Rawang. The rudiments of a multi-prong business is already visible, most of it located within the cluster of shophouses where the school is. On the ground floor below the school are several Rufaqa businesses _ a mini-market, furniture shop, cafetaria, bakery and stationery store. Their clientele comprise mostly students and families of Rufaqa staff. The latter is said to number about 200, and who live nearby in the modern township. A large number of them are family members or related to former Al-Arqam leader Ashaari Muhammad. Ashaari _ whom the community still addresses reverently as abuyah (father of all) _ lives a stone's throw from the shops in a pair of blue-roofed bungalows linked by a family surau. Wives number one and two live in one house and three and four in the other. He is generally in good health according to a recent medical check-up at the Ampang Puteri Medical Centre. However, he reportedly suffers from a nerve disorder that has affected his jaw movements and impeded his speech facilities so much so that one of his wives now translates what he has to say to visitors, he is otherwise fine. Ashaari is head of a huge family _ four wives, 37 children and over 140 grandchildren. And as a former Al-Arqam figure says, "Ashaari's family alone can form the beginnings of a new township". After the ban, some wanted to continue their existing way of life but with a different approach, others wanted to return to the mainstream and yet others wished nothing more to do with the former cult. The Rawang community is said to fall under the first type and their new approach emphasises business and commerce. To date, they have lived unobstrusively and kept mostly to themselves. It is a close-knit community where everybody knows everybody, and where its members seem to mouth similar ideas and opinions in near-identical phrases. Gone too are the purdah, gloves and socks that their women used to favour. They now go about in pastel shades although their tudung are long and flowing, shielding them chastely from crown to groin. Even the girl-child as young as two dons a tudung. The adult men have also eschewed their green jubah for the Malay-style shirt and trousers. The bulky turban is still the preferred headgear although others wear the kopiah. But virtually all sport neatly trimmed goatees. Many of the men also carry the "badge of piety" _ two greyish spots on the forehead that supposedly comes about from frequent praying. A group of men dressed as such were sitting around an oblong table having a discussion when I walked into the Rufaqa office. Eventually, one of them _ a tall, well-built man who spoke flawless English _ came out. After quizzing me about my intentions, he proceeded to explain about Rufaqa _ that it is a registered company, how it emphasises spiritual values rather than profits and how "the supreme love of God (Tuhan, Cinta Agung) permeates their every activity". He was coy about his identity but his face was simply too recognisable _ he was Khairel Annuar Ujang, the former sessions court judge who was among the Al-Arqam leaders caught in the 1994 dragnet. He is married to Ashaari's daughter (one of his three wives) and also one of Rufaqa's six directors. Khairel is also said to be the right-hand man of Ashaari. Shortly after he left, another famous face strolled in, namely, singer Sheqal, who used to be married to Raja Ema. Sheqal was, thankfully, less coy and spoke openly about how his yearning for spirituality led him to Rufaqa four months ago. Sheqal is a big catch for Rufaqa's audio and video unit. The unit is an important propaganda medium for inculcating their message of Tuhan, Cinta Agung. Just how big a catch he is became clear a fortnight later when the group invited me to a concert in Kelana Jaya where Sheqal performed alongside Rufaqa's home-grown nasyid troop, Qathrunada. He has terrific stage presence and is proof that one need not look mournful and stiff as a pillar when singing religious themes. About a week later, I turned up at the Kafetaria Ikhwan, one of Rufaqa's business limbs where I had an appointment with Fazel. But Fazel had gone to Petaling Jaya and instead sent Hasni Hassan to meet me. Hasni is fair and sweet-faced with a disposition to match. She is a graduate in Islamic studies from a Jordanian university and one of the few unmarried woman in this very much-married community. She offered to show me the Rufaqa clinic which is located on a knoll and commands a panoramic view of the expanding township. The inevitable Cinta Agung slogan _ in painted styrofoam _ was plastered on the wall although I was told that the clinic's motto was Sakit Menghapuskan Dosa (Illness cleanses the sins), declared in bright styrofoam on another wall. Dr Norliah Mohd Noor, a Universiti Malaya-trained medical officer said the clinic has delivered 54 babies since opening in November last year. It also treated 430 outpatients last week alone. And she has no qualms about examining men. "That was before," she said when asked about women Arqam doctors who poked male patients with pencils to avoid touching them. And although the clinic has first class and second class wards, they are actually a one-bedded room (with air-conditioning) and a two-bedded room (with fan). Ashaari has been to the clinic many times, usually to visit his many newly-born grandchildren. The Rufaqa community is not unaware that their activities are being closely monitored by the authorities who are concerned that it may be a business-cloaked attempt to revive the former cult movement. The concern is only natural because despite the community's conscientious emphasis on business, the traits and practices of their former lives still linger. For one, Ashaari is still a very central and powerful figure in the Rufaqa community. Rufaqa staff speak of how they love him more than their own parents, how he inspires religious fervour in them, and how he has motivated and touched their lives. For instance, Fazel declared: "He is my idol and mentor." The religious doctrines have changed little if at all, apart from the new application of management terms and, according to ex-members, there seems to be even greater emphasis on polygamy now than before. Ex-cult followers point out that the communal lifestyle which takes care of all their basic needs makes members dependent and even difficult for them to break out of the group. "Stressing on business gives them a legitimate image. "Likewise, recruiting outsiders through marriage ... it's very hard to dispute because polygamy is allowed in Islam," said an ex-member. Meanwhile, it is only fair to give the Rufaqa community a chance to start anew, to go about conducting business and living the life that they have redefined for themselves. - jocelinetyahoo.com
