WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS! WHY SHOULD WE BE DRAGGED IN?

“Pesawat Air Asia dengan No penerbangan AK 936 menuju Medan telah sedia untuk berangakat. Penumpang-penumpang dipersilakan menaiki pesawat melalui gate T 3” kedengaran suara petugas lelaki dari Air Asia melalui pembesar suara di ruangan keberangkatan LCCT.

Penumpang-penumpang berpusu-pusu dengan tas masing-masing menuju kearah pintu T3 sebagimana yang diumumkan. Diantaranya kelihatan seorang lelaki tua berumur sekitar lapan puluhan dengan pakaian yang begitu rapi, berjaket dan berseluar hitam, berkopiah hitam dan berkaca mata tebal melihat boarding pass yang berada ditangannya seolah-olah tidak berapa yakin akan pengumuman tersebut kerana pendengarannya kurang jelas.

“Ini, pesawat ke Medan Pak? “Tanyanya sambil menggalas sebuah majalah ekonomi berbahasa Inggeris.

“ia.” Jawab saya spontan dan tidak tahu kepada siapa soalannya dituju. Dengan gaya bahasanya,  saya kurang pasti samada ia orang Idonesia atau Malaysia.

Secara kebetulan tidak ramai pula penumpang yang keMedan pada malam itu. Saya memberi penghormatan kepada orang tua tadi mendahului saya. Tiba diatas pesawat, kami sama-sama duduk di satu barisan.

Diluar pesawat, hari mula berangsur gelap dan yang kelihatan cuma lampu-lampu di Airport yang menerangi lapangan dan landasan.

“Sekarang cuaca terlalu panas.” Meluncur kata-kata dari orang tua tadi. “Saya Mohd Ismail dan panggil saya Pak Mail” Ia memperkenalkan diri sambil menghulur tangan kepada saya untuk bersalaman. Terasa malu juga, seharusnya saya yang mendahului perbualan, kerana saya yang lebih muda dari Pak Mail

“Saya Hj Rashid dan sering berulang alik ke Indonesia atas tugas sosial dan Pak Mail mau kemana?”

“Bagus tu dik membuat kerja-kerja sosial. Saya mau ke Banda Aceh. Kebetulan tak sempat untuk mengambil pesawat terus ke Banda Aceh siang tadi, jadi terpaksa menaiki pesawat ini dan saya akan menaiki bas malam ini dari Medan terus ke Banda Aceh.” Dia tidak menyambung lagi pembicaraan tentang kerja-kerja sosial malah mau perhatian saya ditumpukan kepada  dirinya. Biarkan saja, tidak rugi kita menimba pengalaman orang tua ini.

“Kenapa kesana?” saya bertanya seolah-olah mau tahu lebih lanjut akan tujuan Pak Mail.

“Mau bertemu dengan Pak Hassan Tiro, Ia baru datang dari Sweden dan berada di Kuala Lumpur untuk beberapa hari tetapi saya tidak ada sini kerana waktu itu saya di Brunei dan ia telah berangkat ke Banda Aceh kemarin” Jawabnya panjang.

“Hassan Tiro tu siapa dan apa kaitannya dengan Pak Mail?” Dalam fikiran saya munkin Hassan Tiro ini saudaranya.

“Dia adalah pejuang bangsa. Dia adalah orang yang pertama yang ingin menegakkan syariat Islam di Aceh dan Dia juga yang menjadi pengasas Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM). Kami sama-sama berjuang disamping Sukarno menentang Belanda dulu ttapi Sukarno telah mungkir janji.” Bersemangat betul kata-kata yang keluar dari Pak Mail.

Saya menjadi kaget dan ingin tau lagi tentang orang tua ini. “ Pak Mail tinggal dimana?”

Ia terus menentang mata saya dan meminta kepastian “ Maksud dik, tinggal di Hotel mana di Banda Aceh atau tinggal tetap dimana? Kalau di Banda Aceh , saya dirumah yayasan sahaja dan saya sebenarnya menetap di Ankara Turki.”

Bertambah kagit jadinya. Orang ini bukan sembarangan rupanya.

“Saya di Turki sudah 30 tahun dan sering berhubung dengan Pak Hassan Tiro yang kebetulan melarikan diri dari Indonesia ke Sweden 30 tahun yang lalu. Saya sering ke Malaysia kerana Negara ini menjadi Negara kedua saya setelah Indonesia.” Pertanyaan saya yang awal telah terjawab bahawa ini orang Indonesia.

“You know most Indonesian and Malaysian are less concerned with world economic crisis. Why? It is simply because they are more engrossed with the domestic political and economic problems. Who cares about the collapse of Lehman Brothers or Merril Lynch or AIG. Who cares about the collapse of Wall Street. With the collapse of those giants in US, is the world economy going through a period of depression? I know that you can converse well in English as I saw you reading the Star while in the departure lounge” Keluar kata-kata yang saya begitu kagum sekali.

“The world economy are in fact interrelated and interwoven in very complex trading relationships and whether you like or not we are bound to be affected directly or indirectly. Some trades are performed using tangible commodities as goods imported or exported and others are traded in intangible goods such as banking instruments such as derivatives, bonds, which are primarily based on interest element to determine the expected return on any trade.” Saya tersenyum sambil menganalisa kata-katanya satu persatu.

“INTEREST IS forbidden in ISLAM. And it is mutually exclusive. Politician may attribute to the globalization and oil price hike as the main reason for the bad economy and the economist may put the blame on our dependence in US Dollars as the main cause and the ordinary people like you and I may listen and will hear to thousand and one reasons causing the depression in our economy. The question is, why should we be dragged in when this kind of phenomena happens? “Ia berucap seolah-olah sedang memberI pidato dihadapan ribuan penonton.

“You know your former Prime Minister? Mahathir Mohammad. He was a great leader with VISION. I really admire him for that although at time you may think that he is pushing his weight around. He was very bold and courageous in attacking the ideology of the west. He wanted to form East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC) but was not well received by Japan and South Korea fearing the retaliation from USA. In fact US presidents did not like him and was very cautious and should I say afraid of his brilliant idea. The idea of setting up the GOLD DINAR replacing US Dollar as the international medium of exchange is a good testimony of his intelligence. The idea was mooted well before EURO came into picture. Should all the Islamic Countries listened to him and adopt the GOLD DINAR as proposed; I would think that our countries will not be affected by this downturn. It was because the credit bubble in US and the imaginary trades that being conducted and most of all trades are based on INTEREST which is forbidden in Islam. It becomes the way of life not only for the non-Muslim such as the Jews and the West but also for the so called Muslim in Middle East, Malaysia and Indonesia.” Kata-katanya bertul betul berilmiah dan bersemangat , melambangkan dalamnya pengajian Pak Mail dalam hal-hal antarabangsa dan ekonomi dunia.

“The only solution that is available is Back to SYARIAH ISLAM. That is the reason why, I should see Hassan Tiro because he is my inspiration and admiration. You also know that INTEREST IS forbidden in ISLAM. And it is mutually exclusive. Politician may attribute to the globalization and oil price hike as the main reason for the bad economy and the economist may put the blame on our dependence in US Dollars as the main cause and the ordinary people like you and I may still listen and will hear to thousand and one reasons causing the depression in our economy. The question is, why should we be dragged in when this kind of phenomena happens? And you know that it takes 30 years for Aceh to come back to Syariah Islam. I do not know whether the title “Corridor of Mecca” is still suitable for Aceh because most of the people forget to come back to basic. Forget to return to their own FITRAH. The Tsunami catastrophic  impact is a clear sign of ALLAH’s warning  to the people.”

“My dear brother, Hj Rashid, let us do it NOW slowly but surely and you know ALLAH is with us”

Kata-katanya sentiasa bermain dibenak fikiranku meskipun pesawat sudah mendarat di Medan. Dan sewaktu berbaris di kaunter Immigresen, Pak Mail tidak kelihatan lagi.

MEDAN 10/10/2008