The Inception of our Dream Surau

We have been staying at Bukit Rimau since Year 2000. In fact we were among the first "settlers" in the then brand new housing estate.

When we first moved in, it was "hell" getting into and out of the estate. Cut from its actual link, we were forced to take a longer route home, passing palm oil plantation, road full of potholes, competing with hundreds of sand-carrying lorries and worst of all a flood prone road.

We (a group of residents) fought and fought hard to get our link road via Kota Kemuning and come August 2002, exactly 2 years later, we got our link road.

Things got better for the folks of the estate as four years later, our own dedicated interchange was completed providing multiple accesses for the housing estate.

While we were busy fighting for our link road, we didn't forget on other facilities that we ought to have as well. One of it is a Surau. Initially told that we had to generate our own funds to build a surau on a plot of land provided free by the developer, it was discovered years later that the developer actually had an obligation to build the surau on a "build and surrender" concept, an obligation that was made mandatory on the developer. A fact that was conviniently not in the knowledge of the developer, the local authority as well as the religious department! Strange but true!

By then, we had actually commissioned an architect to draw up the plans for the surau and we had actually submitted the plans to MBSA. So there was a change in plan. We sought redress with the developer and there were ding-dongs for two years before the developer finally agreed to the demands of the Committee for the developer to build a surau based on the plans submitted to MBSA.

Last month, tenders were called, and last week, the site was surrendered to the successful bidder.

And today, a ground breaking ceremony was held marking the inception of the physical development of our dream surau, An-Namira.

As usual, I would be asked to write something about the event and here they are, my report of the day in Malay as published in http://jdmbukitrimau.blogspot.com :-

YB Shuhami melakukan upacara Pecah Tanah dengan menggunakan jentera pengaut
Penantian lapan tahun penduduk Islam Bukit Rimau yang mengimpikan terbangunnya surau di kariah mereka kini sudah hampir berakhir.

Hari ini, Ahad 29 Jun 2008, Adun Sri Muda, YB Shuhami menghadiri serta menyempurnakan Majlis Pecah Tanah & Doa Selamat Surau An-Namira Bukit Rimau bagi menandakan bermulanya pembangunan fizikal surau tersebut.

Dalam ucapannya sebelum melakukan upacara pecah tanah tersebut, YB Shuhaimi mengingatkan ahli kariah supaya sentiasa bersatu padu dalam mempertingkatkan ukhwah islamiah tanpa mengambil kira kecenderungan fahaman politik masing-masing. Selaku pusat kegiatan Islam setempat, institusi surau dan masjid haruslah merupakan satu institusi yang bebas dari sebarang pengaruh politik yang dikhuatiri mampu mengganggu gugat kesejahteraan setempat.

YB Shuhaimi (kanan) mengaminkan doa yang dipimpin oleh Ustaz Sobri (kiri)
Islam, menurut beliau, menuntut penganutnya sentiasa mengambil berat tentang kebajikan jiran. Penganut adalah dipertanggungjawabkan agar sentiasa memastikan kebajikan jiran tanpa mengambilkira anutan agama masing-masing. Berdasarkan ajaran itu, fahaman politik yang berbeza dikalangan jiran tidak harus dijadikan sebab untuk tidak mengimarahkan institusi surau.

Surau An-Namira, apabila siap nanti, disyorkan supaya menjalankan pelbagai aktiviti keagamaan disamping turut cergas mengendalikan aktiviti-aktiviti yang bercorak kemasyarakatan.

Bercakap bagi pihak Kerajaan Negeri Selangor pula, beliau memaklumkan bahawa pihak kerajaan disamping meneruskan dasar kerajaan dahulu yang mensyaratkan kemudahan surau disediakan oleh pemaju masing-masing, ianya kini mengambil sikap yang lebih terbuka dalam hal pembangunan rumah-rumah ibadat bagi penganut agama-agama lain.

Tambah beliau, ujudnya rumah-rumah ibadat untuk setiap penganutnya adalah sesuatu yang dapat menjamin kebebasan serta kesejahteraan masyarakat dalam mengamalkan ajaran agama masing-masing sepertimana yang termaktub dalam perlembagaan negara.

Beliau mengakhiri ucapan dengan mengajak ahli kariah menyumbangkan dana kepada Jawatankuasa Pembangunan Surau bagi membolehkan Jawatankuasa tersebut melengkapkan kemudahan surau apabila siap nanti. Untuk tujuan itu, sumbangan pejabat Adun Sri Muda sebanyak RM1,000 telahpun dijanjikan.

Hadirin menikmati jamuan yang disediakan secara "potluck"
Surau An-Namira dijangka siap dalam tempoh 16 minggu (akhir bulan Oktober 2008). Rekabentuknya adalah mengikut citarasa Ahlijawatankuasa Pembangunan Surau An-Namira yang terdiri dari kalangan ahli kariah. Ianya kini dibangunkan atas pembiayaan pemaju Bukit Rimau hasil dari rundingan dengan Jawatankuasa Pembangunan An-Namira sejak dua tahun lalu.

Jasni AJ

Sila lawati http://annamira.blogspot.com/ untuk liputan bergambar.

Everyone's Related

A few weeks back I got an invite from my brother, who in turn got an invite from our cousin, to join his family tree created though Geni.

It is a very interesting and user friendly system provided free by www.geni.com which I think is useful for everyone to get to record your roots, trees and even forests as the family tree is expandable to cover almost everyone within your family circle that includes the family of ones spouse and family of the spouse's spouse.

Try it out and I'm sure you'll be excited as I was (and still am) for the past weeks inputing all relatives whom I know. The best part of Geni is that you can invite any your relatives and get them to update as well making it an never ending lines family ties.

I'm now introduced to new relatives, not really new though as they have been there all these while without me knowing that they are actually my relatives. How sad, isn't it?

Before Geni, one of my granduncle attempted to produce a family tree book, during a time when computer was not around. Every page was type-written. I had the book somewhere but I just could not find it anywhere. Thanks to Geni, the family tree can now grow again.

Jasni AJ