Founding Fathers of ASEAN

Darul Aqsha
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

ON AUGUST 8,1967 the “Bangkok Declaration” gave birth to ASEAN the Association of Southeast Asian Nations an organisation that would unite five countries in a joint effort to promote economic co-operation and the welfare of their peoples.

This five-member grouping of Southeast Asian countries comprising Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand would over the span of 44 years grow to become a strong-linked geo-political and economic organisation of countries occupying the prosperous Southeast Asia region. Since then, its membership has expanded to include Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

ASEAN is a geo-political and economic organisation of 10 countries located in the Southeast Asia region covering 4.46 million sqm with a population of approximately 600 million people. Its combined nominal GDP had grown to US$1.8 trillion in 2010. As a single entity, ASEAN would rank as the ninth largest economy in the world.

Bearing that in mind, it’s time to reminisce about the four foreign ministers and a deputy prime minister who represented their respective countries in signing the ASEAN Declaration 44 years ago in Bangkok, Thailand.

Without the founding fathers’ contributions and determination, ASEAN would never have come into existence.

Adam Malik

Adam Malik

Adam Malik was born in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, Indonesia on July 22, 1917. Adam was an autodidact. Before he became the third Vice President of Indonesia, he was a politician, journalist, senior diplomat, minister of culture, minister of trade, minister of economy and legislator. His diplomatic career started when Acting President of Indonesia Soeharto officially chose him as foreign minister in 1967. When Soeharto was officially elected as the Indonesian president, he then appointed Adam as minister of foreign affairs in 1968 . As foreign minister, he insisted that ASEAN should only be about economic, not military cooperation.

He was also Indonesian ambassador to Soviet Union and the 26th President of the United Nations General Assembly (1971-1972). In 1977, Malik was elected as the Chairman of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR). In March 1978, he was chosen by Soeharto as Vice President (1978-1983). He received the Dag Hammarskjold Award from the United Nations (1982) and was recognised as an Indonesian national hero. On September 5, 1984, Adam Malik died of liver cancer in Bandung, West Java.

He wrote a memoir entitled ‘Mengabdi Republik’ (Serving the Republik, 1978).

Narciso R Ramos

Narciso R Ramos

Narciso Ramos was born on November 11, 1900 in Asingan, Pangasinan, the Philippines. He studied journalism and law. Ramos later embarked into becoming a journalist, lawyer, human right activist, legislator and diplomat. His career in foreign service commenced when President Roxas called him to establish the Philippines’s foreign service and organise the first Philippine embassy in Washington DC, after the country regained independence, 1946.

He was Philippine ambassador to Argentina (1949-1952) and the first head of the Philippine mission in New Delhi and Taipei (1956). He then was appointed foreign secretary by President Ferdinand Marcos (1965-1968). Besides signing the ASEAN Declaration in 1967, he also endeavoured to remould Philippine friendship with the United States by signing the Ramos-Rusk Agreement, which decreased the tenure of the RP-US military bases agreement by 25 years and allowed the crucial changes in the Military Bases Accord on January 7, 1979.

He was also involved in re-establishing the Asia Pacific Council (ASPAC). He was asked to lead the Asian Exchange Center in Taipei (1982-1985). On February 3, 1986, he died of stroke. His first son of three children, Fidel V Ramos, was 12th Philippine President (1992-1998).

For his foreign service, he was bestowed the Order of Sikatuna Award (rank of Datu) and the Legion of Honour award (rank of commander) and the Bronze Medal of Valour for his services as a guerrilla during World War Two.

S Rajaratnam

S Rajaratnam

Sinnathamby Rajaratnam was one of the founding fathers of independent Singapore when it achieved self-government in 1959 and later independence in 1965. Born on February 25, 1915 in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, he was a politician, journalist, minister of culture, minister of manpower, minister of foreign affairs, deputy prime minister and senior minister. He studied law and journalism in London. After returning to Singapore in 1948, he became a journalist and joined The Straits Times in 1954. His career as a diplomat began when he was appointed as the first foreign minister in 1965.

Rajaratnam helped Singapore gain entry into the United Nations and later the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1970. He built up the Foreign Service, establishing diplomatic links with other countries and secure international recognition of the new nation’s sovereignty. Rajaratnam retired in 1988. He then served at the Institute of South East Asian Studies as a Distinguished Senior Fellow (1988-1997). In 1994, Rajaratnam was diagnosed with dementia and was unable to move or talk by 2001. On February 22, 2006, he died of heart failure.

Thanat Khoman

Thanat Khoman

Thanat Khoman was born in 1914 in Bangkok into a Sino-Thai family. He studied law in France and entered his country’s diplomatic service in 1940. He was ambassador to US in Washington, DC (1957) and served as Thailand’s foreign minister (1959-1971). His major contribution was in promoting regional reconciliation and cooperation.

He played a key role in mediating between Indonesia and Malaysia in the mid-1960s; the choice of Bangkok as the venue for the founding meeting of ASEAN in August 1967. After stepping down as a technocratic foreign minister, he entered politics and became the leader of the Democrat Party between 1979 and 1982 and a deputy prime minister between 1980 and 1982, after which he retired from public life.

Tun Abdul Razak

Tun Abdul Razak

Tun Abdul Razak Hussein Al-Haj was born on March 11, 1922 in Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia. He was Prime Minister of Malaysia (1970-1976) and Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister (1957-1970). Previously he was a lawyer and politician (UMNO, 1953-1976).

Upon his return to Malaysia, he joined the Malayan Civil Service. His political activities in UMNO led him to be Pahang’s Chief Minister at the age of 33, Education Minister (1955) and the Minister of Rural Development (1959). In January 14, 1976, he died of leukaemia while seeking medical treatment in London. He was posthumously granted the title “Father of Development”. Abdul Razak’s eldest son, Najib Tun Razak, became the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia on April 3, 2009.

The Brunei Times
Tuesday, August 9, 2011

At Last, The National Condom Week Cancelled

“It has been misinterpretation and misinformation about the objective of the condom campaign… It’s contraproductive..,” Budi Harnanto, Public Support Deputy of the National Committee of AIDS Prevention.

Mendapat Tekanan Masyarakat, Pekan Kondom Nasional Dihentikan

Clarification that Irfan Dahlan, A Son of the Founder of Muhammadiyah, Was Not An Ahmadist

“Many rumours mentioned that my father was Ahmadist or follower of Ahmaddiyah, but we in family realized that it was only fitna. My father with all his life was Muhammadiyah who had sacrificed his whole life protecting reputation of his father by fading his profile in a land that little known by members of Muhammadiyyah in Indonesia,” Prof. Dr. Winai Dahlan, a grandson of KH Ahmad Dahlan, wrote.

Prof. Dr Winai Dahlan is the director of the Halal Science Centre (HASCI) in Thailand, named the Best Innovation in the Halal Industry by Malaysia’s Halal Journal. HASCI promotes halal manufacturing and service through exhibitions and regional cooperation with Halal Centres in Indonesia and Malaysia. Dr Winai Dahlan is involved in scientific training and has written more than 30 original research articles published internationally and locally. He has also produced more than 2000 scientific and nutritional articles; writing weekly in 3 magazines since 1989.

http://muhammadiyahstudies.blogspot.com/2013/08/irfan-dahlan-and-ahmadiyya.html; http://themuslim500.com/profile/prof-dr-winai-dahlan

Muslim Contribution To Astronomy

Darul Aqsha
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

BRITISH scientist Dr Salah Baimeche in his article published in August 1992 discussed the obscured Muslim’s role in astronomy in the history of sciences. He found that many discussions about astronomy by some Western authors and historians of sciences commonly neglect the contribution of Muslims’s astronomers and scientists to the development of astronomy. “Nothing surprising here either. Out of the so many topics listed not a single reference to Muslim astronomy,” Beimeche said. “The author just jumps from Ptolemy to Copernicus, skipping those 1,500 years,” he added.

Ptolemy (90-168 was an Egyptian astronomer of Greek descent, who was known for geocentric the ory, while Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was a Polish polymath and astronomer, known for heliocentric cosmology formula. Some writers believed that Copernicus’ theories were based on those of Al-Tusi and Ibn Shatir, adding that Copernicus made repeated uses of Al-Tusi’s and his followers’ devices.

Many of the most basic concepts of modern astronomy were developed directly by various Muslim astronomers who lived between the 9th and 15th centuries, or came about through their influences on later astronomers. Their works were innovative and accurate. They have been used or relied upon by scholars who followed them. Their influences were felt by generations to come
for centuries. At least there are three craters on the moon which were named after them
(Al-Zarqali, Al-Tusi and Ulugh Begh).

Some Muslim astronomers
Among Muslim astronomers, who gave great contributions in this field, was Al-Farghani (Abu’l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Farghani). He lived in Uzbekistan between 805 and 880 AD. He was known for his works entitled Kitab fi Harakat Al-Samawiyah wa Jaamai Ilm al-Nujum on cosmography. It contains thirty chapters, including of the earth, its size, the distances of the heavenly bodies from the earth and their sizes, as well as other phenomena. He also wrote on the astrolabe, explaining the mathematical theory behind the instrument and correcting faulty geometrical constructions of the central disc, that were current then.

Then, Al-Battani (Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Jabir ibn Sinan ar-Raqqi al-Harrani as-Sabi al-Battani) or Albagtenius who lived in Syria between 858 – 929M. His work Al-Zij al-Sabi (The Sabian tables), was very influential for centuries after him. It includes timing of the new moons, calculation of the length of the solar and sideral year, the prediction of eclipses and the phenomenon of parallax. His first notions of trigonometrical ratios used today, and made serious emendations to Ptolemy. Copernicus mentioned his indebtedness to Al-Battani.

Furthermore, Al-Sufi (Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi) of Iran (903-986). His work Book of Fixed Stars describing his observations and descriptions of the stars, setting out his results constellation by constellation, discussing the stars positions, their magnitudes and
their colour, and for each constellation providing two drawings from the outside of a celestial
globe, and from the inside. Al-Sufi also wrote on the astrolabe.

Al-Biruni (Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni) who was also from Iran (973-1050). He wrote 150 papers, including 35 treatises on pure astronomy, of which only six have survived. He claimed that the earth rotated around its own axis and calculated the earth circumference, and fixed scientifically the direction of Mekah from any point of the globe.

Al-Zarqali

Al-Zarqali (Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Yahya al-Naqqash) or Arzachel of Andalusia (Spain) who lived between 1029 and 1087. He prepared the Toledan Tables and was also a renowned instrument maker who constructed a more sophisticated astrolabe: a safiha, accompanied by a treatise.

Jabir ibn Aflah[/caption]Jabir ibn Aflah (Abu Muhammad Jabir ibn Aflah) or Geber of Spain (1100 – 1150). He was the first to design a portable celestial sphere to measure and explain the movements of celestial objects. Jabir is specially noted for his work on spherical trigonometry.

Al-Tusi

Al-Tusi (Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Ibn al-Hasan Nasir al-Din al-Tusi of Iran (1201-1274). He wrote Al-Zij-Ilkhani, dedicated to Ilkhan (Halagu Khan), the most popular astronomical tables among astronomers until the 15th century. He pointed out several serious shortcomings in Ptolemy’s astronomy and foreshadowed the later dissatisfaction with the system that culminated in the

Copernican reforms.

Al-Shatir

Al-Shatir (’Ali al-Din ’Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Shatir) of Syria (1305-1375). He wrote Al-Zij al-Jadid (The New Astronomical Handbook), extant in several manuscript copies, contains a new set of planetary tables based on his new theory and parameters. He also compiled a set of tables displaying the values of certain spherical astronomical functions relating to the times of prayer. He incorporated various ingenious modifications of those of Ptolemy. An investigation on Al- Shatir’s theory in 1950s revealed that his models were mathematically identical to those of Copernicus that raised the very interesting question of a possible
transmission of his planetary theory to Europe.

Observatories

Ulugh Begh

Ulugh Begh (Mirza Mohammad Taregh bin Shahrokh) of Iran-Afghanistan (1393 – 1449). A Timurid sultan who composed Ziji- Sultani (1437), catalogued 994 stars, generally considered the
greatest star catalogue between those of Ptolemy and Tycho Brahe (Danish astronomer, 1546-1601), a work that stands alongside Al-Sufi’s Book of Fixed Stars. He also built an astronomy university in Samarkand and an enormous observatory called the Gurkhani Zi.

Taqi al-Din

Taqi al-Din was born in Damascus, Syria, in 1522. He built an observatory in 1577 which
consisted of two large structures placed on a hill overlooking the European section of Istanbul. He wrote 33 treatises on astronomy, including The Observational Instruments of the Emperors Catalogue, describing the astronomical instruments used in the Istanbul observatory. He was the first astronomer to employ a decimal point notation in his observations. He also invented a framed sextant similar to what Tycho Brahe later used in his observation.

Encouraging Factors
The things that encouraging Muslims in the past to observe the celestial objects apparently had to do with their faith, the Quranic verses on astronomy, and ritual activities. There are some Quranic verses that encourage Muslims to observe and study the universe, including the sun, the moon and the stars, which in the end leading them to the recognition on the existence of God as the Creator of the universe.

Allah (SWT) says: “God is the One who made the sun a shining glory and the moon a light, and for her ordained phases, so that you might know the number of years and the reckoning (of time). God created this Truth, He explains the Signs in detail for people who know.” (QS Yunus/
10:5)

Al-Battani once stated that astronomy has a well earned place among disciplines for its tremendous share in helping man calculate years and months, provide accurate time, mark seasons, observe increase and decrease in duration of days and nights, watch locations
and eclipses of the sun and the moon, witness the movements of planets in their faring in alternating places and signs. “Much more may be added by it through study and scrutiny that invariably leads to further proof and knowledge of the greatness, wisdom, and power
of the Creator (SWT),” he concluded.

The other things that encouraged Muslims to study astronomy were the Islamic faith, ‘Tawhid’ (the oneness of God) that the universe was created by One God; the ritual activities such as Solat, Haj, Fasting in Ramadhan, Aidil Fitri and Aidil Adha that require the determination of precise times by moonsighting; the determination of Ka’bah position as Qiblat for Solat direction; and the traveling needs such as the determination of the right direction to Mekah for haj pilgrimage and there are several Quranic verses that ordering Muslims to travel around the globe.

A true and honest science author or historian would not obscure or forget Muslims’s contributions as the basis for the development of the modern astronomy.

Islamia/The Brunei Times
Friday, 6 August 2010