No wonder they see us as hypocrites

If you happen to read  The Star on 24th July 2010, you can see how some stupid Muslims react in Malaysia to some religious issues. We do not have to graduate high schools to say that they are Malays, who just react with plain stupidity to confront them. It is not I am saying all of them are, but please make yourselves sound smarter when giving reasons or making judgements. It is about the Manchester United jerseys that features a devil. Not that I am saying it is wrong for them because they put their football jerseys first before their believe (as I myself not a perfect Muslim or ma'sum), but how wrong it is to pretend that you care about your religion.

To quote the report by The Star,

“What am I going to do with all my Manchester United jerseys? And my sons’ jerseys?” said a Twitter user.

Aren't they stupid? If you are a Muslim and you are saying "No, they are not stupid,"perhaps you should know what stupidity means. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary states that the term 'stupidity' means 'behaviour that shows a lack of thought or good judgement'. If you still say "No, they are not stupid," that means you are part of the Stupid Muslims League of Malaysia ( there is no such thing though). Yes, we are entitled to our own opinion in this country, so I am entitled to mine. So, if you think I am wrong, please give your comments.

Let me remind you, we do live in a country where conservatism is still strong but the liberalisms has vocal opinions. However, the statements given does not have intellectual values to be labelled neither conservative nor liberal. I could think of just another category which is Stupiditism.

To quote the report again,

There is no “religious ban” on Manchester United jerseys despite statements by several prominent Islamic scholars urging Muslims not to don the Premier League club’s shirts because the emblem features a devil.

Perak mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria said jerseys with devils, crosses or skulls promoted the wrong values for Muslims but that did not mean they should be banned.

“A fatwa on the matter is not necessary as it is clearly wrong for Muslims to wear shirts with devils and other unIslamic symbols because it is against the teachings of Islam,” he said yesterday.

Apart from Manchester United, which is also known as The Red Devils, other football teams whose crests carry images deemed unIslamic like the cross are Brazil, Portu gal, Serbia, Barcelona and Norway.

“In Islam, Satan is our enemy ... but I believe Satan is also an enemy of the non-Muslims.

Being a hypocrite to show that you are a good Muslim will not help yourselves to make others believe in you. We all make mistakes and do regular sins everyday, but never make stupid reactions/statements to defend your sincerity to your football club or artists in other cases.

I am not an anti-football fans, but an anti-stupid reasons. I do like football occasionally, especially when the last fever we had less than a month ago. As the mufti said, it is already wrong to wear them and so if you believe that you are a good Muslim, or wants to be one, refrain yourselves from doing so. However, never pretend that you are but at the same time doing it. It is your rights ( that's what the Western Orientalist s  say), but remember not to give your own red card to your own beliefs. Perhaps you will realise someday, it is not Wayne Rooney or Park Ji Sung that will carry your casket to the graveyard, and it is too late. Let us all pray that this will not happen  in the future and that all of our lives will be blessed by Allah. I also pray that this will not happen to all of us as well. Amin. Full report from The Star here.

Less Serious This Time - Episode 1

Photos courtesy of Liyana Lee.

Yesterday, I went for my pre-departure briefing before going to study in the States, amin. I arrived at KLCC so early because as usual, my sister send me to the train station right after my Subuh prayer. There alone in KLCC, I took out my Pearl S. Buck's The God Earth waiting for my other friends. Do you know, there are lots of people already as in the early morning in KLCC. The Petronas staffs and the Suria Salesmen kept coming from the train station. It was like New York, I thought.

40 minutes, before 8.30 am, I took out my book and read it. 8.16 am, Farrah phoned me and ask me to go to the lounge of KLCC. So, I went there and saw Azim, another friend of mine with her. Azim has a new look, but it totally is not good. In other word, bad. 

Level 40 : After series of funny events and Azim looking very funny(overdressed), we went straight away to the Dining Hall because we were freaking hungry. Before that, we saw a guy from Sri KDU College and I don't give a damn to remember his name and so, goodbye! Only Azim, the-one-who-always-kind-to-handsome-boys did make a contact. 

After the briefing, I had a burger date with my junior (another post to describe her later on), Liyana Lee whom I agreed to treat her with burger. She took random pictures and we talked a lot! She brought a friend with her, Amm who was very quite, probably Al-Azhar mad her so. Then, Aiman and Farrah came to see us, surprisingly. Okay, more talking and forgiving! There is more in the next episode.

Less serious, Liyana Lee?

Adibah Amin

KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 (Bernama) -- The Welfare Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers (Bakti) has donated RM50,000 to ailing Malay literary figure Adibah Amin for treatment and medication.

That was the news excerpt from Bernama. Well, you probably would think who the hell is this Adibah Amin? Why Bakti donates such big amount of money to her? 

If any of you know her books, then you should have already known that she is a very significant figure in the local Malaysian literary scene. Do you remember this book called As I Was Passing? There are two parts of the book and she wrote them.  I have never read her books before but I have heard about her since I was in secondary school. She should be a very important person, I thought. I did a little Wiki research and found out that she is the daughter of Ibu Zain, a very important woman who fought for Tanah Melayu independence. 

She wrote a novel in 2006, This End of the Rainbow. It is based on her memories of her student days at the University Malaya in Singapore. Set in the 1950s, it’s a tale of a group of university students and their dreams for the future. However, they are soon torn between their own sheltered lives and the harsh realities of colonialism and the challenges of ethnic diversity, racial prejudices and social injustices as well as the strains between Malaysia and Singapore.(Source: goodbooksguide.blogspot.com)

Let us all pray for her health and happiness. Amin.

Ke mana pergi subsidi kami? — Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin

This is a Malay poem (sajak) written by Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, a very distinguished ulama in Malaysia. Everybody knows him and politicians from both sides are trying hard to bring him into their parties. His ideologies are like the new version of Kaum Muda (refer Malaysian Sejarah Textbook Form 3). His ideas are very relevant today with the unending politicking in this country. Read and think carefully about the poem, if you understand Malay. ^_^



Dr MAZA has his own website and you can find the link from the sidebar of my blog.

Is He A Real Maverick?

For young generations in Malaysia, many considered him as a legend. For some, he is the most powerful man in Malaysia; an equivalent of Lee Kuan Yew to Singapore. In 2003, my friends and I did a research to complete our History assessment. It was indeed a very eye-opener event when we discovered that Dr. M was the first Prime Minister of Malaysia from the normal people (not from the Royal family) as the previous three. 

Despite many have said about him, most of them are uncomfortable about what he says. Reason? When they say things, they lay out their reasons and evidences to support their arguments, however when Dr. M rebuts their points, he seem more right. Maybe the cynical-effect works for him. Back in 2003, he introduced Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English (PPSMI as known in Malay acronym) which I think the most brilliant idea coming from Dr. M. For me, simple reason is to raise the bar of Science and Mathematics of our students. At the same time, terrific improvement in English can be vividly seen. For those who could not improve, that was their own problem in taking up challenges. There was no 'Malaysia Boleh!' spirit in their true Malaysian blood. I guess if they were to study Mathematics and English in Malay, they would still got Ds. Do not blame the system if your own fault is the fundamental aspect that will get you nowhere on this planet.

Trust me, if you keep blaming the system, you will continue blaming it even though the system will eventually become perfect. When they were to revert the teaching in Malay again, that was the dumbest decision made. 

The politicians came into education sector and scholars(both who supports or against) are put aside. When this happens, it was a total doom. I was lucky to be the first batch which completed the PPSMI from high school. Thank you, Dr. M. 

That was my relationship to Dr.M; as a student. Now, I really want the book but looking at the price,hmm. Is he a real maverick? Let me read the book first and justify it with how much Dr. M has affected my life.

Should a dive steam in the unlucky volunteer?

Should a dive steam in the unlucky volunteer?

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Dreaming to become successful novel writer? Here's your chance to get a Kick-Start!

Have you ever imagined yourself as a successful writer or journalist reporting from Southern Thailand about the terrifying stories of people living there? Well, I have two friends who wrote a novel together when they were in Form 2. However, no publishers would say 'Yes, we'll publish the book and make you two successful writers in the future!'. Without money to start, they couldn't go anywhere. However, this may be your chance to get money as a Kick-Start to start your own business or even to publish your own book!
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Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore, Dr. Mahathir and Malaysia : Try make a 'good' story from the words given

Conversations with Lee Kuan Yew: Citizen Singapore: How to Build a Nation (Giants of Asia series)

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Lee Kuan Yew, his then Singapore counterpart, would go down in history as a very remarkable intellectual and politician at the same time. 

His comments appeared in this latest book on Lee written by an internationally syndicated veteran American journalist and columnist Tom Plate. 

Commenting further on LKY, Dr. M said : "He is a bog frog in a small pond. He had ambitions to become the Prime Minister of all Malaysia."

" He tries to lecture people but people dislike that.People do regard him as an intellectual, as something more than just ordinary politicians," he added.

How does an American present an accurate and non—judgemental view of Singapore? For columnist Tom Plate, he took that challenge head—on — and being from Los Angeles, he approached the story as if he was writing a screenplay on a blockbuster that is Singapore.

Tom Plate, author of “Conversations With Lee Kuan Yew”, said: “You come into a room, and you start talking with him and he cracks a joke and you say something. And then you disagree, he agrees, and back and forth, and it’s almost like a movie.

“No footnotes, a lot of dialogue and it’s an intimate but issue oriented profile of a political giant.”

The 200—plus page book covers topics ranging from Mr Lee’s views on China and US presidents to revelations about his family life.

For the author, it was also an opportunity to dispel some Western perceived myths about Singapore.

Mr Plate said: “He’s state of the art political management — I mean this is not a chewing gum, caning environment; this is a serious place, brilliant people.

“We Americans don’t know everything, we’ve made our share of mistakes, but we make a terrible mistake when we write Asia off.”

I highly recommend this book to all Malaysians if you really want to see how LKY views Malaysia and Singapore. Reading this book makes me wonder, what would happen to Malaysia if Singapore stays with us. For me, Dr. M and LKY are different but the same.

What I learnt from this book? 1.LKY makes me think that Malays are lazy as our long-lived culture made them so 2. Work culture is very important in building nations 3. I       need to learn more about Confucianism 4. LKY is a great man 5. Malays in Malaysia need to change.

Beatrice and Virgil

I bought this book just before my Further Mathematics exam to cheer me up. When I saw the cover, it looks familiar except that the animals are not the same as the one that I remembered. I went near and yeah, it is written by Yann Martel. He wrote Life of Pi before.

Beatrice and Virgil tells a story about fate. Henry, a writer living in a foreign city, receives a mail from an unknown. Instead of the usual fan mail, the envelope contains a story by Flaubert, a scene from a play featuring two characters named Beatrice and Virgil, and a note asking for Henry’s help. The note is signed “Henry,” and the return address is not far from where Henry lives. When Henry walks his dog to hand-deliver his response, he is surprised to discover a taxidermist’s shop. Here, stunning specimens are poised on the brink of action, silent and preternaturally still, yet bursting with the palpable life of a lost, vibrant world. And when the mysterious, elderly taxidermist introduces his visitor to Beatrice and Virgil—a donkey and a howler monkey—Henry’s life is changed forever. This novel brings art, animals and people together and relate them to Holocaust. It is a novel about Holocaust that has never been told before, unlike other Holocaust novels which tells us suffer, hardships etc.

At the end, author Henry develops some "games", 12 questions posing moral quandaries: would you allow your son to endanger his life to try to save the rest of the family? If you knew people were about to be killed and you couldn't stop it, would you warn them? If only Martel had bothered to dramatise any of these dilemmas, he might have produced a novel that didn't show the limits of representation quite so painfully.

Yann Martel’s previous novel, Life of Pi, has become a modern classic. A fantastical tale about a boy and a tiger shipwrecked in the Pacific, it asked probing questions about belief and reality. Now Martel has written another story that uses animals to examine our humanity. In Beatrice and Virgil, he poses enduring questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity. Haunting and unforgettable, this is an extraordinary feat of storytelling.

More about B&V: 

Reviews - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nina-sankovitch/embeatrice-and-virgilem-b_b_534909.html#

                http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/30/yann-martell-beatrice-and-virgil

Who says there are no Muslim superheroes? - The Malaysian Insider

Who says there are no Muslim superheroes? - The Malaysian Insider

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KL UN model conference: English fluency counts for entry - The Malaysian Insider

KL UN model conference: English fluency counts for entry - The Malaysian Insider

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SCHOOL DEBATERS VS POLITICIANS

In inter-school parliamentary debate competition, it is very interesting to see the debaters are more well-mannered, civilized and brilliant then our politicians in the Parliament of Malaysia. It is an excellent activity for the students to generate ideas and give their views on issues that matter in a very systematic way. A big credit should go to Ministry of Education for providing platforms for students to develop their thinking and communication skills. It is very often to see that the debates are fiery and filled with cynical anecdotes from both sides of the tables.

Unfortunately, in the Parliament itself, the politicians are debating about how the Prime Minister got his ideas of 1Malaysia from an Israeli-based company. Well, I think it is a big matter for the politicians to discuss that particular issues because they drive BMWs and have castle-like bungalows! The Rakyat will never care about those superficial matters. Subsidies, economics reform, education and social integration are all the things that matter to us.

NIVEA YOU WOW YOU ROCK CHALLENGE

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