Monday, January 31, 2005

KingKong Wrong

I couldn't have been more wrong. Write them off, and they come storming back with something brilliant. I told myself that no one will do anything regarding the Minister's comments on JAWI. A few days ago, the Cabinet had decided that moral issues should be left to families and that the police should concentrate on solving crime.

So, it pained me that yesterday, another minister, whom I don't particularly like had diverted from the main issue by concentrating on how they were carrying out their "duties" instead of the "duty" inself. She does have a point in that more female officers should be included in raids. But what raids? I thought that the government was firm in that moral policing in this country is not needed. Baffling.

Today, more JAWI bashing appeared in the local papers. The NST (my mother's favourite paper and therefore I'm forced to read it although I much prefer The Star) ran an editorial condemning the officers not only for their actions, but for being mandated with the power to carry out such raids. Yay Malaysia, people are finally coming to their senses.

I am a believer that only we are accountable for our actions and that we answer to no one but ourselves and the Big Boss Above. Pandai buat, pandailah tanggung! Betul tak? If I so chose to drink alcohol and party till my head turns green, then so be it. If I chose to dress in 1980's leotards and a bikini top and mix around freely with boys then so be it (no, I don't intend to make people blind, and certainly, I mix in only a very healthy legal way with boys). I don't need a bunch of strangers telling me what I can or cannot do, or what I'm supposed or am not supposed to do.

These incidences are exactly the reason why Islam is viewed in such bad light. This is also the same reason why Malaysia is less favourable as a tourist destination. We have a stupid culture of tending to other peoples clothes (Jaga Tepi Kain Orang). We live in a progressive society, where we are responsible and accountable for our actions. Moral degradation, as they call it, is a very relative term. I believe then, in all of Utopia that I stand for, that for as long as we are good human beings, who do the right things at the right times, we are OK. Do the right thing. That is what matters most.

After all this, I've still got my reservations. We have still not heard from the conservatives yet. We haven't even heard from JAWI. Too dumb to defend themselves? Or just guilty as hell?Wonder what they're up to. Hope they're not planning another raid on some other poor nightclub. In the mean time, I'm hoping to start a cultural and religious revolution that is certain to bring about the end of the world in the eyes of clerics. Who is with me? Hands UP people!

Friday, January 28, 2005

Religion Anyone? Part 1

I am a muslim. I love my religion. I think of God as much as I think of sex. This speaks volumes for my love of God, because I am a clandestine sex addict. However, I hate the people that make up my religion. I can't stand the fact that religion, which is a personal relationship everyone has with God, is over-zealously turned into public displays of affection for God. I can't stand the fact that I am persecuted merely because I do not behave like most muslims do. I can't stand the fact that fellow muslims exert themselves on me and force me to do things I do not want to do. Most of all, I can't stand the fact how religion in Malaysia divides us.

Forget faint attempts of fostering religious and racial tolerance in school, or the widely condemned National Service, or even the hypocritical group photos our religious leaders take once a year on some special occation. Religion, while having its obvious advantages of discipline and order in life, brings about distinct differences between people. For instance, I would say that the best way to foster any sort of ties and bonding amongst races in Malaysia is for everyone to have meals together as a group. However, the thing that stops everyone from doing this is the fact that not only do we have our quirks for food, we also have religion to contend with. Islam says muslims cannot touch non-halal food, Buddhism states to stay away from meats and to try to be vegetarians, Hindus abhore beef, Christians on the other hand, approve almost everything bar protected species meats. See how difficult it is to get a group of people to eat together?

Besides this, there is the case of division amongst members of a certain religion itself. There are hundreds of Christian denominations, hundreds of muslim sects, wide ranging interpretations on key issues in every religion and religious leaders that can't even agree to disagree. Heck, you can't even get UMNO and PAS to collaborate and work together. Squabble amongst ourselves. Thats all we can do. True to form, I've got plenty to say regarding my "love affair" with JAIS, the Jews and many other recurring religious topics. I'll save that for another time.

So, I've come up with a theory. That for as long as religion remains an integral part of our lives, we shall remain, in essence, Malaysian only by name. We do not live together, would want nothing of each other and would continue to discriminate. I am living in discrimination now, as with all of you, champions of your religions. I'll lower mine if you're willing to lower yours.

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In the news today:

The Christian Priests in the land downunder seem to share my analogy of my love of God. They are requesting for celibacy to be optional (See, I can now liken myself to a priest. We all have our needs =) ). The Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister has asked the AG's office to probe recent complaints regarding one of the many raids conducted by the Islamic Religious Affairs Department of Kuala Lumpur (Nothing will come out of this, because the overzealous bed-wetting-mother-molesting-beastialist-perverts working for JAWI have political and religious clout). The Jewish and Gypsy communities mark the 60th anniversary of liberation at Auschwitz (If you hate the place so much, why not burn it down and redevelop it into a casino with themeparks, a mall and too many hotels for my liking?). Question is, why is religion such a big deal? Is my understanding of personal relationships with God flawed?

I ask myself too many questions sometimes.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Rage Passage

A young mother of 2 should never lose the companionship/security that a husband brings. A young mother, come to think of it, should never have stopped being a mother to her husband. There have been many instances where a wife, beside her husband in a car, has stopped his ego from flaring. How she would have wished then, that she was beside him. Her presense would have certainly calmed things down, and even reminded her husband of his responsibilities.
Reminding husbands of responsibilities. The act of road rage is never something that should be condoned, for any reason. I am not going to dwell on what exactly happened and what should be done to save our culture from degradation, maintaining world peace and neverending love for one another. Hell, I won't even mention ways on bringing those who murdered the husband to justice.
Agreed, murder is a crime, and no matter the circumstances, should be punished accordingly. However, has anyone wondered why is it that this guy had to die in the first place. Now, I haven't exactly been murdered before, but fights, between grown men, more often than not are due to flared egos. One side taunts the other, and being true to Newtons 3rd law (that any action results in an equal and opposite reaction) a bust up often occurs.
So, why did the husband step out of the car, knowing that he's outnumbered? Why did he bring his stearing lock with him (assuming it was his stearing lock, and if not, refer to question 1)? Why did he retaliate so much to taunts? Why did he do whatever it was he did that incensed the other party so much, enough to batter him with his stearing lock? Why did he call his friend to tell him that he was going to die, why not his family, his wife, his parents, the cops? Why did the press make it look like this guy was an angel sent to us from god, nurtured under the loving armpits of a caring mother to develop into a kind compassionate human being, spreading love and joy to all that he touches?
Rationale often eludes us when we are in rage. It eludes us even more when we are in a fight. It eludes us most when we are dead. Going back to my questions, and staring at his photo published on the front page of the major local newspapers, I cannot help but think that he somehow deserved to die. Sure the bigger picture of his widow holding her two young children, who look unaware that their father has been murdered, does bring me some sympathy. But truly, under the circumstances that they were in, I wouldn't have bothered consulting the devil before bludgeoning him to death.
I say that this is then a case of a road rager dying from road rage. That first thoughts of exhibiting his anger at his "assailants" were met with more than a little bit of resistance. Ask his wife how many times she had to intervene and remind him of his responsibilities, and I will guarentee you that there have been many a time when she had to. So, instead of feeling sorry for this guy, I say that he then got what he deserved. Road rager killed by an act of road rage. That is the way to go. And if, for some weird reason and defying all laws of logic and perception, he is indeed a kind angel sent to us from god to spread love and goodwill among mankind that was unfortunately murdered brutally by 2 men, then let it then be the case that God just wants his angel back. May his soul rest in peace, or pieces.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Introduction Correlation

I had made a promise never to blog. Blogging leaves evidence of my infidelities, my darkside, my weakness and my will to verbally defacate (I am a very disgusting person) on all those whom I so despise. About 2 months ago, things took for the worse. I now frequently constipate on words, straining myself for words to both come out right, and come out at the proper time. It was then that I had decided to blog, as a means of practicing my verbal skills.
As a ruling (I love setting rules for myself) I have decided that typing blogs will be as fluid as possible, and I will rule out the use of dictionaries, and spellchecks. So, to those of you who find my english erratic, and my spelling attrocious, FUCK YOU. To those who understand me for what I am and how I tend to think, a big gracious thank you is waiting. Apart from that big bold "fuck you", I shall attempt to minimize the use of vulgarities. I don't believe in fucking everything in sight, and would much rather use proper colorful language as my means of hoisting a 6-tonne girder up anyones sorry behind.
So this is it, my first official blog, the one that would define history in the future, and my future today. Pardon the borrowed layout, for I am merely a pawn in the website programming world. Wait for my knighthood and a layout that suits me more.