When Singapore has a riot and my first thought is, “Hmm… who would stand to gain from this and is it part of a larger conspiracy?”
And then my mind starts making up scenarios ala fiction. >.>
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
ALL THIS ARE MY OWN OPINIONS AND THOUGHTS. THEY ARE NOT FACTS. PLEASE UNDERSTAND BEFORE YOU RUN OFF YOUR ROCKER.
So sometime in February, armed invaders landed in Sabah and attempted to claim east Sabah as their own. They called themselves the “Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo” and said that east Sabah belonged to them. The Malaysian BN Government surrounded Kampung Tanduo (or Tanduo Village in English) and gave them two weeks to leave the country, but did not specify what would happen if they chose not to.
The invaders chose to stay put.
According to some local sources, on the 17th day of their “stay” in Sabah (aka March 1, 2013), a small group of their fighters attempted to leave the cordoned area. They fired at the security forces around that area, killing 2 policemen with mortar fire and injuring another two more. There was a short gun battle that apparently ended with 10 dead on the Sulu side, and 2 on Malaysia’s.
That was what happened on Friday. Bear in mind, this is what we have been told so far. There is apparently a gag order on the media about this. Wiki does have a pretty good link to the story.
After that happened, these thoughts ran through my head:
Yesterday, March 2, 2013, there was a gun fight in Semporna, about 150km from Lahad Datu. Some sites claim that the people who fired on the policemen were actually on their way to attack the Lahad Datu police station. However, the official news report says that the gun fight was unrelated to what is happening in Lahad Datu, because our boys in blue were carrying out an operation to find and confiscate illegal firearms.
OPINION AND IDLE SPECULATION BEGINS HERE
Anyone who’s read political thrillers and the like can take a conjecture as to what is happening next. The chances of there being a full out invasion in Sabah is very high, aided by “sleeper” agents who have entered Sabah over the years. Considering that both the Philippines and Malaysia have elections scheduled for this year, there is speculation that this incident was also orchestrated to embarrass certain parties.
From a reddit thread I read yesterday, there is speculation that this was orchestrated by an opposition component (Philippines is scheduled to have elections in May). In Malaysia, there is wide speculation that it was orchestrated by the BN government to delay General Elections, which must be called in the next few months, barring an Emergency.
So what do I think may happen?
The invaders may rise and overwhelm the Sabah population. War is declared. Elections are delayed for Malaysia, continue as scheduled for Philippines. The war may spread to Sarawak. Indonesia may take the opportunity to reclaim Sarawak.* Borneo Brunei (thanks for spotting this, N4vin!) decides that West Sabah belongs to them and stakes a claim.
Basically, widespread chaos.
But hey, what do I know, right? I’m just a keyboard warrior.
Who is utterly pissed and feeling frustrated at what is happening in Sabah. I have friends there, damnit!
Additional points:
Badí‘ Yee Tzyypirng aka @badiyee on Twitter points out that there is a 5 Defense Pact for Sarawak. Should Indonesia attempt to annex Sarawak, they will be smacked.
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
So I finally walked into a Suzuki showroom today to check out the 2011 Suzuki Swift (GLX). Right after the drive, there were a few things evident:
The Swift is a really nice car. In person, it’s got a number of security features I like. Instead of having to dig out your keys, all you need is the key to be in your pocket, and you can open the car by pressing on the buttons on the door handles. Even better, you can open only the door you need, so if I’m driving alone, I can press once to open just the driver’s door instead of the entire car. Considering the scariness of Malaysian crime these days, it’s an advantage. Oh, and that single door thing applies to the boot as well. When I’m near the car, I can open just the boot instead of the whole car. It’s a pretty neat feature.
The boot space was surprisingly roomy and deep. I’m thinking that maybe it’d be big enough for a few bags. Note though, that it’s definitely smaller than my current Proton Iswara hatchback. It’s deeper yes, but it’s not longer. That means if I’m carrying longer stuff, the seats will definitely have to come down.
The seats were firm. Driving the car reminded me of getting my first Android smart phone; SO MANY NEW FEATURES TO PLAY WITH! I should have really taken my time to play with the car. The nervousness of going for the test drive meant that I didn’t spend as much time as I should to familiarise myself. The first thing that I did notice though were that I had a much wider range of view compared to my own car.
The side view mirrors were controlled by what looks like a joystick; twist left and right for their respective mirrors, then move it up, down, left and right for the angles. Nice. To start the car, press the brake and the Engine Start/Stop button simultaneously. The car jumped to life with a pleasant roar. Then it was time to actually drive.
The Swift has a 4-wheel brake disc instead of the usual rear brake disc, and it shows. The few times I pressed on the brake, it was actually rather hard and sudden. Definitely an improvement from my current car. Turning and pickup was quite good. The sound system was quite ok, by my standards. I’m not an audiophile, so as long as it plays music I think it’s good. The sound system supposedly has USB connectivity, and while I did notice it I didn’t get to use it. The USB connector was located under the audio buttons in a fairly sizeable recess behind the gear.
Which brings me to another point; unlike other cars I’ve driven before, there’s no indicator on the gear box to show you which gear you’re in. The displays are on the dashboard, where the odometer was. It was very disconcerting. However, this was offset by the fact that the gear hid the recess to dump your keys and wallet and mp3 player, so I might take it as an acceptable trade-off.
Mileage seems to be far better than my current car (well, the present ride is about 20 years old) at 500km per full tank, which works out to about RM60-RM70 (note: RON 95). The salesperson did warn me that the Swift doesn’t do as well as bigger cars when driving outstation, which was something I already expected. For in-town driving though, it handles well.
However, I did not really take the opportunity to really lean back and enjoy the seats. At first sit they’re hard and nice, while the steering fits well in my hand, but I’m still on the fence on that.
Price was about RM77,888 for the base model, which is what I would have gotten anyway (spending RM5,000 on the body kit which was basically all decoration is not my cup of tea) with a downpayment of RM8,000. I’m still thinking of this though, and I want to give the Ford Fiesta a try. We shall see.
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
I actually wasn’t planning on going to Bersih 3.0 yesterday. It was a very late decision made after realising I would be a horrendously big hypocrite for talking about the need for clean and fair elections without actually going for such a rally. Plus, unlike last year, I had no family obligations planned for today.
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
So Facebook has dropped about USD1 billion for Instagram.
Facebook is, arguably, the number one social media network in the world today. Instagram is one of the top photo sharing and editing apps on mobiles today. If you have an iPhone, chances are you have Instagram (and most likely you’d have it on your phone too if you’re an Android user).
The interesting bit about Facebook buying Instagram is that they plan to keep the services separate for now (one may assume that Zuckerberg has learnt from the Spotify fiasco that not everyone wants their Facebook friends to know what they are listening to all the time). The New York Times has speculated that FB wants Instagram because of the latter’s strong presence in mobile.
I would agree but the NYT stops short of pointing out that Instagram doesn’t just give FB the leverage it needs to compete in mobile.
It misses the point that Instagram’s filters means it’s one-upped Google in posting photos; Google’s Picasa and Google+ Creative Kits lets users add effects to their photos, something that you could not do from within the browser for Facebook photos. I think this integration will be a big one, when it hits. Buying Instagram doesn’t just give Facebook the expert advice it needs to succeed in the iPhone app store (Instagram’s Android version leaves MUCH to be desired), but it’ll also give Facebook an advantage when competing against Google+.
And no, I’m not even counting Pinterest in this article. It’s not quite there yet.
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
The video’s 30 minutes long. If you don’t want to watch it, I can understand why. It is a disturbing video, and not least because it pinpricks a person’s conscience and makes you feel like you could do anything to help. In fact, the danger in this video would be the very easy way for you TO help.
What is the video about?
The video is about a warlord called Joseph Kony, who has terrorised Uganda for many years. He has terrorised Uganda for about 25 years, according to Wikipedia. His Lord’s Resistance Army has abducted countless children, turning them into sex slaves and child soldiers. His methods are brutal; often he forces children to kill their own parents and his soldiers will murder their neighbours and family members, forcing the children to serve him.
I would recommend watching the video and coming to your own conclusion. Personally, I have quite a few problems with the video, none of them are about the evilness of Kony and why he needs to be stopped. If you want to read them, click on the More tag.
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
Today, while I was walking back to the car with my packed McDonalds lunch, a guy on a lorry accosted me. The lorry was parked with its rear facing the building and the “gate” of the back down, so I thought that he was waiting for someone to come and load things onto the lorry.
Suddenly he said to me, “Eh, tak mau kah tak mau kah? Bagi!” which translates to, “Eh, don’t you want those? Give them to me!” referring to my food.
When I looked at him in shock and fear, I think he got off on that. There was another guy who was standing at the door of a nearby shop, who simply laughed. I became defensive.
“Tak mau! Saya punya! You nak makan, suruh dia belanja!” translates to “No way! It’s mine! You want to eat, ask the other guy to buy for you!” in a joking manner.
Was I pissed? No, not really.
Was I uncomfortable? Yes, a bit.
Was I sad? Yes, I was.
Because I was thinking that if he had a daughter, he would not have spoken to me so. Or if he had a female in his life that he treasured. His words had the affect and implied threat that if I did not give into his demands, he would take it from he. I did not know him, and he does not know me. That he thought he could accost a female and get away with it means that he’s done it a thousand times. That he had a huge, self-satisfied grin on his face when I showed I was shocked meant that it was the reaction he was looking for.
And this is how men rape.
They believe that they have the right to a person’s possession simply because the other person holds it. Specifically, they have the right to demanding a woman’s food just because she’s there and they are bored. They believe they are in the right.
As I drove home, I got to thinking. What would change such a person’s attitude? Would he have acted the same way if he knew whose child it was? Would he have been comfortable knowing his daughter was accosted in such a manner? Probably not.
The saddest part? I know that this wouldn’t have happened if I had had a guy walking with me. Another woman wouldn’t have been half as effective. In fact he might have been worse.
Sigh.
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
One of the things you learn in NLP or Neuro-Semantics now is how to take control of your mental frames and thoughts. Frames are what enable us to move throughout the world and to make sense of what’s happening, aka your state of mind.
You know how some people seem to be able to accept everything that happens to them with an open heart and mind? It comes with having a frame of mind that’s open and respectful of whatever’s happening around that person. A beautiful frame, right?
One of the newsletters I get in my email is the Neurons reflections by Michael Hall. I usually give them a skip because I don’t have the time to read them (it almost always seems to come in when I’m too tired to think or at work), but today’s one made me stop and think.
Today’s newsletter was about the burning of the Quran in Afghanistan. Based on what I read, basically the soldiers there were stupid enough had burnt some Quran, and there were now riots in Afghanistan because of that.
Michael Hall’s conclusion was that the issue laid in the intolerance frame people had. Basically it is the frame that believes your own understanding of reality is absolute, and anything that contradicts or threatens that is something to be destroyed. His exact words were:
The cause is the kind of thinking and mental framing that sees something one does not like, approve, and believe in as something that gives me the right to violently hurt and punish another person.
Note: Me in this case refers to the hypothetical belief of the person and not Michael Hall himself.
What is missing from such a frame is usually the element of respect. It is the problem of forcing others to conform to our beliefs instead of respecting them. In that respect, it sounds a lot like a laissez-faire view; let others believe what they want to believe until it steps on others.
Which I think, is the right way to view things. And perhaps the best way to handle religion. Let a person do what they want to do unless it harms themselves or others. For me, the easiest and biggest indicator of harm is physical harm done to a person. That’s the point you step in to offer help and if necessary, intervene.
There are a few other points that are just as contentious, but I’ll stop for now cause the battery on Rydeen is running just *that* bit low.:P
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
When it comes to financial matters, unlike my mother, I’m rather clueless. I understand certain procedures and the like, but finance, on the whole, has bored me. That said, I am extremely protective of my monies. It comes from being told as a child that I cannot do what I like unless I have money, so when I place my monies in other people hands, I generally expect it to be returned to me.
When it comes to the EPF, I am of the opinion that as long as the money is there when the time comes for me to retire, I don’t really mind about the lack of interest. I come from a family where it is always prudent to invest in more than one scheme. That and a belief that savings is really, really important. I also admit that I am lucky that I still have money for savings.
That said, I am not very happy with what is happening with my EPF money. For those who do not know, the EPF is a mandatory contribution fund for Malaysian workers. The idea behind the EPF funds is that it forces workers to save money for their retirement, with the funds being released at the age of 55 to the worker. However, depending on the user’s needs, a certain amount may be removed from the EPF accounts for emergencies and betterment, such as purchasing a new computer under the IT guidelines, housing loans and/or in case of disabilities or death (please correct me in the last).
The Federal Territories Minister has come up with a “brilliant” plan to provide housing loans for some 20,000 renters who are, for various reasons, unable to get a commercial loan to buy houses. Some reasons include having retired and/or unable to guarantee a steady income. On the surface this may seem like a great idea, but I can’t help but be skeptical and very worried about the entire scheme for one reason, and one reason alone:
Why is the EPF lending directly to these borrowers instead of going through a third party like the Bank Rakyat and the Malaysian Building Society? The main comment and question being asked in all articles I’ve read so far is that if, as Federal Territories and Urban Well-being Minister Raja Datuk Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin insists, that this new housing loan scheme is so profitable, why aren’t the commercial banks snapping up the loans?
Why is it that my monies, entrusted to the government to ensure I have a safe retirement, is being used in such a manner?
Or is this, perhaps, the Federal Government’s way of saying “FUCK YOU” to the middle class, who it left out in the 2012 budget, for voting for Pakatan Rakyat instead of Barisan Nasional?
You know, I wasn’t sure what else BN could have done to lost votes and drive people to Pakatan Rakyat after Bersih and the EO6 saga, but I suppose they seem to be rather insistent on outdoing themselves every time.
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
On Twitter, I made this comment:
Angry Birds is to the mobile gaming industry as Twilight is to books and MW3 Call of Duty is to PC gaming (corrected because I mentioned the wrong game earlier).
The basis of that particular thought was a conversation I had with Kamigoroshi over this article. It is basically about pandering to the lowest common denominator.
Call of Duty, Twilight and Angry Birds all have the same characteristic, in that they pander to the lowest common denominator. Call of Duty does that for PC gaming, Twilight does it for books, and Angry Birds does it for mobile gaming.
THAT IS THE ONLY THING THEY HAVE IN COMMON, PEOPLE.
I’m not going to talk about their content, nor their popularity and such. Only that they pander to the lowest common denominator.
Also I do apologise for holding them as up epitomes, as I mentioned previously in another tweet. I was rushing and did not look at the words carefully.
The next section is dedicated to the very same guy who called me out… and then proceed to act in what I consider as a hissy fit. Skip the cut if you just want to comment on the above.
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
So I got this message in my SMS inbox on Saturday. It’s from a 66600 number, which means it was sent by a service. I do not appreciate messages like these, because I’m presuming two things:
- MY tax money paid for this
- I certainly did not give my number to any political organisation.
Especially not to receive text messages like these. I don’t fucking care if you’re the Prime Minister of Malaysia or the President of the United States. I do not appreciate SPAMS like these.
The message reads:
A’kum. Tidaklah dibeda darjat harta, di Baitullah sedunia bersatu jiwa, berkorbanlah apa yang terdaya, berdoa kpd Yang Esa; tidaklah lama sepurnama dua, menjamin nasib anak cucu kita; Salam Aidil Adha menjadi pemula, insyallah Selangor kembali milik kita. Drp Ir Zin Mohamed, Setiausaha UMNO Selangor.
The message is from UMNO Selangor, the main political party in the National Alliance front in Malaysia.
The first part of the message (until Salam Aidil Adha) invites the reader to unite and “sacrifice what they can” (“berkorbanlah apa yang terdaya”) and to pray to Yang Esa (the One God, as DBP translates Esa), to hold fast as in less than two months (“tidaklah lama sepurnama dua”), our childrens’ and grandchildren’s future will be secure (“menjamin nasib anak cucu kita”).
This is because with Aidil Adha as the first greeting, God willing, Selangor will return back to “us” meaning UMNO (Salam Aidil Adha menjadi pemula, insyallah Selangor kembali milik kita).
I have lodged a complaint with MCMC online about this. We shall see what they say. I find such SMSes, especially coming from places where I have never subscribed to, to be offensive. Do not spam my phone with your irrelevant political presence. Thank you.
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
One of the things I learnt about the recent Neurosemantics NLP course is to be aware of my choices. From the choice of to stay in bed or to get up, or the choice to drive, or the choice of how you eat, these are all choices. Our bad habits are also choices. The good news is that because they are choices, they can be changed. The bad news is that because they are choices, they can be changed. :P
One of the most important things I’ve learnt is how to stand back and evaluate my choices. When a choice is made, there are three experiences you could choose from:
1. To create a new experience
2. To end an experience
3. To maintain the current experience
Choices are powerful. At the end of the day, you are only responsible for how YOU feel and act. No one else. How you choose to react, is your own choice. There is no such thing as “That person makes me angry.” It’s more of “I choose to get angry with that person.”
Which would probably explained how I survived those years in customer service. :P I rarely chose to get angry. I did, however, choose to smile and plod on.
Ok time to roll to work.
PS: I am now a certified NLP practitioner. :P
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
The difference between the old ones and the new ones is in the advertising and the design. The old ones tend to keep advertising to a minimum and focus on clear design where the content take centre stage. Otherwise, even if they are heavy on the ads, they also focus on ensuring that their page loads up fast.
The new bloggers? Obviously do not. I’m not going to talk about their design or even their content. Just the loading of their pages. And MUSIC. THAT AUTOPLAYS. WTF. I thought we left those behind in 2007!
If I have to wait 3 minutes on UNIFI for YOUR blog to show up because there’s too many widgets, then I’m not going to wait. Bounce time? You bet!
/rant
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
Something I’ve noticed about the various Chinese dramas on NTV7 over the past year or so. The production value has gotten much better compared to its early days. If a show’s set during a certain period, efforts are made to at least simulate the feel of the age, and one drama not too long ago actually got quite a bit of their sets right.
Even if they did end up with a large cement wall in the background by accident.
The past few dramas I’ve caught snippets of though, make me despair. The one currently showing in the 10pm slot irritates the hell out of me because it feels so unrealistic, shallow and one-dimensional. I just watched a scene in where the hero is jailed for a crime he did not commit.
His wife tracks down her brother who can clear her husband’s name. He refuses and runs away. The heroine’s mother then accuses the heroine of being selfish for she thinks of no one but her husband since she married.
Now, the heroine was forced by her parents, including said mother, to marry the man to settle the father’s debts. So no one can fault her if she decides to point out that her brother’s a selfish asshole who deserves what he gets, right? In fact, I’d think anyone in that position would have resorted to more emotive and angry-filled words.
She just says instead, “Brother, you must take responsibility for your actions.”
…. Personally I’d have said, “You coward and useless piece of shit,” followed by a long litany of how his ass was saved by the husband and that his and mom’s cosy life would be ruined if his bro in law was not rescued.
I suppose there’s a reason why I’m no scriptwriter.
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
No, not Taylor Swift.
In case you haven’t heard, one of the grand dames of Hollywood passed away just today. Ms Elizabeth Taylor died of congestive heart failure. She was 79 years old.
I didn’t really follow her career, but when I was in college, we had to do a paper on someone. I can’t remember how it came about, but my group ended up doing Elizabeth Taylor for our presentation. Specifically, we spoke about her contributions to bringing AIDS to public awareness and of her perfume.
One of the things that struck me about her was that she was beautiful. She was beautiful in the classical sense; full lips, dark hair, dreamy eyes. When I looked at pictures of her in her youth, I could remember being awestruck by just how beautiful she was.
I still think she was beautiful. She didn’t age as “preservatively” as some of the current older dames are, but I always got the impression that she was larger than life. She was confidant to many. She was passionate about what she did. She had her flaws, and did her best to live up to her potential in life.
RIP Elizabeth Taylor. Thank you for the times.
PS: Married 8 times, divorced 7. Dear lady, that’s quite awesome. :D
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
Now if you’ve been following Twitter in the past 12 hours, you would have seen the #PPPA term trending on most Malaysian timelines. The PPPA in this case means the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, which is the same act that regulates newspapers and magazines in Malaysia.
This was the same Act used against the Catholic Church newspaper Herald. In case you were wondering, yes I’m talking about the Allah issue. For the record, this is also the same Act that is used to ban books.
Now they are proposing to expand the Act to cover online news. At a glance, this means they are looking to censor or take control of online publication. After all, places like The Malaysian Insider, Malaysiakini and the Nut Graph are websites dangerous to national security.
The part that you really SHOULD be worried about is the part where the Home Minister’s Secretary General says that they are looking whether they should expand this to cover Facebook, Twitter, blogs, forums and everything else. At best? This would mean that everyone would have to get a license to even think of tweeting. At worst?
We might go to jail because we called each other jakun.*
Having said that, now read this. I like how he says that they will ignore the Bill of Guarantees because it is a national security issue. My only question is, national security in what sense?
I can only wonder if by “national” security they meant political security. They always fear what they cannot control.
While some people will point out that no one knows what the proposed amendments are and that we could actually be looking towards seeing regulations loosened, this statement makes me think that they are looking to tighten it instead.
“We hope the amendments will be tabled in Parliament by March this year because we need to overcome weaknesses, especially those involving multimedia content,” he (Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam) said after presenting appointment letters to members and associate members of the Film Censorship Board and Film Appeal Board today.
If you’re looking to loosen regulations, you wouldn’t use the word weakness. Especially not in this context. But then again, you have to wonder.
Who’s the weakest one?
Original entry as appearing at Ink to Screen.
So, a few weeks ago, a DAP MP walked into a mosque to present a cheque for Raya, which is coming soon. She says that she had been invited by the mosque committee to enter the prayer hall and to give a speech. Obliging them on both counts, she then spoke to them about the state government’s (Selangor’s) education programme. Utusan and quite a few BN-related papers got a hold of the story and went to town with it.
A good chunk and summary of the whole case can be found on the Nut Graph.
My personal take on it?
If this picture is true, and it seems to be, then I do agree that the MP in question, Teo Nie Ching, did commit a faux pas in entering the mosque. Her faux pas isn’t that she was a non-Muslim entering the prayer hall of a mosque, but that she did not demonstrate enough respect to the religion. i.e. I believe she should have worn at least a loose head covering, which she seems to have done so at a later function.
It’s unfortunate though, that a simple gesture as visiting the house of worship of another religion has been turned into a political issue. Make no mistake. I don’t see this as a religious issue at all, not when there are Muslim scholars, even within Malaysia, who see no wrong in a non-Muslim visiting a mosque if they have business to conduct with said Muslims. No, I do not mean scholars like Nik Aziz who does have a political stake in the outcome.
I’m talking about Selangor’s own mufti (a Muslim scholar who is, as Google tells me, also empowered to proscribe a fatwa or Islamic religious ruling) Mohd Tamyes Abdul Wahid who wrote a letter that stated,
“According to history, the Prophet (while he lived) in Medina did not repulse any visits by Jews or Christians who wanted to meet him even when he was in the mosque of Medina,” said Tamyes in the letter addressed to Jais’ chief assistant director in charge of mosques. They would come with a request, seeking justice (in a dispute) or for an administrative or other matter. It is understood from such incidents that there is no prohibition in Islam for meetings to be held within mosques other than the Masjid Al-Haram in blessed Makkah so long as they are held with good intentions.”
That view is also shared by former Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainal Abidin who believes there is nothing wrong with a non-Muslim visiting a mosque as long as it was with good intentions, also quoted in the same piece.
So, from my point of view, this is not a religious matter at all. This is a simple misunderstanding that has been blown out of proportions to make it look like a religious attack when it is none. I wonder, does this cancel the fasts of all those who claim that Teo is a dirty person thus for entering a mosque?
Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.
I happened to read this post from the Merch Girl’s blog before I read Haris Ibrahim’s take on a dead Hindu man who was declared a Muslim at the last minute.
The first emotion that came to me was rage. I’m VERY angry at the way those in the position of power will attempt to do anything and everything they can to get money. That, and the fact that according to most of these “Muslims” there needs to be NO sensitivity spared for those mourning the loss of their beloved.
It is as though to these people, that a bereaving family does not deserve to be treated like human beings because they are not humans. That it’s perfectly fine to submit flimsy pieces of evidence (a conversion cert that did not even match the signature of the deceased!) and call that person a Muslim. Did I mention that these monsters also thought it fit to take away a BREAST-FEEDING CHILD FROM HER MOTHER because she was “of the wrong religion” and needed rehabilitation?
I’m sick of being treated like a second-class citizen because some people associate the idea of “Official Religion” with superiority. That debate is halted because calling into question the way Islam is treated in this country is an insult to that religion.
I’m sick of being told what to say, and what I cannot. I’m tired of being insulted. I’m so tired of watching my country get stolen despite the fact that we voted. I’m tired of racists who insist that I must recognise myself as a Malaysian first, but yet insist that they are Malays first before the country.
I’m sick of people who don’t know their jobs trying to tell me what to do. I hate that lies are so common here in Malaysia. That daughters, sisters and mothers who need safety are treated like animals to satisfy animals.
I’m tired of being ignored because I am a woman. I’m tired of watching my sisters be attacked because they are women, and they are women with powerful voices.
I will NOT remain silent. I WILL remember. I WILL SPEAK. I will WRITE. It is the only thing I can do.
Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.
Just wanted to do a quick exercise of translating this Malay article into English. Considering the inflammatory language used by the original author/editor/newspaper, I’m trying to make the English version as neutral as possible.
Be wary of mixed marriages
By ZULKIFLI JALIL
email: pengarang@utusan.com.myPUTRAJAYA 25 Feb. – Youths, including artists and celebrities were reminded to think “a thousand times or more” before entering into a mixed marriage, as studies show that the success rate of such marriages were only 3:10.
Information, Communications and Culture Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim explained that studies carried out in Malaysia between 1995 to 1998 discovered that only three out of every ten mixed marriages succeed.
According to him, the failure is higher among couples with at a Caucasian partner.
“However, in such marriages where the non-Muslim partner enters Islam, the success rate is much higher.”
“This has become common, so youths, including artists can use this as encouragement. If you’d like to know more about this study, you can get it from the civil marriages registration from the syariah records in Johor and Wilayah Persekutuan,” he said to Utusan Malaysia today.
Rais was also asked on his opinion regarding the separation between actress Maya Karin and her husband.
The beautiful actress explained the reason for her marriage’s breakdown laid on them, as they had not taken into account their cultural differences before getting married.
Rais who is also an expert on law and the Constitution, refused to comment on her marriage, saying the reality was there were a lot of hardship a mixed couple would face.
“Such marriages fail because of the many differences in lifestyle, culture, and religion each person was raised into.
“It’s just that most of these marriages are based on ‘whirlwind romances’, so after a short while, each partner falls back to the culture they were raised in.” Translator’s note: I have no idea what he’s trying to say here, actually. I understand the words, but when strung together they make no sense. Alternatives MORE than welcome for this particular section.
Legally speaking, Rais said that mixed couples face quite severe problems if their marriage faces trouble.
“It’s not easy to get a Malaysian citizenship. However, things are easier for a woman marrying a Malaysian man rather than the other way around.”
“This is because citizenship in Sections 16 and 17 of the Federal Constitution is based more on the father’s side and not the mother’s,” he said.
He continued, “It gets even worse if they have a child, as the father may “kidnap” the child back to England or Europe, so in such cases, if the mixed marriage fails, it would be better for them to not have children.”
Original under the cut:
Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.
Zambry vs Nizar, Zambry won. As expected. Takkan the BN want to give Nizar control now, right?
Now that this farce is over, let’s get on with it. There are whispers that snap polls are coming, and they are coming soon. I find this amusing because these rumours ALWAYS happen when Najib’s ratings are high. However, this is then dampened when a new crisis to hit Najib’s reputation appears (we’ll discuss whether Najib has any online credibility later).
So, will there be snap polls in Perak? I don’t think so. If we go by online opinions at least, a snap polls within the next three months would be suicidal, at least in the urban areas where the Internet is prevalent. Rural voters might not care, as long as goodies are given.
The next month is going to be quiet.
Original entry as appearing at Reach Into Your Soul.
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mmmag
