Islamofascism - A New Buzzword? Listen To Tarek Fatah

Tarek Fatah on Islamofascism. Spend 15 minutes please. Then read RPK's latest posting below.

In other words, we have no say in the matter. Allah will decide when the time is right and whether it will happen or not. Allah will decide whether you are born a Muslim or born a kafir (infidel). Allah will decide whether you become a sinful Muslim or a good Muslim. Allah will decide whether the sinful Muslim finally repents and becomes a good Muslim. Without Allah’s will, nothing will happen.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Demos in Selangor and Penang to show support for Jais

(The Star) - Demonstrations were held in Selangor and Penang in support of the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) operation during a multiracial dinner at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC).

A group calling itself Gerakan Anti-Murtad (Anti-Apostate Movement) would lodge a police report in every district of Selangor so that investigations could be carried out against the DUMC, said spokesperson Datuk Zulkifli Noordin.

The Kulim Bandar Baru MP said this after Friday prayers at the Sultan Salehuddin Abdul Aziz Shah mosque in Shah Alam yesterday.

Also present were Senator Mohamed Ezam Mohd Noor, PAS members and the movement's supporters.

Ezam said the movement had nothing against non-Muslims, but would wage war against those “who were rude and who tarnished Islam”, including by burning down online news portals.

****************************************

You will notice one thing about the Malays-Muslims. They are very preoccupied with getting non-Muslims to become Muslims. And they are paranoid about Muslims renouncing Islam.

Maybe what happened at the DUMC did happen. Maybe the allegations are true. I was not there but I have been told that the allegations are not entirely false. Nevertheless, I go by what the Malays would normally tell me.

If you ask a ‘sinful’ Malay why he does not stop his gambling and drinking and womanising and go to Mekah to repent and to perform the pilgrimage, he would reply, “Allah belum gerak hati lagi.” This translates to ‘Allah has not moved my heart yet’.

When a non-Muslim becomes a Muslim, the Malays would say, “Allah buka hati dia.” And this means Allah has opened his or her heart (to become a Muslim).

If you ask an ustaz (religious teacher) why Allah made only 20% of the world Muslim while 80% are non-Muslims, and why did Allah not make 100% of the world Muslim, the ustaz would reply, “Only Allah knows.”

In short: this is all Allah’s will and Allah could make you Muslim or He could make you non-Muslim and it is up to Him to open your heart to receive Islam or to repent your ‘evil ways’ and go to Mekah to perform the pilgrimage.

In other words, we have no say in the matter. Allah will decide when the time is right and whether it will happen or not. Allah will decide whether you are born a Muslim or born a kafir (infidel). Allah will decide whether you become a sinful Muslim or a good Muslim. Allah will decide whether the sinful Muslim finally repents and becomes a good Muslim. Without Allah’s will, nothing will happen.

Now, that is a most interesting concept. This means I may be born a Muslim but be born a bad Muslim because Allah has not opened my heart to become a good Muslim. This also means, later on in life, Allah may open my heart and I will see the error of my ways and repent to become a good Muslim.

Then again, Allah may will it that I be born a non-Muslim and, later on in life, convert to Islam when Allah opens my heart to Islam. Or, Allah may never open my heart and I may die a non-Muslim like 80% of the population of the world.

The crux of this whole issue is Allah decides and wills it and what happens (or does not happen) can never happen without the will of Allah. And only when Allah wills it or opens our heart will we see something happen -- and not otherwise and not before that.

Okay, based on this ideology, what about when someone is born a Muslim and later leaves Islam? Could this ever happen if Allah does not will it? Would it not be Allah who opens your heart to make you leave Islam?

Everything that happens is the will of Allah and everything you do is because Allah has moved or opened your heart into doing it. So, when you leave Islam is this not also Allah’s doing?

This is the confusing part about the argument on the will of Allah. You will never be born a Muslim without Allah deciding this will happen. You will never convert to Islam without Allah deciding this will happen. When you decide to leave Islam does Allah not also have a say in the matter? Is this not His will?

As I said, Malays-Muslims are preoccupied with non-Muslims becoming Muslims and paranoid about Muslims leaving Islam. So we now have a Gerakan Anti-Murtad (Anti-Apostate Movement) organising demonstrations in the Pakatan states to protest those leaving Islam.

I am not so concerned about Muslims leaving Islam because if it is true that nothing happens without the will of Allah then no Muslim can ever leave Islam unless Allah wills it. What I am more concerned about is Munafiq(hypocritical) and Fasiq (sinful) Muslims.

Why don’t these people also launch a Gerakan Anti-Munafiq dan Anti-Fasiq (Anti-Hypocrites and Anti-Sinners Movement)? We should perang (declare war) on Muslims who kill, rape, rob, steal, cheat, swindle, abuse their power, lie, and do all sorts of evil things that give Islam a bad name.

We should not worry about the quantity. After all, 80% of the world is non-Muslim anyway. We should worry about the quality. We do not want Muslims who have no scruples, compassion, honesty, ethics, values, etc. We want Muslims who demonstrate the ideals and ethics of Islam. We want Muslims who demonstrate what a good Muslim should be like. We want Muslims who show what a good Muslim is so that we can be proud of Islam.

That should be the perjuangan (struggle) for Muslims.

Yellow. Unggun Bersih - A. Samad Said

The winds of change fanning the bonfires of dissent...



Unggun Bersih by A Samad Said

Unggun Bersih

Semakin lara kita didera bara—
kita laungkan juga pesan merdeka:
Demokrasi sebenderang mentari
sehasrat hajat semurni harga diri.

Lama resah kita—demokrasi luka;
lama duka kita—demokrasi lara.
Demokrasi yang angkuh, kita cemuhi;
suara bebas yang utuh, kita idami!

Dua abad lalu Sam Adams berseru:
(di Boston dijirus teh ke laut biru):
Tak diperlu gempita sorak yang gebu,
diperlu hanya unggun api yang syahdu.

Kini menyalalah unggun sakti itu;
kini merebaklah nyala unggun itu.
24—25, 6.11. A. SAMAD SAID

Yellow - Coldplay

Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
And everything you do
Yeah, they were all yellow

I came along
I wrote a song for you
And all the things you do
And it was called 'Yellow'

So then I took my time
Oh what a thing to've done
And it was all yellow

Your skin, oh yeah, your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know? You know I love you so
You know I love you so

I swam across
I jumped across for you 
Oh what a thing to do
'Cause you were all yellow

I drew a line
I drew a line for you
Oh what a thing to do
And it was all yellow

Your skin, oh yeah, your skin and bones
Turn into something beautiful
D'you know? For you I bleed myself dry
For you I bleed myself dry

It's true
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for

Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine for you
Look how they shine

Look at the stars
Look how they shine for you
And all the things that you do

The Voice

Just listen and know you have a voice...




The Voice - John Farnham

We have 
The chance to turn the pages over
We can write what we want to write
We gotta make ends meet, before we get much older

We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?

Chorus:
You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!

This time
We know we all stand together
With the power to be powerful
Believing, we can make it better

Oooooooh, 
We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?...

You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!

{Instrumental[Bag Pipes(Tin Whistle)]}

Ooooooh 
We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?...

You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!
(repeat until end of song)

Message For 1.1.11 And 2011

"...which would you choose?...which do you choose?...and...WHEN?"



Nevermind that this video is 2 years old. The message remains the same.

What Are They Up To?

It was a quiet Sunday today. After sending JJ to Sentral this morning because he was supposed to witness an ad shoot or something, I was home the whole day. By the way, JJ is still out there somewhere but it's OK because he is getting relevant exposure in his chosen line of work.

Sometime in the late afternoon, someone rang the doorbell and looking out the window I saw four young-looking people. At first impression, I thought they were students doing some part-time survey or promo thingy. There was a guy and three girls. They told me they had something to share (regarding Christianity of course) and asked for a few minutes of my time. On closer scrutiny, none of them looked anything above 23 (Krystyn's age) and curiosity got the better of me so I invited them in.

The group said they had just graduated. My initial evaluation after a brief introduction was through visual impression. The guy (from Sarawak) who looked typically nerdy said he graduated overseas (did not say what discipline).

The three girls had distinctly different looks from each other. A prettier one with bright eyes who had graduated from Universiti Malaya in accounting (looked to, and did have a better command of English); a born Christian. Another who looked definitely ordinary had a degree in marketing from UPM or UKM; she looked the type who would feel at home in a Christian fellowship. The third (also from Sarawak) was a graduate in finance and economics I think. She was definitely in need of professional skin care. The second and the third girls appeared more enthusiastic and they revealed later that they were not born into Christian families but had recently converted to the faith.

The guy was the leader and I prompted him to begin his "sharing". They must have been taught by their church elders some form of canned presentation; everytime he mention a seemingly "salient" point the second and third girl would chorus his words in tandem as if cued. Anyway, they were trying to sell me Jesus...

Guy: "Uncle, all you have to do is to embrace the Spirit" (followed by girls' chorus on cue).
Me: "How do I do that?"
Guy: "Just say three simple words" (followed by girls' chorus on cue).
Me: "Wah! So easy wan ah. Say what ah?"
Guy: "The Lord Jesus"
Me: "You sure or not? So simple only ah. Just say the words and I can go to Heaven ah?"
Guy: "No lah, you have to accept Jesus in your mind (he did say "mind") by saying the three words then the Spirit will grow in you and you are on your way".

They were obviously all reasonably intelligent kids but I suppose still very naive and vulnerable to persuasive church elders. I was of course amused by the whole thing but felt I should stop wasting their time because they were certainly wasting mine. Moreover, I was already laughing in my mind because they reminded me of Boney M singing "The Rivers of Babylon":




What concerned me was that these 4 Chinese youth who admitted to not having had any life-shaking upheavals in life yet, are so besotted and obsessed with their religion which they obviously had not sufficiently studied in depth. There they were trying to teach me about my afterlife when they had not really begun to live their own real-life!

I was thinking they should be channeling their energy and devotion towards joining hands with other youths of Malaysia in demanding a better future for themselves in THIS promised land called Malaysia.

The session ended with me advising them to study Christianity in greater width and depth, and more importantly, also study the religions of others. But most important of all; find out in wider perspective what the increasing numbers of "Non-believers" believe. Gain more knowledge before deciding to put on the blinkers!

The guy was of course not very pleased that he was made to look rather unconvincing in front of his "flock". Hope they learnt something.

Hmmm... JJ is still out in KL somewhere. I know he has the same degree of dedication as the 4 youths but his is to learn as much, in the shortest possible time by creating opportunities and at the same time, not wasting opportunities that come his way.

Watch the following video too and see what many other Malaysian youth are doing:



...and this was a prequel:

That Anarchist Namewee Again! Part 2

I am not particularly a fan of Khairi Jamaluddin but in the case of Namewee I seem to be in agreement with his opinion. My position on Namewee remains the same; two wrongs do not make one right. 

My previous blogpost on Namewee was posted before KJ's comment on the same appeared in Malaysiakini about 2 hours later. 

I concur that Siti Inshah and her other colleague must be made accountable and more importantly Malaysians at large must be told how those comments came about. They give the teaching profession a bad name and the incidents must not repeat. Are'nt all Malaysian children supposed to be 1Malaysia children?

As for Namewee, lets make an example of him as a lesson for all the Chinese racists in Malaysia.

This was what KJ said:

KJ nails down contentious line in Namewee's song
Sep 1, 10 5:36pm

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin believes that Wee Meng Chee @ Namewee's overt insinuation that Malays played a minor role in Malaysia's economic growth was racist in nature.

The lyrics to the song 'Nah' which had landed Wee into trouble with the police contains a line in Malay which reads: "You tak baca? Siapa buat Malaysia kaya?" (Don't you know? Who made Malaysia prosperous?)

In a statement today, Khairy (right) said that Wee's assertion in attempt to criticise school principal Siti Inshah Mansor for recently uttering racial remarks against Malaysia's minorities were inapproriate.

"The implication (here is) that the Chinese are the reason for Malaysia's prosperity and as such Malays like Siti Inshah have no business asking the Chinese to 'return' to China.
"The same message could have easily been conveyed by stating that no one should be telling anyone else to 'return' because Malaysia belongs to all its citizens without suggesting that a particular ethnic group has contributed more or less," he said.

"Malays not being too sensitive"

Khairy argued that Wee's actions has instead now exposed himself as a racist.

"Now, my position on the Siti Inshah matter is crystal clear. If she did utter the words as claimed, she should be severely punished.

"But let there be no doubt, Namewee's insinuation that the Chinese are solely responsible for this country's growth is just as blatantly offensive.

"Neither is it a question of Malays being too sensitive. Hurt and anger are to be expected when one community is essentially told they play a minimal role in this country's progress," added Khairy.
Citing an example on how Wee's (left) argument was counterproductive, Khairy said others may be inclined to say that the Chinese should be eternally grateful to the Malays for their citizenship.

"He or she would be mistaken of course, but the point is we cannot allow dis-empathy to feed on itself. We cannot let this vicious cycle go on in perpetuity.

"We cannot play the game of the extremists and the racists on both sides of the spectrum if we are to forge a better path than what they offer," he said.
We know he won't vote BN, but...

"I am utterly against extremism, dis-empathy, insensitivity and racism of any kind - I have spoken out against the likes of Perkasa, Al-Islam magazine and Siti Inshah, often at great political risk.

"And today I am speaking out against Namewee, not because of his race, religion or even the probability that he will not vote BN. But because he was explicitly insulting."

Wee's latest video has sparked a deluge of complaints and slew of police reports.

Last night, he was grilled for nearly three hours at a police station in Petaling Jaya where his statements were recorded.

According to the police, Wee is being investigated for sedition.

2010 FIFA World Cup? Malaysians Are Better Off Learning From The 1995 Rugby World Cup!

The concluding 2010 FIFA World Cup does not hold any excitement for me. To me it is just about a bunch of highly paid athletes running around trying to put a tricky Adidas Jabulani ball (that refuses to to be controlled nor stay down) into each others goal seemingly for King (President or watchamacallit) and Country. Yet, it is also obvious these "fat cat" professional players are not really giving it their all, probably for fear of injuries that may affect their pay-cheques in their regular job i.e. strutting their stuff in the major football leagues around the world!

The England team from the BPL is a glaring example and the fact that none of the acknowledged individual superstars (Messi, Torres, Rooney, Kaka, etc.) have really shone in this World Cup, underscores my point. Furthermore, the teams that have done well so far, Ghana and Germany are the youngest sides with the right attitude and excellent team spirit and teamwork.

What then about the 2010 FIFA World Cup fever that has been sweeping our country. Malaysians are currently having our "bread and circus", drunk in an atmosphere of revelry and excitement of live telecasts from South Africa. But what are we learning? What do we gain? Apparently, NOTHING! A big fat nothing!

How many of us remember, or really know, or bother to know, about South Africa? Where were the South Africans just a short 20 odd years ago after ending the apartheid policy? Where are we Malaysians forty years after implementing our very own New Economic Policy? Where are we headed as a Nation? Where are they headed?

Fifteen years ago, I watched an almost all-white (with the exception of black winger, Chester Williams) South African rugby team win the 1995 Rugby World Cup on home soil. This time around, I watched an all-black South African football team as hosts, acquit itself with pride and dignity, with a last group-game victory over former World Champions, France albeit bowing out of the FIFA World Cup tournament early.

The Springboks (nickname of the SA national rugby team) today are still almost all-white (although black Brian Habanna is a star in the team) and as we can see, SA has an all-Black football team. But look at the SA supporters in the stands (both rugby and football)...they are Black AND White!!!

In December last year I blogged about a movie called, "Invictus". It is about Nelson Mandela and the then Bok captain, Francois Pienaar in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. I just watched "Invictus" (thanks to the internet) this morning. I cannot help wonder about Malaysia.

I am trying to splice together the opening segment of the movie and the closing segment (without permission) so that when you watch it you will know what I mean. In the meantime, the following official Invictus movie trailer suffices: