Posts and Comments from Insider.

written by Emmanuel, January 12, 2010
 
I watched the Doha Debates television programme on BBC two days ago and contrasted it with the pathetic crawlspace we call free speech and was undecided if I should laugh or cry.Here people are allowed to be as open as they wish and lay an issue bare, and something concrete is formulated at the end of each debate- an actual result.The scale of topics is as impressive as the speakers themselves, often political, economic and social heavyweights.
Compare with the ultra polite 'intellectual' sessions in RTM where we have half baked 'professionals', 'economic experts' fresh from our local university,and 'religious leaders' often affliated to some government agency or another.In the end, the guests have only, if at all achieved anything, to confuse and befuddle and already confused audience.
Here you have Qatar, a country with a 98% Muslim population, a smattering handful of Christians, yet they are liberalizing. Last year, a Roman Catholic church was consencrated in Qatar. The only remaining Gulf state that officially bans non-mosques now is Saudi Arabia. Qatar has come a long way, the world too has noticed.Foreign investments have begun to pour into these countries, not that they need it.
Yet, at our home front, we see the opposite.We see rising intolerance for the minorities and difference are pointed out, instead of celebrated.The world is liberalizing,moving, accepting each other.And here, we are simply the opposite.'Pendatang' , 'bangsa asing', 'keling' , is used in no less than in the Parliament. Here in Malaysia, where we do rely on foreign investment, and should be mindful of their perception of us, these people do not seem to bother.After all, if everyone leaves Malaysia and the oil runs out, we can always eat sand, that is if they have not sold it all to Singapore.
People who lob Molokov cocktails into any building should be shot in the foot, left to bleed to death, revived and shot again.People who lob Molokov cocktails into places of worship ought to suffer the same fate, plus having to watch a rerun of Titanic while they bleed to death.
...+33
 
written by Emmanuel, January 11, 2010
There is a bigger issue worth considering here.If today, the government decides to tell me what to call (or rather, not call) my God, what's to stop this same government to tell me how to pray, what rituals I can and cannot perform, how my church design should look like and who my priest should be.
As the author mentioned Satan (or Shaitaan) , what if I am disallowed from using that term and asked to call the Devil 'Setan' or 'Syaitan Kristian'? Being Abrahamaic, Mosaic and Monotheistic,like Islam, we share too much in common. Our lineage of Prophets are almost identical.If we were to pick out all similiarities and be barred from professing whatever resembles Islamic teachings, we will end up with a totally different religion, maybe all that will be left of 'Christianity' will be Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.Paranoid?Maybe. But so is saying people will be confused over two words, or that 200,000 Muslims in Malaysia has converted to Christianity.
Come on la, we have been through so much together,Malaysia, I would be surprised if you could find me Muslims who actually read the Herald before this incident. So if something has not been bothering you before, why should it now?Arguments and points put forth by many 'instant' experts on religion are far from salient. Now, more than ever, Malaysia needs prayer, goodwill and patience. A whole lot of it.
 
 +27 

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