2007 is the first full calendar year I’ve ever had with Li Tsin - so much bliss <3 Don’t think I would’ve survived the year without her :)
pic - Nurazmal via Faisal
Writing a big post, but will probably publish tomorrow :) Enjoy the evening’s festivities! :)
Tags-little notesA Singaporean artist said today he had begun a hunger strike to seek the release of Malaysian Hindu rights activists detained under a tough security law.
“At 9am, I began (the hunger strike),” 23-year-old Seelan Palay said from near the front gate of the Malaysian High Commission.
Palay said he would drink water but not eat during the hunger strike, which will last five days - one day for each detained member from Malaysia’s Hindu Rights Action Force Hindraf.
The five are being held under Malaysia’s Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial.
“I’ll sleep on the ground on a straw mat,” Palay said, adding he was wearing a sign around his neck that read: “Give them fair trial.”
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:(
Malaysiakini reports that the government has ok’ed the Herald, without imposing any conditions on the use of the word ‘Allah.’
Good for the Herald. Here’s my political take on the matter, which is purely speculative.
Johari Baharom and gang think that by starting this controversy, they can score points with their Umno/Malay base.
Their reversal on this matter probably means that it didn’t score them as many points as they thought it would. It turns out that Malaysians have once again proven that they are not as bigotted as Umno/BN wants them to be and are instead a rational lot that is open to mature dialogue over sensitive issues.
Good for Malaysians :)
So congrats to the Herald, I hope they hold fast in their endeavours to uphold justice, as well as respect the sensitivities surrounding prostelysation to Muslims (not that they haven’t before).
I hope the rest of us are inspired by how we can resolve crises through considered and respectful dialogue, without resorting to polemics :)
ps- Here’s another well considered piece on the subject by Penarik Beca, a prominent blogger and nice guy who’s had a long relationship with Pas.
Tags-Religious Affairs, Responsible Free SpeechFor the record, I must welcome the release of the four ISA detainees.
I just hope the government isn’t using this as some sort of PR exercise while keeping the rest, including the latest 5, in.
Tags-Detention without TrialPeople like Malaysiakini and SEAPA were kind enough to include me a number of wrap-ups of 2007’s events, thanks!
There is a small inaccuracy floating around though. I was not charged with defamation at any point, I was arrested under the Official Secrets Act under suspicion of possessing and publishing official secrets (shyeah). No charges have been made to date.
I probably won’t be doing any ‘07 reflections just yet, I try to look more to the future.
On that note, will be trying to do something big here in the next few days, so stay tuned :)
Also, I got two weird phone calls, ‘wrong numbers,’ in the last 12 hrs, one at 11pm and the other at almost 7am. Hmm.
In any case, happy last few days of ‘07! :D
ps- funny joke Li Tsin spotted in papers today:
Son: Daddy, when I grow up I want to be an MP!
Dad: Son, I’m afraid you can’t do both.
Hehehe :)
Tags-little pointsMany views have been proffered on the Herald/”Allah” controversy. So many in fact that I barely feel the need to add my own.
Early on, Hafiz offers the difference between proper and common nouns, while Tricia - as I would - turns first to Wikipedia to trace the etymology of the word Allah.
Three other things I came across that seem helpful is this Malaysiakini letter, an op-ed by Francis Siah as well as Bob’s well considered piece. All of these seem very well thought out, and just as importantly, very sincere. I think Bob’s views and analysis most closely approximate my own.
I reproduce some of his argument.
The general reaction towards the impending non-renewal of the publication permit of the Roman Catholic Church’s newspaper, Herald, has generally taken two main approaches :
* The Muslim Perspective: The assertion of the right to restrict the use of the term Allah by non-Muslims when referring to God in the Malay language due to fears of confusion and the lingering suspicion that it is meant to proselytise Muslims
* The Christian Perspective: The assertion of the right to use the term Allah by Malaysian Christians when referring to God in the Malay language due to the precedent set by Arab speaking Christians and the lingering suspicion that this is meant to further restrict the freedom to profess their faith
What troubles me is that neither perspective attempts to seek to breach the barrier that divides us as a community and approach the issue with the presumption of goodwill on the part of either parties. In fact, there is an underlying presumption of ill-will with Christians assuming that this is another attempt to undermine their freedom to profess their faith as they see fit and Muslims assuming that there is an insidious attempt to proselytise their brethren by the Christian community.
An appeal to an Arabic precedent in using the term Allah is, in my humble opinion, inherently flawed.
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On the other hand, the accusation that Christians may have insidious designs in translating the term God to Allah is equally flawed.
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Check him out to read the full argument.
If we lived in my ideal world, no one would care who used which name for which deity.
Seeing that we don’t and people do, I suppose we must balance our priorities and the cost benefit calculations. For instance, what is lost and what is gained by replacing “Allah” with “Tuhan.”
I’m sure some parties would be delighted to see the end of all Christian literature in Malay, but this is something I believe should be resisted.
At the risk of being disappointing, and to avoid my usual BN bashing (which even I get bored of every once in a blue moon :P :) , and possibly because I’m not hardworking enough, I am content to leave it at that for now. I do recommend you read those pieces, esp Bob’s I suppose :)
One of the writers above also sent around a really funny sms or e-mail with regard to this matter, I think you’ll have to ask Li Tsin to send to you or whether it’s ok to reproduce :)
With this done, at some point I must endeavour to make sense of this confusing Subashini judgement.
Tags-Malaysian Politics, Religious Affairs:(
I don’t follow Pakistan politics much, but any assassination, any murder, is a horrible, horrible thing :(
al-Fatihah.
Tags-little notes