Our P.M visited Turkey recently and what he saw about the country and its practice of secularism should be an eye opener for him.My visit to Turkeybegan on a cold quiet night on 28th Jan.2007 and whenI finished my tour of Turkey I must confessed I was totally fascinated with the country.
From the start it was a journey of discoveryto find that the women were dressed like normal human beings bereft of any head scarves or tudong.This was not only a surprise but a shock when you are told by the interpreter and tour guide that Turkey has a population of 70 million and 99% of its people are muslims.What is even more shocking was that Islam is not an official religion of this country which has a 99% muslim population.Turkey has maintained its secularity despite its muslim majority.
What further shocked me was when the guide told me that the govt does not interfere or control the religion. This is all left to the imams of their respective mosques.And the powers given to the imams are limited.They have no authority to detain, arrest muslims who dont fast during Ramadam or muslims who drink alcohol or even commit khalwat. And what about inter marriage between believers and nonbelievers?Without a blink he replied that it was up to the couple and their families.If they agree they can go ahead and no one has the right to stop them. When I questioned further why this was the practice his reply was short and swift.A man's belief in his religion is between him and God and if he choose to sin then he has to answer to God not to man.The govt or the imams has no right to punish any muslims who choose to sin.
The revealation how Islam is practiced here was unexpected and I was totally unaware that a muslim country like Turkey could be able to practice Islam so liberally and with such modernity.
But is not our P.M espousing Islam Hadhari?If onlyour P.M had taken the trouble to study Turkey's model of how Islam is pracice then perhaps it would be more appropriate to adopt Turkey's model.
As I returned from my brief sojourn fromTurkey I wondered aloud to myself, 'if only we could be like.....Turkey'.Better still, if only all muslim Malaysians could visit Turkey just once.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
WISHING EVERYONE A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR
WISHING ALL MY READERS A HAPPY AND VERY PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Dr. M's Nobel Prize nomination boggles the mind.
During his 22 years tenure as prime Ministerof Malaysia,Mahathir's legacy has been his propensity to spend lavishly on mega projects.It would have been a tribute to his legacy if only what he spent extravagantly was useful to the citizen of this country.But this was not to be.
His Multi-media corridor project was a flop and the country's investment in a state of the art information technology ended in a loss of a few hundred million dollars when the foreigner entrusted with the task channelled investment funds to his private account in America.
Putrajaya is half completed and its future is in limbo.The Petronas Twin Tower is only sparsely tennanted.KLIA which cost nearly $9 billion is under utilised.The Maltrade building which was contracted out for $160 million ended up costing $230million.Mahathir's forage in the foreign exchange in the 80's according to Anwar Ibrahim ended in a $31billion loss.
His Human rights record was abysmal.He used theISA to incarcerate his opposition whenever there was a threat to his position.He used the judiciary to act in accordance with his whims and fancy and when they refused to comply he set up a tribunal to remove them.Even his Deputy was not spared his conniving ways. He manufactured trump up charges of corruption and sodomy to imprison his deputy when he perceived there was a threat to dethrone him.
As for his foreign policy, there was little difference from his predeccessor and his current successor.Malaysia's foreign policy has always been predicated on religion.That is the primary reason why we have not recognised Israel, a country which has not offended us in any way.And Mahathir's moral support for the muslim insurgents in Southern Thailand has caused considerable anger in Bangkok.
Therefore when we see the war crimes tribunal being conceived by Mahahthir we begin to suspect that his agenda was to support the muslim insurgents inIraq and the muslim Palestinians in Palestine.As for the perpetuator of 9/11? In Mahathir's book they dont deserved to feature in the war crimes tribunal.This alone negate any credibilty Mahathir may have in attempting to legitimise the war crimes Tribunal.What really boggles the mind is what did he do to deserve the nomination of the Nobel prize?
His Multi-media corridor project was a flop and the country's investment in a state of the art information technology ended in a loss of a few hundred million dollars when the foreigner entrusted with the task channelled investment funds to his private account in America.
Putrajaya is half completed and its future is in limbo.The Petronas Twin Tower is only sparsely tennanted.KLIA which cost nearly $9 billion is under utilised.The Maltrade building which was contracted out for $160 million ended up costing $230million.Mahathir's forage in the foreign exchange in the 80's according to Anwar Ibrahim ended in a $31billion loss.
His Human rights record was abysmal.He used theISA to incarcerate his opposition whenever there was a threat to his position.He used the judiciary to act in accordance with his whims and fancy and when they refused to comply he set up a tribunal to remove them.Even his Deputy was not spared his conniving ways. He manufactured trump up charges of corruption and sodomy to imprison his deputy when he perceived there was a threat to dethrone him.
As for his foreign policy, there was little difference from his predeccessor and his current successor.Malaysia's foreign policy has always been predicated on religion.That is the primary reason why we have not recognised Israel, a country which has not offended us in any way.And Mahathir's moral support for the muslim insurgents in Southern Thailand has caused considerable anger in Bangkok.
Therefore when we see the war crimes tribunal being conceived by Mahahthir we begin to suspect that his agenda was to support the muslim insurgents inIraq and the muslim Palestinians in Palestine.As for the perpetuator of 9/11? In Mahathir's book they dont deserved to feature in the war crimes tribunal.This alone negate any credibilty Mahathir may have in attempting to legitimise the war crimes Tribunal.What really boggles the mind is what did he do to deserve the nomination of the Nobel prize?
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Hypocrisy in Davos
How could our P.M speak with such hypocritical conviction when he spoke in Davos, Switzerland 'thatMalaysia shares Switzerland concern that countries should not practise double standards .'?
A supposedly religious man with pious leanings to utter such lies in front of a world wide audience is not only shamefully embarrassing but reveals the hypocrisy of his character.
What is the point of professing to the world his religiousity, his complete belief in his faith when in the same breath he can cast aside all his beliefs and instead practice and administer a policy of brazen discrimination of its citizens.
The P.M is not young anymore.Its only a matter of time when he will face his maker and he will have to explain why he was been unjust to his citizens of other faith.His religion forbids him to be unjust to the people he governs and yet he did it with impunity.
The P.M can continue to lie to the world but he cannot lie to his own conscience.The footprints he leaves behind in this world will follow him to the hereafter and he will have to answer for his follies.
A supposedly religious man with pious leanings to utter such lies in front of a world wide audience is not only shamefully embarrassing but reveals the hypocrisy of his character.
What is the point of professing to the world his religiousity, his complete belief in his faith when in the same breath he can cast aside all his beliefs and instead practice and administer a policy of brazen discrimination of its citizens.
The P.M is not young anymore.Its only a matter of time when he will face his maker and he will have to explain why he was been unjust to his citizens of other faith.His religion forbids him to be unjust to the people he governs and yet he did it with impunity.
The P.M can continue to lie to the world but he cannot lie to his own conscience.The footprints he leaves behind in this world will follow him to the hereafter and he will have to answer for his follies.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Scandals, Corruption not so easy to hide now.
The present looting, plundering and corruption by our politicians we are witnessing now did not begin in 2005 or 2006 when the present P.M Abdullah Badawi took over the leadership from Dr. Mahathir.In fact this frequent accepted practice by the ruling Barisan National party has been going on for the last 50 years,ever since the formation of the Alliance party to the present day dacing of the Barisan national.
To a great extent technological advancement play a vital role in disemminating information to the general public and the availabilty of internet access even accelerated the free flow of information.The accessibilty of the internet enabled information of scandals and corruption to travel on the information super highway at such a rapid pace then in a shortperiod of time the news is common knowledge to the public.
Previously, in the last 48 years information or news of any scandals were kept hidden and conveniently concealed from public view.As a result corruption and any scandals were not published by the main stream media which for the most part was owned by the ruling party.
With the present day availabilty of internet access the main stream media no longer have virtual monopoly of everyday news.Good or bad news will be reported and published in the internet and censorship is virtually impossible.
Just to illustrate the point that corruption has been ever present in the govt ministry of Defence some 20 years ago when the Defence Minister ordered a fleet of fighter aircraft form U.S.A.When the aircraft was handed to the govt the condition of the aircraft was so poor that it could not take to the air.
The fleet of aircraft was eventually put to shelter in a rented hangar somewhere in the Nevada desert. Until this day no one knows the fate of the aircraft.Fast forward to today, the Defence Minister purchase submarines and Russian fighter aircrafts and commission is paid to an agent in Malaysia who ostensibly act on behalf of some defence Ministry officials.
Yes the practice is still continuing except the method is more sophisticated and the money changing hands is in the millions.
If the elements and principle used as a yardstick to convict former DPM in 1998 was used today, all the the current ministers including the P.M and DPM would be convicted and thrown in prison.The fact that corrupt practices and scandals did not surfaced prior to Badawi's era does not preclude its non existence.
The more probable reason was because it was cleverly concealed by the main stream media and information was not freely available to the public then.
To a great extent technological advancement play a vital role in disemminating information to the general public and the availabilty of internet access even accelerated the free flow of information.The accessibilty of the internet enabled information of scandals and corruption to travel on the information super highway at such a rapid pace then in a shortperiod of time the news is common knowledge to the public.
Previously, in the last 48 years information or news of any scandals were kept hidden and conveniently concealed from public view.As a result corruption and any scandals were not published by the main stream media which for the most part was owned by the ruling party.
With the present day availabilty of internet access the main stream media no longer have virtual monopoly of everyday news.Good or bad news will be reported and published in the internet and censorship is virtually impossible.
Just to illustrate the point that corruption has been ever present in the govt ministry of Defence some 20 years ago when the Defence Minister ordered a fleet of fighter aircraft form U.S.A.When the aircraft was handed to the govt the condition of the aircraft was so poor that it could not take to the air.
The fleet of aircraft was eventually put to shelter in a rented hangar somewhere in the Nevada desert. Until this day no one knows the fate of the aircraft.Fast forward to today, the Defence Minister purchase submarines and Russian fighter aircrafts and commission is paid to an agent in Malaysia who ostensibly act on behalf of some defence Ministry officials.
Yes the practice is still continuing except the method is more sophisticated and the money changing hands is in the millions.
If the elements and principle used as a yardstick to convict former DPM in 1998 was used today, all the the current ministers including the P.M and DPM would be convicted and thrown in prison.The fact that corrupt practices and scandals did not surfaced prior to Badawi's era does not preclude its non existence.
The more probable reason was because it was cleverly concealed by the main stream media and information was not freely available to the public then.
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