Courage and perseverance ~ Do we still have these traits in us?

Braving obstacles and hardships is nobler than retreat to tranquility.

The butterfly that hovers around the lamp until it dies
is more admirable
than the mole that hides in the dark tunnel!
~@~

Kahlil Gibran.

Society nowadays tends to be more individualistic than what it once was?

The human nature to fend for oneself has in a way outgrown all aspects of communal care for the good of the community worldwide.

When traits such as courage and perseverance starts to disappear from the characters of most members of the human society, the ensuing degradation of Mankind often rears its ugly head and society tends to become aloof at the sufferings and misfortune that befalls the unlucky ones amongst us.

I am not saying that all human society have gone to such waste but just pointing out the general tendencies nowadays to be more concerned about 'What is it in for me' instead of 'What can I do to help others?'

The celebrated parables of long ago and exhilarating speeches of leaders past fail to stir the masses into becoming true champions and heroes of humankind all over the world.

Courage is simply not there anymore in the hearts and minds of our fellow humans when faced with the despots and dictators of the world.

Instead, we have foolhardiness take pride of place in the befuddled minds of young adults and which at times pits them against the brunt of officialdom which wields a devastating cudgel against those who dare to question their dictatorship and often imperial ways.

When liberalists pursue a changing of their society through the breaking down of long held taboos and religious fundamentalism as we saw take place in Iran recently, confrontation between the old guard and the reformists is inevitable.

Yet the world witnessed how it is only the common citizens who have to face the brunt of the counter assault by the ones in power through their security and law enforcement agencies and left many bloodied and even killed in the name of change.

Courage to stand up to the ones in authority almost always ends up in bloodshed and loss of life yet those who die are seldom the ones who stand to gain from such reform.

This is where we need to evaluate as to whether the so called champions of change and reform do stand their ground with the people or escape to save their hide as soon as the going gets tough?

I have seen this hypocritical act of cowardice take place over and over again no matter where it is in this whole wide world.

The courageous are often the opinionated young members of the student movements who in actual fact often turn out to be the leaders of the future!

Their perseverance ought to be celebrated as well in wanting to see the ousting of the ones reeking of corruption and abuse of their positions in the running or ruining of their individual nations.

Every country has its own fair share of such stories of courageous ones spearheading reform and revolution to dispel their nation of the parasites in power.

The overall makeup of the youths in my country is that those who are university and college students never fail to become the next generation of thinkers and activists to stir up the masses into voicing out and speaking up against those who wield seemingly limitless powers in making sure that no one gets to dethrone them from their seats of power, fame, fortune and glory till the next general elections.

Anyone who dares to castigate the high and mighty often find themselves penalized almost instantly before they had time to even blink!

I recall the case where an NTV7 talk show host Florence Looi was immediately taken to task and transferred to a desk job when one of the participants in her show speaking about the new Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak graded his first 100 days in office as a mediocre grade 'C' or 'D' which had drawn the wrath of those in charge of the private television station.

'Mimosa pudica'! Touch me nots in authority.

It takes courage and perseverance to voice up all these and there are not that many around who dare do it for the sake of bringing about true change to the nation here or others around the globe.

I pray that over time we will still be able to see the young voices and brave hearted ones amongst our populace stand up and speak with honor and dignity before the wrongdoers.

If we fail to support and nurture these courageous heroes persevering against all odds as we have seen through the years, I shudder to think of the consequences when what was prophesied by Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wassallam before really comes to pass and we will have the worst amongst us clenching and clamping down onto the seats of power, ruthlessly downtrodding the people just so they might live in pomp and splendour.

Lack of Enforcement of Laws & Order in Malaysia ~ Its causes.

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Dear fellow Malaysians,

I would like to speak about the matter that many shy away from or only grumble and mumble in their hearts not willing to raise the subject for fear of reprisals or persecution from those whom they complain about?

It's not like our nation is lacking of laws and rules that cover almost every aspect of our lives.

Far from it. In fact laws are being drafted and enacted at almost every parliament or state assembly sittings.

It's mind boggling when one looks at the audacious zeal and vigor of the members of parliament or the various state assemblymen or women in wanting to call for the establishment of this law and that law to make their mark in the chapters in this nation's history or leave a legacy that their descendants can be proud of?

Now, I don't mind the enactment of all these man made laws if they are of benefit to society and help to improve the safety and security of our nation and its citizens.

The problem is the glaring lack of law enforcement on the part of those who are elected or appointed to see to its implementation.

There is a very serious lack of commitment on the part of almost the entire civil work force of the ruling governments, be they from the federal, state or local authorities.

Let me share with you some very sickening lack of law enforcement in several areas of our life:

Traffic laws.

Things as simple as enforcing traffic rules and laws are a daily headache for motorists whose path is narrowed by indiscriminate double parking of vehicles on already narrowed roads and driveways of the nation.

Malaysian motorists are notorious for parking as they please with total disregard for any of the traffic regulations in most city areas and its worse in the suburbs.

Most that the local authorities do is to write and issue summons and leave it under the car's wipers. The recalcitrant drivers seldom bother about these summons and just chuck it off.

The local authorities aren't synchronized with the Road Transport Department in making sure that the offenders don't get to renew their road tax and insurance until they settle their fines, etc. or are compounded with demerit points that will lead to the cancellation of their driving licenses for repeat offenders!

In the front entrance to my apartment, there is a large yellow box on the road forbidding the parking of any vehicles but almost without fail, there will be many cars parked right in the middle of that yellow box like nobody's business every night making it hard for us residents to drive in and out from our apartments.

Calls made to DBKL are usually not picked up or if they surprisingly do are often given cock and bull stories that the enforcement squad are not available, bla bla bla.

Vandalism.

Vandals operate at whim and have no respect at all about public amenities or infrastructure. You will come across road signs that are almost hidden by all kinds of adverts and postings of loan sharks, satellite tv promotions, job vacancies, etc.

I wonder why the hell are the local authorities allowing all these to take place and why their officers are so bloody clueless in not being able to apprehend and charge these perpetrators?

The mobile numbers displayed obviously when traced can lead to the identities of those who post such notices as the nation's telecommunication service providers are now enforcing the registration of all telephone subscribers no matter whether they be land lines or mobile phone services.

All that the law enforcement personnel need to do is to call those numbers, fix an appointment with them under pretext of acquiring their services and go nail those buggers with all that the law provides by furnishing proof and evidence of such illegal posting of their notices by taking pictures or videos of such trespassing of the rules and laws governing such vandalism of public amenities!

Be creative! Do not waste precious time and resources by goofing away all day long and not do the job that they are paid for so handsomely together with all the perks and allowances that they are getting!

I can keep going on and on, listing the many areas of our life here that are being made to be so miserable by the serious lack of law enforcement by those who are employed and paid so well yet do nothing much to stop the rot taking place in this country.

I just hope that the ones who are in charge of this nation no matter that they be from the BN or the Opposition really do their jobs as the people have elected them to do so in the first place.

Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us" ~ Palestinians

Has the world conveniently forgotten about the Israeli regime's Massacre of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza?

They have been massacring the Palestinians ever since the British and American colonialists handed over Palestine to the Zionists on a silver platter, robbing the Palestinians of everything that they have and had! Read here to learn more.

Who cares about the mass murder of the occupied Palestinians by the Tel Aviv rogue Zionist regime before the eyes of the whole wide world?

I came across this version of Michael Jackson's music video 'They Don't Care About Us' featuring the massacre of Palestinians and can't help publishing it here to jar you awake to the reality that the world now conveniently chooses to ignore.

Does anyone really care?

Now I hear that the Saudis have tacitly agreed to allow the Israelis to fly over the Arabian peninsular to go bomb Iran back to oblivion and US Vice President Joe Biden has said that Israel being a 'sovereign nation' has the right to do as it pleases to protect itself against the Islamic Republic of Iran!

How convenient!

And we thought Obama really cares about us all?

Damn!

Al Islam Magazine's undercover operation at Catholic Church ~ It's implications discussed by Mahaguru58.

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Dear brothers and sisters,

I came across this incident reported by Joachim Francis Xavier in an online group to which I am subscribed complaining about the actions of two Al Islam Magazine Malay Muslim journalists who had infiltrated the Catholic Church recently to investigate the authenticity of news that there are many young Malays who have apostatized from Islam and attending church services at a church near the Puduraya Terminal, here in Kuala Lumpur.

Mr.Joachim protests against this infiltration into the church by the two Muslim journalists and feels grossly insulted by their actions where the two Muslims had taken part in the Christian prayer rituals and even taken mass communion by swallowing the wafer offered by the priests which they then had spat out and taken photos which are published along with their expose in the Al Islam Magazine's May 2009 edition which I have attached in this article.

Mr Joachim and another Malaysian Christian Mr.Sughadaran Stanley have lodged a police report attached herewith in this article as well against this blatant intrusion and spying act of those two Muslim journalists which they consider as a gross act of insult against their church and Christian faith!

As a Malaysian Muslim blogger, I try my level best to see things from a balanced and fair point of view and I believe that what the two investigative journalists from Al Islam Magazine have done is wrong and they ought to issue an apology to the Christian community concerned.

If we are to look at this matter from the Islamic perspective, there are some pros and cons with regard to the matter of knowing what the 'enemy' is up to and yet we need to also be righteous in our handling of matters such as apostasy and why such cases arise in the first place whereby the Muslims or those who are supposed to be in authority over the Muslims affairs have neglected to nurture and oversee the Muslim ummah in general leading to such straying of some members of the flock so to speak?

I understand that maybe those Al Islam Magazines's journalists thought that they had no other options but to go undercover in order to discover whether there is any truth with regard to the reports and rumours going around that there is a clandestine operation by the Christian Church here in Malaysia to apostatize the weak faithed amongst the Malay Muslims of Malaysia into becoming Christians?

I wonder also if the journalists concerned would have received permission from the church to investigate or do a proper study as to the accusations against the Christian Church that they are involved in such an agenda against the Muslims of this nation?

Yet this undercover operation by the two concerned journalists gives concern as to where we should draw the line as far as getting stories to publish in the newspapers, magazines and online web portals , socio-political-religious blogs or web forums are concerned?

I have asked some prominent Muslims here amongst the Malaysian Ummah about this matter and this is what they have to say about it?

The President of the Malaysian Scholar Association or Persatuan Ulama Malaysia, the learned Dato’ Sheikh Hj. Abdul Halim bin Abd Kadir who was the Terengganu State Mufti states that it is allowed in Islam for Muslims to use methods and ways to find out the truth about the matters said to involve the Muslims ( the reported apostasies of young Malays ) as long as they do so based upon looking after the safety and sanctity of the Muslim ummah and the faith of Islam.

When asked about the two Malay journalists who had participated in the Christian prayer rituals and had even taken the wafer offered by the priests, Dato Sheikh Hj. Abdul Halim pointed out that as long as their intention was to investigate the truth of the matter regarding the said apostasy of their fellow Malays into Christianity, they had not themselves apostatized from Islam and that their taking of the wafer was not a problem provided it did not contain anything that was haram @ forbidden in Islam.

So to conclude the discussion I had today with Dato Sheikh Hj. Abdul Halim, those two Malay journalists had done no harm to their 'Aqeedah' in the course of their duty as investigative journalists and had done so as allowed by the principles of our Islamic faith.

I thanked Dato Sheikh Hj Abdul Halim for his views and am grateful for his clarity in opinion about this matter.

I had also spoken to the President of ABIM, Tuan Hj. Yusri Mohamad who is also a close friend of mine and asked him as to what he has to say about this matter?

Brother Yusri opinionates that as far as he is concerned, there is no need for us to go to such lengths in investigating such unfounded rumours and thinks that it's wrong to do so under grounds that such a precedent could lead to other instances and maybe spark off something else which we might all not wish to see take place in our nation.

I have also spoken to another close friend of mine, learned Lawyer Tuan Haji Zainul Rijal bin Abu Bakar, the former President of the Malaysian Syarie Lawyers Association who also does not agree with such an action by the two Al Islam Magazine's investigative journalists. He too does not support the undercover efforts of the journalists concerned.

I did my own research into the validity of the actions of the two Al Islam investigative journalists in this case and I find the following hadith relevant to their undercover operation in finding out whether there is some truth to the rumour of Malays here in Malaysia apostatizing from Islam?

In Sahih Bukhari & Muslim, the Book of Jihad, Page 592, Chapter 23, Hadith # 1233 :





















Now, the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wassallam, being the brilliant genius Commander in Chief of the Mukmins had asked as to who will bring him information about the enemy?

The enemy of Islam and the Muslims were those who weren't Muslims. Same situation today.

The reports of Malays committing apostasy rumored and spread about through the media surely raises concern amongst the ones who are looking out for the welfare and well being of the Malaysian Muslim ummah.

Al Islam, being a magazine that publishes articles concerning Islam decided to take up the act of reconnoitering the said reports and had sent in their investigative journalists to find out the truth of the matter?

Yes, those two did masquerade as Christians and took part in the Christian rituals and partook the wafer given by the priest.

In their report, they said that they discovered no true Malay Muslims who had apostatized as rumored.

They said that they found out that the Christians were mostly Filipinos, Indonesians, Sabahans and Sarawakians who were born Christians. They had some confusions about the ethnicity of those Christians because being people from this region, naturally most of them look like Malays.

The journalists wrote that they found the congregation to be warm and friendly. Well mannered and pleasant. That's a compliment to the Christians.

Yes, they did come across publications in Malay containing the term 'Allah' and that the songs being sung in prayer had 'Allah' in the lyrics.

They conclude in their article that the usage of such a word as 'Allah' in the Christian publications and prayer rituals can lead to some confusion amongst the Malays who might mistake such publications to be connected with Islam and cause problems for those with weak Aqeedah or just learning about the true faith of Al Islam.

They stand by the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affair's ruling not to allow the Christians usage of the word 'Allah' and all other references which are Islamic in nature in the Christian prayers and rituals here in Malaysia.

That said and done, I still believe that it's appropriate for the two journalists and the Al Islam Magazine editorial to apologize to the said Christian Church here that they meant no harm and were only carrying out their jobs as ordered.

To clear the matter once and for all and to put to rest the allegations that the Christians have had anything to do with such evangelism amongst the Malaysian Malay Muslim population.

I do know that there are cases where such evangelism did and do happen yet due to the utter sensitivity of the matter which can lead to further religious friction and unrest between Muslims and Disbelievers, I try my level best not to dwell on them unless the need arises.

I recall an incident lately concerning two Buddhist monks who were photographed praying together with Malay Muslims in a masjid in Kedah recently that was emailed to me by a Bukit Aman police officer asking me as to what I have to say about that?


















I told him that if the two monks were still Buddhists and had not embraced the Islamic faith at the moment they were praying with the Muslims, then the ones who were their hosts that day in the masjid were answerable to Allah as to why they had allowed such a thing to take place?

If on the other hand, the two Buddhists monks had truly embraced Islam and were now Muslims, it is incumbent upon the ones who had initiated the conversion or reversion of those two servants of Allah into Al Islam to have given them an initiation rite into becoming Muslims by teaching them about the purification rituals in our faith and to have them take a bath and given them new clothes which do not have any relation to their 'former Buddhist beliefs'.

They should have been taught as to how to take the purification bath and other pleminaries into becoming and being Muslims worth our name and faith.

As I did not receive further details about that incident, I wouldn't speculate any further for fear of being slanderous against the monks concerned or those who had received them at the masjid and allowed them to join the Muslims in the congregational prayer!













I guess not many Christians know that even their Pope had joined the Turkish Muslims in prayer when he visited the country recently?

As Muslims, we are taught to exercise the best of behavior when receiving guests in our masjids and treat our visitors with the respect and decorum that they deserve. Especially those who come and visit our masjids with the pure intention of wanting to know us and Islam better.

I am all in support for such well meaning interactions between us and the yet to be Muslims.

Concluding this article touching upon the subject of the two investigative Al Islam Magazine journalists, I would like to call upon all concerned to take into consideration the sensitivity of all our fellow Malaysians when going about our affairs and to forgive and forget any such acts that could lead to or spark off anything that we will all regret.

I am publishing what Brother Joachim Francis Xavier had emailed to me following our telephone conversation over this matter here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello Zainul Abidin,

Please find attached the scanned copy of the articles and the police report. Any help to prevent this from reoccuring would be appreciated as we all have to work togehter to ensure that all communities live in total respect and care for each other.

regards,

Joachim Francis Xavier

016 4100264

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PRESS RELEASE

8th July 2009


Muslim Men Spying in Catholic Churches

We are deeply concerned that two Muslim men acting on false information that the Catholic Church was converting Muslims into Christians had recently entered a Catholic Church service for the purpose of gathering information as to whether this was occurring.?

They were also investigating whether the word 'Allah' was being used in church services.

These men participated in the church service and even took part in the rituals that are strictly for Catholics and in doing so violated the sanctity of what Catholics hold very sacred.

These men later wrote about their experience in an article entitled "Tinjaun Al Islam Dalam Gereja:Mencari Kesahihan Remaja Murtad" which was published in the May 2009 issue or the Al Islam magazine.

The men had consumed the 'communion' which is a white wafer which is blessed by the Priest in a Catholic ritual that dates back 2000 years.

Via this ritual the 'white wafer' is supernaturally transformed into what Catholics believe to be Jesus Christ and when consumed allows Catholics to experience life after death.

The 'communion' is held with great reverence and cannot in any way be mishandled or with a lack of respect.

Even Catholics are not allowed to take home the 'communion' but are instructed to consume it immediately during the service. Catholics go through an elaborate process of preparing themselves to receive this 'communion' worthily and those who have not done so are advised to refrain from receiving it.

As such we are outraged that these Muslim men consumed it only to spit it out later, have it photographed and have its image published in the Al-Islam magazine.

The total disrespect shown to what Catholics hold in closest to their hearts and believe to be most Holy strikes deep into our hearts and invokes much anger.

While we are resolved not to allow anger to guide our actions and instead pray that these ignorant will be forgiven by the Allah, we want to know what has become of this most holy 'communion' and demand its immediate return to the church authorities.

We are further outraged that these Muslim men have violated our sense of privacy to freely worship.

Would these men tolerate non-Muslims entering the mosque and violating the sanctity and holiness of their worship?

We believe that all places of worship and the form of worship practiced in these places must be respected with the greatest sensitivity and reverence be they the church, mosque, temple or gurdwaras.

Entering these premises with the intention to spy and worse to violate the sanctity of the worship only serves to incite anger and hatred that could lead to potentially dangerous consequences that would tear this country apart.

As such, as concerned Catholics, we have made a police report at the Patani Road Police station on 8th July 2009 and thereafter held a press conference at the same place.

We requested that the police investigate this matter with great urgency and bring to books those responsible for acting to incite hate and resentment among the Catholic Community.

We also call on the police to investigate both the Al-Islam magazine and the writers of the article.


Joachim Francis Xavier & Sudhagaran Stanley
Tel: 016 4100264/ 016 4455678

attached: the Al-Islam articles, Police Report.

Ordeal at KLIA ~ Glenn Pereira's letter to Tourism Minister Dato Seri Dr.Ng Yen Yen

Assalamualaikum.

Dear fellow Malaysians.

I would like to highlight a case where tourists flying in to our country as guests of a fellow Malaysian have been unnecessarily hassled and inconvenienced by either overzealous JPJ officers or those who have some kind of 'arrangements' with the KLIA taxi operators in forcing limo passengers to take the airport taxis and by that maybe 'earn' some bakshish with the taxi drivers?

I reproduce here a letter from Mr.Glenn Pereira whose guests were victimized by those JPJ Enforcement officers and in doing so tarnished the reputation of this country.

I just spoke to Mr.Glenn Pereira asking for his authentication of this letter and getting his permission to republish this letter here so that others who are concerned about this travesty of justice and fair play get to spread the news so that no one else will have to suffer such gross injustice being perpetrated by wolves in sheepskin so to speak!

Mr.Glenn Pereira asks the following to our Tourism Minister:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear YB Dato Sri Dr. Ng Yen Yen / Datuk Victor,

Firstly, let me introduce myself. I am Glenn and I am a resident of our good country Malaysia.

Recently, I had some friends from Arab here in Malaysia where they have told me of some things which went totally wrong throughout their journey to their Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

Is it the system or people, I need to know?

Their arrival was much anticipated by us here in Malaysia as we had such a good bonding with them for years.

When they got to KLIA, I had prior arrangements from a Tour Operator to pick them up from the airport since I wanted to give them a first class service in welcoming them after a long tiring journey they had to endure.

For your information, by me hiring a private limo is to give them my personal appreciation towards them but what had happened was when they were on the way back from KLIA to their pre-booked hotel (done by me), they were rudely stopped by JPJ officers and in amazement they were forced to get out from the Limo which was transporting them and the driver and my friends were queried so many questions before they were taken back to the KLIA airport by the JPJ Jeep for them to take your airport "Taxi" from there again.

This time around they even had to pay for their journey to their hotel. This ordeal had wasted a clean good 3 hours before they could get to see me and have a good rest and not forgetting the cash they had to pay when I have done earlier. I wasted my money in a nutshell.

My questions are this:

1) Why are we citizens of Malaysia forced to hire KLIA´s airport "Taxi´s" when I know with me hiring my own choice of transportation would be better and personalized in welcoming my friends here?

2) Aren´t these Tour Operators not licensed to ferry customers in and out of KLIA where most of them are friendly and professional with their work?

3) With my understanding and research I have done, your airport "Taxi´s" drivers and not friendly and most of them speak or not even able to converse in English at all. How are the foreigners able to communicate with them?

4) When a Tour Operator has a valid license, no authorities should stop them from performing their duties. They too have a living to sustain being drivers and with these JPJ and Police personnel´s getting into the picture, how will they able to put food on the table for their family?

5) Your "Taxi" drivers smell bad, car not kept clean and their shirts not tucked in/dirty and some of them even smoke in the car with the guest.

My friends and I are disgusted and saddened by the way your officers have handled this situation which I and my family had no other place to hide my face and dignity.

Speaking on bringing more tourists to Malaysia is a good thing.

Yes ! but I tell you this, by having so many restrictions and laws forbidding independent Operators fulfill their obligation in making Malaysia a Worldwide tourist centre, your aim will never be achievable with Quality Service. Service is important in today's World.

Many dubious questions arise when you have so many restrictions and laws and the most obvious will be "Who is Making The Extra Cash"?

Please look into this with utmost urgency and study because I know there are many Malaysians out there feel or even gone through this ridiculous ordeal.

I suggest, take a pool vote on what we Malaysians feel on any newspaper available online and with this and I bet you that you will received over whelming response on what is your next step of action and the Do´s and Dont´s making this country a World Class player.

I also understand that there are many touts who over-charge and some of them are frauds but doesn´t that responsibility belong to the Police and JPJ personnel´s to catch them and summon /reprimand if necessary?

If the JPJ and Police are to do this diligently, there would not have any touts in KLIA.

Do not penalize the genuine Operators and let the crooks go! Penalize the crooks and let the genuine Operators do their job responsibly.

I would like to have a written reply on this matter as I am so ashamed with what has happened to me and my family.

A concerned Malaysian,

Glenn Pereira
xxx-xxxxxxx