Dr Asri - blood versus coconut water

While I respect my Penang lang (fellow Penangite) Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, the well-known former mufti of Perlis, I just cannot agree with his take on an example of Malaysian religious ceremonies, as reported in Malaysiakini's Don't just harp on korban, what about other faiths?

Dr Asri

In responding to Hindus complaining about the slaughter of cows at SK Puchong Jaya in Selangor during Aidiladha last week, he stated that while 'he agrees that schools are not appropriate venues for the Aidiladha cow sacrifice ritual, other religious acts in public places should also be similarly regulated.'

The 'other' religious act in public place that he brought out was obviously Thaipusam, because he said:

Lord Murugan conveyed in chariot

"Among these, roads are not places for religious processions such as carrying idols and smashing of coconuts to the point of inconveniencing road users or messing up a public space, such as being carried out by followers of certain religions. If you want to streamline (the regulations), then do it for all."

notice Chinese among the devotees?

Come on lah, Dr Asri, where's the comparison between slaughtering live animals like cattle and sometimes even camels accompanied by blood and gore and undoubtedly their terrified bawling and bellowing (death cries) at a school in the sight of its young pupils and traumatizing them, and the breaking of coconut fruits on roads which might have temporarily inconvenienced motorists.

Can't we have the animals slaughtered at a more appropriate location, say, in the compound of a mosque or surau?

Incidentally, Chinese Penangites have been among the most staunch supporters of the Thaipusam processions and the associated ritual of breaking coconuts for Lord Murugan's blessings.

mainly Chinese

Furthermore, the religious processions of Thaipusam and the associated ritual of breaking coconuts have always been known in advance by the police who would each year provide early advice to motorists, escort to the processions as well as control the traffic along the affected road(s).

Chinese devotee of Lord Murugan with kavadi

As for his claim that the ritual would mess up a public space, namely the roads, obviously (and strangely for a Penangite) he has not been aware that once the Thaipusam chariot carrying Lord Murugan had passed, the so-called mess, namely broken coconuts on the road, would be swiftly taken away by members of the public for their own use, like extracting santan (coconut milk) from the fruit, and even making use of the shells for fuel.

Dr Asri is respected for his fairness, and I am one of his fans, but in this case I don't agree with his comparison, which in reality is no comparison at all - because one ritual, if conducted at a school during the schooling term, would traumatize school kids with the bloody slaughter of live animals (ones which additionally are sacred to Hindus) while the other would merely break coconuts on a road, which would not be insensitive to other religions (unless you're a new Ayah Pin who worships coconuts, wakakaka).

P/S

My letter to Malaysiakini on subject but more refinedly written, wakakaka, and without any 'wakakaka', which calls for a wakakaka ;-), published on 25 Oct 2013, Blood versus coconut water

Royal President Khalid Ibrahim?

Sometime back I began to have real concerns about Khalid Ibrahim. In fact I became quite disgusted by his naughtiness which I blogged in Selangor saga shows PKR's ketuanan mentality? based on my letter to and published by Malaysiakini.

I will focus on only the part, regarding the controversial selection of the Selangor exco after the last state elections, which wakakaka criticized Khalid Ibrahim, as follows:

Leaving aside the alleged involvement of the palace, it was painfully noticeable that Khalid Ibrahim did what would be considered ungentlemanly before he left for abroad, in unilaterally announcing via just a cowardly tweet the revised composition of the Selangor exco, which saw the agreed four exco positions for DAP [unilaterally] reduced to three.

Couldn’t he have phoned DAP to advise his reason for the amendments, but then, we have been familiar with the lamentable PKR habit, of making unilateral decisions or policies on Pakatan (not PKR) issues, with their allies only learning of them via the media.

Thus it left Tony Pua, DAP Selangor deputy chief, bewildered on what was obviously an overturning of a Pakatan agreement on the exco composition. And of course Khalid Ibrahim was conveniently not around to answer why there was a change to DAP’s disadvantage.

Tony Pua: karn neen nare, how did an agreed 4 become his 3?

But from HRH’s revelation via his private secretary that Khalid Ibrahim had submitted the exco nominations to the palace prior to his departure for overseas, it would suggest that his tweeted message had already reflected the list submitted to HRH, lending doubts as to whether there was even a second list with the 5:5 racial ratio [as was claimed]. 

Be that as it was, even if HRH required a 6:4 makeup in the state exco, that would have been easily fulfilled with the four PAS members and two from PKR, which would still allow DAP to staff the exco with four of its assemblypersons [as agreed prior to Khalid's unilateral amendment].

Why then has DAP’s exco members being reduced to three?

That has been because Khalid Ibrahim wanted Elizabeth (Eli) Wong in the exco as well. Eli Wong is very well regarded within her party or at least within Khalid Ibrahim’s faction. She has been undeniably a commendable and very hard working exco member in the previous state parliamentary session and is obviously a favourite of the MB because she has been totally loyal to him, not unlike Faekah Husin.

But alas, Eli Wong is not a Malay in our very race-conscious world, and unless the Selangor exco could be expanded to eleven places to accommodate her, she could only be admitted at the expense of a non-Malay position, which obviously has to come from the DAP’s allocation of four.

Regarding Eli Wong appointment because of her loyalty to Khalid Ibrahim, it's ironical that in the previous exco term (formed after the 2008 state elections), during her greatest moment of support especially from her own party, her boss Khalid Ibrahim abysmally showed his moral and leadership spinelessness in not immediately coming forth to support her, a victim, but instead, contemplated casting her aside as if she was the wrong doer.

In my 18 February 2009 post titled Elizabeth Wong's 'Et Tu PKR'? I wrote (relevant extracts):

In Susan's [my matey Susan Loone] latest post I weep over Eli Wong’s resignation she wrote:

This blog mourns for Elizabeth Wong, the Bukit Lanjan state assembly woman who has been pressured to resign because of nude pictures of her being publicly distributed.

The person(s) who did the act of taking her pictures without a consent and distributing it continues to enjoy impunity.

I know it was the party she represented - PKR - who asked her to resign. And that to me, may be a strategic but a most disheartening thing to do.

It gives credence to gutter politics, to sleaze and evil politicking, within and without the party.

As a woman and friend of Eli Wong, I weep over what has happen to her. It will take me some time to recover for sure.

Eli Wong

ironically, while PKR leaders scurried away like hamsters in panic,
UMNO Nazri and MCA Chew Mei Fung came out to support Eli

Yes Susan my dear friend, we are devastated as well, including my matey Dean Johns who penned in his usual Malaysiakini column Elizabeth Wong resigns - right or wrong? these sad words: And a sign that, as painfully stripped of her confidence as she must be feeling right now, Wong would be wrong to resign.

Blast PKR for its gutlessness, for being worried about the rumoured ethno-religious mix surrounding the issue of Eli’s victimisation.

Instead of looking after Eli during her most vulnerable period, their top [PKR] brass have been looking over their shoulders, more concerned about the impact of this issue on the heartland’s support (which they prefer than the current urban support they enjoy), and also fearing that their PAS partner with their conservative tight ass morality, may be repulsed into UMNO’s arms.

These senior party members (you know who) want Eli to preferably disappear from the face of the earth, but if not, then to resign and, to put it cruelly, bugger off.

Forget about her loyalty, service, and dedication to the party. She has now become a liability to PKR.

Scat Eli, except they again lack the guts to say it – instead, ‘persuading’ her to tender her resignation, when earlier she had already stated resolutely she was not going to cave in to such contemptible smearing.

Oh, the pressure she had been subjected to, the betrayal, the lack of support – can you understand why she broke down into tears?

But wait, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

The Malaysian Insider reported in Eli could remain assemblyman, but exit exco because those spineless Wonders now realized how blooming popular Eli is, and are shit scared of the no-no move of accepting Eli’s resignation.

Eli’s supporters and those very sympathetic to her cause may be so pissed off that they will desert the PKR banner.

But Khalid Ibrahim seems still keen to see her go, stating: … Wong was a victim but her willingness to resign from all posts is a selfless decision on her part to protect PKR because she is well aware that BN will continue to exploit the issue to damage the party.

And of course he would seek the advice of the Sultan of Selangor before making any decision. Mr Wannabe-Teflon!

In that sorry event in 2009, instead of coming forth as a courageous and resolute leader in the mold of Pak Haji Nik Aziz, Lim Kit Siang or Zaid Ibrahim to demonstrate his unreserved support for Eli Wong, a loyal PKR exo but a severely traumatized victim, the cowardly MB scurried to 'seek advice' from HRH, which was perceived as an excuse to abdicate his MB/leadership responsibility for his PKR ADUN.

Yes, after his successful first term as MB Selangor, I suspect Khalid Ibrahim has shifted his political loyalty (note I have written 'political' and not 'subject' loyalty) from PKR to HRH. Perhaps he must have found far greater comfort in presumably HRH's liking (and even protection) for him.

As RPK had written in one of his posts: 'Anyway, whatever it may be, Khalid is not PKR’s Menteri Besar. He is not even Pakatan Rakyat’s Menteri Besar. He is His Highness the Sultan’s Menteri Besar, and which would make him my Menteri Besar as well. So you had better not forget that and try to mess with Khalid.'

Of course, to be fair to RPK and not to mislead you (by naughty misinterpretation) as to the thrust of message, you would have to read RPK's post in its entirely to see the context of his statement above.

I've only reproduced it to serve as a starting point (titik tolak) for my take on Khalid Ibrahim's recent lamentable behaviour (meaning it's kaytee's opinion and not that of RPK).

Yes, Khalid Ibrahim has found his comfort zone as the Selangor MB, more so after the recent 2013 MB appointment when he has not only enjoyed HRH's approval but was nominated by both Selangor's PAS and DAP (the latter which he ironically stabbed in the back in order to favour Eli Wong's appointment as a non-Malay exco).

To put it in kaytee's words, Khalid Ibrahim has discovered his personal 'enlightenment', perhaps that in the state of Selangor and under HRH's aegis, he is indispensable, irreplaceable and 'almost' presidential in stature - 'almost' because he still knows he must not be too big-headed to believe he could do without HRH's favour.

Thus, when PAS and DAP ADUNs joined PKR ADUN, to wit, PAS commissioner Dr Rani Othman, PKR chairman Mohamed Azmin Ali and DAP chairman Lau Weng San (plus party 'spiritual' wakakaka leader, Anwar Ibrahim) in criticizing him as MB for his refusal or reluctance to spend more of the state's savings on development in the state instead of just uselessly hoarding the surplus in kitty, he pompously and presidentially but pathetically responded that while he was open to criticisms from any leader, adding that it was a normal thing in the administration, he cared more about the feedback he received from the public more than from other leaders.

So, to this bloke, ADUNs are inconvenient individuals and not the people's representatives, while he 'presidentially' and directly represents all the rakyat of Selangor. 

f**k off, I am tuned in directly to Vox Populi

This man obviously has gotten so big-headed (but judiciously not towards HRH, wakakaka) that he believes he could ignore democracy and the parliamentary process, which has been why I describe him lamentably as being pompously presidential.

Khalid's pathetic pseudo-presidential declaration so irate DAP's Gobind Singh Deo, son of my hero Khai Karpal, that he 'urged' (a polite euphemism for 'f**king demand', wakakaka) the Selangor MB to bloody well clarify the statement that he 'listens to criticisms from the people more than from party leaders and politicians'.

Gobind Singh Deo

Gobind went as far as to say Khalid had made a "very serious statement, which may have serious consequences", meaning Khalid either knows f**k all about democracy (parliamentary process) or has deliberately ignored the democratic process - ya, that's why he's presidential, wakakaka!


Gobind said: "Khalid must not take things for granted. I ask him to respond and clarify matters."

The issue thus is not so much about Khalid's perceived kedukut-ness (stinginess) in managing the state funds as a MB but about his terrible failure to understand that in a democracy, the ADUNs are the ones who represent the voice of the rakyat, and not one sole person in the person of the MB, one who has preposterously claimed that he has listened more to the people than to the ADUNs, ...

... leading us to ask him 'who have been HIS people he listened more to? All the rakyat of Selangor? Or at least all those in Pakatan-held state constituency?'

It would be as if he has said he is NOT answerable to the state DUN and its ADUNs, the official, legal and democratically-elected voice of the Selangor rakyat, ...

... and that he 'listens more' to unknown, unquantifiable 'his so-called people'.

Based on his unbelievable bodoh-sombong declaration, if we don't watch this man carefully, democracy, warts and all, will go down the Selangor drain.

I listen more to 'the people' than parliament

Toyol-like

Most of us in S.E. Asia know the pitfalls or dire repercussions of dabbling in the occult. For our discussion, let's take the example of a toyol, one which I posted on 09 April 2006 titled Return of the Red-Eyed Toyol. I then wrote:

yo man, adopt me ler

Just as a refresher as to what a toyol is, it’s a S.E. Asian supernatural creature brought to life from a dead/aborted baby foetus by occult means. The owner, its creator or purchaser - & it's possible to purchase a toyol from a witch doctor - maintains the creature's allegiance by feeding it with his/her own blood, just a few drops taken from a pricked finger or toe.

The toyol can be used to conduct spying, stealing, spooking (harassing) or gambling missions (forecasting wins) for the owner.

But some say that a person who keeps such a creature of the Dark would be stuck with the toyol for life, a kind of damnation. Before the owner's own demise, it's vital that he or she passes the creature to a new owner to maintain regular feeding.

karn neen nare, did you wash your finger?

wakakaka

If the handover is not successfully completed before the owner croaks, the toyol will turn against the owner to feed on him/her. Apparently being eaten up by a toyol on one's death bed is not a pretty sight or pleasant at all, and excruciatingly painful for the expiring owner. The dying would take a very very long and agonizing time.

Politically, I liken today's UMNO to a toyol, wakakaka, created from a foetus which came from the miscarriage of UMNO Baru because of the de-registration of the original UMNO in February 1988.

Following the UMNO 1987 party elections, in which Dr Mahathir won the party presidency by a mere 43 votes, there were allegations of dodgy polls, not unlike accusations about dodgy polling in the PKR deputy presidency election in 2010 - same genes? wakakaka.

11 (originally 12) UMNO members aligned with Team B (Dr M's team was known as Team A while Ku Li's team was B) took the matter to court. In February 1988, because of the existence of several unregistered branches, as complained by the 11 plaintiffs, UMNO was declared an unlawful society under the Societies Act of 1966 by Justice Harun Hashim.

Immediately following the de-registration of UMNO, two former PM, Tengku Abdul Rahman and Tun Hussein Onn, attempted to register a new party called UMNO Malaysia as the true heir of UMNO, but their application was rejected by ROS 'without any explanation', wakakaka - yes, kind of deja vu for DAP, wakakaka.

Strangely (or perhaps not, wakakaka) ROS accepted Dr Mahathir's registration of UMNO Baru. I wonder whether that could have been the unexplained reason for ROS rejecting the earlier application by TAR and Hussein Onn for UMNO Malaysia, wakakaka. The rest is history.

cucu, nama tok adalah Ros, Ros Kowtim bin Apapun Boleh
cucu tunggu saat okay, tok jamin Pasukan Bola Sepak Malaysia Baru
menang kurang2nya sebanyak 25 gol

wakakaka

But given the sense of occult-like happenings in the successful registration of UMNO Baru but not for an earlier application by UMNO Malaysia, wakakaka, it could be argued that UMNO Baru was and should have been dead but only came into being as a toyol.

Yes, it was a foetus from a miscarriage by the traumatized de-registered (original) UMNO but raised from the dead into an occult supernatural being, a toyol, wakakaka again.

This toyol is all powerful and beneficial for its owners-leaders as evidenced by its enabling of spying (by SB, wakakaka), stealing (eg. Adorna, Forex, armaments, etc), spooking (harassing) (by PDRM, MACC, etc, wakakaka) and gambling missions.

Incidentally, gambling activities in Malaysia was recently attributed by Ali Rustam as a Chinese haram business, but alas, in this world everyone knows there's no free lunch, so whichever Chinese have been/are reaping the lucrative profits from the so-called nefarious gambling business would surely have to acquit to the toyol-like powers which have blessed them in the first place in awarding them the licence, wakakaka.

Dang, it seems, wakakaka, innocent-Ali didn't know who are the real (though hidden) beneficiary of the gold lode that the gambling industry produced.

latuk 70%, wah 30% boleh ah?

wakakaka

But don't forget the all important house-keeping requirement for a toyol, that is, the owner or would-be owner MUST feed it, or suffer the dire repercussions.

Anyway, when I read an article by Ariff Sabri (a.k.a Sakmongkol AK47) in fz.com titled Dr M will oust Najib following son's failure to secure VP post which commented on Mukhriz Mahathir's loss in the recent UMNO VP contest, and explained Mahathir's seeming lack of influence in that contest, as: If Dr Mahathir calls, what can he offer but a fading memory of who he once was? Out of power, means out of sight means Dr Mahathir is ignorable.

I couldn't help thinking how true.

Yes, what can Dr Mahathir offer or feed the UMNO-toyol with? Contracts? Positions? etc?

Nothing? Then, isn't he suffering excruciating anger (pain) at the delegates' snub to his son and thus at him?

9 votes only mah, mana susah
can kowtim one, but perlu quid pro quo lah

wakakaka

And Ali Rustam wondered why his Malacca UMNO divisions had abandoned him in the UMNO VP race. As a pollie who's no longer the Malacca CM nor a minister who can kowtim easily like Tua Peh Kong (God of Wealth) he has obviously failed to feed the UMNO-toyol, so his fate has been sealed, wakakaka.

niamah, you gave Shah Rukh Khan a datukship but not for me

gimme one too loh and I would have kowtim - sorry, too late liao

wakakaka

Elephant coming back soon ...

Just a quickie to update Anon of 3:39 pm, October 19, 2013 in my earlier post The elephant in the room.

No, I haven't forgotten my promise to respond to most of your comments in a new post, but alas, not now as I (a) wish to blog on more current and interesting issues and (b) allow the dust of the Allah-word controversy to settle somewhat (though, mind you, not expecting it to ever settle down completely.

Najib - mailed fist in a velvet glove?

Re the UMNO VP race, leaving aside the humongous wins for pseudo-pahlawan gunslinger Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Sabahan Mohd Shafie, the other 4 candidates for UMNO's 3rd VP position garnered the following respective votes:

Dei Mukhriz tambi, nah nah nah 

• Hishammuddin Hussein - 100
• Mukhriz Mahathir - 91
• Mohd Isa Samad - 7
• Mohd Ali Rustam  - 7

Muhyiddin consoled Mahathir's son by saying soothingly it's not a bad effort for a first timer to lose by a mere 9 voters.

f* those Johor divisions, hanya 5 lagi saja

Actually Muhyiddin has been wrong on the winning margin; it's not 9 votes but a mere 5. Yes, that was how close Mukhriz was to becoming the 3rd UMNO VP (bearing in mind we cannot automatically assume the 14 votes for Isa and Ali Rustam would have automatically gone to Muhkriz, so leave the 14 votes alone).

If Mukhriz had secured that extra 5 votes he would have pipped Hishamuddin by 96 to 95, but alas for him, that didn't happen.

Now, guess who marshalled those divisional votes to ensure Hisham, for all his worthless incumbency as a VP, spilled narrowly over the finishing line by a mere 100 votes to Mukhriz 91?

Yup, 'twas KJ and Shahrizat, wakakaka.

heh heh heh
Ah Jib Gor bloody well make me a minister this time

And guess whose side KJ and Shahrizat are on?

Yes lah, Ah Jib Gor.

So, does this mean Ah Jib Gor is casting off the shadow of his erstwhile mentor-benefactor Dr Mahathir? If so, for what purpose?

To be his own man? To obey his wife wakakaka? To appease KJ over Mukhriz so securing KJ's considerable support among UMNO Youth, and to keep Mahathir's influence in UMNO's decision making top echelon to a minimum?

The power behind the throne?

I would like to think it was the first, but unless one is in UMNO or/and privy to UMNO's inner machination, one won't know, but what we do know from Bridget Welsh analysis for Malaysiakini is that Dr Mahathir has been a big loser as only 2 Mahathir loyalist have been elected to the 25 supreme council spots.

AAB has his 'revenge' on his Nemesis even as he retires from politics, for according to Bridget, 'The composition of those elected can be seen as follows: 20% Mahathir-Muhyiddin loyalists, 24% Najib loyalists, 32% Abdullah Ahmad Badawi loyalists, 20% seen as both Abdullah and Najib camps, and another 4% independent.'

32% AAB-loyalists is as good as saing they are aligned with the KJ's camp which would considerably boost Najib's hold on the party decision making body.

Whatever, Ah Jib Gor has shown himself to be a 'mailed fist in a velvet glove', meaning he may appear soft on the outside (like a velvet glove), but is underneath very hard (like a mailed or armored fist).

Rosmah sent my velvet glove for dry-cleaning

wakakaka

But what puzzled me was the circumstances surrounding Ali Rustam. Earlier (during the lead up to the party elections), it was reported that he was showing the strongest performance among the VP hopefuls. Then we have the police interviewing him for alleged sedition in his lambasting of the Chinese and their alleged 'irregular' or non-halal activities when by stark contrast, other UMNO individuals or associates weren't even touched for similar or worse 'sins'. Isn't he supposed to be Najib's man? WTF?

aiyah, what did I tell you about those ungrateful Chinese
they f**k me up again or I would have obtained 700 votes lah

Anyway, I believe PPP Indians and many Chinese are having several bottles of Guinness (aw kau) to celebrate his non-victory, wakakaka.

For more on why PPP Indians would be celebrating Ali's humongous loss, see my October 2007 post The total humiliation of PPP - a lesson for BN parties, wakakaka.

But does Mukhriz's loss spell the waning powers of Dr M among UMNO warlords, in his inability to marshal enough votes for his son?

I personally don't think so as Mukhriz managed to secure a considerable 91 votes to give Hisham minor heart attacks during the votes-count notwithstanding being a political greenhorn within UMNO leadership circle and basically a colourless personality as Mukhriz was described by one newspaper.

hasta la vista - I'll be back, you mongrels

wakakaka

Thus his quite significant 91 votes would have been (likely) due to his daddy's influence - but it wasn't enough, and let's just say KJ and Shahrizat worked much harder for Hisham, wakakaka.

So I think it's wise not to rule out The Old Man as he has still a few aces up his sleeves and given his family DNA is likely to be with us for a good many years to come, to wreck havoc on poor Najib - sorry Ah Jib Gor, the Mahathir family DNA longevity is true, wakakaka.

The elephant in the room

Continuing my take on the Allah-word controversy which I blogged on in my previous post Alamak, the Allah-word again? I believe the Appeals Court ruling has been specifically on the legality of the Home Minister's decision to prohibit The Herald, the Catholic Church weekly newsletter (or paper) in Malaysia, using the word 'Allah' to refer to the Christian god in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

Let's put the microscope directly over the relevant specifics of the Appeals Court ruling again, namely:

• The Home Minister can rule
• That The Herald cannot use the Allah-word
• in The Herald's Bahasa Malaysia section

Read my lips - Home minister can rule (Court won't intervene/interfere) that The Herald cannot use the Allah-word in its Bahasa Malaysia section!

Both sides of the bloody political fence plus various other 'interests' have been equally unscrupulous in exploiting this Court's ruling to the most preposterous, outrageous and disgraceful n-th degree for their own gains - political, religious or whatever - by ignoring the specifics of the ruling.

Instead they have expanded and reinterpreted the Court's ruling to cover every nook and corner of Malaysia and Malaysian lives, and even talked of pending implications for the Islamic and non-Islamic world - a sad case of booming that all doom and gloom are looming.

The 4 horses of Apocalypse may even appear, wakakaka

F* it man, the previous Home Minister hasn't ruled that the Allah-word cannot be used by non-Muslims, but only by The Catholic Herald and even then, only in its Bahasa Malaysia section. And that's what the Appeals Court has ruled on, namely the Home Minister's right in prohibiting The Catholic Herald from using the Allah-word in its (now very carefully read this) Bahasa Malaysia section.

That's precisely what former Perlis Mufti, Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, had said, that it was 'not a big issue' because of the specific ruling, advising both Muslim and Christian groups not to exaggerate the matter as both the (previous) Home Minister's decision and the Appeals Court ruling on it were only confined to the Malay language section of The Herald.

He said: "Maybe the ruling was made to avoid any sort of provocation and it is not based on Islam because Islam has no restrictions on Christians using the word Allah."

But many Muslim leaders have ignored his good and fair advice, people like Mohd Nooh Gadut, the Johor Mufti, who warned Muslims against questioning the Court of Appeal ruling on the 'Allah' word issue, and that by doing so they risk being deemed a kafir or an apostate.

Brilliant, isn't he, making a ruling of the secular Appeals Court into a Islamic fatwa. Eat your heart out, Ayatollah Khomeini (dead as you might be).

And talking about fatwa, Dr Abdul Shukor, chairman of the National Fatwa Council, went into orgasmic delight on hearing the Court’s ruling, claiming beyond the boundaries of the judicial ruling that it was in line with a 2008 fatwa which stated the word ‘Allah’ was sacred and specific to Islam and the Muslim community, and should not be used by non-Muslims.

Apart from his obvious hijacking and creative reinterpretation of the Court's ruling, I just wonder how an Islamic fatwa would apply to non-Muslims?

Then we get the loony right in Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (ISMA) telling Christians to emigrate if they cannot accept the sovereignty of Islam and the king in Malaysia after the Courts's ruling, in which they (ISMA), not unlike Dr Abdul Shukor, claimed that the word 'Allah' is exclusive to Muslims.

Dumbos, that's exactly what Sabah pollie Jeffery Kitingan wants, except our Jeffery boy thinks even bigger, like emigrating the entire states of Sabah and Sarawak, especially the former, out of Malaysia, wakakaka.

Thus why should we be surprised to hear him, in reality a political insignificant in the overall Malaysian political landscape, talking about secession because of the Court's ruling and its feral and unnecessary bigoted wake caused by ultras like ISMA, which (the secession) if realized may make him presumably more significant - methinks he wishes, wakakaka.

He must have been grinning when he suggested to Ah Jib Gor that should the PM accept the calls of a Muslim-based NGO (presumably the moronic ISMA, wakakaka) for Malaysian Christians to leave the country if they cannot bear to accept the sovereignty of Islam, it would then be time to start disengagement talks and allow Sabah and Sarawak to depart Malaysia, wakakaka.

He pontificated openly: "There is no point in retaining Sabah and Sarawak within the Federation of Malaysia when the ultra-Malays in Malaya keep trying to break it up and without any appropriate response or with the silent acquiescence from the federal government."

Also read my post Will Sabah secede?

Sabah's flag in 1963, when it was actually independent
for two weeks prior to 16 September 1963

Will it fly again?

Those ISMA idiots in making their bigoted comments didn't even know what the Court's ruling has been about, and which didn't mention anything about the sovereignty of Islam nor that of HM the Agong, nor about the Allah-word being exclusive to Muslims.

Wakakaka, then PAS-reject Nasharuddin Mt Isa pushed his (note 'his' and not 'the') Islamic envelope by suggesting (hopefully or provocatively?) that the Court's ruling would set a legal precedent that could be applied to Sabah and Sarawak, where the Christians there currently have the right to use Allah in their Malay-language Bible.

This is despite the government stating the Home Minister's or Court's ruling does not apply to Sabah and Sarawak, though unsurprisingly Pakatan politicians are insisting it does, thus indirectly agreeing with Nasharudin, wakakaka.

Needless to say, we have the Mufti of Kelantan, Mohamad Shukri Mohamad, eagerly joining the right wing bandwagon to warn non-Muslims in his state from using Allah in their worship as they could face action under the Control and Restriction of the Propagation of Non-Islamic Religions Enactment 1981, and in typical ketuanan hooliganism, threatened [as in his, "… did not rule out the possibility of …"] a backlash from Muslims if non-Muslims continued to use the word Allah.

This bloke is a wee too fond of quoting from this or that Enactment to threaten people. Recall seven years ago in 2006, when he (then only the deputy mufti of Kelantan) told Berita Harian that wives would be deemed to be unjust and abusive if they cannot satisfy their husbands' sexual needs.

Abusive in sexual needs?

In his (note ‘his’ and not 'the') most brilliant exposition of Islamic doctrines, he explained that in a marriage, it's not always the wives who were abused as it could also happen to the husbands. He advised that Islamic laws protect both women and men.

He warned: "Thus wives who do not provide proper care for their husbands, including not fulfilling their sexual needs, can be considered as being unjust and abusive towards their husbands."

"These women can be charged under Section 128 (1) of the Kelantan Islamic Law Enactment 2002, which provides for a fine of RM 1,000 or jail of up to six months or both upon conviction."

But in a manner not unusual to either important big shots (CEOs, etc) or impossible big bullshitters, he skipped the details, yup, by neglecting to elaborate on how the courts would determine any husband’s claims of his wife failing to satisfy his sexual needs as per, wakakaka, Section 128 (1) of the Kelantan Islamic Law Enactment 2002.

As we know, some men/husbands may have excessive sexual needs, so the poor wives could be required to perform to super-human standards, you know, 'above and beyond' the call of duty.

Dahleeng, use a Kryptonite to 'soften' his super sex needs, wakakaka 

If their wives cannot satisfy their super sexual needs, would those poor wives be still deemed as unjust and abusive as per, wakakaka again, Section 128 (1) of the Kelantan Islamic Law Enactment 2002 by this mufti?

But truthfully, I would be very interested in how he would impartially gauge that a husband has attained sexual satisfaction in his legal act of consummation. I've been informed that in the West it's supposedly measured by how loud the man (or woman) screams 'OH GOD', wakakaka again.

perhaps inspiring the drafting of an Enactment, wakakaka

Or would he just rely on the hubby's say-so, that the undutiful wife should be jailed for 6 months while hubby gets a new young doll of a wife, wakakaka again.

Can this bloke really expect us to take him seriously on a far loftier issue, namely the use of the word 'Allah' by non-Muslims, than a literally-f**king matter such as Muslim wives abusing husbands through not satisfying the hubbys' sexual needs?

But then, such a sensitive issue in Myrmidon Mafulat-ish Malaysia opens the door for the loony right as well as the loony left to exploit the matter for their own interests.

The politicians from both sides are having a gala time though I would say Pakatan and the not-pro-BN NGOs are having the better end of the stoush in driving UMNO into a corner especially with regards to Ah Jib Gor's 'fixed deposit' states.

But UMNO and its allies (including some PAS people) have also been very vocal, especially in their usual arrogant bullying and threatening behaviour. It throws a timely life-line to some used-by politicians like Nasharudin Mt Isa, Ibrahim Ali, Zulkifli Noordin, Hasan Ali, etc, and hey hey hey, even across the political fence, to Pakatan's Chua Jui Meng, wakakaka.

Strangely we have yet to hear from Harussani Zakaria, the Perak Mufti, he of the sms notoriety in spreading seditious nonsense about a non-event, the so-called proselytizing of hordes of Muslims. Though of course we can easily predict what he would say, wakakaka.

Lamentably, as a supporter of DAP politics and policies, I have to confess I've been deeply disappointed by Uncle Lim Kit Siang for raising the question What if the Allah issue had happened 50 years ago? because the Home Minister's decision was only to prohibit the Catholic weekly newsletter, The Herald, from using the Allah-word as a Malay equivalent to the Christian god in its Bahasa Malaysia section. Thus the ruling on the Home Minister's prohibition does not extend to Sabahan and Sarawakian Christians' use of the Allah-word.

Look mate, there are certain national interests like social peace and stability that should be above partisan politics politicking.

And we could again argue that the current acrimonious situation has been brought about by The Herald's obdurate intention to use an Arabic word that's widely known to be used in Peninsula Malaysia (Malaya) by Muslims for the Islamic god, and (I dare say) never by Peninsula Malaysia Christians. I challenge anyone to advise otherwise.

And why have I described The Herald’s intention as obdurate?

As I had written in a previous post, it seems that Father Lawrence Andrew, The Herald’s editor, had been dead set on using the Arabic word Allah to refer to the Christian god, in spite of the superior pedigree (in the Judeo-Christian context) of its god’s other names as revealed in the Bible, and their ready availability and extensive variety.

To remind us of the Christian god’s name as mentioned in the Bible, the first revelation of this god’s personal identity has been in the Tanakh (Jewish Bible) Book of Genesis 1:1 which says:

"In the beginning Elohim created the heaven and the earth."

So, why did Father Andrew consider Elohim a foreign name as if it's alien to Christianity, while to him, strangely Allah is not? Hey, aren't we talking about the God of the Judeo-Christian faith? Or, are we discussing the God of the Islamic faith?

with so many choices (& much more), why insists on the Islamic 'Allah'?

The second name of the Judeo-Christian Divine One as revealed to Moses was YVWH or Yahweh (later modified to Jehovah) which means 'I AM WHO I AM' or 'I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE'.

Yahweh is mentioned 6823 times in the Old Testament, while Elohim scores 2570 times. Can anyone please tell me how many times is Allah mentioned in the Tanakh or the Christian Old Testament as used in Peninsula Malaysia (Malaya)?

For your info, kaytee studied one for 13 years in MBS and several years after school. I have several copies of the Bible (of various versions) and still read selected chapters from time to time, wakakaka.

So, hasn’t The Herald or in the person of Father Lawrence Andrew been obdurate in insisting on using Allah (apart from Tuhan) as the Malay equivalent of the Christian god?

More importantly, why? Make that a big bold WHY?

This brings us to the heavyweight opinion on the Court's ruling, namely that by the Malaysian Bar Council.

The Bar sees fault in the Appeals Court finding that the word 'Allah' was not an integral part of the Christian faith, stating (if I may add) correctly that "It is for a party asserting exclusive rights to the use of the word 'Allah' to establish that they have such exclusive rights, rather than for others to have to establish that the use of the word is integral to their faith."

But because that's almost impossible though there's a very high potential of Peninsula Muslims being misled/confused by the Allah-word in al Kitab and consequentially converted into Christians, with the ensuing social-religious conflagration and social upheaval, that's precisely why the Home Minister has prohibited The Herald from using the Allah-word in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

Yes, someone argued that the government shouldn't deny the Christians of their right to use the Allah-word because of the possibility of some Malays being confused. That may be idealistic but not security-practical, especially in a country like Peninsula Malaysia.

Just recall the far more simple and very tragic affair of one mere individual, Maria Hertogh.

Maria Hertogh

In 1950 after the (British) Singapore court returned her to her Dutch biological parents, Muslims saw photos of Maria kneeling before a statue of the Virgin Mary, and went berserk.

Muslim rioters in the Maria Hertorg incident

Riots broke out for 3 days and 18 people were killed while 173 were injured with many properties damaged.

This is exactly the sort of Christian-Muslim clashes that we don't want.

Now, much as my Christian friends like DAP's Ong KM, who assured us that there is no such sinister Christian intent (and I believe Christians like him don't have such bad intentions), may hate me for saying so, I'm afraid I have to agree with the prohibition, bitter as it may be to freedom of expression and human rights, as I know all too well the missionary-evangelistic nature of the Christian Church. 

Note that I draw a distinct difference between the sincerity of the general Christian population in Malaysia (like Ong KM, Susan Loone, Lucia Lai and a few sweeties that I know, wakakaka) against that of the missionary-evangelistic doctrine of the Christian Church.

My dislike of religious proselytizing policies, plans and programs extends also to those by the Islamic church.

Continuing with the Bar, it disagrees with the Court that allowing such an application [ie. for Christians (presumably in Peninsula Malaysia) to refer to their god as Allah in a Bahasa language Bible] would cause confusion in the Muslim community.

The Court (one of the judges, Apandi) had stated: "It is my judgment that the most possible and probable threat to Islam, in the context of this country, is the propagation of other religions to the followers of Islam.”

"It is our common finding that the name Allah was not an integral part of the Christian faith and practice."

I believe Justice Apandi could have been more specific in the above 2nd paragraph and stated (note yellow-highlighted phrase that I inserted): "It is our common finding that the name Allah was not an integral part of the Christian faith and practice in Peninsula Malaysia."

And in his 1st paragraph above, I would have like to see him state his findings in terms of national interests rather than the Islamic religion, as (note my strikeouts in red highlights): "It is my judgment that the most possible and probable threat to Islam, in the context of this country, is the propagation of other religions to the followers of Islam.”

This in fact is the bloody elephant in the Peninsula Malaysia (Malaya) room.

there's more value in not noticing it lah, wakakaka