05/02: Why I kick ass

No, don't blame the Malays. Don't blame Umno. Don't blame Barisan Nasional. Umno can't form the government without the other 13 non-Malay component members of Barisan Nasional unless the non-Malays allow it to happen.

More three-way fights likely in Johor

(The Star, 1 Feb 2008): The opposition’s hope of straight fights in Johor for the general election has been dashed as several parliamentary and state seats are expected to see three-cornered battles.

The “hot seats” are the Gelang Patah parliamentary and Johor Jaya, Permas, Stulang and Skudai state constituencies.

The constituencies, except for Permas, have a sizeable number of non-Malay voters.

Permas and Skudai are held by the MIC and Gerakan respectively while the MCA holds the other constituencies.

Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) has announced that it would contest six seats -- the Johor Baru and Gelang Patah parliamentary seats and the Stulang, Permas Jaya, Skudai and Johor Jaya state seats.

Its secretary-general S.K Song said PRM would not give way to other opposition parties to contest in these seats.

The opposition votes are expected to be heavily split this time compared to the 2004 elections, when only the Johor Jaya and Jorak state seats saw a three-cornered fight in Johor.

State DAP deputy chairman Norman Fernandez said while it was unwise to split the opposition votes, the party would be contesting in Skudai, Stulang and Gelang Patah.

PAS commissioner Datuk Dr Mahfodz Mohamed said that PRM should not “act gung-ho” and try to split the opposition votes.

“We are willing to discuss with them and if they have valid reasons, PAS is willing to allow them to contest in Permas,” he said.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) state chief Dr Ahmad Saidhi Saidi said it would be disappointing to see the opposition votes split in Johor.

(AP, 1 Feb 2008) - A dog fight in Swabi, Pakistan, turned nasty on Wednesday when the animals' owners started scuffling among themselves. Dog fighting is one of the established local games in the poverty-stricken north-western region of Pakistan.

Although the government has banned the sport, enforcement is not strict. Many people defy the ruling and continue with the practice.

Dog fighting was also banned in parts of nearby Afghanistan by the Taleban -- along with cock fights and other traditional sports -- but it made a swift comeback after the fundamentalist militia was ousted from power in late 2001.

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All abuzz over oily man

(The Star, 1 Feb 2008) - While not many in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) are taking the stories of an orang minyak (oily man) preying on female students seriously, some of them have begun taking extra safety precautions on their own.

The main campus has been abuzz over the last few days with talk that an oily man had broken into several hostels and raped female students.

USM acting vice-chancellor Prof Ahmad Syukri Mustapa Kamal said so far, the authorities had yet to receive any reports of rape or sightings by students.

“USM is working closely with the police to ensure the security of the campus. We appeal for people to refrain from spreading rumours about rape cases that have been found to be baseless,” he said in a press statement.

Security has been stepped up at the entrances with closed-circuit TV camera surveillance and 24-hour patrols conducted by guards and hostel authorities.

Female students are taking better care of themselves.

“Students are saying that the orang minyak is raping girls to improve his prowess in black magic, but whatever the reason, we are very concerned,” said second-year communications student Nur Farahiyah Mohd Taib, 21, who stays in a hostel on campus.

She said the girls were now staying together in big groups at their hostels or when walking back from meetings at night.

Course mate V. Kumutha, 22, said the girls in her hostel also had a meeting with the hostel committee.

“They advised us to keep safe and also taught some of the girls prayers to deter the oily man,” she said.

Some students had gone to the extent of vacating the campus hostels during the night.

“For the last two days, many people have been sleeping over with friends who live off campus,” said second-year management student C.P. Teng, 22.

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Comment by 'indianputra' posted in Malaysia Today's Blog

I am blaming the Malaysian Government led by the UMNO for the status of Indians in Malaysia. Do you want me to repeat? I will!

* 90% of all jobs in the civil service are for the Malays

* 98% of all jobs in Petronas is for Malays

* 95% of all CEO's & MD's of GLC's are Malays

* 90% of all police are Malays

* 95% of all Headmasters of schools are Malays

* 95% of all Government contract goes to Malays

* 85% of Malaysian Cabinet are Malays

* 90% of all nurses in Malaysia are Malays

* 96% of Malaysian Army, Air Force and Navy is manned by the Malays

* 10% discount is given to Malays to purchase houses

* With UMNO support almost all Malay businessmen are guaranteed bank and SME loans

* 90% of all government-linked education establishment have Malay students

Now, who is masterminding this? It is NOT YOU AND I. It is the UMNO-led Government. MIC and MCA are given handouts by this Government to satisfy the Indians and Chinese. Yet, these handouts do not reach the Rakyat and pocketed handsomely by the leaders.

So, what do we do?? GET RID OF BN. My plea for the Malays to feel guilty was to make them feel that this Government is unfair to the Indian and Chinese brothers and hopefully they will vote the opposition to reduce the 2/3 majority BN is having now. I know Malays. They are kind, have tremendous values, respects human beings and will ever support the downtrodden.... at least the vast majority of them.

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Malaysia Today in general and I in particular have been accused of embarking on a Malay-Islam bashing campaign. Actually they are only partly right. I am not bashing Malays and Islam. I am bashing Malays and Muslims. And there is a difference. Furthermore, I not only bash the Malays but the Chinese and Indians as well. But I bash the Malays 90% of the time while I bash the Chinese and Indians maybe only 10% of the time. And while the Malays just sulk, the Chinese and Indians accuse me of being a racist.

That's right. When I bash the Malays and Muslims I am a great guy, a liberal Muslim, a towering Malay, and all that crap. But when I bash the Chinese and Indians I am a racist.

I can cite so many examples of why the Malays, Muslims, Chinese and Indians deserve getting bashed. Allow me to bring your attention to the four items above. Of course, you may say that one swallow does not make a summer. But we are not talking of one swallow here but four swallows out of thousands. I picked the four above not because these are the best examples but only because these four are the latest news items and comments posted in Malaysia Today.

We complain about the government. We complain about the Barisan Nasional hegemony. We complain about the 'Malay' government. We complain about the Umno-led government. The Chinese and Indians complain that they are being sidelined in favour of the Malays. The Malays complain they are being sidelined in favour of the Umnoputras. We complain about the unfair election system. We complain about the gerrymandering that favours the ruling party. We complain about the rampant and blatant corruption. We complain about the abuse of power and police brutality. We complain about the non-independent and biased judiciary. We complain about the cronyism and wastage of public funds. Aiyah.... you name it and we will complain about it.

But what are we doing about it? We can't even unite and form a credible opposition front to challenge the system that we are so unhappy with. When we are asked to unite and seek common ground we will offer one thousand and one excuses why that is not possible. PKR has no future and is only about Anwar Ibrahim. PAS is an Islamic party and therefore very dangerous. DAP is a Chinese chauvinist party and still stuck in the past. Only Barisan Nasional is capable of running this country because it has a 50-year track record and the opposition has not been tested or proven itself yet. (This is of course a Catch 22. If it is not given a chance to form the government then when will it be able to prove itself?).

Muslims are so paranoid about criticism against Islam. They want it to be made illegal and punishable by detention without trial. They want those who leave Islam to be sentenced to death. They want those who convince Muslims to leave Islam to be put in jail. They arrest and jail Muslims who work in pubs, bars and discos. They arrest those who hold hands in public, even if they are non-Muslims. They snatch dead bodies of those who have been rumoured to have embraced Islam before they died. They want all women to be scarfed and for separate check-out counters and swimming pools for males and females to be set up.

But look at the news items above. Muslims indulge in dog fights and cock fights. Look at the blood on the mouth of the dogs in the picture above. Is this not cruel? Muslims are fond of relating the story about the Prophet -- when he saw a prostitute giving a thirsty dog a drink of water -- telling his companions that she is going to heaven. The companions were puzzled. The women was a prostitute and she was giving a 'najis' (impure) dog a drink in the cup of her hands. How can she be going to heaven? And the Prophet replied that she is going to heaven because she has shown compassion to the dog (in spite of she being a prostitute and in spite of she allowing the 'dirty' dog to drink out of the cup of her hands).

That is supposed to be an authentic Hadith. But then what do the Muslims do? They cruelly indulge in dog fights. Is holding hands and working in pubs, bars and discos worse than indulging in 'sports' where dogs kill each other in a most brutal manner? Is women and men paying for their purchases at the same checkout counter worse than cruelty to animals? Is not wearing a scarf worse than brutality to animals?

I used to live in a PAS stronghold in Kuala Terengganu called Kuala Ibai. Mustapha Ali lives there, as do the one-time PAS Member of Parliament for Kuala Terengganu, Harun Jusoh, and the one-time Mufti of Terengganu (don't know if he is still alive though). In fact, almost everyone living there was PAS, including me of course who lived there for 20 years. Umno people would not dare venture into our area unless they want to get verbally abused. But the cock-fighting in Kuala Ibai is a serious problem. And the irony of the whole thing is they indulge in it during Friday prayers because that is the time everyone will be in the mosque -- so it is the safest time -- and the gelanggang (arena) is not far from the mosque. I was Chairman of that mosque so I was fully aware of the problem because we discussed it at every mosque committee meeting.

I don't care about the gambling aspect of cock-fighting -- and it is just that, gambling -- but what concerns me most is how cruel this 'sport' is. Razor blades are tied to the feet of the cocks so that they can slash their opponents. Can you imagine the bloody sight when two vicious cocks trained to fight slash each other with razor blades? And we are talking about Muslims in a PAS stronghold who would abuse Umno people if they accidentally strayed into our area.

Muslims are very paranoid about akidah. They will ban books which they say may make our akidah go astray (hundreds of books have been banned, 11 this week alone). Actually they don't really understand what the word akidah means but they are very concerned about the matter. Of course, the books they ban are merely books that argue Islam differently from what they believe. So, since what these books say differ from their view, they will ban them on the excuse that it will affect the akidah of Muslims.

But they will believe in evil spirits and black magic in spite of all this being shirik. Shirik is considered a mortal and unforgivable sin in Islam. It is worse than murder. In Islam you can be forgiven for murder if the victim's family chooses to forgive you. But not even God will forgive you for shirik, so the Muslims believe. And here we have educated people like university students and Professors believing in 'oily men' who can perform magic and disappear into mist.

This reminds me of a case in Wakaf Mempelam, Kuala Terengganu, about 20 years or so ago. Wakaf Mempelam (Mustapha Ali's state constituency) was at that time being terrorised by an 'oily man' who would pukau the house-owners, rob them (they would be aware they were being robbed but would be paralysed and could not do anything about it) and then transform into an animal and escape.

The villagers of Wakaf Mempelam got so fed up that one day they decided to lie in wait. When the 'oily man' appeared they chased him and, as usual, he evaporated into mist and escaped. The villagers 'knew' the oily man had transformed into an animal. The villagers went searching for an animal in the bushes where the 'oily man' was last seen and they found a cow grazing. They immediately attacked the cow and killed it. The owner of the cow came running, screaming for them to stop. But it was too late. The poor cow had died of multiple wounds. However, since then, the 'oily man' never again appeared in Wakaf Mempelam so the villagers were quite convinced that it was not a cow they killed that night but the 'oily man'.

No, I don't think that I am unjustified in bashing the Malays and Muslims. If at all, I think I am not bashing them enough. I need to expose them. I need to strip them naked. I need to shame them. And I should not stop until the Malays shed their shameful ways and beliefs. But don't the Chinese and Indians applaud just yet because they too are equally deserving of a bashing.

'Indianputra' posted that comment above. That was actually stolen from an e-mail that has been floating around for two years or more. No, 'indianputra' did not come up with those statistics. He stole them and is pretending that they are the result of his own research. And the original is actually much longer than that.

But none of those statistics are correct or are supported with any evidence. They were created just for sensation and I am not going to waste my time dissecting them and rebutting them.

Okay, let us for argument's sake agree with what 'indianputra' says. Let us give him the benefit of the doubt. You mean all this happened over the last six months? You mean in the 2004 general election when the voters gave 92% of the seats in Parliament to Barisan Nasional what is prevalent today was not prevalent then? What about in the 1999 general election? What about in the 1995 general election? What about in the 1990 general election? What about in the 1986 general election? Why were all the top guns of DAP wiped out and the party given only nine Parliament seats in the 1990 general election (from 24 seats in the 1986 general election before that) when what we complain about today was prevalent even way back in 1990? Why were all the top guns of PAS wiped out in the 1986 general election and the party given only one Parliament seat when what we complain about today was prevalent even way back in 1986?

No, don't blame the Malays. Don't blame Umno. Don't blame Barisan Nasional. Umno can't form the government without the other 13 non-Malay component members of Barisan Nasional unless the non-Malays allow it to happen. Umno holds only roughly half the 222 seats in Parliament. The other 13 non-Malay component members of Barisan Nasional hold the other 100 or so. On Malay votes alone Umno can't form the government even if 100% of the Malays vote for Umno and not a single Malay vote goes to PAS. And as it is now PAS and PKR get about one-third the popular votes, mostly from the Malays.

Barisan Nasional is not, I repeat, is not a Malay government. Umno, on Malay votes alone and without the other 13 non-Malay component members, can't form the government. Long before the 2004 general election Umno announced that Malaysia is already a Muslim country. But the voters did not reject Umno or Barisan Nasional. All the 13 non-Malay component members of Barisan Nasional applauded when Umno announced that Malaysia is already a Muslim country. And the non-Malays still gave Barisan Nasional 92% of the seats in Parliament. And when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launched Islam Hadhari the 13 non-Malay component members of Barisan Nasional again applauded.

Sure, if we don't vote Barisan Nasional then who do we vote for? We don't see any better alternative to Barisan Nasional. The opposition is not tested. The opposition has not proven itself yet. The opposition is not united. We are scared of the PAS Islamic party. We are scared of the DAP Chinese chauvinist party. We are scared of the PKR Anwar Ibrahim single agenda party. We are more comfortable with Barisan Nasional.

So, we will vote Barisan Nasional and we will whack the Malays for whatever Barisan Nasional does even if the Malays voted for PAS and the non-Malays voted for Barisan Nasional. That is the only way we can vote for Barisan Nasional and not feel bad about doing so. After all, losers always make the wrong decision and will never admit it and will always blame others for what happened. And since we are losers that is how we will act.

'Indianputra' and others of that ilk, you are all losers. But don't feel too bad about it because your brother-Malays who scream, rant and rave about akidah are also losers. You all deserve one another. May you all hold hands as you lead each other into hell.

04/02: The throw of dice

Posted By: Raja Petra

Undeniably, our beliefs and prejudices are influenced by the environment we are brought up in. The era we live in also plays a very important part in all this. 250 years ago I would not be running Malaysia Today. Instead, I would be holding a keris in my hand and would be leading an army to oust the government and replace it with a better government.

RPK, I have a simple experiment for you to prove that what we said is a whole bunch of baloney.

Please ask your lovely wife Ms. Marina why she converted to Islam?

Then ask her again:

1) If you were a Christian will she convert?

2) If you were a Jew will she convert?

3) If you were Chinese will she convert?

4) If you were an atheist will she convert?

5) Lastly, tell us if you are mama boy and mama said no to Islam will she convert?

If she can give you the same answer every time, then she is a true believer of Islam.

written by Semuaok, January 28, 2008 00:11:42 (with editing of grammatical/spelling errors)

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Dear Semuaok, I really don't know what you are going on about and what your five questions have to do with the subject matter, which is Malaysia is a failed state. Anyway, so as to not give you the impression I am at a loss for words, in 1973, my wife Mabel was informed by the Imam Besar of the Masjid Negara that since she is a Catholic she need not convert to Islam just to marry me. She can remain a Catholic and still marry me. Not being a practicing Muslim myself, other than the fact I was merely born a Muslim, I did not insist she convert and was very happy to maintain status quo. After all, I did enjoy escorting her to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas was a family tradition on my mother's side of the family, though it was never regarded as a religious affair - sort of like New Year's Eve. (We actually went to church to look at the girls, if you know what I mean).

To cut a long story even longer, she wanted to convert on her own free will and later some of her cousins and their entire family, plus her mother (my mother-in-law), converted as well - although I had no plans to marry any of them, so you can't blame this on marriage. Some of her cousins remained Catholics while her sister and family remained Buddhists. My wife, Mabel, took on the 'Muslim' name Marina, which is not quite a Muslim name as such. But then, in that sense, neither is my name Petra a Muslim name as well. The name Marina was suggested by the wife of the then Deputy Chief of the Special Branch, Raja Adnan Raja Abdullah, my brother's father-in-law.

I really did not live the life of a Muslim so I honestly can't say that I set a good example for her to follow and that she became 'attracted' to Islam because of me. Actually, I could be regarded as a very bad Muslim and it would make sense that my example should have put her off from converting to Islam. Anyway, she wanted to convert on her own free will and without any prompting from me and in spite of the Imam Besar of the Masjid Negara telling her that she need not convert.

They say those who are born Muslims have a very shallow knowledge of Islam while the 'Orientalists' and converts seem to study Islam in greater depth and have a better understanding of the religion. After all, when you are born a Muslim you are sent to religious and Quran recital classes at a very tender age and at that age you are just taught to follow, obey and believe without doubts and without question. All you need to do is attend Friday prayers at any mosque and you will hear the imam preach that we must not question, doubt or dispute what the guru tells us as that would go against Islamic teachings. We are also taught that we must always learn religion from a 'human' guru and never alone from 'non-human' books because if we do then the devil (shaitan) will become our guru.

Invariably, because of this 'understanding' of Islam, Muslims shy away from conducting research and would rather sit cross-legged on the floor of the mosque and absorb anything and everything that the religious teachers tell us without debate or question. We assume that the guru knows what he is talking about and to question, dispute or doubt what is being taught would cause us to be led astray.

The so-called 'Golden Age of Islam' was actually during the time of Harun Al Rashid. This was the time of innovation and invention. In the era when Europe still believed that headaches are caused by the devil entering our head, the Muslims diagnosed headaches as brain tumours. In the era when Europeans summoned priests to exorcise the devils from our heads, the Muslims performed brain surgery to remove the tumour. Irrigation, clocks, 'modern' weapons of war, etc., were invented by the Muslims. The Europeans then had no notion of precise time while the Muslims invented clocks that used water to drive the mechanism which could tell time to the nearest second. Arid desert land were irrigated using mechanical pumps and soon became fertile enough to support agriculture. And so on and so forth.

Of course, not all inventions were from scratch and not all the scientists were Muslims. Some were Jews or Christians living in Muslim lands. The Muslims went to China to learn how to make gunpowder, but while the Chinese used gunpowder for 'entertainment' purposes such as in firecrackers and fireworks, the Muslims used gunpowder to make cannons and whacked the shit out of the Crusaders who were merely using swords and bow-and-arrows. Saladin or Sallahuddin was not a brilliant general as much as he was aided by 'modern' technology to defeat the Europeans and capture Palestine.

Eventually, a conflict arose between the ruling elite, who were seen as not Islamic enough, and the members of the cloth. The conflict was finally settled with an agreement that religion would come under the jurisdiction of the ulamak while the ruling elite would just run the state. The ulamak decided on the laws and on what would be regarded as right and wrong. That, basically, was how the Shariah came into being although the Islamists would dispute this opinion and would insist that the Shariah existed since the time of Prophet Muhammad.

The ulamak eventually prohibited innovation and called it bidaah and that was the beginning of the end for Muslim technology. If I can be so bold as to say at the risk of my head getting separated from my shoulders that the ulamak 'killed' Islam. The Europeans mastered Arabic and went to Muslim Spain to learn from the Muslims. They then went back to Europe and translated all the Arabic books into western languages. While the Muslims slid backwards because of the prohibition on innovation (bidaah), the Europeans innovated even further and propelled forwards. Today, Muslim countries can't even make a plastic cup and all are in the category of failed states.

Anyway, to cut a long story even longer, my wife, now called Marina, learned how to recite the Quran from Tok Guru Haji Abbas Khatib Muhammad, a man most would know if they hail from Kuala Ibai, home of the famous 'floating' mosque south of Kuala Terengganu. She also read Hadith Sahih Bukhari and Kitab Imam Ghazzali, basically recommended reading for those who want to become 'proper' Muslims.

But there was one problem in all this though. In spite of the ten or so trips she made to Mekah and the various readings and religious classes she attended, my wife had been brought up to think, unlike the 'born' Muslims who have been taught to accept and believe without question, dispute or debate. So she read more. And she researched. And we both sat for long hours with dozens of books spread out across the bed to refer and cross-refer the various and different opinions on what Islam really teaches and what Islam is all about.

My wife pointed out to me the verse in the Quran that says do not accept anything without verification. She also pointed out the verse that asked do we want to merely follow the majority belief and justify this with the excuse that we just followed what our ancestors believed before us whereas our ancestors were wrong? She then read books written by both Muslims as well as 'Orientalists' (who sometimes do better research and know more about Islam than even Muslims themselves) to get a wider and more balanced view on Islam. She and I would spend hours at the bookshops scouring the bookshelves in search of books that would satisfy our lust for more knowledge.

One book she read, which is in fact a very popular book, related how one day the Prophet's wife got accidentally left in the desert when she went to answer the call of nature and the caravan went off without realising she was not around. This book was trying to explain how the animosity between the Prophet's son-in-law cum cousin, Ali, and the Prophet's youngest wife, Aishah, came about. A young, handsome Arab happened to pass by and saw the frantic Aishah marooned in the desert and he immediately recognised her as one of the Prophet's wives although he had never met her before. He recognised her as one of the Prophet's wives because she wore a tudung and only the Prophet's wives wore tudungs.

The young, handsome Arab came to Aishah's rescue and the following day she was reunited with the caravan which by then had realised she was missing and had stopped, wondering what they should do. Aishah was missing for one whole night and when she rode up the next morning with this young, handsome Arab this started tongues wagging. Eventually, the whole of Medina was gossiping about the 'affair' Aishah had with the young, handsome Arab and Ali pressured the Prophet to divorce her to protect his reputation. Muhammad was a Prophet and he could not afford people gossiping about his 'unfaithful' wife. Invariably, this was how the animosity between Ali and Aishah started and later, when Ali became the Fourth Caliph, Aishah led an army from Mekah to attack Ali in Medina. The tragedy to this whole thing is that this animosity still exists even after 1,400 years. And this is one of the reasons for the conflict between the Shiahs and the Sunnis that has taken millions of lives in the many Muslim versus Muslim wars since the time of Ali-Aishah.

This was not a story about whether Muslim women should wear tudungs. It was a story about what led to the War of the Camel fought between Ali and Aishah. But my wife did not miss that part about the young, handsome Arab man immediately recognising Aishah as one of the Prophet's wives because of the tudung she wore and that only the Prophet's wives wore tudungs. My wife then read what the Quran said about women having to wear tudungs and the verses in the Quran she came across spoke about covering your bosom and that when you talk to any of the Prophet's wives you must 'screen' yourself and not gaze into their eyes.

Okay, I have dragged this long story far enough and will now address your questions, Semuaok. I really do not know whether my wife would have converted to Islam had I been born a Christian, Jew, Chinese, Indian, Atheist, Hindu, Buddhist, etc. Maybe she would or maybe she wouldn't have. Who can say? But I do know she is a better-read Muslim than many 'born' Muslims. Furthermore, many have converted to Islam not because of marriage but for other reasons such as because they have studied many religions and finally decided that Islam is the best choice. How did they come to that decision that Islam is the best choice whereas others feel that Islam is in fact the worst choice (probably you included)?

These people are not farmers or fishermen but are in fact very intelligent and well-educated people. Surely they are able to think. And with that super-brain they still chose Islam? How do we explain this? Can we say that these people are not really that clever after all or that Islam is really the better religion and these people know it? How do we answer this question? A religious person would argue that God moved their hearts and a Muslim would say that God showed them the correct path. But if you are not religious or not a Muslim you would not accept this argument as valid.

I can't speak for my wife, Semuaok, but I can certainly testify that had I been born in Sweden to a Christian family I would most definitely not be born a Muslim. Pure common sense can tell you that and you need not go to a religious school to understand this. And had I been born in Saudi Arabia or Iran then I would most likely be a Wahhabi Muslim or a Shiah Muslim respectively. However, had I been born in Sweden or China or Tibet or wherever, and whether I would later leave the religion of my parents and convert to Islam is a question no one, if they are honest with themselves, can answer.

Undeniably, our beliefs and prejudices are influenced by the environment we are brought up in. The era we live in also plays a very important part in all this. 250 years ago I would not be running Malaysia Today. Instead, I would be holding a keris in my hand and would be leading an army to oust the government and replace it with a better government. That was how my ancestors lived their lives and I have no reason to suspect I would be any different. I have a terrible temper, as did all my ancestors before me, so, just like my ancestors, I will not take any crap from anyone. The Internal Security Act did not come into law until 1960 but 15 years before that one of my grandfathers, Raja Musa (Moses), was exiled to the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean for opposing the government. Even earlier than that another of my ancestors, Raja Haji, died fighting the Dutch in Melaka. The Dutch honoured him with the title Raja Api (Prince of Fire) in spite of him being 'the enemy'. And many of his great-grandfathers and grandfathers before that died fighting the Siamese and the other superpowers of that era.

Of course, that was then, when fighting governments and superpowers was a noble and manly thing to do. And plundering the Dutch and British ships was an honourable profession and women would swoon over you and fall over each other to become one of your twenty wives. Today, they would hang me by the neck until I die or lock me away in Kamunting and throw away the key. Anyway, I don't think I want to die plundering British ships in the Straits of Melaka.

I have said this before in one of my previous articles and I will say it again: when and where you were born will determine what you become. As I also said, I would like to be more than just a Blogger. I would like to be at the head of an army that topples this government. But that does not work any more. Today, we have elections and democratically-elected governments. So that is how we shall have to change the government in spite of the elections being heavily rigged in favour of the ruling party. And as to whether my wife would today be a Muslim if not for the fact that she met me and later we got married, hey, I don't even know whether you would be asking me that question had you been born in Java and came to this country in a boat to look for work in one of the construction sites. Some things in life will have to remain a mystery. Maybe someone, somewhere, threw the dice so now we are what we are. Who knows?