The Malaysian Insider

OCT 28 — I recently went out with a group of friends I haven’t seen since college and one of the best things that happened was also the scariest. You see, these are basically the individuals who are impassioned by their love for a certain religion to the point that they think that everyone should be subject to the religious laws.

We’re talking about the likes of Zulkifli Noordin, but more radical.

OCT 7 — I actually wanted to avoid saying or writing anything about Bagan Pinang because, to be honestly truthful, I’ve run out of vodka.

Giving the corrupt a chance

Seriously, how else can you make sense of the statements coming out from Umno politicians justifying this and remain sober?

First off, we had our very own “esteemed” Home Minister come out and say that Tan Sri Isa Samad was “a loyal servant of the party”, regardless of the fact that he was found guilty of vote buying during the Umno elections.

SEPT 30 — I love reading the comments in my entries because they highlight one thing for me. Malaysians are irresponsible in making comments when they’re anonymous.

I honestly think for people to actually take some time off to vent in the comments section is healthy. However, while it is healthy, it should also be constructive and encourage dialogue, not merely criticise.

That’s one thing that I personally think is lacking in our Malaysian society today. The ability to encourage dialogue, instead of merely criticising and cowing people to submission and making them shut up.

SEPT 16 — Sincerely, since I’ve yet to actually figure out just what the heck 1 Malaysia is, or who are the ‘1’ that our dearest Prime Minister is implying, I just thought I’d throw a few problems we are facing in the goal of uniting the people since neither side seems to be doing anything about it.

Live and let live

The one thing that is lacking in the concept of 1 Malaysia is the fact that we should be one people without preferential treatment or bias, regardless of our beliefs, our politics, our race and even our gender and sexual orientation.

When it comes to the good of the nation (read: not the government), these should all   be minor issues. Yet, not all of us see it as such. Some are pushing for a more conservative, religious state, to the point that colouring books must be “syariah compliant”.

SEPT 2 — The Cow

The cow is considered a holy symbol by Hindu worshippers, to the point that if a cow basically sat on a road in India, you’re looking at waiting in the car until it decides to move for itself. Were it to do that in our nation, we’d probably be looking at roadkill.

Or perhaps some people from Shah Alam would decide that since Hindus will be making an appearance in their housing area, they’d go for Friday prayers at the state mosque, and then drag a cow’s head to the State Secretariat building a stone’s throw from my home. As if that was not enough, they’d probably start spitting on the head of the cow and stomping on it.

This is an obvious depiction of how these 50 people out of a million residents in Shah Alam have just insulted the cow as a religious symbol, and there is no way one can spin it otherwise. What’s even more disturbing is the fact that this actually took place in Ramadhan.