Praise the sun...

Guys, Malaysians especially, I suggest that you get your copy of The Sun everyday, and read... Here's some of the interesting articles I found in that free newspaper... And I mean "FREE"...

The oppression of conformity
Umran Kadir

Mat: We Muslims have it so hard these days. In the West, we're either ridiculed or looked upon with suspicion. In Iraq, a former centre of Islamic civilisation, Muslims are on the verge of civil war. Aren't we lucky to be in Malaysia where Muslims needn't fear violence or oppression?

Din: Yeah we're lucky to be living in such a peaceful country; but just how well off are Muslims?

Mat: What are you talking about? Thanks to our Constitution, Islam holds a special place in Malaysia and the government is responsive to the needs of the Muslim community.

Din: Just hear me out. I attended this forum last month on the Constitution and heard people from minority Muslim communities saying that they are being persecuted.

Mat: Are you referring to some odd cult? They aren't real Muslims anyway. Please don't start with your human rights nonsense. It's all a Western import you know.

Din: Well, the Constitution that you speak so highly of guarantees freedom of religion for all persons. Besides, there isn't a consensus among scholars on the limit of religious freedom in Islam. In fact, a number of prominent scholars believe that Islam upholds freedom of religion for everyone, including Muslims.

Mat: Are you certain?

Din: Yes, you can check it out for yourself. Did you know that in Penang there is a fatwa which prevents Shiite teachings?

Mat: Alamak! Are you serious? That's really odd, considering that there has been a Shiite community in Malaysia since before independence. And didn't the Iranian President just visit Malaysia?

Din: Yes. You can check on fatwas in Malaysian states on the internet (http://ii.islam.gov. my/default.asp).

Mat: I'll check it out. Hey, I just remembered that both Proton and Petronas have large investments in Iran as well.

Din: Odd policy we have, huh? But it's not just minority Muslim communities who are given a tough time. Did you know that under various state laws known as the Syariah Offence Enactments, it is currently an offence to question a gazetted fatwa? This offence is punishable by either a maximum fine of RM3,000, jail term of 24 months or both.

Mat: Hold on, I thought a fatwa was just a scholarly opinion that one could voluntarily abide by?

Din: That's the case in other parts of the Muslim world, but not here.

Mat: So you mean it's an offence for us to even think?

Din: It sure looks that way, doesn't it?

Mat: This reminds me of George Orwell's 1984! This serious discussion calls for a cigarette!

Din: Put that cigarette away.

Mat: Why? Afraid of a little secondhand smoke?

Din: Just thought you should know that there is a fatwa in Selangor that makes smoking cigarettes an offence.

The writer, a project manager with a software company, believes that by placing emphasis on justice and equality, we can make a better Malaysia.

(Shinnoir's note: Hah!... Not only we are paranoid of apostates (is that how we spell it?)... We are also paranoid of fellow Muslims...)

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Poverty in the midst of our plenty
Petra Gimbad

KUALA LUMPUR can be an odd place: where wealth and poverty sit side-by-side. Reading this did not make sense till I left Malaysia. Upon my return, I noticed for the first time the distorted scenery: KLCC, a symbol of our success, surrounded by squatters. I was confronted by this image wherever I drove. School taught us to take pride in our country's economic progress. Development, however, has not lifted everyone out of poverty and its effects.

I once knew a girl whose mother experienced breast pains. Breast cancer had killed her grandmother. Cajoling her mother to the doctor proved useless: Mak cakap, buat apa? Kalau ada apa-apa pun, bayar bagaimana? ("What's the point? Even if they find something, how are we to pay?") Sickness and death were not alien to her, having lost a brother to a "mysterious" illness a few years before. Apparently, he was fine one day, and died the next. It was years before it dawned on me that he was aware of his illness, but suffered quietly. For what good can talk do?

Poverty impacts choice: My mother told me of a girl who could not afford more than a meal a day. It was not uncommon for many girls in her situation to survive each day on a packet of Maggi noodles. For the few years they attend school, they travel by foot for an hour or two to their classroom, and another hour or two back. They drop out young, to feed their families. The few jobs available offer miniscule wages and scant chance of promotion.

Friends and I once tutored at a children's home which was extremely rundown - horrifyingly unsanitary (lice and scabies were common), and with more children than space. We would teach a child how to add and subtract numbers, returning only to discover that all was forgotten. The cycle was endless; these children lacked what we thought was normal: parents who bought books and sat down to teach, tutors when we struggled in school. Most of the kids did not complete their homework, because they did not know how. (One of the boys circumvented punishment by getting - I suspected bullying - a friend to do his homework.) Many teachers, I knew, would tell them off for laziness without acknowledging that the problem goes far deeper that that. When you do not have self-esteem, you will not believe yourself capable of anything. This was what hurt most: their adamant inability to believe in themselves. Studying requires faith that if one works hard enough, the answers will come. The children gave up all too easily in the face of math problems like `21 - 9 = ?' or writing one-line sentences in English, a language that is hard to grasp without sufficient exposure and patient teaching.

I had too many friends in school who believed they were stupid for performing dismally in math and English. Their ability to pass exams in spite of the little support they received was amazing. Our school system often allocates classes by exam grades. Placing the poorest achieving students into a single class can backfire, for they automatically earn the labels of dummies and no-gooders. As a temporary teacher, I was told by one teacher after another: "Oh, you're teaching `that class'? Don't even bother trying.

Seriously! They memang tak guna one! (They're really useless!)" A more patient colleague pointed out in all seriousness:

"Actually, kasihan (pity) these kids - their parents are poor, work all the time, no time to watch their kids, keep them out of trouble." Pause. "These will grow up to become your VCD sellers."

In the showdown between life and money, life can be worthless. These stories - people I know - cause me to grit my teeth when I listen to others talk about "the noble suffering of the poor".

It is cheap to give someone admiration, when there is cash to spare. In a country where the poverty line for a monthly household income is RM510, the poor have no need of words. What they deserve is what others have: a chance at life, with the choices many of us take for granted.

Petra likes feminism, social justice, and working on the online magazine, Vox. She is a law student in her spare time.

(Shinnoir's note: Hmm... I wonder if the Government will fulfill their promise and carry out whatever they have said for RMK9... Honestly, I'm tired of watching the people suffer, while the Malays who calls themselves as "leaders" and "protectors of civillians" are filling their own stomach...)