August

It's our merdeka month.I almost forgot about this.It has been very hectic since the start of August.Suddenly the uni is swamped by so many conferences, half day seminars, exotic guest speakers (by this I also mean John Esposito whose talk I missed today cos' I had opted for the half day seminar on Msian Foreign Policies by academics from IKON, UKM; UM and ISIS)

Our IKON rep. gave a promising start but towards the end he sounded very preachy, almost like an MIC politician, talking about how the 40% minority must be respected and considered (wei..I thought we were talking about FOREIGN policies Not domestic problems) Habis isu HINDRAF dia bawak masuk then issue temple.Lepas jawab 2-3 questions, cepat2 cabut.I wanted to raise an issue. But his discussant, Dr. Stephen yang kena (dia pun sama raised isu Islamic State tak Statenya). He said Msia is not an Islamic State and should it be one, what would be the issues surrounding it.He said it's impossible that it would work (look at Saudi, Iran, Pakistan kata dia) Aik? For someone who should know what foreign policies are about, tiba2 so undiplomatic naming those countries as failures...(based on whose judgment? western media?) Prof Dato' Bakar of UM gave his input.He made sense! He said the same thing..do not be fooled by definitions given by the western media.How do we judge the success of a country? By dollar and cent? (ini tambahan I selepas I discussed with Nik.Haha.This is Nik's input: he said how is it the world could accept Islamic econ. system/Islamic Financial system but not its legal system, etc.Is success only to be measured by dollar and cent, he argued.Boleh tahan!)

Anyway, at lunch with Dato' Bakar and Dr. Stephen, kita sambung lagi.Best juga open discussion macam ni. I had raised during the talk why is it when it comes to talking about Islam and Muslims in Msia, the non-Muslims often have a certain kinda prejudice, often NOT fully supported by scholarly arguments..they are always opinionated and non-scholarly.Is it fair to compare Msia with Saudi, Pakistan or Iran? Our history is different.Our culture and population makeup is also different.And how can anyone argue that an Islamic State is impossible in Msia.IF (or when...hahaha) PAS wins the next elections..apo nak dikato? Better psyche yourself up, bro. Also, why do we associate Islam as a religion or a system which favours Muslims only.Read the history of Islamic cities (Medina is a good example).Learn how non-Muslim minorities were protected..they lived in the inner circle of the city and then only the Muslims, outside this privileged circle...