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Showing posts from April, 2008

Set aside partisanship, castigate PAS

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Datuk Dr. Haron Din of PAS recently said “PAS will implement hudud once the party takes control of the central government” and Datuk Nik Aziz remarked that Pakatan Rakyat will eventually accept the Islamic ideology. To its credit, PAS has been consistent, if not correct, in its position that Islam will have no traction or relevance without the Sharia, its legal code, and that the code is incomplete without the ‘Hudud’. Although the MCA appears to be the only party to openly castigate PAS, when juxtaposed with the Prime Minister’s call to “ make mosques a place for everyone irrespective of ideology or political belief and that we should not be harsh and always talk about the punishment for committing a sin” , it is becoming increasing clear where the real bone of contention lies, in particular for those who voted the Pakatan Rakyat to their unprecedented win. While PKR and DAP are busy deliberating the prospect of forming the Federal government, it is rhetorical to ask if t

The Sociopath and the blame game

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A review of Martha Stout’s “The Sociopath Next Door"  We think of sociopaths as violent although most are quite ordinary with disorders undetected. I realized her lack of conscience is deflected and masked quite well with a mastery of the blame game. Masters of this game come out quite calm and composed when they contend with those equally equipped, but ironically they are flustered and irritated when they contend with non-masters or those who do not have a clue of how the game is played. She strutted into a meeting without the ingredients and is battered, admonished and embarrassed in front of her peers. Her brashness is stripped and ego dented. A phone call subsequently indicated the game is imminent and twenty-four hours later it is in full swing, but with a non-master. Thirty-four hours into the event she is all flustered and irritated. My question is does she hone her skills when the game is played with a master or with a non-master! Mar

Atheism, a frightening phenomenon?

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In March 2008 Saudi King Abdullah proposed an inter-faith dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews. It is interesting to note that his proposal did not include Hindus, Buddhists and other faiths but that is an issue of another post. The monarch made the call during the melee of Geert Wilders’ Fitna. He made the call from a position of weakness, at a point where Islam was, and still is, in considerable ‘focus’ but while he clamoured for moral equivalency with Christians and Jews by referring to them as 'our brothers', he had the temerity to demonise ‘atheism’ in the process. Quote (King Abdullah – The Sun March 26 th 2008) :- “We have lost sincerity, morals, fidelity and attachment to our religions and to humanity, deploring the disintegration of the family and rise of atheism in the world, a frightening phenomenon that all religions must confront and vanquish” (emphasis mine) Quote (Raymond Ibrahim - VDH Papers April 2nd 2008) .... t he Arabian kingdom, however