I Am Muslim

Went to Dina Zaman's book launch on Wednesday nite. Great launch. But the "male-dressed-as-female" dance ritual was a tad peculiar for me. "It's sufi" says Dina. Like that ah?

I'm sure there were gatecrashers although the book launch was "by invitation only". It's in Central Market, what do you expect? And Malaysians do like to gatecrash. Kita kan rakyat jelata yang berkulit tebal. By the way Central Market looks so nice and classy. Haven't been there for ages hence I was pleasantly surprised to see the transformation.

While I was admiring the paintings I heard someone's voice.

"Pak Man!"

Hey, my anak buah pun ada. Dik Wan, is a musician and he's there to perform during the launch. His gendang group brought the roof down. Nice show. Also met my ITM junior. Actually I only know her face, not her name. We chatted while I was trying hard to recall her name. I'm bad at remembering names. Faces boleh ingat but names a bit susah unless you look like Hannah T.

Talking about "gatecrashers" another infamous Malaysiana is that we don't know when to shut up. People giving speeches kat depan, people pot-pet pot-pet kat belakang. Performance and readings kat depan, people pot-pet pot-pet kat belakang. There are times for chatter and there are times for respect.

All in all it was a successful launch. I'm happy for her. It's a dream come true. I hope she can become really kaya as a writer. Go buy her book. It's out now. It's witty yet thought provoking. Only RM30. Nope, Dina ain't gonna give me "duaapulohperrsen" royalty. I just like to promote local writers. More so when the writer is a friend.

Here are excerpts from her book "I Am Muslim":

"My first memory or rather introduction to my religion was asking Ustaz Dahalan, 'If God existed, how come I couldn’t see Him?' My mother was mortified, my father rolled his eyes – 'Ahh ... Dina, again you ask funny questions,' and Ustaz laughed.

I was about seven years old then. My unlimited play time was now shortened, as for an hour twice a week, I was to learn how to read and recognise the Arabic alphabets. That attempt was short-lived for not long after, we moved to Moscow."

"To be a Muslim in Malaysia can be complex and confusing. In school and religious classes held after school, a young child is taught how to read the Quran and conduct his life as a good Muslim. He or she may go home and faces a different world altogether: MTV, parents who drink socially and yet pray, and cannot put two and two together."

"These are the questions I ask: are Muslim Malaysians lost? Do we lack confidence in ourselves and that is why we hold onto religion or a certain lifestyle, because there is nothing else left to make us feel fulfilled? Contented?

What makes us Muslim when we wear the hijab but consort with shamans, drink and hold discourses on Cuban cigars while attending Friday prayers diligently, and at the same time, swallow everything an imam tells us when he could be a con-man? Who are we as people and personalities?"

"All bloggers are liars"

Another stupid Malaysian minister made another stupid remark recently.

"All bloggers are liars. They cheat people using all kinds of methods."

"From my understanding, out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women."

He seems to say that women are liars. Hmm...I wonder if his daughters blog too.

Google his name Tengku Adnan Mansor and you will get his pix.

I'm not going to put his ugly face in my blog.

Seriously, he IS ugly. And that's not a lie.

More of his crappy thoughts here.

What?! Attempted murder?!

Tian Chua tried to stop ruthless people from demolishing houses at Kampung Berembang yesterday.

He was arrested. For "attempted murder".

Crazy. Sickening. Pathetic.

That's Malaysia for you. Malaysia Truly Asia.

Read it here.

See the pix here.

p/s: Tian Chua released on police bail at 7.50 pm this evening according to malaysiakini. We still need to pray for him.

Women bloggers rock too!

www.internationalwomensday.com

Tag along

Susan tagged me so now I have to tell the whole world 6 weird things about myself. By the way, who the hell created this tag thingy? I thought it was the same as SmartTAG.

6 weird things about me (and all are subject to debate):

1. I hate going to school. When I was a kid my parents had to scream and shout to make me go to school. My dad even called a couple of bomohs to treat my "problem". I thought that was weird. Meeting the bomoh, I mean.

2. I have MVP - mitral valve prolapse. No it's not an MPV. My cardiologist says MVP is not a disease. Just a weird valve I guess. For further info call IJN. Or Google it.

3. I like to smell new books or magazines. Yes, I do read them too. This weirdness is now slowly healing.

4. I like to criticise the Malays although I myself am a Malay. My amoi friend Audrey thinks it's weird. I think it's therapeutic. Weird meh?

5. I don't conform, I rebel. Against anything. To the point of being annoying. Is that weird?

6. I don't like pineapples aka buah nanas. My lelangit would feel gatal-gatal if I eat pineapples. I don't know the English word for lelangit. And I'm not talking about the sky.

There you go. Taking part in this is weird enough for me. I know, the rules state that I'm supposed to tag 6 other people. I'm not going to. Please refer to item No. 5.

Update:
I forgot one thing. Weirdness No. 6 (b).

6 (b). I read and re-read my own blog to check my grammar and sentence structure. Or add on something like this one.

Dendam

I was sort of forced to watch "Bersama Dato' Dr. Fadzillah Kamsah" last night. Actually, my brother wanted to watch it so I had no choice since he's holding the remote. Ok, I was curious to see what's it all about too.

The topic of the day was "Dendam". You know, the feeling of being revengeful or spiteful. I have nothing against that dude but sometimes his answers are like an insult to my little intelligence. You see, there was a lady caller from Johor. Come to think of it, there were lots of calls from Johor. Don't you guys have better things to do, like cleaning your house after the banjir?

Anyway, this lady lamented about her hubby. She's been married for three years. Her complaint was, her hubby doesn't seem to care about finances. The financial burden is on her mostly. And he doesn't care about her feelings too. In other words, he's a jerk lah. Because the hubby is a jerk, she feels "dendam" or "kecil hati". So she asked our learned Dato', what should she do?

You know what our Dato' said?

"Saya nak ingatkan kepada semua orang perempuan lah. Yang pertama bersyukur lah sebab you ada suami. Ramai yang kat luar sana tak ada suami. Jadi, bersyukurlah sebab ada suami."

Seriously, are you nuts?

The hubby is like a jerk and you want her to be grateful just because she has a hubby?

Again, are you nuts?

Where did you get your Ph.D? From Universiti Bawah Pokok issit?

Then as usual our learned Dato' Dr. would prescribe some "doa". As if that would help save the marriage. Fine, you can doa, pray or whatever. But you need to "usaha" too. Help doesn't come from the sky without hard work.

And that reminds me of someone I know. Before she got married she did the "sembahyang istikharah". She was in a dilemma whether the hubby-to-be was really her Mr Right. So she prayed. She got her answer. She married the guy. To make a long story short, the-after-sembahyang-istikharah-Mr Right goes on to have some affairs with other women. She can't share her secrets with her hubby aka the-after-sembahyang-istikharah-Mr Right. When she's broke she can't even borrow money from him.

So, tell me. Just by praying and doa, can you be guaranteed of marital bliss?

I don't think so.

My logic is simple. If you can't use your bloody common sense, then no amount of doa can help you.

Take that from me.

Agghhh! I've been tagged!

"hi you are tagged---so it's your turn to tell 6 weird things about u!"

That's Susan Loone tagging me. Oh...sucks!

Now let me see. Am I weird? Do I look weird?

I think I should sleep for 6 nights. Maybe then I will know that 6 weird things about me.

We'll see...