We couldn’t have done it without you

A big thank you to Malaysia and Dr (Potong Potong) Mahathir. We couldn’t have done it without you. Oh yeah - thanks also for so generously sending many of your brightest kids to our universities; like this one.

Link

Brilliant Idea

Did you see this report in Page 4 of the Straits Times Today? Minister Lim Boon Heng has brilliant idea.

Now please turn to the obituaries page. There are 8 gentlemen whose ages were given. They are 53, 82, 83, 51, 77, 78, 64 and 74. The average … three score years plus 10.

If you are one of those Singaporeans who follow the ministers' advice blindly, and find that you do not make it beyond 3 scores plus 10, you know who to look for.

Singapore Boleh

It’s National Day season and I keep seeing this new phrase in the papers; Singapore – The City of Possibilities.

Haha. So not only Malaysia Boleh, Singapore pun Boleh!

But, if one were to adopt a pessimistic view, there are all kinds of disastrous possibilities; like ...
Singapore: The Vice Capital or The Sardines City etc. etc.

Do what I say but not what I do

It appears that the only time Dr Mahathir shuts his mouth is when his heart go on strike. Due to health problems, he has been rather quiet for the past few months. But his heart must be in pretty good condition lately, because he has gone back to working his mouth.

The latest barrage from the famed ‘loose cannon’? He wants Malaysia’s minority Chinese and Indians to stop debating whether or not Malaysia is an Islamic state. “Too much talk about such issues could prove harmful for the multiracial country”, he says. And then he goes on to make exactly the kind of statement that ignited the debate in the first place; by declaring, as did Prime Minister Badawi and his deputy, Najib Tun Razak, that Malaysia is an Islamic state, even though it is not clearly stated in the Malaysian Constitution.

This reminds me of something a Malaysian friend once told me. He said that Malaysia is different from Singapore. In Singapore, if you do not see a “U-turn” sign when driving, it means it is unlawful to make a U-turn. In Malaysia, if you do not see a “No U-turn” sign, you can assume that it is lawful to make a U-turn. Since, the Malaysian constitution did not say that Malaysia is not an Islamic state, the UMNO leaders assumed that that they can simply go ahead and declare it one.

But then PM Badawi said something rather confusing last month. He said that Malaysia adopts a democratic system. In that case, shouldn’t it be the people who have the final say and not the political leaders.

Another thing I find rather confusing about these statements by the UMNO politicians. They keep saying that the constitution guarantees freedom of worship for non-Muslims even though it states the Islam is the official religion. It makes one wonder what exactly is meant by ‘freedom of worship’. Does it mean that Muslims have no freedom of worship? I say this because as long as you are born into a Muslim family, and your parents, or even just one of them is quick enough to register you as a Muslim, you are locked in for life and not free to follow any other religion.