oh no! i missed out by one day to blog on my anniversary – and happened to be an important anniversary too – 10 years!!

that's right, i first started blogging in 2003, 27 sept. i thought it was 28 sept. so today is one late of my 10 years blog anniversary.

those were the days when i started blogging – blogging so regularly. first almost everyday, then 2, 3 times a week… then once a week or so. those days i blog a lot on current news. well my blog was a socio political blog those days. it still is of course but became quite rare. slowly i become very irregular… once a month or once a few months. it was about 3, 4 years back i had been very irregular, and 2 years back, had stop blogging for several months too. busy. and occupied with some other things like my citizen journalist work…. and facebook!

one of the reason i stop blogging regularly was i wanted to revamp my blog, change design, format (though i had changed it twice already) but can't find the time to do it. my blog present design, something seems to be wrong. i had been telling myself so many times to change design, change design, change design before i get into regularly blogging but didn't do so, so that gave me the excuse not to blog! haha. oh ya, before i'm using wordpress, i had use blogger. switched to wordpress when decided to use a self-hosted platform (paid for).

i actually had lots to blog about this year but just cant' find the time (or interest?) to do it. i mean blog on signficant events.  i wanted to blog about the 4th citizen journalist conference i attended in sabah but didn't. ok i'll put a link here to the photos during the conference then – CJMY conference in kota kinabalu.  this 4th conference was one of my happiest since i received two awards – medal for being pro reporter (where about 4, 5 others received too) and big pewter trophy for the best article of the year! i was overjoyed and exhilarated on being voted for best article of the year.

then after the conference, i alone holiday in KK town, then went to labuan. had wanted to blog about this too but… as usual didn't, so here are the photos. 

a lot had been happening on the news-front, which did give me opportunities to blog but i guess i just lost interest to blog as i get addicted to facebook. ! i think i should start blogging regularly again.

well 10 years already. shouldn't give up. will try my best to start blogging often again.

well, all my anniversary posts here… never forgot to blog about it, so this being a decade birthday i should not too (although late a day).

9th anniversary

8th anniversary

7th anniversary

6th anniversary

5th anniversary

4th anniversary

3rd anniversary

2nd anniversary

1st anniversary part 1
1st anniversary part 2

note:  wanted to post a photo here but can't. see, told ya, something's wrong with my blog (which i can't figure out what). try using photobucket but photobucket site seems to be down. oh well hope tomorrow i can update with a photo.

i got to know of the Wacoal Salute – Reigning Supreme Showcase through Thomas Ng, my fellow citizen journalist. He had covered the event in KL few months ago, and since Wacoal Malaysia is coming to penang for the event, one of the Wacoal staff asked him to recommend Penang bloggers to attend the event and blog about it. 

Wacoal, as many are aware, is one of the famous name in the lingerie line. 'Salute' is one of its brand which is fully imported, with a touch of European style lingerie. Salute was specially produced for the Asian women's petite and slender fame in Japan, in 1983

To celebrate Salute's  30th anniversary, Wacoal hosted a party, known as 'Reigning Supreme' for invited guest on 6 September 2013, at 7.00pm, at Parkson Counter, Gurney Plaza, where it showcased it's Spring/Summer collection. 

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… because it's BAACCCKKKKKKKKKK! the haze!

er…. not only your eyes of course but your mouth, your nose as well IF you don't wear a mask. er… but if you wear a mask, the mask only covers your mouth and nose, so the smoke will still get in your eyes. huh? so i guess if you don't want smoke in your eyes, how? wear sunglasses? or just glasses? of course, it might reduce the smoke get into your eyes but still not completely of course.  oh well, even with mask… or certain kind of mask, you can't really completely stop the smoke particles (esp. the tiny ones) from getting into your nose/mouth and thus your lungs.  read  from says malaysia to find out  for yourself whether masks will really protect you or what kind of mask is better.

the big news now in our country, malaysia, is the haze, caused by forest burning in indonesia. our neighbour, singapore was first hit bad with over 400 API reading but later on we were shocked when muar town in johor state, hit a skyhigh record of over 700 API! so much so that the town has to be declared emergency. thank god, at the time of writing now, it is very much lower already.

oh no! yesterday, it looks like the haze is blowing north now… to my hometown, where i am now – penang! HELP! it's not that bad yet. the API was about 80 reading in USM area, i notice from this website. do bookmark this website to go back to check API reading of various locations.

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only in malaysia!! the malaysian government and many other muslim had copyrighted the word 'allah'.  they said 'allah' belongs to muslim only and no other religions must use 'allah'. crap! loads of bullshit!! christians had been using 'allah' all along… even before the advent of islam! even now, the christian arabs are using 'allah'. 

in dec. 2010, the high court had ruled that the catholic weekly, herald can use the word 'allah', but then believe it or not, the federal government challenged the court's ruling. yes, that's right the umno government. see, those who voted for BN, you want this kind of government? if only PR take over putrajaya, i'm sure they will drop this case and allowed non muslim to use 'allah'.  

the federal government filed an appeal to set aside the court's decision on dec. 2010…. and later on, along with the government, 4 state islamic councils and 2 malays NGO had also joined in the fray and applied to be interveners.. read about it here in the edge.

the appeal will be heard on this coming thursday, 23 may. well, the editor of herald, fr lawrence andrew had then requested the churches to pray for the outcome of the appeal in court. it is hope that the decision will be to our favour. it is hope that there won't be noisy protests during or after the hearing. for those of you who are christians, please do organise a group prayer or pray personally everday. 

in view of this coming up court hearing, the christian federation of malaysia (CFM) had prepared 'an allah fact' sheet. you can download it or read it here, as below: it was written for churches, church leaders and Christians to help them understand why we are using the word "allah" in our BM bibles, the alkitab. 

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CHRISTIAN FEDERATION OF MALAYSIA
(PERSEKUTUAN KRISTIAN MALAYSIA)
Address: 26 Jalan Universiti, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Tel / Fax : + 60 3 7957 1457
Email: cfmsia@yahoo.co.uk

16 May 2013

FOR DISTRIBUTION TO CHURCHES IN MALAYSIA

WHEN, WHY AND HOW CHRISTIANS USE THE WORD ‘ALLAH’

Introduction and Background

The objective of this document is to explain briefly to those Christians who do not understand when, why and how Churches in Malaysia use the word ‘Allah. It is also for Christians who are confused about how to respond, when confronted by the ignorance of non-Muslims about the Christian use of the word ‘Allah’.

There are many (misleading) statements by non-Christians who claim that we should not use the word, because it is an exclusive Muslim term for the God of Islam and can be used only by Muslims. This is a situation peculiar to Malaysia, as elsewhere in the Muslim world, Arabic-speaking Christians use the word ‘Allah’.

Christians themselves are sometimes ignorant, because unless we pray in Bahasa Malaysia, we pray to ‘God’ in our own language. In English services, for example, nowhere do we use the word ‘Allah’.

However, more than 60% of Malaysian Christians only speak Bahasa Malaysia, and the word used for God in the Bahasa Malaysia Bible (Al-Kitab) since its translation in 1731, is ‘Allah’. The word is used by Bumiputera Christians who only have Bahasa

Malaysia as their common language in Sabah, Sarawak and peninsular Malaysia, and by the Baba community in Malacca.

Historical Usage and Meaning

1.   The word ‘Allah’ was a term used for the supreme God in a pantheon of gods, before the revelation of Islam. The Shorter Encyclopedia of Islam ed., H. A. R.
Gibb & J. H. Kramer and The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic
World, ed. John L. Esposito, both affirm and support this contention.

2.   Historically, Malay-speaking Christians in South-East Asia have used ‘Allah’ to refer to God. The proof is as follows:

· The Kitab salat as-sawai or Christian catechisms in Malay written in 1514 and published around 1545,

· The printed version of the Gospel of Matthew in Malay by A.C. Ruyl in 1629,

· Malay-Latin Dictionary was printed in Rome in 1631 (The Dictionarium Malaicum-Latinum and Latinum – Malaicum)

· The translation of Genesis by D. Brouwerius (1662),

· M. Leijdecker’s translation (1733),

· H.C. Klinkert’s translation (1879),

· W.A. Bode’s translation (1938), and

· The complete Malay Bible of 1731-1733 containing the word ‘Allah’ for God.

3.   Therefore, from the very beginning, the word ‘Allah’ has been used in the liturgy, prayers and worship of those Christians who speak Bahasa Malaysia. But for centuries, there has been no opposition or uproar about their use of ‘Allah’.

Language

Objections to the use of the word ‘Allah’ comes mostly from political discourse, or  those who argue that the translation and usage of the word is a recent decision. This is not true for the following reasons:

1. In Semitic languages, the word ‘Allah’ has been widely used in the Middle East dating back to the 5th century BC and up to the time of the expansion of Islam and the spread of the Arabic language in the 7th century AD.

2. The translation of the Al-Kitab is not from the English translation but based on the Hebrew and Greek text of the Bible. In the Hebrew language, the word ‘God’ has the same root form as the Arabic language. So, when the word ‘God’ was first translated into Bahasa Malaysia, the translators merely followed the Arabic Christian usage and retained the word ‘Allah’.

3.   As stated earlier, the word ‘Allah’ pre-dates Islam. It is not a creation of the Muslims and its existence does not begin in the Al-Quran.

Should Christians Substitute the word ‘Allah’ with ‘Tuhan’?

This is not possible for the following reasons :

1.   In the Malay language, ‘Allah’ means ‘God’ and Tuhan means ‘Lord’. As is obvious when we read the Bible, both God and Lord are used in the Bible, and both have different connotations. Therefore ‘Allah’ cannot be substituted by ‘Tuhan’.

2.   The word Tuhan has been applied to Jesus Christ and read as Tuhan Yesus. If Christians are to substitute the word ‘Allah’ for Tuhan, it will render many Biblical references to God and Jesus incoherent because:

· The meaning of ‘Allah’ and Tuhan are different.

· This is obvious in just one example. In Isaiah chapter 41 and verse 13;  also
43 : 3 and 51 : 15. "For I am the LORD, your GOD…" is translated as "Akulah TUHAN, ALLAH kamu…". (ALKITAB : Berita Baik. 2001. 2nd edition. Published by the Bible Society of Malaysia).

· It creates an absurd situation if Christians have to translate the biblical phrase ‘Lord God’ as Tuhan Tuhan. The repeated words Tuhan Tuhan indicates plural in Bahasa Malaysia, and creates the impression that Christians believe in many Gods, which is unacceptable. · Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christians will not be able to affirm the deity of Jesus Christ and teach the doctrine of the Trinity as these two foundational words are essential to maintain and communicate these
truths.

Consequences of Banning the Word “Allah”

1.   Being denied the use of the word ‘Allah’ disregards the constitutional right of Malaysian citizens to freedom of religion under the Federal Constitution. Article 11 of the Federal Constitution safeguards the right of each Malaysian to profess and practice one’s religion of choice. Article 11(3) expressly provides that every religious group has the right to manage their own religious affairs.

2.   In 2011, the High Court handed down a judgement allowing the Catholic Church to use the word ‘Allah’. The government (of all Malaysians, including Christians) is appealing the judgement and it is pending.

3.   There have been other infringements on the right to use words imperative in the Bahasa Malaysia Bible. See the directive of 5 Dec 1986 from the Ministry of Home Affairs stating that, in addition to ‘Allah’, the words: Al-Kitab, Firman, Rasul, Iman, Ibadah, Injil, Wahyu, Nabi, Syukur, Solat and doa are not to be used in the Al-Kitab. In addition, making such prohibitions through fatwa render them only relevant to Muslims as the Shari’a does not apply to non- Muslims.

4.   Prohibiting the use of the word ‘Allah’ and these other terms is unjust. Bumiputera Christians should be given the respect and freedom to call God in the only language they have in common. This is important to their religious and cultural identity.

5. If Churches in Malaysia agree to stop using the word ‘Allah’, it means that the right to edit the Scripture of a major world religion has been given over to a secular government. This would be a shameful and an unprecedented development for any religion and government.

Conclusion

Some Muslims have claimed repeatedly that Christians in Malaysia refuse to stop using the word ‘Allah’ because they want to confuse and convert Muslims, thereby posing a threat to national security. The claim is groundless as there has been no evidence offered of any threat to security. These remain unfounded accusations.

On the contrary, such an assertion is made in ignorance of the fact that when Christians use the Al-Kitab, it is simply for Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christians. Malaysian Churches have never suggested changing the words ‘God’ and ‘Lord’ to ‘Allah’ and ‘Tuhan’ respectively, in the other languages of the Bible.

16 May 2013

PREPARED BY THE CHRISTIAN FEDERATION OF MALAYSIA

(Persekutuan Kristian Malaysia)

Malaysiakini
Gross distortions in Malaysia's voting system

Ramesh Rajaratnam
8:23AM May 9, 2013
 

COMMENT The recently completed May 5 general election (GE13) revealed some interesting facts and figures based on the results as published by the Election Commission.

There have been, for a long time, much criticism of the ‘first past the post' (FPTP) election system we practise in Malaysia, because of what is inherent in this antiquated system.

The FPTP is one of the legacies of the British rule in Malaya and was based on giving all segments of the populace a voice in Parliament. Hence, constituency boundaries were drawn based on this segmental need for representation.
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hooligans… or in our local lingua '1malaysia samseng'.  plenty of them around during the 13th general election. documented proof in videos. why i mentioned 1malaysia? they were wearing the 1malaysia t-shirts!  we all know 1malaysia club is aligned to barisan nasional (BN), don't we. in another video, the hooligans were wearing  'i luv PM' t-shirt. gosh! supporters of the PM are hooligans? figures!! the PM did not speak out to condemn them too! just imagine if the hooligans were from PR, he and all the umnoputera would jumped up at once to condemn the hooligans.

the first  video here –  happened in pengkalan pegoh, ipoh on 3 may when a group of PR supporters were having a peaceful flash mob on the streets. suddenly, for no reason at all, a group of 1malaysia samseng (the video stated they are umno supporters)  came on bike and several of them started to attack the PR supporters who were holding flashcards.

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YAHOO!!! i'm so happy and damn proud because i'm a penangite.

that's right…. despite so many free food and free concerts that barisan nasional (BN) dished out to penangites, glad to know that penangites did not choose BN! of course there were also the money politics that had been going on and votes buying and gangsters in action…. oh and the so many many 1malaysia flags that can be seen here, there, everywhere, obstructing pedestrians, traffic, turning art-pieces ugly and so on. i guess penangites were very disgusted at the money politics and the many 1malaysia flags, that they decided to teach BN a lesson.

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in penang, pakatan rakyat (PR) will have its final ceramah (rally) before polling day – one on the island and one on the mainland. do not missed them! no excuse for missing them since the island people and the mainland people are considered. why, i'm sure many people will even go for both ceramah!

lately, as we had heard and seen (like on facebook) many of the PR ceramah all over the states had been very well attended. no free food, no free t-shirt, no free entertainment… yet the ceramah continued to draw in crowds, as many as 70,000, as seen on 29 april monday at han chiang. i hope today's esplanade will draw in 100,000! so YOU must be there to made up the crowd.

i will be there of course but luckily i have a media tag so i can be inside the media enclosure right in front of the stage. will be able to get good shots of the crowd and the speakers then from there. had attended the one on 19 april at the esplanade too and there were about 50,000 people! you can see the photo album on my facebook. 

ok right now, i only have the poster for the ceramah on the island today. tomorrow's ceramah will be IJM promenade, bandar sri pinang, at 8.00pm.

Press Statement By Penang Pakatan Rakyat Chair And Caretaker Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng In Penang On 2.5.2013.

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PR Penang Under Siege From The Triple Unholy Alliance Of BN, 1 Malaysia Penang Welfare Club And Unscrupulous Housing Developers Whose Victory In Penang Will Not Only Result In Return Of Corruption But Also Deprive Penangites Of Their Homes.
 

PR Penang is under siege in this general elections from the triple unholy alliance of BN, 1Malaysia Penang Welfare Club and unscrupulous housing developers. Clearly a BN victory in Penang will not only result in return of corruption but also deprive 4,000 families in Penang of their homes. The latest to join BN’s effort to seize power in Penang are unscrupulous housing developers with a chequered history of not only fulfilling their promises to their buyers with defective products but also causing them heartbreak by failing to give out strata titles as required by the law.
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you should vote for PAS (not BN!) or any parties… as long as it is ABU! (anything but umno – or in bahasa asalkan bukan umno). let's go one step further. vote, vote, as long as it is ABCD - 'asalkan bukan cap dacing' (as long as it is not the balance symbol).

barisan nasional (BN) had been going all out to frighten non muslim not to vote or to support PAS because PAS will impose islamic state lah, syariah law lah, hudud lah, this and that lah… but that's just it – frighten… BN just want to frighten you. you have no reason to fear PAS at all. 

only criminals will fear hudud! if you are not a criminal, why then fear hudud? anyway, here is a good post from a blogger friend about hudud.

i will reproduce here two articles that tell you, you don't have to fear PAS and hudud. read them and i hope you'll share them to others, especially the old chinese aunties and uncles who still fear PAS.

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