bobjots : redux

Staff Writers, 31 October 2007
Originally published in Ekklesia.co.uk

Several weeks after a brutal crackdown on thousands of democracy protesters across Burma, over a hundred Buddhist monks have taken part in the first public demonstration in northern Burma since the government's wave of repression.

In Pakokku the monks marched silently, in a way described by observers as "highly dignified", and issued no slogans.

This just came in from the BBC and I hope the local press, at least Malaysiakini, will pick it up soon.

Apparently at least 100 Buddhist monks have defied the brutal crackdown by the Yangon regime and took to the streets of the central Burmese town of Pakkoku. They were reported to be chanting and praying while marching down the streets. The location of this act of defiance against oppression is significant as it was here that an incident where regime forces broke up a protest against rising fuel prices violently. It was this incident, known as the Pakkoku Incident that triggered the widespread protest in Burma over late September and October.

The rendition of the Lord's Prayer in contemporary Aramaic (specifically an Eastern Aramaic dialect known as the Syriac language) by Lebanese born Pascale Sakr sounds beautifully devotional:

A few more versions can be found at Sivin's blog post, including a hauntingly beautiful one by IndiaJiva. The text of the prayer in Aramaic :

My pastor sent me this image from The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus. Apparently he thought it was appropriate, perhaps for more reasons than one. I think some of you would think so too :

And some good reads for Reformation Day which falls tomorrow :

After my meeting with our field officer from Kapar on Friday, I realised I had tonnes to complete before leaving for Kuching, Sarawak on Tuesday for a consultation with Sarawak based NGOs. As a result, I was unable to attend both the public hearing on the ISA and the Politics & the Kingdom conversation. Fortunately, Malaysiakini carried the story on the former.

A lot of testimonies were given by the detainees of Operasi Lalang, including Dr. Kua Kia Soong, Khalid Samad and Lau Teck Gee. To many, the trauma never left them and I recall reading somewhere that Irene Xavier still looked visibly shaken when asked about her experience despite that particular interview being done many years after the incident.

This was quite unexpected but I just got an e-mail from BetterWorld.com informing me of their Diwali Discount. If you're an existing customer, you probably would've gotten it too.

They'll be offering a 10% off through November 9, 2007. To get the 10% discount, use the coupon code :

DIWALI

when you check out your order. I did an unsolicited review of BetterWorld.com earlier in this post.

Not too bad of a way to fund literacy, care for the environment and get a fair price for the books that you want. For more stories and news on BetterWorld.com books, and pictures, have a look at the Better World Blog.

My boss, Irene Fernandez, finally won her defamation lawsuit against Utusan Malaysia (see Malaysiakini for details). This comes in the heels of the recent victory garnered by former ISA detainee, Abdul Malik Hussin, against the Government of Malaysia and the Royal Malaysian Police for unlawful arrest and assault.

On a related front, Haris Ibrahim, the lawyer and outspoken advocate for human rights in Malaysia, submitted a petition addressed to His Majesty the Yang Dipertuan Agung at 10.35 am this morning containing 5,036 signatures seeking for the convening of a Royal Commission of Enquiry into the erosion of public confidence in the Judiciary and the V.K. Lingam video aka the Lingamgate scandal.

When I read the Malaysiakini news story about Bernard Dompok's claim that no one had been arrested under the Internal Security Act in the administration of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, I was reminded again of Operasi Lalang. There are a few events in one's life that can sometimes determine the direction in which one takes.

Operasi Lalang was one of mine. I was 13 at that time and woke up to go to school only to be told to take the day off. The morning's paper came with portrait photographs of quite a few people on the front page. These people were apparently arrested under a law known as the Internal Security Act. Being young and naive then, I assumed these were probably guilty of some crime. It did seem strange though that some known names like Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, and people who we were told actually did good things like social workers were part of those arrested.

The recently Malaysiakini featured Deputy Minister apparently made some interesting claims regarding internet usage trends in Malaysia (HT: Rantings by MM and Sonia Randhawa). According to a report published by The Star, he reported to Parliament that a recent Microsoft survey revealed that "entrepreneur-type websites and sites which provided positive efforts to improve family relations" generate the most visitors whilst "websites garnered the least interest". He also claimed that 11 website had been shut down by the Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) this year for contravening rules and regulations concerning the publication of information on the Internet.

Hmm .. nice spin there. I have to wonder how websites get shut down by the government. Does the government force web hosts to close offending websites? What jurisdiction does the Malaysian government have if my website is hosted on a server that is located, say, in Valetta, Malta? Did the owner of the websites get convicted of some offence and are now doing time? Hmm .. I do recall some high profile investigations involving bloggers like Jeff Ooi and Rocky Bru but the last time I checked, their sites were still up. Did anyone slip through the collective observation of the blogosphere? Or was he referring to the 8 illegal investment websites that were blocked by the MCMC at the request of the Securities Commission?

One very under-rated and often maligned method among the NGO and non-profit industry in Malaysia is the use of commercially proven practices in getting their message across. Whether we like it or not, we are competing for attention in a marketplace that is at this moment dominated both by commercial messages and Barisan Nasional political propaganda.

Taking into account that most of the mainstream media; both printed and electronic; are essentially controlled by a complicated system of licensing and distribution, the only entry-level arena essentially left for effective social communications would be the Internet.

Now that seems all taken care off, isn't it? Not exactly. How many web pages do you think are listed on a search engine like Google? 1 million? 10? How about 25 billion? And this figure is a 2005 estimate! How does one expect to get found on the Internet?

Most observers and commentators would agree that elections in Malaysia are generally free. Its the fairness of the process that many would have issues with. For a democracy to exist, elections must first be both free and fair.

Friends in Conversation will be hosting a new round of conversation after a hiatus of quite a few months. This Saturday (October 27, 2007), we'll have the Rev. Dr Hermen Shastri, General Secretary of both the Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) and the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) and Bro. Goh Keat Peng, Executive Secretary of the Malaysian Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) engaged in a conversation on politics and the Kingdom of God.

I understand there are legitimate concerns as to whether or not the Church ought to be involved in politics. Concerns range from how engagement in politics might distract the Church from fulfilling her main task of proclaiming the Gospel to how it might create a dangerous precedent in a time when so many are trying so hard to separate religion from the state.

Malaysiakini reports the Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister, Shaziman Abu Mansor, as saying that plans are afoot to introduce an Internet code of ethics to curb what the powers that be claim is the "misuse" of the medium. This came in response to a question raised by a ruling party backbencher who asked if any steps were being taken to control bloggers.

In what is supposed to be a progressive and open society, why is the government afraid of public debate and scrutiny of their statements and activities? As a young child, I was always told that if one is upright and beyond reproach, they have nothing to be afraid of. Maybe this basic adage ought to be posted up on the walls of the Parliament?

Apparently there's been an e-mail circulating that claims that the Ministry of Education is planning to abolish the Bible Knowledge / Pengetahuan Bible subject for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations if the number of candidates don't reach 3,000. The SPM exams are the equivalent to the British GCSE and in my days most of the papers (except the standard English language papers) were considered equivalents to the GCE O-Levels. In fact, we were given 2 different grades for each paper - one was the SPM grade and another the O-Level grade.

Incidentally, I did take the Bible Knowledge paper for my SPM in 1991. I was the only candidate in my school and in those days, there were hardly any resources or resource persons around. The 2 Issachar Publications reference books on the BK papers were still not conceived yet and this was way before the Teacher's Christian Fellowship (TCF) and the Malayan Christian Schools' Council (MCSC) realised something was seriously amiss when only 20 candidates nationwide took up the subject in 1995.

Jesus came proclaiming the good news that the Kingdom of God was near. He proceeded to teach us to pray for this Kingdom to come and for God's will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

Interestingly, the latter part was part of what has now become known as the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon of the Mount where ostentatious behaviour in religious matters were identified and spoken out against; these four being specifically identified - the giving of alms, the practice of prayer, the act of fasting and attitudes on materialism. Even more interesting is the fact that this was followed immediately afterwards by a discourse on judgementalism and condemnation.

I was recently checking one of my referral statistics and was pleasantly surprised to see a sale credited to me from BetterWorld. The purchaser most probably clicked the link that I put up on this post.

While its just a small amount (approximately US$1.50 or RM5.00), I'd like to say thanks to whoever is it who did the purchase. I hope you'll find their service satisfactory and give them a good rating at Rapleaf. I've made at least 4 orders from them so far and been pretty happy to date. It usually takes about 3 - 4 weeks for delivery (including the time spent at the Customs).

I came across this letter in Malaysiakini and it really made my blood boil. Its one thing for the police to act with total callousness when dealing with political dissidents - not that its right - but its quite another to be totally insensitive to grieving mourners!

This is related to the recent tragic death of Elizabeth Chew who was assaulted and killed during the course of a robbery. During the mass that was held for her at Johor Bahru's Sacred Heart Church, the police apparently found it fit to storm in and demand to take her body away for forensic investigation.

Malaysia was recently rated 124 in the World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Sans Frontieres (source: Malaysiakini). This is the lowest ranking ever received by Malaysia, for reasons of which I am sure is quite self evident and difficult to dispute. The Minister of Truth, Zainuddin Maidin, could try but I am quite certain Malaysians would know better.

One way to bypass this official stranglehold on the dissemination of information is to use the Internet as a tool for dissemination. One of the most common usages is through the humble e-mail mailing list. However with the general availability of affordable broadband today, a website could increase the effectiveness and methods available for the dissemination of information.

The latest insult by Umno Vice President and Chief Minister of Melaka, Mohd Ali Rustam (see Malaysiakini) really ought to be a message to the conscientious remnants in Barisan Nasional. It was made during the General Assembly of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) of Malacca where Ali was the guest of honour.

In what is perhaps the true reflection of Umno's attitudes towards the other component parties in the coalition, Ali spoke out against PPP's request for a larger seat allocation in the next General Elections and suggested that the PPP could leave the Barisan Nasional if they were not happy.

Apa itu Hartal? Sila tonton video ini untuk ketahui sejarah di sebalik Hari Hartal!

Fahmi Reza, the guy behind the documentary, Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka, has initiated a campaign for the annual commemoration of the 1947 All-Malaya Hartal. The graphic below was picked up from his blog :

I'll be putting up a new post as suggested by Fahmi as a sign of support for this campaign to recognise and remember the Day of the People's Democratic Struggle. I'll probably set up a new Facebook group for this campaign as well.

How does one prepare for an impending farewell with a loved one? How does one prepare one's extended family for this occasion? How does one prepare for the inevitable aftermath of such a situation? Especially when one has had a somewhat estranged relationship with the loved one in question.

A phone call today and the experiences that some of my friends and myself have gone through over the last week or so compels me to invoke this petition ..

Set free, O Lord, the souls of your servants
from all restlessness and anxiety.
Give us your peace and power,
and so keep us that, in all perplexity and distress,
we may abide in you,
upheld by your strength
and stayed on the rock of your faithfulness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I wrote a post on September 14 that touched a bit on the other side of history of Malaysia that is not usually given much airtime in the mainstream. The focus of that post was on the 1947 All Malaya Hartal and was partially inspired by Fahmi Reza's multilingual documentary, Sepuluh Tahun Sebelum Merdeka (Ten Years before Independence).

I finally got a chance to watch it and found myself lamenting the lost "could have been" and "what if" moments of our nation's history. Recounted mainly via interviews with rarely seen archive video footage, this short documentary chronicles the events that culminated in the Malaya-wide 'Hartal' day of protest against the undemocratic Federation of Malaya Constitutional Proposals devised by the British Colonial Government and the UMNO, and the rise of the people's democratic movement in Malaya, ten years before independence.

The video can be viewed below:

You'd probably heard about the judge-fixing scandal implicating senior lawyer, V.K. Lingam who was allegedly caught on video in which a phone conversation was taking place where certain arrangements were being discussed to ensure the appointment of one of the parties in the conversation to the highest position in the judiciary. Okay, maybe you just know there's a video but am not very sure what the fuss is all about.

The cartoonist Zunar captured the gist of what the scandal means in a simple cartoon published in Malaysiakini :

We are probably familiar with the phrase "bearing the cross". While affirming the validity of the common interpretations of that passage, I thought this was a good reminder of another typology of the cross that we have to bear :

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

- Luke 14:27

Rob Bell suggests that in the Hebrew, no word for "spiritual" exists, at least not in the traditional sense of understanding spirituality as being dualistically distinct from the secular. There's also been suggestions that Jesus never used the phrase "spiritual life". The reason that has been proposed is that for Jesus and his tradition, there is no distinction between the sacred and the secular; perhaps along the lines that all of life IS spiritual.

With that thought in mind, here's my collection of arbitrary links : :

The 31st of October is commemorated every year in many churches of the Lutheran tradition (and some of the Reformed tradition) as Reformation Day. Translated into Malay, this would be Hari Reformasi .. hehe .. interesting connotations eh? Interestingly, Reformation Day is a civic holiday in Slovenia despite the population of that country being primarily Roman Catholic - go figure :)

Scuttlebutt has it that on this day in 1517 (a mere half a decade after the establishment of the Johor-Riau Sultanate - which is today the Johor Sultanate and one of the successor states of the Malacca Sultanate), an Augustinian monk and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, the Rev'd Fr. Dr. Martin Luther, nailed a collection of points for debate.

I have been asked to give a review of the HostGator Coupon blog. Rather than merely extolling the virtues of online coupons, I'd thought I'd see how something like this can really be relevant to the readers of this blog.

On a blog like this one where certain strong opinions are given, it's almost inevitable that it occasionally garners some strong and occasionally verbose reactions. To be fair to me, I've had to take some actions that I'd rather not. I provided some rationale in a previous post.

Just a thought on my earlier post that had some uncomfortable perspectives on Christianity, at least in the United States. Time Magazine has published an article that takes a look at the survey results that prompted my post (HT: ThinkChristian) that made me think of how its like in Malaysia.

What are our compatriots' perception of the faith that we profess. What are we generally known for? Compassion? Selflessness? Service? Exclusivism? Restrictive Rules? Intolerance?

You would probably have noticed that there has been a slight increase in the number of sponsored and incentivised links on this blog. It's hard not to be apologetic about this but due to the recent increase in the costs of living and the latest addition to my family, I am trying a few more different methods to help make ends meet.

This was originally posted in my earlier post but it might have got lost in the somewhat unrelated post title. After having been maligned recently, I was very heartened to read about an open letter from 138 Muslim scholars to Christian leaders around the world. The letter appeals to the belief in love for one God and love for one's neighbour held in common among Muslims and Christians, to work together for world peace :