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Thursday, August 05, 2004
Reader Hannan Abdullah ranted in my previous entry on "Will we be the next Taliban". First let me say that I respect his/her? (Hannan can be a woman as I remember Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian activist) opinion. One of the points he/she made is about Kamal Ataturk and his secularisation programme. Well, Hannan mirrors what the majority of Muslims think about Ataturk.
Like Hannan, I also travelled abroad. Well, may be not travel but study abroad. I met with a Turkish and he seems to have a high respect for Kamal Ataturk.
Upon searching for Atarturk at www.muslimwakeup.com, I stumbled upon this article.
The author of the piece aplty called "Why Turks Rock" has this to say:
"What makes me admire Turkish Islamic activists is their realism and their spirituality. Turks know about jihad. And they know that the modern jihad is to be fought not with swords or huge cannons but with dollars and euros. While Arabs and Pakistanis have been shouting slogans and getting themselves arrested, Turks have been making truckloads of money."
"Go to Pakistan today. What do the Minhaj al-Qurans, the Jamaat-e-Islamis and other Muslim groups own? How big are they in the mainstream? Yes, they can attract 40,000 kids to a jihad rally. But what impact are they having?"
"But in Turkey, the “green” sector is propping up the economy and employing millions of Turks. Turkish businessmen and women are bankrolling the various religious groups and parties to the tune of billions of dollars. The secular fundamentalist kemalists just cannot keep up (or they had too many araks last night to know what is going on). "
The author went on to talk about the vibrant sufis movement in Turkey. Specifically, he voiced his admiration for Turkey's Naqshbandi Sufis movements. The leaders no longer spot "mammoth turbans and beards down to their knees." Their beard are trimmed and many prefer to wear branded western outfits! They run massive business enterprises and they tour the world looking for investment!
Now what has this anything to do with Ataturk? I'm not sure but you can think it for yourself!
Posted at 08:13 pm by sangkancil
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Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Will we be the next Taliban?
A letter in Malaysiakini.com grabbed my interest. The letter was a response to Perak's Mufti who declared TV3's Sure Heboh concert as haram last week.
The author of the letter wrote:
Having read the report Muftis declare TV3's Sure Heboh carnival haram, has it now come to the point where television shows will be the next to be put under the scrutiny of the Council of Malaysian muftis? Where do we, as citizens, draw the line for these organisations? Do we, as citizens, have the right to say: ‘No, we are not going to accept your religious and political comments because Malaysia is a multi-racial society’?
Personally, I think the author raised a valid point. If Sure Heboh is haram where is the alternative? People like to be entertained and life would be bored without entertainment.
At the same time I do not want an excessive cheap entertainment like the one we had during the Sure Heboh. I think it's about time that we discourage free concert that invites large number of crowds. What we should have is a small one with a controlled environment.
Posted at 07:35 pm by sangkancil
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Monday, August 02, 2004
Waheeda going to Kazakhtan
Tudung-clad Malaysian singer Waheeda will represent Malaysia at the Voice of Asia competition in Kazakhtan. She will depart today at 5:55pm, according to an Utusan Malaysia's report.
Waheeda is one of my favourite singers besides Siti Nurhaliza. I like her first album though disappointed because the CD only contains four songs. While Wassini is popular, I also liker her song Now I Know which is a mixed English-Malay dakwah song.
Her new album is reported to be out in September.
Posted at 03:18 pm by sangkancil
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Utusan Malaysia reported that 60% of those who have diabetes are Malays. According to the report, diabetes among Malaysian Chinese and Indians are much lower at 20% each. The public are advised to lower sugar and carbonated drinks consumption as well as to practise healthy diet and regular exercise.
The Malays indeed lack exercise. I've been jogging three times a week in the morning. From what I observed, very few are Malays and most of people who have morning exercise are Chinese. It doesn't matter whether they jog or walk, what is important they spend sometime in the morning in the park.
Now looking at our eating habit is no better. We have dishes full of sugar and fat. Food such as nasi lemak for example must be consumed sparingly.
Posted at 03:10 pm by sangkancil
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Monday, July 19, 2004
Roses are blue? : The world's first 'blue rose' developed by Japanese brewer Suntory is displayed during a press conference in Tokyo. (AFP/Toru Yamanaka)
Posted at 09:09 pm by sangkancil
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Friday, July 16, 2004
The Guardian has a refreshing article about the next round of browser wars. According to the article, share of Internet Explorer which is about 95.73%, has actually dropped about 1%. Although the drop is small, experts said its incremental. The article listed several reasons for this drop:
1. The well-publicised security issues associated with IE.
2. The maturity of IE alternatives such as Mozilla Firefox and Opera browsers.
3. Support of open web standards by Microsoft rivals.
The article alleged that the dominant IE has slowed down the Internet development. While other browsers such as Firefox and Opera have already implemented modern features such as ad-blocking, tabbed browsing and support for WC3 standard, IE has not. It went further to say pop-up ads, automatic installing of spyware and redirects to porn sites are IE's fault.
Personally, I've been using Firefox and Opera. While I have been using Opera on and off since last year, I'm quite impressed with Firefox's features.
Yet, I cannot ditch IE. I still keep it along with my other browsers such as Firefox in my computer. Firefox for web surfing and IE for certain site like www.blogdrive.com (its WYSIWYG updating feature only works with IE at this moment).
Going back to the browser war, my blog indeed registers other non-IE browsers such as Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, Apple's Safari and others where previously it was only IE. Although IE still commands the largest share of more than 94%, non-IE browsers share shows some fighting chance.
The jury of course is still out there.
Posted at 05:32 pm by sangkancil
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Friday, July 09, 2004
ICJ to rule against Israel's wall
According to MuslimWakeup, which quoted Electronic Intifada and Haretz, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague will issue a dramatic ruling that Israel's Security Fence as violating the international law.
Posted at 05:36 pm by sangkancil
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Thursday, July 08, 2004
Give Mozilla Firefox a try
It's good to have choice and whenever possible we must support the alternative. That's why I'm using a new browser the Mozilla Firefox.
Interestingly, Slate a webzine under MSN (which is a part of Microsoft), has a nice article praising Firefox. Beside a fast and lean Internet browser, Firefox promises you a better security from Internet malware or dubious ActiveX threats.
You can download Firefox here.
Give it a try and I'm sure you will like it better than Internet Explorer.
Posted at 12:48 pm by sangkancil
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Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Some business news for today:
1. Bursa Malaysia closed higher at 851.02, up 7.41 points. Local and foreign fund managers are reported to be buying stocks to consolidate their portfolio.
2. My unit trust will give me a 4.5 sen per unit.
3. New US dollar-dominated offshore Islamic unit trust launched.
4. Bernama reported that Proton receives about 14,000 orders for Gen-2.
I am planning to buy a car but haven't decided yet which model and when. Most probably next year and a national car. Gen-2 looks attractive but a friend said that I have to wait for 6 months. I also want to hear what other people said about Gen-2 first. Would anyone who have the experience with Gen-2 e-mail me at kafa25@spam.yahoo.com (remove "spam" to e-mail). Thanks.
Posted at 06:55 pm by sangkancil
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Thursday, July 01, 2004
Bill Gates was in Malaysia recently. The Microsoft's chairman and chief sofware architect had a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at Putrajaya. The software giant has reaffirmed its commitment to invest RM10 million for kindergardens and schools in Malaysia. It is reported also that the company is working on Bahasa Malaysia version of Windows.
If I remember correctly, the Bahasa Malaysia version will follow like the Thai's model. It will be cheaper than the standard English version. I think the localised version is part of Pikom's PC Gemilang plan to enable more Malaysians to own a PC.
Microsoft, of course, is having a tough time in handling piracy which is rampant in Malaysia. For RM8.00 you can get a bootlegged CD which contains popular applications including Windows and Office. Microsoft also faces challenges from open source applications such as Linux where users do not have to pay anything or only with minimal fee to use the applications.
Gates' visit to Malaysia is consistent with Microsoft's strategy to sell its applications and solutions to Asian governments.
Posted at 02:17 pm by sangkancil
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