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this post will be about generally how i feel about the whole recalling of christian books issue, namely all books with the word "allah" printed on them.

- if you however cannot accept a third person’s point of view on this matter i suggest u leave this blog right now. ( yup its my blog so i can write how i feel…u dig? )

- this post is meant in no way to insult whosoever or cause national instability through the creation of racial tension ( chuckels ).

- this post however represents my honest opinion about the issue. what?, i cant be opiniated in this country?… serious?.. bahh i dont care. Frankly, even if i dont speak my mind here im sure countless others have already felt the same. so here goes… ( if you’re still reading that means in no way you iwll be offended by what you are gonna read….public disclaimer )

S.I.B or sidang injil borneo was fighting a case, its quite hi-profile and its all over newspapers across town. It seems that some dudes wanna implement that all non muslim ( christian ) books with the word "allah" be banned from circulation and recalled. plus the word is to never be used again in future and u can’t export or import books like these either. please correct me if i am wrong ok.

My concern is… can someone tell me WHAT IS WRONG?. Wats up with the usage of the word "allah". After all it is just a word to represent god. And for that matter not just the Muslim god. I have no qualms against islam and may i stress that some of my bestest buddies are all muslims. But this goes further than religion actually. How can u ban the usage of a word?. Besides theres no patent to it, no rights whatsoever and to be honest who knows, who coined the word could be a non muslim even for that matter. If im not wrong even muslims used another word other than "allah" to represent god in the ancient times. If this is true then does this mean that the "great thinkers" ( although many cant think !) of malaysian law are imposing selfishness and claiming the word for islam exclusively?. Come on… i mean a word is after all just a word. Take for example if i call someone a stewpid face, and i am told not to use the word, so in response i use another but similar word, wouldnt that still be the same…stupid face!. The same is true here. So if the word "allah" is banned, will it be any different?. well other than the angry mob created, crying injustice and on the other hand others screaming god is great i think not.

lets face it. the only impression things like these give us non muslims is that of the insecurities of the muslims in the country. Why so?, here let me illustrate a lil.

at the moment, the way things are going,.. anything at all that might have a concern with islam, even in the litlest, all the laws of islam will be poured in and all cases will be decided "islamically".( this is because all thing spertaining to islam will be imposed a syariah law. there’s a big debate on this, whether federal constitution should overwrite the syariah. It however seems bleak that the constitution is any good after the lina joy case. please google "lina joy case" for more insight.)

take for example. a while ago some muslim parties wanted a certain kind of biscuit to be taken off the shelves. reason being that the biscuits had li’l crosses on them. ( crosses re-present a religion they feel very strongly about wink wink ). WHATS WITH these parties AND CROSSES ANYWAY? its just a harmless cross on the biscuit, and u think that it can incite someone into conversion?. pleaaaassseee la. muslims should be strong enough to resist a biscuit. if even a biscuit can cause you to stop believeing i urge u to stop believing in whatever faith you are in if this is so. I profess to be a christian and i know that no biscuit or roti canai shaped like a crescent will make me change my mind. ( yes im christian now dont judge me because of the profanity …sort off used above, thats just an illustration ok.)

since were in the topic of crosses let us continue shall we?. ever wonder why is our country the only one using "red crescent" and not red cross? i guess no prizes for guessing why. will a simple redcross shake the believe of muslims?. besides the redcross is historic and its significance should be recognised, since anyway the "red crescent" is just a ciplaked version of the red cross anyway. hey, hospitals were started by christians, does that mean muslims cant go to the hospital? eeshhh its for everyone! and its not exclusive. ( note that the biscuit incident is true and i read about it from marina mahathir’s post. )

Some of us may still remer the old five ringgit note. The plasticky ones have replaced the old paper notes. but most of us will be able to remember them, yes the one with the istana negara building at the back. look carefully. there are a few versions. but 2 very interesting versions feature one with a flag pole with a cross and the later one with the cross removed. um… its just a cross man.. i wonder what is the reason behind removing the ship mast flagpole that is shaped like a cross?…

does this mean teachers must mark wrong anwers in school with a "salah" instead of an "x"?.

rumour has it that books with images of the prophets moses and abraham will have to be recalled as well, reason being that in islam no prophet can be depicted. if that i sso ( i sure hope not ) then, will that mean the authorities will tear down churches with stained glass windows showing the prophets and saints. Jesus is a prophet to the muslims… will that mean that all catholics must cease from using the crucifix? i wonder where all of this is going. You can’t impose your belief on others even if you so belief in your idealogies is right when compared.

When asked about the lina joy case a politican simply answered, if you are in a club u have to go by the club rules. so if a club has rules on leaving the club, you too must abide. HEllO … Lina didnt have a choice whether she wanted to be in the club in the first place… she was literally considered part of the club when she was born and not through choice, and when she finally decides everyone gives her a hard time. how unfair. clearly this is a violation of constitutional rights. i suggest that instead of chanting god is great many of them should focus on getting things done the right way or educating themsleves perhaps. ( whats the use of having lina as a muslim when she no longer wants to be a muslim. though her ic states she is, she openly declares otherwise.)

In an event in penang some time ago, a forum called article 11 was to be held here in penang to encourage the discussions on interacial and religious issues. it had to be cancelled because a muslim mob formed outside and it became unrully. it is just a forum, if you have something to say i suggest it be done in a civilised manner. please…  you could join the forum and have your views heard there. but noooooo theyd rather gaher outside and cause a ruckus. No this doesnt refer to all muslims, which many are civilised and highly intelligent people contributing greatly to society. These few however should get their mind straight. ( many people cheapen the way islam is and the same is true for other beliefs. )

hence i will continue to use the word "allah" since it is for everyone just like this country is a "malaysian  malaysia" and not a "muslim malaysia"

please be open minded about things. what i have just blogged is what countless others are feeling right now. shutting these feelings away will not mean that they aren’t there either.

jus like Namewee and his negara ku ku song that caused a big controversy. I applaud him as a genius and i commend him for his honesty. He is mere pointing out facts that are very real to our society and denying them will only make things worse. ( update, however some of the statements are very crudely put and to those i do not support at all )

2007,

As soon as it started it came to an end. Well, what i can say is that it was the most eventful year for me period. I asked god for alot of stuff in 2006 and was blessed with more than i can handle.

i played more gigs than ever in 2007 and i tell you its been one crazy year, sometimes we have stuff goin on for almost every weekend of the month.

i think the hi-lights of the year would be

1) Nailing the asean beat competition. That opened new grounds for the band and bagging teh individual prizes and all was something i alwayswanted to achieve. ( its one of those dreams being realised, the feeling is awesome, im sure youll agree.)

2) We put together an album. A superb and fun journey, albeit there was a lil drama with the production company it all turned out swell.

3) I think i finally got a great line up of musicians for the band. Its hard to get people to share the same dream as you and to work together on similar goals. Im happy to have met these people and playing with them has been the most productive 2 years of Ocean of Fire.

4) Teaching as a career?, i guess that was one bold leap. After some carefull thinking and braving the odds i left graphics in favour of music- an absolutely risky alternative, but the benefits are really sweet.

5) I felt like gving up service, but witha  lil small voice encouraging me im still carrying on. hmm i dunno if this counts as a hi-lite but it sure is something big for me. From the day i steped into service it was already a turning point for me in my life. i guess im not putting my foot down yet despite my short-comings.

6) I made a lot of new friends… well al least i think i did. I think i made a few guitar friends online as well. real nice and humble people and people who are not proud of their skills and peopel who are willing to share… EXCELLENT!!! ( no one wants to jam with people who think theyre great!, and many guitarists are like that…)

7) Me and the boys got our own jamming studio. FINALLY!!!! no more jamming fees… no more looking at the clock and keeping time. We can jam as much as we want now and as long as we want. This has been real productive in keeping our realtionship in teh band active , productive and happy.

Doing demonstartions for roland products was real cool too. The first time i saw a roland road show was when Rob Marcello of the band danger danger play and do all his cool guitar acrobatics. I thought to myslef, wouldnt it be cool if i did some demos too?. Next moment, i got a call from roland and were off to kl, then kuching then penang. CHUN GILA…. we get paid to test and play products. especially since the fender pedals werent released in malaysia at the time, we were some of teh first to actually test thme out. Verdict…. SWEEEETTTT…

7) yes, I decided to switch back to analog effects… YES ERIC KAO… i can hear you laughing. I guess its one expensive move,but u cant beat the sounds of lil colourful boxes and replace em with one space-ship board. Sometiems old is good and more is better, just liek playing more notes. So dont tell me to play less hee hee hee.

Marriage fund… i think thsi is the most funny hi-lite. but i guess if youre into commitment then starting a fund seemed like a very good idea since i spend alot without thinking and i spend a lot without thinking. so yeah…  i spend a lot without thinking….you dig?

oh dear i just realised. i SPENT alot without thinking… So How, I Teruk.

I guess i can go on and on….

I added a new member to teh family-MAX. a cute golden retriever. It craps more than a human being and eats twice as much but it has the most wonderful disposition. Its responsive…( finally a responsive dog inthe house ) and its real huggable, especially on a bad day, hugging this puppy will take some of your anxietys away.

I beleive i lost just a lil bit of weight too. which is good since im not getting any excercise lately. My enthusiastic resolution to hike once a week turned into once a month..then subsequently everytime i have some free time, which is never. u get the picture.

But there were sad moments too.

Shakir left for kl, and elliot had to go thru a series of soap opera dramas and alvin and beh and jeff was wtill away..and wont be coming back for a long time to getehr with kah hock.

these are some of the people closest to my heart. Having spent so much time with them when tehy were around took a lil readjustment when they left.

Its all in good measure though. Thats life, every year u lose a friend. They all have to go some where, relocate and work and earn a living, get married have kids and start a family. Beh said this to me before he left for kl…" kelv…( only my closest buddies call me kelv otehrs just call me kel… its strange but true… ) youre the only one left to hold the fort, so u gotta hold it till we get back! hee hee "

i guess giving my friends a reason/excuse to come back to penang for me being here is somewhat a task as well. But hell, this is home. I was born here and i have so much for me here…. if i wer eto leave, god willing i wana die here. have my blood turned to paint and my ashes be mashed up and put in a guitar, my jackson maybe and hopefully someone will play it too.

Dear God. Thank you for your blessings. Its been a great life thus far. Full of adventure. Full of surprises, cant wait to see what u have for me everyday. weeeeee