Thinking Aloud

Hi, just to inform my faithful readers that I will not be blogging here any longer.

The new address is uliang.wordpress.com. Now all I have to do is to figure out how to move my old posts to the new one.

From the blog Disquiet, run by lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sawar.

Just remember, we gave the present Government a mandate. Something we are constantly reminded of.

The law requires that the welfare of the children be the paramount consideration. The law also requires that all of us be treated equally. And yet, it would seem that those amongst us charged with the welfare of the nation and its citizens appear to think otherwise.

What justifies tearing a family apart, separating children from their parents? Islam does not. The law does not. How can we even begin to understand the anguish of the father, the mother and the children? How can we even begin to understand that some believe that the law countenances, warrants, such cruelty?

Someone has to be made accountable for this.

MIS

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/65995
Family torn apart over ‘religion’
Yoges Palaniappan
Apr 16, 07 4:26pm

Rubber tapper P Marimuthu’s life changed drastically when seven officers from the Selangor Religious Department (Jais) came to his house in Kampung Baru Tambahan Ulu Yam on April 2.

The father of six was told that his wife of 21 years Raimah Bibi was a Muslim and that she and their children, aged between four and 12, must be placed in a rehabilitation centre.

The couple’s eldest son was staying with an uncle at that time.

Relating his ordeal at a press conference in the Parliament lobby today, the 44-year-old rubber tapper said he had no choice but to let the officers take his family away.

He also claimed that an ‘ustaz’ (religious scholar) had told him to covert to Islam or threatened to charge him for khalwat (close proximity) with Raimah, 40.

Raimah, who returned to help him with the rubber tapping work two days later, told him that Jais had placed the family in the nearby Kampung Melayu Liga Emas.

She purportedly said the villagers, who are predominantly Malays, have been asked to keep an eye on her daily activities and prevent her from meeting outsiders, especially her husband.

Marimuthu said he felt threatened by the villagers’ stares when he attempted to visit his wife and children.

“My wife was so afraid that she refused to come out and talk to me. I had no choice but to leave that village,” he said.

According to him, Raimah managed to sneak their children over to his house several times without anybody’s knowledge.

“We will be together for some time and then she’ll leave again to the other house,” he said.

Another heart-rendering saga

Marimuthu also does not know if his wife was a practising Muslim before they got married. Since then, he said, the two of them have been practising Hindus.

“We got married in a temple, according to Hindu rituals. All our kids were brought up as Hindus,” he said.

He said Raimah, who was adopted by an Indian Muslim family, cannot remember her adopted mother and her late adopted father had approved of their relationship.

According to Marimuthu, his wife’s MyKad had stated her name as Raimah Bibi binti Noordin and her religion as Islam.

The couple did not apply to the National Registration Department (NRD) to have this corrected either.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, who accompanied Marimuthu, said the authorities learnt about Raimah’s ‘religious status’ when the couple enrolled their children into a school and copies of their identity cards were submitted to the education department.

“It is a simple mistake that has brought a great tragedy to the family,” he said, adding that the matter must be checked with the authorities in order for the family to be reunited.

“This is the latest in heart-rendering family sagas like in the case of R Subashini where human rights are completely ignored. Such incidents should be stopped,” he stressed.

Posted by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar at 6:28 AM

Of late, cases like these have become common. But notice something: it always always involves Hindus and not just any Hindu, particularly those who cannot defend themselves. The poor, those without economic clout.

This is not an issue of religion or faith. It is oppression. Imagine this, Malaysians are being oppressed by their own fellow Malaysians!

Who can read this and not feel his blood boil.

This article must certainly be one of the most heartbreaking articles I have ever read.

Pearls before Breakfast, by Gene Weingarten.

Busy, busy as a bee, and what has being busy ever done for us?

I wish that I had taken a module on film during my undergrad days. I would have enjoyed 300 better.

Just a thought.

I think I’m not crazy enough to be a mathematician. Haha.

But one thing is for sure, studying Analysis (both integration and functional analysis) has really humbled me. Gosh, I wish I had paid more attention to analysis during undergraduate days.  

I really enjoyed that evening with Siaw May and Venice, (it’s a person’s name okay, not the gondola city).

Phantom of the Opera with dazzling with the sets, costumes and music. For 2 1/2 hours of sheer granduer, I was taken away by the clever stage management, use of lights and dry ice to create a very *real* illusion.

(Loved the part when the Phantom brings Christine to his little hideout, there are six candles, three on either side that gently move in from the wings while the ‘boat’ is paddling on, thus creating a perspective illusion that we (the audience) are entering the cave.)

My favourite scene was of course the masquerade ball. Spetacular lighting combined with the colourful costumes (and dance) just took my breath away.

Wow….what a night of colour and song.  

Durians….

They are just so addictive.

Because of my naivete and ignorance, I was ‘forced’ to buy 4 ‘em spiky ones. I wanted to get only 2, but the vendor opened four and before I knew it, had to hand over dough for it.

Ok, I consider it a very expensive dinner. I’m so full and there’s one more to go. Maybe I’ll let Adwin have it.

But there were good, although not spetacularly so. 

I’m gonna bathe now, smelling of durians all over.  

The have started to renovate the old Ginza Plaza. Damn noisy man…

Sigh, what a way to wake up on a Saturday morning.  

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that I am not the type of person who likes to get into debates.

Wait…let me take back these words. I do. I debate with my mother, father. I tease and argue with my sister. I’ve had deep discussions with John (Tey), Raj, Lydia, Faith and others etc…(I hardly talk with my brother, which is quite a shame). Heck, I’ve even debated my EXCO chairman, Paul who is a practising lawyer now.  (Pretty brave of me yah..lolz).

But one thing I don’t debate is religion. I have had several talks with Pacey (for instance) on Christianity. But I just left it at that. I think I’ve never really shared the gospel on a one-to-one basis before in my entire life. I think the reason is simply that it makes me uncomfortable.

I think a lot of people would come to my side and cast an understanding nod.

But, though I would appreciate the empathy, I cannot agree with the reasoning behind it.

Simply put, faith comes from the hearing of the word. I can’t find it in the Bible that true faith grows on a person, or is gradually realized from being moved by good deeds (although this would help out alot.) I disagree with St. Francis of Assisi. The Gospel must nessecarily  be preached with words.   

Look at the evidence: Great revivals trace back to great preaching by great preachers. John Sung, Wesley, Spurgeon, Moody and the like. The Apostles preached, Paul certaily did and Jesus himself took every opportunity to preach (and discuss) the good news. Mother Teresa may have inspired many-only to more good works and not to belief in Christ per se.

Words are risky indeed. They reveal us as bigots, sometimes rightly so. It is a flawed tool, but a redeemed one. Simply put, it takes a lot of guts to say to a friend or stranger, " Repent of your sins and believe in Christ that you may be saved." And saved from what? Injustice, alienation and oppression? There is a part here that is being missed out and sadly underemphasized: Saved from future-but certain-judgement.

Sometimes the gospel is preached hurtfully, sometimes with arrogance, sometimes intolerantly and most often that not, demeaningly. But because the message is so precious and so urgeant, words are by far the fastest and most efficient way of getting the message across. I’ve heard it countless times, " Show don’t tell!" The truth of the matter is " Show AND TELL!"  

I guess it is time for me to make a choice and commitment. To share the gospel with at least ( I know modest lar, but must start small first right) one person by the end of this year.  

Can’t believe that in a twinkling of an eye, one year has passed. You must be thinking…kinda late for New Year sentimental mush rite…But we recieved the reminder to renew our tenancy agreement with our landlord.

Hmm, I guess I’ll take this opportunity to ask myself some questions, like…Have I grown? As a person? Spiritually? Mathematically?

I realized I’ve become less reflective of late. Less reflective posts, and more infrequent posting as well. I guess it’s time for me to really reevalute what I hope to achieve by blogging, why do I want to blog and why blogging is worth my time.

March…huh. Just the month March.  

I was looking through the past year paper for Graduate Analysis II.

It is undoable.

I have a strong suspicion that these ‘exam questions’ are actually some technical results used in an academic paper.

Sigh… 

It’s kinda inconvenient for me to get my weekly groceries now. The Shop ‘n’ Save at Ginza has just relocated and the entire mall is closing down.

I was chatting with my barber yesterday, and according to him Giant is taking over the place. But of course, the entire place needs to be renovated and that process would take about like 5-6 months?

I definately will be cooking less already.  

This marks the third day of the New Year. Been gradually reducing myself to a parasite that lives on chocolate alone. Indulging in such debauchery makes me a little guilty. But then again, it’s the holidays. Hee..

After the usual round of visiting(Bai Neen), and my grandmother’s open house, things slowly return to normal on the third day. Brother is going down to Seremban to resume the second half of his course: the clinical phase. Wish him all the best.

And as for me, I’ll be returning to kiasuland this saturday (I think!) and back to work again. Gosh do I miss mathematical work.

Learning to give is hard, but I dare venture that learning to recieve is harder.

One becomes super modest or a brazen leech. Either way, it takes the joy out of giving.

Who gives a heck care of the commercialization during V’dae. Roses may be overpriced, but they are for my special one, and she’s the only one that matters during this special day.

Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with the status of my love life k. Last time I checked, I’m still available…  

Fell sick today. Groan. Spent most of the day sleeping and finishing up the remnants of my Functional Analysis homework.

An aside, I’ll be heading home for CNY on Thursday nite.  

But maybe falling sick was good in a way- Forcing me to take a good rest. Real rest. Anyways, feeling better now. I’m sure I can make it to school tomorrow.  

When I was young, my family would head down to my grandmother’s place every weekend. Besides meeting up with my cousins, I would also help myself to the extensive video collection that my aunt had. Compared to now, I realized that they don’t make movies like they used to.

(Lame nostalgic post…or not)

The don’t make action films like Commando (Arnold Swarzenegger….yes he was an action hero before being governor.)  

They don’t make James Bond like Octopussy or  A View to a Kill and the like. (Casino Royale is excellent cinema, but I don’t see 9 year olds identifying with Daniel Craig’s cool poker performance.)

They don’t make sci-fi like Empire Strikes Back. ("Luke…I am your father" must be the most recognizable film scene in movie history, not to mentioned the most parodied ) 

…

It’s different nowadays. Somehow, cinema takes itself too seriously nowadays. Serious cinema is now about making a social statement, a political statement, a religous statement. They may be many contemporary movies like Citizen Kane, but they are hard to identify with. They are many political thrillers, suspense and movies criticizing the Bush government, but no real satire like Dr Strangeglove:  How I stop worrying and learnt to love the Bomb.

I guess its true as they say, the fall of the Wall changed everything.  

This issue of loan sharking has been in and on the news for such a long time. But this piece of news just broke something inside me.

Victimization.

Imagine the poor borrower, already harassed by the loan shark, now (if the cops get what they want) persecuted by the police?! Don’t they have enough to deal with already?

This is legalism at its worst. To get at what I’m trying to point at: Try substituting rape for loan shark harrasment and rape victim for borrower. It’s the same thing. But many don’t realize it because those who are rich and well off, just look down condescendingly at people who do.

We all know why people borrow money from loan sharks: The ease of getting the loan, desperation (from gambling, addiction, business losses). Often, the root problem is greed. But these are weaknesses of human nature-and it goes against the spirit of lawmaking to punish people for things like this.

More laws does not make a civil society. Laws do not deter people from breaking them, it just means there is more work for the police to do.

Better ways would be protection against the loan sharks, microcredit arrangement, financial counselling and even gambling addiction counselling if it applies. From what I read in the article, it would seem that the cops believe that making a better society means making more laws. Oh the fallacy in that sort of thinking!

Enough said. In short, I’m looking for society to be softer on the borrower and harsher on the lender, as it should be.  

…starts with a single step.

My supervisor has finally given me my first task. For those who die, die must know what I’m talking about:

" Calculate the K-types for the theta lift of U(p,q) to U(r,s)."

Treading excitedly and nervously.  

Yeah, thank God it’s Saturday.

What I have achieved during the week.

1. Finished (half) of Serge Lang’s SL2(R).

2. Finished my first Functional Analysis assignment.

3. Got our teaching assignments.

Yep its going to be a great weekend.  

The position of the books are intentional.

Measure and integral dominates Functional Analysis hands down. It may be half as thick, but cost me double in price.

The first thing I did when I woke up was to scan through the papers. And it was depressing…

Floods return to Johor. I read that even Singapore experienced flash floods.  

Customer intimidation by a taxi driver. My father’s brother-in-law is a taxi driver. People like this only give his profession a bad name. But the question to ask, why are people like the reported driver even driving taxis!!??

This one makes me particularly angry. Are people that desperate? Was he high on drugs? Speechless in the face of such blatant evil and selfishness…

Do we (guys and girls) have any shred of self-dignity and decency left? But the greater tragedy would to blame the girls (as it is the spin given in the news article). After all it takes two to tango. Will the school authorities also investigate the guys involved and charge them for sex with a minor?

When we do pray, how can we even start?  

Wahliu…my god sister tease me today…didn’t know she had it in her.

If I ever have children of my own, I’ll make sure they never turn 12-13.

Man, kids this age are both 1) an ocean of uncontrollable energy 2) as easily bored to the bone.

Seriously, I respect all those FaithActs staff. How they can make a career out of interacting with 12-18 year olds and turning them for the better. 

GESS (Gan Eng Seng School) Project Camp was an overnight orientation camp for Secondary one kids. I volunteered as a station master and also in the general running of the camp (cleaning up, moving stuff etc…)

It was an eye opener for me. I seriously doubt I would have volunteered for such things if I were younger. But I felt that God was pushing me out of my comfort zone here, and so I took the step of faith. I was nice meeting and working side other volunteers from SMU and church as well. It was good for me to get to know new people.

I also discovered that I don’t handle kids very well either. Hmm…something to think about yeah. Controlling a class (about 40 students) was hard. I realized that it was wrong to force kids to be silent before they listen to you. It just wont work (they are too excited). A better approach is to get at their attention first, and get the message across within the shortest span possible (attention span is short).

(Although the FaithActs staff are all christian, the camp itself is secular in nature. It was attended by all normal tech and normal academic students in the cohort.)

I was dead tired after the camp. But boy, the sleep was refreshing indeed.  

Would I volunteer again for such things. Maybe lah, but for older kids yeah…. 

I will be away helping out the FaithActs team in conducting the Gan Eng Seng SecSchool Sec 1 Orientation Camp over the weekend.

Hope to blog about it when I get back. Until then… 

I’m back. And I’ve changed the layout of my blog. Use Firefox for best viewing results. IE is considered broken!

2007 is the year Malaysia celebrates her 50th year of independance.

All the best for Malaysians in all walks of life, young and old, poor and rich. I hope that this year will be the year that we realize that we are celebrating an independance to be, much more than an independance from.

Am heading back to Singapore tonight. Had a great time of rest and catching up with my cousins. I have a new addition to my extended family. My parents just got a new niece, which looks really like a ‘Japanese doll.’

Hope the new year brings new things to celebrate and new things to hope for.

I am thankful, and I’m sure my siblings are as well, for my parents insistence that learning is more than the exam syllabus.

No country has a perfect education system, simply because there are no perfect parents. Education is a parents reponsibility, I think. Learning starts when a baby is born, and ends when I lie on my deathbed. Education, to put it simply, is the love for learning. And who better to inspire children to become educated than parents themselves.

But we must take responsibility for our own decisions. And we cannot blame our parents for our shortcomings. Unfortunately, there has been a serious lack of willingness to take personal responsibility in Malaysia. That’s the tragedy and part of the malaise that is my tanah tumpah-Nya darahku.

Going back first thing in the morning. My long awaited holiday.

Merry Christmas everyone!