Valentine’s Day Jailhouse Blues

I am no big fan of Valentine’s Day.  My wife and I think it is silly to celebrate our love on the one specific day of the year when all the florists, shopkeepers and restaurants have their knives out to slaughter lovers with exorbitant prices.  In the modern context, Valentine’s Day is just another over-hyped, commercial event.    Historically, the romantic associations with Valentine’s Day has nothing to do with Saint Valentine who was not remembered as some patron of lovers.  Valentine is remembered on that day because he was a martyr who was brutally killed for his faith.  Inspirational, maybe.  Romantic? No.

Apparently, the first known association of  Valentine’s Day with romance and love comes from Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem “Parlement of Foules” which was written in 1382.  In the poem, he wrote;

“For this was Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate”

So, apparently, Chaucer was referring to a special day when birds in Britain choose their mate.  And even then, he may also have exercised poetic license cause February 14th is way too early and cold for returning birds to be turning to thoughts of love.

So, Valentine’s Day to me is just a load of hogwash.  Still, I respect the right of the gullible to fall for the modern marketing gimmicks and the right of hopeless romantics to knock themselves out to celebrate the loves of their lives. Hey, it can even be fun watching some of their antics.

Roses are Red,

Violets are Blue,

Celebrating Valentine’s can be costly,

And land you in jail too.

 

However, be warned that since 2005 Muslims in Malaysia can be arrested for celebrating Valentine’s Day and in fact more than 100 Muslim couples were arrested last year.   Proponents and supporters of this “law” give three main reasons;

1. Valentine’s Day is associated with elements of Christianity.
2. Celebrating Valentine’s Day leads to immoral acts (they call it sinful sexual gratification day).
3. Asking someone to be your Valentine is akin to idolatry.

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) is pushing for more arrests this year for Muslim couples out on the town celebrating  this terrible Day.  They are also asking the government to ban hotels from offering any Valentine’s Day specials which they say may lead to couples spending an illicit night at the hotels.  Finally, they are asking the government to place public service announcements on national television to warn Muslims from celebrating the Day.  What killjoys!

Perhaps the ladies are more romantic cause the Sisters in Islam (SIS) spoke out against PAS’s anti-Valentine’s Day campaign.  One of SIS members was quoted as saying, ““It will be better for them to concentrate on other important matters like the backlog of syariah cases in court or the payment of alimony to wife and children.”

Right on, ladies.  As I said, I am no big fan of Valentine’s Day but I believe that those who want to, have every right to pay five times the normal price for flowers or blow a month’s salary on a romantic dinner.  After all as they say “love makes fools of us all” and “fools and their money are soon parted.”

Happy Valentine’s Day young lovers wherever you are.

Kecak

Our friend Mago does a series on his blog called “Sunday Music” and just recently he covered a song by Annette Hanshaw (1901-1985).  In his post, he included the use of that song in an animated version of the Ramayana story.  A rather unusual combination which you should check out.

Anyway, this reminded me that I had a related post that had long been on the back-burner and I decided it was time to bring it to a boil.

In Bali, Indonesia, there is a dance called the kecak dance in which dancers enact the Ramayana story with musical accompaniment provided by the rhythmic, hypnotic chanting of a large group of men.  It is quite an experience.  I have had the good fortune of witnessing it twice.  Once, I saw it as part of a dinner performance at an international beach hotel in Nusa Dua (which is where all the photos  below were taken) and once at a sunset ceremonial performance at the clifftop temple at Uluwatu.  Of the two, I really must recommend the spectacular setting at the Uluwatu temple which also includes a fire dance.  If you are ever in Bali, this is definitely one of the highlights not to be missed.  To tantalise you, I have included a video by Hawaiian filmmaker and reknown hula dancer Kimokekahuna at the Uluwatu temple.

The Ramayana is a classic Hindu story.  In brief, the kecak dance is about the hero Rama and his beautiful wife Siti.  One day while in the forest, Siti sees a golden deer and begs Rama to capture it for her.  He leaves Siti under the protection of his brother Lakshmana and chases after the deer.  Sometime later, Siti is misled into thinking that she hears Rama calling for help.  Fearful for her husband, she pleads for Lakshmana to go and search for Rama.  Lakshmana is reluctant to do so at first but eventually gives in to her pleas and disappears into the forest looking for Rama.

But it was all a ploy to get Siti alone and unprotected and she is kidnapped by the demon King Ravana and taken to his kingdom of Lanka.  The rest of the story is about how Rama defeats Ravana and rescues Siti with the help of the white monkey king, Hanuman and his army of monkeys.

 

Kecak Dance and Dinner at the Grand Hyatt, Nusa Dua, Bali.

 

The Bad Guy Appears

 

Fight! Fight! Fight!

 

Left to Right: The Golden Deer, Little Tourist and Some Character that I Can't Remember

 

The Bad Guys After Losing Again

 

The White Monkey King Giving Me the Thumbs Up

 

 

 

The Other Side of the Tracks

Trying Not to Draw Attention While Crossing the Tracks (Photo: The Telegraph,U.K.)

Last weekend, I made a visit to the other side of the tracks.  The occasion was a sad one.  It was  to attend a Hindu prayer ceremony  for a young woman of 40  who passed away from leukemia after a brief illness.  She was the daughter of M, a  long time family friend of Indian descent.

He worked for my parents on and off for some 45 years,  initially as our gardener and later on in various roles as the need arose.  He watched me and my siblings grow up.  In the same way, we also witnessed his family grow up and his pride as he toiled hard to provide for his four children, giving them education and opportunities in life that he and his wife never had.

I had visited M and his family many years before in their home which was at that time in an illegal squatter village but after saving money and lobbying the government for affordable low cost housing, he and his family moved into a tiny two room, 600 sq feet flat.

This was my first visit to M’s current home.  My wife was very concerned.  It was located on the “wrong side of the tracks” – an area that in the mind of  middle-class citizens like myself is out of bounds; a nasty and unsafe place with gangsters ready to pounce on anyone that doesn’t belong there.

Indeed, there was a feeling of neglect and apprehension when I got there.  M’s home is part of  a series of low cost flats.  There were seven blocks; each block had 20 floors with 20 units on each floor.  But the units are tiny and the corridors are cramped.  The stairwells are dark and dirty.  Everyone was in so close proximity and the walls were so thin that privacy was practically non-existent.  While we were participating in the prayer ceremony, we could hear the neighbors cheering on the national soccer team whose game with rivals Singapore was being telecasted on the TV.

The main prayer ceremony took place in M’s small hall which could only accommodate about 20 people standing packed like sardines around the priest  who sat in a lotus position in front of an altar.  Another 10-15 peered in from the narrow corridor outside the flat and another 30 well wishers sat near a modest offering of food and refreshments that had been placed near the stairwell.  Unlike the flats in Singapore which have a communal hall in each block for residents to use for such occasions, these flats do not have such facilities.

I was very conspicuously out of place.  Firstly, every body else present was of Indian descent; very dark skinned.  Despite my recent attempts at a tan, I was whiter than Snow White by contrast (or should I have said, Prince Charming?).  Next, with the exception of M’s eldest son, I stood a full head and shoulders over everyone.  Almost all of them knew very little English and while they could speak Malay, the national language, most chose to use their mother tongue, Tamil.  Hence, my conversations were limited to polite chatter about the food and the weather.

The weather! Despite the rain, it was stuffy and humid and I stood out again cause I was sweating like a pig whereas, the rest were quite used to the conditions and were perspiration free. (Actually, do pigs sweat a lot?  Just wondering where the saying comes from.)

So to summarize, I was white, tall, sweaty, non-Tamil speaking and clearly not from the hood.

Anyway, the reason for this rambling post is that it was a reminder to me how much the gulf between worlds of the rich and poor in Malaysia has widened.

Don’t get me wrong.  I have seen abject poverty; families living in wooden shacks with leaking roofs, rotting floorboards and in real danger of collapsing.  M is not poor.  He is in the lower income group.  He has worked hard.  His children have all done better than he has in terms of better paying jobs.  He would be proud of his achievements.  But this is what gets me.  He deserves to be living in better conditions than this urban and concrete monstrosity.  I feel he had more space, had more privacy, a cooler environment and a more lively and caring community when all he had was a squatter hut.

I am ashamed to say that I was quite fearful for my safety as I left the flat that night.  It felt like I was on the radar of every predatory gangster as I walked along the poorly lit path back to my car.

This wasn’t always the case.  I remember that when I was growing up, the gap between the rich and poor was not so wide.  I had childhood friends from every tier of society.  I had friends who lived in palatial homes full of marble and rosewood furniture.  I had friends whose mothers would treat us to cake and imported chocolates when we visited.  I also had friends who lived in dark dingy spaces above sundry shops in old pre-war buildings in the centre of town.  Dark and dingy but yet I remember them as cool and welcoming too.  I also had friends who lived in tiny pigeon hole flats but there was much more community spirit in those days.  Why, one childhood highlight was to visit one such friend during Chinese New Year and take part in a fireworks war where we shoot off rockets at other schoolmates who live in the block of flats opposite.  One day, we would visit someone and play with his drum set and the next we would visit someone else and catch tadpoles in the drain behind his shack.

In those days, being rich did not make you separate from the rest of society.  You may build a big mansion but it would still be found in the same neighbourhood with everyone else.  You may be rich but back then you still did your marketing in the same neighbourhood wet market or at the same sundry shop.  You may be rich but everyone enjoyed sipping coffee in a traditional Chinese coffee shop.

In contrast, today, the rich seclude themselves behind security walls and gated communities and the poor are hidden in distant parts of town or behind colourful billboards and hoardings.  The rich today have abandoned the wet market and shop only in high end supermarkets and complexes.  The coffee shop has been abandoned in favour of Starbucks and CoffeeBean.  Their children are now enrolled in private schools where everyone is from some shade of wealthy.

And so, many of the rich have no idea what life is on the other side of the tracks.  Like me, I think we need to go there and be reminded that life is about much more than just money in the bank.

For M, his daughter leaves behind a young son (his father died in a road accident before he was born) and despite M’s advanced age, he may have to keep on working to help raise the boy.    His struggle continues  but so does his joy for he has done much with his life with what he has been given.

Spiritual Highs

As you may know, I was away attending a Christian Youth Camp about 2 weeks ago.  I had agreed to share the teaching duties with my friend, Michael and so I found myself amongst a group of about 45 teenagers.

This Is Where We Stayed

The camp was held in a small fishermen’s village located on the coast about 10 km from the town of Kuantan.  This area has some great beaches but ours was not so much.

Our Beach Was The Not So Nice One Next To This

The programme was exhausting. The typical day starts at 7 am when campers are encouraged to do some morning exercise like a run along the beach.  That is followed with breakfast, an hour of singing and group games, an hour talk, an hour of group discussion, lunch, a short break, an hour of indoor games, another talk, another group discussion, an hour of football, an hour at the beach, dinner, more group games, talentime and skits until 11 in the evening.  They kept up the frantic pace for the three days but there were some tired souls by the end of camp.

Some of the Young People

I spoke to them on two topics; freedom and self-esteem.  My colleague spoke on “boy-girl relationships” and he ended the camp with a powerful session of personal sharing and the gospel message.  Some non-Christians responded by wanting to know more about the Good News.  We were also blessed as we witnessed 4 young people share their testimony of faith in Jesus Christ and were later baptised in the sea (although they had to walk a long way out as it was low tide).

This Young Lady Is Giving Her Testimony Before Being Baptised

Among the many activities, one of the highlights was when the campers made rocket ships out of plastic bottles.  These ships were then launched from a special apparatus with a little bit of help from some water and pressurised air.  Surprisingly, after a few false starts, we had a few rockets reach up to about 15 m in the air and traveled as far as some 150 m distant.

Houston, We Have a Problem

It took many shots before I got this one which captures a rocket in flight soon after lift-off.  Two important lessons I learned from camp was that God is Good for all generations and that I am not young anymore.  I needed some serious R & R after this camp.

Houston, We Have Lift Off!!!!

 

Speak Sweetly and Join a Club

Attention ladies!  Have I got a club for you!  Men, you might find this interesting too.  Last weekend, the Malaysian chapter of the “Obedient Wives Club” or OWC was launched in Kuala Lumpur with 800 registered members.  This is the second chapter of the club; the first being in Jordan with 200 members.  Another chapter is due to be launched in Indonesia soon and it is probably a matter of time before you will find one near where you live.

The OWC believes that many of society ills such as prostitution, domestic violence, human trafficking and abandoned babies can be solved if the man is kept happy, fulfilled and sexually satisfied within the marriage context.   Well, I will let the OWC Vice President (or is that president of vice; I get confused) explain it herself  below……

She went on to say that to achieve this, wives must “serve their husbands better than a first-class prostitute”.  The Club will be offering women classes on sexual techniques and performances as well as marriage counseling.  For advanced members, you might be invited to join their sister club, “the Polygamy Club” (I kid you not), in situations where one obedient wife is not enough to satisfy .

I suppose clubs like these have always been important throughout the history of human male – female relationships.  For example, I imagine the following to be a typical interaction during the distant Stone Age.

Caveman says to Cavegirl, “I like you.  Would you like to join my club?”

Cavegirl says, “Sure, I would like to join your club.”

Caveman hits her on the head with club and drags her off, unconscious by her hair into marital bliss.

Clubs Were Also Important in Stoneage Marraiges

While female members of OWC get to go to all those exciting classes, one has to wonder what the club offers to male members.  I don’t know this as a fact but if they model the club along the lines of  a book club, perhaps the men get a wife-of-the-month selection.

Oh, I  am sure that you can tell how proud I am that this comes from Malaysia.  I await with anticipation, your thoughts on this, dear readers.

But I am a Smooth Man

A couple of days ago, my wife and I were at a downtown shopping mall.  We seldom venture there and are always amazed at the changes that we see between each visit.  This time, while we were riding the lift, I noticed that they had labelled the floor buttons on the lift according to the main attractions on each floor.  Hence, the ground floor was named the Star Walk which referred to a collection of alfresco dining places with patios facing the street.  The first floor was named after a Japanese speciality restaurant and so on.  The second floor caught my eye though.  It was called “Strip: The Ministry of Waxing”.

I had never heard of such a thing.  Having a perverted mind, I immediately thought of Monty Python‘s Ministry of Funny Walks – why? where did your perverted mind  take you?  Anyway, my curiosity got the better of me.  I had to find out more about this “Ministry of Waxing”.  I thought I could write a satirical piece on it or parody it.

Well, I looked it up and I don’t think I want to even try to improve on what you can find on their website:  Strip: Ministry of Waxing.

If you visit and read their information page, these would be some of the tidbits of information that you will find;

• They have offices in New York, London, Singapore, Shanghai, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta and Hong Kong.
• That they offer Brazilian waxes.
•  That they claim to have “pruned” two million bushes worldwide.
• That their mission is to help us “conquer body foliage”.
• That it was all started in Singapore by their founder, Cynthia Chua – their “original smooth operator”.
• That Cynthia strove through selfless self experimentation (ow!) to produce Brazilian waxing techniques which were more hygienic, less embarrassing and  less painful.
• That their Holy Trinity mantra is Hygiene, Speed and Quality.
• That they don’t “double dip” into their hot wax for different clients.
• That their “team of super nimble Waxperts can scythe through any errant bush, in a record-breaking 15 minutes!”
• “No pruning is too complicated. No crevice is too difficult to reach. “

There! Probably much more than you need to know about Strip: Ministry of Waxing.  I was correct when I thought about Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks cause after the Brazilian waxing comes the silly walk, no?

Anyway, my perverted mind led me to another British comedy classic by Alan Bennett which is entitled “Take a Pew” or as I remember it, “Esau was a hairy man”.  This is pure genius of British satire.  However, not everyone is going to understand it.  It will likely either have you laughing in stitches or leave you shaking your head, wondering what it is all about.  I am actually doing a couple of sermons this week – pray I do better than Alan Bennett.  Ladies and Germs, I present to you  “Take a Pew”.

What Silence Sounds Like….

Wow.  My last post was half a month ago.  I hadn’t realised it had been so long ago.  In fact it has been so long since my last post that my good friend Mago has been searching for me in Trappist Monasteries.  He seems to think my long absence from the blog was due to me getting kidnapped by Trappist Monks and perhaps intoxicated and enticed by Trappist beer, joining their order (Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance) and taking on a vow of silence.  Dear Mago, thank you for your concern but such a thing did not happen and even if it did, it would not have stopped be from blogging cause the vow of silence does not stop them from having their own website and hence I suppose I would not have been prevented from blogging as long as I do it silently.

No, my absence was not due to such exciting and fanciful reasons; they were unfortunately more mundane, unexciting and a lot more unpleasant than drinking beer.  This last two week was occupied with brushes with the law, sitting in doctors waiting rooms, sleeping in hospital rooms and rushing through some work related reports.

Someone close to me got entangled with the law which necessitated my going to the police station a few times in an attempt to get him out on police bail.  It was all a misunderstanding and all charges against him was subsequently dropped but not until I got a glimpse of how the penal system works  or rather how it isn’t working the way it ought to.  However, it is a sensitive issue so I will have to take the vow of silence here. “I ain’t no stool pigeon, see…..!”

Someone else who is very close to me needed to go to hospital several times to be poked and have all variety of bodily fluids sampled.  The subsequent diagnosis is quite life changing.  Unfortunately, I have no permission to share the details here so on this too, I shall have to remain silent for now.  But perhaps it will be a post on its own in the near future.

I could talk about all the hard work I put in to get those work related reports done on time (Well actually past the dateline.  Hope no one noticed), but that is one topic that you probably wish I remain silent on.

Oh well.  It’s hard to think about what to write when you’ve been away for awhile.  You know……..like you lost your chain of thought.  But any way, hope everyone had a blessed Easter; best wishes to William and Kate on their new marriage and good luck with all the invasion of privacy and the “annoying little buzzing mosquitoes” (the paparazzi);  best wishes to my friends Jade and Eugene who chose to get married on the same weekend as the other couple (does that make it easier to remember the anniversary?);  and my condolences to those who have suffered loss in the recent tornado outbreak in the USA (I hope that none of my blogger friends were directly or indirectly affected).

Well, I think I shall followup on a suggestion by Geewits and I will reach back in time and retell a tale from my student days in London for my  next post.  But for now, I return to the starting theme of this post and give you the original “Sound of Silence” by the iconic Simon and Garfunkel.

And speaking about monks and silence, I couldn’t resist this offering from Gregorian monks.  Turn up the volume though cause the sound is so soft it is almost silent.

Fallen Knights

Who will stand for the weak, the powerless and the downtrodden?

Who will stand against  injustice but for the rights of the minorities?

And who will weep for them who gave it all for others?

These modern-day knights slained by the dragon of intolerance,

Sacrificed on the altar of bigotry and hatred.

Will you weep?  Will you light a candle for them?

Will we keep the light burning bright.

For the poor, the downtrodden and the fallen knights.

(Fallen Knights by LGS)

 

 

Wasif Ali Khan Weeps for His Friend, Shahbaz Bhatti (Photo by Anjum Naveed / AP)

Two days ago, Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistan Government Minister for Religious Minorities, was ambushed by three gunmen as he was on his way to attend a cabinet meeting after visiting with some poor constituents.  The only Christian minister in the Pakistan Cabinet, his car was stopped by the gunmen who then opened the passenger door and sprayed the interior with bullets. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.

Just a month earlier, Salmaan Taseer, the Muslim Governor of Pakistani Punjab and a co-supporter of his views, was killed by one of his own bodyguards.   Sadly, Taseer’s killer, although under arrest,  has been feted by many as a hero; even by some of the police.  Both Bhatti and Taseer were singled out for punishment  because they were pushing for a reform of  Pakistan’s blasphemy law, reform in the application of Syariah law and because of their support for the release of Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of five  who is under death sentence under the Blasphemy law.

The Blasphemy Law makes it a capital offence to insult the Prophet Muhammad.  Some may argue that this is against the principle of free speech but of greater concern is that Human Rights observers report that it is often invoked by one party to settle rivalries, feuds and disputes.  In the case of Aasia Bibi, there was already a long standing feud between Bibi and a neighbor over some property damage.  Then in June 2009, Bibi, who worked as a farm hand, was asked to fetch water for her fellow workers to drink.  When she came back, some of her Muslim co-workers refused to drink claiming that being a Christian, she had made the water “unclean”.  Some arguments ensue.  Later a mob descended on her home and started beating her and her family.  The police came to her rescue but after listening to the villagers, arrested and charged her under the Blasphemy Law.  Bhatti and Taseer believed that the law had been misused to settle a score.  Taseer had indicated that as Governor, he would likely pardon Bibi.  Then he was assassinated.

Bhatti knew that he was a target.  In fact, after Taseer’s assassination,  he considered himself to be “the highest target right now”.  Some of the country’s religious leaders had even publicly called for his death. He insisted on keeping to his work schedule and refused bodyguards, noting that it had done Taseer no good.

“I’m not talking about special security arrangements. We need to stand against these forces of terrorism because they’re terrorising the country.  I cannot trust on security…. I believe that protection can come only from heaven, so these bodyguards can’t save you.” Bhatti said at the time.“

When informed by  security officers that there was a plot to assassinate him,  he did ask for a bulletproof car but strangely, he was never given one.  He must have felt increasingly alone and exposed.  He even made a video recording with instructions that it be sent to the BBC if he should be killed.  He made a telephone call to a BBC correspondent before his death saying,  ” They say there’s a terrorist plot to assassinate me. They’ve told me to be careful, but didn’t tell me anything else. I haven’t been given any extra security. It’s just the same as it has been since I became a minister. I have struggled for a long time for justice and equality. If I change my stance today, who will speak out? I am mindful that I can be assassinated any time, but I want to live in history as a courageous man.”

And so he gave his life for the cause of others.  (“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13).  Join me in remembering these brave men of principle and humanity, Shahbaz Bhatti and Saleem Taseer.  One a Christian and another a Muslim, but both united in serving for the greater good of their community and especially for the disenfranchised and oppressed.  Join me also in praying for their family and loved ones in this time of loss.

Post Script: Unfortunately, the move to reform the Blasphemy Laws seems to have been mortally wounded by Bhatti’s death. The government has reintegrated on the promise to push for reform.  Without party support, member of parliament,  Sherry Rehman, had to drop her reform bill and now she has had to disappeared from view due to concerns for her safety.

Say No to Intolerance

Regular readers will know that apart from my Chicken Little – the sky is falling approach to the topic of climate change and the very rare, occasional rant,   I try to keep this blog a bright and happy place.  But there has been too much happening in the news to keep the dark clouds away.

The situation in Egypt and Tunisia is one of great tragedy.  It starting in Tunisia when a poor street vendor,  Mohamed Bouazizi, was prevented from trading and earning an income in a place with 30% unemployment as a result of petty corruption and bureaucratic indifference.  The young man, left with no options or hope, set himself alight in front of the governor’s office and died of his wounds.  His cry for a chance to live with dignity and freedom resonated with the Tunisian people and was the spark that led to the protests that brought down the government of President Ben Ali.  And the vision of a chance for a better life spread to Egypt where the protests have claimed more than 300 lives already.  However, there have been uplifting moments too.   I cannot feel but inspired when I heard about how Christians and Muslims in Egypt are uniting for the common good.  Specifically, it has been encouraging to hear of both Christian and Muslim services conducted to pay respect for the dead or when the Christian protesters stood on guard by providing a cordon of protection for their Muslim brothers while the latter performed their Friday prayers in Tahrir Square – the epicenter of the protests in Cairo.  While we hope for a good outcome to all this for the people of Egypt in the future, it is already a blessing to see this kind of mutual inter-faith cooperation and respect.

Unfortunately, religious intolerance is still all to real and prevalent in the world.  Now atrocities committed in the name of religion has occurred throughout history.  So much so that atheists like Richard Dawkins point to such atrocities as proof that religion is a subversive delusion and he claims that atheists would never commit the same atrocities.  I don’t happen to agree with Richard Dawkins on a lot of things (after all did not atheist Stalin create the Gulags?  or atheist Chairman Mao oversee the Cultural Revolution in China that killed millions?  or how about the Khmer Rogue?) but religious intolerance really reflects badly on religions and give atheists a lot of ammunition.

I am sure most of us are glad that things like the Spanish Inquisition or the Holocaust has been relegated to history and hopefully with vigilance, never to return.  However, I have been disturbed by recent news from Indonesia and Afghanistan which are the anti-thesis to the religious cooperation shown by the Christian and Muslim protesters in Egypt.

First, I refer to the attacks on religious minorities in Indonesia.  In the video below, an inflamed mob attacks a small community of a minority Islamic sect, the Ahmadiyya.  Buildings and property was destroyed but worse of all, three men were stripped naked and beaten and stoned to death.  Several others are hospitalised in serious condition and two are missing.  The police are seen in the video doing little to stop the violence and to protect the victims.  The government reiteration that they will protect the minority groups ring hollow when the President seems to imply that the sect brought the violence on themselves by not agreeing to stop their activities as per their “agreement”.

Christians are another religious minority  in Indonesia that have suffered from some form of religious discrimination for many years.  There have been civil unrest that have resulted in loss of life.  Last year, there were 45 officially recognised cases of attacks on Christians or their churches in Indonesia; ranging from vandalism and desecration to church closures to stabbings and bombs.  Like in the case of the Ahmadiyya attack, many civil society and human rights group wish that the authorities take more concrete and practical steps to protect minorities.

From Afghanistan, a video has emerged which graphically shows the stoning to death of a young couple sometime in August last year.  According to one report, the young couple eloped and fled to Pakistan.  However, they were enticed to return to their village by promises that the families were willing to reconcile and to give them a proper wedding.  Instead, on their return, they were sentenced by the Taliban to death by stoning for having a love affair.  The video of the merciless and brutal stoning of first the woman and then the man is so horrific that I do not want to have it on this blog.  Yet more people should see it and speak out against it.  If you want to see it, follow this link

Meanwhile, an estimated 5,000 “honour killings” are carried out every year where girls (and sometimes guys) are killed by family members for shaming the family.  In a recently highlighted case in Italy, a young woman, Hina Saleem, had shamed her family by refusing to an arranged marriage, smoking and living with her Italian boyfriend.  In an interview, the father claimed to be a good father and that he loved his daughter.  He slit her throat 27 times and then with the help of others buried the body.

If these things upset you or if you agree they must be stopped than please take action.  I appeal to people and religious leaders everywhere and of all creeds and religion to speak out against religious intolerance and the lack of respect for human life and dignity.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)

P.S. Please do not think I am singling out Islam (although I do wish the Ulamas and Islamic intellectuals take a much stronger stand against these acts) but these have been the recent examples of intolerance in the news.  The truth is no religion has been free of intolerance which I hold as a problem of  human beings rather than  the tenets of any religion.

Carolina Squirrel & the Holy Grail

There is a small, quaint and ancient cathedral hidden in the twisting alleyways of the Spanish town of Valencia.  The building itself is a strange oddity reflecting a variety of architectural styles ranging from early Romanesque, subtle Renaissance, heavy Baroque and the more restrained Neoclassical.

The intrepid Carolina Squirrel (Squirreldom’s equivalent of Indiana Jones; a dashingly handsome and rugged archaeologist/adventurer squirrel) followed the clues laid out by an ancient manuscript that he had decoded which is known as  “Lonely Planet – Valencia” and found himself outside this unique cathedral.

Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady of Valencia (Now that's a mouthful!)

Upon entering, Carolina Squirrel found a strange religious ceremony taking place in which two people carry out a public sacrifice of their freedom and swinging singlehood in a ritual known as a “marriage”.  While, Carolina Squirrel was mildly entertained by the local natives dressed up in their ceremonial robes, he was not deterred from his search.  With his squinty eyes, he scanned the dark recesses and elaborate carved decorations of the cathedral.  Then suddenly, he saw it!

Wedding Party

The Holy Grail!  The holy relic said to be a cup used by Christ at the last supper was here.  Dan Brown and his Da Vinci Code placed the grail as buried under the small pyramid at the Louvre in Paris.  Pffft!  He got it wrong!

The grail has been in Valencia since the 11th Century.  Tradition holds that Saint Peter brought it to Rome in the first century and then it was brought to Spain by Saint Lawrence in the third century.  Archaeologists have determined that the artifact is a Middle Eastern stone vessel which does in fact date back to the first century.  It now sits on top of an Medieval era ornate stem and base of  alabaster, gold and gemstones.   The cup was the official papal chalice of many popes and was most recently used by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. 

The Quest Has Ended.......it's the Holy Grail

Having triumphantly solved this mystery, the intrepid Carolina Squirrel is off to find Aladdin’s magic lamp.

*(The grey squirrel is known scientifically as Sciurus carolinensis.  Hence the choice of Carolina Squirrel in place of Indiana Jones.  “Carolina Squirrel and Aladdin’s Lamp” coming soon to a cinema near you ….as soon as I can get some %@*# backers with vision to fund its filming!)

All pictures by LGS