Only If I Say So!

An interesting debate was broadcasted in several forms of media over the past 3 months. A Christian publication wanting to publish their gospel in the Bahasa Melayu aka Malay Language has blown the skirt high above the knee of the Malaysian government.

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/304761.asp

Apparently to make the Christian publication more easily understood by the locals, it had to be translated into Bahasa Melayu. This is natural as most missionaries create awareness of Christianity in a foreign land by translating text of the Bible into the local language. But this publication got into trouble when there is only one word used to describe the Almighty.

Or so it appears that in the Bahasa Melayu, there is no other words to describe another Almighty Being other than "Allah" which refers to the "only" Almighty Being quoted in the Quran. And so it is debated that the use of the "Allah" word if quoted in the Christianity publication in the Malay language will confuse Malay speaking Muslims.

Seriously speaking, a language should be designed to be able to be expanded with new text when there is a need. In the Mandarin language, the word "神" which is the equivalent of God, can be referred to the Almighty of the Quran or the Almighty of the Bible or the Deities of Chinese folklores etc. We don't see the Chinese Muslims getting worked up over the word "神" that is also used commonly in Chinese temples or Churches. Nor are we getting any feedback from the Arab world where they live and breathe Islam and practice the Hudud law.

And so the resolution that came after months of debate was this. The Malaysia government finally allowed the use of the word "Allah" to be quoted in the translated Christian publication in the native Bahasa Melayu aka Malay language. But here's the catch, only if it is not meant for non-muslims that speak Malay. In Malaysia, almost 100% of the ethnic Malays are Muslims. And in Malaysia, Islam is the main religion which its followers makes up more than 60.4% of the population.

If the original intent of the Christian publication to be printed in Bahasa Melayu is not meant to reach out to ethnic Malays, then why did they want to translate it in the first place. To put a stumbling block to the Christians' intent shows that the nation or its incumbent goverment takes a stand to defend its rights to maintain its Islamic preference.

The most interesting derivative that came from this debate over the various sources of media is that, Malaysia, or rather its incumbent government had a big debate over if it was a "Secular State" or "Islamic State" just a few months ago when Malaysia went to the Polls. And several ministers have to seek clarification from the incumbent party with regards to public statements made from its former Prime Minister and a few other ministers from the same party which insinuate that Malaysia is an Islamic state. As at time of its recent polls, other than adding more cloud to the topic, there were no clear statements on the issue. And hence it suffered greatly at its recent polls.

So the real question here is, how forgetful can they be to not realise that the "secular/islamic state" debate had costed them a few states. The media can be forgetful in the old days when the only archives are the old newspapers, stashed under the shoe cabinet, are the only way to retrieve old news for the everyday Malaysian.

But bear in mind, with the technology in hand nowadays, we all know that:
Wikipedia is not forgetful.
Blogs are permanent memories.
Google brings everything up in an instant.

They have got to realise that the voters are no longer easily convinced.
Every act, every statement and every bill is taken apart, scrutinised and etched forever somewhere on the internet.


Today is the 2nd March 2009
Time now is 10:24 hrs

I'm not Malaysian and I'm not a Muslim.

Tom Yam Soup

Our last visit to Thailand was a couple of months ago.

I brought my wife to this restaurant near Hwai Kuang train station in Bangkok, it was called Soong Boon Crab Restaurant. Though as it's name suggests, we did not try the crab. But instead ordered the grilled fish and Tom Yam soup.

It was that moment when our Tom Yam craze started.
After trying out the Soong Boon Tom Yam soup, we knew once we returned back to Singapore, we are going to miss this very much.

So, that same night, we went to the local Bangkok supermarket looking for the best Tom Yam paste to buy home so we will be able to satisfy our cravings.

We tried our hand at cooking the Tom Yam soup a few times after returning to Singapore. But nothing could compare to the taste when we tried the Tom Yam soup at Soong Boon Restaurant.

It's not as if that visit to Soong Boon was our first tasting of Tom Yam soup but it kinda ignited the cravings. And so our cravings for good Tom Yam soup were insatiable back in Singapore....

Until one night we decided to go for Indonesian food. We used to eat Es Teler 77 at Far East Plaza. We know that they had a branch at City Plaza near Paya Lebar but when we reached there it was already closed. But the open air restaurant next to it was still serving. They had satay, some rice with meat dishes, mainly halal dishes with a splash of thai flavour.

Didn't think much about the order but when the Tom Yam soup came at a delayed time when we'd almost finished our rice, we couldn't stop scooping more of the soup into our mouths.

That Tom Yam soup was almost as good and tasty as the one we had in Bangkok and what's so interesting about the soup was that it also ignited memories of that trip..

Perhaps, just perhaps, we have cravings for certain foods merely because we long for the memory which is imprinted in association with the taste and could only be refreshed by eating the same food again.


We are headed there again next week for Tom Yam soup.
Location is at City Plaza, Opposite Paya Lebar MRT
Can't remember the name of the halal open air restaurant but its just next to "Es Teler 77".

Today is 28th Feb 2009
Time now is 22:24 hrs

Colourful

Google paid me $100 USD!

Yes..

Google recently paid me a cheque of $100 USD.

Took me 3 years to earn a measly $100 USD from them.

However, the cost of investment of my websites, my time and resources all outweigh the US$100 benefits.


In these 3 years, I'd bought several domains and created multiple websites..
All in the name of creating content that hopefully will be interesting enough for returning visitors.

just to name a few

www.shot2fame.com/star
www.sglnx.com
www.singsoc.com
www.farbird.com
www.bowen-alumni.com

Alas, all is not lost.
I'd picked up quite a few skills about creating websites and content management.

Still it was quite a pleasant surprise to receive a cheque from Google of USA.

Today is 26th Feb 2009
Time now is 23:46hrs

Still waiting for the bank to clear the cheque.

For those whom wanna try their hand at getting some $$$ from Google,

try

http://www.google.com/adsense

Today News Tagline

A lesser known piece of news on 17th February 2009.

A USA listed life sciences firm opens in Singapore.

The company name is Millipore.

The news tag??


Millipore opens in Singapore!

Tuesday boredom.


Today is 17th February 2009
Time is 08:57hrs

A Man Apart

Take a man apart..
Strip his name,
Take away his freedom,
Remove him of his possessions,

All that is left will be
His intelligence,
His willpower,
His patience
And his determination.

Those are things which cannot be taken away.
Stick to them,
Be proud of them because these are the qualities of a man that eventually will earn him his respect.

Dig it!

Today is 14 February 2009
Time is 05:46hrs

A man is trying his best.