Iraqi Journalist Throws Shoe At Bush

This would be funny, under different circumstances - an Iraqi man throws his shoes at President George W. Bush during a a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The shoes missed their target (sadly, I wouldadd) and instead landed against the wall behind the two leaders.

The room erupted in chaos and the Iraqi man was dragged away. Bush later claimed that the room (other Iraqi reporters) were shouting their apologies.

The assailant was later identified as television correspondent Muntadar al-Zeidi.

"This is a farewell kiss, you dog," he yelled in Arabic. "This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

Excerpts from an AP report:
"The crowd descended on al-Zeidi, who works for Al-Baghdadia television, an Iraqi-owned station based in Cairo, Egypt. He was wrestled to the ground by security officials and then hauled away, moaning as they departed the room. Later, a trail of fresh blood could be seen on the carpet, although the source was not known. In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt."

The mass murderer gets shoes thrown at him. Big deal. Iraqi children, women and men have had to contend with shells, bombs, strip searches, imprisonment, humilliation and contempt as a result of Bush's pugnacious war policies. So kudos to the journalist who had the guts to do what so many of us wish we could. Throwing shoes is the least of what this man deserves.

It is not only the Iraqis such as al-Zeidi who are counting to the days when Bush will no longer be President. The world looks foward to it. Good riddance.

I hope that the Iraqi journalist is not tortured in prison by his fellow Iraqis.

One Jewish Suggestion to Counter Terror

I received an email from CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) a few days ago with a link to an article published in an American-Jewish newspaper called the 5 Towns Jewish Times. The author of the article had advocated the killing of innocent Muslim civilians as an "appropriate response" to terror acts committed by those claiming to be co-religionists.

Only a few hours after the article was posted online (and after I had visited it myself), the article link on the website was no longer valid. A search of the 5 Towns Jewish Times showed that the article had been removed. However, the print version of the article is still available in a PDF format of the whole newspaper.

I thought I would post the article on my blog for readers to make an independent assessment of the thought-processes of this Jewish writer. And the thought-processes of the 5 Towns Jewish Times editor who had believed it was ethical to publish the article.

**************
The Appropriate Response To Islamic Terror
BY LAWRENCE KULAK

Some of the greatest discoveries of medical science, most notably penicillin, have been made by sheer accident. It is a signal tragedy of our times that, in the all too conspicuous absence of competent statesmanship among the leadership of democracies around the world, the solutions to certain international security issues must also be discovered by accident.

About six months ago, there was an article published in the New York Times about an incident in Afghanistan where the U.S. military, while attempting to take out a certain Taliban terrorist, dropped a bomb on a tent that was occupied by members of his extended family, killing several women and children. The particular terrorist that was being hunted was not home at the time, although there were several others that were part of the same terrorist network who were also killed. This story ostensibly was published for the purpose of demonstrating the "horrors" of warfare, focusing primarily on the women and children in the tent who were killed, by all accounts of the U.S. military spokespeople, unintentionally.

In our dangerous age of political tentativeness and compromised militaries, however, there is an overwhelming probability that even top-ranking U.S. military commanders were unaware that they may have accidentally stumbled upon the solution to international terror.

I’ll never forget how, during the last Lebanon war with Hezbollah, an Orthodox Jewish Russian immigrant who had survived Stalin approached me, gesturing with his hand while repeating the word "tzetlach" ("notes" or "letters" in Yiddish). He was referring to the pieces of paper which were dropped by the Israeli Air Force over Lebanon warning civilians of the bombs that were about to be dropped. In the process, the Hezbollah terrorists were also warned, which may have allowed them to escape to the north in large numbers and ultimately force Israel to belatedly engage its ground troops, leading to numerous casualties and the loss of the war.

"Did Stalin drop tzetlach when he bombed Berlin during the Second World War?" my Russian immigrant friend asked, obviously comparing the militant, pro-Hezbollah Lebanese civilians to the citizens of Germany during the Holocaust. The United States, it seems, did in fact originally institute the practice of dropping leaflets over an enemy population, as it did before it bombed Dresden and Berlin, but apparently Stalin had his own ideas.

Israel was apparently afraid to stray from the U.S. precedent even if it meant risking the loss of a war. In terms of Jewish law, I think that the issue is probably clear. While no army should go out of its way to harm a civilian population in times of war, during the legitimate pursuit of an enemy that has instigated an attack against its people, a nation may defend itself with whatever means necessary, even if it includes causing death to civilians. Those who are inclined to issue knee-jerk gasps to this common sense state of affairs that is etched in the Mosaic law are probably easily forgetful of the fact that Muslim countries are routinely targeting innocent civilians via their terrorist proxies and leaving the standing armies of nations alone.

This is more or less what recently occurred in Mumbai, India. Although the attack had all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda penetration into local Pakistani Muslim terror groups, there is ample evidence of complicity by the Pakistani Intelligence Service (known as the ISI.) which has a long and well-known history of facilitating acts of terror in Indian-held Kashmir. Reports indicate that a rogue element of the ISI recently forged a link with a local terrorist commander linked to Al Qaeda, which then embarked upon a plan to target Westerners in Mumbai. The Mumbai attack signifies a change of course for Al Qaeda, which until this point had refrained from attacking India because of India’s prior course of neutrality vis-à-vis Islam’s conflicts with the West, and because of the need for its use of India as a transfer point to fly undetected in and out of Pakistan and the Afghan regions. This perhaps explains in part why India’s naval security was in such a state of low awareness and why there was not a perceived need to update their police department’s anti-terrorist training. (The Jewish Center was allegedly targeted specifically for attack for reasons stemming from the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.)

Whatever the level or degree of the Pakistani government’s complicity in the attack that is ultimately that this operation could not have been accomplished without assistance from Pakistani Intelligence. This factor makes the Mumbai attack as much of an attack on India’s sovereignty as it was an attack on its civilians and foreign visitors. As such, it cries out for some type of retaliatory attack by the Indian government.

Aside from India, however, the attack on the foreign nationals of Israel, the United States, and Great Britain by proxy also constitutes an act of war against these countries and therefore legitimizes the infiltration of Pakistani territory for the purpose of pursuing the aggressors. While a generalized war with Pakistan should not be contemplated or pursued, it may be unavoidable, depending upon the vigilance with which Pakistan seeks to defend the terrorists within its borders.

The retaliation that is undertaken should strike hard at the training bases, madrassa schools, and homes of all the properly identified terrorist commanders and fellow terrorists of those identified in the attack, in a series of sustained surprise attacks over a period of time that is aimed at total eradication of the entire network that coordinated this attack.

Any and all collateral damage in the form of casualties to friends, relatives, or anyone connected to the lives of these terrorists should be swiftly ignored. Public opinion and what is written in the newspapers should also be ignored by nations seeking to avenge the death of its innocent civilians.

When terrorists undertake to hide behind a sovereign government and to attempt to hide within its borders, it becomes the responsibility of that government to take swift action to flush them out and to neutralize them. Pakistan has obviously not done this, and is itself responsible for failing to purge itself of rogue commanders who facilitated the carnage in Mumbai. It must now step aside and let the foreign governments whose citizens have been mercilessly attacked take the proper course of action. George W. Bush certainly knows how to do it, and if his heart will be in the right place, so does Barack Obama.

As for the Islamic terrorists themselves, there has been a universal ineptitude in understanding their mentalities and how they work. Primarily because of leftist leaders and public sympathy with revolutionary mindsets, which have in cancerous fashion infiltrated the efficient workings of Western governments and Israel, the tactics that are necessary to defeat Islamic terror have been suppressed and discarded as politically incorrect. Many will remember how before Shimon Peres encouraged Prime Minister Rabin to embark on his infamous peace process with Arafat, the latter advocated "breaking the bones" of Arab rioters in the West Bank and Gaza as a means of putting down the intifada. Those means were apparently used for a period of time by Rabin, with much success, until his government decided to embark on a seriously unwise course of conciliation with premeditated and avowed murderers. President Bush also delivered a setback to his own war on terror when, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, he labeled Islam a peaceful religion that had been hijacked by radical elements. By making that statement, the president all but rejected the possibility of taking drastic action to eliminate entire terrorist networks that would of necessity cause the mass deaths of other potential operatives, and those others clandestinely associated with the actual terrorists, who provide means of support.

Contrary to all attention that has been given to the Muslim shaheed’s pursuit of the 72 virgins, the idea of martyrdom in Islam is really more of an exaggerated spin-off of good old fashioned American machismo and hero worship. A Muslim will seek martyrdom in order to bring honor to himself and to his family, just as a Muslim will kill others even within his own family to prevent or offset a similar association with dishonor or shame. If he knows that his family will all be killed, and there will be nobody left after him to claim that honor, he will be left with little reason to pursue his murderous mission.

One of the main daggers which Israel has thrust into its own heart was the government’s decision to abort the practice of demolishing the homes of terrorists. The prospect of rendering his own family homeless and desperate served to deter a potential terrorist from killing himself and anybody else by reducing the honor and machismo associated with the act. The notion of the 72 virgins is only a reward for the achievement of an act that brings honor to himself and his family, but there is nothing honorable in Islam about bringing harm to one’s family. Perhaps this is the underlying reason why, since the war of terror has begun, we have been unsuccessful in tracking down Bin Laden. And if, as many feared before the presidential election, Barack Obama is really sympathetic to the Muslims radicals, it might also explain why his main promise in continuing Bush’s war on terror was to pursue this archterrorist through the hills of Pakistan. If Bin Laden is killed and hence martyred, it will only bring honor to himself and his family, who will be very much intact and alive. That will only give rise to more militant imams and more terrorist leaders.

Moreover, the only way to deal with Islamic terrorists is the same way in which they deal with their victims. Muslims believe in the literal interpretation of the Biblical doctrine of an eye for an eye, and they do not have respect for anything perceived as a lesser standard of justice. They killed our innocents, and unless we kill theirs, they will go on killing ours. The Torah, however, preaches a doctrine which, if implemented by the West, could finally put an end to all Islamic terror: If somebody is coming to kill you, rise up and kill him first.
**************

Israeli State Terrrorism - What do you think?

What do the Mumbai Attacks Mean for India?

Shown on the left a picture of one of the Mumbai gunmenn, as he walks at the Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal railway station.
Photo by Sebastian D'Souza / AP / Mumbai Mirror

The attacks that started Wednesday night took everyone by surprise. It became apparent soon enough that this attack was different from the previous ones that had occured in Mumbai on other occasions. There appeared to be coordination between the gunmen as they fanned out to specific locations, shooting at anyone in their paths. To compound the situation, the gunmen attempted (and were successful) in taking hostages.

The situation (today is Friday) continues to unfold as I write this. Check out Vinu's Flickr for photos of the blast and navy activity.

The identity of the gunmen remains a big question, but already ideas are floating around. First, the gunmen were reported to have asked for Western passport holders (namely American and British) at the two hotels they had stormed. Second, the gunmen were reported to have asked for the release of Islamic muhajideen held in Indian jails. And one of the locations a group of the gunmen had stormed was a Jewish cafe and synagogue run by an American Jewish man and an Israeli woman (husband and wife). And a group called the Deccan Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for the attacks. It follows that Islamic radicals are responsible for the attacks.

The Indian government has also stated that "foreign" elements had been involved in the attacks, in a thinly veiled accusation at Pakistan. Indian police are investigating a mechanised fishing boat that had gone missing along with five of its crew from near the Pakistan maritime border 13 days ago.

All things considered, people are pointing the finger at Islamists.

Fareed Zakaria from the Newsweek suggested that these could be outsiders (with some home-grown recruits):

Any insight into where the terrorists might come from, then?
An Indian businessman who says he heard the attackers said he didn't understand the language that the young men were speaking. That means that it wasn't Hindi or Urdu… most Indians would recognize the major languages even if they couldn't speak one of them. But most Indians would be unfamiliar with what's spoken in parts of the Kashmir. That's a source of much of the terrorism. My guess is that ultimately this will turn out to be some outside jihadi groups who might also recruit among disaffected Muslims locally.

But there has been many other reports that indicated that the gunmen spoke in a language that was understood by the Indians - and many said they were speaking Hindi.

Before people rush to conclusions, we should keep in mind that there is much uncertain about the identity of the attackers.

Even if the gunmen were outsiders, they could not have operated as efficiently as they have without some local support. The question would

The attacks were horrifying, but not surprising at all.

India has a record of discrimination towards its Muslim minorities(which btw has the second largest Muslim population the world after Indonesia). Discrimination is putting it lightly, and it is probably an inadequate word - for instance, it does not convey the 2002 Gujarat massacres, which should more appropriately be called a genocide. It has been shown that the Gujarat government, with Narendra Modi, was complicit in the Gujarat masscares.

Funny thing is, Indians recently voted Modi back into office! He was elected again for a third term on December 23, 2007 with an emphatic win in the state elections, which he had cast as a "referendum on his rule". So much for the Gujarati sense of justice.

After a series of bombings in western India in July 2008, emails were sent out by the alleged perpetrators, which claimed that the attacks were "the revenge of Gujarat".

Simply put, Indian Muslims are disenfranchised citizens. It will not be surprising that if it does turn out that the gunmen were Indian citizens.

Again Fareed Zakaria, himself an Indian Muslim from Mumbai, now in the US as a political commentator):

Muslim militants have been responsible for much of the violence that has plagued Mumbai in recent years. But these attacks seem to be of a different magnitude.
One of the untold stories of India is that the Muslim population has not shared in the boom the country has enjoyed over the last ten years. There is still a lot of institutional discrimination, and many remain persecuted. There's enough alienation out there that there are locals who can be drawn in to plots. That tends to be a pattern, from Madrid to Casablanca to Bali — some hard-core jihadis who indoctrinate alienated locals they can seduce.

Too many people are quick to shout out that absolutely nothing justifies violence. But such an attitude will never rid the world of violence. It is human nature to lash out against injustice - certain individuals are more apt to be susceptible to violence to correct injustices. Case in point, South Africa's fight against apartheid, Palestine's struggle against Israeli occupation. The weak and the oppressed fight to make a show of defiance - who would want to remain under the foot of another?

If you want to rid the world of violence, remove the underlying factors that provoke it.

It is not an impossible task - and it only becomes so, if you believe it so.

Hopefully, the world (or at least India) heeds the call.

But the chances of that happening are minimal.

One reader comment from an Indian woman named Neha was calling for an Indian Bush to attack Pakistan so as to prevent further attacks on India.

Rational heads should prevail, but sadly, the Indian government is only too keen to play the blame game than make a move towards real positive changes that uplift their disenfranchised Muslim citizens.

Worryingly though, once this is over, the rabid backlash can be quick and vicious - and the oppressed Indian Muslims will be more vulnerable than ever....

Viva La Vida | Live the Life

Another weekend has passed. And tomorrow the work week begins - five more days of absolute mind-numbing drudgery.

The odd thing is, all of this occurs in an "intellectual" environment. Thr process of generating intellectual ideas and thoughts, though can be tedious,and at times (lately, more often than not), creatively stifling.

This is a problem for free-spirited individuals like myself. If I were given a choice, I would spend my days dreaming up of stories, and then writing them down. Sadly, I have not done that in years.

I have to work to earn a living - and I cannot afford to stay home and write, in the off chance that I might actually earn a living out of it.

My compromise has been to sneak a few hours off my "intellectual" work during the work week, to work on my creative stuff.

Believe me, it is not an easy process. There are days when it is impossible to switch roles. I find myself staring at the computer unable to put down in words my thoughts.

Then I say I'll do it later. The usual cop-out.

But later never comes, so I never do get around to it.

Before I know it, days have passed, then weeks and months.

How much longer will I keep telling myself, later?

I feel a deep sense of restlessness.

I ardently wish I could just take off to a remote island, where I can focus on myself and my dreams.

It is difficult to do that with people and responsibilities milling around you.

But this life is the only one I have got. I will not be able to retrieve the time I have let go so carelessly. I just have to live life the way I want to live life.

I have to stop thinking about the how, the why and the way. Just live.

Now. Today. This very minute.

The Obama Administration

The euphoria over Barack Hussein Obama's election to the United States of America's highest political office has more or less settled down. People are now back to worrying about the economy, and the recent dives in the stock market has not helped stem the overall gloomy mood. The new President will have his work cut out for him when he takes the office in January.

I hope things turn around, and that his administration will not be ineffectual. Some of his recent moves have given me pause. Only days after his win, he rebuffed Iran's attempt at opening a dialogue between the two countries. It was disappointing.

He had ran his campaign under the slogan of 'change', and people voted him in thinking that his victory will bring about a new approach to US foreign policy; to have the world regard the US government favorably again. And the reason why so many foreigners welcomed his election was that they too envisioned a leader that would be open to resolving problems through dialogue and positive influence (soft power) rather than hard power (force).

The question is, will there really be change, or has he been just talk?

To see him, spout the same old line as the previous administration AFTER Iran made the first positive move is inexcusable. Did he even accept the congratulations from the Iranian President? I didn't see any report that indicated so.

Despite the whole hoo-ha made over Obama's "link" to the Muslim world, him having lived in Indonesia for sometime, I believe that an Obama administration's dealings in that part of the world would be no different than any other previous Democratic administration. Do not expect any miracles in the Palestine-Israeli issue. Still, better than a Bush administration though, most would agree.

I am aghast that he is actually considering Senator Hillary Clinton for the secretary of state position.

Tom Friedman of the NYT wrote this that sums up exactly why this would be a bad idea:

“It takes America’s friends and adversaries about five minutes to figure out who really speaks for the White House and who doesn’t,” wrote Aaron D. Miller, a former State Department Middle East adviser and the author of “The Much Too Promised Land.” “If a secretary of state falls into the latter category, he or she will have little chance of doing effective diplomacy on a big issue. More likely, they’ll be played like a finely tuned violin or simply taken for granted.”

When the U.S. secretary of state walks into the room, Miller added in a recent essay in The Los Angeles Times, “his or her interlocutors need to be on the edge of their seats, not comfortably situated in their chairs wondering how best to manipulate the secretary. If anything, they should be worried about being manipulated themselves.”

My question is whether a President Obama and a Secretary of State Clinton, given all that has gone down between them and their staffs, can have that kind of relationship, particularly with Mrs. Clinton always thinking four to eight years ahead, and the possibility that she may run again for the presidency. I just don’t know.

I don't know how well an Obama administration would fare. I would wish it does well enough for him to be re-elected for a second term. But that depends on a multitude of factors - the economy, Iraq, Iran, terrorism, minimising polarisation between Republicans and Democrats etc......

He won people's hearts - let's just hope he keeps it, and surrounds himself with good advisors and capable people.

Rest in Peace Mr. J.B. Jeyaretnam - A True Singapore Lion

Rest in Peace JBJ

When I was little, back then in the early 1980s, I recall my parents speaking of Mr. Jeyaretnam in admiration. I also recalled in later years, my father telling the story of when he gave a lift to Mr. Jeyaretnam one day when he saw him walking in Tanjong Pagar. I did not understand then who he was, or why he was a figure of importance in our lives. After all, I never saw him, only heard of him.

My father, like the many other Singaporeans, respected Mr. Jeyaretnam for his honest idealism. And my father did the little he could that day when he gave Mr. Jeyaretnam a lift to his destination so as to show him that a Singaporean cared; people appreciated him knowing the full personal sacrifices he endured in order to pursue the political goals on behalf of Singaporeans.

Many years on, I finally understood why people so admired him. It's the David vs. Goliath pull that draws us all in awe and hope. We dare not articulate our own opinions for fear of the consequences, so we leave it up to someone else, and hope against hope that he somehow manages to break through. And when he doesn't, we remain silent choosing to gripe behind closed doors, or through pseudonyms on the Internet.

I have no personal stories of myself to tell of Mr. Jeyaretnam. The few times I saw him were at political rallies in 1997, and at a political forum - I think it was at NUS. Once I saw him selling his book along Orchard Road. I bought the book, shook his hand and thanked him for his political work. That was all I did to show that I cared - my miserable few bucks that went towards clearing his forced-upon bankruptcy debt.

I always believed that Singaporeans never much appreciated him for who he was. So I was heartened to read the Facebook comments in a group created in his memory. Many of the comments came from the younger generation, showing a willingness to think and articulate better on political issues than those of us from the previous generation. Maybe they are sick and tired of being told what's best for them; maybe money's not all-important any longer that they are willing to sacrifice their principles and freedom; maybe they they're no longer willing to self-censor; maybe they want a say in how their country develops.

This, I think, bodes well for the future of Singapore.

Here are some comments on JBJ's passing that I came across while surfing the Economist recently. Since these posters have articulated it much better than I could, I am re-posting some here....

"Singaporeans do not deserve someone like JBJ. The majority accepted a trade off, allowing a despot to run their lives in return for economic benefits. Does not matter if the majority are aware that the despot is self serving, conceals the truth, manipulates the elections system and MSM, influences the judiciary, abuses the ISA to intimidate citizens, appoint stooges in key positions. This begs the question, what kind of people will overlook such grotesque behavior in return for economic benefits ? JBJ never did and he stuck to his principles to the very end.
He was indeed a true Patriot."

"To conceive of what JBJ meant and how he connected with the ordinary Singapore, his son, Philip Jayaretnam cites why he always took public buses whenever possible, it was perhaps embarrassed that taxi drivers often refuse his fare. And to say he did little to dent PAP's power might be premature, like Che Guevara, his image more than his ideals will be the legacy that serve Singapore's civil rights progress."

"Singapore needs more brave souls like JBJ, but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I guess he'll be remembered as the heretic who preached democracy and rights while the rest of us were eating out of the PAP's hand. As for Lee Kuan Yew, he's a brilliant man, but nonetheless only human, and the demise of one of his fiercest political opponents should remind him that his time is drawing to an end, too."

"The epitaph should say "Here lies a man who fought for every Singaporean who has no spine of their own. One who stood up in face of hoodlooms, when eneryone else was ready to prostrate; one who spoke out when everyone else wagged; abd one who held the mirror when everyone else was singing paens to the Royal family." Dear Jeyaretnam! You were born amongst thankless spinessness people, would have loved to have you as one of my own countryman instead of seeing you getting wasted in Kingdom of Singapore."

Rest in peace JBJ. You will be missed.

Global Financial Crisis and Its Effects in Asia

Panic Attack As Investors Sell Off Shares at Any Price

Hell in Asia - Panic Attack As Investors Sell Off Shares at Any Price. This was the headline in the Straits Times that I woke up to on Thursday morning. The previous day's trading amounted to a sell-off in Asian markets, despite the coordinated rate cuts in the US, Europe and China. Herd mentality had set in - fearful retail investors (the bag holders mainly) rushed to stem their losses. So while the headline might have been shocking to those not following the financial news, the sell-off reaction in Asia was actually anticipated and in accordance to technical analysis.

When the newspapers start their massive moanings, and everyone is talking about the stockmarket, then expect there to be a rebounding in the markets. It will happen in the US first, then followed by the Asian markets (which will react accordingly as they usually do).

Now having said that (savvy traders actually trade in the up and down swings of the market, and make money doing so) , this financial crisis (mainly the problem with the availibility of credit for economic sustenance and growth) is not something that will easily be sorted out.

Small businesses will suffer because of the slowdown in consumer spending. Americans caught up in debt, are not likely to spur the economy any longer by buying items they do not really need - be it furniture to plasma tvs. Asian imports will decline, and their profits will decline leading to a slowdown in Asia. Asian jobs will be lost, and smaller business will find it harder to expand as credit have all dried up. No jobs, no income, no buying power....See where that leads to....

But some people are actually hoping that the markets will go down futher, so they can do bottom-fishing - that is, buying up expensive items, such as property or formerly high priced stocks at low prices. One writer from the Today newspaper quipped that she wants "a sharp enough drop so that her dreams are within reach". She called this a "slight correction". She also wrote that she felt no sympathy for those hit by the credit crunch because they are the ones who had earned loads of money for taking risks with other people's money. In her opinion, it's fitting that they pay the price.

Ok, she may be able to bottom-fish for property (in certain sectors). If I had more money, I would be buying into property too. And hold it for long-term, and forget about double digit growth that we got used to in the 90s. And definitely forget about bottom-fishing stocks unless one really knows how to read the fundamentals of a company. Too often people buy stocks on the way down, thinking they are getting a deal, and those companies never recover, and the investors who bought the stocks at a seemingly bargain price are left holding an empty bag.

But never mind all of that, let's go back to the Today writer. She chooses to avoid the bigger picture, which is far more dire. A protracted financial downturn will affect everyone - we saw a prelude just months ago with oil and rice price increases, and the effect it had on the poorer people in this world.

The hedge fund managers, bankers and the rich (those people the Today writer was scoffing at) will manage somehow. The rest of us will also manage by tightening our belts and reducing our spending. We will make different lifestyle choices - eat in, instead of out at a fancy restaurant; shop only when necessary; drive less etc.

But it's a different story for the poor who are already struggling to make ends meet. Increases in food prices can literally make a difference between life and death.

It's those people I am thinking about. And that's why I hope there is NO sharp drop that shakes the markets. A sharp drop is not a slight correction. When there was a sharp drop in 1929, it started the Great Depression, which lasted for years leading to misery for many people. The global consequences of such a drop would have far-reaching adverse impact given the connectivity of our economies today.

Would you want that to happen just so your dreams are within reach? Shame on that Today writer for such irresponsible hopes.

Women, Vanity and Cosmetic Enhancements

Botox, Dermal Fillers, Chemical Peels Etc

Women are vain creatures. It is a stereotype that some women may oppose vehemently, but a statement that hold true for many people in general. I am one such woman. I do not have perfect flawless skin, which I so ardently wish for.



As soon as I reached that age when looks began to play an important part of my social life (that is, the teenage years), I looked for solutions to imperfection in my facial skin. I endured numerous painful sessions at spas, where my facial skin was picked clean of impurities (acne). I endured it all, believing in the words of those inflicting the pain - that my face would soon clear up. But this only led to injuries (read scars) in my skin.

Many years later, after the acne cleared up, with multiple vists to this and that dermatologists, age began pulling my facial skin down leading to the dreaded nasolabial line (unwanted "parentheses" on the face).

A small poll amongst my friends have shown that the perception of what constitutes as perfection is really dependent on one's self. Maybe even related to one's self-esteem.

For instance, one friend insisted she needed further cosmetic procedures done to even out her skin tone, and flatten the scar damage from acne flare-ups years ago. But to the rest of us, she looked fine.

But I can understand why she would feel the need to continue the procedures, having been through years of battle with acne myself. It is partly healing (emotionally) to undergo procedures because it keeps the hope alive that at the end of it, you come out looking better. So the more procedures, the more better you end up looking. So even if the visible improvements are small, the emotional improvements are huge!

The group of us are not yet into Botox - I think we are not in the right age group yet. But we have tried TCA chemical peels, microdermabrasion, and now....

Dermal Fillers is the next new cosmetic enhancement we would like to try.

This is what I found out about dermal fillers:

"When we age, we lose firmess (through fat loss) in our skin; this leads us to have a droopy effect. In the face, we get those "parentheses" around the naso-labial area. The skin loses stucture and volume, forming lines and wrinkles.

Juverderm corrects this by injecting materials called "demal fillers" into the skin, to achieve a temporary effect on smoothness. The dermal filler used in Juvederm is called hyaluronic acid (HA).

HA is a natural complex sugar found in all living cells, and one of the major components of the skin tissue. HA retains water and hydrates the skin to increase volume and density.

Since Juvederm uses a naturally occuuring substance that is already present in the skin, this is a safe procedure that has no advserse long-term effects. The benefits from the procedure though are temporary, lasting anywhere from 6 months to a year".

Sounds good to me. Who's up first, gals?

Finance | Credit Card Rate Increases

Credit Card Increased Its Interest Rates For No Absolute Reason

I am one of those obessively punctual people who make sure to pay all of their bills, mortgage and credit card payments on time. I even do it the old-fashioned way with a checklist, even if I can automatically schedule recurring online payments. Somehow, going through my checklist, logging online and double-checking that the right amount was paid on the right date, then placing a check mark next to the creditor in question makes me feel good. Something accomplished!

Now, I wish I had paid as much attention to reading the now and the notices regarding card agreements that these credit cards like to send out ever so often. Typically, I throw those out without much thought!

Anyway, I am almost never late. The one or two times I have been late on a payment were due to unavoidable circumstances.

Therefore, when I checked my statement for a business credit card recently, I was shocked beyond words to see that the APR interest rate has been increased to 21.19% from 7.99%! What????

My first thought was that I had made a late payment the previous month, and the credit card had automatically done a default APR. So I quickly checked my 'checklist' to see when I made the payment. It showed that I did it on time. Then I logged to my online credit card account to verify what I had noted in my book. Yup, I had not been late.

When I called the credit card - Advanta Small Business Credit Card - they told me that they had sent out a mailer with the notice of an amendment to their interest rates. Well, it had been sent to my residence in the US and since I was here in Singapore, I did not read it.

This is what I found out - so please those of you who have credit cards with sizeable balances on them had better beware. Credit card companies can magically increase the APR with advance notification through mailers of the impending changes. They will give you a period of time (short!) to dispute the changes. And you have to do this in writing. If you dispute the charges, the most likely scenario is that you have to clear the balance and close the account. This may not be helpful if you have no way to clear the balance, so disputing it may not be an option to begin with.

Now, I am quite angry about this situation. My solution is to completely transfer off the entire balance to another business credit card with a lower fixed APR - and find someway to quickly bring that balance down, in case this other credit card decides to magically increase its APR to an exorbitant figure as well.

I try to pay more than the minimum monthly payment suggested by the credit card company. Why? Because the minimum payment required only stretches out the debt nearly indefinitely. These two charts below show the difference between what happens when one pays only the minimum monthly and when one starts making bigger payments to bring down the debt.




Source: Consumerist

You know what I think. Things have gotten so bad that credit card defaults must be on the rise, and the credit companies are pushing the buck to those of us who have been managing their debt well. People just like me, with excellent credit scores and a clean credit record, and who want to keep things that way. Such people are the ones who will have to pay the high price because we will always find a way to keep up the payments.

But this APR increase from Advanta is complete madness. As soon as I transfer the balance, that card is history! That's one customer you have lost Advanta.

Religious Faith Discussions and The Question of Tolerance

Religion and Tolerance

I read with amazement Monday's Straits Times article on "How far should discussions of religious faith go?". I haven't been around Singapore for a long time, but I guess kudos are in order that the topic is even partially discussed in the Singaporean print media. Back then (one or two decades ago), any mention of religion and tolerance was considered tabboo.

The article was basically five brief commentaries from Singaporean youths. The general theme of most of the comments was that there should be more of an emphasis on understanding each other's differences rather than simply tolerating. I agree, but I would add that respect is even more important.

Sometime ago, I had written a research paper on the question for religious tolerance and understanding in multi-cultural societies such as Singapore. The research paper was for a graduate seminar class in an ivy-league school in the US, and I had written it just after the hijab ban in Singapore schools fiasco.

I cannot remember what I wrote exactly - if I were to post excerpts here in this blog, I'd have to do some digging into my old files (in my old laptop!). But the thrust of my argument was simply that without respect underlying any attempt in fostering proactive interactions between ethnic (and religious) communities, there would be no genuine understanding. And without genuine understanding amongst the citizenry, you merely have different groups co-existing within the same society.

This ties into the whole question of nationhood. What ties us (all of us from the different ethnic and religious groups) to Singapore? Are our loyalties stronger to our group than the nation?

It seems that these are essential questions that need to be addressed in schools. It is impossible to inculcate a sense of responsility, awareness and respect once a person has attained adulthood - this needs to be done from young.



This is an excerpt of the comment from Ian Poh, a 21 year old NUS first-year law student that was published in the above-mentioned article.

"It is asking for a lot for frankness and tolerance to co-exist - there will always be someone taking issue with your opinion. I base this on my experience in mission schools. Even among peers, there were frequent disagreements arising from interpretations of weekly sermons delivered at chapel services, mostly from the freethinkers and those of weaker faith. Many take these differing opinions personally, adopting a hostile attitude after these debates. The situation might have even been worse had students of other religious faiths not been excused from these services. In my opinion, when it comes to religion, silence beats the discordance of open discussion".

Wow! The above is an example of a dangerously naive way of viewing the world from a future Singaporean lawyer.

I'll give you my take on why the above thinking is so flawed.

First, there will always be individuals around in this world who will take issue with your opinion on a whole lot of topics. Somehow the idea that only religion has the ability to inflame people to irationality has been perpretated so much in Singapore that is has become an accepted truth. I fear of this becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy!

There are Singaporeans who know that there are minority groups here - Singaporean Muslims for example. But they have never interacted with Muslims except for the cursory social interaction at work and school. Such people are prone to believe stereotypes when they encounter them. To prevent that, there has to be a proactive push towards respect, which leads to understanding; not just tolerance.

Second, a telling sign of how progressive a society is, is in exactly how differences between people are aired out. In such societies, there is an underlying respect for the right of that individual to state his position, and to listen to counter-positions.

In fact, this mode of discussion is one of the first things university students in the US are taught. The exchange of ideas then flows easily because there exists this attitude of respect and acceptance, which is critical in fostering creativity and innovation. You cannot pick and choose which topics are acceptable and which are not.
But you can have guidelines for kind of speech is acceptable and what is not. That is why there are such laws as hate speech laws in many progressive countries. And if you educate people from young to have respect for differences, then there will not be an attitude of hostility for those different from yourself.

Only a stagnant society prevents open discussion. Sad to say, the writer's experiences at his school must only be a reflection of the state of the intellectual development in Singapore.

Third, is on a personal note. For all of my formal education in Singapore, I was in Catholic mission schools. I am a Muslim, and on hindsight, I must congratulate the educators at my school for fostering an attitude of openness amongst its students. During my later years, the non-Catholics were excused from Mass services, but prior to that I had attended enough of them to understand the ceremony, which I feel makes me closer to my Catholic friends.

Knowing and understanding the many differences between us, I respect the right for them to believe and worship in the things they do, and I also choose to focus on our many commonalities.

Home Alone on a Rainy Day

At Home On A Rainy Day

I am a homebody. I can entertain myself at home alone with absolutely no problem. I think this charecteristic of mine developed from my years of living abroad and by myself. I had roomates during the early years, but as I got older, I got my own apartment. And that has been my lifestyle eversince.

I cannot envision my having to share my beautiful apartment with someone else. I mean, a someone else that I cannot order around. Heh. My family, or future significant other is a different issue.

I know women who need to have people around them all the time. Some cannot sleep in empty apartments, if they are all alone. I just cannot fathom living a life in their shoes. It must get awfully scary because no one can be with people all the time. There will always be situations when you will find yourself alone.

I think such people are afraid of themselves more than anything else.

I am not saying that one should not need others. Rather I believe that if you are comfortable with yourself, you'll always find things to occupy your mind when you find yourself alone. So that you are, in fact, keeping yourself company.

So I am at home alone today. I have been so used to living by myself for years, that it has taken some getting used to being in a house full of people (my family). So today, I am quite relishing being by myself. Watching the heavy rain fall from my window.

There is nothing quite like rain in Singapore. I have just come from the East Coast of the US, and it never ever rains the way it does here. I just love the rumbling thunder, the occasional lighting, and the heavy relentless rain. Then that earthy smell, most noticeable in the air as the rain dies out.

Of course, this is best experienced on a leisurely day at home, just where I am today!

This led me to remember Surah Ash-Shams (The Sun) from the Quran. I came across this when I was reading the Quran during Ramadan (the month that has just passed). Order and proportion in the world, order and proportion even in our soul. And if we cannot see or feel the order in our soul, that must mean we are failing in someway - that our souls are not as purified as it should be.

This worldly muslimah thinks that the soul does become tainted when forced to tackle so many of life's issues. I am not talking merely of sins. But the usual hustle and bustle of life - rushing to work, worrying about paying bills on time, taking care of loved ones etc. All of these occupy our energies, and sometimes we forget to tend to our souls. And this makes it get darker (tainted). But the Quran says that it is important to purify the soul, that means we should give it time, that is, time to ourselves that we can spend on reflection, studying the Quran and remembrance of the frailty of life in this world. Only then, the Quran says, will we truly succeed.


By the Sun and his (glorious) splendour;
By the Moon as she follows him;
By the Day as it shows up (the Sun's) glory;
By the Night as it conceals it;
By the Firmament and its (wonderful) structure;
By the Earth and its (wide) expanse:
By the Soul, and the proportion and order given to it;
And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right;-
Truly he succeeds that purifies it,
And he fails that corrupts it!
(Quran 91:1-10)

Just Another Worldly Muslimah

Thoughts, Observations and Ideas

I am just another worldly Muslimah who wants to share her thoughts, observations and ideas with interested readers out there. I chose the word worldly not to convey the idea that I am one of those devoted to the temporal world as opposed to the spiritual, nor am I overly concerned with the secular issues in my life over the spiritual ones.

Instead, I chose the word worldly because I think I understand the ways of this world and its inhabitants - the positives, the negatives, all of its manipulations, and all of its attractions. Ok, maybe I am exaggerating a tad bit.

But I have lived around the world, mostly in cosmopolitan cities that has enabled me to meet and interact with different kinds of people from different cultures. I think I have developed a kind of worldly understanding of how things and people function.

Now, being worldly is not necessarily a bad thing. It has made me sophisticated in my ability to react to the world, and it has helped me advance in the secular world.

Still, I think it is time to focus more on my spiritual development. And since I have more time on my hands these days (I have just returned to the country of my birth, Singapore, after 13 years away, to try and spend some months taking stock of my life), I thought it would be a good idea to document my various thoughts, observations and ideas in a blog.

Please feel free to leave your comments. I am always interested to know what others think. However, I do not appreciate anonymous comments so I am restricting the comments to those who have OpenId. If you prefer not to leave me a public comment, please feel free to email me at amaryllisma [at] gmail.com

Enjoy.

Site Policy

Since I have ads displayed on this blog, I have to dish out the site policy. Please read then following.

The privacy of visitors to WorldlyMuslimah.Blogspot.Com is important to me. I recognize that privacy of your personal information is important. The following contains information on what types of personal information this site may receive and collect when you use visit StocksUniversity.Blogspot.Com, and how this site safeguards your information.

Log Files

As with most other websites, this site collects and uses the data contained in log files. The information in the log files includes your IP (internet protocol) address, your ISP (internet service provider, such as AOL or Shaw Cable), the browser you used to visit our site (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.Cookies and Web BeaconsCookies are used to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit our site. This could include only showing you a pop-up once in your visit, or the ability to login to some features, such as forums.

This site also use third party sponsored advertisements. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP , the browser you used to visit our site, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geotargeting purposes (showing New York real estate ads to someone in New York, for example) or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (such as showing cooking ads to someone who frequents cooking sites).

You can chose to disable or selectively turn off cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.

A word about cookies:

There is a lot of fear out there about cookies. Cookies are small text files that allow websites to track purchases or improve your website browsing experience. These files are typically not harmful and can be disabled through your browser if necessary. However, doing so may impact how you view some sites and may make completing purchases with some companies difficult. Disabling cookies is generally unneccesary even for security purposes.