Call for Fatwa against terrorism

Was shocked when I read about the church bombings in Egypt which have left 43 dead and more than 100 injured.

I am tired apologising for these misguided people who keep doing these horrendous acts in the name of Islam. They are going against the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet pbuh - Islam prohibits targeting innocents and houses of Worship.

The illustrious scholars in Al Azhar, Islamic authorities and other centres of Islamic learning all around the World should not only condemn these acts but come up with fatwas declaring these people as non-Muslims or Kafirs, unless they repent. There are so many fatwas for deviationist beliefs in many Islamic countries and I strongly believe that these acts are clearly devistionist as they go against the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet pbuh.

Are millennials to blame?

When people talk about millennials, most of the time you never hear any thing positive. Often people will be complaining of their "attitude problem", lack of interest, not hard working, no initiative, cynical, lazy, disrespectful, etc. - the list goes on.

Though there is some truth in this - I wondered what made them like that - what makes them different from previous generations and are they really that bad.

The former questions are harder to answer but the answer to the last questions is clearly a big "No!". These young people can be really passionate about a number of issues affecting society. Often it turns out, it is the Baby boomers and X-gen who are the cynics.

The millennials grew up with scandals, corruption, and an extremely competitive World. I was shocked when I learnt that only kids with 8 As in their STPM or  4 flat A -levels could enter University of Malaya. People say kids do not play outside anymore and blame gadgets but I realise that now kids do not have time from homework and tutions, piano, swimming and taekwondo lessons to go out and play. Many parents in the city do not even let their kids out of sight for fear that their kids might get abducted and I think about my childhood where I could just go out and ride my bike and roam around the neighbourhood for hours.

I recently met up with one of my ex-students and was shocked when he told me his salary in a well known MNC. It was just RM 500 more than what I used to get in my first job after my MBA 15 years ago. That's right - salaries have not increased in the last 15 years. Prices of everything has gone up several times and in fact several businesses here are taking consumers for a ride blaming everything from petrol prices to GST and of course the Government. But the fact is that for many their profit margins are way over the top. For example, it is crazy that Bananas are cheaper in the UK as compared to Malaysia. The bananas in the UK come from the West Indies or South America and is cheaper than in Malaysia which is a tropical country and where Bananas are grown.

Employers continue to complain that Millennials are not loyal and lazy Blah! Blah! Blah!

You pay them peanuts while expecting them to work like dogs like we used to several years ago - leaving the office only in the evening after the boss leaves with no overtime. You expect them to continue working in high pressure environment without complaining while you drive around in luxury cars which can buy a medium cost link house.

Talking about houses, many of these millennials have no hope of ever owning their own house in the Klang Valley unless they have generous parents who buy it for them or at least help out with the initial down payment.

No wonder the Millennials have an "attitude problem".

Gated communities and Nepali guards

Right outside our front gate we have 2 Nepali security guards manning a temporary gate. There is another one patrolling the neighbourhood on a motorbike. And right across the road, there is another security guard, from another company, also Nepali, guarding a shop lot which is currently under renovation.

The security guard were hired by neighbourhood security committee with most families in the neighbourhood contributing to a fund. We are not unique and it looks like the whole Petaling Jaya in Selangor is full of gated communities.

To be honest, I do feel much safer and feel that we made the right choice to rent this house. However, I wonder what happened to Malaysia while we were away for nearly 8 years. It was not like this back then before we left for the UK. There were a few gated communities but they were rare and meant for guys in a different social class altogether.

Is the security situation so bad that we need to have guards in every neighbourhood? Isn't it the role of the police to take care of public security?

Looking at the bright side, reports of crime has reduced and the situation has led to the growth of a massive industry in Malaysia - the security firms. 

Water quality

Everyone we know here in Malaysia has water filters installed in their houses - normally a big one outside and another one inside. In fact the water quality situation has given rise to a huge industry here in Malaysia with several companies offering a range of water purifiers and filters - I guess the most popular ones are the reverse osmosis machines costing thousands of dollars.

Soon after we got back from the UK and moved into our rented house, we too realised that we needed to install water filters. It was costly but it was absolutely necessary considering the terrible quality of water. 

It was not this bad when we left the country nearly 9 years ago. Moreover, the water supply was privatised and theoretically the service and quality ought to be better. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The quality of water has literally gone down the drain. Not sure what the problem is due to - is it due to old rusted pipes?

Look at the backwash of our external filter just after one week. It looks like black coffee.

The authorities seriously need to do something about this. 

Pavements and cycling paths in Malaysia

Pavements are non-existent near my current house and we have to watch out for cars and motorbikes as our gate opens up to a busy main road. Where there are pavements, they are full of obstacles - utility poles, uneven and cracked paving and some wise guy has even planted trees right in the middle of the paths at the side of his house. There is no way I am going to allow my kids to cycle around the neighbourhood with their friends like they did back in the UK.

However, this is a very old locality and I expected the new developments to be better planned considering the growing ageing population, moving towards a developed nation status, etc. but was left disappointed after looking at some of the new property developments in Malaysia. Apart from a few upmarket projects, most seem to have done away with pavements (or sidewalks as the Americans call it) - forget about cycling paths. So I guess these developers expect people to walk on the roads or not walk at all - only use cars and vehicles. What about cyclists, elderly and handicapped people on wheelchairs?

Putrajaya and Cyberjaya are probably the only places in Malaysia which have taken these issues into account. Recently the Government has been talking about healthy lifestyles - about the need to encourage people to walk more and cycle but these new developments indicate otherwise. I seriously think that the Government needs to put in some kind of regulation in place that new developments need to have pavements and pedestrian friendly housing areas. Any thoughts?

Non-payment of loans by older generation hurting future generations

It is a bad time to be a fresh University student in Malaysia today. The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN)has announced loan cuts of 5% for students in public institutions of higher learning and 15% for those studying in private institutions of higher learning. This came into effect last weekend.

Apparently the main reason is that many borrowers have not repaid their loans. I know that there is a similar situation in the UK as well. According to PTPN Chairman, Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah, the total PTPTN loan repayment received up to August 31 this year was RM5.37 billion or 45.62% instead of the RM 11.77 billion, the corporation was supposed to receive.

I know a number of fresh graduates either do not have a job or are poorly paid, if they do and they have an excuse. However, I suspect that there are several people earning huge salaries who have not bothered to pay off their debts. I am not sure what are the reason but if you are one of them, please pay off your loans as you are seriously hurting the prospects of future generations.

And for guilty Muslims out there, if you are concerned about the issue of petting dogs, wearing hijab or other current issues, you should be aware that Islam also takes the matter of debt very seriously and Muslims are urged to avoid it as much as possible.

A sad day and why I will not ride a motorcycle

As I was driving to work this morning I noticed this motorcycle weaving in and out between traffic and driving quite fast. Then there were these cars changing lanes without signaling. A recipe for disaster, I thought to myself.

A couple of minutes later, there was a huge traffic jam on the expressway and immediately guessed that there must have been an accident. I was right and I passed a body on the road covered under white sheet, a motorbike crushed by a car. I do not know if it was the same motorcyclist but this is the third serious accident I have come across recently, one just happening before my eyes - a biker crashing into a car parked by the road. All cases involved motorcycles.

This follows the recent Karak highway accident last Sunday, which left two motorcyclists dead and one seriously injured.

In fact, according to news report early this year, 59% of all deaths in road accidents were motorcyclists. Of course this may be due to the high number of motorcycles in this country (almost 50:50 ratio with cars).

What can be done?

Special motorbike lanes, access to personal protective equipment including riding clothing and most important of all, education.

I had toyed with the idea of getting a superbike and riding everywhere but not anymore.

Back in Malaysia 1: Housing and Driving

After eight years in the UK, we packed our bags and moved back to Malaysia. It has been slightly more than a month now and our years in the UK already feels like a dream.

Our first priority was to find a place to live. The first few weeks were pretty hectic. We were in my in-laws and lived out of our suitcases until we finally found a house to rent nearby after looking at several condominiums and houses. The agents wanted to know all kind of personal information, namely our ethnicity, our occupation, number of kids, etc., etc. Apparently, several landlords will not rent out their places to people of a particular ethnicity. This was something shocking as we did expect this in multi-ethnic Malaysia. We did not have this kind of issues a few years ago. Maybe an area of research interest for my sociologist friends. Compared with our small house back in Coventry, the house is massive and some rooms are still empty. Unlike other Malaysians, we did not bring back furniture and have to buy everything new.

Skyscrapers have come up everywhere. New highways and flyovers as well. I now need a sat-nav while driving as I am not familiar with some of the roads any more. Some of our favourite hang-out places have disappeared or have moved while others have not changed at all.

Talking about driving, it may be my imagination and years of driving in the UK but the drivers now seem to be more aggressive here and will break the traffic rules if they can get away with it. I have a huge issue with people who simply do not use their side indications while changing lanes or cutting into your lanes. One of my friends told me that a lot of drivers are so selfish that they speed up when you indicate to change lanes or move in from a side road. I do a lot of defensive driving now and will give way to other drivers, sometimes annoying my wife a lot. May be I am more mature now and I just want to take it easy and get to my destination and home safe.

Noticed a lot of foreign auto brands on the roads - I may be mistaken but seems to be more Toyotas and Hondas on the roads as compared to Proton cars now. And every 2nd car is a Perodua Myvi - the most popular model for now. Also seems like there are a lot of luxury brands - mostly older model Mercedes. But the fact is that there are lot of cars on the roads. I noticed that some houses have 5 cars parked out in the front. We have 2 in front of ours - my dad's car which I am using and my wife's new car, which we just got day-before-yesterday. Until the public transport improves, I guess more and more people will be using their own cars. A trip from my in-laws house to our house just 7 minutes away, can sometimes take up to half-an-hour. Definitely cannot rely on the estimated times given by my sat-nav.

Anyway, that was in brief about the housing and driving issues we faced. I will be blogging more about life here in Malaysia.

Israel and Palestine

Though, it sounds great, a democratic Israel where Palestinians and Jews live peacefully is not going to happen. Personally, I feel that the only solution is the two state option. Palestinians have to recognise and accept Israel and stop the rocket attacks. Israel has to pull back from the occupied territories and help the Palestinians build the infrastructure, help build their own country. Stop the blockades, release the prisoners and stop the collective punishments.

All this tit-for-tat revenge will never end and we have younger generations who hate each other. Israel needs to recognise that World opinion is going against them. Making peace with the neighbours and the Palestinians would be their only way to survive in the long run. I know it is easier said than done and the eagles on both sides would try their best to prevent this from happening.

Peace.

Miss America Twitter storm

When this year's Miss America results were announced, it resulted in a Twitter storm from a lot of unhappy Americans. The reason: The new Miss America is Miss New York Nina Davuluri, who is ethnic Indian.

I was going through some of the tweets and revealed how bigoted and stupid some people are. To a lot of people, the fact that she is American and was born in New York was not important. It is really interesting to analyse the linkages made up by these people:

Their logic is so crazy that you seriously wonder about the education system there:

She is not white and thus not an American and she is an Arab and therefore a terrorist. So if you skin is Brown, you are an Arab and therefore a terrorist

I have no idea why some people linked this to 9/11. One guy called Luke even tweeeted: "9/11 was 4 days ago and she gets miss America?"

However, Nina showed that she was a better person and responded: "I have to rise above that, I always viewed myself as first and foremost American."

Muslims are our neighbors

I recently got to know about a film project in the United States called "My Fellow American". The project is devoted to recognizing that Muslims are our neighbors. They have come up with a really touching 2 minute film that you should watch. Visit My Fellow American site here.

Charity run

My son Imaan was 3 years old when he was diagnosed with Autism even though we have had our suspicions when he was 1 years old and his development was slow.

As you can imagine, we were totally devastated and the doctors didn't help much when they told us that autism was a life long condition and we would have to live with it. We went through periods of denial, self-pity, and sadness and finally, acceptance. Fortunately, we are not the type to mop around and just accept what so called "experts" have to say. We did our own research and found out about various alternative therapies.

Among the various things we did, the one that made the maximum difference was the Son-Rise programme. Unlike other therapies, the Son-Rise programme is home based and is parent-directed where parents are seen as the child’s best resource unlike other therapies (such as ABA). After depending around a year on the services provided (or not) by the Government here, we didn't see any difference. However, since we started the Son-Rise programme, he has been toilet trained, improved his diet and went from no speech to speaking sentences.

Unfortunately, the Son-Rise programme and theother therapies are not covered by the NHS and we had to literally fork out thousands from our own pocket that we are almost bankrupt now.

We estimate that it will cost us around £20,000 to do a full time Son-Rise programme at home. This cost does not include his special diet, supplements and cost of private doctor consultations and tests. However, my son is the priority and if he loses his diagnosis of Autism and is able to go to a mainstream school, socialise and have friends like all other neurotypical kids, it would be worth it.

Anyway, a lot of amazing people are helping us fundraise for our son. One of them is my sister-in-law, Eju, who is running two races in support of my son.
The first one will be the Wimbledon Audi 10K race this Sunday on the 17th Oct 2010 at 9:00am. Here's the location: Wimbledon Rugby Club, Beverley Meads, Barham Road, Copse Hill, Wimbledon, SW20 0ET

Please come along to support and/ or donate. For more information visit the fundraising page on the special blog that documents our journey with our son.

St George was Palestinian

23 April was St. George's day and my daughter came home with loads of pictures of crosses and questions about St. George. I only told her what I knew - the legend of him killing a dragon and rescuing a princess. I also know that he is the patron Saint of England and that his emblem, a red cross on a white background, is the flag of England but nothing more than that. Being curious, I went over to the best source of information on the web - Wikipedia.

The racist BNP extensively uses the St George's Cross in it's campaigns and I actually thought that it was their symbol. It's not.

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London recently called for Londoners to reclaim the "St George flag from the BNP". I do realise that a lot of BNP supporters display the flag in their cars and windows.

Anyway, I was quite surprised to learn that according to historians, the real St. George was actually born in Lydda, Palestine (now Lod in Israel) and he never actually came to the British Isles. Wonder how many people know about the actual origins of St. George?

The demographic segment that politicians in the UK forgot

Had a few reactions to my previous post "Blame the foreigners" but mostly offline. Some agreed with me while others felt that as foreigners, it was not our concern. I have to disagree because as long as we stay here, whatever decisions the Government makes, does affect us.

Some new regulations introduced since we first arrived has already had an impact. Among the new regulations that affect us directly, includes the stricter requirements for visa renewals along with the required minimum amount of money in our bank accounts for each family member when we renew our visas even though we are in our final stages of our study, the introductions of identity cards and the new points system.

As I pay tax on what little I earn, I feel that I have the right to decide how that money will be put to use. More so considering the fact that we are not eligible to receive any benefits from the council.

Also a lot of people (including some politicians I think) are not aware that since 1949, citizens of Commonwealth countries are eligible to vote in the UK .  We are the demographic segment that everyone forgot about but with the potential to make a huge difference.

In Coventry alone there are a few hundred potential voters but have been largely ignored by all political parties. And as we know elections can be won or lost by a single vote.

Blame the foreigners

If you examine recent history, you will notice that whenever there's some crisis in any country, the foreigners are inevitably used as the boogeyman most often than not. I guess they are easiest and most convinient target to place the blame on. This has happened in India, in Malaysia and now in the UK as well.

It has probably been shimmering below the surface for some time but it has just come out into the open now. Or should I say forced into the open after the BNP made immigration THE issue (they always have) and suddenly they got an audience. Now the Conservatives and Labour both acknowledges that it is an issue of concern in the UK as well. Now foreigners are blamed for almost every problem ranging from unemployment, crowded school places, housing issues, NHS problems, crime and maybe the banking and financial crisis as well. It sounds ridiculous until you realise that a large number of people do really believe that foreigners are the cause of all these problems in the UK.

Who are the foreigners?

I am not really sure what people mean by "foreigners". I assume they mean everyone from outside the UK but talking to people and reading comments on articles, realise that there is a wide range of views. Officially, the term refers to people from outside the EU. They also lump those who are here legally and illegally along with the asylum seekers.

Moreover, reading comments on any article on immigration, you can see that a lot of people actually mean "South Asian and African". Though a lot of people don't admit it but clearly colour of skin and country of origin, is an issue. Hardly anyone talks about Americans, Eastern Europeans, Australians, etc. And if you read all the comments you will find at least one or two comments talking about the rise of Muslim population in the UK.

From time to time, the authorities do try to correct the picture but they are not really doing a good job.There is a need to clear some of the misconceptions.

So are foreigners really taking away the jobs of locals (read EU)?

I seriously doubt it. I know personally how tough it is to get a job here in the UK. You won't get a job unless you are really good and there's no local to fill the job. Of course there are those unscrupulous employers who employ foreigners because they can get away with paying minimum wages (sometimes less) and a lot more. Citizens from other EU countries can travel and work freely here in the UK without the need for any visa and vise-versa of course.  

Many foreigners are students
A large proportion of the non-EU foreigners entering the UK legally are actually students. They pay almost three times as much as the students from the EU countries and I do believe that the education Industry is one of the largest foreign exchange earners for the country regardless of economic climate. Like the US, British universities have been able to attract the brightest brains from all around the World (some countries like India and Malaysia is trying to reverse this brain drain to varying levels of success).

Students are allowed to work part time for a few hours every week (one of the attractions of working in the UK) but the jobs include waiting staff, translators, cleaners and the like if you get what I mean. I was fortunate to get a job as a web developer and later as a part time teacher in the University of Warwick but as I mentioned earlier, depends on your capability and if there's no local around to fill the post. Some students do eventually settle down here and contribute to the intellectual capital and economy of the country (I mean most end up paying taxes and not on the dole). But it getting much tougher after the Government introduced the points system (copied from the Australians?)

Foreigners protecting local jobs
Actually foreigners have created jobs by rescuing or taking over failing British businesses. Talking about failing British companies, they are the main cause of unemployment not foreigners but many don't see it that way. I guess they need to blame someone and the global economy is too vague to blame. Thank God for the welfare state here or there would have been serious problems. The economy is improving but the country is not really fully out of it yet. Hopefully people would be less negative once businesses start thriving and unemployment starts falling.

Anyway, I recall that a number of people here were unhappy when Malaysian car company Proton took over Lotus but I hope they now realise that Proton actually rescued Lotus and saved British jobs in Norfolk. They have recently brought back the British marque back into the Formula 1 with a little help from the Malaysian Govt. There were a lot of snide remarks as well when Tata of India took over Jaguar and Land Rover. With minimum job cuts, they actually made a profit - something Ford had been unable to do in the past. Jaguar Land Rover announced a net profit of £55m (US$140.7 million) end of last year. There are more examples.

Some unsolved issues
I am not saying that there is no immigration issue because there is. The hundreds of illegal immigrants waiting in France to cross over across the channel is an indicator of the problem. For every one caught I am sure a few get through and they are here somewhere. Another issue is that of the asylum seekers. I recently read an article about how many of them (several with families) were left in limbo for several years, unable to work and no certainty about the future. The Govt. definitely needs to look at these issues.

What I hope is that people here would realise that foreigners are not really the source of the problems.

In the name of Allah

A lot of my friends here in the UK have been asking me about the recent controversy over use of the word 'Allah' by Christians in Malaysia‎. I was not actually sure what it was all about myself and did some research.

It all started when the Government of Malaysia banned the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims. Apparently this issue was raised up by a few people who objected to the words being used in Bibles - most of them printed in Indonesia. Then recently Malaysia's high court overturned the ban following a lawsuit filed in 2007 by The Herald - a Catholic newspaper.

It then became a political issue and the debate even spilled onto the Blogosphere. A number of Christian bloggers blogged in support of the court's decision while other bloggers were against it - some claiming it to be a attack on Malay rights.

Following the court ruling, several churches in Malaysia have come under a spate of fire-bombings and vandalism attacks - nine at last count

Initially, I was wondering why Christians would want to use the word "Allah" - which is God in Arabic (not restricted to Muslims) when the Bahasa Malaysia word for God is actually Tuhan. However, I later found the word has been in use in Christian publications and church services for a number of years before this whole controversy and violence.

I totally disagree with people who claim that this would lead to confusion among Muslims and encourage them to convert to Christianity. Burning houses of worship is definitely not a very religious activity.

A lot of people don't see the positive side - everyone in Malaysia regardless of faith should be encouraged to use the word Allah to refer to God. Hopefully people will then come to realise that we are all praying to the same "God". Thus one less reason to fight over.

Just my opinion and you may disagree.

Climate change: 10 things you can do

Today is Blog Action Day and this year's theme is Climate change - an issue that impacts us all.



Here is a list of 10 things ALL of us can do to help.

1. Recycle as much as you can,
2. Grow your own vegetables,
3. Switch to energy saving devices - for example, low power bulbs,
   
4. Take public transport whenever possible or walk or cycle,
5. Adopt renewable energy sources- solar, wind, wind-up,
   
6. Bring you own bag to the market (Thanks Lara),
7. Switch off lights and electrical equipment when not in use,
8. Donate to environment protection groups,
9. Write to the politicians,
10. Blog and Tweet about it - like I am doing now.

Swine Flu and Winnie the Pooh

Another forwarded mail. Thought it was really funny.


On a more serious note, the Swine Flu is one in the long list of the diseases which have jumped to humans from animals - AIDs, Mad cow disease, Foot-and-mouth, Chicken flu and now Swine flu.

Apart from AIDs, apparently all the diseases are from domesticated animals reared as food. Maybe we should all go vegetarian.

First Commentator
Emila Yusof

New UK immigration rules update

There is one industry that is recession proof and some research actually shows that it does better when the economy is bad. I am referring to the billion pound education industry. British universities have been highly successful in attracting thousands of bright foreign students to the British Isles.

A BBC report in 2008 showed that fees from International students amounted to £1.7bn. The Universities are interested in attracting foreign non-EU students because they can charge them higher. In my case I paid approximately £10300 this year and the fees are increasing. Local and EU students only pay one third that amount. In other words I am paying for the cost of two local/ EU students. I don't mind because a degree from a reputed British University is looked on favourably by employers all around the World (at least I hope so).

The Malaysian Government itself spends millions of dollars every year sponsoring the education of thousands of students in institutes of higher learning all over the UK.

However, recent changes in immigration regulations may change all that. First were the requirement to carry biometric identity cards. I didn't mind that even though there were a lot of protests because I am used to carrying an ID card all the time in Malaysia.

Yesterday we received an email from the University informing us of Pending changes to the immigration rules for student visa renewals. Based on the new rules which will be implemented from the 31st of March 2009, students would need to provide evidence of any remaining course fees to be paid plus £600pm (up to a maximum of £1200) living costs for visa extensions of nine months or less. If more than nine months you will need to provide evidence of your first year’s fees plus £1200 living costs.

The most worrying part of the new rule is the part of dependants. Namely the fact that you will need to show evidence of funds to support them. The amount has not been fixed yet but is tentatively £533 (per month) for each dependant (including children).

I guess this is part of their policy to toughen immigration rules and it has got worse since the economic recession started. All of us can feel a deepening anti-foreigner sentiment - from politicians, newspaper articles and even bloggers.

Now we are blamed for all short of problems ranging from health care to employment. This is plain ridiculous. Instead of creating more employment and reducing the number of people on the dole, foreigners are the perfect bogeyman to take the blame for past planning, economic and financial mistakes on the part of the Government.

I do agree that there is a problem of illegal immigrants but the new policies will affect the students legally staying and contributing to the British economy. I guess they are frustrated because they can't do anything about the rest of the Europeans (since the UK is part of the EU) or the illegal immigrants or the asylum seekers.

The ones worst affected will be the PhD research students with families. Officially most PhD courses are supposed to be of 3 years duration and the visa are given accordingly but apart from rare cases, most will extend to the fourth or fifth year. For example, in the Warwick Business School, I don't know of any single student (foreign and local) who has completed their PhD degree in the stipulated 3 years duration. The only guy I know who completed in 3 years in the whole University of Warwick was a Malaysian in the Engineering faculty and he was lucky because all his experiments went as planned. Sometimes it is not even the fault of the students as some supervisors can take their own sweet time in passing the students.

My friend has 4 kids and he has to have approximately £24588 £29385 + (based on the details given to us) in his account in order to extend his study for another 9 months. Failure to do so might mean going back to Malaysia without completing the degree (after 3 long years of research). It's scary.

First Commentator
Hapi

What the BBC and Sky don't want you to see

This is the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) ad that the BBC and Sky are refusing to air.

According to the BBC, "..broadcasting an appeal for Gaza at this time is incompatible with our role in providing balanced and objective reporting of this continuing situation to our audiences in the UK and around the world."