You have just made it on the list of the sexiest women I know. The way you approached this issue, with unflinching conviction, coupled with the persuasive, reasonable way you put forth your argument caused a lot of unintended admiration on my part. Truly, maturity has less to do with age than with enforcing discipline upon one’s mind and soul.

If you will allow it, I’d like to post a link to your page on my blog. There truly is nothing hotter than a woman with the intellectual equivalent of an iron fist nested within a velvet glove.

With much admiration,
El Nino.

Why wake up when you know your boss has been shortchanging your wages or deserved profits? Keeping quiet when there’s injustice just to preserve ‘the peace’?

Ah.. I love Malaysians.

still going on eh this issue?

Good luck to your employers at your writing job. Very astute choices they make.

Yes, I KNOW WE KNOW that ‘under the sea’ lies more dangerous creatures, but is it REALLY that’s ideal for us to wake them up and wreck havoc? Come on, have some sense.

Priyanka > I think that what you say about self-censorship has its merits. True, self-censorship infringes upon our right to freedom of speech, but perhaps what should be done in its place is a more….subtle way of expressing things. I believe that if you want to express your opinions, word it in such a way that it doesn’t offend people too much.

But i would probably agree if you brought up a thorny issue such as this recent debacle – one that would most certainly piss off someone. Now, in that case…i would likely opt for self-censorship.

[Posted here for the benefit of those who are not affected by the Malaysian IPs ban.]

Earlier last week, as Executive Editor of the Islamic website Bismika Allahuma, I approved the decision to publish a satirical content generated from a fake newspaper on the website under the title of “A vision of the future”. The satirical material has since been replaced with “A Vision of the Future Without…”, due to the unwarranted and unfair public attention it generated in the Malaysian blogosphere. It is also puzzling that this controversy should take place, since Bismika Allahuma is not part of the blogosphere and I have never made it as part of the Malaysian blogosphere.

It must be noted first of all that I *DID NOT* write the content of this satire. The authorship was not by me but by a member of our team which we shall withhold. I will however take responsibility for approving it and posting it to the website in my capacity as Executive Editor.

Many have claimed that the satirical content is a reflection of my so-called “genocidal tendencies”. On that basis, I have been called a bigot, intolerant, insensitive and skewered in my Islam. I must first of all stress that I am indeed none of these. These abuses are being hurled at me because many are dissatisfied with my stance on Islam and its application to the political life. The Liberal Muslims have been in the frontline of this attack on my goodself due to my opposition to secularism, and with no understanding of the nature of Bismika Allahuma which deals with issues on comparative religion, a defense against attacks to the faith which the Liberal Muslims themselves claim to believe. I do not regard these rabble as a valid representative of my Semitic religion.

I am, first and foremost, an Islamist. That will never change. No one has the right to dictate what I should blog, how I should think and what should the nature of my writing style be. That is not who I am. My raison d’etre is Islam, the denunciation of secularism and work towards its total eradication, and the implementation of an Islamic state as a religious duty for all Muslims. No one, save God, can take this basic ideology from me. I will *NOT* apologise for what I wrote surrounding this topic, nor will I “tone down” about it. If I must be condemned for it, so be it. My conscience is clear, and I do it for the sake of Allah (SWT).

However, after pondering upon this issue of the aforementioned satire, and seeing the misunderstanding and speculation, especially among Christians, regarding my intention towards them that has occured throughout this week, I am going to apologise publicly for something I did not write.

I am apologising publicly not because I do not believe that the article was simply a harmless satire (and it is indeed just satire), but because so many baseless accusations and rhetoric have been hurled against my goodself, with total disregard for the nature of the website and its mission. It hurts my feelings even more since I never authored the article in the first place.
I hence wish to in my personal capacity as a Muslim and an Islamist to:

(1) sincerely apologise openly to all Malaysians of Christian persuasion if they have been hurt by the contents of the satire. Please note that the satire has been removed and replaced by other material.

(2) on behalf of the editorial board of Bismika Allahuma, apologise to Christians if they have been hurt by the remarks in the satire in the course of our jihad against the polemical Christian missionaries the likes of Answering Islam. Our beef was never with you, the peace loving Christians whom Allah (SWT) s.w.t. have described thus in His Word, the Qur’an: “…And nearest to the believers (Muslim) in love will thou find those who say we are Christians, because amongst them are men devoted to learning and the monks, and they are not arrogant” (Quran, 5:82), and;

(3) Apologise to anyone who might have been hurt by my earlier remarks regarding this unintentional controversy.

I have also spoken to Dina Zaman about my intention to write an article for Rentakini regarding this controversy and air my *REAL* opinion about Muslim relations with non-Muslims, vis-a-vis the Islamic perspective. She has approved my intentions.

I will, however, continue to close this blog to all Malaysian IPs until further notice. And I remain,

A humble servant of Allah (SWT).

- MENJ

He doesn’t seem remorsful though =/…

But it’s a start =)

Jon