TERROR AS A GEOPOLITICAL TOOL

"Strong, credible allegations of high-level criminal activity can bring down a government. When the government lacks an effective, fact-based defense, other techniques must be employed. The success of these techniques depends heavily upon a cooperative, compliant press and a mere token opposition party." - David Martin

Whenever you come across the word TERROR check if it’s being associated with the Islamic jihad. The fanatical religionist is the latest bogeyman, very useful for the insidious purpose of injecting intense fear and paranoia into the hearts of the masses.

The intention is to make people cut off all feelings of goodwill and compassion they might otherwise feel towards other humans in particular, and other lifeforms in general. Who would wish to stop us from being loving, compassionate and noble? Who would desire to make us distrustful and anxious, readily agreeing to be microchipped and to endure all manner of “beefed up security” - including 24/7 electronic surveillance and abruptly curtailed civil rights?

People, this may sound like science fiction, but I assure you that mind-control techniques have been in use for a very long time and are sufficiently sophisticated to make it not only possible - but inevitable - that suicide killers are being programmed and trained by covert agencies and then unleashed on unsuspecting populations at strategic times and places.

Security and defence personnel like the police and military already undergo rigorous training to program them into obedient, unquestioning enforcers of official authority.

However, their training stops short of completely dehumanizing them. Those who have been processed through police or military discipline are generally still able to return to civilian life without too much trouble - unless they are shell-shocked from exposure to the apocalyptic horrors of dirty "wars" like Vietnam or Iraq. Transforming a confused and angry young person into a kamikaze killer is something a great deal more extreme. But it appears that some covert agencies are expert at it:

A recent Carol Valentine article puts forth ample evidence that MANY, if not ALL, so-called "suicide bomber" attacks supposedly carried out by "Palestinian terrorists" are in fact being perpetrated by the Mossad-supported "Hamas" and similar bogus front organizations. This assessment indeed correlates EXACTLY with information conveyed to us from a DoS source and published in a TOP VIEW bulletin on April 14: information that an alleged "suicide bomber" attack in a Jerusalem market that Friday was perpetrated - like most of these supposed "suicide bomber" attacks - by a brainwashed/mind-controlled zombie killer under the control of Israeli/CIA intelligence units.

But why would ANYONE wish to turn human beings into killer zombies via hypnotech voodoo? This practice is hardly new. In the 11th century, a Persian mystic and spiritual master named Hasan-i-Sabbah perfected a method of indoctrination whereby he was able to create an army of fearless hashishin (from which the word assassin derives). Hasan built an impregnable fortress flanked by two mountains where he created a paradisal garden...

"The garden lay in a beautiful valley nestled between two high mountains. Here he had imported exotic plants, birds, and animals from all over the world. Surrounding the garden were luxurious palaces of marble and gold, decorated with beautiful paintings and fine silk furniture. Streams of milk, wine, and honey flowed throughout this earthly paradise, while fountains gushed with wine and pure spring water.

The initiate, after being knocked out by a powerful potion mixed with hashish, would be carried into the garden. When he awoke from his slumber, he would be greeted by a host of beautiful teenage girls (houris), who sang and danced and played lovely instruments for him. As he drifted into an ecstatic daze, the girls would go to work on the initiate, giving him a full-body tongue massage, while one girl performed oral sex on him. Eventually, the bedazzled young man would climax into the girl's mouth "as softly and slowly and blissfully as a single snowflake falling." (Robert Anton Wilson, from Prometheus Rising) No wonder Hasan could demand absolute loyalty from his followers, no questions asked..." (Wes Moore)

Moore goes on to say: "Our modern day 'assassination cults' (the FBI, the CIA, etc.) have incorporated many of the Hashishins' techniques into their methodologies. In a CIA training manual titled A Study of Assassination, you find traces of the Assassins' influence throughout. Hasan-i-Sabbah is even mentioned in the document, which is a must read if there ever was one."

Most of us would vehemently deny it if somebody showed us incontrovertible evidence that our fathers or husbands have been leading a double life as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Since the state is for many an extension of the father, it's difficult for the majority to believe that our own governments are capable of sacrificing the lives of any number of citizens just to stay in power.

Operation Northwoods is solid proof that such things happen more often than we would like to know. In 1962 the Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed to fake terror attacks on their own citizens and blame it on Fidel Castro. This was to justify declaring war on Cuba. Good thing defense secretary Robert McNamara shot the atrocious idea down. But 39 years down the line with Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary and Dick Cheney as vice-president, another preposterous false flag operation was given the green light: the world knows this scenario as the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"The Illuminati, Freemasonry and the other secret societies use symbols and perform ceremonies that perpetuate the generational transfers of arcane knowledge that is used to keep the ordinary people in political, economic and spiritual bondage to the oldest bloodlines on earth." - Don Harkins

Lee Harvey Oswald (above) was perhaps a classic example of a programmed assassin, used as a patsy and scapegoat in the plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy, 35th US president on 22 November 1963. Deathbed disclosures by former CIA agent E. Howard Hunt implicate George H.W. Bush in the elaborate conspiracy.

Sirhan Sirhan has been languishing in jail since 5 June 1968, the night Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Investigators say Sirhan has absolutely no memory of what happened that fateful day.

Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon on 8 December 1980 outside The Dakota in New York City. He was 25 at the time and was carrying a copy of J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, which some investigators believe was used as a programming tool by whoever set Chapman up to take out Lennon, who was perceived by the FBI to be a major threat to public sentiment over America's military program.

US military training incorporates mind-control techniques developed by MK-Ultra during the 1950s. Some say dangerous psychotropic drugs like crystal amphetamine are routinely used to desensitize airforce crews on bombing missions and afford combatant troops a false sense of invulnerability.

It's important to bear in mind that the secretive power cabals responsible for staging false flag operations like 9/11, the Madrid and Bali bombings, and the 7/7 terror attacks in London are NOT bound by national or racial considerations. We must be careful not to blame Americans or Israelis or Brits or Pakistanis or Saudis or French or Chinese or Japanese or Russians or Serbs or Albanians for these atrocities.

Although these diabolical stratagems often involve the use of covert agencies like the CIA, FBI, Mossad, MI6, KGB, ISI, ASIO, BIN, SB, or whatever - the operatives themselves are usually in the dark as to the overall plan and ultimate purpose of their clandestine commando activities. Since these power hierarchies function strictly on a need-to-know basis, only the topmost echelons of authority have access to the game plan formulated by the inner circle of power players. In effect, even as we discover more about who and what actually makes the world go round, this knowledge will be irrelevant and useless if it makes us feel antagonistic towards Americans or Jews or Arabs or any other ideological or ethnic group.

The enemy, as it turns out, is embedded within our own genetic architecture, hard-wired into the most primitive, reptilian region of our brains where our deepest, darkest fears reside. And we can experience no greater fear than the fear of our own non-existence as individualized egos.


Take the vicious, gory and totally senseless Mumbai attacks, for example. Why might the CIA, Mossad and MI6 collaborate on such an evil program to strike fear into the Indian government specifically - and the rest of the horrified world in general? What have they accomplished by wreaking such newsworthy carnage and killing nearly 200 innocent bystanders?

Today even in remote villages you will find the occasional satellite dish and hordes of relatives crowded around the TV set every night. Most humans have, in fact, been conditioned to become passive consumers of news bulletins broadcast 24/7 by commercial networks like CNN, the BBC, Fox News, Aljazeera, and so on. It has become so easy to project a specific thought-form or perception into the mass consciousness, provided one has the colossal resources required to produce, direct and stage-manage "the news."

Knowing we are unable to look away from carnage and catastrophe, TV camera crews are on constant standby to arrive at the scene of any visually horrifying incident within hours or even minutes. Bombarded as we are by daily reports of accidents, floods, earthquakes, explosions, murders and massacres, it gets harder and harder to feel positive about humanity's future. Indeed, when violent death can strike suddenly, unexpectedly, and for absolutely no reason at all, most people begin to accept the notion of a totalitarian government where stringent security measures will ensure that they are at least safe from harm - so what if they have to sacrifice their individual liberty and childhood ideals of a just and united world?

"May 13 and 9/11 have one common feature: they were cunningly and ruthlessly crafted public traumas designed to concuss, confuse, and confound the masses - and, while the voters were in temporary shock, they would be robbed of any control over their own future. That's right, folks: the name of the REAL game is "Hand over all your power!" - Antares

Some of you may remember a 1997 movie called Wag The Dog - or the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate. Well, both movies do a good job of illustrating the methodology of spin and those who routinely use it to manipulate public opinion and behavior.

Instead of panicking and worrying where the world is headed, I suggest you remain perfectly calm and do some serious research into what’s REALLY going on behind the surface of what the mass media reports. Begin by clicking on these recommended links:

What is MK-Ultra?

Who's Behind All These 'Random' Bombings?

Are the CIA and MI6 working with Mossad?

What's going on in Palestine?

Osama bin Laden, interviewed on 28 September 2001: "I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children and other people. Such a practice is forbidden even in the course of a battle."

From The Daily Mail Online, 29 November 2008

A Musical Interlude Amidst The Explosions

"A Hiding Place for the Moon" - an original song by Antoine Dufour on his CD Existence available at http://www.candyrat.com, Amazon, and iTunes.

Antoine Dufour (born in L'Épiphanie, Quebec) is a French-Canadian acoustic guitarist currently signed to CandyRat Records. Dufour started playing guitar at the age of fifteen. He went on to study at the CEGEP in Joliette, where he listened to the music of Leo Kottke, Don Ross, and Michael Hedges at the behest of his teacher. Since then, he has gone on to place second at the 2005 Canadian Guitar Festival's Fingerstyle Guitar Championship and first place in the 2006 competition. He also placed third at the 2006 International Finger Style Guitar Championship in Winfield, Kansas.

Dufour has released three solo albums to date: Naissance, Development, and Existence.

[Discovered this consummate guitarist-composer through pure serendipity!]

WAY TO GO, RPK! :-)

Malaysiakini.tv, 28 Nov 2008

"We're going to give them a hard time, and we're going to send them packing. They have absolutely no case against me. You follow this case, and you watch how we demolish them piece by piece and strip them naked." - Raja Petra Kamarudin

"The only way to deal with the spineless and corrupt is to confront them without hesitation or fear!" - Om B. Udsman

Saiful to answer charges of "qazaf"

At 11AM today (27 November 2008) Saiful Bukhari Azlan, who lodged a police report 28 June 2008 that he had been anally raped by Anwar Ibrahim, presented himself at the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department (JAWI) for further questioning with regard to Anwar's formal complaint on 9 July 2008 that Saiful Bukhari had committed qazaf (wrongfully accusing a chaste man or woman of adultery or homosexuality without four reliable witnesses).

The punishment for those who accuse others of committing adultery and sodomy without substantiation is, according to various Islamic scholars, similar to those who commit such offences.

HERE'S A POINT-BY-POINT SUMMARY OF SALIENT FACTS SURROUNDING THIS PERPLEXING AND SORDID AFFAIR THAT HAS MADE MALAYSIA THE BUTT OF ENDLESS ANUS JOKES:

1. Saiful Bukhari Azlan is reportedly Mumtaz Jaafar's "Godson."

2. Mumtaz Jaafar is reportedly Rosmah Mansor's business associate and "bag lady."

Mumtaz Jaafar (MJ) & Rosmah Mansor (RM) with a Wanita Umno group (from The Dandelions)

3. Najib Razak finally admitted (under pressure) that Saiful Bukhari had visited him and his wife at their residence "a few days" before Saiful lodged his infamous police report against Anwar Ibrahim. Najib had earlier stated that Saiful only visited his office and discussed getting a "scholarship" with Khairil Anas Yusof, "special aide" to DPM Najib. Initially, Najib insisted he had "never met" Saiful personally. Then MT published part of a video interview with a friend of Saiful Bukhari who attested he had accompanied Saiful on his visit to Najib & Rosmah's residence...

Saiful posing with Khairil Anas Yusof (special aide to Najib) at the Deputy Prime Minister's office in February 2008.

4. Malaysia Today also published a story stating that Saiful Bukhari had met Senior Assistant Commissioner (II) Mohd Rodwan Mohd Yusof in Room 619 of the Concorde Hotel at 2:30 PM on 25 June 2008 (3 days before the police report was lodged). The MT report also alleged that Saiful had been in phone contact with Rodwan Mohd Yusof and other police officers for several days prior to that rendezvous at the Concorde. Rodwan Mohd Yusof happens to be IGP Musa Hassan's "dirty tricks" agent and was involved in Anwar's 1998 sodomy trial (he demanded Anwar's DNA sample from the Hospital Besar KL which was later used on the infamous Tivoli mattress). To date there has been no official denial or investigation of these allegations. Rodwan Mohd Yusof had "no comment" when questioned by reporters.

5. Saiful Bukhari Azlan's biological father, Azlan Mohd Lazim, had abandoned Saiful's mother when Saiful was still a toddler. Recently, Azlan Mohd Lazim (seated beside Saiful, above) reappeared in Saiful's life when he accompanied his estranged son to the swearing ritual at the Federal Territory Mosque officiated by a newly appointed imam, Ramlang Porigi, on 15 July 2008 (one day before Nomination Day for the Permatang Pauh by-election). Azlan Mohd Lazim was also present at a press conference afterwards. It was subsequently revealed by MT that Azlan Mohd Lazim earns his living mainly as an Umno go-between, fixing deals and negotiating clandestine transactions, and was instrumental in coordinating the secret PAS-Umno meetings soon after 8 March 2008. Azlan Mohd Lazim is on a special committee of Umno entrepreneurs, headed by Romeli Musa (of Sapura Holdings) determined to stop Anwar Ibrahim from becoming PM and Pakatan Rakyat from taking over the federal government.

Click here for behind-the-scenes report on how PKR pulled off this remarkable coup.

6. During the Permatang Pauh by-election campaign, looped video footage of Saiful Bukhari swearing on the Koran that Anwar Ibrahim had forcibly sodomized him was repeatedly and almost continuously projected on giant outdoor screens at all BN operations centers. However, Ramlang Porigi, the imam who had officiated at Saiful's swearing ritual, showed up at PKR ceramahs & publicly stated that he was unwittingly and unwillingly dragged into the whole affair - in fact, Ramlang revealed that Khairil Anas Yusof ("special aide" to the DPM) had arranged the swearing ritual and that Ramlang himself had no say in the matter. He was bombarded with angry messages from friends and strangers afterwards and realized he had to come out in the open & officially disassociate himself from Saiful's swearing ritual.

7. Saiful Bukhari showed up at Hospital Pusrawi after lunch on 28 June 2008 complaining of acute pain in his own arse ("someone shoved some plastic object up my rectum..."). He was rectally examined by Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid who found no signs that Saiful Bukhari had been forcibly sodomized and said as much in his medical report. Subsequently, the Hospital Pusrawi report was leaked to the media (it first appeared in Malaysia Today, of course), and that made the entire case go limp. On 7 August 2008 Anwar Ibrahim was charged with "consensual" sodomy under Section 377B of the Penal Code, contradicting Saiful Bukhari's insistence under Koranic oath that he had not consented and was, in fact, raped by Anwar (believe it or not, Ripley!)

From Malaysiakini.tv, 4 Sept 2008

8. Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid subsequently read a statement at a press conference endorsing the authenticity of the leaked Hospital Pusrawi medical report and maintaining that he stood by the results of his rectal examination. Dr Osman also revealed that he had been repeatedly visited by police officers who made him sign statements in Malay which he did not fully understand (being a Burmese national) & which contained extraneous details added by the police.

As far as I'm concerned this case is closed, QED.

For Saiful Bukhari's protection (from possible attack by morally inflamed Anwaristas and ardent connoisseurs of plump young rumps) I recommend that the good Burmese doctor be assigned to bung up Saiful's pert little ass. However, if Dr Osman has already left the country - and who can blame him, after all the stress he's been subject to? - then we'll just have to hand Saiful over to that Honorable MP from Kenabatangan, Bung Mokhtar Radin (who's reputed to be quite an expert on bunging up leaky holes).

Kenny Gan (Letters to Malaysiakini): When Anwar’s trial begins, Saiful should be asked one question: ‘Does he agree to the charge under Section 377B of consensual sodomy?’ If he still insists as per his public stance that the act was non-consensual, the charge should be amended to Section 377C covering non-consensual sodomy or be thrown out.

This is more than a technical definition. Section 377C involves an element of force which must be proven and hence it is much more difficult to obtain a conviction given the facts of the case. There are no two ways about it. The prosecution cannot give themselves an easier job to convict Anwar for consensual sodomy while the witness denies it. For Anwar’s case to proceed under the present charge, Saiful must be willing to repudiate his public stance of forced sodomy and take the adverse repercussions given his swearing on the Quran. Otherwise, it must be amended to Section 377C. Anything else is a gross miscarriage of justice.

Check out this BONUS FEATURE on BEAUTIFUL ANUSES!

Forrest Gump explains Mortgage Backed Securities...

Mortgage Backed Securities are like boxes of chocolates. Criminals on Wall Street stole a few chocolates from the boxes and replaced them with turds. Their criminal buddies at Standard & Poor rated these boxes AAA Investment Grade chocolates. These boxes were then sold all over the world to investors.

Eventually somebody bites into a turd and discovers the crime. Suddenly nobody trusts American chocolates anymore worldwide.

Hank Paulson now wants the American taxpayers to buy up and hold all these boxes of turd-infested chocolates for $800 billion dollars until the market for turds returns to normal. Meanwhile, Hank's buddies, the Wall Street criminals who stole all the good chocolates are not being investigated, arrested, or indicted.

Mama always said: "Sniff the chocolates first, Forrest."

Now here's another classic story illustrating the evils of gambling and betting...

An elderly woman walked into the Bank of Canada one morning with a purse full of money. She wanted to open a savings account and insisted on talking to the president of the Bank because, she said, she had a lot of money.

After many lengthy discussions (after all, the client is always right) an employee took the elderly woman to the president's office. The president of the Bank asked her how much she wanted to deposit. She placed her purse on his desk and replied, "$165,000."

The president was curious and asked her how she had been able to save so much money. The elderly woman replied that she made bets.

The president was surprised and asked, "What kind of bets?"

The elderly woman replied, "Well, I bet you $25,000 that your testicles are square.'"

The president started to laugh and told the woman that it was impossible to win a bet like that. The woman never batted an eye. She just looked at the president and said, "Would you like to take my bet?"

"Certainly," replied the president. "I bet you $25,000 that my testicles are NOT square.'"

"Done!" the elderly woman answered. "But given the amount of money involved, if you don't mind, I would like to come back at 10 o' clock tomorrow morning with my lawyer as a witness."

"No problem." said the president of the Bank confidently.

That night, the president became very nervous about the bet and spent a long time in front of the mirror examining his testicles, turning them this way and that, checking them over again and again until he was positive that no one could consider his balls as square and reassuring himself that there was no way he could lose the bet.

The next morning at exactly 10 o' clock the elderly woman arrived at the president's office with her lawyer and acknowledged the $25,000 bet made the day before that the president's testicles were square. The president confirmed that the bet was the same as the one made the day before. Then the elderly woman asked him to drop his pants so that she and her lawyer could inspect his balls.

The president readily obliged, anticipating an unexpected windfall of $25,000.

The elderly woman came closer so she could see better and asked the president if she could touch his balls.

"Of course," said the president. "Given the amount of money involved, you should be 100% sure."


The elderly woman did so with a small smile. Suddenly the president noticed that the lawyer was banging his head against the wall. He asked the elderly woman why he was doing that and she replied, "Oh, it's probably because I bet him $125,000 that around 10 o' clock in the morning I would be fondling the balls of the President of the Bank of Canada."

[First published 27 November 2008]

RPK has the last word on FATWAHS!

Raja Petra Kamarudin is no mere journalist. His mental clarity and moral courage effectively make him the Conscience of the Nation. In his youth he may have been a bit of a hotheaded hellraiser but today, at the mature age of 58, he has come fully into his own as a Community Elder - somebody whose advice and opinion is well worth considering. With the added bonus of his royal pedigree, which adds a certain amount of clout to his proclamations, RPK's perspective on issues that concern the nation cannot be taken lightly, ignored, or suppressed (as the home minister and attorney-general are desperately trying to accomplish on behalf of their boss, Mr Pink Lips of "I never met the Mongolian woman" fame). Today on NO HOLDS BARRED, RPK presents his level-headed, no-nonsense view on the National Fatwa Council and their compulsion to fatuously fatwa the most trivial matters, blatantly ignoring what's truly important for the continued well-being and future health of the Ummah...

Raja Petra Kamarudin | FATWAHS GALORE

In time, these great Islamic empires became so corrupt that they eventually disappeared from the face of this earth. What we see in the Middle East today is the residual of the once great Islamic empire from the Golden Age of Islam.

Aiyah, so many people phoned me to ask why I have not written about the current fatwah controversy. People seem to have the impression that it is my duty to talk about everything under the sun. I think enough people, right up to the Sultans and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, have touched on the matter. Do you really need me to also offer my two cents worth?

I suppose I can’t run away from my ‘duty’ of also whacking the issue seeing that I have been ‘officially’ labelled as an insulter of Islam. People just expect me to put my foot in my mouth on any issue involving Islam. Anyway, here goes.

I have no problems with the Fatwah Council or religious bodies coming out with fatwahs. It is not like anyone would follow them anyway. It is just an exercise in hot air as far as I am concerned. I mean, take the many ‘fatwahs’ already passed by God and cemented in the Quran for eternity. Do Muslims really take heed over what has been forbidden by God?

I remember a talk that Sheikh Imran Hosein once gave in Kuala Lumpur about ten years ago on the subject matter of riba' or usury. We published his lecture into a booklet and distributed it free to all and sundry.

Sheikh Imran said that, according to the Prophet Muhammad, there are 80 levels of usury, bribery being just one of them. And the sin of the lowest level of all, said Sheikh Imran, tantamount to the sin of sexual intercourse with your own parent.

Can you imagine yourself having sex with your father or mother? Well, the sin of the lowest level usury is the same as the sin of sex with your own father and mother. And bribery is not the lowest level yet. So the sin of bribery certainly ranks higher than the sin of sex with your own mother or father.

Is there a fatwah on bribery? Do you even need a fatwah from the Fatwah Council or any religious body when God has already issued His ‘fatwah’? A man-made fatwah would be unnecessary and redundant. A fatwah can never make bribery more haram than it already is. And that is probably why no one sees the need for coming out with another fatwah.

But this does not stop Muslims from taking bribes. Considering that more than 90% of Malaysia’s civil servants are Muslims, and bribery is most rampant amongst the civil service, this would mean the Muslims are the most corrupt lot, at least as far as Malaysia is concerned.

Look at Umno. Even Tun Dr Mahathir laments about corruption in Umno. They call it ‘money politics,’ of course, but this is just corruption by another name. And are not all Umno members Muslims (except for maybe some from Sabah)? Umno is actually very concerned about the matter and can’t quite figure out what to do. Even the most corrupted Umno leaders are concerned about it. When the crooks worry about the spiralling crime rate then rest assured the problem is very serious indeed.

Sure, ban yoga for all I care. After all I do not do yoga and it does not really affect me personally. Even ban lipstick and high heels as well if that makes us more Islamic. Have separate checkout counters for men and women and ‘his’ and ‘her’ swimming pools. These, to me, are small potatoes. But while we are at it can we also issue fatwahs and ban the more serious practices that ail the Muslim community? Can we ban corruption?

I don’t see how yoga, lipstick and high heels can weaken the ummah (community). I don’t think Muslims will convert to Hinduism or Christianity because of yoga, lipstick and high heels. But corruption can destroy the ummah. And most Islamic communities have collapsed because of corruption.

Muslims are fond of talking about the ‘Golden Age of Islam.’ Yes, at one time, Islam was a great empire. But it no longer is. And why is that? In time, these great Islamic empires became so corrupt that they eventually disappeared from the face of this earth. What we see in the Middle East today is the residual of the once great Islamic empire from the Golden Age of Islam.

And that is why the 'fatwah' from God, as related by the Prophet, says that bribery is one of the 80 levels of riba’ and the sin of the lowest level of riba’ tantamount to the sin of sex with your own parent. And this is more disastrous than yoga, lipstick or high heels.

Muslims have to get their priorities straight. Sure, come out with fatwahs if need be. But let these fatwahs be about what really ails us and not about some minor issue that was not really a danger to the ummah in the first place.

Armain Carlier, my one-time business contact from Schlumberger, related a story about how he went to Iran many years after the Iranian Revolution. He was there to visit their partner and to see how their joint-venture factory was getting along. It had been years since anyone from Schlumberger had visited Iran and they did not know even if the business was still in operation.

He was surprised when their Iranian partner handed him a cheque for the profits they had made over all those years. He thought the factory no longer existed, let alone was still making a profit. And he never expected Schlumberger’s Iranian partner to be so honest as to hand Schlumberger’s share of the profits over to him.

Carlier was so impressed and said that Islam must be a great religion if its people can be so honest. Yes, that is the example of an un-corrupt Muslim, which impressed even a non-Muslim like Carlier. And this should be the target of the Fatwah Council and religious bodies, to indoctrinate Muslims into becoming honest and un-corrupt.

So carry on fatwahing. I have no problems with that. It is just that maybe we should put yoga, lipstick and high heels way at the bottom of the list of items to be banned. Corruption should be the first target. That hurts us more than yoga, lipstick and high heels. That was what saw the end of the Islamic empire. That was what caused the extinction of the Golden Age of Islam.

And this fatwah fiasco has raised another problem. It has set the Rulers and religious authorities on a collision course. Will we now see a turf war between the Rulers and the religious authorities?

The outcome of all this is going to see one party embarrassed, either the Rulers or the religious authorities. And would this not be embarrassing for the Malays as well? And, in the meantime, corruption prevails. It is getting from bad to worse. And no one wants to come out with a fatwah on this.

THOU SHALT NOT YOGA? Whaddafatwa...... is this the Umno Inquisition?

Walksi just posted a side-splitting brain-gratifying analysis of the national fatwa epidemic. I suggest you read it at his blog, myAsylum.

Having viewed this classic Monty Python skit Walksi posted, I just had to treat myself to a few more - and do you the favor of providing a YouTube link where you can spend a very flatulent afternoon revisiting some unforgettable moments in Advanced Pythonology.

And just for good measure, I feel it's high time Malaysia had its own Ministry of Silly Walks...

Thank you, Hindraf, for Makkal Sakthi!

LET'S MAKE IT HAPPEN!

[Images collected from various sources. 14 April Freedom Rally pics courtesy of TV Smith]

THE SAD SAGA OF RAJESWARI MURUGIAH: view this powerful short documentary on a Malaysian citizen who was wrongfully detained for 11 months because she lost her identity card and couldn't recall the number. From Malaysiakini.tv, 24 Nov 2008