[image source: BBC ] For critics of the new Fatwa Council's ruling on yoga, I wish to offer my view and defend the rational behind the decision. A quick glance at some of the local news headlines, I think it's The Star which gave the most accurate reporting to it. TheStar: Fatwa Council says yoga with worshipping, chanting is prohibited See headline above. It only mentioned yoga 'worshipping' and 'chanting' that is prohibited. Personally, I don't see it as a blanket ban on Yoga. Read what the Fatwa Council Chairman, Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor Husin said. "..the council has declared that practising yoga when it comes all together with the three elements ( physical movements, worshipping and chanting ) as haram." Note that it is considered as haram only if all three elements is being practised. In other words, it is alright if people just practise the physical activity of yoga without the spiritual aspects. Singapore's Straits Times also carried th

Malay Archipelago The posting below was supposed to be a short reply to the comments in an article in The Malaysian Insider , but it somehow turn out to be few paragraphs long. So, I just thought of posting it here too, since I don't really have much to write these days. ..This land was previously known as Tanah Melayu. The previous rulers were all Raja-raja Melayu. Across the whole land and sea from Patani up in the north, to Aceh in the west, to Java and right up to Southern Philippines to Maluku in the east, are known as the Gugusan Kepulauan Melayu or the Malay archipelago. My point here is, if a native Malay (Minang, Siak ,Aceh, Banjar, Bugis, Patani, Brunei Malays etc etc) migrates to Tanah Melayu, they were just migrating from one to another negeri/tanah jajahan Raja-Raja Melayu. In the old days, the concept of nation-state, state sovereignty, immigration and so on so forth were almost none existence. Therefore the Malays in the Malay archipelago were free to move about eve

..Dialogue session with Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at the Putrajaya Leadership Foundation. Seated from left were former UMNO Secretaries General, Tan Sri Sanusi Junid and Tan Sri Sabaruddin Chik A quick check shows that TheStar , NST and MalaysianInsider have already carried out the news. NST: Dr Mahathir to submit reports on money politics to disciplinary committee TheStar: Dr M to name UMNO members involved in money politics TheMalaysianInsider: Dr M predicts rampant bribery will bring down Umno at next polls On top of money politics in UMNO which made the headlines, Tun actually talked for about an hour discussing other issues too, e.g. the recent media debate on 'social contract', Malay language and Malay special rights, on Pak Lah's leadership and the March 2009 transition, Pak Lah's judiciary and ACA reform, on the many faces of Anwar Ibrahim, BN's worst performance ever in the 12th general election, on American President-elect Barack Hussein Obama and so on so

I don't have anything good to write at the moment, so for the sake of updating this blog, here are some of the latest music album downloaded over the weekend. ..Senses Fail - Life Is Not A Waiting Room ..Funeral For A Friend - Memory And Humanity ..Plain White T's - Big Bad World ..Punchline - Just Say Yes

"Change has come to America" - President Barack Obama. Congratulations to the newly elected American President Barack Hussein Obama. So long and goodbye, George Bush. While Bush will go down in history as the worst American President, Obama will be remembered as the first Black (he's actually half-White too) to enter White House. Coming home to Malaysia, if there is one thing that our local politicians could learn from the US Presidential election is that we should immediately close rank and work together for our country after the election is over. I commend John McCain's congratulatory message to Obama, when he said " we must work together to get this country moving again ". But here in Malaysia, what happened was totally the extreme opposite. Right after the 8 March general election, our famous opposition leader was already began planning to topple the elected BN government through undemocratic means - defections from ruling party MPs. Something which is