My office in Bahrain is on the 7th floor and overlooks the coast. From my window, I have a great view of the sea. And on a clear day like today, the sea is a magnificent colour of blueish green. Being in this Arab country has kind of opened up my eyes to quite a number of things. Like how the people here are pretty liberal and open-minded for an Arab state. It's not a dry country. Pork is easily available in the supermarkets. The cashiers who are Muslims handle pork and alcohol like it's just another item. There are ample pubs and discos around. Many of the locals drink. You can order pork in restaurants discreetly. The people here dress exceptionally well. Especially the younger generation in their designer suits and dresses. If you marry a Muslim here, you don't have to convert.

Then I read the news back home. And it saddens me to think that a Muslim Arab state can be so liberal and yet my home which is supposed to be a secular country is so close-minded. I was having a conversation with an expat from Northern India who works with the Ministry of Commerce in Bahrain. She was asking about Malaysia and how it's like in terms of being liberal. So I told her that it's pretty much like in Bahrain where you can get pork and alcohol. Walking around town in spaghetti strap tops is okay. There are pubs and discos around. Then she asked me about conversion. That non-Muslims who marry another Muslim has to convert. Hmm... didn't know how to respond. Then she mentioned that she dealt with the Malaysian embassy in Bahrain quite often seeing that she's doing PR for Commerce. And she asked how come all of the people working at the embassy are Muslims since Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-religion country. Again, didn't know how to respond. How do I tell a foreigner that the reason why government posts are predominanly Muslim because of racial quotas? That for every application for a government post, only 1 or 2 positions are set aside for other races, the rest for Malays? Sigh...

Then, I read about another fight over a dead body. I don't understand why the religious department has to come into the picture of a deceased person, whether this person was Muslim or not. In this particular case, the fella apparently renounced Islam and returned to being a Roman Catholic and even has documents to prove it. So why must the religious department still insist on claiming the body just to give the fella an Islamic burial? First of all, his family is the one suffering for their loss. He was a part of their family NOT a part of the religious department. If anything, the family should have the right to bury him, whether he was Muslim or not. Why must there be interference from outsiders in deciding how our loved ones should be buried? Isn't the loss of a family member sad enough without adding salt to the wound? Yes, it may be important to be buried according to religious beliefs but aboveall, shouldn't the FAMILY have the last say? Especially in this case, where they have all the documents stating that he is now a Catholic. I'm wondering how this case will turn out. If the Syariah court rules that the religious department has the RIGHT to claim the body, we all know where our country is headed for.

I understand the need for religion but I don't understand people who use their religion to commit acts of stupidity like imposing your beliefs on others and condemning other religions and destroying other places of worship. Religion gives people an excuse to be stupid and unreasonable. And politicians using religion to justify things? C'mon! Take the case of our lady minister who declared that if God said to stay, then she will stay. Urm... that doesn't explain the case of the APs, dear. I absolutely hate it when they use God's name to justify themselves or to explain things. And why must a religion be imposed on people? Why force people into your religion? Doesn't religion preach about freedom of choice? That you should only believe if you believe? And not because you were born into it or married into it? And is it really a crime to renounce said religion and punish them by law? If I don't believe in my religion anymore, who are you, another human being, to tell punish me? Shouldn't it be between myself and God come judgement day? Shouldn't it be God who has the ONLY RIGHT to punish me? And using the ISA on people who renounce said religion? Jeebers... The justification of using the ISA is on people who may cause threat to national security. Er... how does renouncing said religion cause unrest? Isn't that sentence so vague? If it's really about causing unrest then what about those keris-waving people shouting that they're the pivotal race and that Malaysians can never be equal as there are some who are MORE equal than others? Aren't speeches like that even more disturbing than people who renounce said religion?

The whole 'let's play race politics' is getting out of hand. These people preach that they don't want another racial riot to occur but from the things that spew out of their mouths, they appear to be the ones instigating and fanning the embers. And what's most frightening about all this is that there ARE people who believe what is being said. That other races are causing problems. That they are stealing businesses and controlling the economy. That said race can never progress and rise because of these other races. It's really really sad.

I have a whole lot more to rant about but if I do, it'll never end. I'm just hoping that we, as smart Malaysians, see what is right and what should be done to stop all this.