Building Bridges Global Interfaith Seminar

MAJLIS GEREJA-GEREJA MALAYSIA (COUNCIL OF CHURCHES OF MALAYSIA)
26 Jalan University, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Tel: 03-79567092/79551587 Fax: 03-79560353 E-Mail: churchm@streamyx.com

Press statement
Cancellation of Building Bridges Global Interfaith Seminar

The Council of Churches of Malaysia is as much confused as the organisers of the London office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, as to the sudden withdrawal of the endorsement and support by the Malaysian authorities for holding the Building Bridges seminar in Kuala Lumpur , from 7-11 May 2007.

The Conference was to coincide with the first visit of the Archbishop, Dr Rowan Williams, to the Anglican Church of Malaysia.

At the stage of initial preparations, begun a year ago, representatives of the Archbishop's office for Interfaith Relations received a warm reception from the Prime Minister's Office and other Islamic institutions, welcoming such a seminar as consistent with the government's emphasis on encouraging civilizational and interfaith dialogue to foster and build mutual respect and understanding between the world's religions.

To this end, the London office received a formal letter welcoming such a seminar which would have brought together over thirty world renowned Islamic and Christian scholars and theologians to deliberate under the theme; "Humanity in Context: Christian and Muslim perspectives on being human".

The Building Bridges Seminar would have been the sixth held in a series since six years ago. Such seminars were held in London , New York , Qatar and Sarajevo and the papers from the seminars have been published.

The organisers were excited at the prospect of meeting in Malaysia , as the context would provide the international scholars exposure to the achievements of Malaysia in encouraging interfaith dialogue at the national and international levels. Malaysia could have offer itself as a model of harmonious living between different cultures and religions.

The Council of Churches and other Islamic institutions were approached in the initial stages to host mini seminars to which Muslim and Christian participants could interact with local people of the deliberations of the seminar.

But for unknown reasons the organisers received formal word from the authorities here that support has been withdrawn. This came barely three weeks before the scheduled dates. In respect to the government, the organisers felt it wise to cancel the seminar.

The Council of Churches is at a lost as to the reasons why the authorities have withdrawn support at such a late stage.

The Council of Churches had hoped that such a seminar would have gone a long way in pursuing the path of respectful dialogue and strengthens our country's claim to be a viable venue to host such global interfaith dialogues.

In the light of this development, the Council of Churches most sincerely and humbly appeals to the government to review its decision and offer the organisers an alternative date when the said seminar could be held in Malaysia .

The Council of Churches reaffirms its commitment to building peace through interfaith dialogue. The Council will continue to support the Prime Minister's vision and efforts to nurture and strengthen Malaysia as a model nation of harmonious living between cultures and religions.

Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri
The General Secretary
Of the Council of Churches of Malaysia
10th May 2007 (source: Malaysiakini)

Reading: Summit on religious harmony is thrown into discord by Malaysia - Times Online
Tags: Council of Churches of Malaysia, Religious Harmony, Interfaith Relations, Malaysia, Building Bridges Global Interfaith Seminar, Dr Rowan Williams, Islamic Scholar, Christian Scholar, Muslim, Christian

AFC Criticised Man Utd's Asian Tour

Just when Manchester United has announced that they would be touring Asia in the month of July 2007, the Asian Football Confederation's ("AFC") President has criticised Manchester United 's plan and Sepp Blatter (FIFA's President) joined the bandwagon as well in hitting them.

Why the criticism? The AFC Asian Cup competition will be played in the month of July 2007 also and various matches will be hosted by Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. The AFC Asian Cup finals will be played in Jakarta, Indonesia on 29 July 2007. Co-incidentally, Manchester United was due to play a Malaysian IX selection on 27 July 2007. AFC has stated that Manchester United's tour is in conflict with AFC Asian Cup in July 2007 and will affect the mood in the competition. Moreover, AFC claimed that the Football Association of Malaysia has signed an agreement which states that no competitions will be promoted or organised during the month of July. That's sad.

In the first place, the finals will be played in Jakarta and Manchester United's match in Kuala Lumpur will be played 2 days before the finals' date. Do AFC mean to say that if Manchester United do not come to Malaysia, all the Malaysian football fans will fly over to Jakarta to watch the finals? How does a match in Malaysia affects the whole Asian Cup?

In actual fact (really hope that the AFC's President reads this), even if the finals is held in Kuala Lumpur on 29 July 2007, I won't watch the finals also. It's totally different class. Another nerd that has made comments without thinking how it could really affect the Asian Cup finals. And he can become the President???? Protests and criticisms, published widely in local newspapers, came in too from many football fans in response to AFC's comments.

Reading: AFC Slam Man United - The Stars
Reading: Man United chief 'sad' at AFC over Asian tour - ESPN Soccernet
Tags: Manchester United, AFC, Asian Football Confederation, Asian Tour, AFC Asian Cup, FIFA, Malaysia, Football, FAM, Football Association of Malaysia

Somalia Soldiers Burn Face Veils

In the last few days, Somalia's soldiers took it in their own hands to remove face veils worn by ladies and burn it in public. This latest move was due to the recent upheaval caused by the ousted Islamists force. By removing the veils, the soldiers would be able to identify any Islamists forces, mainly guys, hiding behind those veils. (source: BBC News). Unfortunately, the soldiers caused more retaliation from unknown parties where grenades have been thrown into the capital city's busy market injuring innocent bystanders.

Tunisia and Morocco have implemented similar rulings on headscarves.

With those recent disturbances caused by so called Islamists parties, it has somehow created fears amongst the soldiers too.
Tags: Somalia, Veil, Islamist, Africa

African Night

Lots of Nigerians are attending my church, Praise City Church, lately. Quite a number actually till my Malaysian church members said that I would feel at home at church (owing to me being in Sudan for last 2 years) ...... hahaha. The Nigerians are actually just students from the nearby UCSI and we have also arranged for transport from Nilai College (a number of Nigerians as well). They have been given permission to hold this African Night praise and worship session and a chance for the Nigerians to minister to their other Nigerian friends in Kuala Lumpur. Of course, Malaysians are welcome to attend too. I'll be there. Photos will be posted later.

If you want to attend and see how Nigerians worship God with their vibrant moves and music, please do come.

Tags: African Night, Church, Praise, Worship, Nigeria, Kuala Lumpur, Praise City Church

Maybank's Change of Heart

Watching the TV3's midnite news and heard the first news - Malayan Banking Berhad will revise its latest requirement (Bernama News) prior to be selected into Maybank's panel of lawyers. The new ruling was announced few days back where it required 50% of the partnership interest of each legal firm be held by bumiputra lawyers. New legal firms intending to be selected were required to have this ruling in place while existing legal firms in their panel were given 1 year's reprieve.

In a change of mind NOW, Maybank said that performance/capability will be the main criteria/measurement in selecting legal firms to be in their panel of lawyers. News floated around that this issue was even brought up to the cabinet. What a waste of public funds/time.

In the first, where was the Board of Directors' brains when this new ruling was pondered upon before it was decided. After getting hammering from all walks of life, the Bar Council, practising lawyers, political parties (BN or opposition) and plenty of bloggers, sense came back into their mind. It's just plain racial discrimination. Racists!!

I agreed with one scenario; what if Public Bank Berhad or Hong Leong Bank Berhad starts to implement a ruling requiring all legal firms in their panel or those intending to be selected to have a minimum number of chinese lawyers and/or majority of partnership interests must be held by non-malays. I would also protest in this case as it's not fair for those who did their works well. Imagine that legal firms were forced to accept mediocre lawyers as partners just to meet the banks' requirements.

Wondering if there would be any other companies in other industries that would implement such ridiculous racial rulings in a supposedly multi-racial nation.
Tags: Malayan Banking Berhad, MBB, Maybank, Lawyer, Legal Firm, Racial Discrimination, Racist, Bumiputra, Malaysia, Bar Council

Status Symbol

MP3 players and mobile phones are fast becoming status symbols. Some people will go to the extent of owning a gadget with unique add-ons so that it will stand out amongst others' gadgets even though it's the same model.

YP-Z5F: All that bling
TrekStor i.Beat: The ultimate MP3 bling
Musical hit and run
When iPods and diamonds are a gal's best bud
Diamonds are forever
Sleek gold of phone
100-million-yen mobile phone strap
Vertu: Constellation of sparkles
Tags: MP3, Mobile Phone, Status Symbol, Gadget, Music

Dead Blogger

A Singaporean blogger by the name of May Leong has passed away on 23 Apr 2007, just 2 days after her last posting in her blog (or her 1st blog posting for this year) - Pink May Flower's Secrets.

From her last posting, it was noted that she was going through tremendous pressure. She was running her work for HP, Singapore even at home (non-office hours and weekends). She did mention that she got no choice but to work hard just to sustain her income.

In the end, due to hitting the journey too hard, she succumbed to reason yet to be known but suspected to be pulmonary embolism caused by deep vein thrombosis. This is a condition that can strike when someone has been inactive for a long period of time, like sitting in one position. In her last blog, she also stated that her health was getting bad and guessed that she was pushing herself through in her tight work schedule.

Her last few words in her blog "I don't wanna end up dead for the sake of dough. The moral of the story is don't ever fall in love with your company or your job". Unfortunately, it did happen to her just 2 days later.

Been sharing with people that you MUST be happy with your current work because that's where you want to be. Not as a NO CHOICE situation. Next thing is majority of the working folks neglect their health. No one thinks that a simple exercise will help and therefore, might as well skip it altogether.

Reading: Dead after 8 hours on laptop - AsiaOne Digital
Tags: May Leong, Singaporean, Blog, HP, Hewlett Packard, Pulmonary Embolism, Deep Vein Thrombosis