BBC: Rise of strict Islam exposes tensions in Malaysia

[snagglepuss]

snip

Muslims account for over half the population of 28 million people and are mainly ethnic Malays. Malaysia often prides itself on being a moderate Muslim nation, which allows other religions freedom of worship.

snip

Increasingly, there is a greater emphasis on Islamic codes of conduct.

For the first time last year, Malaysian authorities caned women under Sharia law. The three women sentenced were found guilty of having sex outside of marriage.

snip

Over the last two years, churches have been firebombed and Bibles have been seized in an ongoing row between Christians and Muslims over the use of the word 'Allah'.




http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-radio-and-tv-14649841

[Sarah Ibarruri]

1. These people are just too frikkin' much. nt

[snagglepuss]

3. What a conundrum. I'm sure as more people get caned, other religions

become more and more attractive.

[Odin2005]

5. Naw, people who convert from Islam are at risk of being murdered for "Apostasy".

[MH1]

2. These people are sick.

I hope sanity wins. And soon.

[Odin2005]

4. UGH! It seems like the whole world is degenerating into pre-Enlightenment idiocy.

[Igel]

7. Nope.

Much of the world is still pre-Enlightenment.

Much Englightenment thought was spread by colonialization. Many of the elites around the world are trained to it. But a lot of neo-nationalism rejects foreign thought as, well, colonialism; as a lot of children of uneducated people get educated and gain wealth, they don't receive the same training in Enlightenment thought. The loss in Enlightenment standards--or, more precisely, the espousing of Enlightenment standards often only as a weapon against educated Westerners--is just the old elite being swamps by nouveaux elites.

A rough parallel is found in the change of "standard" Russian from 1910 to 1920. In 1910 was a standard pronunciation that you'd think was universal unless you were in Moscow or Petersburg; everybody educated adopted it, held to it. In 1920 or so the standard shifted rather surprisingly, and you'd think, "What the hell? Where did that come from?" Except that the standard shifted not because the elite suddenly decided to speak differently but because the new elite was the old urban worker, and the urban workers spoke the same way in 1920 that they did in 1910.

The same thing happened in the '90s in Russian. Standard Russian was essentially the norm adopted in the '20s. Popular speech changed, but the standard stayed the same. After the USSR collapsed a whole bunch of people who didn't buy into the old power structure came along and spoke as they always had. The old elite complained about the loss of "standards" and "refinement". Eh. It ripped the mask off the way Russian was actually spoken.

[Obamanaut]

6. Caning women, firebombing churches, seizing bibles - but don't anyone make

a loud fart around them, 'twould offend their cultural sensitivity.

edited to add this thread link re passing gas http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1831854&mesg_id=1831854

and this one http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1819200&mesg_id=1819200