Monday, April 28, 2008

"Halal Halal".

I'm getting pretty pissed off right now with regards to the food situation here. Firstly, my cooking is terrible. So yar. Most meals I have are pretty bad. Secondly, almost all the halal places we know here are Middle Eastern food (shoarma, kebab etc) and each shop sells the same things; only the quantities and tastes differ, that too only slightly. And I would like to share some other instances with regards to "halal" food myself and Fadhil encountered.

Firstly, the Indonesian restaurant I blogged about some time back. That one is halal, like, really halal. HOWEVER, the food is 'basi' (stale) all the time! 3 times we went there, all 3 times the food was stale. So we decided, enough is enough is enough is enough. That was the last Kak Rina (the shopowner) saw of us.

Few weeks ago, we were cycling around town and we saw this Moroccan restaurant. It had the shape of a mosque on its signboard, so we naturally thought it was halal. We entered, and asked the Arab owner whether it was halal. He gave us the what-was-to-be-standard answer,"Halal halal." He then lit a candle on the table and asked us to sit. That was when we say numerous bottles of wine on a shelf inside the shop. We then politely took our leave.

Last week, we went to this Malaysian restaurant. We looked at the menu placed outside the shop, and no wine or pork was sold. All the dishes were Malay food on top of that! We were so damn excited. When we entered, we saw a waitress, who was Chinese. We asked her, and got the usual reply, "Halal halal." But, all the workers were Chinese. I doubt they even knew what halal means. So we were "was-was", and didn't eat there.

Yesterday was the worse. The incident that really pissed me off. We googled for Malaysian restaurants, and found the address of one. It was located on this cosmopolitan street, whereby there were all kinds of restaurants from all over the world: Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese etc. We went to the Malaysian one since it claimed on its website that it was halal, but again wine and beer was sold. 2 shops away, there was an Indon restaurant. And from outside, I saw the names "Allah" and "Muhammad" being put on the counter, just like the ones we put at our homes. We went in happily, thinking to ourselves, "Finally"! To our dismay and disgust, beer was sold. Which didn't really piss me, coz even in Indonesia that is rather common. What pissed me off was when i asked the owner, whether the food was halal, she shrugged her shoulders! I felt like slapping her there and then, and asking her to remove the "Allah" and "Muhammad" from her shop. What? You don't even know if your food is halal? Bloody nonsense. And if it's not (which obviously is the case), then don't freaking put symbols of Islam in your shop lah! And i don't get these people: if you really are selling halal food, why sell alcohol? You're Muslims some more! I don't get it man, i just don't. I think drinking alcohol is 1 thing, selling it is another. I just don't understand them.

For now, I just have to make do with my crap cooking and the shoarma. It's not that bad lah, I'm more pissed off at these people than at the fact that i have to eat the same thing everyday. But we won't stop our search for non-basi halal food. And i'm sure along the way, there will be a few more times yet that we'll hear the words, "Halal halal" being repeated to us.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Proper updates, finally.

I realized I haven't been updating too much about myself, so here are some updates for the few people that really want to know. =)

My block has been pretty busy thus far; a lot of presentations and essays coming up. 2 of my mods, Experimental Economics and Public Economics, are graded solely on presentations and essays. For the former, I'm teaming up with a Swede, who did his previous semester at NTU by the way. He seems intelligent and reliable. For the latter, my group consists of an American, a Spaniard, a Turk, and a Brazilian. I'm a bit wary of the American, coz I don't have too good an impression of them when it comes to school work, but maybe it's unfair to judge him by what I see of the Americans in my block. The Spanish girl cannot even speak proper English, so my group is as good as consisting of 4 people.

As I said, my schedule this block means that I don't really have time to go sightseeing as much as the previous block, thus less ineresting things to blog about. Hehe. I have to slog first, then enjoy when my family comes here, and when my block ends. Those are the times when, insya Allah, i'll be hoping to do some travelling.

I already got my results for the previous block, and Alhamdulillaah, i passed both. Hehe. I just found out, that for the Dutch bachelor's programme (as in, done in Dutch) here, only 10 percent of the students graduate in 3 years, while for the English programme, the rate is about 60 percent. That means an average of 40 percent failure for each of the mods that I'm doing. Haha. Before you all go,"Wah, susah nah pe nak pass?", let me just tell you the students here are really lazy, and are more interested in partying than studying.

And a piece of good news: Alhamdulillaah, Haikal got accepted for SEP next semester. He will be going tp McGill (Canada) insya Allah. Fyi, McGill is ranked 12the in the world. To put things in perspective, NUS is 33th while the University of Amsterdam is 48th (which I'm sure is due to the research done by the lecturers; coz if the rankings were based solely on students' performances, UvA wouldn't be in the top 200). So yes. Haikal is one smart and lucky guy. Let's all wish him the best.
(For reference: http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2007/overall_rankings/top_400_universities/)

I must say, Liverpool were thoroughly unlucky yesterday. They dominated from start to finish and should have won, but were desperately unlucky. But hey, they got lucky too in the first leg with Arsenal, when they were absolutely battered yet got away with a 1-1 draw. The tie is far from over still, and there might be a few twists and turns yet in the second leg. I cannot wait. Barca V Man U, haiz. I'm preparing for the premature closure of my blog already, though I'm still hoping against that.

That's all for now people. I hope you guys are enjoying life as much as I am now, and all the best for your exams. =)

Saturday, April 19, 2008

1 More Performance.

Those who have witnessed our Dikir performances back then have to admit; those were some pretty good performances indeed.:p No doubt, we were not professional, our moves were not spectacular (though Suhairi, Akmal and Khidir desperately tried to change this during Manifest 2003) but we were always entertaining. We always enjoyed our performances, which I think is the key to letting your audience enjoy it as well. So yup. To all the Dikir Guys, I appeal to you, 1 more performance. We can find a date and place, just depends on whether you all want it. 1 last one.

Just to evoke some memories, here is 1 song (which of course I would say 1 of the best songs we've ever done). I urge you to read (and sing) it to its original tune; for those who do not know the tune please ask someone who does. It will be so much more enjoyable to read/sing it to its tune.

(Btw, this is reflective of the conditions at that time, during jc 1/2, I know things have pretty much changed since then, but just to keep the "pureness" of the song, I shall use the lyrics as they were then. No offence to anyone, really.)

(The 1st one is the chorus btw, after every verse we sing this)


Seruan, Satria Kirana.
Majulah seni, budaya bangsa. Oi!


Didi boleh gelek.
Mas'uud ada, gerek.
Akmal suka bedek.
Haikal boleh balik! Oi!

KY dengan Atikah,
Miri dengan Zahrah,
Saiful dengan Haida,
Buat dosa saja! Oi!

Suhairi Presiden Kami.
Nor Hafiz Buat Lagu Ni.
Fahmi captain hockey,
Tanpa Khairul dikir mati! Oi!

Syahrom dari Temasek.
Hafiz Jap ketua logistik.
Wan banyak merepek.
Wei Zhong macam Apek! Oi!

Salihin dari Victoria.
Azhar main anak rebana.
Mus main gila.
Hafiz Razak karut istimewa! Oi!

Terima Kasih Jannah.
Terima Kasih Dayah.
Terima Kasih semua,
Atas kehadiran anda! Oi!

Wahai kawan-kawan,
Jangan keterlaluan.
Aku angkat tangan,
Korang Pun Habiskan! Oi!

Seruan. Satria Kirana.
Majulah seni. Buuuuuuu....daaaa...yaaaaaa Bang saaaaa...a aa aaa aa aa aa, Oi!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Chronicles Of The Impostor: Ep 1 ~ Sepandai-pandai tupai melompat.....

...akhirnya kene bantai juga, err, I mean, akhirnya jatuh ke tanah juga. The problem with uni students is sometime they think they are so damn smart and can get away with anything, but they forget that no one is infallible. I apologize to my dear impostor friend, that you had to wait so long for this entry. So here is episode 1 of my series; I'll just make some deductions from the evidence that has put forth, some very obvious, some less so (and btw, these deductions are based on some assumptions as you'll see later on). And bear in mind people, I already know who the person is, so these deductions are pretty accurate. =)

Let's start off with the most obvious. You're a porn addict, so you must be a guy.

You described Hassan as an "MS champion", thus you are definitely from NUS, and on top of that you're in the MS yahoo groups.

You visited my blog about 80 times a day back when I let you do your nonsense, so you obviously are lonely and have no friends (and thus my blog is your salvation), so you cannot be one of the year 1s (since the year 1 guys are a tight group).

You couldn't cover your tracks properly, so it's safe to say you were not from the police during NS. (of course, I think of those who served in the SPF highly. :p)

You do this when I'm not in Singapore, so you must be in your graduating year; reason being you know that by the time I come back to Singapore you're no longer in school thus I cannot kick your ass.

You don't have enough guts (hence you didn't dare reveal your name), thus you're not from Silat.

You have a problem with MS, thus I'm ruling out all MS members, past and present.

You have no respect for our religion, therefore I'm excluding all those that go the musollas around school.

You have no respect for women whatsoever (obvious from the words you used), thus you probably have laid hands on a girl before.

You have no qualms using vulgarities and insulting others (including your own!) parents, so you must obviously believe in FREE SPEECH (however you define it).

You spelt my name as Wahlid (when it's Walid in Amsterdam!), and there's only 1 person EVER who has spelt my name that way, so you must be.........

Haha. I won't reveal his name in my very first episode lah! If not series end already. :p So let's recap:

Guy, NUS, MS yahoo grps, not yr 1, not from police, graduating year, not from Silat, not from MS, doesn't go to musollas, hit women before, believe in FREE SPEECH. Hmm....Who could it be???

And the plot thickens....

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Apologies.

(I'm posting this entry with a heavy heart, coz I dun want the comments for the previous one to stop coming in. But yar, I can't possibly not post an entry for the next few months! Haha. So keep the comments coming, rest assured, myself and other TPJCians will keep checking that entry)

I guess I have to be a gentleman about this, have to swallow some pride. You see. I was talking to Luqman the day after Pool beat Arsenal, and I said," Gloat all you want,I'll listen". He said: "No no no, I want entry on how a seasoned analyst got it wrong". Haha. So yup,this entry is an apology to all Pool fans, 5 in particular who patronise my blog; my brother, Nor Hafiz, Luqman, Aizat and Gadisti. Yes, Pool won. Yes, I got it wrong. Yes, Pool didn't play anti-football.

BUT, Chelsea will turn them over in the semis, better believe me. There are only so many predictions I can get wrong. Haha. Third time's a charm, as they say. And Avram Grant will do what Jose never managed to, reach the final of the Champs League; thus dispelling all the crap about how Mourinho is the sole factor for Chelsea's rise etc. People always forget Ranieri reached the semis of the Champs League, the season before Jose replaced him. Anyway, I don't trust Pool to beat Man U in the final, which is why I'm rooting for The Blues.

Premier League issues, I know I might sound as crazy and delusional as a Man U fan,
but Arsenal can still win it, though it looks likelier that Chelsea will. Man U will face Arsenal, Blackburn (away) and Chelsea (away) in their next 3 games. I expect them to pick up only 2 points, and by the end of these 3 games, they will be second in the table already. Well, being a Newcastle fan, I'm an eternal optimist.

General updates. Been pretty busy with school as expected. 2 of my mods are non-examinable, we have to formulate economics models for these mods. Here, more so than Singapore, the emphasis is more on learning, though I don't think NUS is that bad in terms of this.

The good thing about a new block is, you make so much more new friends. This block I've got to know people form Lithuania, Turkey, Greece, Indonesia and so much more. It's great to make so many new friends, from all over the world. It really allows you to formulate more racial stereotypes. Hahahaha. But seriously. Haha.

And people, I'm feeling very very nostalgic, with regards to my JC days. So if any other entry on TPJC comes up, faham-faham je lah eh, it's a phase.=)

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

TPJC-02/03.

Without a doubt, and I’m sure I’m speaking for my counterparts as well, the 2 years (or 3 for some!) we spent at TPJC was truly maginificent, possibly the best times of our life, or at the very least, close to it. So here’s a trip down memory lane, a very light-hearted entry dedicated to the TPJCians of my batch, particularly the Student Lounge Gang. For the rest who do not get this entry, I really apologise. Allow us to engage in some acts of self-indulgence.
(I will divide these “memories” into sub-parts; since there are too many inevitably some will be left out, so please add in the comments for those who remember)

First three months:
Mas’uud: Kau belum tengok abang dia bodoh.
Mas’uud and Suhairi, to each other: Hmm, which one of us is she looking at?
Mas’uud: (amidst dramatic scenes after posting results) Nangis mangis, lapar tetap makan.
Haikal: Siapa nak solat 2nd round?
Glory Bernabas: (while holding her flabby stomach) 4.9 percent of TPJCians are overweight.
Akmal: 4 percent of those fats are hers.

Sports (general):
Aspiring Soccer Player: Soccer is the place to be!
Soccer-reject: There’s always hockey.
Hockey-reject: There’s always HNF.

Soccer:
Samad: DON’T CALL ME COACH!
Abu Dzar: I’m the Arts Fac top scorer.
Nordin to Walid: I think u’re the answer to our right-back problems.
Nordin to Walid: (1 month later) Err, Walid, u’re a bad influence to the team, I don’t need you here anymore.
Nordin to Suhairi: Thanks for the warm-up.

Hockey:
Taufiq: (while 2-0 down, yes u read correctly, down, at half-time) Guys, the opponents are breaking down. I can sense it.
Rizhan to Samad: (every training) Sir, I have to go home early.
Centre bench-ers: When will we ever start a game?
Hockey gals: Let’s celebrate like we won the world cup, coz we scored a goal. Doesn’t matter if we’re 8-1 down!
Hafiz Razak to hockey team: (after every game) Eh, berape kosong?

Dikir:
Nor Hafiz: Eh kita buat lagu ni ah!
Nor Hafiz: Kite kene pakai baju kurung, tu melambangkan orang Melayu.
Saiful: Kite pakai selipar ah, tu pun melambangkan org Melayu.
Hafiz Jap: Kawan-kawan, aku ade belikan baju dikir utk korang, Lawa gile punye.
Saiful to Miri: Mane CD aku?
Miri to Saiful: (while throwing the CD) Nah, amek ni!
Miri: (20 secs later) Eh, asal hidung aku berdarah?
Suhairi to Dikir Guys: Guys, I need you all to embarrass yourselves like never before, coz I wanna apologize to Ayu.
Dikir Guys: (during performance) Wahai Cik Adik, jangan marah sangat......
Fazli: Eh boleh serious tak korang, besok ni, next week tu.
Mas’uud to Ayu: Ayu, siape karut?
Ayu to Mas’uud: Aku ah.
Mas’uud to Ayu: Aku tau kau karut, tapi siape karut?

Mohsin:
Mohsin to Akmal: Eh, pak yap ah, 5 minit je.
Mohsin to Didi: Eh, pak yap ah, 5 minit je.
Mohsin to Hafiz Razak: Eh, pak yap ah, 5 minit je.
Mohsin to everyone: Eh, pak yap ah, 5 minit je.
Moshin to Sekapur Sireh: Aku ade advice utk korang, jangan makan sotong....


Student Lounge:
Fazli: Jennah, oh jennah.....
Fazli: MATI! MATI!
Everybody when they waiting for their turn for Super Mario: Hang ah! Hang ah!
Walid: (from outside lounge) Lepas ni aku ah.
Mohsin: ISH, AKU ADE GP!
Mohsin: YES! AKU DAPAT NOMBOR!
Ayu: Jom, kite makan each other!
Sekapur Sireh to Shikin: Weeeellllllllllllllllllllllllllllll......
Nadia to KY: (lifts shirt) KYYYYYY.......
Luqman: (during his visit to TPJC) Hmm, no wonder these guys always win at taitee.

Eve of National Day during year 2:
Haikal: (Lies on floor, shaking vigorously)
Didi and Akmal: (crowds around Haikal, laughing and smiling)
Jen: (runs towards Haikal)
Walid to Jen: Jangan layan Jen, die tengah bedek.
Jen to Walid: Ni kalau betul-betul baru kau tau.
(And the rest, as they say, was history.)


General:
Step Hero: Ape-ape jadi, JANGAN LARI.
Step Hero: (10 secs later) Eh semue lari!
Didi, Hafiz Razak, Mas’uud: (while falling down from and getting back up the slope) Eh ni slope pergi mane ah?
Mak Faidah to Sekapur Sireh: Eh korang tak tau nak balik ke????
Mak Mohsin to Sekapur Sireh: Eh korang buat ilmu eh?
Bapak Mas’uud: (while walking along the corridors) Mane kasut Suhairi ni?
Ashraf: Eh ni perahu Sang Nia utama ke ape? (Eh sorry2, this is an NUS Reperio joke, just couldn’t resist)
Akmal, Mohsin and Mas'uud: (whispers in their hearts) Eh, dah 1 jam kat BK ni, satu game pun Walid tak kalah?

So that’s all from me, looking forward to your input!

And the new block begins...

My new block started this Monday. and sad to say, my 'holiday' is over. Haha. Last block was practically a 'holiday' because I took only 2 mods, and so was free most of the days. This time, I have a 5-day week, and I'm doing 4 mods. So, you do the Maths.

Erm, my handphone is down now, so I cannot take pictures. Such a pity, I have to get it fixed soon. This block has 8 weeks by the way, compared to last block's 7 (excluding the 1-week holidays), because there will be quite a few public hols during ths period, thus they have to make up for it.

It really is a sad day for football, Arsenal getting knocked out. It is so sad to see people who stay true to the principles of the game, people who play soccer with so much joy, not winning anything, for the 2nd consecutive season. Such a pity.

Okay, this short one is just for some updates about myself, I have to concentrate on my next entry.=) TPJC-ians, watch out for it.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Daylight Savings Time and Comments Moderation

Its daylights savings time here now, meaning that they pushed the clock forward by 1 hour, hence the time here is now 6, instead of 7 hrs earlier than in Singapore. This happens each year at the start of spring, and when it’s nearing winter, they will push the clock back by 1 hour again.

Exams are over for this block; honestly I do not know how well I will do, so I’ll only talk about it when I get my results, which is in 3 weeks time. School starts on Monday though, there is no break in between the blocks. Next block I’m doing 4 mods, so it’s gonna be be much heavier than what I’m doing now. But oh well, I need only a pass for every subject, since all mods done during SEP will be S/U(pass/fail option)-ed.

I’m really loving my time in Amsterdam, Alhamdulillaah.=) Fadhil and I were just talking about it just now, about how Amsterdam is such a peaceful, beautiful place. It’s so serene here; it’s almost like a modern village rather than a city. This, despite it being the capital of Holland. It is so lovely, really. But, I just wished I had applied for SEP together with 1 of my friends. This was a mistake on my part, not co-ordinating with my friends. It would be so much more fun than it already is now with them here. But, I believe things always happen for a reason.=)


And with regards to the impostor; I’m admitting defeat, and finally going to moderate my comments and lock my tagboard. Earlier, when advised by my friends and family to do so, I said I shall resist until religious or racial boundaries are transgressed, because I thought that would never happen (calling my sis a b**** wasn’t a smart move either). Well, I thought too highly of him I guess. If a Muslim can talk about God and Islam in the way he did, then I’m lost for words. Anyway I urge you all not to be worried about this guy: a wise man once told me,”Anjing kalau menyalak macam mana pun, gunung takkan runtuh (No matter how much a dog barks, a mountain will not crumble). Even more so, this is a toothless dog, who’s been barking a lot, but cannot bite. He asked for Latiff’s address on his blog with so much gusto, then backed off when Latiff asked him to call him. So don’t worry about him, he’s hiding his identity precisely because he knows he’s toothless. Well my bro, in case you rediscover your manhood, I’m scheduled to return to Singapore on 6th July at 4pm.

And this is specifically directed to my dear impostor friend; did you for one moment think that you’re gonna come to my blog, insult my family, my friends and their girlfriends, my (and yours I might add) religion, make me admit defeat and I will let you get away with it just like that? If you thought that you were having fun my friend, well, you’re in for a ride now.

For all my dear viewers, I had known who the impostor is long ago, about 5 days after he came to my blog I had matched the impostor’s IP address with this guy whom I suspected (with the help of my team of experts, chey!), and yes, my hunch was right. I just didn’t wanna reveal yet because I thought he deserved another chance, or 2 more, or 10 more. Well, his luck just ran out. Thus, for marketing purposes, hehe, I shall a mini-series on my blog via my entries,dubbed the IS (impostor series). I shall provide background stories as to why all these happened and gonna give new clues each time as to who it is (at my own time of course). I promise all shall be revealed, before I get back to Singapore! Just to get you guys to read my blog! Hahahaha.

Soccer stuff, Arsenal are out of the league title race. I never thought I would say this, but I hope Chelsea will pip Man U to the title. I still believe Arsenal will make it to the semis of the Champs League. Expect Pool to play anti-football on Tuesday, and by the way, I still feel Arsenal was robbed last week. Hleb was clearly fouled, and the ref had no reason not to give it, he was just 3 metres away!

Ladies and Gentlemen, now the fun really begins. =)

Friday, April 4, 2008

Fitna.

Everyone has been asking, "How's the situation now in Amsterdam, after the release of 'Fitna'?" Well, this entry serves to answer that question, among other more important purposes of course.

If you all have been following the developments in MS yahoo grp mails, you would know that Ibnur suggested not watching the film, as a response. Actually, I agree with him, but I figured being here and all, it wouldn't be smart of me not to watch the movie, in case I got quizzed. So yar. I did have a look at it. And, like most of you, I was appalled and enraged.

In fact, I would go as far as to say; after watching the film, if you did not feel any anger, if you did not feel upset, if you did not feel hurt, then there is no iman in you.

How then do we show/channel our anger, our hurt? Do we burn effigies of Geert Wilders? Do we burn flags of the Netherlands? What should we do?

Allow me to give a little background regarding the director of the movie, Geert Wilders. He is a Dutch Member of Parliament, he is a prominent critic of Islam, and has very very strong relations with Israel (I'm not trying to imply anything). He has said many degrading things about Islam, amongst which, and I quote: "(Muslims should)tear out half of the Koran if they wished to stay in the Netherlands” because it contained "terrible things" and that Muhammad would “in these days be hunted down as a terrorist”. Now, some of you will remember the assassination of Theo Van Gogh, a Dutch playwright, for his works regarding Islam. You may now question this Geerst Wilde guy's intelligence for releasing this movie, considering what happened to Van Gogh. So why did he release it in the end?

Maybe I could give a little insight here. You see, the Dutch have a very very tolerant culture (be it regarding religion, personal beliefs or anything else), embedded in their society for donkey years. No doubt, as in other places in the world, Islamophobia has creeped in. But, it's not that easy to change this culture of tolerance, it's not easy to suddenly make every Dutch citizen hate Islam.

Thus, anti-Islamists like Theo van gogh and Geerst Wilde resort to such means. Freedom of speech? Bullshit. They don't give two hoots about that. What they want, is to spread propaganda about Islam. Paint a negative image of Islam. Why? Because they want to provoke the Muslims, specifically in Holland, to react. They want Muslims to show violent reactions, so that the process of disseminating Islamophobia can be sped up. Once they get reactions from the Muslims, they will have justifications to rid the Netherlands of Muslims, for good.

Of course, alongside them, they have an ally in the media. You see, the media just wants to sensationalise everything, simply because sensationalism sells. I do not know if you have seen these footage(which was shown in the local media), whereby young Muslims were interviewed and gave comments like "Geerst should be killed" etc. They try to paint pictures of unrest in Amsterdam. When in fact, there really is none (yet!). It's been very calm here. As for those footage, the media has a tendency (my 'bro' told me this) to go this part of Amsterdam, the suburbs, where some of the Muslims are school dropouts and do nothing everyday, and interview these people, just so that they would get non-intelligent responses to broadcast to the world. Unfortunately, it works.

So that's his main motive (to eventually drive Muslims out) and we know his modus operandi (via mass media). So again, what should we do?

Well firstly, we shouldn't give him what he wants. Don't give him a reaction. But I'm sure you all have heard that rhetoric before from MUIS, the government etc so I need not elaborate further.=)

Secondly, it's time for us all, as ambassadors of our religion, to get acquainted with the Quran, particularly those verses used in the movie. Go and check them up, please. After my exam earlier in the day, my Romanian friend (who's a staunch Christian btw) came to me to talk about this. She asked me regarding one of the verses, verse 60 of Surah Al-Anfal, whereby God mentioned to us to get ready weapons against our enemies. She asked if that was true. I said yes, I took out the Quran (with English translation) and showed her verse 61 of the same surah: "But if they incline to peace, you also incline to it, and trust Allah....." She immediately went, "Oh my God. Now i question his ( Wilde) motives. What is he trying to do???"
Point is, equip ourselves with knowledge about our own holy book, so that we will not get red-faced if asked by non-Muslims. Do not just race to 'khatam' the Quran, and not understand it at all; read it and read its translation, it would be much more worthwhile.

May I also praise Mr Wong Kan Seng, for his comments regarding the release of this film. I think the Singapore government should be lauded for the way it deals with these issues. Also, Christian societies in Singapore have come out to condemn this movie. I really respect that. It only goes to prove what Allah said surah Al-Maidah verse 82, to be true.

As for Wilde himself, we don't have to worry about him. Allah will recompense him. And Allah is the best of recompensers.=)

Tagboard Replies.

As you all know, to avoid 'fitna' (hehe), I have vowed not to tag on my tagboard anymore. Thus I'll use this entry to reply to some of the comments directed towards me, even those long ago ones!

Guardian Angle, I wished I could bring the imam back home too! I'm sure many gals are thinking the same.

Aizat, haha, points noted. However let me remind you, Kevin Keegan made his name as a player at Liverpool, but as a manager, he reached legendary status only for his work at Tyneside.

Meraa nam Joker and S.M, yes, that's the S'pore government for you. Did you for 1 second think that they were going to give more than they take? Haha. And yes, I can't argue with you about the barakah part.=)

Freeq, well done, pretty accurate predictions, though 1-0 and 2-1 have totally different implications considering the away goals rule.

Rhafizon, haha, Torres will score at Anfield next week, but Arsenal will stil turn Liverpool over (inside out and upside down might i add) in the return leg. Believe me. :p

Heeerrrrbody, things do not look good for us. Barca's playing like crap, seems like Man U might get to the final. This blog might just be reaching the end of its lifespan.

Golden Satellite, you're such a joker. You make me laugh, in a good way of course.

Karut Istimewa, nice of you to reappear.=)

Now for the real and long-awaited entry....