In Response to Restrictions

I read this in the news today.

Kuala Lumpur: Four states which have not gazetted the prohibition on the use of the words, "Allah", "Solat", "Kaabah" and "Baitullah", in any non-Muslim publication in the country, will do so soon.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the gazetting would be made in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Conference of Malay Rulers as the four states, Penang, Federal Territory, Sabah and Sarawak did not have a Sultan or Royal Ruler.

"They come under the jurisdiction of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (in respect of Islamic religious matters) as they do not have a ruler," he told reporters after a Maulidur Rasul 1430 Hijrah/2009 celebration, here, Monday.

Prior to this, Datuk Dr Abdullah Md Zin, the religious adviser to the Prime Minister, was quoted as saying that the respective state Islamic religious councils could take action against those who used the words, "Allah", "Solat", "Kaabah" and "Baitullah" in non-Muslim publications.

The decision on this was made by the National Fatwa Council as its consultative meeting and had been gazetted in 10 states except Penang, Federal Territory, Sabah and Sarawak.

The use of the words became an issue among Muslims after the local Catholic weekly, The Herald, used the word "Allah" is its Bahasa Malaysia edition.

Ahmad Zahid, when winding up the debate on the royal address in Parliament last Thursday, said although the government, 10 state Islamic religious councils and the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association had applied for their case for the ban to be referred to the Federal Court as it involved the Federal Constitution, 10 states had already gazetted the decision made by the National Fatwa Council on the ban.

He said the decision of the 10 states was made under the Control and Restriction of the Propagation of Non-Islamic Religions Enactment.-Bernama

For some, this is no small matter. For others, this is trivial issue - what's all the fuss?

Out of all those who are against this, some would quietly resist. There would be yet others who would make a loud noise about it. Others still would think about how to overcome this before doing anything hasty. Yet others would quickly jump on to any initiatives to make a stand. Whatever your personality, if you were against this, you would respond in your own way.

For those who don't consider this an issue of importance, did you feel it was a waste of time reading this post?

Money Matters

What do you do when a child steals?

Do you reprimand the child?

Do you reprimand yourself?

Read more about it in EADotCom.

Catastrophe

The title of the article said it was "A Catastrophe for the Apostrophe". Why, some of us might not even know what an apostrophe is! For the benefit of those amongst us who slept through our English classes, this is what the apostrophe looks like!

The guidelines for using this tiny little part of the English language seemed simple enough for some. We are told that the "apostrophe has two functions. It indicates both the possessive case and contractions." (Visit here for a guide) In other words, when I write "It's (contraction for 'it is') John's (possessive) choice to write like that" I have used the apostrophe correctly.

However, for a lot of people, this is seems to be a problem. So much of a problem in fact, that they have even formed a group called Kill the Apostrophe.
Makes you wonder what this tiny little tadpole-like mark has ever done to them...

The Cat Burglar

Since I have been posting about cats, I felt I could not let this story I found go by. It's a diversion, but a nice one, from human behaviour observations.

Meet Frankie the tomcat.

Here he is, surrounded by lots of cuddly toys.

Well, those those toys don't belong to him!

Frankie has been appearing at the home of his owner Julie Bishop with cuddly toys that no one can account for. In the last year alone, he has had his claws into more than 30 soft toys. Where does he get them from?

She thinks he has been raiding nearby homes! And then this is what he does.

After he has found a toy he likes, he drags his loot through the catflap. Then when Julie comes back, she finds a new toy on the same spot in the living room.

He does this with every single one of his "finds".

Yes, meet a real CAT burglar.....!