Under the coconut shell....

While in Geneva, I noticed an advertisements all over the city urging people to say "no" to the building of minarets.

By the end of November, the resulting poll was that more than 50% agreed to ban the construction of minarets.... Why?

From what I read, the Swiss do not want Switzerland to become a Muslim country. That, by allowing minarets to be built, will eventually result in women being forced to where burqas, and stoned to death in the streets and subject the Swiss to shariah laws.

I enjoyed my time in Geneva, partly because it was really easy to find food I can eat. The Pizza Presto restaurant, just a few meters from the the hotel I was staying in, was run by an Arab family. On the walls were frames of Quranic verses, Allah and Muhammad. Each time I went to buy food (beef burger for 6 CHF = RM20), the place was packed and I am sure not all of them were Muslims.

I visited the Favarger Chocolate factory, and while we were browsing the beautiful packages of lovely chocolates in the chocolate shop, a white man appearing from a door that lead to their factory and greeted us with "Asalamu'laikum". He's the chef... the chocolatier.

Walking around in the city of Geneva and Lausanne, we did not attract any attention at all, when it's clear that we were tourists. And, our women wore headscarves, so everyone knows we are muslims. In shops, we received no better or worst treatment than other customers.

It was autumn, and cold weather discouraged too many outdoors activities, at least not until afternoon when the sun warmed the air a little bit. So, all in all, my visit of Geneva can summed up in two words.... blissfull and expensive...

I did not see any demonstrations, I did not feel any tension in the air.... so much so that for a while, I thought those posters were teasers to a theatrical performance... a take on equality perhaps.

Maybe I am naive..... I think the majority of us human beings just want to get on with our lives. But, there will be a small percentage that want their opinion heard. They want to tell everybody else of their fear (of Islam) and their concerns.... and this is news. The rest of the world's population, given this little window to look out from, see the demonstrations (peaceful or bloody) of barely 1% of the total population, as state of affair of the whole country...

But, having said that, I am not planning any trips to Lebanon, Palestine, Afghanistan, Pakistan or any Sub-saharan African countries....

God protect us...

Comments

Pak Mat Beca

I started school in 1971. I went to Sekolah Ismail (Dua), as far as I am concerned the only primary school in the whole universe and every kid must go there or the government will put their parents away forever. The "Dua" or Two (2), does not mean there were two Sekolah Ismails. There was only one, except that there were two sessions, morning and afternoon. When I started in standard one, I was in the morning session. Apparently, somehow, the two Ismails alternate, and I really can't recall ever having to go to school in the afternoon. Every morning, my cousin, the late Hashimah Hashim (Allah bless her soul), and I would wait for Pak Mat to pick us up in his beca, his trishaw. And, until I changed school in 1976 (that's another story to tell), Pak Mat and his beca would take me to school every school day. I know of no other way to go to school and I did not really appreciate the distance that Pak Mat had to cycle to pick us up and send us to our respective s...

7 Days to Live

This coming Friday, on December 21, 2012, the planet Nibiru, last seen only by the ancient Sumerians a few thousand years ago, will come around and pass so near our earth that it will shift the poles and cause a cataclysm, wiping all living things on our planet. According to Nancy Lieder, this phenomenon was first predicted to happen in 2003, but when nothing happened then, she postponed it to 2012. Ms Lieder claimed that she was abducted by aliens when she was young and later released so that she can warn all of us of the impending end of the world. Something is going to happen on December 21, some people insists, because that is the last day on the Mayan Calendar. The Mayan Calendar it seems is as accurate as the atomic clock, marking exactly the celestial events for the last 5,000 years. Some say that a meteor will fall to earth and we will then go the way of the dinosaurs. Or.... a huge solar flare occurs, engulfing and annihilating all planets in its path, earth...

The road to hell is paved with good intents....

Once there was a man who all his life have nothing but good intentions. But, everybody in his village said that he was the devil. He robbed and maimed. He killed and destroyed. When he was caught and brought to justice, his defense was that he was only trying to feed his family. When he was growing up, he was not good at school. The teachers all say he was hopeless, his father thought he was an embarrassment, his siblings thought he was a burden, society keep reminding him that the world would be a better place if he wasn't in it. Only his mother saw him differently. Only his mother loved him because he was her son.... and for no other reason. And later, he met the woman of his dreams and married her and had beautiful children and he vowed that they will never ever go through life as he did. He swore on his life, that he will do anything to ensure his children go the best schools, eat the best foods, wear the best clothes, grow up to have the best jobs, to be whatever they as...

Life's Remains....

Search This Blog