Cartoons & Love

In my previous post "Do the right thing", i wrote about the issue that resulted from prophet muhamad's cartoon published in european papers. And i also mentioned that i dont buy the idea of killing innocent civilians in the name of whatever god, as a righteous act, NO MATTER what the justification is.

So i opened yesterday's papers (being a bit late as my dad suscribes to Sarawak Tribune, and you all know what happened to the paper,will write about that later) and after reading through a few pages, i came across a report regarding Iran's largest selling newspaper's intention to hold a competition where people would compete to draw cartoons of the Holocaust (you all know what the Holocaust is, i assume, if not then read it up). So i thought to my self, "what's this??". It just shows how shallow some people can be, you can't get any lower than that. I would use the article on english.aljazeera.net as my reference, here is the first paragraph of the article:

Iran's largest selling newspaper has announced it is holding a contest on cartoons of the Holocaust in response to the publishing in European papers of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

"It will be an international cartoon contest about the Holocaust," Farid Mortazavi, the graphics editor for Hamshahri newspaper, which is published by Tehran's conservative-run municipality, said on Monday.

He said the plan was to turn the tables on the assertion that newspapers can print offensive material in the name of freedom of expression.

Clearly meant to be an eye for an eye, fighting fire with fire, and not to mention to be so f***ed up as to go so low. As you may know, Iran does not believe the Holocaust ever happened and branded it a myth. Personally i don't care what these people think, being fanatical zealots .

I do not know who else may be reading this, if you are a Muslim, you may have been offended by what i've written so far. Cant blame you guys for that, in my previous post i stated my disagreement regarding the publishing of the Prophet's cartoons as well. So i hope you read this by looking from all angles. For the record, I have not studied the Quran therefore I do not have extensive knowledge on what Islam teaches. But i do know, from what is being said in television, newspapers, magazines etc that Islam preaches about peace and tolerance. And from news reports all around the Muslim world lately, i don't see that. I have to add though here in Malaysia, no violent protests have occured, which is a good thing. And again i repeat this, TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT. And it won't make that Iranian newspaper a better one than the european papers. Nor its editor Farid Mortazavi, a better person than his european equivalents.

Again, i do not mean to offend anyone. Just my personal views on the issue.

Ok, back to the local front. As some of you may know, the publication Sarawak Tribune has been suspended by the Malaysian Govt till further notice, as result of publishing a blurry small sized extract of the cartoons. On one hand i agree that it shouldn't have been published in the first place, on the other, i strongly believe this has been blown out of proportion by those politicians and people in West malaysia. Whom i also believe that 99.999999% did not and have not seen the extract in the Tribune. It is small that if one is glancing throught the pages, he/she would not have noticed it.

The Tribune has a sentimental value for me. Not just being the oldest paper in Sarawak or even Borneo but because i practically gew up with the paper. And ever since a couple of years back, the paper has published news reports/pictures of happenings in my hometown, Limbang. So it's always nice to read these stuffs when i was studying in Kuching, even though most the reports are total crap or nothing of importance, BUT still it's about my hometown. Have any other newpapers done that? Borneo Post? Very seldom. NST? The Star? Berita Harian? and the terribly biased Utusan Malaysia? These people over there don't give a rat's ass. Okay finally my emotions is starting to manifest :p. After the publishing of the cartoons, the paper have published an official and public apology in the front page. In fact, they did this for a couple of days. Guess sometimes saying sorry isn't enough. (Funny when people demand guilty parties in issues such as this to issue a public apology, but when that was done, it's not enough) Here's my bonanza question, what about those politicians who have been saying racist and insensitive statements about the nation's minorities in the press and parliament? As far as i know, no action has ever been taken against them. Got you thinking eh....

I intended to write a totally different thing today, something nice and thoughtful. but after reading yesterday's paper, i decided to write this piece. Will i get into big trouble as a consequence of writing this? I hope not. Will a complaint be lodged against me by some pissed off dude who reads this? Touch wood.

To end on a lighter note, i just realised that February is called the month of love. Sounds awfully corny dont you think? I do, gave me the shivers when i see it on TV and newspapers. So in the midst of all these emotions of hate anger, why don't we all show each other some love? :)

Cheers.