Happy New Year...

If you can really mean it that is... the world is a pretty messed up place isn't it? Makes me think if human lives are really that cheap? But the truth of that answer is that: it always has been... hasn't it?

We've been killing each other for ages and likely we'll be killing each other for ages more - all because the people who have not want something of those who do have it... whatever it is: land, power, money it usually thins down to any one of those three. Sometimes all three.

As I write over 900 people have been killed since Israel launched its offensive on the Gaza strip, a large portion of those are children, maybe 30 percent or so. I suppose they call it collateral damage. Let's call it murder. I'd go a step further and call it genocide. It's ironic how a land that was created after the holocaust could now go and create all new ones for brand new reasons - then justify it in the name of peace or self defense. Everyone knows its crap, no one does anything about it and frankly no one can.

Israel is not an illegal state. I've received several notices and emails proclaiming this, but it is not entirely true. The warring Arabs and the foreign nations after the great wars had more to do in allowing the Zionists to settle there than the Zionist themselves. Had history taken it's original route the Zionists would have settled in Argentina and not Palestine. It was America and Great Britain who finally settled on the so called "jewish lands" in the middle east, thereby creating the problem we see today - but that would not had happened if it wasn't for the Arabs of the time allowing it to happen.

The problem with the middle east is also an Arab and Islamic problem. Namely the question of who's land is it really? Does it belong to the Arabs or the Zionists? How far back in history do we have to go to prove the point - all the way to the holy books? There is no question now that in order for peace to happen, there need to be a land for both nations - neither party can discard the other; any group that declares otherwise is piloting his own kamikaze airplane and we'll have war in perpetuity. Somehow, somewhere, the two are just going to learn to live with each other. It's really simple but why doesn't it happen?

Then there's the war between fundamental Islam and moderate Islam. Proponents of fundamental Islam disagree there is a feud denying the very existence of a moderate Islam. I've heard it before: "there is only one kind of Islam" and usually they mean the fundamental one. The war in Palestine is also about the war for modernization of an old belief. Shall we accept "western" ideals on human rights and freedom in exchange for greater participation or shall we insist on our own ideals and ways and expect to be accepted within the world? Both seems sides seem to present a fair argument. Can muslims really live in an Arab land neighbouring a jewish state? Shall we ignore modernity and embrace our faith, or shall we race towards the future side by side with the christian west? In every muslim majority state this same war is being fought, even back at home in Malaysia. It is fought as strongly in the street corners as it is in the mosques, from television to politics, we see the shadows of religious influence meandering and questioning, always trying to gain grounds.

It is the question of Hudud law and the question of gambling and alcohol sales. It is about how much the state should invest in monitoring the kissing habits of its citizens in public parks. I know where I stand in this fight, but it is interesting to note that just a decade ago I would be standing clearly on the other side. Alas the ample bosom of modernity has me firmly in its grasp, there really is no escape, not that I want to anyway.

So the fight continues - at stake the moral status of an entire generation. But here's a parting thought: the world is a much smaller place than it was 1500 years ago, and it's bound to get smaller, so let's keep those sharp knees and elbows curled and in place, less we poke our neighbours where we are not supposed to.

Happy 2009