MY AMIGOS- THE BEER DRINKERS

Apparently, a lot of things took place while I was away from Kuala Lumpur. I heard bomohs around the country are getting the limelight in our media yesterday. But once in a while, during the weekend, I will go online (unfortunately via GPRS, I can't find any Wifi spot in Janda Baik!) and read the stuffs blogged by other friends. One posting that stuck out like a sore thumb ( and this one need medical attention real quick!) took my attention straight away. I will not reproduced the name of the blog here but if you google diligently enough, you might come across this blog (But tak payah pun takpe, coz tak berbaloi all the sweats and keyboard punching). The only obstacle between me and replying impromptu is the expensive cost I have to bear if I do it there and then and of course, the waterfall. But the posting stuck to my head like an UHU. "You are calling yourself Muslim and you are not saying anything about your beer drinking atheist friends that practice hedonism worse than Westerners! Shame on you!" He’s not directing that call for repentance to yours truly but of course I felt "pedas" because 70% of my friends are beer drinking hedonist atheists although I am not. That, however doesn't make me a better person. That only makes us different. And they never bother to convert me, in fact they respect my choice of attire and way of life. Oh well, there are some isolated cheeky instances where they say, " Ala...gee minum beer ni best, try lar.." But they don't shove the whole Heineken bottle into my mouth (Warning: When I say never, doesn't mean you have to put this to test,ok?) And I am not saying until they shove the whole bottle into my mouth, will I start complaining about them, I am just saying on human level, I respect them as autonomous units with the right to think and make choices and earn their respect for that matter.

Friends of mine who volunteer for an Iraqi relief agency are beer drinking hedonist atheists who fought mental depression and boredom to help total strangers who pray 5 times a day and wear burqas. A friend who is now in Korea, expanding his horizon on democracy and human rights, is a beer drinker- a hedonist, I am not sure. A new friend found, (who coined a melodramatic title for his blog that outdo any Samarinda series), sees the world in a more insightful and sensitive way, more alert than some non beer drinker straight thinking minds. A dear friend disappeared from a South Asian country last year for his strong opinion about dictatorship in his country, is the most intelligent and bravest man I ever met. He had problems in accepting non-empirical evidences of Creationism and still seeking, but he is ever incisive on ideals of justice and freedom. Now, do we still think we are damn superior than beer drinkers?

Perhaps, we the beer-free, jilbab wearing, religiously obedient pathetic lot should do some (actually a lot) reflections about ourselves. Has our clear alcoholic-free brains make its stand wherever and whenever injustice prevails? Did we question norms that promote stupidity and apathy in our society or we join in the club and SMS-ed diligently for new ringtones and logos? Even, way too ridiculous when we preached like there is no tomorrow to youngsters or middle class lot about drinking beer and western lifestyle but shut our eyes immediately to similar issues committed by politicians, upper class big shots or powers that be. Like our Proton, double standard apparently is a value that is easily adapted by Malaysians.

For that respect, let me stop here and think about it, all "alone".

(P/S-Apparently, we see religion as black and white, we try our best to erase the emergence of any greyish areas. Problem is, grey areas cannot be erased coz its called reality. For discussion on these grey areas, why don't u visit an interesting blog/web. The editor, Mujtaba Hamdi, who is in Malaysia right now as a recipient of SEAPA Fellowship likes to understand grey areas better!)