As I have mentioned before, ad nauseum, I lived in Malaysia for many years. An Islamic country. Islamic observance etc. was not onerous. Now we see public floggings. A young woman was so punished for drinking alcohol. What is happening ... ?

On another OLO discussion, I provided evidence that many Indonesians were becoming concerned that reactionary Islam, as seen in the Middle East, was now being promoted.

What is happening ...? Do we simply ignore this as not relevant?

DiamondPete,

You have said it all. Fundamentalism = Fear.

That's right Danielle. Fundamentalism, related to any religion, is an evil thing. Why? Because for fundamentalism to be in control, it must be forced on populations. Until recent centuries Christianity severely and brutally punished non believers and protesters. Unfortunately, current fundamentalist Islam carries on to this day a similar philosophy.

For freedom to exist, it's utterly essential that religion and State be separated. Should the Christian fundamentalists ever gain "real" governance in the USA we can kiss goodbye to USA freedom, and if anyone thinks the USA is aggressive now, it'll be nothing compared to the nuclear wars that will be waged under the mantle of the Christian fundamentalists in the name of their god. The big difference between a fundamentalist controlled USA and a fundamentalist controlled Middle East, is that the USA has an absolutely HUGE weapons arsenal and military capability. And they'll use it, under fundamentalist leadership.

Hi Danielle. I lived in Malaysia for two years, in Malacca on Klebang Besar. I had a wonderful time. I went back recently & met up with the children of the people I knew there. They remembered me. They were little children at the time. I travelled all over the place From Kota Baru, Mersing, Kluang, Muar, Charles Town (Penang), Port Dickson (The Whirlpool),but Malacca is still my favourite, There is so much history there.

Dear Bazz,

So the $100,000 he offered has now magically grown to $300,000. Will it be $3,000,000 by the end of the week? Why do you lot continually get caught hyping this issue?

As to the silence perhaps it is because you have your ears blocked.

The Pakistani Prime Minister's spokesman has said the government "absolutely disassociated" itself with the minister's comments which were his own views and not that of the coalition.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19690210

Bob Carr has also come out strongly condemning the bounty.

Dear Danielle,

I spent over a year and a half in Singapore and around Malaysia. My favourite was the Tioman Islands off the East coast. Marvellous diving. Went to school at United World College. Some fantastic years. Not as formative as living in the Southern Philippines for over two and a half years. The Muslim population were not treated very well when I was there.

Dear DiamondPete,

They certainly did use it under the fundamentalist leadership of George W and we have been reaping the rewards ever since. My grave fear for the future though is the exponential growth of fundamentalist Christianity in China. There are now far more members than in the Communist
Party. I think South Korea is a worrying example of where it will potentially lead.

I am of the opinion that fundamentalist religion is incompatible with democracy without strict separations of church and state. There is just too much temptation to race to the bottom. Rhetorical preaching from the pulpit translates too easily to the lectern. Present day Malaysia is a shining example.

jayb you will not get the answer csteele ignores you, and me, you should be happy.
Diamondpete knows every thing so only comes to inform us not to hear other views.
Trouble with me? Ham radio operators are constantly building and inventing things.
My latest is a thing that detects the by product of the southern end of a north bound bull instantly.
Constantly going off here, its warning is a bull roaring.
Must warn the issue will not go away, so wounding what inventions are comeing to blame us next time.