tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18560288.post233502350262800389..comments2009-10-04T19:51:11.585+07:00Hninghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04769428518589976022hn1ngswara@yahoo.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18560288.post-9467646286311229832009-10-04T19:51:11.585+07:002009-10-04T19:51:11.585+07:00When I see those friendly, smiling faces of those hard working people from Lombok it&#39;s very hard to imagine that these very same people waged holy war on their Hindu Balinese neighbors. Then I see that wicked looking Kris dagger I inherited from my grandfather...Saudi Jawahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02315906710466772041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18560288.post-79862184471496148562009-10-04T15:14:08.731+07:002009-10-04T15:14:08.731+07:00Here where I live, we have extremes: We&#39;ve got people here who practiced a very diluted form of Islam mixed with pagan beliefs...Then there are those who practice a very rigid Islam (never mind if it&#39;s Wahhabi or not, since it&#39;s in many forms too).<br /><br />Islam in my country was spread by Malay-Arabs who didn&#39;t create violence with their coming, much less with their preaching, but that didn&#39;t guarantee that the Islam they spread would be free from native elements such as mythology and folklore.<br /><br />The result? Thirteen ethnic groups who profess Islam as their religion, and follow it in varying degrees of liberality or/and rigidity. They don&#39;t even get along together very well as people, actually, which is why I am skeptical of the Islamic State that separatist groups are fighting for.<br /><br />One thing though. I&#39;m glad my somehow my Dad hired private tutors (very well-screened to check for objectionable ideologies) for my religious education. He said , &quot;You have a brain, I have raised you to use it, and we have a whole library of religious books. Read them and find things out for yourselves.&quot; Naturally such an attitude caused a stir in the neighborhood as we were almost the only ones who didn&#39;t attend madrasah. But I&#39;m thankful just the same.coralbeadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00876133113364963855noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18560288.post-64757021799165919272009-10-04T12:45:06.063+07:002009-10-04T12:45:06.063+07:00i am speechless.. nothing more jaw dropping than a live example of how important education is.. <br /><br />and just comes to show the outcome of force-feeding religion unto people..frogmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16796081349645032698noreply@blogger.com