Thursday, January 28, 2010

Malaysia Malaysia...

Oh my dear Malaysia.. I have not met anyone who is not saddened and dishearten by the recent event of Malaysia - the use of the word "Allah"

What I dont understand is if a Muslims truly is faithful to his/her religion, why care about just a word. I believe that there only is one God. Muslims and Christians likewise are praying to that same God. My God is a God who promote love, wisdom, patient, tolerance and harmony.

So, Muslims who oppose the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims have a God who wants it's children to burn churches, insult other religion and prohibit the use of that one word which was used for God way before the Muslims religion exist..? Please dont tell me, their God want them to instill racial disharmony just because other religion use their word for God? Their God want them to show others the bad moral teachings and bad temper management that they obtained from their religion? Their God want them to force others into the religion instead of making disciples by the simple means of loving others?

And, to clarify things, this is directed to Malay Muslims only!! Not the original Muslims or the more liberal Muslims. Since they say Malaysia is a unique country. The word "Allah" is for Malay Muslims only! Cool right? Even other Muslims cant use it then?? @.@ I have to say, there are still many malays who are really nice and tolerance in Msia. Those are the true Muslims and their actions are the one who will bring non-Muslims into the religion. To those who are burning churches, doing cow head protest, and making themselves looks so MUSLIM-LIKE/extremist, go get a Quran, read it, pray and repent. May God bring common-sense to you all..

Another crappy news from Msia..

Panty-less warning for Valentine's day (http://www.dailychilli.com/news/2083-love-birds-may-go-panty-less)

"Muslims must understand that Valentine’s Day is not for them. We will not allow Muslim students to be taken in by such celebrations that deviate from the teachings of Islam. (Wonder what does the teaching of Islam says about Valentine's Days)

Khusrin said Jais officials would be checking budget hotels, malls and parks throughout Selangor on Feb 14 to ensure that Muslims behave themselves. "If we find unmarried couples together, they could be charged with committing khalwat (close proximity)," (So apparently, the authority, instead of spending more time nabbing robbers, doing more patrol to promote the safety of their Rakyat, are going out the street and dispersing the teachings of Quran and be the Muslim-law enforcers. Reminds me of the movie - Boondock Saints. Oh my bad my bad, that's why they have this Jais (Islamic Affairs Department ) Another extra place, exclusively for Malays only, for the government to spoon-feed them..)

"We also advise parents to ensure that their children are at home." (You should probably say that when you guys started burning churches, protests and so on dude.. That is more dangerous than going out for a date)

"We will also check restaurants that offer candle-light dinners, as these often lead to possible sexual activities in budget hotels." (Hahaha.. moral of the story, bring a girl for a candle-light dinner and you probably will end up on the bed with her.. )

HOWEVER,
It is not known how a girl who is not wearing panties could be singled out. (LOL...I wonder how... but I bet those JAIS officials will come out with something so smart that it will blow your mind offfff!! )

Malaysians, let's continue to pray for the well-being of our country and for the Muslims, as Jesus said "Forgive them ; for they do not know what they are doing -Luke 23:34
God bless our dear country..

Message from William Leong, PKR Treasurer‏

This message below is directed to All Malaysians. If you are not a Malaysian, then take it for information sake. Politics itself is not dirty, but it's people who make it dirty....so it depends on which side of the fence you are in. Thanks to W.F. Cheah for sharing this article by William Leong. William Leong is the treasurer of PKR and younger brother of ex minister, Paul Leong. Practising in law for 20 odd years before going into politicsPLEASE READ IF YOU CARE ENOUGH FOR YOUR KIDS' FUTURE

All Malaysians are duty bound to help each other to achieve a better life in our country. With the performance of the UMNO/BN for the last 52 years, especially the last 28 years, the country has been raped by politicians and their cronies. You know how arrogant they are, let us have look.

1.. They are extending the APs to 2015. They are giving themselves free money.. This is daylight robbery. We are talking big bucks, billions

2. The taxes and duties on cars continue to be high to protect Proton but we the public pay through our nose. If the PR government comes into power we canexpect prices to drop by at least 50% for imported cars. Why are we paying these cronies our hard earned money so that they can drive around in their new and latest Ferraris, BMWs etc.

3. Have you noticed that they appoint themselves to high paying jobs and positions where they can also earn additional side income. Again these side income runinto billions.

4. The Accountant General reported that RM 28B was wasted by you know who and for who. These figures probably do not involve the highly secretive arms contracts which run into billions.

5. Look at the way they snatched the Perak State government.

6. Look at the way they treated Teoh Beng Hock

7. Look at the way they are trying to get Anwar

8. Look at the Lingam's Royal Commission

9. Look at the PKFZ delaying tactics, get one report after another, and then another and if necessary another and then only the small fish get caught and hauled to Court.

What a way to fool us? Either they are stupid or we are stupid. The abuse and cheating has been going on for far too long. Only you and I and together with all Malaysians who care can stop them. Between now and the next General Elections we have to campaign now as if the GE is just 6 months from now. Not only do we campaign, we must get our friends to get others and others to do the same. Let us not be fooled again and again.

Please start now, if 10 of us can each get 10 we will have 100 and if each of the hundred gets 10 we will have 1000. If we keep going, we will reach more than 10M active Malaysians to force a change. This is a legacy we must give our children/grandchildren, they deserve better. The alternative is too horrendous to look at.

Look at Indonesia, Japan, S. Korea and Taiwan, all their old and corrupt parties have been replaced, Malaysia is next.What Independence? On this August 31st, we shall celebrate the 52nd anniversary of the British leaving our country. I did not say we are celebrating the 52nd anniversary of our independence. This is because our people have not enjoyed real liberty, democracy or justice. Without liberty,democracy or justice there is no independence.. In these 52 years the oppressive rule of a foreign colonial master has been replaced by the oppressive rule of a local master. The rule with an iron fist.

They use the same instruments of oppression as the British did. They use the ISA, the Sedition Act, the Printing Press & Publications Act and detention withouttrial. The freedom of assembly, the freedom of expression and the freedom to live a life of dignity free from fear and oppression are illusions.

In these 52 years the yoke of a foreign colonial master has been replaced by the yoke of a local master. They use the same policy of “divide and rule”. They survive by feeding off racialism. They survive by fostering divisiveness. They survive by preaching religious intolerance.What Teoh Beng Hock died for Malaysians will not know real independence, will not be free and will not enjoy democracy unless this oppressive regime is thrown out.

They must be thrown out just like Teoh Beng Hock was thrown out from the 14th floor of the MACC office. We must not forget Teoh BengHock. We must not forget what he stood for. More importantly, we must not forget what he died for. He lived to help Malaysians in the struggle against corruption and oppression. He died so that our struggle can live.

He died fighting for justice.What Justice? Without justice we cannot say we have liberty or democracy or equal rights. We cannot say we have liberty or freedom when Tamil schoolshave no tables and chairs. When in Sabah and Sarawak, schools have no electricity. A child that is illiterate is not free.

We cannot say we have democracy or equal rights for women, when a Chinese girl with 9A1s cannot enter a university.. A girl without a job has no rights. We cannot say we have freedom of choice when a man cannot feed his family.A starving man has no choice. Liberty, democracy and freedom are meaningless words when there is no justice. Justice is political liberty. Justice is economic independence. Justice is equality.

There is no political liberty when you vote out of fear. There is no economic independence when you giveyour support out of fear your son’s scholarship will be withdrawn or your license will be withdrawn.There is no freedom of choice when you elect a party out of fear for your contract or your business. This is what has been happening in these 52 years and this will continue if we do not act. There will be many more Teoh Beng Hocks and many more Port Klang Free Zones if we do not stop them.

What One Malaysia? Najib says he wants One Malaysia. Teoh Beng Hock’s death has hocked us back to reality. We cannot just listen to rhetoric. We must look at the deeds. When we look, we see what has been done, is a far cry from what has been said. The Perak government has been stolen from its people. Najib has now declared his intention to grab the Selangor government.

The MACC is a tool. It is used to de-stabilize the Pakatan Rakyat government. Teoh Beng Hock was interrogated throughout the night. He was grilled forbuying RM2,400 worth of Malaysian flags. No one has been grilled when PKFZ loss RM12.6 billion. The MACC officers are raiding the Pakatan Excomembers’office so often they are becoming fixtures. Cars and cows and Malaysian flags have become a fixation of the MACC.

MACC has not shown the same enthusiasm when it comes to BN assemblymen who used up their annual allocation of RM500,000 in 2 months before the generalelections. The MACC has also not shown any interest in the trips by the former chief minister and his family to study the river system in Disney Land. There is no investigation into how the former chief minister can afford to purchase a multi-million ringgit mansion that is beyond the means of a chief minister’s salary. Barisan Nasional machinery is now on the move.Books attacking Anwar Ibrahim and Khalid Ibrahim are being distributed. The authors of these books are sowing the seeds of hatred and contempt. They desecrate the Hindu’s sacred cow in a protest filled with bigotry. They protest against a Hindu temple built 150 years ago when the area was a plantation that today, just like its devotees, the estate workers, had been left behind by development.

They have forgotten Muslims were invited to practice their religion amongst the people of Yathrib. They are beating the drums of race and religion and the tone is becoming harsher with each beat. The people must now decide. There cannot be any fence sitters. There is no middle ground. When Teoh Beng Hock was thrown out, the people of Malaysia was thrown together with him into the sea of political troubles. Whether Malaysia will sink or swim is now up to the people.

The people must decide once and for all what is right and what is wrong. There cannot be a neutral ground.Dante said: “The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.” Today in Malaysia there is no place for neutrality. Malaysians must make their choice now.

If we want to know what is evil and what is right, we must use our moral compass. It is only when we know the direction where justice lies can we know where we must stand. Do we want to choose liberty and justice which are always right or do we want to choose corruption, hatred, arrogance and oppression which are always wrong?The choice is clear.

Every Malaysian must make his stand. When you stand for liberty we stand with you. I want to tell you that when you stand for liberty, we will stand with you. When you defend democracy, we will be your shield. When you fight for justice, we will be your sword. We will always be with you.They assaulted *Anwar Ibrahim. *They threw him in jail for 6 long years. They call him a traitor and worse. But Anwar will always be here to fight for you. They hounded and harassed *Lim Kit Siang. *They detained him in Kamunting.. But Lim Kit Siang will always be here to stand by you.

They attacked *Tok Guru Nik Aziz *and tried to humiliate him. But Tok Guru Nik Aziz will always be here to protect you. We have been tested. They have thrown everything they have at us but we are still standing and we are still here.We were here in November 2007 when a sea of yellow marched for a free and fair election. This was *BERSIH*. We were here in December when thousands in orange marched for equality. This was *Makal Sakthi*.This was the ripple that started the tsunami.

Barisan Nasional was swept out of 5 states. Since then BarisanNasional has become more extreme in their policies. They have become more brutal with the people. When we Hope So on 1st August, the lovers of justice and liberty marched again. Again Barisan Nasional responded with violence and brutality. 638 people including women and children were arrested. Despite the police shutting down the city, despite the many road blocks and barricades, despite the arrest of those wearing black, the number who succeeded in gathering far exceeded my expectations.But the size of the gathering cannot be bigger than my hope for Malaysia.

My hope is for every one that braved the tear gas and water cannons there will be many thousands more. We want hundreds of thousands to march with us. We will march from under the shadow of fear into the light of justice. My hope is that the flame burning in each who gathered that day will kindle the hearts and minds of many thousands more. Malaysians will find the courage to standup for principles and convictions. We must stand up for what is right.

This is my hope and this is the hope of all Malaysians.Truth, love and justice will prevail over the forces of hate and oppression. This will only happen when the silent majority refuses to remain silent anymore. This will only happen when the voice of the majority is finally heard. We must be confident that oppression and corruption cannot endure. We must take comfort that truth and justice will always prevail. But this can only be achieved if we fight for it. We must fight today for a better tomorrow.

Looking Back in the Future Do not let our children look back and say that these are dark days. Let them say that these are great days. These are the most glorious days that our country ever had. These days will be remembered as the days when we were called, we answered. We stood up. We stood together shoulder to shoulder irrespective of race or religion. We fought and we prevailed. Each of us played our part according to our strengths.Our children and their children will look back on these days and celebrate it as the days we became *ONE NATION*. These days will be etched in our Nation’s history as the days we won over injustice and oppression. These will be the days we celebrate *THE TRUE MERDEKA.

*Thank you, Xie xie , vanakam..

Have a God-blessed day.

School is Closed (today and tomorrow)

So, today when I woke up the first thing that I did was to check my email. Indeed!! School will be closing at 1pm and all day tomorrow due to inclement weather. As it turns out, the weather wasnt as bad as I thought or the authority thought it would be. We get some freezing rain and a little snow (less than an inch) and that's about it. No doubt, things begining to freeze out there (doors, tree branches etc) but it doesnt seems that nasty as compared to what we had in December. In fact it is nothing at all. But well, I am not complaining having extra 2 days of holidays.. :)

Cooked Korean Rice Cake just now with fried potatos and Rendang Instant Noodle. :) Bath right away dinner and guess am having indigestion. Stomach aching now.. :(

Thursday, January 21, 2010

New Bible from Curt

Curt and I normally have a weekly meet up to talk about "The Story of God" As you probably already know, he's such an awesome guy and he knows so much about the bible. Has been learning a lot from him. So after telling him I'm on my journey to finish the bible in a year, he bought me a new bible - New Living Translation. According to him, it's easier to read than New American Standard that I currently has (It is from him as well. A Ryrie Study Bible) since it paraphase the bible and makes the bible flows better. So am really pump about this whole thing and the new bible! Thanks brother!

Quote for leaders

Read this in "The Story of God" and I quote:

Use your position to help others out rather than using people to help you "climb the ladder". Leaders are called servant. This may be a dramatic shift in thinking from some of the modern management techniques. But it's the only way that works.

In recent world, we're so indulged in fame and earthly glory. But the bible teaches us to humble ourself upon the Lord and acknowledge the power of God.That's the way of life. Pray, my brothers and sisters..

Monday, January 18, 2010

Bible in a year

Yes! Our church is having a program/challenge for us to finish reading the bible in a year. They planned out the number of verses to read each day and we'll put a check mark beside it as we accomplish it everyday. Read Matthew 1-9 today and realized there're so many powerful and uplifting verses in it.

Few of those that I love:

Matthew 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
43"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.'
44"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
46"For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Matthew 6: 25"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
33"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Amen!)
34"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Crazy Oklahoma Weather

Remember the snow blizzard we had here few weeks ago? Snow started to melt few days ago and there is not much of it to be seen. When you think nice weather is coming, all of the sudden, dense fog out of nowhere comes. When i say DENSE, i meant really bad fog.. While driving, i can only obtain probably about 3-5 meters of visibility. That is how bad it is.. LAME...~~


Anyway, tomorrow I will be leading worship at church. Just done preparing for it. This is the first time I'll be doing all the praying and really lead the entire worship session (previously just play the guitar and being part of it)Hope God will calm me and use me for His glory :) Amen!!
Some pictures:
Realized I haven show you guys the composite for our CEAT Student Council yet! Can you spot me?
台湾牛肉面 (Beef Noodle) made by one of our church's sister. She's such an awesome cook from Taiwan. When asked how did he train her cooking skill, her husband (also from Taiwan) explained: Just bring her to U.S.. LOL. So true.. Scarcity of good food here will force the wife to cook some home made dishes :) That's how I'm gonna train my future wife too! haha..
Made this for my dinner just now. You must be thinking "Ewww" It's my own recipe of Steamed Mushrooms Salmon. Wonder where I came out with this recipe? Well, I just went thru my refrigerator and took out everything that can be cook, place them on a plate and steam all together with Soy Sauce. You never go wrong with that.. :P It tasted pretty good..
That's the DENSE fog outside right now. Truly insane weather... :(
Off to bed now peeps! Nights!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Al Jazeera- Inside Story (from niamah.blogspot.com)

Oh My God.. My dear Malaysia.. Look at how the Malay guy (apparently with high position) reacts or reply to questions by the reporter/anchor. I almost vomid blood... Malaysia Boleh..!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Sixth Sense!

Holy Crap!!! MIT's Geniuses!!!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Updates finally!

So Christmas is now over but New Year is coming so so soon.. Anyway these past months has been a lot of fun for me. Will try to summarize as much as possible here

Thanksgiving:went to Jacob's grandparents house at Ark City, Kansas. Went to his uncle's Cotton field to help out on the first day. Operated a Stripper haha! It's called Stripper cause it actually strip cotton off from the stem. It's pretty cool.

Next day rode horses, shot shotguns, mattress skiing and Tamborine. Can you believe i've never got on a tamborine before??? LOL..
More shot guns and horses the next day. Forced to leave that day because Stillwater Chinese Baptist Church (SCBC) which i am part of, is having a thanksgiving party and i have to go help out and participate in..

After that is dead week, which we all need to study for our finals the following week. Spend most of my time doing project, homeworks and studying but of course not forgetting to party on friday (3 days before finals) and going to church on sunday! :) Finals went well and managed to get a 4.0 GPA again this semester. God bless me for sure!! I am honestly blessed this semester. I always party the day before my test/exams and study minimum but still managed to get 100% or highest in the entire class for my tests/exams. It's funny.. Cortney joked: You should party with us the entire finals week then! LOL

During the break, Curt left his truck with me because he will be gone for most of the break and wanted me to have something to mobilize around. He is a amazing brother in Christ to me.. :)

Went ice skating the other day with Stephanie and Rose (90). The city of Stillwater made a skating ring near main street for the holiday season. Smart idea huh? knowing that there is nothing fun to do here in Stillwater.. haha! :)

There're tons of activities planned during the Christmas season this year. First, Carolling then party at Msian student's house. Next day a Christmas party at church then another party to exchange gifts at Cortney's house. However, on Christmas eve, all of the sudden (not snowing in October, November and whole of Dec) it started to snow. Not just snow, it's blizzard! Can you believe it?

(Written on the 27th of December 2009)

> > Resuming on the 7th of January 2010
See, that's what happened so often that something arised amid updating my blog and interrupted what i wanted to post here. On that day when i was supposed to be updating my blog, my friend called and asked me to go build a snowman and didnt have the time to sit down and update it again till now.

Anyway, picking up from where i left off, the snow blizzard caused all the christmas program to be canceled. The caroling, the church christmas party, present exchange at Cortney's etc. On that day (christmas eve) when it started to snow, i called up Rose Jin and Jonathan and asked them if they wanted to go out and buy presents for the present exchange party at Cortney's at night and they agreed. We went out despite the heavy snow and for 2-3 hours we shopped around Stillwater. After all the shopping, we arrive at Cortney's house to wrap up the presents and since then, we're immobilized for dayssss! LOL. The snow just pilled up so quickly that at 4pm, they called off the caroling and by 6pm, our vehicles are stucked at the parking lot. However, Cortney came out with a brilliant idea - phone caroling haha! :) It was fun. For 2 hours we called people and sang to them (including my parents in Malaysia) hehe!

At 8pm, we decided to walk to another friend's apt (near mine) about a mile or 2 away for dinner. We walked (more of a struggle and rustle with the wind) for 5 minutes, and we're only about 100 ft away from Cortney's house. We realized we have 2 choices : 1) Back to Cortney's place and be bored 2) walk and freeze to death.. LOL. Then i saw some vehicles traveling on the main road and i realized we can actually hitch hike to where we wanted to go. That's what we did and thank God there's a mexican guy with a van who gave us a ride :)

For the next 3 days, Cortney and Rose could not go home and they decided to stay at my apt for the entire duration until the authorities started to plow the snows off the road. Even until now, snows are still everywhere except that they're now harden already.Stephanie wasnt able to join us that time because she was with her host family and they had a vacation to Missouri. :(

With those snows, Jonathan and I built a snowman. It was an ugly one cause the snow wasnt slicky enough to be rolled into a snowman. Few days later, along with Stephanie (she's back) we made an awesome one!It started to snow when we started to build it that's why the snow was perfect for snow man!! :)

Stephanie stayed over at Rose's place for a couple of days so we managed to hang out a lot. Had some fruitful time together. Roy Zhao Xin Yuan, our dear brother in Christ (we went to his house for lunch and dinner almost everyday during the snow storm because he is a good cook!) has to leave Stillwater to be back in China with his wife on the 29th of Dec. He is now safely back in China and will definitely be missing him a lot.
Henry (my roommate) came back on the 31st of Dec. Me, Jonathan and CuiYang went to pick him up at OKC and we went for vietnamese Noodles. At night, i bought some little fire crackers and had some friends over to countdown towards the new year. Messed up the house again which i just cleaned the day before. Henry clean it up after that thou.
In this new year, hope that God will continue to provide for our needs which i know He will. And pray that He will use me for His glory and I will put Him first above everything else. :) God is good, all the time.

On the 2nd of Jan, our bro ChenJun got married with Sis MinZhi. Had a wedding in our chinese church for the first time since a long long time (not sure if we even have a wedding here before). Anyway, it was such an amazing feeling to see how God bring them together and make them one.

Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Classes is starting next week (OH NO!!) It feels like this holiday just went by like a dream. Everything's so relaxing and wonderful. :) Time to get back to reality. haha. By the way, I'll be playing the guitar for worship tomorrow with TImothy, Cortney and Rose. Hopefully everything will be well and we can bring others to worship our one and only God :)

Another thing is I already got my internship offer few months back. My company told me that there is a possibility that they will be able to send me back to Msia for the summer/internship which will be great! Otherwise I'll be based in Carroltan, Texas.Starting to miss my family after a year without seeing them. Thank God for keeping me busy and occupied so far. Also, I had a pay raise from last internship so this will help me pay for some of my tuition fee next semester (since my 2 years scholarship will be terminated end of this semester)

Few days ago, my mom told me that Andy Gan, a long time golf buddy of mine passed away at the age of 22 due to some terminal illness. After getting the news, i went to google "Andy Gan" and found his blog (golferalive.blogspot.com) and was truly touched by his faithfulness to God even at the brink of dying. He still trust God and being extraordinarily optimistic towards his illness. Thank God for his heart and I am sure he is in a better place now. Thank God .. Nevertheless, felt the lost of a friend/brother in Christ.

It's freezing cold today and tomorrow. Believe it or not, it's -3F (-16C)right now at this moment. Imagine a place much much colder than your freezer at home. LOL. It's crazy. Is it global warming? World coming to an end?

Lastly, I would end with some prayer request:

1) God will open up my dad's and grandma's heart to Him. Let them receive Him.
2) God will use us (brothers and sisters in Stillwater Chinese Baptist Church) to better serve Him and to touch lives. (p/s: Jonathan just accepted Christ few weeks back because of our prayers and guidance to him. Praise the Lord! )
3) God will help bring Stephanie Jeng to Oklahoma State University for her undergraduate studies and for God's blessings over our relationship
4) I'll be able to have my internship in Malaysia this coming summer
5) God will strengthen my family's faith in Him and all my friends who are already a beliver while touch the life of those who has not placed their faith in Him. Amen!

Peace out people! God loves us! :)