On 28 Aug 2003 17:37:12 -0700, digicross@hotmail.com (EAC) wrote:
>Pan wrote in message news:...
>> (For example, Chief Minister Haji Hadi of Terengganu announced
>> a "jihad against Americans and Jews" after the U.S. started bombing
>> Afghanistan, but his jihad has been bloodless and this Jewish American
>> had no trouble at all in Terengganu.)
>
>'Jihad' = 'struggle'
There was a lot of noise from PAS about sending volunteers to
Afghanistan to fight on the side of the Taliban. I don't think any
Malaysians got killed fighting Israel. Malaysians have been involved
in terrorism in Indonesia, but as far as I know, no-one's tried to
claim that's had a thing to do with PAS.
>And it should be noted that these days there are Jews who are not
>Jews. These 'Jews' could be Muslims, Christian, Judian, Malaysian,
>American, Singaporean, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, and so on. And
>these 'Jews' seems to be responsible for many of the troubles in the
>world.
Congratulations. You've established your degree of prejudice in two
sentences. "Jew" is not an all-purpose insult, nor a description of
some stereotype in your mind.
>> With few exceptions, people were
>> very friendly, welcoming, and helpful.
>
>That. And also the fact that you got cash.
Is that how you explain the kid who waded into a shallow river to
recover my hat? He had no wish for compensation and my mother and I
agreed that he would have been offended if I had offered him money.
Furthermore, people who were friendly to me included passengers on
long-distance buses, one of whom subsequently met up with me in KL,
introduced me to her fiance', her family, her fiance's family, and
belanjaed me for a meal and a trip to Batu Caves, where her fiance'
acted as an informal guide. Various other Malaysians took me out for
meals and insisted on paying.
[snip]
>> I did not find that people tend to assume all Americans support
>> the Bush Administration or blame them for their nationality,
>
>Of course not! Where did one get the ideas that these people did!
Have you checked out the soc.culture.malaysia newsgroup?
>From what I learned of the typical Malays (from any country). If you
>are foreigner, have a lot of money, you're going to be treated very
>well, no matter where you came from or what you are.
I don't have a lot of money.
[snip]
>> and I strongly believe that Malaysia is a
>> very safe and worthwhile place to visit.
>
>And much like any heavily Malay influenced country. One probably would
>get the same result from visiting Indonesia.
Can you really claim that Indonesia is a safe country today? True,
it's unlikely that any particular person will be killed in a terror
attack or war - just as is the case in Israel, where death from a road
accident is much more likely than death from a terror attack - but
Indonesia is a country in part at war, hit repeatedly by terrorists in
many regions, and subjected in the past couple of years to massacres
and fighting between various ethnic groups in many regions. Making an
equation between Malaysia to Indonesia seems tendentious to me.
>> As I've told other people:
>> Anyone who's afraid of possible terrorism should avoid visiting the U.S. Embassy,
>
>Well... 'Terrorism' is more of a psychological attack than a physical
>attack.
Agreed.
>It's much better to avoid any sort of travel 'warning' at all, because
>it's used not for the benefit of the citizens, but as a way to
>pressure a certain country to certain things (which might not
>necessary be good things).
[snip]
So you're a conspiracy theorist, too. Travel warnings usually
overstate things because they don't indicate, for example, that it is
much more likely than not that a visitor to Indonesia won't become a
casualty of violent attack. But for you to claim that they're used
only to pressure a country is silly.
Michael
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