Australian Federal Budget

How do you take bad news?  Reprimands?  Being told that you were bad and need to pull your socks up?

Many of us don't like this.  We like to think that everything is good.  That we'd get top marks in our exam.  That we are good at everything we try.  We do not make any mistakes.  Nobody experiences poverty.  We can spend and enjoy life as we wish.

So when we are told that we have been spending too much, that our lives are not in order, that we have to tighten our belts and cut costs, we feel bad.

I think this is what happened when the recent Australian budget was announced.  People did not feel happy about the cost-cutting that the Prime Minister and Treasurer announced.  People like their affluent lifestyle, even living beyond their means.  Borrowing more than what they can afford.

But people cannot live like that long term.  We don't like to improve, we like to think we are already all right.  We may not be good, but we like to think we are.

Does this sound true to you?  Do you think that our human nature is like this?  Please tell me what you think.

If this is true, then how should we cope with reality?

Is there anything we need to get right within ourselves so to be acceptable before God?  To ourselves?  Or are we already so good that we do not need God?  God need not exist in our thinking?

Price of success

Did it ever occur to you what it costs to others for you to be able to buy things at the prices you do?

Many years ago, I heard that soccer balls and basket balls were made in India.  This is because labour costs is cheap enough, and people living in the richer worlds can afford these balls, while they couldn't, if the Indians were paid according to the wage scale in the home countries of the buyers.

The same applied to clothing and manufacturing.  Rarely is one able to buy t-shirts that are made in Australia these days, as the Bangladeshi, Chinese and Vietnamese ones have overtaken the market.  Even the manufacturing of cars has become largely off-shored, or at least, it seems to be trending that way.  But then again, there is an oversupply of new cars for the world market, so it kind of makes sense to lessen the production in some countries, in spite the costs to the jobs and economy.

More recently, I read about the electronics industry, where it is not just for financial economics that iPhones and mobile are made in China.  There are also health issues.  Apparently, there is a degree of pollution that comes out as a by-product of the electronics industry.  The workers in these factories are exposed to carcinogens.  The Chinese economy is set to overtake that of the USA next year, but even so, people are living in conditions where the level of pollution is 1000% higher than what the WHO deems to be safe.

Are we shocked?  Should we be?  Is this something to think about?  Pray about?  Or not care about since it is somebody else's problem somewhere else?

The article makes the situation of the factory works akin to those of slaves.  Have they overstated the issue?  We pray for and protest against slavery in many situations, do we also care about the situations of factory workers?

What can we do about it?  Can we afford the higher price of clothing, electronics and other consumables if people were paid at a higher rate?

What do you think?  How can we show care for the less privileged around the world?

Christian Muslim Friendships

Dr Asri Zainul Abidin believes that Christians are not really a threat.  He said that "he closest people to the Muslims are Christians. The Quran‎ says you will find that the people who love Muslims the most are Christians."

He thinks that:

• It is normal for religious leaders to invite their friends to join in what they believe to be "the true religion".  Muslims, or anybody else for that matter, should not not feel threatened to receive such invitations, regardless of whether they are in Malaysia, England, or anywhere else.  It is just friendship.
• Muslims should feel afraid of militant Christians.  Not in Malaysia, anyway.  Christians have never instigated any attacks on Muslims.
• NGOs naturally want to promote themselves.  So if they are connected with the Christian faith, they will promote that as well.  As they have not been "over the top" about it, Muslims should tolerate rather than feel threatened.
• As Islam is the true religion, Muslims should be worried that they are not doing their work properly rather than to be worried that they would be crushed by the outsiders.
• It will be good for people to live harmoniously rather than to start a civil war in Malaysia, especially when there is no real threat towards the Muslims. 

 Contrast these thoughts to those of Ridhuan Tee Abdullah.  Abdullah thinks that:

• Churches are saying threatening things about Muslims.  Muslims should disguise themselves to infiltrate the churches to hear these things for themselves.
• The New Testament stories of Jesus are based on hearsay, and Christians have been misled.

What do you think?  Are Christians threatening?  Do Muslims in Malaysia really have a threat to deal with from the Christians?

What if the Muslims who disguise and infiltrate the churches hear something that they like?  Will they be allowed to convert to Christianity if they do?

I once read a hypothetical scenario.  Not in its exact words, the story went something like this.  Suppose your car broke down in a dangerous part of town, at night time.  You come out of the car, but you cannot fix the problem straight away.  You see a group of rough-looking youth walking towards you.  Would it make a difference if you realise that they were carrying Bibles?

Would it?  What do you believe about Christians and their faith?

Prefer male bosses

Aida Ahmad's survey found that many people prefer male bosses because they are less emotional.

Apparently, female bosses are more likely to micro-manage and appear less level headed in the way they express themselves.

Would you agree?  Is this stereotype generally true?  (I am sure that in such cases, there will always be exceptions to the rule.)  Does this generalisation hold true on a world-wide scale, or is it just in certain cultures and countries?

Is leadership male?  Why?

Does this apply only to the workplace?  Or also at home?

What do you believe?  Why?

Law does not reflect culture

Apparently, there is some disparity between the Islamic restrictions, called "hudud", and some of the present values of today's society.

Some issues in current discussion in Malaysia are:

• Hudud punishes petty crime as theft severely, but does nothing about corporate corruption
• It allows polygamy and discrimination against women in contexts frowned upon by present culture;
• It disqualifies a good majority of people from being witnesses to crime;
• It does not leave room for repentance;
• They perceive temples to be idols and do not live peacefully with other religion;
• They go against the doctors' code of conduct with regards to amputations, etc.

 I wonder if the "hudud" is open subject to interpretation the way the "fatwa" is.

What do you understand?  Would "hudud" bring society back into the dark ages?  Would that be good for society, or bad?

Does value change over time?  Should it change?

Is there an absolute right and wrong?  Is that in the form of "hudud" or something else?

Which laws are in accordance with God's ideals, and not human abuse of power in the systems?  Is there one?