Dammitt!!! The weekend's coming to a close now. I still have yet to shake of my lethargy from my mental exertions. How did my weekend go?? Apart from not being able to rest that much due to attending to some requests for help from my customers and my car having a flat tyre , it went extremely well.
Yeah, I do a bit of freelancing, helping some self-confessed PC-illiterate families with their computers, for a small fee, of course. Actually, I do pity them in the sense that they got young school-going kids who will definitely need internet access and they can't do much to assist their own kids. That's where I come in. Apart from setting up their computers and networks, I teach them basic PC and Internet knowledge. I try to give them their money's worth and explain all available options, it's up to them to decide their preferred course of action for me to implement. It's not that difficult explaining all the technical jargon in layman terms.
Anyway, I was reading yesterday's papers and came face to face with a man whom I had never before seen, but whose life and future do affect me, in a way. He is a 41-year old Afghan man, born a Muslim and raised as a Muslim. At 25, he began working for a Christian missionary helping his community and he converted to Christianity. While it is seen as a basic human right in most parts of the world, Islam strictly dictates that a Muslim who renounces his Islamic faith is considered an apostate, something which is punishable by death in Islamic Law. Western media and their governemnts were quick to denounce the trial as a violation of the basic tenets of human rights - the right to choose.
Over the years, we have seen a lot of western provocation. Remember, US trying to influence Singapore not to cane Michael Fay? Remember Australia trying to intervene when an Australian model was caught trafficking drugs in Bali? Remember the US condemning Malaysia when Mahathir fired that rhetoric about Jews ruling the world by proxy? Has anyone forgotten the waging of the 2nd Gulf war on the premise that Saddam Hussein has stockpiles of WMD, without authorisation from the UN Security Council?? If this is not yet another example of Western provocation, then what is? They claim to live by the laws enshrined by their respective constitutions. They demand that their basic rights as a sovereign nation be respected. But can they claim to do the same for the rest of the world? Who or what gave them the autority to challenge or influence the rulings of the judiciary of another country?
OK, back to the Afghan guy. Now, here is a man, raised as a Muslim. He knows the consequences of his actions. He knows that the punishment for renouncing Islam and not repenting is death. Christianity is not something forced upon him. He embraced Christianity. In a way, he signed his own death warrant. He did choose. So, if the Afghan judiciary decide on death as his punishment, and rightly so, there is no one to blame but himself. If anyone were to ask me if I respected the Afghan man's basic human rights, I would only say, " Has those who denounce this ruling as a violation of human rights ever considered the human rights of those inmates in Guantanmo Bay, who are held indefinitely, without any charges pressed against them??"
I say, let the Afghans decide what to do with their country. Let them decide how they live. No human has the right to impose their views and way of life on another. Then again, what do those colonialist, who categorizes all whom do not observe their customs and way of life and savages, know about basic human right? They only care for their rights. Now, did I violate anyone's human rights??
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