Narrow Minded

People kept saying to me when I was in school that I should keep an open mind. But nowadays, when I voice my opinions (mostly on youtube...about Anwar Ibrahim; great man, the one who I think will change the country) people accuse me of being narrow minded and a gay-supporter.
You know what? I have a few gay friends, and they are not evil people. In fact, they are very docile, very kind and very fun people to be around. So yeah, I am a gay-supporter. My relationships are not threatened by gay relationships.
It's not like they woke up one day and decided 'I'm going to be gay from now on!'.
The fact that people are blindly supporting an idea and are not willing to open up to new possibilities is what's called narrow minded.And they say the media is not biased. Oh really? If the media is not biased, how come we never hear about when they banned the sales of tickets to The Passion of Christ in Malaysia?
I have no problems with people wanting to watch a film about the life and death of their saviour; it's not gonna affect me or make me wanna convert. Even if I wanted to convert, what's it to them?The reason why the threat of death is issued to those who dare declare apostasy is to keep the numbers of worshiper high. It's basically terrorism.
People are scared into worshiping. It's why Islam is branded as 'the terrorist's religion'.Narrow mindedness in our country is maintained by controlling what is in the media - they tell us what to fear, what to think of as right, and they demonise anyone who goes against the grain.
It's what they do to keep us scared because the ones who have the power to scare us and threaten us into doing things and believing in things are the ones who hold all the power.
We need to knock those in power down from their pedestal. Just to let them know that we are just as powerful as them. If we continue to let all the abuse in power take place, then we are most definitely powerless.
Me saying all this? That's open minded. Being able to say what I think without having people's thoughts or threats affecting me.RPK freaking awesome!And personally, I doubt that Anwar was gay. What they did to him was character assassination. Dirty, lowly tactics pulled off by cowards.

A voice of a student from Christchurch New Zealand

PARTNER IN PEACE

“Now, I have an important news for you my friend. Last Friday I visited the mosque in Western Ohio and was warmly welcomed. The best way to sum it up would be to say that it was a truly amazing experience. I got the opportunity to observe Friday prayers and see just what Islam is all about.

At 12:30, an hour long sermon is delivered in Arabic.Seeing as I can only say a few basic phrases in Arabic, I listened to the Arabic to English translation generously provided in the back.

Afterwards, I got to sit down in the center of the mosque and talk with the Muslim community about how they felt about some of the things happening in the world today.Just as I have always believed, they reaffirmed to me that Islam is a religion of peace and that true Muslims reject religious violence, whether it be against westerners or their own people.I brought up the subject of Iraq and the religious violence that is happening over there, and they explained that there really is no difference between Sunni and Shia.My hosts were Sunni, but they said that Shia families come in to pray on a regular basis, something the you're not going to hear about in the media too often.I also talked about terrorism and their thoughts on groups like Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah. There answer was simple: It's political, meaning that many of these groups have a political ideology that has developed over the years.It’s important to point out that there is nothing in the Koran that encourages religious violence, hatred, or attacking innocent people. My hosts also voiced their concerns about how many ignorant people, such as some conservative commentators, have stated that Islam is not a religion of peace and calls for the use of violence to bring about conversions.
When I was there, I would like to make absolutely clear that nowhere in the Masjid did I hear about anything like that.Muslims are indeed peaceful people and want what we all want: peace and prosperity throughout the world. I shared with them my plans for becoming a writer and how I want to help make the world a better place, and they told me that they fully support my plans and believe it is a noble cause.They encouraged me to write an op-ed about my experience and I plan to do just that. Islam is truly a beautiful and peaceful religion and I encourage anyone who wants to learn more about it to contact the local Muslim community. It is by understanding each other we can all work together to help make the world a better place. “