Last Sunday, a 17 year old Iraqi girl was killed by his father for loving a British soldier.
Another shock to the world. Another misconception in the Muslim world.


Honour killing is not something new in some parts of the world today. An honour killing, by definition, is generally a punitive murder, committed by members of a family against a female member of their family whom the family and/or wider community believes to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman is usually targeted for: refusing an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce — even from an abusive husband — or committing adultery. These killings result from the perception that any behavior of a woman that "dishonors" her family is justification for a killing that would otherwise be deemed murder.

Now...to kill a person is already something which I consider morally wrong. But honour killing? That is even worse. Remember Du'a Khalil Aswad (may she rest in peace)? She was stoned to death not just by her father or family, but the whole village of Bashika where she lived because she actually converted to Islam to marry a Sunni Muslim boy. I know religion can be a very sensitive issue, but what gives them the right to murder an innocent girl? I somehow managed to catch a glimpse of the video, and trust me, it was a sad sight. The video was a recording from a mobile phone showing the victim lying helplessly on the ground while dozens of villagers were crowding her, taunting, kicking and punching without mercy. She was then stripped to her undergarments, the beating went on until a man decided to end her life by throwing a concrete block to the back of her head.

Honour killing is wrong!

Back to the case of the Iraqi girl. "Not much can be done when we have an honour killing case," said Sergeant Ali Jabbar of Basra police. "You are in a Muslim society and women should live under religious laws. The father has very good contacts inside the Basra government and it wasn't hard for him to be released and what he did to be forgotten." What is wrong with you? He just killed his daughter, and the authority didt do anything? What bothers me the most is the fact that they actually relate honour killing Islam. Now that's wrong. It pains me to see people who take religions to an extreme sometimes even cost the lives of other people. They give the wrong impression of what the religion really promotes.

I can only hope that this madness will end. Soon.

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Yesterday was my first time watching an orchestra concert in the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra hall. The only orchestra I've ever watched was my school's, which was okay I suppose, especially when the seniors were still playing, but later it looked as if it had lost direction. Defunct. I'm not a big fan of classical music, mind you, and I'm no expert either. I just went there for the experience. And a great experience it was, although there were times that I found myself nearly falling asleep(by the way, thanks Nabila for inviting). The hall was three-quarter full that Sunday afternoon. Maybe people prefer to watch the night session rather than a Sunday matinee. And I noticed that the people who came to see the show mostly were foreigners. They seemed to appreciate art more than we locals do, don't they? Even in theathers as well. Last two years, I went to see Anak Bulan Di Kampung Wa' Hassan at KLPac, a play featuring a single actor acting 13 different characters. It was a great play and I was glad I attended it. The play was in Malay, but that did not stop a group of foreigners from enjoying the play at all. It's a great thing to see this thing happening here. Perhaps we should be more supportive as well, shouldn't we?

Anyways, my routine as a college student went on as usual today. I didn't have class to attend until 9.45am (class normally starts at 8.15. That's why I love Mondays:P) so I decided to spend the free time doing my IELTS presentation work. Ms Rena told us to do a presentation in groups of three regarding unexplained phenomenas which I find very interesting. You know, when people talk about the existence of UFO, the Bermuda Triangle, the Illuminati, Atlantis and what not, I get very sceptical. There are so much theories and yet so little (real) evidence. So I decided to do a presentation on Gloomy Sunday instead. To those who don't know, it's about the song which drives the person who listens to it to commit suicide due to extreme depression. At least it does not involve creatures from outer space or any secret organization or brotherhood.
So...I thought everyone will have to present tomorrow, but then I figured that because the majority of the class still have not prepared anything yet, Ms Rena decided that we'll watch a film instead. How wonderful (sarcastically, I mean). It's amazing what the power of majority can do. But come to think of it, I'd say it's a great opportunity cost. At least we get to watch Schindler's List. I've always wanted to watch it, but never got the chance.

Aainaa and Umyra were not in Economics class today. Umyra is off to Singapore for a family vacation until next week, whilst Aainaa went to Indonesia also for the same reason (she went there with her mum only though) and will be back to college by tonight. In the class, I would say both of them are my fortress from Mr Conquest's questions of economics. Aainaa sits next to me, Umyra in front of her. We sit in the far right of the class, nearby the window. You see, Mr Conquest likes asking questions to the students (not all though, mostly) and these two girls seem to be his favourite choice (well, besides Attiyaa, Yana, Noni etc etc). It's not that I'm trying to avoid from being asked the questions whatsoever, it's just that I never got the chance. And to raise my hand and ask him questions seems rather difficult to do. But nontheless, Economics class has always been an enlightening class (if that's the right word) for me. It's not the lessons in the syllibus that's enlightening, it's what Mr Conquest has to say during the five minute break in every class that never fails to capture my attention. Well, today he talked about the rising price of oil which is pretty worrying. The price of oil now reaches $120 a barrel. 20-30 years ago people would not even predict it would reach $100 a barrel. Things have changed it seems. What caused the price to rice over the weekend? He said besides the disruption caused the problems in Nigeria, it was also caused partly by the strike participated by UK refinery workers. As you can see, the UK refineries process mainly the oil from the North Sea. The market, panicked by the disruption, responded by raising the price to $120. However, experts suspect that the price will slowly go down over time after the panic is over. Let's hope that it will.

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An Introduction

April has been a been a busy month for me. With a number of college events crammed in the space of 30 days (minus the weekends, it should be about only 22), I must say my life has been a hectic one. It's not that I'm complaining though. Indeed I would prefer to be considerably occupied with work rather than doing nothing at all. Life in college is dull if you have nothing to do (in my case at least). But there are always times when you feel that you just have to stop. Detach yourself from everything that has been binding you. Break free and just let go. Well, I'm experiencing it right now. That's why I'm writing on this post right now...on this very blog I created 10 minutes ago.

My name is Alif (see, not anonymous), but my close friends would call me Oggy. It's pronounced as Ow-ghee, but I have heard them calling my name with various pronounciations and tones - Oji, Oggay and sometimes it's even taken to an extreme - Orgy. But I like Tiger's version better - Oggre. Whatever makes you happy people. Now, I know that many people have been asking me how I got the name. There is a story behind it, but in case you're anxious to know, I would strongly recommend you to hold that thought. Trust me, the story is not worth your anxiety.

Okay, enough rambling about my name. I am 19 years old, and currently preparing myself for the A-level examination in Kolej Yayasan UEM. It's in Lembah Beringin by the way, if you're wondering where it is. Before that, I was a student in Kolej Yayasan Saad, Melaka. Back in my school years, people did ask me where on earth is KYS as well. Is it my fate that all my alma maters were so unpopular? Perhaps not. But anyways, I thank those who asked for their curiosity.

This is my first post, and I'm pretty excited. Well, not really actually, because I know that it's so common and normal that people get excited, all hyped up when starting something new. Then somewhere along the way, they get exhausted or lose interest, and give up. I really hope that this blog will be not fall into the group of millions of abandoned blogs. That sucks. And a waste of space as well.

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