Muslim Woman Is Going To Get Caned For Drinking Beer!
Monday, August 24, 2009
It’s absolute nonsense. A Muslim woman, Kartika Shukarno, is going to punished by being caned just because she drank beer at a nightclub. She is going to be the first woman to face caning under the Malaysian law. I find this outrageous for a few reasons. Briefly these are my reasons. Firstly, it should be our right to be able to consume whatever we want to. Secondly, if a person does not really show that he is following his religion closely, he should not be punished and instead should be allowed to change his religion if he wants to. However, Malaysia’s reason for punishes the woman might be that they do not want their religion, Islam, to be loosely followed so that it is not taken for granted. I will be elaborating on each of these points. Firstly, about our rights, we should be able to consume whatever we wish to as it is our body and we should be allowed to eat or drink whatever we want to. So, the ‘crime’ is not even a serious one and the punishment, although there shouldn’t be one, is very harsh. Doesn’t this point out to injustice in Malaysia? Some Human Rights organizations are outraged by this. For example, Amnesty International, a human rights organization, found the punishment inhumane and appealed to the Malaysian Authorities to not cane the woman. However, the Malaysian Authorities brushed aside the appeal. Therefore, the Malaysian Authorities should seriously consider the appeal before taking any action. Secondly, there are always other alternatives. Kartika doesn’t need to be caned just for going against Islamic laws and drinking beer. There is always the option that the government can find out why the person went against his religion and if he wants to convert to another religion. When it comes to matters on religion, you will find that Islamic Laws are the harshest. Anyways, if the person wants to convert his religion, then he should be allowed as it is part of our rights to be able to choose what we wish to believe in and what religious customs we wish to follow. In the end, if he still wants to remain a Muslim, then he should be allowed to drink as it is up to the individual as to what extent he wants to follow his religion. He doesn’t need to be caned at all and in my opinion, this rule is unfair and this is injustice. The reason for Malaysia wanting to cane the woman might be that they do not want their religion, Islam, to be loosely followed so that it is not taken for granted. In the light of recent events, like 9/11, Islam and its morals and intentions have been questioned a lot. Therefore, the Malaysian Authorities would like to make an example out of Karthika by punishing her very harshly by caning her. However, this is injustice to Karthika as she is not being treated fairly. So, while this might be the Malaysian Authority’s motive, it is not a morally right one as someone is being unfairly treated. In conclusion, the Malaysian Authorities should not punish Karthika as it should be her right to be able to consume whatever she wants, believe in whatever she wants and because there are always other alternatives than a very harsh punishment like caning. Caning her will be utter nonsense.
Should Cristiano Ronaldo turn his back on Manchester United?
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Should Cristiano Ronaldo turn his back on Manchester United?
Cristiano Ronaldo’s reputation as the world’s best football player precedes him. He scores many goals, creates and assists them too. Therefore, if you ask any Manchester United fan in the world the above question, he will give you the longest, “NO!” and cast you a look as if you have insulted him. Through the above question, I am asking, “Should Cristiano Ronaldo, who is regarded as the world’s best football player, leave Manchester United Football Club and transfer to Real Madrid Football Club to play for them?”. In my opinion, Cristiano Ronaldo should not turn his back on Manchester United and play for Real Madrid. Through my commentary and contextual knowledge, I shall explain why.
Ronaldo’s performances in England for Manchester United have been world-class. The reason why Ronaldo is regarded as the world’s best football player is simple. He has played extremely well and performed at Manchester United, making the defenders of various teams dance to his tunes. So why would he want to stop that by transferring to Real Madrid? There is a substantial risk that Ronaldo’s style of play is not suited to Spanish soil, at Real Madrid. He has overwhelming statistics while playing for Manchester United. In the season of 2006-2007, Ronaldo scored 23 goals from a total of 41 games, an amazing performance for a right-winger, who usually doesn’t get many chances to score. In the next season of 2007-2008, he did even better by outdoing himself, smashing in 42 goals from 48 games. In total, Ronaldo has scored 110 goals for Manchester United in 233 starts. Those mind dazzling performances won him several prestigious awards, including the FIFPro World Player of the Year, FIFA World Player of the Year, and the Ballon d’Or. Thus, for the sake of his world-class performances accompanied by the signature step-overs, Cristiano Ronaldo should not turn his back on Manchester United.
Manchester United Football Club is a better club than Real Madrid Football Club, winning more league titles than their overseas rivals. Manchester United have won the English Premier League a staggering 10 times since the 1992-1993 season, when the English Premier League started. As for their Spanish counterparts, the have won the Spanish La Liga 6 times since the 1992-1993 season. A better comparison would be a competition in which both teams play, the UEFA Champions League. For the past ten years, Manchester United and Real Madrid are in a 2-2 draw when it comes to winning the UEFA Champions League. However, Manchester United did win the latest season, the season of 2007-2008, and what matters the most is the latest, the present. Thus, Ronaldo would have a much higher chance of winning trophies and scoring goals with Manchester United than with Real Madrid. Therefore, as Manchester United is better than Real Madrid and thus, Cristiano Ronaldo should not turn his back on Manchester United.
Cristiano Ronaldo will become richer if he transfers to Real Madrid Football Club. Real Madrid surprised everyone when they planned a staggering £75 million transfer (S$ 167 million) for the Portuguese. However, Ronaldo will not benefit much from the transfer fee. What he will benefit from is the high wages he is likely to get if he transfers to Real Madrid Football Club. Real Madrid’s proposed deal includes weekly wages in access of a mouth-watering £200,000 (S$ 445,000). If we go by the 52 weeks there are in a year, Cristiano Ronaldo’s annual income will be in excess of S$ 23 million. Enough of the statistics now, the question that needs to be asked is, “Does Ronaldo need the extra money?”. If he does need the extra money, he will leave for Real Madrid. If he favours his passion of playing the best football possible, he will probably stay at Manchester United. However, given the fact that Real Madrid is not much worse than Manchester United according to statistics, and that Real Madrid is offering a lot of money, Cristiano Ronaldo should leave for Real Madrid for the money. However, I do not contradict my own stand.
In conclusion, the disadvantages of leaving for Real Madrid Football Club far outweigh the advantages of doing so. Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world, and should play the best football at Manchester United Football Club. Therefore, I conclude that Cristiano Ronaldo should not turn his back on Manchester United.
There are many reasons why streaking should be legalised.Firstly, many argue that one has control over his own body, and thus should have control over whatever he or she wants to do with it. It’s the same as freedom of speech, where a person is allowed to say whatever he/she wants to on any topic. For example, at a famous event called the “Undie Run”, hundreds of people turn up to run through the streets of Westwood, beside the UCLA campus, in clothes ranging from as little as a sock to intimate apparel. Although police were present at the scene for potential chaos like property damage or injuries, there was no need for them as everything went smoothly.
Secondly, streaking should be allowed as long as there are no injuries or damage to things like property via vandalism, etc. When nothing of the sort happens, I think that there is nothing wrong in streaking as there is no damage to anything, other than their school’s and their reputation. If smoking and drinking, which are medically proven to cause harm to the user and in some cases to others, are allowed, why shouldn’t streaking be allowed? In fact, many may render smoking and/or drinking worse than streaking.
However, the problem comes when there are things like injuries and/or property damage when people streak. Then, streaking must be controlled or abolished if it causes harm to the public, like in the following example. At Xavier College, every pupil in a year has been suspended. The reason for this is that some pranksters set off fireworks, blocked traffic and streaked across campus. According to the police, they received more than 100 complaints of students roaming around cause havoc across the neighbourhood. In a case like that, streaking should be prohibited as it caused and influenced a lot of damage to property through things like vandalism and also, people got injured.
However, there are few cases like the one above, which happened at Xavier College. Usually, there is no or very little damage or injuries when people streak. Therefore, streaking should be legalised.
Acknowledged: "Blanket Ban for Streaking Students" By Charles Proctor.
In the academic aspect, Common Class Tests (CCTs) have a very high weightage. This has its advantages and disadvantages. Since many years, students have been complaining about it and many suggest scraping the CCTs. So, should we scrap the CCTs?
Let us start with the advantages. Firstly, CCTs are at the same time for every class that is taking that particular subject. Therefore, there is a very slim possibility of the questions being leaked and nobody probably knows the questions beforehand. However, in a normal test like a Topical Assessment, different classes do the paper at different times, depending on when they have the lesson for that subject. That way, the classes that actually do the paper before others can later go and tell them the questions, giving those other people an advantage. The question that bothers many is, "Are the CCTs only a formality because all the other schools are doing it?''.
There are disadvantages of CCTs as well. Firstly, the gap between two CCTs of a same subject is usually about a term, that is around three months. That is a very long period of time, so, the consistancy of a student is not tested as that student can slack until about three weeks before the exam and then study hard and get good marks. As opposesd to a student who works hard for all three months but may not get as good marks as the previous student. After all, the marks should go to the more consistant and hardowrking student. Furthermore, normal short tests like Topical Assessments are usually held every few weeks, so a student has to work hard consistantly to do well. That is one disadvantage of CCTs.
Another disadvantage is that if a person is extremely busy preparing to represent the school for an important competition, and doesnt have time to study like oher students, he or she may not do as well as other students and since the weightage of one CCT is quite high, his or her academic grades may drop drastically, which is unfair to the student.
In my opinion, due to the points stated above, I believe that CCTs should be scraped and that should benefit most of the students academically, especially those that consistantly work hard.
Well, if you define 'exposition' on Google, you will get definitions like, "a systematic interpretation or explanation (usually written) of a specific topic". Many say that expositions are a logical manner of expressing oneself about or on a certain topic. Also, in an exposition, all the statements are taken to be true.In my opinion, whoever you are, you can give your opinion, without any restrictions. The question that remains to be asked is, so what is an exposition for?