Australians GO HOME!

[Guest]

>If anything there was more anarchy when Suharto and his goons were running the show, (not that the army still isn't kicking ass). Would you rather have a murderous dictator back? <

 

sorry, but suharto may have been a murderous dictator (heavily supported by the west until the crises), but it was not anarchic under his iron fist. any sort of dissent was crushed straight away.

things like ambon etc. could not have been going on for such a long time.

the question is not "would i want to have him back" as it is completely illusional, but simply stating that the situation is like it is in indonesia now.

the question is more "what mistakes has the international community done there so that such a situation is not going to be repeated in places like burma". the transformation between a dictatorship and a civil society takes a long time. that is why you see for example the lady in burma finally engaging in serious talks with the junta after wasting years (and countless lives) by being too uncompromising.

 

 

[crofty68]

well i reckon i went to school with that mohammed guy & maybe even that faruq guy as well

who knows...there's something to be said about private schools, didnt go, lucked out,

still i am an aussie, my thoughts if you care are this, Muslims are a breed of person apart

who dont live the same way as many westerners, myself included..some of their opinions

i do not agree with..i have been known to question, privately, why they were ever allowed into

Australia..If you look into the history of where they came from you will understand..sadly rule

of law, decent law that encompasses & dignifies human civilisation does not exist in many

Muslim countries...a lot of Sharia law in strict countries does not allow freedom of expression

or dignity for ALL....i have met many Arab Muslim men (only) who are decent people who

want to get on with their lives & do what is best for their family..I dont count many as close

personal friends, which is probably all of our losses...flame away...peace & dignity for all

 

wishes i have, for children that i dont wish to have..(intentional non-sequitar)

[Pom_Jao_Choo]

I am likely speaking out of my ass but I thought I had heard that the case in the Philipines was that

the numbers of Muslims do actually outweigh the Catholics. But the catholics hold the positions of power and wealth.

Another challenge for the Philipines is that not only is the Muslim areas concentrated as in LOS, but they allso dominate the Islands they live on.

Or so I understood.

[franatla]

Keep in mind that Singapore is even more politically stable than Thailand and is also a "crossroads." That did not preclude the conspiracy to bomb US targets.

[franatla]

Philip @80% Catholic, 5% Muslim, although I presume some islands may be majority muslim.

[SUZIBANDIT]

Just pulled this off a quick google search, you decide on the accuracy:

Phillipines Religions

Roman Catholic 83%, Protestant 9%, Muslim 5%, Buddhist and other 3%

 

Thailand Religions

Religions: Buddhism 95%, Muslim 3.8%, Christianity 0.5%, Hinduism 0.1%, other 0.6%

 

Not a great difference in the percentage of Muslims between the two. Why then should we consider Thailand any safer? Just a thought.

[Guest]

>Keep in mind that Singapore is even more politically stable than Thailand and is also a "crossroads." That did not preclude the conspiracy to bomb US targets. <

 

1. singapore is not "crossroads" anymore since it was cleaned up in the sixties. it is one of the least corrupt countries on earth which makes that kind of underground business almost impossible due to very high policing.

 

2. singapore is territorially in within the limits of a muslimdominated part of southeast asia.

 

3. i don't understand why people fall into paranoia because some press reports of "possible attacks", with very unclear sources quoted, eg. "captured al-quaida members", "FBI files" without listing even one of those files, nor having the original quotes of those "captured al-quaida members", nor any original interview with any of them.

until i am given more specific information, i prefer to doubt.

[Guest]

>Not a great difference in the percentage of Muslims between the two. Why then should we consider Thailand any safer? Just a thought. <

 

because there is a huge difference between the state of civil war in some of the muslim dominated parts of the phillippines (and not only them, there are more than a few other insurgencies still very active there) and the waning secessionst problem in the south of thailand, which has deteriorated more into a classic problem of banditry and extortion.

so far, IMO, not much has changed in thailand that it would justify all those "travel warnings" and paranoid threads here on the board.

 

 

[SUZIBANDIT]

I agree with you, there is a huge difference in their levels of organization.

 

I just hope that no one comes along to organize these guys in the south, or else then we could be looking at a situation similar to the Phillipines. At least thats what the relative percentages would point to.

[Guest]

they were once very organised, but some years ago malaysia cut all their support. and i guess, as the situation is right now, life for muslims in thailand is very good, not much discrimination, equal opportunities, not poorer or richer than the rest of the population, etc.

i also guess, that the vast majority of young muslims do enjoy the freedom of the society here so that it will not be easy for fundamentalist hate preachers to recruit a lot of youngsters.

there are large muslim parts here in bangkok too, i see life going on there as it does in any non muslim part of town.

OK, thailand has a lot of social problems, but in large, they are not religiously connected, and the live and let live attitude is still very dominant fortunately. as i know thais, they have an admiringly healthy mistrust of anything fanatic.