The Story Of Abu Nawas

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Some of you would probably have read about Abu Nawas.The Malay version of the story, somehow, differed from the Arabic version which appeared a number of times in the '1001 Arabian Nights'.I read this book when I was about 12 years old.

In Arabic he is called Abu Nuwas, one of the greatest classical Arabic and Persian poet.He openly wrote about things that Islam forbade.The joy of drinking wine and the love for women and young men.Most of his poetry were on homoeroticism.He constantly gets into trouble with the rulers.As recent as January 2001 the Egyptian Ministry of Culture ordered the burning of 6,000 books of his homoerotic poetry.

The two versions of Abu Nawas stories in the Malay language are as below:

• Islam-Indian origin- A book entitled "Hikayat Abu Nawas" published in Singapore in 1917. Pustaka Antara Kuala Lumpur published another book using the same title in 1966 by Wan Shamsuddin.
• Persian-Arabic origin- "Cerita Abu Nawas" published in series in Majalah Seri Pustaka by Balai Pustaka, Jakarta in 1922. Dozens of reprints are produced subsequently.

Abu Nawas is a nickname. Rather, it was Abu Nuwas or "father of lock of hair" given to well known Arab classical poet al-Hasan ibn Hani al-Hakami ( ca. 756-813 ) because of his long hair. Abu Nuwas was indeed witty and humorous, not in solving problems, but in writing poems extolling wine and sexual intercourse with boys. You will find him listed in a number of homosexual references...

Unlike the Malay version Abu Nawas, the original Abu Nuwas was not too good in getting out of trouble. For instance, he went into exile for incurring the wrath of his royal patron Caliph Harun al-Rashid. Harun's successor, al-Amin who favoured Abu Nuwas also had him imprisoned. During the reign of Amin's successor, al-Ma'mun, he was imprisoned again and it is said finally poisoned. Most of Abu Nuwas' legacy of poetries remained untranslated.

"For young boys, the girls I’ve left behind
And for old wine set clear water out of mind.
Far from the straight road, I took without conceit
The winding way of sin, because [this horse]
Has cut the reins without remorse,
And carried away the bridle and the bit."--Abu Nuwas al-Hasan Hani al-Hakami.

That's the (short)story of Abu Nawas, correctly Abu Nuwas.

A Carpetbegger's Woes

Hantu Laut



Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is in the throes of alienation.It happened to most politicians that have no grassroots support and Lim Guan Eng hasn't got any in Penang.He is the classic carpetbegger that won his seat not on his own popularity but that of his party.As the political romance wears out he is now seen as an outsider meddling in the affairs of Penang.

This is just the beginning of more serious things to come.He,not unlike his father, is seen as communalistic, chauvinistic and lack altruism, in another word his self-aggrandisement hampered him from being fair in the administration of the state.

The High Chapparal debacle in Penang was one of his withering ways of doing things.On spur of the moment, he encouraged the villagers to demonstrate and not to budge because he said the problem was created by the previous government.When help was not coming from him the villagers backed by Hindraf turned the table and accused him of not living up to his election promises.

Lim, knowing fully well there was nothing he could do to fulfill his promise to ease the tension, benign neglect the villagers and kept on harping on the faults of BN government to save his own skin. Below are some of the statements he made at the height of the crisis.

"Hindraf Must Wake Up And Realise That Kampung Buah Pala Is Still Standing Today Because The Penang Pakatan Rakyat State Government Had Successfully Prevented Them From Being Evicted In The Middle Of Last Year."

"Koh Tsu Koon Owes The Public A Full Explanation Why He Sold The Kampung Buah Pala At A Cheap Price Of Only RM10 Per Square Feet In 2007 And Without consulting the residents".

"The Penang State Government Should Not Be Unfairly Victimised And Targeted By Hindraf For Helping The Kampung Buah Pala Residents".

"It is BN, Gerakan, MIC, UMNO & MCA that are the main culprits for causing, abandoning and even selling out Kampung Buah Pala residents" he says.

That's how Lim runs the state, taking no responsibility when the chips are down.Blame everyone else except himself.

Penangites will see more of his arrogant ways of administering the state.The Chinese leaders in Penang are waking up to Lim's kind of politics and they are not getting happier by the way he runs their state.The alienation of Lim would intensify.

The villagers, mostly Malaysian Indians, knew the land was given away during BN time.They were not interested in that.They wanted to know what happened to the election promise that made them voted for DAP and other Pakatan's coalition partners in the hope that their problems would be taken care of by the party they voted in as government.They were angry because they felt cheated.Again, the BN particularly UMNO was blamed for the villagers turning against Lim and the state government.

In October 2009 Lim admitted turning down FDI worth US$3 billion because he could not guarantee the investors 1000 engineers they needed to employ.That's Mr Lim Guan Eng for you.Maybe, he should also blame the BN for his incompetence.

Lim rise to the top echelon in DAP was through currying favour and cronyism.DAP is like a personal fiefdom of the Lims.Father,son,wife and daughter-in-law have all been or still is in very powerful positions in the party.Except for Tengku Aziz and few others most Malays see DAP as a chauvinistic Chinese party.

Lim's tenure as Penang's CM is losing its lustre and not only grievances were openly aired by PKR's Bayan Baru MP Zahrain Mohd Hashim and PKR's Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng, even former DAP strongman in Penang Them Weng Fatt claimed Lim sidelined veteran leaders in Penang.

Lim's chief of staff Ooi Chuan Aun dismissed claims of his boss feuding with assemblymen and grassroots leaders here.If four to five people expressed the same dissatisfaction how could these people be wrong and Lim is right.Both Zahrian and Tan have called for Lim's ouster.More hard-hitting is the irascible Zulkifli Nordin, a thorn in Pakatan's neck, calling for DAP to be kicked out of Pakatan Rakyat.

At the moment, Penangites wouldn't be able to get rid of Lim.With DAP strong presence and stranglehold on the state assembly Lim is not likely to lose his job.DAP holds 19 out of 40 seats in the assembly.

With his position highly secured Penangites would have to live with his ways of doing things.

One Racist Malay Doesn't Make All Malay Racist

Hantu Laut

As usual, the oppositions instead of taking it as one man's foibles made it looked like all Malays in UMNO are racists.

The Safar's sword cuts deep into their wounds.It's baseless,unfounded and derogatory.I don't blame the Chinese and Indians negative reaction.Race and religion are subjects that should be handled with care.For thousand of years history has shown the role of race and religion in world's conflicts.

The racist remark by Nasir Safar should not be taken as consensus of opinion among Malays or Najib's administration.They were quick to lay blame on him for political mileage.

Some Malays in UMNO may be openly racist.The racist Malays in Pakatan kept their mouth shut because they knew the score.With the exception of a few, people like Zulkifli Nordin, Zahrain Mohd Hashim and few others, the rest were patient enough to wait for the big windfall, the capture of Putrajaya.

Don't fool yourself that things are going to be much different with Pakatan at the helm.What happened in the 4 states under their watch is a reflection of what's in store for the rakyat when they get to El Dorado.There are just as many sleazy politicians in Pakatan as there are in the BN, if sleaze is the right word to describe them.

DAP's MP Theresa Kok, another communalist with venomous tongue, wanted Najib to apologise for Safar's outrageous racist remark.

Give me one good reason why Najib should apologise for someone else's uncouth remark? Just because the man work for him? She implied Najib wore the same feather and all UMNO members are the same, racist to the core.

Would Theresa Kok apologise to the world if one of her employees raped a girl, or robbed a bank or worst, murdered somebody?

Except for our children we are no body's keeper and are not responsible for their actions.

That speaks volume of the intelligence of some of our elected representatives, don't know how and when to politicise an issue.The right person to apologise is Safar, not Najib nor anyone else.

Nasir Safar was wrong in what he said.He fell off political correctness.One bad apple should not spoil the whole basket.To err is human. I am sure Nasir regretted what he said.He has paid the price by resigning.

Let me remind Theresa Kok one racist Malay doesn't make all Malay racists.

Biological Facts My Foot! Who Is Dennis Madden?

Hantu Laut

I couldn't believe my eyes when I read the article below published in Malaysiakini.

Contamination a major problem with DNA samples

I refer to the Malaysiakini report Prosecutor: We have semen specimens.

To help the average Malaysian understand what will be going on in the second Anwar Ibrahim sodomy trial, I offer the following biological facts:

1. Contamination is the major problem associated with the collection of DNA samples for analysis.

2. The rectal environment is quite antagonistic to material such as semen.

The bacteria and fermentation process that normally occur in the presence of a high-protein soluble substance like semen would be lead to its rapid breakdown.

Especially so when the samples were collected the following day

3. There would be major DNA contamination from the host and from food waste in the rectum.

Plus the possibility that any DNA present would be partly or wholly broken down.

4. The rectum is quite efficient at rapidly rejecting foreign materials

5. Any intelligent man who was married to a doctor would be aware of the HIV risk from casual sex encounters and would be wearing a condom

So what's this about a 'semen sample'?

Anyone with enough common sense would immediately know the true motive of such erroneous and misleading article. A crude attempt to deceive uninitiated Malaysians into believing that Anwar was framed and incapable of committing such offence by presenting so called expert opinion.No background information of Mr Madden was given on his simplistic opinion.

A check on the Internet for Dennis Madden has produced other names but none on DNA expert with such name.

If Mr Madden is truly a DNA expert, surely, through his extensive work in DNA samplings or other DNA related works his name would have appeared on the Internet in his chosen field of work.

Assuming Mr Madden is a DNA expert than he must be a rookie because his pathetic attempt of presenting an expert opinion falls on the wayside.

It is true contamination is a major problem in any forensic work but with latest technological advancement in forensic science and medicine it is not impossible to analyse and separate DNA samples from other contaminants.

Just like in heterosexual intercourse the rectal environment is not against accepting semen or hostile to it if you are gay and practised anal sex.Not as what Mr Madden perceived would be the case in all cases.

The most laughable of Mr Madden's expert opinion is when he says "Any intelligent man who was married to a doctor would be aware of the HIV risk from casual sex encounters and would be wearing a condom"

"So what's this about a 'semen sample"?

What has risky behaviour got to do with your level of education or the kind of spouse you have?

Mr Madden may not know that today DNA can be manufactured in a laboratory and used to falsify DNA evidence but such technology which was first discovered in Israel has not been used elsewhere.They have also developed new test to differentiate real from fake DNA.So, fake DNA goes out of the window, it can be detected.

Malaysiakini, didn't bother to give Mr Madden's background for reason best known to themselves.

Biological facts, my foot! Who are you trying to fool?