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Serbia: Vojislav Seselj on Hunger Strike

Ljubisa Bojic · 17:55

As the parliamentary poll comes closer Vojislav Seselj's hunger strike makes good publicity for the Serbian Radical Party. He is accused of committing crimes against humanity as the leader of a paramilitary force during the civil war in Bosnia & Herzegovina. After all, most of the charges relate to verbal delicti when he influenced the mases to join the war as he allegedly held many hateful speeches during the conflict. Four years have passed since he went to the international court for war crimes in the Hague until the start of the trial. Now, Seselj pleas for basic human rights like normal jail visits of his family members and the right to defend himself in court.

In a post titled “Seselj: A Hero Without a Sandwich,” Queeria describes his “sympathy” for this political leader (SRP):

[…] Hero and victim, son and father of the nation, a strongman, [both] Gandhi and Mandela…they call Seselj this way. Thousands of people came to support [the idea] at the rally [in front of the American Embassy in Belgrade last week]. They gathered once again in support of the Serbian victim. Of course, during recent wars and regimes, there were thousands of Serbian victims. […]

I get confused when seeing [poor working-class people] demonstrating in support of Seselj policies. Those very same policies brought them to the edge of social disaster. […]

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Voices from Central Asia

Ben Paarmann · 16:07

Anara - by teokaye

Anara is one of the ‘youth at risk' that took part in the weekend trip. Instead of going to school, she supports her family by collecting plastic bags at Dordoi bazaar, a massive clothing market made up of thousands of containers.

Kyrgyz-US relations
The killing of an ethnic Russian driver by an American soldier is likely to put a strain on Kyrgyz-US relations, says Tolkun at neweurasia. Kyrgyz Report also comments on the story and thinks that the Bakiyev administration might use the incident to put pressure on the US to tone down its criticism towards the Kyrgyz government. This piece of news comes at a time when Kyrygz politicians voice their disillusion with “US-style democracy”. However, as Nathan reports, there is not a lot in Kyrgyzstan's political systems resembling the US form of government. Readers also offer their two cents.

Kazakhstan: back to business
With the Borat controversy ebbing from the blogosphere, it seems to be time to talk about the important things again. The decision over Kazakhstan's 2009 chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has been postponed by the foreign ministers of the 56 member states for one year. Several bloggers offer their comments: KZBlog is skeptical that Kazakhstan should be automatically given the chairmanship so that hard-liners loose part of their influence. After all, real change is already under way and unstoppable, even without the merely prestigious post. Nathan of The Registan wrote a great background post on the politics of the chairmanship and notes that Kazakhstan might actually withdraw its bid in case chances become too slim. On neweurasia, Adam Kesher provides coverage in Russian, saying that postponing the decision by one year means that the OSCE expects real reforms to happen now. (more…)

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What the Saudis are Talking About

Fahad Albutairi · 11:30

So far, the topic of “woman driving” has resurfaced, a rape case sentencing made headlines, women doctors were asked to leave a lecture hall while men doctors were allowed to stay, and bearded men raided a stage. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

On the case of woman driving, Ahmed (a.k.a. Saudi Jeans) says that “when asked about issues such as women's driving and providing more entertainment outlets for youth, some decision makers here [in Saudi Arabia] say: this is not a priority for us in the present time,” and thinks “that some officials use prioritization as an excuse to ignore, avoid, or delay taking decisions.” A recent survey has shown that 50% of females do own cars, but they can't drive them.

In recent news, a rape case in Qatif, Saudi Arabia, has triggered a debate about Saudi Arabia's legal system. In a post that talks about the sentencing in the case, OT said that he “cannot see how this could be religiously correct!” In another post, Aya thinks that “punishing the victim is a specialty of Saudi courts” and went as far as calling the Saudi legal system “a rapists' best friend.” Riyadhawi has also addressed the matter in an Arabic entry.

Moving to another topic, a group of women doctors, attending a medical conference in Riyadh were asked to leave the lecture hall since a male speaker — Dr. Yousef Al-Ahmed, PhD on the teaching staff at King Saud University — refused to address a group consisting of both men and women. Eventually, they did leave. Ahmed disagrees, in a post, with those who say that “the female attendees are to blame for leaving to the request of the organizers, who are the only to be blamed for this ridiculous incident.” Aya said that the case reminded her “of the struggle for civil rights in America.”
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Indonesia: Polygamous Holy Man and MP's Sex Scandal

A. Fatih Syuhud · 07:10

lingua → zht · zhs

There is nothing more ovelwheming than the conversations among Indonesian blogosphere these past few weeks. The talk involves two occurences that looks similar but are actually unrelated - Aa Gym's second wife and an Indonesian MP of Golkar party's sex scandal.

First off, for non-Indonesian, here's an intro by TIME magazine about Aa Gym dubbed by as “Indonesia's hottest Muslim preaches a slick mix of piety and prosperity.

So, the hottest Holy Man is now living with two wives. And that sparked the controversy among the Indonesian blogosphere as to the propriety of such an act. Having more than one wife is permitted in Islam but it's highly discouraged. It's only permitted when (1) you can do justice to them (wives) and/or (2) to avoid extramarital relationship (zina, in Islamic term) which is one of major sins in Islam.

That said, ordinary Muslims think that a respected Muslim preacher of his stature with millions of followers should take a high standard example to his followers more than anyone else, including in this case, to avoid having two wives.

Ridho Putradi, quoting a verse from the Quran which is often used by pro-polygamous husband, says that “for whatever reasons I dont agree with polygamous life.” There are 49 comments (and counting) in his post on Aa Gym's polygamy most of which fully support his opinion with various reasons. Similar opinions are posted by many bloggers including Rohprimardho, Tata Danamihardja, Morning Dew, Ida Abidin, Agus Setiawan, Rani, and many more.

Muhammad Solihuddin, however, has no problem with it and wish Aa Gym a good luck and happily ever after with both of them.
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