Thai Islamists Strike Again

The Thai Islamists have struck again, wounding 27 in a series of bombings.

Suspected Muslim insurgents set off five bombs early Monday in a Thai-Malaysian border tourist town, wounding 27 people, many of them New Year's revelers, an army spokesman said.

The bombs exploded in the hotel and nightlife area of Sungai Kolok, including two inside a hotel discotheque and one hidden in the carrying basket of a motorcycle outside a hotel, said spokesman Col. Akara Thiprote.

"Sungai Kolok is a tourist town and people were here to celebrate the New Year. I think this is why they targeted the town," Akara said.

Sungai Kolok in Narathiwat province attracts many tourists from neighboring Malaysia and has been attacked several times in recent years. One of the 27 wounded may have been a Malaysian, Akara said.

The Thai Islamists have been assisted by Malaysian Islamists, as many of the attacks have been in the border region.

Religious Intolerance In Malaysia

A Catholic weekly newspaper in Malaysia has been told to drop the use of the word "Allah" in its Malay language section if it wants to renew its publishing permit, a senior government official said Friday.

The Herald, the organ of Malaysia's Catholic Church, has translated the word God as "Allah" but it is erroneous because Allah refers to the Muslim God, said Che Din Yusoff, a senior official at the Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit.

"Christians cannot use the word Allah. It is only applicable to Muslims. Allah is only for the Muslim god. This is a design to confuse the Muslim people," Che Din told The Associated Press.

The weekly should instead, use the word "Tuhan" which is the general term for God, he said.

Religious issues are extremely sensitive in Malaysia, where about 60 percent of the 27 million people are Malay Muslims. Ethnic Chinese, who follow Christianity and Buddhism, account for 25 percent of the population. Indians, who are mostly Hindus with a sprinkling of Christians and Muslims, are around 10 percent.

This is what happens when Islamists come to dominate countries that have a diverse religious background. Islamists will seek to curb non-Muslims' rights to free speech, and when they don't get their way, the Islamists will whine, seethe, and riot.

Expect this paper to conform, if only to protect it from being attacked and ransacked.

Where are the calls by human rights groups and free speech advocates protesting the Malaysian government's threats to withhold publishing licenses because the Christian paper seeks to refer to Allah.

Movie Madness: Those Crazy Islamists

Malaysian Islamists are calling for a banning of the movie Evan Almighty. I kid you not. This middling movie, starring Morgan Freeman as God and Steve Carell as Evan, has been all but ignored with a paltry box office, and these Islamists want to ban the movie?

Here's the thing. It's not the first movie to portray God on screen. Heck, it's not even the first movie with Morgan Freeman as God. That would be Bruce Almighty, starring Jim Carey. It was a much better movie to boot.

Or maybe you prefer George Burns as God - in three different movies?

There's a god portrayed in the movies in so many different manners that it's just easier to link you to a search of the Internet Movie Database.

What bothers these Islamists is that they don't want anyone to portray God at all. They want to send a message with this movie, claiming that it is an insult to Islam because there's a comedic element to the Great Flood during the time of Noah. Did these folks ever hear Bill Cosby's Noah routine? That's one of the funniest bits you'll ever find, and Cosby voices the roles of both Noah and God.

They're iconoclasts and are more than willing to destroy images of god. They do not tolerate the views of anyone else on the matter, and that amounts to a suppression of free speech, which is an intolerable situation. If they dislike the movie so, then don't go see it. If the Malaysian government succumbs to the pressure and bans the movie, it is yet another assault on free speech and lets the Islamists know that they can get away with even more going forward.

With that in mind, here's the Simpson's take on Noah and the flood:

Another Day in Paradise

The Palestinians continue to try and kill Israelis, and when the Israelis stop the terrorists in their tracks, the Palestinians threaten yet more violence.

Yet, the media will simply report this as Israelis killing Palestinians without noting the fact that the Palestinian terrorist groups have not stopped trying to kill Israelis despite their so-called ceasefire.

The Israelis aren't alone in trying to stop the terrorists. Egypt just foiled a terror plot in Sinai. Hizbullah continues to rebuild its military capabilities right under the nose of UNIFIL. Lebanese forces fired on an Israeli UAV, but will take no action against Hizbullah rearming in violation of UN SCR 1701.

Meanwhile, the violence in Thailand continues to grow and spread. Attacks continue throughout the southern part of the country, including destroying a rubber factory:

SUSPECTED Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand yesterday set fire to a large warehouse for rubber - a cornerstone of the region's economy - with firefighters unable to control the raging blaze for hours.

Meanwhile, violence continued in the area, with police reporting three fatal shootings yesterday and on Tuesday.

Smoke blanketed large areas of Yala Province as more than 30 fire trucks struggled to douse the flames, said police spokesman Phumphet Pipatpetphum.

The fire followed a bold, coordinated separatist rebel assault that killed eight people and wounded nearly 70 on Sunday and Monday.

What does the attacks in Thailand have to do with those in the Middle East? Nothing except the nature of the perpetrators - they are Islamists dedicated to wiping out the Western influences and all those who oppose the Islamist vision. Indeed, there are reports that link Malaysia to the Thai attacks. Malaysia has a large Muslim population and it would seem that the Islamists are fighting common cause against the non-Muslims in the region.

Forensic experts investigating a co-ordinated series of bombings in Thailand at the weekend say the devices contained explosives from neighbouring Malaysia.

Police say chemical tests on defused bombs showed they contained an explosive compound sold in Malaysia under the name Emulex.

Police officials say 90 sticks of the same explosive were found in a rubber plantation in Thailand's Narathiwat province last year.

AFP reports that if a Malaysian link to the bombings is confirmed, it may encourage Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur to cooperate in resolving southern Thailand's separatist insurgency.