Split from '40 deaths in right wing terrorist attack' thread
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tuco wrote:It makes no sense to you. It makes sense to me. Are you asking me to explain it to you? The answer is negative, because I dont care if it makes no sense to you and will not invest time and energy to do so.
At first glance you could be in Singapore. The roads are smooth and well maintained, the city carefully landscaped with plenty of trees and space for pedestrians.
Bandar Seri Bagawan - the capital city of Brunei - is safe, orderly and very quiet.
It is the conspicuous domes of the mosques, some dazzlingly gilded, the large signs in Arabic script and the prominent pictures showing the bearded figure of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah that tell you this is Brunei.
The country is one of the few absolute monarchies left in the world. The sultan has complete executive power, unconstrained by politicians or parliament.
He is concurrently Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Defence Minister, Finance Minister and the head of Islam in Brunei. His word is law.
Since independence the sultan has pushed Brunei towards an ever-stricter observance of Islamic precepts.
Dominik Mueller is an expert on Islam in South East Asia at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany, and one of the very few academics to have studied Brunei closely.
"The sultan has increasingly turned to religion over the past three decades, especially since his first pilgrimage to Mecca in 1987. He has repeatedly stressed the obligation from Allah to introduce the Sharia penal code, and the blessings this would bring, in this world and the afterlife," he told the BBC.
"This mirrors the State Mufti's narrative. The influence of the Islamic bureaucracy cannot be overstated. Its leaders have long told the monarch and the public that Brunei must completely enforce God's law, as they interpret it."
Mr Mueller added that while the sultan "may have become personally convinced by this, he may also see the political need to ensure the continued support of the Islamic establishment, while heading off potential Islamic opposition that might question the monarchy's legitimacy."
Brunei has allowed no opposition and almost no independent civil society to exist since independence. It is still ruled under a state of emergency declared in 1962, which tightly restricts freedom of assembly and expression.
Media cannot report freely and those deemed to have infringed official limits can be shut down, as happened to the Brunei Times in 2016. There are several laws, notably the sweeping Sedition Law, which can be used against government critics.
That makes it difficult for visiting journalists. People are naturally hospitable and helpful. But we were unable to persuade anyone to speak on the record about the new Sharia penal code.
Brunei has backtracked on enforcing laws introduced last month that would have made sex between men and adultery punishable by stoning to death.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah on Sunday extended a moratorium on the death penalty to cover the new legislation.
The rethink follows global outcry over the laws, including boycotts and celebrity protests.
While still on the statute books for some crimes, no executions have been carried out in Brunei since 1957.
.. did anyone doubt the Sultan of Brunei's Islamic credentials?
.. why is it commonly used?
tuco wrote:
I believe both were answered in satisfactory manners, in a manner that would hopefully make sense, to you and quas. Though I have my doubts about quas. I mean, asking .. why is it commonly used? .. followed by .. it makes no sense .. is nonsensical. And if not, well, I am afraid I can't help anymore.
tuco wrote:It makes no sense to you. It makes sense to me. Are you asking me to explain it to you? The answer is negative, because I dont care if it makes no sense to you and will not invest time and energy to do so.
Thommo wrote:On the other hand I'm willing to accept that Harris might be kind of a dick, although, cards on the table I'm already pretty sure Mehdi Hasan is kind of a dick.
tuco wrote:Does it bother you it makes sense to me?
tuco wrote:I have abnormal IQ, that is how I was born
Spearthrower wrote:Analysts say he is seeking to burnish his Islamic credentials...
It's a strange idea - did anyone doubt the Sultan of Brunei's Islamic credentials?
tuco wrote:Well, it was not forged in convos with you that is for sure![]()
tuco wrote:I dont know what your problem is, it does not make sense to me.
tuco wrote:Spearthrower wrote:Analysts say he is seeking to burnish his Islamic credentials...
It's a strange idea - did anyone doubt the Sultan of Brunei's Islamic credentials?
What you are saying here? That the analysts, like Mr Mueller, have strange ideas about Brunei, the sultan respectively, or that what they say does not make sense to you?
tuco wrote: I hope, it's not the former because .. lol.
tuco wrote: And if its the latter, I explained or rather Mr Mueller explained it for me. I could type the same when you first engaged me on this, because that is what I've hear from a local scholar on the radio but why should I bother? Only to engage in a pointless sentence by sentence discourse with you? To satisfy you? Where there is a good chance that at the end you would say some bullshit dismissing my explanation, my efforts.
tuco wrote:I don't really know but the short answer would probably be because the sultan wants it. Why he wants it we can only speculate about.
Analysts say he is seeking to burnish his Islamic credentials and shore up support among the country’s conservatives due to the waning fortunes of the oil-dependent economy, which has been ravaged by recession in recent years.
dismissing Quas condescendingly
tuco wrote:lol
tuco wrote:No, and again.
tuco wrote:What you saying is that it doesn't make any sense TO YOU that the Sultan of Brunei needs to burnish his Islamic credentials, because it obviously makes sense to the analysts:
tuco wrote:Analysts say he is seeking to burnish his Islamic credentials and shore up support among the country’s conservatives due to the waning fortunes of the oil-dependent economy, which has been ravaged by recession in recent years.
Does it make sense to you now? Because it makes sense to me, just like then.
tuco wrote:It makes no sense to you. It makes sense to me. Are you asking me to explain it to you? The answer is negative, because I dont care if it makes no sense to you and will not invest time and energy to do so.
tuco wrote:... would hopefully make sense, to you and quas. Though I have my doubts about quas.
tuco wrote:While quas's ideas do not take much effort to dismiss,...
tuco wrote:Either way, back to status quo because jesus .. I regret I bothered to explain.
Animavore wrote:[wrong thread]
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