There was uproar and anger when extremists sparked the IED. There was unrest on the streets when Evan Naseem was discovered. I wonder what will happen when the one book that children have been literally feeding on (and parents have been providing with such glee), Harry Potter, has a gay Dumbledore.

Here's what will happen. One half of the parents will simply not know this fact whilst the other half will just continue to support JKR's dictation of the behavior of the modern child. Even the most idiotic knows not to entrust the minds of children unto the hands of one person so completely. Now, children trust JKR so profusely that even the most indomitable of faiths can be broken with simple words. I have nothing against gays but I would prefer my children (if I had any) to grow up faithful to the tenets of Islam. What about you?

Ref: http://www.newsweek.com/id/50787

After the recent Himandhoo debacle, the latest perturbations are over the lack of an effort to 'negotiate' with the Islamic fundamentalists (two separate links for two mutually exclusive notions). The vocal outbursts around the tables brimming with coffee cups in the various cafes of Male' are of concerns towards the captured fundamentalists.

The resounding conclusions to most of this bravado constituted the blaming of Maldives Police for allowing the situation to escalate: that with cleverer psychological tactics the standoff could have been settled without conflict. My personal wonderment is that perhaps for Maldivians the glass is always half empty: since Evan Naseem we have come a long way if the police can defuse situations without fatalities (I do not have other statistics into the extent of injuries at Himandhoo).

Here is what I think of this outcry of injustice: bull! What is truly unjust? Government offices employ fundamentalists donning any ragged attire with wiry, unkempt beards and the most repugnant odor without question or protest for fear that any of the latter could invoke the wrath of God. What is blatantly unfair is that the management of these same offices will not even falter in their breath when firing non-radicals for the lack of conformity to 'dress codes.'

The fear of God is not just confined to Government officials. Many a private-sector business employs radicals who are privileged to look haggard while their fellow colleagues are forced to be neat and presentable. All managers suffering this apprehension of fundamentalist beliefs are oftentimes bedazzled by the simplest corruptions of true Islamic lore. Unfortunately, the Constitution or Law of Maldives do not provide sanctuary from the fundamentalist threat.

Is the Constitution or Law of Maldives to blame? If management can lay off workers based on their attire the same rule should apply to radicals, not? After all, this is not discriminating against religion or sectarianism. It is simply a matter of presentable attires at work. This is the true 'root cause' for the empowerment of this extremist subgroup of our society. We helped build it by nurturing a separate set of rules for the radicals.

As echoed by 'Adam', this is not a matter of the ineffectualness of a religion but the people who practice it: us, for not having empowered ourselves with the knowledge to swat out fundamentalism and failing to act whilst those radicals exploited the teachings of Islam to meet their own malevolent ends.