Appropriation - Ayam Hitam Terbang Malam.

" Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ".

When you  dress, behave, and talk  like your favourite celebrity or your  hero or role model - then that imitation is regarded as flattery.

It is fascinating to discover so many other words that are synonymous with 'imitate'   and which provide so many different shades of meaning and interpretation.  This list is by no means comprehensive but here they are: words like copy, use, adopt, adapt, fit, employ, duplicate, reproduce, take, convert,  pilfer, purloin, filch, plagiarize and appropriate.

You may notice how towards the end of the list the words begin to mean more and more negative and unpleasant.

For instance;  this one of Madonna in Burqa cannot be designated as imitation-cum-flattery, it's just an ageing rock star desperately seeking attention and publicity.  Mama mia!  She did quite a lot of cultural appropriation in her younger days to boost her career , so you can't expect better of her.

From The Independent, 25 June 2014.

If there are are Muslim hotheads - young and old - seeing this out there, please do not start a je ne suis pas Madonna!

There are also other 'desperately-seeking-attention' pop stars like Beyonce.

Beyonce - Daily Mail 14 Nov.

Okay, no more flippancy!

Dr Wafa Sultan, another ex-Muslim female darling of the Islamophobes (See Comments page of my previous posting   'Pointed Views'),  describes herself as a  'Muslim' even though she said she does not follow and practise the teachings of Islam.  I was quite confused.  It's like claiming to be a vegetarian while still consuming meat!

I found her rationale when I was sorting out my files last night.



1.  From "Doors into Christianity / Christianity Today"  :

Here are a couple of pertinent extracts from the above.

Here I reckon,  is where ex-Muslim islamophobes find their ploy to  abuse and confuse   Islam's Muslims by claiming they are 'Muslims' as well.

The above is not imitation or adapting.  It is simply purloining and filching - another appropriation, like Madonna.

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There's the proverb - ' a rose by any other name smells just as sweet'.   The rose  is named rosa (Italian),  roos (Dutch), ruzica (Slovak),  gulaab (Hindi), bunga mawar (Indonesian and Malay), warda (Arabic) whakatika (Maori)  -  just to name a few.  Consider this; would an Italian desire to substitute the name of his rosa to bunga mawar, or would Hindi speakers pick warda instead of gulaab?

In the same vein, the word God and Allah are both as fragrant and sacred whatever name one chooses.  In the case of East Malaysia (where the conversion to Christianity was a more widespread, and rather different, process to that in Peninsular Malaysia),  'Allah'  has been used in their Bibles right from the start.  As for Peninsular Malaysia (where Christians make up just 3% of the population) the word 'God'  was the choice word in the Bible like in all  European countries.  'Allah'  is the word for Muslims in Southeast Asia and for all 1.6 billion Muslims in the world.   In the same vein, please note, the word 'Muslims' refer only to the adherents of the religion Islam, just as there are specific words to apply to Christians (Christianity), Hindus (Hinduism), Buddhists (Buddhism), Atheists (Atheism), Pagans  (Paganism) and Agnostics(Agnosticism) and even Satanists (Satanism)!

Why are certain Christians in Malaysia so adamant, and so evangelical in wanting to take the word for the Supreme Being in the Quran to be used in the Bible?  This may provide the key.

Extract from "Doors into Christianity"

This is "contextualized"  evangelization.  This is dressing up the wolf to look like sheep. This is conversion and plagiarization - the clearest example of the end justifying the means.

This is from the horse's mouth itself.

The means applied for achieving the ends are "to remove 'westernized ideas of what it means to follow Christ' ", to translate into  'the local language'  and 'adapt' the music as well. 

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2.  

By Joshua Lingel, Jeff Morton and Bill Nikides, eds. i2 Ministries Publications.

Warren Larson's review included this:

Two institutions responsible for translating the Bible for the purpose of conversion are Wycliffe Bible Translators and its sister organisation the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) - a Christian service agency..  Look up SIL's Website and you'll be hard put to find explicit indications of their  commitment to evangelization.  Of course they profess not to be directly involved  in  'building churches' and proselytizing.  But they have other objectives  - even though they claim they  work only to preserve 'ethnolinguistic identity'.  Is there much difference between the arms- manufacturer and the people who utilise their products?

There's just a little hint (note the underlined) to refer to  providing expertise, training or consulting  to  ' ....... or local organizations involved in education, development or Christian service.'

If any one can issue 'Muslim-friendly translations' for saying "Son of God",  SIL and Wycliffe will find the "loophole large enough".   After all, the word 'Allah' is well on the way to being appropriated - with the support of some Muslims and Muslim clerics here and abroad.  They, I'm afraid, have been outmaneuvered and  'contextualised'.

Next on the menu will be Chrislam, non-followers or ex-followers of Islam - converts to Christianity -  who claim to still calling themselves 'Muslims'.  According to their strategy; it  seems that they have the right to do so because  the term  'Muslims'  means 'those who submit to God' .  Consequently the term 'Muslim' would also be subjected to appropriation, away from the believers of Islam!  Hallelujah.

I reckon our Islamic experts, clergy and Islamic academics had better put on their thinking caps and figure out how to protect the  word "Muslim"  for the followers of Islam before the pseudo-'Muslims' start hammering at the gate


This is indeed scary, almost predatory  -   SEPERTI  AYAM  HITAM  TERBANG  MALAM 


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3.  And now for another insight into   'Black Hens Flying in the Night'

All Hijabed and Kopiaked  - and with so many places to go !!!!  They managed to beat Madonna in this charade.  And oh my gosh!  Even the  'tikar' on the floor looked like they had just finished a 'kenduri' and 'baca doa selamat'.  Bravo, bravo!

Could you guess that the picture above is not of a group of Muslim ladies and gentlemen in Bangkok?  They are  'contextually'  dressed in Muslim garb but they are Thai pastors, leaders, Bible college students and professionals taking part in a Kairos Course in 2006.

One Thai pastor was so pleased and said,  "We praise God that he has opened our eyes through this course.  We have been receiving many missionaries in Thailand but we have failed to see our part in bringing the gospel to the nations.  It is time we stop making excuses and do our part."  ( Maybe their outfit will play a large part in their missionizing.)

The report further added, " The team in Thailand aims to continue mobilizing the Thai church for missions, i.e. to reach the least-reached people groups within Thailand and beyond."

For all you know, by now, they are already hard at work in  the predominantly Muslim Provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Satun - where some of the "least-reached people groups" are located.  Dressed like this they would be welcomed with open arms.  Throw in a couple of 'orang putih' in kopiak and hijab, the 'least-reached peoples' would be ecstatic!

Read : http://www.wouk.org/2006/10/catching_up_with_chismons.php


Turun ka-sawah memakai tudong,
Padi di-huma layu lengkesa;
Sa-ekor sawa (1)  sa-ekor tedung,
Bersama2 mengadu bisa.

(1) Ular sawa tidak berbisa; senjata-nya kuat membelot dan mencherut sahaja.

The above pantun is taken from "Kalong Bunga"  Buku 1 - di-pileh dan di-susun oleh Z'ABA, DBP 1964.


That ends my case of serial pilfering, purloining, filching, deceiving, plagiarising and appropriation in our neck of the woods,  conducted by evangelists from the world's largest and most powerful  religion.