Saturday, February 12, 2011

The Journey Is Just Beginning For Egypt!

History was unfolding in Egypt before our eyes as Egyptians rose to demand freedom from the regime of Hosni Mubarak.
We are all witness to this uprising, this incredible story.
United in wanting Mubarak to step down as President, the people of Egypt unflaggingly kept the momentum for 18 days.
Anger, desperation, frustration and despair were etched in the faces of the people who converged in Tahrir Square, Cairo.
Finally, that moment to rejoice came yesterday. Historic and awe-inspiring it was for people of Egypt when Mubarak announced that he was stepping down.
They wept for joy. They celebrated like never before.

They have overcome.

I salute you!

May the future be yours to shape. May Egypt be better and be the country you want it to be.

But after the euphoria, what next?

For sure, this is just the beginning of the journey, the transition, for Egypt and her people.
Changes/ reforms will take place, no doubt.

As a journalist puts it:

"The questions that floated just beneath the euphoria included: whether the authoritarian regime was indeed over, how a country of weak political institutions and few opposition leaders would organize a transition, and whether Egypt could both transform itself and remain a stable force in the region."

May it all be good news for the people of Egypt. We all pray for your well-being and glory!

(Anyway, one of the many blogs I follow on the Egypt uprising is THIS.)

12 comments:

Mob arak said...

The Arabs are not smart tribes. Thats why they are trapped in their 7th century philosophy/religion.

While the Europeans who they fought the Crusades wars had discarded Catholic Christianity as a load of bull, the Arabs tried to keep to their lifestyles during the crusades!

The European become more humane forgoing colonisation espoused by the Pope and Catholic Missionaries and embraced secularism, the separation of Church and Government.

In the US the bible is banned from the schools as a load of mumbo jumbos of the middle ages. rightly so.

While here the tribes in Borneo are still caught up in the time wrap of Catholicsm encourage by the Governement as relgion for these tribes!

China and Japan both killed the Catholic Missionaries and become successful economic powers.

So that is the real problem of Eqypt. It is not that Mobarak was evil, the people themselves are not smart.

We will see who they choose and whether it will make any difference.

Ijan said...

I hope they will chart the right course for the benefit of the people otherwise there will be just relentless night for the ordinary Egyptian.

Anonymous said...

Can't help to see the parallel here. Leaders amassing wealth, corruption, double standard in law enforcements, unethical mass media spinning stories for political masters etc. Except we have more: using race to instill fear, excessive force to crush peaceful demonstrations (but no problem to aggressive and dangerous pro-UMNO ones). Now if Egypt happens here, I wonder if you'll salute them too. Or will you sound like Mubarak's newspaper editors. I think I know the answer.

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Ijan,

that's my hope too. I have lots of Egyptian friends, including journalists, bloggers and social activists.

My son Adel, is named after a journalist I met when i was covering the OIC in Amman, jordan, way back in 1987 (i think).

Egypt is a fascinating country. Too bad that it was not well taken care of.

I salute the Egyptians...I hope that the new Egypt will be a better one!

Anonymous said...

i follow you on twitter, kak ena.

you don't think there's a parallel bt egypt and malaysia?

Eric Mudasi said...

Or they could revert to status quo.
For the month of February:

2011.02.10 (Kuru, Nigeria) - A 4-year-old is one of five Christian villagers hacked and shot to death by Islamic raiders.

2011.02.10 (Pattani, Thailand) - Two women are among three Buddhist civilians viciously murdered and then burned by Muslim extremists.

2011.02.10 (North Waziristan, Pakistan) - Sunni hardliners kidnap and execute three people, then throw the bodies into a sack.

2011.02.10 (Kunduz, Afghanistan) - Seven people lose their lives to a Shahid suicide bomber.

2011.02.10 (Mardan, Pakistan) - A teenage suicide bomber dressed as a schoolboy 'gives his life to Islam' - and takes thirty-one others with him.

2011.02.10 (Dujail, Iraq) - Nine Shia pilgrims on foot, mostly women and children, are brutally blown to bits by Sunni car bombers

2011.02.06 Pakistan Nut Kallan
1 Killed 0 Injured
A young Christian is tortured to death by several Muslims.

2011.02.06 Philippines Kabacan
6 Killed 6 Injured
A 4-year-old boy is among six civilians killed in the crossfire when rival Religion of Peace groups shoot at each other.

2011.02.06 Pakistan Quetta
1 Killed 0 Injured
Muslim radicals are suspected in the shooting death of a Hindu man.

2011.02.06 Indonesia Banten
3 Killed 6 Injured
Three members of the Ahmadiyah minority sect are dragged out of their homes and beaten to death by a Sunni mob chanting ‘Allah Akbar’.

2011.02.05 Iraq Balad
2 Killed 3 Injured
Sunni bombers target a Shia shrine, killing two pilgrims.

2011.02.05 Philippines M’lang
2 Killed 0 Injured
Two farmers are shot to death in their field by Moro Islamists.

2011.02.05 Pakistan Khyber
3 Killed 2 Iinjured
Three civilians are ripped to pieces by a car bomb.

2011.02.05 Pakistan Karak
4 Killed 0 Injured
Four civilians are abducted and shot to death. Notes pinned to their bodies accuse them of being Jewish spies.

2011.02.04 Thailand Yala
2 Killed 0 Injured
Two security personnel are murdered by Muslim bombers.

2011.02.04 Pakistan Karachi
1 Killed 0 Injured
A Shia leader dies from wounds suffered in a sectarian attack the night before.

2011.02.04 Iraq Tuz Khormato
3 Killed 0 Injured
Two teenage boys are among three Iraqis blown to bits in a targeted bombing.

2011.02.04 Thailand Pattani
1 Killed 2 Injured
Militant Muslims fire into a Buddhist village, killing one.

2011.02.03 Thailand Pattani
5 Killed 2 Injured
Muslim militants spray a group of elderly Buddhists at a market with machine-gun fire, killing five.

2011.02.03 Mauritania Bezoul
1 Killed 0 Injured
A local cop is gunned down by al-Qaeda militants.

2011.02.03 Afghanistan Kunduz
3 Killed 0 Injured
A man and his two young sons are ripped to shreds by Taliban bombers.

2011.02.03 Pakistan Lahore
3 Killed 27 Injured
Islamic militants bomb a rival shrine during food distribution, killing three.

2011.02.03 Iraq Baghdad
6 Killed 24 Injured
Three Mujahid bombings take down six Iraqis.

2011.02.03 Thailand Pattani
1 Killed 0 Injured
Muslim radicals slit the throat of a 49-year-old plantation worker.

2011.02.03 Iraq Ramadi
6 Killed 19 Injured
A Shahid suicide bomber murders six Iraqis.

2011.02.02 Pakistan Peshawar
10 Killed 26 Injured
Women and children are among a dozen innocents slain when Sunnis set off a bomb at a crowded market.

2011.02.02 Somalia Mogadishu
3 Killed 0 Injured
Three civlians are murdered by Muslim roadside bombers.

2011.02.02 Pakistan Anargi
3 Killed 4 Injured
Three local security forces are killed in a Tehreek-e-Taliban attack on their post.

2011.01.31 Bangladesh Shariatpur 14-year-old girl is lashed to death on the orders of a Sharia council. Her”crime” having been raped by a 40 yr old married

Eric Mudasi said...

Here we go ...AGAIN ..

Cyber chatting against Islam, says Malaysian preacher

Preacher and motivational speaker Mohammed Zawawi Yusoh told Harian Metro newspaper that people who engage in chats even on cyberspace were “vulnerable to temptation”.??It is akin to committing ‘khalwat’ (close proximity), which is an offence under the Islamic jurisprudence.??Khalwat and other offences under the Islamic law are enforced on the majority population with the help of vigilantes from religious affairs department. Malaysia is an Islamic nation.??They carry out raids, either on their own or on a tip off from family members of the likely offenders or from members of public.

Eric Mudasi said...

Indonesia’s president said violent, hard-line groups should be disbanded after mobs set churches on fire and killed three members of a minority Islamic sect.
The attacks raised concerns about escalating religious intolerance in the secular nation that has more than 220 million Muslims, most of whom are moderate.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – who relies heavily on Islamic parties in parliament and rarely criticises hard-liners – did not identify any group by name.

But he said such violence “was against the law” and groups involved “should be disbanded”.

On Sunday, 1,500 hard-liners attacked Ahmadiyah sect members with sticks and machetes, killing three men.

On Tuesday, a mob set two churches ablaze to protest against a Christian’s blasphemy sentence as too lenient.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/islamic-protesters-burn-churches-15077208.html?r=RSS#ixzz1DRVqJDGR

Anonymous said...

Mob arak,

I hope you're not a Muslim. If you're, then what a pitty. If I understand you correctly (thru yr not very smooth English) you're trying to say that (1) Egypt is facing lots of problems coz the Egyptians embrace Islam and (2) the Quraan be banned from schools if Egyptians want to achieve progress.

frm: masyaAllah

the witch's broo said...

SOme idiotic Malaysians are saying that this can happen in Malaysia because our country's leaders are so corrupt and people are so unhappy etc.

oh..check out the (Malaysia's) billionaires' list.

the only people who are unhappy are the people who are not running the country and who want to topple the government of the day.

how stupid they are to think that we need an uprising, a revolution.
no..how irresponsible.

if the opposition leaders are promoting this idea, then they all ought to be SHOT (figuratively, of course).

How dare they!

havenit they won five states in the 2008 general election? (of course, they then lost perak)

we have elections, people. or have you forgoteen that?

there is no shangri-la...no utopia.. but we all make the best of whatever we have.
all of us.

Wanting the best for our country is not the exclusive objective of the opposition. So sick of their tirade!

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

Ijan: You know, bringing down the government is really the easiest part. The next phase is the toughest -- who will now rule Egypt? Some say anyone better than Mubarak is good. I don't think that is true.
You are right. I hope the course charted for a new Egypt will be the right one...

NURAINA A SAMAD said...

witch,

i hear you. Nobody should want an uprising in the country. For whose good will tht be?