Marta's first business trip recently took her to Singapore for a few days. Of course, it's a completely controlled society where the locals have exchanged a large chunk of democratic rights and press freedom for economic prosperity. The rulers allow opposition, but the one opposing party and its voters are continuously hassled. They don't even bother to have elections in the many districts where they do not have a candidate, and the chairman is currently bankrupt and being sued for defamation of the leaders - basically he said the things that every politician says during campaign, but in Singapore that amounts to treason as criticism is illegal.
So nearly everybody has a job and can feed his belly full every evening, as long as you vote for the same people every few years... sounds a lot like pre-1989 Poland except for the free travel bit. But the Singaporeans have found a way to prevent rats (punish people who don't clean up their mess) so Marta loves the place :) Her photos are included here - a small city centre with skyscrapers and some colonial buildings, and suburbs stretching across the island. I'll be there next month when I join in on Marta's next trip so I'll see how it is then.
One fine Saturday we went to see the National Mosque in KL. A huge concrete building from the 1960s with an ugly minaret but beautiful marble pavilions with slender pillars and a patterned wall allowing the wind through but keeping the sun out. As underdressed tourists we both were given a bulky blue dress to cover our legs and arms. At the entrance of the prayer hall there was an information desk where volunteers helped infidels like us understand what we're seeing. We had a really interesting talk with the main guide. And I must say, I'm impressed with Islam. It has gotten a lot of bad press ever since the Ottomans conquered much of Europe (Romanians and Serbs and others make a big point of saving Europe from Islam, but I think in many ways the Ottomans had a pretty good regime... but that's another discussion). If you take the time to understand what the religion is all about, it makes a lot of sense. The basic rules of Islam are very simple, and clear. There is only one God - and no clutter of thousands of holy Catholic saints, or tens of thousands of Hindu gods, no sons-sent-to-earth, no original sin, no relic-worshipping (though Islam Sufism has taken to worshipping old prophets like saints). No pictures of Allah either, because even trying to think of what he'd look like is a useless excersise.
The religious rituals have much to do with what was necessary to survive in the desert back in 600 AD (circumcision, no pork, rules for washing carefully, etc). Many things that the Western world believes to be the problem with Islam is purely culturally determined and depends on the country or region. Womens' headscarves are not prescribed in any way - the way women in different Islamic countries dress is purely a matter of tradition, not law. My eternal personal problem with any religion - it can't make people better (though perhaps it can help some). The realisation that I alone am responsible for my own decisions is more help to me than the belief that someone somewhere is steering my fate. When Islam makes the dishonest Muslim taxi drivers in KL (and all the others too) stop ripping off passengers, I'll think about converting. It'd take a miracle.
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