An Iranian International Student

Today, I would really like to share my experience of meeting an Iranian lady who is also an International Student in my University, MMU. She is a very nice young lady with a very open mind. I really enjoyed talking to her on various matters because of her open views

First of all, I'd like to stress the fact that she's an Iranian. Iran is a Muslim country. Therefore, she MUST be a Muslim. Her country does not allow renunciation of the religion and this is a matter of the nation's choice. I do not have any problems with that. However, what fascinates me the most is the fact that she's really open to other religion. Despite being a Muslim, I really enjoyed her company because she is very receptive of other people from another religion. This really awes me since usually circumstances change when people mention about religion

Secondly, what amazes me is of course the fact that she really reads a lot about other matters. She claims that she reads about Christianity (which I'm not in a position to judge her knowledge) but she really knows a little bit about Buddhism. All this is despite the fact that she's only been exposed to Buddhism for a very short period of time. She even knows about metaphysics which truly fascinates me because I didn't think that many people would know about this matter which is very heavily related to scientific knowledge

Having said that, it really puts the average Malaysian to shame. In terms of Constitution, I strongly believe that the Malaysian Constitution is more liberal compared to that of the Iranian Constitution. However, to see such lowly mentality from Malaysians (especially in the recent cow-head protest in Shah Alam) really brought down the reputation of Malaysia. For Malaysia to boast so much about racial and religious tolerance but not implement it is only mere lip service to the rakyats. It has been 52 years after Malaysia has attained Independence. It saddens me to see that 52 years of physical development was only followed through with 25 years of mental development.

Come to think of it, I wonder how long will it take for Malaysians to be such a racially and religiously tolerant nation? Realistically at the present rate that Malaysia is progressing, I guess I'll be lucky to be able to see a racially and religiously tolerant Malaysia before I die. Hope I won't die prematurely of course =P