Gregory Morrow wrote:

Despite the nice facade you saw the fact that it is a mainly Islamic country
should be a red flag to you. What is the legal status of the women you saw,
their station in life?

Excellent - women are well integrated in society and most of them have a
job.

Did you see any Jews?

There are no Jews in Malaysia. Jews never migrated there (in any case
not in significant numbers).

Do gays have a place in Malaysian society?

No. Is this a problem for you ?

Places like Dubai and Kuala Lumpur might put on a very
tempting face but anyone who values human rights surely would not choose to
live there permanently, especially if you are, say, a woman or Jewish or
homosexual. Frankly I would not dig being treated like chattel or a pariah
or being jailed or worse for my sexual orientation.

It's like visiting Berlin during the 1936 Olympics and saying "Wow! These
Germans have got a good thing going! They are friendly and nice and so
well - organised...Berlin is really beautiful and modern and we really did
not see any of that overt anti - semitism or anything political like
that..must just be rumours!.".

Oh my god - have you ever been to Malaysia ?

"When Abdullah Badawi took over from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in
October 2003, Malaysia's first change in leadership in more than two
decades, he sounded themes of democracy, good governance, and human rights
in his inauguration speech. The new administration, however, has yet to take
significant steps toward dismantling Malaysia's legal framework of
repression. Prominent human rights concerns in Malaysia include arbitrary
detention of alleged militants under the Internal Security Act (ISA); severe
restrictions on media freedom; constraints on judicial independence; and
abuses against refugees and migrants.

Actually Badawi just freed Anwar.

snip

Malaysian women who are married to non-Malaysian men and give birth to
children outside of Malaysia cannot confer citizenship to their children,
these children are considered foreigners, into Malaysia. When a child is
born outside Malaysia, the child is not conferred citizenship by operation
of the law unless the father is a Malaysian citizen.5 A child whose mother
is a Malaysian citizen does not share the same privilege. The father must be
a Malaysian citizen in order for the child to be conferred citizenship in
Malaysia.

I know. I'm the father of a beautiful four months old baby and my wife
is Malaysian. Our daughter was born here in Germany and won't get a
Malaysian passport. So what ? We'll survive ;-)
--

Alfred Molon

http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Austria, Budapest and
Portugal