Prisoner of Teheran

1. While waiting to board the EasyJet (equivalent of our Air Asia) plane at Schipol airport, Amsterdam to go to Liverpool to see my sons, daughter-in-law and grandchildrenm i purchased two books, Prisone of Teheran by Marinat Nemat (Publisher John Murray) and The State of Africa by Martin Meredith (Publisher Free Press).

2. I began reading the first book which is thinner, more attractive and more interesting, I thought as it is a true story, not a political propaganda as I thought the second book is .

3. Ms. Marina Nemat was 16 years old, a high school student when she was arrested for wanting to study calculus instead of listening to political speech of her teacher. This happenned during the Iranian Revolution, just prior to Ayatollah Khoemeini returned to Iran. She asked her teacher to teach the class the core subject of calculus instead of listening to Islamic political speech and propaganda. After reading up to 129 pages I realised Iranian Islam is so intolerant.

4. But, I thought intolerance exists everywhere.Whether it is in Iran, South Africa, US, Iraq, Thailand or even Malaysia. A few years ago, the Malaysian secret servicemen arrested a couple of innocent students in Kota Bharu because they received the information from the authorities yjese students were studying Islam in Pakistan. These police officers did not listen to reasons or rationale. They did what they were "told" to do regardless. Is this sound familiar?

5. I am brought up to be tolerant, rationale and common sense. That is why I hate intolerance, irrationale decisions and people who do not use and listen to common sense. Anyway, I'm going to continue reading while playing with my grandchildren, Ilyas and Maisarah, while receiving news about my injured son at home.