A Disappearance

The mystery of the failure of any new edition of Islamica to appear in absolutely yonks has been solved. They are going bust, or, as they more delicately put it: certain funding sources did not materalize as expected - this according to an announcement for subscribers and supporters on their webpage. Actually they sound fairly hopeful they will be able to publish again so perhaps all is not lost. It would be bitterly disappointing for such a sane voice to be silenced.

I was ruminating over whether they could get funding from some sympathetic government but then realised this made no sense at all - firstly, because governments are not keen on small magazines representing independent views of a sane nature - and, secondly, because to be funded by big brother is essentially to lose all independence, and usually sanity somewhere down the line.

In the meantime here's a link to a rather fine letter published on Islamica's webpage concerning the (latest) Anwar Ibrahim affair. There goes the possibility of any funding from UMNO!