The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 06 Jul 2011 05:45 PM PDT JULY 7 — When the chips are stacked high up, the cards played and all the snide comments finished, it's time to show what you have. Not what you wished you had or hope to have in the future, just the cards you have in your hands. The time for posturing is over. On Saturday, things will be found out one way or the other. In two days' time a coalition of NGOs will lead a rally inside Kuala Lumpur to demand cleaner elections and electoral reforms. Roadblocks have webbed the Klang Valley as the police ostensibly protect the population from the transportation of people and "weapons" and are likely to intensify close to noon Saturday. Arrests of those wearing yellow bearing the movement's name or in some cases without it have continued and charges are set to be made in court. The King's intervention has dissipated as the prime minister and his Cabinet have reverted to their zero-tolerance position to the rally. I can imagine my readers from outside Asean sharing a level of perplexity. It is a bit dramatic bordering on your local drama club's summer production of Macbeth. Asean readers probably indulge me since Malaysia is a bit peculiar when it comes to things like peaceful assembly and expression. I'll leave everyone with their own levels of incredulity and move to my summary of the situation, with the intention to avoid the hackneyed matters. So much is said, denied and outright rejected, and then shoved into another cycle of "what you should believe" that I cannot fault anyone for having their own impression of the situation. Actually in a democracy you are entitled to your unique interpretation irrespective of how forthcoming the information is. You have the right to bad judgements as well as to good ones. It is the fair aggregation of the population's worth that results in the value of a society. Society's challenge is to help actualise most of its citizens' capacities. What's in play then? The government's strategy will be revealed in stages but its intention is clear; they want to bring the level of democratisation in the country back to what they can tolerate. Deep in their labyrinth, their strategists and issues leaders are still convinced Malaysia can perpetually operate different from other countries in its category of size, wealth and development. Critics call it a doomed strategy but all the "boos" in the world cannot deflect that Malaysia is more of an exception at present. Second, the potential reaction of passive Malaysians. The status quo is powered by three groups: those who benefit immensely from it; those who've learnt to prosper in it; and those whose lives are not destroyed by it yet. The first group's inclination is self-evident, and the last group lives to survive; therefore likelier to be apathetic to politics and stay with the incumbents. The middle group's passivity props up the present regime, in an interesting way. They have no love for the government, but they'd rather not rock the boat. They will be nowhere near the rally on Saturday but their reaction to the build-up to the rally and its aftermath will have a telling impact on election day. Then there are the newbies. There will be a substantial number of first-time participants at this gathering. The lack of information and confusion leading to the day might bring down the numbers, but those who do show up will be affected. If the government acts according to script then they will lose votes. Nothing unravels the years of public education, national service and state media than seeing Big Brother stomping on you. The international community's response to July 9: Malaysia is 28 million only, but is one of the top 20 exporters in the world. The nation is not a military threat and is far from being a failed state. There is no minimum wage but the wages of its richest do push up the national income average enough. To the untrained eye, this is adequate. Most diplomats change their minds after six months here. However, the doctrine economic growth means stable state remains as the rule of thumb to international relations. That position may alter after Saturday, though I doubt substantially. The summary does not offer enough answers, or advice to the undecideds. They are factors within the equation. The equation, however, stays elusive. I can only speak of my own convictions. Since I was young I'd pick up other people's trash. Malaysia is rarely clean and it bothered me a lot. I did not want to preach to people, so I just picked up their litter after them. (My mom always pokes fun at me that I try to clean my country while leaving my room in a mess.) Chocolate wrappers, cigarette butts, plastic cups and odd bits. Some of my friends laugh at me, some of them laugh harder. Others would toss more stuff for me to pick up, and the kind ones would tell me they litter so that the trash collector has a job. The clever ones would point out to me that in a universe of dirt, the specks I pick up hardly matter. I am just being silly, and them being realists. Being in the minority and younger I was not able to articulate a response. I did look silly. Then it hit me. After long last. A response. To be fair I'd only say it if they ask me crudely why I do it. I'd say that both of us agree that dirt is wrong. Yes, there is much litter, there are countless litterers and there is only that much litter I'll ever pick up in a lifetime of ridicule. But I'm picking it up mate, I'm picking it up. What are you doing? How can volume, popularity and immensity of something wrong justify non-action? That's how I look at it. You are quite entitled to your opinion. Just mind my space. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. 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| O Lordy, Lordy, Lordy (Part 2) Posted: 06 Jul 2011 05:24 PM PDT JULY 7 — You know, at first I wanted to write about COWs (Club of Obedient Wives) and greener pastures, but then I read that 686 people in Malaysia actually applied to the Syariah courts to leave Islam. Now while I'm all for people having the freedom to choose their religion, I do believe that such measures are not the business of the government. If there was a measure to determine the validity of a religious conversion, it would only be done for minors and require the consent of both biological parents of the child. That being said, need I emphasise that I did say "biological" parents of a child? This means that you can't take in an orphan off the street or an abandoned baby and raise him/her in the Muslim faith without permissive proof that he or she is, in fact, Malay. The reason I state this is because constitutionally a Malay child is born a Muslim. While I find that irritating and bothersome as all hell, it's just the rule of law in this semi-free supposed Islamic state of a nation I live in. The most important aspect in conversion into and out of Islam is a person's intention, or niat. If you are converting to Islam to steal your kids from your Hindu ex-wife, I can only wonder how and why our religious authorities and even the muftis can support this. This is purely an act of hate and loathing. You can't support it. You're not supposed to support it. Islam is not Glee, where a person can just merely say the syahadah and join. Intent must also be taken into account. And for a person bringing his kids into a religion, without the consent of the mother of the children, that just screams malicious intent. Similarly, for those leaving Islam I congratulate them and wish them a happy life. For those who convert to Islam I also congratulate them and wish them a happy life. Let's be totally honest. There is now a prejudice against Muslims. We're living in an age where being a Muslim is now equated with being thought of as an arrogant, wife-beating, sexist, poverty-stricken, uneducated, angry people who protest and preach the dumbest notions on the face of the Earth. And looking at our political, religious and business leaders as well as certain members of our populace who are shown on the media, they're right! You don't even have to bother looking too far, just look at our local leaders. Take a look at Ibrahim Ali and his constant mouthing off. Take a look at the president of the Muslim Consumer's Association who won't use a condom to stop the threat of HIV because, as he said on Al-Jazeera, "no feeling." Take a look at the mufti of Perak who is actually supporting a club which wants to teach wives to be prostitutes to stop their husbands from straying, banned poco-poco dancing because it's in the form of a cross, and wants people with HIV/AIDS to be put on an island to die. If we were to look at those who have converted out of Islam, their reason for leaving is probably one of the above. If we look at Lina Joy's case, she didn't give a damn about the authorities until it stopped her from getting married. Again, a personal matter. She wanted to get married, and our laws stop inter-faith marriage when it involves a Muslim, even if the Muslim has been baptised and converted to Christianity while we were all enjoying SUKOM and Anwar's Sodomy Case Part 1. When we read about people like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and even Salman Rushdie, it is clear that both have clear reasons for denouncing Islam, with the former for how she was raised in Africa and the murder of her friend Theo Van Gogh, and the latter for the fatwa against him after he wrote a book. Truth be told, I agree that there was probably no valid reason for people leaving Islam in Prophet Muhammad's time when people were allowed to question everything to the prophet himself. Instead, Muslims nowadays have to contend with getting information from the Internet, from their religious teachers who won't even answer questions without a "just shut up and do" stance and our religious authorities which are as intellectual as a monkey's uncle speaking about evolution. But then, of course, we're not supposed to believe in evolution, are we? And for those continuously calling for a jihad, I just ask them where their jihad in terms of education is. We don't have Islamic scholars looking into gender variance, sexuality, political risk, public relations or even feminism for that matter. Sure, we have Islamic finance, but that's all that seems to be important. Where is the focus on Islam's viewpoint of social development? Herein lies the lacking of Islam as a global community. Well, there's that, and patience as well. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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