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The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

Posted: 17 Aug 2011 05:00 PM PDT

AUG 18 — We were both sitting in the backseat while her driver patiently worked through the madness of Manila traffic. Somehow we got into a discussion about God, well mostly about her Catholicism. Right before we had to get out, she ended the discussion with a curt: "Why don't you ask the Pope directly all your questions?"

What was a discussion for me apparently was a rant-cum-attack on her faith. We never spent another conversation on theology again. It was unnecessary. I, misguided probably, felt then as campus members of a Catholic university we needed to revisit key theological questions. I forgot one of the key relationship rules: date the girl, not her religion.

That memory flashed as I worked up the gumption to speak about the developments in Malaysia in regards to religious activism. It is thankless, always bordering on the profane and rarely pleasing to any particular person. It can be said there are rarely winners in the public discourse of religion.

If you ask me, most people are indifferent about the championing of faith. I'm not an insidious secularist with an agenda here. So to avoid misconceptions let me repeat that more clearly.

Though most Malaysian are in fact religious — somewhat, somehow — they do not take up the active championing of their faith. They are quite happy being Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhist and perhaps the odd Zoroastrian in Penang.

However, there are segments within each faith, social class and state very compelled to defend their faith. They inevitably draw everyone else into their episodes, which is why leaders, or more so real leaders, are wary of prompting religious contests.

Today in Malaysia, those with less scruple are deploying an age-old tactic to break up prevailing partnerships which are threatening their interests elsewhere.

The strategy: to raise the general temperature borne out of religious insecurities until reason is abandoned.

It is the temperature I fear.

Central to the situation is the broad generalisation by those out to make quick wins that Islam is under attack in Malaysia. Is it?

Attack presumes an active, planned and destructive effort to dismantle the religion of the federation.

I'll negate that general proposition. I stand by this statement, Islam is not under attack in the Federation of Malaysia.

Islam, just like all beliefs, faces a rapidly changing landscape demanding reaction to the changing dynamics, not the changes themselves. It's the pace which makes reacting hard work.

However, the presence of different, emerging and challenging ideas is not proof of attack.

I won't mount a theological discourse on the matter, because theologians would say there are none to be engaged in the present situation.

The events crowding our attention are more about attitudes to Islam.

They circle acts, suggestions, interactions, intentions and affectations. These lay in the realm of politics, the ugly business of politics. Mind you, all adverse outcomes are just incidentals to the consummate Machiavellian.

The larger issue of Islam in Malaysia does not involve Malaysians alone, it operates more and more on the canvas of a rapidly shrinking world looking to create one borderless, seamless and integrated civilisation — the human civilisation.

Our ministers echo those sentiments and even use pantun (poems) at Umno assemblies to underscore that reality, yet they expect the deliberation of Islam in Malaysia to stay insular and without challenges.

That is fairly disingenuous. To embrace openness selectively and then to bemoan the natural encroachments which come with the openness.

Let's look at these alleged attack points.

I went to a missionary school during my primary education. Though missionary schools nationwide — probably far less in Borneo — had already stripped down their religious rigour since the 1970s, some remnants remained. Catechism classes were still on but voluntary. School songs were there, but religious icons were nowhere to be seen. Teachers' allegiance was to the state education department, not to the order owning the school.

But it cannot be denied that in a time before that there were noticeable conversions by students from families not professing Abrahamic faiths. Not most of the students, not even a substantial number, but it was noticeable.

Noticeable then because of the difference in the number of students who convert to Christianity between missionary and government schools. Remember, this was in the past.

This is where perception's misaligned. Some of the older politicians present a concern which already expired, but was valid once.

The present assessment will show that Malaysian missionary schools abiding Malaysian laws without exception take great pains to establish that Muslim students are not approached and their religious instruction occurs without hitches. In lieu of these developments, some goodwill is necessary for it is unconscionable to ignore the contributions these schools have given to the development of Malaysia.

They've given the tools to many to advance in the world.

And then there is the increased engagement of the Christian community, as seen in the hosting of the dinner for the disadvantaged in Petaling Jaya on August 3, and the ensuing religious department raid.

Most supporters of the raid argue that Muslims in Malaysia should not be confronted with ideas which may affect their faith.

It raises a basic question: can Malaysian Muslims be in the presence of another religion's rituals, discourse and debate?

If the fear is faith then where are Muslims safe from interaction when we live in an increasingly globalised world on top of the multicultural society Malaysia is?

Every year Malaysia actively sends young impressionable Muslim students to America's backwaters to get an education. These are also parts where the Christian faith is central to life and government. Every day is an experience in adjusting to Judeo-Christian innuendos. Nothing malicious, but when the store clerk tells you that god is kind and watching over young students like you, he has a specific kind of god in mind. Is your faith being challenged?

But you don't have to leave Malaysia to see the world daily anymore. A click to the Internet lets a wave of dogma onto your screen. What type of Net-nanny can you get to block out ideas? The more urbane the Malaysian population gets, then more and more he/she is exposed to dominant and not-so-dominant ideas not expressly challenging his/her faith, but do challenge his/her thoughts.

But it is a slippery slope, thinking and what it can do to your faith. More so the entry points of these ideas are seamless, multiple and incessant so expecting an external agent to deliberate for each Malaysian Muslim is impossible.

You can either let Muslims decide on what they read and think about, or you can just shut down the Internet. We are a porous nation, who can't even stop the avalanche of foreigners into every nook, therefore hoping to delete every dubious byte in random computers in rooms nationwide is just fanciful.

Even watching foreign award shows can be dangerous when you set the bar of infiltration so low. The Oscar winners always thank God, and some are more intense in their thanks. But they cannot compare with musicians at the Grammys. Those guys are relentless about their relationship with their Christian god. Ban them then?

Western programming is rife with references to Christian traditions. If your children identify with the characters, are they also going to identify with the characters' beliefs?

Now someone will say I am stretching things way out of proportion. Maybe I am, but if I am then you might need to talk to another bunch of people about proportion.

It seems that some want non-Muslims to not only keep to the letter of the law, but to incorporate Islamic ascendancy into their belief structure.

That's not possible. The practising Christian cannot assume that he is adopting an inferior faith. That's just whack. He would have to then believe he has the second-best chance to salvation because his dogma is second-best. That goes for the Hindu, Buddhist and did I say the odd Zoroastrian.

As long as there is religious freedom, there will always be the need for mediation in a working democracy. No one can have everything their way in public policy, though they can live as they wish in their private space.

Some people just need to ease up on their worldview and work with their neighbours to reasonable and equitable outcomes.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

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Choose your jihad

Posted: 17 Aug 2011 04:35 PM PDT

AUG 18 — First and foremost, allow me to state the obvious for those enlightened Muslims out there, particularly those in Jais. Just because 12 Muslims attended an event where Christian prayers were said and songs were sung does not make them "syirik" or "murtad". And neither does it make Muslims question their faith.

If that were the case, all of us listening to Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take The Wheel" on the radio would have started hanging rosaries from our rearview mirror by now.

And for someone — an Umno politician who is planning to run in Shah Alam — to use this issue to further stoke the racial fires just goes to show that even the month of Ramadan is no longer a time for Muslims to actually think first before they act.

Though now thinking back, I think the first sign of feeble brain power was obvious when watching 8TV's blunder of a Ramadan public service announcement.

A jihad is a holy war, but it is a war that we ourselves as individuals, or a community, or a nation or even a regional movement, first must choose to fight for and decide whether or not the cause is to bring us closer to Allah. That is perhaps the true spirit of a jihad.

For me as an individual, my jihad is for equal rights regardless of race, religion, gender and sexual orientation; that include equal treatment for the mak nyah community, recognition of the existence of gays, lesbians, transgenders and bisexuals of Malaysia and truly equal stature and treatment of people of different races and religions.

In terms of community, for an area like Shah Alam, jihads can be seen everywhere, especially at night. You may have noticed this new trend of cycling around at night, jogging in parks and perhaps even an increase of people going out to public spaces simply to toss around a frisbee or for a game of footie right opposite the state mosque. Does that not just scream of a jihad for fitness and health?

In fact, if you have two parents working just to get by, that in itself is a jihad to survive and give your family a comfortable and worry-free life.

What makes such struggles a jihad is the simple fact of what your intentions are. Why am I fighting for equality without bounds? Why are people in Shah Alam learning to be healthy? Why are parents hauling their asses out of bed at 5am in the morning and coming back at 6pm or 7pm, but still happy to see their children at home?

If all these are done with an intent for charity, providence, goodwill and good intent, then congratulations. You have your jihad.

Moving on, trust me on this. Saying that Umno fights for Islam?

That's as far from Allah as you can get since Allah does not preach for privileges based on ethnicity and race, but more so on the separation based on religious views. So, a call to jihad by a party so hellbent on being Malay is just pure hypocrisy in the Islamic religious context. Furthermore, a call for jihad on the basis of saving Islamic souls held in a mosque by a politician who may run in Shah Alam reeks too much of voter and popular intent.

A true Muslim would ask first and shoot off his mouth later, particularly since Jais has yet to reveal any report whatsoever on the occurrences that night. So the call for a jihad from Umno? That is not Islamic. It's merely opportunistic and feeding on an immature ummah.

Instead, this is what PAS stands for. The need for Jais to come up with a report, a need to visit the church and get their point of view, and then a need to debate what to do next. Besides, let us admit a simple fact; there are some instances where Muslims and non-Muslims can unite, and there are those where you can't. Most of all our beliefs unite us here in Malaysia, yet many choose to focus on that which separates us.

Sadly for us, their Youth wing and Hasan Ali are also emotional people similar to Umno.

PAS Youth's ideology on the unity part seems to be misguided in terms of entertainment and commercial sales, as we can truly see through the support of beer raids in Shah Alam, premature support of Jais "inspections" (as they label it) in assembly halls and even the protests against multiple concerts.

There are many things that we can jihad about that we should in this multicultural country which our religious authorities are just too dumb to figure out.

For example, let's talk about food. Let's take halal bak kut teh in this instance.

Why was it banned? Because its name connotes something that is already haram?

Did any member of the halal board ever talk to a member of the Chinese community to know what "bak kut teh" even means?

It literally translates to meat ribs soup, if I am not mistaken. Does it say haram meat? No. Does it say pig meat? No.

Any Chinese-Muslim convert would be willing to tell us this with open heart and mind, but our religious authorities are just, again, …

Similarly, let's take another example. Recently, Aleesha Farhana died. She's a transgender woman. We had religious authorities saying that accepting transgenders and burying them in the rites of their current gender would be "confusing".

And yet, when a similar "confusion" came about during our space tourist's trip and how he was going to determine the "qiblah" or facing the direction of prayer, our religious authorities said that Iran had a solution.

Do they know that Iran accepts transgenders and perhaps even have the solution to the burial rites of transgenders? No.

Did they bother to find out? No.

See, transgender Muslims out there? There's your jihad.

So for my Muslim readers out there, I just wish to say this. It's the journey, not the destination, that matters. Read, talk to people, gather information and learn before coming up with statements that will make you look like an ass.

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

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Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Khamis, 18 Ogos 2011

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion

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