Lately, the entire nation has been witnessing a stressful, traumatic turn of events by a group of people who have one collective desire being none other than to interfere, dictate to and demolish the basic rights of Muslims to practice our Faith in peace and harmony under the guise of advocating human rights and so on.
These people comprise of different ethnicities, creed and have their own personal and social agendas albeit there are even those who call themselves as Muslims in this coalition grouping.
Malaysia as a nation is quite unique actually. This country is known for the subtleness of its people and the general well mannered and docile citizens that the world has ever seen save for a few incidents that rocked the boat for a while and sort of stirred the stillwaters but eventually , as Malaysians are famous for, the disturbances and emotions will quickly simmer down and everyone would be just minding their own business and ‘pretend’ not to bother.
The main fear of course is being visited by certain members of authority in the deep of the night and bundled off to a well known R & R under the authorities expense and held indefinitely keeping one’s passion and gung ho spirit of adventurism within the confines of a holding pen overlooking the quartz ridge of Banjaran Titiwangsa.
But recently, some folks find it tiresome to live in abject peace and harmony ; thus feel it is time to rock the boat once again, albeit this time for a ’cause’ that they have conjured up within their own restless hearts and minds.
They claim that the Malaysian Government has taken away their rights to practice their own faiths and that this country has been turned into an Islamic state! Really? That is news to me .
Ahh…they must be referring to our former premier’s claim and declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic State!
I understand their fears for if Malaysia is actually turned into an Islamic Nation in the real sense, woe betide all of them who live contrary to the rule of Shari’ah based upon the Commandments of Allah in the Holy Qur’an!
They can’t go around enjoying themselves as they do now. No more casinos, beer breweries, gambling dens, prostitution, partying all nite and day long, promiscuous behaviour in public, freedom of this, freedom of that, churches, temples, gurdwaras, etc will cease to exist, etcetera and everyone will have to toe the line as they have in Iran and Saudi Arabia!
Surely, that can’t be allowed! No way Jose! We will fight! We will protest! We will hold forums! We will hold conferences! We will have petitions against this turning Malaysia into an Islamic State!
It’s amazing what these people are conjuring up for themselves and driving themselves nuts and into a frenzy fueled further by the participation of ‘Muslims’ who advocate a more ‘liberal’ sense of Islam according to what they delude themselves to be the ‘right and fair’ ways to ‘practice’ Islam!
This is what I perceive this ‘Article 11’ grouping to be based upon my observations and conclusion that Tun Dr.Mahathir’s unfounded ‘Declaration of Malaysia as being an Islamic State’ in the truest sense of it.
The recent court cases about the lives of certain Hindus turned Muslims issues and the consequential rulings of the cases, have further scared these people to do what they did and still intend to do in the near future no matter that the current Malaysian PM Abdullah Badawi has asked that the matter be laid to rest and the issue of the proposed formation of the IFC being championed by the Malaysian Council of Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs or MCCBHS in short all these while!
Tun Dr. Mahathir was wrong in declaring Malaysia as an Islamic nation! I say it is not.
Malaysia may have a majority of Muslims living here but it is far from being an Islamic Nation in the context of what a Muslim nation should truely be.
I tell you supporters of the Article 11 Grouping to not have any unwarranted fears about Malaysia ever turning into a true blue Islamic Nation as you all have nightmares about!
My points are based on these :
- This country is not ruled according to the Shari’ah. Whatever rulings they impose on the Muslim population itself are not according to the laws of Shariah and the Hudud.
- The Shari’ah court doesn’t judge according to the true Laws of Islam found in the Holy Al Qur’an al Karim and per the Hadiths of The Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wassallam. We all know that.
- Show me any couple who have been caught for Zina @ Adultery and judged according to the Islamic Laws pertaining to it!
- Show me any drunkard who has been punished according to the Hudud in this country!
- Show me an example of any Muslim who has been punished according to the Islamic Laws at any one time in this land and I will rest my case and stop speaking out against your ‘Article 11’ cause!
- Except for certain cases where the so called ‘Islamic Shari’ah courts have judged about the status of Islam on dead converts or in those cases where divorce took place as a result of a spouse embracing Islam and the children being forced to be Muslims or otherwise, this country is definitely not being ruled according to the true Islamic laws as stated in the Holy Qur’an and based upon the authentic Hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wassallam.
- Have no fear dear fellow Malaysians especially those of you who are in the ‘Article 11’ group. This country is not an Islamic State or Nation. For if it were , all those sinspots in Bangsar, Jln Ampang, Jalan P.Ramlee, Genting Highlands Casino, The Guinness Brewery and Anchor Beer Breweries in PJ, all establishments that propagate the unlawful according to Islam’s Shari’ah Laws would have been long demolished and those of you who ‘Yam Seng’ as you please today in any part of this country would have long been stopped from doing so by the ‘Islamic Malaysian Government’! None has stopped any of you ‘enjoying’ yourselves so far, have they?
- Maybe , you might have been caught in the frequent police raids on entertainment spots where they come and screen you for drug abuse and search for illegal substances. That is done in all nations worldwide. It is an important anti drug trafficking measure that law enforcement authorities all over the world undertake to keep their respective nations in check and to avoid illicit narcotic traffickings!
- All those prostitution rings and anti vice busts done by the PDRM and the Religious Department authorities are part and parcel to curb social problems from breaking out in this country just like they do in the USA,UK and other countries of the world. That’s not even carried out as the rule in the Shari’ah. The prostitutes at most are just fined a paltry sum and let off. No Islamic punishments have been carried out on them and their pimps so far! Any of you know any special cases I missed?
- To drive yourself crazy and feel unnecessary fear is an act of insanity and I sincerely wish that none of you who are rooting for this useless cause will end up in the mental wards of this nation’s Tg.Rambutan’s Hospital Bahagia! What kind of a ‘bahagia’ is that? Looking scared and straightjacketed fearing a ‘mullah’ to pop out from the bushes as you walk around in fear of an ‘Islamic State’? Nahh…I truly wish each one of you remain rational! 🙂
- Until and unless PAS takes over this government, each one of you can sleep in peace. Really! The Barisan Nasional Government will never allow Islamic Laws to take precedence over your beloved Federal Constitution! ‘Potong Ayam’ O! Never will the present BN Government allow the Holy Qur’an to preside over you! I can guarantee you that! You know why! There’s so much goodies to be lost from being ‘enjoyed’ by those in power if they were to really, really follow God’s Laws in ruling over us !
- I don’t have to spell it out for you maa! You know, I know lah! ‘Tiam tiam kaw liao aa pengyu!’
You scare yourselves unnecessarily and fear the shadows on the wall! No one’s forcing you to be whatever you don’t wish to be. Whatever fears you conjure up in your minds are your own doings! The KERAJAAN MALAYSIA are not out to Islamicize you! No way! You are responsible for your own delusions and dementia. Not the BN Government.
I quote from the Article 11.Org ‘Open Letter’ :
“We, the undersigned, Malaysian men and women from all ethnic and faith backgrounds, are concerned about recent events and statements that undermine the supremacy of the Federal Constitution.
We wish to remind our national leaders that Article 4(1) emphatically declares that the Constitution is the supreme law of the Federation and that the oath of office of all parliamentarians, cabinet ministers and judges is singularly to defend the Constitution. Further, Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution states that ‘Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation‘.
Am I missing something here or are all those churches, temples, gurdwaras and whatever else just a figment of my imagination?
That Kek Lok Si Temple complex in Penang , just a Hollywood film set?
The Largest Sleeping Buddha in Asia located in PAS controlled state of Kelantan just a prop made for a TV drama?
The tallest statue of Murugan, the Hindu deity at Batu Caves just a temporary structure made of polyfoam and due to be disposed off soon by the ‘Islamic Government of Malaysia’?
C’mon lah people of ‘Article 11’ grouping! Stop scaring yourselves stupid! No one is stopping you from praying to whatever you wish to! Just live your lifes as everyone else and stop making a mountain out of a molehill!
The Federation of Malaya Constitutional Commission, 1956-57 Report, states that this Article ‘shall not imply that the State is not a secular State’. The Supreme Court decision in Che Omar Che Soh (1988) reaffirmed that “the law in this country is still what it is today, secular law”.
Yet, increasingly we hear claims that Malaysia is an Islamic state.”
I ask that this ‘Article 11’ thingy that you folks are unnecessarily stirring up and rocking the boat of this nation best be put to rest and you just carry on with your lifes.
Go learn a new language like Hanyu! 🙂 I can help you out in that. Or start a new hobby , that is so much more better for you and this nation. Stop trying to scare yourselves and everyone else in the process!
Over there in the Middle East, people are being being bombed to oblivion as I type this yet here we are scaring each other for no valid reasons. Don’t you folks know how to appreciate peace?
Get a life folks ! Before you lose it in …war ..as the Lebanese are finding out unfortunately.
Stop the forums. This time around, my vote goes to the PM. At least he made sense.
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why so xenophobic? it seems to me that Malaysia is one of the few countries in the world where an interfaith dialogue is looked upon as a bad thing. Malaysia may not be an Islamic state, and you would be correct in the sense that it has not adopted shariah law. On the flip side, you have not addressed specific concerns that other (minority) faiths experience in practicing their faith in Malaysia. How is it that a Hindu temple, in existence long before the idea of a “Malaysia”, can have its grounds taken away from it on a legal technicality? Or that churches still find it notoriously (and some say insidiously) hard to build proper places of worship for their communities, despite having the numbers and the money – but not the permits (issued by a majority Malay-Muslim administration) to do so? It is hardly settling when even the Malaysian media publishes reports of protestors carrying slogans like “Crush the IFC”
Dear noel,
Of all the things you can accuse me of, xenophobia would be the last thing you can charge me with!
I am from Penang. My immediate neighbours are Chinese villagers near Jalan Tokong Batu where there’s a Chear Tua Kong Chinese Temple where we kampong kids used to go play.
My schoolmates comprised of all ethnicities and my best friends are Malays,Indian Muslims,Chinese, Indian Hindus, Sikhs, you name it!
I have no problems mixing with anybody bro. Only thing I have a problem with is when Non Muslims want to come interfere in my Faith under guise of interfatih discussions!
We have nothing to discuss as far as religious freedom is concerned.
You are all free to pray to whatever you want. Muslims will never stop you or come and interfere in your rituals etcetera!
We do not need to know how you raise your kids, whether you prau to anything or not.
That is being magnanimous my fellow citizen. We Muslims will never bother you folks about your religious affairs.
The problem is that there are groups out there like the IFC gang, Article 11 gang and all other ‘nothing else to do gangs’ who wanna come and disturb the Muslims with trying to interfere with us and our fellow Muslims.
Apostasy among Muslims who are weak or confused about their Aqeedah is an internal affair thingy for Muslims to handle and solve.
It is in the best interests of National Security and Safety if the Non Muslims could please stay out of it.
So, dear Noel, all we are afraid of is that we might lose our patience with all these needless poking into the Muslims affairs and that someday. someone’s gonna lose control and all hell’s gonna break lose!
Surely, we don’t want our country to break out in civil unrest and disturbances because of these provocations from the IFC and Article 11 gangs, do we?
Best thing to do would be for each faith group to just take care of each community’s affairs.
~~~
Regarding the matter of the Hindu temple being demolished due to it’s unauthorised occupation of the land on which it has been built upon, I am sure that you know that as far as any court is concerned, the onus is on the proof of land ownership to prevent such demolition of let it be a temple, a church or even a mosque!
Maybe you didn’t know that even mosques have been demolished here in Malaysia, even in the states where PAS is very strong as proven in the Kg.Bujal, Terengganu mosque demolition case!
As far as building of churches or any other religious building is concerned, I am sure that the City Councils and Local Authorities have a Master Development Plan for allocation of such buildings and structures.
The Non Muslims comprise a major part of the Bar Council and these legal eagles would surely know whether they can get approvals for such buildings to be allowed in the first place!
Nothing can be done as we please bro. There is always zoning rules and regulations as far as raising up buildings and structures where religious activities are gonna take place.
The surrounding communities and population make up need to be considered before allowing any particular religious building is allowed to be raised in areas where the majority of the people staying there are of another creed.
Anyway, I have no authority to say anything regarding this matter as I am just another citizen like you.
As far as the IFC is concerned, I am among those who will do my best to stop it’s formation. I won’t carry banners or posters though.
I just do what’s necessary legally to nip this threat to my faith in the bud.
I support the ACCIN @ Allied Coordinating Committee of Islamic NGO’s and I am the head of KL Muslims Society, a Yahoogroup which I have set up to carry out Dakwah activities here in KL.
As the Founding Secretary of the Penang based Islamic Propagation Centre International based at the Kapitan Keling Masjid in Georgetown, I am still very much involved in Islamic Information and Propagation activities.
So, as far as I am concerned brother Noel, I have no problems with any other faith practicers as long as they do not interfere in our Muslims affairs.
When others try to disturb and destroy Islam, surely you don’t expect us to just ‘kowtow’ to them and do nothing?
Unlike the OIC, we are those who won’t just SEE and do nothing when Islam is challenged.
By Allah, as long as we shall live, we will stop the IFC, come what may!
In the meantime, we try, our level best not to lose control and always allow our fellow Malaysians room to live as they please and do not go disturbing the christians in their church, the Buddhists in their temples, the Hindus in their temples and the Sikhs in their Gurdwaras.
If you know of any Muslims who have violated any other religious practices , by all means go and lodge a police report!
Hope that satisfies your questions and know that Mahaguru58 is not xenophobic in any way.
I just look out for my faith and my fellow Muslims, thats all.
Have a terrific day. Peace.
This is unbelievable! We can’t even discuss. It seems that discussion can interfere with one’s faith..incredible. Don’t you think with discussion and forum, all parties can understand each other better? No….when we are on the majority side, we see no wrong….That’s the problem. I respect RPK’s view on this subject..sorry brother even though you are from Penang just like me.
Brother lee,
If you are in Kl, give me a ring. 016-3969881.
We can talk bro. No worries.
Take care . Esay kong aa ..men kia!
Ako kiok lu kong aa…chiley IFC ey problem aa..uu bo ho ey lang kiok lang aa cho lasam eh.
Wa lang tua Penang mana uu problem?
Lu kiok wa ey phone , ok?
lu kiok wa lang kiok lu eh phone boh thia ah peng yu… hehe
is the demand for mutual respect so hard to understand….why all the children should be muslims just couse one parent converted islam?is justice so hard to understand?
It’s a pity, almost comical that muslim’s rights are being taken away in their own countries by so called human rights organizations. It is happening in Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan…..and many more.