Call to curb the extremism 2

We cannot deny the fact that in every day’s dealing, Malaysians are constantly exposed to different culture and practices from different race as we live in a multi cultural country.

The peace we have been enjoying, when we compare to other parts of world which are constantly going through racial upheavals, is the most respected and recognized fact, that has raised both envy and praise across the world.  It is recognized by us that respecting each other’s religion and culture is the key to living harmoniously.  However, in many of the recent episodes reported in the media depicting certain group of people undergoing torturous experience due to their powerlessness to wrestle with extremist elements in our society which has constantly harassed them have made one wonders the minority right in this country, specifically religious belief.  They are the victims of high handedness of some group who profess religious superiority. The sense of superiority of one’s religious belief was nurtured and generated through constant exposure of extremisms, which usually originates from personal views which have nothing to do with divine texts to achieve personal gains.  The sense of one’s superiority often leads one to believe their religion or practice is higher standard or only recognized by God, and other’s beliefs are outright deviationists and thus should be banned.  There are many examples that we encounter in everyday life; those who do not believe in their God will be punished eternally, those who apostate will be tortured in the main stream media where their name will be published and accused as Murtad (according to the interpretations in verses 3:72, 3:90, 16:106 and others mandate that apostates would be killed), and in some extreme cases that I witnessed, some will not enter the non-Muslim coffee shops or use the cooking utensils used by other believers (even it is written Halal), or consume drinks prepared by others.  These practices are outwardly degradation to the non-Muslims and have created division among different religious followers in our country.  This division is characterized by reciprocal criticisms, absence of respects, and finally hatred.   We never questioned the divinity of Quran for Islam, or Bible for Christianity, but the practices obviously denied the very rights of the minority which are enshrined in our Federal Constitution.  But the Constitution has gained no more ground and garnered no support in view of the current political and religious debates surrounding cases like Murthi, Lina Joy and now Subashini.  But logically and using one’s common sense, although the practice of others do not abide by the religion and are deemed to go to hell, ( as what they claim) it is their private affair.  It is their religions that taught them they will go to heaven, and similarly the non-believers will go to hell.  So this vicious cycle will go on as everyone pretends they know who will go to hell and heaven.  If the non-believers profess and uphold a similar stance, the country will turn into chaos as everyone will be accusing everyone Murtad and non-believers. Thanks to the fathers of Merdeka, when they drafted and tabled for discussion the constitution, they did not have the idea who should go and should not go to heaven or hell.   The irony that we identify in our daily readings of these practices in the newspapers is that; on one hand the Alims profess harmony in life, but on the other hand their very practices and impositions create havoc in other’s life.  Take the case of Subashini who could not secure a favorable verdict from the highest court in our country to deny the proceeding of divorce with her husband to be held in Sharia court.  It is expected that the ruling from the Shariah court favors the husband, who has converted her elder son to Islam without her consent.  We also expect that if she agrees to convert to Islam, and have the proceedings conducted in Shariah court, she will be blessed highly by the Imams and those Alims, as they would claim, “ she has finally found God and secured a place in Heaven”.  However, who could guarantee her happiness in life, as the conversion entails many relatives would distance from her, and since she is from Hinddhuism background, her friends and colleagues will isolate her.  Moreover, in Islam,  since a wife cannot file for divorce in Shariah court unless the husband does not support her financially and sexually, she will lead a miserable life later in the not far future; she loses her husband and son.  Another case of the extremists who trample on other’s personal life is about Lina Joy who wanted so eagerly to change the religion and remove the word “Islam” from her Identity Card.  As in Malaysia, if you are Muslim, you cannot tie the knot with your love one unless your love one converts to become Muslim.  Because of the extreme elements in our society, her life was made miserable; she was badly criticized and tarnished in main stream media, her photo was circulated in every mosque in the country, and worse, the alims and ulamaks claimed that she has betrayed and should be killed according to their interpretations of the verses mentioned above.   In the past few years, we have witnessed the worst human-made tragedies; the 9/11 bombings, the aftermaths of Iraq war and other social upheavals in any Islamic countries in this world, which all have spread a bad perception and impression about the religion.  The negative perceptions that our non-Muslim brothers held in the past few decades because of the local extremisms will be reinforced further by these events around the world; that Muslims are really terrorists and see they go all out to terrorize everyone who does not follow their path.  Leave all political and religious debates aside, focus on the real issues at hand; the increasing grievances of the minority in our country especially when come to sensitive issues such as religion and culture.     

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