Religious conversion — heaving under heaven’s door
The cabinet decision to have a blanket, “You (the minor) will be raised in the faith of your parents at point of marriage, if a dispute arises over you following the conversion of one parent to Islam”, justifiably provides solace to some and raises ire in others.
It does resolve some problems while at the same time inevitably creates a few new ones.
The cabinet has let the nation down, and it is not the first time in recent times.
The real issue of the matter, or unintended realisation from it is that answers that come from any cabinet, from 29 persons stacked in a room in our case, advised by the few will always exclude various factors or permutations.
You can’t expect 29 people to think on behalf of 26 million people and do it well. This nation must start to trust its people to debate and discuss the issues that affect them, because it is becoming more and more apparent that there is no other way.
This country’s administrators historically have come from the western educated, those who frolicked with each other in their younger years and remained friends. Their education they believe keeps them above the flock they lead. They go their separate way when they have to manage the masses, because the masses are fairly unexposed to the vagaries of the world, and therefore only recognise primordial elements like race.
They will fan and douse the energy of the simpletons when need be, and after they are done, through a process of power-sharing, collaboration, information exchange, compromise and consensus arrive at a resolution that fits the situation.
They manage their population, not lead them.
However the demographics have shifted, and the weightier preoccupation brought on by cable TV and the internet renders any decision that is carried requiring societal reflection.
People have to be persuaded to an outcome, and even then the outcome, its shape and form may have taken twists and turn and become an altered outcome thanks to participatory democracy.
These are the days where everyone gets a voice, whether you like it or not. Ignoring that voice only precipitates your own demise.
So the question is, with religious conversion firmly in central examination, not to mention 1 Malaysia, do the people who run this country actually wants its inhabitants to debate their needs, wants and conflicts?
