The name don’t maketh the man

The Muslim sense of values is totally warped. If you eat pork or drink liquor or gamble, at least you are doing it with your own money. But corruption and fraud involves other people’s money, in most cases the taxpayers’ money. So this makes it an even bigger sin.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Civil Defence director charged with falsifying documents
By EMBUN MAJID, The Star

ALOR SETAR: Kedah Civil Defence Department director pleaded not guilty to two counts of falsifying documents at a Sessions Court here. Mohamad Abdullah, 49, was charged with falsifying two documents on Jun 26 and July 28, both in 2005 at his office at Wisma Persekutuan building here.

In the first charge, Mohamad was alleged to have falsified a document by endorsing that Mohd Roshid Hussain had supplied food for a group of 70 people for the Civil Defence Training Programme at Unit Giat Mara Sungai Tiang on March 17, 18, 19 and 20, 2005 although there was no such supply during the said period.

In the second charge, Mohamad was alleged to have falsified a document on July 28, 2005, by endorsing that Mohd Roshid had supplied food for a group of 80 people for the department Intensive Training Programme at Unit Giat Mara Sungai on May 19, 20 and 21, 2005, although there was no such supply during the three days.

The charge sheet, however, did not state the amount of money involved.

Mohamad faced both charges under Section 11(c) of the Anti Corruption Act 1997 that carries a maximum imprisonment for a term of not less than six months and not more than twenty years; and a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the gratification which is the subject matter of the offence where such gratification is capable of being valued or is of a pecuniary nature, or ten thousand ringgit, whichever is the higher.

In the same court, Mohd Roshid, 32, claimed trial with abetting Mohamad to falsify the two documents. He was also charged under Section 11(c) of the same Act.

Judge Norsharidah Awang set bail RM10,000 in one surety for each offences to Mohamad and Mohd Roshid and fixed July 8 for hearing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Fieza Fazlin Fandi prosecuted the case while counsel Shariff Matt represented the two accused.

Would you name your son Jesus the servant of God? And if you would, would you expect him to grow up into a righteous and god-fearing man rather than a corrupted scoundrel? I suppose parents who name their son Mohamad the servant of God would expect no less from their son, as would parents who name their son Jesus the servant of God. But this did not quite work out for the parents of Mohamad Abdullah who now faces two charges of swindling. Yes, in case you have not figured it out by now, Abdullah translates to the servant of Allah (some would say the slave of Allah). So Mohamad Abdullah, which is also the name of the Prophet of Islam, translates to Mohamad the servant of Allah.

And how would one who is named after Islam’s Prophet, with the servant of Allah added to his name, be expected to conduct himself? Considering Mohamad is a public servant, in China he would be put to death with a bullet in the head. And, to add insult to injury, the cost of the bullet would be charged to the family. But sadly, this is not the case in Malaysia. In fact, he would not even lose his limb, as the proponents of the Islamic law of Hudud would like to see. Instead, he would probably beat the rap because the normally smart lawyer would in most cases run rings around the nincompoop prosecutor and the irritated judge would find the accused not guilty out of sheer disgust for the incompetence of the prosecutor.

Yes, names do not maketh the man. How many with names like Isa (Jesus), Musa (Moses), Yusof (Joseph), Sulaiman (Solomon), Ibrahim (Abraham), etc., have been dragged to court for criminal breach of trust, corruption, fraud and whatnot? Some of the worst scams to appear before us have been perpetuated by those who carry the names of the revered Prophets of Islam. Maybe it is time the government banned the usage of names from the Quran. It just makes a mockery of those noble names when people who carry those names act less than noble.

At least people like Mahathir, Najib, Muhyiddin, Khairy, Hishammuddin, Khir, and so on can be excused. Their names are not names of the Prophets of Islam. But when you have people with two Muhammad’s in their name or people with names like Mohamad the servant of Allah, then the expectations would be very high indeed. We do not expect them to be cheats and swindlers.

Why is it that people who carry the names of the revered Prophets would shun pork and steer clear of liquor and despise gambling but would never hesitate to fill their stomachs with money earned the not kosher way? Is money earned through corruption and fraud any less haram than pork, liquor or gambling? It is like saying that raping a girl is okay as long as you don’t rape a boy. Same gender sex is haram. So raping a boy is a huge no-no. But raping a girl is tolerable.

Rape is rape whether you raped your pet dog or the neighbour’s donkey. Haram is definitely haram and there are no two ways about it. And it does not matter whether it is pork, liquor, gambling or money you obtained through corrupt and fraudulent ways. One is not less haram than the other.

The Muslim sense of values is totally warped. If you eat pork or drink liquor or gamble, at least you are doing it with your own money. But corruption and fraud involves other people’s money, in most cases the taxpayers’ money. So this makes it an even bigger sin. Why can’t Muslims see that a person who eats pork or drinks liquor or gambles is not harming anyone other than himself — okay, maybe his family as well if he does all this in excess and it affects the family (for that matter, even excess ice cream or an overdose of multivitamins are bad for you). But when you cheat the taxpayers you are hurting 27 million Malaysians who that money belongs to.

My Tok Guru told me, when you sin against God, then it is up to God to forgive you. But when you sin against humankind, then God can’t forgive you. You must first beg for forgiveness from all those you have sinned against and only when they have all forgiven you will God forgive you.

Well, this is what my Tok Guru told me. But can you imagine seeking out 27 million Malaysians, one by one, and personally begging for their forgiveness? How would this be possible? I mean, how long will it take you to personally meet 27 million people, one by one?

In short, you are doomed. There is no way this can be done, or done in the time frame you would like to see it done. Give me a pork-eating, liquor-drinking, gambling man one who has not sinned against fellowman any time. That man has a better chance of being forgiven for his sins than a corrupted swindler of taxpayers’ money.

And don’t try to impress me with the names of the revered Prophets because the name does not maketh the man. Some of the worst scoundrels walking the face of this earth are named after the revered Prophets of Islam.