Martyrs or victims of corruption?
I think it is time we started appointing women Muftis in Malaysia. After all, if the Muftis do not have any balls what difference does it make if we appoint men or women as Muftis?
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Anak yatim maut tertimbus syahid
SHAH ALAM – Kematian mereka bukan sia-sia. Allah sudah janjikan ganjaran syahid bagi sekumpulan anak yatim terkorban dalam tragedi tanah runtuh di Hulu Langat, petang semalam.
Mufti Selangor, Datuk Seri Mohd Tamyes Abdul Wahid berkata, mengikut hukum, Islam yang menemui ajal secara tragis se-perti akibat kebakaran, kemalangan jalan raya atau bencana alam dan mati ketika tidur, dikategorikan sebagai syahid.
“Mereka dapat syafaat Allah, itu janjiNya,” katanya.
Beliau mengulas kematian anak-anak yatim penghuni Rumah Anak-anak Hidayah Madrasah Al-Taqwa di Jalan Sungai Semungkis, Kampung Gahal, Hulu Langat, petang semalam.
Bagaimanapun menurut Mohd Tamyes, jenazah mereka masih perlu diurus seperti jenazah mati biasa, iaitu mandi, kafan dan disolatkan.
Beliau mengingatkan pengasas rumah kebajikan, termasuk rumah anak yatim di seluruh negara, pastikan bangunan mereka tiada risiko musibah.
“Jangan bina di lereng bukit atau berhampiran dekawasan bahaya kepada penghuni,” katanya.
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The death of 16 orphans in a landslide in Hulu Langat, outside Kuala Lumpur, yesterday was not in vain (bukan sia-sia), said the Mufti of Selangor. According to Islam, said the Mufti, these orphans died a martyr’s death (syahid). And the same goes for anyone who dies in a traffic accident, or whatever tragedy, added the Mufti.
I suppose this is one way of looking at it. When someone dies we try to look at the ‘positive’ side of his or her death. And this is probably the Mufti’s way of making us feel good about those deaths. After all, is not Malaysia an expert at the ‘feel good’ factor? I bet they can even make us feel good about May 13 — it taught us that racism is bad and can lead to race riots so Malaysians today are no longer racists.
Yeah, right!
The more fundamentalist Muslim would say that the 16 orphans were fated to die in the landslide yesterday. The time, date, place and manner we will die has already been determined even before we were born. So, yesterday, the 16 orphans merely kept their appointment with death. It was their fate which had already been decided and there was nothing anyone could have done to avoid it.
Is that so? What about the reports of the previous incidences of landslips in that area? Wasn’t that a sign (from God or whatever) that we have a tragedy in the making? What was done about the many landslips of past that yesterday became a landslide? (Menteri Kerja Raya Datuk Shaziman Mansor dilaporkan berkata bahawa kawasan itu dipercayai telah beberapa kali mengalami kejadian tanah runtuh namun tidak dilaporkan – Bernama).
When the Tsunami hit our shores and other Asian countries on 26 December 2004, they said the same thing. Some even said that this is God’s punishment for all those sinners. I wonder what sin the babies and children committed to incur God’s wrath on them.
Actually, the death toll of the 2004 Tsunami could have been reduced had greedy people not cut away (for profit) all the mangrove plants along the coast. The mangrove would have acted as a buffer and the waves would not have gone so far inland and been so destructive.
A lot of tragedies could have been avoided. And they could have been avoided if humankind were not so greedy and corrupt. Greed and corruption, not God, causes tragedies. And those who die in tragedies should not be classified as martyrs but as victims of greed and corruption.
On a per capita basis Malaysia has ten times more fatal road accidents than Britain. And this is all because of greed and corruption. Those who die in traffic accidents are not martyrs, as the Mufti said. They are victims of greed and corruption.
The Muftis have a duty to perform. They must condemn greed and corruption. They must not tell people that 16 orphans dying in a landslide is not in vain, it is okay, it is a good, it means they are going straight to heaven. They must tell the people that this is yet another of the many signs of rampant greed and corruption in Malaysia.
Don’t tell us that the orphans’ deaths are NOT sia-sia. Tell us that their deaths ARE sia-sia. And tell us that their deaths and the deaths of thousands of other Malaysians every year is because of greed and corruption.
Are the Muftis scared of doing this? Are they so worried that they will get sacked from their jobs and will lose their comfortable income and lifestyle? Are they not brave enough to teach Malaysians proper Islam, in that we must oppose greed and corruption?
I think it is time we started appointing women Muftis in Malaysia. After all, if the Muftis do not have any balls what difference does it make if we appoint men or women as Muftis?
