Of smoking, dogs and all the rest of it…
Eizaz Azhar
I seldom make comments on issues, even some that I feel strongly towards. But I feel compelled to say something as several people I know personally have been cyber-stalked, verbally abused, cursed at, as well as hurled sexist remarks in a name-and-shame campaign that is still ongoing for being involved in a certain event.
These people who are being humiliated publicly, or at least my friends, are all women; if you were to randomly pick one comment out of the many chances are it would probably qualify as sexual harassment as it is just that bad (“dah sentuh anjing bukak lah aurat tunjuklah **** sekali haha bodoh punya betina”). How do you react to a comment like that, and the people parading it about as a headline for their cause? You should be ashamed of yourselves and the compassionate front you use as a mask, while in fact deep down inside you are an advocate of tyranny and control over individuals, on the basis of insecurity and fear.
You don’t care about teaching people the right path, partially because you don’t know much about it anyway. You don’t care about setting a good example of truthful information, of how to reason, of your culture of adab and sopan santun that you claim is under threat day in, day out. You don’t even care about what is right or wrong from a standpoint of humanity, a word surely beyond your comprehension given recent events – you just want to take out all your anger and frustration at individuals who have done wrong in your eyes and views (which are very much debatable to say the least), to shame them in public like an angry mob on a witch hunt, to ride your self-proclaimed “higher moral ground” and tell your children they have the right to judge these people – for extremely petty and ridiculous reasons.
As both a human being and a citizen of the country, you have ALL your priorities WRONG. When your children grow up, this is the example you have set for them; to be a barbaric, blind, bitter person with no manners, no sense of tolerance. They will know no other way to express themselves in a modern society than using violence, threats and insults.
Allow me to point out something: http://www.e-fatwa.gov.my/fatwa-kebangsaan/merokok-dari-pandangan-islam
This is an official Malaysian fatwa, released in 1995, almost 20 years ago. It clearly states “merokok adalah haram” in the first paragraph. Yet so many of us choose to (selectively) ignore, and/or find something to support a “haram” decision that so many make.
“If you can smoke, why don’t you touch a pig”
“If you smoke, you will then move on to free zina (adultery) in public”
“If you can smoke, why don’t you become a rapist”
Correct, none of the statements have any relevance with each other, but that’s exactly what we are using as an argument recently. None of us have never seen any of these remarks made regarding smoking, despite existing for the past twenty years or so. Why the double standards? Why, despite a national fatwa being passed, are there still differing opinions that you choose not to engage? The only word for this, is “hypocrite”. Where do our priorities lie?
Several people touch a dog and nobody gets hurt; yet a manic witch hunt engulfs the nation, complete with death threats and an angry parade of people ready to stone them to death.
Several companies convicted of negligent practices and 10 people die; nobody bats as much as an eyelid – we say it’s fate.
Several people join a terror group and attempt to destroy the peace and harmony we hold dear; we see it as “God’s will”.
Several individuals regard the use of English as “Western agendas”, threatening to cut our children from the lingua franca of the world and all its knowledge, to prohibit our growth and render us irrelevant in the eyes of the world, threatening the very future of the nation; yet we see it as making our lives easier.
We are probably near the bottom rung when it comes to being competitive internationally in the future, as far as productivity and attitude is concerned. The words “Untuk Agama, Bangsa, dan Negara” we pride ourselves on will mean naught when we get colonized, a yet another time, by other nations through their economy; by the time we wake up, it will be far too late.
We must do some serious soul searching and take a deep, critical look at the issues engulfing the nation and its people, instead of getting distracted by, quite honestly, events that hold no bearing towards our future, that the rest of the modern world has absolutely zero regard for. Put the fear aside and face our priorities head on with an open mind, with the values that we hold as Malaysians, with the intention to better the country for our children – instead of acting like them.
