Will Bangladeshi hacking-style murders reach our shores?
We must teach that there are multiple versions of Islam. This is a matter of fact.
Farouk A. Peru, The Malay Mail Online
I had already begun writing this piece when I read the news that a Malay-Muslim man had been arrested for desecrating a temple.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) has stated that the man is mentally ill. Be that as it may, let’s ask the question: Why did he not commit other acts associated with mental illness (like expose himself or molest someone)?
Instead, he went after a Hindu temple and desecrated their shrines. It is no coincidence that in the narrative of traditional Islam, Abraham was said to have smashed the statues of his people.
Of course, the Ipoh icon smasher may indeed be mentally ill but the religious element behind his act is undeniable. He may have picked up radical teachings by Islamofascist preachers creating that spark of violence during his reported stay in Egypt. We are fortunate no one was hurt.
As Malaysia inches closer and closer towards the abyss of religious violence, Bangladesh is already at its precipice. “Micro-terrorism” has already seized them, resulting in the wave of hacking murders. Various figures have been murdered for their secular and liberal views.
The latest to be murdered was an activist for the LGBT community. Julhas Mannan was said to be a gay rights activist and editor of the LGBT magazine, Roopban. His murderers actually entered his apartment and attacked him. One other person was killed and another injured.
This murder came only a few days after the killing of an academic, Professor Rezaul Karim Siddique, 58, who taught English at a public university. The Islamic State (now a generic term connoting any Islamofascist group that simply reads about the so-called Islamic state and claims allegiance) claimed they were behind the murder. This is inexplicable because the professor was a literary and linguistic activist and never spoke about religion publicly.
Will this level of violence reach Malaysia? If I was asked this 20 years ago, I would have replied with a resounding “never” but the situation has changed. Islamofascist influence has truly spiked in recent years.
We are now being brainwashed en masse 24/7 via cable Islamic networks. I readily admit that much of their programming encourage people to do good but they are also deeply sectarian in nature. “Sectarian” in the sense that they sectionalise humanity and see them as warring tribes.
Some may accuse me of scaremongering but I am a firm believer in prevention as it is far more effective than cure. Prevention may be too late for the present generation given the level of brainwashing we have had to stomach thus far but at the very least, we can help the next generation overcome this bigotry.
