Wake up Malaysian!
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/14690/84/
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Religious superstition and persecution never ceases to amaze me. Take the case
of Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow of Mogadishu, Somalia. On 27th October 2008, 13-year
old Aisha was killed. She was killed when 1,000 people stoned her to death. And
she was stoned to death because three men had raped her. She was raped, so they
accused of adultery.
Imagine a 13-year old girl killed in a most brutal manner because she was raped
by three men. Should it not be the three men who should have instead been
stoned to death? And do you not wonder why Islam suffers from a serious image
problem? Muslims should take stock of what they are doing and understand the
disservice they are doing to Islam.
Our religious rehabilitation by the Kamunting detention camp started on the
Tuesday after Deepavali. The highlight of the sessions was the “nasi tomato”
and the chicken wing in a plastic bag that they served for lunch, courtesy of
JAKIM but paid for by the Malaysian taxpayers, 90% who are Chinese.
The JAKIM ustaz told us that Islam is the true religion and that all other
religions are false. We were reminded not to believe in or follow other
religions, which are not accepted and recognized by God. Only the Koran is the
true Holy Book and was sent to us by God through the Prophet Muhammad. All
other books are false and were created by man and did not come from God.
We must also not copy or ape the non-Muslims as that will lead us astray and we
will become an apostate if we act like the kafir. He did not, however, give any
examples on what would be considered acting like a kafir.
In the meantime, in another incident that happened outside the Kamunting
detention camp, an UKM lecturer explained that Muslims should not do yoga or
meditate, as the origin of this is Hinduism. Muslims who do yoga or meditate
would be led astray, argued the wise man from UKM. He then asked the religious
scholars to come out with a fatwa or decree banning Muslims from doing yoga or
meditating.
It is ironical that the JAKIM ustaz who visited Kamunting chose that subject
matter to kick off our religious rehabilitation program. The article that got
me into trouble with the government and which resulted in my detention under
the Internal Security Act said exactly the same thing. I pointed out that the
Friday prayer sermons run down the other religions. I also argued that we are
told not to ape the non-Muslims or take them as our friends as the non-Muslims
are sworn enemies of Islam and can never be our friends. For that I was
detained under the Internal Security Act and my first lecture happened to be
the very thing I said and which got me detained.
There are in fact many things which Malays do and which originated from
Hinduism. Take the stringing up of coloured lights as one example. Seven days
before Hari Raya Malays would string up coloured lights around their home,
sometimes even on trees like they do during Christmas. This is a throwback of
the old days when they used to use kerosene or oil lamps. And this was a custom
borrowed from Deepavali because the Arabs do not do this.
So, the next time you pass by a Malay house during Hari Raya and you see all
those coloured lights you can smile, knowing that the occupant of that house is
borrowing a Hindu ritual -- only that he or she does not know it.
If we really want to go into the long list of Hindu customs and rituals that
the Malays have borrowed the list would be endless. We should not ape the
kafir, the religious scholars tell us. If not we would become a kafir. Well,
what about wearing a tie, coat and pants? Is this not a kafir attire?
How many Malays go about wearing a robe and turban? Even that UKM lecturer who
wants a fatwa issued banning Malays from doing yoga or meditation wears kafir
clothes. Look at all the Malay government officers. They all wear kafir clothes
and sometimes a tie as well. The security forces all wear kafir uniforms with a
kafir hat on their heads.
We count our days using a Christian calendar. I am facing various charges for
crimes I committed on certain days of the Christian calendar. What was the day
of the Islamic calendar, the Hijrah calendar, that I committed my crimes? The
charge sheet does not say.
I am facing various charges in a kafir court. The charges I am facing are
crimes according to kafir laws. I was also under detention without trial
according to a kafir law. In fact, according to Islam, I have not committed any
crime. And Islam does not allow for detention without trial.
For that matter not only have I not committed a crime, according to Islam, but
what I have done is what Islam has actually made mandatory. Islam makes it
mandatory for all Muslims to perform “Amar Makruf, Nahi Munkar”. This means to
uphold good and oppose evil. All Muslims must do this without exception. Not
doing it, according to Islam, makes you an extremely weak Muslim.
I, however, am now facing trial and was under detention without trial for
performing my Islamic duty. And kafir laws, not Islamic laws, are being used
against me. Kafir laws are being used against Muslims for doing what Islam has
made mandatory.
And what is the reaction of Muslims to all this? What is the UKM lecturer doing
about it? Is he up in arms about the kafir system being implemented against
Islam? Is the Member of Parliament for Kulim demonstrating on the streets and
screaming, “I am a Muslim first I don’t care about other people’s opinions”?
Okay, the UKM lecturer wants yoga and meditation banned and the Kulim MP wants
to shut the mouths of anyone who wants to talk about Islam. But that is about
it. It never goes beyond that,
Sometimes the Malays can be amazing. Okay, not sometimes, most times. Now UMNO
wants Zaid Ibrahim sacked as a Malay. Can any Malay actually be sacked as a
Malay? I wonder, but UMNO thinks it can be done. UMNO says that Zaid would be
nobody -- he would not be a lawyer of the biggest law firm in Malaysia -- if he
was not a Malay and the country did not have Ketuanan Melayu and the New
Economic Policy.
Zaid thinks that that is an insult. He would like to believe he is what he is
because he is Zaid and because he is smart. If he would instead be a simple
fisherman in Tumpat, Kelantan, without the benefit of Ketuanan Melayu and the
NEP, then this means Zaid is actually quite stupid.
I share Zaid’s view. I also would like to believe that I am “somebody” and
“special” because I am Raja Petra. If it is because of Ketuanan Melayu and the
NEP, and if not because of that I would be washing cars in Bangsar, then this
would certainly make me very unhappy.
Yes, Zaid and people like him do not need crutches. Only losers need crutches.
And that is why UMNO wants these crutches to remain, because they are all a
bunch of losers. I would like to believe that I am what I am because of who I
am and not because of Ketuanan Melayu and the NEP. I take pride in that. I
would hate people saying, “of course Raja Petra is successful. He is a Malay
and Malays have Ketuanan Melayu and the NEP to help them. Malays need crutches
to get ahead.”
It is time the crutches are removed and the Malays learned how to walk with
their heads held up high. Malays have to be made to believe that the Ketuanan
Melayu and the NEP is an insult and that it suggests Malays are weak creatures.
Malays must be proud of their achievements and not credit their achievements to
the protection and special privileges they enjoy because they are Malay. The
Malays used to be a proud race. Now they are no longer proud. They accept that
they are weak. So they demand protection to compensate for this weakness.
