Object hudud, not insult Islam
By
Chua Jui Meng
NO
MALAYSIAN has the right to insult any religion. And MCA, in its amok frenzy to
garner Chinese support for the next general election, is doing just that
against Islam, the national religion.
Using
the hukum hudud (Islamic criminal
law) bogey, as has been used for umpteen years after Merdeka (Independence),
what the MCA and even the dominant Umno in Barisan Nasional (BN) don’t realise is
that the hudud is a double edge
sword.
It
harms and damages the integrity of both MCA and Umno.
Malaysians
have every right to object to the implementation of the hudud but not insult Islam.
When
MCA president Chua Soi Lek says eight of the 11 countries that implemented hudud were backward and corrupt, that is
just a plain insulting sweeping statement.
When
Chua says hudud is a cruel law, that
is harsh to the Muslims and Islam. Can’t he articulate more diplomatically? Like
saying the hudud is not suitable for
this era because …
There
are many other insults hurled by MCA against Islam which I do not wish to
repeat.
The
Islam-bashing led by Chua exposes Umno as a hypocrite , unable to defend the national religion against
the insults.
With
Mahathir Mohamad, the man who ruled Malaysia for 22 years, saying MCA did not
object to ‘Islamic country’ declaration, MCA is now a political dead duck to
the Chinese and Muslims.
It
is also becoming increasingly clear to all that Mahathir is still running the
country.
As
usual, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak can’t make a stand. He had no response
when asked about Soi Lek’s insulting statements. Najib could not defend his own
religion.
In
exasperation, Mahathir had to take the issue into his own hands.
After
the fire bombings of churches over the use of the word “Allah”, it was Pakatan
Rakyat de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang who emerged
to defend the constitutional rights of the Christians.
The
Christian weekly, The Herald, then took the Umno-led federal government to
court over the use of the word “Allah” to describe God.
On
Dec 31, 2009, the High Court ruled that the Christians had the right to use the
word “Allah” because the word was not exclusive to Muslims only.
I
say there is no more room for race and religious politics in Malaysia. We are
Malaysians loyal to the country.
And
this is an extract of a June 20, 2002, AP report:
Ling Liong Sik, leader of the Malaysian Chinese
Association, a party in the governing coalition, said that Malaysia was already
recognized as an Islamic country by international organizations.
"We will never amend the constitution," Ling
said. "We are what we are — a liberal, democratic Islamic state allowing
everybody to flourish. We never felt unassured."
All these zombie-like religious and
racial slurs put up by MCA and Umno for the past 55 years are aimed at only
maintaining their political power to enrich their crony businesses and the
elite.
That
is the only plausible explanation why, a natural resource-rich country,
including oil and gas, like Malaysia has accumulated more than RM500 billion in
federal debts, just 1.3% short of the 55% legislated debt ceiling.
If
this is not gross mismanagement of the country’s wealth, what is it?
Reproduced
below is a Malaysian Insider report:
Dr M: MCA did not object to ‘Islamic
country’ declaration
UPDATED @ 05:58:47 PM 23-10-2012
By Zurairi AR
October 23, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — MCA never objected when Malaysia was declared an “Islamic country”, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad told reporters today.
His remarks today come amid debate over the status of the Federal Constitution. De facto law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz told Parliament yesterday that Malaysia had no secularist roots.
On September 29, 2001 the nation’s fourth PM unilaterally declared Malaysia as an Islamic country in a political speech at the Gerakan party’s national delegates conference.
Dr Mahathir had appeared to contradict the secular pronouncements made by his predecessors, including Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra and Tun Hussein Onn, by saying: “Umno wishes to state loudly that Malaysia is an Islamic country. This is based on the opinion of ulamas who had clarified what constituted as Islamic country .... If Malaysia is not an Islamic country because it does not implement the hudud, then there are no Islamic countries in the world.”
Dr Mahathir also claimed today that Malaysia is “by definition” a Muslim country since it is acknowledged as such by the Muslim world.
“We don’t care about what these people say in order to make it a political issue,” he added, referring to the ongoing debate.
The former PM also expressed his disappointment that the hudud issue was being politicised by those who are pushing for its implementation.
“(This kind of) hudud, which is used for politics, is not exactly hudud,” he stressed. “It is hudud used to give victory over one side.
“Pity the Muslim. If he steals, his hand will be chopped off. But his (non-Muslim) friend who steals together with him will only get two months in jail. Is that fair? That is not Islam.”
He was also not pleased that those who support hudud are seen as more Islamic than those who do not support it.
“These issues are meant to scare the Chinese community to not support DAP,” Dr Mahathir said, referring to MCA’s recent attacks on hudud.
MCA had previously warned that Muslim MPs would unite to amend the Federal Constitution in favour of hudud and the Islamic state if PR takes over, but DAP’s Lim Kit Siang had dismissed it as a “lie” to deter the Chinese community from voting for the opposition.
MCA also had repeatedly used the issue in its bid to drive a wedge between PAS and DAP, two parties in the PR federal opposition pact.
PAS has expressed its support for the implementation of hudud law, but DAP has said that it can only be done in an “Islamic state”, pointing out that the Federal Constitution states that Malaysia is a secular country.
BN has often pointed to the differing views of PAS and DAP on hudud as proof
that PR is not united.
