Remove
the cancer of racism in our heart and soul
Everyday, one of my daily rituals after
getting up in the morning is to switch on my computer and opening up my Facebook
account to keep up with the news from friends and family from back home. It
helps cure my longing from being there and feeling homesick especially when I
am living in another continent and a country faraway where there is only a
handful of Malaysians living here.
The place is Denmark, a country of 5.5
million people who made the world headlines some years ago when a Danish artist
drew a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad. The infamous incident led to the burning of
Danish embassies, flags and protest from the Muslim countries all around the
world.
One of the laws that the Danes are proud of
is the freedom of speech and press. You are free to practice in what you
believe in, religion, God, no God or what not, as long as you don’t hurt
anyone. You can be a Muslim and practice your religion freely; nobody is going
to stop you.
If you decided to be an atheist the next
day, nobody really gives a care. You don’t have to worry about Islamic police
come charging at your door and forced you to repent according to their understanding
of what Islam is or worry about being arrested for committing apostasy, a
‘murtad’ and be fined and jailed for a period of time just because your
opinions are different from them.
In Malaysia, the ongoing case with 80-year-old
Kassim Ahmad is a fine example of how religion is being forced on you, whether
you like it or not. This is opposite to
the basic teaching of Islam, which says that faith or religion should not be
forced to a person. The only way you can find peace and freedom through Islam
is when you freely submit to it. By forcing people doing something they don’t
like doesn’t solve anything. It simply makes it worse. People will only rebel
to it.
Another example is if you are born a Malay,
then you are automatically a Muslim. You have no choice but simply have to
accept that Islam will be your religion for the rest of your life. Islamic
faith is being imposed on you because that is just how things are here. Force
id used to instill fear so that the people in power will easily be in control
of people and all for the wrong reason. If you do the otherwise, you will be
seen as a sinner, a wrongdoer of insulting Islam and should be punished in the
name of Allah.
As year passes by, the decisions made by
the lawmakers is making the country moving backwards in terms of humanity. The action
taken towards Kassim Ahmad was unjust.
Simply by arresting him for having different of opinions was unIslamic.
In this multi-ethnics country that boast
about giving it citizens freedom of religion, why are we not even allowed to
discuss about Islam, about what does it takes to be a good Muslim? Why are we
not allowed to be different from others and let us be our own selves?
Doesn’t Islam encourage its followers to
discuss about the hadiths and the content in the Koran so that we to have a
better understanding of what the teachings are all about? Are we not taught to
settle our differences in a peaceful manner just like the Prophet have shown
us?
Well sadly to say there is no such thing as
freedom of religion in this country. We are not allowed to voice out our
opinions about Islam. We have no rights to be ourselves and the only way to
settle our differences is through authoritarian use of force by the so call
moral Islamic police, who blindly follow their orders by their masters whose
faith were driven by their ego trip on power and control.
Being a good Muslim doesn’t automatically
make us better or superior than any other people. Islam teaches us to be good to
others and to treat everyone equally, regardless of their skin colors or
beliefs. The minute we started to believe that we are the chosen one that is
when we can find ourselves in no better position than those Jewish people who
believe in the same manner.
In my conversation with people from back
home, I was surprised to find out that even some highly educated young Malays have
this kind of mentality. This slave
mentality, which imprisons their minds are driven by their own fear to be the
righteous one, and fighting all for the wrong reasons in the name of jihad and
Malay rights.
The Malay rights were formed to help the
poor Malays to improve their living and economic condition. But the Malays rights are quite outdated
since the people only served to a few people. Government contracts for example
are given to Malay owned ‘Alibaba’ companies, many of whom did not have the
capability and capacity to undertake them and forced to hire others to actually
do the work. The Malay rights have also neglected a vast majority of Malays and
helped some very much more than others. It is time to unveil the truth and get
rid of the hypocrisies behind this policy. Moreover, besides the poor Malays,
there are also poor Indian, Chinese and other poor ethnics Malaysians in Sabah
and Sarawak who in need of dire help.
The mindsets of Malays need to be changed.
Groups such as Perkasa and Isma are doing a fantastic job dividing the country,
embarrassing and damaging Islam and the Malay race in the eyes of the world. I
am deeply sorry and sad to hear the Malays who would say something like ‘ if
you don’t like this country, then go back to where you belong’. These people
are sick and their mind are brainwashed as if to say that this country only
belong to them. Their way of solving problems through hatreds and threats are
against the teaching of Islam and will only lead disaster.
What is a good Muslim anyway? Who is the
real devil? Just because we started to go to the mosque and pray 5 times a day
make us better Muslims than those who don’t? Do covering ourselves from head to
toes make us a better Muslim than those who don’t? Or just because we are Sunni
Muslims make us better Muslims than the Shia Muslim? We could perhaps be abetter
Muslim but not necessarily be better human being.
Malcolm X said ‘ the true practice of Islam
can removed the cancer of racism in the heart and the soul …’
If we can do that, Malaysia will be in no
doubt could join Denmark, who has been frequently ranked as the happiest
country in the world in cross-national studies. Until then, there is still plenty of work to
do.
