1Malaysia marching towards Independence anniversary in the holy month of Ramadan...(part 2)

continuation from the last entry...

should've continued writing last week...
i wanted to comment a little on the "cow" story...
but then got too lazy...and the news became a little bit too old...
but it's still mentioned a little bit in the paper today...so i guess its still quite hot...

in the meantime...i found a good article by Prof Mohd Tajuddin Haji Mohd Rasdi
the article told everything i wanted to tell...only in a more matured and organised manner...
so instead of writing my own...and potentially using the wrong words...i decided to share this article here...
i don't know where is the source but i found this article here...

________________________________________

Of cow heads and arrogant Muslims
(Sep 1, 09 2:04pm)

I wish to comment on the 'cow head' incident in Shah Alam. As a Muslim and as a Malaysian citizen I do not support such a wanton display of disrespect for Islam and for Malaysia.

As a Muslim, my readings of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad's traditions or hadiths have taught me to respect animals and other religions.

With respect to animals, the Prophet warned Muslims against overburdening animals in carrying objects. The Prophet explained a story of how a prostitute was forgiven her sins by the simple act of giving a thirsty dog a drink.

The cow is one of the animals which Muslims slaughter not just for food but also as a sacrificial offering of our thankfulness to Allah as well as remembering Abraham's 'sacrifice' of his son Ismail.

The cow is thus 'holy' to Muslims as well as to Hindus. Muslims sacrifice a cow for the aqiqah ceremony or during the Qurban celebrations.

Thus as a Muslim, we must respect animals that become our food as well as our symbolic act of sacrifice.Standing or putting once's foot on a dead cow is a 'biadab' act that speaks of a person steeped in racial bigotry and of a person low in education of Islam.

With respect to other religions, there were occasions where the Prophet taught me about my attitude towards them. Once, the Prophet stood up as a sign of respect when the body of a Jew was carried to the grave.

When dispatching the army to a campaign, the Prophet warned the soldiers from desecrating houses of worships, those who reside in them, the young and the old and even trees should not be cut down if necessary.

Never had the Prophet taught me to desecrate another person's religion. The great Indonesian scholar Hamka wrote in his magnum opus, Tafsir Al-Azhar that there are hundreds of thousands of 'Nabi' and they might even be the founders of other religions.

It is common to find other religious faiths making fun of Islam and Muslims but as a Muslim I will never be allowed by my religion to make fun of other religions much less to desecrate them.

As a Malaysian citizen, I wish to ask why these people who showed such contempt for the religion of the Hindus not be arrested under the Sedition Act?

Were these people given permits by the police? If so why were they granted permits to desecrate another religion? Why were they not stopped and told to disperse? If Hindus can tolerate the Muslim call for prayers five times a day for the rest of their lives, what disruption can a Hindu temple be?

I live next to a Hindu Temple about 150 meters away and I observe a procession thrice or twice a year. It is quiet 362 days of the year.

Lastly, if these residents were proven to be members of any political party or parties, their membership should be revoked in order to ensure that we should not tolerate any political entity that uses racial hatred as their means of achieving political ends.

If not, then the said party or parties should be outlawed and their registration terminated immediately.

After more than 50 years of merdeka, I still cannot raise five children without the threat of racial disharmony and hatred. What does that say about our present leadership and future of our country?

_______________________________________

my view...
i don't care whether its politically motivated or otherwise...
peaceful demonstration is ok...
but to march with a severed cow head...deemed to be sacred in Hinduism...is definitely very insensitive...
moreover this is the holy month of Ramadan...and that time (last week) was our "National Day" week...
not to forget this is just a small group of people...they could be minority and may not represent the rest of the community at large...

but still....this has to be the best 1Malaysia joke ever...

p/s: for more updates...dig the news yourself lar...

1Malaysia marching towards Independence anniversary in the holy month of Ramadan...(part 1)

National Day is 2 days away...normally at this time of the year...i'm a little bit excited with a lot of patriotism running in my blood...seriously!
with all the articles in the newspaper about our founding fathers' battle for independence...
all the patriotic advertisement shown on TV...

but this year...perhaps my perspective had shifted a little...
these historical events reminding me how poor and weak and selfish our leaders are today as compared to our founding fathers...
and the advertisements keep reminding me of Yasmin Ahmad...

i feel the strongest for the one advert about a little indian boy...woke up early in the morning...dressed nicely by his mother and getting ready to go out with his father...for a very special day...

although the advert is a reproduction (a very good and emotional one)...but i can imagine on the 31st of August 1957...in Stadium Merdeka...the seven times "Merdeka" by Tunku...and 1 Malaysia (should i say Malaya?) with him...was filled with real emotion and exploding patriotism...

* to be continued...out for lunch with my lawyer

Why do we have to march?...he asked

last weekend...there was a "peaceful" gathering to protest against ISA...
and then our dear PM asked why do they need to march when the government is going to review the act "soon"...
here i found a good article with plenty of answers to that questions...
as its published in TheSun...and i believe not many of us read TheSun...i'll just share them with you here...(original article at http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=36441)

Why do Malaysians march?
Yeo Yang Poh

On the move ... a section of anti-ISA protesters near the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

WHY march, when the government has said that it will review the Internal Security Act? Why march, when there are other very cosy ways of giving your views and feedback?

One would understand if these were questions posed by nine-year-olds. But they are not. They are questions posed by the prime minister of this nation we call our home. Answer we must. So, why?

Because thousands who died while in detention cannot march or speak any more. That is why others have to do it for them.

Because persons in the corridors of power, persons who have amassed tremendous wealth and live in mansions, and persons who are in the position to right wrongs but won’t, continue to rule our nation with suffocating might. And they certainly would not march. They would prevent others from marching.

Because the have-nots, the sidelined, the oppressed, the discriminated and the persecuted have no effective line to the powerful.

Because the nice ways have been tried ad nauseam for decades, but have fallen on deaf ears.

Because none of the major recommendations of Suhakam (including on peaceful assembly), or of the commissions of inquiry, has been implemented. Because the proposed Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) is not in sight, while corruption and insecurity live in every neighbourhood; and (despite reasoned views expressed ever so nicely in opposition) Rela (people’s volunteer corps) is being brought in to make matters even worse.

The proponents in “Su Qiu” (remember them?) were not marchers. In fact it is hard to find nicer ways than “su qiu”, because the term means “present and request” or “inform and request”. In terms of putting forward a view or a request, it is the height of politeness. Yet they were labelled “extremists” – they who did not march.

And now you ask, why march?

Because you gave non-marchers a false name! You called them the “silent majority”, who by virtue of their silence (so you proudly argued with twisted logic) were supporters of government policies since they were not vocal in raising objections. You claimed to be protecting the interest of the “silent majority”. Now some of them do not want to be silent anymore, and you are asking why?

Yes, because double standards and hypocrisy cannot be covered up or explained away forever; and incompetence cannot be indefinitely propped up by depleting resources.

Because cronyism can only take care of a few people, and the rest will eventually wake up to realise the repeated lies that things were done in certain ways purportedly “for their benefit”.

Because the race card, cleverly played for such a long time, is beginning to be seen for what it really is – a despicable tool to divide the rakyat for easier political manipulation.

Because it does not take much to figure out that there is no good reason why Malaysia, a country with abundant human resources and rich natural resources, does not have a standard of living many times higher than that of Singapore, an island state with no natural resources and that has to import human resources from Malaysia and elsewhere.

Because, in general, countries that do not persecute marchers are prosperous or are improving from their previous state of affairs, and those that do are declining.

Because Gandhi marched, Mandela marched, Martin Luther King marched, and Tunku Abdul Rahman marched.

Because more and more people realise that peaceful assemblies are no threat at all to the security of the nation, although they are a threat to the security of tenure of the ruling elite.

Because politicians do not mean it when they say with a straight face or a smile that they are the servants and that the people are the masters. No servant would treat his master with tear gas, batons and handcuffs.

Because if the marchers in history had been stopped in their tracks, places like India, Malaysia and many others would still be colonies today, apartheid would still be thriving in South Africa, Nelson Mandela would still be scribbling on the walls of Cell 5, and Obama would probably be a slave somewhere in Mississippi plotting to make his next midnight dash for the river.

And because liberty, freedom and dignity are not free vouchers posted out to each household.

They do not come to those who just sit and wait. They have to be fought for, and gained.

And if you still want to ask: why march; I can go on and on until the last tree is felled. But I shall
obviously not.

I will end with the following lines from one of the songs sung in the 1960s by civil rights marchers in the US, without whom Obama would not be able to even sit with the whites in a bus, let alone reside in the White House:

“It isn’t nice to block the doorway
It isn’t nice to go to jail
There are nicer ways to do it
But the nice ways have all failed
It isn’t nice; it isn’t nice
You’ve told us once, you’ve told us twice
But if that’s freedom’s price
We don’t mind ...”

Yeo Yang Poh is a former Bar Council president. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com.