by M. Bakri Musa
When President Nixon ordered the bombing of Hanoi during Christmas of 1972, I knew then that his fate was sealed. I am not a Christian, but living in the West I am very much aware of the spiritual significance of Christmas. As such I found Nixon’s action, coming from a self-professed Christian who regularly had Billy Graham pray with him in the White House, abominable beyond comprehension.
A Just God would not let such a barbaric action go unpunished. Sure enough, a few months later the Watergate scandal broke out that would ultimately lead to Nixon’s resigning under threat of impeachment. This was less than two years after he won a landslide re-election victory.
As a Muslim I feel profoundly the spirituality of Ramadan. It was the month that Allah first revealed the Quran to His Last Messenger, Prophet Muhammad, s.a.w. That was a measure of His generosity upon us. It is said that the gates to Heaven are wide open, and to Hell closed shut, during this season, again reflecting His mercifulness during this blessed month.
We are expected to reciprocate this divine gift by being generous to our fellow beings. Ramadan is thus a season to be charitable, to be forgiving of each other and the seeking of forgiveness from others. All faiths have such a special period in their calendar when their followers are expected to be extra generous to and tolerant of their fellow human beings.
Imagine my horror, shared by many, when Prime Minister Abdullah, the self-declared Imam of Islam Hadhari, chose this particular month to incarcerate Raja Petra Kamarudin and others under the draconian Internal Security Act that allows for detention without trial, or even the filing of charges.
I would have expected the reverse. That is, during Ramadan the Prime Minister would grant amnesty to deserving prisoners as a gesture of the government’s generosity and charity of spirit.
I have yet to see this happen in Malaysia, or any other Muslim country for that matter. Instead we have the odious act of the police bundling up Raja Petra and others into prison, right in front of their families. Where in the Quran or the sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad, s.a.w., did Imam Abdullah find the justification for such a cruel act? Where is the spirit of generosity or sense of forgiveness demanded from each of us by our faith during this holy month?
As a Muslim Abdullah will be paying his zakat fitr (tithe) this Ramadan, and come Hari Raya he will be generous with his duit raya to the children calling upon the gates of Sri Perdana. That is the extent of his understanding of the concept of charity and generosity called for in our faith: simplistic, ritualistic, and materialistic. Those he jailed under the ISA or the millions made miserable through escalating living costs as a consequence of his economic policies never enter his heart.
ISA Unjust
Like Nixon before, I also expect Abdullah’s latest inhuman act would also seal his fate. I do not know or care what or when his comeuppance would be but I do know that whenever I see an injustice being perpetrated, I am duty bound by my faith to respond.
I do not wish to sermonize and outdo our Imam of Islam Hadhari (he is already good at that and does it all too frequently), but I do know this. As per the teachings of our Prophet, s.a.w., when we see an injustice, we are to do whatever in our capacity to stop it. If we are unable to do so with our hands (that is, physically), then we are to use our tongue (voice our disapproval). Failing that, then at least acknowledge in our heart that we disapprove of it, though that would be the option least pleasing to Allah.
Incarcerating Raja Petra and others without affording them their due process is the height of injustice; and to do it during Ramadan is both cruel and vindictive. It is also an affront to our religious sensibility; the very act desecrates our holy month.
I do not recommend anyone attempting to physically stop the police as that would risk your being arrested too, or worse. We have to caution ourselves that where injustice or lawlessness is institutionalized, then the just and the lawful become victims.
There is something well within our ability to do, that is, voice our disapproval of the brutal ways of our government. Many have already done so last March and again last month at the ballot box. Unfortunately our leaders are slow learners, or refuse to learn the lesson. We have to keep teaching them.
There is now a petition circulating in cyberspace seeking the release of all those detained under the ISA. I urge all to sign it, as my family and I did. Writing this commentary is also my way of condemning Abdullah’s brutish ways.
Last week with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim threatening to bring down the administration through coaxing its members to cross over, Abdullah threw a veiled threat of resorting to the ISA to silence Anwar. Local and international pressures made Abdullah back off.
If we can believe him, Home Minister Syed Hamid was not at all involved in the process. He proudly asserted that he did not “interfere” with the “professional” work of the police. To think that the precious freedom of our citizens could hinge on the judgment if not fancy of some functionary in the police department is truly shocking. For a minister to admit that he does not know what is going on in his department goes beyond incredulity; it is utter incompetence and gross dereliction of duty.
Today (September 22), just hours before the habeas corpus application by Raja Petra, Syed Hamid signed off on the detention of Raja Petra, thus making a mockery of the minister’s earlier denial.
No man is perfect enough to be entrusted with the liberty and dignity of others, asserted the Sudanese reformist Mahmoud Mohamad Taha. I certainly would not entrust my freedom to others, least of all characters like Abdullah and Syed Hamid. We need due process.
Raja Petra was held for supposedly “insulting Islam.” Those police officers either have not read his articles, or if they did, could not understand them.
As Mufti of Perlis Datuk Asri Zainal Abidin so wisely noted, even Allah on the Day of Judgment would have us answer for our deeds before rendering judgment. Here we have a mere mortal in the person of the Imam of Islam Hadhari passing judgment on fellow citizens without first hearing their side.
Law professor Azmi Sharom said it best. “The arrest of Raja Petra, Kok and Tan shows that the law is so open to abuse that we have no other choice but to get rid of it. …. There can be no room for amendments. The ISA must go.” Amen!
God works in mysterious ways, so says our Quran. Nixon had his Watergate; Abdullah too will have his comeuppance. Whenever that comes, I pray that Allah would be merciful. There is no anger in me for Abdullah, only sadness for what he has done to our nation
“When President Nixon ordered the bombing of Hanoi …”
This makes John McCain now running for the highest office in the United States, the so-called “hero” whose plane was shot down over Hanoi, who was incarcerated for five years in Hanoi Hilton, a war criminal.
His indiscriminate bombing and strafing of Hanoi killed innocent civilians, women and children.
Im puzzled by the allegation agains RPK arrest. They have no reason to ISA’d him, and theres not even mass or streets protest agains RPK article nor our national security was under threat as they claim, becaused his article was not even “insulting Islam.”!
I wonder the arrest was caused by the NAJIS-C4 allegation to shut him off instead?
The world knows that ISA is unjust. It is only in this country that ISA is constantly being abused by those people in power for their hidden agenda. Majority in this country are bewildered and disgusted with the government. It seems the voice of the rakyat is simply ignored by them. It is so insulting and a real blow when they arrested people using ISA and came out with rubbish and stupid reasons to justify their actions.
How long more Malaysians are going to suffer under this law. Will we have the real chance to abolish this draconian law. So Pakatan Rakyat, you are the only hope that Malaysian are depending on. It’s now or never and let adopt ‘the end justify the means” to challenge the present irrelevant and irresponsible power that be. RELEASE RPK AND THE REST OF ISA DETAINEES.
This is Malaysia or should I say this is how Malaysian live our lives where our freedom is in the hand of a functionary officer or department.
Its beyond comprehension (actually no words) to have a person treated like an animal, caged up for possibly the rest of his life where his only sin (if doing what is right under his religion is a sin) is to comment on a ruthless and heartless regime.
No sane human can tolerate such a tyrannical act, not of all my friends and family members that I spoke to. Even my son who is in his teenage does not understand why one has to be jailed possibly for the rest of his life (at the pleasure of a functionary officer, may I add) for merely commenting in a blog.
What can I do as a Rakyat Malaysia. Do I standby and read about it or just paying lip service? Or do I take up arms which obviously I can’t and I wouldn’t.
Malaysian is so oppressed that March-3 & August-26 can’t changed it. So we say ‘Now the power is in the Rakyat’s hand’. Dream on, I say.
Dream on if we stay quite, dream on if we just pay lip service, dream on if all we could do is to blog it.
I say we need affirmative action. An action that can shift our destiny of what March-3 and August-26 can’t.
Of course any weaker person would have resorted to terrorism but that I say we have a law that says you can’t and I say is totally unacceptable in this part of the world (unless we still live in the jungle where rule of the jungle applies)
One thing that comes to mind is to show these tyrants our disapproval legally.
“Boycott All Tyrants Open House This Raya” and Refuse any ‘Duit Raya’ from them. The food we eat and the money we take from these tyrants are all tainted and stained with injustice to Malaysian.
I will be disappointed comes Raya when I see thousands and thousands of Malaysian and foreign dignitaries still visit these oppressors, shaking hand with them just for a piece meal and some poket money.
Other than being disappointed and sad, what else can one do? I leave it up to you.
The abuse of the ISA has plunged the nation into the same rank as Nyanmar, North Korea and Zimbabwe. Malaysian democracy is only an illusion.
Opps March-8….instead of March-3
In the past, politicians call for time-outs during the holy month of Ramadan. We have seen this in Malaysia. At least those politicians respect Ramadan and its significance.
But this flip-flopping lame duck PM that was once an imam?
Oh … ooops … sorry … it’s Islam Hadhari!
This Abdullah and the cronies government would not last long. They have failed as a ruler of the nation to uplift justice and righteousness according to all religious books. Whether your are a Muslim, Christian, Buddist or Hindu, you know the BN/UMNO gomen failed miserably to uplift justice and righteousness.
ISA – to arrest those who opposed them be it innocent civilians
OSA – to cover up they misdeeds, eg. the highway concessionaries, who are the shareholders, benificials nobody knows
ACA – Arrest/harass those who intend to jump ship. In the BN history, can BN explain how many opposition leaders have crossed/brought over? They should have stopped this practice in the first place. Only them above law and not anyone else.
Hats off YB Lim KS for standing firm with your believes and principles for 40 over yrs . Many would have fallen/crossed over/taking easy way out to the dark side for selfish gain but not your honour. Raymond Tan of SAPP is the latest running doggie.
BN/UMNO/MCA/MIC, your days are numbered. Even you can try to fool the Rakyat, you cannot fool GOD!
AAB, Najib & Syed Hamid who are all Muslims have put Islam in a very bad light. By taking the law into their own hands invoking ISA at their whimps & fancy, by behaving so arrogantly like big bully & bulldozer, they are actually profaning the good name of Islam.
Malaysians owe much to RPK for taking pains to write at length honoring Islam as peace & care & equality.
Now just who is insulting Islam?????
We pray that justice will prevail & RPK will be vindicated soon.
The govt intends to rule perpetually by hook or by crook. Using the ISA is only one of the methods to quell dissent, there are others like OSA, Sedition Act and others to help their cause. Apart from that they will also gerrymander, cheat, lie use postal votes in elections to avoid a change in govt and being hauled up to answer for all the corruption and abuses of power in the 51 years they have been in power. You can criticise all you want but to them their survival matters more.
To counter them the opposition should try to uncover their lies and deceit to as many people as possible especially the rural Malays whom they have been robbing blind in their name. Already the people in power recgonise the threat of the internet and are trying to clamp down on it. Use other means as well, the ruling elite must be uncovered.
Does he actually know what’s Islam Hadhari?
I know one thing for sure…!
He can’t run our country. He can’t decide on anything. He can’t flip-flop without asking his s-i-law first. He can’t even comment on anything without a discussion with his goons.
I know what he can do…..!
He can run our country to the longkang for all he care…..!
Made sooo…. many promises to the rakyat. Using words like “Believe me when I tell you this !”……
“This is what the rakyat wants !”…..
“I’ll discuss with the cabinet first !”…..
“I will…. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz !”…..
Mr. Lim,
When are you & Anwar & PKR gonna let Malaysia prosper again ???
The investors are already planning for their escape. Ringgit leaving the country. And new investors though are waiting & seeing won’t wait anymore….!
Just get things done & don’t let the rakyat wait. We are starting to disbelieve PKR’s transition….
Please do what you say…!
Thanks yah.
The act of ISA on RPK is an act of “desprado”. It is only to shut RPK from talking further on the Altantuya and the C4 issues. That’s my guts feeling. It is an act by cowards whom are scared to face the reality of the “guilt”. Shame…….
As AAB would say: Read my lips.
This is Islam Hadhari. During this holy month of Ramadan, a number of Muslims ordered the detention of another Muslim under ISA, without trial, for 2 years, causing pain and misery to the detainee and his family members. Why? Terrorism? Protecting personal safety? Preventing the detainee from exposing more truth in the court?
No wonder RPK wrote that there are true Muslims and pseudo Muslims. Go figure it out yourself!
Being the month of Ramadan does not mean the subversive behaviour of a mischief-maker and an Islamophobe can not be excused. It fact it is logical and a strong indication of Ramadan that evil should be put in check at all times throughout the year by apprehending the person in question.
To do this in Ramadan in fact an act of virtue as the authorities have nipped an ugly, disparaging and slanderous bud before it could do any more harm to the social stability and peace of the country (which is far more important and bigger than the “civil liberties” of an individual)!
THE BN’d Croonies are just being “Materialistic” living in modern world, Do you think they even care for Nation Relligion or Future of Malaysia?
THEIR PHILOSOPHY ARE THE SAME, ROBBED AS MUCH AS U CAN DURING OUR PREMIERSHIP!
Transparency International(TI) Corruption Perception Index(CPI) 2008 placing our country at ranking No. 47th “PROVEN IM SUCCESSOR!”…
Today’s Star page N27, Malaysia slide further in the Corruption Perceptions Index(CPI) in a survey conducted by Transperancy International. 2007 stands at 43 out of 179 countries. 2008 drops to 47 out of 180 countries. I am not surprise at all with the leaders that we have with “Malaysia Boleh”. Memang boleh pun…..boleh tipu rakyat.
/// zak_hammaad Says:
Today at 12: 30.27 (3 hours ago)
Being the month of Ramadan does not mean the subversive behaviour of a mischief-maker and an Islamophobe can not be excused. ///
Then why is RPK not excused? (Read carefully what you wrote before you respond.)
I am writing this with no expectation of an answer, but if the contributor is as concern as to what he has written, I suppose he has to clarify some questions raise here.
“Being the month of Ramadan does not mean the subversive behaviour of a mischief-maker and an Islamophobe can not be excused”…zak
I have no problem with your line of argument. But who is to judge another human being without him/her to have a chance to defend himself or herself in open court.
A person with authority must act with fairness and please convince us in this case where and how justice is demonstrated.
I suspect there is an ulterior motive and using religion as a good camouflage, are you able to proof there is none at all? Who is to judge that the authority is not corrupted?
If not brought to open court, are you able to swear that the authority acted in good faith and without malaise?
UzMiNoOnist Says:
>> I have no problem with your line of argument. But who is to judge another human being without him/her to have a chance to defend himself or herself in open court.
We judge by what people say and write. RPK has been given ample opportunities to explain himself and on occasions he holds his silence and on other occasions he insists on his stance without evidence. I have no problem if RPK claimed ignorance for which he can be excused; the problem is that he actually believes and persists in anti-Islamic info dissemination.
There is an article entitled “the great tudung debate” on his blog today (he must have horded plenty of them before his arrest so that someone can continue posting on his behalf :^) Here you will find a blatant attack on an established Islamic institution (re: the hijab). He tries to disprove an established Islamic fact that is proven through Islamic legislative sources. By deliberating on an issue that he clearly have no knowledge of, nor of it’s Arabic sources, nor of the creed-related to it nor of jurisprudent issues relating to it, he creates a sour atmosphere of hate and ignorance. He also does not allow anyone to contend his ignorance (I’ve been blocked from posting on his blog).
RPK is a truly nasty piece of work who goes beyond the political facet of blogging and touches upon fundamental issues to discredit Islamic creed and history for a selfish agenda he holds. “A blasphemer of the worst kind” one politician called him, I would say he is a wilful Islamophobe, who should have stuck to the political agenda of his blog rather than an anti-Islamic one.
zak_hammaad Says:
Today at 18: 24.06 (48 minutes ago)
You quote: “RPK has been given ample opportunities to explain himself and on occasions he holds his silence and on other occasions he insists on his stance without evidence… ”
REPLY: Please lar … don’t try to bull and lie to everyone here. No right thinking Malaysians believe there is a need to use the ISA, when this sort of issues can easily be settled in a Sharia / Islamic court. Let RPK have his chance to defend himself there. If guilty, let the Shariah court punishes him. There is simply no need to use the ISA at all.
You quote: “There is an article entitled “the great tudung debate” on his blog today (he must have horded plenty of them before his arrest so that someone can continue posting on his behalf :^) …”
REPLY: Again, please do not lie on matters of facts. In the Star Report, it was reported that the ISA detention was made by the Home Minister on the basis of 2 articles written by RPK (see links below). “The Great Tudung Debate” is NOT the article.
The 2 articles are: http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/11025/84/ – “I promise to be a good, non-hypocritical Muslim” and
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/11707/1/ – “Not all Arabs are descendants of the Prophet”
Despite the titles, the purpose of the articles are very clear to anyone who bothers to read them.
And to say the primary purpose is to insult Islam is definitely STRETCHING ONE’S IMAGINATION to the fullest.
It is OBVIOUS to ALL right thinking Malaysians, that to detain RPK ON THE BASIS OF THESE 2 ARTICLES ALONE ARE CLEARLY AN EXERCISE IN LOOKING FOR THE SMALLEST and FLIMSIEST POSSIBLE EXCUSE TO DETAIN HIM UNDER ISA. It is beyond doubt that this is a complete and gross abuse of the ISA law, just to please certain political masters.
I repeat – RPK should be given the opportunity to defend himself in a Shariah Court. There is simply no reason to use the ISA on him, when he is simply not a threat to national security at all.
Old.observer, the Shariah courts in Malaysia are not developed enough to deal with theological and ideological matters. They run concurrently with civil courts primarily in addressing social issues within the Muslim communities. The kind of ignorance and hate that RPK brings to the public domain can not be resolved through courts as it is a specialised area that the Shariah courts do not cater for. Secondly, a Shariah court ruling can not be binding upon all Malaysians and thus there will remain a large minority of the population who will continue to reel in confusion.
Like I said before, anyone involved in subversive activities that are detrimental to the social stability and peace of a country needs to be dealt with firmly. I don’t think any country would compromise their security in the name of ‘civil liberties’.
“Like I said before, anyone involved in subversive activities that are detrimental to the social stability and peace of a country needs to be dealt with firmly. I don’t think any country would compromise their security in the name of ‘civil liberties’”….Zak
Well said Zak.
Don’t you think this should be applied to Ahmad ‘the squatter’ Ismail and Toyo’l?
in my point of view, we should get away from the duit raya for the kids, the poor, the old folks and others as this is seen as a form of corruption. what they should do is giving the children a better place to learn, giving the poor better home and give their kids real free education. this will help them to get out of poverty. all these giving money are gimmicks. worst form of gimmicks. is the self-professed imam of Islam hadhari understand what is corruption? or it have been part of his cult culture?
i would guess this is the main reason he was arrested…
“I thought I would share this ‘exchange’ with you while at the same time allow Syed Hamid to, again, scream that I am a ‘blasphemous Muslim of the worst kind’ and threaten me with detention under the Internal Security Act. These threats do turn me on so, and at times even gives me an orgasm, so keep them coming Syed”…
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/12321/84/
The police were controled by Syed Hamids and hamid was under Najis! “Sedition and insulting islam” MY FOOOOOOOOOOOT! Bunch of hypocrites! Where is the proved?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/12194/84/
uzminooist, absolutely. This blunder by the government has cost it dearly.
zak_hammaad,
The Shariah courts in Malaysia are WELL developed enough to deal with theological and ideological matters. They run concurrently with civil courts primarily in addressing social issues within the Muslim communities. The kind of ISSUES and INSIGHT that RPK brings to the public domain can be resolved through courts as it is a specialised area that the Shariah courts CAN cater for. Secondly, a Shariah court ruling can be binding ON RPK WHO IS A MUSLIM and thus there will remain a large minority of the population who will continue to reel in WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING after the trial.
Like I said before, anyone involved in subversive activities that are detrimental to the social stability and peace of a country needs to be dealt with firmly. I don’t think any country would compromise their security in the name of ‘civil liberties’.
In conclusion:
1. You have not demonstrated the offending sentence or paragraph in the 2 MT articles I previously linked.
2. You have not demonstrated how they are ignorant as well as how they incite hatred. Everyone of my Muslim friends that I personally showed the article to says that they are simply not offended at all.
Trial RPK in an open court, whether the civil court or the Shariah court. What is there for the Government to be afraid of if the vast majority of Muslims are not offended by his articles?
Old.observer, I have and am very much able to provide examples of RPK’s blasphemous and disparaging sections, but this is neither the blog nor the time to share these with you because firstly you are not a Muslim and therefore will not understand the intricate issues that his statements signify, secondly some of them are of extreme nature that would not be condusive to the self-regulation that this blog practises.
In short, unless you are learned within Islam, you will easily miss the finer points of contention. RPK should be grateful that he is in Malaysia because most of Muslim countries who not have interned him, rather the noose would have long been given way under his neck.
Night night.
When the Malaysian government declared the end of the Emergency in 1960, the Internal Security Act was then created to justify the detention without trial, of a few hundred communist insurgents who had surrendered or had been captured earlier.
There has been no evidence that RPK had written articles which calls for armed conflict in order to overthrow the present government like what the communists had attempted to do during the Emergency.
His articles present a threat only to the dominant party in the ruling coalition, which is why he is currently a ‘guest’ in Kamunting at the whim & fancy of the home minister.
What to do…he is dumb as bull, deaf as donkey & blind as bat.
Islam Hadhari = Jangan Cabar Saya, or ISA.