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Tajudin’s gutter, racist and sexist language in Parliament

Pakatan Rakyat MPs will have to decide whether to collectively move a motion of censure against the Chair if Opposition MPs are constantly subject to trigger-happy suspensions from the House while recalcitrant and renegade Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs are allowed with impunity to disgrace Parliament with gutter, racist and sexist language, again and again, with ever-increasing offence.

The kid-glove treatment of the obstreperous and obnoxious BN MP for Pasir Salak, Datuk Tajudin Rahman on Wednesday, when he scored a disgraceful and dishonourable hatrick of hurling the racist remark of “keling” against DAP MP for Ipoh Barat, M. Kulasegaran, the gutter language of “boil” (dumb) against PKR MP for Gombak, Azmin Ali and the revolting sexist innuendo (see video above) during the debate on DAP Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching’s motion to cut the Education Minister’s salary by RM10 for failing to meet his promises on Chinese and Tamil primary schools, qualifies as the “black mark” of all “black marks” of Parliament.

Tajudin’s disgraceful “hatrick” is all the more outrageous and unforgivable after his November 5 “blot” in using the completely unacceptable and unparliamentary language of “bastard” and “bloody bastard” which he got away with utter impunity – not having to tender any apology or suffer any penalty.
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A Fatwa Against Yoga? And How Would This Reflect on Muslims?

By Farish A. Noor

Since I became an activist at the age of nineteen, I have spent more than two decades of my life defending Muslims and the image of Islam. During my twenty-two years of living in Europe, I must have attended hundreds of conferences, seminars, public debates and lectures where I tried my best to dissuade people from the negative image of Islam that is so prevalent in the international media of late.

But there were moments when it seemed as if this was an uphill struggle where every battle won was soon followed by a string of defeats, thanks to the actions of Muslims who took it upon themselves to ‘defend Islam’ on their own parochial and short-sighted terms; and whose actions and words did untold damage to the image of Muslims. I recall one particularly bitter episode when I was asked to speak about the universalism of Islam – that took place just when the Taliban were occupied with the task of blowing up the Buddha statues of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. It seemed pointless to continue then, and despair has been my lot for the past few years.

Now I find myself again in such a situation, after it was announced that the Fatwa Council of Malaysia has just issued a fatwa declaring that the practice of Yoga is haram and thus forbidden to Muslims. Overnight I was bombarded by emails and sms-es from my Islamist friends in Indonesia where I teach at two Islamic universities, who asked: “What is wrong with you Malaysian Muslims, and haven’t you got anything better to do?” How do I reply to such a question when I am forced to ask it myself? Continue reading “A Fatwa Against Yoga? And How Would This Reflect on Muslims?”