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Hishammuddin is right that the terrorism attacks in Paris which finally left 20 dead can happen in Malaysia but why are the extremists in the country allowed to purvey their rhetoric and politics of hatred and intolerance unchecked?

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein is right when he warned yesterday that the terrorism attack in Paris, which finally left 20 dead, can also happen in Malaysia.

Hishammuddin said he came back from Paris and London last month where he had discussion with their intelligence agencies and what happened was not something unexpected.

He said what happened in France should not be taken lightly as it is not impossible to face the same scenario in the country, and that Malaysia must beef up its security, especially in the Sabah coastal area.

It is most unfortunate that the Defence Minister is looking at the problem solely from the perspective of security intelligence, preparations and assets instead of why Malaysia is becoming increasingly prone to threats of terrorism, whether in the country or emanating from the country as evidenced by Malaysians rallying to Islamic State’s Caliphate cause despite mass murders and beheadings.

The Global Terrorism Index 2014 released by the Institute of Economic and Peace in November, where Malaysia climbed 42 places in the international terrorism indicator, citing religious extremism as the primary cause of terror attacks worldwide, should be a wake-up call that the peace, harmony and unity of Malaysia’s multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural polity is placed in jeopardy if nothing is done to check the rhetoric and politics of hatred, intolerance and extremism which had increasingly aggravated racial and religious polarization in recent years. Continue reading “Hishammuddin is right that the terrorism attacks in Paris which finally left 20 dead can happen in Malaysia but why are the extremists in the country allowed to purvey their rhetoric and politics of hatred and intolerance unchecked?”

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True Malaysian culture

Dyana Sofya
Malay Mail Online
January 9, 2015

JANUARY 9 ― I am a Muslim and I am a Malay. I am proud and I am okay. I am not an extremist.

On Wednesday, 12 people were shot dead as three gunmen attacked the Paris office of French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in what some now call a militant Islamist attack.

The magazine’s editor-in-chief and four well-known cartoonists, along with two police officers, were among those killed. Apparently, the gunmen claimed to be “avenging the Prophet Muhammad” as they fled the crime scene.

Unfortunately, this tragedy is not an isolated incident. There is now a global trend of young confused Muslims resorting to murder and vengeance in a twisted idea of jihad, justifing their violence in the name of religion.

As the recent government White Paper on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria proves, even Malaysians are not exempt as 39 Malaysians were identified to have been involved in the violent jihadi movement.

This situation contradicts the nature of Islam as the majority of Muslims believe it to be ― the religion of peace. Tariq Ramadan is therefore right to condemn the Charlie Hebdo attack as as a “pure betrayal of our religion,” which we all know to preach compassion and mercy.

In Malaysia, we face a similar problem. Continue reading “True Malaysian culture”

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Rising above patriarchal politics

Syerleena Abdul Rashid
The Malaysian Insider
9 January 2015

There is something quite intimidating about politics that seems to deter a lot of capable Malaysian women from getting involved. Generally speaking, women are more vulnerable to attacks, smear campaigns and negative stereotypes as Malaysian society is still somewhat receptive towards patriarchal institutions and social relations. As a result, women are often regarded as inferior and worthy of only complimenting the masculine form.

Our Asian cultural values consent to a system that often regards men as the “protector” of society and family, which itself can sometimes be difficult to challenge although social reforms that are consistent and relevant to modern society are not entirely impossible.

2015 will present Malaysians with a chance to improve our nation’s standing in terms of women empowerment and advancing gender balanced policies. Supporting women’s rights is definitely a long-term agenda that demands thorough analysis, responsiveness and ambition as well as robust strategies that can strengthen progression while engaging all levels of society. Of course, empowerment can mean many things – power, participation, ability, autonomy, decision and freedom – but core fundamental values such as dignity, integrity, respect and self-esteem are highly respected and accepted by everyone. Continue reading “Rising above patriarchal politics”

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Boko Haram may have just killed 2,000 people: ‘Killing went on and on and on’

By Terrence McCoy
Washington Post
January 9, 2015

For months, fear of Boko Haram has gripped Nigeria’s northeast. The goals of the Islamic militant group, which captured international attention through a relentless campaign of brutality, have long been about killing. But last summer, something changed. Its aspirations became as much about territory as terrorism. It no longer wants to just cripple a government. It wants to become one.

In August, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau announced the establishment of his “Islamic Caliphate,” quickly taking over every corner of Borno State in northeast Nigeria. But one town called Baga, populated by thousands of Nigerians along the western shores of Lake Chad, held out. Anchored by a multinational military base manned by troops from Niger to Chad, it was the last place in Borno under the national government’s control. Over the weekend, that changed.

Gunshots punctured the early morning quiet. “They came through the north, the west and from the southern part of the town because the eastern part is only water,” one resident told the BBC. “So, when we [went] toward the western part, we saw heavily armed Boko Haram men coming toward us.” At the sight of the incoming insurgents, the soldiers put up a scant fight before abandoning their base and leaving residents defenseless. Continue reading “Boko Haram may have just killed 2,000 people: ‘Killing went on and on and on’”

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Blasphemy and the law of fanatics

Fareed Zakaria
Washington Post
January 8 2015

As they went on their rampage, the men who killed 12 people in Paris this week yelled that they had “avenged the prophet.” They follow in the path of other terrorists who have bombed newspaper offices, stabbed a filmmaker and killed writers and translators, all to mete out what they believe is the proper Koranic punishment for blasphemy. But in fact, the Koran prescribes no punishment for blasphemy. Like so many of the most fanatical and violent aspects of Islamic terrorism today, the idea that Islam requires that insults against the prophet Muhammad be met with violence is a creation of politicians and clerics to serve a political agenda.

One holy book is deeply concerned with blasphemy: the Bible. In the Old Testament, blasphemy and blasphemers are condemned and prescribed harsh punishment. The best-known passage on this is Leviticus 24:16 : “Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.”

By contrast, the word blasphemy appears nowhere in the Koran. (Nor, incidentally, does the Koran anywhere forbid creating images of Muhammad, though there are commentaries and traditions — “hadith” — that do, to guard against idol worship.) Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan has pointed out that “there are more than 200 verses in the Koran, which reveal that the contemporaries of the prophets repeatedly perpetrated the same act, which is now called ‘blasphemy or abuse of the Prophet’ . . . but nowhere does the Koran prescribe the punishment of lashes, or death, or any other physical punishment.” On several occasions, Muhammad treated people who ridiculed him and his teachings with understanding and kindness. “In Islam,” Khan says, “blasphemy is a subject of intellectual discussion rather than a subject of physical punishment.” Continue reading “Blasphemy and the law of fanatics”

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Raising Questions Within Islam After France Shooting

by David D. Kirkpatrick
New York Times
Jan 8, 2015

CAIRO — Islamist extremists behead Western journalists in Syria, massacre thousands of Iraqis, murder 132 Pakistani schoolchildren, kill a Canadian soldier and take hostage cafe patrons in Australia. Now, two gunmen have massacred a dozen people in the office of a Paris newspaper.

The rash of horrific attacks in the name of Islam is spurring an anguished debate among Muslims here in the heart of the Islamic world about why their religion appears cited so often as a cause for violence and bloodshed.

The majority of scholars and the faithful say Islam is no more inherently violent than other religions. But some Muslims — most notably the president of Egypt — argue that the contemporary understanding of their religion is infected with justifications for violence, requiring the government and its official clerics to correct the teaching of Islam.

“It is unbelievable that the thought we hold holy pushes the Muslim community to be a source of worry, fear, danger, murder and destruction to all the world,” President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt lamented last week in a speech to the clerics of the official religious establishment. “You need to stand sternly,” he told them, calling for no less than “a religious revolution.”

Others, though, insist that the sources of the violence are alienation and resentment, not theology. They argue that the authoritarian rulers of Arab states — who have tried for decades to control Muslim teaching and the application of Islamic law — have set off a violent backlash expressed in religious ideas and language. Promoted by groups like the Islamic State or Al Qaeda, that discourse echoes through Muslim communities as far away as New York or Paris, whose influence and culture still loom over much of the Muslim world.

“Some people who feel crushed or ignored will go toward extremism, and they use religion because that is what they have at hand,” said Said Ferjani, an official of Tunisia’s mainstream Islamist party, Ennahda, speaking about the broader phenomenon of violence in the name of Islam. “If you are attacked and you have a fork in your hand, you will fight back with a fork.” Continue reading “Raising Questions Within Islam After France Shooting”