by Prof Dr Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi
Malaysiakini
Mar 20, 2015
The latest incident about a BFM newsreader being threatened with death, rape and being burnt alive by those whom I assume to be Malay-Muslim netizens brings forth serious questions for this country. Is this country safe for our children to live in?
If a simple point of view is raised against such issue as hudud or even such issue as democracy and clean elections can produce outbursts of murder, rape and burning people alive, what does it say about our country, its citizens and our leadership? Where did this culture come from?
I have noticed that the ones making threats of this nature come from mostly Malays who I assume are Muslim. Where did we, as a nation go wrong in educating these Malays? What are we teaching in our secondary schools? More importantly are our public universities producing people of such culture?
I sincerely hope that those who made the threats have never stepped foot in our public universities because if not I would like to ask these vice chancellors, what kind of Malay Malaysians are you producing?
Yes, they are passable engineers and architects but are they barely passable Malaysian citizens, or passable Muslims or worse are they even passable human beings with a humane conscience? Apa sudah jadi? (What has happened?)
I have been to mosques and I have listened to thousands of You Tube ceramah by our so called eminent ustazs and I know that their understanding of Islam is a strong contributor to the kinds of comments made by these young netizens.
Although I feel anger towards these netizens that have made the threats like it was just a “terminator” movie of mowing people down with a big machine gun, but I am ready to forgive them because I know it was our society that has created such a culture.
When the Prophet Muhammad was faced with the persecution of the young people of Taif till his body was bloodied, he stood in front of the angel Gabriel at the command of a host of a heavenly army ready to eliminate the people of Taif, he said, “No, do not do anything against these people because they knew not what there are doing. Perhaps future generations may accept my message if these people do not at the present time.”
The Prophet had the magnanimity to forgive these people because he knew those that threw the stones and rocks are teenagers and young adults being influenced by their elders.
I am afraid, our religious scholars may be teaching a brand of Islam that is very much distant from the examples of the holy Prophet himself.
With this incident I ask Malaysians again…are we safe to raise our children in this country? If not, should we start looking elsewhere and create a much safer place for our children to have a future?
I write these words with a heavy heart. I write these words as a concerned Malaysian citizen and as a simple Muslim for the sake of all our children. And finally, I write these words as the father of Aisyah Mohd Tajuddin, the BFM girl.
Prof Dr Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi was a former UTM lecturer.
Until around 1980 everyone got along fine. We would visit each other’s homes and socialise, especially during festive holidays. And to me the Malays then were such pleasant people, friendly and helpful to all. Is it possible that becoming more religious makes one less inclined to mix with people from other religions? Shouldn’t religion be a personable relationship with god? Being a good religious person to all people should be important enough for a good after life. Please be good to all and show and teach others to be good, responsible and caring to all as well.
And you have young people with excellent academic results and minds that can tackle all academic problems, leaving everything and rushing off to distant land fighting against only they themselves know what. These young people are not only from Malaysia, they are from England, Australia, US and everywhere else. So what is so wrong with their education system ? Yet we are so envious of their achievement. University ranked number 1. Or among the top 100. May be we should get to know these young people. They are the ones who will also condemn the BFM newsreader. What are they actually desiring ? Do they think that it is the purest of all ? That they are going back to the very beginning and to start all over again ? Can we start all over again from the time of Adam and Eve ? Who will represent Adam ? Who will represent Eve ?
Very well written Prof Dr Mohamad Tajuddin !
Whither goes our education system?
Are even our Vice-Chancellors of our universities worthily selected ?
As for the death and rape threats against your daughter, the IGP and PDRM should already have started investigations against those who issued those threats, and they should already by now know who are behind them. Arrests should be imminent, and we expect the IGP to issue a statement to this effect without further delay. The PDRM must nip in the bud all these would-be rapists and murderers who are so ‘brave’ to challenge the rule of law and the rakyat and they must be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
We will together stand up to these anarchists. We are with you and your daughter!