Why are Malays so otak sempit?

The film's 52-year-old writer, Bacile, said that he wanted to showcase his view of Islam as a hateful religion. "Islam is a cancer, period," he said in a telephone interview from his home. "The movie is a political movie. It's not a religious movie."

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Do you remember last year the brouhaha the Malays (meaning also Muslims) made about the movie that Jew produced insulting Prophet Muhammad? And earlier we had the brouhaha about the threat by the pastor to burn the Qur’an.

There were many comments posted in Malaysia Today regarding the stupidity and backwardness of the Malays in protesting such a non-event -- and quite rightly so. The Malays give the impression that they are so otak sempit (small-minded).

In this day and age of globalisation, the borderless Internet, and the information revolution, you really can’t stop people from exercising their freedom of opinion and expression. And we have to learn to live with this without screaming and foaming at the mouth every time someone says something we do not like.

If, for example, a Malay were to produce a movie that the non-Malays do not like, do you think the non-Malays will scream and foam at the mouth? Or, say, a Malay threatens to burn the Bible? Do you think the non-Malays would take any notice of that threat?

The Malays have to learn to be like the non-Malay Malaysians and not rant and rave every time you do not like what someone says. And this was what Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad lamented about when he said that the Malays are too emotional and feudalistic and should be more pragmatic like the Chinese. And Dr Mahathir is right. The Malays are too emotional, unlike the Chinese and Indians.

Will you ever find non-Malays cursing and screaming about a movie? If they don’t like the movie they will just not watch it. Simple! Why get so upset? This, the Malays have to learn to do if they do not want to be accused of being small-minded.

And if you threaten to, say, burn the Bible, the non-Malays would not get upset. After all, it is just a book, like the Qur’an. Ignorant people have been burning books for thousands of years and life still goes on.

And if the Bible, just like the Qur’an, is God’s book, then surely God can take care of His own book. Does he need us mere mortals to help protect His book?

When we say that the Malays are otak sempit they get angry. But how not to call the Malays otak sempit when they get so emotional and upset about a mere movie and a book?

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Israeli Citizen Living in California Behind Film Insulting Islam

An Israeli filmmaker, Sam Bacile, based in California went into hiding after a YouTube trailer of his movie attacking Islam's Prophet Muhammad sparked violent demonstrations in many Muslim cities around the world including Egypt and Libya where the US ambassador to and three American members of his staff were killed.

The release of the film coincided with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington during which he leveled what The Wall Street Journal said the “sharpest attacks in years by an Israeli leader against Washington, over differences on how to address Iran's nuclear program,”

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal by phone Tuesday from an undisclosed location, writer and director Sam Bacile remained defiant, saying Islam is a cancer and that the 56-year-old intended his film to be a provocative political statement condemning the religion.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “tensions had so escalated that President Barack Obama spent an hour on the phone with the Israeli leader in a hastily arranged call hours after both governments said the White House wouldn't agree to an Israeli request for a meeting between the two leaders at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York this month.”

Protesters angered over Bacile's film opened fire on and burned down the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. Four Americans were killed Tuesday night including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

The film's 52-year-old writer, Bacile, said that he wanted to showcase his view of Islam as a hateful religion. "Islam is a cancer, period," he said in a telephone interview from his home. "The movie is a political movie. It's not a religious movie."

Bacile said he raised $5 million from about 100 Jewish donors, whom he declined to identify. Working with about 60 actors and 45 crew members, he said he made the two-hour movie in three months last year in California.

The film has been promoted by Terry Jones, the Florida pastor whose burning of Qurans previously sparked deadly riots around the world. He said he was planning to show the trailer for Mr. Bacile's movie to his congregation.