While we await the Kuala Besut by-election result

To the Malays, this is in an ‘internal matter’ regarding Islam and involving the Muslims. So they would regard these nasty comments and the anti-Islam comments by the non-Muslims as an attempt to interfere in Islam. As what one reader commented: do the Malays tell the Chinese whether they should or should not eat pork?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

(The Star) - Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin wants action to be taken against those responsible for forcing non-Muslim pupils to eat in the changing room at a school in Sungai Buloh.

"I have instructed the director-general of the Education Ministry to investigate the issue of non-Muslim pupils who are asked to eat in a toilet (tandas),” wrote Muhyiddin, who is Education Minister, in his Twitter account.

“Stern action would be taken if there is any basis (to the complaint),” added Muhyddin.

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(NST) - Election Commission (EC) chairman and deputy chairman today dared PKR strategic director Rafizi Ramli to repeat his remark linking them to indelible ink supplier outside parliament.

Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof and Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said the Pandan member of Parliament was given a week to repeat the statement, which he made in the Dewan Rakyat on July 16, outside the Parliament if he was man enough.

Abdul Aziz said Rafizi cannot use his parliamentary immunity to make baseless allegations without giving the accused the chance to defend themselves.

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(The Star) - The Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department (Jawi) has launched an investigation against the four Muslim Miss Malaysia-World finalists as they are deemed to have insulted Islam.

Its director Datuk Che Mat Che Ali said Jawi’s enforcement unit would look into the matter following a Malay daily’s report that the girls were bent on taking part in the beauty pageant despite an edict by the National Fatwa Council prohibiting it.

According to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom, the fatwa explicitly states that participating, organising or contributing to any sort of beauty contest is haram (not permissible) and a sin for Muslims.

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A couple of readers have posted hate comments in Malaysia Today whacking me because I did not write anything regarding the ‘canteen-in-the-toilet’ issue. They have cursed me (with four-letter words, of course) for remaining silent.

What is it that they want me to comment? There are already hundreds of comments including comments by leaders of political parties and even a statement by the Deputy Prime Minister himself. So what more do you need me to comment that has not already been said?

I normally have to delete so many comments that are repetitive. They just parrot what someone else has already said. After ten or so duplicate comments I just delete the rest (which upsets many of those who do not see their comments published).

But why do we need 100 comments that repeat ‘the Malay headmaster should be sacked’?

And that is another point. Everyone refers to him as ‘the MALAY headmaster’. What has MALAY got to do with this issue? So why the emphasis on the fact that he is MALAY?

I suppose the answer is obvious. It is because you want to turn this into a racial issue and the comments that say ‘stupid Malay’ is evidence of this. You regard this as a racial issue.

Rafizi Ramli has made certain allegations against the Election Commission, allegations he made in Parliament. The EC Chairman has challenged Rafizi to repeat this allegation outside Parliament where the EC is able to defend itself if, according to the Chairman, he is man enough.

I wonder whether Rafizi will do this because if the allegation is not true then, according to the law, Rafizi can be arrested and charged for criminal defamation, a crime of slandering a public servant.

Rafizi may want to ponder on this one unless he has evidence to back up his allegation.

I have also had to delete many comments from non-Muslim readers regarding the ban on Muslim girls/women from participating in beauty contests. This was a fatwah (decree) by the religious authorities, which was issued some time ago.

The reason I deleted these comments is because we already have enough racial and religious disagreements in Malaysia as it is. So why do we want to add more fuel to the fire by whacking the ‘stupid Muslims’, ‘narrow-minded Muslims’, and so on, and just upset the Malays even more.

To the Malays, this is in an ‘internal matter’ regarding Islam and involving the Muslims. So they would regard these nasty comments and the anti-Islam comments by the non-Muslims as an attempt to interfere in Islam. As what one reader commented: do the Malays tell the Chinese whether they should or should not eat pork?

There are many things Muslims cannot do. They cannot eat and drink during the fasting month. They cannot indulge in extramarital sex. They cannot enter into a gay union. They cannot drink liquor. They cannot leave Islam. They cannot marry someone who is not a Muslim (although a Muslim man can marry a Jew or Christian woman). And so much more.

So are the non-Muslims going to also whack Islam or the religious authorities for all these 'cannot do' as well?

We talk about national interest. How would by allowing Malays to do all the things they are prohibited from doing we serve national interest? And why are the non-Malays so concerned about the lack of civil rights for the Malays?

The Muslims do not welcome the ‘contribution’ of the non-Muslims in fighting for the rights of the Muslims. In fact, they would view it as a negative move: that is, an attempt to demonstrate how primitive Islam is by whacking these stringent dos and don’ts in Islam. 

The Muslims do not attempt to tell Christians, Hindus and Buddhists how to be proper Christians, Hindus and Buddhists. The Christians, Hindus and Buddhists should also not try to teach Muslims how to be better Muslims.

And when you whack a Malay for any wrongdoing you love to add: “is this is what Islam teaches you?”  When we whack a Chinese, Indian or whatever, we never add his religion to the issue. Why do we need to mention Islam and Muslim when we whack the Malay chap?

And we blame Umno for the racial and religious divide. You may need to listen to what you say and wake up to the reality that you, too, are not innocent of contributing to this racial and religious divide. After all, does it not take two to tango?

Malaysians are like prostitutes calling another woman a whore.