(Tanjak) –In her weekly Malay Mail Online column today, Boo Su-lyn touted the template of a letter prepared by Bebas which voters could use to petition their MPs to vote against RUU355.
Afghanistan will happen in Malaysia “if we don’t stop the trend of religious fundamentalism”, says the MMO assistant news editor – pix below – earlier in her speech at the recent anti-RUU355 rally.
The anti-355 folks think if Hadi Awang’s bill to amend the parliament act is passed, “Malaysia will eventually turn into a Taliban state”.
Boo Su-lyn’s opinion above anchors the groupthink of the Bebas activists who wish their personal lives to be free of Islamic law.
Boo is baffled that premarital or consensual sex is being criminalized in Malaysia, asking, “How does any of that hurt anyone?”
According to her, “They [religious authorities] cannot tell us what to eat, how to dress or who to have sex with. That is for us to decide, not the government”.
She feels oppressed that “people have been killed during khalwat raids” where some officers of the enforcement squads were alleged to have “behaved like thugs” or “acting like Peeping Toms who only have sex on their minds”.
“Fight for our way of life”
Ms Boo vehemently objects to the idea that just “because Malaysia is supposedly an ‘Islamic’ country, all Malaysians, including non-Muslims, must follow Islamic laws”.
Among Boo’s laundry list of Islamization complaints include the raid on “our businesses”, confiscation of the bible and dress code for members of the public visiting government offices and hospitals.
Boo further complains they [religious authorities and orthodox Muslims] have gotten “more and more paranoid over halal issues” to the point of forcing “our children to eat in toilets at school during Ramadan”.
This strict preservation of Islamic sensitivities, particularly over the haram aspect, has tyranized Boo Su-lyn and her Bebas friends so much so that “we feel we’re too dirty for them, as if our very existence offends them”, she laments.
It seems grossly unfair to Boo that she is being told to Balik Cina, treated like a second class citizen and warned not to interfere in Muslim matters when at the same time “they are interfering with our lives every single day”.
Our tax money is not dirty though
Ms Boo is moreover getting unpleasant vibes that non-Muslims of Tongsan origin are unwanted in Malaysia, on top of being made to feel “dirty” over the Muslim halal imperatives.
“Yet, they’re happy enough taking our money, money from non-Muslim taxpayers, to fund their moral policing,” Boo adds.
She suggests that if PAS really wants to increase the court penalties, then the Islamist party ought to fund the entire syariah system themselves.
“Don’t take money from non-Muslim taxpayers or from Muslims who oppose Hadi’s bill,” grumbles Boo.
“Let PAS and their supporters pay the salaries of religious officers who conduct khalwat raids. Let them pay for the cost of jailing people for 30 years over syariah offences. Let them pay for everything,” she continues.
“Don’t tell us not to interfere but take our money!”
So on the one hand, the religious conservatives are agitating for a wider implementation of syariah. On the other hand, the secular liberals – who are centain they contribute the most income tax to the state coffers – refuse to be compelled to foot the bill.
“That’s not what we pay taxes for,” insists Boo.
↓ DAP leaders such as Hannah Yeoh, Teo Nie Ching and Yeo Bee Yin (clockwise below) have voluntarily Islamized their appearance
Politicians do all things in the name of Islam
In Boo Su-lyn’s view, the RUU355 is “causing chaos” and thus PAS, the party responsible for tabling the bill, is guilty of “tearing apart” Malaysia’s multiracial society.
“It is PAS who will doom this country by forcing their beliefs down our throats,” declares Boo.
She accuses PAS of threatening people who disagree with them.
“They are tyrannizing this country in the name of religion,” says Boo.
She believes that peddling religion for political points will only help maintain the status quo and enable the government to retain Malay privileges, and this current state of affairs smacks of backwardness and inequality.
↓ Evangelical leaders in Malaysian opposition parties took their Chinese interns into mosques to score political points
All religions are equal
“No one should be discriminated against because of their skin colour or religious belief. No religion is better than another. We are all equal,” proclaims Boo.
She adds that a secular country protects everyone, and under secularism everybody is “free to live their lives as they see fit without interference from the government”.
“And no religion is prioritized over another in the state,” asserts Ms Boo.
The anti-355 movement are at war with Muslim fundamentalists and see themselves as “fighting for the soul of our nation”.
They see religious orthodoxy in Islam as a form of Talibanism. Liberals like Boo Su-lyn are adamant “Hadi’s bill will drag us back to the Dark Ages”.
Liberals who are misfits in Muslim Malaysia
The liberals want the freedom to dress however they like even in public spaces or government buildings.
They want the freedom to eat and drink whatever and whenever they like, and not be subjected to strictures such as in Brunei or in Acheh where a Christian woman was whipped almost 30 times for selling alcohol.
They want the freedom to conduct sexual relations with whomever they like in whichever form they prefer without Jakim morally policing their Muslim partners.
They feel victimized and tyranized. All these activities by the Islamic departments and agencies that interfere with their liberal lifestyle is regarded as a form of oppression.
And Umno-PAS are the oppressors standing in the path of a real secular nation taking shape.
However if Ms Boo is disinclined to change her country (the Muslim way it is at present) by emigrating, the only other alternative open to her is to change the government.
It is no surprise then that media figures like Boo and her MMO colleagues, together with their Christian cousins in The Star, find a common cause with the political parties out to topple the BN.
Therefore Umno and PAS should know what to expect from the opposition (MMO and The Star) press coverage when Hadi’s bill finally comes up for debate in the upper house.
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