Malaysians eat poison fruit of the racism tree

YOURSAY | 'If Muslims want others to respect Islam, they must respect other religions too.'

Perlis mufti, here is what I really want

David Dass: Criticising India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi or the government of India is not the problem.

Criticising suttee as a bad practice is also not a problem except that suttee is not part of Hinduism and has been outlawed in India for a long time.

Criticising caste is also not a problem, but failing to recognise that caste discrimination is outlawed in India shows appalling ignorance.

India's constitution specifically provides protection and a scheme of preferences to those in the scheduled castes. Caste was, and is, an abomination and no right-thinking person should defend caste.

Caste was a social economic system to provide order with each caste having specific functions.

Swami Vivekananda, a renowned Hindu scholar and philosopher, maintained that caste was not part of Hinduism. He said that one obtained his caste in his lifetime by his actions.

Cows are respected as a source of nourishment, not worshipped. It was wrong of Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin to criticise Hinduism in the way he did. To do so directly offends Hindus in Malaysia.

Asri has apologised for having offended Hindus. All should accept his apology and move on. He has also said that he intends to have a dialogue with Hindus and has reiterated his commitment to seeking justice for all, regardless of their religious beliefs.

Anonymous 381541456985626: I salute you, Commander (Rtd) S Thayaparan, for writing such a meaningful article, when many a religious scholar fail to do so, at the current time in this multiracial and multicultural country of ours.

I hope and pray that we get more level-minded religious scholars, politicians and lay people who can lead us to live in harmony with one another.

Anonymous 2415891461978791: Equality before the law, commonly understood as justice, cannot exist in Malaysia because the Malaysia state is premised on a seemingly racist and religiously-biased public policy.

The original sin of Malaysia - eating from the poison fruit of the racism tree - has dragged the country down to the point that half the population cannot even imagine having to exist in a land where equality of opportunity prevails.

In a nation obsessed with race and religion, despotism spreads like mould on a rotting apple.

Spirit of Malaya: This is the fundamental reason for separation of state and religion. The moment you mix the two, for whatever reason, problems begin.

Religion is a private matter and it's between the Almighty and you, and nobody in between.

Basically: Commander Thayaparan made a pertinent observation. Asri said “the lives of many Muslims have been sacrificed in horrifying and cruel manners”.

But the mufti appears blind to what had happened in Syria and Iraq. So why pick on India? Let's not even go into India's past.

On this point, I noted a programme on Buddhism on Astro's Discovery Channel was censored when it came to the point of how the temples had disappeared during a certain period in history.

It was so brutally cut that the missing segment was pretty obvious. Why was there a need to 'protect' people from historical fact?

Anonymous_1400076912: Spot on, commander. Do unto others what you would others do unto you. Respect others if you want others to respect you. Treat other human beings as human beings and not lord over them as slave drivers.

Otherwise, what difference is there between a beast and you?

Abasir: Trenchantly put, commander, and with enough clarity for even a ‘poet’.

As to why "we all cannot have free speech and expression", the answer is evident - the ideology known as ‘ketuanan Melayu’, which is also concurrently held out as ‘ketuanan Islam’, and euphemistically known in ‘polite’ Malay circles as the ‘social contract’.

Raja Chulan: Hinduism is a great religion that has lasted over 5,000 years and is still followed by billions.

The Hindu civilisation is all about goodness and never about war or making anyone their enemy. This Islamic mufti from the smallest, and perhaps one of the poorest states in Malaysia, should instead find ways to improve his own flock.

There is no way this mufti can malign or insult a great religion such as Hinduism. I urge the Hindus not to take this mufti too seriously but to ignore him and move on.

Roy69: If Asri could take the trouble and investigate, he would know unlike in Malaysia, the Muslims in India are treated equally and their rights are not only guaranteed by the Indian constitution but the Indian courts (again unlike in Malaysia) enforces that guarantee.

The ‘cow poem’ only enforces the bigotry that is rising in this country and it’s not going to get better with the current lot of politicians, judges, academicians and civil servants.

Dont Just Talk: Any religion which teaches love is the right religion but sadly, the extremist groups can chop off a person’s head without a second thought and claim that they are doing it for their religion.

Anyway, who are we to judge them for judgement lies in the hands of God?

Anonymous #33227154: Respect is a mutual thing. If Muslims want others to respect Islam, they must respect other religions too. If Muslims want to defend Islam, others also have the right to defend their religions too.

It is this lack of mutual respect that causes terrorists and extremists to use violence to justify their crimes in the name of religion.- Mkini