YOURSAY | ‘It is morally, ethically and even religiously wrong to use the haj offer to seek votes.’
Vijay47: Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, again you reveal strange ways of measuring piety. By your standards, being allowed to enter sacred places somehow shows how pious you are.
By the same token, it can also suggest what kind of person it is who invited you to go into the tomb of Prophet Muhammad.
Aren't you ashamed of using matters of faith in a desperate attempt to establish what a great leader you are? Doesn't Islam teach about practising humility and shunning hypocrisy?
Does it follow that Muslim leaders who have not entered the Kaaba do not share the same standing of honour?
And in the very next breath, after pushing a foe into the sea, you offer free Holy Land trips to those who support Umno.
It does not seem to matter to you, a Muslim, that associating 1MDB with a pilgrimage to Mecca stains the fulfilment of a religious obligation. Is 1MDB a religious body now?
Kelate: I am in my late 50s. If my memory is correct, when I was in my teens, Tabung Haji was set up to justify that money kept in the bank and earning interest is haram to perform the haj.
Thus, Tabung Haji was formed to help future pilgrims save without earning interest but dividend (and therefore Islamic), making it a halal form of money fit for paying the costs of pilgrimage.
Now, 1MDB can "sponsor" a haj (that is, money not earned by oneself). Is that halal? Are not the reasons all now muddled?
Hearty Malaysian: You have set a new norm to use money, supposedly meant for the development of national wealth, as a national slush fund at your whims and fancies by saying only without a change of government shall this continue.
Those who perform a pilgrimage with questionable sponsorship like this are against the teachings of any religion.
JD Lovrenciear: Islam being the official religion where the majority of the population are Malay Muslims, any political party running the government has an obligation to ensure that the pilgrimage is not short-circuited.
It is morally, ethically and even religiously wrong to use the pilgrimage offer to seek votes. Will the renowned, God-fearing Muslims please speak up once and for all?
David Dass: Many of my friends express concern as to the ability of their now adult children to cope with the trials and tribulations of ordinary existence.
Most of them were children of privilege. They were denied nothing and wanted everything. Even after graduation, they received assistance in buying a car and then a house.
Are these adult children ready to cope with challenges that life will throw at them? The very high rate of divorce in Western countries already points to some problems.
The truth is, children must be prepared for adulthood. They must be allowed to have their own opinions. They must be permitted to disagree with parents and even with governments.
They must be allowed to think for themselves, make their own decisions, and make their own mistakes. That is how a child becomes an adult.
If they are treated like children at the university, there is the risk that they will remain children all their adult lives. Universities must prepare our young for the responsibilities of adulthood.
Dizzer: A couple of years back, the Islamic International University of Malaysia (IIUM) cancelled a debate on moderation - yes, moderation - at the last minute. I'd spent over an hour driving there so I was pretty annoyed.
This was not unusual. Nor is it unusual for Islamic organisations to segregate the sexes - it also happens with Islamic societies at UK universities.
Islamic education in modern times, I'm not afraid to say, is an oxymoron. Well done to Malaysiakini columnist Maryam Lee for sitting down for your principles.
Anonymous #74150739: I admire Maryam’s tenacity. It is good that she appears to have gotten over the #UndiRosak fiasco and is ready for other issues.
In this article, her main peeve appears to be the lack of independent thinking in Malaysian universities. However, her real aim appears in the second part of her article - former prime minister and education minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
I agree that Mahathir was in charge of implementing the policy involving the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, which he thought appropriate at that time as Malaysia was in its formative years.
Furthermore, such policies were implemented, not by a single minister but duly approved by the cabinet. Is she not willing to rope in the other members of the cabinet for joint responsibility?
However, it is the utter failure of those after him, who did not feel the need to change the policy when the student population had deemed to have matured.
Indeed, those after Mahathir made the situation direr, I feel. Maryam, I look forward to your response.
Cogito Ergo Sum: The pen, or brush, indeed, is mightier than the sword. The ruling regime hopes that by denying the pen and brush, it will stifle dissenting views and critical comments.
Unfortunately, a far more powerful tool has superseded the pen and paintbrush. The Internet, which has put the pen in everyone’s hand, is now the bane of every dictatorial regime. It cannot be blocked by physical borders or arrests.
Banning one individual is like throwing a sand pebble into a raging fire, hoping to douse its fury. How desperate.
Headhunter: When a regime is afraid of writers and artists, you know that democracy is either dead or on the brink of death.
What is happening now is reminiscent of the Soviet regime during the era of former dictators like Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin and yes, like what is happening in North Korea then and now.
We should be afraid, very afraid.- Mkini
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