The coarse art of distraction

The debate on commemorative sculptures is unnecessary.

COMMENT

The statue saga continues to distract us from more important matters.

Last week, the Perak Deputy Mufti Zamri Hashim started a firestorm when he was quoted as saying that building statues of living creatures went against the teachings of Islam. It took four days of fierce debate before he claimed that he was misquoted. Why did he not put things right as soon as the debate started raging?

In any case, the debate has continued, with Zamri’s boss, Harussani Zakaria, saying that statues of humans, like the National Monument, are proscribed in Islam.

Harussani claimed that he, as well as others, did “from early on” disagree with the construction of the National Monument. Did he really? The monument was built in 1966. How did he register his disapproval? Was it in writing to the then Mufti of Perak? Was his protest lodged with any government department? Why has no one produced a record of his objections?

In explaining his objection, he described Malaysia as an “Islamic country” and implied that it was therefore wrong for citizens to “worship monuments”.

However, it was only in 2001 that the then Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, proclaimed Malaysia as an Islamic state. The monument was built during Tunku Abdul Rahman’s time. It is well known that the Tunku regarded Malaysia as a secular state with Islam as its official religion. As far as most Malaysians are concerned, that has not changed. We all know that Mahathir’s proclamation was purely political. He wanted to convince the Malays that Umno-Baru was just as Islamic as PAS.

The most worrying part of Harussani’s statement was his remark about worshipping monuments. It revealed his lack of knowledge of the significance of a national monument.

Nobody worships monuments. A monument is there to commemorate an event so that future generations would remain aware of the contributions of various people to that event.

Harussani’s ignorance raises the question of whether we should trust him to advise us on religious matters. Perhaps, for that reason, it’s time for him to retire.

Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.