A death blow to religious discussions

By any standard, the 10-year jail sentence meted out to 22-year-old Sarawakian Alister Cogia is excessive.

He was charged for insulting the prophet of Islam. News reports do not give a full account of the man, the context of his crime and other relevant details.

The fact is all religions insult, offend and undermine one another.

The moment anyone upholds his or her religion's cardinal teachings, it will inevitably offend some other religion because all religions oppose one another, while sharing some common teachings.

For instance, Muslims claim there is no God but Allah and Muhammed is their prophet.

Will a Buddhist who does not subscribe to the idea of a Creator God, who says “there is no God” in direct contradiction, be guilty of opposition to Islam and be accused of insulting Islam?

Hindus once ate beef, according to ancient Rig Veda sacred texts. But along the way they stopped eating the flesh of the bovine creature, the female species becoming a sacred symbol.

Should Hindus in Malaysia follow their Hindu cousins in India and start a 'Save the Cow' campaign with vigilante groups hunting and causing bloody ramifications for beef eaters?

Will we see those who harm the cow killed as in India by Hindu extremists? Such religious extremism has no place anywhere.

In the early years of independent Malaya and colonial times, religious conflicts were unheard of.

The Malays were simple, honest, decent and above all, tolerant and peace-loving Muslims. They did not do the things prohibited by their religion like eating pork. They were not obscenely corrupt like today's kleptocrats.

Importantly, they did not force others to live by their religious rules and faith. They practised 'to each his own' as the Quran teaches.

Then along the way, religious freedom in the country tightened. Islamisation of the country saw rising intolerance as even today we hear of women being denied entry into government departments because they didn’t meet the self-imposed ideas of the Muslim security guard.

Whither the religious tolerance taught in Islam and all religions?

Perceived double standards

The misguided actions of the over-zealous must not be allowed to become mainstream. Parasitical religious leaders and hate preachers poisoned the nation with their wild ideas and false teachings on other religions, while the government looked the other way.

At the same time, Section 298A of the Penal Code and others were used against those who purportedly offended the religious feelings of Muslims.

But it was not applied against Muslims who offended the religious feelings of non-Muslims. Muslim preacher Zakir Naik is a serial offender.

As former BN government law minister Zaid Ibrahim put it cynically but poignantly, "When someone insulted Islam/the Holy Prophet, he gets 10 years' jail. But when a Muslim preacher insulted other religions, he gets to be a permanent resident.

"A new Malaysia," he quipped. Indeed.

Double-standards have been around for a long time and never more so these days.

The MCA and DAP, old political enemies, have in a rare moment of unity criticised the sentence as what Lim Kit Siang said was 'excessive'. Even an ex-Terengganu mufti has waded in and agreed it was excessive for a first-timer.

MCA spokesperson Chan Quin Er said, "While the MCA does not tolerate any form of insults of Islam, the same treatment should be accorded to individuals who condemn other religions as well.

"While we note the efficacy of the police in apprehending the netizen who had abused Facebook to insult Islam, we also call for similar expediency in actions be taken to protect all other religions too," she said.

I think she meant expedition - to act quickly.

Greater tolerance

The net effect of a strict application of Section 298A will be the death blow for religious discussion.

An innocuous discussion on comparative religion can end with participants technically guilty of insulting and offending someone else's religious feelings if someone complains to the police.

I urge Malaysians to follow the example of tolerance.

Nowhere in the Bible does it teach Christians to retaliate against anyone who insults God, Jesus Christ or Christians in a violent or harsh manner.

Instead they are taught to pray for those who insult and persecute them. They are taught to love their enemies and be tolerant.

Mahatma Gandhi was a Hindu activist and vegetarian. Yet he respected the rights of other faith followers at the height of the anti-cow slaughter campaigns in his time.

He said, “How can I force anyone not to slaughter cows unless he is himself so disposed? It is not as if there were only Hindus in the Indian Union. There are Muslims, Parsis, Christians and other religious groups here.”

Can Malaysians be tolerant? They can and most are, but not those radicals who push religion for political purposes or trying to make the country in their religious image.

You cannot do any harm to age-old religions simply by bad-mouthing it. But you can destroy a young life without mercy, understanding and tolerance by an overkill jail sentence.

Section 298A has not been properly explained as to its proper usage. It must not be misused to assuage the angry mob or as a weapon to silence religious dissent and diversity.

The sentencing of a young man with such punitive force leaves one with a bitter taste of justice denied.

Would the God of justice and mercy have approved? I doubt it.

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STEVE OH is author and composer of the novel and musical ‘Tiger King of the Golden Jungle’. He believes good governance and an engaging civil society are paramount to Malaysia being a unique and successful nation. - Mkini