“It is not good for us to behave like that (insulting other religions). It should have not happened to any religion at all.”
- Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Idris Ahmad
You know an election is around the corner when the culture war is in full swing.
Desperate religious operatives, bankrupt of policies that would actually serve the communities they shepherd, resort to crude divisive ideas that they believe will distract from the very real problems the majority face.
Penang mufti Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor (above) is obviously angry about the concept of transfer of soul.
No, he did not binge-watch “Altered Carbon” on Netflix but rather he got into a conniption because of a viral video of an independent preacher talking about this subject.
He said: “The reincarnation concept is utterly absurd (in Islam). Among the religions that hold a belief in reincarnation are Hinduism, Buddhism, several Shia branches in Lebanon and Syria as well as certain extreme tadauf tarikat (school of sufism).”
Now a couple of things here.
Firstly, when Wan Salim says something is “absurd” in Islam, he means the Islam that he propagates. Obviously, there are other schools of thought in Islam that he refers to but he dismisses them as “deviant”.
Secondly, insulting the beliefs of other religions is going against the foundational ideas of Islam as enunciated by Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Idris Ahmad.
Of course, nobody in their right mind, especially if you are a non-Muslim in this country, will take anything these religious operatives say seriously because it could be empirically proven that state actors routinely insult the religions of the non-Muslims and there are no sanctions from the state.
When it comes to the Bon Odori festival, the Penang mufti is just aping what Idris said about advising Muslims to stay away from the festival because a study conducted by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) found that the festival does have religious elements.
So by advising Muslims to stay away from such events, the religious bureaucracy in this country is essentially implying that all these festivals and events are “deviant”.
In other words, the state is essentially insulting different cultures and religions.
And all this is targeted at the majority in this country. You have to ask yourself why?
What we are really talking about is some deep level programming for political purposes. For instance, the Penang mufti is afraid that the Ben Odori festival would lead to polytheism. Why is that such a bad thing?
Essentially polytheism is merely different avenues of worshipping the divine. It also encourages a belief system which is not dependent on one single interpretation and of course, religious gatekeepers.
So essentially what we are dealing with is diversity.
Malay political establishment
All religions have commonalities. Those positive commonalities make it possible for people of diverse religious faiths to play well with others.
Call it evolutionary or spiritual but the result is the same, the receding of religious dogma and the acceptance of the plurality of thought. All diverse cohesive societies exhibit this.
In a political context, what does this mean? Well, it means that a polity would be open to various forms of political expressions – ideologies – but more importantly, various political parties to express their will at the ballot box.
Social engineering, the influx of foreigners and decades of the Arabisation process had made it clear that mainstream Malay culture and traditions are in fact a replica of Saudi culture or at least that is the eventual goal.
“Malay” tradition and cultural norms have over the years been replaced with Wahhabi imperatives that seek to extinguish the various cultural influences that made Malay culture and traditions such a melting pot of Southeast Asian influences.
This is why the Malay political establishment has always been terrified of a plurality of voices in the majority polity.
This is why the Malay political operatives are operating under certain conditions when it comes to race and religion which hampers any progressive policies because, be it establishment or opposition, these operatives have to kowtow to the imperatives of the religious bureaucracy whose sole aim is to make the majority polity to vote against their interests.
Yes, I know, that is a bold claim. Again, there is enough evidence to demonstrate that the policies of the Malay political establishment have been detrimental to all Malaysians but specifically to the dominant majority polity.
This is why the religious bureaucracy aided by the state security apparatus is obsessed with “deviant” behaviour.
Anything that would encourage diversity in the majority polity is sanctioned by the state. And look at the kind of “deviants” that the state targets.
Someone like Wan Ji Wan Hussin who said this: “I don’t agree that only Islam can be propagated. The Federal Constitution states that, but I don't agree with it from the viewpoint of religion. Let the law practitioners debate if it’s from the law’s point of view.
“But as someone who studied religion, that statement is wrong. Non-Muslims should be given the right to give their views, as opposed to only the Muslims who can do so. Maybe that's why people have accused me of being ‘liberal’.”
And you can add Sisters in Islam to the list. Or someone like Siti Kasim and numerous Muslim scholars, activists and intellectuals.
Their crimes? Well, essentially what they are arguing against is fascism and solidarity with their Malaysian brothers and sisters.
If you want to know what I think is deviant, it is that our tax ringgit funds these folk and also defends teachers who make rape jokes. - Mkini
S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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