No action against anti-national religious bigots in Malaysia?

 
No action against anti-national religious bigots in Malaysia?

No News Is Bad News had initially tried to refrain from writing on the antics of insensitive religious bigots, especially when it involved a Mufti or two.

But, after what Mariam Mokhtar has penned and published by online news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT), we cannot help but register our disgust with the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government for treating the matter lightly.

If the federal government can treat Namewee’s controversial video clip so seriously and swiftly, and it is still arguable that the video clip was seditious, what about the Perak Mufti and his deputy.

Both Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria and his deputy Zamri Hashim claimed that building statues of living creatures went against the teachings of Islam.

However, after four days of fierce debate, Zamri claimed that he was misquoted.

Well! Well! Does claiming misquotation means you are absolved of all guilt?

Isn't it akin to committing a crime and then say you did not do it?

Are they no better than Communists? Didn't they run down our soldiers who fought so bravely and lost their lives to save Malaysia from the Communists.

In so doing, and to put it bluntly, aren't they anti-nationals?

Have the duo not committed sedition by insinuating that other religions that put up statues should also be removed?
Weren't the duo not only insensitive, didn't they commit sedition by trying to deny the religious rights of others as guaranteed under Malaysia’s Federal Constitution?

We say, both Harussani and Zamri should at least be sacked, if not jailed, for possibly having committed an anti-national act.

We dread to think what will happen to others, especially those who are considered not so friendly with BN, who acted the same as the two religious bigots.

No action from the federal government means it is condoning the acts of such "anti-nationals" who can continue with their religious bigotry and with impunity. Period.

Here’s what Mariam Mokhrar wrote:

"The coarse art of distraction
Mariam Mokhtar

| September 11, 2016

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."