Written by Helen Ang
Wednesday, 04 August 2010 19:20
A football analogy of religion in Malaysia will be this:
The Ketuanan Melayu-Islam (KMI) team has on the pitch 11 players. The opposing team, the Minorities, fields 5 players – this ratio follows the Ibrahim Ali formula of 67% bumiputera representation, albeit appropriating the Christian native and pribumi animist share.
The referee is the KMI team manager, and the linesmen, the KMI club president and treasurer.
The goalmouth on the KMI side is 8 yards wide and goalpost 8 feet high. On the Minorities side, the corresponding dimensions are 30% extra at 10.5 yards/10.5 feet, thereby giving KMI strikers an advantage in chances for scoring. Furthermore, the Minorities goalkeeper is permitted to keep goal with only one hand.
Before kick-off, a ‘let’ is given by handicapping the Minorities three goals. The duration of play is 30 minutes each half, reduced by a quarter of an hour in keeping with NEP affirmative action.
If after the final whistle the scorecard still shows the Minorities ahead, the match will automatically go into extra time. If KMI fails to equalize despite the extended play, they will be accorded five penalty kicks. And if KMI still proceeds to lose despite the rules of the game deliberately crippling their opponent, the KMI fans will riot and burn down the stadium.
Does the football hooliganism allusion have any basis? The Shah Alam cow-head oafs and the church arson indicate, yes. The fact that the Mazu ‘Goddess of the Sea’ statue cannot be erected in Kudat, Sabah shows there is no level playing field.
Without any fair play, the conduct of the game then hinges on ‘toleration’, that is, the extent to which fundamentalist Muslims can tolerate the notion of pluralism in the matter of religious verities. Reciprocally, at what point would Muslim insistence on Islam as the sole divine truth make life too intolerable for the dhimmi?
Reaching breaking point
If I were to do some storekeeping, what’s ‘mine’ as non-Malay, non-Muslim is very scant. Small roadside shrines constructed under trees, faux churches in shoplots or looking like factory buildings and YMCA complexes (the rebuilt and recent completed Metro Tabernacle church is one example), temples in terrace houses. What’s ‘yours’ is magnificent and everywhere.
Not only do ‘you’ get free public expression of Islam, you also receive overflowing public funds. I needn’t delve into details; it’s not like most people don’t already know.
To further my football analogy, let’s take the junior league. One aspect of our religious NEP is the restriction on non-Muslim fellowship in schools. Conversely, there is no restriction on Kelab Islam.
Banning non-Muslim religious societies is like forbidding the stepchildren from being taught football and depriving them of footie practice in the school field.
While other religions are kept off the timetable, Islamic Studies is an integral component of the syllabus. It is mandatory for Malay students to take the paper in public exams.
In some schools, doa (Muslim prayer) is recited weekly during assembly. However, if a Christian, Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist prayer were ever recited in a gathering where Malay pupils are present, there will be uproar.
In some former mission schools (now become national school), crosses and icons of Virgin Mary and other saints have been removed by the new principals. And perhaps chapels closed down too. There have been incidents of teachers confiscating crucifixes and other religious symbols worn by pupils.
Why do you think that more than 90 percent of Chinese parents see no choice but to shield their children from the sekolah kebangsaan system? If I were a mother, I would never wish to subject my vulnerable child to a bellicose environment where my race, and the traditions and faith beliefs I’ve imparted to my son or daughter are disparaged.
In national school, even should my offspring be lucky enough to dodge any active proselytization, there is not escaping the Islamized climate that favours one party and discriminates against the other.
If you try to tell a Malay about another religion other than the one he was born into, you are guilty of a crime punishable with jail. Christian literature is required by law to carry a disclaimer ‘for non-Muslims only’. The Muslim is perfectly free to persuade you that his religion is best. You’re hard pressed to rebut, particularly when – for instance – the bible cannot be published and printed in the national language locally.
When you try bringing imported religious material through customs, these Christian CDs and bibles in Bahasa Indonesia are confiscated. Books on comparative religion are banned, even Karen Armstrong’s innocuous ‘The History of God’.
Where are we headed?
Circulars issued by the Education Departments and directives interpreted (if not further extended in scope) by Little Napoleons result in the alienation of non-Muslim pupils. Were the controversies in the Klang High School, and other schools in other states merely isolated episodes? I’m more inclined to see a determined NEP pattern arising from the powerful institutional forces of Islam at work.
There have been children who were converted during their schooldays. The Susie Teoh case was one that made legal history. Susie was formally instructed in Islam without the knowledge and consent of her father. The authorities made her a ward of the state until she was almost of age to legally convert to Islam. Another case is S Banggarma converted as in child in an orphanage.
Ahmed Burhan Tee Abdullah, who is the younger brother of controversial Utusan columnist Ridhuan Tee, gave an illuminating account of his introduction to Islam in a ‘Bicara Agama’ column of the same newspaper. There was no compulsion insofar as Burhan was concerned; it was his own heart’s desire.
Nonetheless, some points crop up in hearing Burhan’s narrative. He recalled how the ustaz in his school was able to answer “clearly and logically” the questions posed by him as a child whereas to his disappointment, Mr and Mrs Tee failed to satisfactorily explain the significance of religious rituals inherited and practiced by the Chinese.
Granted we are not acquainted with the Tee family faith practices. But taking a more general view, can you fault Chinese or Indian or Orang Asli for not being able to provide adequate spiritual guidance to their children when they themselves are religiously oppressed by the state?
On the one hand, Islamisation pervades every cubic inch of air we breathe in Malaysia.
On the other hand, other religions are suppressed. One infamous incident occurred in 2004 at Christmas where the Selangor Sultan and assorted cabinet ministers were invited guests. At this official function, hymns mentioning Jesus could not be sung.
A person like Lina Joy cannot safely reside in Malaysia. A youth bearing the name Ali bin Bakar on his Mykad made front page news in a national paper because he is Buddhist – such a shocking, sensational revelation!
Those who can among the minorities have elected to emigrate rather than challenge the NEP. The pro-Malay policy that was to have ended in 1990 is prolonged under various guises and set to continue into the distant future.
It will be the same for religion. NEP yielded Ketuanan Melayu; NEP phase II yields Ketuanan Islam. For its poster boy, Ridhuan Tee is the face. But look too at the state sanctioned structures and processes that facilitate the creation of such a convert.
Converts are even paid money by the state when they embrace Islam. When a ‘victory’ or human souls are won by NEP-like means, how honorable is that?
Wednesday, 04 August 2010 19:20
A football analogy of religion in Malaysia will be this:
The Ketuanan Melayu-Islam (KMI) team has on the pitch 11 players. The opposing team, the Minorities, fields 5 players – this ratio follows the Ibrahim Ali formula of 67% bumiputera representation, albeit appropriating the Christian native and pribumi animist share.
The referee is the KMI team manager, and the linesmen, the KMI club president and treasurer.
The goalmouth on the KMI side is 8 yards wide and goalpost 8 feet high. On the Minorities side, the corresponding dimensions are 30% extra at 10.5 yards/10.5 feet, thereby giving KMI strikers an advantage in chances for scoring. Furthermore, the Minorities goalkeeper is permitted to keep goal with only one hand.
Before kick-off, a ‘let’ is given by handicapping the Minorities three goals. The duration of play is 30 minutes each half, reduced by a quarter of an hour in keeping with NEP affirmative action.
If after the final whistle the scorecard still shows the Minorities ahead, the match will automatically go into extra time. If KMI fails to equalize despite the extended play, they will be accorded five penalty kicks. And if KMI still proceeds to lose despite the rules of the game deliberately crippling their opponent, the KMI fans will riot and burn down the stadium.
Does the football hooliganism allusion have any basis? The Shah Alam cow-head oafs and the church arson indicate, yes. The fact that the Mazu ‘Goddess of the Sea’ statue cannot be erected in Kudat, Sabah shows there is no level playing field.
Without any fair play, the conduct of the game then hinges on ‘toleration’, that is, the extent to which fundamentalist Muslims can tolerate the notion of pluralism in the matter of religious verities. Reciprocally, at what point would Muslim insistence on Islam as the sole divine truth make life too intolerable for the dhimmi?
Reaching breaking point
If I were to do some storekeeping, what’s ‘mine’ as non-Malay, non-Muslim is very scant. Small roadside shrines constructed under trees, faux churches in shoplots or looking like factory buildings and YMCA complexes (the rebuilt and recent completed Metro Tabernacle church is one example), temples in terrace houses. What’s ‘yours’ is magnificent and everywhere.
Not only do ‘you’ get free public expression of Islam, you also receive overflowing public funds. I needn’t delve into details; it’s not like most people don’t already know.
To further my football analogy, let’s take the junior league. One aspect of our religious NEP is the restriction on non-Muslim fellowship in schools. Conversely, there is no restriction on Kelab Islam.
Banning non-Muslim religious societies is like forbidding the stepchildren from being taught football and depriving them of footie practice in the school field.
While other religions are kept off the timetable, Islamic Studies is an integral component of the syllabus. It is mandatory for Malay students to take the paper in public exams.
In some schools, doa (Muslim prayer) is recited weekly during assembly. However, if a Christian, Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist prayer were ever recited in a gathering where Malay pupils are present, there will be uproar.
In some former mission schools (now become national school), crosses and icons of Virgin Mary and other saints have been removed by the new principals. And perhaps chapels closed down too. There have been incidents of teachers confiscating crucifixes and other religious symbols worn by pupils.
Why do you think that more than 90 percent of Chinese parents see no choice but to shield their children from the sekolah kebangsaan system? If I were a mother, I would never wish to subject my vulnerable child to a bellicose environment where my race, and the traditions and faith beliefs I’ve imparted to my son or daughter are disparaged.
In national school, even should my offspring be lucky enough to dodge any active proselytization, there is not escaping the Islamized climate that favours one party and discriminates against the other.
If you try to tell a Malay about another religion other than the one he was born into, you are guilty of a crime punishable with jail. Christian literature is required by law to carry a disclaimer ‘for non-Muslims only’. The Muslim is perfectly free to persuade you that his religion is best. You’re hard pressed to rebut, particularly when – for instance – the bible cannot be published and printed in the national language locally.
When you try bringing imported religious material through customs, these Christian CDs and bibles in Bahasa Indonesia are confiscated. Books on comparative religion are banned, even Karen Armstrong’s innocuous ‘The History of God’.
Where are we headed?
Circulars issued by the Education Departments and directives interpreted (if not further extended in scope) by Little Napoleons result in the alienation of non-Muslim pupils. Were the controversies in the Klang High School, and other schools in other states merely isolated episodes? I’m more inclined to see a determined NEP pattern arising from the powerful institutional forces of Islam at work.
There have been children who were converted during their schooldays. The Susie Teoh case was one that made legal history. Susie was formally instructed in Islam without the knowledge and consent of her father. The authorities made her a ward of the state until she was almost of age to legally convert to Islam. Another case is S Banggarma converted as in child in an orphanage.
Ahmed Burhan Tee Abdullah, who is the younger brother of controversial Utusan columnist Ridhuan Tee, gave an illuminating account of his introduction to Islam in a ‘Bicara Agama’ column of the same newspaper. There was no compulsion insofar as Burhan was concerned; it was his own heart’s desire.
Nonetheless, some points crop up in hearing Burhan’s narrative. He recalled how the ustaz in his school was able to answer “clearly and logically” the questions posed by him as a child whereas to his disappointment, Mr and Mrs Tee failed to satisfactorily explain the significance of religious rituals inherited and practiced by the Chinese.
Granted we are not acquainted with the Tee family faith practices. But taking a more general view, can you fault Chinese or Indian or Orang Asli for not being able to provide adequate spiritual guidance to their children when they themselves are religiously oppressed by the state?
On the one hand, Islamisation pervades every cubic inch of air we breathe in Malaysia.
On the other hand, other religions are suppressed. One infamous incident occurred in 2004 at Christmas where the Selangor Sultan and assorted cabinet ministers were invited guests. At this official function, hymns mentioning Jesus could not be sung.
A person like Lina Joy cannot safely reside in Malaysia. A youth bearing the name Ali bin Bakar on his Mykad made front page news in a national paper because he is Buddhist – such a shocking, sensational revelation!
Those who can among the minorities have elected to emigrate rather than challenge the NEP. The pro-Malay policy that was to have ended in 1990 is prolonged under various guises and set to continue into the distant future.
It will be the same for religion. NEP yielded Ketuanan Melayu; NEP phase II yields Ketuanan Islam. For its poster boy, Ridhuan Tee is the face. But look too at the state sanctioned structures and processes that facilitate the creation of such a convert.
Converts are even paid money by the state when they embrace Islam. When a ‘victory’ or human souls are won by NEP-like means, how honorable is that?
1 comment:
I think some of us are just prejudice towards Islam. Buddists or Hindus wouldn't mind sending their children to a missionary schools (from my experience, some missionary schools openly preach christianity). No objections if their children converted to christians or other religions but not I.I.... They migrated to another country, happily and willingly adapting themselves, change their lifestyles and beliefs. No complain. Here, we like it or not, Islam is the main religion. But as far as I know, there's no compulsion in religion. I think we have to learn more about other religions before making such unfair remarks. Life is about what you want it to be. Be posive..
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