Dear Dr. Bakri:

I read your essay. It is good. I would only qualify that the so-called Hudud laws is not anywhere near Quranic teachings. It is a misreading and actually a deviation from them.
Warm regards.

Kassim Ahmad

Dear people:

This is a good article which PAS people must read.
Regards

Dr Syed Alwi
(From www.Malayia-today.net – reprinted with permisision)

Dear Dr. Bakri Musa:

Yesterday I read your guest column in the Sun Daily newspaper on the path towards a true Islamic state. I congratulate you for an enlightening article. Hopefully, leaders in Malaysia, both in the Government and Opposition, Muslims and non-Muslims, will read, chew, ponder and act accordingly.

You mentioned JUST laws. Very true! Few could say that our laws are just or being implemented fairly. People everywhere in the world are crying for JUSTICE – fairness, if you like. Without promoting justice among all, injustice will be the consequence, and the innocent, helpless, uneducated, and defenseless will suffer.

Men who attain power tend to abuse it to satisfy their egoistic tendencies, and to trample on the disadvantaged and defenseless. History is strewn with such examples, in Muslim and non-Muslim countries. Man forgets himself once he is intoxicated with power. And then there are those who lust for power, using all sorts of trickery to obtain it. Once they attain power, they rule with an iron hand and will brook no opposition or resistance from the subjects. The people are subjected to all sorts of abuses. Some will run away and become refugees and seek political asylum; but many others suffer in silence, accepting injustice as their fate.

You said, “When corruption is tolerated and the religious police zealously prey on the young for holding hands or not wearing tudung, then the leaders have lost their moral compass.” How true! You have said it! The question is how to rectify and set the “compass” in the right direction? As I said, once leaders get into power, they forget themselves. They are drunk, literally!

There is a pathetic attitude of closing one eye and shutting the other, when corruption is rampant and nothing is done to stem it. No number of Institutes of Integrity will change the mind-set, unless some definitive ACTIONS follow pronouncements. The time has come when the preaching must stop and ACTION must follow. Without action no words will eradicate or minimize corruption.

Punishing young couples who are deeply in love for holding hands shows lack of insensitivity and smacks of intolerance. It also says that the raiding officials are very righteous. It is the same with wearing or not wearing a tudung. It is a personal decision. I believe (correct me if I am wrong) that wearing tudung in desert areas is understandable because of the blowing sand.

I believe these officials should instead go after the drug addicts and try to rehabilitate them. These enforcement officers should go after the rapists, robbers and thieves. These are criminals worth going after. The reason these police officers do not go after these criminals is that they are tough nuts to crack. Those innocent young couples are easy target. As you said, our leaders have lost their moral compass. You have put it nicely!

Again, you have put it clearly when you said proponents of Islam Hadhari are putting the cart before the horse. Getting rid of poverty, giving education, reinforcing justice, and eradicating corruption are the burning issues and should have priority over the other trivial issues. We should tackle the URGENT and MOST IMPORTANT problems and issues FIRST. They touch the lives of very many people.

Yes, the Royal Commission Report on the Police is out. There are many important and BIG things to be tackled first. Going after the small bribes taken by the police and ignoring or taking lukewarm actions against the BIG looters is akin to barking up the wrong tree. Is enough being done to nab the big sharks? Taking firm action against the ikan bilis sends the wrong signal. Making examples of the small man is injustice in itself.

The International Perception Index on Corruption for Malaysia has worsened, not improved. Though it is just a perception, people do talk and judge accordingly. Transparency is an important issue here. Recently, our former PM asked for ALL the AP (Approved Permits) holders for importing cars to be made public. I understand there are well over 66,000 APs to import cars given out. Why should their names be kept under wraps? If there is nothing to hide, there is nothing to hide. This is my view. If it causes embarrassment, so be it! Let them be embarrassed. It was also reported that the former PM was angry that his son’s name was mentioned. Why be unfair to him and to his son only? Reveal all the names; and check who received more than their fair share of this lucrative cake! Is it because of fear of political repercussions because some deserving ones did not get any AP license? If so, who is responsible for that? Here TRANSPARENCY is the issue; being OPEN is the criteria.

I understand that the national car (Proton) sales could be affected because of the influx of imported cars under APs. Well, where does the national interest lie? National interest demands that the nation must come first, well above self-interest, and also well above partisan interest. The “moral compass” is out of focus and should be set right, for the sake of the NATIONAL interest.

This is a test case of TRANSPARENCY. We cannot hide behind the curtain of the Official Secrets’ Act; and say it is top secret. Here national interest is involved. Here transparency is involved. Do we dare to be transparent in this and other instances?

If the list is not revealed, suspicion will be the order of the day. To kill it, OPENNESS is the only solution.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

S.H. Huang
—————–

Hello Bakri and Din:

You both make very good points, and thank you very much for sharing this with me. Din’s points especially resonate with me.

We must not allow UMNO a free hand to make pronouncements without dialogue and debate with its coalition partners and members of civil society (NGOs like Sisters in Islam, Suaram, et. al). We must encourage these sleeping partners in BN to wake up from their stupor and speak their minds. UMNO must listen to the NGOs before it is too late and we have a repeat of May 13, 1969. So, Indian and other non- Muslim leaders in BN must speak up now! How long do you think Malaysians can keep mum before they implode?

I am leaving in a few days for the PAS muktamar (convention) and to do research and fieldwork up there. I am thoroughly depressed; my research assistants and I attended a number of fora lately: “Bahaya Islam Liberal” (Dangers of Liberal Islam); before that, the more politely worded but similar sentiments with academic bigots, this time at UIA [Islamic University]. Preceding both we have the IKD forum organized with Mujahid Yusuf Rawa and Zainah Anwar.

Oh god! My own young research assistants are ready to emigrate – and they are Muslim Malays who enjoy the haven and heaven of Ketuanan Melayu! So things must be really scary. Yet no one speaks up! I did at the one meeting where I met you Din (but you left early, I thinks, at the break) when I said, “Don’t tell us non-Muslims to shut up, we have every right to speak about the Shari’a because it impacts us!” I described how, but right that night someone from the Muslim Professional’s Forum asked how to “get even” with me.

Take care, both you good gentlemen! I am trying to get over a bad bout of flu.

Pat M
————

Dear Dr Bakri:

I think this is excellent and I hope the Sun will publish it. I am sitting here in Melbourne trying to write my column for this week and am too depressed to think of anything. This past week Kelantan, the state that cannot protect its people from typhoid, has announced mandatory premarital HIV testing for all Muslim couples. (Note: this is a not a PAS initiative, it started in Johor and is spreading despite our attempts to counter it). It is unjust and leads to more injustices because of the stigma and discrimination attached to AIDS. To me this exemplifies the state we are in now, where state religious departments are making health policy, which is the purview of the Federal government, but the Health Ministry is impotent to do anything about it. The Minister does not want to do anything when it touches on Islam, so he is allowing non-professionals to do something that will affect the health of millions of Malaysians. With mandatory testing, all we will see is more HIV, not less, as people will go underground. Twelve years of work in the HIV field and this is what we have come to, because of politics more than anything.

I am getting Dr Shad Faruqi to write a paper on the continuing encroachment of state authorities, particularly the religious departments, on Federal powers, using the mandatory premarital HIV testing as an example. It is the backdoor Islamisation of the administration which our people are not even seeing.

Even Australia under a no-class bloke like Howard is getting to look more attractive than home at the moment.

Thanks and regards,

MM——————-

Dear Dr. Bakri Musa:

What a coincidence – you writing about Islamic Law and Islamic State. Attached is a brief on Hijacking of Islam by Aidid Safar. Very thought provoking but logical!

I am just beginning to read the book but I have attached a brief to whet your appetite. Hopefully I can finish reading the book soon.

Salam,
IK
——————-

Thanks Bakri. Very well put!

R
——————

Dr. Bakri Musa:

Thank you for this spiritual piece.

Yes it should be that simple isn’t it? I do hate writing on Islam, laws, state, etc., and I said that oh so often to Steve Gan. But Muslims can be really strange. I sometimes do not know how we get to be this way.

I have liberal, socialist trained Muslim friends who said that non-Muslims should not get into the debate on Islam. Go figure!

S——————

Dear Dr. Bakri:

I am awed at the strength of the message you have brought in this article. You have put a voice to perhaps the silent majority in the country. What is the feedback so far? Lots of angry or supportive voices? How do you handle the negativity and threats (if any) to yourself? Is it easier because you are outside of the country?

Above all, thank you for sharing.

Take care and Salaam,

H————–

Thanks so much for the “Sun” article. Plenty of food for thought in this one, Bak.

KC
————-

Reprinted from www.malvu.org:
(Reprinted with permission)

US-based Malaysian Bakri Musa makes a common sense point for all to ponder: calling something Islamic does not make it so. For those who want an “Islamic state,” it is better for them to fight for the central idea of the religion, that is, justice! For without justice, a society cannot be said to be Islamic, democratic, Malaysian, compassionate, etc.

Now you can see where the fight for Islamic state/country by UMNO and PAS has misled Malaysians to. It is not a fight over spirituality/being true to the noble values of religion, but over the use of the Islamic tag in so far as to bring votes/political power. So who should be fooled?

From Malvu.org: Anon comment #1:

This item is well thought out and I am surprised there have been no comments attached so far. Does it mean we all agree or are we all trained or brainwashed into not commenting on religious and sensitive topics. It is a sad truth of Malaysian attitudes.

Anon comment #2:

Well said, Mr. Musa! Politicians in this country have certainly learnt a major weakness of our people, that is, if you call a horse a dog at least 20 times, the horse WILL be a dog; in the minds of the majority, at least. A clever but irresponsible method of how these so-called politicians rise to the ranks of true leaders! Knowing that the Muslim society in this country are not prone to speaking up on religious topics for fear of being branded as blasphemous, these politicians have grabbed the opportunity to use this knowledge to control the mind and culture of the people. This strategy has been fully utilized by BN and the Opposition parties alike. Whether they realize it or not, this is the sorry state of affairs in Malaysia. To add to the already skewed wave, then there is the ISA in the background. It will be a long struggle to banish the use of religion to shut the people up as it is with the struggle to oust corruption from the realms of government service. No wonder Islam has lost a lot of respect in the world especially among non-Muslims when we have supposedly Muslim leaders forging the path through unIslamic methods to rule its people. These leaders wear the mask of Islam to beguile the people. Islam stands for human rights and freedom, and it takes a strong Islamic leader to free Malaysians from the chains of irresponsible politicians we have today.

Anon comment #3:

The problem with equating religion with truth is that it confuses both the believers and the non-believers. For believers, the truth is hijacked by the religion. Thus you have “we must do this because the holy book says so … and it must be true.” But the truth is, as Musa points out, is the truth, so the holly book uphold its truth! This difference in implications separates fanaticism and superstition from rational belief and objectivity.

For non-believers, they think that they cannot object to something held dear by the religious believers. For example, the wearing of tudung; this ignores the fact that the holy book never mentions the tudung, only the general principle and advice for moderation in attire, an advice which is sensible enough in any religion. The politically-inspired attire is made out to be a religious requirement, and non-believers are fooled into thinking that it comes from the religion. Between the tudung and the burqa, it is the human politicians who decide which is closer to the teachings of the holy book. So just treat and discuss it as such. Most non-Muslims will feel the topic is “too sensitive” as it pertains to religion. They forget that the central value of justice behind any religion.

So wake up!

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