One answer offered is "Hunt and kill them or launch war against them”.
14% of the 69 visitors selected this answer. Fortunately for our nation's reputation of civility and tolerance, 57% selected the answer of "Just ignore them."
The Mufti of Perak, Harussani Zakaria, has a reputation for being an intolerant bloke who had advocated exiling people affected by HIV-AIDS to an island to live in isolation from society, even when we now have the medical knowledge and facility to attend to their ailments.
His cruel solution reminds me of the old leprosy centre on Pulau Jerejak in days when medical science was still lacking in vital knowledge. I wonder whether the Mufti has ever seen the videoclip of the late Pincess Diane shaking hands with an Indonesian girl suffering from leprosy? Now, that's knowledge and compassion.
Mufti Harussani Zakaria has been condemned for his lack of compassion. But his latest gimmick with that unacceptable alternative answer of 'hunt to kill' is truly over the top, and utterly unacceptable for a civilised and law-abiding society. We especially our religious leaders shouldn't be implanting such fanatical, cruel and criminal attitudes in the minds of our people.
At Malaysiakini a writer wrote of the Mufti that "he has failed to display ‘ihsan’ or compassion, empathy and sensitvity on issues so fragile such as HIV/Aids, transexuality and condoms." Why exile HIV positive victims to an island when the disease is not transmitted through the air or normal contact?
The unfortunate fact about HIV/AIDS is that the disease can be contacted in other ways besides sex, like needle sharing among drug addicts, contaminated needles at medical facilities due to poor hygienic discipline or blood transfusion [some innocents have been HIV positive because of this cause]. Overseas, there have been cases where police officers, prison wardens and innocent people being attacked by HIV contaminated needles. Even doctors and nurses aren't immune from inadvertent contacting despite their knowledge and care.
The writer lamented that the Perak Mufti with his ignorant understanding of HIV/AIDS showed how shallow and inconsiderate he is.
Marina Mahathir, former president of Malaysian Aids Council, criticised the Malaysian government [his father was PM until recent times] for failing to train the senior people in the religious establishment, like the Perak Mufti, on the issue of HIV/Aids.
Religious leaders of various beliefs through their ill-considered pronouncements can cause distress to many people and perhaps even cause social upheaval.
ReplyDeleteThe opinions which they so readily dispense can be due to their rigid, inflexible thinking and also, one suspects, in many cases due to their low IQ. It shouldn't surprise anyone at all to find that some of these holy men may not even be able to pass the Form Three assessment exam.
Thus the only lines of work open to them may be as dishwashers in restaurants, toilet attendants or
garbage collectors.
Therefore, not surprisingly, these people turn to religious vocation for employment which is rather easy to get in as religious institutions are usually needy for manpower and will readily take in practically anyone regardless of intelligence level.
So, lo and behold, once in the fold and attired in religious garb they instantly command the respect and reverence of the general public. This is power, and let's be honest -- it can be heady.
Before long they find that whatever they utter goes unchallenged probably because people hold back out of politeness and deference to their position as religious leaders. Consequently, we often find many of these exalted men of religion spouting off blithely all kinds of idiocies (because they are idiots, you see).
I wouldn't say the polling option from the perak mufti is wrong.
ReplyDeleteEven if he does not provide that option, it does not mean there're voters who don't feel that way.
At least by enabling that option, we're able to see a clearer picture of how many advocates exist for it.
Better to know what some extremists think than to ignore their existence and live in complacency.