Here’s an interesting letter about the Lina Joy case to malaysiakini by Abu Mubarak. I have produced relevant extracts for your perusal:
The response from some readers with regards to the Lina Joy case are not in proportion with the real issue dealt with by the Federal Court. Lina Joy is no longer a Muslim and no one disputes that. But then the Federal Court was never asked to ascertain what religion Joy is professing.
In fact, it is beyond Federal Court jurisdiction to ascertain what religion a person is professing. The Federal Court also did not prevent Lina from practising another religion.
It simply said that Joy must abide by NRD procedures when she wants to change information on her identity card.
The Syariah court is the only court recognised by the constitution to be competent in deciding whether or not a person professes the Islamic faith. If a Muslim has no problem going to the civil courts, why can’t it be so for non-Muslims to go to the Syariah courts. In a multiracial and multi- religious society like us, reciprocation is not something we could afford to overlook.
KTemoc comments: additionally there has been great beat ups about the 2-1 decision as “evident” that all has not been judgementally kosher. The reality is court cases all around the western world, including in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, etc have had such spilt decision by the bench when sitting in 3’s or 5’s or even more, without the world of justice coming to an end.
That’s why there is such a thing as “dissenting views”. If people believe some of the judges were biased, then I have to warn them that that accusation could go either way. As I have often stated, in such cases one can’t cherry pick.
When Joy applied to change her name and delete the word ‘Islam’ from her identity card, it was also a matter of administration rather than an issue of faith. The requirement to provide proper documents for changing information on one’s identity card should be deemed as a normal administrative practice. In Joy’s case, she needs to obtain judgement from the Syariah courts with regards to her religious status.
Does Joy believe that her religious beliefs would be polluted simply by going to the Syariah courts? If not, what is it actually preventing her from seeking clarification from the relevant authority - which is the Syariah court - with regards to her religious status?
I think justice would be better served if Joy abides by normal procedures when dealing with administrative matters like this, just like others would too. I know a person who converted from Hindu to Islam and her request to the NRD to include the word ‘Islam’ on her MyKad was rejected because she failed to produce the relevant documents about her conversion to Islam.
Note: Abu Mubarak also provided an example of his personal experience in the USA where he and wife had to go to a church administrative officer in order to secure administrative assistance for a non-religious issue.
KTemoc comments: I agree with author’s views and arguments.
However having said that, and leaving aside the "interests" of certain sectors in (either gleefully or sincerely) propelling the Lina Joy case into polemical controversy, the Islamic authority including the syariah courts have been unfortunately tainted in many ways by people like the Mufti of Perak.
So while I support Lina Joy seeking justice and an official solution to her religious status, the Muslim community in turn must also play its vigilant part to enhance and protect the perception of reason and justice of its legal institutions.
When unmitigated clowns like the Mufti of Perak make idiotic remarks or spread seditious lies they must be immediately censured, prosecuted or sacked. It’s no different to the sacking of civil personalities in authority or defrocking of Christian/Buddhist priests or monk.
The recent blind protection of the Mufti of Perak by PAS was a most regrettable action. The perpetrator of evil was allowed to get away scot-free whilst those who sought justice were humiliated.
PAS should be ashamed for unwittingly bringing disrepute unto the sanctity of Islam and its institutions through its blind parochialism. The UMNO-led government should be equally ashamed of remaining silent when PAS went on a polemical rampage.
While I urge the non-Muslims to allow Lina Joy to proceed to a solution via the only avenue left, I also urge the Muslim community to be less blindly defensive and examine their conscience towards Allah (swt) by allowing a nasty person like the Mufti of Perak to continue in his role of “providing best advice” on Islam to the Sultan of Perak and the Muslim community.
More importantly if Muslims want non-Muslims to respect their beliefs and institutions, they must be vigilant in protecting Islam's good name BUT not its bad representation, like the malicious evil action of the Perak Mufti.
Showing posts with label lina joy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lina joy. Show all posts
Friday, June 08, 2007
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Giving Lina Joy a chance
Letters on the Lina Joy case continue to pour in to malaysiakini at a ratio of (my rough guess) 85% against the federal court’s ruling, for Lina to seek a ruling (or permission) from the syariah court to be declared officially as no longer a Muslim.
I am not sure how that’s going to help Lina – as I said in a previous posting, City Hall’s not going to cave in to such polemics.
… unless of course, such polemics, posturing and politicking are meant to serve purposes other than for Lina’s interests.
While I admire Lim Guan Eng for his dedication as an opposition leader I don’t agree at all with his remarks that that ruling will divide Malaysian society even more – how?
Malaysians or even Malayans have Muslims and non-Muslims in our society, and we all know that Muslims live their religious lives just as before where it’s hard for Muslims to leave their religion.
Yes, in recent times there may be some wannabe Arabs but that’s no different from Malaysian Christians having western names and wearing western styled clothing.
Let’s not beat an already dead horse, for if we continue to do so, the situation becomes even worse for Lina. Many Muslims believe, and I don’t blame them, that it’s all part of a plot to undermine their faith. It doesn’t help Lina if they, including members of the syariah court, start to develop a siege mentality.
For s start, our constitution has the conflicting articles – 11, 121(1) and 121(1)(a), etc – which one do we use? Can we just cherry pick as they suit our arguments? Let’s sort this one out first before we can really talk with real consistency and direction.
But until then, let’s give Lina her only avenue left. As malaysiakini reader P Dev Anand Pillai said in the last two paragraphs of his letter:
It can be well said that Malaysia is a unique place where one can see that bringing up children in households that practice different religions is very common. Trouble only starts when the child is grown and begins to adapt in the adult world where questions will be asked. We cannot be proud of the case of Lina Joy for we are going to see many more such cases and we must be ready to give them solutions and remedies for their predicaments.
If the Syariah courts are the forum, then they must be prepared to allow non-Muslims to be represented in their courts and welcome them without any form of prejudice because they are of different faiths. Therefore, if it has been decided that the Syariah courts are the forum to get justice, then let’s see if justice is served
Yes, let’s give Lina a chance with the syariah court instead of many now presumptuously closing that avenue with predictions of woe and death sentences. One cannot but get the feeling that those who have been vehemently criticizing the court’s ruling are actually delighted that the Lina Joy case has provided them with the ammunition to bash Islam and the Muslims.
I am not sure how that’s going to help Lina – as I said in a previous posting, City Hall’s not going to cave in to such polemics.
… unless of course, such polemics, posturing and politicking are meant to serve purposes other than for Lina’s interests.
While I admire Lim Guan Eng for his dedication as an opposition leader I don’t agree at all with his remarks that that ruling will divide Malaysian society even more – how?
Malaysians or even Malayans have Muslims and non-Muslims in our society, and we all know that Muslims live their religious lives just as before where it’s hard for Muslims to leave their religion.
Yes, in recent times there may be some wannabe Arabs but that’s no different from Malaysian Christians having western names and wearing western styled clothing.
Let’s not beat an already dead horse, for if we continue to do so, the situation becomes even worse for Lina. Many Muslims believe, and I don’t blame them, that it’s all part of a plot to undermine their faith. It doesn’t help Lina if they, including members of the syariah court, start to develop a siege mentality.
For s start, our constitution has the conflicting articles – 11, 121(1) and 121(1)(a), etc – which one do we use? Can we just cherry pick as they suit our arguments? Let’s sort this one out first before we can really talk with real consistency and direction.
But until then, let’s give Lina her only avenue left. As malaysiakini reader P Dev Anand Pillai said in the last two paragraphs of his letter:
It can be well said that Malaysia is a unique place where one can see that bringing up children in households that practice different religions is very common. Trouble only starts when the child is grown and begins to adapt in the adult world where questions will be asked. We cannot be proud of the case of Lina Joy for we are going to see many more such cases and we must be ready to give them solutions and remedies for their predicaments.
If the Syariah courts are the forum, then they must be prepared to allow non-Muslims to be represented in their courts and welcome them without any form of prejudice because they are of different faiths. Therefore, if it has been decided that the Syariah courts are the forum to get justice, then let’s see if justice is served
Yes, let’s give Lina a chance with the syariah court instead of many now presumptuously closing that avenue with predictions of woe and death sentences. One cannot but get the feeling that those who have been vehemently criticizing the court’s ruling are actually delighted that the Lina Joy case has provided them with the ammunition to bash Islam and the Muslims.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Lina Joy & the 'cane toad' phenomena
This is not the sort of story that malaysiakini would carry but it needs to be told within the context of the Lina Joy saga. The controversial Muslim-turned-Christian court appeal has been reported in malaysiakini recently.
Because religion is such an emotional issue, the federal court’s ruling has been either praised or condemned, depending on the person’s personal religious affiliations, views, and values.
But the more important issue for Muslims is a story that could be related to it.
I would liken the story I am about to tell to the ‘cane toad debacle’ of Australia.
About 70 years ago, Australian authority decided to import the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, a large terrestrial native to Central and South America, as a pest control against the cane beetle. The adult beetles eat the leaves of sugar cane but greater damage is the done by their larvae hatching underground and eating the roots of the sugar cane.
The toad was supposed to eat up and hopefully control, if not eliminate the cane beetle and its larvae. It became known as the ‘cane toad’.
102 of the cane toads were imported from Hawaii; 70 years later there are 200 millions of them. The toads have frightening appetites and are considered as a significant pest now, destroying many native animals. They are so poisonous that nothing can kill them. And their high reproductivity has been a terrifying reality for Australians.
So, an imported item to control pests has become a pest itself.
Some years ago, or more accurately many years ago, there was a rumour that the Chinese in Malaysia had become the majority ethnic group - perhaps a function of their reproductive capacity in this bountiful land.
Apparently the true demographic statistics were never released. The story told of the strategy to encourage mass illegal immigrants from Indonesia (by at least 1 million) to restore the ethnic ratio to its original split.
I am not sure whether the (closed one eye to) illegal migrants in Sabah were part of that strategy, or an independent initiative by a certain former chief minister to enhance his personal powers.
Like the cane toad the migrants were ‘imported’ to control an undesirable imbalance which could (frighteningly for those in power then) tipped the balance of political power.
And also like the cane toad, the control element became a new problem, for crime and the Christian religion came along with them – mind you, not that these two imported elements are inter-related. See my previous posting Malaysian Muslims under siege?
It would be virtually impossible for Indians, Chinese or the white men to penetrate the local Muslim community and convert the Malays into Christians. But a Christian ‘Malay’ would be a different kettle of fish.
An Indonesian could and would easily become a Malaysian Malay – and there were rumours that many were in possession of the correct IC within days of entry into our country. And we know that some Indonesians are Christians.
They also would marry into the local community. I was informed that such an example was the marriage of a well-known Malay actress/singer (resident of or in Singapore) to an Indon actor who was a Christian. The actress was threatened with violence (acid would be thrown into her face, etc) until the husband decided to convert to mollify the opposition and thus protect her.
Voila, the local Muslim community faced and faces a humongous problem where none existed before.
Of course I can’t say that Lina Joy was converted by a once-Indon-now-Malay Christian. But there would be some such cases.
Like the cane toad, how does one eliminate or control the solution-turned-problem? Indeed a poisonous, indestructive and highly reproductive one too!
Well, in Australia, a scientist found out that the only possible solution would be to take advantage of the cane toad’s cannibalistic behavior. The toad eats up its young by the dozens. But even then, that proposed (and futuristic) solution would only halt the spread and increase of the toad population.
Try translating that cannabalistic solution ridiculously to the local 'cane toad phenomena', and we can see the ever growing problem for the Muslim community.
Because religion is such an emotional issue, the federal court’s ruling has been either praised or condemned, depending on the person’s personal religious affiliations, views, and values.
But the more important issue for Muslims is a story that could be related to it.
I would liken the story I am about to tell to the ‘cane toad debacle’ of Australia.
About 70 years ago, Australian authority decided to import the giant neotropical toad or marine toad, a large terrestrial native to Central and South America, as a pest control against the cane beetle. The adult beetles eat the leaves of sugar cane but greater damage is the done by their larvae hatching underground and eating the roots of the sugar cane.
The toad was supposed to eat up and hopefully control, if not eliminate the cane beetle and its larvae. It became known as the ‘cane toad’.
102 of the cane toads were imported from Hawaii; 70 years later there are 200 millions of them. The toads have frightening appetites and are considered as a significant pest now, destroying many native animals. They are so poisonous that nothing can kill them. And their high reproductivity has been a terrifying reality for Australians.
So, an imported item to control pests has become a pest itself.
Some years ago, or more accurately many years ago, there was a rumour that the Chinese in Malaysia had become the majority ethnic group - perhaps a function of their reproductive capacity in this bountiful land.
Apparently the true demographic statistics were never released. The story told of the strategy to encourage mass illegal immigrants from Indonesia (by at least 1 million) to restore the ethnic ratio to its original split.
I am not sure whether the (closed one eye to) illegal migrants in Sabah were part of that strategy, or an independent initiative by a certain former chief minister to enhance his personal powers.
Like the cane toad the migrants were ‘imported’ to control an undesirable imbalance which could (frighteningly for those in power then) tipped the balance of political power.
And also like the cane toad, the control element became a new problem, for crime and the Christian religion came along with them – mind you, not that these two imported elements are inter-related. See my previous posting Malaysian Muslims under siege?
It would be virtually impossible for Indians, Chinese or the white men to penetrate the local Muslim community and convert the Malays into Christians. But a Christian ‘Malay’ would be a different kettle of fish.
An Indonesian could and would easily become a Malaysian Malay – and there were rumours that many were in possession of the correct IC within days of entry into our country. And we know that some Indonesians are Christians.
They also would marry into the local community. I was informed that such an example was the marriage of a well-known Malay actress/singer (resident of or in Singapore) to an Indon actor who was a Christian. The actress was threatened with violence (acid would be thrown into her face, etc) until the husband decided to convert to mollify the opposition and thus protect her.
Voila, the local Muslim community faced and faces a humongous problem where none existed before.
Of course I can’t say that Lina Joy was converted by a once-Indon-now-Malay Christian. But there would be some such cases.
Like the cane toad, how does one eliminate or control the solution-turned-problem? Indeed a poisonous, indestructive and highly reproductive one too!
Well, in Australia, a scientist found out that the only possible solution would be to take advantage of the cane toad’s cannibalistic behavior. The toad eats up its young by the dozens. But even then, that proposed (and futuristic) solution would only halt the spread and increase of the toad population.
Try translating that cannabalistic solution ridiculously to the local 'cane toad phenomena', and we can see the ever growing problem for the Muslim community.
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