1. Malaysiakini (http://www.malaysiakini.com)
Will Hasan's tape 'made in Thailand' too?, 23 February 2012
'What will the video show? A couple sitting in the shadows with the backs turned and their voices modified to protect their identities?'
Hasan to provide video evidence of 'baptised' Malays
David Dass: Under pressure of forced rehabilitation and other social sanctions, 'converts' may recant their newly-found faith. So like confessions obtained under threats and torture, such public recantations are suspect.
Do a few converts constitute such a national crisis that requires a jihad? Are there no wise men among our leaders who will acknowledge the inevitability of some conversions from one faith to the other - even without coercion or stealth devices?
Islam will not be threatened by a few conversions. Nor will any of the other great religions. There is no need for jihad.
Thinking: Hasan Ali, please look at your own house and see where your people have failed in their responsibilities.
If your children go to other men and call them "daddy" instead of you, it reflects your own failure as a father. Don't blame others.
So you're upset when a Muslim converts to Christianity. How do you think Christians feel about their people who convert to other religions?
But Christians don't go around blaming others. They look into their own faults and try to correct themselves.
Cloudnine: There are many out there who do not even have a religion. And there are many who have embraced a religion but do not practise sincerely. These are the people we should help and focus our energy on.
If you count them, there are millions. Religion, be it Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc, is not meant for us to quarrel over. We use it to civilise ourselves, learn the good values of love and caring, etc.
Trying to prove we are right and others wrong will lead to no end.
Bert: "The identity of the couple will have to be protected and only their silhouettes shown in full," said Hasan.
Are you trying to say that if the so-called converts are fully exposed, their lives will be in danger? Don't tell us cock-and-bull stories. Anyone is free to convert to any religion (except from Islam), there is no question of a life in danger.
Anyone can produce a video clip these days. In today's world, any couple will 'act' for a few dollars, just to tarnish the image of others and for their own agenda. Anyway, what integrity do you have, Hasan Ali?
Nik V: This will only proof that the silhouettes were converted. If only the court of law could take a lesson from Hasan. That way, witnesses do not need to show their faces to those they accuse, and we soon will have the law of the jungle.
Artchan: Protect my identity, and also do not show my face, and I will let you record a video of me accusing a high-profile politician of murdering a Mongolian woman. Very clever idea, Hasan - except that only you would believe your own lies.
Myop101: Hasan Ali, if these people are willing to testify concerning someone who broke the law, why don't you assist them to report to police?
The police will be able to investigate the case and get them charged if the allegations are true. As of now, no one trusts the whole video episode and it only serves to tarnish your reputation further.
Pronto: People will act for the right amount of money. A lot of Malaysia are poor and they will do anything for money.
If true, asked them to name the person who converted them. Surely, they know their name. You can charged that guy because the law said so.
Ipoh Mali: More promises of evidence? No need for drama. I hope that Hasan can show the couple are in fact Muslims. And bring in the people who baptised them and show that they are indeed Christians.
Come on, you may be an idiot, but don't think we are. Come to think of it, why didn't Hasan Ali get the religious police to do something with his so-called evidence?
This is just another sandiwara. The last time he showed evidence was some video (Jais raid of Damansara Utama Methodist Church) that was inconclusive of what had exactly happened. At that time, he said he had evidence.
Then he showed some solar-powered bibles. But these are used by Christians, especially by their own people who can't read.
Kairos: There will always be Malays who will convert to Christianity. Evidence of a few Muslims becoming Christians does not mean that there is a mass exodus of Muslims into Christianity.
There are also Christians becoming Muslims and Hindus becoming Muslims and vice versa. If Hasan's purpose of showing the video is to frighten the Muslims or to intimidate the Christians, then as always he is trying to play the religious card to achieve his diabolical ends.
All right-thinking Malaysians must be able to see through this evil man's agenda and remain level headed.
It really amazes me that a few Muslims get converted and they raise a hue and cry about it. How insecure can they get? It does not speak well of their faith.
Joker: What will the video show? A couple sitting in the shadows with the backs turned and their voices modified to protect their identities?
What will they talk about? That they were approached by a Christian missionary disguised as a Muslim praying in a mosque who showed them God's word using a solar-powered Bible?
That they attended a church 'somewhere in the city' and that they were forced to in order to receive financial benefits?
Multi Racial: As a country, we need politicians who care for the country more then themselves. We need politicians who can bring development. We need politicians who promote integration.
Hasan Ali is just the opposite. It is obvious he cares about himself more than the country. When it comes to national integration, he will be the last person who want that to happen.
It is obvious his activities is funded by Umno to stir up racial and religion issues. We leave it to Malaysians to decide for themselves whether Hasan Ali is there to help or destroy.
Nil: Why wait? If there is proof. it would have been provided by now. So, I suppose the videos will be made in Thailand, too?
Dr Jacob George: It is shocking that the obsession for wealth, greed and power can produce such a personification of falsehood, misrepresentation, fabrication and evil and the urge to tear what we have built as a nation for over 54 years.
・The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda.
2. Free Malaysia Today (http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com)
MCA, DAP and PAS’ Islamic agenda, 21 February 2012
by Thomas Lee
While the Islamic party has a social, civil and constitutional right to advance its agenda, its leaders are promoting it the wrong way and therein lies the crux of the problem
One of the most contentious issues that MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek raised at last weekend’s great debate was the so-called PAS Islamic agenda, and the alleged failure of his opponent DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to make a public stand on the matter.
Soi Lek and his MCA have been harping on this PAS issue consistently, persistently, and tediously since early 2011, trying to score political points rhetorically to undermine the credibility of Guan Eng and the DAP, using in particular the party-owned newspaper The Star in his unrelenting determined campaign against the DAP.
But does Soi Lek truly understand what the whole matter of the Islamic agenda is all about?
PAS, like any other political party all over the world, is founded on a political idealogy, in its case the Islamic theocratic idealogy. The raison d’être for the founding of PAS is the promotion, advancement and establishment of an Islamic theocratic society. Without this mandate, PAS has no legitimate purpose to continue its existence.
Hence, like the communist idealogical platform, the liberal social political philosophy, the capitalism system, the authoritarian right-wing fascism, the democratic securalism of the DAP, the open laissez-faire free society concept, and even the contemporary green movement, PAS has a very social, civil, human and constitutional right to promote and advance its Islamic agenda, more so when our country is a Muslim-majority state.
The problem is not the PAS Islamic agenda per se, but the stupidity of its leaders, who are not too intelligent, let alone intellectual.
Despite so many of them having purported doctorate degrees, they are going about promoting their PAS Islamic ideology the wrong way, by stressing and emphasing on petty irrelevant matters of non-substance such as protesting against concerts by foreign artistes, moral policing of personal behaviour, banning of Valentine celebration, objection to even healthy entertainment joints like cinemas, enforcing dress code on the women folk, and going on witch-hunting at Christian churches for so-called apostates, etc.
In the process of such silly and senseless practices, they frightened off the non-Muslims and brought about a lot of ill-will and caused a lot of anger among non-Muslims. What the Muslim party should stress on is the fundamental goodness of Islam in the areas of truth, righteousness, justice, fairness, and human rights, to win the hearts and minds of both the Muslims and non- Muslims, not to put them off with all those nonsense propagated and perpetuated by the likes of Hasan Ali and the Bangi state assemblyman Shafie Abu Bakar.
Being a Christian, whose religion also teaches the exclusiveness of the faith, I can understand the stand of my Muslim sisters and brothers in PAS who insist on and stand firm on the exclusiveness of their religion.
PAS leaders lack wisdom and intelligence
From the strictly theological perspective, PAS is right. Islam, like Christianity, is certainly an exclusive religious faith, claiming in the Shahada (Declaration of Faith) that “There is no god, but Allah” (La ilah illa Ilah) and Muhammad is Allah’s messenger (Wa Muhammad rasul u’llah). The PAS position is certainly consistent with the fundamental doctrine of Islam.
Like Christianity, Islam also claims exclusivity to its beliefs and teachings. A Muslim’s faith is firmly based on the belief that the source of his religion is God and Muhammad is the only and last and final prophet and spokesman for God on Earth. A true Muslim holds that Islam is not just one of the many religions, but THE religion per se, the only true religion of God, the religion of the created natural order (din-al-fitrah).
The religion is called Islam because Allah had decreed it in the Quran: “Lo the religion with God is Al Islam to His will and guidance” (3:19) and “I have chosen for you as religion Al Islam” (5:3). Islam, an Arab word, means submission, total surrender and obedience, and that is the practical implications for Muslims. There are several greetings based on the word Islam, such as “Peace be upon you” (salamalek) and “Go in peace” (bissalma, masalma).
Thus, the teaching of Islam is about a life of faith and peace through submission to the one and only true God Allah. The word “Muslim” means a person who has totally surrendered his whole life to Allah.
The Islamic faith is not just purely an organised ritualistic religion, but a complete way of life, covering every area of life and thoughts, including politics. Hence, the PAS claim to exclusivity for Islam is not without theological merit.
As I said earlier, as a Christian, I can understand the PAS position, since my faith is also an exclusive one. No Christian will dispute or challenge my contention that Christianity also claims exclusivity to be the only way of salvation for mankind, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life” and “No one comes to the Father (God) except through me (Jesus)”. (John 14:6), and that “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The issue before us, therefore, is not the question of theological belief per se, but how to relate an exclusive faith to other religions in a multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-cultural, and multi-lingual society like Malaysia.
This is where many PAS leaders lack the wisdom and intelligence to understand and articulate the relationship of Muslims with people of other faith in a plural society like Malaysia.
The word “pluralism” has been used unilaterally by almost everyone – religious leaders, politicians, journalists – without fully understanding what the concept actually means and implies.
The Oxford Dictionary defines “pluralism” as “a condition or system in which two or more states, groups, principles, etc co-exist”. The keyword, I believe, is “co-exist”. The context in which pluralism exists and practised is the widely diverse and varied range of religious faiths in a given society, such as Malaysia which has Islam as its official religion and other faiths being part of the scenario.
The fundamental issue we face in a plural society like Malaysia is the matter of peaceful and harmonious co-existence among the people of various races and religious beliefs.
Although I believe that PAS is theologically consistent with the teachings of Islam, its leaders’ stated public stand that Islam rejects religious pluralism that claims all religions to be equally good and truthful is certainly not politically correct in the context of the Malaysian plural society.
I believe PAS should look at the issue of pluralism from two broad perspectives, before making a sweeping dismissal of pluralism per se.
Universal moral values
First, there is the pluralistic perspective that all religions are equal and “all roads lead to God”.
Obviously, Islam, and, for that matter Christianity, will never endorse such a view. Islam and Christianity both teach and propagate that their respective faith is the only true religion, with all other religious systems and faiths being considered “pagan”.
Hence, it is simply impossible for a true Muslim or an honest Christian to agree to inter-faith “spiritual activities”. For a Muslim or Christian to participate, for example, in an inter-faith “worship” or prayer is to acknowledge that his faith is just one among many others, to place his God on equal standing with the deities of other religious faiths.
This is what justifies the PAS position in relationship to other faiths. And I will say that the PAS concern is valid and theologically consistent with the Islamic teaching. As a Christian, I take a similar stand that I cannot participate in an inter-religious worship service or other inter-faith spirituality activities, without dishonouring and betraying my Lord Jesus.
But, there is another perspective of pluralism which does not involve the matter of spiritual compromise, and that is the common universal moral values among all peoples of the world. And it is this common earthly destiny of all peoples that Ikim should consider the vital role of Muslims to help promote peace and harmony among the people, who are the vice-regents of Allah (khalifa Allah) on Earth.
As I said before, as a Christian, I will not participate in an inter-faith worship service which will place my Lord Jesus as being among one of the gods, on equal standing with them. If I do, it will mean I am not consistent with my faith in the Lord Jesus as the only way, the truth, and the life. Such a compromise in matters of spirituality is surely not correct and honest.
My Muslim friends, too, are correct in taking a similar stand, or else their Shahada becomes a vain recitation, rendering their faith to be meaningless. Hence, PAS is theologically correct in its stand.
However, in the matters of truth, morality, justice, righteousness, equality, freedom, human, civil and constitutional rights, I will endorse and support any inter-faith “dialogue” and joint stand and actions.
This is the other perspective of pluralism that I believe PAS should seriously study and evaluate, before dismissing the whole concept of pluralism per se.
Although the people of Malaysia are adherents of various faiths and religious systems, they are united for the common purpose of nation-building, and are jointly dealing with many fundamental civil, social, constitutional and human rights issues relating their role as citizens. Hence, the need to come together to talk and compromise.
There is an urgent need for inter-faith dialogues on matters such as the freedom to worship, teach and propagate each other’s religion, the matter of land for places of worship and burial, the right to use the national language Bahasa Malaysia without restriction in worship and religious education, the legal disputes over the conversion of individuals, particularly children, and the vital matter of co-existence.
PAS and all the responsible Muslim leaders should be willing to participate in such inter-faith dialogues as the common-interest issues need not involve doctrinal compromise or theological dispute.
I hope all parties concerned with the dispute over pluralism will understand and accept that the fundamental matter is the peaceful and harmonious co-existence of all persons or all faiths, with each practising his faith with full sensitivity and due respect to people of other faiths.
What we want is not a theological war, but a channel for inter-faith dialogues and a medium for communication on issues of universal common interests. That, I believe, is what Lim Guan Eng and the DAP stand for.
・The writer is currently media consultant to the Penang state government. He has several advanced degrees in theological studies, and had even attended courses at Pusat Islam. He can be contacted at senghock48@gmail.com.
