[quote from: Raja Petra Kamarudin]
I crawled out off bed Wednesday morning with a heavy hangover. No, I did not spend the previous night boozing away. I went to bed Tuesday night coughing and wheezing and I knew I was going to wake up the next morning with a touch of flu. Nevertheless, Wednesday morning would be when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will address the assembly of 100 or so bloggers and writers. So, like to or not, I would have to drag my sick arse to Putrajaya to video-record the event.
I spent the rest of Wednesday afternoon plus Thursday morning working on the video. After I had uploaded the 21-part video, I leaped into bed and slept soundly. I woke up later that evening to update the website and then went back to sleep. I even missed my 'Thursday night' and this made me quite pissed really.
Understandably, I am in a most foul mood today -- what with the flu, coughing, sneezing, dribbling nose, and missing my 'Thursday night' to boot. And when I am in this type of mood I do not write nice things. I will whack and whack hard. And today I want to whack the Malays for being so stupid.
The issue that has got me all riled up is the matter of Wee Meng Chee, the Malaysian student in Taiwan who redid our National Anthem into rap format. Actually, I looked at the video and found it rather clever. Now, don't get me wrong, I did not say I approve of it. It is like me saying that I am awed at how clever a certain jewel thief is. He is certainly the best jewel thief in the world. No one can stop him and he has never even got close to getting caught. Nevertheless, in spite of his skill, he is still a thief and nothing more than that. Only that he is the best and should be acclaimed as so.
The same goes for Meng Chee. He certainly is resourceful and creative and I must say his rehash of the National Anthem was very clever. But this does not discount the fact he may have been 'blasphemous' in what he did. These are two different issues. A Casanova could be God's gift to women but he is still a shameless sinner of an adulterer.
What I am more concerned about is not whether Meng Chee is blasphemous, and a clever one at that, but whether all those who are outraged by what he did actually saw the video? It is like those riots across the Muslim world when the blasphemous cartoons or caricatures of Prophet Muhammad first emerged. Many rioted and even died in the riots without actually seeing those cartoons. They just heard about it and took to the streets based on what they heard and killed or got killed.
Nazri, Azalina, and many more in Umno and the Cabinet want Meng Chee's head on a platter. How many of these people actually saw Meng Chee's video? Are they reacting to what they heard from others or to what they personally witnessed? It is similar to those Ministers and Umno leaders who were up in arms about my article of 11 July 2007 that was supposed to have insulted the Agong and Islam and incited racial hatred. So they all repeat these allegations and urge that action be taken against me, Malaysia Today, and all Bloggers in general.
But which article are they talking about? I never wrote any article on 11 July 2007. I did on 8 July 2007 and again on 13 July 2007. But I never wrote anything on 11 July 2007. So which article did all these so many Ministers and Umno leaders read and which I was supposed to have written. Itulah. Kalau kata Melayu bodoh, marah. Tapi kalau dah bodoh apa nak kata lagi? Bodoh tetap bodoh.
The same goes for the Meng Chee video. How many of those who want action to be taken against him have seen the video? And which part of the video do they regard as offensive? Kalau nak cakap sekurang-kurangnya tengok dulu baru bercakap. Orang bodoh saja yang bercakap sebelum siasat betul-betul.
Okay, next point. These very smart Melayu scream and shout and froth at the mouth in defence of Islam Hadhari. What is Islam Hadhari? Is this form of Islam opposed to and different from traditional Islam? If so then I want to reject Islam Hadhari because I only want to follow the Islam that Prophet Muhammad introduced to the world. But if Islam Hadhri is in tandem with the Prophet's Islam then I can accept it.
Now, according to 'traditional' Islam, there are various laws such as Shariah, Qisas, Hudud, etc. Basically, Hudud deals with the seven serious crimes and what the punishment for committing them should be. Let us take one of those crimes, armed rebellion against the state. The punishment for this crime is very severe. But if you lay down your arms and surrender and swear allegiance to the state, then you are forgiven. In Islam, conflict must not be prolonged against those who have ceased their armed rebellion. Even Ali, the Fourth Caliph, had to reluctantly accede to this.
In this instant we are of course talking about an armed rebellion against the state. This is definitely treason. Some may consider the re-hashing of the National Anthem as equally treasonous. But the severity of re-hashing the National Anthem cannot surpass that of an armed rebellion. An armed rebellion involves loss of life and property. Re-hashing the National Anthem does not involve loss of life or property.
Hey, I didn't create these laws. God did. At least this is what Muslims are supposed to believe. So if you are not happy then go complain to God when you finally get to meet Him. And take my word for it you will all eventually leave this earth and will go meet whichever Maker you may believe in. I am just reminding Muslims on what their religion, Islam, teaches. Islam teaches that there is such a thing as Hudud and which Islam says is compulsory. Islam says this. Not me. And what is the implication if you were to reject God's laws? I don't know. But the ulama say that this makes you kufur. And, according to the ulama, kufur means kafir. And the meaning of kafir is those who reject and refuse to submit. A Muslim is one who submits and a Kafir is one who rejects. This is what the ulama say and would I dare say that the ulama are bonkers when they are supposed to be the experts?
So, my question now is: are the Ministers and Umno leaders above God? Do these so-called Muslims reject what God decreed? God says those who rebel against the state and lay down their arms are to be forgiven. The Ministers and Umno leaders however say that they will not forgive one who has re-hashed the National Anthem, not yet even one who launched an armed rebellion against the state. Does this make the Ministers and Umno leaders above God?
Wee Meng Chee may have done wrong. I am not going to dispute or endorse his actions. What we must now ask is whether what he did is so bad that he cannot be forgiven. The Islam of the Prophet says that under the most severe Hudud laws (which Muslims and non-Mulism alike reject because they argue that Hudud is very cruel) even someone who launches an armed rebellion against the state can be forgiven once he lays down his arms and pledges allegiance to the state. This, according to Islam, is God's decree. And we wish to decree otherwise and implement laws above God's laws?
Malays bikin tak serupa cakap and cakap tak serupa bikin. If they perceive that you have insulted Islam, Malays would get very angry even if this is only their perception and you did not really insult Islam. Malays claim they are prepared to die for Islam and will uphold the dignity of Islam till their last drop of blood. Yeah, sure, and I am a monkey's uncle. But these same Malays do not even know what God's laws are and will very happily invent their own laws, rules and regulations that serve their political needs.
Why is PAS so quiet? PAS, the so-called Islamic Party of Malaysia, screams and shouts about Hudud. It is because of this the entire opposition coalition got fucked up resulting in the 2004 General Election disaster. We told the PAS people to shut their gaps. We told them that Hudud cannot be accepted by Muslims, what more non-Muslims. But did PAS listen? No! They say that Hudud is God's laws and they will uphold Hudud even if the opposition coalition gets destroyed and the opposition gets massacred in the general elections. Well, the opposition coalition did crumble and the opposition did get massacred in the 2004 General Election. But did PAS care? No! They only care about Hudud.
Well, where is that Hudud that PAS propagated and defended so fiercely? The PAS leaders were frothing at the mouth like rabid dogs screaming about Hudud. Why do we not hear PAS screaming now? They are not even whimpering. Is not rebellion against the state one of the seven serious crimes under Hudud? And does not the Hudud law say that once you lay down arms and repent then you are to be forgiven? Is Meng Chee's crime worse than an armed rebellion? If you can forgive someone who launches an armed rebellion you cannot forgive someone who re-hashes the National Anthem?
Hello......PAS! Why so quiet? PAS also bikin tak serupa cakap and cakap tak serupa bikin.
Okay, while we wait for PAS to respond, one more point I would like to raise is that Umno has very cleverly used this National Anthem issue to distract people from the more serious issues plaguing this country. Around the same time that the National Anthem issue broke, 20 people died in a bus crash while the rest of the 29 people in the bus were seriously injured. It has now been established that the bus company has almost 100 summons, the bus driver has about 13 with two arrest warrants issued against him, and the bus has about 30 summons. How can the bus driver, the bus and the bus company still be allowed to operate? According to the police it is all because of corruption on the part of the Road Transport Department (RTD).
Yes, the police accuse the RTD of corruption. In fact, around that same time, one RTD director was arrested for corruption when he checked into a hotel room for a night of sex with his girlfriend. But no one talks about this. Meng Chee is more important. About 10,000 people a year die on Malaysian Roads because the RTD is so corrupted. But this is not an issue. The National Anthem and one Chinese student in Taiwan are more precious than 10,000 Malaysian lives a year. Hello.....PAS.....where are you? Tidor ke?
One ex-IGP said that going by their life-styles alone, about 40% of the police officers can be regarded as corrupt. One ex-Deputy IGP told me that if they want to clean up the Royal Malaysian Police then 90% of the police would have to be sacked. This is the one-time IGP and Deputy IGP talking . This is not what I say. This is what they say. Hello.....Malaysians.....Cabinet Ministers.....Umno leaders.....PAS.....why so quiet? Is this not alarming? Is Meng Chee more important than this?
Yes, is Meng Chee a Red Herring? Do they want to pull the wool over our eyes so that we don't see the tree from the forest? Was the Meng Chee 'crisis' created as a smokescreen to distract Malaysians from the real issues? Malaysia is in trouble. We have more serious problems in hand. We have a country being run on autopilot We have an extremely corrupt government. We have leaders paying lip service to Islam and who do not really want to serve Islam. In fact, they don't even know what Islam really is. And these people who have never even seen Meng Chee's video want his blood. This trivial matter is being played up to the hilt so that Malaysians will focus on this instead of what really matters.
Okay, Meng Chee erred. But he has now apologised. Accept his apology and let us put this behind us and move on. If he does it again then go for his balls. And let this be a lesson to other Malaysians to not do the same thing. And can we now get back to the more important matters? This country is fucked up. The government is fucked up. Umno is fucked up. The opposition is fucked up. Punishing Meng Chee is not going to change all this. Come to think of it, some of what Meng Chee said in that video is not too far from the truth.
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