Articles, Opinions & Views: Indira Gandhi case – how reality is in conflict with claims of moderation - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Fighting Seventh
The Fighting Rangers On War, Politics and Burning Issues
Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Indira Gandhi case – how reality is in conflict with claims of moderation - By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Malaysiakini : “But in order for us to continue to live
in harmony, we must persist in promoting the right message of Islam –
that, it is the religion of peace and compassion.” – Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak
COMMENT | Writing about his pow-wow
with Grand Mufti of Zimbabwe Ismail Menk, Prime Minister Najib Abdul
Razak said about the action of a few extremists, “This has caused
unfounded fear towards Muslims and the religion of Islam. Some
politicians in the West even pledged to close down mosques and further
discriminate against Muslims should they hold office one day. If this
situation persists, our brothers and sisters abroad will be denied their
fundamental right to exercise their faith – Islam – as the religion of
choice. The threat of Islamophobia is real.”
My views on this so-called “Islamophobia” is discussed here
– “What is solely a Muslim issue is this idea that any criticism of
Muslims is an attack on Islam or that acknowledging empirical evidence
of the way how ‘Islamic’ states operate is anathema to freedoms and
rights enjoyed in the progressive world is verboten in ‘civilised’
company. That any contrary narratives to the acceptable
politically-correct discourse is an attack on a peaceful, peace-loving
people who have always been at the mercy of colonialism or other forms
of ‘Western’ imperial ambitions. This is Islamophobia in a nutshell.”
Keep in mind that this particular mufti was banned from giving religious talks in Singaporeand closer to home, the state of Johor, because according to
the Johor state religious department, “The content of their (and
Malaysian Haslin Baharim, also known as nicknamed Ustaz Bollywood) previous speeches appear to promote racial and religious unrest, which
disrupts harmony between the races.” Why is all of this important? It is important because it is a stark
reminder of how reality is in conflict with the moderate claims that
many in positions of power make.
In other pieces, I have argued that only Muslims in the West can make
this claim of moderation because of the Western societies they live in.
That is because the societies they live in have strict secular
mechanism that control the religious imperatives that most Islamic
states do not have and do not wish to have. Malaysian Syariah Lawyers Association president Musa Awang’s (photo) rejoinder that the M Indira Gandhi decision might lead to even more conflicts over child custody is chilling because of the tone it sets.
Child
custody conflicts in the situation of unilateral conversion are really
about choice. Having no choice is exactly what some advocates such as
Musa Awang acknowledge. Musa's rhetoric appears to be that he is more
concerned with the child being given a choice, more than any other act.
As many human rights organisations have pointed out, what is
important is that the welfare of the child is paramount, and this
includes the child’s right to make his or her own choices at the
appropriate age. If there is no compulsion in religion, then this must mean that a
person has the right to choose what he or she believes in. Unilateral
conversion, as I have argued, makes it impossible for a person to choose
because the person converted is a child when it happens and thus has no
choice in the matter.
Will there be real justice?
I argued here
that unilateral conversion does affect non-Muslims, contrary to that
argued by some proponents of Islamic law – “Islamists like (PAS
president Abdul) Hadi (Awang) and the numerous other peddlers of hate
like to remind us that their laws do not affect non-Muslim communities.
We are told that we are bullying the Muslim community by arguing for
rights applicable to all. We are warned that our secular trespass into
their religious domain would lead to violence. Unilateral conversion is
the corrosive truth that it is the Islamists who would invade our scared
domain of family in the name of their religion.”
The big question is, will the state security apparatus respond in an
appropriate manner? Will the state security apparatus recognise the
primacy of civil/secular laws in this country? Will the state security
apparatus act in a manner which does not in the words of the prime
minister tarnish the good image of Islam?
Some Muslims are always concerned about how the “West” treats
Muslims. Of course, they have no interests in how Islamic hegemons treat
non-Muslims in countries in which they are in control of. They have no
interests in the way how their religious laws discriminate against
non-Muslims. A good example of this is the way how unilateral conversion robs a
child of his or her right to decide if he or she wants to belong to a
religion which has profound implications on the way how its believers
live in a country where Islamic laws define Muslims and there are legal
ramifications of being Muslim.
How many cases have there been where state authorities convert
non-Muslims wards of the state to Islam? How many cases have there been
where parents claim that their children have been “converted” to Islam
in boarding schools in Sabah and Sarawak? How many cases have there been where children have been converted
without the permission of their legal guardians and have had to live
with this conversion for the rest of their lives? How many cases have
there been where non-Muslims who have lived as Christian, Hindu or
Buddhist all their lives are suddenly in death, victims of grave
snatching by state religious authorities?
What does Malaysian Muslim Lawyers Association president Zainul Rijal
Abu Bakar want? He wants child conversion laws to be reviewed to make
it easier for the Muslim parent to unilaterally convert the child. He
wants religious laws to be on par with secular law. He places no
emphasis on the rights of the child or the non-Muslim parent, only
taking into consideration the primacy of his religion. With this kind of thinking, does anyone really think that non-Muslims
can get justice in the religious courts? Did the religious courts give
Indira Gandhi and S Deepa justice? In fact, what these religious courts
have done is attempt to destabilise the secular rule of law and with the
complicity of the state security apparatus attempted to deny justice
meted out by secular courts of the land.
So, my question is this - now that the Federal Court has made this
decision which has been greeted warmly by the Umno establishment with
some saying that old cases need to be revisited, do those converted
finally have the choice to believe in the religion they choose and would
this be reflected in official documents?