Islamophobia??????

COMMENT | It does not surprise me one bit that Perlis mufti Asri Zainul Abidin is part of the forces intent on keeping kidnapped children who were unilaterally converted from their birth mother. It should not surprise anyone that the Perlis Welfare Department, which is holding the kidnapped children, decided to use Covid as an excuse for not allowing Loh Siew Hong (the mother) to see her children but allowed Asri to have a meal with them.

What we are witnessing is kidnapping in broad daylight and the power of the state religious authority to circumvent civil laws. What we are witnessing is the last vestiges of moderate Malaysia ripped away over a satay meal with two kidnapped children and a religious operative who is enabling the criminality, not to mention immorality, of the perpetrators of this crime.

Imagine, the mother of these kidnapped children finally gets an hour with her kids with strict conditions including no photos, while Asri gets to have a meal with them and broadcast everything on his social media account. This is the kind of pettiness that only conniving bureaucrats display, not caring about how their behaviour is perceived because their behaviour is sanctioned by the state. This is the kind of blatant disregard of the laws of the land by religious operatives and state bureaucracies when it comes to the issue of unilateral conversion.

Asri apparently asked the underaged children if they were forced to convert and the children apparently asked their mother if she was willing to convert to Islam, and no rational person would believe that this is unrelated. The fact that Asri posted this on his social media account is testament that the state does not view this as a crime. If they did, they would immediately arrest Asri for aiding and abetting in a criminal endeavour.

Now we know what Asri thinks of ‘cow worshippers’ because in this country, the historical legacy of Hinduism and the profound way in which it influenced native cultures has over the decades been ‘ketuanan washed’. The fact that Asri had to apologise for his racist poem about Indians but took it as an opportunity to wonder at the ungratefulness of non-Malays should tell us about the kind of religious operatives we are dealing with.

We know the state security apparatus will not do anything. What the Indira Gandhi case has demonstrated is that the police will not do anything when a child is kidnapped and unilaterally converted. In fact, various inspector-general of police (IGPs) have ignored the court order and instead relied on religious and racial arguments to not seek out kidnapped children. This is all a matter of public record.

Morally reprehensible

What would you expect from someone like Asri who claimed that Malaysia needed a Saddam Hussein to unite the Malays? Do you think that children should be raised by people who think that Malaysia needs a Saddam Hussein? Do you think any child should be raised by people who want to find a mass murderer to lead this country?

Correction: he and his followers - "we" - intend to find an extremist like Saddam to lead this country. The “we” is important because it demonstrates the kind of influence Asri and his followers have. Okay, this does not necessarily translate to looking for a Saddam Hussin-type character but rather supporting political operatives and agendas which are fascist in nature and thumbing the nose at secular laws, including the highest court in the land.

What unilateral conversion does is rob the child of the right of his or her religious freedom. This has far-reaching consequences in Malaysia because race and religion have legal obligations along with the so-called special privileges that place a Muslim in the harsh glare of federal and state Islamic authorities.

If an adult wishes to place his or herself under such obligations, then it is their right to do so, but a parent unilaterally deciding to convert a child without the consent of his or her partner is not only morally reprehensible but should also come with legal consequences, preferably jail time with perhaps a couple of strokes of the rotan.

Never mind that the courts have ruled on this, but the reality is that the courts, the police and political operatives are not going to do anything when non-Muslim children are unilaterally converted.

Indeed, Asri has a history of insulting and demeaning non-Muslim communities but he always falls back on his “moderate” credentials to mask the hostility he feels towards non-Muslims. He even had the temerity to accuse the Pakatan Harapan government of not listening to Muslims. Remember his spate with the old maverick, where each claimed the other was deaf?

When Asri talks of how vernacular schools are the problem with race relations in this country for instance, what he is really talking about is that the state is deprived of imposing values – most often religious – on young children. Non-Malays are insolent when they demand equal treatment before the law.

Now I get that this article should be about a grieving mother but the reality is that cases like these are going to continue because nobody, certainly not the political apparatus, cares enough about religious kidnappings of non-Muslim children to do anything about it.

Ask Indira Gandhi how it was when Harapan had the power to return her children but did nothing. Isn't it amazing to see kidnapped children unilaterally converted and we have folks who attempt to gaslight the base while claiming that religious acceptance is a two-way street in Malaysia.