Race

Just how prevalent is the race issue in Malaysia? If one were to read the latest debacle by the Klang Municipal Council (MPK), it is a very prevalent issue. It is a sign of contempt to me though, as it shows that some politicians would do anything to avoid accountability to those who are paying them.

Then there are politicians who claim that wearing certain garbs demeans Islam and show that people are using these garbs to get off the hook easily. Again, I disagree, for there is no one rule that says a person cannot wear certain garments because they demean a religion. In fact, I think the demeaning of a religion is tied closely with the actions of the few who insist that their way and their way alone is the true religion.

Islam is not the only religion where there are many schools of thought. The most obvious is Christianity. They are similar, but they differ on certain points of theology. The effect may be likened to a large family with most of the family members having different ideologies and willing to die for them.

Compared with some of the others, Christianity, and more importantly, Catholicism, seems to be a very ‘loose’ and easy religion. Believe me, it is not. And by the way, if I offended you I did not mean to, as I am a Catholic. I do not have in-depth knowledge of the other Churches, so please forgive me. If you don’t like what I have to say, feel free to email me. I’ll post my email address at the bottom.

I know about being a Muslim though. One of the most obvious answers to that is because I’m living in a secular Muslim country. Unlike other Muslim countries, in which there is only the Syariah law (the Muslim law, for want of a better term), in Malaysia we are guided by the Constitution. Though many Malaysians feel that the Constitution favours Malays and bumis, I for one, am perfectly content with it.

(Note to self: read up again on the Constitution). ;-p

The alternative, as proposed by the Opposition party, is a scary and terrifying one. I have always believed that religion and governance should be kept as far as possible from each other (think of the Dark Middle Ages), unless you are speaking of governance of the religion itself.

The Opposition party I am referring to is Pas, also known as Parti Islam Se-Malaysia. Now, the only thing I have against Pas is their extremism. They came out with a declaration recently, cleverly couched in terms to make it non-threatening to non-Muslims like me. However, the crux of it is still terrifying.

Pas proposes to place the Hudud and Syariah law above the Constitution.

I’m sure that most Malaysians would immediately understand the implications of these. And to tell the truth, my arms are getting tired, so I’ll stop now. Oh, and here’s my email add:

Hot_gal84 at cuteandcuddly.com
Replace the at with the @. I’m paranoid about spam.