Increasingly Intolerant Islam In Malaysia And Indonesia
By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
2 April 2024
This pertains to the news item on the site of NAI, Hijab
Rules And Segregated Pools - Religion Reshapes Social Norms In Malaysia,
Indonesia
You Could Bleach Your Skin,
Colour Your Hair, Speak Icelandic, But You Are Still Malay - "Melayu Tetap
Melayu". But In A Flash, You Could Reject Your Religion. You Could Eat
Pork, Consume Alcohol, Get Baptised And Deny The Shahadah (Affirmation)
And Zap! You Are Not Muslim. But Ethnically, You Are Still 'Melayu' -
Neither You Nor Anyone Else Can Take That Away."
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Islam and intolerance go hand in hand. Of late, it has
escalated across the globe. The problem with Muslims is their reluctance to
admit that there's something seriously wrong with the whole faith and its
tenets.
Why should a Christian or a non-Muslim girl wear a hijab?
Islam is often at loggerheads with the freedom of an individual. It's really
strange that when the whole world is doing away with ostensible religious
customs and rituals of all faiths, Muslims, all over the world, are becoming
more and more orthodox and fanatic.
Malaysian and Indonesian Muslims used to be quite liberal.
The language of the Malays is Austronesian in origin as are the people. It has
nothing to do with Islam. The Malay people existed before Islam. They were
animists, Hindus and Buddhists before embracing Islam. The only connection
between Malay as an ethnic group and Islam as a religion is the Federal
Constitution. More than 15 years ago, I read a Malaysian Muslim's
self-description. Let me quote that verbatim, " Am I first a Muslim then
Malay? No, I am first Malay, then Muslim, because a religion can, at will, be
rejected. One can't deny oneself being Malay just as a Chinese can't deny
himself/herself being Chinese regardless of what religion he/she subscribes to.
And this is the same with the other races. An Indonesian Malay Christian would
get quite annoyed if you were to claim that he/she is not Melayu as I
found out from a girlfriend many years ago.
You could bleach your skin, colour your hair, speak
Icelandic, but you are still Malay - "Melayu Tetap Melayu".
But in a flash, you could reject your religion. You could eat pork, consume
alcohol, get baptised and deny the Shahadah (affirmation) and zap! You
are not Muslim. But ethnically, you are still 'Melayu' - neither you nor
anyone else can take that away."
Alas, things have changed in Malaysia and Indonesia. Now the
religious identity (read Islam) of a citizen is of paramount importance. His or
her ethnicity is secondary, nay, inconsequential. Bali bombings in Indonesia in
2002 by Muslim fanatics (Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron) that killed 202
people, hardened the relatively liberal Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia. New
millennium witnessed a different kind of hardcore and intolerant Islam. Despite
that, even 'educated' Muslims, esp. in India, will continue to play the victim
card and say that Muslims are toys in the hands of so-called powers as though
butter wouldn't melt in their mouth. Nonsense!
You can understand Malaysian Islam's intolerance as the
country shelters the fugitive preacher and an abysmal character Dr Zakir Naik
who currently resides in Malaysia where he has permanent resident status. He
envenomed the minds of the subcontinental Muslims until he fled India in 2016.
Now, he's spewing venom in Malaysia. Allah hu Akbar!
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A regular
columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism