21/11: Heat on the street

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

“Why ‘heat on the street’?” you might ask. Well, simple, ‘heat on the street’ is the song by one of my favourite singers, Phil Collins, and the lyrics of that song go as follows:

You’ve gotta shout if you’ve got something to say
I know it’s getting bad, you read it every day
And you, you can try your best to fight it
But you can’t make it on your own

Someone better tell the people up there
I think they ought to know, the bubble’s just about to bust
Tell them they’d better beware
The word is on the street, get up on your feet, and shout out

The kids out there don’t know how to react
The streets are getting tough and that’s a matter of fact
And I, I can’t take it any longer
But we can’t make it on our own

The people there find it hard to relate
They don’t know how it feels to be standing there on your own
Believe me, it’s never too late
It’s time to make a move, get up on your feet and shout

Stop, look down, everybody, do you see what's going on
Around you, stop.....

Shout out, shout it out, shout loud
Shout out, shout it out, shout loud

There are people who give and there are people who take
But I believe it’s gonna get better
Realise what a difference you make
And don’t turn away, Hey! I'm talking to you!

So there’s only the one solution
Stop and think what’s going on
You can draw your own conclusions
But we won’t make it on our own

Someone better tell the people up there
I think they ought to know
The bubble’s just about to burst
Tell them they'd better beware
The word is on the street
Get up on your feet and shout

Stop, look down, everybody
Do you see what’s going on?
Around you, stop.....

Malays pride themselves on being good Muslims. In fact, they consider themselves better Muslims than even the Arabs themselves. Malays regard Arabs and other Middle Eastern Muslims as deviants. That is what Malays think of themselves when it comes to Islamic practices.

Yes, that is right. I said “Islamic practices”. I did not say “Islamic values”. Malays are very ritualistic in their Islamic beliefs. They do not care much about values. It is practice that counts when it comes to Malays and Islam. Values don’t count. For that matter, the Malays do not even begin to understand what Islamic values are.

If you were to ask a Malay what Islam is all about, they would reply Islam is about accepting Allah as the one and only God and Muhammad as the final Prophet of God, performing the five times a day ritual prayers, fasting for 30 days or so during the month of Ramadhan, paying the zakat and fitrah tithes, and performing the Haj pilgrimage in the Holy Land of Mekah at least once in your life.

Many Malays do more than just fast during the month of Ramadhan. They also perform the optional fasting in the other months and days such as Monday and Thursday, etc. They also go to Mekah more than once in their lives. Sometimes they do it every year with the ‘small’ Haj or umrah thrown in in-between during the off-seasons.

Yes, Malays are good Muslims -- no, they are better Muslims than even the Arabs -- but only as far as the rituals are concerned. Values do not count. Values are not important to the Malays. And Islam is restricted to just those five rukun or rules mentioned above. There is no need to do more than that. It is enough to accept Allah as the one and only God, Muhammad as the last Prophet of God, and then pray fives times a day, fast for 30 days, pay a meagre amount of money as zakat/fitrah, and go to Mekah at least once in your life. And this will guarantee you heaven while all others who do not believe in and practice those few rukun mentioned above will rot in hell for eternity.

Okay, say you raped and murdered 99 underage girls. Will you go to hell? Yes, if you murder the 100th girl and do not repent and die before you can repent. But if you repent after the 99th rape and murder, and never commit the 100th rape and murder, and then die soon after that, then you will go to heaven and stay there for eternity.

It is so easy to go to heaven. All you need to do to go to heaven is to believe in and perform the rituals required and then repent and never commit any more sins until you die. You can be Mother Theresa, but as long as you do not believe in and perform the rituals then you are going to hell. Mother Theresa will go to hell while the man who raped and murdered 99 underage girls and who repented before he dies will go to heaven.

Stop any Malay on the street and ask him or her whether they believe this to be so and he or she will confirm it. This is what the Malays have been taught to believe. And this is what the Islam of the Malays is all about.

But I do not believe this. I believe there is more to Islam than mere rituals. Islam is not just about rituals. Islam is also about values. And one of the values of Islam is amar makruf, nahi mungkar. In English this translates to ‘propagating good and forbidding evil’.

Amar makruf, nahi mungkar is not optional. It is compulsory. Islam makes it mandatory that we oppose evil. We are asked to oppose evil with our hands. If we are powerless or lack the balls to oppose it with our hands, then we are supposed to oppose it with our mouth -- in other words speak out against it. And if we still lack the balls to do that, then we are supposed to just quietly and secretly despise it in our hearts. But, says Islam, those who only dare oppose evil quietly and secretly in their hearts are Muslims who have very weak faith (iman). In other words, those who do not have the balls to openly oppose evil are very weak Muslims.

This is what Islam says.

Why do Malays pray five times a day? Why do Malays fast 30 days during the month of Ramadhan? Why do Muslims pay the zakat and fitrah tithes? Why do Malays go to Mekah to perform the Haj at least once in their life? Is it because these rituals are compulsory? Is it because you would not be a perfect Muslim if you did not perform these rituals?

Hey, these are only rituals. Rituals are not values. Rituals are merely a demonstration that you have values. It is pointless performing rituals if you lack values. Rituals are not important if you lack faith or values. Rituals are the end result of the values you hold. If you did not believe that there is a God would you want to pray? Would it serve any purpose that you prayed if you did not believe that there is a God? If you did not believe that Muhammad was the last Prophet, if you think that he is a fake, is there any purpose in performing the rituals that Muhammad taught mankind?

There are more important things in life than rituals. If you went to the moon would you need to pray five times a day? The ritual prayers are only mandatory if you have your feet on mother earth. Arabs do not even pray during a long flight because they believe that as long as their feet do not touch the ground then there is no need to pray. But values need to be maintained whether you are flying in a plane or walking on the moon.

When I was under Internal Security Act detention I was not allowed to go to the mosque to do my Friday prayers. They say that one must never miss one’s Friday prayers. Is that so? Bullshit. The government prevented me from going for my Friday prayers. This means the government of Malaysia and not God determines whether I need to perform my Friday prayers. So forget about your Friday prayers. We were led to believe that God made it mandatory that we perform our Friday prayers. That is a lie. The government of Malaysia and not God is the final authority. And don’t be afraid that they may arrest you and bring you before a syariah court to be tried as a deviant Muslim if you miss your Friday prayers. Syariah court judges can be bought. For a mere RM1,000 or so you can fix up your trial. Don’t believe me, then read this:

Judge charged for corruption

IPOH (Nov 20, 2007): Perak Syariah High Court Judge Hassan Basri Shafie was charged in the Sessions Court today with five counts of corruption involving RM5,200. Three of the charges pertained to two marriages without following the correct procedure while the other two were for the return of bail money.

Hassan Basri, 53, the first syariah judge to be charged by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) with corruption, pleaded not guilty to:

1) Soliciting a RM3,000 bribe from Mohamad Imran Abdullah as an inducement to return bail money to Yoong Hor Kit with regard to five syariah criminal cases at Restoran Wawa on Aug 15.

2) Accepting the bribe in a car at a carpak in Taman D.R. Seenivasagam on Sept 6.

3) Soliciting a RM1,100 bribe from Mohamad Imran as an inducement to assist Mohamad Asri A Bakar marry Nor Farihan Hassan without going through the correct procedure, at Restoran Wawa on Aug 15.

4) Accepting the bribe from Mohamad Imran in the same car near Hotel Hillcity on Aug 17.

5) Accepting a RM1,100 bribe from Mohamad Imran as an inducement to issue marriage permits to Mohd Jefri Afandi Ahmad and Nur Liza Musa to enable the couple to marry without going through the correct procedure, in the same car at a carpark in Taman D. R. Seenivasagam on Sept 6.

If convicted, Hassan Basri can jailed a maximum of 20 years and a fine of five times the value of the bribe or RM10,000, whichever is higher.

Sessions Court Judge Tan Hooi Leng set two days from March 31 next year for trial. Hassan Basri was allowed bail totalling RM20,000 and ordered to surrender his passport.

Nordin also said that the prosecution would call 20 witnesses to the stand.

And do you want to know what is most ironic? This syariah court judge is now facing trial in a ‘kafir’ court in front of a ‘kafir’ judge. Now that is what I would call poetic justice.

Yes, to hell with Malays who think that they are better Muslims than the Arabs and who think that Islam is only about performing rituals. Islam is about values, Islam is about justice, Islam is about amar makruf, nahi mungkar. That is what I am more concerned with. That is what Malaysia Today is all about. That is more important than rituals.

But they make police reports against me when I fulfil the obligations of amar makruf, nahi mungkar. They want to send me to jail because I perform the obligatory amar makruf, nahi mungkar. Malays are weak Muslims. Malays are deviant Muslims. Malays are ritualistic Muslims. Malays are Muslims with no sense of values.

Your prayers are between you and God. Whether you perform them or not is between you and God. It does not concern anyone else. The same goes for all those other rituals as well. But if you do not stand up for justice and fight against evil, oppression, persecution, etc., then it is no longer between you and God. God can forgive you for not praying. God can forgive you for the beer you drink every night. But God will never forgive you for your sins against society. By not opposing evil you have not sinned against God. You have sinned against 26 million fellow-Malaysians. And you will have to seek forgiveness from 26 million Malaysians. God can’t forgive you. 26 million Malaysians will have to do that.

So I will continue opposing kemungkaran. Malaysia Today will continue voicing out against evil. And Umno can continue making police reports against Malaysia Today and me. Hey, they can even send me to jail. After all, I am already 57 years old. In a few years I will be dead. But I will die opposing kemungkaran. And these Umno Malays who never miss their five times a day prayers and who go to the mosque every Friday will be marching two-by-two into hell (while I truly hope I will be waving at them from the gates of heaven) because the road to heaven is not in your prayers but in how you stand up for justice and fight for the rights and good of the society that you live in and will soon enough die in.