from the mailbox: Invasion of Body Snatchers

jan 26th

so much for the 'gentle mohammedanism' supposedly practised in malaysia and indonesia. all marxists and fellow travelers always throw this factoid out at people with a sneer. with indian republic day guest, the king of saudi arabia, funding madrassas, they are turning all mohammedans anywhere into clones of their own salafi selves -- extreme religious fundamentalists.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Su

This, written by a Malaysian who prefers to remain anonymous, makes compelling reading.

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers

 by Anonymous

There is a lot of tension between non-Muslims and Muslims in Malaysia over
the growing Islamicization of the country.  There is also an increasing
racial divide.  Things do not look good over here, and it may well turn into
a tragedy, if things aren't put back in order soon.

There are far too many complex issues that have contributed to this ever
widening split.  I won't go through all of them, but I will highlight what
is perhaps the most dangerous issue, the fact that it increasingly appears
that Syariah (Shariah) law is replacing Civil law to become the supreme law
of the land.

Now, the fact that Syariah Law looks like it's becoming the supreme law of
the land, is a complex issue involving Article 121(1A) of the Constitution,
the Moorthy case, and the Nyonya Tahir case.  Please bear with me as I
elaborate on these.

It all began with the recent death of Lance Corporal Moorthy.  Moorthy, an
army commando,  was one of the ten people involved in an expedition to Mount
Everest in 1997.  Now only two of the ten made it to the top.  Moorthy was
not amongst them.  Moorthy did not receive the same kind of glory that two
achieved, although he is still regarded a hero anyway.  The following year
Moorthy was paralyzed waist down as a result of a training accident.
Moorthy fell off his wheelchair on November 11, 2005 and went into a coma.
He did not recover and died on December 20, 2005.

Moorthy's distraught wife, Kaliammal, was given a huge shock when one Malay
army officer told her that Moorthy had converted to Islam a year back.
Kaliammal, a Hindu, couldn't believe what she was hearing.  Insofar as she
was concerned, Moorthy was a practising Hindu right up till the very end.
Needless to say, she could not cremate Moorthy as per Hindu rites.  It ended
up in a religious tussle.  The Syariah (Sharia) Court ruled that Moorthy was
a Muslim, even though no evidence was presented to prove that he was a
Muslim (on the other hand, there is ample evidence to show that he is a
Hindu).  The case went up to the High Court (civil court).  The judge (a
Malay Muslim) washed his hands off this case, stating that they had no
jurisdiction over this case, and that only the Syariah Court had.

Kaliammal was forced to accept the verdict.  Moorthy's body was taken by a
group of strangers and was buried in a Muslim ceremony following the Syariah
Court verdict.  Kaliammal and the rest of his family did not attend.
Kaliammal and the remainder of the family held a Hindu memorial service
instead.   The memorial service was held in a manner similar to that held
for victims swept away by the tsunami.

Now, the high courts decision came as a shock to non-Muslim Malaysians.  We
had always thought that the Syariah Court were subordinate to the High
Court, but this was not the case.   The verdict also sent a signal to
non-Muslims that we are not protected by the courts in cases involving
Islam.  It opens the door to all kinds of abuse....any dead non-Muslim can
be converted to Islam, a non-Muslim child left orphaned can easily be
converted to Islam,etc. (note that the Malaysian government made a big noise
about having non-Muslims present in Aceh after the tsunami.  They feared
that non-Muslim groups would try to convert Muslim children).

Needless to say, this case sparked a Constitutional crisis. Malaysia is
supposed to be a secular nation, not an Islamic nation, as per our
Constitution.

It did in fact turn out that the High Court had jurisdiction over the
Syariah Court, and not as the judge ruled.  The concerned judge cited
Article 121(1A) of the Constitution.

Now, Article 121(1A) of the Constitution was drafted by our former
Attorney-General, Abu Talib Othman, and was enacted as law in 1988. When
questioned, he basically told people that the law was written to prevent
Muslims from leaving the Syariah (Sharia) Courts and going to the High Court
for a decision.  It was never the intention that it should affect
non-Muslims.  In his own words, "If the plaintiff is a non-Muslim, I cannot
imagine the civil court saying it does not have jurisdiction. The problem is
caused by the courts, not the legislature. Courts have abdicated their
powers for not exercising their jusrisdiction on constitutional issues".
(For more details, see "The 'devil' in Federal Constitution Artilcle 121
(1A)" http://www.jeffooi.com/archives/2006/01/the_devil_in_fe.php )

It is quite clear that there was a miscarriage of justice when the High
Court judge washed his hands of responsibility over this case to the Syariah
Courts.

Now, it was openly discussed that;

a.      The judge was partial in this case, putting his own Islamic beliefs
above justice.  In this case, he was not living           up to the oath of office
to remain impartial.

b.      The judge had no guts to stand up to pressure from people of his own
faith

c.      The judge may have been ruling in such a manner to attain a
promotion, and did not have justice in mind.

On hearing all this, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism,
Hinduism, Christianity and Sikhism (MCCBHCS)  http://mccbchs.bobjots.org/
organized  nightly candle light vigils in front of the High Court.  These
peaceful candle light vigils also included Muslims, who do see the
unfairness of the courts ruling.  One of the key objectives of the MCCBHCS
was a review of Article 121 (1A).  Note that those holding the candle light
vigils were photographed by the police.

The government in the meantime, tried to squash the case.  The Deputy Prime
Minister (who is also our Defence Minister) came out with a statement that
Moorthy was promoted to Sergeant posthumously and that his widow would be
entitled to benefits.  They also offered Moorthy's widow a job.  All this
was basically to silence non-Muslim critics that under existing law, his
widow and family would not be entitled to anything.  It's also to buy off
Moorthy's wife, lest this escalate into a bigger issue.  But the fact of the
matter is that it has escalated into a bigger issue.  It is now a national
issue.  Whatever the case, you can read an open letter written by Moorthys
widow, Kaliammal, to the Ministry of Defence here http://alvinyv.org/?p=95


I understand that some human rights organization in India wrote to the
Malaysian High Commission in New Dehli on the matter.  I also know that the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) of India also lodged a formal complaint with the
Malaysian High Commission in India over the Moorthy case
http://www.hindunet.com/onps/showarticle.php?pb=34&ag=5&a=21280 . I am not
sure where all that went though.

Now the police told the MCCBHCS to stop the candle light vigil, saying that
they could be trouble with unspecified extremists.  One cannot say for sure
who these people were.

Then the fanatical opposition Islamic party, PAS joined the fray (see "It's
hit the fan : PAS joins in Article 121 (1A) fight"
http://alvinyv.org/?p=104). They started uniting Malays from other
political parties such as Keadilan, and even the ruling UMNO party.

While all this was happening, 9 non-Muslim Cabinet Ministers quietly
submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi. Now, no one
knows how this leaked to the press. It appears to me that the leak was
deliberate. Whatever the case, it sparked an adverse reaction last Friday.
All of the sudden Muslims took to the streets in protest, shouting and
holding placards.  Other government officials started making noise about
these 9 Cabinet Ministers.  The Malay language newspapers and other
government dominated TV media started taking pot shots at these 9 Cabinet
Ministers.

The 9 non-Muslim Cabinet Ministers were forced to withdraw their memorandum.
If they did not, it would have provoked a very bloody racial/religious
clash.  Bear in mind, the non-Malays/non-Muslims would have been massacred,
given that the Army and police is 90% dominated by Malays/Muslims.

The last I heard is that Kaliammal has lodged an appeal based on the
miscarriage of justice.

Now, another case started to brew, when an 89 year old woman named Nyonya
Tahir died on January 21, 2006.   Nyona Tahir is a Malay (although there are
reports that indicate that she is mixed blooded, in that she is mostly
Chinese, but has a sprinkling of Malay blood).  Whatever the case, she was
brought up a Chinese, married a Chinese, and even has children, all with
Chinese names.   She spent most of her life as a Buddhist.  Whatever the
case, this also ended up in a religious tussle.
http://www.malaysia-today.net/Blog-e/2006/01/another-tussle-over-religious-s
tatus.htm


The Syariah (Shariah) Court ruled that 89-year old Nyonya Tahir, a Malay,
was not a Muslim.  They allowed her family to claim her body and perform
Buddhist funeral rites.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/1/24/nation/13197630&sec
=nation
http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Sunday/National/20060122081950/Article/index_html


The courts ruling is good news for Nyonya Tahir's family and non-Muslims in
general.  As a matter of fact, the case does set a precedent in that it goes
against the Constitution which says that all Malays are Muslims by law (how
that got into the Constitution is beyond me).  It may open the floodgates
for apostasy cases, such as the Lina Joy case, or the Ayah Pin case, and
others.

Now, while non-Muslims rejoice at this verdict
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/46232, there are some disturbing aspects
to it;

a.      In passing his judgement, the Syariah Court judge, Mohd Shukor, quoted
Muslim scholar Syaikh Abu Syujak,"The scholar had said in his book
Kifayatul-Akhyar that a person who had left the Muslim faith should be asked
to repent three times and if he did not, he should be killed, his body
cannot be bathed according to Muslim rites, prayers cannot be performed for
him and he cannot be buried in a Muslim cemetery."

        The implication of this ruling is dangerous, as if Nyonya Tahir was alive,
she could have been killed.  So what message are they really sending?


b.      Can the Syariah Court claim that they deal with non-Muslims fairly?  This
is obviously the message they are trying to convey.  As a matter of fact,
Prime Minister Badawi came out saying that there is justice for non-Muslims.
Is Badawi laying the foundation for the Syariah Courts to be the supreme
law of the land?

        In many ways the Nyona Tahir verdict does just that.  It's a Catch-22
situation. By accepting the verdict, non-Muslims are in fact acknowledging
that the Syariah Court is the supreme law of the land.  It is unfortunately
too late to question why the Syariah Court tried the Nyonya Tahir case, and
not the Civil Court.

        In some ways the Nyonya Tahir case was tried in the Syariah Court, only
because judge in the Moorthy case abdicated the responsibility of the Civil
Court to the Syariah Court.

        So, is Badawi laying the foundation for the Syariah Courts to be the
supreme law of the land?  It was he who directed the non-Muslim Cabinet
Ministers to withdraw their memo.  In a sense, he is showing that he is the
PM for Malays only, and not of all Malaysians
http://www.malaysia-today.net/columns/pillai/index.htm. It was also he who
stated that Article 121(1A) of the Constitution would not be amended.  So,
is Badawi aiding and abetting the transition to the full scale implementation of Islamic law in this country?  Think about it.  In a game of chess, pawns may need to be sacrificied in order to win the game.  The pawn in this case was Nyonya Tahir.

Only minutes ago, did a third case arise, involving a young Chinese woman
who converted to Islam in order to marry a Muslim man, but now wants out of
the religion after their marriage ended in divorce. She does not a tussle
over her dead body.

So now, do you see why I say that Malaysia is heading down a very dangerous
path towards the Islamicization of the country?  It's simply not good news.