When I was writing this piece of article, Malaysia was once again shocked by the news of a Muslim revert teacher who was forbidden from practising her beliefs as a Muslim in a Chinese school. The school management insisted that the teacher should remove her head scarf or hijab if she wants to continue teaching at the school, and if she didn’t comply with the school’s request, she would face other threats. Why are we allowing such tyranny to be let loose, in a country, where the majority of its people are Muslims? I can only shudder just from the thought about the troubles that Muslim teacher have to go through just to uphold her identity as a Muslim in a Muslim country.
By now, she must have thought, that little to no security and protection in the education system were afforded to her, especially she is now a Muslim. How about those who are dwelling within themselves, whether it’s time to revert into a Muslim? They even might have a second thought about the very idea.
“It must be rather hard to be a Muslim revert in a Muslim country where the rights of a Muslim can be easily challenged”
“We, Muslims, are living in a nation where the Muslim dominates the majority of the population, but our God-given rights are not being properly protected.”
“If I ever reverted to Islam, who will be there to ensure my safety?”
These are just some of the examples that I can think of and I’m sure various questions and ponderings will follow suit.
And another thought came across my mind. Where are the so called human rights NGOs in these matters? Why are they silent and sitting still? Isn’t this the kind of rights that should be given protection as well? Isn’t this their niche, saving the oppressed and the distraught? Or are they being selective in what kind of rights should be given adequate protection or to whom it should lay its protective wings? And in a Muslim country, shouldn’t a Muslim be able to practice his or her beliefs, without any let or hindrance? Or is this the true nature of these NGOs, which allows such discriminatory act to befall anyone who is not in their own interest or support their cause?
They chant through the mass media how “Religion is Love not Prejudice” and how Malaysia should “Fulfil the Principles of Universal Human Rights”. Their voice are loud, promoting humanity across the nation. However,it is outright disturbing when these NGOs are yelling slogans of equality and respect for all but decided to be selective of whom and what matters should be granted equality and respect.Let me quote from one of the NGOs Facebook page.
“We are group of Muslim women committed to promoting the rights of women within the framework of Islam as based on the principles of equality, justice and freedom enjoined by the Quran.”
If they adhere to the objective of their establishment, then any of these cases such as the poor Muslim revert being forced to remove her head scarf shouldn’t be a case at all.Instead of being the forefront in these matters, these NGOs decided to turn a blind eye. No help were afforded to these people in distress, just because these matters involve Muslims, or to be precise in this case, a Muslim revert. How can the Human Rights that are “glorified” all over the world, missed this helpless woman in need? Or is it being selective and only aid those who support their cause? If that is the case, then we didn’t need these pretentious principles to make our lives better.
How about one of the prominent countries in adopting the Universal Human Rights, Australia? If we look into the laws within Australia itself, various rights and protections are provided for its citizen. They are protected from being discriminated on the basis of race, age, gender and many others, except religion despite the fact that in its constitution, section 116 allows the freedom of religion. However, there were no real laws in guaranteeing these people from being discriminated on the basis of religion. Even in the discriminatory case of a person who happens to be a Jew, it was then classified as a cultural discrimination and not of a religious nature. Aren’t these pretentious principle of human rights being selective on what matter should be granted protection? They chose to ignore religion as a matter that should be afforded the same protection.
Thus, we should no longer look to the West and their made up principles in order to improve our lives. We must not forget that Islam is a religion of wonder, where every aspect of life is covered. Shouldn’t we seek help and solution from our own religion, instead of relying on human madeprinciples? Islam have covered the rights of their followers and people subjected to Islamic ruling, where even the human minds could not even begin to comprehend and yet up to this day, it is still relevant after all these centuries.
Maybe it’s time to say no to selective Human Rights.
Maybe it’s time to say no to COMANGO.
Muhammad Akmal Abdul Ghani
AJK PEMBINA Cawangan Alor Setar
Bachelor of Laws
University of Adelaide
I am about to say the same thing to Marina Mahathir! if she dares and being courageous enough to send flowers to the Church community ‘kononnya’ as a symbol of peace in Islam, they why don’t she do the same when Muslims got treated badly from non-Muslims? kelakar la pertubuhan SIS ni..dh terang lg bersuluh yg perjuangan mereka tu ada agenda tersendiri..jgn ego sgt..smpi laknat Allah nnt, baru akan sedar betapa kerdilnya kita di sisi Allah..angkuh sgguh dgn ‘pinjamanNya’..