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Extra-Ordinary feats of an acrobatic act

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First of all, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to you Farouk, or not? I’m not sure if you do celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri since it is not mentioned at all in any verses of the Quran.

It would be ironic if you did. I guess being a pure Quranist or whatever you lot named it, does have its own shortcomings. And Farouk, we were anticipating you as the Abang Long (Big Brother) to back up your fellow liberal loyalists. After all, birds of the same feather flock together, albeit your feathers are arguably not as thick as the rest.

Here’s the thing.

You and your friend had written a confusing and yet slandering article stating that;

  1. a) Malaysia is a secular nation.
  2. b) We, Malaysians, are under the attack of the creeping theocracy regime.
  3. c) That the Daesh represents the Islamic State
  4. d) Isma knows acrobatics

I have to give it to you people for being consistent and persistent in claiming that Malaysia is a secular nation despite not having enough exposure or knowledge in the Constitution itself.

This whole argument regarding Malaysia being secular feels like as if the anti-vaccines are trying to tell the doctors and the Health Ministry how to do their work and what is best for the community at large, when in reality, they don’t have the slightest clue at all.

Nevertheless, the thing is with the Malaysian Constitution, is that there is no definite definition that one can define our special Constitution, but to simply label it secular would be rather premature and jumping to conclusion at best.

If you look to other countries such as Australia and even our neighbouring ones such Indonesia itself, there are no specific mentions of any religion at all in their constitutions.

Section 116 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (if you liberals are still confused why there are constitutions and constitution acts, then you are no better than the ignorant anti-vaccine group.), had explicitly state that the Commonwealth of Australia not to legislate in respect of religion.

What this means is that Australia cannot legislate laws to establish a certain religion in its Commonwealth, hence the freedom of religion for the citizens of Australia.

While in Indonesia, there is no explicit mention of Islam at all in its constitution, however, it provides that “all persons have the right to worship according to their own religion or belief” and also states that “the nation is based upon belief in one Supreme God”.

There’s a mix of freedom of religion given by the constitution but at the same time upholding the belief in one Supreme God. We can interpret this in a way that Indonesia trying to uphold certain “religion” but at the same time wants to be seen as progressive enough not to mention it at all in its Constitution.

There are only a select few religions that are monotheism in nature, and what is the biggest religion in Indonesia right now? You’ve guessed it. It’s Islam.

What makes Malaysia’s own Constitution so unique is that the explicit mentioning of Islam. Article 3 of the Constitution states that Islam is the religion of the Federation, however any other religions can be practiced freely and peacefully in any parts of the Federation.

First of all, there are no other countries with constitutions like Malaysia (with the exception of select few like Nigeria) that specifically mentions a certain religion to be the religion of the country/commonwealth/federation.

This article of the constitution paves the way for legislators to make rulings based on Islam as the religion of the Federation and established that Malaysia isn’t meant to be secular in the first place.

The states in Malaysia that is without ruler (Sultanate if you’d like) such as Malacca, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak has provided in their own State Constitutions (yes our states have their own constitutions) that the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong (Supreme Ruler of Malaysia) is to be the Head of Islam in that particular state.

Powers are given to rulers of the states to help them helm the people under the ruling of Islam and its laws.

According to Article 11(4) of the Malaysian Constitution, “State law and in respect of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan,federal law may control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam.”

What this means is that, a non-Muslim cannot in whatever forms preach to another Muslim regarding their own religion, be it the Christians, Buddhists or Hindus.

In all my years studying the numerous constitutions across the nations, never have I seen myriads of ways that a constitution can do to protect and uphold a certain religion like Malaysia’s Constitution did to preserve and uphold Islam.

Furthermore, Article 32(1) provides that “There shall be a Supreme Head of the Federation to be called the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, who shall take precedence over all persons in the Federation…” while Article 32(3) states that “…shall be elected by the Conference of Rulers (Majlis Raja-Raja Melayu)…”.

As a matter of fact, Majlis Raja-Raja Melayu are made up of Malay Muslim rulers and therefore, the role of Yang Di-Pertuan Agong will always be held by a Muslim.

Based on Fiqh al-Siyasah and Fiqh al-Daulah, it can be said that the position of Yang Di-Pertuan Agong as the Supreme Head of Federation is equivalent to al-Imam or al-Amir (highest leader) in an Islamic country (al-Daulah al-Islamiyyah).

This is in fact in line with the concept of Ulil Amri that is debated in the Muslim scholars.

Moreover, Article 121(1A) of the Constitution had given exclusive jurisdiction to the Syariah Court in the administration of Islamic laws, which have jurisdictions only on Muslims and Islamic matters.

Tell me dear liberal loyalists, which other constitutions specifically provide an Islamic judicature system in its own country? And that’s why I’m leaning forward in saying that Malaysia’s Constitution is unique and can’t simply be labelled as secular in nature.

There is not even one explicit word in the Constitution to claim Malaysia as secular, unlike France or the old Turkey.

Yet, it amazes me that these liberal loyalists are so keen to jumping on the conclusion train of saying that Malaysia is a secular nation, while in fact it is not even close.

There are more arguments that can be made to establish Malaysia as non-secular nation, however it would be long and tedious and rather untenable for me to write it all in article for a simple rebuttal of an article such as Farouk’s. You know what Farouk, catch on the next train of jumping to conclusion, maybe we’ll see from there, okay?

I don’t need to delve further into the facts that my colleague, Norhidayah from Wanita Isma had explained again and again that we are not under a theocracy regime as defined by the west. We are not in the Dark Age where letters of forgiveness are sold in the street for the sake of money.

We are not in a country where Ulama’s have the highest power and call the shots to the utmost important decisions. There is also no institution equivalent to Christian Church as every Muslim has their own right to practice the religion without the existence of a “medium”.

Hence, trying to equate that Malaysia have plummeted to the Dark Age just because we uphold Islamic ruling, is absurd, baseless and deceiving really.

Stop being paranoid liberals.

Farouk, saying that Daesh is fighting for the real and intended Islamic State is the same with trying to claim that Klu Klux Klan represents the Christianity and that it’s fighting to spread its intended teachings.

Now, we all know what the Klu Klux Klan did to the black (coloured) people in 1860s to 1950s, from cross burnings and mass parades chanting white supremacy and white nationalism.

My biggest hope is that whenever you’re trying to quote some misguided organizations as representing Islam, that you sit down and think about the damage you might have caused to the Islam itself. Sometimes it bamboozled me as to where do you stand, with Islam or against it?

Yes, Farouk, we at Isma are encouraged to do acrobatics act. We are swift and agile to rebut the minds of the erroneous liberals. We are flexible in terms of what needs to be tackled first and also what needs to be done later.

That’s why we have wings such as Wanita Isma or Pemuda Isma to help us reach to several communities at once. We are equipped with extraordinary feats to balance our way in propagating Islam to the masses.

We are what we do best and we are not afraid to stand in the crowd. Thank you for noticing that. Maybe there is hope for you people after all.

There’s a trend that I see with liberalists, is that they tend to change their minds rather quickly. Whatever must be done as long it can suit to their goals and needs.

If you can’t label it secular, then you’ll start claiming creeping theocracy. If its not liberal, then it’s now renamed islamofascist 2.0. It’s like a forked tongue of a snake. Looking confused and confusing others at the same time. Just make up your mind already.

 

Akmal Ghani

I-Peguam

Penafian: Kenyataan berita atau artikel ini adalah pandangan peribadi penulis dan tidak mewakili pendirian rasmi Media Isma Sdn Bhd atau Portal Islam dan Melayu Ismaweb.net.
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2 komen

  1. Love the rebuttal, it is actually odd someone who wants to force their ideas labelling the people who were knowledgeable in Islam and understood realistically within the community as backwards and “oppressive”…somehow DAESH and these kind of people are quite alike, ironically.

  2. Truth stands on its own.
    But not everything in this world is in black and white. There are grey areas inbetween, too.
    As i see it, liberals have their points too. Good to see ISMA in healthy discussions such as these. Keep sparring 🙂

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