NOTE: Raja's website blog has been closed down by Malaysian authorities. He was also arrested for posting this to his blog.

Posted by Raja Petra
Wednesday, 19 December 2007
They say only Islam is good, all other religions are bad. And those
with no religion whatsoever or atheists are even worse. But these people
from the good religion want the government to do bad things. That is what
troubles me to no end. How can a good religion make people want to be bad?
NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin



Malaysia can pride itself in knowing that regardless of what
religious celebration it may be, its ethnic groups will come together as one
to honour the event, the mainstream newspapers reported Prime Minister
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as saying. Abdullah said religious festivals
celebrated in Malaysia serve to bridge gaps and foster better ties among
the multi-religious and multi-racial makeup of the country.
Malaysia, he said, was blessed, as the people not only had great
respect for each other's religion, but also for the religious occasions that
the different segments of society celebrated. Abdullah also said Malaysians
never failed to display respect towards each other and it was customary for
most to offer help and lend a hand during religious festivities, even to
those outside their own race.
"A religious occasion, including Hari Raya , is a day when we seize
the opportunity to visit our friends and strengthen our ties as true
Malaysians. In our everyday lives, we prioritise aspects of goodwill and
understanding towards each other, including on religious matters, which are
deemed sensitive," Abdullah said.
Have you noticed how politicians and religious people -- especially if
they are politicians masquerading as religious people -- always say one
thing to the non-Muslims and another to the Muslims? When the Indians and
Chinese start showing signs of restlessness, they will talk about
multi-racial, multi-cultural tolerance and all such crap. But to an
all-Malay or all-Muslim audience, when they think that the non-Malays or
non-Muslims are not within earshot, they will talk about the 'enemies' of
the Malays and warn us that the kafir can't be trusted and can't be taken
as our friend because they are the millennium-old enemies of Islam.
Thess public displays of keris-waving are small potatoes. The
non-Malays were meant to see that. They knew the TV cameras were on and that
what they said and did was being beamed live, straight into the living rooms
of Malaysians. But what they talk behind closed doors would make even our
First Prime Minister and Bapa Merdeka, Tunku Abdul Rahman , who in his days
was accused of being a Chinese running dog who sold out the Malays, turn in
his grave . Yes, the Tunku was ousted because he 'gave in' too much to the
Chinese. But it was in the Tunku's days that Malaysia was most peaceful,
until someone came out with the 'bright' idea of how to unite the Malays
under a common cause.
Can I be so bold as to say that in the Tunku's days, the Malays were
less religious? Not a single Malay senior government officer's home did not
have a bar, well-stocked with beer, brandy, whisky and wine that would make
any pub turn green with envy. That was during the Merdeka era when you
could admire the lovely legs of Malay women and when bare-back knee-length
skirts were the 'in' thing. Miss Malaysia would be a sweet, young, Malay,
lass in a bikini who would give the Chinese and Indian girls a run for their
money -- until Pan-Asian girls appeared on the scene of course. Then we
mixed-breed Eurasians beat the panties off the thoroughbreds. Hidup
Pan-Asian!
Fifty years on and we celebrate our fiftieth anniversary of Merdeka.
By now the Malays have become more religious. No longer will you find any
bar in Malay homes. The army no longer toasts with wine but with syrup. And
even then toasting, a western custom, is frowned upon . No longer can you
get drunk with NAFI beer at fifty cents a can. You have to pay RM15 a glass
at a pub and a crate of two dozen cans would be unaffordable for most
Malaysians today.
But that is good. Malays have discarded their jahiliyah days or era of
ignorance . Malays are now more Islamic. And Malays are told that we must
not celebrate Christmas or wish the Chinese or Indians Kong Hee Fatt Choy
or Happy Deepavali as this goes against Islamic teachings . Why, therefore,
is Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi saying what he said, as reported by
the mainstream media? Does he not know what he is saying goes against what
Islam stands for, at least according to what the religious people tell us?
Or is this a case of saying one thing to the non-Muslims and another to the
Muslims? I suppose this is what politics is all about. You have to tailor
your statements to suit the audience. And what Abdullah said was meant for
the non-Malay ears, not for the Malays.
They say everyone goes through various stages of changes in their life
and I suppose I am no exception. If I was asked to sum up my different
stages of change, I would probably divide my life into three parts. The
first part, the first 27 years of my life, would be what Malays (and Muslims
as well) would call the jahil (ignorant) stage. That was when I did not
pray, never for one minute stopped to think about God, drank beer, played
Gin Rummy, and indulged in all form and manner of 'sin' that you can think
of. Somehow, the consumption of pork was never one of those 'sins' though,
for whatever reason I still can't figure out until today.
When I touched 27 or 28, I suddenly 'saw the light' and became a
'born-again' Muslim. I used to jokingly tell my friends I was never born a
Muslim but masuk Islam (converted to Islam) at the age of 27. From then on,
I 'fast-forward' to catch up on all that I had missed the first 27 years of
my life. I went to Mekah ten times or so, twice for the Haj and the rest
for my Umrah (small Haj). I sat down and started reading the Quran and
within a few weeks was able to rattle away like one who had learnt to read
the Quran at the age of five. Even my Tok Guru was surprised. He said it
normally take months or maybe even years for 'old' people whose brain had
already beku (frozen) to read the Quran. I was able to do it in a matter of
weeks. I bought the entire nine volumes of Hamka's Quran translation and
nine volumes of Hadith Bukhari plus Imam Ghazali's kitab which I read over
and over again until I was able to quote from memory.
That was all just before the Iranian Islamic Revolution and I was
smitten. During my first trip to Mekah to perform the Haj, I joined an
Iranian anti-Saudi demonstration and proudly carried a giant poster of Imam
Khomeni high above my head. I wanted the Saudi government to be toppled and
the two Holy cities of Mekah and Medina to be governed by an international
Islamic coalition a la the Vatican City . I was slightly over 30 then and
an Islamic revolutionary to the core.
I became the Chairman of our local mosque and set about 'freeing' all
the mosques from government control. I helped raise funds to develop as many
independent mosques as possible so that we could keep the Religious
Department out of these mosques. Some of you probably remember the dua imam
(two imams) episodes rampant in the State of Terengganu in those days.
Datuk Yusof, the Terengganu head of the Special Branch (KCK), picked me up
and brought me to meet the Terengganu Menteri Besar so that they could
'rehabilitate' me. They actually wanted to detain me under the Internal
Security Act but there was this small complication concerning my father's
cousin ( Emak Sepupu) who was the then Tengku Ampuan Terengganu. The Tengku
Ampuan Terengganu was sister to the late Agong, the Sultan of Selangor, so
they had to handle me with kid gloves.
Yes, I was a problem for Umno Terengganu and they would have liked to
lock me away but my palace 'immunity' made this impossible. Anyway,
eventually I left Terengganu and that sort of solved the whole thing. Five
years later, Terengganu fell to the PAS-led opposition, so it really did not
matter anymore, anyway.
That, in a nutshell, would be how I would describe the second 27 years
of my life, phase two, and now I am in phase three, the third 27 years of my
life. Of course, I really do not think I will live another 27 years or else
I will live to a ripe old age of 81. No doubt Tun Dr Mahathir is still very
much alive and kicking way past 81. But then Tun does not smoke, does not
sleep at 3.00am, does not survive with a mere five hours sleep every night,
is very careful with his diet, and much more. In short, I do everything
opposite of what Tun does, so I do not hold the fallacy that I can live as
long as he has thus far.
But that is not the issue. Whether phase three will be another 27
years like phases one and two is not what I want to talk about. What I do
want to discuss is what I am going through in this phase three.
As I said, my first 27 years of phase one was the jahil period, and
the second 27 years of what I call phase two, the Iranian Islamic Revolution
period, my 'enlightenment' period. Phase three, however, appears to be my
questioning and doubting period, which is giving rise to my disillusionment
period.
I accept that I was like one of those lost sheep during phase one.
Then I thought I had discovered the truth and saw the light in phase two.
But now, in phase three, I am beginning to question this co-called truth. I
am beginning to doubt that this was really the truth as I originally thought
it was. I am beginning to become disillusioned with what I originally
perceived as the truth.
Religion is supposed to be good, not only Islam, but any religion for
that matter. And that is what I went through during phase two, discovering
religion. But if religion is good, then why are religious people bad? Why is
it when I meet unreligious people or atheists, I see good people? And why
when I meet orthodox religious people, I see bad people? Yes, that is what
has been nagging me in this phase three of my life. If religion is good,
then religious people should be good and unreligious people or atheists
should be bad. But why is it the other way around? And this does not apply
to only Muslims.
I gave a talk to a group of pro-Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Umno people a
few weeks ago. In that crowd was one whom I would classify as an
ultra-religious person. When I pointed out that corruption is bad and that
we must oppose it, he replied that corruption is okay . I then argued that
Islam says that corruption is Riba' (usury) and that there are 80 levels of
Riba' and that the sin for the lowest level is equivalent to the sin of
sexual intercourse with one's own parent. He agreed and said that this is
actually one of the sayings ( hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad.
I was flabbergasted. There I had before me a religious man . He was
preaching to me and saying that the present secular system of government has
to be rejected in favour of an Islamic system. He blames the ills facing
this nation on the fact that we have turned our backs on Islam and chose
instead a western secular system over the Islamic system as prescribed by
the Prophet Muhammad. But corruption is okay, he argued.
If even just one Muslim were to leave Islam and become a Hindu,
Christian or Buddhist, then it is the duty of all Muslims to violently
oppose this. Apostasy is forbidden and the prescribed punishment is death.
And Muslims must run riot on the streets and burn buildings and kill people
if anyone tries to leave Islam. No Muslim worth his salt will disagree with
this. This is not violence, this is not extremism, this is not a threat to
national security; this is defending the dignity of Islam . But if you
march peacefully to the Agong's palace or to Parliament to hand over a
Memorandum, this is not allowed. The police must arrest you, beat you up,
and the leaders or organisers must be detained without trial under the
Internal Security Act. This is what Islam asks us to do and is mandatory.
Ask any Malay-Muslim leader. Ask any imam in the mosque. Ask any
Mufti. Ask any Religious Department official. Ask anyone from Pusat Islam.
None will disagree that the peaceful marchers need to be dealt with harshly
and detained without trial under the Internal Security Act. And none of
these same people will disagree that apostates need to be dealt with harshly
and rioting, and burning buildings, and killing people are necessary in
defending the dignity of Islam.
Most of the police are Muslims, but they act violently towards
peaceful marchers. Most of the government leaders are Muslims, but they act
harshly towards peaceful marchers. And they say that they do this to
preserve the peace, which is required by Islam. But if you 'insult' Islam or
try to become an apostate, then you must accept the violent punishment. And
this is not violence or harsh or a threat to national security. This is
defending the dignity of Islam . And corruption is okay. Cheating in the
elections is okay. Abuse of power and authority is okay. Wastage of public
funds is okay. Denying you your fundamental rights is okay. Using the
mainstream media to lie is okay. Threatening the non-Malays is okay.
Persecution is okay. Detention without trial is okay. Assaulting detainees
under police custody is okay . Just do not insult Islam or try to leave
Islam. That is not okay and the use of violence to oppose this is also okay.
I see religious people and I see bad people. I see unreligious people
and atheists and I see good people. How can religion be good if religious
people are bad? How can religion be from God if the product of religion is
bad people? Yes, that is what troubles me this third phase of the 27 years
of my life.
The more people pray, the worse they become. People who never pray
are wonderful people. How can this be? Police officers pray. Government
leaders pray. But they are terrible people. There must be something terribly
wrong with praying . Is religion merely a scam? How can religion be right
when those who profess religion are so wrong?
Sure, I have heard the old argument time and time again. There is
nothing wrong with religion. It is the people who are wrong for not
following what the religion really teaches us. But why? That still does not
explain it. Why is it people who are religious become so bad? Is religion
not supposed to guide us to become good ? If religion has failed to turn us
into good people then surely religion and not people is what is wrong. There
is another old saying: there is no such thing as bad students, only bad
teachers. If students turn out bad then the teacher has to be blamed. In
that case, would not this same argument apply? If religion has failed to
educate us then the teacher and not the student has to be blamed.
Sighâ?¦.the third phase of my life, the third 27 years, is going to be
very traumatic indeed. The first 27 years were easy. I just enjoyed my life.
I lived for today and to hell with tomorrow. The second 27 years were also
very satisfying. I lived for my religion. Everything I did I did for Islam.
But this third 27 years is going to be an endless journey for me. And I may
never reach my destination because I am not confident I will live another 27
years. I need to find out whether religions really exist or whether they are
mere human inventions and old wives tales. Fruit from a poisonous tree will
always be poisonous. It can never be any other way. And the fruit from a
good religion must certainly be goodness . It can never be any other way.
But that does not seem to be what is happening here.
Today, we are told that Muslims support detention without trial.
Today, we are told that 1.5 million Malays from 395 Malay NGOs support the
government in its use of the Internal Security Act against peaceful
marchers. Many are angry that those 31 from HINDRAF are not going to be
tried for attempted murder after all. They want blood. They want the blood
of the BERSIH and HINDRAF marchers. They want the blood of those who merely
exercised their God-given right of free expression. These 1.5 million Malays
are followers of a good religion. They say only Islam is good, all other
religions are bad. And those with no religion whatsoever or atheists are
even worse. But these people from the good religion want the government to
do bad things. That is what troubles me to no end. How can a good religion
make people want to be bad?

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Raja Petra's wiki biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raja_Petra_Kamarudin