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PAS’s balancing act

By Lainie Yeoh

October 9, 2009

Tightrope


Lainie Yeoh is a graphic designer. She drinks alcohol, goes for rock concerts, and had to choose between PAS, Umno, or spoiling the vote during the last elections.

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Filed Under: Pictures Tagged With: balancing act, islam, karthika, minorities, moderate, modern, muslim, pas, pas for all, religion, tightrope

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Comments

  1. pakkarim says

    October 10, 2009 at 5:22 am

    FYI, the word alcohol comes from Arabic, the language of the people upon whom, God Almighty [explained] the reasons for its prohibition; that the good [derived] from its consumption is minimal [compared] to its evil.

    Fourteen hundred years ago, the Muslims did not question the law and [abided] faithfully; they [did] not need to ask the reason why.

    Today, this information is available to anyone who [wishes] to look it up through the internet. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/] is a good place to start. Another is http://kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/alcohol/alcohol.html#

    You are what you know.

  2. Azmin says

    October 11, 2009 at 10:21 am

    Yea, you are damn right! I just don’t know whom I should cast my vote [for] and I just don’t like any of them; PAS – using religion to run the states; Umno – too often racist, corrupt and arrogant.

  3. Azizi Khan says

    October 12, 2009 at 10:23 am

    “Fourteen hundred years ago, the Muslims did not question the law and [abided] faithfully; they [did] not need to ask the reason why.”

    Unfortunately, in this day and age, not questioning laws is bringing Malaysia to its knees. Fourteen hundred years ago, we had politicians and leaders of the highest calibre. They made decisions with the greatest wisdom.

    Today, we have poor-class politicians, characters and religious bodies that are ready with a bag full of fatwas on standby to appease their political masters.

    Even in PAS, politicians seem to make these rules not for the benefit of the people but for their own agenda. Hasan Ali and Zulkifli Noordin are classic examples of the hypocrisy of PAS [editor’s note: Zulkifli Noordin is a PKR member]. PAS preaches as if the problem in this country is [our] democratic principles.

    The problem in this country is its corrupt politicians and their party. Making it an Islamic government will not make it less corrupt but will only make a mockery of a religious foundation. Besides, who will then speak for the non-Islamic minority?

    History has shown us time and time again politics and religion do not mix. But PAS is an [Islamist] party. So will this party work for the greater good or work for the people of Malaysia. Working for the greater good may not be the right thing in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic country like Malaysia. Why? Because non-Muslims in Malaysia do like to consume alcohol and pork. They do like to watch cartoons with pigs on TV. A large portion of them are the MTV generation and love their music videos and concerts. And they love to hold hands in public.

    Is PAS going to do a blanket ban on all that? What about moderate Muslims? Is PAS going to force-feed their “version” of Islam down the throat of every Muslim and non-Muslim in Malaysia? (The reason I say version is because Islam, like other religions, has its denominations.)

    The next question is what calibre of politicians come from PAS? We already have Islamic thugs from PKR – Zulkifli Noordin who talks nothing like an educated lawyer. Are we to expect more of this “fine form of professionalism” with *everything* PAS does not agree [with]? Will non-conformists be burnt at the stake if PAS should come into power?

    It seems to me that PAS says one thing and does another. It doesn’t seem to have control of its members who generally don’t behave like civilised men and women and are second only to Umno members when it comes to hypocrisy (munafiq).

    I am asking the questions that are in the hearts and minds of every Malaysian including the Muslims themselves. Some people are convinced that “anything but Umno” is better. But I don’t want Malaysia to get out of the frying pan and end up in the fire.

    If PAS thinks it can recite a few verses from the Quran, it has another thing coming to it. Until PAS establishes a proper framework and guidelines for itself and its members and refrains from blaming divinity for its shortcomings or its policies – it will find that many Malaysians, Muslims or otherwise, will refrain from voting it. Why? Because “it’s better the devil you know”.

  4. atikah says

    October 17, 2009 at 8:12 pm

    “They do like to watch cartoons with pigs on TV.”

    This is possibly the dumbest statement about an Islamic government ever made. Really? I would like to think that it is a sarcastic statement but from the overall tone of the paragraph, it is highly unlikely.

    Because we all know that Muslims hate pigs so much that whenever those beastly creatures come on tv – may it be in animation – we shudder and grit our teeth in anger. Blur all animation of pigs! This is an Islamic country!

    […]

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