It is you who is kiasu Dr. Ridhuan Tee, not the Chinese community by Vijay Kumar Murugavell
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 1,733 viewsEvery now and then we would have some morally uptight, religiously constipated pricks trying to act holy, high and mighty by preaching to the masses about good religious values, the importance and wonderful of following the teachings of God while condemning those who strayed and committed sins. They would also go on an imaginary crusade against people who they thought had said or done things deemed insulting to their religion.
And in the hastiness of trying to sound reasonable (and pious?) with all the justifications and explanations for their actions, they often forget one very important thing. HOW they say or do it. Yes, it’s not so much about WHAT they say or do, but how they say or do it. WHAT they say may be reasonable and of perfect sense but HOW the message is delivered would determine whether the recipients would understand the intended message, especially when the consistency of the actions by the messenger is highly doubtful.
It is not WHAT one says, but HOW one says it that makes the difference between fusion and confusion.
Now, the issue here is of one Dr. Ridhuan Tee suddenly out of nowhere playing the role a hero of his religion using Teoh Beng Hock family’s misfortune to highlight the social ills eg. illegitimate child, and went on to insinuate leaders from Pakatan Rakyat especially DAP Chinese leaders in Selangor as cunning opportunists, accusing the for manipulating the ‘weakness and disunity’ among Malays and showing disrespect to the Islam religion.
It is a shame for someone with a doctorate (Rais Yatim comes to mind) to come up with such disgustingly divisive, biased and slandering article. And he claimed to speak on behalf of his religion. You know his doctorate worth shit when he could come up with things like “Didn’t they (DAP) aware that Malaysia was declared as an Islamic country….”
I thought of writing a post in respond to the article when I read it, but a good friend of mine, which is also a regular commentator here has written a brillliant piece on this issue. I couldn’t articulate it better than him, so let me share his article here.
It is you who is kiasu Dr. Ridhuan Tee, not the Chinese community
Ref: Bahaya matlamat menghalalkan cara – Dr. Ridhuan Tee.
Assalamulaikum, waramatulahi wabarakatuh
You miss the point by a mile Ridhuan Tee, all above explanations are just a diatribe against those who take you to task for you insensitive comments. It is not what you say but how you say it. To then hit out at the Chinese community in general as “kiasu” that too with a broad brush is patently unfair.
You then go on to paint DAP specifically and the Chinese generally as decadent and hedonistic, did Islam or any other religion for that matter ever teach its followers to slander ?
You also paint YB Ronnie Liu as a crusader out on a vendetta against Muslims, when Ronnie Liu stressed so many times that his intent was not to belittle Islam but he is duty bound to see that laws are observed, and not arbitrary.
A distinction must be drawn between insulting Islam and insulting some Munafiqs who call themselves Muslim.
For example many “mat rempits” will declare that they are Muslims, so if I rebuke their actions, does that mean I am anti Islam ?
There seems to be nothing praiseworthy of your method nor intent. Are you hoping to win goodwill this way ? A true Muslim will never speak like this.
Using the Teoh family’s misfortune to highlight the social ills you mentioned is underhanded and opportunistic not to mention in bad taste.
It still does not explain your behavior, is your statement even relevant ? Both Teoh Beng Hock and his fiancee are not Muslims so why apply your standards of morality to them ? They had planned to register their marriage a day before Teoh died. Who are you to judge ?
You obfuscate the issue by trying to draw parallels between religious and civil laws when the issue was your insensitivity more so against the backdrop of multiracial and multicultural sensitivities.
If you want to draw parallels there are areas which are not parallel, for example oral sex is permissible under Islam for legitimately married couples, however under the penal code it is technically an offence even for married couples, here Islamic law makes far more sense than its civil counterpart,
Will you write to the authorities to have this archaic civil legislation repealed ?
Many scholars have opined that the ISA (Internal Security Act) is un-Islamic , will you write to the government as a concerned Muslim to repeal it ?
Why don’t you castigate proven adulterers of influential public stature who call themselves Muslim, Rahim Thambi Chik, Abu Hassan Omar, Abdul Razak Baginda, etc. I dare you if your principles are as relevant as you purport.
Can you then blame those who accuse you of being an UMNO tool ? A person is judged by the consistency of their actions.
If you talk about opinion, then my question is will you accept a statement by a Hindu that you are an ignorant beef eater as just opinion ?
Of course you will not because you will not like someone who does not share your religious convictions rudely imposing their moral standards on you.
It is not about who is right or wrong but about understanding and compassion.
Understanding and compassion are important. Because the universe can be considered a symphony of compassion which provides for our survival. A human being must show compassion to all living beings, for this is a basic requirement of being human. The more people display compassion, the more exalted they become; the more they resort to wrongdoing, oppression, and cruelty, the more they are disgraced and humiliated. They become a shame to humanity.
We hear from Prophet Muhammad that a prostitute went to Paradise because her compassion compelled her to give water to a dog dying of thirst, while another woman went to Hell because she allowed a cat to starve to death. Dr. Ridhuan Tee please seek forgiveness from Teoh’s family, and to your fellow Muslims some of whom are angry with your statements too.
Even Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) asked for Islam to be propagated in ways that are most gracious, ie by winning over peoples hearts ,not by threats, there are many inspiring hadith for example Muhammad and the blind Jewish beggar,how the Prophet won the hearts of the people in the City of Taif, even though they shouted abusive words and threw stones at him, and many many more such stories.
He always repelled evil with the good of forgiveness and kind behavior in his view, an antidote was better than poison. He believed and practiced the precept that love could sooth hatred, and aggression could be won over by forgiveness.
He fought fire not with fire but with water, unlike those who thump their chest as self proclaimed defenders of Islam do not even understand this simple concept.
“Keep to forgiveness (O Muhammad), and enjoin kindness, and turn away from the ignorant.” (Quran 7:199)
The tragedy in Malaysia is some non-Muslims unfairly label Islam without a cursory understanding of its tenets , the bigger tragedy however is those who proclaim to be Muslims but are ignorant of their own religion.
Knowing any religion by being able to quote all its hadith, verses, quatrains and what not is useless if one does not have basic human compassion and use it only to advance ones own agenda.
It just makes one a good parrot not a good Ulama.
Wassalam
Vijay Kumar Murugavell
Check out Vijay’s other writings here.
I hope I don’t sound hypocritical when I pose these questions for us to ponder after reading the article written by Dr. Ridhuan Tee and Vijay Kumar Murugavell.
Is free speech and expression without boundaries?
Does defending God and religion know no limits?
