Various Issues - ISA, Body Snatchers etc.

My last post was more than 2 weeks ago. Hence, there are a few issues which I would like to cover.

1. ISA - An election issue

Haris Ibrahim has called for the ISA to be made an election issue. I support his call and I hope the Opposition parties will likewise do the same. After all in the 2007 Year End Poll conducted by blogger Jeff Ooi, the abolishment of the ISA is one of the top 3 areas that those who polled think Malaysia can do a lot more better, a lot more urgently.

The ISA is the most inhumane, unjust and immoral piece of legislation in our statute book. It remains there because according to our defective Law Minister the rakyat wants it. If not, the rakyat would not have voted for the BN and returned it to power every election. So following his logic a vote for BN is a vote for the ISA to remain.

In one of my previous posts I've call for my fellow Michaelians to reject the BN for the reason above. Now I'm calling for my fellow Christians to do the same. In fact the Malaysian church must make a stand on this. Though I believe the church should not be involved in partisan politics, it must never be apolitical. But the Secretary General of the NECF, an organization which is supposed to represent the evangelical churches in Malaysia thinks otherwise. He said that the church should be apolitical and he thinks the Bible is very clear on this. Wonder which version of the Bible he is using.

In fact, I now think the Malaysian church should make its stand that the ISA is evil and to vote for the BN is to condone this evil. Dare we make such a stand?


2. Body Snatchers

It happened again. It's not the first time, neither it's going to be the last time. A non Muslim family found out at the death of their loved one, the deceased has converted to Islam and the Islamic authorities laid claim to the body, applied to the Syariah court and snatch the body from grieving family members and buried it according to Islamic rites. The latest case is that of Gan Eng Gor. Read here the heart rending account from a blogger who is the deceased's daughter-in-law.

What actually pissed me off was reading the first comment left in the daughter-in-law's blog who commented something to the effect that why make a fuss over this matter. Funeral rites are just for show. So get on with the living and not the dead (I can't retrieve the exact comment as now it has been deleted). When condemned by some readers, she quoted from the Bible, that those without sin, should cast the first stone. Checking her link to her blog confirms that she is a Christian. It pains me that anyone whether a Christian or a non Christian can make such a insensitive remark. Secondly, I think she misses what is the real issue that is at stake.

The issue that is at stake is the Syariah court and the Islamic authorities are disregarding the rights of non Muslims to even to go the our civil court to seek justice by issuing such an order and enforcing the order. But can we really blame them when our civil court in similar cases have abdicated its duty to do justice?


3. To vote or not to vote

I came across an opinion in one blog, where the blogger thinks that by casting our vote, we are not only casting our vote for our candidate but also a vote of confidence for the electoral process. So why vote, if you think the electoral process is tainted? So he is still considering whether to vote or not. In addition he is not sure whether the opposition parties would be much more honest when they come to power.

This was my response to him

Your reasoning is pretty similar to that of the Election Commission Chairman's. He told the Opposition parties that if they are unhappy about the electoral process, they can boycott the election.

I think we have not reached the stage where the election process is completely rigged but it will if we do not turn out to cast our votes.

If you have no confidence about the electoral process, the thing to do is to support civil society groups like Bersih and call for electoral reforms. It is not by not casting your vote. No one will know what you think by not turning out to vote. No one will hear your voice.

There are also many like you who are thinking of not voting because they have no confidence in the Opposition parties either. The reality of Malaysian politics is if you do not vote for the Opposition, you are indirectly voting for the BN. If the Opposition are not going to be honest when they are in power, we can vote them out. That's the essence of democracy. The people decides and the elected government is merely a steward of the people. The people have the right to boot them out if they turn out to be a bad steward.