Another look at Islamic tolerance. From AFP:
KUALA LUMPUR - Four Malaysians who renounced Islam lost an appeal in the nation's top court where they had sought a declaration that they have freedom to practise the faith of their choice, their lawyer said yesterday.'The Federal Court this morning dismissed the appeal after taking nine months to deliberate the matter,' said Mr Ang Hean Leng.
Mr Daud Mamat, 62, Ms Kamariah Ali, 51, her late husband Mohamad Ya and Mr Mad Yacob Ismail, 62, who served 20 months in jail for 'deviant practices inconsistent with Islamic teachings', renounced Islam in 1998.
They were charged with contempt of the Syariah court for refusing to attend repentance classes which were part of the earlier sentence and were jailed for another three years in 2000.
Malaysia is, quite incorrectly I'm afraid, always adduced as an example of a progressive, forward-looking, prosperous Muslim state. In fact its prosperity would be considerably diminished but for its Chinese and Hindu population. All Malays are required to be counted as Muslims, and all Muslims benefit from a disguised jizyah tax on non-Muslims which is called the "Bumiputra" or "Sons of the Soil" system. According to this "Bumiputra" idea, all economic undertakings, all examples of entrepreneurial flair, must have Muslim Malays as their full partners. Two Chinese who wish to open, for example, a computer consulting company, or an architectural firm, are required to take on a Muslim Malay (but not a HIndu, nor another Chinese) as a full partner, with an equal financial stake -- even though he need not contribute a thing. This is simply a way to ensure that the Muslims can continue to live on the backs of non-Muslims, which is part of the traditional status of dhimmi, including the payment of the jizya (and kharaj, or land-tax). \
The real "Sons of the Soil" -- the real indigenous tribes of Malaysia, in fact are almost entirely Christian where not pagan. These tribes of course, benefit not at all from the Bumiputra system.
Malaysia is well-endowed with natural resources, and it would be hard to be poor with such resources. But all those manufacturing jobs which made Malaysia a center for Western companies -- assembly-lines for computers, that sort of thing -- will likely move China-wards, where labor costs are lower, and workers more skilled.
Meanwhile, the real talent will move to Singapore, which has no natural resources but has a talented and motivated citizenry that keeps careful tabs, through a whole series of legal measures, on the spread of Islam in the country.
Some indication of the nature of Muslim dreams can be gauged from the speech of Mohammed Mahathir, the "moderate" president of Malaysia until a few months ago who, in his address to assembled heads of Muslm states, seemed to be advocating "reform" when he called for the harnessing of science and technology -- not in order to investigate the structure of DNA, or the Eight-Fold Path, or De Sitter space, or how to preserve biodiversity in the Wilsonian sense -- no, no, what he had in mind, and what he called for, was a Muslim "reform" that would permit Muslim countries to catch up with the West almost entirely in one area and one area alone -- weapons technology. For that he was wildly applauded. This tells us a lot about him, and about the country which he ran, as does the Bumiputra system.
And as does this example of contempt for the free exercise of the individual conscience. In Islam, once a Muslim, you are seldom allowed out. You are akin to a soldier in the Army of Islam, and changing your faith, or abandoning it, is equivalent to deserting from that army.
And that is why, when it comes to Muslims and apostasy -- All Dare Call It Treason.
Hugh
May I compliment you on your very well informed
comments.Yes, people do have a vague fuzzy notion
that Malaysia is an okay Muslim country. Entirely agree it is the hardworking Chinese and Hindus
who are responsible for the country's economic success. And they have to work harder to support
their Muslim 'Masters.' Where are all those Lefties so shrill and vocal in defense of 'poor Muslims', to PROTEST at outrageous treatment of these VICTIMS OF ISLAM??
So the 'religion of peace' becomes the 'religion of where the hell do you think youre going...youre not getting out' if you change your mind...very nice. Guess that clause in in the fine print that no one reads...or in the passages of the koran that are 'taken out of context'
That famous "Islamic justice" on display yet again! Guy goes to jail for 20 months because he wants to change his religion -- what a crime! I guess it is better than getting the old chop-chop though.
Why aren't we letting THESE people immigrate to the West instead of you-know-who?
Minors have no options either.
`A custody battle by a Hindu mother for her two Muslim sons and curbs on the release of Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ have highlighted the challenges that religious minorities in Malaysia face in the multi-ethnic, but predominantly Islamic, country. Although Malaysia has a reputation as a moderate Muslim nation, the incidents follow recent criticisms by the US that the country has restricted religious freedoms by favouring Islam at the expense of other faiths. Minorities say the increased Islamisation of Malaysia's society, the result of competition between the government and the fundamentalist Islamic opposition for the votes of the ethnic Malay Muslim majority, could undermine the country's generally good record of racial harmony.`
ALSO:
Parents are fuming over a letter from a Kuala Lumpur primary school headmaster directing non-Muslim pupils not to bring non-halal food to school. Parents who received the letter had called Zainal Abidin Senapi, headmaster of Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Mega to complain and seek clarification on its contents.
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