FrontPage Magazine’s managing editor Jamie Glazov interviews Jihad Watch contributor ‘The Anti Jihadist’ about Islamic persecution of Christians in Malaysia. An excerpt:
Frontpage Interview’s guest today is The Anti-Jihadist, a
counter-jihad writer, activist and critic of Islam who resides in a
majority Muslim country. He writes under a pseudonym for reasons that do
not need to be explained. His work can also be found at Jihad Watch, Infidel Bloggers Alliance and Pedestrian Infidel.
FP: Welcome The Anti-Jihadist to Frontpage Interview.
I would like to talk to you today about the Muslim persecution of
Christians in Malaysia. But first, tell us a bit about your background
and how you arrived to being who you are.
The Anti-Jihadist: In order to protect my identity,
I’d rather not get into too many specifics about my background, for
reasons I hope you and your readers understand. Suffice it to say that I
grew up in a middle class, educated family where the discussion of
politics and other “˜sensitive” topics was encouraged. I grew to
appreciate and then embrace this intellectual sort of freedom.
As I grew older, I began to notice differences between what I heard
the government say or what was taught in school, and what was really
happening in the world, but I learned to keep such thoughts to myself in
order to get along. Then 9-11 happened and it turned the world upside
down, my own perception of it in particular. I wanted to be surprised
that Muslims had carried out mass murder explicitly in the name of
Islam, but I wasn’t. Another shock for me was when I found out that the
Muslims “” jihadists, Al Qaeda members and others “” who planned the
attacks in New York and Washington had had a big planned meeting right
here in Kuala Lumpur (the capital and biggest city in Malaysia) in early
2000. And the conspiracy theories about 9-11, the increased appearance
of anti-Semitic diatribes in Malaysian bookshops (one tome by Henry Ford
is popular here) were things that I simply could not turn a blind eye
to anymore. Lastly, Malaysian terrorist Azahari Husin had his hero’s
sendoff near Kuala Lumpur in 2005, and about the same time the Malaysian
Christian convert Lina Joy was told by this nation’s highest court that
she was not allowed to become a Christian, despite the fact that
religious freedom is supposedly guaranteed by Malaysia’s constitution.
By then, I could no longer hold back my pent-up disgust and outrage at
what was happening.FP: So you turned your back on Islam?
TAJ: I don’t want your readers to have the
impression that I am now or ever was a Muslim. While I am not a Muslim, I
have indeed been asked to become one, on more than one occasion and
with varying degrees of seriousness. “˜Dawah”, or Islamic
prosetylization, is never too far away in Malaysia.
Deciding that Islam as an ideology (and not Muslims per se) was my
enemy was a personal Rubicon for me, a step that, once taken, could
never be retracted. I understood how serious this was, from my own
studies of Islam, from my knowledge of what’s happened to other critics
of Islam, and from the repeated warnings here in Malaysia regarding
“˜insults” to Islam “” i.e. being too truthful about it. And the pointed
Malaysian warnings about being “˜respectful” of all religions
(“˜respect” for Islam is all the government here really cares about)
make it very clear that criticism of Islam is a big, big red line that
should never be crossed. Furthermore, in Malaysia it’s quite legal for
anyone to be arrested and held indefinitely without charge, trial or
access to legal council. It’s a law called the “˜Internal Security Act”
or “˜ISA” for short and it’s positively medieval. ISA is one of the
reasons that you rarely hear criticism of Islam from anyone in this
country, in public and even in private, no matter how outrageous things
get.So around late 2005, when I made my fateful personal decision to take
up the cause of counter-jihad, to oppose Islam, I told very, very few
people. Thankfully, my significant other, a former Muslima, who has
known since the beginning, has fully supported me. I have a very small
circle of close friends with whom I”ve shared my views, my articles, and
so on.Beyond that, I”ve told no one–not my family, my colleagues,
acquaintances and most of my friends. My counter-jihad writing and work
are secrets that I”ve been compelled to keep in order to ensure my
continued survival. And it is a wearisome burden, I can assure you. My
writing and my political views has, in essence, forced me to live a
double life. Beyond my trusted circle I cannot afford to tell anyone
about what I know, or my writing, or about what others in the
counter-jihad are saying. So there has been a personal toll–I”ve had to
become paranoid, and always watchful about what I say around others. But
I”ve never considered going back to what I was before. I can’t and I
won’t.FP: Share with us what is happening to Christians in your country.