2011 is shaping up to be yet another ill-starred year for the dhimmis (non Muslims) of Malaysia. If it isn’t getting their Bibles seized by the authorities in carload lots, then it’s blasphemous rumors (in the government-backed media) of the Christians supposedly wanting to make a Christian the prime minster and/or make Christianity the official religion of the country. Last month, the Islamist party PAS threatened to shut down all restaurants and other ‘entertainment venues’ in a Malaysian state they controlled, all in order to ensure that Muslims remain sufficiently pious during the ‘Holy Month’ of Ramadan.
The latest misfortune to befall the infidels was recent infamous raid ‘inspection’ on what might be an ‘unauthorized’ church that was conducted by Malaysia’s Thugs for Allah (Religious Police). Several Muslims had the misfortune to be caught red-handed in the act of attending a Christian-sponsored fundraiser for a local AIDS charity. Now, the Christians have been ‘revealed’ by government-backed media sources to be nefarious plotters of the worse kind, bent on illegally proselytizing to vulnerable Muslims (i.e. Muslim schoolchildren).
How could this possibly get worse? Well, finding another way to offend followers of the Religion of the Perpetually Offended is never too difficult, and a local newspaper found one. From “Home Ministry reprimands The Star over supplement”, The Star, 16 Aug 2011:”‹
PUTRAJAYA: Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein
has reprimanded The Star over the publication of articles on non-halal
restaurants with buka puasa [the meal Muslims have in the evenings during Ramadan to break their daytime fasts] stories in its “Dining Out” supplement.
He said the newspaper should be more sensitive on such matters and exercise extra care on issues related to race and religion.
“The mainstream media should be more responsible and try to avoid offending any community. They should know their limits and must not follow the style of online media,” he said at a press conference at his
ministry.
Trying to avoid offending ‘any community’ meaning not offending one community in particular, of course.
Hishammuddin met The Star executive director and group chief editor Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai for 45 minutes to listen to the action taken by the daily to ensure that there would be no repeat of such errors.
Wong also met ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Mahmood Adam and deputy secretary-general (security) Datuk Abdul Rahim Mohd Radzi to explain the error and hand over the reply to the ministry’s show-cause letter.
Wong said the newspaper had suspended its supplements editor and was
conducting an internal inquiry chaired by former industrial court president Yussof Ahmad.
He said The Star sincerely apologised for the mistake and the daily had no intention to demean Islam and the Muslim community.
With a senior government minster meeting directly with a newspaper editor, you’d think that the newspaper had done something horribly illegal, like printing government secrets or something. Nevertheless, let us be reassured by the fact that certainly no one at The Star had any intention to demean Mighty and Noble Islam (or Muslims). The only real question is this: was 45 minutes enough time for the dhimmi to grovel to his Muslim overlords? One can only hope.