Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
Malaysiakini : I based the article on an earlier one I wrote 10 years before that,
in 2009, the 40th anniversary, carrying the same title when I was
managing editor at The Star. There is a reference to that article in this blog but the article has since been removed, together with my other articles, for reasons best known to the newspaper.
Both articles advocated putting the incident behind us and moving on in the true spirit of multi-racialism in the country.
But
after 15 years, I have changed my mind about forgetting the past with
increasing accounts not being true to the events. It is important to
remember the roots of the incident before we can put it behind us and
find appropriate solutions going forward. That’s part of closure.
Conflicting accounts
The
official line is that it was a spontaneous outpouring of emotion by the
Malay community in response to grave provocation by opposition parties
who had made much progress in the 1969 election.
Others say it was
a carefully orchestrated plot by the ruling Alliance, dominated by Umno
and supported by MCA and MIC, to stay in power with the ostensible aim
of stability for the country. Somewhere in between lies the truth.
There
was a victory demonstration by the opposition on May 12, 1969, for
which, uncharacteristically, police permission was given. Some accounts
say that Tunku Abdul Rahman, the then-prime minister who stepped down in
1970 after the May 13 riots, did not know about the permission given.
Subsequently,
Umno wanted to hold its victory parade and plans were made for a big
one at the then Selangor chief minister Harun Idris’ residence, in
Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur on May 13. There are conflicting accounts
after this.
Some maintained that rumours of killings and other
news resulted in the crowd gathered at Harun’s house going out of
control. Others talk of a controlled event to express outrage which went
out of control. Others speak of a conspiracy.
Those
interested in understanding May 13 should read these accounts of the
riots which make fascinating, insightful, frank, but disturbing reading.
They are honest accounts of what happened, many of them from
eyewitnesses.
Setbacks
Following
the polls on May 10, 1969, in Peninsular Malaysia, indications were
that the ruling Alliance made up of Umno, MCA, and MIC were on the brink
of losing their two-thirds majority in Parliament for the first time
ever.
In the peninsula, at the close of voting on May 10, they had
won 66 out of 114 seats, or 59 percent, far short of the 67 percent
required for a two-thirds majority.
Not only that. They lost
Kelantan again to PAS and Penang for the first time since independence
to the brand new Gerakan which had made major inroads. The state
assembly in Selangor was tied at 14-14, while in Perak, no single party
or coalition had a majority. In Kedah and Terengganu too, there were
setbacks.
That was an unprecedented setback for the Alliance, the
predecessor to today’s BN, and a very unexpected surge in opposition
strength which caught both sides of the divide in total surprise.
The
Sabah and Sarawak elections were subsequently held in June and July
1969. Even with that, it was a little short of a two-thirds majority
after the polls, winning two-thirds only with a pledge by Sarawak’s SUPP
to join it, as pointed out in this letter to the editor titled “Alliance didn't lose two-thirds in 1969”.
In
1970, Abdul Razak Hussein became the second prime minister. He brought
in one Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a strong critic of Tunku, back into Umno.
Mahathir, who lost in 1969, won a parliamentary seat in the 1974
election and became education minister, till now the fastest rise ever
in Umno.
Abdul Razak Hussein
Razak
forced a coalition of all parties (the DAP under Lim Kit Siang refused
to join) for the 1974 election in August which he won with a resounding
majority - 135 seats out of 154, an incredible 88 percent of seats. Less
than one and a half years later, in January 1976, Razak died of
leukaemia in the UK.
Hussein Onn took over as prime minister,
selecting Mahathir as his deputy. Mahathir moved from party outcast to
deputy prime minister in just seven years since being expelled from
Umno. In 1981, at Hussein’s retirement, Mahathir became prime minister,
the first non-lawyer to assume the position.
The ruling party held
the reins quite firmly until 2008, nearly four decades after May 13,
1969, when Selangor fell to the opposition for the first time along with
other states Penang, Kelantan, Kedah, and Perak.
Then came May
2018, just one year short of a half-century from May 13, 1969. BN lost
to Pakatan Harapan - a historic defeat for the ruling party.
It
has been a rather interesting story but there still needs to be an
unvarnished story about May 13, 1969, itself and why it happened. That
will help heal the injury caused to the psyche of the nation so as to
move forward with purpose and confidence.
It requires honesty,
gumption, and brave new writers, as well as a new maturity not yet here
to put the historical record right. We can’t depend on a government,
where Umno Baru calls many shots, to do right by all Malaysians,
especially on May 13 - it has to be an effort independent of the
government.
A Tribute to Sarawak’s 20th Senate President Datuk Mutang Tagal from Ba Kelalan - Special report by James Ritchie
Sunday, May 12, 2024
Part 1: From Miracle to a Tragic loss.
My first encounter with Datuk Mutang Tagal and his family go back to 1985 when Sarawak’s first correspondent of the New Straits Times. Forty years ago I was invited from attend a gathering of “Lun Bawang” or “Murut” natives celebrating a series of Christian Miracles at Buduk Nur at the foot of Gunung Murud --Sarawak’s 7,953 ft highest mountain complex.
It was at Ba Kelalan that I met the prominent family of Pastor Mutang Tagal and two sons Dr Judson Tagal and younger sibling Mutang, a 29-year-old University of Malay-trained lawyer.
It was here that Pastor Mutang built up his fortunes of growing the famous “Padi Adan” better known as Bario Rice.
Pak Tagal also bred the Sabah species of “ponies” and had a stable of horses.
Together with Ba Kelalan’s community of about 1,500 villagers and Tagal’s two sons, they also developed the surrounding hills and built a tourist resort.
They built a mini hydro-electric dam which provided power to nine “Kampungs” the enclave.
It was through Pastor Tagal that the community enjoyed that facilities, amenities and a Borneo Evangelical Mission or Sidang Injil Borneo” which had served the community since the 2nd world war.
My journey to Ba Kelalan entailed flying by Boeing from Kuching to Miri for a night-stop before connecting by MAS Twin Otter to Lawas’s Budur Nur airstrip.
After a week of investigations, I wrote (New Straits Times (December 2, 1985) my story.
“I saw a video-tape recording of one of the miracles…women dressed in white skirts and yellow blouses looking up to the sky.
“Then as they clapped their hands a small ball a light appeared in the sky…songs of praise and clapping seemed to bring the ball of fire closer and slightly larger.
“As it zig-zagged in the sky the villagers of the Sidang Injil Borneo (Borneo Evangelical Mission) continued singing…it appeared to be keeping in rhythm to the choir.”
The reports of “dancing lights” were first reported in April 1985 and at the soccer pitch of the Ba Belan valley watered by quaint streams and brooks and bamboo groves from which they community built their habitat!
It was at Ba Kelalan that I met the prophetic pastor Agung Bangau who motivated the villagers to build South East Asia’s highest church called “Gedung Hallelujah” on the saddle of Mount Kinabalu.
From Gedung Hallelujah, we hiked for four hours to get to the peak to witness the first 6 a.m. sunrise on a misty day.
Grand-mothers as old as 80 and children below the age of six from the cluster of Ba Kelalan’s 10 villages--Buduk Nur, Long Langai, Long Lemutut, Long Ritan, Long Rusu, Pa Tawing, Buduk Bui, Buduk Aru and Long Rangat—have joined in the pilgrimage since.
In my first interview with Agung, he spoke of his journey with an angel who brought him to place he called “heaven”.
As skeptical as I was, I continued to interview many of the villagers and they told me the same story of miracles of a burning bush and how rice had been turned to flour.
It was at in this valley interspersed with bamboo groves, that I met an evangelical Indonesian pastor “Pendita” Yohanis Sakai from neighboring Krayan who introduced me to his church.
Nearly 40 years later I continue to be an avid follower of Pak Yohanis who had started his Bible College called “Yayasan Pintu”---or gateway to heaven, at the City of Samarinda, the capital of East Kalimantan (KALTIM).
He convinced me that the miracles were real and challenged me to follow in his footsteps, bravely venturing into “unchartered” spiritual waters in Kalimantan.
On my first night at Ba Kelalan, I had the first encounter with an “unholy spirit” but after Pak Yohanis laid hands on me, I was healed and apparently born-again.
Later, Pastor Mutang who is related to Yohanis and the late Agung grew Indonesian apples at his farm and built a “home-stay” motel for about 120 visitors and tourists.
It was at apple lodge that I cultivated a close relationship with Pastor Tagal, now 91, wife Yamu and Tagal clan now spread out in Kuala Lumpur and abroad.
Tagal’s first tragedy was he lost his oldest son Dr Judson in a tragic helicopter crash which took the lives of six civil servants and a businessman.
Sadly, Datuk Mutang’s demise occurred in July 2004--20 years after tragic killing of his Judson.
Part 2:
Ba Kelalan: Gateway to North Kalimantan
A ramble into the heart of the Central Highlands straddling the Sarawak-Kalimantan border has never failed to excite the imagination of the avid traveller.
With many six foot tall “highlanders” towering over the natives from other tribes on lower lands, I made my first foray into the highlands more than 30 years ago.
Armed with these stories of giants who etched their images on massive rocks and boulders, I decided to investigate the origins of their tales as I roamed the hinterland.
I had heard about the Seluyah giants who were as tall 11 to 13 feet and seen etched images of these human beings on massive rocks—centuries-old Megaliths, Monoliths, Menhirs and Dolmen the giants had erected in Bario.
As the Kelabits and their Lun Dayeh “cousins” shared the same culture, they have formed an association of “Highlanders” called FORMADAT to protect their ancestral land.
To further explore North Kalimantan, I sought the assistance of local cultural experts from Long Bawan—the administrative centre of “Kabupaten”, a regency within the Kerayan district.
My adventure commenced after a 1,000km journey by Boeing from Kuching to Miri then by Twin Otter to Limbang-Lawas and Ba Kelalan.
After a night at the “Apple Lodge”, its owner and former pastor, Tagal Paren sent me off early the next morning.
Alpius drove us by a four-wheel-drive vehicle through the 15km stretch where we entered foreign territory.
In the old days, the road was a timber track until it was upgraded in 2002 and tar-sealed 10 years later.
But alas, over the years the timber trucks continued to plough through creating a muddy track.
Today the stretch resembled a minefield with its many pot-holes which became “craters” especially during the “Landas” monsoon between October and February.
Our Toyota Hilux continued to rumble through the broken road to Long Bawan—the capital of the Kerayan district—and we passed through the Malaysian and Indonesian Immigration and army checkpoints; we had to “surrender” our identity cards to the Tentera Nasional Indonesia (TNI) as the border still was not an official CIQ (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine) border crossing.
Since time immemorial, the Ba Kelalan-Long Bawan stretch had been used by the Lun Dayeh of Indonesia for trade; it was especially essential for the Indonesians because the Kerayan district (also spelt Krayan) was cut off from the rest of Indonesian Borneo.
It was part of East Kalimantan until president Jokowi decided to form a fifth province-KALIMANTAN UTARA (KALTARA) for better administration.
Tagal Paren in his mid-80s said:
“For centuries, the people of Kerayan would travel on foot to Ba Kelalan to trade—a journey of at least a day. We felt sorry for them because they are our cousins and are cut off from the rest of Indonesia (it still takes two weeks to walk from Long Bawan to the nearest town off the coast, Malinau) until they built their first built their airstrip about 15 years ago.”
A member of the Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM), he is the father of two famous politicians—former Member of Parliament for Lawas, Mutang Tagal and the late Dr Judson Sakai Tagal who was killed in a helicopter crash at the nearby 7,950ft Gunung Murud—Sarawak’s highest mountain—in 2004.
One of my Lun Dayeh associates, a businesswoman Sinang Meru, who was one of the pioneers in the construction of the small Long Bawan airport, recalled that in the old days she had to walk with at least 10 kilos of rice to exchange it for essentials in Ba Kelalan.
Sinang, 47, who still shuttles between Sabah and Long Bawan at least twice a month, recounted:
“In the early 1980s it took me two weeks to walk from Long Bawan to Lawas. I remember that when I was about 10, my uncle had to carry me on his shoulders as we crossed a deep and fast running stream.
“Now the road to Ba Kelalan is much improved but there is much to be done because the main connection to Sarawak is not tar-sealed and during the rainy season, the 25km Ba Kelalan-Long Bawan stretch can sometimes take as long as five hours,” she lamented.
Despite the upgrading of the Long Bawan airstrip built by American missionaries, there are only a few weekly flights provided one or two airlines and chartered air services which charge exorbitant rates. The other alternative is to fly by the American Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) which charges 50 percent of its rate for missionaries.
Sinang whose family were originally from Long Adang, a Kelabit village in Limbang, Sarawak, is also a rice dealer offering competitive prices for Kerayan’s famous aromatic “Pade Adan” (Adan rice) to customers as far as Jakarta!
Lun Dayeh of Kerayan are the biggest rice growers in the central highlands.
Several years ago the Kelabits were the greatest rice growers who cultivated the famous Bario rice which has found its way to Peninsular Malaysia.
Now growing Bario rice has become a pastime as the educated younger population have left the village for employment.
The dilemma became acute when it was difficult to employ Indonesian workers because of strict immigration laws and low wages. As such “Pade Adan” is re-packed and sold as Bario rice.
Part 3 : Ba Kelalan--A Ghost town in a Christian Belt
In the old days the border village of Ba Kelalan with its friendly people, temperate climate and green valleys was touted as the “Shari la” of Sarawak.
But in recent times it has been reduced to a “ghost town” because of circumstances that led to the authorities abandoning this small Lun Bawang community 3,000.
Buduk Nur village elder retired pastor Tagal Paran, 86, remembers well the days when Ba Kelalan was a hub of tourism for the “Born-again” Christians from the Borneo Evangelical Church (BEM) in this remote region.
A former President of the BEM, Tagal said: “Ba Kelalan was a great tourist attraction because of our friendly Christian folk.
“In the late 1980s we built a Church at a saddle at the 7,950ft Gunung Murud and we attracted thousands who made a pilgrimage to the village to attend the annual revival service in the mountain church,” he said.
Over the last 25 years Christians as well as nature lovers would make the annual trek up South East Asia’s highest church (7,000ft) to worship or enjoy the unique montane flora and rock formation.
“Each July the pilgrims which included elderly folk would trek close to nine hours to the church at Camp Halleluyah and an additional four hours to get to the peak.
.”
But over the last few years we have built a road half way up the mountain and now it takes less than four hours to get to the Church,” he said.
Times were so good that Tagal started an apple farm and tried to breed horses in the early1990s—he also established a motel-type “homestay” which could accommodate about 40 people.
Looking back at the good old days, Tagal said:
“Even the Governor of Sarawak Tun Mhamed Salahuddin visited us to sample the apples at my farm.
“Later we diversified and took visitors on treks through the jungle, bird-watching and basically eco-tours. I even offered my horses for rides in the countryside.”
Business was thriving as the Lun Dayeh neighbours from across the border in Indonesian Kerayan bought their provisions from Buduk Nur.
Five years ago the government provided micro hydro dams to all the cluster of 11 villages in Ba Kelalan so that they could enjoy unending supply of electricity.
It was a glorious time because the assemblyman for Ba Kelalan was Dr Judson Sakai Tagal, Tagal’s eldest son who had great plans for his village.
However, Judson was tragically killed in a helicopter crash in 2004 while scouring the area for a location where the government could built a large hydro dam to serve the region.
Following the incident, Ba Kelalan’s fortunes began to wane; more timber trucks began to use the old 160km Lawas-Ba Kelalan ploughing up its surface it on a daily basis.
Five years ago the army upgraded a 60km stretch from Long Sukang to Buduk Nur, but within two years it too began to disintegrate.
“I’m not sure what happened but they could have used inferior material to construct the road.
Only a section of the road from Lawas to Ba Kelalan is tar-sealed and so it’s a long and bumpy ride to the village,” he lamented.
Today, what should be a 90-minute drive from the Lawas coast to the Kelalan valley, is a dusty four- hour roller coaster drive during the dry season or slippery and dangerous ride when it rains.
.
Ironically, the 29km-long “Highway” connecting Sarawak to Indonesia has been closed.
“A year ago the Indonesian stretch was a mud-field until President Jokowi pumped in millions of dollars to build a “highway” from Long Api to Long Bawan said Lun Bawang business woman Sinang Meru.
Several years ago Indonesian community from Kerayan were given permission drive to Lawas to buy essentials instead of stopping over at Buduk Nur.
Tagal lamented:
“So we became a ghost town and the business community suffered to the extent that the village co-operative had to be closed down.”
However, recently there was a glimmer of hope as the government has stated building an CIQ-customs, immigration and quarantine complex not far from Ba Kelalan.
“We were told that the CIQ will be opened soon and when that happens it appears that our fortunes will change,” said Tagal who has started a sheep farm and hopes to buy a few more horses.
“If all goes well then, I might even re-establish my apple farm and buy a stallion for my mare. Three of my horses were killed when they were hit by careless road users,” he complained.
During a recent visit to Ba Kelalan, the authorities agreed to limit travel into Sarawak to by-pass Ba Kelalan until the CIQ is completed.
On another issue, Tagal said that the proposed road between Ba Kelalan and Bario is almost complete but has been work has apparently been suspended.
He said: “I was told that the highland road is just several kilometres from Bario but the contractor laid off his workers because he was not fully paid.
“If the road to Bario was completed the people from both regions would have better business opportunities. It will make it possible to travel by land from Miri to the highlands without having to pass through Brunei.”
In fact the 60km Bario-Ba Kelalan highland road will be the inaugural “Pan Borneo” highway because Malaysians would be able to drive from Kuching to Miri and then all the way to Sabah.
Tagal added:
“We are going through exciting times and I hope that I will be able to use the highland road to Bario to meet my long-lost friends and church members. They too will happy because the Kelabits and Lun Bawang are related.
Former Minister of works Baru Bian who is from Ba Kelalan, hoped it would be matter of time before the missing link is connected.
Indeed, if Baru who has returned to the GPS-fold recently can achieve this, we can make the Borneo highlands great again.
Captions
1.Prophetic pastor Agung Bangau
2. Sarawak sightings—a display of lights in the sky
3. Making of a classic movie
4. Tribune report-a Ghost Town called Ba Kelalan
5.JR and his twin brother
6. Old bamboo bridge across gthe Kelalan Tributary
7. Aerial view of Buduk Nur’s soccer pitch where the congregation prayed
8. The 7,953 ft Summit of Gunung Murud
9. Pastor Tagal Paran-father who had he tragic loss of two sons
KKB polls – Anwar can claim bragging rights By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Malaysiakini : His “don’t spook the Malays” mantra will now become the foundational first principle of the Madani regime.
The PAS-led Perikatan Nasional did itself no favours in this by-election but the reality is they have nothing really to lose.
They
understand they are already making inroads, and what they have to
contend with is how to counter the government’s role in solidifying
votes through entitlement programmes through the civil service and the
state security apparatus.
Perikatan Nasional supporters
Indeed, following the prime minister’s agenda of increasing the wages of civil servants, even the DAP-led Penang is getting in on the act.
And
besides, with Anwar always attempting to curry favour with those in
places like Terengganu, they understand the base will take the help but
will not abandon the cause. It also points to how Anwar and his enablers
view the Malaysian experience.
While in Terengganu, Anwar said,
“Don’t tell me (that) with the wealth of all the agencies, the ministry
is unable to rescue more than 1,000 families from hardcore poverty?”
Well
yes, the government could do a lot for the people, but because all
policy is predicated on race and religion, people depending on their
race and religion are left to fend for themselves. And the irony is that
even “ketuanan-ism” cannot save you from the vagaries of life.
But Anwar cannot be blamed for playing the race card because even in this by-election, DAP played the race card.
The DAP candidate said,
“I feel nervous because today we will decide the future development of
SJKC Khing Ming”, which is exactly the kind of thing the MCA said back
in the day.
Kuala Kubu Baharu assemblyperson-elect Pang Sock Tao who is from DAP
And let us not forget that the Indian estate issue was settled or at least a promise made, so this callback to BN-style politics is complete.
Vindication of govt actions
PKR information chief Fahmi Fadzil should be in a celebratory mood.
This
by-election, if it turned out differently, could have been a wake-up
call, for how he and his cohorts at PKR are handling issues from the way
the press is being constrained to how Umno’s incitement led to businesses being subject to attempted terrorist attacks.
Now
folks like Fahmi understand that it really doesn’t matter if they
weaponise government agencies or attempt to shoot the messenger when it
comes to unpopular news about the Madani regime - all this will be
supported by the vast majority of non-Malays.
Meanwhile, Home
Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the win demonstrated the ”clear
acceptance and understanding of the government’s focus to ensure the
welfare of the security forces”.
So, folks, you can kiss something like the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) goodbye because nobody in the state security apparatus wants something like that.
And
hey, the minister is right because if people really cared about
independent oversight of our state security apparatus, they would vote
for people who want the same thing or hold the party they vote for
accountable.
Home Minister and PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
Saifuddin
also said PN’s campaign was all about the three Rs which is most
probably right but what he misses or more like really does not care
about, is that this federal government has been platforming the three Rs
since it came into power.
Just look at how this government handled issues like KK Mart, Hamas, and of course, the alleged casino reporting for Forest City.
What
the DAP brings to any kind of coalition is the majority backing of a
voting demographic and, hence, they can claim to be the “voice” of the
community on secular and egalitarian issues.
However, what this
by-election win shows Anwar, and this is mainly with the non-Malay vote,
is that DAP does not need to be a secular and egalitarian guardrail for
his regime.
More importantly what this by-election demonstrates
is that even though he has pushed the religious boundaries for a
supposedly moderate Islamic regime, the base which supports the DAP will
fall into line because they view the alternative as worse.
If ordinary people stand their ground, the religious fascist gig is up.
It
is not about concentrating on the economy. It is about acknowledging
that the efforts to reinvigorate the economy are being deliberately
hampered using religion and race and this will ultimately lead to an
economic downturn.
If this was to be a bellwether on how non-Muslims feel about the Madani regime, the answer should be pretty clear.
The millstones around Anwar's neck By Mariam Mokhtar
Saturday, May 11, 2024
Malaysiakini : The 76-year-old Anwar and his trusted lieutenants encouraged more youths
to get involved in politics, but are those who show promise being
groomed? Are they allowed to flourish and gain experience tackling the
country’s many challenges?
Not walking the talk
He
may have campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, but when tasked
with forming the new government, he invited senior politicians facing a
slew of corruption charges to join his coalition.
How does one have confidence in his Madani administration with untrustworthy people in his cabinet?
When
he told Muslims to take advantage of the miracles of the Quran and
instructed the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to provide greater
input into government policymaking, Malaysians became wary.
The
many issues Malaysians face, like divisions in society, increased
intolerance, inexplicable fear of the crucifix, hatred of dogs and pigs,
prying in non-Muslim affairs, invasions of privacy of some Malays by
the khalwat squad, and the whipping of women for having illicit sex, were all facilitated by Jakim.
What
did Jakim do to highlight the convicted felon, Najib Abdul Razak’s
corruption in 1MDB? When PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said there was
no such thing as corruption, why didn’t Jakim correct him? Anwar has not
helped by giving Jakim more power.
When Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh brought the country to its knees
by attacking a private enterprise with allegations of humiliating Islam
and insulting Allah, why did Jakim stay silent? Anwar also kept quiet
for weeks until the situation worsened.
The Perak mufti took seven weeks to announce what we already knew
concerning the KK Mart attacks. Other muftis followed his lead, but
where were they when the nation was on tenterhooks for two months? This
is what happens when they emulate a leader who lacks leadership.
Anwar
once said he wanted to “uplift” the dignity of the government but he
can only do so if men and women of integrity occupy positions of power
in the cabinet.
Focuson Malaysians’ needs
In
recent weeks, Anwar rejected claims that he failed to help the Indian
community since taking office. When shaping his reply, he urged the
Indians to “stab” him if they felt that his help had been insufficient.
As
PM, Anwar’s language is not premier-like. He could have used a
different word when referring to the Indians. The word “stab” has
probably revealed his innermost feelings about the Indians. Is his
vocabulary too limited to describe his interaction with them? Stabbing
reminds us of violence and death.
He needs to be reminded
of the time when a young Indian teenager asked about university quotas
for non-Malay students. It was shocking how he publicly humiliated her.
The bottom line of his response was that it’s all about votes. Nothing
more, nothing less.
As leader of a peaceful, multi-cultural,
multiethnic, and multifaith nation, Anwar’s support for the terrorist
group Hamas and his justification of the explosive Iranian drones on Israel, are both reckless and unfathomable.
US Treasury Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Undersecretary Brian Nelson
The
claim, on May 9, by the US Treasury Terrorism and Financial
Intelligence Undersecretary Brian Nelson, that American security forces
had been monitoring ship-to-ship oil transfers in Malaysian waters is serious.
Washington
has also said Malaysia is a transit point for Iranian oil, dodging US
sanctions, helping the terrorist Hamas raise funds, and being a party to
the Iranians by perpetuating violence and conflict in the Middle East.
The
Middle East is like a tinderbox and Anwar need not muddy the waters
further and drag Malaysia into the confrontation. He could have urged
restraint on all sides - Israel, Hamas, and Iran - but he did not.
He could have suggested more dialogue but failed to do so.
When the US sneezes, Malaysia will catch a cold. Do not doubt the power of economic sanctions because, at the end of the day, it is the rakyat who suffer.
With all these in mind, Anwar should focus on the needs of Malaysia’s own citizens above the needs of others.
Another sequel to Comical Ali’s art of (mis)information By R Nadeswaran
Malaysiakini : He created lies and half-truths, most of which kept us amused despite the vagaries of war which resulted in the loss of lives.
A
decade later, many clones of the Iraqi minister appeared on the local
scene, making vain attempts to defend then-prime minister Najib Abdul
Razak over his involvement in the 1MDB saga.
Then communications minister Salleh Said Keruak was dubbed Malaysia’s Comical Ali for similar outrageous comments on the US Department of Justice (DoJ).
Many stood in line to say his or her piece, especially after Najib’s “my way or the highway” statement to cabinet colleagues.
Among
them was then Umno information chief Annuar Musa, who said the Public
Accounts Committee (PAC) report should absolve 1MDB of allegations that
it lost RM42 billion and transferred RM2.6 billion into the prime
minister’s personal accounts.
“It is impossible for him to be
involved in the company’s day-to-day operations. The management of 1MDB
should be commended for its success in managing the company despite the
pressure mounted by various parties that affected its reputation,” he
had said.
MCA’s Wee Ka Siong said the PAC report showed that the prime minister was not behind the management of 1MDB.
“They were just pure business deals. We should learn from the weaknesses which have been identified and move on,” he said.
Malaysians
are now being treated to local “Comical Ali” moments but some are not
yet getting into the mould of Ali Hassan. If they try a bit harder, they
may get there!
A new successor?
Communications
Minister Fahmi Fadzil was in his element commenting on Malaysia’s slide
by 37 points in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index published last week
by Reporters Sans Borders (RSF).
“Being at 107, that for me, is still an unsatisfactory achievement but it’s not too bad either. In 2021, we were on the 119th rung; in 2022, we were ranked 113th.
“However, the current position is still good compared to the previous administrations,” Bernama quoted him as saying.
If that was not convincing, he came out with a blinder the following day.
He said the RSF Index was not the gold standard, which earned him an immediate and stiff retort from its Asia-Pacific bureau director Cedric Alviani.
“I
would disagree with Fahmi’s statement that the RSF index is not a gold
standard. We are the only ones with such a comprehensive global index
for assessing press freedom.
“We base our assessment on the
reality of the situation for journalists reporting on the ground.
Malaysia has fallen by 10 points compared to last year, according to our
respondents,” he told Malaysiakini.
If the RSF Index is
not the gold standard, what is, YB? Are you going to judge it on the
pats on your back that you get from party members and cronies?
If
you continue blocking websites and making arrests and when the Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) continues to lodge
police reports against bloggers, do you expect to move up the index?
A zealous MCMC
Fahmi
also defended the MCMC after it had lodged a report against Murray
Hunter over his claim that the internet regulator and the police had
become politicised institutions.
Hunter’s article titled
“Chegubard’s arrest and charging is a warning to all Malaysians”, which
MCMC said “seemed to be defamatory”.
If so, there are avenues through the civil courts, but why is the state getting involved? What’s so criminal about saying that and it is his opinion?
Rightly,
the rights group Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) criticised MCMC for their
actions, saying that it was heavy-handed and unnecessary.
It also said a public body funded by taxpayers had no business complaining of defamation.
Fahmi
said while LFL had the right to criticise MCMC, he was confident that
the internet regulator did so after considering the legalities of it.
“I think MCMC will have (their own) perspective on the matter… I don’t think they’re being a bit too much,” Fahmi said.
“They have got legal grounds for the action they are pursuing. LFL can comment and criticise… Feel free to do so.”
But Hunter did the same - comment and criticise. Why then the police reports?
I
agree that Section 233 of the MCMC Act makes it an offence to transmit
any communication deemed offensive or could cause annoyance to another
person.
But this provision should be used judiciously and fairly instead of what has been described as “selective persecution”.
On
social media, there are hundreds of offensive statements made by
politicians, wannabes, and self-appointed guardians of religions. Yet,
no action is taken and even the police have classified them as NFA (no
further action).
Buck stops with Fahmi
On
April 7, Professor James Chin of the University of Tasmania posted a
worrying note on his Facebook page. Reproducing a response from X, he
noted: “Madani Govt is working hard to crack down on people like me...”
As
a rejoinder, he posted a note from X which read: “In the interest of
transparency, we are writing to inform you that X has received a request
from MCMC regarding your X accounts that claims the following violates
(the) law of Malaysia.”
He
neither criticised nor commented. He forwarded and posted a video clip
made by a group from East Malaysia. Why shoot the messenger?
In December, Fahmi denied requesting social media platform X to remove a post critical of him.
Fahmi
said neither he, his office, nor his staff lodged any report on the
matter, adding that the MCMC has the power to take any action without
consulting him.
Is he looking after the boss and his interests? Or
is criticism not allowed to be levelled against any minister or the
Madani government?
As the minister in charge, Fahmi must be accountable for the actions of all agencies under his purview.
Are Madani principles incompatible with a free press? By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Monday, May 06, 2024
Malaysiakini : What exactly are these values, which are so important to the social
fabric of this country that it means disregarding universal ideas of
press freedom?
I never bought into that cliché of “free press”
believing that such a state is heavily reliant on context and generally
those who advocated this ideal rarely practised it themselves.
This
doesn’t mean I don’t subscribe to the concept of a “marketplace of
ideas”, which depends on the freedom of expression that has always been
constrained here in Malaysia; the press is the prime example.
What happened to repealing the Sedition Act?
When
Harapan political operatives were not in power, they demonised the BN
and Perikatan Nasional regimes about various laws, like the Sedition
Act. Indeed the best summation of why this act is so vile is in an opinion piece in 2023 by Madpet, which laid out the existential threat to free speech and expression:
The
Sedition Act criminalises seditious tendency - intention is irrelevant,
truth is no defence, and freedom of expression is sidelined.
It
makes it an offence to do or say things that ‘have a seditious tendency
to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against…’.
Hence, it does not matter if what was said was even the truth or a
justified opinion, for all that matters is whether it had a seditious
tendency or not.
Whether the maker of the statement had the intention of doing this act that caused a seditious tendency is irrelevant.
To give you an example of how disingenuous Harapan is when it comes to the Sedition Act, here is DAP’s Ramkarpal Singh in 2018 berating
the Harapan regime under Dr Mahathir Mohamad for continuing to use the
Sedition Act - “It is not difficult to repeal the Sedition Act as such a
move will likely be supported in Parliament the way the goods and
services tax (GST) was abolished.”
The
Bukit Gelugor MP also said then-deputy home minister Mohd Azis Jamman’s
announcement that the Sedition Act will continue to be used until it is
amended or abolished misses the point that such laws ought not to be
used on anyone, regardless of political affiliation, as Harapan had
promised to repeal the act in its election manifesto.
And
then Ramkarpal in 2023 reminded everyone that the Anwar administration
would not repeal the Sedition Act saying: “We have many more engagement
rounds to go, and I hope we can complete them in the next few months and
come up with recommendations on how the law can be improved.”
From
virulently condemning the law, now some people want to improve it. Is
something like the Sedition Act part of our Eastern values or manners of
how things are done in Malaysia?
Take this whole 3R issue. When Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh started
this KK Mart issue, why didn’t the state gag him using instruments like
the Sedition Act? Why wasn’t he sanctioned by the political class using
the various 3R laws to stop this incitement which led to terrorist
attacks on private property?
The answer is simple. These 3R laws
are generally meant for non-Malays. After all, various Malay political
operatives, preachers and religious leaders have insulted the
non-Malays, insulted non-Muslim religions, and yes, insulted and defied
the royalty, but no action was taken against them beyond chats with the
state security apparatus, which amounted to bupkis.
Insults against Islam
It
is only the most disingenuous Harapan supporter who would gaslight you
into believing that these laws are needed to stop the extremists from
the opposition.
Don’t believe me? Well, take a look at the new Islamic Development Department (Jakim) hotline
where the rakyat are encouraged or are enabled to report insults
against Islam. This is not some sort of half-baked attempt at populist
religious appeal.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department
(Religious Affairs) Mohd Na’im Mokhtar, reminds us “…the initiative is a
collaboration between Jakim, state religious departments, police, and
the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission.”
“So it
has to be collaborative. This means complaints can be made immediately
and Jakim with the relevant agencies can take urgent action,” he said.
Why
do you think that a federal-controlled initiative does not have a
hotline where anyone can lodge a complaint of insults against any
religion? Do you think any instrument like this encourages or
discourages freedom of expression and a free press?
Now
every journalist in this country, every public commenter, would be in
the crosshairs of anyone who thinks that Islam was insulted and a report
would be made against them. This would include where the religion of
the state intrudes into the domains of non-Muslims and of course, anyone
pointing this out would theoretically be insulting the religion of the
state.
It also lays to rest the rather dumb argument put forward
by some Harapan supporters that laws that restrict free speech are there
to curtail religious and racial provocations.
Last week, controversial blogger Chegubard’s lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali pressed
the government on when it would abolish the sedition laws and
criticised the regime for weaponising the MCMC. He asked, “If this is
not intimidation, what can we call it?”
Eastern values or manners that we practise in Malaysia, perhaps?
KKB polls: Indians and the futility of voting By Commander S THAYAPARAN (Retired) Royal Malaysian Navy
Thursday, May 02, 2024
Malaysiakini : “PSM members do a lot of groundwork but are very bad at marketing ourselves.”
PSM’s S Arutchelvan
If PSM can accomplish things like these, is Papparaidu really going to tell these estate workers
that with all the political power DAP has at a state and federal level
and its corporate connections, the party and the Indian political
operatives within it cannot resolve their housing issue in a timely
manner?
SD refusal
Do
you know why all these political operatives do not want to sign a
statutory declaration (SD) to fulfil all the promises made to the Hulu
Selangor plantation workers as they requested? It is because they do not
want a public reminder of their apathy or inaction.
If Harapan
thought its manifesto was not worth the paper it was printed on, does
anyone really think that they would put their names to something they
know they could resolve but for reasons known only to the political and
corporate class, they could not be bothered to do?
I keep saying
this. I truly believe voting is the least a citizen can do in a
democratic society. However, what is the point of the Indian vote in
this by-election? To prop up the establishment? I am talking about
Harapan and PN here.
If this was a PKR candidate I am sure there
would be a louder chorus to throw the Harapan candidate under the bus
but since this is a DAP seat, people are tripping over themselves to
justify why voting is essential to maintain the status quo.
Do you want PN to take over? Aren’t they already taking over by proxy?
It’s not that hard
What I really do not get is that these Indian issues are practical and should be easy to resolve.
Do not believe people who spout such horse manure that these are complex issues. No, they are not.
They
become complex because of the connective tissue between corporate and
political power. Unfortunately, Indian issues such as these are always
under the yoke of the political and corporate class.
One of the points in the SD as sighted by Malaysiakini
was “that the new Kuala Kubu Baharu assemblyperson deal only with
legitimate residents’ committees they have mandated, instead of ‘cronies
or representatives of political parties and employers’”.
Do you
know why these Hulu Selangor plantation workers and whoever helped them
craft this SD are determined on this point? DAP’s RSN Rayer gives us the answer in his attack against former ally and now adversary P Ramasamy.
“Ramasamy
and his sidekicks should all look at themselves in the mirror and ask
themselves where they would be now without DAP and Harapan,” he said.
This is it right here.
Ex-DAP leader P Ramasamy
Political
operatives, including Ramasamy, are either beholden or at war with
their political parties. This is about political survival and relevancy
and not about the plight of disenfranchised Indians.
Indians
especially around election time are there to be used or lectured to but
when the election is over, they will be thrown under the bus.
Nobody
should talk about principles when you are thanking Umno and MIC for
helping you win an election. Nobody should talk about principles when
you have rejected reforms that you were voted in for.
Nobody
should talk about principles when your coalition members engineer racial
and religious discord and you are silent about it.
MIC still
believes that voters must prove their loyalty to political parties. Is
this the kind of sentiment that DAP wants to cultivate? Maybe it already
has.
Who really cares?
PN does not care
about the Indian community, other than understanding that their support
especially in close races could be crucial, and they are also the
low-hanging fruit for religious assimilation, especially disenfranchised
Indians.
Anwar Ibrahim for a myriad of reasons enjoyed extremely
healthy support from the Indian community. But these days, as prime
minister, he and Harapan are slowly but surely losing support from the
community.
These
days, Anwar seems more interested in bullying a young student who asks
him genuine questions about educational opportunities or presiding over a
conversion ceremony of a young Indian convert.
And what do factotums from DAP want working-class Indians to do? Just be patient.
As
long as organisations like PSM are around, there will always be a long
arduous road to voice their grievances and, of course, possible
resolutions.
So if the way is long and arduous but that’s the way you are going, my question is simple - why should these Indians vote?
One
of the most popular arguments for Islam is what we might call the
“Argument from Perfect Preservation,” which claims that, since the
Qur’an has been perfectly preserved for nearly fourteen centuries, God
must have been miraculously preserving it. This argument is based on a
verse of the Qur’an: “We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and
We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)” (Quran 15:9).i
After quoting this verse, Muslim apologist Mazhar Kazi comments:
“Muslims and non-Muslims both agree
that no change has ever occurred in the text of the Qur’an. The above
prophecy for the eternal preservation and purity of the Qur’an came true
not only for the text of the Qur’an, but also for the most minute
details of its punctuation marks as well. . . . It is a miracle of the
Qur’an that no change has occurred in a single word, a single [letter of
the] alphabet, a single punctuation mark, or a single diacritical mark
in the text of the Qur’an during the last fourteen centuries.“ii
Kazi’s claim is odd for two reasons.
First, it’s certainly no miracle for a book to be preserved for fourteen
centuries. The Dead Sea Scrolls, copies of the Bible, and other
writings have survived longer than fourteen centuries, so Muslims can
hardly appeal to preservation as proof of divine inspiration. Second,
it’s simply false to say that the Qur’an has been perfectly preserved.
When we turn to the early Muslim sources, we find that entire
chapters of the Qur’an have been lost, that large sections of chapters
are missing, that individual verses were forgotten, and that words and
phrases were changed. Indeed, we know from Muslim reports that
Muhammad’s most trusted teachers couldn’t even agree on which chapters
were to be included in the Qur’an!
I. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE QUR’AN
The first Qur’anic revelation came to
Muhammad around the year 610. Muhammad delivered many more verses to his
scribes and companions for memorization and recording over the next two
decades. These verses were written on stalks of palm leaves, bones of
dead animals, flat stones, and whatever else Muslims could find. There
was no complete manuscript of the Qur’an during this time. [Admin’s
comment: This itself shows that Quran is not from God. A true God would
have turned Muhammad into a scholar overnight and provided him with good stationery to record the Quran! And there are numerous other logical proofs too.]
Qur’anic revelation ceased when
Muhammad died. Shortly after Muhammad’s death, Caliph Abu Bakr needed to
suppress a rebellion, and he sent many huffaz (people who had memorized portions of the Qur’an) to fight at the Battle of Yamama. Many of these huffaz died, and Muslim sources tell us that portions of the Qur’an were lost. Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif says:
Many (of the passages) of the Qur’an that were sent down were known by those who died on the day of Yamama . . . but
they were not known (by those who) survived them, nor were they written
down, nor had Abu Bakr, Umar or Uthman (by that time) collected the
Qur’an, nor were they found with even one (person) after them.iii
“Umar bin al-Khattab asked about a verse of Allah’s book, they answered: ‘It was with a man who got killed on day of Yamama (battle)’.
He (Umar) said: ‘We all shall return to Allah’. Then he ordered to
collect the Quran, therefore he was the first one who collected it in
one book.” (Kanz ul Ummal, Volume 2, p. 574)
And:
“Umar was once looking for the text of a specific verse of the Qur’an he vaguely remembered. To his deep sorrow, he discovered that the only person who had any record of that verse had been killed in the battle of Yamama and that the verse was consequently lost.” (Ibn Abi Dawud, Kitab al-Masahif, p. 10 – see also as-Suyuti’s al-Itqan fi ‘ulum al-Quran, volume 1, p. 204)
Abu Bakr decided that it was time to
gather what remained of the Qur’an in order to prevent more from being
lost, and he appointed Zaid ibn Thabit to this task. After Zaid
completed his codex around 634 AD, it remained in Abu Bakr’s possession
until his death, when it was passed on to Caliph Umar. When Umar died,
it was given to Hafsa, a widow of Muhammad.
During Caliph Uthman’s reign,
approximately 19 years after the death of Muhammad, disputes arose
concerning the correct recitation of the Qur’an. Uthman ordered that
Hafsa’s copy of the Qur’an, along with all known textual materials,
should be gathered together so that an official version might be
compiled. Zaid ibn Thabit, Abdullah bin Az-Zubair, Sa’id bin Al-As, and
Abdur-Rahman bin Harith worked diligently to construct a revised text of
the Qur’an. When it was finished, “Uthman sent to every Muslim province
one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all the other Qur’anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt“. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 6, Book 61, Number 510)iv The Qur’an we have today is descended from this codex.
II. DISPUTES AMONG MUHAMMAD’S SCHOLARS
Not all Muslims approved of the new Qur’an. Indeed, some of Muhammad’s top teachers rejected Zaid’s version.
Muhammad once told his followers to
“Learn the recitation of the Qur’an from four: from Abdullah bin
Masud—he started with him—Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifa, Mu’adh
bin Jabal and Ubai bin Ka’b.” [Sahih Bukhari Volume 6, Book 61, Number 521] v Interestingly, Ibn Masud (first on Muhammad’s list) held that the Qur’an should only have 111 chapters (today’s version has 114 chapters), and that chapters 1, 113, and 114 shouldn’t have been included in the Qur’an.
Because of this (along with hundreds of other differences), Ibn
Masud went so far as to call the final edition of the Qur’an a
deception! He said, “The people have been guilty of deceit in the
reading of the Qur’an. I like it better to read according to the
recitation of him [i.e. Muhammad] whom I love more than that of Zayd Ibn
Thabit.”vi
Should Muslims submit to this “deceit”? Not surprisingly, Ibn
Masud advised Muslims to reject Zaid’s Qur’an and to keep their own
versions—even to hide them so that they wouldn’t be confiscated by the
government! He said:
“O you Muslim people! Avoid copying the Mushaf
and recitation of this man. By Allah! When I accepted Islam he was but
in the loins of a disbelieving man”—meaning Zaid bin Thabit—and it was
regarding this that Abdullah bin Mas’ud said: “O people of Al-Iraq! Keep
the Musahif that are with you, and conceal them.”vii
But Ibn Masud wasn’t the only one of
Muhammad’s trusted teachers who disagreed with Zaid’s Qur’an. Ubayy ibn
Ka’b was Muhammad’s best reciter and one of the only Muslims to collect
the materials of the Qur’an during Muhammad’s lifetime. Yet Ibn Ka’b believed that Zaid’s Qur’an was missing two chapters! Later Muslims were therefore forced to reject some of Ibn Ka’b’s recitation:
Umar said, “Ubayy was the best of us in the recitation (of the Qur’an),yet we leave some of what he recites.” Ubayy says, “I have taken it from the mouth of Allah’s Messenger and will not leave it for anything whatever.” [Sahih Bukhari Volume 6, Book 61, Number 527]viii
Narrated Zirr bin Hubaish:
I
asked Ubai bin Ka’b regarding the two Muwwidhat (Surats of taking
refuge with Allah). He said, “I asked the Prophet about them, He said, ‘These two Surats have been recited to me and I have recited them (and are present in the Quran).’ So, we say as Allah’s Apostle said (i.e., they are part of the Quran)“
Narrated Zirr bin Hubaish:
I asked Ubai bin Ka’b, “O Abu AlMundhir! Your brother, Ibn Mas’ud
said so-and-so (i.e., the two Mu’awwidh-at do not belong to the Quran).”
Ubai said, “I asked Allah’s Apostle about them, and he said, ‘They have been revealed to me, and I have recited them (as a part of the Quran),” So Ubai added, “So we say as Allah’s Apostle has said.”
Due to these disputes among Muhammad’s hand-picked reciters, Muslims are faced with a dilemma.
If Muslims say that the Qur’an we have today has been perfectly
preserved, they must say that Muhammad was horrible at choosing
scholars, since he selected men who disagreed with today’s text. If, on
the other hand, Muslims say that their prophet would know whom to pick
when it comes to Islam’s holiest book, they must conclude that the
Qur’an we have today is flawed!
III. MISSING CHAPTERS
Simply knowing the facts about such disputes is enough to
dismiss the claim that the Qur’an has been perfectly preserved.
Nevertheless, we may go further by briefly considering certain other
problems.
When Ibn Umar—son of the second Muslim caliph—heard people declaring that they knew the entire Qur’an, he said to them: “Let
none of you say, ‘I have learned the whole of the Koran,’ for how does
he know what the whole of it is, when much of it has disappeared? Let
him rather say, ‘I have learned what is extant thereof.’”ix
One of Muhammad’s companions, Abu Musa, supported this claim
when he said that the early Muslims forgot two surahs (chapters) due to
laziness:
Abu Musa al-Ash’ari sent for the
reciters of Basra. They came to him and they were three hundred in
number. They recited the Qur’an and he said: You are the best among the
inhabitants of Basra, for you are the reciters among them. So continue
to recite it. (But bear in mind) that your reciting for a long time may
not harden your hearts as were hardened the hearts of those before you.
We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to
(Surah) Bara’at. I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of
this which I remember out of it: “If there were two valleys full
of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and
nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust.” And we used to recite a surah which resembled one of the surahs of Musabbihat, and I have forgotten it,
but remember (this much) out of it:” Oh people who believe, why do you
say that which you do not practise” (lxi 2.) and” that is recorded in
your necks as a witness (against you) and you would be asked about it on
the Day of Resurrection” (xvii. 13)….[Sahih Muslim, Book 5, Hadith 2286] x
This shows that entire chapters of the Qur’an were forgotten.
IV. MISSING PASSAGES
We know further that large sections of certain chapters came up missing. For instance, Muhammad’s wife Aisha said that roughly two-thirds of Surah 33 was lost:
A’isha . . . said, “Surat al-Ahzab (xxxiii) used to be recited in the time of the Prophet
with two hundred verses, but when Uthman wrote out the codices he was
unable to procure more of it than there is in it today [i.e. 73 verses].”xi
According to Aisha, the collectors simply couldn’t find all of Surah 33. Why not? As we’ve seen, many huffaz were killed at the Battle of Yamamah. Apparently, no one who knew the entire chapter survived.
V. MISSING VERSES
Aisha also tells us that individual verses of the Qur’an disappeared, sometimes in quite comical ways:
It was narrated that Aisha said: “The
Verse of stoning and of breastfeeding an adult ten times was revealed,
and the paper was with me under my pillow. When the Messenger of Allah
died, we were preoccupied with his death, and a tame sheep came in and
ate it. [Sunan Ibn Majah Vol. 3, Book 9, Hadith 1944]”xii
The verses on stoning and breastfeeding an adult ten times are not in the Qur’an today. Why? Aisha’s sheep ate them.
VI. MISSING PHRASES
Since entire chapters, large portions of chapters, and
individual verses of the Qur’an were lost, it should come as no surprise
that short phrases were forgotten as well. Let’s consider two examples.
First, Surah 33:6 declares that “The
Prophet is closer to the Believers than their own selves, and his wives
are their mothers.” However, Ubayy ibn Ka’b and other early Muslims held
that a phrase (“and he is a father of them”) is missing from this
verse. Even the great translator Yusuf Ali admits this in his commentary. Ali
writes: “In some Qira’ahs, like that of Ubayy ibn Ka’ab, occur also the
words ‘and he is a father of them,’ which imply his spiritual
relationship and connection with the words ‘and his wives are their
mothers.’”xiii It seems that Muslims have been left with an incomplete verse.
Second, if we open a modern edition of
the Qur’an, we find that
Surah 2:238 commands Muslims to “Guard strictly your (habit) of
prayers, especially the Middle Prayer; and stand before Allah in a
devout (frame of mind).” According to Aisha, however, Muhammad recited
this verse as follows: “Guard strictly (the five obligatory) prayers,
and the middle Salat, and Salat Al-Asr. And stand before Allah with
obedience.” Hence, the phrase “and Salat Al-Asr” is missing from modern
editions.
VII. ASSESSMENT
Obviously, the Qur’an has changed significantly over the years. The evidence shows that entire
chapters were lost, that large sections of chapters came up missing,
that individual verses were forgotten, and that phrases have been left
out.Muhammad’s best teachers and reciters couldn’t even agree on which chapters were supposed to be in the Qur’an.
This raises an obvious question. What’s the difference between a
book that’s been perfectly preserved, and one that hasn’t been
perfectly preserved? If Muslims are right, there’s no difference at all.
The typical characteristics of a book that hasn’t been perfectly
preserved are (1) missing phrases, (2) missing passages, (3) missing
chapters, (4) disagreements about what goes back to the original, etc.
But the Qur’an has all of these characteristics. Thus, Muslims who are
aware of the evidence but who also want to maintain perfect
perseveration of the Qur’an must say something like this: “Yes, the
Qur’an has all the characteristics of a book that hasn’t been perfectly
preserved, but it’s been perfectly preserved anyway.” Can anyone make
sense of such a claim?
It’s clear, then, that the Argument
from Perfect Preservation fails, and that Muslims who want evidence for
their faith will have to look somewhere other than the preservation of
the Qur’an.
Admin’s note: Despite
hundreds of evidences that Islam is false, such as the numerous
mistakes in the Quran, Muslims stick to Islam mainly for Fear of Hell and the hope (Mirage) of Paradise. It needs to be reminded that Paradise is a Mirage for Muslims, promised to the gullible, and if God throws people in Hell, then Muslims will go to Hell for attributing a man’s words (Quran) to God, and attributing insanity to God.
According to the authentic Hadith, after Muhammad’s death, the first Caliph, Abu Bakr (ruled from 632 to 634 AD),
appointed the former secretary and scribe of the Prophet, Zayd ibn
Thabit, to undertake the task of collecting all available material and
compile it together. He collected them ‘from pieces of
papyrus, flat stones, palm leaves, shoulder blades and ribs of animals,
pieces of leather and wooden boards, as well as from the hearts of men’. He compiled all the material in the amazingly short span of two years and handed it over to the Caliph.
The Suras or chapters in the Koran have been so arranged that the
longest suras find place in the beginning and the shortest in the end. Thus
there is no way of knowing when exactly the Prophet received a
particular revelation. This becomes important since the message of a
particular revelation, as we shall see later, is often contradicted by
the message of a ‘later’ revelation. Scholars, both Muslim and
Western have generally been able to separate the revelations received in
Mecca and those in Medina since the message of Allah is conciliatory in
the former and aggressive in the latter.
According to traditions (i.e. the authentic Hadith) many versions
of the book began to be circulated and serious disputes arose. According
to the traditions, the third Caliph, Uthman (644-656 AD) approached
Zayd again to edit and prepare the official text. This was prepared and
circulated widely and the other versions were destroyed.
It should be noted that during the reign of the third caliph
Uthman word was brought from the out-lying provinces that the Muslims in
these areas were reciting the Qur’an in different ways. The sequel is
set out in the following authentic Hadith:
“Hudhaifa was afraid of their (the people of Sha’m and Iraq) differences in the recitation of the Qur’an,
so he said to Uthman, ‘O Chief of the Believers! Save this nation
before they differ about the Book (Quran) as Jews and the Christians did
before’. So Uthman sent a message to Hafsa, saying, ‘Send us the
manuscripts of the Qur’an so that we may compile the Qur’anic materials
in perfect copies and return the manuscripts to you’. Hafsa sent it to
Uthman. Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit, Abdullah bin az-Zubair,
Sa’id bin al-As, and Abdur-Rahman bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the
manuscripts in perfect copies. Uthman said to the three Quraishi men,
‘In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point in the – Qur’an,
then write it in the dialect of Quraish as the Qur’an was revealed in
their tongue’. They did so, and when they had written many copies,
Uthman returned the original manuscripts to Hafsa. Uthman sent to every
Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and ordered that all
the other Qur’anic materials, whether written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be burnt.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol. 6, Book 61, Number 510).
This tradition informs us quite clearly that other manuscripts of
the Qur’an, some in sections, others complete, had been written out and
that they were in use elsewhere in the conquered territories. Uthman’s order that they should be burnt shows that there were serious textual differences between them and the manuscript in Hafsah’s possession.
“The traditional account of what
led to the next step in the fixing of the form of the Qur’an implies
that serious differences of reading existed in the copies of the Qur’an
current in the various districts.” (Watt, “Bell’s Introduction to the
Qur’an”, p 42)
According to orthodoxy, this text has not undergone any change
since then and is the standard version followed all over the world.
Historical research, however, indicates otherwise. Wansbrough
showed that far from being fixed in the seventh century, the definitive
text of the Koran had still not been achieved even as late as the later
part of the ninth century [In fact, there is a strong opinion among
many scholars that the Quran was actually finalized in AD 933].
Thus, a statement of Muslim creed, Fiqh Akbar I, dated to the middle of
eighth century, does not refer to the Koran at all, which is quite
surprising.
It is conclusively proven there are some missing verses in the Quran
and there also appear to be some added verses. For example, there is an authentic Hadith
from the Prophet’s wife, Aisha, that there once existed a ‘verse of
stoning’ where stoning to death was prescribed as punishment for
fornication. This is no longer to be found in the accepted
texts of the Koran and instead the Koranic punishment for this crime
only prescribes one hundred lashes. But the early prophets carried out
stoning for adultery, and Islamic law still prescribes it. According to the above authentic Hadith, more than one hundred verses from the original are missing.
“God sent Muhammad and sent down the Scripture to him. Part of what he sent down was the passage on stoning;we read it, we were taught it, and we heeded it. The apostle stoned and we stoned them after him.
I (Umar) fear that in time to come men will say that they find no
mention of stoning in God’s book and thereby go astray in neglecting an
ordinance which God has sent down.Verily stoning in the book of God is a penalty laid on married men and women who commit adultery.”
See two passages in which Ubayy ibn Ka’b (one of Muhammad’s most
trusted reciters of the Qur’an) and Aisha (the “Mother of the Faithful”)
declare that approximately two-thirds of Surah 33 is missing. Both
passages are taken from Abu Ubaid’s Kitab Fada’il-al-Qur’an.
Ibn Abi Maryam related to us from Ibn Luhai’a from Abu’l-Aswad from Urwa b. az-Zubair from A’isha who said, “Surat al-Ahzab (xxxiii i.e. Surah 33) used to be recited in the time of the Prophet with two hundred verses, but whenUthman wrote out the codices he was unable to procure more of it than there is in it today.”
Isma’il b. Ibrahim and Isma’i b.
Ja’far related to us from al-Mubarak b. Fadala from Asim b. Abi’n-Nujud
from Zirr b. Hubaish who said–Ubai b. Ka’b said to me, “O Zirr, how many
verses did you count (or how many verses did you read) in Surat
al-Ahzab?” “Seventy-two or seventy-three,” I answered. Said he, “Yet it used to be equal to Surat al-Baqara (ii) [Which is ‘The Cow’ with 286 verses], and we used to read in it the verse of Stoning.”
This shows that Surah 33 had at least 200 verses once, and only 73
are left now. When a scholar brought up Aisha’s claim in a debate with a Muslim,
the Muslim proclaimed that the passage had been “fabricated” without
providing any evidence that the Muslims in the chains presented were
inventing false claims about the Qur’an. Abu Ubaid, who was called “the
ocean of knowledge” by his fellow Muslims, could not have been ignorant
and sloppy in his investigation of these passages.
About the “Verse of Stoning,” which was supposed to be part of the
Qur’an but instead came up missing, Ubayy ibn Ka’b says above that it
fell out with the other 100+ missing verses of Surah 33.
Shiites of course claim that Uthman left out a great many verses favourable to Ali, for political reasons. Muhammad himself, as we know, is said to have suppressed the now famous Satanic Verses.
The authenticity of many verses has been called into question not only
by modern Western scholars, but even by Muslims themselves. On the other
hand, most scholars believe that there are many interpolations making
the Koranic style uneven. Some of them are of a political and dogmatic
character, such as 42:36-38, which seems to have been added to justify
the elevation of Uthman as Caliph to the detriment of Ali. Of
course, any interpolation, however trivial, is fatal to the Muslim dogma
that the Koran is literally the eternal, uncreated word of God revealed
to Muhammad and thereafter unalterable and unchanged.
The prosecution
of the KK Mart owner, after he apologised numerous times and on bended
knee, was not enough for the extremist elements in the government, and
DAP did nothing except make a few mouse whimpers about the
inappropriateness of it all.
Here
was a non-Malay business serving the majority community and what does
an Umno political operative sanctioned by the establishment do? He asks
his friends at KK Mart to find another avenue for business.
What
non-Malays were left with was that this government, which they had
supported wholeheartedly, did nothing to protect their economic
interests but instead used this incident to galvanise the far-right
elements in the country.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, meanwhile, has remained silent when his comrade’s cars were firebombed and KK Mart was an attempted target of terrorist attacks.
Instead, he expanded the role of the religious bureaucracy, reminded everyone that the educational quota system was here to stay,
presided over the conversion of a Hindu youth, rabble-roused on the
Palestinian issue, made expensive overtures to the civil service in the
form of salary and bonus enticements, and gave a platform to the corrupt
elements of the Umno regime.
Anwar, but of course, remained
silent to the numerous racial and religious provocations his non-Malay
base has been subjected to.
Not to mention freedom of speech and
expression has gone down the manure hole since Harapan took over. The
MCMC has been weaponised and many people are left wondering how words
and speech that were perfectly acceptable during the various Umno and
Perikatan Nasional regimes suddenly became seditious and worthy of state
intervention.
DAP continues to be silent
DAP,
meanwhile, is a victim of its own propaganda success. The party’s
scorched earth policy when it came to race relations about what MCA was
doing with Umno and the rhetoric surrounding the failed Umno policies –
which Harapan has no problem emulating – was effective propaganda for
non-Malays.
But like all propaganda, it came back to bite Harapan’s collective behind.
Similarly,
when accusing MCA of remaining silent when it comes to the alleged
crimes of the Najib regime, DAP and PKR - both multiracial parties - now
remain silent while the country slides into a kind of Islamic dystopia.
Let’s
not forget the anti-corruption platform destroyed by Umno president
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s acquittal, Najib’s reduced sentence, and possible house arrest. Non-Malays, who are the anchor of Harapan, are left wondering - will this country ever change?
Is
there merit in believing that pragmatism trumps the state’s theocratic
inclinations? Pragmatism in knowing, but not saying, that it is in
nobody’s interest to change the system, but instead replacing the
powerbrokers in the hopes of maintaining some kind of social and
political equilibrium?
And really, there are elements within PKR,
for instance, who have no trouble believing that majoritarian will, as
opposed to democratic first principles, is perfectly acceptable in
Malaysia, especially when it comes to syariah laws, for example.
Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim
Here is what PKR MP Hassan Abdul Karim said
about the syariah law amendments which were rejected by the judiciary:
“The people of Kelantan are more than 90 percent Malays who are Muslim.
For more than 33 years they have elected PAS, an Islamic party with an
agenda to enshrine the syariah law in Kelantan.
“The people chose
PAS in Kelantan through the ballot box, not through threats and force.
PAS rules in Kelantan through democratic elections per the principles of
democracy, not through violence.”
So which coalition holds the
secular and constitutional line? Which coalition is supposed to be about
defending the Constitution of Malaysia, not to mention the freedoms
that come out of democratic first principles? This is why the changing
demographic of Kuala Kubu Baharu is so dangerous when it comes to religious and racial policy.
‘No alternative’
Malaysians
do not really care if the pace of reforms is slow. Indeed, by nature,
Malaysians generally have a carefree attitude when it comes to policy
failure and inaction, but the backpedalling and complete U-turns on
reforms are disheartening, especially since these reforms protect the
secular and constitutional foundations of this country.
PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli
Anwar
is very well aware that although non-Malays rant and rave on social
media, the reality is that when it comes to the ballot box, they will
vote for his proxies because they believe that as flawed as he is, there
is no alternative.
This is why Rafizi Ramli can confidently say, “If you want to talk about the trust deficit
of non-Malays, I can confidently say that more than 90 percent of
non-Malay voters have full confidence in today’s unity government. If
there is a trust deficit, it is a trust deficit in the opposition, not
the government.”
Some folk claim that the Kuala Kubu Baharu polls
are a bellwether. I can’t shake the feeling that either victory or
defeat, it is a death knell.
