From:
Date: 28 Nov 1999
Time: 06:27:20
[kini-malaysia] UMNO SHOOTS ITS OWN FOOT
UMNO SHOOTS ITS OWN FOOT
UMNO has unwittingly walked into a well-laid Barisan Alternatif trap. For once, UMNO’s propaganda strategists have been caught with their pants down.
For some time, UMNO has been telling the Chinese that a vote for DAP or keADILan is a vote for PAS. And that means a vote for Islamic law. What UMNO did not tell the Chinese is that, in fact, Islamic law is ALREADY being practiced in Malaysia, and it has been for a long, long time way before even British law was ever introduced to this part of the world.
Aren’t Muslim men and women subjected to Islamic law when they are caught in a hotel room if they are not married; to each other that is? Isn’t the property of the dearly departed divided according to Islamic law amongst the dependents and heirs? Isn’t a Muslim arrested and charged under Islamic law when he or she eats and drinks in public at daytime during the month of Ramadhan? And the list goes on.
Malaysia has always practiced Islamic law. And the law has only applied to Muslims. Non-Muslims ARE NOT subjected to this same law. Have the non-Muslims ever felt living in Malaysia intolerable because of this? Life goes on for the non-Muslims. They are non-the-worse in spite of it. So what’s the big deal all about? Why all this talk and scare of Islamic law?
The government has actually been hiding this fact from the non-Muslims. They did not tell the non-Muslims that Malaysia has, is, and always will practice Islamic law. And they did not tell the non-Muslims that this law only applies to Muslims. The government has been deceiving the non-Muslims all this while. More importantly, the government has also not been telling the non-Muslims that there are many forms of Islamic laws – and one of these many laws is HUDUD.
Anyhow, this is not what this article is all about. What it is about is how UMNO has been frightening the non-Muslims and telling them that Islamic law means the non-Muslims may no longer eat pork or drink liqour. Plus non-Muslims will have their hands cut off and adulterers stoned to death.
This is a blatant lie and an insult to Islam. Is UMNO trying to make Islam look bad in the eyes of the non-Muslims? First of all, if adultery is not a crime to non-Muslims, then there’s no way non-Muslims can be stoned to death. Have you ever seen a non-Muslim arrested for khalwat? As for getting their hands cut off, what does UMNO think the non-Muslims are, a bunch of thieves?
Anyway, this is all academic now. PAS has agreed that they will not pursue the implementation of Hudud law. And non-Muslims WILL be allowed their pork and liqour, plus their schools, places of worship, burial grounds, and so on. In fact, the Kelantan government under PAS even approved new places of worship for non-Muslims, which had previously been rejected under the UMNO government.
And to prove this, some non-Muslims from Kelantan took up a full-page advert in Saturday’s Star. In this advert they showed that liqour and pork IS available in Kelantan. They also showed schools, places of worship and burial grounds for non-Muslims. The Kelantan non-Muslims live a normal life under the PAS government just like all the other non-Muslims in other parts of Malaysia.
And that’s when UMNO walked right into the trap. TV3, on that same day, ran down PAS for allowing all these "vices" to exist in Kelantan. TV3, in their enthusiasm at being able to "catch" PAS, actually tore PAS to pieces for allowing non-Muslims to exercise their rights. All of a sudden, UMNO is now against PAS for allowing non-Muslims their pork, liqour, schools, burial grounds and places of worship. UMNO, which had all along told the non-Muslims that PAS would ban all these things if they ever came to power, hit out at PAS.
Without realising it, UMNO has shown us what they really are – hypocrites. They condemn PAS by saying PAS will NOT allow all this, and now they condemn PAS when PAS allows it.
Come on UMNO! Which is it? Is allowing the non-Muslims their rights and privileges wrong, or is not allowing it wrong? They can’t both be wrong. One must be right. Which is which now?
Over to you UMNO! The ball is now at your feet. Can you please clarify which you want PAS to do? I think PAS has got you on this one.
RAJA PETRA KAMARUDIN