With the brouhaha over a senior teacher’s “joke” to his non-Muslim primary school students that they should “drink their own urine” in the toilet rather than drink water in front of their fasting Muslim schoolmates, it took one of Malaysian social media’s most outspoken activists to shed a contrasting light on the state of religious respect in the country.
Azhar “Art” Harun, who’s made a second career out of speaking truth to power on topics ranging from political shenanigans to the entitlement of some in the Malay-Muslim majority in the country, tapped into what most Malaysians must have been thinking (but not posting) when he put up the following anecdote to his Facebook account:
In the post, Azhar brings into stark relief the difference between how Malay-Muslims in Malaysia and their non-Muslim countrymen react to being presented with the symbols and practices of other religions, using his daughter’s Christian home tutor as an example.
“Did he complain that I was trying to convert him? Or that those Arabic names for Allah and Muhammad would lead him astray from his faith? Or that they would “rosakkan aQidah saya?”,” Azhar asked, refering to the fact that the tutor would teach his daughter unfailingly while seated under framed pieces of calligraphy praising Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.
“Did he ask me to “respect” his faith? Or not to “insult” him or his faith?
“Well, he never did. Not even a word about those.”
Summing up, Azhar defines his opinion on Malay-Muslim defensiveness in the country as a collective act of self-pity, reflecting an almost institutionalised sense of insecurity.
A lot of people out there seem to agree with him. Since the post was put up on Facebook yesterday, it has received 42,519 Likes, 3,138 comments, and has been shared 17,483 times – way more than the average even for a firebrand social crusader like Azhar. Most of the comments and shares are appreciative of what Azhar is saying.
We’re betting even he’s taken aback by how much of a Ramadan highlight his Facebook post has become. All we can say is that it couldn’t have happened to a better message. Carry on, sir – there are more Malaysians who feel the same way you do than you might think.
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