Some Malaysians can’t help but jaga tepi kain orang lain (caring about other people’s business) but some took it to a truly disgusting level recently by directing lewd comments at a baby.
This morning, Dr Amalina Bakri, a Malaysian UK-based doctor who gained popularity in recent years for her public health advocacy and medical takes, posted a heartbreaking statement on Twitter regarding her nine-week-old baby girl.
It all started when a user on Instagram asked her if female circumcisions were done in the UK, to which she said no.
Her factual answer prompted a few Malaysian tabloid outlets to write misleading articles in which she’s quoted as saying female circumcision is “haram” along with provocative social media captions like ‘Oh… now we know it’s illegal there’. (Um hello, do they even know what Google is for?)
FYI, female circumscion is referred to as female genital mutilation (FGM) by human rights advocates and international organizations such as the WHO, It was practised among pre-Islamic Arabs and has survived within some Arab communities after the advent of Islam. Its practice still remains widespread in some countries, including Malaysia, despite the generally negative opinion Muslim scholars have towards it.
FGM is seen as an injury and violation of the physical integrity of a female child. Islamic law and religion only requires the circumcision of male children. The practice has also been illegal in the UK since 1985.
Tidak pernah saya mempertikaikan hukum Islam, malah saya buat kenyataan, kalau anda berada di Malaysia, ikutlah fatwa dan undang-undang negara Malaysia. Kenyataan saya kemudiannya diambil oleh media tabloid di Malaysia dgn headline sebegini: pic.twitter.com/g6tq54BUtk
— Dr. Amalina (@DrAmalinaBakri) December 20, 2022
Dr Amalina said that after these articles were published, a slew of obscene comments was made about her daughter not being circumcised, among them… actually nevermind, the comments are so disgusting we’d rather nobody read them, (they’re in Dr Amalina’s Twitter thread if you’re really that curious, proceed with caution though). But basically they’re from trolls who are ostensibly defending FGM by making vile comments about the anatomy of uncircumcised women.
“I would not be bothered if those words were directed at me, but they went beyond the limit when they made obscene statements against my innocent child. Please leave my daughter alone,” she wrote.
“For your information, I am in the process of taking legal action so that it becomes a lesson to all. I also want to rebuke article writers who like to make clickbait headlines or take trivial stories from my Instagram and spin it only for it to create a debate among Muslims,” she said.
“Where are your ethics? Even the comment section has no moderation,” she added.
It would be awful for any parent to read such comments about their children, so our advice to those overly interested in the lives of others: please mind your OWN f**king business.
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