Spurious The Australian

An article in The Australian draws my attention. Not for its criticism against Malaysia, PM Najib or Rosmah but the 'twist and lies' about 'Bible burning'.

The use of the Arab word for God, Allah — commonly used by Christians, Sikhs and Jews — has been legally restricted to Muslims, and the government has approved the burning of Bibles that use the word.

I agree with the news analysis 'Rise of Hardline Islam Belies Malaysia's Moderate Image', that PM Najib should do more to stamp out religious extremism (not only Islam).

However, 'burn the Bibles' accusation is simply unacceptable. No Bible was burnt, and nor Quran was torched in Malaysia. Just because the government did not take any action on Perkasa (over allegations that its chief Ibrahim Ali wanted all Bibles using 'Allah' must be burnt), Putrajaya has to carry such a bad label.

Malaysia “consistently does poorly in international press freedom rankings”, Whiting says. The government has monitored students and academics. “All documents that pass through national or state cabinets are classified as secret” under the Official Secrets Act, which “specifies a range of harsh punishments”. The Sedition Act, under which 30 people have been charged this year, defines “seditious tendency” so broadly, she says, that “the utterer, publisher, printer or importer of virtually any critical comment could be liable for … a hefty fine or … imprisonment, or both.”
This law’s wording, she says, “tilts it in favour of UMNO and puts it at the service of ethno-nationalist and authoritarian Islamic interests”.
Mr Najib — a supporter of Hamas in Palestine — reneged on a pre-election promise of 2012 to replace it, and recently announced he would strengthen it with “a special clause to protect the sanctity of Islam”.
Whiting says “intolerant Islamisation combined with UMNO’s fostering of an aggressive Malay supremacist agenda encroaches upon freedom of belief and practice of non-Muslims”, as well as Muslims from minority communities.
The rights women gained through reforms to sharia family laws in the 1980s are being eroded, she says. And fatwas — pronouncements by sometimes self-declared religious law specialists — are being used to identify new offences and to penalise acts that are permitted under the constitution, because once gazetted they have the force of law.

To write about freedom and human rights in Malaysia, you must first understand what the country is all about.

Australia doesn't encourage hate speech, racial and religious sentiments. And so is Malaysia. We know the deadly consequences should people are allowed mongering it. Perhaps what differs us is that, Malaysia regulates a stiff penalty while Australia adopts a soft stand on it.

No, Malaysia cannot afford to fall under such a circumstance. We had learn the lesson and we cannot allow it (racial bloodshed) to recur.

Please also note that extremism and fanaticism are not only about Islam. These elements are also in Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and others. And if we wanna write about religious extremism in Malaysia, I think Muslims is not the only subject.

No matter what Australia or other governments say about our Sedition Act, it is our house that we are looking after, unless Canberra is willing to accept a few million refugees should Malaysia draws into a calamity!