Public perceptions & reality.

7.11.2009.

You have to read/see the news and not draw your own conclusions. They are reported by, well, reporters, who have many constraints - deadline, space & time limitations, editorial slant, favourite & personal spin - plus the knowledge of the subject matter.  

One local news that broke on many front pages a few days ago was the ex-Mufti of Perlis' case. Many of my Chinese acquaintances have asked if this is related to deviant teaching. Many Muslim Malays are already taking sides.

Internationally, the two main areas of newsmaking have been the continuing debates on the western designs for Afghanistan and Palestine, and that shoot-out involving the apparently Muslim US trooper.

The underlining commonality for both geographical locations of the news is that they involve something Islamic. The immediate reaction is predictable - Islam is troublesome. Unfortunately, that, like all generalizations, is erroneous.

In the Malaysian case, the Federal Constitution says that, inter alia, the Head of the Islamic Religion, which is also the Federal Religion but not the official religion, is the State Ruler. In the case of a State without a Ruler, including the Federal Territory, it's the Agong. All Syari'ah Laws come under the auspices of the State Ruler. The teaching and dissimination of Islamic knowledge come under the State's control, and since there are 13 states and 2 Federal territories, there must be 14 different authorizations. The case is apparently purely technical, but hey, it's the Constitutional Law.

In the international cases, the arguements are old and long, and the labelling against Islam comes only out of ignorance.

The illegality of the occupation of Palestine is there to see. The hypocricy and ambivalence of the pro-Israel western nations can best be described by the latest statement of the US State Secretary, that the Jewish settlements on the West Bank be part of the new (again) negotiations. Before, he's  on record saying they must stop.

When the USSR occupied Afghanistan the US supplied the arms to the Afghans to fight them and eventually drive them out. The Afghans could do no wrong. Now that the US and its allies are making a mess of Afghanistan, the Afghans can do no right.

The US trooper may well be Muslim, but Islam is not guilty in this case, just as Christianity is never guilty in Northern Ireland and in all the murders committed by people of Christian faith. Or in the case of the Ku Klax Klan.

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