Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have one hell of a temper. Really, I do. Even the most minor of triggers can set me huffing and puffing enough to bring down everything but my blood pressure. Just the other day I lost my temper at a woman who misused an OKU parking bay at the local Tesco's. I got so mad I felt faint. I am as much a victim of my hot-headed nature as the morons that trigger it.
In my line of work, I am forced to deal with differing opinions every day. Some from clients, most from the audience they target. This infuriates me too, and it has taken a toll on my health. A month away from 20 years old, I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. No joke.
But no matter how cross I have been in the past at anyone over anything, including greedy business partners and cheating ex-girlfriends, I have never once dreamt of resorting to violence to appease my anger.
Might it have something to do with my upbringing? Maybe. Might it be due to my attitude toward the Malaysian political scene in general? Maybe. But the fact of the matter is that I, a Malay-Muslim youth, a public-school alumnus, represent a majority of my fellow Malaysians. And yet, it seems, I am a minority within the majority, because I don't immediately resort to violence.
Having had a front-seat view of the Aisyah Tajuddin fracas as it exploded, I am as entitled to an opinion on the matter as anyone else, if not more so. And I will publicly state here and now, that I wholly-agree with the opinion and point-of-view expressed by Ms. Aisyah on her BFMKupas program, as well as those expressed by media stalwart Jahabar Sadiq in an article titled 'In PAS, a Study of Arrogance and Ignorance' (which you can read here).
You don't question divine law. You simply don't. The Quraan is literary perfection, and its teachings are beyond the reproach of mortals. However, it isn't the divine law that I, like so many Malaysians, am questioning. It's the lacklustre 'politicians' in their white robes and turbans that are tasked with implementing said divine law that raises doubts. It's the self-righteous fogeys whose priorities have been blown about by their own arrogance, that I question.
And the reproach for even coming close to mentioning such a thing? Threats of rape, of violence, of being set ablaze and shot in the head. My, how we've come to forget that our political representatives are nothing more than people themselves, just like you or I. They are not beyond question, beyond reproach, or indeed beyond consequence. How dare you place them higher than you place yourself. And how dare you act this way, targeting a helpless young woman and her equally helpless family, if you believe yourselves to be proponents of a religion that preaches harmony, unity, and peace. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Such is the state of our youth that they respond with violence and intimidation, rather than understanding and reason. The compassion has gone from our society, and that makes me very sad.
Hudud is the collective feather in the PAS cap that they've been working on since, seemingly, the rebirth of Christ. And the reason behind this? So they don't look like the mere Coalition-placeholders that they are.
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