|
Sunday, 04-Apr-2004 12:21 AM LOONY MALAYSIA Malaysia clamps down on Islamic deviants Sungai Buloh again came into the limelight when the Selangor Religious Department (JAIS) announced it has uncovered the re-emergence of a banned Islamic sect calling itself Tarikat Samaniah Ibrahim Bonjol during a raid at a private mosque there on Thursday night. Aluwi Parman, JAIS’ deputy director for research and development (R&D) -- believed to be of Indonesian descent who, like millions of other Indonesians, were given identity cards if they were to vote for the ruling party -- said that the 75 men and 22 women who were found in the three-storey mosque were detained for reciting prayers. The Tarikat Samaniah Ibrahim Bonjol, which has been operating in Selangor for about ten years, was declared a deviationist sect by the Selangor State Fatwa Council in 1998, at the same time Anwar Ibrahim was declared as practicing deviationist sex by the then Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. “Tarikat Samaniah Ibrahim Bonjol is a deviationist sex…I mean…sect because its practices are against the Islamic teachings permitted by the laws of Selangor,” said Aluwi. “We discovered the sect members reciting prayers from dusk to dawn,” said Aluwi. “This was a Thursday night when they should have been home fulfilling their ‘malam Jumaat’ obligations. Why were they instead in a mosque reciting prayers?” Muslims consider ‘malam Jumaat’ or Thursday nights as sunat (optional) for sex and the religious department frowns upon those who spend these nights performing other acts such as praying instead of indulging in sex. Sungai Buloh, ‘home’ of the infamous prison that has ‘housed’ Anwar Ibrahim since 1998, seems to be constantly in the limelight. More than a decade ago an illegal fireworks factory in Sungai Buloh, Bright Sparklers, exploded killing many people. It was later discovered that Daim Zainudin, Malaysia’s finance minister then, had shares in the factory. Sungai Buloh is also home to many illegal and pornographic VCD manufacturers. In fact, you can purchase pornographic VCDs on the streets of Sungai Buloh and many school children, that represent the major market, have free access to these VCDs. Sungai Buloh was also the first to market VCDs of Malaysian Airlines stewards and stewardesses starring in pornographic movies. According to the Selangor Religious Department, they have no authority to clamp down on pornographic VCDs as this comes under the jurisdiction of the censor board. “Pornography is not our concern,” explained the religious department. “We are only concerned with Muslims who practice the wrong teachings of Islam. As long as those who buy and view these pornographic VCDs do not deviate from Islam then we will not take any action against them.” “But even if they don’t indulge in pornographic VCDs, yet they deviate from Islam, then action will be taken against them.” JAIS said it is investigating other acts of deviationist teachings and will be taking action against these deviants soon. “For example, many Muslims go to the mosque on Friday. However, they only perform their Friday prayers but do not perform their five-times-a-day prayers, which are obligatory under Islam,” said Aluwi. “This too can be considered deviating from Islam and action will also be taken against these people.” “Then there are those who claim to practice Islam but do not follow Quranic teachings. For example, these people reject God’s laws though the Quran specifically says that man must judge and sentence according to God’s laws.” “We are now compiling a list of all lawyers and judges in Selangor who practice English law, which clearly goes against Islamic teachings, and we will send them for rehabilitation at Pusat Islam.” “If they still refuse to repent and stubbornly cling to their sesat (misguided) ways, then we will recommend that they be further detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) like what we did to the Al Arqam followers awhile back.” When asked whether the ISA itself goes against Islam in that Islam does not allow for detention without trial, Aluwi defended his proposal by saying that Islam requires all citizens to abide to the government rulings and since the government had enacted the ISA back in 1960 then it would be Islamic to use that law against deviants. Previous articles in the LOONY MALAYSIA series: 3. BN’s Election Manifesto: An interview with a Malaysian Minister - 1 October 2003 4. An interview with an Umno Terengganu Kingpin - 4 September 2003 5. Happy whatever day - 31 August 2003 6. An explanation on Malaysia’s “missing” Stripes - 30 August 2003 7. Wouldn’t it be great if….. - 28 August 2003 8. Malaysia and its Islamic policies - 20 August 2003 9. An interview with a Malaysian leader about his view on human rights - 2 June 2003 10. How to squeeze 200,000 people into a stadium built for 100,000 - 13 March 2003 11. Virus-like computer infection disrupts Internet services worldwide - 27 January 2003 12. Malaysian kids have bad eyesight, and vote opposition - 27 January 2003 13. An open letter to Hadi Awang - 10 September 2002 14. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall - 1 September 2000
|
