Don't blame racial divide, it's EXTREMISM pure & simple & it's RISING in Malaysia

I would like to respond to the letter dated January 12 published in The Star entitled "Ethnic divide, not extremism is the problem" signed by 33 high profiled Malay Malaysians from all walks of life.

To summarise, the learned signatories from many walks of life argued that an ethnic divide and not extremism is the major problem facing Malaysia today as mentioned earlier by the media dubbed "25 eminent Malays".

I pray both sides are willing to read this humble submission from an untitled Malay Muslim with no high ranking job, who has spent his 31 years living mostly in Shah Alam, having graduated with a lowly degree from UiTM in the same town.

I do not deny a growing ethnic divide. I take Shah Alam as a prime example. The citizenry of Shah Alam has always been majority Malay, yet in my time at primary and secondary school, we still had a large group of non-Malay friends in a classroom. Such is not the case these days.

However, this was not the issue highlighted by the open letter of the 25 retired civil servants to the prime minister. Instead, it is the internal struggle within the Malay community that was focused on in the letter, particularly on those using religion as a mere tool to garner support.

In my definition, the fight against extremism is the struggle against those who insist on using the Malay community and Islam as rallying calls to behaviour that is either violent, instilling unnecessary fear, or just being plain ridiculous.

In other words, anything beyond moderate is, to use an Arabic term, “zalim” or extreme.

While the learned group of 33 consigning the letter has pointed out that we do have numerous houses of worship for all religions, is it not the Muslim community themselves that are stopping the building of new ones?

I take you back to Shah Alam where such challenges have happened. A Hindu temple was proposed to be moved to a different location, and some saw it as a reason to rally Muslims to protest bearing cow heads not more than 500 feet from my house.

They stomped and spat on it, a symbolic insult to Hindus since the cow considered a sacred animal to them. Is this not the work of extremists?

During the town hall discussion led by then Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim on this issue, some had even threatened to hurl chairs while using expletives even then. Is this not extreme?

While Eric Paulsen had wrongly quipped that the Islamic Development Department or Jakim had promoted extremism "every Friday", he had received death threats for it by Malay Muslims.

I personally disagreed with him, but I did not call for violence, because that is an extremist response. Can those "moderates" you speak of in your letter say the same?

I see these a these acts as an abuse of Islam by those who promote violence as my definition of extremism because Malaysians as a whole have a guaranteed freedom to worship not just in our Federal Constitution but in Islam itself.

Eric Pulsen

Historically, I would use the Emirate of Granada as an example. All were free to worship as they were. Similarly during Islamic Jerusalem, freedom to worship was allowed.

Islam was also used just recently yet again on the Malay Muslim community to instil fear in the halal status of bottled water because of a picture of such a house of worship on the label.

I ask all 33 of you to consider; was there truly a threat to the halal status of water because of this, or would that be considered extreme as well?

The learned group cannot deny that there is an agenda of vilifying Malaysians of other faiths using bogeyman tactics that have no standing in this country.

For instance, suddenly a Korean pop band is not only considered a subservient element to convert Muslims to Christianity, but at the same time also a Jewish agenda.

I do acknowledge the learned members' points that moderation is relative to geographical location and as such, are dependent on countries. I am personally awed that the learned group considers Saudi as an example of "moderation".

Personally, I can finally eat HP and Tabasco sauces once more. I can even perhaps get a halal turkey to roast some time in the future.

Jokes aside, the question that the 25 retired civil servants raised was this; what truly defines a moderate in our own country's borders? Where are the lines drawn between moderate, liberal and extreme as per our federal constitution?

The learned collective does not address this point at all, and it is on this basis alone that the G25 have raised the five points in their open letter for the prime minister's consideration for implementation, which was subsequently supported by the "I Am #26" campaign.

I personally hold steadfast to the belief that a moderate and progressive Malay Malaysian community has somehow been left in the yesteryears, and pray that we all can get a proper platform to discuss how to reach that social equilibrium once more.

Until such a platform for intellectual discussion is in place, how can we know that your proposed solution to review the federal constitution is what every Malaysian wants?

I believe that coexistence within this multi ethnic, multi religious nation should be and must always based on decisions made out of mutual respect for all.

I note that this mutual respect is under threat by elements on both sides of the divide.

As such, let us all agree to have proper discourse on a proper platform, as what the 25 retired civil servants have asked for.

This gives the learned group and ourselves the opportunity of listening to all thoughts from all facets of Malaysians to reach a truly Malaysian definition of moderate.

In other words, let us have a moderation of ourselves as Malaysians before we act. – TMI