Lately there have been several below-the-belt attempts by neo-conservatives in this country to use the Sultans as justification for clamping down on legitimate free speech. Take the case of the International Islamic University of Malaysia's law lecturer Prof Dr Abdul Aziz Bari who has been issued a show-cause letter from that university's disciplinary board for his remarks published in a news portal regarding the Sultan’s decree that no persons be prosecuted for the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS) inspection during a thanksgiving dinner by NGO Harapan Komuniti at the Damansara Utama Methodist Church in Petaling Jaya in Aug 3. What was plainly an academic discussion from a learned source on a matter of public importance has been deemed as an assault against the Sultans themselves and an excuse to clamp down on legitimate public discourse and free speech. Such cynical disregard for the right of the public to know and be informed of its rights and the use and abuse of the Sultans as a weapon of choice must be nipped in the bud immediately before the rot is allowed to fester and stew. We have become accustomed to politicians and their minions using the Sultans as and when they see fit to suit their agenda and the trend has only worsened in recent years. We give an inch, they take a mile. Then they take a few hundred more miles. Until one day, we wake up and find that we are stooges to be told what to think and say. If they have forgotten, we have NO lese majesty laws in Malaysia and our freedom from such archaic laws is something that we can be rightfully proud of. Certain countries may have need for lese majesty laws but they are always at best, criticised or at worse, ridiculed outright for it internationally. The Sultans may be the head of Islam in their respective states and that gives them the authority to make proclamations on all matters of Islam. But if an issue affects non-Muslims as well, you can hardly say that it is the sole and exclusive prerogative of the Sultans to comment on such matters which must then immediately be closed off in a vacuum-proofed seal and kill all further discussion or investigation into the truth of the matter. NO WAY. We need to fight tooth and claw against such insidious attempts to stifle our basic right to free speech and fair comment. So STOP using the Sultans to justify your narrow-mindedness. The Sultans don't need you to defend them. Our Sultans are clever enough to speak up for themselves and to join public discourse affecting their non-Muslim subjects. Don't insult their intellect by suggesting that they're not capable of standing up for themselves or backing up what they have said. Stop it. It's disgusting.
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If our royalty are clever enough to speak up for themselves, then don't you see that what they saying are their own? Or what are you saying?
ReplyDeleteWe need to get with it, you know? The Sultan can say whatever he wants to say. It's we, the people, who attach such grand importance to whatever the Sultan says, and then try to use that to kill off all further discussion on the matter that's really kicking ourselves in the butt.
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