Muslims first, Malaysians second

[sirgalahad2010]

"Muslims first, Malaysians second and Malays third - this is how most Malaysian Muslims see themselves, says a survey by the University of Malaya."

(report in the Spore Straits Times today on a survey of 1,000 randomly selected Muslims in Malaysia, conducted in December by Associate Prof Patricia Martinez of the UM's Asia-Europe Institute).

The survey found that Islam has become the most important identity marker for Muslims, who are largely Malay, and revealed a growing othodoxy in their beliefs.

An overwhelming 97.7% believe that Muslims should not be allowed to leave Islam. But 71.1% say Malaysians should be allowed to choose their own religion.

77.3% want stricter syariah laws and 44.1% say that the state has the right to monitor and punish immoral behaviour.

57.3% want the hudud (Islamic penal code) to be implemented.

But, perhaps more important, on living with non-Muslim Malaysians, the survey revealed that

>>97.1% say it is acceptable for Malaysian Muslims to live alongside people of other religions.
>>79.5% say Muslims should learn about other religions in Malaysia.
>>83.8% respond that Muslims could participate in interfaith dialogues.
>>63.3% want the syariah to remain under the Constitution rather than replace it.

On gender rights, 76.6% say men and women should have equal rights, but only 55.5 % say women can be syariah court judges.

On suicide bombing, 62.1% say it is the wrong action for Muslims, 11.6% describe it as syahid or martyrdom, and 24.8% choose "don't know".

Some of Dr Martinez's conclusions:

"This (the survey) shows that Muslims have come to terms with the reality of a multi-religious Malaysia. We may not eat together at the same table, but it does not mean that we hate each other".

"Polarisation is a problem, but there is a big difference between polarisation and not being able to live with one another".

The survey indicated that increased religiosity does not necessarily make people fanatical or intolerant. While Malaysian Muslims have become more religious, they have also remained pragmatic and open.

Interestingly, I have not been able to ascertain if the mainstream English papers in Malaysia have reports on this survey. I checked the New Straits Times website this morning, but there was no coverage of the survey.

[EdLam]

Those days when we were struggling for our indepence..I believe it was MALAYSIA 1st..thus, because of this..we are all UNITED! No mention of anything else...just MALAYSIA! We will soon forget this..if we start to give importance and priority to different areas. Our own "demons" will destroy ourself if we forget how we become "MALAYSIA".

[pcyeoh]

On suicide bombing, 62.1% say it is the wrong action for Muslims, 11.6% describe it as syahid or martyrdom, and 24.8% choose "don't know".

I don't care about the responses to the other questions but am shocked to see that there are still 11.6% of the Muslims who think it is OK to do so under the reason of martyrdom. When one sets off a bomb, what guarantee that it will not kill innocent people as well who are also God's creation?

[Sato]

I don't care about the responses to the other questions but am shocked to see that there are still 11.6% of the Muslims who think it is OK to do so under the reason of martyrdom. When one sets off a bomb, what guarantee that it will not kill innocent people as well who are also God's creation?

what do u know? they might say its the act of the God to create the good one and the bad one. The bad one action like martydom is to balance the too many goodness in this world

[joker2107]

hullo hullo, u all remember the story of the passenger who despised being seated beside another passenger whom she slighted as profoundly inferior to herself? the story ended with the planes captain escorting the "inferior being" to the first class cabin to the applause of all the other passengers and crew.

back to suicide bombers and martyrdom. of course there is martyrdom in suicide bombings. the Good Lord will be waiting with loving arms wide open to receive the innocent victims while HE dispatches lucifer to lead those who viciously destroyed HIS creations to the fires of eternal hell.

[AllUrban]

um....how come when I mentioned this survey in an earlier thread (about 2-3 weeks ago) there was almost no response?

Was it because of the title? Because I was thinking positively? Because it was posted by myself and not Sir Galahad2010? How completely strange.....

hahahaha I think Im feeling slighted

Cheers, m

ps. the whole "muslims first" concept can have three main causes...

*Malay cultural and religious identity coming increasingly close together
*Malay social and cultural identity being absorbed by more Malaysians
*The fact that religious identity can be stronger than national identity, and muslims generally feel a "siege mentality" these days.

ps there is a very interesting comment by Haroon Siddiqui called the Muslim Malaise which has a connection to Malaysia.

for another view on the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, see what some bedouin have to say.

m

[pcyeoh]

um....how come when I mentioned this survey in an earlier thread (about 2-3 weeks ago) there was almost no response?

Was it because of the title? Because I was thinking positively? Because it was posted by myself and not Sir Galahad2010? How completely strange.....

hahahaha I think Im feeling slighted

Cheers, m

"Thumbs up to living in Malaysian diversity " versus "Muslims first, Malaysians second?" Which title would you read further???

Well AllUrban my friend, I think it is the title that made me jump into the posting by Sir Galahad2010 as it caught my eyes and breaks my heart and at the same time stirred my emotion. Nothing to do with the person. Yours sound like it is dealing in sociology which is rather a dry subject whereas Sir Galahad2010's one sound very political and controversial and this draw different response.

[bugbear]

I don't know how you define martyrdom but in my book it is not what those bomb straping people are going about doing. It is about defending God's principle and ideals against the enemies at the pain of dead. For example: If someone points a gun at your head and ask you if you believe in your God and if you say yes, he would shoot you dead. If i say yes, then I died a martyr defending my believe in God. What those bomb straping people is doing cannot be deem as being a martyr but as agents of dead and terror. The God that I believe in is a loving God who does not condone such thing.

[AllUrban]

"Thumbs up to living in Malaysian diversity " versus "Muslims first, Malaysians second?" Which title would you read further???

Well AllUrban my friend, I think it is the title that made me jump into the posting by Sir Galahad2010 as it caught my eyes and breaks my heart and at the same time stirred my emotion. Nothing to do with the person. Yours sound like it is dealing in sociology which is rather a dry subject whereas Sir Galahad2010's one sound very political and controversial and this draw different response.

Hmmmm....good point...something to consider.

I guess that I should work on creating effective titles for threads and postings.

Um...KWChang, what do you think? Merge the two threads on this survey?

....Oh, and advice, ples...should I work on thread titles? Can I change the title for that thread? I worry about being too sensational, after all, the DPM has warned all media (even innocent ones like usj.com.my) to be careful about sensationalizing things

Ok, back to that survey...It's interesting that the Malaysian article seems to have a positive view while the Singaporean article takes the negative view...whats up with that?

Cheers, m

[aimless]

Ok, back to that survey...It's interesting that the Malaysian article seems to have a positive view while the Singaporean article takes the negative view...whats up with that?

Cheers, m

err... which singaporean article was this again?

[kwchang]

....Oh, and advice, ples...should I work on thread titles? Can I change the title for that thread? I worry about being too sensational, after all, the DPM has warned all media (even innocent ones like usj.com.my) to be careful about sensationalizing things

You have answered your own question, Thank you.

[AllUrban]

err... which singaporean article was this again?

the one in The Straits Times, that SG2010 mentioned...no link given tho

Cheers, m

[aimless]

the one in The Straits Times, that SG2010 mentioned...no link given tho

Cheers, m

thanks! sorry, i overlooked that! must try to look up the article... lazy though...

[uchangeng]

Our PM has decided that non-Muslim should no longer be allowed to preach to Muslim and that Muslim is not allowed to participate in any form of inter-religious activities. Door is shut!

I am sure the PM has reached this decision based on the current socio-economic and politiko situation. We are not ready, faith not strong enough to withstand the challange.

For we know that being a mortals and dare to decree that this man-made law be imposed on his fellow man stand to shoulder a very heavy responsibility unimaginable. The repercussion and the consequences will be far reaching even to eternity.

What happen if one day this is found to be not in favour with the God, that it was WRONG in HIS eyes to prevent one human from listening to the words? The mortals who has, through his earthly political authorities, stopped and deprived millions of his fellow men from listening to the words has sin. Can the man who give the tall order stand before God to answer HIS wrath?

[sirgalahad2010]

I am not sure I see the connection with my original post.

It's a question of how you want to look at the results of Prof Martinez's survey. Statistics can be interpreted any which way one wants.

I would be inclined, based on personal experience, to say that Malaysians, by and large, are tolerant and easy to get along with (as long as the niceties are respected, which is the same anywhere else in the world).

And I would venture to say that the US concept of absolute "freedom of religion" needs to be taken in context. It needs the learned minds of Islam (the scholars and the experts in Islamic jurisprudence) to decide the issue.

Incidentally, the Spore Straits Times carried a letter "Race counts against new citizen when renting house" in its Forum page today. The writer, an Indian born in Mauritius, whose wife is French, became a Spore citizen 2 years ago. When he tried to look for an apartment to rent, he "realised that my skin colour and race did matter to the majority of Singaporeans". When he called people who had apartments for rent, the dialogue was always similar:

Mr X: "Hi, my name is xxxxxx and I am interested in renting your house for $X."
Landlord: "What is your race? We don't rent to Indians."

When he tried, using his wife's name, all the landlords replied: "Ang mohs, can. No problem, lah."

And the comment by his real estate agent: "most Chinese landlords prefer tenants in this order: Ang mohs, Chinese, Malays, Indians."

The writer concluded his letter by asking: "Should there not be a law to stop such discrimination?"

I am sure the response will be: "It's a free market out there. Willing seller, willing buyer."