opinion

Jakim, we’re not your enemy

Hafidz Baharom

The Islamic Development Agency (Jakim) has now decided that liberals, pluralists and even the lesbian, transgender, bisexual and gay (LGBT) community can be radicalised and become a threat to the nation. This isn't exactly new, considering even the prime minister had said that LGBTs, liberals and pluralists are "enemies of Islam" .

I have that seared in my brain because I happened to have covered that news when I used to work with The Malaysian Insider as a reporter previously.

I will say this rather openly as a liberal gay man – in case some still haven't a clue that I am in fact a homosexual – I think the liberal part is much more obvious.

Liberals, pluralists and gays are not a threat to the state.

If a proverbial radical Muslim preacher had tried to convince the LGBT community that they would be greeted by virgins in the afterlife? We would probably balk, laugh it off and politely sashay away in our quest to reach the end of the rainbow.

Or just open Grindr and look busy.

And even if there was a gay bomber out there, I am sure the worst he would do is fill Datuk Seri Puad Zarkashi's mailbox with glitter.

We are not the enemy of Islam, either. We don't badmouth the religion. In fact, we are more critical of shoes, wardrobes and also whenever someone doesn't use a coaster to put their condensating glass on a table.

All the above, and when Pavillion becomes overcrowded during the weekends.

The only time we do suddenly become bitchy about religion is when Jakim's so-called researchers accuse us of being radical. Otherwise, we would just watch My Little Pony on Netflix.

We don't even restrain people to their beds and make them miss Friday prayers. Unless, of course, they were consensually into kink.

I think I'm laying the sarcasm thick enough to get through to most people here.

So here is the thing.

What the liberals, pluralists and members of the LGBT community want most of all is to live their lives in peace.

We will pay taxes more than anyone else since we can't claim the rebates for households with kids, work for a living, pay ridiculous amounts of money for alcohol, designer goods, food at hipster cafes and even enjoy a musical theatre or two.

We will listen to women complain about their husbands, become the co-conspirators in a backstabbing session with them and even help their husbands and boyfriends shop and get a makeover.

What we don't do is preach hatred about other races nor do we threaten violence against the entire nation via suicide bombings and terrorist attacks. The only "gun" we constantly shoot, is limited to the bedroom.

Unless, of course, some of us are into kink, again.

So, how are we a threat to the nation?

Pluralists, liberals and the LGBT are not influenced by religious dogma of any kind. They are not tempted by fanatical beliefs. In fact, most of the time they are the targets of such belief on a global scale.

You don't read the news of how the Islamic State (Isis) is throwing kids from a tahfiz off the roof of buildings in Syria. Nor do you hear gay people suddenly using religion to justify killing their mothers under sharia law.

A few weeks back I wrote how Jakim can work towards undoing the Isis recruitment propaganda that is currently growing in the Asean region. Yet, for some reason, Jakim believes that this terrorist organisation are not as worthy of their RM1 billion budgeted attention.

No, they would rather change the topic and focus on the minority to be made bogeymen in order to take people's minds away from the fact that we have more Malaysians supporting a terrorist organisation than Indian Malaysians in the country.

And the worst of it all is that nobody in the government dares to openly tell them that maybe they're focusing on the wrong thing here. Maybe they should be looking at who are the radical organisations preaching support for Isis.

Maybe they should be preaching non-violence from the pulpit for sermons on Fridays?

Maybe an anti-terrorism fatwa is the way to go?

Of course, we know that this is all about politics – instilling fear in bogeymen to not create a panic that some of their neighbours could one day go to a mall and blow themselves up in the name of God in order to establish an Islamic-governed nation in this country.

This does not justify Jakim's actions of not addressing a security threat which uses religion as a medium of recruiting zealots for violent threats.

The fact that Jakim insists on going after people who vape, who practice consensual safe fornication, who have differing genders and sexual orientations, who don't believe in Islam and don't speak against it – is downright criminal.

And what if Malaysia – God forbid – does become the victim of a religiously indoctrinated terror attack?

Then any justification of Jakim's RM1 billion existence goes up in the same gory suicide bomber explosion. – February 2, 2016.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer, organisation or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.