Of good conscience

It’s rather funny how I keep typoing temple as mosque. I guess I can still remember how places like the Shah Alam Church of Divine Mercy was in limbo for nearly twenty years due to short-sighted policy.

Recently, there was a protest by a group of people who protested against the building of a temple in their housing area. Calling themselves Muslims, they gave us their true colours by doing things no right-thinking, rational and truly faithful Muslims would do:

    They preached hate and intolerance in the holy month of Ramadhan al-Mubarak.
    They marched full of hate, RIGHT AFTER Friday Prayers.
    Some spat on the head of the cow, looking mighty proud as they did so.

Any of these, I was told, is enough to batal puasa, or in English, cancel their fasting in the month of Ramadhan. To do all three shows a very misguuided attempt at perserving their faith (someone told me that Malaysia is the only country where you have laws protecting the rights of the MAJORITY).

Of course, most Selangor citizens, including me, see this as another attempt.

It is an attempt to sow instability in Selangor, prompting the takeover of the state la Perak by Barisan Nasional. When you attack a place like Shah Alam, considered to be the heart of Islam in the state, then this gives the whole incident an ugly, racist slant. I say racist because there is a strong undercurrent of racism hidden within this incident.

Something, I am very proud to say, that Selangor citizens are not rising to the bait.

Perak, most say, was the “experiment.” It was a percursor to the eventual downfall of Selangor. Why Selangor?

We are the richest state in the country, and are seen as the most Urban with Penang. Unlike Penang, BN has never lost this state until March 2008.

That galls them greatly.

So, they’re trying to get Selangor back into their grubby, greasy hands.

To that, a quick check with my fellow Selangor voters show we all have the same thought.

STAY OUT OF OUR STATE BARISAN NASIONAL.

We voted for Pakatan Rakyat, not you. And even with people like Zulkfli Nordin spouting his bigoted view on Islam and lack of common sense Dr Hasan Ali, I prefer this Selangor compared to the corruption-filled one of Khir Toyo(l).

Both the above PAS members have a right to say what they want to say and to show off their views. That’s their right to freedom of speech.

Me, I have the right to vote them out of office.

As John Ling points out, despite the bad reputation for what they say, at least the Pakatan Rakyat reps can defend and CONVERSE intelligently about issues close to their heart. They, I believe, take time to keep themselves updated and understand the issues at hand.

(At this point, I’ll admit that even though Zulkfli Noordin turns my stomach, his argument for fundamentalism in this country actually has SOME logic to it. And he’s tried to appeal to actual logic, not “its-only-in-my-dreams” kind of logic BN reps are so prone to espouse).

Voters are not forgetting, Barisan. I know I do not. A few years ago, I told myself that I would vote State Oppposition, Federal Barisan, as I believe in Chew Mei Fun who was the Federal Rep for my area and I didn’t like Wong Sai Hou, the State Rep.

Then this happened. My votes immediately went to the Opposition. More than anything, this proves that voters remember, and FORGETTING IS NOT AN OPTION.

Also, side note to Selangor PR: Buck up, will you? The road in front of my house has not been tarred for 15 years, since I moved there.