Friday, December 14, 2007

BEING TYPICAL?

“Dying for Freedom is nobler than living in The shadow of weak submission, for He who embraces death with the sword Of Truth in his hand will eternalize With the Eternity of Truth, for Life Is weaker than Death and Death is Weaker than Truth”.-Kahlil Gibran.

Life is not always fine and dandy…I know that my recent activities and postings have been classified as “serious” by certain individuals. I have not changed. It has always been me all along. My housemates (and not forgetting nad) can confirm on this.

Last week crackdown on peaceful march to celebrate international human rights day has a real big impact on me and my comprehension on what I believe in. it’s a sad fact that justification is longer based on justified reasons (talking about doing something for the right, justified, and legal (the legality of law is important as we are capable of having unjust law too) reasons). Superficiality and arrogance have transcended sacred values of justice.

When we speak so much of justice, it’s as if we speak of bombing the whole world. When we speak so much of justice, it’s as if we are going against the government. When we speak so much of justice, it’s as if it is so alien to us that it is never revealed by God in the Holy Quran and other Divine Scriptures.

Again, perception is the real issue here. To be more precise, understanding which is resulted from the process of proper deliberation, through a process called education or in brief, the antipode of ignorance. Education is not only confined to going to schools, colleges or universities, it’s more of a process of liberating your inner self from ignorance by searching for the truth, and the closest source that you can access to in the history of humankind is religion.

“Be practical, idealism won’t work!change won’t happen overnight”-only God knows how often these words are uttered these days…I respect the concern and it’s a true contention that change can never take place overnight…so does human perception! The struggle to educate the people is never and has never been a walk in the park…

As day passes by, being fooled by our own definition of a civilized country, we will be surprised that a lot of people still do not comprehend the basic principle of justice hence these typical statements:

1) “ why do lawyers represent these criminals, it’s for sure they are bad people”- the misunderstood principle : one is presumed innocent until proven guilty (concept of justice under criminal law)

2) “when we say/criticize/against something that is inconsistent with the current ruling system, we are deemed to go against the government – the misunderstood principle : there is no superior authority over any individual except God (by Syed Qutb on social justice in Islam)- (the core principle of a democratic system)-we ARE against the system, NOT the government!

3) “illegal assembly”- the misunderstood principle: Article 10 of Federal Constitution affirms the right to PEACEFULLY assemble, therefore the requirement for permit under Police Act is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Period!(you can make reference to the statement issued by SUHAKAM on this issue—when the PM said no one is above the law, it must also mean that the Government must not also be above the law. The second misunderstood principle: “Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is informed of what ye do”. (Sourat al Ma'eda, 8).3

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