Pertahan Prinsip Keluhuran Beragama dan Menyanggah Faham Melampau

KENYATAAN MEDIA
6 JUN 2011

Kita menyedari agama Islam mempunyai kedudukan yang unik di negara ini dan di rantau Asia Tenggara. Peranan mubaligh yang menerapkan pesan Islam secara aman dan berperingkat telah berupaya membentuk weltanschauung umat Islam yang terbuka dan toleran (tasamuh) terhadap kemajmukan budaya. Islam juga telah berperanan merungkai minda umat Melayu yang sebelumnya berasaskan mitos serta tahyul kepada pemikiran yang rasional yang sejajar pula dengan pesan- pesan Al Quran.

Agama Islam merupakan agama yang menjunjung prinsip Keadilan, cintakan keamanan, menghormati hak penganutnya dan juga hak penganut agama lain untuk mengamalkan kepercayaan mereka. Prinsip utama syariah yang dikenali sebagai maqasid syariah merumuskan bahawa adalah satu keutamaan untuk melindungi agama, nyawa, keturunan, aqal, harta dan maruah.

Makanya berteraskan kefahaman Islam yang tepat, penghayatan agama yang tuntas oleh umat Islam untuk memastikan cara hidup yang berintegriti. Umat Islam yang mahu memenuhi maksud ihsan dan keadilan sebagaimana yang sering dianjurkan pastinya menolak penindasan, rasuah serte segala bentuk penyelewengan. Oleh itu tidak hairanlah ramai dari kalangan umat Islam kesal dengan sikap pimpinan Umno serta media kongkongannya yang tidak konsisten dalam penghayatan agamanya. Apatah lagi rasuah dan penyelewengan kuasa masih berleluasa.

Mutakhir ini, ada pimpinan Umno dan media yang dimilikinya mencuba menggugat keamanan antara penganut agama di Malaysia dengan retorika perkauman sempit yang tajam, dangkal dan tidak berasaskan prinsip Keadilan sebagaimana dianjurkan Islam. Upaya mereka semata mata mahu menakut-menakutkan umat Islam serta menimbulkan prasangka antara kita.

Kita kesal kerana retorika serta propaganda pimpinan Umno dan media yang dimilikinya hanya membantutkan usaha baik dari kalangan kita demi memenuhi maksud pesan Li ta’arafu, iaitu berusaha kenal mengenali antara kita yang berbeza kepercayaan dan budaya.

Dengan nada yang sama maka kami juga ingin menyanggah kecenderungan sebahagian yang menyarankan faham melampau di kalangan penganut agama mereka tanpa menghiraukan sensitiviti umat Islam di negara ini.
Maka kepada wakil wakil badan Islam serta agama agama Buddha, Kristian, Hindu dan lainnya, kami ingin mengulangi komitmen mempertahankan prinsip keluhuran hidup beragama yang termaktub dalam Perkara 3, Perlembagaan Persekutuan.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

Tuhan dan saya

Apakah ada sebarang agenda tersembunyi apabila “Tuhan” ditukar kepada “tuhan”?
COMMENT

Sejak kecil, saya mengenali Rukun Negara yang diperkenalkan pada tahun 1970, iaitu berikutan Peristiwa Berdarah 13 Mei 1969. Saya membesar bersama-sama kelima-lima prinsip yang terkandung dalam Rukun Negara.

Prinsip pertama Rukun Negara adalah “Kepercayaan kepada Tuhan” dan setiap rakyat Malaysia mengetahui perkara ini.

Begitu juga dengan lagu Negaraku yang saya kenali, hafaz dan hayati sejak kecil. Antara lirik dalam Negaraku adalah “Rahmat bahagia Tuhan kurniakan” dan setiap rakyat Malaysia pasti sudah hafaz lirik ini.

Bagaimanapun, pada 16 Mac 2011, saya mendapat satu kejutan besar dan tamparan hebat apabila dimaklumkan bahawa penggunaan istilah “Tuhan” sebagai kata nama khas – dengan “T” huruf besar – hanya boleh digunakan apabila merujuk kepada konsep ketuhanan dalam agama Islam!

Perkara ini tentu sahaja segera mengingatkan saya kepada apa yang berlaku pada tahun 1999 di mana pihak tertentu di Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) cuba menafikan hak saya menggunakan istilah “Bahasa Malaysia” apabila merujuk pada bahasa kebangsaan dan bahasa rasmi negara ini.

Umum mengetahui bahawa istilah “Bahasa Malaysia” diperkenalkan pada tahun 1970; juga berikutan rasa tidak puas hati sebahagian penduduk sejak 1967 dan khususnya selepas Pilihan Raya Umum 1969 yang turut membawa kepada Peristiwa Berdarah 13 Mei.

Pada Mei 2007, kabinet memutuskan penggunaan istilah “Bahasa Malaysia” secara sah apabila merujuk pada bahasa kebangsaan. Namun, tentulah ada pihak yang terus tidak berpuas hati dan tetap menafikan kewujudan istilah “Bahasa Malaysia”.

Dalam isu penggunaan istilah “Tuhan” pula, saya benar-benar terkejut apabila diberitahu pada 16 Mac 2011 di Aras 3, Menara Parlimen bahawa kata nama khas “Tuhan” hanya boleh digunakan oleh penganut agama Islam apabila merujuk kepada Allah.

Manakala, kononnya, kata nama am “tuhan” perlu digunakan apabila merujuk pada konsep ketuhanan agama-agama lain! Saya tidak pernah tahu bahawa diskriminasi seperti ini wujud di negara ini di mana hak beragama dijamin dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan.

Pendedahan yang memeranjatkan itu dibuat apabila tiga wakil kaum India dalam Panel Bebas Mengkaji Pindaan Novel Interlok Edisi Murid mahu supaya istilah “Tuhan” tidak diubah menjadi “tuhan” dalam novel edisi murid; apatah lagi memandangkan Sasterawan Negara Datuk Abdullah Hussain selaku pengarang memang menggunakan istilah “Tuhan” (kata nama khas) dalam novel asal.

Agenda tersembunyi?

Sesiapa yang membaca (atau terbaca; terpaksa membaca) novel Interlok edisi murid (DBP: 2010) pasti menyedari bahawa kata nama khas “Tuhan” digunakan apabila dituturkan atau difikirkan oleh watak Melayu-Islam.

Sebaliknya, apabila diucapkan atau difikirkan oleh watak bukan Melayu-Islam, maka kata nama am “tuhan” digunakan.

Mengapa? Pertama, mungkin ada agenda tersembunyi untuk “melemahkan” pegangan agama dan hak/kebebasan beragama yang sebenarnya dilindungi dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan.

Kedua, mungkin ada agenda tersembunyi untuk mempengaruhi orang ramai (Bangsa Malaysia) bahawa ada lebih daripada satu Tuhan; iaitu ada “Tuhan” dan ada juga “tuhan”. Sekali gus menggugat keimanan dan kepercayaan kepada Tuhan Yang Maha Esa.

Dalam pada itu, sejak kecil, saya menyedari kewujudan Tuhan – walau apa pun nama yang diberikan kepada-Nya. Dalam senyap, saya mengakui Tuhan Maha Kuasa dan Tuhan Maha Esa. Tanpa perlu bising-bising dan tanpa perlu menunjuk-nunjuk.

Tuhan Maha Pengasih dan Tuhan Maha Mengetahui. Tuhan memutuskan untuk melahirkan saya sebagai manusia beragama Hindu. Diciptakan-Nya saya daripada lima unsur alam – api, tanah, air, angin dan angkasa – dan ditiupkan-Nya atma (roh) ke dalam ciptaan-Nya.

Maka, mati saya nanti sebagai manusia beragama Hindu; tubuh dikembalikan kepada lima unsur alam – api, tanah, air, angin dan angkasa – dan atma kembali kepada Pencipta. Hanya Tuhan yang boleh mengubah ketetapan ini; jika demikianlah dikehendaki-Nya.

Saya bukan seorang penganut agama yang ceremonial. Saya tidak terikut-ikut melakukan apa-apa upacara atau perlakuan yang sifatnya ceremonial dan tidak dituntut Tuhan.

Pada ruangan “Religious Views” di Facebook, saya catatkan begini: Hindu inter-faith.

Saya yakin, Tuhan yang memutuskan untuk menghantar saya ke muka Bumi sebagai manusia beragama Hindu sesungguhnya melahirkan manusia dalam kepelbagaian dan perbezaan untuk membolehkan manusia yang pelbagai dan berbeza-beza ini saling mengenali, memahami, menghormati, menerima dan mengasihi. Apatah lagi di negara bertuah ini.

Maka, selain daripada ajaran sebenar dan sejarah agama Hindu, minda dan hati saya turut terbuka untuk menerima ajaran sebenar dan sejarah pelbagai agama, anutan dan kepercayaan yang semuanya menjurus kepada kebaikan. Saya yakin, demikianlah dikehendaki Tuhan.

Terus terang, saya tidak pernah “mencari” Tuhan kerana Dia sudah sentiasa berada dalam atma saya, di sekeliling saya; di mana-mana. Tidak perlu ada perantara (medium atau pun orang tengah) untuk saya berhubung dengan-Nya.

Saya tidak mahu mewujudkan pengantara (apa-apa yang memisahkan) dengan melakukan apa-apa upacara atau perlakuan yang sifatnya ceremonial dan tidak dituntut Tuhan.

Jika mahu mempersoalkan pegangan saya dalam hal-hal ini, tidaklah wajar bertanya kepada saya. Ilmu saya tidak cukup tinggi untuk mampu menjelaskannya.

Tidak perlu perantara

Bertanyalah terus kepada Tuhan. Tidak perlu ada perantara.


Namun, dalam soal penggunaan istilah “Tuhan”, jangan ada pihak yang cuba bermain api dengan mengatakan hanya kata nama am “tuhan” boleh digunakan apabila merujuk pada konsep ketuhanan dalam agama-agama selain Islam.

Pada 16 Mac 2011, saya diberitahu oleh beberapa individu dalam Panel Bebas bahawa jika wakil kaum India mahu mengekalkan penggunaan kata nama khas “Tuhan” dalam novel Interlok edisi murid, maka perlu dirujuk kepada Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim).

Tentu sahaja semua itu amat menghairankan bagi saya sebagai seorang pengamal budaya India dan agama Hindu kerana dalam budaya India-Hindu, tidak ada diskriminasi dan amalan memandang rendah terhadap konsep ketuhanan dalam budaya/agama lain.

Malah, dalam pembacaan dan kajian saya terhadap pelbagai agama dunia, tidak pernah ada diskriminasi seperti ini.

Maka, saya tertanya-tanya: Dari mana datangnya segala hukum-hakam berbentuk penindasan seperti ini di negara bertuah ini?

Uthaya Sankar SB akan menyertai Konvoi II Ke Rumah Ibadat pada 2 Mei 2011. Maklumat lanjut di www.kavyan.blogspot.com

Legitimate queries from budding rights advocate

The various punitive measures instituted by SMK Vivekananda authorities against budding human rights advocate Nicol Paul Miranda, 17, doesn’t quite tally with the promotion of critical and creative thinking skills in our schools. The Education Ministry calls it KBKK or Kemahiran Berfikir Secara Kritis dan Kreatif. All the more so when Miranda didn’t cross the lines of reason and decency.

Miranda, who left the school in Brickfields last year after his SPM, has been denied his trial exam results and school leaving certificate. Pending the release of the SPM results, the trial exam results can be used to enter college. Needless to say, one needs the school leaving certificate as well.

He has gone through at least two periods of suspensions just before leaving school. His mother, it has been alleged, was almost physically harmed by the school authorities when she turned up to query his suspensions. Are the school authorities the products of the racist Biro Tata Negara (BTN)?

To add insult to injury, the school has lodged police reports against the student at the Bukit Aman headquarters and at the Brickfields police station.

Surely, these are dangerous precedents which the Education Minister should seriously re-consider or step aside to help de-politicise our politics. If the Education Ministry can be scrapped and replaced by an Education Commission appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, it would be so much the better for our children, youths and the country.

Miranda’s troubles began because he had the temerity to query why we are still celebrating independence when we have not evolved beyond the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) which has had the country in a vice-like grip for the last 54 years. Independence, in the youngster’s view, must mean the freedom to change the government on a regular basis.

Obviously, this has not been happening because the powers that be have been single-mindedly engaged in the destruction of the political opposition for much of the last 54 years. This has been pursued through various ways and means.

Bullying efforts

In the early years of independence, and for many decades after that, the Internal Security Act (ISA) was used to muzzle, terrorise and intimidate the political opposition into submission. Detention under the ISA was a logical follow-up to the constant monitoring and bullying efforts of the Special Branch which has since degenerated, along with the police and other government departments and agencies, into being yet another member of the BN.

Many political parties, for good measure, were deregistered when infiltrating and creating trouble through agent provocateurs didn’t work. The Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) was deregistered after nearly a quarter-century of existence as a breakaway from the Sarawak National Party (SNAP). SNAP was also subsequently deregistered and kicked out of the Sarawak BN but the courts have since given it a new lease of life.

Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), which claims to represent 20,000 ex-PBDS members, was also nearly deregistered in 2008 but a political decision by then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi saved its hide.

Some 100,000 ex-PBDS members have been denied the opportunity to register the Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC). They have since returned to SNAP which is now making waves in the opposition in Sarawak and giving Chief Minister and Putrajaya’s proxy Abdul Taib Mahmud sleepless nights.

The Dayaks, the majority community in Sarawak, have been chopped up among four political parties in the state BN, that is, one Muslim-led, another Chinese-led and two Dayak-led. The Muslims, meanwhile, are all in one political party as is the case with the Chinese. While the Dayaks in the Muslim-based party, Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), add to the strength of the Muslims, the Dayaks are politically weakened to a similar extent. It’s the same scenario confronting the Dayaks in the Chinese-based Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP).

In Sabah and Sarawak, the perennial question is whether the two states became independent at the same time as Singapore in 1965. The question arises because the definition of Federation in the Federal Constitution post-1965 is according to the 1957 Federation of Malaya and not the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and Federation of Malaysia.

All these provide food for thought and legitimate queries from students like Miranda who are obviously the product of the KBKK programme in our schools.

Miranda has also raised the interesting question of why we should swear by the Rukun Negara (National Philosophy). This sin was also included in the two police reports against him and the suspensions and other punitive measures meted out to him.

Miranda thinks that no one should be forced to swear loyalty to King and country. He has a point here but only if the King and country are not loyal to a citizen. This appears to be the case most of the time. Loyalty is not a one-way process but one that should work both ways. No one should be loyal to anyone who is not loyal to him or her.

Long struggle

Nowadays, many people are not loyal even if you are loyal to them. This is the case with companies suffering, with workers prone to job-hopping. They are wiling to cross the street to another company at the drop of a hat or merely for just a few more measly ringgit in their pockets.

Tenet number one in the Rukun Negara – Belief in God – is a no-no with Miranda, and with good reasons too.

He queries the tenet when the authorities are busy demolishing places of worship and denying people permission to build new places to carry out their obligations to their faith. There need be no argument on this.

One example is the only Catholic Church in Shah Alam which was denied planning and building permission. The authorities relented after a long struggle of over 20 years and this included many court battles. Finally, when permission was granted, construction was halted mid-way and the church was forced to move to another site in the industrial estate. Here, the church has not been allowed to look like a church on the outside but like the other factories in the area. In Russia, the churches look like “mosques” on the outside.

Orang Asli churches have been demolished routinely by the authorities under one pretext or another. In one case, a court surprisingly ruled in favour of an Orang Asli church which had been demolished.

In Selangor, recently, a 150-year Hindu temple was asked unceremoniously to move out because the entire neighbourhood had become majority Muslim since independence. Who came first? The temple or the residents? The temple first began as an isolated structure in a rubber estate.

Umno even staged demonstrations over the new site for the temple and this went to the extent of some people stomping on the head of a cow, considered sacred to the Hindus because of the huge life-giving role it plays in the economy of rural India.

In Kudat, Sabah, construction was halted on the building of a statue to Mazu – the Goddess of the Sea – after the court of appeal threw a spanner in the works.

The same court threw a similar spanner into the case of Everest hero M Moorthy over his “conversion” to Islam on his death-bed. History books will now no doubt record that the first Malaysian up Mount Everest was a “Malay”.

So, Miranda and many others like him can be forgiven for being more than cynical over the Rukun Negara and the need to celebrate independence. The Malaysians in Sabah and Sarawak are even being told that they have been independent since 1957, as part of the Federation of Malaya – and now masquerading as the Federation of Malaysia – and not since 1963 as the Federation of Malaysia. This is a new twist on history.

‘Inquiry mind’ student: ‘Claims not true’

SMK Vivekananda denies it is holding back Nicol Paul Miranda's school leaving certificate.

KUALA LUMPUR: A school in Brickfields here today refuted claims that it held back the school leaving certificate of a 17-year-old student who questioned the “celebration of independence” and the tenets in the Rukunegara.
“We will normally give the school leaving certificate when students come to collect their SPM results in March,” senior staff in SMK Vivekananda said.
They were commenting on a FMT report on Wednesday that the student, Nicol Paul Miranda, had complained that the school threatened not to release his school leaving certificate over his remarks. The certificate is a requirement to further his tertiary education.
Nicol, a Form Five student, has since left SMK Vivekananda after his SPM.
The staff also revealed that Nicol was suspended for three days after he used sensitive words about the Rukunegara in his answer sheet for his SPM trial exam.
They said that other disciplinary problems include coming to school without shaving his moustache and beard.
He also liked to wear sweater to school most of the time, they added.

“He wrote his own views and didn’t answer the questions,” said one of the senior staff who allowed FMT to see Nicol’s answer sheets.
Nicol wrote in his answer sheet: “Rukunegara tak guna… (Rukunegara is useless).”
‘Provocative answer’
On claims that teachers almost harmed his mother, one of the staff said that Nicol’s mother came to the school after Nicol was suspended and shouted at the school headmistress and a teacher for about an hour.
“Normally parents come to school to appeal against suspension. Nicol’s mother was shouting very loudly at us,” he said.
According to the staff, the mother told them that her son should be allowed to answer the questions as he wished.
Subsequently, it was reported that the teachers lodged a police report against Nicol.
The report was related to Nicol’s answer in the Civics paper that was construed as “provocations that may harm racial harmony”.
After consulting with the Federal Territory Education Department, the school considered Nicol to have breached the “discipline rule book”.
“Our conscience is clear. We did our jobs as educators,” the school staff said.
They said that on her second visit, Nicol’s mother came with an aide to Lembah Pantai MP, Nurul Izzah Anwar, but was quiet.
The aide reprimanded Nicol for not answering the questions as required, they added.
They also denied that the school lodged a report against Nicol at Bukit Aman.
The staff also alleged that Nicol had tarnished the school’s good name by writing negative remarks about it on his Facebook.
On Jan 16, his Facebook carried this entry:
“Plz (please) spread the word of SMKV’s standard to all who are planning to send their child there…”

School reports student with ‘inquiring mind’ to police

A 17-year-old teenager's future is in jeopardy because he questioned the principles of the Rukunegara.

SUBANG JAYA: Teachers in a school in Brickfields have allegedly lodged a police report against a 17-year-old student who questioned the ‘celebration of independence’ and the tenets in the Rukunegara.

Nicol Paul Miranda, an ordinary Form Five student, who has since been suspended from SMK Vivekananda, said the school is also threatening not to release his school leaving certificate which is a requirement to further his tertiary education.

Relating the reasons for his suspension, Nicol said: “I questioned why are we celebrating independence when our democracy has not evolved. It is still under the BN regime.”

He said his second brush with the authorities took place via his Civics answer sheet for the SPM trials.

The question was on the pros of Rukunegara.

“I questioned why we needed to recite the Rukunegara’s first principle, Believe in God when places of worship are being demolished.

“I also questioned the second principle, Loyalty to the King and Country because it is not right to force an individual to be loyal,” he told newsmen at PKR’s ‘Tweet-Up’ function yesterday,.

As a result, his trial exam results were not released. He was further suspended for three days.

Nicol also claimed that the discipline teachers at his school almost harmed his mother when she went there to query his suspension.

“They (school) have also lodged a police report against me in Bukit Aman and Brickfields,” added Nicol who is currently working with a Malaysian NGO on human rights issues.

Lembah Pantai MP, Nurul Izzah Anwar who was also present at the function assured Nicol that she would raise the matter with the relevant authorities.