Jaclyn Victor insulted Islam

WHAT is a queen’s court without a jester? What is a village without an idiot? And what is Malaysia without Perkasa?

Our beloved Bumiputera-rights organization is in the limelight yet again, and this time with yet another outrageous claim.

In its latest bid to further affirm the fact that they are an organization that should just be disbanded for violating the simple laws of logic, Perkasa is calling for a blanket boycott of singer Jaclyn Victor. They insist that they do not want an apology from her, but are instead urging Malaysians, particularly Muslims, to boycott the multiple award-winning singer.

The reason? She had “insulted” Islam.

Perkasa secretary-general, Syed Hassan Syed Ali, in a statement yesterday, condemned Jaclyn and her song Harapan Bangsa. The song was uploaded on YouTube on Jan 3,2012 and contains religious references pertaining to Christianity.

According to Perkasa, both Jaclyn and the songwriter have been insensitive and disrespectful to non-Christians in the country. This was based on the lyrics of the song, which was in Bahasa Malaysia. One line reads, “Bapa, engkaulah harapan negara ini”.

Now, Syed Hassan believes that this is a clear insult to Islam as the country’s official religion.

Another line reads, “Yesus engkau lah harapan segala bangsa.” Perkasa questioned why the lyrics were written that way considering Muslims
have never worshipped Jesus.

I have one thing to say to Syed Hassan with regards to that. If Muslims don’t worship Jesus, does that mean we should label those who do as insulting us?

In any case, that is the background story to this latest debacle.

One question comes to mind. Would Perkasa have made a fuss if the song was written in English instead of Bahasa Malaysia? Or what if the lyrics were in Hokkien? Or Tamil? Or Klingon for that matter? Same meaning, same content, but not in Bahasa Malaysia. Would Syed Hassan
have issued a statement saying the song was an insult to Islam? I would like to think if the song was in Klingon, Syed Hassan would come out and say it’s an insult to Spock. But I digress.

Back to the matter at hand, this situation begs yet another question.

Why does Perkasa think the song is an insult to Islam? Putting aside the language factor, why would Perkasa issue such a strong statement calling for a boycott of the singer?

Maybe a breakdown of this matter will be helpful. Jaclyn Victor is a Christian, and probably has been one her entire life. Therefore that is the religion she believes in. Where is Jaclyn from? Malaysia. What is our national language? Bahasa Malaysia.

Now moving on to Christianity. Who do they worship? Jesus Christ.

So let’s put these things together. A Malaysian Christian who speaks Bahasa Malaysia sings a song worshipping the God she believes in, in her national language, Bahasa Malaysia. Does that have the potential to become insulting? Perhaps not to a rational-minded person. But the Perkasa leadership apparently do not fall into the latter category.

Looking at the lyrics, I find it hard to believe that anyone could construe this as an insult to Islam’s standing as the country’s official religion. This is because despite Islam being the official religion, Malaysia practices religious tolerance. My deduction is that religious tolerance is a concept which is alien to Perkasa. That was the reason behind issuing a strong statement against a song that has been on YouTube since the beginning of the year. No one else thought it was insulting. Suddenly Perkasa stumbled upon it, and here we are.

Jaclyn, as a Christian, is free to express her beliefs via any medium, be it song, poetry, doodles, anything, as long as she does not directly insult another person’s religious beliefs. My observation of the lyrics did not find her directly insulting any other religion, because the song was in direct reference to what she and other Christians believe in.

When she says, “Jesus you are the hope of all races”, it only means that’s what she believes in. Considering she is a Christian and that Christians believe in Jesus being the saviour of mankind, this is just an example of a person expressing her belief in her faith.

To Perkasa, things are only insulting when we close our minds and refuse to see the bigger picture. Does the song in any way affect Islam? Islam is so much more than that. Islam teaches us to be tolerant. It does not teach us to boycott people over every perceived slight.

Boycotting the filmmaker who made “Innocence of Muslims” is perhaps logical. But boycotting Jaclyn Victor for singing a Jesus-worshipping song in Bahasa Malaysiais exactly what it looks like, which is idiocy at its best.