Sunday, March 22, 2015

Alarming rise of Malaysian religious extremism...

There are worrying signs that the sort of religious self-righteousness that fuels savage jihadi violence in the Middle East is infecting Malaysia, especially in the wake of efforts by the fundamentalist party PAS to implement a medieval criminal code in Kelantan.

On March 19, a Kuala Lumpur-based radio station, BFM, hurriedly took down a podcast about the law, called hudud, after the host, Aisyah Tajuddin, made what was called a “satirical commentary” on whether the Kelantan government should make religious law a priority when the state is still drying out from devastating floods in January and needs government aid to recover.

The podcast was greeted by hundreds of comments about Tajuddin’s remarks, including some that said the woman, a Muslim, had “gone against the faith” and must be raped or killed. The news portal Malaysian Insider quoted visitors to the site as delivering comments including “I really want to slaughter this pig.” Another wrote: “I want to meet her too… I haven’t punched anyone in a long time… Who cares if anyone calls me a cuckold for hitting a woman… she should die.” Another was quoted as writing, “Make her apologize openly. Or just cut off her head because she has renounced her faith.”

The station also took down the sign on its door so that would-be assailants would find it difficult to find. Tajuddin’s Facebook page was also taken down. Full story...

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