Raja Petra Spins Out On PAS

For a terribly smart guy, Raja Petra Kamaruddin can be a downright rotter sometimes.

The story goes like this: Pete goes to a party. Pete meets a Chinese guy. Malaysian Chinese, that is. Guy says he’s scared of PAS. ‘Why?’ asks Pete. Guy says he doesn’t want Malaysia to turn into another ‘Iran.’

Pete gets offended. Asks guy, ‘Have you ever been to Iran?’ Guys says ‘no.’ Pete then makes a second lunge, asks guy, ‘Have you been to Kelantan?’ Guy again answers in the negative.

There you are, says Pete, point proven: the Malaysian Chinese don’t know how wonderful things can be under an Islamic government and are just shooting their mouths off without giving the idea a chance.

Pete, Pete, Pete. Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size?
Fancy picking on somebody who is obviously less articulate. Fancy bullying this chap with your cleverness and trying to make everyone swallow a lie.

Let’s look at Pete’s argument. He’s saying if one hasn’t physically travelled Iran, one cannot form an opinion of Iran. One cannot tell whether the Islamic clergy there have mucked things up for the people or otherwise. Pete gives the impression he himself has been to Iran and therefore is qualified to tell us how good or bad Iran is.

Is Pete’s argument acceptable?

So not many of us have had the chance to visit Tibet, not yet. Does this exclude us from being able to tell what is happening there?

Newsmen from around the world are right now reporting a crackdown by the Chinese government. They have published pictures of the violence and news that the army in the latest fracas has killed more than 80 people. They report Tibetans are marching in the streets demanding freedom.

Dissident Tibetans living abroad have expressed fear of returning home. They say they have spoken out against human rights violations committed by the government and now face terrible consequences if they venture home.

Thus, we have two sources of information concerning what’s happening in Tibet at the moment. The question is this: are these two sources of information reliable? If they are, then we who live so far away depend on them to form a valid and sound opinion on Tibet.

Let’s apply this to Iran. What have we got?

Hands up anyone who has not heard of the Ayatollah Khomeini. C’mon, hands up!

So who is this Iranian guy and why do people cringe at the mention of his name?

Khomeini, by the accounts of newsmen and exiled Iranians, was a clergyman who came into power in the 1970s. He was in power for 10 years and established what he believed was theocratic rule in Iran. ‘Theocratic’ means ‘ruled by the ulama.’

He thought the best way to make people holy was firstly to impose a strict dress code on everyone. In came the Syariah law and men and women had to cover up a la 7th century Arabic style. So Iranian men woke up every morning and checked if their beards were growing well because a well-grown beard was the sign of a holy heart. Shorts were the uniform of the devil, so no one could wear shorts. Women … ah well, we all know the story of the women and their permitted fashion.

Things started happening fast right after this. Institutions were set up to consolidate his power. Books not in line with Khomeini’s understanding of the Quran were banned or burnt. People not in lined with Khomeini’s understanding of how people ought to be were … get this, FIRED, IMPRISONED or EXECUTED.

Oh, and did we mention what Khomeini did to the supporters of then reigning monarch Shah Mohamed Reza Pahlavi? The monarch escaped with his life to another country. His supporters weren’t so lucky. They all met their Maker in one horrid way or another, thanks to Khomeini.

In the 1980s, Khomeini stepped up persecution against those who cried out against his violent ways and those who practiced other faiths. He called it Operation Eternal Light. Khomeini’s second in command and intended successor, the Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, would later write in his memoir how thousands of political activists were murdered. Some Iranians say Montazeri’s suppressed memoir places the death toll at 30,000.

During the Khomeini’s reign, Iranians became poorer than they had been under the Shah, inflation skyrocketed. The economy was unstable and there was no job security. Khomeini’s answer to this? God only cares about people’s spiritual condition, He isn’t doesn’t care if you could no longer afford bread.

Khomeini also gagged the press and anyone who opposed his oppressive ways. Listen to what he had to say to justify shutting down opposition newspapers: `The club of the pen and the club of the tongue is the worst of clubs, whose corruption is a 100 times greater than other clubs.’

Those who wanted elections, free speech, the right to gather, the right to protest, were demonised. Said Khomeini: ‘Those who are trying to bring corruption and destruction to our country in the name of democracy will be oppressed. They are worse than Bani-Ghorizeh Jews, and they must be hanged. We will oppress them by God's order and God's call to prayer.’

How do we know all this? Eyewitness accounts. Journalists from all over the world who are based in Iran and the Middle East; families of those who were killed or imprisoned; Khomeini’s own men who trusted him at first but later were sickened by the bloodthirsty and unjust way in which he interpreted and imposed God’s laws on fellowmen.

Mercifully, Khomeini has died.

Was Khomeini better than Shah Pahlavi, the monarch who lived lavishly, allowed corruption, and ignored the poverty of his subjects? Did his harsh laws make the people more God-fearing or did it just make them fear-ridden? Did Khomeini show more mercy to his fellowmen than the Shah whom he had accused of being blind to human suffering?

Iran is still in the hands of the clergy and continues to struggle in all areas, politically, economically and socially. Exile Iranians (especially the Ba’hais who suffered the severest oppression) today call themselves ‘Persians’ rather than ‘Iranians’ so ashamed and traumatized are they by the theocrats’ abuse.

Which brings us to the next part of Pete’s story: Kelantan.

To strengthen his argument, Pete says though PAS is in power in Kelantan and has been for quite sometime (since 1990), non-Muslims need not be unduly worried about their rights.

Now, here comes the horrific part: As an example, points out Pete, prostitution can still be found in many places in Kelantan. Pete then shares a personal story of encountering and teasing a Malay male prostitute in the streets of Kota Baru.

C’mon, Pete! What an insult to every moral person in Malaysia.

Pete’s line of argument implies the main reason non-Muslim Malaysians object to PAS rule is they’re afraid PAS would put an end to their merry debauching ways. Drinking, fornicating, eating unclean meats, going out in the streets in various degrees of undressed.

Is this the truth? Are Buddhists, Taoists, Hindus, Christians and Sikhs that shallow? Are they that immoral? Does Pete have any idea what their scriptures teach and what values they hold dear?

It doesn't help that even without ulama rule, we have cases of Muslim clergymen snatching bodies of dead people from their grieving families; locking up persons who want their ICs changed to reflect they are not practising Muslims; barging into tourists' hotel rooms charging them with 'khalwat' when the tourists are foreigners and married to each other; bulldozing down kuils and temples; banning Bahasa Malaysia-language Bibles; banning non-Muslims from using the Arabic word for God, forbidding churches from putting crosses on their places of worship.

Such things are what most non-Muslims are worried about. Much as they accept and respect PAS as having a right to the democratic privileges in this country, they are not convinced PAS, once supreme, will value the same democracy that put them in power.

Malaysians instinctively know absolute power corrupts absolutely, which is why in this election, they voted decisively for a strong opposition and gave five out of 13 states to the Barisan Rakyat instead of Barisan Nasional. One or two states under the theocracy of PAS is sufferable. But the entire nation under PAS? That's another story. What chance does a man in the street have when the government of the day uses GOD ALMIGHTY to hammer him and his entire family into submission? God have mercy on us all if that day comes!