Why is it so difficult for people to accept the marginalised communities for who and what they are? Why must individuals be penalised for their sexual orientation, for being truthful to themselves?
And whose business is it to keep inventory of what two consenting adults do? Being nosey is bad enough but to spread lies as the Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) is now doing is utterly regrettable.
JMM or the Coalition of Malaysian Malays is going all out to “wipe out” the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual communities under the claim that the LGBT communities are all about free sex; so much so the Seksualiti Merdeka festival became a spacegoat and its organisers humiliated and lambasted for organising a free sex event.
The police last year declared a ban on Seksualiti Merdeka, an annual festival celebrating the human rights of people of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity that has been held since 2008.
The fact will always remain that Seksualiti Merdeka has never propagated “free sex”. And yet the extremist mindsets of JMM decided to take it upon themselves to “punish” the country’s LGBT group.
Among others, the coalition has decided to venture into schools to continue its LGBT-bashing. It was reported in an online blog and a Malay daily that JMM was conducting an anti-LGBT campaign in about 30 schools.
However, deputy Education Minister Wee Kia Siong quickly distanced the ministry from the controversial LGBT-bashing campaign saying it was not the ministry’s stance to promote such negative perceptions against any segment of society and that such activities must be monitored and stopped.
Wee added: “I have received the report from the school. Actually, it was one of the PIBG programmes. In light of what has happened, we want all the schools as well as the state education departments to monitor and stop such activities from now on.
“It is all right to inculcate good values. We are not questioning their intentions but we want them to be more careful especially on this topic.
“When you say anti-LGBT or anti-anything, it can be perceived in a negative manner. With this sort of taglines, you have to be careful. I believe it is better to educate and teach instead of just going with ‘anti’ taglines.”
Still, JMM remains relentless in going all out to persecute the LGBT communities. On April 21, the coalition will spearhead a protest at Dataran Merdeka to condemn what they described as “unacceptable” sexual practices.
On March 21, Barisan Nasional MP for Sekijang, Baharum Mohamad, told Parliament that three out of every 10 men in Malaysia is gay and described the figure as “scary” before calling on the government to establish a gay rehab center to ‘combat’ homosexuality. Since then, the LGBT communities have been on the receiving end from various quarters.
Even Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin joined in the fray by saying that the LGBT communities require counselling to “prevent the spread of this negative culture, which was previously prevalent only in Western countries.”
Does JMM having Muhyiddin’s backing?
It is an irony that while non-governmental organisations like the Malaysian AIDS Council is barred from talking about condom use to students during its safe sex talks in schools, JMM has taken the liberty of attacking the fundamental rights of an individual, in this case the right to choose one’s sexual orientation, that too to students who have to grasp this issue maturedly.
Has JMM the backing of the Education Minister in this case? After all, it was Muhyiddin who had rubbished the Seksualiti Merdeka as an “immoral” and “waste of time” event.
The JMM’s anti-LGBT campaign prompted Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) commissioner Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah to seek the government’s intervention.
“If it is true that they have begun an anti-LGBT campaign in secondary schools, the government and (Education) Ministry is duty bound to promote respect to these minority groups.”
“They (JMM) can have their opinions but campaigning against certain groups of people is wrong as it may result in violence against them,” Muhammad Sha’ani was quoted by The Malay Mail as saying.
Sodomy is illegal in Malaysia and the country has already caused anger after it sent “effeminate” boys to a “gay cure” camp in early 2011.
In 2010, the Malaysian Film Producers’ Association announced that gays could be depicted in films so long as they turned straight by the end of the feature.
The country’s first gay-themed film, “Dalam Botol”or “In A Bottle” tasted comparative success when it made just over one million ringgit in five days. The film tells of a man who undergoes gender reassignment to the detriment of his relationship with his male partner.
Homosexuality is not a “disease”
While JMM and the likes continue with their flight of fancy “jihad” of ridding the country of the LGBT communities, the American Psychiatric Association back in 1973 made it clear that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.
The modern attitudes toward homosexuality have religious, legal, and medical underpinnings but still, as early as the20th century, it was argued that homosexuality was inborn and therefore not immoral, that it was not a disease and that many homosexuals made outstanding contributions to society.
Meanwhile, the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, had said that the homosexual orientation should not be viewed as a form of pathology. In a now-famous letter to an American mother in 1935, Freud wrote:
“Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation, it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function produced by a certain arrest of sexual development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them (Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc.). It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime, and cruelty too….
“If [your son] is unhappy, neurotic, torn by conflicts, inhibited in his social life, analysis may bring him harmony, peace of mind, full efficiency whether he remains a homosexual or gets changed….” (reprinted in Jones, 1957, pp. 208-209, from the American Journal of Psychiatry, 1951, 107, 786).
Sadly, such understanding, compassion and empathy is no where to be found in the hearts of learned individuals who use avenues like JMM to vent out their hatred against the LGBT communities which in the eyes of a self-respecting human being deserve every applause for standing up for themselves, in spite of the odds faced.
Muslims, like Hindus and Sikhs, will not like to surrender their personal laws because they are just that: personal. But these laws seldom remain a private affair. When they concern Muslims, they tend to be played up in the news media with an element of “eek!”. The intent — I could daresay – is still largely to highlight the antediluvian nature of Islam.
In its last session, Parliament passed a law allowing Sikhs to register their marriages under the Anand Marriage Act instead of the Hindu Marriage Act, fulfilling a long-standing demand of the Sikh community. Sikhism doesn’t countenance the concept of divorce, celebrating rather an ideal nature of marriage, referred to as Anand Karaj (blissful event). This was just a blip on our television screens or was never reported. Newspapers that did, buried it mostly.
Contrast this with the Delhi High Court’s recent ruling that according to “Mohammedan Law, a girl could marry once she attains puberty”. It made it to the front page of a leading daily this past week. It picked the judgement well after a leading news agency had reported on it.
The ruling was first reported several days after it had been delivered. I mean the legal correspondent who reported it first pounced upon it, as a tiger would leap at its prey. Then, television – although people think it is a step ahead of newspapers – picked it up, with NDTV holding a panel discussion.
The NDTV anchor who hosted the discussion clearly lacked the domain knowledge, about Muslim laws and their applicability.
The anchor’s handling of the discussion reminded me of what sitting Delhi High Court judge, Hon’ble Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed, had recently said (speaking at the launch of legal academician Tahir Mahmood’s Muslim Law in India and Abroad): “There’s a lot of problem understanding Muslim law. In fact, there’s a lot of problem understanding Muslims.” He of course wasn’t speaking specifically about Muslim marriage laws but in the context of Mohammedan Law as a whole.
Most missed a crucial point: that a marriage solemnized cannot be declared void under Indian laws, even if the girl is a minor, and this applies to both Hindu and Muslim girls. The marriage remains illegal but not void.
On the face of it, personal laws, rooted either in religion or customs, are needed for meeting the social needs of a truly multicultural society. Without them, society would become a monolithic framework representative of a pre-determined value-system. Many wouldn’t agree to such a framework.
Islam began as a reformist movement, gave women rights to divorce and re-marry and work. The Prophet had married his boss, to whom he was employed and who was older to him by several years. Nearly 1,400 years ago, this must have been incredible: being able to fall in love, despite the veil; marrying some one well older (something any parent will disapprove even today), and working under a woman.
Yet, the Hadith and sunna (Prophet’s ways) and qiyas (analogy) as distinct sources of Muslim personal laws must be viewed in the context of their time. In the early phases, the Qu’ran and the Hadith were the sole sources of a Muslim’s social rules. For codified law, you needed something more. Therefore, the qiyas and ijma (or consensus) were used.
Changing the personal laws itself is difficult. Could one rewrite the shashtras for instance? But even a change in the law may not sometimes be the solution at all. Child marriages are more a manifestation of lack of education and low-income levels, rather than a religious requirement.
Assuming that Muslims agree to this law being changed, child marriages will continue if girls stay out of school and parents look to get rid of them by giving their hand in marriage at the first possible opportunity.
Conversely, Muslim laws recognizing the right of a woman to marry upon attainment of puberty simply has not resulted in Muslims compulsorily marrying off their daughters by that threshold.
What is the explanation for the well-documented high prevalence of female foeticide and child marriages among Hindus, despite Hindu personal laws requiring a girl’s age to be 18 for marriage? The reason for baalika badhu (a child bride) is social.
Attempts to reconcile personal laws with present-day social realities are not easy but have been on. People have a notion that Muslims can have up to four wives. In Pakistan, a serving government employee cannot marry a second time without prior approval of the government. In Indonesia, all Muslims need the court’s permission to do so, which is very difficult. The onus is on the applicant to prove why he needs a second wife. In Tunisia, you can’t just marry more than once, if not divorced.
Justice Ahmed says there are “no hidden monsters” in the Shariah. But surely there are inadequacies in the context of our times. Ways have to be found out. Yet, popular understanding of Muslim law may not be correct, constitutional or in consonance with Islam.
Fallacies are rampant. One of my favorites is this. The standard iconic textbook of Mohammedan law in India was written by the late DN Mulla. It is still by far the best and the most-prescribed book. Most people assume Mulla to be a Muslim, probably some greybeard mullah from a madrassa. DN Mulla was a Zoroastrian and one of India’s finest jurists! I didn’t know this until Soli Sorabjee, yes good old Soli, pointed it out to me. By the way, Mulla, unlike Soli, is not on Wikipedia.
The centuries-old Shia-Sunni differences are the major obstacle to Muslim unity. These differences have always been fanned by the enemies of Islam to their benefit. Unfortunately, some so-called Muslim scholars on their payroll have also played a key role in keeping these differences alive.
Although I was born into a Sayyid Sunni family, I did not know of many differences while growing up as a child. Our families always respected Imam Hussain (peace be upon him) and his parents and participated in ceremonies marking the anniversary of his martyrdom (the 10th day of the month of Muharram which is called Ashura) by reciting the first chapter of the Quran (al-Fatihah) and other chapters and verses of the Quran and fasted on the ninth and tenth days of that month.
Now when I give lectures on Islam to non-Muslims, one of the questions they always ask me is if I am Shia or Sunni. I ask them if they know the difference. They have no knowledge, other than what has been given to them by the media. So they say Shias are the ones who are the bad guys, the militant version of Islam, and cause all the trouble in the Middle East these days.
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