Secularism lost battle to Islam
I am a political optimist. I instinctively believe that humankind can only move towards a better world order.
I was born in the Soviet Union. My baby flus I spent at home watching funerals of Soviet leaders, who passed their reign postmortem, like good monarchs, to yet another life-long head of state.
My childhood years were spiced by the thrills and excitement of Gorbachev-era novelties - perestroika, glasnost and uskoreniye, which brought along a taste of freedom and market economy (although not the actual goodies).
Then came an unprecedented declaration of Estonian independence. Political maturing of my teen years, with the Singing Revolution, the Baltic Way and the unsuccessful August Coup, gave a different spin to my world views. What seemed absolutely unlikely just about a year earlier, suddenly became a reality - Estonia became free and could finally go its own way.
This way, all through my youth and into adulthood, brought us into Nato and the European Union, and into the age of blissful democratic-capitalist happiness. No wonder it made me a political optimist.
My naive optimism got an unpleasant blow this morning. It was a slap by the only readable Malaysian paper - the NST. A tiny news (Syariah court sole authority on Islam) in the corner of page n. announced that Syariah will have supreme authority over any issue involving Islam. The situation, in which "I am the only one who can judge my own actions", has been established and cut into the legal fabric of modern Malaysia.
Now, every non-Muslim Malaysian has to pray that none of their family or close relations go insane and convert into Islam. If that happens, you can call yourself doomed and hopeless. Syariah will give unarguable priority to a Muslim (or Islamic cause) in any argument, and there is no-one who will take your side since anything concerning Islam is in the realm of Islamic court to judge. Here goes secularism - welcome religious dogma to judge our hapless fates!
This was another step further from the separation of legislative, executive and judicial power - such a classical combination to guarantee justice and equality.
I was born in the Soviet Union. My baby flus I spent at home watching funerals of Soviet leaders, who passed their reign postmortem, like good monarchs, to yet another life-long head of state.
My childhood years were spiced by the thrills and excitement of Gorbachev-era novelties - perestroika, glasnost and uskoreniye, which brought along a taste of freedom and market economy (although not the actual goodies).
Then came an unprecedented declaration of Estonian independence. Political maturing of my teen years, with the Singing Revolution, the Baltic Way and the unsuccessful August Coup, gave a different spin to my world views. What seemed absolutely unlikely just about a year earlier, suddenly became a reality - Estonia became free and could finally go its own way.
This way, all through my youth and into adulthood, brought us into Nato and the European Union, and into the age of blissful democratic-capitalist happiness. No wonder it made me a political optimist.
My naive optimism got an unpleasant blow this morning. It was a slap by the only readable Malaysian paper - the NST. A tiny news (Syariah court sole authority on Islam) in the corner of page n. announced that Syariah will have supreme authority over any issue involving Islam. The situation, in which "I am the only one who can judge my own actions", has been established and cut into the legal fabric of modern Malaysia.
Now, every non-Muslim Malaysian has to pray that none of their family or close relations go insane and convert into Islam. If that happens, you can call yourself doomed and hopeless. Syariah will give unarguable priority to a Muslim (or Islamic cause) in any argument, and there is no-one who will take your side since anything concerning Islam is in the realm of Islamic court to judge. Here goes secularism - welcome religious dogma to judge our hapless fates!
This was another step further from the separation of legislative, executive and judicial power - such a classical combination to guarantee justice and equality.
posted by Kristina at 9:46 AM
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