[Alumni Hira] Fwd: FW: [BTU99] Rais Yatim Interview

[maya the bee]

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what ur opinion 'bout this my dear friends? tepuk dada, tanya iman...

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I don't know if this is true or not, but it ia definitely an interesting read.... you'll be surprised.

>From: hisham hisham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]

>Subject: Fwd: FW: [BTU99] Rais Yatim Interview

>Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 01:06:13 +0100 (BST)

>

>Note: forwarded message attached.

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a'kum wbt

Got this from a friend. Read through it and I think you would be as surprised as I was

Saturday, 17-Apr-2004 1:51 PM
LOONY MALAYSIA

"Stop 'Arabising' Malay culture," Rais Yatim

Ms June H.L Wong of The Star interviewed the Arts, Culture and

Heritage

Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, earlier this week. Due to space constraints, The Star did not publish the entire interview. For those

who

would like to read the full text of the interview, FAC News, in our section called LOONY MALAYSIA, is publishing the full text of that interview.

On the point that many Malays 'ape' the Arabs, especially in terms of dressing:

"Malays should put a stop to the 'Arabisation' of their own culture

and

challenge those who condemn deep-rooted practices and traditions of

the

Malay community as unIslamic," said Arts, Culture and Heritage

Minister,

Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

"The Malays are not Arabs. Therefore, it is important that we do not 'Arabise' the Malay culture to the extent that everything that the

Arabs

do, we must do."

"The Malay culture arose from time immemorial, even before 1409 when

Islam

came to Malacca, and we cannot simply ignore that period from which

we

came."

"I am not anti-Arab culture and this does not mean I hold

contra-views

against the Arab culture. In fact, the Arab world has many aspects

that

have benefited and enriched the world in terms of medicine, art,

poetry

and so on."

"Even Bahasa Malaysia is imbued with salient influences from Arabia.

But

the community should not be influenced to the extent that they are

blinded

into thinking all that is Arabic is good for them."

"Take the beard an an example. Why must Malays copy the Arabs and

sport

beards? Olden days Malays did not have beards."

"Malays feel that it is Islamic to sport beards. As our previous

beloved

Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamd, once said, Prophet Muhammad did

not

shave because Arabia then did not have Gillette shaving blades. It is

not

a sign that you are a Muslim."

Asked whether the Government is concerned with this situation, Dr

Rais

replied:

"It is and this concern has not been publicly or adequately

expressed.

Even traditions like wayang kulit, which had been condemned as

unIslamic

by some people, have gone unchallenged."

"We just, in chorus, say, 'Aha, perhaps so', but we never fight back

to

say that this is a deep-rooted tradition of the Malays since time immemorial. We should ask, 'Put to us which Islamic tenet is being violated?' Nobody says that."

"Therefore, my ministry is concerned with such a development and we

are

not going to accept it just because somebody says it is so."

"This fervour began in 1983 (during the Iran Revolution) in accepting

as

gospel anything with the world 'Islam' in it. That seems to be

changing

now with Islam Hadhari that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah

Ahmad

Badawi, is talking about lately. That is the practical, progressive

sort

of Islam we should accept."

"I promise to put on the map again what has been lost such as the Mak

Yong

and Manora dances which had been banned by PAS in Kelantan and

Terengganu.

This is where I would say politics and culture don't seem to mix in

the

hands of those responsible in the past decade."

"I am also interested in the buried past of the Baba and Nyonya in

Penang

and Malacca, and the Sanskritised elements of the culture. They are

all

very rich. I think studies must be encouraged and we would like authoritative, serious people to go into these fields and produce

research

for us."

When asked what is meant by 'Islam Hadhari' and why have we never

heard

this term used before, Dr Rais had this to explain:

"Islam 'Hadhari' means 'modern' or 'progressive' Islam as opposed to outdated Islam, Islam 'Badwi', which means 'village' or 'outdated'

Islam.

As you know, the Arabs call all those country bumpkins 'Badwi'. The English word for this is 'Bedouin' or uncultured people. These are

people

of the desert."

"In fact, when any Arab acts uncultured, we refer to them as 'Badwi'.

This

is of course not to be confused with 'Badawi', which is the family

name of

our most beloved new Prime Minister."

"Islam Hadhari is in fact not a new thing. Our first Prime Minister,

Tunku

Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj, was a propagator of Islam Hadhari or

modern,

progressive Islam. He set a good example of what a Hadhari Muslim

should

be like."

"If you can remember, our equally beloved recently-retired Prime

Minister,

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, once openly criticised Tunku Rahman for

gambling

with his Chinese friends while there was rioting on the streets on 13

May

1969. Mahathir was then sacked from Umno for this criticism of the

Tunku."

"But that is another matter. The point I am trying to make is the

whole

country admits that the Tunku gambled. He also owned race horses and

never

missed his weekends at the Turf Club."

"The Tunku also never denied he indulged in liquor and told everyone

his

sin of drinking is between him and God and does not concern any other mortal. All that matters, said the Tunku, is that he was a good prime minister and his gambling and drinking did not make him a bad prime minister."

"The Tunku, in the 1960s, had already taught us what Islam Hadhari is

all

about. Then, in the 1980s, all this changed and we became radical

Muslims.

We need to bring Malaysia back to the days when we were liberal

Muslims,

modern Muslims, progressive Muslims, or Hadhari Muslims, not radical Muslims like today."

With regards to the contradicting policies of the government in implementing Islamic rules:

"I agree, in the 1960s, Muslim couples could court in the Lake

Gardens

without any disturbances. I remember couples would be necking in dark corners, under the trees, and behind the bushes in the Lake Gardens.

They

would also park their cars along Jalan Duta and the road leading to Carcosa Sri Negara and have sex in their cars and no one would come

and

disturb them."

"Today, even non-Muslim, Chinese couples, get arrested merely for

holding

hands. And they did not even do this is dark corners, yet they get arrested."

"I agree that this is a contradiction of sorts but it is the

overzealous

religious department officers who should be blamed. These people are probably influenced by the PAS propaganda and do not understand the concept of Islam Hadhari or modern Islam."

"This must change or else we will be the laughing stock of the

world."

"PAS does not allow males and females to dance with each other in

public.

But Malay culture is all about dancing. Even our martial art, Silat,

is

actually a dance rather than unarmed combat. How can you separate the Malays from their dancing?"

"Men and women must again be allowed to dance in public. If not, all

our

Malay culture will disappear."

"And this is the first priority of my ministry, to re-introduce

dancing in

Terengganu. Maybe we can have a three-day dance festival or pesta

like the

Mardi Gras. The Terengganu people are going to find that this is the greatest benefit they will receive by kicking out PAS and voting Umno

back

into power in Terengganu. They will once again be free to dance and

to

practice the concept of Islam Hadhari or modern Islam."

"We shall reject PAS' version of Islam and the Islamic State they

wish to

introduce to Terengganu. We will ensure Terengganu remains a secular

state

and that the Islam Hadhari of our Bapak Merdeka, Tunku Abdul Rahman,

is

practiced to the fullest."

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