Introduction by CPI

We are excerpting here a frank appraisal by one young individual on some of the contradictions between Islamic principles and their actual practice in Malaysia.

In his ‘About Me’ page, Azeem Ambalam – whose blog is called The Rantings of a Bolehlander – states that “The whole idea behind this blog is so that I may put out my thoughts out in the open on the issues of the day, my own version of social commentary if you will”.

His recent commentary titled ‘We remain silent…’, prompted by the sudden cancellation of Erykah Badu’s concert, almost 140 responses – mostly supportive and in appreciation for the fearless and rational dissection of the hypocrisy and shortcomings of the current Islamic leadership. ??We feel that Azeem’s writing deserves a wider readership and in the spirit of his own call for comments and suggestions by the public to spur a two-way dialogue, we’re directing our readers to this posting:

“I can be an ignoramus at times; I didn’t know there was a singer named Erykah Badu. That was until the Star published some photos of her sporting some tattoos that upset Muslim sensibilities. Lo and behold the Star has suspended 2 editors indefinitely for this fiasco. The government has duly banned her concert in Malaysia; Muslim groups nationwide are baying for her scalp.

“It’s all very well that everyone’s getting  morally righteous. But I fear this little episode is nothing more than a ploy to distract us all from the larger issues affecting us from day-to-day. We pounce at Miss Badu and we forget our own little troubles.

“What gets me riled up is that we Muslims seem to have our priorities totally messed up. We have many things plaguing this country of ours which are obviously haram, yet we choose to ignore them. Last month we made a big hoohah about Valentine’s Day, some people even planning anti Valentine patrols to catch the evil doers. In the end we just made utter fools of ourselves.

“We so proudly say our religion is one of tolerance and moderation to anyone who would listen. But our deeds say otherwise.”  (Continue reading here)