What Pakatan can learn from Sisters in Islam

The Star today had a good ‘Pakatan bashing’ session and then had an article from Zainah Anwar from Sisters in Islam. The one thing I like about SIS is the pusuit of dialouge even on the most controversial of issues to champion the cause of women.

God gave to mankind the capacity to think and to discern right from wrong, truth from falsehood. And to be true to God we must reject dogma and instead actively engage in enquiry.

There is no better example to this than Islamic Banking. Not 30 years ago people were saying that Islam was incompatible with modern commerce. But through enquiry and testing Islamic Banking is now acknowledged as a superior platform for commerce.

The difficulty with us is that when God’s rules don’t work in our favour, then we try to use our thinking poweress and persuasion skills to justify why GOD’s rules have to be changed. Just like everyone else SIS does cross the line sometimes but it is not a reson to brand them as bad.
E.g. For muslims consuming alcohol or gambling is absolutely forbidden, yet we find muslims going out of their way to justify why it is not.

On to PKR, we see all the PKR bashing that is going on becaue of all ideaological and political conflicts that keep cropping up between the parties. I like it and I think we should embrace it, not the bashing but the conflict.

The open ‘fighting’ between DAP, PAS, PKR only means that each one is prepared to push for what they believe in and over time they will find their balance. I am so much happier knowing that DAP will not kowow to PAS in the sameway PAS will not kowtow to PKR. In the long term such open dialouge and conflict will casue us to find new solutions and pathways.

I absolutely dislike the BN model of kowtowism and compromise. Economic bribery I call it. Downplay all differences in the name of multiracial peace and harmony. And for that you are rewarded will projects and development. Really BN is no different from the Ulamak’s who try to control vial dogma. If the ULAMAK’s use hell as retribution , BN uses the ISA for the exact same purpose. I reject such forms of control and dogma.

All nations that have prospered, have prospered because of a mind of enquiry. Their stength is not because of language (japanese, koreans, germans, italians, scandinavians all don’t speak english as a first language but have done very well as a society) but because of the use of the mind to think, to question, to contemplate and to move forward.

Social development and civilization is a long term game. Policies of the last 50 years have brought us exactly to where we are. From Tuanku to Tun Razak, Tun Hussien, Tun Mahathir, Tun Abdullah, Najib have all been working on the same formula expressed in different ways. Najib is worriesome as he seems intent on walking in his fathers footsteps. George Bush tried it and failed miserably. Some shoes are just too big to step into.

So don’t get bought into the political expediency argument. We need serious reform and not tinkering with a broken proceess and its great that we try out these reforms at the state level before federal.

pakatan bashing

sis on being vocal