A deductive investigation into those responsible for the terrorist act of burning churches in Kuala Lumpur. Black metal music fans will be pleased to know LoyarBurok Amer Hamzah Arshad clears the Norwegian Black Metal Inner Circle.
In the early 1990’s, during the height of the second wave of black metal scene in Norway, several churches were burned by a group who claimed to be Satanists and were members of the Norwegian Black Metal Inner Circle. Several notorious black metal musicians such as Varg Vikernes a.k.a Count Grishnackh, Samoth and Faust among others were said to be responsible for the attacks. The motive for those attacks was for a publicity stunt though they claimed that it was committed in the name of their faith.
So after my solat Jumaat (that means Friday prayer), I was told that several churches in Kuala Lumpur were burned. The first thing that came to my mind was the church burning incidents in Norway. Have the Norwegians come to our shore to spread their brand of black metal to the metalheads (for the record yours truly is a metal fan) in Malaysia? Was Varg Vikernes in Kuala Lumpur last night? That is not quite likely to happen because the last I heard about him was that though he was just released from prison, he is still on parole for the murder of a fellow black metal musician, infamously known as Euronymous. Anyway, he is too occupied in Norway spreading his ultra-right wing philosophies there, so why would he be bothered about Malaysia when we have our own ultra-right wing advocates?
So if the Norwegian black metal horde was not in Kuala Lumpur to set the churches on fire, then who did? And what would be the motive for such despicable acts?
It is hard not to link the incident with the recent ruling by the High Court over the usage of the name “Allah”. As reported in the media, several Muslim groups and Muslims are furious over the High Court’s decision. Therefore, it is not unlikely that there may be some ultra-right-wing religious extremists within this dissatisfied group who may have resorted to such methods. The existence of these ‘Ultramen’ (not to be confused with the Japanese comic characters, ‘Ultra brothers’) is not something new. Given the fact that we have policies that segregate the Malaysians either ‘directly or indirectly’ it is just a matter of time before these ‘Ultramen’ will rear their ugly heads in such a despicable manner.
As for motive, you don’t need to be a rocket-scientist or even Sherlock Holmes, because even our Ministers (who are world renowned for some of the most stupid and offensive statements in the history of mankind) can figure it out. It is obvious that the intention of those perpetrators is to spread terror and instil fear among the Malaysians especially the non-Muslims. After all, terror and fear are effective tools to either perpetuate one’s propaganda or to suppress rights and/or freedom of individuals. This is especially true when the individuals do not have the intellect and capability to engage in any intellectual discourse over the “Allah” issue. To these misguided individuals, the church attacks are effective methods to scare the non-Muslims from using the name “Allah” and at the same time, protect the Muslim ‘ummah’ from being confused. Well, these ‘Ultramen’ definitely do not represent or speak on my behalf or the other Muslims who truly believe in the teachings of Islam.
While those who are displeased with the High Court’s decision have every right to voice out and express their dissatisfaction through legitimate means such as peaceful rallies and demonstration (even though there is no permit issued by the police for such rallies and demonstrations pursuant to section 27(5) of the Police Act 1984), under no circumstances can the burning of places of worship be considered as a legitimate way of expressing one’s view or opinion.
Furthermore, the clandestine manner in which the attacks were carried out and the fact that no one has claimed responsibility over such attacks clearly shows the cowardice of the perpetrators. If the perpetrators feel that what they did is in the name of God and religion, or is a form of ‘jihad’, then why don’t they come out and claim responsibility? Don’t be cowards who “lontar batu dan sembunyikan tangan“.
Violent actions by these irresponsible cowards would not solve anything. Instead it will sully and smear the good name of Islam, of Muslims and further widen the misconception that others may have about Islam. Lest we forget hate begets hate. Violence begets violence. By scaring the non-Muslims, they will only instil hatred and misunderstandings among Malaysians. Today it may be the churches, but what’s stopping the temples or other places of worship from being the next targets?
As such, as a Malaysian and a Muslim, I implore upon all perpetrators (and would be perpetrators, if any) not to resort to stupid acts that will portray Islam in a negative manner. Whatever dissatisfaction that you may have over the “Allah” issue, violence is definitely not the answer.
As it is Muslims in the West are facing negative stigma due the acts of certain irresponsible individuals who promote violence in the name of Islam. Let’s not give legitimacy to such misconception about Islam. Just because Muslims are the majority in this country that doesn’t mean we can ignore and dismiss the rights of the minority. Otherwise we are no different from the bigots in the West who discriminate the minority Muslims in their respective countries.
As for the investigation into the church burnings, let’s hope that our police force has the intelligence to investigate such a ‘complex’ and ‘sensitive’ case (the phrase which is oft-quoted by our leaders and politicians). If the case is too sensitive and too hot to be handled by our police force, then perhaps we should seek the aide of Sherlock Holmes. After all, he is still in town (at the cinema at least) and even though he is a fiction, more likely to do a better job than our own police, who are our own national fiction.
Satan is the True Creator God.
Hail Satan!
Hail Satan!
I don't see any problem in any religion itself. When people fail to embrace and respect their family and friends and neighbours, not to mention their own country men and women from a nation, i.e. all fellow Malaysians, then something is very wrong. More so, when one has to hurt or destroy another.
When we seek sacred guidance from God, or Allah, or Buddha, or Krishna, or any superbeing pertaining to our own faith, we must also look within our hearts and souls. Nurturing one's own soul and spiritual wellbeing to become a better and happier person who can manifest good deeds to oneself and others requires one's own responsibility and action… rather than just blindly following and interpreting some religious instructions. When people let hatred occur and intensify into destructive outcomes, regardless of which religion, it only means they have failed their religion.
It's all in our hearts. Who says love and harmony is easy? Yet it's that simple.
A very thought provoking post…..I think it safe to say that all religions has their own shares of extremists, or "ultramen".
Why do some people still think that their religion is the ultimate? Why can't they realise that all religions preach good values? These are the underlying questions that the GOVERNMENT must address if they want to see a better political and social landscape of Malaysia in the future.
As a Hindu I believe that despite the beliefs and various customs practised all religions should be given equal respect and it is not wrong to learn about other religions to see what we can learn from them.
In Hindu God is called as "Kadavul" or "Iraivan"(in Tamil), in Islam as "Allah", for Christians "God" or "Jesus"(fgive me if I'm wrong). This means whatever name we call it we all still pray to the same entity, but sadly in our country few people realise this and they end up fuelling religious sentiments.
Indeed in we Malaysians are still in the dark age……
Thanks Amer for the acute justification of such complex and sensitive situation. I am totally impressed, and especially happy for the muslims, that the writing has come from a Malaysian muslim himself. Malaysia will be so much more beautiful as it should have been if there are more of you with this mentality… if only the non-muslims and non-bumiputeras were lucky enough.
It saddens me though to know that my ex-home-country has deteriorated to this burning churches state, yet I hate to feel lucky that I have left Malaysia. Good luck to all of you Malaysians.
Haha, a very funny article indeed!
I am vehemently objecting against the misuse of the saviour of mankind, the Ultraman, here.
As to the culprit, well, you can rule out heavy metal too bcoz the god of metal, Mr Dio is in the hospital coz of stomach cancer. I think it is Tony Fernandez who did it. Reason being he wants everybody to fly…out of Malaysia.
Good no excellent writing. People like you bring sembelance of sanity to the twisted world of politics. Disgarceful that this issue is capitalised by poltical leaders. They should be ashamed of themselves.
This is very well written Amer and not to mention pretty damn hilarious.
This is indeed pathetic! There seems to be increasing hatred towards non-Muslims, especially towards Christians, in both dynamically multicultural Malaysia and Indonesia, and globally, including Pakistan and Sudan as in the news below. This is only recent history in some places – due to the influence of foreign-based Islamic fanaticism; particularly from vile Al-Qaeda kind of Islam. To be practical, Intelligence must be placed in the local Muslim NGOs, schools, Universities and mosques. This is to ensure that Al-Qaeda led/controlled local leaders or foreign maniac jihadists are not stirring up the ideology of "Clash of Civilization" – using God and Islam, to justify such hatred and arrogant dominating political power. Thus, it is not the West that is constructing such "Clash of Civilization", but these kind of Al-Qaeda brainwashed fanatical Muslims themselves! They want a Third World War – in order to imperialize the world, especially oil rich non-Arabic Islamic/partly Islamic world, with their kind of Dark Age, violent and homogenous Arabic-cultural style Islam (that include homogenizing of identity – in Arabic-style veiling, for greatly diverse Muslim women/girls globally).
Petitions against Dark Age Islam:
1. By – Marina Mahathir & other liberal Malaysian Muslims & non-Muslims/feminists/activists
http://www.petitiononline.com/Msia0801/petition.h… (open to non-Muslims as well)
2. At – Amnesty International Org (UK)
http://www.sudan365.org/en-take-action.html
Katharina Sri (former: Noor Aza)
Germany