by Prof Dr Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi
Malaysiakini
Mar 20, 2015

The latest incident about a BFM newsreader being threatened with death, rape and being burnt alive by those whom I assume to be Malay-Muslim netizens brings forth serious questions for this country. Is this country safe for our children to live in?

If a simple point of view is raised against such issue as hudud or even such issue as democracy and clean elections can produce outbursts of murder, rape and burning people alive, what does it say about our country, its citizens and our leadership? Where did this culture come from?

I have noticed that the ones making threats of this nature come from mostly Malays who I assume are Muslim. Where did we, as a nation go wrong in educating these Malays? What are we teaching in our secondary schools? More importantly are our public universities producing people of such culture?

I sincerely hope that those who made the threats have never stepped foot in our public universities because if not I would like to ask these vice chancellors, what kind of Malay Malaysians are you producing?

Yes, they are passable engineers and architects but are they barely passable Malaysian citizens, or passable Muslims or worse are they even passable human beings with a humane conscience? Apa sudah jadi? (What has happened?)

I have been to mosques and I have listened to thousands of You Tube ceramah by our so called eminent ustazs and I know that their understanding of Islam is a strong contributor to the kinds of comments made by these young netizens.

Although I feel anger towards these netizens that have made the threats like it was just a “terminator” movie of mowing people down with a big machine gun, but I am ready to forgive them because I know it was our society that has created such a culture.

When the Prophet Muhammad was faced with the persecution of the young people of Taif till his body was bloodied, he stood in front of the angel Gabriel at the command of a host of a heavenly army ready to eliminate the people of Taif, he said, “No, do not do anything against these people because they knew not what there are doing. Perhaps future generations may accept my message if these people do not at the present time.”

The Prophet had the magnanimity to forgive these people because he knew those that threw the stones and rocks are teenagers and young adults being influenced by their elders.

I am afraid, our religious scholars may be teaching a brand of Islam that is very much distant from the examples of the holy Prophet himself.

With this incident I ask Malaysians again…are we safe to raise our children in this country? If not, should we start looking elsewhere and create a much safer place for our children to have a future?

I write these words with a heavy heart. I write these words as a concerned Malaysian citizen and as a simple Muslim for the sake of all our children. And finally, I write these words as the father of Aisyah Mohd Tajuddin, the BFM girl.

Prof Dr Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi was a former UTM lecturer.