Most Read
Most Commented
Read more like this
mk-logo
From Our Readers

On the surface, it would appear that the Muslims 'won' in the tussle over M Moorthy's body. And it seems 'on the surface' is the appropriate phrase here because what was on display by the authorities was nothing deeper than surface thinking.

I would hesitate to call Moorthy's Hindu family as 'losers' since they were unwillingly dragged into this battle with the field tilted 90 degrees against them. But a deeper look shows that the Malaysian Muslim community in particular and Islam in general were the real losers here.

At a time when Muslims worldwide are struggling to win back respect from others, this incident - highlighted in the world's press - only serves to confirm the worst fears of people who look at Islam with suspicious eyes.

Where is the so-called "religion of peace and compassion' when all its adherents in this case did was to deprive a bereaved family of one last bonding with their loved one? It reconfirmed the belief held by many in Malaysia that the authorities are nothing more than bullies who use their grip on power to display immature macho posturing and to push others around in naked displays of arrogance.

It once again revealed the total lack of quality and talent among the bumiputera elite who run this country's institutions. The army, religious affairs department, the Syariah Court and the civil court - in fact the whole government machinery - all once again demonstrated the gutlessness and 'surface mentality' that blights this country's administrative structure.

Moorthy's widow should not feel too bad. After all, her husband was long gone by the time this unseemly tussle over his lifeless flesh took place. I doubt his soul was told the latest developments when it arrived at the gates of wherever souls go.

"Sorry boss, you will have to wait while the courts in Malaysia decide where you are supposed to be placed. Only then can we decide whether to allocate you accommodation in the Muslim quarter or the Hindu quarter."

If I were her, I'd just say she's happy her husband got his final rites, irrespective of what language or form they took. One God or another, it's all good.

This incident reminded me of a morality tale from school. It was about this man who set out to find intelligent life after he realised his prospective bride was a little thick in the head. Instead, all he found were equally stupid people in three incidents during his travels.

In one of the incidents, he came across a group of people frantically jumping in and out of a lake during a moonlit night. When he asked one of them what was going on, the man pointed to the reflection of the moon on the water and said: "The moon has fallen into the lake. We need to rescue it."

Many of the people involved in this sorry Moorthy episode would have been among that crowd if they had lived then.

ADS