So, is Faisal a Syiah? “No, I’m not,” Faisal says. “But you don’t need to be a minority in order to write about the minority. I’m not Penan (a Sarawakian tribe), but I still wrote about the Penan women’s plight. Annie Proulx is not a gay man, but she wrote Brokeback Mountain.” “So why must I be Syiah if I’m writing about them?” To Faisal, Syiah, being a minority religion in Malaysia, might have been unjustly demonised. He argues that it is in the Federal Constitution that there should be freedom of religion, so how are Syiah followers any different? To Faisal, it is a matter of human rights. And he proves this in his latest book, Bagaimana Anyss Naik Ke Langit?, a story highlighting the heinous crime of systematic rape that has been committed against the Penan women. The government had for several years denied that it was true, and even played the victim-blaming game, before finally admitting the atrocities that had been committed by allegedly crony timber companies. And yet, Faisal was dismayed to see how few Malaysians cared. “Malaysians rally for Palestine frequently, send help, donations, do demonstrations. Yes, Palestinians are Muslims, but our religion does not teach us to only fight for Muslims. Are the Penans not Malaysians? They are bumiputera, some of them are Muslims, and at the very base, are humans being oppressed in our own backyard. Why do we not care about our own people? Why are we so selective?” - See more at: theantdaily/Main/It-s-not-sensational-it-s-just-human-rights#sthash.gAwrYk1R.dpuf
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 03:58:27 +0000
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