LETTER | Religious values: Final bastion of dignity and common sense

LETTER | We write in response to the commentary by retired commander S Thayaparan, published by Malaysiakini on March 27.

Therein, he makes no less than 13 references to “extremism” and “extremists” with nary a definition in sight.

One doesn’t have to prolong guesses on who these “extremists” are within the psyche of the writer - it’s the Muslims!

But then usually, such uncalled-for charges come from people who are more than just happy to assign demeaning monikers to those holding on to foundational principles of faith.

These criticisms are levelled at those who refuse to buckle or succumb to the relativistic secular morality that changes according to time. Those who care about objective truth in a post-modernist world where “truth” can be as numerous as the number of people clamouring for it.

Someone who would like to change say, biological realities which were once obvious to everyone, to a blurred definition of the sexes in order to cater for the wants and wishes of a small minority of people practising certain lifestyles and fear of being labelled a “bigot” by the woke mob.

Such thoughts could come usually from people with Islamophobic tendencies, especially when just a couple of days ago, someone from the LGBT community just sprayed bullets in a Nashville school.

The tragedy took six innocent children’s lives and not a single word of “terrorism” came from people with similar thinking as the commander, demonstrating a fact totally in contradistinction to what he suggested.

The good commander, retired though he may be, takes umbrage at the fact that religious authorities are being consulted for their professional opinion with regard to the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV-negative homosexuals who wish to engage in casual sodomy.

There are so many nuances in this issue which he clearly is not ignorant about, the most important of which is that those seeking PrEP are not sick.

They are not patients. No one is denying them medical care. The objections arose out of some misplaced opinion regarding the matter.

There should really be more accountability for one’s actions rather than for them to expect taxpayers to fund those practising certain lifestyles.

It will definitely not be cost-effective in the long run, discounting even the other non-pecuniary sequelae of such a poorly thought-out policy.

Dignity and modesty

Perhaps, the commander also failed to see that lately, Western secular liberal values have irreversibly damaged the family unit which forms the basic building block of any healthy society.

Is the commander a proponent of unfettered freedom and undefined equality – no matter how perverse it may be?

The public should realise that rather than making Islam become an object of contention and ridicule by people with similar thoughts like the commander, they should instead be thankful and proud that it actually forms a stronghold for whatever is left of the moral values we once held dear.

They should be more appreciative of this final bastion of dignity and modesty. They should desire that traditional family values which are needed to stabilise society and encourage humanity to flourish, remain to be championed by all religions, not necessarily Islam.

Lastly, one would have expected that former service personnel would be more supportive of the discipline and accountability to society that Islam inculcates, the global phenomenon of Ramadan being an obvious example.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.