More Specific Guidelines On Usage Of Malay And Employment Of Muslims Needed.

On the one hand our authorities encourage the use of the Malay language as a medium of instruction in schools, in daily conversation, sign boards and official letters as well as promoting it as a language of knowledge. On the other, the same language proponents become paranoid when Malay is used as a language in the writing of anything which they find unacceptable, suspicious or distasteful especially if it pertains to religion.

Recently the Utusan Malaysia highlighted a story of a buku komik agama bukan Islam berbahasa Melayu diedar percuma in Cheras where the said comic was being distributed by Malay youths. The Utusan writer himself obtained a copy at the car park of Taman Shamelin Perkasa, Cheras.

The writer then poses this question, persoalannya kenapa komik itu dibukukan dalam bahasa Melayu dan diupah belia Melayu untuk mengedarnya? Mengapa pula diolah dalam bentuk komik? A valid argument on the face of it. My questions are very simple. Is it an offence for a Muslim to be employed or tasked in any venture, free or profit-making, which deals with an item or any literature connected with another religion? Does he automatically lose his right of employment even if he personally has no objections, if another religion vaguely comes into the picture? Are Malay translations of non-Islamic scriptures and literature forbidden by law?

It is better to issue very specific guidelines and if these guidelines are already in place, then publicise them, to prevent the type of insinuations made in the Utusan report which gives the 'Islam in danger' kind of uneasy feeling to the average Muslim.

The full Utusan report here.