YOURSAY | Religious figures are not exempted from crime reporting

YOURSAY | 'We expect religious figures to set a good example for us sinners to follow.'

'Don't sensationalise cases involving religious figures' - PAS deputy minister

IndigoKite6964: A preacher, regardless of being a celebrity or not, commits rape, and if others of the faith (clergy or congregation) hear about it through the news, they may follow his example.

That is what Ahmad Marzuk Shaary, a deputy minister of religious affairs from PAS, is saying.

To me, what Marzuk is saying is that Islamic religious figures are not accountable to anyone and the law. Is that the teaching he is giving to Muslims with the added authority as deputy religious minister?

In my books, religious figures who commit crimes should be given twice the punishment on earth so that the congregation will know that what has been done is wrong and that clerics are held to a higher law than the penal code of the land.

This is how confidence in religious figures and institutions is built, not by hiding it as postulated by Marzuk.

Appum: Does any religion teach its followers to allow its religious leaders, priests, monks, ustazs to commit acts that are prohibited by its teachings and if they have done so, just not "sensationalise" these issues?

My dear PAS deputy minister, you can follow your own standard of morality, especially the religious kind, but we don't have to listen to such nonsense.

As far as I can see, like Buddhist monks in Thailand, if they behave and commit wrongdoings, they are shamed publicly, disrobed immediately and people there despise them totally.

What are you so afraid of? That your religion and its followers are so weak that exposure will threaten the religion?

Jetson: Why hide the bare facts when religious individuals commit such crimes? Who are we trying to protect? The criminal, victim or religion?

In one way it (the media reporting of such news) gives courage to those innocent poor victims of such activities to come forward, rather than suffer in silence.

It also goes to prove that religion does not maketh a man, but the respecter of human principles and values.

Corruption, incest, rape, baby dumping, the usage of drugs and many other ills are still active in our nation, even after billions were poured into religious activities.

So why hide the truth? Wake up. We have to find more effective ways to overcome these evils, rather than sweeping them under the carpet each time they are exposed. We have to weed out the evils from our society.

Coward: As someone purporting to be representing his religion, our deputy minister should be out there reinforcing the message that Islam does not condone wrongdoing and will not tolerate followers or preachers committing crimes.

Instead, he is trying to use religion to sweep criminal activities under the carpet.

He should learn from the Catholic Church’s attempt to cover up the sexual deviances of their priests. By sweeping it under the carpet, they made the situation even worse, and only when the sun shined in were corrective actions taken.

Mat MD: Criminal cases involving religious figures have to be widely reported as a means to disgrace and humiliate them for their despicable acts and to deter others from committing these same crimes.

Religious figures are expected to be pious, righteous, possessing adequate religious knowledge, to guide people to the right path and prevent them from committing evil.

It is not correct to state that since they have not been proven guilty for the alleged crimes, therefore, it is not right for the alleged crimes to be widely reported.

If they feel that they have been slandered and wrongly accused, they have the right to rebut and clear themselves. Criminals should not be protected and allowed to hide from facing justice.

Newday: Too many times alleged crimes of a sexual nature by public figures are covered up. Too many times these people do not change their bad habits and continue indulging in them due to their transgressions being covered up.

Yet here you are advising that Islam says to cover up such criminal activities as others may start doing the same thing due to the publicity? No. People perpetuate actions like sexual predation because they think they can get away with it as it is continually covered up!

We need exposure, not cover-ups. It is astounding that in 2021 we have elected officials with great responsibility who promote such cover-ups.

Malaysia Is Surrealist Art That Can Be Bought: It would be interesting to find out if the "other people" whom Marzuk is suggesting may "learn and try" are common people, or more specifically, religious teachers and preachers. I hope he means the former. Either way, what a sad and lowly perception he has of humanity as a whole.

In keeping with the deputy minister's logic, Malaysiakini should perhaps stop featuring unbelievable comments from outrageous persons in leadership positions, lest the masses may be enticed to "learn and try". What a disaster the nation would then turn out to be.

Vijay47: Sorry, Marzuk, I had earlier read only the other article where you had expounded your in-depth knowledge of union between man and woman, in the same learned vein as your bosom buddy Zakir Naik, the comparative religion scholar of international fame especially in Mumbai. I didn’t know your expertise extended to the psychology of journalism and crime also, no doubt this inspired by Dostoevsky.

So according to your latest treatise, the commission of a crime is accentuated by reports on the offence. Thus, allegations of rape, molestation and similar uninvited intimacy only serve to encourage more to jump on the bandwagon.

You urge the media not to devote publicity to the preachers, celebrity and not so famous, lest others are inclined to follow suit. When you say “others”, do you mean the man or woman in the street, or other preachers? Which category do you fall in?

Yet there seems method in your madness. Don’t report it and it would not be repeated, it would simply fade away like old soldiers. 

What is the range of your advice? Are there things that cannot be reported? Should newspapers and Malaysiakini be banned? Incest, corruption, drug-taking, abandoned babies, 1MDBs - should they also be kept under the bushel?

Just Fix It: There is just no logic to Marzuk’s argument. Why should religious figures be exempted? Does this man even think before he speaks? Is he finding ways to destroy his own credibility?

What did he think the outcome of his statement would be? People joining hands and agreeing to his ridiculous outlook and thanking him for his wisdom?

This is seriously unbelievable.

OrangePanther1466: People who hold themselves out as holy men and providing a moral compass to a certain segment of society must not betray the trust in the role they purport to play.

They must not only act but must be seen to uphold the highest level of probity and character. If they betray that role and trust, then the public has a right to know as it is certainly newsworthy.

This PAS deputy minister is just protecting his party members or supporters, which I presume the two accused mentioned in the news report are.

Headhunter: The opposite is true. Those holier-than-thou who commit crimes should be exposed for what they are - charlatans. Nor exposing them would be a travesty to their victims and their religions.

We expect religious figures to set a good example for us sinners to follow. Not exposing them would be like giving them the licence to continue.

To God The Glory: Indeed, the fact that a well-known religious figure, who is supposed to be exhibiting the highest moral standards, is involved in an alleged crime, is in itself sensational news... like it or not.

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