Human Rights, or is it Human Wrongs?

Here is what’s happening in Malaysia: A Muslim lady decided to go half-naked on stage is considered her rights but a Muslim lady decided to go fully-covered on stage is considered as ‘not so right’.

At least, this is how the human rights champions in Malaysia see it. I remember when the country went berserk over the banning of Muslim ladies’ participation in beauty contest and a few NGOs came to their defend saying that it is their rights.

One of the NGOs is surprisingly named after Islam that is, Sisters in Islam (SIS). Hmm...okay, I admit, I was not that surprised because I know that Marina Mahathir is on the Board of SIS and Marina cannot be defending the Islamic Law as that wouldn’t be ‘cool’.

And this is where the problem lies that is, the hypocrisy of the so-called human rights champions.

As I once wrote, Marina is not fighting for human rights, she is merely fighting against her Malay-Muslim-self. (Is she a Muslim? She should be, or she would not be on the Board of SIS, right?...I mean, right?)

Now, I’m not saying that I don’t agree with Marina on this.

I do agree that those Muslim chicks should be allowed to enter the beauty contest as it is their rights. They are not going to be naked on stage, for God’s sake!

It is not that Malaysians have never seen ladies in bikinis before. Ladies in bikinis might be a disturbing sight for the Ustazs though I doubt it, but then, if it is so disturbing, just take your gaze away from them. Go read the Quran, take a deep breath, drink coffee or something and calm down.

The contestants obviously know what they are doing and they are willing to shoulder the sin, so be it. If you asked me, I would rather they be sinned than despised or leave the religion altogether. And I thought Islam is not about force.

However, that is not why I’m writing this article.

My problem is, where is these Human Rights champions or SIS or Marina Mahathir when Choi Yi Shan, a Muslim convert teacher was forced to take out her head-cover by the school’s Principal?

And where are they when a singer, Marinatasha Isnariah Mustapar was scolded and forced to take out her head-cover if she wants to perform at a company’s function?

Why don’t I hear anybody screaming human rights? Is it not their rights to wear anything they want? So, I take it that the Human Rights champions will only fight for ladies who want to wear bikinis in public but will not fight for those who want to wear hijab? This doesn’t make any sense.

With this, I hereby would like to call all the Human Rights NGOs in Malaysia to just drop the act. Stop pretending to be hollier than thou. The truth is, these NGOs don’t even know what is right. They exist for the wrong reasons right from the beginning. They are biased, narrow minded and ridiculous. Enough said.