Preaching Abstinence is Obviously Not Working

Hafidz Baharom wrote in The Malaysian Insider about school, sex and politics.

One of his concerns are on sexually active schoolgirls:

How many school girls are on the “morning after” pill? How many students are indulging in anal sex to still be considered “virgins” for their weddings?

While I don’t actually have a care about students having sex at any age (that’s their choice), there are things that worry me.

That would include contraception, emotional and physical damage, abortions and STDs.

How much do they know? How much DON’T they know? How much do they get from schools?

While schools, along with religious and political leaders, continually preach abstinence, it’s obviously not working.

We’ve talked about this before, and we’re confident that if people think rationally about this issue, they will all come to the same conclusion.

Abstinence is a lousy contraception.

Malaysia Was a Secular Country, and Should Return to Being One

Was originally posted in PopIN.

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When the Federal Constitution was drafted, it was made very clear that Malaysia is a secular state, and Islam was only the official religion. Malaysia was never an Islamic state.

How come in 2007, the then Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak boldly claimed that Malaysia was “never a secular state but an Islamic nation”?

Somewhere along the way from Independence, Islam took root in the governance and up until now, lobbyists constantly seek to declare Malaysia as an Islamic country. The religious status quo is fast becoming the authority—albeit one that tries to dictate the lives of Malaysians: disregarding personal rights, liberties, freedom of thought, and trampling over unbelievers.

Earlier this week, an ex-mufti was arrested for speaking up. Before that, Islamic vigilantes harrassed some youths—supposedly for “khalwat”—in their own home.

A concert was (shortly) banned for Muslims, and many others were cancelled—most likely the direct result of the senseless regulations. Unjust whipping is on the cards for a Muslim woman drinking beer.

Bibles using the word “Allah” were confiscated without explanation. Muslims led a protest against the relocation of a Hindu temple, calling for blood and desecrating a Hindu icon.

Muslims around the country seem to suffer from a victim complex, paranoid that everyone is out to get them. Every act is an offensive insult, disrespect and contempt by people manipulated by “enemies of Islam”

In their retaliation, voices get silenced, critics get persecuted, creativity is stifled.

These are all reasons why I am adamant that powers should not fall to Islamic moralists. Looking from the outside, it is clear that all the affronts violate sense and so many rights, but to the religionists, they actually believe that they’re doing it for God.

What can you say to someone who’s convinced that he’s doing the work of God? There is no reasoning.

Is Malaysia Capable Of Evolving?

Originally appeared in PopIN.

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Google “Malaysia” and “evolusi” together, and the first link that comes out is for “racing”-flick Evolusi KL Drift. FML.

This is where tackling the issue of evolution in Malaysia becomes rather tricky—it’s rarely because so many people oppose it. We just don’t talk about it much.

So let me get the ball rolling. What is evolution anyway?

To put it simply, theory of evolution explains how animals and plants change over time. This process of change is driven by a concept called natural selection, which means whichever species suits their environment best, will survive better on the average. To survive better, these animals and plants will adapt and change, causing variations after billions of years.

So why don’t we talk about it much? Chiefly it’s because the two main Abrahamic religions in Malaysia, Islam and Christianity are very much sensitive on the origin of human.