Having made the headlines by banning an exhibition about ghosts, ghouls and supernatural beings as 'haram' (forbidden) last year, news of Malaysia's National Fatwa Council's latest edict banning "tomboys" in the Muslim-majority country has reverberated worldwide.
The National Fatwa Council is the top Islamic council in the country and under the purview of the Department of Islamic Advancement of Malaysia (Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia, JAKIM).
Harussani clarified that although the council's ruling was not legally binding, tomboys should be banned because their actions are immoral.
"It doesn't matter if it's a law or not. When it's wrong, it's wrong. It is a sin," Harussani told The Associated Press. "Tomboy (behaviour) is forbidden in Islam."
"They must respect God. God created them as boys, they must behave like boys. God created them as girls, they must act like girls," he said. Boys should also not act like girls, he added.
Harussani said an increasing number of Malaysian girls behave like tomboys, and that some of them engage in homosexuality. Homosexuality is not explicitly banned in Malaysia, but it is effectively illegal under a law that prohibits sex acts "against the order of nature."
Abdul Shukor Husin, chairman of the National Fatwa Council, was quoted in the UK Telegraph as saying: "It is unacceptable to see women who love the male lifestyle including dressing in the clothes men wear. (Masculine behaviour) becomes clearer when they start to have sex with someone of the same gender, that is woman and woman."
"In view of this," Dr Abdul explained, "the National Fatwa Council which met today have decided and taken the stand that such acts are forbidden and banned."
Same-sex relations between men is illegal in Malaysia under Section 377 of the Penal Code and punishable with up to twenty years in jail. The Telegraph further added that although there is no provision banning lesbian sex in Malaysia's civil code, the latest fatwa appears to be an attempt to push lesbianism towards illegality.
It is unclear what the penalty is for not complying with the latest edict. Sixty percent of its 27 million people are ethnic Malays who are regarded as Muslims by definition and subject to Sharia law and the council's edicts, even if the rulings have not been enshrined in national or Shariah law.
Islamic authorities in Malaysia frequently issue guidelines with regards to what women should or should not wear. In June, authorities in a northern Malaysian city of Kota Baru have forbidden Muslim women from wearing bright lipstick and noisy high-heeled shoes, saying the directive is intended to prevent sexual assaults and "illicit sex." Kota Baru, the capital of Kelantan state, which is ruled by the hard-line opposition party Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), also issued a directive calling for Muslim women to wear non-transparent headscarves that cover the chest, long-sleeved and loose blouses and socks. Those who flout the guidelines can be fined up to RM500 (U$153).
Update (Nov 10, 2008): Protestors marched from Ampang Park LRT station to the vicinity of KLCC to protest fatwa on Nov 7, 2008
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Reader's Comments
Shame really as Malaysia is not a bad place but it seems to be turning bad.
Luckily KL generally seems to be a sophisticated sort of place.
A great read at the moment regarding the effect of religion on the world is Christopher Hitchens' "God is not Great", written from an atheist perspective. Personally I'm undecided on the issue (though I haven't finished the book yet) but it is very illuminating. Check out what priests got upto in Rwanda.
if i gave the excuse that i was born a hermaphrodite, will that work, since god made me that way in between?
pfft.
America is in deep trouble now, taking the rest of the world down with them.The U.S. Christian fundamentalists who are the voting base for the morally and financially corrupt Bush administration, are of similar ilk.
Read Esther Kaplan's book "With God on Their Side" to see the result of religious bigotry on society!
AJM
Yet here they are addressing the issues that harms no one, and cause no pain and suffering to those who chose to dress as a man or a woman.
I can't help to think this, albeit in a funny way, that perhaps to avoid being targetted by the rapist, the girls are dressing up as boys.
God is forgiving and merciful. Didn't we learn that in school , in the bible , in the koran ?
What have these clerics got to say ??? Pleaseeeeee
Tell them to get a better life. This whole religion / God thing is getting out of context / hand.
Go read the book " God's Delusion" by Richard Hawkings
National Fatwa Council to make a ruling on yoga
GEORGE TOWN: The National Fatwa Council will soon come out with a ruling on yoga exercise.
The Islamic Development Department's deputy director-general (operations) Othman Mustapha said the council's chairman, Prof Datuk Dr Abdul Shukor Husin, would make the announcement.
Othman told reporters this after opening the two-day seminar on Islamic Jurisprudence and Eternal Islamic Thinking at Universiti Sains Malaysia here yesterday.
On Tuesday, lecturer Prof Zakaria Stapa of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Islamic Studies Centre advised Muslims who have taken up yoga to stop practising it as it could deviate from their belief. - Bernama
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/30/nation/2408100&sec=nation
This is what I call the crowd syndrome....blind following the not so blind :: hahahah
My 2 cents
We make them powerful , we believe everything they say and preach. It's time this stops. use your brains and think !!!
They can create 1000's of laws of discrimination against our society here in Malaysia. But nothing will change us. We as humans will adapt to any situations. I have to agree its not fair to use religion to shut us out. I wish they are in our shoes and only then they would know how it feels to be different.
Being thought in a local religious University here has made me learn a lot. Just let the National Fatwa Council be. As their laws will not do anything much.
Quoting the article above:
"Same-sex relations between men is illegal in Malaysia under Section 377 of the Penal Code and punishable with up to twenty years in jail"... Ok, I don't even know this law existed. haha.. But it has done nothing to harm us so far. SO its just a sentence of words to me..
Malaysian authority as i can recall are known famously to make bombastic statement about laws. But do they amend them into action? NO...
Its a waste of time thinking about them... coz life goes on !
P.S: to tourists out there. don't be afraid, Malaysia is very open actually and there is nothing they can do to you !
@Post #10 Fadil:
Now that you mention it, I'm reminded of the sad stories I see in the news- women, even girls as young as10 being kidnapped, raped & then killed after the perverts had their lust satisfied.
And that underneath Malaysia's conservative exterior, lies a very dangerous underbelly where pornography- often of the most vile kind, is widely available & distributed. I hope the Malaysian people & especially their politicians open up their eyes & see those are the REAL problems facing their country. Pathetic religious leaders trying to distract fr the real sociological issues will win only
IF YOU ALLOW THEM. Remember that.
But, my goodness me, perhaps I just don't understand what awful, awful people Malaysian tomboys must be like (instead of, say, a completely normal and wholly accepted character trait for some/many girls, with characters such as Pippi Longstocking even having books and films made about them to promote/encourage healthy 'tomboyism').
Lastly, although I'm an atheist, I have a Lot of respect for just about any religion and faith - yet who makes up all these rules and amendments and orders and edicts about what 'God' wants? Men. A bunch of conservative guys sit around in some back room, and They decide what 'God' wants, and how 'God' wants everyone to live their lives.
Excuse me? Did I miss a celestial trumpet call and the voices of ten million angels singing in unison that, lo, tomboy behaviour in some girls is a little bit, uh, uncomfortable for Some men to witness so Hey, it's banned Everywhere?!
No. Instead, some bunch of guys sat around and decided that, in Malaysia at least/alone, THIS is what God wants! What supreme arrogance on the part of Man - Those men - to decide what He wants. I should think that God can fight his own battles - and if God's remotely bothered by ridiculously inoffensive tomboyish behaviour, well, let's just say that I haven't seen any avenging angels flapping around, hurling thunderbolts at strong-minded women who aren't acting like a bunch of girly, simpering, super feminine girls fulfilling ideals of what a woman 'should' be like - by that new Malaysian edict, anyway...
(1) The Malaysian National Fatwa Council members are confusing sexual orientation and gender identity issues;
(2) My understanding of the original Islamic disapproval of dressing as one's opposite gender was meant to suppress *intentional* attempts to deceive; for example, an adult heterosexual man might try to dress as a woman (full chador would make it nearly impossible to tell by looking) in order to gain access to women's private quarters in a home not belonging to his family.
This is a joke to society.
They should all be forced to watch Tootsie and Priscilla continuously until they pass out.
and they are now minding how ppl should dress.
SHAME ON THEM.
im proud to be malaysian.but f*ck them.
I'm so sick of these conservatives telling the people what to do, 'this is a sin', 'that is wrong', 'respect God', 'you'll go to hell', 'gay sex is a gross act against nature'...
Don't get me started about my homophobic Indonesian housemate here who clearly expressed his homophobia ("we should chop off heads of gay people")
I'm so sick of being subjected to ridicule and nonesense. What did we ever do to them anyway? All they ever care about is being RIGHT, and impose their interpretation of 'how things SHOULD be according to God'. According to their interpretations and how THEY want it to be is more like it.
Bullshit. Utter bullshit.
Where do these exacting ideas of gender role and 'acceptable' behaviour come from, anyway? Again, it's pretty simple - if a bunch of men decide that this thing or that thing that women are doing is offensive to God - well, guys, stop passing the buck, and take responsibility for YOUR actions. Control Your mind and thoughts, act like a rational human being, and stop blaming or seeking to punish others for what You don't like yourself!
Or, hey, can I start making up my own rules about all the things that I think are offensive to God as well? What would make my rules and laws less acceptable than theirs? Is it a strength in numbers thing? How many guys sat around and decided that tomboys should be outlawed? Seems to me that if I can match that number (3? 17? 42? 2,881?) with people who agree with me, I can start to pass MY laws on what people can and can't do - and, by golly, Malaysia better obey them just as much as the anti-tomboy laws! Who's with me?!
Maybe if they see how "happy" we all are then they would understand how sad their lives are!
Next time, they'll impose a law to fine or arrest men or women who don't marry by a certain age.
Prescribe valium to these so called clerics with "dr" tiltles (how incredible as if they have the capacity to think...!???), 3 times a day so that they can feel happy & gay and be closer to "GOD"!!!
Go Figure!
They are stupid!!
Who the hell are they to control people?? God? My a**
stop hiding behind religion.
what you want doesn't mean that its RIGHT.
don't be afraid of visiting Malaysia.
we're more civilized than that.
well, in the more modern states anyway.
these people most probably live in the other states where its majority are Muslims and still is quite behind in terms of modernity (one clear example: state of Kelantan). hm,which is why they feel powerful enough to take such bold steps? *shrugs*
it's a WONDER, really. we're in the same country, the same piece of land but they're still pretty far behind.
they're distorting the Muslim religion.
soon, all LGBT Muslims in Malaysia will have to run.
far far away.
and then the other LGBT races.
and then the other races.
and then they will have what they want.
pure Malays living in MALAYsia.
i still love my country very much tho.
I'm Chinese.
but I'm very much Malaysian.
No matter straight or gay,we should just llive our own lifelstyle without bother about those silly guideline..SO,CUT THE CRAP!!
Are they really conveying messages from their religious god? Or are they really representing their own views?
This is an abject disregard for human rights ... I never dreamed of ever witnessing an event such as this - the government dictating how women should accessorise ...
I guess the government would never listen to George Bernard Shaw who once said "THE CUSTOMS OF THE TRIBE ARE NOT THE LAWS OF NATURE"
Let them take your freedom away, and it doesn't return. Malaysians should be aware of this, it won't stop here and won't be reversed if they allow it. Talk about it, spread the word, and support opposition, that's the way to go.
Realy stupid!!!
what I do know is that he's not going to be reading your comments on here, and its a real shame how so many country and there power off authority live in the dinisores days
This is what the Malaysian Department of Islamic Development's (Jakim) director-general Datuk Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abd Aziz said in response to the fatwa in an interview:
Q: When you translate this fatwa into English, the word "tomboy" is used instead of "pengkid". "Tomboy" in English doesn't have a sexual connotation. So, what do you mean by "dressing like a man"?
"A: This is what we mean by "fitrah".
A safe way is to teach children, whether male or female, from an early age to follow their respective fitrah.
If we allow this budaya practice (of pengkid) to continue to develop, it will become an tradition, and then a norm. When it becomes a norm, then people will think no longer think of it as a wrong. This is something we do not want to happen.
That's why we want to go back to the fitrah. If you follow your fitrah, the chances of you being safe is higher, compared with if we were to completely give freedom until you could not differentiate between feminine characteristics and male characteristics."
So the basis of his logic is simply to nip it in the bud before any form of gay behaviour even get s a chance to develop itself. Hmm. Let's see. If we black the roads that lead to a destination, we can prevent it right? Ok. So lets turn the tables for a second and see how this equation can work both ways. I'm just going to use his own words and susbstitute a few keywords with my own:
If we allow this (fatwa) to continue to develop, (we) will become (a nation of Islamic religious exteremists) and then a (nation of terrorrists). When (this) become a norm, then people will think no longer think of it as a wrong. This is something we do not want to happen.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
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