Wednesday, November 21, 2007

apakejadah?? (wtf??)

I dont usually comment on how the S@udis run their country, but this piece of news really got me pi**ed off.
To summarize, a 19yr old was r@ped a year ago, and after the trial of her r@pe, the panel of judges sentenced the men involved to prison time ranging from 2 to 9 years, and she was punished with 90 lashes.
Her lawyer and her protested and went to the papers, so the judge increased the sentence to 200 lashes and her lawyer was stripped off his legal license.

Apakejadah nya??? (the malay equivalent to 'wtf??' but without the expletives)

Granted that she was punished for breaking a pre-existing law (un-married women are not allowed to travel without a male relative in this country) and not for supposedly 'inviting the r@pe', but still, there is some thing called 'discretion' and 'compassion'. The girl had been violated and traumatized, for god's sakes, have some feelings. Yes, she had broken the law, but it's not like she had robbed a bank or killed someone.
And if they're so hell bent on implementing islamic law, why weren't the men stoned to death for their crime?
Sometimes I wonder what kind of upbriging these muttawas have. Did they not have mothers, sisters? Do they not have daughters? They seem to have such low opinion of women and such a high opinion of themselves. Did they not know that even arrogance is considered a despicable trait by Allah?

grrrrrrrrrr... even now I am still seething!!
grrr.. if i were the hulk, i'd be green and bursting out of my underpants by now.
nasib baik lah ada Lee Dong Wook to cheer me up..

We're planning to have lunch with one of our S@udi friends this weekend. I'm gonna ask him what he thinks of all this.



Edited to add:

What angers me as much as reading this news, is reading some of the reactions expressed about this news. While i can understand the anger for the injustice (because, as you can tell, I am angry too), I cannot understand the muslim bashing.
I see comments all over the internet saying "This is proof that islam is not a peaceful religion", "Muslims are all sexist pigs", "Saudi = Bad, Saudi = Islam, therefore Islam = Bad" and other hateful comments along those lines.

Well, have I got news for you:

1. Saying Saudi equals Islam is like saying America equals Christianity. Saudi laws, even though they claim to be 'based on Islamic Sharia law', is not purely Islamic Sharia law. They are very much ingrained with arabic tribal culture and practices. Same goes for any laws in any country. Even Malaysian laws (which claim to be an Islamic country) are not fully islamic.
2. Muslims, and Saudis are human. Believe it or not. Muslims make mistakes, have bad judgement and sin just like the rest of the world. Just because a few muslims are jerks, doesnt mean every muslim is a jerk. Just because a few saudi men are chauvinist pigs who qould put down a woman every chance they can get, doesnt mean all of them are. I've met Saudi men who go out of their way to help me and Izani cross the street without even waiting or expecting a thankyou, just like I've met Malaysian/european/american men who turn a blind eye when someone is obviously in need of help.
3. If i were to judge all christians just like muslims are judged nowadays, I would have to think that all christians are war-mongering, money hungry folks who dont care about anything else but themselves. But I dont.

With the vast availability of information the web, and the opportunity to actually get to know people from different backgrounds, religion, culture, country, beliefs, upbringing, races, profession, music and food preferences and sexual orientation, I am suprised that some people are still ignorant.

as PD would put it, So ner.

5 comments:

  1. That is wahhabism in action, for you.

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  2. no, that's men with too much power with no conscience!

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  3. han - but I'll have you know that not all saudis are wahhabis.

    athene, There's another related article, telling the woman's husband's side of the story, and what he thinks of what happened - http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/21/saudi.rape.victim/index.html
    Apparently there was one aprticular judge who was extra vindictive.

    and the lawyer thinks that this event might help change some of the restrictive laws - http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/21/saudi.rape.lawyer/index.html


    I'm editing this post to add what I think about the kind of attention this news has been getting.

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  4. orang arab memang bodoh sombong, especially the saudis, IMHO!

    kebodohan yang paling baru ni dah di take advantage oleh musuh2 islam... bikin susah untuk orang2 lain jer... kicap betul!

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  5. I know that this is a very sticky situation esp for the layman... meaning us who may not know the nitty gritty of the law or the situation..what we know is just from what we read.Myb we want to conform to the world order, not to be look at as the bad guy alwyas.. it looks unfair now but the whole event will lead to something myb better eventually insy..due to it being given due publicity. But believe me towards the end of time..Islam will be look at strangely eg. why do you wear this strange clothes or why do you have these beards or why do you practise such practises...solat, fasting etc..when we are Muslims too.As for Arabs=Non-Behaving , it's the same like saying org. Kelantan semua makan Budu he..he.. Some Arabs are very nice yes..they let you go to the front of a queue w/o grumbling..they give you way to cross the street..etc..but there are those who pisses us off..same like some M'sian and some Mat Sallehs..we are human after all..

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