Sajakkini

Salbiah Ahmad

One of the more important outcomes to the Inter-Faith Commission conference (IFC) and the Jan 20 Jawi (Federal Territory Religious Department) raid is the rise of civil society voices. Another significant point which is worth noting is the restraint of the use of accusations of blasphemy, unbelief or of insulting Islam by civil society groups including the ulama (religious scholars) associations.

Most activists, writers and human rights defenders clearly remember when these unfortunate accusations used to inundate engagements and kill the public discourse. The discourse by civil society actors, to my mind has spiraled with new actors and arguments have become more sophisticated or least more argumentative.

Sim Kwang Yang, a fellow columnist is right, we have malaysiakini to thank, for fair reporting of views and exchanges.

Reform may sometimes be seen and taken to mean opposition, but reform is also a multiplicity of ideas which complicates the debate. It is this multiplicity and complication which interest me. (more…)

My short sojourn as a location manager for the Malaysian segment of a regional documentary was quite a reflective experience. I had expected it to be hectic, but I did not expect my trip have me question my role, my individuality as a Muslim. March 18, 2005 was also a momentous day for me (personally) and that kicked off the trip.

Mitra Media Komunika was an Indonesian production house, and Yuli Yismartono, an editor at Tempo magazine, had contacted me, asking if I wanted to be part of the team that was travelling around the region to film Muslims in Southeast Asia.

The documentary would investigate five countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, The Philippines and finally Indonesia. ‘Living Faith’ (the working title for now) is an exploration of Muslims at work, play and home, questioning themselves as Muslims. Malaysia was the second leg of the shoot.

To say that both the crew and I had multiple discourses on religion and Southeast Asia would not be true: we were too tired from all the running around, and trying not to kill the hired drivers that drove us to all our engagements. Apart from this little incident that demonstrated our language differences, it was all work: (more…)