Sorry to keep going on about cartoons again. You see, it's a government edict that all newspapers and blogs are to keep on and on, at infinitely tedious length, about Danish cartoons, and under no circumstance mention the you-know-what at you-know-where that killed you-know-how-many. And being an obedient citizen, I can only comply.
So says the
Religious Policeman,
a Saudi man, currently living in the United Kingdom, where the Religious Police no longer trouble him for the moment.
He has posted a depiction of the Prophet that
can be bought easily in the souks of Iran. He has also written satirically about the craven reponses by western governments to what may be a controversy stirred up by the Saudis
in order to divert public attention from the regrettable demise of a small number of pilgrims in Makkah during the last Hajj,
Saudi newspapers were instructed to revive the four-month-old story of cartoons about the Prophet (PBUH) in a Danish newspaper, and turn it into an attack on Denmark, together with a "spontaneous demand by the people" for a boycott of Danish goods.
So far this has worked reasonably well, although major Danish exports are bacon and lager beer, which we do not import, except as "special consignments" for some members of your family.
What is also very gratifying is that officials in the West are not only accepting our right to be offended at whatever we choose, but they are also saying that the Western media should work to our standards, not theirs. It is striking how soon they forget about their self-professed "freedoms" when they witness a little righteous Muslim anger.
Thus UK Foreign Secretary Straw's comment that
the decision by some European newspapers to print the cartoons was "disrespectful" and he added that freedom of speech did not mean an "open season" on religious taboos.
.... or to paraphrase him,"having a freedom does not mean that you have the right to use it". We could not have put it better ourselves; perhaps we should ask Mr Straw to write editorials for the "Arab News"!
The Religious Policeman would agree that the Muslim world has contributed a great deal to the growth of civilisation, great architecture, paintings and literature. That moderate Muslim voices are seemingly silenced by the clamour of illiterate imams who don't appreciate their own culture is very sad. Sad because they are in denial of the power of religion to embrace what is good in humanity.
This site points out that
hundreds of paintings, drawings and other images of Mohammed have been created over the centuries, with nary a word of complaint from the Muslim world. The recent cartoons in Jyllands-Posten are nothing new; it's just that no other images of Mohammed have ever been so widely publicized.
This is an archive of numerous depictions of Mohammed, to serve as a reminder that such imagery has been part of Western and Islamic culture since the Middle Ages -- and to serve as a resource for those interested in freedom of expression.
Here in Indonesia, as elsewhere, protests have continued with escalating demands that
Danish expats should be repatriated.
In Bandung, protest coordinator Asep Syarifuddin from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) warned that the group would
transport Danes to the airport to be repatriated.
They may well leave of their own volition after the
Danish Embassy today advised its citizens to leave
Ambassador Geert Aagaard Anderson said, "
I have not seen any security measures at all to protect the Danish embassy or other places."
So once again a few righteous thugs dictate to others.
SBY has declared that the government was constitutionally bound to protect freedom of religion and the right of all people to practice their faith.
"
In this country, there is no such thing as religions that are recognized or not recognized by the state. The Constitution guarantees the freedom of every citizen to have a religion and to practice their faith. The state shall never interfere in any religious teachings. The duty of the state is to protect, serve and facilitate the building and maintenance of places of worship and to encourage citizens to become good followers of their religions."
".... to encourage citizens to become good followers of their religions." ??
Surely it's time for the government to clamp down on the FPI. If they can be encouraged to become good citizens, then they could yet become good followers of their faith.
If they can't, then they should be charged with sedition because it's not the Danish community here that is creating mayhem.
(Thanks to
Indcoup for sending me the top two links. For more prosaic coverage of events worldwide, bookmark
The Guardian's special page.)
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