A great reply by a young Indian girl, Sarala Poobalan, to the mufti.

Dear Dr Maza,

I have always respected you as a person who is knowledgeable and because you are a religious leader, a mufti.. One of the most important aspect that was taught to me is the four pillars of life. They are mother, father, teacher and God. (see the order).These are the people who mould you into who you are. Then again, who am I? Just an ordinary person who is an Indian by birth and a Hindu by choice 

I will not touch on your religion as I have been taught to respect all religion. However, I am here to explain about mine, a religion that is not yours and that you seem to have very little knowledge of. I don't have to remind you that little knowledge is dangerous knowledge. You are a learned man.

That puisi is not nice especially when it came from you. Religious leaders are suppose to set good examples but insulting people of another faith is not one of them. I know you removed that puisi but the damage is done. I will never be able to see you as a good leader. 

Your first line :- Mempertuhankan lembu. 

We do not "mempertuhankan" we menghormati. We respect our mothers don't we? We say " Syurga di tapak kaki ibu". Does that mean we "mempertuhankan ibu kami".? We merely put them on a high pedestal. 

We do not discriminate animals. We respect them. That is why many Hindus are vegetarians. You may ask why do some Hindus eat meat. There is no compulsion in our religion. No moral police, no enforcers or anything. Do what your heart desires and we believe in karma. You will get what you deserve in the next life based on what you do today.

Then, it is "kerajaan zalim and penganut sati". 

Oh boy!!! There are still many Muslim in India and successful ones too. Remember your favourite Khans... Shah Rukh, Salman, Amir, Saif. Also remember the President who was a Muslim, Abdul Kalam. These muslims will not be able to enjoy the status they have if it was a kerajaan zalim. Of course, there will be fanatics everywhere. Are we going to label the nation because of the actions of a few?

Penganut sati.... which century are you living in? Are you still reading the book "Round the world in 80 days"? That is long gone. No longer exist because as we become educated, we discard what is wrong. We take the good. We have a lot of widows in India and they live a good life. Classic example will be the late Indra Gandhi and her daughter in law Sonia Gandhi. 

Mengkasta manusia

Let us face it. we live in a class society. You are a religious leader. In the Hindu society you will be in the Bramin class. There are Muslim beggars and are they invited to your house?So what is the difference? Women are not in the same class with men.Caste system exist in all societies not just in the Hindu society.However, the caste system is classified differently in different society. By the way, it is banned but still practiced by people who cannot accept change. That is normal. Just like mas kahwin. India has banned dowry system but have you removed the mas kahwin?

Your next 5 lines are for the local Hindus or rather people who opposed the so called preacher. Why did we oppose him?

- He, as a good Muslim should defend his religion and actions in the nation that he claims will torture him. If he is so proud of his faith and believed that he did no wrong, then be a man and face it. If he is found not guilty, by all means come and use the PR. If guilty, face the consequences in this world for you will be rewarded in the next. 

- Speaking ill of another is not the teaching of any religion. He has quoted all our religious scripts wrongly. That makes us angry. We know our scripts well enough to know what he is comparing is wrong, do you?

We are always told that we should not speak about Islam because we are not Muslims. Shouldn't that rule be applied to you and the preacher as well?

I am sad because this one man has divided us as Malaysians