The Rebel

Hishamuddin Rais

Read yet another feature about this rebellious, devil-may-care guy in The Star today. His life has gone through many shades of colour. He's been there-done that, sometimes more than once.

Still independent-minded and critical after all these years. No wonder he calls himself NGI - Non Governmental Individual.

Am proud to say he's from Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, not far from my kampung. Woghih den ok.

Ask Hishamuddin Rais his views and you can expect caustic, witty and irreverent responses. Like this one:

You have mentioned a creeping Taliban-isation of Malaysia.

The problem is that the Malays don’t read the Quran itself, they rely too much on people who claim to be close to God.

I just wrote about how I am living with three cats and a dog, and how they could live and play together despite supposedly being enemies. It’s a metaphor of the Malay, Chinese, Indian social constructs But some people responded to my article saying I had no right to live with a dog.

But the Quran categorically respects dogs. Among its 6,666 verses, not one says you can’t have a dog. Instead, the Quran has the story of a guy who slept in a cave for 300 years, and an angel found him sleeping with his loyal dog. The Quran says the meat from animals hunted by dogs is halal. And it says, love all animals.

In Malaysia, they always say the Quran is complete. But there’s nothing in it about the Internet, Google, going to the moon or the PLUS highway.

Five hundred years ago, the mullahs said we should stop ijtihad, stop rational debate on the sacred texts. The movement to bring ijtihad back is still very small in Malaysia, but I believe we need it. [The Star, 26/11/2006]

Wow! Food for thought, no?