Accepting Blame

It takes courage to accept blame for something. In the Philippines, their national police chief admitted responsibility for the botched bus hijacking rescue attempt last week and he has announced his decision to retire early from the service – according to The Sun yesterday (p 10). Why can’t Malaysians emulate him? When something goes amiss, we typically look the other way and give all sorts of excuses. We don’t know the meaning of accountability. Granted that Jesus Verzosa has only three months before his mandatory retirement – but the fact of the matter is he did not go into self-denial or engaged in finger-pointing.

Okay, my last words on the Teo Nie Ching issue. I am presenting two views that will refute Najib’s pathetic attempt to sound morally righteous and scrupulously correct.

Sacked Surau Al-Huda committee chairman Azemi Ahmad has repudiated Najib’s claim about the DAP MP delivering a tazkirah – which when you think about it, is laughable! Nobody in their right mind would deliver a sermon unless they are knowledgeable about the religion in question. Teo is not that foolish, although I cannot say the same for Najib for continuing to stoke the fire.

Azemi had already informed The Malaysian Insider yesterday that Teo’s speech had not touched on religious matters. Furthermore, Azemi claimed that Teo had not violated the fatwa or decree despite her failure to cover her hair when she entered the surau’s main prayer hall. “It is just manners to wear the tudung…But like I said, as a non-Muslim, it is not a must. It is an obligation and a must for Muslims to wear it,” he maintained.

Former Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin also disagreed with Najib that Teo had violated the fatwa, pointing out that the decree specifically states that non-Muslims could enter mosques.

“I will not focus on the tazkirah because I was not present when Teo delivered her speech. But of course, like I have mentioned before, the surau should not be used for political purposes.

“But my focus now is on whether a non-Muslim can enter the mosque and the answer to that is – Yes,” he said.

On the issue of Teo’s failure to cover her hair with a scarf or tudung, Dr Asri pointed out that many UMNO members had done the same themselves.

“It is not exactly wrong in Teo’s case because she is not a Muslim. It is just that those who enter the mosque should respect it by covering themselves.

“Just like if I were to go to the Prime Minister’s office or the Mentri Besar’s office, I would have to dress respectfully, in order to keep with the culture of the place. It is just common understanding,” he said.

However, Dr Asri insisted that it was not Teo’s fault for not wearing the headscarf.

So with these rebuttals, it is hoped that politicians will leave Teo alone! She doesn’t deserve this verbal harangue from airheads pretending to be upstanding and virtuous! Besides, Teo too accepted blame on this matter and she had apologized to the Selangor Sultan. Let her be!