COMMENT The main essence in Islam is human rights. That is the very foundation on which Islam came upon, the importance of upholding human rights.

From small, we Muslims are taught that everyone has a right to be respected as a human being, be he or she a Muslim or not, and that every one, Muslim or not, black or white, is equal.

Eric Paulsen, who was arrested Monday night for criticising religious authority Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim, or Department of Islamic Development of Malaysia), may not be Muslim but he embodied many things that many Muslims fail to embrace.

Paulsen is no complete saint. None of us are, but he spoke up for the sidelines and he fought for them. He believed in upholding human rights.

Despite what people may be told what Paulsen stands for with his one lone tweet that criticised Jakim for its Friday sermons, of which he is not the only one to do so, he is one man who I can vouch has done much for hundreds of completely Muslim refugees, who until now have yet to be recognised as humans by any country.

I came into contact with Paulsen many years ago, when I was writing much on the plight of the Rohingyas in Malaysia in other media sites.

The Rohingya make up the biggest group of people from Myanmar who have been  forced to leave their country of birth, for the mere sake of they being Muslims.

Living in abject poverty in Malaysia

In Malaysia, they are still very much living in abject poverty and have yet to be recognised as political refugees. They have no right to health services or education, nor even provided with a piece of paper to their name.

For this group, Paulsen was a United Nations researcher in the early 2000s, a time when he completely abandoned his law practice and committed himself to speaking up for the Rohingyas and the downtrodden.

His working papers on the Rohingya and political refugees are a testament to his passion for the Rohingya. Local journalists who have been writing on this group would attest to having to contact Paulsen on the issue.

Only two years ago, Paulsen wrote, "Rakhine (formerly known as Arakan), one of the poorest and most isolated states in Burma, is home to some 800,000 Rohingya, who are among the world’s most persecuted communities, on par with the Roma in Europe and the Hmong in Laos. They have remained stateless for decades, with neither home nor citizenship, popping up on the world’s consciousness only when a humanitarian crisis strikes...

"It is difficult to understand the origin of Burma’s animosity toward the Rohingya, whom the Burmese consider to be beneath even the ‘kala’ (foreigners) of Indian origin, who already face considerable discrimination. The simplest explanations are undercurrents of racism and Islamophobia, founded on the Rohingya’s dark skin and Muslim identity in an overwhelmingly Buddhist country," he wrote in HimalSouthAsia, an analyst magazine of issues in the South Asian countries.

After his stint as a UN researcher, Paulsen came back to practice law and helped set up the NGO Lawyers for Liberty, which again was geared towards helping out those who could not afford legal help.

His being the lawyer for the family of 16-year-old Aminulrasyid Hamzah, who was shot dead by police after a car chase in Shah Alam, also testifies that he is not Islamophobic as he is made out to be.

I feel it is my duty to speak up

I may look like I am defending Paulsen, but as a Muslim, when an innocent man who has a proven record of good deeds is smeared without proof, I feel it is my duty to speak up.

After all, many adult Muslim men wander around without attending Friday prayers and some have even decided to only pray the two-rakaat prayer without listening to the khutbah, as as they do not want to be preached at by Jakim.

National laureate A Samad Said (left) also admitted that he changed mosques to the Indian Muslim mosque for Friday prayers so that he only has to listen to a sermon in Tamil, a language he does not understand.

At least Jakim should be happy that a non Muslim like Paulsen has taken an interest to read their khutbah, when a number of Muslims do not do so.

They should take heed of Paulsen's comment and accept the criticism, for the sake of religion, whether he is a Muslim or not.

The Prophet Muhammad himself, by whom we must base our conduct on, never went around arresting and harassing those who criticised Islam and his teachings. He instead modelled tolerance with them in such a manner, that he won over many of them to Islam.

Then again, humility is only found in the wise and ability to take criticism is only found in the brave.


ZAKIAH KOYA is a member of Team Malaysiakini.