In The Name of Merciful God

I was so surprised and delighted to read from Kak Yasmin Ahmad’s blog that her new film “Muallaf” bears the line ‘??????????’ from the very beginning. For those who don’t read chinese, it means “In the name of merciful God.” or more accurately ” Bismilah-i-rahman-i-rahim”. Now, to my surprise, the line is normally either in Arabic or Bahasa Malaysia, as in Kak Yasmin’s other films (Sepet, Gubra and Mukhsin), but Kak Yasmin inject fresh ideas into spreading her ever popular love of unifying Malaysians by putting “Bismilah-i-rahman-i-rahim” in Chinese characters. It sends me a message straightaway, that Islam doesn’t belong to a specific race (in which many still have this shallow thoughts of Islam=Malay or Islam=Arabs). It also means that God’s religion is universal and there is no harm of allowing other religions to flourish. I hate to say this but apparently, in Malaysia, many of those who think they are religious define religion differently. They normally believe in “Dominant Religion as well as Good Religion”. I was so annoyed when some would say, “convert to this religion and you’ll go to heaven easily”. Hell or heaven, it’s not the religion that decides, it’s you as a preacher. If you practice what you preach, and do more good than harm, regardless of whatever religion you belongs to, you’ll still go to heaven (that is if it really exists).
Kudos to Kak Yasmin for her effort again. Rarely we have seen a Malaysian with such great talents in expressing her thoughts into motion pictures. Despite many who have criticised you as “mencemarkan budaya, agama dan bangsa” (not to mention Sharifah Amani, whom i adore for her braveness in shaving her head for “Muallaf”), you have proven to them that your work of art is genuine from heart and not solely for commercial purposes. You, in fact, are making Malaysians like me, very proud!