Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy [hi-pok-ruh-see]

–noun, plural -sies.
1. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess.
2. a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.
3. an act or instance of hypocrisy.

Yes, hypocrisy a.k.a nifaq. This is a trait that people in my previous entry would definitely possess. Degree of hypocrisy differs from person to person and the severity of the misdeed, of course. He can be an ustaz who gives ceramah and lectures that cleanliness is important in Islam but won't try to keep the public toilet clean and presentable after using it. She can be a mother who lectures her son (who just got his driving license) not to drive recklessly but may just turn out to be the one behind the wheel of the white Suzuki Swift tailgating me at 120 km/h at TTDI Plaza last week. She can also be a primary school teacher who teaches her kids to line up and queue at the canteen but she may also be the one who cut my queue while buying popia basah at the pasar malam last Sunday.
Hypocrites are all around us. I admit I am also hypocritical at times but hey, at least I am aware of it and I don't try to boast an Islamic, high and mighty image of myself. There are too many instances of hypocrisy in this world. I'll just highlight three annoying ones for today.

• Female hosts on Astro Oasis

If any of you are not familiar with it (memang frog under coconut shell r korang nih), Oasis is the Islamic-themed channel provided by Astro. The tiff I have with this channel is that the hosts are obligated to wear tudung and at the same time, Astro wants to capitalise on the popularity of the products of their famed Akademi Fantasia(AF). Examples that come to mind include Farah AF2 of Rasa Halal Orient and Noni AF5 in Cafe Akhil Hayy.

Farah AF2

So you end up watching Farah talking about halal food in Taiwan (Rasa Halal Orient), ad comes in, you change the channel to Astro Ria...she is there tudung-less dancing and singing. This entry is not made to condemn the dancing/singing but the selection practice of Astro.In the end, the tudung is consigned to being just another fashion accessory that can be taken on and off, and its religious standing is compromised. The AF stars like Farah and Noni are then labelled by munafiq/hypocrites by some.
Why not just hire hosts that wear tudung fulltime? These people might not be as popular but since most of the viewers of Astro Oasis are the religious, "thou shall not watch AF" type...it probably wouldn't matter much to them.

• Vernacular Schools vs National Schools (One school concept)

Annoying. I reserve this for some of Malaysia Today's (MT) commentators. They argue that there is not enough integration between the races in Malaysia. They call for a united Malaysian Malaysia where people should identify themselves as Malaysians and not whether you are Malay, Indian or Chinese.
And then when a person proposes to abolish vernacular schools and everyone should go to only one type of school, these people get into a frenzy saying it is their constitutional right to have vernacular schools. They start citing Penyata Razak, Penyata Rahman Talib and whatnot. Whatever happened to the spirit of not being racial and just be Malaysian that they were championing? These commentators who went berserk would start acting childish, call people names and spew out vitriolic racist remarks. Cool Down!
Children start socialising at primary school level or lower. Hence, having a one school system is one of many ways to have them mingle together at a young and impressionable age. If one objects to the said proposal, just point out your agruments in a civilised manner. No need to get into a fit.

• Comparing Malaysia to Singapore

This is also a popular theme among many MT commentators. They always cite Singapore as their utopia and model nation for Malaysia.

'Singapore is heaven.'
'Singapore has no corruption.'
'Dr M will never measure up to LKY.'
'Singapore has no racism.'

Erkkk, this is selective myopia at its worst. Crap, this is even worse than Arsenal's Arsene Wenger. It can't be denied that Singapore has a stronger economy than Malaysia but these commentators conveniently leave out certain facts. The truth is Singapore's media restrictions are more rigid and strict compared to Malaysia. Their media is state-controlled and regulated.
The opposition is also curtailed in many ways by methods of voters/territory splitting, libel suits and whatnot. If you want stats, Malaysia is ranked at 81 while Singapore is worse off at 84 in The Economist's Democracy Index. Racism, corruption and abuse of power do occur in Singapore. I won't elaborate on this matter. You can read more/find stats from the links given. In particular, the one from Rocky Bru is worthy of 10 minutes of your time. The gist is...selective myopia is a form of hypocrisy. Malaysia and Singapore have more in common than you think.

Singapore Election Watch (blog)
Secret Political Blog
List of indices of Freedom (wikipedia)
Article in Rocky Bru
Article in Online Citizen

References:

Dictionary.com: Hypocrisy
Dasar Pendidikan Negara
Picture (Farah AF2) grabbed from artismelayu.net