No Muslims at Malaysia Black Eyed Peas concert

The above was the title that caught my attention while browsing through the web this morning. The concert is a part of celebrations of Guinness 250th birthday and is sponsored by Guinness. The ban was due to the moves against beer sales by the opposition Islamic party, PAS and also the sentence of a 32-year old Muslim woman to be caned after being caught drinking beer in a hotel by Malaysian Islamic court.

It's funny how these kind of measurements were taken to the extreme by these group of people. Quoting the news above, "Even without alcohol, foreign bands are subject to scrutiny. Earlier this week, the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) said it wanted Danish band Michael Learns to Rock banned from performing as it would cause immorality.

Since 2007, PAS, the country's second largest political group measured by party membership, has campaigned against performances by the likes of Beyonce, Rihanna, Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne."

What are they really afraid of anyway? What is it that makes them so paranoid till they want to ban foreign singers from performing in Malaysia? Would it bring good moral conducts to the people by banning these performances? In what sense does the performances cause immorality? The clothing? The dancing? The songs? Well, they might as well ban all the MTV's and V channel on astro then, since the video clips are more obscene than on the concert itself.

It all comes down to personal choices. Regardless of any religion, all religion teaches good moral conducts. None teaches us to steal, or to kill, or to get drunk, or to fornicate, or to do all the bad things onto yourself or others. But why do all the things above being practiced without even the slightest guilt? It's a matter of choices. God gave us the freedom to choose from good and bad. What good would it be if He created us without giving us the freedom? We would be like robots, programed to do whatever He wants, never knowing the reason we do it, never knowing the meaning of it, and never appreciate it.

So, the question is.. Who are we, as human beings, have the right to take that freedom from his fellow human beings? Are we more than God, that we have the right to impose such ban in order to stop people from engaging any immorality activities? Even if such ban are executed, will it stop immoral activities? Who are we to judge what is good and bad, when we ourselves are imperfect?

It all comes down to personal choices, and that choices will be judged by God in the end, not us human beings.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE57Q06B20090827