Dear Editor,
The charge of marginalisation of Guyana’s Muslims by Shabnam Alli and Ray Chickerie, in their letter, ‘Muslims are marginalised in Guyana,’ (SN, July 28) can be easily addressed by the state, which by implication, at least, for the two writers, is culpable. Simply publish the information on Muslim representation in every department of the state. The CIOG also should be in a position to address the charge. They should have the facts.
Among the examples of under-representation of Muslims in different state agencies, the writers have lamented that the government is yet to appoint a Muslim representative to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which Guyana joined in 1998.
In addition to Suriname, Guyana is the only other country in the western hemisphere to be a member of this outfit.
Far from arguing for the appointment of a representative, I do not feel that Guyana should have joined this group in the first place, which is the home of some of the most brutally repressive and undemocratic regimes in the world today, and which have little or no regard for fundamental human rights as are contained in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It has to sicken the soul of any human being to have to sit among the likes of Saudia Arabia, Sudan and others where the penalty for a person who leaves Islam or who is accused of blasphemy is death, which if not carried out by the states themselves, is ensured by hoodlums who pose as the defenders of faith.
Membership of the OIC, according to its revised 2008 charter is premised on accepting Islam’s supremacy and on the need for member states to engage in the active propagation of Islam as the only true faith. According to our constitution Guyana is a secular and democratic state and cannot be seen as favouring any one religion over others, but this is exactly what membership to the OIC requires.
The hope of oil money that many find alluring, must not be the reason to be part of this group. When one takes into consideration that oil money has not helped poor Muslim nations, some of the poorest in the world, why should we assume it would flow in our direction? It would be blood money anyway!
It should be noted that Housing Minister Ali who attended the last OIC meeting in Saudia Arabia, and who some speculate is a person with presidential ambitions, spoke at the conference and among other things committed Guyana to the fight against “Islamophobia.” The goal here, it is observed, is not only to fight against “intolerance” and “discrimination,” but to insulate Islam and Muslim practices from any kind of criticism whatsoever, no matter how mild and inoffensive. This was exactly the intention of OIC members in urging the United Nations to accept their “defamation” of religion resolution that they attempted to have the world body pass.
The question which I asked a while ago in these columns as to why Islam is so universally misunderstood and misinterpreted by so many of its followers across the world could not be asked in many of the OIC states, and would invariably be seen as “Islamophobia,” with the potential of a death penalty.
Guyana’s constitution proclaims our secular and democratic status. However imperfectly we realise these values in our day-to-day lives, they are our lifeblood and are worth the ultimate sacrifice defending. Being a member of the OIC, where among many of its members, a bizarre cult of death is glorified, compromises these values. Guyana, therefore, has no business in the OIC. Let us get out now.
Yours faithfully,
Swami Aksharananda