Reza Aslan likens BFM fine to ‘North Korea thuggery’

By fining business radio station BFM RM10,000 over an interview with him last year, Iranian-American Muslim scholar Dr Reza Aslan said the Malaysian authorities were acting like “a bunch of thugs” from North Korea who were trying to stifle the people’s voice.

“It’s a witch-hunt – an attempt to make an example out of a station by making them afraid. This is exactly like the North Korea hacking of Sony,” said the renowned theologian in a phone interview with The Malaysian Insider.

“It is a bunch of thugs trying essentially to blackmail the people to keep them quiet,” said Reza, adding that he was “embarrassed” for Malaysians and their country over the fine.

The United States has accused North Korea of being involved in a cyber-attack on Sony Pictures that led to the Hollywood studio cancelling the release of its movie The Interview, a comedy on the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on December 9 fined BFM for airing an interview with Reza on October 21 last year, in which he criticised Malaysia’s ban on the use of "Allah" by non-Muslims and had called the Court of Appeal’s decision on October 14, 2013, a “political decision”.

“To me, (the fine) is the height of absurdity.

"It is an incontrovertible, unconditional fact that the word Allah is nothing more than the Arabic word for the word ‘God’,” Reza told The Malaysian Insider, noting that the Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Bahá'í and even pre-Islamic pagans used the word.

“So let’s stop pretending there is a debate or discussion on this matter. There is no debate about the matter. I am not expressing my opinion, I am expressing an absolute and unalterable fact.

“So this notion that this governing body can set itself up as defying the most basic and incontrovertible fact as though there is an argument to be made here is, as I said to the radio station, is laughable.”

He said the fine was an embarrassment to Malaysians and the country, especially given its position as one of the emerging leaders of the Muslim world in the 21st century.

“Malaysia is not Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or Afghanistan, okay? This is a modern, sophisticated, urbane country, and it’s not ruled by the Taliban and the Wahabbis.”

But he said that the government would not be able to succeed in stifling opposing voices by slapping BFM with the fine, just as the hacking scandal on Sony Pictures had helped give The Interview more prominence than the movie would have gotten otherwise.

“Whenever you try to shut the people up, when you threaten them or blackmail them, all you end up doing is you give them more attention. This hack and threatening the movie The Interview is going to make it the most popular movie in the world.

“The fact that there is more attempts to bully BFM has brought people out to support it even more, already there are pledges to pay the fine because the people of Malaysia are saying this is not just an attack on a radio station, but an attack on our rights and an attack on our culture,” said Reza.

Reza was referring to a funding drive launched on Facebook by press freedom activist Masjaliza Hamzah for individuals to pledge RM10 towards helping BFM pay off the fine.

Masjaliza, who is the former Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) executive officer, said the RM10 drive was to show support for BFM pending the decision of their appeal against the fine.

Reza said that should the drive fall short of its target, he was more than happy to pay for the remainder of the fine.

“We have to say that we are not going to be bullied or quieted,” he stressed.

But he added that Malaysia’s reputation was taking an international beating due to the entire "Allah" row, and the fine on the radio station was not helping matters.

He said that Muslim leaders around the world were already finding it impossible not to talk about the "Allah" issue, which he described as a "black eye" on Malaysian spirituality and culture.

“Which is why I said, the rest of the world is laughing at you. It’s become the butt of jokes.

“Even conservative Muslims who may loathe Christians, who are puritanical, if they are Arabic-speaking, they know there is no argument here.”

MCMC's action against BFM was on the grounds that the station failed to get approval from the religious authorities before airing the interview with Reza.

Conditions attached to the radio station's licence require it to obtain permission from the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim), under the Prime Minister's Department, for the airing of content that touches on Islam.

However, BFM Media Sdn Bhd managing director Malek Ali said in a statement that the station did strive to comply with such conditions, by editing out portions of the interview before it was broadcast.

The fine over Reza's interview is separate from a police investigation on the station and five of its presenters over two talk shows aired on December 12, in which topics addressed had also concerned Islam.

Allegedly, the talk shows had discussed the "Allah" controversy, the wearing of the tudung or Muslim headscarf for women, and about sacrificial meat. This was claimed by Muslim groups, Malaysia Islamic Consumers Association (PPIM) and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), which had lodged police reports against BFM on December 18.

However, Malek said such claims were baseless as the station's broadcast records showed that the show topics at the time were on the AFF Suzuki Cup and a world history programme on American lyricist Ira Gershwin instead. – December 21, 2014.