Good Karma, Bad Karma

Often thought of as the 'four-faced Buddha,' the Erawan shrine, which sits at one of Bangkok's busiest intersections, is actually a representaion of a  four-faced Hindu  Bhrama (Phra Phrom in Thai).

The shrine was commissioned by the management of the original and then government-owned Erawan hotel back in the 1950's to counter the supposed bad karma of the site; during the building of the hotel a number of workmen were injured, a shipment of Italian marble went missing and the budget was wildly out of control. To make matters worse the street that the shrine sits on was once used to parade criminals to the public. Apparently once the shrine was completed construction went without a hitch.

Day and night the Thai flock to the site to decorate it with garlands of flowers and other offerings. And some make merit by hiring the on-site dancers to perform whilst they pray.

In 2006, the Bhrama was smashed almost beyond recognition by a mentally ill man. He was chased down by witnesses, who failed, when they most needed to heed, the Bhrama's call for peace; they beat the man to death. Now, that's gotta be bad karma (should you believe in the hocus-pocus that karma is).

The statue was quickly replaced; a new Phra Phrom appeared just two months later.

Born Muslim

In Malaysia a young woman will soon be thrashed with a cane. Found by Malaysia’s morality police drinking a beer in a hotel bar, she was sentenced by the Islamic Sharia court to 6 strokes of the cane. Earlier this year Malaysian Muslims were initially banned- the decision was reversed- from attending a Black Eyed Peas rock concert.

Last year a Kelantan state council issued a directive seeking to discourage Muslim women from wearing make-up, loose-fitting blouses and high-heels. In a number of other states couples found to be sitting too close together or holding hands are prosecuted and fined for providing distractions to the ‘Islamic way.’

Non-Muslim Malaysians- they constitute about 45% of the population- can drink beer. Non-Muslim Malaysians can attend rock concerts. And non-Muslim Malaysians can dress much as they please, sit next to each other and hold hands.

Such freedom is surely attractive to at least some Malaysian Muslims and the temptation to leave the faith must be strong. But leaving Islam is all but impossible; a child born into the faith is automatically considered Muslim and their religious affiliation is noted on their national I.D. card, which is issued to every citizen upon reaching the age of twelve. To change this status a Muslim must apply to an Islamic court. These courts aren’t big on allowing people to leave their faith; they have yet to allow a single Malaysian Muslim to depart from the faith. Recourse to a civil court is not allowed.

So if they wish to change their faith; choose to have no faith; dress with freedom; hold hands in public; or simply have an icy-cold beer on a hot and humid day; they cannot. If a Malaysian is born into an Islamic family they are, from birth until death, considered by law to be Muslim. They are all but owned by Islam.