If only Malaysia could be ...like Turkey.

Our P.M visited Turkey recently and what he saw about the country and its practice of secularism should be an eye opener for him.My visit to Turkeybegan on a cold quiet night on 28th Jan.2007 and whenI finished my tour of Turkey I must confessed I was totally fascinated with the country.
From the start it was a journey of discoveryto find that the women were dressed like normal human beings bereft of any head scarves or tudong.This was not only a surprise but a shock when you are told by the interpreter and tour guide that Turkey has a population of 70 million and 99% of its people are muslims.What is even more shocking was that Islam is not an official religion of this country which has a 99% muslim population.Turkey has maintained its secularity despite its muslim majority.
What further shocked me was when the guide told me that the govt does not interfere or control the religion. This is all left to the imams of their respective mosques.And the powers given to the imams are limited.They have no authority to detain, arrest muslims who dont fast during Ramadam or muslims who drink alcohol or even commit khalwat. And what about inter marriage between believers and nonbelievers?Without a blink he replied that it was up to the couple and their families.If they agree they can go ahead and no one has the right to stop them. When I questioned further why this was the practice his reply was short and swift.A man's belief in his religion is between him and God and if he choose to sin then he has to answer to God not to man.The govt or the imams has no right to punish any muslims who choose to sin.
The revealation how Islam is practiced here was unexpected and I was totally unaware that a muslim country like Turkey could be able to practice Islam so liberally and with such modernity.
But is not our P.M espousing Islam Hadhari?If onlyour P.M had taken the trouble to study Turkey's model of how Islam is pracice then perhaps it would be more appropriate to adopt Turkey's model.
As I returned from my brief sojourn fromTurkey I wondered aloud to myself, 'if only we could be like.....Turkey'.Better still, if only all muslim Malaysians could visit Turkey just once.