The current excessiveness of entertainment-based reality TV shows flooding the local channels provokes concern in those who are aware of the sad state of affairs in this country.
Programmes such as Akademi Fantasia, Malaysian Idol or Audition present scantily clad young men and women who dream of becoming stars with their talents (or sometimes, lack of it) being broadcasted nation-wide.
Young people who are supposed to represent the future of our country are being fed with mindless entertainment. In relation to this, you can find reports of murders, rape and snatch thieves in the mainstream media.
How all these can be validly reflected in Pak Lah's Islam Hadhari is mind-boggling, to say the least.
For the record, I'm not against entertainment per se. It is not wrong or forbidden in Islam to have entertainment within reason and Islam, being the pragmatic religion it is, allows for entertainment, which comes with the times.
However, pointless entertainment, which distracts or inhibits one from pursuing his duties as a Muslim is expressly condemned. And such condemnation is not totally unfounded
Excessive entertainment in a society has seen the downfall of several civilisations in history. The pagan Arabs of Makkah were known for their lewdness and their engagement in excessive entertainment.
So were the Babylonians, Greeks and Romans. All these civilisations have met their doom. Even the Ottoman Caliphate saw its downfall due to the distraction of the Caliphs in their later days by excessive entertainment such as dancing, singing and concubinage.
Going back to the earlier point, we are left with one fact. Pak Lah has promised the rakyat Islam Hadhari - an Islam which he says pushes 'modernised Islam' - to counteract PAS' DNI (Dokumen Negara Islam).
It was this promise, coupled together with his vow to take a tough stance on corruption (as well as a very co-oprerative Election Commission), which brought about his victory at the March polls.
However, what has Pak Lah's Islam Hadhari brought since March? Has the rakyat seen any significant change in Pak Lah's administration? I, for one, have not. Cosmetic hauling up of small-time ministers or officials for rasuah do not count.
Apparently Pak Lah, through mindless TV entertainment, is trying to distract the people from seeing the bigger picture. Will his late grandfather approve of such decadence? Pak Lah should ask himself that question.
Then again, perhaps this is in accordance with BN's interest to see the whole society drown in an SMS whirlpool and forget once and for all about their basic rights as citizens of this country.
Until this current sad state of affairs changes, we must raise the level of awareness of the rakyat and call for measures to restrict the current slew of entertainment reality TV shows.
Once is okay, twice is tolerable, but more than that is a bit too much.
